This card scales quite well. I would say this however:
At 1UU, I do not think this card is better than Jace Beleren. I know Beleren has not been high on the priority list, but I don’t know if I am willing to cut Beleren for this. I would rather compare this to 5 mana slots rather than 3 mana slots.
I think my concern with this card is whatever X is for reaching critical mass to ensure you get the right value at the right time. I have not actually ran the numbers through hypergeometric distribution but it seems wildly inconsistent at a glance.
The Commander module is a 180 card module that allows up to 6 drafters to draft alongside the core 360 card cube. The Commander module is drafted prior to drafting the core cube and ensures each drafter gets at least 2 packs from the Commander module. Each deck must contain 60 cards, no more, no less.
DESIGN NOTES: I have wanted to build a Commander Cube for a long time now, as Commander is my favorite format following the limited environment of Cube drafting. This module is my attempt to curate a Commander Cube that caters to my love for more traditional powered Cube without filling the Cube with mostly Commander centric cards. This module is most certainly a work in progress, and I hope it can be fine-tuned as time goes on. The module itself aims to add additional support for archetypes not really represented much in the core 360 of my Cube, while bringing forth Commanders that will work with archetypes that do exist within the main 360 card Cube.
The module is not color balanced, this is to help it focus on archetype balance and support rather than filling colors in with filler cards that may not accurately represent the intended power of play for the module. This may be reevaluated at some point, but unlikely.
Deck size and drafting method are also works in progress. The deck size of 60 cards, which includes your commander, may be adjusted depending on the average number of playables drafted. Currently, the draft process leads to drafting the Commander module before drafting the 360 core of the Cube. I am unsure if this will be a long term thing, it may be that it needs to be drafted after - or perhaps even during the initial draft with a counter rotation to it. Ideally, these numbers allow people to draft more than 1 commander option so the second half of the draft can remain flexible once players need to build their decks.
Some archetypes can cross-pollinate as well as bleed into other colors. Tokens for example, is not tied strictly to Ghave, Guru of Spores or even Abzan. Tokens can work with Xyris, the Writhing Storm and The Locust Godwith supporters like Seasoned pyromancer, Tezzeret, Artifice Master, and others. Stax, can function like traditional Smokestack decks with cards like Braids, Cabal Minion and Strip Mine interactions, or it can shift to more of a blue-oriented build using Static Orb effects for a different approach. The aim is to allow drafters to play the same archetypes in different ways and help bolster the card pool available for some archetypes.
I know you are just meesin' :P. I have been toying with building a second Cube that is power free, so can curate an entirely different experience, so I will watch the thread for that - most certainly.
Idk if calling those above cards marginal at 540 is the same as being a hater lol. I will admit, this thread makes me happy. I am glad to see the card pool for these kinds of things grow as i love the archetype and if I ever expand into the 720 range, I may consider it a bit more.
Saying that Uro is not fun to play against and that it homogenizes formats is highlighting the same issues with Twin. Twin wasn't fun to play against for a lot of people, and it homogenized blue decks within modern. If you were in blue at that time, you were playing Twin or merfolk and let's be real about merfolk... Just because you could play Grixis Twin, Jeskai Twin, or UR Twin - doesn't mean blue was diverse. All three decks had very linear play and the play patterns were clones of each other.
Looks pretty homogenized to me. UWx wasn't even really on the metagame radar at the time and it took Teferi's to bring that deck into the fold. Sure, you might argue that the viability of UW in today's modern may allow for a less homogenized format, but I don't see that happening at all. i just see Jeskai Twin running the format because another problem with Twin is that it couldn't realistically be hated out by other decks at any significant rate.
So what makes the call for Uro being tied up with a call for unbanning twin so funny, is that they both present very similar issues except 1: Uro decks can be hated out at a much more acceptable rate than Twin.
Did...did you make a graph about homogenization and then only show two decks? I'm pretty dang sure there were more than two decks.
No, the graph was from an article published at the time.
The problem with Seasoned Pyromancer is you need to discard non-land cards to gain the value. Spell's matters decks want to discard their excess lands to draw into additional cantrips/ burn
You are thinking about the card in a very 1 dimensional manner. Discarding spare lands to draw spells is still value, even if you don't get the tokens.
@JuiceBOX: T4 Progenitus/Blightsteel/Emrakul has been pretty powerful. The archetype hasn't been "marginal" or "weird" ...it's been very strong. Just an FYI.
I said marginal cards, not a marginal archetype. Any deck that can circumvent the cost of casting end-game creatures is going to be powerful when it comes together. The question is, when it does not come together - "Are the peripherals good enough for supporting other archetypes?", and I don't think that rings true enough for me to be willing to give up the real estate space for the archetype, even at 540.
Why do you find this funny?
While I do not think Uro should be outright banned it is slowly getting there. The ubiquity of this card means that formats homogenize and diversity decreases. It would not be a problem if the effects it provides allowed for diversity of uses, but they do not and the games involving this card become repetitive. I do not think that is what most players seek when they play this game.
At the same time Twin was unnecessarily banned (or rather it was banned to increase visibility of new cards) and it would be perfectly fine to unban it with current cardpool and meta.
Saying that Uro is not fun to play against and that it homogenizes formats is highlighting the same issues with Twin. Twin wasn't fun to play against for a lot of people, and it homogenized blue decks within modern. If you were in blue at that time, you were playing Twin or merfolk and let's be real about merfolk... Just because you could play Grixis Twin, Jeskai Twin, or UR Twin - doesn't mean blue was diverse. All three decks had very linear play and the play patterns were clones of each other.
Looks pretty homogenized to me. UWx wasn't even really on the metagame radar at the time and it took Teferi's to bring that deck into the fold. Sure, you might argue that the viability of UW in today's modern may allow for a less homogenized format, but I don't see that happening at all. i just see Jeskai Twin running the format because another problem with Twin is that it couldn't realistically be hated out by other decks at any significant rate.
So what makes the call for Uro being tied up with a call for unbanning twin so funny, is that they both present very similar issues except 1: Uro decks can be hated out at a much more acceptable rate than Twin.
If you ever need to find a moderator, you can go to the main forum screen (where you se ethe modern, standard, legacy sections), and there is a link to view the moderators.
Ulka and steve_man are the moderators for the Cube section.
I played a lot of Polymorph decks in Constructed and they are always fun. Though, I doubled I will ever explore it in Cube. It requires a lot of real estate space for a lot of marginal cards, and that is where I probably draw the line. Only so much space I am willing to give to weird and fun cards and they typically have to fall into more powerful archetypes for me to consider them in the first place.
A good chunk of things have been printed since the last post in this thread, so I thought I would comment to bring it back up for some update discussion.
First and foremost, the goal of my comment here is to just discuss additions to the archetype for those interested in adding it to their Cube. As always, remember that Cubes can vary in power level and not every archetype is going to fit in every Cube. I think that Spells Matter is a very fun and interesting archetype in MTG and it is always fun to see new cars that fit within it.
I am certain that I have missed some, but I would love to see what others have seen that I did not and what some of you all think about the cards fitting into the archetype.
Personally, I like this card. Not enough to consider it for 360-450 Powered, but I might consider this for Commander Cube or unpowered Cubes.
At 1UU, I do not think this card is better than Jace Beleren. I know Beleren has not been high on the priority list, but I don’t know if I am willing to cut Beleren for this. I would rather compare this to 5 mana slots rather than 3 mana slots.
Idk if calling those above cards marginal at 540 is the same as being a hater lol. I will admit, this thread makes me happy. I am glad to see the card pool for these kinds of things grow as i love the archetype and if I ever expand into the 720 range, I may consider it a bit more.
No, the graph was from an article published at the time.
You are thinking about the card in a very 1 dimensional manner. Discarding spare lands to draw spells is still value, even if you don't get the tokens.
I said marginal cards, not a marginal archetype. Any deck that can circumvent the cost of casting end-game creatures is going to be powerful when it comes together. The question is, when it does not come together - "Are the peripherals good enough for supporting other archetypes?", and I don't think that rings true enough for me to be willing to give up the real estate space for the archetype, even at 540.
Saying that Uro is not fun to play against and that it homogenizes formats is highlighting the same issues with Twin. Twin wasn't fun to play against for a lot of people, and it homogenized blue decks within modern. If you were in blue at that time, you were playing Twin or merfolk and let's be real about merfolk... Just because you could play Grixis Twin, Jeskai Twin, or UR Twin - doesn't mean blue was diverse. All three decks had very linear play and the play patterns were clones of each other.
Looks pretty homogenized to me. UWx wasn't even really on the metagame radar at the time and it took Teferi's to bring that deck into the fold. Sure, you might argue that the viability of UW in today's modern may allow for a less homogenized format, but I don't see that happening at all. i just see Jeskai Twin running the format because another problem with Twin is that it couldn't realistically be hated out by other decks at any significant rate.
So what makes the call for Uro being tied up with a call for unbanning twin so funny, is that they both present very similar issues except 1: Uro decks can be hated out at a much more acceptable rate than Twin.
Ulka and steve_man are the moderators for the Cube section.
First and foremost, the goal of my comment here is to just discuss additions to the archetype for those interested in adding it to their Cube. As always, remember that Cubes can vary in power level and not every archetype is going to fit in every Cube. I think that Spells Matter is a very fun and interesting archetype in MTG and it is always fun to see new cars that fit within it.
Baral, Chief of Compliance as a nice loot option with some spell discounting.
Spellseeker as a way to fetch key spells.
God-Eternal Kefnet as a recurring threat + some spell value each turn.
Search for Azcanta as another way to fetch spells during a game.
Narset, Parter of Veils, a planeswalker that can dig for spells and limit opponents is nice.
Seasoned Pyromancer!!!
Teferi, Time Raveler is a great option for limiting your opponent while giving yourself a bit more flexibility with your spells.
Rielle, the Everwise seems sweet.
Ral, Storm Conduit is some copy spell action.
Kykar, Wind's Fury is some token value.
Narset of the Ancient Way seems pretty nice for 3 colors if you are wanting to support the archetype in them.
Whirlwind of Thought seems decent for 3 colors as well.
I am certain that I have missed some, but I would love to see what others have seen that I did not and what some of you all think about the cards fitting into the archetype.