I've been skulking around this forum for a few days and haven't found any good primers on cube design so I thought I'd ask here. I'm sure I'm just looking in the wrong places.
One of the goals for my first cube- a pauper cube- is to be a little heavy at the top end of the mana curve. I want players to want to draft and play big threats that aren't normally viable in other draft environments becuase they cost 6 or 7 mana. I want games to go a little longer than normal in order to get to this point, but at the same time I don't want to neuter aggro.
One thought I had was to provide a ton of lifelink. Both on creatures and as incedental lifegain on spells and with artifacts. Another thought was to provide a lot of high toughness creatures, especially at the low end of the curve. I want aggro to be a viable archetype but I want the big reward to come from waiting until the later rounds when players can cast big spells and the game can get swingy in the later rounds.
I know there is fierce debate about removal for cubes but my solution for this cube is to provide a lot of little removal: -1 or -2 effects in black and 1 or 2 dmg burn for red. Then a lot of situational removal. I think almost any amount of unconditional removal would be bad for this cube but maybe that's wrong. Is this too ambitious? thanks for any tips.
Are you going to be able to differentiate the colours and archetypes enough by pushing high casting costs? The colours don't all get to the late game at the same speed, so green ramp might get an unfair advantage. I think you want to support early game, but look at effects that scale so they work late game too. Things like multikicker, level up, monstrous and anything that you can sink mana into to get a repeatable effect e.g crypt ripper.
If you go to gatheringmagic there's a couple of writers doing pauper cube theory recently.
Oh cool I'll check out some of that writing. I figured the same, I'm putting in a lot of kicker and multi-kicker, monstrous(though I think there's only two common) and all of the common levelers. I'm also focusing on cards the can be reused like flashback. Another idea I had was to use a lot of deathtouch and lifelink in the hopes of making the games a little longer. I'm still supporting aggro with a lot of the popular aggro cards but also trying to temper them with a lot of high toughness creatures. I'm going to throw in a bunch of vamps and soldiers too, maybe I can find a couple that enable themselves or their teammates.
The leveler cards from Rise of the Eldrazi would fit right in with what you've described. They're passable creatures early, but then you can sink mana into them over the course of a game to make more substantial creatures.
I have a (almost) pauper cube with a lot of lifelink, and one danger is that it leads to some seriously stalled games that don't end. I'm reducing the amount of lifegain/lifelink in my cube on the next update.
I know there is fierce debate about removal for cubes but my solution for this cube is to provide a lot of little removal: -1 or -2 effects in black and 1 or 2 dmg burn for red. Then a lot of situational removal. I think almost any amount of unconditional removal would be bad for this cube but maybe that's wrong.
I think you need at least SOME answers for the big creatures. Just, you know, not more than a few, and keep it to cumbersome ones like iona's judgment/angelic edict/sip of hemlock/etc (5+ cmc and sorcery speed, for example)
celestial flare might also work well for what you're trying to do
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I've finished my cube, at least the initial version. I'd like some feedback about any glaring problems in terms of balance. I think there's a lot to do with mana late in games and I'm hoping there is room for both aggro and control strategies but let me know if not. The heay equipment presence is just a little personal flavor, but I didnt want to go all out like scars block. Tell me what you think.
You are running Blight Mamba, it's an infect creature and if i'm not mistaken, you aren't running any other infect creatures.
Is this an error? Because it probably won't work.
For the rest I like the fact that you focus a lot more on the equipment and i'm interesting to see how it turns out
I see some cards that I have already cut and some that I wouldn't run, but hey everyone his/her choice, right?
I'll post some more (useful) remarks later, cause I don't really have time now.
Thanks for taking a look. Blight Mamba wasn't a mistake, I just thought it would make a good defensive card. The threat of losing a power and toughness on a big attacker can make for interesting combat, but it may just be useless. If everyone says cut it, I'll cut it.
You are running Blight Mamba, it's an infect creature and if i'm not mistaken, you aren't running any other infect creatures.
Is this an error? Because it probably won't work.
For the rest I like the fact that you focus a lot more on the equipment and i'm interesting to see how it turns out
I see some cards that I have already cut and some that I wouldn't run, but hey everyone his/her choice, right?
I'll post some more (useful) remarks later, cause I don't really have time now.
Thanks for taking a look. Blight Mamba wasn't a mistake, I just thought it would make a good defensive card. The threat of losing a power and toughness on a big attacker can make for interesting combat, but it may just be useless. If everyone says cut it, I'll cut it.
If you want a creature like that without the extra baggage of Infect, look to the creatures from Shadowmoor block with Wither. A few of them could fill that cheap defensive role in Green like Blight Mamba (though the closest analogue is a Black creature).
One of the goals for my first cube- a pauper cube- is to be a little heavy at the top end of the mana curve. I want players to want to draft and play big threats that aren't normally viable in other draft environments becuase they cost 6 or 7 mana. I want games to go a little longer than normal in order to get to this point, but at the same time I don't want to neuter aggro.
One thought I had was to provide a ton of lifelink. Both on creatures and as incedental lifegain on spells and with artifacts. Another thought was to provide a lot of high toughness creatures, especially at the low end of the curve. I want aggro to be a viable archetype but I want the big reward to come from waiting until the later rounds when players can cast big spells and the game can get swingy in the later rounds.
I know there is fierce debate about removal for cubes but my solution for this cube is to provide a lot of little removal: -1 or -2 effects in black and 1 or 2 dmg burn for red. Then a lot of situational removal. I think almost any amount of unconditional removal would be bad for this cube but maybe that's wrong. Is this too ambitious? thanks for any tips.
Oh cool I'll check out some of that writing. I figured the same, I'm putting in a lot of kicker and multi-kicker, monstrous(though I think there's only two common) and all of the common levelers. I'm also focusing on cards the can be reused like flashback. Another idea I had was to use a lot of deathtouch and lifelink in the hopes of making the games a little longer. I'm still supporting aggro with a lot of the popular aggro cards but also trying to temper them with a lot of high toughness creatures. I'm going to throw in a bunch of vamps and soldiers too, maybe I can find a couple that enable themselves or their teammates.
I think you need at least SOME answers for the big creatures. Just, you know, not more than a few, and keep it to cumbersome ones like iona's judgment/angelic edict/sip of hemlock/etc (5+ cmc and sorcery speed, for example)
celestial flare might also work well for what you're trying to do
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Thanks for taking a look. Blight Mamba wasn't a mistake, I just thought it would make a good defensive card. The threat of losing a power and toughness on a big attacker can make for interesting combat, but it may just be useless. If everyone says cut it, I'll cut it.
If you want a creature like that without the extra baggage of Infect, look to the creatures from Shadowmoor block with Wither. A few of them could fill that cheap defensive role in Green like Blight Mamba (though the closest analogue is a Black creature).