It doesn't take much watching of cube videos to see plenty of people going to valuetown with bloodghast! Recurring nightmare, liliana, birthing pod, survival, fauna shaman, braids (alright, i've not actually seen anybody try braids, but still..) etc. I agree with a lot of your picks, but I can't imagine bloodghast getting cut (plus it's just pretty reasonable against the U/W control decks anyway!)
Rhox war monk has also been pretty good for me, but i don't really like 3-colour cards in the cube.
I've seen him be acceptable once; someone somehow got 12+ fixerlands and a ton of gold aggro cards and made it run. We're talking hitting correct duals to have Doran T3, Ruhan T4. It was kind-of bs, but whatever. Mostly he is a bad card for this cube though.
There are a few bots out there that still sell them for 0.50 a piece. They are going to be insanely expensive eventually. I only have 300, but would like to cap out at 500.
And TSP was really good to me. I didn't have time to draft, so I just opened packs and got 2 Goyf's (1 Foil), 1 Damnation, and that 0 mana cost counterspell. I was really happy the Cube paid out something good, or at least semi-cool.
But those were only the distorted names and some vague attributes (sky, sea), the deities' iconographies are entirely made up based on each people's expectations (a bit like white men think Jesus was white and blond and God is an old white man).
I mean, if I'd had no accounting education and had to take it it could be hard, but...
Pretty rad that you're taking accounting classes though; it's an interesting field as you get deeper into it. If you can/need a class, I recommend Cost Accounting. It is a different perspective than tax/audit classes and much more useful for management.
I still think this is more of a theoretical discussion on Emrakul effects compared to Ulamog or Colossus effects. The practical stuff is: you die, regardless, 95% of the times. The case where Annihilator 4 rather than 6 causes you to WIN the game (rather than just vegetate one turn more) is a case you tell your friends about, because you pulled off an extraordinary comeback.
Losing the game because someone ramped to 15 mana to cast Emrakul = losing the game because someone ramped to 15 mana to cast a 14-damage Banefire on your face. (Actually not, with Emrakul you still have a chance, if you have some tappers or a Brittle Effigy or Oblivion Stone online).
Most of all: losing the game because someone ramped to 15 mana and did his endgame is deserved. That means you just watched the deck do its business and couldn't do anything to stop it. You should stop/outrace the ramp, not the finisher.
What's not deserved is the Show and Tell scenario. And it's where it's pretty much the 95% figure to me. If I look at the popular ways out of a situation like that (i.e. with 1 full, non-annhilated turn available), Ulamog and Colossus negate some of them which Emrakul doesn't (Wrath of God, Damnation, up to Oblivion Stone and even Obliterate). The real difference is Swords to Plowshares. So maybe Oblivion Ring becomes better.
To me the main reason Emrakul shouldn't be allowed is the one grapplingfarang suggested: people would use ALWAYS it in their suitable decks rather than its "rivals", and that would kill variety.
(I checked, MTG Salvation describes Emrakul as an "it", based on flavor texts explicitly doing so in cards like Consume the Meek. Which seems reasonable, since it's an Azathoth-like deity-thing with no begin and no end - the form we see on Zendikar is just a lesser avatar of it - well beyond the concept of gender.)
Crippling Chill gives neither board nor card advantage. If it was a permanent which cantripped, it would give card advantage. As it is an instant whose affect disappears after a turn, the fact that it replaces itself simply represents card parity, rather than disadvantage (for example when you play Vapor Snag on an opponent's creature, you're actually giving yourself card disadvantage, but you're gaining tempo). Chill doesn't give board advantage, because it's not removal. It gains you some tempo, and can be an interesting combat trick. I'm not saying it's a bad card, just that it doesn't give board or card advantage.
I had originally tried that over the sandstorms, but found that it was never doing enough damage to clear the entire board so switched in the sandstorms... you can def try it over the rebirths in addition to the sandstorms, but personally I liked the extra aggro since the deck is a bit creature light
I thought we lost you there for a minute. It's good to see your return! We hope to see more of your draft soon. I'm doin a draft now and have 3 Sever The Bloodline in my deck. What are the odds of that?
The difference between Hypergenesis and Sneak Attack or Show and Tell even is one of opportunity. Hypergenesis has typically been cheap to obtain and as soon as cascade came around in 2009 it was put to use. Same with Living End. Hypergenesis is Eureka with a faster more consistent mechanism for casting it. Those years before it became a problem had to do with lack of opportunity. As soon as there was a strong enabler system Hypergenesis found itself being broken.
It might have taken awhile for the wider Tribal Apoc audience to catch on because Flippers Girafe and I were the ones making the decks and neither of us particularly cared for bringing the same ole thing every week.
Show & Tell and Sneak Attack are both moderately expensive. And so are their usual suspects. This deters players from running them in every deck. Were they cheaper I think this would change.
I do think there is a huge difference. Many spells take care of either Ulamog or Blightsteel that can't even target Emrakul. Emrakul IS super Eldrazi. The off chance of being able to cast her with tron/post also means you can potentially timewalk + hit for annihilator 6. I think the way Annihilator works in general is just wrong. But 2 is magnitudes less. Given only 5 permanents and 4 are land if you annihilate me for 6 I am done no matter what. If you annihilate me for 2 I have a slim chance of top decking an answer. The difference is HUGE.
(As for the gender it is something I've seen often in other articles and in conversations. I do believe some Vorthos tracked down that she is a she. )
I was going to make the same point about Emrakul, then lost myself in my overcomplicated discussion. :) I knew I wouldn't propose an unbanning for the Trifecta (my point being: they could be back more than they should), and the reason for Emrakul to stay banned is that it would be the one go-to finisher, because there's no point in evaluating other choices over him. He doesn't necessarily make those decks significantly better, but surely he makes them less varied.
You're essentially arguing about Sneak Attack needing to be put in the same category of Hypergenesis. I can buy that, but I'd still want to see it on the field. We know Hypergenesis was and would be played massively. We still don't know if Sneak Attack would be played at all, and until that, it would be an arbitrary banning not based on the reality of the meta. After all, Hypergenesis was there for years before it became a problem, and there are problematic cards lurking in the pool (I just heard of one that we will be played soon and people will complain a lot about it), which aren't banned/considered for banning only because they're not played.
My point being: do you really think Show and Tell: Ulamog or Show and Tell: Blightsteel Colossus is really that much different? Is Annihilator +2 really going to make the difference when you have 5 permanents on the battlefield?
(Where did you get that Emrakul is a "she", btw? :)
I talked bout Natural Order/Progenitus in the article.
It doesn't take much watching of cube videos to see plenty of people going to valuetown with bloodghast! Recurring nightmare, liliana, birthing pod, survival, fauna shaman, braids (alright, i've not actually seen anybody try braids, but still..) etc. I agree with a lot of your picks, but I can't imagine bloodghast getting cut (plus it's just pretty reasonable against the U/W control decks anyway!)
Rhox war monk has also been pretty good for me, but i don't really like 3-colour cards in the cube.
I've seen him be acceptable once; someone somehow got 12+ fixerlands and a ton of gold aggro cards and made it run. We're talking hitting correct duals to have Doran T3, Ruhan T4. It was kind-of bs, but whatever. Mostly he is a bad card for this cube though.
I like Ruhan, but when I've played Cube, I haven't seen too much support to build around him.
Whaaaaaat? I've done 10 or 15 TPF drafts and not seen a single Goyf.
You switched out your deck so you wouldn't beat up on some new players too badly? I have so much respect for you now. :)
Lingering Souls.
There are a few bots out there that still sell them for 0.50 a piece. They are going to be insanely expensive eventually. I only have 300, but would like to cap out at 500.
And TSP was really good to me. I didn't have time to draft, so I just opened packs and got 2 Goyf's (1 Foil), 1 Damnation, and that 0 mana cost counterspell. I was really happy the Cube paid out something good, or at least semi-cool.
I think Morgan Freeman cured us of that idea!
But those were only the distorted names and some vague attributes (sky, sea), the deities' iconographies are entirely made up based on each people's expectations (a bit like white men think Jesus was white and blond and God is an old white man).
We'll have to Skype to do it, but it is :)
I mean, if I'd had no accounting education and had to take it it could be hard, but...
Pretty rad that you're taking accounting classes though; it's an interesting field as you get deeper into it. If you can/need a class, I recommend Cost Accounting. It is a different perspective than tax/audit classes and much more useful for management.
Emeria, Emrakul's poorly-remembered deity-memory, is classed as female, as is Ula, with Cosi being male.
Do you guys think that miracles can make a competitive Counter-Top variant?
I still think this is more of a theoretical discussion on Emrakul effects compared to Ulamog or Colossus effects. The practical stuff is: you die, regardless, 95% of the times. The case where Annihilator 4 rather than 6 causes you to WIN the game (rather than just vegetate one turn more) is a case you tell your friends about, because you pulled off an extraordinary comeback.
Losing the game because someone ramped to 15 mana to cast Emrakul = losing the game because someone ramped to 15 mana to cast a 14-damage Banefire on your face. (Actually not, with Emrakul you still have a chance, if you have some tappers or a Brittle Effigy or Oblivion Stone online).
Most of all: losing the game because someone ramped to 15 mana and did his endgame is deserved. That means you just watched the deck do its business and couldn't do anything to stop it. You should stop/outrace the ramp, not the finisher.
What's not deserved is the Show and Tell scenario. And it's where it's pretty much the 95% figure to me. If I look at the popular ways out of a situation like that (i.e. with 1 full, non-annhilated turn available), Ulamog and Colossus negate some of them which Emrakul doesn't (Wrath of God, Damnation, up to Oblivion Stone and even Obliterate). The real difference is Swords to Plowshares. So maybe Oblivion Ring becomes better.
To me the main reason Emrakul shouldn't be allowed is the one grapplingfarang suggested: people would use ALWAYS it in their suitable decks rather than its "rivals", and that would kill variety.
(I checked, MTG Salvation describes Emrakul as an "it", based on flavor texts explicitly doing so in cards like Consume the Meek. Which seems reasonable, since it's an Azathoth-like deity-thing with no begin and no end - the form we see on Zendikar is just a lesser avatar of it - well beyond the concept of gender.)
Outwit just seems terrible. Basically everything you mentioned can also be countered by a more flexible and accessible card: Mental Misstep.
LOL When people get bad hands, they blame the shuffler; when they get bad pairings, they blame the organizer (and not the DCI software). =p
thanks for the clarification. And yes it is a neat combat trick, especially at an instant.
Crippling Chill gives neither board nor card advantage. If it was a permanent which cantripped, it would give card advantage. As it is an instant whose affect disappears after a turn, the fact that it replaces itself simply represents card parity, rather than disadvantage (for example when you play Vapor Snag on an opponent's creature, you're actually giving yourself card disadvantage, but you're gaining tempo). Chill doesn't give board advantage, because it's not removal. It gains you some tempo, and can be an interesting combat trick. I'm not saying it's a bad card, just that it doesn't give board or card advantage.
End of pedantry.
Hey guys, thanks a ton for the support. I can't believe I took so long, I'll try to bring some fresh content soon.
And Tyler there is zero chance you can look me in the face and say managerial accounting is easy!!!!
I had originally tried that over the sandstorms, but found that it was never doing enough damage to clear the entire board so switched in the sandstorms... you can def try it over the rebirths in addition to the sandstorms, but personally I liked the extra aggro since the deck is a bit creature light
I thought we lost you there for a minute. It's good to see your return! We hope to see more of your draft soon. I'm doin a draft now and have 3 Sever The Bloodline in my deck. What are the odds of that?
I like Krark-Clan Shaman over Kuldotha Rebirth, very good against aggro.
I thought you were using "she" like some people do when they talk about God.
Wouldn't think that those things have gender haha (in before "LOL you're mixing gender with sex")
The difference between Hypergenesis and Sneak Attack or Show and Tell even is one of opportunity. Hypergenesis has typically been cheap to obtain and as soon as cascade came around in 2009 it was put to use. Same with Living End. Hypergenesis is Eureka with a faster more consistent mechanism for casting it. Those years before it became a problem had to do with lack of opportunity. As soon as there was a strong enabler system Hypergenesis found itself being broken.
It might have taken awhile for the wider Tribal Apoc audience to catch on because Flippers Girafe and I were the ones making the decks and neither of us particularly cared for bringing the same ole thing every week.
Show & Tell and Sneak Attack are both moderately expensive. And so are their usual suspects. This deters players from running them in every deck. Were they cheaper I think this would change.
I do think there is a huge difference. Many spells take care of either Ulamog or Blightsteel that can't even target Emrakul. Emrakul IS super Eldrazi. The off chance of being able to cast her with tron/post also means you can potentially timewalk + hit for annihilator 6. I think the way Annihilator works in general is just wrong. But 2 is magnitudes less. Given only 5 permanents and 4 are land if you annihilate me for 6 I am done no matter what. If you annihilate me for 2 I have a slim chance of top decking an answer. The difference is HUGE.
(As for the gender it is something I've seen often in other articles and in conversations. I do believe some Vorthos tracked down that she is a she. )
I was going to make the same point about Emrakul, then lost myself in my overcomplicated discussion. :) I knew I wouldn't propose an unbanning for the Trifecta (my point being: they could be back more than they should), and the reason for Emrakul to stay banned is that it would be the one go-to finisher, because there's no point in evaluating other choices over him. He doesn't necessarily make those decks significantly better, but surely he makes them less varied.
You're essentially arguing about Sneak Attack needing to be put in the same category of Hypergenesis. I can buy that, but I'd still want to see it on the field. We know Hypergenesis was and would be played massively. We still don't know if Sneak Attack would be played at all, and until that, it would be an arbitrary banning not based on the reality of the meta. After all, Hypergenesis was there for years before it became a problem, and there are problematic cards lurking in the pool (I just heard of one that we will be played soon and people will complain a lot about it), which aren't banned/considered for banning only because they're not played.
My point being: do you really think Show and Tell: Ulamog or Show and Tell: Blightsteel Colossus is really that much different? Is Annihilator +2 really going to make the difference when you have 5 permanents on the battlefield?
(Where did you get that Emrakul is a "she", btw? :)
I talked bout Natural Order/Progenitus in the article.
I also agree, it is rather amazing how much this set will support the others, yet stand alone.