Erik's "The cool side of Magic" cube
- Thread starter Erik Twice
- Start date
Thanks for the suggestions guys.
Devourer of Memory is cool, but it's probably too weak for my power level. It's a cool card in draft, though.
Prized Amalgam may be it, though I wonder how narrow it is and if the slot would be better served by something else. But it's probably the most interesting pick for pure dredge.
I agree that Gisa and Geralf needs more support than I have. Like, you know, Gravecrawlers and stuff. Aurami looks strong but the wall of text also turns me off haha.
Some changes:
->
Let's try this out. Faerie Conclave was just a free pick.
These aren't doing anything.
I'm going to cut this one for a while. Here's the thing, you could be playing Firestorm instead. Which doesn't fit quite the same role but it's much better and doesn't cost you a whole turn of mana to do nothing. So let's see if it works.
These two I don't want to cut but I'm not sure they are the right cards for the slot:
--
Add:
Tombstalker is a big guy, works with the graveyard and is fun. Let's give it a whirl.
God-Pharaoh's Gift could be a good Tinker/Welder/GB Midrange target. Let's give it a whirl too.
Devourer of Memory is cool, but it's probably too weak for my power level. It's a cool card in draft, though.
Prized Amalgam may be it, though I wonder how narrow it is and if the slot would be better served by something else. But it's probably the most interesting pick for pure dredge.
I agree that Gisa and Geralf needs more support than I have. Like, you know, Gravecrawlers and stuff. Aurami looks strong but the wall of text also turns me off haha.
Some changes:
-> Let's try this out. Faerie Conclave was just a free pick.
These aren't doing anything.
I'm going to cut this one for a while. Here's the thing, you could be playing Firestorm instead. Which doesn't fit quite the same role but it's much better and doesn't cost you a whole turn of mana to do nothing. So let's see if it works.
These two I don't want to cut but I'm not sure they are the right cards for the slot:
--
Add:
Tombstalker is a big guy, works with the graveyard and is fun. Let's give it a whirl.
God-Pharaoh's Gift could be a good Tinker/Welder/GB Midrange target. Let's give it a whirl too.
It just occurred to me, Wonder works in both your dredge deck and tempo decks. I'm always on the verge of adding it, but never quite get there. It's just a little too narrow for my Blue section, but could do a good job in yours.
I like the change of Platinum Angel for GPG, can't really comment on the Red for Black swap. But Tomestalker is fun!
Ok, several guys at the club want to play Cube so I need to print proxies for all my changes soon. Here's what I want to do:
First, I want to fill the empty slots I have. At this point:
4 Red
2 Black
1 White
1 Green
1 Blue
1 Dimir
1 Gruul
1 Selesnya
Second, I want to refocus two archetypes that were central to my cube and now don't come together too much:
I added Soulherder and yet I haven't managed to draft a deck with it. That's not a great sign!
Third, I want to shore up Dredge, Tempo and other "newer" archetypes. I'm willing to accept more game-winning plays and less durdling. One issue I had was that value only drew you into more value plays, leading to inconclusive games. I can push things a bit harder, I think.
I think I have a lot of open slots and can easily do everything I want. 12 cards is 1/30 of a cube and you'll see at least 10 of them in a typical draft. I'm going to think about some additions these couple days and see how everything fits together. Wonder is interesting, though I do wonder if it's actually fun to play. Seems it's just easy unblockeable for all your creatures.
First, I want to fill the empty slots I have. At this point:
4 Red
2 Black
1 White
1 Green
1 Blue
1 Dimir
1 Gruul
1 Selesnya
Second, I want to refocus two archetypes that were central to my cube and now don't come together too much:
I added Soulherder and yet I haven't managed to draft a deck with it. That's not a great sign!
Third, I want to shore up Dredge, Tempo and other "newer" archetypes. I'm willing to accept more game-winning plays and less durdling. One issue I had was that value only drew you into more value plays, leading to inconclusive games. I can push things a bit harder, I think.
I think I have a lot of open slots and can easily do everything I want. 12 cards is 1/30 of a cube and you'll see at least 10 of them in a typical draft. I'm going to think about some additions these couple days and see how everything fits together. Wonder is interesting, though I do wonder if it's actually fun to play. Seems it's just easy unblockeable for all your creatures.
So I've been checking my colours and it seems my archetype design is a bit of a disaster. For example, my blue section is trying to cover five or six archetypes:
UWR Spells
UBR Artifacts
UBR Reanimator/Discard
UG Self-Mill
UW Blink
UB Tempo? Control?
That's fine. I can even see the overlap between different decks. For example, Waterfront Bouncer is both a blink enabler and a discard outlet. But I did not actually plan these archetypes while designing the cube so they feel a bit off. I think blink is not interacting as well as I hoped with the other themes, for example. And whatever Tempo is supposed to be, it's not doing well.
I think I should make a full list and see which areas need improvement. From the top of my head:
WGR Tokens??
RG ???
UG Is this a deck beyond Laboratory Maniac and Uro?
WG Why have all my token decks dissapeared? They were superstrong a few revisions ago!
I think one of the best designed parts of my cube is WR. You can build both interesting aggro decks and control ones. For example:
Boros Spells
Artifact Control
WR Tokens Aggro
UWR Spells
UBR Artifacts
UBR Reanimator/Discard
UG Self-Mill
UW Blink
UB Tempo? Control?
That's fine. I can even see the overlap between different decks. For example, Waterfront Bouncer is both a blink enabler and a discard outlet. But I did not actually plan these archetypes while designing the cube so they feel a bit off. I think blink is not interacting as well as I hoped with the other themes, for example. And whatever Tempo is supposed to be, it's not doing well.
I think I should make a full list and see which areas need improvement. From the top of my head:
WGR Tokens??
RG ???
UG Is this a deck beyond Laboratory Maniac and Uro?
WG Why have all my token decks dissapeared? They were superstrong a few revisions ago!
I think one of the best designed parts of my cube is WR. You can build both interesting aggro decks and control ones. For example:
Boros Spells
| | | | |
Artifact Control
| | | | | |
WR Tokens Aggro
| | | | |
I've been thinking about this topic while on the train and made some advances. I started going over colour pairs and seeing what archetypes I was supporting (or failing to support) in them. And it gave me a very clear idea of which archetypes I should support on what parts of the cube. By drawing on what's working I have had an easier time extrapolating what should be on the rest of the cube. Let me use an example.
Jeskail has a central theme of spells. All combinations of UWR have spell-based decks in them. That is, the spells-matter archetype can be built in UW, UR and WR as well as all three together. Then, there's a second archetype for each pairing:
UW Blink
UR Discard
WR Tokens
All of these pairings should mix with the central theme of the shard and they do. For example, you can make tokens with Monastery Mentor and Saheeli. This ensures a strong core with many different possibilities. Also, it keeps the number of total archetypes low so I don't try to jam too many. Note that "one-card archetypes" like Wildfire aren't counted here.
Since I know what UW, UR and WR are doing, I can look for other shards. For example, Grixis looks like an artifact shard. There should be artifact-heavy decks in UR, UB and BR. We also know UR should have a discard archetype from the intersection with spells decks. Hence I can look and say, look, UB Should be Reanimator. It mixes well with the discard, artifact and spell themes in U, works in artifact-heavy decks.
Following this logic I've determined that Esper should be the "tempo/disruptive aggro" shard. I've seen these themes in it:
WB Hatebears
WB Sacrifice
UW Blink
UW Spells
UB Artifacts
UB Reanimator
All of these promote aggro decks with recursion, disruption backup and others. It may not seem like there's a lot of overlap, but you can actually find many points in common. Most importantly, it tells me green-decks should not focus on disruptive creatures but probably monsters or something else. In fact, my whole green section is not the best. Here's what I have so far:
UW Spells
UW Blink
UR Spells
UR Discard
WR Spells
WR Tokens
UB Artifacts
UB Reanimator
BR Artifacts
BR Sacrifice
WB Hatebears
WB Sacrifice
I also know I'll have
UG Flash
UG Self-Mill
GB Graveyard grind
GW Go-wide
Oh well, time to write all of this down and look for cards.
Jeskail has a central theme of spells. All combinations of UWR have spell-based decks in them. That is, the spells-matter archetype can be built in UW, UR and WR as well as all three together. Then, there's a second archetype for each pairing:
UW Blink
UR Discard
WR Tokens
All of these pairings should mix with the central theme of the shard and they do. For example, you can make tokens with Monastery Mentor and Saheeli. This ensures a strong core with many different possibilities. Also, it keeps the number of total archetypes low so I don't try to jam too many. Note that "one-card archetypes" like Wildfire aren't counted here.
Since I know what UW, UR and WR are doing, I can look for other shards. For example, Grixis looks like an artifact shard. There should be artifact-heavy decks in UR, UB and BR. We also know UR should have a discard archetype from the intersection with spells decks. Hence I can look and say, look, UB Should be Reanimator. It mixes well with the discard, artifact and spell themes in U, works in artifact-heavy decks.
Following this logic I've determined that Esper should be the "tempo/disruptive aggro" shard. I've seen these themes in it:
WB Hatebears
WB Sacrifice
UW Blink
UW Spells
UB Artifacts
UB Reanimator
All of these promote aggro decks with recursion, disruption backup and others. It may not seem like there's a lot of overlap, but you can actually find many points in common. Most importantly, it tells me green-decks should not focus on disruptive creatures but probably monsters or something else. In fact, my whole green section is not the best. Here's what I have so far:
UW Spells
UW Blink
UR Spells
UR Discard
WR Spells
WR Tokens
UB Artifacts
UB Reanimator
BR Artifacts
BR Sacrifice
WB Hatebears
WB Sacrifice
I also know I'll have
UG Flash
UG Self-Mill
GB Graveyard grind
GW Go-wide
Oh well, time to write all of this down and look for cards.
Ok, enough with the boring theorical discussions. Let's look at actual cards. Let's start with Jeskai.
The spells theme is fantastic and I like it a lot:
There's a payoff I'm not too sold on:
On one hand, it's a powerful card. It supports the archetype well and promotes a more controlling approach. On the other, it doesn't do much for the other themes in blue and those decks are often less reliant on instant or sorceries than I expected. I've been thinking about replacing it with:
I see two issues, though. The first is that it's not a real 2-drop. The other is that I already run similar effects in Snapcaster Mage and Torrential Gearhulk.
As far as support goes, I have a lot of great spells in my cube though I've found some difficulty in finding enough of them. I should try to increase their number slighty.
---
Next is Blink. Blink used to be the gold standard of my cube but has gradually lost its relevance and much of its support. Let's look at the enablers:
I like the number of enablers and their place in the cube. There are some additional support in bounce, Parallax Wave and other cards in case if you need to rely harder on the archetype. Soulherder is a new addition which I'll discuss later. However, the issue seems to be with the actual targets, which are few and hard to draft into. Consider the following deck.
I forced this deck by reloading and despite focusing exclusively on drafting the archetype and getting all the white-based enablers, it would be better without the blink component. All it has is:
- Finding an additional equipment, which it probably doesn't need to.
- Thalia's Lieutenant, which is a good target.
- Riftwing Cloudstake which is the best target.
- Recruiter of the Guard which shouldn't have been drafted over the alternatives
First, I can replace creature blink by making it broader. Say:
->
->
This would allow for more non-creature bounce. However, it would do little for blue and most non-creatures aren't what you really want to blink. I think I should look for more creatures that benefit from blink and don't require drafting two archetypes at once (say, spells). Any suggestions? Thoughts?
The spells theme is fantastic and I like it a lot:
There's a payoff I'm not too sold on:
On one hand, it's a powerful card. It supports the archetype well and promotes a more controlling approach. On the other, it doesn't do much for the other themes in blue and those decks are often less reliant on instant or sorceries than I expected. I've been thinking about replacing it with:
I see two issues, though. The first is that it's not a real 2-drop. The other is that I already run similar effects in Snapcaster Mage and Torrential Gearhulk.
As far as support goes, I have a lot of great spells in my cube though I've found some difficulty in finding enough of them. I should try to increase their number slighty.
---
Next is Blink. Blink used to be the gold standard of my cube but has gradually lost its relevance and much of its support. Let's look at the enablers:
I like the number of enablers and their place in the cube. There are some additional support in bounce, Parallax Wave and other cards in case if you need to rely harder on the archetype. Soulherder is a new addition which I'll discuss later. However, the issue seems to be with the actual targets, which are few and hard to draft into. Consider the following deck.
| | | |
I forced this deck by reloading and despite focusing exclusively on drafting the archetype and getting all the white-based enablers, it would be better without the blink component. All it has is:
- Finding an additional equipment, which it probably doesn't need to.
- Thalia's Lieutenant, which is a good target.
- Riftwing Cloudstake which is the best target.
- Recruiter of the Guard which shouldn't have been drafted over the alternatives
First, I can replace creature blink by making it broader. Say:
-> -> This would allow for more non-creature bounce. However, it would do little for blue and most non-creatures aren't what you really want to blink. I think I should look for more creatures that benefit from blink and don't require drafting two archetypes at once (say, spells). Any suggestions? Thoughts?
Thanks Nanonox! Still, I feel the issue is mostly on the targets more than the enablers. Also, while I like The Mirari Conjecture, I don't think it's worth blinking. I would focus on self-mill and drafting as many cheap spells as I could instead if I were to build around it. I think the saga that is really worth blinking is Shodown of the Skalds. But that one is kind of busted so it doesn't surprise me. The deck that The Mirari Conjecture attracts me to is UB. But that's a topic for slighty later!
There are a few cards that could be changed to support blink a little bit. Blue is actually fine, but white has loose slots. For example:
These are not bad cards, but I'm open to replacing them for something more broadly useful. I should also consider if my UW guild cards could be replaced for something much more fitting:
There are a few cards that could be changed to support blink a little bit. Blue is actually fine, but white has loose slots. For example:
These are not bad cards, but I'm open to replacing them for something more broadly useful. I should also consider if my UW guild cards could be replaced for something much more fitting:
I wrote a big post but I lost it. Anyways, before I could fully work on improving Jeskai I had to make some small changes. I was using Cube Cobra to make a list of potential changes and additions so I had to put those in before changing Jeskai:
In
Out
Going back to blink. First, I don't need Soulherder or any other enabler in UW. I have enough natural enablers elsewhere so that I can use the slot for anything else. I also looked for all potential creatures I could add to white or UW to support blink. There aren't many and none speak to me too much:
The only one two good targets I've found are:
The apparition has a problem: It exiles for real its targets. Much of my cube is built with the assumption that you can recover engine cards if they are destroyed once. After all, why bother building a deck aroundSeismic Assault if it can get countered or killed and you don't have a second copy?
Reflector Mage is just a Man O'War.
I'm going to try only these two changes:
->
->
--
Next thing to work on is Tokens. Let's see if I can make WR tokens more of a thing. It already is, so I don't feel I need to make any changes. Replacing Imposing Sovereign with Countless Gears Renegade could help, but that's a weak card for my power level.
These two cards have a nice overlap so perhaps I should run one of them. Both make tokens, one of them humans and the other ties with spells. Beyond that, I bet there's some more interesting stuff.
I also need one more spell for my blue section.
In
Out
Going back to blink. First, I don't need Soulherder or any other enabler in UW. I have enough natural enablers elsewhere so that I can use the slot for anything else. I also looked for all potential creatures I could add to white or UW to support blink. There aren't many and none speak to me too much:
The only one two good targets I've found are:
The apparition has a problem: It exiles for real its targets. Much of my cube is built with the assumption that you can recover engine cards if they are destroyed once. After all, why bother building a deck aroundSeismic Assault if it can get countered or killed and you don't have a second copy?
Reflector Mage is just a Man O'War.
I'm going to try only these two changes:
-> -> --
Next thing to work on is Tokens. Let's see if I can make WR tokens more of a thing. It already is, so I don't feel I need to make any changes. Replacing Imposing Sovereign with Countless Gears Renegade could help, but that's a weak card for my power level.
These two cards have a nice overlap so perhaps I should run one of them. Both make tokens, one of them humans and the other ties with spells. Beyond that, I bet there's some more interesting stuff.
I also need one more spell for my blue section.
The addition of Reflector Mage has been a good one. It works well in tempo decks. It also makes blink more of a thing given the other tools the arctheype has access to. Perhaps Blink is more of a tool and doesn't lean as much into midrange as I had hoped but it's good enough for my revision of UW. For example, I like this deck:
Let's go back to WR Tokens. I think the archetype is ok but I wonder if I could sneak an anthem or something to push it as more than a spells variant. I'm running Soltari Champion but's a three drop that needs to attack:
Perhaps something like this?
If there was an Intangible Virtue on legs, I would love to run it.
Here's a sample deck:
For now, I'm going to replace the Soltari Champion for Glorious Anthem and call it a day. But it's just a test, I would love to hear what you think. It's the broader card. On the other hand, if I run Intangible Virtue that makes it easier for me to run another 3-drop in white that could be blinked. Perhaps Hanged Executioner or simply get back Solemn Recruit. Whatever.
With this, I think my Jeskai section is "finished". There will be changes to cards in these colours as result of modifications to other colours but this is good enough for now.
--
My next shard will be Grixis. I think it's the second most developed pair in the cube or, at least, the one I know better what I want to do in it. It also includes two of the colours of Jeskai so it's a natural point for development.
GRIXIS: Core archetype "Artifacts"
UB Reanimator
UR Discard (Via Spells)
BR Aristocrats (Jund or Mardu will have sacrifice themes)
These three archetypes are a bit more distant than the ones in Jeskai. However, there's overlap in recursive creatures, graveyard synergies and key spells. For example:
Some signposts:
And some ties into other themes:
I've also noticed there's one powerful card that ties both sacrifice and graveyard themes together:
However, I have no idea on how it works in practice. Other than using big enablers I don't understand what a deck with Altar of Dementia should look like.
| ||||
| ||||
| | | | |
Let's go back to WR Tokens. I think the archetype is ok but I wonder if I could sneak an anthem or something to push it as more than a spells variant. I'm running Soltari Champion but's a three drop that needs to attack:
Perhaps something like this?
If there was an Intangible Virtue on legs, I would love to run it.
Here's a sample deck:
| | | | |
For now, I'm going to replace the Soltari Champion for Glorious Anthem and call it a day. But it's just a test, I would love to hear what you think. It's the broader card. On the other hand, if I run Intangible Virtue that makes it easier for me to run another 3-drop in white that could be blinked. Perhaps Hanged Executioner or simply get back Solemn Recruit. Whatever.
With this, I think my Jeskai section is "finished". There will be changes to cards in these colours as result of modifications to other colours but this is good enough for now.
--
My next shard will be Grixis. I think it's the second most developed pair in the cube or, at least, the one I know better what I want to do in it. It also includes two of the colours of Jeskai so it's a natural point for development.
GRIXIS: Core archetype "Artifacts"
UB Reanimator
UR Discard (Via Spells)
BR Aristocrats (Jund or Mardu will have sacrifice themes)
These three archetypes are a bit more distant than the ones in Jeskai. However, there's overlap in recursive creatures, graveyard synergies and key spells. For example:
Some signposts:
And some ties into other themes:
I've also noticed there's one powerful card that ties both sacrifice and graveyard themes together:
However, I have no idea on how it works in practice. Other than using big enablers I don't understand what a deck with Altar of Dementia should look like.
I've been thinking about some potential changes in UBR.
ONE
->
There's not much of a need for two humans and I think Gravecrawler could open some interesting lines of play. I don't have many zombies, though, so this is a narrower replacement. I'm thinking about using Shamizy's "Bonus Round" tokens for both of these cards, as well as Birthing Pod and possibly others. But I would need more than a handful of targets for it to be worth it.
--
TWO
as much as I like Torrential Gearhulk it has gotten worse and worse in my cube. There just aren't enough instants for it be good and its artifact typing is much less useful than it would appear. There are two choices I can make. The first and simpler one is to run this instead:
This one has the benefit of being a better reanimation target, probably the best in the cube. It also has the drawback of being one mana more expensive and, hence, much less palatable as high-end finisher for blue end decks. Also, it can get dumb if it can recast Noxious Gearhulk from the graveyard or other big creatures.
The second is to replace some sorceries with instants and remove some of the lesser cards in other colours (Like Castle Embereth) with cheap spells. The issue is that most candidates are already in blue:
-> ?
I've also noticed Baral, Chief of Compliance may not be the ideal second-spell payoff I want it to be. But I might be underrating him, he plays extremely well in practice. Having to keep less mana open is huge.
--
THREE
I still haven't decided which blue spell to add. I've just been looking around about there's nothing my cube actually needs. For example, I thought about:
But they are not needed. There's enough draw in my cube. There's also enough bounce and enough counterspells. It's a slot that could be anything.
--
FOUR
I also think I run too many white aggro creatures and one-drops in general. Most of them just wheel and instead of complimenting the creatures found in other colours, the push is towards not running them at all and just go mono-white. I'll probably cut back Usher of the Fallen once I add more one-drops in Red. Imposing Sovereign keeps being middling, she's a bit overshadowed by big Thalia and I wonder if should downgrade the latter to Archon of Emeria.
-> ?
-> ? ?
I still find weird how Wizards removed Crusade kept a card named Cathar's Crusade and all references to it in the game. But I guess I'm more surprised at the actual lack of fictionalization. Or not. After all, I was complaining about "Tholnar's Hammer" a few days ago for being too on the nose.
I've also been told to run this over Glorious Anthem:
Making changes to established cubes is hard!
ONE
-> There's not much of a need for two humans and I think Gravecrawler could open some interesting lines of play. I don't have many zombies, though, so this is a narrower replacement. I'm thinking about using Shamizy's "Bonus Round" tokens for both of these cards, as well as Birthing Pod and possibly others. But I would need more than a handful of targets for it to be worth it.
--
TWO
as much as I like Torrential Gearhulk it has gotten worse and worse in my cube. There just aren't enough instants for it be good and its artifact typing is much less useful than it would appear. There are two choices I can make. The first and simpler one is to run this instead:
This one has the benefit of being a better reanimation target, probably the best in the cube. It also has the drawback of being one mana more expensive and, hence, much less palatable as high-end finisher for blue end decks. Also, it can get dumb if it can recast Noxious Gearhulk from the graveyard or other big creatures.
The second is to replace some sorceries with instants and remove some of the lesser cards in other colours (Like Castle Embereth) with cheap spells. The issue is that most candidates are already in blue:
-> ?I've also noticed Baral, Chief of Compliance may not be the ideal second-spell payoff I want it to be. But I might be underrating him, he plays extremely well in practice. Having to keep less mana open is huge.
--
THREE
I still haven't decided which blue spell to add. I've just been looking around about there's nothing my cube actually needs. For example, I thought about:
But they are not needed. There's enough draw in my cube. There's also enough bounce and enough counterspells. It's a slot that could be anything.
--
FOUR
I also think I run too many white aggro creatures and one-drops in general. Most of them just wheel and instead of complimenting the creatures found in other colours, the push is towards not running them at all and just go mono-white. I'll probably cut back Usher of the Fallen once I add more one-drops in Red. Imposing Sovereign keeps being middling, she's a bit overshadowed by big Thalia and I wonder if should downgrade the latter to Archon of Emeria.
-> ? -> ? ?I still find weird how Wizards removed Crusade kept a card named Cathar's Crusade and all references to it in the game. But I guess I'm more surprised at the actual lack of fictionalization. Or not. After all, I was complaining about "Tholnar's Hammer" a few days ago for being too on the nose.
I've also been told to run this over Glorious Anthem:
Making changes to established cubes is hard!
Here are a few decks with Altar of Dementia from my cube:
UB GY control
https://cubecobra.com/cube/deck/60560c6cc816d21061e249ce
Here, the Altar can fuel aYawgmoth's Will, Emry, Lurker of the Loch and of course Thassa's Oracle. The reanimation spells let you "go off" with Gyruda to turbo mill yourself or the opponent. The creatures to sacrifice aren't great, but you can activate it in response to your Damnation or opponent's removal.
BR sacrifice
https://cubecobra.com/cube/deck/605290fe4e089f1067f5bc60
This was a deck you drafted without the card, but the Altar would be a perfect fit as just a random sacrifice outlet with small synergies (Alesha, who Smiles at Death, Unearth, Phoenix of Ash, Bloodghast, Scrapheap Scrounger).
Jund lands
https://cubecobra.com/cube/deck/60483c442b2c5910551a6f99
Once again the deck didn't draft it, but I would have played it. Synergy with the GY land matters (Loam, Gitrog, W&6), with random flashback spells + Chandra and Mass Mutiny which is more of multiplayer card.
UG self-mill
https://cubecobra.com/cube/deck/603717be8648d3105f3de26f
Loam, Reclaimer, Uro, Jace, Azcanta all work better if you can turbo mill yourself. Regrowth and Witness allow you to sacrifice your creatures more aggressively. Then there is also Thassa's Oracle who really goes hand in hand with Altar. Once again, I have a multiplayer card in Reins of Power, but Threaten effects are generally sweet. You have a spare slot in your blue section? Why not Ray of Command?!
So basically any deck that can get some use out of having cards in the GY. I think it would be great in your cube even if it doesn't come together super often.
UB GY control
https://cubecobra.com/cube/deck/60560c6cc816d21061e249ce
Here, the Altar can fuel aYawgmoth's Will, Emry, Lurker of the Loch and of course Thassa's Oracle. The reanimation spells let you "go off" with Gyruda to turbo mill yourself or the opponent. The creatures to sacrifice aren't great, but you can activate it in response to your Damnation or opponent's removal.
BR sacrifice
https://cubecobra.com/cube/deck/605290fe4e089f1067f5bc60
This was a deck you drafted without the card, but the Altar would be a perfect fit as just a random sacrifice outlet with small synergies (Alesha, who Smiles at Death, Unearth, Phoenix of Ash, Bloodghast, Scrapheap Scrounger).
Jund lands
https://cubecobra.com/cube/deck/60483c442b2c5910551a6f99
Once again the deck didn't draft it, but I would have played it. Synergy with the GY land matters (Loam, Gitrog, W&6), with random flashback spells + Chandra and Mass Mutiny which is more of multiplayer card.
UG self-mill
https://cubecobra.com/cube/deck/603717be8648d3105f3de26f
Loam, Reclaimer, Uro, Jace, Azcanta all work better if you can turbo mill yourself. Regrowth and Witness allow you to sacrifice your creatures more aggressively. Then there is also Thassa's Oracle who really goes hand in hand with Altar. Once again, I have a multiplayer card in Reins of Power, but Threaten effects are generally sweet. You have a spare slot in your blue section? Why not Ray of Command?!
So basically any deck that can get some use out of having cards in the GY. I think it would be great in your cube even if it doesn't come together super often.
Archon of Emeria has been the perfect self-defeatist in almost every deck I've tried to make a place for it. You almost universally would want the stats of the card in a deck that casts more than one spell a turn regularly, so it ends up just hindering you.
Thanks a lot for the decklists Nanonox! They were very helpful. What I wonder is: How many Laboratory Maniac effects do I need to run in my cube? Is one enough? I could use the slot.
My woes have also been done away with, as the newly spoiled Elite Spellbinder is perfect for my blinking needs. My changes are:
- Usher of the Fallen
+ Elite Spellbinder (Using Skyclave Apparition as placeholder)
+ Gideon of the Trials
I want to try out Gideon because he's a very well designed card. It's an interesting take on Chimeric Idol and the only fair Worship variant.
I'm also going to add an Opt until I discover something better for the slot. Or slots, Bident of Thassa and Standstill could change to support tempo in any other way:
--
Ok, so I still have 3 slots in black and 4 in red to support Aristocrats. But I think the archetype is doing pretty well despite being infrequent in drafting. But I'm not sure what more I could do to make them more interesting. At a glance, things seem fine. Here's an old deck Dom drafted:
I also wonder which one is better:
Does Tasigur's ability actually matter? Or is it just that BB is twice as expensive as B?
My woes have also been done away with, as the newly spoiled Elite Spellbinder is perfect for my blinking needs. My changes are:
- Usher of the Fallen
+ Elite Spellbinder (Using Skyclave Apparition as placeholder)
+ Gideon of the Trials
I want to try out Gideon because he's a very well designed card. It's an interesting take on Chimeric Idol and the only fair Worship variant.
I'm also going to add an Opt until I discover something better for the slot. Or slots, Bident of Thassa and Standstill could change to support tempo in any other way:
--
Ok, so I still have 3 slots in black and 4 in red to support Aristocrats. But I think the archetype is doing pretty well despite being infrequent in drafting. But I'm not sure what more I could do to make them more interesting. At a glance, things seem fine. Here's an old deck Dom drafted:
| | | | |
I also wonder which one is better:
Does Tasigur's ability actually matter? Or is it just that BB is twice as expensive as B?
Chris Taylor
Contributor
It is also 6 vs 8
Both are fine cards, but Tas is more of a 3 drop and Tombstalker is more of a 4 drop.
Both are fine cards, but Tas is more of a 3 drop and Tombstalker is more of a 4 drop.
I've thought quite a bit about running the Scholar or the Gearhulk and I'm increasingly opposed to the former. Seven mana is too much for fair decks and it has some real busted potential. So I'll just revise a few cards instead. Do you see any cards, especially in red, white and black that could be changed to instants? I don't actually see that many possible changes, which makes me unhappy.
--
Some more changes in UBR
>
Let's do this to add one more zombie to the mix.
A good, versatile sacrifice-boosting card. She seems similar to Liliana of the Veil, but less powerful.
I need another red one-drop, let's try this one.
or
I don't know which is better.
--
I'm not supposed to be doing this right now but I want to try:
e
Yes, I'm a hypocrite that tells other to cut Jolrael only to try her myself.
->
Seems less repetitive and the body is very relevant in my cube.
Some cuts:
--
Some more changes in UBR
> Let's do this to add one more zombie to the mix.
A good, versatile sacrifice-boosting card. She seems similar to Liliana of the Veil, but less powerful.
I need another red one-drop, let's try this one.
or I don't know which is better.
--
I'm not supposed to be doing this right now but I want to try:
e Yes, I'm a hypocrite that tells other to cut Jolrael only to try her myself.
-> Seems less repetitive and the body is very relevant in my cube.
Some cuts:
Yesterday I did the full set of archetypes for each color pair:
UW Blink
UB Reanimator
UR Discard
UG Self-Mill
WR Tokens
WG Convoke (Earthcraft)
WB Hatebears (Humans)
GR Lands
GB Recursive Rock
BR Aristocrats
Three color combinations are not as solid. I have shards that are great and some that aren't:
Jeskai URW Spells
Grixis UBR Artifacts
Sultai UGB Graveyard
Jund GBR Pox
Esper UWB Tempo?
--
Mardu WRB Sacrifice??
Temur UGR ??
Naya GWR Go-Wide??
Abzan WBG Midrage??
Bant UGW ??
---
Either way, I'm tired. I want to get this done with so I'm going to do just that. I know what I don't need so I'm going to do everything else.
Replacements:
->
I need something that actually wins. My cube has the issue of drawing and drawing with no actual move to victory. Baral's Expertise looks kind of busted but also the kind of tempo card I want.
->
Same type of card, only a bit more fair and with artifact synergies.
->
Similar card but Blink works with Torrential Gearhulk and Chandra
>
Hordeling is quite narrow, I think Chandra is a similar card with slighty more synergies.
Out
Jolrael is a Temur card and she's surprisingly bad. She's bad even if you use her ability once. She's just too vulnerable and her 1/2 body is weak. The secondary ability won't trigger often and will make your creatures worse.
I think I should cut either Sram's Expertise or Gather the Townsfolk
Gamble is very cool, but I think it might be a luxury.
IN
With this I just need:
1 Black
1 Red
2 Green
1 Gruul
Any suggestions?
UW Blink
UB Reanimator
UR Discard
UG Self-Mill
WR Tokens
WG Convoke (Earthcraft)
WB Hatebears (Humans)
GR Lands
GB Recursive Rock
BR Aristocrats
Three color combinations are not as solid. I have shards that are great and some that aren't:
Jeskai URW Spells
Grixis UBR Artifacts
Sultai UGB Graveyard
Jund GBR Pox
Esper UWB Tempo?
--
Mardu WRB Sacrifice??
Temur UGR ??
Naya GWR Go-Wide??
Abzan WBG Midrage??
Bant UGW ??
---
Either way, I'm tired. I want to get this done with so I'm going to do just that. I know what I don't need so I'm going to do everything else.
Replacements:
-> I need something that actually wins. My cube has the issue of drawing and drawing with no actual move to victory. Baral's Expertise looks kind of busted but also the kind of tempo card I want.
-> Same type of card, only a bit more fair and with artifact synergies.
-> Similar card but Blink works with Torrential Gearhulk and Chandra
> Hordeling is quite narrow, I think Chandra is a similar card with slighty more synergies.
Out
Jolrael is a Temur card and she's surprisingly bad. She's bad even if you use her ability once. She's just too vulnerable and her 1/2 body is weak. The secondary ability won't trigger often and will make your creatures worse.
I think I should cut either Sram's Expertise or Gather the Townsfolk
Gamble is very cool, but I think it might be a luxury.
IN
With this I just need:
1 Black
1 Red
2 Green
1 Gruul
Any suggestions?
Your green section is about self-mill, convoke, recursive rock and lands. This ticks most boxes while generally being a good card on it's own.
Maybe a sweet land for Gruul? Raging Ravine likes to be recurred and ends games.
Ticks most boxes except for the reanimation strategy.
Also complements your section well, but might be too powerful.
Those are all great suggestions Nanonox. I've actually considered them before! I decided against Liliana and Flesh Carver because both are a bit too powerful, at least at a glance. This is why I run baby Liliana, for example.
I'll probably add Call of the Herd right now. I did not include it before because I wasn't sure if it was strong enough for my cube, but I think it might be. After all, if you suggest it it can't be that bad. Regarding the Ravine, I've been considering just adding one land to all guilds so it's probably a good candidate. But it wouldn't take a Gruul slot.
I'm also going to add:
For red control decks. What do you think?
I'll probably add Call of the Herd right now. I did not include it before because I wasn't sure if it was strong enough for my cube, but I think it might be. After all, if you suggest it it can't be that bad. Regarding the Ravine, I've been considering just adding one land to all guilds so it's probably a good candidate. But it wouldn't take a Gruul slot.
I'm also going to add:
For red control decks. What do you think?
Outpost Siege does good work in my environment that is slower than yours. It's theoretically possible to use it in a sacrifice deck, but I haven't seen that happen yet. People just want to draw cards.
I think I would rather play this one instead:
It's cheaper, fits more into your archetypes and has a high ceiling. Plus it puts a clock on the game and doesn't mess up your GY.
I think I would rather play this one instead:
It's cheaper, fits more into your archetypes and has a high ceiling. Plus it puts a clock on the game and doesn't mess up your GY.
Is drawing cards the best effect in gaming? At least I think so.
I'm meeting a friend today so yesterday I took a list of all the changes I've done on my cube, added a bunch of random cards I thought of and went to the printer to make some proxies. Sadly, I did not print Valakut Exploration to try it out. I did print this card:
Let's give it a whirl because it sounds great. I also printed a bunch of Gruul cards and some other stuff I could run or test or simply have around.
I also printed a set of Moxen because why not.
I'm meeting a friend today so yesterday I took a list of all the changes I've done on my cube, added a bunch of random cards I thought of and went to the printer to make some proxies. Sadly, I did not print Valakut Exploration to try it out. I did print this card:
Let's give it a whirl because it sounds great. I also printed a bunch of Gruul cards and some other stuff I could run or test or simply have around.
I also printed a set of Moxen because why not.
So I went and played my cube with two other people. It was fun and it was a real test of fire for my cube.
The first was an old Netrunner buddy. The guy is a great card game player though he hadn't played Magic in more than a decade. The second was a newcomer to my club, who had played a lot of kitchen-table Magic. Both knew how drafting and the game worked but did not know any cards. I actually had to explain planeswalkers (and the newer mulligan rule) to them first. Both thought Blast from the Past was hilarious because it had a bunch of weird keywords on it like cycling and flashback.
At Jason's suggestion we did grid drafting as follows:
- Lay 9 cards on the table, take a row or column.
- Refill the taken cards for the second player.
- Do not refill the rest of the cards for the third player.
It worked well. My rivals locked into colours early so they hate-drafted each other. While I think doing things in the open was a massive boon and let me explain cards and archetypes, my Netrunner buddy hated it because he felt the cards he wanted were taken away. Which was kind of true, given both locked into UBx early. They were also greedy and did not take mana curve into account much. I layed my cards in front of me and sorted them by mana cost, they didn't. However, they did evaluate cards fairly well. Here's what we drafted:
THE NEWCOMER
The newcomer had the worst deck of the three of us. He said he liked multicolour cards and drafted many of them. In fact, I would say he mostly drafted cards he liked and put them together in a deck. Surprisingly enough, he didn't have as many mana problems as he should have, even with me hitting his lands with Rishadan Port. Unsurprisngly, I think he won just one game in the evening, but he had a lot of fun. I think he would have done a lot better if he simply minded his colours and splayed his deck on the table.
NETRUNNER BUDDY
My Netrunner buddy did better. He noticed some synergies though he also left cards like Frantic Search and Deep Analaysis in his sideboard. The Marionette Master was pure greed on his part, he wanted to reanimate it and kill us with the couple thopter-making cards he has. I also told him Cryptic Command was absurdly greedy, which didn't stop him from complaining about his mana. Look, I know Magic's resource system sucks but I don't think the game's at fault here. He also used Thought Scour on his opponent even though he knew he could self-mill.
He actually won the most of us by far. Gravecrawler into Bloodghast did most of the work though twice I got milled by Mesmeric Orb. I misplayed one of those, though.
Last here's my deck:
I had a weird draft. I got a bunch of lands early and had Firestorm, Swords to Plowshares and other cards that made me think of a potential Naya Wildfire/Cataclysm deck. However, I never got any Crucible effects, loam, Seismic Assault or any creatures that could survive Wildfire or dominate the board with Cataclysm. No equipment, either. They actually drafted away my Bogardan Hellkite so I cut the ramp I had. There were two issues with the deck:
1) The mana-base was super painful. The fact that I fought Thalia, Heretic Cathar only made things worse.
2) It had a hard time closing the game. My hope was to either draw Avenger of Zendikar or recur the Deranged Hermit.
However, the play was a lot of fun. Games went somewhat long and you had plenty of opportunity to durdle, but they were also tight. I used all my mana every turn and often had to make choices between using one effect or the other. I'm actually glad my deck wasn't better. If I had a gotten an Earthcraft-powered monstrosity it would have made the evening less fun.
--
Lessons:
- This is going to be a more representative experience than the other drafts I make
- You can take a horse to the water but you can't make it drink
- Apparently, the Deranged Hermit was the closest thing to GRBS (Game-ruining bullshit). I asked them about what cards seemed strongest in the draft and that was the answer.
- Thought Scour should be Mental Note
- I should promote placing your deck on the table and building it as you draft. I should also stress the importance of drafting lands and not splashing four colours.
The first was an old Netrunner buddy. The guy is a great card game player though he hadn't played Magic in more than a decade. The second was a newcomer to my club, who had played a lot of kitchen-table Magic. Both knew how drafting and the game worked but did not know any cards. I actually had to explain planeswalkers (and the newer mulligan rule) to them first. Both thought Blast from the Past was hilarious because it had a bunch of weird keywords on it like cycling and flashback.
At Jason's suggestion we did grid drafting as follows:
- Lay 9 cards on the table, take a row or column.
- Refill the taken cards for the second player.
- Do not refill the rest of the cards for the third player.
It worked well. My rivals locked into colours early so they hate-drafted each other. While I think doing things in the open was a massive boon and let me explain cards and archetypes, my Netrunner buddy hated it because he felt the cards he wanted were taken away. Which was kind of true, given both locked into UBx early. They were also greedy and did not take mana curve into account much. I layed my cards in front of me and sorted them by mana cost, they didn't. However, they did evaluate cards fairly well. Here's what we drafted:
THE NEWCOMER
| | | |
The newcomer had the worst deck of the three of us. He said he liked multicolour cards and drafted many of them. In fact, I would say he mostly drafted cards he liked and put them together in a deck. Surprisingly enough, he didn't have as many mana problems as he should have, even with me hitting his lands with Rishadan Port. Unsurprisngly, I think he won just one game in the evening, but he had a lot of fun. I think he would have done a lot better if he simply minded his colours and splayed his deck on the table.
NETRUNNER BUDDY
| | | | | |
My Netrunner buddy did better. He noticed some synergies though he also left cards like Frantic Search and Deep Analaysis in his sideboard. The Marionette Master was pure greed on his part, he wanted to reanimate it and kill us with the couple thopter-making cards he has. I also told him Cryptic Command was absurdly greedy, which didn't stop him from complaining about his mana. Look, I know Magic's resource system sucks but I don't think the game's at fault here. He also used Thought Scour on his opponent even though he knew he could self-mill.
He actually won the most of us by far. Gravecrawler into Bloodghast did most of the work though twice I got milled by Mesmeric Orb. I misplayed one of those, though.
Last here's my deck:
| | | | |
I had a weird draft. I got a bunch of lands early and had Firestorm, Swords to Plowshares and other cards that made me think of a potential Naya Wildfire/Cataclysm deck. However, I never got any Crucible effects, loam, Seismic Assault or any creatures that could survive Wildfire or dominate the board with Cataclysm. No equipment, either. They actually drafted away my Bogardan Hellkite so I cut the ramp I had. There were two issues with the deck:
1) The mana-base was super painful. The fact that I fought Thalia, Heretic Cathar only made things worse.
2) It had a hard time closing the game. My hope was to either draw Avenger of Zendikar or recur the Deranged Hermit.
However, the play was a lot of fun. Games went somewhat long and you had plenty of opportunity to durdle, but they were also tight. I used all my mana every turn and often had to make choices between using one effect or the other. I'm actually glad my deck wasn't better. If I had a gotten an Earthcraft-powered monstrosity it would have made the evening less fun.
--
Lessons:
- This is going to be a more representative experience than the other drafts I make
- You can take a horse to the water but you can't make it drink
- Apparently, the Deranged Hermit was the closest thing to GRBS (Game-ruining bullshit). I asked them about what cards seemed strongest in the draft and that was the answer.
- Thought Scour should be Mental Note
- I should promote placing your deck on the table and building it as you draft. I should also stress the importance of drafting lands and not splashing four colours.
I feel weird. I've been coming here everyday, trying to polish my cube. And now it seems it's almost complete with only one card up or down that I can change. Time to do just that and refloat my thread on the other one?
I've organized a Cube draft at the club this Sunday and I've been thinking how to make it go smoothly. I'm going to have players who are very good and players who haven't played in years or even decades.
The good news is that if they take fixing highly and remember to take more 2-drops than 3-drops and so on, they'll have a functional deck. My cube is complex but you can mash good cards together and have a deck. I've been thinking of what steps I can take to make it easier on my players.
1) We can play face-up in a pattern. However, I think they'll prefer to draft the traditional way and it would also be faster. Any suggestions on which face-up drafting methods to use?
2) I'll stress the importance of drafting duals, of organizing your drafted cards by mana cost (even if others can see them).
3) I can print in a piece of paper some basic information, like this:
- Draft duals highly
- Have more 2 drops than 3 drops, more 3 drops than 4 drops, etc.
- The format isn't too fast, but there are very aggressive decks.
- Breakdown by color of what archetypes you can find.
- Other tips
Thoughts?
The good news is that if they take fixing highly and remember to take more 2-drops than 3-drops and so on, they'll have a functional deck. My cube is complex but you can mash good cards together and have a deck. I've been thinking of what steps I can take to make it easier on my players.
1) We can play face-up in a pattern. However, I think they'll prefer to draft the traditional way and it would also be faster. Any suggestions on which face-up drafting methods to use?
2) I'll stress the importance of drafting duals, of organizing your drafted cards by mana cost (even if others can see them).
3) I can print in a piece of paper some basic information, like this:
- Draft duals highly
- Have more 2 drops than 3 drops, more 3 drops than 4 drops, etc.
- The format isn't too fast, but there are very aggressive decks.
- Breakdown by color of what archetypes you can find.
- Other tips
Thoughts?
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