Card/Deck Blink

[japahn]

Blink is a common archetype in cube (also called flicker, ETB, did you catch that, search index?). The fact that so many good stuff creatures have ETB effects means that it doesn't take up many slots, so it's a popular theme to push. The problems I've had with blink are:

1. Most blink is in white, which has the worst ETB effects in cheap creatures. Blink becomes a midrange deck with lots of win more cards.
2. While the blinked things are not poisonous at all, the blink effects are. Sure, they dodge removal and remove bad auras/counters, but it's situational and you wouldn't maindeck any of them without many targets.
3. The enablers are WU, and the best ETB is in BRG.

The best, generally good cards that are great in this archetype:


The self bounce, which requires the creature to be cast again, so it's not as good for tempo:



The poison:


Do you support blink? What colors is it usually? What enablers do you run?

 

[Quirk]

Proper blink:


Self unsummon:


Also general unsummon effects such as

which can be used that way, or not.

 

[Laz]

There was a bit of discussion about Withdraw in the Single Card Discussion thread a little bit back, and the consensus was that the utility of bouncing your own creature at instant speed makes it pretty sweet. Specialised, but sweet.

Also, since it must be mentioned in any conversation about blinking your own cards:

 

[Grillo_Parlante]

You don't really need to run very many blink effects at 360. These are the total that I run at a much lower power level, which could tolerate a wider range of blink effects if I wished too:




They are important parts of specific decks though: the two blink spells as reactive plays in the bant leaning splicer decks, which also support those decks' over-the-top midrange plan, and all of them work as ramp pieces in U/W/x control or combo shells.

I like to lean towards the creatures as I find they are less narrow than the spells; ghostly flicker and momentary blink just have the best value generating potential of the spells.

Voyager staff was a piece of tech that I think Alfonso suggested, and it is great in my lower powered environment. You can grab it with trinket mage, and recur it infinity with auriok salvagers for some fun durdles.

There are also a few ETB bounce creatures (emancipation angel and kor skyfisher) but those cards fill very different roles. You can really fall behind trying to replay your own creatures for value, but those cards have a lot of other misc. utility in the way they interact with auras, artifacts, and lands.

 

[Lucre]

Blink seems like a quaint upside to me when you see it coming together but a lame, unnuanced and one dimensional theme to draft around. I feel like we can ask for more from themes from these colours and we don't even need to ask for blink. We get a more than adequate dash merely from including / drafting good cards.

Blink is a pretty 1D mechanic that punishes decks using the removal we all seem intent on nerfing already. One that is a fair weather friend that isn't even interesting to try to draft around. Please do not include spells that are bad in anywhere but blink decks and those WW decks that have no disruption.

I've beaten people and lost to brago enough to know he doesn't need a whole package to work. Just draft attacking creatures and I'm sure your lynx or jellyfish will be juiced by your flickerwisp enough to provide the small thrill blink is worth. Making players have to think about blink all the time sounds awful.

 

[blacksmithy]

Yeah, i'm coming around to a similar school of thought that blink is fine as a "themeless theme" rather than something we actually push.
So here's the question, for someone with a big blink package who wants to cut back, what are some nice pushable themes in UW/Bant?

PS, i have been finding that any-permanent bounce/blink is the nuts because it gives landfall decks a combo-y angle to work with. Time to start running multiple flickerwisp?

 

[ahadabans]

I agree you don't need many support cards for blink to be good (even OP). And that is because most ETB creatures we run are already value plays without ways to double dip. IMO, the best version of the deck is more combo/control.

I've cut back a lot on my blink support. Currently running just 4 cards (not including self bounce stuff which I don't really count)
1. Momentary Blink (pet card of mine)
2. Brago, King Eternal (who I've never liked and find sort of slow and clunky)
3. Restoration Angel (on the broken end of the scale)
4. Deadeye Navigator (slow as molasses but when it comes together he's the best card in the deck)

Of all these cards, I like momentary blink the best because it randomly has other practical uses (like blanking removal, resetting a blocker, flipping exalted angel), is cheap to cast the first time and not unreasonable the second (flashback is just a super playable mechanic), and feeds spell counts for decks that care about that. None of these cards are uncuttable obviously and I've considered removing the entire support package, but guys in my group like the blink theme a lot so in it stays.

On a side note, I don't think running narrow blink enabler cards is poisony in the same way many other cards are. Because so many things interact with blink, you don't typically need to build a deck around the effect to get value. 2 cents deposited.

 

[Grillo_Parlante]

Honestly, most powered cubes probably only really want resto, flickerwisp, brago, and maybe galepowder. I don't think there is a UW base strategy it really folds into, and is just more generic value generation in practice.

For lower power cubes, the list I provided above I think is pretty good, and there it feels like blink is actually a meaningful part of a strategy.

 

[RavebornMuse]

I don't have much to add because I think blink and bounce can both go much too far and it's something I tried pushing, hated, and dialed back on, but I do have big praise for Deadeye Navigator, who is an absurdly cool dude that allows for tons of crazy shenanigans. If you're looking for a big, stylish Johnny card, Navigator definitely fits the bill, and I'm finding new ways to abuse him every time I run him. He does require some thoughtful deck building, but he's an absurd value engine made fair because of his cost and the many ways you can disrupt him. Highly recommended, A++ fun times

 

[James Stevenson]

Hmm, seems like it's time to run Deadeye again. I used to run as many blink cards as I could, but the whole theme felt really forced, so I dropped it after it finally came together once. But Deadeye is a dope card to pod into...

 

[blacksmithy]

One thing that's often brought up about blink is that it leads to repetitive gameplay. I wonder if the same can be said about the recursion-style decks that Safra has a thread about. Usually recursion is more varied by nature, especially since we don't run the aptly-named Recurring Nightmare, but it might be something to watch out for in cubes that want to try heavier-than-normal recursion themes.

 

[Rasmus Källqvist]

I don't have much to add because I think blink and bounce can both go much too far and it's something I tried pushing, hated, and dialed back on, but I do have big praise for Deadeye Navigator, who is an absurdly cool dude that allows for tons of crazy shenanigans. If you're looking for a big, stylish Johnny card, Navigator definitely fits the bill, and I'm finding new ways to abuse him every time I run him. He does require some thoughtful deck building, but he's an absurd value engine made fair because of his cost and the many ways you can disrupt him. Highly recommended, A++ fun times

Hm.. I've actually felt an absence of johnny cards in my last draft. At the same time, he pretty much costs 8 mana and that is a ton TON for a card that not all decks want.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Look no further than Avacyn Restored limited for a format that pushed a blink theme. And we all know how "cool" that format was...

 

[Face]

But then again, I favor lower-powered environments.

 

[japahn]

Another option in red (though Flamerush Rider and Splinter Twin are way cooler and better).

I can relate to the repetitive gameplay being annoying. I guess blink is not a fun strong theme. I'll keep a few cards that are generally good like Flickerwisp and Withdraw and, if the deck comes together occasionally that's fine, but no slots for narrow enablers.

 

[blacksmithy]

Gotta reiterate here: stuff like Flickerwisp and Ghostly Flicker that can bounce lands is great! Because, you can bounce a scryland and get a landfall trigger!

 

[Grillo_Parlante]

Actual blink effects are pretty good when you run them alongside a "protect the queen" type strategy with a queen that ETBs.

If you think of it less as a theme, and more as strategic support, it becomes quite a bit better. The problem that blink runs into is that people just want to put the cards in the cube as general good stuff pieces, and they really aren't.

 

[Rasmus Källqvist]

Who is the "queen"?

 

[shamizy]

The queen is the creature with the ETB effect in Grillo's example. You just try to generate maximum value by protecting it and just rebuying the effect over and over.

As far as the blink theme is actually concerned, I like it as an incidental thing that pops up every now and then but I do not like it as an archetype. Themeless themes are good to have. There's already a plethora of powerful ETB effects in cube and you don't really need too many explicit ways to abuse them. In my cube at least, I try to add in cards that will lead to cool interactions when paired with other cards but are just fine by themselves. I'd rather have a card that's a 7 most of the time rather than it being a 9 in certain decks and a 2 or just unplayable most of the time. So stuff like Restoration Angel and Flickerwisp are fine with me b/c they're serviceable on their own, but the techier pieces often have too much of a set-up cost or lend themselves to narrow strategies. Or they're Venser, the Sojourner whose -1 (like wtf just -1 to make a team unblockable?) is too damn underrated and just ends games.

 

[Grillo_Parlante]

Reference

Its an mtg article, so its kind of all over the place with the theory, but protecting a queen is a strategy where you are protecting your most valuable piece, one which will win the game on its own. Protecting a Master splicer is a good example from my own cube.

 

[shamizy]

I suppose a card like Deadeye is just fine in a Cube setting because of the mana investment, but I've played against it too much in EDH where it was unkillable that I don't every want to see it near my own list. That card is ridiculously annoying if they get to untap with it.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

I suppose a card like Deadeye is just fine in a Cube setting because of the mana investment, but I've played against it too much in EDH where it was unkillable that I don't every want to see it near my own list. That card is ridiculously annoying if they get to untap with it.

Well, I used to play it, and I can confirm that it creates the exact same experience in cube. Cut it a long time ago.

 

[Alfonzo Bonzo]

Well, I used to play it, and I can confirm that it creates the exact same experience in cube. Cut it a long time ago.

Same experience here.

 

[Lucre]

RG Kiki is a fun and cool deck but is splinter twin just a card for cubes that encourage gimmick drafting or 2 card kill combos?

I'm totes more interested in recruiting my Kiki into my hand and then re-recruiting to find a slime.

 

[blacksmithy]

Idk, i like twin, but i may be biased because i dont own kiki. The dream is obvy acidic slime or better, but theres a decent number of 3-drops you can curve into it if youre a ballsy guy/gal:

And that's just two-color decks!