My First Cube

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deadant2

Official Image of my Cube http://i.imgur.com/xVyoSl.jpg

Anyway my cube is here http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/36493

It is completely untested ATM, I mostly just looked at other cubes and tried to have roughly the same number of cards in similar color/CMC slots.
The cubes I looked the closest at are http://www.cubetutor.com/visualspoiler/7758 http://www.cubetutor.com/visualspoiler/554 and the Cubetutor Generic 450 cube.

I know it is probably a mess right now so I would love any help I can get.
One issue I feel I may have is that the curve may be too low, like there are a million bears in every color, but not a huge number of cards that say a control deck would be interested in.
It also lacks concrete themes at the moment, like when I look at sample packs I dont feel driven in any direction, or even have a clue of what can be done I just see a bunch of Magic cards. (Like at least me if I am drafting Origins and I know that I am going for GW renown I aim for ways to get my creatures thru and whatnot. But here I just have no clue what to do.)
And not only that but I doubt the powerlevel is at all even, primarily because most of this cube is stuff I had laying around, with some trades.

The themes I was aiming for are
  • Primarily WR Tokens/Battle cry. (I feel like this probably would work as it sits)
  • UW Control (So there is a bunch of counters, draw, and some boardwipes. But I am unsure how this deck wins. I guess Titans,etc. But I am unsure if it is good enough as it sits.
  • UR "Spells matter" (Pyromancer, Kiln fiend, and burn and draw to potentially deal tons of damage, although i have no clue how this would get past blockers.
  • GB Reanimator? (Not sure how many good reanimation targets are needed, esp considering many of them are also desired by ramp decks.)
  • UG Ramp - (Mana dorks, ramp and fatties, and possibly Edric to make the dorks into a Card advantage engine. Makes me kinda wanna put the green curse in to make the elves better.)
  • GR - No real theme, I guess dudes and trample but I dont know if that is really a theme.
  • BW - No real theme, like at all.
  • GW - Again, just cards
  • BR - Nothing really
  • UB - Nothing much.
So yeah I really would love any advice on my cube while I work on finishing it up.
 
Grillo_Parlante

Grillo_Parlante

Contributor
There are some power level fluctuations (grave titan and ninja of the deep hours in the same cube) that you will eventually want to smooth out, and the signets are going to warp the format around their presence into a sort of artifact rampy good stuff format, which you may or may not like. There is a density of ETB value dudes to really reward those types of strategies, so you will want to watch that to make sure they don't take over the format.

Your mana sources look like they might not be smooth enough for your aggro decks to keep pace with what is going to be coming out around turn 4-5. You also have some GRBS plays like tinker->sundering titan, which your playgroup may not find fun.
 
Aoret

Aoret

Developer
Basically what Grillo said. My only other advice is:
1. proxy up better mana-nobody cares if your cards are real, they care if their games are good. (Standard riptide Rx for a 360 is double shock double fetch, dunno how that maths out at 450)
2. break singleton so you don't have to run stuff elite vanguard

Those two changes are immediate, dramatic improvements to gameplay that you don't have to invest very much time or effort into. I'd do those and then work through all of Grillo's suggestions because he's on point with all of that.
 
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deadant2

Ok so would you say that I should cut all of the signets? Most of the signets? Also is there any way to proxy that doesnt end up being huge and bulky and just annoying (Whenever I proxy cards I print it out and tape it to a real card, that ends up being noticeably huge compared to real cards. I need to figure that out I guess.

And yeah I need to figure out a way to even out the power level, probably removing things like Ninja of the deep hours when I figure out what I want to put in (Ninja is still there because I used to want UB to be evasion+rewards for hitting. Stuff like Bident of thassa and swinging with a baleful strix and using ninja to put it back in hand and then replay strix. But I dont think that holds up to where most of the cards are now.)

I also feel like I screwed up with the number of 3 (And possibly higher) drops in at least red and green, I feel like I have too many 2 drops overall as well. I need to look into how many people tend to have at those numbers (I am a bit heavy on creatures, and most cubes have more noncreatures I feel and I just put in more dudes to replace a bunch of the noncreatures)
 
Grillo_Parlante

Grillo_Parlante

Contributor
With the current setup I would cut all the signets. I would probably focus on fleshing out some themes for the last color combinations. 2 drops tend to be a pretty safe place to load up on, and its usually a glut of 4 and higher drops that you should be worrying about.
 
Aoret

Aoret

Developer
I use the transparency method for proxies. It's a fair bit of work but damn do they ever look sexy. Just google "mtg transparency method proxy" and you'll find enough to learn how to do it. I think the cool kids all use laser printers and just print directly to blanked cards now, but I can't be bothered to learn another method.

Definitely cut signets wholesale, and I wouldn't worry too much on creature/noncreature balance until you have things defined a bit better. I've played riptide cubes, super lower power cubes, and powermax cubes. Only the latter tends to be particularly spell dense, the other two play just fine with a billion creatures. You can always tweak something like that later (often times it's super easy stuff like Sakura-Tribe Elder vs Rampant Growth where you can run a card that is a little bit better/worse but has the card type you want).
 
D

deadant2

http://www.cubetutor.com/cubeblog/36493

I just made some changes, I plan on finding a good way to make nice looking proxies and proxying most of the cards I just added but dont own (A TCGPlayer order came in today prompting a lot of the swaps, esp in black)

I also plan on proxying

1 of each dual
1 of each shock
1 of each fetch

And possibly a set of either filterlands or checklands, but that may be too many lands.

The bouncelands are out, the trilands are probably out (But i kinda like how each 2 color combo has 3 trilands, but probably out). And I still feel like the curve is a bit low but I guess I will have to find out when I first play it probably later in the month.
 
Aoret

Aoret

Developer
I run a set of duals, set of shocks, double set of fetches and it hasn't felt like too many, so I wouldn't be shy about including that fourth set of something. You'll probably have to just feel out what you wanna do for that last set. I like the doubled up fetches because there is just an unbelievably high number of things that shuffling your library can do for you to enable techy plays. We all think of obvious stuff like brainstorm, but other weird edge cases come up all the time and really enrich gameplay. That said, I reeeally like filterlands too so I'm kinda jealous that you might get to play with them and I don't :p
 
Chris Taylor

Chris Taylor

Contributor
RE: Transparency Proxies, they look amazing, but damn do these take forever. My cube has custom cards in it, (See Sig) but I've switched back from making transparencies of them (Just printing them on paper now) since they tend to change frequently, or come in and out.

Now I'm no expert, but there are very few cards in a given cube that never come out. Your manafixing is likely to remain constant (Fetches, Duals, etc), and Tarmogoyph is probably a solid choice, but maybe a month from now you decide you want something else in the slot you have hero's downfall in, or Liliana of the Veil is too powerful, etc etc

Pick and choose your battles is all I'm saying. A cube's not so great if you're patching it more than you're playing it, after all :p
 
Aoret

Aoret

Developer
Agree 100% with Chris here. Shit takes forever. Prepare to finish entire seasons of things on netflix just de-inking foils.

My current method for customs and cards I'm not confident on is just photo paper in front of a card. If I like a card a great deal, I'll foil it out. I also allow the winner of every draft to choose a pet card to get the foil treatment. This keeps me motivated and lets them feel like they're winning something (I also tag their name in place of the legal copy on the card, since I also do all my own renders now).

I guess my point is, you don't have to go off the deep end with this stuff. Definitely pick your battles. I did my lands first and I'm incredibly happy with that decision. If you find foiling cards to be a fun arts and craftsy sort of hobby to do occasion (as is the case with me), then it won't bug you to swap out that sweet custom art foil liliana of the veil (although you should never ever do that, she scales too well with the power level of her environment :p )
 
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deadant2

Do any of you guys have any good guides that Explain how to make decent proxies? Most seem to be suggesting I "de-ink" a foil but I just want to make normal proxies. Would sticker paper over top of a random common work? Does that make it feel different in a sleeve? Does just printing in color and then taping it down on all sides work?
 
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deadant2

See but my issue is that 95 percent of my cube will be non proxy. So if it ends up being a thickness difference it will probably be pretty noticeable, but I cant seem to find a good method to proxy non foils. And the foil methods seem kinda expensive along with kinda dramatic.
 
tibbelsandbitts

tibbelsandbitts

They are expensive ink wise. You can get window decals cheaper than transparency paper, but there is a thickness difference.
Try slipping some printer paper over a card and see if the difference is too much. They will be the same as sticker paper in terms of thickness.
 
Chris Taylor

Chris Taylor

Contributor
Honestly You probably don't even need to tape anything down, the printer paper loose in the sleeve still looks fine unless you look really close. They don't feel any different than regular cards.
never tried a sticker over a common, that could be cool. seems like a nice middle ground.

the whole "De-ink a foil, transparency cut out" etc does feel different in a sleeve. The cards are thicker, but not enough that cheating becomes a problem or something like that. Little thicker than double sleeved cards feel IIRC

As for card stock, I've never found any that are actually as thick as magic cards.
 
Aoret

Aoret

Developer
I can't honestly feel a difference with window decal/transparency method. 100% agree that the quick and dirty printer paper stuck in the sleeve over a common with no tape/glue stick/whatever works just fine. This is how I have all of my nonfoil'd proxies and it makes swaps a breeze! (I don't even need to find junk commons any more, I just swap the paper proxy)

And honestly, if half of your cube is one thickness and half is another, you'll never be able to use it to your advantage anyway. And it's cube... if people want to cheat you probably shouldn't play with them.

I see three options that you may or may not want to mix and match:
  • Pay assloads of money and never be able to try customs
  • Use shit paper proxies and deal with the thickness issues
  • Go HAM and foil your cube out with sick full art/alt art renders and stuff
 
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deadant2

Sure I guess I will just print on sticker paper and put it over a junk common. Now my only issue is that my printer seems to suck (I tested some sheets on normal paper and they seem like they have streaks. But I guess they are just proxies. Also does anybody know where I can just drive to to buy sticker paper? Does walmart sell any? CVS?
 
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