I have to wonder, isn't "buyback" + paradoxial engine not just a "win"? So long as you can pay for the buyback?
Ie:
White: Change of Heart (4 mana) - infinite "fog"
blue: Clockspinning (4 mana) - infinite planeswalker counters. (Or suspend immediatelly/counter deletion) Mind Games (4 mana) - infinite tap
black: Brush with Death (7 mana) - infintie damage + life gain.
RED: Seething Anger- (5 mana) on the board, infintie damage
Green: Sprout Swarm - (5 mana) infinite 1/1 tokens (has convoke) Wurmcalling - (X+4 mana) infinite x/x tokens
Honourable mentions goes to:
Haze of Rage just cause it has storm + buyback... The mathematician in me sees that this grow "faster" to infinite than any of the above: exponential increase instead of linear.
Modern is slightly worse, since no direct damage for black or red, and also the "foglike" effects of white are gone but we have these: Reiterate - (4RR) infinite copies of an instants/sorcery spell (bolt?) Evangelize - (6WWW) control all creatures
Seriously in a blue-red EDH deck this would mean the combo is basically either 9 mana at once; or 5 mana + protect it one turn + next turn "gg". Based on a single instant and artifact: two things blue and red can really easily tutor for. This card doesn't even NEED storm to go infinite, just a single other card can do it.
No, it's not an insta-win. It looks to me like you're thinking PE says "untap all permanents", but it says "nonland permanents"
Now with a few mana dorks on the field, you're in business.
The description for Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury doesn't appear to match the card at all. Did you accidentally paste the blurb for Trinisphere under Freyalise?
On that note, I've found Trinisphere is great against Omni-show, and 1 turn faster than Dream Halls, though not very useful otherwise.
Also on the subject of Freyalise though, why is Freyalise listed under "fixing"? Isn't that the one thing it doesn't do?
One last question: can I get advice on tuning this deck for my meta? We have a lot of reanimator (Jarad, Gisa+Geralf, Meren, Deretti), combo stuff (Riku, Mishra, something UR storm, Azami), and cheaty stuff (Narset, Zur). No tokens (except maybe 1 deck I haven't seen much). I'm wondering if I should drop the spheres for e.g. Trinisphere and Chains of Mephistopheles, and the Maelstrom Pulse (and other token-targetting cards) for more anti-card-draw.
6/1/2005 Pithing Needle affects cards regardless of what zone they're in. This includes cards in hand, cards in the graveyard, and exiled cards. For example, a player can't cycle Eternal Dragon or return an Eternal Dragon from his or her graveyard to hand if Pithing Needle naming Eternal Dragon is on the battlefield.
313. Conspiracies
313.1. Conspiracy cards are used only in limited play, particularly in the Conspiracy Draft variant (see rule 905). Conspiracy cards aren’t used in constructed play.
313.2. At the start of a game, before decks are shuffled, each player may put any number of conspiracy cards from his or her sideboard into the command zone. Conspiracy cards with hidden agenda are put into the command zone face down. (See rule 702.105, “Hidden Agenda.”)
313.3. Conspiracy cards remain in the command zone throughout the game. They’re not permanents. They can’t be cast or included in a deck. If a conspiracy card would leave the command zone, it remains in the command zone. Conspiracy cards that aren’t in the game can’t be brought into the game.
313.4. Conspiracy cards have no subtypes.
313.5. Conspiracy cards may have any number of static or triggered abilities. As long as a conspiracy card is face up in the command zone, its static abilities affect the game, and its triggered abilities may trigger.
313.5a Abilities of conspiracy cards may affect the start-of-game procedure.
313.5b Face-down conspiracy cards have no characteristics.
313.6. The owner of a conspiracy card is the player who put it into the command zone at the start of the game. The controller of a conspiracy card is its owner.
313.7. At any time, you may look at a face-down conspiracy card you control. You can’t look at face-down conspiracy cards controlled by other players.
There is nothing there that suggests to me that you would not be able to name Sovereign's Realm with Pithing Needle, if both were somehow present in a Limited game. Conspiracies are in fact legal cards in those formats, and Needle does indeed affect cards in the command zone (for instance, you could choose to name Derevi, Empyrial Tactician with it). However, to my knowledge, there is presently no limited format with both of these cards, so this interaction is a thought exercise until someone decides to put them both into the same MTGO cube.
I haven't checked the rules definition of a card, but understand conspiracies are banned in constructed formats. Nevertheless, I've gotten used to conspiracies being unable to be interacted with, and it's jarring to think that Pithing Needle can name Sovereign's Realm
Can someone help me? I'm looking for a new cube list to put together, and I need some help to find a good one.
Specifically, I'd like a cube that:
-can support 10+ drafters, as we often have 8-10
-has little/no fast mana (cards that produce more mana than they cost), because the people I draft with like modern magic and don't like playing with broken combos every draft
-has no draft-luck cards (e.g. Lurking Automaton, which is worthless if you get it before pick 5-ish but amazing after pick 8), because I want to reduce luck and emphasize skill*
-has multiple first-pickable cards per pack (this may be true in every cube, but e.g. Sword of Body and Mind and 14 of non-S-class cards is no contest)
-every card in the cube has a purpose. So e.g. no Sigil of the Empty Throne without enchantment support (especially repeatable enchantments for that card), or Manamorphose without Storm, because I want people to trust they can get an archetype if a card says that archetype matters
-has interactive archetypes, e.g. Black aggro and not Storm, because people I draft with greatly prefer interactive games to non
-has archetypes and cards with balanced power levels (based on any criteri), if possible, so drafting the open strategy doesn't put you in a losing position (again, to emphasize skill and not luck)**
If anyone knows a cube like that, please point me to it.
*has anyone tried Sovereign's Realm in your cube? If so, how was it?
** if there's a better way to emphasize skill or just make a better/more fun cube, I'm open to that
Warhammer > Sword but it's close. I like the lifelink and +1 power because I think those will be more relevant than haste and first strike most of the time.
How big is the cube? I don't like any of those 2-drops really and would have to have a pretty large cube before those looked attractive.
I've been misreading Sword for a while now and thought it had lifelink. Whoops.
It's a 720 cube with multiples so closer to 360. I don't particularly need the 2-drops to cost 2, so am open to other suggestions, but it has to be common/uncommon, so I'm not sure what. I have a post here if you'd like to discuss it more (and I'd be grateful if you did!)
I have 749 cards, so I need to make some cuts. Essentially, this is how I made the cube:
My goal: to create an unpowered cube without S-class cards like those in this post, with a high amount of cross-pollination, and interactive archetypes that are fun to play against (so e.g. no land destruction, no Ensnaring Bridge, no Stasis, no Smokestacks or Pox)
720 cards
15 archetypes, 1 for each color and color-pair
For each archetype:
8 separate cards among commons/uncommons, with 4x copies of each card
8 separate cards among rares/mythics, with 2x copies of each card
So there are 32 c/u and 16 r/m, or 48 total cards for each archetype
Packs to be built with 5 rares/mythics and 10 commons/uncommons per pack
The main issue is that I'm missing cards from some archetypes, but want to include 2x of each fetchland and Ravnica dual-land, which puts me over the top. Can anyone make any suggestions?
Please also critique my cube as much as you want, since it's the first one I've made and therefore probably has some issues. Since I have multiples, it's probably fair to think of it like a 360 cube. I welcome any feedback.
Hey all, I'm working on a somewhat unique, unpowered, 720 cube. It has: 2x of mythic/rares and 4x of un/commons, and an archetype for every color and color pair - except Rakdos and mono blue. I know cubes normally have archetypes regardless of colors - I just wanted to set this one up a bit differently after a friend suggested focusing on color pairs.
Are there any cube-worthy archetypes for these? Given that I have multiples, it seems like I can allow some archetypes that wouldn't normally see play because of lack of cards. I know "Blue Devotion" is listed right on the Cube Archetypes thread, but from what I've heard it underperforms except for Master/Opposition/Thassa. Black/red is the real problem. I know Ponza fits into that well, but I don't want to include that b/c land destruction is so unfun to play against, and I'm trying to build the cube in a way that every archetype can be interacted with (e.g. dredge vs mill).
Here's the archetypes I currently have mapped out:
W Lifegain
U ?
B Aristocrats
R Goblins
G Ramp
W/U Blink
U/B Mill
B/R ?
R/G Lands Matter
G/W Tokens
W/B Enchantments
U/R Wildfire
B/G Dredge
R/W Cycling
G/U Fatty Cheat
Geth, Lord of the Vault or Oona, Queen of the Fae? As far as I can tell they're almost the same, although you'd want Geth against Pyroclasm/Wildfire (which my cube has) and Oona in tokens/aristocrats (which my cube has)
Polukranos or Vorapede? Or something else (does Kalonian Hydra work?) I want a 5-6 cmc ramp targets immediately stabilize the board against aggressive decks like Aristocrats or Goblins on turn 3.
No, it's not an insta-win. It looks to me like you're thinking PE says "untap all permanents", but it says "nonland permanents"
Now with a few mana dorks on the field, you're in business.
On that note, I've found Trinisphere is great against Omni-show, and 1 turn faster than Dream Halls, though not very useful otherwise.
Also on the subject of Freyalise though, why is Freyalise listed under "fixing"? Isn't that the one thing it doesn't do?
One last question: can I get advice on tuning this deck for my meta? We have a lot of reanimator (Jarad, Gisa+Geralf, Meren, Deretti), combo stuff (Riku, Mishra, something UR storm, Azami), and cheaty stuff (Narset, Zur). No tokens (except maybe 1 deck I haven't seen much). I'm wondering if I should drop the spheres for e.g. Trinisphere and Chains of Mephistopheles, and the Maelstrom Pulse (and other token-targetting cards) for more anti-card-draw.
Excellent, thank you
Specifically, I'd like a cube that:
-can support 10+ drafters, as we often have 8-10
-has little/no fast mana (cards that produce more mana than they cost), because the people I draft with like modern magic and don't like playing with broken combos every draft
-has no draft-luck cards (e.g. Lurking Automaton, which is worthless if you get it before pick 5-ish but amazing after pick 8), because I want to reduce luck and emphasize skill*
-has multiple first-pickable cards per pack (this may be true in every cube, but e.g. Sword of Body and Mind and 14 of non-S-class cards is no contest)
-every card in the cube has a purpose. So e.g. no Sigil of the Empty Throne without enchantment support (especially repeatable enchantments for that card), or Manamorphose without Storm, because I want people to trust they can get an archetype if a card says that archetype matters
-has interactive archetypes, e.g. Black aggro and not Storm, because people I draft with greatly prefer interactive games to non
-has archetypes and cards with balanced power levels (based on any criteri), if possible, so drafting the open strategy doesn't put you in a losing position (again, to emphasize skill and not luck)**
If anyone knows a cube like that, please point me to it.
*has anyone tried Sovereign's Realm in your cube? If so, how was it?
** if there's a better way to emphasize skill or just make a better/more fun cube, I'm open to that
I've been misreading Sword for a while now and thought it had lifelink. Whoops.
It's a 720 cube with multiples so closer to 360. I don't particularly need the 2-drops to cost 2, so am open to other suggestions, but it has to be common/uncommon, so I'm not sure what. I have a post here if you'd like to discuss it more (and I'd be grateful if you did!)
Albino Troll vs Lambholt Pacifist vs Garruk's Companion vs Kalonian Tusker (for Voltron)?
I also have a google spreadsheet with cards sorted by archetype and CMC here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1IA_wgGpgErEqzVfH_rXBdpuJ6Oad5J5iIq_uByb6NzE/edit#gid=0
I have 749 cards, so I need to make some cuts. Essentially, this is how I made the cube:
The main issue is that I'm missing cards from some archetypes, but want to include 2x of each fetchland and Ravnica dual-land, which puts me over the top. Can anyone make any suggestions?
Please also critique my cube as much as you want, since it's the first one I've made and therefore probably has some issues. Since I have multiples, it's probably fair to think of it like a 360 cube. I welcome any feedback.
1. G/W Tokens -> G/W Voltron
Out:
Intangible Virtue
Selesnya Guildmage
Raise the Alarm
Lingering Souls
Predator's Howl
Grizzly Fate
Garruk Relentless
Master of the Wild Hunt
Eldrazi Monument
Deranged Hermit
In:
Berserk
Rancor
Fencing Ace
Soltari Trooper
Mwonvuli Beast Tracker
Albino Troll
Vines of Vastwood
Briarhorn
Fleecemane Lion
Mirran Crusader
Soltari Champion
Troll Ascetic
Angelic Destiny
Thrun, the Last Troll
Sigarda, Host of Herons
Boon Satyr
2. R/W Cycling -> R/W Tokens
Out:
Lightning Rift
Astral Slide
Edge of Autumn
Renewed Faith
Blast from the Past
Slice and Dice
Secluded Steppe
Smouldering Crater
Fluctuator
Eternal Dragon
Akroma's Vengeance
Starstorm
Decree of Justice
In:
4 separate uncommons I haven't decided on yet.
Everything else's actually already in the cube.
Are there any cube-worthy archetypes for these? Given that I have multiples, it seems like I can allow some archetypes that wouldn't normally see play because of lack of cards. I know "Blue Devotion" is listed right on the Cube Archetypes thread, but from what I've heard it underperforms except for Master/Opposition/Thassa. Black/red is the real problem. I know Ponza fits into that well, but I don't want to include that b/c land destruction is so unfun to play against, and I'm trying to build the cube in a way that every archetype can be interacted with (e.g. dredge vs mill).
Here's the archetypes I currently have mapped out:
W Lifegain
U ?
B Aristocrats
R Goblins
G Ramp
W/U Blink
U/B Mill
B/R ?
R/G Lands Matter
G/W Tokens
W/B Enchantments
U/R Wildfire
B/G Dredge
R/W Cycling
G/U Fatty Cheat
Liliana, Heretical Healer vs Liliana of the Veil? (I also have lifegain and reanimator)
Braids, Cabal Minion vs Grave Pact kinda vs Phyrexian Plaguelord? (I also have tokens, Grave Pact seems more narrow but stronger, Plaguelord was a friend's suggestion)