Mystic Speculation was a great engine late game. Over a couple turns, I think scry 3 was probably a little better than draw a card. I only ever played it for 1 mana once, for prowess and double strike with Shu Yun.
General Decks that have 3-0'd your cube
- Thread starter Jason Waddell
- Start date
How does tempt with vengeance work for you? I'm about to add the card to my own cube; I think it's really underrated.
Tempt is fantastic. Its basically a better Secure the Wastes. The game is over if you have Purphoros out.
Just played a 6-man draft tonight, went 3-0 in a round robin with this:
It was a blast to play.
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It was a blast to play.
counterpoint: it isn't an instant
You can attack with the creatures a turn earlier than you would have with wastes for the same X so its a lot nicer for aggro but yeah I run both.
Just managed to do a draft with my cube for the first time in like a month, Huzzah!
Drafted this beast of a deck:
I began my draft with P1P1 worn powerstone as a save, neutral pick, and with Jace, Vryn's Prodigy as P1P2.
I was surprised at how effective Goggles was. It allowed me to copy a Rakdos's Return on X=4, which to my opponent (who was on U/W control) was an insane blowout. Managed to force 6 cards out of his hand. It also did excellent work doubling up dreadbore, which allowed me to stabilize in several matches.
It also killed someone as a 5/5, but I suspect it had a little help with that...
I went undefeated, and I really liked the deck. I'm not sure if I had enough ramp to make the Wildfire effects worth it, but it never came to bite me as I usually pitched them to Jace when I had to. Entomb was excellent, allowing me to weld/Sac key cards like Goggles and Precursor Golem. I still felt the pain of not having the Myr Battleball or Sundering Titan for a top end, but overall the deck was still good.
Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast was not as broken as I thought he'd be, most because I didn't go up against the play-single-creatures-on-curve deck. He was fine enough, but it never felt like he put me incredibly far ahead. He just felt like a very good removal spell. I suspect that this varies heavily depending on what kind of deck you're facing, though...
Drafted this beast of a deck:
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I began my draft with P1P1 worn powerstone as a save, neutral pick, and with Jace, Vryn's Prodigy as P1P2.
I was surprised at how effective Goggles was. It allowed me to copy a Rakdos's Return on X=4, which to my opponent (who was on U/W control) was an insane blowout. Managed to force 6 cards out of his hand. It also did excellent work doubling up dreadbore, which allowed me to stabilize in several matches.
It also killed someone as a 5/5, but I suspect it had a little help with that...
I went undefeated, and I really liked the deck. I'm not sure if I had enough ramp to make the Wildfire effects worth it, but it never came to bite me as I usually pitched them to Jace when I had to. Entomb was excellent, allowing me to weld/Sac key cards like Goggles and Precursor Golem. I still felt the pain of not having the Myr Battleball or Sundering Titan for a top end, but overall the deck was still good.
Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast was not as broken as I thought he'd be, most because I didn't go up against the play-single-creatures-on-curve deck. He was fine enough, but it never felt like he put me incredibly far ahead. He just felt like a very good removal spell. I suspect that this varies heavily depending on what kind of deck you're facing, though...
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Also, Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast is probably a lot less oppressive in a cube that also comfortably runs Grim Monolith, Worn Powerstone and Treachery 
Also, Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast is probably a lot less oppressive in a cube that also comfortably runs Grim Monolith, Worn Powerstone and Treachery
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Actual lol
Don't think I'm dissing your cube though. While it's at a higher power level than most people here are aiming for, that deck looks amazing!
Actual lol
Don't think I'm dissing your cube though. While it's at a higher power level than most people here are aiming for, that deck looks amazing!
I know, I know
As it so happens, I'm waiting on Kaladesh to wrap up in order to hammer out a presentable form of a more Riptide-Friendly cube. I've been wanting to experiment with a more draft-like environment for a little while now, and have been working on one with a carefully throttled power level. My Innistrad cube fell through a bit, unfortunately, due to a variety of factors... but I think you guys will like this one when I'm done with it.
I know, I know
As it so happens, I'm waiting on Kaladesh to wrap up in order to hammer out a presentable form of a more Riptide-Friendly cube. I've been wanting to experiment with a more draft-like environment for a little while now, and have been working on one with a carefully throttled power level. My Innistrad cube fell through a bit, unfortunately, due to a variety of factors... but I think you guys will like this one when I'm done with it.
I'm also super hyped for Aether Revolt because I want another half-dozen playable energy cards to be able to make a cube based around it. Highly considering doing a set/block cube around Kaladesh as well.
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
I think in a lower power environment there's already enough energy cards available. There's only a few of them, mostly the energy generating ones, that seem largely unplayable.
I think that energy would be best restricted to a single color pair, maybe U/R (for that U/R token guy and dynavolt tower, maybe?) in order to be able to fill an archetype without breaking singleton. The problem there though is that you basically have a deck that's either 'strictly worse' without synergy, or baseline good, with synergy making it waaay too strong. I'm currently at a 'wait and see' phase on energy.
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
I'll be supporting RUG energy in my new cube, with a handful of energy cards in white and black. The mechanic is awesome to play with in Kaladesh, and I have seen some truly hilarious decks in triple KLD draft. Thing is, it's not the energy rares you are most afraid of, it's stuff like staring down multiple Longtusk Cubs, which won't be an issue in cube if you don't want it to be! I doubt energy will be waaay too strong compared to other archetypes.
Chris Taylor
Contributor
Not a 3-0, but this deck was incredibly fun to pilot:
Plus These:
The presence of Enclave Cryptologist, Duskwatch Recruiter and Stroke of Genius did a nice job of making the deck feel better about including 4 mana elves while running 16 lands, letting it accelerate nicely while also not having to occasionally pretend (or actually) mulligan to 6 because something like myr battlesphere was in the opener.
Silumgar Adept felt especially nice, and I used it as actual time ebb and a souped up Man-o'-war at various points, either upgrading Brindle Shoat/Strangleroot Geist or trading off the 1 drops that had mostly fulfilled their purpose.
The games I did lose were to my round one opponent on red/white aggro, who drew exactly as many burn spells as I drew creatures, so when the dust settled I had 2 elvish mystics in play, while he had actual creatures.
I also lost to that night's ramp drafter, where I had just enough removal to take care of his combination of Thragtusk + Galepowder Mage (That's a hell of a curve), and was then tasked to clean up before he found a way to kill me through 30 odd life. then a turn later he cast avenger of zendikar, and my deck was all out of interaction
Game 3 of that match was interesting, as I cast an upkeep turn 3 Vendilion Clique against him on the draw (my board flush with about 5 creatures), and saw Wrath of God, Hallowed Burial, Eternal Witness, 2 lands and this guy:
I'm not sure how this deck beats a hand like that, there's literally 4 noncreature spells in the list and no countermagic, so I took his threat, hoping to grind him out.
Fun games, and I think I might be on to something with how this deck worked.
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Plus These:
Silumgar Adept felt especially nice, and I used it as actual time ebb and a souped up Man-o'-war at various points, either upgrading Brindle Shoat/Strangleroot Geist or trading off the 1 drops that had mostly fulfilled their purpose.
The games I did lose were to my round one opponent on red/white aggro, who drew exactly as many burn spells as I drew creatures, so when the dust settled I had 2 elvish mystics in play, while he had actual creatures.
I also lost to that night's ramp drafter, where I had just enough removal to take care of his combination of Thragtusk + Galepowder Mage (That's a hell of a curve), and was then tasked to clean up before he found a way to kill me through 30 odd life. then a turn later he cast avenger of zendikar, and my deck was all out of interaction
Game 3 of that match was interesting, as I cast an upkeep turn 3 Vendilion Clique against him on the draw (my board flush with about 5 creatures), and saw Wrath of God, Hallowed Burial, Eternal Witness, 2 lands and this guy:
I'm not sure how this deck beats a hand like that, there's literally 4 noncreature spells in the list and no countermagic, so I took his threat, hoping to grind him out.
Fun games, and I think I might be on to something with how this deck worked.
I got to draft the MTGO Vintage Cube and I went 3-0 with this deck. This is kind of a useless report since it's the MTGO Cube and basically nobody here supports storm. I'm proud of this deck so I'm posting it anyways.
Here are some notes:
Damnation and Roast are good at buying time against creature based decks. Thing in the Ice and Empty the Warrens are extra win conditions that I'm also able to hide behind if I need more time to build a combo. I drafted the red lands so they got to come in too to supplement Mox Ruby.
My first two matches were fairly easy as my opponents were basically trying to do fair things + moxes. I was able to ignore them for the most part, but I went too low with Necropotence so I didn't get to go 2-0 2-0. One of my opponents messed up by playing Hero of Bladehold over Ravages of War because I failed to Brain Freeze their entire deck. After I untapped I played Yawgmoth's Will and basically repeated my previous turn.
My third match was very difficult. My opponent had Brain Maggot, Mesmeric Fiend, Hypnotic Specter, and Liliana of the Veil. The games got really grindy and I ended leaning on Shadowmage Infiltrator and Ancestral Vision to get me the cards I needed.
UB Storm
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Here are some notes:
- Necropotence and Yawgmoth's Will were definitely the strongest cards in the deck.
- In games where Necropotence resolved, I used it to draw about 20 cards.
- Yawgmoth's Will enabled me to break up my game winning combos over 2 turns.
- Magus of the Will performed very well in games where it didn't immediately die.
- Isochron Scepter underperformed. The only time I was able to cast it, the only card I could imprint was Dark Ritual which I decided against.
Damnation and Roast are good at buying time against creature based decks. Thing in the Ice and Empty the Warrens are extra win conditions that I'm also able to hide behind if I need more time to build a combo. I drafted the red lands so they got to come in too to supplement Mox Ruby.
My first two matches were fairly easy as my opponents were basically trying to do fair things + moxes. I was able to ignore them for the most part, but I went too low with Necropotence so I didn't get to go 2-0 2-0. One of my opponents messed up by playing Hero of Bladehold over Ravages of War because I failed to Brain Freeze their entire deck. After I untapped I played Yawgmoth's Will and basically repeated my previous turn.
My third match was very difficult. My opponent had Brain Maggot, Mesmeric Fiend, Hypnotic Specter, and Liliana of the Veil. The games got really grindy and I ended leaning on Shadowmage Infiltrator and Ancestral Vision to get me the cards I needed.
Yay finally a cube night this year! Worldknit went with zero match or game losses. Here's the beauty:
Aether Searcher was hooked to Ulamog.
Brago was the real MVP of the deck. It always had something good to flicker. Was cute with Kaya.
So.... is this just a pile of insane cards?
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
The real brilliance of this deck is that they only had to play 3 basic lands. They picked up 17 nonbasics! But yeah, other than that, that's basically what Worldknit does after all, just draft the best card in each pack while keeping an eye on your mana curve.
Drafted this with 3/4 of the 4-player simple module and the 1-player enchantments module. Went 3-0 on 2HG night.
Playing 4 Mind Controls on the same game was amazing. Also, having 3 Hondens + Starfield of Nyx + Seal of Fire was absurd. I could turn the Opalescence mode on and off with Seal of Fire.
Playing 4 Mind Controls on the same game was amazing. Also, having 3 Hondens + Starfield of Nyx + Seal of Fire was absurd. I could turn the Opalescence mode on and off with Seal of Fire.
Temur White Hondens from CubeTutor.com
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Not necessarily a 3-0, but a pretty awesome game between two sweet decks. So these decks are from a few days back, but I left most of them intact and a friend and I ran them back. This led to one of the cooler finishes that I've ever had. Lists:
The two decks traded the first two games with Temur just beating down by ramping out an early Sarkhan in the air off a T3 Renegade Rallier Revolt trigger in G1, and then UB following up in Game 2 with a crazy sequence. Early in the game, UB had Brainstormed to search for a 2nd land drop after whiffing on the draw for the turn, and found a Shelldock Isle. One of the two cards that were put back was Control Magic. Figuring that an instant speed Control Magic is probably one of the best Hideaway activations you could pull off, felt right to play out the Isle and set aside the Control Magic. Well, UB played an attrition-y game for a bit but then missed on a crucial 5th land drop for a long while as Turbo Temur began to ramp and hit every single necessary land drop. It was able to power out an Emrakul, the Promised End after looting away some card types via Daretti's +2 with UB on exactly 13 life. By this point, UB had 6 lands in play completely untapped and made a quick count of grave + hand + lands to determine remaining deck size. They were at 21 cards. On end step, they pull off a bounce of a negligible creature of their own on board with a kicked Into the Roil, draw the last card to put down the library to 20, and then they cast the Control Magic off the Isle to steal the Emrakul. It closed out the game not longer afterwards, turns out that Temur doesn't really have the tools to contain a 13/13 Flying Trampler.
Onto game three. The game drags on back and forth until we're both around 10 life and both sides have moderately developed boards. There's a live Vedalken Shackles and 5 Islands for UB, holding back a Flametongue Kavu, Squee, Goblin Nabob and Renegade Rallier on the other end from attacking. There is also a Chandra, Flamecaller on 4 loyalty active on the Temur side of the field, but the -X isn't capable of clearing the other side of the board with a Tasigur, the Golden Fang, Wharf Infiltrator and a few thopters left behind from an earlier Whirler Rogue. Both sides have been firing off looting cards like Tormenting Voice and Compulsive Research to this point, with two Tasigur activations thrown in earlier. Both decks are running quite low on cards, both decks around somewhere around 8-10 cards left. Suddenly UB draws a kill spell to allow them to advance the board state a little, then follows up the next turn with a Meren of Clan Nel Toth to begin the Gravedigger loop and starts off with a Whirler Rogue. All of a sudden the Rogue's ability to grant unblockable will present a real clock to close out the game in two turns.
After a productive attack step from UB, I'm left with nothing but a Chandra on board with 4 loyalty, not enough to clear the entire board. I'm thinking about my outs and remember that I still have Emrakul available to me somewhere in the final 7 cards in my library. I untap, move to upkeep and as I'm about to draw I stop and remember that I have Squee in the graveyard. I'm currently at 3 cards prior to the draw. I recur Squee to hand, draw for turn. I use Chandra's 0 activation to Wheel + 1 and draw the rest of my deck. Turns out that Emrakul was the final card on the bottom (thank god for Squee). I'm mulling over my options with nothing left in the deck and nothing useful in hand when I ask to look through UB's graveyard. I see the Compulsive Research from a loooong while ago. I quickly count up cards left for him and I see the line.
I cast Emrakul, take over their turn, and draw a Misty Rainforest. I play it, crack it and find a land to thin the deck by one card (down to 7). I activate Tasigur's ability and mill the top 2 to the graveyard and choose to give back the Compulsive Research. Cast Research, Draw 3 and discard 2. Activate Tasigur again to mill the final 2 cards in the library and recur the Compulsive Research again. Force them to draw 3 and lose the game. Turns out that Mindslavering AND being able to make every decision for both players is pretty damn good. One of the most satisfying wins I've ever had.
Turbo Temur (Me)
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UB Control
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The two decks traded the first two games with Temur just beating down by ramping out an early Sarkhan in the air off a T3 Renegade Rallier Revolt trigger in G1, and then UB following up in Game 2 with a crazy sequence. Early in the game, UB had Brainstormed to search for a 2nd land drop after whiffing on the draw for the turn, and found a Shelldock Isle. One of the two cards that were put back was Control Magic. Figuring that an instant speed Control Magic is probably one of the best Hideaway activations you could pull off, felt right to play out the Isle and set aside the Control Magic. Well, UB played an attrition-y game for a bit but then missed on a crucial 5th land drop for a long while as Turbo Temur began to ramp and hit every single necessary land drop. It was able to power out an Emrakul, the Promised End after looting away some card types via Daretti's +2 with UB on exactly 13 life. By this point, UB had 6 lands in play completely untapped and made a quick count of grave + hand + lands to determine remaining deck size. They were at 21 cards. On end step, they pull off a bounce of a negligible creature of their own on board with a kicked Into the Roil, draw the last card to put down the library to 20, and then they cast the Control Magic off the Isle to steal the Emrakul. It closed out the game not longer afterwards, turns out that Temur doesn't really have the tools to contain a 13/13 Flying Trampler.
Onto game three. The game drags on back and forth until we're both around 10 life and both sides have moderately developed boards. There's a live Vedalken Shackles and 5 Islands for UB, holding back a Flametongue Kavu, Squee, Goblin Nabob and Renegade Rallier on the other end from attacking. There is also a Chandra, Flamecaller on 4 loyalty active on the Temur side of the field, but the -X isn't capable of clearing the other side of the board with a Tasigur, the Golden Fang, Wharf Infiltrator and a few thopters left behind from an earlier Whirler Rogue. Both sides have been firing off looting cards like Tormenting Voice and Compulsive Research to this point, with two Tasigur activations thrown in earlier. Both decks are running quite low on cards, both decks around somewhere around 8-10 cards left. Suddenly UB draws a kill spell to allow them to advance the board state a little, then follows up the next turn with a Meren of Clan Nel Toth to begin the Gravedigger loop and starts off with a Whirler Rogue. All of a sudden the Rogue's ability to grant unblockable will present a real clock to close out the game in two turns.
After a productive attack step from UB, I'm left with nothing but a Chandra on board with 4 loyalty, not enough to clear the entire board. I'm thinking about my outs and remember that I still have Emrakul available to me somewhere in the final 7 cards in my library. I untap, move to upkeep and as I'm about to draw I stop and remember that I have Squee in the graveyard. I'm currently at 3 cards prior to the draw. I recur Squee to hand, draw for turn. I use Chandra's 0 activation to Wheel + 1 and draw the rest of my deck. Turns out that Emrakul was the final card on the bottom (thank god for Squee). I'm mulling over my options with nothing left in the deck and nothing useful in hand when I ask to look through UB's graveyard. I see the Compulsive Research from a loooong while ago. I quickly count up cards left for him and I see the line.
I cast Emrakul, take over their turn, and draw a Misty Rainforest. I play it, crack it and find a land to thin the deck by one card (down to 7). I activate Tasigur's ability and mill the top 2 to the graveyard and choose to give back the Compulsive Research. Cast Research, Draw 3 and discard 2. Activate Tasigur again to mill the final 2 cards in the library and recur the Compulsive Research again. Force them to draw 3 and lose the game. Turns out that Mindslavering AND being able to make every decision for both players is pretty damn good. One of the most satisfying wins I've ever had.
http://www.cubetutor.com/cubedeck/690210
3-0'd a 4-man the other night with this BUR control deck. The deck played quite well. I was happy to be able to trade 1-for-1, sweep boards, and draw cards until I just had more resources and mana than could be contended with. I have been worried whether or not straight-up control decks would come together naturally.
This was one of my first times drafting with this list, and I didn't end up facing a hard-aggro deck (I did tell the players it existed, but it seems unfamiliar players tend towards midrange-durdle). I am excited to play a few more times (and perhaps grid-draft it) in the next little while and see what the aggro decks can do.
Mystic Speculation, especially, overperformed for me. It worked as a great mana sink that kept me from drawing lands. If felt awesome to "waste" a turn casting it and burning 6 dud cards off the top. I am thinking of adding a prowess/spells-matter to my cube in my next expansion and I think Mystic and Seething Anger (which I am thinking of adding) might be quite powerful in that deck.
http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/68051
3-0'd a 4-man the other night with this BUR control deck. The deck played quite well. I was happy to be able to trade 1-for-1, sweep boards, and draw cards until I just had more resources and mana than could be contended with. I have been worried whether or not straight-up control decks would come together naturally.
This was one of my first times drafting with this list, and I didn't end up facing a hard-aggro deck (I did tell the players it existed, but it seems unfamiliar players tend towards midrange-durdle). I am excited to play a few more times (and perhaps grid-draft it) in the next little while and see what the aggro decks can do.
Mystic Speculation, especially, overperformed for me. It worked as a great mana sink that kept me from drawing lands. If felt awesome to "waste" a turn casting it and burning 6 dud cards off the top. I am thinking of adding a prowess/spells-matter to my cube in my next expansion and I think Mystic and Seething Anger (which I am thinking of adding) might be quite powerful in that deck.
http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/68051