sorry if this is the wrong thread, but I finally completed my first cube: a 450 casual pauper cube. It goes heavy on the nostalgia/pet cards, which is why I pushed it to 450 instead of 360. It also runs some Un-cards. I do worry that the discrepancy between how bad some of my alpha-print throw-back cards are compared to the newest/best cards will throw off games/drafts. Themes are graveyard matters, aggro, enchantments (i should run more, methinks), and defender/control. I would love some feedback on it: http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/57658
In designing it a question came up: Guardian of the Guildpact. I'm not currently running this card, but I am running other pauper blow-out cards like Sprout Swarm and Capsize. Guardian just strikes me as rather impossible to interact with if you're not running any of the 40 multicolor cards, and that's assuming they're all a form of creature removal. In terms of strength, how does it compare to buyback cards that can grind out games to an auto-win? Do you run it; why/why not; and if you do, what do you think compares to it in each other color?
It is hard to interact with, but as with most "Blowout" cards, it is not as destructive. Without equipment or Armadillo Cloak, it is not back breaking. It sneaks for 2; "meh". Or it blocks for a while, in which it may get overrun.
I like the cards that give inevitability to games and end stalemates. You only have to worry about shaving off the most powerful cards if they will have a negative impact on the archetypes you are going for. If it is really difficult to win with a ramp deck or a swarm deck, see what you can remove or add to give those archetypes a better shot.
I dig on your cube and the oldschool cards I remember playing with from 5th edition and onwards. I feel that a third of the cards will never find their way into any decks due to the massive difference in power levels. If you include a card in a cube people need to have a reason to play it. There are so many cards I can see that would never make a case for themselves in a deck.
You also have a massive amount of fixing which means making 3-5 colour decks with all the best cards easy to draft.
IMO including Guardian doesn't make cube more fun, and sometimes creates frustrating experiences. Was one of the first cards I removed from my pauper cube for being "too dumb." Never missed it.
In terms of strength, it is much better than something like a buyback card because it helps you stabilize.
I think the buyback cards are pretty bad though. They are pretty much just win conditions for a game you've already won. Benthic giant usually does that better, or just drawing 4 cards with deep analysis.
I wanted to specifically support white control for a while just to have a good home for sheer drop. And yeah the printing of palace sentinels is a pretty big push.
Also calling porcelain legionnaire anything but colorless is honestly silly
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Does Tangle Spider deserve any sort of reconsideration?
A 3/4 with reach for 4GG is a bum deal. Obviously the goal is to eat an opponent's big flyer and survive the fight, leaving you with a bonus honking spider on the board. Green can get something like Aerie Bowmasters for 2GG with the sometime bonus of megamorph and play a Prey Upon for G at sorcery speed. The spider is an instant speed version of both for an extra mana that requires your opponent to attack you or you risk wasting the six mana you held up or not getting to eat something for your troubles. In a Blue/Green deck this downside might not be as bad.
Alternatively, one might argue an Oran-Rief Recluse guarantees you kill your opponent's scariest flyer and gives you a body capable of blocking the smaller flyers present in most cubes for the same price at sorcery speed.
Or is the issue more that when you're green and spending six mana you want to be dropping some terrifying fatty with trample?
I'm not crazy about this card or anything. I was just looking at green flash creatures that give psuedo removal with the bonus of having a creature on the board. In a powered cube this thing doesn't have much chance of ever being relevant.
I had it forever ago. I used to to decent success in Mirodin-Darksteel limited and it was a roleplayer in the green, anti-artifact, non-traditional decks. But they had mana myrs everywhere to shave a turn or 2 off this guy.
Price-wise it is about right. That do3s not mean it is a comfortable thing to do, passing with 4gg open and hoping to "catch" them. It is just not a viable use of mana, nor a likely well timed trap. They either have the tricks, or they were leaning on that flyer too hard to begin with and something , ike Leaf Arrow would have done it for less.
Simian grunts is a similar trap-like creature with the same stats and that costs the same but divided in two turns... green 6s are bad but i think the spider is too unefficient, reach or not.
Looking through some of chaff in Kaladesh, I think crossing '+1/+1 Counters' with Artifacts-Matter may be enought to make a decent Pauper Cube now.
Sprinkling Fabricate, Affinity, Metalcraft, Colorless-matters and rounding out the Non-Artifact builds with 'Counters-Matter' might be enough. Mostly because that brings in Proliferate also.
My initial thought is that the mechanics and themes you mention are better suited to a specialized cube that isn't pauper. if you want an artifact-oriented cube, make an Artifact Cube. Artifact Cubes with incidental +1/+1 counter synergy would hit the goal better and get really good support from fabricate, affinity, colorless-matters etc without feeling overly stifled by the pauper restriction
I've come to the realization that I will need to construct a masters cube to get the mix of commons and rares that will support viable archetypes that I want to support. I recently culled my pauper cube from 405 back down to 360 and junked the real fringe cards that were there to support flaky archetypes. I don't feel any archetypes have really improved with this release as far as pauper goes other than a bunch of new highly efficient green creatures.
The thing with +1/+1 counters is, that we sure have a huge amount of good cards with +1/+1 counters on them, but nearly no payoff cards. All the payoff cards keep getting printed at uncommon rarity and personally I think we are years aways from this beeing a considerable archetype. Wotc pushes it really hard, there are cards with +1/+1 counters in nearly every set, but unless we get a whole bunch of real payoff cards at common rarity there is just no reason to run them.
This. Ainok Bond-Kin gets better with every set, but it's still pretty lonely.
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Absolutely, besides Ainok Bond-Kin there are only two non creature spells that pay off: Volt charge and Grim Affliction, and only two other creatures: Helium Squirter and Sporeback Troll. But non of them is super exciting on its own.
A longshot squad -esque creature but who gave vigilance would have been awesome. Of course you cannot give vigilance AND outlast, but replacing one with the other would have been cool.
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Holiday Armadillo... Cloak
My 490 Pauper Cube
Modern frame only- Common on paper only - no functional copies, no strictly-betters - no subtype-matters
In a true/typical aggro deck he tends to be pretty bad since those decks play 16+ creature cards and probably one or more equipment. You don't often end up with a lot of instants and sorceries. When his damage output is averaging like 1.2 per turn that's just too little. The exception may be tokens if several of their "creatures" are instants and sorceries that make tokens
In a deck that's not trying to put on as much pressure as fast as possible he seems fine probably. I don't think he has to be "control-only"
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sorry if this is the wrong thread, but I finally completed my first cube: a 450 casual pauper cube. It goes heavy on the nostalgia/pet cards, which is why I pushed it to 450 instead of 360. It also runs some Un-cards. I do worry that the discrepancy between how bad some of my alpha-print throw-back cards are compared to the newest/best cards will throw off games/drafts. Themes are graveyard matters, aggro, enchantments (i should run more, methinks), and defender/control. I would love some feedback on it: http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/57658
In designing it a question came up: Guardian of the Guildpact. I'm not currently running this card, but I am running other pauper blow-out cards like Sprout Swarm and Capsize. Guardian just strikes me as rather impossible to interact with if you're not running any of the 40 multicolor cards, and that's assuming they're all a form of creature removal. In terms of strength, how does it compare to buyback cards that can grind out games to an auto-win? Do you run it; why/why not; and if you do, what do you think compares to it in each other color?
Thanks,
CatParty
GWUBRDraft my Old Border Nostalgia Cube! and/or The Little Pauper Cube That Could!RBUWG
Modern:WDeath & TaxesW | RUGRUG DelverRUG
Loose Change Pauper Cube-cast
Pauper Cube Article #1
Pauper Cube Article #2
Personal Enjoyment Cube
I dig on your cube and the oldschool cards I remember playing with from 5th edition and onwards. I feel that a third of the cards will never find their way into any decks due to the massive difference in power levels. If you include a card in a cube people need to have a reason to play it. There are so many cards I can see that would never make a case for themselves in a deck.
You also have a massive amount of fixing which means making 3-5 colour decks with all the best cards easy to draft.
My singleton Masters Cube
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
The first depends on you putting them in the cube. The second one depends on which other cards are in it.
My 490 Pauper Cube
Modern frame only- Common on paper only - no functional copies, no strictly-betters - no subtype-matters
Loose Change Pauper Cube-cast
Pauper Cube Article #1
Pauper Cube Article #2
Personal Enjoyment Cube
In terms of strength, it is much better than something like a buyback card because it helps you stabilize.
I think the buyback cards are pretty bad though. They are pretty much just win conditions for a game you've already won. Benthic giant usually does that better, or just drawing 4 cards with deep analysis.
My 490 Pauper Cube
Modern frame only- Common on paper only - no functional copies, no strictly-betters - no subtype-matters
Also calling porcelain legionnaire anything but colorless is honestly silly
Knowledge is power, money is power, time is money, you are actually gaining time by reading my posts
Click here and check out my Formerly Pauper Cube.
check out my EDH and Pauper EDH decks here
A 3/4 with reach for 4GG is a bum deal. Obviously the goal is to eat an opponent's big flyer and survive the fight, leaving you with a bonus honking spider on the board. Green can get something like Aerie Bowmasters for 2GG with the sometime bonus of megamorph and play a Prey Upon for G at sorcery speed. The spider is an instant speed version of both for an extra mana that requires your opponent to attack you or you risk wasting the six mana you held up or not getting to eat something for your troubles. In a Blue/Green deck this downside might not be as bad.
Alternatively, one might argue an Oran-Rief Recluse guarantees you kill your opponent's scariest flyer and gives you a body capable of blocking the smaller flyers present in most cubes for the same price at sorcery speed.
Or is the issue more that when you're green and spending six mana you want to be dropping some terrifying fatty with trample?
I'm not crazy about this card or anything. I was just looking at green flash creatures that give psuedo removal with the bonus of having a creature on the board. In a powered cube this thing doesn't have much chance of ever being relevant.
My singleton Masters Cube
i recently added Somberwald Spider to have an interesting big creature with reach.
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
Price-wise it is about right. That do3s not mean it is a comfortable thing to do, passing with 4gg open and hoping to "catch" them. It is just not a viable use of mana, nor a likely well timed trap. They either have the tricks, or they were leaning on that flyer too hard to begin with and something , ike Leaf Arrow would have done it for less.
Loose Change Pauper Cube-cast
Pauper Cube Article #1
Pauper Cube Article #2
Personal Enjoyment Cube
My 490 Pauper Cube
Modern frame only- Common on paper only - no functional copies, no strictly-betters - no subtype-matters
If the flash spider was 3/4 it would be super awesome happy times.
My 490 Pauper Cube
Modern frame only- Common on paper only - no functional copies, no strictly-betters - no subtype-matters
Looking through some of chaff in Kaladesh, I think crossing '+1/+1 Counters' with Artifacts-Matter may be enought to make a decent Pauper Cube now.
Sprinkling Fabricate, Affinity, Metalcraft, Colorless-matters and rounding out the Non-Artifact builds with 'Counters-Matter' might be enough. Mostly because that brings in Proliferate also.
Thoughts? Besides "that seems bad".
Loose Change Pauper Cube-cast
Pauper Cube Article #1
Pauper Cube Article #2
Personal Enjoyment Cube
My Cube (DeckStats)
My Pauper Cube: 540 (CubeTutor link!)
Level 1 Judge
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
My singleton Masters Cube
This. Ainok Bond-Kin gets better with every set, but it's still pretty lonely.
http://www.cubetutor.com/visualspoiler/7023
Or are you interested in a Fiora flavor cube? Conspire and win!
Level 2 Judge
A longshot squad -esque creature but who gave vigilance would have been awesome. Of course you cannot give vigilance AND outlast, but replacing one with the other would have been cool.
My 490 Pauper Cube
Modern frame only- Common on paper only - no functional copies, no strictly-betters - no subtype-matters
I also think about including Seat of the Synod and Great Furnace for the artifact theme, but I would need to cut Skyline Cascade and Looming Spires and I'm not sure, if I should do that.
Or are you interested in a Fiora flavor cube? Conspire and win!
Level 2 Judge
My 490 Pauper Cube
Modern frame only- Common on paper only - no functional copies, no strictly-betters - no subtype-matters
In a deck that's not trying to put on as much pressure as fast as possible he seems fine probably. I don't think he has to be "control-only"
Knowledge is power, money is power, time is money, you are actually gaining time by reading my posts
Click here and check out my Formerly Pauper Cube.
check out my EDH and Pauper EDH decks here