GRb Ramp
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I tried to run Myr Superion but apparently Arbor Elf is a massive nonbo there. But they were really sweet with Zhur Taa Ancient. Not sure what to do about them. Maybe one should be a Birds of Paradise?
Eldrazi Domain Cube
- Thread starter Jason Waddell
- Start date
I tried to run Myr Superion but apparently Arbor Elf is a massive nonbo there. But they were really sweet with Zhur Taa Ancient. Not sure what to do about them. Maybe one should be a Birds of Paradise?
General thoughts:
Even with a dozen or so hybrid one-drops, I think I should still double down on a few more (Deathrite Shaman, Dryad Militant, Figure of Destiny). Could probably use another Burning-Tree Emissary too. This is all to help make the ____blade cards more appealing.
There was some narrow fluff that should probably be replaced by "smoother", cards that can go in a wide range of archetypes.
The proliferate theme was really well implemented and in demand by a diverse array of archetypes.
Apparently the Brindle Shoat that I bought is in Japanese.
"Super ramp" cards like Somberwald Sage and Coalition Relic were super needed to make casting Eldrazi a possibility. I only got Eldrazi on the table twice, but I know the Mono-black ramp guy was more successful (Crypt Ghast, Nirkana Revenant)
Morbid is super sweet and maybe I need more echo cards.
I never "lived the dream" with Cathodion + Phyrexian Tower. But a colorless 3/3 for 3 wasn't the worst either.
Devil's Play is an amazing card and fun to use.
In 9 games played I drew 0 Summoning Traps
Even with a dozen or so hybrid one-drops, I think I should still double down on a few more (Deathrite Shaman, Dryad Militant, Figure of Destiny). Could probably use another Burning-Tree Emissary too. This is all to help make the ____blade cards more appealing.
There was some narrow fluff that should probably be replaced by "smoother", cards that can go in a wide range of archetypes.
The proliferate theme was really well implemented and in demand by a diverse array of archetypes.
Apparently the Brindle Shoat that I bought is in Japanese.
"Super ramp" cards like Somberwald Sage and Coalition Relic were super needed to make casting Eldrazi a possibility. I only got Eldrazi on the table twice, but I know the Mono-black ramp guy was more successful (Crypt Ghast, Nirkana Revenant)
Morbid is super sweet and maybe I need more echo cards.
I never "lived the dream" with Cathodion + Phyrexian Tower. But a colorless 3/3 for 3 wasn't the worst either.
Devil's Play is an amazing card and fun to use.
In 9 games played I drew 0 Summoning Traps
I need a new Dimir card. Which of these do you guys like?
I cannot for the life of me come up with an acceptable non-land 4-drop to replace Collapsing Borders.
EDIT: Maybe we just add another creature?
EDIT: Maybe we just add another creature?
I have no idea what to think of this card in an Eldrazi spawn-focused cube.
This is the coolest counterspell I have ever seen.
Tentative change list:
Out:
In:
Out:
In:
There are a couple of very exciting snippets right here and would love to see these ideas expanded on. Talking particularly about decision range and casting costs plus what you have to spend your mana on later on in the game.
I think there's some overlap here with CMLs article on the blue one cost cant rips which I will cover over in the thread for that.
Re your thoughts on changes Jason, it would be useful if you have the time to explain why you feel that they don't belong. A couple of off the hoof comments. Maw of Obzedat always felt horrible when I drafted it on cubetutor so I'm not sad to see that go. Re the borders swap, if you're going to put in a creature ogre battledriver seems like it should be cool with all the spawn tokens.
Also dimir doppleganger seems like a cool way to copy an eldrazi when it pops into the graveyard, unless that's too hostile to the theme?
Boros Elite -> Dryad Militant : Need an increased hybrid density
Dawnfluke: It's true this fits the Morbid and Elemental themes, but it's also a little terrible and nobody wants it in their deck.
Topple: I don't really need something exclusively anti-ramp, and wanted both an increased density of usable removal (see CML's AVR comments) and fewer super narrow cards.
Ajani swap: Going to test. I liked the idea of spreading +1 / +1 counters around multiple bodies and proliferating, but other Ajani fits that better and supports the token deck better (which didn't quite come together)
Slippery Bogle: Nobody wants a 1/1, even if it is hybrid.
Carrion Feeder: Density of useful interactions isn't high enough to warrant playing this 1/1 either. Deathrite #2 give hybrid, fixing and ramp, all of which are welcome.
Cabal Therapy: Could be fine. Want to test Vendetta though, feels super interesting here.
Altar's Reap: Even if you sac a spawn token, that's effectively 2B you have to pay for this, making it a bad divination. I don't think Life // Death is correct, but I really don't have ideas here.
Tuktuk: I wanted more interesting combat and evasion (which Pyreheart brings), and the Undying also supports the aggro-proliferate stuff.
Brood Birthing: Bit of a blank. Madcap gives that same fun Pyreheart combat (maybe? could be wrong here). Aggro was a bit unerpowered it felt.
Collapsing Borders: All the decks are multicolored so this was like a really bad Clearwater Goblet. I like your ideas on Battledriver though.
Flame Jab: Not sure if anybody really wants this. It is anti-spwan tokens, but not the best otherwise. Low demand card.
Arbor Elf -> BoP Wanted fixing + more Myr Superion support.
Silent Blade, Duskmantle Seer: Turdly and OP respectively. Put in some more interactive cards to make the format more playful.
Blood Cultist -> Exava: Fine pinger, but I want a card that both interacts with the +1/+1 counters, and also a card that is splashy and makes you say "I want to play aggro tonight!"
Maw of Obzedat -> Sorin: More appealing token support.
Thanks for taking the time to comment, appreciated. It really helps with your thinking. I agree with most of it now I understand the thinking behind it.
Is topple exclusively anti ramp or is it still good in the aggro decks generally?
My feeling is that cabal therapy seems like it would be really good in this environment so am a little sad to see it go. Do you not already have the vendetta effect in orthoz charm?
What about ritual of the machine instead of altars reap?
Replace flame jab with death spark?
Is topple exclusively anti ramp or is it still good in the aggro decks generally?
My feeling is that cabal therapy seems like it would be really good in this environment so am a little sad to see it go. Do you not already have the vendetta effect in orthoz charm?
What about ritual of the machine instead of altars reap?
Replace flame jab with death spark?
I can keep Cabal Therapy in for testing. I played a ramp deck so it's possible I am a little distorted in my view here.
Death Spark is a card that I love, and would be sure to run in a Tortured Existence cube. Not sure how great it would be here.
I don't think the aggro decks are all that likely to maindeck (or maybe even sideboard in) Topple, but I know they would play Oblivion Ring. One problem I had was that there were lots of removal spells but a lot of them weren't making it into decks, which was lowering the interactivity of the games.
Black sacrifice control magic... interesting. Didn't know that card existed.
I am strangely drawn to this card:
Supports CMC matters but I don't know if it's sufficiently useful.
Supports CMC matters but I don't know if it's sufficiently useful.
Testing Craterhoof Behemoth instead of Avenger of Zendikar.
"Curving out."
Does anybody have thoughts on storage lands?
You know how flashback is really good for durdly decks because it gives them something to do instead of nothing?
In the same sense, storage lands are a pessimist's choice. You realize that you won't always be using all of your mana every turn so you play a land that helps you get value from those situations. In the games where you always have things to do, you never activate the storage land, but you're probably doing pretty well in those games anyway. Just note that you have to have two storage counters before the land represents more than one mana.
I really like them but they don't belong in fast environments with excellent fixing because you'll just die if you spend your early turns charging the storage land and there are no late turns.
They're pretty sweet when proliferate is a theme though.
In the same sense, storage lands are a pessimist's choice. You realize that you won't always be using all of your mana every turn so you play a land that helps you get value from those situations. In the games where you always have things to do, you never activate the storage land, but you're probably doing pretty well in those games anyway. Just note that you have to have two storage counters before the land represents more than one mana.
I really like them but they don't belong in fast environments with excellent fixing because you'll just die if you spend your early turns charging the storage land and there are no late turns.
They're pretty sweet when proliferate is a theme though.
I updated my CubeTutor list and even classified the cards according to where I have them on my .txt file: http://cubetutor.com/viewcube/625
Not sure if I built correctly, but the cube is feeling pretty good now.
Junk Aristocrats
This deck looks really fun and I wish I could play it right now.
Junk Aristocrats
This deck looks really fun and I wish I could play it right now.
On the first post, can you rehash out the main ideas / ideological changes / how it's grown since you started it? I want to follow along, but it's too much to try jump in and absorb all at once, even if I've read it all before when lurking . And we all know how much use just looking at the cube list is.
. And we all know how much use just looking at the cube list is.
On the first post, can you rehash out the main ideas / ideological changes / how it's grown since you started it? I want to follow along, but it's too much to try jump in and absorb all at once, even if I've read it all before when lurking
Hmm... good suggestion. Well, I have a whole article series planned on this cube and lessons learned, so I might be a bit sloppy on the explanations until then unfortunately. If I get inspired I'll update the OP, but in the meantime I can only apologize for the mess spread over 10 pages.
I think I need a few more aggro first picks but I really have no idea what those should be or where to put them.
This cube is fun but not half as fun as my main cube, which is helping me learn a lot as a designer, but I'm not sure how to apply those lessons here yet. Games feel really board-cloggy, yet sweepers are at the same time overpowered (even the 6-mana ones).
I think there are too many bodies and not enough things that are efficient enough to close out games.
I think there are too many bodies and not enough things that are efficient enough to close out games.
Looking forward to hearing what you think the lessons are.
I would think that craterhoofbehemoth might help break some board stalls. What do you think of contagion engine as a 'sweeper'? How about su-chi as an upgrade to Cathodian?
How about some things that make blocking harder? How about some of these?
Champion of lambholt
Nightbird's clutches
Order/chaos
Ruthless invasion
Wrap in flames
Master Warcraft
Champion of lambholt
Nightbird's clutches
Order/chaos
Ruthless invasion
Wrap in flames
Master Warcraft
The most surprising thing I learned is that fun cards are more important than fun synergies, and that Wizards has been very careful to fill high-level Magic with fun and appealing cards while banning the ones that have a high power::fun ratio.
These cards produce such great decisions and dynamics, and are a big reason for Legacy's success. Top Legacy decks don't have a ton of overt synergy (Jund is kind of a pile of cards, Scavenging Ooze is antisynergistic with Goyf), but the cards are so much fun to play and produce such a high density of interesting decisions that the games are a blast anyways.
These cards produce such great decisions and dynamics, and are a big reason for Legacy's success. Top Legacy decks don't have a ton of overt synergy (Jund is kind of a pile of cards, Scavenging Ooze is antisynergistic with Goyf), but the cards are so much fun to play and produce such a high density of interesting decisions that the games are a blast anyways.
I might try taking the Eldrazi out of this cube. Do some parallel design and see how it plays with a different configuration.