MTG Salvation

This is the thread for simple cutting questions. Examples of the kind of questions that belong in this thread are.

Cut One

• Card A
  
• Card 2
  
• Card III
  

Should I run card Ω or Card ♂.

Pick 2 of 3
Card π
Card Φ
Card ♀

Try to give a bit of context if you can around what you are looking for in that card slot.

Pick 4 out of the following please to fit into the Tempo and Flier archetype for Blue 2/1 fliers.

Hypnotic sprite
Skyclave Aerialist
Skyship Plunderer
Stormchaser Drake
Zephyr Sentinel
Zephyr Winder



important Context:

• Currently there are no +1/+1 counters decks of focus but rather they are incidental synergies in my cube.
• Fliers is the main archetype for UW and this often is the staple cards to getting that aggro going in the decks it seems.
• there are currently 0 combat tricks in blue and in the cube overall there are 12 main tricks.
• Cube size is 460 and is mostly higher powered with only 6 cards cut for power concerns.

My cube is also 450 and has a heavy, heavy skew towards aggro in blue.

Out of those, Zephyr sentinel is easily the best and stormchaser drake is easily the worst. I view hypnotic sprite as a counterspell first and a creature second, so if you were to include it I would include it knowing that it's more midrange/control than aggro. I don't run it, but it is popular. I run Zephyr sentinel, Skyship plunderer, and skyclave aerialist from these.

Quote from Leelue »

Out of those, Zephyr sentinel is easily the best and stormchaser drake is easily the worst.

Seconded, even more so given the additional context you provided about there being zero tricks in blue and only 12 across the rest of your cube. Stormchaser Drake asks you to put in some work to make it better than the other 2/1 fliers for 1U.

Let's talk about green's 2-mana, 5-color mana dorks. I'm running two (not counting Steve) at 450 right now.

Pick two of five:
Paradise Druid
Armored Scrapgorger
Wose Pathfinder
Reclusive Taxidermist
Ilysian Caryatid

I'm currently running the first two and recently cut Taxidermist for Scrapgorger back when ONE came out as Taxidermist rarely seemed to get the bonus and the incidental graveyard hate on Scrapgorger was a neat upside. Maybe I've been playing too much LTR limited lately, but I kind of like Wose Pathfinder as a late-game mana sink. +3/+3 and trample is no joke, even if it is expensive.

Quote from Ulka »

Pick 4 out of the following please to fit into the Tempo and Flier archetype for Blue 2/1 fliers.

My 4 (in order with my favourite at the top) would be:

Zephyr Sentinel
Zephyr Winder
Skyclave Aerialist
Hypnotic sprite

I would also consider Faerie Vandal and Nightveil Sprite if they provide any cross-pollination with your other archetypes (Flash and Graveyard respectively).

Quote from A_WasherDryer »

Let's talk about green's 2-mana, 5-color mana dorks. I'm running two (not counting Steve) at 450 right now.

I run three of these right now and that's felt right for me at 360. I find that they are really good in most green decks and imagine you could run more than 2 at 450. If I had to rank the ones I'm running then it would be:

Armored Scrapgorger
Reclusive Taxidermist
Paradise Druid

Quote from Ulka »

Pick 4 out of the following please to fit into the Tempo and Flier archetype for Blue 2/1 fliers.

From best to worst:
1. Zephyr Sentinel
2. Zephyr Winder
3. Skyclave Aerialist
4. Skyship Plunderer
5. Hypnotic sprite (I think this card is the best in a vacuum, but I am judging it here as a 2/1 flier with upside instead as a counterspell with upside)
6. Stormchaser Drake (This might be better than Plunderer if you didn't count blink spells like Ghostly Flicker as combat tricks as these also trigger Drake)

Quote from A_WasherDryer »

Let's talk about green's 2-mana, 5-color mana dorks. I'm running two (not counting Steve) at 450 right now.

I feel like not adding the ones that can make only green makes this comparison a bit odd so I added them but you can obviously disregard them in the ranking below:
1. Paradise Druid ( I like that is enters as a body that can effect the board immediately)
2. Devoted Druid (going from 3 to 5 mana on turn 3 can be very good)
3. Armored Scrapgorger
4. Reclusive Taxidermist (could be 3 if you support green based graveyard synergies)
5. Tangled Florahedron (ramping while not hitting your lands is like not ramping at all, this can make sure you do both)
6. Wose Pathfinder
7. Ulvenwald Captive (I think I give a slight edge to Pathfinder as a mana dork with some late game utility, but I have no experience with Pathfinder outside of LotR limited)
8. Wall of Roots
9. Ilysian Caryatid

Quote from A_WasherDryer »

Let's talk about green's 2-mana, 5-color mana dorks. I'm running two (not counting Steve) at 450 right now.

How strange, I only learned that some people call Sakura Tribe Elder "Steve" like 4 days ago. I don't think this abbreviation is popular enough to use willy-nilly.

I am using the following and would rank them in order as:

• Paradise Druid (2 mana 2/1s always "work", even when magic's natural variance makes their jobs unnecessary)
  
• Devoted Druid (Explosive)
  
• Wall of roots (Reliable, if inflexible)
  
• Prosperous Innkeeper (The lifegain adds up in some matches (what, are they gonna actually burn this thing?), and it's the only one of these that guarantees that you get mana)
  
• Ulvenwald captive (It only costs "six" to upgrade, and shores up ramp decks' most pronounced weakness: drawing the wrong half of the deck. The same reason why Beanstalk Giant is so good, but less pronounced.
  

Armored scrapgorger is probably fine, but I never tried it. Its average case scenario is better than the captive in a number of ways, but it doesn't solve any role compared to paradise druid. Captive's late game threat is unique, giving it a job to stand out.

Quote from Leelue »

How strange, I only learned that some people call Sakura Tribe Elder "Steve" like 4 days ago. I don't think this abbreviation is popular enough to use willy-nilly.

That surprises me. There is a lot of overlap between cube designers and enfranchised magic players, and you've been a part of this particular subsection of the MtG world for a long time. It was not an unreasonable assumption that our audience would recognize that nick-name.

That said, I appreciate y'all weighing in. Glad the This or That thread is back. I hope it stays active!

I kinda want a poll on how many people were familiar with the name

I also would've thought Steve, like Gary and Bob, is pretty much universal among enfranchised players.

I know Gary and Bob, but I've never heard of Steve.

I've heard Steve for years and thought it was pretty common knowledge.

The most used nicknames are probably Gary, Mike/Trike, Steve, Tim, Skittles, Sad Robot, Prime Time, Scooze, Superman, etc.

I personally don't use nicknames for cards, with the exception of Cocoa Puffs and Skittles. I especially hate "Sword of the Anime."

Okay, now this is a fun game. I'm going to guess what those are.

I know Sad Robot, Superman, Tim, Prime Time, and Gary. (I actually really dislike the name gary, but that's probably because for some reason I spell that color "grey".) I also have zero idea why that card is called tim.

I assumed Trike was Triskelion, but I have no idea what Mike would be. I don't assume Monoskelion was important enough to get a name.

Skittles? Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon?
Scooze? Scute Mob? Oh wait that would be Scavenging ooze
Cocoa puffs... I have no clue.
Sword of the Anime stumped me for a while (I was trying to figure out which sword of X and Y was a reference to something like dragonball) but I dredged up sword of the animist out of the recesses of my mind at the last second, even though I've probably never seen it in play.

Quote from campervanbeethoven »

I would also consider Faerie Vandal

This card has been very, very good for me. It is actually probably about as good as zephyr sentinel, if that can be believed. I guess your mileage will vary depending on how much cheap draw you have

Joining in the game, anybody knows Darcy?

Quote from richard09 »

Joining in the game, anybody knows Darcy?

Yep, that's Dragon's Rage Channeler. But, since we're playing this game, how haven't we mentioned Mom (aka Mother of Runes) yet?

Sword of the Anime is awful. Never heard that one. It's almost as bad as people calling Temple of Malady "Temple of My Lady."

Quote from Leelue »

Okay, now this is a fun game. I'm going to guess what those are.

I know Sad Robot, Superman, Tim, Prime Time, and Gary. (I actually really dislike the name gary, but that's probably because for some reason I spell that color "grey".)

I dislike it as well, but grey is the non-American spelling.
grEy is from England.
grAy is from America.

Quote from Leelue »

I also have zero idea why that card is called tim.

Tim comes from Tim the Enchanter in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Apparently someone thought they looked similar? I don't see the resembalce.

Quote from Leelue »

I assumed Trike was Triskelion, but I have no idea what Mike would be. I don't assume Monoskelion was important enough to get a name.

The Mike/Trike combo is Mikaeus, the Unhallowed and Triskelion for infinite damage.

Skittles = Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
Cocoa Puffs (or Kokopuffs) = Kokusho, the Evening Star
Sword of the Anime = Sword of the Animist (which is an especially dumb nickname as it doesn't shorten the syllables at all)

Quote from A_WasherDryer »

Quote from richard09 »

Joining in the game, anybody knows Darcy?

Yep, that's Dragon's Rage Channeler. But, since we're playing this game, how haven't we mentioned Mom (aka Mother of Runes) yet?

Sword of the Anime is awful. Never heard that one. It's almost as bad as people calling Temple of Malady "Temple of My Lady."

I had never heard Darcy before; how did it get that name? I have heard Mom and Stepmom. Never heard the Temple one, either.

Darcy comes from the initials DRC that if it were a name Darcy looks appropriate I think

Ugh I was so startled by seeing "stepmom" that I didn't give myself a chance to guess before highlighting it. But my first guess was mother of goons

I actually really dislike the name Darcy too, but it's reasonable considering how much of a mouthful Dragons Rage Channeler is. That J sound before the Ch sound is not friendly.

I have seen or heard basically all of those, yeah. Only Darcy was new to me since I have not participated in the scene in a bit and it is the newest one.

A more niche one would be 'Lähikauppias' which is only used in Finland to refer to Tarmogoyf. It means 'local grocer' and the reason is that Tarmo is a Finnish male name associated strongly with a mascot for a grocery store chain. The name of the card is actually derived from the same Finnish word which means 'vigour' but which the designers thought to be closer to 'energy' in a less human way.

Quote from VariSami »

I have seen or heard basically all of those, yeah. Only Darcy was new to me since I have not participated in the scene in a bit and it is the newest one.

A more niche one would be 'Lähikauppias' which is only used in Finland to refer to Tarmogoyf. It means 'local grocer' and the reason is that Tarmo is a Finnish male name associated strongly with a mascot for a grocery store chain. The name of the card is actually derived from the same Finnish word which means 'vigour' but which the designers thought to be closer to 'energy' in a less human way.

This is my cool fact of the day I've learned.

That's really cool! Didn't know it's actually derived from Finnish.

(I'm barely familiar with the Finnish enfranchised scene so I'm not 100% sure if I've ever seen Lähikauppias mentioned. Someone did collect material about Finnish MtG slang for a bachelor's thesis a few years ago though.)

For a graveyard synergy deck would you prefer the exact search of Vile Entomber or the constant mill of Mindwrack Harpy that also mill your opp? I think I only have space for one.

Quote from richard09 »

For a graveyard synergy deck would you prefer the exact search of Vile Entomber or the constant mill of Mindwrack Harpy that also mill your opp? I think I only have space for one.

Personally not a fan of either, but I think I'd compare pros/cons including how they function outside of graveyard synergy.
Vile Entomber searches for and bins exactly the card you want but is really only good for that ability, as a 4 mana 2/2 deathtouch is way overcosted. If you don't have a reanimation spell in hand, it's not a very good card.
Mindwrack Harpy offers less control, potentially milling away things you'd rather have in hand and/or whiffing on getting the right stuff in your graveyard, and while 3 power flying isn't amazing for 4 mana, it can at least offer a more aggressive alternative.

Both are bad, but the entomber at least does something unique without RNGing your opponent's lingering souls into play

Quote from FunkyDragon »

Mindwrack Harpy offers less control, potentially milling away things you'd rather have in hand....

I haven't heard anyone describe self mill as downside because you might mill things you want in a long time. This is a classic misunderstanding of how to think about randomly putting cards from your deck into your graveyard, unless you're playing something like... birthing pod toolbox.

Cards in your graveyard are either a resource for other cards, happen to be useable from the graveyard, or are at bare minimum information that you can use for what you're likely to draw. They are not a downside unless you were going to tutor them or are going to lose by decking out

For me the downside of the Harpy is also milling your opponent, my cube has a lot of graveyard value.