Quote from asmallcat »I think braids has a huge drop-off between powered and unpowered.
Not to derail the thread here, but this is an argument that I have a hard time getting behind. This seems to be a common misconception about how powered cubes play out that, after about 10 years of playing with power in my cube, I just see to be completely false. Powered cubes don't automatically start with one player immediately on turn two and four drops don't always come out on turn three. In the case of Braids, I'd even argue that playing her on turn three isn't even going to always be the correct play. Don't get me wrong. If you can chain fast mana into a recursive threat into an early Braids, that's great and might even win the game, but I don't think that line of play should have any bearing on how Braids is evaluated as a card. Not every game is going to chain Bloodsoaked Champion into Bitterblossom into Ophiomancer into Braids. On average, even in my powered list, I'd guess that she's probably a two or three for one before she's dealt with, which is why she ends up getting ranked so highly for most cubers. I just don't think including fast mana (or not) has anything to do with that average.
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I do like that it provides a colorless option, but for discarding a card, I would have liked to see it just eat a PW on ETB.
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I'll play this guy.
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Somewhere Erithizon is looking forward in time at this card and just crying quietly.
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Well then in that case, SOLD.
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This card probably still doesn't quite get there but I don't think the floor is really that low. It's just another illustration of how hard it is to break into a cube these days.
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There's also the WCS of them letting you discard on your upkeep and then removing this for a 2-for-1. But the list of removal cards that do that at instant speed, even in cube, is pretty narrow. And the discard is often an upside if you're doing it just once.