Card/Deck Single Card Spotlight
- Thread starter Dom Harvey
- Start date
I'm looking at artifact sacrifice outlets, which seem to be one of life's persistent questions in cubing. I kind of want to add Altar of Dementia as a sac outlet and a build around card, and that makes me look at equipment again for players who might want to pump some dudes for the altar.
Equipment is surprisingly tricky. That brings me to this:
It has the pirate trinket text, but at least it's a resonant card. Does anyone run this? It seems nice. I know people love their Bonesplitters, and I'm running one copy, but that's about the most aggressive equipment ever printed and I'm already supporting aggro pretty well. I think a 3 cost version that fits into different decks might be cool.
And if I go even further up the mana curve, has anyone ever run this as a less oppressive alternative to Grafted Wargear?
Equipment is surprisingly tricky. That brings me to this:
It has the pirate trinket text, but at least it's a resonant card. Does anyone run this? It seems nice. I know people love their Bonesplitters, and I'm running one copy, but that's about the most aggressive equipment ever printed and I'm already supporting aggro pretty well. I think a 3 cost version that fits into different decks might be cool.
And if I go even further up the mana curve, has anyone ever run this as a less oppressive alternative to Grafted Wargear?
Chris Taylor
Contributor
Do note that lifeline's oracle text says dies, so if you mill creatures they don't pop into play.
Are best buds... Add some etb creatures and lifeline becomes a time bomb. Note that the ability holds for any player.
But unclear from the printed wording
No not unclear from the printed wording. In those days a creature was a creature in play, else it was a creature card. Porting it to now can confuse people, but so can several printings of lightning bolt (whether it is able to hit planeswalkers or not depends on the printing).
I ran these two in the first version of my Cube....wouldn't hate running them again.
Are best buds... Add some etb creatures and lifeline becomes a time bomb. Note that the ability holds for any player.
So what's the deal with Sail into the West? Isn't it just a discard your hand/draw 7? Do people run it because Timetwister and Windfall are too cheap?
it's newish, from a set that people opened like gangbusters, it's fifty cents at the LGS (compared to the $250 for a 1995 Wheel of Fortune) and it's instant speed. the 'may' of it all is mostly relevant for making the card less relevant in most environments imo. I would be shocked if anyone's running it, no other wheels, and means to keep it around as their only draw-7 effect.
Vintage Cubes have really started making the "Draw 7" deck a lot more of a thing with the higher density of both wheel effects and punishers printed recently. You draft around Hullbreacher, Orcish Bowmasters, Leovold, Emissary of Trest, and Narset, Parter of Veils and then as many wheels as you can get.
Sail into the West is nice both because it's instant speed (something that actually appealed to me if not for the voting text) and because it's in better colors for this style of deck.
@MilesOfficial
A friend of mine has a Leovold, Emissary of Trest Duel Commander deck (like regular Commander but 1v1, 20 life format, different ban list) and it's legit. Very strong synergies and in colors that can stall aggro.
However Sail Into the West doesn't work in this like the other Windfall effects. Because it's a may. Opponent doesn't lose all the cards in their hand.
It's still good because it's draw 7 that doesn't benefit opponent. But it doesn't win the game like the others.
A friend of mine has a Leovold, Emissary of Trest Duel Commander deck (like regular Commander but 1v1, 20 life format, different ban list) and it's legit. Very strong synergies and in colors that can stall aggro.
However Sail Into the West doesn't work in this like the other Windfall effects. Because it's a may. Opponent doesn't lose all the cards in their hand.
It's still good because it's draw 7 that doesn't benefit opponent. But it doesn't win the game like the others.
Chris Taylor
Contributor
I've been stress drafting my Cube quite a lot the last few weeks on Cube Cobra, and even with the terrible AI that predictably leaves cards printed in 2024 until the end of the pack regardless of context, I've not once wanted a Young Pyromancer, nor drafted one. I've had plenty of decks that seem like they'd love it at first blush, but there's always something better in the pack, and I can't imagine making the room for it anyways. It seems destined for sideboards.
Is this the end of "Red's Tarmogoyf"? Even in an era where I'm heavily supporting token strategies?
Springheart Nantuko may be the final wakeup call I needed. It's much easier to play a land than an instant or sorcery, and if the card didn't have the broken text around copying creatures, it would be a solid role-player, but not a high pick.
Third Path Iconoclast gets a pass for triggering off of artifacts and making them in kind, and should stick around for a little longer; heck, I just added Glaring Fleshraker as a test for that reason. But Young P? Do I really want to get rid of one of the few 2MV token generators? Why is Mogg War Marshal feeling more attractive to me than a Pyromancer these days?
I've been trying to lower the curve of my Cube overall, but there just aren't as many cheap instants and sorceries that are impactful, and the power curve of my Cube is matching more modern design sensibilities and is thus more creature-focused. Is this just a sign of where spell-slinging decks have come? Do I finally add in Mana Drain? What's happening?!
Is this the end of "Red's Tarmogoyf"? Even in an era where I'm heavily supporting token strategies?
Springheart Nantuko may be the final wakeup call I needed. It's much easier to play a land than an instant or sorcery, and if the card didn't have the broken text around copying creatures, it would be a solid role-player, but not a high pick.
Third Path Iconoclast gets a pass for triggering off of artifacts and making them in kind, and should stick around for a little longer; heck, I just added Glaring Fleshraker as a test for that reason. But Young P? Do I really want to get rid of one of the few 2MV token generators? Why is Mogg War Marshal feeling more attractive to me than a Pyromancer these days?
I've been trying to lower the curve of my Cube overall, but there just aren't as many cheap instants and sorceries that are impactful, and the power curve of my Cube is matching more modern design sensibilities and is thus more creature-focused. Is this just a sign of where spell-slinging decks have come? Do I finally add in Mana Drain? What's happening?!
I’ve been having similar thoughts about the Pyromancer. My biggest gripe is that it doesn’t trigger off noncreatures limiting the decks that want it.
However, I now see it as a Grixis control card that floods the board with chump blockers rather than a spells matter or token card. Your Grixis decks usually have cheap burn, cantrips and hand disruption to trigger the Pyromancer.
Occasionally I have a Gruul deck pop up that uses Loam and stuff like Call of the Herd. And sometimes a Boros/Mardu deck with Lingering Souls, Lightning Helix and Kolaghan’s Command.
In those roles it plays nicely, but it is less impactful than it was before I updated my cube from cards of recent years.
I think YP is an incredibly easy card to make work, players just need to be able to consistently do the thing with it in order for it to be worthwhile.
I found that adding a second Young Pyromancer made it easier for people to build a pyromancer deck, since they were more consistently able to build towards something rather than throwing a Pyromancer into a random red shell last second.
This seems more like a reason to play Springheart Nantuko than a reason to not play Young Pyromancer.
I've been running a custom variant with Magecraft. Getting multiple creatures off of replicate cards has made it a lot more appealing. But even then...it's definitely falling behind.
Edit: Really would be great with multiple copies through Springheart Nantuko.
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
I run Monastery Mentor, but not YP and Iconoclast. I don't run Sedgemoor Witch because I've found the "noncreature" trigger a lot easier to build around than the "instant or sorcery" trigger. Chrome Host Seedshark is a bit too much for my liking. I don't necessarily want a 2/4 flyer with upsides at a mana cost of 2M.
I've got all 3. Sedgemoor Witch is the newest and it's been better than I thought given the restriction.
I also run this one and she's great. Being hybrid makes her super flexible and players love that -2 ability.
I run Mentor and Witch!Does anybody else run the 3 mana variants for redundancy?
I definitely think Monastery Mentor is the best YP variant because:
–It can be a threat in its own right
–The tokens are generally more relevant than simple go-wide fodder
–It has the most flexible trigger-cost-body ratio
Seedshark is probably my least favorite version of this effect other than Poppet Stitcher at three or less mana, but only because the tokens cost mana to turn into creatures. It's not great to have to pay two mana to make a 1/1 or a 2/2, although it does occasionally get fun edge cases where you get to make a massive token off of a Dig Through Time or Treasure Cruise.
I don't think the four+ mana variants are usually worth running unless we're talking about an incredibly low-power environment. Kykar, Wind's Fury is cool in Cubes that can cast it, and Murmuring Mystic is a cool peasant card.
Agreed! It’s really fun to go off with Mentor too.
Speaking of Mentor and variants, Geralf, the Fleshwright can be an all star or a dud depending on the cube. You really have to be more all in than other cards of the same nature.
I love Seedshark, but mostly because flooding the board with artifacts is valuable for my environment and the counters can be relevant. In more tempo style decks that usually play these cards, you’d rather have the tokens upfront.
Seedshark is more of a control card in my experience. Good for decks that can hold up mana and lets you immediately have a body after a board wipe. Not so good for decks that are trying to get quick damage in.