Sigh, again?

sigh · Feb 5, 2021

Sigh, a cube has sat idle for almost three years... it's time for a fresh start! I love the groundwork I chose for the original cube, so I don't anticipate any major changes to that. Still heavily based on the graveyard, synergy-driven, and slightly down-tempo to allow time for a player's unique gameplan to develop. I'm looking for a rebuild of the same skeleton, and at this point it's a better idea to take the original ideas of the cube and start from a blank slate, rather than trying to freshen up the original across three years of sets. Three years of sets! I have a lot of homework ahead of me

I'll start with some basic decks for the color pairs. I'd like to build out an "idealized" version of each deck after review of all the cards I've missed out on since 2018, followed by selection of cards for the cube off of what works from those decks. Basically I need to figure out what my archetypes will actually need in order to function properly, and I can work on card selections from there. Fill in the cracks with whatever cross-archetype support and unique standalones I can find and bingo bango! new cube.

: Flying Tempo, "classic" counterspell control

: Graveyard-control, reanimator

: fast ramp-tempo

: spell-recursion/casting tempo

: weenie recursion death & taxes

: double-strike equipment aggro, artifact recursion

: land-ramp big spell beatdown

: self-mill recursive rock

: lands matter grind, ramp-smash

: low to the ground sacrifice-aggro

Some overarching concepts I will be looking to include if possible:

: tokens almost entirely flying (and lower qty than otherwise). Direct support for the fliers deck, and evasive support for things like the equipment deck. Need a focus on opponent-control, particularly GY control, as counterpoint to the GY being a ubiquitous feature of the cube.

: carryover from sigh 1, a heavy focus on draw-discard, rather than pure draw. This 1) fuels GY strats, and 2) opens up space for other colors to have draw spells without them being drowned out. Probably put the pure draw spells into higher cost slots for the controls decks to still utilize in their mid-game.

: Not super surprising, but needs to form the backbone of various GY strats. Fair reanimator spells, recursive bodies, sac outlets, etc.

: I want to focus heavily on lands. Ramp will be heavily land-focused, green will have ample ways to bring lands into the player's hand. 1 drop mana dorks will be heavily reduced so as not to drown out this approach. This approach opens up space for my lands archetype, and adds robustness to ramp archetypes in other color combos.

: little token focus, as red doesn't have great ways to capitalize on them. spells decks will be more vertical and less horizontal, and overall slower paced than you'd find in a constructed setting; same with aggro decks like the double-strike deck. Some token support can be helpful, but mainly I want to focus on impactful non-token creatures that are tended to.
{c}

: I love artifact decks, so definitely looking to support one in this cube. Boros had decent success as an artifact pair in the previuos iteration, so I'll try to build off that with blue support as needed. Mana rocks will be tempered so as not to step on the land-ramps toes.

Overall: looking to keep things at a brisk pace. Not breakneck but not lethargic. I'd like to avoid board clutter to some extent, so I'll be taking work done on Eric's cube to heart in choosing my P/Ts carefully to mitigate board stalls while not pushing the tempo too far upwards.

First order of business: going over the monster backlog of sets 1 by 1 and making a little portfolio of cards I like from each. I have to set up my envelope of cards to consider before I can begin the work of hashing out dream decks.

sigh · Feb 5, 2021

Guilds of Ravnica: needless to say a powerhouse of a set

Ravnica Allegience

War of the Spark

sigh · Feb 5, 2021

Modern Horizons

M20

Throne of Eldraine

sigh · Feb 5, 2021

Theros Beyond Death

Ikoria

Zendikar Rising

sigh · Feb 6, 2021

Jumpstart

kels, fight fixer B
thriving moor and friends
scholar of the lost trove U
emiel the blessed W
spiteful prankster R
stone haven pilgrim W

M21

basri ket W
garruk, unleashed G
mangara, the diplomat W
terror of the peaks R
demonic embrace B
garruk's harbinger G
see the truth U
idol of endurance W
stormwing entity U
primal might G
bolt hound R
malefic scythe B
kinetic augur R
pestilent haze B
witch's cauldron U
llanowar visionary G
radha, heart of keld RG
mazemind tome C

Kaldhiem

sigh · Feb 6, 2021

Commander 2019

anje falkenrath
chainer, nightmare adept
sevinne's reclamation
mass diminish
backdraft hellkite

Commander 2020

avenging huntbonder
verge rangers
ethereal forager
boneyard mycodrax
frontier warmonger

Commander Legends

phyrexian triniform
nightshade harvester
toggo, goblin weaponsmith

sigh · Feb 6, 2021

Whew.. what a slog. I'm sure I'll be going back over all those sets and more as I go along, but at least I have a little bit of a mental map of what there is out there, as well as the above brainstorms of potential candidates. Next up, I'll build out some decks for the various archetypes I listed above, try to flush out the needs and wants of the archetypes, determine card suitability, and probably determine some sub-archetypes along the way. Up first:

Fliers

Gameplan: This deck will have a relatively simple winning strategy: pile out fliers and swing in over the opponents board for an assertive victory. I intend for this deck to play on the faster side of what blue is capable of. The deck will need a way to push through to a victory, some mechanisms to come back from behind, and some mechanism to push a developed advantage.

Components to take from

There are of course fliers in blue, which will make part of the creature backbone of the deck.
cheap countermagic, mana leak for exmaple. A way to stave off overpowering threats from the opponent or keep them from being able to control the board (via a wrath etc)
tempo removal, unsummon for example. A mainstay of Ux tempo, keeping the oppoent off their feet long enough to build an insurmountable advantage.
selective ways to rebuild a hand. see the truth + snapcaster mage or spectral sailor as examples

Components to take from

fliers, especially tokens and potentially flier-lords
aspects of the equipment theme, as fliers are decent holders of equipment. stoneforge mystic et al. can contribute to building lasting damage options
resilience through recursive elements. potentially straightforward like resurrection, or more interesting through things like vesperlark
taxing effects. vryn wingmare may not synergize with the blue in the deck, but cards like that.
efficient removal.

Components to take from {c}

Equipment, of course
potentially cheap disruption effects, like pacification array

Raw Example deck (>40 cards). From gathering up the cards below, it seems like the deck is definitely not lacking in options. Especially once you hit three mana and up, fliers are abundant. The 2 CMC slot seems like a setup-CMC. there are less fliers there, and more support creatures and/or permission spells. There are definitely options to take when you get to the higher CMCs, though I'm not sure how high this deck would want to go, on average. The four slot is pretty crowded. I really like luminous Broodmoth, but unsure if it's overbearing, or if it's even needed. Emeria Angel is a cooler flying effect at that CMC, and Halvar seems much more interesting in general. Murmuring Mystic is probably not primary for this deck, same with thing like Ethereal Forager and stormwing entity, but if I include for the UR spells deck can offer an awesome bridge. Shepherd of the Cosmos I'm really liking for this deck because the foretell slots in between the important 1 and 3 CMC slots, and then comes down later to recur something useful like a flying weenie or even a fetch (target permanent). Cavalier of Gales is nice, but I'm unsure it's really what the deck wants or needs at that spot on the curve. It is a high-power body, so potentially a replacement for Mulldrifter (although the evoke flexibility is really nice...).

Polished possible deck 1 (40 cards, creature aggression focus). This deck seems to effectively pull together a quite aggressive strategy while keeping sufficient staying power in the form of equipment and late game blowout potential with spells like Stolen by the Fae (super card for this deck). Recruiter of the guard may be another important piece for this deck to pickup so it can pull in important pieces like skycat sovereign and brazen borrower. If needed it could pick up a couple more removal pieces (oblivion ring, declaration in stone etc), but I'm not sure it would be strictly necessary. The deck runs pretty quickly. After testing, there is definitely big blowout potential in Skycat Sovereign. It's power can quickly balloon, especially off something like Stolen by the Fae or Whirler Rogue. luminarch aspirant is an absolute unit of a card. Extremely happy with including it, as it will make waves in not just this archetype, but any archetype looking to grow a creature over time for value (looking at you RW).

Sample hand 1 - risky keep but options to work off of, and it pay off with the next few draws

Next draws

Sample Hand 2 - Solid start, both colors, a T1 flier that scrys us for the future turns, removal, and our flier lord. next draws add our third (and fourth) land, and another flier for the lord. A little low on the oomph factor, unfortunately

Next Draws

sigh · Feb 6, 2021

Graveyard-control

Gameplan: Now we are getting into the meat of the GY cube. Where the UW Fliers deck might touch on the GY with something like a flashback spell or a recursive creature, this deck really digs into the meat of utilizing the GY to lay out a controlling deck plan. Self-milling via draw-discard and actual mill will play a component, with finishers like Rise from the Tides, jace, wielder of mysteries, and tombstalker coming in late-game to finish the game with GY-fueled fury. Heavy emphasis on flashback and other spell recursion, potentially splashing for some reanimation in

with unburial rites.

Components to take from

Draw spells. This is a classic control deck, blue will play in heavily.
counterspells. See above.
evasive and defensive creatures. Evasive creatures can be pulled from the fliers archetype.
cards that fuel the GY and/or benefit from fueling the GY will significantly feature in blue.

Components to take from

removal spells, including board wipes. As mentioned, we are building a control deck here.
more GY fueling spells
potentially reanimation

Components to take from {c}

Mana rocks
colorless draw engines

Raw example deck (> 40 cards). After gathering my initial options, it was readily apparent that this deck is quite developed and refined, both in my prior cube, and in mtg in general. The 2-drop slot is stacked, with choices needing to be made for sure. The 3 drops are a similar story. There are a lot of cool new options, so there will be hard choices there. Brazen Borrower is already standing out as an awesome include for almost any blue deck, with both halves at instant speed and both halves a very decent effect. drake haven and faith of the devoted may be taken for a spin. Grinding a victory through the draw-discard built into the deck would be pretty sweet. I'm looking forward to Ethereal forager as a shiny new delve target with built in mid-game spell recursion. And a couple new finishers to try out, especially scholar of the lost trove and lochmere serpent, for their GY synergies and ability to close out the game. Lochmere serpent seems like an especially perfect signpost for the deck, using the opponent's destoryed and spent cards to fuel it's return from the grave!

Example polished deck 1 (40 cards). After messing around with this deck, and facing off the fliers deck against it, I learned that 1) the fliers deck is a strong aggressive mix, and tough for control to keep up with, and 2) there are certainly some key cards in this mix that performed very well. Bloodchief's Thirst is an awesomely flexible kill spell, offering very cheap control on aggressive bodies, especially paired with recursion. Same with Easy Prey, which highly benefits from cycling. Chemister's insight is a really nice draw spell. The instant speed really makes up for the increased cost and discard when compared to Deep Analysis. Still think both are good options but it's really close. Lochmere Serpent put in work during my solitaire matches, but is only a rare, with the limitations that can mean. Murmuring mystic is an absolute powerhouse. Flying tokens are awesome, and the body is extremely defensive, very importantly surviving Languish (and wildfire variants).
Ethereal Forager suffered from lack of built-in protection, often getting bounced as soon as it was delved, locking instants and sorceries in exile. I quickly decided that the best way to cast it is with only moderate delving, and only exiling instants and sorceries that are of secondary interest. Direct recursion via Snapcaster etc. was more effective when truly needed. When it did stick, the card advantage was really nice though. Ichor Slick still suffers from being 3 mana up front. I love madness, but unsure it's quite good enough. If I'm careful with the critical toughness I can probably make it work.
Not part of this deck, but major shoutout to Into the Story. A perfect draw spell for a GY-themed cube, where you are actually banking value off the opponent's GY strat, or are benefiting from the kill spells and other permission you've been using throughout the game. Slam dunk for this cube. As a bonus, it's good to recur with cards like Torrential Gearhulk et al. This deck could have really used it, and the UW deck really capitalized on having it against the GY control deck. (Not that I'm strictly trying to keep all cards unique between these decks, but it would've really added late game punch)

sigh · Feb 7, 2021

Fast Ramp-Tempo

Green's turn in the deck blender. With this simic deck I want to start flushing out my land-ramp package, emphasizing lands in the color over ultra-fast creature ramp. I plan to only use 1-mana dorks that directly point to an archetype pairing, namely avacyn's pilgrim. Otherwise I'm looking to have more expensive dorks paired with a suite of cards that both put lands on the battlefield as well as get them into hand. This will help fuel the land-deck strategies I have in mind, as well as help these archetypes be more robust against removal blowouts. Can't bolt the bird if there is no bird! On the flip-side, that should make life a little more difficult for control decks. I need to make sure the mid-top range creatures aren't overbearing to deal with, and I should try to keep card advantage largely land-based if possible.

Gameplan: This simic deck will be looking to fuse the tempo generated in the UW fliers deck while ramping out to bigger threats in the mid-game. We are trading out the evasive strategy for more of a beatdown one. I sitll intend for the deck to push for a quick finish, but some drafter's will likely tend towards more of a big-ramp deck to blast out huge Pull from Tomorrows etc. I'm not necessarily sad if that's how their deck ends up. Just looking to enable a more assertive, low-to-the-ground version to pair with the UW deck.

Components to take from

Flying creatures
card selection spells, potentially reaching to high-cost draw spells for mid-game
bounce tempo and certain other permission

Components to take from

Ramp, land-focused, but also certain creatures.
mid-game beaters like kazandu mammoth
where possible removal through fight. Really excited to try primal might, which is a nice pump/removal flex slot
pump effects, moldervine cloak high on that list

Components to take from {c}

there may be good artifact creatures to draw from here
equipment

Raw example deck (>40). After gathering, I knew that the three drops would be absolutely monstrous, but it still blows me away. It's just sucha stacked slot in UG. Really just the whole color combo is stacked. I've honestly never had much trouble with the color combo, as the options are just popping off. The multicolor might've struggled a bit in the past, but I think recent options have helped fill that in. Growth Spiral is the perfect roll-filling signpost at two mana, and prime speaker vannifar brings the awesome playstyle of birthing pod while both signing the color combo for it and being an interactive creature. Obviously a lot of effort will have to be made to grind out the proper three-drops to run. Four and fives are in a similar spot, as I don't want green to overwhelm other decks with too much raw power in the mid-game. beast whisperer for example is on the watch list as granting green too much draw power in the mid-game, something it typically is only mediocre at. Similar watchful eye on fight-etbs like voracious hydra and Kogla. Arasta of the endless Web might come in if the fliers abundant in the cube are causing undue issues. Could be anyways useful as counterpoint to the spells deck if needed. If I can make it work, I really want to test Ayula's Influence. A Seismic Assault on bear-mode, in colors much better suited to the effect, imo.

Potential polished deck 1 (40 cards). Really liking how the deck is running, which isn't a big surprise. There are so many good options to choose from. Ayula's influence is alright, but would be even better with more ways to pump the bears. It's very castable in the deck, so that's no concern, and it can stick to the board as a hard-to-remove enchantment that generates value over time. Very good against control decks if it can be stuck, as it will grind out 2/2's off every spare land and really stress the control decks removal suite. Similar advantage as, say, call of the herd. Liking it so far! One might board it out against an aggro deck, as the individual value can be a little modest against another assertive deck. kogla, the titan ape performed right about where I want it to. Powerful effect, but it has no built in evasion (besides the fight), so you don't immediately run away with things. Baller with Rancor though. Overall pleased with the first deck I tossed together. I'm sure I'll polish things out even more as I test green's other colors.

Sample hand

Following cards

sigh · Feb 7, 2021

This card is officially on the watch list! It can spiral ridiculously quickly. It' pairs absurdly well with empyrean eagle, which gives it +2/+2, and it can turn a 4 damage swing into 9 on it's own. Potentially keeping it out due to the fact that it is both self-contained and can ramp up to gross power levels quickly. Maybe in IRL drafting it'll be tempered by the difficulties inherent in the draft process, but it's definitely drawn my eye. Migratory route is on my list for replacements. Still helps build a large flying board, still awesome with Emyrean Eagle, but not swinging out of the gate T2.

Like, look at these three turns of cards, if played on curve. That's 7 flying damage by T3, 15 or more total by turn 4 if uncontested. Potentially straight lethal by turn 4 if T4 is something like bonesplitter or whirler rogue (can make the cat unblockable!!) and the opponent shocked themselves. 16 damage even if the only thing you can do is use the cat's ability. That's pretty gross and probably a little faster than I want my environment to be. Replace Skycat with, say, selfless spirit and we are at 13 by turn 4 with fewer options to go above that. Still a gassy start, but not imminently threatening lethal by then, and more containable with cards like chandra's pyrohelix. Shows that Empyrean Eagle is also a strong card.

Nanonox · Feb 7, 2021

Have you considered

It seems it would fit nicely in your UG decks if you run cards like Explore, Growth Spiral, Llanowar Visionary and random cycling lands. It could also do work if you play red looting effects and seems like a fun build around. Potentially powerful early and a nice mana sink late.

Liking these write ups btw, thanks for sharing your thought process.

sigh · Feb 7, 2021

Nanonox said:
Have you considered

It seems it would fit nicely in your UG decks if you run cards like Explore, Growth Spiral, Llanowar Visionary and random cycling lands. It could also do work if you play red looting effects and seems like a fun build around. Potentially powerful early and a nice mana sink late.

Liking these write ups btw, thanks for sharing your thought process.

I hadn't considered her overly much, but that's not to say I shouldn't. She is a uniquely UG or RUG style of green card. One thing I'm not sure I like much is that her second ability changes power and toughness directly, rather than giving +X/+X. That makes the ability non-synergistic with running out of gas later in the game. Giving +1/+1 to your team is still alright, but setting their P/T to 1/1 is not as good.. If her first ability is gassy enough, she could definitely be a good option, and she rewards a UG deck for playing something like into the story or even deep analysis

Nanonox · Feb 7, 2021

I guess she is pretty dependent on your late game engines. If you are going with Life from the Loam, Meloku the Clouded-Mirror, Trade Routes, Seasons Past and the like, you should be good. If not, is she still good with only her first ability? Depends on her support!

sigh · Feb 7, 2021

Nanonox said:
I guess she is pretty dependent on your late game engines. If you are going with Life from the Loam, Meloku the Clouded-Mirror, Trade Routes, Seasons Past and the like, you should be good. If not, is she still good with only her first ability? Depends on her support!

I trialed a modified deck based on a more grindy approach, using many of the land-engine elements. the hope was to flush out a deck that built up a base of defensive creatures while powering out bears/cats and finishing with a blast from Jolrael. The issue really came down to a lack of hard permission, which blue can't really make up for, even if some counterspells were added. That's really where the red needs to come in. Maybe a bigger green finisher would help, but that would take away from the cards I was really trying to test.
Even a firebolt or something like sweltering suns can help immensely with reduction in pressure. As solely UG, it's a grindy deck without many effective ways to survive being grindy. This is mitigated somewhat against decks that play on the ground (BR etc), but it's brutal facing off against the fliers deck. Nothing wrong with that! Once I get around to polishing three-color combos, the deck should operate relatively smoothly in a slow-mode. As Simic, it's more effective in an assertive role, shortcutting the need for hard removal by simply removing the opponent's life total.
In the deck Jolrael was decently impressive, and when you have a loam engine almost assured to boost your board to at least 3/3, probably 4/4 on average. Still not convinced she will make the final cut in such a competitive slot even in a maxed out RUG deck.

Nanonox · Feb 7, 2021

Thanks for the detailed follow up. Deck looks solid. Yavimaya Elder is amazing at fueling the lands part of the deck as well as enabling Jolrael, love it.

What I am noticing though is that your UG decks look like green decks splashing blue rather than a mix of both colors.
This may be because of the focus on lands which is mainly a green theme (Meloku being the exception). So trying to bridge the gap with stuff like Drake Haven that works with Ayula's Influence or including some blue landfall payoffs like Retreat to Coralhelm (which would be amazing here with Arbor Elf, Thought Courier and Dryad Greenseeker). Tatyova, Benthic Druid would do wonders as well as Cosima, God of Voyage. Maybe you go with Fertile Ground and Vizier of Tumbling Sand style "combos" to make it feel as a joining of forces. I don't know, I can't rule out being wrong as well

On an aside, I like is that you can change a few cards around in the deck above and end up with a more aggressive version. Replace Wall of Blossoms with Noose Constrictor, Sea Gate Oracle with Champion of Wits, Arasta with Curator of Mysteries and so on. Your Loam and Meloku engines still fuels Noose Constrictor and Ayula. Also, Jolrael is arguably better in an aggressive deck where she can apply lots of pressure. To me, this means you have a sweet foundation for a deck that can go either way depending on what gets opened in the draft. Good job!

sigh · Feb 7, 2021

Nanonox said:
Thanks for the detailed follow up. Deck looks solid. Yavimaya Elder is amazing at fueling the lands part of the deck as well as enabling Jolrael, love it.

What I am noticing though is that your UG decks look like green decks splashing blue rather than a mix of both colors.
This may be because of the focus on lands which is mainly a green theme (Meloku being the exception). So trying to bridge the gap with stuff like Drake Haven that works with Ayula's Influence or including some blue landfall payoffs like Retreat to Coralhelm (which would be amazing here with Arbor Elf, Thought Courier and Dryad Greenseeker). Tatyova, Benthic Druid would do wonders as well as Cosima, God of Voyage. Maybe you go with Fertile Ground and Vizier of Tumbling Sand style "combos" to make it feel as a joining of forces. I don't know, I can't rule out being wrong as well

On an aside, I like is that you can change a few cards around in the deck above and end up with a more aggressive version. Replace Wall of Blossoms with Noose Constrictor, Sea Gate Oracle with Champion of Wits, Arasta with Curator of Mysteries and so on. Your Loam and Meloku engines still fuels Noose Constrictor and Ayula. Also, Jolrael is arguably better in an aggressive deck where she can apply lots of pressure. To me, this means you have a sweet foundation for a deck that can go either way depending on what gets opened in the draft. Good job!

Yes, the decks above ended up pretty green-slanted. That is largely for testing Ayula's Influence and could readily be shifted back towards blue in any number of drafted configurations. Retreat to Coralhelm could be a fun inclusion, as it also functions well at opening up the way for attacks if needed. One slot I'm really looking to improve is the blue 2 drop creature slot. I'd love a tempo-oriented blue creature, but they are a little tough to find.

Daring Saboteur has come to mind as a possibility, but I'm not sure if the unblockable ability cost is a little too much. Cosima seems to work really well for this deck, as they can also be a (really good) 2 drop "creature" when needed, that fuels the land strat perfectly with it's on-damage ability. Acts as both payoff on the front and enabler on the back. Seems like a slam dunk to me. Ghostly pilferer is another option, playing in the same general space as noose constrictor, but with a built in way to recoup cards, and with a neat flashback-deterrant ability too.

EDIT: faerie vandal is intriguing, not just for this deck. Any deck with blue or red would be quite capable of triggering the ability at least once, but probably more than that. Flash is a neat addon that can cheat out a surprise kill of a utility creature the opponent thought was safe to swing with.
If I end up with any serious amount of counters, skyship plunderer is another interesting flier
If my equipment theme gets serious enough, thieving skydiver needs serious consideration. In fact, it offers one of blue's only ways to 'permanently' deal with artifacts, so might need some consideration regardless.

sigh · Feb 7, 2021

Spells Tempo

Are we really surprised? It's what Wizards wants us to be doing with the color pair, so why wouldn't I? Recursive elements will play in via flashback and top end creatures/spells that recur top-end effects for a finishing blow.
Gameplan: Many of these decks end up focused around token production. I'm not a super big fan of those decks in practice, and am not even sure I'll end up running young pyromancer. Without help, a 1/1 ground-walking token is just very anemic, and red isn't the best at helping those tokens out. Murmuring mystic is a excellent exception to that rule. I'm interested in trying out a more vertical approach. Creatures that boost themselves off instant/sorcery having been cast, rather than just pooping out 1/1's. Those decks also often fall into the problem of needing the (few) creatures first before the (many) spells, which is really awkward, especially in a singleton environment. Creatures that count already cast spells or work off relatively few spells end up being better IMO.
Making changes like the above pushes the deck speed back somewhat, as the YP-style of deck is typically trying to be some sort of aggro-burn affair. I'm pushing things more into the finale of promise and scholar of the lost trove arena, a midrange-y spells deck that can flex being aggression and control. This is not a new archetype to me, as I had an iteration in sigh 1. With the dozen+ sets since, I think Wizards has helped flush out the ability for the deck to function.

Components to take from

Pull heavily from the draw-discard suite to power the hand and 'yard. Artifacts will be present in these decks, so thirst for knowledge is particularly spicy
tempo permission. Cards like remand and repeal will feature as ways to buy time until the big red burn spells and other mid-game threats start popping up.
finishers. Gearhulk, Sphinx.

Components to take from

burn spells. The wincon of the deck will often be from some style of burn, besides the crucial role of dealing with early game threats.
Spells-matter creatures. Many of the earlier-game creatures come from red, or roleplayers like dismissive pyromancer
more card selection. The all star faithless looting is a shoe-in, but there are certainly more options out three these days

Components to take from {c}

mana rocks
baubles for the early game
potential for tie-in with an actual artifact archetype, especially with the enabling of shenanigans that cards like goblin engineer and scholar of the lost trove enable.

Raw example deck (>40 cards). Sweet Christmas two drops... As expected, there is a ton of options for this deck, and I'm sure I only scratched the surface honestly speaking. Key to the strategy I'm looking to run are creatures like pteramander, magmatic channeler, rielle, the everwise, crackling drake, and kinetic augur; creatures that are looking back at what has already happened rather than needing to be there for it all. This allows much more flexibility in spell-casting flow, rather than needing one of the creatures to be on the field first. Creatures like stormwing entity and murmuring mystic can operate on very few spells (like 1), making it much less of an issue with them. These styles of creatures combine to bring the deck into the midgame where we can cast our big burn/draw spells like prophetic bolt and then recur them with the gearhulk or scholar. There would of course be some decks that run lower to the ground than that, and cap out at cackling drake and erratic cyclops to just go ham with cheaper burn etc., but there is plentiful options for the big spell recursion here. Maybe even want to look into a very big spell for the express purpose of enticing "reanimation". The specific burn spells, filtering spells, and all the filler and glue will just be a slog of choices to round out the slots.

Example deck 1 (40 cards). This deck is spicy! The perfect combo of board control and assertiveness; a tempo deck to it's very core. There are also some awesome synergies at play in the deck. dismissive pyromancer plays excellently, but plays even more excellently with rielle, the everwise. Ditto for Blurry Beeble and other looters that aren't in the deck. See the Truth is a very nice selection spell, but it goes off with goblin dark-dwellers, replenishing your hand for the final salvo. This deck really put the UW fliers deck through it's paces while not dominating it, which is A-ok by me. I haven't tested as of yet, but have a feeling it would really stress out the UB control deck.
The creature suite worked out exactly how I wanted, building off both past and present spell casting, rather than relying solely on the latter. Crackling drake was castable on curve in 100% of games it showed up in, and was straight gas every time it landed. A cantripping flying beater is really a sweet thing. And it should be reserved pretty much for URx due to the high color requirement. Something that I don't think is a bad thing. Pteramander also really shines in this deck, often hitting Monstrous for 2 or even 1 mana.
Really pleased with this draft of the archetype. Now to integrate into the rest of the cube.

sigh · Feb 8, 2021

I'm thinking this lovely lady is a perfect fit for what my green wants to do. She digs for lands or creatures as needed, and can pop a flier, which is important against UWx. A nice, assertive ultimate rounds her out nicely.

sigh · Feb 8, 2021

Recursive Weenies

Finally out of the blue woods, we arrive at one of my personal favorite archetypes to play: White weenie (but kinda eeeevil!). halfway!
Gameplan: Fairly standard aggro plan here, but value over time will be boosted via creatures that recur themselves, creatures that recur other creatures, and spells that do even more recursion. We are basically looking to robustly flood the board despite attempts at removal. This should end in an insurmountable wave of bodies, crushing the opponent. Access to draw is more limited in this archetype, so we will look to creatures that can do that a la midnight reaper. I don't want draw to be too overbearing, as we already have added value through recursion. With all that recursion, we can play around with some aristocrats effects, turning the recurring creatures into even more value!

Components to take from

weenies. duh. From white I'm looking for the taxing effects, helping stave off assertive spells decks etc.
cheap removal to clear the way. sunlance for exmaple
recursion. Vesperlark, Reviellark, and Sevinne's reclamation all have roles to play here.

Components to take from

Weenies, but self-recursive or otherwise repeatably valuable. bloodghast etc.
More recursion via unearth and co.
select draw spells, linked to creatures. village rites is a possibility.
some sacrifice components can play here.

Components to take from {c}

equipment, mainly. Possibly some artifact creatures where applicable.

Raw Example Deck (>40 cards). This is an extremely well supported deck o_O. I can tell the major struggle will be narrowing down choices here. From what I can see, this deck can easily cap at 4 CMC without much issue. A five drop might useful to outslog a tricky opponent, but feel quite unnecessary in general. Honestly not much I can say with this ungodly blob. I've got some polishing work ahead of me, that's for sure. Getting through RB will surely help, as that partners with this deck for a fully fledged recursive-aggro deck.

Example polished deck (40 cards). 15 lands might be one too few, so I'll update if it turns out that way in trialing. After trialing, 15 is perfectly fine for this deck. It does operate quite low to the ground. The deck could use one or two sources of reach, probably via draining the opponent. blood artist is an obvious option, or maybe one of the

bears we've gotten recently that drain on certain conditions. Sevinne's reclamation is awesome because it reanimates any permanent. That means it can grab an equipment, ramp a land back from the grave, or in this deck's case bring back an executioner's capsule for nice removal value. Bloodsoaked champ definitely is a little higher power than gutterbones, but I'm not convinced I want to run the champ over 'bones. We'll see. Dreadmalkin was a really fun sac outlet. I like it quite a bit better than Carrion Feeder both for the additional care needed when sequencing the sac payments, as well as the menace. Menace is awesome.

sigh · Feb 10, 2021

Equipment Aggro

Gameplan: This thread is a pretty good basic idea of what I'm looking to do https://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/equipment-matters-white.3200/. Equipment form the basis for a very robust aggro deck, where a good portion of your power is left on the board even if individual creatures die, to be re-equipped and utilized again. Equipment means finding ways to maximize the effectiveness of said equipment. Primary among them will be double strike, first strike, and flying. Beyond extending the power of the equipment via creature abilities, the deck will have ways to improve consistency a la stoneforge mystic (awesome with Embercleave btw). It will also draw from the standard suite of board control spells an aggro deck might want, particularly burn for reach in the later game.

Components to take from

Double stirkers, first strikers, fliers. The heart of the creatures.
Equipment tutoring and other interaction directly with equipment/artifacts
general removal spells and other misc. game-smoothing

Components to take from

Aggressive creatures to fill in the gaps around white, and boros creatures to really pull things together
burn spells!
card selection spells where cost/space appropriate

Components to take from {c}

Equipment :eek:
artifact creatures where applicable. Crystalline giant for example.

Raw Example deck(>40 cards). No shortage of options here. I really like some of the more interesting takes on equipment they've done in recent sets, like stone haven pilgrim, for example. A relatively easy swap in place of seeker of the way in my opinion. Helps clarify the divide between the UR spells and the WR equipment. As with the previous iteration of the cube, I will have to play around with the equipment suite, but I'm tempted to keep out grafted wargear. I think that leaves a lot more room open for other equipment to breathe. Otherwise the wargear is just the default best equipment available.

Example Polished Deck (40 cards). This is a really nice, bursty deck. But the kind of bursty that can be more easily combatted via removal since the burst is usually stacked on one creature. I'm really liking the inclusion of some more direct "equipment-matters" cards. I think they will help direct drafting, and they really do work well in the deck. fireblade charger especially is a really awesome 1 drop for this deck. It can come down at any point and be granted haste, and blocking it can be a really problematic prospect for the opponent. It can bolt a key piece of their board, kill a creature with toughness up to double it's power, or bolt face a la super-trample. Nice include. Embercleave is as fun as expected, and not overbearing by any means.

sigh · Feb 27, 2021

Land-ramp... or maybe +1/+1 counter beatdown?

I am currently conflicted here somewhat, as I have two paths that both look pretty attractive. Now maybe in the end when I get to the flushing-out-stage both will fit. I expect sub-themes and secondary decks to pop up as I expand from "one 40 card deck per guild" to fully built out color sections.

Path 1: Land-ramp. Playing off the land theme being built in

and

, Selesnya could be a more plain ramp deck that uses the land tutors to power out large white fliers and green monsters. White and GW also offer some lands-matter cards to help the overall lands theme. If I go this route I'm potentially splitting W into three camps: aggro, control, and ramp support. That might work out ok if I pick the top end cards well, or maybe it muddies things. Not sure.

Path 2: +1/+1 counters. This would be a more aggressive beatdown deck that helps the themes in

and

. GW has ample cards that add counters, care about counters, etc., so it's a pretty straightforward deckbuild. If I go this route I am solidly planting white in the aggressive camp, and pulling green closer to aggro as well. I don't yet know if that balance is ok, or if it will start drowning out the guilds that I want to be slower, especially

and

.

I'm going to gather my options below for both in what will likely be a massive raw decklist, and see what I can do from there.

Example raw deck (>40 cards)

Example polished deck (40 cards). Trying a landfall +1/+1 counters deck

LadyMapi · Feb 27, 2021

Why not both? Bridge the gap with cards like...

Dom Harvey · Feb 27, 2021

Also:

sigh · Feb 27, 2021

A landfall/counter beatdown deck does seem like a good fusion of themes.

Fearless Fledgling might be the Luminarch Aspirant that my format actually wants. I like the juxaposition of it as an uncommon vs. the rare vinelasher kudzu lol.

Gavony Township is a little game-warping in my experience, but Oran-Reif might be more at an appropriate power level. Also available to a wider range of decks.

If I double down on landfall as an actual theme, I'll probably want to explore duplication of some effects, for instance:

Rasmus Källqvist · Mar 1, 2021

I think this can play as a "fixed" Gavony Township, in the case you're still in the market for such a card.

Sigh, again?

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