Card/Deck Low Power Card Spotlight

Grillo_Parlante

Contributor
As requested, a place to talk about all of the great commons, uncommons, and rares that don't make the cut in more powered cubes.

I'll kick it off with:



1. Ramps with bouncelands
2. Ramp target and finisher in itself
3. Interesting tensions between bounceland ramping it out early, or fully developing the board for maximum damage.
4. Creates interesting blocking decisions in multi-color decks
5. Represents a form of pressure that is exciting to play against
 
As requested, a place to talk about all of the great commons, uncommons, and rares that don't make the cut in more powered cubes.
Yessssssss! I was just gazing tenderly at Rude Awakening and wondering if I could ask people about it in Single Spotlight without getting shot down! That's it I'm including it!
 

Grillo_Parlante

Contributor
wind dancer is probably too underwhelming?

Floodgate is kind of interesting though, providing that the 4cc doesn't make it too slow. You could run it as a sort of blue synergy sweeper with self bounce/blink creatures in a U/W shell.



Maybe even run some



Though reality acid might be too slow without dedicated support.
 
Oh, that is a quite cool idea. Dovetails nicely with an UW "lots of fliers and a few fat blockers" plan, all of whom can survive floods. You want a high Island count though so I'm not too sure about things that require WW?
 
Cool thread. I feel like rares in particular are in a bad spot as far as cube design goes because the rare cube space is huge.

Last weekend I spent time reading through the "this or that" thread on MTGS for peasant, and the discussion is very constructive by comparison to the rare version of that same thread. In the rare version, all you generally see is X > Y with minimal or no syntax. It's just a power question. Not true in peasant, where more than one person specifically indicated that they didn't run cards for power reasons only (and said it speaking from a community perspective). So it's more about context, something I feel is 10 times more useful.

I bring this up because I think most of the playable common and uncommons are being actively discussed due to this different mindset - nothing is really rejected outright on grounds of raw power. Not that there aren't some cards dropping below people's radar, but it's the exception not the rule. In the land of rares though, I could probably come up with 100 cards that were either under tested in rare lists or completely skipped over which would easily be cubable at peasant level for sure and at lower rare power levels as well. Some cards are even good enough for high powered lists too if people took the time to actually play them (Meren of Clan Nel Toth), but there's only so much room even in the most open minded of lists.

Anyway, here's a card I added awhile back that got 30 seconds in the spotlight before being immediately replaced by whatever got printed after with more raw power, but this card has proven to be a fun card with build around potential. And I sort of feel like it does the demon drawback thing really well too, so hits a flavor home run for me as well.

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This has appeared in several types of decks. Control decks with things that can be sacrificed to it later in the game. Graveyard centric decks obviously (where you can make the drawback immaterial). Even as a top end card in some aggressive decks (tossing one drops to it after they can no longer do anything). Token decks. Recursive threat decks (crawler, et all). It has immediate board impact, and while it's an expensive doom blade + fog effect if that is all you get out of it, it's got a lot more to offer if you put even a minimal amount of effort into abusing it. And it's a scary ass threat too being a 5/6 flyer.
 

This card really speaks to me as well. I was very happy to pick up one of these a while back from a paper draft (and I bought a ton of MTGO, expecting it to be big in Standard), but I've never successfully played it (cube or constructed). It seems like a great curve-topper in a lot of common color-pair archetypes: w-b tokens, r-b aristocrats, g-b selfmill, u-b control/value reanimator. All of my experiments saw it used in a non-synergy role when I actually came around to casting it, though. Maybe I should revisit it for my Innistrad-themed project or a core-set project (as I feel like I need an intro cube to build up a group from retail drafters in this new city).

From another thread's inspiration, I quite enjoyed Standard during the Kamigawa era. This two-card combination was quite interesting after Affinity got banned:


I could imagine playing some token producer like Myr Turbine instead of Top (or adding a lot of ways to interact with Top, e.g., Krosan Grip, Phyrexian Revoker, etc.).
 
You know what's been making the rounds from Kamigawa lately? This bad boy in Vintage.

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It makes 'symmetrical' draw effects like howling mine and dictate of kruphix very-much-not-symmetrical, kind of like Memory Jar. I think It's a pretty sweet value engine, ESPECIALLY when paired with goblin welder (since you can weld it away during your opponent's draw step. The card is still exiled, but the effect allowing them to cast it is gone, essentially throwing them under a soft lock.)

What do you think? It's a little narrow, but it works very well with virtually any symmetrical draw effect.
 
You know what's been making the rounds from Kamigawa lately? This bad boy in Vintage.

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It makes 'symmetrical' draw effects like howling mine and dictate of kruphix very-much-not-symmetrical, kind of like Memory Jar. I think It's a pretty sweet value engine, ESPECIALLY when paired with goblin welder (since you can weld it away during your opponent's draw step. The card is still exiled, but the effect allowing them to cast it is gone, essentially throwing them under a soft lock.)

What do you think? It's a little narrow, but it works very well with virtually any symmetrical draw effect.

Makes instant-speed interaction hard as well! Four mana is a bit steep for a card that doesn't affect the board, though.
 

Grillo_Parlante

Contributor
Has anyone played Gwyllion hedge-mage? Is she just a solid value play?

Though on the topic of strong B/W cards that don't see any play, remember this lady in solar flare?



I think she is out of this world strong for my format, even more powerful than the format's current apex predator (which also sees no real play elsewhere)

 
True, but there's a reason it's in the 'low power card' spotlight :p

Unfortunately, I still find it hard to slot it higher CMC cards that don't affect the board or provide card advantage. I suppose with a density of support or hosing enough symmetrical draw effects would make this a card to consider including, but even then, how many games would drawing it feel like a mulligan? Make your case! How does this card get the support it needs?

I'll start with an obvious mention beyond Goblin Welder. Bazaar of Baghdad is pretty mediocre in cube, but could see play with mask (and supports graveyard archetypes). Dakra Mystic and Conspiracy cards with "parley" benefit from mask. I suppose that it also screws with decks looking for big turns: storm, large/expensive card draw spells. Karn, Silver Golem or March of the Machines can turn it into a creature.
 
Unfortunately, I still find it hard to slot it higher CMC cards that don't affect the board or provide card advantage. I suppose with a density of support or hosing enough symmetrical draw effects would make this a card to consider including, but even then, how many games would drawing it feel like a mulligan? Make your case! How does this card get the support it needs?

I'll start with an obvious mention beyond Goblin Welder. Bazaar of Baghdad is pretty mediocre in cube, but could see play with mask (and supports graveyard archetypes). Dakra Mystic and Conspiracy cards with "parley" benefit from mask. I suppose that it also screws with decks looking for big turns: storm, large/expensive card draw spells. Karn, Silver Golem or March of the Machines can turn it into a creature.

Well, when built around, Uba mask can give insane card advantage. Think about cards like:

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Bazzar isn't the only card that can give card advantage with Uba mask. Some do it almost better. As weird as it sounds, Uba mask could potentially power out a storm archetype, as storm typically doesn't use instant-speed interaction, and, hey, when you have cards like breakthrough that read "U: draw 4 cards"...

It's just an idea. I think Uba mask has a pretty fat mana cost, but imo the power is there. Maybe you could use it with artifact-cheaty shenanigans, like Darreti, or transmute to overcome it's admittedly high mana cost.
 
Glad Grillo posted this above. I'm completey sold on Skeletal Vampire now. I ran it in a control list the other day and didn't realize how sweet it is with Supreme Verdict and Nevinryrral's Disk. Corner cases perhaps (list dependent at least), but sweet synergy nonetheless. Also works with blink effects obviously. At max power, this card felt out of place but now that I've dialed it back I'm reminded how good this card can be.
 
Has anyone played Gwyllion hedge-mage? Is she just a solid value play?

Though on the topic of strong B/W cards that don't see any play, remember this lady in solar flare?

I've played that Hedge Mage for the token in 100CS white weenie circa ALA. It is fine in a token strategy and has some blink payoff. Also, the -1/-1 counter is no slouch in SSE Limited even if the target survives.


How do Hellkite Igniter and Eternal Dragon play out in the Penny Pincher cube? Might give an idea of the 5/5 flying body.

I've never found a single vindicate effect to be backbreaking on average. Assembling a 7 drop (with {B}{B}{W}{W} mana) and saving blink effects for it deserves payoff (winning the game)! Although, looking at your removal suite, it seems like 5 toughness is interact with at an instant speed in most colors beyond blue.
 
Glad Grillo posted this above. I'm completey sold on Skeletal Vampire now. I ran it in a control list the other day and didn't realize how sweet it is with Supreme Verdict and Nevinryrral's Disk. Corner cases perhaps (list dependent at least), but sweet synergy nonetheless. Also works with blink effects obviously. At max power, this card felt out of place but now that I've dialed it back I'm reminded how good this card can be.


Cards with activated abilities that give incentive for their controller "to go ham" using them always make me want to include Burning-Tree Shaman as an aggro tool that provides pain when attacking isn't profitable. I think WotC have gotten away from regeneration on creatures that attack effectively, but I remember a time when River Boa and Spectral Lynx were played in formats with Force of Will. Regeneration (especially when it is an affordable cost) adds an interesting level of game play (especially with mass removal that doesn't prevent regeneration from saving the creatures, as you experienced).
 

Grillo_Parlante

Contributor
Yeah, angel would really pressure the removal suite. Thats a lot of toughness for the damage based removal to deal with, and the fact that shes black means a lot of the black removal can't interact with her. Plus I have a strong enough reanimation suite that I feel that is where she will be abused the most.

Gurmag angler is really strong here just because so many decks have an angler sized hole in the middle of them.
 
Eternal Dragon is sweet. It bins itself (plains cycle is almost always how this gets played initially) for reanimator shenanigans. Follow-up with Karmic Guide later or any reanimation effect really, of you don't bother and it's part of a delve payment, etc. Later in the game, it's a top deck 5/5 flying game ending threat. Lot's of play with that card.

If I ever get to the point where I feel like I need to cut Eternal Dragon, my cube has taken a turn to a place I'd be unhappy with. Honestly.
 
This thread is quite timely for me, because I have been designing a new cube! The old cube can be summarized as "cards I happen to already own, with some attempts to bring a few themes together, plus a handful of ill-advised Infect-related purchases." The fikki fikki new cube is, thus far, stocked with cards that 'tiders have gotten me excited about, dragons (cue laugh track), and whatever seems salvageable from the old cube. Tarmogoyf is a placeholder for the new 2/3 vigilance ally from OGW. Please let me know if any of the things I've collected from other threads will end up being GRBS in a low-to-medium-power cube, so that I don't have to make too too many kinko's print runs and/or tcgplayer shopping trips. I am excited to be following this thread and picking up a bunch of shiny new inclusions for the shiny new cube!
 
So... I know that 'protection' as a concept doesn't have a good reputation on this forum, but what aboooot...

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In a B/W lifegain archetype? Overpowered? Uninteresting? Just a big-ball-o-stats? Or is he cool to make work?
 
So... I know that 'protection' as a concept doesn't have a good reputation on this forum, but what aboooot...

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In a B/W lifegain archetype? Overpowered? Uninteresting? Just a big-ball-o-stats? Or is he cool to make work?

I haven't really taken stock of Devoid removal spells, but this *might* not be so bad if some new "colorless" removal could answer it (think Grip of Desolation, I guess). Although, it was always a big-ball-o'-stats in my DGR limited games, and I'm unsure if you want a 10/10 flying lifelinker as your payoff.

Ninja edit: DGR has a lot of great "low-powered" cards.
 
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