Card/Deck Low Power Card Spotlight

[sigh]

Yeah, basically what Grillo said. Ravager is probably fine in a cube with a heavy dosage of artifacts throughout, but I'm sitting around that 7-9% mark, so I need to be looking for artifacts that bolster the percentage without requiring the percentage.

As another for instance, I've thought about putting in the cheaper Jayamdae Tome:

Or just jumping the low power ship on this one and going with Scroll Rack

 

[Modin]

Opinions on those two in a discard heavy format:

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Opinions on those two in a discard heavy format

Define discard heavy. Is there a lot of Mind Rot going on, or a lot of Fiery Temper? If it's the former, Nahiri's Wrath might be hard to pull off, but Key to the City might actually provide some protection, by discarding a card you were going to discard anyway and drawing an extra card next turn. If it's the latter, both are sweet enablers, Key especially, as it's essentialy a free discard outlet!

 

[Modin]

Oh yeah uhm, its the latter. I'm actually afraid that key might be too strong a card. Here is what I'm toying with right now, still changing a lot: http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/67332

 

[GiftsForgiven]

Does the Ravager synergize with Welder et al.? That's what I'm in the market for. And to have it be "carefully thought out rocks and baubles".

But it is a good card. Seems a little loose outside of artifact decks, though, and the Wellspring seems at least mediocre in random deck X.


(I mean, ravager obvs does synergize, but so do Epochrasite and Perilous Myr, arguably better than ravager does. I'm looking for other slots right now)

Part of why Ravager is so good is how little opportunity cost it has. At worst it's a colorless 1/1 for 2 that can sacrifice itself to pump another creature at instant speed...

 

[sigh]

Part of why Ravager is so good is how little opportunity cost it has. At worst it's a colorless 1/1 for 2 that can sacrifice itself to pump another creature at instant speed...

The problem is that in cube, that worst case.... is really bad. It only pumps artifact creatures, which narrows that ability significantly, and a 1/1 for 2 is not good.

My comparison to Epochrasite and Perilous Myr stand, and both of those are much more generically useful in a cube setting.

 

[James Stevenson]

Epochrasite and Perilous Myr appear so innocuous, but are both great. I'd be excited to play them with welder. On the other hand, if the right environment could be made for Arcbound Ravager, that could be amazing! I mean, it's pretty much as narrow as welder, but I suppose the upside is not as high?

 

[sigh]

A great point. There is a format for almost every card. In my case, it's exactly how James put it. It's like a welder card in terms of narrowness, not a welder support card. My particular format.doesn't need the one more incentive card, it needs the support cards. And that means that Ravager does have a very real and big opportunity cost over the other options for me.

 

[Aston]

What sort of a format would Ravager be playable in? I assume there'd have to be some sort of artifact based aggro deck. Some ideas:

 

[Grillo_Parlante]

You would need really high af density: higher than I currently run.

The problem with ravager is that both of its floors are very low, so its entirely dependent on the environment giving it a high af density to hit base levels of playability.

That being achieved I wonder how it would be played. Its not a given that it would end up in an aggro deck, and even if it did, the style aggro deck might be more grindy or based around disruption.

 

[Dom Harvey]

You would need really high af density: higher than I currently run.

you need really high artifact density or the density is really high af?

 

[Grillo_Parlante]

I'm using af as an abbreviation for artifact.

 

[Grillo_Parlante]

This is a neat find from the ogre thread: yet another card to provide r/g identity.

 

[Aston]

I don't think it works with the Embodiments unfortunately but yeah there could definitely be a shell of something there.

 

[Dom Harvey]

 

[Jason Waddell]

Is this too non-low-power?

 

[whydirt]

I imagine it depends on how much token production you have in red.

 

[NimbusToad]

Is this guy awesome or not? I would certainly like him to be.

 

[ColonelSanders]

Is this guy awesome or not? I would certainly like him to be.

I had this in my cube for a long time and eventually cut it. People were always excited to build with it, but the gameplay rarely followed up. Either its a vanilla 2/2 for 3 or effectively packrat. There weren't a lot of games where it fell anywhere in between. I think that's the danger of cards that can grow exponentially. I wouldn't say spawnwrithe is broken like packrat since it requires more set up, but once you get 2+, it requires effectively no investment of resources to dominate the game.

 

[NimbusToad]

What about these dudes?



At what point are they powerful? They are sort of exactly what I would like blue creatures to be doing in my cube. The hatchling especially seems a little bit too small.

 

[safra]

What about these dudes?



At what point are they powerful? They are sort of exactly what I would like blue creatures to be doing in my cube. The hatchling especially seems a little bit too small.

They need a lower powered environment. If you're not against using customs, I've had a great time sharpie-ing Flash onto the Drakeling.

 

[japahn]

It's usually Suntail Hawk/Flying Men, but sometimes it's amazing. Too bad you won't notice.

 

[Aston]

It's usually Suntail Hawk/Flying Men, but sometimes it's amazing. Too bad you won't notice.

At the WMCQ a couple years ago I was playing UW Sphinx's Revelation control against some Naya aggro deck. I wrathed away some guys, my opponent untapped and rebuilt, and at the end of turn 7 I tapped out for Sphinx's Rev for 4. My opponent responds with Chord of Calling for 1. For Judge's Familiar.

It's one of the biggest blowouts I've ever experienced. It was amazing.

 

[vennythekid]

It's usually Suntail Hawk/Flying Men, but sometimes it's amazing. Too bad you won't notice.

Two-time Standard Pro-Tour Champion right here (as a 4x in both decks). This little birdie is low-key superb.

 

[inscho]

speaking of



Can this be fair in a lower powered format? Part of me feels that this is a bit of a boogeyman, and might be reasonable if a cube doesn't have a lot of combo support for it.