Lower power Riptide cube

[Nanonox]

Simic removal

In an effort to give Blue and Green more tools with which to be interactive, I decided to up the amount of removal spells in those colors. The options are somewhat limited, but I am reasonably happy with most of these

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Still keeping a bit of draw smoothing with Bushwhack, but also getting that fight. At a single mana, it's tough to complain even though the blowout potential is there at sorcery speed.

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My counters deck don't really intersect with the GY much, even though Restoration is still reasonable there. I think it's a good spot to fit in another fight spell, while keeping Proliferate.

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Here we keep an option of pushing damage through with the Talent's second level. We also get a bounceable fight spell which is exciting. Audacity replaced Rancor which I found too powerful.



Don't have a cut for this one yet, but later if you really need a removal spell, you can make even a puny token formidable. This one could also be Inscription of Abundance which also has late game relevance, but is an instant which is huge. Maybe I should just jam both?



No clean cuts here either, but I feel like I need these. Psy Blast is a classic and goes face which can be a win condition in the right deck with the right recursion.
Downpour is experimental, but should work. Base rate is a little overpriced compared to other enchantments in Blue, but Flash and Storm are big. Imagine casting Snap and then Downpour, neutralizing(ish) 3 creatures.

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Changelings



I have a bunch of cards that care about creature types. They are one of with no other support (except the Golem theme). I have a couple others that I like



This has me thinking about Changelings as a secret archetype. With a few Shapeshifters, you can greatly enhance the above cards and maybe even (the dream) get multiple kindred payoffs in the same deck.



This could be a Black archetype since it's the color with "best" Changelings and most kindred payoffs. The Changelings would then increase the Golem density. For those reasons, maybe a simple Automaton, Mascot and Harvester curve of 1, 2, 3 is good enough.

If I go down this route, what other cool one of creature type matters cards would you include?

 

[LadyMapi]

?

 

[Nanonox]

Yes! Skeletons matters!

I actually had this in an earlier version with more enchantment support. However, looking at it again, Descend is surprisingly open ended and a 3/2 haste for 3 is a reasonable floor even absent the enchantment theme. 3 drops are crowded though, what to cut?

 

[Nanonox]

Changelings, Zombies and Enchantments

Decided to actually give the Black Changeling deck idea some more thought and the kindred payoffs that grabbed my attention the most were



Bouncing back to hand greatly helps the Flurry/Prowess decks while filling the GY or adding to the board. Because Black doesn't really do the whole spell matters theme, I thought the enchantment angle could be a way to tie them into what is already present in the cube.



Which suggest a Zombie/gy/enchantment subtheme. These pieces are individually solid and could lead to a fun deck once in a blue moon especially with exisiting support like Sarcomancy already in the cube.

Speaking of Zombies and the GY, I already run these two



Cryptbreaker is a classic self-supporting Zombie payoff . Welcome the Dead is potent if we are milling/discarding cards.



With a filled GY, we can use these two to both create more Zombies and actually buff them. Once again, these are self-contained engines that get better with more Zombies.

Now that we have many ways of removing cards from the GY (these two + Tymaret Calls the Dead + Aphemia, the Cacophony), we can profit with more Zombies thanks to these two.



Another way to trigger these two are a bunch of Zombie Dragons!



Now we come full circle because the Dragons allow you to return the Dragonstorm enchantments back to hand for more value.

On a different axis, we can also use the Zombie theme to push +1/+1 counters in Black



I think there is real potential for a web of synergy all based around a Zombie theme at this power level. But at that point, the Changelings are pretty useless and I lost sight of the original idea. I searched for a lot of kindred payoffs and to be honest, it's a little underwhelming. The only slam dunk is Exsanguinator Cavalry, the rest are good or not great. Especially after fleshing out the Zombie idea, this Changeling subtheme seems a little empty!

The challenge is to not fall prey to the classic kindred on rails problem. I think most of these are justifiable on their own and don't require you to draft a critical mass of Zombies (minus Champion of the Perished).

Suppose that we do go for the Enchantment theme. I'd like it to branch out to other colors.

White



One of the cleaner ways to get White to care about the GY. This is fairly unique and has a lot of play with discard, mill and sagas. There are also these enchantment creatures that I like a lot. Obviously don't have space for all of them, but maybe a few could sneak in.



In Blue, BoBguyjoe suggested some enchantment bounce effects in a previous post and a number of these could do some work. I especially like Riptide Chimera as an undercosted beatstick that rewards you if you can build around it. There is also one I enjoy from Duskmourn



I'm not sure if I want to pull the trigger on this as it's a big change to the cube, but it's definitely on the table. As always, I value your feedback so if you have any ideas, please share!

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For future reference

Spoiler: Various kindred payoffs

Clerics



Rotlung is a functional piece by itself which is always nice. Taborax is also fine individually as a scaling evasive 3 drop that adds counter density.

Rogues



Burakos gets better the more Cleric, Warrior and Rogue payoffs I have, effectively acting like another Changeling. I haven't been impressed by the Warrior payoffs though and the Rogues are average. The Blackguard could be a nice counters payoff that sometimes buffs a random Rogue. Dicey.

Goblins



Great standalone card, but the typal payoff is minimal.

Humans



Similar to Rotlung Reanimator, but isn't a zombie.

Rats



Decent little dude, not a fan of Control Magic effects though.

Vampires



Champion draws a few cards which is pretty meh at 5 mana and the Baron has a list of nice keywords.

Zombies



Undead Augur would be too if not for the mana cost. The Muse is sure to play well, but can be dangerous depending on how deep I go on Zombies. It's also a 4 drop which is a crowded slot.

Knights



Haakon is a tough one to crack. It definitely needs a bit more support instead of just throwing it in and working by itself.

Skeletons



Death-Priest buffs a bunch of types which can randomly add value to some cards. It seems like a hassle to track though, so not convinced it's a fun way to go. The Skeleton Crew is not much better in that regard, but a nice build around for GY decks.

Demons



I am already running Contract and it's been quite good. Covenant is another sweet one. Mill, draw and big token. Cellarspawn is cost reduction and a cool build around. Counsel would work well with the artifact Changelings as they count for two types for Delirium.

 

[Nanonox]

I've stopped working on this cube about a year ago. While I am happy with how it ended up, it didn't quite capture the Riptide feel that I was looking for. I tried my hand at another cube but that was even further away from what I was hoping to build.

It turns out I was more so looking for an era of MTG rather than a web of synergies (though still important). The solution to that? I am excluding all the cards printed after 2019*. Even then, I'm sparingly adding cards from DOM and WAR, while completely ignoring MH1. This is 100% vibes based, but I can't resist The Mirari Conjecture for example. There are other cards that are so clean that I feel like they could hang. Honor and Primal Might for example are very tempting here!

* I am making an exception for the mana base.

Rather than open a new thread, I figure I'll just keep posting here, since this is what the original cube was aspiring to be.

Here is the list​

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Since the card pool I am drawing from isn't as big as I am used to, I'll be making the cube slightly smaller than usual. I can always scale up later if needed. I am also keeping to singleton as a design challenge for now, but wouldn't mind doubling up on certain cards if it makes or breaks an archetype (I would double up on Ninja of the Deep Hours for example).

6 players with 4 packs of 12 each = 288 cards

I'm not at the cutting stage just yet, but it's getting there.



This is still a bounceland format. I love how bouncelands let you hit land drops and get some marginal value later in the game. I also appreciate the work fetchlands do in making more of your fixing live during any given draft. For them to work optimally though, I need another cycle of duals with basic land types.

or ?

What I haven't decided yet is whether to use Surveil duals or Bicycle lands. Either way, this will break my 2019 year restriction as we just got the Bicycle land cycle completed and the surveils are still recent. Leaning towards Bicycles because the first half of the cycle was printed within my timing restriction.

As far as supported archetypes go, I am looking for heavy GY themes, some artifact and spells matters as well as a bit of sacrifice.

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White GY

One of the challenges I wanted to tackle with this cube was making White participate in various GY decks. This has been an issue plaguing GY cubes of that time. I don't know if I'll be able to accomplish it, but I at least want to revisit it with a fresh set of eyes and improved designer skills (hopefully).

An important part of making a broad theme like this work in a color is density of effects. I want lots of references to the GY to force my drafters to care. Of course, I have to be wary of having similar, but better effects in other colors, which would invalidate what I am trying to do.

Going to start off with cards that don't mind being binned. Flashback, Retrace, Aftermath and the likes.



I like this effect for my Berserker theme and adding a piece of interaction for Green is a big plus. Travel Preperations is in a similar space, but two of this effect seems like a lot, especially in a smaller cube.



A little GY token action is perfect. I am also considering Nearheath Chaplain to further bolster the theme. If you can discard it, you get the back half of Lingering Souls which is too powerful here.



These two are pretty generically powerful spells that are a good pull into White.



A situational wrath and/or recursion engine. Being 2 power or less rather than mana value 2 or less is a big game for the Aftermath side, opening up the range of targets by a lot.



These two are solid roleplayers for aggressive and slower decks respectively. Sacred Cat, Trueheart Duelist and Angel of Sanctions are out as I don't want both Embalm and Eternalize.



If I am at a lower power level and not including this Dragon, what am I even doing?

These noncreature cards you can cast from the GY lead me to this guy, that I didn't even know existed from a commander release



I immediately thought of Burning Vengeance, which has a better effect, but the solid body more than makes up for that. The tokens are great in all speeds of decks as pressure or roadblocks, just like Lifelink which can swing a race or help you survive a few turns. There are a lot of cards in the cube to trigger it



Some decent spells matter cards and generically useful effects. Feeling of Dread could be used as a more tempo spell that could also trigger heroic, but is quite low impact most of the time. There is also Farm // Market which is mediocre removal and bad looting effect.



A bit of sacrifice stuff where the token from Geistcaller will be useful and some interaction. This seems like a spot for Haakon, Stromgald Scourge, which is an awesome one to have.



Outside of the burn spell that play well everywhere, the cards definitely fit into a slower spells matter build. Chandra, Acolyte of Flame could also work in that shell. As for an explicitly GY aggro card we have Squee, the Immortal, but it isn't very exciting.



Fantastic spread of GY aggro effects for the Geistcaller to make use of. There are more GY token producers in Green that could be good, but I don't want to go all in on them. Will need to chose between Worms or Spiders, not clear yet which is best.

All that to say, all the colors can use the Geistcaller. WB can be more aggressive, while WU is more controlling. WR and WG can play both roles, which is great.

White is also an awesome recursion color. In addition to Dusk // Dawn, we have



I definitely want Rally or Ranks, probably not both. Rally the Ancestors offers more options in terms of what it can recur, which puts it ahead.

I'll be adding either Reveillark or Guide, but not both to avoid the combo. I've always felt clever returning Triskelion or Pentavus with Reveillark, so am leaning towards it.

I find Ajani to be quite boring honestly, so I'll pass on it.

Tethmos High Priest is one I am actually curious about. If you have a Heroic/spells theme and some sacrifice shenanigans then it starts looking actually decent. Selfless Spirit and Sakura-Tribe Elder look like fun hits to recur for example. The actual correct pick might be the Devoted Cropmate though. It's a human, has a better 3/2 statline and is self-contained.

Multicolor has these two recursion creatures that I like



Rallier is probably a little too generically good for what I have in mind, but Alesha is perfect. Just like Reveillark, you get to recur some novel cards.

Other miscellaneous cards that have potential



Big for Berserkers and triggers landfall, classic for a reason.



This little guy doesn't look like much, but it can be quite annoying combined with the various bounce to hand effects. Also wears equipment like a pro.



One flyer a turn for 3 mana isn't going to break anything, but it does give a mana sink and inevitability. Also, this is another card producing spirit tokens, there might be a subtheme there.



5 mana is a lot for this effect, repeatable or not. Don't think it quite cuts it, but a cool card nonetheless.



Regardless whether or not this is a real Magic card, the effect is very strong. Honestly, probably a little too much, considering it nullifies wraths, races like a pro thanks to flying tokens and can attack with impunity with Vigilance.

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Aggressive decks

Before diving into the synergistic aggro decks, wanted to mention a few overarching decisions.

With the cube being smaller than I am used to, slots are precious. For that reason, I am including colorless and hybrid one drops to bolster aggro for everyone. I excluded some like Tattermunge Maniac, because I imagine it would be played a lot more in Red decks than Green ones. I also don't want too many of these as they take the spot of otherwise synergistic aggressive cards.



This gives Red and White 4 one drops, while Blue and Black get 3.

Artifact aggro

Similar to the colorless and hybrid one drops, artifact aggro is another tool meant to open up the possibilities in a smaller cube, giving access to an aggro package any color can use. The main aggressive artifact payoffs I've settled on are



I could see a Lodestone Golem joining the fun. My main criteria for these is that they can work without your other cards explicitly needing to be an artifact. I find cards like Mystic Forge too committal to be slotted into a random deck that happens to have artifacts.

A supporting cast of aggressive artifacts, creatures and equipment



Wargear is a power outlier, but the selection is slim as equipment was either hot trash or GRBS before 2020. Bloodforged Battle-Axe could be a replacement, but don't really want to mess with token copies of cards.

I'll be posting my various synergistic aggressive decks next!

 

[OlegKlishin]

I've stopped working on this cube about a year ago. While I am happy with how it ended up, it didn't quite capture the Riptide feel that I was looking for. I tried my hand at another cube but that was even further away from what I was hoping to build.

It turns out I was more so looking for an era of MTG rather than a web of synergies (though still important). The solution to that? I am excluding all the cards printed after 2019*. Even then, I'm sparingly adding cards from DOM and WAR, while completely ignoring MH1. This is 100% vibes based, but I can't resist The Mirari Conjecture for example. There are other cards that are so clean that I feel like they could hang. Honor and Primal Might for example are very tempting here!

I love your extensive writeups. You definitely have a style in your cubes. It seems we have a lot of common tastes, so I take inspiration to finally finish mine some day.

I'd be curious to read why you think it didn't capture what you were looking for, and how did the high level concept changed. From my point of view you are doing pretty much the same thing as before, that's why I'm interested how you view it.