General Jumpstarting your cube drafts
- Thread starter blacksmithy
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Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
There's one great one that comes to mind, but I also think you desperately need a few defensive early drops. Thassa's Oracle might be my favorite one, as it also doubles as a win condition
Made blink-friendly edits and using Whelk as a win-con. Cut Lost in the Mist because eternal Epiphany or eternal Evacuation seems like enough.
The list is very flashy. Going to be a definite draw-go enabler.
The list is very flashy. Going to be a definite draw-go enabler.
You need
“draw a card tribal” is a great jumpstart and really fun to play! it has some good options and different directions to go in Green and White as well as UR if you want to mix it up a bit or have multiple Jumpstarts in your box with synergistic themes.
also, if you are just starting out in cube/limited format design, welcome and congratulations, you’ve found an absurd and wonderful hobby!
also, if you are just starting out in cube/limited format design, welcome and congratulations, you’ve found an absurd and wonderful hobby!
It is true that they don’t fit perfectly but maybe they don’t have to. Wizards of the Coast Jumpstart decks certainly weren’t perfect either
But you can thrive for more if you wish.Sprite Dragon does not care about drawing your second card each turn but instead about casting noncreature spells. Rielle, the Everwise doesn’t care about drawing your second card each turn but instead about discarding cards and have spell mastery in graveyard.
I suggest you only switch Rielle. Here are some suggestions.
Burn spells that may also draw cards
Permanents that can draw repeatedly
I suggest keeping Shock in because it is cheap and flexible and can go into a mix with any other Jumpstart deck because you can use it in Control and Aggro. You could gear it up for something more powerful (Lightning Bolt) or something that is more narrow and more powerful (Lava Coil) but a Shock is also good.
I considered putting in a second Faerie Vandal instead of the Sprite Dragon but the Sprite Dragon just seems like a better card, and I wanted some variety while (nominally) sticking to a theme.
I do like Mercurial Chemister in place of Rielle. It's not nearly as low to the ground but those are some spicy activated abilities. The things you miss when you've been out of the game for so long.
I do like Mercurial Chemister in place of Rielle. It's not nearly as low to the ground but those are some spicy activated abilities. The things you miss when you've been out of the game for so long.
Welcome to the forum! I can already tell you'll fit in fine here.
Draw a card tribal should have Fiery Islet in it. One of the things I like about multicolor jumpstart packs is they let you play around with nonbasic lands more.
Draw a card tribal should have Fiery Islet in it. One of the things I like about multicolor jumpstart packs is they let you play around with nonbasic lands more.
I've played a bunch of the Jumpstart on Arena and I've really enjoyed it. However I've noticed a few things:
With 8 lands in each "booster" you only get 16 lands in your deck. Which means that you have to be careful about including too many 5+ cards as they tend to get stranded in hand or cast off curve.
The Arena packs only contain 1 color fixer it can lead to color screw. Most of the time it's fine, but I feel an extra fixing land in each deck would be great. That or being careful about double pips of mana in your cards.
Board stalls do happen so it's important for each deck to have ways to either break through or go over the top. My current deck has Teferi's Tutelage as an alt win con as well as Shipwreck Dowser + Read the Tides to set up some ETBs or bouncing opponents creatures.
I realize these observations should be applied anyways, it's just good deck building practices, but they hold true here from my experience.
With 8 lands in each "booster" you only get 16 lands in your deck. Which means that you have to be careful about including too many 5+ cards as they tend to get stranded in hand or cast off curve.
The Arena packs only contain 1 color fixer it can lead to color screw. Most of the time it's fine, but I feel an extra fixing land in each deck would be great. That or being careful about double pips of mana in your cards.
Board stalls do happen so it's important for each deck to have ways to either break through or go over the top. My current deck has Teferi's Tutelage as an alt win con as well as Shipwreck Dowser + Read the Tides to set up some ETBs or bouncing opponents creatures.
I realize these observations should be applied anyways, it's just good deck building practices, but they hold true here from my experience.
i ended up doing 3-4 fixers for each of my guild Jumpstarts, and plan to give players 4-5 dual fixers once they’ve picked both their mono Jumpstarts.
I sadly haven't gotten to do a thing with jumpstart, custom or otherwise. I haven't gotten out of the house much lately, (un)fortunately, so theorycrafting and Arena are pretty much it for me these days.
Ooh, that's a good find. Probably would be fine to swap out an island for it, I think, considering how many red mana symbols are in the pack and how cheap most of everything is.
Ooh, that's a good find. Probably would be fine to swap out an island for it, I think, considering how many red mana symbols are in the pack and how cheap most of everything is.
I sadly haven't gotten to do a thing with jumpstart, custom or otherwise. I haven't gotten out of the house much lately, (un)fortunately, so theorycrafting and Arena are pretty much it for me these days.
Ooh, that's a good find. Probably would be fine to swap out an island for it, I think, considering how many red mana symbols are in the pack and how cheap most of everything is.
Revised list
Revised feedback
I think you do not have enough "Draw a card" in this list. In order to draw "your second card each turn" you need to either have an instant speed effect that draws two or more cards or have a sorcery speed effect that draws one or more cards. In that regard Preordain over Opt but of course you may keep Opt because instants can be cast in your own turn as well. However I do think it is crucial you take out one Improbable Alliance for a draw spell. Maybe one of the burn spells that draws like I mentioned. My choice would be Electrolyze.
Finally there is the matter of 2-colored Jumpstart decks which obviously is a tricky design problem in itself. You need to change the rules to how players receive these Jumpstart decks or you'll end up with too many 4-colored players that is 0 synergy and poor mana bases. Can you elaborate on how you plan on giving the players their Jumpstart decks?
The Izzet Draw deck could also use a Treasure Map but which deck couldn't?
It would create some tension in the games because Treasure Map wouldn't do any drawing until it has been flipped. But as soon as it flips = guarenteed very cheap card draw through multiple turns = Bad news for the opponent. It's like having villain's planewalker getting near ultimate, seeing a suspended card getting close to resolve or to see your opponent having 9 lands on the battlefield and a Army of the Damned in the graveyard. You know doom is coming so you better hurry up.I was also going to suggest dropping an Alliance for an Electrolyze.
Chemister looks a bit weaker than the rest. I don't really have another suggestion. Either something that's 1 cmc or something that has "draw a card" as an added effect.
You could cut the Temple for a UR tri-cycle land and/or cut a basic for a mono-cycling land. Your curve is very low if you drop Chemister, so you don't want taplands but you also don't want that many lands drawn. You'll have no issue cycling them off mid-late game.
I was thinking about multicolored decks for JS and I feel like a few of the decks could be multi and it's not an issue. Something like 10% of the total decks should be fine. As long as you can pair into one color (RG+R or G, for example), your mana base should look fine. It also helps if the 2c deck is green, as that can smooth out color issues. It's really just that 3+ color setup that I think becomes detrimental as you're now likely running over one third ETB tapped lands while still potentially having mana issues. For that reason, I'd keep my low curve decks all mono and dare to include some 2c decks only if they have unique themes for midrange or control that necessitate a second color. This "draw a card" deck could probably be taken into blue OR red if you make it "draw/prowess" rather than strictly draw, so I'd personally be inclined to personally make it monocolored.
Another option for multicolored, if you're ok with running 25 card packs intended to be cut down, is that you'd run a 95% monocolored list with 10 lands and 1-2 off-color cards. The 10th land would be an off-colored land that could easily be cut if not opting into the 1-2 off-color cards.
In this case, we'd make the deck "mono"blue with Irencrag Pyromancer and Improbable Alliance for off-color cards. Our mana base would be either: Islet, Blue Thriving, Blue Vivid, 7 Island or Blue Thriving, Blue Vivid, Evolving Wilds, Fabled Passage, Mountain, 5 Island. The second list might be better, as it mashes into another pack really well, too. Depends on tapland tolerance. Maybe I'm wrong, but this seems significantly less burdensome than a true 2c deck.
God, that's a fucking block of text. No one's going to read that.
Chemister looks a bit weaker than the rest. I don't really have another suggestion. Either something that's 1 cmc or something that has "draw a card" as an added effect.
You could cut the Temple for a UR tri-cycle land and/or cut a basic for a mono-cycling land. Your curve is very low if you drop Chemister, so you don't want taplands but you also don't want that many lands drawn. You'll have no issue cycling them off mid-late game.
I was thinking about multicolored decks for JS and I feel like a few of the decks could be multi and it's not an issue. Something like 10% of the total decks should be fine. As long as you can pair into one color (RG+R or G, for example), your mana base should look fine. It also helps if the 2c deck is green, as that can smooth out color issues. It's really just that 3+ color setup that I think becomes detrimental as you're now likely running over one third ETB tapped lands while still potentially having mana issues. For that reason, I'd keep my low curve decks all mono and dare to include some 2c decks only if they have unique themes for midrange or control that necessitate a second color. This "draw a card" deck could probably be taken into blue OR red if you make it "draw/prowess" rather than strictly draw, so I'd personally be inclined to personally make it monocolored.
Another option for multicolored, if you're ok with running 25 card packs intended to be cut down, is that you'd run a 95% monocolored list with 10 lands and 1-2 off-color cards. The 10th land would be an off-colored land that could easily be cut if not opting into the 1-2 off-color cards.
In this case, we'd make the deck "mono"blue with Irencrag Pyromancer and Improbable Alliance for off-color cards. Our mana base would be either: Islet, Blue Thriving, Blue Vivid, 7 Island or Blue Thriving, Blue Vivid, Evolving Wilds, Fabled Passage, Mountain, 5 Island. The second list might be better, as it mashes into another pack really well, too. Depends on tapland tolerance. Maybe I'm wrong, but this seems significantly less burdensome than a true 2c deck.
God, that's a fucking block of text. No one's going to read that.
Read it! Enjoyed it!
However, I don't think Trilands are a good idea if you're dual-colored. It will seem like the job is not perfected yet. At least wait until the enemy cycling lands are introduced.
Instead you can:
Adding a Forgotten Cave in place of a Temple of Epiphany might be a really good idea. The deck is heavier red than blue (even if you do switch 1x Alliance for Electro)
However, I don't think Trilands are a good idea if you're dual-colored. It will seem like the job is not perfected yet. At least wait until the enemy cycling lands are introduced.
Instead you can:
Adding a Forgotten Cave in place of a Temple of Epiphany might be a really good idea. The deck is heavier red than blue (even if you do switch 1x Alliance for Electro)
Chris Taylor
Contributor
One of the issues with a 2 color jump start pack is that if you mash two of them together, you're playing a 4 color deck where half the combinations don't matter
Eg: BG + UR, ending up with a BG land and a UR land and not being able to cast anything.
Here's some solutions to that problem of varying playability:
Eg: BG + UR, ending up with a BG land and a UR land and not being able to cast anything.
Here's some solutions to that problem of varying playability:
You've got a point.
4-color should be completely off the table. When I initially had the idea for Do-it-yourself Jumpstart I pictured monocolored decks just like Wizards. Besides the already included Thriving land I would probably add a Prismatic Vista to each deck which would be equally valuable in aggro and control. It would however be worse in a monocolored deck but so are the Thriving lands.
If people go with your filter options, I would suggest these as the superior option:
Because it can filter way better. These would work in both 2 and 3-color decks.
4-color should be completely off the table. When I initially had the idea for Do-it-yourself Jumpstart I pictured monocolored decks just like Wizards. Besides the already included Thriving land I would probably add a Prismatic Vista to each deck which would be equally valuable in aggro and control. It would however be worse in a monocolored deck but so are the Thriving lands.
If people go with your filter options, I would suggest these as the superior option:
Because it can filter way better. These would work in both 2 and 3-color decks.
Chris Taylor
Contributor
You've got a point.
4-color should be completely off the table. When I initially had the idea for Do-it-yourself Jumpstart I pictured monocolored decks just like Wizards. Besides the already included Thriving land I would probably add a Prismatic Vista to each deck which would be equally valuable in aggro and control. It would however be worse in a monocolored deck but so are the Thriving lands.
If people go with your filter options, I would suggest these as the superior option:
Because it can filter way better. These would work in both 2 and 3-color decks.
I thought of that, but it doesn't let you filter from lands in your other pack
IE Dimir + Boros: Sunken Ruins can't filter off plains or mountains
Yeah, I think you're right, too many payoff cards, not enough enablers. Electrolyze in place of one of the Improbable Alliances seems like a good call. I'm not sure I like Preordain all that much - the extra scry doesn't feel like it adds enough to offset that flexibility, and IMO it just feels like a slow Opt.
I honestly hadn't thought about it beforehand in too much depth, but you're right, this sort of thing does need to be approached on a whole set level (this really is like backing my way into full cube design!). The not-fully-baked idea I have so far is two different pools of packs - the first pool would be a mix of mono- and dual-color packs, and very heavily themed, and the players would have their choice from two or three randomly selected packs. The second pool would be all monocolored, a little more generic in scope, and players would get a random pack from a color of their choice. At least that way if they're playing a tri-color deck with a bad mana base, they did it to themselves.
The Izzet Draw deck could also use a Treasure Map but which deck couldn't?
Ahh, good old Treasure Map, jank glue. This seems like a really interesting play pattern I'd like to see in game, and I think that makes it a pretty easy swap for the Mazemind Tome
A cycling land does seem like a good idea. I think I'm just a bit Standard-focused right now, what with Arena being my only real MTG experience in the past ten years or so.
Maybe a split card? Fire // Ice seems like it might be a reasonable replacement for Shock that offers some more flexible options.
I'm not sure I want to delve into packs that need to be cut down (feels like it ruins the simplicity of the 'open and play' experience) but the idea of heavily leaning one's 2c packs towards a primary color seems interesting. That way you can match your main color with your second pack and splash a second color, or match your off color and play a true 2c deck. I'll have to think about rearranging this pack based on that.