I ran Daze for quite a while but it just wasnt performing as consistently as i would have hoped for 360 material. I think its a great option for bigger cubes though.
Mystic Snake is a very versatile card, being a counterspell that also sticks around as a creature, but I find that I rarely find myself wanting a four mana counterspell or four mana 2/2, so it's currently riding the bench for me.
Do you like having more creatures with enter-the-battlefield 'spells' attached, or would you prefer to keep your creatures and spells separate?
I wouldn't run it in 360, but I have to admit that it has played better than it looks as well. One of my favorite interactions is to use survival of the fittest to dig this up and counter something.
As drafters of INV/PLS/APC, our playgroup knows the power of Mystic Snake. It combos with Erratic Portal/Crystal Shard but it is fine on its own, being a two for one by itself.
Mardu Woe-Reaper is one of my favorite 2-powered one drops, since it has a higher ceiling when drawn later than most other ones do. I feel that they're all kinda interchangeable, though.
How much graveyard hate do you run in your cube? Do you ever wish you had more or less?
It's fine, sometimes the text is relevant but for the most part it's just a guy since Mardu Woe-Reaper decks aren't well equipped for the late game and you prob aren't nailing too much relevant except maybe against reanimator in the early game. But, having a sometimes-relevant text is better than nothing.
It's a 2 power 1 drop with upside so that basically makes it a staple for a lot of cubes. The upside is usually trinket text but when it matters, it really matters especially since it's not just his ETB and an agro deck is likly to have a few other warriors.
I have a few graveyard hate cards but they are always decent cards in their own right. I think it is important to have otherwise graveyard based decks become a bit too reliable. Cards like scavenging ooze are my favorite because they can be good even if your opponent isn't on a graveyard strategy but it doesn't completely hose graveyard decks in the way something like Angel of Finality can.
It's at the top of B tier white 2/1 W creatures in my mind. Kytheon is S tiear. Isumaru, Dauntless Bodygaurd, Skymarcher Aspirant, and Student of Warfare are A tier. Pretty much everything else currently in my cube is B tier. I'd probably cut Soldier of the Pantheon before cutting this as it's text is more often relevant and sometimes it gets boarded in against reanimator decks. It also has fringe applications in 'Lark/Alesha decks and isn't the worst Sun Titan target late game.
Strong 1-drop with a more relevant upside than you might expect, but I’ve had it mislead people new to the cube into thinking Warriors is a supported archetype, so I’ve considered cutting it at various points.
As far as grave hate goes, I prefer incidental hate to sideboard-only options. Not coincidentally, I am of the opinion that Scavenging Ooze is best-designed creature Magic has ever produced.
While Isamaru is the golden standard of the powerful 1 drop, some of the other 1 drops like this and Dauntless Bodyguard are great cube cards because they are also relevant in later parts of the game.
Grave hate cards by itself are not always relevant, so it is better built into good creatures. This applies to cards that hate a narrow band of cards.
Wild Nacatl is good if you can consistently fetch into dual lands, but with only one cycle of each in my cube I don't think it would be turned on consistently enough for me. In addition, I don't think I have the space in my cube for aggressive one drops and ramping one drops.
Do you support green as an aggressive color? Why or why not?
Nacatl is good, and probably objectively the best Naya card. There's just not a lot of options, so a 2/2 or 3/3 for G is pretty solid.
If it shows up it's a secondary color, but for the most part there aren't many drafters I've played with who are happy to see Jungle Lions & Co. When there's zero interest in the deck, it hurts the color in draft to have X amount of potential green cards wanted by no one whereas something like Boreal Druid might make a maindeck instead in that spot. I'm not sure I remember anyone ever asking why these cards haven't been run, whereas it's not rare that someone will question their inclusion. It comes down to understanding your playgroup, and it's a better bet that a random player would rather be going green midrange vs aggro.
I had a few clues for Xg aggro in my 450, like Wild Nacatl, Warden of the First Tree, Tattermunge Maniac, and a few of the green 2/1s. No one ever wanted to play it. So they got cut, and now that I'm at 360, I don't think there's room for green aggro anyway. I'm fine with that.
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EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: URDelver
Modern: UGRDelver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
Nacatl is one of the best aggressive creatures available, if your lands can support it.
I cut green aggro when I went down to 405, and it was noticeably absent. When we went up to 450, my playgroup wanted it back, so I brought back the tools for it to be playable again, and all is right with the universe.
Harrow is cool as a way to trigger landfall at instant speed, but I think the possibility of getting blown out by counter magic makes it not worth running over options such as Cultivate or Kodama's Reach unless you're at a large enough size that you need it for density.
Do you have any plants or landscaping you have to take care of? Would you say you have a green thumb, or does everything you touch wither and die?
Harrow is one of the better ramp spells for decks that play a lot of instants, since Harrow itself is an instant, and it secures untapped mana. Problem is, few green decks are engineered to take full advantage of that fact. And it's a very risky card in tempo/control matchups, because it's absolutely backbreaking if it gets countered. Ultimately it just wasn't worth the risk outside of decks that were taking full advantage of the landfall/graveyard interactions that Harrow enables.
While Baneslayer doesn't provide any value outside of attacking and blocking, she does provide an almost unbeatable lifeswing each turn she's allowed to attack. If you're trying to win by turning creatures sideways, she can be a very difficult card to beat if you can't get her off of the battlefield.
Is there a card you remember seeing for the first time and thinking that you couldn't believe that Wizards had printed a card that powerful? How has that card held up over time?
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Mystic Snake
Mystic Snake is a very versatile card, being a counterspell that also sticks around as a creature, but I find that I rarely find myself wanting a four mana counterspell or four mana 2/2, so it's currently riding the bench for me.
Do you like having more creatures with enter-the-battlefield 'spells' attached, or would you prefer to keep your creatures and spells separate?
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Mardu Woe-Reaper
Mardu Woe-Reaper is one of my favorite 2-powered one drops, since it has a higher ceiling when drawn later than most other ones do. I feel that they're all kinda interchangeable, though.
How much graveyard hate do you run in your cube? Do you ever wish you had more or less?
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I have a few graveyard hate cards but they are always decent cards in their own right. I think it is important to have otherwise graveyard based decks become a bit too reliable. Cards like scavenging ooze are my favorite because they can be good even if your opponent isn't on a graveyard strategy but it doesn't completely hose graveyard decks in the way something like Angel of Finality can.
As far as grave hate goes, I prefer incidental hate to sideboard-only options. Not coincidentally, I am of the opinion that Scavenging Ooze is best-designed creature Magic has ever produced.
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Grave hate cards by itself are not always relevant, so it is better built into good creatures. This applies to cards that hate a narrow band of cards.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
Wild Nacatl
Wild Nacatl is good if you can consistently fetch into dual lands, but with only one cycle of each in my cube I don't think it would be turned on consistently enough for me. In addition, I don't think I have the space in my cube for aggressive one drops and ramping one drops.
Do you support green as an aggressive color? Why or why not?
If it shows up it's a secondary color, but for the most part there aren't many drafters I've played with who are happy to see Jungle Lions & Co. When there's zero interest in the deck, it hurts the color in draft to have X amount of potential green cards wanted by no one whereas something like Boreal Druid might make a maindeck instead in that spot. I'm not sure I remember anyone ever asking why these cards haven't been run, whereas it's not rare that someone will question their inclusion. It comes down to understanding your playgroup, and it's a better bet that a random player would rather be going green midrange vs aggro.
Also, follow us on twitter! @TurnOneMagic
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
I cut green aggro when I went down to 405, and it was noticeably absent. When we went up to 450, my playgroup wanted it back, so I brought back the tools for it to be playable again, and all is right with the universe.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
Harrow
Harrow is cool as a way to trigger landfall at instant speed, but I think the possibility of getting blown out by counter magic makes it not worth running over options such as Cultivate or Kodama's Reach unless you're at a large enough size that you need it for density.
Do you have any plants or landscaping you have to take care of? Would you say you have a green thumb, or does everything you touch wither and die?
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
Baneslayer Angel
While Baneslayer doesn't provide any value outside of attacking and blocking, she does provide an almost unbeatable lifeswing each turn she's allowed to attack. If you're trying to win by turning creatures sideways, she can be a very difficult card to beat if you can't get her off of the battlefield.
Is there a card you remember seeing for the first time and thinking that you couldn't believe that Wizards had printed a card that powerful? How has that card held up over time?
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!