Card/Deck Tappers

Eric Chan

Eric Chan

Hyalopterous Lemure
Staff member


Tappers in white are traditionally pretty (read: extremely) annoying in Limited, but are next to unplayable in Constructed. Do they do anything in cube?

Lawkeeper keeps bouncing in and out of my list, but I never really paid attention to whether he was worthwhile when he was around.
 
Konge

Konge

I started our cube (360) off with both, then moved down to one, then to zero. They aren't as impressive as I want them to be. Considering how much our group loves Icy, I am surprised they never worked out, but they just don't play very well.
 
CML

CML

Contributor
Icy strikes me as SUPER unplayable if these guys don't get it done. Towards the other end of the power spectrum, I have had serious problems balancing Glare of Subdual and my Opposition to Opposition is well-known. i imagine my struggles with power-level are shared by Wizards, too, as they're incapable of making a tapper that's not a premium draft common (Avacynian Priest, Minister of Impediments) or a giant piece of shit (Loxodon Mystic, Ephara's Warden). i will throw out some ideas

some lists have azorius guildmage, but, it is bad imo
Minister of Impediments is from the same set and likely not good enough (though its activation cost of 0 makes it preferable to Harrier variants, IMO)
Ballynock Trapper is in a similar vein and is from the best set ever
flood and its successor cephalid retainer have been suggested
anyone ever try deathbringer liege? card is sweet #teameventide
dispatch (just typing this one out to remind myself Metalcraft portended Devotion)
Hands of binding (nobody ever tried this, did they? it's just bad, right?)
fire / ice (kinda free-associating at this point due to imprecise magiccards.info search)
leonin bola was an excellent common in that ugly if underrated draft format, MD5
master of arms lol wtf is this design
mind over matter along with invoke prejudice turns on the sea god by itself
nomad decoy is a sweet card and i always wanted it to work
ral zarek is one of my faves
rishadan port might force me to rename the funsies land draft
scepter of dominance should be tried
somnophore was purchased with a CML allowance once ca. 1999
tamiyo, the moon sage and ajani vengeant tap stuff, sorta
tidebinder mage is probably not worth it due to UU cost / not fitting anywhere / sucking when it doesn't hose
tumble magnet was a constructed house for a little while, but this was mainly because everyone had an offense consisting of attacking with one guy at a time

looks like we're SOL but if i had to guess i'd say tumble magnet is the most encouraging of the shit here i unearthed
 
Jason Waddell

Jason Waddell

Administrator
Staff member
Well, the best thing about Tumble Magnet was that it required no mana to activate, which was pretty important. I actually ran it until recently, and would say it's fairly cubeable. Far more palatable than Icy Manipulator, in my opinion.
 
Konge

Konge

I'll keep an eye oon it; frankly, I can't really remember the last time it got used to great effect. Tumble magnet was always decent, and might fit better into the faster and more powerful cube we have today. But the 3 charges came up far too often before, so it got the axe while Icy stayed in.
 
James Stevenson

James Stevenson

Steamflogger Boss
Staff member
Eric Chan said:
Click to expand...


I ran these guys until recently. Actually I always thought they were amazing. they did so much good work for me when I drafted them. They got my guys through all the time and tapped down threats n shit and it was pretty gravy. But I wanted to downsize and had to cut something.
 
Jason Waddell

Jason Waddell

Administrator
Staff member
Konge said:
I'll keep an eye oon it; frankly, I can't really remember the last time it got used to great effect. Tumble magnet was always decent, and might fit better into the faster and more powerful cube we have today. But the 3 charges came up far too often before, so it got the axe while Icy stayed in.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I think the faster your environment is, the more Tumble Magnet gains over Icy. So many of our games come down to tempo, and being able to deploy and protect something like a PW on Turn 4 can make a huge difference.
 
CML

CML

Contributor
i agree that 3 charge counters is also horseshit, but, it is a lesser horseshit than the damn 1 mana cost. are we running barrage of expendables or goblin bombardment!

fwiw magnet was not really passed in Scars block draft either, which was known for, if nothing else, long games where players ran out of charge counters
 
CML

CML

Contributor
what a pleasure it was to tap the suited-up hawk or titan .. and board it out immediately in the latter case after probably losing g1 anyway
 
Eric Chan

Eric Chan

Hyalopterous Lemure
Staff member
Tumble Magnet! I remember I had that in the very first iteration of my cube, and... it wasn't horrible. Maybe I'll give it a try again.

I actually slotted Scepter of Dominance into my cube a good half dozen times, in my desperate attempts to boost white control, and every time I came away disappointed. Even a three mana Icy Manipulator can't cut it anymore.
 
Lucre

Lucre

Part 1:
I dig your human one, I saw that being super relevant in a lot of games Eric. You have more creature battles and more graveyard relevance than many environments so it's stock goes up. Like many cards I just wish it had kicker or cycling. Oh well!

Part 2:
I think tapping is a surprisingly strong removal type and I really have a love hate relationship with how it hurts the graveyard. I also really love how it allows cards like Bob to go a little further.

Part3:
I want my tappers to hit lands. I'm that kind of jerk. I like when I can fuck with my opponents tempo and the fundamentals of the way the game is playing out. I am really into cards like wildfire too, and while not so much into orb, I find tangle wire is super sweet. I do think that having a permanent that creates a dulling effect on your opponent's board is super stifling to new players and hurts morale. It might not be as exciting as cards like geddon and is more of a chronic pain that can also be used more discriminantly and consistently it's a tough call for fun factor to me.
 
Jason Waddell

Jason Waddell

Administrator
Staff member
I think the most casual-devastating cube play I made was T1 Bitterblossom -> T2 Smokestack in my unpowered cube. I haven't seen that guy play Magic since, even though he has binders and binders full of women cards.

EDIT: WTF am I doing in this thread?
 
Eric Chan

Eric Chan

Hyalopterous Lemure
Staff member


The more I think about it, the more I want to try a Minister of Impediments, maybe over the Curse of Chains I have. Does this sound janky? Or something that might be halfway decent?
 
Chris Taylor

Chris Taylor

Contributor
Tappers are removal spells which synergize with other removal spells (If you bonfire out your oppoent, the next guy they have just gets tapped), but are weak to removal spells (Since you can just kill the tapper and get your guy back)

Honestly I think the best one of these for actually removing creatures is actually Martial Law, since it works on both offense and defense, nothing kills enchantments, it doesn't cost mana to use, and it plays well with sweepers (Unlike most creature tappers, who typically die to a stiff breeze)

That being said, I still don't run law. There is something to be said about the colorlessness of Icy Manipulator, but not much
 
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