MTG Salvation

I had run a small hybrid package of Minister of Impediments/Harvest Gwyllion/Rendclaw Trow/Snakeform before. They were all fine, but Gwyllion was extremely unimpressive. Going to try re-adding them, might go for Desecrator Hag over Trow though. I already play Frostburn Weird but as an Izzet card because UU or RR on a 2-drop is tough to swing if you're not both colors, and both colors have plenty of other options at 1U/1R/1G. I've been happy with it so far. YMMV. The way I managed that aforementioned 4 card package was cutting 1 card from each color involved, so 1 white 1 blue 1 black 1 green, counting each hybrid as "half" a card of each color. I know classifications always are murky and this won't work for everyone!

My current (tentative) update is
Spire Golem > Tandem Lookout
Skittering Horror > Falkenrath Noble
Warren Pilferers > Grixis Slavedriver
Searing Spear > Magma Jet
Fervent Cathar > Scorched Rusalka
Sprinting Warbrute > Scourge Devil
Branching Bolt > Burning-Tree Emissary
Hopeful Eidolon > Gift of Orzhova
Peregrine Drake > Snakeform
Mark of the Vampire > Minister of Impediments
Basking Rootwalla > Rendclaw Trow

I think I may want to try out Desecrator Hag over Trow and go back to Warren Pilferers over Gravedigger, as another option.

• Graceful Reprieve
  
• Pitfall Trap
  
• Grasp of Phantoms
  
• Tandem Lookout
  
• Cower in Fear
  
• Falkenrath Noble
  
• Gnawing Zombie
  
• Grixis Slavedriver
  
• Magma Jet
  
• Scorched Rusalka
  
• Scourge Devil
  
• Thunderous Wrath
  
• Revive
  
• Slime Molding
  
• Call of the Conclave
  
• Dinrova Horror
  
• Ground Assault
  
• Spike Jester
  
• Burning-Tree Emissary
  
• Gift of Orzhova

These are the new commons on my first pass through, let me know if I missed anything.

I'm immediately interested in Noble, Slavedriver, Jet, Rusalka, Devil, Horror, Jester, BTE and Gift. What a haul. Update's gonna be tough. Crazy that a 2-mana 3/3 might not crack the Selesnya section at 3 cards.

Not sure if Marionette Master is redundant, it's a very costly win condition but obviously a powerful one. Myr Battlesphere and Combustible Gearhulk both seem a little out of place in such a combo-focused build but also both get better with Displacer in the deck, so I'm not as sure about that.

Eldrazi Displacer goes infinite with Breya + Ashnod's Altar or KCI and should probably make its way into the list. I'd probably play Altar of the Brood as an alternative kill with that combo OR the Sharuum combo, since you can find it with Trinket Mage. Otherwise this looks very consistent and powerful.

Also doesn't get the Bestow creatures, and very notably Baleful Eidolon as a defensive measure. Neither is outright better, but both are pretty cool synergy pieces that I really like.

Quote from Night_Hydra »

1) I love Emp Croc. But I feel Solitary Hunter is better overall.
2) Did Freerunner underperform for you? Because it was always solid for us. And there is a bit of a functional diff between a 5cc and an often 2cc card especially in the decks that want each of them.
3) Nimbus Naiad -> Wretched Gryff
4) Werebear -> Grapple. Or any of the other land search/fixing

I can get behind Naiad yeah. Freerunner was always kind of awkward, not bad necessarily but it stuck out a little. I'm willing to give it another shot.

Grapple being an enabler for Werebear, and in fact Werebear being something I want to enable WITH Grapple, makes that swap a little awkward. Might be Satyr Wayfinder.

First draft of cube changes:
Vildin-Pack Outcasts > Goblin Freerunner
Brazen Wolves > Vestige of Emrakul
Borrowed Grace > Blinding Beam
Ironclad Slayer > Basilica Guards
Faithbearer Paladin > Staunch Defenders (would love some thoughts about this one)
Ingenious Skaab > Halimar Wavewatch

Additionally making a couple changes that I just hadn't gotten to yet:
Deputy of Acquittals > Feeling of Dread
Solitary Hunter > Emperor Crocodile
Cuombajj Witches > Skulking Ghost

There are a few of these that I'm not sure about because I haven't gotten to draft in a while so I'd love feedback. Grapple with the Past and Wretched Gryff were also both on my list but I couldn't find cuts that I was happy with on my first pass.

Yeah with the normalization of power level among commons in recent sets, former backbreakers like Capsize and even Sprout Swarm are less likely to dominate a game on their own. The way I describe it when asked about them by some of my drafters who might remember them in their own limited formats, is that yes those cards will often close out a game, but it's gotten increasingly hard for the game to get to that point by accident. Sprout Swarm can still take over a board, sure, but just casting Capsize every turn is often not going to be enough without some backup from the rest of the deck and some work done during deck construction and drafting to enable it. Having a stallbreaker like that available is important for a control deck since the inevitability tools a lot of higher power cubes have, like planeswalkers or what have you, just don't exist at common. Dropping them for power concerns is honestly a mistake, i feel.

Another nice enabler for a green-based graveyard/recursion strategy, but still missing some payoff... though I think we've reached the point where it's time for Tortured Existence to come back to the cube along with Golgari Brownscale? Werebear's already back in, what other ways can you pay off a drafter for enabling this kind of strategy?

I like this one.

Quote from Leelue »

Warren pilferers is not better than the meld card by my estimation. The new card is a possible fit in am aggressive-midrange deck, with cards like fire imp or what have you.

Warren Pilferers does not do what you think it does and is in fact better than the new meld guy.

Wretched Gryff sacrificing an Omenspeaker to be a 4-drop, or a Pacifismed creature to let you cheat on mana, sounds like a pretty strong play. I worry about its average case though.

Yeah I can't ever imagine putting that card into my deck, much less using a draft pick on it. Note, it doesn't work with retrace because you're discarding a card as a cost, not due to an effect.

Quote from metalevolence »

Quote from Al_Z_Heimer »

@metalevolence:
I can't think of anything, Runner hasn't said already.

was hoping people might comment on some of the card choices ¯\_(OwO)_/¯

The only one that I'm concerned about as being too strong in the environment you're describing is Stromkirk Noble, you've obviously got a lot of relatively narrow cards for archetypes, some of them would be fine and are effects I'd like to have at common, some of them are perhaps too narrow/slow like Oath of the Ancient Wood, Three Dreams.

You're obviously going deep on some of the themes we've already been talking about pushing like enchantments and sacrifice, adding some key components (cheap creatures, payoff cards) for archetypes that could use some support at common. I understand what you're pushing for and could turn into a nice discussion about the KIND of effects that we're missing at this rarity, and I'd be very interested to follow the project, but I think it should go in its own thread rather than here.

Drafting with 4 players is definitely doable with 360, and depending on the drafting method you choose it gives you a lot more freedom to include archetype cards if you want. I "tenchester" my own cube with 4 people (make 36 packs of 10, open them face up one at a time, each take 1 card from the pack, get rid of the rest, repeat) and the decks become really powerful and fun, but because of the redundancy required for aggressive archetypes to exist in a typical 8-person draft, there's a lot of stuff that just gets passed over because it has very similar power level to other cards. Trimming some of those cards for narrower synergy-based effects would improve the draft experience overall if this is the way you would want to run your events, since it allows for a higher number of meaningful decisions to occur. Look into other draft variants for smaller groups, see what you like, and consider making a few changes if you want to, but the base 360 cube will still work.