MTG Salvation

Hey, guys. I was browsing through here, and I've been considering articles I read about open-ended archetypes and cards. I'm wondering what cards I should include in my cube that are build-around but still strong.

A good example is Reveillark. 'Lark will be good in your deck if you have any creatures with power 2 or less, but if you pick specific creatures up because of him, you'll be building a strong synergy. So, always a good card, but it encourages you to start picking certain other cards.

Now, I'm interested in giving Wildfire.dec a chance, and I feel like Wildfire effects are another example of this type of card. I don't think Wildfire is as good as 'Lark in general, but I do think that it's easy to start tailoring your deck to Wildfire once you decide to pick one. Mana artifacts and planeswalkers are already decent and good respectively, but they start getting a lot better once you pick a Wildfire.

Do you have any other favorite cards (or groups of cards) that you think work similarly? I'm considering a few other achetypes' threads, but anecdotes that can push me one way or another would be helpful.

Mimic Vat is one of my favorites. It pairs really well with black removal and white sweepers. There are some creatures, like Man-O-War, that are great on their own and then become bonkers when imprinted.

Vat sometimes breaks games wide open.

Reveillark, Venser, the Sojourner, Crystal Shard, Erratic Portal, Mimic Vat, Recurring Nightmare, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Land Tax, Armageddon/Ravages of War, Upheaval, Wildfire/Burning of Xinye, Smokestack, Braids, Cabal Minion, Life from the Loam

Those are just a few that I can think of off the top of my head, and they are all stellar and fun to build around

I'll add Sneak Attack to that list. It has quickly become one of my favorite cards. Works great with Living Death too. Drop a bunch of dudes with sneak attack then bring them all back to life with living death. Good times.

Quote from MrDumpkins

Reveillark, Venser, the Sojourner, Crystal Shard, Erratic Portal, Mimic Vat, Recurring Nightmare, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Land Tax, Armageddon/Ravages of War, Upheaval, Wildfire/Burning of Xinye, Smokestack, Braids, Cabal Minion, Life from the Loam

Those are just a few that I can think of off the top of my head, and they are all stellar and fun to build around

This is a pretty comprehensive list. All of these are playable and can be built around. Sneak Attack too, as mentioned by ahadabans. That one has a low floor but a very high ceiling. I'm not sure about the 'Geddons and Wildfire in that list though. You can't just throw those into any old deck. If so, we could mention Nether Void here. Definitely add Survival of the Fittest and Recurring Nightmare. Sure I'll nearly always MD those, but with the right stuff, they're even better.

EDIT: I guess Polukranos too. If you blink or bounce him, you can Monstrous him again with more mana!

If you play Un-cards, Magical Hacker has become a new favorite of mine. Card does insane things. Instant win with Ral Zarek (infinite turns, unless you get absurdly lucky, but then you are still in a good position to try again next turn), and basically any other planeswalker worth its salt. Armageddon is a rather obvious card to build around, and is good in many decks that Wildfire is good in.

Balance, Moat, Show and Tell, Tinker, Smallpox, Squee, Goblin Nabob, Eureka, Plow Under, Birthing Pod, Skullclamp, Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary

I'd add a card I put in only because I happened to open a copy during a Modern Masters draft: Doubling Season. I push tokens heavily in white and green, and it's crazy with planeswalkers. It's not often played, and not always worth playing, but there have been some great decks made that abuse it.

Ooh, another I'd tried: Oath of Druids. If you see it early, it creates an interesting and totally different deck archetype. And since I run more 6+ creatures than most, it fit nicely into my cube. I know the guys at The Magic Box podcast run it in their cube, too.

Quote from tomchaps

Ooh, another I'd tried: Oath of Druids. If you see it early, it creates an interesting and totally different deck archetype.

I run Oath of Druids as well, and I agree with your statement. It also gives a different angle of attack to the Tinker/Sneak Attack/Reanimate/Natural Order/Somberwald Sage/Tooth and Nail/Eureka deck, which helps that 'archetype'.

Quote from tomchaps

I'd add a card I put in only because I happened to open a copy during a Modern Masters draft: Doubling Season. I push tokens heavily in white and green, and it's crazy with planeswalkers. It's not often played, and not always worth playing, but there have been some great decks made that abuse it.

Ooh, another I'd tried: Oath of Druids. If you see it early, it creates an interesting and totally different deck archetype. And since I run more 6+ creatures than most, it fit nicely into my cube. I know the guys at The Magic Box podcast run it in their cube, too.

Quote from mrbrightside

I run Oath of Druids as well, and I agree with your statement. It also gives a different angle of attack to the Tinker/Sneak Attack/Reanimate/Natural Order/Somberwald Sage/Tooth and Nail/Eureka deck, which helps that 'archetype'.

How does the deck work out until you find your Oath of Druids? Or if you don't find it at all? Enablers for things like Reanimator and Tooth and Nail are often small utility creatures, (e.g. Looter en Kor or Llanowar Elves) which don't play well with Oath. It's the sort of fun, iconic card I'd like to include in my cube, but I can't see how it would work out.

Quote from Humpty_Dumpty

How does the deck work out until you find your Oath of Druids? Or if you don't find it at all? Enablers for things like Reanimator and Tooth and Nail are often small utility creatures, (e.g. Looter en Kor or Llanowar Elves) which don't play well with Oath. It's the sort of fun, iconic card I'd like to include in my cube, but I can't see how it would work out.

Let me try to give you some examples of what I believe are good Oath decks (these were drafted from my list in Cube Tutor by 3 different people):





(The worst of these decks was actually drafted by me and is the middle one ;))