Question regarding CubeTutor vs. CubeCobra. How many of you have switched or are considering switching? Any arguments for or against? Any viable options other than those two?
I mean, obviously, you could maintain lists on multiple platforms, but that requires updating in twice the places.
I love CubeTutor, and one of the best features for me is the Top Picks/Bottom Picks; I use this constantly when looking for cards to cut. CubeCobra apparently doesn't have this yet.
But when I wanted to update my Un-Cube earlier today with cards from Unsanctioned, they weren't on CubeTutor. Not to mention it has never shown the right versions of Garbage Elemental, Sly Spy, the Killbots, or even tokens in my Peasant Cube (Oketra's Monument shows a token missing Vigilance, and Tidal Wave has never shown a token). I started looking into CubeCobra and found it was all there, so I started an account.
And I found cool features like building custom drafts. Granted, the interface has some issues, and there are some important features missing (like setting a default pod of less than eight players for smaller cubes), but they are actively improving instead of stagnating.
And yet I feel guilty for considering leaving CubeTutor.
It's time to move to CubeCobra. After the most recent case of CubeTutor being down for multiple days I knew it had to be done. Luckily there is a feature on cube cobra that literally just imports your list from cubetutor so it takes all of 2 minutes to finish transferring your list.
CubeTutor will not be updated again, there is no need to feel guilty about leaving it, the guy who made it isn't relying on people using it otherwise he would keep updating it. CubeCobra has an update every 2 weeks and they take community suggestions. Plus cubecobra interface on mobile is infinitely better.
Question regarding CubeTutor vs. CubeCobra. How many of you have switched or are considering switching? Any arguments for or against? Any viable options other than those two?
I mean, obviously, you could maintain lists on multiple platforms, but that requires updating in twice the places.
I love CubeTutor, and one of the best features for me is the Top Picks/Bottom Picks; I use this constantly when looking for cards to cut. CubeCobra apparently doesn't have this yet.
But when I wanted to update my Un-Cube earlier today with cards from Unsanctioned, they weren't on CubeTutor. Not to mention it has never shown the right versions of Garbage Elemental, Sly Spy, the Killbots, or even tokens in my Peasant Cube (Oketra's Monument shows a token missing Vigilance, and Tidal Wave has never shown a token). I started looking into CubeCobra and found it was all there, so I started an account.
And I found cool features like building custom drafts. Granted, the interface has some issues, and there are some important features missing (like setting a default pod of less than eight players for smaller cubes), but they are actively improving instead of stagnating.
And yet I feel guilty for considering leaving CubeTutor.
I use Cubetutor because it's a website that my Windows Phone still works on. I think that it's perfectly functional, it doesn't need any more features. Things don't need updating simply for the sake of updating them. He's a week or two late on updating with the new set, who cares.
I uploaded my lists to CubeCobra while CubeTutor was having lots of issues with being attacked, which were causing the site to be slow and unresponsive. I now maintain all of my cubes on both sites. There are things I like more about CubeTutor and things I like more about CubeCobra. I've kind of transitioned into using each site for the things I prefer it for.
I also still keep my lists updated in regular old spreadsheets because I'm an old man and I have a hard time letting these things go. Seriously, though, I like having the spreadsheets because they let me keep track of costs and preferences. I can note current version alongside preferred version and the price of the preferred. I can insert formulas for percentages and totals. That's not something that either cube site is capable of, at least not yet.
Some rumoured stuff for C20 that might be fun for us (excluding the obviously terrible offerings):
Bristling Hystricid 2BG
Creature-Beast U
Lifelink, Evolve
Enchanted creature has lifelink and evolve.
When Bristling Hystricid becomes attached to a creature, move all +1/+1 counters from it to that creature.
Merge 2
4/1
Ogru Centipede 1WB
Creature-Insect U
Merge abilities of other creatures you control cost 1 less to activate.
Deathtouch
Enchanted creature has deathtouch.
Merge WB
2/3
Whiptongue Frog 1G
Creature-Frog C
Reach
Enchanted creature has reach.
Merge G (This creature becomes an Aura enchantment with enchant creature. Attach it and any number of Auras enchanting it to target creature. Merge only as a sorcery. It becomes a creature again if it's not attached to a creature.)
2/3
The centipede is probably the most niche among these but Deatchtouch granting can be nice for various synergies and it still has a decent enough baseline body as its power floor. The frog has a good aggressive and defensive body while also giving some potential late game value against bigger fliers. Probably the most likely inclusion thus far even if the Hystricid captures my imagination more.
So Merge is like a bestow that you first cast as a creature and then attach it to something? That sounds kind of strong in a vacuum. The reusability of equipment, plus it is not a blank with no other creature or if you can't fit in the time to pay to equip.
There is a cycle of lands I'd like to recommend to you guys, the storage lands from Time Spiral. Saltcrusted Steppe
These are pretty powerful and often work playing off color. They're pretty cool.
Anyone else tried these? I have looked at them, but always looked at them as too slow. As straight fixing, they are almost like worse Unknown Shores, a land that is generally seen as not good enough even in most retail limited decks/formats. Although I guess you can pay the 1-tax on a different turn than when you cast your spell.
The storage-function also seems kind of slow. You have to spend two turns storing before you net 1 mana, so it doesn't really seem functional as simple ramp. I imagine it would be more of a "throw the spare mana over here" kind of use, but you effectively need two mana for that, and on most turns before turn ~5 you don't just play that much off curve. Into the late game, I guess it is somewhere to dump mana, but your deck then needs a Blaze or an invoker to take advantage of silly amounts of mana..
This is all theorycrafting. Real experience would be appreciated.
So Merge is like a bestow that you first cast as a creature and then attach it to something? That sounds kind of strong in a vacuum. The reusability of equipment, plus it is not a blank with no other creature or if you can't fit in the time to pay to equip.
There is a cycle of lands I'd like to recommend to you guys, the storage lands from Time Spiral. Saltcrusted Steppe
These are pretty powerful and often work playing off color. They're pretty cool.
Anyone else tried these? I have looked at them, but always looked at them as too slow. As straight fixing, they are almost like worse Unknown Shores, a land that is generally seen as not good enough even in most retail limited decks/formats. Although I guess you can pay the 1-tax on a different turn than when you cast your spell.
The storage-function also seems kind of slow. You have to spend two turns storing before you net 1 mana, so it doesn't really seem functional as simple ramp. I imagine it would be more of a "throw the spare mana over here" kind of use, but you effectively need two mana for that, and on most turns before turn ~5 you don't just play that much off curve. Into the late game, I guess it is somewhere to dump mana, but your deck then needs a Blaze or an invoker to take advantage of silly amounts of mana..
This is all theorycrafting. Real experience would be appreciated.
Fixing no matter how bad it's perceived to be is pretty much always worth playing. Magic players are just greedy and won't run Unknown Shores even though they should. Want to know what's slower than playing an ETB tapped land? Not being able to cast your spells. Even the Homelands Trilands are worth playing. Because of fetches, duals, and shock duals, Magic players are real snobs when it comes to fixing even though Cloudcrest Lake is a perfectly serviceable card and still fixes mana for you.
They're ramp that doesn't cost a deck slot. At worst it's a Wastes. Seems like a free inclusion to me if they're on color, or if they're off color and you're trying to ramp to something big like Worldspine Wurm. I've been impressed by them, a White Mana Battery for zero mana is pretty nice.
The mana batteries are also nice cards, albeit you need to have high CMC cards in your cube for them to be worthwhile.
At what point is the "fixing" on these lands worse than a basic though? It is not free to put Cloudcrest Lake in your deck, and certainly not Aysen Abbey and friends. At some points a basic plains will be a better draw since it at least taps for one of your colours for free.
If the fixing in a cube is so bad, then in two colour decks it is probably correct to just stick to basics. And it may even just be incorrect to play 3+ colours, since the "fixing tax" isn't worth the improved card quality of a splash.
The ramping aspect is somewhat nifty I believe, but the environment must somehow support it. I.e. your games must go long enough so that storing mana is viable, and there must be something to spend that mana on. If you have somehow crafted an environment in which Worldspine Wurm is a feasible ramp-target, then the lands probably work. I don't think they would work in my Cube though.
I like the mana batteries in principle. I'd love to see slightly stronger versions, but I'm not sure if there is a place where they'd be worth it over other mana rocks without them just being too powerful. Maybe at 3 to cast and 1T to store?
Since there is no spoiler thread for the new Commander decks (and doing one might be a bit redundant, given how few cards we get), I'll just say it here:
It's a rainbow mana rock with a repeatable card draw that is not *horribly* over-costed attached. A decent deal in my eyes since one of the main issues I have with either by themselves is balanced by the presence of the other.
I added Dagger caster because I have infinite 1/1 tokens in my cube and they were making mid-range pretty impossible to get through them I wanted a wrath for them you didn't feel bad about playing. Firewing Pheonix is a unique card, only red flyer and a nice recursive card for looting effects earlier in the game. Goblin Heelcutter still gives me nightmares over how powerful it was in Khans of Takir drafts, I have more of this falter effect in Ahn-Crop Crasher but that is not as repeatable as the heelcutter. Syr Carah, the bold probably the weakest card but I am just salty I never even get a chance to use her before I cut her again. The effect is a super powerful way to draw cards in the late game if you get stalled out.
Modern only. I think I have one of those Bloodfray Giants in my box of stuff actually, I didn't really have the density of mid-range threats for it to really be a thing before.. and on the face of it, seems better than the Ferocious Tigorilla.
I think I will cut Gore-house chainwalker because my red has way more 2 drops than every other colour and I prefer the evasion of War-Name Aspirant so I can fit in more mid rangey threats.
Smoldering Werewolf is pretty solid on the front side and the threat of flipping is pretty major.
Pyreheart Wolf is good at ending the game with a board. It is pretty bad when behind though.
Not solely a midranged card, but Light Up the Stage has been fantastic for me. Even if you can't get through on board it's generally pretty easy to turn on with split damage spells or pingers. Red Divination is honestly fine most of the time too.
Normally I'd recommend Shreds of Sanity, but I'm not sure if there are enough high value sorcery targets in Modern Peasant when you don't have access to Chain Lightning or Shower of Coals.
I used to have the Werewolf, I guess I can replace the dagger caster with it now that midrange will actually be a thing. Dagger caster is quite the sideboard hate card but super meh otherwise
Nah I hate energy as a mechanic so I am going to use Ikorias, Momentum Rumbler instead.
The problem with a lot of those is that they die to pyroclasm and in a cube with infinite tokens, mid-range is going to want to use wrath options or have trample.
Does anyone want to try to get together an online peasant cube draft while we are stuck inside and can't play in person? I have been getting 4 mans with some of my friends and it works pretty smoothly. We use dr4ft.info to do a free draft, and then cockatrice to play, and Ikoria cards are even up now.
I think it would be a fun way to allow us all to still play cube and test out the new cards!
I would say most of those remain more just aggro options. In my experience, Reckless Racer is really solid. It has been a staple of my list since its release, and I have personal experience running decks with it. Also testing Frillscare Mentor right now and it seems to be best in midrange but only if you have undercosted big fatties as additional support for that. See the list I have linked in the Ikoria discussion, for instance.
I wonder what people's experiences with Alpine Guide have been thus far since in theory, it should still be pretty damn nice and I might even consider adding it now that I look at the options.
Seems like red midrange is something wizards themselves have struggled with. For Mid Range 3 mana near the start of your curve, mana dork into turn 2 three drop you want something with more impact than anything available. Most ETBs are combat or damage related.
I fiddled with my search parameters a bit and found some more utility creatures Burning-Tree Vandal seems bad in the haste mode unless you really need to dig. Hollowhead sliver is good but also my only sliver.
Qal Sisma Behemoth might be generally treated as more of an aggro card but in my experience in the past, it can also be used in other decks. Not optimal for midrange since making use of it on curve would slow developing your board but also something you did not list.
I mean, obviously, you could maintain lists on multiple platforms, but that requires updating in twice the places.
I love CubeTutor, and one of the best features for me is the Top Picks/Bottom Picks; I use this constantly when looking for cards to cut. CubeCobra apparently doesn't have this yet.
But when I wanted to update my Un-Cube earlier today with cards from Unsanctioned, they weren't on CubeTutor. Not to mention it has never shown the right versions of Garbage Elemental, Sly Spy, the Killbots, or even tokens in my Peasant Cube (Oketra's Monument shows a token missing Vigilance, and Tidal Wave has never shown a token). I started looking into CubeCobra and found it was all there, so I started an account.
And I found cool features like building custom drafts. Granted, the interface has some issues, and there are some important features missing (like setting a default pod of less than eight players for smaller cubes), but they are actively improving instead of stagnating.
And yet I feel guilty for considering leaving CubeTutor.
2023 Average Peasant Cube|and Discussion
Because I have more decks than fit in a signature
Useful Resources:
MTGSalvation tags
EDHREC
ManabaseCrafter
CubeTutor will not be updated again, there is no need to feel guilty about leaving it, the guy who made it isn't relying on people using it otherwise he would keep updating it. CubeCobra has an update every 2 weeks and they take community suggestions. Plus cubecobra interface on mobile is infinitely better.
https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/djredpeasant
There is a cycle of lands I'd like to recommend to you guys, the storage lands from Time Spiral. Saltcrusted Steppe
These are pretty powerful and often work playing off color. They're pretty cool.
I use Cubetutor because it's a website that my Windows Phone still works on. I think that it's perfectly functional, it doesn't need any more features. Things don't need updating simply for the sake of updating them. He's a week or two late on updating with the new set, who cares.
Ignoring what Magic players say isn't the answer, it's listening to what they have to say and doing the exact opposite that's correct.
I also still keep my lists updated in regular old spreadsheets because I'm an old man and I have a hard time letting these things go. Seriously, though, I like having the spreadsheets because they let me keep track of costs and preferences. I can note current version alongside preferred version and the price of the preferred. I can insert formulas for percentages and totals. That's not something that either cube site is capable of, at least not yet.
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
Follow me. I tweet.
Bristling Hystricid 2BG
Creature-Beast U
Lifelink, Evolve
Enchanted creature has lifelink and evolve.
When Bristling Hystricid becomes attached to a creature, move all +1/+1 counters from it to that creature.
Merge 2
4/1
Ogru Centipede 1WB
Creature-Insect U
Merge abilities of other creatures you control cost 1 less to activate.
Deathtouch
Enchanted creature has deathtouch.
Merge WB
2/3
Whiptongue Frog 1G
Creature-Frog C
Reach
Enchanted creature has reach.
Merge G (This creature becomes an Aura enchantment with enchant creature. Attach it and any number of Auras enchanting it to target creature. Merge only as a sorcery. It becomes a creature again if it's not attached to a creature.)
2/3
The centipede is probably the most niche among these but Deatchtouch granting can be nice for various synergies and it still has a decent enough baseline body as its power floor. The frog has a good aggressive and defensive body while also giving some potential late game value against bigger fliers. Probably the most likely inclusion thus far even if the Hystricid captures my imagination more.
The frog looks strong. Good early, relevant late.
Anyone else tried these? I have looked at them, but always looked at them as too slow. As straight fixing, they are almost like worse Unknown Shores, a land that is generally seen as not good enough even in most retail limited decks/formats. Although I guess you can pay the 1-tax on a different turn than when you cast your spell.
The storage-function also seems kind of slow. You have to spend two turns storing before you net 1 mana, so it doesn't really seem functional as simple ramp. I imagine it would be more of a "throw the spare mana over here" kind of use, but you effectively need two mana for that, and on most turns before turn ~5 you don't just play that much off curve. Into the late game, I guess it is somewhere to dump mana, but your deck then needs a Blaze or an invoker to take advantage of silly amounts of mana..
This is all theorycrafting. Real experience would be appreciated.
Cubetutor Peasant'ish-Funbox
Project: Khans of Tarkir Cube (cubetutor)
2023 Average Peasant Cube|and Discussion
Because I have more decks than fit in a signature
Useful Resources:
MTGSalvation tags
EDHREC
ManabaseCrafter
Fixing no matter how bad it's perceived to be is pretty much always worth playing. Magic players are just greedy and won't run Unknown Shores even though they should. Want to know what's slower than playing an ETB tapped land? Not being able to cast your spells. Even the Homelands Trilands are worth playing. Because of fetches, duals, and shock duals, Magic players are real snobs when it comes to fixing even though Cloudcrest Lake is a perfectly serviceable card and still fixes mana for you.
They're ramp that doesn't cost a deck slot. At worst it's a Wastes. Seems like a free inclusion to me if they're on color, or if they're off color and you're trying to ramp to something big like Worldspine Wurm. I've been impressed by them, a White Mana Battery for zero mana is pretty nice.
The mana batteries are also nice cards, albeit you need to have high CMC cards in your cube for them to be worthwhile.
Ignoring what Magic players say isn't the answer, it's listening to what they have to say and doing the exact opposite that's correct.
If the fixing in a cube is so bad, then in two colour decks it is probably correct to just stick to basics. And it may even just be incorrect to play 3+ colours, since the "fixing tax" isn't worth the improved card quality of a splash.
The ramping aspect is somewhat nifty I believe, but the environment must somehow support it. I.e. your games must go long enough so that storing mana is viable, and there must be something to spend that mana on. If you have somehow crafted an environment in which Worldspine Wurm is a feasible ramp-target, then the lands probably work. I don't think they would work in my Cube though.
I like the mana batteries in principle. I'd love to see slightly stronger versions, but I'm not sure if there is a place where they'd be worth it over other mana rocks without them just being too powerful. Maybe at 3 to cast and 1T to store?
Cubetutor Peasant'ish-Funbox
Project: Khans of Tarkir Cube (cubetutor)
I kind of like Binding Ornament / Bonder Ornament.
It's a rainbow mana rock with a repeatable card draw that is not *horribly* over-costed attached. A decent deal in my eyes since one of the main issues I have with either by themselves is balanced by the presence of the other.
Ravenous Giant and Charging Monstrosaur will probably be saying as core red midrange cards.
I want to add Ferocious Tigorilla and Momentum Rumbler, they are medium-sized with good keywords.
I added Dagger caster because I have infinite 1/1 tokens in my cube and they were making mid-range pretty impossible to get through them I wanted a wrath for them you didn't feel bad about playing.
Firewing Pheonix is a unique card, only red flyer and a nice recursive card for looting effects earlier in the game.
Goblin Heelcutter still gives me nightmares over how powerful it was in Khans of Takir drafts, I have more of this falter effect in Ahn-Crop Crasher but that is not as repeatable as the heelcutter.
Syr Carah, the bold probably the weakest card but I am just salty I never even get a chance to use her before I cut her again. The effect is a super powerful way to draw cards in the late game if you get stalled out.
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
I think I will cut Gore-house chainwalker because my red has way more 2 drops than every other colour and I prefer the evasion of War-Name Aspirant so I can fit in more mid rangey threats.
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/djredpeasant
Pyreheart Wolf is good at ending the game with a board. It is pretty bad when behind though.
Not solely a midranged card, but Light Up the Stage has been fantastic for me. Even if you can't get through on board it's generally pretty easy to turn on with split damage spells or pingers. Red Divination is honestly fine most of the time too.
Normally I'd recommend Shreds of Sanity, but I'm not sure if there are enough high value sorcery targets in Modern Peasant when you don't have access to Chain Lightning or Shower of Coals.
Nah I hate energy as a mechanic so I am going to use Ikorias, Momentum Rumbler instead.
The problem with a lot of those is that they die to pyroclasm and in a cube with infinite tokens, mid-range is going to want to use wrath options or have trample.
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
I think it would be a fun way to allow us all to still play cube and test out the new cards!
https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/djredpeasant
Draft it on Cubetutor here, and CubeCobra here.
Treasure Cruise did nothing wrong.
Perhaps the first two can be used but they feel better as the top of an aggro curve.
I did a scryfall search for 3 mana to look at my options.
3 Power
2 Power
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
I wonder what people's experiences with Alpine Guide have been thus far since in theory, it should still be pretty damn nice and I might even consider adding it now that I look at the options.
I fiddled with my search parameters a bit and found some more utility creatures
Burning-Tree Vandal seems bad in the haste mode unless you really need to dig.
Hollowhead sliver is good but also my only sliver.
I don't really want any of the pingers
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own