General Fight Club

[Onderzeeboot]

Yeah, definitely swap those abilities around, otherwise it's still strictly better than a basic Forest. I came up with some other ideas as well. Once again, the Bant guild is green based (as the two guilds compromising Bant are Selesnya and Simic, there are no Azorius cards in my cube (which is another reason I disliked that first design of me in hindsight)).

 

[FlowerSunRain]

Wow, that cycling design is really, really interesting. I think that would be a lock for my land binder.

At least the BUG, RUG and RBG versions.

 

[Lucre]

Do you play the cycling one in 18 land decks? I'm really proud of you bootman these are neat designs.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Gee, thanks guys I guess the cycler is the winner so far!

My land count with that cycler would depend on the deck. In an aggressive deck with a low curve it just counts as one of the lands. If you draw it early, sweet! Perfect mana! If you draw it late, you can cycle it for gas. In a midrange or control deck though, I would be more inclined to run it the same way you'ld run Mox Diamond. It's great fixing if you draw it early, but you can't risk not hitting your lands, so there it is more like a spell. I guess the card slightly favors an aggro deck, but that's exactly how I like my duals. It's so easy to design midrange-friendly duals, it's much harder to design a balanced manafixing land that favors aggro decks without resorting to the lifeloss default (as my last few posts on this topic have shown).

 

[Laz]

I like the lands with abilities which centre the land in green (such as the filter variants, or a Murmuring Bosk style of card), since that really pushes the tri-colour theme a bit more (both in gameplay and visual/draft indicators). Is the cycler land (which is really interesting design by the way) going to work if the cycling cost is ?

 

[Onderzeeboot]

I like the lands with abilities which centre the land in green (such as the filter variants, or a Murmuring Bosk style of card), since that really pushes the tri-colour theme a bit more (both in gameplay and visual/draft indicators). Is the cycler land (which is really interesting design by the way) going to work if the cycling cost is ?

Heh, that's actually what I had the cycling cost at at first. I decided to change it to to make it a bit more generic. But sure, you could definitely change the cycling cost to the primary color of the three-color combination. In my case that would be:

Abzan (Selesnya, Orzhov): , centered in
Temur (Izzet, Simic): , centered in
Mardu (Rakdos, Orzhov): , centered in
Grixis (Rakdos, Izzet): , centered in
Bant (Selesnya, Simic): , centered in

Actually, Murmuring Bosk would also be an interesting card to tweak, since it can be fetched. Can't make a nice mockup right now, but how about:

Crystal Glade
Land - Forest
(: Add to your mana pool.)
As Crystal Glade enters the battlefield, you may reveal a Plains or Island card from your hand. If you don't, Crystal Glade enters the battlefield tapped.
: Add or to your mana pool. You lose 1 life.

 

[Rasmus Källqvist]

I agree with the others on that the cycling variant is the more elegant one. The way I feel about the color-skewed variants is that they short of shoe-horn you into a certain kind of deck. While that might be already happening with the way the cube is set up I'd rather that happens in a subtle way that I don't explicitly notice than it being a piece of cardboard with the designer-goals scribbled on them, so to speak. The cycling land also plays nicely with graveyard themes, I mean, imagine running like Bant with life of the loam, knight of the reliquary and treasure cruise with that land. Yeah!

 

[Lucre]

I don't know if it's the best for cube I just think some of these designs are fascinating. Lands are a real building block for your environment so be conscious.

 

[shamizy]

Cycling is one of my favorite mechanics, so another vote on Cycle Tri-Land here.

 

[Eric Chan]

For the second copy (I already run one of each):

vs.

 

[Lucre]

I thought you were on doubles of ninja? Last time I remember seeing 2x ninja and 1x soulbond ophidian right?

I've played a lot with ninja over the years and I find it pretty cumbersome, I like the interactions but I don't like how many decks have trouble with it (and how no one knows about all the dumb post damage tricks I often use with it lol). Humans, tokens or any on-board built creature strategy is a little anti synergystic sometimes with ninja because they rarely have evasion and he bounces guys who have been trying to build themselves up often. He also gets kinda worse if you are tying to make blocking more integral to your format for obvy reasons. He's a cool reason to include court hussar though.

I like riftwing a lot and I think it's way cooler than a lot of blue 5s but he fills a really weird slot. People also find the ability somewhat frustrating lol.

 

[GenericZero]

I'd rather run Riftwing. Ninja is cool but there's only so much card drawing I want in blue. Riftwing acknowledges that my opponent exists & I like that.

 

[Jason Waddell]

Could the cycling one count lands and not turns? e.g. can only play if you control two or fewer other lands

 

[Aikola]

Could the cycling one count lands and not turns? e.g. can only play if you control two or fewer other lands

But then it's a strictly better version of Seachrome Coast, how about if it just tapped for and then just had Islandcycling.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

It would definitely not be a strictly better version of Seachrome Coast, as you can't play it after you played your third land. I like the current wording however and I already printed the proxies

 

[Rasmus Källqvist]

Remember to show us the entire semi-cycle in the appropriate thread!

 

[Peter LaCara]

vs

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Is there a particular reason why this is not

vs.

? Of the two I like Desert Twister best. It's an oldie, nice reprint, better art, fits with green's ramp strategy, and always maindeckable (provided you can reach 6). Bramblecrush is more of a sideboard card in my eyes, a bit too narrow to maindeck all the time. I think I'ld prefer any of the following (and previously mentioned) for its effect, because they are more readily playable in the maindeck:

 

[Peter LaCara]

Mostly because I already run Acidic Slime and I was looking to cut back on the creature % in green a bit. I kinda don't like Beast Within and I don't have experience with Song of the Dryads yet. Maybe I should run that one. Here's a better question:

vsvs

 

[GenericZero]

I hate the idea of playing anything 8 mana in cube besides MAYBE as a one of or two of. And they're usually going to be green. Terastodon seems the best in my opinion just because you're going to hit 3 things, but they NEED to be relevant or else it just feels poopy. Sylvan Primordial seems good for reanimator, but terrible in any other fatty plan. Woodfall Primus is the most solid, no doubt. But Woodfall Primus fails to excite.

But hey, Primus SUCKS! So yea, run Woodfall Primus. Do Les Claypool proud.

 

[Eric Chan]

Being a huge fan of green ramp and fatties, I've run all three of those at some point or another, and my eventual choice for favourite ended up surprising me - Sylvan Primordial. It turns out that eight mana is a lot more than seven, and it's rare that there's more than one troublesome noncreature permanent that you urgently need to deal with. The body is excellent defensively the turn he comes down, and he can continue to hold the fort for as long as it takes you to lock the game up, at which point he can start going to town. Perhaps as importantly, he's all upside - the forest might be an incidental bonus when you've already hit seven, but at least you're not giving anything back to your opponent.

Terastodon is better suited to a reanimator strategy, where you can cripple your opponent's early game by taking out a few of their lands, while adding, say, 12 power to your own board. So his inclusion should hinge on whether you plan to Mannequin (or something) him out. If you're looking to hardcast a spell at eight mana, though, you're typically better off with Craterhoof Behemoth, who often just ends the game, opponent's noncreature permanents be damned. Woodfall Primus is the most pedestrian of the three, as while he wins points for durability, he's mostly a lower impact Sylvan Primordial when he hits the field.

 

[Peter LaCara]

Sold.

 

[Diakonov]

 

[Suicufnoc]

Sphinx of Lost Truths
Meloku, the Clouded Mirror

 

[Peter LaCara]

Jwar Isle is just a big dumb unkillable beatstick. Aetherling, while being a bigger dumber unkillabler beatstick, is more interesting to play with and forces more decisions, so if power level isn't a concern, go for the 'ling.