While googlin around using similar parameters i stumbled on this list which contains many cards i was going to suggest by the way :http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/85553
General "Looking for a card"-Thread
- Thread starter ravnic
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While googlin around using similar parameters i stumbled on this list which contains many cards i was going to suggest by the way :http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/85553
These get cute with certain other cards like Witness or can just generate a narrow value.
Classic for interesting interactions.
I feel like there's probably some way to abuse this, although I've not yet looked into it. Some sort of low power, high mana cards.
That's all I have for weirdish things in my list.
EDIT: Didn't see the last page because of how it loaded.
I'd absolutely add wraths to white. You should try to have the color play all angles. Aggro, mid, control. This almost inevitably assures you'll like the decks more, as there will be a greater variety of them.
I'm also wondering if lifegain is too narrow of a theme. It feels practically tribal, a lot of the cards. I've been considering it lately, but so many of the cards are so narrow.
life gain surely is a little more narrow than lets say a token theme, but not as much as one might think. We just stumbled upon it basically, realizing how many sources we had already in the colors, mainly for other reasons. Soul Warden was in there for tokens and to some degree blink, Blood Artist was a sacrifice reward, Lone Missionary was just a nice blink target and Gary was primarily a black devotion payoff. Faith's Fetters, Hidden Dragonslayer and Tribute to Hunger were just nice removal spells.
We even had this for some payoffs. The black life pay cards like Phyrexian Reclamation or Night's Whisper get better with life gain and we were already running Path of Bravery as an anthem for aggro/tokens, that also happened to be a great payoff for lifegain. And with enough incidental life gain effects, other payoffs like Oathsworn Vampire also became more appealing. A sacrifice deck with Blood Artist and Falkenrath Noble surely runs it for example.
So yeah, you will need a few narrower payoffs like Ajani's Pridemate, but in the right environment the archetype will feel pretty homogenically.
Just made a post about this in CBS. The M20 cards were pretty nice for lifegain, and I already noticed some of the stuff you stated. Running most of what you listed, plus Sorin's Thirst and Essence Extraction already. I also have Divinity of Pride and would like to give it a little more love.
Do you find that the lifegain deck stomps the doodoo out of red aggro? Seems like it's hard for that deck to deal closer to 30 every game.
Chris Taylor
Contributor
I'm afraid of this, since I like aggro, and I do 3 things to prevent that from happening:
1) I try to limit the chunks of life you gain to smaller ones. That means Martyr of Dusk or Syndic of Tithes instead of Nearheath Pilgrim where possible. So it's more about triggering the Pridemates instead of gaining massive amount of life.
2) Work with black life pay stuff. Pain Seer and Night's Whisper are great when you combine them with lifegain, but they also make you more reachable for aggro.
3) Make the deck itself pretty aggressive. Its not a hard all in aggro deck, but it is beatdown and not a boring pile that sits on a million life forever, resulting in long, frustrating games. Here's an example of what I want to see:
W/B lifegain example from CubeTutor.com
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I 'd like to find someways to repeatedly manipuate the top card of my library in order to maximise cards like Abbot,Ire Shaman,Courser and the likes.
Problem is i'm allready aware of the big ones like Top or Mirri's guile, as i am of the bad ones(the one i don't really want to run) like Sigiled Starfish.
I'm looking for some more obscure/intersting engine: sell me on your TOL manipulation engines
Problem is i'm allready aware of the big ones like Top or Mirri's guile, as i am of the bad ones(the one i don't really want to run) like Sigiled Starfish.
I'm looking for some more obscure/intersting engine: sell me on your TOL manipulation engines
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
I 'd like to find someways to repeatedly manipuate the top card of my library in order to maximise cards like Abbot,Ire Shaman,Courser and the likes.
Problem is i'm allready aware of the big ones like Top or Mirri's guile, as i am of the bad ones(the one i don't really want to run) like Sigiled Starfish.
I'm looking for some more obscure/intersting engine: sell me on your TOL manipulation engines
I actually run a custom
Edit: I ran both of these for awhile to support a miracles package but they never got played. Still like them in theory. Posting this has made me realize that Ancestral Knowledge would be TONS of fun with Experimental Frenzy in play.
Reevaluate is nice, but I think it's going to be more of a Squee, Goblin Nabob than a Mystic Speculation!
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
It usually gets picked up by a deck that either has discard outlets or is interested in getting artifacts on the battlefield. Of course Daretti, Scrap Savant is a nice intersection between both! Once in a deck though, it does get cast. It might be expensive, but
to scry 3 and draw a card in the late game is pretty decent Reevaluate is nice indeed, but i havent make the jump to customs yet...maybe i'll do some day.
Talkin about customization i'd really like to make Mystic Speculation an instant and maybe upping the buyback cost to or
For this kind of niche themes-subthemes one maybe just have to bite the bullet and start using stronger/clearer engines.
Talkin about customization i'd really like to make Mystic Speculation an instant and maybe upping the buyback cost to
or This is exactly my fear with this kind of cards, they probably end up played just by ourselves the day we decide to force the deck we know it is inda cube, while others drafters will just ignore them.
For this kind of niche themes-subthemes one maybe just have to bite the bullet and start using stronger/clearer engines.
I made a scryfall search here for all white creatures with cmc<=4 and "when ~ enters the battlefield" for your viewing pleasure
. Might be easier to determine "worth blinking" yourself based on the search result.
Also consider Vesperlark, Meadowboon, Custodi Soulbinders, Icatian Javelineers, and Phantom Nomad.
I am making no claim that any particular one of these is actually good.
I am making no claim that any particular one of these is actually good.
So, I'm looking for some sort of Drain Effects or cards that could support a WB Control deck with a "pay life" theme.
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Those are nices picks Onderzeeboot. I'm tempted to expand Orzhov a bit to include Oath of Kaya, despite the second line of text doing nothing in my cube. Do you have any monocolour suggestions?
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Sure!
Remember that you can stack the activated ability of the Genju multiple times, because it isn't lifelink, it's a triggered ability!
The Vampire unfortunately is only available online, so you'ld have to proxy that if you want to play it in a real life cube.
Remember that you can stack the activated ability of the Genju multiple times, because it isn't lifelink, it's a triggered ability!
The Vampire unfortunately is only available online, so you'ld have to proxy that if you want to play it in a real life cube.
Oh man, I forgot about the Genju! I did not remember Descendant of Kiyomaro, though, it was such a forgetable set it always made me sad when stores gave its boosters as a prize. Has Dread Presence actually panned out to be good? It's a very nice card.
Something I ran for a while that was pretty good was:
Kinda similar to Death Grasp without the ability to go upstairs, but at a better rate.
Kinda similar to Death Grasp without the ability to go upstairs, but at a better rate.
It was sold in a Holiday Gift Box, goes for like $1 these days.
You'll find cards that gain life easily. Cards that are interesting to spend that life worth using in a control deck are trickier. Roughly strongest to weakest (I haven't played most of those):
The ones I've run:
Phyrexian Processor is quite strong and tends to warp games around it. I don't run it anymore because it's too good for too little effort in my cube.
Phyrexian Arena is strong too, and generates an incredible amount of card advantage in slow cubes, but its playability goes down drastically in fast tempo-oriented environments. I like it.
Bloodtracker is generically playable in any deck, which I don't like much, but the decision of how many counters to add to it is interesting.
Greed is very expensive to start with, and requires lifegain or a very low power level to be worth playing.
Ashes to Ashes shows that 5 life is no small cost. It generates card and tempo advantage, but it terrible against aggro.
Strands of Night is pretty weak, but quite unique in that you can trade swamps and life for reanimated creatures. Needs a very low power level, but it would be great with reanimator or graveyard themes in the right cube.
I've been trying Phyrexian Reclamation in the same slot as Tortured Existence but I don't quite know what to make of either card. Tortured Existence can provide quite a bit of value by discarding recursive aggro creatures, but it felt a bit redundant and it doesn't seem like Control can do that very much. On the other hand. Phyrexian Reclamation is weaker but does not need you to have a lot of dispensable cretures and provides actual card advantage without the need for trickery.