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BaronVonVaderham posted:Never pass Jitte. Ever. I lost a game to a monored deck when they drew something like 13 lands and 4 spells, and two of those spells were Jitte and Rabblemaster. Edit: also re: Swords v Jitte, I think the problem with swords (and body and mind in particular) is that they're super swingy from just ok when your opponent isn't playing the protection colours to absurd when they are. Body and Mind vs a blue green deck that can't remove it in one turn is 99% of the time game over.
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Nov 24, 2014 23:35
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Aston posted:I lost a game to a monored deck when they drew something like 13 lands and 4 spells, and two of those spells were Jitte and Rabblemaster. I suspect Rabblemaster was more key to them winning than Jitte. Don't get me wrong, Jitte is a better card than Rabblemaster, but Rabblemaster is more able to carry the game all by itself. cheetah7071 fucked around with this message at 23:57 on Nov 24, 2014 |
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Nov 24, 2014 23:37
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Rabblemaster on its own would have been ok as it would just make tokens suicide into my guys every turn. Much worse when those suicides get 2 jitte counters each time.
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Nov 24, 2014 23:45
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The more I draft cube, the more I tend to just jam Rabblemaster if I see it early in the draft regardless of what else I'm doing. Red duals are usually easy to pick up, and it's often well worth it. I managed to pick it up in a Temur deck along with Opposition and Phantasmal Image, which was a fun angle I had never thought of before. I was making tons of tokens, tapping down all their blockers and swinging in with the extras and the Rabblemaster unopposed.
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Nov 25, 2014 00:02
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Rabblemaster is basically a mono-color Geist of Saint Traft.
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Nov 25, 2014 00:22
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I just want to shout out to monoblue decks with no real wincons getting poo poo done. You've made your country proud.
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Nov 25, 2014 02:03
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 Just built tokens.dec and managed to get both Wargear AND Jitte. Gonna try and live the dream. E: Game 1 was Elder into Shrine and tokens and Sovereign, my opponent was playing mono-G ramp and by the time he had a fatty I had EOT Stoke into Shrine for 7 and wiped him off the earth. Game 2 hit Elder, tokens and Sovereign, before landing Wargear. My opponent blew everything killing Elder, only to have my drop Flamespeaker and Jitte. Deck is so rude. E2: Round 2 against 4 color good-stuff with super-greedy requirements and a bad mana-base. Unfortunately for me, he hits turn one BoP all three games, and t2 Caryatid in two of them. Game 1 I'm on the draw and steamroll him with great draws. Game 2 I mull to 6 and get stuck at three lands with two 4-drops in hand - one a side-board Chandra that could've killed an Ajani Vengeant and locked his Bitterblossom dudes down enabling me to swing in hard. Game 3 I keep a great hand and draw a million lands, where he, as previously mentioned, drops all his fixing and ramp and has all his removal in hand to snipe Elder and Flamespeaker before they can do any real damage. E3: Round 3 against UW something. Game 1 I draw a million lands and die. Game 2 I roll out hard and crush. Game 3 is game 1 all over again. So sad to see it happen. Mikujin fucked around with this message at 07:49 on Nov 25, 2014 |
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Nov 25, 2014 06:06
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Mikujin posted:
Man, who cares about Glorious Anthem. Koth of the Hammer!!!!!!
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Nov 25, 2014 10:59
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I tried drafting Blue. I really did. First pick Tamiyo, second pick Ral Zarek, third pick Pestermite. Let's try for some UR Control? I picked up a few more blue spells, as well as Splinter Twin  , but really the majority of spells that fit my deck were burn.....In the end I basically have burn again. Purphoros and goblin token spells, burn spells out the rear end, and a splash of blue for Ral Zarek, Pestermite for the combo, and Wake Thrasher (which is bonkers with so many tokens untapping each turn and Chandra to negate big blockers that might trade with it). Why can't I quit you, mono red  Oh right, because I've won like 30 VMA packs forcing this poo poo over and over with zero tickets invested (I had phantom points leftover from the holiday cube in July).
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Nov 25, 2014 19:12
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BaronVonVaderham posted:I tried drafting Blue. I really did. Because you're drafting correctly and taking what's open instead of what you want to force. I usually end up in red when I draft cub, the blue spells seem to pass right by me, like my neighbors are all forcing it.
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Nov 25, 2014 19:16
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I don't know, if the draft supports your mana, being able to play solid RDW with the ability to go 'end of turn, pestermite, untap splinter twin you're dead' sounds fantastic. That just sounds like you drafted A Good Deck.
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Nov 25, 2014 19:56
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I keep saying this but the nerfs to "narrow" archtypes just make RDW better and better. This cube is trying to force slow durdly goodstuff decks and RDW just blows those out of the water.
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Nov 25, 2014 20:15
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How's green superramp in this Cube? I remember the first MODO Cube that poo poo was money and I haven't really played on there since the first Holiday Cube but I'm thinking I might invest over Thanksgiving break.
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Nov 25, 2014 21:00
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weekly font posted:How's green superramp in this Cube? I remember the first MODO Cube that poo poo was money and I haven't really played on there since the first Holiday Cube but I'm thinking I might invest over Thanksgiving break. Pretty mediocre imho but that's kind of par for the course.
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Nov 25, 2014 21:07
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weekly font posted:How's green superramp in this Cube? I remember the first MODO Cube that poo poo was money and I haven't really played on there since the first Holiday Cube but I'm thinking I might invest over Thanksgiving break. Yeah it's pretty weak. You don't get backbreakers like Terastodon that are just game over turn 3, most of what you can ramp into doesn't give you as much immediate value as you'd want. When I've drafted green I've had to supplement with another color and just play conservative midrange with Thragtusk and Titans and stuff. No Channel into Emrakul 
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Nov 25, 2014 22:19
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The problem with green supperramp is that it takes like 1/3 as many counterspells to completely shut you down.
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Nov 25, 2014 22:34
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Huh. I think this last round was the first time where Baneslayer Angel's "protection from Dragons" has ever actually been relevant for me. I was barely hanging on with Isamaru with Basilisk Collar equipped when my opponent dropped a Thundermaw and started chipping away. Baneslayer shut that poo poo down, but later it also allowed me to just win because he couldn't chump in the air on a critical turn. Straight up amazing card in a vacuum, but I was amused to see that last line matter. Finally drafted something other than red. Tearing things up with BW Tokens: 3 versions of Ajani (only playing 2), new Sorin, Gideon Jura, Sublime Archangel, and every little white creature or token generator I could get with some removal to clear the way.
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Nov 25, 2014 22:53
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I like drafting Ux decks in this Cube. 3-0'd with this guy: Best thing was when I attacked with an Inferno Titan, opponent doesn't block with his 7/5 Rancor'd Polukranos or his Courser of Kruphix. Inferno titan trigger deals 2 to Polukranos and 1 to Courser. Post-combat, cast Anger of the Gods. The thing that made this deck work was the fixing, though. Got all three of the duals in my colors, two of the fetches, and one of the shocks. Also Koth was very good for me every time I cast him. I've actually only done about 3 drafts, but they've all ended being Ux control decks of some sort, and I haven't done worse than 2-1 - though I do play Swiss queues simply because I don't wanna draft a sweet deck and then mull to 5 twice round 1 and scrub out of the tourney.
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Nov 26, 2014 04:41
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lost 1-2 round one in single elim legacy cube, but the last game he show and telled in emrakul and i put in a huntmaster, then topdecked setessan tactics and managed to kill emrakul in his upkeep after huntmaster flipped. i lost because it was still a plague wind for 2U but cube rules
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Nov 28, 2014 04:28
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 Don't mind me just playing the most fun cube deck one could possibly build (minus Eternal Witness but w/e). Also my sideboard is completely insane versus pretty much anything. I Love You! fucked around with this message at 21:27 on Nov 30, 2014 |
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Nov 30, 2014 21:24
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The most fun cube deck I had this cycle was wizards and riptide Lab. I never saw it once. Sorry snappy.
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Nov 30, 2014 22:53
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I Love You! posted:
No survival or recurring nightmare? Listen your deck is cool and all, but it's definitely not the most fun. EDIT: Also, you have plateau and badlands and no red cards? I don't understand. shades of blue fucked around with this message at 01:26 on Dec 1, 2014 |
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Dec 1, 2014 01:21
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Sampatrick posted:EDIT: Also, you have plateau and badlands and no red cards? I don't understand. They let him search up black or white sources with the Bloodstained Mire. Edit: I guess the Badlands could just be a swamp though huh.
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Dec 1, 2014 02:26
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Badlands is swag + misdirection son
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Dec 1, 2014 02:29
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I don't know if it's relevant in that cube but the 'play a no penalty dual so people waste/rider/hole a fundamentally basic land gambit' isn't a bad one if you have other, more important, nonbasics. Especially if you fetch it with a mire. But again I don't mtgo cube so I don't know if it matters there.
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Dec 1, 2014 03:20
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It's usually pretty neutral as an opportunity cost (depending on the deck) though wasteland isn't that great a card in the current cube due to the power of mono-R so it very rarely comes up maindecked. I had enough duals that I would be pretty happy to see a wasteland aimed at my badlands the vast majority of the time.
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Dec 1, 2014 03:28
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And even after all the criticism I've dished out to this cube there is something satisfying about opponent dropping a t3 Jitte two games in a row, only for me to win by boardwiping him 4 times g1 and then stealing his 14-Loyalty Karn with Zealous Conscripts g2. Jitte counters don't stick around in the new game!
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Dec 1, 2014 04:24
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Opponent casts Vendilion Clique. Opponent sees Zealous Conscripts and Splinter Twin in hand. Opponent leaves them in hand. Next turn, cast conscripts. No counterspell. Next turn, cast Twin. No counterspell. What
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Dec 1, 2014 05:19
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We are going to Splinter Twin a Dualcaster Mage or die trying. Edit: Going to have to settle for forking a Fireblast then conscripting/kiking out on turn 5 Ok. Dualcaster fireblast is amazing. 3 and oh. Snacksmaniac fucked around with this message at 22:01 on Dec 1, 2014 |
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Dec 1, 2014 19:23
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Mono-red is definitely the most reliable deck, but I've had great luck with both mono-white tokens, mono-black aggro, and G/x ramp in this cube. It definitely seems like going more than two colors is a trap, the average power level in this cube is higher than past cubes so stretching your mana to be able to play more powerful cards isn't as much of a benefit. The colors also seem very focused with big potential payoffs for going mono-color (Crusades, Obliterators, Dark Rituals, devotion, etc.) and not a ton of inter-color synergy. Lord Of Texas fucked around with this message at 16:36 on Dec 2, 2014 |
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Dec 2, 2014 16:20
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Lord Of Texas posted:Mono-red is definitely the most reliable deck, but I've had great luck with both mono-white tokens, mono-black aggro, and G/x ramp in this cube. It's actually that the power level is lower (other than red getting back some of their best cards) so consistency is more important. If you don't have as many enormous blowout plays that can claw you back from a missed land drop/color it's just not going to pay off competing with the decks that never get colorscrewed and can still do everything they want.
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Dec 2, 2014 17:27
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I Love You! posted:It's actually that the power level is lower (other than red getting back some of their best cards) so consistency is more important. If you don't have as many enormous blowout plays that can claw you back from a missed land drop/color it's just not going to pay off competing with the decks that never get colorscrewed and can still do everything they want. "Actually"  The power ceiling is definitely lower to your point (no Swords, Channel, etc.) but the power floor is absolutely higher than past MODO cubes, which contributes to the probability of being able to get a streamlined one-color deck. When junk like Thunderscape Battlemage and Turnabout are clogging up the packs, it was a lot more difficult to wheel playables in your color(s). I don't think we'd be seeing as many consistent decks if this cube filled back up to 720 with the dregs of past MODO cubes.
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Dec 2, 2014 18:14
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Lord Of Texas posted:"Actually" Yeah sorry about the actually, that was rude of me. I agree that they cut SOME of the unplayable garbage (Storm I'm looking at you) and put a lot more Goodstuff in there that works for everyone. The thing is a lot of the tough-to-draft cards they cut were actually very strong, but narrow cards that helped particular archtypes and gave you little things to reach for to help push overall decks over the brink. Yes, some ended up utterly useless based on what was being drafted but a good portion of them found homes leading to individually stronger decks. It's way easier in the current cube to pick up 30+ playables in whatever archtype you want. The thing is those last 7+ cards aren't strictly better than your other cards and most of them might not even have a place in your SB. I'd personally rather have powerful but narrow cards that help make certain decks explosive and provide dramatic sideboard toys than lots and lots of redundancy and similarly good Goodstuff cards. So overall while the average playability of a card might have increased, there are a ton less narrow standout cards that give decks the ability to steal momentum - hence the extreme power of Mono-colored decks and fast momentum builds which will probably never relinquish a lead. Thunderscape battlemage might have been passed over in 75% of drafts but when it was actually played, it often 3-for-1ed out of nowhere (I've lost several drafts to that fucker) and it's not even one of the particularly good cards they cut. Basically somewhat agreeing with your analysis but not the implications of it. I've drafted RDW with 40 playables but those last 16 didn't help me much since they were EXACTLY THE SAME as the first 24. I Love You! fucked around with this message at 20:26 on Dec 2, 2014 |
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Dec 2, 2014 20:22
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Red is beyond ridiculous. Usually I do swiss and go 2-1 when they have these cubes (with a 1-2 and a 3-0 here and there). I finally wanted to start burning phantom tickets so I hopped into single elim. I drafted what I thought was my worst deck but red is so deep and redundant it didn't matter. The finals was a white weenie deck with geddon and everyone else was trying to do three color goodstuff. I also once was in a pod where I ended up with both Shackles AND Sulfuric Vortex. What. Snacksmaniac fucked around with this message at 20:50 on Dec 2, 2014 |
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Dec 2, 2014 20:45
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I Love You! posted:Yeah sorry about the actually, that was rude of me. Yeah, as far as RDW goes I agree. There is extreme redundancy, but anyone who has built their own cube knows that lack of diversity is an issue with the color's history in the game itself. What I have really liked about reliably getting 30+ playables (in non-red colors at least) is that I have a viable sideboard WAY more than I did in past MODO cubes - in past MODO cubes I was straight up struggling for my 23rd playable. Not just "he has some artifacts so here comes my Naturalize" sideboarding either, but actual interesting sideboarding like shifting my mana curve from 1-4 to 2-5, transitioning from draw-go control to tapout, and so on. At the very least, I appreciate that this cube is very different from past MODO cubes - it's fun to learn a new environment even if it is flawed.
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Dec 2, 2014 23:15
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It certainly has shown some different factors to consider when building a cube. I personally would rather have decks be slightly harder to build but a better shot at having extremely powerful narrow effects, but the option of a transformative sideboard is certainly neat and comes up a lot in this cube. Unfortunately due to mono-aggro being so powerful it is often necessary to have the majority of your deck dedicated to surviving the early game, then SB into a stronger lategame when you are up against control, so it's a little less interactive than I would like, but it's certainly different.
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Dec 2, 2014 23:59
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And now for something completely different.... I finally sat down today and overhauled my cube to take into account over a year of new cards. I apologize in advance for the novel, but I wrote out my reason for each decision in a post both to share with friends who played this cube with me and to sort of justify to myself why it was being done so I knew I wasn't making a change just for its own sake. The updated list can be viewed at: http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/4787 1) Knight of Meadowgrain -> Banishing Light: Knight is powerful, but narrow. Double white at 2CMC is bad for RW Aggro, so it only ever gets picked by White Weenie. Banishing Light still helps that deck, but also has utility elsewhere so will see more play. 2) Armada Wurm -> Advent of the Wurm: Lowering the Selesnya curve and basically giving the token Flash. A much more interesting card to play with, and easier to splash with only a single white instead of double. 3) Abyssal Persecutor -> Ob Nixilis, Unshackled: Persecutor was very weird. It's powerful but narrow, and shapes your plays because you have to remove it at some point. It's either a dud or too strong, and we already have a more balanced 6/6 flier for the same cost and color in Desecration Demon. Ob Nixilis adds another card for Reanimator or Ramp that's much more interesting in how it interacts with other cards in the cube. 4) Spitting Image -> Prophet of Kruphix: Simic had the most gold cards of any guild, but was somehow still the weakest guild. Theros block showed these colors some love, and I included that here to give it a boost. Prophet is very powerful and also splashable, while Image was very expensive and never saw play. 5) Yavimaya's Embrace -> Kiora, the Crashing Wave: Another really expensive gold card for a much cheaper, more powerful option. No way Kiora wasn't finding a place, and this card needed to go anyway. Hopefully Simic/Bant gets more play. 6) Dauthi Slayer -> Grim Haruspex: Haruspex is a little new, and I don't like morphs, but it's a more skill-testing and interesting card than Slayer with it's "must attack" restriction. Might make black too strong, but I think white got enough of a similar buff to keep it in check. 7) Nath of the Gilt-Leaf -> Reaper of the Wilds: One powerful Golgari midrange card for another, but Reaper is less un-fun to play against. Nath combined with a little acceleration and other cheap black discard is just all the feel-bads. Reaper keeps the same power level but in a different, much-more-fun-to-play-against way. 8) Ember Swallower -> Anger of the Gods: Red had enough land destruction, and this effect was too pricey. It needed the cheap sweeper more and the undercosted aggro body less. 9) Spitemare -> Anax and Cymede: Boros might be the strongest guild behind Azorius, but Spitemare was a dumb redundancy. It's a strictly worse Boros Reckoner, which is also in the cube, so it gets the axe to make room for the much more interesting to build around Anax and Cymede, which should push more of an equipment/enchantment draft strategy. 10) Soltari Champion -> Banisher Priest: Another narrow White Weenie upgrade. Replaced the WW beater with something that still helps WW BUT will also be drafted elsewhere instead of being dead. Simultaneously slightly nerfs RW Aggro by removing a nigh-unblockable battle cry effect with no risk or drawback. 11) Viridian Shaman -> Reclamation Sage: The latter is literally the former with "or enchantment" added to its text, right down to its subtypes even. 'Nuff said. 12) Cataclysm -> Ajani Steadfast: White Weenie needed a buff to counteract the losses it took in #1 and #10, so it gets another planeswalker slash anthem effect, but one that can ALSO be drafted by multicolored Superfriends builds that are already out there. Notice a theme? I want cards that will be fought over by multiple strategies, not narrow ones (and incidentally Cataclysm was just for Wx control, which is way too strong). 13) Eternal Dragon -> Resolute Archangel: Another Wx control consideration. On the one hand, it did lose some power in Cataclysm, while I'm lowering curves and buffing aggro strategies, so the ETB effect is a nice compensation. On the other, Dragon's cycling loop was yet another card draw engine and Wx control has way too many of those. It does not get drafted outside that archetype, so it's gotta go, for a card with an ETB which I'm a fan of because they suggest synergies. 14) Kor Haven -> Mutavault: Mutavault belongs in any cube, especially powered. I left it out to nerf aggro, and that was a mistake. Kor Haven was too narrow, so it's the perfect swap. 15) Mimic Vat -> Siege Rhino: This is the only swap that changes the color balance. Rhino is an auto-include from Khans, but what do I remove for a 3-color card for balance? Answer--A colorless card! Mimic Vat was another weird one that was either bonkers or dead, and I'm also just sick of playing with it (I cut it in my Memnarch EDH deck too). 16) Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter -> Ajani, Mentor of Heroes: Vish Kal never saw play. Ever. He's too expensive and his abilities aren't that interesting in limited. Ajani is batshit. Orzhov had too many cards, Selesnya was average, so swap (and I get to use my Chewbacca alter  )17) Violent Outburst -> Tymaret, the Murder King: I like sacrifice effects. I also liked nerfing GR Aggro a little, especially by removing another cascade card that often led to super early alpha strikes. Cascade that into a burn spell or a Lightning Mauler? Brutal. Tymaret is similarly narrow, but more interesting to build around. 18) Jungle Lion -> Nissa, Worldwaker: The strength of green aggro is its unercosted creatures can switch to blocking. This does not do that, no one plays it. Nissa is interesting and a planeswalker. 19) Mikaeus, the Lunarch -> Brimaz, King of Oreskos: Mikaeus never got much play, and I had to throw a bone to White Weenie and RW Aggro to balance the other changes (or the other way around, Brimaz was my first decision). 20) Deadbridge Goliath -> Polukranos, World Eater: Almost a strict upgrade. Both are 5/5s for 2GG, but Polukranos has a more interesting ability. 21) Clone -> Clever Impersonator: I feel weird taking out Clone, it goes way back to Alpha! But I wanted Clever Impersonator for shenanigans, and I didn't want blue to get yet another copy effect. I might put Clone back in after I see how things play out, but for now it seemed an appropriate swap that shouldn't affect balance. 22) Pyrewild Shaman -> Goblin Rabblemaster: Second confirmed edit. RabbleRabble is a better 3-drop for red, the end. 23) Mindslaver -> Scuttling Doom Engine: The Mindslaver loop is in here. No one has ever done it. Mindslaver is just an un-fun and uninteresting card. Scuttling Doom Engine, on the other hand, can be drafted by any deck, has synergy in all colors (sac effects, artifact destruction, board clogging, recursion loops, you name it), and is generally a much more interesting card....and conveniently they're both colorless for 6 mana! That's that. Got rid of a few cards I hated, included a few I love. We'll have to see how the balance plays out, but conveniently I already had all of these new cards in my possession. Now I just have to find new friends up here in Michigan to draft it with....
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Dec 4, 2014 23:07
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I live in Michigan
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Dec 4, 2014 23:41
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I Love You! posted:I live in Michigan I'm guessing probably Ann Arbor, just a hunch. I'm over in Grand Rapids though I go down to Kalamazoo occasionally (girlfriend's family lives there).
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Dec 4, 2014 23:54
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Y'all should go to SCG Indy and we can draft it there.
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Dec 5, 2014 04:43
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