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Rethinking Red

By: Dom Harvey

Recently I’ve been exploring various ideas for new Cubes, and as part of that I wanted to rethink the assumptions we often make about each colour to see what interesting options are available. In a lot of Cubes, Red is probably the colour with the least variety: you can make a R/X aggro deck, you can sprinkle a few burn spells in your control deck, and – if your Cube supports it (and not many do) – you can once in a while draft the Wildfire ramp deck. Meanwhile, every other colour has both more things and more interesting things going on; only white really has the same problem, but it still manages to exhibit greater diversity. I wanted to try revamping red by pushing a bunch of themes and staying true to the design philosophy of prioritizing interesting cards/game states over cards which are powerful in a vacuum, without crippling the red aggro decks that help maintain that end of the spectrum in Cube. I don’t expect all of these changes to hold up, but hopefully some of these ideas will be useful.

My main objectives:

  • Move away from ‘mindless’ aggro decks by including cards that enable aggro-control or aggro-combo.
  • Let red play a bigger role in control and combo decks.
  • Find – and if needed/possible, double up on – cards that bridge multiple archetypes and/or colours.

So:
Burning-Tree EmissaryPriest of Urabrask

My first move was to triple up on a card that I’ve been drawn to ever since I first entertained the idea of duplication: Burning-Tree Emissary. It does everything I want to do with this project: it works in multiple archetypes (Storm, aggro) and colours (fits perfectly well in G/X aggro or midrange) while being a good card in its own right, and creates interesting decisions in design, draft, and gameplay. If you draft two of these, for instance, weaker cards that can be played off RG start to become more appealing than objectively stronger cards; and in-game, there’s often a tension between deploying your board as fast as possible as Emissary wants you to do and playing around sweepers/reserving spells for storm cards; and Emissary by itself is very weak, so there’s a trade-off between the fast starts it enables and its weakness later in the game. In design, you have to balance the distribution of 2-drops between those that can be cast of RG, those that can’t, and the Emissaries themselves. For a card that has such a damaging effect on Standard, it’s surprisingly interesting in Cube.

Storm EntityGrapeshotHaze of RagePast in FlamesReforge the SoulMana Flare

Storm is a controversial subtheme; even some of the people most open-minded about experimenting in Cube are reluctant to try Storm, on the grounds that it’s unreliable, doesn’t lead to interactive games, and requires loading up on cards that have no use outside of that one archetype (thereby also letting people go on auto-pilot in the draft). I think some of those concerns are unfounded, and in any case they can be addressed by approaching the topic carefully. Burning-Tree Emissary, for instance, is fantastic with both Storm Entity and Grapeshot, and there’s an interesting tension between it and Haze of Rage – do I play out all my guys to maximize the power spread, or do I hold some back to boost storm? The fact that these cards can be played in aggro decks stops them being narrow and makes those decks more complex. The best Storm card, however, is undoubtedly:

Empty the Warrens

Empty the Warrens is good enough that I want multiple copies. Not only is it a good Storm finishes that nonetheless encourages interaction (a small or medium-sized Empty can be fended off by blockers, and there are enough sweepers to make it risky), but it’s also a nice curve-topper in an aggro-combo R/X deck. It also has a lot of incidental synergies and crossover with other archetypes. Consider a turn 4 of unsuspend Rift Bolt, Emissary, Empty; now consider it with a Carrion Feeder/Goblin Bombardment, cards that boost power (battle cry, Anthems) or anything that cares about having multiple creatures (battalion, Hellrider). It’s also rather nice with:

Greater Gargadon

Greater Gargadon is another card that does a ton of things well without getting boring. It’s a 1-drop for the red aggro decks that isn’t a dumb animal like Jackal Pup or Goblin Patrol (the dynamic a Gargadon ticking down introduces to a game is fascinating, and from both sides no less), it’s a sac outlet for various shenanigans, it’s the perfect finisher for the Wildfire ramp decks and in concert with sweepers in general (to say nothing of Upheaval and Balance), it can get people out of nowhere, and the 10 CMC can be surprisingly relevant.

Heretic's PunishmentBlazing ShoalBlast of GeniusRiddle of LightningErratic Explosion

This is one of the more outlandish twists I want to try. It’s more shallow than some of the other subthemes I’m trying, but it slots nicely into place alongside them: the miracle/library manipulation subtheme (giving targets for these cards – e.g. Thunderous Wrath – and setting them up respectively), the Sneak Attack/Through the Breach/Show and Tell/Eureka/Flash/reanimator package that wants high-CMC fatties, cycling/evoke cards, Blasphemous Act (more on that soon) and so on. It creates some awesome games at little cost: even Blazing Shoal, the card with most blowout potential, forces decisions: showing it once puts the fear of God into the opponent in future games, making combat a nightmare, and the investment required to ‘go for it’ is substantial enough that it requires setup and good timing.

Boros ReckonerBlasphemous Act

Boros Reckoner is exactly the type of card I’m looking for. It’s an excellent card in its own right, and it’s best against the type of decks that would want a Boros Reckoner, meaning that doubling or tripling up on it doesn’t make red aggro decks much more powerful at the expense of other strategies. In addition, the combos with the card are all nice against control decks as well, meaning that there are multiple dimensions to the card depending on how you want to use it. Its mana cost is one of the subtle things that makes the card so interesting: it rewards people for committing to red or white (or both) while being flexible enough to see play in other decks (in particular, the fact that it’s good at most stages of the game, especially if you’re using it to do silly things, means that it isn’t as much of a hindrance). The card is also just a ton of fun – it’s inexplicably satisfying to One-Hit KO your opponent by loading damage onto a Boros Reckoner.

Cards that combine well with Boros Reckoner include include Devastating Dreams, Sickening Dreams, Firestorm, Kindle the Carnage, Blasphemous Act, Chandra Nalaar, Spitebellows andRolling Earthquake.

Faithless Looting

The final red card I want in multiples is Faithless Looting. This is what ties all of these loose ends together. It’s unremarkable in the sense that everyone knows how good it is, but it performs a much-needed function and does it as efficiently as you could ask for. Having Looting gives you the freedom to take chances with some of the niche cards listed here, as you can dig for them when they’re wanted and cash them in when they aren’t.

Seismic Assault

Lastly, Seismic Assault. I don’t need to go into how good it is with Life from the Loam, but it’s easy to overlook its interactions with cards like Land Tax, Meloku, the Clouded Mirror, UpheavalSunder and Memory Jar. By itself, it’s a recurring source of uncounterable, instant-speed damage that allows you to get value out of dead lands. Flame Jab  is a neat card in the same vein that also helps build up a storm count.

Assorted Cards:
Flamekin Harbinger sets up Changeling Berserker/Titan, Vengevine, Avenger of Zendikar, Wolfbriar Elemental, Mulldrifter, Shriekmaw, Spitebellows, Mirror Entity, Reveillark and more.

Changeling Berserker fits into any tribal sub-theme you’re pushing, is great with 187 creatures, lets you tuck things away to insure against sweepers.

Devastating Summons  is a cool top-end card that’s cheap enough to be incorporated into a storm chain and to set up a Summons-sweeper turn. The fact that it scales at will makes it very skill-intensive.

Chandra, the Firebrand gets a bad rap, but can be used to set up some truly sick plays.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. There’s an obvious tribal theme waiting to be explored in the form of Goblins, and less obvious ones like Elementals or Giants, and I’m sure there are many ideas I haven’t even considered yet. As I started tinkering with my Cube’s red section, one obvious problem arose: how can I properly support these themes without diluting the pool of cards necessary for red aggro or swelling the size of the Cube? To a degree this can be done by cutting some ‘redundant’ burn spells or some of the weaker creatures, but this will only go so far. There is a solution, however: give those cards to other colours!

Figure of DestinyRakdos CacklerFigure of Destiny

By doing this you improve not only aggressive decks in those other colours, but red aggro as well! The downsides of this approach also don’t apply as much to aggro: the problem, if you want to call it that, is that duplicating cards decreases variety, but aggressive creatures in Cube are largely interchangeable. Sure, you don’t want to switch out Grim Lavamancer for another vanilla 1-drop, but is your play experience really enhanced by having a Rakdos Cackler and a Jackal Pup instead of two Cacklers? The other worry is that the red section becomes bloated, taking up a disproportionate amount of space in the Cube. This is a legitimate concern, but it’s just as relevant for ordinary colour organization: we should adhere to colour balance in Cube construction not for its own sake, but because we think that it’s likely to ensure that all colours are draftable and no one colour dominates.

This may be an intuitive method of grouping cards, but it doesn’t acknowledge basic principles of deck construction. Are Carnophage and Griselbrand ever likely to be in your deck together? Not if your deck has a prayer of winning a match. A Swamp that just cast a Carnophage is about as likely to cast Griselbrand as it is to cast the 12th-pick Qasali Pridemage in your sideboard. How does it make sense to treat the two as the same in an important way when building your Cube? If very different red cards are each being put to their own ends in a wide range of decks, the fact that they have the same mana symbol in the corner is irrelevant. This is a larger topic best saved for another time, but I think it’s worth mentioning now so that we can consider these ideas free from ingrained prejudices.

I hope some of these ideas prove useful for you; even if you don’t end up adopting any of them for your own Cubes, the main take-away from this is that there is a lot of largely unexplored design space to play around in, both for red and in general. Thanks for reading!

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Channel Waddell: Cube Draft #1

By: Jason Waddell

My latest ChannelFireball article launched this morning, and this one is a change of pace from previous installments. Here I record one of my own paper drafts, and share my picks and matches. I’m eager to hear feedback on the format, as I could certainly produce more of these if readers are interested.

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Wildfire Primer

By: Chris Taylor

The wildfire deck is a curious beast. Most cubes include Wildfire, but few designers consider the deck a core part of their metagame makeup, usually because it so rarely comes together.

To start making that more of a reality, here’s the card and some history.

[IMG]
[d title="Kai Budde 1999 Worlds" style="embedded"]

 

4 Covetous Dragon
1 Karn, Silver Golem
3 Masticore

 

4 Cursed Scroll
4 Temporal Aperture
2 Mishra’s Helix

 

4 Fire Diamond
4 Grim Monolith
4 Thran Dynamo
4 Voltaic Key
2 Worn Powerstone

 

4 Wildfire

 

3 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
13 Mountain[/d]

That list is the winning deck from Worlds 1999, piloted by Kai Budde, and the world’s introduction to the Wildfire archetype.

The basic game plan of the deck is to get to 6 mana (either by acceleration or control elements) and resolve Wildfire + a threat that survives it (either via having 5+ toughness, or not being a creature at all, like with Jace, the Mind Sculptor).

Kai’s list provides us a basic blueprint for the configuration of the Wildfire deck, and its various moving parts. Below is a chart illustrating what those numbers look like in the land of 40 cards:

Constructed Cube
Ramp:18 (12)
Lands:20 (13.3)
Wildfires:4 (2.6)
Threats: 12 (8)
Draw:8 (5.3)

These numbers reveal a lot:

  • 12 ramp spells is a tall order in any draft environment, especially with people cutting down on signets to make things harder for control strategies
  • 13-14 lands is almost unheard of in cube decks (though that number is probably deflated since 7 of his 20 tap for 2 mana)
  • Some cubes don’t even have 2-3 wildfires (basically anyone who doesn’t run Portal cards)
  • The combo-centric Tempest/Urza’s constructed environment saw little aggro play, as we can see from the zero sweepers in the main (this probably needs to be corrected for cube)

Furthermore, with the advent of planeswalkers and power creep, some of the cards in our deck can double as threats/draw (Consecrated Sphinx), or threats/ramp (Garruk Wildspeaker).

Wildfire

The key card to include here are the Wildfire variants, acting as both a Wrath against aggro decks and an Armageddon effect against control. Here are some possible inclusions:

WildfireBurning of XinyeDestructive ForceDevastating DreamsDeath CloudRite of RuinDevastationJokulhaups

Here are a few without the sweeper aspect if you feel like a card aggro might be able to use as well:

EpicenterKeldon FirebombersRitual of SubdualTectonic BreakThoughts of Ruin

Do note that Destructive Force is far harder to leverage than Wildfire is; a creature with 6+ toughness is a much taller order than a creature with 5+ toughness. As well, the additional mana that force costs is critical, representing an additional turn for a deck to slip in something to kill you, or worse: survive a Wildfire.

Rite of Ruin, Devastation and Jokulhaups represent a more creatureless variant of this deck, employing planeswalkers and suspend cards as its main win conditions. Devastation can act as more of a value card (much like Upheaval, another excellent card for this deck, which I’ll talk about below), leaving the board empty but for your artifacts, enchantments, and walkers. Again, be aware of the extra mana (and extra turn) it takes to cast these 7 mana variants.

Acceleration

Second most important for the deck is the acceleration: artifact, ramp or creature. Artifact proves the most effective: not committing you to another color, surviving both of Wildfire‘s effects, and generally accelerating faster than other methods (hello Coalition Relic!). Ramp spells prove an effective middle ground, accelerating with the conceit that some of them will die when you Wildfire. Creatures, on the other hand, all die to Wildfire, but provide a nice plan B for when Wildfire doesn’t show its face.

Most cubes (rightfully) curb the ubiquity and power of acceleration in their cube to lend more power to aggro decks. For this deck to be a mainstay in your cube, you will almost assuredly need to add more artifact mana. While the 12 number shown above is probably unreasonable, if your drafters can’t get at least 6+ pieces of acceleration, the deck will wither on the vine.

My suggestion if you think this change will make control decks too powerful is to tightly control the power of your artifact mana: Sure a control player will draft an Azorius Signet without a second thought (even though the Wildfire deck needs it so much more), will they really pick Fire Diamond? Prismatic Lens? Talisman of Impulse? Guardian Idol?

Lastly: pay REALLY CLOSE ATTENTION to anything that adds more than one mana. Grim Monalith, Mana Vault, Sol Ring and Coalition Relic are all strong cards to be sure, but the ability to jump that far ahead really hampers the aggro decks in your cube at large.

Threats

While most cubes don’t really need help supporting Wildfire in this aspect, (seriously, any creature with 5+ toughness will do) I will take some time to mention some more unconventional/extremely effective ones:

Greater Gargadon

This is the granddaddy of all win conditions in this deck. With him suspended, cast Wildfire, sacrificing all your lands and creatures which would die anyway, leaving him at one counter. Then play your land for turn, sac it, and swing for 9. Pass, and drink deep your opponent’s tears.

Aeon Chronicler

In a similar vein to Gargadon above, but kills slower while providing card advantage. This can work worse in the more ramp focused variants, since so much acceleration will shrink your hand size, leaving it a puny bear the turn it comes down.

Detritivore

This depends on the makeup of your cube, but the thought of Wildfiring and having this guy come in next turn, destroy a land, and swing for 5-8 damage sickens me. In a good way.

Epochrasite

Doesn’t matter if he dies to Wildfire, cast it anyways! Bit slow, so keep that in mind.

Koth of the Hammer

Just remember to untap a mountain AFTER you Wildfire, not before. (Though can you choose the creature mountain as one of the lands you sacrifice? Will that work?)
Using his -2 to power out Wildfires is highly recommended, as it lets you use the extra mana to cast a threat post-Wildfire, instead of specifically needing one that survives it. Sometimes that extra Goblin Ruinblaster cinches it for you.

And anything with 5 or more toughness. Some examples include:
Abyssal Persecutor
Crater Hellion
Inferno Titan
Thundermaw Hellkite
Frost Titan
Rampaging Baloths
Consecrated Sphinx

Upheaval

Upheaval

Special mention must of course go to Upheaval, the blue Wildfire (this is an understatement) because it synergizes so well with the same cards (mostly) that Wildfire does: manafacts and suspend cards.
For those of you unfamiliar, the plan with Upheaval is to tap as much mana as you can (hopefully 9-12 mana), play Upheaval, and either replay your board or play a threat with the leftover mana, essentially acting as 6 mana sorcery that lets you cast Karn Liberated‘s ultimate.
This, while doubling as the most effective sweeper in the cube.

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Dragon’s Maze Cube Review: Director’s Cut

By: Jason Waddell

There’s a saying that “it takes a big man to admit when they’re wrong”. In reality, the prerequisites are much less specific. For one, the gender requirement is rather antiquated. Moreover, admitting you’re wrong doesn’t necessarily constitute an apology. Maybe you’re a scandalized politician forced to make a public statement, thereby laying the groundwork for your eventual mayoral campaign. Further, you don’t even have to be wrong. Perhaps your spouse won’t cook dinner until you two finish this argument, and you had an early lunch.

As you may have surmised, I’ve been wrong. Not “Evan Erwin hyping Time Reversal” wrong, or even “UnSkewed Polls” wrong, but wrong nonetheless.

effenA

Before I get to my actual apology, I’d like to issue a theoretical apology. In another universe, had middle school Jason had the opportunity to play with this card, he would have childishly referred to it as “effen A”. I know that’s not a risk in this reality, but if you believe in the multiverse theory, somewhere there’s a Jason Waddell obnoxiously using this terminology at an eastern Michigan FNM. If I could correct him, I’d tell him to pronounce it as it’s written in the Oracle ruling: “far slash slash away”

On to the actual apology. In my ChannelFireball Dragon’s Maze Cube Review, I panned Far // Away for not being sufficiently powerful relative to my 360 card environment. Of course, that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to try it. Even before the article was published, I had pre-ordered a copy for testing. Now, I’m not one to universally say “don’t knock it until you try it”, but when the opportunity cost is less than the cost of most Taco Bell menu items, I tend to give cards their fair shake.

When the card arrived in the mail, I slotted it in for Repeal for testing. It turns out that the card has everything I’m looking for in a cube inclusion. It’s fun, flexible, skill-testing, and produces some splashy plays. I was concerned that an expensive Edict would rarely hit the most profitable target, but often with some set-up you can arrange a blowout. I really love the dynamic of Fuse cards, as you weigh early plays against late-game advantages. Far // Away can be cast for 2, 3 or 5 mana, and the most effective mode will change from game to game.

As a note, the last time I saw this in action, was off of a Duskmantle Seer flip. I argued that the CMC was 3, but both my opponent and his teammate said the converted mana cost was 5. Our local judge was missing in action, so I deferred to their “wisdom” and let my opponent take 5. Apparently they were wrong, but who can argue against democracy? (EDIT: Nope, apparently I was wrong all along. Does that make me a big man?)

Blood Scrivener

I was rather enthusiastic about Blood Scrivener, but it’s been a few drafts now and he’s yet to draw a card. Maybe we’ve been unlucky? I’m going to keep testing, out of hopeful optimism, but he might just be worse than his flavor text. Zombie Piker is really not what I’m looking for in that slot. Has anybody else had better experience with Blood Scrivener?

Ral Zarek

No actual apology here, Ral Zarek has performed pretty much as I expected him to. I will say though, I’ve been a little surprised at how often the +1 ability is just a complete blank. I’ve activated it in many board states where it simply provides no value. There was a lot of talk before this card came out about how flexible and interesting the tap/untap ability is, but I’ve yet to have it not be either obvious or useless. Wizards has a long history of printing Izzet cards that are meant to be creative but somehow miss the mark. Hopefully someday they’ll capture the flavor a little better.

All said though, Ral Zarek feels very appropriately powered, and I stand by my decision to put him in and take out Ajani Vengeant.

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Gold Digger (Playsession Report)

By: Jason Waddell

As a displaced American living in Belgium, I’ve learned that things work a little differently in this part of the world. For one, the school year runs much later. While our North American counterparts have already jetted home for the summer, Belgian students are in the thick of cram season. Secondly, and more egregiously, nobody around here watches Arrested Development. Few have even heard of it. I could have come dressed as Gene Parmesan and nobody would have even noticed.

The convolution of these two factors led to me interrupting my 15-episode marathon for a less-than-full-table draft. Monday evening’s draft was a mere six player affair, but one that I went into quite confidently. Most players don’t realize how different six-player drafts are from 8-player drafts, and I’m here to share one sexy secret you won’t find in Cosmo. What’s the difference?

There’s only six players.

Let me elaborate. Let’s take the simple and incorrect assumption that each player will play a two-color deck. In a six-player draft, only six of the ten guilds will be occupied. This leaves four of the guilds completely unoccupied. It’s the perfect set up. Gold cards are flowing like it’s 1849, and with only six players at the table, some players even let the gold cards in their colors wheel. Prep your energy bar wrappers, it’s time to smuggle some gold!

So what’s the plan? Cut the entire table from fixing, then reap the rewards of your Midas touch in Packs 2 and 3. For best results, commit to the strategy early and don’t be afraid to put all your Anns in one basket.

And commit I did. Within the first seven picks I collected four fetchlands and a Lotus Cobra. That’s the set up. Having hamstrung the entire table’s ability to get greedy, you set up some truly preposterous late-draft packs. Pack 3 Pick 5, for example, presented these two cards.

Bloodbraid ElfShardless Agent

I took the Bloodbraid and wheeled the Shardless Agent. All told, I snagged 11 gold cards, which is about half the gold cards present in the entire draft pool. When you pursue a gold strategy, you have to play to the natural strengths of the cards. The assortment of gold cards in most cubes skews heavily towards three and four-drops, so you need to plan your curve accordingly. This means a midrange build, with mono-color cards filling out the lower end of your curve.

I 3 – 0’d with the following:
golddigger
(click to enlarge)

Memorable Plays:

My Round 3 opponent wrecked me one game by playing Furnace Celebration, then cracking Fetchlands for four turns straight to obliterate my board. Goodbye Shardless Agent, Flametongue Kavu and Deathrite Shaman. As a killing blow he Entombed for Hellspark Elemental, sacrificed it end of turn to Goblin Bombardment and payed 2 for Furnace Celebration to deal the final 6 points of damage.

In Game 3 of Round 2, I was up against the ropes against a really good tripod (three Birthing Pod) deck. I didn’t have any artifact removal, and despite playing two Cascade creatures, sided in Daze to try and keep a birthing Pod off the table. On the draw I played a Turn 2 Tarmogoyf, then Dazed his Turn 3 Birthing Pod to pump my Goyf to a 4/5. This clocked him out before he could get his absurd Reveillark, Sun Titan, Angel of Serenity madness online.

MVP:
Growth Spasm

Growth Spasm is the most fun three-mana ramp spell on the market. I cast it three times this draft, and not once used the Spawn token for mana. Instead, I turned it into a 5/5 dragon twice (thanks Sarkhan), and sacrificed it once to the glory of the Hypnot Falkenrath Aristocrat.

Team Victory

As it was a six-person draft, we ran it as a 3v3 team draft. My team (me, Costa and Gert) won 6 – 2.
draft10

Costa’s undefeated deck:

costa
(click to enlarge)

That’s all for today. I went the whole article and couldn’t think of one Kanye reference.

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