Card/Deck Single Card Spotlight

Onderzeeboot

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
I agree with RBM. I have to say I never tried it in draft/cube, but it disappointed in every casual/commander/standard deck I tried it out in. The biggest problem is that it's a defensive card that needs to attack. It attacks so so poorly, so unlike Alesha it can't pressure your opponent while you are waiting for a target to hit the yard.
 
Onderzeeboot

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Rasmus Källqvist said:


I drafted a really sweet GB control deck using this and a languish among other things. Is it worth running in cube? I'm really not sure if its on the strong or weak side. During the draft I got a good 4-5 bodies out of it and plays nicely with ramp cards, so I think it does good things in terms of making the top of the deck feel good for the pilot. I'm unsure how it feels for the opposing player though, but probably it's fine since you can pressure it pretty easily?
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This card has been pretty fun to play with in Magic Duels!
 
ahadabans

ahadabans

Zendikar's Roil looks like a fun card with landfall. Hmmm... might have to get a copy of that.

Speaking of which, Sword of the Animist was good today in my landfall test deck. I had that and Adventuring Gear strapped to a blade splicer token. Just nasty. Sword finally got removed, but it had fetched a couple lands before that happened. I think I underestimated how good that can be (it supports aggression but builds for the late game at the same time). It's a little expensive to get started and I'm not sure how this will work in most cubes. But it seems solid in mine.
 
RavebornMuse

RavebornMuse

Sword of the Animes has been good over here, too. Not crazy good, but solid, which is what I like about it. It always tends to do Okay, but it's occasionally Really Nice or even Pretty Neat. It typically gets blown out at least once a game ("in response to your equip activation - Magma Jet") but it tends to do a decent job fishing up a few lands and really helps reach into the mid-late game. As ahadabans pointed out, it's not a card meant for straight-up aggro, and it's no Bonesplitter, but I've really liked it so far and that extra +1 toughness matters a lot more in my environment than I expected. Aside from that, it's also kinda cool, and adds another cube-worthy equipment to my artifact-thin list. I don't care to run multiples of equipment because they're such who-cares cards imho, so if you're looking to diversify, Sword of the Animes is solid. (I also like to shout "Kagooome!" when I attack with it and am considering getting an alter.)

Zendikar's Roil looks kinda boring. I guess it's okay, but for token spew, I prefer Curse of Shallow Graves which is a lot more powerful and yet still not often very scary unless you're built to abuse it. I might run it if it made more interesting thingies but a 2/2? I dunno. I'd rather run more Collected Company if you want more neat green shenanigans. I want to like it but it feels a little too durdlefest. Probably solid in slow cubes? (I'm rambling now.)
 
ahadabans

ahadabans

I agree on the curses. I had to pull them though because they have a bad effect on free-for-all multi-player in that they encourage ganging up on the guy cursed. Not fun.
 
RavebornMuse

RavebornMuse

Yeva, Nature's Herald is a nice G/x control card. Lets you run out your stuff eot if they've got nothing worth countering/removing. She's not the most exciting card ever, but she is friendly in a deck that wants to be both big and bad and controlling. I've also been very pleased with Nissa's Revelation so far for G/x control-style play. Just some rogue thoughts while we were on the subject. I should really write a detailed breakdown of some of my sections at some point...
 
Grillo_Parlante

Grillo_Parlante

Contributor
Rasmus Källqvist said:
For me the attraction to Roil was that it presented green a chance to feel kinda controlly. I might be misinterpreting how it plays tough. It feels like a less busted assemble the legion.
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I think it would probably be a pretty decent finisher card in a lower powered G/x ramp/control deck. It just basically rewards you for executing your gameplan. Would be ideal in an enviornment with a lot of two toughness creatures.
 
Chris Taylor

Chris Taylor

Contributor
shamizy said:
How many Wasteland do most of our cubes run with the double shock/double fetch lineup? I just picked up one at GP for pretty damn cheap.
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4 @ 360 is a real legacy feel where they're sorta always in the back of your mind. I've got 4 @ 450 (So there's another set of shocks in the equation), and it's a little less common, though lucas still seems to complain about the 4 drops I run because of it :p

I'd recommend against Ghost Quarter/Tectonic Edge. Unless it really is for budget reasons (Seriously just proxy), wasteland has a distinct advantage over the other options: it actually disrupts your opponent. Ghost Quarter exists only to kill lands that warp the game anyways, and tectonic edge keeping people off 5 mana doesn't matter when (unlike standard) most cube decks curves are pretty low, so keeping everyone at 3 lands doesn't mean you cast fewer spells, you just end up casting different spells, and that isn't worth the cost to the user (Sacrifice a land is hefty).
Sure there are matches where your opponent keeps double shockland and draws no other lands, but had one of those lands been a basic, or they actually drawn a somewhat regular land distribution things would be different enough that I'd be okay with it.

Rishadan port is just that much worse since A) it does absolutely nothing against lands with troubling abilities. No please, continue to tap my volrath's stronghold on my upkeep. and B) the extra mana sunk into it each turn really stunts your own development more than your opponents, leading to (much like tectonic edge) people just casting different spells.

Please don't use strip mine since there's no way to play around strip mine. With wasteland people can get basics, or leave fetches around (this also teaches people to wait until eot to fetch, since their opponent's plays might change their sequencing and so forth)

Plus if you use wasteland, (Bad art fight incoming) I actually really like the judge foil art. It's a kabillion dollars in grey market, but printer ink is cheaper than that.
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Onderzeeboot

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
RavebornMuse said:
Look at your cube. It would kill over 65% of my creatures. And not just attacking creatures, but blocking ones, too! At that point, you may as well just run Moat. It looks extremely format-warping.
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Unpumped that is. I think it's a pretty cool card for RW control, and potentially a lot less obnoxious than Assemble the Legion, a card a lot of us run anyway. Plus, Powerstone Minefield has some pretty sweet synergy with Boros Reckoner and Spitemare! :D Crap, I think I just convinced me I need a Powerstone Minefield!
 
K

kevthewalker

RavebornMuse said:
Look at your cube. It would kill over 65% of my creatures. And not just attacking creatures, but blocking ones, too! At that point, you may as well just run Moat. It looks extremely format-warping.
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It looks extremely strong against aggro, which was why I brought it up for discussion. Comparing it to Moat seems like a stretch though.

Onderzeeboot said:
Unpumped that is. I think it's a pretty cool card for RW control, and potentially a lot less obnoxious than Assemble the Legion, a card a lot of us run anyway. Plus, Powerstone Minefield has some pretty sweet synergy with Boros Reckoner and Spitemare! :D Crap, I think I just convinced me I need a Powerstone Minefield!
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Yep, I'm supporting RW control, which is why I thought it would be super cool. And yes, glad you noticed the synergy with the Reckoner. :D


Here's another one I'd love some opinions on:


seems too strong. Would a toned down one be playable?
 
Chris Taylor

Chris Taylor

Contributor
{4}, 2 life, and it has to see the creatures die? and they can't be brought back by other means?
Also debtor's knell costs 7, does nothing the turn it comes down, and is dependent on dead creatures. How is that too strong?
 
Alfonzo Bonzo

Alfonzo Bonzo

I could see running purgatory, I think it's probably playable if you're pushing grindy orzhov. It does need to be considered against



Debtors knell isn't too strong because of its mana cost and it takes a while to get going, but a reasonable card if you are pushing orzhov control.
 
shamizy

shamizy

Thanks Chris, that was a very detailed response. I want to give people more of a reason for sticking with a single or two-color deck instead of going for three colors every time. With the main draft + utility, there is an abundance of fixing available for everyone. As a result, if you can pick up the right fetches early on (I have double of all Khans, only have double Marsh Flats from Zen atm), you have a huge advantage when deckbuilding. Ghost Quarter in utility draft doesn't do enough to disrupt (and it puts you down a land every time) and Tec-Edge hasn't been good enough since it's often too slow unless you've been on the play as the disruptive/aggro deck. If your opponent has already established that board, it's nowhere near as effective. I'd love to see more disruptive/stax-y decks from time to time and I think Wastelands help more than any other version of it we've seen.

I'll probably jump to 3 in main draft eventually, make do with 1 Wasteland + 2 Tec Edge for now.
 
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