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Chris Taylor

Chris Taylor

Contributor
I did make my custom specifically with primal because a few of my players felt it was more interesting that way
Though not too powerful
 
Erik Twice

Erik Twice

I'm starting to think Exploration is a trap:



While it has a pretty high ceiling, most of the time I play it, it's a worse Explore or Mox Diamond, hitting its intentend use only very late in the game and even then, it seems like a"nice have". I think the reason is that the best cube land decks are closer to Extended Aggro Loam than they are to Turboland.

I'm tempted to run Fastbond in its place, like Inscho and Wadell do but I'm not fond of the extreme value you get via fetches/crucible.
 
Aston

Aston

Erik Twice said:
I'm starting to think Exploration is a trap:



While it has a pretty high ceiling, most of the time I play it, it's a worse Explore or Mox Diamond, hitting its intentend use only very late in the game and even then, it seems like a"nice have". I think the reason is that the best cube land decks are closer to Extended Aggro Loam than they are to Turboland.

I'm tempted to run Fastbond in its place, like Inscho and Wadell do but I'm not fond of the extreme value you get via fetches/crucible.
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I've had Fastbond for a while and I was actually thinking about going the other way. Fastbond is broken when it's good and quite bad when it's bad - my assumption is that Exploration is still bad when it's bad, but merely good when it's good. I'm still not entirely sure which deck wants this effect, as you say a "Lands" style deck is quite hard to assemble in Cube, although this has sort of been a goal of mine for a while. My thinking for Exploration to be good is that you need a way to access a lot of lands (Courser of Kruphix/Oracle of Mul-Daya, Fetchlandsand Crucible/Ramunap Excavator, maybe cards like Nissa's Triumph or Seek the Horizons? They don't seem especially good) and then payoffs for playing a lot of lands (Titania, Tireless Tracker/basically anything with landfall, big ramp targets, Field of the Dead). On the surface this doesn't seem that difficult, as I know I run lots of these cards already, but for some reason it never really comes together.
 
Velrun

Velrun

May I suggest



1. It has the same text as Exploration.
2. It costs three times as much which means it won’t enable broken early game shenanigans that is impossible for Enemy to interact with. This is an upside and not a downside if you ask me.
3. It has an interesting payoff attached so you are saving 1 cube slot from the land payoff section.
4. Dinosaur!
 
Erik Twice

Erik Twice

Sure, but the problem I have with Exploration is that it's not good enough! Making it cost three really only exacerbates the issue.

I've actually come to dislike Wayward Swordtooth because it looks neat but it's a complete trap. You simply need to draw a lot of lands to have its ability be relevant by the time it comes into play. I've also found having a body attached is more of a drawback than an advantage.
 
Chris Taylor

Chris Taylor

Contributor
Erik Twice said:
Sure, but the problem I have with Exploration is that it's not good enough! Making it cost three really only exacerbates the issue.

I've actually come to dislike Wayward Swordtooth because it looks neat but it's a complete trap. You simply need to draw a lot of lands to have its ability be relevant by the time it comes into play. I've also found having a body attached is more of a drawback than an advantage.
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Did someone suggest oracle of mul daya to you yet?
Different angle sure, but it might be the combination you're looking for of crucible synergy and consistency
 
Velrun

Velrun

I do not agree that Swordtooth is a trap. It is correct that it is not a good-stuff card and you cannot throw it into any deck and yield better results. It requires a deck that has the same focus or theme. A synergy. If it is being treated like a Tarmogoyf/Thragtusk/Sylvan Library then the player will be disappointed.
 
Kirblinx

Kirblinx

Developer
Staff member
Aston said:


Is this card too good if it just cost {1}?
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This card has broken pauper (in a good-ish way).
It has allowed 3 colour decks to actually stand a chance in the format now.
I am quite a big fan of the astrolabe, and I believe that wizards wouldn't be able to print this at {1} as it is just too efficient at fixing when it replaces itself.

If you allow snow-basics from your land box, wouldn't this just cost {1} most of the time anyway?
I don't know why you would need to errata it. Plus it is another card that works well with one of my favourite white creatures:


Also, if anyone hasn't seen Dom's post on introducing Snow Artifact aggro into your cube, you should, as it is a great read and makes you want to pick up some snow-lands next time you get the chance to give it a spin.

EDIT:
Heck, people run Chromatic Sphere/Chromatic Star in their lists as decent one-shot fixing. This would be the same as those but sticks around. That is obscenely efficient fixing.
 
TrainmasterGT

TrainmasterGT

Kirblinx said:
This card has broken pauper (in a good-ish way).
It has allowed 3 colour decks to actually stand a chance in the format now.
I am quite a big fan of the astrolabe, and I believe that wizards wouldn't be able to print this at {1} as it is just too efficient at fixing when it replaces itself.

If you allow snow-basics from your land box, wouldn't this just cost {1} most of the time anyway?
I don't know why you would need to errata it. Plus it is another card that works well with one of my favourite white creatures:


Also, if anyone hasn't seen Dom's post on introducing Snow Artifact aggro into your cube, you should, as it is a great read and makes you want to pick up some snow-lands next time you get the chance to give it a spin.

EDIT:
Heck, people run Chromatic Sphere/Chromatic Star in their lists as decent one-shot fixing. This would be the same as those but sticks around. That is obscenely efficient fixing.
Click to expand...

All of this MH1 snow stuff is kind of making me want to sleeve up my Snow Lands from my Horizons box and add them as a 16th seeded card slot to my boosters.
 
Erik Twice

Erik Twice

What do you guys think of this card? I'm unhappy with Control Magic as a design, but Threads of Disloyalty seems weak/narrow. Thoughts?

 
TrainmasterGT

TrainmasterGT

Erik Twice said:
What do you guys think of this card? I'm unhappy with Control Magic as a design, but Threads of Disloyalty seems weak/narrow. Thoughts?

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I think it's less powerful than a raw Control Magic effect, but a little bit better than Threads of Disloyalty or Domestication.

I like Lay Claim for my "steal slot." Lay Claim is nice because 7 mana is a pretty fair price to steal something, but cycling means it doesn't get caught in hand like other expensive steal effects.
 
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