Card/Deck Single Card Spotlight

[Velrun]

But yeah, that's one more reason I want to try this out, since I actually do run Demonic Pact in my cube! Also, fourth stax piece, after Smokestack, Braids, Cabal Minion, and Rankle, Master of Pranks. There's got to be a point where the density of this effect gets high enough for it to be legit, right?

Yes!!

At least the first half. I guess you need density in the ‘I gain value from being sacrificed’-department. In that department we can also find token producers etc.

What do you have there?

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Yes!!

At least the first half. I guess you need density in the ‘I gain value from being sacrificed’-department. In that department we can also find token producers etc.

What do you have there?

Anything that "makes" multiple "bodies" is good!

Spoiler

Plus a custom token maker (1W sorcery with rebound that makes a 1/1 prowess)

I also recently bought a Legion's Landing I'm planning to add.

 

[TrainmasterGT]

I'm really not into using one of my Gold slots on a Smokestack variant. I don't think 4 real enablers, almost all of which cost 4 mana, is really enough to make a deck work.

 

[Erik Twice]

I just don't think a cube needs more than two Smokestack effects and I don't see much of a reason to play a weaker gold card over the namesake card and Braids.

What can you tell me about this card? How swingy/baneslayery is it?

 

[Peter LaCara]

I just don't think a cube needs more than two Smokestack effects and I don't see much of a reason to play a weaker gold card over the namesake card and Braids.

What can you tell me about this card? How swingy/baneslayery is it?

That card is a Mulldrifter, not a Baneslayer. Most of its power is in its ETB. It's a great payoff for reanimation, ramp, or control. I know you're allergic to games ending, but a 5/6 flyer does a good job of closing games out once it hits the battlefield, which I don't think is unreasonable for a 7 mana creature.

 

[sigh]

I've run Angel of Serenity since my cubes inception, and it's always been a solid card. The fact that it is close to vanilla after the etb (mulldrifter as Peter says) really helps keep it strong but fair.

 

[Erik Twice]

That card is a Mulldrifter, not a Baneslayer. Most of its power is in its ETB. It's a great payoff for reanimation, ramp, or control. I know you're allergic to games ending, but a 5/6 flyer does a good job of closing games out once it hits the battlefield, which I don't think is unreasonable for a 7 mana creature.

It's mostly going to be cheated into play, so that's a bit why I'm asking. I want Reanimator to be more value/control focused but Massacre Wurm was too strong and I can't jam 10 Crater Hellions in my cube.

Even though I would love to, because Crater Hellion is awesome.

 

[Nanonox]

What I like most about Angel of Serenity is the amount of play it has.

Do you believe they have an answer for it? If so then is it a wrath (where you might want to save some creatures on the battlefield) or is it spot removal (in which case you want to keep your board presence and maybe get something from the GY)?
If they don't have removal, how much are you willing to gamble on your angel and clear their board?

It can also be used as GY hate in rare scenarios. All in all, great card!

 

[safra]

Angel of Serenity is, to me, the quintessential 'perfect' Cube white fattie. I will never cut it ever.

 

[Velrun]

Super agree; I too love the fattie.

 

[Erik Twice]

You guys convinced me, it's in!

 

[Chris Taylor]

I should probably put it in. Sentinel of the Eternal Watch isn't really that great.

And I did love it so much I made a 3 mana version.
Behold: the best fiend hunter ever:

 

[Mondschwein]

I actually never thought about two cards that I like pretty much in casual/pauper play:



Quite mana intensive, deals a bunch of damage to yourself if you'd like to use it as a board wipe, but it does have a lot of play to it, especially if you're opposing aggro and you're playing the control role. Being sacrificed if there are no creatures on the field means it's hard to abuse as a finisher that also kills everything your opponent is throwing to the table.

 

[Kirblinx]

I actually never thought about two cards that I like pretty much in casual/pauper play:

I've always been a big fan of:

in the Penny Pincher Cube. It gives that potential of a board sweeper and win condition in a single card that is easy enough to remove for the opponent. Pestilence doesn't usually do much the turn it comes down and it decently hard to interact with (especially if you have 1 large toughness creature).
Pyrohemia seems cool if you have a Dino/Enrage theme, as it is at least in those colours (I think Onder might have had it in his cube at one point). Otherwise red doesn't usually have the high toughness to abuse Pyrohemia, I would just stick with other damage sweepers like Sweltering Suns.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Pyrohemia seems cool if you have a Dino/Enrage theme, as it is at least in those colours (I think Onder might have had it in his cube at one point).

i have Pyrohemia in both of my cubes. It's gas! Besides enrage, it's also pretty cool in a more controlling red shell. Bonus points if you run Tamanoa or Purity in your cube

 

[Erik Twice]

All right I'm looking for BR cards that are good in either Reanimator or artifacts other than Daretti.

Any suggestions?

 

[Onderzeeboot]

All right I'm looking for BR cards that are good in either Reanimator or artifacts other than Daretti.

Any suggestions?

Which Daretti? There's two



Other than that, maybe one of these?

 

[Mondschwein]

Did anyone test this one? People have experience with Wildfire, Death Cloud and Tragic Arrogance and I wonder if this card plays in a similar way?

 

[Chris Taylor]

Costs more does less

 

[Mondschwein]

One of my favourite cards to play with in Constructed (just like Fact or Fiction) because it is so skill-testing, but how good is this card in Riptide Cube?

I think that it could generally be too good (reanimator piles with big guys and Unburial Rites, for example, or just searching for 4 really strong cards and getting 2 of them for 4 mana at instant speed - both scenarios sound pretty damn good to me) especially if I think about cutting FoF for being too good. You people already suggested Epiphany at the Drownyard and Fortune's Favor to me, which play very nicely in several decks, and I also added Pore Over the Pages and Moonlight Bargain as very interesting options. Other draw effects usually are cycling, cantrips, looting, look-at-x-cards-on-top-of-your-library-and-pick(sometimes a certain type of)-a-card, and remove-from-the-top-of-your-library-to-play-exiled-card(s)-until-eot-or-next-turn (red). I'm pretty happy with that, as raw card draw is very strong but also boring, while the aforementioned kinds of card draw are all better in certain types of decks (cycling.dec, reanimator, selfmill, permanent/spell heavy and aggressive decks), so it's not always an easy pick in draft.

I read some old posts of Grillo and RavebornMuse that mentioned something about blue draw being too good and followed that thought, and after what we got in 2019 (which was A LOT) I think we reached critical mass to have card draw distributed among all colours to a certain degree, each colour being the best at something else or tied for the best for certain types of decks (red and white for aggressive decks, for example).

 

[sigh]

It sounds like a non-reply, but if your players would enjoy playing it, play it. Its one of those cards that is very special and unique to the game, but because of that its also polarizing. Some playgroups love building weird decks with wacky piles and niche interactions, some just don't the same way.

Its not as good as FoF, but also better in more specific ways. I barely even count it as card draw, even though technically your hand size goes up. Again, it acts on a unique axis that some people love and some people just don't. As long as you have a few of those juicier GY interactions available, it should work just fine. In most cubes even the example of searching out rites + fatty... just isn't overbearing. Its solid, but reanimator could've reached that state any number of ways by turn 4-5. Well worth inclusion if someone can dream up some super wacky baron-style deck with some absurd piles

(if, again, your playgroup is amenable). ​

Overall, I think it improves blue card draw in that it operates with a very specific purpose in mind, as opposed to dumbly trying to increase hand size as most U draw does. And it doesn't really take up any archetype space thanks to its uniqueness.

Sultai GY Valuetown from CubeTutor.com

​

 

[japahn]

More or less on the same topic, I'm looking for a lower power replacement for Living Death. Only option I found was this:



Does anybody have experience with it? Feels like 6cc + setup is too much for the effect unless the deck is all in graveyard/dredge.

 

[Mondschwein]

Discard and Selfmill hold their own, if you run some incidental gy hate like Memory's Journey it can actually get a lot better.
Living Death is a wrath that can turn the game upside down, it's really a strong card, while Twilight's Call needs its symmetry to get broken, but it will reward you a lot.

I really like it.

 

[Dom Harvey]

If you're open to wackier options:

 

[ravnic]

More or less on the same topic, I'm looking for a lower power replacement for Living Death. Only option I found was this:



Does anybody have experience with it? Feels like 6cc + setup is too much for the effect unless the deck is all in graveyard/dredge.

I did the same replacement. Living Death just felt too unfair too often. Twilight's Call has the downside/upside, that you need to be much more committed for it to work out in your favor. That keeps people from picking it early, and in the last draft a newer player kept in the sideboard of their dredge deck (seemed to be a mistake for me). But so far I am not unhappy with it.