I see you added Strangleroot Geist.
Is it easy enough to cast in an aggro deck? It sure is a great target for Collected Company, but I imagine you didn't include it just for that deck?
Wait... Is wtwlf running Collected Company? I dismissed that card because of the bad reviews in its SCD thread. Does this mean it's potentially good enough for my 720?
I see you added Strangleroot Geist.
Is it easy enough to cast in an aggro deck? It sure is a great target for Collected Company, but I imagine you didn't include it just for that deck?
In aggro decks or aggressive midrange decks with enough green sources, Strangleroot Geist is a great 2cc creature. It was not added in just for Collected Company. In smaller cubes, green's aggressive decks tend to be relegated to a splash/secondary role only (X/g). In slightly larger lists, I can expand that role into a G/X aggro deck or even some GG/x aggressive midrange decks that really like cards like Strangleroot and Boon Satyr.
Wait... Is wtwlf running Collected Company? I dismissed that card because of the bad reviews in its SCD thread. Does this mean it's potentially good enough for my 720?
It's been testing pretty well so far, assuming you put it in the right deck...
It lost a lot of value with no other LD effects available, and the Pox/Stax support cards proved to be better disruption spells. I'd re-include it in a heartbeat if I included an LD theme in red; even if it was a small one.
It doesn't pair well with Pox itself, and if Pox/Stax is what your black disruption decks are doing, I think it's fine to exclude Sinkhole. I think it gains value if you don't support Pox/Stax, with or without additional LD support in red.
So like a -Pox, +Sinkhole change if you don't want to support the Pox/Stax theme with the deeper support cards is probably a fine idea.
Progenitor Mimic has a high ceiling, because it can do some really absurd things. But it can also have a lackluster performance, which can be problematic for a 6cc card. Simic Sky Swallower is more boring, but it's a really consistent card. The flying and the trample makes it really hard to deal with in combat and makes it a reliable finisher. It adds another good finisher into the cube for Simic midrange/control decks, and gives you an extra Natural Order target. If I had to choose 1 for my cube, it'd probably be SSS.
And speaking of Simic, I picked up this sweet Breeding Pool for my cube:
..........
Edit: I also made a quick change to the fixing percentages. I had too many fixing lands by percentage to run 3 and 4-player Glimpses. The full suite of Vivid Lands is just too many lands by volume. I trimmed 1 card from each section and the 5 Vivid Lands to add in an extra card for each guild. This gives me room to test some multicolored cards, and will help fix the problem regarding the fixing/splashing being too automatic.
They're both in for testing. I added in Ojutai because I lost a white 5-drop and a blue 5-drop in recent changes. And CttR is in based on recommendations from other cubers. There's a couple of solid options for the Boros #5, but nothing I thought I had to have.
Chained to the Rocks was a fine card for us, but ultimately ended up being a little too cute. The flavor is awesome, but the effect just wasn't necessary. With all the burn and white removal spells, our Boros decks just didn't need it. I'd rather have something like Boros Reckoner in that number 5 slot.
Reckoner is one card I know I don't need. Both white and red are saturated with fantastic 3cc creatures. Reckoner's good, but I see more decks wanting cheap removal in that color combination than wanting another 3-drop.
Slayers' Stronghold is a maybe too. I just don't think Boros has many good cards outside of the top 4, and figured a 1cc removal spell had a good shot at being better than them. CttR isn't a great card, but none of the other options excite me either.
I tried out Gisela and she was surprisingly awesome. It's true she dies to removal but if she doesn't, she wins the game in a hurry. And it's fun encouraging a Boros deck that isn't aggro
Out of all these options I almost like Boros Signet the best for the 5th slot. unless you prefer Slayer's Stronghold. RW doesn't usually appreciate mana rocks. but the RW decks that do REALLY love them.
Ya, I've played both the Signet and Gisela before, and they're both solid options. Since nothing really jumped out at me, I decided to test the 1cc removal spell and see how it plays out.
Fastbond was good in the perfect hand, or when you could combine it with a very specific suite of cards in the cube that work well with it, like Crucible, Meloku or Courser. But outside those windows, it didn't do much of anything. Exploration was much worse than that, often just being a dead card that I really wished was something that could actually increase my resource count, like a mana elf. Fastbond might come back in the future if we get more cards that can combo really well with it, but I'm not optimistic.
I don't know about depowering. Take out whatever your playgroup doesn't want to play. Since depowering the cube is a subjective choice, I can't give you any data on how it should be done. Most people remove the power 9, Library, and the fast artifact mana when they unpower the cube. I'd start with those.
(1) I like your cube a lot. Are the drafts you put on Cubetutor representative of the decks that happen in real life? How would you feel about doing a draft report once in a while where you mention which decks were drafted and how they fared against each other? I think that would be a fun read, although I understand that maybe you don't do it because of time constraints.
(2) Stupid question time: how would you rank the Moxen and Swords relative to each other as first picks? If you're having a hard time visualizing, see spoilered narrative.
You're highly incentivized to win an 8-person cube draft using your cube against experienced players who each want to win. Nobody can cheat, but there's one special game rule for you and only you know about it: You may guarantee that one specific Mox or Sword will show up in your opening pack. The pack will still contain 15 cards, and every other card in the draft is random as usual. (You won't be *forced* to pick that Mox or Sword if you see something you prefer.) Which Mox or Sword do you guarantee yourself, and if you couldn't have that one, which would be the next one, and so on?
(3) Despite what you may say, it's clearly "what the wolf". Just saying.
1) The decks I draft on CubeTutor aren't far off from what I'd expect to be able to Glimpse Draft in real life. I'm going to be working with Tavish (@MTGCube) from mtgcube.com this summer on some draft summaries, articles and other cube related content. So hopefully by this fall there will be more of that kind of stuff to read through for you.
2) I'd hand-select Mox Sapphire and Sword of Fire and Ice, no question.
3) Well, you're not the only person that reads it that way. I assure you it's White Wolf, but sometimes you've been reading a name so long that you can't change the way it sounds in your own head.
Ah - cool, thanks for replying! If you end up working on that content, I'll be sure to check it out.
So it sounds like the Sapphire is your favorite Mox and SoFI is your favorite Sword. Just to disambiguate: does that mean you'd pick Sapphire over all 4 non-preferred Swords, and SoFI over all 4 non-preferred Moxen? I was curious which cards topped the collective list of 10, or put another way, whether you liked Swords better or Moxen better. I ask because I read someone saying something like "an experienced cube player would never first-pick a Mox over a Sword of Fire and Ice", and I was curious how you thought they stacked up against each other.
No, in general, I like the Moxen more than the Swords, because I feel the Moxen are less replaceable and more universally playable. Sapphire would be the first Mox I would take from a pack, and SoFI would be the first Sword I would take from a pack, but I'd be hard-pressed to pass a Mox of any color to take a Sword. There could certainly be circumstances where I would, maybe in pack 3 when my deck needs a Sword more than an off-color Mox maybe (like if I P1P1'd a Stoneforge and have blanked on targets thus far or something) but otherwise I'd take the ABU Jewelry over the Swords at pretty much any juncture.
I totally agree with the above comment. Mox > Sword at almost any time. There was a really stupid draft a few months ago where, going into to Pack 3, I had Lotus and two Moxen. My third pack had SoLaS and SoFaF and Mox Ruby (off color, I was WB tokens). I took SoLaS. But even then, the Mox as tempting.
Are you part of the Facebook Altered MTG Art page? A guy is selling off his entire altered cube...over a hundred alters for sale from like Klug, Demonium, Seesic, etc...I bought 10 pieces myself--a lot is gone but still a lot of great stuff left.
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Is it easy enough to cast in an aggro deck? It sure is a great target for Collected Company, but I imagine you didn't include it just for that deck?
In aggro decks or aggressive midrange decks with enough green sources, Strangleroot Geist is a great 2cc creature. It was not added in just for Collected Company. In smaller cubes, green's aggressive decks tend to be relegated to a splash/secondary role only (X/g). In slightly larger lists, I can expand that role into a G/X aggro deck or even some GG/x aggressive midrange decks that really like cards like Strangleroot and Boon Satyr.
It's been testing pretty well so far, assuming you put it in the right deck...
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Thanks for having me on guys!
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So like a -Pox, +Sinkhole change if you don't want to support the Pox/Stax theme with the deeper support cards is probably a fine idea.
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http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/5122
And speaking of Simic, I picked up this sweet Breeding Pool for my cube:
..........
Edit: I also made a quick change to the fixing percentages. I had too many fixing lands by percentage to run 3 and 4-player Glimpses. The full suite of Vivid Lands is just too many lands by volume. I trimmed 1 card from each section and the 5 Vivid Lands to add in an extra card for each guild. This gives me room to test some multicolored cards, and will help fix the problem regarding the fixing/splashing being too automatic.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
Cheers,
rant
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Slayers' Stronghold is a maybe too. I just don't think Boros has many good cards outside of the top 4, and figured a 1cc removal spell had a good shot at being better than them. CttR isn't a great card, but none of the other options excite me either.
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Oh and Wildfire lols
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I don't know about depowering. Take out whatever your playgroup doesn't want to play. Since depowering the cube is a subjective choice, I can't give you any data on how it should be done. Most people remove the power 9, Library, and the fast artifact mana when they unpower the cube. I'd start with those.
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My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
Long time lurker with three orders of business.
(1) I like your cube a lot. Are the drafts you put on Cubetutor representative of the decks that happen in real life? How would you feel about doing a draft report once in a while where you mention which decks were drafted and how they fared against each other? I think that would be a fun read, although I understand that maybe you don't do it because of time constraints.
(2) Stupid question time: how would you rank the Moxen and Swords relative to each other as first picks? If you're having a hard time visualizing, see spoilered narrative.
You're highly incentivized to win an 8-person cube draft using your cube against experienced players who each want to win. Nobody can cheat, but there's one special game rule for you and only you know about it: You may guarantee that one specific Mox or Sword will show up in your opening pack. The pack will still contain 15 cards, and every other card in the draft is random as usual. (You won't be *forced* to pick that Mox or Sword if you see something you prefer.) Which Mox or Sword do you guarantee yourself, and if you couldn't have that one, which would be the next one, and so on?
(3) Despite what you may say, it's clearly "what the wolf". Just saying.
1) The decks I draft on CubeTutor aren't far off from what I'd expect to be able to Glimpse Draft in real life. I'm going to be working with Tavish (@MTGCube) from mtgcube.com this summer on some draft summaries, articles and other cube related content. So hopefully by this fall there will be more of that kind of stuff to read through for you.
2) I'd hand-select Mox Sapphire and Sword of Fire and Ice, no question.
3) Well, you're not the only person that reads it that way. I assure you it's White Wolf, but sometimes you've been reading a name so long that you can't change the way it sounds in your own head.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
So it sounds like the Sapphire is your favorite Mox and SoFI is your favorite Sword. Just to disambiguate: does that mean you'd pick Sapphire over all 4 non-preferred Swords, and SoFI over all 4 non-preferred Moxen? I was curious which cards topped the collective list of 10, or put another way, whether you liked Swords better or Moxen better. I ask because I read someone saying something like "an experienced cube player would never first-pick a Mox over a Sword of Fire and Ice", and I was curious how you thought they stacked up against each other.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
Cheers,
rant
My Cube
CubeCobra: https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/5f5d0310ed602310515d4c32
Cube Tutor: http://cubetutor.com/viewcube/1963
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!