Attack on Cube (2021 Update)

[Onderzeeboot]

Did another draft. The power band is unreal o_O Arcane Savant and Pack Rat are not fair Magic cards... I mean, I picked Pack Rat over Thragtusk while I already had the Arcane Savant combo, simply because an unanswered t2 Pack Rat simply wins/ruins games.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

You can create a custom draft format for a six player draft and set it as the default in CueCobra

Aw... my mistake, you can only define the booster contents when making a custom draft format, not the number of players. I checked, and there's an existing feature request for that on CubeCobra's backlog. I added a thumbs up and a comment to the request.

 

[blacksmithy]

yeah, i just specified “4 seats” as the title of the custom draft as a reminder. seems like it has a lot of Balduvian Trading Post friendly features you can build in though, which is cool.
as far as the power band goes, in this iteration i do want there to be some wild stuff. the long term plan is to build a lower power environment in a separate cube using a different manabase (probably Grillo’s bounceland environment) as a starting point.
for THIS cube though, i do want to tighten the band somewhat, but not just by removing all the unfair cards. i want to stay below Sol Ring/Power/Conspiracies but still pretty high. i’ve been encouraging my playgroup to start drafting online too, so that i can get a sense of where their comfort level is with the big nasty cards.
thank you so much for drafting! i really enjoy checking out the decks you’re making and considering the feedback you’re giving!

 

[Onderzeeboot]

for THIS cube though, i do want to tighten the band somewhat, but not just by removing all the unfair cards. i want to stay below Sol Ring/Power/Conspiracies but still pretty high.

Okay, that makes sense. I would still remove Pack Rat though. I mean, Recurring Nightmare and Arcane Savant lead to big wow moments, whereas Pack Rat just leads to games where none of the cards in the player's hand matter anymore, because making another rat is just better. I think Pack Rat is just super boring in how it plays out.

 

[blacksmithy]

okay, so after reading a really challenging post about cube architecture philosophy by Grillo in Inscho’s blog thread, and cutting some more of the unfair stuff, i’m really starting to see my drafts come together more nicely. and after about three attempts i finally made this beauty happen:

Mono Red Cloudpost Ramp, with Blasphemous Act + Mogg Maniac Combo:
https://cubecobra.com/cube/deck/5ef898b30f4cc64bd34741d5

if me and my group can draft stuff like this and compete with each other, i’m happy.

 

[Brad]

I don't like Animal Sanctuary, Cathedral of War, or the quad Squad Hawks. Colorless lands need a real impact and picking up enough hawks to be worthwhile isn't too likely to me, whereas 8post could work. Maybe add a Vesuva?

60 lands in a 360 is a lot, especially when Wilds is so versatile. I'd expect 40-45.

Bloodbraid seems pretty pushed. Never liked how easily it can end a game with a good cascade. It can tempo you into an irreversible situation sometimes.

Kitchen Finks is going to RUIN your turn two aggro decks that Wilds is forcing you to accommodate. You already have three 3 drops in GW anyways.

Athreos scares me, but I've never actually used it. Your removal isn't too prepared to exile or -X/-X it, either. Seems like it's going to stick on the board and rebuy everything for the whole game. I guess Ephara or Heliod are also likely to stick around the entire game. Either redo your removal suite or remove those guys, I'd say. The Black Cube has all the best exiling removal, if you want to look there. I think the players will feel helpless if they don't happen to draft and draw one of the handful of cards that answer the Gods.

Ongoing Investigation? Is that useful? Snakeform is really cute, but questionable in a guild slot. Maraleaf Pixie is a good lower power pick to go alongside Edric and ramp you up to that Spitting Image.

Spitemare looks really stupid next to Reckoner, but I do appreciate the redundancy and urge you to run Stuffy Doll instead of, or in addition to, the mare.

Love Hostile Desert in here. Looks way better than last time. I'd just look out for weird power band stuff, which is mostly what I did for the guild section.

 

[blacksmithy]

Big update to the land section. Working on a big update to the spells, will post in a week or so
EDIT: Brad thanks so much for drafting and giving feedback!
I haven’t made any changes to the nonland part of the list yet but i am basically looking at a big size-up for the cube. Going to embrace the chaos for a bit and try some messy stuff. I agree Hostile Desert is awesome in a format with lots of Wilds, and am looking at the possible problem cards. For example, I personally think that a Finks permalock with Gavony Township is an awesome wincon, but if my IRL players disagree then i can live without it.

 

[Nemo]

I did a few drafts of this using the custom draft format with 4 sets, 4 packs of 8 spells followed by the land pack. I didn't feel like I was seeing enough cards to get my entire deck built. In the first two drafts, I ended up in Esper colors, and I found myself switching strategies in an attempt to respond the options available, and in the end I had a mix of about three strategies in the deck. Mind you, this could be due to bad draft choices and/or not being familiar with this cube. I ended up putting all of my playable cards in the deck, plus a couple more that weren't necessarily playable. I felt like I had some interesting tools to work with, but I didn't quite have enough cogs to make everything happen. I think seeing more cards would change things a lot. I don't know the ideal number of playable cards that you want a player to have for deck building, but it's more interesting if I have enough that I have to agonize a bit over which cards make the main deck, and it's fun if I can choose which minor sub-theme I run and which one not to run. For the esper decks, at least, it seems like more cards might even allow the type of match where you could board in a different sub-theme, depending on how game 1 goes. The discard, blink, artifact, and sacrifice themes all mix together in interesting ways, and I like those ones because it feels like I get to make something creative. The two Esper decks actually did look capable of pulling off some fun things.

The U/R spells draft that I did made that archetype seem well supported, but it was also a fairly linear draft. I ended up short of playables in spite of my efforts to look for a third color to complement the main archetype.

The Stax theme looms pretty large. I get pulled in that direction.

Anyway, feel free to be skeptical about anything I say, because I'm new at cube design.

By the way, your earlier post about "a really challenging post about cube architecture philosophy by Grillo in Inscho’s blog thread" caused me to go down a pretty long riptide rabbit hole. I found the post in question and also had a good time reading some of the other stuff along the way.

 

[blacksmithy]

thanks so much for drafting!
however... the cube is a wreck right now to be honest. i threw in like 100 lands without changing the spell count at all, because i’m still working on updating the mono sections to match what i actually have sleeved in paper. i actually had a draft recently just for testing purposes where i had like 21 spells, period, because i’d picked so many lands!
once the mono sections are updated i’ll post in here again, but until then, drafts are just going to be very weird. the list is going to change a LOT to match my actual collection.

 

[blacksmithy]

finally, the big spells update is done! the cube now accurately reflects what i’ve got sleeved up in paper rather than being a conceptual testing ground.
i do recommend the custom draft format, as the as-fan of lands is HUGE in a standard draft. like 3-5 lands a pack!
(but maybe that’s a good thing?)
the power band is honestly very wide. i’m mostly OK with that, but if you have suggestions for replacements for very weak or very strong cards, i’m open to them! thanks for drafting!

 

[blacksmithy]

After a bunch of sim drafts, i’m noticing a few things...
1. White feels super strong. it’s very hard not to pick the white removal early on. Maybe i’m overvaluing the wraths though?
2. I think my balance of discard payoffs and discard outlets is skewed a bit. Maybe take out some generic cards to provide more discard outlets.
3. I’d like to see about 2 more reanimators in Black. Diabolic Servitude is pretty much exactly how strong i want rez to be, so maybe i’ll just double up on it.

 

[blacksmithy]

Went up to 520... i think my creatures/noncreatures count might be starting to skew a bit towards creatures. i want to say 50-60% creatures is probably correct? (not counting lands)
55% seems like a decent target to get into the ballpark of.
anyway, at this point i’m pretty much done buying cards unless my FLGS gets a copy of Lark or Dpact, so any adds, cuts or swaps recommendations are welcome! Looking to stay below 540 and around 55% creature spells vs noncreature spells.

 

[blacksmithy]

Okay, need some help here... I really want to make room for Ranger of Eos and Valorous Stance, but I can’t decide what to cut!


Would really rather cut 2 creatures, but at worst i’ll cut a creature and a spell.

 

[Chriskool]

Okay, need some help here... I really want to make room for Ranger of Eos and Valorous Stance, but I can’t decide what to cut!


Would really rather cut 2 creatures, but at worst i’ll cut a creature and a spell.

Like the desire to cut two creatures. I feel like adding too many creatures is easily where most cubes end up.

I would cut whichever of these 3's lead to the most miserable games as your 3cmc white creature count is high-ish at 13 considering hybrid cards and the cards are similar. My vote would be for Solemn Recruit.

And I'd consider Basri's Lieutenant. I know that the 1/1 counter synergy takes a small hit with the LT getting the axe, but I would want to swap 4cmc out since the count is already six. If another 4cmc is less enjoyable for playing, then cut it!

 

[blacksmithy]

i think you’re on the right track looking at the 1ww creatures as possible cuts.
i was also thinking Karmic Guide, but i’m torn because i really like having White somewhat color shifted into being the main reanimator color, even if the pro black is awkward. out of the 3 you posted, Silverblade, though a pet card, has the least overlap with my other themes in white (blink, historic, counters, warriors)... so he’s probably the correct cut. so painful!

 

[blacksmithy]

I’ve hit my final size of 540, and i think all the big changes are done!
now the real fun begins of testing and tweaking. did add in some more tutors after reading some of Grillo’s cube blog where he talks about tutors giving players an open ended build around. it’s something you kind of get intuitively, but really thinking about it made me realize i want more of that kind of open ended question in the draft.

 

[blacksmithy]

Cube draft report!

Did a 4-color (WURG) grid draft and ended up with Naya Oath Wildfire against Jeskai Draw Prowess.
Game 1
Villain grew a huge Nadir Kraken that survived my Wildfire, then dropped Brion Stoutarm and Rogue’s Passage on the field. I was dead in 2 turns if i didn’t find an out, so i cast Genesis Hydra for X=4 and hit Banishing Light... Then realized there was nothing in my library that could outrace an unblockable Brion Stoutarm. Oops! 0-1

Game 2
Cracked 2 Evolving Wilds on my way to ramping into Multani, Yavimaya’s Avatar. Swung once for 7, cast Wildfire next turn, GG. 1-1
At this point we had to break it up to get groceries, but both decks had some fun stuff going on. (Even though i had a total nonbo of Oath + Genesis Hydra!)

 

[Brad]

Does the new set tempt you to run ~40 Wilds again?

 

[blacksmithy]

so that’s a great question, and it brings up something that i discovered as i developed the cube and did a lot of test drafts.

i started out running 40 wilds. but, as i added more cool nonbasic lands to the ULD, i noticed a problem: i was ending up with more, or almost as many, wilds vs basics in an average deck. i thought it over and decided that what i’d rather have in my environment was decks that played high densities of nonbasics, vs decks that played 4-5 wilds and a high number of basics to support those wilds. so, i cut the wilds from 40 to 20. this way your average deck can have 1-3 wilds, which fetch from a pool of 4-8 basic lands (very rough estimate but you get the idea).
this to me seemed better than players having to cut cool lands for basics just to have enough fetchables.

so for now i’m sticking to 20 wilds. however, what DOES tempt me from this set is the DFC lands, because i could run them in the ULD or in the main draft. but i absolutely refuse to run DFCs in a paper cube, so i’ll have to make or grab some cool one sided proxies. i’ve always been a fan of the Kamigawa style of flip cards if that kind of proxy exists for these modal lands.

 

[blacksmithy]

now that i’ve been able to play the cube a bit, i’m starting to get the tuning bug. my goal is to trim the fat until i have a 480 card cube with 360 spells and 120 lands, so it plays out nicely for ULD.

i could really use some suggestions for what lands to cut! i love them all!

 

[jerichoalar]

I was going to say 'looks like you already have 120 lands' but I gather that's because you've been making cuts today.

I'd rather see Emeria, the Sky Ruin than New Benalia in W myself, and I like mosswort bridge but don't have a suggested cut instead.

Have you thought about the new jumpstart 'pick one' duals instead of the vivids? not sure if 4C greedpiles are something you're trying to avoid or not, but Vivids are a big enabler of those in my cube in a way the jumpstart lands wouldn't be (JS lands also have 'hybrid mana' like appeal, since they're interesting to approx. 4x as many people as a usual dual land pair would be.)

 

[blacksmithy]

thanks for checking out the cube!
yeah, i made cuts today. Emeria is a tough cut, but drafting has shown me that, in this environment, most people aren’t even going to have 7 Plains in the deck! it would only be accessible to a mono white drafter, and even then you’re looking at a very long game to get there. there’s just a huge density of nonbasics, and none of my nonbasics have land types.

on Thriving lands... i had already designed the manabase before they were released, but they don’t really appeal to me. i actually have purposely built the environment to be friendly towards greed, with easily splashable mana costs and an abundance of fixing. the Vivids play right into my design goal of seeing colorful decks.

EDIT: i was also really torn about cutting Mosswort. my other pick for that cut would have been Oran-Rief, i think? i just felt like Rief would be easier to activate, i guess.

 

[jerichoalar]

Yeah, I have vivids in sometimes too and I like what they do in my format but I wasn’t able to tell for sure if you wanted the effect. I do think the thrivings are quite powerful as far as always tapped duals though, even in Heavily multicolor decks, they’re basically capable of Always being “a color I need” When you play one. (but Vivids are still better)

yeah I think Oran would be the cut. Mosswort usually activates around turn four or five in my experience with it, but Oran is just a much more flexible land and ties into a lot of themes...


I wonder if field of the dead is a fair Emeria ruin in a heavily multicolor cube with ULD?

 

[blacksmithy]

i would LOVE to run Field. hopefully it gets banned in more places so i can afford a copy. such a cool land!

another thing i’m needing to do in here is replace Cogwork Librarian and Lore Seeker, or at least Lore Seeker. My main draft format is grid, and they just don’t translate quite right into that format.

 

[blacksmithy]

made a lot of cuts on the quest to 480 from 540!
those are basically done, but with the cube now at “minimum” size, i need to replace Lore Seeker with someone. any suggestions?