I'm working on making a peasant cube with an interesting twist:
- A handful of un-cards (booster tutor mainly)
- Conspiracy draft matters cards and conspiracies (I'm going to be using some of the rare ones like world-knit,)
- Possibly some of the Theros Hero's Path cards (Although a lot of them seem overpowered so probably only a few)
I want to make the cube high powered with lots of good fixing
~540 cards
Archetypes:
W/U - Flicker
U/B - Artifact Control
B/R - Sacrifice (Artifact sacrifice sub theme)
R/G - Stompy
G/W - Tokens
The thing I am most unsure of is a sort of skeleton,
how much of each color / multicolor / colorless / lands
creature / spell ratio
How much removal should I have?
etc.
What cards are way too strong even in a powerful cube?
First off, if you take away anything from this post, the most important thing is to just build the cube. Just get in there and see how it feels. You'll learn a lot by just doing.
In any case:
Artifacts matters is really, really hard. Lots of cards just lose all of their value when they aren't consistent, like artifact lords and piston sledge. Black and green simply have next to no support, so the other three colors will be pulling so much weight with cards that simply can't go in other decks. Gearseeker serpent is fantastic, but not at full price.
If you do try, I would keep the "needs artifacts all the time" cards to a fairly low number. But you can load up on fine B tier artifacts like Trusty machete and... Stuff like Ghirapur Gearcrafter to compensate.
//
A classic rookie mistake is to have too much removal. When you get a preliminary list, try cutting 5 or so removal spells anyway. Especially because your list probably can't be copy pasted from someone else.
//
Try to get around 60% creatures, counting cards that make tokens as creatures. More or less.
//
Unless you have a good reason, ignore Wizards' dogma about the color pie. Do better, give blue creatures.
//
Don't ignore the early game. Lots of new cubes are nothing but midrange slugfests.
//
Sol ring is too strong. Skullclamp and grafted wargear probably are too. Maybe loxodon warhammer is, depending on a number of difficult factors.
Shrine of loyal legions is sometimes thought of as being too unfun.
//
Multicolor is dangerous. Too much and there are dead cards aplenty. I'm at 360 cards and have 3 multicolor cards each. I would suggest 4 for you but more than 5, definitely not.
And as for lands... Hm.. At 540 you could probably run all the good 5 color lands, vivids, and trilands and be good? Someone with a larger cube than mine could probably tell you.
Uh, 20 lands at 540 seems miserable. If six people draft the cube (using 3x15 packs), you see ten total fixing lands opened in your draft table.
I've got 55ish at 550ish, which is admittedly little high. 35-40 for 540 sounds like the sweet spot.
The problem is it's hard to get good lands at common/uncommon, without using multiples of the couple of good options (all of which Leelue named).
My first vote would be to use... actually good lands, which is exactly what I do. Lands like Steam Vents, Shivan Reef, Spirebluff Canal. Or do the 20 cards Leelue listed (there's about five playable rainbow lands like Ash Barrens and Aether Hub), but two copies of each.
If you REALLY want to be both single cards only AND no rares, you could do
5 Vivids
5 rainbow lands (the two mentioned above, Evolving Wilds, Terramorphic Expanse, City of Brass)
10 tri-lands
10 Ravnica bouncelands (they're slow as heck, but still powerful)
Oh, I forgot about the fact that I was running 3x rainbow lands back in the day.
So yeah, I would just use the 31 cards _io used. I don't like dual lands in a draft but at least bouncelands are offering something else.
(I don't like dual lands because they give all the dilution of gold cards with not much of the excitement)
That's pretty close to what I run at 450, tri-lands, KTK tap lands, Karoos, and Vivids, plus 6 rainbow lands. Here are the rainbow lands I currently run
Aether Hub
City of Brass
Evolving Wilds
Gemstone Mine
Mirrodin's Core
Terramorphic Expanse
I'll also be adding Ash Barrens soon. Again, this has been OK at 450, and I do refuse to break rarity (I have a rare cube for when I want to play with better mana). At 540, you might want to add a bit more fixing. The next best options would be the (allied only) Refuge cycle of taplands or the Panoramas. You might also consider breaking singleton for one or more cycles or the 5 color fixers if you don't want to break rarity.
Frankly, though, I don't bother, as I see ETBT fixing lands as just part of the reality of playing without rares or mythics.
As for utility lands, manlands are always great, I'm running Mishra's Factory, Faerie Conclave, Treetop Village, and Foundry of the Consuls, and there are a few other decent options. Strip Mine, Wasteland[/c], and Maze of Ith are also premium options. The more quality utility and fixing lands you can find room for, the better, as they'll nearly always see play.
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465 card Unpowered cube thread. Draft it here and I'll be happy to return the favor.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
I'm working on making a peasant cube with an interesting twist:
- A handful of un-cards (booster tutor mainly)
- Conspiracy draft matters cards and conspiracies (I'm going to be using some of the rare ones like world-knit,)
- Possibly some of the Theros Hero's Path cards (Although a lot of them seem overpowered so probably only a few)
I want to make the cube high powered with lots of good fixing
~540 cards
Archetypes:
W/U - Flicker
U/B - Artifact Control
B/R - Sacrifice (Artifact sacrifice sub theme)
R/G - Stompy
G/W - Tokens
W/B - Reanimation
B/G - Graveyard
G/U - Value Ramp / Flicker
U/R - Spells / Artifacts
R/W - Aggro
I'm unsure of if I want to include 3 color cards.
The thing I am most unsure of is a sort of skeleton,
how much of each color / multicolor / colorless / lands
creature / spell ratio
How much removal should I have?
etc.
What cards are way too strong even in a powerful cube?
I would appreciate any advise you can give.
In any case:
Artifacts matters is really, really hard. Lots of cards just lose all of their value when they aren't consistent, like artifact lords and piston sledge. Black and green simply have next to no support, so the other three colors will be pulling so much weight with cards that simply can't go in other decks. Gearseeker serpent is fantastic, but not at full price.
If you do try, I would keep the "needs artifacts all the time" cards to a fairly low number. But you can load up on fine B tier artifacts like Trusty machete and... Stuff like Ghirapur Gearcrafter to compensate.
//
A classic rookie mistake is to have too much removal. When you get a preliminary list, try cutting 5 or so removal spells anyway. Especially because your list probably can't be copy pasted from someone else.
//
Try to get around 60% creatures, counting cards that make tokens as creatures. More or less.
//
Unless you have a good reason, ignore Wizards' dogma about the color pie. Do better, give blue creatures.
//
Don't ignore the early game. Lots of new cubes are nothing but midrange slugfests.
//
Sol ring is too strong. Skullclamp and grafted wargear probably are too. Maybe loxodon warhammer is, depending on a number of difficult factors.
Shrine of loyal legions is sometimes thought of as being too unfun.
//
Multicolor is dangerous. Too much and there are dead cards aplenty. I'm at 360 cards and have 3 multicolor cards each. I would suggest 4 for you but more than 5, definitely not.
\\
Good luck
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
I've got 55ish at 550ish, which is admittedly little high. 35-40 for 540 sounds like the sweet spot.
The problem is it's hard to get good lands at common/uncommon, without using multiples of the couple of good options (all of which Leelue named).
My first vote would be to use... actually good lands, which is exactly what I do. Lands like Steam Vents, Shivan Reef, Spirebluff Canal. Or do the 20 cards Leelue listed (there's about five playable rainbow lands like Ash Barrens and Aether Hub), but two copies of each.
If you REALLY want to be both single cards only AND no rares, you could do
5 Vivids
5 rainbow lands (the two mentioned above, Evolving Wilds, Terramorphic Expanse, City of Brass)
10 tri-lands
10 Ravnica bouncelands (they're slow as heck, but still powerful)
That's still only 30 cards, though.
So yeah, I would just use the 31 cards _io used. I don't like dual lands in a draft but at least bouncelands are offering something else.
(I don't like dual lands because they give all the dilution of gold cards with not much of the excitement)
But then I would add signets and 5 color rocks like coldstone heart and sphere of suns.
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
-10 Trilands
-10 Khans Gain Lands
-5 Vivids
-10 Ravnica Karoo Lands
-5 Rainbow Lands
And then some utility lands, just don't know how many utility lands to use.
Aether Hub
City of Brass
Evolving Wilds
Gemstone Mine
Mirrodin's Core
Terramorphic Expanse
I'll also be adding Ash Barrens soon. Again, this has been OK at 450, and I do refuse to break rarity (I have a rare cube for when I want to play with better mana). At 540, you might want to add a bit more fixing. The next best options would be the (allied only) Refuge cycle of taplands or the Panoramas. You might also consider breaking singleton for one or more cycles or the 5 color fixers if you don't want to break rarity.
Frankly, though, I don't bother, as I see ETBT fixing lands as just part of the reality of playing without rares or mythics.
As for utility lands, manlands are always great, I'm running Mishra's Factory, Faerie Conclave, Treetop Village, and Foundry of the Consuls, and there are a few other decent options. Strip Mine, Wasteland[/c], and Maze of Ith are also premium options. The more quality utility and fixing lands you can find room for, the better, as they'll nearly always see play.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
10 Ravnica Bounce lands
10 Khans Life Lands
10 Trilands
6 Rainbow lands:
- Aether Hub
- Ash barrnes
- City of Brass
- Evolving Wilds
- Gemstone Mines
- Terramorphic Expanse
6 Utility
- Ancient Tomb
- Ghost Quarter
- Maze of Ith
- Mishra's Factory
- Strip Mine
- Wasteland
I also run: Faerie Conclave, Pendelhaven, and Treetop Village but they fall under their respective colors.