I had an old thread with an out of date cube and out of date goals so I figured I would just post a new one and try to keep the thread updated better as this helps map out my thoughts.
Cube list
Background: I (used to) cube with 3-4 players on a semi-regular basis. We play free-for-all multiplayer (MP) games. One of my friends has a powered cube with all the most busted cards and that is more battlecruiser. It's fun and broken, but I want something else so that when we switch cubes the experience different. Enter this "fast" MP cube.
*****************************************************
Cube goals:
Create a high powered cube environment that isn't battlecruiser style magic.
I like having the early turns of a game be impactful and more than just be about ramping to skip through to turn 4-5. This means that my curve is going to be lower and that I will limit the amount of ramp available. At the same time, I don't want the game to end just because you've reached 7+ mana and are casting dragon after dragon. So instead of supporting the top end of the curve, the lower/middle of it will be more fleshed out.
Have small synergies be part of the cube: Reward synergy, don't demand it.
In my previous attempts, I would try and force synergy too much either by lowering the power level of the cube so the synergy could shine, or by adding some overly narrow cards. In both cases, it did not correspond to what my drafters were looking for. A splash of synergy to make you feel clever is cool, but asking to build complex engines was not (especially since we play Friday nights after long work weeks!).
In this iteration, I will be adding cards that synergize, but not at the cost of power and I want the cards to be able to be generally good by themselves. I decided on small archetype packages to get it to work.
Avoid non-games due to variance as much as possible (mana/color-screw, mana-flood).
Having a non-game due to variance is always bad, but especially so in MP games where it means you will likely have to watch a long game from the sidelines (which has me thinking of making Jump Start decks in case 2 players are out and are bored). The lower curve will hopefully help, as well as cheap cantrips and filtering effects. I would love to play with the new Zendikar MDFC, but I am afraid they will be too much for my less enfranchised players.
Engaging gameplay, even when it isn't your turn.
It is easy to zone out when it is not your turn in a MP game, so I want to keep people interested. To do this, most of my interaction is at instant speed to give players a chance to respond. Also if the combat step is relevant, people have to pay attention to attackers at all times.
To make attacking worthwhile, I want aggro to be a thing (more on this later), but also encourage players to attack. Vigilance is great for that as you don't feel as vulnerable if your creature can still block. The Monarch mechanic is also nice since you want to draw cards and prevent the opponent from doing so. Then there are cards with attack triggers or abilities when dealing damage to an opponent.
Omitting pillow fort effects (Propaganda) and defensive beasts (Ophimancer) also go a long way to make attacking a thing.
I've read an article about how 3/2 formats were more prone to attacking than 2/3 formats, but I am not good enough to fully implement this into my cube. If anyone has specific insight on this subject, that would be awesome!
Make the games end quickly (relative to other MP games).
I don't want easy finishers like Cyclonic Rift, but games do need to end. If possible, I would like to avoid long drawn out finishes so that if someone dies early, they can hop back in quickly. Limiting resets (Wrath of God) seems like one way to do so, but also providing a sufficient density of effects that can push through damage (Overrun, Embercleave, Dictate of Heliod, Profane Command, ...).
*****************************************************
Cube size: 420
The cube size is 420 cards so that we can draft it all whether we play 3 or 4 players. Since we are fewer players than a regular pod, I don't want the same packs to wheel multiple times. Thus burning one or two cards simulates extra players taking cards while also letting us wheel something. We've been drafting like this for years and it's been awesome for smaller groups. The decks however are stronger than usual since you have more first picks. Making cuts is very difficult, but that is part of the fun!
*****************************************************
The problem of aggro in MP
Aggro is tough in MP games because of the amount of damage you need to deal. Since you will not be winning early, most decks are on a spectrum of fast to slow midrange decks. This means that you need a long term plan to keep up with slower decks. I've broken it down to the following elements:
Reach: Deal early damage and try and finish the game with some non-combat damage once slower decks have stabilized (think Zulaport Cutthroat, Throne of the God-Pharaoah, Impact Tremors, ...). I've tried to keep most global damage cards for aggro to incentivize players to go for it.
Other cards like Dictate of Heliod, Embercleave, Berserk, Mass Mutiny can kill someone with weaker defenses and advance your game plan.
Scaling: Scaling threats (Student of Warfare, Figure of Destiny, Hexdrinker) work well at any point in the game. This also applies to cards like Winds of Abandon that can seal a game for you should you draw it late.
Wrath/removal protection: Your threats will be under a lot of pressure if the game is going your way early. You need to be able to protect them (Mother of Runes) , recur them (Reveillark, Luminous Broodmoth, Volrath's Stronghold, ...) or just have resilient threats (Voice of Resurgence, Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger, Flesh Carver).
Aggro-Combo: One way to win against multiple players is to snowball your way to victory with potent threats (Goblin Rabblemaster) and/or combining different pieces to "combo" off. The classic aristocrats deck with Zulaport Cutthroat and Goblin bombardment works well in that regard. Token strategies also have explosive finishes with an Overrun effect or an anthem.
Value: Running out of gas is a very real problem, so I've tried to make some of the card advantage creature or aggro friendly. Cards like Valakut Exploration, The Great Henge, Midnight Reaper and a huge outlier in power level: Skullclamp. The decks this is good in are usually not ones with strong card advantage engines, so this is a brute force way to get around that.
And finally, the aspect with the most impact on aggro:
Design choices: Some marco and micro decisions are going to have an important part in the success of aggro.
So there it is, the big picture and some of the challenges facing this cube as well as solutions to tackle them. Next, I will try and give an idea of what archetypes/decks are supported with examples and discussion.
Thanks for reading and feel free to give any type of feedback, it is always appreciated.
Cube list
Background: I (used to) cube with 3-4 players on a semi-regular basis. We play free-for-all multiplayer (MP) games. One of my friends has a powered cube with all the most busted cards and that is more battlecruiser. It's fun and broken, but I want something else so that when we switch cubes the experience different. Enter this "fast" MP cube.
*****************************************************
Cube goals:
Create a high powered cube environment that isn't battlecruiser style magic.
I like having the early turns of a game be impactful and more than just be about ramping to skip through to turn 4-5. This means that my curve is going to be lower and that I will limit the amount of ramp available. At the same time, I don't want the game to end just because you've reached 7+ mana and are casting dragon after dragon. So instead of supporting the top end of the curve, the lower/middle of it will be more fleshed out.
Have small synergies be part of the cube: Reward synergy, don't demand it.
In my previous attempts, I would try and force synergy too much either by lowering the power level of the cube so the synergy could shine, or by adding some overly narrow cards. In both cases, it did not correspond to what my drafters were looking for. A splash of synergy to make you feel clever is cool, but asking to build complex engines was not (especially since we play Friday nights after long work weeks!).
In this iteration, I will be adding cards that synergize, but not at the cost of power and I want the cards to be able to be generally good by themselves. I decided on small archetype packages to get it to work.
Avoid non-games due to variance as much as possible (mana/color-screw, mana-flood).
Having a non-game due to variance is always bad, but especially so in MP games where it means you will likely have to watch a long game from the sidelines (which has me thinking of making Jump Start decks in case 2 players are out and are bored). The lower curve will hopefully help, as well as cheap cantrips and filtering effects. I would love to play with the new Zendikar MDFC, but I am afraid they will be too much for my less enfranchised players.
Engaging gameplay, even when it isn't your turn.
It is easy to zone out when it is not your turn in a MP game, so I want to keep people interested. To do this, most of my interaction is at instant speed to give players a chance to respond. Also if the combat step is relevant, people have to pay attention to attackers at all times.
To make attacking worthwhile, I want aggro to be a thing (more on this later), but also encourage players to attack. Vigilance is great for that as you don't feel as vulnerable if your creature can still block. The Monarch mechanic is also nice since you want to draw cards and prevent the opponent from doing so. Then there are cards with attack triggers or abilities when dealing damage to an opponent.
Omitting pillow fort effects (Propaganda) and defensive beasts (Ophimancer) also go a long way to make attacking a thing.
I've read an article about how 3/2 formats were more prone to attacking than 2/3 formats, but I am not good enough to fully implement this into my cube. If anyone has specific insight on this subject, that would be awesome!
Make the games end quickly (relative to other MP games).
I don't want easy finishers like Cyclonic Rift, but games do need to end. If possible, I would like to avoid long drawn out finishes so that if someone dies early, they can hop back in quickly. Limiting resets (Wrath of God) seems like one way to do so, but also providing a sufficient density of effects that can push through damage (Overrun, Embercleave, Dictate of Heliod, Profane Command, ...).
*****************************************************
Cube size: 420
The cube size is 420 cards so that we can draft it all whether we play 3 or 4 players. Since we are fewer players than a regular pod, I don't want the same packs to wheel multiple times. Thus burning one or two cards simulates extra players taking cards while also letting us wheel something. We've been drafting like this for years and it's been awesome for smaller groups. The decks however are stronger than usual since you have more first picks. Making cuts is very difficult, but that is part of the fun!
3 players: 10 packs of 14 cards. Pick 1, burn 2 then pass the pack. Switch sides every 2 packs.
Total of 50 cards drafted. 420 cards used.
4 players: 7 packs of 15 cards. Pick 1, burn 1, the pass the pack. When there are 2 cards left in the pack, burn them and open the next one.
Total of 49 cards drafted. 420 cards used.
Total of 50 cards drafted. 420 cards used.
4 players: 7 packs of 15 cards. Pick 1, burn 1, the pass the pack. When there are 2 cards left in the pack, burn them and open the next one.
Total of 49 cards drafted. 420 cards used.
*****************************************************
The problem of aggro in MP
Aggro is tough in MP games because of the amount of damage you need to deal. Since you will not be winning early, most decks are on a spectrum of fast to slow midrange decks. This means that you need a long term plan to keep up with slower decks. I've broken it down to the following elements:
Reach: Deal early damage and try and finish the game with some non-combat damage once slower decks have stabilized (think Zulaport Cutthroat, Throne of the God-Pharaoah, Impact Tremors, ...). I've tried to keep most global damage cards for aggro to incentivize players to go for it.
Other cards like Dictate of Heliod, Embercleave, Berserk, Mass Mutiny can kill someone with weaker defenses and advance your game plan.
Scaling: Scaling threats (Student of Warfare, Figure of Destiny, Hexdrinker) work well at any point in the game. This also applies to cards like Winds of Abandon that can seal a game for you should you draw it late.
Wrath/removal protection: Your threats will be under a lot of pressure if the game is going your way early. You need to be able to protect them (Mother of Runes) , recur them (Reveillark, Luminous Broodmoth, Volrath's Stronghold, ...) or just have resilient threats (Voice of Resurgence, Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger, Flesh Carver).
Aggro-Combo: One way to win against multiple players is to snowball your way to victory with potent threats (Goblin Rabblemaster) and/or combining different pieces to "combo" off. The classic aristocrats deck with Zulaport Cutthroat and Goblin bombardment works well in that regard. Token strategies also have explosive finishes with an Overrun effect or an anthem.
Value: Running out of gas is a very real problem, so I've tried to make some of the card advantage creature or aggro friendly. Cards like Valakut Exploration, The Great Henge, Midnight Reaper and a huge outlier in power level: Skullclamp. The decks this is good in are usually not ones with strong card advantage engines, so this is a brute force way to get around that.
And finally, the aspect with the most impact on aggro:
Design choices: Some marco and micro decisions are going to have an important part in the success of aggro.
- Wraths: Too many wraths kills aggro in it's tracks. That being said, I want slower decks to be viable so a few make sense. I chose to keep the best wraths available among the ones I am running, time will tell if I have to scale back the CMC or not.
- Mana bases: Untapped and damaging. For fast decks to work, they need to be able to cast their cheap cards on time (a 2 drop on turn 3 is so much worse than casting it on time). This means untapped lands are best for encouraging aggro. If some of these lands also damage the players, then there is a real cost to having greedy 3+ color piles. Between shocks, fetches and horizon lands, I think there will be some non negligible damage done to players with crazy mana bases.
- Limiting ramp: If everyone can jam a 6 drop on turn 4, then there is no real reason to play aggro. Therefore I am limiting the amount and power of mana dorks and rocks. Green will have exclusive access to 1CMC ramp and there will be the non-green Talisman cycle for mana rocks. I have also included a few Nature's Lore and Harrow effects for green decks less interested in the 1CMC mana dorks. The numbers will most likely need tweaking, but you have to start somewhere!
- Limiting Planeswalkers: I really enjoy planeswalkers, but they tend to take over the game (a little less so with 4 players, but they stay powerful with 3) just by casting them and having some defense. They also virtually increase players life totals which I would like to avoid. I like the ones that can offer some reach (Elspeth, Knight-Errant, Garruk Wildspeaker) or those that have synergy (Wrenn and Six, Daretti, Scrap Savant). I keep a few goodstuff ones around, but even then, they have synergy potential (Tezzeret, Artifice Master).
- Individual card choices: Some cards are just going to ruin some aggro player's day. I'm thinking of cards like Ophiomancer, Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet, Soul Warden, Brimaz, King of Oreskos, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, Thragtusk and their ilk.
- Careful with the finishers: If one card can undo all of aggro's effort, that's not very interesting. I don't find it interesting either when you can just win by reaching 7+ mana. That is why I decided to exclude cards that win with zero effort (Craterhoof Behemoth, Exporpriate, Rite of Replication, Cyclonic Rift, Sepulchral Primordial, Sylvan Primordial, ...).
So there it is, the big picture and some of the challenges facing this cube as well as solutions to tackle them. Next, I will try and give an idea of what archetypes/decks are supported with examples and discussion.
Thanks for reading and feel free to give any type of feedback, it is always appreciated.
