The Cube and Graveyard Recursion

Hatin on a playa cuz my lac skate 22's

Tabasco said...
“It has become apparent that graveyard strategies are too effective.”

I agree!

major_luck said...
“Maybe instead of looking for ways to add graveyard hate, we should maybe just remove some of the recursion engines to make the theme less powerful.”

I also agree with this!

The Captain said...
"I don't think that removing a newly viable drafting strategy with the cube is the right way to go…Removing the strategy (or neutering it) is too much like jumping the gun on a banning in constructed, IMO."

Also agreed!

The Captain said...
"A cube is supposed to be powerful, and I dislike things being excluded based on power level unless they are too powerful even without specific cards to interact with (lotus and recall)."

Agrrrreeeeed!

Ain’t I just a love fest! It’s hard to tell from my excerpts that those posters above had anything to disagree about. Here’s my take. I think Tabasco is correct that graveyard strategies are kinda sorta good. We DO need some recursion hosers (see below for that argument) but I don’t think that the problem should be solved by putting in objectively weaker answers in place of more powerful cards. This is kind of the obverse of The Captain’s point when he said “I dislike things being excluded based on power level unless they are too powerful.” I dislike things being excluded based on power level unless they are not powerful enough. I sometimes worry that our hate options will end up diluting the pool. But we can’t cut powerful cards! That’s anti-Cube! Well, yes and no. I don’t think the problem is really ever the power level per se (maybe The Captains’s example of Black Lotus and Ancestral Recall are exceptions, or maybe coyoeuglly’s laissez-faire attitude toward power level is the correct one, at least I won’t get into that argument today!). I do know that density can be problematic. When I say density I mean the amount of a specific sort of card or strategy relative to the overall number of cards included in the Cube. So when Green/White aggro was ripping shit up prior to our increasing the Cube to 540 cards, we didn’t cut good Green/White aggro cards. In fact, we added some awesome ones (Oversoul of Dusk, anyone?). But we did not let the Green/White multi-color cards have too many more slots than other multicolor combination, and we upped the overall card total. The result was a more balanced Cube. So I don’t think that the answer to recursion is cutting powerful cards. I think that the answer is cutting weak cards, then adding more, powerful, cards. We can trim down the amount of graveyard recursion by cutting the weakest of the recursion cards, but leaving the super-duper busted stuff intact and rife for abuse, as it should be. In its place we will need to add some graveyard hate (again, see below, I promise it’s down there), but also adding just generally good cards. Which brings me to my last point. I think we might as well wait until our Eventide additions to “fix” the amount of recursion. No ban hammer here. Green/Black reanimator may be the new Green/White aggro, but Andy (is this Swizz Dizzle Andy or some other Andy?) put it nicely when he said that there are answers to big reanimated creatures. If things get too crazy (I don’t think they will) then we’ll neuter it soon enough.

Wonda who they hatin' on lately baby it’s him

Now this is just me, but when I’m looking for graveyard hate, I’m looking for a few things. First is versatility. Basically Planar Void is really good at what it does, but it will always be a sideboard card. No one would run it main deck. A card like Stonecloaker (already in the Cube) can be a combat trick, or a body to swing with, or graveyard hate. Good job Stonecloaker! The easiest way to get around this issue is to use creatures for graveyard hate. Yes they are more vulnerable to removal. I think the trade off is worth it. Withered Wretch is an efficiently-costed beater regardless of what the graveyard situation looks like. He won’t be useless.

Next up is reusability. Both Stonecloaker and our buddy Withered Wretch are winners here. They both need to be dealt with if a recursion player wants to start up an engine, because they both have the potential to remove multiple cards from a graveyard given enough time. Now look at another card without reusability. Martyr of Bones is a dude and so can beat down (albeit not very effectively) but once you use his ability he’s done. He no longer threatens the recursion player.

Finally, I’d like to see cards with availability. What I mean by this is simple; most graveyard hate is in Black. That’s fine. But non-Black players should still have options for hosing recursion. So Eater of the Dead is versatile and reusable. But a card like Rysorian Badger at least allows Green a shot at stopping graveyard recursion. Other potential non-Black cards include; Stonecloaker, Jotun Grunt, Junktroller, Nantuko Tracer, with a special exception for Faerie Macabre, which can get in any deck. You’ll notice that some of these cards don’t remove cards from the game. Some of them put graveyard cards on the bottom of the player’s library. Another thing you might notice is that some of these cards are awful. I would never, ever include Junktroller in the Cube, or even Nantuko Tracer, which at least has a power equal to its casting cost (but is not reusable). See how hard this ends up being? But there’s one thing to keep in mind…

Sorry for no rap related subtitle: Why we need Graveyard Hate

The Cube needs graveyard RFG effects for more reasons that just graveyard recursion! Let’s take the example of Jotun Grunt, just because I know that like Rich Boy, he gets hated on. These benefits apply to any of the above creatures, however.
Jotun Grunt will remove Cube Flashback cards like Deep Analysis, Chainer’s Edict, Ancient Grudge and Firebolt before the Flashback ability can be used. Jotun Grunt neuters the Threshold abilities of cards like Werebear and Mystic Enforcer, both in the Cube. Jotun Grunt also kills the Dredge mechanic dead. No more Life from the Loam, or Golgari Grave-Troll. Jotun Grunt disrupts the techy shenanigans of Anger, Wonder and Valor, all of which are in the Cube. Finally, the Grunt hoses other kinds of non-creature recursion like Izzet Chronarch and Memory Plunder. Turns out that Jotun Grunt (or Withered Wretch, or Stonecloaker) may very well come in handy against a Red/Green opponent sporting Firebolt, Ancient Grudge and Werebear. Think on that!

Here are my graveyard hate adds:

Phyrexian Furnace- It's not a creature (and so less versatile) but the availability to all colors trumps that. Tabasco is right; it cantrips, at least.

Faerie Macabre- No reusability (and only moderate versatility- the drafter must play Black to get it as a body) but that is made up for by the wide availability. Any deck acan play this out of the board! At instant speed! For no mana!

Withered Wretch- He’s versatile. He’s (easily!) reusable. He is not available to many colors (dubs Black = frowns). But he is still the standard for creature-based graveyard hate. He will not be denied!

Dimir Doppelganger- I don’t know if this will make it in, but on both versatility and reusability this card is quite solid. The fact that the Doppelganger almost always gets an upgrade by using the ability really makes the card attractive. Keep in mind that there are likely to be some amazing creatures in the bin, given the nature of the Cube. The downside with this guy is the lack of availability to most colors. Adding Blue to the casting cost actually makes the card more restrictive than if it were in just Black. But I think the potential upside is worth it.

Jotun Grunt- Yeah, this is a pet card of mine. But at least by explaining my way of evaluating these cards the reader should be able to see why. This guy is a paragon of versatility (by my definition, at least); he’s freakin’ huge! The Grunt can be played in a beatdown deck with no threat of recursion from an opponent whatsoever. His graveyard thinning effect is reusable, and in fact, in the late game, every turn that goes by makes the Grunts even more effective at disrupting graveyard recursion! A Dredge-based deck could never allow this creature to live for longer than one upkeep. I will concede that the fact that the cumulative upkeep effect cannot be used at instant speed. This is a point against the Grunt. Finally the card is available in a color that is not Black- and that really is important! I see Jotun Grunt coming down on turns 4 through 6 in a beatdown deck (leaving up enough mana to play another spell the same turn), when it will almost certainly be guaranteed to live to swing at least once. It will be especially effective in a Boros-colored deck, with red removal that puts not only a spell in one graveyard, but a creature into another. In a more controlling deck this is a cheap threat that can be squeezed down in the late game as a win condition once the board has been swept (leaving up enough mana to play countermagic or removal at instant speed). In an Azorious-colored deck it will almost certainly swing multiple times, and allows the user to throw specific spells that are already in the graveyard back into the deck to find with the Blue or White tutors. I really like the idea of Wrathing the board, dropping Grunts, then on the first upkeep returning two instants or sorceries from the bin, to be searched out again with Mystical Tutor or Mystical Teachings. I will stop singing this card’s praises now. Either you are convinced or won’t ever be.

By the way, I was on the fence about Creakwood Ghoul, but I think in the end that he’s probably not good enough, being at five mana and not helping non-Black colors against recursion. I do like some of Tabasco’s ideas (Shred Memory/Rapid Decay/Ebony Charm, I’m on the fence on Ground Seal, I obviously approve of its not Black status) for non-creature cards as well.

Future Cube Additions

Obviously we will update our Cube with new cards as the sets come out. But we should also be looking for older cards that we have missed. There will always be judgment calls about certain debatable cards. I don’t mean them. I mean cards that we have literally forgotten about or they would have been in there. It’s a short list now, but I think these all merit inclusion. Let me know if you guys think of any others.
Glory
Psychatog
Kokusho, the Evening Star
We have discussed Masticore, but I think it could be good enough. It’s certainly better than some artifacts in there now. (I’m looking at you Serrated Arrows!)
I’m thinking we’ll probably be adding Eventide cards sometime in September, before the Shards of Alara prerelease.

CBG, Fugie, Caleb and I are headed down to Nationals this weekend. There will doubtless be updates about Michael Weston, grinders, and EDH tournaments. We’ll keep you posted. Sorry for the length of this sucker.


T