Card/Deck Single Card Spotlight
- Thread starter Dom Harvey
- Start date
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
https://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/the-wheel-of-change.2062/#post-85895
It was in my winning decklist very recently
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
I couldn’t figure it out and decided to just ignore itIs this useful/too good in cube?
Chris Taylor
Contributor
Judging from it's place in standard, it looks like a cool card for tapout control decks, but to make it really shine you need something to do with your mana while all your spells are free, like Castle Vantress or Cavalier of Flame in standard.
I'd give it a shot, I figure as long as you've got beefy stuff worth casting and draw spells (Maybe lean a little more Tidings than dig through time) it could be good.
also if you're running Demonic Pact, a lot of the overlap tools help here as well, as sometimes Fires can be more of a hinderance given enough time.
Edit: Also hidden gem: Faerie Formation, (from the brawl precons I think) works well
I'd give it a shot, I figure as long as you've got beefy stuff worth casting and draw spells (Maybe lean a little more Tidings than dig through time) it could be good.
also if you're running Demonic Pact, a lot of the overlap tools help here as well, as sometimes Fires can be more of a hinderance given enough time.
Edit: Also hidden gem: Faerie Formation, (from the brawl precons I think) works well
Fires is really fun in standard, but I think it could be a dud in some cube environments.
It really thrives with planeswalkers and mana sinks, so if you have a lot of those I'd give it a whirl. I glanced over my own cube after playing with this in standard and quickly determined it wouldn't offer much there, but YMMV.
It really thrives with planeswalkers and mana sinks, so if you have a lot of those I'd give it a whirl. I glanced over my own cube after playing with this in standard and quickly determined it wouldn't offer much there, but YMMV.
I'm trying to bolster my spell matter themes in red and would like opinion on:
I say theme, but there are really two distinct ones:
GY spells and spell velocity. One is based on casting spells from the GY for value (Mizzix's Mastery, Snapcaster Mage, Chandra, Acolyte of Flame) and the other is based on casting lots of spells (Young Pyromancer, Thousand-Year Storm, Rise from the Tides).
Finale seems great in both of these shells, but I wonder if it is playable elsewhere. I want my red decks to be controlling if the drafter wants and I could see it in white alongside Monastery Mentor and cheap removal to give Boros some card advantage.
Black doesn't really have a spell theme (Bolas's Citadel? Kess, Dissident Mage), but it also has removal and sorcery draw (Night's Whisper, Read the Bones) enabling a Rakdos control deck as well.
Any experience playing the card?
I say theme, but there are really two distinct ones:
GY spells and spell velocity. One is based on casting spells from the GY for value (Mizzix's Mastery, Snapcaster Mage, Chandra, Acolyte of Flame) and the other is based on casting lots of spells (Young Pyromancer, Thousand-Year Storm, Rise from the Tides).
Finale seems great in both of these shells, but I wonder if it is playable elsewhere. I want my red decks to be controlling if the drafter wants and I could see it in white alongside Monastery Mentor and cheap removal to give Boros some card advantage.
Black doesn't really have a spell theme (Bolas's Citadel? Kess, Dissident Mage), but it also has removal and sorcery draw (Night's Whisper, Read the Bones) enabling a Rakdos control deck as well.
Any experience playing the card?
Dom Harvey
Contributor
Has anyone run this yet? It appeared in a cool artifact Stax deck in Standard and it may be a nice gold signpost card for Stax archetypes in Cube
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
I just ordered one this weekend after dismissing it out of hand previously. Apparently there's more to this than meets the eye, I do run a stax theme in WB, and it's super bulk, so I'm willing to give it a try
Has anyone run this yet? It appeared in a cool artifact Stax deck in Standard and it may be a nice gold signpost card for Stax archetypes in Cube
Great with Lingering Souls.
Nontoken.
Good you can sac your demonic pact to it
Good you can sac your demonic pact to it
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
That is actually one more reason for me to run Doom Foretold :')
Braids plus Doom Foretold already looks pretty interesting for a WB Staxx section. I don't like Smokestack in cube as it provides every colour with a Staxx type of effect, which is something I somewhat dislike. I really cut down on colourless cards because of that.
What are other Staxx type cards you play? Rankle is pretty obvious, love that card. What about..
Too low on impact? BB as casting cost sucks? Quite poisonous as there aren't many decks that can make great use of it?
What are other Staxx type cards you play? Rankle is pretty obvious, love that card. What about..
Too low on impact? BB as casting cost sucks? Quite poisonous as there aren't many decks that can make great use of it?
unless you're going t1 mox diamond smallpox or following it up with like a Sinkhole or Wasteland i'm not sold that smallpox is 'a deck', and it's certainly not a regular value card. Dom raised an interesting idea recently: why not cube Balance?Braids plus Doom Foretold already looks pretty interesting for a WB Staxx section. I don't like Smokestack in cube as it provides every colour with a Staxx type of effect, which is something I somewhat dislike. I really cut down on colourless cards because of that.
What are other Staxx type cards you play? Rankle is pretty obvious, love that card. What about..
Too low on impact? BB as casting cost sucks? Quite poisonous as there aren't many decks that can make great use of it?
Balance compares to the likes of
..which I completely forgot to mention. I'm still very unsure about them:
Cataclysm produces nongames, at least that's what I fear.
Tragic Arrogance lets you choose which permanents your opponent will keep, so there are situations where this card gets extremely strong. Not touching lands.
Gearhulk brings a 4/5 vigilant body to the table, can be chosen as artifact so you're keeping 2 creatures instead of one and also doesn't touch lands.
I only want one of them, and I know that a lot of people here don't think Gearhulk is good for that type of deck because your opponent is free to choose, which makes the effect not worth it. I wonder if that's true, and if so, Tragic Arrogance obv looks best here.
What I do not like about Balance is it's low casting cost. 2 mana enables lots of shenanigans and broken plays.
..which I completely forgot to mention. I'm still very unsure about them:
Cataclysm produces nongames, at least that's what I fear.
Tragic Arrogance lets you choose which permanents your opponent will keep, so there are situations where this card gets extremely strong. Not touching lands.
Gearhulk brings a 4/5 vigilant body to the table, can be chosen as artifact so you're keeping 2 creatures instead of one and also doesn't touch lands.
I only want one of them, and I know that a lot of people here don't think Gearhulk is good for that type of deck because your opponent is free to choose, which makes the effect not worth it. I wonder if that's true, and if so, Tragic Arrogance obv looks best here.
What I do not like about Balance is it's low casting cost. 2 mana enables lots of shenanigans and broken plays.
Could this be playable at lower power level for your stax deck? It’s super slow though, but seems like fun once in play.
Unless you go with cards like Aven Mindcensor for a fetchland manabase, but they seem neither reliable nor fun.
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
I'm running Tragic Arrogance, ands it's fricking fantastic.
What the heck, never heard of World Queller. Compared to Braids, Cabal Minion:
-cc5 instead of 4
-bigger body
-only on your own upkeep, so your opponent has their own turn to interact with the choice you'll make (more interactive, but also weaker), it also needs to live for a full opponent's turn to have some impact.
-you make the choice, with some board interaction of your own, you're able to take out whatever you want with World Quellers effect. It also affects enchantments and planeswalkers.
Conclusion: I'm very interested! I think that it won't be strong enough, but you definitely need to try, and maybe it's worth running both. Rankle and Doom Foretold still do exist, too.
-cc5 instead of 4
-bigger body
-only on your own upkeep, so your opponent has their own turn to interact with the choice you'll make (more interactive, but also weaker), it also needs to live for a full opponent's turn to have some impact.
-you make the choice, with some board interaction of your own, you're able to take out whatever you want with World Quellers effect. It also affects enchantments and planeswalkers.
Conclusion: I'm very interested! I think that it won't be strong enough, but you definitely need to try, and maybe it's worth running both. Rankle and Doom Foretold still do exist, too.
Has anyone run this yet? It appeared in a cool artifact Stax deck in Standard and it may be a nice gold signpost card for Stax archetypes in Cube
Am I reading this correctly? If it happens on your turn you have to lose 2 life, then gain 2 life?
You can't choose not to sacrifice a nonland nontoken permanent, so you'd have to sacrifice your doom foretold and that wouldn't happen.
Smallpox isn't a "generically useful" card, but in the right cube it is perfectly good as a roleplayer. It provides a discard outlet, board control, sacrifice outlet, etc. If your cube doesn't heavily play in the graveyard, probably just forget it; but if it does, I think it's a fine option to consider. I run it, but can see it as a flex slot.
Another "similar" card that fills a lot of the same roles and is probably better overall:
Another "similar" card that fills a lot of the same roles and is probably better overall:
I tried hard to make Smallpox work, but even in decks that seemed ideal for it, casting it usually felt suboptimal compared to other options in hand. +1 for Brutality though.