The only masterpiece card I run right now is Vedalken Shackles. I'm one of those who like having a Cube "museum", and that card is a cube staple that's affordable in its masterpiece version. (And I actually like the art better than either of the previous arts, and that's not true for the other inventions.) That said, I don't currently have any expeditions or invocations and I'm not in a rush to get any. The invocation card frame was a huge miss for me.
I don't have Verdurous Gearhulk in my cube right now, but I could see swapping it in at some point if things get stale.
Green Gearhulk has been solid. Loses some of the flashiness of Kalonian Hydra, but it's more consistent.
I really dislike all the Masterpieces. But I run one of each kind, because I like to represent at least one copy of every historical frame that's been released. I use Hangarback Walker as my Invention, because it's the only one that I felt got an art upgrade.
I can't say I've tried Verdurous Gearhulk, but it doesn't seem better than any of my existing green 5's, so I just don't have room for it right now. The only possible swap would be for Kalonian Hydra, but Hydra's a faster clock, and it's not vulnerable to artifact destruction. If anyone thinks that would be a good swap, though, I'd like to hear it.
I'm running Invention versions of Sword of Light and Shadow because I pulled it in a draft, and I got a decent deal in a trade for Sundering Titan. The (artifact) Inventions are easily my favorite of the Masterpiece series, and I actually prefer the Invention frame to the silver modern-bordered frame for artifacts, so I'm perfectly happy to pimp out any newer artifacts as Inventions any time I can get one in trade stock.
I'm much less of a fan of the Expeditions and Invocations, although I do want to have one example of each in my cube. I managed to get Temple Garden Expedition, and hopefully I'll pull an Invocation for my cube at some point during Amonkhet draft season.
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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.
I like Relentless Dead, but mono-black isn't super well supported in my cube so the card has half a strike against it. Stax usually ends up being B/W in my cube, so sometimes needing to start BB is awkward.
I think we're almost there on Zombie tribal being a mainstream cube possibility. I always look with sadness at Bloodghast's creature type. Probably because of my history with D&D I've always looked at ghasts as zombies (since Magic treats ghouls as zombies) but R&D seems to call them spirits for some reason. (And Bloodghast is a vampire as well of course. Really an odd name choice in my opinion.)
I dislike CC 2 drops. They have to be insane to justify a spot in cube. I don't think Relentless Dead is that sort of card. Bloodghast on the other hand certainly is. Bloodghast is bonkers.
Tribal themes are too linear for traditional drafting cubes IMO. You can do it but I think you are always better off not doing it (from a draft experience). That said, incidental zombie support is really easy to do and not poisonous, though I think only gravecrawler is really worth supporting. I do think black devotion is worth looking at however, specifically Gray Merchant of Asphodel. Card is busted in a heavy black deck with any way to recur or flicker him.
Despite being a brutally good card, I don't like Relentless Dead in cube unless you're running very strong creature themes. It's a monster in my Grimgrin EDH, but I think it's too narrowly good for non-tribal cubes.
With how they keep cranking out good zombie cards, it's possible to see zombie tribal as a archetype. They just printed an uncommon lord for them in amonkhet Lord of the Accursed which grants size and menace, which is stupidly good for a 3 cost uncommon. It's better supported through spells than many other tribe, so if they keep pushing the envelope, something is going to give.
I don't mind having a CC two drop or two in my aggro colors if the power level warrants it, but considering how much mana has to be held open to protect this creature and take advantage of its Zombie recursive abilities I'm not so sure this gets there. At the moment, the only other Zombies I'm running are 1-drops, two of which are perfectly capable of recurring themselves without the help of Relentless Dead, so I don't feel this is necessary. Bloodghast is a no-brainer as BB 2-drops go, and I've been testing Gifted Aetherborn, but no one's been very excited about drafting it, so I'll probably be cutting it soon for something that's easier to cast.
WoTC's been putting out a lot of Zombie tribal effects that are decent enough on their own that I've been increasingly tempted lately to try adding a Zombie tribal package. Liliana's Mastery, Liliana, Death's Majesty, Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet, Cemetery Reaper, Curse of Shallow Graves, Gravecrawler, and Grave Titan all do more than enough on their own that some pretty sweet decks could be built around Zombies without being overly parasitic. It seems like it could be fun, anyway.
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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.
Relentless Dead is serviceable, but not great. Being a zombie with meance / recursion is nice, but I don't like how you have to hold up mana when it dies in order to reap the benefits. The biggest strike to Relentless Dead for me is that there's already 3 staple BB cards: Hymn to Torach, Sinkhole, and Bloodghast are all much stronger than Relentless Dead, and adding a 4th BB spell really clogs up the 2-cmc black section, IMO. Glint-Sleeve Siphoner is my 2-powered menace / card advantage card of choice.
There's definitely a lot of support out there for a zombie archetype, but I don't think it can stand by itself in a high powered cube.
I play 4 spells at BB: Bloodghast, Hymn, Sinkhole, and Smallpox. The last is a pet card and one that fits better and better into black as more of the 1 drops are recurring. Relentless Dead is good but not like relentlessly good. Once it rotates I may try it, but I doubt it. BB is just so hard.
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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
BB is just too hard and combined with the B in the death trigger it does not justify the recurring 2/2.
The recursion seems great but can easily be played around by opponnets by waiting for you to be tapped out.
Zombie tribal + Mono black may push this card but for typical cubes, I just choose Reassembling Skeleton, which works for dredge, discard, and against counterspalls.
I think Zombie theme can be pushed... especially with the Amonkhet Liliana.
I can't say I've tried Verdurous Gearhulk, but it doesn't seem better than any of my existing green 5's, so I just don't have room for it right now. The only possible swap would be for Kalonian Hydra, but Hydra's a faster clock, and it's not vulnerable to artifact destruction. If anyone thinks that would be a good swap, though, I'd like to hear it.
I do. There was a recent discussion about it here.
I agree with the consensus about Relentless Dead. Too many better BB spells, and keeping the mana open is not easy.
It's a good card, but it needs both mono-black aggro support and a deep zombie subtheme to truly shine. I like the card, but ultimately cut it for something more versatile.
If you want zombie tribal to be what black does, you can certainly make it good enough.
Treasure Cruise is decent, it isn't as consistent as it was in Legacy or Modern but it's great in control mirrors and some decks can reliably cast it around t3-4 which is pretty solid. Those decks aren't always coming together and sometimes Cruise sits to the side, but it's a fine inclusion.
Treasure Cruise feels like a more splashable Concentrate that exiles your graveyard, in my experience with it in cube. Which is fine, but probably on the lower-end of cubable blue cards. I certainly like Dig Though Time more, as far as blue draw spells with Delve go.
Treasure cruise is good. plus the nostalgia of it in standard and the dream of casting it for U are too much fun to cut.
Went on a Royal Caribean cruise once for a family vacation. I was 18 so I had gotten used to drinking and going to the bar in Canada but the cruise company is American and even in international waters they had a strict 21+ age restriction for alcohol. Had to spend my whole vacation with 14, 15, and 16 year old kids... sucked.
I like Treasure Cruise. It's good but it's rarely super great.
I've been on cruises that last a few hours, but nothing like a multi-day or a weeklong one. It's unlikely to happen now because my wife gets seasick easily (I do occasionally, but it requires a really turbulent sea).
I've been pretty happy with Treasure Cruise. Even if you wind up with it in your opening hand it's usually not that hard to use it to reload the clip for 3-4 mana, and the ceiling of a late game Ancestral Recall comes up often enough. If you're used to actually casting Ancestral Recall in your powered cube or casting Treasure Cruise for U on the regularin a constructed deck full of fetches and cantrips, Treasure Cruise will disappoint, but for an unpowered cube this does great work and it's very budget friendly.
I've never been able to go on one of the massive Carnival Cruise style cruise ships, does sound fun to me since I'm old enough to drink, but I've been able to go on a couple of junk cruises in Halong Bay in Vietnam. The scenery's amazing, and it's one of the most relaxing experiences of my life.
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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.
I am always disappointed with Cruise in my cube. Casting it for four in the middle stages of the game is the norm, and it is weak but fine. But casting it for under three, unless it is in the very late game in a control deck and you are bound to win anyway, didn't happen here yet. It also has negative synergy with other delve cards.
My sister used to live on a boat for two years as it was cheaper than rent.
I haven't resolved Cruise yet. Other people have and have told me it's good enough to keep for now, but not amazing.
I've been on one cruise - a Royal Caribbean cruise to Alaska. It was awesome, but my parents were paying for the whole thing, and a big part of the fun was the excursions. I'm pretty sure they're pricey, so I don't know that it's something my wife and I would be able to swing any time soon.
I don't have Verdurous Gearhulk in my cube right now, but I could see swapping it in at some point if things get stale.
I really dislike all the Masterpieces. But I run one of each kind, because I like to represent at least one copy of every historical frame that's been released. I use Hangarback Walker as my Invention, because it's the only one that I felt got an art upgrade.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
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I'm running Invention versions of Sword of Light and Shadow because I pulled it in a draft, and I got a decent deal in a trade for Sundering Titan. The (artifact) Inventions are easily my favorite of the Masterpiece series, and I actually prefer the Invention frame to the silver modern-bordered frame for artifacts, so I'm perfectly happy to pimp out any newer artifacts as Inventions any time I can get one in trade stock.
I'm much less of a fan of the Expeditions and Invocations, although I do want to have one example of each in my cube. I managed to get Temple Garden Expedition, and hopefully I'll pull an Invocation for my cube at some point during Amonkhet draft season.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
Relentless Dead
BONUS QUESTION
Do you think Zombie tribal has potential as a cube archetype?
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
I think we're almost there on Zombie tribal being a mainstream cube possibility. I always look with sadness at Bloodghast's creature type. Probably because of my history with D&D I've always looked at ghasts as zombies (since Magic treats ghouls as zombies) but R&D seems to call them spirits for some reason. (And Bloodghast is a vampire as well of course. Really an odd name choice in my opinion.)
Tribal themes are too linear for traditional drafting cubes IMO. You can do it but I think you are always better off not doing it (from a draft experience). That said, incidental zombie support is really easy to do and not poisonous, though I think only gravecrawler is really worth supporting. I do think black devotion is worth looking at however, specifically Gray Merchant of Asphodel. Card is busted in a heavy black deck with any way to recur or flicker him.
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/modular-cube-5-colors.800/
Retro combo cube thread
http://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/retro-combo-cube.1454/
With how they keep cranking out good zombie cards, it's possible to see zombie tribal as a archetype. They just printed an uncommon lord for them in amonkhet Lord of the Accursed which grants size and menace, which is stupidly good for a 3 cost uncommon. It's better supported through spells than many other tribe, so if they keep pushing the envelope, something is going to give.
WoTC's been putting out a lot of Zombie tribal effects that are decent enough on their own that I've been increasingly tempted lately to try adding a Zombie tribal package. Liliana's Mastery, Liliana, Death's Majesty, Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet, Cemetery Reaper, Curse of Shallow Graves, Gravecrawler, and Grave Titan all do more than enough on their own that some pretty sweet decks could be built around Zombies without being overly parasitic. It seems like it could be fun, anyway.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
There's definitely a lot of support out there for a zombie archetype, but I don't think it can stand by itself in a high powered cube.
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
The recursion seems great but can easily be played around by opponnets by waiting for you to be tapped out.
Zombie tribal + Mono black may push this card but for typical cubes, I just choose Reassembling Skeleton, which works for dredge, discard, and against counterspalls.
I think Zombie theme can be pushed... especially with the Amonkhet Liliana.
I do. There was a recent discussion about it here.
I agree with the consensus about Relentless Dead. Too many better BB spells, and keeping the mana open is not easy.
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If you want zombie tribal to be what black does, you can certainly make it good enough.
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!
Treasure Cruise
BONUS QUESTION
Ever gone on a cruise?
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
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[180 classic cube]
Went on a Royal Caribean cruise once for a family vacation. I was 18 so I had gotten used to drinking and going to the bar in Canada but the cruise company is American and even in international waters they had a strict 21+ age restriction for alcohol. Had to spend my whole vacation with 14, 15, and 16 year old kids... sucked.
Never much cared for boats or the ocean.
I've been on cruises that last a few hours, but nothing like a multi-day or a weeklong one. It's unlikely to happen now because my wife gets seasick easily (I do occasionally, but it requires a really turbulent sea).
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I used to write for MTGS, including Cranial Insertion and cube articles. Good on you if you can find those after the upgrade.
I've never been able to go on one of the massive Carnival Cruise style cruise ships, does sound fun to me since I'm old enough to drink, but I've been able to go on a couple of junk cruises in Halong Bay in Vietnam. The scenery's amazing, and it's one of the most relaxing experiences of my life.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
My sister used to live on a boat for two years as it was cheaper than rent.
The list on cube cobra
Read my blog on cube - Latest post June 2nd 2022
I've been on one cruise - a Royal Caribbean cruise to Alaska. It was awesome, but my parents were paying for the whole thing, and a big part of the fun was the excursions. I'm pretty sure they're pricey, so I don't know that it's something my wife and I would be able to swing any time soon.