MTG Salvation

I think that Skyspawner is a must-include. I get that it's not the most interesting to have three cards that do very similar things in three different colours. However, if you're going to not play one of them then you shouldn't exclude the best one! And it's not just the best one by a small margin - this is better than the others by a lot.

I don't think that the new lands are all that good. The blue and black ones are the best IMO, although I do think that the green one is being underrated because finding a land when you are mana screwed is a pretty important thing.

The problem I have is that they are enough better than basic lands. I'd say that some of them are better than basics and so is Teetering Peaks, but lands need to provide fixing or be significantly better than basics in order to be worth the slots in the cube in my opinion.

Also, I really do not like Eldrazi Devastator better than crusher, at all. If you don't want to run crusher for whatever reason, go ahead and cut it, but the devastator is simply not an efficient card. The annihilator is what makes Crusher good in the first place.

I think it's a very good card, and it would be an autoinclude if it was just one colour. The way that its protection plays with counterspells means that it's not hard to get a hit in with Ojutai in the right deck, and once you start the train it becomes very hard for the opponent to win.

I think that saying that you don't want to play it because white and blue have strong 5 drop options is a little strange. Yes, it's true that both white and blue have strong options at 5, but all of those cards except Mulldrifter are less powerful than Ojutai is.

And yeah, it's MUCH better than venser. I personally really dislike when people defend cards because of their uniqueness when the argument is about card power level. Of course, anyone who's running a cube can cut powerful cards for less powerful cards to make their cube how they want it to be. But we're talking about how good Ojutai is, not how fun it is.

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Quote from ActionJunkie

Splash black for Doom Blade (sideboard), Far/Away, and Thoughtseize. Worked very well for me @ FNM ;). You can then run x4 Ashiok in the 75 too.

Ashiok is terrible in this deck, it's far too aggressive for that plan. Your FNM is not a high level event.

I know people pick prerelease packs not just because of the power of the colour, but green being currently the least chosen colour seems strange. Almost every green common is playable to strong, with very few exceptions.

Quote from bondafong

For me this is the 6th best card:


Baleful Strix
Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
Far // Away
Shadowmage Infiltrator
Psychatog
Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
Dimir Signet
Duskmantle Seer

I'm entirely sure that both the signet and the talisman are better, if a little more boring. This is really quite bad against any deck with a creature presence be it midrange or aggro. It's killer in control mirrors but if you wanted a UB card that busts control mirrors in half Nephalia Drownyard is a better option in my opinion

I think this has historically been true, but reversed in recent years. Green has been one if the best, if not the best colours in m13, m14,rtr and the entire innistrad block

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Quote from Leelue

A strictly better barter in blood? That has roadblocks or is one sided? No way in the world.

That's not true. While Barter in Blood is a very strong card in this environment, it's seen pretty much no play in standard - it's a weak sweeper these days. They could certainly make a strictly better barter in blood and not even think twice about it.

What kind of sick card game makes me have to talk to my kids? And what kid is going to pay so much attention to the flavor text of one specific card?
If a kid can figure out how planeswalkers work, what X means, and how the stack works, I think they can figure out gay people exist.
You explain to your child whats happening in Dismember then I'll explain that people who exist, exist.

I find it interesting that not everyone plays all ten bouncelands. I think they're easily the best fixer in their colors.

Sort of topical:


In theory though, the poll doesn't have to be wrong - might be all the actual smartest people in the room happened to vote on this poll, and the not-quite-as-smart people didn't (or maybe didn't figure out how to).

I don't think powered or unpowered makes a big difference in card evaluation for 99% of the cards. It only matters if cards do something with artefacts or do something flashy comboish.

The main factor in comparing cards is size. Those power cards don't change the whole cube, they only speed it up.

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i guess it's time for those "don't blame me, i voted land" t-shirts...

that card is awful

What are people's thoughts on this card. I have had some very good results with it. It seems to be the aggro counterpart to condemn. I feel like it may actually be better though. It's clearly way better in aggro than condemn. It removes a fatty or wall and allows you to swing in. Condemn does nothing in aggro. Furthermore it can be played in control/midrange if need be. For instance ousting a turn 1 gobbling guide can give you time to get set up better for an aggro match as well as making the goblin guide possibly an irrelivant draw in a few turns. Just an example.

Image leeching replaced.
—Lanxal

Quote from Pringlesman

Took long enough for this to hit the cube forum. Though I'm not sure why anyone would bother posting on another part of salvation.

To be fair, it did start in this forum.

I like Edric quite a bit more than Master Biomancer. Putrid Leech is a fine option if you play a lot of Golgari aggro decks.