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Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
A cube based mostly on

Odyssey set?
Odyssey block?
Odyssey plane?

I’m thinking Jumpstart is a new way to create cubes. A little top easy actually and it doesn’t give players the opportunity to actually choose their own direction. But you could also create some Jumpstart sets and have an Odyssey set among them? Or several Odyssey sets among them?

Odyssey block, sorry :)

Odyssey isn't a plane actually, the whole story takes place on Dominaria, on the continent of Otaria iirc.
 
My cube also runs a bit like a four color cube. You're gonna be black, but what else will you be? It enables black to contain all the semi-poisonous 2/1s for 1 that only aggro wants. All decks have access to black's important tools, primarily removal and card draw. It revolves around the expectations of what black can do. It also runs a lot of color hosers as choice removal spells, something you'd never want to see in retail.

When you do the slightly imbalanced thing, sucking cards away from white and green and buffing black, that gets a lot messier in my mind. Gx and Wx are much harder to play. Bx gets fought over more but doesn't have the necessary B to support it. Some of the old GW hosers look like they can totally ruin a B deck's day. And I think you'd thematically kind of want those hosers to highlight the opposition you're creating, but it's not beneficial for the environment most of the time. My cube is basically the only exception to that.

Depending on your power level, we might have a lot in common when you do this.
 
Odyssey block, sorry :)

Odyssey isn't a plane actually, the whole story takes place on Dominaria, on the continent of Otaria iirc.

I know that. And you know that I know all about that.
I asked to help and to guide.

So Odyssey block had some of the most skewed supported colors in the history of MtG. Black was undersupported in Odyssey, insanely oversupported in Torment and insanely undersupported in Judgment. That was one of the defining traits of the block. Are you going to implement this somehow?

Also you might want to being in the Mirari. Possibly the most important artifact in MtG lore (Could also be Skyship Weatherlight or The Immortal Sun)

Also Brad I love your cube!
 

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
I know that. And you know that I know all about that.
I asked to help and to guide.

So Odyssey block had some of the most skewed supported colors in the history of MtG. Black was undersupported in Odyssey, insanely oversupported in Torment and insanely undersupported in Judgment. That was one of the defining traits of the block. Are you going to implement this somehow?
No, I don't want to implement the color skew. The draft structure of the Odyssey block, with the color imbalances, wasn't actually healthy, and it wasn't the part of the block I liked anyway. Instead I want to highlight the block's mechanics and graveyard focus, as well as overrepresent (so to say) cards from the Odyssey block in the cube. In fact, I want to do a more modern approach to color balance and support, including multicolor cards in all the ten two-color combinations, and with a much better mana base than Odyssey block originally contained. Drafting a two-color deck was quite challenging back in the day. Even Invasion, the quintessential "gold" block of yore, had super bad fixing, considering the theme. In a way, I'm trying to apply modern day design sensibilities (up to a point) to see if I can create a cube that captures the feeling of Odyssey, but plays like a modern set cube.

Oh, and the Mirari is most definitely going to be one of the included rares! :)

Some of the old GW hosers look like they can totally ruin a B deck's day. And I think you'd thematically kind of want those hosers to highlight the opposition you're creating, but it's not beneficial for the environment most of the time.
PS Those hosers can go take a hike. Phantom Centaur is getting nowhere near this cube!
 
This is certainly true, but power creep hasn't affected cards equally across the board:
  1. Rares have become more powerful
  2. High cmc cards have become more powerful across rarities
  3. The floor is not as low as it used to be across rarities
Cards like Wild Mongrel, Hallowed Healer and Mental Note would be fine in contemporary formats, while cards like Angel of Retribution (which exemplifies all three categories perfectly) would be atrocious.
Nowadays they nerfed prevention due to combat math complexity, and wild mongrel is an okay creature (unless you can abuse the drawback). If you include stronger creatures the games become much quicker. The reason why retribution angel was not complete garbage was that strong creatures were almost non-existent or equally expensive. I am not saying you should not add stronger creatures just be aware that if you do, it will change the complete speed/style/powerlevel/possible includes. It could be that threshold becomes too slow unless you heavily support mill. In odyssey kitchen play you only reached threshold half of the times. If the creatures become stronger you might not get there since one creature left unchecked ends the game at least a turn earlier.
 
Thanks, Velrun. There's likely updates coming to my thread in the next few weeks.

Onder, it sounds like you're doing a lot like what my Onslaught cube (theoretical list only, no M21: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/cuf) did. Updating an old favorite. I'm not sure I'm going to go through with ever building it, but I think I learned a lot while making it and it makes me giddy to see Bird Wizards and Soldiers making Birds to potentially add enough depth to that environment someday. So, even if you only get to the theoretical stages of it, it'll be good. And I'll steal some of your ideas, so that's even better!

I hope to draft UG madness. Don't let me down.

Also, I kind of love the awkwardness and amazing art of the signet lands.
 

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Onder, it sounds like you're doing a lot like what my Onslaught cube (theoretical list only, no M21: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/cuf) did. Updating an old favorite. I'm not sure I'm going to go through with ever building it, but I think I learned a lot while making it and it makes me giddy to see Bird Wizards and Soldiers making Birds to potentially add enough depth to that environment someday. So, even if you only get to the theoretical stages of it, it'll be good. And I'll steal some of your ideas, so that's even better!

I hope to draft UG madness. Don't let me down.

Also, I kind of love the awkwardness and amazing art of the signet lands.
Well... Looking at your list, mine is going to be preeeetty different :D But I won't let you down, promised!

Here's a very premature look at my list: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/tgo
I'm adding 3 of each common and 2 of each uncommon, and actually making weighted boosters, so I can play stuff like Aether Burst. I'm aiming for a 450 format for some variety. You're definitely not going to see every rare every draft, but there's a big chance you're going to see every common at least once.
 
Oh ya? You're going to make a block cube with seeded boosters?
Onsalught 2 Draft Sim: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/5e543067116c8a06d43a258a
I had it set up for a custom draft but then it got screwy after an update to CC or something.

I didn't particularly like this format because the variance in your decks gets so much lower. The singleton or near-singleton nature of cube keeps things a lot more interesting. I encourage you to draft that list 20 times and see how similar the decks start to feel. I wasn't personally a fan.

Your list is more premature than me when I lost my virginity.
 

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
You could let the enemy color filters be the Innistrad originals like Woodland Cemetery. In this way you can avoid custom cards.
I already need to print custom old style reprints, and I use customs in my current environment. I'm sure completing some incomplete land (!) cycles is going to work out just fine :)

Edit: To be clear, I'm absolutely not planning on adding custom nonland cards!

Oh ya? You're going to make a block cube with seeded boosters?
Onsalught 2 Draft Sim: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/5e543067116c8a06d43a258a
I had it set up for a custom draft but then it got screwy after an update to CC or something.

I didn't particularly like this format because the variance in your decks gets so much lower. The singleton or near-singleton nature of cube keeps things a lot more interesting. I encourage you to draft that list 20 times and see how similar the decks start to feel. I wasn't personally a fan.
I might need to make the cube bigger, if testing reveals the cube feels too repetitive. I'm new to this concept of set cube, so I'm willing to adapt. That said, with the number of drafts I'm hosting each year and the fact that I already own two cubes, I'm not too worried about this format becoming stale :D
 

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
I found out what's going to be the worst thing for this cube :eek:

https://scryfall.com/search?q=t:basic block:ody unique:art&order=set

Do you have any idea how expensive it is going to be to gather an immersive stack of basic lands for this cube? Hundreds of euros! :(

Like, cool, I can find a dealer who has 20 copies of my favorite Odyssey Mountain, and another who has 14. That's probably enough for an average 8-man draft. They want €2,50 per Mountain! Aaaaaaaaaah! That's €85, not counting shipping, for the Mountains alone!
 
I found out what's going to be the worst thing for this cube :eek:

https://scryfall.com/search?q=t:basic block:ody unique:art&order=set

Do you have any idea how expensive it is going to be to gather an immersive stack of basic lands for this cube? Hundreds of euros! :(

You already run custom cards. Might as well custom the Basic lands as well.

Also: Madness is only represented in Odyssey block and on Innistrad (And very, very few supplement cards). You probably knew this and this was one of the reasons for your choice of block-combinations Odyssey-Innistrad? :)
 

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
You already run custom cards. Might as well custom the Basic lands as well.

Also: Madness is only represented in Odyssey block and on Innistrad (And very, very few supplement cards). You probably knew this and this was one of the reasons for your choice of block-combinations Odyssey-Innistrad? :)

Yeah, though to be clear, I don't want an Innistrad vibe. It's mostly an Odyssey block cube, but I'll be lending some cards from Innistrad because the madness cards in Odyssey are... not a homerun. Not all of them at least. Innistrad also has flashback, which is another big keyword from Odyssey block. Meanwhile the only non-Odyssey threshold card is Scavenging Anurid, so I'm guessing I can't help but pick mostly Odyssey cards there :)

I need to do some groundwork on determining the themes in each color pair, and making a design skeleton so see what commons I need to include for a balanced format. On the upside, once I'm done with all this, it's pretty much done, requiring very little upkeep!

I also found out that the inferior basic land options have a much larger supply and are priced at a way more affordable €0,40 to €0,50 a piece. That'll cost me somewhere around €100 to get enough basics for the basic land box. That seems like an appropriately random thing to splurge some excess money on if I like the look of this cube after I'm done with it :rolleyes:
 

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Never was a fan of the Snapcaster promo, but it looks WAY better in that old frame. Hell, most cards do.

I knew I wanted it immediately here, since the other two arts don't fit Odyssey at all.

The most hilarious thing (to me) is that almost everything about this card had to be changed. Human didn't exist as a creature type back in Odyssey, flash didn't exist, the battlefield didn't exist, and exile didn't exist. All of this makes for a card that looks really anachronistic, since we're used to the actual card with all the up to date terminology :)
 

Chris Taylor

Contributor
Reminds me of the Alpha Wording Jace I saw way back:
ORb2d.jpg
 
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Cackling with glee over here! :D

View attachment 3257



I knew I wanted it immediately here, since the other two arts don't fit Odyssey at all.

The most hilarious thing (to me) is that almost everything about this card had to be changed. Human didn't exist as a creature type back in Odyssey, flash didn't exist, the battlefield didn't exist, and exile didn't exist. All of this makes for a card that looks really anachronistic, since we're used to the actual card with all the up to date terminology :)


I think your wording on the text is too modern, still.

You need “Mana cost includes colors”
678F61E4-7732-453D-BBAD-905BE0C149D5.jpeg
 

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Yeah, I know :) I initially put it in that before the reminder text for flashback, but it looked really off. In the end I decided to just skip it. There's enough glorious regression of terminology to appreciate the effort, I think ;)
 

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb

Also, my original goal was not to include new keywords, but Odyssey only had three keywords over the span of a three-set block, and white's madness spells are rubbish, so I don't know if I can get away with that. We'll see I suppose. Anyway, if anything, I would be looking for a graveyard-based keyword that can be played in white. Delirium feels really un-Odyssey though, and the spell mastery cards are based on the planeswalkers, so not a good fit either. I think I'm going to try broad archetypes that don't use keywords.
 
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