Grillo_Parlante
Contributor
With all of those prowess cards, cruise should be pretty sick for U tempo.
The Dandy Cube (Chris Taylor's Cube)
- Thread starter Chris Taylor
- Start date
Chris Taylor
Contributor
Wait, is your Night's Whisper a black divination that gains two life for? That seems insane.
I like the custom prowess card rout for blue a lot. Jeskai Elder is probably fine as written, the one drop flier is super important. You could probably make the base body 1/1 flying. I think I like the design better then Delver, more play, less swingy.
Screeching Skaab does suck as written. You could give it a Sidsi-esque trigger (mill 2 when etb or attacks). Or just mill 4 to lower the amount of text.
It sure is insane. But then again, Divination is shit. I'm giving it a shot, but I think it'll be okay in that this is
A) a 2-for-1 that doesn't affect the board, and
B) a small enough amount of lifegain so as to not blank a whole attack step, but part of one. Stem the bleeding, not time walk.
Delver has the problem of being really swingy sure, but it's compounded here in that I really can't bring myself to turn all the enchantment/artifact/planeswalkers into instants and sorceries so they play better with it and young pyromancer. Oblivion Ring to Council's Judgement sure, but what am I doing for pacifism? God what am I doing for Ajani Goldmane?
I do like the blue 1 drop prowess creature I have here (Images up in a bit, I promise) but I've noticed I am leaning hard on that theme. There's a distinct possability I need to include something in that damn blue section that doesn't tell you to jam 10-15 instants/sorceries
1/1 flying would work, but I really like the 2 toughness on monastery swiftspear because it has a nice tension moment when you swing into a grizzly bear with it. I don't run a lot of instants. Do they have it?
Interesting idea on the Sidisi trigger. That's really tempting actually, I'm not sure if I like that or the Taigam's Scheming trigger more!
The big problem I have with this card right now is that the green self mill support card (2/1 grisly salvage) is just WAAAAAAAY better.
Maybe he doesn't need a body.
How about running a more fair, easier to cast cruise?
Pirate's Plunder 4U
Delve
Draw 2 cards.
Pirate's Plunder 4U
Delve
Draw 2 cards.
Chris Taylor
Contributor
I actually think cruise will be fine. I think the problem (if there is one) is that too many creatures have prowess, so the other decks might suffer.
Chris Taylor
Contributor
She made them all. My god she made them all. Every single one. Every custom card in my cube.
She even made these for the cards that likely won't be unproxied anytime soon:
(That is the most safe for work lilianna of the veil proxy I could find. Sweet Jesus)
That is the most insanely cool christmas gift I've ever recieved. I have the best wife ever
She even made these for the cards that likely won't be unproxied anytime soon:
That is the most insanely cool christmas gift I've ever recieved. I have the best wife ever
FlowerSunRain
Contributor
Until you add your next custom card at least =)
Chris Taylor
Contributor
Yeah, she's gotten really good at it. I've managed to convince her that this doesn't need to be done every time something new comes in or changes.
That would be insane
Chris Taylor
Contributor
Yeah I ended up running that same version. Not running lili right now now.
Questions:
How are Road of the Lion and Pure Return?
How are Operation Table and Idea Plant?
Misthollow Steed is sweet, but how often is it cast from exile? Am I missing some interactions?
How is Reaping Scythe?
How is Nullstone Monolith?
Golden Borderpost looks too good, I think I'm gonna add it.
Questions:
How are Road of the Lion and Pure Return?
How are Operation Table and Idea Plant?
Misthollow Steed is sweet, but how often is it cast from exile? Am I missing some interactions?
How is Reaping Scythe?
How is Nullstone Monolith?
Golden Borderpost looks too good, I think I'm gonna add it.
Chris Taylor
Contributor
Roar of the Lion and Pure Return haven't been tested yet, haven't cubed since September
Roar I'm much less confident in (It will likely be replaced, but I can't really think of a good white proliferate spell. Maybe I don't need one? Ajani Goldmane is probably the most broken thing to combine with volt charge and co.
Idea Plant has been strong, but not too much so, a real solid pick. Super sweet prowess card.
Operation Table is alright, but blue is a much less apt home for the sacrifice deck so it sees less play. When it does it's good though.
She is brand spanking new, as of about 2 days ago actually, so I have no idea
Current list of interactions include scavenging ooze, Stitched Drake and Delve (Murderous Cut and soon to be treasure cruise). This is something I'm hoping to expand on, but I'm not sure where to go right now without any playtesting.
Midrangey. It's alright, and provides some pump and resiliency to aggro decks at a palatable cost. Nobody's gone full on shriekmaw with it yet
Freeking amazing. Pithing Needle is a really good cube effect, but it does need to do something else, and tapping for a colorless is basically perfect. I love hitting planeswalkers with it, I love hitting birthing pod with it, I love hitting Equipment with it, and I love the look on my opponent's face when I blind hit the grafted wargear they have in their hand
It plays very similarly to cultivate, so your mileage may vary. I never found cultivate to be my favorite ramp spell, my cube tended to favor the faster but card disadvantage kind like farseek, so this hasn't made any waves at all.
That being said, it's much better than cultivate (Costs colorless, draw instead of lay of the land, can switch out the color of mana it finds, unaffected by wildfire, etc)
I was going to ask if you had put in a ring on it, but quite clearly, you have.
Chris Taylor
Contributor
So...I feel a bit silly
Votes for your favorite?
Also: Lucas/Eric/Anyone else in toronto: Wanna cube tonight? I'll be at 401 at around 6ish, I forgot I don't have eric on facebook
Votes for your favorite?
Also: Lucas/Eric/Anyone else in toronto: Wanna cube tonight? I'll be at 401 at around 6ish, I forgot I don't have eric on facebook
Chris Taylor
Contributor
Cube night was amazing! I forgot how much I loved doing this, and I think I even inspired some people who played to start cubes of their own
Drafted with 6 people: RB Gravecrawler (3-0), GW Double Strike (2-1), UW Humans, (1-2), Junk Pod (1-2), RU Prowess (2-1), and GUB Ambition (0-3, This guy had dark confidant, shocks and fetches, and basically half killed himself each game. Lots of value though)
Highlights:
-Holy Bajesus Travel Preperations is insane. I think I might add the real version instead of the mono white version I have in now, even with flashback the card is insane.
-My ophidian equipment (Linky) has done a lot more than I ever wanted it to, and probably needs scaling back. I don't think I've ever seen curiosity be good, but it's probably better than I'm giving it credit for.
-The seemingly random creature types on my custom cards mean there's a lot of overlap with the champion of the parish crowd and the seeker of the way crowd
-Riverwheel Aprentice should probably be a 1/1, but the difference isn't huge. Swiftspear has actually been the better card, mostly because of how lovely and consistent burn is.
-My little misthollow gryphon (seen here) might be a bit too far of a stretch. He's little more than a bear. Might need to go
-My super broken night's whisper that gains life instead was actually pretty fair. It's a strong card, no doubt, but it doesn't affect the board at all and sometimes that's a liability. I've got 4 copies in right now to make damn sure they got their testing in, so that might come down. The card plays nicely, just someone having 4 of them in a deck might be a bit much.
Pod deck was probably my favorite:
Fate Reforged Specific Highlights:
Shu Yun is a LOT of damage if he doesn't die. He kinda playes like geist of st traft, but without hexproof. I think he and a hero of oxid ridge swung for 28 one game.
-Brutal Hordechief is a solid man. I never activated him since crawler decks are basically full of mana sinks, but if I'd ever had a board get even slightly out of control, he would have been insane. Lifegain part is super relavant
This guy is totally fine. He's both better and worse than hero of oxid ridge, probaby worse than hellrider, but hellrider doesn't synergize with anything so he can go.
This card got run in the RU prowess deck, but that was probably the wrong call. The Dragons mode is the worst wrath insurence ever by the way.
I think if you want this card, a second copy of Chandra Pyromaster will serve you much better, and she's nowhere near broken.
I'm impressed by this guy. Really solid turn 3 play, dash is nice lategame, and he can get real out of hand if not removed. However, 2 toughness is enough of a liability that it isn't broken. Highly recommend this guy.
I'm leaning more and more toward this being better than chandra's phoenix. That might have a little to do with my red 4 drop section being more and more 4/2s instead of hellriders and keldon champions, but I think I like this card enough to make that swap even if I wasn't in love with Flametounge Kavu, Hero of Oxid Ridge and Shaman of the great hunt. Might go up to 2 copies.
My wife (GW Double strike) had so much success with both Vines of Vastwood and Emerge Unscathed last night that this might be worth a shot. 2 is certainly more than 1, but the removal mode isn't nothing either. Will test.
Drafted with 6 people: RB Gravecrawler (3-0), GW Double Strike (2-1), UW Humans, (1-2), Junk Pod (1-2), RU Prowess (2-1), and GUB Ambition (0-3, This guy had dark confidant, shocks and fetches, and basically half killed himself each game. Lots of value though)
Highlights:
-Holy Bajesus Travel Preperations is insane. I think I might add the real version instead of the mono white version I have in now, even with flashback
the card is insane.-My ophidian equipment (Linky) has done a lot more than I ever wanted it to, and probably needs scaling back. I don't think I've ever seen curiosity be good, but it's probably better than I'm giving it credit for.
-The seemingly random creature types on my custom cards mean there's a lot of overlap with the champion of the parish crowd and the seeker of the way crowd
-Riverwheel Aprentice should probably be a 1/1, but the difference isn't huge. Swiftspear has actually been the better card, mostly because of how lovely and consistent burn is.
-My little misthollow gryphon (seen here) might be a bit too far of a stretch. He's little more than a bear. Might need to go
-My super broken night's whisper that gains life instead was actually pretty fair. It's a strong card, no doubt, but it doesn't affect the board at all and sometimes that's a liability. I've got 4 copies in right now to make damn sure they got their testing in, so that might come down. The card plays nicely, just someone having 4 of them in a deck might be a bit much.
Pod deck was probably my favorite:
Fate Reforged Specific Highlights:
Shu Yun is a LOT of damage if he doesn't die. He kinda playes like geist of st traft, but without hexproof. I think he and a hero of oxid ridge swung for 28 one game.
-Brutal Hordechief is a solid man. I never activated him since crawler decks are basically full of mana sinks, but if I'd ever had a board get even slightly out of control, he would have been insane. Lifegain part is super relavant
This guy is totally fine. He's both better and worse than hero of oxid ridge, probaby worse than hellrider, but hellrider doesn't synergize with anything so he can go.
This card got run in the RU prowess deck, but that was probably the wrong call. The Dragons mode is the worst wrath insurence ever by the way.
I think if you want this card, a second copy of Chandra Pyromaster will serve you much better, and she's nowhere near broken.
I'm impressed by this guy. Really solid turn 3 play, dash is nice lategame, and he can get real out of hand if not removed. However, 2 toughness is enough of a liability that it isn't broken. Highly recommend this guy.
I'm leaning more and more toward this being better than chandra's phoenix. That might have a little to do with my red 4 drop section being more and more 4/2s instead of hellriders and keldon champions, but I think I like this card enough to make that swap even if I wasn't in love with Flametounge Kavu, Hero of Oxid Ridge and Shaman of the great hunt. Might go up to 2 copies.
My wife (GW Double strike) had so much success with both Vines of Vastwood and Emerge Unscathed last night that this might be worth a shot. 2 is certainly more than 1, but the removal mode isn't nothing either. Will test.
FlowerSunRain
Contributor
Emerge Unscathed is the best card no one (except us) plays!
Chris Taylor
Contributor
Maybe. As I learned with shelter, the protection spells that cost 2 are a big change from costing 1. The counter plays in nicely with a bunch of cards, but it might be worse than drawing a card on the whole?
The main reason I'm excited about valerous stance is the removal mode (Also wrath protection)
Chris Taylor
Contributor
i like this one a lot more than i thought i would
Which I love slightly less than emerge unscathed
Prowess so stronk
Chris Taylor
Contributor
Okay, someone drop me the skinny: How are you guys marking which cards are custom on cubetutor? I can't figure it out!
How do I colour code the tags in my cube?
Colour coding the tags in your cube has a couple of uses. Firstly it adds a key to your View List page so that you can quickly see which cards are tagged at a glance, for example see Ben's Cube. Secondly the rows on your Edit List page will also appear with the coloured highlight. To colour code your tags simple visit My Account and set tag colours under My Cubes.
Colour coding the tags in your cube has a couple of uses. Firstly it adds a key to your View List page so that you can quickly see which cards are tagged at a glance, for example see Ben's Cube. Secondly the rows on your Edit List page will also appear with the coloured highlight. To colour code your tags simple visit My Account and set tag colours under My Cubes.
Chris Taylor
Contributor
Perfect! Thanks eric
I'm usually following his feature releases like a hawk but for some reason this just passed me by. Feels strange looking at all that green
I'm usually following his feature releases like a hawk but for some reason this just passed me by. Feels strange looking at all that green
Chris Taylor
Contributor
New Patch:
Out:
In:
Custom Card changes are coming in a sec, I've gotta get them all uploaded, but for now, let's talk
White:
I removed the second bestow savannah lions, one of the mono white travel preparations, and my stupid flashback proliferate spell (2, flashback 5, +1/+1 counter then proliferate).
I've noticed I've got a lot of custom cards and a lot of double/triples of existing cards. While I'm all for shaping an environment, I also want some variety in my cube, so I'm cutting back where I can, and Bestow Savannah Lions just isn't interesting enough to keep his spot.
You know what is? Amrou Scout that finds humans! Two of those are coming in, thank you FSR for the wonderful idea I so blatantly stole.
Blue:
Lots of blue cards are changing here. I've swapped over to phantasmal bear as my 1 drop of choice since it doesn't rely on other cards to be worth playing, and seeing if Wind Zendion is alright given that prowess is a thing. It's not really a 1 drop, but it's interesting nonetheless
Many self mill cards came out for more generic powerful cards at the same CMC, which I hope will help people feel less forced into prowess when they draft blue but don't open consecrated sphinx.
I'd said earlier I was worried that people would feel forced into prowess since so many cards in my blue section featured the mechanic, but as well so many other cards were almost non-picks. Cards like Hedron Crab, Stitched Drake and the Custom Screeching Skaab just didn't compete with other cards in my cube due to the work in to power out ratio they had.
As you can see, Man-o'-War makes a triumphant return, and I hope he causes disappointment in those who play 5 drops and tokens far and wide. I've considered adding AEther Adept in place of one of them (We do have a new human based rebel being added after all) but I'm holding off for now. The less tricky things rebels make you play around the better, as Andy Cooperfaus describes a moment in his cube where someone was considering what an open Defiant Falcon could find: Fiend Hunter, AEther Adept, Oblivion Ring and Leonin Relic-Warder were all on that list.
Custom cards coming in are mostly inspired by frost titan's shroud-esque ability: We have a 2/1 shadow that forces them to pay 2, and a 2/2 that gives all your creatures a pay 1 variant. The 2/1 shadow is likely too strong, as there hasn't even been a shroud unblockable creature yet, but I'm willing to try.
Black:
My Night's Whisper that gains life has proven strong as people worried, but not enough to cut entirely. I'm leaving 2 copies in, the full 4 in a control deck would have proved quite annoying. Other than that my 2/1 undying received a slight nerf: it now produces the standard 2/2 black zombie tapped when it dies, as it was a bit too strong a blocker in control decks.
I've also added perhaps the cutest custom card in a long while: Unstoppable, a variant of undying evil that can give the creature persist instead. I basically wanted undying evil, but with all the +1/+1 counters going around it was an even more unreliable spell than it was normally. While there are some somewhat unintuitive cards it doesn't work well with (Strangleroot geist), I think this should work out much better.
Red:
Red is actually just trying out FRF cards mostly. I've never needed many custom cards with red (Outside of the aggressive 1 drops, but even then these days it's getting better).
We even get a fun new engine card that needs barely any support: Alesha, who can bring back Mulldrifters and Bone Shredders just as well as Gore-House Chainwalkers and Goblin Rabblemasters.
The most drastic change actually is cutting goblin bombardment! It's just a bit too efficient in doing the gravecrawler dance, so I'm preferring blasting station more and more, which both plays much more fairly against graveyard hate cards like hallowed burial and being colorless.
When I cut all the broken artifacts and enchantments (and most of the naturalizes because of this) I never thought I'd be putting Coalition Relic and Goblin Bombardment in the same category!
Green:
Green is odd, I feel like everything in the section is either farseek or a card that goes in a deck with farseek
The increased color consistency that comes from 4 farseeks rather than farseek, explore and edge of autumn is quite nice, but I feel like the color doesn't do anything else. Perhaps that's not actually a problem, as people seem to love it anyways, and the few cards that aren't farseek related (mostly double strike/+1/+1 counter support) all see tons of play.
Still, I worry. This section would be a full 10 cards short of the others if I didn't force myself to add some sweet cards. Shame I sold my primal command.
New Custom card album up soon!
Out:
In:
Custom Card changes are coming in a sec, I've gotta get them all uploaded, but for now, let's talk
White:
I removed the second bestow savannah lions, one of the mono white travel preparations, and my stupid flashback proliferate spell (2, flashback 5, +1/+1 counter then proliferate).
I've noticed I've got a lot of custom cards and a lot of double/triples of existing cards. While I'm all for shaping an environment, I also want some variety in my cube, so I'm cutting back where I can, and Bestow Savannah Lions just isn't interesting enough to keep his spot.
You know what is? Amrou Scout that finds humans! Two of those are coming in, thank you FSR for the wonderful idea I so blatantly stole.
Blue:
Lots of blue cards are changing here. I've swapped over to phantasmal bear as my 1 drop of choice since it doesn't rely on other cards to be worth playing, and seeing if Wind Zendion is alright given that prowess is a thing. It's not really a 1 drop, but it's interesting nonetheless
Many self mill cards came out for more generic powerful cards at the same CMC, which I hope will help people feel less forced into prowess when they draft blue but don't open consecrated sphinx.
I'd said earlier I was worried that people would feel forced into prowess since so many cards in my blue section featured the mechanic, but as well so many other cards were almost non-picks. Cards like Hedron Crab, Stitched Drake and the Custom Screeching Skaab just didn't compete with other cards in my cube due to the work in to power out ratio they had.
As you can see, Man-o'-War makes a triumphant return, and I hope he causes disappointment in those who play 5 drops and tokens far and wide. I've considered adding AEther Adept in place of one of them (We do have a new human based rebel being added after all) but I'm holding off for now. The less tricky things rebels make you play around the better, as Andy Cooperfaus describes a moment in his cube where someone was considering what an open Defiant Falcon could find: Fiend Hunter, AEther Adept, Oblivion Ring and Leonin Relic-Warder were all on that list.
Custom cards coming in are mostly inspired by frost titan's shroud-esque ability: We have a 2/1 shadow that forces them to pay 2, and a 2/2 that gives all your creatures a pay 1 variant. The 2/1 shadow is likely too strong, as there hasn't even been a shroud unblockable creature yet, but I'm willing to try.
Black:
My Night's Whisper that gains life has proven strong as people worried, but not enough to cut entirely. I'm leaving 2 copies in, the full 4 in a control deck would have proved quite annoying. Other than that my 2/1 undying received a slight nerf: it now produces the standard 2/2 black zombie tapped when it dies, as it was a bit too strong a blocker in control decks.
I've also added perhaps the cutest custom card in a long while: Unstoppable, a variant of undying evil that can give the creature persist instead. I basically wanted undying evil, but with all the +1/+1 counters going around it was an even more unreliable spell than it was normally. While there are some somewhat unintuitive cards it doesn't work well with (Strangleroot geist), I think this should work out much better.
Red:
Red is actually just trying out FRF cards mostly. I've never needed many custom cards with red (Outside of the aggressive 1 drops, but even then these days it's getting better).
We even get a fun new engine card that needs barely any support: Alesha, who can bring back Mulldrifters and Bone Shredders just as well as Gore-House Chainwalkers and Goblin Rabblemasters.
The most drastic change actually is cutting goblin bombardment! It's just a bit too efficient in doing the gravecrawler dance, so I'm preferring blasting station more and more, which both plays much more fairly against graveyard hate cards like hallowed burial and being colorless.
When I cut all the broken artifacts and enchantments (and most of the naturalizes because of this) I never thought I'd be putting Coalition Relic and Goblin Bombardment in the same category!
Green:
Green is odd, I feel like everything in the section is either farseek or a card that goes in a deck with farseek
The increased color consistency that comes from 4 farseeks rather than farseek, explore and edge of autumn is quite nice, but I feel like the color doesn't do anything else. Perhaps that's not actually a problem, as people seem to love it anyways, and the few cards that aren't farseek related (mostly double strike/+1/+1 counter support) all see tons of play.
Still, I worry. This section would be a full 10 cards short of the others if I didn't force myself to add some sweet cards. Shame I sold my primal command.
New Custom card album up soon!