General Life Gain as a Thing

[Chris Taylor]

Oh ho ho, wait for Part 2 mister! But, yeah, blue is vaguely tied. I could consider Warmonk. Suggest a cut and I'll run it tonight. The power is yours!

Well like you I don't know if it needs the help
He's one of those cards that's good enough, I'm not sure he needs synergy to help him out.

Like, would you double up on goblin guide if you had an incedental goblin aggro deck in RB?

 

[Jason Waddell]

Well like you I don't know if it needs the help
He's one of those cards that's good enough, I'm not sure he needs synergy to help him out.

Like, would you double up on goblin guide if you had an incedental goblin aggro deck in RB?

I only double up on things with a reason to, but, I mean, no lifegain deck has 3 - 0'd here yet (not that it's been around for long, in non-draft testing I know it's strong enough). Might as well keep pushing for now.

 

[Jason Waddell]

I'm going to make Eldrazi Monument take a seat for this draft.

 

[James Stevenson]

I love Rhox War Monk, but not for any good reason. I just really like him.

 

[Chris Taylor]

I'm going to make Eldrazi Monument take a seat for this draft.

Good choice of cut, I've benched monument for now as well.
Clearly thats how you figure out artifact hate: Don't run anything worth killing

 

[Jason Waddell]

Good choice of cut, I've benched monument for now as well.
Clearly thats how you figure out artifact hate: Don't run anything worth killing

I just experienced the greatest joy cubing has to offer: the immediate gratification card swap. I decided on the cards, and already knew I had the replacement AND knew which binder it was in. Further, over the weekend I sorted my cube, so finding the Monument took all of five seconds as well.

 

[FlowerSunRain]

Another reason why I hate Brimaz

 

[CML]

Rhox War Monk is not remotely Cube-able IMO.

has a libertarian ever had a bad idea? has a non-libertarian ever had a good idea?

"haze of rage in modern"

 

[Dom Harvey]

'in response to Splinter Twin/Karn Liberated/Birthing Pod, activate Martyr of Sands'

it's a 3-colour card that is rarely actually better than Kitchen Finks, which is like a 0.5 colour card

 

[Chris Taylor]

'in response to Splinter Twin/Karn Liberated/Birthing Pod, activate Martyr of Sands'

it's a 3-colour card that is rarely actually better than Kitchen Finks, which is like a 0.5 colour card

I think this says more about finks than it does about the monk

 

[Throgan]

We've all chosen to plant our flags at varying points on the [power] slope. I really enjoy figuring out what it takes to get various archetypes to work at the level of my flag.

This should be the major soundbite for advertising Cube Design. Not all this "Play the best cards in Magic!" garbage I see everywhere else.

I fully acknowledge that my drain-life suggestion doesn't fit the "flag" of 90% of the cubes here. But since there are so few cards that reward lifegain, I figured I'd throw it out there since we're on the subject.

 

[Changling Bob]

I mean, play the best cards in magic puts your flag 360 cards from the top of the pyramid, where colour balance is shot and control is bonkers, and, bizarrely, the resultant cubes aren't very good either.

 

[Jason Waddell]

I forced Lifegain last night and at one point had a 16/16 Pridemate. I also lost some games due to some ridiculous mana screw, but that's neither here nor there.

 

[CML]

'in response to Splinter Twin/Karn Liberated/Birthing Pod, activate Martyr of Sands'

it's a 3-colour card that is rarely actually better than Kitchen Finks, which is like a 0.5 colour card

hey now once upon a time RWM was considered one of the best creatures ever. now since KotR was in the set thereafter and bant isn't so great in Legacy (or Modern), and everyone has Lillies or Abrupt Decays or whatever, them days is long over. but like 3 a turn in a higher-margin format with less removal, like Cube, is way way more than 2 twice. 4 toughness is also annoying

as for the casting cost point if Finks cost RWM and RWM cost Finks then i have no clue who would play what, actually, but RWM is a fucking great creature

 

[Dom Harvey]

Clearly it's a good card but how many decks can actually play it? If I'm in any two of G/W/U, am I really stretching into the third for War Monk? If I'm playing tricolour cards I want them to be stuff like Broodmate Dragon or Nicol Bolas, where I'm likely to have the right mana by the time I can play it.

 

[James Stevenson]

CML, if I had a dollar for everytime I thought "what the fuck is that card CML is talking about with an acronym" I still wouldn't know how much money I have but it would be several dollars more.

 

[Goldenpineapple]

My two cents about war monk is that noble hierarch into him has been the cause of many jaw-clenches in these parts. That 4-butt is so relevant in my list.

He was also the original reason flame slash made my very first prototype list; war monk was a commonplace rdw board card at my shop so I grabbed a set of that to compensate.

 

[Diakonov]

Hmm... it's been a while since I've done some serious pinging. Cunning Sparkmage anybody?

What do you think of Vithian Stinger? If he dies, he can come back later to randomly Lava Dart someone important.

...and if someone could find a real Esper card to put in my Cube I would be happy

If you've been pushing the sac theme like I have, you'll find both Merieke Ri Berit and Ertai, the Corrupted to be houses in Esper.

Pertaining to the thread: although worse than Gerrard's Verdict and Obzedat, Death Grasp is worth a mention. Also, Wall of Reverence.

 

[Chris Taylor]

Suggust a cut:
chandras phoenix x2
spikeshot goblin
fire imp
hasty manic vandal
yuk yuk the explorer

CML, I'm not seeing an answer

 

[FlowerSunRain]

My friends "retail limited on 'roids" cube runs death grasp and its a house there, but I don't see it working in most environments.

Merieke is pretty efficient but extremely binary. Old Man of the Sea can be pretty strong, but then again he can block some creatures which is not irrelevant.

Wall of Reverence is a pretty miserable card to play against.

 

[Eric Chan]

If you're thinking of including Wall of Reverence, I might recommend Seraph of Dawn or Rhox Faithmender, instead. Both of them have big butts and gain you small chunks of life, but they can help close out games, too.

I find that walls above two mana are unnecessary in cube. There are plenty of more interesting, defensive creatures that at least progress the game forward, rather than merely stalling it out.

 

[CML]

Clearly it's a good card but how many decks can actually play it? If I'm in any two of G/W/U, am I really stretching into the third for War Monk? If I'm playing tricolour cards I want them to be stuff like Broodmate Dragon or Nicol Bolas, where I'm likely to have the right mana by the time I can play it.

Anecdotally it got played more than Sprouting Thrinax and about as often as Wild Nacatl and Cruel Ultimatum, and unlike Broodmate Dragon it is a good card, I'm not disagreeing the Rhino is annoying to cast but I do think he's good enough wrt his annoying cost that something as subtle as a slightly pushed lifegain theme could make him worthy of a slot

Plus I just think the card is sweet and the foil is about as close as I'm gonna come to playing Candy Crush

 

[Jason Waddell]

Plus I just think the card is sweet and the foil is about as close as I'm gonna come to playing Candy Crush

You're missing out.

Spoiler

Not really, but kinda really.

 

[Chris Taylor]

Wait, Mirike? You know that card NEVER untaps, right? So for it to not be 3 color slower of temptation, you need something else to untap it with?

 

[Jason Waddell]

Btw, this card was amazing, and it wasn't even in a lifegain deck. It's been a while since I've played it, and I forgot how potent it could be.