Fulcrum's Cube

[Fulcrum]

Hi everyone, I've been hesitant to create a blog post about my cube because I'm constantly tinkering with it, but I think I've reached a point where I'm comfortable enough with the archetype and card choices to look for feedback from the community. Hopefully you can all help me refine this cube into something that my playgroup and I can really enjoy.

List
Draft

Cube Information (At a glance)

Philosophy

I want to create a format that offers a variety of archetypes that range the spectrum of Aggro, Midrange, Control, and Combo with an emphasis on interactive gameplay and early interaction. I would like to reach a power level where synergistic and good stuff strategies are both viable and competitive.

I decided to design around the idea that most cube decks can be generic cube decks that can incorporate various concepts sprinkled into the cube that give each deck it's own identity. The best way I've thought to describe this is an Aggressive deck that incorporate double strike rather than an Aggressive Double Strike deck. The very next post describes some concepts that various decks can incorporate.

Some more technical stuff. I've classified hybrids as mono-colored cards with the upside of being able to see play in decks of other colors. I've provided what I hope to be an ample amount of fixing as everyone has fun when they can cast their spells.

Size: 360 Singleton
Utility Land Draft (Eventually)

 

[Fulcrum]

Spoiler: January 13th Update

I feel like I did a pretty big rebuild of this cube and ended up making around 70 card swaps. During this rebuild I also tried to approach the building process differently, and decided to focus more on individual concepts that you can incorporate into your deck rather than individual named decks. (i.e. Aggressive decks that incorporate double strike themes rather than a dedicated double strike deck) I won't be going super deep into showing every card that was swapped out as there was a bunch, but for all intents and purposes the core of the cube remains unchanged.

I. Aggressive Concepts

The three main concepts that aggressive decks can incorporate are going wide, going vertical, and small recursive threats. In addition to these three different ideas, aggressive decks also have access to cube mainstays like 2 power 1 drops and spells like Lightning Bolt

Decks that want to incorporate going wide concepts will turn to creature token makers that will allow them to create many little threats on the board.



From there, depending on color and play style, these creature tokens can be utilized in a variety of ways that will allow an aggressive deck to close out the game.


Decks that want to incorporate going vertical concepts will turn to either pump spells and double strike spells.



To supplement these spells, decks incorporating vertical concepts will find a variety of creatures that either inherently make themselves larger or naturally have double strike.



Both of these concepts can also incorporate creatures with Prowess and Spell triggers that can help a deck go wide or vertical. Decks that lean on these creatures will want to pack a higher density of spells.



Decks that want to incorporate small recursive threat concepts will take advantage of creatures that can come into play from the graveyard as well as various tools to sacrifice those creatures for value.



II. Midrange Concepts

Midrange decks have access to concepts that are focused on concepts that allow them to generate value through both creatures and spells. There are a great many synergies and combos that midrange decks can run, but the focus of this next section will focus more on broader concepts.

Concepts that midrange decks will be able to utilize include, Spell Based Value Generation, Creature Based Value Generation, and Graveyard Based Value Generation. Additionally, I'll also point out some tools that midrange decks can use if they want to combine these concepts with various combos that will be discussed in the combo section.

In addition to the listed concepts, midrange decks will have access to efficient removal and powerful creatures.

Decks that want to utilize Spell Based Value Generation will seek out spells that create 2 for 1s.



Decks that want to utilize Creature Based Value Generation will seek out creatures that have ETB abilities to help create 2 for 1s.



Decks that want to utilize Graveyard Based Value Generation will seek out creatures and spells that both put cards in the graveyard and bring them out of the graveyard.



Most midrange decks will end up utilizing all of these concepts to back up powerful creatures and spells that don't necessarily generate value on their own.



Midrange decks that want to incorporate various creature based combos found in the cube will have access to a wide variety of tutors. Additionally, these tutors are helpful for finding silver bullets or generating value with ETB creatures.



III. Control Concepts

Since all control decks consist of some combination of answers and ways to find those answers, I will focus the Control Concepts on their win conditions and how they can affect how a drafter approaches drafting their deck.

The concepts that I will focus on are Combo and Reanimation. Although I'm focusing on these win conditions as concepts since they are "flashy"ways to win, winning with a Torrential Gearhulk or a hard casted Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite after taking control of the game should still be viable.

Control decks that want to incorporate a Combo finish have a few to choose from. Decks that choose to incorporate this concept have the advantage of being able to win the game relatively quickly. There is no better way to deal with your opponent's threats than by winning.



Since this concept aims to end the game by assembling a combo, card advantage spells can take a more card filtering angle as they try to find specific pieces they need to end the game. Additionally, these tools can help find specific answers for specific situations.



Control decks that want to incorporate a Renanimation finish have the advantage of being able to play their finisher earlier than normal allowing them to stabilize. Decks that choose to incorporate this concept can either do this in the manner of the Solar-Flare decks or Gifts Ungiven Decks.



Since this concept aims to end the game by reanimating a large creature, the control deck gains access to powerful removal and card draw spells that have their discard drawbacks offset by discarding the reanimation target. Additionally, spells with flashback can be discarded and still utilized for benefit.



Now that I've discussed those two concepts, I'd like to discuss a concept that Grillo touched on in his Min/Max Midrange Cube Experiment thread that focuses on using a combination of looting spells, delve spells, and "recycling" effects that essentially lets you "program" for the game that you're playing.

Decks that utilize this concept can play extremely long games as they are able to shuffle cards back into their decks essentially ensuring they'll never run out of resources. A recent example of this was the Sphinx's Revelation-Elixir of Immortality control deck of Return to Ravnica-Theros standard.

In addition to continually recycling the deck, the control player can "edit" their deck mid game by using tools that either remove cards from the game, or selectively adds shuffles cards back into their deck.



I think this is a really neat concept that I look forward to supporting.

IV. Combos

This section is less about explaining concepts and more about pointing out combos that I sprinkled into the cube. With the exception of some faster builds of fast reanimator, most of these combos slot into otherwise fair decks.

The Splinter Twin Combo aims to assemble Pestermite, Deceiver Exarch, or Restoration Angel with Splinter Twin or Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker to make an infinite amount of hasty attackers. Splinter Twin and Restoration Angel can't combo together for various reasons. This combo can be slotted into control decks, tempo decks, and midrange decks. Restoration Angel and Kik-Jiki can generate a massive amount of value if left unchecked with ETB creatures.



The Persist Combo aims to assemble a three card combo of a sacrifice engine, Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit, and Kitchen Finks for infinite life or Murderous Redcap. This combo slots mainly into midrange decks.



Then Saffi Eriksdotter Combo aims to assemble Saffi Eriksdotter, Reveillark or Karmic Guide, and a sacrifice engine to create an infinite number of ETB and LTB triggers. The sacrifice outlet can provide a benefit if it's something like Goblin Bombardment or another card like Blood Artist can end the game.



The Doomsday-Laboratory Maniac Combo aims to cast Doomsday and then assemble piles that will lead to an immediate win with Laboratory Maniac. Depending on the board state and the answers the opponent has, counterspells and or protection spells can be used to protect the Laboratory Maniac.



The Reanimator Combo aims to put a creature in the graveyard and then cheat it into play with a reanimation spell. This is different from a Control Deck using reanimation as a tool as a dedicated reanimator deck doesn't really care much about controlling the game and is more concerned with getting it's game ending threat as quickly as possible.

Spoiler: Original Archetype Descriptions

Here’s an in depth explanation of the archetypes I designed this cube around. I’ll add and remove archetypes depending on what appears and doesn’t. Feel free to make suggestions on how to improve these!


Aggro

GW Humans




This is a GW aggro archetype that wants to play a combination of cards that rewards playing a combination of human lords in conjunction with humans that hamper your opponents ability to play the game.

This archetype can be built in a variety of different ways utilizing mana dorks like Noble Hierarch and Avacyn's Pilgrim, creatures that make it difficult for you opponent to block like Champion of Lambholt, and Imposing Sovereign, and creatures that make it difficult for your opponent to carry out their game plan like Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and Thalia, Heretic Cathar.

The archetype also has the ability to go wide with cards Blade Splicer, Gather the Townsfolk, and Angel of Invention.

Naya Berserkers



This is a combo-aggro archetype in Naya Colors that wants to get early hits in with little creatures and then win the game by creating a massive creature with pump spells and double strike effects similar to Infect or Death's Shadow Aggro in modern. This can be described as a combo of Creature + Double Strike + Pump.

Among the best creatures for this are archetype are Silverblade Paladin and Prophetic Flamespeaker. Both have double strike and some form of evasion (granting another creature double strike, and trample respectively), essentially killing two birds with one stone.

In the absence of a double strike creature, you can build your own using Temur Battle Rage or Double Cleave.

The last part of the equation, the pump spells, are contributed by green with the likes of Berserk and Rancor with red contributing Reckless Charge. Blossoming Defense and Vines of Vastwood are particularly valuable as they provide both pump and protection.

White offers the duo of Shelter and Emerge Unscathed as spells that protect your creature or allow them to get past blockers.

RG Bushwhacker



This is a RG aggro archetype that focuses on going wide with tokens and pumping them. Additionally, the Burning-Tree Emissary and Reckless Bushwhacker combo is ripe for abuse in this archetype.

RG Bushwacker relies heavily on creatures that have the ability to create tokens every turn likeGoblin Rabblemaster and Hanweir Garrison as well as token producing spells like Hordeling Outburst.

Green offers cards like Verdurous Gearhulk and Nissa, Voice of Zendikar which allow your tokens to either get through for a lot of damage early, or alternatively, allow you to grow your tokens larger and larger each turn until your opponent's threats are outclassed. Champion of Lambholt is a slam dunk for this archetype as it provides team wide evasion as well as the ability to grow into a large threat itself as more tokens enter the battlefield.

Red offers cards that can turn tokens into direct damage in the event of board stalls. Purphoros, God of the Forge is useful for doing damage while your tokens enter play and Goblin Bombardment is useful for removing blockers or turning tokens into direct damage.

Burning-Tree Emissary and Reckless Bushwhacker are a nasty combo that can create large amounts of damage from nowhere. Turns that involve playing threats into Burning-Tree Emissary into Reckless Bushwhacker can be game ending.

Jeskai Tokens



This is a combo-aggro archetype that seeks to get a massive amount of creatures onto the battlefield, getting Jeskai Ascendancy into play, and then casting as many spells as possible to create a massive army.

The three main sources for creatures in this archetype are spells like Gather the Townsfolk and Hordeling Ourburst, creatures that make tokens like Goblin Rabblemaster and Whirler Rogue, and creatures with double strike that benefit from Jeskai Ascendancy like Prophetic Flamespeaker and Silverblade Paladin.

This archetype likes cheap cantrips like Ponder and Preordain that can help find Jeskai Ascendancy early in the game and trigger it cheaply late in the game. Additionally, this archetype wants to play as many spells for free to trigger Jeskai Ascendancy multiple times in a turn. Good candidates for this are spells with rebound like Emerge Unscathed, spells with convoke like Stoke the Flames, or phyrexian spells like Gitaxian Probe.

Enlightened Tutor works very well here as it can find Jeskai Ascendancy itself, a token maker in Goblin Trenches, and a Plan B of Goblin Bombardment and Purphoros, God of the Forge.

Recursive Sacrifice Aggro



This is an aggro archetype that can appear in Mardu colors that seeks to do a combination of repeatedly sacrificing creatures that can come back to play from the graveyard for some benefit as well as sacrificing tokens in large amounts for some benefit.

Creatures that enjoy being sacrificed for value include the trio of Gravecrawler, Bloodsoaked Champion, and Bloodghast, creatures that have unearth like Hellspark Elemental andRotting Rats, and creatures with echo costs like Mogg War Marshal and Avlanche Riders.

Cards that repeatedly create tokens like Goblin Rabblemaster and Bitterblossom are at home in this archetype as they provide sacrifice fodder every turn a do a good job of supplementing token creating spells like Hordeling Outburst and Lingering Souls.

Sacrifice Outlets for this archetype include Carrion Feeder which works very well with Gravecrawler and Goblin Bombardment which can close the game out when attacking is unfeasible.

Promise of Bunrei, Blood Artist, and Zulaport Cutthroat are also at home in this archetype as they enjoy being around death and decay.

Aggro-Midrange

These archetypes were difficult to classify because they seem to occupy a space between Aggro and Midrange.

GWx Eldrazi



This archetype seeks to ramp out colorless Eldrazi and disruptive white creatures. It can play aggressively against slower decks and take a more midrange approach against faster decks.

This archetype is built around the trio ofMatter Reshaper,Thought-Knot Seer, andReality Smasher, mana dorks like Noble Hierarch, disruptive creatures like Thalia, HereticCathar, and creatures that can grow like Tireless Tracker and Sylvan Advocate.

Support Spells include removal like Swords to Plowshares and card quality enhancers like Sylvan Library.

GB Graveyard



This archetype seeks to cast cheap aggressive creatures, put cards into the graveyard, and put cheap aggressive creatures into play from the graveyard. It can play aggressively against slower decks and take a more grindy approach against faster decks.

This archetype is built on the relationship between creatures like Bloodghast, Scrapheap Scrounger, and Bloodsoaked Champion and cards that put cards in the graveyard like Grim Flayer, Life from the Loam, and Darkblast.

This base can then be combined with other powerful creatures like Sylvan Advoate and Tireless Tracker that can pivot between playing an aggressive game to a grindy midrange game.

Aggro-Control

UW Flash



This archetype attempts to play threats at instant speed coupled with removal and cheap counterspells. The ability to either hold up a threat or answer at the end of the opponent's turn gives this archetype a lot of its power.

Threats in this archetype come into play at instant speed and allow you to disrupt your opponent. Examples include Vendilion Clique and Spell Queller.

In addition to the cheap flashy threats, removal such as Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile are coupled with counterspells like Spell Pierce and Mana Leak in order to keep your opponent on the back foot.

Blue Moon/ Splinter Twin



This archetype is modeled on the Modern Splinter Twin decks of old as well as the Blue Moon decks that pop up from time to time. It's important to note that in this iteration, a greater emphasis is placed on the Aggro-Control game rather than the combo game although that can certainly be a component.

This archetype seeks to play a game that revolves playing cheap, flashy threats like Vendilion Clique and Pestermite in conjunction with cheap spells that disrupt you opponent like Mana Leak and Remand. Burn spells like Lightning Bolt and Magma Jet serve the dual role of killing small creatures and doing direct damage to the opponent.

In addition to playing an Aggro-Control game, this archetype can incorporate the Splinter Twin combo for the threat of an instant win as Pestermite and Deceiver Exarch fare well in the Aggro-Control game.

Midrange

Jund/ Abzan



This archetype is GBx midrange good stuff resembling their counterparts in modern.

It seeks to play a mix of hand disruption (Thoughtseize), removal (Dreadbore andVindicate), value spells (Kolaghan's Command and Lingering Souls), and value creatures (Bloodbraid Elf and Voice of Resurgence)

Occasionally the third color will be omitted and variants in other color combinations like Grixis, Mardu, and Sultai can be built with the same formula.

Naya Lands



This is a midrange archetype that attempts to abuse Titania, Protector of Argoth’s ability using fetchlands,, and cards like Harrow and Goblin Trenches

Simic Time Walk

(This may not be a true midrange archetype but I wasn't sure where to put it.)



This is an interesting archetype that started to appear after the addition of take an extra turn cards.

This archetype seeks to ramp into large creatures like Verdurous Gearhulk and Primeval Titan, cast extra turn cards like Time Warp and Walk the Aeons, and then cast them again with regrowth affects like Eternal Witness and Regrowth.

Combo-Midrange

Midrange Combos





This family of midrange archetypes seek to play a midrange game with the option of a combo finish.
They appear in three color combinations with each seeking to assemble a different combo.

Abzan: Seeks to assemble the combination of Viscera Seer and Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit with Kitchen Finks for infinite life or Murderous Redcap for infinite damage.

Temur: Seeks to assemble the combination of Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker with Pestermite or Deceiver Exarch for infinite attackers.

Naya: Seeks to assemble the combination of Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker with Restoration Angel for infinite attackers.

Aside from these infinite combos, all of these archetypes play a midrange game in their respective colors with creatures that provide ETB and LTB triggers in order to out card advantage their opponent. Some examples include Blade Splicer, Recruiter of the Guard, Phantasmal Image, Vendilion Clique, Bone Shredder, Mesmeric Fiend, Avalanche Riders, Pia and Kiran Nalaar, Eternal Witness, and Nissa, Vastwood Seer. There limitless ways to construct these archetypes.

Due to these archetypes being based in green, they often utilize mana dorks like Noble Hierarch and Birds of Paradise in order to advance their game plan.

The green base also allows these archetypes to utilize the trio of Birthing Pod, Chord of Calling, and Eldritch Evolution to either find the missing piece of their combo or to find the right creature to handle a current situation. (ie, searching for Reclamation Sage to destroy a troublesome enchantment)

Control

I'll be classifying these decks based on their win conditions since they can appear across many different colors. All of these decks seek to play a game of 1-for-1 answers and ways to gain card advantage in the late game.

Reanimator



This form of control seeks to negate the drawback of powerful spells that require the caster to discard cards by utilizing cards with Flashback, Madness, and Reanimation Spells.

Reanimation spells like Miraculous Recovery and Dread Return can be used to offset the drawbacks of powerful spells like Lightning Axe and Frantic Search by allowing the control player to discard their win condition early in the game without actually losing them. These include creature like Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite and Torrential Gearhulk

Additionally, the drawback of cards like Lightning Axe can be offset by discarding cards like Avacyn's Judgment which can be cast for benefit or by discarding cards like Deep Analysis that can be cast for partial value at a later time.

Kiki-Twin



This form of control has a very simple game plan. After establishing complete control of the game, the control player seeks to assemble some combination of the Deceiver Exarch-Splinter Twin Restoration Angel-Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker combo to win the game with.

Restoration Angel and Kiki-Jiki are commonly the win condition preferred as Restoration Angel has flash and cannot combo with Splinter Twin. Additionally, these creatures allow you get extra value out of creatures like Snapcaster Mage.

Seasons Past



This control deck seeks to abuse Seasons Past to play an exceptionally long and grindy game. Green offers it's suite of ramp spells like Nissa's Pilgrimage and card quality spells like Sylvan Library to gain a mana superiority and superior card advantage.

Combo

Reanimator



Reanimator is the sole pure combo archetype found in this format. Unlike the Control-Reanimator archetype that seeks to play a normal control game and use reanimation spells to offset the drawbacks of other spells, this are all about cheating a large creature into play as quickly as possible and don't really look to interact with the opponent. This archetype can appear in most color pairs.

This archetype has a multitude of ways to put creatures into the graveyard. Examples include looting spells like Faithless Looting and Frantic Search, spells with drawbacks like Lightning Axe and Rotting Rats, and discard outlets like Noose Constrictor and Oona's Prowler.

The reanimation spells serve to put a creature onto the battlefield early to create an advantage. They can found in White (Resurrection), Black (Necromancy), and Red (Feldon of the Third Path).

Almost any large creature can serve as a reanimation target. Particularly valuable ones are those that provide ETB effects like Combustible Gearhulk and Dragonlord Atarka.

I think this archetype will be one of the most interesting to balance as there are a lot of knobs to turn with regards to the reanimation spells and the targets themselves.

Doomsday – Laboratory Maniac Combo



This is probably the most decision heavy decision archetype in the format. The nice thing about it is that it’s compressed into basically two cards as the support cards all work in other archetypes.

 

[Fulcrum]

Undefeated Deck Lists

Spoiler: UWb Control

Spoiler: Four Color Reanimator

 

[Fulcrum]

Reserved

 

[GiftsForgiven]

Took a crack at the cube:

G/B grinder from CubeTutor.com

I wound up drafting this pretty sweet looking grind-fest of a deck. The draft overall was pretty smooth, but I did notice two cards which I felt were a little loose: cabal therapy and zuran orb. Without the rest of the combo, Zuran orb is... it's just awkward. It's run for the combo, but without it it's just a bad card. If you want a land sac outlet, how about Sylvan Safekeeper? It just gives a much more tactile benefit than simple lifegain imo.

I've found that cabal therapy is pretty awkward in a singleton format, as it really does read: "BB, Sacrifice a creature: Target player discards a nonland card of your choice," which is pretty weak sauce. I don't know if there are 'look at opponent's hand' synergies in there, but I'd never pick cabal therapy to find out.

 

[StormEntity]

Reading through the description of your cube, it sounds a lot like something I'd like to draft, in fact it's even converged on several ideas with what I've been working on. Anyway, I decided to jump in and give it a draft, and it turned out delightfully wacky.

Alesha Doomsday Twin from CubeTutor.com

This deck is super exciting! I like Doomsday as an all-around combo enabler, and I like the extent to which the archetypes were able to hybridize here.

 

[Grillo_Parlante]

This looks good.

A few comments:

Would like to see



To really give some density of mini-overruns.

Also, don't forget red has access to:



To up your zerk effects.

With that style lethal setup, I would also be considering adding condemn to the list.

Another good card for the zerk deck is:



being able to be cast off of can be a pretty big deal.

Really like the UG decks, and will be curious about how walk the aeons works out, as well as the fact you've given some thought to all of the color pairs. Thats always nice to see, and I like how you're moving out into shard/wedge identity.

Also really like how you've shifted the tutor angle of the cube generally off to green, with its awkward creature based tutors, trying to assemble awkward creature based combos. Seems about right.

Please, please, please don't run sensei's divining top. The card is actively bad in cube, and the only way that would change is if you were breaking singleton on fetchlands. You only end up seeing one new card the first time you activate it, but that won't stop your players from adding minutes onto every round as they spam it for every decision tree. Its miserable.

The power band isn't too bad, but the top end of it starts to feel a bit tasteless, with cards cards like mystic confluence, entreat the angels, compulsion, and vedalkan shackles, with blue out muscling the rest of the colors. Aston wanted an example of having a disproportionate % of potential blue first picks, and this is a good example.




Can't hide that metamorph from me! I should maybe include frantic search in there, because you have fast reanimator as a deck.

As compared to your black section, which is something like:





With tasigur being a pseudo blue card.

Maybe damnation, though I think you have to have a control bias to p1p1 damnation, and maybe flip liliana.

This is significant, because if you cut down a little bit on blue's library manipulation, it gives other colors tremendous room to breath. For example, why deal with green's awkward synergy tutor effects, when blue provides vastly more efficient library draw and manipulation in the form of ponder, preordain, or compulsion to find combo or tool box pieces?

All in all though, like the format, and appreciate the amount of thought you've put into it.

 

[Fulcrum]

Thanks for the feedback everyone! I wanted to hold back my response for a few days to see if anybody else would comment.

I wound up drafting this pretty sweet looking grind-fest of a deck. The draft overall was pretty smooth, but I did notice two cards which I felt were a little loose: cabal therapy and zuran orb. Without the rest of the combo, Zuran orb is... it's just awkward. It's run for the combo, but without it it's just a bad card. If you want a land sac outlet, how about Sylvan Safekeeper? It just gives a much more tactile benefit than simple lifegain imo.

I've found that cabal therapy is pretty awkward in a singleton format, as it really does read: "BB, Sacrifice a creature: Target player discards a nonland card of your choice," which is pretty weak sauce. I don't know if there are 'look at opponent's hand' synergies in there, but I'd never pick cabal therapy to find out.

I think I agree with you. I'm not sure if Cabal Therapy being sacrifice a creature, discard a card would be strong enough compared to other discard spells. I think is is possible to get extra value from your creature dying but I don't think it outweighs having around 300 valid targets in a singleton format.

I was hoping that Zuran Orb would be able to justify itself as being an enabler for Titania but I think it'll be too narrow most of the time to justify a slot.

Reading through the description of your cube, it sounds a lot like something I'd like to draft, in fact it's even converged on several ideas with what I've been working on. Anyway, I decided to jump in and give it a draft, and it turned out delightfully wacky.

Alesha Doomsday Twin from CubeTutor.com

This deck is super exciting! I like Doomsday as an all-around combo enabler, and I like the extent to which the archetypes were able to hybridize here.

This is such a neat deck. I loved how you found a use for Doomsday outside of a Laboratory Maniac deck.

This looks good.

A few comments:

Would like to see



To really give some density of mini-overruns.

Also, don't forget red has access to:



To up your zerk effects.

With that style lethal setup, I would also be considering adding condemn to the list.

Another good card for the zerk deck is:



being able to be cast off of can be a pretty big deal.

Please, please, please don't run sensei's divining top. The card is actively bad in cube, and the only way that would change is if you were breaking singleton on fetchlands. You only end up seeing one new card the first time you activate it, but that won't stop your players from adding minutes onto every round as they spam it for every decision tree. Its miserable.

The power band isn't too bad, but the top end of it starts to feel a bit tasteless, with cards cards like mystic confluence, entreat the angels, compulsion, and vedalkan shackles, with blue out muscling the rest of the colors. Aston wanted an example of having a disproportionate % of potential blue first picks, and this is a good example.

So many suggestions! I'm trying to incorporate as many as I can. I love blue cards so it'll be difficult to cut some of these. I'll start with come of the blatant offenders and then keep an eye on how well blue does in the format. Do you have any suggestions on a replacement for Compulsion?

So with that, here is my first path note!

IN
Dark Petition

OUT
Magus of the Will[/c

 

[GiftsForgiven]

Gave the updated cube a try!

I was greeted with this as an initial pack:



A bunch of great options here. Joraga Treespeaker and Torrential Gearhulk are what I consider. Gearhulk is interesting in that it does NOT have the snapcaster mage issue (which is that it's meh as a p1p1 with no focus yet and no clear targets,) as it's got a beefy body for it's cost. With flash, too. I think that's enough baseline good to warrent a p1p1. If I wanted to go green ramp, Joraga is also defensible as a p1p1, but I take gearhulk, because I'm a blue player who likes to do blue things. I hope any of either Misty rainforest, Lightning bolt, and think twice wheel.

It turned into Esper Reanimator/Control

slovakattack's draft of A Lifetime of Secrets on 22/11/2016 from CubeTutor.com

My second offering, also an Esper Deck:

Doomsday Special from CubeTutor.com

This was my first time trying to build a Doomsday Deck. Looks pretty sweet! I probably got most of the tutor effects in the cube. I was a little disappointing at not getting a Snapcaster Mage, as it makes Intuition a little less good, but you can still Intuition for Lab Maniac/Unearth/Unburial Rites. And it basically reads 'draw 3 cards' when you activate doomsday. From what I know of Doomsday (the deck), it works off of 'piles.' There's nothing so strong as Ancestral Recall here, but provided you have enough mana, you could theoretically go off with ease.

I do like the fact that it has a lot of unassuming card advantage. Even things like Dimir Charm can help you with your doomsday piles. I wish I had gotten maybe... 2 more discard outlets? But the deck seems fun!

I do also like the idea of just infinitely looping Elixir of Immortality off the top of your deck. That seems fun.

 

[Fulcrum]

I agree that Joraga Treespeaker and Torrential Gearhulk are the most appealing cards. I also like the idea of taking Thought-Knot Seer and seeing if I can fall into a GW or BW disruptive aggressive deck with a focus on colorless cards.
I do like that the Gearhulk is kind of a win condition for control that you can build around. Kind of makes me want to add Mystical Teachings and instants/flash matters as a sub theme. I'm not sure if this format will be slow enough for Teachings to be effective though.

It's probably dumb but I love the idea of a control deck using Doomsday to stack its deck with a few universal answers and a few cards that manipulate the top of library with an Elixir of Immortality in play after amassing a bunch of mana in a game.

Not necessarily in this order but a pile like (in a real game you can tailor your pile to the threats your opponent is presenting, ie. more removal, more counterspells, no sweerper)



This would probably be miserable to play against but the thought of it makes me so happy as somebody that enjoys control decks. Just drawing those answers every turn and gaining life off of Elixir until your opponent runs out of cards.

 

[GiftsForgiven]

I agree that Joraga Treespeaker and Torrential Gearhulk are the most appealing cards. I also like the idea of taking Thought-Knot Seer and seeing if I can fall into a GW or BW disruptive aggressive deck with a focus on colorless cards.
I do like that the Gearhulk is kind of a win condition for control that you can build around. Kind of makes me want to add Mystical Teachings and instants/flash matters as a sub theme. I'm not sure if this format will be slow enough for Teachings to be effective though.

It's probably dumb but I love the idea of a control deck using Doomsday to stack its deck with a few universal answers and a few cards that manipulate the top of library with an Elixir of Immortality in play after amassing a bunch of mana in a game.

Not necessarily in this order but a pile like (in a real game you can tailor your pile to the threats your opponent is presenting, ie. more removal, more counterspells, no sweerper)



This would probably be miserable to play against but the thought of it makes me so happy as somebody that enjoys control decks. Just drawing those answers every turn and gaining life off of Elixir until your opponent runs out of cards.

I feel like if you want to play that kinda deck though, seasons past is the deck for you

In terms of appealing cards to take, I think Thought-Knot seer is fine but not a fp. Depends on the cube, though.

If your format is slow enough for doomsday, it's slow enough for Teachings.

 

[astraedm]

Hey there! Did a blind draft of your cube and went p1p1 Swords to Plowshares, followed by Kitchen Finks, Thalia, and went into w/g and then Naya weenie from there when I saw I had the fixing.

Naya Beats from CubeTutor.com

I really liked the amount of fixing that was available to me, and almost all of it is fast. The plan with this deck I suppose is curve 1 drop, 2 one drops, Atarka's Command and try and punch through on turn 4 with Bloodbraid or Cruiser. Bloodbraid into Temur Battle Rage sounds like a good time. Just an odd reflective thought, ever since I started building and drafting cubes I've had a much better appreciation for aggro decks...

Burning-Tree Emissary is a really cool card here, which simultaneously fixes mana and gums up the board with another attacker. I might try it in my cube in the red section, actually.

As far as general thoughts on the cube, I'm wondering how a couple cards are treating you..
How often does Walk the Aeons get bought back? Is it worth having a second 2 mana double strike effect to support the theme in Double Cleave? Do you get spell mastery on Nissa's Pilgrimage often enough for it to be better than Cultivate?

All in all, don't have too many complaints, the cube is super elegant to draft, and I think there's a lot more depth that would take me a lot more drafts to see!

 

[Fulcrum]

Hey there! Did a blind draft of your cube and went p1p1 Swords to Plowshares, followed by Kitchen Finks, Thalia, and went into w/g and then Naya weenie from there when I saw I had the fixing.

I really liked the amount of fixing that was available to me, and almost all of it is fast. The plan with this deck I suppose is curve 1 drop, 2 one drops, Atarka's Command and try and punch through on turn 4 with Bloodbraid or Cruiser. Bloodbraid into Temur Battle Rage sounds like a good time. Just an odd reflective thought, ever since I started building and drafting cubes I've had a much better appreciation for aggro decks...

Burning-Tree Emissary is a really cool card here, which simultaneously fixes mana and gums up the board with another attacker. I might try it in my cube in the red section, actually.

As far as general thoughts on the cube, I'm wondering how a couple cards are treating you..
How often does Walk the Aeons get bought back? Is it worth having a second 2 mana double strike effect to support the theme in Double Cleave? Do you get spell mastery on Nissa's Pilgrimage often enough for it to be better than Cultivate?

All in all, don't have too many complaints, the cube is super elegant to draft, and I think there's a lot more depth that would take me a lot more drafts to see!

I don't really draft aggro decks but they're always so neat to see! I like how you drafted the white removal as a way to get your double strikers through. I like how the deck turned out, it has a lot of neat little synergies going on from the pump spells + double strike to the little human synergies. Champion of the Parish into Burning-Tree Emissary into Mayor of Avabruck seems like such an explosive start. The more these practice drafts happen, the less I like Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. I'll write about that more later.

I'm thinking about cutting the filter lands for more mono colored spots but I'm not sure if that's worth it. Does anybody have any thoughts?

Burning-Tree Emissary is definitely a neat card. It does some neat things, but its power is definitely greater the more emissaries you have access to.

Thanks for the kind words! I'm in the middle of a revision right now so I'll try to answer what I can. I haven't been able to test some of these cards in real life so I'll share some theory crafting,

Walk the Aeons - The idea behind Walk the Aeons is that it's a Time Warp that costs 1 extra mana that has a neat synergy with Titania, Protector of Argoth. Untapping with 20 power on the board is a very powerful way to end a game. It might be too powerful so I'll see how it does in real life. The earliest this could happen is turn 4, but that's the same turn Splinter Twin can win so it's not a major concern. Additionally you have to spend Turns 1, 2, and 3 ramping and playing Titania so you have no time to mess around with cantrips or tutors so I doubt the consistency will be there.

I'm fine with it playing as a slightly more expensive Time Warp 90% for the neat things it can do. The 6cmc may put it out of reach of Aggro decks that want it as a finisher so that will be something to keep on eye out on.

I can see it being bought back mainly in games between midrange decks that have a lot of extra lands to spare so they'll be allowed to take 3 turns in a row. I imagine it would be a lot more powerful if I were running Fastbond type effects where you could essentially take a bunch of extra turns. It is definitely an intriguing tool.

Double Cleave - Double Cleave is here to give the GW Double Strike deck a way to give Double Strike at Instant Speed so you don't have to rely solely on Silverblade Paladin and friends. It's the same idea as having Mutagenic Growth to give RW decks an instant speed pump spell since Reckless Charge could be insufficient. Double Cleave not giving trample also makes it less powerful than Temur Battle Rage so that can be a pro or con depending on how powerful the deck ends up being. I also like the idea of having "redundant combo" pieces so you don't have to rely solely on the single Temur Battle Rage going around.

Nissa's Pilgrimage - I think Cultivate and friends serve a different purpose than Nissa's Pilgrimage. I think the cultivate variants do a good job of fixing mana and ramping in ramp decks. I think Nissa's Pilgrimage is a card that is serviceable in a ramp or midrange deck but will really shine in a control deck. If you have Spell Mastery, you can ensure that you'll hit your land drops the next two turns as well as get some card advantage, even if they're lands. I see lines with Nissa's Pilgrimage being less T1 Elvish Mystic, T2 Nissa's Pilgrimage and more T1 Ponder, T2 Mana Leak, T3 Nissa's Pilgrimage.

I'll finish with asking if anybody out there has any thoughts on Porphyry Nodes and Doomwake Giant. White can have its removal tweaked to include some powerful options that are enchantment based that would could play well with Doomwake Giant. I think it could give BW and Esper control decks an interesting tilt.

 

[astraedm]

The more these practice drafts happen, the less I like Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. I'll write about that more later.

I've been thinking this as well.The more i try and push the spell matters / prowess side of white the less i end up liking Thalia. Bit odd to think of it that way as I've always thought of her as an uncuttable interesting 2 drop for aggro decks, but it's worth thinking about.

 

[Gladiatorw07f]

I just drafted green white, and i did not feel like i was drafting humans at all. I saw no anthems, no captians, no tribal stuff. overall it felt very choppy in the rng that i got, but the overall turned out very kind of white green good stuff vs white green humans.

http://www.cubetutor.com/cubedeck/653182

 

[Fulcrum]

I just drafted green white, and i did not feel like i was drafting humans at all. I saw no anthems, no captians, no tribal stuff. overall it felt very choppy in the rng that i got, but the overall turned out very kind of white green good stuff vs white green humans.

http://www.cubetutor.com/cubedeck/653182

Hi Gladiatorw07f, thank you for the draft! I'd like to talk about the deck you drafted as well as certain picks you made during the draft that will hopefully give me insight into how others view and react to the cards that they see during a draft. I hope that you're up for it! I imported the deck you drafted below for others to see without having the go back and forth between Cubetutor and Riptide Lab.

gladiatorw07f's green white deck from CubeTutor.com

From the looks of it, it appears that you drafted a some nice GW cards that that kind of feel like a GW Aggro and GW Midrange/ GW Ramp deck mashed together. It's not everyday that you see Kytheon, Hero of Akros and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite in the same deck. Could you explain the reasoning behind this? I can understand including something like Student of Warfare since it can grow itself into a bigger threat in the late game, but some cards like Champion of Lambholt and Promise of Bunrei leave me curious.

From the look of the cards in your sideboard, I think I would've constructed this deck a little bit differently.

Spoiler: GW Alternate

What I basically did was remove the cards that really want to be in an aggressive deck and replaced them with cards that either have synergy with each other, or are focused with playing a more drawn out game. I think the biggest addition was adding the trio of Scavenging Ooze, Den Protector, and Fauna Shaman. These cards all work in synch with stuff you already have like Eternal Witness, Grapple with the Past, Satyr Watfinder, and Vengevine. Additionally, all of this guys help set up Delirium for Traverse the Ulvenwald that would allow you to either get silver bullets like Reclamation Sage or a giant finisher like Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite.

With that being said, I saw that you expressed concerns that you didn't feel like you were drafting humans. Do you feel like I need to support this archetype more? Do you feel like maybe you were trying to force an archetype that wasn't just showing up in the cards? What can I do to help make this a better experience? Looking at drafts others have done, I feel like humans are supported quite well. This deck I'm about to post that was drafted by astaedm seems pretty powerful and seems to integrate the GW Humans theme and Naya Double Strike deck quite well.

Naya Beats from CubeTutor.com

I would really love to hear your thoughts on this matter.

After all of that, I'd like to ask about your thought process during the draft. The Castle AI on cubetutor has a neat feature that lets me look at all of the picks that were made during a draft. Were you aiming to draft a more aggressive/ human based strategy? If so, I think the cards were there that would've let you achieve that. Here are some picks that stood out to me.

P1 P3
Mutagenic Growth over Saproling Burst and Silverblade Paladin
At this point you had Nissa, Voice Of Zendikar and Stirring Wildwood. Nissa has a lot more synergy with both of those creatures than mutagenic growth does at this point. Saproling Burst can make a bunch of tokens and take you into a strategy that goes wide while Silverblade Paladin can set you up to move into either a human or double strike strategy. Mutagenic Growth can help you move into the double strike strategy but I feel like taking the creatures first would be a better pick.

P1 P7
Elvish Mystic over Mayor of Avabruck
While I don't think Elvish Mystic is necessarily a bad pick, by this point in the draft you already had 2 humans (3 if you took the paladin). The mystic is a powerful card in every green deck but I think the Mayor would have helped you move into the aggressive Green White human archetype you were looking to originally draft.

P1 P8
Primal Command over Imposing Sovereign
Primal Command is a powerful card, but I don't think it goes into an aggressive deck. It's not as powerful as Plow Under or Stunted Growth in aggressive decks although it can do an imitation. Imposing Sovereign is not only a human, but provides disruption against your opponent and allows your creatures to have a leg up in combat.

P2 P6
Traverse the Ulvenwald over Vines of Vastwood
At this point, you were in a more midrange type deck, but if you were going for a more aggressive plan Vines provides not only protection for your creatures but a super large stat increase that gets pretty insane with any double strikers you have (hypothetically Silverblade Paladin only at this point)

P2 P10
Faithless Looting over Wooded Bastion
Was this a misclick?

P3 P3
Promise of Bunrei over Double Cleave
I don't like Promise in either of the versions of the deck you were interested in building. It's basically only wrath insurance and you have no way to trigger it for value. It just really seems like a dud in this deck. Double Cleave would've given you instant speed access to a double strike effect that works insanely well with the Berserk you picked up earlier in the draft.

P3 P6
Elixir of Immortality over Exalted Angel
I like the Angel more in both the aggressive and midrange version of the GW decks. The midrange version was basically creatures with no removal while the aggressive Human version doesn't want to mess around with Elixir of Immortality. The angel is a large evasive threat that the aggressive deck can cast as well as a lifelinking wall for the midrange deck. Neither of the deck strike me as an elixir deck.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on any of these picks!

Anyways, if you took the time to read this all thanks, I had a lot of fun writing it, and I hope to hear your thoughts on some of this stuff.

I'll be done with a big update later tonight or tomorrow so some things are probably going to change or become irrelevant in this thread.

 

[Grillo_Parlante]

I think its more that from the cube description his expectation was that when he drafted a G/W deck, it would revolve around the humans sub-type: which to be fair, is not entirely unreasonable.

This is a GW aggro archetype that wants to play a combination of cards that rewards playing a combination of human lords in conjunction with humans that hamper your opponents ability to play the game.

There really isn't the necessary density, however, for this to happen.



You have to hit three cards out of 360 to get a semi "I care about the human sub-type" feeling deck from the draft, and even than its a sort of watered down riptide style tribal that is more solid good stuff midrange cube cards that happen to benefit incidentally from the humans sub-type. There is no focused strategy here, just an under supported "themeless theme" and no real buildable deck due to rng.

Which is probably fine in a vacum, but where you run into a problem is where a drafter's expectations have been set such where they expect GW decks to have a focus on the human's sub-type, which is what happened here.

To give a heavy handed contrast, when I was experimenting with human tribal a couple years ago, I was running things like triple champion of the parish ontop of triple gather the townsfolk and still had mayor as well as that hexproof angel that cares about humans.

I don't recommend anything that heavy-handed, but just to contrast the difference between a deck--something which supports a pre-mediated strategy--and a themeless theme--which does not--that configuration allowed an achievable draft density of pieces to execute a strategy of curving out champion of the parish->gather the townsfolk to generate huge amounts of early damage capable of scaling into the midgame.

Thats different from maybe I'll hit my champion, and than I maybe happen to have a lot of humans in my deck, so I'm incidentally benefiting from this tribal tagline: the former is more exciting, the latter is a bit ho-hum (which also seems to be a bit of the complaint here, even had the necessary cards ended up in the pool).

 

[Gladiatorw07f]

P1 P3
Mutagenic Growth over Saproling Burst and Silverblade Paladin
At this point you had Nissa, Voice Of Zendikar and Stirring Wildwood. Nissa has a lot more synergy with both of those creatures than mutagenic growth does at this point. Saproling Burst can make a bunch of tokens and take you into a strategy that goes wide while Silverblade Paladin can set you up to move into either a human or double strike strategy. Mutagenic Growth can help you move into the double strike strategy but I feel like taking the creatures first would be a better pick.

P1 P7
Elvish Mystic over Mayor of Avabruck
While I don't think Elvish Mystic is necessarily a bad pick, by this point in the draft you already had 2 humans (3 if you took the paladin). The mystic is a powerful card in every green deck but I think the Mayor would have helped you move into the aggressive Green White human archetype you were looking to originally draft.

P1 P8
Primal Command over Imposing Sovereign
Primal Command is a powerful card, but I don't think it goes into an aggressive deck. It's not as powerful as Plow Under or Stunted Growth in aggressive decks although it can do an imitation. Imposing Sovereign is not only a human, but provides disruption against your opponent and allows your creatures to have a leg up in combat.

P2 P6
Traverse the Ulvenwald over Vines of Vastwood
At this point, you were in a more midrange type deck, but if you were going for a more aggressive plan Vines provides not only protection for your creatures but a super large stat increase that gets pretty insane with any double strikers you have (hypothetically Silverblade Paladin only at this point)

P2 P10
Faithless Looting over Wooded Bastion
Was this a misclick?

P3 P3
Promise of Bunrei over Double Cleave
I don't like Promise in either of the versions of the deck you were interested in building. It's basically only wrath insurance and you have no way to trigger it for value. It just really seems like a dud in this deck. Double Cleave would've given you instant speed access to a double strike effect that works insanely well with the Berserk you picked up earlier in the draft.

P3 P6
Elixir of Immortality over Exalted Angel
I like the Angel more in both the aggressive and midrange version of the GW decks. The midrange version was basically creatures with no removal while the aggressive Human version doesn't want to mess around with Elixir of Immortality. The angel is a large evasive threat that the aggressive deck can cast as well as a lifelinking wall for the midrange deck. Neither of the deck strike me as an elixir deck.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on any of these picks!

Anyways, if you took the time to read this all thanks, I had a lot of fun writing it, and I hope to hear your thoughts on some of this stuff.

P1P3: I am super new to drafting, and honestly i was starting out trying to do a pump deck, but that failed.
P1P7: I was trying to draft aggro yes, but not human specific aggro. i , honestly, had no clue how your cards worked together as i was drafting them. The humans in your cube did not feel like they belonged together from the packs that i saw when drafting and when going over the cube again, I saw the same 3 THIS IS HUMANS PLAY ME! cards that Grillo mentions. That is not proper density to allow the archetype to shine. There are humans but they don't synergize off of each other's effects. So I HAD NO CLUE WHAT I WAS DRAFTING.
P1P8: I don't like hosing players? That was mostly a personal playstyle pick here.
P2P6: Not a big fan of vines of vastwood. and by the time it came up i was already shifted away from pump and into generic weenie swarm
P2P10: SURE WAS!
P3P3: promise plots out 3 critters, while double cleave is pump, by that point i was not thinking about pump anymore. honestly while DC can win a game, its not my taste to take it over something that will give 3 creatures in response to loosing one.
P3P6: Exalted angle is only flying and lifelink for either 7 manna total or 6 mana. GROSS that is not draftable IMO. there are so many more better versions of this same card for way less manna or the same manna. Give me the card i can resuse to get the same or more value out of sooner or when needed and possibly multiple times if shuffling permits.

 

[Fulcrum]

I understand now. Thanks for the feedback guys! I'll have more tomorrow when I'm not so tired!

 

[Gladiatorw07f]

I was looking over the cards in your guild section, you have some serious bombshells in most sections, but dimir and orzhov feel lacking compared to the rest. May i suggest upgrading:
tidehollow sculler into anguished unmaking for orzhov
and
for dimir charm you have extract from darkness which gives a back up win con and still mills, Phenax, God of Deception just all the mill you could ever want, or kathari Remnant if you want to go with cascade

 

[Fulcrum]

Spoiler: January 13th, 2017 Update + Concepts

January 13th, 2017 Update

I feel like I did a pretty big rebuild of this cube and ended up making around 70 card swaps. During this rebuild I also tried to approach the building process differently, and decided to focus more on individual concepts that you can incorporate into your deck rather than individual named decks. (i.e. Aggressive decks that incorporate double strike themes rather than a dedicated double strike deck) I won't be going super deep into showing every card that was swapped out as there was a bunch, but for all intents and purposes the core of the cube remains unchanged.

This post ended up super long so I decided to break it up. I went ahead and updated the original cube post with the contents of this post. The very next post I make will go into more depth on the changes I made as well as discuss cards I've decided to include from Aether Revolt. As always, I love card images and apologize for how picture heavy this blog is getting.

I. Aggressive Concepts

The three main concepts that aggressive decks can incorporate are going wide, going vertical, and small recursive threats. In addition to these three different ideas, aggressive decks also have access to cube mainstays like 2 power 1 drops and spells like Lightning Bolt

Decks that want to incorporate going wide concepts will turn to creature token makers that will allow them to create many little threats on the board.



From there, depending on color and play style, these creature tokens can be utilized in a variety of ways that will allow an aggressive deck to close out the game.


Decks that want to incorporate going vertical concepts will turn to either pump spells and double strike spells.



To supplement these spells, decks incorporating vertical concepts will find a variety of creatures that either inherently make themselves larger or naturally have double strike.



Both of these concepts can also incorporate creatures with Prowess and Spell triggers that can help a deck go wide or vertical. Decks that lean on these creatures will want to pack a higher density of spells.



Decks that want to incorporate small recursive threat concepts will take advantage of creatures that can come into play from the graveyard as well as various tools to sacrifice those creatures for value.



II. Midrange Concepts

Midrange decks have access to concepts that are focused on concepts that allow them to generate value through both creatures and spells. There are a great many synergies and combos that midrange decks can run, but the focus of this next section will focus more on broader concepts.

Concepts that midrange decks will be able to utilize include, Spell Based Value Generation, Creature Based Value Generation, and Graveyard Based Value Generation. Additionally, I'll also point out some tools that midrange decks can use if they want to combine these concepts with various combos that will be discussed in the combo section.

In addition to the listed concepts, midrange decks will have access to efficient removal and powerful creatures.

Decks that want to utilize Spell Based Value Generation will seek out spells that create 2 for 1s.



Decks that want to utilize Creature Based Value Generation will seek out creatures that have ETB abilities to help create 2 for 1s.



Decks that want to utilize Graveyard Based Value Generation will seek out creatures and spells that both put cards in the graveyard and bring them out of the graveyard.



Most midrange decks will end up utilizing all of these concepts to back up powerful creatures and spells that don't necessarily generate value on their own.



Midrange decks that want to incorporate various creature based combos found in the cube will have access to a wide variety of tutors. Additionally, these tutors are helpful for finding silver bullets or generating value with ETB creatures.



III. Control Concepts

Since all control decks consist of some combination of answers and ways to find those answers, I will focus the Control Concepts on their win conditions and how they can affect how a drafter approaches drafting their deck.

The concepts that I will focus on are Combo and Reanimation. Although I'm focusing on these win conditions as concepts since they are "flashy"ways to win, winning with a Torrential Gearhulk or a hard casted Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite after taking control of the game should still be viable.

Control decks that want to incorporate a Combo finish have a few to choose from. Decks that choose to incorporate this concept have the advantage of being able to win the game relatively quickly. There is no better way to deal with your opponent's threats than by winning.



Since this concept aims to end the game by assembling a combo, card advantage spells can take a more card filtering angle as they try to find specific pieces they need to end the game. Additionally, these tools can help find specific answers for specific situations.



Control decks that want to incorporate a Renanimation finish have the advantage of being able to play their finisher earlier than normal allowing them to stabilize. Decks that choose to incorporate this concept can either do this in the manner of the Solar-Flare decks or Gifts Ungiven Decks.



Since this concept aims to end the game by reanimating a large creature, the control deck gains access to powerful removal and card draw spells that have their discard drawbacks offset by discarding the reanimation target. Additionally, spells with flashback can be discarded and still utilized for benefit.



Now that I've discussed those two concepts, I'd like to discuss a concept that Grillo touched on in his Min/Max Midrange Cube Experiment thread that focuses on using a combination of looting spells, delve spells, and "recycling" effects that essentially lets you "program" for the game that you're playing.

Decks that utilize this concept can play extremely long games as they are able to shuffle cards back into their decks essentially ensuring they'll never run out of resources. A recent example of this was the Sphinx's Revelation-Elixir of Immortality control deck of Return to Ravnica-Theros standard.

In addition to continually recycling the deck, the control player can "edit" their deck mid game by using tools that either remove cards from the game, or selectively adds shuffles cards back into their deck.



I think this is a really neat concept that I look forward to supporting.

IV. Combos

This section is less about explaining concepts and more about pointing out combos that I sprinkled into the cube. With the exception of some faster builds of fast reanimator, most of these combos slot into otherwise fair decks.

The Splinter Twin Combo aims to assemble Pestermite, Deceiver Exarch, or Restoration Angel with Splinter Twin or Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker to make an infinite amount of hasty attackers. Splinter Twin and Restoration Angel can't combo together for various reasons. This combo can be slotted into control decks, tempo decks, and midrange decks. Restoration Angel and Kik-Jiki can generate a massive amount of value if left unchecked with ETB creatures.



The Persist Combo aims to assemble a three card combo of a sacrifice engine, Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit, and Kitchen Finks for infinite life or Murderous Redcap. This combo slots mainly into midrange decks.



Then Saffi Eriksdotter Combo aims to assemble Saffi Eriksdotter, Reveillark or Karmic Guide, and a sacrifice engine to create an infinite number of ETB and LTB triggers. The sacrifice outlet can provide a benefit if it's something like Goblin Bombardment or another card like Blood Artist can end the game.



The Doomsday-Laboratory Maniac Combo aims to cast Doomsday and then assemble piles that will lead to an immediate win with Laboratory Maniac. Depending on the board state and the answers the opponent has, counterspells and or protection spells can be used to protect the Laboratory Maniac.



The Reanimator Combo aims to put a creature in the graveyard and then cheat it into play with a reanimation spell. This is different from a Control Deck using reanimation as a tool as a dedicated reanimator deck doesn't really care much about controlling the game and is more concerned with getting it's game ending threat as quickly as possible.

 

[Fulcrum]

January 13th, 2017 Update Continued

Alright, now that the new in depth cube description is done, here is a bulleted list of all of the things I did.

• Purged the remnants of Human Tribal
• Rebalanced the aggressive creatures to emphasize creatures that can pump themselves or grow larger organically
• Added additional White and Blue Prowess creatures to get add another angle to aggressive and tempo decks
• Added cards from that'll help with what I'll be calling A.I. control as detailed in Grillo's cube blog here
• Expanded the Gold Section by 1 per guild
• Added new cards from Aether Revolt

I feel like these changes on a whole will make the format better and along with the emphasis on concepts rather than decks or archetypes will make for a better experience.

The Human Tribal themes were purged mainly because it was leading to confusion and was under supported. I don't think this cube is at a place where I want to go super deep on tribal interactions so those cards ended up going.

The removal of Human Tribal opened the door for a reemphasis on creatures that can grow themselves for aggressive decks. In addition to things like Steppe Lynx and Ashling the Pilgrim that either grow easily or can make themselves larger with mana investments, a whole slew of prowess creatures was added. In addition to pumping themselves, these prowess creatures have synergies with spells that produce tokens, allow Jeskai Ascendancy to focus less on token making spells, and hopefully plant the seeds of a UWx spell decks that are similar to URx spell decks.

I'm excited about the addition of cards like Gaea's Blessing that'll help to sow the seeds for a new kind of control deck that seeks to selectively recycle the graveyard. Logic Knot, Death Rattle, and Murderous Cut are some nice tools that were added that play well with Elixir of Immortality while avoiding the sheer power of Treasure Cruise and Dig Through Time.

Last but not least, here are the cards I'm looking at from Aether Revolt.



Solemn Recruit - I like that this card plays well both with pump spells and sacrifice outlets. It also hits the target of emphasizing creatures that grow for aggressive decks.

Baral, Chief of Compliance - I like that this is an early drop for control that can improve mana efficiency and card quality. I like that this is a looter that doesn't necessarily slot into a dedicated reanimator deck. I can see the solar-flare style control deck liking this card undone.

Glint-Sleeve Siphoner - I like that this is an aggressive Dark Confidant variant with evasion. I like that it encourages you to attack and doesn't rely on you or your opponent being hellbent.

Yahenni, Undying Partisan - As others stated in the Aether Revolt thread, a Nantuko Husk variant that is up to modern day power levels. Haste on a black creature is welcome as well.

Kari Zev, Skyship Raider - This is a neat red card that has both evasion and an albeit limited token producer. I anticipate this card will play well with pump and double strike spells as well as producing a token that can be sacrificed to Carrion Feeder or Goblin Bombardment.

Renegade Rallier - I'm excited to play this card with Birthing Pod

Walking Ballista - I'm excited for more colorless creatures that can be played along different points of the curve depending on how far into a game you are.

Alright, I think that's everything. Thanks for bearing with me and my card images. I'm starting to brainstorm a peasant cube as a foray into low power cubing and non-singleton cubing. I think I want the manabase to be 20 Bouncelands, 10 gainlands, and 10 vivid lands. Maybe I'll make a thread for that once it's done or before then to brainstorm. Once again, I look forward to your posts!

 

[Fulcrum]

Protection on a Stick
This is a pretty basic thought I've been having. I want to provide decks that want to combo out with a double strike creature access to protection so that they don't get blown out by removal. Cards like Emerge Unscathed and Shelter seem risky to play, feel unexciting while drafting, and kind of have narrow uses. This led me to try to find creatures that can help protect creatures and am looking into input on some of these cards.



Some of these are obviously much stronger than others, namely Mother of Runes and Selfless Spirit which are already in the cube.

Eight-and-a-Half-Tails seems super mana intensive but if you get access to that much mana, it feels like it can run away with a game. The WW cost seems like a beating in a deck that might want to dip into a third color.

Benevolent Bodyguard Seems interesting as a one time use Mother of Runes. It seems interesting with effects like Reveillark, Alesha, Who Smiles at Death, and Saffi Eriksdotter. Being a 1/1 that doesn't do much until you can combo seems not good though.

Hedron Field Purists probably isn't good since it's mana intensive and doesn't protect from Doom Blade type spells but I'd thought I'd throw it into the discussion just to be thorough. Maybe Wild Defiance is just a better version of this effect.

Void Grafter takes up a multicolor slot and is 3 mana, but the flash is nice and the body is not bad. I've never played with it but it seems kind of interesting.

Another thing about most of these cards are that they are onboard tricks which have pluses and minuses compared to other the instants. It feels like these creatures can make playing against removal feel much more fair. On the other hand, taking away hidden information and the whole mind game of bluffing a protection spell seems like it could be less fun for the player that's trying to combo off.

Lastly, since these guys are all creatures they can at least get in for chip shots if they're all you have. They won't rot in your hand like a top decked Shelter would.

 

[Fulcrum]

February 21st Updates and Draft
I had the opportunity to do some drafts with my cube so I made some changes in preparation for that. Here are some of the biggest ones.

• I removed all of the infinite combos (Splinter Twin and Anafenza) in anticipation of people not familiar with them drafting this cube. I didn't want the drafters to be blindsided. My playgroup seems ok with them so they'll probably be coming back in.
• Added support for Show and Tell and Sneak Attack. My playgroup likes doing kind of broken things and these cards are able to feel "broken" without immediately ending the game by carefully curating the targets.
• Added support for an artifact deck. This included added both Tezzerets, the 4 blue signets, and Chrome Mox + Mox Diamond. The fast mana will be kept on eye on but so far they haven't proved to be degenerate. I'll keep an eye out to see if they're warping the format and if they're supporting Tezzeret enough.

We did two drafts yesterday with 4 people each. We decided to do 4 packs 15 so we could see more cards. The decklists are under the spoilers tabs below.

Spoiler: Draft One

UW Control 2-0

This deck went 2-0 in the first draft. It straddles the line between Control and Midrange and incorporates artifact synergies with Stoneforge Mystic and a black splash for Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas. The drafter remarked that this deck felt like it wanted to be a blink deck and wanted more of those effects. Monastery Mentor and Batterskull can make a plethora of Monk Tokens. It defeated the GB graveyard deck and the Grixis control deck.




GB Graveyard 1-1

This next deck was everyone's favorite and probably the most creative deck of the night. It has countless interlocking synergies that take advantage of the graveyard. The deck could shift between Aggro and Midrange on a dime depending on the matchup.

Among the most explosive starts were playing Lotleth Troll, discarding Bloodghast, triggering landfall on the Bloodghast which was followed up by playing a Strangleroot Geist and then an Innocent Blood to trigger the geist's undying. On the flip side, the deck was also content to grind out games by making a multitude of tokens with Haunted Dead and giant Centaur Vinecrashers. This deck also made excellent use of the grave pulses it drafted.

This deck literally ran out of gas against the UW deck as the UW deck won mainly by waiting for the GB deck to mill itself. It defeated the Naya Aggro deck and lost to the UW control deck.



Grixis Control 1-1

This deck was a grixis control deck thas was basically counterspells, removal, and some value creatures. The deck was able to leverage the graveyard with caards like Snapcaster Mage, Mystical Teachings and Torrential Gearhulk. It defeated the Naya Aggro deck and lost to the UW control deck.



Naya Aggro 0-2

This was the deck I drafted. During the draft I felt a lot of tension about whether I should go into a strategy that would focus on growing a big threat with things like Berserk or more of a go wide strategy that focused on tokens. The deck ended up feeling slow but I think that might have to do more with how I played rather than the deck. I kept some land heavy hands and ended up running out of gas against the other decks. Additionally, I had several slow starts courtesy of the manlands! Against the GB graveyard deck there were games where they were able to be more aggressive than I was. Against the Grixis Control deck, I got in for a good chunk of damage but the deck ended up stabilizing. This deck lost to the GB graveyard deck and the Grixis Control deck.

Ranger of Eos into Reckless Bushwhacker + Legion Loyalist led to super explosive turns in some of the extra games we played.

Spoiler: Draft Two

Four Color Reanimator 3-0

This deck was a UR Reanimator deck that splashed black and White for its renaimation spells. It used spells like Faithless Looting, Tormenting Voice, and Cathartic Reunion to filter draws and get large creatures into the graveyard. It utilized the bigger reanimation spells so it was nice to see that they were playable. This deck beat Abzan midrange, Jund Aggro, and Laboratory Maniac-Doomsday Combo.



Jund Aggro 2-1

This was the drafter's first time cubing so that was neat. They drafted a Jund Aggro deck that had some disruptive elements in Thoughtseize and Champion of Lambholt. Burn Spells and Double Strike Spells provided both reach and removal. This deck was victorious against Abzan Midrange and Doomsday-Laboratory Maniac Combo and was defeated by Four Color Reanimator.



Abzan Midrange 1-2

This deck made good use of the graveyard as well as being to produce an absurd number of tokens. There were interesting situations with this deck that included tokens not being able to block lethal because of a large Champion of Lambholt as well as an interesting dance between Darkblast and Deathrite Shaman. This deck lost to Four Color Reanimator and Jund Aggro and beat Doomsday-Laboratory Maniac Combo.



Doomsday-Laboratory Maniac Combo 0-3

This was the deck I drafted and it was probably one of the funnest decks I've ever drafted. I didn't win any matches but I was able to take a game from each of my opponents. I discovered that Crucible of Worlds + Attunement make an insane draw engine. Attunment and Frantic Search were both extremely useful when comboing off as they're essentially free. I made the blunder of not playing Jace, Architect of Thought agains the deck with all the tokens and I should've probably played it in general. I feel like this deck could've used a touch more interaction. I really wanted a wrath effect but I never got passed one. This deck lost to Four Color Reanimator, Jund Aggro, and Abzan Midrange.

Some takeaways

• Aggro, Combo, Control, and Midrange all appeared to be well represented and all were able to do at least semi well.
• My drafters indicated a want for a couple of larger creatures so I'll probably look to add 2 to 3 six drops throughout the whole cube.
• The two decks that went undefeated both played signets. I don't know if that's causation or random correlation, but it's something to watch out for.
• Some of my players seemed to want a Splinter Twinesque combo and everyone seemed ok to play against it so that and the Anafenza Combo will most likely come back.
• The GB graveyard deck seemed really neat and enjoyed by everyone so I'll probably look to support it further with 1 or 2 more dredgers and 1 or 2 more creatures that come into play from the graveyard. Prized Amalgam is of great interest.
• I liked that hybrid cards made some 3 color decks nominally 4 color decks even if they didn't utilize the 4th type of mana at all.

Finally, here is a basic land count.

Draft One

• 6
• 7
• 11
• 2
• 9

Draft Two

• 3
• 11
• 19
• 8
• 9

This is interesting information to look at but it's probably misleading. Some of the low numbers can be explained by the number of dual lands a player took and vice versa. The mana seemed to be better in Draft One however.
Thanks for Reading!