The cycle lands are amazing. They looks like crap (and it often feels bad to be playing them tapped to be fair), but tossing them for a card when you have extra mana is just so much value. LFTL might be the best combo piece with them for obvious reasons, especially if you have a couple early. But even in a random deck with no synergies, I can't count how many games they have saved from screw/flood. These are innocuous cards that just make for better games of Magic IMO.
Card/Deck Astral Slide
- Thread starter Dom Harvey
- Start date
Grillo_Parlante
Contributor
Are you running the new cycling duals? They are the real deal, and I am surprised they haven't resulted in more discussion here. They are well worth supplementing both fetchlands or bouncelands, and can probably justify their own configuration, regardless of the printing/non printing of the enemy colors.
The problem with the mono-colored cycle lands is that they don't resonate with the way drafters usually make picks, but the cycling duals get around that problem easily.
I don't have quite enough cycling density yet to justify astral slide for a slot, but expect that to happen once the second amonkhet set is released. The new cycling cards trigger off of discards, which makes them much more ubiquitous than the old ones. Slide is still fine with LFTL, but a bit too dead the rest of the time for my liking.
The problem with the mono-colored cycle lands is that they don't resonate with the way drafters usually make picks, but the cycling duals get around that problem easily.
I don't have quite enough cycling density yet to justify astral slide for a slot, but expect that to happen once the second amonkhet set is released. The new cycling cards trigger off of discards, which makes them much more ubiquitous than the old ones. Slide is still fine with LFTL, but a bit too dead the rest of the time for my liking.
Yup. I tossed in the new Bicycle lands. The design is sweet and while I haven't played with them much yet, I expect they will be staples in my future cube lists. I was a pretty big fan of the tango duals actually because they were fetchable. Having cycling versions of those is more than I could have hoped for, though I suspect there will be times when the ETB tapped clause will make me wish they were Tangos (which you can often sequence to play like ABU duals - Tangos are actually pretty awesome FWIW).
EDIT: Regarding the Onslaught cycles... there is a substantial difference between cycle 1 vs cycle 2 IMO. So much so, that some cards with cycling I'd only consider with a cost of 1 (like Cast Out would be MUCH worse with cycle 2 for example). Again, the onslaught cycles are really good cards. Drafters don't appreciate how valuable they are to deck consistency and playability. My 2 cents.
EDIT: Regarding the Onslaught cycles... there is a substantial difference between cycle 1 vs cycle 2 IMO. So much so, that some cards with cycling I'd only consider with a cost of 1 (like Cast Out would be MUCH worse with cycle 2 for example). Again, the onslaught cycles are really good cards. Drafters don't appreciate how valuable they are to deck consistency and playability. My 2 cents.
Going back to Onslaught Cycling lands, I've had them as options in my ULD ever since I first put it together and they've always been pretty middling picks. They're great for smoothing draws, but the only decks that end up really wanting them enough to prioritize them in ULD are whenever someone drafts The Gitrog Monster specifically, which I'm fine with. Most of the time my drafters go two colors with a light splash for a third, but the more powerful two color lists really appreciate the Onslaught cycle.
I'm a fan of the new duals, but I just don't see them playing as effectively as Battlelands have done thus far. The biggest appeal to the Battlelands to me are that they help two color decks curve out more consistently (which matters a ton for aggro), while providing three color fixing and limiting the prevalence of a greedy goodstuff curveout. It has provided me with exactly the opportunity cost that I was hoping to employ. I suppose that same application could happen with the Bicyclelands, but I just feel like it's a bit too punishing in cube to just draw that CIPT land as an aggressive decks that is hoping to curve out efficiently. My dream would be to have the relevant Battle/Bicyclelands that would be most applicable for each color combination/relevant tri-color pairing in my cube, but we all know that that's likely years down the pipeline.
I'm a fan of the new duals, but I just don't see them playing as effectively as Battlelands have done thus far. The biggest appeal to the Battlelands to me are that they help two color decks curve out more consistently (which matters a ton for aggro), while providing three color fixing and limiting the prevalence of a greedy goodstuff curveout. It has provided me with exactly the opportunity cost that I was hoping to employ. I suppose that same application could happen with the Bicyclelands, but I just feel like it's a bit too punishing in cube to just draw that CIPT land as an aggressive decks that is hoping to curve out efficiently. My dream would be to have the relevant Battle/Bicyclelands that would be most applicable for each color combination/relevant tri-color pairing in my cube, but we all know that that's likely years down the pipeline.
Grillo_Parlante
Contributor
I think your format is a bit too velocity focused to really allow for much in the way of CIPT lands. That structure of cube design is already well established, and very clear in what it wants or doesn't want.
It would be neat to see some more brewing around them though, in other contexts.
It would be neat to see some more brewing around them though, in other contexts.