You can't read about Zendikar without coming across phrases "potent mana", "rich in mana", etc. Folks on the street'll tell ya that it's always been that way, and it's not thanks to the 'drazi. That rich mana is what drew the Eldrazi to the plane in the first place.
So let's go back to when Zendikar was young and wild - and free of gross extraplanar squids. That means no Eldrazi, and no cards that depict them or depict hedrons.
Other than those minor thematic restrictions, all other cards are fine.
Ideally I'd like to tap into some of whatever made RoE good for drafting, but I don't have direct experience with RoE like I do with Innistrad, so that makes it tough. I'm aware that ZEN/WWK were pretty bad for drafting, so I'll try to avoid Landfall and whatever else made the environment so fast and swingy.
Themes that might be fun:
Things that generate a ton of mana, or can use it. From some light research, that seems to be part of what made RoE great. That can be obvious levelers and Outlasters, but also more exotic cards like Inner-Flame Igniter.
I don't know whether Quests, Expeditions, or Ascensions are a good idea, but there are other interesting enchantments that, similarly, can be popped for effect or charged up with counters.
Elementals are always fun, and Zendikar had plenty of 'em.
This is also the cube I'll be using to experiment with focusing heavily on a particular color. This is inspired largely by the Desert Cube, which ended up being a lotta fun to play and draft. It's also, to a lesser extent, inspired by New Phyrexia, Torment, and the Mono Blue cube here on riptidelab. Anyway, this means the supported "color pairs" will be GU, GW, GR, GB, monogreen, and G-rainbow. There should be room to mix up the archetypes, though - GW tokens should go great with GB sacrifices, for instance. We'll see.
Here's the list so far: http://www.cubetutor.com/cubeblog/22348
I'd love comments and suggestions, there's still a lot to decide! Such as: green should be at least 50% bigger than the other color sections so that multiple people can "fight" over it without ruinously cutting each other. Maybe more than that? Tell me whatcha think!
So let's go back to when Zendikar was young and wild - and free of gross extraplanar squids. That means no Eldrazi, and no cards that depict them or depict hedrons.
Other than those minor thematic restrictions, all other cards are fine.
Ideally I'd like to tap into some of whatever made RoE good for drafting, but I don't have direct experience with RoE like I do with Innistrad, so that makes it tough. I'm aware that ZEN/WWK were pretty bad for drafting, so I'll try to avoid Landfall and whatever else made the environment so fast and swingy.
Themes that might be fun:
Things that generate a ton of mana, or can use it. From some light research, that seems to be part of what made RoE great. That can be obvious levelers and Outlasters, but also more exotic cards like Inner-Flame Igniter.
I don't know whether Quests, Expeditions, or Ascensions are a good idea, but there are other interesting enchantments that, similarly, can be popped for effect or charged up with counters.
Elementals are always fun, and Zendikar had plenty of 'em.
This is also the cube I'll be using to experiment with focusing heavily on a particular color. This is inspired largely by the Desert Cube, which ended up being a lotta fun to play and draft. It's also, to a lesser extent, inspired by New Phyrexia, Torment, and the Mono Blue cube here on riptidelab. Anyway, this means the supported "color pairs" will be GU, GW, GR, GB, monogreen, and G-rainbow. There should be room to mix up the archetypes, though - GW tokens should go great with GB sacrifices, for instance. We'll see.
Here's the list so far: http://www.cubetutor.com/cubeblog/22348
I'd love comments and suggestions, there's still a lot to decide! Such as: green should be at least 50% bigger than the other color sections so that multiple people can "fight" over it without ruinously cutting each other. Maybe more than that? Tell me whatcha think!
