This is something that's always been on my mind over the years, and the past couple of years have really exacerbated it. Right now my approach is to focus on cheaper, versatile removal that can cheap threats (think Prismatic Ending / Portable Hole / Cut Down) etc over traditional Doom Blades / Oblivion Ring effects. With threats also being much more consistent, I've also been scaling down on the critical mass of them (especially cheap aggro threats).
I might scale my cube from 540 back to 480 again as a balancing act so help combo / control. Aggro / midrange is very dominant right now, especially with initiative. Theoretically, combo can prey on these decks if they're more consistent with a smaller cube size. And if combo is more prevalent, then control will rise along with it to foil combo.
I'm writing this after having to deal with the ridiculousness of Turn 1 Ragavan into Turn 3 Minsc and Boo...
I'm not sure what you mean by quality of removal not going up.
Cheapness? The recent Cut Down is a far cry better than cards that used to be played at that cost, like Regicide, with much more examples from recent sets.
Flexibility? Arguably has gone up to a terrifying degree in multiple aspects:
The cards themselves - you now have good modal removal in Bloodchief's Thirst, Murder on a land (Hagra Mauling), and even Damn that's also a Wrath.
Target flexibility - Prismatic Ending, Chaos Defiler, Tear Asunder and others beg to differ.
Effect saturation - whereas Ravenous Chupacabra used to be unmatched, 40k gave us 2 more variations of this effect on solid bodies. White even has Skyclave Apparition to get rid of most anything on a stick.
Castability - Lethal Scheme and Solitude join Snuff Out and Dismember as almost-or-completely free instant speed removal.
Your statement seems to be incredibly broad and generalizing. Perhaps you should try and specify any criteria that you feel is missing for your removal and we could help it out.
My problem has more to do with the difficulty for reactive decks threats such as:
They're also not really just Mulldrifter style cards, but cards that pack an enormous punch if not answered immediately. I've found at best you 2 for 1 yourself with your removal hoping your followup play is stronger than theirs. I've found that the best approach has just been to ignore them and to try to play threats that measure pound for pound and go over them.
I'm a huge fan of Maelstrom Wanderer for this particular reason. But i see your point, i found Survival 60% has been an enabler for reanimator decks and 40% an enabler for Living Death/ Incarnation Technique/ Recurring Nightmare etc.
I really enjoyed maelstrom wanderer for similar reasons.. I cut it for being too narrow, but it was fun and powerful.
Sometimes you haste out two titan's. Other times you hit an elf and a mox diamond haha.
The deck I played cityscape leveler in was using survival of the fittest as a fair toolbox card, but it also got value from the graveyard.
Uro and Cityscape leveler offset the card disadvantage of survival. Graveyard value is key to making survival playable in "fair" decks. I'd like to support more graveyard value for cards like survival and self mill effects. The unearth mode on cityscape leveler qualified as that. When I first evaluated the card, I thought unearth was a notch above flavor text, but I was wrong. It's a significant part of the card's strength.
Thats my experience with Survival as well, its really been a while since I've played Survival in a non-reanimator/ creature combo deck. But yes I'm looking forward to this to trying to play survival in a more fair environment.
This is something that's been on my mind for a while is I've noticed there is a significantly improvement in the quality of threats, while the quality of removal/ answers hasn't really kept up.
This has been incredibly pronounced in Legacy as I've found almost all decks, even the more controling decks such as UR Delver/ Bant Control/ Lands etc. have become incredibly aggressive with cards like Uro, Urza's Saga, Minsc and Boo, Murktide etc. and the traditional control suite of Swords/ Force/ Wasteland etc. are more about buying 1-2 turns so these decks can land their turn 4 Uro/ Minsc and Boo as opposed to the opponent's turn 2 combo.
I've notice that my worst performing cards have almost been universally interaction, which a few exceptions for overcosted answers. Does anyone else feel this? I've found that almost all decks need some form of a proactive gameplan by turns 2-3.
Damn, I really don't want to play initiative simply for the increased overhead of complexity that is not captured on the cards themselves, but it sounds like it's good fun!
I'm not a huge fan of it either, but I feel its a necessity now.
The part I like is how Red decks have shifted from the all-in, hyper low to the ground to Rabblemaster - Hazoret decks that can have aggressive starts but also curve into 4 drops. I love how these decks can take advantage of Moxen/ Sol Rings (which I found previous red decks weren't able to do as effectively). But also there is a lot more play to these decks as its not the end of the world if the opponent sticks a Siege Rhino and your attackers cannot get through.
The part I don't like as much is how bad removal is compared to the threats in this format ...
I don't really have that much experience playing Portal in unpowered, but Portal is at its best with Show and Tell/ Eureka/ Channel/ Welder/ Daretti/ Workshop/ Tolarian/ Mana Vault / Tinker etc. The problem with Show and Tell/ Eureka is that the opponent could put something scary onto the field and it easily backfire; Portal provide a mitigation to this.
I'm not sure if an unpowered cube has enough ramp for Portal, but my gut says no.
The second concern with portal also needs a card like Academy Ruins to be already in your cube to help provide inevitability, similar to Eye of Ugin / Sanctum of Ugin. It look innocuous, but the importance of Academy Ruins in these these type of decks cannot be understated.
- Personally I don't like Goblin Welder type cards in cubes with a good amount of removal or things to it haste / shroud / hexproof / etc. Welder is an ABC effect (Welder / artifact in play / artifact in graveyard) that relies on a fragile 1/1 surviving a whole turn cycle never felt great to me.
- A lot of the artifact deck for me just has to do with critical mass (Tinker / Tolarian Academy / Urza's Saga / Urza, Lord High Artificer / anything that makes Karnstructs / etc). Red in general for me doesn't play too heavy a role in artifacts matters. P&K Nalaar generates thopters for Retrofitter Foundry, then there's gold cards like Dack / Daretti / Third Path Iconoclast / Chaos Defiler / etc.
I've found this is the mistake people make when evaluating cards like Welder in cube. Welder is a 1-drop.
- If my opponent spent a removal spell on a 1 drop, I'm always very happy because that's a removal spell not pointed at one of my expensive artifacts
- The artifact deck traditionally curves as No 1-drop, Talisman -> 4 drop etc. This is often way too slow for vintage cube standards. My experience is you need to do something turn 1.
I also found red to be an incredibly important color for the artifact.dec, in particular its Red-X sweepers/ WildFire. Sweepers are most important in these type of decks as the artifact deck should be more of a control deck with artifact synergies.
My problem is the difference between 6 and 8 (See the Unwritten) is suppose you have 5 hits:
- 57% possibility to hit off success of 6
- 69% possibility to hit off success of 8
Suppose you have 6 hits:
- 65% possibility to hit off success of 6
- 76% possibility to hit off success of 8
These are not statistics that's reliable for for fatty cheat decks. i would probably be a bit more interested in a Fatty Cheat enabler, but Monster Manual more or less filled this role for me.
This card has really overperformed for me in the MTGO vintage cube. It's also being experimented with in modern in Mono G tron over Ugin.
Not being synergistic with cheaty spells made me not interested at first glance, but it's so good as a standalone ramp target, I'm re-evaluating.
I played it in a deck with green ramp and survival of the fittest.
Being able to pitch it for graveyard value was relevant multiple games, as was the ability being a "cast trigger" getting around counter magic.
The destroy on attack from the unearth mode in conjunction with hasty 8/8 trampler can close out games on the spot if you have any other pressure on the board. Swings races.
Even if tinkered/reanimated into, it has to be dealt with on the spot or it can easily take over the game, so it's still playable in ramp+cheat strategies.
Having a ramp target that gets a lot of value through countermagic is a very big deal in my cube.
I'm confident... if you are skeptical of this card and haven't seen it in action, you are underestimating it.
I'm a huge fan of Maelstrom Wanderer for this particular reason. But i see your point, i found Survival 60% has been an enabler for reanimator decks and 40% an enabler for Living Death/ Incarnation Technique/ Recurring Nightmare etc.
I cut Abrupt Decay ages ago. As you said, there have been too many instances of it missing the must-remove card in my opponents strategy that neither instant speed nor uncounterability made up for it. Since I'm unpowered, sniping Power with it was never an option.
Assassin's Trophy vs. Maelstrom Pulse is difficult. The drawback on Trophy is very severe and whenever (admittedly rarely) the upside on Pulse comes up, it is very relevant. I personally would give the nod to Maelstrom Pulse, but only because 3 CMC is typically still low enough that I manage to catch the threat I'm concerned about before it goes out of hand.
For what it's worth, I'm still a huge fan of Pernicious Deed, especially since so many cards produce tokens these days.
I run all three Legions to Ash / Vindicate / Anguished Unmaking and they have all performed fairly well. I'm a bit of a sucker for the art on Anguished Unmaking ...
I remember we all thought Trophy was going to break every format, but gosh did it under perform initial expectations. I'm feel Abrupt Decay had a bit of the constructed vibe as when it was printed, it completely destroyed All-in Twin/ Delver/ Counterbalance- Top etc. I haven't seen it been playing for YEARS now lol.
Abrupt Decay vs Assassin's Trophy vs Pulse in powered cube.
I've been unimpressed by how frequently Abrupt Decay misses important targets and removing a moxen/ mana dork or talisman feels like a losing proposition at best.
Faith's Fetters isn't instant speed, or am I missing something?
I think Swift Reconfiguration is where it's at!
I'm someone that hates Path to Exile with a passion; I've played Grixis Control in modern during 2015-2017 because of how much I hated the idea of giving the opponent a 2 for 1 in an attrition matchup.
However, I still give the nod over to Path to Exile in slower decks; Giving the opponent the opportunity to remove/ bounce reconfiguration in the late game is a very risky proposition. The goal of removal spells should be to remove mid to high tier threats and thus path is frequently played in the mid to late game, where the drawback isn't as severe.
Proxy has been stellar in spells matters shells, and Wurmlet is a great aggro creature. Basically, put them in shells where they're supposed to be good, and they're good.
Where would you rank Wurmlet in terms of Green Aggro 1 drops? My gut says below Packleader/ Hexdrinker/ Pelt Collector but above Wolfbitten captive and Experimental one. I'm not as on-board with green-aggro, but I've opening to adding more good green 1-drops as I've seen a lot of Green-X aggressive decks playing 2-3 mana dorks in addition to aggressive 1-drops to curve out 3-4 drop threats.
Arcane Proxy feels eh in a format filled with Oko/ Initiative/ Rabblemaster variants etc. I feel like there are much better things to do at 3 CMC.
I'm writing this after having to deal with the ridiculousness of Turn 1 Ragavan into Turn 3 Minsc and Boo...
My problem has more to do with the difficulty for reactive decks threats such as:
Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath / Oko, Thief of Crowns / Urza's Saga / Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes / Teferi, Time Raveler / Initiative cards etc.
They're also not really just Mulldrifter style cards, but cards that pack an enormous punch if not answered immediately. I've found at best you 2 for 1 yourself with your removal hoping your followup play is stronger than theirs. I've found that the best approach has just been to ignore them and to try to play threats that measure pound for pound and go over them.
Thats my experience with Survival as well, its really been a while since I've played Survival in a non-reanimator/ creature combo deck. But yes I'm looking forward to this to trying to play survival in a more fair environment.
This has been incredibly pronounced in Legacy as I've found almost all decks, even the more controling decks such as UR Delver/ Bant Control/ Lands etc. have become incredibly aggressive with cards like Uro, Urza's Saga, Minsc and Boo, Murktide etc. and the traditional control suite of Swords/ Force/ Wasteland etc. are more about buying 1-2 turns so these decks can land their turn 4 Uro/ Minsc and Boo as opposed to the opponent's turn 2 combo.
I've notice that my worst performing cards have almost been universally interaction, which a few exceptions for overcosted answers. Does anyone else feel this? I've found that almost all decks need some form of a proactive gameplan by turns 2-3.
I'm not a huge fan of it either, but I feel its a necessity now.
The part I like is how Red decks have shifted from the all-in, hyper low to the ground to Rabblemaster - Hazoret decks that can have aggressive starts but also curve into 4 drops. I love how these decks can take advantage of Moxen/ Sol Rings (which I found previous red decks weren't able to do as effectively). But also there is a lot more play to these decks as its not the end of the world if the opponent sticks a Siege Rhino and your attackers cannot get through.
The part I don't like as much is how bad removal is compared to the threats in this format ...
I'm not sure if an unpowered cube has enough ramp for Portal, but my gut says no.
The second concern with portal also needs a card like Academy Ruins to be already in your cube to help provide inevitability, similar to Eye of Ugin / Sanctum of Ugin. It look innocuous, but the importance of Academy Ruins in these these type of decks cannot be understated.
I've found this is the mistake people make when evaluating cards like Welder in cube. Welder is a 1-drop.
- If my opponent spent a removal spell on a 1 drop, I'm always very happy because that's a removal spell not pointed at one of my expensive artifacts
- The artifact deck traditionally curves as No 1-drop, Talisman -> 4 drop etc. This is often way too slow for vintage cube standards. My experience is you need to do something turn 1.
I also found red to be an incredibly important color for the artifact.dec, in particular its Red-X sweepers/ WildFire. Sweepers are most important in these type of decks as the artifact deck should be more of a control deck with artifact synergies.
- 57% possibility to hit off success of 6
- 69% possibility to hit off success of 8
Suppose you have 6 hits:
- 65% possibility to hit off success of 6
- 76% possibility to hit off success of 8
These are not statistics that's reliable for for fatty cheat decks. i would probably be a bit more interested in a Fatty Cheat enabler, but Monster Manual more or less filled this role for me.
I'm a huge fan of Maelstrom Wanderer for this particular reason. But i see your point, i found Survival 60% has been an enabler for reanimator decks and 40% an enabler for Living Death/ Incarnation Technique/ Recurring Nightmare etc.
I run all three Legions to Ash / Vindicate / Anguished Unmaking and they have all performed fairly well. I'm a bit of a sucker for the art on Anguished Unmaking ...
I remember we all thought Trophy was going to break every format, but gosh did it under perform initial expectations. I'm feel Abrupt Decay had a bit of the constructed vibe as when it was printed, it completely destroyed All-in Twin/ Delver/ Counterbalance- Top etc. I haven't seen it been playing for YEARS now lol.
I've been unimpressed by how frequently Abrupt Decay misses important targets and removing a moxen/ mana dork or talisman feels like a losing proposition at best.
I'm someone that hates Path to Exile with a passion; I've played Grixis Control in modern during 2015-2017 because of how much I hated the idea of giving the opponent a 2 for 1 in an attrition matchup.
However, I still give the nod over to Path to Exile in slower decks; Giving the opponent the opportunity to remove/ bounce reconfiguration in the late game is a very risky proposition. The goal of removal spells should be to remove mid to high tier threats and thus path is frequently played in the mid to late game, where the drawback isn't as severe.
Where would you rank Wurmlet in terms of Green Aggro 1 drops? My gut says below Packleader/ Hexdrinker/ Pelt Collector but above Wolfbitten captive and Experimental one. I'm not as on-board with green-aggro, but I've opening to adding more good green 1-drops as I've seen a lot of Green-X aggressive decks playing 2-3 mana dorks in addition to aggressive 1-drops to curve out 3-4 drop threats.
Arcane Proxy feels eh in a format filled with Oko/ Initiative/ Rabblemaster variants etc. I feel like there are much better things to do at 3 CMC.