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Another thing that tips the balance a little is running removal that is more useful to control than aggro - e.g. Condemn and Oust .

Ramp deck with Karn, Titania + Crucible, Rampaging Baloths, Inferno Titan, Polukranos etc. Sad lack of maindeck permanent removal led to Karn crushing in the first game. Added Faith's Fetters for the second - as a 4-drop it had been cut from maindeck - but there were too many must answer...

A 2-1 deck from the inaugural MTGO draft at the start of November.

I think a 3/3 first striker attacking turn 2 is going to be really pretty powerful in a dragon cube - against a deck on the draw which has nothing below 4 mana in its hand, it's going to nail them for 3 damage turn 2, hit for 3 again turn 3, and then fully level to a 4/4 double strike for turn...

How about Ribbons of Night?

I'm going to argue Hangarback is more annoying: a bear for 4 mana that incentivises you to not attack is not much of an aggro card without other synergies, it's mostly just a way to gum up the board. Hallowed Spiritkeeper at least slots into an aggro deck without looking dumb.

Underworld Dreams? Ugh. I meant Underworld Connections Also Lust for War is pretty sweet.

James, thanks for making this thread, you're great. I'm happy to report back to Kirblinx that I am indeed running Curse of Shallow Graves. (Also perhaps less excitingly Underworld Dreams for a card advantage engine and Curse of Death's Hold). Sweet Boros white removal I don't think has been...

Also, since there hasn't been a pack in a while: City of BrassElves of Deep ShadowMind ControlMidnight HauntingThornwood FallsRude AwakeningAugur of BolasMutilateBalefire LiegeNarcolepsyBloodthrone VampireStrands of NightFlame-Kin ZealotTerramorphic ExpanseSphinx of Lost Truths

It's difficult, though! If you see a card like this, how strong do you expect it to be? It's hard to evaluate any card without knowing the format. If you're used to formats in which you can summon GRBS with Natural Order, you're going to be mildly disappointed when your green fatty selection is...

The very notion of "first order optimal strategies" - which is in itself really quite flawed in a more basic game theory sense - relies on an assumption of Spikey players. People don't draft Storm because they think it's a great strategy. Timmy doesn't draft ramp because he thinks ramp wins, he...

Moving on then to discuss archetypes, I think one of the key dangers to avoid is the feeling that someone's taken apart a number of pre-built decks and scattered the pieces about. If cards are too narrowly synergistic, you quickly get locked out of making interesting choices in a pack. For this...

Sorry for the delay in engaging. I've been moving house. I think both of you have a point, ahadabans and Grillo. Some time ago I played a great deal of a game - the most popular descendant of Richard Bartle's Spellbinder - which at the time I came to it largely lacked a body of strategy...

I think if you get to untap with stuff like Mind Control and Underworld Dreams in hand plus removal, and a board that's not a total mess, it's probably hard for your opponent to make up the difference. I haven't got to play with it much, it's obviously terrible to draw on turn 20, but the best...

I think the concept forming in my head round this, based in large measure on Grillo's description, is what I guess I'd call "cohesive diversity" - varying themes supported by multiple cards which have distinct payoffs when drafted together but also distinct weaknesses that can be exploited...

James, because as an anxious cube designer I want to make you happy: what do you hope to get off Three Dreams? (This sent me off into an "it's okay, I run some pretty sweet auras.... but these auras are pretty sweet, what if someone else takes them?") Spoiler of auras you could actually get...

Sorry. I didn't mean to rile, but I'm looking back at my last post, and the words "terse" and "combative" seem fair descriptions of it, and I feel like I didn't accord you enough respect. To try and explain where I'm coming from: the Extra Credits crew are now kind of on probation with me...

Alas. In the middle of moving house. This also ruled me out of drafting safra's excellent looking cube.

Grillo, take your designer hat off and put your player hat on. Most of these cards are not "bounceland hate" over here in Playersville. They're answers to non-creature permanents. They're not going away. Getting a bounceland isn't even Magical Christmas Land with Mold Shambler; blowing up a...

I'm not convinced the Extra Credits stuff is helpful, but I don't want to get dragged into another exploration of their inadequacies at length. Their lack of understanding of game theory means that even using their terms puts our discussion in an awkward place. We aren't really talking about...