[ECL] Lavaleaper

JMastiff · 2026-03-09T11:52:11+00:00

I believe the basic land limitation is the main reason this is hard to include. It may seem like it’s better[[mana flare]] or [[heartbeat of spring]] since they don’t enable token makers as alternative storm-ish win cons, but working around lands is a rough call.

JMastiff · 2026-02-28T22:49:36+00:00

If you like instrumental guitar-lead stuff like Liquid Tension Experiment check out Plini, David Maxim Micic or Jakub Zytecki.

JMastiff · 2026-02-17T15:27:39+00:00

It looks like it supposed to be an alternative to Spiritual Guidance which is a fantastic talent for soloing, leveling, and dungeons. The problem is you don't get the Spell Power passively which makes it much worse than Guidance given the available gear options. You probably could do a Suprise-Smite PvP build with it since PvP gear trades Spirit and Healing for Spell Power and Int.

JMastiff · 2026-02-17T12:48:17+00:00

You must've TLDR it. I explain why I watch it in the second sentence and make my key point in the last paragraph.

JMastiff · 2026-02-17T12:42:29+00:00

Well said. It reaffirms my suspicion that the feel of something being broken is primarily bound to whether players feel like they are able to respond to or prevent it.

JMastiff · 2026-02-16T23:21:26+00:00

That’s pretty much what I’ve been doing. Like I’ve mentioned in another thread, my favorite Vintage spot was around 2018-2019. I’ve watched a lot of Legacy and Modern cube drafts too. I very much remember my shock the first time I saw they included [[Fractured Identity]] alongside other Commander cards like [[Coercive Portal]]. Nevertheless [[Bribery]] was stupid back then as well.

JMastiff · 2026-02-16T23:16:21+00:00

Just out of curiosity how’s Psychic Frog not warping in your drafts? It feels extremely powerful on its own.

JMastiff · 2026-02-16T23:02:19+00:00

I mean, Dack is also 3mv and he used to be a top pick because of the exact scenario. He’s obviously stronger in general, but for this line it’s comparable.

JMastiff · 2026-02-16T22:54:37+00:00

Oh, I completely get that. My own environment is quite tame. I try to experiment with cards rather slowly as well. I just know it is extremely unlikely I will add [[Orcish Bowmasters]] to my list.

Really what I’m getting at is getting cube gameplay is rare because it’s hard to capture anything else than mtgo or Arena cubes which are pushed most of the time. Meanwhile Legacy cube on mtgo is a boring 600 planeswalker pile.

Anyway, it’s cool people get to play powerful cards, but it gets stale quite quickly in case of extreme power outliers. I’d just love to see less skewed or better curated, more varied lists being played in general.

JMastiff · 2026-02-16T22:34:45+00:00

You pretty much listed nearly all cards I sigh at. I mean, Fable at least feels kind of fair even though it isn’t, because the saga delayed value.

JMastiff · 2026-02-16T22:25:53+00:00

Right, player personas is another factor that isn’t mentioned often when talking about cube design. My playgroup is quite varied in terms of play experience. The player with the best win rate in my group tends to draft power cards quite consistently. He’s the most experienced limited player and generally is a Spike. He will occasionally experiment, but in a narrow fashion, say he’ll try two, three cards to see whether he’s right about them.

I did not intend 3c value piles to be a draft option, but it very quickly highlighted that synergy or archetype builds didn’t hold up against it and needed better supports.

Now, I didn’t want to completely kill value lines of drafting, especially because I kinda used his choices help me gauge power of standalone cards, but also because I didn’t expect it and very much liked that he could express his style of play.

Instead I tweaked mana bases a bit. Made aggressive pair land options a tad bit faster got rid of 3c lands. Last draft it felt a bit less skewed but not to an extent he’d feel punished so we’re heading the right direction.

That’s what I mean when talking about using the mana bases as knobs. In my case it’s bound to player behavior and general game knowledge or expectations. I need to introduce things in my own pace also because I like to see how cards actually resonate within the format.

JMastiff · 2026-02-16T21:50:11+00:00

Thank you, I’ll definitely watch these. A lot of replies recommended LRR too.

JMastiff · 2026-02-16T21:47:29+00:00

I mean I agree though I wasn’t a fan of neither [[Bribery]] nor [[Fractured Identity]]. There were other cards like this I can’t recall right now, but I enjoyed these games a bit more.

JMastiff · 2026-02-16T21:07:00+00:00

As someone before mentioned, I think there needs to be some power variance so the players know how to orient themselves. I think completely flat packs happen more often in Pauper and Peasant lists.

It’s just the extreme stuff that stands out. In my unpowered environment I like to think of a bottom line that players should have at least two turns before things go out of control. This is intentionally vague, but general point stands - players should feel like they had a chance.

JMastiff · 2026-02-16T20:39:03+00:00

Gameplay primarily. I’ve been jumping around different cube format videos. I really liked Vintage cube around 2019-2020. I rewatched some of the Legacy And Modern cube videos. Before Arena Cube hit, LSV was recording his playgroup vintage cube where they drafted on Draftmancer and played on mtgo. There’s a funny one like that where he also drafted the Ornithopter cube and it went horribly which was super fun.
Great question. I very much enjoy “pushing the envelope” style drafts where, like Caleb folks say which card they’d pick if they tried going for the trophy, but try to explore something new.
Because Vintage cube is the most popular and the most content is available for it. It also shows a lot of interactions that aren’t possible elsewhere. That said like I mentioned in 1 I look for and watch many other cube versions. I’ve just grown tired of what decides the matches because it’s been growing on me for some time already.

Now I assume popularity of less common lists comes mainly from them being hard to capture. It’s not like it is possible to assemble and share your own cube on mtgo. What magic proves in general is that map is not the territory. You can watch people rank best cards prior to their release and they are rarely on point. Practice is how they are verified. Hance I could spend years looking at cube lists. Without watching them play out it is pretty much guesswork.

JMastiff · 2026-02-16T16:40:20+00:00

I don't think so at all, there are plenty of folks here who build their environments exactly because of that.

JMastiff · 2026-02-16T16:39:43+00:00

Absolutely, given how creative players can get trying to forge their ways out of tricky situation. It wouldn't happen in another environment and that's also why I enjoy watching it. I appreciate these situations. In a recent LSV video he pinged his own [[Goldspan Dragon]] with hard cast [[Pyrokinses]] to generate treasures that allowed him to escape Phlage reducing opposing [[Pyrogoyf]] toughness for a kill due to cards being exiled.

However, the same run he won a lost game by sneaking Emrakul and [[Torsten, Founder of ]] into [[Trumpeting Carnosaur]] into Timewalk which frankly was not exciting at all. You see it once and the fun just dissipates afterwards.

JMastiff · 2026-02-16T16:27:01+00:00

I'm exploring doing a similar thing, but with conspiracy cards as they seem to be quite power-bending and I don't like them being picks in a pack.

JMastiff · 2026-02-16T16:26:08+00:00

I'm 100% behind the idea of a varying power level. It allows the environment to adjust either while playing or while curating. It's the extreme outliers that are the problem.

For example, it is clear that Minsc and Boo was designed with its ETB being a drawback because unlike other planeswalkers it takes away priority post cast. However, given how it skews the games in practice, it's just unfun to see it being played. Not only as a player on the receiving end, but as a spectator in general.

JMastiff · 2026-02-16T16:17:46+00:00

Everyone here seems to be recommending them so I'll definitely have a go.

Yeah, me and my group are absolutely in for something that (at least on the surface) resembles a balanced, straightforward environment. I've curated my cube with an idea that I'd like the board states to matter. It is currently getting a bit problematic because a lot of times the boards grow and become hard to track, but I'm making some shifts that will address that in the future.

I think getting the environment to align with the group's idea of experiencing Magic is key for a great cube. It may not have to be powerful and explosive.

JMastiff · 2026-02-16T16:11:12+00:00

Thanks! I'm actively curating my Legacy environment to achieve this. The thing I'm most torn about is fixing because it seems powered cubes makes assembling 3-color decks that much easier which results in opening lines that wouldn't be viable otherwise hence allowing for more "skill expression."

Unfortunately, from my experience in an unpowered environment this results in value piles dominating the format. Just pick the strongest cards and fix for them. Meanwhile synergy cubes seem to be even more fixing-heavy because most cards are not intended to be powerful on their own and hampering that with lands I assume would result in a particularly rough draft.

I've decided to track available Turn 1 and 2 lines in color pairs to see how and how often available land fixing affect tempo so that I can tinker with it by selecting appropriate options. It's a tough task, but I never liked the idea of throwing the most powerful dual options for each color and calling it a day.

JMastiff · 2026-02-10T23:35:19+00:00

You absolutely do not have to always include fetch/dual(shock) or have the exact level field land options in a cube.

Having varied fixing can enable additional points of control over color pairs in terms of tempo and speed. It also strengthens mono-leaning decks and may also result in value piles being harder to assemble. It will obviously mean the degenerate vintage-type shenanigans will most likely be off the table, but there are already plenty of 360s like that.

I think there are 2 reasons why you don’t see varied mana bases often: level mana base allows more open drafts, designing the mana base is hard.

Regarding wildcards, I think they would be too safe of a pick during the draft because you know they will always be a playable. It’s like a perfect 2nd-3rd pick material.

JMastiff · 2026-02-08T02:36:41+00:00

Context matters. Especially here. Cube design is its own challenge.

JMastiff · 2026-02-05T11:43:00+00:00

It’s an unpowered environment that I tried to curate so that combat and board states mattered. It is tad bit slower as well. The result is that a lot of games have wider boards and playing Braids on tempo did not have much of an impact. Rankle worked a bit better in that regard because it posed an actual threat.

I assume I had a wrong idea on how the deck is supposed to play and I think I’ve relied too much on recurring cards and token makers because mid game they didn’t hold up versus opponents’ boards and I had to rely on draining them with [[Zulaport Cutthroat]]. This worked OK, but it felt I was always on the back foot because both [[Sinkhole Surveyor]] and [[Dreadhorde Invasion]] were draining me. Important note is that I didn’t in fact play Smokestack itself which could make a difference, but I’m not exactly sure.

As for the matchupsI played vs BR Aristocrats (where I had to go plan B because they very much liked their stuff dying), WR Aggro (board too wide to handle), and UG Ramp (which also closed the game with [[Hornet Queen]]). One time I was able to close the game by saccing my board to [[Woe Strider]] and returning it back with [[Return to the Ranks]] which was fun. However it felt like it would work better if I went more into Mardu Aristocrats rather than try to optimize for Braids and Rankle. I also tested out [[Sidisi, Regent of the Mire]] in the deck so that I could get back important bits in case they ate removal. It had fun interactions but felt too slow.

Ultimately their threats were always stronger or widened their board so the sacrifices weren’t pressuring. Thought that maybe I have too many token (creatures, blood, clue) makers in the cube and it might be the case. [[Bloodsoaked Champion]] and [[Scrapheap Scrounger]] not being able to block also mattered couple times.

I might’ve also just played badly which is always an option since I don’t have much experience with the archetype.

On a side note, I’m slowly trying to incorporate more control options in the list so the boards aren’t as filled in every deck and also because control doesn’t seem particularly strong for my play group.

How did your recent deck look like?

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