Revisiting
Consolidated some of the counterspells to just being Counterspell. Archetypes are flyers and Islandhome.
Looks like a good pool with for Enchantress
Mono blue list is full of theft, deception, and flyers!
Instant (9)
3 Counterspell
2 Power Sink
2 Unsummon
Psionic Blast
Boomerang
Sorcery (2)
Braingeyser
Amnesia
Enchantment (11)
Control Magic
Flight
Invisibility
3 Phantasmal Terrain
Steal Artifact
2 Unstable Mutation
Flood
Dance of Many
Creatures (34)
1 CMC (7)
2 Flying Men
Water Wurm
Electric Eel
3 Merfolk of the Pearl Trident
2 CMC (8)
2 Giant Tortoise
Dandan
2 Drowned
Sindbad
2 Zephyr Falcon
3 CMC (5)
Prodigal Sorcerer
Wall of Water
Old Man of the Sea
Serendib Efreet
Apprentice Wizard
4 CMC (7)
2 Clone
Phantom Monster
Ghost Ship
Serendib Djinn
2 Azure Drake
5 CMC (4)
Air Elemental
Water Elemental
Pirate Ship
Vesuvan Doppelganger
6 CMC (2)
Mahamoti Djinn
Sea Serpent
7 CMC (1)
Islandfish Jasconius
56 total.
I like the green now. Both Boars and Treefolk would be my first pick no matter what.
But what frightens me is the absolutely missing Craw Giant! What happened to the big dude?
Revisiting
There's a White Weenie archetype. A good deal of control to mix with blue. Weenies also work with Zoo.
Instant (7)
Righteousness
2 Disenchant
3 Swords to Plowshares
Army of Allah
Sorcery (3)
Armageddon
Resurrection
Wrath of God
Enchantment (15)
Brainwash
2 Spirit Link
Land Tax
3 Holy Strength
Kismet
2 Divine Transformation
Lance
Crusade
Castle
Blessing
Jihad
Creatures (31)
1 CMC (7)
3 Savannah Lions
3 Tundra Wolves
Abu Ja'far
2 CMC (7)
2 White Knight
Squire
King Suleiman
Repentant Blacksmith
2 Samite Healer
3 CMC (6)
Preacher
D'Avenant Archer
Keepers of the Faith
2 Thunder Spirit
Pearled Unicorn
4 CMC (5)
2 Moorish Cavalry
Angry Mob
Wall of Swords
Witch Hunter
5 CMC (4)
2 Serra Angel
2 Veteran Bodyguard
6 CMC (1)
Personal Incarnation
7 CMC (1)
Elder Land Wurm
56!
Is it rules issues or something? Rampage is pretty straightforward and is one of the few things green does well in these sets IIRC. Banding creatures are mostly bad but banding is not too difficult. It has fewer weird rules interactions than phasing, at least.
I'd stay away from banding because unless Ace will be playing with old school players only, there might be troubles. Rampage, otoh, is definitely easy to grasp, moreover it's fun and green ability.
Rampage is definitely the least offensive of the two abilities. It is also only on two mono-green cards (Craw Giant and Wolverine Pack). The other Rampage cards are red (rathi Berserker and Frost Giant) or multi-colored (Chromium, Gabriel Angelfire, Hunding Gjornersen and Marhault Elsdragon).
I did not want Elder Dragons, so Chromium was out. Frost Giant, Marhault, and the Gjornersen are all pretty 'meh'...
So that left Craw Giant, Wolverine Pack, rathi Berserker, and Gabriel Angelfire. I admit the Berserker was unknown to me until just now. Wolverine Pack and Gabriel Angelfire are definitely okay, although Gabriel is a bit expensive for what you get.
The lack of reminder text means everyone who isn't familiar with the term will need their hand held. If green needs another Craw Wurm, I can always add the giant in! But for now I'm going Rampage-less.
I did get excited about the durdly Enchantress Archetype though! There are now 3 of her and I even threw in a Rabid Wombat (I was on the fence... the art pushed me to include it). There are 36 enchantments across Bant, so hopefully that is enough.
All those Rampage creatures are really bad in actual gameplay, with the exception of Craw Giant. Why would you ever block a Rathi Berserker with more than 1 creature in an actual game? It would have to be an incredibly narrow game state that would necessitate that; so much so that I can't even contrive one right now. You would realistically always either just take 2 or block with a single creature.
Having Rampage and Trample on the other hand is actually really good. There certainly incentive to get some extra toughness in front of a Trampler, so Rampage becomes really relevant. Can you afford to only single block? Can you afford to trigger the Rampage? Those are interesting game decisions.
"The Ancients teach us that if we can but last, we shall prevail."
—Kaysa, Elder Druid of the Juniper Order
Yeah, seeing how the rampage dudes not only miss the remainder text but also any real playability, I understand the decision.
I still need to revisit Artifacts... That'll happen eventually.
Good news! My LGS actually has a decent number of cards I'll need! Go figure.
I currently have 199 out of 360 cards towards the cube. Unfortunately several of these are white-bordered. The more expensive ones will have to stay white-bordered until I get to 360/360... Then I can focus on making the cube uniformly black-bordered.
My lands are mostly white-bordered too... I think I have 33/150 in Beta.
Got some more cards! Thanks to the Games Keep in West Chester for having this stuff.
He has a lot of Legends, Dark, and Arabian Nights cards too. And I still have a bunch of credit! So more to come.
I'm at 210/360 now.
Last edited by Ace/Homebrew; 08-11-2017 at 10:13 PM.
Thanks man! The support and interest here has really helped motivate me.
Revisiting Lands!
No real changes here... Just including for completions sake.
19 Lands
Karakas
Urborg
Hammerheim
Pendelhaven
4 Mishra's Factory
3 Strip Mine
4 City of Brass
City of Shadows
Safe Haven
Maze of Ith
Island of Wak-Wak
Revisiting Artifacts! 28 spaces left.
0 CMC (3)
3 Ornithopter
1 CMC (3)
Black Vise
The Rack
Ivory Tower
2 CMC (2)
2 Fellwar Stone
3 CMC (5)
2 Standing Stones
Celestial Prism
Disrupting Scepter
Jalum Tome
4 CMC (12)
Icy Manipulator
Jayemdae Tome
2 Juggernaut
Nevinyrral's Disk
Rod of Ruin
Clay Statue
Cursed Rack
Mightstone
Primal Clay
Tawnos's Wand
Triassic Egg
5 CMC (1)
The Hive
6 CMC (2)
Shapeshifter
Triskelion
Cards I still need:
Multicolored
Gosta Dirk
Rasputin Dreamweaver
Lord Magnus
Ramses Overdark
Adun Oakenshield
Gwendlyn Di Corci
Hazezon Tamar
White
Righteousness
2 Swords to Plowshares
Army of Allah
Wrath of God
2 Spirit Link
Land Tax
Crusade
Castle
Blessing
Jihad
3 Savannah Lions
2 Tundra Wolves
Abu Ja'far
2 Thunder Spirit
2 Moorish Cavalry
Witch Hunter
Serra Angel
2 Veteran Bodyguard
Personal Incarnation
Elder Land Wurm
Blue
Counterspell
Braingeyser
Amnesia
2 Unstable Mutation
Flood
2 Flying Men
Electric Eel
3 Merfolk of the Pearl Trident
Giant Tortoise
Drowned
Sindbad
Zephyr Falcon
Old Man of the Sea
Serendib Efreet
Clone
Serendib Djinn
2 Azure Drake
Pirate Ship
Vesuvan Doppelganger
Mahamoti Djinn
Black
Sacrifice
2 Sinkhole
Hellfire
Greed
Will-O'-the-Wisp
2 Stone-Throwing Devils
Vampire Bats
Black Knight
Walking Dead
Royal Assassin
2 Hypnotic Specter
2 Scathe Zombies
Zombie Master
Junun Efreet
Sorceress Queen
Khabal Ghoul
Scavenging Ghoul
Juzam Djinn
Rag Man
2 Fallen Angel
Nightmare
Demonic Hordes
Red
Earthquake
2 Chain Lightning
Goblin Caves
2 Kird Ape
Goblin Digging Team
Goblin Balloon Brigade
Orcish Artillery
Sedge Troll
Dragon Whelp
Roc of Kher Ridges
Two-Headed Giant of Foriys
Shivan Dragon
Green
3 Untamed Wilds
Hurricane
Aspect of Wolf
Instill Energy
Lure
2 Web
Sylvan Library
Llanowar Elves
2 Elvish Archers
Killer Bees
Hornet Cobra
3 Verduran Enchantress
Ifh-Biff Efreet
Willow Satyr
Radjan Spirit
Cockatrice
Wormwood Treefolk
Durkwood Boars
Force of Nature
Gaea's Liege
Artifacts
2 Ornithopter
Ivory Tower
Fellwar Stone
2 Standing Stones
Disrupting Scepter
Jalum Tome
Jayemdae Tome
Juggernaut
Nevinyrral's Disk
Clay Statue
Cursed Rack
Mightstone
Primal Clay
Tawnos's Wand
Triassic Egg
The Hive
Triskelion
Lands
2 Mishra's Factory
4 City of Brass
Island of Wak-Wak
Have you considered Wand of Ith to create a discard mini-theme?
I did a search in the sets I'm using for 'discard'.
The relevant cards are listed here:
Disrupting Scepter
Hypnotic Specter
Mind Twist
Gwendlyn Di Corci
Nebuchadnezzar
Nicol Bolas
Amnesia
Mind Bomb
Rag Man
Wand of Ith
Of those, only 3 were not included in the cards selected for the cube (Nicol Bolas, Mind Bomb, and Wand of Ith).
Bolas wasn't included because I did not want to include the Elder Dragons.
I did not include Mind Bomb or Wand of Ith for the same reason people don't like Browbeat or Vexing Devil. The effect gives your opponent a choice and the choice will always be the option you don't want them to pick. Having said that, the art on Wand of Ith is awesome right down to the creepy pinky nail. And it references Ith, who's maze is included in the cube. If it didn't have the life loss option, it'd be in there.
I did want the black mage to feel like they could build a deck with discarding as a mini-theme. Amnesia is more of a late game 'keep them down' card then the type of discard we're talking about, so it isn't included in this part of the conversation. Here is the discard selected for the cube:
Mind Twist
2 Hypnotic Specter
Rag Man
Disrupting Scepter
Going /
Nebuchadnezzar
Going //
Gwendlyn Di Corci
While not truly a discard, Black Vise and Cursed Rack would probably find their way in a deck with those cards.
Admittedly 7 cards is not a lot, but there isn't really a huge pool to pick from... I will be lucky to own 1 black bordered Mind Twist, so I will not be upping the number there. Specter is at 2, which feels appropriate. I want turn 1 Dark Ritual into Hypnotic Specter to happen, but not ever game in every draft. Rag Man is sorta 'meh' since he can only hit creatures. Neby and Gwen are legendary, so 1 each.
I think 2 Disrupting Scepters could be doable. I am heavy in 4CMC artifacts and could lose one for another Scepter... My concern is that the first Scepter might be a low pick more often then not, which means a 2nd would only further devalue it. This will probably require actual draft-testing to figure out.
I picked up 52 more cards and 15 more basic lands from my LGS. Some of the cards were just black bordered upgrades. I now have all the cards I want from The Dark! (except for Standing Stones and Fellwar Stones apparently... whoops) I picked up a bunch of Legends and Arabian Nights stuff too.
I got 5 hot pink Islands. It's funny how the overhead shot was always my favorite Island art growing up when I only ever saw them white bordered. Seeing the Islands with a black border completely changes the impact of the art.
I updated the list of cards I need before I can start using this thing. Red is almost done. I only need 8 more.
Multicolored (7)
Gosta Dirk
Rasputin Dreamweaver
Lord Magnus
Ramses Overdark
Adun Oakenshield
Gwendlyn Di Corci
Hazezon Tamar
White (18)
Righteousness
2 Swords to Plowshares
Wrath of God
Spirit Link
Land Tax
Crusade
Castle
Blessing
Jihad
3 Savannah Lions
Thunder Spirit
Serra Angel
2 Veteran Bodyguard
Personal Incarnation
Blue (14)
Counterspell
Braingeyser
2 Unstable Mutation
3 Merfolk of the Pearl Trident
Old Man of the Sea
Serendib Efreet
Clone
Serendib Djinn
Pirate Ship
Vesuvan Doppelganger
Mahamoti Djinn
Black (22)
Sacrifice
2 Sinkhole
Hellfire
Greed
Will-O'-the-Wisp
Stone-Throwing Devils
Black Knight
Royal Assassin
2 Hypnotic Specter
2 Scathe Zombies
Zombie Master
Sorceress Queen
Khabal Ghoul
Scavenging Ghoul
Juzam Djinn
2 Fallen Angel
Nightmare
Demonic Hordes
Red (8)
Earthquake
Goblin Balloon Brigade
Orcish Artillery
Sedge Troll
Dragon Whelp
Roc of Kher Ridges
Two-Headed Giant of Foriys
Shivan Dragon
Green (18)
Hurricane
Aspect of Wolf
Instill Energy
Lure
2 Web
Llanowar Elves
2 Elvish Archers
Killer Bees
3 Verduran Enchantress
Ifh-Biff Efreet
Willow Satyr
Cockatrice
Force of Nature
Gaea's Liege
Artifacts (19)
2 Ornithopter
Ivory Tower
Fellwar Stone
2 Standing Stones
Disrupting Scepter
Jalum Tome
Jayemdae Tome
Juggernaut
Nevinyrral's Disk
Clay Statue
Cursed Rack
Mightstone
Primal Clay
Tawnos's Wand
Triassic Egg
The Hive
Triskelion
Lands (7)
2 Mishra's Factory
4 City of Brass
Island of Wak-Wak
Basic Lands (102)
I picked up some Revised cards. I'm officially only2923 cards away from having this thing playable!
The ones I need still are:
Multicolor (4)
Rasputin Dreamweaver
Adun Oakenshield
Gwendlyn Di Corci
Hazezon Tamar
White (3)
Land Tax
Jihad
Thunder Spirit
Blue(4)(3)
Old Man of the Sea
Serendib Efreet
Serendib Djinn
Pirate Ship
Black (5)
Sinkhole
Sinkhole
Greed
Khabal Ghoul
Juzam Djinn
Red(2)(0)
Sedge Troll
Roc of Kher Ridges
Green(2)(1)
Instill Energy
Gaea's Liege
Lands (7)
Mishra's Factory (Autumn)
Mishra's Factory (Winter)
City of Brass
City of Brass
City of Brass
City of Brass
Island of Wak-Wak
Artifacts(2)(0)
Jayemdae Tome
Juggernaut
I'm close enough that I will probably print out some proxies and hopefully give this thing a try soon!
Edit: Down to 23 cards until playable!
My basic land count has also improved, although I am not certain the statistics off the top of my head...
Last edited by Ace/Homebrew; 12-22-2014 at 10:10 AM.
http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/10301
Entered the cube into cubetutor.
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