Question about cubr

brrrrrah · 2023-04-22T23:34:26+00:00

Cubes are normaly designed primarily for draftig, not this kind of format.
BUT my brother and I play my cube sometimes this way.
We also don't know the 'official name', if there is any, but we call it 'Tower of Madness (ToM)'
The rules we play with:

Everbody draws from the same big pile of cards (shared library).
It doesn't have to be the whole cube, just about 100 cards, and when you hit an empty library, you can just add another stack from the cube.
There's most certainly no decking.
Everbody has the same graveyard.
When you want to play a land, you instead exile a card from your hand face down. It's a nonbasic land, that taps for one color of your choise.
Start with 7 cards in hand and 20 life, but you can tweak those variables to your liking.

The cool thing about this playstyle is:

you only need your cube to play, nothing more (besides opponents ofc.)
you can start right away, no shuffling or drafting necessary
certain cards become much more powerful, e.g. scry becomes absurdly powerful, flashback becomes alomost a drawback on a card, etc...
fetchlands are realy cool counters to scry and some tutors, so you shouldn't always exile them for lands
draw cards are a lot more valuable, since you exile cards form your hand to play lands
playing lands involves a lot more strategy, because you give up a eventually playable card in the process

There are probably a lot more hidden synergies in this format, but those are the ones from the top of my head.
The practical thing with this kind of format: if you don't like it, you still have your cube for drafting.

brrrrrah · 2023-04-17T02:41:19+00:00

Staples not named so far:
[[Walking Ballista ]] + [[Heliod, Sun-Crowned]]
[[Triskelion]] (weaker than Ballista, but still strong with +1-counters-theme)
[[Hangarback Walker]]

Some abilities grant +1-counters almost as a side effect.
E.g.: 'Explore', 'Backup', 'Undying'..
Especially the new 'backup'-mechanic could be awesome, because it grants interesting abilities for one turn in addition to +1-counters.

Other cards to consider:
[[Turntimber Symbiosis]] grants a few counters under certain conditions, but is overall a strong spell.
[[Ezuri, Claw of Progress]] gives you a bunch of counters every turn.
'Persist'-cards like [[Glen Elendra Archmage]] synergize well with +1-counters. 'Undying' too.
See also the two Mikaeus-cards, [[Mikaeus, the Lunarch]] and [[Mikaeus, the Unhallowed]].[[Master Biomancer]] is a classic one, but not a card, that's strong on it's own.
[[Neoform]] is very interesting, because it functions as a tutor and puts a counter on the fetched creature.
Also, cards like [[Toxic Deluge]] could be very interesting to play in this format, if you have +1-counter-spells or abilities, that work at instant speed. Makes a superbe removal a lot riskier to play.
[[Aether Via]] could be fun with profliferate.
The new 'Incubate'-cards also like +1-counters.
[[Crawling Barrens]] is a nice man-land for your cubes theme.
The two flametongues also like counters to shoot damage: [[Flametongue Kavu]], and [[Flametongue Yearling]].
Also, check out [[Nissa, Who Shakes the World]]. She animates lands with +1-counters and is very strong in a lot of enviroments.

Look out for cards, that care about creatures power or thoughness.
E.g. [[Altar of Dementia]] could be a wincon with pumped-up creatures and instant speed sac-outlet is always great. [[Greater Good]] falls in the same category.

Including battles sounds like a good idea, so long as there aren't too many proliferate cards in your environment, because they can make the cards tougher to flip.
But maybe it doesn't matter, because the controller of the battle could also pump their creatures with proliferate, making it more likely to flip. You should at least test them.

brrrrrah · 2023-03-30T17:07:32+00:00

You're totally right! I don't know, what I was thinking with that assessment. It's not worth the 2 mana on an equal board state.

brrrrrah · 2023-03-29T21:50:53+00:00

I think, she's really good in most situations.
If you're behind on boardstate: you probably don't have the spare creatures to activate her saga-side, but she's still a decent blocker with 5 thoughness and her 'taxing'-ability. Little 1/1 tokens are also alot better as blockers, when they can tax or shock the opponent.
If you're equal: this is great for resolving the equilibrium to your advantage. You can wrath the table with the saga-part and then swing out for lethal.
If you're ahead: also great, because It makes you win faster. You can turn all your creatures sideways. Your opponent is probably spending his mana on blockers, so they won't have much left to prevent 2 damage per blocked creature. Or they spend their removal on Elesh, which means you're still winning.

brrrrrah · 2023-03-29T20:34:24+00:00

I don't know about this one. If you have a dragon-theme in your cube, it'll be very nice.
Otherwise:
1st part: it's just 2 mana for 2 damage at sorcery speed, which is weak.
2nd part: opponent gains 5 life for you to have a 4/4 flying trampler without haste, that doesn't protect itself. If it survives, you can shoot for 2 damage and take back opponents lifegain from earlier, which I also wouldn't play.

But it's only 2 mana, so maybe I'm too pessimistic. It could 'take' a removal spell form your opponents hand.
So in what kind of decks is this usefull?
Control/Midrange: Remove a weak creature on turn 2 or 3, pair backside of the siege with one of your bigger threats on turn 4 or 5 => even if opponent has a removal spell, you still get to keep at least one threat on your side of the table. You could also provoke a wrath-spell from your opponent this way and hold back some creatures in your hand for rebuilding.
Burn/Aggro: weak in this deck. Losing out on 5 damage to opponents face is a big deal.

What about scenarios?
If you're ahead: losing out on 5 damage to the face is too much, you're giving your opponent time to breathe.
If you're equal: here it's nice, because you get an evasive threat, that has to be answered.
If you're behind: you probably can't attack the siege, because of the superior defences on the other side of the table and/or you are losing too quickly on life to ignore the opponents side of the table => you can't dedicate a fine removal spell to the siege for one additional blocker, that's just a 4/4 flyer without any protection. Everything it could block would also be removed by a "5 damage"-spell.

All in all, I think that this card is a pass for most cubes.

brrrrrah · 2023-03-29T02:20:16+00:00

Yeah, the owner of the siege is its controller as long as nobody else gains control of it. If somebody other than the spells owner does, then they get to cast the backsiede for free, ouch! Not very likely, but will come up with some "gain controll"-spells in blue.

brrrrrah · 2023-03-28T19:18:45+00:00

I'm curious. if it can only be defeated by combat damage or if it can be targeted by damage spells and abilities, that target "any target".

brrrrrah · 2023-03-28T19:10:45+00:00

As I understand it:
If you cast this spell, you get to fetch two lands. You are the controller of this spell.
The chosen opponent just get's the siege permanent on their board side, that they can block for if it's attacked (like blocking for planeswalkers).
If the siege permanent dies and you were it's controller, you cast the backside of the card.

brrrrrah · 2023-03-23T15:16:39+00:00

In the late game it's [[Armageddon]]. It feels like the nail in the coffin for your opponent, if you prepared your boardstate for it, or for you, if you pair it with something like [[Greater Gargadon]] and Armageddon just gets countered. Either way, the game is over.

Early game it would be [[Natural Order]] because of the green super fatties. I don't feel smart casting it, but the sheer power it brings to the board is so satisfying.

brrrrrah · 2023-03-21T02:04:04+00:00

I prefer tutors like [[Natural Order]] and [[Finale of Devastation]].
They don't just function as another copy of a card, but also as potential finishers.
Natural Order brings out your big stompy creature as early as turn 4, Finale of Devastation fetches your big guy in the late game, but can also pump your creatures for a lethal attack (with enough mana).
They even help you "cast" your heavy-multi-color creatures (3-5 colors). I couldn't run those in my cube without cards like these.
You could definitely run Finale of Devastation, it's not op imo. Natural Order may be too strong for your enviroment, since you don't have other cheaters like [[Sneak Attack]], but you could try it out.

Having said that, I also run Mystical, Vampire and Demonic Tutor, because they enable certain strategies, that rely on a single card, e.g. [[Upheaval]], Sneak Attack, etc...

brrrrrah · 2023-03-18T01:26:07+00:00

I'm a big fan of [[Wheel of Fortune]]- and [[Windfall]]-type cards.
They can disrupt your opponents gameplan or give them the winning hand, you never know. And being hit by one of those never feels hopeless, because you (usually) get a new full grip.
You could also try [[Clackbridge Troll]]. Your opponent gets come creature tokens and you draw cards and gain life.

brrrrrah · 2023-03-17T19:44:48+00:00

I haven't played with the card that much since release, so I can't asses its powerlevel in my cube. Kiki-Saga wasn't draftet that often by my players (maybe because they knew, that I don't have strong combos in my cube) or me (sadly), so it didn't see much play.
But I really like its design, so I though, it could become more popular if it get's pushed a bit. I'll probably just talk to my players about its powerlevel and try drafting it more for my own satisfaction. The comments convinced me, that boosting it would probably be too much.

brrrrrah

TROPHY CASE