Episode 75— December 6th, 2021

All About Brainstorm

5:17
What does Brainstorm do?
6:14
Why is Brainstorm controversial in the cube world?
7:38
What is the best-case scenario with Brainstorm? Why is it so potent in eternal constructed formats?
11:06
When is brainstorm “bad”?
12:09
Why being “brainstorm-locked” is absolutely not a thing.
14:03
What is “Xerox Theory”?
19:58
The diminishing returns of cantrips
22:37
The intrinsic overlaps between “Xerox theory” decks and other powerful strategies
25:25
Why Reach Through Mists is actually good, and the real reasons why it’s not played
28:46
The different kind of Magic communities and their evaluation of Brainstorm
31:18
How is brainstorm better than Reach Through Mists even without a shuffle effect?
34:53
Just how many cards is Brainstorm specifically good with and against?
41:19
Brainstorm in Historic
43:29
Andy’s Brainstorm evaluation in summary
44:32
Brainstorm is difficult to play well
45:36
Why it’s so easy to underrate Brainstorm
52:55
Anthony attempts to talk Andy down
56:52
A note on Brainstorm’s pick order in the MTGO vintage cube
58:30
Closing thoughts

Andy and Anthony spend a whole episode talking just about Brainstorm. They talk about how and why it works, how it behaves in different contexts and different cubes, how unique it is, and the many relevant interactions with other cards.

Brainstorm can be a controversial topic among Cube players and designers. Some claim it’s over-rated as a carryover from formats it single handedly shapes. Andy argues a high power level rating is justified, and our hosts go deep on the many interesting play patterns that make it appealing for cube designers.

Discussed in this episode:

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If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at [email protected]. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

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Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Brainstorm — Christopher Rush