I think the ceiling is much higher on Goblin Bushwhacker, even with minimal token support. Frenzied Goblin has been below avg every time I have run it.
I haven't swapped my cube up in a few sets, and I'm thinking of making the following changes. Wonder what you think of them, & if I'm missing any more obvious swaps:
WHITE Champion of the Parish -> Exalted Angel Fiend Hunter -> Hidden Dragonslayer
(Never played with Exalted Angel; thought it might be fun to have a tiny bit of morph in the cube) Baneslayer Angel -> Archangel Avacyn
(Obviously Baneslayer is crazy good and iconic, but would anyone really miss it if I swapped it for something new, almost as good, and potentially more interactive? I think not.)
In general those changes seem fine. I am a little concerned that you swap 1-2 CMC cards for 4-5 CMC (in white, blue, red). Keeping the curve low is important for the tempo and aggro decks.
For instance, Galepowder Mage would be a more reasonable cut for Exalted Angel in my opinion.
I also value Greenwarden a lot more than Great Oak.
I take your point, but I'm running eleven one-drops in white right now at ~450, which is probably just too many. As for Great Oak, I'm mostly putting it in to spread some Kiki-Jiki/Twin love to green, but I like the flash + anthem + untap possibilities too.
I'd keep Baneslayer Angel, Consuming Vapors and Plow Under. I also like Greenwarden more than the Guardian. And Graverobber more than the Dead. The rest of the changes look pretty good.
I like the changes except two: the one discussed above and Plow Under to Woodland Wanderer. Wanderer is just another fat four drop similar in powerlevel to the other options out there, while Plow is unique and casting it correlates well with winning.
It's worth noting that Clever Impersonator usually doesn't end up being particularly devotion-friendly since it has the mana cost of whatever it copies.
Oh yeah, I meant to say this as well, but I forgot to mention it . I would keep Kira if you want to support devotion. Alternatively swap it out for Aether Adept.
I'm trying out Great Oak Guardian over Greenwarden of Murasa for the same reasons you are. It's nice that we're now at the point in green where there are at least a few decisions to make with 6-drops. I don't have any results to report back with yet.
I'd try to fin another cut instead of Nezumi Graverobber. The graveyard hate is handy quite often, and it's pretty easy to flip it and bash for 4 on turn 3.
Now I need help, and please explain your reasoning....
I play Vengevine as my hasty 4 drop in green instead of Surrak. I am not sure if I would cut it or Wanderer first, but for now I don't need to cut either (phew ). That's one of the perks of having a slightly larger cube.
I can't get behind cutting Plow Under, like Greenwarden better than Guardian and would keep Graverobber over Blood Chin. I'd try to find another cut other Baneslayer, but that's an acceptable swap.
I have been quite happy with the inclusion of Shelldock Isle in my cube.
Does anyone have any experience with the somewhat similar Visions of Beyond in cube? Graveyards tend to fill up quite fast in modern Magic.
Would Portent be a reasonable cut for it? Other suggestions are welcome aswell. A link to my cube can be found in my signature.
Visons of Beyond is not similar. It's night and day different getting a graveyard to >= 20 versus getting a library to <= 20.
Wanderer >> Surrak. Trample + Vigilance makes the creature potent on both offense and defense, and it works perfectly fine all by itself.
You're right that Visions is more difficult to turn 'online', but I'd still argue that they are similar, just that Shelldock is online in mid-late game while Visions is generally only online in the later turns. Some cards like Wheel of Fortune / Magus of the Wheel / Chandra, Flamecaller / Memory Jar can help break it though.
The ceiling of Visions is huge and while U for one card draw is subpar, playing it for 3 draws maybe 10-20% of the time could be worth it? I don't know if those numbers are correct, but that is why I would like to test it.
I would wager that the numbers on Visions drawing 3 in this format is significantly lower than that. I'd be shocked it it drew more than 1 card in 5% of its resolutions. Probably less.
It's already hard enough to activate Shelldock Isle. The next 10 times you activate Isle, count graveyards. I bet there's rarely ever a 'yard with 20+ cards in it. If Shelldock couldn't count cards in play, exiled cards and cards in hand, it would never go off.
I can't imagine having 20 cards in my graveyard unless somebody cast a really late game Armageddon type effect, 20 cards is a lot and on average you're only playing 23 spells in any given deck.
Agreed on Visions of Beyond likely never doing anything other than replacing itself. If you're looking for a replacement for Portent, Sleight of Hand and Opt are the best 1CMC blue cantrips you're not running now.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
465 card Unpowered cube thread. Draft it here and I'll be happy to return the favor.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
Agreed on Visions of Beyond likely never doing anything other than replacing itself. If you're looking for a replacement for Portent, Sleight of Hand and Opt are the best 1CMC blue cantrips you're not running now.
I do run Portent now. Sleight of Hand and Opt only lets you see up to 2 cards of the top of your library which is not enough to be worth it in my opinion.
Maybe I will do some limited testing with Visions of Beyond, but it will probably not make this cut in the end based on your feedback. If I get any positive results, I'll let you know .
I would go Sleight>Opt>Thought Scour, with Thought Scour having a higher ceiling but lower floor than both Sleight and Opt. Card selection seems more important in general than GY filling, but there are certainly decks that would want Scour more.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/3pq
WHITE
Champion of the Parish -> Exalted Angel
Fiend Hunter -> Hidden Dragonslayer
(Never played with Exalted Angel; thought it might be fun to have a tiny bit of morph in the cube)
Baneslayer Angel -> Archangel Avacyn
(Obviously Baneslayer is crazy good and iconic, but would anyone really miss it if I swapped it for something new, almost as good, and potentially more interactive? I think not.)
BLUE
Vapor Snag -> Mystic Confluence
Kira, Great Glass-Spinner -> Clever Impersonator
(Not much to say here. I think Vapor Snag might be one more bounce effect than we need, and Kira doesn't see much play, tho I wanted to keep the double blue for the potential Devotion deck.)
BLACK
Consuming Vapors -> Blood-Chin Rager
Abyssal Persecutor -> Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
Despoiler of Souls -> Relentless Dead
Nezumi Graverobber -> Heir of Falkenrath
(Big changes to the black 2 drop section - lots to be excited about. Sad to see Consuming Vapors go - a bit of a pet card - but it's really just one too many removal spells right now.)
RED
Shrine of Burning Rage -> Fiery Confluence
(I like Shrine's potential but it just never seems to do all that much for us.)
GREEN
Greenwarden of Murasa -> Great Oak Guardian
Plow Under -> Woodland Wanderer
Genesis Wave -> Oath of Nissa
Ohran Viper -> Duskwatch Recruiter
(Green was probably the hardest section, but these are all cards that are just underperforming for us/not getting drafted at all.)
Thanks for your input!
Akrasia, a Custom 360 Cube
New To Cube?
Cubing with Two: A Guide to Two-Player Draft Formats
For instance, Galepowder Mage would be a more reasonable cut for Exalted Angel in my opinion.
I also value Greenwarden a lot more than Great Oak.
Akrasia, a Custom 360 Cube
New To Cube?
Cubing with Two: A Guide to Two-Player Draft Formats
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
The list on cube cobra
Read my blog on cube - Latest post June 2nd 2022
https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/3pq
Now I need help, and please explain your reasoning....
Surrak, the Hunt Caller vs. Woodland Wanderer
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
Cheers,
rant
My Cube
CubeCobra: https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/5f5d0310ed602310515d4c32
Cube Tutor: http://cubetutor.com/viewcube/1963
Does anyone have any experience with the somewhat similar Visions of Beyond in cube? Graveyards tend to fill up quite fast in modern Magic.
Would Portent be a reasonable cut for it? Other suggestions are welcome aswell. A link to my cube can be found in my signature.
Wanderer >> Surrak. Trample + Vigilance makes the creature potent on both offense and defense, and it works perfectly fine all by itself.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
The ceiling of Visions is huge and while U for one card draw is subpar, playing it for 3 draws maybe 10-20% of the time could be worth it? I don't know if those numbers are correct, but that is why I would like to test it.
Edit: In theory it also works well with Snapcaster Mage, Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, Yawgmoth's Will, Goblin Dark-Dwellers to recast it from the 'yard once there are 20+ cards.
It's already hard enough to activate Shelldock Isle. The next 10 times you activate Isle, count graveyards. I bet there's rarely ever a 'yard with 20+ cards in it. If Shelldock couldn't count cards in play, exiled cards and cards in hand, it would never go off.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
Maybe I will do some limited testing with Visions of Beyond, but it will probably not make this cut in the end based on your feedback. If I get any positive results, I'll let you know .
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
Also, follow us on twitter! @TurnOneMagic
For generic value, Sleight is the best.
For reactive decks Opt is the best.
They all have their pros and cons over one another, but I'd play them all before Portent/Beyond.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!