You know, perhaps I was a bit harsh on willbender. I dont think I have a space for him regardless, but in the end he cant be that bad. Or maybe I'm just having war flashbacks to Jace vs Chandra....
I am not running any guildmages anymore, but rakdos gm was about as good as the u/w.
I was referring to The Oni bouncing a persistant murderous redcap, which is awesome.
@ Calibretto
Absolutely, but... I need to find one. Murderous redcap? Ooooooh
Also, Calibretto, definitely dropping mogg war marshal. Need a replacement... no clue.
I just cannot wait til 5 mana to threaten a redirection effect. I asked the most seasoned player i knew and the best he could muster was "at least it beats split second". And then you have to hold 2 mana up, its just a lot of work.
Treason
Ive been using spur grappler. That card's good so far. But a 5 mana beefcake is less impressive than a 3 mana 4/2. 5 drops have to start winning games, and I don't know if this can on its own.
It was a group consensus that selesnya guildmage never did enough for 4 mana.
I don't run any morph in my cube, and I really didn't feel like I was missing out on much besides gathan raiders. If redirect was uncommon I would be extremely apprehensive about running it, so by extension I feel as though willbender isn't worth all of that mana. And I've already talked at length about how much I don't like the shock-morph goblin.
I completely forgot about aftershock. I'm running it and its awesome.
I love imperious perfect, but it never did enough. Squirrels nest dies far less often, and can be used right away.
Trygon predator may go in for lorescale coatl, but the snake does a very good job of... well... being really big. Simic signet could go, since a green signet feels a mote redundant.
Qasali pridemage surprised all of us by being not as amazing as it should've been. Wilt-leaf cavaliers went in its stead, and has thus-far been very solid. I wanted to keep my hybrid to true multicolor sections even, but it just didn't work out. All of those tri hybrid cards play more like true multicolors in the cube, and there isn't really anything I can do about it (this being the balance issue I can't solve. Well, technically I could, but I would have to run a subpar u/w card which is not happening, or I'd have to cut snakeform which is also not happening.)
Hull breach has way too much competition from the rest of the gruul cards for me, and I don't see using the 2 for 1 option a whole lot. My multicolor section is much smaller than yours, though, calibretto.
Jim, we ignore reminder text and obvious superfluous text with the editor (like "this creature is unaffected by summoning sickness" shortens to haste)
How has togglodyte been? It reminds me of Ogre Recluse, which I've been very interested in.
Speaking of kamigawa, has anyone tried oni of wild places?
I can't complain without being a hypocrite. I use frazzled editor and booster tutor. Im even thinking about togglodyte. But I'll be a hypocrite anyway and disaprove. It makes for some awkward play moments when you interact with outsiders.
What pieces of artifact hate do you have per color? I have naturalize, acidic slime, stomphowler, wickerbough elder, krosan grip, creeping mold
disenchant, oblivion ring, solemn offering (which I'd prefer to be return to dust)
shattering spree, smash, smash to smithereens, pillage, hearth ka
putrify, r/w hedgemage
I ran kor sanctifiers but to limited success. Four mana 2/3s just didn't get played often.
smash over manic vandal was tough, but off-curve the body seemed less relevant.
That is pretty much the thought. Im about at 415 cards in my cube, and I'm trying to support cards like celestial crusader and intangible virtue by having tokens (and then supporting it with meadowboon and the like). The card itself is very solid, even without help. My white is the color i can cut from the easiest, so it was pretty seamless.
Here's one for you. Ive replaced fencer clique with lantern spirit? Do you agree?
Treason, what are your anthem effects? I want to make sure I have them all, except for kabira vindicator.
Also, correction from before - my last aura is canopy cover.
I'd take it out if I'd stop losing to it.
Well, even for a guy like me (after that mana conversation we had) city of brass = permanent. Always the right decision.
Oh
Concerning isochron
Exactly right
But about commander cards
Is there any reason why we shouldnt be able to use some of them? It seems arbitrary because of the nature of the release. Im not saying that we can just use edric, spymaster of trent, but I'm just complaining that a lot of cards could have easily qualified.
Meh. It's probably pointless.
When I started to notice the hammer was doing well, I started drafting and maindecking artifact hate. But there were a few issues. First, of course, you actually have to have the answer Right Now, or the card is a 10-20 point life swing. The speed of the equip wasn't a problem most days because it bought that turn of setback back in one shot. But ok, you draft disenchant. You don't know if I have the hammer. So often, the disenchants were dead. So... ok, I put more artifacts and enchantments in. Centaur glade. Etc. Now the hate is at a premium, which is not necessarily a bad thing. But now, there isn't enough to go around, so I start putting in more of it. It's perfectly likely that this is what most cubes tend to look like.
But.
This one card caused me to throw off my cube's entire equilibrium. My cube apparently runs a bit less removal than most, so I would have had to notch it up a bit to compensate for this one card. Nobody passed it anymore, so it made random packs, that would otherwise be good packs, an automatic pick. If it stuck for a turn (or god forbid two), the game would be lost. So... I went **** it and just cut it. Behemoth's sledge has similar problems obv, but I've actually seen people fight through that card, and the color requirements help make it more fair as well. My drafts are a bit less swingy since its departure, and nobody has looked back. I can try it again... I suppose. I mean, of course I can always take it back out in the end if it too oppressive. I think the biggest reason why we dislike it is because we didn't like the only out to the card to be a naturalize (or... keldon halberdier). Unlike other game changing cards like lightning greaves and centaur glade, there seemed to be only one way to best it, and that was to straight up hate it. The cube has of course gotten stronger since the cut, so perhaps it can be great but fairish now.
Skullclamp, on the other hand, is good everytime but can also be built around. Squirrels nest is in my cube, and that was absolute insanity. God that was insane... I'm at work now, but off the top of my head I can think of a ton of throw-away dudes that turn into cards, like mana dorks in green, tokens in white, and a large supply of red low drops. Mogg war marshal? Sheeeesh! Christmas came early this year.
Isochron sceptre was once on my watchlist, and it is utterly backbreaking at times, but mostly on games where it seemed balls to the wall unfair with white based removal attached. Cards like aethersnipe can beat it though, so it lost its place on my list.
I am still looking for a sylvan library to test.
Maze of ith was crazy strong in the old rare cube I used to play with. I avoided even testing it, and it is $$$.
Sol ring was the most broken... piece of.... Talk about a lapse in judgment, Richard.
I would love a sinkhole, but yeah, $$$.
I'm sure the rares will play well, I'm just concerned about where you can concretely set your limits.
Take death by dragons. That was printed as an uncommon, but was printed in a special release. Why is death by dragons more uncommon than acorn catapult? I don't know.
Right now off the top
Bonesplitter
Inquisitors flail
Trusty machete
Behemoth's sledge
Lightning greaves
Vulshok Morningstar
Sylvok lifestaff
Grafted wargear
And I may test cobbled wings.
Skullclamp was beyond absurd and loxadon warhammer had something like a 90% win rate so it got cut.
I tried opaline bracers but it was hardly played and felt hard to maximize. Leonin scimitar has not been tested.
If auras are relevant, I probably use more than most. Griffin and elephant guide, mammoth and drake umbra, pentarch ward, and of course rancor.
My cube actually isn't posted anywhere. My only access to the internet is on my phone, and I don't want to go through all... that... typing. This also explains my usual omittence of quotes and card tags.
The average power of any relevant creature is just over 3.16 (i left out cards that wouldn't be equipped, such as gideons lawkeeper, and calciderm). Comparing any equipment to bonesplitter is unfair of course, so yes, it will be worse most days, but that shouldn't keep it out of contention.
So far it's been equipped in a black/red aggro build, on dauthi slayer, fledgling djinn, wretched anurid, gorhorn minotaurs, plated geopede, sengir vampire and probably other stuff that eludes memory. Having bonesplitter in the same deck was pretty nuts though, and the deck raped and raped and raped. It was hard to tell how good it really was, though being the big reason for three of the five games it was drawn was great. One of those was quite silly; it latched onto a leveled up Halimar wavewatch that was stolen with a threaten effect. Of course that can't happen very often. The other games involved normal scenarios. I'll keep trying.
-----
I have a lot of token production in white and green, and apparently you don't need a whole lot in your deck for this to be of use. Even in games where it only helped out raise the alarm, I felt like I got my mana's worth. It effectively doubles the usefulness of the small tokens, and even for something like a griffin guide token it makes the dude very threatening. Two mana for this kind of game impact is nice. Of course, more testing will always be had. I also don't mind if a card gets drafted less if it's in game impact can be notably significant (artisan of kozilek and the hondens are examples).
------
One of these days I have to see if my Palladium myr would be better off as a noncreature card. I've seen such good things happen thanks to being a body, but perhaps not being one will make cards like slice and dice better for an archetype.
-----
Waiting to see if anyone else has an opinion on this stuff before I move on.
@ Calibretto
We are trying to be productive. seriously now. The fact that youd go back through and compile a list of my posting habits and then be even more unecessarily negative is just... ugh. The fact that this is still being posted about is abysmal.
The others may miss our debates, I might too one day, but if you did decide to stop visiting the thread at this point I'd be ok with that. I mean... it feels like forever since you've offered constructive conversation concerning moving cards in and out of cube. Even if it was only a couple days ago.
It sucks because now, I either have the choice to ignore your posts and be potentially called childish (since I'll no longer qualify as bossy, which is apparently your word of the month), or to respond to you and be annoyed for no good reason. I try to push for about a week of good constructive conversation with new product as the main entreé, and you couldn't have the decency to spare me from this issue for a weekend.
...
@ Jim
I went over it with my group after the event and they liked brimstone volley. I went through the cube and found out that a lot of guys just don't have exactly 4 toughness. So with that, and since it costs 3 all of the time, I am testing it over Flame javelin for now. The 4 toughness thing also got flame slash and fireblast pulled for other spells (i avoided incinerate for a while for no good reason).
It doesn't look bad, Jim. Not at all.
Worn powerstone. Not often i have to look something up.
*looks
Well hello there. My cube runs Ulamogs Crusher and Artisan of Cozy-lek, so I have been looking for a card like this for a long time. Palladium myr has been "good enough", and basalt monolith never really caught steam. You'd have to compare it to them. Monolith lets you get to Benthicore mana on turn 4 which is sick. This card keeps you there. If you run a few 7+ drops, id use the monolith to allow some degenerate/fun starts. If your cmcs tend to be more regular, powerstone looks better for casting Enlisted wurms and other beefcakes. Palladium myr, however, is not to be underestimated. Vulnerability vs interacting is what you have left. I prefer a body, but i certainly cant fault you otherwise.
Also, from a couple of days ago, those would be the two lands to cut, easily.
By the way, how has ancient tomb worked out?
Talking about artifacts, I am actually really interested in seeing inquisitor's flail. First strike dudes double power. Trampling becomes insanity. Evasion becomes... better.
I think the card is interesting. I initially thought it could double all damage, but then reality bit and gelectrode lost a new best friend. Does anyone think it could be good?
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First report
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Intangible virtue, originally the 23rd card in a scrappy UWr deck, totally housed. Didn't realize it gave vigilance. Yes, those were the best Assembly workers of all time. only three spells made tokens, but Raise the alarm, timely reinforcements, and the white shrine all were utterly brutal with the enchantment. Outstanding first impression.
I was listing cards that are better just because of the number of creatures that block them, but yes djinn gets the nod as well.
You shouldn't be disappointed by either one Jim, unless the opponent drops serra angel =p
My friend doesn't like shadow. At all. I'm inclined to agree with him, as its odd to have a bunch of creatures who are unblockable. But I don't want to lose looter il kor, I like infiltrator il kor, and the soltari smash bros are all-stars. Maybe one day I'll make that leap and sub them out. That isn't necessarily a bad idea, to tell the truth.
Oh, I love joraga treespeaker. I think she's permanently in the cube. I can test and see of having another mana dude. Might make some decks pretty sick. Elephant guide has been looked over for some time, and I think that might get out.
Nevermind. I took out some top end cards like arctic nishoba and one dozen eyes.
I noticed that black already has two pegasi that are better than vampire anteloper. Nezumi cutthroat and dauthi horror get blocked less than this guy, and having a third card that does the same thing but worse seemed to me as though I should just be using the slot to make the color more interesting. Screeching bat, here's your shot, taking over for Arrogant Bloodlord. The lord is going to get a lot worse with all the extra tokens I can make in the cube now.
Tormented soul, see you another day. Diregraf ghoul took your spot, easily.
while I'm on the subject. undead warchief is going to be subbed in once again. Crypt rats never panned out, and I have a few zombies coming in at the moment.
Thank you Jim. I was just trying to lead the discussion around to get through this season because we have a lot of ground to cover. We can take breaks in between the chunks of cards, since I see now that this is really going to take well over a week. Well over.
I haven't had a chance to play kor aeronaut, but he doesn't seem too bad. I "in and out" welkin guide because he ends up pushing 5-7 damage when he comes down all of the time. Aeronaut is triple white, for that effect though, and at double white I'd be much more inclined to just play a Pegasus. White knight is obnoxious in a good way, and even though I don't have burrenton bombadier in anymore, he wasn't too bad for me.
Edge of autumn might be my favorite green spell of all time. Right up there with tower above. I highly recommend it. As for avacyn's pilgrim, it definitely could replace a mana elf. I think having four in the cube (joraga treespeaker as the third) may be too many. Or not. Perhaps it could be healthy to try. As for replacements, Pelakka wurm doesn't get drafted a whole lot anymore but I'll be damned if it doesn't win a lot. I actually don't know what to get rid of without my cube here. Green has been really hard to make cuts out of for me.
Murder of crows vs air servant is a pretty good debate. I don't run air servant (spire monitor is in that space) but he is a solid dude. If you think another beefy blue body is needed, perhaps you have a superfluous counter or utility spell that's underperforming? You could try and play both. If you want to cut one, air servant has 3 toughness and which may actually be a big deal sometimes. Murder of crows doesnt beat serra angel and friends, but it at least draws a card when it trades and does much much better if there is any relevant ground action.
Sigh... "keep doing it" is a bit of a stretch. It isnt like I've been doing that since day one. It happened twice. The last time was probably necessary. I... I can't believe youre still going on about this.
Like have you considered... you know what. No. Im done talking about it. I'm done trying to reason that out to you because you dont get it. Can somebody else tel me if I legit stepped out of line, because i don't see it. I definitely dont see how I was anything short of civil. Now I'm just frustrated because you won't let this die.
Seriously. Im tired of having exceedingly logical standpoints and getting nowhere with you.
Anyway
Holy...
SO I still don't have my cube and I'm doing all of this out of my head.
So the cards that I have in front of me that are at least somewhat worth taking a look at are.
White
-
Cloistered youth
Fiend hunter
Intangible virtue
Midnight haunting
Thraben sentry
Village bell-ringer
Blue
-
Claustrophobia
Delver of secrets
Lantern spirit
Makeshift mauler
Murder of crows
Skaab goliath
Stitched drake
Black
-
Altars reap
Diregraf ghoul
Screeching bat
Vampire interloper
Red
-
Brimstone volley
Hanweir watchkeep
Reckless waif
Green
-
Ambush viper
Avacyn's pilgrim
Gastaf shepherd
Make a wish
Naturalize (strictly because this art is better than the other naturalizes)
Villagers of Estwald
Artifact
-
Galvanic juggernaut
Inquisitors flail
Multicolored
-
Unburial Rites
Forbidden alchemy
Of these, the ones with the most obviousness to them as far as I can see are Cloistered youth, reckless waif, murder of crows, Diregraf ghoul, vampire interloper, and perhaps avacyn's pilgrim. I suggest we start with these?
Cloistered youth just seems nasty, but I'm having trouble tryin to imagine what card comes out. My cube is getting bigger by either 5-7 or 10-12, depending on how many slots I can't seem to drop from the existing pool. I don't want my cube to end up at 800 cards by the time 2013 rolls around, but I have a hard time cutting, especially out of blue and black. So I'm going to buckle down one day, figure out whats the largest absolute minimum I can bear for a color, and even them out according to that standard.
In the meantime... I am running noble templar, and it is a beefy card for both reanimation and 3+ color control. But it hardly ever gets decked, so maybe it is time for it to pull out of my cube. My white based aggrieved decks have been poor, so I think it is time for me to solve that.
Reckless waif
After seeing how brutal this girl is, I see it as an auto include. My red based aggro has shown flashes of greatness, but it still isn't as good as my black or green. Odd? Yeah.
So I come around to thinking about volcanic dragon and death by dragons. Both are still in my cube right now, and it is time for me to axe one. I think Death by dragons is going to stay, for now. It beats so many creatures in the air. Like... all of them. It loses to into the roil, capsize, and... um... mistmeadow witch. But it is the biggest aerial threat in here, and that counts for a lot. Haste makes volcanic dragon aggro (obv), but why is my aggro deck playing that? I may rather just playing the card that completely dominates the board in my ramp or control deck and call it a day. Probably.
Murder of crows replaces air elemental in lists that have it, but I don't. I do however, have errant ephemeron, which hasn't worked out.
Avacyn's pilgrim I labeled as green because, let's be real, am I ever Not playing it because I'm not in in white? My green blue decks will play him just as much as my green whites.
I don't remember llanowar elves's green mattering in any cube match of mine, so they both could tap for colorless and theyd be nearly identical to their current form. Except this card let's you both splash and keep subpar hands, so I think its better. Also, I no longer have imperious perfect, so elf is irrelevant.
I am not running any guildmages anymore, but rakdos gm was about as good as the u/w.
I was referring to The Oni bouncing a persistant murderous redcap, which is awesome.
I also put in forked bolt over war marshal.
Absolutely, but... I need to find one. Murderous redcap? Ooooooh
Also, Calibretto, definitely dropping mogg war marshal. Need a replacement... no clue.
I just cannot wait til 5 mana to threaten a redirection effect. I asked the most seasoned player i knew and the best he could muster was "at least it beats split second". And then you have to hold 2 mana up, its just a lot of work.
Treason
Ive been using spur grappler. That card's good so far. But a 5 mana beefcake is less impressive than a 3 mana 4/2. 5 drops have to start winning games, and I don't know if this can on its own.
It was a group consensus that selesnya guildmage never did enough for 4 mana.
I completely forgot about aftershock. I'm running it and its awesome.
I love imperious perfect, but it never did enough. Squirrels nest dies far less often, and can be used right away.
Trygon predator may go in for lorescale coatl, but the snake does a very good job of... well... being really big. Simic signet could go, since a green signet feels a mote redundant.
Qasali pridemage surprised all of us by being not as amazing as it should've been. Wilt-leaf cavaliers went in its stead, and has thus-far been very solid. I wanted to keep my hybrid to true multicolor sections even, but it just didn't work out. All of those tri hybrid cards play more like true multicolors in the cube, and there isn't really anything I can do about it (this being the balance issue I can't solve. Well, technically I could, but I would have to run a subpar u/w card which is not happening, or I'd have to cut snakeform which is also not happening.)
Hull breach has way too much competition from the rest of the gruul cards for me, and I don't see using the 2 for 1 option a whole lot. My multicolor section is much smaller than yours, though, calibretto.
Jim, we ignore reminder text and obvious superfluous text with the editor (like "this creature is unaffected by summoning sickness" shortens to haste)
How has togglodyte been? It reminds me of Ogre Recluse, which I've been very interested in.
Speaking of kamigawa, has anyone tried oni of wild places?
What pieces of artifact hate do you have per color? I have naturalize, acidic slime, stomphowler, wickerbough elder, krosan grip, creeping mold
disenchant, oblivion ring, solemn offering (which I'd prefer to be return to dust)
shattering spree, smash, smash to smithereens, pillage, hearth ka
putrify, r/w hedgemage
I ran kor sanctifiers but to limited success. Four mana 2/3s just didn't get played often.
smash over manic vandal was tough, but off-curve the body seemed less relevant.
Here's one for you. Ive replaced fencer clique with lantern spirit? Do you agree?
Treason, what are your anthem effects? I want to make sure I have them all, except for kabira vindicator.
Also, correction from before - my last aura is canopy cover.
I'd take it out if I'd stop losing to it.
Oh
Concerning isochron
Exactly right
But about commander cards
Is there any reason why we shouldnt be able to use some of them? It seems arbitrary because of the nature of the release. Im not saying that we can just use edric, spymaster of trent, but I'm just complaining that a lot of cards could have easily qualified.
Meh. It's probably pointless.
How about that midnight haunting
But.
This one card caused me to throw off my cube's entire equilibrium. My cube apparently runs a bit less removal than most, so I would have had to notch it up a bit to compensate for this one card. Nobody passed it anymore, so it made random packs, that would otherwise be good packs, an automatic pick. If it stuck for a turn (or god forbid two), the game would be lost. So... I went **** it and just cut it. Behemoth's sledge has similar problems obv, but I've actually seen people fight through that card, and the color requirements help make it more fair as well. My drafts are a bit less swingy since its departure, and nobody has looked back. I can try it again... I suppose. I mean, of course I can always take it back out in the end if it too oppressive. I think the biggest reason why we dislike it is because we didn't like the only out to the card to be a naturalize (or... keldon halberdier). Unlike other game changing cards like lightning greaves and centaur glade, there seemed to be only one way to best it, and that was to straight up hate it. The cube has of course gotten stronger since the cut, so perhaps it can be great but fairish now.
Skullclamp, on the other hand, is good everytime but can also be built around. Squirrels nest is in my cube, and that was absolute insanity. God that was insane... I'm at work now, but off the top of my head I can think of a ton of throw-away dudes that turn into cards, like mana dorks in green, tokens in white, and a large supply of red low drops. Mogg war marshal? Sheeeesh! Christmas came early this year.
Isochron sceptre was once on my watchlist, and it is utterly backbreaking at times, but mostly on games where it seemed balls to the wall unfair with white based removal attached. Cards like aethersnipe can beat it though, so it lost its place on my list.
I am still looking for a sylvan library to test.
Maze of ith was crazy strong in the old rare cube I used to play with. I avoided even testing it, and it is $$$.
Sol ring was the most broken... piece of.... Talk about a lapse in judgment, Richard.
I would love a sinkhole, but yeah, $$$.
I'm sure the rares will play well, I'm just concerned about where you can concretely set your limits.
Take death by dragons. That was printed as an uncommon, but was printed in a special release. Why is death by dragons more uncommon than acorn catapult? I don't know.
Bonesplitter
Inquisitors flail
Trusty machete
Behemoth's sledge
Lightning greaves
Vulshok Morningstar
Sylvok lifestaff
Grafted wargear
And I may test cobbled wings.
Skullclamp was beyond absurd and loxadon warhammer had something like a 90% win rate so it got cut.
I tried opaline bracers but it was hardly played and felt hard to maximize. Leonin scimitar has not been tested.
If auras are relevant, I probably use more than most. Griffin and elephant guide, mammoth and drake umbra, pentarch ward, and of course rancor.
The average power of any relevant creature is just over 3.16 (i left out cards that wouldn't be equipped, such as gideons lawkeeper, and calciderm). Comparing any equipment to bonesplitter is unfair of course, so yes, it will be worse most days, but that shouldn't keep it out of contention.
So far it's been equipped in a black/red aggro build, on dauthi slayer, fledgling djinn, wretched anurid, gorhorn minotaurs, plated geopede, sengir vampire and probably other stuff that eludes memory. Having bonesplitter in the same deck was pretty nuts though, and the deck raped and raped and raped. It was hard to tell how good it really was, though being the big reason for three of the five games it was drawn was great. One of those was quite silly; it latched onto a leveled up Halimar wavewatch that was stolen with a threaten effect. Of course that can't happen very often. The other games involved normal scenarios. I'll keep trying.
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I have a lot of token production in white and green, and apparently you don't need a whole lot in your deck for this to be of use. Even in games where it only helped out raise the alarm, I felt like I got my mana's worth. It effectively doubles the usefulness of the small tokens, and even for something like a griffin guide token it makes the dude very threatening. Two mana for this kind of game impact is nice. Of course, more testing will always be had. I also don't mind if a card gets drafted less if it's in game impact can be notably significant (artisan of kozilek and the hondens are examples).
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One of these days I have to see if my Palladium myr would be better off as a noncreature card. I've seen such good things happen thanks to being a body, but perhaps not being one will make cards like slice and dice better for an archetype.
-----
Waiting to see if anyone else has an opinion on this stuff before I move on.
We are trying to be productive. seriously now. The fact that youd go back through and compile a list of my posting habits and then be even more unecessarily negative is just... ugh. The fact that this is still being posted about is abysmal.
The others may miss our debates, I might too one day, but if you did decide to stop visiting the thread at this point I'd be ok with that. I mean... it feels like forever since you've offered constructive conversation concerning moving cards in and out of cube. Even if it was only a couple days ago.
It sucks because now, I either have the choice to ignore your posts and be potentially called childish (since I'll no longer qualify as bossy, which is apparently your word of the month), or to respond to you and be annoyed for no good reason. I try to push for about a week of good constructive conversation with new product as the main entreé, and you couldn't have the decency to spare me from this issue for a weekend.
...
@ Jim
I went over it with my group after the event and they liked brimstone volley. I went through the cube and found out that a lot of guys just don't have exactly 4 toughness. So with that, and since it costs 3 all of the time, I am testing it over Flame javelin for now. The 4 toughness thing also got flame slash and fireblast pulled for other spells (i avoided incinerate for a while for no good reason).
It doesn't look bad, Jim. Not at all.
Worn powerstone. Not often i have to look something up.
*looks
Well hello there. My cube runs Ulamogs Crusher and Artisan of Cozy-lek, so I have been looking for a card like this for a long time. Palladium myr has been "good enough", and basalt monolith never really caught steam. You'd have to compare it to them. Monolith lets you get to Benthicore mana on turn 4 which is sick. This card keeps you there. If you run a few 7+ drops, id use the monolith to allow some degenerate/fun starts. If your cmcs tend to be more regular, powerstone looks better for casting Enlisted wurms and other beefcakes. Palladium myr, however, is not to be underestimated. Vulnerability vs interacting is what you have left. I prefer a body, but i certainly cant fault you otherwise.
Also, from a couple of days ago, those would be the two lands to cut, easily.
By the way, how has ancient tomb worked out?
Talking about artifacts, I am actually really interested in seeing inquisitor's flail. First strike dudes double power. Trampling becomes insanity. Evasion becomes... better.
I think the card is interesting. I initially thought it could double all damage, but then reality bit and gelectrode lost a new best friend. Does anyone think it could be good?
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First report
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Intangible virtue, originally the 23rd card in a scrappy UWr deck, totally housed. Didn't realize it gave vigilance. Yes, those were the best Assembly workers of all time. only three spells made tokens, but Raise the alarm, timely reinforcements, and the white shrine all were utterly brutal with the enchantment. Outstanding first impression.
You shouldn't be disappointed by either one Jim, unless the opponent drops serra angel =p
My friend doesn't like shadow. At all. I'm inclined to agree with him, as its odd to have a bunch of creatures who are unblockable. But I don't want to lose looter il kor, I like infiltrator il kor, and the soltari smash bros are all-stars. Maybe one day I'll make that leap and sub them out. That isn't necessarily a bad idea, to tell the truth.
Nevermind. I took out some top end cards like arctic nishoba and one dozen eyes.
I noticed that black already has two pegasi that are better than vampire anteloper. Nezumi cutthroat and dauthi horror get blocked less than this guy, and having a third card that does the same thing but worse seemed to me as though I should just be using the slot to make the color more interesting. Screeching bat, here's your shot, taking over for Arrogant Bloodlord. The lord is going to get a lot worse with all the extra tokens I can make in the cube now.
Tormented soul, see you another day. Diregraf ghoul took your spot, easily.
while I'm on the subject. undead warchief is going to be subbed in once again. Crypt rats never panned out, and I have a few zombies coming in at the moment.
I haven't had a chance to play kor aeronaut, but he doesn't seem too bad. I "in and out" welkin guide because he ends up pushing 5-7 damage when he comes down all of the time. Aeronaut is triple white, for that effect though, and at double white I'd be much more inclined to just play a Pegasus. White knight is obnoxious in a good way, and even though I don't have burrenton bombadier in anymore, he wasn't too bad for me.
Edge of autumn might be my favorite green spell of all time. Right up there with tower above. I highly recommend it. As for avacyn's pilgrim, it definitely could replace a mana elf. I think having four in the cube (joraga treespeaker as the third) may be too many. Or not. Perhaps it could be healthy to try. As for replacements, Pelakka wurm doesn't get drafted a whole lot anymore but I'll be damned if it doesn't win a lot. I actually don't know what to get rid of without my cube here. Green has been really hard to make cuts out of for me.
Murder of crows vs air servant is a pretty good debate. I don't run air servant (spire monitor is in that space) but he is a solid dude. If you think another beefy blue body is needed, perhaps you have a superfluous counter or utility spell that's underperforming? You could try and play both. If you want to cut one, air servant has 3 toughness and which may actually be a big deal sometimes. Murder of crows doesnt beat serra angel and friends, but it at least draws a card when it trades and does much much better if there is any relevant ground action.
Like have you considered... you know what. No. Im done talking about it. I'm done trying to reason that out to you because you dont get it. Can somebody else tel me if I legit stepped out of line, because i don't see it. I definitely dont see how I was anything short of civil. Now I'm just frustrated because you won't let this die.
Seriously. Im tired of having exceedingly logical standpoints and getting nowhere with you.
Anyway
Holy...
SO I still don't have my cube and I'm doing all of this out of my head.
So the cards that I have in front of me that are at least somewhat worth taking a look at are.
White
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Cloistered youth
Fiend hunter
Intangible virtue
Midnight haunting
Thraben sentry
Village bell-ringer
Blue
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Claustrophobia
Delver of secrets
Lantern spirit
Makeshift mauler
Murder of crows
Skaab goliath
Stitched drake
Black
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Altars reap
Diregraf ghoul
Screeching bat
Vampire interloper
Red
-
Brimstone volley
Hanweir watchkeep
Reckless waif
Green
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Ambush viper
Avacyn's pilgrim
Gastaf shepherd
Make a wish
Naturalize (strictly because this art is better than the other naturalizes)
Villagers of Estwald
Artifact
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Galvanic juggernaut
Inquisitors flail
Multicolored
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Unburial Rites
Forbidden alchemy
Of these, the ones with the most obviousness to them as far as I can see are Cloistered youth, reckless waif, murder of crows, Diregraf ghoul, vampire interloper, and perhaps avacyn's pilgrim. I suggest we start with these?
Cloistered youth just seems nasty, but I'm having trouble tryin to imagine what card comes out. My cube is getting bigger by either 5-7 or 10-12, depending on how many slots I can't seem to drop from the existing pool. I don't want my cube to end up at 800 cards by the time 2013 rolls around, but I have a hard time cutting, especially out of blue and black. So I'm going to buckle down one day, figure out whats the largest absolute minimum I can bear for a color, and even them out according to that standard.
In the meantime... I am running noble templar, and it is a beefy card for both reanimation and 3+ color control. But it hardly ever gets decked, so maybe it is time for it to pull out of my cube. My white based aggrieved decks have been poor, so I think it is time for me to solve that.
Reckless waif
After seeing how brutal this girl is, I see it as an auto include. My red based aggro has shown flashes of greatness, but it still isn't as good as my black or green. Odd? Yeah.
So I come around to thinking about volcanic dragon and death by dragons. Both are still in my cube right now, and it is time for me to axe one. I think Death by dragons is going to stay, for now. It beats so many creatures in the air. Like... all of them. It loses to into the roil, capsize, and... um... mistmeadow witch. But it is the biggest aerial threat in here, and that counts for a lot. Haste makes volcanic dragon aggro (obv), but why is my aggro deck playing that? I may rather just playing the card that completely dominates the board in my ramp or control deck and call it a day. Probably.
Murder of crows replaces air elemental in lists that have it, but I don't. I do however, have errant ephemeron, which hasn't worked out.
Avacyn's pilgrim I labeled as green because, let's be real, am I ever Not playing it because I'm not in in white? My green blue decks will play him just as much as my green whites.
I don't remember llanowar elves's green mattering in any cube match of mine, so they both could tap for colorless and theyd be nearly identical to their current form. Except this card let's you both splash and keep subpar hands, so I think its better. Also, I no longer have imperious perfect, so elf is irrelevant.
The other two... I'll get to. Too... tired....