Creatures Matter Cube

[machinablack]

Hello, this is my first time posting here and I'm hoping to get some feedback and discussion on my Cube which I have named the "Creatures Matter Cube!" There is a lot below, and I appreciate anyone that finds the time to read any amount of it and give feedback. Also, if you've got time and would like to draft the Cube on CT, I would like that very much.



https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/creatures_matter_cube?view=spoiler

Description from CT

This is a cube that focuses on mostly creature interactions and responses. There is almost no asymmetrical creature removal in the cube except for removal that requires a creature. This should allow for effects and card types that are normally underplayed to thrive, such as auras, combat tricks, and low power/toughness creatures since they are not competing with things like instant removal spells or goldfish combos.

The cube attempts to avoid too many cards that prevent interaction (unblockable, can't block, mass flyers), cards that don't encourage interesting choices (life gain, mass counter spells, +1/+1 counters), cards that win on their own (big lifelink flyers, oppressive planeswalkers) or archetypes that reflect the above (mass flyers, +1/+1 counters, land destruction). The cube still runs some cards that are seen above but, there is not a big emphasis on them and the payoffs should be pretty clearly in the supported archetypes. Also, I have avoided including too many cards that suggest a non-existent archetypes (such as white reanimator, artifacts matter, mill) so that players don't accidentally read in to a false signal if they don't know the entirety of the cube.

I have opted to support 5 guilds rather than all 10 so that there is more overlap with effects/mechanics. To ensure every draft and color doesn't feel so similar, I have also supported mono-color strategies that somewhat overlap with the guild strategies but, are their own archetypes with supporting cards.

Main Archetypes

= Landfall + Equipment + Enchantments


= Blink + Tempo + Landfall


= Spells + Burn + Tempo


= Sacrifice + Recursion + Burn


= Re-Animator + Enchantments + Sacrifice


Mono = Equipment + Human Tribal


Mono = Wizard Tribal + Tempo


Mono = Vampire Tribal + Sacrifice


Mono = Burn + Spells


Mono = Devotion + Landfall


There is a lot of overlap between the archetypes to encourage creating unique decks and interactions that are not obvious but, also, a strong emphasis on specific archetypes within color pairs to give players direction and create a rewarding cube experience.

Also naturally supported are the following tri-color combinations as they have either common overlap or synergy between their supported archetypes as well as supporting manabases:
Bant
Abzan
Jund
Grixis
Jeskai

Cycles
Included in the cube are a handful of cycles and some multiples to push archetypes, interesting decision-making, clever deck building, and trickiness.

Morph Creatures x1 per color:
Hidden Dragonslayer
Coral Trickster
Ruthless Ripper
Jeering Instigator
Woolly Loxodon

Transform Creatures x1 per color:
Avacynian Missionaries
Thing in the Ice
Heir of Falkenrath
Geier Reach Bandit
Hinterland Logger

Mono Color Cards x1 per color
These are cards that require 3 mana of the same color, such as :
Benalish Marshal
Fated Infatuation
Garza's Assassin
Goblin Chainwhirler
Chord of Calling

Bonus Mono-Guild Cards x2 per guild
These are cards that are mono-color but benefit from playing supported Guilds:


Knight of the Skyward Eye
Momentary Blink


Crackling Triton
Ocular Halo


Nightfire Giant
Mortipede


Rix Maadi Reveler
Hypervolt Grasp


Sunblade Elf
Stonefare Crocodile

Multiples (2-ofs):


Steppe Lynx
Cloudshift


Banishing Knack
Ponder


Supernatural Stamina
Unearth


Faithless Looting
Brute Force


Prey Upon
Groundswell

Land
Guilld Fetch Lands
Guild Shock Lands
All 5 Vivid Lands

Slots

There are exactly 24 Legendary cards. Each pack contains one of these cards and they are fun "build-around" cards. They are effectively treated as the packs' "Rare" slot.

There are also 72 cards evenly distributed between the 5 colors, Guilds, and Colorless that take the "Uncommon" slot in the same way as the Legendary cards.

There is a dedicated land slot for multicolor lands that are not Vivid Lands.

The rest of the cards fit in to the "Common" slot.

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Additional Notes

I'm trying to do a lot of unconventional things with this Cube. Its main focus is the 5 supported Guild archetypes and making sure that it encourages creature-based interactions, as that is what I feel like makes Magic the way it is and my fondest memories are of playing the game before having optimized constructed decks that always do the same thing and have very few spontaneous plays. That is why I have built this Cube and why I have built it the way I have.

Some interactions that are worth pointing out that may not be obvious with this Cube:

-Threaten effects are in the Cube not only for closing out a game as they were intended, and not only for the play of saccing the creature before it goes back to your opponent (which is dope) but, also, to untap your own creatures for certain effects. One example of this is casting Banishing Knack on Cinder Pyromancer and then casting Act of Treason to get 3 bounce effects on non-land permanents.

-In general, I would say this is low power, so while it may seem weird to have some 4 CMC creatures that are 2/2, that is how most of the Cube is and most don't go above a 3/3 stat-line intentionally. This is so that more creatures with relevant effects can be included in the Cube and make sure that every game feels like a battle. I tried to avoid, as much as possible, card that wins the game alone if you don't have an answer immediately.

-I have tried to find as many cards as possible that overlap archetypes significantly or push certain goals like breaking board states. Multani is a great example of this. He can be fetched from the graveyard for Golgari, he can get lands back in to your hand for landfall with Selesnya, he is an answer to flyers with Reach, and he has Trample to push damage through so games don't drag on.

-Cards that encourage attacking are highly prioritized in the cube, even if the end goal with the card isn't just damage to your opponent. Some examples of this are: Relic Seeker, Supernatural Stamina, Turntimber Basilisk, and Hardened Berserker.

-Like I have said above, I really tried to keep all of the removal either symmetrical (Languish), a creature (Ambush Viper), a combat trick (Brute Force), or to make it require a creature in some way (Livewire Lash). I want it to feel like the other player earned their removal since effects like fatal push or doom blade are neither satisfying nor creative, and that doesn't tend to be a fun experience for the types looking to experience Draft/Cube.

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Let me know what you think!

 

[machinablack]

Landfall Archetype

I decided that I would use this "Blog" as a Blog and start posting about archetypes and card choices. I wanted to start off with the Landfall Archetype for Selesnya, as this blog post highlighting Steppe Lynx and breaking singleton is what lead to me signing up for Cube Tutor to build the Cube: https://www.channelfireball.com/home/breaking-the-rules-learning-from-legacy-part-2/

So, I decided to go with Landfall, break singleton, and work my own Cube mostly towards interactions. To clarify, by "interactions" I mean (loosely) "this card has an effect on this other card" OR "this card has an effect because of this other card." Typically, when people talk about interaction being good, "you can't play your spells" or "I will use removal on everything you play" isn't what they were referring to. That's why, while Death's Shadow in Modern is "interactive," playing against it with most synergy based decks is a miserable experience. Likewise, the type of players that would enjoy Cube, outside of the most hardcore veterans, isn't looking for efficient removal and counter spells, they're hoping for different types of effects that allow for unique plays and a laid back experience. If they were looking for efficiency, they would just play constructed.

Creatures are, generally, the easiest card type to interact with, which is why the "theme" for this list is "Creatures Matter."

So, with that in mind, I'm going to go over some of the card choices or thought process behind some cards included for this archetype in this blog post.

Landfall Payoffs
Below are the cards that benefit from the landfall plan. I am using "payoffs" to include any card that has a significant effect on the board when multiple (or just one) landfall triggers hit the stack. Most of the payoffs for landfall have very powerful relative to the rest of the Cube and there is a diversity of effects.



I did opt to include 2x Steppe Lynx and 2x Groundswell to make sure that the archetype had the cards it needed to feel like a complete deck could be assembled. The standouts here are Emeria Angel, Admonition Angel, and Tireless Tracker. I think the power of these cards is pretty clear, but there are a lot of incredible cards otherwise that are fun to play with. Turntimber Basilisk, I believe, is an underrated card to include in a Cube. Reach of Branches is amazing, and a little more restrictive but, it also slots in to a reanimator/graveyard deck using Green, so that overlap is pretty great. Retreat to Kazandu allows for choosing between making your creatures bigger or gaining life to help stabilize.

I decided not to include more cards that simply make your creatures bigger or have the same effects as cards that are already listed here, since having many different types of effects allows for interesting decision-making and also leads to new situations. That is also why I opted out of lifegain or +1/+1 counters as their own dedicated archetypes. They don't create new situations or interesting decision trees, or even sequencing. It's mostly "hopefully my creatures are big enough to win the game."

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Landfall Support
This section covers the cards that help get those landfall triggers or help trigger landfall in ways other than playing a basic land for your turn. I've included a decent amount of instant-speed support in the Cube that usually overlaps with other archetypes in some way. Using Fetchlands to turn your Steppe Lynx in to a 4/5, or making your Turntimber Basilisk take down two enemy creatures is a great payoff that rewards clever lines of play and sequencing.



Having landfall as an archetype is a big incentive for breaking singleton for Fetchlands. All 6 of these fetches work for a landfall deck, especially with the Shocklands that are included in the draft. Also, cards such as Eternal Witness, Ramunap Excavator, and even Renegade Rallier go really well with the fetches since they can pull them out of the graveyard. The fetches also allow the landfall effects to be used on your opponent's turn, which should lead to some very interesting lines of play.

Also, Sylvan Scrying, Crop Rotation, and Expedition Map have the added bonus of finding any land. In this context, they're great for grabbing the fetches from your library, grabbing the mono-color utility lands included in the list, or even grabbing Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, which is especially important for the Green Devotion archetype in the Cube.

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So, that about wraps up Landfall. I am hoping to continue going through the archetypes and card choices in future posts for anyone that would be interested in reading about that kind of stuff.

 

[machinablack]

Sacrifice Archetype

Hello, I am back with another blog post, this time about Rakdos! I decided to go with this guild next since it shares no colors with Selesnya and so everything would be completely different from the last post (in principle--they're still all Magic cards).

As mentioned before, this Cube is really going for a strong focus on encouraging combat and creature interaction. With that in mind, Sacrifice seemed like a good archetype to support since so many of the payoffs for Sacrifice (or Morbid or Revolt or whatever) is just having creatures die. You might trade creatures when you swing in, you might even lose your creatures to tricks but, it's not always so straightforward who really came out on top when your goal is furthered by creatures dying.

This type of deck has some very interesting lines of play, including both short and long term plans. For one, I'm a big fan of using threaten effects and then sacrificing the stolen creature before it goes back to your opponent. It's dirty but, it requires some work to set up. In this Cube, it also serves a dual purpose of having ways to get rid of high toughness or indestructible creatures that are normally only vulnerable to spot removal. Second, cards such as Blood Artist and Hissing Iguanar can turn "losing the battle" in to "winning the war" when planned and executed successfully.

Also, there is some risk involved in these types of plans that is both exciting and rewarding, which I like a lot. It's calculated but, it's not free.

Sacrifice Payoffs

I've listed below the payoffs for the Sacrifice archetype in the Cube. Keep in mind that these sections will be a little different from the Landfall ones as this archetype is supported and enabled differently (which, by the way, I think speaks to how it is actually different and not just another form of build-around). The payoffs are cards that want creatures to die or that work to your advantage when your creatures are self-recurring:





Yes, some of these cards are not only payoffs but, also an outlet (Gisa, Smokestack). I can see this deck running in multiple ways and having some flexibility with how it hopes to achieve victory. Draining your opponent out is a popular strategy that requires a lot of planning. It also works well with burn, which I am also trying to support here. Still, there are other plans such as using Revenant as a traditional win condition or choking your opponent out with Smokestack/Call to the Grave.

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Sacrifice Outlets

Of course, this type of deck doesn't function as well without some sacrifice outlets. This is probably more true in a constructed environment where exile effects threaten to seal away your recursive creatures indefinitely but, it does a lot in a limited format as well. Red has a lot more to offer when you have sacrifice outlets since its Threaten effects become hard removal. Black is most likely going to be a big focus of any Sacrifice deck since it has a lot of recursive creatures and also permanent outlets.





Wizards has moved towards sac outlets having additional mana costs which, I believe is often overcosted and really limits what I'm willing to include here. I just don't see it being worth it or practical to try to set up a game-winning strategy that involves paying 2 mana every time you want to sacrifice a creature, and then usually getting a mediocre effect. The Cube also has a requirement for good art and a modern frame so, many older sac outlets weren't even considered but there are a decent amount of effects here so I'm happy with it.

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Sacrifice Support

Lastly, the deck wants creatures to die a lot. It really shines when those creatures either a) aren't your own creatures b) are multiple creatures or c) they're your own creatures but they also come back so it's chill. Support, in this case, refers to cards that help on that axis and this is where both recursive creatures and threaten effects come in to play.




Without the hard rule on singleton for the Cube, Supernatural Stamina (super)naturally made a lot of sense to include as a 2-of. It's not only a combat trick, it also brings your non-self-recurring (is that right?) creatures back from the dead while hopefully taking down your opponent's and getting two deaths in the process.

Also, as mentioned in the OP, Threaten effects are usually not very high picks because they don't work super well outside of this archetype. I was able to create overlap for those types of effects with Izzet's Spells Matter plan as there are great benefits from using the Threaten on your own creatures only for the untap part, which I will go over more in that post.

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By the end of putting this together, I was pretty happy with where Rakdos ended up as a whole and how it overlapped with the two neighboring guilds (Izzet, Golgari).

Rakdos helps deal with stalled boards since it doesn't need to be ahead on board to win with burn/drain as reach, can also keep other decks that rely on huge monsters in check because of the Threaten effects, and there is still counter-play against it. White and Green both have lifegain to combat the drain, White protects its creatures against the Threaten effects with various effects of their own, including instant speed flicker spells, other decks running black can sacrifice their own creatures in response to a Threaten, and Blue has ways of disrupting everything with bounce effects, like sending a Blood Artist back to hand before combat damage resolves.

Thank you, and let me know what you think of my Rakdos support!

 

[Heymaker]

Mark, here's my decklist from Cube night.

UR Not Gonna Believe This

The format played faster than I had anticipated and didn't get a chance to try out some of the more exciting, but slower cards I had picked up. As is, the deck played perfectly fine most games, despite mostly being feast or famine -- you can tell the two apart when one includes opening with Dreadhorde Arcanist, Beamsplitter Mage, and Sure Strike. I had plenty of opportunities to pick up direct damage spells like Collateral Damage and Heartfire and didn't realize that was my deck's best direction until it was too late.

All said, I had a lot of fun match-ups and removal being the way it is focused in this cube, didn't seem to play out as concerning as you'd imagine; creatures acted as more precious resources for combat trick shenanigans that you didn't want to willy-nilly chump block with to pad your life total. If I had any regrets, it was not moving in on Rakdos because that deck looks hella fun to play.

Nice work, dude!

 

[Chris Taylor]

Banishing Knack + Beamsplitter mage is gas

 

[machinablack]

Mark, here's my decklist from Cube night...

Hahah! I totally missed this post somehow. Sorry, dude. That was a fun night and thanks for the input! Your deck was really fun to play against, and I'm glad we got to have our usual heated and drawn-out 1v1 of the night.

Now that I have some proper time off, here are some notes that I have from the two drafts of CMC so far...

First Draft

• A lot of people played black in a full 8 pod. There were two (almost) mono-black decks, Golgari, Rakdos, Selesnya, Azorius, and two Izzet decks
• People seemed to like the decks they built, including one of the mono-black players that drafted just to use Captivating Vampires steal ability and was able to pull it off in a real game
• At least three people commented that they undervalued combat tricks and wished they had picked up more. I'm going to count that as a major win for the theme and design of the Cube
• Many felt that they would draft better decks now that they understand more of what is in the Cube
• The top three decks, from what I could tell, were Selesnya Landfall, Azorius Blink Tempo, and the Izzet Spells-Matter deck that Heymaker posted above
• I noticed that white and green were very open during the draft, and so did everyone else once it was too late. This definitely contributed the Landfall deck that I drafted doing so well. Not sure how I feel on that with limited data
• There were a few long combat steps that seemed to involve a bunch of tricks and intense decision making, which I'm pretty happy about

Second Draft

• This was only a 5 person pod, and this was very different from the first draft
• The drafted decks were Rakdos, Izzet, Selesnya, Orzhov and Simic
• The Orzhov and Simic decks were a surprise given that neither Guild is explicitly supported in the Cube
• The Orzhov deck was piloted by a very new player that did the coolest thing with her deck that I've seen so far, even in playtesting. She played Kindred Boon naming Cleric, then proceeded to give all four of her Clerics devotion counters, eventually playing Planar Cleansing for a one-sided board wipe. I thought it was hilarious
• Some of the more questionable cards that are included in the Cube ended up being utilized well in this draft, such as Prey Upon (fighting isn't as easy with so few big creatures), Jori En, Trail of Evidence, Mizzium Meddler, Twincast, Goldnight Commander (this card is an all-star in this environment), and Grimoire of the Dead
• The top three decks from this draft were Rakdos Sacrifice/Aristocrats, Orzhov Vampire/Cleric? Tribal , and Izzet Spells-Matter Burn

All in all, I think that CMC has accomplished the goal of making creature combat a focus that is both fun and engaging. It seems to be flexible enough to allow for decks that I didn't plan or sign post to emerge from people's ingenuity. I think it also managed to feel rewarding for people that were able to recognize synergy, and plan out their decks during the draft.
At the moment, I'd say the biggest issues are that:

• There is a lot of reading, even for veteran players, since it isn't the typical cards one would expect and have evaluated several times in many formats (limited, EDH, Modern, etc...)
• Evaluating each card's power level is difficult for the same reason as above, which is expected but, while this makes sense in any WOTC draft format, without consistently running the Cube, it is going to be difficult for even the most elite players to attune to the card choices available. This may be frustrating or inspiring depending on the type of player
• There are some card choices that, although they may serve a purpose in my head, are unlikely to find their way in to even a sideboard consideration slot. I'll be making adjustments for these but, the best examples that I can think of at the moment are Noosegraf Mob, Slice in Twain, Act of Authority, and Youthful Scholar

I will keep running the Cube when I get time to and keep this posted. I'm also planning to post the other archetype posts as soon as possible.

 

[Rowan_CB]

• There are some card choices that, although they may serve a purpose in my head, are unlikely to find their way in to even a sideboard consideration slot.

This is too real.

 

[Chris Taylor]

I think the best thing about this cube is the implication that creatures don't normally matter

 

[machinablack]

Overdue Update: Successes & CMC Legends Slot

Hello, fellow Cubers, I am way overdue for giving an update on the Creatures Matter Cube. I have good news though! So far, the Cube has done a great job of accomplishing its goals. I've run it a few more times, including a prolonged period where we did not redraft and played many games with the same decks over the course of a month. These cards are super fun to play together, with the types of interactions and cool decks that I was hoping the players would get to experience. I will get more in to that in another post.

First, though, I should mention that I have moved the CMC over to CubeCobra at the following link:
https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/creatures_matter_cube?view=spoiler

Now, one interesting (to me) change that I have made with this Cube is how I'm seeding the "Rare" Legendary slot. Previously, I had 24 legends, 1 for each pack. There were 3 of each color, 5 of each supported guild, and 4 colorless. I have modified the seeding so that it's less predictable, by including a total of 49(!!!) Legends in a pool that get distributed somewhat randomly to the packs. Every pack still only has one Legendary card but, which Legends will show up is random. So now there are 5 of each color, 1 for each guild (including unsupported guilds), 1 for each tricolor combination, and 4 colorless.





When I seed the packs, first I take 2 random ones from every color to make 10, and set them aside face-down as "locked in" for the current pool. Then I shuffle the remaining 39 and add 14 more to the pool. These 24 will be in the draft the next time it fires.

I like this variation a lot, as it makes things less predictable. Even I don't know which Legends ended up making it in. It allows more Legends without compromising the cool Legendary slot that I've got going. It also ended up opening up more options for testing weird Legends, such as Horobi, which ended up being an amazing inclusion in a low-power Cube about combat tricks (that become kill spells).

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That's all I've got for today. I hope to do more updates. Still working on getting this thing firing more often. Moved to Lansing, MI and it's hard to find people that have consistent time for it but, I have some updates planned and think they could be helpful and/or interesting to the Cube community. Thank you!

 

[machinablack]

CMC Gameplay Highlights

Hello, again! Today, I'm posting about some cool interactions and plays from the last few months of Cube play that I think highlight the ways that the CMC is unique and/or satisfying to play. The hope is that these serve as some solid inspiration for creating a Cube that doesn't fit the standard powered environments that are common, and show how we can have completely different games with the right card choices.

Horobi & Anti-Heroic

So one of my favorite recent includes in the CMC is Horobi, Death's Wail...



There are a lot of combat tricks in this Cube, and not a lot of spot removal (for creatures). This is what made Horobi interesting to me for the CMC. In the last Cube pod, I ended up playing Jund with Horobi and a lot of targeting effects. The big play that I was proud of discovering while deck building (and by discovering, I mean I did not notice this interaction while putting the Cube together), is with Jaya's Immolating Inferno. Along with this, there were a few more great combos that worked without Horobi but completely changed the nature of the game once she was on the board:




The way it played out was that I had great options and combat tricks early on, and then when Horobi showed up the deck went from a Heroic archetype to an Anti-Heroic archetype. What I found even more interesting and exciting as the Cube builder was playing Horobi + Jaya's Immolating Inferno at Zero for a total of 6 mana to knock out all 3 of my opponent's creatures, only to have it turn around because my opponent was Izzet and ended up playing a Doomblade...



A Murder...



And then, when all that was left of my creatures and he had a couple more in play, he took down Horobi with a Doomblade!




This was so cool, and it was such a fun series. The other games I played with this deck had their own cool twists and stories but, this was my favorite even though I ended up losing.


Blink In Combat & As Protection

I've read a lot of reservation and arguments about Blink on whether or not it works in Cube, and so I've been hopeful to see it perform well in my own where and have a big focus on it. One of the players ended up putting together an Abzan Blink deck that outperformed every other deck in that group. He used Blink very effectively in combat, and forced some awkward situations both attacking and blocking. I'd like to highlight one of the coolest plays he did.

First, allow me to set the stage by showing what he was going for...





Now, there was a lot more to this deck but, we had one game where he finally laid down the Sifter Wurm after a long back and forth battle, and then revealed with the Scry...




!!! I had the answer, it was unfortunately going to cost me a lot of resources...




He was low on life, even with the +3 from revealing Godsend. With a few counters on my Chamber Sentry and another creature to sacrifice to Collateral Damage, the plan was to threaten ending the game with an attack, force a block by the Wurm, burn some of my +1/+1 counter on the Sentry and then fling my other creature at the Wurm before he could slam down the Godsend and swing in with a 10/10 trampler that also exiled one blocker.

Unfortunately, he anticipated some kind of play, and I neglected the fact that he had waited until having an extra mana open for Ephemerate before casting Sifter Wurm. In response to my over commitment of resources, he blinked the Wurm with Ephemerate, revealing the Godsend again as my fate and his destiny.

I should have waited, and looking at my cards afterwards, it's possible that I could have had a response to Ephemerate if not for committing first (and if I wasn't greedy about trying to keep as many counters as possible on the Sentry).

I enjoyed this interaction very much, and also liked seeing him pilot this unique deck that seemed to take its own form outside of the bounds of my anticipated archetypes.


The Creature That Was Almost Cut

Lastly, for this post, I wanted to cover another great set of interactions discovered by the same Abzan player from above. There were plans for me to cut Dauntless Bodyguard from the Cube. It didn't fit in to any defined archetypes and seemed "meh." Seeing someone else find cool uses for it convinced me otherwise...






I think you might be able to guess where this is going if you look at the cards but, what I really liked was how he would use the Bodyguard as his 1CMC creature to grab to protect Yisan. I had a way to dispatch Yisan (Collateral Damage), but decided to hold on to it in case a better target were to show up later. Never had I anticipated that he would grab the Bodyguard and lock me out of taking down Yisan that entire game.

The other way that he used Dauntless Bodyguard was awesome to me. I was so frustrated as his opponent but, couldn't help but be impressed. He played Ruthless Ripper to slow me down considerably in our games, and this was made even more difficult when he followed it up with Dauntless Bodyguard, giving the Ruthless Ripper two opportunities to "trade" with my creatures.

If it weren't for that combination, then I likely could "get under" him and take the game early with some reach. Unfortunately, I had to push my way through Ruthless Ripper twice, which was too high of a price to pay.

This game ended up going for so long that I had to concede, as he was rightfully the victor, and we ran out of time (playing on our lunch break). I had him though, if not for that ingenius play!

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Thank you, for reading, and I hope you enjoy the post!

 

[machinablack]

Color Identity - Blue

Hey all, so today I decided to post about color identity in my Cube, and to focus on Blue cards. This post is about combat effects specifically, and I plan to post one for each color. Combat effects are a crucial part of the Cube's makeup. I have not focused on Blue at all yet with my posts, so I'll start there. Over time putting together and running the Cube, I've decided that it feels good as a player when a color has some consistency with their effects that you can build around and anticipate. It makes every color feel unique as well, which is like....an important part of Magic as a whole.

Below, I have listed every type of combat effect that I have tried to form an identity with for Blue specifically, with some (or all) examples. Most of these are in the list already or are planned in the next update I make. There will be some overlap with the other colors but, as a whole, it should feel like Blue has its own combat style.

Flash/Ninjutsu




Flash provides combat tricks on the defensive, and Ninjutsu is almost an offensive equivalent. Blue doesn't have a lot of ways of effecting the damage that will occur in battle so, I like having these types of effects and they're fun to play with!

Shapeshifting




So, I have dubbed these effects "Shapeshifting" effects, which refers to changing the base P/T of a creature. They're not the greatest type of buff spells, as they have a clear ceiling (and floor) but, they do have some unique applications that make them more powerful. They can also be played on creatures that have boosted stats from other effects, such as Prowess. Even one trigger effect can place a creature with Gift of Tusks at 4/4 P/T, which is pretty good for this Cube. Not many creatures have above 3 Power and/or 4 Toughness. It also works well with small flyers, and I try to keep the number of powerful flying creatures down quite a bit.

Bounce Spells




Bounce effects in an environment without a lot of spot removal, and with a lot of tricks/auras is a lot more powerful than usual. With Blue having such few ways of interacting during combat, Bounce spells provide some interesting interaction. It's also a safety valve for reanimate effects (as you'd have to cheat the creature in to play again!), and gives some redundancy to Blue's tempo play with creatures like Academy Journeymage.

Counter Spells




Of course, Blue can't be Blue without some counter spells! These aren't necessarily just combat effects but, they can have a great effect on combat as denial. It doesn't align with the Cube's theme to have too many counter spells that can counter creatures so, I like having some counter spells that target non-creature spells specifically. This pushes them more towards combat tricks and gives blue some answers to enchantments and artifacts as a bonus.

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So, that's what I've got going on. I plan to do more of these so let me know what you think. Feel free to share how you set an identity for your colors as well!

 

[machinablack]

Color Identity - Green

Alright, so this post is about Green combat color identity in my Cube. I figure this is a good followup to the Blue one since they're enemy colors and, thus, so different ("...and yet, so alike, you and I.") I'm using more terms that I've just sort of decided to use to group similar effects in to nice packages that can have a short and sweet title.

One important note that I missed to include on the last post is that I tend to lean in to combat effects that work with the Cube's supported color pairings/primary archetypes. For , that would be Spellslinger and Blink/ETB. For , the effects are more based around Landfall and Constellation (Enchantments Matter). Finding the right effects to match these two was a challenge. has the fastest supported archetype in the Cube, and intentionally has the slowest, so there's some conflict there (I have no one to blame for this but myself).

Also! I have some general rules about tricks that I feel Wizards does not care for or see the value in (shame).

First, nobody wants a combat trick that doesn't increase Power by 2 or more. Increasing Power by 1 is too narrow in when it is helpful. This applies to both unblocked and blocked creatures. Wizards makes these cards like Storm Strike that have awesome art and are almost there, and then they're like...+1/+0...isn't that great? If you were baaaaaaarely not going to have enough then you can get exactly the right amount of extra damage. Lame.

My second rule is basically the same thing but for Toughness and survivability. I'm not playing tricks that only effect Toughness by +1. Nobody likes that either. I want to deceeeeeeive my opponent in to thinking we may trade or that I'll chump his 3/3 with my 2/2, and then surprise them with a +2 on the back end that would make Sir Mixalot proud. First Strike and "returns to the battlefield" effects work as well since they can make your creature's toughness irrelevant and still let you keep the creature. In any case, I'm not dropping two cards to take down one threat. If your creature can't survive combat, then you're doing exactly that. It ain't right. It certainly doesn't incentivize you to run combat tricks if you don't even know that it will matter.

So that's my philosophy. Anyway...

Heroic




I am, of course, referring to pump spells as "Heroic" as they are great Heroic enablers (except for Slaughterhorn, who combos more with Delirium). It also sounds better than "pump" or "buff." These meet the requirements I just listed above and they've proven to be incredibly fun and undeniably useful cards in this Cube. I would say that most players that refuse to use these types of spells have weaker decks than those that do. There is a stigma from normal modern Magic where they completely fall flat to spot removal but, in MY Cube, they're practically essential. You win combat when your opponent doesn't expect it, and you can end the game early with the right string of cards if your opponent is being all nonchalant about damage (again, because modern magic (like, as in modern times, not as in the modern format (man, I really like parenthesis) ) decks don't often use these types of effects).

Also, have you ever considered that these types of Instants work just fine for Spellslinging decks? Cause they do, so these incidentally support Spellslinger, and Spellslinger, as the other colors have the payoffs and can provide the enablers/support cards.

It is also worth pointing out that Groundswell and Prey's Vengeance are two of my four Green two-ofs.

Flash




Green also has Flash ("...we're just so, so alike, you and I"), although no Ninjas (sadface). Flash creates so much tension in gameplay because of how it allows people to leave mana up during their opponent's turn. Like, a lot of mana too. Keeping 4 open for Briarhorn is going to leave your opponent questioning their every decision, even if you're only playing Green. And then you're just hoping they fall right in to your trap while pretending like nothing unusual is going on. I love that feeling.

Fog




Whaaaaat? Fog effects? Well, not quite. Potentially asymmetric fog-like effects. Build-around fog. And they're actually really good! Only one other color has effects like this in the Cube (and I think in Magic as a whole?). I had some doubts about whether or not to include these at first but, after seeing people pick and play with them they are here to stay!

I don't like to run a lot of them, since they're not an effect that you want to happen more than once throughout a game or set. They are useful and surprisingly versatile though. They're often a blowout against a reckless flunge, counter to an opponent comboing out combat tricks on an unblocked creature to end the game, and they're mostly useful on defense where you can pile up blockers on individual creatures.

Fight/Lure




Hooooo, boy! So, this one is actually unique to Green in this Cube and one of my favorites. And really it's two separate effects but, whatever, man. It's like the same thing...kinda. So these are cards that force a fight between creatures. Fight effects do this between two creatures, and they do it independent of the combat phase. Lure effects influence the combat phase, and can involve more than just two creatures. The Lure effects are especially great because they include enchantments, supporting Devotion and Constellation at the same time, and they combo well with other types of effects (like Deathtouch).

Lure can also end games on a stalled out board, and I try to have effects that deal with that type of mess so games don't drag on and get boring because no one can attack favorably. This is green's version.

---

Players seem to be happy with Green and its combat effects. They're a mix of old and newer school Green identity, and they work well not only with other Green spells but, with other colors as well.

 

[machinablack]

Color Identity - White

Hello, I've got another post today, this time covering White's combat effects in my Creature Matter Cube. A bunch of adjustments have been made to White over time in the Cube. This is due to Wizards printing some interesting options, such as more Heroic (pump) spells!

The last two posts covered Blue and Green, and neither one of those colors has a lot of instant-speed spot removal, which made it a little easier to define their identities.

White, on the other hand, has some of the best spot removal and I think this contributes to their lack of combat effects that you can cast during combat (tricks). After all, why would you need to influence creatures during combat when you can use Swords to Plowshares or Path to Exile to take them down?

White also seems to have a strong identity around hate cards and not so much on forwarding its own board. That being said, I am happy with the identity that the color has in my Cube after decent playtesting.

Heroic




Just like with Green, White has some great options for Heroic spells. There is still a significant difference in how these spells work between the two colors, and having them together allows for an aggressive high risk/high reward deck.

Where Green typically gives a bigger bonus to P/T, White tends to have tricks that reward building your deck a certain way or playing it under different conditions. Karametra's Blessing cares about Enchantments. Arrester's Zeal gives the creature flying, and telegraphs it, allowing for a little more decision-making on your opponent's side. The Lifelink on Moment of Heroism can push you ahead in a race. I don't know if that feels classic White but, it definitely feels different enough from Green (and Red to come), and I'm glad that Wizards started printing more cards like this.

Also, the ART on these cards is just faaaaaantastic.

Fog




We have some more overlap here with Green where we can have potentially asymmetrical fog-like effects. I'm okay with some more overlap, as they are allied colors, and it really fits White's identity in the classic Magic that the Cube aims to emulate. It's also good to have some defensive spells to help out decks that want to play a slower plan without allowing a classic Control deck (with tons of Wraths and card draw) to emerge. This is called the Creature's Matter Cube after all.

Blink




Ah, of course, Blink. You might notice that in the list, even though Blue has a lot of Blink options, I have kept them out of the Cube to make sure that the effect is specific to White. I've also added support for giving Blink the opportunity to be an enabler for aggressive plans. The best example of this is Cavalry Drillmaster (giving +2/+0 and First Strike when he ETBs), which I have included two of for this very reason.

Flicker of Fate is one of my favorite recent Blink cards, because it can move Auras between creatures! That's pretty cool to me.

Mass Creatures




Lastly, a big part of White's identity in Magic is the whole "go wide" strategy. These types of Mass Creature spells are a payoff and potential game ender on a stalled board. They work best when you have a lot of creatures, which isn't a requirement for many effects outside of White. Game ending combat effects are important for White as they don't have a lot of reach, especially in this Cube where I have kept Flying down to a minimum to ensure as much interaction as possible.

It's also great that there is counter play to this in picking off the White player's weaker creatures throughout the game, or attacking so aggressively that they are forced to make trades before fully establishing, weakening these spells later.

---

There is a somewhat popular belief that, in modern day Magic, White is a pretty boring color. And I think that is true in a typical environment where there are lots of board wipes and instant-speed spot removal. You're either playing control with White, or you're playing different colors. If you think Control is boring, then White will be as well. Fortunately, White does have exciting and strategic options in an environment without so much of those elements. I believe that has been accomplished with the above effects in the Cube.

 

[machinablack]

Color Identity - Black

Alright, I am back with another post about combat effect color identity in the Creatures Matter Cube. This time, I'm covering Black, which was the hardest color to define in the Cube. Black does not have a lot of instant-speed combat effects outside of removal, and a big limitation with the theme of the Cube is to avoid all spot removal that doesn't require a creature in some way.

No color suffered more from this limitation than Black. Even outside of combat, killing creatures is what Black does. Still, I was able to make it work, and Black is the most common color run in the Cube despite how much of its identity has suffered from the limitations of the Cube's theme.

At several points, I had considered giving Black a few extra Morph options as a way to up its combat effect numbers. Unfortunately, I don't run old border cards, and I don't like the art or the effects on enough of the Black morph cards (Skinthinner is an ugly card! There, I said it!).

So, instead, I had to find some other options...

Flash/Ninjutsu




This was a hard sell for me but, I eventually pulled the trigger on giving Black Flash and Ninjutsu. I had a problem with Flash specifically since a lot of Black's great options suggest archetypes that I'm not supporting. Hired Assassin isn't enough, even in this Cube, but Blacklance Paragon suggests Knights in Black (not supported) and Spire Mangler suggests Flyers (also not supported). Still, the cards work by themselves and I don't think it's a strong enough signal to effect people's decision-making too much.

Anyway, these includes are great! Black desperately needs combat effects at instant-speed and these cards give them some much needed options on both offense and defense.

Ninjutsu even lets you rebuy ETB effects if you can find the right line, which creates some cross-pollinization with White and Blue's realm.

Recursion




Effects that bring your creature's back to life is totally in theme for Black, and they're super fun to play with. I especially like Wake the Dead after realizing it combos with Eternal Witness and Salvager of Secrets forever, while not being too powerful outside of that since you sacrifice everything at end step anyway.

I'm very happy about Supernatural Stamina's existence and wish Wizards would print more cards like this that boost power by 2 or more (and aren't literally the same card but cost more for no reason).

Note that I did not include Unlikely Aid in the Cube (or Azra Smokeshaper) and that's because Indestructible for Black feels like a flavor fail to me. I just can't do it. Black creature's aren't indestructible. Black reanimates broken, mangled bodies to life. Come on, Wizards! You don't like Black having damage but you're okay with this!?

Anyway, I also like the synergy that comes with a creature dying and then re-entering the battlefield, giving you a bonus if they have an ETB effect. As I said above, it creates cross-pollinization but, also, there are Creature's in Black that combo really well with this specific effect. Speaking of...

Vengeance




So, this one's kinda strange. I had to make a name for these types of effects where you're okay with your own creatures dying but...broader. Fathom Fleet Cutthroat is like a post-combat combat trick. Or like retrospect deathtouch. The same goes for Ogre Siegebreaker's activated ability.

I don't know what to call this. It isn't really just morbid and it isn't just revolt.

Once you start looking at those cards in that way, you can sort of see Vengeful Rebel and Midnight Reaper in the same way. They enable vengeance, so I'm going with that name (based on the name Vengeful Rebel).

This was one of the ways that I could make Black feel more interactive with combat, and these effects work well with the Aristocrats archetype that is supported in the Cube (because Aristocrats is about more than sac outlets and Blood Artist).

Deathtouch




And then there's Deathtouch. Black has a lot of it and ways to give it to different creatures. Deathtouch can go toe-to-toe with Heroic spells because Deathtouch doesn't give a crap about your toughness, it enables Ninjutsu since your opponent doesn't want to block a 1/1 with Deathtouch and would rather just let the damage through, it enables creature-based control decks by trading up or holding your opponent's bigger threats (or all of them!) at bay, and effects like Virulent Swipe make your already-recursive creatures deadly passed their expiration date (like after their Power makes them irrelevant).

I like Deathtouch a loooooooot, and it gives Black some of its creature destruction, leather jacket, bad boy identity back.

I'd also like to mention that I have avoided including many Deathtouch creatures with high toughness (Alelu being three colors is an exception), and have included many 1 or 2 damage effects, as well as -1/-1 effects in the Cube that help with many things but, also deal with these low toughness Deathtouch Creatures. That way, there is a counter to them other than blowing your best removal or first strike (which there is not a lot of in the Cube). It makes side-boarding interesting when you can bring in some low power options that deal with your opponent's plan, and even better when those options aren't silver bullets and/or they feed in to synergies with other cards.

---

That's it for Black! I'm almost done with this cycle! I'm going to end this with Red last and I guarantee that this will end up being a cycle where Red doesn't get shafted like they always do with cycles.

 

[machinablack]

Color Identity - Red

Okaaaaay, I'm actually going to do it. I'm actually going to finish this cycle. I'm bored right now. It's hard in these CVD-19 times where even meeting up to fire off a Cube is a tough decision. So, let's do a post instead.

Today is Red's time to shine and I think Red probably has the most diverse combat effects. It has the most unique types of effects (at least, in this Cube), so that's cool. There were some challenges with making Red work within the limitations of the Creatures Matter Cube theme, much in the same way as Black.

Red has a loooooot of burn spells. That's like half of its identity by my exaggerated estimation. And most of those burn spells do not care about the caster having a creature. Wizards has also started moving towards weird burn spells that only target creatures (???). I think the cool thing about burn is that it's naturally modal. It can be reach to end the game or clear the way. Why make it worse?

Wizards has also added some decent combat tricks for red in the last few years (decade? how old am I?). It was joked about when I started the cube that I had included Brute Force since it was a Planar Chaos card and "technically cheating." Yet, here we are...maybe a year later and Infuriate has been reprinted. A slightly less Giant Growthy version of Brute Force exists as just a normal ass card, and a few other similar options have been printed as well.

I guess I had some Future Sight.

Heroic




I've been over these in White and Green. Red has some colorful options as well. A little more power than White without the conditional upside, and without the potential that Green gets from its versions. Sure Strike is probably the best here because, even though it costs more, it practically guarantees a win in combat. So satisfying.

Also, of note, Infuriate (replacing Brute Force) and Sure Strike are both 2-ofs in this Cube.

Burn




I mentioned burn, you expected to see burn but, did you expect to see it like this? Thank goodness Wizards printed some burn spells like this or I'd have to scrap the whole creatures matter concept! You just can't have Red without burn!

What I think is especially cool about these types of burn spells is that they change burn from some sort of reckless mechanic to...maybe an even more reckless mechanic? I like the type of scenarios where you chump block and sac the chumper to burn out another creature. That's a cool play. Bonus points if the creature was a token, so you didn't really lose two cards doing it.

There are other burn spells in the Cube that only go straight to the face, are Creatures, or are Enchantments (and don't fit in this post) and the archetype is supported it's just not the same version in constructed where you run as many variations of Lightning Bolt and Searing Spear as possible with a few one drops. It makes its way in to the Cube despite the theme.

Mirrorcast




Here's a name. Mirrorcast, which I've named after Mirrorwing Dragon (because I don't think Zadacast would have been as clear), refers to casting a spell on one creature and having it mirror to another creature. I've included Dual Casting in this list because, it's close enough.

This effect is a big hit when people get to use it and it can even force through a big attack! This is Red's built in game ender but, it's also just a neat effect from modern day Magic. It makes some less interesting combat effects very powerful and makes any heroic type instant/sorcery pretty busted as well. Think Dragonshift. With Zada, your Dragonshift has redundancy for its overloaded cost. Also, Wings of Velis Vel becomes another Dragonshift. Someone pointed out in an earlier thread how gross this is with Retraction Helix. That's exactly the type of synergy I'm looking for.

Mirrorwing is an interesting newer card that has the same effect as Zada but, is also symmetrical! So it's sort of like Horobi in that it can backfire. Love it.


Treason




This, I believe, is the classic Red combat effect. Take your creature and use it against you! It's also fair, unlike control magic that steals forever. You have to choose the right moment to play it!

So, the expected use of this card, I believe, was just stealing a creature temporarily. This can turn a 3 creature vs 3 creature situation in to 4 v 2, and you probably stole their best creature.

One fun play to make with these cards and part of the reason why I'm okay with running 4 of these effects is that you can steal a big threat and sacrifice it to another card as a convoluted form of removal. Seems perfectly on theme for Aristocrats ()!

I think, even outside of that use, this is a fun effect to run that doesn't ever make the cut in a more powerful Cube. It does a lot of things here, including outside of combat.

---

And that's the end of the cycle of combat identity in the Creatures Matter Cube. Now, I need to find another subject to post about!

 

[Heymaker]

Was searching for some cards today and this made me think of you...



You've also convinced me that red is the most interesting color. Just wish you cubed more devils

 

[machinablack]

Was searching for some cards today and this made me think of you...



You've also convinced me that red is the most interesting color. Just wish you cubed more devils

Is it because it's a counter that cares about creatures or because of my...OVERWHELMING INTELLECT ;-)

Also, why devils and which ones? Like the 1/1s that ping for 1 on death?

 

[Heymaker]

Is it because it's a counter that cares about creatures or because of my...OVERWHELMING INTELLECT ;-)

Also, why devils and which ones? Like the 1/1s that ping for 1 on death?

Haha, definitely the latter

And correct, I think those kinds of devils are great for some of the interactions in red & black especially, deathtouch being especially brutal since you get combat damage AND the death trigger. Also, works just great as sac fodder with any other type of pinging effect to mix and match damage across targets. And if you ever work in any damage doubling/addendum effects like Embermaw Hellion's, devils are a cool angle for drafters to start abusing that kind of effect. Just some fun combat considerations those little hellfires have on the game!

 

[machinablack]

I wish there were more options for those Devils. There's like Dance with Devils that would fit in the Cube and I could definitely see that being a great include!

Also, here are some pictures of my Cube stuff!

First, this is the inside of the DEX case that I store the majority of the Creatures Matter Cube in. I'm pretty sure this is the best deckbox, hands down. I have not personally tried others but, The Professor did a great demonstration on one of his Tolarian Community College videos demonstrating how tough it is.




I've also got these cool deck boxes in every color (and one for Colorless/Gold) that holds all of my Lands. Was looking for something similar to those cool land stations that LGSs have but, that can hold sleeved lands and ran in to these at a place here in Lansing (plus I had the Planeswalker one already). The best part is the presentation, which is huge for me, because I can also put my flip card replacements and tokens on the part of the cases that folds out. They're beautiful!



...And then lastly I took a picture of some of the Cubeamajigs that I'm using. These things are great and they also can hold 16 double-sleeved cards by the way. It's a tight fit but, they get there. I ended up getting 4 copies of 6 different Cubeamajigs to give them some diversity and make them appear like a normal booster. Cannot recommend enough.



If anyone is curious about these products, just holler at me and I'll let you know how they've worked for me!

 

[machinablack]

Hello, I have returned to the internet. So, I wanted to make a post about "character" in Cube or in Magic but, specifically within a Cube environment. Seems like a fun topic.

Amongst the recent changes made to the CMC, the following conditional cards have been added:

Hate Cycle





I know that these types of cards are generally seen as a waste of a slot but, let me make my point.

First, I'm definitely taking some liberties with the term "Cycle" here (and "Hate" while we're at it). Normally, we would have as symmetrical effects as possible shared between all 5 colors of Magic. In this case, I decided that Green's hate cards were lackluster, especially for this Cube with few clean removal spells. Instead, Green got cards that work against the one thing Green doesn't get, which is flying. It makes me laugh to think that Green is like the carebear of the group that has to hate everyone equally if they're going to hate at all. But when it does, it leaves destruction in its path for sure.

The reason why this is important, is because these types of effects add some much needed character to the Cube. Normally, the tone and spirit of the cards is determined by Wizards in their individual sets but, in the case of Cube, we have to find different ways to do that since we're not actually making an entirely new set of Magic: The Gathering. The cards already exist and for a different (Set's) purpose.

These relationships are "neat" and can lead to fun scenarios that would otherwise be impossible going by optimal "staples" or whatever else. Like a scenario where two players face off only to find that one of them is playing Hand of Honor, and the other is playing Hand of Cruelty. This has always been a big part of Magic's appeal to me, and I believe most people that started playing around the time that I did (Tempest), which is the stories that the cards tell.

These cards are also in line with a desire I have for sideboarding to be a major competitive factor as well as a flavor win.

With that in mind, and the decision that I will run CMC at the local LGS the next time that is possible, it made much too much sense to bring in this bad boy right here...



The thing I want you to remember with Burning Wish, is that it only grabs a card from your sideboard in a Sanctioned Event and most Cube gatherings aren't Sanctioned Events. Normally, it can grab any Sorcery you own. The implication of this card in a Cube being run at an LGS, where players can literally buy cards on demand, sounds like just the right amount of character I'm looking for...

____________________________

Next time I post, it'll be about LANDS.

 

[machinablack]

Magic Museum

Hey, guys, so this is a bit of a flex post but, maybe people will find it helpful for their own cube while we're possibly waiting for our next chance to play in person.

One statement that was often echoed at the onset of the cube community was how cube was like a museum of Magic's greatest cards! And while I've always appreciated the sentiment to a degree, I have to say that Magic's greatest cards are often overlooked when it comes to how we define our cube experience...and, of course, what I'm talking about is Magic's lands:

Full Art







Normally, it will be recommended to have 35-50 basic lands of each type needed for your group. I've decided that a maximum isn't necessary to answer the question of how many basics to run, and the answer is really 35+. With that in mind, I've spent some time handpicking and collecting basic lands of many different types. Lands have always been taken seriously, and the John Avon lands have always been included in my cube sporting 20 copies each of every basic land.

I now have a full 20 count each of all of the above Full Art lands but ALSO, we're not done...

Modern Border






Not every drafter is going to want to run full arts. Some players, especially veterans, may prefer something that has more of a classic feel to it, and modern basic lands have some pretty cool art to them, especially after seeing the ones from Jumpstart.

But, what if we wanted more classic...

Old Border Mana Symbol







Uhuh, what about even more classic than that...


Old Border Mana Text







I have acquired, almost like a less sinister Thanos for MTG basic lands, this same number of every basic land type. "What did it cost you?" We're not talking about that. Anyway! I'll probably post the others if people seem to like this post.

Our drafters have very limited options when it comes to how they're creating their deck with such a low land count. On top of that, we never discuss the interesting decision of what set or era of lands to include. It's such an easy win too, because even cheap lands can add a lot to the drafting experience when you have intentionality to it.

There are so many options available, these days, when it comes to basic lands, and I think it's overlooked within the community how important these options can be to making the players feel like they drafted their deck when they get to decide which lands best go with their playstyle. Most people don't put a lot of thought in to them but, once they've seen a deck that has had serious thought put in to this choice, people often like it a lot. I know this, because my modern decks received many compliments about my lands choices back when I played more constructed. Crazy, right!?

I wonder what considerations others have taken for their basic lands or if anyone would consider putting more focus in to them after reading this post.

One last thing...

Did you guys know you can do this?

 

[japahn]

Awesome basic land options! Some people care zero about that, but others care a lot, and most care a bit. It definitely feels good to me to play basics fitting my deck, or having a common theme, or just a of set I like.

Do you seriously have like 150 of each basic land sleeved for the cube? That's... more than two 360-card cubes :o

I know that these types of cards are generally seen as a waste of a slot

Nah, it definitely gives character to your cube and color hosers it's a real part of Magic, especially in the old days. How well they are received depends on your group. My group does not like sideboarding and we have been playing best of 1 instead of best of 3 so that everyone plays everyone, so they don't work so well, but if your group enjoys sideboarding, they are interesting strategic picks. As for green, Veil of Summer is a card. Maybe too good in cube too?

 

[machinablack]

Awesome basic land options! Some people care zero about that, but others care a lot, and most care a bit. It definitely feels good to me to play basics fitting my deck, or having a common theme, or just a of set I like.

Do you seriously have like 150 of each basic land sleeved for the cube? That's... more than two 360-card cubes :eek:



Nah, it definitely gives character to your cube and color hosers it's a real part of Magic, especially in the old days. How well they are received depends on your group. My group does not like sideboarding and we have been playing best of 1 instead of best of 3 so that everyone plays everyone, so they don't work so well, but if your group enjoys sideboarding, they are interesting strategic picks. As for green, Veil of Summer is a card. Maybe too good in cube too?

Hahah, yeah, it's 130 of each basic land type.

I wasn't sure how Veil of Summer would stack up compared to the other color hosers in this cube. It seems hard to evaluate and I don't play Standard but, it sounds like it was really powerful there? Am I missing something about the card? It's a conditional hexproof cantrip, right?

 

[Zoss]

Imagine if Spell Pierce cantripped and you're pretty much looking at Veil of Summer.

In all seriousness, it's the ability to turn off counterspells in a world in which Simic and Sultai were the dominant decks that made it broken, and only in combination with a bunch of other cards. It probably wouldn't be broken in cube where the decks are a lot more diverse, but it's a guaranteed 2-for-1 for 1 mana against any deck running blue or black effects that target your stuff but useless against anything in Naya, and very few color hosers have that large of a delta excepting the Circles of Protection and Iona, Shield of Emeria.

 

[machinablack]

Imagine if Spell Pierce cantripped and you're pretty much looking at Veil of Summer.

In all seriousness, it's the ability to turn off counterspells in a world in which Simic and Sultai were the dominant decks that made it broken, and only in combination with a bunch of other cards. It probably wouldn't be broken in cube where the decks are a lot more diverse, but it's a guaranteed 2-for-1 for 1 mana against any deck running blue or black effects that target your stuff but useless against anything in Naya, and very few color hosers have that large of a delta excepting the Circles of Protection and Iona, Shield of Emeria.

That makes sense and sounds pretty hype. With this cube's strong dependency on creatures and, consequently, very few counter spells that hit creatures (for design/theme reasons), it would probably not play strong enough, ironically. Black also doesn't have its amazing slightly-modified-reprinted-Terror-Doom Blades here, when it normally has several. Even given that, it's hard to say, since it might be powerful for Heroic and Constellation decks, which are heavily supported in both Green and Black. Depends on how Blue Mages respond to those archetypes being played. For some reason, the more I think about it, the more I like it. It sure must feel great to see the look on a Blue Mage's face when Green pops a counter spell. Like euphoria, I bet. Will have to pay more attention to that specifically the next time I run it but, a very interesting suggestion for this cube knowing that. It gave me a lot of pause for thought so, I appreciate that. Thank you, for the explanation. It was dope.

Every cube has to make different considerations for just this one specific card and man, do I love this hobby, for that very reason.