No interest in that Network Disruptor for your Tempo cube? I was kind of eyeing the card for Peasant to see if I preferred it over my other early-drop blue options. Works well with Blink, Ninjas, artifact and flyer synergies... Idk... seems worth considering - especially in more of a tempo environment.
Touch the Spirit Realm is an interesting variant. Even though my white section has an enchantment subtheme I opted out of O-Ring #3 (Borrowed Time or whatever it was called) in favor of Prison Realm for variety's sake, and I consider this to be comparable to that. Hitting creatures and artifacts is obviously better than creatures and planeswalkers (I think I only run four), but Scry 1 is pretty good - probably better than the slightly wider target pool of Touch the Spirit Realm. However, Channel 1W to Blink something could be the extra value I'm looking for to push this over the edge. It's pretty niche, but... hey... maybe. Most people will likely have no interest or not enough room for such a luxury though - probably not unless they're running O-Ring #3, though they may want the variety over O-Ring #2.
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I'm actually liking the look of this Blossom Prancer a ton - probably my second favorite card so far after Reinforced Ronin.
A 4/4 Reach for 3GG is a good body, and having a CIP ability that says "look at the top five cards of your library. You may reveal a creature or enchantment card from among them and put it into your hand" is almost guaranteed to hit provided you constructed your deck appropriately. And on the very rare occasion that you don't hit, well "you gain 4 life."
Circuit Mender and Twinshot Sniper are in for sure. I'm also including Jukai Naturalist, since Selesnya has an Enchantress theme in my cube, but I doubt many other cubes will. Moon-Circuit Hacker and Greater Tanuki are on my radar as possibles if I find room for them. Other stuff is out there worth taking a look at, but none of these others have made me seriously consider looking for slots for them. Hopefully there is more to come.
Yeah... I've got to agree. I was actually excited about the set, but so far what I've seen has been pretty mediocre. No doubt, I'll add a few, but as you said, some of the mechanics seem to be missing me. Also, I just don't think the overall power-level has been there like it has in the last five sets, which is fine of course. All sets can't be a home run. Still, I'm only looking at three adds atm, and since I have a bigger cube, I'm usually looking for slots for tenish cards (they don't all get in, and often some are replaced themselves after a short time) with maybe another five to ten that are on my radar as "interesting."
So if you Ninjutsu it in and it deals damage to a player, then that turn it's just a draw rather than a loot, which would be the case for all future turns. The cheaper Ninjutsu and far more reasonable casting cost to body ratio is quite nice, but then again, how often were you actually casting Ninja of the Deep Hours? Additionally, after you get in once and draw your card with Ninja of the Deep Hours, you're likely not getting in again unless you can pick it up and Ninjutsu it again off of a flyer or unblockable creature, so... this kind of leads me to believe that this Moon-Circuit Hacker will be just as good if not better.
The conditionality of it only being able to kill a creature that's already been dealt damage basically puts it in the combat trick category rather than allowing me to consider it as removal. It's more like "Instant: Give your creature Deathtouch, draw a card," something along those lines. Of course, stuff like Goblin Bombardment could be used to exploit this, but that seems somewhat unlikely. Idk... you'll have to look into how many ways your cube has to ping a creature and turn this on outside of combat.
Well Scurry Oak isn't going anywhere for me, but I'm either adding Ivy Lane Denizen (and maybe more stuff that puts a +1/+1 counter on a creature) or I'm cutting Herd Baloth - which I'd really rather not do, as I love the card, but it's hard to trigger in my cube atm.
I get what you're saying though about 2-card, same-color infinite combos causing angst. I might have to fight with some people in my playgroup that hate that type of thing.
If not I guess it comes down to if you plan on casting it or cycling it more. A 6cmc creature with Trample (the Enchantment Creature aspect is probably irrelevant) is both easier to hardcast and has good evasion, so Greater Tanuki definitely wins out on that side of things. The Cycling aspect of Krosan Tusker giving you both a land in hand and a card is better, but not by as much as it would innitially seem, since Greater Tanuki's ability puts the land you find directly onto the battlefield, thus serving as either threat or ramp.
A half year on - how are folks feeling about the Scurry Oak/Ivy Lane Denizen combo?
How's it been for you? I personally only play Scurry Oak and have been fairly happy with the card. Is Ivy Lane Denizen worth the inclusion? I mean, I have been looking for more cards that interact favorably with Herd Baloth, which seems inherently powerful but has turned out to be difficult to consistently put +1/+1 counters on.
I'm fairly excited about what the set means for enchantments in particular. One of the two archetypes supported in Selesnya in my cube is Enchantress, so Jukai Naturalist would naturally be great. It reduces the cost of all enchantment - not just auras - and it's an enchantment creature itself.
Enthusiastic Mechanaut is interesting for similar reasons (reduces the costs of artifacts on a good 2/2 flying body for 2cmc that is itself an artifact creature). The difference is no established archetype exists atm (in my cube at least), which is strange because blue and red are definitely the colors that care most about artifacts, but Izzet is just so all-in on Spells. I think I'd like a secondary option to exist for blue-red drafters though, and this might be a major signpost if such an archetype is to be a thing.
I think some sort of "R/G Monsters" archetype is almost evergreen for Gruul. It's the big, hard-hitting creatures of green - often with haste or perhaps coming out a turn early via a mana elf - backed up by burn for removal or the last few points. The only new twist I see for it since 2014 is it's more about +1/+1 counters than it used to be. Green in general heavily supports counters in most cubes now, so it shouldn't be a surprise that it has bled over into all the guild sections it touches. In my Gruul section, for example, I run Domri's Ambush, Grumgully, the Generous, Rhythm of the Wild, Zhur-Taa Goblin, and Fanatic of Xenagos as counters stuff. Obviously, these combine well with green cards that proliferate or offer trample to creatures with +1/+1 counters. +1/+1 counters also just make your creatures bigger, great in Gruul with trample and fight spells, which themselves have become more common imo.
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Now... if there's one thing I'm kind of disappointed in it's that Gruul doesn't have much of a "second archetype." Since I have a bigger cube, I always try to give each color combination at least two different ways to go. Before I converted my rare cube to Peasant, R/G Ramp was a thing. It really isn't in my cube now. Ramp is either Simic or Mono-Green in most cases. Pyroclasm and Firespout would combine with Rampant Growth and other non-creature ramp spells to create a formidable anti-aggro, early-game into devastating bombs like Inferno Titan and Dragonlord Atarka. The problems as I see them for Peasant are 1.) most ramp is creature-based, which doesn't play well with red sweepers and 2.) red doesn't have any good targets to ramp into - making it completely reliant on green bombs. I currently run Red Dragon, but whenever I try to draft a Gruul ramp deck, I often end up cutting it for a green bomb that does a better job of stabilizing the board or being more resilient. Then I cut the red sweepers because they'd just kill my mana-dorks, and ask myself, why am I trying to play R/G Ramp again? It's sad.
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The only other archetype I can think of trying in this color combination is some sort of ephemeral "Lands" deck. Again... I'm not quite sure it exists in Peasant (heck, it didn't really exist in my rare cube either, but I was always a big fan of the Life from the Loam/Seismic Assault combo). However, I know that with Modern Horizons a number of useful "Lands" cards were added to the existing pool, so this might be a thing. One day when I get bored with what Gruul does or I decide to give up on trying to make R/G Ramp work, I'll give Lands a shot.
Oh... I forgot another VERY PLAYABLE equipment - Skullclamp - though I personally don't play it because of power level. It could potentially create an infinite value loop with Koll, the Forgemaster and a 1-toughness creature like Fireblade Charger. You take two damage; I draw two cards. Replay, reattach, rinse, and repeat.
So I've seen people talking about this Boros "Equipment" deck as a thing with the printings of cards like Koll, the Forgemaster, Reyav, Master Smith, and Bruenor Battlehammer, but I have no experience with it. Is it any good? Is it fun? Since I have a larger cube (720), I always try to give each color-combination at least two ways to build. My Boros section is pretty boring. One way to build is the go-wide/tokens thing, and I guess the other would be just a generic aggro build.
What are the key cards here? Sign-posts, role-players, cross-synergies, etc..? How much equipment is needed? I know that some of these cards also care about auras, so maybe they can fill in the gap.
Here's a list of potential cards to consider that I've gathered:
White: Kitesail Apprentice (horrible if not equipped) Kor Duelist (horrible if not equipped) Danitha Capashen, Paragon (good cross-over with auras/Enchantress, which is a thing in Selesnya colors for me) Warchanter Skald (horrible if not equipped or enchanted)
White generally has plenty of First Strikers, Flyers, and Lifelinkers that are good with equipment.
While they both still seem good to me, I feel there's a bit of a difference between the two. Blastoderm is more in line with what green wants in my cube (a big, hard-hitting, difficult-to-deal-with threat, which especially if brought out a turn early via a mana-elf, can be game winning). I even run a few cards in green like Heir of the Wilds and Nessian Hornbeetle (used to run Kronch Wrangler too) that specifically want 4-power-or-greater creatures. Meanwhile, Calciderm is just a good card that doesn't really line up with the token, +1/+1 counter, and aura stuff white is doing in my cube. Also, it coming down on turn four instead of turn three - as Blastoderm often does - doesn't feel as impactful.
@n00b1n8R
I listened to the video/podcast. Idk... they seemed to be making pretty obvious points. Yes, aggro needs extra support; I assumed that was a known thing - especially in Peasant where all the dual-lands outside City of Brass CIPT. I disagree with what they were saying about cards like Palace Jailer, Timely Reinforcements, Pyroclasm, Slice and Dice, or all the Nekrataals potentially needing removed though. Just give aggro better tools, and more importantly - an abundance of tools - so that the aggro drafter doesn't have to choose between Lightning Bolt and some 2/1 for 1cmc that it really needs for it's deck to function. Like you said though... I think most people on MTGSalvation who are active are aware of this already. And maybe this is a commentary more on regular cubes than Peasant ones, but it has always amazed me at how little pros or people writing for SCG or something seem to know about modern cube design and seem to be stuck in the old days of "dragon cube" so to speak. I mean... Sea Gate Oracle? Really? It's a good card (though not what it used to be imo), but talking about axing it for power level concerns seems kind of crazy.
@HaccyZ
Thanks for your thoughts. I think I'd have to agree with you. Alharu is looking ever-so-slightly the most appealing to me as well. While the Quartermaster does have flying (and I do support Flyers), having no other ability is a bummer. Constable of the Realm looks interesting, but I'm not sure my cube has enough effects that put counters on OTHER creatures to make it work, and while it can fuel itself with Renowned, a 3/3 for 5cmc that has to attack and connect to get the effect seems questionable. In fact, it worries me that all three are just 3/3s - a vulnerable body at 5cmc. Why the first two couldn't have been designed to able to put a counter on themselves, I don't know.
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I'm actually liking the look of this Blossom Prancer a ton - probably my second favorite card so far after Reinforced Ronin.
A 4/4 Reach for 3GG is a good body, and having a CIP ability that says "look at the top five cards of your library. You may reveal a creature or enchantment card from among them and put it into your hand" is almost guaranteed to hit provided you constructed your deck appropriately. And on the very rare occasion that you don't hit, well "you gain 4 life."
I get what you're saying though about 2-card, same-color infinite combos causing angst. I might have to fight with some people in my playgroup that hate that type of thing.
If not I guess it comes down to if you plan on casting it or cycling it more. A 6cmc creature with Trample (the Enchantment Creature aspect is probably irrelevant) is both easier to hardcast and has good evasion, so Greater Tanuki definitely wins out on that side of things. The Cycling aspect of Krosan Tusker giving you both a land in hand and a card is better, but not by as much as it would innitially seem, since Greater Tanuki's ability puts the land you find directly onto the battlefield, thus serving as either threat or ramp.
How's it been for you? I personally only play Scurry Oak and have been fairly happy with the card. Is Ivy Lane Denizen worth the inclusion? I mean, I have been looking for more cards that interact favorably with Herd Baloth, which seems inherently powerful but has turned out to be difficult to consistently put +1/+1 counters on.
Enthusiastic Mechanaut is interesting for similar reasons (reduces the costs of artifacts on a good 2/2 flying body for 2cmc that is itself an artifact creature). The difference is no established archetype exists atm (in my cube at least), which is strange because blue and red are definitely the colors that care most about artifacts, but Izzet is just so all-in on Spells. I think I'd like a secondary option to exist for blue-red drafters though, and this might be a major signpost if such an archetype is to be a thing.
----------------------------------------
Now... if there's one thing I'm kind of disappointed in it's that Gruul doesn't have much of a "second archetype." Since I have a bigger cube, I always try to give each color combination at least two different ways to go. Before I converted my rare cube to Peasant, R/G Ramp was a thing. It really isn't in my cube now. Ramp is either Simic or Mono-Green in most cases. Pyroclasm and Firespout would combine with Rampant Growth and other non-creature ramp spells to create a formidable anti-aggro, early-game into devastating bombs like Inferno Titan and Dragonlord Atarka. The problems as I see them for Peasant are 1.) most ramp is creature-based, which doesn't play well with red sweepers and 2.) red doesn't have any good targets to ramp into - making it completely reliant on green bombs. I currently run Red Dragon, but whenever I try to draft a Gruul ramp deck, I often end up cutting it for a green bomb that does a better job of stabilizing the board or being more resilient. Then I cut the red sweepers because they'd just kill my mana-dorks, and ask myself, why am I trying to play R/G Ramp again? It's sad.
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The only other archetype I can think of trying in this color combination is some sort of ephemeral "Lands" deck. Again... I'm not quite sure it exists in Peasant (heck, it didn't really exist in my rare cube either, but I was always a big fan of the Life from the Loam/Seismic Assault combo). However, I know that with Modern Horizons a number of useful "Lands" cards were added to the existing pool, so this might be a thing. One day when I get bored with what Gruul does or I decide to give up on trying to make R/G Ramp work, I'll give Lands a shot.
What are the key cards here? Sign-posts, role-players, cross-synergies, etc..? How much equipment is needed? I know that some of these cards also care about auras, so maybe they can fill in the gap.
Here's a list of potential cards to consider that I've gathered:
Boros:
Koll, the Forgemaster
Reyav, Master Smith
Weapons Trainer
Bruenor Battlehammer
Tiana, Ship's Caretaker (expensive)
White:
Kitesail Apprentice (horrible if not equipped)
Kor Duelist (horrible if not equipped)
Danitha Capashen, Paragon (good cross-over with auras/Enchantress, which is a thing in Selesnya colors for me)
Warchanter Skald (horrible if not equipped or enchanted)
White generally has plenty of First Strikers, Flyers, and Lifelinkers that are good with equipment.
Red:
Fireblade Charger
Champion of the Flame (horrible if not equipped or enchanted)
Valduk, Keeper of the Flame
Dueling Rapier (equipment) (meh)
Boots of Speed (equipment) (meh)
Equipment:
Bonesplitter
Trusty Machete
Sylvok Lifestaff (meh, life-gain cross-over?)
Vulshok Morningstar (meh)
Grafted Wargear
Loxodon Warhammer
Heirloom Blade (tribal?)
Thoughts? I'm sure I missed some stuff that could play well here.
I listened to the video/podcast. Idk... they seemed to be making pretty obvious points. Yes, aggro needs extra support; I assumed that was a known thing - especially in Peasant where all the dual-lands outside City of Brass CIPT. I disagree with what they were saying about cards like Palace Jailer, Timely Reinforcements, Pyroclasm, Slice and Dice, or all the Nekrataals potentially needing removed though. Just give aggro better tools, and more importantly - an abundance of tools - so that the aggro drafter doesn't have to choose between Lightning Bolt and some 2/1 for 1cmc that it really needs for it's deck to function. Like you said though... I think most people on MTGSalvation who are active are aware of this already. And maybe this is a commentary more on regular cubes than Peasant ones, but it has always amazed me at how little pros or people writing for SCG or something seem to know about modern cube design and seem to be stuck in the old days of "dragon cube" so to speak. I mean... Sea Gate Oracle? Really? It's a good card (though not what it used to be imo), but talking about axing it for power level concerns seems kind of crazy.
@HaccyZ
Thanks for your thoughts. I think I'd have to agree with you. Alharu is looking ever-so-slightly the most appealing to me as well. While the Quartermaster does have flying (and I do support Flyers), having no other ability is a bummer. Constable of the Realm looks interesting, but I'm not sure my cube has enough effects that put counters on OTHER creatures to make it work, and while it can fuel itself with Renowned, a 3/3 for 5cmc that has to attack and connect to get the effect seems questionable. In fact, it worries me that all three are just 3/3s - a vulnerable body at 5cmc. Why the first two couldn't have been designed to able to put a counter on themselves, I don't know.