Erik's "The cool side of Magic" cube

[Erik Twice]

Ok, let's try to improve things a little bit more. First, more cuts:



All thse cards weren't seeing much use, were redundant or simply unnecessary. I might also cut or replace:



So yeah that's a big part of the cube. More importantly, it includes every single Orzhov card woo! I just need to start from scratch for that one. In fact, this leaves me with not enough cards to actually draft the cube! So let me add two cards:



A part of me wants to add:



However, the reminder text on them is wrong and I don't know if I trust my players to remember that. I also want to get rid of the two transform cards I have in the cube.

 

[Nanonox]

For the companions, you can actually use the full art ones where the reminder text isn't printed (https://scryfall.com/card/iko/359/yorion-sky-nomad).

For what it's worth those cards are amazing (like upper power band of your cube. Probably top tier for Lurrus). The effects are powerful even as part of your starting 40 and they are hybrid meaning they go in so many decks.

 

[Erik Twice]

I think both are pretty broken but I wanted to give them a try. Sadly, I need the reminder text, I just wish it had the 3 mana cost added.

I've been checking all cards in the slots I've been missing and there are less options than I thought. Also, while I might not know exactly what I want, I know what I don't so I can pick up the rest of the pieces through elimination. I've added this:



Esper Sentinel is an overall useful card that should promote denial-based strategies, like Stax. It should be a good partner in crime for Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and push for decks with a low-curve, Wasteland, Rishadan Port, Smallpox, etc.

Treasure Cruiser is another graveyard payoff for blue. I now run two broken devlve draw spells in blue, let me know what you think.

Smallpox wasn't very useful the first time but I hope there are more ways to use it now. I run more reanimation spells, more replaceable creatures and more cards that like stax. So I want to give it a try.

Breya's Apprentice is my choice of a new 3-drop in red. Avalanche Riders is the only red 4-drop I like.

I don't like Timeless Witness but I recognize it's useful. I'm open to other cards, though.

Some random cards I'm testing:



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I really need a black 3-drop. I've rotated through a bunch of them but I'm still not happy about any.

I also looked into every single uncommon, rare and mythic rare in most guilds and I'm not quite sold. I can see myself getting just 2 cards per guild, but then Selesnya comes around and I need 4 slots. So that sucks. Feel free to recommend me any cards for most guild slots as I'm open to ideas. So far the only two guilds I'm 100% sure on are Dimir and Golgari.

 

[Nanonox]

I like the adds and testing cards (even if Barbarian Ring seems low impact, utility lands are a great way to get more spells slots in your decks.)

Treasure Cruiser is another graveyard payoff for blue. I now run two broken devlve draw spells in blue, let me know what you think.

I think it's fine, but obviously powerful. They are harder to make work in cube and are tougher to make work the more there are in the format.

I really need a black 3-drop. I've rotated through a bunch of them but I'm still not happy about any.

?

Amazing draw into aristocrats. Very nice in stax and very playable in control decks.



A classic that can still get the job done when the power level isn't maxed out. Can be a nice alternative to Hymn to Tourach you just cut.



Could be a nice build around for your Dimir self-mill aggro decks, while being very playable in control decks.



Not exactly a creature, but self-mills and produces bodies.

Feel free to recommend me any cards for most guild slots as I'm open to ideas.

Figure of Destiny is a great draw into Boros that can also serve you well in mono-colored decks. Scalable one drops play very well. On that note, Warden of the First Tree is another one you could look at (have fun classifying that one ).

For the other guilds, the cards all seem pretty great. Of course, you would know better than anyone what you are looking for in those slots. I guess I like Reflector Mage less since Man-O'-War is a very close copy to it in mono-color.

Thanks for writing these, always enjoy seeing others thought process.

 

[Erik Twice]

I like the adds and testing cards (even if Barbarian Ring seems low impact, utility lands are a great way to get more spells slots in your decks.)

Funnily enough, I'm actually scared of it becoming yet another Cursed Scroll that demolishes fair decks by killing a creature each turn.

I think Ophiomancer is too strong. Embodiment of Agonies looks cool but I don't know how much Keyword: Big actually matters in my cube.

I already run Figure of Destiny (it's in the red section) and I agree Reflector Mage is pretty redundant. I just don't quite know what to do with that spot. I think I should run something like this:



But I need to reduce the number of 3-drops I run. Sadly, there are not a lot of alternatives. I don't like this enough:

Thanks for writing these, always enjoy seeing others thought process.

Thank you for reading! I'm really glad you liked it. I always read your thread and the whole forum, really, so I'm glad to give something in return.

 

[Nanonox]

That Unsettled Mariner has me thinking your cube could be a good house to a UW stax/disruption archetype in addition to your black disruption suite.

Spoiler: UW disrupt card dump

And maybe an artifact package to tie it into other themes (Ethersworn Canonist + Portable Hole).

Funnily enough, I'm actually scared of it becoming yet another Cursed Scroll that demolishes fair decks by killing a creature each turn.

I mean, you need a pretty big set up for that to work, since you need to sacrifice the Ring.

 

[Erik Twice]

I run almost all the cards on your list so I really think I should give it a shot. I'm going to try this:

->

Two additions:



Some changes in red. One is a test another is a likely switch. I

->
->

I'll be revising my burn spells next. But I feel I'm very close to finishing the cube for now. The power level is much higher than it was before the revisions, though, so that's something to keep an eye on.

I also suspect this isn't very good in most decks that would want the equipment:



Also, given how many more artifacts I run now, perhaps I should just artifact the whole cube.

 

[blacksmithy]

like these adds, although i’m not really sold on Reflector Mage being significantly better than ManOWar. I have been enjoying Spell Queller as it helps my drafters get more value from Moderation

 

[Erik Twice]

like these adds, although i’m not really sold on Reflector Mage being significantly better than ManOWar. I have been enjoying Spell Queller as it helps my drafters get more value from Moderation

Oh I'm cutting Reflector Mage for Unsettled Mariner. I just want to try the card and see if I actually want to draft it.

Moderation looks cool but it's yet another 3-mana card!

 

[Erik Twice]

First, I want to thank you guys for drafting my cube. Every time you do I learn a lot. You are better players than I am and you see the cube in a far more neutral more than I ever will. So it's invaluable to me. I should return the favour more often, I really should.

I'm preparing a second round of cuts and small improvements. Would you be willing to make me some recommendations?

- One piece of equipment to improve on Empyrial Plate
- Creatures in the 4-5 mana range you like for midrange, particularly in non-green colours.
- Beefy creatures to boost aggro in green
- Cards I could run that you would be happy to dump into the graveyard

I have my own list but I'm still looking. I feel my cube has improved so much!

Only issue I have is this:


I need to see if this little guy is obnoxious with all my reanimate spells.

 

[blacksmithy]

First, I want to thank you guys for drafting my cube. Every time you do I learn a lot. You are better players than I am and you see the cube in a far more neutral more than I ever will. So it's invaluable to me. I should return the favour more often, I really should.

I'm preparing a second round of cuts and small improvements. Would you be willing to make me some recommendations?

- One piece of equipment to improve on Empyrial Plate if you need colorless equipment, Grafted Wargear or Jitte are my picks here. if not, try Maul of the Skyclaves and Dancing Blade
- Creatures in the 4-5 mana range you like for midrange, particularly in non-green colours. i run Restoration Angel, Timeless Dragon, Curator of Mysteries, Shriekmaw, Tasigur… and that’s it right now outside green. honestly as your power level goes up you just won’t need very many of the 4+ cost creatures. i also like Basri’s Lieutenant, the MH2 free Evokers, and Pia and Kiran Nalaar fwiw.
- Beefy creatures to boost aggro in green Werewolf Pack Leader! also Pelt Collector, Tarmogoyf, Nimble Mongoose, Narnam Renegade are deece for aggro
- Cards I could run that you would be happy to dump into the graveyard Timeless Dragon, Woe Strider, Bloodghast, Skyclave Shade, Cling to Dust, Kaleidoscorch, Firebolt, Phoenix of Ash, Blast from the Past, Master of Death, Vengevine

I have my own list but I'm still looking. I feel my cube has improved so much!

Only issue I have is this:


I need to see if this little guy is obnoxious with all my reanimate spells.

see answers above. and yeah Lurrus is completely and totally busted. if you ban her as a companion it gets easier to deal with.

 

[sigh]

I think lurrus is only busted with an *extremely* trim mana curve. I generally see it as fairly middling in decks I've drafted it in so far in my environment.

 

[Nanonox]

One piece of equipment to improve on Empyrial Plate

- Creatures in the 4-5 mana range you like for midrange, particularly in non-green colours.

- Beefy creatures to boost aggro in green

- Cards I could run that you would be happy to dump into the graveyard

Hope it helps!

 

[Erik Twice]

Thanks a lot of the help! Some thoughts.

First, I've ran through the list again and decided to make more cuts:



Dragonmaster just wasn't a pull into lands, if simply because red wants to sacrifice them.
Anger is cool but unnecessary.
Dread Return is useful, but overshadowed by all the cheap reanimation spells in the cube.
Suspend is cool, but being limited to creatures makes it a luxury. If it was any permanent I would run it for sure.
Think Twice has 24th card syndrome.
Collective Effort also suffers from 24th card syndrome and is overshadowed by both higher synergy cards anf Force of Virtue
Honored Hydra looks like it should be good, but I'm noticing it's hitting the maindeck less and less willingly
Alesha is very cool, but it's yet another 3 mana card and it competes with Lurrus. I'm going to see if I miss it and give the slot to something else.

Also, one of these two:


Timeless Witness is very expensive and feels bad to play over the original.
Grapple with the Past is nice, but it's not a creature and hence lacks some synergies.

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With Alesha gone, I'm moving Figure of Destiny to Boros to gain one slot in red. And I'm adding these two cards to round up the section:
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->

The Kavu is beef. I need bigger creatutes and this is a widely playable one.
I also need more burn so I

This leaves me with 1 red slot. I also want to replace:



With other, more interesting burn spells. I just haven't decided which ones yet.

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With this, I have

49 White Cards
47 Blue Cards
49 Black Cards
44 Green Cards

That's a lot of space to play around. I think I can fit a package with that space.

Idea 1)

->
+

The issue with this change is the loss of a versatile zombie for Gravecrawler.

Idea 2)



These are the cards I'm attracted the most to.

Idea 3)

->

Is this a good change? It's much worse because you cannot block as a 3/3 but you get a zombie or human type if necessary.

 

[Chris Taylor]

I consider mishra's factory blocking as a 3/3 a bug, not a feature, and mutavault opens up a lot more cool tribal side benefits than you'd think.
I've ran double mutavault over an even split for a while.

 

[Erik Twice]

Why do you consider it a bug? You don't like how it walls 2/2s?

 

[sigh]

For me at least, it's a pretty un-intuitive niche concept of the card's abilities that is liable to "get" a newer player at least once. Also a really strong rate for a manland. 1 mana activation for a 3/3 blocker is wicked good.

 

[blacksmithy]

i have personally found either colorless bearland difficult to justify in main decks lately, and prefer the creature duals for this purpose as they pull double duty of fixing and providing a threat rather than sacrificing your mana consistency to provide a threat

 

[Chris Taylor]

For me at least, it's a pretty un-intuitive niche concept of the card's abilities that is liable to "get" a newer player at least once. Also a really strong rate for a manland. 1 mana activation for a 3/3 blocker is wicked good.

this

 

[Erik Twice]

Ok, time to make some more improvements. First, a bunch of poor performers:



There are more, like Scroll Rack, but I don't have the heart to cut them out. Two changes:

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->

Careful Consideration is a touch too weak. It either doesn't draw you enough cards or it's a bit too expensive. I could run Fact or Fiction but it would edge out Gifts Ungiven. Hence. I'm going to try Compulsive Research.

Myr Battlesphere is dangerous. It's one of the better Tinker targets. However, Phyrexian Triniform was already scary. And unlike Triniform, which proved too expensive for even Gilded Lotus decks, Myr Battlesphere seems very reasonable to cast.

I still need a couple disenchant effects in either white or green. I can try Wilt, Foundation Breaker or something else. Feel free to make suggestions. I also believe I should cut at least one white one-drop and try to push white a bit further into midrange.

 

[blacksmithy]

for white, i just let the Banishing Light type effects take care of disenchantment.
for green…. maybe Thrashing Brontodon? Wilt is also quite nice.

 

[Erik Twice]

You are right than just any broad removal spell can do the trick. Right now I run the following:



That's quite a few options so perhaps white doesn't need the slot. So that leaves me with 1 free white slot plus a potential second. I don't know what to run to be frank. I'm so proud of my white section, it's incredibly well-made and it works like I want it to. I could only improve it slighty by making it a bit more control-friendly, but that's it.

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I'm tempted to run Foundation Breaker in green because it would fit my curve nicely. However, it might be better to run it anywhere else and then just run another green four-drop. It all depends on how I use my two slots. I know one is going to be a disenchant effect, so it all depends on what the other card is. Perhaps...



I also think I could cut the Avenger of Zendikar and add an equivalent fattie in Gruul or Simic or even Selesnya. The addition of Myr Battlesphere and other similar cards has reduced the need for the Avenger. This would leave me one extra slot in case I would need it.

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Blue has a massive 5 slots free. That's a lot and I again run into the problem of not really needing anything in particular. I can add and remove as I please.The two cards that attract me the most are:



Upheaval should create more big mana decks and boost Simic. Thought Monitor is just another cool artifact for the archetype.

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Black has 3 slots. However, the change I'm least sure of is this:


I'm not sure which of these cards I want. Painful Truths is the best on pure power level but it does need those three colours. If you only have two, it doesn't work. And while I know cubecobra takes too much fixing away, I'm not sure if that's what I want.[/C][/C]

 

[blacksmithy]

Squadron Hawk
Legion Angel
Professor of Symbology


release the forbidden art of squad picks!

 

[Nanonox]

I'm tempted to run Foundation Breaker

I like it!

I'm so proud of my white section, it's incredibly well-made and it works like I want it to.

Agreed!

I don't know what to run to be frank.

I'm personally a big fan of White adventure creatures



Giant Killer is playable in all types of White decks is a spell for decks that care about it and can push damage through.

Shepherd resets your sagas, Parallax Wave and your ETBs for humans/blink in addition to being a solid beater on turn 2.



Love this one as well as it plays well in Control decks thanks to being instant, in spells decks as a board presence attached to an instant and token decks obviously.



You wanted some artifact removal?! I could see this take Angel of Serenity's place. It's more splashable, it's playable with Welder/Tinker without being backbreaking, it bins itself for reanimator and it helps you hit land drops + fix early.

 

[Erik Twice]

I made a small syntax mistake and half of my post didn't show up! Oh no! I fixed it, though.

Squadron Hawk
Legion Angel
Professor of Symbology


release the forbidden art of squad picks!

I've been tempted to squaddron a few cards or use similar methods but so far I'm resisting. It adds another "rule" to the cube and my drafters aren't very expeienced.

I like it!


Agreed!


I'm personally a big fan of White adventure creatures



Giant Killer is playable in all types of White decks is a spell for decks that care about it and can push damage through.

Shepherd resets your sagas, Parallax Wave and your ETBs for humans/blink in addition to being a solid beater on turn 2.



Love this one as well as it plays well in Control decks thanks to being instant, in spells decks as a board presence attached to an instant and token decks obviously.



You wanted some artifact removal?! I could see this take Angel of Serenity's place. It's more splashable, it's playable with Welder/Tinker without being backbreaking, it bins itself for reanimator and it helps you hit land drops + fix early.

Thanks for all the suggestions! I've actually tried most of them but they didn't quite make it. Angel of Ruins is interesting but it's another "ETB destroy stuff" card while Angel of Serenity has a very interesting effect. I agree the WWW cost is annoying, though!