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  • wtwlf123's avatar

    1

    Jan 11, 2016
    wtwlf123 posted a message on [OGW] Colorless Mana Discussion
    I think it will. And even though C is being actively accommodated for, the cards doing it are just fine. Painlands are good lands. Smile
    Posted in: Cube Card and Archetype Discussion
  • wtwlf123's avatar

    2

    Jan 11, 2016
    wtwlf123 posted a message on [OGW] Oath of Nissa
    I would be surprised to see it miss small cube inclusion (surprised is the wrong word, because the card is undervalued right now ..."incorrectly excluded" would be the more opportune phrase). The density of powerful cards makes cantrip effects even stronger, and this is one of the best ones. Being able to choose between mana and gas isn't only important for blue. Green has ramp cards, but it doesn't make hitting lands any less valuable when you need them. More importantly, being able to use this to draw into late game gas is arguably more valuable than blue cantrips are for blue decks, because you're more likely to have lots of mana sources already. So when you're using a card selection effect because it can replace itself with a land or a body, it will be relevant in all stages of the game. Just like the blue ones.

    As for #2, this can bottom cards and help you get to those broken spells just as often as it will bottom the ones you want. It's a common misunderstanding that mill effects or library manipulation effects help/hurt your ability to see specific cards. There's just as much of a chance that your best instant is in your top 3 cards as it is to be in the 3 cards right below them. Making this card just as likely to bottom a Natural Order as it is to help set one up for your next couple draws.
    Posted in: Cube Card and Archetype Discussion
  • wtwlf123's avatar

    16

    Jan 9, 2016
    wtwlf123 posted a message on [Set (P)review] My top 20 Oath of the Gatewatch cards for the cube!
    Hello again fellow cube enthusiasts!

    This is my 16th installment of the "top 20" set preview articles! This one will be a little different, because of the introduction of Colorless Mana mana in Oath of the Gatewatch! This Top X article will cover the top 10 Colorless Mana cards for cube managers that are interested in trying out that kind of mana in the cube, and it will have a top 15 list for traditional cards. That way, if you’re disinterested in experimenting with a colorless subtheme, you can skip through to the countdown that will be relevant for your cube.

    Just like the previous reviews, it will be in a spoiled top X countdown format, with each section having an image, a brief summary/description, and my verdict on what cubes I think it could potentially see some play in. I got a lot of positive feedback on the format from the last few articles, so I’m going to keep the “what I like” and “what I don’t like” sections.



    Keep in mind (just like the others) that this is a set preview. Similar to draft predictions in professional sports, this list is an educated guess at best. Some cards I value highly in here may turn out to not last long in the cube. Other cards that are lower down on the list (or even missed entirely!) could (well, very likely may) turn out to be great cards. Even Tom Brady was drafted in the 6th round! Again, this is not intended to be gospel, set in stone or written as a review for posterity. This is simply written to be an enjoyable guess at cards I like for cubes, and hopefully it'll allow some cube managers to evaluate cards they may have otherwise overlooked and/or put some cards in perspective that may've been overhyped. Nothing more. Smile


    Oath of the Gatewatch is a crazy set, and depending on your cube size and willingness to experiment with Colorless Mana costed cards, this could be a feast or famine kind of set for you. Oath also introduced a mechanic in Surge that gains a lot of value if you’re playing a team multiplayer format, so if you cube draft a lot of Two-Headed Giant, you might want to consult some multiplayer cube experts on evaluating those kinds of cards.

    Without further ado, I can start the countdown!







    Vile Redeemer

    A modern version of Caller of the Claw.

    What I Like: A 3/3 for 3 mana with flash is a solid baseline for building a creature that can generate some value for you. Your opponent attacks with a bear or piker and you can flash this in, kill it in combat, and have a 3/3 on the board. That’s a fine failsafe when it gets played without the kicker cost. The main thing that this does is help to rebuild after a massive combat trade or a sweeper effect. If you had 2 other creatures die, this gives you 5 power and 3 bodies for 4 mana, which is a good deal. More importantly, the tokens can be sacrificed for mana. Caller of the Claw did a good job of replacing aggro bodies and spent utility creatures, but it did nothing to replace mana creatures that died. Redeemer can be used to ensure that your Llanowar Elves and Sylvan Caryatid can still be used to help you reach the mana needed for your big monster even in the face of a Wrath. You can flash this in, generate a pair of Scions, make your next land drop and still hit your payoff card on schedule.

    What I Don't Like: The failsafe on this card is fair, but not spectacular. And there will assuredly be occasions where you need this for wrath recovery and lack the colorless mana needed to generate the Scions.

    Verdict: While arguably one of the weaker Colorless Mana cards, if you’re looking to support a colorless subtheme and want a representative in green, this is a solid option to help you do so. Like most of the Colorless Mana cards, a subtheme for that type of mana will be most supportable in the 540-630 or bigger range where you can more easily provide drafters with tools like Pain Lands and Filter Lands that might be too difficult to get into smaller lists.






    Sea Gate Wreckage

    A colorless card advantage land.

    What I Like: The hardest part of generating card advantage with Blood Scrivener wasn’t getting hellbent, it was keeping the puny body alive. I think that this card has the potential to generate some mid-late game card advantage in a way that will be really hard to disrupt. Decks with low curves will have the easiest time with this, as you will be more likely to be able to play the drawn spell for the turn, get hellbent again, and activate Wreckage for value. While it might be hard to chain back-to-back-to-back turns of card advantage off of this, how many extra cards drawn off a land do you need to have before it’s good? I’m happy even if this gets me one extra card in the average game. There will be games where it draws 0-1 cards, but there will be games where it draws more like 3-4 extras too, which will be spectacular.

    What I Don't Like: In games where you don’t/can’t get hellbent, this is a Wastes that does to Wasteland.

    Verdict: A high ceiling and a low floor will make initial experiences very polarizing. I think patience is the key with this card, and it really belongs in decks that have at least one other use for the Colorless Mana mana. If this is your only colorless exclusive card in the deck, it might do more harm than good. I would experiment with this land in your cube if you’re making a colorless subsection that’s more than just a few cards deep.






    Eldrazi Obligator

    An interesting Zealous Conscripts variant.

    What I Like: While the ceiling on this card isn’t as high as Zealous Conscripts’ is, it has a more acceptable floor. In situations where you need a 3-power hasty beater for 3 mana, you can get that from the Obligator. Red aggro decks don’t have a ton of high-damage-output options in the 3cc slot, so I expect there to be a lot of curves where playing this on three is the correct (albeit unexciting) play. If the board is open for a clean attack, pulling the trigger on 3 mana is likely best. And as we’ve all seen, getting a 3-power hasted creature AND a Threaten in the same card is quite powerful. While not quite Conscripts good at 5 mana, this will still be a game-swinging play ...especially if you have some sacrifice outlets floating around.

    What I Don't Like: The 1 toughness makes the main body trade down in combat a lot, and the theft effect can’t steal noncreature permanents like Conscripts can.

    Verdict: Red aggro decks featuring a colorless splash will be really happy to have this guy. I think there’s quite a bit of value hidden in the ability for this to be a 3cc beater/5cc curve-topper hybrid, as a lot of aggro decks don’t want to dedicate cards to their final 40 that can only be played at 5+ mana. If you’re supporting colorless and you play red aggro, you might want to at least try this one out ...it might surprise you.






    Mirrorpool

    A powerful utility land.

    What I Like: Being able to add these two kinds of effects to your deck in the form of a land slot is quite powerful. The effects are expensive and 1-sided, but they have a really high ceiling and a relatively low opportunity cost. It will be better for slower decks given the cost of the activations and the entering tapped clause, but in those decks, you can use a utility land to Clone your best creature or Fork your best spell; both of which can be done at instant speed. There are a lot of powerful creatures and spells in this format that are worth doubling down on, so if the mana it produces is otherwise relevant and you have some other sources of Colorless Mana mana to activate it, it’ll be hard to leave this out of your final 40.

    What I Don't Like: Entering tapped and only tapping for colorless is too steep a drawback to play this in a deck that can’t use the Colorless Mana mana it produces on at least one other card. And the Fork effect (while strong) only targets your own spells, which means it will only be effective at copying spells in the 1-3cc range at best.

    Verdict: It needs to be used in a deck where the mana it produces is relevant for another card or two, but it’s really easy to play in any slower decks that do. Kinda narrow, but the ceiling of being able to Clone titans in this format needs to be explored. Would play in any cube supporting Colorless Mana with enough cards to reliably pair this with another one in the same deck.






    Dimensional Infiltrator

    A very solid tempo beater with upsides.

    What I Like: A 2/1 flying flash for 2 mana is a good deal, and something I be willing to throw into a lot of my tempo decks on that merit alone. The second ability is actually quite relevant for tempo decks too, because it can be used reactively, which is how the deck prefers to play a lot of the game anyways. The exile clause can be an effective way to disrupt top-of-library manipulation, and it can disrupt your opponent’s ability to scry for value. It also functions as a hard counter to all the top-of-library tutors in the cube, randomly hosing a clutch Vampiric or Mystical from time to time. But more importantly, it can be used as a way to potentially rescue itself from removal spells. For those folks that have been playing Magic a long while, you might remember Frenetic Efreet and the way its coinflip ability could save itself from removal. While you have 2 mana up, this card can save itself from removal on occasion, and if you have 4 mana available, it has a really good shot of bouncing to safety post-wrath/removal effect ...milling your opponent’s library all the while. While not super reliable in that mode, it adds enough extra value to the creature when you have sources of Colorless Mana in the deck for it to change the evaluation of the card.

    What I Don't Like: The activated ability is narrow in application, and unreliable as a form of protection. It will randomly be clutch, but it’s more of an “added bonus” rather than the reason why the card is valuable.

    Verdict: If you support blue tempo decks, this creature is great. If you have a small Colorless Mana subtheme, it gets even better. I would play this card in cubes doing both.






    Thought-Knot Seer

    A disruption creature with a solid body.

    What I Like: Disruption creatures are generally pretty effective guys, but they often come with limiting/prohibitive costs (Tidehollow Sculler & Vendillion Clique) or small bodies (Mesmeric Fiend & Brain Maggot). If your mana can support Seer’s cost, he doesn’t have either of those issues. A 4/4 for 4 isn’t as amazing in this era as it used to be, but it allows the creature to get involved in combat where other critters of his ilk cannot, and it’s also immune to a lot of the toughness-based removal in this format. Additionally, providing hand disruption to colors that don’t usually see those kinds of effects will be both powerful and surprising.

    What I Don't Like: I wish the draw clause was predicated on the first ability actually exiling a card. There will be occasions where this peels the only available card to take and it might not be very good. When it leaves play and the opponent draws, they might be able to actually upgrade the strength of a card in their hand. And in the instances where this whiffs by only revealing lands, the draw drawback might really hurt. It’s also a leaves play trigger instead of a death trigger, so encountering a Man-o’-War type answer to this creature off the top of their deck will be a bummer.

    Verdict: If you’re playing a colorless theme of any reasonable depth, this is one of the reasons for doing so. This will probably prove to be an above-average creature in a format that can hinge so strongly of resolving singular powerful spells.






    Eldrazi Displacer

    A hybrid between Galepowder Mage, Azorius Guildmage and Mistmeadow Witch.

    What I Like: This is one powerful activated ability, and it can be used in a variety of different ways. It can be used aggressively to tap down blockers, it can be used defensively to remove their attackers, it can be used for utility to blink your enters the battlefield triggers, and it can be used reactively to nullify removal ...often doing those things in multiples with a single activation. It presents itself as a must-kill creature because of the strength of the effect, while also being able to attack and block effectively in a format full of pikers and bears. Your opponent needs to remove this creature before it ultimately takes over the game.

    What I Don't Like: The failsafe mode of a 3/3 for 3 is lackluster if you stumble at all over your sources of Colorless Mana and it dies to a lot of removal for a creature that revolves around its activated ability for value.

    Verdict: If you’re playing a deck with available colorless mana and sources of white to cast this, it’ll be hard to exclude this from your final 40. This will completely take over games in ways we’re not used to seeing 3cc creatures do. You should add this into any cube that’s making an effort to make colorless mana reasonably accessible to your drafters.






    Bearer of Silence

    A less black-intensive Gatekeeper of Malakir variant.

    What I Like: The failsafe on this card being a Vampire Interloper is great, as that creature is very playable in black aggro decks as it is. The kicker cost strapping a Diabolic Edict to an already playable body is fantastic, and outside of mono-black decks, this is the most cost effective Edict-on-legs variant that we’ve seen.

    What I Don't Like: Waiting until turn 4 for the Edict trigger gives the opponent an extra turn or two to drop a utility creature or some tokens to the board that can make the effect significantly less effective.

    Verdict: If you’re supporting both black aggro decks and colorless-exclusive cards, this creature should be a pretty easy inclusion. It has a powerful ceiling and an acceptable floor, and it’s a nice way to sneak some card advantage and utility into an aggressive shell.






    Reality Smasher

    A colorless Thundermaw Hellkite variant.

    What I Like: 5 mana for 5 power with trample and haste is great. Add the effect that forces the opponent to 2-for-1 themselves to remove it will a kill spell and that’s a recipe for a resilient threat that can apply good pressure. I like how the 5-toughness allows it to easily survive Wildfire and Earthquake effects, and that it can bring the beats at the top of the curve in colors that lack hasted threats.

    What I Don't Like: Not much really, other than the colorless mana requirement and directly losing to and/or trading with other 5cc bodies in the cube without gaining any equity.

    Verdict: I think this is going to be the main reason why some cube managers dabble with supporting Colorless Mana in their cubes, as it’s just a really effective 5cc creature. It’s one of the reasons to support such a section to begin with.






    Kozilek, the Great Distortion

    This is the big monster you want to be casting.

    What I Like: In comparison to the Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, the draw ability is amazing. In testing so far, the number of drawn cards off the cast trigger has ranged between 4 and 6, and I’ve yet to see it draw less than 4 cards. Super ramp decks tend to empty their hands with ramp spells for reaching the 10 mana, and when it comes available, it’s usually one of the last spells you cast from your hand. Menace looks unassuming on a creature like this, but I’ve already had cases where the opponent has only had one available blocker, and in a situation where they could’ve sacrificed 4 lands and chump-blocked the old Kozi, they were forced to take 12 from this guy. It really does help to push the damage through. And the counter ability is great! I thought it was going to be too inconsistent, but ramp decks are loaded with 1-4cc ramp enablers and utility cards which line up perfectly with the costs of the opponent’s potential answers to Kozilek. The old Kozilek is powerful, but had no way to protect itself. Even if this ability isn’t perfectly consistent, it isn’t hard to counter a spell or two with the ability ...especially if you cast it and got the draw trigger too. Lastly, this guy doesn’t have the reshuffle clause, meaning he can be reanimated. That’s a tremendous upgrade, as an early reanimation spell will put your opponent on a really fast clock (especially because of the Menace) and you will still likely have several cards in hand to try and use the counter ability with. Being able to be reanimated is really the thing that pushes it over the top in comparison to its predecessor.

    What I Don't Like: Annihilator 4 is really powerful, and Menace (while occasionally still great) is certainly a step down. And needing the two colorless exclusive mana will make the occasions where the old Kozi came down off a Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary or Gilded Lotus that much harder to cast.

    Verdict: In my testing with this card so far, it has been a significant upgrade over the old Kozilek, and even with the Colorless Mana requirements, it’s not that hard to cast. I haven’t seen a case yet where I’ve had 10 mana available, this guy in my hand and not had the two colorless to get him down. Especially if you’re drafting him with that requirement in mind. If you play giant super-ramp monsters and you’re making even the smallest effort to make Colorless Mana a thing in your cube, this is THE premium giant monster to hardcast now.









    Nissa, Voice of Zendikar

    A 3cc token support ‘walker.

    What I Like: This card can come down early enough off a mana dork to flood the board with cheap blockers before another midrange deck can start applying pressure to your life total. In a deck that’s focussed on maximizing value from tokens, the arguably useless 0/1 Plants gain enough value to make them worthwhile things to have out. It has a powerful ultimate that can make a long game go longer if that’s what you need to have happen, and the {-2} ability will be good in certain boards that are loaded with not just Plants but also other tokens that can take advantage of the counters.

    What I Don't Like: Outside of a dedicated token deck, I don’t see the 0/1 Plants being of any tangible value, even with her anthem ability. The double-green cost is a little problematic on a card that wants to resolve as early as possible, because a lot of the token-centric decks that might want to play Nissa won’t necessarily be able to support a card with that cost appropriately.

    Verdict: My cube doesn’t support the kind of GG/x token deck that she might actually be able to shine in, so it’s a miss for me. Most of my token decks are base white, and exist mostly in the Mardu color spectrum. But for cube managers that do support a green-centric token archetype, she’s very likely worth testing, likely also in cubes that are at least 630 cards or bigger.






    Goblin Dark-Dwellers

    A strong 5cc value creature.

    What I Like: This is a potentially really powerful enters the battlefield trigger. Scooping up additional Arc Lightning and Wheel of Fortune activations will be very powerful indeed, and even something like an additional Chain Lightning or Incinerate is a more-than-reasonable effect. It provides extra value to the “spells matters” archetype if you support that, triggering things like Young Pyromancer and Monastery Mentor while also putting a legit 4/4 menace threat into play. In powered cubes, you might also be able to occasionally snag things like Ancestral Recall and Time Walk, which will be beyond busted.

    What I Don't Like: The competition at the 5cc creature slot in red is really high, and there may be decks that this card is less than ideal in. The instances where it’s replaying cards like Demonic Tutor will feel amazing, and the times where it’s recasting Lightning Strike will feel pretty fair by comparison.

    Verdict: I really don’t think that cubes under 630 cards in size will be able to find room in the crowded 5cc red creature slot for this, especially not if you support Kiki combo decks. But it is a powerful creature, and if you play a “spells matters” archetype, this should go in for testing ...almost regardless of cube size.






    Natural State

    A cheap Naturalize effect.

    What I Like: This card hits about 80% of the targets that Naturalize effects can hit in the cube, and does so for half the mana. And in comparison to it’s most similar effect (Nature’s Claim) this one doesn’t give 4 life away to the opponent. Making it a stronger card in cubes where most games are won through the red zone and where green aggro decks of any kind are a thing. Powered cubes often want cheap answers to artifacts and enchantments, and this hits all of the early game targets for a single mana without a drawback that can really hurt a beatdown strategy.

    What I Don't Like: When there’s a clutch effect that’s 4+ mana in play that you can’t remove (I'm looking at you, Moat), you’d be willing to trade a digit to turn this into a Naturalize ...that’s going to create some really feel-bad memories with this card.

    Verdict: I prefer this effect to the other 1-mana options out there, since I support beatdown and/or combat-oriented strategies in green. This could very well be good enough for a powered 540-card cube, and I’ll be keeping it in mind as I play my other Naturalize effects, eyeing how often I would’ve traded those for this card. Once that number gets high enough, I’ll slot this right in. As an aside, in unpowered cubes, I think this is a really easy pass.






    Linvala, the Preserver

    A big stabilizing monster.

    What I Like: When you’re ahead on life AND ahead on creatures, those are the situations where I don’t really need my cards to perform out of their minds. But when I’m behind in one of those two scenarios (or both!) that’s when I need my cards to have as high an impact as possible. When I’m behind on the board, this is a nice Broodmate Dragon. When I’m behind on life, this is a big flying Ravenous Baloth. When I can get both, and have this play like a giant flying Thragtusk it’ll feel really amazing.

    What I Don't Like: The competition for white 6cc permanents is pretty high with Sun Titan and Elspeth, Sun's Champion. So outside of cubes where I really feel like I need a 3rd, it becomes much harder to justify.

    Verdict: I think this is a really strong 6-drop, and in a cube big enough to want a 3rd permanent of that size in white, this would certainly be the one. I think I’d hit that need at around 630 cards or so.






    Reaver Drone

    Another black 2-power 1-drop.

    What I Like: A serviceable aggressive 1-drop that has the ability to potentially turn off the damage drawback if you feature some devoid monsters or artifact creatures in the deck. Otherwise, this will kinda just be another Carnophage for you.

    What I Don't Like: If you can’t shut the damage off with multiple colorless creatures in the same deck, this is likely the worst 2-power 1-drop you’d be running.

    Verdict: I think this is the least appealing 2-power 1-drop option in black, but in cubes that are 540 cards or bigger, this is likely the last piece needed to hit your critical mass in black. Smaller lists probably won’t need it, and I don’t think it’s an upgrade to any of the existing true 2-power 1-drops.






    Captain’s Claws

    An interesting 2cc equipment piece.

    What I Like: The low equip cost makes this an interesting take on Bonesplitter. It still essentially adds 2 extra power to your attack, but by adding the extra body, you get free equity against a lone blocker, and additional board development if they don’t have any blockers down. In addition to giving a big bonus when it’s paired with anthem effects. Experience with equipment that can create its own bodies to carry them has been extremely positive, and even though the token will sometimes be able to be blocked for no gain, the potential for advancing an empty board is pretty great.

    What I Don't Like: Only providing +1/+0 to the equipped creature won’t force unfavorable blocks in combat and won’t create as many trade-up opportunities as a +2 power equipment would. Facing down multiple larger blockers won’t force bad trades by the opponent like it might with equipment with a bigger power boost.

    Verdict: I wish this had one other small upside to it, but I think it’s still a solid and testable piece of equipment for my 540 card cube. It may be worth testing even at 450, but I think that this will ultimately prove to be a card that just misses at smaller sizes.






    Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim

    A very solid 2cc creature.

    What I Like: A 2/3 with deathtouch for 2 mana is an above average monster. It will be able to dominate in combat against other early game creatures it might tangle with, and when it is ultimately outclassed in size it’ll be able to trade up with a creature that cost more than two mana. And the built-in sacrifice effect is really useful, providing value from your opponent’s removal, replenishing some much-needed life from your black self-damage effects and forcing unfavorable combat chump-blocks and sacrifice attacks into something you can at least gain some value from. It can also turn off your opponent’s lifelink in combat, which can be a good thing for your aggressive decks to do.

    What I Don't Like: The competition in small Orzhov sections is pretty stiff, so this will have some steep hurdles to leap to perform well to enough keep its seat. And the exiling effect is largely just flavor text, because reaching 30+ life is really hard in this format ...built in life-gain ability or not.

    Verdict: I think this deserves a shot at 450 cubes and bigger against the #4 Orzhov card in your section. It might ultimately prove to be a #5 or #6 card, pushing it down into the 540-630 range, but I would test it in the #4 slot for a while and see how it does for you.






    Chandra, Flamecaller

    A big red planeswalker.

    What I Like: The {+1} ability works like a Gideon creature-mode activation of sorts. It doesn’t create permanent bodies, but it will be able to attack for 6 hasty damage while she grows her loyalty. And that comes in the form of two token attackers, working very well with anthem and battle cry effects, Purphoros triggers and things like Skullclamp that cards about small bodies. And the pair of attackers makes it easier to push damage through a single blocker. The {0} ability is really good, allowing you to Windfall yourself and draw an extra card on top to boot. That combination of card selection and card advantage is great, and you’ll be able to dig deep for outs when you need them. And the {-X} ability works nicely for red control decks, so you can sweep away tokens and aggro beaters that can give other ‘walkers fits. Big red control decks and Wildfire shells will love this planeswalker because it does three things you love to have. It’s a sweeper, a card advantage engine and a fast win condition all in one.

    What I Don't Like: There are a lot of important 6cc cards in red already, and this won’t push out any of the critical ones. And a lone big creature can really give Chandra problems.

    Verdict: I think that cubes any smaller than 450 just really won’t be able to find room for a 4th 6cc red card. If you support big red control/ramp decks and Wildfire strategies, I would try and find room for this at 450 if you can. Otherwise, I would certainly be playing this at 540 for some time now.






    Hissing Quagmire

    The Golgari manland!

    What I Like: Lands that fix mana and turn into threats are good. Period. This one is no exception. It has decent value on offense because the opponent will have issues wanting to throw away a big creature investment to trade with it. And on defense, the opponent may be hesitant to attack with a single larger body when the threat of trading it away for a land doesn’t appeal to them. It’ll be sweet with Life From the Loam and Crucible of Worlds, as those effects are great with creature lands to begin with, and work doubly well together in conjunction with deathtouch.

    What I Don't Like: Against a board of pikers and bears, this doesn’t make a good attacker or a good blocker, so there will be situations that crop up where it’s less than ideal in either role.

    Verdict: It’s a 450 staple, and the 4th best Golgari land. But it won’t be pushing its way into a crowded and powerful gold section in smaller cubes.






    Wandering Fumarole

    The Izzet manland!

    What I Like: The Izzet guild is well equipped to handle lands that enter the battlefield tapped, so that part of the land won’t hurt as much. It can attack for 4 with an activation cost of 4, which makes for an efficient attacker if the path has been cleared by your bounce and burn. And very few of the manlands can activate and block a 3/3 attacker without dying, so it has some solid defensive value too.

    What I Don't Like: Instant speed toughness-based removal will be able to clear this creature away once the first activation is on the stack, so being able to flip back and forth doesn’t do a whole lot outside of tangling in combat. It can safely attack as part of a group, but can be safely blocked by your opponents bears because they’d be more than willing to trade them away for this creature if you offer it. Which means it only really attacks for 1 as part of a group ...which isn’t much for a 4-mana activation.

    Verdict: Again, this is a 450 staple, and is far and away the best land for the #4 slot in Izzet. But the power-level isn’t pushed enough for this to displace spells like Creeping Tar Pit and Celestial Colonnade can in tiny cubes.






    Needle Spires

    The Boros manland!

    What I Like: Double strike is a great effect in this guild, since there’s a lot of effective ways to passively boost power via anthems and battle cry effects ...allowing this land to attack for 6. Boros doesn’t enjoy lands that enter tapped, but increasing your threat density in aggressive builds is more than worth it. Especially when a post-Wrath threat can close a game out in just a couple of attacks. It can attack into pikers and bears left back to block, which is critical in this format, and it can also threaten big damage out of nowhere if the opponent leaves their defenses down. Even though it dies after combat, attaching a Grafted Wargear to it will allow this to attack for 10. And an Elspeth, Knight-Errant’s jump attack will make this a 10-damage dealing flying creature!

    What I Don't Like: Boros aggro doesn’t want lands that come into play tapped if they can avoid it, and this land can’t attack into 3/3 blockers. But those are pretty minor nitpicks.

    Verdict: A 450 staple card. Easily the 4th best land in Boros, and it’s not remotely close.






    Reflector Mage

    An Azorius Man-o'-War variant.

    What I Like: Man-o'-War is a fantastic tempo creature, and if you’re in an Azorius deck, this card is just better. It can’t bounce your own guys ...but without Flash, that’s not particularly relevant. However, the 3rd toughness is big in the land of 2/1 and 2/2 creatures, and the delay on the opponent recasting the threat is big game for several reasons. First, if it’s their only threat, it delays their board development for a full turn. Second, it gives you an opportunity to untap, giving you a chance to counter the spell that you bounce much easier than you can with other effects of the same ilk. That second bit becomes increasingly more important in a field like the cube that’s loaded with enter the battlefield triggers.

    What I Don't Like: Tempo decks are loaded to the gills at the 3cc slot already, so it’s a little unfortunate that it doesn’t fill a needed hole in the curve. And, the competition in the Azorius section is really steep that the cut for Mage will undoubtedly be painful.

    Verdict: I think this is very likely the 4th best card in the Azorius section, making it a slam dunk for 450 card cubes or bigger. But I think that there are cube managers at 360 that might consider Sphere to be redundant or Verdict to be unnecessary, which means that this card may very well crack some 360 lists, which is why I ranked it ahead of the manlands (even though for me I think this is solidly 450+ and would therefore rank them just behind them).






    Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet

    A 4cc black value engine.

    What I Like: Black aggro has a hard time against red. The self damage is more relevant against its reach, all your creatures are weak to burn, and not many of the affordable creatures are decent roadblocks. Enter Kalitas. The 4th toughness provides a body that doesn’t die to burn, and a body good enough to get tangled in combat and live. The lifelink is huge in stabilizing your life total. The free zombies that result from combat losses or removal spells are fantastic against small attackers, and the ability to turn Kalitas into a 5/6 lifelink can be game ending against a heavy red deck. Everything it does shores up black’s weakness in that matchup, and it’ll prove to be a great tool there. Beyond that, this creature is just all around solid. A 3/4 lifelink is a useful body. It straps a free 2/2 creature to every removal spell. It turns your Wrath variants into Martial Coup variants. It gives you an extra body every time you trade or win a combat. And the activated ability works with multiple recursive creatures in the cube (and its own Zombie-making ability!) to build a big 5/6 or 7/8 lifelinking monster.

    What I Don't Like: Sometimes your big plans for Kalitas are fouled up by a single removal spell. Since you’re paying 4 mana for a card that may or may not actually do anything for you. There will be times that the abilities allow you to run away with a game, but there will also be times where you really wish this would’ve just been a Skinrender to guarantee at least some value.

    Verdict: I was originally evaluating this card pretty conservatively, and I thought that some 450 cubes might want it, and it would otherwise be relegated to 540+ sized cubes. But the feedback I’ve been getting from managers of 360 card cubes seems to mimic my testing at 540, and they’re really liking it. My gut tells me this is for a 450-540 cube, but there seem to be a lot of cube managers that like this all the way down into the 360 range. So I moved this up in the ranks based on their feedback.






    Sylvan Advocate

    An interesting ‘Goyf variant.

    What I Like: A 2/3 vigilance for 2 mana is a great early game play in this format. It can attack into most early boards, and it also protects you from most of the threats. And the powerlevel of this creature scales for free as the game progresses. It turns into a 4/5 vigilance on its own without any additional mana investment, making it a card that’s as good late as it is early. And it has additional synergies built-in too, giving all of your manlands +2/+2 is pretty serious business, and so is increasing the size of your Koth activations, Nissa lands and awoken lands too. There’s quite a few cube cards this has strong synergy with, and it’s a really pushed creature for only two mana.

    What I Don't Like: If you get stuck for a while on 5 lands, this can be a creature that won’t scale right, and will wind up just chumping a bigger body. Hard aggro (if you support it) won’t reliably hit 6 lands all that often, so it might be just a 2/3 dork with vigilance in some of its matches.

    Verdict: My estimation for this card’s value has gone up since testing it. It looked good in theory, but it’s been even better in practice. It’s just a good card early and late on its own, it’s as good a topdeck as it is in my opening hand, and it has a lot of powerful and fun interactions you can unlock. Very few cards can boast that. I would test this out at 360, and definitely play this in anything 450 or bigger.






    Oath of Nissa

    A 1cc green cantrip!

    What I Like: At first, I was really unsure about this card. Then I ran the numbers on its average effectiveness and I was impressed by the way they looked on paper. Then I playtested the card and saw it in action. I’m sold. I’ve drunk the kool-aid on Oath of Nissa, and I’ll do my best to explain why. First, the numbers:

    Let's assume we're playing a deck with 12-14 creatures, 0-2 planeswalkers (so ~14 "hits"), 17 lands (also "hits"), and 8 other cards in a combination of instants, sorceries, artifacts and enchantments. I don't think that's an unreasonable skeleton for a typical green deck.

    The opening hand contains an Oath of Nissa and a land that produces G (among 5 other random cards). That leaves a composition of 30 remaining "hits" from a random pool of 38 total other cards. Since the other 5 in the hand will be a random distribution of those 38 in the pool, these calculations will be based off 30/38 cards.

    The chances of Oath = 3 "hits": 48.13%
    The chances of Oath ≥ 2 "hits": 89.38%
    The chances of Oath ≥ 1 "hits": 99.34%
    The chances of Oath = 0 "hits": 00.66%

    So what does that mean?

    About half the time you cast this spell, it will select any of your top 3. That's incredible and puts it about on par with a green Preordain (if not better!). Sometimes better because you can bottom both other cards, and see the 3rd before choosing; sometimes worse because you can't choose to top-top 2+ great draws.

    Roughly 9/10 times, this card will be at least as good as Sleight of Hand, since you can choose 1 of 2 cards for one mana, which is fine. Sometimes better because you can bottom a 2nd unwanted card; sometimes worse because you won't be able to select certain spells from it.

    Unfortunately, there will be times (~10%) where there will only be one card to pick from, and it's worse than being forced to cycle a spell at sorcery speed for G.

    And then there's the catastrophic miss, which will happen slightly less than 1/100 iterations, but it can completely blank.

    ..........

    Interesting. What do I do with that information? Would you play a green cantrip that ~90% of the time will be a hybrid of Sleight of Hand & Preordain? Probably, yes. Even with the ~10% chance of it being a bad cycler or ~1% complete blank? That makes it harder. But what else is there to consider?

    The fact that it's an enchantment AND can bottom unwanted cards from the top of your library makes it interact positively with several cards in the cube. This includes commonly played cards like Kor Skyfisher, Flickerwisp, Venser, Shaper Savant, Brainstorm, Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Sylvan Library, Sensei's Divining Top, Scroll Rack, Smokestack and a handful of others. This certainly adds value, and decks containing any of these cards (especially in multiples) have ways to mitigate the ~11% chance of the card being less than a serviceable cantrip.

    Additionally, the card fixes your mana for casting planeswalkers. Meh. It will occasionally be useful in functioning as a 2nd source of colored mana for that Liliana of the Veil, Koth of the Hammer or Elspeth, Knight-Errant in your final 40. But green decks are usually loaded with good options for mana fixing, and the effect is too inconsistent in this format to allow you to really stretch your mana just because you have it (unlike in constructed where a 4x Oath of Nissa can do some reliable things for your manabase). Randomly useful, but unreliable and I don't think it contributes as much to the value of the card as the interaction element does. It could randomly be great in a 4-5 color planeswalker control deck (which does come together sometimes) but simply having this one card in your deck won't allow you to bastardize your manabase.

    Sorry for the folks that read that already in the Oath of Nissa [SCD] thread, but it needed to be shared again here for context.

    Here’s how those numbers have been working out in practice. In a deck with 14-15 “gas” hits, the effect snags 3 perfect hits about half the time. Just how good is that? It’s arguably the best cantrip effect in the cube on those hits. Look at the top three, take any one with you, bottom the remaining two? Just savage for one mana. I mean, it's BCS (which is half the time you play it or more, generally) is absurdly high for a 1cc cantrip.

    When it snags 2 of 3, it’s still very good (which again happens ~90% of the time) and often picking the best land, the best creature or a needed card between a creature/land split is above average. Certainly still the best green cantrip even on a partial miss.

    And some of the interactions have shown up in testing already. Fun with Flickerwisp, and able to sacrifice to Smokestack. Awesome.

    What I Don't Like: It can whiff. It hasn’t hit 0/3 yet in testing, but I’ve hit 1/3 once. It essentially meant that the card cycled for 1 mana, which is obviously less than ideal, but a better than nothing failsafe (kinda like when you shuffle and draw blind after whiffing with Ponder). Also, it can’t go into decks that are super light on creatures. Which in green is basically only Oath of Druids decks. Most green decks have more than enough targets, but the ones that don’t can’t use it effectively.

    Verdict: When you’re deckbuilding with Oath of Nissa, lay out your 40 cards. Remove a Forest and Oath of Nissa. Count your remaining hits. If you have 28 or fewer hits, you can exclude Oath if you have enough other playables. If you have 29-30 hits, it’ll play like the numbers describe above, and it’ll perform swimmingly. If your deck has 31 or more targets, slam Oath of Nissa in there and don’t look back, because the card is just amazing when you have anything better than a 50/50 shot at a busted cantrip and a 90%+ shot of a serviceable one. Absolutely deserves testing at every size. I would play it at 360 after seeing it in action and crunching the numbers. Certainly an A+ card.



    Thanks for reading the article! I hope you enjoyed it, and please feel free to comment below! Smile
    Posted in: Articles, Podcasts, and Guides
  • wtwlf123's avatar

    4

    Jan 10, 2016
    wtwlf123 posted a message on [540][Powered] wtwlf123's Cube
    Okay everybody, here's the Oath of the Gatewatch update. I will go group by group and try and explain the logic behind the changes too, but here it goes:



    Academy Rector -----> Kor Sanctifiers
    Karakas -----> Kor Haven

    Despoiler of Souls -----> Reaver Drone
    Priest of the Blood Rite -----> Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
    Bane of the Living -----> Silent Specter

    Form of the Dragon -----> Zealous Conscripts
    Ingot Chewer -----> Bosh, Iron Golem
    Tempt with Vengeance -----> Chandra, Flamecaller

    Thornling -----> Boreal Druid
    Woodland Wanderer -----> Sylvan Advocate
    Curse of Predation -----> Oath of Nissa
    Farseek -----> Search for Tomorrow
    Mana Reflection -----> Harrow

    Dragonlord Ojutai -----> Reflector Mage
    Prairie Stream -----> Adarkar Wastes
    Sunken Hollow -----> Underground River
    Smoldering Marsh -----> Sulfurous Springs
    Cinder Glade -----> Karplusan Forest
    Canopy Vista -----> Brushland
    Gerrard's Verdict -----> Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim
    Woodland Cemetery -----> Hissing Quagmire
    Izzet Boilerworks -----> Wandering Fumarole
    Clifftop Retreat -----> Needle Spires

    Back Vise -----> Captain's Claws
    Star Compass -----> Sword of the Animist
    Kozilek, Butcher of Truth -----> Tectonic Edge
    Blightsteel Colossus -----> Tendo Ice Bridge

    Sphinx's Revelation -----> Eldrazi Displacer
    Dragonlord Silumgar -----> Dimensional Infiltrator
    Terminate -----> Bearer of Silence
    Kird Ape -----> Eldrazi Obligator
    Qasali Pridemage -----> Vile Redeemer
    Desolation Angel -----> Thought-Knot Seer
    Deathrite Shaman -----> Reality Smasher
    Kiora, Master of Depths -----> Kozilek, the Great Distortion
    Electrolyze -----> Mirrorpool
    Chained to the Rocks -----> Sea Gate Wreckage

    White

    Academy Rector -----> Kor Sanctifiers
    Karakas -----> Kor Haven

    Rector got cut because all of the big mana targets were cut in the same update. Sanctifiers is coming in to replace the loss of a Disenchant effect elsewhere, and also mitigate the loss of Rector -> Seal, which also worked as a Disenchant effect.

    The Kor Haven swap was to enable C.

    ..........

    Blue had no changes with this update.

    ..........

    Black

    Despoiler of Souls -----> Reaver Drone
    Priest of the Blood Rite -----> Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
    Bane of the Living -----> Silent Specter

    Despoiler struggled a little because of the BB cost. Compounded now with the need for C in some of the same decks. Drone is the last 2-power 1-drop in black I needed to reach my critical mass.

    Priest was good when abused, but lacked the face-value power to make the final 40 in a lot of decks. Kalitas is very strong, and shores up some of black's weaknesses.

    Bane wasn't as needed now that Languish is roaming the streets. Specter is a hard hitting black 5-drop, and the effect makes up for the loss of some disruption from elsewhere in the update, and also maintains a black Morph.

    ..........

    Red

    Form of the Dragon -----> Zealous Conscripts
    Ingot Chewer -----> Bosh, Iron Golem
    Tempt with Vengeance -----> Chandra, Flamecaller

    Form was the cut when another big mana red control finisher was coming in, and the loss of Rector will kill it. Conscripts is great. We tested the cube without it for long enough to realize that it was sorely missed. Happy to have it back.

    Chewer was a midrange/control only card because aggro just couldn't justify it. Fiery Confluence provides more maindeckable artifact removal into the same decks that were playing Chewer, and it's simply riding the boards too much since Confluence came in. Bosh replaces a Tinker target that's on its way out, and also works with Welder and Daretti. Maybe kinda a pet card, but Bosh was pretty good his last go-around.

    Tempt was a good top-of-the-curve token support card. Chandra does that too, but also does a lot more stuff. I'll occasionally miss Tempt for 4 and 5 mana, but it was the most reasonable swap for Chandra.

    ..........

    Green

    Thornling -----> Boreal Druid
    Woodland Wanderer -----> Sylvan Advocate
    Curse of Predation -----> Oath of Nissa
    Farseek -----> Search for Tomorrow
    Mana Reflection -----> Harrow

    I love Thornling to death, but it just isn't the monster I wanted it to be. And the addition of Reality Smasher fills that void a bit. Boreal Druid was added for C support.

    Wanderer is fine, but Advocate is going to be my new random vigilant green dork of choice. Green will also have access to Thought-Knot Seer in the 4cc slot.

    We retried Curse, but it just didn't impress. Oath is one of the best cantrips in the cube, and it's green!

    Farseek loses some value with the loss of the battle lands; Search gains some value with the introduction of Wastes.

    Reflection loses value with the loss of Rector, and isn't as needed now that all of the big fatties are 10 mana or less, and can all be reanimated. Harrow is additional C support.

    ..........

    Guild

    Dragonlord Ojutai -----> Reflector Mage
    Prairie Stream -----> Adarkar Wastes
    Sunken Hollow -----> Underground River
    Smoldering Marsh -----> Sulfurous Springs
    Cinder Glade -----> Karplusan Forest
    Canopy Vista -----> Brushland
    Gerrard's Verdict -----> Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim
    Woodland Cemetery -----> Hissing Quagmire
    Izzet Boilerworks -----> Wandering Fumarole
    Clifftop Retreat -----> Needle Spires

    Ojutai was more important when the 5cc section for control was light. Now that we've gotten both Mystic Confluence and Reality Smasher, I think it's a relatively safe cut for the new Man-o'-War.

    The 5 battle lands are leaving for 5 more pain lands. I prefer pains to filters across the board. This is to help aggro/tempo decks and further support C mana.

    Verdict is out to test Ayli; this may not be permanent.

    The three old #5 lands in those guilds are being removed for their respective manlands. A no-brainer change.

    ..........

    Artifacts

    Back Vise -----> Captain's Claws
    Star Compass -----> Sword of the Animist
    Kozilek, Butcher of Truth -----> Tectonic Edge
    Blightsteel Colossus -----> Tendo Ice Bridge

    Vise isn't as critical if you can hit all your 2-power 1-drops, and now that black has also hit it's critical mass, I'm willing to try out another aggro support card in its place. If the Claws fail to impress, this change can be undone.

    Compass had issues with the ETBT clause, and it doesn't help secure C. Sword can, and also helps add a critical mass of targets for Relic Seeker and Stoneforge.

    Kozilek was replaced by new Kozilek in the new colorless-exclusive section. All my giant monsters can be reanimated now. Tectonic Edge helps support C mana, and is also an additional out to the all the new manlands that have come in over the recent sets.

    Blightsteel isn't as critical now that Bosh has increased the Tinker target pool. Tendo Ice Bridge was a very solid land before, and it will really help out aggressive decks that want sources of C.

    ..........

    A New Colorless Section!

    Sphinx's Revelation -----> Eldrazi Displacer
    Dragonlord Silumgar -----> Dimensional Infiltrator
    Terminate -----> Bearer of Silence
    Kird Ape -----> Eldrazi Obligator
    Qasali Pridemage -----> Vile Redeemer
    Desolation Angel -----> Thought-Knot Seer
    Deathrite Shaman -----> Reality Smasher
    Kiora, Master of Depths -----> Kozilek, the Great Distortion
    Electrolyze -----> Mirrorpool
    Chained to the Rocks -----> Sea Gate Wreckage

    Since these new colorless cards play more like gold cards, I didn't like the idea of cutting mono-colored cards or cards with truly generic costs to find room for them. So the best way to create a 10-card subsection was to cut one card from each guild to free up the slots. So I cut the #5 card in each guild to make room for the new colorless support cards. I've been wanting to cut down to 4 cards per guild for a while now; this was a good a catalyst as any for pulling the trigger.

    ..........

    Phew! Hope the explanation sections help to make some sense of a very large and complicated set of changes. Feel free to post comments and questions!
    Posted in: Cube Lists
  • wtwlf123's avatar

    3

    Jan 10, 2016
    wtwlf123 posted a message on [OGW][CUBE] Captain's Claw's
    In any/all the situations where it doesn't immediately get eaten, I think the value it provides is much higher than one extra point of power on your attacker would've been. Just think about how often Goblin Rabblemaster can get in for extra damage even though the creature has to attack. If free 1/1 attacking tokens were always being eaten, Rabblemaster would be a pretty bad card. But there are enough situations where they don't just immediately die that the ability is quite strong.

    I'm in no way suggesting that Claws is a Rabblemaster quality card, but you can see the way that card's token making/attacking ability works to see how to evaluate the token part of Claws.
    Posted in: Cube Card and Archetype Discussion
  • wtwlf123's avatar

    1

    Jan 10, 2016
    wtwlf123 posted a message on [Set (P)review] My top 20 Oath of the Gatewatch cards for the cube!
    It's a powerful combo package, but it does take up some precious real estate in the red and blue sections. Smile
    Posted in: Articles, Podcasts, and Guides
  • wtwlf123's avatar

    6

    Jan 9, 2016
    wtwlf123 posted a message on [OGW]Oath of the Gatewatch: Includes and Testing Results
    Hey guys, my set preview for OGW is up (link in my sig). Since this thread is kinda about that, just wanted to share it here.

    http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/the-cube-forum/articles-podcasts-and-guides/660947-set-p-review-my-top-20-oath-of-the-gatewatch

    Smile
    Posted in: Cube Card and Archetype Discussion
  • wtwlf123's avatar

    1

    Jan 9, 2016
    wtwlf123 posted a message on [OGW] Colorless Mana Discussion
    Guildrazi is an awesome term. :p
    Posted in: Cube Card and Archetype Discussion
  • wtwlf123's avatar

    1

    Jan 9, 2016
    wtwlf123 posted a message on Punishing Greedy Manabases
    Primal Order. :p
    Posted in: Cube Card and Archetype Discussion
  • wtwlf123's avatar

    2

    Jan 8, 2016
    wtwlf123 posted a message on Wastes (included with basics for cube now?)
    You'll get no argument from me, I think they're important cards for supporting Colorless Mana in the cube. You might not always need them, but I don't like the idea of adding cards to the cube and not providing the tools for them to be able to cast them. I was just presenting the other side of the coin.

    If you support cards with a Snow cost, you give your players free snow-covered basics to use them. I think that if you support cards with a Colorless Mana cost, you would want to give them Wastes for the same reason. But that's clearly not for everybody.
    Posted in: Cube Card and Archetype Discussion
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