White +1/+1 counters
->
I tried finding another cut because I like the late game applications of Air Temple, but couldn't. Practiced Offense also means that the teamwide pump effect is still present. Flagstones is a low cost inclusion to any deck playing White and really pops with some specific cards.
I do like having anthem effects and I found some cuts to support this little package
->
->
I counted and have 42 cards that have the +1/+1 counter text. Around 30 of those trigger multiple times. This makes Animation Module a nice token engine in the right deck. The servos being artifacts is one of the big upsides, I don't see the activated ability being used very often.
Where things become fun is alongside Squadron and a mana producing sacrifice outlet. Now when a creature token ETBs, you put a counter on it, triggering Module. You can sacrifice the token for mana and pay for a servo who will get a counter, and so on. Leads to infinite ETBs and sacrifice triggers.
Squadron is a decent card by itself, a scaling artifact anthem. Mishra's Workshop being able to pay for the Squad cost is a fun twist too.
Blue card draw (another recurring subject!)
I have a ton of GY enablers in Blue, but relatively few cards that work from the GY, these two being the only two mono-Blue options
I wouldn't mind another one and frankly, there aren't a ton of options. I am looking at either
They serve similar roles, but have different incentives. Analysis's flashback cost makes you want to discard/mill it, whereas Plunder looks better on the first cast. I tend to favor cards that reward the synergies I want to push so I am leaning towards Deep Analysis. It is also a good card to go alongside the recently added Devastating Dreams as it's a great card to let you refill the hand in a resource light game state that you actively want to discard.
These are fairly low impact though and Blue is full of card draw already, so probably wishful thinking more than anything.
On the topic of Blue card draw, there is one I'd like to find a slot for
The soft interaction isn't really the point, it's more about having a colored artifact to give each color their own flair in the archetype. Card draw is perfect in Blue and the fact the trigger is leave the battlefield one means that blink is on as a synergy. Displacer Kitten, Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Touch the Spirit Realm and Flickerwisp are the usual suspects. Of course sacrifice and recursion are live too so KCI, Welder and Sevinne's Reclamation all make great use of it. It's an unassuming slot that greases the synergy wheels nicely.
Relic offers a more scarce ressource, so that would be a priority add. For the life of me though, I cannot find a cut. I have so much Blue card draw and it all seems really important! I have two redundant types of card draw: cantrips and looters.
I can't imagine cutting any of these, and even if I did, it would be for a different one mana cantrip. These are so important for the spell velocity decks and I am already on the low end in terms of cantrip density I want to run. So let's look at looters
I am specifically looking at the two mana ones, because there is a glut of them at that mana value. I'm also not counting the one shot effects like Chart a Course and Occult Epiphany, they serve a different role.
Shredder and Malcolm are great aggressive/tempo threats and I don't want to touch them. That leaves JVP and Kitsa. Kitsa is probably the better card with a body able to attack and scale as well as a late game spells payoff. It also survives Devastating Dreams quite nicely for what it's worth. I'm not a fan of the vigilance though as that negates the whole looting is a cost and it lacks JVP's pedigree. Jace is fragile, but gives you a little dream to chase. It's fun to flip him and immediately recur an important spell. It also survives Dream in his PW state. Having no PW in Blue makes me want to keep JVP more than Kitsa.
->
Boosting Selesnya
I wantto give my Selesnya decks a boost. Those decks don't come together quite as often as I would like, so I enjoy the idea of a targeted boost. I'm going to start with a big overhaul, but could easily remove some aspects of the package. It's just nicely intertwined so I want to give the whole thing a chance first
->
->
Saffi + Lark + free sacrifice is infinite. This might be false signaling though where drafters expect a larger combo package with Karmic Guide, Renegade Rallier and friends. But these are just fine individually and have plenty of uses outside of the combo.
Now that I have Angel of the Ruins, Timeless Dragon feels redundant. It's still a great card, but maybe I can diversify what the cube does some more. Likewise, I know have a strong artifact suite at 2 mana in White and Lens feels like the most expendable even though it might be the most powerful.
->
->
More persist combo pieces and I want to keep the enablers White based (hence no Metallic Mimic). To avoid another Selesnya slot, I could be running Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit or Solemnity, but I like this blunt approach first. As for Masticore vs Kitchen Finks, it's mostly a question of working with both Pod and Oswald by being an artifact and 2 drop vs 3 drop. This brings me to 3 enablers and 3 payoffs for the combo which is a healthy amount IMO.
Voice is a painful cut, but I don't want to be adding more combo only to have interaction negated by its effect. Hallowblade on the other hand is an easy one.
->
->
Pod and Oswald offer a potent combo tutoring package that neatly branches into sacrifice. With the two sets of combo cards just added, it makes a lot of sense to have these as options. Masticore working with both is just perfect.
Shambler doesn't have to be a cut, but I have so much fodder that I can afford to lose it IMO. I do like the zombie and might find a home for it again. I am adding a couple of tutors and can ease up their density. Traverse is a fine card though, so it too might make it back.
->
Second Sunrise is really good in this cube and legitimately works with creatures, artifacts and lands. This can lead to insane value, mana or damage. It was ok in previous iterations of the cube, but I think I've made the cube even more Sunrise friendly since then.
High Tide is a very cool mana engine, but it's quite narrow because of the strong Blue commitment it requires and the various untappers to make it shine.
Other ideas
Package 1
This package came to me as a result of this deck. It's a synergistic mess of lands, artifacts and sacrifice.
What I didn't expect is just how much food incidental food tokens I had in the cube. In this deck they feed Tezzeret, kill with Cookie, give life for Citadel and can be sacrificed with Samwise or to boost Pursuit. They do a lot and are integrated nicely into the deck.
This deck reminded me of how powerful Stridehangar Automaton can be. I cut it because I wasn't excited about making a Servo and a Thopter as they kind of do the same thing. But every food bringing along a 2/2 body is another story (reminds me of Cookie, that weaponizes these tokens).
Bumi's Feast Lecture is a decent 2 drop, adjacent to Cookie, but with the potential to be a lot more. First of all, Earthbend opens up a lot of options with fetches and sacrifice, allowing you to ramp or landfall nicely. Then you have the food synergy that I underestimated. But just curving Gilded Goose into Lecture means you get a 4/4 land. Tough Cookie makes it a 6/6. It get's ugly really fast and the card is serviceable by itself.
Package 2
Forget about Selesnya for a second. I am cutting High Tide, but I still like mana generation. Importantly, these two candidates don't lock you into having specific types of lands making them a lot less narrow. Mana Flare would give Red a distinct combo card and force Blue to branch out rather than being self-contained with High Tide. The symmetry is very risky though and you need to break the symmetry.
Mana dumps
Shivan Devastator
Genesis Hydra
Nexus of Fate
Walking Ballista
Untap fun
Earthcraft
Garruk Wildspeaker
The biggest omission is Nissa, Who Shakes the World, but that one is too free for my tastes and incredibly powerful.
Wilderness Reclamation can be a wild one, but I don't have many instant speed cards that make it worthwhile. I am missing cards like Consult the Star Charts, Three Steps Ahead and so on. I do have mana sinks though with Ballista and friends and Tough Cookie + Urza, Lord High Artificer give you a reason to go artifacts. It's a little thin though, hence my hesitation.
Package 3
Not Selesnya related, but I've been thinking about Curio for a while as a cool engine for creature ETBs or landfall shenanigans. There are some niche enchantment synergies Stormchaser's Talent, Proft's Eidetic Memory, Parallax Wave, Chthonian Nightmare, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, which all have value replaying them. With lands, Fastbond is the obvious nuts, but sometimes getting back an Otawara can be a big game.
BTE + Cloud of Faeries you can chain together, but even less combo centric ETBs can be worthwhile. BTE is also a combo with Enduring Renewal for what it's worth and a solid aggressive beater.
This is where Mana Flare comes in, as another Cloud of Faeries (and the like) payoff. Red having big mana is quite rare and this could be an option to keeping High Tide adjacent cards.
I like that this one lets drafters get creative, but Curio is also a do nothing artifact the turn you play it. It also reinforces a part of the cube that is already relatively strong in blink. Mana Flare is also a big risk making this a somewhat dicey package.
So there you have it! A pretty big overhaul that aims to make White more interconnected with the sacrifice and artifact networks as well as adding some 3 card combos that can turn a game on their head. I'd love other suggestions or tweaks to what I am doing here if you have any ideas.
Edit:
Also swapped Foundation Breaker and Cankerbloom because Breaker is better with most of the adds in this update.
-> I tried finding another cut because I like the late game applications of Air Temple, but couldn't. Practiced Offense also means that the teamwide pump effect is still present. Flagstones is a low cost inclusion to any deck playing White and really pops with some specific cards.
I do like having anthem effects and I found some cuts to support this little package
-> -> I counted and have 42 cards that have the +1/+1 counter text. Around 30 of those trigger multiple times. This makes Animation Module a nice token engine in the right deck. The servos being artifacts is one of the big upsides, I don't see the activated ability being used very often.
Where things become fun is alongside Squadron and a mana producing sacrifice outlet. Now when a creature token ETBs, you put a counter on it, triggering Module. You can sacrifice the token for mana and pay for a servo who will get a counter, and so on. Leads to infinite ETBs and sacrifice triggers.
Squadron is a decent card by itself, a scaling artifact anthem. Mishra's Workshop being able to pay for the Squad cost is a fun twist too.
Blue card draw (another recurring subject!)
I have a ton of GY enablers in Blue, but relatively few cards that work from the GY, these two being the only two mono-Blue options
I wouldn't mind another one and frankly, there aren't a ton of options. I am looking at either
They serve similar roles, but have different incentives. Analysis's flashback cost makes you want to discard/mill it, whereas Plunder looks better on the first cast. I tend to favor cards that reward the synergies I want to push so I am leaning towards Deep Analysis. It is also a good card to go alongside the recently added Devastating Dreams as it's a great card to let you refill the hand in a resource light game state that you actively want to discard.
These are fairly low impact though and Blue is full of card draw already, so probably wishful thinking more than anything.
On the topic of Blue card draw, there is one I'd like to find a slot for
The soft interaction isn't really the point, it's more about having a colored artifact to give each color their own flair in the archetype. Card draw is perfect in Blue and the fact the trigger is leave the battlefield one means that blink is on as a synergy. Displacer Kitten, Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Touch the Spirit Realm and Flickerwisp are the usual suspects. Of course sacrifice and recursion are live too so KCI, Welder and Sevinne's Reclamation all make great use of it. It's an unassuming slot that greases the synergy wheels nicely.
Relic offers a more scarce ressource, so that would be a priority add. For the life of me though, I cannot find a cut. I have so much Blue card draw and it all seems really important! I have two redundant types of card draw: cantrips and looters.
I can't imagine cutting any of these, and even if I did, it would be for a different one mana cantrip. These are so important for the spell velocity decks and I am already on the low end in terms of cantrip density I want to run. So let's look at looters
I am specifically looking at the two mana ones, because there is a glut of them at that mana value. I'm also not counting the one shot effects like Chart a Course and Occult Epiphany, they serve a different role.
Shredder and Malcolm are great aggressive/tempo threats and I don't want to touch them. That leaves JVP and Kitsa. Kitsa is probably the better card with a body able to attack and scale as well as a late game spells payoff. It also survives Devastating Dreams quite nicely for what it's worth. I'm not a fan of the vigilance though as that negates the whole looting is a cost and it lacks JVP's pedigree. Jace is fragile, but gives you a little dream to chase. It's fun to flip him and immediately recur an important spell. It also survives Dream in his PW state. Having no PW in Blue makes me want to keep JVP more than Kitsa.
-> Boosting Selesnya
I wantto give my Selesnya decks a boost. Those decks don't come together quite as often as I would like, so I enjoy the idea of a targeted boost. I'm going to start with a big overhaul, but could easily remove some aspects of the package. It's just nicely intertwined so I want to give the whole thing a chance first
-> -> Saffi + Lark + free sacrifice is infinite. This might be false signaling though where drafters expect a larger combo package with Karmic Guide, Renegade Rallier and friends. But these are just fine individually and have plenty of uses outside of the combo.
Now that I have Angel of the Ruins, Timeless Dragon feels redundant. It's still a great card, but maybe I can diversify what the cube does some more. Likewise, I know have a strong artifact suite at 2 mana in White and Lens feels like the most expendable even though it might be the most powerful.
-> -> More persist combo pieces and I want to keep the enablers White based (hence no Metallic Mimic). To avoid another Selesnya slot, I could be running Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit or Solemnity, but I like this blunt approach first. As for Masticore vs Kitchen Finks, it's mostly a question of working with both Pod and Oswald by being an artifact and 2 drop vs 3 drop. This brings me to 3 enablers and 3 payoffs for the combo which is a healthy amount IMO.
Voice is a painful cut, but I don't want to be adding more combo only to have interaction negated by its effect. Hallowblade on the other hand is an easy one.
-> -> Pod and Oswald offer a potent combo tutoring package that neatly branches into sacrifice. With the two sets of combo cards just added, it makes a lot of sense to have these as options. Masticore working with both is just perfect.
Shambler doesn't have to be a cut, but I have so much fodder that I can afford to lose it IMO. I do like the zombie and might find a home for it again. I am adding a couple of tutors and can ease up their density. Traverse is a fine card though, so it too might make it back.
-> Second Sunrise is really good in this cube and legitimately works with creatures, artifacts and lands. This can lead to insane value, mana or damage. It was ok in previous iterations of the cube, but I think I've made the cube even more Sunrise friendly since then.
High Tide is a very cool mana engine, but it's quite narrow because of the strong Blue commitment it requires and the various untappers to make it shine.
Other ideas
Package 1
This package came to me as a result of this deck. It's a synergistic mess of lands, artifacts and sacrifice.
| | | | | |
| |||||
What I didn't expect is just how much food incidental food tokens I had in the cube. In this deck they feed Tezzeret, kill with Cookie, give life for Citadel and can be sacrificed with Samwise or to boost Pursuit. They do a lot and are integrated nicely into the deck.
This deck reminded me of how powerful Stridehangar Automaton can be. I cut it because I wasn't excited about making a Servo and a Thopter as they kind of do the same thing. But every food bringing along a 2/2 body is another story (reminds me of Cookie, that weaponizes these tokens).
Bumi's Feast Lecture is a decent 2 drop, adjacent to Cookie, but with the potential to be a lot more. First of all, Earthbend opens up a lot of options with fetches and sacrifice, allowing you to ramp or landfall nicely. Then you have the food synergy that I underestimated. But just curving Gilded Goose into Lecture means you get a 4/4 land. Tough Cookie makes it a 6/6. It get's ugly really fast and the card is serviceable by itself.
Package 2
Forget about Selesnya for a second. I am cutting High Tide, but I still like mana generation. Importantly, these two candidates don't lock you into having specific types of lands making them a lot less narrow. Mana Flare would give Red a distinct combo card and force Blue to branch out rather than being self-contained with High Tide. The symmetry is very risky though and you need to break the symmetry.
Mana dumps
Shivan Devastator
Genesis Hydra
Nexus of Fate
Walking Ballista
Untap fun
Earthcraft
Garruk Wildspeaker
The biggest omission is Nissa, Who Shakes the World, but that one is too free for my tastes and incredibly powerful.
Wilderness Reclamation can be a wild one, but I don't have many instant speed cards that make it worthwhile. I am missing cards like Consult the Star Charts, Three Steps Ahead and so on. I do have mana sinks though with Ballista and friends and Tough Cookie + Urza, Lord High Artificer give you a reason to go artifacts. It's a little thin though, hence my hesitation.
Package 3
Not Selesnya related, but I've been thinking about Curio for a while as a cool engine for creature ETBs or landfall shenanigans. There are some niche enchantment synergies Stormchaser's Talent, Proft's Eidetic Memory, Parallax Wave, Chthonian Nightmare, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, which all have value replaying them. With lands, Fastbond is the obvious nuts, but sometimes getting back an Otawara can be a big game.
BTE + Cloud of Faeries you can chain together, but even less combo centric ETBs can be worthwhile. BTE is also a combo with Enduring Renewal for what it's worth and a solid aggressive beater.
This is where Mana Flare comes in, as another Cloud of Faeries (and the like) payoff. Red having big mana is quite rare and this could be an option to keeping High Tide adjacent cards.
I like that this one lets drafters get creative, but Curio is also a do nothing artifact the turn you play it. It also reinforces a part of the cube that is already relatively strong in blink. Mana Flare is also a big risk making this a somewhat dicey package.
So there you have it! A pretty big overhaul that aims to make White more interconnected with the sacrifice and artifact networks as well as adding some 3 card combos that can turn a game on their head. I'd love other suggestions or tweaks to what I am doing here if you have any ideas.
Edit:
Also swapped Foundation Breaker and Cankerbloom because Breaker is better with most of the adds in this update.
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