I have been interested in Cube for a while, but I have never actually purchased one physically. I have been maintaining a 360 Pauper Cube for several sets now, and I really enjoy it, but being all commons and not really being comparable to, say, Legacy Cube, I wasn't really excited about purchasing it, even though that was my intention. Then it struck me: my collection actually has a lot of great cards for a rare cube! I looked through my collection, got a list together. (LINK: http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/38744) I own 242 of the cards (tagged "Owned") so it won't cost too much to buy/trade for the rest.
However, I have very little experience with designing rare cubes. I have done some research and learned a lot to get this far, but it is still pretty rough. I am looking for some advice on how to refine it a little more, any budget staples that I am missing but belong, and what archetypes seems supported versus which archetypes/colors seems weak and/or unfocused. Keep in mind I would like to keep my cards in as much as possible so I can keep the price relatively low. That said, if any cards, owned or otherwise, seem too far below the level of the cube or just clearly don't belong please let me know. I want to have a good, solid starting point that I can continue to build upon later.
Hi, it looks like your cube is off to a pretty good start, but since it sounds like you'd like to keep your costs down as you upgrade your cube I'd recommend checking out this list I've compiled of cube staples that cost less than $2 apiece. A lot of the best aggro beaters, spot removal spells, cantrips, and reanimation targets cost very little. If you use opaque sleeves and don't mind running gold-bordered cards, you might also want to check out World Championship editions of some of the older cube staples that are available for a fraction of the price of a tournament legal card. It's as close to proxying as I generally like to come. A lot of them are available at Troll and Toad as singles here.
Aside from the budget cube staples, I'd recommend checking out the current Power Rankings to see the cards the forum community has voted for as the most powerful cards available for cube. I noticed that you do have plenty of mana fixing in your lands, which is great, but a lot of it comes into play tapped besides the pain lands. I know that full cycles of ABU duals, fetches, and shocks aren't cheap, but as you upgrade I'd recommend making getting better duals a priority. The M10/Innistrad check lands are fairly cheap and make decent placeholders, and the new BFZ duals look like they'd be decent placeholders as well. I'd also recommending adding more 2-power 1-drops in White, Black, and Red. The good news is that most of those are really cheap.
In the meantime, don't be shy about just throwing together the best cards you have right now and drafting with your friends. The first iteration of my cube was just draft leftovers and junk rares from random rare lots and it was still a blast to draft.
I'd also like to invite you to try out the "Draft the Above Person's Cube" thread. It's a fun way to check out other people's cubes, see what kinds of things people can draft from your cube, and generate Draft Picks data on Cubetutor.
I hope all this helps. Welcome to the best format in Magic!
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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.
Thanks for the help! Your under $2 list is great, I had no idea Channel was so dang cheap The "Draft the Above Person's Cube" thread looks awesome, I will certainly check it out. What happens if two people draft the same cube and both post at around the same time?
As for 2 power 1-drops, how many is a good number? I have 5 1-drops in each of those colors, and while they aren't all 2 power, they are all aggressive. Should I be switching out some of the (very good) 1/1s for 1 for 2/1s for 1, or should I be expanding the colors 1-drop sections by 1 or 2 cards?
EDIT: I went ahead and switched Seal of Fire for Firedrinker Satyr, since red is the most aggressive and seal isn't amazing.
I own a Flesh Carver, but I was not aware it was a very cubeable card. How good is it in Cube? Should I remove, say, Royal Assassin for it?
I would start with stuff that I own and build from there, but I have so few white cards and virtually no fixing, so I figured I might as well start a little bit higher than that.
Your under $2 list is great, I had no idea Channel was so dang cheap
Thanks! I'm glad you're finding it helpful.
What happens if two people draft the same cube and both post at around the same time?
A good way to avoid that is to post "Drafting so-and-so's cube...." before you actually start drafting, then edit that post with your deck list and comments after you're finished.
As for 2 power 1-drops, how many is a good number?
Seven each in white, red, and black. I don't count 1-power 1-drops towards that count unless they have a good chance of growing bigger on their own like Student of Warfare or Stromkirk Noble. Single power one drops that are there as utility critters like Mother of Runes or Grim Lavamancer should be in addition to that 7. I'd cut Anointer of Champions and Doomed Traveler, but count Carrion Feeder, Mogg Fanatic, and Frenzied Goblin as placeholders until you get something better.
I own a Flesh Carver, but I was not aware it was a very cubeable card. How good is it in Cube?
It's fantastic. It's an evasive beater that doubles as a sac outlet, can grow, and replaces itself when it dies. It's great support for aggro, recursion, token strategies, and more. It's one of the best black 3-drops available right now.
Should I remove, say, Royal Assassin for it?
That looks like a pretty good cut to me.
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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.
Thanks for the tips! I do like Anointer of Champions as an aggro/token enabler of sorts, but it may be that it doesn't pan out. It will certainly be upgraded eventually. I also added Blood Scrivener to black since the aggro support at 2 was a little shallow.
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I have been interested in Cube for a while, but I have never actually purchased one physically. I have been maintaining a 360 Pauper Cube for several sets now, and I really enjoy it, but being all commons and not really being comparable to, say, Legacy Cube, I wasn't really excited about purchasing it, even though that was my intention. Then it struck me: my collection actually has a lot of great cards for a rare cube! I looked through my collection, got a list together. (LINK: http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/38744) I own 242 of the cards (tagged "Owned") so it won't cost too much to buy/trade for the rest.
However, I have very little experience with designing rare cubes. I have done some research and learned a lot to get this far, but it is still pretty rough. I am looking for some advice on how to refine it a little more, any budget staples that I am missing but belong, and what archetypes seems supported versus which archetypes/colors seems weak and/or unfocused. Keep in mind I would like to keep my cards in as much as possible so I can keep the price relatively low. That said, if any cards, owned or otherwise, seem too far below the level of the cube or just clearly don't belong please let me know. I want to have a good, solid starting point that I can continue to build upon later.
Thanks in advance!
Aside from the budget cube staples, I'd recommend checking out the current Power Rankings to see the cards the forum community has voted for as the most powerful cards available for cube. I noticed that you do have plenty of mana fixing in your lands, which is great, but a lot of it comes into play tapped besides the pain lands. I know that full cycles of ABU duals, fetches, and shocks aren't cheap, but as you upgrade I'd recommend making getting better duals a priority. The M10/Innistrad check lands are fairly cheap and make decent placeholders, and the new BFZ duals look like they'd be decent placeholders as well. I'd also recommending adding more 2-power 1-drops in White, Black, and Red. The good news is that most of those are really cheap.
In the meantime, don't be shy about just throwing together the best cards you have right now and drafting with your friends. The first iteration of my cube was just draft leftovers and junk rares from random rare lots and it was still a blast to draft.
I'd also like to invite you to try out the "Draft the Above Person's Cube" thread. It's a fun way to check out other people's cubes, see what kinds of things people can draft from your cube, and generate Draft Picks data on Cubetutor.
I hope all this helps. Welcome to the best format in Magic!
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
As for 2 power 1-drops, how many is a good number? I have 5 1-drops in each of those colors, and while they aren't all 2 power, they are all aggressive. Should I be switching out some of the (very good) 1/1s for 1 for 2/1s for 1, or should I be expanding the colors 1-drop sections by 1 or 2 cards?
EDIT: I went ahead and switched Seal of Fire for Firedrinker Satyr, since red is the most aggressive and seal isn't amazing.
I own a Flesh Carver, but I was not aware it was a very cubeable card. How good is it in Cube? Should I remove, say, Royal Assassin for it?
I would start with stuff that I own and build from there, but I have so few white cards and virtually no fixing, so I figured I might as well start a little bit higher than that.
Thanks! I'm glad you're finding it helpful.
A good way to avoid that is to post "Drafting so-and-so's cube...." before you actually start drafting, then edit that post with your deck list and comments after you're finished.
Seven each in white, red, and black. I don't count 1-power 1-drops towards that count unless they have a good chance of growing bigger on their own like Student of Warfare or Stromkirk Noble. Single power one drops that are there as utility critters like Mother of Runes or Grim Lavamancer should be in addition to that 7. I'd cut Anointer of Champions and Doomed Traveler, but count Carrion Feeder, Mogg Fanatic, and Frenzied Goblin as placeholders until you get something better.
It's fantastic. It's an evasive beater that doubles as a sac outlet, can grow, and replaces itself when it dies. It's great support for aggro, recursion, token strategies, and more. It's one of the best black 3-drops available right now.
That looks like a pretty good cut to me.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.