Morphs are a cool mechanic and many people would like to run them in their cubes. Myself included, I find the bluffing mechanics fun and skill intensive.
The problem with morphs is how bad Gray Ogres are compared to other creatures in cube. Just pretend you played a vanilla 2/2 on turns 3 and go through the 3 cmc slots in your cube (assuming you're on the play) and 4 cmc slots (assuming you're on the draw) and check out how most cards will blow you out.
The solution, not relying on custom rules, is to craft an environment that's friendly to Ogres, which consists on:
- 2/3s and 3/3 at a premium
- Bad 2 toughness removal
- 2 toughness wipes (Pyroclasm) not present
- Few 2/1s and 2/2s
This pretty much requires either a very slow cube or a very low power environment. Either way, many cards that are considered fun and common in cube are ruled out.
Another solution is to change the rules, and the simplest way is to change the base stats and cost of morphs from 3 mana 2/2s to something more efficient.
Here are the options I've considered:
I have thought long about these options, and spent a lot of time theorycrafting looking at my current cube list (reasonably low powered) and the following morph module:
By elimination:
(3 mana) 2/3 - Clogged board
(3 mana) 3/2 - Many get downgraded
(3 mana) 2/2 - Grey Ogres are too bad without flipping
(2 mana) 2/2
(2 mana) 2/1 - Some 1/3s become too good, tokens are good
(2 mana) 1/2 - Clogged board, not enough incentive to call a bluff when defending
(2 mana) 1/1 - Being is the play is too good
I will try Grizzly Bears, because I believe it's what get closer to not warping a preexistent cube at a reasonable power level. One risk is having aggro decks be too easy to draft, but I believe slower decks can get away with playing more 2/2s for defense and late game value, giving them an inherent defense layer that's not present in most cubes to counter the "too easy to draft bears" environment.
The problem with morphs is how bad Gray Ogres are compared to other creatures in cube. Just pretend you played a vanilla 2/2 on turns 3 and go through the 3 cmc slots in your cube (assuming you're on the play) and 4 cmc slots (assuming you're on the draw) and check out how most cards will blow you out.
The solution, not relying on custom rules, is to craft an environment that's friendly to Ogres, which consists on:
- 2/3s and 3/3 at a premium
- Bad 2 toughness removal
- 2 toughness wipes (Pyroclasm) not present
- Few 2/1s and 2/2s
This pretty much requires either a very slow cube or a very low power environment. Either way, many cards that are considered fun and common in cube are ruled out.
Another solution is to change the rules, and the simplest way is to change the base stats and cost of morphs from 3 mana 2/2s to something more efficient.
Here are the options I've considered:
I have thought long about these options, and spent a lot of time theorycrafting looking at my current cube list (reasonably low powered) and the following morph module:
By elimination:
(3 mana) 2/3 - Clogged board
(3 mana) 3/2 - Many get downgraded
(3 mana) 2/2 - Grey Ogres are too bad without flipping
(2 mana) 2/2
(2 mana) 2/1 - Some 1/3s become too good, tokens are good
(2 mana) 1/2 - Clogged board, not enough incentive to call a bluff when defending
(2 mana) 1/1 - Being is the play is too good
I will try Grizzly Bears, because I believe it's what get closer to not warping a preexistent cube at a reasonable power level. One risk is having aggro decks be too easy to draft, but I believe slower decks can get away with playing more 2/2s for defense and late game value, giving them an inherent defense layer that's not present in most cubes to counter the "too easy to draft bears" environment.
, but in addition let you scry 2 when it enters the battlefield?
