It is indeed a great idea. I love Glimpse with 2 (regular glimpse) and play a shortened version with only 8 packs and 40 cards drafted per player with 4 people, since my cube is a 480 cards one. Even the latter works nicely for us.
Considering trying this out myself. We tried glimpse drafting with 3 for the first time and it was awesome. Each deck turned out well and we felt it didn't add too much time to the drafting. However since my cube is only 450+15, I don't have enough cards to do it with the ideal 4 players.
Moving to 480 sounds like a decent stepping stone because I don't feel comfortable moving up to 540 yet. Do you feel very constricted with the 5 fewer cards in the pool? I feel like many of my decks end up with plenty of extra cards as sideboard but I would hate to be cutting it too close.
I agree that you may want to not force your colour combinations into too many hard limits (1 creature and 1 spell, only 1 bomb, etc). The problem with this is that it may look nice on cubetutor, but when you actually sit down with packs to draft the thing, it quickly becomes apparent which cards are the "forced" inclusions and they will be passed over mercilessly.
I ran into this when I was looking for a cycle of 10 1 mana hybrids. It's cool to have a cycle, but in practice Deathrite Shaman or Rakdos Cackler are just waaay better than Oona's Gatewarden or Blistercoil Weird, and including them for the sake of "evenness" or to complete the cycle just meant the latter two wouldn't get played.
I have yet to test out this format but it sounds like a lot of fun (although it has me rethinking some of the "draft constructs" like dredger).
My cube currently sits at 450 +15 (for lore seeker) but I'm curious how you guys actually run the 4 person version of Glimpse. Do you pair off, or do "pick one burn two" in a small circle of 4 players like a regular 4-man draft? Also, would it mess stuff up significantly if we delved into the burn piles for the last few packs since 450 wouldn't be enough? I'm not sure if I have the means to comfortably jump to 540 just yet.
I agree, just make a list and try it out! The first iteration of our cube was basically just a dragon cube that boiled down to creature fights instead of anything more interesting. It was completely overcosted, our fixing was terrible, and aggro was basically a lost cause. The refinements came over time after playing it a whole bunch and I feel like it's in a pretty good place now.
It's funny, because every time I make substitutions based on how the drafts went, I think "what was I thinking with some of these cards", and then after a bunch more plays I think the same thing again, sometimes about cards that were recently added! You definitely get a feel for it as you go and that's part of the fun of building.
Microsealed sounds awesome, I'm thinking of trying it with just the "evolved wilds". One thing I can't figure out from the article though... is each player supposed to get 2 "brass burnwillows" and 2 "evolved wilds"? That seems like a lot of ridiculously good land (that doesn't retire) for a 15 card deck.
Cool. If I can get my hands on a Sarkhan (eventually), he looks like he'd be fun to try out. I'll stick with Rampager for the time being and test him a bit more. Thanks!
Thanks for the Boros suggestions earlier, guys. B. Reckoner is indeed coming out.
I've got one more for everyone. I thought Gruul would be an easy cut, but the more I think about it the more unsure I get. The four in there right now are Burning-Tree Emissary, Fires of Yavimaya, Bloodbraid Elf, Ghor-Clan Rampager. Bloodbraid is consistently ridiculous, and the haste enabler on FoY is a relatively unique effect I want to keep in. So that leaves Burning-Tree Emissary or Ghor-Clan Rampager. (For reference, I run tattermunge maniac in a separate little pocket of the cube reserved for the aggressive 1 drop hybrids (+ judge's familiar)).
Burning-tree can set up a pretty amazing turn two, being able to play it + another 2 mana threat, or play it + a removal spell.
Ghor-clan just seems awesomely mana efficient and the bloodrush is kind of a cool synergy that is super cheap (pump + providing it's own trample).
I am also open to suggestions for cutting both, but I probably won't have access to any of the R/G PWs.
My cube is in the midst of a pretty sizable revamp, and during this I am seriously considering cutting the 4th gold card from each guild. It's often cited as one of the easiest ways to improve overall playability, but at the same time gold cards are always so awesome! At this point it's one of the only ways I see this thing completing the transition at the 450 card goal.
Anyway, I think I have the cuts for each guild except for boros.
Comes down to a split between boros reckoner or figure of destiny - which one should get cut? (My other two cards in Boros right now are Ajani Vengeant and Boros Charm which I don't see getting cut, but feel free to weigh in.)
I haven't had much of a chance to play with either of them but my gut feeling right now is to cut Figure of Destiny.
We only have access to the 3 newest swords (the old ones are a little expensive now) in my cube, and they are popular picks - usually leading to windmill slams of sorts. I don't know if that's exactly warranted for ANY sword all the time, but that tends to be how my group drafts. They certainly seem to have quite a big impact in any game they come down in.
Considering trying this out myself. We tried glimpse drafting with 3 for the first time and it was awesome. Each deck turned out well and we felt it didn't add too much time to the drafting. However since my cube is only 450+15, I don't have enough cards to do it with the ideal 4 players.
Moving to 480 sounds like a decent stepping stone because I don't feel comfortable moving up to 540 yet. Do you feel very constricted with the 5 fewer cards in the pool? I feel like many of my decks end up with plenty of extra cards as sideboard but I would hate to be cutting it too close.
I ran into this when I was looking for a cycle of 10 1 mana hybrids. It's cool to have a cycle, but in practice Deathrite Shaman or Rakdos Cackler are just waaay better than Oona's Gatewarden or Blistercoil Weird, and including them for the sake of "evenness" or to complete the cycle just meant the latter two wouldn't get played.
My cube currently sits at 450 +15 (for lore seeker) but I'm curious how you guys actually run the 4 person version of Glimpse. Do you pair off, or do "pick one burn two" in a small circle of 4 players like a regular 4-man draft? Also, would it mess stuff up significantly if we delved into the burn piles for the last few packs since 450 wouldn't be enough? I'm not sure if I have the means to comfortably jump to 540 just yet.
It's funny, because every time I make substitutions based on how the drafts went, I think "what was I thinking with some of these cards", and then after a bunch more plays I think the same thing again, sometimes about cards that were recently added! You definitely get a feel for it as you go and that's part of the fun of building.
I've got one more for everyone. I thought Gruul would be an easy cut, but the more I think about it the more unsure I get. The four in there right now are Burning-Tree Emissary, Fires of Yavimaya, Bloodbraid Elf, Ghor-Clan Rampager. Bloodbraid is consistently ridiculous, and the haste enabler on FoY is a relatively unique effect I want to keep in. So that leaves Burning-Tree Emissary or Ghor-Clan Rampager. (For reference, I run tattermunge maniac in a separate little pocket of the cube reserved for the aggressive 1 drop hybrids (+ judge's familiar)).
Burning-tree can set up a pretty amazing turn two, being able to play it + another 2 mana threat, or play it + a removal spell.
Ghor-clan just seems awesomely mana efficient and the bloodrush is kind of a cool synergy that is super cheap (pump + providing it's own trample).
I am also open to suggestions for cutting both, but I probably won't have access to any of the R/G PWs.
Anyway, I think I have the cuts for each guild except for boros.
Comes down to a split between boros reckoner or figure of destiny - which one should get cut? (My other two cards in Boros right now are Ajani Vengeant and Boros Charm which I don't see getting cut, but feel free to weigh in.)
I haven't had much of a chance to play with either of them but my gut feeling right now is to cut Figure of Destiny.