General [TMT] Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

[shamizy]

I'm likely out on anything that references a Mutagen token since it's going to be a set specific token and not evergreen like Clues or Treasures, but there are a number of cool designs I'm interested in trying out from what we've seen:

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These could all just be Magic cards; there isn't enough turtle stuff present to really turn me off to them art or flavor-wise.

I think the expansion of artifact synergies is going to be huge in my environment with some of these additions as U/R Artifacts is a deck archetype I've been finetuning for the last decade or so. Being able to turn trinkets and smaller tokens into legit win-conditions via Ravenous Robots and Technodrome is going to introduce new dimensions to it. Might be enough of a critical mass here with these new guys alongside Arcbound Ravager and Steel Overseer to bring back a card like Master of Etherium.

Rat King, Verminister is just a really clean design in any double-fetch environment and being able to go into a T2 fetch then cast it as a 2/2 + a 1/1 body is pretty nice in the early game. Makes me want to look into more edict effects to break symmetry.

I'm not so sure if Casey Jones, Vigilante will have much staying power but I can never ignore the ability to just burst draw 3 fresh cards that might get you the burn spells necessary to close out a game. Doing an impression of Goblin Lore gives some additional support to any discard/madness synergies ala Hollow One or Vengevine decks (both of which I recently turned into Duplicate Voucher options in my cube!). Kinda goes crazy with Monument to Endurance.

 

[MilesOfficial]

I think the expansion of artifact synergies is going to be huge in my environment with some of these additions as U/R Artifacts is a deck archetype I've been finetuning for the last decade or so. Being able to turn trinkets and smaller tokens into legit win-conditions via Ravenous Robots and Technodrome is going to introduce new dimensions to it. Might be enough of a critical mass here with these new guys alongside Arcbound Ravager and Steel Overseer to bring back a card like Master of Etherium.

That's so funny, that you say this because I just last month moved a copy of Master of Etherium into my on-deck binder.

I've seen that Nettlecyst is falling out of favor in some vintage Cubes, but it's only been going up in my estimation as I've done more trinket nonsense in the wake of Stridehangar Automaton, and so I think we really may be bringing one of my Cube's founding 3-drops back from 2012 into the list again.

Iron Spider, Stark Upgrade helped firm up Steel Overseer's place in Cube, which had been tenuous beforehand. I run nearly as many artifact cards as I do cards in each of the five colors, which I've felt is too much, but it's also given me freedom to run significantly more

I'd been trying out Aloy, Savior of Meridian lately and it wasn't until Wistfulness was printed that I felt any kind of silliness for the card, but I think I may keep Aloy around as well anyways. There really are enough artifact creatures these days, particularly with the incidental ones we've gotten lately like:



So yeah, Ravenous Robots, Technodrome, and Chrome Dome are making me pretty stoked about artifact aggro being a color-ambivalent deck that I can truly support.

(yes I know not all of those are terribly recent but this turtle set is really getting me excited ok??)

 

[Nanonox]

This is putting me in a bind! I feel at a crossroads where I probably should pick between artifacts or instants/sorceries. Having both Young Pyromancer and the Robots seems like overkill because they each require a certain density of cheap spells to cast to maximize their output.

It has been frustrating drafting a Young Pyro and getting the wrong end of the interaction, with cards like Pyrite Spellbomb, Chainsaw and Legion Extruder. It's going to be the same experience with Ravenous Robots getting Abrade and Firebolt.

I run a host of token makers that don't care what I cast (Third Path Iconoclast, Saheeli, Sublime Artificer, Monastery Mentor, Geralf, the Fleshwright and Toph, Hardheaded Teacher) so maybe I could tough it out a little longer.

I think I'm going to make the switch to the Robots for a few reasons.

1. Artifact matter cards are often all about critical mass. Not only is this an artifact, it also makes artifacts allowing you to pop off.
2. Compared to artifacts, actual instant/sorcery matters is down to very few cards, some of them very narrow (Dreadhorde Arcanist for example), that would also get replaced, freeing some slots.

What will you folks do? Run one or the other? Both?

 

[shamizy]

It has been frustrating drafting a Young Pyro and getting the wrong end of the interaction, with cards like Pyrite Spellbomb, Chainsaw and Legion Extruder. It's going to be the same experience with Ravenous Robots getting Abrade and Firebolt.

I run a host of token makers that don't care what I cast (Third Path Iconoclast, Saheeli, Sublime Artificer, Monastery Mentor, Geralf, the Fleshwright and Toph, Hardheaded Teacher) so maybe I could tough it out a little longer.

I think I'm going to make the switch to the Robots for a few reasons.

1. Artifact matter cards are often all about critical mass. Not only is this an artifact, it also makes artifacts allowing you to pop off.
2. Compared to artifacts, actual instant/sorcery matters is down to very few cards, some of them very narrow (Dreadhorde Arcanist for example), that would also get replaced, freeing some slots.

What will you folks do? Run one or the other? Both?

I actually cut Young Pyromancer a while back which was hard due to nostalgia, but the limitations to instants and sorceries just became more of an issue over time. It's really difficult to hit that critical mass in a draft format unless you absolutely get the nuts like you could in Constructed because the lack of relevant board presence hurts too much. It's something I tried to make work years ago, but a spellslinger U/R deck is just very difficult to make work in this kind of format. U/R Artifacts has had a lot more bleed across options throughout that have created way more satisfying builds for me in the last few years.

We've also had so many less restrictive token makers over the years which has really changed the criteria for being able to compete at a higher power level. Like back in the day Goblin Rabblemaster was a brand new axis to attack on and in the decade since we get a variant like every other set. So many cards just generate additional bodies nowadays with minimal restrictions. If you can't back YP with cheap removal and spells then you run into roadblocks way more often nowadays.

I've been playing Searslicer Goblin in YPs place because it just read cleaner and had simpler play patterns, but this new artifact option will likely supplant it unless I find something else to cut.

 

[MilesOfficial]

What will you folks do? Run one or the other? Both?

I took Young Pyromancer out for a while and it felt fine, but I put him back in because the ability to generate tokens nearly every turn in red for 2 mana (sometimes multiple in one turn!) felt like something my Cube really wanted to have. But with Searslicer Goblin as @shamizy mentioned, Cori-Steel Cutter, and even more recently, Ellie, Brick Master, I feel like Young P's time is finally up. It's like you said: artifacts is much more supportive and demanding of reaching a critical mass of the card type. I think he'll be my swap for Ravenous Robots.