Day: 012
Set: Magic 2011 (M11)
Release Date: July 16, 2010
Cards: 249 (105 new)
Leads: Aaron Forsythe (Design) & Erik Lauer (Development)
All New Cards, Sorted by ELO: CubeCobra Link
The Titan Set. The first set I did well in a competitive event (just shy of 16th place in a 250-person PPTQ if that's what they were called then)! Two years ago, I was working on an article called "The Titan Problem" where I analyzed CubeCobra data about the most popular six drops in each color and was working on some infographics to visually represent how oppressive the M11 Titans were to the Cube community's creativity.
This data was gathered 26 May 2023:
And here are some screenshots I have of the infographic I was eventually planning on finishing:
But this was fake news!!
I realized it and put the analysis on hold. You see, most Cube Cobra data is old. Even though the site still feels new to me, the average Cube on there hasn't been updated since the halfway point of CubeCobra's lifespan. Add to that, as the Lucky Paper team have demonstrated, a ton of Cubes are Commander-focused, rarity-restricted, modern framed, etc. Just using these raw numbers is useless.
So I put together a database of the top 100 Cubes by followers that had 1) updated in the last month, 2) had no arbitrary restrictions, and 3) is intended for 1v1 gameplay and 4) can support a full draft pod. This felt good. It took me a few months with work projects, but I eventually did do this process and put out a lonely pair of articles with the data: The State of Boros in Cube and The Hottest Cube Cards of 2023. I have a few methodological issues with this, but mostly a practical one: the data was old very quickly. While most Cubes are slow to change out cards, you can't sit on that data for six months and pretend it's still relevant.
To our larger point here, when I looked at the data, the M11 Titans were not quite as oppressive as the raw data suggested. They were still the kind of six drop dudes in 3 colors, but not by such crazy margins. Still, I had hoped to come back to "The Titan Problem" at some point, because I had hoped the article would be a good case for why you should pick cards that best suit your environment/playgroup rather than simply looking for raw "best in class", as I didn't feel the titans generally provided that interesting of gameplay. Maybe someday I will!
...and yet, I still run three of them, and am being yelled at all the time to put my beloved Sun Titan back in.
Anyways, my favorite M11 card for Cube is Preordain.
Set: Magic 2011 (M11)
Release Date: July 16, 2010
Cards: 249 (105 new)
Leads: Aaron Forsythe (Design) & Erik Lauer (Development)
All New Cards, Sorted by ELO: CubeCobra Link
The Titan Set. The first set I did well in a competitive event (just shy of 16th place in a 250-person PPTQ if that's what they were called then)! Two years ago, I was working on an article called "The Titan Problem" where I analyzed CubeCobra data about the most popular six drops in each color and was working on some infographics to visually represent how oppressive the M11 Titans were to the Cube community's creativity.
This data was gathered 26 May 2023:
| Card Name | Cube Count | Color |
| Sun Titan | 21,777 | White |
| Harmonious Archon | 3,112 | White |
| Exalted Angel | 2,872 | White |
| Captain of the Watch | 2,335 | White |
| Rest of White | 11,862 | White |
| Torrential Gearhulk | 16,190 | Blue |
| Consecrated Sphinx | 11,381 | Blue |
| Frost Titan | 8,694 | Blue |
| Dream Eater | 4,637 | Blue |
| Aethersnipe | 4,160 | Blue |
| Deadeye Navigator | 4,103 | Blue |
| Rest of Blue | 18,481 | Blue |
| Grave Titan | 17,571 | Black |
| Massacre Wurm | 9,925 | Black |
| Noxious Gearhulk | 9,882 | Black |
| Kokusho, the Evening Star | 3,819 | Black |
| Marionette Master | 3,775 | Black |
| Rest of Black | 18,793 | Black |
| Inferno Titan | 17,265 | Red |
| Etali, Primal Storm | 5,938 | Red |
| Combustible Gearhulk | 5,906 | Red |
| Charmbreaker Devils | 3,482 | Red |
| Rest of Red | 11,964 | Red |
| Primeval Titan | 16,136 | Green |
| Rampaging Baloths | 7,479 | Green |
| Hooting Mandrills | 7,116 | Green |
| Carnage Tyrant | 6,882 | Green |
| Kolga, the Titan Ape | 6,203 | Green |
| Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider | 4,309 | Green |
| Rest of Green | 26,278 | Green |
And here are some screenshots I have of the infographic I was eventually planning on finishing:
But this was fake news!!
I realized it and put the analysis on hold. You see, most Cube Cobra data is old. Even though the site still feels new to me, the average Cube on there hasn't been updated since the halfway point of CubeCobra's lifespan. Add to that, as the Lucky Paper team have demonstrated, a ton of Cubes are Commander-focused, rarity-restricted, modern framed, etc. Just using these raw numbers is useless.
So I put together a database of the top 100 Cubes by followers that had 1) updated in the last month, 2) had no arbitrary restrictions, and 3) is intended for 1v1 gameplay and 4) can support a full draft pod. This felt good. It took me a few months with work projects, but I eventually did do this process and put out a lonely pair of articles with the data: The State of Boros in Cube and The Hottest Cube Cards of 2023. I have a few methodological issues with this, but mostly a practical one: the data was old very quickly. While most Cubes are slow to change out cards, you can't sit on that data for six months and pretend it's still relevant.
To our larger point here, when I looked at the data, the M11 Titans were not quite as oppressive as the raw data suggested. They were still the kind of six drop dudes in 3 colors, but not by such crazy margins. Still, I had hoped to come back to "The Titan Problem" at some point, because I had hoped the article would be a good case for why you should pick cards that best suit your environment/playgroup rather than simply looking for raw "best in class", as I didn't feel the titans generally provided that interesting of gameplay. Maybe someday I will!
...and yet, I still run three of them, and am being yelled at all the time to put my beloved Sun Titan back in.
Anyways, my favorite M11 card for Cube is Preordain.
