Laz
Developer
I have to assume using autocard anywhere ruins this.
I have a massive soft spot for Telling Time, I don't run it anywhere, but I find the art and design incredibly compelling.
Card/Deck Low Power Card Spotlight
- Thread starter Grillo_Parlante
- Start date
I have to assume using autocard anywhere ruins this.
I have a massive soft spot for Telling Time, I don't run it anywhere, but I find the art and design incredibly compelling.
Grillo_Parlante
Contributor
Brainstorm is massively overrated. Tier 1 is ponder/ preordain, tier 2 is brainstorm/serum visions/ tier 3 is impulse/think twice (in terms of power/narrowness). Brainstorm ranking is for formats where some of the time its being EOT cast due to fetch scarcity.
If your group has an emotional attachment to casting brainstorm (and has fetch density) than you should run it, and the more they enjoy brainstorm-> fetch the more copies you should run.
If you want to give them independently powerful puzzle cantrips that are supplimented by fetches, than ponder is your man. Impulse is another good spike puzzle card, that kind of cares about fetches. Think twice is a control card with value gy implications.
Serium visions is honestly probably the most balanced of all of them, as much as I like to hate the card.
Delver will always be a cheap swingy investment that some of the time wins the game, some of the time does nothing. I wouldn't warp your design too much around it, and it probably likes mystical and vampiric tutor better anyways.
If your group has an emotional attachment to casting brainstorm (and has fetch density) than you should run it, and the more they enjoy brainstorm-> fetch the more copies you should run.
If you want to give them independently powerful puzzle cantrips that are supplimented by fetches, than ponder is your man. Impulse is another good spike puzzle card, that kind of cares about fetches. Think twice is a control card with value gy implications.
Serium visions is honestly probably the most balanced of all of them, as much as I like to hate the card.
Delver will always be a cheap swingy investment that some of the time wins the game, some of the time does nothing. I wouldn't warp your design too much around it, and it probably likes mystical and vampiric tutor better anyways.
I love brainstorm. But Grillo is probably right about it being overrated in cube. Brainstorm makes you feel smart when you cast it and then dumb because you don't have a shuffle effect and you basically rearranged deck chairs on the Titanic. And then there are games when it sets up a miracle and you go back to believing it's the greatest thing since sliced bread.
EDIT: I believe people like brainstorm because it's the closest thing to gambling we have in MTG (outside ante cards which no one plays with anymore).
EDIT: I believe people like brainstorm because it's the closest thing to gambling we have in MTG (outside ante cards which no one plays with anymore).
As I said, the inconsistency is what makes me dislike the card, and going up in fetches while cutting back on shocks (20/30 right now) doesn't seem worth it.
Ponder is clearly better than Magmatic Insight and Oath of Nissa, that's why it's not in my cube.
Serum Visions being the most fair sounds like something. The big problem with Portent is that it doesn't net you a card immediately. I guess I'll just try out Visions, Opt and Portent/Brainstorm (that's my biggest issue: playing way too little Magic).
Ponder is clearly better than Magmatic Insight and Oath of Nissa, that's why it's not in my cube.
Serum Visions being the most fair sounds like something. The big problem with Portent is that it doesn't net you a card immediately. I guess I'll just try out Visions, Opt and Portent/Brainstorm (that's my biggest issue: playing way too little Magic).
Grillo_Parlante
Contributor
I would 100% recommend impulse. The design is great, but its unfortunately been left behind by power creep. I would try serum visions, impulse, and probably think twice.
Telling time has been reasonable as well, but its clearly far lower power than the other mentioned cards.
Telling time has been reasonable as well, but its clearly far lower power than the other mentioned cards.
I don't know that I would put impulse at Tier 3. It's card selection is pretty incredible, and at instant speed, too. It's a card I'm happy to pick even in Powered cubes... although that may reflect more on the power of cantrips in general than Impulse specifically.
I checked my cube so i could remember why Languish wasn't in my cube. The answer was Toxic Deluge. Is Toxic Deluge too much to handle in low power cubes? I think it's a little worse than Damnation most of the time, but much more interesting.Hey, Phyrexian Obliterator survives it. That's all I need.
I couldn't answer that, unfortunately. I don't have it in my cube (I chose Damnation and Languish, although I forget -exactly- why...) but I wouldn't exactly call my cube low powered by any stretch of the imagination.
Grillo_Parlante
Contributor
Yeah, impulse is a great card, but if you have access to the other options you shouldn't be picking it over them.
Yeah, I can't really argue that Impulse is worse than the Ponders/Brainstorms/Preordains of the world.
Dom Harvey
Contributor
I've come to believe we all overrate Brainstorm a bit - or at least miscategorize it. In Constructed the decks with Brainstorm typically have 8-10+ fetchlands, which equates to 6+ in a 40-card deck; even in our double fetch Cubes, you might get... 3, or 4 if you're lucky? I find myself getting Brainstorm-locked - or at least forced to use it in ways that don't realize its full potential - a lot in Cube. It's more of a 'combo' tool than a draw fixer; I'd rather have Preordain(s?) for that role, and I wouldn't cut into that space in my Cube to make room for extra Brainstorms.
#BrokenRecord.decProbably the only buyback spell I really like is
Buyback spells do lead to repetitive play, but this ones a neat card quality engine. Its like toned down top except cooler.
I agree. I mean, maaaaaaybe if you have Cruel Ultimatum I could see it, but for the most part it looks like straight garbage to me.
Here's a few cool ones I bet you didn't know existed:
Dom Harvey
Contributor
I don't think Living Lore takes that much work. If you just exile a Time Warp or Volcanic Offering or something, you have a 4-mana 5/5 in a colour that rarely gets those stats with the option to 'cash' it in for a high-quality spell. The ceiling is high too: sometimes you EOT Dig Through Time for Lore and a counterspell, make a 4-mana 8/8 with protection, and can dig for answers in an emergency. And then sometimes you have Cruel Ultimatum, Wildfire...
The problem I see is that the best candidates to 'attach' to it are too good for a low-powered format, but in that case your 6/6 for 4 or w/e looks a lot better
The problem I see is that the best candidates to 'attach' to it are too good for a low-powered format, but in that case your 6/6 for 4 or w/e looks a lot better
Chris Taylor
Contributor
a 4 mana 5/5 that dies when it deals damage
Yes, you get to cast the spell, but this is not the 5/5 that will hold off your opponent or beat down for the final points
Yes, you get to cast the spell, but this is not the 5/5 that will hold off your opponent or beat down for the final points
Chris Taylor
Contributor
oh man
I love Treasure Hunt. It's the only card I have textless, and I have 4 of them. I once put together a Pyromancer's Ascension / Halimar Depths Standard deck just so I could cast Treasure Hunt over and over. I love that card so much.