Dear viewer: Due to time constraints, I did not record an introduction for this episode of Simon Says. This does not mean, however, that I will no longer be recording introductions, given how integral I believe them to be for the educational function of this series, namely insofar as they give viewers a chance to think through key concepts while engaging with the videos instead of merely watching them passively. Thank you for understanding.
dude lay off the big words, you’re not writing a philosophy thesis
Dude keep laying on the big words, screw people like “jimmy”
great videos, as usual. match one was a real nailbiter.
wait, so Magic isn’t philosophy? oh my, I’ll have to reconsider evreything I know…
Let him talk as he feels comfortable. After all, he is not a native english speaker and, since I’m the same on that point, I can say it’s hard enough just to talk the way you are used to talk. If big words are his thing, using anything but them would require an additional mental effort…
What big words?
Calm down, guys. I would have expected people to complain about the power level of certain equipments, but not a discussion on words. My great editor A.J. took some liberty in revising my crude, non-native formulation explaining why I could not record an intro this time but why I still feel that it’s important. I believe that A.J. is in fact working on a thesis in philosophy, which means the above sentences must have sounded perfectly reasonable to him. What I did and do write myself, however, is the teaser text on the front page, including the typo.
I’m leaving to Barcelona in a few hours (which is the reason for the missing intro), which means I probably won’t respond to comments over the weekend. Enjoy the videos!
Hello Simon,
nice draft and play. I was wondering if you really considered Crucible of Worlds to be an option for your main deck when picking it up. For me it always ends up as a potential combo card that just doesn’t make the cut due to the narrow nature of it’s ability. Decree of Justice on the other hand is very expensive but can be cycled if needed and is a great late game finisher for a U/W control deck. I would love to hear your thoughts on that.
Your deck also showed impressively just how powerful Umezawa’s Jitte is – it is dominating Cube drafts; I can only imagine the horror when facing it in a Kamigawa block draft…
Keep up the great content,
Marin
Definitely my favorite videos together with LSV’s. Your effort in trying to help us all is so much appreciated!
Sorry Jimmy — in trying to ventriloquize Simon, I only meant to say that he thinks that the introductions are really important for teaching others about Magic, but that he didn’t have time to do one for this week.
Simon– I know you weren’t complaining, but thanks for catching that typo (which I should’ve caught).
And yes, whenever this deck drew Stoneforge Mystic, it might as well have been a Constructed Legacy list.
For future reference, to activate abilities between first strike and normal damage (like Jitte on Reaver in match 1) you need a stop at the Combat Damage step, not just Declare Blockers.
Thanks for the videos. Yes, Jitte is a real card.
Thanks for the vids and thanks for taking the effort to explain as much as you do. It nearly cost you the first match. Mystic is an amazing early pick in this Cube and I believe is always correct early in the draft as this vid show us. The round 2 mono red deck was pretty sub par so I think you dodged a bullet there. I got beat down so quickly last week by mono red that it almost threw me off online cube altogether. It was really demoralizing. I had a sweet UB control deck with FoF and counter magic but it didn’t matter. I was rolled like a wheel of cheese! GL in Spain!
i am in direct opposition with your cube philosophy. I’m surprised a deck like this could do this well considering you were extremely threat-lite and none of your threats were very “threatening”… Also, unlike constructed, i believe stoneforge to be more of a card that you need bodies around it to make it truly great, and your final build had just about double digit creatures. I would have included crucible/wasteland/all other special lands as my secondary plan to stoneforge. Any time you have 2 of the best equipment in magic history i think you should prioritize bodies wayyyyy more than you do (i.e. not taking fathom seer late, which is just a body with a tacked on ability at worst…).
now having watched the videos, you were supremely fortunate to play against three of the archetypes your deck could even remotely match up against.
I always like your videos, but I am especially glad this time because it shows how incredibly broken jitte is.
Last week I went on a little rant/tilt on modo because Jitte singlehandedly destroyed me. I had drafted a very powerfull deck myself, however Jitte just whooped my ass hard.
I really hope they will put the card choices on revision now and realise jitte is one of the cards that need to get out.
It’s funny, while watching round 1, I was going to ask if you found cube more complex than other Limited formats, but you already answered in the commentary. Certainly, I can see how awkward it was to play and provide commentary. In round 1, with just over a minute left on the clock, you provided analysis while you had priority and the precious seconds ticked… “gooooooooo” I shouted out to my monitor. LOL Great and engaging entertainment. Thanks!
This draft has inspired me to build a Commander deck with Drogskol Reaver and Jitte: holy synergy! That looks like so much fun.
Although you won’t read this until after Barcelona, good luck! I hope you take the whole thing down! =D
Amazing video, as always. Who cares about the size of the words he uses anyways?! Go back to middle school if “integral” and “insofar” confuse you. GL in Barcelona!
I really enjoyed this draft, I don’t like picking stoneforge that high myself, but there wasnt much else. I had a game recently where I sided in Manriki Guasari and Needle to my own Stoneforge deck to beat an opposing Jitte. Made me think about the time we played the finals of PTQ Jitte in Belgium
Also, dont you like Arena? You didnt mention it, but I think it’s really powerful.
It really felt like your deck wanted a few more creatures, which I think you probably undervalued in the draft, especially having SFM and 3 awesome equipments. You need creatures to utilize those equipments, and you can’t really take advantage of Mortarpod at all without a fair amount of creatures. Cold-eyed selkie probably should have been the pick over Opportunity, if anything mainly due to the SFM getting equipments to pump it, as it just pretty much spells GG against any blue opponent (which is extremely popular in cube). And Cloudgoat Ranger was probably the pick over Ponder, and would have been AMAZING
Venser IS control… if you have a good control deck already it is easy to get is ult off and then you are even more controlling.
Pumping the reaver when fighting the evening star was wrong. You should have pumped his power to 5 and left the other counters. You could then keep them or cash them in for a card and 2 life a piece instead of just 2 life a piece.
Did you consider the Mindslaver + Academy Ruins combo, possibly with Tinker? Both cards are usually good by themselves, though Mindslaver can be bad if you don’t have a strong board presence.
Perhaps I should watch more before asking silly questions.