General Fight Club

[DylanMorales]

Tromp is really really fun and it has the benefit of being a card that basically no one ever has picked. It gets you the highs of Overrun while asking for a little more out of the player. It also ends the game.

Yeah, this is basically where I land too. Tromp has a nice “clean finisher with a story” quality to it: it’s not just another Craterhoof/Overrun, but it still gives creature decks a real way to stop durdling and end the game. The splashability is a real warning though — the first time a midrange pile randomly produces lethal from an otherwise stable board, people will remember it.

All Suns' Dawn feels much more like a build-around reward than a generic value card. I like it most if the cube already has self-mill, discard, evoke/adventure-style play patterns, or reasons to be base green 4–5c. If not, it risks being either narrow or just “draw three-ish” in the decks that can cast it.

 

[ravnic]

Is the new guy interesting for a wider range of cube decks? Or are both just for dredge?

 

[KeithCubes]

Is the new guy interesting for a wider range of cube decks? Or are both just for dredge?

Some cubes like Supplier more since it's a Zombie, but creature types aside, I'm a fan of what Manipulator brings to the table.

While Supplier does a better job milling, its floor is much lower if drawn late, and I don't like my 1 drops to be dead draws unless played on curve.

I don't think dredge is necessary to make Manipulator work, but in a fetch-less environment its value is a little more sketchy. With a couple lands in the graveyard though, I think it will pretty routinely be a 3/2 that mills 3, which I'm happy with.

Since the power boost is conditional it also gives your grave hate more value as a way to blow him out of combat, which is more fun for both players, while Supplier has less play all around.

My only real gripe against manipulator is having to count your graveyard, but IMO threshold is way less of a nuisance to track than any mechanic that looks at both graveyards.

 

[KhitriyKrab]

Which of these pass the vibe check, power being sufficiently low? How many are you including, and does that number change based on the presence of explicit artifact support in Black?

 

[Zoss]

Bauble and maybe Scepter of Fugue. Tithing Blade is cool, but Craft is bogus. Quill falls into the same bucket.

My Precious seems weak. Bloodletter is fine but uninspiring to me. Relic is strong in that it's a modal card that's almost better than a sorcery-speed Murder.

 

[Nanonox]

Tithing Blade and Poet's Quill have too many things going on with learn and craft.

Barbed Bloodletter is ok, but wither isn't particularly enticing for me.

My Precious seems fine, but reads as a Village Rites first and artifact second.

Scepter of Fugue seems particularly low powered and kind of unfun unless you have a Pox/Stax deck in the format. If that's the case and you have some Voltaic Key nonsense, it goes way up in my estimation.

That leaves Bauble and Relic, but they are also the most powerful. If they fit your cube's power level I would go for one of these two. If they are too strong, I would go with the Bloodletter personally.

 

[Erik Twice]

Is the new guy interesting for a wider range of cube decks? Or are both just for dredge?

I think the appeal of Sticher is that it fills the graveyard twice. Dark Matter Manipulator doesn't do that, it just has a bit of a higher attack which it's not really what I want in the card.

Out of the cards on your list, I like Lich's Relic but I'm not sure it's something one actually needs. Grim Bauble is good if you want to boost artifact synergies but, if not, you can take any other card instead.

I like how Poet's Quill plays, but it's not a mechanic I like much.

 

[ravnic]

I think the appeal of Sticher is that it fills the graveyard twice. Dark Matter Manipulator doesn't do that, it just has a bit of a higher attack which it's not really what I want in the card

I think in a lower powered fair environment where creature stats are a bit more old school turning your 1-drop into a 3/2 or 5/2 can be quite relevant. In test drafting I've already ended up playing the Manipulator in a ub ninjutsu deck, even though I just had a little sprinkle of graveyard stuff. It essentially turns itself on once you got to replay it after ninjutsu-ing it back.