Howdy all,
Here be my multiplayer cube, currently enjoyed on a regular basis by a playgroup that has been slinging cards at each other in a multiplayer setting since '95.
This cube was birthed on Valentine's Day 2011, and is now pretty much at the point where we can pick and choose the cards from new sets that we want in (there are probably about 15-20 multiplayer staples we're still missing, and our additions are somewhat limited by budget, so this cube usually does its set updates once the singles prices have fallen off the cliff).
Basic Information Cube Size: 360 cards. Breakdown: 45 of each colour, 40 colourless, 55 multicoloured, 40 land. Standard or Theme: Standard Snow Lands: Nope Average Number of Players: Usually 5-6, can handle up to 8. How Often Drafted: Fortnightly (or so).
Card Selection Proxies: Nope. Powered: Nope. Portal: Nope. "Un" Cards: Nope. Banned Cards for Power-Level: Recurring Nightmare, Sylvan Primordial, Tinker. Banned Cards for Time Constraints: Anything that slows a multiplayer game to a crawl. So Limited Resources won't be here any time soon! We're aiming for cards that reward and encourage aggression in a multiplayer environment, and discourage passive play. Banned Cards for "fun" factor: See above, basically.
Cube Design Standard or Multiplayer: Multiplayer Sideboards?: Yes. If we have time to sideboard! Perfect Creature/Spell Balance: Yes Gold Balance: Yes Hybrid/Split/Kicker as Gold: Hybrid and Split yes, Kicker cards no (at least not yet). Color Triggers as Gold: Nope. Perfectly Balanced CMC: Not perfectly, but very close to. This cube at least attempts to maintain a good curve in all places.
So... what the heck is up with this Cube?
My playgroup ranges between 4-8 players on any given night, taking part in free-for-all and team Multiplayer games. We have varying budgets and power levels amongst the players and decks, as well as a couple of undecked hangers-on who turn up occasionally. I put this Cube together out of my spare parts in order to address the imbalance in budget and power level, and to give the blow-ins something to play with. As a happy coincidence, parts of my playgroup have started to get into drafting, and the Cube helps sate their appetite for draft in between prereleases.
I put it together out of my spare parts around the end of 2010, and debuted it around Valentine's Day 2011. It probably took about four to five months to truly catch on, but my playgroup is now hooked. The Cube slowly morphed from a horrid Frankenstein filled in by Lorwyn tribal elements (as that was what I mostly had lying around at the start), powered itself up as it stole parts from decks I was deconstructing, and has now made it to the point where we know the parts we need to upgrade, and can look over new sets with an eye to upgrading.
My playgroup has a wide range of playing styles - a couple of Spikes who want to draft power alone, a couple of Johnnies who want to draft the intricate game-winning combos, and a couple of Vorthoses who would love to kill you with a deck featuring every Elemental-related card in the Cube.
And so, here we are with the Cube. Over the years, it has become more aggro-focused, as this allows for games that don't get bogged down and become unfun, and it also allows the Cube to play better in a team / 2HG environment, should we choose to play our decks in that format. It's also got enough stuff onboard to allow my group's one raging Timmy to Pattern of Rebirth into something fat and green onto the table on Turn 3, enough reanimation and equipment to allow the Spikes to build something approaching the calibre of deck they'd bring to the table anyway, and enough interesting combo cards for the Johnnies.
This Cube Seems To Update New Sets Slower Than Others... What's Up With That?
I generally do a singles purchase four times a year, usually about a month after a set release (once the singles prices have settled for the new stuff, and it becomes more affordable to get these things into the cube). This means we usually have our set updates in February, May, August and November (around a month after most other people, who will sometimes even proxy their changes into their cubes to test them out). Christmas is usually nice to the cube, as is my birthday in January, so the new year usually brings a flurry of changes.
As they say in the business, "pics or it didn't happen". So here's some pics.
These are taken off my old phone, so some of them are as fuzzy as anything. One day I'll get some higher quality pictures up here. For now, you at least get the idea of the cube's contents in pictorial form.
The Cube Box
This was built for me from old Jarrah offcuts. Jarrah is one of the hardest woods on the planet (and they use it for bridges, jetties and railway sleepers in my neck of the woods), so you can imagine how much this thing weighs. It is lined on the inside with blue felt. The ribbon in the picture is loose, and just used as a divider between the cube and the basic land / creature tokens.
You too can build one like this if you (or someone you know) has the skill to. Mine was built to the following dimensions - L 15 1/4", H 3", W 3 13/16". These dimensions are the measurements of the internal space inside the box - you can make the outside as big or small as you choose. To fit a bigger cube, make the length figure of 15 1/4" longer. The other two measurements are absolutely spot on (the width is particularly important... you do not want to go over or under this figure). As can be seen above, it holds the 360-card cube and 150 land quite comfortably. The guy who came up with the original measurements says that this length should hold a 500-card cube snugly.
Proteus Staff is a little hit-and-miss at the moment, but it remains in because my playgroup adores it (I have a friend abusing it by turning insects into Cthulu). At the end of the day, it's still turning saprolings and soldiers into the next physical critter on top of your library, so it's still somewhat useful. No-one's bombed it yet, though. The one time I've managed to draft it, I kept turning saprolings into 2-3cc utility creatures.
Had seven guys last night, but not much time...
... and so they decided to do a sealed deck Cube draft! In other words, sod drafting - just hand me the three boosters and I'll make a deck out of 'em!
As you can imagine, it forced people to play some horrid three or four-colour concoctions (as is fairly normal in sealed play, in my experience), but in the end, it worked!
I was handed a very interesting three boosters - three planeswalkers (Garruk, Chandra and Ajani), fat creatures and hardly any support to speak of. Basically had to sit tight and wait to reach critical before I started dropping bombs.
Produced a grandstand finish, with the last three guys all able to be killed by a single swing, one with Nath of the Gilt Leaf and Phyrexian Plaguelord, one with an Overbeing of Myth that was hitting 10/10, and me, wielding a Gleancrawler wearing Argentum Armor. We sat staring each other down with itchy trigger fingers. Alas, the guy holding the Overbeing miscalculated (he's new, so I don't blame him) - he drew Rocket Launcher and expected it to work first turn out. So he swung at me for lethal (there were a few other things in play to help him achieve it), and then dropped the Launcher. Nath + Plaguelord ended up swinging for the victory, sadly. But an epic finish, all the same.
I was able to discard Dominus of Fealty to Jalum Tome and then Exhume it the next turn for good times. The guy next to me was rocking an excellent deck that carried Corrosive Mentor and Kulrath Knight working in harmony beautifully.
But play of the night was the guy who eventually won, trying to control things with Tradewind Rider. One of the opponents saw it about to become active and dropped Silklash Spider, preparing it for use. Then our winner let Gilded Drake off the leash...
If you want to play sealed, you have to give every player more than the 45 cards from 3 boosters, in regular tournaments, you get 5-6 booster packs.
Exactly - it wasn't my idea for that very reason. I was very surprised that it even worked, given that it strayed most people into four colours. And yet fun was still had. I guess that speaks OK for the quality of the cards in the cube.
First draft for two of our newbies, as well as the first in ages for Mrs. Bl00m.
One of our new guys drafted RG and got Hateflayer out on Turn 4, thanks to Bloom Tender and Soulbright Flamekin. The amount of threats it removed and the amount of face it beat ended up giving his opponents a healthy respect for Hateflayer. Anyone now dropping it shall hereby be referred to as the 'Flaya Playa.
He ended up losing to our resident Threat, who drafted a slow-rolling WG concoction that eventually overwhelmed with weight of numbers (thanks to Imperious Perfect and Garruk Wildspeaker), boosted by Celestial Ancient and Juniper Order Ranger. His winning move was to give his Ancient ProWhite with Mother of Runes, dropping the Spirit Loop off it. The Loop came back to his hand, he recast it, and promptly gave all his creatures another boost before they went swinging.
I had to take Dromar, the Banisher Pack 1 Pick 1 (in what was a booster that had been hit by the ugly stick a few times... know how you get the occasional one that has no first picks in it?), which sent me into Esper colours. I stumbled into just about every good Merfolk card in the cube, but luck gave me a hand with land and every card with CC 5+. I got Lord of Atlantis and Dromar onto the table, only to be put out of my misery just before the fun started (my next three turns would have been Conspiracy set to Merfolk, Wanderwine Prophets, Deepchannel Mentor... and my opponents may not have had another turn after that!)
Our new guys left calling the draft "awesome" and "great fun"... suspect the Cube is getting rolled out again very quickly in the new year!
Now for a few proposed changes to the top of white's curve. Austere Command in for Purify. This is the obvious one. Austere Command does everything Purify does for one mana more, only with far, far more utility. It goes in because I got one in the Commander decks, and there is no reason for it not to be here. Faith's Fetters in for Roar of Reclamation. Austere Command now sits at the top of white's curve, and no-one is playing Reclamation. I need to put something 5cc in to replace Purify in the curve, but have nothing good enough at non-creature (probably need Gideon Jura or Sigil of the Empty Throne here). Fetters probably should be in anyway, so a 4cc card goes in instead. Reveillark in for False Prophet. To fix the curve up, we swap a 4cc critter for a 5cc. People seem to be too afraid to play the Prophet (and we've just stuck Austere Command in anyway). Lark is full of combo goodness, works with the Elemental tribe in the deck, potentially goes infinite with Coffin Queen...
Your cube is clearly working if your fellow drafters are giving such great feedback!
Your average casting cost seems pretty high. I understand that this is somewhat deliberate, but I wonder if it increases the variance too much in the games? It sounded tough for you in your report when you got only 5+ drops in your opener. Here are some suggestions:
1) Increase the number of mana producers in your cube to allow them to be more consistently drafted.
2) Take a leaf from the EDH book and start the game with higher life totals, maybe try 30.
3) How do you mulligan? maybe allow more generous mulligan rules, again like EDH.
4) Allow players to start with maybe a couple of basic lands in play. This would favour the decks with high curves and more colour commitment, but this may fit with the environment you are trying to create.
I generally like the changes and think they are improvements. I cut Austere Command from my cube because I found it irritating. I always felt it gave the illusion of flexibility but never did exactly what I wanted. I was probably just being greedy, but the no-nonsense effect of Akroma's Vengeance suited me better.
Roar of Reclamation is not strong enough as a build-around card. Faith's Fetters is a solid choice as it is spot removal with added value, which helps mitigate the relative card disadvantage in multiplayer.
I think Reveillark is a great card for the cube environment you seem to be aiming for. I used to run False Prophet in my cube when it was more multiplayer focused. He was pretty effective at directing attention elsewhere, and I loved the rather irreverent flavour of the card, but most of the time you are better off with a Wrath effect where you have more choice when it triggers.
I've not tried Transcendent Master but it looks like a solid choice for multiplayer. It provides reasonably costed beats/blocking early game but then acts as a mana sink to turn into a significant threat as the game goes long. Any card that fits in multiple points in the curve (leveller, evoke, entwine, etc) gets better in multiplayer, IMHO.
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
Thanks for your kind words!
Regarding the draw I got, to be honest, it was mostly due to my own stupidity.
My group plays with unlimited free mulligans, and I chose not to take advantage of it on the night - kept a hand with two land and some bombs, hoping to draw into the rest of the land. The plan didn't work out too well.
Plus, my draftmates seemed pretty keen on drafting the mana-fixing options high on the night, for some reason. Normally, I'd see the Signets, Terramorphics, a dual or two... on the night, I got two Vivids, and that was about it. So that didn't help either.
So, yes, victim of my own circumstance, more than anything!
One of the longer term goals is to get some better land options in here. I'm currently trying to get a set of both the M12 and Innistrad neo-duals in here for starters (I'm short the Glacial Fortress for the core set duals, and still have a bit of work to do for the Innistrad copies). I think that will probably solve most of the issues. From there, it's simply adding more card advantage to the Cube (to stop the game devolving into topdeck mode), and adding cards that break up creature stalls (where people are left hoarding creatures, and no-one attacks). Other than that, you're right about the curve being high - our multiplayer meta is all about ramping into combos and gorillas at the moment. So a fair bit of ramp in the cube, and a fair few high-end-of-the-curve game winners. People seem to be comfortable with that, really - there's enough ways of sneaking things out in here. The rest is just about being smart with your deckbuilding (and your mulligans, obviously)!
I'm going to be interested to see how Austere Command plays myself - it hasn't had much run in my meta. Hopefully its flexibility makes it a winner. Otherwise, I too have an Akroma's Vengeance to replace it. Transcendent Master has seen a fair bit of play in my meta, and is very, very good. People actually go out of their way to level it quickly, and that plan actually seems to work. I'm interested to see how its inclusion affects the balance of the cube, TBH.
Have you had any problems with running out of cards in a 40 card deck in multiplayer? With the Cube power level, draw effects seem somewhat risky. I've been considering suggesting running 50 card decks in case games go longer than anticipated. Although, from the looks of it, your Cube is a bit faster than mine.
How have Pulse Tracker and Blood Seeker been playing in your Cube? In my experiences in constructed, they draw a lot of animosity in multiplayer even after they've left the battlefield.
Have you had any problems with running out of cards in a 40 card deck in multiplayer? With the Cube power level, draw effects seem somewhat risky. I've been considering suggesting running 50 card decks in case games go longer than anticipated. Although, from the looks of it, your Cube is a bit faster than mine.
Not yet - we've had a couple of people go close, especially the guy who drafted Howling MineandOverbeing of Myth a few weeks back. He had a 10/10 Overbeing to go swinging with, but he was two turns from running out of cards when the game finished.
That said, we've used the rule of a 40-card minimum, so people are free to expand their decks to survive if they so choose.
How have Pulse Tracker and Blood Seeker been playing in your Cube? In my experiences in constructed, they draw a lot of animosity in multiplayer even after they've left the battlefield.
They're actually pretty good for what they do. Pulse Tracker hit the board Turn 1 in our last flight, and got three swings in before someone was sufficiently annoyed (from memory, the Flaya Playa sent an angry Hateflayer in its general direction :D) - for a one-drop, I don't think you can expect too much more in a multiplayer environment. I'd certainly be drafting a 1cc spell that took 3 life off the top of all my opponents' life totals. Blood Seeker seems to have the innate ability to stay alive in my meta. Don't know how - I've discussed this with other people before who swear the Seeker is killed on sight in their meta. For some reason, 1 life is below the threat line in my meta. If it bled 2 life, it would be dead in nanoseconds.
So, to sum up, Pulse Tracker is good for a one-drop, Blood Seeker probably depends on your meta's care level.
A couple more potential changes: Hex Parasite in for Nim Deathmantle: Deathmantle doesn't seem to be a popular draft, and has had 0 activations. Parasite comes in on account of me having one, and it being awesome in BlindPiper's cube. Lightning Greaves in for Fool's Tome: Don't think anyone will complain here. Fool's Tome is potential CA that never works enough to actually be an advantage. I don't think I need to talk about the awesomeness of Das Boots.
A great night for the Cube, really. Two players were surprisingly able to draft decent mono-coloured decks - a mono-blue deck and a mono-red deck.
I drafted Naya with only a small portion of green, mostly splashing it for Rith, who I happened into. As is always the way, I ended up with a Silklash Spider that fell to me, and he ended up being an all-star for virtually the entire game. By game's end, he was sweeping the skies for 6 as needed, and even blitzed all opponents' fliers at one point by following up my Graven Dominator with a one-point sweep. Excellent crowd-control.
We also saw a black/green graveyard recursion deck, a blue/white control deck, a blue/black deck that never got rolling and a black/red deck that eventually won the day (it flipped a Nezumi Graverobber on Turn 3 and never looked back).
The green/black deck burned brightly with a Kulrath Knight wearing an Ancestral Mask and a Blanchwood Armor. Nothing like a 20/20 flier with wither to put the frighteners into you!
The red deck almost pulled it off late with Warstorm Surge, de-creaturing me and pulling the legs out from under my Worship, but couldn't answer the black/red deck's hordes.
All having fun again, though a couple are still unsure of the value of tribes in a Cube - that remains a consolidation approach. The newly-added Elemental tribe got a big thumbs-up in the discussion, so it looks like we're getting there. Probably just need to round things out a little more to achieve satisfaction.
Of the three last-picks I received, Storm Spirit was the only one I was really unhappy to see - I really need to find a Rafiq / Maelstrom Archangel / Jenara / anything to replace it with, as no-one's playing it. The other two were Ingot Chewer (no-one drafted Elementals, but he was in my colours, so I enjoyed seeing him turn up), and, surprisingly, Nameless Inversion.
And now that I've been fortunate enough to have been given a whole pile of awesome new cards, some proposed wholesale changes:
The white side of the Cube was trying to maintain three different tribes, leaving the tribal white section feeling a little mediocre and disjointed. Kithkin seem to be the weakest of the three tribes we were supporting (the other two being Soldiers and Knights).
Knight Exemplar in for Kinsbaile Borderguard: I was fortunate enough to pull an Exemplar - exactly the card I was looking for to push Knights over the top in the Cube and to make the decisions easier. Borderguard was easily the first Kithkin to get thrown overboard. Ajani's Pridemate in for Ballyrush Banneret: Banneret comes down Turn 2, and virtually every Soldier in the Cube is playable on Turn 3 anyway. With Soul Warden, Ajani Goldmane, Angelic Chorus and Wall of Reverence all in white here, Ajani's Pridemate has a chance to be special, especially given it's a Soldier. White Shield Crusader in for Wizened Cenn: Throwing the Kithkin lord overboard, and beefing up the Knights with probably the best mono-white pump-Knight available. Mentor of the Meek in for Kithkin Harbinger: While we're removing tutoring capability, we're adding splashable card advantage, and a Soldier to boot. Indomitable Archangel in for Galepowder Mage: Removing an average Kithkin, adding a bomb. I think I actually got applause via email for this suggestion.
This leaves four Kithkin in the Cube - Goldmeadow Harrier (who remains a Soldier and a useful one-drop), Knight of Meadowgrain (who remains a Knight, and is fairly-well received still), Brigid, Hero of Kinsbaile (who may be good enough to stay in of her own accord even though she's now tribe-less), and Cloudgoat Ranger (who still produces Soldiers, and is still pretty good regardless).
Strip Mine and Wasteland out: I've seen one activation between them. Apparently my playgroup is too nice to destroy each other's lands (although in reality, they probably don't have many targets to begin with... probably Svogthos, Shivan Gorge and not much else).
Three Rupture Spires out: Good colour-fixing, but slooooow. People avoid playing these early as a general rule. Pulling these out and replacing them with neo-duals encourages people to draft the non-basics in their colours, rather than relying on sub-optimal silver bullet solutions like Rupture Spire.
Font of Mythos in for Coat of Arms: Coat hasn't been played, mostly out of fear. The Font actually got requested as an add, partially to supply all decks with card advantage, and partially to introduce the possibility of mill/draw win conditions. Goblin Fireslinger in for Orcish Lumberjack: Another (albiet limited) Tim comes in for a card no-one played. Lightning Dragon in for Rathi Dragon: No-one wanted to lose the two mountains to play Rathi. Let's try a different approach. Miraculous Recovery in for Resurrection: Been trying to source one for the Cube for a little while, and now I have one. Instant, more splashable, and twice as awesome.
Likely upcoming changes (after much card buyage, and much credit card abuse).
Jace Beleren in for Trade Secrets: Finally balances out the 'walkers in the Cube to one for each colour. Jace arguably does everything Trade Secrets does, only better and repeatably. Switch to a full set of Neo-Duals: I was missing Dragonskull Summit in the end, and have sourced a copy of each of the five Innistrad neo-duals also (Clifftop Retreat, Hinterland Harbor, Isolated Chapel, Sulfur Falls, Woodland Cemetery). Taking out three Rupture Spires and three Shimmering Grottos to make this happen (this takes all the Spires out and drops us to a single Grotto). The group is pretty keen on having all ten neo-duals in, even if it is at the cost of some of the slower but more universal colour-fixing lands. It'll be fun to see how they're drafted. Rite of Replication in for Mystical Teachings: Teachings was not seeing the love (TBH, it didn't have many bomb targets). RoR is an out-and-out Multiplayer staple nowadays, and will have piles of wonderful targets in the late game (how about five Angels of Despair? Or Hydra Omnivores? Or...).
This seems similar to my tribal cube. I gotta ask though: what happened to goblins? Too weak for multiplayer?
Yeah, the Goblins got housed, basically.
That said, I'm personally missing a lot of the guys you'd really want to be suiting up (e.g. Siege-Gang Commander, Piledriver)... the Goblins in the Cube were pretty much reduced to Goblin King / Blood Moon next to Lackey and a few others standing around. So it wasn't going to much of a success.
I'm yet to find a true MP Goblin decklist that works consistently anyway, but it must most certainly recurse a lot and use Goblin Warrens and Wort, Boggart Auntie.
There's been a lot of discussion over the merits of the tribes in the Cube amongst my group, actually. A couple hate them, but I suspect that's mostly out of hating Tribal in the first place. We've definitely come to the conclusion that Elves and Zombies are both very viable draft strategies in the Cube. I'm now down to six tribes, with the remaining four being Knights, Soldiers, Merfolk and Elementals - the trick from here is to get the other four to the level that Elves and Zombies are at. I think Elementals might actually be there, but no-one's been brave enough to draft them hard yet. The other three I think may be one good card each from going over the top (Wanderwine Prophets is on the hit-list to be replaced with a better finisher for the Merfolk, as it's incredibly hard to get into play... Wake Thrasher is probably our guy, I suspect).
After much backing from the forum in the Card Evaluation Thread...
Murderous Redcap in for Avatar of Discord: Had one of my playgroup buddies donate a Redcap. Requires much less investment than the Avatar, is more splashable in a non-black or non-red deck, recurses, and combos with Juniper Order Ranger at the very least.
Rhystic Study in for Stroke of Genius: The Cube is lacking some powerful card draw, and Rhystic is insane in a multiplayer environment. Don't think anyone's resolved the Stroke for much, let alone decked anybody with it.
Also...
Had six players turn up, and we ended up playing two 3-on-3 games with the decks we drafted.
Heard "Great, I'm just in the mood for some Cube" and "This is a well-designed Cube" out of my buddies' mouths, which was immensely satisfying.
I cleaned up the first game by resolving Transcendent Master on Turn 3, having him fully levelled by Turn 5, and handing him Loxodon Warhammer and Epic Proportions by Turn 7 for some major-league smackdown. We won just as my teammate was about to trigger Ajani's ultimate (which would've been insane given the team-game life total, plus the Master's life-gain).
The second game was won by the world's angriest Beloved Chaplain (thanks to Pennon Blade and Rancor), ably backed up by a Royal Assassin with a pair of boots and Yavimaya Hollow.
Powered-up evasive creatures seem to be the big game winners at this stage. This likely means we could possibly spring for a little more removal in the Cube. Wanderwine Prophets, Summon the School and Urborg Volcano were last-picks. Indomitable Archangel (a recent add) was first-picked!
It is becoming clear that the Merfolk tribe in the Cube probably needs to go. Wanderwine Prophets is simply too hard to cast, and will soon be replaced by Inkwell Leviathan. The gang are happy to keep the remaining Merfolk in the Cube for now, but it does need tidying at some point.
Okay, time for a suggested big change - probably stripping the last of the sub-optimal tribes out of the Cube. It's potentially Merfolk out, proliferate in.
Players have been unhappy with the Merfolk tribe primarily for three reasons:
Wanderwine Prophets is the finisher, and is nigh-on-impossible to play without drafting Merfolk heavily.
The Merfolk lords are all good enough in a vacuum that they all get drafted around the same spot, so no-one is ever able to draft the bunch together for a cohesive Merfolk deck.
A couple of the fringe enabling cards are last-picks if no-one drafts Merfolk (I'm looking at you, Summon the School).
Proliferate has proven to be a game-winning multiplayer strategy in my meta, and (most importantly) is incredible fun to play. It's guaranteed to work well with the planeswalkers, Vivid lands, levellers and Triskelion that are already in the Cube. All up, there are 26 cards already in the Cube that proliferate will work with.
Inexorable Tide in for Library of Lat-Nam: The Tide is potentially falling out of a deck, and is one of the enablers for this strategy. Lat-Nam is a pseudo-tutor that has rarely seen play.
Viral Drake in for Merrow Harbinger: A second proliferate enabler that is decent enough to get drafted without a solid proliferate strategy. The Harbinger becomes superfluous.
Thrummingbird in for Lord of Atlantis: This guy has essentially become the Little Bird That Could in my meta. It just connects so reliably in multiplayer that you're just about always proliferating while it's on the table. Again, the Lord is now superfluous.
Lightning Reaver in for Pain Magnification: The Reaver is very, very good in Multiplayer, works with the Zombie tribe, is evasive enough and effective enough to be a high draft, and adores proliferation. Pain Magnification is a win-more card.
Djinn of Wishes in for Empress Galina: Galina didn't have too many targets most days. The Djinn is good enough in a vacuum to be a decently high draft, but comes into its own around proliferation.
Cradle of Vitality in for Summon the School: Probably better cards to put in here, the Cradle works well enough with other cards in the Cube to be useful. Summon the School was being last-picked, so this is an improvement no matter what.
Inkwell Leviathan in for Wanderwine Prophets: Inky is falling out of a deck, and is a magnificent target for Tinker. The argument over the relative unplayability of the Prophets helped start this whole post.
Edric, Spymaster of Trest in for Gaea's Skyfolk: The Skyfolk were in here to count as both an Elf and a Merfolk, and to trigger Momir Vig. Edric is still an Elf, and is a bomb on his own. Win all around.
Jace's Archivist in for Merrow Reejerey: The Reejerey is now no longer needed, and I have an Archivist lying around. Swapping it in lets us swap out Windfall, which brings us to...
Tezzeret's Gambit in for Windfall: We're keeping the Windfall effect in the Cube (and making it more repeatable), so this slot opens up for some more card draw and proliferation.
This leaves the following Merfolk still in the Cube...
Enclave Cryptologist: A leveller, so will still benefit from proliferation, and still good enough to remain.
Merfolk Looter: Don't think there's too much argument about this staying in.
Veteran of the Depths: Still benefits from proliferation, and is also a Soldier (so still has a Tribal home in the Cube).
This leaves us with five tribes still in the Cube (Elves, Zombies, Elementals, Soldiers and Knights). There would now be 27 cards that benefit from proliferation, so people would hopefully fall into Inexorable Tide, Viral Drake or Thrummingbird mid-draft, and see how nicely they work with that first-pick planeswalker they've already got.
So, is this a crazy, mad theory? Or one that looks like it would work?
Admittedly, proliferation is a far more viable strategy in multiplayer than it would ever be in 1v1.
And now that I've seduced you in here, let's have a Make the First Pick for some fun.
Click on the link for a sample booster from the Cube (using the current list, without the suggested changes above)!
I probably go with teh N00bstick here, although Chandra, Fireshrieker, Aura Shards and Makeshift Mannequin tempt me.
I was going to post this in the Multiplayer Rankings, but that wasn't the right place for it, so I thought I'd drop by here :).
Have you tried Spurnmage Advocate? When my group did more common multiplayer, and even through much of our EDH play, this guy just did work. I mean, it looks bad at first, but it is an extremely strong source of removal with powerful political aspects as well. On top of that, you can use him to essentially regrow an opponent's removal spell when a "must kill" threat is dropped.
The fact that this guy comes down on t1 just makes him that much more powerful.
Just got to say, you've definitely earned distinction as an MTGS hero
Quote from Stardust »
Because he's the hero MTGS deserves, and the one it needs right now. So we'll global him. Because he can take it. Because he's not just our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. An expired rascal.
Quote from LuckNorris »
ExpiredRascals you sir are a god-like hero.
Quote from Lanxal »
ER is a masterful god who cannot be beaten in any endeavour.
I was going to post this in the Multiplayer Rankings, but that wasn't the right place for it, so I thought I'd drop by here :).
Have you tried Spurnmage Advocate? When my group did more common multiplayer, and even through much of our EDH play, this guy just did work. I mean, it looks bad at first, but it is an extremely strong source of removal with powerful political aspects as well. On top of that, you can use him to essentially regrow an opponent's removal spell when a "must kill" threat is dropped.
The fact that this guy comes down on t1 just makes him that much more powerful.
Cheers!
Surprisingly, my entire playgroup is yet to try the Advocate out in any Multiplayer deck. I agree with you - very strong for a 1cc drop. I've got my first copy ever of him via the Commander decks, but am yet to give him a dry run in a Multiplayer deck. He's also got some fairly stiff competition in the MP 1cc slot, thanks to Soul Warden, Mother of Runes and Serra Ascendant (especially if the Cube gets used for 2HG / team games), but he's certainly worth a long look.
Okay, Proliferate is now in for Merfolk, as discussed above.
Also changed...
Yawgmoth's Bargain in for Twilight's Call: Call hadn't been resolved once. Bargain is a worthy holder of black's bomb non-creature slot.
Nevinyrral's Disk in for Rocket Launcher: The Cube could do with an extra reset, and Rocket Launcher's "must be in play for a turn" clause confuses people (and has cost at least one of our guys the game).
Eidolon, I'll repost in your comparison thread once my group decides whether to go with the Tri-Lands over the Lairs or not. Big changes now, so it's deserving of a repost.
Our major changes were met with all-around approval. Drafting seems to feel a lot smoother with the Merfolk out. Hydra Omnivore spent half the game making people sweat. The proliferate theme actually got drafted (but didn't get seen in action - its drafter got wiped out early). We also saw...
I've got a Phyrexian Crusader coming in the post, and the group has almost unanimously decided that he's a better option here than Haakon, so I suspect we will make that change along with the Tri-Lands for Lairs, and we will suddenly have a very stable and very settled cube.
Here be my multiplayer cube, currently enjoyed on a regular basis by a playgroup that has been slinging cards at each other in a multiplayer setting since '95.
This cube was birthed on Valentine's Day 2011, and is now pretty much at the point where we can pick and choose the cards from new sets that we want in (there are probably about 15-20 multiplayer staples we're still missing, and our additions are somewhat limited by budget, so this cube usually does its set updates once the singles prices have fallen off the cliff).
25th October 2011
Removed 1x Serra Angel
Added 1x Stonehewer Giant
24th October 2011
Removed 1x Palinchron
Removed 1x Story Circle
Added 1x Summon the School
Added 1x Wanderwine Prophets
Removed 1x AEther Spellbomb
Added 1x Boros Signet
Added 1x Coastal Tower
Removed 1x Deathspore Thallid
Added 1x Dismal Failure
Added 1x Elvish Piper
Added 1x Golgari Signet
Added 1x Hydra Omnivore
Added 1x Izzet Signet
Removed 1x Jugan, the Rising Star
Removed 1x Kaleidostone
Removed 1x Khalni Gem
Added 1x Kulrath Knight
Added 1x Makeshift Mannequin
Added 1x Nezumi Graverobber
Added 1x Orzhov Signet
Removed 1x Persecute
Removed 1x Show and Tell
Added 1x Simic Signet
Removed 1x Spectral Searchlight
Removed 1x Spike Weaver
Added 1x Trade Secrets
Removed 1x Turnabout
Removed 1x Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
Removed 1x Void
Removed 1x Well of Knowledge
Added 1x AEther Sting
Added 1x Barreling Attack
Removed 1x Blood Moon
Removed 1x Fault Line
Removed 1x Furnace of Rath
Added 1x Hateflayer
Added 1x In the Web of War
Added 1x Insurrection
Removed 1x Insurrection
Removed 1x Jokulhaups
Added 1x Kyren Negotiations
Removed 1x Pandemonium
Removed 1x Reiterate
Added 1x Warstorm Surge
23rd October 2011
Added 1x Angel of Despair
Added 1x Anger
Added 1x Basandra, Battle Seraph
Added 1x Brawn
Removed 1x Bull Cerodon
Added 1x Chromeshell Crab
Added 1x Elfhame Palace
Added 1x Eternal Witness
Removed 1x Evershrike
Removed 1x Frostwind Invoker
Removed 1x Guul Draz Vampire
Added 1x Lhurgoyf
Added 1x Liliana Vess
Removed 1x Magus of the Bazaar
Removed 4x Mishra's Factory
Added 1x Mortivore
Added 1x Mulldrifter
Added 1x Oblivion Ring
Removed 1x Pillar of the Paruns
Removed 1x Psychotrope Thallid
Added 1x Salt Marsh
Added 1x Scavenging Ooze
Added 1x Shivan Oasis
Removed 1x Spoils of Evil
Removed 1x Sporesower Thallid
Removed 1x Sporoloth Ancient
Added 1x Svogthos, the Restless Tomb
Removed 1x Thallid
Added 1x Urborg Volcano
Removed 1x Utopia Mycon
Added 1x Veteran Explorer
Removed 1x Viashino Cutthroat
Removed 1x Wing Shards
Added 1x Wrexial, the Risen Deep
Removed 1x Wydwen, the Biting Gale
21st October 2011
Added 1x Avatar of Woe
Removed 1x Butcher of Malakir
Added 1x Call the Skybreaker
Added 1x Conundrum Sphinx
Removed 1x Crater Hellion
Added 1x Dominus of Fealty
Added 1x Fierce Empath
Added 1x Insurrection
Removed 1x Jagged-Scar Archers
Removed 1x Llanowar Dead
Added 1x Minds Aglow
Removed 1x Nightmare
Removed 1x Quicksilver Dagger
Removed 1x Rainbow Efreet
Added 1x Rapacious One
Removed 1x Razorfin Hunter
Added 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
Added 1x Scythe Specter
Removed 1x Sigil of Sleep
Added 1x Simic Sky Swallower
Added 1x Skullbriar, the Walking Grave
Removed 1x Thallid Shell-Dweller
Removed 1x Tidehollow Sculler
Added 1x Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter
Removed 1x Warmonger
Removed 1x Yavimaya's Embrace
5th October 2011
Added 1x Brion Stoutarm
Added 1x Corrosive Mentor
Removed 1x Cursed Scroll
Removed 1x Devoted Caretaker
Added 1x Emeria Angel
Removed 1x Flash
Added 1x Invisibility
Removed 1x Maggot Carrier
Added 1x Skullclamp
Removed 1x Sunhome Enforcer
20th September 2011
Added 1x Ballyrush Banneret
Removed 1x Basalt Monolith
Removed 1x Black Knight
Removed 1x Cloudstone Curio
Added 1x Crib Swap
Removed 1x Crusade
Removed 1x Elite Vanguard
Added 1x Elvish Harbinger
Removed 1x Filth
Added 1x Flamekin Harbinger
Added 1x Fool's Tome
Removed 1x Funeral Charm
Added 1x Galepowder Mage
Added 1x Ghitu Fire-Eater
Removed 1x Goblin Grenade
Removed 1x Goblin King
Removed 1x Goblin Lackey
Removed 1x Goblin Welder
Removed 1x Grinning Totem
Removed 1x Gruul War Plow
Added 1x Haakon, Stromgald Scourge
Removed 1x Holy Day
Added 1x Howling Mine
Added 1x Incandescent Soulstoke
Added 1x Ingot Chewer
Added 1x Jalum Tome
Added 1x Jayemdae Tome
Added 1x Kithkin Harbinger
Removed 1x Magus of the Tabernacle
Added 1x Merfolk Looter
Added 1x Merrow Harbinger
Removed 1x Mogg Fanatic
Removed 1x Mogg Maniac
Added 1x Nameless Inversion
Added 1x Netherborn Phalanx
Added 1x Nightmare
Removed 1x Phyrexian Negator
Removed 1x Raging Goblin
Added 1x Shields of Velis Vel
Added 1x Shriekmaw
Removed 1x Sigiled Paladin
Added 1x Smokebraider
Removed 1x Stormscape Master
Removed 1x Sun Droplet
Removed 1x Tideshaper Mystic
Removed 1x Undead Slayer
Added 1x Urza's Blueprints
Added 1x Veteran of the Depths
Removed 1x Viridian Shaman
Removed 1x Void Maw
Added 1x Wall of Razors
Added 1x Winds of Change
13th May 2011
Added 1x Empress Galina
Removed 1x Flying Men
Added 1x Frostwind Invoker
Removed 1x Fusion Elemental
Added 1x Jugan, the Rising Star
Added 1x Lord of Atlantis
Added 1x Merrow Reejerey
Removed 1x Metathran Zombie
Removed 1x Nemata, Grove Guardian
Removed 1x Serendib Efreet
Removed 1x Shrieking Drake
Added 1x Vulturous Zombie
27th April 2011
Added 1x Tradewind Rider
Removed 1x Water Servant
3rd March 2011
Added 1x Battle Mastery
Removed 1x Inner Sanctum
Removed 1x Desertion
Added 1x Library of Lat-Nam
Added 1x Desertion
Removed 1x Evacuation
27th Feb 2011
Removed 1x Ball Lightning
Added 1x Evacuation
Added 1x Lavafume Invoker
Added 1x Planeswalker's Fury
Removed 1x Seismic Assault
Removed 1x Sunder
Added 1x Ashling the Pilgrim
Added 1x Ball Lightning
Added 1x Beloved Chaplain
Added 1x Celestial Ancient
Added 1x Changeling Berserker
Removed 1x Cradle of Vitality
Removed 1x Disenchant
Added 1x Elite Vanguard
Added 1x False Prophet
Removed 1x Flowstone Slide
Removed 1x Gerrard's Battle Cry
Removed 1x Goblin Bombardment
Removed 1x Hellion Eruption
Added 1x Juniper Order Advocate
Removed 1x Lightning Bolt
Added 1x Raging Goblin
Removed 1x Repercussion
Removed 1x Sacred Mesa
Added 1x Shivan Dragon
Removed 1x Winds of Rath
Added 1x Acidic Slime
Removed 1x Call to Mind
Removed 1x Constant Mists
Added 1x Deepchannel Mentor
Removed 1x Greater Good
Removed 1x Howl of the Night Pack
Added 1x Imperious Perfect
Added 1x Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
Added 1x Metathran Zombie
Removed 1x Parallel Evolution
Added 1x Quirion Dryad
Added 1x Rabid Wombat
Removed 1x Recollect
Removed 1x Sleep
Removed 1x Spelljack
Removed 1x Telling Time
Added 1x Tideshaper Mystic
Removed 1x Unstable Mutation
Added 1x Verdant Force
Added 1x Water Servant
Added 1x Black Knight
Added 1x Crosis's Catacombs
Added 1x Darigaaz's Caldera
Added 1x Dromar's Cavern
Added 1x Howling Banshee
Added 1x Khabal Ghoul
Removed 1x Midnight Ritual
Removed 1x Nettlevine Blight
Removed 1x Pestilence
Added 1x Pillar of the Paruns
Removed 1x Rise from the Grave
Added 1x Rith's Grove
Removed 1x Shrivel
Added 1x Thrashing Wumpus
Added 1x Treva's Ruins
Removed 2x Urza's Mine
Removed 2x Urza's Power Plant
Removed 2x Urza's Tower
Added 1x Void Maw
Added 1x Conquering Manticore
Removed 1x Dragon Tyrant
My Stupidly Large Number of Current Decks
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Cube: the Gittening (My Multiplayer Cube) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
The N00b Cube (Peasant cube for new players) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
(Last updated 27/2/15)
As they say in the business, "pics or it didn't happen". So here's some pics.
These are taken off my old phone, so some of them are as fuzzy as anything. One day I'll get some higher quality pictures up here. For now, you at least get the idea of the cube's contents in pictorial form.
The Cube Box
This was built for me from old Jarrah offcuts. Jarrah is one of the hardest woods on the planet (and they use it for bridges, jetties and railway sleepers in my neck of the woods), so you can imagine how much this thing weighs. It is lined on the inside with blue felt. The ribbon in the picture is loose, and just used as a divider between the cube and the basic land / creature tokens.
You too can build one like this if you (or someone you know) has the skill to. Mine was built to the following dimensions - L 15 1/4", H 3", W 3 13/16". These dimensions are the measurements of the internal space inside the box - you can make the outside as big or small as you choose. To fit a bigger cube, make the length figure of 15 1/4" longer. The other two measurements are absolutely spot on (the width is particularly important... you do not want to go over or under this figure). As can be seen above, it holds the 360-card cube and 150 land quite comfortably. The guy who came up with the original measurements says that this length should hold a 500-card cube snugly.
WWW White
UUU Blue
BBB Black
RRR Red
GGG Green
WUBRG Gold
1 Artifacts
Non-Basic Land
My Stupidly Large Number of Current Decks
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Cube: the Gittening (My Multiplayer Cube) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
The N00b Cube (Peasant cube for new players) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
Oh, I drafted a great GB fatty reanimator/ramp deck.
So, have you gotten Proteus Staff to work? I had it in my list, but it never saw play. I love cards like that, though...
My $40 MTGO cube
Draft my cube at Cubetutor!
Proteus Staff is a little hit-and-miss at the moment, but it remains in because my playgroup adores it (I have a friend abusing it by turning insects into Cthulu). At the end of the day, it's still turning saprolings and soldiers into the next physical critter on top of your library, so it's still somewhat useful. No-one's bombed it yet, though. The one time I've managed to draft it, I kept turning saprolings into 2-3cc utility creatures.
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Cube: the Gittening (My Multiplayer Cube) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
The N00b Cube (Peasant cube for new players) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
... and so they decided to do a sealed deck Cube draft! In other words, sod drafting - just hand me the three boosters and I'll make a deck out of 'em!
As you can imagine, it forced people to play some horrid three or four-colour concoctions (as is fairly normal in sealed play, in my experience), but in the end, it worked!
I was handed a very interesting three boosters - three planeswalkers (Garruk, Chandra and Ajani), fat creatures and hardly any support to speak of. Basically had to sit tight and wait to reach critical before I started dropping bombs.
Produced a grandstand finish, with the last three guys all able to be killed by a single swing, one with Nath of the Gilt Leaf and Phyrexian Plaguelord, one with an Overbeing of Myth that was hitting 10/10, and me, wielding a Gleancrawler wearing Argentum Armor. We sat staring each other down with itchy trigger fingers. Alas, the guy holding the Overbeing miscalculated (he's new, so I don't blame him) - he drew Rocket Launcher and expected it to work first turn out. So he swung at me for lethal (there were a few other things in play to help him achieve it), and then dropped the Launcher. Nath + Plaguelord ended up swinging for the victory, sadly. But an epic finish, all the same.
I was able to discard Dominus of Fealty to Jalum Tome and then Exhume it the next turn for good times. The guy next to me was rocking an excellent deck that carried Corrosive Mentor and Kulrath Knight working in harmony beautifully.
But play of the night was the guy who eventually won, trying to control things with Tradewind Rider. One of the opponents saw it about to become active and dropped Silklash Spider, preparing it for use. Then our winner let Gilded Drake off the leash...
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The N00b Cube (Peasant cube for new players) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
Exactly - it wasn't my idea for that very reason. I was very surprised that it even worked, given that it strayed most people into four colours. And yet fun was still had. I guess that speaks OK for the quality of the cards in the cube.
My Stupidly Large Number of Current Decks
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The N00b Cube (Peasant cube for new players) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
Now for a few proposed changes to the top of white's curve.
Austere Command in for Purify. This is the obvious one. Austere Command does everything Purify does for one mana more, only with far, far more utility. It goes in because I got one in the Commander decks, and there is no reason for it not to be here.
Faith's Fetters in for Roar of Reclamation. Austere Command now sits at the top of white's curve, and no-one is playing Reclamation. I need to put something 5cc in to replace Purify in the curve, but have nothing good enough at non-creature (probably need Gideon Jura or Sigil of the Empty Throne here). Fetters probably should be in anyway, so a 4cc card goes in instead.
Reveillark in for False Prophet. To fix the curve up, we swap a 4cc critter for a 5cc. People seem to be too afraid to play the Prophet (and we've just stuck Austere Command in anyway). Lark is full of combo goodness, works with the Elemental tribe in the deck, potentially goes infinite with Coffin Queen...
Also considering a straight swap of Wall of Nets for Transcendent Master. Losing the Wall weakens Overgrown Battlement and its general defender friends, but the Master is awesome (and my copy is shiny).
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Cube: the Gittening (My Multiplayer Cube) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
The N00b Cube (Peasant cube for new players) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
Your average casting cost seems pretty high. I understand that this is somewhat deliberate, but I wonder if it increases the variance too much in the games? It sounded tough for you in your report when you got only 5+ drops in your opener. Here are some suggestions:
1) Increase the number of mana producers in your cube to allow them to be more consistently drafted.
2) Take a leaf from the EDH book and start the game with higher life totals, maybe try 30.
3) How do you mulligan? maybe allow more generous mulligan rules, again like EDH.
4) Allow players to start with maybe a couple of basic lands in play. This would favour the decks with high curves and more colour commitment, but this may fit with the environment you are trying to create.
I generally like the changes and think they are improvements. I cut Austere Command from my cube because I found it irritating. I always felt it gave the illusion of flexibility but never did exactly what I wanted. I was probably just being greedy, but the no-nonsense effect of Akroma's Vengeance suited me better.
Roar of Reclamation is not strong enough as a build-around card. Faith's Fetters is a solid choice as it is spot removal with added value, which helps mitigate the relative card disadvantage in multiplayer.
I think Reveillark is a great card for the cube environment you seem to be aiming for. I used to run False Prophet in my cube when it was more multiplayer focused. He was pretty effective at directing attention elsewhere, and I loved the rather irreverent flavour of the card, but most of the time you are better off with a Wrath effect where you have more choice when it triggers.
I've not tried Transcendent Master but it looks like a solid choice for multiplayer. It provides reasonably costed beats/blocking early game but then acts as a mana sink to turn into a significant threat as the game goes long. Any card that fits in multiple points in the curve (leveller, evoke, entwine, etc) gets better in multiplayer, IMHO.
Good stuff. it sounds like you have a fun cube.
My 380 Beginners’ Cube on Cube Tutor
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
Thanks for your kind words!
Regarding the draw I got, to be honest, it was mostly due to my own stupidity.
My group plays with unlimited free mulligans, and I chose not to take advantage of it on the night - kept a hand with two land and some bombs, hoping to draw into the rest of the land. The plan didn't work out too well.
Plus, my draftmates seemed pretty keen on drafting the mana-fixing options high on the night, for some reason. Normally, I'd see the Signets, Terramorphics, a dual or two... on the night, I got two Vivids, and that was about it. So that didn't help either.
So, yes, victim of my own circumstance, more than anything!
One of the longer term goals is to get some better land options in here. I'm currently trying to get a set of both the M12 and Innistrad neo-duals in here for starters (I'm short the Glacial Fortress for the core set duals, and still have a bit of work to do for the Innistrad copies). I think that will probably solve most of the issues. From there, it's simply adding more card advantage to the Cube (to stop the game devolving into topdeck mode), and adding cards that break up creature stalls (where people are left hoarding creatures, and no-one attacks). Other than that, you're right about the curve being high - our multiplayer meta is all about ramping into combos and gorillas at the moment. So a fair bit of ramp in the cube, and a fair few high-end-of-the-curve game winners. People seem to be comfortable with that, really - there's enough ways of sneaking things out in here. The rest is just about being smart with your deckbuilding (and your mulligans, obviously)!
I'm going to be interested to see how Austere Command plays myself - it hasn't had much run in my meta. Hopefully its flexibility makes it a winner. Otherwise, I too have an Akroma's Vengeance to replace it.
Transcendent Master has seen a fair bit of play in my meta, and is very, very good. People actually go out of their way to level it quickly, and that plan actually seems to work. I'm interested to see how its inclusion affects the balance of the cube, TBH.
My Stupidly Large Number of Current Decks
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Cube: the Gittening (My Multiplayer Cube) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
The N00b Cube (Peasant cube for new players) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
How have Pulse Tracker and Blood Seeker been playing in your Cube? In my experiences in constructed, they draw a lot of animosity in multiplayer even after they've left the battlefield.
The Modal Cube is also on Cube Tutor!
GWEDH Asmira's WrathGW
Not yet - we've had a couple of people go close, especially the guy who drafted Howling Mine and Overbeing of Myth a few weeks back. He had a 10/10 Overbeing to go swinging with, but he was two turns from running out of cards when the game finished.
That said, we've used the rule of a 40-card minimum, so people are free to expand their decks to survive if they so choose.
They're actually pretty good for what they do. Pulse Tracker hit the board Turn 1 in our last flight, and got three swings in before someone was sufficiently annoyed (from memory, the Flaya Playa sent an angry Hateflayer in its general direction :D) - for a one-drop, I don't think you can expect too much more in a multiplayer environment. I'd certainly be drafting a 1cc spell that took 3 life off the top of all my opponents' life totals.
Blood Seeker seems to have the innate ability to stay alive in my meta. Don't know how - I've discussed this with other people before who swear the Seeker is killed on sight in their meta. For some reason, 1 life is below the threat line in my meta. If it bled 2 life, it would be dead in nanoseconds.
So, to sum up, Pulse Tracker is good for a one-drop, Blood Seeker probably depends on your meta's care level.
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Cube: the Gittening (My Multiplayer Cube) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
The N00b Cube (Peasant cube for new players) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
Hex Parasite in for Nim Deathmantle: Deathmantle doesn't seem to be a popular draft, and has had 0 activations. Parasite comes in on account of me having one, and it being awesome in BlindPiper's cube.
Lightning Greaves in for Fool's Tome: Don't think anyone will complain here. Fool's Tome is potential CA that never works enough to actually be an advantage. I don't think I need to talk about the awesomeness of Das Boots.
My Stupidly Large Number of Current Decks
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The Multiplayer Power Rankings
Cube: the Gittening (My Multiplayer Cube) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
The N00b Cube (Peasant cube for new players) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
A great night for the Cube, really. Two players were surprisingly able to draft decent mono-coloured decks - a mono-blue deck and a mono-red deck.
I drafted Naya with only a small portion of green, mostly splashing it for Rith, who I happened into. As is always the way, I ended up with a Silklash Spider that fell to me, and he ended up being an all-star for virtually the entire game. By game's end, he was sweeping the skies for 6 as needed, and even blitzed all opponents' fliers at one point by following up my Graven Dominator with a one-point sweep. Excellent crowd-control.
We also saw a black/green graveyard recursion deck, a blue/white control deck, a blue/black deck that never got rolling and a black/red deck that eventually won the day (it flipped a Nezumi Graverobber on Turn 3 and never looked back).
The green/black deck burned brightly with a Kulrath Knight wearing an Ancestral Mask and a Blanchwood Armor. Nothing like a 20/20 flier with wither to put the frighteners into you!
The red deck almost pulled it off late with Warstorm Surge, de-creaturing me and pulling the legs out from under my Worship, but couldn't answer the black/red deck's hordes.
All having fun again, though a couple are still unsure of the value of tribes in a Cube - that remains a consolidation approach. The newly-added Elemental tribe got a big thumbs-up in the discussion, so it looks like we're getting there. Probably just need to round things out a little more to achieve satisfaction.
Of the three last-picks I received, Storm Spirit was the only one I was really unhappy to see - I really need to find a Rafiq / Maelstrom Archangel / Jenara / anything to replace it with, as no-one's playing it. The other two were Ingot Chewer (no-one drafted Elementals, but he was in my colours, so I enjoyed seeing him turn up), and, surprisingly, Nameless Inversion.
And now that I've been fortunate enough to have been given a whole pile of awesome new cards, some proposed wholesale changes:
The white side of the Cube was trying to maintain three different tribes, leaving the tribal white section feeling a little mediocre and disjointed. Kithkin seem to be the weakest of the three tribes we were supporting (the other two being Soldiers and Knights).
Knight Exemplar in for Kinsbaile Borderguard: I was fortunate enough to pull an Exemplar - exactly the card I was looking for to push Knights over the top in the Cube and to make the decisions easier. Borderguard was easily the first Kithkin to get thrown overboard.
Ajani's Pridemate in for Ballyrush Banneret: Banneret comes down Turn 2, and virtually every Soldier in the Cube is playable on Turn 3 anyway. With Soul Warden, Ajani Goldmane, Angelic Chorus and Wall of Reverence all in white here, Ajani's Pridemate has a chance to be special, especially given it's a Soldier.
White Shield Crusader in for Wizened Cenn: Throwing the Kithkin lord overboard, and beefing up the Knights with probably the best mono-white pump-Knight available.
Mentor of the Meek in for Kithkin Harbinger: While we're removing tutoring capability, we're adding splashable card advantage, and a Soldier to boot.
Indomitable Archangel in for Galepowder Mage: Removing an average Kithkin, adding a bomb. I think I actually got applause via email for this suggestion.
This leaves four Kithkin in the Cube - Goldmeadow Harrier (who remains a Soldier and a useful one-drop), Knight of Meadowgrain (who remains a Knight, and is fairly-well received still), Brigid, Hero of Kinsbaile (who may be good enough to stay in of her own accord even though she's now tribe-less), and Cloudgoat Ranger (who still produces Soldiers, and is still pretty good regardless).
Dragonskull Summit, Drowned Catacomb, Glacial Fortress, Rootbound Crag and Sunpetal Grove in: A change I've been wanting to make for a while. Adds a decent cycle of duals to the Cube. They should fall through to the people that need to draft them, too (kind of like the Signets do already).
Strip Mine and Wasteland out: I've seen one activation between them. Apparently my playgroup is too nice to destroy each other's lands (although in reality, they probably don't have many targets to begin with... probably Svogthos, Shivan Gorge and not much else).
Three Rupture Spires out: Good colour-fixing, but slooooow. People avoid playing these early as a general rule. Pulling these out and replacing them with neo-duals encourages people to draft the non-basics in their colours, rather than relying on sub-optimal silver bullet solutions like Rupture Spire.
Font of Mythos in for Coat of Arms: Coat hasn't been played, mostly out of fear. The Font actually got requested as an add, partially to supply all decks with card advantage, and partially to introduce the possibility of mill/draw win conditions.
Goblin Fireslinger in for Orcish Lumberjack: Another (albiet limited) Tim comes in for a card no-one played.
Lightning Dragon in for Rathi Dragon: No-one wanted to lose the two mountains to play Rathi. Let's try a different approach.
Miraculous Recovery in for Resurrection: Been trying to source one for the Cube for a little while, and now I have one. Instant, more splashable, and twice as awesome.
My Stupidly Large Number of Current Decks
PucaTrade with me!
The Multiplayer Power Rankings
Cube: the Gittening (My Multiplayer Cube) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
The N00b Cube (Peasant cube for new players) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
Jace Beleren in for Trade Secrets: Finally balances out the 'walkers in the Cube to one for each colour. Jace arguably does everything Trade Secrets does, only better and repeatably.
Switch to a full set of Neo-Duals: I was missing Dragonskull Summit in the end, and have sourced a copy of each of the five Innistrad neo-duals also (Clifftop Retreat, Hinterland Harbor, Isolated Chapel, Sulfur Falls, Woodland Cemetery). Taking out three Rupture Spires and three Shimmering Grottos to make this happen (this takes all the Spires out and drops us to a single Grotto). The group is pretty keen on having all ten neo-duals in, even if it is at the cost of some of the slower but more universal colour-fixing lands. It'll be fun to see how they're drafted.
Rite of Replication in for Mystical Teachings: Teachings was not seeing the love (TBH, it didn't have many bomb targets). RoR is an out-and-out Multiplayer staple nowadays, and will have piles of wonderful targets in the late game (how about five Angels of Despair? Or Hydra Omnivores? Or...).
My Stupidly Large Number of Current Decks
PucaTrade with me!
The Multiplayer Power Rankings
Cube: the Gittening (My Multiplayer Cube) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
The N00b Cube (Peasant cube for new players) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
Cheers,
rant
My Cube
CubeCobra: https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/5f5d0310ed602310515d4c32
Cube Tutor: http://cubetutor.com/viewcube/1963
Yeah, the Goblins got housed, basically.
That said, I'm personally missing a lot of the guys you'd really want to be suiting up (e.g. Siege-Gang Commander, Piledriver)... the Goblins in the Cube were pretty much reduced to Goblin King / Blood Moon next to Lackey and a few others standing around. So it wasn't going to much of a success.
I'm yet to find a true MP Goblin decklist that works consistently anyway, but it must most certainly recurse a lot and use Goblin Warrens and Wort, Boggart Auntie.
There's been a lot of discussion over the merits of the tribes in the Cube amongst my group, actually. A couple hate them, but I suspect that's mostly out of hating Tribal in the first place. We've definitely come to the conclusion that Elves and Zombies are both very viable draft strategies in the Cube. I'm now down to six tribes, with the remaining four being Knights, Soldiers, Merfolk and Elementals - the trick from here is to get the other four to the level that Elves and Zombies are at. I think Elementals might actually be there, but no-one's been brave enough to draft them hard yet. The other three I think may be one good card each from going over the top (Wanderwine Prophets is on the hit-list to be replaced with a better finisher for the Merfolk, as it's incredibly hard to get into play... Wake Thrasher is probably our guy, I suspect).
My Stupidly Large Number of Current Decks
PucaTrade with me!
The Multiplayer Power Rankings
Cube: the Gittening (My Multiplayer Cube) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
The N00b Cube (Peasant cube for new players) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
Murderous Redcap in for Avatar of Discord: Had one of my playgroup buddies donate a Redcap. Requires much less investment than the Avatar, is more splashable in a non-black or non-red deck, recurses, and combos with Juniper Order Ranger at the very least.
My Stupidly Large Number of Current Decks
PucaTrade with me!
The Multiplayer Power Rankings
Cube: the Gittening (My Multiplayer Cube) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
The N00b Cube (Peasant cube for new players) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
Rhystic Study in for Stroke of Genius: The Cube is lacking some powerful card draw, and Rhystic is insane in a multiplayer environment. Don't think anyone's resolved the Stroke for much, let alone decked anybody with it.
Also...
Had six players turn up, and we ended up playing two 3-on-3 games with the decks we drafted.
Heard "Great, I'm just in the mood for some Cube" and "This is a well-designed Cube" out of my buddies' mouths, which was immensely satisfying.
I cleaned up the first game by resolving Transcendent Master on Turn 3, having him fully levelled by Turn 5, and handing him Loxodon Warhammer and Epic Proportions by Turn 7 for some major-league smackdown. We won just as my teammate was about to trigger Ajani's ultimate (which would've been insane given the team-game life total, plus the Master's life-gain).
The second game was won by the world's angriest Beloved Chaplain (thanks to Pennon Blade and Rancor), ably backed up by a Royal Assassin with a pair of boots and Yavimaya Hollow.
Powered-up evasive creatures seem to be the big game winners at this stage. This likely means we could possibly spring for a little more removal in the Cube.
Wanderwine Prophets, Summon the School and Urborg Volcano were last-picks. Indomitable Archangel (a recent add) was first-picked!
It is becoming clear that the Merfolk tribe in the Cube probably needs to go. Wanderwine Prophets is simply too hard to cast, and will soon be replaced by Inkwell Leviathan. The gang are happy to keep the remaining Merfolk in the Cube for now, but it does need tidying at some point.
My Stupidly Large Number of Current Decks
PucaTrade with me!
The Multiplayer Power Rankings
Cube: the Gittening (My Multiplayer Cube) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
The N00b Cube (Peasant cube for new players) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
My Stupidly Large Number of Current Decks
PucaTrade with me!
The Multiplayer Power Rankings
Cube: the Gittening (My Multiplayer Cube) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
The N00b Cube (Peasant cube for new players) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
Proliferate has proven to be a game-winning multiplayer strategy in my meta, and (most importantly) is incredible fun to play. It's guaranteed to work well with the planeswalkers, Vivid lands, levellers and Triskelion that are already in the Cube. All up, there are 26 cards already in the Cube that proliferate will work with.
This leaves the following Merfolk still in the Cube...
This leaves us with five tribes still in the Cube (Elves, Zombies, Elementals, Soldiers and Knights). There would now be 27 cards that benefit from proliferation, so people would hopefully fall into Inexorable Tide, Viral Drake or Thrummingbird mid-draft, and see how nicely they work with that first-pick planeswalker they've already got.
So, is this a crazy, mad theory? Or one that looks like it would work?
Admittedly, proliferation is a far more viable strategy in multiplayer than it would ever be in 1v1.
And now that I've seduced you in here, let's have a Make the First Pick for some fun.
Click on the link for a sample booster from the Cube (using the current list, without the suggested changes above)!
I probably go with teh N00bstick here, although Chandra, Fireshrieker, Aura Shards and Makeshift Mannequin tempt me.
My Stupidly Large Number of Current Decks
PucaTrade with me!
The Multiplayer Power Rankings
Cube: the Gittening (My Multiplayer Cube) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
The N00b Cube (Peasant cube for new players) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
Have you tried Spurnmage Advocate? When my group did more common multiplayer, and even through much of our EDH play, this guy just did work. I mean, it looks bad at first, but it is an extremely strong source of removal with powerful political aspects as well. On top of that, you can use him to essentially regrow an opponent's removal spell when a "must kill" threat is dropped.
The fact that this guy comes down on t1 just makes him that much more powerful.
Body Count: GRRRUUUUUUUUUUU
إن سرقت إسرق جمل
Level 1 Judge
My Cube for use with 6th ed. Rules
Cheers!
Surprisingly, my entire playgroup is yet to try the Advocate out in any Multiplayer deck. I agree with you - very strong for a 1cc drop. I've got my first copy ever of him via the Commander decks, but am yet to give him a dry run in a Multiplayer deck. He's also got some fairly stiff competition in the MP 1cc slot, thanks to Soul Warden, Mother of Runes and Serra Ascendant (especially if the Cube gets used for 2HG / team games), but he's certainly worth a long look.
My Stupidly Large Number of Current Decks
PucaTrade with me!
The Multiplayer Power Rankings
Cube: the Gittening (My Multiplayer Cube) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
The N00b Cube (Peasant cube for new players) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
Also changed...
Will quite possibly also be swapping out the Planeshift Lairs for the Alara Tri-Lands as well.
Eidolon, I'll repost in your comparison thread once my group decides whether to go with the Tri-Lands over the Lairs or not. Big changes now, so it's deserving of a repost.
My Stupidly Large Number of Current Decks
PucaTrade with me!
The Multiplayer Power Rankings
Cube: the Gittening (My Multiplayer Cube) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
The N00b Cube (Peasant cube for new players) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
I've got a Phyrexian Crusader coming in the post, and the group has almost unanimously decided that he's a better option here than Haakon, so I suspect we will make that change along with the Tri-Lands for Lairs, and we will suddenly have a very stable and very settled cube.
My Stupidly Large Number of Current Decks
PucaTrade with me!
The Multiplayer Power Rankings
Cube: the Gittening (My Multiplayer Cube) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
The N00b Cube (Peasant cube for new players) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor