Dom Harvey
Contributor
For a low-mid power Cube you could make most of your fixing the Amonkhet cycling duals (along with fetches and other things that care about basic land types) and see what happens
General Fight Club
- Thread starter Jason Waddell
- Start date
Fight for the 3rd Dimir common in my Ravnica Remastered draft sim behind Consult the Necrosages and Lurking Informant.
VS
Induce Paranoia works with the Mill theme directly, but Infiltrator can search for Glimpse the Unthinkable, Psychic Drajn, Last Gasp, etc.
VS Induce Paranoia works with the Mill theme directly, but Infiltrator can search for Glimpse the Unthinkable, Psychic Drajn, Last Gasp, etc.
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
I'm consindering raising the number of uncommons in my Ravnica Draft sim, but there are still a few open fights. Which of each pair do you feel, is more interesting, more powerful and fits the guilds theme better?
Azorius (Skies/Control)
VS.
Gruul (Aggressive midrange)
VS.
Simic (+1/+1 counters/Graft)
VS.
Azorius (Skies/Control)
VS. Gruul (Aggressive midrange)
VS. Simic (+1/+1 counters/Graft)
VS. 
Herald, life gain = control and unblocable = skies. fits in tempo too
Feral animist, gotta be good with any pump spells you've got
Leafdrake roost seems strong but super duper slow, Plaxmanta if your +1/+1 are pressure oriented
Feral animist, gotta be good with any pump spells you've got
Leafdrake roost seems strong but super duper slow, Plaxmanta if your +1/+1 are pressure oriented
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Not Scales (it's hard to remove and can lead to incredibly explosive starts, it looks innocuous, but I cut it for power level reasons). Sure, Constrictor and Pit seem fun build around. No.
Then again, your power level is a bit higher than mine by the looks of it, so maybe Scales is fairer in your environment?
Then again, your power level is a bit higher than mine by the looks of it, so maybe Scales is fairer in your environment?
Chris Taylor
Contributor
Scales is good when it works. I found it interesting when it was essentially an anthem where your creatures just etb 1 bigger, but it felt a lot less necessary or fair when it was doubling up on Ajani Goldmane activations or Volt charges or frequent triggers for counters like Vinelasher Kudzu, assuming you had the density of synergistic stuff to make it worth running in the first place.
It felt powerful, but it was augmenting the part of this deck when it was winning, rather than addressing it's weaknesses.
It felt powerful, but it was augmenting the part of this deck when it was winning, rather than addressing it's weaknesses.
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
The day I decided to cut it was the day I discovered these two cards are not fair together:
Chris Taylor
Contributor
Putting a single worldknit in the basic land box as an option for someone who totally trainwrecked their draft: Genius or Grifter?
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Grifter. As soon as someone knows, there'll be the drafter who goes ham on bombs and removal from pack one, pick one, because they know it'll pay off.
Chris Taylor
Contributor
Honestly that's not that different from just P1P1 worldknit, which I had for a while.
Never produced a deck better than 1-2
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Honestly that's not that different from just P1P1 worldknit, which I had for a while.
Never produced a deck better than 1-2
Very true, but at least you get to delightedly p1p1 the card, and have to give up a real p1p1 in the process. You get to pick the card, which informs the rest of your draft. Also, Worldknit kinda derails everybody's draft, as your signals are a mess and you keep picking the best stuff out of the packs. While that's fine when it happens every now and then, I'ld imagine it would grow old very fast when it happens every draft, starting p1p1.
If they choose to use it. It has a severe downside.
Normally we do not notice that downside very much because the person who picks World will most likely play it and will have a good reason to do so. If everyone gets a World, then we might only see a few people playing it.
But that could be fun to see just once still!
Chris Taylor
Contributor
Yugioh drafting
Huh, this thread has nothing to do about Fight Club. Well, in that case, help me figure these out:
Just new here, and to cubing in general. Will link my cube once I get frustrated enough to finish typing it out.
Just new here, and to cubing in general. Will link my cube once I get frustrated enough to finish typing it out.
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Oh wow, disagree on almost all counts! That doesn't happen very often
1. Bloodwater Entity. I've run both, and while Enigma Drake can get huge in the right deck, it's just a pile of stats. Entity has more play to it, because reclaiming a spell can be really useful, and the prowess makes sure it can pile on some damage equally well, plus get in for some surprise damage with instants, which means making the right blocks is less obvious for your opponent than with Enigma Drake. In addition, when cubing with the Drake, I found that it's kind of a weird signal into spells matter. The problem is that it does not really further the game plan of that deck. It has quite an aggressive rate, but if you're the spells deck, you don't actually want to play that many aggressive creatures, you'ld rather play creatures that help you stall the game long enough for your spells to take over, or that actually let you cast your spells more often. I found that something like Rise from the Tides is a vastly superior pull into the archetype.
2. Spell Queller. The reason I would go with Queller is that it seems a more fun card. Reflector Mage is such a powerful bounce spell that it has been bumming out players in Standard and Modern alike. I don't know if any of your players actually play those formats, but it might carry some negative associations. Spell Queller looks to have a bit more play to it as well. It presents a nice mini game, comparable to Mesmeric Fiend and friends, where your opponent has to choose whether to use their removal on a lowly 2/3 flyer, but get back a useful spell, or if they should use it on a big threat. It also fits nicely into the WU skies and WU flash (looking at you, Raff Capashen, Ship's Mage) archetypes.
3. Vizier of Many Faces. These cards play in similar spaces, but target different zones. I think the rate on Body Double is just a tad too low. Five mana is a lot for a card that can target only your own graveyard and has no further upsides. Vizier is a little more forgiving at 4, can also clone your opponent's creatures, and comes back for an encore when they deal with it. All around Vizier seems like the more versatile card. If you want to reanimate from your own graveyard, there are way better options in both black and white.
4. Thrashing Brontodon. I've cubed Reclamation Sage for a long time, but pulled the trigger on swapping it out for the Brontodon as soon as it was spoiled. Sage is a respectable Naturalize effect, but it has two major downsides that always bugged me; 2/1 for three is an incredibly bad rate, and more importantly, it's a very reactive play. You feel very bad when you cast this without a target. Now, Thrashing Brontodon is a fantastic play on three, as it has some of the best stats available at that casting cost, and you don't need to feel bad when you cast it proactively.
1. Bloodwater Entity. I've run both, and while Enigma Drake can get huge in the right deck, it's just a pile of stats. Entity has more play to it, because reclaiming a spell can be really useful, and the prowess makes sure it can pile on some damage equally well, plus get in for some surprise damage with instants, which means making the right blocks is less obvious for your opponent than with Enigma Drake. In addition, when cubing with the Drake, I found that it's kind of a weird signal into spells matter. The problem is that it does not really further the game plan of that deck. It has quite an aggressive rate, but if you're the spells deck, you don't actually want to play that many aggressive creatures, you'ld rather play creatures that help you stall the game long enough for your spells to take over, or that actually let you cast your spells more often. I found that something like Rise from the Tides is a vastly superior pull into the archetype.
2. Spell Queller. The reason I would go with Queller is that it seems a more fun card. Reflector Mage is such a powerful bounce spell that it has been bumming out players in Standard and Modern alike. I don't know if any of your players actually play those formats, but it might carry some negative associations. Spell Queller looks to have a bit more play to it as well. It presents a nice mini game, comparable to Mesmeric Fiend and friends, where your opponent has to choose whether to use their removal on a lowly 2/3 flyer, but get back a useful spell, or if they should use it on a big threat. It also fits nicely into the WU skies and WU flash (looking at you, Raff Capashen, Ship's Mage) archetypes.
3. Vizier of Many Faces. These cards play in similar spaces, but target different zones. I think the rate on Body Double is just a tad too low. Five mana is a lot for a card that can target only your own graveyard and has no further upsides. Vizier is a little more forgiving at 4, can also clone your opponent's creatures, and comes back for an encore when they deal with it. All around Vizier seems like the more versatile card. If you want to reanimate from your own graveyard, there are way better options in both black and white.
4. Thrashing Brontodon. I've cubed Reclamation Sage for a long time, but pulled the trigger on swapping it out for the Brontodon as soon as it was spoiled. Sage is a respectable Naturalize effect, but it has two major downsides that always bugged me; 2/1 for three is an incredibly bad rate, and more importantly, it's a very reactive play. You feel very bad when you cast this without a target. Now, Thrashing Brontodon is a fantastic play on three, as it has some of the best stats available at that casting cost, and you don't need to feel bad when you cast it proactively.