Hi there! Has anyone considered adding the new Path of the Hero cards to their cube? I was thinking it'd be a fun way to get some minor effects that are otherwise too weak to include in the cube.
I was thinking of including them in the draft packs or maybe independently dealing out the heroes. Then people could use up to one hero with their deck. What do you think? Do you have any other ideas?
There will be 7 heroes available by game day with a 21 total hero cards introduced throughout the block. Here are the 7 that are known so far:
The Protector
T: Prevent the next 1 damage that would be dealt to target creature or player this turn.
The Philosopher
2, T: Tap target creature.
The Avenger
3, T: Target creature you control gains deathtouch until end of turn.
The Warrior
T: Target creature you control gains haste until end of turn.
The Hunter
T: Target creature you control gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
The Harvester
T: Draw a card, then discard a card.
The Slayer
You start the game with an additional 7 life.
I'm always on the lookout for good/fun combat tricks to add to my cube and it looks like they're trying to push low-cost combat tricks in Theros. Does anyone think any of these could make the cut? All are potential 2-for-1s for one mana, but are they too narrow?
Boon of Erebos
Cost: B
Instant - Common
Target creature gets +2/+0 until end of turn. Regenerate it. You lose 2 life.
Coordinated Assault
Cost: R
Instant - Uncommon
Up to two target creatures each get +1/+0 and gain first strike until end of turn.
Titan's Strength
Cost: R
Instant - Common
Target creature gets +3/+1 until end of turn. Scry 1.
Warrior's Lesson
Cost: G
Instant - Uncommon
Until end of turn, up to two target creatures you control each gain "Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, draw a card."
Hi there! I've always thought the ability to untap artifacts and creatures was fun, but there don't seem to be many good cards with this capability.
The obvious application is to reuse effects that require a tap as part of the activation (e.g., Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Avatar of Woe, etc). I usually play multiplayer chaos games with my cube, and untap effects are exceptionally fun when you can use them politically as well.
I'd love to get more of these effects in my cube, so I'm curious what untappers you use in your cube.
Here's what I currently use:
Scryb Ranger - Lots of utility in one small creature. Flying, flash, pro-blue, land bouncing, and untapping each come in handy from time to time and I find that at least one of the abilities ends up being very useful at any particular time
Pestermite - Another utility creature that can fill a number of different roles, depending on the situation. Untapping permenants gives you the extra option of effectively reducing the casting cost by untapping a land. Flashing this in before attackers are declared can really mess with an opponent's plans by nullifying the best attacker and providing an extra blocker
Staff of Domination - Very flexible, but also quite expensive to use. Can also trigger an infinite combo with a creature that produces more than 4 mana
Aphetto Alchemist - Haven't had a chance to try this one yet, but the added ability to untap artifacts can be great with mana-generating artifacts
I'd love to have more solid changelings that are good on their own to fill out some minor tribal elements in my cube. Maybe some basic flexible creatures that can fit into many decks. E.g.,
Changeling Kavu Titan :mana::SymG:
Creature [R]
Changeling
Kicker :mana::SymG:
If Changeling Kavu Titan was kicked, it enters the battlefield with three +1/+1 counters on it and with trample.
2/2
Hi there! I'd love to have more tribal in my cube, but it's tough to get tribal effects in cube without including sub-optimal cards and/or including cards that are useless outside a tribal deck.
Right now, I use a few "lords" that are good enough on their own and then try to support it with creatures of that type that are good enough on their own. Here's what I have now:
I'd also love to squeeze Haakon, Stromgald Scourge and Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero in there, since they're some of my favorite creatures in constructed, but I don't think there's enough support for them right now.
I'm curious if anyone else has had success adding other minor tribal themes without messing up the overall card quality. I'd especially love to hear if anyone has found other changeling creatures to be good.
One of my favorite elements of traditional drafting is combat tricks. When I first started building my cube, I realized I had hardly included any. Here's what I'm using now:
Vines of Vastwood - Versatile and cheap Harm's Way - For just one mana, I find I can often get a 2-for-1 with this Briarhorn - I love flash creatures, and this guy gives you a lot of options Invigorate - Great surprise factor, useful for politics in multiplayer
Red's sweepers are also really good, especially Earthquake.
Even instant one-off burn spells like Lightning Bolt can be powerful in multiplayer, since they give you a lot of options. E.g., kill a small creature that's attacking you, hold low-life a player hostage by threatening to burn them out, or add damage in with combat to kill a larger creature
For small creatures, I tried to pick out cards that you can play early, but also have extra value later in the game. E.g.,
Hi there! I am trying to make my cube flexible enough to be used for both one-on-one and multiplayer drafts. Looking at multiplayer cubes, there are a lot of cards that don't make the cut for one-on-one (e.g., Wild Ricochet).
It seems like some of the main things to consider when evaluating for multiplayer are:
Yeah, it'd definitely subjective. I just want to hear what other people think are fun cards so I can consider those cards for my cube. I'd say a subset of "good" cube cards are specifically fun. Silverblade Paladin is definitely a solid card for cubes, but I think Flickerwisp is more fun because it opens up options, decisions, interesting interactions, and unique game states. Maybe some people think Paladin is more fun, but I just want to see people's list of fun cards.
Hi there! I'm curious what cards are the most fun in your cube. I'm thinking of cards that are both powerful and fun.
My favorite favorite things to do include recursion (non-infinite) and instant speed tricks. I also love playing versatile cards that give me a lot of options and force me to make decisions.
I'd love to hear your opinions for the best m10 commons and uncommons spoiled so far. This includes solid M:TG staples that belong in every collection. My picks include:
Oh! Thanks! So it sounds like the best strategy is to keep them packed tightly in a deck box and then always continue to store them in sleeves after that.
I'm sure you all know what I mean when I mention the warping that sometimes happens to Magic cards. Has anyone figured out a good way to straighten them back out again? I'm currently trying to keep them pressed between other cards at all times. Has anyone else tried this and if so, how long did you need to compress the cards before they returned to their original state? Thanks!
Truly, the best investment for a corporation like WotC to make is to widen their customer base (new customers spend money on the product continuously over a lifetime). The biggest deterrent for many would-be Magic players is the cash investment required to create a good deck. By reducing the cost for players to initially become invested in the product by reducing the cost of a solid mana base (making the duals available in pre-constructed decks), they can quickly increase their customer base. Then the laws of supply and demand start to kick in. With more players seeking out the more widely available cards, the price rises again and things go back how they were, except Wizards has now greatly increased their number of customers. This is because, to a certain extent, number of customers will be inversely proportional to the cost of the cards (which is determined by availability and product cost).
Presumably if they additionally did things like gradually reducing the price of each pack (remember that the production cost of each pack is negligible and the development cost is static regardless of how many packs they sell; I’m also assuming here that most current players have a budget for Magic and would simply--to a certain extent--spend that amount on an increased number of packs if the price of each pack was reduced), they would eventually reach the peak revenue, where further price decreases would not attract enough new customers to balance the eventual reduction in money spent on Magic by existing players (with an unlimited amount of resources, any Magic player will reach a point at which they will not need any more cards, if they have 4 of each card, for example).
Perhaps special precautions would need to be taken to ensure the continued collectability of the game, but I personally believe that the game is at its best when players have access to useful cards. Of course, I have no idea what Wizards will do, but I do believe that making the cards as widely available as possible is best for both WotC and the players (more profits for Wizards and more good cards for each player).
I was thinking of including them in the draft packs or maybe independently dealing out the heroes. Then people could use up to one hero with their deck. What do you think? Do you have any other ideas?
There will be 7 heroes available by game day with a 21 total hero cards introduced throughout the block. Here are the 7 that are known so far:
The Protector
T: Prevent the next 1 damage that would be dealt to target creature or player this turn.
The Philosopher
2, T: Tap target creature.
The Avenger
3, T: Target creature you control gains deathtouch until end of turn.
The Warrior
T: Target creature you control gains haste until end of turn.
The Hunter
T: Target creature you control gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
The Harvester
T: Draw a card, then discard a card.
The Slayer
You start the game with an additional 7 life.
http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/257c
http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/other/09232013
Boon of Erebos
Cost: B
Instant - Common
Target creature gets +2/+0 until end of turn. Regenerate it. You lose 2 life.
Coordinated Assault
Cost: R
Instant - Uncommon
Up to two target creatures each get +1/+0 and gain first strike until end of turn.
Titan's Strength
Cost: R
Instant - Common
Target creature gets +3/+1 until end of turn. Scry 1.
Warrior's Lesson
Cost: G
Instant - Uncommon
Until end of turn, up to two target creatures you control each gain "Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, draw a card."
Appropriate tags added.
—Lanxal
The obvious application is to reuse effects that require a tap as part of the activation (e.g., Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Avatar of Woe, etc). I usually play multiplayer chaos games with my cube, and untap effects are exceptionally fun when you can use them politically as well.
I'd love to get more of these effects in my cube, so I'm curious what untappers you use in your cube.
Here's what I currently use:
Changeling Kavu Titan :mana::SymG:
Creature [R]
Changeling
Kicker :mana::SymG:
If Changeling Kavu Titan was kicked, it enters the battlefield with three +1/+1 counters on it and with trample.
2/2
Right now, I use a few "lords" that are good enough on their own and then try to support it with creatures of that type that are good enough on their own. Here's what I have now:
Zombies
Graveborn Muse and Gravecrawler + lots of playable zombies
Goblins
Siege-Gang Commander + lots of playable goblins
Elves
Joraga Treespeaker + lots of playable elves
I want to try Imperious Perfect - has anyone tried her?
Squirrels
Deranged Hermit + Squirrel Nest
Merfolk
Coralhelm Commander with just a couple other merfolk (Merfolk Looter, Enclave Cryptologist, Augur of Bolas)
Wizards
Riptide Laboratory + lots of wizards with ETB effects (e.g., Venser, Shaper Savant, Vendilion Clique, Puppeteer Clique)
I love changelings because they help fill in the gaps, but I'm only using Mirror Entity, Mutavault, and Taurean Mauler now. Chameleon Colossus is great, but my green section is packed with good stuff already!
I'm also wondering what your thoughts are re: other versatile cards that might help support small tribal theme. E.g., Brass Herald, Adaptive Automaton, Riptide Replicator
I'd also love to squeeze Haakon, Stromgald Scourge and Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero in there, since they're some of my favorite creatures in constructed, but I don't think there's enough support for them right now.
I'm curious if anyone else has had success adding other minor tribal themes without messing up the overall card quality. I'd especially love to hear if anyone has found other changeling creatures to be good.
Vines of Vastwood - Versatile and cheap
Harm's Way - For just one mana, I find I can often get a 2-for-1 with this
Briarhorn - I love flash creatures, and this guy gives you a lot of options
Invigorate - Great surprise factor, useful for politics in multiplayer
Also, a lot of the new charms have combat trick modes to them.
Boros Charm
Selesnya Charm
Simic Charm
Other cards I'm considering:
Shining Shoal
Stonewood Invocation
Embolden
What combat tricks do you like for cube?
As wtwlf123 points out, dividable burn is awesome in multiplayer and there are several good cards for that:
Fire//Ice
Inferno Titan
Arc Lightning
Arc Trail
Flames of the Firebrand
Red's sweepers are also really good, especially Earthquake.
Even instant one-off burn spells like Lightning Bolt can be powerful in multiplayer, since they give you a lot of options. E.g., kill a small creature that's attacking you, hold low-life a player hostage by threatening to burn them out, or add damage in with combat to kill a larger creature
For small creatures, I tried to pick out cards that you can play early, but also have extra value later in the game. E.g.,
Greater Gargadon
Grim Lavamancer
Stromkirk Noble
Spikeshot Elder
Stormblood Berserker
Kargan Dragonlord
And finally, a lot of red's mid-larger creatures worth well in both single and multi-player
Chandra's Phoenix
Flametongue Kavu
Hero of Oxid Ridge
Zealous Conscripts
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
Siege-Gang Commander
It seems like some of the main things to consider when evaluating for multiplayer are:
Has anyone else tried to identify cards that are good for both single and multi-player cubes? Any ideas are appreciated!
My favorite favorite things to do include recursion (non-infinite) and instant speed tricks. I also love playing versatile cards that give me a lot of options and force me to make decisions.
Here are some of my favorites. What are yours?
Eternal Witness
Voidmage Husher
Fact or Fiction
Vines of Vastwood
Recurring Nightmare
Crystal Shard
Gifts Ungiven
Mirari's Wake
Birthing Pod
Ravnica shocklands
I'd love to hear your opinions for the best m10 commons and uncommons spoiled so far. This includes solid M:TG staples that belong in every collection. My picks include:
What do you think? Do any of these cards suck? Did I miss some?
Presumably if they additionally did things like gradually reducing the price of each pack (remember that the production cost of each pack is negligible and the development cost is static regardless of how many packs they sell; I’m also assuming here that most current players have a budget for Magic and would simply--to a certain extent--spend that amount on an increased number of packs if the price of each pack was reduced), they would eventually reach the peak revenue, where further price decreases would not attract enough new customers to balance the eventual reduction in money spent on Magic by existing players (with an unlimited amount of resources, any Magic player will reach a point at which they will not need any more cards, if they have 4 of each card, for example).
Perhaps special precautions would need to be taken to ensure the continued collectability of the game, but I personally believe that the game is at its best when players have access to useful cards. Of course, I have no idea what Wizards will do, but I do believe that making the cards as widely available as possible is best for both WotC and the players (more profits for Wizards and more good cards for each player).