Card/Deck Single Card Spotlight

[Seeker]

I do love me an Arena of Glory. And lands in general, really! That's going in for sure.

Claim the Firstborn I hadn't even considered but since I've been raising the power level so high it's actually going to hit the majority of, well, everything (same as Stern Scolding). Okay, sure, I'm convinced.

I think Underworld Breach tells people that Brain Freeze+Lion's Eye Diamond are in. I try to avoid stuff like that. But maybe? Like, you can absolutely just play a Value Breach and feel good about it. But I definitely don't want to add storm.

As for Glimpse the Impossible, honestly I'm unconvinced. It was fine in MH3 retail limited, at common, but like... is this really the best I can do with a red three-mana spell? It's not awful or anything, it just doesn't excite me on almost any level.

 

[MilesOfficial]

I think Underworld Breach tells people that Brain Freeze+Lion's Eye Diamond are in. I try to avoid stuff like that. But maybe? Like, you can absolutely just play a Value Breach and feel good about it. But I definitely don't want to add storm.

I run and love the heck out of Value Breach. While you're shuffling up, you can talk about individual cards like that.

I'm glad you're interested in Snort, I love it. I know most burn spells are a bit boring, but ay I also recommend Dead / Gone and Fire Magic?



Being able to get a burn spell OR a bounce spell as needed is really nice, and I've used Gone more times than I can count. Fire Magic, on the other hand, is so flexible and cheap that you can use it to finish off a dude you damaged mid-combat, ruin your token-making opponent's life harder, or clear the field.



I've admittedly not played this one in my Cube yet, but Usman swears by it and I knew it was a winner the moment I saw it, only to have it validated by a ton of reps in FIC retail limited. In Cubes with a lower curve like yours, it's essentially a 1R draw two at instant speed, and can also pump most of the board when you need it. And who could forget my beloved Untimely Malfunction! Perhaps the most underrated card of last year.

Some other cool red instants and sorceries that are in my on-deck binder:

 

[Seeker]

If I'm going to Call Forth the Tempest I'd better also be Mizzix's Masterying, which sets up an expectation of Cruel Ultimatum, Magma Opus... That's a no, and not a yes, don't be fooled. But I'm tempted.

In return, just to make sure you saw it in the EOE spoilers - Molten Duplication may be one mana less, but the ceiling on Devastating Onslaught has got to be at least twice as fun.

Much more interested in Opera Love Song than most of the draw-twos because it lets you do stuff next turn by virtue of being an instant. Dead/Gone is fine, I guess, but it doesn't really... excite me. Which I guess is okay, so I'll at least consider that. Fire Magic is just a Pyroclasm but probably a bit better. Maybe I should make that swap.

 

[Zoss]

Fair Breach is a really good time; I'd like to pile on to the group suggesting it.

What about Saheeli, Sublime Artificer?



It's technically U/R, but it's perfectly legal to run in mono-R decks! Card's really really really good and can accidentally make some silly combos happen.





It's fun!



It's very strong! I don't like Foretell, but there's no denying that the card works.



Dunno how you feel about pump spells, but they're definitely exciting.



Maybe a little weak for you, but definitely something that encourages a different playstyle.



Look, I hate the exclamation point, but these are a major problem for opponents to deal with. Might be too much mana for your cube, though.

 

[Nanonox]

Saheeli is a great shout out. One I forgot



Descend is pretty open ended and the ETB is solid. The backside is fun if you get there!

 

[Seeker]

It's fun!

This. Right here. You're speaking MY LANGUAGE. Not that I'm going to add it, it's just fun as hell.

Delayed Blast Fireball's a great one I hadn't considered also - I think it's too durdly for Vintage cube and they should have removed it on MODO but I'm very from that power level so I think it's good. Saheeli, Sublime Artificer is already in, hiding under UR.

Everything else... eh, I worry that 0-1 people in a draft will want something like Fists of Flame and I try to aim for 1-2 most of the time, which is probably wrong. I'm not sure.

 

[Zoss]

Out of the combat tricks, that's probably the least fun...unless you're adding Wheel. In which case, hell yeah.

And sorry about missing Saheeli! Out of curiosity, why do you arrange things the way you do on CC--no distinction between instants and sorceries, multicolor cards in one big bucket, etc?

 

[Seeker]

Out of the combat tricks, that's probably the least fun...unless you're adding Wheel. In which case, hell yeah.

And sorry about missing Saheeli! Out of curiosity, why do you arrange things the way you do on CC--no distinction between instants and sorceries, multicolor cards in one big bucket, etc?

The long story short is that I am dumb and this inspired me to tinker further and find what I want. It's different now.

I'd prefer the multicolored to be sorted by color, but if you do "Color Category Full" instead of "Color Category" you get this:

and I don't know a way to collapse 13 totally unnecessary horizontal spaces into one normal vertical column without using "Color Category" to make them one homogeneous blob. That's the lesser of two evils.

As for creature/noncreature, honestly, I've always preferred it that way and just genuinely never given it a lick of thought. I don't hate changing that to Type... but also I'd still keep Stormchaser's Talent and Kumano Faces Kakkazan under creatures even if Esika's Chariot and Glimmer Lens aren't, because none of this is an exact science and I go on vibes. Glimmer Lens is totally getting moved right now to creatures.

...so I tried out changing it to Type and now I have two Esper Sentinels visible.

...But! Turns out that Types-Multicolored (what the hell is that as a name?) gets you exactly what I want - zero displayed duplicates, Esper Sentinel in with the creatures, one Multicolored column of 33 cards + the four companions in their own "hybrid" column (which is not mandatory, but does seem to make intellectual sense to me, because they are much more different-feeling)

 

[Seeker]

And the fond memories I have of playing with Temur Battle Rage in Constructed have me convinced that maybe I should try out Twinferno - I like trample, but I'd prefer to be able to give a 3/3 double strike when it does not have a larger friend or have a Fork buyout. Er, not Fork. Galvanic Iteration? What the heck is the generic name for that?

 

[Zoss]

The long story short is that I am dumb and this inspired me to tinker further and find what I want. It's different now.

No, please, by all means continue doing this! I asked because I was wondering what I was missing out on by not sorting things this way. If it's what works best for you, do it!

But yes, I change equipments and enchantments with prepackaged tokens to the creatures section too. That makes a ton of sense to me.

Glad you like Twinferno's vibes--I've been a big proponent of the card as a way to strap two situational effects together in Red.

 

[Chris Taylor]

And the fond memories I have of playing with Temur Battle Rage in Constructed have me convinced that maybe I should try out Twinferno - I like trample, but I'd prefer to be able to give a 3/3 double strike when it does not have a larger friend or have a Fork buyout. Er, not Fork. Galvanic Iteration? What the heck is the generic name for that?

Twinferno works super well with drakes style spells decks if you're into that:


Obv wide bredth of power level across these cards, mix and match as needed.
Personally I found the trample on Temur Battle Rage IS huge
Embercleave has the same text but incentivizes a very different thing

It's in a way worse color for this sort of deck, but berserk is actually sick for this sort of thing

 

[Seeker]

It's in a way worse color for this sort of deck, but berserk is actually sick for this sort of thing

Another card on the list of "I was not able to make this work in like 2014 so I assumed I couldn't make it work in 2025", but I am trying out Tifa Lockhart... it's more tempting than you'd think.

I did have Murktide Regent in before thinking that The Inevitable Durdle Blue Deck should have to work harder to kill their opponent, so it's not outside the realm of possibility.