Card/Deck Low Power Card Spotlight

K

Karshtakavaar

I mean, I support wolf tribal and I like it. Those statements aren't connected, mind.

It's not amazing in my cube as I don't run a high enough density of tricks, but the "fightwolf' deck has a few cards that overlap with UG Flash and both were missing 3-drops. I found room and it's not left the cube since.
It's a solid C+ for drafters that already picked up Nightpack Ambusher.
If the fightwolf package comes together it's kinda cute, but not needed given the presence of Master of the Wild Hunt or Wren's Run Packmaster or whatever. Probably wouldn't call it tribal support, at least in the context of how I have wolf tribal set up. More "Incidental wolf, may as well run it".

All that said I am looking to alter the balance of tricks in my cube so it's stock may well rise once green has some spells that exist for more than just "hexproof and minor pump".
 
LadyMapi

LadyMapi

Ooh, how do you set up wolf tribal? And is the fact that it makes wolves when your opponents target it with instants/sorceries something that ever comes up?
 
K

Karshtakavaar

I wanted to justify running Tolsimir, Friend to Wolves as its a favourite of one of my players, was already running Master of the Wild Hunt, noticed I could replace some of my green Flash creatures with wolves and maintain the bant/ug flash deck, and then found a few other wolfy cards that I liked or were reasonable replacements for things I was already running - like swapping Surprise Elephant for Surprise Wolves. The result was a greedy midrange deck that tries to bully other fair creature-based decks, and little 2-card synergies that sometimes make their way into other decks as a bonus value engine. I also have a few incidental wolves thrown in for people to exploit, like Faldorn who overlaps with the madness deck. I also had to make a custom "forever nightbound" 6/6 Tovolar's Packleader to get another fight effect into the cube but hey...
The "wolf tribal" deck as I run it is waiting on more support to be printed and is very heavy on 4s, but made one of my drafters happy and the incidental synergies that end up making it into other decks work well enough for now.

Gameplan is pretty simple. Make wolves with deathtouch (Garruk, Packmaster), fight opponents creatures (Tolsimir, Packleader), be just a bit bigger than all the other token strategies, just a bit wider than all the other midrange strategies. Against control you don't have to care about your synergies so much and can therefore stagger your threats - tailor your play to the threat you have or the answers you saw in previous games. Hollowhenge Overlord is real, btw. Doesn't read as well as Packleader, but its's not hard to have it be an 8/8 across three bodies that just comes outta nowhere and lets you keep mana up to protect it, and it singlehandedly wins stalled midrange mirrors. Consider that my contribution to Low-Power Spotlight for anyone with a Gx Flash deck I guess.

As far asSilverfur Partisan, for us it's been a lightning rod that wastes the first piece of removal your opponent draws. That has bought time for bigger threats that come down afterwards (There are only so many Doom Blades in a given deck), but if the "bigger threat" is already in play when the opponent gets their single target removal it just results in that creature dying anyway and netting you a bonus wolf. Spellskite it aint. I don't think we've ever seen the dream scenario of "If you target any of my wolves I kill your most important creature too." It also is stone-cold dead against whites' O-Rings and Wraths, and overplaying into Wraths is already a weakness of the "wolf deck". As much as I'm seeming down on the card, I do like it and it is a bit of a pet card. And yeah the flavour text is ass.
 
ravnic

ravnic



Could this work in paper as "reveal undrafted cards from the cube until you reveal a creature card with mana value X. Create a token that's a copy of it."?
 
Velrun

Velrun

ravnic said:


Could this work in paper as "reveal undrafted cards from the cube until you reveal a creature card with mana value X. Create a token that's a copy of it."?
Click to expand...
It could

Some things to think about:

1. You would probably have to change the wording to what you like. Otherwise you will have to explain to the players what the card does. This can be done with a custom card so it's not a big problem.

2. It will, most likely, take a pretty long time hitting a creature with a mana value exactly X if you have to flip like that. There is also a very slim chance you cube doesn't even have an X mana value creature card left in the undrafted.

How about using Scryfall to generate the random creature and then use a token like this?


You can use this link if you want to generate a random creature card on scryfall:
http://scryfall.com/random?t=is:creature

I have tried to add additional requirements but have failed. I think it's possible. Maybe someone else can help?
 
Rusje

Rusje

blacksmithy said:
i think it would be more fun (but an admin hassle probably) to give this its own pool of unsleeved cards to pull from. which also lets you control its power level and complexity by controlling the pool.
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That’s why it is useful to pull cards from the cube. Only if you need to adjust the powerlevel, then a special pack is needed.
Sad that there is no option in cubecobra to draw a random card from your cube (with a filter on eg creatures).
 
Chris Taylor

Chris Taylor

Contributor
The issue with pulling from the cube is you'll need to filter through the unused portion of the cube, pull out all the creatures, sort them by CMC, and THEN random out a creature.

A deckbox you have off to the side of random creatures, presorted reduces that set a lot.
 
Rusje

Rusje

Chris Taylor said:
The issue with pulling from the cube is you'll need to filter through the unused portion of the cube, pull out all the creatures, sort them by CMC, and THEN random out a creature.

A deckbox you have off to the side of random creatures, presorted reduces that set a lot.
Click to expand...
That’s where a computer can help…
 
ravnic

ravnic

I think it would all be a bit too much trouble, either to execute (if I want to get a real card) or to remember (if I use a token because you can activate this thing every turn). It's probably a digital only card for a reason. I think it would be fun one draft and then be annoyed by it.


But maybe after this discussion @LadyMapi can come up with something like a format where people have no creatures in their deck but everyone starts with a Pool of Vigorous Growth in play :p
 
Rusje

Rusje

ravnic said:
I think it would all be a bit too much trouble, either to execute (if I want to get a real card) or to remember (if I use a token because you can activate this thing every turn). It's probably a digital only card for a reason. I think it would be fun one draft and then be annoyed by it.


But maybe after this discussion @LadyMapi can come up with something like a format where people have no creatures in their deck but everyone starts with a Pool of Vigorous Growth in play :p
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You could use dry erase token/blanco cards to write the name. Or you go the way Chris proposes. Just use different sleeves and you can use that card. It also prevents getting doubles. But it is a lot of work.
 
Brad

Brad

I've considered making a Booster Tutor pile before. You could do something similar here. Make a pack of like 100 cards to pull from for various randomness effects.
 
ravnic

ravnic

Booster Tutor works fine with a pack of cube cards though. And what other cards like Pool of Vigorous Growth do exist?
 
ravnic

ravnic

How busted is a Timetwister you have to work for? Actually, how busted is even timetwister in a super fair lower powered environment with close to zero combo stuff?

 
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Brad

Brad

I think that a draw 7 is similar to a tutor. It scales to your format. No one is gonna storm off, but it'll feel cool for your players to cast their power 9. It'll be pretty powerful sometimes with the right setup, but I can't imagine it causing a problem for you.
 
Rusje

Rusje

I concur. Most ridiculous combo enablers are not that great when the other combo part is not available. E.g., Yawgmoth’s will and Time Spiral are not breaking a low powered non-combo cube (although they are breaking the bank). A word of warning. Wheel effects can give your opponents just what they need when you are using them to refill. That even holds for the time spiral where you get your mana back.
 
K

Karshtakavaar

I love UG madness and genuinely hadn't ever considered playing Echo of Eons in it. Sounds sick.

Has anyone tried



I know it's not providing instant value but it seems like it presents a pretty respectable threat, and the activated ability is sweet. Obviously Delve and all - Was thinking about finding a low power Murktide-y creature like Ethereal Forager when I remembered this - but also makes white players sad into the bargain.
 
ravnic

ravnic

Personally, I would rather play something like Morphling, because imho cards shouldn't turn the exile into a second graveyard, but I understand the synergy appeal and the Elemental is certainly a strong finisher. But it's also a downside that it might be stronger against white than against any other color.
 
ravnic

ravnic

blacksmithy said:
its gonna be fun in, like, the GRINDIEST control decks, and in UG madness dump-your-hand aggro. i would try to make it work in the control shell if i drafted your cube. fun low power card
Click to expand...
How do these control decks look like? When I think of wheels I think of either combo or aggro decks.
 
Rusje

Rusje

ravnic said:
How do these control decks look like? When I think of wheels I think of either combo or aggro decks.
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I guess counter steal/wrath control decks… The counters are 1 for 1 but stealing/wrathing is one for many. Most of the times a control deck runs out of cards by answering and the finisher is expensive and there are only a few in the deck.
Those decks are quite a puzzle to play with and against. They feel quite staxx like and not all can find the joy in that (I do).
 
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