Grillo_Parlante
Contributor
This is kind of a rough idea I've gotten from drafting people's cubes, but it sort of revolves around the ways that color pairs overlap with one another to create wedge/shard relationships that foundationally support each individual color pair identity in the wedge/shard.
For example, these cards in a green section:
Lately I've been drafting cubes where the mana dork section has been curtailed, and finding it very frustrating, as (in most higher power formats) they are fairly essential to the U/G tempo decks I like to draft. Not having them present is very close to just giving up on the existence of autonomous UG decks (which I will concede, many cube designers have done), as those decks wish to get ahead on mana development starting turn 1, so as to be able to cast seizable midrange threats, while still leaving up mana for counters.
Than when I go to draft the B/G ramp-amation decks in the format, this is again frustrating.
The purpose of cards like servitude or dread return is to provide a powerful reanimation engine that still requires synergy, but because the foundational mana dorks have been stripped, it undermines the engine that is supposed to be powering the deck. This also applies for the "to the hand" recursion pieces:
These tend to be slower decks, that care about their life total, and are not looking for the "cannot block" aggro threats in black intended for the B/R deck.
The broad archetype identity of the B/G and U/G decks present in those formats, revolves around the presence of cheap creature ramp. In the U/G case, to be able to advance the board while keeping mana open, and in the B/G case here, to provide fodder for sacrifice based reanimation engines.
This also provides an outlet for the leftover sacrifice cards from the B/R deck, that want symmetry breaking, and may sometimes stumble into these slower decks.
I don't want this to come across purely as a PSA "run more elves in certain formats" (though it is partly that), but more about the way that parts of the cube interact with and interconnect with one another. Its clever design to be able to say in the broad strokes what each color pair is doing, than think of ways to efficiently use the cube space to facilitate each color pairs' strategy using common bedrock pieces.
Thats exactly what the elves in this scenario are supposed to be doing, and because the designer didn't recognize it, this has a rippling effect that undermines the presence of other cards that were included in the format and/or creates a demand for a third color to fill that negative space.
Another common wedge problem is in WBR, where the format supports an aggressive W/R aggro deck, aggressive B/R sacrifice deck, but can't support a B/W aggressive deck, because the entire reach component is centralized in red. It necessitates having good to great fixing, so that when a player stumbles into a W/B aggressive deck, they can splash red reach (aka why lingering souls is really a mardu card in cube).
At any rate, I am not quite sure where to go with this, other than that I am sure there are many other relationships like this in cube (which would be fun to identify), could exist (which would be fun to brainstorm), as well as voids that should be plugged (which would make a format more fun).
For example, these cards in a green section:
Lately I've been drafting cubes where the mana dork section has been curtailed, and finding it very frustrating, as (in most higher power formats) they are fairly essential to the U/G tempo decks I like to draft. Not having them present is very close to just giving up on the existence of autonomous UG decks (which I will concede, many cube designers have done), as those decks wish to get ahead on mana development starting turn 1, so as to be able to cast seizable midrange threats, while still leaving up mana for counters.
Than when I go to draft the B/G ramp-amation decks in the format, this is again frustrating.
The purpose of cards like servitude or dread return is to provide a powerful reanimation engine that still requires synergy, but because the foundational mana dorks have been stripped, it undermines the engine that is supposed to be powering the deck. This also applies for the "to the hand" recursion pieces:
These tend to be slower decks, that care about their life total, and are not looking for the "cannot block" aggro threats in black intended for the B/R deck.
The broad archetype identity of the B/G and U/G decks present in those formats, revolves around the presence of cheap creature ramp. In the U/G case, to be able to advance the board while keeping mana open, and in the B/G case here, to provide fodder for sacrifice based reanimation engines.
This also provides an outlet for the leftover sacrifice cards from the B/R deck, that want symmetry breaking, and may sometimes stumble into these slower decks.
I don't want this to come across purely as a PSA "run more elves in certain formats" (though it is partly that), but more about the way that parts of the cube interact with and interconnect with one another. Its clever design to be able to say in the broad strokes what each color pair is doing, than think of ways to efficiently use the cube space to facilitate each color pairs' strategy using common bedrock pieces.
Thats exactly what the elves in this scenario are supposed to be doing, and because the designer didn't recognize it, this has a rippling effect that undermines the presence of other cards that were included in the format and/or creates a demand for a third color to fill that negative space.
Another common wedge problem is in WBR, where the format supports an aggressive W/R aggro deck, aggressive B/R sacrifice deck, but can't support a B/W aggressive deck, because the entire reach component is centralized in red. It necessitates having good to great fixing, so that when a player stumbles into a W/B aggressive deck, they can splash red reach (aka why lingering souls is really a mardu card in cube).
At any rate, I am not quite sure where to go with this, other than that I am sure there are many other relationships like this in cube (which would be fun to identify), could exist (which would be fun to brainstorm), as well as voids that should be plugged (which would make a format more fun).
