Magic: The Gathering,GO TEAM MS!

[chamber]

You can make a cube just by throwing powerful cards together, but battles of haymakers get boring quickly. I know lots of people say they cube to do broken things, but that really does get boring quickly imo. TBF I've cube drafted literally hundreds of times (probably over 500 but I don't count), so my sense of boring may be different.

[Sudo_Nym]

I've only cubed like twice, but my favorite parts were always finding neat interactions in cards I wouldn't use if the format didn't require it. I remember taking cards thinking "well, it fits the colors I've drafted", and then having some fun with it.

[PeregrineV]

Will be crossposted, cause it's cool.

[Thestatusquo]

ugh. topical pop culture magic cards.

[Maestro]

I read them all - pretty accurate actually

Melisandre, Jofrey, and Varys seem OP though, not to mention Varys doesn't really make sense

[Klazam]

The most broken card in there is ygritte. shes a Channel on legs.

Maestro- Melisandre and joffrey isnt op. just merely good. Varys is very strong.

(And i agree with TSQ)

EDIT: Actually Ygritte is better than channel. Say Comet storm in hand, or some other instant speed fireball card. Tap her for mana, resolves. Untap her, targeting herself, BUT do not let that resolve. In response to that, tap for mana, and so on for infinite green mana. Blast off the fireball, and win. The damage to you never gets a chance to happen.
(tl;dr: This is why theres a team of people designing cards for years. not random people off the internet)

[InflatablePie]

Cersei is pretty strong.

[Klazam]

Cersei is pretty strong.

yup

[AGar]

It bothers me more than it should to see hybrid-mana backgrounds on cards without hybrid mana...

[Maestro]

It bothers me more than it should to see hybrid-mana backgrounds on cards without hybrid mana...

agreed

I joined MTG just before the original Simic and got back in the swing with Conflux so seeing it annoys the fuck out of me

Bran, Ygritte, and Sandor are the only ones that should be dual-colored, all the rest should be Gold

[Klazam]

I KNEW SOMETHING WAS WRONG

Something was bugging me about these, lol

[Natirasha]

For midrange decks, the BG shell is so much stronger than Jund at the moment. That said, you need a third color to actually close the game out. Last week, we saw the BUG list do work, but I think a red splash is stronger--while it makes you weaker to board wipes, Wolf Run is just such a stronger win con than Drownyard and Tamiyo, while Rakdos's Return makes the control matchup a joke. I've personally been piloting the deck to consistent top placing here in DFW.

Shame I missed star city a couple weeks ago.

[xRECKONERx]

Fate and I are going hard at the Elite Iq today. Wooooooooooo!

[InflatablePie]

So, in the next week or two I'll have the ability to start regularly going to my LGS (it's an hour+ walk away, getting a bike from one of esurio's friends soon[tm]). Sadly, I don't have a standard deck to run. Part of me wants to run Gruul Aggro, part of me wants to try Mono Black Control, and part of me wants to try Selesnya Aggro, but I don't really have the parts for any of those decks. The most important factor is that I'm on a budget: I don't want to drop cash on Reckoners or Lilly or Voices.

I did find a fun-looking Seles Aggro deck, minus one glaring not-budget-friendly playset:

4x Avacyn's Pilgrim
4x Dryad Militant
4x Experiment One
4x Loxodon Smiter
2x Restoration Angel
3x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

4x Voice of Resurgence

4x Advent of the Wurm
4x Call of the Conclave
4x Selesnya Charm

7x Forest
7x Plains
4x Temple Garden
4x Sunpetal Grove
1x Gavony Township

SB:
3x Beckon Apparition
3x Nearheath Pilgrim
3x Oblivion Ring
2x Faith's Shield
2x Nevermore

2x Restoration Angel

This'll cost me $30 to put together (Wurms, Smiters, some commons/uncommons) not counting the Restos in the sideboard (meh) and Voices, and most of the mainboard survives rotation. It looks generally pretty solid. I'm just not sure what to sub in. When in doubt, add Rancor?

[xRECKONERx]

You need something to replace Voice that stops control.

[xRECKONERx]

Why are you running Thalia with 12 spells?

No.

Also you need Silverblade Paladins.

[InflatablePie]

Silverblade is double-white; makes it kinda clunky to cast when I want t1 Experiment a lot of the time. Not a bad suggestion (also, pricy, and dies to Pillar, which is becoming more common).

Also Thalia with 12 spells is fine, it usually doesn't come down till t3 or so anyway.

"The main difference this deck has from my block deck is Thalia, Guardian of Thraben over Rootborn Defenses. For the most part, I think this is an upgrade. It helps to slow down the Reanimator decks while also staving off Supreme Verdict for a turn.
...
The small amount of anti-synergy between [Advent] and Thalia isn't usually relevant. Thalia usually dies against aggro (you can double block something with it and another creature so that it dies when you want it to die), and against control Thalia is good until they play Supreme Verdict, at which point you can cast your Advent of the Wurm without having to pay the extra from Thalia since she is no longer in play (and that is exactly when you want to cast the wurm anyway)."

[InflatablePie]

Also, I was hoping to do a MM draft or pick up a pack or two if the LGS near me wasn't charging $13/pack, $40/draft...

[xRECKONERx]

When you're only two colors, you can afford to have a bit of a greedier mana base.

Still don't like Thalia, she destroys the value of Advent.

[InflatablePie]

I think G into GW into 1WW into 1GGW is too greedy though, especially with 8 "duals" and no fixing other than pilgrims. No shock means I'm fucked.

[xRECKONERx]

Shock + tap + a few gates gives you ample sources

[InflatablePie]

>running gates in an aggro deck

I'll still keep Silverblades in mind if I somehow get them, but they also rotate in ~3mo. so meh

[Natirasha]

What does that deck do that rg aggro doesnt do better? I mean, rg is cheap, besides the Reckoners and Domri in the board, and both those cards are only $15 or so.

[InflatablePie]

Flashwurms

I mean, I could drop money on Reckoners instead (an extra $10 to build over this list) and save up for Domris in the side I guess.

Also most of RG aggro dies a bit after rotation, I thought.

[xRECKONERx]

Not really. Sure, hastyboars and Hellriders will be gone, which is sad, but we've still got plenty from Ravnica + M14 + Theros to fix it.

Reckoners are gonna be really good though, I'd suggest getting them NOW before they go up in price after rotation