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Alfonzo Bonzo

Alfonzo Bonzo

RavebornMuse said:
This post may follow me into the grave, but how is

?
Has anyone seriously tried it? At what power level?

I have fond memories of my middleschool rat tribal deck that was so good it made my friends all quit playing (oops), and I loved Ravenous Rats in it. It seems like it could be okay fodder for a sac/reanimate game plan, but I've read it isn't even used often in Pauper cubes. Anyone have any opinions/experiences?
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I love ravenous rats but I think they're probably too low power, but really like them in attrition/sacrifice grind decks. You might also wish to consider:

 
yan

yan

is gifts weaker in cube ? he seems to have a toolbox deck in that vid similar to a cube deck
or is that bc of bring to light
 
shamizy

shamizy

yan said:
is gifts weaker in cube ? he seems to have a toolbox deck in that vid similar to a cube deck
or is that bc of bring to light
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He has a couple of different Gifts packages depending upon the matchups. The typical play is just go for Unburial Rites + something huge like Norn or Iona to soft-lock certain decks (like Affinity or Storm), but there were a few value packages that came through. It really rewards knowing what you're up against:

Control/Combo Package: Raven's Crime + Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth + Life From the Loam + Verdant Catacombs
Aggro Package: Snapcaster Mage + Eternal Witness + Path to Exile + Maelstrom Pulse

A couple of silver bullets out of the sideboard as well against certain matches, really customizable deck. The Bring to Light is mostly there to act as the extra copies of whatever bullet you need and turbo-ing it out a turn or two early with dorks is sweet. Like one game against Naya Zoo he won off dorks, 2 lands and just reanimating Thragtusk. I think gifts has some potential in cube, we've gotten a number of nice targets in the last two years that it could be some fun. Also we've got SOI coming out in Spring and I'm like 90% sure they'll bring back flashback after planting that goblin in OGW.
 
ahadabans

ahadabans

I really only have experience with Vines and the GG to get the pump was occasionally a bummer. But I'm trying to support heroic so I want more pump effects. Mutagenic Growth I was thinking is good because any color can technically run it and it being optionally zero mana makes it a surprise move (maybe a negative thing though?).
 
Grillo_Parlante

Grillo_Parlante

Contributor
ahadabans said:
I really only have experience with Vines and the GG to get the pump was occasionally a bummer. But I'm trying to support heroic so I want more pump effects. Mutagenic Growth I was thinking is good because any color can technically run it and it being optionally zero mana makes it a surprise move (maybe a negative thing though?).
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Its a good card, its just a little marginal i.m.o. I kind of wanted to have a more impactfull effect in that slot. The big advantage of it being free is that you can use it to protect threats and counter damage based burn, or as pseudo removal in combat. I feel like +2 +2 is a little marginal in a lot of cube engagements, however, for a card type that is already somewhat narrow.

Vines, however, will counter most removal, and the +4 +4 will kill most creatures; while Become immense is just a monster effect. The power level is there to justify the slot.

Other options are might of old krosa, groundswell, and berserk.

I always end up running sylvan might, however, because of the flashback for heroic triggers, trample, graveyard synergy and prowess triggers. Its much weaker than the alternatives though, in terms of raw power.

Edit: hunger of the howlpack also.
 
ahadabans

ahadabans

Thanks. That's helpful. I'm giving vines another whirl I think. I love delve, so really been wanting to test Become Immense too. Carving out some time Sunday for this.
 
RavebornMuse

RavebornMuse



How are these? I'm pushing more graveyard stuff because I love graveyard stuff.

Also, what is the current consensus on Gravecrawler? Is it worth it to pack 1 for incidental recursion? 2 for the potential buddy system? Are we off the G-man entirely?
 
japahn

japahn

After years of green pump iteration, my conclusions are the same as Grillo's: Vines of Vastwood and Become Immenseare good, Sylvan Might is weaker but works too. I'll add Briarhorn too.

Giant Growth is the 4th in my list, due to sheer efficiency - keeping G open for +3/+3 is usually fine, but it gets cut often. Groundswell is a more swingy Giant Growth. Anything apart from those has been disappointing.

Splashing other colors, Simic Charm and Consume Strength are solid.

I'm yet to test Hunger of the Howlpack, but proactive morbid seems difficult to pull.
 
ahadabans

ahadabans

Briarhorn is great. Already added. Giant growth feels too fair but I haven't tried it in cube. Power maxers are running mutagenic which is what put it on my radar but not sure if that's just a follow the leader thing or something specific to that meta.
 
CML

CML

Contributor
ahadabans said:
Briarhorn is great. Already added. Giant growth feels too fair but I haven't tried it in cube. Power maxers are running mutagenic which is what put it on my radar but not sure if that's just a follow the leader thing or something specific to that meta.
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become immense is a pretty great card and delve is a nice draft-around, those other cards aren't things
 
Eric Chan

Eric Chan

Hyalopterous Lemure
Staff member
I really enjoyed Reach of Branches in Modern Masters, and that's exactly the kind of card that makes me want to dial down both the power level and the speed of my format a notch to support fun engine cards like this. There was a lot to like about Modern Masters, actually, that I always want to try and emulate, but I hesitate because it'd require bringing down my cube's power level a lot first.

I ran Mutagenic Growth for a while in my own list, and I can confirm what the others are saying: while it's great on paper in that it's free, in practice it's a little more narrow than it appears. Besides not countering any colour's removal, save red, it doesn't push enough damage through when sometimes all you need is a Lava Axe to get that last bit of reach. Vines of Vastwood and Become Immense are the exact pump spells I'm currently running, and I occasionally rotate in the underrated Selesnya Charm. Trample is a thing!
 
ahadabans

ahadabans

RavebornMuse said:
Also, what is the current consensus on Gravecrawler? Is it worth it to pack 1 for incidental recursion? 2 for the potential buddy system? Are we off the G-man entirely?
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I was never really big into breaking singleton (except on lands), so I personally think 1 is and always has been the right number. But that's just me.

I'd never cut Gravecrawler though I don't think (feels like blasphemy). It's just a cool creature and there are enough incidental zombies to support his recursion, but not so automatic that you don't have to think a little about it during drafting.
 
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