How are you all doing? It's been a while.
Today I plan on going 'Binder Hunting' to a Trading Card Store and was looking to update my Multicolor section as I feel it lacks on power in some colors.
Currently I'm playing 5 cards in each color pair and I feel it's the right number. To support the fixing I've got Signets, Trilands and Painlands (my only rares in my Cube) so that's not an issue.
AZORIUS: (Bounce/Flicker/Fliers) Reflector Mage Cloudblazer Migratory Route Roil Spout Azorius Guildmage (on the watchlist, maybe I'll add Thunderclap Wyvern because there are plenty of fliers in U/W)
Also, have Momentary Blink as a white card
This is the part of building my cube that I've had the most problems with, 5 spots are so difficult to choose!!!
Feel free to post your own Multicolor sections and I'll be happy to help!
Thanks!
The Guildmage is like 95% white, you play it in GW all the time. I also hate Momentary Blink as "white", nobody ever wants a twice-the-cost Cloudshift unless they're flashing it back. The actual UW spells you have are fine, though I prefer Skymark Roc or the 3/1 detain flyer to Roil Spout.
Boros:
Iroas's Champion should probably be Hearthfire Hobgoblin. Order/Chaos definitely doesn't "count" here; the other options all kinda suck but your Boros decks would generally be happy with a Skyknight Legionnaire. Sunhome Guildmage is also a good one.
Dimir:
Baleful Strix is an absolute staple and now only like two bucks. I like Ribbons of Night considerably more than Probe.
Golgari:
Golgari Germination... how often is this actually better than a Hordeling Outburst? I'm super skeptical of it. Nyx Weaver is also a great catch-all 'graveyard' card.
Gruul:
None of your cards here really indicate the "big guys/ramp" theme. And even if you do just want midrange 4-drops, Ghor-Clan Rampager is considerably better than both Incarnate and the landfall dude. Try Voltaic Brawler as another good 2-drop.
Izzet:
Looks great as-is.
Orzhov:
Castigate is pretty awful; Maw of the Obzedat is crazy good in tokens decks.
Rakdos:
The Bloodsworn is definitely a mono-black card. And Cackler is the perfect example of why a lot of people don't count single-cost hybrids as guild cards; 70% of 2-color decks can play the Cackler, so it's silly to slot it in as something that's just supposed to be for Rakdos. Fire Covenant is arguably the best gold card in cube (banned by some people). Other options are Blightning and Rix-Maadi Guildmage.
Selesnya:
No Kitchen Finks? It's annoyingly like ten bucks, but absurdly good. Without using that, I'd cut everything other than Cloak then add probably Qasali Pridemage, Enlisted Wurm, Trostani's Summoner, and... I dunno, Juniper Order Ranger maybe?
Simic:
If you really want that color to be draw-go and/or control, Mystic Genesis!
The Olivia's Bloodsworn is definitely a mono-black card. And Rakdos Cackler is the perfect example of why a lot of people don't count single-cost hybrids as guild cards; 70% of 2-color decks can play the Cackler, so it's silly to slot it in as something that's just supposed to be for Rakdos
What you say about the Rakdos Cackler is pretty interesting. Fire Covenant is banned for me. It's too swingy.
The cost is too danm high! Maybe someday I'll add it. The fact that 90% of the cards in my cube are $0,25 is one of the reasons I started Peasant-ing.
Added Trostani's Summoner and Juniper Order Ranger
How big's the cube? 50 gold cards is a lot, even at 540, especially with crappy Peasant fixing. And you even admit that cards in your list are worse than usual or are just bad - if the cards are wasting space, cut them! They're making your cube less fun. Your pet card doesn't do anyone any good if it isn't actually playable and just rots as a last pick buried in someone's sideboards.
Pay attention to your curve, considering other cards that are going into various archetypes. Your Gruul section, for instance is all 4-drops, so even if you have 2 Gruul drafters, there's going to be a generic RG fatty going last pick somewhere - especially considering how many monocolored staples go into the GR fatties archetype already (Bloodfray Giant, Blastoderm, Phantom Centaur, Briarhorn, Embodiment of Fury, etc.)
I'm not picking anything in the Simic or Selesnya colors in my first 8 picks per pack, so that's probably not a good sign.
Yes bloodsworn should be black. If you're putting it in your golgari and orzhov decks it's black
Baleful strix is pricey, but ribbons of night is now
izzet is fine
I'm still under the impression that golgari germination is a bad card.. Obelisk Spider is probably a much better slow card, and putrid leech is never bad.
Grove rumbler is a 3/3 atleast half the time. Complete trash. Ghor-clan rampager however is tres magnefique
You should definitely diversify these so they aren't all fours.
I can't see an orzhov section without mentioning Maw of the obzedat. It's like an overrun with multiple applications. It doesn't need to be in tokens, it just needs to be in a deck thqat expects to have a bunch of guys, and that can me from spectral procesion or merely curving out.
Zealous persecution also merits a mention. Lay bare the heart invalidates castigate, so gerrad's verdict should be the discard spell here (or tidehollow sculler) if you really want one for some reason.
Your rakdios section is why I don't like people ascribing a theme to a 2 color combination. What if someone wants to build rakdos control? Bituminous blast is something to consider.
Selesnya
Trostani's summoner missing in a "ramp" section?
??
Simic
I son't have strong feelings about simic in general, but trygon predator and shardless agent are miles better than these.
Here's a short list of suggestions. Some of the cards have already been mentioned, but I think they're fairly important, so they've been mentioned again.
As for assigning themes to guilds, I'd suggest thinking in shards and wedges. For example, Rakdos is part of Grixis, Jund and Mardu. That gives you three (sometimes overlapping) themes for the guild and is a good guideline on the way to creating variety in drafts.
Oh, I remember arguing with klug about urban evolution.
I still think that it's not worth paying 1 extra mana on top of concentrate to ramp you (and it's only ramp if you have 2+ lands in the top 4 cards, and it's only ramp for a turn or two in that circumstance)
It's ramp if you have two lands in hand after drawing three cards. Not that hard in a ramp deck where a lot of ramp spells put lands into your hand anyway (Cultivate for instance). There's also a good chance you can play it as early as turn three, because it's green, so there's more than a turn or two of ramp in it while slightly lowering your chances of topdecking lands. At worst it's 5 mana draw 3 if you topdeck it later, which is a pretty good worst case scenario.
I can see not running it, it's not the most powerful option, but I can't really see the case for "not worth it" tbh.
You also need the SEVENTH mana source for it to truly matter. Like, Evolution on five, play land six, then not hit a land drop on the following turn... welp.
I mean it's fine, but boring; like Terminate, only instead of being a slightly but notably better Go for the Throat (which is of course an absolute staple) it's a sideways move at best from Concentrate / Tidings.
He did mention that you could have extra mana sources from other green cards, but only cultivate and its partner ramp and put a land in hand. Civic wayfinder's extra land is a turn behind the clock for a ramp spell, giving you less of a likelihood of getting that 7th land.
How are you all doing? It's been a while.
Today I plan on going 'Binder Hunting' to a Trading Card Store and was looking to update my Multicolor section as I feel it lacks on power in some colors.
Currently I'm playing 5 cards in each color pair and I feel it's the right number. To support the fixing I've got Signets, Trilands and Painlands (my only rares in my Cube) so that's not an issue.
AZORIUS: (Bounce/Flicker/Fliers)
Reflector Mage
Cloudblazer
Migratory Route
Roil Spout
Azorius Guildmage (on the watchlist, maybe I'll add Thunderclap Wyvern because there are plenty of fliers in U/W)
Also, have Momentary Blink as a white card
BOROS: (Aggro/Burn/Equipments)
Boros Charm
Honored Crop-Captain
Iroas's Champion
Order // Chaos (lol)
Weapons Trainer (4 equipments in Cube)
DIMIR: (Control, Graveyard)
Cavern Harpy (Love this card)
Dinrova Horror
Probe
Psychatog
Recoil (is this redundant with a Dinrova Horror too?)
IZZET: (Spells Matter, Control)
Enigma Drake
Fire // Ice
Gelectrode
Jilt
Stormchaser Mage
GOLGARI: (Sacrifice, Graveyard Matters)
Baloth Null
Catacomb Sifter
Golgari Germination
Life // Death
Putrefy
GRUUL: (Big guys, Ramp)
Burning-Tree Emissary (Should be considered a red creature?)
Bloodbraid Elf
Grove Rumbler (meh)
Gruul War Chant
Zendikar Incarnate (early game a 4/4 for 4, late game a 7>/4 for 4)
Just realized that 4 of my 5 Gruul cards have 4 CMC...
ORZHOV: (Enchantments, Control)
Blood-Cursed Knight
Lingering Souls
Unburial Rites
Castigate
Pillory of the Sleepless
RAKDOS: (Aggro, Burn)
Rakdos Cackler
Olivia's Bloodsworn (should I consider it a Black card?)
Spike Jester
Terminate
Murderous Redcap
SELESYNA: (Big Guys, Ramp, +1/+1 Counters)
Armadillo Cloak
Citadel Castellan
Joraga Auxiliary
Steel Leaf Paladin (3/10)
Wax // Wane (yea.... I'm so sorry)
This is the section I'm the least happy with.
SIMIC: (Control, Draw Go, Ramp)
Aether Mutation
Bounding Krasis
Temporal Spring
Void Grafter
Jhessian Infliltrator
This is the part of building my cube that I've had the most problems with, 5 spots are so difficult to choose!!!
Feel free to post your own Multicolor sections and I'll be happy to help!
Thanks!
My Peasant Cube - CubeCobra
The Guildmage is like 95% white, you play it in GW all the time. I also hate Momentary Blink as "white", nobody ever wants a twice-the-cost Cloudshift unless they're flashing it back. The actual UW spells you have are fine, though I prefer Skymark Roc or the 3/1 detain flyer to Roil Spout.
Boros:
Iroas's Champion should probably be Hearthfire Hobgoblin. Order/Chaos definitely doesn't "count" here; the other options all kinda suck but your Boros decks would generally be happy with a Skyknight Legionnaire. Sunhome Guildmage is also a good one.
Dimir:
Baleful Strix is an absolute staple and now only like two bucks. I like Ribbons of Night considerably more than Probe.
Golgari:
Golgari Germination... how often is this actually better than a Hordeling Outburst? I'm super skeptical of it. Nyx Weaver is also a great catch-all 'graveyard' card.
Gruul:
None of your cards here really indicate the "big guys/ramp" theme. And even if you do just want midrange 4-drops, Ghor-Clan Rampager is considerably better than both Incarnate and the landfall dude. Try Voltaic Brawler as another good 2-drop.
Izzet:
Looks great as-is.
Orzhov:
Castigate is pretty awful; Maw of the Obzedat is crazy good in tokens decks.
Rakdos:
The Bloodsworn is definitely a mono-black card. And Cackler is the perfect example of why a lot of people don't count single-cost hybrids as guild cards; 70% of 2-color decks can play the Cackler, so it's silly to slot it in as something that's just supposed to be for Rakdos. Fire Covenant is arguably the best gold card in cube (banned by some people). Other options are Blightning and Rix-Maadi Guildmage.
Selesnya:
No Kitchen Finks? It's annoyingly like ten bucks, but absurdly good. Without using that, I'd cut everything other than Cloak then add probably Qasali Pridemage, Enlisted Wurm, Trostani's Summoner, and... I dunno, Juniper Order Ranger maybe?
Simic:
If you really want that color to be draw-go and/or control, Mystic Genesis!
Will be looking for it. Didn't know it was so cheap nowadays.
Added the Rampager & I'll be looking for the Brawler.
I'm so ashamed of this section, lol.
B/W isn't that Token oriented in my Cube, so I'm skeptical about Maw of Obzedat, it looks sweet though.
Maybe swap Castigate for Gerrard's Verdict
What you say about the Rakdos Cackler is pretty interesting.
Fire Covenant is banned for me. It's too swingy.
Wow, nice one. Maybe I'll swap for Void Grafter
What's your general opinion on River Hoopoe?
The cost is too danm high! Maybe someday I'll add it. The fact that 90% of the cards in my cube are $0,25 is one of the reasons I started Peasant-ing.
Added Trostani's Summoner and Juniper Order Ranger
Again, thank you very much for your feedback.
My Peasant Cube - CubeCobra
How big's the cube? 50 gold cards is a lot, even at 540, especially with crappy Peasant fixing. And you even admit that cards in your list are worse than usual or are just bad - if the cards are wasting space, cut them! They're making your cube less fun. Your pet card doesn't do anyone any good if it isn't actually playable and just rots as a last pick buried in someone's sideboards.
Pay attention to your curve, considering other cards that are going into various archetypes. Your Gruul section, for instance is all 4-drops, so even if you have 2 Gruul drafters, there's going to be a generic RG fatty going last pick somewhere - especially considering how many monocolored staples go into the GR fatties archetype already (Bloodfray Giant, Blastoderm, Phantom Centaur, Briarhorn, Embodiment of Fury, etc.)
I'm not picking anything in the Simic or Selesnya colors in my first 8 picks per pack, so that's probably not a good sign.
Boros could use Rally the peasants or more realistically Goblin Trenches
Yes bloodsworn should be black. If you're putting it in your golgari and orzhov decks it's black
Baleful strix is pricey, but ribbons of night is now
izzet is fine
I'm still under the impression that golgari germination is a bad card.. Obelisk Spider is probably a much better slow card, and putrid leech is never bad.
Grove rumbler is a 3/3 atleast half the time. Complete trash. Ghor-clan rampager however is tres magnefique
You should definitely diversify these so they aren't all fours.
I can't see an orzhov section without mentioning Maw of the obzedat. It's like an overrun with multiple applications. It doesn't need to be in tokens, it just needs to be in a deck thqat expects to have a bunch of guys, and that can me from spectral procesion or merely curving out.
Zealous persecution also merits a mention. Lay bare the heart invalidates castigate, so gerrad's verdict should be the discard spell here (or tidehollow sculler) if you really want one for some reason.
Your rakdios section is why I don't like people ascribing a theme to a 2 color combination. What if someone wants to build rakdos control? Bituminous blast is something to consider.
Selesnya
Trostani's summoner missing in a "ramp" section?
??
Simic
I son't have strong feelings about simic in general, but trygon predator and shardless agent are miles better than these.
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
As for assigning themes to guilds, I'd suggest thinking in shards and wedges. For example, Rakdos is part of Grixis, Jund and Mardu. That gives you three (sometimes overlapping) themes for the guild and is a good guideline on the way to creating variety in drafts.
I still think that it's not worth paying 1 extra mana on top of concentrate to ramp you (and it's only ramp if you have 2+ lands in the top 4 cards, and it's only ramp for a turn or two in that circumstance)
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 can see not running it, it's not the most powerful option, but I can't really see the case for "not worth it" tbh.
It's only actually "great" when you're specifically ramping to 7 and you had the lands to take advantage of the temporary boost.
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 mean it's fine, but boring; like Terminate, only instead of being a slightly but notably better Go for the Throat (which is of course an absolute staple) it's a sideways move at best from Concentrate / Tidings.
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