Sacrifice is a rewarding archetype and I value what it adds to my format's diversity, but it does require a lot of special considerations to get the most out of it. The archetype really benefits from some cogs that don't stand especially well by themselves.
Some cards you are missing that I feel really help the archetype:
I know some of these you've cut recently....so maybe you're right to keep moving away from the archetype. But you may be looking at a windfall of other changes once you cut it....like suddenly red's artifact sacrifice becomes way less interesting, and if that goes, what's next?
So I've finally decided to take this cube seriously: I created an Excel spreadsheet to work on it...No really, I'm serious!
In no particular order, I've made a bunch of changes.
Artifacts in Black
Black had no artifact theme so to speak, so I decided to introduce a fully fledged one with
All of these save for Imotekh are playable outside of artifact decks. The recurring ones play well with sacrifice, discard and self-mill, all present in Black, as well as Imotekh itself.
Safra has written about Imotekh and I've posted a few decklist from my MP cube. I want to make it a premier pick in this environment and believe the following package helps.
I've been shy about including so many artifact payoffs, but I just love the artifact theme and it's my cube, so...
Ravager, Overseer, Plating and Imotekh give Rakdos a truly scary theme these 3 double strikers.
Likewise in Green, Berserk, Scale Up and Simian Simulacrum will do big damage.
In White you get some disruptive pieces and a big beater.
On it's own, the Thresher is mediocre, but alongside the Red double strike package and the blink theme in White, you get a lot of potential for big damage.
Sacrifice in non-Black
To support the archetype in the greatest amount of non-Black colors as possible, I think that including at least 3 colorless sacrifice outlets is necessary to have access to them in sufficient density.
In my experience a lot of the key sacrifice pieces cost 3 mana, so having some 2 mana value sacrifice outlets is perfect for a decent curve. These all have the additional advantage of rewarding you with different ressources for your sacrifices.
There are 3 more that could work under my criteria (free sacrifice, cheap MV and different ressources)
Altar is more or less equivalent to Ashnod's Altar. It's better if I supported Gravecrawler, but that isn't the case right now.
The Station kills people, but it's a little tougher to chain triggers together than I would like. Plus, getting pings isn't all that unique with Goblin Bombardment and Blood Artist effects.
The Oven has the most potential to be included as an additional outlet. Being a single mana and flooding the board with artifacts is great for some archetypes. Being an Urza's Saga target is always a benefit. I don't necessarily want to add Cauldron Familiar though, so it might be a trap for some players.
Green sacrifice Ramp
These form the basis of a Green creature based ramp package. You convert creatures into mana and win big. This would be the perfect play for Krark-Clan Ironworks should I chose to go that route.
A simple go-wide strategy, where your X spells pay you off. You get increasing amount of mana the more times you cast your spells.
You go-tall instead of wide. Shivan Devastator seems great in this shell and has me seriously considering it.
Speaking of Zealous Conscripts, I included a fun Jeskai sacrifice subtheme
Jeskai blink/sacrifice theft
Steal creatures and sacrifice them, then Blink the Sower/Conscripts and do it again. This is a weird take on Blink and sacrifice, but they go really well together in a slower deck. Claim the Firstborn, Grishnákh, Brash Instigator and Veldaken Shackles are also considerations, but they just aren't as clean as Sower or Conscripts.
Grindy sacrifice
There are so many Green and White cards that fit into this deck. It's the type of deck where I would run Blasting Station above other sacrifice outlets I think, just to get that extra reach. Birthing Pod seems tailor made for this deck too if I go that route. By the way, can anyone sell me on Eldritch Evolution? I don't see the appeal (except for BP #2), but see a few lists that I like with it.
A subtheme of this deck would be persist combo, which I think I will include for
Giving evasion and a second life to your creatures is brutal and you can combo off with Kitchen Finks. It's tempting to add Metallic Mimic and Lesser Masticore for redundancy and opening the combo to any color, but those two are pretty medium on their own.
Gruul and Boros can also take on a grindy role with some of the new additions, which I hope to be able to draft to showcase the concept!
Less combo support
I decided to cut Griselbrand, Hullbreaker Horror, Dream Halls and Tendrils of Agony. Bowmasters and Sheoldred take on the finishers mantel in Black, while the other two are cut for more options.
I decided to include Time Warp as a fun build around for Blue decks with combo potential.
There are a bunch of other changes that I'll go over as I have time. For now, if anyone wants to see the changes and give it a shot, here is the list https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/kmu7#
I like the explicit combo card cuts...there's so many flexible organic "combo" options available now...cards that have wider appeal, that progress the game in an interactive way, all while maintaining a degree of explosiveness.
I've been considering Vindicate for my Orzhov section for a minute. I like that include.
I like what Faerie Mastermind brings to Azorius' flash hatebears archetype....I feel like those soft play-altering cards can really add up in a fun way: Esper Sentinel, Ethersworn Canonist, Ledger Shredder, Mastermind, Brazen Borrower, Vendilion Clique, Remand, Reprieve, etc. It's grown to be one of my favorite archetypes in my cube and it's just so quintessentially Azorius.
I ran Hallowed Spiritkeeper for the longest time in my list. It was always super solid for me, and one of the better things to have on the board when you cast Balance or Cataclysm. I ultimately cut it in favor of Extraction Specialist to leverage white's blink suite a bit more in putting bodies on board. The WW cost of Spiritkeeper always irked me as it both wants you to be heavily committed to white, but also need you to really dig into other colors to get the most value out of it since white doesn't put things into the graveyard easily. I feel somewhat similarly about Broodmoth (although it's much better), but that's all just my personally preference. Both cards are good.
I became a big fan of Birthing Pod once I stop caring about chaining up to 5+cmc. My chains tend to be 1-3 and occasionaly 4...and usually revolve around value loops, toolboxes and assembling combos. It's particularly valuable in Selesnya which always needs a little love:
That said, I didn't really like running both Pod and Survival. If I managed to run across both in a draft, Survival always grabbed the reins and pulled me into Simic, Golgari, and Gruul rather than Selesnya. Survival is so so good, it just felt a little too easy in my environment, and pigeonholed my green decks whenver it came up.
Eldritch Evolution is...fine, but not great. I run it for Pod redundancy, but I rarely feel like I get the most out of it. It's good for snatching a Yawgmoth or Paragon. I just don't run a lot of compelling 4-5cmc creatures so it never feels like maximum value. This most likely a placeholder for now until another option gets printed.
I'm also running Fiend Artisan for pod redundancy. I like it more than Evolution.
Steal creatures and sacrifice them, then Blink the Sower/Conscripts and do it again. This is a weird take on Blink and sacrifice, but they go really well together in a slower deck. Claim the Firstborn, Grishnákh, Brash Instigator and Veldaken Shackles are also considerations, but they just aren't as clean as Sower or Conscripts.
I'm not sure there's quite enough depth here to consider it a deck. Running Sower and Conscripts is of course totally fine, because both of those cards are objectively good and don't require any additional support...but further investment into the subtheme feels like diminishing returns. I also think you have a lot of other good deep archetypes available in Jeskai that you don't necessarily need to push that angle.
The jeskai sacrifice deck I find most productive is artifact-based:
I know you've run Oswald in the past...it's certainly on the narrow side, but with the influx of artifacts I think it's worth reconsidering.
The problem I always had with Caldaia Guardian (and Anax, Hardened in the Forge) is if I'm running a bunch of efficient big body creatures, I'm probably just going to be attacking with them rather than sacrificing. If it helps me further profit off of combat, great!....but that starts to feel a bit closer to retail limited dynamic to me, and our cubes are bit higher octane than that. I like most of these cards on their own. They're great creatures for Wildfire (I see you brought back Devastating Dreams..noice) or in a loose "Fires" shell. I particularly like them in the Wildfire shell, because I prefer a heavier madness bent for hasted creature beats (which you already support):
I suppose the general theme of the additions I don't like as much are the firmly midrange ones. With so much leaning up of mana curves and general spell efficiency, the midrangier cards and the strategies they employ feel a bit clunkier in comparison. As always imo, ymmv, etc, etc
There isn't a ton of synergy, but Ephemerate/Restoration Angel + evoke elements is fun, as is filling the GY for Kroxa, Reveler and company. The Staff provides you constant value through the small token theme too.
I like what Faerie Mastermind brings to Azorius' flash hatebears archetype....I feel like those soft play-altering cards can really add up in a fun way: Esper Sentinel, Ethersworn Canonist, Ledger Shredder, Mastermind, Brazen Borrower, Vendilion Clique, Remand, Reprieve, etc. It's grown to be one of my favorite archetypes in my cube and it's just so quintessentially Azorius.
Wholeheartedly agree. I've been meaning to also include a small tempo package
Interacting with the stack and affecting the board is really perfect and with Vindicate + Tangle Wire being present, I would love there to be an Esper land denial deck since Cloudskate and Venser can both target lands.
I notice you run Winter Orb which would fit, but I'm afraid that the combo with Urza, Lord High Artificer is too unfun. Has that been an issue for you?
Birthing Pod
I hadn't considered value Pod for 2-3 mana value, but it has the alluring part that you can see BP late in the draft and it doesn't matter if you have a complete chain or not, you will always have 2 and 3 mana dorks. That said, I don't know how much I like the supporting redundancy pieces. Fiend Artisan is ok, but not spectacular and I don't really like Eldritch Evolution.
However, with so much of the cube being heavy artifact, your suggestion that I add Oswald Fiddlebender back in is a nice one, keeping the deck in Selesnya and being BP#2.
Spiritkeeper and Broomoth
As for Spiritkeeper + Broodmoth, you are right that they are great cards in the wrong color. However, I find that the ceiling on the Spiritkeeper is so high that I have trouble letting go. Broodmoth on the other hand has felt redundant alongside Serra Paragon. You only want so many recursive 4 drops and I like the open-endedness of the Paragon a lot more than that of the Broodmoth.
I suppose the general theme of the additions I don't like as much are the firmly midrange ones. With so much leaning up of mana curves and general spell efficiency, the midrangier cards and the strategies they employ feel a bit clunkier in comparison. As always imo, ymmv, etc, etc
I like the additions on paper, but in the small sample of drafts I've done online, I find myself not actually picking the 4+ mana cards often at all.
That said, I do think that Caldaia Guardian has merit on it's own. For 3 mana, you get a card, two 1/1s and 4 hasty damage. That is at least a decent floor. I will keep the Rekindling Phoenix and Zealous Conscripts for that Gruul sacrifice potential for now, even though I can see them going if it doesn't work out.
Sacrifice and artifact deck overshoot
With the return of more colorless sacrifice outlets, it really feels like the I overshot supporting the sacrifice deck. I have too many Black cards in the pool, so I'll be cutting some of the support from there.
In the same vein, I cannot stomach Combat Thresher, Royal Wardens and Imotekh, the Stormlord in packs. They are slow and unexciting compared to the colorless payoffs. This might be an overreaction to my previous thoughts, but let's not go down that rabbit hole!
I'm finally including this one it's such a high potential build around that gives you another avenue to casting your artifact fatties. You also get sick combo potential with Scrap Trawler, Mox Opal and Myr Retriever.
Blue control
Finally, considering increasing the power level of my Blue control options
Aggro is really solid in this cube, so I am not too worried about taking out a PW. That said, Teferi is also really good in tempo decks, which means that their is a risk that tempo decks with disruption, powerful creatures and free counterspells take over. I am thinking the singleton nature of this cube would help, but I may be wrong.
I'll try and do more drafts to post decks I am happy and unhappy about.
I am coming around to this card as a reasonable piece of GY hate with huge synergy potential.
What I like is that it’s both a self-contained +1/+1 enabler and payoff that can lead to some crazy plays. There is so much range in what activated abilities exists that there is room for creativity.
If you have a bunch of tap abilities, these untappers can lead to some crazy sequences. Since you naturally want activated abilities in decks using these two, the Cauldron offers resilience in the face of removal. Did they kill your Emry? No biggie, just exile it with Soul Cauldron and go off with a random token you have lying around.
I keep coming back to Rishkar because like the Cauldron, he is a self-contained +1/+1 payoff and enabler with a high ceiling. I don't want to go hard on the counters theme, but this one seems easy enough to include and gives redundancy to Earthcraft. It plays well in Selesnya alongside Luminarch Aspirant, Kitchen Finks and Felidar Retreat.
This is another one that would fit the theme nicely, providing board-wide counters for the Cauldron and conveniently untapping the creatures for more uses of the copied abilities. The floor being a 2/2 flash blocker with vigilance isn't exciting, but definitely playable.
I need to find a couple of cuts for Cauldron and Rishkar, but I think it's a little package that can really spice up the draft in an interesting way.
Time for some concrete updates. There is a mix of macro and micro archetype changes, hopefully this works out!
Boros control and blink
I recently watched Brian Coval playing a Legacy Boros control deck and it looked great. The big things my cube is lacking for this deck are Planeswalkers, Forth Eorlingas! and a few support cards (more later). I am not ready to introduce the Monarch mechanic to my cube, but a few planeswalkers, why not? (Out -> In)
-> ->
Few decks want the Spiritkeeper and while it has a high ceiling, I think it can go until White gets more GY shenanigans. As for Daretti, this is a tough cut, but I haven't been excited by that card in a while. I'd rather lean on Goblin Welder and Sneak Attack as more exciting picks. Chandra also has some play in cheat decks thanks to her +1: ability for what it's worth.
I remember Erik's post from a while back where he said that Chandra was too powerful for his format and forced you to abandon your synergy picks in favor of a good stuff card. I think this applies to the Emperor as well. I've felt that way in the past, but now, with my cube being a lot lower to the ground and having more PW removal, I am not so sure that it still applies.
It's a Mardu Lurrus companion deck with small token/spells/sacrifice synergies. First of all, I am super happy to see Mardu control popping up, Kolaghan's Command, Vindicate and Lightning Helix are doing their job! But more importantly, I don't think this deck would want to play Chandra even if it could. Lurrus as an eighth card is just so strong and I am sure there are other decks where this would be true.
Inscho mentioned in my latest batch of updates that he wasn't a fan of the 4+ mana midrange cards that I added (like Rekindling Phoenix) and I see his point. Control certainly doesn't want them, nor do most aggro decks, making it a firmly midrange card. These two PW skip that by being wanted by everyone and shining differently depending on who gets ahold of them. By having the two best PW in Boros, I think it also increases the likelihood of having more controlling RW decks exist. Balance and Devastating Dreams are that much more appealing when a PW is already on the battlefield.
Now, the other control support cards that I want to include are (Out -> In)
-> -> ->
These cards pull double duty by being decent in slower decks and also being blink enablers/targets of which I have few. Loran can be spicy with my favorite duo Paradox Engine and Jeskai Ascendancy and should be fun with Orcish Bowmasters (not that it needs the help).
I am on the fence between cutting the Conscripts and Lizard Blades. With a few more PW in the cube, Conscripts gain some fun uses, but I think that adding the counters package below will help Blades more.
+1/+1 Counters
I touched on it last post, and after thinking about it more, I want to play these (Out -> In)
-> -> ->
The Shark has a great defensive body, but where it really shines is at making a lot of game pieces which a ton of decks can use. The fact that they have counters on them goes perfectly with the two other adds.
I could be way off here, but Bonesplitter is another card that I haven't felt excited about in a while. Maybe it's because I am trying to make the cube be more about engines that are greater than the sum of their parts and I am losing sight of the basics. Is this crazy?
The Guardian has been fine, but it has two big strikes against it: it's the only card with Blitz in the cube and there aren't all that many 4+ mana creatures making it a bit of a trap.
I haven't really felt the need for the Triarch. There are so many Baubles and Stars that draw cards for cheap that I end up not including it in my lists (unless extremely artifact heavy). There are 2 other Black 2 drops that are good fits in artifact decks (Scrapheap Scrounger and Blade of the Oni) so it should be fine.
I don't think you'll regret adding Wandering Emperor. It really brought some welcomed clarity to my white control archetypes. I haven't tried Chandra because it seemes a little goodstuffy for my liking...but it's obviously strong and versatile. Nahiri, the Harbinger has been my other planeswalker for the boros control archetype. Cutting Daretti is a bummer.
I like most of the other changes. Rishkar is so great. I think about adding it often...but I'm not sure I'd want both Simian Simulacrum and Rishkar in my cube.
I really enjoy Touch the Spirit Realm in an artifact heavy environment...it's so spicy with Solitude, Grief, and Fury
Maybe I should take another look at Seedshark. It could take Trinket Mage's slot pretty easily in my cube.
Bonesplitter is definitely a meat and potatoes card, but I like what it brings to the table....you don't really have anything comparable. I would try to find space to keep it.
I can see myself coming back on this decision if I feel that the Red cheat decks aren't coming together often enough. However, I've played Chandra TOD before and she is a lot of fun like blacksmithy says. Nahiri would play fine, but I am just not excited enough for her in a gold slot especially compared to The Wandering Emperor.
Good catch! I neglected to switch out the monkey. I've been looking to slot in an Oracle of Mul Daya effect and Augur of Autumn seems like a good candidate! I really like having at least one to go off with Fastbond and the Augur's extra toughness and cheaper mana value does more for me than the Oracles extra land drop.
Bonesplitter is definitely a meat and potatoes card, but I like what it brings to the table....you don't really have anything comparable. I would try to find space to keep it.
The reason why I am shying away from Bonesplitter is that even my faster decks are looking very engine-like. In those spots, I don't have room for a pump spell or if I do, I'd rather have something like Cranial Plating that really pops. It's not that it's bad, it's that it feels like a slot dedicated to aggro decks, but an unexciting one (this fits with Erik's slot efficiency post). I'd rather have a Rishadan Port or a Mishra's Factory with wider appeal and with less competition for a main deck spot.
Actually, another Gingerbrute variant would be awesome. I've noticed that the frequency at which pure aggro decks pop up has diminished (could also be my own draft tendencies). I think I need some more aggro one drops and a colorless one helps every color.
Fun decks
First up, a RGb control deck sporting spells matters, discard and land synergies.
Wanted to showcase this deck for a few reasons. It uses some of the new Adventure cards really well. All 3 of them offer some amount of draw smoothing for cheap and provide extra spells for Young Pyromancer. Sadly they don't work with Magmatic Channeler, but there enough other spells to hopefully pump it. The bodies are also nothing to scuff at. Especially the Hearth Elemental which can be cast for cheap and survive a pretty big Devastating Dreams.
There is the whole discard package that offers the control element of the deck. Pyromancer, Fable, Firestorm and Dreams are all pretty tough to beat when you have Converter, Construct and the land matters theme to negate the loss of cards. The lands theme also provides you with a win condition with Titania + Dreams/Gargadon. This type of deck really makes me want to run Zuran Orb as a life buffer and an other Titania outlet.
The next one is from Erik, who drafted this beauty of a tempo-discard deck.
The curve is lean and there are a lot of diruptive creatures. The discard payoffs lets you take full advantage of Bazaar, Liliana, Copter and Jace VP.
A very artifact heavy deck, that got all the pieces to take advantage of the counters package I just added. With all the pieces in the same deck, it feels like overkill and Steel Overseer or Arcbound Ravager might not be needed. Although having a board of artifacts with both Modular 1 and the Overseer's ability from the Cauldron sounds amazingly fun.
A big mana Selesnya deck. Earthcraft + Paradox Engine + Gaea's Cradle are the main mana engines, but the +1/+1 counters subtheme add a lot of spice. Rishkar is a second Earthcraft and the Cauldron can be pretty much anything. Thanks to you Inscho, I added Birthing Pod to the cube as a value engine for lower mana value cards and it really shines here, fetching key pieces and also binning them so that the Cauldron can exile them.
Random thought after drafting a bunch of lower to the ground cubes: 2 drops are the new 3 drops. By that, I mean that it's really easy to get a glut of 2 mana cards which isn't ideal for the curve. I will look at some 1 mana value replacements where it makes sense and see where that takes me
I am basically spamming at this point, but the creative juices are flowing!
I mentioned wanting more cards like Gingerbrute and more one drops, so I am trying this swap (Out -> In)
->
The Mite is pretty far away from being as good as Gingerbrute for aggressive decks, but it's still a one mana artifact with a body and frees up the 3 mana slot for more exciting options. There is a lot of creature removal, so losing out on that part of the Sage isn't a big deal. What is more annoying is losing the ETB trigger for Birthing Pod, Ephemerate and such. That said, Loran still exists to scratch that itch.
I've been liking the disruptive tempo decks that have been drafted and I want to add two solid options (Out -> In)
-> ->
Pippin is a 2 mana Mother of Runes/Giver of Runes variant that signals towards the tempo deck. The vigilance means it can still attack which is great and the ward 1 is definitely relevant. The protection from creature type is also huge at getting attackers through compared to the two one drops.
Teferi is a great control plant, but I also have 3feri which goes into more decks. It is a more polarizing card that can create feel bads, but in a singleton environment like cube, I am not as worried.
I love hand disruption and flying so the Freebooter has me excited. I was planning on cutting the Technique to try out Lich-Knight's Conquest as a mass reanimation spell that ties together a bunch of themes. I haven't made up my mind on the Conquest yet, so in the meantime, that's the cut.
I'll have to draft a bunch and see if this isn't too much support. I still want the engines deck to do their thing, but if their hand is being torn appart too frequently backed with counterspells, then it's a problem.
The Berserkers package has been a little lackluster for me with my new set of updates.
I am excluding Embercleave from this list as I like it as a big aggro finisher and exciting SFM target.
Lizard Blades isn't as necessary as before with the amount of colorless 2 drop aggressive threats. What has me hesitating is how well they play with the new counters cards I added. Same story with the Dragon Engine. It sits at a premium slot in the curve and while nice with Reanimate/Welder/Engineer, it's still a 3 mana 2/2.
Scale Up has cool synergies with the double strikers, Dreadhorde Arcanist and various go-wide strategies. Being a sorcery and not granting evasion are big strikes against it though.
So what to do with those free slots?
#1 card I want to add right now. I posted about it in Erik's thread and there are enough similarities between our cubes that it would work here too.
I'd like to bolster my aggressive strategies with a one drop creature and have these options in mind for Red
The Pit Fighter is my least favorite one, but it also has the highest floor. I dislike that it references Vampires and also has the lowest ceiling.
The Adept is narrow, but has evasion and can swing in for huge amounts following a Wheel of Fortune or Firestorm. But even triggering it once a turn is still good.
The Swiftspear is the safe option. You get the open-endedness and scaling of Prowess and Haste is very powerful. I think I like it the most of all one drops.
Same thing in White, I'd like another one drop aggressive creature, but don’t have one I’m convinced is a good fit. Suggestions welcome!
For those of you who run this, does it see play in more generic aggressive decks?
I love Anje's Ravager and I think it can function in a generic beatdown deck just fine! I think it's excellent in that it can be powerful in a deck that just wants to empty and reload it's hand asap, but shines extra hard in a deck that includes some synergistic payoffs for getting stuff into the graveyard. Very similar to a Bomat Courier in that way. One of my favorite cards for sure, it creates a lot of interesting and tough decisions in my experience, definitely a card I'd recommend testing
Also Freebooter is sweet def highly recommend that guy as well! Hand hate on a body is such a fun play pattern and it avoids the usual "I don't want to attack with my Banisher Priest" problem by having the evasion.
For your red one drop options, I think Swiftspear fills a pretty different role than Pit Fighter. Really depends on if you are trying to power up specifically red tempo spellslinger strategies or if you just want to have a solid generic aggro one drop. Flameblade Adept I think is also a bit more of a synergy piece than generically powerful, unless you're running a REALLY high density of cycle and discard stuff. So I think the answer here depends on what specific strategy you're trying to power up.
As someone running both Swiftspear and Flameblade Adept, I can attest that they're both synergy pieces until you really commit. I've made the choice that I want my aggro decks to have to be synergy decks of some kind, so I just lean into that by running a pair of Faithless Lootings--do we have to hyperlink that card here in 2023?--alongside these cards and it gives the aggro decks a lot more flavor. It's a lot easier to do so when you break singleton, though, as the card pool for this stuff isn't terribly deep at our power level.
Re: aggro white 1-drops, I don't know that you need one. You have 5 1-drop critters there, including Legion's Landing, and that's the most aggressive of the bunch by far as most of the rest you really want to keep around for the duration of the game (Esper Sentinel, Mom). I think that you should either keep things as-is or really commit to the bit, as I worry that white aggro will be undersupported if you just add one and that it'll be a bit of a trap/waste of a slot. I'm not a proponent of traditional monocolored weenie aggro (see my previous section on forcing aggro to commit to synergy), but there's a lot to be said for hypergeometric calculations when used intelligently. That said, you know your cube better than I do, so here are some of what I run/would recommend:
I know you wanted to support an artifact aggro deck, and the Frontliner and Homunculus play into that. Topplegeist is great in WR discard decks with things like Flameblade Adept, if you decide to add it at some point, and Voldaren Epicure, another great flex one-drop. Lunarch Veteran is great at playing beats or prolonging the game, just like Epicure, meaning it's probably the easiest drag and drop into your existing section (plus doesn't feel bad to wrath!), and Guidemother is just generically great. Personally, I'd add like three one-drops if you wanted to get aggressive with it, but I know that I punch these numbers way up to like ten of them so my perspective might be skewed lmao.
For your red one drop options, I think Swiftspear fills a pretty different role than Pit Fighter. Really depends on if you are trying to power up specifically red tempo spellslinger strategies or if you just want to have a solid generic aggro one drop. Flameblade Adept I think is also a bit more of a synergy piece than generically powerful, unless you're running a REALLY high density of cycle and discard stuff. So I think the answer here depends on what specific strategy you're trying to power up.
As someone running both Swiftspear and Flameblade Adept, I can attest that they're both synergy pieces until you really commit. I've made the choice that I want my aggro decks to have to be synergy decks of some kind,
After thinking about it more and hearing your arguments, I like Monastery Swiftspear because of its versatility in different synergy decks. It's not the best for the optimized version of any of those decks, but you are still happy to play it.
Artifact aggro? Benefits from Baubles and Equipment.
Spells aggro? Cantrips and removal are perfect.
Discard aggro? Faithless Looting and Fable of the Mirror-Breaker pump it too.
Re: aggro white 1-drops, I don't know that you need one. You have 5 1-drop critters there, including Legion's Landing, and that's the most aggressive of the bunch by far as most of the rest you really want to keep around for the duration of the game (Esper Sentinel, Mom). I think that you should either keep things as-is or really commit to the bit, as I worry that white aggro will be undersupported if you just add one and that it'll be a bit of a trap/waste of a slot.
Those are great points, I forgot about the Landing. Just like with the Red one drops, I'd like some more synergy based options, but I am not thrilled with White's offerings at that mana. The ones you posted are fine, but not quite exciting enough (except the Guidemother that I enjoy). I think the solution is to wait for new cards to get released and in the meantime, lean a little harder on the other colors and their one drops.
An issue I've found is that I have too many artifact support cards at 2 mana in Green that kind of do the same thing
Tough Cookie gets a pass because of it's activated ability that can turn any random artifact into a beater, making it a great mana sink and an artifact payoff for Green. Gala Greeters is probably the cut here, as being capped in what it can do goes against what the cube is trying to promote and the tokens entering tapped is a bummer.
Instead, I'd like to jam another disruptive artifact creature
I added it to let non-Dimir decks have a reward for going off. Then I cut it with the addition of Sheoldred, The Apocalypse as a more versatile win condition. I've since cut Sheoldred as being too much. A 4/5 deathtouch for 4 is big and pairing it with a wheel for 14 damage felt cheap instead of rewarding. Now I am adding Tendrils back in as a signpost and an iconic win condition for non-Blue decks.
I am cutting Phantasmal Image for it. This is a relic of when I had Gyruda, Doom of Depths in the cube. It's still a fine card, but one with minimal synergies.
On a side-note, I am considering adding a third Storm card
It would lend strength to the creature-based spell velocity decks, giving you fodder for Earthcraft or Goblin Bombardment and maybe allowing non-Blue or non-Black Storm decks to exist. Like Tendrils, it would be a narrow card with a high ceiling in decks that use it. Not sure yet if I want to devote a slot to it. Are there any cool cards that can take advantage of Chatterstorm?
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I couldn't find a spot for Factory, but then realized I'd rather play it than the Cave since they serve similar purposes.
A cool card that I've been meaning to fit in. It hits hard, triggers easily and offers fun deckbuilding possibilities and play patterns. Decided to cut Avacyn's Judgment for it since that card hasn't impressed me much.
Wraith is an ok piece cantrip and the creatures are under-costed beaters you can try and build around. The fact that my mana base is double shock + double fetch should lead to a bunch of damage.
Does anyone have experience with this package? What other cards would you add? Ancient Tomb maybe?
They say great minds think alike! I've also noticed I could support Death Shadow in my cube if I switched to Ravnica Duals. At a glance, they should work without too much hassle, but I have never actually played with the cards! My fear is if they will actually be good in practice.
I will say I've seen a lot of Cubes try to support a Death's Shadow package and have rarely seen it be functional let alone worth committing to in the draft (vs the more generic alternatives). At this point I think it needs to be a small Cube (maybe Twobert size) or some 'draft 1, get X more' setup to begin the conversation
I will say I've seen a lot of Cubes try to support a Death's Shadow package and have rarely seen it be functional let alone worth committing to in the draft
No problems at all, since I am trying to design the cube with these cards present. They are definitely among the most powerful cards in the cube, and they have crazy high ceilings which aligns with my cube design goals, but they don't necessarily work in every deck, or at least you have to build around them a little. I like them better than cards like Sheoldred, the Apocalypse that is just generically good because of stats + ability or Forth Eorlingas! that takes over a game because you have reached 4 mana.
They do limit what I can and cannot include though. With so much mana available, I have to be careful not to add too many 4+ mana good stuff cards or that will just take over and make the engine decks I want people to draft a trap.
Green
I want both a fatty and a land tutor for my Green section, I have two options in mind
Or
I am leaning towards the first option, because the Titan fills both roles at once, letting me add another card. I like extra land drops, and since I cut Oracle of Mul Daya and The Gitrog Monster, I kind of miss them. I also like how iconic both of these cards are, which is often a secondary criteria for inclusion.
Crop Rotation is perfect for finding your high impact lands and also fueling Delve (imagine getting a Lotus Field and adding 4 cards to the GY). Old One Eye's power is undeniable, but it's actually a little generic outside of Oath of Druids and Sneak Attack decks. I don't know if those deck come up often enough to make it a big deal if it is cut.
Feel bads
These are some of my favorite cards that aren't in the cube. It's not that they wouldn't hang on power level, but I am not convinced that they lead to fun games. Hymn to Tourach and Strip Mine have a real chance of non-games as early as turn 2. However, Hymn would be fantastic in all sorts of decks as a disruptive 2 for 1 and Strip Mine offers the Lands deck another avenue of combos as well as keeping certain lands in check (notably Academy and Cradle).
Do you have any arguments in favor of these two?
Port is a definite step down from Strip Mine, but it does a similar job. It throws the opponent off-curve and can deal with some problematic lands. The issue is that it doesn't fit into many decks. It's at its best in an aggressive deck that has a board presence, not so much a control deck. I may still add it if I deem Strip Mine to be off limits.
One of the big reasons that I want Winter Orb is that it's a fun card to try and maximize. Playing mana rocks, welding it out of play, using Lotus Field or Garruk, Wildspeaker. What has stopped me in the past is the obnoxious interaction with Urza, Lord High Artificer. It's trivially easy to make it one sided which is frustrating. I am now thinking that while it does suck, it probably doesn't come up often enough to warrant excluding such a sweet and once again iconic card from the cube.
Multicolored good stuff
I am wondering how far I can push some of my more generically good multicolored cards. For example, I've purposedly included some in the Mardu wedge, because I really like the Mardu Pyromancer style deck
And it works! I've been able to draft some aggressive, midrange and controlling decks around these with various micro-archetypes (most often spells matter or GY matters). This flexibility is important to me and I believe it works here because these cards can serve different roles. For instance, in aggressive decks, Vindicate blows up lands, Command can make a player discard and Helix goes face.
The card that I want to add is
I feel like I am missing a power outlier to entice people into Izzet. There are solid cards in the guild, but ones you pick up after you have a strategy rather than ones that draw you in. What I like about Iteration is how neutral it is. All that it asks is that you play it with a land drop available. That means you can pick it up early but stay open to the various Izzet archetypes. It also means that 3+ color good stuff piles will be all over this. I have decent aggro decks as well as a painful mana base to prevent that from happening hopefully, but there is still a risk. What do you think?
i think you should let people play with the fun draw 2 for 2. it is a cool card that lets people feel smart. and fwiw the izzet spells decks really really want it because they are always hurting for land drops and this is a spell that digs deep for a land drop + keeps them gassed up
Expressive Iteration is awesome! It's extremely skill-testing, finding the little corner cases where it's correct NOT to exile the land is always fun, or figuring out what the heck to do with it when you DON'T hit a land. Only real downside is that it strongly favors players that are already familiar with it and know that it is NOT a turn 2 play, but if you're playing with mostly people who are around the same skill level, I think it's basically a perfect izzet card.
Multicolor piles will definitely be looking for it, but it also slots into fast 2-color decks extremely well, so I think the flexibility is a plus if anything.
Just diversifying my mana values. My other counters are either free or 2 mana. Holding up a single mana is a lot easier than 2, so even if Spell Pierce is narrower than Miscalculation, I think it has it's place. My only issue is that this tends to punish combo/engine decks more, but stuff like Survival of the Fittest or Underworld Breach are among the most busted cards in the cube. Having cheap answers seems fair!
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Turns out my tempo decks are doing just fine and don't need the Hobbit. Plus, Spell Queller is enough of a signal.I don't really have an Azorious card I want to run instead of it for now, so adding one of my favorite Delve spells back in.
Also adding
There are a lot of impactful spells to copy. The wide range of targets means it can slot into many decks easily and is another Blue creature which I am light on (disruption (Thoughtseize), removal (Swords to Plowshares), cantrips (Preordain), value (Regrwoth)).
I have a list of cards I'd like to remove, but haven't figured out what I want instead
Future cuts
Leaning towards these potential adds, but would appreciate opinions.
Gamble is great. Mutagenic Growth is powerful, but it suffers badly from 24th card syndrome. It's a good card, but I always feel I don't really need it compared to something else.
