General Tapping archetype



This new card from MoM, might be the critical piece to unlocking a new archetype, or at least taking an existing one to a new level. It isn't a high powered archetype, but should fit into a lot of cubes in this forum.

Tl;dr
- A Boros archetype that isn't equipment matters
- Low to mid power level
- Bleeds into many different archetypes (Artifacts, Vehicles, Blink, Counters, Tokens, Ramp, Dwarf Tribal!?)
- Naturally works with games of MTG. No tappers? Just attack as a failsafe way to trigger your payoffs

Back to the Awakener. The floor is bad (3/2 for 3), but it scales very well. If you have any creatures lying around or have extra mana, you end up with a huge board. White already has access to these types of effects, but none of them with convoke, which makes it unique. The tokens it provides are like mini-Hellriders that push through damage when attacking, but also synergize really well with other convoke/tap cards.

Taping Enablers
Staying in Boros, we have a bunch of enablers like the Awakener (non-exhaustive list!)

Convoke
Converting creatures into mana is very powerful and can lead to explosive turns with multiple spells being cast.



Tapping abilities
These cards allow you to get extra value from tapping your creatures.



Vehicles
Vehicles are another surefire way to get your creatures tapped. They usually have decent stats and contribute to artifact density.



Activated abilities
Turns out, there is a tap ability in Magic! These work by themselves and with the payoffs from the next section.



Evasive threats
Attacking also taps creatures. So if you can land some evasive threats and swing, they will benefit from the payoffs. This is why I think this archetype has merit, it rewards you for doing something that is built into the game.


Tapping payoffs
Although most of the enablers are solid on their own, there are a few ways to go even deeper than the Awakener tokens.



Sanwell: A 3/1 with conditional protection and conditional card advantage. With a list dedicated to supporting artifacts, Sanwell becomes a lot less conditional and a potential powerhouse.

Magda: Also cares about artifacts and even produces some. Getting a Treasure for each attack or convoked spell is great ramp and maybe even dwarf tribal?!

Lulu: This one is pretty wild, but with Treasures from Magda, Fetchlands, Bouncelands, artifact trinkets, blink effects or bounce you get to trigger it fairly reliably and in a variety of ways. You also give your creatures pseudo vigilance and lean into +1/+1 counters. Really great blending of themes to let your drafters get creative.

Vanisher: Pretty sweet and open-ended blink enabler that conveniently triggers Lulu. I like that it encourages attacking if you don't have your tappers and the hybrid mana is always a plus in my book.

General: Another +1/+1 counter enabler, giving a lot of redundancy if you want to go that route.

Throne: Allows your surviving attacking creatures to dome the opponent or your convoke spells to close out a game.

Cross pollinisation
Although tapping creatures seems like a narrow theme, the payoffs are pretty open-ended, meaning you can slip them into other themes since creatures naturally tap themselves upon attack.

Blink
With Mistmeadow Vanisher and Lulu, Loyal Hollyphant, there is an incentive to add a blink theme.



I really like effects that can blink/bounce any type of permanent, since you can then get creative. Want to blink Sagas? Lands? Artifacts? Go for it!

Artifacts
This theme can go in several directions.
If you are blinking artifacts, then equipments that can be replayed for value rise in stock



You can also flood the board with artifact creatures for your payoffs.



A "fun" avenue to take the artifact theme is a stax deck.



The Aether Grid and Wire allow you to tap your artifacts, turning them off and only harming the opponent. The Grid is also a win condition so the games finish in a timely fashion. You can also go with Howling Mine and Genesis Chamber which benefit you instead of harming your opponents. Maybe this is a shell for Meria, Scholar of Antiquity to really shine in?

Tokens
The more fodder you have, easier it will be to use your convoke and tapping effects.



+1/+1 counters
With Lulu, General, Venerated Loxodon and Collective Effort, you have a strong basis for a +1/+1 counter deck.



Are all solid pieces that fit into the tapping theme too.

Dwarf tribal


And this is where we go off the deep end.

With Magda and Depala acting as incidental tribal lords and caring about artifacts, you can then add some more dwarfs that also care about artifacts (and to a lesser extent blink and counters).


Spells matter



Artifacts, dwarfs and vehicles tie nicely into a spells matter archetype.

Other colors

Green



Green has plenty of ways to tap things be it mana dorks or other effects. It naturally fits into White with Emmara, Soul of the Accord and Glare of Subdual. Meria, Scholar of Antiquity is an exciting build around for Gruul too.

Blue



Chief Engineer and Inspiring Statuary lean into the artifact theme allowing for some solid ramp. Convoke spells are more abundant thanks to the release of MoM. You even have stuff like Saheeli, Filigree Master and Shorikai, Genesis Engine to push the artifact theme even further.

Black



Sadly, other inspired cards haven't really impressed me, but Pain Seer and Macar both seem very reasonable for the archetype. Cryptbreaker taps itself and other zombies for profit which is exactly what we want.

I struggle to fluidly explain my thoughts, but hopefully this has some of you interested in exploring this tap archetype a little. I'd love to hear some suggestions and thoughts about this theme!
 
I like the way you think!
Other convoke cards will help, as will the Kyren negotiations mentioned above. I do miss one card in other colours (but it is not jank..)

Or the green white variant.

You made my day! This type of out of the box is what I like about magic and especially cube. Making these cards work is so much fun for the creator, the caster, and even the opponent!
 
I explored this "theme" some in my old peasant cube:
Ooh, I haven’t checked out the thread, I’ll take a look.
I didn’t know about the Curse, it could be a good fit.

I was exploring the combo aspect with the Engine and Alarm. They are certainly great build arounds, but maybe a bit too easy to abuse at lower power level.
There was also Grand Architect and Pili-Pala that would fit. Maybe some turbo mill with Mesmeric Orb.


If you are ok with playing some really bad cards, Inspired works with this as well!
I like where your heart is, but these are really atrocious. There’s a 2/2 bear that gains life when tapped too, but that just stalls out games more than anything.


I do miss one card in other colours (but it is not jank..)
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Good catch! Probably too strong for the power level I have in mind, but it’s a perfect
enabler.
I'm honestly a little surprised that no one has mentioned Vigilance yet
Vigilance is an interesting one. If you have the payoffs, it’s detrimental to tapping your creatures. On the flip side with only the enablers, it’s great at getting damage through and benefiting from the various effects.
Adding some would lead to some interesting decisions, I like it!
 
Think of vigilance as a payoff in the same sense as, say, Mistmeadow Vanisher. Normally, you have a choice each turn between attacking and using your tap enablers — vigilance lets you do both within the same turn.

...

On a related note, I'd argue that this card is actually a surprisingly potent enabler/payoff for the archetype:

 
In low power it is, yeah.

I don't think it's as good in fast formats, but that's more because it's easier to answer/get under/counter/outscale, not because it's any less miserable.
Only with army in a can type creatures and if the environment doesn't have a combo-tilt towards it. The more fair the cube, the more miserable the experience. Opposition into a Hermit is awful to play against.
Isn't this card completely busted?
I am surprised you find it busted. My cube has the dreaded combo of

but even that does not make it miserable/unbeatable. Could be due to the fact that the 580 cards are often used for 2/3 players (so it is rare to happen). Could be that a 4 mana card which can not kill the opponent and hence does not require an immediate answer and is a do nothing without many creatures (which also often happens with blue) is actually not that dangerous.

tldr: it all depends on the cube wether a card is too strong or not. I get away with many cards that would be way too strong in other cubes while my power level is quite low.
 

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
I like the way you think!
Other convoke cards will help, as will the Kyren negotiations mentioned above. I do miss one card in other colours (but it is not jank..)

Or the green white variant.

You made my day! This type of out of the box is what I like about magic and especially cube. Making these cards work is so much fun for the creator, the caster, and even the opponent!
There is a fairer variant in better colors!

 
I am surprised you find it busted. My cube has the dreaded combo of

but even that does not make it miserable/unbeatable. Could be due to the fact that the 580 cards are often used for 2/3 players (so it is rare to happen). Could be that a 4 mana card which can not kill the opponent and hence does not require an immediate answer and is a do nothing without many creatures (which also often happens with blue) is actually not that dangerous.

I don't think it's dangerous or really that powerful, just that the gameplay experience is miserable if your opponent curves out and feels like locking you out of mana from that point on.
 
I don't think it's dangerous or really that powerful, just that the gameplay experience is miserable if your opponent curves out and feels like locking you out of mana from that point on.
How is that even possible? You need 3+ creatures to do that.
 
It's really easy. You just need things that are capable of making multiple creatures for the price of one card:


In a lot of Boomer Vintage Cubes they also make it work using mana dorks:
Lots of those are more than 3 mana… or require something which has more than 3 mana.
 
Lots of those are more than 3 mana… or require something which has more than 3 mana.
Oh, you meant creatures that cost more than three? I was just showing cards that make multiple bodies for the price of one card.

Even so, there are a lot of cards which create multiple bodies for less than three mana:


There's just... a lot here.
 
Oh, you meant creatures that cost more than three? I was just showing cards that make multiple bodies for the price of one card.

Even so, there are a lot of cards which create multiple bodies for less than three mana:


There's just... a lot here.
True, but then:
Turn 1 one creature
Turn 2 one creature
Turn 3 two creatures (or switch with turn 2)
Turn 4 no creatures but opposition.
Is 4 weak creatures and an enchantment.
This is a Goldilocks situation. And assuming that the opponent does nothing. All I know is my cube, there
opposition is not a problem at all.
 
Look it's pretty rare for a 1-2 mana card to produce more than 1 permanent, but it's not impossible.

The problem with opposition isn't that your opponent gets locked out on T4, it's that your opponent can get locked out at all, ever
Yes, but to be honest if one gets locked out at turn 6 then well…
 
While I like the idea of this theme, I suspect that people will simply slam Wildfire Awaker whenever it fills their curve and then use the tokens for attacking.
 
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