In a 360 powered Cube that supports reanimator (and contains current reanimate targets Inkwell Leviathan, Grave Titan, five 6+ mana value green cards, Atarka, Battlesphere, Wurmcoil, Sphinx of the Steel Wind & Sundering Titan):
1) Run both Griselbrand & Archon of Cruelty
OR
2) Only run one of them & add another midrange black creature
BONUS This or That:
If only running one...which one? Griselbrand/Archon of Cruelty
Thanks!
I would definitely run both. I feel like these are the two best reanimator payoffs, so I'd always run them if reanimator is supported, even at 360.
Griselbrand is better though, so if only running one, Griselbrand.
It's definitely a good card. A baseline sorcery speed Anticipate ain't bad considering the ceiling is a 2-cmc pseudo Divination. My only issue is space, for me this doesn't beat out the versatility of Izzet Charm / Prismari Command / Dack Fayden or the ubiquity of Lutri, the Spell Chaser.
I think it's better than Izzet Charm, but worse than the other 3 you mentioned.
As a result, it just barely on the outside looking in for my cube.
But even in monored, can be very sweet. Admittedly, it's harder to hit delirium in cube as it's far rarer to get an artifact like Mishra's Bauble into the yard, however at tight cube lists fetchland density is high enough and creature, land, instant, sorcery is not particularly difficult to hit.
Too slow imo in a slot that’s too stacked.
It’s only application is aggressive and recursive durability is not the axis you want to attack on with a heavy red deck.
no interest
What's the axis on which you'd want to attack on with red aggro?
With the caveat that I haven't been able to cube for a long time outside of MTGO cubes... My constant experience with "standard" powered cubes has been that red aggro is just worse than white aggro. White has all the best toys: removal that can hit anything, one-drops that help blank removal and blockers, Wrath-proof two-drops, Bolt-proof three-drops and several flavors of 4-drops that give you longevity (PWs) or end the game if you're even just a tiny bit ahead on board ('Geddons).
Red aggro feels one-note, much more likely to fold to a Wrath, has little options in terms of grinding back from bad board positions. I'm drawn to the idea of red threats that keep coming back. Is my impression of red completely off, and/or have new cards like Laelia changed things?
Red aggro has gotten much stronger over the last couple years.
It think it's actually the strongest aggressive color, better than both white and black.
If you're running a low curve (which red wants to do), red might now sneakily be the best card advantage color over blue - blue card draw is much slower and just can't match the rate / efficiency of red, although it still has the best cantrips / card selection by far.
Plus all the Goblin Rabblemaster variants still set the standard for 3 cmc goldfish damage output.
It also obviously has the best go to the face burn as well as lots of great creatures with etb removal.
The blue ones are much stronger than the non blue ones. I think at 360 or 450, you should only run 2-3 instead of all 5, starting with blue trilands.
To make it work, I just cheat slightly and slot them into a viable guild slot in exchange for another guild card / land like a horizon canopy land (which these are pretty on par with).
1
At 360, I will probably watch rather than test, but I could see this one outperforming.
1
I would definitely run both. I feel like these are the two best reanimator payoffs, so I'd always run them if reanimator is supported, even at 360.
Griselbrand is better though, so if only running one, Griselbrand.
1
I might still actually prefer Heartless Act over this, but I'm glad they printed it!
1
I think it's better than Izzet Charm, but worse than the other 3 you mentioned.
As a result, it just barely on the outside looking in for my cube.
1
I'll watch it rather than testing
1
DRC is proving to be a house in modern and legacy.
With cube curves trending ever lower, DRC seems like a strong option.
It's certainly better than Delver of Secrets, and will slot perfectly into a BR spells matter aggressive deck alongside Sedgemoor Witch. Obviously pairs great with Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger as well.
But even in monored, can be very sweet. Admittedly, it's harder to hit delirium in cube as it's far rarer to get an artifact like Mishra's Bauble into the yard, however at tight cube lists fetchland density is high enough and creature, land, instant, sorcery is not particularly difficult to hit.
1
Red aggro has gotten much stronger over the last couple years.
It think it's actually the strongest aggressive color, better than both white and black.
One reason is the extreme amount of efficient card advantage packed onto aggressive threats, such as:
Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
Bonecrusher Giant
Robber of the Rich
Light up the Stage
Laelia, the Blade Reforged
If you're running a low curve (which red wants to do), red might now sneakily be the best card advantage color over blue - blue card draw is much slower and just can't match the rate / efficiency of red, although it still has the best cantrips / card selection by far.
Plus all the Goblin Rabblemaster variants still set the standard for 3 cmc goldfish damage output.
It also obviously has the best go to the face burn as well as lots of great creatures with etb removal.
That being said, I'm not a fan of this card.
1
To make it work, I just cheat slightly and slot them into a viable guild slot in exchange for another guild card / land like a horizon canopy land (which these are pretty on par with).
2
Green Sun's Zenith >> Worldly Tutor to me.
Card parity much stronger than card disadvantage in this case.
1
Agree with all 3 of these.
And thanks to Breathe1234 and wtwlf123 for replying to mine as well!