Hello cube veterans! Fairly inexperienced at making cubes and wanted some guidance. Here's my cube.
I'm looking to get some opinions on a cube I just revamped. My goal is to make aggro and control viable for all color combos yet still have archetypes other color groups can fall into. I've only drafted this cube once but blue seemed a bit better than the rest of the colors (I did get passed Mulldrifter and Treasure Cruise though...). My playgroup is anywhere between 4 and 8 people.
Here's what I was thinking for archetypes across groups of colors. I obviously don't want to have to force players to go more than 2 colors, so please tell me if the thematic overlap is too much. When I said Tokens is viable for Naya colors I mean any of the Naya colors can conceivably build a token deck.
If you have any advice for archetypes or just general changes to the cube I'd love to hear them. I'm not sure whether focusing more on strong two color synergies is better than allowing for some wiggle room within archetypes. Like I said my group has only drafted this iteration once so we don't have a ton of feedback yet. Thanks a lot!
You made a lot of interesting card choices and you miss a lot of the most powerful commons. But I think thats a good thing, otherwise you could just copy one of our cubes.
Its hard to tell how the cards interact, though. Also it depends on your playgroup, how experienced they are as limited players, your cube and their petcards.
So to streamline your cube only playtesting will improve it. You should decide what powerlevel you want and balance around that. When blue its too strong now, you either buff the other colors or nerf blue.
Can you give me a few of the more powerful commons I'm missing? I'd like to consider adding some more powerful cards to all the nonblue colors.
I know three of the better commons that aren't in are Gitaxian Probe, Tortured Existence, and Delver of Secrets. Tortured Existence will be added in as soon as I get a copy. The other two are not in because I thought they might make blue too good.
Your aggro selection is suffering from a lack of cards from what I can see. You are very low on 1 drops, with none of them having 2 power. Many of your 2 drops are defensive as well. This makes an aggro deck a nearly impossible proposition as it slows the deck down to a turn 7-8 kill at best, plenty of time to stabilize. Because of this, you will see a TON of control, mostly fighting over flyers. Be prepared for long games, especially if playing with multiple players.
As a general rule, you want more aggro cards than control cards. This is because control will be dipping into aggro to fill its curve. Porcelain Legionnaire is good in both aggro and control, but Seraph of Dawn will only ever be used by the latter. Many of your low drops are currently control oriented though, so aggro will have trouble finding picks and getting through even when it does have the cards.
You may also want to buff red by adding more good burn. Brimstone Volley comes to mind, and there are certainly more.
Using functional reprints to double up on archetype support cards should help distinguish the colors for their roles as well. Missing notables are Elvish Mystic / Fyndhorn Elves, Cultivate and Searing Spear
You can also use the Cubetutor search function to find cubes here. I'd search for anything up to 450 with pauper in the title. You can look at the average cubes instead, but cards which fit the same role tend to lose out to more certain cards in those. For example, Kami of Ancient Law / Ronom Unicorn / Keening Apparition all fill the same role, but most cubes will use only one which pushes down their average.
Also, don't be afraid to break cycles. Not all the colors particularly want signets, for example.
Looking through Runner5678's cube above, that would be a very good place to start.
If you want to add more powerful commons, look at AL´s Evaluate Thread. Although i disagree with many choices, the cubable and staple cards are a good place to start.
Thanks for the suggestions everyone! I'm going to try to stick with the themes I have but eventually do want to try some others (like counters). More good one and two drop creatures will make their way to the cube, too.
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I'm looking to get some opinions on a cube I just revamped. My goal is to make aggro and control viable for all color combos yet still have archetypes other color groups can fall into. I've only drafted this cube once but blue seemed a bit better than the rest of the colors (I did get passed Mulldrifter and Treasure Cruise though...). My playgroup is anywhere between 4 and 8 people.
Here's what I was thinking for archetypes across groups of colors. I obviously don't want to have to force players to go more than 2 colors, so please tell me if the thematic overlap is too much. When I said Tokens is viable for Naya colors I mean any of the Naya colors can conceivably build a token deck.
Tokens: WRG
graveyard: UBG
Aggro-combo/storm/yolo: WUR
Voltron/hexproof: WBG
Ramp: URG
Fliers/evasion: WUB
If you have any advice for archetypes or just general changes to the cube I'd love to hear them. I'm not sure whether focusing more on strong two color synergies is better than allowing for some wiggle room within archetypes. Like I said my group has only drafted this iteration once so we don't have a ton of feedback yet. Thanks a lot!
Its hard to tell how the cards interact, though. Also it depends on your playgroup, how experienced they are as limited players, your cube and their petcards.
So to streamline your cube only playtesting will improve it. You should decide what powerlevel you want and balance around that. When blue its too strong now, you either buff the other colors or nerf blue.
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
I know three of the better commons that aren't in are Gitaxian Probe, Tortured Existence, and Delver of Secrets. Tortured Existence will be added in as soon as I get a copy. The other two are not in because I thought they might make blue too good.
As a general rule, you want more aggro cards than control cards. This is because control will be dipping into aggro to fill its curve. Porcelain Legionnaire is good in both aggro and control, but Seraph of Dawn will only ever be used by the latter. Many of your low drops are currently control oriented though, so aggro will have trouble finding picks and getting through even when it does have the cards.
Steppe Lynx, Delver of Secrets, Cloudfin Raptor, Phantasmal Bear, Goblin Patrol, Vampire Lacerator, Carnophage, Ghazban Ogre, Jungle Lion, Nettle Sentinel, Wild Nacatl, Pouncing Jaguar and Wild Dogs are all aggressive one drops to consider.
Also consider hasty attackers like Mardu Scout, Minotaur Skullcleaver, Rakdos Shred-Freak, Slash Panther and Valley Dasher
You may also want to buff red by adding more good burn. Brimstone Volley comes to mind, and there are certainly more.
Using functional reprints to double up on archetype support cards should help distinguish the colors for their roles as well. Missing notables are Elvish Mystic / Fyndhorn Elves, Cultivate and Searing Spear
You can also use the Cubetutor search function to find cubes here. I'd search for anything up to 450 with pauper in the title. You can look at the average cubes instead, but cards which fit the same role tend to lose out to more certain cards in those. For example, Kami of Ancient Law / Ronom Unicorn / Keening Apparition all fill the same role, but most cubes will use only one which pushes down their average.
Also, don't be afraid to break cycles. Not all the colors particularly want signets, for example.
Looking through Runner5678's cube above, that would be a very good place to start.
360-cube - Suggestions welcome!
Steppe Lynx is bad without fetches
Goblin Patrol is awful. Better run Mogg Conscripts
Nettle Sentinel doesnt untap as often as you think.
If you want to add more powerful commons, look at AL´s Evaluate Thread. Although i disagree with many choices, the cubable and staple cards are a good place to start.
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t