General Fight Club

Dom Harvey

Dom Harvey

Contributor


I haven't tried Narset but I'm pushing library manipulation, spells matter in Jeskai colours, and I've always loved Chandra, the Firebrand, so maybe I should.

I'll put my vote in for Ajani, Caller of the Pride. A 3-mana, 5-loyalty planeswalker is so tough to deal with, especially when you're pumping a 2-drop and putting them on the back foot; you get into ultimate territory much more often than you'd think, which forces them to contort their plays even further to get it off the board. The -3 just kills people out of nowhere at virtually any stage of the game and ensures your aggro deck always has late-game outs.
 
GenericZero

GenericZero

I'm gonna go a bit aggro here and say Narset isn't all that great. Period. She requires such a large amount of instants and sorceries to be even be decent. The high loyalty was a clever way to give her pseudo protection but at the end of the day she's just the gold Chandra, Firebrand. Possibly even less fun. Venser blinks any permanent under the sun, which can lead to some crazy fun stuff like moving auras around, cheating Demonic Pact, going mad with Shelldock Isle, resetting other walkers and/or artifacts, etc etc. His minus might shout "play teh doodz 4 me" but he does sooo much more than that. Narset simply reads "have a card here and there, then double it up! Haha...... >.>"

You can argue that Venser's mana cost is too much but we all know that at 4 he'd be a "powermax staple". That's not even bringing up the age old "everything costs 4" issue.
 
Eric Chan

Eric Chan

Hyalopterous Lemure
Staff member
Yeah, it's interesting... I suspect that Ajani Steadfast might be the lowest on power level of the three, but is the clear winner on versatility, both in his abilities and in his casting cost, which are huge pluses for cube. Goldmane is tremendous in a tokens build, while Caller of the Pride works really well on the other end, buffing single targets.

I guess it's pretty close between all three, though, given that at least one person has voted for each of them!
 
Chris Taylor

Chris Taylor

Contributor
I run all 3 ajanis, though I have taken out Goldmane now and again for being way too strong in creature/creature slugfests (Which used to be a huge problem in my cube)

Pfft walkers with 1 ability. Tangle Wire has one ability! Not everything needs choice, and goldmane would be way more insane if it were an enchantment with fading.
 
GenericZero

GenericZero

Tangle Wire may have one ability but there is plenty of choice going into the execution of that ability. Goldmane is just one ability that you kinda just use without much second thought. Exciting planeswalkers provide choices and options. Goldmane does none of that, really. It's a sad sight to see so many of riptide's finest defending such a bland card. Feels like watching Gordon Ramsey defend white bread as the best toast.
 
Eric Chan

Eric Chan

Hyalopterous Lemure
Staff member
I tend to think of Ajani Goldmane less as a planeswalker, and more as an interactive version of this enchantment, which was bonkers over here

 
tibbelsandbitts

tibbelsandbitts

Outpost seige. Is interesting because it can serve as suedo wrath protection if your board is full, while in another game its drawing you cards. Chandra will draw you cards, is dealt with a little easier. Also her ultimate loses you the game more than likely, if it doesn't win you the game that is. 10 cards is alot in a 40 card deck.

My pick is siege
 
RavebornMuse

RavebornMuse

vennythekid said:
Chandra, Pyromaster
Outpost Siege
Click to expand...

You should absolutely run both, because they both supply red with some things it desperately needs: card draw and something beyond the realm of burn. I like Fight Club a lot but this is one exception where you should absolutely, for-sure run both of them, no matter what. Believe me, I have poured over nearly every mono-red non-creature card several times over at this point, digging deep for things red might use that aren't just the billionth iteration of Shock; there honestly aren't many interesting, playable cards that provide solid potential card draw. It's why I'm currently running two Magma Jets*, because Scry 2 is awesome and gives red a chance to get out of a Topdeck Mode crawl better. If you had to pick one, I'd probably prefer Chandra because I like things that can be easily interacted with (and she is a lot more flexible), but please, pleeeease run both!

(* = Well, that and I like 2-damage to be the main form of burn under 3 cmc, but that's another story).
 
Jason Waddell

Jason Waddell

Administrator
Staff member
RavebornMuse said:
You should absolutely run both, because they both supply red with some things it desperately needs: card draw and something beyond the realm of burn. I like Fight Club a lot but this is one exception where you should absolutely, for-sure run both of them, no matter what. Believe me, I have poured over nearly every mono-red non-creature card several times over at this point, digging deep for things red might use that aren't just the billionth iteration of Shock; there honestly aren't many interesting, playable cards that provide solid potential card draw. It's why I'm currently running two Magma Jets*, because Scry 2 is awesome and gives red a chance to get out of a Topdeck Mode crawl better. If you had to pick one, I'd probably prefer Chandra because I like things that can be easily interacted with (and she is a lot more flexible), but please, pleeeease run both!

(* = Well, that and I like 2-damage to be the main form of burn under 3 cmc, but that's another story).
Click to expand...

You guys have me almost excited to play Magic again. Stay tuned for Monday's post.
 
shamizy

shamizy

Yeah, I've been in the double Magma Jet camp for a while. That card is just perfect. The right amount of burn and scry 2 is great in whatever deck you play it in. In aggro you clear a blocker and make sure you draw into threat. In burn you can dig for your next 3 to the face. In control you can look for a potential blocker or a way to reset the board. It's such an awesome spell in red. It's one of the few non-creature cards that I've doubled up on in my cube. The only other one in red is Pillar of Flame and that's more of a concession to recursive black aggro than anything.
 
Eric Chan

Eric Chan

Hyalopterous Lemure
Staff member
In formats with good - or even semi-decent - removal, it's hard for me to get behind combat-only tricks like Swift Justice or Ajani's Presence, both of which I've tried. The conditions in which these spells are good - specifically, creature-on-creature combat - aren't guaranteed to come up in cube, as opposed to in regular limited, where everybody is making animals and shoving them into the red zone. There are enough cube decks that aren't interested in interacting on that axis, or simply have too many evasive creatures for you to meet them head on, that I never found "make my attacker or blocker slightly better" tricks useful, even at the low, low cost of one mana.

Instead, what I've found useful are spells that serve multiple purposes (Emerge Unscathed, Gods Willing): helping a creature dodge removal and granting evasion, in addition to being occasional combat tricks. Or simply having multiple modes printed on them (Selesnya Charm, Ghor-Clan Rampager). Of the two that you presented, Swift Justice has a higher upside during creature-on-creature violence, while Defiant Strike can at least be cycled for a card at any time, but I think I would still feel better holding Gods Willing in my hand in most common scenarios.
 
Aoret

Aoret

Developer
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tibbelsandbitts

tibbelsandbitts

Carrion can sac more than 1 time allowing him to combo with persist creatures melira/juniper ranger/anafenza. Also hes a zombie for gravecrawler blood artist shenanigans.

That said goblin is sweet
 
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