The Treasures and Trinkets cube (tnt)

[tfresor]

Welcome to the Treasures and Trinkets Cube​

Hello all! This is the start of my thread for the Treasures and Trinkets cube (tnt). With tnt I wanted to create a lower-power environment filled with interconnected graveyard and artifact strategies. The power level is not totally solidified, but I think it sits around a Strix 4. I've broken singleton for just a single card for now, Ash Barrens, and I have included custom cards, but only to complete the missing half of the cycling dual lands. At the moment I don't plan to break singleton on any other cards or to use custom cards for anything other than completing land cycles.

The biggest theme/archetype across the entire cube, and my favorite, is the "junk" package. "Junk" refers here not to the color combination but to the u/g draft archetype from MH2. I've included many cards that I think are reasonable within the cube's power level and focus on the creation of food, clues, treasure, thopters tokens, (and a multitude of other artifact tokens) and I'm always on the lookout for more exciting "junk" cards. Here are some of the highlights in the cube so far:


Aside from the "junk" archetype, I'm trying to cultivate other archetypes that also span across multiple colors and cross-pollinate with each other. Some of these include:
• Madness
• Discard matters
• Artifact Aggro
• Food
• Aristocrats
• Modular
• Self-bin reanimator (currently lacking a sufficient number of reanimation spells)
There are also some single-card archetypes and build arounds like Birthing Pod and Emry, Lurker of the Loch.

I'll try to keep this thread updated with the larger changes I make and hopefully will also use it to get ideas/criticism from you all, and as a send-off for this first post here's a picture that happened in a tnt game:


After this, the two treasures from dispute and ghast were used to cast another creature and generate even more cardboard from Bygone Bishop and Manufacturer.

 

[blacksmithy]

this looks cool as heck, love these themes

 

[tfresor]

Hello All! I've made some minor changes to the list that I'll outline later, until then here are some decklists from recent pancake drafts.
Match One Decks:

Enjie's 4 color reanimator

This deck seemed really fun, dread return is a recent addition (hopefully not too powerful). I want to find a way to fit unburial rites into the list list, I think it's the perfect power level for another reanimation spell. This deck won game 1 with some super powerful token production through Manufactoror, but couldn't close out games 2 or 3.

Tfresor's Rakdos discard(?)

I think this deck suffered a little from being pulled between madness and sacrifice. Game 1 I drew a progression of synergy pieces that all failed to jell well with each other. Recently added Rose Room Treasure performed reasonably well.

Match Two Decks:

tbo's Jund Aggro

Tbo said that they thought this deck would have performed better in a more traditional cube environment because its creature-based aggro strategy didn't line up well with the non-interactive wins and engines that a lot of the decks in the format are capable of.

Tfresor's Rakdos Sac

I'm curious about how good arcbound crusher is. I didn't draw it during any of the games. I think Marrionete Master is on the shortlist of dangerously powerful cards, it just wins so quickly if unanswered. this list won 2-0 over the Jund aggro list.

Match Three Decks:

tbo's Revillark.dec

This list lost, but the games were close, the green/white recursion package, particularly revillark, is another group of cards that I'm keeping an eye on for being too good.

Tfresor's Izzet Artifacts

Game 3 of the match involved a rock being thrown for lethal and a Ribbons cast off of Spire of Industry and a treasure. 2-1 over the revillark deck

 

[tfresor]

Super quick changelog as I’ve done a bit of tinkering over the weekend:

Bicycle land Proxies > Enemy Temples: This change is mostly aesthetic and likely impermanent.


Trash for treasure >Rose Room Treasurer
Back for More> Dread Return
Call of the Herd> Masked Vandal
Thought Scour > Brainstorm
Soul Transfer > Fatal Push
Migratory Route > Master of Death
Sram’s Expertise > Late to Dinner
Thopter Foundry > Unburial Rites
Saheeli, Sublime artificer > Galazeth Prismari
Bridge from Below > Murderous cut
The Mending of Dominaria > Fae Offering
Seize the Spoils > Cathartic Pyre

With these changes, I'm mostly attempting to up the removal count and the reanimation spell count. There are also some cards that weren't performing well or weren't being taken/built around that I'm taking out (Call of the Herd, Back for More, Soul Transfer).
Some more specific swaps:
• Thought Scour is out because I didn't like having two almost identical cards with it and Mental Note
• Master of Death is getting a test as a third Squee, Goblin Nabob/Ovalchase Daredevil.
• Galazeth is in and is the change I'm most excited for, having only one walker bothered me aesthetically and I think since Galazeth has treasure synergy, is a good beater, and has super powerful synergy with X spells it will be more fun.
• Fae Offering is in because a friend said it performed well for them during a 7 person draft we had done a few weeks ago.

I also thought I'd write out a list of cards I have my eye on that seem potentially too powerful:
• Revillark: In a cube where it can return almost every creature and there is a multitude of ways to return it it's pretty disgusting.
• Marionette Master: I'm not sure the player who cast this has ever not won the game a turn or two later.
• Lethal Scheme: Generally I'm of the opinion that good removal will make the format better, but this card might do a little bit too much.
• Birthing Pod: It might not be quite as good if revillark gets cut but the amount of value you can generate off this if you have Saffi/Renegade Rallier is scary.
• Saffi, Eriksdotter: It just loops so easily with many different cards and often makes removal feel pointless.

 

[astraedm]

First off, thank you for showing me that Lethal Scheme exists. I completely missed it and it's the easiest slam dunk into my cube in a very long time. We seem to have very similar tastes, up to and including the first iteration of my 450 cube having 8 copies of ash barrens! Will be watching your thread to see what you come up with

 

[tfresor]

It's been almost half a year since I posted here so I thought I would summarize my changes in a couple of spoiler tabs and offer some thoughts on particular things that have stood out most to me as I've updated the cube.
without further ado here are the extensive change lists:

Spoiler: In

The cards I put in fit a couple of categories, the non-green sections are focused on bolstering up the overall power level of the cube, while the green cards are looking to create a new "tokens matter" archetype in green. I've struggled a bit with the identity of green in the cube initially attempting to push it in a counters direction to compliment modular, then focusing only on the graveyard aspects in that color. From the drafts I've conducted thus far with the tokens matter theme in green, I think it's the perfect archetype to get artifact-matters cross synergy into the color. I'm a little concerned about the power level of Jan Jansen and I wouldn't be surprised if he was cut in the future. I was initially concerned about Golos, however, I think the amount of artifact/enchantment destruction in the cube seems to keep him in check. My favorite card from the update has to be Noble’s Purse. The pure output of cardboard that it's capable of generating really puts other mana rocks to shame.

Spoiler: Out

The cards I've taken out are cards I felt were underperforming, or cards I disliked the play patterns of (Gadrak is too good and also just is a boring 5/4 flyer for 3) I finally cut Marionette Master as sad as it is the card was just too game breaking in the environment.

I have yet to update the cube with any DMU cards, and have really been struggling to identify ones that I would like to try (maybe Serra Paragon? since it seems Inscho has been enjoying it). I'm definitely interested in hearing suggestions of cards that others think might fit into the format. I'm planning to do a major overhaul of the cube with the release of Brothers' War, which I hope will bring a few more goodies than DMU. I also have my eyes on attractions from Unfinity and probably will add some of the 40k cards (although I haven't parsed the card list too closely).

From an overall design standpoint, I'm hoping to push the environment a bit away from engines and encourage more aggressive creature-based midrange decks (I think green-based token aggro is a good step in this direction). At the moment the games are so long and convoluted that it's often difficult to convince my playgroup to draft it.

 

[Karshtakavaar]

I really like the Teshar as an addition, both for like a WB disruptive aggro deck as an additional source of recursion for its threats that carries equipment well, and also as a real roleplayer or engine in more combo style lists, so Serra Paragon as pseudo-redundancy for that sounds sick. If I saw both in packs as they passed it'd give me a real feel for whites identity in the cube outside the modular/artifact aggro - while also being a good top end in that deck.

 

[Karshtakavaar]

From an overall design standpoint, I'm hoping to push the environment a bit away from engines and encourage more aggressive creature-based midrange decks (I think green-based token aggro is a good step in this direction). At the moment the games are so long and convoluted that it's often difficult to convince my playgroup to draft it.

A higher density of 1 drops like Bomat Courier and Hope of Ghirapur might help with that mission, maybe even some artifact 2/1's like Hotshot Mechanic and Bonded Construct?

Another card that both speeds up games and provides another sac outlet is Piston Sledge - I loved it in retail draft, and have used it to great effect ever since with Glissa the Traitor in EDH. 3 mana is a fair amount, but it does for artifact aggro what a Grafted Wargear does in traditional Aristocrats while also not turning every Shatter or Disenchant into a Murder for whatever it's attached to. Not paying mana to equip is so, so good. Being able to sac non-creature artifacts to it (Unlike the Wargear) is again so, so good.

On the topic of equipment, maybe expanding the existing package in white, is another option - especially stuff like Dancing Sword or Lion Sash which are cheap to equip and also solid threats in their own right? You have a fair few ways of making thopters, and turning those into 3+power threats is a pretty respectable clock. If you don't want to commit that plan to Wx decks, rare Bonesplitters like Eater of Virtue & Shadowspear also work (Ghostfire Blade also loves a thopter).

 

[tfresor]

I think I'll add paragon then. I like that it supports a fidely-mana sink spot in the cube but it also helps to close out the games pretty quickly through combat. Piston sledge looks so sick I'd forgotten that was even a card! I think I'll add that along with bomat courier and some other 1 drops phoenix chick seems like it could be pretty one theme too.

 

[tfresor]

With the release of BRO, I'm attempting a massive overhaul of tnt. This set is perfect for the cube, introducing a new artifact token and the return of unearth. I'm testing nineteen cards from the set, but I'm also switching up over 1/6 of the cube. Including cutting a bunch of the power outliers: Karmic Guide, Saffi Eriksdotter, Lethal Scheme, Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar are just a few of them. I'm also cutting some cards that don't promote gameplay that I find enjoyable (Drake Haven), and overall I'm attempting to narrow the powerband while raising the power level of the average card.

Spoiler: My full list of BRO/BRC additions

My biggest struggle right now is with the cube's mana base I want fetch lands to be a little better than they were with just the bicycle lands to fetch, so I'm contemplating including a cycle of shocks. Right now I'm imaging Artifacts/Shocks/Fetches/Cycling+Bounce lands. I want to include the lands that I think add to the themes of the cube but I'm also worried about them being over-shadowed by shocks/fetches.

 

[landofMordor]

Which cycling lands? Tranquil Thicket? Or Irrigated Farmland? Or Ketria Triome?

fwiw I don’t think the first set shocks will be too good with fetches. And one land cycle won’t overshadow the thematic ones; you’ll need to play any of the lands you can get just for manabase quality.

 

[tfresor]

Which cycling lands? Tranquil Thicket? Or Irrigated Farmland? Or Ketria Triome?

Right now I have the duals and onslaught cycling lands. I got the chance to draft with a full pod this last weekend (I'll post the lists soon) and I thought it felt pretty good. I'm a little tempted to add triomes, because aggro decks did much better this weekend so bolstering the mana for slower multicolored decks might not be a bad idea.

 

[tfresor]

I got a full pod of drafters last Saturday! Sadly one of the players had to leave after round one but I felt I still got some good data. I like where aggressive decks are now, it feels like the gameplay is more combat-focused, and durdley board stalls aren't quite as frequent. I recently added some board wipes (used to have zero) and they have positively affected the environment without killing off aggressive decks. Some cards have shown themselves to be a bit underwhelming and might have to go (specifically the 2 mana blue looters). In general, I want to work on giving blue a better identity/some better cards. I think Including some less-thematic, better counterspells might be a good move.
Also, the blink package is out now. It over-performed in games where displacer kitten really started humming and it feels weird having it in the cube since it's so obviously off-theme.

Without further ado here are the lists w/ records:

Abzan Midrange (0-1 drop)

Izzet Tempo (1-2)

Dimir (1-2)

4c blink (1-2)

U/W Control (2-1)

4c Aggro (2-1)

Naya Tokens (2-1)

The Rock (3-0)