Ryans Mono One Drop Cube

Ryan

Ryan

So I remember hearing the idea of a one drop cube. I don't remember where or when I heard about it but it sounded super sweet. As somebody who loves playing control and combo I love a good change of pace. Playing little guys and smashing can be very very fun. So I spent an exhaustive amount of time browsing all the possible one drops I could on gatherer and came up with my list. I'm still lacking a few cards which I can only imagine got lost in the pages and pages I dug through so the list isn't complete just yet and I would love input on any sweet one drops I might have over looked. I've got a few themes in here. Equpiment/Humans, Mill, Elves, Spells Matter. 1 notable exclusion is Black Vise because it doesn't make for fun games of magic.Also still trying to figure out what lands would be best for this cube! All feedback welcome and appreciated
Cube can be found here http://cubetutor.com/visualspoiler/4371
 
Jason Waddell

Jason Waddell

Administrator
Staff member
I would be interested in seeing a gameplay report from a 1-drop cube. Like, a turn-by-turn breakdown of the games. Do people just dump their hands and enter top-deck mode quickly? Is Death's Shadow a total house? How much interaction is there? Do you feel that 20 is still an appropriate starting life total?

Also, seeing as different archetypes (aggro, midrange, control) are fundamentally differentiated by their curves, do you feel like it's more difficult to support a wider range of distinct archetypes?
 
FlowerSunRain

FlowerSunRain

Contributor
While it is true that Black Vice is an extremely uninteresting card, in a cube with nothing but one drops its damage potential is pretty poor. If you get it on the play turn 1, its a one mana lava axe, which is pretty dumb, but in any other situation it is only going to net you one or two damage which is a very bad variant of shock.

Ancestral Recall is a much, much, much worse card. This format is heavily attrition based (ie card advantage is king), so ancestral is even more broken then it usually is, which is saying a lot. The same can be said for Skullclamp.
 
Alex Blanton

Alex Blanton

I see parts of Stompy, Burn, tempo, weenies, plenty of mana sinks... This looks really cool.

As for suggestions... I only looked at enchantments in Gatherer and it took over an hour. There are so many one drops in Magic!

Usually, Auras don't do much, but when the removal is conditional and creatures are about the same size, they can really shine. If board stalls start happening and equipment isn't enough to break them, consider using these.

Crab Umbra, Spider Umbra, Hyena Umbra
Aqueous Form, Curiosity, Keen Sense
Daily Regimen, Torture
Predatory Hunger, Primal Cocoon, Sadistic Glee
Furor of the Bitten, Unstable Mutation
Dragon Mantle, Taste for Mayhem

Other cool enchantments: Drop of Honey/Porphyry Nodes, Quest for Pure Flame, Reconnaissance, Hidden Gibbons and the like.
 
Ryan

Ryan

Hey all! First off thanks for all the feedback and discussion. To address a few points.
First off Jason: I don't have the cube together quite yet. Just finished the list right before I posted it here. I'm hoping to be able to finish the cube soon so I can provide gameplay results. I tried to sculpt the list to be fairly interactive and to that end I think the lands I'll be using for fixing will be all CIPT lands so as to not just have who can dump their hand faster gameplay. (guildgates,tri-lands, etc) After scouring through gatherer for so long it's actual surprising at the amount of diversity within 1 drops.
Alex: I initially kind of blew off the creature enchantments since I was suppporting the Equipment matters theme and I also didn't want people to be getting blown out all the time by removal but I think I missed the Umbra's which is making me take a 2nd look at these for sure. I think they could lead to their own archetype themselves since Gladecover Scout and Slippery Bogle are in the cube. I could most certainly see that being a very good deck but not too unfun or uninteractive.
FlowerSunRain: I don't like Black Vise just because I'm trying to support Mill/Grindy decks and it punishes them so much. I could very well be wrong and once I manage to put this cube together I'll definitely be keeping my eye out and seeing if those kind of decks are dominating the aggressive strategies because it might very well be what's needed to help them out. Ancestral Recall/Contract From Below might be too powerful their power is mostly determined by the power of the cards you're drawing so I'm willing to give them a shot for now. I also think that the grindy decks will be a bit more of the outliers in this format. Also as far as Bandage/Heal/Geistflame/Lava Dart/Engulfing Flames go I'm very open to them but what would you cut for them?
Chris Taylor: I still own my Portal Raging Goblins which were easily one of my favorite magic cards when I was younger. Also Raging Goblin has the best flavor quote to text when your opponent is complaining on MODO
 
FlowerSunRain

FlowerSunRain

Contributor
Ryan said:
Ancestral Recall/Contract From Below['s] power is mostly determined by the power of the cards you're drawing . . .
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I think you will quickly find that while this statement is partially true in a purely literal sense, it is completely untrue in practice. If there is a card so good, that it is unconditionally better then having 3-7 extra cards from your deck, that card is probably making games unplayable.
 
Ryan

Ryan

Like I said I won't be unafraid to cut them if they prove too good but I'm willing to still give them a shot in the first iteration of the cube. I mean if you're drawing a drowner initiate a ghoulcaller bell and a land it's nothing that's too absurdly broken. I honestly see glimpse being more powerful than recall in this cube. Hopefully I can have this together soon to get some actual results in
 
CML

CML

Contributor
Ah Storm World. i have no idea if this cube will work in the traditional sense of 'let's draft and play some games' or not but as a connoisseur of the 1-drop i enjoyed plucking out some of the, eh, deeper choices, and want to try them in my cube.

soul snare
storm world
berserk
plagued rusalka
drowned rusalka

i also as you can see like the music of dvorak and have at times watched my friends sing the famous aria "song to the blood moon." anything else is quite philistinish

hooray for riptidelab
 
Ryan

Ryan

There's 2 things I thoroughly enjoy in life. Cubes and going deep. It only makes sense the 2 intersect for me. Maybe it'll work and be fun maybe it won't but I'm pretty excited about getting it together. If you aren't already playing with Tortured Existence and Phyrexian Reclamation I highly recommend it.
 
CML

CML

Contributor
"those are good burgers, walter."

i wonder if tortured E. is playable under the Aegis of Waddell Zombies (Jason?)
 
Jason Waddell

Jason Waddell

Administrator
Staff member
CML said:
"those are good burgers, walter."

i wonder if tortured E. is playable under the Aegis of Waddell Zombies (Jason?)
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It's been on my list. Strong card, I don't know if my configuration is quite right for it, but I think a high-powered cube can be tailored to accommodate it. Good in multiples.
 
Ryan

Ryan

Jason Waddell said:
It's been on my list. Strong card, I don't know if my configuration is quite right for it, but I think a high-powered cube can be tailored to accommodate it. Good in multiples.
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I don't know if you've ever evoked a mulldrifter and pitched a squee to get it back but good god does it feel delightful.
 
Ryan

Ryan

Jason Waddell said:
In my cube(s) you can evoke Mulldrifter then cast Undying Evil with the trigger on the stack. Pretty satisfying.
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Welcome to Pauper! It's sweet interactions like that that make me love the format. But being able to do it over and over again excites me in ways. I love grinding out advantage.
 
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