The Dandy Cube (Chris Taylor's Cube)
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Chris Taylor
Contributor
I haven't heard of the place actually 
Welcome to the forums by the way! Life's been pretty busy with the wedding planning recently, so if I ever get a spare breath outside of work I'll let you know
Welcome to the forums by the way! Life's been pretty busy with the wedding planning recently, so if I ever get a spare breath outside of work I'll let you know
Chris Taylor
Contributor
It's harder than it looks
Lots of people in two different cities, different dietary constraints, schedules, preferences about venues...
Lots of people in two different cities, different dietary constraints, schedules, preferences about venues...
Chris Taylor
Contributor
There's a new patch incoming, I just need to get my cube back from my buddies house and finalize the details!
In (So Far), No idea what's coming out yet unless otherwise noted:
Condemn
Otherworldly Journey
Spellstutter Sprite (Theiving Magpie)
Daunless Corpse* (Blood Scriviner)
Victimize
Experiment one
Wild Nacatl
Master of the Wild Hunt
Wayfarer's Bauble (Some Mana Rock)
Tidehollow Sculler (Gerrard's Verdict)
x9 Horizon Canopies (Seachrome Coast, Drowned Catacombs, Blackcleave Cliffs, Copperline Gorge, Killing Fields, Woodland Cemetary, Simic Growth Chamber, Izzet Boilerworks, Shrouded Monastery, )
My last patch looked to add more token cards to green, but I didn't get too far with it since the pool is quite shallow in non-white colors, and master is an effort to both add diversity and support that theme
Experiment one and Wild Nacatl were added to lend a hand to the Naya Zoo archetype. I've found my players being stuck in Green White with just dudes in their decks, and nothing to back it up with. One possible solution is to add red to the deck, and these cards are here to reward players for doing that. It could be a trap, but I want to try anyways. It could also be bad drafters
Jason, I've taken your advice on the archetype based fixing. I agree that it doesn't make sense to unintentionally pigeonhole your drafters, but at a cube of my size (63 manafixing lands, 6 full cycles) running just fetches and duals becomes unreasonably monotonous. As my 6 cycles, I've now gone from Fetch/Fetch/Dual/Shock/Filter/Archetype to Fetch/Fetch/Dual/Shock/Filter/Mind Stone, since the idea of 30 fetches and 30 duals didn't really appeal to me.
Spellstutter sprite is an interesting enough card on it's own, but I might look into a full on faeries theme in an effort to make Blue-gro better (From the aforementioned aggro control article). I'm looking for more ideas to support this theme of aggro control being blue's alternate strategy behind control.
Some things I've noted in my research:
-Aggro/Control doesn't really operate in the super early turns of the game. Like midrange, it primarily operates on turns 3-8, where aggro is more 1-5 and control is more turn 5-10. (HUGE simplification)
-The core of the strategy derives from being able to play an aggro role or a control role if needed, and to switch between the two almost whenever. Cards wholly devoted to one strategy (Like Steppe Lynx or Wall of Omens) aren't at there best here.
-Since your role changes often, flexible answers are key. If all your removal only deals with small creatures, a ghostly prison or a deadbridge chant could give you trouble. This is typically achieved VIA countermagic, and less through vindicate like spells.
-Flash is amazing in this strategy because it lends itself so well to adjusting your strategy on the fly, as are creatures that aren't always creatures (Gideon Jura, Mutavault, Moorland Haunt). It's much easier to transition from control to aggro by suddenly swinging with creatures that weren't there before.
-The key difference between Aggro control and midrange is that midrange is split between aggro and control, and loses frequently when it draws the wrong half of it's deck. Aggro control on the other hand, is both 100% aggro, and 100% control due to the flexibility in it's cards.
The problem I foresee is that Aggro Control tends to hinge its existence on overly flexible cards, which are usually broken, or at least highly sought after for their raw power. Drafting this strategy might become impossible because of everyone wanting your cards, or unhealthy for the cube environment due to the abundance of universally playable cards.
I've also noted that this primarily lends aggro control to being a blue strategy, and might not be possible to integrate into black without obliterating the color pie with custom card designs (something I don't want to do)
Thoughts?
In (So Far), No idea what's coming out yet unless otherwise noted:
Condemn
Otherworldly Journey
Spellstutter Sprite (Theiving Magpie)
Daunless Corpse* (Blood Scriviner)
B1 2/1 undying, enters tapped. When ~ ETB, you may sacrifice it.
Experiment one
Wild Nacatl
Master of the Wild Hunt
Wayfarer's Bauble (Some Mana Rock)
Tidehollow Sculler (Gerrard's Verdict)
I make this switch every month or so with relative consistency. I keep thinking the 2 cards are more important, or the zombie is more important, or people like one more. Who knows if it'll be permanent
x9 Horizon Canopies (Seachrome Coast, Drowned Catacombs, Blackcleave Cliffs, Copperline Gorge, Killing Fields, Woodland Cemetary, Simic Growth Chamber, Izzet Boilerworks, Shrouded Monastery, )
Horizon Canopy itself was already in
My last patch looked to add more token cards to green, but I didn't get too far with it since the pool is quite shallow in non-white colors, and master is an effort to both add diversity and support that theme
Experiment one and Wild Nacatl were added to lend a hand to the Naya Zoo archetype. I've found my players being stuck in Green White with just dudes in their decks, and nothing to back it up with. One possible solution is to add red to the deck, and these cards are here to reward players for doing that. It could be a trap, but I want to try anyways. It could also be bad drafters
Jason, I've taken your advice on the archetype based fixing. I agree that it doesn't make sense to unintentionally pigeonhole your drafters, but at a cube of my size (63 manafixing lands, 6 full cycles) running just fetches and duals becomes unreasonably monotonous. As my 6 cycles, I've now gone from Fetch/Fetch/Dual/Shock/Filter/Archetype to Fetch/Fetch/Dual/Shock/Filter/Mind Stone, since the idea of 30 fetches and 30 duals didn't really appeal to me.
Spellstutter sprite is an interesting enough card on it's own, but I might look into a full on faeries theme in an effort to make Blue-gro better (From the aforementioned aggro control article). I'm looking for more ideas to support this theme of aggro control being blue's alternate strategy behind control.
Some things I've noted in my research:
-Aggro/Control doesn't really operate in the super early turns of the game. Like midrange, it primarily operates on turns 3-8, where aggro is more 1-5 and control is more turn 5-10. (HUGE simplification)
-The core of the strategy derives from being able to play an aggro role or a control role if needed, and to switch between the two almost whenever. Cards wholly devoted to one strategy (Like Steppe Lynx or Wall of Omens) aren't at there best here.
-Since your role changes often, flexible answers are key. If all your removal only deals with small creatures, a ghostly prison or a deadbridge chant could give you trouble. This is typically achieved VIA countermagic, and less through vindicate like spells.
-Flash is amazing in this strategy because it lends itself so well to adjusting your strategy on the fly, as are creatures that aren't always creatures (Gideon Jura, Mutavault, Moorland Haunt). It's much easier to transition from control to aggro by suddenly swinging with creatures that weren't there before.
-The key difference between Aggro control and midrange is that midrange is split between aggro and control, and loses frequently when it draws the wrong half of it's deck. Aggro control on the other hand, is both 100% aggro, and 100% control due to the flexibility in it's cards.
The problem I foresee is that Aggro Control tends to hinge its existence on overly flexible cards, which are usually broken, or at least highly sought after for their raw power. Drafting this strategy might become impossible because of everyone wanting your cards, or unhealthy for the cube environment due to the abundance of universally playable cards.
I've also noted that this primarily lends aggro control to being a blue strategy, and might not be possible to integrate into black without obliterating the color pie with custom card designs (something I don't want to do)
Thoughts?
I will check back later, but was there supposed to be more to this sentence?
Chris Taylor
Contributor
lol oops Edited
Edited
I'm not sure I really agree on Paulo's definitions of the terms "aggro-control" and "midrange". In more common Magic vernacular, midrange decks are the ones that sometimes take an aggro role, and other times take on a control role, depending on the matchup at hand. That is to say, against aggro, midrange plays the control role; against control, midrange plays the aggro role. Even this definition has become muddied in recent time, mostly with the advent of Titans, allowing midrange decks to go bigger than control and ignore everything they're doing. But you're right in that midrange decks aren't particularly flexible within a matchup itself. They may have a difficult time fluidly changing roles within a game, once their role's been defined.
The term aggro-control means a bunch of different things to different people, so I'd rather just use the term tempo to describe the other deck type I think you're focusing on. (Recently, I've also seen Wizards name this archetype "disruptive aggro", which I think is pretty descriptive.) This deck mostly plays an aggro role, but has disruptive elements - typically in the form of counterspells and bounce, but potentially extending to elements like discard and land destruction - that keep the game in an early stage, and inhibit the natural progression of the game state. That's all a lot of gobbledygook for saying tempo, or keeping the opponent on the back foot while your 2/1 evasive fliers get there. Speaking in broad terms, this deck tends to be favoured against control, as it doesn't give control decks time to set up and stabilize, but is usually an underdog to aggro. I don't know that this archetype is possible outside of base blue, because like you identified, a lot of flexible cards that fit best in tempo exist solely in blue.
To bolster the archetype, faeries might be one possible extension of the theme, though it could be that having a narrow tribe makes the archetype more parasitic than it already is. I think increasing the density of flexible but not overpowered blue cards can go a long way, too. I see you already run double Man-o'-War and triple (!!!) Looter il-Kor, which are some of the premiere creatures in tempo decks, so I'm a little surprised the deck doesn't fare better than it already does. I'd say to add more cheap counters and bounce spells, but again, you seem to have stocked up on those assets, too.
As far as partner colours go, I find that black doesn't really have much to offer a tempo deck, outside of Mr. Finkel himself. There's always discard, but stuff like Hymn to Tourach is difficult to cast if your main goal is to hold up blue mana and drop in flash creatures. Red is often a better ally, because burn naturally goes with a strategy of trying to close out games quickly, outside of ground combat. Electrolyze is just the perfect card for this deck, too.
Maybe you just need to force the deck once in a while, to show off its power to your cube group. In my experience, this deck is not the easiest to draft, and possibly even harder to play optimally, so it's not always an archetype that people will naturally gravitate towards. Sometimes, as a cube owner, the best way to show that something works is to throw down with it.
The term aggro-control means a bunch of different things to different people, so I'd rather just use the term tempo to describe the other deck type I think you're focusing on. (Recently, I've also seen Wizards name this archetype "disruptive aggro", which I think is pretty descriptive.) This deck mostly plays an aggro role, but has disruptive elements - typically in the form of counterspells and bounce, but potentially extending to elements like discard and land destruction - that keep the game in an early stage, and inhibit the natural progression of the game state. That's all a lot of gobbledygook for saying tempo, or keeping the opponent on the back foot while your 2/1 evasive fliers get there. Speaking in broad terms, this deck tends to be favoured against control, as it doesn't give control decks time to set up and stabilize, but is usually an underdog to aggro. I don't know that this archetype is possible outside of base blue, because like you identified, a lot of flexible cards that fit best in tempo exist solely in blue.
To bolster the archetype, faeries might be one possible extension of the theme, though it could be that having a narrow tribe makes the archetype more parasitic than it already is. I think increasing the density of flexible but not overpowered blue cards can go a long way, too. I see you already run double Man-o'-War and triple (!!!) Looter il-Kor, which are some of the premiere creatures in tempo decks, so I'm a little surprised the deck doesn't fare better than it already does. I'd say to add more cheap counters and bounce spells, but again, you seem to have stocked up on those assets, too.
As far as partner colours go, I find that black doesn't really have much to offer a tempo deck, outside of Mr. Finkel himself. There's always discard, but stuff like Hymn to Tourach is difficult to cast if your main goal is to hold up blue mana and drop in flash creatures. Red is often a better ally, because burn naturally goes with a strategy of trying to close out games quickly, outside of ground combat. Electrolyze is just the perfect card for this deck, too.
Maybe you just need to force the deck once in a while, to show off its power to your cube group. In my experience, this deck is not the easiest to draft, and possibly even harder to play optimally, so it's not always an archetype that people will naturally gravitate towards. Sometimes, as a cube owner, the best way to show that something works is to throw down with it.
Chris Taylor
Contributor
Strangely the double man-o'-war is because I cut AEther Adept, and the triple looter il-kor is because I cut thought courier and merfolk looter, so it's less a design decision and more a small (mostly aesthetic) card swap, a la Wildfire > Burning of Xinye
Though I am pleased to admit Kodama's Reach is replacing the second cultivate in my list (undoing one of the aforementioned aesthetic changes) because I opened a foil one in my modern masters box.
Interesting thought about aggro control actually being tempo. I do force the blue tempo deck with relative frequency, but it's rare to come together, and I want to change that if I can. I do think it needs a bit of tuning, and maybe a bit more support, so I'm looking into which cards really pull their weight thesedays. Ninja of the Deep Hours seems to have lost his luster.
The reason I'm looking into aggro control specifically is I think it's a decent fit for the blue aggro deck. Disruption is useful, but I'm looking for something with the flexibility of standard faeries (with it's constantly evolving game plan), and less like RUG delver in legacy (Where it's just an aggro deck with some blue cards in it). however, I'm hardly disappointed with my current blue section, I just think it could use some tweaking and updating.
Though I am pleased to admit Kodama's Reach is replacing the second cultivate in my list (undoing one of the aforementioned aesthetic changes) because I opened a foil one in my modern masters box.
Interesting thought about aggro control actually being tempo. I do force the blue tempo deck with relative frequency, but it's rare to come together, and I want to change that if I can. I do think it needs a bit of tuning, and maybe a bit more support, so I'm looking into which cards really pull their weight thesedays. Ninja of the Deep Hours seems to have lost his luster.
The reason I'm looking into aggro control specifically is I think it's a decent fit for the blue aggro deck. Disruption is useful, but I'm looking for something with the flexibility of standard faeries (with it's constantly evolving game plan), and less like RUG delver in legacy (Where it's just an aggro deck with some blue cards in it). however, I'm hardly disappointed with my current blue section, I just think it could use some tweaking and updating.
Chris Taylor
Contributor
Black on the other hand...
I'm still puzzled about what to do about black control. Traditionally the Black based control plan was to 1-for-1 your opponent for as long as you could and eventually refuel with a draw spell from blue or just end the game with something insane like grave titan. This plan isn't as feasible in my environment because of how controlled the number of removal spells is. It's hard for the deck to come together when it essentially requires you to be playing 23 first picks.
Black does have a strength of generating value however, as cards like Skinrender and Phyrexian Arena demonstrate, and an alternate control deck plan is to continually 2-for-1 your opponent and beat them to death with what remains. Sadly this is also becoming less effective, as since each individual creature is becoming more and more powerful, the second the black deck misses a killspell they just get run over by an overwhelming card like Wolfir Silverheart or Thundermaw Hellkite. You also can't really afford to save removal spells for these creatures, lest you just die in the early game to cards like steppe lynx and stromkirk noble.
As well, value creatures on your opponent's side like cloudgoat ranger are becoming more and more common, and we all know how poorly they interact with doom blade.
For now I'm adapting the band-aid solution of adapting black to imitate white's role in the control deck: (Sweepers and win conditions) by doubling up on damnnation and experimenting from there. Since black also has the potential for card advantage unlike white (Seriously, go find white card draw. I'll wait), I'll be introducing some cards which diversify what black control mages can do.
A good example of a card that's almost perfect for this strategy is Skeletal Scrying. I love that it's instant speed, I love that it's scaleable, I love that it interacts with the graveyard in an interesting way, but my god this card hurts so much. In a typical control shell where you want to use this to refuel and draw 3-6 cards, you often can't afford to even if you feel in complete control of the board because of that large chunk of your life total that would be missing. (And god forbid you're playing against a red mage. Just board it out.)
After casting that, a single topdecked burn spell or disruptive card can spell doom for you, anything from incinerate to blinding beam to vapor snag.
I'm still puzzled about what to do about black control. Traditionally the Black based control plan was to 1-for-1 your opponent for as long as you could and eventually refuel with a draw spell from blue or just end the game with something insane like grave titan. This plan isn't as feasible in my environment because of how controlled the number of removal spells is. It's hard for the deck to come together when it essentially requires you to be playing 23 first picks.
Black does have a strength of generating value however, as cards like Skinrender and Phyrexian Arena demonstrate, and an alternate control deck plan is to continually 2-for-1 your opponent and beat them to death with what remains. Sadly this is also becoming less effective, as since each individual creature is becoming more and more powerful, the second the black deck misses a killspell they just get run over by an overwhelming card like Wolfir Silverheart or Thundermaw Hellkite. You also can't really afford to save removal spells for these creatures, lest you just die in the early game to cards like steppe lynx and stromkirk noble.
As well, value creatures on your opponent's side like cloudgoat ranger are becoming more and more common, and we all know how poorly they interact with doom blade.
For now I'm adapting the band-aid solution of adapting black to imitate white's role in the control deck: (Sweepers and win conditions) by doubling up on damnnation and experimenting from there. Since black also has the potential for card advantage unlike white (Seriously, go find white card draw. I'll wait), I'll be introducing some cards which diversify what black control mages can do.
A good example of a card that's almost perfect for this strategy is Skeletal Scrying. I love that it's instant speed, I love that it's scaleable, I love that it interacts with the graveyard in an interesting way, but my god this card hurts so much. In a typical control shell where you want to use this to refuel and draw 3-6 cards, you often can't afford to even if you feel in complete control of the board because of that large chunk of your life total that would be missing. (And god forbid you're playing against a red mage. Just board it out.)
After casting that, a single topdecked burn spell or disruptive card can spell doom for you, anything from incinerate to blinding beam to vapor snag.
I'm only using the term tempo because it feels like that's the archetype you're trying to build: base-blue disruptive aggro. I suppose there is a different, broader archetype out there, where all your cards are flexible at all points in the game, and probably instant speed to boot. The thing is, though, I'm actually not sure you want to imitate faeries in cube, because faeries can be stupid oppressive and not a lot of fun to play against. When all of your spells have flash, you don't need to commit to anything, and the burden is entirely on the opponent to guess whether you have Cryptic Command or Mistbind Clique. The end result is devastating if they blindly choose wrong. It's not a model I'm really looking to push in cube.
One of the things you could try - and this is a drastic change, so I wouldn't expect you to just drop everything and do it - is to reduce the size of your cube. 514 is a far cry from 360 or 405, and makes it all that much harder to gather the critical mass of small, evasive beaters and tempo spells for the deck. There's only so many cards to go around for blue tempo, after all, and if a good chunk of them are sitting on the sidelines every draft, it's that much more difficult to build the deck, even when you're forcing it. I can tell you that the deck only comes together once every three to five drafts in my cube, which has roughly 100 fewer cards than yours. But reducing the size of your cube has a bunch of other ramifications, and I know that a lot of people prefer larger lists. It's just worth noting that for narrow archetypes without a lot of raw power, having a bigger card pool to draw from each draft can be a detriment.
One of the things you could try - and this is a drastic change, so I wouldn't expect you to just drop everything and do it - is to reduce the size of your cube. 514 is a far cry from 360 or 405, and makes it all that much harder to gather the critical mass of small, evasive beaters and tempo spells for the deck. There's only so many cards to go around for blue tempo, after all, and if a good chunk of them are sitting on the sidelines every draft, it's that much more difficult to build the deck, even when you're forcing it. I can tell you that the deck only comes together once every three to five drafts in my cube, which has roughly 100 fewer cards than yours. But reducing the size of your cube has a bunch of other ramifications, and I know that a lot of people prefer larger lists. It's just worth noting that for narrow archetypes without a lot of raw power, having a bigger card pool to draw from each draft can be a detriment.
Chris Taylor
Contributor
It's actually 540, cube tutor doesn't support the custom cards I have yet so my list is slightly reduced over there
I really am in love with the size though. The variance that comes up from only drafting 66% of the cube in an 8 man is exactly where I want it: not so controlled that each draft is the same, but not so loose that you can't depend on seeing certain cards. For those narrow cards which gain power in a smaller enviornment, I'm usually omitting them (tinker) or including duplicates (wildfire) or similar cards (victimize) It does stop me from effectively running Cabal Therapy, but my playgroup does that too by not playing all that often
You might be right about disruptive blue. I got back into magic the season right after faeries, so I'm certainly uninformed as to what playing against the deck would be like, though I have played quite a bit of caw-blade and delver in my day.
Point for point, I'm not sure the all-flash thing will come up. I'd have to reach real deep for the deck to have actual 0 sorcery speed things to do, but I'll keep it in mind.
Considering I do have the advantages of custom cards AND duplicates, a critical mass of... anything really should be easy to achieve. (The old 20 goblin guides argument) I just need to make sure that at the end of the day, it's doing what I want it to. People are drafting blue aggro, but cards I'd thought were key to the deck were remaining in sideboards, and experimental suggestions on my part were all stars.
Cards I thought were good but were really bad for the deck:
I really am in love with the size though. The variance that comes up from only drafting 66% of the cube in an 8 man is exactly where I want it: not so controlled that each draft is the same, but not so loose that you can't depend on seeing certain cards. For those narrow cards which gain power in a smaller enviornment, I'm usually omitting them (tinker) or including duplicates (wildfire) or similar cards (victimize) It does stop me from effectively running Cabal Therapy, but my playgroup does that too by not playing all that often
You might be right about disruptive blue. I got back into magic the season right after faeries, so I'm certainly uninformed as to what playing against the deck would be like, though I have played quite a bit of caw-blade and delver in my day.
Point for point, I'm not sure the all-flash thing will come up. I'd have to reach real deep for the deck to have actual 0 sorcery speed things to do, but I'll keep it in mind.
Considering I do have the advantages of custom cards AND duplicates, a critical mass of... anything really should be easy to achieve. (The old 20 goblin guides argument
) I just need to make sure that at the end of the day, it's doing what I want it to. People are drafting blue aggro, but cards I'd thought were key to the deck were remaining in sideboards, and experimental suggestions on my part were all stars.Cards I thought were good but were really bad for the deck:
- Fettergeist
- Ninja of the Deep Hours
- Force of Will
- Psionic Blast
- Opposition (Still good, just not in blue tempo)
- Sakashima's Student (Same)
- Wake Thrasher
- Cloud of Faeries (Not impactful enough here)
- Dungeon Geists (Also solid, but more midrangey)
- Kira (Oh who am I kidding this card is awesome)
- Silvergill Adept
- Faerie Conclave
- Seal of Removal
- Withdraw (!!!)
- Daze
Chris Taylor
Contributor
Thanks man! Drop by the card creation thread for more (Some should be going up soon)
Chris Taylor
Contributor
What do we think about these?
Shapeshifter Whelp
Creature - Shapeshifter
You may have ~ enters the battlefield as a copy of any creature with converted mana cost 3 or less.
0/0
Tideshaper Adept
Creature - Human Wizard
When ~ enters the battlefield, put a flood counter on target land. That land is an Island for as long as it has a flood counter on it.
When ~ leaves the battlefield, remove all flood counters from all lands.
2/1
Sphinx of the Mists
Creature - Sphinx
Flying
When ~ enters the battlefield, you may exile target creature. If you do, return that creature to the battlefield at the beginning of the next end step.
3/4
I'm also looking for more agressive blue 2 drops, but I keep coming up short. I'm going to try out Void Stalker. After looking through all the blue 2 drops ever, I didn't come up with much:
Azure Mage: I had it in for a while, it never really did anything. It drew 4 cards over 12 drafts, and one of those was to avoid having to flashback Deep Analysis.
Stern Proctor: This could be interesting in cubes with more regular sized artifact sections, but my cube has proportionally less than usual. (55 vs my 75 card color sections). If this guy bounces a signet, it's a beating.
Soratami Cloudskater: I think the last thing I need is looter #4
Floodbringer: Was this even good in Kamigawa limited?
Shapeshifter Whelp
Creature - Shapeshifter
You may have ~ enters the battlefield as a copy of any creature with converted mana cost 3 or less.
0/0
Tideshaper Adept
Creature - Human Wizard
When ~ enters the battlefield, put a flood counter on target land. That land is an Island for as long as it has a flood counter on it.
When ~ leaves the battlefield, remove all flood counters from all lands.
2/1
Sphinx of the Mists
Creature - Sphinx
Flying
When ~ enters the battlefield, you may exile target creature. If you do, return that creature to the battlefield at the beginning of the next end step.
3/4
I'm also looking for more agressive blue 2 drops, but I keep coming up short. I'm going to try out Void Stalker. After looking through all the blue 2 drops ever, I didn't come up with much:
Azure Mage: I had it in for a while, it never really did anything. It drew 4 cards over 12 drafts, and one of those was to avoid having to flashback Deep Analysis.
Stern Proctor: This could be interesting in cubes with more regular sized artifact sections, but my cube has proportionally less than usual. (55 vs my 75 card color sections). If this guy bounces a signet, it's a beating.
Soratami Cloudskater: I think the last thing I need is looter #4
Floodbringer: Was this even good in Kamigawa limited?
Chris Taylor
Contributor
I'm surprised you mainboarded the Birthing Pods. This doesn't seem like the deck for that.
Chris Taylor
Contributor
It's not insane, but I think it's a nice way to get rid of persecurtor, value guys into Messenger, or go find bone shredder when I need it.
I probably don't need both
Maybe blood artist instead? I'm not sure if this is the deck which wants strait pox
I probably don't need both
Maybe blood artist instead? I'm not sure if this is the deck which wants strait pox
It'd be nice if you had picked up more 1-drops. On another note, I don't think Deathrite Shaman has ever not been mainboarded in my cube.
Chris Taylor
Contributor
Well you'll notice I have 0 fetchlands. It seems okay as a psudo-lavamancer, but not great.
I wish I'd seen more too, trust me. I was monoblack for the first pack and a half, picking up random splash lands when there was nothing in the pack for me, and beyond a single gravecrawler I picked blasting station over, that's all I saw
I wish I'd seen more too, trust me. I was monoblack for the first pack and a half, picking up random splash lands when there was nothing in the pack for me, and beyond a single gravecrawler I picked blasting station over, that's all I saw
Well you'll notice I have 0 fetchlands. It seems okay as a psudo-lavamancer, but not great.
I wish I'd seen more too, trust me. I was monoblack for the first pack and a half, picking up random splash lands when there was nothing in the pack for me, and beyond a single gravecrawler I picked blasting station over, that's all I saw
Yeah, lack of fetchlands really isn't a problem around here. Often you'll draw a hand without any, and the opponent will do the graveyard filling for you.
Chris Taylor
Contributor
New Patch Up!
Revoke Existence > Otherworldly Journey
Aven Mindcensor > Condemn
Syncopate > Spellstutter Sprite
Thieving Magpie > Mist Raven
Repeal > Sphinx of the Mists *
Force of Will > Void Stalker
Ninja of the Deep Hours > Tideshaper Adept*
Psionic Blast > Shapeshifter Whelp
Bloodthirsty Diabolist* > Stinkweed Imp
Blood Scrivener > Dauntless Corpse*
Pox > Victimize
Black Sun's Zenith > Damnation
Lyra the Bandit Queen* > Mogg War Marshal
Cultivate > Kodama's Reach
Devoted Druid > Experiment One
Obstinate Baloth > Master of the Wild Hunt
Cursed Scroll > Wild Nacatl
Prismatic Lens > Wayfarer's Bauble
Armada Wurm > Trostani's Summoner
Gerrard's Verdict > Tidehollow Sculler
Archetype Fixing > Horizon Canopies
This patch is now live on cubetutor. For now, the other 9 horizon canopies are the painlands, which keeps the same amount of manafixing in my cube until cubetutor lets me show custom cards.
I'll admit, a lot of cards are getting a test run because I opened them in my box of modern masters: Otherworldly Journey was added for the blink deck but doesn't look embarrassing in the white weenie deck due to it's dual nature as Withstand Death and Stun, Kodama's Reach over the superior art cultivate, and stinkweed imp. We'll see how that develops.
Blue aggro has gotten a few new toys, and while it may seem insane for me to have this much dedicated to the strategy, my blue section is just now approaching 50% creatures (Technically not even there yet, at 49.3, who who's counting)
It probably can't support a mono-blue tempo deck at the moment (just for lack of punching power) but I hope now it's a little more draftable.
A few words on the custom cards introduced:
Shapeshifter Whelp (Clone something with CMC 3 or less)
This is one of those things I love about cube: This card would be so utterly broken in constructed formats (mostly by copying lords) but in cube is somewhat manageable, much the same way unearth takes a bit of work. It's almost never coming down turn 1, and gives the blue deck something to do then if it does.
Tideshaper Adept (2/1 Sea's Claim)
I wanted a slightly disruptive 2 drop, and lamented the lack of a second point of power on many of blue's creatures. I'd also considered a similar creature with essentially a crystal shard activation as a trigger, but this one eventually won out for being more cute. We'll see how effective it is, there aren't as many man-lands to hose, and only 1 islandwalker, so it may prove to not be impactful enough.
Sphinx of the Mists (3/4 flying Turn to Mist)
Based off Restoration Angel, I wanted two things: A) A splashable blue 4 drop (Seriously, is a popular mana cost) and B) a bit of cross archetype support. I dropped flash because I felt that would be unfair on a blue card of this size, which I think lets it have the 4th toughness and more flexible trigger (Though unlike restoration angel you can't permanently steal threatened creatures)
I'd briefly considered doubling up on something drastic for the blue tempo deck like snapcaster mage, but I felt that might not have the intended effect, like adding a second Jace, the Mind Sculptor because you felt your cube needed more bounce. A second silvergill adept might also have worked, but I'm finding them more often on the sidelines because of the restriction of <color> <creature> to be revealed, and the second half of that condition is more awkward than it might first appear. I'm not sure they require changing though, as the Green/White/Red copies see tons of play, and the black version only gets cut when there's synergy trumps to be had, like when it's down to him or the second gravecrawler in the nut zombies deck.
Small changes in black should help smooth out the small problems at the moment: A second Damnation should make drafting control a little more appealing, while Victimize will hopefully live up to it's tagline as "Being kinda like Recurring Nightmare", a card I think has a lot of interesting play to it when it isn't looping Yoseis or bringing in Sundering Titan a few hundred turns early. Interestingly these two are essentially the only way to draft reanimator in my cube. As for the subtractions, people didn't seem to like pox, mostly on the back of it's mana cost. The Diabolist was removed on my part because black had more one drops than any other color. Strange what happens when you add in 6 out of nowhere isn't it?
Trostani's summoner and Master of the Wild Hunt have eck and TSG to thank for their introduction, and I like that the summoner interacts well with Reveillark, in addition to just being more splashable and probably better for the tokens deck. Master on the other hand is more of a nod to my not so secret love of opposition.
*Custom Cards. I'll update the visual spoiler on the OP once I get home, I don't have their images on my work computer.
Revoke Existence > Otherworldly Journey
Aven Mindcensor > Condemn
Syncopate > Spellstutter Sprite
Thieving Magpie > Mist Raven
Repeal > Sphinx of the Mists *
Force of Will > Void Stalker
Ninja of the Deep Hours > Tideshaper Adept*
Psionic Blast > Shapeshifter Whelp
Bloodthirsty Diabolist* > Stinkweed Imp
Blood Scrivener > Dauntless Corpse*
Pox > Victimize
Black Sun's Zenith > Damnation
Lyra the Bandit Queen* > Mogg War Marshal
Cultivate > Kodama's Reach
Devoted Druid > Experiment One
Obstinate Baloth > Master of the Wild Hunt
Cursed Scroll > Wild Nacatl
Prismatic Lens > Wayfarer's Bauble
Armada Wurm > Trostani's Summoner
Gerrard's Verdict > Tidehollow Sculler
Archetype Fixing > Horizon Canopies
This patch is now live on cubetutor. For now, the other 9 horizon canopies are the painlands, which keeps the same amount of manafixing in my cube until cubetutor lets me show custom cards.
I'll admit, a lot of cards are getting a test run because I opened them in my box of modern masters: Otherworldly Journey was added for the blink deck but doesn't look embarrassing in the white weenie deck due to it's dual nature as Withstand Death and Stun, Kodama's Reach over the superior art cultivate, and stinkweed imp. We'll see how that develops.
Blue aggro has gotten a few new toys, and while it may seem insane for me to have this much dedicated to the strategy, my blue section is just now approaching 50% creatures (Technically not even there yet, at 49.3, who who's counting)
It probably can't support a mono-blue tempo deck at the moment (just for lack of punching power) but I hope now it's a little more draftable.
A few words on the custom cards introduced:
Shapeshifter Whelp
(Clone something with CMC 3 or less)This is one of those things I love about cube: This card would be so utterly broken in constructed formats (mostly by copying lords) but in cube is somewhat manageable, much the same way unearth takes a bit of work. It's almost never coming down turn 1, and gives the blue deck something to do then if it does.
Tideshaper Adept
(2/1 Sea's Claim)I wanted a slightly disruptive 2 drop, and lamented the lack of a second point of power on many of blue's creatures. I'd also considered a similar creature with essentially a crystal shard activation as a trigger, but this one eventually won out for being more cute. We'll see how effective it is, there aren't as many man-lands to hose, and only 1 islandwalker, so it may prove to not be impactful enough.
Sphinx of the Mists
(3/4 flying Turn to Mist)Based off Restoration Angel, I wanted two things: A) A splashable blue 4 drop (Seriously,
is a popular mana cost) and B) a bit of cross archetype support. I dropped flash because I felt that would be unfair on a blue card of this size, which I think lets it have the 4th toughness and more flexible trigger (Though unlike restoration angel you can't permanently steal threatened creatures)I'd briefly considered doubling up on something drastic for the blue tempo deck like snapcaster mage, but I felt that might not have the intended effect, like adding a second Jace, the Mind Sculptor because you felt your cube needed more bounce. A second silvergill adept might also have worked, but I'm finding them more often on the sidelines because of the restriction of <color> <creature> to be revealed, and the second half of that condition is more awkward than it might first appear. I'm not sure they require changing though, as the Green/White/Red copies see tons of play, and the black version only gets cut when there's synergy trumps to be had, like when it's down to him or the second gravecrawler in the nut zombies deck.
Small changes in black should help smooth out the small problems at the moment: A second Damnation should make drafting control a little more appealing, while Victimize will hopefully live up to it's tagline as "Being kinda like Recurring Nightmare", a card I think has a lot of interesting play to it when it isn't looping Yoseis or bringing in Sundering Titan a few hundred turns early. Interestingly these two are essentially the only way to draft reanimator in my cube. As for the subtractions, people didn't seem to like pox, mostly on the back of it's mana cost. The Diabolist was removed on my part because black had more one drops than any other color. Strange what happens when you add in 6 out of nowhere isn't it?
Trostani's summoner and Master of the Wild Hunt have eck and TSG to thank for their introduction, and I like that the summoner interacts well with Reveillark, in addition to just being more splashable and probably better for the tokens deck. Master on the other hand is more of a nod to my not so secret love of opposition.
*Custom Cards. I'll update the visual spoiler on the OP once I get home, I don't have their images on my work computer.
This is great stuff! I think I might add Brass Cave to my cube, I really think that's a great design.
Chris Taylor
Contributor
It's been a fun one
While some of these cards are in as off the wall creations, quite a few are in because WotC just hasn't gotten around to printing it yet dangit!
While some of these cards are in as off the wall creations, quite a few are in because WotC just hasn't gotten around to printing it yet dangit!
Dom Harvey
Contributor
Really like Shapeshifter Whelp and Brass Cave.