Yeah, I agree. Verdict is still out on the Precursor for me, but Soultrader is a boss. The non-token stipulation is obviously necessary, but really hinders it's flexibility....add to that you need a sac outlet and things to sacrifice. It feels like a little too much to jump through for 3 mana. Soultrader just clicks though. I underestimated it on first glance.
Nanonox's 1vs1 cube
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Yeah, I agree. Verdict is still out on the Precursor for me, but Soultrader is a boss. The non-token stipulation is obviously necessary, but really hinders it's flexibility....add to that you need a sac outlet and things to sacrifice. It feels like a little too much to jump through for 3 mana. Soultrader just clicks though. I underestimated it on first glance.
Weird MH3 cards
Speaking of underestimating, I am thinking that I didn't give Six the correct amount of thought for a card that does so much.
Single Green pip, 2/4 body and reach is a very solid baseline. I don't love creatures having such a big butt, but at three mana, it's not as egregious as at 2 mana.
I don't know the math on his attack trigger, but milling 3 is generally upside whether you hit a land or not. But that isn't the exciting part.
The last ability is a discard outlet and recurs permanents, how can we abuse it?
First off, it triggers Inti, Seneschal of the Sun and The Raven Man, which is pretty rare in Green. Then single card interactions:
You could discard excess lands to recur the Bauble and up the Storm count?
I could see myself trading lands for pitch elementals to clear the board. You would need some solid Wheel action to keep the cards flowing though!
Once you've milled yourself out, Six is a convenient way to recur the Oracle for the win.
This is a good one to return to hand in case you got disrupted or you fizzled.
Give all your lands Cycling pay 2 life?
I feel like I am missing some cool synergies, what do you folks have as cool Six combos?
In the same vein, The Necrobloom's dredge ability seems like it should be abuseable. Just not sure what to do with it really.
Simulacrum Synthesizer support
Gideon of the Trials -> Steel Seraph
Decided to try this swap as Gideon is pretty narrow in the decks that want him (mostly control decks) and the Angel has nice blink and artifact synergies which are more prevalent.
I don't have many Azorius cards I love, so I am ok with trying stuff out. Paying 3 mana for the effect is too much in this cube, but being an artifact is serious upside. I have a tough time evaluating the equip ability. Are you usually upgrading the equipped creature or downgrading it? You also don't have to equip and it can just be a removal spell.
Crime?
These three creatures have me pretty excited to reconsider the Crime "mechanic". I could see them do work in tempo or control decks that tend to run more interaction than other decks. I counted 18 ways to commit crimes in Blue and Black and 14 in Red.
Duelist: I've been liking the draw 7 "combo" with Psychic Frog and some redundancy wouldn't be bad. Counterspells can ensure that you loot on opponent's turn and bounce can clear blockers for big damage.
Kaervek: Doubling up on cheap Black spells can be a great way to pull ahead. This can do a good Snapcaster Mage impression. Fatal Push something, commit a crime and cast it again. Same thing with Duress. Dark Ritual is a great one to get back and so are a lot of 1-2 mana value creatures. I saw Erik use this one and I think it has potential!
Magda: I’m less sold with Magda, mostly because I don’t actually have that many treasure producers. 3 treasures for a token is a good rate though and it would be decent in non-Green decks. It has less explosive potential than the Duelist and less grindy value than Kaervek. This means it’s probably not a good enough piece for the cube.
I would probably cut Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel for the Duelist and Woe Strider for Kaervek. Malcolm is just ok and I have a lot of sacrifice support with MH3
Speaking of underestimating, I am thinking that I didn't give Six the correct amount of thought for a card that does so much.
Single Green pip, 2/4 body and reach is a very solid baseline. I don't love creatures having such a big butt, but at three mana, it's not as egregious as at 2 mana.
I don't know the math on his attack trigger, but milling 3 is generally upside whether you hit a land or not. But that isn't the exciting part.
The last ability is a discard outlet and recurs permanents, how can we abuse it?
First off, it triggers Inti, Seneschal of the Sun and The Raven Man, which is pretty rare in Green. Then single card interactions:
You could discard excess lands to recur the Bauble and up the Storm count?
I could see myself trading lands for pitch elementals to clear the board. You would need some solid Wheel action to keep the cards flowing though!
Once you've milled yourself out, Six is a convenient way to recur the Oracle for the win.
This is a good one to return to hand in case you got disrupted or you fizzled.
Give all your lands Cycling pay 2 life?
I feel like I am missing some cool synergies, what do you folks have as cool Six combos?
In the same vein, The Necrobloom's dredge ability seems like it should be abuseable. Just not sure what to do with it really.
Simulacrum Synthesizer support
Gideon of the Trials -> Steel Seraph
Decided to try this swap as Gideon is pretty narrow in the decks that want him (mostly control decks) and the Angel has nice blink and artifact synergies which are more prevalent.
I don't have many Azorius cards I love, so I am ok with trying stuff out. Paying 3 mana for the effect is too much in this cube, but being an artifact is serious upside. I have a tough time evaluating the equip ability. Are you usually upgrading the equipped creature or downgrading it? You also don't have to equip and it can just be a removal spell.
Crime?
These three creatures have me pretty excited to reconsider the Crime "mechanic". I could see them do work in tempo or control decks that tend to run more interaction than other decks. I counted 18 ways to commit crimes in Blue and Black and 14 in Red.
Duelist: I've been liking the draw 7 "combo" with Psychic Frog and some redundancy wouldn't be bad. Counterspells can ensure that you loot on opponent's turn and bounce can clear blockers for big damage.
Kaervek: Doubling up on cheap Black spells can be a great way to pull ahead. This can do a good Snapcaster Mage impression. Fatal Push something, commit a crime and cast it again. Same thing with Duress. Dark Ritual is a great one to get back and so are a lot of 1-2 mana value creatures. I saw Erik use this one and I think it has potential!
Magda: I’m less sold with Magda, mostly because I don’t actually have that many treasure producers. 3 treasures for a token is a good rate though and it would be decent in non-Green decks. It has less explosive potential than the Duelist and less grindy value than Kaervek. This means it’s probably not a good enough piece for the cube.
I would probably cut Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel for the Duelist and Woe Strider for Kaervek. Malcolm is just ok and I have a lot of sacrifice support with MH3
Kaerverk is great. My issue with it is that it promotes black so much. It's not that it recurs black cards, that's fine. It's that the best cards to go with it are Dark Ritual, Fatal Push and Thoughtseize. So it's too monoblack for my tastes. Fun card, though!
Six is super cool, but retrace doesn't return to hand...the card is cast from graveyard. So you can't cycle with retrace, but you can cast via evoke from the graveyard. You can cast Underworld Breach, but can't return it to your hand. It's slightly more limiting, but still a powerful value engine in tandem with things like Life from the Loam or The Gitrog Monster.
There's probably 50 infinite 4-5 card combos with it, but I'm having trouble figuring out how to really break it. Still as far as value engines go this is one of the more juiced so I should probably think about it harder than I have.
There's probably 50 infinite 4-5 card combos with it, but I'm having trouble figuring out how to really break it. Still as far as value engines go this is one of the more juiced so I should probably think about it harder than I have.
Hadn't considered that point, I'll have to think about it some more. It's just really appealing as a control/value engine.
Ah crap, brain fart!
That's really where I am at right now. I'll wait and see what Dom comes up with for the ProTour, I'm sure he already broke it in half in testing.
MH3 has really revitalized the sacrifice archetype for me, to the point I am considering adding one of these
I seem to be wanting one more sacrifice your land effect and Squandered Ressources is a fantastic mana engine, but my Goglari section is already stacked! The extra land sacrifice goes nuts with Aftermath Analyst, Second Sunrise, Skittering Precursor and Titania, Protector of Argoth.
Sylvan Safekeeper likely fits into more decks being mono Green, but is less exciting than the enchantment.
Speaking of mono Green, Scapeshift also makes sense since it has the benefit of triggering both the land sacrifice and landfall all in one. Plus you get to tutor up all your cool utility lands.
The reasonable option is the Safekeeper I think, but not yet sure!
I am also revisiting Cataclysm as a potent build around.
Wrenn and Six is already busted, but Six to retrace W&6 would be big game.
Six + Groundskeeper and Lion's Eye Diamond is infinite mana. That's the only 3 card combo I could come up with.
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You could theoretically go infinite with Aftermath Analyst + Shfiting Woodlands + Squandered Resources
Resources is great with Fastbond and Crucible of Worlds or Ramunap Excavator....1 life for 2 mana. Can set up a big turn with Yawgmoth's Will.
It's also really good with The Gitrog Monster, but that'd be a lot of investement in lands in the golgari section. I generally think the Frog is more fun, and also usable outside of a combo. It triggers on lands going into the graveyard from anywhere so it can do crazy things with discard, mill, and sacrifice. It's good with Six as well. 5 mana is a lot, but I love my Golgari Frog Tricks™ decks
Six + Groundskeeper and Lion's Eye Diamond is infinite mana. That's the only 3 card combo I could come up with.
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You could theoretically go infinite with Aftermath Analyst + Shfiting Woodlands + Squandered Resources
Resources is great with Fastbond and Crucible of Worlds or Ramunap Excavator....1 life for 2 mana. Can set up a big turn with Yawgmoth's Will.
It's also really good with The Gitrog Monster, but that'd be a lot of investement in lands in the golgari section. I generally think the Frog is more fun, and also usable outside of a combo. It triggers on lands going into the graveyard from anywhere so it can do crazy things with discard, mill, and sacrifice. It's good with Six as well. 5 mana is a lot, but I love my Golgari Frog Tricks™ decks
There is a real potential for the Squandered archetype. These cards are already in our cubes or easy to slot in:
Parasitic:
Natural Balance only finds basics, but it puts them into play untapped. There are a ton of similar effects, perhaps they are worth exploring.
Core support:
Nice:
Meh:
Parasitic:
Natural Balance only finds basics, but it puts them into play untapped. There are a ton of similar effects, perhaps they are worth exploring.
Core support:
Nice:
Meh: