The Jumpstart Cube

blacksmithy · Jul 6, 2020

NOTE: Under construction

Posting my “jumpstart packs” and play reports here.
Related thread:
https://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/jumpstarting-your-cube-drafts.3146/

Rebuilding my Jumpstart packs from scratch now that I’m mostly finished updating my cube. All Jumpstarts I build are taken directly from the cube list.

What’s built so far:

UW Blink

RB Recursion

RG Madness

RW Counters

UB Stitcher

BG Morbid

UG Gifts

UR Spells

blacksmithy · Jul 25, 2020

Had our first match with the updated cube list tonight! My wife opted for RG and RW, and true to form I went UB and BG so i could durdle around making Gifts piles. The Jumpstarts will be added to the opening post.
At first the match seemed quite one-sided, as i was able to pick off her threats with the plethora of removal in the Bug deck, and I even got off my Gifts pile, fetching Polukranos, Alchemy, Darkblast, and Genesis. She was about to scoop after I demonstrated the Genesis+Fleshbag Marauder combo... Then she realized she could just pump her Needle Spires with Kessig Wolf Run to dome me without fear of my sorcery speed board lock.
I got around this for a bit by getting back Polukranos with Genesis, and was threatening his instant speed fight ability on my next land drop, when... she got me good. See the photo attached for what killed me. It was just glorious, and I can’t wait to play again! Viva la Jumpstart!

Brad · Jul 26, 2020

Don't force yourself into double utility lands. Another colored source will often be better.

blacksmithy · Jul 26, 2020

you bring up a good point! right now i’m inserting colorless utility lands that i think fit the deck’s theme. but there’s nothing stopping me from using, say, 2 of the mono colored utility lands from the cube instead of the guild utility land and a colorless utility land. i also want to find some space for Evolving Wilds in each list, since i am pulling these cards directly from my Evolving Wilds cube after all.
but, i really want to keep the guild utility lands in there somehow, their effects are just too good! maybe i just swap out the colorless utilities for Wilds.

Brad · Jul 26, 2020

Maybe do 25 card lists designed to be cut?

I'd say to use the utility lands if it adds something significant, but definitely don't force anything. Even basics are pretty good.

blacksmithy · Jul 27, 2020

i can definitely see myself doing that in the long run, but my current player does NOT like having to deckbuild XD
might just go ahead and bump to 25 but play the 50-card deck though.
made a few more packs last night, will post asap

EDIT: looking back over my lists, i think it will be a positive change to just replace the colorless utility lands (NOT the guild utility lands) with Evolving Wilds. Updated the card packs this morning and working on updating these lists now.

Brad · Aug 1, 2020

Your blink deck lacks blink targets a bit.

Madness list needs Noose Constrictor big time. Spikeshot seems a bit out of place. Bloodbraid is low skill, high variance and I hate the card. I just added "Gruul Aggro Madness" in my thread if you'd like to compare/critique.

The Gifts list doesn't have any piles I see and am motivated to make. Needs more recursion or just make it a flash deck.

MaybeFiery Impulse in UR? Personal fan of it as a spells-matter-bolt(ish).

blacksmithy · Aug 2, 2020

On the RG list:
Bloodbraid Elf is certainly a polarizing card, but I started playing back in Alara/Zendikar days, then played Jund for a while in Modern, so BBE is a pet card par excellence for me, and my current playgroup (my wife) requested it for her first JS deck.

Noose Constrictor is just Mongrel with reach, right? I can see myself running both quite honestly, but i’ll need to mosey over to the LGS and pick one up. Definitely wouldn’t mind a second discard outlet in green for the cube as a whole.

Spikeshot is in the list because of all the pump (Rancor, Wolf Run, Rampager, Khenra). Almost put him in the RW list but i just knew he would play well here.

On other stuff:
I went back and forth on including Splicers in the blink deck... At the time I was going to do a mono W splicer list, but i’m thinking now i’d rather just do that here. So a good change to make!

My “default” gifts pile is Wonder, Spitting Image, Masked Admirers, Glyph Keeper, but i wanted to seed some of the other good targets in other U/Gx decks so you could do different piles each time. What cards would you recommend here? I love a good Gifts pile discussion.

Fiery Impulse is a good control card, but i just don’t like burn cards that can’t be aimed at Villain. if it went face id run it in a heartbeat.