Card/Deck Minotaurs

Dom Harvey

Dom Harvey

Contributor
Theros gave us lots of exciting cards, as well as some deep and complex mechanics to play with; lost among all of that is the emergence of the most fearsome tribe Magic has ever seen. Wizards tries to support a block's themes by seeding the surrounding blocks with cards that tie into them; Return to Ravnica brought Boros Reckoner and Blaze Commando, M14 gave us Minotaur Abomination, and the next block is sure to deliver even more. We haven't even seen all of Born of the Gods and Journey into Nyx yet!

Show and Tell has been the scourge of Legacy for years. What if I told you there was a 1-mana artifact that give you repeatable, instant-speed, nonsymmetrical, uncounterable Show and Tells for the same amount of mana?

Thankfully, there is.



With Didgeridoo, every combat step is an adventure. Is their guy getting ambushed by a first-striking Boros Reckoner? Can you sneak in Mirror Entity midcombat? Can they risk their removal spell being fizzled by a flashed in Changeling Titan?



Red's cheap Minotaurs form the backbone of a solid aggressive deck. The quality/quantity of Minotaurs may not match Goblins' just yet, but don't let lack of imagination hold you back!



Elves and Merfolk may feel they're too good for Changelings, but we know better. With BotG's new Ragemonger, you can have a makeshift Akroma for only 3 mana! Sure, it requires work, but so does everything in life.



As I've argued before, Boros Reckoner is an excellent Cube card - and that was before Theros brought the twin horrors of devotion and Minotaurs. Fanatic of Mogis brings these two themes together while holding its own in the sorry non-Minotaur red decks.



Commando is another card that lets us interweave different themes. It's an ersatz Pyromancer's Swath in a burn-based Storm deck (think about Gut Shot, Grapeshot, Lava Dart...) and, along with Boros Reckoner, goes nuts with Kindle the Carnage.



It's important for our theme to reach into all colours to some degree, and Sorcerer is a crucial link to blue. With Ragemonger in play it's a recurrable Bloodbraid Elf, and with Didgeridoo there are clear echoes of Stoneforge Mystic-Batterskull.



A big incentive to move into Minotaurs, Tahngarth was fighting creatures and setting fashion trends back in 2001.



What's better than one Rageblood Shaman/Kragma Warcaller/Boros Reckoner? Any other card More than one!

What's better than Minotaurs? Nothing.
 
Konge

Konge

Could be fun, especially if Journey into Nyx continue the trend. Be mindful, however, that cascade won't trigger if you didgeridoo Etherium-Horn into play.
 
Lucre

Lucre

Guys, I feel like I need to make more threads so my notifications are more relevant.
Also id love to see more tribal edit cards tested to support sub themes but I feel like tribal is about as bad as archetype in terms of poisonous linear themes.
 
ahadabans

ahadabans

Lucre said:
Also id love to see more tribal edit cards tested to support sub themes but I feel like tribal is about as bad as archetype in terms of poisonous linear themes.
Click to expand...


I personally feel like tribal gets a bad rap. To me, it really isn't any more poisony than running something like Jackal Pup. The masochistic dog only really goes in one deck (and it's not even an all-star in that deck either). Something like Goblin Matron or Wirewood Symbiote only go in one deck too, but they are FREAKIN AWESOME in their respective decks. Seriously, if you've never played with either card before, put them in a test deck and toss in 5-6 goblin/elves (cards already in your cube because you have more goblins and elves than you might think). See how powerful their effects are in their respective decks. Wirewood is so good in the elf deck, I find myself wasting tutors for it so I can repeatedly chain Deranged Hermits or Reclamation Sages. Goblin Matron is equally nuts. What effect do I need? Let me go find the goblin that does that and put it into my hand.

We add powerful cards to cube all the time to enable archetypes we want to push - and many of them are super narrow. But we justify it because it provides direction for drafters and it is a powerful effect that enables a deck or archetype. Why should tribal be any different? I'm not suggesting you run 3 elf lords or anything bogus like that. I'm talking just one or two cards that support the deck (and are great in that deck). Just like other archetype enabling cards, tribal support cards will push guys into drafting that deck. And from my experience, a lot of guys are very attracted to thematic decks like this. More than one guy at my table will draft an aggressive goblin deck but has no interest in drafting a generic 2 power 1 drop aggro deck. They really don't play all that different (goblins is more toolbox I guess), but the real difference is that the goblin version just has so much more appeal.

Worth noting of course... if you have a large cube or a small group of drafters (where you are seeing only a small fraction of your cube), these types of cards can be problematic. Drafting Wirewood in the hopes of seeing more elves only to not see any elves is a real buzz kill. So I understand if not all groups can actually support tribal in a non-poisonous way.
 
Dom Harvey

Dom Harvey

Contributor
It doesn't return Minotaurs though...



however!

It does actually seem really interesting. I played a lot of Extended Elves and have seen the deck in action in Legacy, so I know what Symbiote can do. The issue is that those decks tend to be fairly homogeneous, with a bunch of 4-ofs alongside 1-of tutor targets, so you're returning the same cards most of the time; you won't always have Elvish Visionary in Cube.
 
ahadabans

ahadabans

I've put some mileage now on symbiote in my recent testing efforts and in the elf deck he is extremely solid. That deck is one of the best test decks I have going right now and manhandles quit a few of my cube test decks.

The deranged hermit combo is probably the best one I've found so far though. Play symbiotic early, hermit and then bounce it back to your hand during the upkeep instead of paying or not paying echo. Then replay it. Now you have 8 squirrels. He also untaps somebody when you use his ability, so Rofellos just got stupider. My list is a little bit unorthodox - I run wood elves still because I like it - and so maybe this combos with more in my list than typical lists. But even still, you'd be surprised how useful this card is.

Even if you aren't truly comboing with symbiote, he saves elves from removal by bouncing them. You can overextend and if the wrath comes, your best elf lives to see another day.

If your opponent is smart, he will kill the symbiote on sight. But that is also a win for you since it's a removal spell "wasted" on your one drop. I've tried several elf tribal cards and they are all not good in cube. Except symbiote. He's been amazing.
 
ahadabans

ahadabans

Here's what the deal is guys (I think anyway)...

Most tribal cards are intended for constructed decks where consistency is very high because you are running multiples and a perfect distribution of cards. All the lords and cards of that type really are only above curve if you can consistently play other cards that pair up with them (and/or in multiples). In cube though, you do not have that kind of consistency and that is why most of those cards are janky as fuck.

But in cube what you DO have is a very high power level. A lot of games are determined by having an answer to what the other guy plays - toolbox style effects are very good in cube in my experience. And so anything that tutors or otherwise provides "combo" effects (like reusing powerful cards) is considerably better in cube than in constructed. Look, if you want more deranged hermit in constructed you just run more copies right? You don't play clone effects or regrowth typically. Well, in cube you can't do that. If your path to victory in one particular game is going wide with 12 squirrels with an overrun, the only way to do that is fetch wirewood and combo it with hermit. Plenty of games I can't win with a fattie, I need the squirrel army to get past whatever my opponent is assembling. So having multiple win paths is very valuable.

The elf deck I've been testing has a couple tutors (GSZ, Natural Order, Survival of the Fittest), a bunch of mana elves of course and ramp effects, and a few specific targets that give the deck various win conditions (tall option: Wolfir Silverheart... wide option: hermit with a couple overrun effects.... can't touch this option: SSS). Wirewood plays a role in all of them. He can protect your mana elves from removal early, he combos with Rofellos to generate tons of mana (for hard cast mode of large monster), and in the hermit plan he's completely broken unless they kill him.

Wirewood is only a 1/1 so you'd think he would just die a lot, but in the elf deck your opponent has a ton of must kill early targets. Birds of Paradise on T1 demands a removal spell. So do most elves early. By the time you drop symbiote for the hermit machine gun, their clip can be on empty a lot of times. In practice, I find he does just a ton of work in this deck.
 
Onderzeeboot

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Love the Wirewood Symbiote suggestion, but sadly I'm running only 5 elves in my 450 list. Since I also run only 5 goblins, Goblin Matron isn't going to cut it either :)
 
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