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Rasmus Källqvist

Rasmus Källqvist

As an aside I'd just like to point out that I find it very fascinating to see how the "cube design space" keeps evolving as Wizards print new sets. I see old posts (some which are my own) stating "this doesn't really work" or "I tried it but.." etc. that definitely are viable ideas now, thanks to new cards having been printed. For instance, I feel like we have some more artifact support in blue now than we did in January 2016 (Kaladesh was just around the corner!). This forum does a nice cataloging of how our ideas have developed over time :)
 
Mondschwein

Mondschwein

Some users here often stated in spoiler threads of the last ~3 years that it seems WotC is reading on here, as archetypes that often lacked a certain amount of support got just the right cards in the near past to be available for riptide.cub

Personally, I see a lot of great limited sets like HOU, DOM, GRN, M20, ELD and THB, and usually cards that are great in limited are so in cube.
 
Rasmus Källqvist

Rasmus Källqvist

That might be the case! I also think there's an element of riptiders being maybe especially keen on taking a significant deep dive into the design ideas WotC is currently exploring, and twisting it in fun directions that retail draft can't really go. It sure does feel like we're getting some cards just for us sometimes though, so who knows maybe they do lurk around here :)
 
Brad

Brad

What's the power level of Gifts Ungiven like? It's an awesome card, but it seems a little slow to take a setup turn like that at my current power level. I'm not sure if I should or need to shift to accommodate Gifts and was hoping for some insight.

Seems like the sweetest applications take some time to set up, but it also seems easy to get 3 cards of value out of it as a draw spell, too.
 
Mondschwein

Mondschwein

It depends on the rest of your cube. If you have a lot of great spells to activate from gy, or cards like Genesis, it easily becomes one of the strongest cards in your whole cube. If you only have cards that are nice to play, but can't benefit from putting them into your gy, it's quite boring to play.

All in all one of my favourite cards in Magic's long history, but difficult to balance in cube.
 
Velrun

Velrun



This has been out for a few years. What are your experiences with it?

I first added it when I ran a Grixis self-discard theme deck (Madness Drake Haven). I don’t have that theme anymore. Do you guys like this card?
 
Alfonzo Bonzo

Alfonzo Bonzo

Brad said:
What's the power level of Gifts Ungiven like? It's an awesome card, but it seems a little slow to take a setup turn like that at my current power level. I'm not sure if I should or need to shift to accommodate Gifts and was hoping for some insight.

Seems like the sweetest applications take some time to set up, but it also seems easy to get 3 cards of value out of it as a draw spell, too.
Click to expand...


You'll get a lot out of the search functionality here, as there's been loads of gifts discussion. Even been a gifts archetypes thread:
https://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/gifts-archetypes.2000/#post-82237

Edit: though re-reading that thread again makes me want to add gifts ungiven and intuition to my cube, damnit :p
 
Brad

Brad

I knew about the thread, but Gifts into Loam Crime seems slow, you know? I wasn't sure of the power level. I'm going to add it. Worst case scenario, you draw 2. Normally, in my cube, you'll get some graveyard value somewhere and it only needs to +2 to be considered good. On top of that, it opens up a lot of creativity and opportunities for intelligent play.
 
shamizy

shamizy

Velrun said:


This has been out for a few years. What are your experiences with it?

I first added it when I ran a Grixis self-discard theme deck (Madness Drake Haven). I don’t have that theme anymore. Do you guys like this card?
Click to expand...

This card is great. It's just a better version of Evolving Wilds in almost every scenario. No T1 play? You can use this to fix your mana. Need to hit your land drops? Just play it as a colorless land. Need more live draws later in the game? Thin your deck with one fewer possible dead draw by grabbing a land.
 
Nanonox

Nanonox

I'm tinkering pretty hard with my cube for some graveyard shenanigans. I think it's looking pretty good, but I'm worrying about milling yourself out. Some decks can churn through the library pretty hard and I'm wondering if something should be done to avoid this or if it should be an inherent risk of turbo-milling yourself.

The cards I'm eyeing right now to help prevent decking:

Gaea's Blessing: This can play out as a cantrip if you have nothing going on late game, but the risk of losing your graveyard goes against the spirit of what I am doing.

Primal Command: Super versatile card, but it's so slow. Also the fact that the whole GY is shuffled seems like a no go.

Loaming Shaman: Mediocre body for a 3 drop, but it can play double duty and act as random GY hate.

Bow of Nylea: This fits into multiple decks, but the speed is an issue. 5 mana before having a small impact is painful.

Wand of Vertebrae, Perpetual Timepiece: The biggest thing these have going for them is that they are colorless, so my GB deck or my UR deck can use them all the same. It's however solely played in these GY decks and nowhere else.

Volrath's Stronghold: Pay 2 mana every upkeep to not die. Great in multiple decks, this one is in!

Nexus of Fate: Testing this one out as well. Instant speed Time Warp is super powerful in MP games as you can chain two turns with full mana available.

What is your experience with these recycling cards? Are they needed and if so which ones do you play?
 
Alfonzo Bonzo

Alfonzo Bonzo

The problem with self mill protection is that they look so lackluster by themselves. Laming shaman is one of the best as it can also be used proactively against your opponents graveyard. There is also



I find the land a bit too powerful.
 
ravnic

ravnic

My favorite is this one:



Needs your deck to have a decent number of relevant creatures, but there are also Archaeomancer and sich to get back your noncreatures. And yes, it is not card advantage, but it's basically a Worldly Tutor, repeatable, that also prevents you effectively from self milling. I swear, this card is much better than it looks like.
 
Rusje

Rusje

Hello guys/girls,

Long time lurker of this great forum and finally took the effort to contribute. You are looking for protection against self-mill which is not only self-mill protection. Your cube is quite high powered but maybe this oldy when big creatures had to have a drawback:

It seems that it is big enough to even beat up most of your other creatures in combat.

Ah, those old days. Beating each other up with bad creatures even although the spells were that much stronger. In those days most cards had a weakness/drawback instead of only upside. Even so, non-creature and non-accidental combo mostly existed in the realm of constructed. Even Yawgmoth's will is not that strong in urza block cube.
 
inscho

inscho

Nanonox said:
I'm tinkering pretty hard with my cube for some graveyard shenanigans. I think it's looking pretty good, but I'm worrying about milling yourself out. Some decks can churn through the library pretty hard and I'm wondering if something should be done to avoid this or if it should be an inherent risk of turbo-milling yourself.

The cards I'm eyeing right now to help prevent decking:

Gaea's Blessing: This can play out as a cantrip if you have nothing going on late game, but the risk of losing your graveyard goes against the spirit of what I am doing.

Primal Command: Super versatile card, but it's so slow. Also the fact that the whole GY is shuffled seems like a no go.

Loaming Shaman: Mediocre body for a 3 drop, but it can play double duty and act as random GY hate.

Bow of Nylea: This fits into multiple decks, but the speed is an issue. 5 mana before having a small impact is painful.

Wand of Vertebrae, Perpetual Timepiece: The biggest thing these have going for them is that they are colorless, so my GB deck or my UR deck can use them all the same. It's however solely played in these GY decks and nowhere else.

Volrath's Stronghold: Pay 2 mana every upkeep to not die. Great in multiple decks, this one is in!

Nexus of Fate: Testing this one out as well. Instant speed Time Warp is super powerful in MP games as you can chain two turns with full mana available.

What is your experience with these recycling cards? Are they needed and if so which ones do you play?
Click to expand...



My graveyard cube uses these:



I’ve always appreciated the cards that can be used from the graveyard due to how quickly decks can mill themselves out in my cube.

when the cube was slightly lower power, I ran Loaming Shaman and



A card like this requires an overwhelming graveyard theme to be even remotely playable imo. It and memory’s journey work on either graveyard so there’s some nice play to it.

I never like blessing in my cube, because I always want to control when my graveyard gets shuffled. Blessing as an engine piece really requires running multiple.
 
sigh

sigh

struggle // survive is a GY wipe, which requires a little bit of deck planning, and makes it better GY hate than GY recycler. That said, the front end is a great scaling removal spell for red that isn't a super costly X spell. Can't blow your opponent out like an X spell either.
 
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