Card/Deck Single Card Spotlight

[RavebornMuse]

Another coolio target is loxodon smiter.

What are we feeling about cards like these guys nowadays?

If your format is heavily tilted towards 2-colour decks (like mine), they're an easy include; if your deck is 65% black and 35% red, you can still get out Nightveil Specter T3 a majority of the time if you drafted your lands correctly. Same goes for Boros Reckoner in a deck that's mostly white or mostly red. In that regard, I consider them more or less monocolor+, meaning they'll fit in a good percentage of decks, not just the ones composed of their particular guild. From that lens, I view Boros Reckoner as a reward piece for mostly-white or mostly-red decks, and it has some sweet combo potential with red wraths and ping effects. On the other hand, I had Nightveil Specter in for a while, but it was real boring. Boros Reckoner is powerful and exciting enough to do work, though.

Re: cards with battalion; the ability proved extremely difficult to trigger in my environ in the past with any consistency, but if you're going to try it, Firemane Avenger is about the only card worth trying it with.

 

[Alfonzo Bonzo]

I'd add



to the playable battalion list.

 

[RavebornMuse]

I actually had Firefist Stinker in my cube for a while and it was heavily played but the ability either 1) never triggered, or, more commonly, 2) triggered once and he got blocked immediately by anything and died. I just can't fathom how common the scenario is in which blocking Firefist is not the correct move. I can fathom those scenarios, but I can't fathom them being particularly common. I guess if you've had better results, cheers, but I was disappointed. Daring Skyjek does seem plenty playable, though, and I'd like to have a slot for him.

 

[Dom Harvey]

best Battalion card:

 

[Mondschwein]

I'm actually playing Daring Skyjek, Firemane Avenger and the WW land. They're supported because those colours tend to play the most small creatures and token producers.

 

[genericco]

Whoa whoa whoa what about
?

 

[RavebornMuse]

White's 3 spot is already so stacked and the random X-spell hosing is rarely more than trinket text

 

[Onderzeeboot]

White's 3 spot is already so stacked and the random X-spell hosing is rarely more than trinket text

What about that battalion trigger though? That doesn't read like trinket text.

 

[Mondschwein]

By not referring to that part of the card text, our beloved muse wanted to state that it's quite negligible as it's a 3/3 for three that needs to attack with two other creatures to make them all indestructible for your own turn. Most sweepers have sorcery speed and instant removal able to kill 3/3s is very common in most cubes.
Compared to other three-drops in white this just doesn't seem to make the cut. Vryn Wingmare for example is able to delay the opponent's sweeper for at least one turn.

 

[Alfonzo Bonzo]

Has anybody tried zombie ball? Powers self mill, sacrifice and can just swarm for the win. Guess you want X=4 minimum to be playable?

 

[Ferritovore]

Backup plan for pod and/or blink decks? Load up on creatures whose value lies mostly in their ETB and trade them away, or pod/blink them, depending on what you draw first.

 

[Mondschwein]

Three cards from FRF:



What do you think? Alesha seems pretty strong and I'll definitely try it. I'm not sure about Shu Yun, though, and Battle Brawler seems cute for the warrior archetype which lies within the Mardu colours but a 3/2 first strike doesn't seem too interesting. Thoughts?

 

[shamizy]

Alesha and Shu-Yun are plenty strong, I've seen both do work in various decks. I once played against a Jeskai deck that held off my entire BW team with a single Shu-Yun, an active Jeskai Ascendancy, at the the threat of super-prowess up. I couldn't swing into it because I would have probably been eaten up AND he would have been able to knock me for 9-10 life the next turn most likely. I'd run both of them for sure.

Battle Brawler is okay, but there are more interesting black 2s that I would rather run in his place. He's a pretty boring card and my BW and BR aggro decks don't really need anymore help tbh.

 

[Chris Taylor]

Alesha is amazing and probably my favorite red 3.

Shu Yun is what gesit of st traft would be like if you could target it: Fragile, but a pile of damage if it works. Geist was in my cube for a long time since you could block him, but like...nobody ever won against the hexproof 6/6 for 3

 

[FlowerSunRain]

Shun Yun is explosive, but mana intensive. He offers huge rewards for playing risky/narrow cards like spectral flight or shadow rift, but you need to find openings because if you go in at the wrong time its even more of a blowout because you lose the two extra mana on top of everything else. He's strong, but he's strong in the exact place I want a card to be, unlike the aforementioned Geist of St. Traft.

Alesha is just great. I'd prefer if she was a white card (fits my themes better there), but its fines as is.

 

[Mondschwein]

I really like the design of the Angel (I like it more than Serenity Angel which seems to be quite common in riptide cube).
Dualcaster Mage is cool. Has anyone tried it?

 

[RavebornMuse]

Dualcaster Mage is a lot of fun because in most environs whatever it can copy is a good deal; flashing it in in response to Villain's Compulsive Research or Path to Exile, whatever, it's always sweet. I cut it simply because I had so many other fun red 3's, but it's a real hoot and the typical complaint of "but you have to set it up right" is incorrect imho, and I'd run it again. At the worst of it, spending 4 mana to get two copies of Firebolt + a 2/2 Human Wizard (v. relevant typings) for is pretty spicy, and he's very format power-level friendly. I think it gets better the lower you push your curve and the more 1- and 2-mana spells you have so you can do a self-combo, but I found him being played to copy an opponent's spell way more often than not, and that's always a fun moment.

 

[safra]

RBM is on the money here but be aware that in Cube it's less reliably a counterspell when you want it to be than it has been when people have tried it in Legacy and Vintage

 

[Lucre]

Lost a couple games today to dual caster. I assume I would lose more if more people would cube it.

 

[ahadabans]

Dualcaster Mage is a weird card. It's clearly good but no one ever makes a deck that wants to pay RR for that effect. But I strongly believe it's a key card in a yet unrealized red archetype that no one in my group plays.

So I know some people run .

Anyone who loves that card, want to sell me and others on why we all should totally be playing it? It looks like a bad Bloodbraid Elf to me, but I have not run it in anything. My main concern is how midrange my cube is, this might whiff a lot.

 

[Lucre]

best Battalion card:

*only playable

 

[ahadabans]

How playable battalion is comes down to your environment. Too much removal and it is too hard to trigger it. Average card power level plays a role here too.

Firemane Avenger is a really cool card. The free helix is worth trying to get, but if the value of a 3/3 flyer for 4 is so horribly below curve and you have an asfan of 3.5, the card will be unplayable. You can make it a high pick for the Boros player though if you want. And it's easier than making heroic or enchantress work.

 

[Eric Chan]

*only playable

would like a word with you

 

[Eric Chan]

So I know some people run Collected Company.

Anyone who loves that card, want to sell me and others on why we all should totally be playing it? It looks like a bad Bloodbraid Elf to me, but I have not run it in anything. My main concern is how midrange my cube is, this might whiff a lot.

Instant speed isn't nothing - surprise blockers or "flash" attackers for next turn can put the jump on someone - nor is being mono-green. In my experience, this card is at its best in WG aggro decks, which are the most likely to have a plethora of creatures at 3 cmc and below. Those decks might not have the fixing to splash for Bloodbraid Elf, or may choose to stay strictly two colours to take advantage of colourless utility lands.

It's certainly environment and curve dependant, though, so I can see it being worse in a midrange-heavy cube.

 

[Lucre]

would like a word with you

He's okay and I guess the fireman is okay too but like mega narrow and I'm not sure how exciting it is to put a 4 drop creature into your gold slot that is specifically for RW decks that play a lot of 2/1s.