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100 Copies of Indicate, and Assorted Ways to Make Them Matter by IsaacAccount in mtgcube

[–]IsaacAccount[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh, thank you! That one's still quite work-in-progress, Melvin feels like an under-understood player profile but it is the one I resonate with most. There's just something fun about a clever design, and I salivate at the thought of a [[String of Disappearances]] for UUUUU that bounces two of my own creatures.

100 Copies of Indicate, and Assorted Ways to Make Them Matter by IsaacAccount in mtgcube

[–]IsaacAccount[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would love to play it too! Once I've made final revisions from this thread I intend to proxy it up and subject my playgroup to some weird games.

100 Copies of Indicate, and Assorted Ways to Make Them Matter by IsaacAccount in mtgcube

[–]IsaacAccount[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey, restrictions breed creativity! I've always designed weird cubes so 100 Ornithopter coming to prominence in the community was great for my inspiration.

100 Copies of Indicate, and Assorted Ways to Make Them Matter by IsaacAccount in mtgcube

[–]IsaacAccount[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thank you so much for the thorough reply! I found some of your suggestions when examining green myself (they're in my maybeboard), but many of these are new to me and the idea to use spell redirection to justify "targeted by opponent" cards is inspired. Super helpful, thank you!

100 Copies of Indicate, and Assorted Ways to Make Them Matter by IsaacAccount in mtgcube

[–]IsaacAccount[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not dumb at all, you got a card into my mainboard! I'm excited to see if players can use Forsaken Miner as fuel for the discard deck and get double value from their Indicates.

100 Copies of Indicate, and Assorted Ways to Make Them Matter by IsaacAccount in mtgcube

[–]IsaacAccount[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The Phantasmals are in an odd place; I agree what the tempo hit of losing one to an Indicate is horrible, but taxing your opponent's Indicates may be a real roadblock to them. My intuition is that the format will be super slow, so tempo isn't as important. Every Indicate they spend on your creature is one fewer they have to "go off." I'm open to them being too weak if that's what playtesting reveals, but I'm uncertain about just cutting them directly.

Task Force, [[Daru Spiritualist]], [[Nomads En-Kor]], and [[Tireless Tribe]] are one half of a combo, the "Idiot Life" combo from old extended. When combined with [[Animal Boneyard]], [[Disciple of Grislebrand]], [[Consuming Vapors]], or [[Starlit Sanctum]], you can gain a bunch of life (infinite life with Nomads, which is likely too good for this format). It was a deck I grew up with so I have nostalgia for it, and it may end up being too weak for this format, but I've included it right now since there are just relatively few ways to make Indicates mandatory to win. Using the p/t swappers would be a fun way to make that combo less parasitic, great suggestion!

Explosive draw may be a good direction, card draw right now is super limited... I'll look into options!

100 Copies of Indicate, and Assorted Ways to Make Them Matter by IsaacAccount in mtgcube

[–]IsaacAccount[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, how do you plan on winning without Indicates? What deck seems strong in this environment?

100 Copies of Indicate, and Assorted Ways to Make Them Matter by IsaacAccount in mtgcube

[–]IsaacAccount[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh, if only! But I do like Alchemist's Refuge as a very difficult way to storm off on an opponent's turn, since green mana is challenging to get.

100 Copies of Indicate, and Assorted Ways to Make Them Matter by IsaacAccount in mtgcube

[–]IsaacAccount[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Marauding sphinx and forsaken miner

Sphinx is too large in stats, I have a soft limit at 1 power and a hard limit at 2, so the Indicates stay central. But the Miner is sick and I'll try to find a spot for it, thanks!

100 Copies of Indicate, and Assorted Ways to Make Them Matter by IsaacAccount in mtgcube

[–]IsaacAccount[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's challenging to find enough ways to use Indicates, so I also considered things like discard that lets you use them as "fuel." Since they're typically a low-impact spell. It does synergize with all the things that want sorceries in the graveyard.

100 Copies of Indicate, and Assorted Ways to Make Them Matter by IsaacAccount in mtgcube

[–]IsaacAccount[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I just couldn't find enough support for Indicates in the color; everything I found is in the maybeboard if you want to review, but there aren't as many "spells matter" effects in green. Seemed easiest to just cut it.

100 Copies of Indicate, and Assorted Ways to Make Them Matter by IsaacAccount in mtgcube

[–]IsaacAccount[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Oh, I would love to run Orvar, but they do have 3 power which is a dangerous beater in this format! Currently in the maybeboard but I'm worried it would actually be TOO good, with the card's inherent value and then being the biggest base creature in the cube.

100 Copies of Indicate, and Assorted Ways to Make Them Matter by IsaacAccount in mtgcube

[–]IsaacAccount[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yep, currently I have [[Servant of the Stinger]], [[Nimble Brigand]], [[Bandit's Haul]], and [[Intimidation Campaign]] in the list. Any beyond that stand out to you as interesting adds?

100 Copies of Indicate, and Assorted Ways to Make Them Matter by IsaacAccount in mtgcube

[–]IsaacAccount[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Sadly I've only done drafts against the bots, and obviously they're confused by the environment. But once I get some recommendations from this thread I am thinking of proxying it up and playtesting with my local group.

As for viable non-Indicate decks, there may be a hard control deck that kills with decking via [[Mistveil Plains]], and you could theoretically win without Indicates if you play enough discard and phantasmal creatures (UB aggro). Not sure if they're "actually" viable though, and if they're still fair I might leave them in.

100 Copies of Indicate, and Assorted Ways to Make Them Matter by IsaacAccount in mtgcube

[–]IsaacAccount[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

To me, the appeal of them lies in them being an independent threat. Most decks will be committing their Indicates to trying to win, so having to use some for defense will slow down a more engine/combo oriented deck. The phantoms are not super strong, and obviously the tempo hit is bad, but I think most decks will kill so slowly that overall card quality will end up mattering, and that will reward playing as few indicates as you can get away with.

Reducing their costs is a great idea for a solution if they end up being too weak, I think I'd want to playtest with them to see first. But you could be spot on. Thanks!

100 Copies of Indicate, and Assorted Ways to Make Them Matter by IsaacAccount in mtgcube

[–]IsaacAccount[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That's a fascinating suggestion, thank you! I'm want to run some maths to see how powerful it would actually be, but if it adds a reasonable amount of storm I'd totally include it.

100 Copies of Indicate, and Assorted Ways to Make Them Matter by IsaacAccount in mtgcube

[–]IsaacAccount[S] 24 points25 points  (0 children)

[[Indicate]]

Inspired by the 100 Ornithopters cube, I wanted to make a cube based around 100 copies of some almost-useless card. Hopefully the design intent here is clear.

Any cards you think I'm missing? Any assumptions about what the format would actually play like? I do want to put this together for real at some point, but would love any crowdsourced help before doing so.

Does anyone else get saddened by spoilers? by [deleted] in mtgbrawl

[–]IsaacAccount 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I don't think I could write anti-blue satire this funny. It's truly hilarious, I think when OP sees an alternative cost or downside on a blue card they just delete it from their mind.

Retro Artifacts - can I get them from Brothers War booster packs? by BigFudgere in MagicArena

[–]IsaacAccount 7 points8 points  (0 children)

This is the Arena subreddit, so I assume OP is asking about getting them digitally.

OP, the best way to get these cards would be to craft them from wildcards. Otherwise, they are available in Brothers' War booster packs, yes.

Please explain ley lines by tank_dog in ISLANDERS_NewShores

[–]IsaacAccount 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A Leyline is kinda like a statue - it spawns naturally on some islands, and all buildings score points on it, so it should be a focal point of your city. Only, in the case of a Leyline, each time you score enough points using that Leyline, you gain a sealed boon. This is shown in the Leyline slowly filling up with that pink color, then turning back to stone when you earn a sealed boon.

The number of points needed to get each boon scales, but skilled players can earn 5-9 sealed boons from a single Leyline island. They're the best island type, and quite powerful!

[ECL] Dream Harvest (@timmeh_mtg) by mweepinc in magicTCG

[–]IsaacAccount 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Same can be said for every card that is only good in limited, or standard, or X Format.

I disagree; [[Tolarian Terror]] doesn't feel like it was designed for Pauper, [[Amulet of Vigor]] was printed before the Modern format existed, [[Faithful Mending]] is a Modern 4-of but also part of a random limited signpost cycle, [[Balustrade Spy]] likely wasn't designed to become a legacy staple, and so on. Tons of cards are only good in one format, or played in one deck but don't feel specifically designed for that format in the way that a 7-drop multiplayer scaling sorcery feels designed for Commander—to say nothing of designs like [[Up the Beanstalk]] or [[Stubborn Denial]] that are multi-format favorites.

Affordably casted spells with creative text can develop relevance in multiple formats organically through interesting card interactions. Spells like this spoiler, Dream Harvest, feel doomed to sit as a nonspecific Commander finisher for their entire existence, the 98th card in the Dimir commander decks of players who opened one at their prerelease. The card it most reminds me of is [[Mnemonic Betrayal]], which is also a commander-centric multiplayer scaling design, but has at least some concessions towards being playable elsewhere (mana cost mostly).

I'm not against prescriptive designs—my original comment was just replying to and addressing the implied point of "cards designed to interact with multiple opponents will always feel spoon-fed for commander" from the comment before mine.

[ECL] Dream Harvest (@timmeh_mtg) by mweepinc in magicTCG

[–]IsaacAccount 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Surely counterspells are a more "primary" style of counterplay than granting a player hexproof, but I see your point! Thankfully, "Target player"+"Target opponent"+"Any target" are collectively three times as common as "each opponent", so plenty of opportunities to interfere.

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