@ Mister Lamp: Harmonize and Rampant Growth are the weakest cards, though personally, I would cut Channel. That card is basically a lottery ticket. It can do nothing (or at least very little) or it can pretty much win you the game on turn 2 (which is powerful, but not much fun for the opponent). I hate cards like these, but if your group likes such effects, cut one of the two weaker cards I mentioned.
Those cuts are a difficult choice. If I were to chose I would definitely keep Vorapede over Genesis and Wolfir Silverheart. I think the 2nd one to keep would probably be Genesis because most people would probably rather pick that over Wolfir Silverheart. With my cube I decided to add Maelstrom Pulse. I was thinking of running Maelstrom Pulse, Abrupt Decay, Lotleth Troll and Glissa the Traitor. I would keep Glissa the Traitor in my cube depsite that card being lowered powered. If I'm going to pay Maelstrom Pulse then I don't really Vraska. If you had a choice you would probably play Abrupt Decay over Putrefy as a 2nd removal spell for Golgari? Abrupt Decay can hit most equipment cards and most of the problematic artifacts. Abrupt Decay can also hit a few select Planeswalkers which Putrefy cannot.
What golgari cards would you recommend using if you don't include Maelstrom Pulse or Pernicious Deed? I'm currently running Lotleth Troll, Abrupt Decay, Putrefy and Glissa the Traitor. I was thinking of replacing Glissa with either something like Deathrite Shaman, Putrid Leech or Vraska. These are cards I have lying around that I could add into my cube. I was leaning towards adding Vraska since it can deal with permanents like Maelstrom Pulse does. I know Vraska isn't as good as Maelstrom Pulse but it's still probably better than a lot a of other B/G cards. I don't have a lot of planeswakers in my cube so having Vraska wouldn't me much of a problem. I was adding Sorin and Ral Zarek to my cube and with Vraska that would only make 12 planeswalkers in my 400 card cube.
Troll, Decay, and Putrefy are all fine. For a fourth one, it depends on what archetypes you support. Deathrite Shaman is always solid, but you really need to be running fetches. Putrid Leech and Dreg Mangler are decent aggro options, while Vraska the Unseen is a decent mindrange option.
Would you run both Putrid Leech and Lotleth Troll? Would you try push for having more aggro cards in your golgari section of the cube? If I were to run Deathrite Shaman I only have the mirage fetches.
What golgari cards would you recommend using if you don't include Maelstrom Pulse or Pernicious Deed? I'm currently running Lotleth Troll, Abrupt Decay, Putrefy and Glissa the Traitor. I was thinking of replacing Glissa with either something like Deathrite Shaman, Putrid Leech or Vraska. These are cards I have lying around that I could add into my cube. I was leaning towards adding Vraska since it can deal with permanents like Maelstrom Pulse does. I know Vraska isn't as good as Maelstrom Pulse but it's still probably better than a lot a of other B/G cards. I don't have a lot of planeswakers in my cube so having Vraska wouldn't me much of a problem. I was adding Sorin and Ral Zarek to my cube and with Vraska that would only make 12 planeswalkers in my 400 card cube.
You may draw 1 or 2 card from it and that is about it.
If your 1B 2/1 is drawing you 1-2 extra cards, that's a stellar performance. If that's your estimated performance from him, you should keep it in, as it's probably one of the best (if not the best) 2-drop in your cube.
The problem I saw with Blood Scrivener was it forces you to empty your hand before you can benefit from him. You have to wait to be able to draw any cards with him. You also could play him turn 2 but most likely he won't be more than 2/1 creature where you may get to attack with 1 turn. My friend had suggested adding the Pain Seer because it can get you immediate card advantage early in the game. My friend had drafted an rakdos aggro deck that had mostly 1 and 2 drop creatures. He felt having at least something like Pain Seer could have helped his deck and helped him draw at least 1 or two extra cards. Pain Seer isn't as good as Dark Confidant but it could still get you 1 or 2 extra cards.
I have a budget cube where I used to have Blood Scrivener in that cube. I'm not running Dark Confidant so I thought Blood Scrivener would work OK in place of the Dark Confidant. I took out Blood Scrivener because I felt like it wasn't doing much. You may draw 1 or 2 card from it and that is about it. Now since they printed Pain Seer I was wondering if Pain Seer would be a good card in my cube since I don't have Dark Confidant. How does Pain Seer compare to Dark Confidant and Blood Scrivener? My other card drawing engines in black are Phyrexian Arena, Dreamborn Muse and Bloodgift Demon. My friend thought Pain Seer would be good in my cube because I don't have any serious card drawing engines that work well if I'm playing something like black aggro.
I recently cut Unburial Rites from Orzhov and I'm looking for an additional black reanimate spell to take its place. Which of these two is better? Is there a third option better than these?
I can see the perks to both. Dance is fast, which I like, but susceptible to all forms of blink/enchantment removal. Plus it's a wall of text. Diabolic on the other hand is very resilient, which I like, despite being slow.
What would be the normal amount of those reanimation spells in a 360 or 450 card cube? In my 400 card cube I only run Recurring Nightmare, Animate Dead and Necromancy. I also have Karmic Guide for reanimating creatures but of course that isn't a black card. I'm not currently running a 4th reanimation spell in black. I don't have Reanimate in my cube. I'm currently still running Soul Burn which is a much lower powered card from Ice Age and replacing it with Dance of the Dead. Dance of the Dead isn't as good as the other better reanimation spells. I would still rather have Dance of the Dead over something like Exhume. I would rather not give my opponent a big creature also.
I was adding Restoration Angel to my cube. This in addition to already having Hero of Bladehold, Exalted Angel, Ajani Goldmane, Kor Sanctifies, Calciderm and Hokori Dusk Drinker. In my unpowered cube I have found uses for those lower powered cards like Calciderm and Hokori Dusk Drinker. The only reason I can think of not playing either of those cards is because of better cards being printed like Restoration Angel and Sublime Archangel. I guess Hokori isn't as good because you already have Winter Orb in the cube and don't need a 2nd card that performs the same function as Winter Orb?
I go with despise just because I'm being cheap. Despise at least hits plansewalkers which make that much better than something like ostracize. If you are looking for a cheap removal spell other than duress then despise works pretty well. I think it's good to have stuff that can deal with planeswalkers.
I know the Sphinx of Jwar Isle is a good card but it seems like many seem to run Aethering over him in smaller sized cubes. With smaller sized cubes why do people choose Aetherling over the Sphinx of Jwar Isle? What makes Aetherling better?
Does this deck have to run Shard Volley? What exactly makes that card good for the deck? I have been playing with a Burn deck on MTGO and I don't have the shard volley. I'm running a straight red burn deck and I don't have any non basic lands in the deck. I'm also running 3 volcanic fallout mainboard. Is there a good reason to not run those volcanic fallout mainboard? I changed the deck around so it now has 4 goblin guides, 4 keldon mauraders, 3 hellspark elemental and 1 grim lavamancer. It seemed liked adding the 3 hellspark elemental and 1 grim lavamancer made the deck better. With the current deck out of the first 6 modern dailies I had played I got 12 packs out of those tournaments. I had 2 tournaments where I was able go 3 and 1. Some of the tournaments I may only win 1 game but other times I go can 3 and 1.
I guess there must be a good reason why some would include Goyf and Scavenging Ooze in a splinter twin deck? I was just playing a modern daily on MTGO and lost to a Splinter Twin deck. I have played against Splinter Twin decks before but never saw any that included Goyf and Scavenging Ooze. The first game the only serious threats the opponent played was Goyf and Scavenging Ooze. It wasn't until the 2nd game I noticed he was playing a Splinter Twin deck.
If you don't run True Name Nemsis in your cube what would you put in that slot? Coralhelm Commander, Fettergeist or Wake Thrasher? I'm trying to think of other good aggro or tempo based cards I could add to the blue section of my cube. I can only think of adding Kira and then adding a 2nd card which would be Coralhelm Commander, Fettergeist or Wake Thrasher.
I was thinking of adding Prime Speaker Zegana alongside Simic Sky Swallower, Mystic Snake and Trygon Predator. I know some have recommended Edric but I don't think my cube can support him. I don't have cards like Vendilion Clique or Tarmogoyf. Would there be any reason to run something like Simic Charm over Mystic Snake?
Which do you think are the best Simic Cards for a cube? I'm currently running in my Simic Section of the cube Mystic Snake, Trygon Predator, Simic Sky Swallower and Voidslime. Is there any reason to replace Voidslime or Simic Sky Swallower with Prime Speaker Zegana? You don't think there would be any problems with having both a 7 drop and a 6 drop the Simic Section of my cube? I was thinking of adding something like Prime Speaker Zegana that could be used to draw multiple cards. I could add Sphinx's Revelation but that is much more expensive. There aren't a lot of good mass card drawing spells that are good cards for a cube. You have cards like Braingeyser or Stroke of Genius. I thought there was a reason why these spells weren't very good for a cube. I used Braingeyser at one time but eventually removed it from my cube. So now I only have cards like Fact or Fiction or Ancestral Visions for drawing multiple cards.
Those cuts are a difficult choice. If I were to chose I would definitely keep Vorapede over Genesis and Wolfir Silverheart. I think the 2nd one to keep would probably be Genesis because most people would probably rather pick that over Wolfir Silverheart. With my cube I decided to add Maelstrom Pulse. I was thinking of running Maelstrom Pulse, Abrupt Decay, Lotleth Troll and Glissa the Traitor. I would keep Glissa the Traitor in my cube depsite that card being lowered powered. If I'm going to pay Maelstrom Pulse then I don't really Vraska. If you had a choice you would probably play Abrupt Decay over Putrefy as a 2nd removal spell for Golgari? Abrupt Decay can hit most equipment cards and most of the problematic artifacts. Abrupt Decay can also hit a few select Planeswalkers which Putrefy cannot.
What would be the normal amount of those reanimation spells in a 360 or 450 card cube? In my 400 card cube I only run Recurring Nightmare, Animate Dead and Necromancy. I also have Karmic Guide for reanimating creatures but of course that isn't a black card. I'm not currently running a 4th reanimation spell in black. I don't have Reanimate in my cube. I'm currently still running Soul Burn which is a much lower powered card from Ice Age and replacing it with Dance of the Dead. Dance of the Dead isn't as good as the other better reanimation spells. I would still rather have Dance of the Dead over something like Exhume. I would rather not give my opponent a big creature also.
1. Hero of Bladehold
2. Restoration Angel
3. Exalted Angel
4. Kor Sanctifiers
5. Sublime Archangel
6. Ranger of Eos
7. Hokori Dusk Drinker
8. Calciderm
9. Emeria Angel
10. Galepower Mage