Grillo_Parlante
Contributor
With spoilers for BOZ winding up, and it becoming increasingly suggestive that this will probably not be a very exciting set for cube (prove me wrong WOTC...prove me wrong), I thought I would take this moment to brainstorm ideas about the new tango lands from the set (tango being more positive than slow)--lands that currently fit into no ones exisiting cube, and which we only have half of at this time (but they are coming!).
However the show must go on, and I need something to read tomorrow morning during my commute.
First, lets welcome our new overlords:
That type is a bit small, but in sum, they are dual lands each with two basic mana types, that only ETB untapped if you control two or more basics.
In the normal fetch/shock makeup (or my bouncelands makeup) these fill no purpose and shouldn't be run (unless you are singleton and either lack ABU duals or have a larger cube).
The main appeal of them is the potential sequencing puzzle that they represent, which (in order to facilitate) means cutting shocks and/or ABU duals and building a cube up from the roots with this sequencing puzzle in mind.
The main benefit of this (in theory) is that it rather easily achieves the mana sequencing puzzle that we try to achieve with the current setup.
With a legacy-lite mana base, much of the sequencing tension is supposed to derive from cards like wasteland and (the largely absent from most lists) stifle. This means that most of the sequencing pressure must come from an outside source--the wastelands--, of which only 1-4 ever exist in most cubes. This pressure has the danger of becoming more psychological in nature, compared with actual legacy, and a danger exists for players to take such a powerful mana base and bend it to their own (good stuff) ends, depending on the number of wastelands and the credibility they attribute to the fear of wasteland.
Tango lands avoid these problems by bringing several highly desirable characteristics:
1. Having two basic land types means they can form metagame relationships with cards that care about land types, most significantly fetchlands.
2. They bring their own sequencing puzzle rather than depending on the pressure created by outside sources. A sequencing puzzle that is represented both by the tango lands themselves, and the fetchlands that can grab them, artificially increasing the density of the metagame relationship we are shooting for.
This puzzle mainly comes from how you run out your basics, your non-basics, and when you use your fetchlands. Not only does this make early game mana sequencing independently critical, but it requires players to take a somewhat longer view of how they want to see their mana develop in the early and late game, as well as how they think their mana will likely develop.
Now, its worth noting that you don't have to cut your wastelands/ghost quarters/tectonic edges or stifles: they play right along in this play pattern, but compliment it in a way that takes some of the weight off of them. You also have more freedom to open up certain slots, while not having to worry about overly diluting that sequencing puzzle. However, it could be possible that running some number of wasteland (or the full number) is actually the ideal compliment, as wasteland can function as a tool to help induce early game mana use.
Obviously, if you are trying to use land destruction to condense the format towards spell velocity and 1-3 drops, you will still want your wastelands and constricted curve, regardless.
The main counter argument I see is that "they are going to be bad for aggro." I think this is a somewhat short sighted perspective, as it assumes nothing else in the cube is going to change. We've presumably already tossed out our shocks in the name of this thought experiment, so further structural adjustments should come as no surprise.
Quite simply, we've already seen this relationship before in the original ravinca and KTK: powerful multi-color decks who get their fixing at the price of slower development, and streamlined 2 color aggro decks that seize upon that weakness. The tango lands represent a potentially up-powered take on this formula, smoothing out the existing, wasteland based, metagame relationship, while adding a second (broader) metagame relationship based around early game pressure.
This is going to take some more nuanced design, but aggro decks stand to benefit from the presence of tango lands in a format, simply because a slower multi-color deck should occasionally get awkward hands that require sub-optimal sequencing, or they will have to opt for sub-optimal sequencing in order to answer the aggro player's board presence. At worst, a two color aggro deck can get on fine with a few pilfered fetch or tango land. At best they can dip deeper into the tango land supply, and compensate for the untapped nature of some of the lands by running a lower curve. Due to the limited density of these lands likely to be run, its a calculated risk perhaps worth taking.
At any rate, I think you would want to have some very well developed aggro and tempo decks, as you will want to make early game mana use and development critical to the format.
Given the power level of these cards and how reasonable their condition is, they seem ideal for creating structure in some sort of cube.
Thoughts? Ideas?
However the show must go on, and I need something to read tomorrow morning during my commute.
First, lets welcome our new overlords:
That type is a bit small, but in sum, they are dual lands each with two basic mana types, that only ETB untapped if you control two or more basics.
In the normal fetch/shock makeup (or my bouncelands makeup) these fill no purpose and shouldn't be run (unless you are singleton and either lack ABU duals or have a larger cube).
The main appeal of them is the potential sequencing puzzle that they represent, which (in order to facilitate) means cutting shocks and/or ABU duals and building a cube up from the roots with this sequencing puzzle in mind.
The main benefit of this (in theory) is that it rather easily achieves the mana sequencing puzzle that we try to achieve with the current setup.
With a legacy-lite mana base, much of the sequencing tension is supposed to derive from cards like wasteland and (the largely absent from most lists) stifle. This means that most of the sequencing pressure must come from an outside source--the wastelands--, of which only 1-4 ever exist in most cubes. This pressure has the danger of becoming more psychological in nature, compared with actual legacy, and a danger exists for players to take such a powerful mana base and bend it to their own (good stuff) ends, depending on the number of wastelands and the credibility they attribute to the fear of wasteland.
Tango lands avoid these problems by bringing several highly desirable characteristics:
1. Having two basic land types means they can form metagame relationships with cards that care about land types, most significantly fetchlands.
2. They bring their own sequencing puzzle rather than depending on the pressure created by outside sources. A sequencing puzzle that is represented both by the tango lands themselves, and the fetchlands that can grab them, artificially increasing the density of the metagame relationship we are shooting for.
This puzzle mainly comes from how you run out your basics, your non-basics, and when you use your fetchlands. Not only does this make early game mana sequencing independently critical, but it requires players to take a somewhat longer view of how they want to see their mana develop in the early and late game, as well as how they think their mana will likely develop.
Now, its worth noting that you don't have to cut your wastelands/ghost quarters/tectonic edges or stifles: they play right along in this play pattern, but compliment it in a way that takes some of the weight off of them. You also have more freedom to open up certain slots, while not having to worry about overly diluting that sequencing puzzle. However, it could be possible that running some number of wasteland (or the full number) is actually the ideal compliment, as wasteland can function as a tool to help induce early game mana use.
Obviously, if you are trying to use land destruction to condense the format towards spell velocity and 1-3 drops, you will still want your wastelands and constricted curve, regardless.
The main counter argument I see is that "they are going to be bad for aggro." I think this is a somewhat short sighted perspective, as it assumes nothing else in the cube is going to change. We've presumably already tossed out our shocks in the name of this thought experiment, so further structural adjustments should come as no surprise.
Quite simply, we've already seen this relationship before in the original ravinca and KTK: powerful multi-color decks who get their fixing at the price of slower development, and streamlined 2 color aggro decks that seize upon that weakness. The tango lands represent a potentially up-powered take on this formula, smoothing out the existing, wasteland based, metagame relationship, while adding a second (broader) metagame relationship based around early game pressure.
This is going to take some more nuanced design, but aggro decks stand to benefit from the presence of tango lands in a format, simply because a slower multi-color deck should occasionally get awkward hands that require sub-optimal sequencing, or they will have to opt for sub-optimal sequencing in order to answer the aggro player's board presence. At worst, a two color aggro deck can get on fine with a few pilfered fetch or tango land. At best they can dip deeper into the tango land supply, and compensate for the untapped nature of some of the lands by running a lower curve. Due to the limited density of these lands likely to be run, its a calculated risk perhaps worth taking.
At any rate, I think you would want to have some very well developed aggro and tempo decks, as you will want to make early game mana use and development critical to the format.
Given the power level of these cards and how reasonable their condition is, they seem ideal for creating structure in some sort of cube.
Thoughts? Ideas?
