tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069223956725485027.post2993432838189953057..comments2024-03-23T14:47:08.716-07:00Comments on MTG Cube: Aetherworks Marvel DeckNick Nobodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08217616255450989605noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069223956725485027.post-83649910219149225762016-10-25T09:09:48.312-07:002016-10-25T09:09:48.312-07:00So I actually got to play some of this recently. T...So I actually got to play some of this recently. The deck was great fun to play and had much more game than I thought. It was incredibly complicated as well which also came as surprise. I punted several games with poorly used card quality. I even lost a game due to the order I put cards in on the bottom of my library with Ancient Stirrings! The deck is far from tier one being a pure Marvel deck but with some of the other cheaty things like Oath, Show and Tell or Shelldock Isle it could be. <br /><br />To anyone looking to make something like this in cube here is what I learned from my first trial run;<br /><br />Era of Innovation is unplayably bad. Far too slow as well as unreliable. I would substantially rather play Sage of Saheeli's Claim or Thriving Turtle! Energy was more of an issue than I though it would be and so having some more cheap sources would really help. A number of times I could Marvel on turn four but only had 5 energy saved up. Glimmer of Genius is another cut I would make, the card is fine but just way too slow.<br /><br />Ancient Stirrings was a bit awkward and just a Serum Visions would probably have helped out more. The ability to leave some stuff on top or put things to the bottom is huge. The deck has two modes, get ready to go off and going off and you want to be able to manipulate in different ways for those modes. The lower dig on the blue card quality is well worth the extra utility they offer. <br /><br />Mana Vault was also quite the let down. To get your energy up you need to spend your mana as you curve towards Marvel. Vault may help you cast a quick Marvel but that doesn't help with the energy situation. Mox or Talisman style cards that give ongoing mana are far better cards in this deck. You could even just go green mana dorks and lose the Ironworks aspect of the deck all together. It was a decent addition and gave a lot of options but was a little less reliable than I would like with all the non-artifact energy cards you want to play. If you did go that route you could start to include some more interesting targets than just the colourless stuff. Something like a Time Stretch would have been a lot better to hit in a number of my games. It turns out that against most cube decks a turn five (or four on the draw) Eldrazi isn't enough to swing the game. I managed to "go off" in most of my games but I still lost the vast majority of them. <br /><br />I played a Sequestered Stash in my list in the end too. I realised I had no way to recur my Marvel if it was destroyed or worse, taken out of my hand. It wasn't great but I was glad to have it. Academy Ruins would have been OK too. <br /><br />The one thing that stood out in the deck was Zuran Orb. It did so much work both as a source of energy and as a way to buy some time. Once you have an active Marvel you don't really need you lands as much and are quite happy turning them into life and energy. The games I won tended to involve two activations of the Marvel, one from premade energy and the second from Zuran Orb uses. <br /><br />Despite not having the mighty Zuran Orb, or for that matter Greater Gargadon, Ironworks or any other handy sacrifice outlets, the Standard version of this deck is clearly far better. It has much the same powerful things it can do yet gets to run four of all the really good cards; Attune with the Aether, Woodweaver's Puzzleknot and of course the Marvel itself. The cube version certainly has loads of options and is really good fun. It is not however a new force in the meta!Nick Nobodyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08217616255450989605noreply@blogger.com