The Third Power: Recent Episodes
The Third Power
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In this episode of The Third Power, Anthony and Usman discuss our preview card for Dominaria United - Leaf-Crowned Visionary - and tribal aspects in cube!
https://web.archive.org/web/20071214165719/http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/9975.html - Sam Gomersall's cube article from 2006, a cube with some minor tribal themes
14:45: Cube Discussion
29:15: Supporting Tribal in Cube and how it can be easier to integrate with some tribes vs others.
https://linktr.ee/Usmantherad - Usman's Linktree
https://twitter.com/Antknee42 - Anthony's Twitter
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In this episode of The Third Power, Anthony and Usman discuss their two preview cards from Double Masters 2022, catch up on time past and discuss multicolor cards in cube.
Thanks Wizards of the Coast for the free previews!
Approximate timeline:
20:30 - Catching up
45:00 - A WILD SODA APPEARS
59:00 - Discussion of Multicolor cards in cube.
Usman's Twitter
Usman's Linktree
Anthony's Twitter
Anthony Old Man Yells at Clouds articles on CubeCobra: 1, 2, 3
George Carlin - What is Irony?
Thank you to Wizards of the Coast for this free preview card for Midnight Hunt!
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In this episode of The Third Power, Usman and Anthony talk about our Midnight preview, the legendary Dennick, Pious Apprentice! Not every creature that provides value does so in the usual enters-the-battlefield trigger style, and we briefly discuss how this can impact your cube's metagame by talking about how creatures can live on in the face of dying to removal.
Find Anthony on Twitter @Antknee42 and Usman on Twitter @Usmantherad!
Check out these discords for Cube discussion!
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In this episode of The Third Power, Usman and Anthony talk about our Modern Horizons 2 preview card - Dragon's Rage Channeler! Thanks, Wizards of the Coast, for the free preview!
We discuss Dragon's Rage Channeler in the context of red's role of beatdown in cube, how Dragon's Rage Channeler's myriad of keywords play together, how red does other things than just beatdown and burn and a smattering of other tangents (as usual.)
Tattermunge Maniac preview article.
Red aggro 1-drop Tier List (courtesy of Kactuus, whose CubeCobra list is here) -
Goblin Guide
Monastery Switftspear (better in burn heavy red aggro lists, also great in tempo)
Grim Lavamancer (better with non singleton fetches and burn heavier lists, also great in most midrange decks)
Soul-Scar Mage (better in burn heavy red aggro lists, also good in tempo)
Akuom Hellhound (requires a lot of fetches and does not want to be mono C aggro)
Bomat Courier
Zurgo Bellstriker
Firedrinker Satyr
Falkenrath Gorger
Jackal Pup
Lightning Berserker
Village Messenger
Fervent Champion
Rigging Runner (better in very creature heavy red aggro lists that attempt to spam out 1 drops)
Foundry Street Denizen (better in very creature heavy red aggro lists that attempt to spam out 1 drops)
Stromkirk Noble
Ghitu Lavarunner (higher ranking in burn heavy red lists)
Fanatical Firebrand
Reckless Waif
Legion Loyalist
Scorch Spitter
Torch Courier
Skitter of Lizards
Hall Monitor
Electrolyze, coming soon to Historic and in a fancy new look for cube!
In this episode of The Third Power, Anthony and Usman once again return to talk about our new-to-Historic Strixhaven preview card from the Mystical Archive, provided by Wizards of the Coast! Thank you, Wizards!
In this episode, we talk about cats, soda, old music, and our favorite Izzet cards in cube. Enjoy!
Usman's Cube Review of Zendikar Rising: https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/usmanjamil-03152021-zendikar-rising-cube-review
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In this episode of The Third Power, Anthony and Usman preview our first exclusive new preview cards for Zendikar Rising! We talk about the role of flexibility and modality in cube and how they play an important role in cube (and how these kinds of cards are better than they look!)
MTG Cube Brainstorming Discord, where we talk about cube and Usman posts a bunch of cat pictures.
Anthony's Twitter, where he occasionally posts pictures of cats.
Usman's Twitter, where he also occasionally posts pictures of cats.
The occasionally-updated blog for The Third Power podcast.
Usman's Cube articles.
Anthony's Cube articles.
In this episode of The Third Power, Usman and Anthony reveal our exclusive Double Masters previews!
Tag team!
Back again!
Thanks to Wizards of the Coast for the free previews for Double masters!
Usman's Ikoria Review on Coolstuffinc
Wizards.com article on Baneslayers and Mulldrifters and Mike Flores' article that references Patrick Chapin's original article about the concept.
Anthony and Usman complete their return from the graveyard to finish up talking about War of the Spark for Cube: its Colorless, Artifact, Land and Multicolor cards!
00:08:00 - Ajani (GW), Angrath's Rampage, Cruel Celebrant, Deathsprout
00:15:23 - Domri, Anarch of Bolas
00:18:03 - Dovin's Veto
00:20:45 - Feather, Enter the God-Pharaohs. Anthony's article about combat tricks in cube: https://www.quietspeculation.com/2011/08/scheming-the-cube-combat-tricks/
00:21:38 - Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God
00:28:08 - Ral Zarek, Storm Conduit
00:29:36 - Roalesk
00:37:00 - Solar Blaze
00:39:45 - Teferi, Ruiner of Formats (aka Teferi, Time Raveler)
00:44:40 - Tolsimir, Friend to Wolves
00:45:55 - Tezzeret, Master of the Bridge
00:47:27 - Angrath, Captain of Chaos
00:50:30 - Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner
00:53:54 - Saheeli, Sublime Artificer
00:59:07 - Ugin, the Ineffable
01:02:40 - Blast Zone
01:04:35 - Karn's Bastion
01:07:00 - Mobilized District (there's a long tangent so don't expect this to be talking about the card for 40 minutes!)
Usman and Anthony return from the grave... again, to cover more War of the Spark cards for cube!
00:00:00 - A... great* drink
00:13:00 - Bolas's Citadel
00:18:15 - Bleeding Edge, Dreadhorde Invasion, God-Eternal Bontu
00:21:45 - Liliana, Dreadhorde General
00:28:00 - Liliana's Triumph
00:30:20 - Chandra, Fire Artisan
00:34:00 - Finale of Promise
00:36:53 - Ilharg
00:48:30 - Krenko, Mizzium Tank
00:58:00 - Sarkhan the Masterless
01:00:45 - Tibalt, Rakish Instigator
01:15:40 - Arboreal Grazer
01:19:55 - Nissa, Who Shakes the World
01:31:46 - Vivien
01:33:28 - Vivien's Bow
The MTG Cube Brainstorming discord, check it out! https://discord.gg/77kyYT
*https://wolfsoup.com/2012/08/29/delicious-fungus-with-a-pleasant-smack-of-birds-nest/, which as it turns out, in retrospect, isn't that great.
Usman and Anthony return from the grave to finally record an episode about War of the Spark! (This was actually recorded months ago, you'll find out during the episode how long ago.) This is part 1 of 3, with part 2 covering BRG, and the last part covering misc cards. From community response, these are being released in 3 parts.
00:07:55 - Soapbox about Planewalkers in cube.
00:21:50 - A WILD SODA APPEARS
00:34:40 - Soapbox continues
00:45:00 - Gideon Blackblade
00:58:30 - Finale of Glory
01:06:05 - Live preview reaction!
01:12:35 - God-Eternal Oketra
01:16:25 - Law-Rune Enforcer
01:22:39 - Prison Realm
01:26:10 - Tomik
01:37:30 - Callous Dismissal
01:42:00 - Commence the Endgame
01:46:20 - Crush Dissent
01:49:30 - God-Eternal Kefnet
01:55:00 - Jace, Wielder of Mysteries
02:04:10 - Narset, Parter of Veils (and a long tangent about RPGs.)
Cube discord where I (Usman) spend most of my cube time these days: https://discord.gg/DZB7E9
In this episode of The Third Power, Usman and Anthony welcome our guests Zakeel Gordon and Drew Bentley again to cover the rest of 2017's cube sets: Commander 2017, Ixalan and Unstable.
Commander 2017
00:07:15 - Alms Collector
00:08:20 - Curse of Verbosity
00:10:40 - Curse of Disturbance
00:12:26 - Curse of Opulence
00:14:33 - Territorial Hellkite
00:21:25 - Qasali Slingers
00:25:30 - Fractured Identity
00:29:36 - Kess
00:33:11 - Heirloom Blade - blog post with Usman's 3-0 cube rotisserie draft deck: https://thethirdpowerpodcast.wordpress.com/2019/03/13/wut-a-blog-post/
Ixalan
00:51:08 - Adanto Vanguard
00:59:13 - Ixalan's Binding
01:00:13 - Settle the Wreckage
01:14:21 - Legion's Landing
01:09:00 - Search for Azcanta
01:11:00 - Chart a Course, Siren Stormtamer
01:18:09 - Kitesail Freebooter
01:22:09 - Vraska's Contempt
01:26:12 - Rampaging Ferostodon
01:35:12 - Carnage Tyrant
01:39:58 - Growing Rites of Itlimoc
01:43:50 - Hostage Taker
01:48:10 - Sorcerous Spyglass
01:55:00 - Treasure Map
01:57:02 - Field of Ruin
Unstable
02:06:34 - GO TO JAIL
02:09:27 - Knight of the Kitchen Sink
02:12:49 - Ordinary Pony
02:13:35 - Clocknapper
02:18:55 - Five-Finger Discount
02:20:06 - Crow Storm
02:23:15 - Hangman
02:30:00 - Over my Dead Bodies
02:33:20 - Spike, Tournament Grinder
02:37:45 - Two-Headed Goblin
02:40:24 - Earl of Squirrel, Ineffable Blessing
02:42:10 - Urza, Academy Headmaster
In this episode of The Third Power, Usman and Anthony welcome Zakeel Gordon and Drew Bentley of the "What's In the Box" cube podcast after meeting at GP/MagicFest Memphis to talk about what 2017 brought for cubes.
Aether Revolt:
00:08:40 - Walking Ballista
00:12:22 - Aethersphere Harvester
00:15:45 - Heart of Kiran
00:22:57 - Lifecrafter's Bestiary
00:26:00 - Metallic Mimic
00:32:30 - Planar Bridge
00:39:43 - Untethered Express
00:46:20 - Treasure Keeper
00:47:26 - Felidar Guardian
00:52:54 - Baral, Chief of Compliance
00:56:54 - Disallow
01:00:30 - Fatal Push
01:01:40 - Gifted Aetherborn
01:03:20 - Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
01:05:40 - Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
01:08:58 - Rishkar, Peema Renegade
Amonkhet:
01:12:39 - Angel of Sanctions
01:20:30 - Cast Out
01:21:50 - Gideon of the Trials
01:30:14 - Glory-Bound Initiate
01:36:48 - Pull from Tomorrow, Liliana, Death's Majesty
01:42:40 - Ahn-Crop Crasher, Glorybringer
01:49:50 - Hazoret, the Fervent, Soul-Scar Mage, Insult//Injury
01:55:54 - Manglehorn, Rhonas the Indomitable (3-0 decklist referenced was in Usman's Ravnica Allegiance review article: https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/usmanjamil-02282019-ravnica-allegiance-cube-review )
02:08:34 - Throne of the God-Pharaoh, cycling lands
02:13:14 - Champion of Wits, Supreme Will
02:18:40 - Abrade
02:22:31 - Firebrand Archer
02:25:30 - The Scarab God
02:28:50 - Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh
The Third Power's blog: https://thethirdpowerpodcast.wordpress.com/
Follow:
Anthony: @antknee42
Usman: @UsmanTheRad
Zakeel: @ZakeelGordon
Drew: @QuadNINES
In this episode of The Third Power, Usman and Anthony discuss this set's options for cube!
00:09:50 - General discussion starts
00:14:45 - Tithe Taker
00:24:35 - Angel of Grace
00:25:40 - Hero of Precinct One
00:29:15 - Unbreakable Formation
00:29:45 - Mesmerizing Benthid
00:35:30 - Pteramander
00:41:15 - Sphinx of Foresight
00:45:30 - Benthic Biomancers
00:48:15 - Precognitive Perception
00:50:50 - Drill Bit
00:53:45 - Gutterbones
00:55:10 - Pestilent Spirit
00:59:00 - Spawn of Mayhem
01:04:25 - Electrodominance
01:09:35 - Light up the Stage
01:12:10 - Rix Maadi Reveler
01:15:05 - Skarggan Hellkite
01:19:30 - Skewer the Critics
01:24:30 - Biogenic Ooze
01:32:20 - End-Raze Forerunners
01:36:00 - Incubation Druid, Wilderness Reclamation
01:41:30 - Deputy of Detenion
01:48:10 - Dovin, Grand Arbiter
01:59:50 - Domri, Chaos Bringer
02:05:30 - Gruul Spellbreaker
02:08:40 - Ravager Wurm
02:17:05 - Bedevin, Judith
02:23:40 - Theater of Horros
02:28:30 - Captive Audience
02:33:00 - Ethereal Absolution
02:35:00 - Kaya
02:43:10 - Hydroid Krasis, other Simic things
02:58:15 - Wrapup
In this episode of The Third Power, Usman and Anthony discuss Aether Revolt and its impact in cube! Crack-a-pack.
In this episode of The Third Power, Usman and Anthony return to talk about the cards for cubes in sets we didn’t have time to discuss previously (Eldritch Moon, Commander 2016 and Conspiracy: Take The Crown!) Usman’s Cube Reviews of Eldritch Moon, Commander 2016 and Conspiracy: Take The Crown! Timetable: 00:03:42 – Crack-a-pack. 00:13:34 –...
In this episode of The Third Power, Usman and Anthony return to discuss Kaladesh for cube! 00:03:45 – You Make The Cube discussion- Usman’s 540-card pauper cube submission. 00:12:08 – Crack-a-pack from the above pauper cube. 00:28:00 – Cultural discussion about Kaladesh. 00:52:16 – Actual card discussion onward. 00:57:57 – Aerial Responder (“Dwarven Lighthawk?”) 01:03:08 –...
In this episode of The Third Power, in the spirit of Eternal Masters, Usman and Anthony talk about some older cards in cube and reflect upon their use and how they and their perceptions have changed over the years. 00:01:40 – Crack-A-Pack. 00:09:35 – Winter Orb Errata 00:22:35 – Elesh Norn 00:25:20 – Mystic Confluence,...
In this episode of The Third Power, Usman and Anthony discuss Shadows over Innstrad and its impact in cube! Usman’s SoI cube article @ GatheringMagic. 00:02:31 – Crack-a-pack. 00:11:17 – Archangel Avacyn 00:15:50 – Town Gossipmonger 00:16:55 – Always Watching 00:22:43 – Bygone Bishop 00:24:13 – Declaration in Stone 00:26:56 – Thraben Inspector 00:29:42 –...
In this episode of The Third Power, Usman and Anthony discuss Oath of the Gatewatch’s impact on cube! Crack-a-pack. Usman’s articles on Gathering Magic about Oath of the Gatewatch, part 1 and part 2. Usman’s guest episode of “What’s in the Box.” 2015 Cube Wrapup episode of “What’s in the Box.”
In this episode of The Third Power, Usman and Anthony discuss Commander 2015 and what it brings for cube. Usman’s GatheringMagic article about Commander 2015 for cube. Timeline: 00:02:35 – Crack-a-pack. 00:14:44 – Dawnbreak Reclaimer 00:16:44 – Grasp of Fate 00:20:14 – Kalemne’s Captain 00:22:30 – Oreskos Explorer 00:23:10 – Righteous Confluence 00:26:20 – Gigantoplasm...
In this episode of The Third Power, Usman and Anthony talk about Battle for Zendikar and its impact in cube! Crack-a-pack featuring Usman’s newly rebooted pauper cube. (Timetables and whatnot to come later. )
In this episode of The Third Power, Usman and Anthony discuss how Magic Origins impacts cube! Crack-a-pack. Usman’s MTG Origins Cube Review at GatheringMagic. 00:02:17 – Crack-a-pack. 00:17:24 – Overall MTG Origins Talk 00:22:51 – Archangel of Tithes 00:27:19 – Consul’s Liutenant 00:34:47 – Kytheon 00:36:07 – Kytheon’s Irregulars 00:38:04 – Relic Seeker 00:43:19 –...
In this episode of The Third Power, Usman and Anthony go deep on talking about the method to the madness of cutting cards from your cube. Crack-a-pack. Cube expansion pack article by Usman. Time: 00:03:22 – Crack-a-pack 00:16:30 – Addendum to Green episode (pauper) 00:17:30 – Cuts (why) 00:36:20 – Cuts (how) 01:22:00 – Real...
In this episode of The Third Power, Anthony and Usman complete the WUBRG discussion by talking about how green plays out in cube, talking about its strengths, weaknesses, reasons people have given for its historical weaknesses (signets, planeswalkers,) and how to build around these in cube. Crack-a-pack for today’s episode.
In this episode of The Third Power, Anthony and Usman talk about what this deceptively powerful set brings for cube, from the obvious adds to the cards which require some more mental calories to process. Usman’s GatheringMagic Cube Review! Crack-a-pack. Tavish’s Cube Stream. (who’s developing an Android cube app and will be streaming cube drafts.) Usman’s...
In this episode of The Third Power, Usman and Anthony bring on Limited Resources host, commentator and article writer Marshall Sutcliffe to discuss approaching cube from a drafter’s point of view and cube drafting strategies, along with some questions taken from viewers! Crack-a-pack. Anthony’s Twitter. Usman’s Twitter. Marshall’s Twitter. Limited Resouces Subreddit.
In this episode of The Third Power, Usman and Anthony talk about how Fate Reforged impacts cube! Crack-a-pack: https://idratherbecubing.wordpress.com/2015/01/27/2311/ Blog post from Usman’s cube blog about inclusion of tri-hybrids: https://idratherbecubing.wordpress.com/2015/01/11/tri-hybrids-etc/ Usman’s Review of Fate Reforged: http://www.gatheringmagic.com/usmanjamil-011215-fate-reforged-cube-review/ Usman’s most recent cube draft walkthrough: http://www.gatheringmagic.com/usmanjamil-012715-cubing-with-usman-legacy-cube-2/
In this episode of The Third Power, Usman and Anthony talk about this year and how its sets had an impact on cube! Crack-a-pack! Time stamps: 00:06:50 – Crack-a-pack 00:23:13 – Born of the Gods 00:33:10 – Journey into Nyx 00:39:45 – m15 00:58:25 – Conspiracy 01:23:25 – Khans of Tarkir 01:42:25 – Commander 2014...
In this episode of The Third Power, Anthony and Usman talk about how their impressions of Khans of Tarkir’s cube cards before talking about Commander 2014’s impact on cube! Timestamps: 00:04:12 – Khans Revisited 00:18:45 – Yasova Dragonclaw/Crux of Fate 00:23:25 – Nahiri the Lithomancer 00:29:13 – Comeuppance 00:31:37 – Containment Priest 00:35:48 – Hallowed...