I was bored and thought about making a low-power cube. But I don't want to repeat the same themes at a lower power. What are some cool archetypes that are not the usual spells matter, blink, aristocrats, artifacts, etc?
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- Thread starter James Stevenson
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Wilds and Terramorphic just got reprints in the most recent sets without that multicolored frame yet Vista was relative long ago with multi frame. Thus we go with Ondezeeboot’s quote
Adventure matters
Blue raid with Pirates and Ninjas
Green graveyard theme
And lots of combo decks throughout the history of Standard can be replicated in cube if cube is low-powered enough.
Slivers.
I'd explore the extensive discussions surrounding the penny pincher cubes. Lots of low power cube design happening with that
Ninjutsu or Aggro Madness Equipment matters/Double Strikers or or Landfall Lifegain Fair Reanmimator Devotion Enchantments/Constellation Heroic or Goblins or or Proliferate Ferocious
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Enchantments / constellation also works in !
!Damn Ravnic!
Edit: Damn Ravnic that is sweet! I especially like how white double strikers go well with Boros’s theme of Equipments, Selesnya’s theme of Enchantments and Constellations and with Boros’s theme of Heroic.
Suggestion: Have you thought of either blue or black themed ETB effects to go with Ninjutsu? Or to have either blue’s unblockable creatures or blacks evasion creatures to go with ninjutsu?
I bet you are happy with Zendikar 3’s Naya landfall cards!
Edit: Damn Ravnic that is sweet! I especially like how white double strikers go well with Boros’s theme of Equipments, Selesnya’s theme of Enchantments and Constellations and with Boros’s theme of Heroic.
Suggestion: Have you thought of either blue or black themed ETB effects to go with Ninjutsu? Or to have either blue’s unblockable creatures or blacks evasion creatures to go with ninjutsu?
I bet you are happy with Zendikar 3’s Naya landfall cards!
I wonder if we've reached a critical mass of kicker cards with ZNR if Kicker Matters can work as a Temur wedge theme? Basically all the best kicker cards are in blue, green, or red and you've got payoffs like Hallar, the Firefletcher and Roost of Drakes.
It probably would work but I think kicker generally works better as a wide-theme - Even if all the payoffs are in GR or GU I'd want players to have options to play something like GRB using Black kick spells to fire the GR payoff, and not just confine 'yet another mana smoothing mechanic' to GUx.
That's already a problem in retail magic (GU having all the things that ensure you get a good mix of lands and spells, while everyone else is stuck fighting for scraps) I think it's avoidable in Cube, but it means spreading the love on enablers like Cycling and Kicker, even if the archetype deck is in only one pair.
My favorite payoff is the sometimes a 5/5 Risen Riptide although he's goofy and lower power than either of the gold cards.
That's already a problem in retail magic (GU having all the things that ensure you get a good mix of lands and spells, while everyone else is stuck fighting for scraps) I think it's avoidable in Cube, but it means spreading the love on enablers like Cycling and Kicker, even if the archetype deck is in only one pair.
My favorite payoff is the sometimes a 5/5 Risen Riptide although he's goofy and lower power than either of the gold cards.
For my cube I tried to find some that are cheap, (pseudo) evasive AND somehow nice to bounce.
because they're both gold, duh
i LOVE blinking adventure creatures!
Chris Taylor
Contributor
Except Bonecrusher giant
Wait can you explain this to me. They would just be a creature being blinked and returning as creatures wouldn't they? The decision between spell or creature is when you cast it not ETB?
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
I think they meant returning to hand, not blinking. The suggested theme for was ninjutsu, so Order of Midnight has evasion and has added value when you return it to your hand because you can cast the adventure again
was ninjutsu, so Order of Midnight has evasion and has added value when you return it to your hand because you can cast the adventure again Aah well the self bounce line I can see. I even bought some adventure cards to try out that style of deck based on ravnics praising of them
Alright, I see you run life gain as a theme and you've suggested it here. Can you explain to me how it isn't just a tribal deck where you collect all the cards with the word "life" on them? It seems like a well-supported deck now, but I'm skeptical.
I think the biggest difference is that lifegain is already a useful thing for many decks (mostly slower ones), where being a Goblin is not a useful trait without any payoffs. On the other hand you make lifegain cards even more flexible, since even aggressive lifegain related decks will want them. Mire Triton and Faith's Fetters (and dozens like them) are very versatile cards anyway.
The only thing that is a bit narrow are the payoffs. But there are cards like these:
These get better with lifegain without requiring it to be good cards. Also, by now we've gotten a few self enabling payoffs at various power levels, probably more than most tribes have:
Also, most of these payoffs care about you gaining life, which can be achieved every turn with a single Healer's Hawk in play. Most Goblin decks for example want you to have multiples to be really worth it.
EDIT: Oh, and I think it is easier to integrate lifegain into other decks, since lifegain is alreadya reward for doing something, like sacrificing (Zulaport Cutthroat), putting lands into play (Grazing Gladehart) etc. For example, I've played Oathsworn Vampire in rakdos sacrifice decks with just Zulaport Cutthroat and a Mire Triton and it worked very well.
The only thing that is a bit narrow are the payoffs. But there are cards like these:
These get better with lifegain without requiring it to be good cards. Also, by now we've gotten a few self enabling payoffs at various power levels, probably more than most tribes have:
Also, most of these payoffs care about you gaining life, which can be achieved every turn with a single Healer's Hawk in play. Most Goblin decks for example want you to have multiples to be really worth it.
EDIT: Oh, and I think it is easier to integrate lifegain into other decks, since lifegain is alreadya reward for doing something, like sacrificing (Zulaport Cutthroat), putting lands into play (Grazing Gladehart) etc. For example, I've played Oathsworn Vampire in rakdos sacrifice decks with just Zulaport Cutthroat and a Mire Triton and it worked very well.
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
What is this nonsense?! First card nonlegendary 3/2 for
o_OMana Beetle 1R
Creature - Insect
Exile Mana Beetle from your graveyard: Add
.2/2
o_Oo_O
Green-Blue Antimana
Chaotic Instant
Add
for each Island you control. Add for each Forest you control.(there's one for each enemy color pair!)
o_Oo_Oo_O
This set is a shit-show!
Chris Taylor
Contributor
So perhaps I should give more of an introduction than "Woah"
Spectral Chaos is one of Magic's first planned expansions, planned to be released a bit before Legentds IIRC.
So yes, this set is jank. A lot of early magic was. But it's interesting to see what had been planned.
They also admit this had NOT been playtested yet, or even developed. There's a RW enchantment that draws you 11 cards when it comes into play for pete's sake
Spectral Chaos is one of Magic's first planned expansions, planned to be released a bit before Legentds IIRC.
So yes, this set is jank. A lot of early magic was. But it's interesting to see what had been planned.
They also admit this had NOT been playtested yet, or even developed. There's a RW enchantment that draws you 11 cards when it comes into play for pete's sake
