MTG Salvation

the image quality drops every spoiler. is this a meme?

because why not?
I refer to it for years now, so i made a dreamcard of it.


and while im at it

yeah unfortunately original tsp block cards got outruled to be timeshifted. originally i thought all the cards become an old border treatment. but well, as hyped as people are right now, it certainly isnt the last time they print the old frame. if magic survives MUB that is

gj
Silumgar Scavenger borderline thouggh imo

so "inspired" by the latest discussions and because im bored, but also because it helps me keeping track of fringe archetypes and potential cards for my T2, I proudly present The Tier3 Cube

Features slivers, artifact matters, +1+1 counter theme, sacrifice and whatever else was left over from my other cubes. as always higher cube cards are excluded.

I discovererd pretty neat interaction between the Kor damage redirection and creatures that trigger upon damage like Spirit en-Kor + Overgrown Armasaur

its untested as of yet, but most cards have been played at some point already.

the problem with too specialized archetypes is that drafting becomes too railroading then. in my earlier versions of my cube i basically included preconstructed decks which pretty much assembled themselves during the draft after you got youve been into it in the first packs. this is fun for only so long, though. the upside it helps unexperienced drafters because they have it much easier then, but after a while you know all the decks and it becomes boring. while my cube still has certain "decks" its much more open now. pretty much also because we got tons of prints for the missing spots. red, black and blue has gotten playable 5+ creatures pretty recently for example.

none of us cares whats going on in pauper constructed and im not even interested in the online only commons. there are no set regulations on cube building, its up to everyone himself. Al does even run a rarecard in his which is quite a stretch, but usually as long as its somwhere in the realm of common its accepted. Although Id never consider a cube pauper that runs the common-sheet hack.

That said, pretty much all those cards are only strong in either constructed or with the right amount of support. Since you dont support them and anyways have you own definition of fun its pretty much useless to comment on them.

Multicolor: I've been happy with 2 nonbasics per color. Tapped lands are not that much of an issue, but trying to support more than 2 colors without fixing surely is. The gain lands also have something, that differentiates them from the other lands.

Running 2 sets of duals (bounce and lifelands) is pretty much the standard. I only run 1 set and the signets, because tapped lands are pretty bad in aggro and there are quite a few cards that care for basic lands. Kird Ape, Fireblast and so on


Hexproof: My impression was, that not all decks actually need to answer hexproof. Hexproof creatures are below curve and you can beat them by playing more mana efficient creatures and simply race them. Especially the Swarm decks have shown to be crushing the aura/hexproof decks pretty hard.

Depends on the amount of hexproof. First turn Bogle into 2 turn Winds is above curve and will race you. If you only run the finisher like Benthic Giant I agree.

Desert is really strong, but there are ways around like either trying not to play too many X/1s or going so wide with tokens, that killing one of them doesn't matter.

Desert is pretty bonkers and is one of the cards that warps the whole meta. In addition with some other x/1 hoser like Serrated Arrows it renders a lot of those pretty weak. Its funny to hear its not pauper legal, because we are playing paper here and I consider the online commons not being legal.

Charger/Pegasus are way better than the WW guys. There is simply no way to guarantee WW on turn two and the value loss of not being able to play them on turn 2, especially in a low land aggro deck, is a huge downside.

Which ones are better is determined by the question how many x/1 answers your cube run. See above. With some amount of pinger in my cube, the 2/2s are much better and monowhite is usually the best way to build the aggro deck anyway.


The problem with the soldiers is, that only about half of your creatures are white, which means, that unless you specifically focus on picking them there are only about 1/4 soldiers, which is not enough, IMO.

I run them since I support mono/heavy white and a lot of them are soldiers. 3/2 for 3 is not the worst aggrocard anyway and the falcon usually dont need a build around, because basically everything is either knight or soldier.

Run Amok: Red doesn't need, nor want combat tricks, IMO. There is a huge amount of playable burn spells, that are mostly superior, IMO.

I run it, because combat tricks are much stronger in aggrodecks than burn. Especially if they give trample. Burn is too slow and too reactive. Attacking all in every turn and trample through any blocker will deal more damage faster and also kills stuff that has higher toughness. It can also save you guy from removal. Its probably only an inclusion if you want to support turbo aggro.


Keldon Raider/Keldon Berserker: I don't think red aggressive decks need 4 drops and I would rather play more powerful cards, rather than mediocre ones.

I dont think CC4 for a 5/3 is mediocre. Its pretty much as good as it gets, besides Gorehorn Minotaurs. It doesnt usually hurt to have some curve topper. The problem comes with double R, since thats often a problem in fast decks. Thats why although I think the Raider are also better than mediocre theyre better played with some additional synergies like madness.


Lash Out is certainly playable, but I think there are better options. The aggressive red decks that are interested in this usually have a low curve so you usually only win if you have a spell and your opponent has a land, because your spell will often cost less than theirs.

Considering the average deck runs 17 lands and aggro 15-16 I didnt made the math on it, but it burns for additional 3 often enough to make it a fantastic card. Its also a burnspell with a twist, so more interesting than the next plain bolt and often enough you want to kill a creature anyway. Definitely better than Volcanic Hammer


Deprive is a card I've played for a long time, but control decks really don't want to miss land drops and the downside simply hurts them too much. The XU counters are usually just better.

yeah, pretty meh card

I don't like the Exalted creatures, because they are really bad when you don't want to attack with just one creature. They also work really badly with my Swarm theme.

Exalted is pretty bonkers but indeed, you either want exalted or swarm. Exalted has the strong upside that it allows you to attack into blockers that would usually roadblock (Augur of Bolas anyone ;))

Razorfin Hunter would obviously be good as a monocolored card, but Fire // Ice is just more powerful.

If red wouldnt have Fireslinger already Id consider running it. As is Izzet can do more with spells.

Grasping Scoundrel is basically a black Jungle Lion, which is still a fine card, but green simply has way more powerful options nowadays, while black has by far the weakest creatures. Compared to the average powerlevel of black creatures it's a good 1-drop. Other than the Lion it can also block X/1s. You can cut Divest for it. Divest only most likely only deals with creatures, which is a card type black has problems dealing with anyway. Different than removal discard is a terrible topdeck against a hellbent opponent.

not a big fan. x/1 *coughs* A fine addition for a black aggro archetype though

Dauthi Marauder: The toughness doesn't really matter, since it doesn't interact in combat, but 3 unblockable power for 3 mana is a great deal and makes this actually way better in the offense than something like Shu Cavalry. Being fragile and kind of all in is ok for a hyper aggressive black card. You can cut Skittering Horror is an easy cut, IMO.

x/1, but races quite fast if unchecked. Probably one of the cards that demand a certain amount of x/1 hosers to not be broken. Skittering Horror is a RB removal.dec card

Snuff Out: Compare this to Dismember, which is a very powerful removal. The difference is, that Snuff Out costs 1 less and kills a creature regardless of size. Skittering Skirge or Paralyze are easy cuts, IMO.

I did run Snuff for a while and it turned out to be a horrible card in my T1. Against aggro its either too slow to cast or doesnt help at all because you burn yourself for 4. Its better in aggro to remove a blocker for free, so basically it comes back to black aggro support or not. I dedicated my Black mostly to control, because its the only color able to and has all the roleplayer with pestilence and so on. No need to turn every color into aggro WRG are better for it anyway.

what a weird bunch of cards. kinda hard to wrap my head around them because nothing stands out really.

I think the only card I consider for my T1 is the Frenzied Arynx. As said I have to cheat on the guildslot then though, but somehow I want to replace Ill-Tempered Cyclops. oh and Skewer the Critics ofc


noteworthy:

Ill-Gotten Inheritance is a interesting card for the grindgames, but i dont think it does enough. Sanitarium Skeleton seems better for those

Plague Wight pretty good if you want to support black aggro and are not shy to run x/1s.

Wrecking Beast really good, but 7 is too much for the powered cube. For ramp it seems nice.

Impassioned Orator finally a playable soul warden

Justiciar's Portal a blink effect that also works as combat trick

Summary Judgment semi decent removal

Pyredreams list:

Knight of Sorrows doenst even have a big butt. Pretty meh

Tenth District Veteran indeed seems interesting. but beside 2 exterts there is not much payoff and i think we already have a similar card. *the aven right.

phantom monster cost 4, much better

Sage's Row Savant I really like it. blues 2 drops are lacking for bigger cubes and this one is very solid. i like it better than omenspeaker since it trade better

Undercity Scavenger seems reasonable for sac

Ghor-Clan Wrecker overcosted by 1. meh

Storm Strike those cc1 combat tricks that give first strike are really good, but red can just play burn

Rampaging Rendhorn its okay. cc5 slot is pretty tight though

Lawmage's Binding dont need more enchantment based removal that also occupies a guild slot tbh, but its good

Im not hyped to add anything tbh, but thats what i expected since the last set was pretty mediocre as well. the final set of the 3 might get a higher powerlevel again. there are quite a bunch of cards for the medieval cube though, which is very nice

known but considered
Burning-Tree Vandal
Sauroform Hybrid
Blade Juggler

Estimated changes:
T1
Ill-Tempered Cyclops < Frenzied Arynx
Sign in Blood < Blade Juggler
Thriving Grubs < Skewer the Critics
T2
Omenspeaker < Sage's Row Savant
Wall of Heat < Burning-Tree Vandal
Scorned Villager < Sauroform Hybrid
Coiling Oracle < Aeromunculus
Grim Harvest < Plague Wight
Momentary Blink < Lawmage's Binding

Boggart Brute < Thriving Grubs

I hate the art so much on that card, i cant put it in on principle.

I've cut Compulsive Research a while ago. I think that 3 mana sorcery speed with 0 board impact hasn't aged very well.

Here are my changes: (Out > In)
Pacifism > Realmbreaker's Grasp
Icatian Crier > Phyrexian Pegasus
Deftblade Elite > Alabaster Host Intercessor
Aether Adept > Preening Champion
Repeal > Zephyr Winder
Okiba Reckoner Raid > Corrupted Conviction

Quote from Humphrey »

Aetherblade Agent the best dualface card imo

Agreed. I think this is better than some of uncommon ones. Too bad you can only flip as sorcery, else it would auto include.

I also really like Alabaster Host Intercessor. Its expensive, but has an out to that with the plainscycling. And the effect is super strong - maybe the first time at pauper? Near the end of a game its basically a 2 for one,

Quote from Humphrey »

i kinda like Rust Goliath

a 3/5 reach trample for 5 is okayish, and the pseudokicker makes it a monster

And if you blink it, it comes back as its giant form.

Ugh, a 3/1? I missed that. Nowhere near where I thought.

I have never been so disappointed with a set since I started playing Magic.
I have an Un-cube and was excited when they announced a new Un-set, but then they black-bordered it.
The eternal-legal cards could have been candidates for Peasant, but they're way too goofy.
And for both the cubes, I think stickers and tickets are terrible mechanics.

No Un-cards for me. No matter the border color.

"I really wish this tiny community was smaller"

I just like clear lines. If I start excluding Monarch and Initiative because they're 'clearly not made for 1v1 Limited' then where do I draw the line to other cards. Will of the Council was also clearly made for multiplayer and Custodi Squire is only as good as it is because its ability balances itself in multiplayer. Arms of Hadar is also clearly meant to be just another take of Eyeblight Massacre for a format where it's unclear which of the two is actually better. And this especially applies to the Thriving lands and new Gates.

They were put into Jumpstart because in that format you literally shuffle together two boosters and if you draw bad mana you die without casting a spell. And they were put into Baldur's Gate because EDH players have very little tolerance for mana screw and for having to do work for your mana to function. We won't see that effect at common in a regular 1v1 limited set... probably ever. We haven't even seen that power level at uncommon. They're easily better than the tri-lands and any other uncommon dual.

So again, where do I draw a clear and easily understandable line? Currently I'd rather keep it clean and just ban the sets rather than making complex and arbitraty bans, but who knows, maybe my take on it will change once I start missing Custodi and the lands too much.