I have recently rejoined the magic world, and only have cards from 2010 core set onwards. I know little about Pauper Cubes and Cube Drafting but the idea intrigues me. I have little to no skill in picking good cards for this process, and I was wondering if I supplied a pdf or spreadsheet file listing off the cards I own if someone would be willing to help me turn what I have into some form of working pauper common/uncommon cube?
Either way I will have a list of my cards by tomorrow, I would be grateful to any who would offer help. Please leave a message if you would help and I will update once list is completed.
Edit: Based on the posts some have made I am thinking it would perhaps be best to make this a solid commons Cube. Also I am unsure of size currently. Any Suggests. Will be for 2-4 players at Most.
Cards i own are as Follows (Will be updated as I finish each color)
If you upload a list of cards, I'm sure a few of us will be willing to classify the cards as cubeable, borderline and unplayable. For me, it might take a few days, but that's because I'm busy as hell with things. ^^
In any case, there are many resources you can use. There's the Pauper Power Rankings and the still-ongoing Pauper Cube Evaluation, both of which have valuable information on card choices for the cube. For the latter, if you don't want to slog through all the discussion, the Closing Notes in the second and third posts will be very helpful.
Beyond that, there are a variety of other resources you can use. Set Reviews, the All Commons Cube thread where a lot of discussion on Pauper occurs, and just Pauper cubes in general. I would suggest checking up on Usman's, Fredmaster's, Drahcir's, Rubin8r's and my cube.
All of these resources can be found in my signature. Good luck cubing!
If you want to add uncommons, look through the normal cubes and see what they use. However there will still be a lot of uncommons that aren't good enough for a normal cube, but are for a common/uncommon cube, so you're going to have to do some work on that front.
Going all commons will make the process easier and cheaper, but there are some fun uncommons out there, so it's up to you.
Pauper on here means all commons. Anyway, I'm sure that if you post a list, you'll get good feedback here, but making an all-commons cube could make it a whole lot more complete with not very much money.
Thanks for the feedback. I had originally thought Common/Uncommon, because of the lack of what I have and what I may need to get, but if you all think an all common cube would be better perhaps I will try for that.
Still working on list, My Magic Workstation seems to be having database errors right now.... arg
First Post has been updated with Green Cards I currently own. Please comment on what should be left in a Common cube, or taken out, also replacements are welcome, though I prefer to buy as few cards as I can for this first Cube.
Also Updated some info: Cube will now be Commons only. And Needs only be big enough for 2-4 players at most.
Size of cube will get larger as I get more familiar with it and/or decide to power it up some.
Traditionally cubes start at 360 cards. And I would strongly advise you not going below that. With 360 cards I would play
48 WUBRG (240)
30 Multicolor
50 Artifact
40 Lands
Also, a big question is. Do you have any kind of budget for this. You still are going to have to buy sleeves for your cube. Not only that but a pauper only cube is insanley cheap to build. A friend of mine built one for ~$100 (granted he had a ton of the cards already). BUt you should be able to go to a website like BLackborder.com, Starcitygames, or the like and pick up a good portion of the cards you need/ your friends don't have on the cheap. Really, see if you can get each of your friends to pony up like $10 for this. If you explain it to them as "instead of going to the movies once or twice, we can instead have a cube to play". They might help you out.
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Calvin and Hobbes Cube Tutor
assuming you have a small budget, if you use wizardscupboard.com and strikezone.com combined. I'm sure you could get your pauper cube for less than $200 usd, probably around $120.
If you don't have a budget however, trading is the way to go.
And pringles is spot on on the card types you should get. I would recommend shards of alara for some of the multicolor cards, they are still pretty easy to come by at your local LGS
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Want to Cube but don't have one? Check the map if anyone is in your area and get cubing!
I do have limited budget, Have the Sleeves already and a ton of lands, And a local store with a large stock of older n newer cards so I should be fine, but I would still like to use as many as is reasonable from the cards I end up listing.
Mold Shambler
Vines of Vastwood
Harrow
Naturalize (debateable, but definitely at least cubeable)
Sprout Swarm (first or second BEST card in this section)
Llanowar Elves
Giant Growth
Mold Shambler
Vines of Vastwood
Harrow
Naturalize (debateable, but definitely at least cubeable)
Sprout Swarm (first or second BEST card in this section)
Llanowar Elves
Giant Growth
Listen to anything Lanxal has to say, he'll be your go-to guy for anything Pauper related.
Once you pull out any staples and cubeable cards from your collection, I'm sure you can buy enough good to decent commons to fill out a 360 card cube for under $50. Very, very few commons run over a dime (Rancor and Chain Lightning are the only two expensive commons I can think of) and even great cards like Lightning Bolt aren't gonna cost more than a quarter.
Either way, best of luck and welcome to the cube forum!
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My Black & Silver Cube [360/Peasant/Draft It! EDH Decks: - Reya Dawnbringer // - Mistform Ultimus // - Balthor the Defiled // - Urabrask the Hidden // - Mirri, Cat Warrior
I try to be lenient with the rankings, since you want to use a lot of these cards. In addition, I wanted to be mindful of cards other people like; I don't want to push just my own opinion onto you. In any case, the rough criteria is that Staple is what I consider absolutely needs to be in all cubes, Cubeable is all cards I run, Passable is either those that aren't terrible (but not quite there), or that others have given good ratings to that I haven't been able to confirm or deny myself, and the rest is jank. Lightning Bolt, Flameborn Hellion, Burn the Impure and Inflame are perfect examples of each category.
I'll try to do the rest tomorrow (although I doubt it).
Fiery Hellhound is definitely passable. If you're clearing the way with removal he can do a ton of damage, and can trade with anything on defense. There's better cards, but including hellhound makes one card less that he has to find right away.
I agree with his assessment of what is good, and in what order, but... if you're really trying to use cards you own for this? Some of his 'do not play' list is fine.
Territorial Baloth is pretty darn big in the world of cube. It is often a 6/6 for 5, especially considering that most pauper cubes play the 10 karoos, Evolving Wilds, Terramorphic Expanse, etc.
I've noticed that pauper cubes tend to be really weenie-heavy, but I personally like to allow people to go big if they want.
Elvish Visionary is totally playable. It is unexciting, but I would go as far as to say it is "good."
Aura Gnarlid is pretty bad, but it can be a house if you run a lot of auras. Rancor, Armadillo Cloak, etc, can make this card very threatening in a cube. I realize you don't have these auras, but even just with snake umbra, the card becomes powerful.
Nest Invader is one of the best grizzly bears ever. It can allow you to go from 2 to 4, or keep a slower deck from dying to RDW or white weenies.
Kozelik's Predator is a really good card in draft. You untap with a million mana, probably with chump-blockers to spare. This card isn't as good in a pauper cube as it is would be in a regular draft, because pauper just doesn't have exciting 6-7 drops to slam down, granted, but I wouldn't write it off as unplayable.
--
Blightwidow - I think, is almost defensible. It practically has defender in a set without a poison theme, but (once again, building a 360 card cube out of cards you own) I can see this being justified as a really good wall. Blightwidow kills everything that pauper plays. The 2 powered fliers that are everywhere, ledgewalker... I'd run it.
And it -can- technically attack, if it comes to that. (I'm just going to start evaluating all commons as though they had rancor on them.)
--
The red list makes a lot more sense, although Heat Ray kills everything under the sun. It isn't really cubeable, because kaervek's torch is ten cents and better, but it is not the worst stand-in for a fireball-effect.
I've gone through the whole Commons Cube thing over the last 8 months & I've learned a lot about the process. A lot of our advice will depend on what you're looking for in a Cube. An example is my Cube, where I mostly play 2-player games & the Cube is built accordingly.
If I was starting from scratch & had to give advice to myself from summer 2010, I would tell myself to just buy all the cards you want & build a good Cube right away. I don't do anything halfway (I'm very obsessive in that regard) and once I got hooked on the Cube, I bought all the cards I wanted & pimped out most of my Cube (382 foils right now). Even if you just buy the non-foil versions, most cards will be $.10 or less (even online, which can be more expensive than your local store).
How I would build a Cube if I was starting over:
1)I would start with a list of cards you want to acquire & then raid your FLGS' $.05 boxes.
2)See if there's a local player who has been playing for years who has a bunch of old commons they don't use anymore. Offer to buy them dinner in exchange for pillaging their commons (I did this more than once).
3)Search online at starcity/channelfireball & buy any of the remaining commons.
My route may be more expensive than what you want to spend but after my experience I think it's totally worth it. You could probably build a 360-card Commons Cube for like $40 (or less). Looking back at how bad my Cube was, I wish I had just "gone for it" at the beginning & bought all the good cards right away. I can't believe I cubed for months without cards like Mulldrifter. Blastoderm, Snuff Out, and Fireblast. These are some of the best cards in the entire Cube & I didn't have them for 3-5 months. Hard to imagine going back to my original "Cube."
Part of the fun is finding cards yourself, though. Even if you start with a second or third tier Cube it will still be better than starting with a sixth or seventh tier Cube (where mine was when I started).
Lots of good tips already in this thread. Lanxal has a lot of good links & my Cube is in my signature. Good luck!
Fiery Hellhound is definitely passable. If you're clearing the way with removal he can do a ton of damage, and can trade with anything on defense. There's better cards, but including hellhound makes one card less that he has to find right away.
Yeah, sorry. I was thinking Molten Ravager. It's not great, but it's passable.
EDIT:
Territorial Baloth is pretty darn big in the world of cube. It is often a 6/6 for 5, especially considering that most pauper cubes play the 10 karoos, Evolving Wilds, Terramorphic Expanse, etc.
I've noticed that pauper cubes tend to be really weenie-heavy, but I personally like to allow people to go big if they want.
But it gets outclassed by so many other 5-drops. I'm actually contemplating cutting Greater Basilisk, that's how cutthroat that section is. It's passable, but I don't think it's particularly cubeable.
Elvish Visionary is totally playable. It is unexciting, but I would go as far as to say it is "good."
1/1s are hella insignificant. I recently cut Sylvan Ranger for the same reason.
Aura Gnarlid is pretty bad, but it can be a house if you run a lot of auras. Rancor, Armadillo Cloak, etc, can make this card very threatening in a cube. I realize you don't have these auras, but even just with snake umbra, the card becomes powerful.
Yeha, it's not too bad. I'll bump it to passable in the list.
Nest Invader is one of the best grizzly bears ever. It can allow you to go from 2 to 4, or keep a slower deck from dying to RDW or white weenies.
Kozelik's Predator is a really good card in draft. You untap with a million mana, probably with chump-blockers to spare. This card isn't as good in a pauper cube as it is would be in a regular draft, because pauper just doesn't have exciting 6-7 drops to slam down, granted, but I wouldn't write it off as unplayable.
? I wrote it off as passable. It was in my cube for the longest time until a week ago. It just doesn't stack up to the other 4-drops.
Blightwidow - I think, is almost defensible. It practically has defender in a set without a poison theme, but (once again, building a 360 card cube out of cards you own) I can see this being justified as a really good wall. Blightwidow kills everything that pauper plays. The 2 powered fliers that are everywhere, ledgewalker... I'd run it.
And it -can- technically attack, if it comes to that. (I'm just going to start evaluating all commons as though they had rancor on them.)
I hate poison in cube. Some people think that it has promise. So clearly I can't say anything about this without being biased.
The red list makes a lot more sense, although Heat Ray kills everything under the sun. It isn't really cubeable, because kaervek's torch is ten cents and better, but it is not the worst stand-in for a fireball-effect.
Yeah, Heat Ray isn't bad, but doesn't stack up. I'll bump it to passable.
Thank you all for the help so far. Its great how people are actually willing to help on these forums.
Once Lanxal has finished his review of my cards (And anyone else who offers advice) I will update my first post with just the picked cards, and then will be taking suggestions for what would be good to fill in my empty area's.
Thanks once again.
Either way I will have a list of my cards by tomorrow, I would be grateful to any who would offer help. Please leave a message if you would help and I will update once list is completed.
Edit: Based on the posts some have made I am thinking it would perhaps be best to make this a solid commons Cube. Also I am unsure of size currently. Any Suggests. Will be for 2-4 players at Most.
Cards i own are as Follows (Will be updated as I finish each color)
Green Cards
Red Cards
Black Cards
White Cards
Blue Cards
Artifact Cards
Multicolor Cards
Colorless Cards
Non-Basic Land Cards
**Edit 2011/02/26**
Atrion's Pauper Cube Version 0.2 - 360 Cards (+100 Basic Lands)
Green: 48 (6)
Red: 48 (20)
Black: 48 (8)
White: 48 (12)
Blue: 48 (22)
Colorless: 50 (33)
Multi: 30 (15)
Non-Basic Land: 40 (34)
If you upload a list of cards, I'm sure a few of us will be willing to classify the cards as cubeable, borderline and unplayable. For me, it might take a few days, but that's because I'm busy as hell with things. ^^
In any case, there are many resources you can use. There's the Pauper Power Rankings and the still-ongoing Pauper Cube Evaluation, both of which have valuable information on card choices for the cube. For the latter, if you don't want to slog through all the discussion, the Closing Notes in the second and third posts will be very helpful.
Beyond that, there are a variety of other resources you can use. Set Reviews, the All Commons Cube thread where a lot of discussion on Pauper occurs, and just Pauper cubes in general. I would suggest checking up on Usman's, Fredmaster's, Drahcir's, Rubin8r's and my cube.
All of these resources can be found in my signature. Good luck cubing!
My Pauper Cube ♤ The Pauper Cube Thread Common Knowledge — 1 2
Going all commons will make the process easier and cheaper, but there are some fun uncommons out there, so it's up to you.
Draft it on Cubetutor!
Still working on list, My Magic Workstation seems to be having database errors right now.... arg
Also Updated some info: Cube will now be Commons only. And Needs only be big enough for 2-4 players at most.
Size of cube will get larger as I get more familiar with it and/or decide to power it up some.
48 WUBRG (240)
30 Multicolor
50 Artifact
40 Lands
Also, a big question is. Do you have any kind of budget for this. You still are going to have to buy sleeves for your cube. Not only that but a pauper only cube is insanley cheap to build. A friend of mine built one for ~$100 (granted he had a ton of the cards already). BUt you should be able to go to a website like BLackborder.com, Starcitygames, or the like and pick up a good portion of the cards you need/ your friends don't have on the cheap. Really, see if you can get each of your friends to pony up like $10 for this. If you explain it to them as "instead of going to the movies once or twice, we can instead have a cube to play". They might help you out.
Calvin and Hobbes
Cube Tutor
If you don't have a budget however, trading is the way to go.
And pringles is spot on on the card types you should get. I would recommend shards of alara for some of the multicolor cards, they are still pretty easy to come by at your local LGS
The Great Cube Map!
My Powered Cube
Draft it here!
Mold Shambler
Vines of Vastwood
Harrow
Naturalize (debateable, but definitely at least cubeable)
Sprout Swarm (first or second BEST card in this section)
Llanowar Elves
Giant Growth
CUBEABLE
Savage Silhouette
Timbermaw Larva
Growth Spasm
Wildheart Invoker
Snake Umbra
Spike Colony
Viridian Emissary
Rampart Growth
Stampeding Rhino
PASSABLE
Khalni Heart Expedition
Territorial Baloth
Nest Invader
Kozilek's Predator
Overgrown Battlement
Ondu Giant
Stomper Cub
Might of the Masses
Daggerback Basilisk
Tangle Mantis
Molder Beast
Gnarlid Pack
Explore
Vastwood Zendikon
Giant Spider
Aura Gnarlid
DOES NOT MAKE THE CUT
Tanglesnap
Vastwood Gorger
Nissa's Chosen
Zendikar Farguide
Living Destiny
Ancient Stirrings
Leaf Arrow
Spider Umbra
Nema Siltlurker
Sporecap Spider
Haze Frog
Vitaspore Thallid
Elvish Branchbender
Hunter's Feast
Spined Wurm
Ironshell Beetle
Beacon Behemoth
Farhaven Elf
Foxfire Oak not monogreen)
Respite
Ana Disciple (not monogreen)
Regeneration
Nafs Asp
Surging might
Simian Brawler
Blightwidow
Pistus Strike
Fangren Marauder
Glissa's Courier
Rot Wolf
Unnatural Predation
Mirran Mettle
Ezuri's Archers
Withstand Death
Carapace Forger
Cystbearer
Blight Mamba
Grapple Spider
Feral Contest
Oakenform
Bountiful Harvest
Elvish Visionary
Bramble Creeper
Mist Leopard
Craw Wurm
I'll do the others later, when I get the time.
My Pauper Cube ♤ The Pauper Cube Thread Common Knowledge — 1 2
Thanks for the great help.
My Pauper Cube ♤ The Pauper Cube Thread Common Knowledge — 1 2
Well it is greatly appreciated. Its exactly what I was looking for.
Once you pull out any staples and cubeable cards from your collection, I'm sure you can buy enough good to decent commons to fill out a 360 card cube for under $50. Very, very few commons run over a dime (Rancor and Chain Lightning are the only two expensive commons I can think of) and even great cards like Lightning Bolt aren't gonna cost more than a quarter.
Either way, best of luck and welcome to the cube forum!
EDH Decks:
- Reya Dawnbringer // - Mistform Ultimus // - Balthor the Defiled // - Urabrask the Hidden // - Mirri, Cat Warrior
Bladetusk Boar
Burst Lightning
Flame Slash
CUBEABLE
Crusher Zendikon
Flameborn Hellion
Gerrardès Irregulars
Goblin Shortcutter
Kuldotha Ringleader
PASSABLE
Assault Strobe
Battle-Rattle Shaman
Bloodfire Infusion (requires testing)
Brassclaw Orcs
Dwarven Catapult (eh)
Emrakul's Hatcher
Fault Riders
Galvanic Arc
Goblin Arsonist
Kiln Fiend
Burn the Impure
Heat Ray
DOES NOT MAKE THE CUT
Battle Rampart
Beserkers of Blood Ridge
Brodd Birthing
Bull Rush
Canyon Minotaur
Ceremonial Guard
Claws of Valakut
Concussive Bolt
Crush
Demolish
Dwarven Grunt
Electrostatic Bolt
Fiery Hellhound
Fissure Vent
Gnathosaur
Goblin Piker
Goblin Roughrider
Goblin Tunneler
Grotag Siege-Runner
Grotag Thrasher
Highland Berserker
Inflame
Lagac Lizard
Lava Axe
Lavafume Invoker
Lightning Bolt (yeah, it's pretty bad.) (this is a joke. it's a staple.)
Lightning Elemental
Lightning Talons
Koth's Courier
Magma Rift
Mana Geyser
Hopefully, no card-tags are cool.
I try to be lenient with the rankings, since you want to use a lot of these cards. In addition, I wanted to be mindful of cards other people like; I don't want to push just my own opinion onto you. In any case, the rough criteria is that Staple is what I consider absolutely needs to be in all cubes, Cubeable is all cards I run, Passable is either those that aren't terrible (but not quite there), or that others have given good ratings to that I haven't been able to confirm or deny myself, and the rest is jank. Lightning Bolt, Flameborn Hellion, Burn the Impure and Inflame are perfect examples of each category.
I'll try to do the rest tomorrow (although I doubt it).
My Pauper Cube ♤ The Pauper Cube Thread Common Knowledge — 1 2
I agree with his assessment of what is good, and in what order, but... if you're really trying to use cards you own for this? Some of his 'do not play' list is fine.
Territorial Baloth is pretty darn big in the world of cube. It is often a 6/6 for 5, especially considering that most pauper cubes play the 10 karoos, Evolving Wilds, Terramorphic Expanse, etc.
I've noticed that pauper cubes tend to be really weenie-heavy, but I personally like to allow people to go big if they want.
Elvish Visionary is totally playable. It is unexciting, but I would go as far as to say it is "good."
Aura Gnarlid is pretty bad, but it can be a house if you run a lot of auras. Rancor, Armadillo Cloak, etc, can make this card very threatening in a cube. I realize you don't have these auras, but even just with snake umbra, the card becomes powerful.
Nest Invader is one of the best grizzly bears ever. It can allow you to go from 2 to 4, or keep a slower deck from dying to RDW or white weenies.
Kozelik's Predator is a really good card in draft. You untap with a million mana, probably with chump-blockers to spare. This card isn't as good in a pauper cube as it is would be in a regular draft, because pauper just doesn't have exciting 6-7 drops to slam down, granted, but I wouldn't write it off as unplayable.
--
Blightwidow - I think, is almost defensible. It practically has defender in a set without a poison theme, but (once again, building a 360 card cube out of cards you own) I can see this being justified as a really good wall. Blightwidow kills everything that pauper plays. The 2 powered fliers that are everywhere, ledgewalker... I'd run it.
And it -can- technically attack, if it comes to that. (I'm just going to start evaluating all commons as though they had rancor on them.)
--
The red list makes a lot more sense, although Heat Ray kills everything under the sun. It isn't really cubeable, because kaervek's torch is ten cents and better, but it is not the worst stand-in for a fireball-effect.
If I was starting from scratch & had to give advice to myself from summer 2010, I would tell myself to just buy all the cards you want & build a good Cube right away. I don't do anything halfway (I'm very obsessive in that regard) and once I got hooked on the Cube, I bought all the cards I wanted & pimped out most of my Cube (382 foils right now). Even if you just buy the non-foil versions, most cards will be $.10 or less (even online, which can be more expensive than your local store).
How I would build a Cube if I was starting over:
1)I would start with a list of cards you want to acquire & then raid your FLGS' $.05 boxes.
2)See if there's a local player who has been playing for years who has a bunch of old commons they don't use anymore. Offer to buy them dinner in exchange for pillaging their commons (I did this more than once).
3)Search online at starcity/channelfireball & buy any of the remaining commons.
My route may be more expensive than what you want to spend but after my experience I think it's totally worth it. You could probably build a 360-card Commons Cube for like $40 (or less). Looking back at how bad my Cube was, I wish I had just "gone for it" at the beginning & bought all the good cards right away. I can't believe I cubed for months without cards like Mulldrifter. Blastoderm, Snuff Out, and Fireblast. These are some of the best cards in the entire Cube & I didn't have them for 3-5 months. Hard to imagine going back to my original "Cube."
Part of the fun is finding cards yourself, though. Even if you start with a second or third tier Cube it will still be better than starting with a sixth or seventh tier Cube (where mine was when I started).
Lots of good tips already in this thread. Lanxal has a lot of good links & my Cube is in my signature. Good luck!
My 540 card Powered Cube last updated March 2022
Yeah, sorry. I was thinking Molten Ravager. It's not great, but it's passable.
EDIT:
But it gets outclassed by so many other 5-drops. I'm actually contemplating cutting Greater Basilisk, that's how cutthroat that section is. It's passable, but I don't think it's particularly cubeable.
1/1s are hella insignificant. I recently cut Sylvan Ranger for the same reason.
Yeha, it's not too bad. I'll bump it to passable in the list.
Nest Invader is one of the best grizzly bears ever. It can allow you to go from 2 to 4, or keep a slower deck from dying to RDW or white weenies.
? I wrote it off as passable. It was in my cube for the longest time until a week ago. It just doesn't stack up to the other 4-drops.
I hate poison in cube. Some people think that it has promise. So clearly I can't say anything about this without being biased.
Yeah, Heat Ray isn't bad, but doesn't stack up. I'll bump it to passable.
My Pauper Cube ♤ The Pauper Cube Thread Common Knowledge — 1 2
Once Lanxal has finished his review of my cards (And anyone else who offers advice) I will update my first post with just the picked cards, and then will be taking suggestions for what would be good to fill in my empty area's.
Thanks once again.
STAPLES
CUBEABLE
PASSABLE
DOES NOT MAKE THE CUT
My Pauper Cube ♤ The Pauper Cube Thread Common Knowledge — 1 2
out of curiosity How many Basic lands should I have on hand for a cube like this?
I was figuring 20 of each basic land
My Pauper Cube ♤ The Pauper Cube Thread Common Knowledge — 1 2
For the colorless creatures (Eldrazi) do I just include them with Artifacts? or are they worth keeping in the first place?
I only like Ulamog's Crusher, and I keep it under Colorless. But if you want to add the other one, it's respectable.
My Pauper Cube ♤ The Pauper Cube Thread Common Knowledge — 1 2