Card/Deck Single Card Spotlight

ahadabans

ahadabans

Overrun is sweet. Green needs stuff like this. And it costs GGG, so you can't just splash it willy-nilly. I dropped it along with most everyone during the cube power arms race and have been happy since adding it back. Card is dangerous. It's a classic green effect. And it makes it dangerous to let people build large board states.

Walker cubes might not need it with OG Garruk though. But if you are not running walkers, this card feels essential unless you have a very specific theme or set of design parameters going on.
 
RavebornMuse

RavebornMuse



What do we think of this? As a bonus round:
  • Who still plays this?
  • How much do your drafters like it?
  • How many effects do you think you need to mitigate the You-Lose trigger?
  • Do you have any good/winning decklists for it?
 
Onderzeeboot

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
RavebornMuse said:


What do we think of this? As a bonus round:
  • Who still plays this?
  • How much do your drafters like it?
  • How many effects do you think you need to mitigate the You-Lose trigger?
  • Do you have any good/winning decklists for it?
Click to expand...
  • I do, the card is fun, powerful, and it oozes flavor
  • It got picked and played in the last draft, and not by me
  • That depends on how fast you can rummage through your deck, looking for an answer, but I'ld say at least 3.
  • Nope. But people were having fun with her, and that's the most important!
 
GiftsForgiven

GiftsForgiven

RavebornMuse said:


What is the power level of each of these? Are Smuggler's Copter and Skysovereign just extremely goodstuffy, or are they actually cool?
Click to expand...


Don't forget cultivator's caravan and daredevil dragster!

I've been playing with them in my new cube, and they've basically taken the role of equipment in that setting!

Smuggler's Copter: It's very strong, but it's strength does depend on how many 1-drops are in your cube, as you do need someone to crew it. If you can consistently jam it on T2 and leave it up to block, it's the most powerful of the vehicles. If you need to wait until T3 to have it 'active,' it's merely great.

Sky Skiff: A very strong card, and often underestimated.

Peacewalker colossus: I... ah, actually didn't play with this one... I really should.

Renegade Freighter: This has done a huge amount of work for me in the decks that I've ran it in. It's an aggressive card, but being able to have your 2-drop crush in for 5 trample damage in on T4 is great, and it only gets better with other buffs and effects. It's great for it's cost, and not so low-costed as to be busted.

Untethered Express: The +1/+1 counter effect wound up not mattering as much as I thought it would, as I typically used this as a top-end to highly aggressive decks, and either won or lost quickly after that.

Fleetwheel cruiser: One of my favorite vehicles, honestly. The fact that it comes in as a creature itself makes it a not-bad topdeck.

Ballista charger: I found this one to be rather lackluster, honestly. I prefer vehicles with either evasion, trample, or a similar effect. If you have a lot of X/1s in your cube it can be great, but it wasn't for me.

Skyship Sovereign: It's felt a little heavy for me, but the fact that it bolts on ETB saves it.


My top 3 vehicles for cube are:

1. Renegade Freighter
2. Fleetwheel Cruiser
3. Skysovereign, Consulate Flagship
 
RavebornMuse

RavebornMuse

GiftsForgiven said:
Don't forget cultivator's caravan and daredevil dragster!

I've been playing with them in my new cube, and they've basically taken the role of equipment in that setting!

Smuggler's Copter: It's very strong, but it's strength does depend on how many 1-drops are in your cube, as you do need someone to crew it. If you can consistently jam it on T2 and leave it up to block, it's the most powerful of the vehicles. If you need to wait until T3 to have it 'active,' it's merely great.

Sky Skiff: A very strong card, and often underestimated.

Peacewalker colossus: I... ah, actually didn't play with this one... I really should.

Renegade Freighter: This has done a huge amount of work for me in the decks that I've ran it in. It's an aggressive card, but being able to have your 2-drop crush in for 5 trample damage in on T4 is great, and it only gets better with other buffs and effects. It's great for it's cost, and not so low-costed as to be busted.

Untethered Express: The +1/+1 counter effect wound up not mattering as much as I thought it would, as I typically used this as a top-end to highly aggressive decks, and either won or lost quickly after that.

Fleetwheel cruiser: One of my favorite vehicles, honestly. The fact that it comes in as a creature itself makes it a not-bad topdeck.

Ballista charger: I found this one to be rather lackluster, honestly. I prefer vehicles with either evasion, trample, or a similar effect. If you have a lot of X/1s in your cube it can be great, but it wasn't for me.

Skyship Sovereign: It's felt a little heavy for me, but the fact that it bolts on ETB saves it.


My top 3 vehicles for cube are:

1. Renegade Freighter
2. Fleetwheel Cruiser
3. Skysovereign, Consulate Flagship
Click to expand...

I also left off Cultivator's Caravan, which I'm running :p

I was thinking of running that top 3 line-up, but I've had strong reservations about the Pain Train, and I wasn't sure if Ovalchase would be more appropriate than Fleetwheel at my new power level; I guess I'll give this setup a try and downgrade if it becomes appropriate. Thanks for the detailed write-up!
 
Nanonox

Nanonox

I was running Smuggler's Copter in my old power-max cube and even there, he was a beating. Three evasive damage + card selection is really good for 2 (colorless!) mana. The fact that he slots in well almost anywhere makes me think he is a bit overpowered for my current lower power-level card.

Fleetwheel Cruiser is solid as well and I like it just a bit more than Renegade Freighter. I don't run Sky Skiff and I don't know why. Seems solid enough and cheap evasive "creatures" are usually welcome.
 
NimbusToad

NimbusToad

I have been considering putting this into my White section. Seems like a pretty tough obstacle for aggressive decks, but maybe that is good?

On that topic: how is ?
 
Aston

Aston



How good is this in high power lists? Low power lists? The effect seems relatively minor but on the other hand it's banned or restricted almost everywhere, it must be a bit good.
 
ahadabans

ahadabans

I think Gitaxian Probe is very good, and probably a lot better the more powerful your list is.

It lets you play a 39 card deck at the cost of 2 life - that's probably the best way to look at it. In a combo deck, this is usually worthwhile. In other decks, maybe not. More importantly though, it gives you information about your player's hand, which is really where the card can be game changing. Again, this is more true the higher power your format is. If you know your opponent is holding Mind Twist (and you have no answer), you are not going to be slow playing your hand. Or maybe you see they have a super slow start or no counters, so you won't be afraid to play aggressively or drop a key card into open islands, etc.

It looks like a "do nothing" card, but it's actually pretty sweet. And for those of you running Cabal Therapy, that's a pretty nasty combo, especially if you have a dude to sac.
 
japahn

japahn

It never did much for us. Didn't fit in any decks. Control doesn't want to discard cards, aggro doesn't want a 3/4 prowess for late game, burn doesn't want a curve topper that at best draws 3, midrange doesn't want to play that many spells.
 
Onderzeeboot

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
japahn said:
It never did much for us. Didn't fit in any decks. Control doesn't want to discard cards, aggro doesn't want a 3/4 prowess for late game, burn doesn't want a curve topper that at best draws 3, midrange doesn't want to play that many spells.
Click to expand...

This. The exact same reason why I cut the card. I love the design, but it doesn't live up to its potential. It is sweet in a spell-based Wildfire though :)
 
S

Salmo2

re: probe, I think ahdabans said it somewhere, either here or MTGS, but Probe pretty much allows you to play a 39 card deck at the cost of 2 life and you get to peek. Ive had it in my cube for a while and like it a lot, sometimes it feels much lower powered than ponder/etc in situations like late-game where you neither want to spend 2 mana or care to look at their depleted hand, but it's also great to know exactly what you're walking into at the cost of what can feel like a free-roll when it's earlier or you can afford to pay the 2. It doesn't have a permanent inclusion in my cube, but it leads to enough interesting decisions to make it have a safe space for now and the foreseeable future.
 
Aston

Aston

I should have said but I was thinking of it in the context of Young Pyromancer (x2) and Cabal Therapy (which I'm thinking about doubling up on). It's obviously good with those cards, but when you don't have that supporting suite I wasn't sure if it'd just be a do-nothing.

Worth a test at least.
 
Grillo_Parlante

Grillo_Parlante

Contributor
They already tested it if that helps

Jason Waddell said:
I actually did that. This was for one of our first RipLab Cockatrice drafts.


It felt off. Well, okay, nobody really wanted the Gitaxian Probes, CML moaned relentlessly. Even when the interactions came together, it felt so forced. Like, it's clever in a Legacy deck, and it was super cool when you would cast Threaten and then hit them and then sac their creature with the back-end of Cabal Therapy, but the probes and therapy cards were low demand and didn't really have that many interactions.
Click to expand...

i.m.o the types of interactions that make probe really good in other formats just don't really exist in cube.
 
S

Salmo2

'knowing what your opponent has before you do anything' is a pretty great interaction when playing with cube cards. The information at the cost of pretty much solely 2 life as it replaces itself can be invaluable, knowing what my opponent is doing has made quite a few games much more winnable than they would've been.
 
RavebornMuse

RavebornMuse

Salmo2 said:
'knowing what your opponent has before you do anything' is a pretty great interaction when playing with cube cards. The information at the cost of pretty much solely 2 life as it replaces itself can be invaluable, knowing what my opponent is doing has made quite a few games much more winnable than they would've been.
Click to expand...

Sure, it's useful to know your opponent's hand, but is it fun? Does it lead to good games of Magic? I would argue that it doesn't; it sucks a lot of tension out of the room, and eliminates elements of surprise and bluffing that are key to an engaging match. All to do... what? Reduce your deck size by 1? Is that statistically meaningful? Does that serve any fun purpose?

It's my opinion that building a good cube means that each card should be deliberately selected and added in the service of an engaging, fun environment, and I just don't see Gitaxian Probe doing that in a typical list.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top