I was curious if anyone had made a Mirrodin block and Scars of Mirrodin block cube. If so, how fun was the experience?
I want some input before I start investing money into it. This would be my first actual cube and I chose these blocks because I wanted to start in the sets where I started to really get into Magic and the block where I came back to Magic.
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I haven't done exactly what you described. However, I've collected all of the commons and uncommons from Scars of Mirrodin block and set them aside to be used as a draft environment ("cube"). Unfortunately, they haven't been drafted yet due to so many projects on the go.
In doing this, I thought it might be good to build my own artifact-themed cube which pulls from Scars block, Mirrodin block, and anything else for that matter but built around the artifact theme. I've started setting cards aside for this, but again haven't pushed through.
Are you planning to just include every card from those blocks (I did this for Innistrad-Dark Ascension), or are you looking to build your own with these as a basis?
One of the problems that you run into with "block cubes" is that when you include the rares (and mythics) you gain lots of powerful cards but you tend to drastically lower the frequency of removal, because the number of removal spells at rare is actually very low.
I am also building an artifact/Mirrodin cube. I have not tested it but here is what I am trying to achieve:
1) Minimizing color (25 of each) and avoiding double mana costs.
I also put in as much as penta-color fixing such as City of Brass and Vivid Lands, to make color not matter.
2) Putting in as much combo oriented artifact such from Voltaic Key to Contagion Clasp to Sculpting Steel
3) (In progress) put in Multiplayer cards in it, but still sticking to the artifact theme.
4) (Contemplating) Put in one Myr Servitor as a 16th card in a pack - this may vary.
Some of my themes include:
1) Obvious artifact mechanics such as Modular, Sunburst, Affinity, Metalcraft.
2) Charge counters, +1/+1 and Proliferate
3) Artifact search and recursion, Cogs
4) White and red's equipment matter cards.
5) Artifact combos, the more the merrier.
Dont worry about spending a lot for this cube. You dont have to buy the expensive artifacts such as Vial or Isochron (which will suck in this environment). Swords' protection wont matter in a colorless world so put in cheaper equipment such as Sword of Vengeance or even just Bonesplitter. I have spent less than $100 for my cube and plan on spending around just 20 more.
Hope you got a few points from this. Good luck!
PS. Kojiro has built an artifact cube updated till Scars.
You might just barely be able to pull off 180 at singleton. If you run it like of each common, 2 of each common, and 1 of each rare/mythic then you could easily make it a bigger cube.
It's easy to miss given the title of the article, but Nassim Ketita posted a "Full Mirrodin" cube in an article posted on Gathering Magic last Monday.
That article got me interested in using the 6 Mirrodin sets for my first cube, too. I've got a lot of Mirrodin cards because it was the last set I played before taking many years off. So, in order to build one, I need to get cards from the other 5 Mirroden sets. I wonder what answer you all might have for the following question: Would you recommend (1) designing the cube on paper first, then acquiring cards, or (2) acquiring singleton sets of the 5 other sets, then culling a cube from them? Maybe there's a third option based on what Amadeus wrote: acquiring singleton common and uncommon sets for all the blocks, then gets rares as needed or wanted. It looks like complete singleton sets can be had on eBay for $100-$200. Getting all 5 sets at once seems like overkill, but would allow for greater flexibility after playtesting the cube.
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I tried this as a scars block cube, It was fun.
I have every card in the scars block. what I did was take one of each and that was the cube. Doing it this way, Infect was the most effective strategy at the table. we only drafted it 5 or 6 times and infect was always the clear winner. Blue green infect ussually, sometimes green black. the other arctypes just didn't stand a chance.
I tried this as a scars block cube, It was fun.
I have every card in the scars block. what I did was take one of each and that was the cube. Doing it this way, Infect was the most effective strategy at the table. we only drafted it 5 or 6 times and infect was always the clear winner. Blue green infect ussually, sometimes green black. the other arctypes just didn't stand a chance.
Why do you think the infect archetype dominated? I bet your answer, in part, is that you did a Scars Block cube rather than a Full Mirrodin cube, but I'd still like to know if you thought certain infect cards were unanswerable, too strong, or otherwise needed a certain type of response. I've started to build a Full Mirrodin Cube (450 cards). I haven't quite gotten to the point of having a list to share, but I'd like to support infect while balancing it against other archetypes.
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- My Powered Cube (draft it here)
- My Full Mirrodin Cube (draft it here)
- My One-Drop Cube (draft it here)
MCC Winner Nov ‘14 & Nov ‘15
Why do you think the infect archetype dominated? I bet your answer, in part, is that you did a Scars Block cube rather than a Full Mirrodin cube, but I'd still like to know if you thought certain infect cards were unanswerable, too strong, or otherwise needed a certain type of response. I've started to build a Full Mirrodin Cube (450 cards). I haven't quite gotten to the point of having a list to share, but I'd like to support infect while balancing it against other archetypes.
I think the main problem with my scars block cube and infect was that it was a scars cube the other archetypes just didn't have much support in the cards.
I can't really think of a single Infect card that took off as unbeatable in itself but when we played it, infect just took over. (Particularly if the infect drafters got some of the swords.)
I think because the other archetypes in the scars block just could not compete. Metal craft wasn't effective at all; you were usually dead before you got anything going. White Weenie was the second best archetype (by best, I mean win %) the white wraths and white sun zeniths being the bombs of that archetype.
Now if you add in the original Mirrodin block, I would imagine it would add enough support for a good artifact/affinity/metal craft decks.
If you find Infect taking over your cube, I would suggest dropping some of the infect guys with the Big butts, all of these guys are trouble.
I put together a Mirrodin blocks cube this week in which I tried to put together the best of all six Mirrodin mechanics (Affinity, Metalcraft, Infect, Modular, Myrs, Phyrexian mana, proliferate), and I came up with some... interesting thoughts.
I went 50% artifact/50% other, roughly mirroring the mix in most Mirrodin sets. I also kept the cube mostly pauper, with about 60 rares that I'll mix up and distribute one to a pack to make the thing feel more like a real draft.
First off, keeping it mainly common/uncommon allows for a lot of removal and a surprising amount of counter, with plenty of good, cheap creatures, so Infect may not dominate. Though at 25-odd cards with Infect, it's by far the most common mechanic in my cube, so it may dominate and I might have to edit some of them out. The only rare creature with Infect I put in was Phyrexian Broodmother, because its downside might win you the game or lose you the game.
Mana fixing is important, that's why I bent the local "only one card of each per cube" to allow for multiples if the card was in both sets. The mana myrs and the Talismans are gonna be hot draftables, as will green, and Phyrexian mana stuff will be desirable as well. Still, with 50% artifact/50% other, it shouldn't be too hard to draft mostly artifacts and move towards the color you need.
The only card that I really, really want for the cube is Glimmervoid, but I'm a tad broke at the moment.
I was torn about tossing in some of the really 'brutal' things, like Disciple of the Vault, Skullclamp, Broodstar, and Arcbound Ravager. I took out the Arcbound to put into a Legacy deck, but other than that I left 'em in; there's plenty of removal, and as it's just a rough cut for now I can take them out later.
Oh, and I just read that article that got linked, and I agreed with everything he said, even if I put in less colors and more artifacts than he did (to keep it closer to the Mirrodin ratio of 50/50!)
My buddy and I built this type of cube back in February. We only got to draft it twice before he left the country and took it with him, but we had an absolutely great time with it. Moreover, it got us using a lot of cards we don't get to see in a normal cube and had its own flavor completely.
As was posted above, drop infect.
Definitely go ahead and build this cube.
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Hi all!
I actually built a Mirrodin Cube myself. It is VERY fun to play. It started as a Scars of Mirrodin Cube last year. My main themes were infect and metalcraft.
I then decided to add in original Mirrodin stuff about a week ago. This change has drastically increased card quality of the cube. I did this by dropping the 15-20 WORST cards from each color (and X artifacts) and then adding in that many of the BEST cards from Mirrodin block. I made a big effort to keep the core of metalcraft/infect intact, so instead of replacing metalcraft/infect cards with Mirrodin stuff, I allowed multiple copies of some of the better metalcraft/infect cards from Scars block. I should also note that metalcraft is only in RWU and infect is only in GB. Though RWU colors have a few infect cards, and BG colors have a few metalcraft, I decided it was better to specialize the colors a bit. I may go back on this to encourage more splashing.
Each of the WUR colors has a sub-specialty as well.
W - Metalcraft aggro/artifact combo
U - Metalcraft/affinity
R - Artifact sacrifice
But this doesn't mean that people only play BG together. I have seen BR (with Trigon of Rage for more infect damage) or BU infect control.
We drafted it a couple days ago and it was a blast.
One of the problems that you run into with "block cubes" is that when you include the rares (and mythics) you gain lots of powerful cards but you tend to drastically lower the frequency of removal, because the number of removal spells at rare is actually very low.
I have 10 block cubes now, and this is not true at all. It is up the the cube designer to decide how much removal he includes. Spells like Terror and Arc Trail may be common/uncommon, but they are still AMAZING. I no longer build cubes based off of rarity, but rather based on how many "slots" I want to fill for each card type. For example, black might have slots for creatures, discard, reanimation, removal and tempo (Dark Ritual).
I am addicted to cube building! Let me know if you have any questions.
Hi all!
I actually built a Mirrodin Cube myself. It is VERY fun to play. It started as a Scars of Mirrodin Cube last year. My main themes were infect and metalcraft.
I then decided to add in original Mirrodin stuff about a week ago. This change has drastically increased card quality of the cube. I did this by dropping the 15-20 WORST cards from each color (and X artifacts) and then adding in that many of the BEST cards from Mirrodin block. I made a big effort to keep the core of metalcraft/infect intact, so instead of replacing metalcraft/infect cards with Mirrodin stuff, I allowed multiple copies of some of the better metalcraft/infect cards from Scars block. I should also note that metalcraft is only in RWU and infect is only in GB. Though RWU colors have a few infect cards, and BG colors have a few metalcraft, I decided it was better to specialize the colors a bit. I may go back on this to encourage more splashing.
Each of the WUR colors has a sub-specialty as well.
W - Metalcraft aggro/artifact combo
U - Metalcraft/affinity
R - Artifact sacrifice
But this doesn't mean that people only play BG together. I have seen BR (with Trigon of Rage for more infect damage) or BU infect control.
We drafted it a couple days ago and it was a blast.
One of the problems that you run into with "block cubes" is that when you include the rares (and mythics) you gain lots of powerful cards but you tend to drastically lower the frequency of removal, because the number of removal spells at rare is actually very low.
I have 10 block cubes now, and this is not true at all. It is up the the cube designer to decide how much removal he includes. Spells like Terror and Arc Trail may be common/uncommon, but they are still AMAZING. I no longer build cubes based off of rarity, but rather based on how many "slots" I want to fill for each card type. For example, black might have slots for creatures, discard, reanimation, removal and tempo (Dark Ritual).
I am addicted to cube building! Let me know if you have any questions.
You should pop the cube up on cubetutor, so we can see it all together, and try a draft of it.
I want some input before I start investing money into it. This would be my first actual cube and I chose these blocks because I wanted to start in the sets where I started to really get into Magic and the block where I came back to Magic.
Standard
Modern
Living End Combo
Legacy
T.E.S.
TezzAffinity
Combo Elves
Belcher
Forgemaster Combo
High Tide
Solidarity
Merfolk
Burn
Goblins
UnLEDed Dredge
EDH/Commander
Olivia Voldaren
Sigarda, Host of Herons
Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer
Jhoira of the Ghitu
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Edric, Spymaster of Trest
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
Rosheen Meanderer
Ghost Council of Orzhova
Vela the Night-Clad
In doing this, I thought it might be good to build my own artifact-themed cube which pulls from Scars block, Mirrodin block, and anything else for that matter but built around the artifact theme. I've started setting cards aside for this, but again haven't pushed through.
Are you planning to just include every card from those blocks (I did this for Innistrad-Dark Ascension), or are you looking to build your own with these as a basis?
One of the problems that you run into with "block cubes" is that when you include the rares (and mythics) you gain lots of powerful cards but you tend to drastically lower the frequency of removal, because the number of removal spells at rare is actually very low.
My Cube
My Blog
1) Minimizing color (25 of each) and avoiding double mana costs.
I also put in as much as penta-color fixing such as City of Brass and Vivid Lands, to make color not matter.
2) Putting in as much combo oriented artifact such from Voltaic Key to Contagion Clasp to Sculpting Steel
3) (In progress) put in Multiplayer cards in it, but still sticking to the artifact theme.
4) (Contemplating) Put in one Myr Servitor as a 16th card in a pack - this may vary.
Some of my themes include:
1) Obvious artifact mechanics such as Modular, Sunburst, Affinity, Metalcraft.
2) Charge counters, +1/+1 and Proliferate
3) Artifact search and recursion, Cogs
4) White and red's equipment matter cards.
5) Artifact combos, the more the merrier.
Dont worry about spending a lot for this cube. You dont have to buy the expensive artifacts such as Vial or Isochron (which will suck in this environment). Swords' protection wont matter in a colorless world so put in cheaper equipment such as Sword of Vengeance or even just Bonesplitter. I have spent less than $100 for my cube and plan on spending around just 20 more.
Hope you got a few points from this. Good luck!
PS. Kojiro has built an artifact cube updated till Scars.
My 360 Commons Cube
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That article got me interested in using the 6 Mirrodin sets for my first cube, too. I've got a lot of Mirrodin cards because it was the last set I played before taking many years off. So, in order to build one, I need to get cards from the other 5 Mirroden sets. I wonder what answer you all might have for the following question: Would you recommend (1) designing the cube on paper first, then acquiring cards, or (2) acquiring singleton sets of the 5 other sets, then culling a cube from them? Maybe there's a third option based on what Amadeus wrote: acquiring singleton common and uncommon sets for all the blocks, then gets rares as needed or wanted. It looks like complete singleton sets can be had on eBay for $100-$200. Getting all 5 sets at once seems like overkill, but would allow for greater flexibility after playtesting the cube.
- My Full Mirrodin Cube (draft it here)
- My One-Drop Cube (draft it here)
MCC Winner Nov ‘14 & Nov ‘15
I have every card in the scars block. what I did was take one of each and that was the cube. Doing it this way, Infect was the most effective strategy at the table. we only drafted it 5 or 6 times and infect was always the clear winner. Blue green infect ussually, sometimes green black. the other arctypes just didn't stand a chance.
Why do you think the infect archetype dominated? I bet your answer, in part, is that you did a Scars Block cube rather than a Full Mirrodin cube, but I'd still like to know if you thought certain infect cards were unanswerable, too strong, or otherwise needed a certain type of response. I've started to build a Full Mirrodin Cube (450 cards). I haven't quite gotten to the point of having a list to share, but I'd like to support infect while balancing it against other archetypes.
- My Full Mirrodin Cube (draft it here)
- My One-Drop Cube (draft it here)
MCC Winner Nov ‘14 & Nov ‘15
I think the main problem with my scars block cube and infect was that it was a scars cube the other archetypes just didn't have much support in the cards.
I can't really think of a single Infect card that took off as unbeatable in itself but when we played it, infect just took over. (Particularly if the infect drafters got some of the swords.)
I think because the other archetypes in the scars block just could not compete. Metal craft wasn't effective at all; you were usually dead before you got anything going. White Weenie was the second best archetype (by best, I mean win %) the white wraths and white sun zeniths being the bombs of that archetype.
Now if you add in the original Mirrodin block, I would imagine it would add enough support for a good artifact/affinity/metal craft decks.
If you find Infect taking over your cube, I would suggest dropping some of the infect guys with the Big butts, all of these guys are trouble.
I put together a Mirrodin blocks cube this week in which I tried to put together the best of all six Mirrodin mechanics (Affinity, Metalcraft, Infect, Modular, Myrs, Phyrexian mana, proliferate), and I came up with some... interesting thoughts.
I went 50% artifact/50% other, roughly mirroring the mix in most Mirrodin sets. I also kept the cube mostly pauper, with about 60 rares that I'll mix up and distribute one to a pack to make the thing feel more like a real draft.
First off, keeping it mainly common/uncommon allows for a lot of removal and a surprising amount of counter, with plenty of good, cheap creatures, so Infect may not dominate. Though at 25-odd cards with Infect, it's by far the most common mechanic in my cube, so it may dominate and I might have to edit some of them out. The only rare creature with Infect I put in was Phyrexian Broodmother, because its downside might win you the game or lose you the game.
Mana fixing is important, that's why I bent the local "only one card of each per cube" to allow for multiples if the card was in both sets. The mana myrs and the Talismans are gonna be hot draftables, as will green, and Phyrexian mana stuff will be desirable as well. Still, with 50% artifact/50% other, it shouldn't be too hard to draft mostly artifacts and move towards the color you need.
The only card that I really, really want for the cube is Glimmervoid, but I'm a tad broke at the moment.
I was torn about tossing in some of the really 'brutal' things, like Disciple of the Vault, Skullclamp, Broodstar, and Arcbound Ravager. I took out the Arcbound to put into a Legacy deck, but other than that I left 'em in; there's plenty of removal, and as it's just a rough cut for now I can take them out later.
Oh, and I just read that article that got linked, and I agreed with everything he said, even if I put in less colors and more artifacts than he did (to keep it closer to the Mirrodin ratio of 50/50!)
As was posted above, drop infect.
Definitely go ahead and build this cube.
My 1994 Magic Cube
Japanese cards on eBay -- Legacy, Modern, EDH, Cube.
I actually built a Mirrodin Cube myself. It is VERY fun to play. It started as a Scars of Mirrodin Cube last year. My main themes were infect and metalcraft.
I then decided to add in original Mirrodin stuff about a week ago. This change has drastically increased card quality of the cube. I did this by dropping the 15-20 WORST cards from each color (and X artifacts) and then adding in that many of the BEST cards from Mirrodin block. I made a big effort to keep the core of metalcraft/infect intact, so instead of replacing metalcraft/infect cards with Mirrodin stuff, I allowed multiple copies of some of the better metalcraft/infect cards from Scars block. I should also note that metalcraft is only in RWU and infect is only in GB. Though RWU colors have a few infect cards, and BG colors have a few metalcraft, I decided it was better to specialize the colors a bit. I may go back on this to encourage more splashing.
Each of the WUR colors has a sub-specialty as well.
W - Metalcraft aggro/artifact combo
U - Metalcraft/affinity
R - Artifact sacrifice
But this doesn't mean that people only play BG together. I have seen BR (with Trigon of Rage for more infect damage) or BU infect control.
We drafted it a couple days ago and it was a blast.
If you're curious, here is my Google Docs list of the cube. The card list is 99% complete, and I am working on adding in card details.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1x48TI3SGDLQDv732qV-Cb_LCKlRpUVfC-9G0eYRUyKo/edit?usp=sharing
Also I wanted to address this:
I have 10 block cubes now, and this is not true at all. It is up the the cube designer to decide how much removal he includes. Spells like Terror and Arc Trail may be common/uncommon, but they are still AMAZING. I no longer build cubes based off of rarity, but rather based on how many "slots" I want to fill for each card type. For example, black might have slots for creatures, discard, reanimation, removal and tempo (Dark Ritual).
I am addicted to cube building! Let me know if you have any questions.
You should pop the cube up on cubetutor, so we can see it all together, and try a draft of it.
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