Grillo_Parlante
Contributor
What uw decks do you want to see? Hussar is one of those cards that never seems to get there, and it might be better to go with something more direct and impactful to the themes you want to encourage.
Card/Deck Single Card Spotlight
- Thread starter Dom Harvey
- Start date
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Was that a rethorical question?
I kicked her in favor of various other blink dudes over time like...
I've run quite a few configurations with blink enablers. It's one of my favorite archetypes. Flickerwisp is very good, but its WW. I cut it fairly recently in my purge of 1CC cards. If I were to bring any blink enablers back though, it would likely be this one because it has so many uses (great that you can target your stuff or your opponents).
From my experience, Galepowder Mage and Brago, King Eternal suffer the same problem. They are a turn slow. I tend to want to blink something immediately (even Flickerwisp sometimes isn't fast enough). I don't want to play a dude on turn 4 and wait until next turn to attack with it (hoping I still have something worth blinking left on the table). I've mentioned it before, but I run a fairly high amount of removal so stuff dies. A lot. I guess my blink decks tend to be more U focused as well (I personally draft them often) and so I want to react to removal played against me or hold up mana and do something on my opponents turn. I've brought up Mystic Snake before, but holding Mystic Snake with 4 mana up and something on the board with momentary blink in hand is a position I don't think I've ever lost from. Although there are probably times I'd rather have Brago than momentary blink (say on an empty board), I can't see that being a good swap for me.
With that said, there appears to be a lot of love for Brago is seems, so maybe I didn't give him a fair shot. To be perfectly honest, I tested him for a very short time and as he felt like Galepowder Mage (without being able to blink my opponents tokens), I moved on quickly. Being able to blink multiple things is certainly a powerful ability. It just feels like a "win more" ability though. If I can exploit blinking multiple things for value, aren't I already winning (since I have to have at least two other things in play that net me an ETB effect - or I'm giving Brago and another guy vigilance I guess)?
Maybe it's just the way games play out in my group, but if I can make a handful of value plays and disrupt a couple that my opponent tries to make, that will typically win the game. I don't need to blink my board repeatedly every turn to seal victory. Blank a removal spell here, blink an ETB guy there. Drop a timely counter spell or two-for-one and that should get me there. It doesn't always of course. There are certainly swingy degenerate things that can happen in cube, but with the culling of a lot of the broken power cards that happens a less now. I feel like games are a lot less draw dependent (i.e. getting your broken power piece) versus just gameplay decisions. Should have cast this instead of that. Should have held that spell for later. Etc.
To answer Grillo's question, UW has two general identities: Traditional control. Sky Hussar has no real place there outside some funky build with a lot of disposable creatures maybe. The other is more a tempo style deck. That one can go a lot of ways and is the more common variety. Into green (which tends to be more combo blink). Into heavy blue now (devotion based - Thassa/Master/Architect - lots of creatures). Or heavy white (white weenie basically). I don't think green blink wants Hussar just because the card draw option will blank a lot and it doesn't have great blink synergy. But the other two flavors can use him to good effect. Again, I don't need 4 cards off Hussar for him to be worth a slot. One card and a 4/3 flyer (that untaps my army) seems perfectly acceptable. Maybe the board stalls and I use him a couple times to draw into something. Maybe he's just a 4/3 flyer for 5 (because I don't have any dudes on the board). That scenario sucks, but flyers are valuable in cube and 3 toughness is better in my cube than others as you cannot kill that for 1 mana (outside a heavily delved murderous cut or an innocent blood sacrifice).
From my experience, Galepowder Mage and Brago, King Eternal suffer the same problem. They are a turn slow. I tend to want to blink something immediately (even Flickerwisp sometimes isn't fast enough). I don't want to play a dude on turn 4 and wait until next turn to attack with it (hoping I still have something worth blinking left on the table). I've mentioned it before, but I run a fairly high amount of removal so stuff dies. A lot. I guess my blink decks tend to be more U focused as well (I personally draft them often) and so I want to react to removal played against me or hold up mana and do something on my opponents turn. I've brought up Mystic Snake before, but holding Mystic Snake with 4 mana up and something on the board with momentary blink in hand is a position I don't think I've ever lost from. Although there are probably times I'd rather have Brago than momentary blink (say on an empty board), I can't see that being a good swap for me.
With that said, there appears to be a lot of love for Brago is seems, so maybe I didn't give him a fair shot. To be perfectly honest, I tested him for a very short time and as he felt like Galepowder Mage (without being able to blink my opponents tokens), I moved on quickly. Being able to blink multiple things is certainly a powerful ability. It just feels like a "win more" ability though. If I can exploit blinking multiple things for value, aren't I already winning (since I have to have at least two other things in play that net me an ETB effect - or I'm giving Brago and another guy vigilance I guess)?
Maybe it's just the way games play out in my group, but if I can make a handful of value plays and disrupt a couple that my opponent tries to make, that will typically win the game. I don't need to blink my board repeatedly every turn to seal victory. Blank a removal spell here, blink an ETB guy there. Drop a timely counter spell or two-for-one and that should get me there. It doesn't always of course. There are certainly swingy degenerate things that can happen in cube, but with the culling of a lot of the broken power cards that happens a less now. I feel like games are a lot less draw dependent (i.e. getting your broken power piece) versus just gameplay decisions. Should have cast this instead of that. Should have held that spell for later. Etc.
To answer Grillo's question, UW has two general identities: Traditional control. Sky Hussar has no real place there outside some funky build with a lot of disposable creatures maybe. The other is more a tempo style deck. That one can go a lot of ways and is the more common variety. Into green (which tends to be more combo blink). Into heavy blue now (devotion based - Thassa/Master/Architect - lots of creatures). Or heavy white (white weenie basically). I don't think green blink wants Hussar just because the card draw option will blank a lot and it doesn't have great blink synergy. But the other two flavors can use him to good effect. Again, I don't need 4 cards off Hussar for him to be worth a slot. One card and a 4/3 flyer (that untaps my army) seems perfectly acceptable. Maybe the board stalls and I use him a couple times to draw into something. Maybe he's just a 4/3 flyer for 5 (because I don't have any dudes on the board). That scenario sucks, but flyers are valuable in cube and 3 toughness is better in my cube than others as you cannot kill that for 1 mana (outside a heavily delved murderous cut or an innocent blood sacrifice).
Brago has the upside of having a big butt and vigilance. Maybe not a big one but still!
Yeah but how OP does Restoration Angel feel?
Ephara plays well with flash creatures and blink effects. Also token-making instants/abilities (Geist, Moorland Haunt, Monastery Mentor all come to mind as in-color options).
Restoration Angel is kinda like a white Cryptic Command but it has never really struck me as "OP" or anything. Maybe in the dystopian future where we are only allowed to cast Flame Javelin for 6 since red mana has been banned, and if you cast it anytime you would not be able to cast a sorcery you are tarred and feathered.
Restoration Angel is kinda like a white Cryptic Command but it has never really struck me as "OP" or anything. Maybe in the dystopian future where we are only allowed to cast Flame Javelin for 6 since red mana has been banned, and if you cast it anytime you would not be able to cast a sorcery you are tarred and feathered.
It certainly isn't very hard to break her. Plus it has great stats for something with so much degenerate potential. It's my best 4 drop creature in white for sure (and probably still would be as a 3/3).
My 2 cents... it feels less annoying to me than something like Hero of Bladehold (I pick on that card a lot because to me it's everything that went wrong with NWO). And that's because without anything else on the board, the angel is just a 3/4 flyer. You have to build your deck to break her and then you need to build a board state before she generates any real value. Hero of Bladehold and cards of that type are self contained and so require very little deck design or playmaking skills. You just run then, play them and profit.
I've seen plenty of poor builds where Restoration Angel comes down and can only nombo that players leveled Student of Warfare and that's it. So there is some level of planning that has to go into using her to maximum effort.
Dom Harvey
Contributor
Resto is great, it's a very powerful card if used 'normally' but also enables synergy and creates fun in-game decisions on both sides
I find this pretty interesting. I don't like Man-o'-War because the art is terrible (IMHO), and I don't like Aether Adept much because of the double blue being a bit annoying. This seems to be a decent substitute that could give Simic a bit of easy meat, assuming you don't run bouncelands (I don't; nasty with land destruction, which I run). Any thoughts? Or, alternatively: any suggestions for fun Simic cards?
Hmmmm, returning a tapped creature is a world of difference from just returning any creature. Assuming you're the tempo deck, and your opponent is on the back foot, chances are that any creature they cast will be for the express purpose of blocking, meaning that they'll leave it untapped.
How about
How about
I like the Selkie because she helps you catch up rather than simply keeping your lead. You can throw her down and she can bounce something that just swung in last turn, and, if you're actually in Simic, she can net you 3 health, too, which goes a nice way to undoing whatever beating you were just experiencing. She's certainly a card that you have to play smart with, but, if you're putting enough pressure down that your opponent cannot tap to attack at all, then at the very least she's worth saving in-hand as a get-out-of-jail-free card if things go sour. I like cards that make players think about how to maximize their value.
EDIT: And Icefeather is basically 6 mana for a 2/2 flier and a bounce. And I hate morph. Pass.
I love the idea of morph, but it's slow and clunky most of the time.
Blinking a morphed Exalted Angel is still boss though, especially in response to a kill spell or after your opponent declares attackers (though they are walking into that one and sort of deserve what's coming).
I haven't played Selkie Hedge-Mage, but I image it suffers from the same problem as her Boros brother Duergar Hedge-Mage. On turn three with just one of each land type, it's just an awful card. So it's not a real 3 drop. More like a 5 drop that costs 3 if you have 5 lands in play (or however you want to look at it).
I love hybrid cards though, so maybe I'll try it. The tapped clause is a bummer though.
Blinking a morphed Exalted Angel is still boss though, especially in response to a kill spell or after your opponent declares attackers (though they are walking into that one and sort of deserve what's coming).
I haven't played Selkie Hedge-Mage, but I image it suffers from the same problem as her Boros brother Duergar Hedge-Mage. On turn three with just one of each land type, it's just an awful card. So it's not a real 3 drop. More like a 5 drop that costs 3 if you have 5 lands in play (or however you want to look at it).
I love hybrid cards though, so maybe I'll try it. The tapped clause is a bummer though.
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
What? That art is gorgeous! But, if you don't like the original, you could try one of the modern borders, which both have clearer art. That's a real life man-o'-war yo! The portal version is hilariously bad, but maybe you like it?
We can't be friends.
Grillo_Parlante
Contributor
You could actually run windreaver if you wanted. Its excellent with damage on the stack and should fit well in a durdly format with a large amount of removal.
In fact, the art is so awesome lets get a better look at it
A few others, besides those already mentioned are
I still think if you want tempo support, geist is the place to be, and if you want to buff blink, brago is the best option. Ephara, god of the Polis, also seems to synergize way better with every non-control archetype you mentioned. She benefits from flash, blink, devotion, creature based strategies, and both rewards tempo strategies while providing a viable late game for those decks.
A few months on, I think almost everyone in the world is in love with delve. Between Treasure Cruise, Dig Through Time, Murderous Cut, Tasigur, Gurmag Angler, and possibly Become Immense, delve has probably been the most impactful keyword mechanic for cube in the last few years. What about Gurmag Angler's slightly less impressive brother, though - is the trade off of +1/+1 for trample worth it?
Thanks Grillo. Ojutai's Command is pretty solid. That might get the nod actually.
Windreaver is bogus. Even with damage on the stack. You need like a million mana to do anything with him. And returning to your hand versus making untargettable or removing from game just makes him that much more mana intensive. I played this card during dissension and even in my lame UW casual deck he sucked. The art is amazing though. Totally wasted on that guy though. Just put him side by side Morphling. It's embarrassing.
Hooting Mandrels is something I've had my eye on for awhile now but he feels like an Arrogant Wurm. I don't have slots at this point for discounted creatures unless they do something interesting. This guy really doesn't.
I completely agree Delve is amazing in cube though. In fact, I'm adding pretty much every blue/black delve card - Murderous Cut, Tombstalker (still good), Tasigur, and the blue card draw brothers. We need more playable cards with this mechanic.
Windreaver is bogus. Even with damage on the stack. You need like a million mana to do anything with him. And returning to your hand versus making untargettable or removing from game just makes him that much more mana intensive. I played this card during dissension and even in my lame UW casual deck he sucked. The art is amazing though. Totally wasted on that guy though. Just put him side by side Morphling. It's embarrassing.
Hooting Mandrels is something I've had my eye on for awhile now but he feels like an Arrogant Wurm. I don't have slots at this point for discounted creatures unless they do something interesting. This guy really doesn't.
I completely agree Delve is amazing in cube though. In fact, I'm adding pretty much every blue/black delve card - Murderous Cut, Tombstalker (still good), Tasigur, and the blue card draw brothers. We need more playable cards with this mechanic.
At what point is Ephara not just a Divination for 5?
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Well, seeing that she costs
mana, I would say at any point! But if you make sure you include some flash creatures in , she can actually acrue some serious card advantage. Yes she's slow, but a Phyrexian Arena that doesn't cost life and ends up beating for 6 can't be all bad, can it?
I find this pretty interesting. I don't like Man-o'-War because the art is terrible (IMHO), and I don't like Aether Adept much because of the double blue being a bit annoying. This seems to be a decent substitute that could give Simic a bit of easy meat, assuming you don't run bouncelands (I don't; nasty with land destruction, which I run). Any thoughts? Or, alternatively: any suggestions for fun Simic cards?
What's the difference between needing double blue for Aether Adept and needing double island for this guy?
Selkie is just underperforming without the right lands, it'll still be a grey ogre. Aether Adept can get stranded in your hand?
I see her in a fair share of lists, but how does she actually perform? I've rarely had the chance to draft her in cube myself, and though I think she's very stylish, I'd be curious how useful you all felt she actually was.