Venser is a great design. He is generically good, but he also costs four mana. If you play him as an expensive remand, that's not great. Getting the best out of him and his feeble body is interesting and fun.
Card/Deck Single Card Spotlight
- Thread starter Dom Harvey
- Start date
You could have a red sub-theme of tokens into big stuff.
Dom Harvey
Contributor
Fireflux Squad is a cute riff on that
I've recently added this one as a repeatable build around. Not sure if it's good enough for my lower powered environment even, but I'm willing to find out.
It basically has three applications:
It basically has three applications:
- upgrading your tokens/small dudes into bigger ones, maybe even cheating out enormous ones
- downgrading your opponents best creature, hopefully giving them something mcuh smaller/worse
- chaining EtB trigger creatures, somewhat like a Birthing Pod style card
Chris Taylor
Contributor
My brain goes instantly to the dream of activating this every turn to upgrade a token into a Cloudgoat Ranger until there's 2 creatures in your library, whom form a loop
I like Reality Scramble the best of any of the above options, both because retrace is a very fun style of recursion, and because it's the only among them that can target any permanent and get that kind of permanent back. Target a treasure token -> get your Combustible Gearhulk. Target a non-useful land to recycle it into a different land. Etc. etc. It's a lot deeper than just cheating out creatures (though it does that well too).
I've run it in Sigh, a cube for a long time, and it's a very effective card. It almost pays for it's own flashback since the birds are white and untapped, so you really only need one pre-existing creature if you want to fire both halves off in the same turn. Flying tokens are a real beating!
Yeah, bear in mind that, in a lot of cases, Battle Screech is going to be:
Battle Screech -
Sorcery
Kicker — Tap an untapped white creature you control.
Create two 1/1 white Bird tokens with flying. If Battle Screech was kicked, create two additional tapped 1/1 white Bird tokens with flying.
Battle Screech -
Sorcery
Kicker — Tap an untapped white creature you control.
Create two 1/1 white Bird tokens with flying. If Battle Screech was kicked, create two additional tapped 1/1 white Bird tokens with flying.
I ran it for a while, but switched to Sram's Expertise as an alternative because the flying was a little too hard for other decks to handle. I'm not sure if I prefer the expertise, as it's a lot swingier (expertise -> O-ring is REALLY hard to beat without a wrath), but they occupy similar spots on the curve and each interact with other potential themes.
Actually, looking at the above templating, Sram's Expertise comes out looking like so:
Sram's Expertise -
Sorcery
If you have not already cast a spell this turn, CARDNAME costs more to cast.
Create 3 1/1 colorless Servo artifact creature tokens.
Which one is more busted when you compare them this way? Unsure, but I think the Screech.
Actually, looking at the above templating, Sram's Expertise comes out looking like so:
Sram's Expertise -
Sorcery
If you have not already cast a spell this turn, CARDNAME costs
more to cast.Create 3 1/1 colorless Servo artifact creature tokens.
Which one is more busted when you compare them this way? Unsure, but I think the Screech.
Chris Taylor
Contributor
This card fits with what I am trying to do right now in my cube (evasive tokens, spell + flashback), but I am having a hard time being objective. At what power level would you be happy to run this?
At any power level where attacking is a realistic route to victory
How do we feel about this in a cube that doesn't run removal on the level of Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile?
It’s very good. Obviously it lacks instant speed but instead it only costs 1.
I put it into the same category as Memory Lapse. It doesn’t answer the threat. Only delays it. But for 1 mana, you are still getting anything from an above average to a severe tempo swing.
The downside of the card is that it doesn’t really work as well in aggro as in control because of the 3 life.
I would still test the card if I were you.
I put it into the same category as Memory Lapse. It doesn’t answer the threat. Only delays it. But for 1 mana, you are still getting anything from an above average to a severe tempo swing.
The downside of the card is that it doesn’t really work as well in aggro as in control because of the 3 life.
I would still test the card if I were you.
How do we feel about this in a cube that doesn't run removal on the level of Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile?
It's very close to being a sorcery version of the above cards imo. It is however unexpectedly absent in most cubes.
I think it's pretty close to that power level honestly. While being a sorcery as opposed to an instant makes it a little worse, it still allows for insane mana trades. I think if you want stuff like The Gitrog Monster to stick, I would steer clear of Oust.
How do we feel about this in a cube that doesn't run removal on the level of Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile?
I like oust. Even with non-ETB creatures, there's only going to be (presumably) one in the entire cube, and the opponent does get a second chance later. I think Oust actually becomes more attractive for an environment with less ETB and more non-ETB, since otherwise the opponent gets a chance at double ETB triggers.
My personal choice for less-mainstream-white-1-CMC-removal has been:
Which performs alright, if you can stomach the doom blade type wording. I might be moving to Oust in Sigh 2.0, but dunno yet.
My personal choice for less-mainstream-white-1-CMC-removal has been:
Which performs alright, if you can stomach the doom blade type wording. I might be moving to Oust in Sigh 2.0, but dunno yet.
Chris Taylor
Contributor
Oust is stronger than it appears. If you hit an early threat like a 2/1 or an elf or something, it's rather out of place by the time it comes back. If you hit something bigger, you get a mana advantage.
I'll agree that Sunlance is very good, as well, and may be better suited to the role of low-mid power 1 cmc removal. Oust's ability to hit anything is potentially a bit much.
That said, I know your power level is decently high and Oust doesn't put the card into the graveyard, which is relevant here. I'd give it a go, for sure.
I'll agree that Sunlance is very good, as well, and may be better suited to the role of low-mid power 1 cmc removal. Oust's ability to hit anything is potentially a bit much.
That said, I know your power level is decently high and Oust doesn't put the card into the graveyard, which is relevant here. I'd give it a go, for sure.
Chris Taylor
Contributor
Also an option, but I don't like that it doesn't work if you're losing, even if it's a land in a pinch.