Card/Deck Low Power Card Spotlight

Mondschwein

Mondschwein



Other sweepers which need some setup. I like Kagemaro and the Hellion together with creature recursion. Kagemaro might be a bit too unreliable while it is cool that Hellion is your t6 and t7 play in one card. Firestorm is good for enabling reanimator/madness/flashback.
 
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Mondschwein

Mondschwein

I have to admit that I personally like Firestorm more than Sickening Dreams. Discarding X cards sometimes means a big disadvantage.

What do you people feel about the AKH monuments?



I think a lot of you are already playing Oketra's as a token producer but what about the other ones?
Hazoret's looks pretty good, making your already aggressive creatures even more aggressive while looting your lands away.
Rhonas's looks good for midrange-y builds having some bodies that need some pump and pseudo evasion? I don't know, looks like it could work.
Bontu's is quite unimpressive to me.
Kefnet's looks very interesting. I'm thinking about implementing more tapping effects, but my cube already doesn't contain that much of vigilance creatures so it might already pay off as a prison-type effect. Blue doesn't have that many creatures, though.
 
Hillstyle

Hillstyle

@Mondschwein

I can vouch for Oketra's Monument. Solid card if your powerlevel appreciates the kind of grindy value it generates. Great with the Kor Skyfishers of the world.
I'd say that Kefnet's Monument, while cool, really needs steady stream of creatures to make it better than say Curse of Chains that nets you 0-2 (mostly 0/1) mana in later turns.
Rhonas's Monument is nice, but doing nothing on 3 is not really what most decks that want a +2/+2 pump want to do.
 
Mondschwein

Mondschwein

For now I think I'll test out Oketra's as well as Hazoret's Monument, especially the latter one gets me somewhat excited and I'm eager to test it out. :)
 
Rowan_CB

Rowan_CB

Hillstyle said:
Rhonas's Monument is nice, but doing nothing on 3 is not really what most decks that want a +2/+2 pump want to do.
Click to expand...

I'm thankful for this (astute) analysis, because I was just about to start testing Rhonas's Monument. I may still test it, but this is a useful way to think about it.

I was eyeing it because (and this applies to all the monuments), I've been exploring ways to infuse the spell-velocity that dbs's cubes employ so masterfully into a lower power environment.

On that note, here's a low-powered card that piques my interest for y'all to talk me out of:

 
Erik Twice

Erik Twice

I think this kind of cards just don't work. They look interesting at first glance but have lots of practical problems.

1) It costs 3, does not affect the board and does nothing the turn you play it.
2) It doesn't pay for itself until you play 4 creatures.
3) It doesn't do anything for the first card you play each turn. If you only play one card per turn, it does nothing.
4) It's symmetrical because...yeah, I don't know why this is even symmetrical.
EDIT 5) Just think about how bad this is compared to any 3cc mana rocks.

It's a shame because Carnival of Souls is a card that seems interesting and fun, but I don't think anyone has ever made it work on any reasonable level.
 
genericco

genericco

You could make infinite soldiers & storm count with





Or generate mana, storm count, and filter thru your whole deck with



The way these are all formatted as cast triggers rather than permanents entering the battlefield triggers is a real limiting factor. Ideally if you make room for a jank combo like this you'd want some cross-over with token producing loops and engines.
 
Rowan_CB

Rowan_CB

Erik Twice and sigh, you are both right, of course. But what's so intriguing is that it produces colored mana, which can help lead to the kind of shenanigans genericco laid out. I was envisioning it working in conjunction with cards like cloud key to start chaining together free one- and two-drops. Ultimately though, I agree that it is a bad card, and would be bad in my cube. I do wonder if it could have a place in a cube that was built around creature spell velocity though.
 
Mondschwein

Mondschwein

Revisiting flashback (hehe) does anybody of you have experience with those aftermath cards?


looks pretty solid, early removal and a finisher for control in one card. will test it.


again, pretty solid looking card. Removal and Looting, worth a try.


now I'm curious if someone of you already tested this card? Dusk looks narrow and Dawn could be some other white mass reanimation spell. Still, I could imagine that it plays out quite nicely.
 
Onderzeeboot

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Mondschwein said:

now I'm curious if someone of you already tested this card? Dusk looks narrow and Dawn could be some other white mass reanimation spell. Still, I could imagine that it plays out quite nicely.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's in my cube. Nice card! 3+ power actually hits a lot, and white has a tendency to have 1- and 2-power creatures that grow in power when on the battlefield (e.g. Mikaeus, the Lunarch, Champion of the Parish, Thalia's Lieutenant, Extricator of Sin, Monastery Mentor, Rhox Veteran, Angel of Invention, etc.) which combines wonderfully with the aftermath part.
 
Onderzeeboot

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Mondschwein said:
Isn't Monastery Mentor a bit strong in comparison to the other listed white creatures? I'd rather go with Young Pyromancer (which I already do) or Talrand, Sky Summoner (which I don't at the moment) because they don't get out of hand so quickly.
Click to expand...

Yes, it's stronger than the rest, don't know about too strong though. I cut it from my cube, mostly because white isn't connected to red or blue in my cube, so it felt a bit out of place. It's a great p1p1 for white though. There's plenty of white cards I don't mind picking up p1p1, but Mentor is one of the few cards that would really pull me into the color, if you know what I mean.
 
ravnic

ravnic



Is that card as sweet as it looks? Is it not basically a instant speed draw three in black, splashable, for the little cost if 2 life? I mean, in black decks it should not be too hard to find 1/3 cards that you'd like in your graveyard.

I also like the flavour :p
 
japahn

japahn

It's really hard to actually add Dark Bargain to a deck, because a 4 mana spell that doesn't affect the board and pressures your own life total is bad in all situations but grindy and slow matchups. I've ran it for a while and it was always one of the first cards people cut. If your power level is low enough that worse Read the Bones is playable, it must be fun.
 
GalacticTraveler12

GalacticTraveler12

Right now I need opinions on cards that convert resources into a burst of mana. The cost can range from life to negative CA, but ideally you should feel like you are sacrificing part of yourself in order to gain a mana/tempo advantage, though I'm also looking at more long-term options. I'm wondering about these cards:



Okay, those last two are sort of cheating, but you get the idea. What makes this kind of card playable and fun? Which of these fit the bill?
 
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japahn

japahn

These might be too low power, but I've seen some cubes run these cards that I find quite elegant:



They work well in artifacts and ramp, though the Lotus is card disadvantage, therefore it needs to be in a deck that can mitigate that disadvantage. If your cube has artifact destruction, be careful with them as you could get blown out by Thrashing Brontodon! Sol Ring isn't very good if the colored mana requirements are too high, but it's probably the most playable.

Some fun combos/synergies:
- Darksteel Citadel + Sol Ring + Frogmite - 2/2 on turn 1
- Mox Ruby + Shrapnel Blast - 5 damage to the face on turn 1, 66% better than a bolt
- Mox Pearl + Glint Hawk - free creature
- Mox + Manifold Key - filter mana
- Black Lotus + Divination - free sorcery speed Mental Note
- Black Lotus + Seasons Past - cast as early as turn 3 and get more value out of the cmc 0
- Black Lotus + Auriok Salvagers - infinite mana
- Mox Sapphire + Ensoul Artifact - turn 1 5/5! Probably too good, so don't run Ensoul.

Some issues are:
- These cards tend to be a bit expensive due to their scarcity, apart from Sol Ring.
- They don't come in foil, so they'll stand out like a sore thumb in a foil cube.
- They can lead to some crazy fast starts, like Mountain, Black Lotus, sac, Ravenous Giant.

Image.ashx


Though in a lower power cube you wouldn't be running a 5/5 for 4.
 
ravnic

ravnic

That's awesome and i wonder if wizards would've ever thought of that happening. Probably not.

I have a more boring question, though. Is this card maybe just sweet? how hard can it be to get spell mastery, and with +2/+2 even 3-drops become really good targets. Especially in control decks, this seems good. Counterspell your Siege-Gang Commander, then bring it back next turn for 7 power and toughness? Removal on your Serra Angel, then get a 6/6 flying, vigilance? Wiping the board and then answer their first creature with your Nekrataal as a 4/3 fist striker?

 
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