General CBS

[Chris Taylor]

K. I broke singleton and went too nuts with it. Work in progress for sure. Appreciate all the feedback. Maybe I need to limit breaking singleton to Eldrazi only.

Hell yeah dude!

I think an important thing to keep in mind with singleton breaking is that you can always just, adjust the numbers. I like to start at 2, bump up to 3 if something feels really essential. But you can also start at 4, bump up or down if necessary. It can feel intimidating if you've never done it before, but it's really no different from adjusting the density of any other effect! We do this kind of adjustment and tuning with things like removal density, creature density, counterspell density, whatever. It's no different just because it's extra copies of the same card

I wonder how much resistance to duplicates comes from actual "this is how we've always done it" thoughts, subconscious or otherwise, and how much comes from people who never get to play or edit their cubes, and end up thinking that every change they make needs to be this rosetta stone

 

[TekLazar]

I think so, even websites like CubeCobra don't let you put in multiples at once except through a mass import. So you have to manually type in each of your cards and it seems a bit strange why that is not the case, at least for the sake of lands.

 

[LadyMapi]

Yeah, one of the things I discovered when working on this list (where I edited a bunch of cards to not be green) is that there really isn't a good way to go "yeah, I want 30 copies of this card". Tweaking all of the Land Grants to be colorless was a pain.

 

[LadyMapi]

Thinking about the "have X lessons in your graveyard" stuff in TLA/TLE, how many lessons would you have to run for that to be a reasonable ask? I'm bad at judging graveyard density stuff.

(I'm thinking of dredging up an idea that got floated around when Strixhaven first came out of making a cube with the houserule that Arcane = Lesson, and having more reasons to care about that houserule is a good way to make it feel worth it.)

 

[Brad]

Yeah, one of the things I discovered when working on this list (where I edited a bunch of cards to not be green) is that there really isn't a good way to go "yeah, I want 30 copies of this card". Tweaking all of the Land Grants to be colorless was a pain.

Filter to "Land Grant" then hit the header over them, probably Sorcery (30), and tap colorless next time.

 

[Rasmus Källqvist]

Apropos nothing at all, I've really started to appreciate X-spells. I've played some Oldschool 93/94 decks, and they usually play one-of of fireball or brain geyser, and it just makes it so much less punishing to flood out, since you know you could top-deck the X-spell and actually use all that mana. I think I'll try to find some room for some more X-spells in my cube.

 

[Seeker]

Apropos nothing at all, I've really started to appreciate X-spells. I've played some Oldschool 93/94 decks, and they usually play one-of of fireball or brain geyser, and it just makes it so much less punishing to flood out, since you know you could top-deck the X-spell and actually use all that mana. I think I'll try to find some room for some more X-spells in my cube.

Kind of wild how Volcanic Geyser went from insane to just like, now we pass it all the time (Choco-Comet having the RR 2/2 buyout option made it a lot stronger, that's for sure, instant speed was never a super attractive thing there) over the years.

 

[Brad]

Apropos nothing at all, I've really started to appreciate X-spells. I've played some Oldschool 93/94 decks, and they usually play one-of of fireball or brain geyser, and it just makes it so much less punishing to flood out, since you know you could top-deck the X-spell and actually use all that mana. I think I'll try to find some room for some more X-spells in my cube.

Kicker variants and X spells are great. I think there's a lot of opportunity for a mana-intensive mid-high power cube that leans on a lot of them.

 

[Seeker]

We're getting Marvel Super Heroes previews apparently. I don't actually care enough to make a thread, so someone else will have to. Sorry.

 

[MilesOfficial]

Between Bruce and Quicksilver, Brash Blur, we're getting so many 1MV legends. I'd be happy if they weren't Marvel!

I really like Namor (that links to my comments on Reddit). Aesthetically, it doesn't feel as out of place with Magic either.

 

[KeithCubes]

I like this more than I should.

Obviously not for power-maxers, and probably not worth a guild slot, but this just looks fun and brings a sense of doom if you can't deal with it right away.

You really want a way to give the token haste, (or proliferate the saga?) but the floor of just take anything out isn't horrible.

 

[MilesOfficial]

View attachment 10964
I like this more than I should.

Obviously not for power-maxers, and probably not worth a guild slot, but this just looks fun and brings a sense of doom if you can't deal with it right away.

You really want a way to give the token haste, (or proliferate the saga?) but the floor of just take anything out isn't horrible.

As someone with negative interest in the Fantastic Four, this is truly the ideal kind of card design for UB. Like, that's cool. You get the story even if you're not familiar, and the impressiveness of Galactus is self-evident. It's a good card for all levels of Cube, but it's mostly there for story equity and because it's cool.



I already mentioned Namor, but yeah, I love this card. I've been ruminating on this all day.

 

[KeithCubes]

As someone with negative interest in the Fantastic Four, this is truly the ideal kind of card design for UB. Like, that's cool. You get the story even if you're not familiar, and the impressiveness of Galactus is self-evident. It's a good card for all levels of Cube, but it's mostly there for story equity and because it's cool.

Do you think you'll try it out in place of Alpha Deathclaw? It's a good deal weaker I think, but you make a good point on story equity.

What I meant by signaling is how cards like the Deathclaw at least have some extra synergistic hooks with counters and ramp (which Golgari might want to be doing), but in general the Deathclaw is probably just viewed as a generically good 2-1 like Mawloc is.

I already mentioned Namor, but yeah, I love this card. I've been ruminating on this all day.

I haven't had the chance to cube with it yet, but in limited I've been a bit let down by The Mechanist, Aerial Artisan. Seems like it could be an easy swap for you, or you take out Chrome Host Seedshark and free yourself of incubate tokens.

 

[MilesOfficial]

Do you think you'll try it out in place of Alpha Deathclaw? It's a good deal weaker I think, but you make a good point on story equity.

What I meant by signaling is how cards like the Deathclaw at least have some extra synergistic hooks with counters and ramp (which Golgari might want to be doing), but in general the Deathclaw is probably just viewed as a generically good 2-1 like Mawloc is.

You know, I just might. I loved Deathclaw for the first year or two he was in Cube, but I feel like he's kind of...boring now? It's nice for GB to have a big boy payoff to either lightly ramp or reanimate into, but he's just "generic good" and isn't a fraction as evocative. It's an interesting thought.

I haven't had the chance to cube with it yet, but in limited I've been a bit let down by The Mechanist, Aerial Artisan. Seems like it could be an easy swap for you, or you take out Chrome Host Seedshark and free yourself of incubate tokens.

The Mechanist has only been played once but he's been great. My environment is increasingly trinket-motivated, so he's much more at home than in retail limited (where I've had a reasonably good time with him as well, to be honest!).

Chrome Host Seedshark is a dream of a card. I wish you didn't need to "unlock" the tokens to make them dudes, but that also plays well in the decks that want him that have a ton of wraths, too. It's the only incubate card I play with (rip my beloved Norn's Inquisitor) but I think I'm willing to keep it all the same because of how great he's played out.

 

[Seeker]

It's the only incubate card I play with (rip my beloved Norn's Inquisitor) but I think I'm willing to keep it all the same because of how great he's played out.

someday I'll have a cube where Ichor Drinker is playable

or perhaps Sunder the Gateway

 

[LadyMapi]

Power-up seems like a neat kicker/exhaust variant with a wide design space - shame it's probably only going to be printed on Marvel cards and never get touched again.

or perhaps Sunder the Gateway

God I love Sunder the Gateway.

At some point, I want to build a cube that's leans hard on cards like Sunder or Gravedig or Under the Skin or Earthbender Ascension where they're just bears with extra steps. Just have all the creatures be 2/2s that aren't actually creature cards. I don't think we have the cardpool for it yet, but the idea amuses me.

(Yeah, I know Gravedig conflicts with "no creatures allowed" vibes, but you could probably get around that by just making all the creatures uncastable but with channel/cycling/etc effects so that you'd bother to stick them in your deck.)

 

[Seeker]

Power-up seems like a neat kicker/exhaust variant with a wide design space - shame it's probably only going to be printed on Marvel cards and never get touched again.

honestly I don't love it - I get that's it both Not Kicker and Not Exhaust*, but I think in general it's going to read a little more confusingly than either several years down the line. "additive distraction" style text. even if i bet it'll play real well because it's just two mechanics that are already good!

thankfully I don't have to care because UB etc

*not to be confused with monstrosity, because exhaust was Not Monstrosity, not the other way around

 

[ravnic]

Marvel is aesthetically just a horrible fit for magic, oh boy. Luckily, through the omenpaths will make it easy to craft proxies from cards that are just perfect mechanically.

 

[MilesOfficial]

I'm doing the survey for the best new basic lands of the year again! Please contribute if you have a few minutes!!

Here are the infographics I made last year from those results.