Remember how we all agree that two-colored cards are difficult to add to a cube because not many players around the table is going to want that specific two-color card?
Seeing a
Bloodbraid Elf as the 15’th pick is the norm in most cubes according to what I’ve read on this page.
Isn’t
Bring to Light an even more color-restricted card that wants you to be even more colors than two but with the requirement that at least two of the colors are Simic/Quandrix?
I think this is where the design of my format really distinguishes itself in that every deck at the draft table is expected to be 3+ colors and have a close to legacy quality manabase (albeit without Wastelands). What this ultimately means is that for gold cards from their respective color pairings, instead of being desired only by a single drafter at the table like they are in more traditional cubes, are now sought after by 2-4 players.
For an example, imagine a draft yields a pod comprised of:
1 5c Niv player, 1 Sultai mid, 1 Grixis tempo, 1 Abzan mid, 1 Naya zoo, 1 Jeskai control, 1 Mardu pyromancer, 1 Jund mid
This means that the pool has this many players interested in each guild:
2 Azorius, 3 Dimir, 3 Rakdos, 3 Gruul, 3 Selesnya, 3 Orzhov, 3 Izzet, 4 Golgari, 4 Boros and 2 Simic
The result is that the average pool has ~3 players in any given guild, meaning that individual gold cards are about a third as parasitic as they normally are. It's far from uncommon to be drafting cards from a particular color pairing and failing to wheel cards that, in a more traditional cube environment, would come back to you such as
Izzet Charm,
Maelstrom Pulse and yes, even
Bloodbraid Elf.
Yes, the more fixing the easier it is to play multicolored cards. However, the more fixing the easier it becomes to play and draft the best cards irrespective of color restrictions...
This is in fact exactly what I want out of my format. I don't really support any narrow synergy archetypes although synergistic interactions can be built into to some degree. Synergy in my format comes more so in the form of
Snapcaster Mage being the peanutbutter to
Lightning Bolt's jelly, as opposed to lower floor interactions that require much more dedicated deckbuilding concessions. I expect players to draft Aggro, Midrange or Control and simply tailor their list to best execute that plan given the cards they see during the draft in their colors.
I also put a heavy emphasis on sideboarding as my format is drafted in 4 packs of 16 cards each, players are generally expected to draft a full manabase comprised almost entirely of non-basic lands, a cohesive and refined mainboard and a sideboard with reasonable options to bring in to adjust their specific tools to be better suited to their opponent's plan. A deep well of highly redundant and desirable effects coupled with a narrow power band is what makes the format tick. Games are less about playing the best cards, everyone at the table is doing that to some extent, but more so about understanding the nuances of specific matchup tables and coming out of the draft with a clearly defined plan for how you want to approach them, both on the play and on the draw.
