GiftsForgiven's Personal Cube

GiftsForgiven

GiftsForgiven

Hi there! Riptide cubes tend to be extremely fine-tuned and carefully crafted pieces of intellectual machinery. They typically have a medium power level, and feature bombastic plays sparingly.

This is not a typical Riptide cube. This cube has one MO:

  • Go Big!

I mean that in the 'power play' sense. Big creatures, big swings, big comebacks and big turnarounds. I'm talking Show-and-tell-into-blightsteel-then-getting-hit-with-Liliana OTV-the-following-turn big plays.

In many senses, this philosophy shares much with the Legacy and Vintage cube philosophies, as a 'best of' draft set. However, I have taken the liberty of curating this set heavily, and putting my own spin on balance. This is a cube with powerful cards in it, make no mistake. With cards like Gaea's Cradle, Mana Drain and Mana Crypt, and many more, it falls somewhere between Legacy and Vintage cube in terms of power level. It has already evolved greatly from it's initial inception, and I believe over the course of testing an experiencing the environment, it will grow into something truly special.

I will keep my personal cube updated as I go along, hopefully with in-depth explanation for the changes in the future. For those that keep up with it, thanks! I really appreciate it.
 
GiftsForgiven

GiftsForgiven

Major Update 1:

White:

In- Relic Seeker, Gideon Jura, cataclysm
Out- Elspeth, knight errant, Lone Missionary, day of judgement

I mostly like where White is, but I had both Elspeth, Knight Errant and Gideon, Ally of Zendikar in the cube and felt that they were a bit too redundant for my tastes. Of the two, I preferred the decision-making that Gideon promoted, so I ditched Elspeth. I could see myself eventually settling on the 3cmc Ajani for that voltron feel, but for now am using OG Gideon, as I like his playstyle (and do not count Kytheon as a PW, as he rarely flips.)
I have an equipment theme in the cube, and part of this revamp is trying to push the themes a bit more. I found Lone Missionary to be lackluster, so I'm swapping him out. I'm also looking at replacing Leonin relic-warder instead, but we'll see.
My cube currently has no counter to land ramp, so I'm trying out Cataclysm, yay!

Blue:

In- Vapor Snag, Exclude, Thing in the Ice, Niblis of Frost
Out- Compulsive Research, Sphinx's tutelage, Teferi, Mage of Zalfir, Chasm Skulker

This is me experimentally trying to push a 'spells matter' theme. I originally had a 'draw cards' theme in the cube (as you can see), but in practice it was just really dumb, rewarding players for doing things they wanted to do anyway. Teferi is a powerful card, but does not have an impact on the board that a 'spells matter' finisher needs, and is hard to cast. So, he's coming out for now. I added in Vapor Snag due to the lack of interaction blue currently has against resolved threats. Hopefully that'll give it a bit more sticking power.

I am currently considering adding Docent of Perfection and taking out Mystic Confluence due to power level reasons. I am not yet sold on how powerful the Docent is in cube tho, so I'd need someone to convince me.

Black:

In- Reassembling Skeleton, Massacre Wurm, Attrition

Out- Mikaeus, the Unhallowed, Mesmeric fiend, sinkhole

I do like Mikaeus as a card, I think he's fun and strong... but I also think his slot is needed for a hard counter to tokens/Avenger of Zendikar. I'm trying out the Wurm for that for the moment. I'm also trying to push the sacrifice/pox theme a bit more, with another enabler and payoff card added.

I'm not sure about taking out sinkhole since that is also a card for the archetype I'm trying to push, but... I'm not sure what else to remove.

Red:

In- Nahiri's Wrath, Siege-Gang Commander, Avalanche Riders, Krenko's Command, Purphoros, God of the Forge

Out- Searing Spear, Flametongue Kavu, Chaos Warp, Zealous Conscripts, Wheel of Fortune

This is a real tough one. I'd like to keep Searing Spear and Chaos warp in, but I just do not have the slots! I'm trying to push the R/W token theme here. I'm trying out Nahiri's Wrath because I think it's a really cool removal/discard spell, and I'm running Goblin Welder combo in the cube, so it works for that deck, as well as reanimator.

Wheel of Fortune is a wonderfully powerful card, but if your cube isn't running storm (and I'm not), then it's kind of relegated to either RDW or cheese, making it very narrow.

Green:

In- Pattern of Rebirth, Decimator of the Provinces, Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary, Edge of Autumn, Oath of Nissa

Out- Natural Order, Hornet Queen, Verdant Confluence, Kodama's Reach, Sylvan Safekeeper

Green is currently strong in my cube, and while I'm fine with that, I'm trying to shuffle that power around a bit by lessening the power of the land ramp and increasing the power of creature ramp/mindrange.

Hornet Queen is coming out because it's been surprisingly degenerate, and because the cube has finally gotten the non-broken-actually-interesting card in Decimator of provinces. I am in LOVE with this card, as it works for ramp, midrange and sacrifice strategies. It's very flexible, and I'm eager to see how it holds up.

Natural Order was too much for my cube, but I'm testing out the similar Pattern of Rebirth as an option that's easier to interact with, and also supports the Golgari sacrifice theme.

Gold:

In- Ashen Rider, Cruel Ultimatum, Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas, Brutal Expulsion, Grim Flayer

Out- Tidehollow Sculler, Pernicious Deed, Aurelia's Fury, Arjun, the Shifting Flame, Ashiok, nightmare weaver

Trying out Grim Flayer for GB sacrifice/self mill. I'm unwilling to fully commit to the archetype with dredge cards, but I'm curious: Do you think Gitrog monster is powerful enough to make it in the cube? I like the card a lot.

I'm adding a pyromancer's goggles thing into the cube, and supporting that with Ultimatum. Tezzeret is there to perhaps make artifact decks more interesting, and Expulsion is there to better support the u/r tempo deck.

Do you think that call the skybreaker is good enough for the cube? I want to try it as it's great with goggles and for repeated spellslinger activations, but I'm not sure if it's powerful enough.

Colorless:

In- Pyromancer's Goggles, Emrakul, the Promised End

Out- Winter Orb, Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger

Ulamog is too good in a cube with sneak attack. I am taking him out for the same reason that I never included Blightsteel Colossus. Winter Orb I have seen to be a bit too degenerate for my liking.

I REALLY like goggles, and am going to shove that card down my drafter's throats until they beg for mercy. (or at least, until someone finally lives the dream and copies cruel ultimatum with it!)

I'm a big fan of the new Emrakul. Trying her out.

Whew, finally done. Thanks for reading through, for those that did! Any comments/suggestions?
 
GiftsForgiven

GiftsForgiven

Update 2: Playing with Power

I recently acquired a Mana Drain at a local modern tournament, which got me thinking about my cube. In this update, I will attempt to maintain the balance of my cube, while adding three powerful effects:

Mana Crypt

Sol Ring

Mana Drain

Due to the addition of these cards, I have taken the liberty of removing Ugin, the spirit dragon from the cube. He is being replaced with blightsteel colossus, a card that I never thought I'd consider 'fair' in comparison to -anything.- And yet, here we are. Additionally, I will be removing strip mine (I like crucible of worlds for the stax deck but the possibility of it and strip mine active my turn 2 is something I want to remove.), and bribery from the cube to compensate for potential BS.

The following cards will remain in the cube, but will be on the 'watch list:'

Wurmcoil engine

Metalworker

This cube is all about doing powerful things and playing with powerful cards. The difficulty in finding a balance between the two is extreme, but I have faith that I'll get there one day. That is all for now... we will see where this leads us.
 
GiftsForgiven

GiftsForgiven

Update 3:

I did a quick draft since the change. Upon explaining the changes, I received calls for putting strip mine back in, so in it goes. I have also dropped the idea of Sol Ring, as it just feels too strong, even for this cube. (Mana crypt at least has an exploitable downside. It's not much, but it's there.)

With the addition of Blightsteel Colossus to the cube, I am returning Dack Fayden to his place of honor. He was initially cut due to the frankly ridiculous Sphinx's tutelage, but since that got cut itself, he shouldn't be a problem. Ral Zarek is looking a bit weak atm, he may be replaced for Prophetic Bolt (or more likely, the new U/R walker from Kaladesh, if she's good enough)

I am currently trying to find a cut for Eldrazi Displacer, and having trouble doing so.

I am currently trying to figure out what to do with Golgari in my cube. I like where most of the color pairs are at, but this one just seems like a mess, and I'm kind of blanking on ideas...

For red, I would like to add the vastly underappreciated tempt with vengeance to the cube, as well as re-add zealous conscripts. Looking for cuts.

If anyone has suggestions, let me know!
 
GiftsForgiven

GiftsForgiven

Update 4: There's a Conspiracy Afoot...


With this update, we look at cards from conspiracy, tweaking white and blue, and increasing the size of the cube slightly!

White:

In-



Out-



Blue:

In-



Out-



Black:

In-



Out-



Red:

In-



Out-





Green:

In-



Lands:

In-



Multicolored:

In-



Out-



Conspiracies:

In-



For some reason, the images aren't working properly. The missing conspiracies are Sovereign's Realm and Summoner's Bond.

----

Those are the changes for now, a detailed explanation of said changes will hopefully be up by later tonight. Thanks for looking!
 
GiftsForgiven

GiftsForgiven

Hi guys! I know this cube type isn't particularly popular in these parts, but I figured I'd give you a little update in preparation for my big turnover of my more 'riptidian' cube.

This cube is basically my version of the MTGO-style 'best-of' cube. It's slightly higher in power than Legacy Cube (with the likes of Mana Drain and Mana Crypt probably being the cards to top out the power band) and promises a fun experience drafting some of the stronger cards Magic has ever given us... all in a reasonably balanced draft environment with a well-managed power band! Also, foils. Most of the cube is foiled (Probably about 85% of it, I'd say.) In general, at this point, all additions are foiled, and all additions are in-hand when I post them.

Out:



In:



Because of the foily nature of the cube, and the stringent requirements for entry, I usually update the thing when something like a Masters set comes out, and lets me pick up new foils for the cube on the cheap (thanks, MM3!).

Voice of Resurgence and Kitchen Finks are both wonderful cards, and also happen to fill similar spots. They are both great for Birthing Pod, and gum up the board. Finks hoses aggressive decks and Red decks, while also being a bounce piece to the Brago blink deck. Voice of Resurgence hoses Blue decks much more, and does not fit in Brago. I don't think Brago really needs finks to be a top-tier deck in this format, and it'll be nice to see aggressive decks getting another tool to bring blue decks to heel! Plus, you know... it's sooo pretty!

Stratus Dancer is a card that I personally like, but after picking up a cheap Phantasmal Image, I was forced to concede that Image fits this cube much better. So many people are doing powerful things, and image can, in the right situation, act as a 'catch up' mechanism for a deck that maybe couldn't ramp quite as hard, or combo off quite as early as their opponent. Solid card, I am quite looking forward to playing with it!

Mystic Snake is a classic, but I wanted blue/green to have a more aggressive, value-oriented option open to them. Trying out a foil Shardless Agent. If it doesn't work, we can always swap back!

This cube has Swords in it. It also has Stoneforge Mystic. It does not also need Relic Seeker. The decks that were able to draft both had a ludicrous amount of redundancy, and proved to be unfun to play against due to their ability to just grab whatever pro-X they needed every game. Selfless Spirit may seem like a weak card to some, but this guy is an absolute monster. In practice, an aggressive flyer that can save another creature from destruction is a perfect fit for aggressive white decks...

Yaheeni's Expertise is big, it's bombastic, and it's so much more interesting than Languish! The -3/-3 instead of -4/-4 means that White top-end cards like Brimaz and Resto Angel get to be a bit stickier.

Overall? White aggro got a substantial boost in this patch. RDW should also perform slightly better.

Planned Updates: Adding Fatal Push, when I get a foil. Same for Smuggler's Copter and Baral, Chief of Compliance. Also planning on filling out Blue's creature curve a bit, probably with the efficient serendib efreet.

Thanks for reading, if you got this far! I know these 'all-star' cubes aren't really what this forum is about, but there really is great pleasure to be had in playing powerful magic- even if the archetypes are a little more general and 'value-drafting' is a top-tier strategy :p
 
Nanonox

Nanonox

I'm liking these changes!

I think that I would love to have both Mystic Snake and Shardless Agent. Any thoughts of ditching Kiora's Follower for one? Follower is good with Utopia Sprawl and Birthing Pod and some other cards, but most of the time, it's a fragile 2 color accelerator.

For the future, I think Serendib Efreet is worth it, but I'm less convinced with Fatal Push. I like Snuff Out, Dismember and Muderous Cut better as cheap removal. Baral and Copter should be solid additions too.
 
GiftsForgiven

GiftsForgiven

Nanonox said:
I'm liking these changes!

I think that I would love to have both Mystic Snake and Shardless Agent. Any thoughts of ditching Kiora's Follower for one? Follower is good with Utopia Sprawl and Birthing Pod and some other cards, but most of the time, it's a fragile 2 color accelerator.

For the future, I think Serendib Efreet is worth it, but I'm less convinced with Fatal Push. I like Snuff Out, Dismember and Muderous Cut better as cheap removal. Baral and Copter should be solid additions too.
Click to expand...


I took a look at my cube, and I'm actually pretty okay with tossing Kiora's Follower instead of Mystic Snake. 99% of the time, Follower is just a voyaging satyr, and that's already in the cube! Great catch, thanks!

You may be right about Fatal Push. I think I might be blinded by it's prowess in constructed :p

I'm certainly not shelling what it's currently going for atm, so that's kind of on the backburner. Not sure what I would cut for another removal spell, anyways. I'll have to figure that out, eventually... but Murderous Cut and Dismember are both mighty attractive!
 
GiftsForgiven

GiftsForgiven

Small update! With the cards in hand, I can finally post this:

Out:



In:



Most of these are pretty self-explanatory. Falkenrath Aristocrat is a great card, but B/R is much more controlling in my cube, and she doesn't quite fit. Mystical Tutor, likewise, is kind of just filler in this cube. Memory Lapse is a wonderful card, but I needed to cut something for Baral, and that was it!

Villainous Wealth is a card that I've been wanting to try for ages. I don't really have a cut for it atm, so I'm just going to jam it for testing!
 
Nanonox

Nanonox

I like most of these includes, but taking out the Grafted Wargear baffles me. It's been one of the stronger equipments for me, even at high power. The fact you can curve out 1 drop, 2 drop, Wargear and swing puts real pressure on the opponent. It also fits well in token decks that can use extra boosts and sometimes works in a sacrifice deck.

Looking at your list, I'd much rather shave off an Isochron Specter (especially after cutting 2 targets for it) which is more conditional and slow. How has Wargear played out for you?

Second one I'm not too keen on is cutting Mystical Tutor. It's not exactly stellar, but what it does for cube is pretty important I think. It gives consistency to some archetypes that desperately need it. It's your second Life from the Loam, Show and Tell, Through the Breach, Bonfire of the Damned (!), Wrath, Cryptic, etc...
Now if you are not looking for that level of consistency, that I can understand. But if not, I would try and cut something else.

My 2 cents :)
 
GiftsForgiven

GiftsForgiven

Nanonox said:
I like most of these includes, but taking out the Grafted Wargear baffles me. It's been one of the stronger equipments for me, even at high power. The fact you can curve out 1 drop, 2 drop, Wargear and swing puts real pressure on the opponent. It also fits well in token decks that can use extra boosts and sometimes works in a sacrifice deck.

Looking at your list, I'd much rather shave off an Isochron Specter (especially after cutting 2 targets for it) which is more conditional and slow. How has Wargear played out for you?

Second one I'm not too keen on is cutting Mystical Tutor. It's not exactly stellar, but what it does for cube is pretty important I think. It gives consistency to some archetypes that desperately need it. It's your second Life from the Loam, Show and Tell, Through the Breach, Bonfire of the Damned (!), Wrath, Cryptic, etc...
Now if you are not looking for that level of consistency, that I can understand. But if not, I would try and cut something else.

My 2 cents :)
Click to expand...


I cut Wargear mostly due to the extra redundancy with the swords, and because it's pretty strong... but now that you mention it, Isochron scepter does look much worse w/o Memory Lapse/Mystical tutor.

On the subject of Mystical Tutor, I really don't want to cut it. Same for Memory Lapse, but I just don't see other options. It doesn't help that I'm a deep blue mage, so I just love every blue card. It makes it really difficult to make educated, well thought out cuts. What would you cut for these two cards, if this was your cube?
 
Nanonox

Nanonox

I agree that Wargear is brutal Chris. However, since the goal of this cube is to go big, it seems like a nice fit!

Cutting 2 cards from your blue section is real tough. If it were my cube I would probably cut Crystal Shard just because it seems slow in your kind of environment (could be wrong here).
The other card I'm less of a fan of is Arcane Savant (too broken for my tastes). But swapping him for Memory Lapse doesn't make much sense. So I guess I would go:
Crystal Shard -> Mystical Tutor
Arcane Savant -> Other 5 drop
And keep Memory Lapse out.
 
GiftsForgiven

GiftsForgiven

Nanonox said:
I agree that Wargear is brutal Chris. However, since the goal of this cube is to go big, it seems like a nice fit!

Cutting 2 cards from your blue section is real tough. If it were my cube I would probably cut Crystal Shard just because it seems slow in your kind of environment (could be wrong here).
The other card I'm less of a fan of is Arcane Savant (too broken for my tastes). But swapping him for Memory Lapse doesn't make much sense. So I guess I would go:
Crystal Shard -> Mystical Tutor
Arcane Savant -> Other 5 drop
And keep Memory Lapse out.
Click to expand...


Funny thing: Crystal Shard is actually banannas. It just taxes your opponent for 1 the entire game. They can't tap out, ever, or they suffer a tempo loss. That means that Green can't tap out for a large creature, etc...

It's quite good.

I actually haven't seen Arcane Savant do any broken things, yet! Crazy, right? I thought I'd see something nutso before now, but It hasn't really occurred.

Okay, scepter and memory lapse are out. I need one more cut... Maybe cut a 4 drop creature, or Deceiver Exarch? It weakens the Splinter Twin combo a bit, but it may be necessary. Maybe I cut Impulse? Or Deep Analysis?

Also: If Villainous Wealth works out, I am further considering adding in Palinchron and Heartbeat of Spring to the cube.
 
GiftsForgiven

GiftsForgiven

Chris Taylor said:
Wait, so your justification for crystal shard is that it's stone rain?
Click to expand...


Kind of. It's got multiple aspects to it.The blink deck is perfectly happy bouncing it's own creature to crystal shard, and you can force your opponent to pay 2 by EOT activating shard, then doing it again on your turn. It's a soft tempo piece, and enabler for the blink deck. Maybe that's still not enough to justify it, though? What do you think?
 
Fulcrum

Fulcrum

I really like blue cards. They're my absolute favorite to play. If I had to cut a card from the section, I would choose Vapor Snag and keep Mystical Tutor in. Going through the rest of your blue section, it seems like it would contribute the least. Riftwing Cloudskate, Man-o'-War, Waterfront Bouncer, Crystal Shard, and Into the Roil provide redundant bounce effects while Mystical Tutor gives consistency to other archetypes that rely on having a very specific instant or sorcery as mentioned by Nanonox above.

I think your tempo decks have enough support between the flash creatures and cards like Force Spike, Daze, and Force of Will. My next least favorite card is Riftwing Cloudskate. It seems like a long investment for an effect that's more easily available through other cards. It hits any permanent but the investment still seems like too much to me.
 
GiftsForgiven

GiftsForgiven

Fulcrum said:
I really like blue cards. They're my absolute favorite to play. If I had to cut a card from the section, I would choose Vapor Snag and keep Mystical Tutor in. Going through the rest of your blue section, it seems like it would contribute the least. Riftwing Cloudskate, Man-o'-War, Waterfront Bouncer, Crystal Shard, and Into the Roil provide redundant bounce effects while Mystical Tutor gives consistency to other archetypes that rely on having a very specific instant or sorcery as mentioned by Nanonox above.

I think your tempo decks have enough support between the flash creatures and cards like Force Spike, Daze, and Force of Will. My next least favorite card is Riftwing Cloudskate. It seems like a long investment for an effect that's more easily available through other cards. It hits any permanent but the investment still seems like too much to me.
Click to expand...


I like the vapor snag swap, that's what I'm going to go with! Thanks for the suggestion.

I think you'd be surprised by Riftwing Cloudskate. The card is an unexpected beating- in fact, I think that in the second-to-most-recent version of the Holiday (Vintage) cube, Cloudskate had the highest win percentage after the Power 9! You aren't wrong about there being a LOT of redundancy in terms of bounce effects. That's mostly there to allow blue to temper the 'fatty cheat' decks like Sneak and Show, and Artifact Reanimator.

Chris Taylor said:
I mean I haven't run the card in a literal decade, but my list is agressive as hell.

I feel like if you wanted a colorless blink card, Conjurer's Closet would work better. Why people Love venser and don't love that card is beyond me.
Click to expand...


It's really the flexibility of the card that I appreciate, something that Conjurer's Closet doesn't have. It's entirely possible that I'll replace the card eventually. There are a few new artifacts, like Panharmonicon, that I'm sorely tempted to try out...
 
GiftsForgiven

GiftsForgiven

Oh man... I think I'm going to have to turn this cube into a powered one. Just bit the bullet and purchased a set of artist-proof alters! The Moxen will be by Dan Frazier himself, the Ancestral by Mark Poole, the Time Walk by Amy Weber and the Lotus and Timetwister by Volkan Baga!

I will post pictures of them after GP Vegas, when I pick the lot up! The Moxen are already complete, though:

.eJwFwdsNwyAMAMBdGADX2LyyTIXAIlRJiYD0p-ruvfuqexxqU_ta19wASpu5j6Ln6iNV0bX3eki62tS5n5DWSnk_5b0mmECMkckxGW-NYwQTI9mI6Lxx9oHkAwzJ0j5SnuhiRPbOEjMFG_Trkqp-f7sAJyw.Nww7gomJQ6cJ0aWZu9VzVvF9sDU
 
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