OCPunisher's cube

[OCPunisher]

http://cubetutor.com/cubeblog/250

More details to follow.

 

[Jason Waddell]

Hey, thanks for posting here. Let us know if you have any specific ideas or design issues you're dealing with. As a general rule here the cube list threads don't get much activity unless the author is actively seeking discussion or help with ideas, so don't feel bad if this is a bit of tumbleweeds in the meantime.

 

[Laz]

I had a quick look over your list, looks pretty normal for a singleton reasonably high powered cube (as though that means anything).

What is working? What isn't being drafted? What do you want your drafters to be doing?
How are the Black aggro cards working out? They look pretty weak and unsupported. Sarcomancy and Carnophage are not traditionally the strongest cards to pick up.

 

[OCPunisher]

I had a quick look over your list, looks pretty normal for a singleton reasonably high powered cube (as though that means anything).

What is working? What isn't being drafted? What do you want your drafters to be doing?
How are the Black aggro cards working out? They look pretty weak and unsupported. Sarcomancy and Carnophage are not traditionally the strongest cards to pick up.

This has only been a cube for about six months now.
- In the beginning, the multi-color planeswalker decks and blue-based control decks were winning most of the time.
- I've recently been putting a lot more effort into making the aggro decks better. Theros helped that effort a lot, with a new Elite Vanguard in each of the main aggro colors (white, red, and black), plus a new removal spell for planeswalkers in Hero's Downfall.

Some other strategies I'm trying to promote are Reanimator and Wildfire.
- Reanimator has worked out pretty well - there's a fair amount of redundancy in terms of fatties, pitch effects, and reanimate spells.
- On the other hand, Wildfire hasn't really done much lately. No one seems willing to force it, despite three copies in the cube (Burning of Xinye/Upheaval) and about a half dozen extra mana rocks in the artifact section. I'd like to keep promoting it because it's something else for red players to do besides just boring old RDW. I'm going to try to add Ember Swallower as a fourth big destruction spell to see if that helps any.

A couple other smaller strategies I support are Tinker and Natural Order, but those are usually just side packages because there's no redundancy available.
- I'm not willing to put multiple copies of the exact same spell in the cube.
- Functional reprints like Elvish Mystic or Lightning Strike are fine, but I'm not going to add three Tinkers just because they didn't reprint it as something else.

Going forward, there are two other strategies I'd like to focus on:
- Humans are by far the biggest tribe in my cube, with 39 creatures of that type. The next best tribes have less than half that number. I've already added Mayor of Avabruck to try and support that tribe, and I'd like to add one or two more Human-specific cards (top of that list is Xathrid Necromancer).
- I'd like to take a page out of the article Jason wrote about Gravecrawlers and Carrion Feeders and sacrificing for value. I recently added Fleshbag Marauder and Goblin Bombardment, and I'd also like to add a Carrion Feeder, Mogg War Marshall, maybe even something like a Rotting Rats.

As always, comments and suggestions are welcome.

 

[OCPunisher]

After considerable amounts of research, I've decided to further support themes of Humans, Zombies, tokens, and sacrificing. My next round of changes will likely be as follows (out > in):
- Steppe Lynx > Doomed Traveler
- Knight of Meadowgrain > Precinct Captain
- Reassembling Skeleton > Blood Scrivener
- Hypnotic Specter > Curse of Shallow Graves
- Liliana's Specter > Xathrid Necromancer
- Bloodgift Demon > Graveborn Muse
- Kargan Dragonlord > Mogg War Marshal
- Flames of the Firebrand > Purphoros, God of the Forge
- Fyndhorn Elves > Avacyn's Pilgrim
- Uktabi Orangutan > Hamlet Captain
- Steel Hellkite > Triskelion
- Boggart Ram-Gang > Burning-Tree Emissary
- Edric, Spymaster of Trest > Master Biomancer
- Lavaclaw Reaches > Blackcleave Cliffs

Couple of other things I need help figuring out:
- Act of Aggression will be leaving the cube. Should I replace it with Young Pyromancer or Blasting Station?
- Carrion Feeder needs to come in with this list of changes as well, but I'm having trouble making a cut for it (see the link to the full list at CubeTutor above). I'm thinking either Vampire Lacerator or Vampire Hexmage.

Thoughts on any of this are appreciated as always.

 

[Jonas]

Are you sure about the Blood Scrivener? He hasn't ever been able to do anything for me. Love Master Biomancer though.

 

[OCPunisher]

Are you sure about the Blood Scrivener? He hasn't ever been able to do anything for me. Love Master Biomancer though.

I haven't played him (or any of these other cards before) in my list yet, so this is theory at this point. On paper, he's a 2-power body with a reasonable ability, and also a Zombie to boot.

@Biomancer: He seems like the idea thing to ramp into for the Simic player. Edric is a good card, but green and blue are the least aggro colors in my list, so he never got played.

 

[Jonas]

If that's what you want to get out of Blood Scrivener, it should work. Also, I would cut Lacerator for Carrion Feeder.

 

[Jason Waddell]

Scrivener was a giant turd. I don't think it ever drew a single card in the couple months I had it in my cube.

 

[OCPunisher]

The big list of changes above is now official, along with a couple more small ones based on a few new cards I picked up (new Elspeth, etc).

Still working on fitting in Blood Artist, Gifts Ungiven, and Thassa.