Standard, Modern, and Pauper

It's been a while since I've made a post and I had a request to post my lists and thoughts on the current format so I thought I'd do that for all formats I'm currently playing.

If you'd to ask or state anything, feel free to in the comments section or on twitter.

Standard (RUG Pod)

I don't know what it is, but I actually don't like UW Delver. It has seen very good results and is touted as the best deck in the format but I still can't get behind it. Then again, I rarely do get behind the "best" deck so I guess it's actually normal. I've tested other decks too but I keep coming back to RUG Pod. It's been performing the best for me all while being an unpopular deck, which is a quality I much prefer the deck I play to have.

Matt Nass's primer on the deck can be found here. And here's my most recent list:

4 Birds of Paradise
4 Llanowar Elves
2 Elvish Visionary
2 Phantasmal Image
3 Strangleroot Geist
1 Viridian Corrupter
2 Borderland Ranger
1 Deceiver Exarch
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
4 Huntmaster of the Fells
1 Thragtusk
1 Zealous Conscripts
1 Wolfir Silverheart
1 Inferno Titan

4 Birthing Pod
4 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Bonfire of the Damned

4 Copperline Gorge
3 Hinterland Harbor
3 Rootbound Crag
2 Mountain
1 Island
9 Forest
1 Kessig Wolf Run

Sideboard
1 Ancient Grudge
2 Arc Trail
1 Bonfire of the Damned
3 Hellrider
1 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
3 Pillar of Flame
1 Stingerfling Spider
1 Thragtusk
1 Wolfir Silverheart
1 Zealous Conscripts

The ability to switch to a very fast Hellrider deck is really awesome. I've started doing it in matchups that I didn't used to, like RG Aggro and Zombies.

Modern (UW Control)

I haven't done as well as I'd like to have with my UW deck. I think there is a version of it that is good but I'm still not there yet. I'll continue playing it but I'm also going to try some other decks soon (RWU Delver unfortunately). Hopefully Ravnica will have something that puts it over the top (I'm looking at you, Azorius Charm). In the meantime, the Magic Player's Championship will hopefully shake up the format a bit.

This is my current list (which is changing constantly):

4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Squadron Hawk
3 Vendilion Clique
2 Kitchen Finks

2 Engineered Explosives
4 Path to Exile
1 Dismember
1 Spell Pierce
2 Spell Snare
4 Sleight of Hand
3 Remand
4 Cryptic Command

4 Celestial Colonnade
3 Hallowed Fountain
1 Watery Grave
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Marsh Flats
2 Plains
6 Island
1 Moorland Haunt
3 Tectonic Edge

Sideboard
1 Academy Ruins
2 Disenchant
1 Dispel
3 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Vedalken Shackles
1 Oust
1 Pulse of the Grid
2 Kitchen Finks
2 Wrath of God

Vedalken Shackles, while really powerful, are too slow in the important creature matchups. If I drop them entirely then I could go back to a mana base with Seachrome Coast which casts the MD Kitchen Finks better.

I've decided that a lot of the matchups are basically races while in others (combo) we play as a true control deck. But even then, I still have Kitchen Finks over Geist of Saint Traft due to its higher versatility.

I think I'm also going to try a version that has Gifts Ungiven, though that would be in contrary to the idea that most matchups are races. I guess the deck would be a lot different/ have a much different game plan.

Pauper (UR Post)

I only just started playing Pauper so I don't have a lot to say about it. But I have become very opinionated on the deck that I've been playing with, which is UR Post. I'll go over the differences from other versions and why I think this one is correct.

3 Sea Gate Oracle
1 Mnemonic Wall
4 Mulldrifter
1 Ulamog's Crusher

3 Expedition Map
4 Firebolt
4 Preordain
1 Brainstorm
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Izzet Signet
4 Prophetic Prism
1 Counterspell
1 Harvest Pyre
3 Prohibit
1 Capsize
1 Ghostly Flicker
3 Mystical Teachings

9 Island
6 Mountain
4 Cloudpost
4 Glimmerpost

Sideboard
4 Earth Rift
1 Echoing Truth
1 Envelop
2 Flame Slash
3 Negate
1 Pyroblast
1 Seismic Shudder
2 Serrated Arrows

Sea Gate Oracle

Compulsive Research is a much better card in this deck but the body is actually very relevant in this format. In addition to that, I have to play this card to justify the Ghostly Flicker.

Ulamog's Crusher

At first I didn't like the random fatty that you can't tutor for, but I realized that the one random X spell was virtually the same thing and since I've never actually managed to kill any creatures of relevance with  Rolling Thunder I decided to make the switch. So far there's not much difference between the two but I like that this one is a giant.

Firebolt

Firebolt is easily the best of the available burn spells. It hits players, can deal 4, and is a two for one. Most of the time you want to sorcery speed the burn anyways. As an instant, Lightning Bolt does give you more safety which is why it's my second pick for this slot. I play one copy as a tutor target currently. I used to also have a Staggershock but it was (surprisingly) unimpressive.

EDIT: I've actually decided Harvest Pyre has been under-performing and have switched back to Staggershock which I think is better in the matchups where you really need removal. It could also just be another Lightning Bolt instead.

Brainstorm

Other versions usually play Mysteries of the Deep but I prefer one mana to five. My version also has more shuffle / "scry" effects to make Brainstorm do what it's best at. In addition, when drawn it still acts as a way to find relevant cards early game even why you can't shuffle.

Prohibit

Other versions usually play Condescend which I've found to be horrible in this format. It's bad against pretty much every deck that you want a counterspell in as well as the other ones. Prohibit is an actual two (sometimes four) mana hard counter and is definitely best in this slot.


That's all I've got for you today. See you in the queues!

Battle Pod

I've done some streaming and some testing with a deck I'm calling "Battle Pod." I knew it wouldn't be a great success going in, but I was convinced I could make something of it. Now, I'm not so sure. The deck started out as a giant Birthing Pod deck that had a ton of useless singletons. I trimmed it down so that it turned into a Ramp-Birthing Pod-Battle of Wits hybrid and saw some reasonable success in 2-man queues (broke even in tix). But the variance of the deck can't really be helped, thus it is a failed experiment. But if you'd like to give the deck a shot (hopefully just for fun) then continue reading.

One of my guidelines in forging the deck was that there needed to be a lot of value/two-for-one cards in order to offset the likelihood of mana flood/variance. Another was to keep the deck as streamlined as possible also to reduce variance.

Miracles seemed like a good idea in the deck since they will be live a lot more often in a giant deck, but the idea might be slightly misguided. For one thing, the mana is difficult and you won't always have the correct colors for miracles at the right times. And then there's the issue with having too many cards that are stuck in your hand. Bonfire of the Damned (and Terminus in other versions/SB) should continue to be in the deck but I think I'm done with Temporal Mastery in the deck.

I narrowed down the necessary Birthing Pod/Green Sun's Zenith targets to the following:

Rune-Scarred Demon

Sunblast Angel

Fiend Hunter

Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite

Inferno Titan

Deceiver Exarch

Wurmcoil Engine

Viridian Corrupter

Mwonvuli Beast Tracker

Wolfir Silverheart

Stingerfling Spider

Acidic Slime

Strangleroot Geist

I'd say that's pretty streamlined

Now, for the 4-ofs:

Creatures:

4 Birds of Paradise

4 Avacyn's Pilgrim

4 Llanowar Elves

4 Elvish Visionary

4 Viridian Emissary

4 Scorned Villager

4 Phantasmal Image

4 Borderland Ranger

4 Blade Splicer

4 Huntmaster of the Fells

4 Solemn Simulacrum

4 Restoration Angel

4 Phyrexian Metamorph

4 Thragtusk

4 Primeval Titan

You'll notice that most of the 4-ofs are either ramp or value creatures, as they should be.

Primeval Titan, being the most consistent win condition to hit play, might actually be the best card in the deck. It is capable of fixing all mana issues and of putting a lot of additional power into play. If you're really psycho (or have a better functioning mana base), you could even include Glimmerpost in the list. The utility land package I currently have is 1 Gavony Township, 1 Kessig Wolf Run, 1 Vault of the Archangel. The Vault is actually a surprisingly awesome slot. It does something that Primeval Titan isn't usually capable of, which is racing from really tough spots.

Noncreatures:

4 Ponder

4 Abundant Growth

4 Rampant Growth

4 Farseek

4 Sphere of the Suns

4 Vessel of Endless Rest

4 Divination

4 Forbidden Alchemy

4 Birthing Pod

4 Ranger's Path

4 Garruk Relentless

4 Battle of Wits

4 Gideon Jura

4 Tamiyo the Moon Sage

4 Green Sun's Zenith

4 Bonfire of the Damned

I'm not sure if this version of the deck should actually include Increasing Ambition. It's not likely that you will have 5-mana available and the ability to do nothing two turns in a row without dying.

In this version I've opted for Ranger's Path over Gilded Lotus because we care about that extra turn a lot. And hopefully we're casting Primeval Titan or something else big the turn we'd be casting the Lotus.

The deck does actually want to have removal, but it wants to have the broadest removal possible which is why wrath effects and planeswalkers are best. Something like Dismember could also fit and is something I'd consider.

Initially, I was convinced that Venser the Sojourner would be an auto-include in the deck but I've found that it's not reliable enough. Very rarely will you have a worthwhile card to blink and have Venser sticking around. I've now switch to both Gideon (which I think will be really good) and Tamiyo to accompany him.

I'm contemplating Lingering Souls especially since the two worst matchups are Delver and Zombies. For now I'm going with the heavy planeswalker package because I think they fill a role that this deck needs filled but I'll keep Souls in mind.

Everything else:

2 Zealous Conscripts

2 Mycosynth Wellspring

2 Trading Post

I like two Conscripts because sometimes you want to tutor for the second one.

Then we have two additional mana fixers,and two Trading Posts. Trading Post does enough stuff that we don't mind having a few copies, though I don't think we want to see it often enough to play four.

This deck is capable enough of winning without Battle of Wits that I see no reason to waste a slot on a card like Elixir of Immortality. It would just be another dead card to draw.

Karn Liberated is a noticeable card that is missing from this list. I'm very hesitant to add more 7-drops to the deck but that could just be my normal deck instincts. If I continue playing the deck I'll definitely consider Karn.

75 creatures, 68 spells, now for the 88 lands:

20 Forest

11 Island

7 Plains

1 Mountain

1 Swamp

4 Seachrome Coast

4 Glacial Fortress

1 Darkslick Shores

4 Copperline Gorge

4 Rootbound Crag

4 Razorverge Thicket

4 Sunpetal Grove

1 Isolated Chapel

4 Woodland Cemetery

4 Hinterland Harbor

4 Sulfur Falls

3 Clifftop Retreat

4 Evolving Wilds

1 Gavony Township

1 Kessig Wolf Run

1 Vault of the Archangel

By no means perfect, but there's not much else to work with (Shimmering Grotto...?). You will mulligan a lot because of the lands and other times you will just draw a ton of them because there are so many mana sources. That's the variance you have to accept to play this deck.

No 231 card deck is complete without the last 15:

4 Terminus

4 Day of Judgment

1 Tree of Redemption

1 Silklash Spider

1 Glissa, the Traitor

1 Sylvok Replica

1 Ghost Quarter

2 ?

When you don't get to see your sideboard cards very often, you want them to be as impactful and as tutorable as possible. As such, I have eight additional wrath effects, and 5 useful tutor targets. Not much else fits in the remaining two slots. I'm sure there's some more tutor targets but they would end up being wasted space.

Well, that's Battle Pod. I think with the new changes I want to try the deck again but I know it won't end witty.

C:L July Cube Update

Hello cube enthusiasts! I have a good amount of stuff to update you on about the happenings of my cube. First, I’ve updated the ability sheet and achievement/rewards pages at the bottom of the blog. Second, I’ve shifted a few cards around after giving some more thought to the M13 changes. Those changes are as follows:

    Simian Grunts > Farhaven Elf

After playing with Simian Grunts (despite the fact that its been in the cube for a long time) I realized it’s actually shit. Echo makes cards really bad and every card with the ability has slowly been cut from the cube. I think we’re down to just Goblin Patrol, Ghitu Slinger, Albino Troll, and Hetrick Champion.

    Crippling Chill > Jilt

Crippling Chill was never supposed to stick around. I just needed to find a suitable replacement and Jilt is perfect. I overlooked it a while back and then just didn’t realize how good it is.

    Feeling of Dread > War Falcon

I thought Feeling of Dread would be a decent card but it’s very narrow. White decks are usually not great and Feeling of Dread is probably one of the worst cards you’ll find in a bad white deck. War Falcon (errataed to say Rebel of course) is another one-drop, 2-power flying creature which is perfect for white.

    Dauthi Slayer > Surakar Murauder

There’s nothing wrong with Dauthi Slayer except that black has an abundance of creatures that can’t block and also cards that are black intensive. As such, I’ve decided to cut it for the more versatile Surakar Murauder.

    AEther Spellbomb > Traumatic Visions

In short, there’s too many bounce spells and Traumatic Visions is a nice card for blue mages to have access to.

    Latch Seeker > Fettergiest

As a narrow double-U card, Latch Seeker wasn’t particularly impressive. Fettergeist is a cool card for blue to have that I overlooked from AVR.

    Wonder > Stern Mentor

Blue decks usually don’t really care about giving flying to the few creatures they have that don’t already have flying. Stern Mentor allows for potential mill wins single-handedly which is something I like having as an option.

    Recoil > Cut

    Jungle Barrier > Cut

    Giant Ambush Beetle > Cut

    Monstrous Carabid > Cut

I mentioned in my last update that I’m working on cutting the worst of the gold cards because they are usually the latest picks and because RTR is around the corner. Recoil is also out because of the large amount of bounce spells. Jungle Barrier is out because there are now too many UG cards. The other two are just lackluster and don’t see a lot of play.


In updating the Achievements/Rewards section, I decided that the both the achievements need to be more difficult and the rewards need to be splashier. Therefore a lot of them have been removed from the list or updated to reflect that.

One of the new rewards is something that’s been requested for a bit: the ability to add a rare to the cube (treated as an uncommon). I ended up switching out the reward for the “mulligan to 4 and win” achievement with the new one because it has been on the sheet so long without being achieved. It was shortly achieved and Snapcaster Mage was added to the cube.

Shriekmaw (Graft 1, Persist), AEther Adept (Graft 1, Persist), and Mulldrifter (Persist) have been reset. I gave Beast Attack Cascade and someone else gave it Rebound. No one has reset that one yet...

A new ability that I added to the third tier reads, “switch a keyword ability with one worth the same amount of points or less.” This is a tricky ability to enact because you (cube owner) have to know/decide what all keyword abilities are worth. It’s a really sweet one though. It lets players make cards that they deem “too good” into less powerful ones (read: poop) as they see fit. Defender (6 pts) is an interesting ability to make use of. I’m allowing this ability to overrule the “only 2 stickers” rule because it doesn’t technically add an ability.


Recently, some local players liked the idea of Cube:Legacy and created their own with a real (and powered) cube. They went way over the top though. Their ability sheet was 4 pages long and included just about everything you could think of (change colored mana symbols to phyrexian mana, etb destroy artifact or enchantment, etb search library for basic land/any land).

One of the abilities I liked most is one they adapted from my sheet. “Counterparts” turned into a keyword ability called friendship which acts similar to soulbond. For instance, If you give friendship to Attended Knight then whatever abilities that card has its “friend” also has. I’m not sure about the logistics surrounding it (infi tokens? works after Attended Knight has died?) but I love the idea.

Their experiment ended up being a success, but not for very long. Without any efforts to keep it balanced It got pretty far out of hand. I’m sure that I’ll adopt a bunch of their ideas in the near future.


Another fun idea I discovered recently was the BoozeCube. If you’re not familiar, it’s a format/cube designed with drinking dynamics and is intended to get you drunk (what else?). The design space for such a game is pretty wide open. I’m not about to create an entirely new cube but I do think I could incorporate some of the simpler things from BoozeCube into my ongoing cube project, most likely just adding boozetouch or something similar to the ability sheet. You can find out more about that here.

C:L Achievements and Rewards (Discontinued 9/27)

The achievement part of the game was abandoned on 9/27/12 to help lower the barrier of entry. There was a blog post on the same day that talks about the change.

Achievement Criteria

There are up to 7 achievements available at a time. Each one has a randomly attached reward from the Rewards found below. They are single use and should be self explanatory.

• Kill a player with a 11+ power creature.

This one gives players the option to prolong the game in order to meet this achievement. I consider that to be okay since that will give their opponent a chance to get back in the game.

I increased it from 10 to 11 because I realized Artisan of Kozilek has 10 power when I thought it had 9. It gets achieved easily enough so it's a fair update.

• Win a game while your opponent has a card with two stickers in play.

This is the perfect kind of achievement. It rewards a player from coming back from a difficult situation. It used to include games that such a card was cast, whether or not it was in play. It's more appropriate this way now that there are a lot more cards with two stickers.

• Mulligan to 5 and win.

Used to be 4 but that took a really long time to be achieved. This should be better.

• Cast Dead Weight against Ricky.

This one took a surprisingly long time to be achieved. I tried to do it many times but pairings never worked out in my favor. I think it was a really fun idea to include a specific person but wouldn’t want to include more than 2 achievements like this one at a time.

• Kill someone with a card named after them.

This was achieved surprisingly fast but it’s still a really good one. It’s difficult to accomplish but feels really good when you do. It shouldn't be achieved nearly as fast as it was the first time.

• Overkill your opponent by at least 11 damage.

One of the new splashy ones. I'd say pretty fun to achieve.

• Lose a game on or before turn 4.

Not every achievement should be about something positive. Sometimes losers should also get something, preferably when they feel like they didn't have a chance.

• Deck out each of your opponents.

Yet to be achieved. This one might just be too difficult. Players are likely to want to concede before their opponent has a chance to finish them off. This one will probably leave the list.

C:L M13 Updates

A few changes are in order for M13. I’ve also made some more updates to the Ability Sheet since my last post.

   Cloudchaser Kestrel > Attended Knight

Cloudchaser Kestrel has been a pretty big disappointment in the cube mostly due to white’s monopoly on enchantments and Kestrel's ability not being a "may" effect. Attended Knight is a reasonable replacement and gives white one of it's only "value" creatures... Yes, I know how bad that sounds.

   Sigiled Paladin > Knight of Glory

Sigiled Paladin was fine at its job but Knight of Glory does a lot of the same without costing CC. That type of costing has become a small issue in the cube so I’m trying to eliminate a few of those cards. This works out nicely because MBC has also become a very powerful archetype and needs some balance.

   Tower Geist > Arctic Aven

Another small issue in the cube is the large amount of value creatures and card draw. The card draw is worth a lot less when there are so many value creatures, so you end up seeing most of those cards going around the table. To remedy this I’m cutting down on some of the superfluous value cards and also some of the card draw. Tower Geist is first to go and is replaced my one of my favorite new cards, Baneslayer Aven.

   Courier’s Capsule > Faerie Invaders

Second to go is Courier’s Capsule. It was a holdover from when Sanctum Gargoyle and Razor Hippogriff were part of the cube anyways.

   Jace's Ingenuity > Talrand's Invocation

And the other card draw spell to go is Jace’s Ingenuity (which recently replaced Tidings in the cube). Talrand’s Invocation should prove to be a pretty sweet card in its place.

   Pestilence > Veilborn Ghoul

Pestilence started its life in the cube as an uncommon because of its power level despite once being printed as a common. But I decided that its not actually too good to be a common after all. Veilborn Ghoul is a card I am a little doubtful of. While black would love a win condition that is hard to deal with, it is also in no short supply of creatures that can’t block.

   Blind Zealot > Pestilence

Blind Zealot never performed as expected. It was neither good removal nor a good creature. There is also a flood in the black three-drop creatures and this seemed like the worst of the bunch.

   Viscera Dragger > Bloodhunter Bat

Viscera Dragger has been a very lackluster card throughout the cube’s lifespan. I don’t know why I didn’t cut it sooner. Bloodhunter Bat is much like Blind Hunter, which I cut when doing some gold card trimming. It's much more reasonable as just a black card.

   Falkenrath Noble > Knight of Infamy

There are usually not enough creatures around (or not enough time) to make Falkenrath Noble good. I was testing him out and he didn’t prove worthwhile. Knight of Infamy fills a hole in black’s two-drop slot and is a fine aggressive creature or control win condition.

   Blind Creeper > Liliana's Shade

You can’t really expect much from vanilla creatures like Blind Creeper. His stay didn’t last long. Liliana’s Shade gives another win condition and value creature to MBC. Certainly a quality card, but I might still be overflowing some of MBC’s tools.

   Executioner's Capsule > Murder

Like the other Capsule, this was a holdover from when Trinket Mage and friends were in the cube. Murder isn’t exactly exciting, but makes a reasonable replacement.

   Squealing Devil > Crimson Muckwader

I like Squealing Devil (and other similarly designed cards) a lot, but as a RB Aggro card, it doesn’t actually make a lot of sense. Crimson Muckwader is a pretty strong replacement.

   Skirk Marauder > Mogg Flunkies

Skirk Marauder wasn’t really a two-drop, but it also wasn’t a good three-drop. It just wasn’t a very good card. I think I have been leaving it in so that there is at least some confusion on what someones morph could be. Mogg Flunkies is a very well designed red card and I think is a card I simply forgot about. It fits red so well.

   Zektar Shrine Expedition > Reckless Brute

There was a reason Zektar Shrine Expedition was in the cube, but it wasn’t really a good one. Reckless Brute has a much simpler reason.

   Jade Mage > Flinthoof Boar

There are already two cards that fill a similar role to Jade Mage (Sprout Swarm and Selesnya Guildmage). I don't mind having three cards that do the same thing, but I had to cut something to make room for Flinthoof Boar. It's possible Jade Mage will find her way back into the cube.

   Pathbreaker Wurm > Sentinel Spider

Pathbreaker Wurm was the obligatory common green fatty that I wanted to have at least one of. It wasn’t very good. Sentinel Spider is only a small improvement, but I think green has enough other fatties anyways.

    Path to Exile > Swords to Plowshares

An obvious switch, Path is nowhere near as good as Swords (especially in this cube).

   Wrecking Ball > Cut

   Mistmeadow Witch > Cut

I’ve been cutting down on gold cards not just because Ravnica is around the corner. The mediocre gold cards are the ones that table and end up last picks the most often so I am only leaving in the best ones.

Wrecking Ball was in originally because of the small LD theme in the cube but I prefer for that theme to be even smaller. Mistmeadow Witch was an all-star in the early days of the cube but as it improved the card got worse and worse.


Since my last post, Mulldrifter (undying, unearth) and Dauthi Marauder (shroud, lifelink) have been reset. I’ve come to realize that I might have undervalued the persist and undying mechanics. They are the cause of most of the problem cards that have been created. Thus, persist has moved to the next tier and undying will do the same when it returns to the list.

My original reason for including a few abilities that can be bought for 1 point was to give new players something to do with their minuscule number of points after a match or two. I’ve since decided to cut them from the sheet but think that they are something you should have for a Cube:Legacy it its infancy.

Despite having enough points, still no one has bought Cascade or Flashback. It’s possible that they might have had I not implemented a new 50-point rule. I was given the idea by a jokester and of course I didn’t expect anybody to attempt it (because who is that stupid). Lo and behold someone is over halfway there. The rule is that you may spend 50 points to change the name of the cube to resemble yourself. For example, if Shahar “The Rat” Shenhar does reach his 50 point goal and renames the cube, the correct way to reference the cube will be as such: “Hey, do you guys want to go down to the sewer? I bet there’s some good scraps tonight.”


For the achievements, I think that I've made them too easy but I haven't yet had time to revamp them. It seems as though whenever I renew them three are achieve during the first cube. I'll have to work on that for next time.