1. Are these the best BAM cards each color has to offer?
2. I got a pretty good handle on what a Tinker deck or a LD deck would look like but what would a Reveillark, Wildfire, and LftL deck look like?
Optional question #3: Is this a dumb way to look at BAM cards? My playgroup is a little noobish, and I figure by identifying these as BAM, they would be more likely to build a more interesting deck than three color good stuff.
The first thing to keep in mind with BAM cards is they can vary wildly in power depending on the number of drafters you have. They generally tend to be a lot worse with 2 drafters and really shine when you have the full 8 since you're much more likely to see the needed support cards.
Secondly is that newer drafters tend to shy away from these types of cards until they see them in action and learn how to draft them properly.
Of the cards you listed Reveillark doesn't require much effort (unless you're looking at it as a combo piece instead of a value card which is a bad way to look at it). Balance is the best white option but you'd include it anyways as just a good value card. After that white doesn't have much but I'd go with either Academy Rector or Ranger of Eos. Tinker is your best blue option (I also like Opposition), Recurring Nightmare is the best black option but you'd include it anyways so as a build around me add Living Death is fine. Abyssal Persecutor is another card I like in black. Wildfire is you best red option I think. I prefer Fastbond in green but Life from the Loam is a good card for this role.
If you're drafting with a larger group of people, I really like including the Build Around Me cards, especially if you pick some less common ones to give your cube a little bit more identity.
That said, I don't think I'd do it in a cycle. For one, different colors need build around me effects more. Green, for example, often has color identity issues, so providing multiple build around cards in green seems good. Red, on the other hand, rarely has big identity issues, and while you could certainly count Wildfire as a build around card, most Wildfire decks my group has built aren't very red at all.
In my cube, I'd consider the following "build around me" cards
Basically, supporting Build Around Me cards gives you some more interesting decks, but results in the inclusion of cards that do nothing on their own, or need particular other cards to be at their best. Smokestack and Braids are at their best when built around with things like Bitterblossom, Crucible of Worlds, Elspeth, Sorin, etc. I've been having a lot of fun lately modifying my cube to include more of these, but I think forcing it to be a cycle is a bad idea. What I'd suggest is finding cards that are particularly good in your build-around-me decks that support other themes as well. For example:
Most of the cards you list should be run just on the merits of their power alone (all but Living Death and maybe LftL). They will be taken in decks that don't specifically seek to build around them.
All of what Donald says is true.
As a huge fan of Wildfire, I'll discuss that card in more detail. For one thing, it's fine in RX control decks without being built around. Drop a fatty (Inferno Titan, Bogardan Hellkite, whatever) and Wildfire the following turn to kill most other creatures and cripple your opponent's resources with which to deal with said fatty.
However, it is better to build around Wildfire. You take Wildfire early and then prioritize two things: artifact mana and threats that will survive the Wildfire. The threats could be big creatures, prot-red creatures, planeswalkers, or anything else that will live through the burn. You use the mana-facts to accelerate into your resilient threat and then the Wildfire. It's also nice to have a little land destruction in your Wildfire deck. This way your opponent has even fewer lands when the Wildfire resolves.
To have the tools available for the Wildfire deck, you need enough artifact mana (easy if you run a powered cube; if not signets, talismans, and the regular mana rocks are your friends). You will also need enough resilient threats in your list, which just about every cube will have anyway.
I've found that most Wildfire decks are UR or RG. Blue brings control elements to keep stuff off the board before the Wildfire resolves and some good fatties to live through the wildfire: Consecrated Sphinx, Sphinx of Jwar Isle, Keiga, etc. Green brings acceleration, good aggro roadblocks (Wall of Blossoms, Phantom Centaur, Ohran Viper), and resilient creatures (Thornling, Vorapede, Troll Ascetic). Both blue and green have good planeswalkers to drop before the Wildfire.
A comment before I list BAM cards--many require tutors to work. Every tutor in the cube significantly improves the reliability of every build-around-me card in it. Crucible is a classic one here--Strip Mine/Crucible sucks without both the pieces.
The other kind of build around me card is the tutor--where you're okay if you draw all the cards in your deck normally, and even better if you draw the tutor. Birthing Pod and Tinker are my favorites of this.
More Build-Around-Me Cards (not comprehensive):
Isochron Scepter
Crucible of Worlds
Panoptic Mirror Enchantments -- Sigil of the Empty Throne, Academy Rector, Decree of Silence 1-2 super powerful creatures -- Oath of Druids, Polymorph, Gamekeeper Artifacts -- Tinker, Tezzeret the Seeker Sac Creatures -- Call to the Grave, the Abyss Everybody Sacrifices -- Braids Cabal Minion, Smokestack Blue Dredge Tutors -- Gifts Ungiven, Intuition Dredge -- Oversold Cemetery / Oath of Ghouls / Living Death
Past in Flames Full Curve Silver Bullets -- Birthing Pod, Hibernation's End Awesome Lands -- Scapeshift, Knight of the Reliquary, the Lands to go with them (Primeval Titan, too, but that's just always-good) Hard to Cast Spells -- Cruel Ultimatum, Nicol Bolas Planeswalker, Progenitus
1. Are these the best BAM cards each color has to offer?
2. I got a pretty good handle on what a Tinker deck or a LD deck would look like but what would a Reveillark, Wildfire, and LftL deck look like?
Optional question #3: Is this a dumb way to look at BAM cards? My playgroup is a little noobish, and I figure by identifying these as BAM, they would be more likely to build a more interesting deck than three color good stuff.
Secondly is that newer drafters tend to shy away from these types of cards until they see them in action and learn how to draft them properly.
Of the cards you listed Reveillark doesn't require much effort (unless you're looking at it as a combo piece instead of a value card which is a bad way to look at it). Balance is the best white option but you'd include it anyways as just a good value card. After that white doesn't have much but I'd go with either Academy Rector or Ranger of Eos. Tinker is your best blue option (I also like Opposition), Recurring Nightmare is the best black option but you'd include it anyways so as a build around me add Living Death is fine. Abyssal Persecutor is another card I like in black. Wildfire is you best red option I think. I prefer Fastbond in green but Life from the Loam is a good card for this role.
That said, I don't think I'd do it in a cycle. For one, different colors need build around me effects more. Green, for example, often has color identity issues, so providing multiple build around cards in green seems good. Red, on the other hand, rarely has big identity issues, and while you could certainly count Wildfire as a build around card, most Wildfire decks my group has built aren't very red at all.
In my cube, I'd consider the following "build around me" cards
Birthing Pod
Life from the Loam
Tinker and friends (Academy Ruins, Tezzeret the Seeker)
Braids, Cabal Minion (and her friend Smokestack)
Sneak Attack
And to a lesser extent
Green Sun's Zenith
Galepowder Mage and friends (Flickerwisp and Restoration Angel)
Crucible of Worlds
Wildfire and Upheaval
Other good examples we don't support but others do are Dream Halls and Goblin Welder
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Basically, supporting Build Around Me cards gives you some more interesting decks, but results in the inclusion of cards that do nothing on their own, or need particular other cards to be at their best. Smokestack and Braids are at their best when built around with things like Bitterblossom, Crucible of Worlds, Elspeth, Sorin, etc. I've been having a lot of fun lately modifying my cube to include more of these, but I think forcing it to be a cycle is a bad idea. What I'd suggest is finding cards that are particularly good in your build-around-me decks that support other themes as well. For example:
Oona's Prowler and Wild Mongrel support both Aggro and Reanimator
Inkwell Leviathan supports Tinker and Reanimator
Bloodghast supports aggro and smokestack
Crucible of Worlds supports control and smokestack
Life from the Loam supports symmetrical discard (smallpox/liliana), reanimator, and control
Dream Halls takes cards that support Upheaval and cards from Reanimator
etc. etc.
My MTGSalvation Cube Page (not always up to date, but sweet pics of my alters)
All of what Donald says is true.
As a huge fan of Wildfire, I'll discuss that card in more detail. For one thing, it's fine in RX control decks without being built around. Drop a fatty (Inferno Titan, Bogardan Hellkite, whatever) and Wildfire the following turn to kill most other creatures and cripple your opponent's resources with which to deal with said fatty.
However, it is better to build around Wildfire. You take Wildfire early and then prioritize two things: artifact mana and threats that will survive the Wildfire. The threats could be big creatures, prot-red creatures, planeswalkers, or anything else that will live through the burn. You use the mana-facts to accelerate into your resilient threat and then the Wildfire. It's also nice to have a little land destruction in your Wildfire deck. This way your opponent has even fewer lands when the Wildfire resolves.
To have the tools available for the Wildfire deck, you need enough artifact mana (easy if you run a powered cube; if not signets, talismans, and the regular mana rocks are your friends). You will also need enough resilient threats in your list, which just about every cube will have anyway.
I've found that most Wildfire decks are UR or RG. Blue brings control elements to keep stuff off the board before the Wildfire resolves and some good fatties to live through the wildfire: Consecrated Sphinx, Sphinx of Jwar Isle, Keiga, etc. Green brings acceleration, good aggro roadblocks (Wall of Blossoms, Phantom Centaur, Ohran Viper), and resilient creatures (Thornling, Vorapede, Troll Ascetic). Both blue and green have good planeswalkers to drop before the Wildfire.
Wildfire has some cool interactions with a few cards: Life from the Loam, Greater Gargadon, Reveillark, and Crucible of Worlds, to name the major ones.
Hope that helps.
Cheers,
rant
My Cube
CubeCobra: https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/5f5d0310ed602310515d4c32
Cube Tutor: http://cubetutor.com/viewcube/1963
A comment before I list BAM cards--many require tutors to work. Every tutor in the cube significantly improves the reliability of every build-around-me card in it. Crucible is a classic one here--Strip Mine/Crucible sucks without both the pieces.
The other kind of build around me card is the tutor--where you're okay if you draw all the cards in your deck normally, and even better if you draw the tutor. Birthing Pod and Tinker are my favorites of this.
More Build-Around-Me Cards (not comprehensive):
Isochron Scepter
Crucible of Worlds
Panoptic Mirror
Enchantments -- Sigil of the Empty Throne, Academy Rector, Decree of Silence
1-2 super powerful creatures -- Oath of Druids, Polymorph, Gamekeeper
Artifacts -- Tinker, Tezzeret the Seeker
Sac Creatures -- Call to the Grave, the Abyss
Everybody Sacrifices -- Braids Cabal Minion, Smokestack
Blue Dredge Tutors -- Gifts Ungiven, Intuition
Dredge -- Oversold Cemetery / Oath of Ghouls / Living Death
Past in Flames
Full Curve Silver Bullets -- Birthing Pod, Hibernation's End
Awesome Lands -- Scapeshift, Knight of the Reliquary, the Lands to go with them (Primeval Titan, too, but that's just always-good)
Hard to Cast Spells -- Cruel Ultimatum, Nicol Bolas Planeswalker, Progenitus
Even Winter Orb can be really cool to build around. Keeping your mana costs under 3 can really pay off with this card.
Juju Alters - Altered MTG Cards