The joy of a pauper cube, for me, is being able to always come home from a prerelease with cards to add to my cube. Pauper Cube mimics in many ways a limited environment, since common cards usually make up the bulk of one's limited deck. A pauper cube is a place to cheaply construct a representation of your favorite affordable cards to play with through the ages. It's fun to see what old commons make the cut for cube, and what new commons do to change the environment. Pauper Cubes are also quite versatile and allow a great variety of cubes to be shaped around such a simple stipulation. Some people like a powered pauper cube - that's fine. It means you're always trying to find which commons have been pushed *just enough* so that they're always "strictly better" than other cards. Other Pauper cubes are focused around synergies - it's fun to construct archetypes through affordable cards. Some people like Pauper Cubes because they naturally restrict the complexity of the cards involved. It makes playing Magic feel like the old days when cards did less things. Some people like pauper cubes that run thirty Relentless Rats or ten Rune Snags.
At a certain point one has to concede that Pauper Cubes can be *ANYTHING* the builder wants them to be. The one thing we can all agree on, and the only thing we might need to agree on, is that we like playing with Magic cards that are printed at Common.
I also have Stocking Tiger, which like Booster Tutor pulls cards from the unused portion of the cube.
Additionally, I run two cycles of dual taplands from Coldsnap and Invasion. These aren't Pauper legal, but they're identical to guildgates except they have better art. They aren't full 10 card cycles, just allied colors but oh well.
At a certain point, one wonders if you can even call it a pauper cube if you're running mythics. I do make an exception in Pauper Cube for some Un cards. I've run Booster Tutor before with the stipulation that you had to crack a pack of Fallen Empires that I keep with the cube. I've also been toying with the idea of putting The Grand Calcutron in the cube since i don't know where/when/how else I'd get to play with it, and I love the way it redefines how the game is played.
If you really want someone drafting a 5 color deck, why not include something that's actually on the Pauper power level - Dragonsoul Knight. It used to be uncommon, to give you an idea of the assumed strength of it (in a set with abundant mana fixing). It just seems like 5c mythics are way too swingy for this format. I've run Dragonsoul myself, it's a fun achievement to unlock!
Tern and Omenspeaker are very different cards. I run Tern because I support skies. Speaker is good if you're trying to support ocntrol, and want to be able to defend against aggro. It also gets better with blink effects.
I love Razorfin Hunter. it used to be in my cube, but there are just so many Izzet cards I wanna run, I decided to swap it out. I moved Razorfin Hunter to my old border cube since there are lots of other available ping effects at common. Fireslinger does the same thing, essentially, and is splashable. I'd run lots of pingers if you're worried about Swarm being too strong in your cube. Otherwise I think Hypothesizzle is a really fun and unique card at common. It allows for lots of play options.
I'm trying to make room for both Goblin War Party AND the Giant in my cube. Giant slots into a Gruul ramp/stompy shell, while War Party plays into swarm. Again, it depends on which archetypes need the most support in your cube?
The only Enchantress card I'd run in pauper cube is Aura Gnarlid. Yavimaya Enchantress is a trap. You'd need to be running like 10 enchantments in each color in order for her to ever be guaranteed to be anything bigger than a 3/3 in a typical game. And in that case there re already plenty of vanilla 3/3s for 3cmc to run. Aura Gnarlid only needs one aura in play to already be better than Yavimaya Enchantress, and that's much easier to achieve than running enough enchantments to make the enchantress viable.
The 3 mana white 3/3 with convoke that becomes a 5/5 if you control no tapped lands.
Martyr's Soul is a 3/2 - it becomes a 5/4. Still amazing! I'm trying out a ton in my cube right now. Haven't played with it yet though. I like this "push" in commons recently. Though not many are groundbreaking in any significant way, they enable more reliant synergy between many fun archetypes. They provide a lot more interactions and decision making to games, and make drafts less of a good stuff grab bag.
Thanks for the input. I've decided I'm going to run bouncelands over signets. I want Green ramp to feel special, so it should be the only color to get the fast mana. Other colors don't have much of a midrange plan anyway, and bouncelands can still be abused with free spells like Snap and Peregrine Drake. I think I'll even include Voyaging Satyr to help out green a bit more and it can play with the bouncelands as well.
So as I stated above, I gave my Pauper cube a huge overhaul recently. I had fallen behind with updates around the past three or four sets, and I had been getting sort of bored of the "mandatory" updates to keep my cube strong. So I decided to scale things back and instead focus on developing specific archetypes and synergies in my cube. This allowed me to include a lot of newer cards which peaked my interest over the last few sets, as many seem to be great enablers for decks that would otherwise be too diluted in a Powered pauper cube.
I realize the CubeTutor AI isn't fully rounded out yet, skewing drafts, but I've been managing to construct some really fun looking decks. Blink seems to be a viable archetype, which hadn't been allowed in previous iterations of the cube. Along with Aristocrats in Bx decks, Soul Sisters, Dredge, and Spellslinger, these are all decks that now feel more focused and reliable to draft.
My concerns:
1. Is it too fast? This cube plays low to the ground, and Swarm is abundant since it synergizes with Aristocrats, Soul Sisters, and general aggro plans. I felt I included a number of pingers and a few "wrath" effects to compensate for this, but I dunno if it's enough.
2. Skies seemed like a very aggressive and evasive archetype, so I added lots of creatures with reach. Are there now too many?
3. Lands vs. Signets. Right now I'm running gain lands and bounce lands. I could swap one set of these for Signets to encourage midrange - but are there even any viable midrange decks in this cube? All I see is Big Green Stompy, but that already feel like it has enough ramp support. Or does it?
4. Are there any decks in this cube that seem like they would just dominate beyond belief? That was my concern with Skies, but I could be misevaluating/valuing some cards in here.
Any feedback and advice would be much appreciated! I really value the passion and efforts that you all contribute to this forum!
After dedicating a lot of time to my old border cube, I've decided to return to my pauper cube and give it an overhaul. I'm selling off most of my collection (besides my cubes and constructed decks) and hope to get some good store credit. I want to use the credit to bling out my Pauper cube as much as possible. It's hard to do a search for specifically common premium cards online, unless i dredge the archives of FNM promos and go through them one by one. What are people's favorite promo/premium cards for pauper? How far have people gotten in their attempts to fully bling their cube? Are there certain cards that have promo versions that you think people just don't know about?
Hey gang! So many new cards from Modern Horizons! With the amount of changelings and tribe-matters cards, does anyone think there is any viable tribe support for cube?
Hi guys!! I definitely want to include Keldon Overseerin my cube, at least giving it a try. I think it might be really interesenting, have you tryed it already? Also, what card of my cube would you replace with him?
Thanks a lot!!
I had an easy cut since i wanted to see what Sun-Crowned Hunters was like, but the Overseer is far more flexible and superior. In your cube, inakue, it looks like you may want to cut Thunderous Wrath? That seems like a hard card to hit with in cube, and you already have Fireblast.
It looks liker the new Chinese set has a white-shifted Aerial Guide. Does anyone run Pegasus Courser and would anyone run this new white drake? I has a big skies archetype in my cube, dunno about anyone else.
I'm an idiot. I run most of those cards. Not sure why I was thinking so narrowly. Yeah so I guess recursion is well supported. Let's pretend this never happened
Recursion: is it worth running in a pauper deck? Wander in death seems cubable, and I already run Gravedigger (Yes, Cronenberg-style Portal art :D), and spells like Unearth. Is there recursion in other colors worth running? Or does black have the monopoly of pauper playable recursion. What recursion cards are good enough to make the cut in a tier two cube, are there any spell recursion cards worth playing?
Can we talk archetypes for a little? My cube has never been a power cube, and I'm trying to flesh out some archetypes within it. I'd like a good balance with some overlap, but I'm not sure what works best for a pauper cube. Right now I have decent provisions for a token swarm strategy, an aristocrats strategy, big ramp, and I'm trying to make a defender control deck buildable in there, Also I'd like to do something with spellslingers.
People have provided helpful feedback about the problems with prowess and spellsmatter creatures. It seems that firebrand archer and thermo-alchemist are good enough on their own since they always provide value off of spells. Jhessian Thief and Ingenious Skaab seem good enough with their added abilities. I've been told adding things like a few rebound spells and token producers are good for fleshing out the spellslinger archetype.
Are there other archetypes worth building? And what are the lynchpin cards for some of these archetypes?
Also, what Izzet cards do people run? I'm not interested in izzet color identity, but actual casting cost. Right now I have Nivix Cyclops and Wee Dragonauts, because I'm trying to support spellslingers, but I know they're on the weaker side in that regard. Though Cyclops also supports defenders, and dragonauts has natural evasion.
Lots of questions! All help and input is appreciated!
At a certain point one has to concede that Pauper Cubes can be *ANYTHING* the builder wants them to be. The one thing we can all agree on, and the only thing we might need to agree on, is that we like playing with Magic cards that are printed at Common.
GWUBRDraft my Old Border Nostalgia Cube! and/or The Little Pauper Cube That Could!RBUWG
Modern:WDeath & TaxesW | RUGRUG DelverRUG
At a certain point, one wonders if you can even call it a pauper cube if you're running mythics. I do make an exception in Pauper Cube for some Un cards. I've run Booster Tutor before with the stipulation that you had to crack a pack of Fallen Empires that I keep with the cube. I've also been toying with the idea of putting The Grand Calcutron in the cube since i don't know where/when/how else I'd get to play with it, and I love the way it redefines how the game is played.
If you really want someone drafting a 5 color deck, why not include something that's actually on the Pauper power level - Dragonsoul Knight. It used to be uncommon, to give you an idea of the assumed strength of it (in a set with abundant mana fixing). It just seems like 5c mythics are way too swingy for this format. I've run Dragonsoul myself, it's a fun achievement to unlock!
GWUBRDraft my Old Border Nostalgia Cube! and/or The Little Pauper Cube That Could!RBUWG
Modern:WDeath & TaxesW | RUGRUG DelverRUG
Tern and Omenspeaker are very different cards. I run Tern because I support skies. Speaker is good if you're trying to support ocntrol, and want to be able to defend against aggro. It also gets better with blink effects.
I love Razorfin Hunter. it used to be in my cube, but there are just so many Izzet cards I wanna run, I decided to swap it out. I moved Razorfin Hunter to my old border cube since there are lots of other available ping effects at common. Fireslinger does the same thing, essentially, and is splashable. I'd run lots of pingers if you're worried about Swarm being too strong in your cube. Otherwise I think Hypothesizzle is a really fun and unique card at common. It allows for lots of play options.
I'm trying to make room for both Goblin War Party AND the Giant in my cube. Giant slots into a Gruul ramp/stompy shell, while War Party plays into swarm. Again, it depends on which archetypes need the most support in your cube?
The only Enchantress card I'd run in pauper cube is Aura Gnarlid. Yavimaya Enchantress is a trap. You'd need to be running like 10 enchantments in each color in order for her to ever be guaranteed to be anything bigger than a 3/3 in a typical game. And in that case there re already plenty of vanilla 3/3s for 3cmc to run. Aura Gnarlid only needs one aura in play to already be better than Yavimaya Enchantress, and that's much easier to achieve than running enough enchantments to make the enchantress viable.
GWUBRDraft my Old Border Nostalgia Cube! and/or The Little Pauper Cube That Could!RBUWG
Modern:WDeath & TaxesW | RUGRUG DelverRUG
Martyr's Soul is a 3/2 - it becomes a 5/4. Still amazing! I'm trying out a ton in my cube right now. Haven't played with it yet though. I like this "push" in commons recently. Though not many are groundbreaking in any significant way, they enable more reliant synergy between many fun archetypes. They provide a lot more interactions and decision making to games, and make drafts less of a good stuff grab bag.
GWUBRDraft my Old Border Nostalgia Cube! and/or The Little Pauper Cube That Could!RBUWG
Modern:WDeath & TaxesW | RUGRUG DelverRUG
GWUBRDraft my Old Border Nostalgia Cube! and/or The Little Pauper Cube That Could!RBUWG
Modern:WDeath & TaxesW | RUGRUG DelverRUG
Here is the newly overhauled cube at the moment: http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/57658
I realize the CubeTutor AI isn't fully rounded out yet, skewing drafts, but I've been managing to construct some really fun looking decks. Blink seems to be a viable archetype, which hadn't been allowed in previous iterations of the cube. Along with Aristocrats in Bx decks, Soul Sisters, Dredge, and Spellslinger, these are all decks that now feel more focused and reliable to draft.
My concerns:
1. Is it too fast? This cube plays low to the ground, and Swarm is abundant since it synergizes with Aristocrats, Soul Sisters, and general aggro plans. I felt I included a number of pingers and a few "wrath" effects to compensate for this, but I dunno if it's enough.
2. Skies seemed like a very aggressive and evasive archetype, so I added lots of creatures with reach. Are there now too many?
3. Lands vs. Signets. Right now I'm running gain lands and bounce lands. I could swap one set of these for Signets to encourage midrange - but are there even any viable midrange decks in this cube? All I see is Big Green Stompy, but that already feel like it has enough ramp support. Or does it?
4. Are there any decks in this cube that seem like they would just dominate beyond belief? That was my concern with Skies, but I could be misevaluating/valuing some cards in here.
Any feedback and advice would be much appreciated! I really value the passion and efforts that you all contribute to this forum!
GWUBRDraft my Old Border Nostalgia Cube! and/or The Little Pauper Cube That Could!RBUWG
Modern:WDeath & TaxesW | RUGRUG DelverRUG
Best,
CatParty
GWUBRDraft my Old Border Nostalgia Cube! and/or The Little Pauper Cube That Could!RBUWG
Modern:WDeath & TaxesW | RUGRUG DelverRUG
GWUBRDraft my Old Border Nostalgia Cube! and/or The Little Pauper Cube That Could!RBUWG
Modern:WDeath & TaxesW | RUGRUG DelverRUG
I had an easy cut since i wanted to see what Sun-Crowned Hunters was like, but the Overseer is far more flexible and superior. In your cube, inakue, it looks like you may want to cut Thunderous Wrath? That seems like a hard card to hit with in cube, and you already have Fireblast.
GWUBRDraft my Old Border Nostalgia Cube! and/or The Little Pauper Cube That Could!RBUWG
Modern:WDeath & TaxesW | RUGRUG DelverRUG
In the rumor mill: https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/the-rumor-mill/794217-gs1-global-series-jiang-yanggu-vs-mu-yanling
It's possible that the final card may not be that, but by the translation, it looks like Kirin in just a color shifted drake.
GWUBRDraft my Old Border Nostalgia Cube! and/or The Little Pauper Cube That Could!RBUWG
Modern:WDeath & TaxesW | RUGRUG DelverRUG
GWUBRDraft my Old Border Nostalgia Cube! and/or The Little Pauper Cube That Could!RBUWG
Modern:WDeath & TaxesW | RUGRUG DelverRUG
GWUBRDraft my Old Border Nostalgia Cube! and/or The Little Pauper Cube That Could!RBUWG
Modern:WDeath & TaxesW | RUGRUG DelverRUG
-CatParty
GWUBRDraft my Old Border Nostalgia Cube! and/or The Little Pauper Cube That Could!RBUWG
Modern:WDeath & TaxesW | RUGRUG DelverRUG
GWUBRDraft my Old Border Nostalgia Cube! and/or The Little Pauper Cube That Could!RBUWG
Modern:WDeath & TaxesW | RUGRUG DelverRUG
People have provided helpful feedback about the problems with prowess and spellsmatter creatures. It seems that firebrand archer and thermo-alchemist are good enough on their own since they always provide value off of spells. Jhessian Thief and Ingenious Skaab seem good enough with their added abilities. I've been told adding things like a few rebound spells and token producers are good for fleshing out the spellslinger archetype.
Are there other archetypes worth building? And what are the lynchpin cards for some of these archetypes?
Also, what Izzet cards do people run? I'm not interested in izzet color identity, but actual casting cost. Right now I have Nivix Cyclops and Wee Dragonauts, because I'm trying to support spellslingers, but I know they're on the weaker side in that regard. Though Cyclops also supports defenders, and dragonauts has natural evasion.
Lots of questions! All help and input is appreciated!
GWUBRDraft my Old Border Nostalgia Cube! and/or The Little Pauper Cube That Could!RBUWG
Modern:WDeath & TaxesW | RUGRUG DelverRUG