General Ixlan Spoiler
- Thread starter Chris Taylor
- Start date
It's not impossible, and those cards are helpful, but these are still 'if's and not 'when's. Also a number of those cards I'm only playing after I drop this if I drop them, there's little reason to hold back Probe/Ponder/etc so it's a little harder to depend on those.
Yooooooo. The draw a card Dino is crazy with Flame Jab. Adds 
: cycling to all your lands. This makes me realize that Fiery Confluence is also crazy with that card, cuz I think it's three separate triggers of 1 damage to each creature? Man, that draw dino seems extremely good.
: cycling to all your lands. This makes me realize that Fiery Confluence is also crazy with that card, cuz I think it's three separate triggers of 1 damage to each creature? Man, that draw dino seems extremely good.DEEPER
I'm really excited about that dino. I like that it plays well with Wildfire and things like Sweltering Suns, replaces itself against damage based removal, and allows you to add something that's Seismic Swansesque without being as a narrow.
Yooooooo. The draw a card Dino is crazy with Flame Jab. Adds
I'm really excited about that dino. I like that it plays well with Wildfire and things like Sweltering Suns, replaces itself against damage based removal, and allows you to add something that's Seismic Swansesque without being as a narrow.
FlowerSunRain
Contributor
Full spoiler is up, not much going on, but there's a "early drop with 8 mana activation" cycle that is interesting.
The black and blue ones seem useful for me, the rest not so much, but I like the idea behind them.
The black and blue ones seem useful for me, the rest not so much, but I like the idea behind them.
Didn't see much either, but I do like this:
Adding artifact sac to altar's reap adds quite a bit of utility. Goes excellently with wellsprings.
Adding artifact sac to altar's reap adds quite a bit of utility. Goes excellently with wellsprings.
After looking through the full spoiler I really think it looks fun to draft. I loove the flavour of the set, and that there's a lot of creatures with little upsides that still have decent bodies. Hope it's as good as I want.
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
This is a rather interesting variety of this effect. It's not super good or something, both the mana cost and sorcery speed make me not want to run it, but still, two bodies with lifelink is cute.
I'm disappointed there's no
Chris Taylor
Contributor
That one is an instant no less
Check thus guy out:
Check thus guy out:
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
That one's pretty good at sniping aggro 1 and 2 drips and utility creatures like mana elves, Grim Lavamancer, Blood Artist, etc. Atzocan Archer has to be a good tool for slower green based control deck. It's also mega lulz with Giant Growth
Why does Kaladesh have the best pirate?
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Why does Kaladesh have the best pirate?
I counter your best pirate with Hostage Taker!
But I do think it's pretty amazing they actually had pirates in Kaladesh, and they were appropriate to the story line as well!Edit: I remembered Skyship Plunderer being a pirate as well, but apparently those are the only two in Kaladesh block o_O
Go further back 2 years to the days of 'Comes into play' to really freak them/us out!
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Preliminary testing has me enthousiastic about:
These are the only cards I've tested so far, but they've all been excellent. Savage Stomp being a mana cheaper than Hunt the Weak apparently makes all the difference, and if you get to use it with one of the two excellent dinosaurs (caveat, Flame Jab was already in my cube before Ixalan was spoiled) you... Well, let's just say I felt giddy the first time I pulled off a kill spell + Rampant Growth for a single green mana
Makeshift Munitions has been a great Goblin Bombardment alternative. A little less abusive, but brilliant with the additional artifacts that can suddenly go face. It has sweet synergy with the unexpectedly awesome Curse of Opulence!
Chart a Course has been as solid as people have been expected. I've used it to put a fatty in the graveyard while digging for the reanimation spell, and I've used it as a two mana draw two spell. Both are super excellent modes for the mana, definitely going to add this.
Hostage Taker is just such a sweet card, and I don't think I need to explain why
Haven't tested any other cards from Ixalan so far, but I expect Kitesail Freebooter is going to earn a spot at least.
I don't know if I'm going to add any of the flip cards. I think Vindicate might be the only card that can actually deal with them once flipped (they all turn into lands), and I'm not really keen on introducing must kill lands when I just completely removed all of them from my cube.
These are the only cards I've tested so far, but they've all been excellent. Savage Stomp being a mana cheaper than Hunt the Weak apparently makes all the difference, and if you get to use it with one of the two excellent dinosaurs (caveat, Flame Jab was already in my cube before Ixalan was spoiled) you... Well, let's just say I felt giddy the first time I pulled off a kill spell + Rampant Growth for a single green mana
Makeshift Munitions has been a great Goblin Bombardment alternative. A little less abusive, but brilliant with the additional artifacts that can suddenly go face. It has sweet synergy with the unexpectedly awesome Curse of Opulence!
Chart a Course has been as solid as people have been expected. I've used it to put a fatty in the graveyard while digging for the reanimation spell, and I've used it as a two mana draw two spell. Both are super excellent modes for the mana, definitely going to add this.
Hostage Taker is just such a sweet card, and I don't think I need to explain why
Haven't tested any other cards from Ixalan so far, but I expect Kitesail Freebooter is going to earn a spot at least.
I don't know if I'm going to add any of the flip cards. I think Vindicate might be the only card that can actually deal with them once flipped (they all turn into lands), and I'm not really keen on introducing must kill lands when I just completely removed all of them from my cube.
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Chris Taylor
Contributor
Its a little odd I didn't find a single white card I liked
Its a little odd I didn't find a single white card I liked
This doesn't shock me TBH. IMO, white has become an extremely uninteresting color in cube. For years now, we have been getting only wrath variants, O-ring effects, more aggro creatures and more 4 mana walkers. And all those slots are now saturated.
Until they make white do something else, we'll be lucky to get more than a card or two each set (at least for higher powered lists).
Chart a Course is probably the only card I'm seriously considering. It's very powerful but elegant and I like that it can double as another discard outlet for decks that want that effect. Blue always gets the good draw and that's sort of annoying (why isn't this a red or black card??).
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Those are not bad things (well, other than the walkers, I don't think there's a single white walker I really like, except Kytheon). Other than that the past few years have added quite a few interesting, to me at least, cards that break the pattern you describe.
Also, the more cards they print, the more cards already have been printed. This means less and less cards will add something new to your cube. Add to that the fact that people tend to get jaded with pretty much anything after being exposed to it for years, and I'm not really surprised at your dismissive attitude to white. I do agree that it is not the most interesting color, but that is a personal opinion, and one that not every player shares
Grillo_Parlante
Contributor
I just want to say, though I would otherwise agree with you about white, I think shifting zombies and vampires over to white helps the color out a lot, though their are big power level limitations associated with that.
I have, for some years, been thinking about completely cutting white from my cube leaving it with 4 colors, 6 Guilds and 4 Shards. This would lead to people fighting over the same colors a little bit more and people playing mono colors more often.
I am still in the process of writing that foreshadowed article about my cube where I'm having these thoughts. About 25 % there.
White has aggro creatures. Black and red can cover this.
White has sweepers. Black and red can cover this.
White gains life. Green can cover this.
White has big bombs. All the other colors can cover this.
White has efficient planeswalkers. Blue, black and green can cover this.
No color can cover the temporary removal like O-Rings.
No color can cover the Equipment theme.
I don't think I'll ever make such a drastic change though.
I am still in the process of writing that foreshadowed article about my cube where I'm having these thoughts. About 25 % there.
White has aggro creatures. Black and red can cover this.
White has sweepers. Black and red can cover this.
White gains life. Green can cover this.
White has big bombs. All the other colors can cover this.
White has efficient planeswalkers. Blue, black and green can cover this.
No color can cover the temporary removal like O-Rings.
No color can cover the Equipment theme.
I don't think I'll ever make such a drastic change though.
Yup. White is the most expendable color. And I think a cube without it would play amazingly well too. Imagine how much space it would free up? You get to cut 1/5 of your fixing. Gold cards become less narrow. Drafts would be better. You'd need to make sure your group was down with this though but for sure it would be sweet.
Chris Taylor
Contributor
And on the other hand, I had to rethink my whole cube when I accidentally tried to add in 3 shards with white red as part of them without knowing