Did anyone consider Assemble the Legion for his/her cube? For your information I run a 615 unpowered modernfaced cube with 7 card-guild sections. I am not sure that this card is actually good enough but I am willing to give it a try after getting smashed by it at a regular draft.
This is why:
- The effect is very strong. If not removed, this enchantment will take over the game. (Even if you remove all tokens at once with a wrath-effect, they will come back and fast! This enchantment doesn't produce a token per turn, but as many tokens as there are muster counters on it and with haste. Everybody can read the card of course, but some people seem to overlook the differences with similar cards )
- Being an enchantment, it's not easily removed.
- It's kind of versatile. It can be used in control decks as a wincondition and as a sideboardcard in other decks against control decks. When played in a control-deck, it's probably an UW-deck with a splash for red.
- Tokenmakers have several synergies in most cubes.
Why not?:
- The biggest downside of this card is of course it's cost. This card is slow. Normally it's going to take at least 5/6 turns before you start producing tokens. It isn't something that can impact the board the turn you play it, let alone when you're drawing it.
I run it in my unpowered Modernframe cube. When we do 1-on-1 Winchester Drafts it's a great card. I just does everything :D. In powered cubes or even normal rarecubes it is probably too slow. Not sure if I will continue to run it, but it sure is a fun card when it works.
I also run a milltheme in my cube. Furthermore I run a selfmilltheme (I really liked this archetype in Innistrad, so I wanted to get this in my cube as well) and a reanimationtheme so that the graveyard matters in several ways. It makes cards like Glimpse the Unthinkable less narrow, so I am pretty satisfied with the milltheme thusfar.
Other cards that work pretty well as a millcard but also have other uses are Mindshrieker and Blue Sun's Zenith for instance.
I also used Jace 3.0, but a lot of people didn't like him (too powerful, not interactive enough).
I was kind of wary if the milltheme would be picked up, but at my last draft someone got to the finals with a pretty good UB control deck with his primary wincondition being milling. Pretty cool.
Until now an UR-mill deck wasn't drafted, but I have cards like Wheel of Fortune, Reforge the Soul, Windfall and Memory Jar in the cube, so I think it's a real possibilty.
What do you guys think about Lazav, Dimir Mastermind btw? He seems like a very flavourful card. I am going to give him at least a try, although I am not sure if he's good enough. Not being able to copy something in your own graveyard makes him probably too narrow even in my cube. Nice card nevertheless.
I also run a modern-face cube! It's kind of fun to have some limitations. Originally I wanted a modern-face cube because I don't own that much original duals, and didn't want to buy them. Now I also like the fact it's a modern-face cube because it makes for a different draft environment than other rarecubes.
I started out with a small tribal theme (vampires, zombies and humans) but it didn't work. People weren't drafting it even it was totally open, because it just wasn't powerful enough. Without the tribal aspect it left black somewhat in the dark. I am trying the pox-theme, but it lacks Braids, Smokestack and pox itself, so I am not sure if it's going to work. I really would like more recursive creatures like Bloodghast, Gravecrawler, Nether Traitor and Reassembling Skeleton. I run cards like Innocent Blood, Smallpox, Attrition and Deathcloud. Very curious if it will work. I see you also run some of those cards. Are you happy about them? I run a reanimatortheme as well.
Anyway, nice to see a cubelist with the same limitations.
I really would like more lifegain in black to make some of the lifecosting black cards better, but I am not sure that this card fits the bill. Still hoping for a more powerful extortion card. The mechanic is much wanted in my cube.
Inferno Titan is way better and that is without looking at the mana cost.
I think that if he costed 6 mana he would definitely go in my cube. If he had haste maybe. I think he should've gotten haste btw. I proxied one for my cube to try him out. Somebody used Sneak Attack to play this guy to kill me in one turn. But either haste or a lower casting cost would make this card a lot more playable and even pretty good I think.
Since I support a graveyard theme and milling theme in my cube I am strongly considering this card. He seems like a lot of fun. Finding a spot could be difficult though. I am certainly giving him a try.
I think the oppposite is true. I think the Jace decks presence in the metagame is understated by his price/limited supply. If anyone could get a hold of him he would be in 90% of the decks played at any tournament.
Like I said, i am not saying Jace isn't overpowered. I am just saying the power of the Cawblade-deck itself is a bit overstated.
Jace is indeed overpowered, but I think the power of caw-blade itself is a bit overstated. I think these are reasons:
1) A lot of players play Caw-blade at SCG Opens, so it's logical that such a good deck makes top-8 a lot.
2) A lot of the best players in the SCG-opens play Caw-blade. That does two things for the deck. It enlarges the chances of the deck making top-8 since the best players play it and by that more people will play it because of it's succes.
3) A lack of creativity. When LSV, Ben Stark and so on went to PT Paris, they build a deck that could beat Valakut, the Boogeyman of that time. The majority of the players however go to SCG Opens playing the Boogeyman in stead of trying to beat the Boogeyman. There are just not enough Larry Swasey's, Ali Aintrazi's or Harrison Greenberg's in these Opens and existing decks aren't adjusted enough. There is also a difference between an entire CF-playtesting team trying to break a format and a singleton talented deckbuilder I must admit.
4) The US are 'just' a (big) local meta. GP Barcelona proved that the meta can be quite different if the tournament isn't located in the US.
I would use Memnites over Salvage Scouts. I probably would replace two Gold Myrs with two Mox Opals. It will add to the explosiveness of the deck.
I count 24 lands in your deck. With such a low curve you probably can do with less. I would cut the Glimmerposts and probably would like to add Molten-Tail Masticore. Maybe just like an one-off. Furthermore since you only use the Steel Overseer and Tempered Steel to enhance your creatures, it could be worth it to add an equipment package. Stoneforge Mystic and something like Darksteel Axe, but I am not sure. Sword of Body and Mind seems to expensive in this deck. Ajani Goldmane may be interesting in this deck also.
I see that C. Woods used three Elspeths in his deck. Wouldn't Ajani Goldmane be a solid choice for the 'Soul Sister'-deck also? All his abilities have great synergy with the deck.
I like the new Extended as well, but there aren't any tournaments to play in. Only the Pro Tour in Amsterdam (where I live), but I didn't qualify for that.
What I like about the new Extended is that it is a lot more accessible. I started with M10, and didn't even think about playing Extended. Now it's a lot easier since I don't have to buy a lot of extra cards.
the first list is from Raphael Levy's SCG article today and is from a Japanese player who both him and Levy bombed out at GP DC with.
The other list is Flores super janky list.
I've tested both and the Levy list just gets chump blocked all day long (which is why conscription is better) and the flores list has a huuuuuge clump at the 4cc slot and just didn't flow well. you would get draws where you could make 6 mana with a cobra, but have two 4 drops in your hand and constantly feel like you were wasting mana or not able to do anything really explosive.
trust me, i wanted them to work as im kinda bored with the conscription lists and wanted to find some tech.
ive seen some conscription lists running two Ranger Of Eos in the sbrd, but with nothing other than birds/hierarch to fetch with them (ie not a vengevine build).. anyone know why?
Well, in my short testing i was kind of underwhelmed by the Flores' build, but I didn't do nearly enough testing to say anything definite about it. I believe you when you say they aren't better than the original Mythic Conscription, but it still would be interesting to see it playtested by several people some more.
This is why:
- The effect is very strong. If not removed, this enchantment will take over the game. (Even if you remove all tokens at once with a wrath-effect, they will come back and fast! This enchantment doesn't produce a token per turn, but as many tokens as there are muster counters on it and with haste. Everybody can read the card of course, but some people seem to overlook the differences with similar cards
- Being an enchantment, it's not easily removed.
- It's kind of versatile. It can be used in control decks as a wincondition and as a sideboardcard in other decks against control decks. When played in a control-deck, it's probably an UW-deck with a splash for red.
- Tokenmakers have several synergies in most cubes.
Why not?:
- The biggest downside of this card is of course it's cost. This card is slow. Normally it's going to take at least 5/6 turns before you start producing tokens. It isn't something that can impact the board the turn you play it, let alone when you're drawing it.
What do you guys think of this card?
Leeched image replaced.
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Other cards that work pretty well as a millcard but also have other uses are Mindshrieker and Blue Sun's Zenith for instance.
I also used Jace 3.0, but a lot of people didn't like him (too powerful, not interactive enough).
I was kind of wary if the milltheme would be picked up, but at my last draft someone got to the finals with a pretty good UB control deck with his primary wincondition being milling. Pretty cool.
Until now an UR-mill deck wasn't drafted, but I have cards like Wheel of Fortune, Reforge the Soul, Windfall and Memory Jar in the cube, so I think it's a real possibilty.
What do you guys think about Lazav, Dimir Mastermind btw? He seems like a very flavourful card. I am going to give him at least a try, although I am not sure if he's good enough. Not being able to copy something in your own graveyard makes him probably too narrow even in my cube. Nice card nevertheless.
I also run a modern-face cube!
I started out with a small tribal theme (vampires, zombies and humans) but it didn't work. People weren't drafting it even it was totally open, because it just wasn't powerful enough. Without the tribal aspect it left black somewhat in the dark. I am trying the pox-theme, but it lacks Braids, Smokestack and pox itself, so I am not sure if it's going to work. I really would like more recursive creatures like Bloodghast, Gravecrawler, Nether Traitor and Reassembling Skeleton. I run cards like Innocent Blood, Smallpox, Attrition and Deathcloud. Very curious if it will work. I see you also run some of those cards. Are you happy about them? I run a reanimatortheme as well.
Anyway, nice to see a cubelist with the same limitations.
I think that if he costed 6 mana he would definitely go in my cube. If he had haste maybe. I think he should've gotten haste btw. I proxied one for my cube to try him out. Somebody used Sneak Attack to play this guy to kill me in one turn. But either haste or a lower casting cost would make this card a lot more playable and even pretty good I think.
Like I said, i am not saying Jace isn't overpowered.
1) A lot of players play Caw-blade at SCG Opens, so it's logical that such a good deck makes top-8 a lot.
2) A lot of the best players in the SCG-opens play Caw-blade. That does two things for the deck. It enlarges the chances of the deck making top-8 since the best players play it and by that more people will play it because of it's succes.
3) A lack of creativity. When LSV, Ben Stark and so on went to PT Paris, they build a deck that could beat Valakut, the Boogeyman of that time. The majority of the players however go to SCG Opens playing the Boogeyman in stead of trying to beat the Boogeyman. There are just not enough Larry Swasey's, Ali Aintrazi's or Harrison Greenberg's in these Opens and existing decks aren't adjusted enough. There is also a difference between an entire CF-playtesting team trying to break a format and a singleton talented deckbuilder I must admit.
4) The US are 'just' a (big) local meta. GP Barcelona proved that the meta can be quite different if the tournament isn't located in the US.
I count 24 lands in your deck. With such a low curve you probably can do with less. I would cut the Glimmerposts and probably would like to add Molten-Tail Masticore. Maybe just like an one-off. Furthermore since you only use the Steel Overseer and Tempered Steel to enhance your creatures, it could be worth it to add an equipment package. Stoneforge Mystic and something like Darksteel Axe, but I am not sure. Sword of Body and Mind seems to expensive in this deck. Ajani Goldmane may be interesting in this deck also.
Good luck with the deck!
What I like about the new Extended is that it is a lot more accessible. I started with M10, and didn't even think about playing Extended. Now it's a lot easier since I don't have to buy a lot of extra cards.
Well, in my short testing i was kind of underwhelmed by the Flores' build, but I didn't do nearly enough testing to say anything definite about it. I believe you when you say they aren't better than the original Mythic Conscription, but it still would be interesting to see it playtested by several people some more.