General Fight Club

[sigh]

Thinking on the new tokens thread got me thinking about my token generators (I run haunting atm)...
v.
Is haunting too much like Lingering Souls? Is wastes too good? Neither good?

 

[Onderzeeboot]

I cut Haunting because it was consistently underperforming.

 

[Tzenmoroth]

Wastes is like fine, I cut Haunting awhile back because it was just terrible. The dedicated token decks couldn't make it worth casting.

 

[Peter LaCara]

vs

I like 'em both for different reasons.

 

[sigh]

Really hard to beat fire // ice. Turn // Burn seems to be a little better, or cooler at least, in a heavily creature-focused format, where 2 for 1's would be a little more common.

v.

 

[Suicufnoc]

Old. New is probably a cool foil, though.

 

[Tzenmoroth]

The design of the new top itself is questionable but I love the lighting effect and the fanciness of it. It looks more like a top from Kaladesh than one from Kamigawa. I need to see a foil of the new one, I might actually want to go with that over other versions.

 

[Peter LaCara]

THEY CHANGED WEREBEAR'S FLAVOR TEXT.

BOOOOOOOOOOO.

 

[Peter LaCara]

THEY CHANGED WEREBEAR'S FLAVOR TEXT.

BOOOOOOOOOOO.

This post was meant to go in the Eternal Masters thread. Hold on....

 

[genericco]

Fire // Ice is probably the stronger card, two split up as you choose can be a blowout if your opponent doesn't see it coming. Turn // Burn is the more interesting cube inclusion to me; 1. fuse 2. Turn will get cast occasionally 3. mana birds and other utility x/1s don't get blind-countered so hard.

 

[Peter LaCara]

Pick two.

 

[safra]

Pick two.

Looting and Voice; Insight doesn't help graveyard strategies.

 

[Dom Harvey]

Looting + Voice, easy

 

[Rasmus Källqvist]

Pick two.

All three!

 

[psly4mne]

Looting + Magmatic for me. My last control deck gave me a new appreciation for how good Magmatic could be even in a deck without Young Pyro or Guttersnipe.


Pick two.

 

[Peter LaCara]

Looting + Magmatic for me. My last control deck gave me a new appreciation for how good Magmatic could be even in a deck without Young Pyro or Guttersnipe.


Pick two.

Ojutai and Rev. I don't run Verdict for the same reason I don't run Detention Sphere - 95% of the time they're identical to a monocolored card, so I run the monocolored card instead and save the multicolor slot for more unique effects.

 

[sigh]

Agree with Peter, just running Day of Judgment, for instance, seems fine.

And while I do like Ojutai, I'm pretty big on brago, king eternal (who I notice you already have).

Seeing that you have quite a few creatures in Azorius already.... For non-creature spells, I switched out verdict for:

 

[psly4mne]

Ojutai's Command is cool, but my concern is that the power level is too low for my cube. None of the mode pairs really impress me as a 4 mana spell. Has your experience with it been different?

 

[sigh]

Ojutai's Command is cool, but my concern is that the power level is too low for my cube. None of the mode pairs really impress me as a 4 mana spell. Has your experience with it been different?

I love it, but my power level is a little lower. Wombo combo with Snapcaster Mage, but also good with stuff like Wall of Omens and Lone Missionary. And counter draw is always cool

 

[Peter LaCara]

vs

Graveyard shenanigan fatties FIGHT!

 

[ColonelSanders]

Tombstalker has always seemed incredibly unexciting to me. It's probably the stronger card, but I'd rather run scourge.

 

[Rasmus Källqvist]

Scourge demands more of the drafter, for what its worth.

 

[sigh]

Tombstalker does what's it's meant to do cleanly and efficiently. I find myself being very fond of it for that. Cubes are incredibly decision-dense places, so having a card like Tombstalker or 2 can really be nice.

See Cube Elegance thread for what I'm getting at. Also the reasonably balanced non-etb thread, while we are at it. Both apply to that.

 

[ahadabans]

Scourge of Nel Toth was super awkward in testing. I wasn't a fan. Tombstalker is fine. I've always liked the Future Sight card frame too (ducks for cover).

 

[xyz]

I kind of want to get a little more context for the comparison:



These are all pretty low power cards. I've never found spider spawning to be very impressive, even within the context of a lower power graveyard format, with some power spikes: and it was those power spikes that mostly contributed to it being unimpressive. It (and worm harvest) could be anecdotally impressive, but they were never consistent. I would expect reach of branches to be similar.

I don't think its unreasonable to have a level 0 analysis of whether these are even the droids you are looking for.

We've found Spider Spawning to be the best of the bunch. The 1/2 reach bodies are SO much better than the 1/1s. AND Spider Spawning makes more bodies on average. It's easier to set up and faster.

Pick two. I would love to hear motivations for your picks

Only Narset please. If I had to choose another one, Jeskai Ascendancy. To be fair, Jeskai Ascendancy is environment sensitive... but I'm not a fan of cards that are super narrow. It's 3 colors AND requires work to make good. Narset requires a LOT less work, while still being somewhat exciting. It's still a generic finisher, but it does it in a nifty way. Being expensive also means it's less of a 3 color card in that it's easier to splash.

Ojutai's Command is cool, but my concern is that the power level is too low for my cube. None of the mode pairs really impress me as a 4 mana spell. Has your experience with it been different?

My cube is on the higher power level end and we've loved Ojutai's Command. None of the modes impress outright, but flexibility is king. It goes in many decks and promotes interesting game play and deck building. This is basically the same reaction + defense when it came out for standard. The caveat is that I run a deeper guild section and can afford to slot it in. On the other hand, unlike you I'm not playing Reflector Mage, Brago, King Eternal, Dragonlord Ojutai, or Venser, the Sojourner. Venser is a no go for me because I don't run planeswalkers. I don't find Dragonlord Ojutai particularly interesting; it's just a generic finisher and not worth it to me. There are only so many guild slots and high cmc slots. I have enough bounce effects, so I'm not interested in Reflector Mage. It's also not a special enough bounce effect to warrant the guild slot, in my opinion. I do really like Brago, King Eternal, but I still like everything else I have more.