I've only gotten in a few drafts so far with Westvale Abbey, and I haven't seen it flip yet, but since the opportunity cost is so low it's been making main decks so I'm in no hurry to replace it just yet.
I also just have drafters take the DFCs out of the sleeve, since they're double-sleeved I'm not worried about damage to the cards. It does give away some information during the draft portion, but checklist cards have always seemed like much more trouble than they're worth to me.
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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.
Thankfully we don't have a ton of DFCs left in our cube and the ones that are still in--Garruk, Jace, Liliana, Gideon, Nissa, maybe a couple/few others--have been in there for a while now and most players know what they bring to the table.
Sovereign isn't as important now that we have the 3cc Thalia, but it's still a powerful effect, and it happens to be a good weapon for aggro decks to have against midrange decks, which makes it worth keeping around, IMO.
My 2cc creature suite is pretty standard; nothing out of the ordinary there.
I love Imposing Sovereign. I think it plays a lot better than it looks on paper. My favorite thing to follow up a Turn 1 Champion of the Parish. The new Thalia really stole her thunder a bit though; it's not such a unique effect anymore.
I'm still running Precinct Captain in the 2CC slot, which is probably a bit outclassed at this point. But my copy is artist-signed and I am always loath to cut those. And it certain situations it can definitely put in work. I also support green aggro so I run Strangleroot Geist. Green Aggro got a lot easier to support with Conspiracy 2 actually. Hymn of the Wilds and Emissary's Ploy can be pretty bonkers. Check out this deck: http://www.cubetutor.com/cubedeck/681548
Imposing Sovereign has been pretty sweet. A small percentage of the time the ability is not relevant at any point in a game, but most of the time it's ******* some plan up.
Though I know longer run them, I've always like Knight of Meadowgrain and Loyal Cathar. Cathar especially as a pet card, as having two bodies in one can prove pretty valuable.
I like Imposing Sovereign, she makes blocking difficult if put down early enough. I've always been annoyed that she's just a human, shouldn't she be an advisor too or something?
I don't think Relic Seeker is very common in cube today, but I'm currently rocking it. I like having a small equipment subtheme in white.
I love Imposing Sovereign. Yeah, Thalia does the same thing but better, but it's an effect I want my white aggro and tempo decks to have plausibly reliable access to, and that necessitates running Sovereign.
My white 2s are pretty standard: Accorder Paladin, Sovereign, Skyfisher, Relic Seeker, Selfless Spirit, Stoneforge Mystic, Thalia, and Wall of Omens. Pretty happy with that list. Seeker helps Stoneforge decks, just like Sovereign helps Thalia decks. I always look at cutting Paladin, but then it wins me games the next draft.
I'd love to have another white 2 that is a slam dunk like Stoneforge or Selfless Spirit. Any unique effect would be sweet.
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I can't say I'm pleased to see you and must warn you I may have to do something about it.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: URDelver
Modern: UGRDelver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
I haven't tried Imposing Sovereign. I was not excited about the body (no first strike?) and the effect is only conditionally good (I ran the enchantment version of this effect for awhile).
Only unusual white two drop I run is Sunscape Familiar, but that's in my combo oriented list.
Imposing Sovereign is pretty high on my white two cc power rankings and I can see cutting 4 or 5 other creatures before cutting her. She's great in agro and really good against planeswalkers that rely on creature tokens for protection.
I have a couple white two drop pet cards:
Fencing Ace (AKA Inigo Montoya): At face value it's a 1W beater that hits for 2 and can profitably attack into any X/1 creature, of which there are many. The upside is just nuts for a two drop though. There are so many ways to beef creatures in cube from equipment to counters to planeswalker buffs that I feel Mr. Montoya definitely deserves a spot. My best experience with him:
Turn 2: Resolve Fencing Ace
Turn 3: Play/equip Grafted Wargear, beat for 8.
Turn 4: Resolve Elspeth 1.0, give Fencing Ace +3/+3 and flying, attack for 14 and win the game.
That's totally mtg xmasland, but it did happen :D. Seriously though, even a Bonesplitter on this guy is awesome.
I also run Knight of Meadowgrain but REALLY need to find a replacement for that card.
Imposing Sovereign is pretty high on my white two cc power rankings and I can see cutting 4 or 5 other creatures before cutting her. She's great in agro and really good against planeswalkers that rely on creature tokens for protection.
I have a couple white two drop pet cards:
Fencing Ace (AKA Inigo Montoya): At face value it's a 1W beater that hits for 2 and can profitably attack into any X/1 creature, of which there are many. The upside is just nuts for a two drop though. There are so many ways to beef creatures in cube from equipment to counters to planeswalker buffs that I feel Mr. Montoya definitely deserves a spot. My best experience with him:
Turn 2: Resolve Fencing Ace
Turn 3: Play/equip Grafted Wargear, beat for 8.
Turn 4: Resolve Elspeth 1.0, give Fencing Ace +3/+3 and flying, attack for 14 and win the game.
That's totally mtg xmasland, but it did happen :D. Seriously though, even a Bonesplitter on this guy is awesome.
I also run Knight of Meadowgrain but REALLY need to find a replacement for that card.
Totally second all of that. Well, except for the part about Knight of Meadowgrain, haven't been running that for years.
Imposing Sovereign is still pretty close to Top-5 material in the white 2-drop section. No near from cutting it.
About the underdog 2-drop, we do run Restoration Specialist at the moment. Nothing incredibly powerful, but it has been solid so far, netting you 2 for 1 and activating death trigger. At worst, it trades with a destroyed piece of equipment hanging in your graveyard. At best, it returns a Parallax Wave or a O-Ring along with it.
Imposing Sovereign's continuous effect helps white aggro decks so much in ther matchup against midrange decks that even with Thalia, Heretic Cathar being so much better I can't see cutting Sovereign any time soon, either. Sovereign coming down and keeping blockers tapped a turn earlier still makes up for its barely-on-curve body.
I've been a big fan of both Precinct Captain and Consul's Lieutenant as extra support for the white weenie/Anthem deck. They may be harder to cast than other choices for this slot, but a dedicated white weenie deck that doesn't mind the WW cost is often very open when my cube is being drafted.
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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.
Manic Vandal is a great card when your cube needs him, and I think most do. Some certainly do not, but most lists I've seen would look better with a Vandal.
I always err on the side of more vs less, and then trim from there if it seems too abundant. Most decks end up having at least one artifact you'd like to knock off, so that should be taken into consideration.
Vandal is always the card that beats out my other potential deck inclusions for one of the #20-#23 slots. Maindeck artifact hate is always welcome in this format, and it's a perfectly solid one.
I always find uses for artifact removal; particularly if your playgroup plays Sealed Deck like mine does.
I tend to err on the side of too much artifact/enchantment removal rather than not enough. The artifact decks are both popular and strong even in my unpowered list.
Solid card is solid. Vandal is good at what he does and I don't think there's a red deck I'd build where he'd sit on the sidelines (barring me drafting 2-3 other artifact killers).
I think my cube is in a good place with artifact removal right now. I'd like another in white, like a color shifted Reclamation Sage, but it's not crucial.
Always go back and forth between including Manic Vandal or including Smash to Smithereens. Right now I'm running neither. I'm unpowered with no swords and it doesn't seem like a huge issue. Right now, red can't really even kill artifacts unless you count stuff like Chaos Warp and Goblin Welder. I'm fine with that ability requiring you to dip into another color where you get much more flexibility because of enchantment kill as well.
I hate Manic Vandal. Card is good if you run a strong suite of artifacts (powered cubed obviously but also a lot of unpowered lists can get away running it too). It was trash in my lower powered rare list though with a much thinner selection of powerful artifacts. I've always preferred Keldon Vandals in any case because on an empty board it beats hard. Plenty of times where paying the echo and getting a few hits in with it makes the card feel more versatile. I like echo more than most though because it opens additional in-game decisions.
I'm pretty happy to not be running Keldon Vandals, it's not the worst but it feels pretty bad paying 6 mana over two turns or letting it die if I can't recur it nor afford to pay the 2R again. It opens up additional decisions, but they're kind of feel-bad decisions too often for me.
Manic Vandal and Uktabi Orangutan are the narrowest artifact removal spells I run in my unpowered cube, but I want red to have access to this effect, not only for must-kill artifacts like Swords, but also to be able to disrupt artifact-based ramp decks. I do wish there were something else as efficient in red that's a bit less narrow, like another Pillage, or some kind of red equivalent to Reclamation Sage, but there isn't, so Manic Vandal stays in. I prefer it over spell-based options like Smash to Smithereens or Release the Gremlins not only so it's never a dead card, but also for the potential for blink and recursion shenanigans.
In my red section, I'm running Manic Vandal and Pillage as my only artifact removal spells, which seems to be plenty. We've gotten so many quality options for artifact removal that are more versatile in green and white that I feel there's enough in the cube on the whole.
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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.
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I also just have drafters take the DFCs out of the sleeve, since they're double-sleeved I'm not worried about damage to the cards. It does give away some information during the draft portion, but checklist cards have always seemed like much more trouble than they're worth to me.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
Also, follow us on twitter! @TurnOneMagic
BONUS QUESTION
White has a pretty wide variety of fairly interchangeablw 2-drops. Do you have any "pet" white 2-drops that most of us probably aren't running?
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
My 2cc creature suite is pretty standard; nothing out of the ordinary there.
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!
I'm still running Precinct Captain in the 2CC slot, which is probably a bit outclassed at this point. But my copy is artist-signed and I am always loath to cut those. And it certain situations it can definitely put in work. I also support green aggro so I run Strangleroot Geist. Green Aggro got a lot easier to support with Conspiracy 2 actually. Hymn of the Wilds and Emissary's Ploy can be pretty bonkers. Check out this deck: http://www.cubetutor.com/cubedeck/681548
Though I know longer run them, I've always like Knight of Meadowgrain and Loyal Cathar. Cathar especially as a pet card, as having two bodies in one can prove pretty valuable.
Also, follow us on twitter! @TurnOneMagic
I don't think Relic Seeker is very common in cube today, but I'm currently rocking it. I like having a small equipment subtheme in white.
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
My white 2s are pretty standard: Accorder Paladin, Sovereign, Skyfisher, Relic Seeker, Selfless Spirit, Stoneforge Mystic, Thalia, and Wall of Omens. Pretty happy with that list. Seeker helps Stoneforge decks, just like Sovereign helps Thalia decks. I always look at cutting Paladin, but then it wins me games the next draft.
I'd love to have another white 2 that is a slam dunk like Stoneforge or Selfless Spirit. Any unique effect would be sweet.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
Only unusual white two drop I run is Sunscape Familiar, but that's in my combo oriented list.
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/modular-cube-5-colors.800/
Retro combo cube thread
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/retro-combo-cube.1454/
I have a couple white two drop pet cards:
Fencing Ace (AKA Inigo Montoya): At face value it's a 1W beater that hits for 2 and can profitably attack into any X/1 creature, of which there are many. The upside is just nuts for a two drop though. There are so many ways to beef creatures in cube from equipment to counters to planeswalker buffs that I feel Mr. Montoya definitely deserves a spot. My best experience with him:
Turn 2: Resolve Fencing Ace
Turn 3: Play/equip Grafted Wargear, beat for 8.
Turn 4: Resolve Elspeth 1.0, give Fencing Ace +3/+3 and flying, attack for 14 and win the game.
That's totally mtg xmasland, but it did happen :D. Seriously though, even a Bonesplitter on this guy is awesome.
I also run Knight of Meadowgrain but REALLY need to find a replacement for that card.
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/modular-cube-5-colors.800/
Retro combo cube thread
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/retro-combo-cube.1454/
About the underdog 2-drop, we do run Restoration Specialist at the moment. Nothing incredibly powerful, but it has been solid so far, netting you 2 for 1 and activating death trigger. At worst, it trades with a destroyed piece of equipment hanging in your graveyard. At best, it returns a Parallax Wave or a O-Ring along with it.
Zetsu's Cube on CubeTutor.com
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It also stops haste guys, but I have never experienced this.
Right now I still have Knight of Meadowgrain. Not a pet card, but I just haven't updated my cube yet.
I've been a big fan of both Precinct Captain and Consul's Lieutenant as extra support for the white weenie/Anthem deck. They may be harder to cast than other choices for this slot, but a dedicated white weenie deck that doesn't mind the WW cost is often very open when my cube is being drafted.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
Manic Vandal
BONUS QUESTION
How much artifact removal is enough?
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
I always err on the side of more vs less, and then trim from there if it seems too abundant. Most decks end up having at least one artifact you'd like to knock off, so that should be taken into consideration.
Also, follow us on twitter! @TurnOneMagic
I always find uses for artifact removal; particularly if your playgroup plays Sealed Deck like mine does.
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!
I tend to err on the side of too much artifact/enchantment removal rather than not enough. The artifact decks are both popular and strong even in my unpowered list.
Here's my cube! Give it a draft!
I think my cube is in a good place with artifact removal right now. I'd like another in white, like a color shifted Reclamation Sage, but it's not crucial.
Cheers,
rant
My Cube
CubeCobra: https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/5f5d0310ed602310515d4c32
Cube Tutor: http://cubetutor.com/viewcube/1963
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/modular-cube-5-colors.800/
Retro combo cube thread
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/retro-combo-cube.1454/
Also, follow us on twitter! @TurnOneMagic
In my red section, I'm running Manic Vandal and Pillage as my only artifact removal spells, which seems to be plenty. We've gotten so many quality options for artifact removal that are more versatile in green and white that I feel there's enough in the cube on the whole.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.