Article One Card a Day

japahn

japahn

Inspired by the wishes a random redditor, I decided to give them exactly what they wished for: I'll write about my card selections in depth. Every single one of them. I'm going through my (core) cube, alphabetically, and will write about why I included each card, and why I'll probably remove it eventually. VineRunner will inevitably find out that was not really what they wanted, then I will get certified as a Djinn.

I considered writing it here, but starting a thread for each card would make you sick of me, and writing all in a single thread is kind of hard to navigate and link. Therefore, I created a blog like it's 2012, which I've intended to do for a while, to aggregate cube content I write.

The post for Accorder Paladin is already out:
https://desolatelighthouse.wordpress.com/2020/12/01/accorder-paladin-one-card-a-day/

Followed up by Acidic Slime, then I'll get to Adaptive Automaton, then Aether Adept, and so on, until Zurgo Bellstriker.

Yeah I'll probably drop it before I'm done with B, but let's see how far I'll make it.

This is not to poach traffic from RipLab! I hope to discuss articles here, and to be called out in this thread when I'm wrong!

So a few questions:
- Is this literally TMI?
- How far do you think I'll get?
 
Brad

Brad

You can click the #X at the bottom right of each post to navigate to it directly. I'd check a post like this, but I don't imagine I'll be going off site to see what you've said every day. So, if you'd want to link via the bottom right of the post and keep it in RTL, you could.
 
Onderzeeboot

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Re: Accorder Paladin; I encourage you to try out Rhox Veteran! It's so much more solid than it looks! Funny thing is I run both Signal Pest and the Rhox, but not Accorder Paladin :) There's always new mechanics I want to try out, and the white two slot is one of the most contested ones in my cube. Things fly in and out, and I think Selfless Spirit has been the only constant there (and Mikaeus, the Lunarch, if you want to count that as a two drop).
 
ravnic

ravnic

Same for me, Paladin was cool but he lost his slot because I needed it to support some theme at some point. My only white 2-drops that sticked for many years are Syndic of Tithes and Soltari Trooper. They just happened to be the right mix of "fits the themes" and "my players like it".
 
japahn

japahn

Velrun said:
I think this one very much depends on how much feedback you're getting from day-to-day and from week-to-week. If we all read your content and applaud you time and time again, you'll have a much easier time getting to Zurgo Bellstriker.
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Yeah, fair enough. I'm just curious myself if I stop at A, B, F, R, or go all the way to Z.

There's Arcane Sanctum coming up and not sure to write for the rest of trilands.

Onderzeeboot said:
Re: Accorder Paladin; I encourage you to try out Rhox Veteran! It's so much more solid than it looks! Funny thing is I run both Signal Pest and the Rhox, but not Accorder Paladin :) There's always new mechanics I want to try out, and the white two slot is one of the most contested ones in my cube. Things fly in and out, and I think Selfless Spirit has been the only constant there (and Mikaeus, the Lunarch, if you want to count that as a two drop).
Click to expand...


I might replace Territorial Hammerskull with it. One thing I'm finding is that maybe I don't really want to have to Battle Cry creatures. I think I like to have variety of mechanics. Perhaps Accorder Paladin for Rhox Veteran is the best swap after all, and I'll break Accorder Paladin's 9 year streak!
 
TrainmasterGT

TrainmasterGT

japahn said:
There's Arcane Sanctum coming up and not sure to write for the rest of trilands.
Click to expand...

Perhaps you could just write 1 post about all 10 tri-lands? I don't think they're functionally that different from one another.

Alternatively, you could use each 3-color land post to discuss what you're trying to do with your three-color sections. Instead of talking about what each land does for the cube, show the role of the color combination that land represents.

japahn said:
I might replace Territorial Hammerskull with it. One thing I'm finding is that maybe I don't really want to have to Battle Cry creatures. I think I like to have variety of mechanics. Perhaps Accorder Paladin for Rhox Veteran is the best swap after all, and I'll break Accorder Paladin's 9 year streak!
Click to expand...
Why would you only want one card of a given mechanic? While I understand the impetus to include a mechanical variety to your list, it seems a bit silly to only include one card with a given keyword when you're trying to make a cube accessible to newer players. After all, there are at least three good creatures with Battle Cry, and having multiple cards with the same keyword reduces the amount of time players will need to spend reading reminder text. Even if they have to read the reminder text when they see the first battle cry card, they won't have to read the subsequent cards they see with the keyword since they should remember what it does.

Also, I think you're too bearish on Signal Pest. Pest is primarily an aggro card that also supports go-wide type strategies like tokens. While it's admittedly not the best in a vacuum, it's almost always going to have some support. Pest is a great receptacle for +1/+1 counters and Equipment. Token decks love the team pump it provides. Most importantly, signal pest colorless. Aggro decks are always looking for good one-drops, so having a one-drop aggro dude that goes into every deck is greatly beneficial, even if it doesn't have the immediate damage output effect of a Jackal Pup variant. I find Signal Pest to be an extremely underrated work horse that really deserves consideration for almost every cube, even if it's something that ends up not being right for the slot.
 
japahn

japahn

TrainmasterGT said:
Perhaps you could just write 1 post about all 10 tri-lands? I don't think they're functionally that different from one another.

Alternatively, you could use each 3-color land post to discuss what you're trying to do with your three-color sections. Instead of talking about what each land does for the cube, show the role of the color combination that land represents.
Click to expand...

You know, I decided to do both in Arcane Sanctum, although I don't really assign roles to my color combinations I can write about what kind of esper decks might exist.

TrainmasterGT said:
Why would you only want one card of a given mechanic? While I understand the impetus to include a mechanical variety to your list, it seems a bit silly to only include one card with a given keyword when you're trying to make a cube accessible to newer players. After all, there are at least three good creatures with Battle Cry, and having multiple cards with the same keyword reduces the amount of time players will need to spend reading reminder text. Even if they have to read the reminder text when they see the first battle cry card, they won't have to read the subsequent cards they see with the keyword since they should remember what it does.
Click to expand...

That's a constant tension in my list. I want at the same time showcase the history of Magic and how mechanics years apart work with each other. I play with casual players, some beginners, some far from that, so it's not meant to be a beginner's cube like Nemo has built, but more like a casual cube. I care about complexity because I need to strike a balance between beginners and advanced players, and even advanced players get overwhelmed. So I choose to spend complexity points in "look at all these different mechanics" rather than "this card does a lot by itself".

TrainmasterGT said:
Also, I think you're too bearish on Signal Pest. Pest is primarily an aggro card that also supports go-wide type strategies like tokens. While it's admittedly not the best in a vacuum, it's almost always going to have some support. Pest is a great receptacle for +1/+1 counters and Equipment. Token decks love the team pump it provides. Most importantly, signal pest colorless. Aggro decks are always looking for good one-drops, so having a one-drop aggro dude that goes into every deck is greatly beneficial, even if it doesn't have the immediate damage output effect of a Jackal Pup variant. I find Signal Pest to be an extremely underrated work horse that really deserves consideration for almost every cube, even if it's something that ends up not being right for the slot.
Click to expand...


I'm not bearish on Pest and absolutely considered it, I ran it for years! I wrote "Pest I have run for a while already, but it’s a 2/10 without other creatures, and harder to interact with, so it didn’t play as well as the Paladin." I mean to say it's bad when you're behind because it's just a chump blocker, but hard to deal with when you're ahead because it can't be blocked, so I dislike the fact the card's strength has this positive feedback cycle with the state of the game. I removed it for being too bad in some situations and too good in others. Average power level, probably higher than Paladin because of the possibility of picking up an equipment and going to town.
 
Onderzeeboot

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Don't you ever worry about Ancestral Blade being too boring japahn! Every aggro deck needs solid two drops to function, and this is one of the most interesting ones I've found. Like you said, it has so much play to it! Also, there is only so much you can do for two mana, these are never going to be your most interesting cards, but removing all two drops isn't exactly feasible, right?
 
TrainmasterGT

TrainmasterGT

Onderzeeboot said:
Don't you ever worry about Ancestral Blade being too boring japahn! Every aggro deck needs solid two drops to function, and this is one of the most interesting ones I've found. Like you said, it has so much play to it! Also, there is only so much you can do for two mana, these are never going to be your most interesting cards, but removing all two drops isn't exactly feasible, right?
Click to expand...
This is very true! A lot of the most interactive and elegant cards WOTC has printed look pretty uninteresting on their face, but are actually just good cards in practice.

And anyway, blade is really strong. It's hardly a 9th pick. I'd say it goes somewhere in the middle of the pack, probably 4-7 range depending on the format. I know I'm happy to run it whenever it's in my pool.
 
Brad

Brad

Onderzeeboot said:
Don't you ever worry about Ancestral Blade being too boring japahn! Every aggro deck needs solid two drops to function, and this is one of the most interesting ones I've found. Like you said, it has so much play to it! Also, there is only so much you can do for two mana, these are never going to be your most interesting cards, but removing all two drops isn't exactly feasible, right?
Click to expand...

It's both extremely boring and extremely versatile.
 
ravnic

ravnic

Me neither.

As a power boost it works with all kinds ob abilities like first strike/double strike/lifelink.
It increases power whereever needed, nice with stuff like mentor or ferocious.
It is is an artifact (Stone Haven Pilgrim) and an equipment (Relic Seeker).
It has an EtB to abuse (Flickerwisp and friends).
Being a noncreature spell that plays as a good creature is nice for prowess.

I'm probably missing some sweet applications still.
 
Kirblinx

Kirblinx

Developer
Staff member
ravnic said:
Me neither.

As a power boost it works with all kinds ob abilities like first strike/double strike/lifelink.
It increases power whereever needed, nice with stuff like mentor or ferocious.
It is is an artifact (Stone Haven Pilgrim) and an equipment (Relic Seeker).
It has an EtB to abuse (Flickerwisp and friends).
Being a noncreature spell that plays as a good creature is nice for prowess.

I'm probably missing some sweet applications still.
Click to expand...


It is a 2-mana common. I think that is enough applications to make it a staple in almost any format.
 
ravnic

ravnic

Regarding Anger, I don't mind it in more aggressive decks. Maybe not if you have to win by turn 4, but something like aggressive midrange, that has a follow up doesn't mind. and it is not too hard to integrate a sacrifice or discard outet in most decks, so I don't see the little angry rock guy as narrow.
 
japahn

japahn

ravnic said:
Regarding Anger, I don't mind it in more aggressive decks. Maybe not if you have to win by turn 4, but something like aggressive midrange, that has a follow up doesn't mind. and it is not too hard to integrate a sacrifice or discard outet in most decks, so I don't see the little angry rock guy as narrow.
Click to expand...

That's good to hear. I've just had a game where I had to kill Anger and it was a constant threat from the graveyard. I think Anger gets better with better removal, as the haste matters more and games are longer.
 
Zoss

Zoss

Seconding Onderzeeboot, the removal writeup captures a lot of thoughts I've had in a far more cohesive and comprehensive manner! BRB, re-updating removal in my cube.
 
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