HELP WANTED! (тȟᶒ Ůῇẗᶖƫȴәᶑ Ḉụḅẽ: A Journey of Wonder and Adventure)

[James Stevenson]

I think it's much much better than Pentavus because you can remove +1/+1 counters from your other creatures. It gives this deck some kind of insane tokeny endgame if it doesn't get there with the beatdowns.

edit: with Goblin Bombardment it turns and a counter into 1 damage.

 

[Chris Taylor]

That's all well and good, but I don't think it's play 3 colors good

 

[James Stevenson]

You're probably right, I just love multicolor cards and I love jamming all kinds of splashes into my decks. Hence that 4-color aggro deck.

 

[Chris Taylor]

You're probably right, I just love multicolor cards and I love jamming all kinds of splashes into my decks. Hence that 4-color aggro deck.

Me too, but I think we might be a little blind to the cost of doing something like that based on the small sample size of our games

Over the 6 games I'll play with mono-red splash bloodbraid elf, it's entirely possible it never gets stuck in my hand waiting on green, or that I get fucked because I draw all my green sources and not it.
But that doesn't mean it wont, nor that we shouldn't expect it to

 

[James Stevenson]

Righto! Had a 6-man and then another 6 man with some chaps. One of them turned out to be Thimothée Simonot, part of the winning Worlds team in 2013. So I can no longer complain about not having good players to draft with. Anyway as always, finally drafting the cube is educational. Here's what I learned:

Ion Storm is Awesome
I drafted the RG +1/+1 counter deck in the second draft. I had 3 Experiment Ones, Stromkirk Noble, a Rakdos Cackler, Ion Storm, Cytoplast Root-Kin, Gyre Sage and other generic aggro cards. It turns out Ion Storm is the real deal. I had it with Mikaeus once, that was sweet.
Hunger of the Howlpack was ok. Ion Storm does trigger morbid when you need it to.
I still don't know about Deranged Outcast. It turns out Experiment One is human, which helps, but I never drew Outcast unless I was losing anyway.
Casting Bloodbraid Elf into an evolve guy is awesome.
I pretty much never drew Cytoplast Root-Kin, so I can't comment on him.
I got absolutely destroyed by Timothée's UB tempo deck. In game 3 he let me land my twoExperiment Ones on turns one and two, then Force of Willed my Goblin Guide that turn. Next turn he Condescended whatever creature I had and pretty soon he landed Gelectrode. I was having so much trouble evolving my Experiments through his disruption that I just couldn't get anywhere against him. His deck was awesome.
Lotus Cobra lets you cast 4-drops on turn 3. I went Stromkirk Noble -> Lotus Cobra one game. Evil played Sea Gate Oracle and I giggled as I looked at the Hero of Oxid Ridge in my hand. I think I played Ion Storm after that too. Oh man.

Double Fetchlands is Very Different
It really doesn't feel like my cube any more. I might change this. I kinda feel like I'd be happier with 15 fetches instead of 20.

Double Shocklands is Awesome but Dear God All My Lands Are Killing Me
In the first draft I picked up tons of shocks and fetches and played a sweet 5-color ramp/control deck. Since I knew the removal level was low I picked as much removal as I could and just took lots of fixing. I played Etched Oracle as a 4/4 every time. God damn Horizon Canapé dealt me so much damage.

I Need More Removal
I think two more removal spells or more would definitely help. I cut them down once I started adding Fencing Aces and auras, but maybe this is just bad. this kind of thing is contributing to the next problem:

The Packs Often Felt Weak
I need to add more good cards. As I've said before, I cut so many powerful cards in favour of synergistic cards, sometimes I open packs and I'm constantly like "wtf is all this crap?" Things like auras need to come down, I think. Equipment would just be better.

Ghave is Kind of A House
Ghave is really big and makes lots of tokens. And only cost 5. And is really durdley and I kinda hate him. He's awesome. Ugh.

 

[FlowerSunRain]

I love seeing this kind of info because I made some similar changes. I hoped to play today, but alas, we played my friends cube instead. Soon enough, I hope I'll have some feedback for you!

 

[Chris Taylor]

Yeah my fencing ace adds are all cards I'd play in non fencing ace decks: double rancor, double bonespliter, reckless charge, etc.

spikeshot goblin can be pretty loose, but I love him so

 

[James Stevenson]

Oh, people actually played Brute Force yesterday. It's quite good.

We have another cube draft planned for this Wednesday. Of course I'd want to keep playing my cube, but it looks like someone wants to bring a power-max cube and play it. He said no fast mana, but he did talk about needing to add Brimaz. Well actually it could be great. If it's fun I'll report back. Actually I think about my cube so much and hang out on here so much that I'm sick of the damn thing.

 

[Laz]

Actually I think about my cube so much and hang out on here so much that I'm sick of the damn thing.

I sense a lie...

Although I understand your point, since joining my ratio of theoretical cube thinking : actual cube drafting has been way too high.

 

[Changling Bob]

I haven't even got a whole cube to draft. I guess I could proxy it up? Then I'd need to find people to draft with who don't suck.

LOCAL EDH META *shakefist*

 

[Chris Taylor]

I haven't even got a whole cube to draft. I guess I could proxy it up? Then I'd need to find people to draft with who don't suck.

LOCAL EDH META *shakefist*

Beat them, and they will come. After drafting with the guy who drafts grim monolith + fatties each week in the power max giant cube, beating him with both control and aggro really did make him branch out

 

[James Stevenson]

Bumping cuz Bumbeh didn't notice me and I desperately want his/her affections.

Also I think the list is pretty good right now. Will be adding cards soon, just haven't really cared since the prerelease.

edit: wow it's been almost a year since I posted here

 

[Eric Chan]

make a sig so that anyone can see your list from any of your posts!

 

[spicewitch]

Bumping cuz Bumbeh didn't notice me and I desperately want his/her affections.

Also I think the list is pretty good right now. Will be adding cards soon, just haven't really cared since the prerelease.

edit: wow it's been almost a year since I posted here

There was a limit on the number of poll options! So I mostly just put in the most well-known cubes, plus a couple that I had personal interest in (eldrazi domain, etherium astrolabe)

 

[James Stevenson]

There was a limit on the number of poll options! So I mostly just put in the most well-known cubes, plus a couple that I had personal interest in (eldrazi domain, etherium astrolabe)

I know buddy, I'm just joking around Seeing as I linked to "Goat Tribal" as my cube manifesto I can safely claim that I am not a particularly serious poster, even if a somewhat active one. I hear they're even going to make me a mod! *throws confetti*

 

[Chris Taylor]

Bumping cuz Bumbeh didn't notice me and I desperately want his/her affections.

Also I think the list is pretty good right now. Will be adding cards soon, just haven't really cared since the prerelease.

edit: wow it's been almost a year since I posted here

There was a limit on the number of poll options! So I mostly just put in the most well-known cubes, plus a couple that I had personal interest in (eldrazi domain, etherium astrolabe)

Goat-sempaii noticed me *Blush*

 

[James Stevenson]

HELP!
Help me rebuild my cube.

My cube doesn't really exist any more, so it's time to start from scratch. By myself, I don't think I will ever get it done. I don't follow magic closely enough any more to find the cards I need, but I know I am part of a community here that knows everything about wacky archetypes, interesting cards, and weird draft shenanigans. So please help me!

My old cube is here: http://www.cubetutor.com/cubeblog/1461
And the skeleton for the new will get built here: http://www.cubetutor.com/cubeblog/56170

Here is my rough outline of archetypes. This is not a strict thing, but I think it's a good way to keep track of what's going and what each color is looking for.
UW: Control I guess?
UB: Control, self mill/value reanimator, Tempo/disruption?
BR: sacrifice aggro
RG: Lands? Ramp? +1/+1 counter aggro
GW: No idea... Human aggro?
WB: Don't know. Aristocrats?
UR: Spells matter/Get in, artifacts?
BG: Self mill/value reanimator
RW: Double strike/human aggro?

BUG: Self-mill
UWR: spells matter. Jeskai ascendancy?
WBR: sacrifice?

There are some archetypes I have experience with, and I want to include again: UR get in, +1/+1 counter aggro, birthing pod, spells matter, value self mill, human aggro.
Of course, they could be improved.

I'd really like to include some new archetypes that I don't really understand: Aristocrats, Doomsday, Laboratory Maniac, Jeskai Ascendancy, Wildfire, and definitely artifacts! Goblin welder or whatever.

I'd like to try a Utility Everything Draft - more on that later. I gotta run! I hope this post makes sense, but I just wanted to start the conversation.

EDIT: Customs welcome! I like simple customs that either do something unique, improve on existing cards, or crossover between archetypes where it's needed.

 

[Chris Taylor]

Man that title is Un-googlable.

Alright, here's a pile of ideas you might not already have:


Kari Zev, Skyship Raider is excellent for a get in style deck

Also Aristocrats is mostly what I've taken to calling the gravecrawler deck without limiting it to black.
You can expand it into white:



and there's been a few black/red cards to strengthen it:


Limits is really nice because the CMC on threaten's doesn't matter a ton, since they're rarely value plays anyways.

 

[James Stevenson]

Thanks Chris, there are some great suggestions there. I went straight ahead and added Rishkar, Kari Zev, Earthshaker Khenra, and Pia Nalaar.

RBW sac-aggro/arristocrats looks like it's going to work. I have a couple questions though before I build it in.
- Do you need zombies? Can this be done with Bloodsoaked Champion instead of Gravecrawler? Or both? There have been a few great zombie cards that have come out recently but I forget what they are. Since I already have a humans theme, which crosses into many colors, is it going to be too hard to also have zombies in black?
- I had a "theme" at one point where all my red burn required sacrificing permanents or creatures (Collateral Damage instead of Lightning Bolt, Reckless Abandon, Goblin Bombardment). The idea was to make burn a little more conditional, but also awesome with Threatens, and also more aristocrats-style. Any thoughts? Is this a bad idea?
- Hanweir Garrison looks good. Is it worth running Hanweir Battlements?

Another thought: Rishkar makes me want to try a green-based ramp deck. Anybody have any success with this?

Thanks for the suggestions! This is going to motivate me to start hunting down threads about all these archetypes.

 

[Chris Taylor]

Zombies is just the most powerful recursive 1 drop. Bloodsoaked champion totally works, and don't forget about Bloodghast! I run a mix of both.

I'm not sure I like forcing people down your theme with the burn spells like that. I'm all for more sac outlets, but not being able to cast the spell some of the time is less than cool. Think more along the lines of Cabal Therapy if possible.
Garrison is REALLY strong, mostly in that it's quite hard to come back if it gets to attack more than once. I ended up customing it to have menace and make temp tokens, FWIW. However, it's one of the best red sources of "food" out there!
I tried battlements for a while, and I think I ended up cutting it when someone had both in play, had the mana to fuse them, and it was right to take another line. Give it a shot, it makes for a cool "achievement unlocked" type moments, and some of the fairer titans can give it some extra life.

Rishkar leading you into ramp is one of the best things about him! He's a totally serviceable midrange creature, but can absolutely turbo your board if you build your deck around him.