It's interesting to see how people value the swords after Fire&Ice differently. I never considered running Feast&Famine at all, and the only other sword next to Fire&Ice that I'm running is Sinew&Steel, because I like that it solves the problem of deciding whether to attack a planeswalker or a player.
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!
Yeah, I regret that I didn't sell the foil copy I opened at the time.:banghead:
Are the three 3 CMC spells in Orzhov a reason to make you sway to Trophy in order to have a 2 CMC effect or Pulse for trusting the designspace?
Good to hear praise for Legions to Ashes!
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.
As an aside, Swift Reconfiguration also enables Devoted Druid without needing to play very fringe cards like Vizier of Remedies and it can also be used on Planeswalkers such that they can no longer be attacked (Just learned this looking the card up on gatherer).
I really dislike the new direction of complexity some of the cards are taking.
It is a cool card, but I feel like the increased complexity available on MTGA has made some designs a bit lazy.
I guess this does depend on how well graveyards are utilized. For Legacy specifically, you have Murktide Regent that you can both find and cast faster with this thing.
Haven't looked at decklists though, so maybe that's not what UW Legacy decks are doing right now.
Can we not think of this as an alternative Storm finisher?
It crucially lacks uncounterability, but would suit the same decks as Banefire or Expansion//Explosion.
What is the verdict of people on "Taking the Initiative" and "Venture into the Dungeon"?
I've been away from Cube for a year and now while doing updates I feel like it is a step too far away from "Reading the Card explains the Card", which was already a problem with Monarch to be fair, but at least there is no choice involved regarding different Dungeons and the like.
Maul has played way better for me than Halvar. Halvar never really did enough to warrant a 4CMC slot - I played it a few times, nothing really changed when he hit the board and I died or would have won anyway. Maul changed a few tricky situations of a gummed up board to actually get the job done.
I've had some pretty amazing experiences with this where I've gotten 14+ mana worth of creatures for only 5 mana. You should always be trading up when casting this spell in the right shell, and the blowout risk is much, much lower than something like Show and Tell since your opponent's copy resolves first.
I can second this. This card is very good and I don't consider it filler at all. It is very unique and cool to play with!
With black and white getting more and more exile removal I don't think Sphinx is far behind Idol or Triplicate Titan. Sphinx makes it almost impossible to lose a race, which has saved me countless times and is very relevant for a deck with a fatty cheating strategy.
I go around this question of playing all the cards you mentioned
The most success I had with Dark Depths in Cube so far was in Maverick like shells, where silver bullets are alway at the ready with Green Sun's Zenith or Survival of the Fittest, card advantage comes in over Collected Company or Sevinne's Reclamation and there is a surprise Persist Combo kill in addition to the ability to produce a 20/20.
In my search for some nice Stax pieces I did think about Stasis - has been a while since there was discussion on this card. Seems exceptionally hard to break parity on this card, but game-winning if you pull it off. Anyone has some nice recipe for making this card work?
The short version of this is I felt Chord of Calling is what I'm looking for, not another +1/+1 enabler. Its great for tutoring up the missing part of the combo in not only the persist deck, but also Aristocrats, Heliod, Flicker, Kiki Twin etc
In addition, giving these creatures instant speed makes them incredibly lethal.
I play a Prossh Persist- Aristocrats - Food Chain deck and I found I have been tutoring for cards like Rankle, Grist, Reclamation Sage a lot more than the combo itself.
That is a very interesting point you are making about low CMC creatures increasing in strength - this has been the exact reason for my recent inclusion of Collected Company and Chord of Calling seems very useful as well. The only reservation is of course GGG - it shouldn't be the greatest of issues, since creature-centric Combodecks are mostly base Green.
Are the three 3 CMC spells in Orzhov a reason to make you sway to Trophy in order to have a 2 CMC effect or Pulse for trusting the designspace?
Good to hear praise for Legions to Ashes!
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.
It is a cool card, but I feel like the increased complexity available on MTGA has made some designs a bit lazy.
Haven't looked at decklists though, so maybe that's not what UW Legacy decks are doing right now.
It crucially lacks uncounterability, but would suit the same decks as Banefire or Expansion//Explosion.
I've been away from Cube for a year and now while doing updates I feel like it is a step too far away from "Reading the Card explains the Card", which was already a problem with Monarch to be fair, but at least there is no choice involved regarding different Dungeons and the like.
Maul has played way better for me than Halvar. Halvar never really did enough to warrant a 4CMC slot - I played it a few times, nothing really changed when he hit the board and I died or would have won anyway. Maul changed a few tricky situations of a gummed up board to actually get the job done.
I can second this. This card is very good and I don't consider it filler at all. It is very unique and cool to play with!
I go around this question of playing all the cards you mentioned
By far my favpurite deck in Cube!
That is a very interesting point you are making about low CMC creatures increasing in strength - this has been the exact reason for my recent inclusion of Collected Company and Chord of Calling seems very useful as well. The only reservation is of course GGG - it shouldn't be the greatest of issues, since creature-centric Combodecks are mostly base Green.