General CBS

[Chris Taylor]

Hey where do y'all fall on this scale:




Let me know if there's something else you run to interact with lands or if you just don't run anything

 

[Velrun]

Tectonic doesn’t ruin games but is still quite tempting for most decks to run.
Ruin is almost a perfect design but it only really shines if the nonbasic lands are super strong like the Ixalan transform lands etc.

I cannot see a good use for Ghost Town.

Waste and Strip may create nongames.

Ranking
Strip > Waste > Tectonic > Ruins > Ghost

I personally run the first four but I have also decided (Unlike most other) that I don’t mind nongames because my system/format can handle it.

There is also

 

[Chris Taylor]

So my experience is I've found that field of ruin mostly does what I want, but it does it really poorly and it's usually better to just live with your opponent's "problematic" nonbasic than play field of ruin

Back in the olden days I ran 4x wasteland rather than Wasteland/Strip/Tec Edge/Ghost Quarter, the same way I ran 4x brainstorm rather than Brainstorm/ponder/preordain/serum visions.

That moved to tec edge, then eventually to some customs, then I've since landed on field of ruin, but nobody runs them

 

[sigh]

strong possibility that's a sign your cube+group combo doesn't really need or want that effect, at least on a land.

 

[Chris Taylor]

strong possibility that's a sign your cube+group combo doesn't really need or want that effect, at least on a land.

That's certainly my impression, but I wonder if I should trust them

 

[sigh]

Taking these lands out would have negligible impact on any play experience as already shown by your group. A couple utility land swaps can't really have a high impact on the overall cube fabric regardless. Just take them out and try something else.

 

[Brad]

I have a bunch of unusual black nonbasics and haven't felt the need to run any of those.

 

[Dom Harvey]

I've since landed on field of ruin, but nobody runs them

I can think of one person...

 

[ravnic]

I don't like every new design paradigm in mtg today, but shifting away from land destruction is a good idea. I cut everything except Wildfire and Confiscate. The reason: In my experience the risk of destroying the fun of someone who happened to just draw one source of a color is not worth running land destruction. Of course you have to dial down the relative power level of lands with abilities, but again that's worth it imo.

 

[Chris Taylor]

I can think of one person...

I did specifically apologize to roy

 

[Rusje]

I don't like every new design paradigm in mtg today, but shifting away from land destruction is a good idea. I cut everything except Wildfire and Confiscate. The reason: In my experience the risk of destroying the fun of someone who happened to just draw one source of a color is not worth running land destruction. Of course you have to dial down the relative power level of lands with abilities, but again that's worth it imo.

Probably , I will get a lot of flack for this but here we go:
Actually, I like a bit of land destruction.
1) full on counter control leaves the opponent without the idea of being able to play any spells just like land destruction.
2) I love legacy like games to bits, however I abhore being able to play multiple colors without being penalized. In one of its many essences magic is a game of raw power vs consistency. However og duals and/or fetches laugh at this. Each color had its strengths and weaknesses but if you allow all colors then you lose a lot this game has to offer. If you are so greedy to play with more than 2 colors then it should come at a cost otherwise it becomes more luck based whether you were so lucky to open a bomb in any color.

 

[sigh]

1) most cubes here don't have anything resembling counter control
2) most cubes here don't have OG duals. Color wheel cost is usually managed here with lands that have a cost to playing them somehow. And clean archetype design mitigates the need for this somewhat anyways.

In the context of a cube with both the above issues, land destruction might have a more valid place.

 

[ravnic]

Probably , I will get a lot of flack for this but here we go:
Actually, I like a bit of land destruction.
1) full on counter control leaves the opponent without the idea of being able to play any spells just like land destruction.
2) I love legacy like games to bits, however I abhore being able to play multiple colors without being penalized. In one of its many essences magic is a game of raw power vs consistency. However og duals and/or fetches laugh at this. Each color had its strengths and weaknesses but if you allow all colors then you lose a lot this game has to offer. If you are so greedy to play with more than 2 colors then it should come at a cost otherwise it becomes more luck based whether you were so lucky to open a bomb in any color.

I agree with your second point. However, that is why I don't think Duals+Fetch is a healthy mana base. Even when you're high powered. If your main goal is fun I'd not recommend fetches paired with untapped fetchable duals.

 

[shamizy]

Hey where do y'all fall on this scale:




Let me know if there's something else you run to interact with lands or if you just don't run anything

Only Wasteland for me, I've got 4 available for drafters in my ULD. Strip Mine is too busted if you can assemble some Crucible lock while Wasteland at least allows for you to "play around" it with basics. The other options are either too slow, too cute, or too low impact in my environment.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

None of them. I want my players to be able to cast their three color cards, and the only 'utility' lands I run are Creeping Tar Pit and Shambling Vent, which can be dealt with using removal spells.

 

[jerichoalar]

I’ve ran 4 wasteland in 360 and they were amazing When I did ULD, now that I don’t usually they seem less relevant.

I do occasionally see people try to do a MUD or R/colorless land destruction control deck, which is kind of cool, has yet to go 3-0.

 

[Velrun]

With the latest set (Commander Legends) I would like to share some quick thoughts for a new format.

What we need:
A pile of low-powered spells.
A pile of cube spells.
A pile of cube lands.

---------------------

Each player gets 23 random low-powered spells and drafts a Commander from a pool of 3 random legendaries. (We ignore the "You may only play cards in your Commander's color identity"-rule.)

After each game of Magic:
Players draft a new Commander (But they may choose to use their old one if they prefer that one)
Players get a bunch of random new cards from the cube.
Deck construction -> New game

Thoughts?

 

[Velrun]

The format should be good if players don't have all day to play but only a few hours. The format is possible to play quite easily if you are an odd number of players. I suspect each tournament should feel different.

The goal of the format is to let players have fun brewing decks and changing colors between games. Also games should feel very, very much like a low powered Commander game where players only have a few truly powerful cards.

It is possible to tweak the format. If we give players a lot more starting cards from the low-powered pool of cards we can add that Commander identity-restriction back = Games are 100 % like Commander except with limited card pool.

 

[Velrun]

I need some help from the Cube Cobra people again



Which page are you using for your pictures? It is my understanding that CubeCobra does not support uploading cards directly onto the page or onto the cards but needs a third party website like Imgur. So are you guys using Imgur or another page?

Kind regards, the Cube Tutor guy who is thinking about moving to Cube Cobra

 

[Velrun]

In the progress of transfering cards from CubeTutor to CubeCobra

Noticed that Cobra has the flaw of pretending all 7+ cards cost the same.

This means if you wish to view your list as a curve, they will pretend like your Realm-Cloaked Giant is equally expensive (CMC) as your Iona, Shield of Emeria.
This means if you wish to view your list as a visual spoiler, they will pretend like the giant is more costly than your angel.

And as far as I can see there is no fix to the flaw. Does anyone know what you can do about this?

See example here:
https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/5fa6f24700b06b0fe8462ebd?view=spoiler

 

[Onderzeeboot]

I am indeed using Imgur

Also, if you edit your card details, there is an option CMC that you can set.

Edit: Click a card in your List view, then edit the indicated field below:

Spoiler

 

[Chris Taylor]

I'm using imgur as well.

If someone has a better way to organize your uploads than click and drag let me know
There was this app called "EasyImgur" that let you mass upload things but I think the API limits you to 50 images per album
I can just add more things to an album but then they need to be sorted manually

 

[Velrun]

I am indeed using Imgur

Also, if you edit your card details, there is an option CMC that you can set.

Edit: Click a card in your List view, then edit the indicated field below:

Spoiler

View attachment 3465

The thing is that doesn’t work. Try adding in a creature that costs 7 like Realm-Cloaked Giant and a 9 drop like Iona, Shield of Emeria. It should put Iona to be more expensive than the Giant but it doesn’t. It pretends they are equally expensive. And because ‘I’ comes before ‘R’ in the alphabet CubeCobra has a problem because in the visual spoiler it shows Iona to be cheapest.

Can I get you to click on my link and see the example?

 

[Velrun]

I'm using imgur as well.

If someone has a better way to organize your uploads than click and drag let me know
There was this app called "EasyImgur" that let you mass upload things but I think the API limits you to 50 images per album
I can just add more things to an album but then they need to be sorted manually

I started using Imgur and it’s certainly not my favorite program But at least I can delete the uploaded picture on Imgur after it has been transfered to CubeCobra so album size limitation is no issue.

I have arrived at a cube where I upload more altered cards than custom cards

 

[ravnic]

With the latest set (Commander Legends) I would like to share some quick thoughts for a new format.

What we need:
A pile of low-powered spells.
A pile of cube spells.
A pile of cube lands.

---------------------

Each player gets 23 random low-powered spells and drafts a Commander from a pool of 3 random legendaries. (We ignore the "You may only play cards in your Commander's color identity"-rule.)

After each game of Magic:
Players draft a new Commander (But they may choose to use their old one if they prefer that one)
Players get a bunch of random new cards from the cube.
Deck construction -> New game

Thoughts?

Interesting, I am trying a similar thing now for my always changing project of a ravnica limited experience. My newest approach is the following:

Each player choses a guild and then gets a deck of 23 common spells and 17 lands (those decks don't change to guarantee a curve, some removal etc.). You play the first round. Before each round a different quest will be drawn. It determites how many cards each player gets (e.g. "You gain X cards here X is your highest life total minus 15." or "You gain one card for each combat step in which you attacked."). The cards are given at random from a pile of uncommons and rares. These quest however a indipendent from winning or losing. Each round players play will have a new quest, and after each round there will be time to rebuild your deck. For each round you win, you get the respective number of points, meaning game 1 gives you 1 point, game 2 grants 2 and so on.

I have not tested it yet but I have high hopes. The idea is that you have very flavorful guild decks, you can start playing right away, but there are still some meaningful decisions in deckbuilding. My only fear is that balancing might be too difficult.