Wow, I am really blown away at the great feedback.
This weekend I am recording the set review for Return to Ravnica. It's my first solo venture, so I don't know how long it'll be or if it will work out just recording by myself. My hope is to have it up at Gathering Magic early next week. I am going to cover about 60 cards as a part of the review. If there are any odd ones that you don't think will make my list, make sure you let me know and I'll be sure to cover them! Remember, I don't always looks at cards in the context of other lists. A lot of Pauper/Peasant cards, for instance, slip under the radar.
Thanks again, I am truly humbled at the response the show has received so far.
Well, what I've seen so far has been well done and even if I don't always agree with your perspective you make your arguments well. It's been good work so far, so the response is well deserved.
Sad to see Life/Death and Blightning go. I also like Ember Hauler quite a bit.
What about losing Fireball or Aftershock, Putefy, and Terminate instead?
Cheers,
rant
Life // Death may possibly return depending on how I envision Golgari and its relation to my black section (likewise Putrid Leech may return if I want to go the B/G aggro route). If I push reanimator again it will return.
A Fireball rather than Ember Hauler cut has been on my mind all day, so get out of my mind Professor X!
Awesome review once again wtwlf, a pleasure to read.
It's a good sign that a set is awesome when a 2 power for one hybrid mana creature is only outranked because there happens to be another 2 power for one hybrid mana creature.
With 5 lands per guild, do you find that the guild-fixing lands are often 14-15th picks a lot of the time? I ask because I was thinking of going back up to 5. When I was at 5 last time, this happened, but now there are better lands available for the guilds. I'm curious as to what your experience is. Thanks.
Cheers,
rant
Sometimes you'll see a land at the end of a pack, but not to the point where you fell as though packs are flooded with fixing and 5 color decks are rampant. Five per guild feels right (at 500), and I've actually added Terramorphic Expanse and Evolving Wilds recently to buttress my fixing even further. In the end I think I'd rather have a little bit too much fixing than too little.
I gave it a shot it recently and found that the overall life bleed element of black, a hefty mana cost of 5 mana, mixed with the general life attrition inherent in most games just made Hatred not worth the effort.
I'm surprised to see that no one like the Judge promo. For me, it's Judge>FTV>Original. The original is just creepy to me as an artwork. I don't like it at all.
The creepy is the main selling point to me. It's a pretty interesting interpretation of a maze you've gotta admit that much.
I like your changes in preparation for the rest of this awesome set to come out. I can't say I'd be disappointed losing any of the cards you cut when you're gonna have a lot of great cards to add soon.
RtR is shaping up to be a pretty sick set, our guild sections will never be the same.
By the way, you have my favorite name + avatar combo on the forum. Just wanted to point that out =)
Thanks (magnet)man, your combo is pretty sweet as well. I actually never wanted to be the King of the bullywugs, but after a freak accident involving a Decanter of Endless Water and a Bag of Infinite Pop-Rocks killed the rest of the bullywug royal family I was the only one left to take the throne (being 1/16th royal bullywug on my mothers side).
Well, if I wasn't seen as a nerd before, I sure as hell am now....
That's not true at all. Life is a great spell that's good in a ton of situations. People who don't have any experience playing with Life // Death often feel this way. But both sides are super relevant. It's just as relevant as the Ice side of Fire // Ice, maybe moreso because the reanimation option isn't always ideal.
I agree, I like the "Life" element quite a bit. That being said, it's still too bad that "Death" has to be cut, since it's considerably more powerful than reanimator cards get nowadays.
Here are my changes to adapt my cube to the upcoming release of Return to Ravnica. What that means is I'm cutting 2 cards from my mono-colored sections (reducing each to 66 cards) and adding one to each guild.
I know that some of my guild additions are sub-par (like Watchwolf and Frenetic Efreet) but they're only placeholders for a few weeks until the RtR update.
At first blush, I'd probably put her into the same mix as Life // Death, Putrefy, & Putrid leech in competing for the 4 and 5 slots in my Golgari multi mix. Her -3 is fantastic, and I do believe her ultimate will steal a game here and there, but I find that her +1 is a bit too do-little rattlesnake for my tastes. The 5 mana cost also can't be ignored, as it's already a bit congested , particularly in green. That being said, she's probably going to take my #4 or #5 slot.
I prefer the 2 P-Arena type creatures (Bloodgift Demon + Graveborn Muse) to all the cards that you want to add. If you are pushing reanimator to a point where you want to run Entomb, Dance of the Dead and Living Death, cutting Exhume seems wrong.
The arena creatures don't particularly excite me to be honest. Dance of the Dead and Living Death are both on the cusp, but remain because of applications outside of straight up reanimator. That being said, maybe I'm being a bit too safe in the reanimator cuts and should explore other options.
Barbarian Ring and other aggressive threshold cards don't really work that well in cube, where you don't have a bazillion fetchlands, efficient selfmill cards or don't necessarily want to pair it with blue for cantrips. It is more as some kind of reach for the lategame. Paying life in an aggro deck is less problematic*, but if it does not generate an immediate benefit + is in no relation to the effect that you are getting in return, it is far less attractive. (*you might still get paired against other aggressive decks though and even against midrange decks it can be a full turn that they can kill you faster after the board is stabilized.)
In related news: If you think that it is realistic to get to 7 cards in the graveyard in R+G, you absolutely can get to 20 in the library for Shelldock Isle, which gives you a far better effect than Shock.
I've been looking at Shelldock Isle actually, and only haven't re-added it because I actually don't own one at the moment. I'll give your thoughts on threshold careful consideration.
I guess you can figure out my rating for the threshold cards in green based on the comment about Barbarian Ring. As for Werebear, I would rather have Green Sun's Zenith, which can also give you a 2 mana Llanowar Elf and a creature that is far better than a 4/4 vanilla later.
Cutting 2 3 mana creatures looks bad for your mana curve, since that way, you'd be running the same number of 3 mana dudes as 5 mana creatures.
I include GSZ already, but your point still makes sense. I'll give it some thought. You may be right about the curve.
Shardless Agent seems like a good choice for an UG deck with little countermagic - especially in a powered list.
I would much rather have a 3 mana card in BR than a 5 if you look at the typical decks in this color and the card quality at this cost.
Quick G/U decks have been popular in these parts lately, which is why I'm giving the agent a chance, so you're spot on there. I've never liked Bituminous Blast much, but I've not been liking Blightning either. Maybe Blazing Specter could be a happy medium?
Thanks a lot eidolon, I genuinely appreciate the feedback/critique.
Note that this update modifies a few earlier changes, but finally consolidates roughly a months worth of adjustments.
Also, I'm cutting one card out of each colored section to add a total of 5 cards to my Universal section, and I'm re-instituting my moratorium on P3K cards simply because of the price of the cards (this could change in the future of course).
Ajani is a M13 addition that I finally acquired, and Norn has been tested and praised enough by the cube community to warrant inclusion. I really like Akrasan Squire but it is easily one of the weaker cards in my cube, so the little squire that could will have to sit on the bench. Outpost is a card that I like but my playgroup doesn't, so it's out too. Karmic Guide just won't take here, and I'm tired of trying, so with all due respect to her fans she's out.
Spell Pierce is an experiment, Power Sink is a pet card of mine that I snuck in for a bit but can sit out again, and Intuition is primarily a reanimator support card, a strategy which I'm cutting back on again.
I want to try out a few different cards in black and cut down on the life bleed that permeates the section. I'm removing some support for the reanimator archetype by cutting Exhume and Raven's Crime. Exhume is more narrow than I like, and Raven's Crime just wasn't quite good enough outside of its role as a graveyard enabler.
A lot of people like Searing Blaze, so I'm going to give it a shot. I've read some good stuff regarding Stonewright so I'll give it a shot as well, in spite of my skepticism. Barbarian Ring is returning for another round as part of my threshold experiment. I really don't like echo on aggro 1-drops so the Goblin Patrol gets booted again after I let it back in. Fire Ambush is being cut because of my P3K moratorium and because it's pretty redundant. Rivalry is out again, but such is the work of a cube journeyman. Slaughtermaster was OK but really needed a power boost to make him (it?) worthwhile and ended up being more narrow than I would have liked.
From what I hear Natural Order is a good card, so it's in. 'Goose and Werebear are cards that I'm adding to see how well threshold will work in my current cube environment (again I'm skeptical). My cuts are basically 4 cards that have been underperforming.
I like what Putrefy does more than Life // Death so I'm swapping it back in. Kessig Wolf Run was too mana intensive for my tastes, and Flinthoof Boar seems a perfect fit for how I envision Gruul in my cube. Shardless Agent seems like an odd addition, but I've decided to see for myself why Usman is praising the card and if such praise is warranted. Mystic Snake is a top Simic card for many, but it doesn't get the love that the other Simic cards get in these parts (which is still a lot of love) so it'll sit out, for the time being anyway. I've been unimpressed with Blightning lately so I'm giving Bit. Blast another chance.
Well, what I've seen so far has been well done and even if I don't always agree with your perspective you make your arguments well. It's been good work so far, so the response is well deserved.
I look forward to your RtR review.
Cheers!
Life // Death may possibly return depending on how I envision Golgari and its relation to my black section (likewise Putrid Leech may return if I want to go the B/G aggro route). If I push reanimator again it will return.
A Fireball rather than Ember Hauler cut has been on my mind all day, so get out of my mind Professor X!
I don't particularly dig Blightning, and I still really dig Terminate.
I'm going to be doing a non-RtR related shake up really soon as well, so a couple of RtR changes and additions will be mixed amongst it.
Thanks for the feedback rant.
Cheers!
Update: I've swapped the Ember Hauler cut for Fireball, as suggested.
+ Precinct Captain
- Nearheath Pilgrim
Blue
No change
Black
+ Pack Rat
- Blood Artist
Red
+ Ash Zealot
- Ember Hauler
Green
+ Deadbridge Goliath
- Yeva, Nature's Herald
Universal
+ Chromatic Lantern
- Jinxed Choker
Guild
+ Detention Sphere
+ Supreme Verdict
+ Abrupt Decay
+ Lotleth Troll
+ Izzet Charm
+ Dreadbore
+ Rakdos Cackler
+ Dryad Militant
- Absorb
- Azorius Guildmage
- Life // Death
- Putrid Leech
- Frenetic Efreet
- Blazing Specter
- Blightning
- Watchwolf
Other cards of interest
Azorius Arrester
Cyclonic Rift
Faerie Imposter
Jace, Architect of Thought
Desecration Demon
Thrill-Kill Assassin
Ultimate Price
Gore-House Chainwalker
Mizzium Mortars
Brushstrider
Armada Wurm
Dreg Mangler
Goblin Electromancer
Hypersonic Dragon
Loxodon Smiter
Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
Selesnya Charm
Treasured Find
Vraska the Unseen
Deathrite Shaman
Judge's Familiar
Rakdos Shred-Freak
Sundering Growth
Azorius Keyrune
Izzet Keyrune
Cheers!
It's a good sign that a set is awesome when a 2 power for one hybrid mana creature is only outranked because there happens to be another 2 power for one hybrid mana creature.
Sometimes you'll see a land at the end of a pack, but not to the point where you fell as though packs are flooded with fixing and 5 color decks are rampant. Five per guild feels right (at 500), and I've actually added Terramorphic Expanse and Evolving Wilds recently to buttress my fixing even further. In the end I think I'd rather have a little bit too much fixing than too little.
Not one bit.
Cheers!
The creepy is the main selling point to me. It's a pretty interesting interpretation of a maze you've gotta admit that much.
RtR is shaping up to be a pretty sick set, our guild sections will never be the same.
Thanks (magnet)man, your combo is pretty sweet as well. I actually never wanted to be the King of the bullywugs, but after a freak accident involving a Decanter of Endless Water and a Bag of Infinite Pop-Rocks killed the rest of the bullywug royal family I was the only one left to take the throne (being 1/16th royal bullywug on my mothers side).
Well, if I wasn't seen as a nerd before, I sure as hell am now....
Cheers!
I agree, I like the "Life" element quite a bit. That being said, it's still too bad that "Death" has to be cut, since it's considerably more powerful than reanimator cards get nowadays.
Back to Vraska, she's my #4 slot for sure.
Non-Guild changes
+ Hell's Thunder
+ Carven Caryatid
+ Blightning
- Ghitu Slinger
- Ulvenwald Tracker
- Bituminous Blast
Guild expansion changes
+ Azorius Guildmage
+ Goblin Trenches
+ Lim-Dûl's Vault
+ Life // Death
+ Sarkhan Vol
+ Frenetic Efreet
+ Stillmoon Cavalier
+ Blazing Specter
+ Watchwolf
+ Mystic Snake
- Harm's Way
- Mikaeus, the Lunarch
- Spell Pierce
- Ancestral Vision
- Innocent Blood
- Dance of the Dead
- Searing Blaze
- Barbarian Ring
- Nimble Mongoose
- Werebear
I know that some of my guild additions are sub-par (like Watchwolf and Frenetic Efreet) but they're only placeholders for a few weeks until the RtR update.
Cheers!
Cheers!
The arena creatures don't particularly excite me to be honest. Dance of the Dead and Living Death are both on the cusp, but remain because of applications outside of straight up reanimator. That being said, maybe I'm being a bit too safe in the reanimator cuts and should explore other options.
I've been looking at Shelldock Isle actually, and only haven't re-added it because I actually don't own one at the moment. I'll give your thoughts on threshold careful consideration.
I include GSZ already, but your point still makes sense. I'll give it some thought. You may be right about the curve.
Quick G/U decks have been popular in these parts lately, which is why I'm giving the agent a chance, so you're spot on there. I've never liked Bituminous Blast much, but I've not been liking Blightning either. Maybe Blazing Specter could be a happy medium?
Thanks a lot eidolon, I genuinely appreciate the feedback/critique.
Cheers!
Also, I'm cutting one card out of each colored section to add a total of 5 cards to my Universal section, and I'm re-instituting my moratorium on P3K cards simply because of the price of the cards (this could change in the future of course).
White
+ Ajani, Caller of the Pride
+ Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
- Akrasan Squire
- Kjeldoran Outpost
- Karmic Guide
Ajani is a M13 addition that I finally acquired, and Norn has been tested and praised enough by the cube community to warrant inclusion. I really like Akrasan Squire but it is easily one of the weaker cards in my cube, so the little squire that could will have to sit on the bench. Outpost is a card that I like but my playgroup doesn't, so it's out too. Karmic Guide just won't take here, and I'm tired of trying, so with all due respect to her fans she's out.
Blue
+ Spell Pierce
- Power Sink
- Intuition
Spell Pierce is an experiment, Power Sink is a pet card of mine that I snuck in for a bit but can sit out again, and Intuition is primarily a reanimator support card, a strategy which I'm cutting back on again.
Black
+ Abyssal Persecutor
+ Disciple of Bolas
+ Innocent Blood
+ Blood Artist
+ Liliana of the Dark Realms
- Bloodgift Demon
- Graveborn Muse
- Hatred
- Raven's Crime
- Exhume
- Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
I want to try out a few different cards in black and cut down on the life bleed that permeates the section. I'm removing some support for the reanimator archetype by cutting Exhume and Raven's Crime. Exhume is more narrow than I like, and Raven's Crime just wasn't quite good enough outside of its role as a graveyard enabler.
Red
+ Searing Blaze
+ Stonewright
+ Barbarian Ring
- Goblin Patrol
- Fire Ambush
- Rivalry
- Viashino Slaughtermaster
A lot of people like Searing Blaze, so I'm going to give it a shot. I've read some good stuff regarding Stonewright so I'll give it a shot as well, in spite of my skepticism. Barbarian Ring is returning for another round as part of my threshold experiment. I really don't like echo on aggro 1-drops so the Goblin Patrol gets booted again after I let it back in. Fire Ambush is being cut because of my P3K moratorium and because it's pretty redundant. Rivalry is out again, but such is the work of a cube journeyman. Slaughtermaster was OK but really needed a power boost to make him (it?) worthwhile and ended up being more narrow than I would have liked.
Green
+ Natural Order
+ Nimble Mongoose
+ Werebear
- Pouncing Jaguar
- Ohran Viper
- Wolfir Avenger
- Wild Growth
From what I hear Natural Order is a good card, so it's in. 'Goose and Werebear are cards that I'm adding to see how well threshold will work in my current cube environment (again I'm skeptical). My cuts are basically 4 cards that have been underperforming.
Universal
+ Black Lotus
+ Library of Alexandria
+ Everflowing Chalice
+ Terramorphic Expanse
+ Evolving Wilds
All additions.
Guild
+ Putrefy
+ Flinthoof Boar
+ Shardless Agent
+ Bituminous Blast
- Life // Death
- Kessig Wolf Run
- Mystic Snake
- Blightning
I like what Putrefy does more than Life // Death so I'm swapping it back in. Kessig Wolf Run was too mana intensive for my tastes, and Flinthoof Boar seems a perfect fit for how I envision Gruul in my cube. Shardless Agent seems like an odd addition, but I've decided to see for myself why Usman is praising the card and if such praise is warranted. Mystic Snake is a top Simic card for many, but it doesn't get the love that the other Simic cards get in these parts (which is still a lot of love) so it'll sit out, for the time being anyway. I've been unimpressed with Blightning lately so I'm giving Bit. Blast another chance.
Cheers!
Commander and Cube