General Flickery (Not Featuring J. Scott)

[Karn Cuberated]

Hello guys! I thought that at last I managed to get done with more difficult archetypes and now everything will go easily. Surprise.
Let's get to the point. In what colours do you support blink-flicker archetype? Is it Control/Aggro/Aggro-Control/Midrange?
People say that usually you even don't have to deliberately choose cards with ETB effects because cubes are typically chockfull of them. But I don't feel like our cube is rich with them and, therefore, provides players with an opportunity to assemble a clear strategy of them. Maybe, it only seems to me that there're few of ETB triggers, but I'm sure about the absence of strategy. Probably, some sort of rampy midrange deck is now available for drafting, not sure. We planned to make Blink a primary strategy for UW with some possible splashes into green.

 

[ravnic]

From all the colors, is the one I like to play the least. But when, blink is my favorite white archetype, because it feels so tricky. I support it in with enablers and targets. is like a tertiary color, although black abuses EtB-triggers in a "sac and recur"-manner, it works very smoothly with the white and blue stuff. Also, can make for a tempting splash with their value creatures too. And since I have Portal and Closet, basically every deck can get a little bit of bounce and blink in colorless support cards.

Reusable enablers:



One shot enablers:



Also, I have around 7 more bounce spells and 3 clones in , which also work.

Honorable mention:



It is like Recurring Nightmare in fair, but still a great value engine. Chaining Master Splicer and Gray Merchant of Asphodel for example is pretty gross. And gross is practically what this deck wants to be

As for targets, I have 13, 7, 8, 6, 10, 1, 1, 2, 2 and 4. Some of my favorites are:

 

[inscho]

Azorius is not the most enticing color combo in my cube at the moment. If anyone has an atypical take on blink decks, I'm all ears.

Finding a middle ground between:


(All of which would be the arguably the strongest 3&4cmc creatures in my cube)

and



(Too low powered for my cube)

is pretty hard to do. I like the idea of a disruptive tempo version of the deck.

Maybe:


That still doesn't feel quite right for my cube.....

 

[RavebornMuse]

Personally I don't support blink as an archetype anymore because I think it makes the most powerful cards in a list even stronger while making artifact strategies, spell-based strategies, and recursive strategies worse. I only use Voyager Staff and Erratic Portal as blink enablers these days, although I do like Kor Skyfisher, Emancipation Angel, and Stonecloaker because they bounce to hand rather than outright flickering, which feels a lot more fair.

quick edit: I also run Angel of Condemnation, who similarly feels like a fair blink engine, but who I'm always open to switching to something else; white has too many exciting options at 4.

 

[Karn Cuberated]

I think I have a lack of 2 drops for blink. Probably, this gap can be filled in with disruption (counterspells in tempo variation) and Momentary Blink.
In I have Spell Queller, Venser, the Sojourner and the one I'll probably cut - Sphinx's Revelation
Is this guy worth running at all?

And about Brago, King Eternal. Is he dependent on a power-level?
By the way, if we blink Phyrexian Revoker or Meddling Mage, we choose a card to forbid again, as though it hadn't been chosen yet?

 

[genericco]

One enabler I really like is Whitemane Lion. I don't know how to feel about Cavern Harpy. Could get repetitive.

 

[Karn Cuberated]

One enabler I really like is Whitemane Lion. I don't know how to feel about Cavern Harpy. Could get repetitive.

Yes, Whitemane Lion looks good as a flashy creature. How do you think, is it better than Kor Skyfisher? I'm looking for some 2-drops)

 

[Onderzeeboot]

For once I don't really have a recommendation to make. Not only do I not support in my cube, I also cut direct blinking from my cube entirely. There's now only a custom Kor Skyfisher-variant (I changed it to an artifact creature that can't blink itself) and the self-blinking Ojutai Exemplars in white, and five ninjas in blue and black.

 

[Jason Waddell]

I think I have a lack of 2 drops for blink. Probably, this gap can be filled in with disruption (counterspells in tempo variation) and Momentary Blink.
In I have Spell Queller, Venser, the Sojourner and the one I'll probably cut - Sphinx's Revelation
Is this guy worth running at all?

And about Brago, King Eternal. Is he dependent on a power-level?
By the way, if we blink Phyrexian Revoker or Meddling Mage, we choose a card to forbid again, as though it hadn't been chosen yet?

I really liked Venser when I ran him. It's a good anchor for the archetype, if that's what you're looking to do. The biggest issue is that many cubes only run like 3 gold cards per guild, so you have to be pretty set on that as your direction considering the competition for slots.

 

[Karn Cuberated]

For once I don't really have a recommendation to make. Not only do I not support in my cube, I also cut direct blinking from my cube entirely. There's now only a custom Kor Skyfisher-variant (I changed it to an artifact creature that can't blink itself) and the self-blinking Ojutai Exemplars in white, and five ninjas in blue and black.

Was it too weak/opressive/narrow for your cube?

 

[Karn Cuberated]

I really liked Venser when I ran him. It's a good anchor for the archetype, if that's what you're looking to do. The biggest issue is that many cubes only run like 3 gold cards per guild, so you have to be pretty set on that as your direction considering the competition for slots.

I've seen people not pleased with his -1 ability. Thank you, I'll think about including him a bit more.

 

[Jason Waddell]

I've seen people not pleased with his -1 ability. Thank you, I'll think about including him a bit more.

The -1 is a surprise game winner. As in, you surprise yourself when you realize "oh right, if I -1, I win the game".

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Was it too weak/opressive/narrow for your cube?

In order, no / not really / no. I just didn't like the repetitive play pattern, plus creatures with etb effects really don't need any help imo (because unlike other creatures, they always gain some value if they resolve, even if they are immediately dealt with). I'ld rather have people jump through some hoops to reuse their 187's.

 

[Karn Cuberated]

In order, no / not really / no. I just didn't like the repetitive play pattern, plus creatures with etb effects really don't need any help imo (because unlike other creatures, they always gain some value if they resolve, even if they are immediately dealt with). I'ld rather have people jump through some hoops to reuse their 187's.

Clear, thanks. And haven't you tried to pick up some alternative ideas for ? Or you don't like it at all?)

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Clear, thanks. And haven't you try to pick up some alternative ideas for ? Or you don't like it at all?)

I run a cube based on one of Jason's old articles where he discussed solutions for better multicolor support. One of his options was to shuffle up the color wheel and only support the (now) allied colors, which is what I did. I currently run a WBURG cube, so white and blue are no longer adjacent to each other, and thus not supported

 

[Karn Cuberated]

I run a cube based on one of Jason's old articles where he discussed solutions for better multicolor support. One of his options was to shuffle up the color wheel and only support the (now) allied colors, which is what I did. I currently run a WBURG cube, so white and blue are no longer adjacent to each other, and thus not supported

Ok, thank you once again!

 

[Onderzeeboot]

No problem! I will say I originally chose this particular color wheel, because I don't much cared for the available multicolor options in . Before my current cube I had one with a WRUBG color wheel. WotC printed a few pretty cool Azorius cards since I picked the color wheel for my cube though.



If I were to include in my cube now, I would try one (or several) of four themes: artifacts matter, spells matter (branching out from ), flash (a-ah!), and/or tokens. I think you can build around some fun strategies now that deviate from the default blink and hard control archetypes that (used to?) dominate the color pair.

 

[Karn Cuberated]

Oh, I didn't think about broadening my artifacts matter into ! Offtop: what fascinating cards do you have in mind for UW artifacts?

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Any (but probably not all) of the following.

 

[ravnic]

Don't forget white/blue skies! Picking all the fliers and calling it a deck might be the oldest draft archetype in mtg history

 

[inscho]

Oh, I didn't think about broadening my artifacts matter into ! Offtop: what fascinating cards do you have in mind for UW artifacts?

 

[RavebornMuse]

I do Artifacts in my cube too, and I really like it. Things I run that aren't on the lists given so far:



Cards I don't currently run, but which also seem nice here:

 

[Karn Cuberated]

Thank you very much, my friends! I really appreciate your help.

Ensoul Artifact on a stick? That's curious!
However, I heard some not very good things about this kind of effect. I should look for that thread. Maybe, it's "cubeability" depends on a particular power-level. Not sure.
What about Mindslaver? Does it see drafts in cube? Haven't heard any comments related to it for a while.

 

[Chris Taylor]

I'm not sure I've ever liked Crystal Shard/Erratic Portal more than Conjurer's Closet.

 

[RavebornMuse]

I'm not sure I've ever liked Crystal Shard/Erratic Portal more than Conjurer's Closet.

I think it comes down to a question of power level and how much you value the versatility