General Looking for ideas on a more synergistic style cube

[Ryan]

So last night I was looking over my powered cube and I thought to myself that there were a lot of cards that either are very awesome but don't get to shine in powered cube (crystal shard, erratic portal, life from the loam,crucible of the worlds.) I was also looking at my peasant cubing thinking about redesigning in it to include cool archetypal style things like Spider Spawning when I realize that things I wanted to be good in powered cube would be awesome in peasant cube. I figured instead of redesigning peasant cube and basically just adding in a few rares that I like I could start on the design skeleton for a new cube with lots of synergy and build around me style cards (astral slide,pychatog potentially enchantress, etc etc.) while including some cool combo enablers (aluren,cloud of faeries,swans of bryn argoll) So far this is what I've arrived at for the bare bones and I would like thoughts,opinions,suggestions on what looks good, what could be added to help support, and what needs to go.

WHITE
Astral Slide
Akroma's Blessing
Morningtide
Eternal Dragon
Decree of Justice
Enlightened Tutor
Oblivion Ring
Path to Exile
Swords to Plowshares
Reveillark
Jotun Grunts
Angel of Serenity

BLUE
Vexing Sphinx
Upheaval
Careful Study
Compulsion
Mulldrifter
Parasitic Strix
Mystical Tutor
Intuition
Dream Stalker
Deep Analysis
Gifts Ungiven
Raven Familiar
Tradewind Rider
Vedalken Mastermind
Frantic Search
Cloud of Faeries
Snap
Thirst for Knowledge
Body Double
Merfolk Looter
Thought Courier
Ghostly Flicker
Compulsive Research
Fact or Fiction

BLACK
Vampiric Tutor
Demonic Tutor
Raven's Crime
Dread Return
Darkblast
Smallpox
Pox
Death Cloud
Entomb
Oona's Prowler
Rotting Rats
Ravenous Rats
Tortured Existence
Phyrexian Reclamation
Reassembling Skeleton
Diabolic Servitude
Makeshift Mannequin
RED
Skred
Imperial Recruiter
Lightning Rift
Solar Blast
Lay Waste
Pardic Arsonist
Slice and Dice
Starstorm
Squee
Faithless Looting
Siege Gang Commander
Flame Jab
Greater Gargadon
Seismic Assault
Kikki Jikki Mirror Breaker
Squee Goblin Nabob

GREEN
Alluren
Life from the Loam
Mulch
Tillling Treefolk
Reach of Branches
Eternal Witness
Regrowth
Noxious Revival
Edge of Autumn
Worldly Tutor
Coiling Oracle
Utopia Sprawl
Fertile Ground
Wild Growth
Overgrowth
Survival of the Fittest
Genesis
Fauna Shaman
Wild Mongrel
Terravore
Vengevine

ARTIFACT
Crucible of the Worlds
Crystal Shard
Erratic Portal
Mindslaver
Etched Oracle
Engineered Explosives
Mox Diamond
Smokestack


MULTICOLOR
Wurm Harvest
Swans of Brynn Argoll
Psychatog
Spider Spawning
Grisly Salvage
Momentary Blink
Kitchen Finks
Bloodbraid Elf
Cavern Harpy
Borbyrygomos Enraged
Unburial Rites
Shardless Agent
Baleful Strix
Punishing Fire
Desperate Ravings
Lingering Souls
Deathrite Shaman
Sin COllector
Obzedat's Aid
Knight of the Reliquary
Spitting Image

LANDS
Academy Ruins
Wasteland
Strip Mine
Ghost Quarter
Encroaching Waste
Tectonic Edge
Barren Moor
Forgotten Cave
Lonely Sandbar
Secluded Steppe
Tranquil Thicket
Nantuko Monastery
Barbarian Ring
Cabal Pit
Cephalid Coliseum
Nomad Stadium
Volrath's Stronghold
City of Brass
Gemstone Mine
Reflecting Pool
Grand COliseum
Forbidden Orchard
Grove of the Burnwillows
Horizon Canopy
Urborg Tomb of Yawgmoth
Dakmor Salvage

 

[FlowerSunRain]

The most basic step in any of these processes is naming the experiences you intend to capture.

You said that you want "Synergy, build around me cards and combo enablers."

This is interesting. I think the first thing that comes to mind when I read this statement is not what you should include in your cube, but rather what you should NOT include. You should build your cube so that "regular" strategies are terribly inefficient. You should NOT have a pushed section aggro dudes that can run over the decks you want. You should NOT have resiliant control finishers that can win the game in the face of synergistic combos. You should NOT fill the cube with value cards that build up unconditional advantage. The degree to which "normal" strategies to flourish in your cube is up to you, but you shouldn't be dedicating slots to helping it. And if they are still working to well, include cards that interfere with these works of strategies. There is little more despressing then dreaming up a particular vision of synergy and cool plays, then watching someone win the game curving quirion ranger > fauna shaman > civic wayfarer > vengevine and beating down for 20 while the other deck is failing to assemble its gimick.

The next step is to include lots of enablers that benefit decks the want synergy, but not brute force. The risk here is that cards that enablers often also benefit random control decks that are looking for big answer cards. The solution here, possibly, is not to include hoser level answers to any strategy.

This is not at all my area of expertise, but these are my thoghts on the matter.

 

[Ryan]

as far as hosers as concerned I'll be playing cards like jotun grunt esque style effects or even including ancient grudge/ray of revelation. things that don't completely shut down the strategy but do help slow it down and disrupt it somewhat. so rest in peace leyline of the void type effects more things like morningtide, purify the grave and possibly tormod's crypt since it is a card you can play around. as far thing I won't be including you are correct. There won't be an mono red/mono white type deck with hyper aggressive curves. No power no JTMS. Im looking to build interactive and lasting games. This won't be a cube where you will be playing a griselbrand on turn 2. There won't be any reanimate/animate dead/necromancy. I kept things like dread return, makeshift mannequin, and diabolic servitude. The fatties to reanimate will be stuff like borborygymos and angel of serenity. Obviously there will be some beatdown elements in stuff like vengevine but it won't be anything that's impossible to deal with or keep up with. I plan on trying to keep things fair and balanced while letting everybody do the things that their deck is trying to do. Strategies that are going to be supported are as follows

GY based decks (wurm harvest, reanimator, loam/crucible, spider spawning)
Astral Slide (cycling and blinking things such as mulldrifter eternal witness, mnemonic wall. also overlaps into a loam deck keep getting back cycle lands)
Aluren (just playing your value creatures for free. combos with cavern harpy/tidehollow strix cavern harpy/cloud of faeries for large mana)
Value Deck (187 effects with stuff like crystal shard and erratic portal)
Land Deck (loam,crucible,seismic assault +land denial)
Pyschatog/Upheaval

Considerations for more synergistic style decks
Enchantress
Tezzeret/Artifact decks
Birthing Pod (lots of 187 effects to be expected)
Domain
Madness

 

[Calvin Chan]

A major consideration I think about in synergistic cubes is how my strategies overlap. Without some sort of overlap, strategies can become very parasitic and I find the draft becomes less interesting. I want players who draft my cube to discover interesting unexpected synergies.

In terms of hosers, I would recommend not having cards which are near unplayable outside of the intended matchup. Though they do control the dominance of a strategy, I having niche 'sideboard' cards in a draft setting. Which cards fall under this category is up to you.

Just some stuff to think about, keep us posted.

 

[Ryan]

Very valid points. I completely agree about the hosers which is why I've only started off with a couple. I don't plan on having too many because I don't want to over do it, just enough to help control decks that might otherwise get out of hand, that have applications in more than just one place. There's a varied amount of graveyard style decks so something like purify the grave or jotun grunt will be perfectly reasonable to have in your maindeck. So no things such as red elemental blast or flashfreeze will find their way into this cube

 

[Spiderdoofus]

I have been working on a cube inspired by similar ideas. It's here: http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/gimmicky-cube-540-unpowered-themed.125/. I tried to give each color pair an archetype or strategy, and then let those bleed a bit into other colors. It helped a lot to base things on color pairs. I also decided to not make the cube singleton. By including multiple copies of cards, I think the synergies and strategies are more consistent. I also tried aiming for a lower power level, around how MMA felt to me.

 

[Ryan]

this cube most likely won't be singleton but I'm trying to get it fully fleshed out before I decide which cards I need to up as more than one ofs. It also won't be tied by color restriction/balance