Find // Finality is one of the best cards in the deck. It's good against control when they take out all your creatures and it's good if decks try to overwhelm you by going wide and you simply wipe the board clean.
@wtwlf123 I've been following your cube for a long time and finally pulling the trigger to build my own. Im super impressed how long youve been around and how active you are. I wanted to ask a couple of questions. I'm sorry if you get this question a lot (tried searching but couldn't find an answer)
First, how do you find people to trust to draft with your cube? That's my #1 concern with building a cube and things end up going "missing".
And second, I understand why you built a powered cube but I think i want to go the unpowered route. Is there a certain method you'd use while using your 450 list as a reference to downgrade from powered to unpowered or is it just as simple as pulling out all the powered card and adding others?
Thanks for doing what you do, we all really appreciate it!!
Game 2 - My 7 card hand is 6 lands, Sleight of hand so that was an obviously mulligan. My 6 card hand was a 1 land no combo, no Leyline. My 5 card hand had no land. I shuffle for a hopeful decent 4 cards and see Serum Visions, Darkslick Shores, Phyrexian Unlife, Leyline of Sanctity and clearly keep that. They end up landing a couple of Jace's Phantasm followed by 2x Mesmeric Orb . I eventually get Phyrexian Unlife down but the orbs get my GY to 10 cards and they start swinging for 10. But a late Lotus Bloom eventually comes in and I combo off for the win on a Mull to 4.
2-0 (1-0)
Round 2 - Burn
Once again, I knew my opponent was on Burn so I was happy to have Leylines in the main.
I didn't feel like playing around Deflecting Palm so thats why i pulled out all my pacts and my IoKs are suppose to be Thoughtseize but couldn't find any so IoKs are perfect for this match up.
Game 3 - I keep a good 7 despite no Leyline of Sanctity because it had ramp and Phyrexian Unlife. They end up taking a mulligan to 6 and it wasn't hard to combo them off by T4 or T5 because their 2 Goblin Guides helped me dig for my Ad Nauseam
We decide to split top 4 which was 19 packs of Iconic Masters each. I don't like the set so I just take the credit instead.
After Thoughts:
All in all, I was VERY happy with Leyline of Sanctity in the main and worth the decrease % in T3 kill from the missing 4th Pentad Prism. Id rather have the 4th Prism but I dont know what I would pull out for it.
So it seems that IoK is almost just as good unless you want it for specifically against Tron to take a Karn / Ulamog?
I saw a list running 3x Leyline main in place of the 3rd Pact of Negation, 4th Unlife, and 4th Pentad Prism and honestly, it feel really good! I don't think it slows down the deck TOO much other than losing the prism which if anyone has suggestions on a different card then please throw out suggestions.
I used to be a firm believer that Leylines should always been in the sideboard but the amount of decks that Leyline actually does something against is greater than the number of decks it doesn't right now.
Decks it's good against:
GBx
Grixis DS
Burn
Lantern Control
Storm
TitanShift
Mardu Pyromancer
Humans (kind of)
ETron (TKS)
A lot of control decks at least in my meta are going towards Grixis and running discard and even ok against Jeskai and UR for all the burn.
Does work against random decks like Mill and Dredge.
Decks it's bad against:
Tron (favored anyways)
Boggles (favored?)
UW Control
Counters Company?
Hollow One (I think they run a couple of discard though)
Yeah I didn't realize until writing this that this is in fact a really good decision. It frees up 3 SB slots which I'm thinking about running a Grafdiggers Cage, a Boseiju, and a Gigadrowse in its place but that's really up in the air right now.
Tar Pit is awful. Control is already a favorable match up for one and trying to beat down Tar Pit turns on all removal that was otherwise dead in the opponents deck.
So what's with the City of Brass that everyone runs now? I understand it can be used when you have no life unlike the other card like it (can't remember it's name) but doesn't the life loss make Burn and Affinity much worse?
I used to play Ad Nauseam about a year ago but sold it. I'm wondering if you guys think it's wise to build it in this new meta of Jace, Jund on the rise, and GDS and Humans still lurking around.
I miss playing it but don't really want to waste the money building if it's in a really bad spot right now.
I find Archfiend of Ifnir slow as in from my limited playtesting, you're constantly cycling and having to run into Archfiend and use 2 mana to cycle has been clunky. Don't get me wrong, I feel of there are a lot of decks that go wide, you need to have it, especially against affinity. Against D&T, you can always hard cast Archfiend of Ifnir and then cycle a card to wipe their board.
@Drew02k - running 6x 2 mana cyclers before running 4x Deadshot Minotaur I would say is 100% wrong. On another note. I only like SSG with Fulminator Mage. Sometimes it lets you sneak another cycle in there but I'm not a huge fan of it but I'm not saying that is incorrect.
Expertise was originally ran because under Blood Moon you can still cast Living End if your mana base is not ideal. Furthermore, out of the countless playtesting / goldfishing I've done, you'd be surprised how often you see Living End in your hand.
Another thing I've done is re-add in a 1 of Kessig Wolf Run. Watching Desert Cerodon get chump blocked by Lingering Souls and you give your creature +1/+0 and trample is hilarious.
Finally, I'm playing a playset of Desert Cerodon and Horror of the Broken Lands and haven't hand any problems with mana. Just try to prioritize your GR lands for cycling everything so your BR lands can hit anything that pops up.
PS. Archfiend actually feels too slow. Makes me and to replace them with a 4th Deadshot Minotaur and a Beast Within.
I've been testing the new cards and I'm completely blown away with how fast you fill the GY and go off on T3/4. I was playing the blood moon version and did the following changes:
Kessig Wolf Run might just be replaced with another Blooming Marsh because its probably unneeded now. The creatures we have are so strong now that the game almost ways ends in one swing.
Anyone having mana flood problems? I recently built this deck and have just been getting destroyed lately. It seems that they answer my first 2-3 threats and then I just draw lands and die. I'd chalk it up to bad luck or poor shuffling but I haven't had a problem till I started playing this deck. I have a stock list with 2x main Dismember, 1x Birds, 24 land. I literally died to a Melira attacking me for 5 turns while I drew land after land. Even my ancient stirrings have been awful. It seems that if I can get a LEAST a T3 TKS into T4 Smasher, I tend to win those games but it's been rough lately. I even aggressively mulligan for a temple or mana dork.
I even watch videos and watch other people just get flooded. Anyone else having these problems? With 5x mana forks and ancient stirrings, maybe dropping to 22/23 land might be good.
Sometimes common sense beats Lv1 judges I suppose...luckily I had enough lands to just kill him through Spellskite but my opponent was a Lv1 Judge and we even asked another Lv1 judge and he concurred.
First, how do you find people to trust to draft with your cube? That's my #1 concern with building a cube and things end up going "missing".
And second, I understand why you built a powered cube but I think i want to go the unpowered route. Is there a certain method you'd use while using your 450 list as a reference to downgrade from powered to unpowered or is it just as simple as pulling out all the powered card and adding others?
Thanks for doing what you do, we all really appreciate it!!
1 Laboratory Maniac
4 Simian Spirit Guide
Sorcery (8)
4 Serum Vision
4 Sleight of Hand
Instant (16)
4 Ad Nauseam
4 Angel's Grace
1 Lightning Storm
2 Pact of Negation
3 Spoils of the Vault
Artifact (8)
4 Lotus Bloom
3 Pentad Prism
3 Phyrexian Unlife
3 Leyline of Sanctity
Land (20)
4 Darkslick Shores
3 Seachrome Coast
4 Temple of Deceit
2 Temple of Enlightenment
4 Gemstone Mine
1 City of Brass
1 Island
1 Plains
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Gigadrowse
1 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Bontu's Last Reckoning
1 Echoing Truth
1 Patrician's Scorn
2 Fatal Push
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Pact of Negation
Round 1 - UB Mill
I knew what they were on and it really made me happy that I decided to main deck Leyline of Sanctity.
Game 1 - I keep basically a perfect hand with Leyline of Sanctity, Phyrexian Unlife, Lotus Bloom, Ad Nauseam, Pact of Negation, and 2 lands. I don't even combo off because they scoop after the first few turns when they realize they couldn't win main deck.
Sideboard:
+1 Leyline of Sanctity
+1 Echoing Truth
+1 Gigadrowse
-1 Phyrexian Unlife
-1 Pentad Prism
-1 Sleight of Hand
Game 2 - My 7 card hand is 6 lands, Sleight of hand so that was an obviously mulligan. My 6 card hand was a 1 land no combo, no Leyline. My 5 card hand had no land. I shuffle for a hopeful decent 4 cards and see Serum Visions, Darkslick Shores, Phyrexian Unlife, Leyline of Sanctity and clearly keep that. They end up landing a couple of Jace's Phantasm followed by 2x Mesmeric Orb . I eventually get Phyrexian Unlife down but the orbs get my GY to 10 cards and they start swinging for 10. But a late Lotus Bloom eventually comes in and I combo off for the win on a Mull to 4.
2-0 (1-0)
Round 2 - Burn
Once again, I knew my opponent was on Burn so I was happy to have Leylines in the main.
Game 1 - Mulligan down to 6 that's pretty decent but no Leyline of Sanctity. End up going off on Turn 4 or Turn 5 through an Eidolon of the Great Revel.
Sideboard:
+1 Leyline of Sanctity
+2 Fatal Push
+2 Inquisition of Kozilek
-2 Pact of Negation
-1 Pentad Prism
-1 Spoils of the Vault
-1 Sleight of Hand
I didn't feel like playing around Deflecting Palm so thats why i pulled out all my pacts and my IoKs are suppose to be Thoughtseize but couldn't find any so IoKs are perfect for this match up.
Game 2 - I end up taking a Mulligan to 5 and still no Leyline of Sanctity. They get a T2 Eidolon of the Great Revel and it deals at least 8 damage to me alone. I had a Phyrexian Unlife but they destroyed it with Destructive Revelry and killed me.
Game 3 - I keep a good 7 despite no Leyline of Sanctity because it had ramp and Phyrexian Unlife. They end up taking a mulligan to 6 and it wasn't hard to combo them off by T4 or T5 because their 2 Goblin Guides helped me dig for my Ad Nauseam
2-1 (2-0)
Round 3 - Affinity
Game 1 - I'm forced to mulligan down to 4 AGAIN. I had no lands in my 7 or 6, and my 5 had a Lighting Storm , 2x Pact of Negation, Pentad Prism, and a land. My 4 had Lotus Bloom, Phyrexian Unlife, Pentad Prism, Simian Spirit Guide. I keep and scry a Darkslick Shore to the top. I end up using the Simian Spirit Guide to cast the Pentad Prism and use the counters off that the next turn to cast the Phrexian Unlife. I drew "perfect" as I had an Ad Nauseam and Simian Spirit Guide left in my had waiting for Lotus Bloom to come off suspend and combo off. They unfortunately kill me with exactly 10 infect with Inkmoth Nexus. Still can't believe my Mull to 4 had a T4 kill lined up though.
Sideboard:
+2 Hurkyl's Recall
+2 Fatal Push
+1 Slaughter Pact
+2 Inquisition of Kozilek
-3 Leyline of Sanctity
-2 Pact of Negation
-1 Spoils of the Vault
-1 Sleight of Hand
Game 2 - This game was intense. I get in a position where I find a late Phyrexian Unlife but can't play it till next turn so I cast Serum Vision put Hurkyl's Recall on top and pass the turn with Lotus Bloom at 2 and Ad Nauseam, Angel's Grace, and Phyrexian Unlife in hand. They swing for 20+ damage and I'm forced to use Angels Grace to go to 1. They sac Hope of Ghirapur which I didn't fully understand what it did till they used it. I draw Hurkyl's Recall and pass. They swing out and recall bounces 10+ permanents to their hand. I cast Lotus Bloom then cast Phyrexian Unlife and win the next turn.
Game 3 - I keep a weird hand with 2 Lotus Bloom, Phyrexian Unlife, Serum Visions, Pentad Prism, scry land. They T1 Thoughtseize me and take Phyexian Unlife. I draw a 3rd Lotus Bloom, play all 3, and my scry land and scry to the bottom. T4 comes around and I cast all my Lotus Bloom and have a Pentad Prism out. I ended up finding an Angel's Grace and Spoils of the Vault and decide to risk it. I Grace and spoils to find Ad Nauseam only a few cards down and combo off for the win.
2-1 (3-0)
Round 4 - Living End
Tournament was only 5 rounds so 3-0-2 was good enough for top 8 so we ID.
0-0-0 (3-0-1)
Round 5 - Naya Landfall
ID to top 8
0-0-0 (3-0-2)
After Round 5:
Quarter Finals - Living End
Game 1 - I keep a hand with Lotus Bloom, Phyrexian Unlife, Simian Spirit Guide, Lightning Storm, 2 Scry Lands. I get stuck on land and they T3 Fulminator Mage me and T4 casts Violent Outburst and kills my only other land and eventually wins.
Sideboard:
+2 Inquisition of Kozilek
+1 Bontu's Last Reckoning
+1 Supreme Verdict
+1 Echoing Truth
+1 Gigadrowse
-3 Leyline of Sanctity
-2 Pact of Negation
-1 Pentad Prism
Game 2 - They get stuck on 1 land with a Simian Spirit Guide and Beast Within in hand and I went off T4 with Phyrexian Unlife.
Game 3 - I have 2 Lotus Bloom on suspend with 2 Angel's Grace, Ad Nauseam, and Spoils of the Vault in hand. I wait till T4 and then combo off for the win.
We decide to split top 4 which was 19 packs of Iconic Masters each. I don't like the set so I just take the credit instead.
After Thoughts:
All in all, I was VERY happy with Leyline of Sanctity in the main and worth the decrease % in T3 kill from the missing 4th Pentad Prism. Id rather have the 4th Prism but I dont know what I would pull out for it.
I need more sideboard cards because even though I didn't face control, I wish I had cards to replace Boseiju, Who Shelters All and probably Patrician's Scorn.
I saw a list running 3x Leyline main in place of the 3rd Pact of Negation, 4th Unlife, and 4th Pentad Prism and honestly, it feel really good! I don't think it slows down the deck TOO much other than losing the prism which if anyone has suggestions on a different card then please throw out suggestions.
I used to be a firm believer that Leylines should always been in the sideboard but the amount of decks that Leyline actually does something against is greater than the number of decks it doesn't right now.
Decks it's good against:
GBx
Grixis DS
Burn
Lantern Control
Storm
TitanShift
Mardu Pyromancer
Humans (kind of)
ETron (TKS)
A lot of control decks at least in my meta are going towards Grixis and running discard and even ok against Jeskai and UR for all the burn.
Does work against random decks like Mill and Dredge.
Decks it's bad against:
Tron (favored anyways)
Boggles (favored?)
UW Control
Counters Company?
Hollow One (I think they run a couple of discard though)
Yeah I didn't realize until writing this that this is in fact a really good decision. It frees up 3 SB slots which I'm thinking about running a Grafdiggers Cage, a Boseiju, and a Gigadrowse in its place but that's really up in the air right now.
I miss playing it but don't really want to waste the money building if it's in a really bad spot right now.
@Drew02k - running 6x 2 mana cyclers before running 4x Deadshot Minotaur I would say is 100% wrong. On another note. I only like SSG with Fulminator Mage. Sometimes it lets you sneak another cycle in there but I'm not a huge fan of it but I'm not saying that is incorrect.
Horror of the Broken Lands is just absurd! It completely throws off combat math. I swung in and he blocked my horror with a 5/6 Tarmogoyf. I cycled a creature into Street Wraith and now my Horror of the Broken Lands is a 8/6.
Another thing I've done is re-add in a 1 of Kessig Wolf Run. Watching Desert Cerodon get chump blocked by Lingering Souls and you give your creature +1/+0 and trample is hilarious.
Finally, I'm playing a playset of Desert Cerodon and Horror of the Broken Lands and haven't hand any problems with mana. Just try to prioritize your GR lands for cycling everything so your BR lands can hit anything that pops up.
PS. Archfiend actually feels too slow. Makes me and to replace them with a 4th Deadshot Minotaur and a Beast Within.
-2 Blood Moon
-2 Pale Recluse
-1 Twisted Abomination
-2 Faerie Macabre
-2 Avalanche Riders
-1 Deadshot Minotaur
+4 Desert Cerodon
+4 Horror of the Broken Lands
+2 Archfiend of Ifnir
Key take always so far:
I've had zero mana problems in terms of having the right colors to cycle.
I've gone off on T3 with 17 power on the board and that's from 3x creatures.
I've went off on T4 multiple times with 30+ power.
Archfiend of Ifnir seems amazing but does feel honestly slow and cumbersome. Maybe mono 1 CMC cyclers might be the way to go.
Here's my deck list:
4x Street Wraith
4x Monstrous Carabid
4x Horror of the Broken Lands
4x Desert Cerodon
3x Deadshot Minotaur
2x Archfiend of Ifnir
4x Fulminator Mage
3x Simian Spirit Guide
4x Violent Outburst
3x Demonic Dread
2x Beast Within
1x Kari Zev's Expertise
3x Living End
Land (19)
4x Verdant Catacombs
1x Wooded Foothills
1x Bloodstained Mire
4x Blackcleave Cliffs
2x Grove of the Burnwillows
1x Blooming Marsh
1x Blood Crypt
1x Overgrown Tomb
1x Stomping Ground
1x Forest
1x Swamp
1x Kessig Wolf Run
Kessig Wolf Run might just be replaced with another Blooming Marsh because its probably unneeded now. The creatures we have are so strong now that the game almost ways ends in one swing.
I even watch videos and watch other people just get flooded. Anyone else having these problems? With 5x mana forks and ancient stirrings, maybe dropping to 22/23 land might be good.
Thanks for clearing that up for me!