I second Lab Maniacs. That card is more Riptide Lab than Riptide Laboratory.
Article CubeTutor Champion Contest
- Thread starter James Stevenson
- Start date
That classic Fugitive Wizard flavour text tho
I am kinda living for it
Lab Maniacs would be a good baseball team name at the very least
(someone make shirts)
Chris Taylor
Contributor
Yeah I'm down for the less pretentious, non "Fugitive" one
Off the top of my head, it's definitely 26 fetches. Started out as 2 playsets (20), then you added three more (random?) ones when you moved to the online "Polycube" then boosted the number to 26 when you added in 3 more Brainstorms (up from 3 to 6 Brainstorms).
I MAY have spent some timestalking following studying your cube developments on this forum before I joined as a poster....
But on the other hand, since my current list is just a modification on this original list, I might just submit my own personal cubelist... although there's tons of innovation on my end.
I MAY have spent some time
But on the other hand, since my current list is just a modification on this original list, I might just submit my own personal cubelist... although there's tons of innovation on my end.
That sounds... correct. At a certain point though I realized that there was no harm in experimenting, that all changes could be reverted, and that there was nothing to be learned if nothing new was tried. That said, 6 Brainstorm experiment was pretty successful in my opinion.
I'm definitely interested in "Squad" cubes now. The idea that you can rapidly put together a cube with only ~80 picks instead of 360 and still have a draft environment seems like it could lead to more "innovation" in terms of designs. With 80 picks, you've only got to come up with ~14 cards of each color (assuming no multi), allowing you tight control over archetypes. Say you want to center a cube around spell-based aggro: just pick 14 cards of each color that fit with that idea, and jam. If it's good, you can tweak it to diversify the card pool, add new flavors to the existing strategies, etc.
But you wouldn't have to sink tons of time into putting an initial test run together. Take Blacksmithy's cube for instance. He's got an insane tokens theme going on (intentional or no, its there) but it's still a rough idea. Swap around the blue and green sections to play into this more, and you've got yourself a sweet themed cube with relatively low input. And if it becomes a solved format due tot the multiples, you can just make a new one or tweak the old one slowly to balance it.
But you wouldn't have to sink tons of time into putting an initial test run together. Take Blacksmithy's cube for instance. He's got an insane tokens theme going on (intentional or no, its there) but it's still a rough idea. Swap around the blue and green sections to play into this more, and you've got yourself a sweet themed cube with relatively low input. And if it becomes a solved format due tot the multiples, you can just make a new one or tweak the old one slowly to balance it.
Grillo_Parlante
Contributor
I actually don't have 360 cards because I am waiting for the battle lands set and the last of the man lands cycle.
My tastes are so different from Jason's though that I think its unlikely that I would win, but I still wanted to post the list, as I might end up building it at some point. I think I took out every card that he likes (lol), except for two wastelands that were grudgingly allowed to stay.
Anyways, here is the result from toying around with the original list during work breaks, and also the archetype break down of:
UW: control/ tempo
UB: delve-go/mill-control
BR: recursive aggro/ Midrange
RG: double strike monsters/wide beats
GW: landfall/enchantments
BW: humans aggro/life pay midrange
UR: artifacts/spells matter
BG: enchantments/recursion
RW: wide aggro/artifacts
GU: tempo/ramp-control
This is more of less how I imagine a contemporary good stuff cube looking, with close to minimal singleton breaking to try to balance replayability and meta-decking. Midling power level, delve, prowess, and humans. I couldn't think of anything that I wanted to do with +1 +1 counters sooooo don't banish me to the balduvian trading post. I'm assuming no actual drafts or sub drafts, and all necessary cards are included in the cube, however, a ULD would be fun since you could add cloudpost.
Its 50 for each color, 30 gold, 25 artifact, and the rest lands. Mana base is x2 fetch, x2 battle lands, x1 zend manlands, 2 wasteland, 1 academy ruins, 1 tolarian academy, and 1 gaea's cradle. Same deal as before where the multi-color section is to be heavily customized. Without the heavy top end represented by the titans, its less important for aggro to be as fast out the gates, so removal can be slower (though its still quite good). I'm trying to maximize the number of interesting little micro interactions circa 3-6.
I wanted to experiment with the BFZ lands, and here they are in a rather tame role, creating a mild in-game sequencing delimma with the mana base, and I hope causing the format to stumble a little. I rather like the idea of the sequencing tension that battlelands bring to a format that also includes wasteland, though obviously no way to know how it would play out in practice.
Theres a little techy enchantment package based around doomwake giant, and the big tech thing is the assortment of wellsprings and /drum roll,ugin's nexus. With the penny cube I got around the issue of how terrible artifact destruction is by providing value targets for them. Manic vandal is much better if it cantrips, and I figure a manic vandal that time walks would be the best grey ogre ever. Probably too techy, but I thought it would be fun to toy around with. It also makes the U/R artifact package (which includes tinker) much cooler.
Anyways it was a fun little challenge. Looking forward to seeing what everyone else comes up with.
My tastes are so different from Jason's though that I think its unlikely that I would win, but I still wanted to post the list, as I might end up building it at some point. I think I took out every card that he likes (lol), except for two wastelands that were grudgingly allowed to stay.
Anyways, here is the result from toying around with the original list during work breaks, and also the archetype break down of:
UW: control/ tempo
UB: delve-go/mill-control
BR: recursive aggro/ Midrange
RG: double strike monsters/wide beats
GW: landfall/enchantments
BW: humans aggro/life pay midrange
UR: artifacts/spells matter
BG: enchantments/recursion
RW: wide aggro/artifacts
GU: tempo/ramp-control
This is more of less how I imagine a contemporary good stuff cube looking, with close to minimal singleton breaking to try to balance replayability and meta-decking. Midling power level, delve, prowess, and humans. I couldn't think of anything that I wanted to do with +1 +1 counters sooooo don't banish me to the balduvian trading post. I'm assuming no actual drafts or sub drafts, and all necessary cards are included in the cube, however, a ULD would be fun since you could add cloudpost.
Its 50 for each color, 30 gold, 25 artifact, and the rest lands. Mana base is x2 fetch, x2 battle lands, x1 zend manlands, 2 wasteland, 1 academy ruins, 1 tolarian academy, and 1 gaea's cradle. Same deal as before where the multi-color section is to be heavily customized. Without the heavy top end represented by the titans, its less important for aggro to be as fast out the gates, so removal can be slower (though its still quite good). I'm trying to maximize the number of interesting little micro interactions circa 3-6.
I wanted to experiment with the BFZ lands, and here they are in a rather tame role, creating a mild in-game sequencing delimma with the mana base, and I hope causing the format to stumble a little. I rather like the idea of the sequencing tension that battlelands bring to a format that also includes wasteland, though obviously no way to know how it would play out in practice.
Theres a little techy enchantment package based around doomwake giant, and the big tech thing is the assortment of wellsprings and /drum roll,ugin's nexus. With the penny cube I got around the issue of how terrible artifact destruction is by providing value targets for them. Manic vandal is much better if it cantrips, and I figure a manic vandal that time walks would be the best grey ogre ever. Probably too techy, but I thought it would be fun to toy around with. It also makes the U/R artifact package (which includes tinker) much cooler.
Anyways it was a fun little challenge. Looking forward to seeing what everyone else comes up with.
I wish I could like that twice Diakonov 
I have Ugin's paperweight in a fantasy set based on Scars of Mirrodin, and it hasn't seen much love
Even Lighthouse Chronologist and Time Sieve get borked by it! Good luck getting players to draft & play it, Grillo; I want to see that terrible tempo loss live!Ripwad, does this cube have a ULD (and if so, should that be included in the submission)? Will you please you add any more stipulations for the Shaping Savants not of this forum (or at least link in the original post some of your articles that fuller illustrate your predilections to the uninitiated)? Also, what you really need is a Fantasy set (with fetches at a frequency somewhere between current common and uncommon)! ... I am serious.
Her weapons and hair are friggin' cool. I kind of love her mechanical design too.
Yo, any more submissions?
Gimme a couple of days, it's been pr. hectic with exams
a cantripping gold three-drop with dull stats
i'm in love
Nobody here plays Magic, it's irrelevant. We are here for our forum posting skills.
Hey, I play Magic at LEAST once a month!
Aoret
Developer
Yeah will submit mine in the next day or two
We've got some good submissions coming in. This is exciting!
Chris Taylor
Contributor
So Jason, when this is done is there an article coming up?
I'd be excited to see the Review comments of each of the lists, given how hard it can be to look at and evaluate a whole cube
I'd be excited to see the Review comments of each of the lists, given how hard it can be to look at and evaluate a whole cube