General [WAR] War of the Spark

[safra]

Anyone played with Dreadhorde Arcanist?

I've fucked around with it in Legacy and my opinion is that the card is really good and strong, definitely long-term Legacy viable. I have yet to Cube with it but I think it would totally fit in my Cube. I like that it's a goodstuff card that bleeds into the pants/equipment subtheme and also spellslingers/ascendancy.

to show off what I'm talking about / put my money where my fingers are, I forced a Jeskai Ascendancy draft on CubeTutor. Here's a deck that I think Arcanist really shines in:

ascendancy ft arcanist from CubeTutor.com

in this list, Arcanist at its base potential is perfectly fine flashing back removal or a cantrip (stabcaster mage), but once you get an anthem or Ascendancy trigger going, it can really go off. Let's say it's turn 5, Hero has three lands, Villain has 4. Picture this board:



pre-combat, Hero casts Lightning Helix to clear a blocker, kung-fus and loots, and then attacks with a 3/3 Menace Flameblade, 2/4 Trample Arcanist, and 3/4 Reflector Mage. Arcanist triggers during attacks, we flashback Helix for free and go face, pushing 14 damage in one combat step while also clearing blockers, looting 2, and gaining 6 life. For two mana! If we use our third land to play a bauble or something, that's 21 damage. Obviously this is more about the power of Ascendancy than Arcanist, but it's a solid illustration of just how well Arcanist supports spellslinger type archetypes, of which Ascendancy is the most satisfying I've tried.

If you run Jeskai Ascendancy (get on board already, babe) I think you should be looking at quietly supporting it with your existing goodstuff cards (this list is a great example actually). I hope I have convinced at least one person to run Arcanist!

 

[Chris Taylor]

Safra, everything you write is just pure poetry
Kung fus and loots...

 

[safra]

Safra, everything you write is just pure poetry
Kung fus and loots...

it is my solemn duty to always point out that the testing name of Prowess was, indeed, kung-fu.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Kykar, Wind's Fury and Jeskai Ascendancy are very sweet cards that make me want to rearrange my color wheel to fit in my cube again. I would love to put Monastery Mentor and Seeker of the Way back in again as well. It's the eternal curse of running only five color pairs. There's always sweet, sweet stuff in the other five color pairs :')

 

[Chris Taylor]

Kykar, Wind's Fury and Jeskai Ascendancy are very sweet cards that make me want to rearrange my color wheel to fit in my cube again. I would love to put Monastery Mentor and Seeker of the Way back in again as well. It's the eternal curse of running only five color pairs. There's always sweet, sweet stuff in the other five color pairs :')

Clearly you just need to make the "Other half" cube

 

[TrainmasterGT]

Clearly you just need to make the "Other half" cube

I'd be all for that. Onderz is one of the only people who actually understands color interactions well enough to make "half" environments work well!

 

[Onderzeeboot]

I'd be all for that. Onderz is one of the only people who actually understands color interactions well enough to make "half" environments work well!

That's nice of you to say, but there's a bunch of people here who would be just as good at that as me, if not better, but chose to go with another kind of cube

Clearly you just need to make the "Other half" cube

In theory, sure, in practice, no time whatsoever!

 

[Velrun]

Proxy it!

Set up two simultaneous tournaments in the same store. Eight players for one cube and eight players for the other.

Let the two 3-0 winners meet in an ultimate, winner takes it all, cube vs. cube death match with 14 spectators!

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Proxy it!

Set up two simultaneous tournaments in the same store. Eight players for one cube and eight players for the other.

Let the two 3-0 winners meet in an ultimate, winner takes it all, cube vs. cube death match with 14 spectators!

Ha, proxying it would take even longer than just ordering the cards! The real time sink, however, is crafting the cube, determining the supported archetypes, selecting the proper cards, that stuff. Oh, and maintaining it over new set releases. One cube is honestly enough of an "upkeep cost" in that regard for me. I did an overhaul of the color wheel once, and that was a major pain in the ass to resolve. It took me thirteen months to fire the first draft with the new color wheel in place!

Also, as entertaining as the idea is, I'm not going to get together 16 drafters for two cubes where I live. The scene here split some years ago, and not on amicable terms. There's a few people who visit tournaments by both organizers, and more as time goes by and wounds heal, but most still stick to one of the two groups.

 

[Aston]

If you run Jeskai Ascendancy (get on board already, babe) I think you should be looking at quietly supporting it with your existing goodstuff cards (this list is a great example actually). I hope I have convinced at least one person to run Arcanist!

Well I'm sold, I'll definitely be giving it a try.

Between this and Spikeshot Elder, I can see maybe the seedlings of a red "power matters" or "grow power" theme being possible. Anything else that might work with these? Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin maybe? Spikeshot Goblin, Bloodshort Trainee, and I guess various Fling effects could also be included but they're a bit lower on the power level. No pun intended.

 

[safra]

Well I'm sold, I'll definitely be giving it a try.

Between this and Spikeshot Elder, I can see maybe the seedlings of a red "power matters" or "grow power" theme being possible. Anything else that might work with these? Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin maybe? Spikeshot Goblin, Bloodshort Trainee, and I guess various Fling effects could also be included but they're a bit lower on the power level. No pun intended.

I feel like having higher power than normal is its own reward, but:



I favour Spikeshot Elder way more than Spikeshot Goblin - being able to attack AND fire off a trigger, or use it twice a turn in the late-game, is huge.

 

[Velrun]

I just saw this and was immediately sad they used this art on this card

 

[Rasmus Källqvist]

What's the context here??

 

[Velrun]

Wizards create a few cards every year they don't sell but instead handle out to one specific person. You can always see the same of that person in the bottom right corner of the card. Usually the card is unique and will never be reprinted. And it always come in a normal size version as the gift and an oversized version for the offices on Wizards of the Coast in Seattle.

This card is a reference to the War of the Spark saga on Ravnica with Bolas was finally defeated. The story expanded over several blocks and single sets with Bolas using Tezzeret to steal the Planar Bridge on Kaladesh, creating an army on Amonkhet, obtaining The Immortal Sun on Ixalan and his leader of the eternals on Dominaria until he finally trapped almost all known planeswalkers in the multiverse on Ravnica while trying to harvest their planeswalker spark but conclusively failed and was beaten and left nameless, powerless and trapped on his own Meditation Realm.