Card/Deck Single Card Spotlight
- Thread starter Dom Harvey
- Start date
I think on a goooood day you'll 4 for 3 yourself.
FlowerSunRain
Contributor
How about:
Might be the most swingy card I've played with.
That's because it might be the most swingy card ever.
I thought about trying it in legacy zombies. You completely dismantle their plan while throwing bloodghast/gravecrawler/bridge from below/extra last rites/flashback cards into your graveyard. I didn't follow through, because at that point it seemed like you might as well go all in and play dredge.
From a cube point of view, besides the fact that it might be the worst topdeck ever, I also doubt that more then 2% of games in which this card was involved was very fun.
See the response to Last Rites when I brought it up in this thread: "Main thing with Last Rites is that it's card disadvantage. You really have to make use of those discarded lands, otherwise you're just down a card. I can't remember this seeing play in Odyssey-era standard, and that format was full of graveyard value plays. Stupor would be a better card at that spot 99% of the time I feel"
As much as I like the idea of using cards as a resource, and I don't even mind the idea of a "discard your hand for huge value" card in a cube, but these are not the cards you are looking for.
As much as I like the idea of using cards as a resource, and I don't even mind the idea of a "discard your hand for huge value" card in a cube, but these are not the cards you are looking for.
Dom Harvey
Contributor
It's in part because that format was full of graveyard plays that Last Rites was less effective. Cube should be the perfect format for Last Rites: there are more high-impact cards than in normal Limited, but singleton means their functions are different enough that you can derail their game plan by sniping certain cards. It's not good against aggro, and it gets better the more synergy-based your Cube is (I wouldn't put it in a power-max Cube for that reason, leaving aside the question of its absolute power), but I wouldn't write it off so quickly.
Dom Harvey
Contributor
+
and notably, Archangel Avacyn
This might be a bad inclusion because it either does nothing with the vast majority of your cards or is oppressively good with the others, but this could allow a midrange deck to establish inevitability in a cute way?
That sums it up nicely. Its a card that's usually just a basic land you spent a pick on and it sometimes gamebreaking. I imagine you would have to be in the market for that kind of card.
Karakas always looked like the definition of broken busted bullshit to me and I ran Vedalken Shackles up until a few months ago
Because i dislike non-games i took out wastelands from my cube, thus Karakas is pretty oppressive in my cube, wouldn't add it.
It sometimes might have a nice synergy with your creatures, but i find it pretty annoying that you can randomly hose a deck by having a land that "kills" your main wincon
If i ever make power max again, i would slam it in there though.
It sometimes might have a nice synergy with your creatures, but i find it pretty annoying that you can randomly hose a deck by having a land that "kills" your main wincon
If i ever make power max again, i would slam it in there though.
I'll probs call them handylands until a nickname gets established. They do seem like worse fastlands but its probably close. I don't think I'm going to want any of them unfortunately.
I agree that they're probably a little weaker over all than fastlands, but I like them. I can't put my finger on it, but something about the design just feels better than the fastlands.
I'd also guess that they function about as well as the fastlands, but with a lot more variance. They can be better because you could have a land to reveal later than your third land drop. Gonna hafta agree with Tzenmoroth on this one anbd pass them up. I do wish they had finished out the tango land cycle, but what can one do...
They function worse than fastlands on an average-case scenario because they play so poorly in cube environments where players routinely end up with up to half (or more) of their manabase comprised of nonbasics, and they are even worse for aggro, because keeping a 2-lander with a handland and another unmatching nonbasic is gonna really crap up your early game. If you're looking to make 2c or even 3c aggro competitive, they're going to stumble aggro decks a fair bit more than fastlands ever would, because fastlands only represent a risk to any T4 plays, whereas handlands can delay your T1, T2, or even T3 plays.
I think you could use those lands if you want to push two color strategies and punish 3-5c, since in two color decks you don't need any non-basics usually, so those lands would probably come untapped most of the time.
Sadly you can't fetch them, so definitely loses to comparison to duals, shocks and tango lands
Sadly you can't fetch them, so definitely loses to comparison to duals, shocks and tango lands
That is a fantastic point. These might be a good consideration for anyone explicitly trying to push 2 color decks because they play better when you have ~14-16 on-color basics in your deck, and play a lot worse when that number starts tanking, as RBM said. They seem like one of the rare sets that actually actively work better at fewer colors. I'd argue that those sets are:I think you could use those lands if you want to push two color strategies and punish 3-5c, since in two color decks you don't need any non-basics usually, so those lands would probably come untapped most of the time.
Sadly you can't fetch them, so definitely loses to comparison to duals, shocks and tango lands
- check lands (but these play ok regardless)
- tango lands
- handy lands
Meteor Blast hasn't gotten any love here, but after looking at it again, I'm surprised there hasn't been discussion about it. Quarantine Field and Silence the Believers have both been great over here just to kill a thing for 4 with the option of killing more things for more mana, which is generally a blowout. This doesn't hit quite as many targets but it can take out a planeswalker or just provide some reach and it requires less mana to get to more targets. I haven't really seen this cast yet but this has to be solid right?
Chris Taylor
Contributor
Meteor Blast hasn't gotten any love here, but after looking at it again, I'm surprised there hasn't been discussion about it. Quarantine Field and Silence the Believers have both been great over here just to kill a thing for 4 with the option of killing more things for more mana, which is generally a blowout. This doesn't hit quite as many targets but it can take out a planeswalker or just provide some reach and it requires less mana to get to more targets. I haven't really seen this cast yet but this has to be solid right?
Here's the problem:
It's even the same ammount of red
That's fair. I was thinking the option to kill a walker or get reach would make it real, but yeah, Mortars is a card.
Chris Taylor
Contributor
it deffinitly can be, but demanding triple red each time is the main problem
Breath of Darigaaz is another fun sweeper in this vein. You'll almost always kick it, but there will be some lulz moments when you don't. It's also 4 face damage for 4 mana in a pinch.