My ninth article on CubeCobra! Let me know if there’s a card that I missed and I’ll respond back with the hottest of takes. Also, feel free to join the Online Cube Drafts Discord Group to discuss all things Cube plus use Xmage to host tournaments to draft / play with our own cubes!
Thank you so much these articles - I can understand just the amount of work it takes to put something together. I find it strange that in 2022, you're posting an article on 2020.
There are a few comments I would like to add about cards mentioned here:
- Phoenix of Ash/ Court of Grace were fine cards, but their slots were just too competitive.
- ECD/ Ashiok, Nightmare Muse performing well in my opinion set the new tone for the template of finishers - They don't need to have a massively strong effect, but having conditional disruption (or some form of disruption) is strong. Cards like Oko, Teferi, Grist have taken front seat over the more traditional top end/ finishers such as Jace, Mentor, Psyatog etc.
- Dream Trawler felt interesting as it was both a serviceable reanimation target and a control win con.
One card that I do want to point out is Shark Typhoon:
"I don't think it's ever been in my sideboard of a blue deck since it's always useful and is a pretty easy 2 for 1 in most scenarios."
There have been several cards printed recently that are so strong, that it is a mistake for decks in their colors to not run them - Ragavan, Rankle etc. I'm not sure if this is a good direction or a bad direction. On one side it reduces the number of narrow cards by artificially improving discard outlets, fast mana and in this case storm win cons, but it also makes a slightly weaker draft experience with prioritizing picks.
The other point is I been pretty happy about the number of aristocrats/ persist enablers printed recently - I felt they really helped to push these archetypes as not only playables but competitive, non-parasitic decks.
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I'm actively maintaining a comprehensive article to help explain to new cube players how some complex vintage level cards work in a cube environment. Vintage Cube Cards Explained
I find it strange that in 2022, you're posting an article on 2020.
In the article, I mentioned that I used to do an end of the year summary on Reddit called The (insert year here) Golden Cube Awards, which I delayed (and then eventually forgot about) in 2020 because Commander Legends came out so late and I needed more time with it to do it justice, but I eventually forgot about doing the whole thing. This is me picking up where I left off from that series.
Also, a lot of people haven't really been able to play with their cubes since the start of the pandemic, so I felt that 2020 would be a good year to do a retrospective for those people.
There are a few comments I would like to add about cards mentioned here:
- Phoenix of Ash/ Court of Grace were fine cards, but their slots were just too competitive.
I definitely agree with Court of Grace, but I think Phoenix of Ash is pretty up there. It's arguably the best mono red beater at 3-cmc due to its reach. I do like it more than Laelia and think that only Rabblemaster is ahead of it due to its versatility / 2R mana cost.
I had no idea Phoenix of Ash was such a big hit for you.
The other surprises for me are:
-Elder Gargaroth being dishonorable (seemed like at minimum an honorable mention / solid)
-Thieving Skydiver being lower than greatest hit
https://cubecobra.com/content/article/61d0e81558a96d100f35a238
My ninth article on CubeCobra! Let me know if there’s a card that I missed and I’ll respond back with the hottest of takes. Also, feel free to join the Online Cube Drafts Discord Group to discuss all things Cube plus use Xmage to host tournaments to draft / play with our own cubes!
https://discord.gg/wRVzHQR
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
There are a few comments I would like to add about cards mentioned here:
- Phoenix of Ash/ Court of Grace were fine cards, but their slots were just too competitive.
- ECD/ Ashiok, Nightmare Muse performing well in my opinion set the new tone for the template of finishers - They don't need to have a massively strong effect, but having conditional disruption (or some form of disruption) is strong. Cards like Oko, Teferi, Grist have taken front seat over the more traditional top end/ finishers such as Jace, Mentor, Psyatog etc.
- Dream Trawler felt interesting as it was both a serviceable reanimation target and a control win con.
One card that I do want to point out is Shark Typhoon:
"I don't think it's ever been in my sideboard of a blue deck since it's always useful and is a pretty easy 2 for 1 in most scenarios."
There have been several cards printed recently that are so strong, that it is a mistake for decks in their colors to not run them - Ragavan, Rankle etc. I'm not sure if this is a good direction or a bad direction. On one side it reduces the number of narrow cards by artificially improving discard outlets, fast mana and in this case storm win cons, but it also makes a slightly weaker draft experience with prioritizing picks.
The other point is I been pretty happy about the number of aristocrats/ persist enablers printed recently - I felt they really helped to push these archetypes as not only playables but competitive, non-parasitic decks.
Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Here are some other articles I've written about fine tuning your cube:
1. Minimum Archetype Support
2. Improving Green Archetypes
3. Improving White Archetypes
4. Matchup Analysis
5. Cube Combos (Work in Progress)
Draft my Cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/d8i
In the article, I mentioned that I used to do an end of the year summary on Reddit called The (insert year here) Golden Cube Awards, which I delayed (and then eventually forgot about) in 2020 because Commander Legends came out so late and I needed more time with it to do it justice, but I eventually forgot about doing the whole thing. This is me picking up where I left off from that series.
Also, a lot of people haven't really been able to play with their cubes since the start of the pandemic, so I felt that 2020 would be a good year to do a retrospective for those people.
I definitely agree with Court of Grace, but I think Phoenix of Ash is pretty up there. It's arguably the best mono red beater at 3-cmc due to its reach. I do like it more than Laelia and think that only Rabblemaster is ahead of it due to its versatility / 2R mana cost.
Thanks for reading!
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
I had no idea Phoenix of Ash was such a big hit for you.
The other surprises for me are:
-Elder Gargaroth being dishonorable (seemed like at minimum an honorable mention / solid)
-Thieving Skydiver being lower than greatest hit