Especially the first time new players draft your cube, table LD because it seems "not good", then are blown out by it. I would probably not draft with those people again
Aura Crossovers:
Bestow creatures - work with Gravediggers, and make Auramancer a gravedigger
Cantrip/Recurring/187 Auras - they become borderline equipment.
--> Constellation Creatures are a consideration
--Drake Familiar, and "Kitty".dec (Kor Skyfisher/Dream Stalker)
You are all over the map. I see tokens everywhere, not just in limited archetypes. You have a little bit of a lot of stuff. I hope this works My Draft.
I got pulled away from WR Swarm by seeing too much good stuff that was better than synergistic stuff
I agree that Lffering is a soft counter. But, when you're playing it, it will be a hard counter. Hit a 4cc+, and they usually will not have 4 open. That said, yes, it is like #10 on my list. Sweet foil art though.
I stopped worrying about "Solid" Gold (multi-color casting cost) and embrassed tbe Color ID rule b/c getting to 3 guild cards on par with each other is hard. And if you have 3 WG, then count Trave Prep as green, your WGx decks can get nuts
Well, you are defining Gold as "requiring multiple colors to cast". Many, including myself, also use "Color Identity" Gold cards like Hybrid mana, or off-color casting/ability.
Simic has beaters. Not an overflowing amount but they have 2 Flying, Trample 3/X's.
Do you count off-color cards like Shrieking Grotesque?
Do you count Hybrid mana?
If not, then I mostly agree with you statement about filler material and staying with 2 or so cards. Although, I do love the double landcyling series from Alara Reborn.
As for constructing a section, look to the theme of the 2 color pair. Example, Boros is overflowing with beaters. But, there is a slight swarm theme. That is why I run War Flare . Dimir is mostly Tempo/Control, so I gave them Recoil and Agony Warp
Well if you sandbagged the untap cards like Frantic Search and Cloud, it could combo Jwar isle Avenger. But that requires too much. We do run "enough" karoos, but not worth it.
How have been BFZ cards for people?
I am updating my 2nd article about Cross-Pollinating themes. Here is a glimpse at the update. Feedback appreciated.
--Exile Matters--
This comes on the heels of Battle for Zendikar. They introduced Ingest, a mechanic that exiles a card from the top of a library upon combat damage. This is akin to the old Poison mechanic. That dealt damage, did not replace the damage, but added a mediocre “1 Poison” as a bonus. Now, enter Ingest. The mechanic is not meant to be a permanent “Decking” strategy, no there are cards that care about what is in exile. More importantly, what your opponent has in exile. Mind Raker is a cute example here. If you simply had the ability trigger regardless, it would be playable out of the gates. But, it does not; instead you have to jump through unnecessary hoops.
This is from the exact same set as Ingest, so naturally this is supposed to be tied in. Cube-wise though, there are some interesting ways to make Murk Strider. Oracle of Dust, and Ruin Processor playable. Answers lie in the mechanicsDelve, Haunt, Rebound, Suspend and Flashback. They exile themselves, and/or others to pay a cost. There is also things like the blue Skaabs of Dark Ascension, see Stitched Drake, or the “Remove X” to do “_____” like Harvest Pyre.
Where does this cross-over? Flashback can be part of a Graveyard matters theme. And many of the universally praised things like Deep Analysis or Travel Preparations get played for their Flashback cost.
Rebound cards live in Exile for a turn, that leaves a window of opportunity. So do Conditionally Exiled things from Oblivion Ring or Faceless Butcher.
Then there are the ever so To-the-Point Exile cards in Graveyards. i.e. Faerie Macabre, Thoughtpicker Witch and the often replaced Bojuka Bog
To make this even easier to integrated, look at the big, awesome use of Delve.
Where does/can “Exile Matters” go? Well, first you need to find some cards that care about Exile. The aforementioned 3 are a good starting point. Then look to see if you think those effects are worth triggering. If so, look at how many things already, can, or choose to Exile. Sometimes it can be as simple as turning a Card Advantage blue spell like Sift into Treasure Cruise. Or even just having 5+ Flashback cards. Or.. Or.. you get the idea, look for the words “Remove from Game” or Exile. These may have a place if you have hosers-to-counters in a Graveyard Matters cube, want interesting ways to handle Rebound or Suspend.
--Colorless Requiring Cards--
Oath of the Gatewatch introduced a new look to Colorless Mana. To make people notice, and endear them to, the change they made cards that can only be activated by Colorless Mana.
Just some examples, and Wilds can grab Wastes (Basic Land). So, there is the access point. Now, is it worth it? Sort of. The more aggressive ones want the mana early. That may be more of a problem. The midrange bodies like the Pathfinder or Gravity Negator mean they can wait a few turns for the mana to show up, since they cost a bit.
Control decks like their Mana Rocks (Mind Stone). So the Control ones like Blinding Drone, would work rather easily. Even Kozilek’s Pathfinder is a fine finisher.
An odd coincidence is the following christmasland scenario:
You use a Panarama to use the abilities of one of those Drones. They die. Now your LandfallGeyser field Stalker or Wave-Wing Elemental needs to do some damage. Just sac that Panarama for Landfall, or its normal use of finding a 3rd color for your splash Fireball. Quicksand is a common card in 17+ Land control decks, and it makes colorless.
Maybe you need to get another basic type for your Domain cards. Perhaps your Shimmering Grotto makes the 5th color for your Heliophial. That same Heliophial could be in an Artifact -themed Cube with Proliferate.
What color are Artifacts? Colorless. Well that works with Dominator Drone easily enough.
Battle for Zendikar block is giving us tools for odd, misshapen, cubes. All we have to do is find what else goes with the mechanics instead of just tunnel vision on the mechanic itself.
The discussion for the cheap Fadings cards, like Cloudskate, is they are aggro. They suicide in because they will die anyways. I like the G 2/3 with Fading 3, I put them in similar shoes, and if you want aggro, atleast it won't die to Pingers; if that is a thing.
I honestly think the Parrot is acceptable with the cube power now.
Devoid could/May be good. We still have 10 months of MtG to see. Vestige is such a wierd/wonderful combination of things that it may stick around in my cube for a while. Literally any archetype can use it. It is just a solid thing. Considering prvious to a few sets ago, 3/3 Trample for 4cc was standard, this could be powercreep.
I just replaced Ill-Tempered with Vestige. It is picked higher because there are no extra hoops, and in a pinch aggro is ok with Vestige because of the 4 toughnes
But to be fair to the long time contributions, we invested the ti e in those 8 page "set discussion/preview" threads. So if you want results, put the effort in; read.
Too many. And then you are drafting on wheels. I made a pauper artifact cube, it is cool to have, but way too hard to not be in Metalcraft/Affinity. I included almost every Equip-matters and Infect I could find too.
@metalevolence:
Repeatable "Blink" is obviously about getting more 187 abilities to trigger. You have the Blink spells (Cloudshift, Otherworldly Journey, don't forget Undying Evil, etc), you have Gating (Keymaster, Invasive Species), and to an extent Graveyard Recursion. Just because it does not come back from play, does not mean it does not come back.
Some are not as great. But other ideas for the Return a Permanent include Gating lands (Mortuary Mire), Enchantments (Oblivion Ring, Faith's Fetters, Reality Acid, Galvanic Arc), or Artifacts (Prophetic Prism).
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Bestow creatures - work with Gravediggers, and make Auramancer a gravedigger
Cantrip/Recurring/187 Auras - they become borderline equipment.
--> Constellation Creatures are a consideration
--Drake Familiar, and "Kitty".dec (Kor Skyfisher/Dream Stalker)
Heroic - can be evaluated
Prowess - crossover with recurring Auras
Licids - maybe?!? Also borderline equipment
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You are all over the map. I see tokens everywhere, not just in limited archetypes. You have a little bit of a lot of stuff. I hope this works My Draft.
I got pulled away from WR Swarm by seeing too much good stuff that was better than synergistic stuff
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I am almost thinking just to have uneven guilds. The stonger gold guilds get more gold, the weaker get less and even out with hybrid "playables"
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Simic has beaters. Not an overflowing amount but they have 2 Flying, Trample 3/X's.
Do you count off-color cards like Shrieking Grotesque?
Do you count Hybrid mana?
If not, then I mostly agree with you statement about filler material and staying with 2 or so cards. Although, I do love the double landcyling series from Alara Reborn.
As for constructing a section, look to the theme of the 2 color pair. Example, Boros is overflowing with beaters. But, there is a slight swarm theme. That is why I run War Flare . Dimir is mostly Tempo/Control, so I gave them Recoil and Agony Warp
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How have been BFZ cards for people?
I am updating my 2nd article about Cross-Pollinating themes. Here is a glimpse at the update. Feedback appreciated.
--Exile Matters--
This comes on the heels of Battle for Zendikar. They introduced Ingest, a mechanic that exiles a card from the top of a library upon combat damage. This is akin to the old Poison mechanic. That dealt damage, did not replace the damage, but added a mediocre “1 Poison” as a bonus. Now, enter Ingest. The mechanic is not meant to be a permanent “Decking” strategy, no there are cards that care about what is in exile. More importantly, what your opponent has in exile. Mind Raker is a cute example here. If you simply had the ability trigger regardless, it would be playable out of the gates. But, it does not; instead you have to jump through unnecessary hoops.
This is from the exact same set as Ingest, so naturally this is supposed to be tied in. Cube-wise though, there are some interesting ways to make Murk Strider. Oracle of Dust, and Ruin Processor playable. Answers lie in the mechanics Delve, Haunt, Rebound, Suspend and Flashback. They exile themselves, and/or others to pay a cost. There is also things like the blue Skaabs of Dark Ascension, see Stitched Drake, or the “Remove X” to do “_____” like Harvest Pyre.
Where does this cross-over? Flashback can be part of a Graveyard matters theme. And many of the universally praised things like Deep Analysis or Travel Preparations get played for their Flashback cost.
Rebound cards live in Exile for a turn, that leaves a window of opportunity. So do Conditionally Exiled things from Oblivion Ring or Faceless Butcher.
Then there are the ever so To-the-Point Exile cards in Graveyards. i.e. Faerie Macabre, Thoughtpicker Witch and the often replaced Bojuka Bog
To make this even easier to integrated, look at the big, awesome use of Delve.
Easy to find those in some cubes.
Where does/can “Exile Matters” go? Well, first you need to find some cards that care about Exile. The aforementioned 3 are a good starting point. Then look to see if you think those effects are worth triggering. If so, look at how many things already, can, or choose to Exile. Sometimes it can be as simple as turning a Card Advantage blue spell like Sift into Treasure Cruise. Or even just having 5+ Flashback cards. Or.. Or.. you get the idea, look for the words “Remove from Game” or Exile. These may have a place if you have hosers-to-counters in a Graveyard Matters cube, want interesting ways to handle Rebound or Suspend.
--Colorless Requiring Cards--
Oath of the Gatewatch introduced a new look to Colorless Mana. To make people notice, and endear them to, the change they made cards that can only be activated by Colorless Mana.
Now, the trick is how do you get Colorless Mana without it being ‘Colored’? Answer:
Just some examples, and Wilds can grab Wastes (Basic Land). So, there is the access point. Now, is it worth it? Sort of. The more aggressive ones want the mana early. That may be more of a problem. The midrange bodies like the Pathfinder or Gravity Negator mean they can wait a few turns for the mana to show up, since they cost a bit.
Control decks like their Mana Rocks (Mind Stone). So the Control ones like Blinding Drone, would work rather easily. Even Kozilek’s Pathfinder is a fine finisher.
An odd coincidence is the following christmasland scenario:
You use a Panarama to use the abilities of one of those Drones. They die. Now your Landfall Geyser field Stalker or Wave-Wing Elemental needs to do some damage. Just sac that Panarama for Landfall, or its normal use of finding a 3rd color for your splash Fireball. Quicksand is a common card in 17+ Land control decks, and it makes colorless.
Maybe you need to get another basic type for your Domain cards. Perhaps your Shimmering Grotto makes the 5th color for your Heliophial. That same Heliophial could be in an Artifact -themed Cube with Proliferate.
What color are Artifacts? Colorless. Well that works with Dominator Drone easily enough.
Battle for Zendikar block is giving us tools for odd, misshapen, cubes. All we have to do is find what else goes with the mechanics instead of just tunnel vision on the mechanic itself.
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I honestly think the Parrot is acceptable with the cube power now.
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Direct, but true.
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Repeatable "Blink" is obviously about getting more 187 abilities to trigger. You have the Blink spells (Cloudshift, Otherworldly Journey, don't forget Undying Evil, etc), you have Gating (Keymaster, Invasive Species), and to an extent Graveyard Recursion. Just because it does not come back from play, does not mean it does not come back.
You have hidden value cards like:
Some are not as great. But other ideas for the Return a Permanent include Gating lands (Mortuary Mire), Enchantments (Oblivion Ring, Faith's Fetters, Reality Acid, Galvanic Arc), or Artifacts (Prophetic Prism).
Loose Change Pauper Cube-cast
Pauper Cube Article #1
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