Article Rethinking Red

[Jason Waddell]

I've tried a lot of themes, and many haven't worked out. The most successful have been the ones where:
1) I was able to give them the space they deserved. (The design space of a draft set is much smaller than many people give it credit for. Only so many themes can be successfully pushed concurrently)
2) Are well integrated an layered with a variety of different strategies (e.g. we see multiple different types of decks using sacrifice effects each draft, and different configurations from week to week)

I think these two concepts are very well demonstrated in Wizards' products. When they go for something, they overload the set with layered ways to interact with and against that idea or mechanic. Making "the ___ deck" work in a cube is another matter. Often the answer is to push much much harder on that idea. To this end, I think CML's mill theme could have worked (or some variant thereof), but it would require a much greater dedication from his whole design.

 

[Chris Taylor]

PLAY CACKLER WTF

I am! I doubled up on manaic instead of cackler.

 

[CML]

i am skeptical of any design that has in mind the support of "the ____ deck." somewhere in the GBS thread(?) a well-respected local judge and community doyen talked about "the boros deck," "the ww deck," and "the red deck" as if there were like 20 distinct decks and 20 decks alone you could draft in his cube, and i realized i had no respect for the way he thought about cube design at all -- like ancient or contemporary literature, it was of merely anthropological interest.

i guess this might be rationalization for why i was happy to shitcan the mill theme. on the other hand, my cube is the best cube

 

[Chris Taylor]

As a wise man once said: "You can put as many people in as many boxes as you want, but eventually you will realize that either there are no boxes at all, or a infinite number" (Para)

I'm never angry when people try to understand cube, even if they're wrong. You get some strangely insightful advice from people who don't know a thing about the format

 

[spicewitch]

Awesome post man, I totally forgot about BTE.

I'd been thinking about madness, which could be a player in red with such a density of faithless looting effects:

We might need a few more efficient looting effects in red (I'm not so hot on mad prophet or rummaging goblin at the moment) for this to become a thing, but it might do a decent job tying it to blue (Compulsive Research, Frantic Search) Black (Gravecrawler, Big Game Hunter, Ichor Slick) and green (Arrogant Wurm, Basking Rootwalla, Vengevine, Survival of the Fittest)

Once you include Madness in your cube, won't everyone immediately recoil away from Smallpox and other discard effects?

 

[CML]

maybe they will draft those cards instead.

anyone tried basking rootwalla? nothing else all that close to playable in high powered environments imo

 

[Lucre]

In peasant rootwala worked great with the rug themes of madness storm and to a lesser extent spells matter / tenpo. It's super convenient to draw late because 3/3s are often pretty relevant and it's so nice to have discard fodder and free spells in the tank. It enables temporal fissure draws really nicely.

I really love aggro and madness themes in red. Busier turns and explosive synergy makes the game more exciting. Faithless Looting is really cool with fiery temper lads. I need a red looter to really make reckless wurm a RG card though.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Goblin Looter
Creature - Goblin Shaman
, discard a card: Draw a card.
1/1

Something like that? I think it's only a matter of time!

 

[Chris Taylor]

Once you include Madness in your cube, won't everyone immediately recoil away from Smallpox and other discard effects?

Easy answer: Don't run smallpox

maybe they will draft those cards instead.

anyone tried basking rootwalla? nothing else all that close to playable in high powered environments imo

Rootwalla reads: Champion 2 lands, have a 3/3. Card is awful, attacking with 1/1s is bad and cards with echo are bad. this is both.

Goblin Looter
Creature - Goblin Shaman
, discard a card: Draw a card.
1/1

Something like that? I think it's only a matter of time!

Rummaging Goblin
I want it but it's probably farther away than you think.
I feel like we want a red aquamoeba more though, maybe updated for modern times? I'd prefer a synergy beater than a draw engine, but maybe that's just me

 

[Lucre]

just give it haste babe