General Favorite Cards You Don't Run

[Rusje]

Hmm, I am biased since my cube is slow and do not mind cycling costs of 2. Cycling helps with mana screw/flood, delirium, threshold, reanimater to name a few.
I have been playing for a long time and do like the choices that Kavu titan brings. Yes it can be a tough pill to swallow to play it as a bear but if you view it as a bear with late game potential then the viewpoint shifts.

 

[Zoss]

For sure, paying to cycle is a fine rate for non-explicitly-cycling decks, but if you're in a deck that's actively trying to cycle as much as possible I feel it becomes prohibitively expensive to do so at that rate until you have 6+ lands in play, at which point you are usually solidly in the late game.

And agreed on Kavu Titan being a great card. I'm referring to this (14-year-old, sheesh) article in which MaRo shows how a lot of people, including the devs, instinctively feel bad about casting it for 2. It's great that you've gotten past that, but a lot of people haven't which is also why a lot of people, myself included, are reluctant to cycle away a "good card" against our better judgment. For me it's about minimizing that feelsbad, and making a strong commitment to the cycling deck by including stuff like Imposing Vantasaur or Memory Leak has the opposing problem in which actually playing the card feels really, really crappy when the rest of your deck has cards more on par with Kavu Titan and Ninja of the Deep Hours.

 

[MilesOfficial]

I really wish the MDFCs were a little more obvious about their backsides on the front, or even just had bigger call-outs to the fact that they're double-sided. It's a little less necessary with the TDFCs because the card text guides you there when appropriate, but with ""new"" elements like adventures taking up similar space on the card, they're really inconvenient even besides the whole "wearing down the sleeves" business.

And that kills me because I couldn't agree more with @Zoss - MDFCs, especially the Zendikar ones, are the perfect solution to the "outs", to spending your mana effectively, to making the resource management part of the game more thoughtful, to allowing for a greater amount of meaningful play decisions in a typical game.

and then we have the Deans

 

[ravnic]

Proxies are a thing, and players have really adapted well to this solution (even without knowing/noticing I designed these in photoshop).

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Be still my 'spells matter is a theme in your cube and is allied with neither of those colors because you changed the color wheel' heart!

 

[Dom Harvey]

Remembered a perfect example:



I love Therapy and wish there was an analogous card that worked in a mostly singleton environment - maybe an Aftermath card where the 'main' card is a Blackmail variant and the Aftermath card is Therapy? Black really needs more good discard spells for Cube and this one ties into sacrifice/graveyard/spellslinger stuff while being iconic but the printed card just doesn't function the way I need it to here

 

[Brad]

I know it's really shit, but I can't stop thinking about Shrines. Especially with Kamigawa 2 coming. If there's more Shrines there, I'm gonna be in a real pickle.

 

[Chris Taylor]

Remembered a perfect example:



I love Therapy and wish there was an analogous card that worked in a mostly singleton environment - maybe an Aftermath card where the 'main' card is a Blackmail variant and the Aftermath card is Therapy? Black really needs more good discard spells for Cube and this one ties into sacrifice/graveyard/spellslinger stuff while being iconic but the printed card just doesn't function the way I need it to here

You know, it being a blackmail specifically sounds like an amazing idea. Partially revealing their hand makes the "name a card" much more interesting

Edit: there is...mostly not enough room on an aftermath card to put these words on it.
Edit 2: I have the worst solution

 

[Brad]

Shouldn't that be Aftermath?

I guess it'd cost 0 with additional cost?

EDIT: I see your edit.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Edit 2: I have the worst solution

You certainly came up with a solution that let's you cast the back side as many times as you want (or at least as many times as you have creatures to sacrifice)

Also, the in the corner is misleading. The mana value of the backside of DFC's is equal to their front side, so it isn't 0 in this case.

Also, also, note that on actual disturb cards, there is no indicator to show what's on the front side on the back side of the card. See, e.g. Hook-Haunt Drifter.

Also, also, also, you're abusing the MDFC frame for this card, which means I should technically be able to cast the backside from my hand, except that it doesn't have a casting cost. Very confusing use of frame.

Really, while the disturb mechanic does technically allow (ab)using the transform mechanic in this way, it really is best suited for permanent spells. If you do insist on using it, at least use the DFC frame, and not the MDFC frame

 

[Chris Taylor]

Also, the in the corner is misleading. The mana value of the backside of DFC's is equal to their front side, so it isn't 0 in this case.

Okay I agree with all of this but THIS complaint is a holdover from when it was an aftermath card

LOVE the art/theme you chose btw
I do want to change the flavor text on the back to this:
"No man is an island for too long before he drowns."
I think something poetic here works better than telling us that solitary is inhumane.


Also from a really pedantic argument we got into on my cube discord, it's possible the rules actually only allow for transform cards if at least one half of the card is a permanent. No judge has weighed in yet, and as far as I can find it's not forbidden, just not mentioned.

Though that is me interpreting the following:

712.5. Only permanents represented by transforming double-faced cards can transform. (See rule 701.28, “Transform.”)

As "permanents that aren't DFCs can't transform" not "only DFCs that are permanents can transform"

 

[Onderzeeboot]

I think something poetic here works better than telling us that solitary is inhumane.

Read closely. That is not what the flavor text is telling you. It's actually implying something far more sinister (and altogether fitting for Innistrad's horror tropes) in combination with the artwork...

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Also from a really pedantic argument we got into on my cube discord, it's possible the rules actually only allow for transform cards if at least one half of the card is a permanent. No judge has weighed in yet, and as far as I can find it's not forbidden, just not mentioned.

Though that is me interpreting the following:

712.5. Only permanents represented by transforming double-faced cards can transform. (See rule 701.28, “Transform.”)

As "permanents that aren't DFCs can't transform" not "only DFCs that are permanents can transform"

Also, while the rules explicitly and exclusively talk about "transforming a permanent", there is actually already an exception; Startled Awake is a non-permanent card that transforms (into a permanent). So, I believe that the rules don't mention non-permanents transforming because the mechanic usually only works on permanents, since an instant or sorcery doesn't "live" on the battlefield. There is precedent for the mechanic working on a non-permanent spell, even though the transformed side is a permanent, that doesn't detract from the point that the front side of Startled Awake being a sorcery does not match the actual rules. Additionally, the disturb mechanic definitely changes what's possible, as this marks the first time you can actually cast the transformed side of a card, and that definitely can work for instants and sorceries. They just haven't tapped into that because it a) doesn't work with the intended flavor (creatures that come back as haunting spirits), b) breaks the precedent set by earlier iterations of the transform mechanic, and c) is pretty annoying to play with because you have to desleeve and resleeve the card in question within a matter of seconds just to show what the backside does, but then the instant/sorcery has to go to exile (in this case) with the front side showing again.

 

[sigh]

Can't you just make the "back half" a pay a cost and exile this effect? Not to take away the rules artistry going on with this custom already lol.

Like this:

Seems like it would take about the same rules text as the current front side (a tad more) once you take away the disturb reminder text. and single sided card >> double sided card.

Edit: Sorry Brad for dragging this back here. I saw this thread first...

 

[Velrun]

By god did I try to make this work for years, but it was so difficult to get anyone else remotely interested. Why do all that work for something at 7 mana when they could just play multiple good cards while curving out instead? Ended up just using that tri-color slot for Kess, Dissident Mage and have been pretty happy with her over the years. Still, the high you got from casting that fair Ultimatum can't be matched.

It's only fair if you cast it once. If you draw a second copy, it's not fair anymore
Standard was so much fun during when Lorwyn-Alara and Alara-Zendikar.

 

[Velrun]

I am in the lucky position that I get to put most of the cards I like into my cube. The cube is designed to handle this.

However there are some that still can't be added. Build-arounds that require too much of the cube. Like Zoss mentioned Astral Slide is a favorite I can't run. But I like this one even better



Same logic.

I also really like these ones (with these artworks) but they would do nothing in my cube:

 

[Nanonox]

In my case, it's



In a 4 player game with 20 starting life, you usually cannot afford to pay life to cast the cards. It's a real shame because I support a light storm package, a sacrifice theme as well as an artifact theme. It ticks all the boxes but still misses the mark

 

[frostymoose]

 

[TrainmasterGT]

You know, I've been playing this card a lot lately and it has been really fun. It's a nice chunky reanimation target that sets the opponent back when it enters or dies, but doesn't end the game so quickly that they just auto-lose for facing this. Being only a 5/5, this guy takes a little while to finish the game, giving the opponent a decent window to interact. However, it doesn't have the same "lack of value when removed" problem other reanimation targets often have because it Utter Ends the opponent twice if it dies. This card really minimizes the feel bads inherient with most other reanimation targets, managing to always be fun for the person playing it and never much more than inconvenient for the person playing against it.

The biggest "issue" with Ashen Rider is that it's technically an Orzhov gold card. In practice it feels more like a mono-black or colorless card, so if color is the barrier for entry for you it might be worth moving this card to one of those slots instead. There aren't a ton of straight Black/White decks that are every going to be hardcasting this card.

That's just a suggestion, this card is super fun and worth fighting to make work given it's positive play patterns

 

[Velrun]

I agree with @TrainmasterGT

@Nanonox my man


Have you tested the card? If it ticks all those requirements then I think you should reconsider. There might be other people in your playgroup that also like the card and win-maxing should not always be the goal of a game. Not for everyone at least. I think the card could create some good stories for this thread

https://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/games-end-memories-are-forever.3493/

Including the card does put a certain burden on your artifact removal cards. They either have to be a little more expensive or a little more scarce. Expensive removal spells can be interesting because they can do more stuff than just “Destroy target artifact or enchantment”. A Krosan Grip has an overall positive impact on a cube in my opinion because it gives all the players a little fear in their hearts. You can include Forsake the Worldly to also boost Delirium, Spell Mastery, Rise from the Tides and Astral Slide decks. Those are just some examples of what that burden can result in.