General Fight Club

Modin

Modin

Trying to cement the tokens theme into GWx. Thought populate might be an interesting "build around" mechanic during draft.
vs vs

My thoughts on them:
Guildmage is possibly one of the best mana sinks at uncommon (not that rarity matters) and can just grind people out (which can also be annyoing to play against)
Trostani is very restrictive in its cost and could be a bit too strong for my power level with all the lifegain - not sure tho.
Eulogist seems a little pushed but I like the fact that he also empathizes graveyard synergies (all hail!) and has a limited amount of use. It might actually be the pick for me as populate is a somewhat inconstistent payoff. It'll probably just be a 3/3 for 3 in some games which I am fine with.
 
Velrun

Velrun

Trostani will never be intereting for me. The cost is severe and if you feel like the power level is also too high, then it’s a no brainer to cut that one.

Guidmage vs Eulogist
Multicolored vs monocolored is probably the biggest difference here. Does this matter to you?
Eulogist requires a set up and can’t populate anything unless you already control a creature token. And often the token you get to populate would be a 1/1 in my cube. What would it be in yours? Populating a 3/3 is pretty damn strong. I would test Guildmage but also take note if someone complains about it being too difficult to fight against.
 
Chris Taylor

Chris Taylor

Contributor
Agreed on Trostani. If you've got the room and Guidmage/Eulogist are both considerations, I'd add both.
Just be sure to also add spitting image or it's Ilk so you can populate people's 6 drops.

You know...for me
 
Mondschwein

Mondschwein

vs

yeah, they might not compare too well at first glance, but I heavily support flash in Bant and want one of them as a payoff (since they're similar in what they do).
I really like how the werewolves play, and since I got a lot of instants in these colours, it's not too hard passing a turn. while the Ambusher looks somewhat cleaner, I think it's actually harder to get more wolves out of it, since the Mayor doesn't want you (or your opponent) to cast a spell for a single turn. it has a lot more (counter)play to it.

Ambusher is a 4/4 with flash though, which by itself is really good.
 
Nanonox

Nanonox

I think you said it yourself: the Ambusher looks cleaner. It explicitly says "flash", there is less text and no flipping involved. Also depending on your cube, the +1/+1 to humans text could be a (small) trap.

If all that is irrelevant, then you need to consider your curve and if the very low floor on Mayor is acceptable (2 mana 1/1).
 
japahn

japahn

Even with Growing Ranks you still need Quasiduplicate or something like that to make a Biovisionary token. Between drafting and drawing all three cards and not getting your Biovisionary or the populate source killed, it's cool, but I don't think I'd maindeck Biovisionary even if I had the other two pieces in the deck, in pretty much any environment.
 
sigh

sigh

Like have the Biovisionary Ability tacked on but are otherwise themselves, or are literally the 1UG creature named Biovisionary?
 
LadyMapi

LadyMapi

That makes me wonder about designing a cube with a very different win condition.

What do decks look like in an environment where keeping four creatures on the board for a turn wins you the game? How much removal do you need for that not to be bullshit?

Or hey, what about cubes that start people off with free "game changing" enchantments?

What would be a fair amount of lifegain to include in a cube where everyone starts off with Lich's Mastery on the board?
Everyone starts off with Revel In Riches. How strong would an Aristocrats deck have to be to be worth drafting?
Triskaidekaphobia and Phyrexian Unlife are both cards... so what if both players started with them on the battlefield? You lose when you hit 13 life or when someone gets you to 10 poison counters.

---

Now I have a random idea for a Netrunner-style asymmetrical cube:
  • The "defending" player starts with a noncreature copy of Azor's Elocutors and replaces their combat phase with another full beginning phase (untap step, upkeep step, and draw step).
  • The "attacking" player starts with a copy of Midnight Oil. They do not lose for drawing a card from an empty library, but do lose if they are forced to discard or exile a card while their hand is empty.
  • Whenever a counter is removed from Azor's Elocutors, put (1? 2? I dunno) counter(s) on Midnight Oil.
  • Some cards are restricted to one "style" of player. For example, the cube might include Reliquary Tower as a card that's solely usable by the defender.
  • Yes, there will be Proliferate and instant-speed draw effects.
The idea here is that the defending player wins by not getting hit for a few turns, denying the attacker resources, or just plain burning them out, while the attacker wins by beating up or milling the defender.
 
Mondschwein

Mondschwein



if you support aristocrats and also support +1/+1 counters (although you don't want the counters deck to be overbearing).
I dislike Dark-Dweller Oracle since it's not good as a reactive outlet.

Soothsayer has a weak body and is mana intensive, but I really like its clean design and think it's actually not that bad
Poacher also gives you life and doesn't want as much mana, it also has a bigger butt (heh) but is a one-time activation per turn
Shadowcat is the slowest of them and more of a +1/+1 counters lord, but maybe the most interesting of them all

I played them all in retail draft, but can't really say if they're playable in cube.
 
Erik Twice

Erik Twice

What about building a Commander cube except your "commander" has its own victory condition?

Also you just reminded me I need to turn my Netrunner collection into a cube.
 
Brad

Brad

Modin said:
Trying to cement the tokens theme into GWx. Thought populate might be an interesting "build around" mechanic during draft.
Click to expand...
I've always thought populate looked like a cool mechanic if you can add enough 3/3+ tokens to then environment. I don't run GW, but I find it much more interesting than spamming out 1/1 tokens.

LadyMapi said:
That makes me wonder about designing a cube with a very different win condition.
Click to expand...
I'm not even going to read this post because I can't stop thinking about Cloudcrest Lake from your other post.
 
Velrun

Velrun

Erik Twice said:
What about building a Commander cube except your "commander" has its own victory condition?

Also you just reminded me I need to turn my Netrunner collection into a cube.
Click to expand...

Now you’re thinking with portals!
This sounds fun :) Do you have any ideas to start out with?
 
Velrun

Velrun

I tried out Thallid Soothsayer and Bushmeat Poacher in a starting pool of cards that I gave to the players at random before drafting. Even then they weren’t a succes.

Thallid is too expensive to cast and activate compared to what you get. Your cube would have to be super low power. Possible even lower than some limited formats because these were not even great in their own set draftings. Poacher has the issue of tapping. This means it can’t attack unless you want to ignore its card text and just have a 2/4 for 4 mana.

I have not tried the cat but I don’t think it’s ever worth sacrificing a creature for that ability.

If you have to choose one above I would go with Poacher because it is actually decent once you’ve decided never to attack with it because opponent has a 4/4.
I suggest looking at these in mono black:



The priest is pretty strong but also pretty interesting because the cost of sacrificing is steep and the reward is pretty good which makes it a mini game within the game for both you and the opponent.

The god is both a sacrifice outlet and a payoff for sacrificing a creature

The faerie is very interesting to play with and play against. It is not 100 % a normal Aristocrats cards because the timing for activation is not instant speed. It is a very interesting card none the less and you could benefit more from it in an Aristocrats deck than in others.

The horror goat herder and The leader of old Phyrexia are both on Power Max lists so you might thread lightly there. The reason why I have included them is because I generally like when the synergy cards are high power and the meat with no real purpose in the cube is lower power.
 
ravnic

ravnic

If someone asks about cards like Thalid Soothsayer, I would assume that pushed stuff like Yawgmoth and God-Eternal Bontu are out of question. If I'm asking you for a replacement for Tandem Lookout as a tempo deck draw engine, would you also suggest Jace the Mindsculptor?

My vote would also be for Bushmeat Poacher, as that guy has a decent ability and at least somewhat snyergizes with counters, as they can increase the lifegain (drawing a card and gaining 7 life when they try to kill your pumped guy doesn't sound too bad).

You propbably know about the sac guys that get counters, right?

 
Mondschwein

Mondschwein

Yeah, I know about all the sac outlets, thank you guys. :D
I just wanted to know what you have to say about the three sac outlets I mentioned.

if you want to get an idea about my powerlevel, those are the ones I'm considering:
Carrion Feeder, Bloodflow Connoisseur, Hobblefiend, Ravenous Harpy, Bogardan Dragonheart as beaters
Phyrexian Plaguelord, Blood Aspirant, Skirsdag Cultist for removal/combat tricks
and the two (bar shadowcat) mentioned ones for card draw.

I really like Rankle and also think about adding it, but it's not a traditional outlet that synergizes well with Falkenrath Noble, Hissing Iguanar and the like.
Woe Strider looked perfect as a card for aristocrats and selfmill, but I think it's a bit too good.
 
Velrun

Velrun

ravnic said:
If someone asks about cards like Thalid Soothsayer, I would assume that pushed stuff like Yawgmoth and God-Eternal Bontu are out of question. If I'm asking you for a replacement for Tandem Lookout as a tempo deck draw engine, would you also suggest Jace the Mindsculptor?
Click to expand...

It is not my right to assume anything. I am just me. (Although I am ruler of Cubanica)

Did you mis the extensive part where I debated the three cards and gave my personal opinion of Thallid and Poacher before advising to run Bushmeat Poacher?
 
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