General Fight Club

[Chris Taylor]

I have an epic fight to settle, friends.



I like that Mutavault reads so much cleaner than Factory with it's weird tap ability. I also like that Mutavault is a Goblin, that's relevant for Goblin Trashmaster and friends in the core and for a couple of random typal cards in the occasionals.
I like that Mishra's Factory is an artifact, that's nice for Arcbound Ravager, Darksteel Juggernaut and some occasionals but most artifact payoffs don't care that much, because it's only an artifact when activated.

Mutavault gets the nod for me for fitting in with a million little things, and not blocking as a 3/3
That gets people sometimes.

 

[Brad]

The idea that Mutavault could become a popular token soon would make me want to wait before deciding, but I also like Mutavault a little more because it's cleaner.

 

[ravnic]

I would argue that the fact, that Mutavault tokens might become a popular token soon is actually more upside than downside? It makes it more widely known what the card does then? One less card for people to read?

Anyway, I decided to go with Mutavault and to dismiss factory because of it's weird tap ability. I always had to explain newer players that this just meant it could block as a 3/3, because it could block and then tap to pump itself. That was on one hand a valueable lesson - creatures don't tap for blocking - but as my cube gets played by more and more people, I can't be certain that all experienced players would be so kind to explain that or remind the newbie of it. And I think I'd rather make sure that this feel bad situation can't come up.

 

[Brad]

I would argue that the fact, that Mutavault tokens might become a popular token soon is actually more upside than downside? It makes it more widely known what the card does then? One less card for people to read?

Yeah. That's what I meant. It might become a more known thing very soon or it might be on only one new card.

Factory can definitely be a bit of a "gotcha!"

 

[Aston]

I've run both for ages because I also couldn't decide, and I don't think it has to be a question of one or the other. I've liked having two of that effect around.

 

[Nemo]

Since Repulse was mentioned in another thread, and I've been back and forth on bounce effects, I'm curious what people think of simple bounce spells.



There's also the modal route. I feel like there's room to create a really slick modal bounce spell that can become a cube staple.


Obviously a lot of people are running creatures like Man-o'-War instead of a spell. There's also these at instant speed:


I really like Unsummon for nostalgia reasons and also because it it's simple and seems like it doesn't offer much value for a card, but in the right situations it can do a lot of different useful things. I support some prowess/spells and tempo stuff. I'm going to switch from Unsummon to Just the Wind since I have a good amount of madness and discard, and we'll see if I can tempt anybody to put it in their deck.

Do you run bounce spells in your cube? Did you abandon bounce because it wasn't doing enough, and just run a different instant like counterspells or draw cantrips?

 

[ravnic]

I love bounce. In my core module I'm running these three:



Jellyfish and Ninja are just two classics I adore and will probably still never ever cut. Unnerving Grasp is a cool side grade, as being a spell, milling and manifesting have some synergistic applications, but you can't blink it.

Here are some more in my occasionals module:



These also rock, I think.

Noteably, I don't really have any cheap, instant speed effects. I love Unsummon but blue is more of a control color for me.

 

[Seeker]

I love Vapor Snag (you should play that over Unsummon 100% in the dark for sure) but it still isn't really... "good enough" to tempt people into playing it.

I'm high-power enough that modal stuff is where it's at for me. Never cutting Brazen Borrower or Sink into Stupor, plus some variety of Man-o'-War effect (waiting on a non-double faced Jill, Shiva's Dominant that isn't as ugly as Spider-Byte, Web Warden... gonna be waiting a while, at this rate.)

Currently also in my cube, but you didn't mention: