I am a long time cuber. Mostly dealing strictly with peasant due to keeping this hobby on the lower cost spectrum. I started a cube initially with just the plethora of cards I owned and built an extremely multi-color heavy cube that was mid rangy and control heavy that we loved but realized it wasn't quite right. after finding websites to help hone and re-design over the years along with keeping up with new sets, the standard philosophy of best/optimal card power in each slot just doesn't seem as "fun" to me. While I like that in a way to help keep things a bit simpler, it also makes me feel like the cube which isn't supposed to get "stale" however does because of it. I feel there is a lack of diversity and synergy in these cubes. While they are fine and dandy, I was hoping to really attempt to create a new standard, I am hoping to create a cube which is ripe with theme/archetype synergy and cross pollination and bleeding and all sorts of other terms that I have tried googling to find primers and discussions on these topics.
I have come to the point that I don't think much of this exists... and so I am left to try and piece something together when my strong point is not necessarily organization and discipline (i'm the guy who wants every card in my deck and cutting from 48 to 41 is like being punched in the gut, every time without fail). But I can't deny that "ideating" and dreaming of intertwined combo-riffic synergy within my cube providing for endless possibilities of decks and plays is something that really lights a fire under me.
I have tried to wrap my head around different themes and how to differentiate the outer shell of Aggro / Mid-Range / Control as people go that way and also not pigeon hole a style "Blink" for example into say just blue and white. I want to discover each color's strengths and look to expound on them.
I generally keep things straight up peasant, but am not opposed to rares as long as they are budget-y and are not obvious power picks that can then fit in any/every deck. The goal would be that they are cards that help a certain theme/archetype out without warping it (because understanding with just peasant cards it isn't doable). And maybe in some cases an archetype might not be doable. I am also interested to see how many cards is enough to count as an archetype or be a theme in a color... if it is X % of that color or what happens when spread between 2 can you divide the number of cards in half and generalize if that is enough (assuming you draft those 2 colors to get desired theme)
So in TL;DR fashion, I am looking towards the community to help in providing ideas and cards and interactions or things I might have missed when putting together from the ground up a list of each color and what it does well, what it might support and see how we can cris-cross that through the other colors to provide as much option and choice when drafting and deck building leading to new and exciting discoveries and finds.
First working on colors and their themes and what each can do (mechanics + generally what cards do).
BLACK:
What does black do well? It sacrifices things, it drains&gain life, it can put cards in graveyard, utilize graveyard and subsequently get cards from it. It is known for manipulating libraries and hands as well. With that said black offers access to so many other avenues, but at what cost and/or is it worth it and how can you make it play nice with all other colors.
+1/+1 Counters
This whole theme consists of cards in a few different capacities. "Cards that Care", "Cards that Add" and "Creatures that get them". Here are some mechanics/game play in the color that deal with them.
CONCLUSION: Is this good enough to be a big them or archetype? Are the cards in that work in the +1/-1 counter theme good enough to make strong decks on their own? Is there still usefulness in Black allowing some dedication to the theme, so other colors can be supported more widely? I think that Black/counters is good enough as a supportive type theme which helps and has some presence for other colors.
Self Mill / Graveyard Matters
Black can discard and mill with the best of them. We are going to focus on the "self" aspect as I generally play with a group and they find the strong discard spells to be a little less fun. (I am not a big self mill guy, but I have a friend who plays those kind of decks and they always seem cool, using the graveyard as an additional resource is interesting to me) There are cards that complete this action for you, or interact with the graveyard, or hand etc...
CONCLUSION: Is this archetype big or strong enough on its own. In general I don't think peasant offers enough good cards that can take advantage either by doing things to or from the graveyard for efficient enough cost. I still think it can help fuel decks and provide fun / cool / strong-ish interactions though.
Tokens
While not traditionally thought of as the token generating color, there are some good cards that help it to work that also cross pollinate with other "themes". Tokens play well into a few different bigger themes
CONCLUSION: I don't think that tokens, especially in peasant is good enough, but there might are some specific cards that seem like they can interact with other themes and colors making Tokens be a decent supportive presence.
Drain & Gain
I have tried to push drain more recently as they come out with newer cards and also helps with board stalls in multiplayer / FFA. that feeling of inevitability as well as little plinks on your life total each turn really make a difference as you near 0. There are a few ways black tends to get going in this section...
CONCLUSION: Drain & Gain is strong. In my opinion free damage is free damage. I don't know how fringe-y I'd get with card inclusions, but depending on how slow or costly they were, would probably have this as one of the larger themes in the color.
Enchantments
I have started going heavier enchantments recently due to there being cycles of them (which is always cute for the OCD) and that seemingly enchantments can provide added support for many other themese as well.
Constellation (obviously the main new mechanic)
CONCLUSION: There aren't too many anchoring cards in black but I think they can fit in along with a strong all be it shallow aura base.
Sacrifice
Sacrifice is a weird subject for me. Inherently I never want to sac my own guys and truthfully I never see that big of an upside to it unless it goes in for some big spell or whatever. But I think having alternate themes and ways to play cards makes things more fun. So I want to try and find out if there is a big enough, strong enough collection of cards. There are cards that help sacrifice things, there are cards that are good at being sacrificed and there are cards that trigger off cards going to the graveyard.
CONCLUSION: While I find sacrifice weird and odd I think it is pretty strong. It has cross-pollination love with other cards in other colors and while without Rares its 'effectiveness' in all the above reasons is weaker it can still have a pretty major theme within the color.
Tribal?
This is a tertiary consideration when it comes to card selection, but if you can put the knids of cards in that effect Warriors/Elementals/Zombies/Snakes/Shaman/Wizards/Rogue/Merfolk/Soldier/Human/Knight/Elf/Vampire etc... (whatever) I think that having a nice little underlying niche is really cool.
CONCLUSION: The overall powerlevel on tribal themed cards drops off significantly if you try to push it too hard. I wish there were more cards that catered to creature types but at this point in time, there aren't enough strong ones in my opinion to REALLY push tribes. Maybe if the cube was 720 it would be easier to start widening the themes, but unless you can find a lot of cards in specific creature types over all colors (don't want 1 color to only be zombies while the other colors are highly stagnant) that also tie into the other above major themes, it might not be worth it. I want diversity
I think I have covered all if not most of all themes which show up in BLACK specifically and hope this can elicit some discussion on any archetypes/themes etc... I am missing as well as possible card discussion. my current cube which I attempted to synergize seems close, but is by no means there and sadly it is not uploaded to cubetutor or the like so I cannot share to add more to the conversation up front. Hopefully I can get it uploaded for added discussion soon as well as for my own organizational sanity. But for now, look forward to see if there is some good conversation and brainstorming on how to potentially shape a new cube design paradigm.
I have come to the point that I don't think much of this exists... and so I am left to try and piece something together when my strong point is not necessarily organization and discipline (i'm the guy who wants every card in my deck and cutting from 48 to 41 is like being punched in the gut, every time without fail). But I can't deny that "ideating" and dreaming of intertwined combo-riffic synergy within my cube providing for endless possibilities of decks and plays is something that really lights a fire under me.
I have tried to wrap my head around different themes and how to differentiate the outer shell of Aggro / Mid-Range / Control as people go that way and also not pigeon hole a style "Blink" for example into say just blue and white. I want to discover each color's strengths and look to expound on them.
I generally keep things straight up peasant, but am not opposed to rares as long as they are budget-y and are not obvious power picks that can then fit in any/every deck. The goal would be that they are cards that help a certain theme/archetype out without warping it (because understanding with just peasant cards it isn't doable). And maybe in some cases an archetype might not be doable. I am also interested to see how many cards is enough to count as an archetype or be a theme in a color... if it is X % of that color or what happens when spread between 2 can you divide the number of cards in half and generalize if that is enough (assuming you draft those 2 colors to get desired theme)
So in TL;DR fashion, I am looking towards the community to help in providing ideas and cards and interactions or things I might have missed when putting together from the ground up a list of each color and what it does well, what it might support and see how we can cris-cross that through the other colors to provide as much option and choice when drafting and deck building leading to new and exciting discoveries and finds.
First working on colors and their themes and what each can do (mechanics + generally what cards do).
BLACK:
What does black do well? It sacrifices things, it drains&gain life, it can put cards in graveyard, utilize graveyard and subsequently get cards from it. It is known for manipulating libraries and hands as well. With that said black offers access to so many other avenues, but at what cost and/or is it worth it and how can you make it play nice with all other colors.
+1/+1 Counters
This whole theme consists of cards in a few different capacities. "Cards that Care", "Cards that Add" and "Creatures that get them". Here are some mechanics/game play in the color that deal with them.
- Unleash
- Bloodthirst
- Undying
- Proliferate
- Sacrifice (Carrion Feeder & other Vampires)
- Megamorph
- Dmg to Opponent
- Creatures Die
CONCLUSION: Is this good enough to be a big them or archetype? Are the cards in that work in the +1/-1 counter theme good enough to make strong decks on their own? Is there still usefulness in Black allowing some dedication to the theme, so other colors can be supported more widely? I think that Black/counters is good enough as a supportive type theme which helps and has some presence for other colors.
Self Mill / Graveyard Matters
Black can discard and mill with the best of them. We are going to focus on the "self" aspect as I generally play with a group and they find the strong discard spells to be a little less fun. (I am not a big self mill guy, but I have a friend who plays those kind of decks and they always seem cool, using the graveyard as an additional resource is interesting to me) There are cards that complete this action for you, or interact with the graveyard, or hand etc...
- Delve
- Madness
- Flashback
- Threshhold
- Reanimate
- Dredge
- Spell Mastery
- Scavenge
- other Graveyard exiling effects/reasons
CONCLUSION: Is this archetype big or strong enough on its own. In general I don't think peasant offers enough good cards that can take advantage either by doing things to or from the graveyard for efficient enough cost. I still think it can help fuel decks and provide fun / cool / strong-ish interactions though.
Tokens
While not traditionally thought of as the token generating color, there are some good cards that help it to work that also cross pollinate with other "themes". Tokens play well into a few different bigger themes
- draining
- sacrificing
- wide / pump
- Zombies?
CONCLUSION: I don't think that tokens, especially in peasant is good enough, but there might are some specific cards that seem like they can interact with other themes and colors making Tokens be a decent supportive presence.
Drain & Gain
I have tried to push drain more recently as they come out with newer cards and also helps with board stalls in multiplayer / FFA. that feeling of inevitability as well as little plinks on your life total each turn really make a difference as you near 0. There are a few ways black tends to get going in this section...
- Extort
- creature to Graveyard
- creature enters battlefield
- at beginning of upkeep
CONCLUSION: Drain & Gain is strong. In my opinion free damage is free damage. I don't know how fringe-y I'd get with card inclusions, but depending on how slow or costly they were, would probably have this as one of the larger themes in the color.
Enchantments
I have started going heavier enchantments recently due to there being cycles of them (which is always cute for the OCD) and that seemingly enchantments can provide added support for many other themese as well.
Constellation (obviously the main new mechanic)
CONCLUSION: There aren't too many anchoring cards in black but I think they can fit in along with a strong all be it shallow aura base.
Sacrifice
Sacrifice is a weird subject for me. Inherently I never want to sac my own guys and truthfully I never see that big of an upside to it unless it goes in for some big spell or whatever. But I think having alternate themes and ways to play cards makes things more fun. So I want to try and find out if there is a big enough, strong enough collection of cards. There are cards that help sacrifice things, there are cards that are good at being sacrificed and there are cards that trigger off cards going to the graveyard.
- Sacrifice to "Deal Damage"
- Sacrifice to "Pump Up"
- Sacrifice to "Drain"
- Sacrifice to "Grind/Recur"
- Sacrifice to "Exploit"
- Sacrifice for "Mana/Ramp"
- Sacrifice to "Trigger Mechanics" (Morbid etc...)
CONCLUSION: While I find sacrifice weird and odd I think it is pretty strong. It has cross-pollination love with other cards in other colors and while without Rares its 'effectiveness' in all the above reasons is weaker it can still have a pretty major theme within the color.
Tribal?
This is a tertiary consideration when it comes to card selection, but if you can put the knids of cards in that effect Warriors/Elementals/Zombies/Snakes/Shaman/Wizards/Rogue/Merfolk/Soldier/Human/Knight/Elf/Vampire etc... (whatever) I think that having a nice little underlying niche is really cool.
CONCLUSION: The overall powerlevel on tribal themed cards drops off significantly if you try to push it too hard. I wish there were more cards that catered to creature types but at this point in time, there aren't enough strong ones in my opinion to REALLY push tribes. Maybe if the cube was 720 it would be easier to start widening the themes, but unless you can find a lot of cards in specific creature types over all colors (don't want 1 color to only be zombies while the other colors are highly stagnant) that also tie into the other above major themes, it might not be worth it. I want diversity
I think I have covered all if not most of all themes which show up in BLACK specifically and hope this can elicit some discussion on any archetypes/themes etc... I am missing as well as possible card discussion. my current cube which I attempted to synergize seems close, but is by no means there and sadly it is not uploaded to cubetutor or the like so I cannot share to add more to the conversation up front. Hopefully I can get it uploaded for added discussion soon as well as for my own organizational sanity. But for now, look forward to see if there is some good conversation and brainstorming on how to potentially shape a new cube design paradigm.
