Yeah with the normalization of power level among commons in recent sets, former backbreakers like Capsize and even Sprout Swarm are less likely to dominate a game on their own. The way I describe it when asked about them by some of my drafters who might remember them in their own limited formats, is that yes those cards will often close out a game, but it's gotten increasingly hard for the game to get to that point by accident. Sprout Swarm can still take over a board, sure, but just casting Capsize every turn is often not going to be enough without some backup from the rest of the deck and some work done during deck construction and drafting to enable it. Having a stallbreaker like that available is important for a control deck since the inevitability tools a lot of higher power cubes have, like planeswalkers or what have you, just don't exist at common. Dropping them for power concerns is honestly a mistake, i feel.
Yeah I can't ever imagine putting that card into my deck, much less using a draft pick on it. Note, it doesn't work with retrace because you're discarding a card as a cost, not due to an effect.
@metalevolence:
I can't think of anything, Runner hasn't said already.
was hoping people might comment on some of the card choices ¯\_(OwO)_/¯
The only one that I'm concerned about as being too strong in the environment you're describing is Stromkirk Noble, you've obviously got a lot of relatively narrow cards for archetypes, some of them would be fine and are effects I'd like to have at common, some of them are perhaps too narrow/slow like Oath of the Ancient Wood, Three Dreams.
You're obviously going deep on some of the themes we've already been talking about pushing like enchantments and sacrifice, adding some key components (cheap creatures, payoff cards) for archetypes that could use some support at common. I understand what you're pushing for and could turn into a nice discussion about the KIND of effects that we're missing at this rarity, and I'd be very interested to follow the project, but I think it should go in its own thread rather than here.
Drafting with 4 players is definitely doable with 360, and depending on the drafting method you choose it gives you a lot more freedom to include archetype cards if you want. I "tenchester" my own cube with 4 people (make 36 packs of 10, open them face up one at a time, each take 1 card from the pack, get rid of the rest, repeat) and the decks become really powerful and fun, but because of the redundancy required for aggressive archetypes to exist in a typical 8-person draft, there's a lot of stuff that just gets passed over because it has very similar power level to other cards. Trimming some of those cards for narrower synergy-based effects would improve the draft experience overall if this is the way you would want to run your events, since it allows for a higher number of meaningful decisions to occur. Look into other draft variants for smaller groups, see what you like, and consider making a few changes if you want to, but the base 360 cube will still work.
I think it's worth mentioning that Humphrey's cube's construction seems to lean more towards constructed-style decks where Al's (and Runner's, and my own) lean more towards reproducing a semi-traditional limited environment. Humphrey, correct me if I'm wrong? I won't claim to know which is "better," just keep it in mind as you're deciding on a cube to model yours after.
On an unrelated note, has anyone has any experience with Pulse of Murasa? Its success in pauper constructed and in its limited environment has me interested at the very least.
So on average when I run a draft I have people making cuts from a pool of about 30-35 cards that could make their deck. This often includes lands, so for example I've had zero cuts to make before when drafting 4-color nonsense. But the point of this is that we have PLENTY of playables on raw power level, and removing the lowest 3-5 in a color to make room for some more archetype-focused cards should be totally reasonable from my perspective at 360. I'd be interested to see what other people think. I've been making this transition slowly, with my initial focus on a voltron/auras deck and a more aggro green deck, but with an eye towards some kind of graveyard synergies in the future. I'd be interested to hear what others have had success with.
I would consider Dawn, Evolution, Piracy and Funeral, and maaaaaaybe Hearth Charm. The rest of them just do not have enough functionality, having 2 or fewer modes, and as such just aren't worth a card or a draft pick.
I played Evolution Charm for a while and it was a fine card that always got relegated to sideboards because none of the modes were impactful enough to make the cut over a more one-dimensional but powerful card. I could see getting mileage out of the ones I listed in enough situations but I just can't see myself picking them unless there was just nothing else for me in the pack.
And, I would certainly try to get away from the mentality of needing to include cycles. From the very beginning cycles of cards have not been balanced among themselves, and including a bad card for the sake of completing a cycle doesn't seem right to me.
I sell pauper as "It's like a fundamentals limited format, or a core set without bad cards or unbeatable bombs." And I like the gameplay for that reason, that it rewards you building a deck, because the power level is relatively flat the gameplay matters a lot, and you can rarely (heh) just ride a single busted card to victory as can often happen in higher-rarity environments.
Mine is totally foiled, it was fun to put together and a lot of the nonsense cards came from friends who just didn't need them. But I agree, you do accrue a fair amount of nonsense in the process.
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The only one that I'm concerned about as being too strong in the environment you're describing is Stromkirk Noble, you've obviously got a lot of relatively narrow cards for archetypes, some of them would be fine and are effects I'd like to have at common, some of them are perhaps too narrow/slow like Oath of the Ancient Wood, Three Dreams.
You're obviously going deep on some of the themes we've already been talking about pushing like enchantments and sacrifice, adding some key components (cheap creatures, payoff cards) for archetypes that could use some support at common. I understand what you're pushing for and could turn into a nice discussion about the KIND of effects that we're missing at this rarity, and I'd be very interested to follow the project, but I think it should go in its own thread rather than here.
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I played Evolution Charm for a while and it was a fine card that always got relegated to sideboards because none of the modes were impactful enough to make the cut over a more one-dimensional but powerful card. I could see getting mileage out of the ones I listed in enough situations but I just can't see myself picking them unless there was just nothing else for me in the pack.
And, I would certainly try to get away from the mentality of needing to include cycles. From the very beginning cycles of cards have not been balanced among themselves, and including a bad card for the sake of completing a cycle doesn't seem right to me.
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Card's great and I highly recommend it.
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