Aoret
Developer
This cube is one I am evolving from an older cube which had a very different ethos. The original incarnation was based on simplicity and a low barrier to entry. The new version focuses on creating a highly interactive environment using cards at a lower power level than traditional cubes.
This cube has a focus on the graveyard as a zone, as well as "card type matters". My goal is that these themes create niche archetypes which may occur, but don't need to. Currently, the cube plays pretty well in grid draft and four man draft environments. I haven't had a chance to draft with eight players yet. Each time I draft, I find the cube to be pretty fun, but feel that something is just a little off. My thought is that there are still a lot of boring, flat cards in the cube (largely as a result of being built off of an older cube rather than a fresh start). I hesitate to make grand, sweeping changes, however, because I don't want to ruin something that is basically working. Instead, I'm working on slowly eliminating boring, overpowered, and uninteractive cards. Each time I cut one, I try to replace it with something that keeps my power curve flat, and introduces cool interactions or decision points if possible.
I maintain a list of cards which I suspect need to be cut, as well as a list of card ideas I may someday include. My cut list ranges from cards that are about to be cut to cards I merely suspect may be a bit boring/overpowered/whatever. My "ideas" list ranges from cards which are about to be included to cards which are way, way too deep to ever be included in the current incarnation.
Currently, my main concern with the cube is that black feels below average in power. There are too many mediocre value dudes (particularly at the high end of the curve). I included them because they had graveyard synergies and such, but it really just isn't working the way I want it to. I'm really happy with where I have red and blue. Both do what I want them to and neither is pigeon-holed into one archetype. Red has a few different takes on aggressive strategies, ranging from straight up classic aggro, to an archetype I've deemed "batshit red" which focuses on self-discard, to a (usually izzet) archetype based around a spells-matter theme. I have found that with the lower power level of my cube, wee dragonauts and guttersnipe are cast fast enough to be relevant, assuming you draw them in your opener. The archetype is incredibly explosive when it works, but also just gets shut down by spot removal.
It is probably worthwhile to cover a few of the places where I've eschewed singleton and discuss my reasoning, as this gives a good idea of the intent of the cube in general:
These are the backbone of batshit red. If there weren't something awesome to discard to faithless looting or tibalt, the deck wouldn't work at all. These feel like they're doing the job way better than most of the madness or flashback cards.
These are the cornerstone of izzet spells-matter decks. They do the job way better than other variants.
These guys are there for blue spells-matter decks. The main uses are the izzet deck and overburden aggro decks with lots of bounce and removal.
My go-to draw spell. It loves the graveyard and it loves anything that wants spells to be cast. This layers well into spells-matter, extort, flash, and self-mill archetypes.
These guys self synergize and create a graveyard focused green deck.
These are green's premier 'ramp spell' both to counterbalance the token makes (spells that are really dudes) and to support things like splinterfright.
These have occasionally felt almost too powerful. However, I love what they do for aggressive, recursion based black aggro and I'm a bit afraid that the gravecrawler route would be even more potent. (I run the zombie tribal aggro in my other cube) At the very least, you know bloodghast is (usually) only coming out of the yard once per turn if that.
These dudes are awesome in golgari self-mill decks. Again they self-synergize and work amazingly in this aggressive archetype.
I originally had a mix of token makers, but I found that control decks were only interested in them if they were instants. Eyes is also the only card that allows me to layer the archetype directly with green token cards. On paper, the populate deck scares the hell out of me, but I've yet to see anybody dominate with the archetype and will keep the playset of eyes in until I do.
As Jason has pointed out a number of times, these guys just lead to more interesting game states than elite vanguard does. It is worth noting that I don't include any fetchlands currently, so there are very few ways to get 4-power lynxes. Harrow and sacrifice tricks with viridian emissary are basically it.
At the moment, there are a few cards still in my cubetutor list which have already been swapped out for Theros cards:
Blue sun's zenith ->curse of the swine
Hellhole flailer -> tymaret, the murder king
Ghoultree-> Nemesis of mortals
Dissipiate (one copy) -> Dissolve
This cube has a focus on the graveyard as a zone, as well as "card type matters". My goal is that these themes create niche archetypes which may occur, but don't need to. Currently, the cube plays pretty well in grid draft and four man draft environments. I haven't had a chance to draft with eight players yet. Each time I draft, I find the cube to be pretty fun, but feel that something is just a little off. My thought is that there are still a lot of boring, flat cards in the cube (largely as a result of being built off of an older cube rather than a fresh start). I hesitate to make grand, sweeping changes, however, because I don't want to ruin something that is basically working. Instead, I'm working on slowly eliminating boring, overpowered, and uninteractive cards. Each time I cut one, I try to replace it with something that keeps my power curve flat, and introduces cool interactions or decision points if possible.
I maintain a list of cards which I suspect need to be cut, as well as a list of card ideas I may someday include. My cut list ranges from cards that are about to be cut to cards I merely suspect may be a bit boring/overpowered/whatever. My "ideas" list ranges from cards which are about to be included to cards which are way, way too deep to ever be included in the current incarnation.
Currently, my main concern with the cube is that black feels below average in power. There are too many mediocre value dudes (particularly at the high end of the curve). I included them because they had graveyard synergies and such, but it really just isn't working the way I want it to. I'm really happy with where I have red and blue. Both do what I want them to and neither is pigeon-holed into one archetype. Red has a few different takes on aggressive strategies, ranging from straight up classic aggro, to an archetype I've deemed "batshit red" which focuses on self-discard, to a (usually izzet) archetype based around a spells-matter theme. I have found that with the lower power level of my cube, wee dragonauts and guttersnipe are cast fast enough to be relevant, assuming you draw them in your opener. The archetype is incredibly explosive when it works, but also just gets shut down by spot removal.
It is probably worthwhile to cover a few of the places where I've eschewed singleton and discuss my reasoning, as this gives a good idea of the intent of the cube in general:
These are the backbone of batshit red. If there weren't something awesome to discard to faithless looting or tibalt, the deck wouldn't work at all. These feel like they're doing the job way better than most of the madness or flashback cards.
These are the cornerstone of izzet spells-matter decks. They do the job way better than other variants.
These guys are there for blue spells-matter decks. The main uses are the izzet deck and overburden aggro decks with lots of bounce and removal.
My go-to draw spell. It loves the graveyard and it loves anything that wants spells to be cast. This layers well into spells-matter, extort, flash, and self-mill archetypes.
These guys self synergize and create a graveyard focused green deck.
These are green's premier 'ramp spell' both to counterbalance the token makes (spells that are really dudes) and to support things like splinterfright.
These have occasionally felt almost too powerful. However, I love what they do for aggressive, recursion based black aggro and I'm a bit afraid that the gravecrawler route would be even more potent. (I run the zombie tribal aggro in my other cube) At the very least, you know bloodghast is (usually) only coming out of the yard once per turn if that.
These dudes are awesome in golgari self-mill decks. Again they self-synergize and work amazingly in this aggressive archetype.
I originally had a mix of token makers, but I found that control decks were only interested in them if they were instants. Eyes is also the only card that allows me to layer the archetype directly with green token cards. On paper, the populate deck scares the hell out of me, but I've yet to see anybody dominate with the archetype and will keep the playset of eyes in until I do.
As Jason has pointed out a number of times, these guys just lead to more interesting game states than elite vanguard does. It is worth noting that I don't include any fetchlands currently, so there are very few ways to get 4-power lynxes. Harrow and sacrifice tricks with viridian emissary are basically it.
At the moment, there are a few cards still in my cubetutor list which have already been swapped out for Theros cards:
Blue sun's zenith ->curse of the swine
Hellhole flailer -> tymaret, the murder king
Ghoultree-> Nemesis of mortals
Dissipiate (one copy) -> Dissolve
