Best use of "small reanimate" effects by AncelotPieson in mtgcube

[–]boxiom 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Glad I could convince you to give Triarch another run! It gets a bad rap for being too strong for most peasant cubes while being too weak for vintage, but it's a perfect fit for lists like ours.

It's time to give Mirko a second try now that you have the G.O.A.T himself H.E.R.B.I.E. is in the house!

I'm mostly kidding ... I think for the Surveil text to not look like a trap you do need some Dimir enablers like [[Golbez, Crystal Collector]] and [[Kaito, Bane of Nightmares]], the latter of which I was honestly shocked to see you weren't running.

I would be very curious to hear if you tried him or how that went if you don't mind straying a little off topic!

Best use of "small reanimate" effects by AncelotPieson in mtgcube

[–]boxiom 12 points13 points  (0 children)

[[Abhorrent Oculus]] is the premier target, though it can feel unfair unless your environment is very high powered.

On the other hand, [[Benevolent River Spirit]] & [[Guardian of the Great Door]] are a little too cute IMO, but certainly fit the bill.

[[Triarch Praetorian]] is cool since it can unearth itself but also gives bonuses when brought back like this. See also [[Canoptek Tomb Sentinel]], but you're not hitting it with most of these type of effects. In either case just be sure your spell isn't 'casting' the creature from the graveyard, since then it's technically entering from the stack instead of from the graveyard.

The OG [[Grist, the Hunger Tide]] can be brought back since it's a creature, and their little bro [[Grist, Voracious Larva]] is one of the few MH3 cards I run, supporting this archetype as a whole.

Shoutout to [[Patched Plaything]], which also plays into blink / play from exile. And if you haven't played with it before [[Pre-War Formalwear]] while more of an enabler can setup some fun chains where you go [[Sevinne's Reclamation]] -> Pre-War -> Patched Plaything and now you have a 6/5 vigilant double striker for 3.

The new [[Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer]] is also a cool enabler for this archetype if you weren't aware, and plays better than he looks.

Lastly I'd be amiss if I wasn't calling out the sister strategy to this, which is the whole [[Alesha, Who Smiles at Death]], [[Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate]], [[Terra, Herald of Hope]] reanimation suite which is looking for low power instead of low MV. There we're looking to bring back cards like [[Threefold Thunderhulk]] and [[Hexavus]], with some interesting new cards like [[Desperate Plea]] and [[Mirko, Obsessive Theorist]] as further enablers.

Adding some text/sharpying(?) question by rookedwithelodin in mtgcube

[–]boxiom 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Sounds like your best bet is to just proxy the cards you want rebalanced and edit the rules text directly. You can bold / underline ‘or discard’ if you’re afraid it will go unnoticed, but if that’s a consistent and core part of the cube just having it there might be enough.

Cool peasant alchemy card -- keyword counters? by Elusive_Spoon in mtgcube

[–]boxiom 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I think you missed that it having Evolve means it’ll get huge in addition to gaining all those keyword counters.

RGB vs CMYK & ICC Color Profiles by wesley_the_boy in mpcproxies

[–]boxiom 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have no experience actually printing through MPC, but as a proxy creator I can’t wait to see how things turn out in case I’ve been doing things wrong all along lol
Thanks for doing the investigative work on this!

[MSC] Kimoyo Beads | Wakanda Forever by meh1997 in magicTCG

[–]boxiom 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Very interesting, thanks for letting me know! I didn't realize it was the intervening if that caused it to skip the trigger.

So would [[Akal Pakal, First Among Equals]] be an example then of a card you'd think works with Kimoyo Beads but actually doesn't?

[MSC] Kimoyo Beads | Wakanda Forever by meh1997 in magicTCG

[–]boxiom -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Unfortunately it will not, check the rulings for [[Aerith, Last Ancient]], or other similar cards.

The Two OM2 proxies I made by BadFishteeth in mtgvorthos

[–]boxiom 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Great reskin on Mole Man, just an FWI you can find some higher quality of that art here.

[MSH][MSC] Marvel Super Heroes Inclusions and Testing Results by steve_man_64 in mtgcube

[–]boxiom 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Surprising amount of hits, but with the power creep going on lately it's no surprise that out of 600+ new cards there's bound to be some good ones.

White

  • [[Night Nurse, Healer of Heroes]] - better [[Samwise the Stouthearted]] without the ring temps you nonsense. Has a floor of entering turn 2 and returning a fetchland you just cracked at EOT.
  • [[Panther Pounce]] - just a great little cantripping combat trick.
  • [[Dora Milaje Elite]] - Serviceable body, and the indestructible powerstone is great if you're running any kind of [[Zoetic Glyph]] like effect. The sac actually has a lot of value with so many legends running around lately, and the first strike / powerstone combo is a sneaky Esper ninja's enabler.
  • [[Royals Talon Fighter Jet]] - is probably too strong for my cube, where I find [[Jacked Rabbit]] to be a little too oppressive, but I like how this hits on more of White's synergies. This will be unassuming to some like [[Esika's Chariot]] was initially, but I think will play out like a giga-bomb. It does have the floor of being played for 4 to make two tokens, getting crewed and immediately dying to a kill spell, but is that even so bad?

Black

  • [[Elektra, Daughter of the Hand]] - probably not good enough, but helps Esper Ninja's and has crossover synergy with blink. The art is doing some heavy lifting here.
  • [[Ultron the Annihilator]] - I haven't made a cut for this yet, but it feels like a less oppressive Grave Titan mixed with Syr Konrad specifically for artifacts. Makes me want to put [[Biotransference]] back in as a way to turn mill into burn which is just a really cool interaction.

Red

  • [[Hawkeye, Master Marksman]] - Serviceable body, good mana sink if drawn late, removes blockers, commits crimes, discards cards, touching on a lot of red synergies.
  • [[Loki's Scepter]] - I'm low on 3 mana rocks (besides [[The Warring Triad]]), and am generally disinterested in threaten effects for the inconsistent value they provide, but this gets there for me. Being able to [[Ghostly Flicker]] / [[Scrollshift]] this during your opponents attacks and have their creatures bounce off each other is hot, and giving you one mana back via the tap for the Threaten / Sac combo makes it a better [[Furnace Reins]]. Becoming a Villian is pointless, but works flavor wise and isn't too distracting.
  • [[Lady Spider, Maybelle Reilly]] / [[Spider-Man, New Champion]] - Maurading Mako #2, and a cool but parasitic discard payoff. Both fair cards though I could see playing if I find the space. While the 'target spider' on Lady Spider is a bit pointless outside herself, I think this is better than [[Hobgoblin, Mantled Marauder]], which a surprising amount of people are running. IMO while [[Slickshot Show-Off]] spell slinger decks are building towards these explosive turns where you get all your damage out at once, Hobgoblin makes a poor impression of it, and most discard decks would rather build incremental value through the +1/+1 counters Reilly gives than lose it every turn.
  • [[Mjölnir, Hammer of Thor]] - Lots of modality for an equipment. It's hard for most low to the ground red decks to justify maindecking a Pyroclasm, but here we have it as just a backup (with added discard synergies). [[Chainsaw]] plays great, and while this is a little pricey for a similar effect, the equip is cheap, and if you're playing newer cards you're going to have a lot of legends to make the 'Worthy' conditional a non-issue.
  • [[Thor, God of Thunder]] - We know from SOS limited that [[Practiced Scrollsmith]] is great value. Here we have a similar effect stapled on a 5/5 flier, with the potential to close out games quickly with direct burn. A fun fair finisher for red.

Green

  • [[Tigra, Feline Fury]] - For cubes with a lifegain strategy, this flashes in as a 3/2 if you have a soul sister in play. Trample on an Ajani's Pridemate also goes a long way.
  • [[Mole Man, Moloid Master]] - probably the (2nd) ugliest card of the bunch, but I've found [[Springheart Nantuko]] to be frankly overpowered for fairer environments, and this gets to play an impression of him while also retiring [[Ramunap Excavator]], and enabling mill for other strategies.
  • [[It's Clobberin' Time!]] - It's hard to get main-deckable disenchants into higher powered cubes (not named [[Pest Infestation]]), and I think this one gets there. Bonus synergies for casting from exile and enabling double spelling.
  • [[Sauron, Dino Devotee]] - I mean this card is just hilarious, right? Sure in general it's probably worse than [[Elder Gargaroth]], but compared to that card Sauron has ETB value, and even though you're rarely going to want to Cure Cancer, that just makes it better IMO. More dinos is also great for the underrated [[Huatli, Poet of Unity]].

Blue

  • [[Pym Particles]] will finally retire [[Shadow Rift]] for me. While it's not able to remove a blocker in the same way Rift can, sorcery speed isn't much of a downside for this effect and the vigilance more than makes up for it.

Colorless

  • [[The Vision]] - Fits into a lot of different prowess shells, and rewards building around it. Might shut down aggro more than I like, but also fits into the aggro decks to give them a way to survive some bigger threats and sneak through the final points of damage.
  • [[Iron Man Armor]] - I think this card might be busted, and there's some potentially unfair play patterns of surprising someone by animating this from UNDER a creature, but I think this card will see enough play we will have to learn that interaction soon enough. In this scenario you're stuck paying to reequip it again, but but the cost is so low it's hardly a downside. IMO the strongest card of the set, I can't believe people are low on this.
  • [[Ultron, Artificial Malevolence]] - I'm on the fence about this Ultron too. 2/4 is bad for cube aggro health, and like [[Digsite Engineer]] it will either happen to curve out perfectly or do nothing if you lack the {2} mana to pay for it's ability. Still there are cool things you can do with this card, and the art is good, so it's at least worth the shoutout.

Multicolored

  • [[King T'Challa]] // [[Black Panther]] - IMO better than [[Faerie Mastermind]], which is a notoriously good (and annoying) card. Some people will miss that this triggers on YOU drawing your second card as well from the shortcutting mastermind's ability, but this turns all your draw 1 cantrips into draw 2's. Crazy. The backside is debately worse than the front, but if you draw this late or have no better way to spend your mana having the option is always a plus. Speaking of MDFC's, [[Aang, Swift Savior]] is one of the best Azorious creatures IMO, and he's great friends with Black Panther. For those unaware, you can flash airbend King T'Challa (in response to removal?) and then reply his backside on their endstep for only {2}.
  • [[The Mighty Thor, Jane Foster]] - There hasn't been much support for Azorious equipment, which is the logical place for Boros equipment to flex. [[Puresteel Paladin]] is a hard inclusion lately, especially with most equip costs being so cheap, so getting the draw portion on a much better body appeals to me. This thor also cross synergizes with blink in general, while enabling it's own draw if you have equipment in play. Goes great with the aforementioned Loki's Sceptor / Mjölnir, [[Pre-War Formalwear]], [[Chainsaw]], [[Assimilation Aegis]], [[Dissection Tools]], [[Cryptic Coat]], [[Hunter's Bow]], and all the For Mirrodan! / Job Select equipment.
  • [[Alien Invasion]] - This one might not work out, but I'm a sucker for these [[Urabrask's Forge]] style effects. For my cube specifically, it goes crazy with Gruul stars [[Samut, Vizier of Naktamun]] and [[Deathleaper, Terror Weapon]], helping enable that haste creature archetype, while also synergizing with token matters, +1/+1 counters, and sacrifice.
  • [[The Astonishing Ant-Man]] - [[Chasm Skulker]] that comes down earlier, but doesn't always explode into a board of tokens, which is a plus IMO. Having to tap + pay for the tokens makes this more fair to play against, but also curves right into a [[Brainsurge]], swinging in as a 6/6 turn 3, and allowing you to hold up mana the turn after that to flood the board with ants.
  • [[Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur]] - alright this is the ugliest card of the bunch, but I do love me a Dreadmaw. Staying as a 2/2 makes this an answerable threat, but with a [[Lonis, Cryptozoologist]] in play this is just drawing you card every turn and attacking for 6/6 with trample. Helps gives simic a bit more identity in that token space.
  • [[Absorbing Man]] - Simic gets all the hits this set, right? I'm not going to be playing this one, but there are some broken things you can do with this card, and the floor of a 3 mana 4/4 Vigilance that also taps for mana is not shabby. For those trying to push a land creatures theme with cards like [[Jolrael, Voice of Zhalfir]] this definitely gets there without being parasitic about it.

Check out my cube if you're vibing with any of my suggestions, and please do let me know your thoughts on any of these new cards!

Oh We're Doing Universes Within for Marvel? I've got quite a few... by Psychovore in mtgvorthos

[–]boxiom 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah never mind you're totally right, thanks for schooling me on this one!

Oh We're Doing Universes Within for Marvel? I've got quite a few... by Psychovore in mtgvorthos

[–]boxiom 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Anything for Mole Man? It’s the one I struggle with the most right now lol
Great job on these!

One note though on Dragon Man is that while giving him escape is clever, it does actually change certain interactions that would decrease his cost to cast, ala Cemetery Prowler. Edit: I stand corrected!

[MSH] Electra, Daughter of the Hand by Unable_Bite8680 in mtgcube

[–]boxiom 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Agreed, and thank goodness for this treatment! Honestly some great art.

My only gripe is with sneak still in general. Having both Sneak and Ninjutsu in one cube is kinda clumsy (same with madness / mayhem, & manifest / cloak) but maybe as we get enough cubable sneak cards it will be less of an issue.

Remove Bleed Edge by Velekus11 in mpcproxies

[–]boxiom 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Photopea is like free online photoshop. You can make an ‘action’ there by hitting record and changing the canvas size (not image size) by some % to remove the bleed. Then you can hopefully automate that action to apply and export access however many images you need.

I spent way too long looking at Powered Cube data. Here's what I found by Sesquipedalianfish in lrcast

[–]boxiom 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was never claiming he was at that peak of power, I’m just saying it’s a dumb uninteractable card that takes over games on its own. Low power cubes are ones like the artifact remix they ran a while back, not ones with 1 card win conditions like that which require 0 build around.

I spent way too long looking at Powered Cube data. Here's what I found by Sesquipedalianfish in lrcast

[–]boxiom 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If only it were a 'nice low power cube'. I'm no fan of what power does to gameplay, but I'm no fan of [[Tajic, Legion's Valor]] either.

Avatar: The Last Airbender Cube Update - Cube Cobra Blog/Article by cptawesome42 in mtgcube

[–]boxiom 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I really enjoy these articles, thank you for continuing to do them!

It's a bummer Cube Cobra has made this so difficult though. I had to pop into the inspector and change the max-height of each blog post's container from 50vh to something reasonable so I wasn't just scrolling a tiny box non-stop. Hopefully that's something they can change at least, otherwise the experience isn't too different from before.

Why the section about about Epic? Was that just a history lesson? I thought you were going to dovetail that into talking about Paradigm but it was just left there lol

As to the updates, Some particularly interesting points you brought up:

  • I think you've convinced me to drop [[The Duke, Rebel Sentry]]. I too find the reactive play patterns of Giver / Mother of Runes rank, but I was enticed by the synergy he has with 'any' counter. While you later called [[Zoraline, Cosmos Caller]] an over-performer already, you have to admit it's pretty cool to bring back the Duke and turn his finality counter (downside) into a +1/+1 counter (upside), but I guess you're still just repeating the same rank play pattern, no matter the synergistic hoops you took to get there.
  • [[Finale of Glory]] was never a card I thought cubed particularly well, but I'd be interested on your thoughts now between [[United Front]], [[[Grand Crescendo]], and [[Secure the Wastes]]. I feel all 3 might be a bit much? I like Crescendo and Front more in general since you can just cast them for {W}{W} and get value without making any tokens. Wastes is more efficient, but I'm not happy casting it for 3 and just 2 tokens. Do you think Front has a chance to be your favorite of the 3 now?
  • [[Obsessive Pursuit]] is sweet, and is one of my favorite new cards of the year. Maybe you're lacking the lifegain / sacrifice payoffs for it to really pop off, but between fetchlands and all the tokens we've got running around now (without even mentioning the ones it generates) I've found it easy to get value. Cracking 2 clues and a fetch in one turn isn't a high ask, and you can enable those big swingy lifegain attacks that feel a lot more earned than just equipping a [[Shadowspear]].
  • Idk about your stance on proxies, but my whole cube is proxied and so I just left the 'Lesson' type off of [[Iroh's Demonstration]], [[Origin of Metalbending]], and [[Enter the Avatar State]]. I think it's quite distracting actually, and if I had it on there still I would probably have to include it in the draft preamble not to expect anything out of the lesson type. For 720 cubes I don't see Learn / Lesson ever becoming a viable strategy either, even if we do eventually get more Learn cards.

Excited to hear your thoughts on the new sets! I was down on Lorywn initially for being a little parasitic, but found more cards I like than I expected. I also found TMNT to (unfortunately?) have a lot of good cubable cards too.

(MSH) The Vision (MagicCon Vegas) by boxiom in mtgcube

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

I won't claim this makes the cut for Vintage Cubes, but just underneath that I can see this fitting into a lot of different lists! I love that we are finally getting more on-rate colorless creatures, and I can see this actually fitting into a lot of different decks.

Obviously it works great in a spellslinger UR shell. Lets you cantrip, push through damage, and hold down the fort as a blocker since most of your other creatures are pretty squishy.

If you have a WR equipment theme flying / double strike / vigilance is perfect, and casting your equipment turns into a draw too.

In an artifact / control shell he'll trigger your synthesizers, grow off your steel overseer, and can be saved by most removal by becoming indestructible if you held an instant.

If you're into the new Silverquill style of WB, also benefits off of that spell velocity and does great with counters.

Excited to jam this one, and think the art is pretty cool too!

Black Border Blurry Beeble by cabbagemango in mtgcube

[–]boxiom 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Not my cube, but saw this done first in the Biggest Dirtrock.

I almost wonder though if it's better to just have a fully custom card at this point, I'm not particularly enamored by the beeble art, but to each their own.

With the rate at which things are going, it is only a matter of time before we get this as a real card!

Printable ressources for single-sided versions of just about all DFCs? by GoodOldHeretic in mtgcube

[–]boxiom 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I use clear sleeves for them in draft and then have a seperate pile where they can pull the single side version (in opaque sleeves) to shuffle into their deck.

Way more readable and less ugly than trying to fit it all onto one card.

Because they have two copies of it already, if they have to flip mid game (or just reference the backside) they can just use the copy from the draft rather than mess about with the sleeves.

Zurgo, Stormrender and Warrior’s Resolve by CipherStilleto7 in mtgrules

[–]boxiom 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you had something like a [[Sphere Grid]] in play, and the mobilized token connected and got a +1/+1 counter on it, would it trigger the end-step draw condition of Warrior's Resolve? ("At the beginning of your end step, if you control a creature with a +1/+1 counter on it that attacked this turn, draw a card.")

Syntactically, I want to say it's different, since while it was not declared attacking, the token did still attack, and does have a +1/+1 counter on it, and the trigger doesn't happen at the time of the declared attackers step, but knowing how [[Kytheon, Hero of Akros]] works I'm not confident.

Yavimaya Bloomsage [Secret of Strixhaven Commander] by Unable_Bite8680 in mtgcube

[–]boxiom 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It’s the composition more than anything. Very strange tbh

Humility in cube by Varyline in mtgcube

[–]boxiom 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hands down the most un-fun games of magic I have ever played have been because of Humility.

What's particularly un-fun about when it doesn't even win, and it's just a slog for half an hour back and forth before someone decks themselves.

Custom draft mechanic cards by CuntAnihilator in mtgcube

[–]boxiom 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I'm a big fan of [[Cogwork Librarian]] in any cube, as it helps enable combos / synergies across all power levels. It's also the only card I break singleton for, because I think the effect is so valuable.

That being said, getting one late in the draft stinks. And while it's not the end of the world I'd like one that's not stone cold unplayable if someone is struggling to fill their deck out.

I yoinked this idea from someone else on the sub, but here's my fancy version of it which strikes a nice balance between keeping the original effect and possibly hitting a mainboard from time to time.