I think the weenie RW mechanic could be interesting as battle cry in addition to battalion. It adds a bit more dynamic to the eldrazi spawn as well.
Eldrazi Domain Cube
- Thread starter Jason Waddell
- Start date
Yeah, that's an interesting point. I already had Oxid Ridge in there as an interesting card in a spawn-token environment. Bladehold works with Populate, but the card has some other issues.
The loosest part of the design right now is the black section. I don't have a great deal of direction there. It's kind of doing a little bit of lots of things, but if anybody has ideas for improvement...
The loosest part of the design right now is the black section. I don't have a great deal of direction there. It's kind of doing a little bit of lots of things, but if anybody has ideas for improvement...
Not sure about Flamekin, could be sweet with all the Evokers. Hoofprints is an intersection between populate, proliferate and Elemental subthemes. So pretty much a home run.
Sunburst is a pretty good (in abstract) fit for the set's multicolor and proliferate themes. Unfortunately almost all the Sunburst cards kind of suck. Anybody cards you would include?
http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?sort=rating-&output=spoiler&method=visual&text=%20[sunburst]
http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?sort=rating-&output=spoiler&method=visual&text=%20[sunburst]
Assuming I can only keep 4 of the 5, which is the worst fit for the set?
Is this utterly ridiculous?
EDIT: Nope, we need even more ridiculousness:
EDIT: Nope, we need even more ridiculousness:
first off: djinn is awsome . i endorse this fully
second: gigantomancer doesn't make the cut i think. the least intresting might be genesis wave because it's performance is merely based on luck (or worldy/vampiric tutor)
second: gigantomancer doesn't make the cut i think. the least intresting might be genesis wave because it's performance is merely based on luck (or worldy/vampiric tutor)
Strange that you consider Djinn awesome and Genesis Wave to be luck based.
Djinn is more variable in it's usage. Apart from the 3UU 4/4 flier, you get a "random" effect for 2UU.. however djinn is far easier to influence through top, mirri's guile or sylvan library (or any other top-of-deck manipulation. Jace the mindsculptor is another great example
genisis is only influenceable by the tutors and that's it.
genisis is only influenceable by the tutors and that's it.
Dom Harvey
Contributor
Wow, completely forgot about Djinn of Wishes. That's a nice one.
I think I like tooth and nail the least. Gigantomancer, Hoof and convoke have sweet synergy with tokens.
The sunburst cards are fairly underwhelming overall. I like pentad prism, and Suntouched myr.
The token polymorph deck seems like a bit of a stretch even for me. Blue's creature swapping effects seem fun though
Cultural Exchange
The sunburst cards are fairly underwhelming overall. I like pentad prism, and Suntouched myr.
The token polymorph deck seems like a bit of a stretch even for me. Blue's creature swapping effects seem fun though
Cultural Exchange
Uh, yeah, Polymorph may be going a little deep. I'll keep it on the radar though, it would be a sweet archetype to be able to draft. I mean, it doesn't have to be a completely dedicated deck ala constructed, but it does need to have some preexisting shell you can slot Mass Polymorph into.
Tooth and Nail does have good "synergy" with big Eldrazi. I will have to see how viable the deck is in actual drafts. Tooth and Nail will be on deck to help out the archetype, if need be. It cheats on mana a bit, but, hey, at least it's not Show and Tell.
Tooth and Nail does have good "synergy" with big Eldrazi. I will have to see how viable the deck is in actual drafts. Tooth and Nail will be on deck to help out the archetype, if need be. It cheats on mana a bit, but, hey, at least it's not Show and Tell.
So, to push the theme a little bit further, I'm running two of every "<shard> <adjective>blade" card except for the Naya hushblade. I have reorganized the file and jammed all the hybrid cards in mono slots. One interesting thing with all the blades is that we have an emphasis on the allied colors. I've cut the number of enemy gold cards a bit, so on the whole allied colors have a bit more natural support. Playing enemy colors should still be possible (same density of gold support for enemy pairings as in my normal cube).
Should be a slam dunk for the Domain decks, as well as being generally useful. I need to look through Alara block to see if there are other good landcyclers I've missed, but I don't recall there being any.
Should be a slam dunk for the Domain decks, as well as being generally useful. I need to look through Alara block to see if there are other good landcyclers I've missed, but I don't recall there being any.
Well, in the next month I will proxy this bad boy up, and if it doesn't totally suck I'll start tracking down the actual cards.
sweet
In addition to the Maelstrom wanderer, is it possible to add in Enigma sphinx ? I really like that particular card, but it usually doesn't make the cut due to being so expensive.
It's possible, but I don't think it's really necessary. Enigma Spinx is kind of just a big flying dork. Part of the idea for this design is to have your big finishers be Eldrazi. The Sphinx isn't really needed, nor is it supporting our themes in any specific way.
Chris Taylor
Contributor
Hit me like a bolt of lightning this morning: Would it be a horrible idea to add Barry's Land (AKA Cave) to this cube?
It's a land with the following rules text:
Barry's Land
Basic Land
Tap: Add 1
All it does it add 1 to your domain counts, but it doesn't really work within the rules, since it's both basic and nonbasic at the same time... it's weird.
They brought the idea back for Alara, but eventually scrapped the domain idea and it became reliquary tower.
It's a land with the following rules text:
Barry's Land
Basic Land
Tap: Add 1
All it does it add 1 to your domain counts, but it doesn't really work within the rules, since it's both basic and nonbasic at the same time... it's weird.
They brought the idea back for Alara, but eventually scrapped the domain idea and it became reliquary tower.
You know, I had been thinking about adding Cave in for a while. There are basically three options:
1) Put copies in the cube proper
2) Put copies in the utility land stack
3) Put copies in the basic land stack
What do you think would be most interesting?
Also, if we're going that route, we could make a whole cycle of lands:
Mono dual lands!
My feeling is that Cave is best for the basic land pile (but maybe I'm wrong), and if you made a cycle like the above, for the utility land stack.
Chris Taylor
Contributor
4 in the cube would work
Maybe the mono duals in the cube proper, and regular cave in the basics pile incase you get shafted?
Man I just realized how sweet this card would be for the steampunk set I saw on MTGSalvation. One of the mechanics looked at how much colored mana you payed for stuff, and gave huge bonuses if you spent only colorless mana.
Maybe the mono duals in the cube proper, and regular cave in the basics pile incase you get shafted?
Man I just realized how sweet this card would be for the steampunk set I saw on MTGSalvation. One of the mechanics looked at how much colored mana you payed for stuff, and gave huge bonuses if you spent only colorless mana.
I've shown you this list before, but since it seems like you're in similar territory, I'd figured I'd drop a link again since there are a lot of share ideas here.
http://tappedout.net/mtg-cube-drafts/rise-of-the-rise/
Some thoughts from my experience playing this with some friends.
It can be extremely daunting for even experienced players.
If you don't open one of 10 or 15 significant 'goal-driven' cards, picking a direction can seem like shooting in the dark. I've found some players don't like this.
As my fellow designer put it, "it needs more Spectral Riders". Maybe there's such a thing as going too deep with synergies and good baseline creatures are needed to insure the game progresses at a steady pace. This idea is turning out to be a rather complex one.
Surprisingly, games often lack interaction. This could be related to the above idea.
In general, it suffers from the same problems that Future Sight is often associated with.
A thought on your list.
Including Prime Time and Ghost Council seems like a huge error. These cards are so absurdly above the curve of the rest of the cards that they actually invalidate your basic idea. I pulled the Bringers from my own version for this reason as well.
I don't feel the same way about Ulamog, as getting to 11 is on par with the basic idea of the cube: establish a goal and successfully execute it.
Clearwater Goblet is an incredibly unfun card. It's unbeatable for aggro decks and comes down pretty quickly. I'd highly suggest against adding it.
I found domain to be pretty shallow as a theme, as it doesn't interact with much else.
I haven't focused on this cube since Gatecrash came out, but rather have taken a couple lessons from it to my more traditional cube.
http://tappedout.net/mtg-cube-drafts/rise-of-the-rise/
Some thoughts from my experience playing this with some friends.
It can be extremely daunting for even experienced players.
If you don't open one of 10 or 15 significant 'goal-driven' cards, picking a direction can seem like shooting in the dark. I've found some players don't like this.
As my fellow designer put it, "it needs more Spectral Riders". Maybe there's such a thing as going too deep with synergies and good baseline creatures are needed to insure the game progresses at a steady pace. This idea is turning out to be a rather complex one.
Surprisingly, games often lack interaction. This could be related to the above idea.
In general, it suffers from the same problems that Future Sight is often associated with.
A thought on your list.
Including Prime Time and Ghost Council seems like a huge error. These cards are so absurdly above the curve of the rest of the cards that they actually invalidate your basic idea. I pulled the Bringers from my own version for this reason as well.
I don't feel the same way about Ulamog, as getting to 11 is on par with the basic idea of the cube: establish a goal and successfully execute it.
Clearwater Goblet is an incredibly unfun card. It's unbeatable for aggro decks and comes down pretty quickly. I'd highly suggest against adding it.
I found domain to be pretty shallow as a theme, as it doesn't interact with much else.
I haven't focused on this cube since Gatecrash came out, but rather have taken a couple lessons from it to my more traditional cube.
Thanks for the feedback!
The thing you say about goal driven cards is very relevant. I've found that, even as the cube designer, knowing which way to go can be pretty difficult. This is actually one of the big benefits to having cards of different rarities in a retail draft. If you don't know where to go, often you can just grab the rare and keep on going. So I do wonder how terrible it is to have a Primeval Titan around, as it kind of secures the player in a direction.
I don't have Clearwater Goblet in the actual list, nor Ghost Quarter. However I suspect this cube in its current iteration is pretty bad. In the vein of what you said earlier, I will need to evaluate how many "first pick" style cards I am slotting into each archetype, as well as do a whole range of balance adjustments.
The original idea behind Domain was that, if we're going to do rampy stuff with Farseek and friends, we can include a peppering of Domain cards in there to give another deck that wants these cards. The actual domain stuff is very compact, and most of the design space is just filling slots that you would have anyways. Evasive Actions instead of Mana Leaks and Counterspells. Another point is that we're slowing the cube down a bit to allow ramp to flourish, which can be achieved by pushing multicolor a bit further than I do in my normal cube.
But a lot of my comments are conjecture. Unlike you, I haven't actually played my "experimental cube" yet, so I imagine I'll be learning a lot once the playgroup actually gets its hands on the cards.
The thing you say about goal driven cards is very relevant. I've found that, even as the cube designer, knowing which way to go can be pretty difficult. This is actually one of the big benefits to having cards of different rarities in a retail draft. If you don't know where to go, often you can just grab the rare and keep on going. So I do wonder how terrible it is to have a Primeval Titan around, as it kind of secures the player in a direction.
I don't have Clearwater Goblet in the actual list, nor Ghost Quarter. However I suspect this cube in its current iteration is pretty bad. In the vein of what you said earlier, I will need to evaluate how many "first pick" style cards I am slotting into each archetype, as well as do a whole range of balance adjustments.
The original idea behind Domain was that, if we're going to do rampy stuff with Farseek and friends, we can include a peppering of Domain cards in there to give another deck that wants these cards. The actual domain stuff is very compact, and most of the design space is just filling slots that you would have anyways. Evasive Actions instead of Mana Leaks and Counterspells. Another point is that we're slowing the cube down a bit to allow ramp to flourish, which can be achieved by pushing multicolor a bit further than I do in my normal cube.
But a lot of my comments are conjecture. Unlike you, I haven't actually played my "experimental cube" yet, so I imagine I'll be learning a lot once the playgroup actually gets its hands on the cards.
Dom Harvey
Contributor
For fun Domain cards there's Voices from the Void?
How far of a stretch is this ?
