The effect on Doran, the Siege Tower is a pretty game-altering one, and with Conspiracy 2 we got access to its effect in the most abusable possible form – one that doesn’t cost you mana or a card, and which is always in play from the start of the game. Weight Advantage has quickly become one of my top Conspiracies and it has formed a strong and fun archetype and niche around it, particularly in Sultai (BUG) or Bant (WUG) colours. It’s not a card that you can throw mindlessly into any shell, since in many cases it could prove harmful to your aim, especially for aggro with the requirement for 2/1 critters. However, in the right midrange deck, it can add a lot of clout to your board when built around in some subtle and some not-so-subtle ways.
Needless to say, you’re looking for creatures with toughness > power. But you still need your picks to be the focus of a deck with a coherent gameplan. The conceit of the deck is to turn defense, control-oriented creatures into efficient beaters, and speed up the clock to midrange levels whilst retaining the efficiency and card advantage generated by those 1/3’s, 2/4’s and so on.
Let’s focus on what the various colours have to offer this archetype, and what sort of shape that deck might take. White has a few notable offerings which benefit to some extent from Weight Advantage; in white, Brimaz and Restoration Angel get a small +1/+0 bonus, whilst Wall of Omens and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite get a monstrous pump. On the cheaper end of the curve, Stoneforge Mystic and Steppe Lynx get a little boost too. It’s safe to say that White has some potential for this deck, although in my opinion it’s not where the card shines; too much of white’s curve is filled with P>T creatures, and these are all cards which go into different sorts of decks anyway, so White’s probably best used as a splash for WA.dec.
White has a few offerings for the deck, though they are quite diverse in terms of archetype.
On the other hand, red is best avoided. There are scant few creatures that benefit at all from WA, and those that do get a paltry bonus from it (Hanweir Garrison and Feldon of the Third Path, the latter of which doesn’t want to be in combat that much anyway). On the contrary, there are numerous 2/1, 4/2 and the like which will get nerfed hard by WA.
The core of the WA.dec is to be found in blue, where synergistic P>T creatures can be found all the way throughout the curve. There are numerous utility 1/3s for two mana to be found, some of which make it into cube as support for other archetypes (Omenspeaker, Augur of Bolas, Renowned Weaponsmith). WA transforms these from utility speed bumps and blockers into above-the-curve offensive powerhouses. Prized early-game looters like Enclave Cryptologist and Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy get a handy boost for those times when they need to get into the redzone (Deal Broker too). Most notably, Spellskite becomes a drawback-less Flesh Reaver which will eat burn spells from your more vulnerable creatures, and is one of the best things you can do in this deck. Thing in the Ice is a much more scary blocker (before transforming) when it can block and kill 3/3’s, and even gets a little kick after escaping its icy prison. Higher in the curve, many of blue’s top-tier threats get a quicker clock – Meloku, Consecrated Sphinx, Aetherling, Elder Deep-Fiend and Torrential Gearhulk all benefit, not to mention Inkwell Leviathan, who can fit perfectly into the deck if it comes together with an artifact leaning; this also gives access to Myr Battlesphere and Sundering Titan, who get a nifty +3/+0 apiece. Of blue’s utlity creatures, there are very few other than Vendilion Clique who suffer significantly from WA, since most have square power and toughness.
To flesh out the deck, we turn to green and black. In both of these colours, there are a lot of creatures that don’t work in this shell, so we must choose carefully. Firstly, we will look to mana generators. Green’s mana elves work fine here, Noble Hierarch and Birds of Paradise in particular, and Joraga Treespeaker levels up into quite the potent attacker. Courser of Kruphix and Selvala, Heart of the Wilds are brilliant here, even without the focus on high power to maximise Selvala’s use. We have a plethora of 2/1 for 2 creatures which take a small hit but which function nonetheless, such as Lotus Cobra and Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary, although we should avoid including too many. What we do have at the 2CMC slot is great beaters like Tarmogoyf and Sylvan Advocate. Green offers extra midrange and top-end targets with square P/T to round out the deck, and even utility cards like Eternal Witness aren’t going to be too sad about a minor nerf. The planeswalkers here help to fill out the deck, and Nissa, Voice of Zendikar in particular becomes a cut-price hybrid of Ajani Goldmane and Elspeth, Knight-Errant when it’s pumping out 1/1 tokens rather than 0/1’s. Lastly, we can defend and build with cards like Wall of Roots, Sylvan Caryatid and Wall of Blossoms which all hit very hard indeed on the defence. You don’t see it in many small cubes, but Skinshifter is a fragile but powerful beater who gets ridiculous with WA, as an effective 8/8 for 1G.
Black rounds things out – like in so many decks - with its tutoring, discard, removal and utility. There are a lot of P>T creatures here, although most are aggro-oriented and wouldn’t be up for consideration anyway. The legendary duo of Liliana, Heretical Healer and Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet are doing exactly the right job here, and both benefit from WA whilst being a natural fit. If you packed token effects from green, Drana, Liberator of Malakir can be added to the list. Adding a reanimator package is also quite possible given the colours we’re already in, with the cute interaction of Animate Dead’s -1/-0 bonus being irrelevant. The choice to go into black, white or neither will depend on the needs of the build and what’s available in the draft. Black does give access to some nice synergistic choices for WA which happen to work great here, like Deathrite Shaman, Meren of Clan Nel Toth, Dragonlord Silumgar, Tasigur, the Golden Fang and oodles of gold removal and goodstuff; white much less so.
In conclusion, the deck is a blast to play, since you are taking some pretty inoffensive cards and beating really hard with them. It’s a different take on the goodstuff-control hybrid and adds a new twist to deck building. Give it a spin!
Really good summary. I also came to the conclusion that a GUx midrange deck would be the best fit for this card. I assumed that white would be the best third color, but never counted the affected creatures. Thanks for pointing out that black might actually be an even better third color for this deck. And yeah, it is obvious that red is the worst fit.
Weight Advantage is the kind of conspiracy that I like most: It can't be slammed into every deck and requires some build-around, but creates a nice archetype-variant with only a single card.
Thanks for writing this up. I'm going to build a conspiracy module, and primers like this will definitely help as I do that.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I can't say I'm pleased to see you and must warn you I may have to do something about it.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: URDelver
Modern: UGRDelver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
Well, there's Glint-Nest Crane who got spoiled the other day, and Illusory Informant from CN2. The former is pretty good and might replace Augur of Bolas for me.
Reveillark is the only creature that is negatively affected by the conspiracy - and even then it is effectively just -1/-0. On the other hand, a whooping 11 cards get stronger due to it! Sure, I was a bit restricted during the draft, but that is part fo the fun of drafting around such a conspiracy. (Btw, maybe I should have put Hero of Bladehold into the maindeck. The battlecry might be worthless, but it is still a 4/4 that pumps out two 1/1s with every attack.)
I love this idea. My group drafted C2 once, but I hate to say I forgot to look through the full spoiler and I didn't even know this card was out there.
I'll pop it in before our next cube event for sure. Good looking out!
The effect on Doran, the Siege Tower is a pretty game-altering one, and with Conspiracy 2 we got access to its effect in the most abusable possible form – one that doesn’t cost you mana or a card, and which is always in play from the start of the game. Weight Advantage has quickly become one of my top Conspiracies and it has formed a strong and fun archetype and niche around it, particularly in Sultai (BUG) or Bant (WUG) colours. It’s not a card that you can throw mindlessly into any shell, since in many cases it could prove harmful to your aim, especially for aggro with the requirement for 2/1 critters. However, in the right midrange deck, it can add a lot of clout to your board when built around in some subtle and some not-so-subtle ways.
Needless to say, you’re looking for creatures with toughness > power. But you still need your picks to be the focus of a deck with a coherent gameplan. The conceit of the deck is to turn defense, control-oriented creatures into efficient beaters, and speed up the clock to midrange levels whilst retaining the efficiency and card advantage generated by those 1/3’s, 2/4’s and so on.
Let’s focus on what the various colours have to offer this archetype, and what sort of shape that deck might take. White has a few notable offerings which benefit to some extent from Weight Advantage; in white, Brimaz and Restoration Angel get a small +1/+0 bonus, whilst Wall of Omens and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite get a monstrous pump. On the cheaper end of the curve, Stoneforge Mystic and Steppe Lynx get a little boost too. It’s safe to say that White has some potential for this deck, although in my opinion it’s not where the card shines; too much of white’s curve is filled with P>T creatures, and these are all cards which go into different sorts of decks anyway, so White’s probably best used as a splash for WA.dec.
White has a few offerings for the deck, though they are quite diverse in terms of archetype.
On the other hand, red is best avoided. There are scant few creatures that benefit at all from WA, and those that do get a paltry bonus from it (Hanweir Garrison and Feldon of the Third Path, the latter of which doesn’t want to be in combat that much anyway). On the contrary, there are numerous 2/1, 4/2 and the like which will get nerfed hard by WA.
The core of the WA.dec is to be found in blue, where synergistic P>T creatures can be found all the way throughout the curve. There are numerous utility 1/3s for two mana to be found, some of which make it into cube as support for other archetypes (Omenspeaker, Augur of Bolas, Renowned Weaponsmith). WA transforms these from utility speed bumps and blockers into above-the-curve offensive powerhouses. Prized early-game looters like Enclave Cryptologist and Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy get a handy boost for those times when they need to get into the redzone (Deal Broker too). Most notably, Spellskite becomes a drawback-less Flesh Reaver which will eat burn spells from your more vulnerable creatures, and is one of the best things you can do in this deck. Thing in the Ice is a much more scary blocker (before transforming) when it can block and kill 3/3’s, and even gets a little kick after escaping its icy prison. Higher in the curve, many of blue’s top-tier threats get a quicker clock – Meloku, Consecrated Sphinx, Aetherling, Elder Deep-Fiend and Torrential Gearhulk all benefit, not to mention Inkwell Leviathan, who can fit perfectly into the deck if it comes together with an artifact leaning; this also gives access to Myr Battlesphere and Sundering Titan, who get a nifty +3/+0 apiece. Of blue’s utlity creatures, there are very few other than Vendilion Clique who suffer significantly from WA, since most have square power and toughness.
To flesh out the deck, we turn to green and black. In both of these colours, there are a lot of creatures that don’t work in this shell, so we must choose carefully. Firstly, we will look to mana generators. Green’s mana elves work fine here, Noble Hierarch and Birds of Paradise in particular, and Joraga Treespeaker levels up into quite the potent attacker. Courser of Kruphix and Selvala, Heart of the Wilds are brilliant here, even without the focus on high power to maximise Selvala’s use. We have a plethora of 2/1 for 2 creatures which take a small hit but which function nonetheless, such as Lotus Cobra and Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary, although we should avoid including too many. What we do have at the 2CMC slot is great beaters like Tarmogoyf and Sylvan Advocate. Green offers extra midrange and top-end targets with square P/T to round out the deck, and even utility cards like Eternal Witness aren’t going to be too sad about a minor nerf. The planeswalkers here help to fill out the deck, and Nissa, Voice of Zendikar in particular becomes a cut-price hybrid of Ajani Goldmane and Elspeth, Knight-Errant when it’s pumping out 1/1 tokens rather than 0/1’s. Lastly, we can defend and build with cards like Wall of Roots, Sylvan Caryatid and Wall of Blossoms which all hit very hard indeed on the defence. You don’t see it in many small cubes, but Skinshifter is a fragile but powerful beater who gets ridiculous with WA, as an effective 8/8 for 1G.
Black rounds things out – like in so many decks - with its tutoring, discard, removal and utility. There are a lot of P>T creatures here, although most are aggro-oriented and wouldn’t be up for consideration anyway. The legendary duo of Liliana, Heretical Healer and Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet are doing exactly the right job here, and both benefit from WA whilst being a natural fit. If you packed token effects from green, Drana, Liberator of Malakir can be added to the list. Adding a reanimator package is also quite possible given the colours we’re already in, with the cute interaction of Animate Dead’s -1/-0 bonus being irrelevant. The choice to go into black, white or neither will depend on the needs of the build and what’s available in the draft. Black does give access to some nice synergistic choices for WA which happen to work great here, like Deathrite Shaman, Meren of Clan Nel Toth, Dragonlord Silumgar, Tasigur, the Golden Fang and oodles of gold removal and goodstuff; white much less so.
In conclusion, the deck is a blast to play, since you are taking some pretty inoffensive cards and beating really hard with them. It’s a different take on the goodstuff-control hybrid and adds a new twist to deck building. Give it a spin!
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
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!
Weight Advantage is the kind of conspiracy that I like most: It can't be slammed into every deck and requires some build-around, but creates a nice archetype-variant with only a single card.
Uril, the Miststalker RGW -- Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre C -- Vhati il-Dal BG -- Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer RW -- Animar, Soul of Elements URG
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker R -- Maga, Traitor to Mortals B -- Ghave, Guru of Spores BGW -- Sliver Hivelord WUBRG
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
Are there any cubable 1/3 fliers for 1u?
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
1x Enclave Cryptologist
1x Kor Skyfisher
1x Relic Seeker
1x Seeker of the Way
1x Sygg, River Cutthroat
1x Blade Splicer
1x Brimaz, King of Oreskos
1x Bygone Bishop
1x Serendib Efreet
1x Spell Queller
1x Tradewind Rider
1x Whirler Rogue
1x Reveillark
1x Sun Titan
1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1x Spellskite
Artifact
1x Lightning Greaves
1x Mortarpod
1x Tangle Wire
Instant
1x Scatter to the Winds
Sorcery
1x Preordain
Enchantment
1x Equilibrium
1x Quarantine Field
Land
1x Celestial Colonnade
1x Prairie Stream
1x Tundra
Conspiracy
1x Weight Advantage
Land
7x Plains
7x Island
1x Caves of Koilos
1x Char
1x Cloistered Youth
1x Curse of Shallow Graves
1x Deal Broker
1x Elite Vanguard
1x Figure of Destiny
1x Goblin Guide
1x Hero of Bladehold
1x Kitchen Finks
1x Makeshift Mannequin
1x Monastery Swiftspear
1x Mutagenic Growth
1x Profane Command
1x Sarcomancy
1x Squee, Goblin Nabob
1x Sulfuric Vortex
1x Thopter Engineer
Uril, the Miststalker RGW -- Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre C -- Vhati il-Dal BG -- Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer RW -- Animar, Soul of Elements URG
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker R -- Maga, Traitor to Mortals B -- Ghave, Guru of Spores BGW -- Sliver Hivelord WUBRG
I'll pop it in before our next cube event for sure. Good looking out!