I’m interested in exploring whether some of the new Amass cards from War of the Spark can help me introduce a neat little subtheme into Blue-Black, a color for which I’ve struggled to find a cohesive secondary identity.
The Amass “lords” in War of the Spark remind me of the splicers, which I, like many others, have found to be fun build-around cube cards that are also playable without critical mass.
I really like the concept of the Amass Army token, because it is a kind of modal token that can either act as (sometimes repeatable) sacrifice fodder, or go tall, without the potential to go ridiculously wide and clog up the board, which is the aspect of tokens I find most problematic and difficult to reign in.
The build-a-voltron aspect of the amass lords is fun, and scratches the same itch as the splicers, but in both cases, having the buffs tied to a separate creature helps smooth out the risk and reward distribution.
I’m leery of trying to put too many eggs in the basket of a mechanic that is likely to never reappear, but what’s nice is that amass lords affect all zombie tokens, not just zombie army tokens, so they synergize with many cards from other sets. The Amonkhet block embalm/eternalize creatures are particularly exciting, as they also adhere to a go-tall rather than go-wide token strategy.
Here’s the package of cards I’m considering running, or already running, that could be considered part of this theme:
A few thoughts on individual cards:
Dreadhorde Invasion: I really like this one because it cross-synergizes so well with sacrifice and stax strategies.
Lazotep Reaver: This has the same cross-synergies, but I worry it might be a little too low impact; would be curious to hear peoples’ thoughts.
Vizer of the Scorpion and Eternal Skylord: I think these are in a nice power level sweet spot, in that they are good enough to slot into any deck that’s in their colors, and have some synergies with other archetypes in their colors (Sacrifice for the Vizier, blink for the Skylord), but are likely to be medium picks for anyone not drafting this UB Zombie subtheme, increasing the chances that someone on this plan can pick up one or both.
Gleaming Overseer This is the one I’m most on the fence about. I like having a gold card to signal subthemes (e.g., my Azorius section runs Glassdust Hulk to complement the splicers package), but this seems a little too on the nose and a little too narrow?
Undead Alchemist: I’m trying to focus more on going tall than going wide, but as a blue card that makes zombie tokens, this is hard to resist.
Xathrid Necromancer and Rise from the Tides are cards that really are here for other archetypes, and this deck likely will not have the setup pieces to really make them tick, but are value options for it nonetheless.
The Eternalize creatures are all ones I would run regardless, so the fact that they are bonkers-fun with the Amass lords is just upside.
Here’s a sample deck I drafted on cube tutor, but haven’t actually tested it yet.
Curious for your thoughts and feedback on this.
The Amass “lords” in War of the Spark remind me of the splicers, which I, like many others, have found to be fun build-around cube cards that are also playable without critical mass.
I really like the concept of the Amass Army token, because it is a kind of modal token that can either act as (sometimes repeatable) sacrifice fodder, or go tall, without the potential to go ridiculously wide and clog up the board, which is the aspect of tokens I find most problematic and difficult to reign in.
The build-a-voltron aspect of the amass lords is fun, and scratches the same itch as the splicers, but in both cases, having the buffs tied to a separate creature helps smooth out the risk and reward distribution.
I’m leery of trying to put too many eggs in the basket of a mechanic that is likely to never reappear, but what’s nice is that amass lords affect all zombie tokens, not just zombie army tokens, so they synergize with many cards from other sets. The Amonkhet block embalm/eternalize creatures are particularly exciting, as they also adhere to a go-tall rather than go-wide token strategy.
Here’s the package of cards I’m considering running, or already running, that could be considered part of this theme:
A few thoughts on individual cards:
Dreadhorde Invasion: I really like this one because it cross-synergizes so well with sacrifice and stax strategies.
Lazotep Reaver: This has the same cross-synergies, but I worry it might be a little too low impact; would be curious to hear peoples’ thoughts.
Vizer of the Scorpion and Eternal Skylord: I think these are in a nice power level sweet spot, in that they are good enough to slot into any deck that’s in their colors, and have some synergies with other archetypes in their colors (Sacrifice for the Vizier, blink for the Skylord), but are likely to be medium picks for anyone not drafting this UB Zombie subtheme, increasing the chances that someone on this plan can pick up one or both.
Gleaming Overseer This is the one I’m most on the fence about. I like having a gold card to signal subthemes (e.g., my Azorius section runs Glassdust Hulk to complement the splicers package), but this seems a little too on the nose and a little too narrow?
Undead Alchemist: I’m trying to focus more on going tall than going wide, but as a blue card that makes zombie tokens, this is hard to resist.
Xathrid Necromancer and Rise from the Tides are cards that really are here for other archetypes, and this deck likely will not have the setup pieces to really make them tick, but are value options for it nonetheless.
The Eternalize creatures are all ones I would run regardless, so the fact that they are bonkers-fun with the Amass lords is just upside.
Here’s a sample deck I drafted on cube tutor, but haven’t actually tested it yet.
UB Zombies from CubeTutor.com
| | | | |
| ||||
| ||||
Curious for your thoughts and feedback on this.
