I like this direction. For more consistency/spice add:
Plus your usual suspects like Earthcraft, Cloudstone Curio, Paradox Engine, Burning-Tree Emissary, Hidden Herbalists, etc...
Card/Deck Earthcraft/Cryptolith Rite Archetype
- Thread starter kModz
- Start date
Plus your usual suspects like Earthcraft, Cloudstone Curio, Paradox Engine, Burning-Tree Emissary, Hidden Herbalists, etc...
Thanks! Sharing a name with a pink puffball, I've learned to embrace it XD
This guy is giving me mad flashbacks to an old Soul of the Harvest deck:For a more creature-integrated option there is
Elfball - Standard 2012
| Creatures (32) 1 Craterhoof Behemoth 1 Ezuri, Renegade Leader 3 Village Bell-Ringer 3 Soul of the Harvest 4 Restoration Angel 4 Birds of Paradise 4 Elvish Archdruid 4 Elvish Visionary 4 Arbor Elf 4 Llanowar Elves Spells (8) 4 Genesis Wave 4 Green Sun's Zenith | Lands (20) 4 Sunpetal Grove 4 Razorverge Thicket 12 Forest | Sideboard (15) 1 Sword of Feast and Famine 1 Melira, Sylvok Outcast 2 Thragtusk 2 Fog 2 Mortarpod 2 Surgical Extraction 2 Sword of War and Peace 3 Mental Misstep |
I like this direction. For more consistency/spice add:
How are these and Beck // Call if the focus is less on combo? Generally curious since I've only played Glimpse in constructed. My concern is that these cards are most often a single cantrip requiring additional setup or luck to get more out of them, whereas Beast Whisperer is good in most scenarios and is a body.
Kor Skyfisher + Oketra's Monument + Earthcraft is infinite creatures + infinite mana, so maybe avoid putting those cards together in a cube unless you've got ways to handle someone theoretically going off on T3?
If we're looking at three colors, though, I think that Earthcraft Zombies could be sweet:
Or, if you want to lean a bit towards Blue...
If we're looking at three colors, though, I think that Earthcraft Zombies could be sweet:
Or, if you want to lean a bit towards Blue...
And if you like enchantments (and have a singleton cube):For a more creature-integrated option there is
Just theorycrafting, no real play experience. I think most of these cards play way better in a constructed deck and are pretty niche.
You can probably make Rite of Harmony and Beck // Call work if you have a tokens theme in your cube (e.g. Battle Screech, Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Increasing Devotion or some delayed token generation like Promise of Bunrei). These two have broader appeal as you don't have to cast the creature to get the trigger.
I'd imagine you'd have to do a lot of work to make it viable outside a combo deck and have a slowpaced environment to give these decks enough time to setup.
I think what @sigh said here about tokens is also pretty relevant.
I haven't seen anyone mention
So just putting her out there with the intruder alarms
Some of the inspired cards might be interesting too depending on how low powered you are like
or some of the other cares about tapping creatures like
Or if you're real evil this archetype goes neatly into the
Decks
Earthcraft and intruder alarm are a bit too strong for my cube, but second wind, freed from the real, hidden strings, and Derevi, empyrial tactician are some fun janky alternatives I've considered
So just putting her out there with the intruder alarms
Some of the inspired cards might be interesting too depending on how low powered you are like
or some of the other cares about tapping creatures like
Or if you're real evil this archetype goes neatly into the
Decks
Earthcraft and intruder alarm are a bit too strong for my cube, but second wind, freed from the real, hidden strings, and Derevi, empyrial tactician are some fun janky alternatives I've considered
Chris Taylor
Contributor
In the same vein:
Dom Harvey
Contributor
This is one of my favourite decks so I'm glad to see a thread about it.
At its core, this strategy wants to use creatures as a flexible resource. Converting bodies to mana is the most direct way of doing this with the cards listed in the OP or these:
As the OP noted, Convoke has this built into the mechanic:
You can support these effects with creatures that add mana in another way at the same time:
Some of my favourite lands let you use creatures to enable messed up stuff:
You want creatures as potential mana sources that are also mana sinks:
Once you have lots of creatures lying around you want ways to pump them - ideally scalable and/or attached to creatures themselves:
Here's an example list with a tribal focus:
Absolutely love decks like this
At its core, this strategy wants to use creatures as a flexible resource. Converting bodies to mana is the most direct way of doing this with the cards listed in the OP or these:
As the OP noted, Convoke has this built into the mechanic:
You can support these effects with creatures that add mana in another way at the same time:
Some of my favourite lands let you use creatures to enable messed up stuff:
You want creatures as potential mana sources that are also mana sinks:
Once you have lots of creatures lying around you want ways to pump them - ideally scalable and/or attached to creatures themselves:
Here's an example list with a tribal focus:
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Absolutely love decks like this
Dom Harvey
Contributor
oh also Evolutionary Leap is a delightful card that's perfect for decks in this space
Oh, hey, look, it's basically Wilderness Reclamation.
...
Looking back over this thread, it feels like this "archetype" is more like Wildfire than anything else — it doesn't necessarily create a new deck, it just transforms one that was already there by giving it an alternate way to go off. I think that's pretty neat.
Finally finished up the cube revamp and fired a draft today, so time for some decklists!
Here's first attempt on CubeCobra, forcing the archetype:
Ended up in a red splash, enabling Plargg, Dean of Chaos in addition to Augusta, Dean of Order. Birgi can help with the chain or use Harnfel, Horn of Bounty to dig when out of gas, but it might be a little cute here.
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Next up is a test draft in CubeCobra that naturally went GW:
Included one custom card I'm testing for Earthcraft redundancy:
This list feels more fleshed out, though a little light on one-drops. Grist plays well with Duskwatch Recruiter, Augur of Autumn, and Beast Whisperer.
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Here's the list that was drafted today by one of our players. It was a great example of a deck not trying to lean heavy into the archetype, but utilized many of the pieces well with its go-wide strategy (which is awesome to see!)
We did have someone playing Katilda, Dawnhart Prime in his deck and Earthcraft in his sideboard, but not any ways to capitalize on them; Katilda was simply a mana dork. I don't know how I feel about Katilda in a cube that doesn't directly support Human tribal since I don't want to lead my drafters astray.
Want to once again give a thanks for all the card suggestions and sample decklists! I'm going to continue iterating on the list, but really happy with how things are looking thus far.
Here's first attempt on CubeCobra, forcing the archetype:
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Ended up in a red splash, enabling Plargg, Dean of Chaos in addition to Augusta, Dean of Order. Birgi can help with the chain or use Harnfel, Horn of Bounty to dig when out of gas, but it might be a little cute here.
-----
Next up is a test draft in CubeCobra that naturally went GW:
| | | | |
| ||||
Included one custom card I'm testing for Earthcraft redundancy:
This list feels more fleshed out, though a little light on one-drops. Grist plays well with Duskwatch Recruiter, Augur of Autumn, and Beast Whisperer.
-----
Here's the list that was drafted today by one of our players. It was a great example of a deck not trying to lean heavy into the archetype, but utilized many of the pieces well with its go-wide strategy (which is awesome to see!)
| | | | | |
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We did have someone playing Katilda, Dawnhart Prime in his deck and Earthcraft in his sideboard, but not any ways to capitalize on them; Katilda was simply a mana dork. I don't know how I feel about Katilda in a cube that doesn't directly support Human tribal since I don't want to lead my drafters astray.
Want to once again give a thanks for all the card suggestions and sample decklists! I'm going to continue iterating on the list, but really happy with how things are looking thus far.
I have not read this thread until now and I am very impressed! This is such a cool idea for a theme in either Selesnya or either Abzan, Bant or Naya!
Second I want to say that the custom card is an excellent design. Beautiful art that fits the ability, fitting creature type and the stats (ability + power toughness) is fair. Also another plus in the book for Card Conjurer.
I want to get this theme into my low-powered Level 0 cube that is 360 cards and act as a starting set to my deck building format. I think the theme should include a Human tribal. I also think the GW go wide goes well with Aristocrats. And I think Aristocrats goes well with delerium and other GY strategies. And I think Aristocrats and delerium goes well with self-discard Drake Haven madness.
Themes I have on my mind:
Naya (Crypto) Rites with Humans
Jund Aristocrats using Humans
Grixis Madness
Second I want to say that the custom card is an excellent design. Beautiful art that fits the ability, fitting creature type and the stats (ability + power toughness) is fair. Also another plus in the book for Card Conjurer.
I want to get this theme into my low-powered Level 0 cube that is 360 cards and act as a starting set to my deck building format. I think the theme should include a Human tribal. I also think the GW go wide goes well with Aristocrats. And I think Aristocrats goes well with delerium and other GY strategies. And I think Aristocrats and delerium goes well with self-discard Drake Haven madness.
Themes I have on my mind:
Naya (Crypto) Rites with Humans
Jund Aristocrats using Humans
Grixis Madness
Definitely interested in what you put together for the Grixis Madness theme! It's something that I've had difficulty keeping away from parasitic or lane drafting. Hopefully the cross-synergies work well for you. Also, if you have plenty of cycling for the Drake Haven, Irencrag Pyromancer could be a consideration; it was a favorite in my playgroup.
Update. It didn't work out for me because I had some requirements I couldn't overcome with this deck for my cube.
I am on attempt no. 2 now. The difference from last time is that I've moved this deck a bit higher up the power level than I initially attempted. For those of you who know my cube, I'm trying to put this into Level 1 instead of the Starter Set. This means I am not restricted completely from multicolored cards and have room for more rare cards. I think your custom card is quite necessary and a clean design. I might try it out in mono green. Maybe
cost. Any chance you have a link to the art? @kModz
I am on attempt no. 2 now. The difference from last time is that I've moved this deck a bit higher up the power level than I initially attempted. For those of you who know my cube, I'm trying to put this into Level 1 instead of the Starter Set. This means I am not restricted completely from multicolored cards and have room for more rare cards. I think your custom card is quite necessary and a clean design. I might try it out in mono green. Maybe
cost. Any chance you have a link to the art? @kModz
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