MTG Salvation

I haven't posted here in ages, but this is the perfect place for a few questions I have:

Disrupt Decorum: This seems like a great board stall breaker, but how does it play out in practice? Is the first guy who has to attack just dead afterwards or is this card just too inconsistent?

Risk Factor: Have any of you played this? Seems like it could be decent in a few situations and the "flashback" is fun for GY decks. Is this more of a "depends on your players" type card?

Spitting Image: This card is really slow and probably too low power, but it fits into a lot of archetypes and is hybrid. Any recent experiences with it?

Trading Post: Same thoughts as above, slow and clunky but with lots of utility. I really like that it's a colorless discard outlet as white could get some help binning cards for Miraculous Recovery, Karmic Guide and Reveillark among others.

Thanks for the help!

You have a ton of good cards in here, but they almost all cost 5 mana or more mana. Your early plays don't defend you at all, so my advice would be to cut some top end for some defense like Spectral Procession or something. I would play more Benevolent Offerings because the life gain will help you stay alive!
I would also play the fourth Cathars' Crusade over the first Dictate of Heliod. Crusade is completely broken and will win you more games than the other.

I think the first thing you want to do is figure out if you want to play an instant/sorcery deck for Young Pyromancer or if you want to play a Prowess deck and play only the other 2.
It's probably a lot easier to do the prowess deck as artifacts, enchantments, planeswalkers all trigger to give you tokens. You could also play cards like Battle Screech or Sram's Expertise which give you multiple casts while still making tokens.

With Saheeli, you could also consider an artifact theme if you want to add cards like Shrine of Loyal Legions which work off casting multiple spells as well. Add in Sai, Master Thopterist, Spear of Heliod, Bident of Thassa and you have the beginning of a deck.

Anyways, good luck building a deck. I would try to make the most out of Monastery Mentor as that card is the most busted one there!

Hey, good to see you back.
I'm going to let someone else let you know about the new staples, because I avoid some (most) of them due to power level. So I haven't actually tested them out.

However looking at your cube, here is what I find "meh"
Arial Responder - Too vanilla for my taste. I think white has better alternatives
Frost Titan - Compared to other 6+CC cards in your cube, this card seems very tame.
Liliana's Specter - Not bad, but not exciting
Foul Renewal - Seems like an expensive recursion spell for no reason
Morbid Curiosity - Black has better card draw and better sac outlets than what this offers imo
Braid of Fire - Seems super niche
Ashcloud Phoenix - Vulnerable and not that easy to recur. There is a new phoenix from Ixalan: Rekindling Phoenix that seems more abusable
Deadbridge Goliath - Not bad, but not great either. I'd rather see something like Vizier of the Menagerie
Mindswipe - Holding up a lot of mana for a conditional counterspell doesn't get me going.

Other than that I could see myself playing most of the cards no questions asked. Sure some are missing from more recent sets, but this still looks fun.

Does anyone have experience with stax/prison archetypes in cube?
My playgroup said they were open to try for a while. I"m trying this for a 3 player FFA cube (one in signature is out of date).

In my mind this centers around the Mardu wedge.

In white, I have:

I'm missing Cataclysm, but I think it is just too difficult to defend against, so I don't want to include it. The white package can easily tie into aggro decks and I think it's important to have some cross between archetypes. I avoided Ghostly Prison and such, because I'm not a huge fan of how it plays out. But maybe I should be in a new mindset with the prison package.

Black has:

The cards here tie nicely with the sacrifice deck. I'd like a few more discard effects (thinking about Arterial Flow or Syphon Mind. I'm just not sure that the latter is worth it in 3 player FFAs).

In red I have:
The artifact deck can use the Wildfires to get a mana advantage, as well as complementing whites LD strategy. I could see myself cutting one of these for a Keldon Firebombers, but I'm afraid it could get out of hand with blink effects. Maybe Ember Swallower is an option? Ruination seems like a tougher to build around Armageddon, but might still be worth it!

Multicolored:
Razia's Purification is super powerful, but feels a little like Cataclysm, in that it will drag out games and is tough to build around. There is also Catch/Release, but it seems overpriced at 6 mana. Lastly Sire of Insanity might be a better fit than Angrath. It just feels like there is less play to him than the planeswalker.

Colorless:
I want to avoid Strip Mine, because it shuts off a lot of green's ramp (Utopia Sprawl, Wild Growth, Overgrowth), but I could see adding Wasteland.

I probably missed a bunch, but you get the idea.
So any thoughts or experiences with this archetype?

Thanks for the quick feedback!
Good call on Flamekin Village. I had forgotten about it. I also really like Anger. I feel it also "signals" better as red has GY payoff and synergies.

You are right for Wheel. It just didn't see much play lately so it got me thinking that maybe I was off on my evaluation.

While I'm at it:
Dusk Legion Zealot vs Gifted Aetherborn vs Nezumi Graverobber. Cut 1.

I like all 3 for different reasons (and therefore maybe my cut is elsewhere). Zealot is fine early and late but I really like that it can smooth out draws in the early game. But he might just be the weakest of the bunch. Aetherborn is the strongest of the 3, but is also less interesting since it's pretty generic. Plus there is the double black CC. But it's awesome early and late. Graverobber is a great mana sink and decent disruption, which is a lot for a 2 drop. I really don't think he is the cut.

Drake Haven in cube? Blue has tons of support for it, so do other colors. It seems like a sweet build around, but it is slow.
Vizier of Tumbling Sands: If Haven goes in, this guy could be decent. He cycles with upside, ramps and can even fuel nice Birthing Pod plays. Is he too low impact/power?

• Oracle of Mul Daya
  
• Master of the Wild Hunt
  
• Polukranos, World Eater
  
• Vengevine
  
• Vizier of the Menagerie
  
• Ripjaw Raptor

If you had to rank these? I think really like Polukranos, Vengevine and Oracle. The others are also great, but I could see myself cutting them. Raptor seems weakest, but I want to support Wildfire archetype (but maybe Polukranos is enough?).

Thoughts on some cards:

Anger vs Hamilar Battlements: I'm thinking of switching the land for Anger. Not that the land is bad, but the potential upside of Anger seems higher since it's a free activation. What I don't know how to factor in is land vs deck slot. How much more valuable is it being a land? Enough that it's still better than Anger?

Wheel of Fortune: Red is really bad at drawing cards, but wheel seems tough to play since it gives new cards to everybody. I support reanimator strategies, artifact.dec and have some fast mana (5 ABU moxen, Mox Diamond, Mana Vault, Grim Monolith). Is that enough to make up for the downside of giving everybody cards (we are talking 3-4 player FFA).
The other option is to cut it and replace it with a second Faithless Looting.

Thanks!

Thanks for the reviews Prid3, always an enlightening read.

I was wondering what your thoughts were on Drake Haven, Curator of Mysteries and Archfiend of Ifnir in cube.

Clearly, they aren't the most powerful cards out there, but they look like fun build arounds. In blue you already are going to be looting some way or another and Ifnir easily cycles early and is reasonable(ish) on 5. Curator seems like the safest inclusion since cycle one and a 4/4 body is always decent.

I'm thinking the payoff is probably too low for it to be worth it (this is for 3-4 player FFA games).

Agreed with KLT.

For example your Jund shard of cheating big creatures could look like:
Red: Sneak Attack, Feldon of the Third Path, Goblin Welder, Daretti, Scrap Savant
Black: Animate Dead, Living Death, Recurring Nightmare
Green: Oath of Druids, Selvala's Stampede, Pattern of Rebirth

Then in your Golgari guild, have cards that hint to the game plan. Grim Flayer and Lotleth Troll for example, both enable you to get your reanimation spells going. But they also might fit in your self-mill Sultai decks.Meren of Clan Nel Toth can potentially recur big things and is great in a sacrifice deck.
The red cheat spells all have cards sacrificed or sent to the graveyard. A Deathreap Ritual would synergize well with them.

Then you realize that Pattern of Rebirth and Recurring Nightmare go well in your Abzhan enchantment theme, so that is a great bonus. They even go in your sacrifice decks. Basically trying to layer as much as possible so that when you draft, you aren't drafting on rails as KLT mentioned.

Anyways, good luck! This is the fun part in cube

I think that knowing what you want to do with your sections is a good idea, but all 10 shard/wedges seem a lot (especially if you aren't sure what to do with a few).
Maybe pick 5 shard or wedges you want to support and flesh out all 10 of the guilds plan and how it works with your goal for each shard/wedge. Otherwise I'm afraid you are trying to do too much for a cube draft.

Here is my list:

• Scarab God
  
• God-Pharaoh's Gift
  
• Cut//Ribbons
  
• The Locust God
  
• Hour of Revelation
  
• Liliana, Death's Majesty
  
• Anointed Procession
  
• Glorybringer
  
• Neheb, the Eternal
  
• Ramunap Excavator

I tried once to go lower curve and cut some finishers for some more efficient beaters, but that wasn't well accepted in my playgroup. They enjoy some splashier plays, but I do like your approach!

What's your experience at 4 players in regards to glimpse vs sight draft?

We usually glimpse draft at 3 or 4 players, but sight drafting might be more strategic with 4 players since more than one pack comes back.

Thanks for the reply!

I didn't add Brainstorm, because it often isn't a great early play, but when you are desperate, you got to do what you got to do!
Green has Traverse the Ulvenwald and Oath of Nissa that are pretty good at fixing and have late game relevance. White has a few good ones like Land Tax, Oreskos Explorer, Knight of the White Orchard, and the other variants.

I'm not sure I understand how the rainbow lands help, but Thawing Glaciers could be playable (probably at lower power level than what I have though).

Hey all,

I wanted to talk about a subject that is particularly important to multiplayer cube design: mitigating variance. By that, I mostly mean mana screw since missing early land drops and falling behind in a 4+ player game is unforgiving, which can lead to a very boring experience if the player is taken out fast in an hour+ long game.

So, how can you reduce mana screw? First of all bounce lands and/or Temples can go a long way to helping. Beyond that, there are some cheap (CC wise) cards that filter/draw.
Preordain, Ponder,... Those are pretty much a lock in most cubes, but what about more marginal effects?
Do you think for example that Chart a Course is worth it? Not power-level wise (since blue has so many better draw spells), but in the aim to smooth out draws. Same with Night's Whisper, Tormenting Voice.

What else do you do to avoid non-games for your players?