The Penny Pincher Cube (360)

[Grillo_Parlante]

I actually did consider train of thought, but ending up cutting it.

There are actually a ton of cool cards you can run with the storm theme, that arn't storm cards. A bunch of the multi-kicker cards could potentially make the cut, but didn't due to not quite being strong enough on their own:




Infinite size creature, infinite damage, infinite life, and infinite tokens. Wolfbriar might make it in the final 360.

Replicate is similar




I kind of like that pryomatics is an instant. The rest I didn't think were quite strong enough on their own. Playing train of thought fairly seems miserable. Leap of flame is a bit hard on the mana.

I like the double bonesplitter idea. Thats one of those things I kind of need to see the cube in action though to assess.

 

[Modin]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I've just realized that there is Machete and Bonesplitter in the cube so that could definately be enough. More prowess cards should always be great. If you aren't doubling up I'd think these are in closer consideration:


The blue 4-drop section is quite loaded though.

 

[Grillo_Parlante]

The prowess cards I have on my radar are jeskai windscout and dragon bell monk. The monk is more likely to happen due to space restrictions in blue.

We are at 360 now, and I finished the multi-color section. I did something here that I haven't done before, and basically just used the multi-color section as a place to gently nodge the drafter in certain directions by running cards that hint at certain themes or color combinations.

Now I have the fun job of price checking things!

 

[Modin]

It shouldn't be too bad, I'd have to spend something like 60 € to buy the cards I lack, which are about 160. On a different note, what happened to the spirit idea?
Oyobi, Who Split the Heavens looked pretty cool :<

 

[Chris Taylor]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I've just realized that there is Machete and Bonesplitter in the cube so that could definately be enough. More prowess cards should always be great. If you aren't doubling up I'd think these are in closer consideration:


The blue 4-drop section is quite loaded though.

Jeskai Sage is actually really nice in that control decks like him as well, since he's a cantripping roadblock and might trade off with a bear/1 drop

 

[Suicufnoc]

Jeskai Sage is actually really nice in that control decks like him as well, since he's a cantripping roadblock and might trade off with a bear/1 drop

This. I'm considering him in my cube.

 

[Peter LaCara]

Jeskai Sage is actually really nice in that control decks like him as well, since he's a cantripping roadblock and might trade off with a bear/1 drop

I had him in my cube for a few drafts, and was distinctly underwhelmed. It just didn't to enough. Jeskai Elder, on the other hand, has been perfectly fine.

 

[Grillo_Parlante]

A while back I tried a U/W treasure cruise build in pauper that ran jeskai student as a way to convert cruise into onboard tempo. It was pretty terrible. 1 power, 2 mana, and no haste was a pretty crippling combination, so I am pretty wary of Jeskai Sage.

Haha yeah, the spirit thing was a barely fleshed out idea from a few pauper decks. After black, white, and green started to get filled up I realized it would be hard to get in the needed density of cards. The pauper version of the deck itself is a combo deck that makes a bunch of spirits and kills with devouring greed. I think for a toned down, cubable version of spirits, to work it would really want to be intergrated with a broader splice into arcane theme.

Probably achievable, but don't have the space.

Also, chromatic star is somehow a 1.25-1.50 card on starcity games >.>

 

[Grillo_Parlante]

Ok, so I finished the drudgery of price checking (using starcity games). These are the cards that jumped out as over priced:

Memnarch: At $8.25, I am going to have to cut him from the official list. Commander staple or something?

Chromatic Star: Originally, I was going to run 7 of these, rather than 3 chromatic spheres, 1 barbed sextet, and 3 chromatic stars. However, costing between $1.25-$1.50 per, would mean spending $8.75 on timespiral commons. I feel like I have to go back to the original split for this reason.

Banishing Light: Double up on o-ring, cheaper and combos with blink effects.

Gitaxian Probe: Evidently $3.55 per. Maybe time for mistfire sage to come off the bench.

Golgari thug/Young Pyromancer, Boros Charm, Monastery Swiftspear: $2.39 for thug, somehow young pyro is $3.75, swiftspear is $2.99, prowler is $1.75, and boros charm is $1.85. Hopefully some of these prices will drop with the banning of treasure cruise, but for now no great ideas for more economical replacements.

Price estimates (rounding for high end) from scratch:

White: $15
Blue: $20
Black: $20
Green: $20
Red: $30
Multi-Color: $15
Colorless: $25
Sleeves: $45

Purchase Price from Scratch: $145.00
With Sleeves: $190

Magic is an expensive game

 

[Suicufnoc]

Young Pyro can be had for <$2, but still a little high I suppose. Yeah magic is stupid expensive, really. Is Chromatic Star's upside relevant enough to justify any?

My cube would cost something like $2k, and thats with no power, duals, or fetches.

Memnarch is a commander thing, yeah.

 

[Grillo_Parlante]

There are some cards that really synergize well with it, but its really not such an upside where I could justify the idea of someone spending $10 on 7 cards when all 50 white cards are probably going to run you sub $15.

Expensive commons just always bother me; but at least its not as bad as $20 daze online.

 

[Modin]

I must say, the prices really differ from europe to the US, Memnarch is about 1,9-3€ (+shipping) around here :O
Anyway... as I have got all thos expensive card(or most of them) I'll try to build it the way it was intended Pretty sad to see that the prices are that high.

Gitaxian Probe: Evidently $3.55 per. Maybe time for mistfire sage to come off the bench.

Did you mean this guy?
or this one:

 

[Rasmus Källqvist]

I'm not sure if that was part of the design limitations but ST really you way little bang for your buck. I'd say it's almost considerable limitations on what you can do with your budget!

 

[Grillo_Parlante]

I planned on gluing the two cards togeth Mistfire adept...was the one I meant

 

[Suicufnoc]

I'm not sure if that was part of the design limitations but ST really you way little bang for your buck.

I'm confused

Kiora's Follower?

 

[Rasmus Källqvist]

Writing on the phone leads to some jumbled nightmare sentences. Starcitygames is a harsh place to go and shop on a budget.

 

[Grillo_Parlante]

I used starcity because it tends to have most of the cards in stock.

Is there a better place I should have used? I was just sort of imagining if someone wanted to outright purchase every card, they would go to a site with the best stock.

 

[Rasmus Källqvist]

That is true of course! Didn't consider that. I just channelfireball, so maybe I shouldn't talk.

 

[Eric Chan]

Yeah, at this point, I more or less just go to CFB for everything. I used to shop around and compare prices, but now I don't really bother, as their prices seem reasonable enough. CFB is one of the few places that ships for free to Canada, too!

 

[Chriskool]

I had a pretty good experience buying from TCGPlayer to finish my set (lots of .04-.21 prices on the trash I "needed"). Also, I have found ABUGames's played cards to be a pretty good deal and well-stocked (.99 for lightly played TSP Chrom Stars).

Been drafting a bit on CT: it's fun! Also, Ostracize over Despise? :]

 

[Grillo_Parlante]

oh good catch!

I took a look at both TCG and ABU and they both seemed better for a lot of singles than channelfireball/starcity games.

I forgot, suicufnoc had suggested a more interesting counter than counterspell, but I couldn't really think of anything. Any ideas?

 

[Suicufnoc]

Yeah, if anybody was to order the whole cube, I'd recommend trying TCGplayer with the cart optimiser, and turn off the stupid tcgplayer direct. They do pretty well on large orders of junk.

Off the top of my head, without checking to see if you already run any of them:

 

[Chris Taylor]

Micsalculation? Condescend? Maybe a harder counter like Hinder, Dissolve, or Forbid?

 

[Grillo_Parlante]

I gave it some thought, I think I am going to stick with a 2cc counter in that slot. The reason being I want to have plays available where you cast a cloud of faeries (or snap) but will consistantly still have the mana up to bluff/counter a spell.

Right now, my counters are:




I will probably leave counterspell for now, because I want to have that 2cc backbone counter. But miscalculation looks strong, and I really like condescend. I have thought about power sink too.

 

[Suicufnoc]

Go to Miscalculation and your cube will thank you for the smooth cycling goodness.