Do you want it to be something that you could realistically hope to draft?
My first though would be an utterly unfair Tinker deck using fx Titania --- But like half the cards I'd run are potential first picks in a draft
Go for it! All I want from people is the most ideal deck they can make. This is more of an exercise to explore the full potential of each Vanguard card, so I'm not really too concerned about how "broken" your deck is, because, like you said, a lot of these cards are first picks anyways. What I hope to gain from this exercise is to find out what strategies people are thinking about when they see these cards.
Let me clarify: if the combo you're going for has enough redundancy in Magic to warrant their inclusion in the Cube (i.e, in Reanimator, there's plenty of spells in Magic that lets you cast things from your graveyard, and plenty of things that let's you discard), by all means post the combo deck. I just don't want really weird combos that only work with super-specific, one-of-a-kind cards.
Hi all! To those who don't know, I'm working on a Vanguard cube and wanted to try a little exercise that, hopefully, will be useful for me and fun for you!
Before starting things off: here are what Vanguard cards are, for those unfamiliar.
So what's the exercise? It's pretty simple. I want you to create your ideal draft deck for whatever Vanguard card you choose. These can be any card in Magic, except the Power Nine, Library of Alexandria and Bazaar of Baghdad.
Any card? That's right! I want to get a feel for what kind of 40 card decks you smart people come up with, not just typical cube decks (although those are fine too)! I suspect most of these cards will be cube cards, but I don't want to hobble any creativity here! Of course, I urge you to to think carefully about some of these cards, and by all means, post a reserve space if you want to get to it later.
-This is a draft deck! Only one card each, excluding basic lands!
-Please make it no more, and no less, than a 40 card deck, unless you really think going more warrants a good strategy (justify why you're going over 40)
-Please provide a brief explanation of what your deck does and its general strategy. Use keywords like aggro, control, and midrange.
-Please avoid a combo deck, unless you feel it's a combo that a medium to large size cube could support! (i.e. Reanimator and Blink). Card interactions, especially with the Vanguard cards, are great, but if there's literally only a couple of cards in Magic that can do it, think of something else! If you do a combo deck, please justify how the combo would be supported in the cube.
-Pay attention to all three stats on the card! These are: the card's unique ability, the life modifier, and the hand modifier. The life modifier is especially important, because if you choose a card with low life and build a control deck, you need to justify how that control deck is going to stabilize the game with such a low life total! Don't always go for the ability that's on the card; evaluate the card with all three stats in mind!
-Use [*deck] tags, please!
For your reference, I've evaluated each Vanguard card in this thread. You don't have to follow these archetypes necessarily, but if you don't agree I urge you to tell me how wrong I am (in that thread)!
This is a counterburn control deck (RU), and I chose this archetype because I think Urza's ability stacks pretty well with this strategy. Almost everything is at instant speed, so you play everything during your opponent's turn (if he/she plays nothing worth countering, burn at eot). 30 life gives you plenty of time to take your time with the burn spells. The -1 hand size is mitigated with lots of card advantage. I threw in Moltensteel Dragon as a pretty solid finisher; since you're so high on the life total, you can conceivable win the game when he swings (when you add in Urza's ability). Time Spiral pretty much wins you the game. And Palinchron is of course always a blue favorite, especially when you can use the free mana to burn some more!
Well, Shadow is powerful in Cube aggro anyway. If you allow more shadow creatures, it allows for Lyna to interact with a lot more opponents and create more interesting gamestates.
It's your decision as designer if you want Lyna to have, "Creatures you control are unblockable and can't block." BY not including a lot of shadow creatures, that's what she effectively has.
This is probably what I'm going for, since there aren't a WHOLE lot of shadow creatures in the cube (white and black have a few each). I just feel with such low stats Lyna needs to abuse the ability as much as possible.
Wow Mirri looks overpowered. Anyways, playing with vanguard looks fun! Thanks for the write-up!
Mirri is great, but I don't think it's necessarily as "overpowered" as say, Titania or Sisay. We'll see though. I'm hoping they don't turn out that way. If they are, they'll either have to be cut, or the cube will have to be tinkered with so as to either give other Vanguard cards an advantage or nerf the overpowered Vanguards themselves.
Have you thought of doing any type of errata to the cards? I probably wouldn't want to because of the "purist" in me, but that's something to talk about. (I mean seriously, Orim!)
But I digress. Aggro becomes a really important part of a Vanguard environment because so many cards work with creatures. (Also, make flying and shadow relevant to interact with Orim and the shadow person.)
I'm a purist too and would hate to Errata stuff. I wouldn't say it's never going to be on the table but it's a "last resort" before simply cutting the card altogether.
Orim's ability is bad, but on the upside she has really stable stats. Out of all the "high lifers" (30+) she doesn't get card disadvantage. I'll probably have to re-evaluate Orim and just say "let's look at her great stats and ignore that really dumb ability." Which will probably mean go control with her.
Yeah, aggro does get stronger with all these creature abilities. On the other hand, there's plenty of high lifers to give control a lot more time to stabilize. I suspect (and hope) that these two aspects of the Vanguard pool will balance each other, although I won't be that troubled with aggro getting an edge because let's face it, in most cubes aggro needs all the help it can get.
I'm hesitant to add more shadow creatures just for one Vanguard card. I feel pretty confident in my analysis of Lyna (that is, full on Burn aggro).
I decided Gilded Lotus has too high of a CMC for what it does, and that 5-color control decks have plenty of other outlets to get its mana. I also want to encourage more mono-colored play; 5-color and other multicolored play should be harder to draft in general. I added in Black Vise because it's great for Aggro, which needs all the help it can get.
Alot of these switches are just straight upgrades. Magus of the Disk is too slow and Sunlance is too narrow. Aeon Chronicler is just not that impressive and I didn't see it as a power play for blue in any capacity. Necropotence is too hard to cast and too hard to abuse; not seeing what you have until eot is bad. I'd rather pay an extra three for Yawgmoth's Bargain. Necroplasm is more of a sideboard card; if you're not playing against a weenie deck it's useless. Furthermore, the opponent can choose how to play things to get around the ability anyways. Royal Assassin, again, can just be avoided; it's also easy to kill. Ashes to Ashes was a hard cut to make, but black has plenty of removal and it was the weakest removal in the cube. Rude Awakening was simply too much mana for what it does; Woodfall Primus is a better bomb. Etched Champion and Shimmer Myr are only for one archetype (artifact control), which is bad. A card should cater to more than one archetype. Etched Champion is pretty underwhelming anyways. Platinum Angel finally got the cut, it's way to easy to remove and too costly. And Tumble Magnet just pales in comparison to Icy Manipulator and the like. Life/Death was a hard cut but I feel there's enough reanimator in the cube to warrant it. Sarkhan the Mad was interesting to play but could easily be useless if you lack the creatures; Bituminous Blast plays better in RB. Court Hussar is underwhelming for 3.
This cube is drafted after Vanguard Cards are drafted/picked/chosen randomly. To those unfamiliar, Vanguard Cards were oversized cards released by Wizards during the Rath cycle era that added an Emblem ability, modified starting/max hand size, and modified starting life total. Some of these cards were relatively stable cards with only + or - 1 hand/life total, or had a relatively benign ability, whereas others were much more "swingy" and had, for instance, -4 to starting hand size, but the ability to draw two cards per turn (such as Gerrard).
The goal of this cube is to have a card pool that best operates within a Vanguard environment. What does this mean exactly? Like any good cube, the card pool should support a number of deck strategies or archetypes (not too many, but not too few); typically these fall under Aggro, Midrange, or Control archetypes. Besides being the best cards in Magic, cube cards are evaluated on their usefulness to an archetype (usually more than one archetype), and for the most part this is what is already done for this cube, with a slight modification. Instead of measuring against the traditional archetypes, cards are now evaluated on their usefulness to Vanguard archetypes; that is, your usual cube archetypes, but seen through the lense of the Vanguard environment, which guarantees you a new, sometimes powerful ability, or modifies your hand/life total.
This DOES NOT mean that cards will be thrown in to tailor to just one Vanguard card (there are 32 of them). Instead, general trends across Vanguard cards will be assessed, and through Vanguard card evaluations, Vanguard archetypes will be established to which cube cards can be measured. For instance, 12/32 Vanguards cards start at below 20 life, with a couple starting at a scant 12. It could very well be that lifegain will be much more important and therefore prevalent in a Vanguard cube. Discussion of this can be found in my Vanguard Cube Design: Archetypes thread, which aims to identify what kind of archetype each Vanguard card best supports.
For now, this is a 720 unpowered cube, but depending on how our Vanguard archetype discussion goes this could very well change.
Size: 720 Breakdown: 100 of each color, 135 multicolored, 85 colorless (lands in each) Hybrid/Split/Kicker/Colored Triggers as Gold? Yes/Yes/Yes/Yes Powered? No Portal? Yes "Un-" Cards? Yes Snow? Yes Proxies? No Creature/Noncreature Balance: Unbalanced Avg CMC: W 3.04, U 3.19, B 2.94, R 2.89, G 3.16, X 3.2
Unusual Cards Included Pristine Angel: a decent control creature, it's there until I can get a Sun Titan Reprisal: white weenie loses to big bodies. two mana to solve this is a steal. also good in control Sunlance: a nice Boros card, it'll probably get cut eventually though Pulse of the Fields: strictly for a Vanguard environment where you start out on less than 20 life. might be too narrow though Spire Owl, Sage Owl: let's you reach deep for combo decks like Blink. also good for control
This looks like a nice idea, I appreciate the work you put into it.
Green Aggro is either Gruul, Salasnya or Naya.
Ah, I suppose I should clarify how I'm identifying archetypes. All three Aggro types allow for other colors to splash; Burn is "R/x" for instance. The way I see it, aggro green is very similar to white weenie in strategy; play a lot of creatures and buff them up. Sui, on the other hand, uses life as a resource, has more of a removal aspect and gives more card advantage, whereas Burn has high power haste creatures with burn spells.
Unless there's something more distinguishing about aggro Green that warrants a naming convention, the way I see it, Green aggro falls under the umbrella of White Weenie and, of course, is splashable in other colors, for instance B/G Sui or R/G Burn.
As an aside I will clarify this in the archetype section soon.
Ashnod's ability isn't very good in an aggro deck. I see it as more of a BW lifegain deck.
This is a good point and it brings up something that I feel will ultimately go into a Vanguard cube -- more life gain. Right now your typical cube doesn't have many life gaining opportunities...Exalted Angel, Kitchen Finks, Lone Missionary, and Pulse of the Fields off the top of my head? And many Vanguard cards start below 20.
I agree Ashnod would be great in BW lifegain, but in the current environment I just don't see it surviving outside of Aggro, unless you're lucky enough to draft enough lifegain cards. But the archetype of this card could very well change has the cube changes, no question.
As an aside, my reasoning for making Ashnod aggro was that, as Burn, you're constantly attacking anyways, so if the opponent decides to go offensive as well he loses creatures.
Crovax also I don't think is aggro. Having extra cards and gaining life is a control feature.
When I was thinking about Crovax, I was thinking of the best oppotunities to abuse the ability. Control doesn't have many creatures to abuse the ability, although I guess there's exceptions with cards like Meloku, the Clouded Mirror. I agree that life gain is most desirable with control, as it gives control more time to stabilize the game. But imagine your super standard blue control deck. How many times will this ability trigger for you, and matter? Twice, maybe? Because once you get to the late game, you're winning not because of what your life is, but because you have control of the board.
I could see this card mattering more for a faster deck, maybe some sort of W/B tempo control who plays creatures earlier and more numerously.
I also think Sui might have the most to gain from this, as the life loss is now suddenly mitigated with all your critters hitting your opponent.
Gerrad - this seems to be a control card to me, since it wants the game to go as long as possible.
Gerrard was hard to think about, but if you follow my reasoning you'll see that going too fast (aggro) or too slow (control) with him is bad. Not even considering draw spells, you draw your entire deck by turn 19 and of course the nature of the hand size early game means Aggro gets a bad start.
I chose Renimator because discarding at eot is a lot more commonplace, plus you get to search your deck faster for that one card.
Greaven - the ability seems to be a controlling one?
Sure, but it's most abusable with lots of creatures in play. Suddenly white weenie gets to destroy any fatty that decides to block. It puts the opponent in the uncomfortable position of choosing to get rid of their finishers or losing the game.
Hmmm. I was actually thinking just yesterday about trying to add Vanguard support to my cube, just to mix things up a little. One thought I had was printing proxies and mixing a number of the MTGO vanguard avatars with a number of the physical vanguard cards but picking the ones from each that I want to use is going to be a bit of a hassle. Does anyone have any thoughts or recommendations on the online avatars?
Thanks for the hard work on this analysis, ropebreezy!
Thanks!
Yeah I've toyed with the idea of using MTGO proxies, but I just hate proxies...but perhaps in the future...
Thanks for the response! Green aggro isn't something I've thought of much, but it makes sense. I suppose I just haven't seen such a deck played that much, if at all. I guess it would be similar to White Weenie? What sort of cards (besides critters) do you see in this archetype?
Hi folks. I'm a long time cuber and lucky owner of all 32 Vanguard cards. Basically, I'm looking to tailor my 720 unpowered cube into a "Vanguard Cube" and want you fine peoples' educated input.
What do I mean by tailoring? As this forum rightly points out, designing a cube is ultimately all about archetypes. When evaluating a card, besides asking oneself "is it good," you ask "what deck archetypes does this card support?" This is the train of thought I want to apply to Vanguard cards, as they apply to cube drafting. As an aside, Vanguard cards are chosen (or drafted, or picked randomly) first, then you cube draft.
So, first and foremost, before even identifying what cards would be good in a "Vanguard environment," I want to identify what archetype meshes best with each Vanguard card. That is, out of all the archetypes cubes typically support (white weenie, mana ramp, etc), what archetype would you choose when you have a Vanguard card (hidden, of course) in front of you? This is a discussion I want to have first before even thinking about cutting/adding cards to my cube.
For reference, here are the usual archetypes cubes support (that I'm aware of, please tell me if there's others to consider, or if you think a certain fringe archetype meshes well with some Vanguard cards):
Aggro
Burn R/x
White Weenie W/x
Sui B/x
Midrange
Mana Ramp G/x
The Rock G//x
Reanimator B/x
Blink U///x
Control
Tempo control B/, U/x, WUBRG
Counterburn R/
Artifact Control U//x
Blue Control U/x
And without further ado...here are my evaluations of each Vanguard card (in alphabetical order):
12 life is a heavy setback and makes any kind of control play nearly impossible. You have to win the game early or not at all. Aggro with life gain seems to be the best bet, and no other color combination does this best than Boros. The +1 card advantage will keep your hand fuller longer as you toss out cheap creature and spells.
If and when more lifegain is introduced in the cube, this card could go midrange, or even control. The ability is definitely the most useful with these archetypes.
Primary archetype: Burn (R/W) Secondary archetype: White weenie Combos: None?
This guy screams control. Bouncing creatures is great, and so is the +6 life to hunker down for a long game. The blue-est, most control-ey deck will go furthest with this card, although any control deck that can put out mass tokens deserves some consideration for the potential to abuse the ability. Also for consideration: Blink decks, since you have a constant source for ETB play.
Primary archetype: Control (U/x, U/W for token production) Secondary archetype: Blink Combos: ETB abuse
White weenie all the way with this fella. Attack relentlessly and gain life at the same time. The extra + 2 card advantage will let you keep casting those cheap creatures and spells. This strategy also works with Sui's weenies and helps out with the life loss. Actually, I'm more inclined to go Sui with this one, since the lifegain is more useful for this archetype
Primary archetype: Sui Secondary archetype: White Weenie Combos: Plinking
35 life is a ridiculous amount of damage to take and a hefty buffer to go as blue as you like. Playing creatures with shroud along with counterspells in hand means your creatures will never leave play. U/R is also an interesting option, since you can keep your creatures alive with spells like Wildfire and Pyroclasm.
In retrospect though, I'm more inclined to say Sui benefits the most from this. 35 life buffers your lifeloss from Dark Confidant, and suddenly all your weenies survive in all kinds of combat tricks shenanigans
Primary archetype: Sui Secondary archetype: Blue control, Counterburn Combos: Mass damage, like Wildfire
This is an interesting card that could, quite frankly, be comfy in any archetype. The life modifier is fine and the card disadvantage isn't too bad. But what deck would need it most? Aggro comes to mind, since there's little else these decks can do against Into the Roil and Terminate. So white weenie? Probably not, since white weenie's stategy is usually stopped by bigger bodies or simply sweeping the board with a well-timed Damnation; shroud doesn't help in either case. The same goes for Sui since it typically wins the game in numbers. So Burn? Burn would definitely benefit from having shroud on Blistering Firecat and other haste beaters. Honestly though, I feel midrange might benefit the most with this card, since these decks usually have to invest the early game to get out their key creature. Losing that big creature to removal is a heavy blow to the midrange deck, which doesn't have the plethora of creatures that aggro can throw out. And control usually has methods to keep their key creatures on the battlefield; not always the case for midrange.
So which midrange deck? Reanimator and Rock play with their graveyards already, so removal to them is not quite as devastating. Mana ramp seems like a prime choice since a lot of its mana production, such as Llanowar Elves and Birds of Paradise, benefit from the much needed shroud ability. Blink could also find some use from this ability, and perhaps tempo control as well (W/B/x), which might not have as many options to counteract removal as traditional blue control.
Primary archetype: Mana ramp Secondary archetype: Blink, Tempo control Combos: None?
Holy moley only 3 cards at the beginning of the game?!? Before we even get into archetype talk, it should be noted that, most likely, your land count will be higher in this deck, meaning less actual cards overall. What does this mean? Well, unless you're thinking of going over the 40 card limit (generally not recommended), it means you're playing less per turn, which, in turn, means you absolutely should not play aggro (I've done the math: even with the fact that you draw two cards per turn, taking into account that you play a land per turn, you eventually get stuck playing only one spell per turn...not good in aggro).
But lets look at the upside: two card draw per turn. Control would definitely benefit from this, but so does midrange if you want to get down to it. One interesting thing to note is that your hand size is three, so discarding cards suddenly becomes more commonplace at eot, especially when you have card drawing spells. And which deck benefits from that? Reanimator! The Rock also plays with the graveyard, but often it's back to your hand rather than back to play, which ain't as ideal when you're at a 3 card hand size limit. A super slow control deck ain't ideal either; by turn 8 you have overtaken the other player in deck drawing, and by turn 19 you've milled out (this doesn't even take into account drawing spells, which you certainly have in a slow control deck).
Midrange really seems to be the answer here; you can't be too fast and you can't be too slow. As said before, Reanimator fits the bill pretty nicely, and Blink might have a spot since your strategy is usually reusing cards, which keeps your hand size relatively healthy without going to zero. Tempo control (W/B) or Counterburn could work, provided you finish the game sooner rather than later.
This card has the highest life modifier out of all the Vanguard cards: a whopping 38 life at the start of the game. My first intuition is go blue, and go blue hard. But the ability ain't much of a control ability, and the -2 to hand size ain't too great for an archetype that's about card advantage.
Perhaps the massive life total should be seen through a different lense? Although not a control archetype, Sui suddenly lasts you into the midgame or even lategame. Bitterblossom is a-ok for turns and turns and turns, as well as Dark Confidant and Graveborn Muse. Combo with Barter in Blood and the ability to bring creatures you sacrificed back to your hand and you have an aggro deck that keeps going and going and going.
I guess we can call this a midrange deck, since the idea is less about putting weenies out and more about getting card advantage and sweeping the opponent of any creatures he or she puts out. Let's just call it tempo control (W/B/x) and call it a day, which really is on the cusp of midrange/control. Also, The Rock fits here, since graveyard play is a strategy of this archetype. Reanimator much less so, since you want your creatures going to the battlefield, not your hand. Reanimator is still viable here, however, just not as ideal. I actually think any midrange deck will do, since you can always bring your threat back to your hand.
Primary archetype: tempo control (W/B) Secondary archetype: any midrange deck Combos: None?
This guy's ability is most abusable with chump blockers, so white weenie seems like the most straight forward archetype. Sui is also a good choice, only in that the -1 hand size can be counteracted with Sui's plethora of draw spells and abilities. Burn is also worthy of consideration, as red's plink creatures turn into Visara the Dreadful. In the end though, I feel white weenie goes furthest with this guy.
Primary archetype: White Weenie Secondary archetype: Sui, Burn Combos:
The ability of this card would easily fit in any archetype, especially an artifact heavy one. 15 life is pretty low though, so were left with aggro and maybe some of the faster midrange decks. Actually, I think Mana Ramp is the winning archetype for this card, only because Hanna's ability is essentially stacking the entire strategy of a Mana Ramp deck; it's entirely possible (likely even), to get a Blastoderm out on turn 2, for instance. The Rock is another possibility, although probably not as potent. The other two midrange decks I feel are too slow for 15 life. Aggro might do well; it's really dependent on how many creatures have that colorless casting cost.
And the end of the day though, Mana Ramp is the best choice here.
Primary archetype: Mana Ramp Secondary archetype: The Rock, maybe Aggro Combos:
Ah, Karn. If and when I get the chance to draft this card along with Karn, Silver Golem and Karn, Liberated I will be one happy cuber. But I digress...(actually, not really!). Artifact control is the pretty obvious choice here. +6 life gives you some buffer to go control, and +1 card advantage is just icing on the cake. Nothing worthwhile to tap down with Icy Manipulator? Attack for 4! Pretty standard stuff. The only other viable alternative I can think of is Mana Ramp. Essentially, once you're done playing you're big creature with all those manafacts you laid down, attack with all those creatures for an easy midgame win.
Primary archetype: Artifact control Secondary archetype: Mana Ramp Combos:
Shadow essentially means you have unblockable creatures that can't block. If it wasn't for the 16 life I'd say any deck could use Lyna, but 16 life leaves little room for a control deck to stabilize the game, especially when none of your creatures can block. Honestly, I feel Burn has the most potency here. Ball Lightning goes through, all of your haste creatures (who weren't going to sit around blocking anyways) go through, throw out some burn spells and you win the game. Weenies could work but when you're at 16 life you want creatures with haste hitting the dome early; you can't block in midgame! Or lategame, or any-point-in-the-game, for that matter.
Primary archetype: Burn Secondary archetype: White Weenie Combos:
This is a very stable card and could fit into a lot of decks. + 2 life is good, +1 to cards is great, +1 to creature power is dandy. Of course, if you want to get all of your worth out of this card, you want creatures, and lots of them. White weenie sounds great, especially when we have Porcelain Legionnaire and Accorder Paladin hitting the dome for 4 each. Sui also deserves mention, and Burn for it's already high power creatures.
Primary archetype: White Weenie Secondary archetype: Sui, Burn Combos:
5-color decks are notoriously hard to make, but not with Mirri! The obvious choice here is 5-color control and it's easy to see why. 25 life is a good buffer to do all kinds of crazy things with all five colors at your fingertips.
I'm sure you could make some other tri-color or four color tempo deck, but why bother? If you have this puppy drafting will be a breeze. Literally pick all the best cards that come your way and win the game. Snazzy.
Primary archetype: 5-color control Secondary archetype: 3 or 4 color control Combos:
This card is Burn through and through. First turn Spark Elemental, second turn Hellspark Elemental, third turn unearth, your opponent is suddenly at 2 life. Of course that's an ideal situation, but with all the high power hasty creatures in Burn I'm inclined to believe it'll happen more often than you think.
At 17 health you could probably get away with some sort of midrange deck, but really, why bother? Go Burn, and if you can't do that, go White Weenie, which has plenty of high power creatures (with first strike no less) to clobber an opponents blockers.
Primary archetype: Burn Secondary archetype: White Weenie, Sui Combos:
Good ol Multani. A very weird card, but a very powerful card if done right. Of course, it's very easy to screw up too.
Much like Gerrard, you have a severe card disadvantage. This means more lands in your 40 card deck, which means less cards to play. This puts you at a disadvantage for Aggro, which wants to play multiple cards per turn. It's not quite as bad of a scenario as Gerrard, but it also means you won't be playing pure Burn, or White Weenie really.
18 life ain't too bad, so midrange and maybe control is viable. You want a deck that can draw you cards, but you want a deck that has creatures that can beat your opponents face in too. Honestly, I'm inclined to go with Counterburn. Blue for your draw, red for high power hasty creatures like Ball Lightning, and whatever cards you have left before your discard phase you cast for cheap, like Lightning Bolt. This version of the Counterburn archetype is honestly more midrange than control, since you're trying to win earlier rather than later. I guess you could call it Countersuperburn if you want.
Multani would probably fit in other midrange/control archetypes, as long as there's an outlet for drawing cards. U/G comes to mind, since your green fatties usually come with trample.
Primary archetype: Countersuperburn! Secondary archetype: U/G, or other tempo/control Combos:
Oracle's ability is kinda weaksauce compared to the others, but 29 life and +1 card advantage is nice, so whatever. I'm inclined to go control due to the pretty high life, but control doesn't find itself doing combat tricks, especially when it's late game and you have super-evasive creatures hitting the player where it hurts anyways. No, this card is best with a more creature heavy deck, although not necessarily full on Aggro, since you have plenty of life to play around with. White Weenie/Mana Ramp hybrid sounds good; attack with all your weenies and that fatty you played last turn to force the opponent to make some tough decisions. Throw in Might of Oaks type cards and you can hit the opponent hard without giving up any defense.
Of course, you could use your generous life total to put in some Sui play. As long as you have a good mix of weenies and creature buffs this is where this card will shine most.
Primary archetype: Mana Ramp/White Weenie/Sui Secondary archetype: any midrange deck Combos:
Ugh, how boring. 32 life is nice, but it's hard to say "go control" when control has flying creatures anyways. Midrange seems to be the answer, and really, any midrange deck seems fine. I wouldn't go Aggro only because Aggro doesn't like blocking. Also, it's a waste of +12 life, a bonus that midrange could use while it takes it's time getting out it's finishers. Any midrange deck with black will probably better utilize the extra life.
Primary archetype: any midrange deck Secondary archetype: any control deck Combos:
Hmm, can you say Skullclamp? Insane combos aside, this card seems viable in almost any marginally creature-heavy deck. Burn gets a card when you don't pay the echo for Keldon Champion, White Weenie gets plenty of card advantage when the opponent must inevitably get rid of its creatures, and Sui won't care when he casts Innocent Blood on one of his creatures. Midrange could find use in this as well but if I were to measure the importance in card drawing ability between the two strategies I would argue Aggro needs card drawing much more than Midrange. For every creature killed, a card drawn (most likely) fills the ranks. Sure, midrange wouldn't mind an extra card, but midrange by it's very nature has more control over what happens to it's creatures in the first place. Giving Aggro the ability to automatically draw every time one of it's critters die is huge, especially when you start considering cards like Spectral Procession.
So out of all the Aggro archetypes? Probably White Weenie, since it's the most creature heavy. But Sui and Burn could do just as well with this card.
Primary archetype: White Weenie Secondary archetype: Burn, Sui Combos:
Vigilance is an ability that best shines on evasive creatures with a healthy toughness. Aggro doesn't really have many of these types of creatures (if at all), but midrange and control certainly does. 27 life is quite a large buffer to stabilize the game, which makes me inclined to say go control. But midrange could do just as well with this ability it seems, epecially green's fatty tramplers. Honestly, this ability is all about creatures, and the more creatures you have in play, the more you're utilizing the card, which makes me think control is not the best option. Mana Ramp sounds great, because you can attack with Fyndhorn Elves then tap to help play your fatty. Splash in some good red abilities like Kamahl, Pit Fighter and you're doing some serious damage.
There's a lot you can do with this card. Any creatures with tap abilities can abuse this card like no other, as well as fatty creatures in general with evasive abilities like trample, flying, and fear.
Primary archetype: Mana Ramp Secondary archetype: any midrange Combos:
Wall of Denial just got redonkulous. So go control? Sure, but this is another very stable card that could go in any deck pretty nicely. But if I were to choose what strategy aligns with +2 toughness best, it's probably control. Control has plenty of cheap, cool walls (and high toughness creatures) to stall the game for many, many turns. Wall of Omens, Sea Gate Oracle, Calcite Snapper, to name a few. But hey, any pretty creature heavy deck would probably appreciate the extra 2 toughness as well as 21 life and 8 hand size.
Final verdict? Aggro doesn't really need this., unless they're up against another Aggro deck. Neither does midrange, for the most part, but of course there's exceptions depending on the deck matchup. But control? It will always need this. Suddenly burn spells don't need to be countered. Suddenly white weenie is stopped dead in it's tracks, leaving you your valuable counterspells and bounce spells for the late game, which is where you shine anyways.
Primary archetype: Blue control Secondary archetype: Tempo control, some midrange decks Combos:
32 life is great, and 6 cards in hand ain't the end of the world either. Sidar's ability looks pretty strong for White Weenie, only because you can do some pretty cool combat tricks with it. But 32 life is a lot of life, and it would be a shame to waste all that life trying to end the game early.
My verdict? Control, actually. You have plenty of time to stabilize the game, and once you have that evasive fatty down in the late game, you have plenty of mana to activate the ability twice, or even three times, putting the opponent down in one fell swoop.
Of course this card could go in midrange or even aggro, but the way I see it, if you can get away with going control due to the high life total, why not?
Primary archetype: Blue control Secondary archetype: Tempo control Combos:
Much like Hanna, this is a Mana Ramp card first and foremost. 17 life and a 5 card hand is bit too low for control to handle, especially when up against Aggro. Aggro could benefit from this card as well, but due to the sheer amount of available mana, plus the low hand card count, Aggro will soon have no cards left to cast. Sui has some card advantage, but 17 life is cutting it pretty close when you have Dark Confidant out. Midrange seems like the best strategy and, again, Mana Ramp really shines with this card because its strategy is being stacked with Sisay's ability.
As an aside, time will tell, but I suspect this card might be a bit overpowered.
Primary archetype: Mana Ramp Secondary archetype: any midrange deck Combos:
Ah, Sliver Queen. This was the first Vanguard card I ever drafted and I knew exactly what to do with it.
Control, baby. You have 28 life to stabilize the game and an eot ability if the opponent doesn't play anything worth countering or bouncing. It's a very slow method of winning but oh so sweet. Of course any control deck works but I say the more blue, the better.
Primary archetype: Blue Control Secondary archetype: any other control deck Combos:
What an awesome control ability! But wait, only 16 life?!
It's a weird, frustrating card, an unfortunately because of the life total and huge card advantage, I say Aggro all the way. The card advantage will let you play lots of cheap things quickly and hey, I guess seeing your opponent's hand lets you plan a bit about how to go about doing things (i.e., if you see a Wrath of God in his hand, maybe you should stop playing creatures!).
That's pretty much it though. If it weren't for the 16 life I'd say try midrange but it's a risk in my honest opinion. Squee's ability can actually be quite useful to Aggro, who in most instances has no way to prevent big spells from happening. This way you can usually see the danger coming and plan accordingly.
Which Aggro archetype then. Well, I say either White Weenie or Burn, because Sui is gonna have a hard time with that 16 life. A faster midrange deck might work, like Mana Ramp.
Primary archetype: White Weenie, Burn Secondary archetype: Sui, Mana Ramp Combos:
Starke's ability is mostly seen in blue, so were gonna go for non-Aggro here. Aggro doesn't care much, since it's not strictly card advantage, just search ability.
I feel this ability has the best utility in combo decks, such as Reanimator and Blink. You are essentially searching your library for key cards and getting rid unneeded ones, letting you set up your combo quicker and more efficiently. Control of course could use this ability, but with 18 life it's iffy that you'll be able to stabilize in the Vanguard environment. You get abilities like this anyways when it comes to control, so it's not entirely critical that you have this one.
Primary archetype: Reanimator, Blink Secondary archetype: The Rock, Mana Ramp Combos:
Yeeehaw time for a Fires deck! Well, not really, actually. Red has plenty of haste creatures, which would make this card a bit redundant. It's still Aggro though, no doubt about that, but Burn is off the table. White Weenie? Yes. Sui? Even better, since that 27 life can be used for some card advantage, which will be needed at a 6 card hand.
Primary archetype: Sui Secondary archetype: White Weenie Combos:
12....12 life?! Much like Ashnod, this card's only archetype possibility is some hardcore Aggro. Like Ashnod too, Boros is a good combo, although Takara's ability really screams full on Burn to me. A three card hand advantage is great for cheap spells and cheap creatures.
Primary archetype: Burn Secondary archetype: White Weenie Combos:
I sooooo want this to be good Artifact Control card, but alas, 16 life is just way too little for such a slow archetype to ever stabilize. I do, however, think blue should stick with this card, because eot shenanigans are awesome. U/G and other tempo based control decks come to mind. Like Counterburn, play everything on the opponents turn: if he or she has nothing worthwhile to bounce or counter, play a creature. Rinse and repeat until you control the board. Three card advantage is awesome and will allow you to lower your land count in your deck.
You could also do some combat shenanigans with midrange decks such as Blink, provided you have some good instants on hand, but I don't think they're as potent as control in this aspect and probably harder to make.
Primary archetype: Tempo control Secondary archetype: Blink Combos:
Like Sisay and Hanna, this card is all about Mana Ramp. Sure, it's probably great in Aggro, but I'd rather get out an unstoppable fatty than have a whole bunch of weenies on turn 2-3. It also should be noted that you're generally going to have more lands in a Titania deck so that you can play two lands per turn. This hinders Aggro's ability to play multiple cards per turn. And Control would definitely not work; 15 life is pretty damn low.
Burn probably comes in second, only because it's fast enough to utilize all that mana to end the game quickly. I can't imagine playing Sui on 15 life, and White Weenie, while good, isn't as fast as Burn. But overall Mana Ramp is king.
Primary archetype: Mana Ramp Secondary archetype: Burn Combos: Landfall!
COUNTERBURN. 30 life is plenty to play control. 6 card hand size is bad, but not terrible. You could go for other control archetypes but this one stacks best with Counterburn.
Primary archetype: Counterburn Secondary archetype: other control Combos:
I'm inclined to go Aggro, simply because 17 life is kinda low. Midrange can survive on this life total though, and benefits better from Volrath's ability since a lot of the midrange's success rides on key creatures' survivability. +2 card advantage is icing on the cake and will mitigate the need to put in draw spells.
There aren't any specific midrange decks that come to mind. Probably not Reanimator, since this archetype wants creatures in the graveyard. Blink has a plethora of ETB creatures that could make Volrath's ability pretty powerful.
Primary archetype: Blink Secondary archetype: The Rock, Mana Ramp Combos:
Xantcha's ability is most potent in a creature heavy deck, so I'm inclined to say Control wouldn't be the best choice. White Weenie and Sui would do well; sacrificing a land to save a creature ain't such a big deal in a deck that has cheap casting costs. Sui is especially viable at 23 life. The + 1 card advantage is great in Aggro, allowing more to be cast.
What about midrange? Alot of these creatures have regeneration already, making the ability redundant. One thing to keep in mind though is Reanimator and Rock decks, which have the ability to retrieve things from the graveyard, allowing for essentially free sacrifices. This could definitely be a potent combo. Still, I'd probably prefer Sui in this instance, since it has the most to gain from all three stats.
Primary archetype: Sui Secondary archetype: other Aggro, Reanimator, The Rock Combos:
Whew! I'd appreciate if you commented, especially if you had any experience drafting with Vanguard cards. I see this as the first phase in creating my Vanguard Cube. Once Vanguard cards archetypes are discussed, established, and there seems to be a consensus on certain strategies of each card, I'll move to post my actual cube list so there can (hopefully!) be a constructive discussion about what cards would fit best in a Vanguard environment. Of course, I am open to discussing the actual power level of the Vanguard cards themselves, and whether some are too powerful or too weak to warrant inclusion in a Vanguard Cube draft (although I hope this isn't the case!).
6/4/2011: changelog created
6/11/2011: edited Crovax, Eladamri; added "Combos" to each card
Go for it! All I want from people is the most ideal deck they can make. This is more of an exercise to explore the full potential of each Vanguard card, so I'm not really too concerned about how "broken" your deck is, because, like you said, a lot of these cards are first picks anyways. What I hope to gain from this exercise is to find out what strategies people are thinking about when they see these cards.
Excellent! I'll look these over.
Let me clarify: if the combo you're going for has enough redundancy in Magic to warrant their inclusion in the Cube (i.e, in Reanimator, there's plenty of spells in Magic that lets you cast things from your graveyard, and plenty of things that let's you discard), by all means post the combo deck. I just don't want really weird combos that only work with super-specific, one-of-a-kind cards.
Before starting things off: here are what Vanguard cards are, for those unfamiliar.
So what's the exercise? It's pretty simple. I want you to create your ideal draft deck for whatever Vanguard card you choose. These can be any card in Magic, except the Power Nine, Library of Alexandria and Bazaar of Baghdad.
Any card? That's right! I want to get a feel for what kind of 40 card decks you smart people come up with, not just typical cube decks (although those are fine too)! I suspect most of these cards will be cube cards, but I don't want to hobble any creativity here! Of course, I urge you to to think carefully about some of these cards, and by all means, post a reserve space if you want to get to it later.
-This is a draft deck! Only one card each, excluding basic lands!
-Please make it no more, and no less, than a 40 card deck, unless you really think going more warrants a good strategy (justify why you're going over 40)
-Please provide a brief explanation of what your deck does and its general strategy. Use keywords like aggro, control, and midrange.
-Please avoid a combo deck, unless you feel it's a combo that a medium to large size cube could support! (i.e. Reanimator and Blink). Card interactions, especially with the Vanguard cards, are great, but if there's literally only a couple of cards in Magic that can do it, think of something else! If you do a combo deck, please justify how the combo would be supported in the cube.
-Pay attention to all three stats on the card! These are: the card's unique ability, the life modifier, and the hand modifier. The life modifier is especially important, because if you choose a card with low life and build a control deck, you need to justify how that control deck is going to stabilize the game with such a low life total! Don't always go for the ability that's on the card; evaluate the card with all three stats in mind!
-Use [*deck] tags, please!
For your reference, I've evaluated each Vanguard card in this thread. You don't have to follow these archetypes necessarily, but if you don't agree I urge you to tell me how wrong I am (in that thread)!
And without further ado, here is my Urza deck:
1 Fireblast
//1 cmc
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Chain Lightning
1 Brainstorm
1 Opt
//2 cmc
1 Incinerate
1 Counterspell
1 Mana Leak
1 Arcane Denial
1 Miscalculation
1 Fire/Ice
1 Char
1 Staggershock
1 Capsize
1 Electrolyze
//4 cmc
1 Dismiss
//5 cmc
1 Moltensteel Dragon
1 Jace's Ingenuity
1 Magus of the Future
1 Prophetic Bolt
1 Time Spiral
//7 cmc
1 Palinchron
//X cmc
1 Banefire
//lands
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Shivan Reef
1 Steam Vents
8 Islands
6 Mountains
This is a counterburn control deck (RU), and I chose this archetype because I think Urza's ability stacks pretty well with this strategy. Almost everything is at instant speed, so you play everything during your opponent's turn (if he/she plays nothing worth countering, burn at eot). 30 life gives you plenty of time to take your time with the burn spells. The -1 hand size is mitigated with lots of card advantage. I threw in Moltensteel Dragon as a pretty solid finisher; since you're so high on the life total, you can conceivable win the game when he swings (when you add in Urza's ability). Time Spiral pretty much wins you the game. And Palinchron is of course always a blue favorite, especially when you can use the free mana to burn some more!
This is probably what I'm going for, since there aren't a WHOLE lot of shadow creatures in the cube (white and black have a few each). I just feel with such low stats Lyna needs to abuse the ability as much as possible.
Mirri is great, but I don't think it's necessarily as "overpowered" as say, Titania or Sisay. We'll see though. I'm hoping they don't turn out that way. If they are, they'll either have to be cut, or the cube will have to be tinkered with so as to either give other Vanguard cards an advantage or nerf the overpowered Vanguards themselves.
I'm a purist too and would hate to Errata stuff. I wouldn't say it's never going to be on the table but it's a "last resort" before simply cutting the card altogether.
Orim's ability is bad, but on the upside she has really stable stats. Out of all the "high lifers" (30+) she doesn't get card disadvantage. I'll probably have to re-evaluate Orim and just say "let's look at her great stats and ignore that really dumb ability." Which will probably mean go control with her.
Yeah, aggro does get stronger with all these creature abilities. On the other hand, there's plenty of high lifers to give control a lot more time to stabilize. I suspect (and hope) that these two aspects of the Vanguard pool will balance each other, although I won't be that troubled with aggro getting an edge because let's face it, in most cubes aggro needs all the help it can get.
I'm hesitant to add more shadow creatures just for one Vanguard card. I feel pretty confident in my analysis of Lyna (that is, full on Burn aggro).
Cool, thanks. I've seen Lone Missionary in larger cubes, although Pulse of the Fields I agree is probably cuttable.
1 Black Vise
*switched Alloy Myr and Coalitian Relic to Multicolored section.
1 Cathodian
1 Bottle Gnomes
1 Tumble Magnet
1 Steel Hellkite
1 Mindslaver
1 Fathom Seer
1 Withered Wretch
1 Immolating Souleater
1 Chord of Calling
1 Baneslayer Angel
1 Student of Warfare
1 Sorin Markov
1 Bitterblossom
1 Damnation
1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
1 Woodfall Primus
1 Bituminous Blast
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Venser, the Sojourner
1 Tangle Wire
1 Molten-Tail Masticore
1 Mimic Vat
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Magus of the Disk
1 Aeon Chronicler
1 Necroplasm
1 Royal Assassin
1 Ashes to Ashes
1 Necropotence
1 Rude Awakening
1 Court Hussar
1 Life/Death
1 Sarkhan the Mad
1 Shimmer Myr
1 Tumble Magnet
1 Platinum Angel
1 Etched Champion
1 Mirran Crusader
1 Cloistered Youth
1 Force of Will
1 Bloodghast
1 Vampire Hexmage
1 Vampire Interloper
1 Bloodgift Demon
1 Diregraf Ghoul
1 Stormblood Beserker
1 Kargan Dragonlord
1 Chandra's Phoenix
1 Keldon Vandals
1 Thunderblust
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Chandra, the Firebrand
1 Devil's Play
1 Ambush Viper
1 Skinshifter
1 Vengevine
1 Brutalizer Exarch
1 Bramblecrush
1 Cave of Koilos
1 Vindicate
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Battlefield Forge
1 Windbrisk Heights
1 Kederekt Leviathan
1 Undead Gladiator
1 Faceless Butcher
1 Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
1 Hideous End
1 Praetor's Grasp
1 Magus of the Moon
1 Kamahl, Pit Fighter
1 Threaten
1 Pulse of the Forge
1 Grab the Reins
1 Incendiary Command
1 Word of Seizing
1 Shivan Gorge
1 Vindlasher Kudzu
1 Imperiosaur
1 Feral Hydra
1 Utopia Sprawl
1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
1 Orzhov Signet
1 Unmake
1 Golgari Signet
1 Selesnya Signet
1 Rakdos Carnarium
1 Boros Signet
I decided Gilded Lotus has too high of a CMC for what it does, and that 5-color control decks have plenty of other outlets to get its mana. I also want to encourage more mono-colored play; 5-color and other multicolored play should be harder to draft in general. I added in Black Vise because it's great for Aggro, which needs all the help it can get.
Alloy Myr is being tested for the usual Darksteel Ingot slot. Alloy Myr was switched to the Multicolored section, as well as Coalition Relic, along with Lotus Bloom and Lotus Petal. This makes more sense from a cube design standpoint.
Increased artifact count to 85; decreased color count to 100 each. Alloy Myr turned out to be bad, switched back to Darksteel Ingot.
Took out Wing Shards, Fathom Seer, Withered Wretch, Immolating Souleater, Chord of Calling
Alot of these switches are just straight upgrades. Magus of the Disk is too slow and Sunlance is too narrow. Aeon Chronicler is just not that impressive and I didn't see it as a power play for blue in any capacity. Necropotence is too hard to cast and too hard to abuse; not seeing what you have until eot is bad. I'd rather pay an extra three for Yawgmoth's Bargain. Necroplasm is more of a sideboard card; if you're not playing against a weenie deck it's useless. Furthermore, the opponent can choose how to play things to get around the ability anyways. Royal Assassin, again, can just be avoided; it's also easy to kill. Ashes to Ashes was a hard cut to make, but black has plenty of removal and it was the weakest removal in the cube. Rude Awakening was simply too much mana for what it does; Woodfall Primus is a better bomb. Etched Champion and Shimmer Myr are only for one archetype (artifact control), which is bad. A card should cater to more than one archetype. Etched Champion is pretty underwhelming anyways. Platinum Angel finally got the cut, it's way to easy to remove and too costly. And Tumble Magnet just pales in comparison to Icy Manipulator and the like. Life/Death was a hard cut but I feel there's enough reanimator in the cube to warrant it. Sarkhan the Mad was interesting to play but could easily be useless if you lack the creatures; Bituminous Blast plays better in RB. Court Hussar is underwhelming for 3.
This cube is drafted after Vanguard Cards are drafted/picked/chosen randomly. To those unfamiliar, Vanguard Cards were oversized cards released by Wizards during the Rath cycle era that added an Emblem ability, modified starting/max hand size, and modified starting life total. Some of these cards were relatively stable cards with only + or - 1 hand/life total, or had a relatively benign ability, whereas others were much more "swingy" and had, for instance, -4 to starting hand size, but the ability to draw two cards per turn (such as Gerrard).
The goal of this cube is to have a card pool that best operates within a Vanguard environment. What does this mean exactly? Like any good cube, the card pool should support a number of deck strategies or archetypes (not too many, but not too few); typically these fall under Aggro, Midrange, or Control archetypes. Besides being the best cards in Magic, cube cards are evaluated on their usefulness to an archetype (usually more than one archetype), and for the most part this is what is already done for this cube, with a slight modification. Instead of measuring against the traditional archetypes, cards are now evaluated on their usefulness to Vanguard archetypes; that is, your usual cube archetypes, but seen through the lense of the Vanguard environment, which guarantees you a new, sometimes powerful ability, or modifies your hand/life total.
This DOES NOT mean that cards will be thrown in to tailor to just one Vanguard card (there are 32 of them). Instead, general trends across Vanguard cards will be assessed, and through Vanguard card evaluations, Vanguard archetypes will be established to which cube cards can be measured. For instance, 12/32 Vanguards cards start at below 20 life, with a couple starting at a scant 12. It could very well be that lifegain will be much more important and therefore prevalent in a Vanguard cube. Discussion of this can be found in my Vanguard Cube Design: Archetypes thread, which aims to identify what kind of archetype each Vanguard card best supports.
For now, this is a 720 unpowered cube, but depending on how our Vanguard archetype discussion goes this could very well change.
Size: 720
Breakdown: 100 of each color, 135 multicolored, 85 colorless (lands in each)
Hybrid/Split/Kicker/Colored Triggers as Gold? Yes/Yes/Yes/Yes
Powered? No
Portal? Yes
"Un-" Cards? Yes
Snow? Yes
Proxies? No
Creature/Noncreature Balance: Unbalanced
Avg CMC: W 3.04, U 3.19, B 2.94, R 2.89, G 3.16, X 3.2
WWWWW
1 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
1 Mother of Runes
1 Weathered Wayfarer
1 Savannah Lions
1 Elite Vanguard
1 Steppe Lynx
1 Goldmeadow Harrier
1 Icatian Javelineers
1 Perimeter Captain
1 Student of Warfare
Two CMC
1 Wall of Omens
1 Soltari Trooper
1 Kami of Ancient Law
1 War Priest of Thune
1 Mistral Charger
1 Stormfront Pegasus
1 Accorder Paladin
1 Mirran Crusader
1 Kor Skyfisher
1 Lone Missionary
1 Soltari Monk
1 Knight of the White Orchid
1 White Knight
1 Silver Knight
1 Eight-and-a-Half Tails
1 Soltari Priest
1 Serra Avenger
1 Knight of the Meadowgrain
1 Leonin Relic-Warder
1 Soltari Champion
1 Blade Splicer
1 Mirror Entity
1 Paladin en-Vec
1 Pianna, Nomad Captain
1 Mirran Crusader
1 Spectral Procession
Four CMC
1 Galepowder Mage
1 Exalted Angel
1 Calciderm
1 Hero of Bladehold
1 Hokori, Dust Drinker
1 Emeria Angel
1 Celestial Crusader
1 Glimmerpoint Stag
1 Kor Sanctifiers
Five CMC
1 Reveillark
1 Karmic Guide
1 Cloudgoat Ranger
1 Battlegrace Angel
1 Blinding Angel
1 Baneslayer Angel
1 Yosei, the Morning Star
1 Pristine Angel
1 Sunblast Angel
1 Captain of the Watch
Seven CMC
1 Eternal Dragon
Eight CMC
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Harm’s Way
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Path to Exile
1 Condemn
1 Mana Tithe
1 Orim's Chant
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Land Tax
Two CMC
1 Disenchant
1 Revoke Existence
1 Balance
1 Reprisal
1 Temporal Isolation
1 Honor of the Pure
1 Journey to Nowhere
1 Exile
1 Pulse of the Fields
1 Griffin Guide
1 Sacred Mesa
1 Ghostly Prison
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Glorious Anthem
1 Arrest
1 Prison Term
1 Scepter of Dominance
Four CMC
1 Armageddon
1 Wrath of God
1 Day of Judgment
1 Cataclysm
1 Faith's Fetters
1 Parallax Wave
1 Ajani Goldmane
1 Miraculous Recovery
1 Hallowed Burial
1 Rout
Six CMC
1 Austere Command
1 Akroma’s Vengeance
1 Phyrexian Rebirth
1 Catastrophe
X CMC
1 Shining Shoal
1 Martial Coup
1 Decree of Justice
Lands
1 Kjeldoran Outpost
UUUUU
1 Enclave Cryptologist
Two CMC
1 Spire Owl
1 Sage Owl
1 Jushi Apprentice
1 Fog Bank
1 Thought Courier
1 Merfolk Looter
1 Ninja of Deep Hours
1 Wall of Tears
1 Waterfront Bouncer
1 Looter il-Kor
1 Cloud of Faeries
1 Riftwing Cloudskate
1 Willbender
1 Man-o-War
1 Sea Gate Oracle
1 Wake Thrasher
1 Pestermite
1 Trinket Mage
1 Vesuvan Shapeshifter
1 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
1 Aether Adept
1 Calcite Snapper
Four CMC
1 Master Transmuter
1 Somnophore
1 Surgespanner
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Thieving Magpie
1 Sower of Temptation
1 Mulldrifter
1 Meloku the Clouded Mirror
1 Morphling
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1 Magus of the Future
Six CMC
1 Keiga, the Tide Star
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Draining Whelk
1 Sphinx of Jwar Isle
Seven CMC
1 Palinchron
Nine CMC
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Foil
1 Gush
1 Force of Will
One CMC
1 Ancestral Vision
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Preordain
1 Ponder
1 Brainstorm
1 Opt
1 Serum Visions
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Force Spike
Two CMC
1 Impulse
1 Arcane Denial
1 Memory Lapse
1 Remand
1 Miscalculation
1 Mana Leak
1 Counterspell
1 Twincast
1 Into the Roil
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Intuition
1 Frantic Search
1 Compulsive Research
1 Tinker
1 Exclude
1 Complicate
1 Forbid
1 Hinder
1 Dissipate
1 Capsize
1 Propaganda
1 Jace Beleren
1 Crystal Shard
1 Vedalken Shackles
Four CMC
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Deep Analysis
1 Careful Consideration
1 Dismiss
1 Opposition
1 Control Magic
1 Desertion
1 Bribery
1 Jace's Ingenuity
1 Pact of Negation
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Treachery
1 Future Sight
Six CMC
1 Upheaval
1 Confiscate
1 Opportunity
X CMC
1 Condescend
1 Braingeyser
1 Stroke of Genius
1 Repeal
Lands
1 Halimar Depths
1 Academy Ruins
1 Shelldock Island
BBBBB
1 Vampire Lacerator
1 Carnophage
1 Sarcomancy
1 Fume Spitter
1 Putrid Imp
1 Pulse Tracker
1 Diregraf Ghoul
Two CMC
1 Dark Confidant
1 Wretched Anurid
1 Nezumi Graverobber
1 Dauthi Horror
1 Mesmeric Fiend
1 Fledgling Djinn
1 Vampire Interloper
1 Nezumi Shortfang
1 Black Knight
1 Dauthi Slayer
1 Natuko Shade
1 Bloodghast
1 Vampire Hexmage
1 Plague Spitter
1 Fleshbag Marauder
1 Dauthi Marauder
1 Bone Shredder
1 Hypnotic Specter
1 Liliana's Specter
1 Vampire Nighthawk
1 Ogre Marauder
1 Gatekeeper of Malakir
Four CMC
1 Phyrexian Scuta
1 Braids, Cabal Minion
1 Plague Sliver
1 Bane of the Living
1 Nekrataal
1 Abyssal Persecutor
1 Skinrender
1 Graveborn Muse
1 Grinning Demon
1 Shriekmaw
1 Puppeteer Clique
1 Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief
1 Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
1 Thrashing Wumpus
1 Bloodgift Demon
Six CMC
1 Laquatus's Champion
1 Kokusho, the Evening Star
1 Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
1 Skeletal Vampire
1 Geth, Lord of the Vault
1 Visara the Dreadful
1 Tombstalker
1 Contagion
1 Snuff Out
One CMC
1 Innocent Blood
1 Disfigure
1 Reanimate
1 Duress
1 Dark Ritual
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Booster Tutor
Two CMC
1 Tainted Pact
1 Exhume
1 Night’s Whisper
1 Chainer's Edict
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Go for the Throat
1 Smother
1 Last Gasp
1 Terror
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Doom Blade
1 Hymn to Tourach
1 Sinkhole
1 Sign in Blood
1 Dismember
1 Animate Dead
1 Bitterblossom
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Recurring Nightmare
1 Stupor
1 Sudden Death
1 Necromancy
1 Phyrexian Arena
Four CMC
1 Consuming Vapors
1 Makeshift Mannequin
1 Dread Return
1 Barter in Blood
1 Diabolic Servitude
1 Damnation
Five CMC
1 Living Death
1 Beacon of Unrest
1 Liliana Vess
Six CMC
1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
1 Sorin Markov
1 Mind Twist
1 Profane Command
1 Death Cloud
Lands
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Cabal Pit
RRRRR
1 Goblin Guide
1 Dragonmaster Outcast
1 Spark Elemental
1 Goblin Patrol
1 Magus of the Scroll
1 Grim Lavamancer
1 Goblin Welder
1 Jackal Pup
1 Spikeshot Elder
1 Mogg Fanatic
1 Greater Gargadon
1 Gorilla Shaman
Two CMC
1 Fireslinger
1 Mogg War Marshal
1 Hearth Kami
1 Hellspark Elemental
1 Keldon Marauders
1 Plated Geopede
1 Stormblood Beserker
1 Blood Knight
1 Ember Hauler
1 Kargan Dragonlord
1 Blistering Firecat
1 Fire Imp
1 Cunning Sparkmage
1 Ghitu Slinger
1 Spur Grappler
1 Manic Vandal
1 Keldon Vandals
1 Zo-Zu the Punisher
1 Hell's Thunder
1 Countryside Crusher
1 Chandra's Phoenix
1 Ball Lightning
Four CMC
1 Skizzik
1 Goblin Ruinblaster
1 Flametongue Kavu
1 Oxidda Scrapmelter
1 Avalanche Riders
1 Goblin Razerunners
1 Jeska, Warrior Adept
1 Rakka Mar
1 Keldon Champion
1 Covetous Dragon
1 Savage Firecat
1 Siege-Gang Commander
1 Kumano, Master Yamabushi
1 Thunderblust
1 Moltensteel Dragon
Six CMC
1 Hellkite Charger
1 Rorix Bladewing
1 Akroma, Angel of Fury
Eight CMC
1 Bogardan Hellkite
1 Bosh, Iron Golem
1 Fireblast
One CMC
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Rift Bolt
1 Forked Bolt
1 Flame Slash
1 Firebolt
1 Reckless Charge
1 Burst Lightning
1 Chain Lightning
1 Genju of the Spires
1 Immolation
1 Ingot Chewer
Two CMC
1 Arc Trail
1 Volcanic Hammer
1 Smash to Smithereens
1 Incinerate
1 Pyroclasm
1 Sudden Shock
1 Searing Blaze
1 Char
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Staggershock
1 Puncture Blast
1 Rack and Ruin
1 Stone Rain
1 Arc Lightning
1 Molten Rain
1 Pillage
1 Blast from the Past
1 Flame Javelin
1 Sulfuric Vortex
1 Words of War
Four CMC
1 Manabarbs
1 Chandra, the Firebrand
1 Goblin Charbelcher
1 Aftershock
1 Chandra Nalaar
Six CMC
1 Jokulhaups
1 Wildfire
Seven CMC
1 Destructive Force
X CMC
1 Fireball
1 Banefire
1 Starstorm
1 Devil's Play
Lands
1 Barbarian Ring
1 Ghitu Encampment
GGGGG
1 Noble Hierarch
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Fyndhorn Elves
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Arbor Elf
1 Basking Rootwalla
1 Twinblade Slasher
1 Rogue Elephant
1 Pouncing Jaguar
1 Jungle Lion
1 Wild Dogs
1 Joraga Treespeaker
Two CMC
1 Wall of Roots
1 Lotus Cobra
1 Wild Mongrel
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Albino Troll
1 River Boa
1 Mire Boa
1 Werebear
1 Wall of Blossoms
1 Fauna Shaman
1 Ambush Viper
1 Skinshifter
1 Viridian Zealot
1 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
1 Ukatabi Orangutan
1 Call of the Herd
1 Caller of the Claw
1 Imperious Perfect
1 Viridian Shaman
1 Ohran Viper
1 Eternal Witness
1 Troll Ascetic
1 Great Stable Stag
1 Nantuko Vigilante
1 Hystrodon
1 Yavimaya Elder
Four CMC
1 Briarhorn
1 Wickerbough Elder
1 Spike Weaver
1 Phantom Centaur
1 Ravenous Baloth
1 Obstinate Baloth
1 Karstoderm
1 Master of the Wild Hunt
1 Blastoderm
1 Wolfbriar Elemental
1 Chameleon Colossus
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Vengevine
1 Changeling Titan
1 Indrik Stomphowler
1 Ant Queen
1 Thornling
1 Deranged Hermit
1 Acidic Slime
1 Kodama of the North Tree
1 Grizzly Fate
Six CMC
1 Brutalizer Exarch
1 Mold Shambler
1 Silvos, Rogue Elemental
1 Terra Stomper
Seven CMC
1 Penumbra Wurm
1 Pelakka Wurm
Eight CMC
1 Terastodon
1 Woodfall Primus
1 Noxious Revival
One CMC
1 Search for Tomorrow
1 Vine of Vastwood
1 Rancor
1 Worldly Tutor
1 Fastbond
Two CMC
1 Naturalize
1 Farseek
1 Regrowth
1 Channel
1 Sylvan Library
1 Lignify
1 Harrow
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Cultivate
1 Krosan Grip
1 Beast Within
1 Elephant Guide
1 Moldervine Cloak
1 Krosan Tusker
Four CMC
1 Might of Oaks
1 Harmonize
1 Stonewood Invocation
1 Explosive Vegetation
1 Pattern of Rebirth
1 Creeping Mold
1 Bramblecrush
1 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Primal Command
1 Restock
1 Plow Under
Lands
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Treetop Village
WUBRG
UW
1 Momentary Blink
1 Wall of Denial
1 Absorb
1 Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
1 Teferi's Moat
1 Venser, the Sojourner
1 Mystic Gate
1 Azorious Chancery
1 Celestial Colonnade
1 Azorious Signet
1 Talisman of Progress
UB
1 Psychatog
1 Shadowmage Infiltrator
1 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
1 Nemesis of Reason
1 Probe
1 Oona, Queen of the Fae
1 Watery Grave
1 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Dimir Aqeuduct
1 Dimir Signet
1 Talisman of Dominance
UR
1 Izzet Guildmage
1 Fire/Ice
1 Electrolyze
1 Suffocating Blast
1 Jilt
1 Prophetic Bolt
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Cascade Bluffs
1 Shivan Reef
1 Izzet Boilerworks
1 Izzet Signet
WB
1 Spectral Lynx
1 Tidehollow Sculler
1 Stillmoon Cavalier
1 Mortify
1 Vindicate
1 Desolation Angel
1 Godless Shrine
1 Marsh Flats
1 Caves of Koilos
1 Fetid Heath
1 Orzhov Basilica
UG
1 Coiling Oracle
1 Plaxmanta
1 Lorescale Coatl
1 Trygon Predator
1 Mystic Snake
1 Simic Sky Swallower
1 Breeding Pool
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Flooded Grove
1 Simic Growth Chamber
1 Simic Signet
GB
1 Putrid Leech
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Glissa, the Traitor
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Putrefy
1 Spiritmonger
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Twilight Mire
1 Llanowar Wastes
1 Golgari Rot Farm
WG
1 Loam Lion
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Mirari's Wake
1 Mystic Enforcer
1 Temple Garden
1 Brushland
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Sunpetal Grove
1 Selesnya Sanctuary
RB
1 Terminate
1 Blightning
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Blazing Specter
1 Bituminous Blast
1 Void
1 Blood Crypt
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Sulfurous Springs
1 Graven Cairns
1 Dragonskull Summit
RG
1 Kird Ape
1 Boggart Ram-Gang
1 Stormbind
1 Bloodbraid Elf
1 Sarkhan Vol
1 Rumbling Slum
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Stomping Ground
1 Raging Ravine
1 Gruul Turf
1 Gruul Signet
RW
1 Figure of Destiny
1 Lightning Helix
1 Goblin Legionnaire
1 Goblin Trenches
1 Duergar Hedgemage
1 Ajani Vengeant
1 Arid Mesa
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Battlefield Forge
1 Rugged Prairie
1 Boros Garrison
Grixis BUR
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
Naya GRW
1 Wild Nacatl
Esper UWB
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1 Lotus Bloom
1 Lotus Petal
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Coalition Relic
1 Etched Monstrosity
1 Who/What/When/Where/Why
Lands
1 Vivid Crag
1 Vivid Marsh
1 Vivid Grove
1 Vivid Creek
1 Vivid Meadow
1 Reflecting Pool
1 City of Brass
1 Gemstone Mine
1 Grand Coliseum
1 Tendo Ice Bridge
1 Mirrodin's Core
1 Exotic Orchard
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Terrmorphic Expanse
1 Thawing Glaciers
1 Springjack Pasture
XXXXX
1 Memnite
Two CMC
1 Spined Thopter
1 Porcelain Legionnaire
1 Phyrexian Revoker
Three CMC
1 Metalworker
1 Gathan Raiders
1 Chimeric Idol
1 Bottle Gnomes
1 Cathodion
1 Juggernaut
1 Silent Arbiter
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Lodestone Golem
1 Masticore
1 Su-Chi
1 Bonehoard
1 Molten-Tail Masticore
Five CMC
1 Razormane Masticore
1 Karn, Silver Golem
1 Precursor Golem
1 Duplicant
1 Triskelion
1 Steel Hellkite
1 Wurmcoil Engine
Seven CMC
1 Myr Battlesphere
Eight CMC
1 Sundering Titan
Eleven CMC
1 Darksteel Colossus
X CMC
1 Chimeric Mass
1 Zuran Orb
One CMC
1 Voltaic Key
1 Black Vise
1 Brittle Effigy
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Pithing Needle
1 Cursed Scroll
1 Aether Vial
1 Mana Vault
1 Bonesplitter
1 Shuko
1 Skullclamp
Two CMC
1 Isochron Scepter
1 Ankh of Mishra
1 Powder Keg
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Winter Orb
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Grim Monolith
1 Mind Stone
1 Worn Powerstone
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Body and Mind
1 Loxodon Warhammer
1 Grafted Wargear
1 Sword of Vengeance
1 Ring of Gix
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Oblivion Stone
1 Static Orb
1 Crystal Ball
1 Mimic Vat
1 Tangle Wire
Four CMC
1 Icy Manipulator
1 Nevinyrral's Disk
1 Soul Foundry
1 Erratic Portal
1 Phyrexian Processor
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Memory Jar
Six CMC
1 Mindslaver
X CMC
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Sigil of Distinction
1 Everflowing Chalice
Lands
1 Strip Mine
1 Dust Bowl
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Mouth of Ronom
1 Blinkmoth Nexus
1 Mishra's Factory
1 Dread Statuary
1 Urza's Factory
1 Mystfying Maze
1 Maze of Ith
1 Rishadan Port
Unusual Cards Included
Pristine Angel: a decent control creature, it's there until I can get a Sun Titan
Reprisal: white weenie loses to big bodies. two mana to solve this is a steal. also good in control
Sunlance: a nice Boros card, it'll probably get cut eventually though
Pulse of the Fields: strictly for a Vanguard environment where you start out on less than 20 life. might be too narrow though
Spire Owl, Sage Owl: let's you reach deep for combo decks like Blink. also good for control
to be continued...
Ah, I suppose I should clarify how I'm identifying archetypes. All three Aggro types allow for other colors to splash; Burn is "R/x" for instance. The way I see it, aggro green is very similar to white weenie in strategy; play a lot of creatures and buff them up. Sui, on the other hand, uses life as a resource, has more of a removal aspect and gives more card advantage, whereas Burn has high power haste creatures with burn spells.
Unless there's something more distinguishing about aggro Green that warrants a naming convention, the way I see it, Green aggro falls under the umbrella of White Weenie and, of course, is splashable in other colors, for instance B/G Sui or R/G Burn.
As an aside I will clarify this in the archetype section soon.
This is a good point and it brings up something that I feel will ultimately go into a Vanguard cube -- more life gain. Right now your typical cube doesn't have many life gaining opportunities...Exalted Angel, Kitchen Finks, Lone Missionary, and Pulse of the Fields off the top of my head? And many Vanguard cards start below 20.
I agree Ashnod would be great in BW lifegain, but in the current environment I just don't see it surviving outside of Aggro, unless you're lucky enough to draft enough lifegain cards. But the archetype of this card could very well change has the cube changes, no question.
As an aside, my reasoning for making Ashnod aggro was that, as Burn, you're constantly attacking anyways, so if the opponent decides to go offensive as well he loses creatures.
When I was thinking about Crovax, I was thinking of the best oppotunities to abuse the ability. Control doesn't have many creatures to abuse the ability, although I guess there's exceptions with cards like Meloku, the Clouded Mirror. I agree that life gain is most desirable with control, as it gives control more time to stabilize the game. But imagine your super standard blue control deck. How many times will this ability trigger for you, and matter? Twice, maybe? Because once you get to the late game, you're winning not because of what your life is, but because you have control of the board.
I could see this card mattering more for a faster deck, maybe some sort of W/B tempo control who plays creatures earlier and more numerously.
I also think Sui might have the most to gain from this, as the life loss is now suddenly mitigated with all your critters hitting your opponent.
I can see this with Sui actually. I didn't consider the high life total being useful for Sui.
Gerrard was hard to think about, but if you follow my reasoning you'll see that going too fast (aggro) or too slow (control) with him is bad. Not even considering draw spells, you draw your entire deck by turn 19 and of course the nature of the hand size early game means Aggro gets a bad start.
I chose Renimator because discarding at eot is a lot more commonplace, plus you get to search your deck faster for that one card.
Sure, but it's most abusable with lots of creatures in play. Suddenly white weenie gets to destroy any fatty that decides to block. It puts the opponent in the uncomfortable position of choosing to get rid of their finishers or losing the game.
Thanks!
Yeah I've toyed with the idea of using MTGO proxies, but I just hate proxies...but perhaps in the future...
Wow that's awesome! Might give that a try sometime.
What do I mean by tailoring? As this forum rightly points out, designing a cube is ultimately all about archetypes. When evaluating a card, besides asking oneself "is it good," you ask "what deck archetypes does this card support?" This is the train of thought I want to apply to Vanguard cards, as they apply to cube drafting. As an aside, Vanguard cards are chosen (or drafted, or picked randomly) first, then you cube draft.
So, first and foremost, before even identifying what cards would be good in a "Vanguard environment," I want to identify what archetype meshes best with each Vanguard card. That is, out of all the archetypes cubes typically support (white weenie, mana ramp, etc), what archetype would you choose when you have a Vanguard card (hidden, of course) in front of you? This is a discussion I want to have first before even thinking about cutting/adding cards to my cube.
For reference, here are the usual archetypes cubes support (that I'm aware of, please tell me if there's others to consider, or if you think a certain fringe archetype meshes well with some Vanguard cards):
Aggro
Burn R/x
White Weenie W/x
Sui B/x
Midrange
Mana Ramp G/x
The Rock G//x
Reanimator B/x
Blink U///x
Control
Tempo control B/, U/x, WUBRG
Counterburn R/
Artifact Control U//x
Blue Control U/x
And without further ado...here are my evaluations of each Vanguard card (in alphabetical order):
Ashnod
12 life is a heavy setback and makes any kind of control play nearly impossible. You have to win the game early or not at all. Aggro with life gain seems to be the best bet, and no other color combination does this best than Boros. The +1 card advantage will keep your hand fuller longer as you toss out cheap creature and spells.
If and when more lifegain is introduced in the cube, this card could go midrange, or even control. The ability is definitely the most useful with these archetypes.
Primary archetype: Burn (R/W)
Secondary archetype: White weenie
Combos: None?
Barrin
This guy screams control. Bouncing creatures is great, and so is the +6 life to hunker down for a long game. The blue-est, most control-ey deck will go furthest with this card, although any control deck that can put out mass tokens deserves some consideration for the potential to abuse the ability. Also for consideration: Blink decks, since you have a constant source for ETB play.
Primary archetype: Control (U/x, U/W for token production)
Secondary archetype: Blink
Combos: ETB abuse
Crovax
White weenie all the way with this fella. Attack relentlessly and gain life at the same time. The extra + 2 card advantage will let you keep casting those cheap creatures and spells. This strategy also works with Sui's weenies and helps out with the life loss. Actually, I'm more inclined to go Sui with this one, since the lifegain is more useful for this archetype
Primary archetype: Sui
Secondary archetype: White Weenie
Combos: Plinking
Eladamri
35 life is a ridiculous amount of damage to take and a hefty buffer to go as blue as you like. Playing creatures with shroud along with counterspells in hand means your creatures will never leave play. U/R is also an interesting option, since you can keep your creatures alive with spells like Wildfire and Pyroclasm.
In retrospect though, I'm more inclined to say Sui benefits the most from this. 35 life buffers your lifeloss from Dark Confidant, and suddenly all your weenies survive in all kinds of combat tricks shenanigans
Primary archetype: Sui
Secondary archetype: Blue control, Counterburn
Combos: Mass damage, like Wildfire
Ertai
This is an interesting card that could, quite frankly, be comfy in any archetype. The life modifier is fine and the card disadvantage isn't too bad. But what deck would need it most? Aggro comes to mind, since there's little else these decks can do against Into the Roil and Terminate. So white weenie? Probably not, since white weenie's stategy is usually stopped by bigger bodies or simply sweeping the board with a well-timed Damnation; shroud doesn't help in either case. The same goes for Sui since it typically wins the game in numbers. So Burn? Burn would definitely benefit from having shroud on Blistering Firecat and other haste beaters. Honestly though, I feel midrange might benefit the most with this card, since these decks usually have to invest the early game to get out their key creature. Losing that big creature to removal is a heavy blow to the midrange deck, which doesn't have the plethora of creatures that aggro can throw out. And control usually has methods to keep their key creatures on the battlefield; not always the case for midrange.
So which midrange deck? Reanimator and Rock play with their graveyards already, so removal to them is not quite as devastating. Mana ramp seems like a prime choice since a lot of its mana production, such as Llanowar Elves and Birds of Paradise, benefit from the much needed shroud ability. Blink could also find some use from this ability, and perhaps tempo control as well (W/B/x), which might not have as many options to counteract removal as traditional blue control.
Primary archetype: Mana ramp
Secondary archetype: Blink, Tempo control
Combos: None?
Gerrard
Holy moley only 3 cards at the beginning of the game?!? Before we even get into archetype talk, it should be noted that, most likely, your land count will be higher in this deck, meaning less actual cards overall. What does this mean? Well, unless you're thinking of going over the 40 card limit (generally not recommended), it means you're playing less per turn, which, in turn, means you absolutely should not play aggro (I've done the math: even with the fact that you draw two cards per turn, taking into account that you play a land per turn, you eventually get stuck playing only one spell per turn...not good in aggro).
But lets look at the upside: two card draw per turn. Control would definitely benefit from this, but so does midrange if you want to get down to it. One interesting thing to note is that your hand size is three, so discarding cards suddenly becomes more commonplace at eot, especially when you have card drawing spells. And which deck benefits from that? Reanimator! The Rock also plays with the graveyard, but often it's back to your hand rather than back to play, which ain't as ideal when you're at a 3 card hand size limit. A super slow control deck ain't ideal either; by turn 8 you have overtaken the other player in deck drawing, and by turn 19 you've milled out (this doesn't even take into account drawing spells, which you certainly have in a slow control deck).
Midrange really seems to be the answer here; you can't be too fast and you can't be too slow. As said before, Reanimator fits the bill pretty nicely, and Blink might have a spot since your strategy is usually reusing cards, which keeps your hand size relatively healthy without going to zero. Tempo control (W/B) or Counterburn could work, provided you finish the game sooner rather than later.
Primary archetype: Reanimator
Secondary archetype: Blink, Tempo control, Counterburn
Combos: Lorescale Coatl
Gix
This card has the highest life modifier out of all the Vanguard cards: a whopping 38 life at the start of the game. My first intuition is go blue, and go blue hard. But the ability ain't much of a control ability, and the -2 to hand size ain't too great for an archetype that's about card advantage.
Perhaps the massive life total should be seen through a different lense? Although not a control archetype, Sui suddenly lasts you into the midgame or even lategame. Bitterblossom is a-ok for turns and turns and turns, as well as Dark Confidant and Graveborn Muse. Combo with Barter in Blood and the ability to bring creatures you sacrificed back to your hand and you have an aggro deck that keeps going and going and going.
I guess we can call this a midrange deck, since the idea is less about putting weenies out and more about getting card advantage and sweeping the opponent of any creatures he or she puts out. Let's just call it tempo control (W/B/x) and call it a day, which really is on the cusp of midrange/control. Also, The Rock fits here, since graveyard play is a strategy of this archetype. Reanimator much less so, since you want your creatures going to the battlefield, not your hand. Reanimator is still viable here, however, just not as ideal. I actually think any midrange deck will do, since you can always bring your threat back to your hand.
Primary archetype: tempo control (W/B)
Secondary archetype: any midrange deck
Combos: None?
Greven il-Vec
This guy's ability is most abusable with chump blockers, so white weenie seems like the most straight forward archetype. Sui is also a good choice, only in that the -1 hand size can be counteracted with Sui's plethora of draw spells and abilities. Burn is also worthy of consideration, as red's plink creatures turn into Visara the Dreadful. In the end though, I feel white weenie goes furthest with this guy.
Primary archetype: White Weenie
Secondary archetype: Sui, Burn
Combos:
Hanna
The ability of this card would easily fit in any archetype, especially an artifact heavy one. 15 life is pretty low though, so were left with aggro and maybe some of the faster midrange decks. Actually, I think Mana Ramp is the winning archetype for this card, only because Hanna's ability is essentially stacking the entire strategy of a Mana Ramp deck; it's entirely possible (likely even), to get a Blastoderm out on turn 2, for instance. The Rock is another possibility, although probably not as potent. The other two midrange decks I feel are too slow for 15 life. Aggro might do well; it's really dependent on how many creatures have that colorless casting cost.
And the end of the day though, Mana Ramp is the best choice here.
Primary archetype: Mana Ramp
Secondary archetype: The Rock, maybe Aggro
Combos:
Karn
Ah, Karn. If and when I get the chance to draft this card along with Karn, Silver Golem and Karn, Liberated I will be one happy cuber. But I digress...(actually, not really!). Artifact control is the pretty obvious choice here. +6 life gives you some buffer to go control, and +1 card advantage is just icing on the cake. Nothing worthwhile to tap down with Icy Manipulator? Attack for 4! Pretty standard stuff. The only other viable alternative I can think of is Mana Ramp. Essentially, once you're done playing you're big creature with all those manafacts you laid down, attack with all those creatures for an easy midgame win.
Primary archetype: Artifact control
Secondary archetype: Mana Ramp
Combos:
Lyna
Shadow essentially means you have unblockable creatures that can't block. If it wasn't for the 16 life I'd say any deck could use Lyna, but 16 life leaves little room for a control deck to stabilize the game, especially when none of your creatures can block. Honestly, I feel Burn has the most potency here. Ball Lightning goes through, all of your haste creatures (who weren't going to sit around blocking anyways) go through, throw out some burn spells and you win the game. Weenies could work but when you're at 16 life you want creatures with haste hitting the dome early; you can't block in midgame! Or lategame, or any-point-in-the-game, for that matter.
Primary archetype: Burn
Secondary archetype: White Weenie
Combos:
Maraxus
This is a very stable card and could fit into a lot of decks. + 2 life is good, +1 to cards is great, +1 to creature power is dandy. Of course, if you want to get all of your worth out of this card, you want creatures, and lots of them. White weenie sounds great, especially when we have Porcelain Legionnaire and Accorder Paladin hitting the dome for 4 each. Sui also deserves mention, and Burn for it's already high power creatures.
Primary archetype: White Weenie
Secondary archetype: Sui, Burn
Combos:
Mirri
5-color decks are notoriously hard to make, but not with Mirri! The obvious choice here is 5-color control and it's easy to see why. 25 life is a good buffer to do all kinds of crazy things with all five colors at your fingertips.
I'm sure you could make some other tri-color or four color tempo deck, but why bother? If you have this puppy drafting will be a breeze. Literally pick all the best cards that come your way and win the game. Snazzy.
Primary archetype: 5-color control
Secondary archetype: 3 or 4 color control
Combos:
Mishra
This card is Burn through and through. First turn Spark Elemental, second turn Hellspark Elemental, third turn unearth, your opponent is suddenly at 2 life. Of course that's an ideal situation, but with all the high power hasty creatures in Burn I'm inclined to believe it'll happen more often than you think.
At 17 health you could probably get away with some sort of midrange deck, but really, why bother? Go Burn, and if you can't do that, go White Weenie, which has plenty of high power creatures (with first strike no less) to clobber an opponents blockers.
Primary archetype: Burn
Secondary archetype: White Weenie, Sui
Combos:
Multani
Good ol Multani. A very weird card, but a very powerful card if done right. Of course, it's very easy to screw up too.
Much like Gerrard, you have a severe card disadvantage. This means more lands in your 40 card deck, which means less cards to play. This puts you at a disadvantage for Aggro, which wants to play multiple cards per turn. It's not quite as bad of a scenario as Gerrard, but it also means you won't be playing pure Burn, or White Weenie really.
18 life ain't too bad, so midrange and maybe control is viable. You want a deck that can draw you cards, but you want a deck that has creatures that can beat your opponents face in too. Honestly, I'm inclined to go with Counterburn. Blue for your draw, red for high power hasty creatures like Ball Lightning, and whatever cards you have left before your discard phase you cast for cheap, like Lightning Bolt. This version of the Counterburn archetype is honestly more midrange than control, since you're trying to win earlier rather than later. I guess you could call it Countersuperburn if you want.
Multani would probably fit in other midrange/control archetypes, as long as there's an outlet for drawing cards. U/G comes to mind, since your green fatties usually come with trample.
Primary archetype: Countersuperburn!
Secondary archetype: U/G, or other tempo/control
Combos:
Oracle
Oracle's ability is kinda weaksauce compared to the others, but 29 life and +1 card advantage is nice, so whatever. I'm inclined to go control due to the pretty high life, but control doesn't find itself doing combat tricks, especially when it's late game and you have super-evasive creatures hitting the player where it hurts anyways. No, this card is best with a more creature heavy deck, although not necessarily full on Aggro, since you have plenty of life to play around with. White Weenie/Mana Ramp hybrid sounds good; attack with all your weenies and that fatty you played last turn to force the opponent to make some tough decisions. Throw in Might of Oaks type cards and you can hit the opponent hard without giving up any defense.
Of course, you could use your generous life total to put in some Sui play. As long as you have a good mix of weenies and creature buffs this is where this card will shine most.
Primary archetype: Mana Ramp/White Weenie/Sui
Secondary archetype: any midrange deck
Combos:
Orim
Ugh, how boring. 32 life is nice, but it's hard to say "go control" when control has flying creatures anyways. Midrange seems to be the answer, and really, any midrange deck seems fine. I wouldn't go Aggro only because Aggro doesn't like blocking. Also, it's a waste of +12 life, a bonus that midrange could use while it takes it's time getting out it's finishers. Any midrange deck with black will probably better utilize the extra life.
Primary archetype: any midrange deck
Secondary archetype: any control deck
Combos:
Rofellos
Hmm, can you say Skullclamp? Insane combos aside, this card seems viable in almost any marginally creature-heavy deck. Burn gets a card when you don't pay the echo for Keldon Champion, White Weenie gets plenty of card advantage when the opponent must inevitably get rid of its creatures, and Sui won't care when he casts Innocent Blood on one of his creatures. Midrange could find use in this as well but if I were to measure the importance in card drawing ability between the two strategies I would argue Aggro needs card drawing much more than Midrange. For every creature killed, a card drawn (most likely) fills the ranks. Sure, midrange wouldn't mind an extra card, but midrange by it's very nature has more control over what happens to it's creatures in the first place. Giving Aggro the ability to automatically draw every time one of it's critters die is huge, especially when you start considering cards like Spectral Procession.
So out of all the Aggro archetypes? Probably White Weenie, since it's the most creature heavy. But Sui and Burn could do just as well with this card.
Primary archetype: White Weenie
Secondary archetype: Burn, Sui
Combos:
Selenia
Vigilance is an ability that best shines on evasive creatures with a healthy toughness. Aggro doesn't really have many of these types of creatures (if at all), but midrange and control certainly does. 27 life is quite a large buffer to stabilize the game, which makes me inclined to say go control. But midrange could do just as well with this ability it seems, epecially green's fatty tramplers. Honestly, this ability is all about creatures, and the more creatures you have in play, the more you're utilizing the card, which makes me think control is not the best option. Mana Ramp sounds great, because you can attack with Fyndhorn Elves then tap to help play your fatty. Splash in some good red abilities like Kamahl, Pit Fighter and you're doing some serious damage.
There's a lot you can do with this card. Any creatures with tap abilities can abuse this card like no other, as well as fatty creatures in general with evasive abilities like trample, flying, and fear.
Primary archetype: Mana Ramp
Secondary archetype: any midrange
Combos:
Serra
Wall of Denial just got redonkulous. So go control? Sure, but this is another very stable card that could go in any deck pretty nicely. But if I were to choose what strategy aligns with +2 toughness best, it's probably control. Control has plenty of cheap, cool walls (and high toughness creatures) to stall the game for many, many turns. Wall of Omens, Sea Gate Oracle, Calcite Snapper, to name a few. But hey, any pretty creature heavy deck would probably appreciate the extra 2 toughness as well as 21 life and 8 hand size.
Final verdict? Aggro doesn't really need this., unless they're up against another Aggro deck. Neither does midrange, for the most part, but of course there's exceptions depending on the deck matchup. But control? It will always need this. Suddenly burn spells don't need to be countered. Suddenly white weenie is stopped dead in it's tracks, leaving you your valuable counterspells and bounce spells for the late game, which is where you shine anyways.
Primary archetype: Blue control
Secondary archetype: Tempo control, some midrange decks
Combos:
Sidar Kondo
32 life is great, and 6 cards in hand ain't the end of the world either. Sidar's ability looks pretty strong for White Weenie, only because you can do some pretty cool combat tricks with it. But 32 life is a lot of life, and it would be a shame to waste all that life trying to end the game early.
My verdict? Control, actually. You have plenty of time to stabilize the game, and once you have that evasive fatty down in the late game, you have plenty of mana to activate the ability twice, or even three times, putting the opponent down in one fell swoop.
Of course this card could go in midrange or even aggro, but the way I see it, if you can get away with going control due to the high life total, why not?
Primary archetype: Blue control
Secondary archetype: Tempo control
Combos:
Sisay
Much like Hanna, this is a Mana Ramp card first and foremost. 17 life and a 5 card hand is bit too low for control to handle, especially when up against Aggro. Aggro could benefit from this card as well, but due to the sheer amount of available mana, plus the low hand card count, Aggro will soon have no cards left to cast. Sui has some card advantage, but 17 life is cutting it pretty close when you have Dark Confidant out. Midrange seems like the best strategy and, again, Mana Ramp really shines with this card because its strategy is being stacked with Sisay's ability.
As an aside, time will tell, but I suspect this card might be a bit overpowered.
Primary archetype: Mana Ramp
Secondary archetype: any midrange deck
Combos:
Sliver Queen, Brood Mother
Ah, Sliver Queen. This was the first Vanguard card I ever drafted and I knew exactly what to do with it.
Control, baby. You have 28 life to stabilize the game and an eot ability if the opponent doesn't play anything worth countering or bouncing. It's a very slow method of winning but oh so sweet. Of course any control deck works but I say the more blue, the better.
Primary archetype: Blue Control
Secondary archetype: any other control deck
Combos:
Squee
What an awesome control ability! But wait, only 16 life?!
It's a weird, frustrating card, an unfortunately because of the life total and huge card advantage, I say Aggro all the way. The card advantage will let you play lots of cheap things quickly and hey, I guess seeing your opponent's hand lets you plan a bit about how to go about doing things (i.e., if you see a Wrath of God in his hand, maybe you should stop playing creatures!).
That's pretty much it though. If it weren't for the 16 life I'd say try midrange but it's a risk in my honest opinion. Squee's ability can actually be quite useful to Aggro, who in most instances has no way to prevent big spells from happening. This way you can usually see the danger coming and plan accordingly.
Which Aggro archetype then. Well, I say either White Weenie or Burn, because Sui is gonna have a hard time with that 16 life. A faster midrange deck might work, like Mana Ramp.
Primary archetype: White Weenie, Burn
Secondary archetype: Sui, Mana Ramp
Combos:
Starke
Starke's ability is mostly seen in blue, so were gonna go for non-Aggro here. Aggro doesn't care much, since it's not strictly card advantage, just search ability.
I feel this ability has the best utility in combo decks, such as Reanimator and Blink. You are essentially searching your library for key cards and getting rid unneeded ones, letting you set up your combo quicker and more efficiently. Control of course could use this ability, but with 18 life it's iffy that you'll be able to stabilize in the Vanguard environment. You get abilities like this anyways when it comes to control, so it's not entirely critical that you have this one.
Primary archetype: Reanimator, Blink
Secondary archetype: The Rock, Mana Ramp
Combos:
Tahngarth
Yeeehaw time for a Fires deck! Well, not really, actually. Red has plenty of haste creatures, which would make this card a bit redundant. It's still Aggro though, no doubt about that, but Burn is off the table. White Weenie? Yes. Sui? Even better, since that 27 life can be used for some card advantage, which will be needed at a 6 card hand.
Primary archetype: Sui
Secondary archetype: White Weenie
Combos:
Takara
12....12 life?! Much like Ashnod, this card's only archetype possibility is some hardcore Aggro. Like Ashnod too, Boros is a good combo, although Takara's ability really screams full on Burn to me. A three card hand advantage is great for cheap spells and cheap creatures.
Primary archetype: Burn
Secondary archetype: White Weenie
Combos:
Tawnos
I sooooo want this to be good Artifact Control card, but alas, 16 life is just way too little for such a slow archetype to ever stabilize. I do, however, think blue should stick with this card, because eot shenanigans are awesome. U/G and other tempo based control decks come to mind. Like Counterburn, play everything on the opponents turn: if he or she has nothing worthwhile to bounce or counter, play a creature. Rinse and repeat until you control the board. Three card advantage is awesome and will allow you to lower your land count in your deck.
You could also do some combat shenanigans with midrange decks such as Blink, provided you have some good instants on hand, but I don't think they're as potent as control in this aspect and probably harder to make.
Primary archetype: Tempo control
Secondary archetype: Blink
Combos:
Titania
Like Sisay and Hanna, this card is all about Mana Ramp. Sure, it's probably great in Aggro, but I'd rather get out an unstoppable fatty than have a whole bunch of weenies on turn 2-3. It also should be noted that you're generally going to have more lands in a Titania deck so that you can play two lands per turn. This hinders Aggro's ability to play multiple cards per turn. And Control would definitely not work; 15 life is pretty damn low.
Burn probably comes in second, only because it's fast enough to utilize all that mana to end the game quickly. I can't imagine playing Sui on 15 life, and White Weenie, while good, isn't as fast as Burn. But overall Mana Ramp is king.
Primary archetype: Mana Ramp
Secondary archetype: Burn
Combos: Landfall!
Urza
COUNTERBURN. 30 life is plenty to play control. 6 card hand size is bad, but not terrible. You could go for other control archetypes but this one stacks best with Counterburn.
Primary archetype: Counterburn
Secondary archetype: other control
Combos:
Volrath
I'm inclined to go Aggro, simply because 17 life is kinda low. Midrange can survive on this life total though, and benefits better from Volrath's ability since a lot of the midrange's success rides on key creatures' survivability. +2 card advantage is icing on the cake and will mitigate the need to put in draw spells.
There aren't any specific midrange decks that come to mind. Probably not Reanimator, since this archetype wants creatures in the graveyard. Blink has a plethora of ETB creatures that could make Volrath's ability pretty powerful.
Primary archetype: Blink
Secondary archetype: The Rock, Mana Ramp
Combos:
Xantcha
Xantcha's ability is most potent in a creature heavy deck, so I'm inclined to say Control wouldn't be the best choice. White Weenie and Sui would do well; sacrificing a land to save a creature ain't such a big deal in a deck that has cheap casting costs. Sui is especially viable at 23 life. The + 1 card advantage is great in Aggro, allowing more to be cast.
What about midrange? Alot of these creatures have regeneration already, making the ability redundant. One thing to keep in mind though is Reanimator and Rock decks, which have the ability to retrieve things from the graveyard, allowing for essentially free sacrifices. This could definitely be a potent combo. Still, I'd probably prefer Sui in this instance, since it has the most to gain from all three stats.
Primary archetype: Sui
Secondary archetype: other Aggro, Reanimator, The Rock
Combos:
Whew! I'd appreciate if you commented, especially if you had any experience drafting with Vanguard cards. I see this as the first phase in creating my Vanguard Cube. Once Vanguard cards archetypes are discussed, established, and there seems to be a consensus on certain strategies of each card, I'll move to post my actual cube list so there can (hopefully!) be a constructive discussion about what cards would fit best in a Vanguard environment. Of course, I am open to discussing the actual power level of the Vanguard cards themselves, and whether some are too powerful or too weak to warrant inclusion in a Vanguard Cube draft (although I hope this isn't the case!).
6/4/2011: changelog created
6/11/2011: edited Crovax, Eladamri; added "Combos" to each card