Cube draft: UW Planeswalker Tempo

Cube draft deck list: UW Planeswalker Tempo

Sorry Sam, I’m not going to let you be the only one drafting three Jaces… (Sam’s monoJace)Seriously though, Sam is totally right about Winston drafting. Like, how did this happen? We both, by chance, draft decks featuring your favorite trio: Jace Beleren, Jace, the Mind Sculpter, and Jace, Memory Adept? That’s nuts. Nevertheless, that’s Winston drafting for you. So, lets dive right into this UW Planeswalker Tempo deck and see where we can improve.

Deck list

  • 1x Mind Twist
  • 1x Vapor Snag
  • 1x Spell Pierce
  • 1x Sensei’s Divining Top
  • 1x Scull Clamp
  • 1x Golgari Signet
  • 1x Seal of Cleansing
  • 1x Winter Orb
  • 1x Crystal Shard
  • 1x Geist of Saint Traft
  • 1x Timely Reinforcements
  • 1x Jace Beleren
  • 1x Crystal Ball
  • 1x Vendilion Clique
  • 1x Armageddon
  • 1x Jace, the Mind Sculpter
  • 1x Elspeth, Knight Errant
  • 1x Clone
  • 1x Deep Analysis
  • 1x Jace Memory Adept
  • 1x Venser, the Sojourner
  • 1x Sphinx of Jwar Isle
  • 1x Triskelion
  • 1x Duplicant

Draft Picks

Alright, so this deck is far from being right. I took an early Venser, which was questionable, but I’ve had a bit of a thing for this guy lately, and he definitely wasn’t bad in the deck. I would have preferred to have something other than Sphinx of Jwar Isle in that spot. What really would have been bonkers was a mull drifter. Even man-o-war would have been sweet.
Mind Twist
The Mind Twist came to me really late and all I had was a Golgari signet to produce mana for it. Nevertheless, I think taking the mind twist was the right play. It won me a game, practically, on its own. I hated playing two swamps, without fetches, to make it viable. But, what else was I to do?
Winter Orb
Winter orb was really not that good in this deck. Yeah, I had Geist of Saint Traft and Elspeth, but the orb is really at home in a deck that plays primarily one and two drops. The fact that this deck played vapor snag makes it significantly better and planeswalkers are obviously good with it, but five and six drops are tough. It’s not like I was playing a bunch of mana dorks or artifact mana. Alas, it’s kind of like Armageddon and that card won me several games in this deck. The Armageddon and Winter Orb are definitely OK for this kind of deck, however, you better have some good cards to side them out for against aggro. I’m thinking… Spellskite and maybe a Wall of Reverence.
Timely Reinforcements
Timely reinforcements. This card is way better than you think. Gaining six can really put the brakes on aggro and three creatures out of one card is always awesome. Timely has the potential to be a slightly untimely top deck at times, but those times are rare. In this deck, I really like the timely since we have both a scull clamp and an Elspeth. It can also be a good source of blockers for your Jace, memory adept when you go on the milling offense. If you aren’t playing Timely Reinforcements in your cube, try it out. It has a lot of applications and a lot of awesome interactions. On top of that, it probably cost a quarter. Try it out.
Triskelion
I don’t usually like to play Triskelion and I don’t really like this deck. It would seem that these two disgusts are related but, for once, they are not. While paying six for a Triskelion is far from amazing, bouncing it with venser is disgusting. Even bouncing with crystal shard isn’t bad. If you are bouncing with Jace, the Mind Sculpter, you better be winning with it because there are much better uses for Jace. Though, I suppose it is nice having the option there. Anyway, although Triskelion may seem underwhelming at six mana, the fact of the matter is that, a lot of the time, you are going to get a two for one out of him. As much as I hate to draft it, this card is the real deal.
Venser, the SojournerJace, the Mind SculptorCrystal Shard
The bounce effects of Jace, Venser, Crystal Shard, and even vapor snag are all good in this deck. Venser has some really solid targets in Duplicant, Triskelion, Clone, and vendilion clique, but lets not forget about being able to reset other planeswalkers. Crystal shard, vapor snag, and Jace all combo nicely with Armageddon and winter orb. The mana crippling effects of winter orb makes these bouncers much more effective against your opponent and being able to bounce their creatures right before you Armageddon probably equals a GG.

Conclusion

So there you go, the second deck drafted from my cube in the course of one week that has three jaces in it. It was packed full of planeswalkers so, how could it be bad? Elspeth and Venser chilling with their buddies jace, jace, and jace. Sounds like a planeswalker tempo deck to me. The only guy not invited to the party was Gideon Jura. In the end, although some of the cards didn’t really fit and the fixing was atrocious, the power level of the cards was able to force a couple wins. Its not my favorite build because usually when I play bounce, I enjoy having a little more ramp. All in all, it was fun playing this deck. I’m just sad I wasn’t able to bounce Triskelion and remove three counters to shoot for a win.
Stay tuned for more cube drafting from Turn One Magic.