I would say Veil is better for FFA cubes. It has two powerful, flexible modes. Mass discard is more powerful than Liliana 1's targeted discard because it hits all of your opponents, and lets you discard to fuel graveyard and reanimation strategies. Her -2 can remove a variety of dangerous threats.
Liliana 1 is a lot more expensive, and her discard is significantly less powerful. Sure, she gives you a topdeck tutor, but a lot of the time she's basically just a 5 mana topdeck tutor that gains you a few life by absorbing an attack. Sure, if you can protect her for multiple turns, you get a Rise of the Dark Realms, but it's unreliable.
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Yeah. I don't really like Liliana Vess compared to the other 2. Her tutor ability is good and all, but I tend to shy away from tutors AND 5 mana is a lot for anything that doesn't really do much. Liliana of the Veil costs only, is a nice piece in a couple of archetypes, and both abilities feel like they are fair for 3 mana even if you only click once.
Also, Conspiracy actually has a few cards that seem pretty fun for Cube. There are a few Conspiracies that I want to slip in there along with a couple of the "Check how many _____ and it gets that many +1/+1 counters" creatures. The red and green ones seem like they'll do well in most games. White is just another solid token maker for a GWx token deck. Blue seems meh, and black will be somewhat conditional - but that kill ability is sweet.
Vess 1.0 is a darned good FFA card... she usually ends up reading "3BB: Get two tutor effects" for me, and I'll take that any day...
...but that ultimate makes her draw some serious hate, especially if you've got graveyard themes in your cube. I imagine she probably has a bigger target painted on her head than Lili of the Veil does.
Although I like both Lilianas, I think I will end up playing the 3CC one for a few reasons:
- less aggro from other players
- comes down earlier so it can enable reanimation earlier (which is the whole point of cheating into play)
- gets more cards in the GY to select from
- can protect itself somewhat
I added that artifact that lets you take a whole pack to my EDH cube, results: awesome. I mean, if you've drafted long enough, in any game really, you've heard someone say "I'd just take this whole pack" it's cool that you can actually do it now.
The only "Conspiracy" card type I added is the one that allows you to go first. I'm of the opinion the rest are broken and you could just play with Vanguard cards if you wanted to do it right. I'm interested to see how my group ranks "going first" in their picks - so far its on par with non-basic land picks.
Otherwise, we're still going hard. The last two sets have been lackluster with the exception of the new G/W Legend who lets you get lands when you play spells (this guy is an absolute house)and the 1/3 double strike/ trample guy in red, which we're testing now.
I'm pondering adding Soul of New Phyrexia, but it has to climb over Steel Hellkite, Duplicant and Trike to make it in (and no, I don't have a Wurmcoil... so I should probably leave room for that too!)... would you run it?
+1 on new exile stone - also awesome art and flavor.
As for soul of new phyrexia: assuming it experiences a decent $ drop, I think this'll go in over darksteel colossus, which is/was one of those primordial, dawn-of-the-format powerhouses in edh, but is now getting a little long in the tooth.
I think DSC still has a niche (and while it may not be in my Cube at the moment, it might find its way back in), because it's a fat finisher that's NOT a super high pick like BSC and the Eldrazi Titans. Green Super-ramp decks need a few cards like this that have the potential of making it to them so that they can play enough finishers.
But Soul of NPH is definitely a sweet inclusion and I'm sure I can find a slot for it somewhere.
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Guys. I wanna ask something, is it not awkward if I added OPTIONAL "commander" theme to my small cube (180)? (link on sig) Since I think an addition of commander can spice things up.
It won't be a 100 card draft though. Still a normal size (minimum 40) but with a commander in the command zone.
Btw, with this, I would have a "commander pack", which is 1-2 (15 or 30 cards) optional pack consist only of legend (or possibly multiplayer specific) cards (commander specific legends (such as derevi) are preferred in the "pack" to make it more different than the normal draft).
So if players are agreed to play the "commander mode", then I shuffle the "commander pack" into the pool.
Players still can use normal legends included in the "basic" cube as commander.
You played JESUS?!?! I heard none of his guys stay in the graveyard, and once you think you have him beat he ALWAYS comes back to win within three turns. I like...WORSHIP him.
The goblin goes nicely in the 3 drop section having a role both with aggro and token decks. Red has some nice 3 drops in my cube but most are conditional (Prophetic Flamespeaker, Chandra's Spitfire, Hissing Iguanar) so a no questions asked beater is something I like!
I'm less sure about the squid. What I like is that it naturally plays into blue's plan of drawing cards and once again brings tokens to a color where the theme is very small.
Reclamation Sage is just a sweet versatile card.
Soul of New Phyrexia is in there for testing. The effect is huge if you can pull it off but keeping 5 mana open is a lot! I might have too many colorless 6 drops so we will see how that goes against the weakest one in my opinion which is Triskelion.
Finally, Spirit Bonds may seem a little underwhelming, but I really like that it comes out early and gives you value over the course of the game. In the end I don't think it will be good enough, but I want to give it a whirl!
Guys. I wanna ask something, is it not awkward if I added OPTIONAL "commander" theme to my small cube (180)? (link on sig) Since I think an addition of commander can spice things up.
It won't be a 100 card draft though. Still a normal size (minimum 40) but with a commander in the command zone.
Btw, with this, I would have a "commander pack", which is 1-2 (15 or 30 cards) optional pack consist only of legend (or possibly multiplayer specific) cards (commander specific legends (such as derevi) are preferred in the "pack" to make it more different than the normal draft).
So if players are agreed to play the "commander mode", then I shuffle the "commander pack" into the pool.
Players still can use normal legends included in the "basic" cube as commander.
What do you think?
Hey, sorry I missed this:
I think a cube of that size is too small to support a Commander Cube. 180 only gives you packs for 4 players for a normal draft. EDH Draft generally requires a 66 card deck to accommodate the longer/multiplayer games, meaning you need to increase your card pool by a significant amount. Additionally, because you are barred from playing cards outside of your color identity, it works better in larger drafts, because there's less direct competition over colors.
The goblin goes nicely in the 3 drop section having a role both with aggro and token decks. Red has some nice 3 drops in my cube but most are conditional (Prophetic Flamespeaker, Chandra's Spitfire, Hissing Iguanar) so a no questions asked beater is something I like!
I'm less sure about the squid. What I like is that it naturally plays into blue's plan of drawing cards and once again brings tokens to a color where the theme is very small.
Reclamation Sage is just a sweet versatile card.
Soul of New Phyrexia is in there for testing. The effect is huge if you can pull it off but keeping 5 mana open is a lot! I might have too many colorless 6 drops so we will see how that goes against the weakest one in my opinion which is Triskelion.
Finally, Spirit Bonds may seem a little underwhelming, but I really like that it comes out early and gives you value over the course of the game. In the end I don't think it will be good enough, but I want to give it a whirl!
What about you guys? What are you going to add?
These seem like good includes. For my EDH Cube, I'm going to look at picking up:
Reclamation Sage - love this guy Goblin Rabblemaster - Seems like a worthy token-support guy Soul of New Phyrexia - There's a lack of very strong artifact dudes and this guy makes the cut Soul of Theros - Maybe, it's a strong anthem effect on a body Chasm Skulker - Again, maybe, since I like token support in blue but lack a lot of good generators Ob-Nixilis, Unshackled - Very strong hate ability might be worth including Genesis Hydra - Strong effect for a creatyre Perilous Vault - Another artifact Wrath and a very strong one at that
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I'm still chewing on my conspiracy + m15 changes... What are folks current thoughts on these "well regarded" edh cards in cube? Some of them I'm considering cutting to reduce the incidence of triple color costs; others because I've just never seen them live up to their promise. Thanks!
Spelljack - These high mana counters like this, Desertion, Counterlash, Overwhelming Intellect, Commandeer, and Decree of Silence are strong cards, but their prohibitive cost makes them really only very good in UGx decks. UGx decks get enough toys, so I wouldn't be sad at all to see this cut. I don't know about Aetherspouts or the Jest though. Spouts is decent, but I think it's a little limited in its application. Jest is... eh. Have you been running Sudden Spoiling? Jest seems worse. Of all of M15's cards, the one I'd first look at adding in blue is Chasm Skulker Yeva, Nature's Herald - She's only okay. Reclamation Sage is insane. I'd snap make this swap. Yisan, I'm less impressed by. Pelakka Wurm - I'd endorse cutting this for Genesis Hydra. Wurm is an okay fatty, but for the same mana, G Hydra is likely to give you at least as much value as a card + 7 life, and you can also scale higher. Saffi Eriksdotter - I like her a lot, and I'm not hugely fond of the group-huggy Selvala, Explorer Returned. If Saffi isn't seeing much play, I'd look at a different GW legend here, like Trostani, Selesnya's Voice, Karametra, God of the Harvest, Chorus of the Conclave, Sigarda, Host of Herons, or Rhys the Redeemed, depending on what you've already got and what archetypes you support. Thopter Assembly and Junk Diver - The Assembly seems pretty disposable, but I'm rather fond of the diver. If you want to add the Seeker, you can pretty easily justify going up 15 cards, as you'll need another pack for when Seeker gets cracked at a full table. This lets you add a bunch of the draft constructs, as well as some Conspiracies if you want them and even a few other colorless guys like Soul of New Phyrexia and Scuttling Doom Engine or just other stuff you might not currently be running like Precursor Golem or Myr Battlesphere.
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We thought looong and hard about Aetherspouts, before deciding that it would get stuck in your hand too much. Which is not what you want. I'd much rather have Evacuation.
Khans has already been very kind to EDH Cube. UWR and WRB are the two colors where I'm least satisfied with the choices, so Zurgo and Narset are amazing additions.
Sarkhan is a decent Red planeswalker, and I'd be happy to run him over Koth if I wanted to move away from mono-red support a little, or easily as my third Red walker. See the Unwritten isn't terrible either.
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End Hostilities: I'm *extremely* unenthused by this. For five mana, you can get Hallowed Burial or Rout, this doesn't come close to either. Maybe you run more Bestow guys and Equipment than I do, but I rarely see this being more than a wrath, and it's definitely not the sheer board-clearing power of Cleansing.
Sarkhan: Seems fine.
See the Unwritten: It's a decnet card but I think Chord is better.
Anafenza: I think my order of preference for Abzan generals goes Ghave = Karador > Doran > Teneb > Anafenza. Ghave and Karador are the clear winners. Doran is decent. Teneb is mostly redundant with Karador. Anafenza seems like a bad Doran.
Narset: Absolutely. #1 choice for Jeskai
Sidisi: If I were running three Sultai generals, he'd be #3. I definitely like Mimeo and Damia over him, but he's more interesting than Vorosh.
Zurgo: For sure. #1 choice for Mardu.
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Wondering what you folks think of Anafenza, the Foremost and Narset, Enlightened Master...
My situation is a bit "different" as I run a separately-sleeved commander section for Duel Commander as a game-variant in a "standard" powermax cube (66 cards decks, separate CMDR pre-draft). In that environment I tend to feel that many of the commanders that do some heavy lifting in the EDH-Cube environment are too slow or niche for Duel.
For example: I was considering Anafenza as a replacement for Karador, Ghost Chieftain because Anafenza looks to fit in a wider range of decks and is cheap without any hoops to jump through. I would likely be keeping Ghave over Karador. I fear I don't have the proper experience with either Ghave or Karador to make a clear call, those decks never seem to come together in my group.
I am also planning on replacing Tariel and Damia with their wedge's respective kahns, mostly for speed reasons. Animar and Riku are looking pretty safe, new kahn would have to be pretty sweet to unhorse them.
Furthermore for 3RWU I need a Commander to really cripple the opponent or threaten to end the game. I was considering keeping Numot, the Devastator and passing on Narset (keeping Ruhan) does that seem unwise? I may be vastly underestimating Narset for my purposes.
My playgroup is getting into the Duel Commander variant more often and I am looking for more ways to make that variant feel more integral and less "stapled on" without reinventing the wheel as far as the cube goes. Might not really be possible with the commander choices out there now.
Anafenza seems like a slam-dunk for Duel Commander. She's like a Doran that rewards more traditional aggro strategies (Soldier of the Pantheon and such) while being strapped to a pretty decent hatebear effect. I'd definitely consider her over either of the C11 options. I'd maybe even consider Doran over the other because he's also pretty baller for Duel Commander, but I feel like he's too similar without being exciting enough for that slot. Either Ghave or Karador is probably fine for the other.
Narset is a DEFINITE include over Numot IMO. Hexproof is huge, and the advantage gained on swinging seems crazy good.
Zurgo > Tariel for sure. Although, Kaalia seems hard to build if you're not packing a lot of higher end stuff.
Sidisi over Damia I'm not sure if I can agree with. Damia is an insane control general for Duel. Pack your deck full of 1-for-1 removal and maybe some ramp, and she'll just out-attrition you every game.
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Thank you for the feedback it is much appreciated.
Never really considered Doran because of he seems to weaken more aggressive creatures in cube than he strengthens (in doran's colors). Maybe that is a mistake in my thinking, I should just sleeve him and try it out. Hes quite a beater on his own, and he does help some creatures out as well (thinking of Hero of Bladehold, Skyfisher, Courser, Nighthawk, and also makes all the playable walls more painful to attack into).
Narset is probably a good deal better than I was thinking. I was hung up on the build around me aspects of the self-mill exile ability. Having enough bounce/removal/burn in her deck seems easy enough. And actually having a tempo-oriented commander is kind of awesome.
Kaalia has come together more than a few times with varying degrees of success. I run a bunch of targets for her beyond the usual suspects(Baneslayer, Resto, Bloodgift et all). (I still run fringe playables in Herald of Torment, Grislebrand, Kokusho, Desecration Demon, Abyssal Persecutor, Ob Nixilis 1.0, Yosei, Eternal Dragon, AA of Thune, Sublime AA, Karmic Guide, Stormbreath, Bogardan Hellkite) Not sure if its really enough but in the color combo I don't really have a clear alternative. Tariel just seems way too slow for the format.
As far as Damia goes: I have 0 experience playing her or against her in EDH and so far nobody has drafted her for duel so that certainly colors my thinking. She protects herself/you once out as you ostensibly keep drawing into answers/finishers correct? My concern would be in stabilizing for that long (T8 to see an advantage w/o spending turns ramping). On the other hand too many Graveyard Commanders (Mimeoplasm, Sidisi) might be boring.
Again, thanks for the expertise. Commander section is where I'm currently having the most trouble, and advice is sparse for this kind of thing.
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Liliana 1 is a lot more expensive, and her discard is significantly less powerful. Sure, she gives you a topdeck tutor, but a lot of the time she's basically just a 5 mana topdeck tutor that gains you a few life by absorbing an attack. Sure, if you can protect her for multiple turns, you get a Rise of the Dark Realms, but it's unreliable.
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Also, Conspiracy actually has a few cards that seem pretty fun for Cube. There are a few Conspiracies that I want to slip in there along with a couple of the "Check how many _____ and it gets that many +1/+1 counters" creatures. The red and green ones seem like they'll do well in most games. White is just another solid token maker for a GWx token deck. Blue seems meh, and black will be somewhat conditional - but that kill ability is sweet.
WUBRGPauper Battle BoxWUBRG ... and why I am not a fan of Wayne Reynolds' Illustrations.
...but that ultimate makes her draw some serious hate, especially if you've got graveyard themes in your cube. I imagine she probably has a bigger target painted on her head than Lili of the Veil does.
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- less aggro from other players
- comes down earlier so it can enable reanimation earlier (which is the whole point of cheating into play)
- gets more cards in the GY to select from
- can protect itself somewhat
Anything I missed? Thanks for the help!
My 450ish 1vs1 cube
The only "Conspiracy" card type I added is the one that allows you to go first. I'm of the opinion the rest are broken and you could just play with Vanguard cards if you wanted to do it right. I'm interested to see how my group ranks "going first" in their picks - so far its on par with non-basic land picks.
Otherwise, we're still going hard. The last two sets have been lackluster with the exception of the new G/W Legend who lets you get lands when you play spells (this guy is an absolute house)and the 1/3 double strike/ trample guy in red, which we're testing now.
I'm pondering adding Soul of New Phyrexia, but it has to climb over Steel Hellkite, Duplicant and Trike to make it in (and no, I don't have a Wurmcoil... so I should probably leave room for that too!)... would you run it?
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More excited over the exiling O-Stone though.
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As for soul of new phyrexia: assuming it experiences a decent $ drop, I think this'll go in over darksteel colossus, which is/was one of those primordial, dawn-of-the-format powerhouses in edh, but is now getting a little long in the tooth.
"Personally I love high-riak, low-reqars gambles. Life's best with a decent amount of riak. And f*** reqars."
But Soul of NPH is definitely a sweet inclusion and I'm sure I can find a slot for it somewhere.
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It won't be a 100 card draft though. Still a normal size (minimum 40) but with a commander in the command zone.
Btw, with this, I would have a "commander pack", which is 1-2 (15 or 30 cards) optional pack consist only of legend (or possibly multiplayer specific) cards (commander specific legends (such as derevi) are preferred in the "pack" to make it more different than the normal draft).
So if players are agreed to play the "commander mode", then I shuffle the "commander pack" into the pool.
Players still can use normal legends included in the "basic" cube as commander.
What do you think?
My 180 Modern Bordered Only Cube
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The goblin goes nicely in the 3 drop section having a role both with aggro and token decks. Red has some nice 3 drops in my cube but most are conditional (Prophetic Flamespeaker, Chandra's Spitfire, Hissing Iguanar) so a no questions asked beater is something I like!
I'm less sure about the squid. What I like is that it naturally plays into blue's plan of drawing cards and once again brings tokens to a color where the theme is very small.
Reclamation Sage is just a sweet versatile card.
Soul of New Phyrexia is in there for testing. The effect is huge if you can pull it off but keeping 5 mana open is a lot! I might have too many colorless 6 drops so we will see how that goes against the weakest one in my opinion which is Triskelion.
Finally, Spirit Bonds may seem a little underwhelming, but I really like that it comes out early and gives you value over the course of the game. In the end I don't think it will be good enough, but I want to give it a whirl!
What about you guys? What are you going to add?
My 450ish 1vs1 cube
Hey, sorry I missed this:
I think a cube of that size is too small to support a Commander Cube. 180 only gives you packs for 4 players for a normal draft. EDH Draft generally requires a 66 card deck to accommodate the longer/multiplayer games, meaning you need to increase your card pool by a significant amount. Additionally, because you are barred from playing cards outside of your color identity, it works better in larger drafts, because there's less direct competition over colors.
These seem like good includes. For my EDH Cube, I'm going to look at picking up:
Reclamation Sage - love this guy
Goblin Rabblemaster - Seems like a worthy token-support guy
Soul of New Phyrexia - There's a lack of very strong artifact dudes and this guy makes the cut
Soul of Theros - Maybe, it's a strong anthem effect on a body
Chasm Skulker - Again, maybe, since I like token support in blue but lack a lot of good generators
Ob-Nixilis, Unshackled - Very strong hate ability might be worth including
Genesis Hydra - Strong effect for a creatyre
Perilous Vault - Another artifact Wrath and a very strong one at that
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spelljack - considering replacing with aetherspouts or polymorphist's jest
yeva, nature's herald (not necessarily a staple, I know) - considering replacing with reclamation sage or yisan, the wanderer bard
pelakka wurm - considering replacing with genesis hydra
saffi eriksdotter - considering a test replacement with selvala, explorer returned. I know saffi is a gamer's gamer favorite, but I just have not seen much interest to play her among my group.
thopter assembly & junk diver - considering replacing with new conspiracy artifacts like lore seeker, deal broker, and agent of acquisitions. I've read massive marc saying that these have been a hit in his cube. How have they been for others?
Thanks!
"Personally I love high-riak, low-reqars gambles. Life's best with a decent amount of riak. And f*** reqars."
Yeva, Nature's Herald - She's only okay. Reclamation Sage is insane. I'd snap make this swap. Yisan, I'm less impressed by.
Pelakka Wurm - I'd endorse cutting this for Genesis Hydra. Wurm is an okay fatty, but for the same mana, G Hydra is likely to give you at least as much value as a card + 7 life, and you can also scale higher.
Saffi Eriksdotter - I like her a lot, and I'm not hugely fond of the group-huggy Selvala, Explorer Returned. If Saffi isn't seeing much play, I'd look at a different GW legend here, like Trostani, Selesnya's Voice, Karametra, God of the Harvest, Chorus of the Conclave, Sigarda, Host of Herons, or Rhys the Redeemed, depending on what you've already got and what archetypes you support.
Thopter Assembly and Junk Diver - The Assembly seems pretty disposable, but I'm rather fond of the diver. If you want to add the Seeker, you can pretty easily justify going up 15 cards, as you'll need another pack for when Seeker gets cracked at a full table. This lets you add a bunch of the draft constructs, as well as some Conspiracies if you want them and even a few other colorless guys like Soul of New Phyrexia and Scuttling Doom Engine or just other stuff you might not currently be running like Precursor Golem or Myr Battlesphere.
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"Personally I love high-riak, low-reqars gambles. Life's best with a decent amount of riak. And f*** reqars."
Khans has already been very kind to EDH Cube. UWR and WRB are the two colors where I'm least satisfied with the choices, so Zurgo and Narset are amazing additions.
Sarkhan is a decent Red planeswalker, and I'd be happy to run him over Koth if I wanted to move away from mono-red support a little, or easily as my third Red walker.
See the Unwritten isn't terrible either.
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End Hostilities - possible replacement for planar cleansing.
Sarkhan, the dragonspeaker - likely replacement for charmbreaker devils or one of my too-many X-red spells (devil's play, comet storm, banefire, etc).
See the Unwritten - possible replacement for chord of calling
Anafenza the Foremost - possible replacement for teneb, the harvester
Narset, Enlightened Master - definite replacement for Zedruu the greathearted (yuk)
Sidisi, Brood Tyrant - possible replacement for either vorosh, the hunter or the mimeoplasm, most likely Vorosh
Zurgo Helmsmasher - definite replacement for oros, the avenger
I guess I'll reiterate that non-legendary tri-colored cards have not worked well for me in my cube, and I doubt clans will make me change that stance.
I'm excited for fetchland reprints, as they will allow me to swap out my gold bordered + italian onslaughts.
"Personally I love high-riak, low-reqars gambles. Life's best with a decent amount of riak. And f*** reqars."
End Hostilities: I'm *extremely* unenthused by this. For five mana, you can get Hallowed Burial or Rout, this doesn't come close to either. Maybe you run more Bestow guys and Equipment than I do, but I rarely see this being more than a wrath, and it's definitely not the sheer board-clearing power of Cleansing.
Sarkhan: Seems fine.
See the Unwritten: It's a decnet card but I think Chord is better.
Anafenza: I think my order of preference for Abzan generals goes Ghave = Karador > Doran > Teneb > Anafenza. Ghave and Karador are the clear winners. Doran is decent. Teneb is mostly redundant with Karador. Anafenza seems like a bad Doran.
Narset: Absolutely. #1 choice for Jeskai
Sidisi: If I were running three Sultai generals, he'd be #3. I definitely like Mimeo and Damia over him, but he's more interesting than Vorosh.
Zurgo: For sure. #1 choice for Mardu.
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My situation is a bit "different" as I run a separately-sleeved commander section for Duel Commander as a game-variant in a "standard" powermax cube (66 cards decks, separate CMDR pre-draft). In that environment I tend to feel that many of the commanders that do some heavy lifting in the EDH-Cube environment are too slow or niche for Duel.
For example: I was considering Anafenza as a replacement for Karador, Ghost Chieftain because Anafenza looks to fit in a wider range of decks and is cheap without any hoops to jump through. I would likely be keeping Ghave over Karador. I fear I don't have the proper experience with either Ghave or Karador to make a clear call, those decks never seem to come together in my group.
I am also planning on replacing Tariel and Damia with their wedge's respective kahns, mostly for speed reasons. Animar and Riku are looking pretty safe, new kahn would have to be pretty sweet to unhorse them.
Furthermore for 3RWU I need a Commander to really cripple the opponent or threaten to end the game. I was considering keeping Numot, the Devastator and passing on Narset (keeping Ruhan) does that seem unwise? I may be vastly underestimating Narset for my purposes.
My playgroup is getting into the Duel Commander variant more often and I am looking for more ways to make that variant feel more integral and less "stapled on" without reinventing the wheel as far as the cube goes. Might not really be possible with the commander choices out there now.
Narset is a DEFINITE include over Numot IMO. Hexproof is huge, and the advantage gained on swinging seems crazy good.
Zurgo > Tariel for sure. Although, Kaalia seems hard to build if you're not packing a lot of higher end stuff.
Sidisi over Damia I'm not sure if I can agree with. Damia is an insane control general for Duel. Pack your deck full of 1-for-1 removal and maybe some ramp, and she'll just out-attrition you every game.
Currently Playing:
Legacy: Something U/W Controlish
EDH Cube
Hypercube! A New EDH Deck Every Week(ish)!
Never really considered Doran because of he seems to weaken more aggressive creatures in cube than he strengthens (in doran's colors). Maybe that is a mistake in my thinking, I should just sleeve him and try it out. Hes quite a beater on his own, and he does help some creatures out as well (thinking of Hero of Bladehold, Skyfisher, Courser, Nighthawk, and also makes all the playable walls more painful to attack into).
Narset is probably a good deal better than I was thinking. I was hung up on the build around me aspects of the self-mill exile ability. Having enough bounce/removal/burn in her deck seems easy enough. And actually having a tempo-oriented commander is kind of awesome.
Kaalia has come together more than a few times with varying degrees of success. I run a bunch of targets for her beyond the usual suspects(Baneslayer, Resto, Bloodgift et all). (I still run fringe playables in Herald of Torment, Grislebrand, Kokusho, Desecration Demon, Abyssal Persecutor, Ob Nixilis 1.0, Yosei, Eternal Dragon, AA of Thune, Sublime AA, Karmic Guide, Stormbreath, Bogardan Hellkite) Not sure if its really enough but in the color combo I don't really have a clear alternative. Tariel just seems way too slow for the format.
As far as Damia goes: I have 0 experience playing her or against her in EDH and so far nobody has drafted her for duel so that certainly colors my thinking. She protects herself/you once out as you ostensibly keep drawing into answers/finishers correct? My concern would be in stabilizing for that long (T8 to see an advantage w/o spending turns ramping). On the other hand too many Graveyard Commanders (Mimeoplasm, Sidisi) might be boring.
Again, thanks for the expertise. Commander section is where I'm currently having the most trouble, and advice is sparse for this kind of thing.