Sets Innistrad multi-block draft mechanics for Cube

[GiftsForgiven]

Hi there! For a while now, (ever since Eldritch moon was first announced), I've wanted to build an Innistrad multi-block cube that marries the new with the old. There are a lot of great mechanics covering both blocks, and reasonable synergy between a lot of cards (as one might expect.) The cube is to have a few main goals:

• To be extremely flavorful. I'm happy to break the 'Innistrad only rule' if the card maintain's flavor (example: dark petition.) but otherwise, it'll be only Innistrad.
• To marry a strong tribal environment with an environment that allows for non-tribal builds. ('spells matter,' etc.)

I have a few questions for you guys on this subject:

• Most of OG Innistrad's draft decks were based on multiples of the same card (e.g, burning vengeance, spider spawning, etc. Do you think it is possible to make an effective cube without breaking singleton? I'm sort of resigned to doing so for a few cards, but I'd rather not if I don't have to.
• Do you think that the newer draft archetypes (delirium, etc.) are strong enough to compete with tribal archetypes? Do you have any suggestions for split-color archetypes that go well together?

 

[Grillo_Parlante]

If you are doing a larger format, you will have to break singleton aggressively. There just isn't a density of reasonable flashback cards to support burning vengeance otherwise.

 

[Rasmus Källqvist]

If you're going to break singleton you could make it into some sort of "softer" fantasy draft set. That is, you choose some cards that are the staple ("commons") of the draft and really aggressively break singleton on those cards. But then you enforce singleton on the "rarer" cards, that can fill a function more in line with how we usually put together cubes.
Also, you should totally go through with the idea because that sounds like something I'd want to see realised.

 

[Aoret]

You've self-imposed a lot of requirements. You should start by ranking them in order from most to least important. I think you'll quickly find you need to bend some of these to accomplish the others, and it would go a long way to know where your priorities lie

 

[Mondschwein]

You could leave Burning Vengeance out. That's what cube creators have to learn first: leaving cards out which cannot hold their own if they're not supported as thoroughly as in some constructed formats where you can always play cards in multiples (e. g. Pyromancer Ascension).

On the other hand, Burning Vengeance provides a somewhat nostalgic feeling for those who played standard during the original Innistrad block, and it's definitely not as limited in cube as the aforementioned ascension. Still, you would need to break singleton on some of the more flexible (flashback) cards.

 

[Rasmus Källqvist]

You could leave Burning Vengeance out. That's what cube creators have to learn first: leaving cards out which cannot hold their own if they're not supported as thoroughly as in some constructed formats where you can always play cards in multiples (e. g. Pyromancer Ascension).

A cube is a box with magic cards in it that you play limited with. That's the only limitation, everything else is up to the designer of the cube.

Burning Vengeance was played in retail limited, so if you want to emulate part of that retail format with a card that was part of defining it, you should. How is going to be very difficult, but that shouldn't be enough to get discouraged. I very much want to believe it's different from storm, which pyromancer's ascension is about.

For instance, you could look at how both innistrad draft and eternal masters was set up to support it. A lot of flashback cards could help define a format as graveyard centered, which an Innistrad cube almost certainly must be.

 

[Grillo_Parlante]

At 360, three copies of BV should be fine. The real challenge is in breaking singleton on red and blue fb cards.

 

[Mondschwein]

He's asking if it's possible to make an Innistrad themed cube without breaking singleton and that he'd rather not do so.
If he had said that he would want to emulate the old Innistrad limited I would not have given the quoted advice.

I certainly have to agree that looking at Innistrad limited decklists and at Eternal Masters should help him.