I run a 540 unpowered cube that I unfortunately get to play with very rarely (I have two friends that enjoy and play cube, and they live about 200 miles away). However, when we do get together and play it's lots of fun. But beacuse of this reason it's hard to do extensive play-testing of different archetypes.
I'm wondering if people has had success with artifact.decks without power 9. I basically run wtwlf123's list without the power 9. Are cards like Trinket Mage, Tezzeret the Seeker, Agent of Bolas, tolarian academy etc. still viable without them?
How many artifacts would you have to run ideally to support the artifact.deck without power9?
I've played the artifact.dec before without getting any power 9 and I've won drafts with it. That being said, powered cubes provide a lot of tools to help make that deck run smoothly. I've heard others say that it's possible to make it work in unpowered, but I've only ever seen it be successful in powered lists personally.
I've been running artifact decks in my unpowered cube for a couple years now. You are on the right track. Definitely stick in a bunch of signets and maybe a few other mana rocks and you'll be good!
I've been running artifact decks in my unpowered cube for a couple years now. You are on the right track. Definitely stick in a bunch of signets and maybe a few other mana rocks and you'll be good!
In your list I see you're running the 5 moxes. Have you had success even without them?
Yes, and those moxes are actually placeholders for custom mox-esque rocks that I use instead of moxen. They are much weaker than moxen but cost 1 cmc so can be fetched w/ trinket mage and stuff.
Basically they read:
1 CMC
EtB tapped unless you pay 3 life.
Tap for 1 color.
Custom cards is definitely not a popular solution but its been working really well for my group and they haven't warped the unpowered feel of my cube.
To be clear, I ran artifact synergy cards for years without these. We just decided to add them as a way to ratchet up the speed a little bit without going full on fast mana.
I see, thanks for the input. Next time we're playing I'll try to force the artifact deck a few times to see how it holds up.
On another one, is there a risk that midrange-decks benefit too much from all the added 2-cmc mana rocks, which ultimately would make aggro-decks unplayable? I suppose I could add some extra artifact hate, to counter this issue.
My cube is a 540 unpowered cube with a bunch of mana rocks / artifacts matters cards and aggro is still one of the most consistent decks around.
Nice, I see. How has the artifact deck been working out for you?
It's strong. Tinker is the best payoff, but Tolarian Academy is a huge ramp payoff. There's a lot of "artifacts matters" cards that are very strong in decks that just have a couple of mana rocks lying around like Saheeli, the Gifted / Tezzeret, Artifice Master.
In an unpowered cube, I would avoid Trinket Mage / Tezzeret the Seeker, not enough payoff.
In an unpowered cube, I would avoid Trinket Mage / Tezzeret the Seeker, not enough payoff.
I can see why trinket mage falls short, however Tezzeret the Seeker still seems strong. Untapping signets or bigger mana rocks for loads of mana or finding a good artifact piece which there are plenty of. Not to speak of the ultimate. That said, I obviously haven't tried him or the artifact deck out in the first place, but in theory it looks good.
My cube is unpowered (well, it has Timetwister, but it's designed like a powered cube. The concept I wanted was "powered cube, but one turn slower". I achieved this by cutting the fast mana that was too easy (e.g. Moxen/Signets), and cards that are too consistent at straight killing turn 2 (e.g. Channel). It's still possible to do things like win on turn 1/2, but it requires more resources than a normal powered cube. This may sound like it would kill the artifact deck, but that deck 3-0s a fair amount over here.
The biggest difference is that you won't *always* play a 4cc card on turn 2-3 because there's just less artifact ramp to go around. And at least over here, that's been fine because all of the decks are a turn slower. Also, With less actual artifacts, the walkers that make artifacts are more important than usual in order to keep cards like Tolarian Academy potent.
That's been my experience so far, although my list is developed quite differently than most unpowered lists.
I run a 540 unpowered cube that I unfortunately get to play with very rarely (I have two friends that enjoy and play cube, and they live about 200 miles away). However, when we do get together and play it's lots of fun. But beacuse of this reason it's hard to do extensive play-testing of different archetypes.
I'm wondering if people has had success with artifact.decks without power 9. I basically run wtwlf123's list without the power 9. Are cards like Trinket Mage, Tezzeret the Seeker, Agent of Bolas, tolarian academy etc. still viable without them?
How many artifacts would you have to run ideally to support the artifact.deck without power9?
Thanks,
en fisk
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In your list I see you're running the 5 moxes. Have you had success even without them?
Basically they read:
1 CMC
EtB tapped unless you pay 3 life.
Tap for 1 color.
Custom cards is definitely not a popular solution but its been working really well for my group and they haven't warped the unpowered feel of my cube.
To be clear, I ran artifact synergy cards for years without these. We just decided to add them as a way to ratchet up the speed a little bit without going full on fast mana.
On another one, is there a risk that midrange-decks benefit too much from all the added 2-cmc mana rocks, which ultimately would make aggro-decks unplayable? I suppose I could add some extra artifact hate, to counter this issue.
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
Nice, I see. How has the artifact deck been working out for you?
It's strong. Tinker is the best payoff, but Tolarian Academy is a huge ramp payoff. There's a lot of "artifacts matters" cards that are very strong in decks that just have a couple of mana rocks lying around like Saheeli, the Gifted / Tezzeret, Artifice Master.
In an unpowered cube, I would avoid Trinket Mage / Tezzeret the Seeker, not enough payoff.
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
I can see why trinket mage falls short, however Tezzeret the Seeker still seems strong. Untapping signets or bigger mana rocks for loads of mana or finding a good artifact piece which there are plenty of. Not to speak of the ultimate. That said, I obviously haven't tried him or the artifact deck out in the first place, but in theory it looks good.
Example: http://www.cubetutor.com/cubedeck/1092279
Example: http://www.cubetutor.com/cubedeck/1086059
Example: http://www.cubetutor.com/cubedeck/1091491
The biggest difference is that you won't *always* play a 4cc card on turn 2-3 because there's just less artifact ramp to go around. And at least over here, that's been fine because all of the decks are a turn slower. Also, With less actual artifacts, the walkers that make artifacts are more important than usual in order to keep cards like Tolarian Academy potent.
That's been my experience so far, although my list is developed quite differently than most unpowered lists.
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