In Game 1, our Modern Major General dropped Fate Unraveler early. And let me tell you, that thing looks inocuous in a normal game, but in four-on-four? It bleeds the other team off the table quite quickly! By the time Team 1 stabilized, Spike resolved Blatant Thievery to swing the game and New Guy finished us off by tutoring for Hydra Omnivore and then swinging in for lethal while ultimating Garruk.
Game 2 thankfully saw my team do the exact opposite of Game 1. We stabilized early, thanks to Tribal Guy resolving Extract from Darkness on Turn 5, flipping Kozilek into my graveyard. He couldn't put him on his board fast enough! Team 2's eyes were fixed so hard on Kozi that I was able to play Consuming Aberration and Endbringer without any issues, and both of those two controlled the game for us while Team 2 tried to control Kozilek. In the end, the Aberration snuck under the guard twice thanks to Rogue's Passage for lethal.
The final C15/OGW changes. Everything is on its way in one form or another. Here's how it looks like we're putting them in:
Mystic Confluence in for Desertion: I've seen Mystic Confluence played already in a free-for-all, and the title I've seen bandied about of "The Multiplayer Cryptic Command" doesn't seem to be too far off the bat. Desertion has barely been decked, and blue has plenty of other stealing mechanisms, so it can go overboard for a stronger counter quite happily.
Fiery Confluence in for Rolling Thunder: Stronger than Rolling Thunder in almost every sense (Thunder is likely only better if you have an utter boatload of mana and no artifact problems). It's dealing three to each creature for much less than Rolling Thunder would, and it's definitely dealing six to each opponent's face for much less than Rolling Thunder would. Oh, and it can remove artifacts at a pinch, too. Brilliant.
Grasp of Fate in for Quarantine Field: Poor Q-Field... I think it had been in our cube for about a fortnight when Grasp was spoilt. I think I heard it cry out as I read the spoiler.
Skullwinder in for Spawnwrithe: Spawnwrithe has been in the cube for a long, long time, and has lasted because it's an effect people love. But there's no longer any Elemental Tribal in the cube, and I've slotted Giant Adephage in for the folks who like the effect. Spawnwrithe hasn't seen much table time in recent months, and has felt decidedly underpowered next to its fellow three-drops for a while. Time to add a great defensive creature, a second Eternal Witness and a political card to boot.
Brutal Hordechief in for Undead Warchief: Zombie Tribal looks as though it's going to wind up being a lot of great cards that are coincidentally Zombies, plus Death Baron. Undead Warchief has very much been the whipping boy of the remaining three Zombie lords (the third being Lord of the Undead). The Warchief doesn't drop until Turn 4, by which stage you've probably got the mana to play most of your Zombies anyway, so the cost reduction is unimportant. That leaves you only ever playing it for its P/T boost, and you probably need a few more Zombie token producers in the cube to make it worthwhile (we're currently at only two - Gisa and Grave Titan). Brutal Hordechief is a card we've thought about adding for a while, and plays very nicely with some of the red and/or white token decks that we've seen before (e.g. using Emeria Angel, Captain of the Watch, Siege-Gang Commander, Assemble the Legion). Given how splashable it is, it could quite easily make a Mardu token deck a possibility.
Aurelia' Fury in for Brion Stoutarm: We've dropped an X spell higher up, and Brion has been our Boros whipping boy for a long time. Aurelia's Fury is infinitely better than Rolling Thunder, and a very Boros card to boot.
Deceiver of Form in for Isochron Scepter: We wanted one more Eldrazi in to make it worthwhile running Wastes, and Isochron hasn't exactly got a heap of things to work with. It was being played almost exclusively in Izzet decks, which was limiting it to about four spells you could possibly stick under it.
Fall of the Titans in for Goblinslide: And after all of our X-spell tinkering, the playgroup wanted to at least give Fall of the Titans a try. Goblinslide is the drop for sure.
So apparently I haven't listed any changes in here for a while (srsly, I'm doing it all on CubeTutor regardless... head over there for up-to-date stuff!), but in the name of completeness, here are the changes made since last update:
Thalia's Lieutenant in for White Shield Crusader: Too many things that were incidentally Human to leave the Lieutenant out. The Crusader was a pretty tough cut.
Grand Architect in for Chasm Skulker: Seeking to bolster blue's artifact-centric archetype. Not many were playing or drafting the Skulker. Grand Architect has a sporting chance.
Sharding Sphinx in for Inkwell Leviathan: And even moooaarrr Thopters! Giving them a headline beater to replace Inky (who, unsurprisingly, has been less popular since we dropped Tinker).
Pia and Kiran Nalaar in for Fanatic of Mogis: Adding some more red artifact / Thopter support. Not many were playing the Fanatic - red is traditionally about burn, not flopping heaps of red devotion onto the board.
Primal Vigor in for Chord of Calling: Everyone loves Doubling Season, but no-one loves facing down the inevitable DubSeason/Ultimate Walkers deck. This is the fair version.
Seasons Past in for See the Unwritten: A bonkers card that deserved to be in. Two card combo with any black tutor in the cube, for one.
Hangarback Walker in for Metalworker: A tough cut, but Metalworker's value has diminished with the colourless Eldrazi coming in, and Hangarback adds spice to the Thopters.
Myr Battlesphere in for Deceiver of Form: We mentioned above that Myrball was a tough cut. Too tough in the end... it's better than the Deceiver, so it gets a reprieve.
Thanks for keeping your changes to the cube up to date. I'm continuing to (slowly) accumulate cards to match your cube.
I had a great experience with the Conspiracy: Take the Crown draft recently and was hoping I could make a couple suggestions for the cube, based on how much fun it was to draft certain cards from the expansion. I'm sure you've considered or are considering adding cards from it as well, but I wanted to share my thoughts in hopes of adoption!
Animus of Predation for Deranged Hermit: Aside from budget concerns, Animus of Predation was extremely fun to draft. It make those last few picks a lot more fun, looking out for even off-color creatures that could beef him up. Definitely at the right power level for this kind of cube. It felt great to grab a flier or a hexproof guy, and with more keywords in the cube it would be even more fun!
Volatile Chimera for Sarkhan's Triumph: Volatile Chimera might be one of the most fun draft matters cards ever printed. Increases Red's unpredictability but maintains the power level.
Arcane Savant for Keiga, the Tide Star: Keiga doesn't contribute to any particular Blue archetype, but Arcane Savant is a fun card that seems quite powerful in any "spells matter" deck.
Caller of the Untamed for Thragtusk: A higher power-level card that brings any good creature into the fold for green, for less mana and less $$$!
I've tried to avoid conspiracies and any cards that require "noting" a card or counting the number of cards you've drafted, as I wouldn't want to disrupt the draft with pens and sticky notes. Let me know your thoughts!
Thanks for keeping your changes to the cube up to date. I'm continuing to (slowly) accumulate cards to match your cube.
I had a great experience with the Conspiracy: Take the Crown draft recently and was hoping I could make a couple suggestions for the cube, based on how much fun it was to draft certain cards from the expansion. I'm sure you've considered or are considering adding cards from it as well, but I wanted to share my thoughts in hopes of adoption!
Animus of Predation for Deranged Hermit: Aside from budget concerns, Animus of Predation was extremely fun to draft. It make those last few picks a lot more fun, looking out for even off-color creatures that could beef him up. Definitely at the right power level for this kind of cube. It felt great to grab a flier or a hexproof guy, and with more keywords in the cube it would be even more fun!
Volatile Chimera for Sarkhan's Triumph: Volatile Chimera might be one of the most fun draft matters cards ever printed. Increases Red's unpredictability but maintains the power level.
Arcane Savant for Keiga, the Tide Star: Keiga doesn't contribute to any particular Blue archetype, but Arcane Savant is a fun card that seems quite powerful in any "spells matter" deck.
Caller of the Untamed for Thragtusk: A higher power-level card that brings any good creature into the fold for green, for less mana and less $$$!
I've tried to avoid conspiracies and any cards that require "noting" a card or counting the number of cards you've drafted, as I wouldn't want to disrupt the draft with pens and sticky notes. Let me know your thoughts!
No problem keeping it updated here! Glad people are still finding it useful (and cloning my cube... how awesome is that?)!
Given the brief I have from my group at the moment, I suspect a Conspiracy/draft-matters section will end up another flex section of my cube. After discussion a couple of months back, it was basically "Lore Seeker booster? EDH Generals section? Do them. All of them. Heck, why not Conspiracy, Planechase and Archenemy sections while we're at it?"
So I suspect I will keep the original 360 rolling with the Lore Seeker in the middle of it, and then keep the separate flex sections active alongside that. For now, my aim is to at least change the Lore Seeker booster over to Eldrazi to surprise the group and keep it fresh (and I'm about four cards off that).
But, yeah, I agree that the five cards you highlighted are great fun - I actually seriously considered Caller of the Untamed and Volatile Chimera anyway, but I suspect I want to start with 15 awesome draft-matters cards / Conspiracies as a flex section and take it from there. It'll be fun to flesh out at the very least.
And I've discovered that a guy who lives down the road and has a daughter in my son's year at school is also a player and has all the Planechase Planes... that... may need to happen...
Three minor updates - one triggered by Pucatrade handing me a nice card, one by discussion in the Random Cube Card of the Day thread, and one by a card shining in general free-for-all play at our table.
Master Biomancer in for Overbeing of Myth: Overbeing is the last of the five-hybrid CC avatars heading out of the cube - they've proven to be pretty hard to cast. I haven't seen Overbeing resolved for a while, and I'm pretty sure it needed help from mana elves to get out last time I sighted it. Biomancer is good, clean fun, and has the added bonuses of counting as an Elf for the Elf tribe and being particularly nasty with Primal Vigor.
Animate Dead in for Exhume: I don't know how I've avoided putting Animate in my cube until now. I've had copies basically since I started playing as a spotty teenager. I suspect I've only kept it out for power level and fairness reasons, but having it discussed in the Random Cube Card of the Day thread made me reconsider this. Reanimator doesn't show its head too much ATM despite having a fair number of discard outlets and reanimation methods, and there is certainly enough good removal in the cube to potentially cope with early threats. So why not! My playgroup have been avoiding Exhume somewhat due to it also paying off your opponents, which in turn has weakened the idea of playing Reanimator as a draft archetype. So let's give Animate a go and see how degenerate things get!
Volcanic Offering in for Mogg Infestation: The Offering has seen a bit of play at my table of late, and is a really swingy political card that has proven to be great fun to resolve. There is also next to no land destruction in the cube, so Rogue's Passage is a higher pick and bigger threat than it otherwise should be. The fact that this is non-basic land removal only has been met with nods of approval when it comes to adding it to the cube. Infestation is fun, but is still not an ironclad guarantee of slowing your opponent down. It's been run a bit, but not insanely, and was clearly the weakest card in this slot.
So I have almost all of the Kaladesh changes into the cube, and we've seen some of them in action. Here's the swaps we've made, along with a little chatter about how good they've been so far:
Cultivator's Caravan in for Opaline Unicorn: This was an almost strictly better exchange, and the Caravan has proved to be as good as advertised. It's already run over a thing or two. Hardly anyone ever swung with the Unicorn. The fact that the Caravan can become a random 5/5 out of nowhere is no joke. And I don't think I'll ever get sick of saying "[Insert creature here] got run over by the Caravan!"
Panharmonicon in for Swiftfoot Boots: We dropped an equipment here, as we're somewhat equipment-heavy right now, and still have Das Boots and Whispersilk Cloak in the 360. Panharmonicon got decked last time out, but didn't hit the table. My Johnny was licking his lips at drafting it early and trying to make it work, but he kept running into things that didn't trigger with it. Interestingly, it fights with Deadeye Navigator during a draft for all the creatures with ETB abilities, so it's already made drafts more interesting. Some day, someone's going to get both Deadeye and Panharmonicon, and there's going to be wreckage.
Combustible Gearhulk in for Shivan Dragon: I don't know how Shivan was still in my cube! The red Gearhulk is all it advertises, and is dangerous even without Goblin Welder / Daretti shenanigans. We saw Blade of Selves slapped on it in a 3HG game last week... that left a mark...
Rashmi, Eternities Crafter in for Edric, Spymaster of Trest: Rashmi was pretty much a tier above Edric as soon as she was printed. She got decked by the same guy who had Panharmonicon last time out, and he didn't draw her either (and man... would it have been nuts if he'd got both of those on the table... I'm kinda glad he didn't).
Gonti, Lord of Luxury in for Faceless Butcher: I decked Gonti in a Dimir build last time out, and ganked my opponent's Snapcaster Mage with it. Snappy then resolved three turns later to help recast a Counterspell that prevented a Comet Storm for 20+. All you need to know about how good Gonti is in wrapped up in that sentence - he's fun, and the real deal.
We'll have Reckless Fireweaver and Noxious Gearhulk joining them soon, and I am still actively working on an all-Eldrazi Lore Seeker booster, a 15-card Conspiracy expansion and a 30-general EDH expansion. Fun times!
With the November buy-up complete, here are the changes we're making:
Reckless Fireweaver in for Soulbright Flamekin: About the same power level (i.e. hardly any!), but there are a lot more artifacts and Thopters and things flying around in here post-Kaladesh, so this is likely to be decked more often.
Selvala's Stampede in for Seasons Past: The Stampede has been broken in our meta outside of the cube, to the point where it pretty much had to come in no matter what was standing in its way. And I'll be clear - I'm a massive Seasons Past fan. The Stampede just gets ridiculous when thrown into 2HG / 3HG games, and coupled with Eternal Witness / Skullwinder.
Kalonian Hydra in for Deranged Hermit: The Hydra was only ever out due to budget, and now it's $4.50 a copy. Winner! I hate to think what this will do next to Primal Vigor...
Deepglow Skate in for Body Double: Speaking of doubling counters... this thing is so strong it broke the deadlock we had at 5-drop blue (which is three cards wide, and had basically gone unchanged for years). Body Double gets the axe, Mulldrifter is pretty much undroppable, and Djinn of Wishes gets a lot better next to this... it's going to have to be a really good card to break into this slot now...
Ash Barrens in for Kessig Wolf Run: Barrens pretty much had to go in, and I was expecting it to be for Terramorphic Expanse. But KWR has not been drafted highly or maindecked in a long, long time, and my playgroup unexpectedly threw it overboard instead. It's still a darned good card, but likely a victim of the cube's current focus on tokens in Gruul, as well as blue's ability to steal potential KWR targets at the moment.
So you think that's it? Wrong!
We also bring you the brand new 15-card wide Conspiracy Module!
We're intending this to be an additional 15-card booster, either thrown into the draft by itself or picked up with Lore Seeker, depending on our mood. We may even get bored and simply shuffle it into the 360 at points.
We wanted a good cross-section of the different aspects of the two Conspiracy sets in here. White unfortunately sucks in all of them, but I can't help WotC nerfing that colour in these environments...
The initial 15 cards are:
A couple of those have the potential to be rather broken. We'll take a watch-and-see approach and ban things if they get out of hand. But we're looking forward to testing this out!
Look at me making two updates in two days.
I finally managed to justify swapping this out of a deck and into the cube last night. It's been on the cards for a long, long time...
Okay, time to show off the latest updates! Out in the main 360, our Aether Revolt update looked like this...
Baral, Chief of Compliance in for Invisible Stalker: Baral was simply too good to leave out. The Stalker was also simply the worst card in the slot. We'll miss its ability to wield Swords, but I don't think the disappointment is going to last long...
Disallow in for Dissipate: Obvious swap was obvious. Again, the control players rejoiced.
Duelist's Heritage in for Rootborn Defenses: In by popular demand, this card's ability to screw around with other players' combat phases puts it a cut above the average hander-out of double strike. The fact that it's an enchantment helps too. Rootborn had pretty much dropped down to last-pick level.
Heroic Intervention in for Lignify: So we thought we'd better give the non-blue colours some help too. Here is the green counterspell, coming in for what was essentially a limited form of green removal that didn't get decked too often.
Rishkar, Peema Renegade in for Skullwinder: No-one was game enough to play the Snake and help their opponent. So we added something that helped Elves, ramp decks, Primal Vigor / Master Biomancer combo decks, etc. etc....
Trophy Mage in for Daring Apprentice: Absolutely nobody was playing the Apprentice, so we had somewhat of a free swing here. Trophy Mage fetches 12 cards in the cube, five of which are the Swords.
Army of the Damned in for Damnable Pact: We get the top black finisher spell we wanted. Not many have played the Pact. They'll sure play Army, especially once some of the Amonkhet Zombie Tribal pieces hit our cube in the near future...
Savannah in for Temple Garden, Taiga in for Stomping Ground: Yes, I'm letting everyone play with the only two Revised duals I own. I figure these two guilds could do with increased speed, anyway.
We then completely Eldrazified our Supaaar Sekret Lore Seeker Booster, which now looks like this:
And the final step? The addition of a 40-card EDH General Module!
The initial aim will be to draft these in five-card boosters after the initial draft. They're in the same sleeves as my main cube, so I'm happy enough for people to stick them in the 40, or for them to use one of the Legendaries out of the main 360 as their general instead. We'll see how it plays.
The initial 40 are as follows:
Hi all,
Here is what our Amonkhet update looks like! About half of these are in the cube ATM, and the rest are all working their way through the post to me as I type.
Anointed Procession in for Worship: Was the first change in, and turned a Boros token deck feral in its first outing. It's going to be loved.
As Foretold in for Fabricate: It's getting hard to cut blue 3CC things, but As Foretold is just too much fun. It's going to jive with a lot of different things in the cube.
Liliana, Death's Majesty in for Liliana Vess: Wild, Wild Vess has had a charmed run in our cube - she's been in almost since its inception. But her reign finally ends thanks to her AKH equivalent, which almost looks like it was printed for our cube. Reanimator? Zombie tribal? Yes!
Lord of the Accursed in for Phyrexian Crusader: Another Zombie tribal piece comes in for the Crusader, who was awesome, but had the unfortunate distinction of being the only infect creature in the entire cube.
Vizier of the Menagerie in for Elvish Piper: Creatures Oracle of Mul Daya has apparently not been testing well elsewhere, but we're giving it a shot here. Piper has always been vulnerable, and not ever yone has had the guts to deck it, so Vizier already has the inside track. If it doesn't work out, we'll probably look harder at Champion of Rhonas.
Reclamation Sage in for Wickerbough Elder: A swap I probably should have done a while back. Counts as an Elf, plays better with the +1/+1 counter strategies floating around in green, nastier with Temur Sabertooth...
Last night, we finally had a crack at drafting the Commander module! And it was incredible fun. The details:
Seven-player free-for-all.
Commanders drafted last in five-card boosters.
40+ card decks plus a commander.
Drafted commanders could be used in the 40.
Legendary creatures out of the cube's core 360 could be used as commanders when drafted.
Off-colour non-basics were allowed (given I basicaly have no non-basics that screw with the game... they pretty much all just fix mana).
Given it was a seven-player free-for-all, we started with The Monarch in the middle to speed things up, handed to the first person to draw blood.
So you'll be used to Spike, Tribal Guy, Esper Guy and Mrs. Esper in my match reports. They were there.
However, we also have a couple who both started playing recently and have joined the group. Given they started with Kaladesh, let's call them Pia and Kiran and be done with.
My deck absolutely fell in my lap during the draft, even down to the commander. If I'd lasted as little a turn longer, this would have locked the game up tight.
General aim - get Lavinia out, start blinking, control control control, make fools cry.
Tribal Guy had a cracking start. He played Nezumi Graverobber on Turn 2, swung with it on Turn 3 to gain Monarch, and then flipped it by ganking a fetch out of someone's yard. So did Esper Guy, who decided Turn 2 Luminarch Ascension was his idea of a good time.
Then my deck swung into action and did precisely what it was built to do. Dropped Lavinia on Turn 5, blinked her on Turn 6 with Resto... things were looking good! I had the board locked down nicely!
... aaaaand then Esper Guy resolved Selvala's Stampede on his Turn 6...
He had only three cards in hand, so the six of us all forced him to pick from his hand, giving him only one permanent out of his library... it didn't matter. He had Molten Primordial in his hand. It stole Kalonian Hydra, Steel Hellkite, Combustible Gearhulk and Resto among other things. None of that was detained, either - it was all either too big for Lavinia to arrest, or it was mine.
He promptly blew the two currently most-threatening players off the board - Spike (who had Sorin, Lord of Innistrad, Skullclamp and Primal Vigor, and was threatening to go nuclear), and, of course, me.
As I died, I had Eldrazi Displacer in my hand. The top of my deck showed that I would have Mulldriftered into the Wastes I needed to activate the Displacer in my next turn, meaning Lavinia would have had most of the board locked down from there... so close, and yet so far!
Naturally, after a turn like that, the rest of the table ganged up on Esper Guy. Pia's Kalonian Hydra was 32/32 by this stage, and Esper Guy failed to live through her swinging at him and watching it double to a 64/64 trampler.
Mrs. Esper figured she would be next, swung at Pia with Steel Hellkite and activated its ability to nuke the Hydra. A second swing the next turn and Pia was dead.
Kiran saw all this happening and had a low life total and no cards. Seeing the game was about to end, he searched for a solution by resolving Disciple of Bolas and nuking his 16/16 Combustible Gearhulk (it had been brought in with Olivia, Mobilized for War, received two counters thanks to Primal Vigor[/c], and then rather enjoyed swinging next to the Kalonian Hydra when stolen, among other things). This left him with one card in his deck and an itchy trigger finger.
Tribal Guy, Kiran and Mrs. Esper all held each other off for a turn, leaving Kiran to draw his final card, which still didn't offer a solution.
Tribal Guy calmly untapped, dropped Glorybringer, threw Sword of War and Peace on it and snuck it through Mrs. Esper's defenses for lethal... and then kindly passed the turn to Kiran so he could die.
First up win for Kolaghan! Great night for all.
Of the new cards we've added so far, we obviously saw Resto and Glorybringer do exactly what they advertised. We also saw Reclamation Sage remove that threatening early Luminarch Ascension. So those three changes were clearly good ones.
Next time out, we've agreed to draft the commanders first. The cruel Cube Manager in me loves making the group sweat by forcing them to draft the commanders last (e.g. "But I drafted this super-sweet Grixis deck... where is Thraximundar? WHERE IS THRAXIMUNDAR??!!1!!!"), but the group is right that drafting the commanders first will change the format of the draft itself (and could well make decisions more interesting).
But we've also decided that having the Monarch in the middle in large games is an awesome, awesome thing. It encouraged a lack of durdling and pillow-forting and rewards aggression. Good thing in a large free-for-all, definitely.
When you get to draft it, let us know how As Foretold plays out. I'm a bit skeptical in cube but it does look really fun!
Thanks! As Foretold was not in yet as of last night, so I haven't been able to test it out yet, but I'll definitely report back on it. Suspect it could get out of hand pretty quickly if someone tries out Atraxa as a commander and then gets enough card draw (hi there, Consecrated Sphinx)!
Hmm.... so I didn't add details on our HOU changes in here. Oops (much as they weren't big).
Thankfully, Ixalan has brought a lot of new toys. Here's what's changed since last update!
Growing Rites of Itlimoc in for Harrow: We finally dump what is pretty much Card #360 in the cube! Green ramp is getting better...
Primal Amulet in for Trading Post: My group wanted to try a different durdly artifact for kicks. Let's see how it performs.
Rampaging Ferocidon in, Alesha, Who Smiles at Death becomes the Mardu commander in the EDH expansion, Zurgo Helmsmasher out: Ferocidon short-circuits both tokens and lifegain. First draft with this in, I was going hard at tokens, and had to hate-draft this. It was too nasty and hateful to leave out.
Cryptolith Rite in for Fertile Ground: And we knock another of the horrible green ramp cards out of the 360 and replace it with something great! Green has enjoyed the last update!
And Finally, A New Lore Seeker Booster:
We'd been rocking the 15 Eldrazi for a while now, and the group had an idea to change it to 15 equipment cards.
Now, some were expecting me to drop the five Swords out into it, along with ten other equipment. But we can't have the contents to be what they expected, can we...
So I kept the Swords in the 360. Here's what they got instead...
Naturally, Jitte is the first pick (as it is in just about any booster anywhere ever), but the rest certainly produced some gasps of surprise. A few hadn't even seen a Gate to Phyrexia before.
Hi folks, Dominaria and Rivals of Ixalan update time! Here's what we've been up to:
Angrath, the Flame-Chained in, Kaervek the Merciless out to the EDH Generals, Tymaret, the Murder King dropped from the Generals: Angrath was far and away better than most things Rakdos, and had to come in. Kaervek has been pretty slow and rarely played, but still makes a better general than Tymaret.
Archangel of Thune in, Stonehewer Giant out to the Lore Seeker booster, Sigarda's Aid dropped: Archangel is a bomb we happened into. Stonehewer has become too slow, but gets a stay of execution in the Lore Seeker booster for now.
Auriok Champion in for Thalia's Lieutenant: The Lieutenant didn't have enough Humans to play with. The Champion has heaps of lifegain synergy to play with.
Dire Fleet Daredevil in for Grim Lavamancer: So Izzet Spells Matter has become pretty strong... let's throw in a countermeasure, and remove something that can respond to it in the process.
The Immortal Sun in for Staff of Nin: My playgroup was split down the middle on this change, but the Sun has been pretty scary from what we've seen of it so far.
Lotus Cobra in for Ulvenwald Tracker: I had been actively trying to drop the Fight Bear for ages. Not too many better things I could have dropped it for.
Profane Procession in, Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim out to the EDH Generals, Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts dropped from the Generals: I got utterly, utterly hosed by the Procession at RIX pre-release, and while we were worried it was perhaps going to be too slow here, it isn't. It's wonderful. Ayli remains a popular general, and Teysa was just too expensive to ever get on the board.
Taigam, Ojutai Master into the EDH Generals for Lavinia of the Tenth: We were rocking two Azorius generals that both wanted to blink. Taigam gives us a different look and plays nicely into both Spells Matter and Dragon Tribal if you want to throw him into the 40 for fun.
Thallid Soothsayer in for Marauding Knight: The Knight had been close to the edge for a while. The Soothsayer is possibly one of the best multiple activation "sac a creature, get a card" cards we've ever seen, and will play nicely/horribly next to some of the black elements.
Team One
Me - Dimir Eldrazi (featuring Kozilek, Consuming Aberration and Endbringer)
Johnny Combo - Azorius Control (featuring Consecrated Sphinx, Daxos and Rhystic Study)
Mrs. Esper - Boros Equipment (featuring Stoneforge Mystic, Sword of Light and Shadow and Sword of War and Peace)
Tribal Guy - Dimir Control (featuring Kokusho, the Evening Star, Body Double and Extract from Darkness)
Team Two
Esper Guy - Grixis (featuring Erratic Portal, Rite of Replication and Scourge of Geier Reach)
New Guy - Selesnya Elves (featuring Garruk Wildspeaker, Hydra Omnivore and Mother of Runes)
Spike - Izzet (featuring Blatant Thievery, Insurrection, Young Pyromancer and Talrand)
Our other new guy, the Modern player (henceforth known as the Modern Major General!) - Mono-black Extort (featuring Fate Unraveler, Royal Assassin and Pontiff of Blight)
For those seeking to put the colourless stuff from OGW into their cube, here's what my deck looked like. Yes, it worked.
1 Sigiled Starfish
1 Daring Apprentice
1 Metalworker
1 Faceless Butcher
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Chainer, Dementia Master
1 Consuming Aberration
1 Ghoulcaller Gisa
1 Shriekmaw
1 Endbringer
1 Grave Titan
1 Kozilek, the Great Distortion
1 Everflowing Chalice
1 Mana Vault
1 Expedition Map
1 Go for the Throat
1 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
1 Mimic Vat
1 Diabolic Tutor
1 Nevinyrral's Disk
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Beseech the Queen
1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
1 Crumbling Necropolis
1 Flooded Strand
1 Mirrorpool
1 Polluted Delta
1 Rogue's Passage
9 Swamp
4 Wastes
3 Island
In Game 1, our Modern Major General dropped Fate Unraveler early. And let me tell you, that thing looks inocuous in a normal game, but in four-on-four? It bleeds the other team off the table quite quickly! By the time Team 1 stabilized, Spike resolved Blatant Thievery to swing the game and New Guy finished us off by tutoring for Hydra Omnivore and then swinging in for lethal while ultimating Garruk.
Game 2 thankfully saw my team do the exact opposite of Game 1. We stabilized early, thanks to Tribal Guy resolving Extract from Darkness on Turn 5, flipping Kozilek into my graveyard. He couldn't put him on his board fast enough! Team 2's eyes were fixed so hard on Kozi that I was able to play Consuming Aberration and Endbringer without any issues, and both of those two controlled the game for us while Team 2 tried to control Kozilek. In the end, the Aberration snuck under the guard twice thanks to Rogue's Passage for lethal.
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Our secret Lore Seeker booster is currently made up of the following:
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Thanks for keeping your changes to the cube up to date. I'm continuing to (slowly) accumulate cards to match your cube.
I had a great experience with the Conspiracy: Take the Crown draft recently and was hoping I could make a couple suggestions for the cube, based on how much fun it was to draft certain cards from the expansion. I'm sure you've considered or are considering adding cards from it as well, but I wanted to share my thoughts in hopes of adoption!
Animus of Predation for Deranged Hermit: Aside from budget concerns, Animus of Predation was extremely fun to draft. It make those last few picks a lot more fun, looking out for even off-color creatures that could beef him up. Definitely at the right power level for this kind of cube. It felt great to grab a flier or a hexproof guy, and with more keywords in the cube it would be even more fun!
Archdemon of Paliano for Marauding Knight: I think the Archdemon servers for a more wacky draft than a card that hates on one color.
Volatile Chimera for Sarkhan's Triumph: Volatile Chimera might be one of the most fun draft matters cards ever printed. Increases Red's unpredictability but maintains the power level.
Arcane Savant for Keiga, the Tide Star: Keiga doesn't contribute to any particular Blue archetype, but Arcane Savant is a fun card that seems quite powerful in any "spells matter" deck.
Caller of the Untamed for Thragtusk: A higher power-level card that brings any good creature into the fold for green, for less mana and less $$$!
I've tried to avoid conspiracies and any cards that require "noting" a card or counting the number of cards you've drafted, as I wouldn't want to disrupt the draft with pens and sticky notes. Let me know your thoughts!
No problem keeping it updated here! Glad people are still finding it useful (and cloning my cube... how awesome is that?)!
Given the brief I have from my group at the moment, I suspect a Conspiracy/draft-matters section will end up another flex section of my cube. After discussion a couple of months back, it was basically "Lore Seeker booster? EDH Generals section? Do them. All of them. Heck, why not Conspiracy, Planechase and Archenemy sections while we're at it?"
So I suspect I will keep the original 360 rolling with the Lore Seeker in the middle of it, and then keep the separate flex sections active alongside that. For now, my aim is to at least change the Lore Seeker booster over to Eldrazi to surprise the group and keep it fresh (and I'm about four cards off that).
But, yeah, I agree that the five cards you highlighted are great fun - I actually seriously considered Caller of the Untamed and Volatile Chimera anyway, but I suspect I want to start with 15 awesome draft-matters cards / Conspiracies as a flex section and take it from there. It'll be fun to flesh out at the very least.
And I've discovered that a guy who lives down the road and has a daughter in my son's year at school is also a player and has all the Planechase Planes... that... may need to happen...
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We'll have Reckless Fireweaver and Noxious Gearhulk joining them soon, and I am still actively working on an all-Eldrazi Lore Seeker booster, a 15-card Conspiracy expansion and a 30-general EDH expansion. Fun times!
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So you think that's it? Wrong!
We also bring you the brand new 15-card wide Conspiracy Module!
We're intending this to be an additional 15-card booster, either thrown into the draft by itself or picked up with Lore Seeker, depending on our mood. We may even get bored and simply shuffle it into the 360 at points.
We wanted a good cross-section of the different aspects of the two Conspiracy sets in here. White unfortunately sucks in all of them, but I can't help WotC nerfing that colour in these environments...
The initial 15 cards are:
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I finally managed to justify swapping this out of a deck and into the cube last night. It's been on the cards for a long, long time...
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We then completely Eldrazified our Supaaar Sekret Lore Seeker Booster, which now looks like this:
Spicy!
And the final step? The addition of a 40-card EDH General Module!
The initial aim will be to draft these in five-card boosters after the initial draft. They're in the same sleeves as my main cube, so I'm happy enough for people to stick them in the 40, or for them to use one of the Legendaries out of the main 360 as their general instead. We'll see how it plays.
The initial 40 are as follows:
Mono-Colour Generals
Odric, Lunarch Marshal
Arcum Dagsson
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
Urabrask the Hidden
Yeva, Nature's Herald
Guild Generals
Brago, King Eternal, Lavinia of the Tenth
Grimgrin, Corpse-Born, Oona, Queen of the Fae
Olivia, Mobilized for War, Tymaret, the Murder King
Radha, Heir to Keld, Wort, the Raidmother
Sigarda, Heron's Grace, Trostani, Selesnya's Voice
Ghost Council of Orzhova, Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts
Melek, Izzet Paragon, Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
Glissa, the Traitor, Savra, Queen of the Golgari
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight, Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas
Prime Speaker Zegana, Vorel of the Hull Clade
Shard Generals
Esper: Oloro, Ageless Ascetic
Grixis: Thraximundar
Jund: Shattergang Brothers
Naya: Mayael the Anima
Bant: Rubinia Soulsinger
Wedge Generals
Jeskai: Narset, Enlightened Master
Sultai: The Mimeoplasm
Mardu: Zurgo Helmsmasher
Temur: Animar, Soul of Elements
Abzan: Karador, Ghost Chieftain
The Five Remaining Fruitcake Generals
Bosh, Iron Golem
Atraxa, Praetors' Voice
Breya, Etherium Shaper
Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder
Child of Alara
The one change I want to make first up is Kaalia of the Vast coming in for Zurgo. But she's not cheap. We'll get there in time.
Well, that was fun.
I'll report back on how it all rolls!
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Here is what our Amonkhet update looks like! About half of these are in the cube ATM, and the rest are all working their way through the post to me as I type.
We've also swapped Pathrazer of Ulamog out for Hanweir Battlements in the Lore Seeker Booster, simply to give people the chance to live the dream and meld it with Hanweir Garrison.
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When you get to draft it, let us know how As Foretold plays out. I'm a bit skeptical in cube but it does look really fun!
My 450ish 1vs1 cube
So you'll be used to Spike, Tribal Guy, Esper Guy and Mrs. Esper in my match reports. They were there.
However, we also have a couple who both started playing recently and have joined the group. Given they started with Kaladesh, let's call them Pia and Kiran and be done with.
Going around the circle we were seated in:
1 Lavinia of the Tenth
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Eldrazi Displacer
1 Hanna, Ship's Navigator
1 Intrepid Hero
1 Trophy Mage
1 Restoration Angel
1 Whirler Rogue
1 Mulldrifter
1 Wingmate Roc
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Deadeye Navigator
1 Sun Titan
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Counterspell
1 Capsize
1 Jace Beleren
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Loxodon Warhammer
1 Sword of Body and Mind
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Whispersilk Cloak
1 Panharmonicon
1 Mystic Confluence
1 Blatant Thievery
8 Island
6 Swamp
2 Wastes
General aim - get Lavinia out, start blinking, control control control, make fools cry.
Tribal Guy had a cracking start. He played Nezumi Graverobber on Turn 2, swung with it on Turn 3 to gain Monarch, and then flipped it by ganking a fetch out of someone's yard. So did Esper Guy, who decided Turn 2 Luminarch Ascension was his idea of a good time.
Then my deck swung into action and did precisely what it was built to do. Dropped Lavinia on Turn 5, blinked her on Turn 6 with Resto... things were looking good! I had the board locked down nicely!
... aaaaand then Esper Guy resolved Selvala's Stampede on his Turn 6...
He had only three cards in hand, so the six of us all forced him to pick from his hand, giving him only one permanent out of his library... it didn't matter. He had Molten Primordial in his hand. It stole Kalonian Hydra, Steel Hellkite, Combustible Gearhulk and Resto among other things. None of that was detained, either - it was all either too big for Lavinia to arrest, or it was mine.
He promptly blew the two currently most-threatening players off the board - Spike (who had Sorin, Lord of Innistrad, Skullclamp and Primal Vigor, and was threatening to go nuclear), and, of course, me.
As I died, I had Eldrazi Displacer in my hand. The top of my deck showed that I would have Mulldriftered into the Wastes I needed to activate the Displacer in my next turn, meaning Lavinia would have had most of the board locked down from there... so close, and yet so far!
Naturally, after a turn like that, the rest of the table ganged up on Esper Guy. Pia's Kalonian Hydra was 32/32 by this stage, and Esper Guy failed to live through her swinging at him and watching it double to a 64/64 trampler.
Mrs. Esper figured she would be next, swung at Pia with Steel Hellkite and activated its ability to nuke the Hydra. A second swing the next turn and Pia was dead.
Kiran saw all this happening and had a low life total and no cards. Seeing the game was about to end, he searched for a solution by resolving Disciple of Bolas and nuking his 16/16 Combustible Gearhulk (it had been brought in with Olivia, Mobilized for War, received two counters thanks to Primal Vigor[/c], and then rather enjoyed swinging next to the Kalonian Hydra when stolen, among other things). This left him with one card in his deck and an itchy trigger finger.
Tribal Guy, Kiran and Mrs. Esper all held each other off for a turn, leaving Kiran to draw his final card, which still didn't offer a solution.
Tribal Guy calmly untapped, dropped Glorybringer, threw Sword of War and Peace on it and snuck it through Mrs. Esper's defenses for lethal... and then kindly passed the turn to Kiran so he could die.
First up win for Kolaghan! Great night for all.
Of the new cards we've added so far, we obviously saw Resto and Glorybringer do exactly what they advertised. We also saw Reclamation Sage remove that threatening early Luminarch Ascension. So those three changes were clearly good ones.
Next time out, we've agreed to draft the commanders first. The cruel Cube Manager in me loves making the group sweat by forcing them to draft the commanders last (e.g. "But I drafted this super-sweet Grixis deck... where is Thraximundar? WHERE IS THRAXIMUNDAR??!!1!!!"), but the group is right that drafting the commanders first will change the format of the draft itself (and could well make decisions more interesting).
But we've also decided that having the Monarch in the middle in large games is an awesome, awesome thing. It encouraged a lack of durdling and pillow-forting and rewards aggression. Good thing in a large free-for-all, definitely.
Thanks! As Foretold was not in yet as of last night, so I haven't been able to test it out yet, but I'll definitely report back on it. Suspect it could get out of hand pretty quickly if someone tries out Atraxa as a commander and then gets enough card draw (hi there, Consecrated Sphinx)!
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Thankfully, Ixalan has brought a lot of new toys. Here's what's changed since last update!
From Hour of Devastation:
From Ixalan:
Other Changes:
And Finally, A New Lore Seeker Booster:
We'd been rocking the 15 Eldrazi for a while now, and the group had an idea to change it to 15 equipment cards.
Now, some were expecting me to drop the five Swords out into it, along with ten other equipment. But we can't have the contents to be what they expected, can we...
So I kept the Swords in the 360. Here's what they got instead...
Naturally, Jitte is the first pick (as it is in just about any booster anywhere ever), but the rest certainly produced some gasps of surprise. A few hadn't even seen a Gate to Phyrexia before.
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