So I now have a bunch of cubes and want a thread for them. I've had threads in the past but keeping them up to date is a pain. This thread is going to have links to my cube lists, photos, updates and hopefully discussion. I'll be updating it over the next week or so. For now photos of my main cube:
"Cube"
360 cards, packs based on rarity, 2 copies/uncommon, 3 copies/common
Google Docs Cube List
I'd wanted to do something like this for a while and recently finally put it together. The "cube" is a custom draft set. It has 24 rares, 72 uncommons, and 264 commons. To draft it you make packs of 1 rare, 3 uncommons, and 11 commons. You then draft it normally. Additionally I'm only using non-foil new-border cards in it for visual consistency. This means there are a lot of dual deck reprints with things like Demonic Tutor as an uncommon and Rancor as a common. Some cards are way too powerful and are "banned" see: Skullclamp. I also cut Fireball as it was often better than rare red X spells.
I'm trying to focus on synergies and aggro decks at the moment. It is tempting to and would be easy to overload this with card advantage so I'm trying to make turning men sideways as attractive as I can.
I've only had a chance to do 2 person drafts so far, would like to do six or the full eight at some point soon.
Have drafted this once so far. Pretty happy with the list. Playing a 360 card cube changes a few things. You have a much higher ratio of planeswalkers/players and also dual lands/fetch lands are easier to come by.
The first picture of alters were all done by klug on these forums. They at this point cover four years which kind of blows my mind with the Hymn being the first from 2008 up to the Battlesphere and Frost Titan in 2011.
Ok NPH update has been decided with a few other changes. Sad to see three altered cards get cut but I feel like this is a pretty big boost to my cube's powerlevel.
Non-NPH
Cut - > Added Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas -> Nothing He was ok but more at home in combo cube. I also wanted to trim five gold cards. Fetid Heath -> Nothing Trimming gold cards, having a couple lands in pairs that had room was ok but not sad to see them leave. Rugged Prairie -> Nothing Trimming gold cards, having a couple lands in pairs that had room was ok but not sad to see them leave. Sphinx of the Steel Wind -> Nothing People love this guy but he was hard to cast and while hard to kill still dies to wraths, etc. Combo cube is happy to have him. Snakeform -> Nothing Really disliked this card. Thawing Glaciers (altered) -> Nothing I like Thawing Glaciers and I love Al Gore being on it but it's time has come. I'm trying to speed up decks so to get my land section back to an even number it has to go. Sphinx of Jwar Isle -> Consecrated SphinxHave heard some good buzz on the draw Sphinx. Jar Jar was always fine but not that exciting IMO. Genesis Wave -> Utopia SprawlWave worked fairly well but was often left on the bench. Been wanting to try Sprawl for a long time, finally picked up a foil.
NPH
Soltari Priest -> Blade SplicerI've gotten to a point where white had too many 2 drops at least compared to 1 and 3 drops. I also like to avoid the WW costing ones so Priest was my choice to cut. Pro-red on a 2/1 is much better than pro-black so I'm ok with just keeping one of the 2/1 shadow for WW guys. Blade Splicer I think will be pretty good and hopefully make white's Anthem effects more relevant. Yosei, the Morning Star -> Elesh Norn, Grand CenobiteYosei has impressed me less and less over the years. In a control deck having it die to time walk the opponent is OK but not great. Elesh is a card I want to try so I'll test her in Yosei's slot. My gut tells me Yosei is still better but I don't want to overload white's high-end. Vendetta -> DespiseI always want more discard spells in my black decks and I think Despise is just enough of an upgrade on Ostracise for it to be worth it. Slaughter Pact -> DismemberDismember is a card I like a lot. It was Pact of Snuff Out coming out and I like Snuff out a bit more so the Pact bit it. Wei Assassins (altered) -> Sheoldred, Whispering OneWei Assassins was the weakest of my 5+ drops so they come out for a new fatty that I think will be pretty good. Goblin Ruinblaster -> Invader ParasiteParasite I think is better. Red's 4 drop slot had gotten very crowded. Parasite has several upsides including working with reanimation/blinks. Rolling Thunder (altered) -> Moltensteel DragonMoltensteel seems pretty sweet for a four mana dragon. Pretty excited. Bogardan Hellkite -> Urabask the HiddenHellkite has gotten a little to expensive for a 5/5. Urabask I think will be great as an aggro curve-topper and a mid-range spell for ramp decks. Isochron Scepter -> Porcelain LegionnaireScepter made people's decks so rarely that I'm fine cutting it. Legionnaire I'm putting in colorless because I think red decks want this card more than white decks as their 2 drops are so much worse/scarcer. Pilgrim's Eye -> Phyrexian MetamorphLike Eye, Love Metamorph. I think that >50% of the time non-blue decks will have this but we'll see. Crystal Ball -> Sword of War and PeaceSeems like a small upgrade. Nim Deathmantle -> BatterskullDeathmantle wasn't bad but Batterskull is simply insane. Steel Hellkite -> Karn LiberatedMan these upgrades have been huge.
Additionally the following cards are on my watch list: Puresteel Paladin - With my 13 equipment cards in 460 I don't think this is worth it. In a smaller cube I think I'd give him a shot. Drawing two cards off him is very strong. Life's Finale - Might be better than Black Sun's Zenith or Decree of Pain? I think the Jester's Cap/Buried Alive clause has thrown some people. I view this as a six mana wrath in black with a moderate upside. I think this should be tested. Immolating Souleater - This could be a sleeper. Being a red 2 drop that can deal double digit damage on turn three should at least be considered. Now sure if the card's downsides outweigh the upside. For now I think they do. Spined Thopter - Would have to run this in colorless as blue decks would never want it. I also don't see white decks wanting it which makes me almost want to run this blue card in my red section. Awkward.
Good update overall, but I can't imagine cutting Soltari Priest. Aggro loves unblockable 2/1s for 2; prot is a bonus. I'd much rather cut 8.5 tails, Goldmeadow Harrier, or Leonin Relic Warder.
I also think Yosei is outstanding and might be the very last white fatty I'd ever cut.
Elesh Norn I'm kinda down on atm but want to try her.
Incader Parasite I think will be ok but not great.
Utopia Sprawl I think is going to be really good, often just better than a mana elf.
Immolating Souleater might be a good card for your cube to try based on it's size. I can't imagine finding enough red 2 drops for 720.
Good update overall, but I can't imagine cutting Soltari Priest. Aggro loves unblockable 2/1s for 2; prot is a bonus. I'd much rather cut 8.5 tails, Goldmeadow Harrier, or Leonin Relic Warder.
I also think Yosei is outstanding and might be the very last white fatty I'd ever cut.
Cheers,
rant
8.5 Tails - I still like him a lot, I know opinions are mixed.
Goldmeadow Harrier - This and Tithe are 1 drops on the chopping block. However pre-NPH I had 12 one drops, 16 two drops, and nine three drops in white. I really wanted to cut a 2. That said you might be right. White is the only color with that many one drops (red is next with 11) so losing one wouldn't be a huge issue.
Leonin Relic Warder - So far I've liked him more than Monk. Monk's problem is without something else (equipment, pump effects) his impact on the game for WW isn't large enough. Aside from Monk and Priest all of my WW creatures could have a large impact by themselves.
Being an unblockable 2/1 for ww isn't enough impact for an aggro deck? I would disagree. I can't imagine ever cutting the soltari brothers from my cube. I think they are possibly the best 2-drops in white.
Being an unblockable 2/1 for ww isn't enough impact for an aggro deck? I would disagree. I can't imagine ever cutting the soltari brothers from my cube. I think they are possibly the best 2-drops in white.
Cheers,
rant
It's good enough, if you can cast them. Unblockablity is nice but if your opponent is racing you or is playing a creature-light control deck the impact is low. Priest is really good against something like GB rock but is not very impressive vs U/x (non-black) control, green ramp, other aggro decks. Black is also the color best suited to deal with protection creatures with a ton of ways for them to be sacrificed/destroyed.
So I finally got around to updating the combo cube. It'd be ignored for months and still has only been drafted a few times.
I got a chance to draft Alex Bertoncini's combo cube last weekend and had a blast. It was much bigger than mine (which I didn't like) but was also not color balanced (which I liked).
So I'm calling this the 2.0 update as I got rid of color-balance and then underwhelming elf deck. I still want all colors to see play so I didn't just cut out green/white for blue/black cards but the colors currently stand at:
W: 34
U: 44
B: 40
R: 33
G: 25
Gold: 13
Artifacts: 51
Fatties: 25
I added five fatties as new cards like Elvish Piper and Quicksilver Amulet are pushing that deck harder. Probably going to want to add more in the future though I'm pushing the limits of the ones I like. One thing to keep in mind in this cube is a turn three Grave Titan will often not be good enough. I want the fatties to impact the board dramatically and not via creature combat (where Grave Titan excels).
Goals:
See what decks sizzle and what decks fizzle.
See which utility cards are worth it (I'm looking at you hate bears).
Fit in more bounce spells.
Fit in more Stax-like spells.
Draft the damn thing more often!
Primary Cube
457 Cards, unpowered, un-cards included, fully pimped
Google Docs spreadsheet of the cube:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0At6YKeerR9kHdG5MYnI2N1gyV3NFRWFQaEtneFJNc3c&hl=en&authkey=CPaXuuoK
"Cube"
360 cards, packs based on rarity, 2 copies/uncommon, 3 copies/common
Google Docs Cube List
I'd wanted to do something like this for a while and recently finally put it together. The "cube" is a custom draft set. It has 24 rares, 72 uncommons, and 264 commons. To draft it you make packs of 1 rare, 3 uncommons, and 11 commons. You then draft it normally. Additionally I'm only using non-foil new-border cards in it for visual consistency. This means there are a lot of dual deck reprints with things like Demonic Tutor as an uncommon and Rancor as a common. Some cards are way too powerful and are "banned" see: Skullclamp. I also cut Fireball as it was often better than rare red X spells.
I'm trying to focus on synergies and aggro decks at the moment. It is tempting to and would be easy to overload this with card advantage so I'm trying to make turning men sideways as attractive as I can.
I've only had a chance to do 2 person drafts so far, would like to do six or the full eight at some point soon.
MTGO 360 Card Cube
360 cards, "powered" (by MTGO standards), mostly foil
Tapped Out Listing
Sample Pack Generator
Draft #1
Have drafted this once so far. Pretty happy with the list. Playing a 360 card cube changes a few things. You have a much higher ratio of planeswalkers/players and also dual lands/fetch lands are easier to come by.
My secondary "cube".
Really out of date cube thread with pictures.
My secondary "cube".
Really out of date cube thread with pictures.
My secondary "cube".
Really out of date cube thread with pictures.
...holy Lord I love your alters. What do you use to alter them?
*Edit* Just got to your watchmen Demonic Tutor. WOW.
My Legacy-Legal Cube <--- Draft It!
wtwlf123's Classic Cube
Lanxal's Pauper Cube
Cubers, UNITE! Don't forget to post your cube location on The Great Cube Map Thread
Glad you guys like the DT.
My secondary "cube".
Really out of date cube thread with pictures.
Non-NPH
Cut - > Added
Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas -> Nothing He was ok but more at home in combo cube. I also wanted to trim five gold cards.
Fetid Heath -> Nothing Trimming gold cards, having a couple lands in pairs that had room was ok but not sad to see them leave.
Rugged Prairie -> Nothing Trimming gold cards, having a couple lands in pairs that had room was ok but not sad to see them leave.
Sphinx of the Steel Wind -> Nothing People love this guy but he was hard to cast and while hard to kill still dies to wraths, etc. Combo cube is happy to have him.
Snakeform -> Nothing Really disliked this card.
Thawing Glaciers (altered) -> Nothing I like Thawing Glaciers and I love Al Gore being on it but it's time has come. I'm trying to speed up decks so to get my land section back to an even number it has to go.
Sphinx of Jwar Isle -> Consecrated Sphinx Have heard some good buzz on the draw Sphinx. Jar Jar was always fine but not that exciting IMO.
Genesis Wave -> Utopia Sprawl Wave worked fairly well but was often left on the bench. Been wanting to try Sprawl for a long time, finally picked up a foil.
NPH
Soltari Priest -> Blade Splicer I've gotten to a point where white had too many 2 drops at least compared to 1 and 3 drops. I also like to avoid the WW costing ones so Priest was my choice to cut. Pro-red on a 2/1 is much better than pro-black so I'm ok with just keeping one of the 2/1 shadow for WW guys. Blade Splicer I think will be pretty good and hopefully make white's Anthem effects more relevant.
Yosei, the Morning Star -> Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite Yosei has impressed me less and less over the years. In a control deck having it die to time walk the opponent is OK but not great. Elesh is a card I want to try so I'll test her in Yosei's slot. My gut tells me Yosei is still better but I don't want to overload white's high-end.
Vendetta -> Despise I always want more discard spells in my black decks and I think Despise is just enough of an upgrade on Ostracise for it to be worth it.
Slaughter Pact -> Dismember Dismember is a card I like a lot. It was Pact of Snuff Out coming out and I like Snuff out a bit more so the Pact bit it.
Wei Assassins (altered) -> Sheoldred, Whispering One Wei Assassins was the weakest of my 5+ drops so they come out for a new fatty that I think will be pretty good.
Goblin Ruinblaster -> Invader Parasite Parasite I think is better. Red's 4 drop slot had gotten very crowded. Parasite has several upsides including working with reanimation/blinks.
Rolling Thunder (altered) -> Moltensteel Dragon Moltensteel seems pretty sweet for a four mana dragon. Pretty excited.
Bogardan Hellkite -> Urabask the Hidden Hellkite has gotten a little to expensive for a 5/5. Urabask I think will be great as an aggro curve-topper and a mid-range spell for ramp decks.
Isochron Scepter -> Porcelain Legionnaire Scepter made people's decks so rarely that I'm fine cutting it. Legionnaire I'm putting in colorless because I think red decks want this card more than white decks as their 2 drops are so much worse/scarcer.
Pilgrim's Eye -> Phyrexian Metamorph Like Eye, Love Metamorph. I think that >50% of the time non-blue decks will have this but we'll see.
Crystal Ball -> Sword of War and Peace Seems like a small upgrade.
Nim Deathmantle -> Batterskull Deathmantle wasn't bad but Batterskull is simply insane.
Steel Hellkite -> Karn Liberated Man these upgrades have been huge.
Additionally the following cards are on my watch list:
Puresteel Paladin - With my 13 equipment cards in 460 I don't think this is worth it. In a smaller cube I think I'd give him a shot. Drawing two cards off him is very strong.
Life's Finale - Might be better than Black Sun's Zenith or Decree of Pain? I think the Jester's Cap/Buried Alive clause has thrown some people. I view this as a six mana wrath in black with a moderate upside. I think this should be tested.
Immolating Souleater - This could be a sleeper. Being a red 2 drop that can deal double digit damage on turn three should at least be considered. Now sure if the card's downsides outweigh the upside. For now I think they do.
Spined Thopter - Would have to run this in colorless as blue decks would never want it. I also don't see white decks wanting it which makes me almost want to run this blue card in my red section. Awkward.
My secondary "cube".
Really out of date cube thread with pictures.
Interested to hear how Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, Invader Parasite, and Utopia Sprawl play out for you. Like you, I'm also wondering if Immolating Souleater is good enough to see play since even if you don't pay any life he attacks for four on turn three in a mono-red deck.
(list not current)
My Cube Google Docs Spreadsheet: https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AibgWfz0ukmOdDNhOHlucjcxUi1wVy00NDhLbDUtUlE&hl=en_US#gid=8
(list is always current)
I also think Yosei is outstanding and might be the very last white fatty I'd ever cut.
Cheers,
rant
My Cube
CubeCobra: https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/5f5d0310ed602310515d4c32
Cube Tutor: http://cubetutor.com/viewcube/1963
Second, updated first post with 360 card MTGO cube. Drafted it last night and despite some snags it was quite fun.
Elesh Norn I'm kinda down on atm but want to try her.
Incader Parasite I think will be ok but not great.
Utopia Sprawl I think is going to be really good, often just better than a mana elf.
Immolating Souleater might be a good card for your cube to try based on it's size. I can't imagine finding enough red 2 drops for 720.
8.5 Tails - I still like him a lot, I know opinions are mixed.
Goldmeadow Harrier - This and Tithe are 1 drops on the chopping block. However pre-NPH I had 12 one drops, 16 two drops, and nine three drops in white. I really wanted to cut a 2. That said you might be right. White is the only color with that many one drops (red is next with 11) so losing one wouldn't be a huge issue.
Leonin Relic Warder - So far I've liked him more than Monk. Monk's problem is without something else (equipment, pump effects) his impact on the game for WW isn't large enough. Aside from Monk and Priest all of my WW creatures could have a large impact by themselves.
My secondary "cube".
Really out of date cube thread with pictures.
Cheers,
rant
My Cube
CubeCobra: https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/5f5d0310ed602310515d4c32
Cube Tutor: http://cubetutor.com/viewcube/1963
It's good enough, if you can cast them. Unblockablity is nice but if your opponent is racing you or is playing a creature-light control deck the impact is low. Priest is really good against something like GB rock but is not very impressive vs U/x (non-black) control, green ramp, other aggro decks. Black is also the color best suited to deal with protection creatures with a ton of ways for them to be sacrificed/destroyed.
In other news I'm going to add signets to the MTGO list when I do an online NPH update. I don't like what they do for cube decks (I think they make artifact-mana based control too good) but I'll give them a shot in a 360 cube. Also getting Sundering Titan in because I love that robit. Full changes to be effected when NPH is out online:
Cut/Added
Akroma's Vengeance / Blade Splicer
Yosei, the Morning Star / Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
Bloodghast / Despise
Slaughter Pact / Dismember
Tombstalker / Sheoldred, Whispering One
Barter in Blood / Life's Finale
Arc Lightning / Moltensteel Dragon
Bogardan Hellkite / Urabask the Hidden
Aether Vial / Porcelain Legionnaire
Zombie Cutthroat / Phyrexian Metamorph
Bonehoard / Sword of War and Peace
Razormane Masticore / Batterskull
Sigil of Distinction / Karn Liberated
Coldsteel Heart / Azorius Signet
Everflowing Chalice / Boros Signet
Guardian Idol / Dimir Signet
Erratic Portal / Golgari Signet
Spiritmonger / Gruul Signet
Scepter of Dominance / Izzet Signet
Merfolk Looter / Orzhov Signet
Corpse Dance / Rakdos Signet
Ghitu Slinger / Selesnya Signet
Avenger of Zendikar / Simic Signet
Ring of Gix / Sundering Titan
My secondary "cube".
Really out of date cube thread with pictures.
My secondary "cube".
Really out of date cube thread with pictures.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 49th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from MKM!
If I was still running decree, it'd get that swap.
My Legacy-Legal Cube <--- Draft It!
wtwlf123's Classic Cube
Lanxal's Pauper Cube
Cubers, UNITE! Don't forget to post your cube location on The Great Cube Map Thread
I got a chance to draft Alex Bertoncini's combo cube last weekend and had a blast. It was much bigger than mine (which I didn't like) but was also not color balanced (which I liked).
Updated cube is here: https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0At6YKeerR9kHdHNfbFhuYmdPTjE2RUJaazZnY1dTNlE&hl=en_US&authkey=CJHfkvgG
So I'm calling this the 2.0 update as I got rid of color-balance and then underwhelming elf deck. I still want all colors to see play so I didn't just cut out green/white for blue/black cards but the colors currently stand at:
W: 34
U: 44
B: 40
R: 33
G: 25
Gold: 13
Artifacts: 51
Fatties: 25
I added five fatties as new cards like Elvish Piper and Quicksilver Amulet are pushing that deck harder. Probably going to want to add more in the future though I'm pushing the limits of the ones I like. One thing to keep in mind in this cube is a turn three Grave Titan will often not be good enough. I want the fatties to impact the board dramatically and not via creature combat (where Grave Titan excels).
Goals:
See what decks sizzle and what decks fizzle.
See which utility cards are worth it (I'm looking at you hate bears).
Fit in more bounce spells.
Fit in more Stax-like spells.
Draft the damn thing more often!
My secondary "cube".
Really out of date cube thread with pictures.