Nanonox's 1vs1 cube

[Nanonox]

I like this aggressive cheat strategy and think it opens the door to cards like these

.

With SFM, Cage and Heights, you have very real ways to use an aggressive high mana value card and not have it be dead. Tinker and Goblin Welder could also be ways to get novel aggressive decks.

 

[Nanonox]

I've been making a list of things that could be improved in the cube, not sure I have all the answers, but at least it will help keep me focused for the insanity that MH3 is bound to be.

- A more consistent Gruul cheat deck. RG should have the tools for a good cheat deck, yet I've found that it rarely comes together because the cheat cards don't necessarily work together. Keep in mind that the cheat targets are artifact creatures for the most part, which rules out Natural Order for example.



Oath of Druids clashes with Goblin Welder meaning that at most you have 3 cheat enablers which is not quite as consistent as I'd like. Some solutions that I am considering



I cut Daretti while on a 3+ mana value cutting spree and it was probably a mistake. In the right deck it allows you to activate on turn 4 which makes it faster than Sneak Attack. The +2 fills the GY, making it a self-contained engine. It's pretty narrow and fragile though.



The Manual is a bit slow for what I have in mind since you need ramp to use it before turn 5. However, the creature sticking around is a big game. Also, being an artifact itself opens the door to being ramped by Workshop which conveniently ramps your artifact fatties itself. I like that Workshop works with noncreatures like Bolas's Citadel and Paradox Engine.

- More White build arounds. I've noticed that compared to other colors, White doesn't have as many compelling build arounds. This leads to some good stuff decks in the color which is fine in small numbers, but not the experience I am trying to curate. Some of those archetype cards are also just generically playable, making the deck less exciting than I would like.



Check out the blink archetype. It's a fun deck, but it just uses good ETB creatures and goes from there. Maybe it's ok to have simple archetypes in an already complex cube, but I'd like some spice to go alongside it for more adventurous drafters. This could be adding some less obvious blink targets like these



Or exploring new themes and build arounds. Erik suggested an aggressive cheat theme in White. That's definitely a cool direction to go in and doesn't ask for a lot of changes and could offer some overlap with Blink and artifact cheat in Red.



A simple option would be finding single card archetypes in White:



7 mana is a lot for the Sun, but it's a really cool build around. It would go well Selesnya ramp decks that could reach 7 mana or Azorius control decks too. Ultimately I think it's too slow, although maybe I need to finally add in Grim Monolith which I've been meaning to do.

I recently cut Cataclysm for being too similar to Balance and I stand by my choice for now.

Absent mono White options, maybe some I can "cheat" and add a few multicolored build arounds featuring White. I'd love some suggestions here as there are a lot of options. I am liking



Dakkon is a rock solid control card that has GY and cheat potential. Removing a single creature per turn isn't overwhelming, the downside obviously being 3 colors. However, it's easily splashable and fits into a White deck that already exists.

Ghired is particularly appealing because of how crazy the ceiling is. Urza's Saga tokens are probably the best things to copy and they feed off each other. Blade Splicer type cards are great since they both provide a body to tap and create a token to copy.

Caesar has an impressive list of options to chose from. It triggers off of any attack which is an ability I've been liking on Inti and Anim Pakal. However, I'm not sure I really need a Mardu card to promote either WR or WB aggro decks. These have been doing just fine!

- Bolstering Gravecrawler or cutting it altogether.



I love what Gravecrawler brings to the table because of its upsides. It's as cheap as it gets to recur it and it counts as a cast trigger for various effects. I don't love the limited amount of zombies in the cube to support it though! So either up the amount (so far one MH3 spoiler is perfect for this) or embrace less efficient options that are likely still good enough.

- Red Storm! OTJ has some really sweet spell velocity payoffs that has me wanting to add them.



These add some serious firepower to Red-based spell decks and complement either the more aggressive cards (DRC, Monastery Swiftspear, Magmatic Channeler, ...) or the more all in Storm decks (Underworld Breach, Wheel of Fortune).

I posted Fireblast, but it could also be a less all in burn spell. Sometimes I wish I had an extra cheap one like Burst Lightning or Chain Lightning to add reach and a win condition alongside Breach.

Once again, Grim Monolith is very appealing to help cast a 6 drop or maybe even Seething Song, though I don't really support a "Big Red" deck.

I am also considering Pyrokinesis as a free spell to help the slower decks and go off during a storm turn.

Edit: Stoke the Flames might be the free burn spell I want especially if I want more tokens in Red.

- More Red token producers. I've found that a lot of my aristocrat decks tend to be Black or Orzhov, but not very often Rakdos. I have decent sacrifice outlets in Red, but am limited in the fodder department. I like these cards



With the addition of Legion Extruder, I think the artifact sacrifice token route is becoming real and actually interesting. Demolition pulls double duty as removal or fodder.
Gut has proven to be a house. It's a 2/2 for 3 so definitely vulnerable, but the payoff is pretty huge and he can snowball. The fact that it's a one card win condition probably turns me off it unfortunately.
Krenko hits a lot of right notes for me and the 3/3 haste baseline is totally legit. It hints a little too much at Goblins being a thing for me right now, but it has potential.

Squee and Sokenzan are the most generically playable and I think I want to play at least one of them.

There are definitely more issues with the cube, but so far these are the holes I am looking to patch before the release of MH3.

 

[Erik Twice]

Fireblast will always go to the face. Dealing a massive 4 points it's so good that it will always be played that way, regardless of any other synergy.

I'm told, however, that Mine Collapse is solid and playable.

I also have the same issue with my cheat decks. In fact, Sneak Attacks seems kind of awful now.

I also ended up cutting Squee. Being a 2/2 made it too hard for it to go in.

 

[Nanonox]

Fireblast will always go to the face. Dealing a massive 4 points it's so good that it will always be played that way, regardless of any other synergy.

I get that. I am thinking it would go well in a deck like this



You get the idea. A "storm" aggro/burn deck with a lot of reach.

I'm told, however, that Mine Collapse is solid and playable.

I considered Mine Collapse, but I want something that can go face. I think I would play Pyrokinesis before the Collapse.

I also ended up cutting Squee. Being a 2/2 made it too hard for it to go in.

What did you replace it with? Another token maker or something else entirely?

 

[Erik Twice]

What did you replace it with? Another token maker or something else entirely?

I tried back and forth and, in the end, I replaced it with nothing.

As an aggressive card, I could have replaced it with Goblin Rabblemaster, but I didn't feel the need to push for that kind of decks so I didn't. And, when it comes to synergy, I found that other cards (or colours) were more useful. When you can choose between Young Pyromancer, Seasoned Pyromancer, Retrofitter Foundry, Gravecrawler, Adeline etc, you don't need a pure token maker as much.

 

[Nanonox]

Time for a little spring cleaning before MH3 fully spoils. I've singled out cards that I am not super keen about in the cube and thought I'd discuss why I am very open to cutting them.



I love land cyclers in the cube to smooth draws and turbo charge fair(ish) reanimator. In addition to my 50 fixing lands, I like the idea of having an extra 5 cyclers. In White, rather than play Eagles of the North, I opted for Timeless Dragon. I wanted the Angel for some Welder/Reanimator/Tinker shenanigans, but it rarely comes up. So I am happy keeping the Dragon, cutting the Angel and am seriously considering a 4th artifact fatty (Ancient Stone Idol or Kaldra Compleat being the forerunners) and some extra cheat support (Daretti, Scrap Savant).



I can't quite put my finger on why, but I am not a fan of the card. It works as wrath protection, has sacrifice and counter synergies and makes tokens, all of which my cube is interested in. It might just be the limited +1/+1 counter support that limits it's broad appeal. I'll probably end up cutting it and adding it in a later update when more incidental counters will be in the cube.



White can play a part in the sacrifice decks, but not nearly as well as Black. This means that the decks wanting the Reliquary are too few and far between. I'll be reverting to Portable Hole, Winds of Abandon, Prismatic Ending or another cheap removal spell.



I am not in need for more 2 drop aggro artifact cards, which is the main reason the Canonist is on the list. It is however uniquely annoying and for that alone I like it. I will note that as the cube gets more centered around artifacts, the Canonist gets a little worse since more decks can play around it.



Free spells are fantastic, but this one has limited uses because of the tempo hit you take from cheating it out. Right now, Fastbond and Paradox Engine are the main cards that it goes off with. There are synergy possibilities with Chrome Host Seedshark, Balance and various landfall spells. I am thinking a good old regular cantrip would be a better use of the slot.

I would probably want Doomsday, Mystic Sanctuary, Arclight Phoenix and possibly others to fully support Gush.



TitI has been in the cube since the beginning as a more controlling spells matter card that could eventually win the game. Since then, the printing of Chrome Host Seedshark and Geralf, the Fleshwright has given us other spells matter cards that are not only more open-ended, but also not as all in. Plus, this lets me cut a DFC which is a plus!



Newly printed Warren Soultrader and Marionette Apprentice change sacrifice decks in a big way IMO. Trading creatures for Treasures is huge especially when stapled to a relevant body. While Woe Strider might not be the actual cut because of how good of a glue card it is, there’s probably one sacrifice outlet that can go.



With the cube speeding up, there are more and more blockers and less turns to eek out value from the Courier. I do value the effect of an artifact card that can tie into discard though and can see myself jumping to Voldaren Epicure or another new design.



The Berserker experiment was fine, but not very conclusive. It’s a tough deck to get into and as a result wasn’t drafted very often. I’ll use these slots to bolster some existing themes in Red (cheat, tokens, sacrifice) or some new ones from MH3.



An ok but not super exciting spells payoff card. I’d rather include splashier cards for an archetype than replaceable ones.



See Champion. I am debating keeping Phyrexian Dragon Engine because of how well it plays with Welder, Engineer, Helping Hand, Reanimate and friends. Ultimately, I’ll figure out a less fragile card for that role I’m sure.



Too much mana for the tutor effect. It’s nice that it hits GYs, but the inefficiency is too much. The new Pod variant, Green Sun's Zenith, Chord of Calling or another tutor might still be in the books though.



I don’t want 6 drops that aren’t super explosive. I’d rather win with the lands deck using Aftermath Analyst + Valakut Exploration or something instead.



Speaking of inefficient, I am off the Hydra right now. A 2/3 for 4 that takes out a small dude isn’t what I am going for. Green is super limited in creature removal in my cube, maybe I should just embrace that and focus on its strength: removing non creature permanents.



Not that this is bad, just that I am really considering Grim Monolith. I’ve cut most of my 2 MV mana rocks and I don’t miss them all that much. There are some cool lines you can take with the Torque which is why I haven't cut it yet, but its slot is up for the takes.



This falls on the fair side of the cube again and that’s not where my design philosophy is taking me right now. This is a very strong equipment that turns any idiot into a threat and has outs as a sacrifice outlet. I will probably keep the Wargear, but it should live in fear, nothing is safe!

Did I miss any from my list? Am I crazy to cut some of these staples? Let me know!

 

[inscho]

I think most of the cuts are reasonable.

I still like Angel of the Ruins in an artifact heavy environment. Exiling 2 on ETB is pretty substantial. Timeless Dragon is okay, but it was rarely a card my decks wanted. It fits in everything, but often gets squeezed out when optimizing a deck build.

I never really cared for Basri. I think I'd prefer Luminous Broodmoth or Selfless Spirit if I wanted wrath protection.

I recently subbed out Dusk Rose Reliquary for Portable Hole. The hoop to jump through negates the low mana cost. Hole is just cleaner and more pleasant to play with.

I still like Ethersworn Canonist as a tutorable silver bullet (oswald, fiddlebender, birthing pod, etc). As the mana curve in my cube lowers and the emphasis on spell velocity increases I find it still has game. I really like it with blue for its flash creatures and counterspells. I think it's a fine cut. It's not untouchable.

Gush is cute and fun, it aids combo and has a lot of novel interactions. I liked it less when I ran one set of shocks. It's a boss in Simic Turboland. I like it a little more than Snap. I'm strongly considering bringing back Crow Storm, so I'm looking to keep my free spells.

I haven't liked Thing in the Ice in a long time. Easy cut imo.

Woe Strider....don't totally hate the cut...3 mana sac outlets aren't the greatest, but I really value the self-recursion for my mill-heavy sacrifice decks. Soultrader hasn't struck my interest yet.

I think Bomat Courier is still worth rostering. It can really exploit a slow start by your opponent. It allows you to be more aggressive with your removal, because each attack it survives is an additional exiled card. It's often easy to draw 2-3+ cards off of this which is a lot for a one drop. You can sacrifice before combat damage to "cycle" if it's a dead late game draw. Forces your opponent to block it over something larger, and you can still sac to nets cards. Having an artifact body is often more valuable than creating an artifact token.

Death Greeter's Champion would be a house in a lower powered iteration of my cube. I never really warmed up to this, and I've cust almost all Berserker cards.

Hearth Elemental seems fun. I've considered a few times, but there always seemed to be more important cards to roster over it.

Lizard Blades is a cool support card, but pretty underwhelming on it's own. My aggro decks pivoted in a different direction.

Finale of Devastation is a little slow, but pretty versatile. Being able to tutor or recur a Thassa's Oracle/Yawgmoth, Thran Physician to win a game, or occasionally dump mana into from a Gaea's Cradle, pushes it over the top of other options for me. It's one of the few cards I have in green that can win the game when you have access to infinite mana. So the utility plus fringe wincon keeps it in my list.

Primeval Titan got replaced by Old One Eye...I really only like it if you are supporting Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle or Dark Depths. The titan often feels a bit winmore in the absenece of those game-winning tutor targets.

Voracious Hydra is a fine cut. I hate most of green's creature removal options, and I find it the best option for my cube. Mawloc is better. I really enjoy the midrange Gruul deck that runs mana elves and 2 for 1 fatties like Fury, Mawloc, and Hydra...I also like it with Wildfire.

Liquimetal Torque is cute with a lot of fun card interactions, but it's not the most powerful. If I wanted to run more serious artifact mana rocks, it'd probably get squeezed out...but I don't so it stays.

Grafted Wargear is a staple for me. I'm not close to cutting it. I do often consider cutting Rancor tho.

 

[Erik Twice]

I know what you mean, because I've either cut those cards or thought about cutting them myself. The only exceptions are Boumat Courier, Ethersworn Canonist and Liquimetal Torque. The thought of cutting them has never crossed my mind.

The issue for the rest is that I don't see a good replacement. There aren't many good green 4-drops, for example. Or any compelling white and green fatties. Or at least, any I would like to run.

 

[Nanonox]

Thanks for sharing your takes. Again, this isn’t me cutting everything listed, just noticing that the cards aren’t perfect for the cube’s goals.

I still like Angel of the Ruins in an artifact heavy environment. Exiling 2 on ETB is pretty substantial. Timeless Dragon is okay, but it was rarely a card my decks wanted. It fits in everything, but often gets squeezed out when optimizing a deck build.

I've liked the Dragon in Esper or Jeskai control lists where you get to hit your land drop early and late game you can usually find a spot to get a 2 for 1 from your Dragon. Maybe Tithe or Land Tax are the better land smoothing choices, but I love me a dragon.

Angel is alright, but it will be hard to play if you don't specifically have a way to cheat it out. Though it really shines in those builds as self-binning reanimation targets are fantastic.

I guess it comes down to me wanting to support more controlling decks more than cheat decks right now.

It's a boss in Simic Turboland. I like it a little more than Snap. I'm strongly considering bringing back Crow Storm, so I'm looking to keep my free spells.

I always forget about the Crows! Probably better than Elemental Eruption that I was considering. I find that Simic has plenty of ways to combo off, be it with Draw 7s and Fastbond, Oath and Oracle, Regrowth + Brain Freeze, Urza and Earthcraft, … So Gush being mostly good in this color combination feels like overkill (snap include at 450 or higher though).

I’m in the opposite camp where I like Snap more because it impacts the board and has outs to netting mana with Cradle, Academy and Lotus Field. Mana usually being the bottleneck in combo decks.

I think Bomat Courier is still worth rostering.

I agree, it’s a powerful one drop with lots of applications. I am just identifying it as a card that isn’t uncuttable. I would cut Monastery Swiftspear before it (which I forgot to list).

Finale of Devastation is a little slow, but pretty versatile. Being able to tutor or recur a Thassa's Oracle

Have to admit I forgot about this interaction, which I value quite a bit. Probably enough so that it edges out other tutors out.

Voracious Hydra is a fine cut. I hate most of green's creature removal options, and I find it the best option for my cube. Mawloc is better. I really enjoy the midrange Gruul deck that runs mana elves and 2 for 1 fatties like Fury, Mawloc, and Hydra...I also like it with Wildfire.

I added Jadelight Spelunker, which I like more than the hydra. Filling the GY and offering card selection is nice. That said, it’s not a lock either.

Grafted Wargear is a staple for me. I'm not close to cutting it. I do often consider cutting Rancor tho

My only issue is how fair it is in a cube that is self-proclaimed explosive. Though if I am cutting a sacrifice outlet, I would keep the Wargear as a sneaky backup.

The issue for the rest is that I don't see a good replacement. There aren't many good green 4-drops, for example. Or any compelling white and green fatties. Or at least, any I would like to run.

For me, that’s the easy part. If I don’t like Green’s 4s, I’ll just run a 3 that I like for example.

Edit: forgot to list Showdown of the Skalds. With Phlage coming in for Big Boros, the Showdown feels less necessary.

 

[Nanonox]

Decided to try the inscho challenge of listing 4 archetypes for each of the 10 guilds. I'll be listing 5 cards for each archetype hopefully showcasing what it is about.



Earthcraft: Generate mana with artifacts or creatures and win with excess mana.



Cheat: Cheat in artifact fatties, pretty straight forward.



Turbo mill: You mill yourself until you hit your win condition. Sub in Jace, the Perfected Mind for Nexus of Fate and you have a mill deck instead!



Grindy self-mill: Fill the GY and win with a grindy gameplan.



Discard aggro: Discard cards for extra damage and threats to close the game quickly.



Storm: Combo off with draw 7s by hitting land drops and chaining spells.



So I got to five archetypes pretty easily, feel like I could list a few more like lands matter. This confirms my feeling that Gush might not be needed since it's at its best in Simic and the guild is already filled with potential decks.



Discard aggro/tempo: Discard cards for value while beating down.



Spells matters tokens: Generate tokens by casting your spells and gain value by beating down or using them for cards or mana.



Cheat: Cheat in artifact fatties, pretty straight forward.



Grindy artifacts: gain value by sacrificing your artifacts to various effects. I tried to find another Blue card to signal the deck and didn't find a compelling one.



Storm: Combo off with one of the best engines/win conditions in the cube (LED, Breach and Brain Freeze)



Spells matter control: Use cheap spells to clear the board and control the game. I was trying to find another Blue win condition for this deck and fell short.



Izzet also has a wealth of archetypes and this isn't even listing the overlaps. I did notice a couple of holes while fleshing out the decks, notably a grindy artifact card and a control win condition. Any suggestions?

I'll be trying out the other guilds as I find time.