MTG Salvation

Hey fellas, me and buddies have been trying to balance our cube and we are having issues replacing some of the weak black bombs.

Our cube is 375 cards (added 15 cards for twin combo and then balancing the other colors for it with reanimator spells and some other stuff)

Hythonia, the cruel and Lord of the Void were in two of our slots. We decided to boot hythonia for griselbrand, but we are at a loss with lord of the void. We don't currently have bloodghast in our list, so thats an idea. Our two cmc slot is pretty packed across the colors though, our 4 and 5 drop slots are a little light though i think. Lord of the void also isn't terrible with sneak attack, but still not doing as much as we would like when it hits the board. What are some suggestions for this slot?

• Black (53)
  
• Abyssal Persecutor
  
• Animate Dead
  
• Avatar of Woe
  
• Bitterblossom
  
• Bloodline Keeper Flip
  
• Consuming Vapors
  
• Contract from Below
  
• Crypt Ghast
  
• Damnation
  
• Dance of the Dead
  
• Dark Confidant
  
• Dark Ritual
  
• Death Cloud
  
• Demonic Tutor
  
• Dismember
  
• Doom Blade
  
• Doomed Necromancer
  
• Entomb
  
• Fleshbag Marauder
  
• Gatekeeper of Malakir
  
• Geralf's Messenger
  
• Go for the Throat
  
• Grave Titan
  
• Gray Merchant of Asphodel
  
• Griselbrand
  
• Hero's Downfall
  
• Hymn to Tourach
  
• Hypnotic Specter
  
• Liliana of the Veil
  
• Liliana's Reaver
  
• Lord of the Void
  
• Mind Twist
  
• Nekrataal
  
• No Mercy
  
• Noxious Gearhulk
  
• Pack Rat
  
• Phyrexian Arena
  
• Phyrexian Obliterator
  
• Reanimate
  
• Recurring Nightmare
  
• Shriekmaw
  
• Sidisi, Undead Vizier
  
• Sinkhole
  
• Skirsdag High Priest
  
• Smallpox
  
• Snuff Out
  
• Sorin Markov
  
• Thoughtseize
  
• Tombstalker
  
• Tragic Slip
  
• Vampire Nighthawk
  
• Vampiric Tutor
  
• Victim of Night

Can't go wrong with Bloodghast, but Duress and Inquisition of Kozilek would also be good additions.

Either Exhume or Liliana, the Last Hope would also be some nice addition to your list I think. Same as Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet since you run ton of removals in there.

FWIW, Are you playing Contract from Below as a 1-mana black Wheel of Fortune? Never thought about it. Seems really good!

If you're willing to errata certain aspects then Contract from Below is a disgusting card and probably the best black card available. I would not play an errata'd version in an unpowered cube.

Quote from Salmo »

If you're willing to errata certain aspects then Contract from Below is a disgusting card and probably the best black card available. I would not play an errata'd version in an unpowered cube.

I had similar thoughts when adding contract to the cube. When we first started cubing and even now, our group tends to stay away from black (sometimes a splash). I tried to force and incentivize players to pick black, right or wrong, by putting that card in there. The ante clause of the card is handled in our group as follows:

1) If we are playing for packs and you cast contract from below; the winner of the game in which you casted it gets to choose any card from the first pack you win

2) If we are not playing for packs, the winner of the game gets the exiled card for the rest of the draft.


EDIT: Zetsu-Sensei - For some reason Kalitas didn't cross my mind. Our four drop slot is a little lacking as well. I'm gunna wait for some other suggestions, but that seems like the best alternative so far

Double Edit: Despite having opposition in our list, there aren't tons of ways to utilize it (no myr battlesphere for example). Kalitas can make UB opposition frightening to play against. I'm really liking kalitas in this slot

Contract from Below discussion?

However you try to swing it (as wtwlf alluded to--the 'try to swing it' discussion is a worn subject around here) a draw 7+ for B is a card that I would say is stronger than a LOT of cards in a powered cube, and nothing I would want for my unpowered environment.

Quote from Salmo »

However you try to swing it (as wtwlf alluded to--the 'try to swing it' discussion is a worn subject around here) a draw 7+ for B is a card that I would say is stronger than a LOT of cards in a powered cube, and nothing I would want for my unpowered environment.

Perhaps i will cut that and bring in inquisition or something. I want people to play back, but i don't want anyone abusing broken cards either. Mana Drain is on its way out of our cube for the same reason.

• Blue (54)
  
• AEtherling
  
• Ancestral Recall
  
• Brainstorm
  
• Bribery
  
• Consecrated Sphinx
  
• Control Magic
  
• Counterspell
  
• Cryptic Command
  
• Daze
  
• Deadeye Navigator
  
• Deceiver Exarch
  
• Dig Through Time
  
• Dungeon Geists
  
• Evacuation
  
• Fact or Fiction
  
• Forbid
  
• Force of Will
  
• Force Spike
  
• Frost Titan
  
• Glen Elendra Archmage
  
• Impulse
  
• Into the Roil
  
• Jace, Memory Adept
  
• Jace, the Mind Sculptor
  
• Lighthouse Chronologist
  
• Mana Drain
  
• Mana Leak
  
• Master of Waves
  
• Memory Lapse
  
• Miscalculation
  
• Morphling
  
• Mystical Tutor
  
• Opposition
  
• Perplexing Chimera
  
• Pestermite
  
• Phantasmal Image
  
• Phyrexian Metamorph
  
• Ponder
  
• Preordain
  
• Propaganda
  
• Remand
  
• Show and Tell
  
• Snapcaster Mage
  
• Sower of Temptation
  
• Standstill
  
• Stunt Double
  
• Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
  
• Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
  
• Thada Adel, Acquisitor
  
• Thing in the Ice Flip
  
• Torrential Gearhulk
  
• Treachery
  
• Vendilion Clique
  
• Venser, Shaper Savant
  

Our group is split on cutting mana drain and recall because of the obvious power disparity.

Regarding power vs unpowered - I'm greatly in favor of picking a side and going all in with the decision. So if you run recall and drain, I'd bring the full suite of stuff in with it.

Ahadabans is right. Having only a few pieces of Power will lead to some very unbalanced games.

Yeah, power is less magnified when there are other decks at the table capable of the broken starts that power enables. It doesn't always happen that way in a powered cube, drafting still has some amount of variance depending on the size of the cube and the number of players, but the balance is definitely skewed.

I took recall and contract out of the cube. gunna post the finished cube list in the thread for it, for feedback