Arjan Ang's (Modern-faced) Cube

Arjan

Arjan

My cube is a primairly modern-faced cube containing 610 cards. Cards don't need to be modern legal, but printed with a modern frame like Vindicate for example. I've made some exceptions, but the ultimate goal is to make the whole cube modern-faced. Someone else I know already has a powered cube, so it's nice to provide a different cube-experience.

This cube is originally inspired by the Innistrad drafting format. I loved that format so much I wanted to create my own cube with similar themes. Since it's inception it has changed a lot though.
The tribal theme from Innistrad (Zombies/Vampires) hasn't lasted as well as the Burning Vengeance-theme, although Humans is still somewhat of a minor theme. Selfmill however continues to be a well supported archetype. I also support Mill. It goes pretty well together with the Selfmill-theme, making cards like Glimpse the Unthinkable a little bit more versatile.

I don't get to draft my cube all that often unfortunately, but I tend to analyze my cardchoices and supported archetypes continuously and am willing to try new cards or ideas.

You can view and draft my Cube at cubetutor:

http://cubetutor.com/viewcube/50
 
Jason Waddell

Jason Waddell

Administrator
Staff member
Thanks for posting Arjan! Your list looks pretty interesting. Unfortunately I have to get ready for work now, but I'll post some more detailed comments later today.
 
Arjan

Arjan

Looking forward to it Jason! ;)

Some minor things I would like to point out.

- I've added Sword of Fire and Ice and Sword of Light and Shadow only yesterday. I've never added them before since they tend to determine the outcomes of games quite a lot and I don't want protection to be a major factor in my cube. Nevertheless I liked the new art from Modern Masters so much I am just going to try them out if my feelings about 5 swords (is too many) were right.

- I am somewhat trying to implement a RG Ramp theme. I use my cube for 1-on-1 Winchester draft sometimes, and Borborygmos Enraged has been a real beating in those games. Nevertheless it went as last pick in the last 8-man draft, so I am somewhat on the fence about this card. Gruul Turf is my only karoo-land in the cube, and Gruul Signet is my only signet. RG Ramp is a work in progress (like the whole cube).

- At my last draft someone found Upheaval to powerful in this cube. I tend to agree. Furthermore Upheaval isn't a modernfaced printed card. The main reason for it's inclusion was because of the fact I myself never got to draft an upheaval deck ever. :) The inclusion of the other non-modernfaced cards are mostly because some archetypes or colours needed some spice imo.

- Squadron Hawk is a 4-off. When you pick Squadron Hawk you'll get 4 Squadron Hawks. It's first appearance in the draft was quite a succes. I've read about Jason's suggestion to up the number of some cards like Gravecrawler. Since I am already using the Squadron Hawk I am open to breaking the singleton rule if it provides more draftfun, however I'll proceed cautiously looking for answers within the 'rules' if I can. That said I've been cutting a lot of zombie-leftovers and Gravecrawler was getting too weak. I am not sure about the number, but in next draft drafters will get more than one Gravecrawler by picking it.
 
Jason Waddell

Jason Waddell

Administrator
Staff member
Arjan said:
Looking forward to it Jason! ;)

Some minor things I would like to point out.

- I've added Sword of Fire and Ice and Sword of Light and Shadow only yesterday. I've never added them before since they tend to determine the outcomes of games quite a lot and I don't want protection to be a major factor in my cube. Nevertheless I liked the new art from Modern Masters so much I am just going to try them out if my feelings about 5 swords (is too many) were right.

- I am somewhat trying to implement a RG Ramp theme. I use my cube for 1-on-1 Winchester draft sometimes, and Borborygmos Enraged has been a real beating in those games. Nevertheless it went as last pick in the last 8-man draft, so I am somewhat on the fence about this card. Gruul Turf is my only karoo-land in the cube, and Gruul Signet is my only signet. RG Ramp is a work in project (like the whole cube).

- At my last draft someone found Upheaval to powerful in this cube. I tend to agree. Furthermore Upheaval isn't a modernfaced printed card. The main reason for it's inclusion was because of the fact I myself never got to draft an upheaval deck ever. :) The inclusion of the other non-modernfaced cards are mostly because some archetypes or colours needed some spice imo.

- Squadron Hawk is a 4-off. When you pick Squadron Hawk you'll get 4 Squadron Hawks. It's first appearance in the draft was quite a succes. I've read about Jason's suggestion to up the number of some cards like Gravecrawler. Since I am already using the Squadron Hawk I am open to breaking the singleton rule if it provides more draftfun, however I'll proceed cautiously looking for answers within the 'rules' if I can. That said I've been cutting a lot of zombie-leftovers and Gravecrawler was getting too weak. I am not sure about the number, but in next draft drafters will get more than one Gravecrawler by picking it.
Click to expand...

Yes, Swords can be fun in small doses. Games won by protection tend to be anticlimactic though. I wish they didn't have protection, and made up for this with some small power boost elsewhere.

Cubes play out extremely differently in Winston/Winchester/Grid than in a full 8-man draft. I almost never do two-player cubing these days, so I do all my design decisions with a full draft table in mind.

Interesting that you found that Gravecrawler was getting too weak. To clarify (in case it wasn't clear), to get 4 Gravecrawlers in my cube in your deck you would have to spend 4 separate picks on it. It's quite a fun card, but I don't know how well it will perform in an otherwise "normal" environment. By this I mean, my cube is very tailored to the fact that there are 4 Gravecrawlers and 2 Bloodghasts, and there are a web of supporting effects/interactions across all 5 colors.
 
Jason Waddell

Jason Waddell

Administrator
Staff member
How have the Eldrazi been in your cube?

I see you have the BUG mill/self mill thing going on, but you're missing some cards I would perhaps expect from that package, like Sewer Nemesis and Consuming Abberation.

I think I'm going to have to steal this piece of tech for my Eldrazi cube:
Image.ashx
 
Arjan

Arjan

Jason Waddell said:
Yes, Swords can be fun in small doses. Games won by protection tend to be anticlimactic though. I wish they didn't have protection, and made up for this with some small power boost elsewhere.

Cubes play out extremely differently in Winston/Winchester/Grid than in a full 8-man draft. I almost never do two-player cubing these days, so I do all my design decisions with a full draft table in mind.

Interesting that you found that Gravecrawler was getting too weak. To clarify (in case it wasn't clear), to get 4 Gravecrawlers in my cube in your deck you would have to spend 4 separate picks on it. It's quite a fun card, but I don't know how well it will perform in an otherwise "normal" environment. By this I mean, my cube is very tailored to the fact that there are 4 Gravecrawlers and 2 Bloodghasts, and there are a web of supporting effects/interactions across all 5 colors.
Click to expand...

I am probably going to cut the Mirrodin Crusader and replace it by Flickerwisp, so I'll have less cards that have or provide protection since I'll try adding the two swords. My cube runs 610 cards, so with a full draft about 60% of the cards will be in the draft. Because of that it happened more than once that non of the swords was in the draft. Uptill now Stoneforge Mystic could be therefore a pretty unexciting pick, but personally I absolutely didn't mind that. I'll monitor the addition of the two swords upcoming drafts and will be cutting some if they tend to be too dominant.

To clarify, the singleton Gravecrawler was becoming a pretty unexciting pick because of me cutting several zombies. I haven't tried yet to add more Gravecrawlers to the cube. I probably won't have the same amount of support like you do for Gravecrawlers to shine, but there are definitely some interesting cards that allow you to abuse Gravecrawler's ability, like Attrition, Smokestack, Braids, Smallpox, Deathcloud, Innocent Blood, Recurring Nightmare. I am not sure yet if I'll just add more Gravecrawlers or that you will get an additional Gravecrawler when picking the card. Guess I'll have to try. :)
 
Arjan

Arjan

Jason Waddell said:
How have the Eldrazi been in your cube?

I see you have the BUG mill/self mill thing going on, but you're missing some cards I would perhaps expect from that package, like Sewer Nemesis and Consuming Abberation.

I think I'm going to have to steal this piece of tech for my Eldrazi cube:
Image.ashx
Click to expand...


Both the Sewer Nemesis and the Consuming Abberation have been considerations. Especially the 4-mana spot for Black was very tight. In the end Sewer Nemesis is somewhat of a vanilla creature that mills pretty slow. The Necrotic Ooze however is great. He provides so many interesting interactions! Consuming Abberation has to compete with Nemesis of Reason and Havengul Lich for 5-mana Dimir cards. I really like the Lich, and I think Nemesis of Reason is a bit stronger card than the Abberation. That said I do like the Abberation, but when monitoring some drafts I had the feeling there was enough support for the mill-archetype already. Another consideration was trading Mind Funeral for Mind Grind. However to play Mind Grind with the same effect as the Funeral you'll have to spend 7 mana. Mill has been drafted several times, and has seen some succes. In the last draft I got milled in turn 4, and as the cubebuilder I was happy to lose that way. :D

BUG selfmill isn't for everyone. It requires some knowledge of the archetype to draft it properly. Fortunately a friend of mine was a devoted Spider Spawning.dec drafter during Innistrad so he had a blast when drafting the archetype with my cube, and winning a draft with it as well!

The Eldrazi have been solid cards. There are several ways to cheat them in to play in my cube, or use ramp to cast them. The only problem is that they make milling a less reliable way to win! :) When drafting mill myself I tend to hatedraft them. Overall I consider them worthy additions to the cube. I haven't included Emrakul since it's almost impossible to hardcast it.
 
Jason Waddell

Jason Waddell

Administrator
Staff member
Arjan said:
Both the Sewer Nemesis and the Consuming Abberation have been considerations. Especially the 4-mana spot for Black was very tight. In the end Sewer Nemesis is somewhat of a vanilla creature that mills pretty slow. The Necrotic Ooze however is great. He provides so many interesting interactions! Consuming Abberation has to compete with Nemesis of Reason and Havengul Lich for 5-mana Dimir cards. I really like the Lich, and I think Nemesis of Reason is a bit stronger card than the Abberation. That said I do like the Abberation, but when monitoring some drafts I had the feeling there was enough support for the mill-archetype already. Another consideration was trading Mind Funeral for Mind Grind. However to play Mind Grind with the same effect as the Funeral you'll have to spend 7 mana. Mill has been drafted several times, and has seen some succes. In the last draft I got milled in turn 4, and as the cubebuilder I was happy to lose that way. :D

BUG selfmill isn't for everyone. It requires some knowledge of the archetype to draft it properly. Fortunately a friend of mine was a devoted Spider Spawning.dec drafter during Innistrad so he had a blast when drafting the archetype with my cube, and winning a draft with it as well!

The Eldrazi have been solid cards. There are several ways to cheat them in to play in my cube, or use ramp to cast them. The only problem is that they make milling a less reliable way to win! :) When drafting mill myself I tend to hatedraft them. Overall I consider them worthy additions to the cube. I haven't included Emrakul since it's almost impossible to hardcast it.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Sewer Nemesis mills slowly, but I never thought of that as the point. He gets huge pretty quickly, and has great synergy with the other milling cards. I don't even run a mill theme, and I would include Sewer Nemesis if I had 1 or 2 more black 4-drop slots.

I also think Nemesis of Reason is stronger than Consuming Aberation, but also much less fun to play with and against (in my opinion). But perhaps you need the stronger card there to make Mill viable.
 
CML

CML

Contributor
can you describe how necrotic ooze ends up working in-game? now that i've seen it suggested i wanna try it REAL BAD
 
Arjan

Arjan

CML said:
can you describe how necrotic ooze ends up working in-game? now that i've seen it suggested i wanna try it REAL BAD
Click to expand...

Well a pretty awesome sequence I can remember is using the ability with Necotic Ooze from Mindshrieker (that was in his own GY) to respond to removal, milling his opponent and milling a Etherium-Horn Sorcerer (he had already seen in the game before), and bouncing the Necrotic Ooze. After that he replayed Necrotic Ooze, mills a Royal Assassin a turn later and completely takes over the game with a bounceable/assassin/pumpable/milling Ooze. :D

Okay, this was a bit of Magical Christmasland (It really happened though!), but I just find it a very fun card that fitted some of the archetypes in my cube very well. Furthermore it's abilities change every game you play it with, and it could change every turn!

When you don't support mill or selfmill, the card probably still has some uses. He's still a pretty good beater with a 4/3 body, and if you have removal your opponents must be careful when playing creatures with activated abilities. Nevertheless I think this card only has a chance to shine when running a mill/selfmill theme, but I've never tried. ;)
 
Arjan

Arjan

Jason Waddell said:
I also think Nemesis of Reason is stronger than Consuming Aberation, but also much less fun to play with and against (in my opinion). But perhaps you need the stronger card there to make Mill viable.
Click to expand...


I definitely agree that Consuming Aberration is more fun. But like you said I wanted to include some powerful cards to support Mill as a viable deck in my cube. Most of the times when you can draft mill in normal draft (non-cube draft) it's mostly only a fringe strategy, and I wanted to make it a valid option in my cube. Maybe I'll give the Aberration a shot in the near future.

Btw another deck that hasn't been drafted yet, but I am sure I want to try to draft next chance I get is the UR-draw 7- mill deck. With cards like Wheel of Fortune, Windfall, Reforge the Soul and Memory Jar, it's surely possible.
 
Eric Chan

Eric Chan

Hyalopterous Lemure
Staff member
Thanks for posting your list, Arjan! I like the look of it. As I mentioned in the other thread, I'm curious about the self-mill theme, because it's something I want to try out myself. If you don't mind, I have a couple of questions about how it works in your cube:
  • With a large cube list, and a relatively low density of self-mill cards, how often does this deck come together? Are there enough cards for people who move into the archetype early - that is to say, is it the opposite of storm on the MTGO cube, where you just don't know if you'll see one of the three actual storm cards?
 
Arjan

Arjan

Eric Chan said:
Thanks for posting your list, Arjan! I like the look of it. As I mentioned in the other thread, I'm curious about the self-mill theme, because it's something I want to try out myself. If you don't mind, I have a couple of questions about how it works in your cube:
  • With a large cube list, and a relatively low density of self-mill cards, how often does this deck come together? Are there enough cards for people who move into the archetype early - that is to say, is it the opposite of storm on the MTGO cube, where you just don't know if you'll see one of the three actual storm cards?
Click to expand...
  • Someone in my playgroup has been forcing this archetype a lot. He calls Worm Harvest and/or Spider Spawning important pieces of this grindy archetype. I've added Recurring Nightmare recently (although it breaks my own cube-rule as a non-modernfaced card), and I consider that also a card that can reward you when drafting this archetype. I can imagine, Living Death provides a payoff as well, although I've no experience with it yet myself. Furthermore there are several reanimate-cards in the cube.
  • When you've drafted some keycards, I think there is sufficient support to get a good deck together. Once somebody tried to draft the deck, but missed out on Harvest/Spawning (Nightmare wasn't in it then). He called them the missing pieces of his deck. Another time someone said he could've assembled a insane selfmill deck, but didn't go for it since he wouldn't commit early, but regretted it later seeing all keycards in the second booster. I think there are enough support cards, but it would be nice to find some extra payoff cards, making it less likely you won't get rewarded.
Another interaction someone reminded me of that happened a while ago was Necrotic Ooze with Griselbrand in the GY. :D
 
Chris Taylor

Chris Taylor

Contributor
You could add golgari grave-troll instead of the smaller dredge guys. He works for the mill deck as both an enabler and a win condition, and even gives necrotic ooze an ability!
Personally RE: the swords thing, Grafted Wargear is an insane piece of equipment I've noticed you aren't running (bonesplitter too, now that I look), and some swords are less insane than others.
  • Light/Shadow: Awesome triggers, shame about the protections.
  • Feast/Famine: arguably broken triggers, more of a shame about the protections. to me this one does more harm than good.
  • Body/Mind: Assuming Mill is a thing in your cube, this one might be fair. Less great protections, busted trigger. I removed it for being too good.
  • Fire/Ice: I might be a little nostalgia blind here, but it helps that both colors being hosed can deal with the sword.
  • War/Peace: Mediocre trigger, Strong protections, but the colors can deal with it. Could work, I just don't find it that exciting.
  • Warhammer: Slow, and is miserable for aggro to face. Only really effective in the midrange decks. Not a fan.

Another thing to watch out with equipment is skullclamp. As you're adding in recursive guys, keep track of this card. I removed it for power level (Alongside braids and smokestack) when I hit a critical mass of recursive guys.Bloodghast + this card is a bit nutty, and you don't want the control decks sniping skullclamp from the aggro decks.
 
Arjan

Arjan

Chris Taylor said:
You could add golgari grave-troll instead of the smaller dredge guys. He works for the mill deck as both an enabler and a win condition, and even gives necrotic ooze an ability!
Personally RE: the swords thing, Grafted Wargear is an insane piece of equipment I've noticed you aren't running (bonesplitter too, now that I look), and some swords are less insane than others.
  • Light/Shadow: Awesome triggers, shame about the protections.
  • Feast/Famine: arguably broken triggers, more of a shame about the protections. to me this one does more harm than good.
  • Body/Mind: Assuming Mill is a thing in your cube, this one might be fair. Less great protections, busted trigger. I removed it for being too good.
  • Fire/Ice: I might be a little nostalgia blind here, but it helps that both colors being hosed can deal with the sword.
  • War/Peace: Mediocre trigger, Strong protections, but the colors can deal with it. Could work, I just don't find it that exciting.
  • Warhammer: Slow, and is miserable for aggro to face. Only really effective in the midrange decks. Not a fan.
Another thing to watch out with equipment is skullclamp. As you're adding in recursive guys, keep track of this card. I removed it for power level (Alongside braids and smokestack) when I hit a critical mass of recursive guys.Bloodghast + this card is a bit nutty, and you don't want the control decks sniping skullclamp from the aggro decks.
Click to expand...

Hello Chris!

I read the article on SCG today, that also mentioned Grafted Wargear and I have seen more people high on this card. I'll be adding this card for sure, thnx!

Like I said I'll just try the complete set of swords for a couple of drafts. I'll monitor those drafts carefully and will change it if they tend to be too dominant. Three wasn't
a problem, maybe 5 is. I am not a fan of protection-cards myself, but since I've never experienced playing with Fire/Ice & Light/Shadow I am just keen
on trying them out.

You've got a point concerning Warhammer. Anybody else got a different view on this card or do more people agree? I won't be all that heartbroken to cut this card.

To be honest, I am actively promoting the Braids/Smokestack.dec in my cube! I even had to breach my own Modernfaced rule by adding these two cards to my cube. :)
I am not sure I find these cards overpowered, even in my cube. Also the recursive creatures with Skullclamp is something I actively hope to see. :) In the last draft someone
was playing Skullclamp with Squadron Hawk, but at times it was just a bit too slow. It was strong, but it surely didn't win every game it was played in that draft.
 
Chris Taylor

Chris Taylor

Contributor
I love the stax deck as much as the next guy, but I just found that with the repeatable effects, that many bloodghasts and gravecrawlers running around just made it too easy. I just changed direction and doubled up on smallpox instead, which is arguably a better card thesedays due to the general speed of magic :p

I guess it depends on which ones. I figure Clamp + Reassembling Skeleton is probably fine, but to me Clamp + Bloodghast is a little too strong.

It also didn't help that the same patch introduced a million other things wanting to die, ranging from birthing pods to threaten effects to sac outlets. When your red section has Tuktuk the Explorer in is, I think the last thing we need to do is make skullclamp more of a first pick :p
 
Arjan

Arjan

Chris Taylor said:
I love the stax deck as much as the next guy, but I just found that with the repeatable effects, that many bloodghasts and gravecrawlers running around just made it too easy. I just changed direction and doubled up on smallpox instead, which is arguably a better card thesedays due to the general speed of magic :p

I guess it depends on which ones. I figure Clamp + Reassembling Skeleton is probably fine, but to me Clamp + Bloodghast is a little too strong.

It also didn't help that the same patch introduced a million other things wanting to die, ranging from birthing pods to threaten effects to sac outlets. When your red section has Tuktuk the Explorer in is, I think the last thing we need to do is make skullclamp more of a first pick :p
Click to expand...


I haven't adopted the Waddell's school of multiple copies yet (except for Squadron Hawk), so that's probably what keeps it in check. ;) Bloodghast is very good of course, but it's mana cost is somewhat restrictive. Here you can see a BW Stax deck I've drafted with my own cube: http://cubetutor.com/draftdeck/1224
The problem right now is that I've been cutting several zombies from my cube causing a bit of a low density of zombies. Gravecrawler is probably just okay at best right now in my cube.
 
Jason Waddell

Jason Waddell

Administrator
Staff member
Arjan said:
Like I said I'll just try the complete set of swords for a couple of drafts. I'll monitor those drafts carefully and will change it if they tend to be too dominant. Three wasn't
a problem, maybe 5 is. I am not a fan of protection-cards myself, but since I've never experienced playing with Fire/Ice & Light/Shadow I am just keen
on trying them out.
Click to expand...


I would add that, in my opinion, it's less about whether they are too strong and more about whether they are what you want to be strong (or even present) in your set. There's not a right or wrong, it's just a decision to be made.
 
Arjan

Arjan

Eric Chan said:
Thanks for posting your list, Arjan! I like the look of it. As I mentioned in the other thread, I'm curious about the self-mill theme, because it's something I want to try out myself. If you don't mind, I have a couple of questions about how it works in your cube:
  • With a large cube list, and a relatively low density of self-mill cards, how often does this deck come together? Are there enough cards for people who move into the archetype early - that is to say, is it the opposite of storm on the MTGO cube, where you just don't know if you'll see one of the three actual storm cards?
Click to expand...


Example of drafted BG(u) Selfmill deck: http://cubetutor.com/draftdeck/2109
 
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