I had a ridiculous pool after a very focussed Rochester draft, and I have a deck building question I wanted the cube community's input on. In order to not distract/influence you by the way I word the question, I figured I'd just let you build the deck from scratch, should be an interesting exercise in its own right.
Here's the pool (minus a few irrelevant black cards):
If I had red fetches I might have played the Ajani/Ral Zarek. I always err on the side of caution when it comes to splashing and will only do so if I'm comfortable with the mana base. Land Tax and Coalition Relic just wasn't enough for me.
I feel there was enough mana rocks to warrant a higher curve and it would really help seal the deal with Tezz as there isn’t a whole whack of finishers. I was thinking of going the Moat rout but there just wasn't enough flying threats (perhaps if I had a couple more on top of the angel... even a Serendib and an Exalted... or better yet a Baneslayer :)).
I'd go for the full griefer control deck, featuring all the most broken things you can do with artifact acceleration: Balance, 'geddon, and planeswalkers. I've never actually built a creatureless control deck in cube, this might be the one! The plan is simple: kill all creatures/blow up all the lands, and win through planeswalker power.
I'm not sure about Moat, since it shuts off Gideon and the Tezzeret artifact creatures, though. I figure if I get the Moat lockdown with all the bounce/wrath/counterspells backup for fliers, I can just win with a planeswalker ultimate. I also decided to splash for Ajani V and Ral Zarek, which is not ideal for the manabase, but I guess I like to live more dangerously than hardbody.
This is definitely the deck I've built voted Most Likely to Actually Get More Than One Planeswalker Ultimate Off.
It was very tempting to try for Isochron Scepter-Tezzeret shenanigans--Mana Drain twice a turn? Sure! But ultimately not quite worth it.
I'd go for the full griefer control deck, featuring all the most broken things you can do with artifact acceleration: Balance, 'geddon, and planeswalkers. I've never actually built a creatureless control deck in cube, this might be the one! The plan is simple: kill all creatures/blow up all the lands, and win through planeswalker power.
I'm not sure about Moat, since it shuts off Gideon and the Tezzeret artifact creatures, though. I figure if I get the Moat lockdown with all the bounce/wrath/counterspells backup for fliers, I can just win with a planeswalker ultimate. I also decided to splash for Ajani V and Ral Zarek, which is not ideal for the manabase, but I guess I like to live more dangerously than hardbody.
This is definitely the deck I've built voted Most Likely to Actually Get More Than One Planeswalker Ultimate Off.
It was very tempting to try for Isochron Scepter-Tezzeret shenanigans--Mana Drain twice a turn? Sure! But ultimately not quite worth it.
Thanks for your input guys! I take it leaving out Izzet Boilerworks is accidental? Seems essential if you go the splash red route, and it's great with Land Tax and ramps with Ral.
I'm hoping for some more builds before posting mine - there's room for even more variation than I thought. Keep 'em coming everyone!
In hindsight I'd have played one less land in favor of Talisman of Dominance, I think. Had no trouble with the red splash cards, but didn't do very well anyway: went 1-2 in a double elimination format (lost against Naya Zoo and Gu Cheat). The average power level of this draft was very high though.
The reason I posted this build was Isochron Scepter. We just re-added this card to see if it could do work, but I'm kinda biased against it as I generally value consistency over high power/high variance cards. With this pool, I thought Scepter wasn't strong enough, but I wanted to make sure this wasn't just my bias speaking.
Since none of the 3 people replying maindecked Scepter, I guess at least it wasn't just me - looks like the odds of making a deck where Scepter is any good are still low.
The reason I posted this build was Isochron Scepter. We just re-added this card to see if it could do work, but I'm kinda biased against it as I generally value consistency over high power/high variance cards. With this pool, I thought Scepter wasn't strong enough, but I wanted to make sure this wasn't just my bias speaking.
Since none of the 3 people replying maindecked Scepter, I guess at least it wasn't just me - looks like the odds of making a deck where Scepter is any good are still low.!
Isochron could be good in the right kind of deck. Perhaps in the new Izzet deck where it would have plenty of targets and where you get added value off of every use (as opposed to just getting a copy of your lightning bolt/remand). It still good in other decks like BW control, RW control as a way to get some card advantage (imprinting removal/burn).
I also feel that Isochron gets better the smaller the cube list.
Here's the pool (minus a few irrelevant black cards):
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Izzet Boilerworks
1 Tundra
1 Volcanic Island
1 Coldsteel Heart
1 Talisman of Dominance
1 Coalition Relic
1 Mana Vault
1 Guardian Idol
1 Isochron Scepter
1 Worn Powerstone
1 Karn Liberated
1 Mox Pearl
1 Land Tax
1 Balance
1 Armageddon
1 Day of Judgment
1 Gideon Jura
1 Moat
1 Restoration Angel
1 Wrath of God
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Brainstorm
1 Condescend
1 Counterspell
1 Into the Roil
1 Mana Drain
1 Memory Lapse
1 Miscalculation
1 Crystal Shard
1 Sea Gate Oracle
1 Timetwister
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Gore-House Chainwalker
1 Chandra Nalaar
1 Ajani Vengeant
1 Ral Zarek
Cards are sorted by section, then by curve, then alphabetically.
Please post your builds! I'll disclose the specific reason for asking your input later on.
Thanks!
0cc
Island x 6
Plains x 5
1cc
2cc
3cc
4cc
5cc/Xcc+
If I had red fetches I might have played the Ajani/Ral Zarek. I always err on the side of caution when it comes to splashing and will only do so if I'm comfortable with the mana base. Land Tax and Coalition Relic just wasn't enough for me.
I feel there was enough mana rocks to warrant a higher curve and it would really help seal the deal with Tezz as there isn’t a whole whack of finishers. I was thinking of going the Moat rout but there just wasn't enough flying threats (perhaps if I had a couple more on top of the angel... even a Serendib and an Exalted... or better yet a Baneslayer :)).
Didn't think about a pic by the way, I'll add one to the OP.
I'm not sure about Moat, since it shuts off Gideon and the Tezzeret artifact creatures, though. I figure if I get the Moat lockdown with all the bounce/wrath/counterspells backup for fliers, I can just win with a planeswalker ultimate. I also decided to splash for Ajani V and Ral Zarek, which is not ideal for the manabase, but I guess I like to live more dangerously than hardbody.
This is definitely the deck I've built voted Most Likely to Actually Get More Than One Planeswalker Ultimate Off.
It was very tempting to try for Isochron Scepter-Tezzeret shenanigans--Mana Drain twice a turn? Sure! But ultimately not quite worth it.
0cc
Island x 5
Plains x 5
1cc
2cc
3cc
4cc
5cc/Xcc+
My $40 MTGO cube
Draft my cube at Cubetutor!
I think this is the build I would go with, excepting maybe the Guardian Idol. Miscalculation instead? Seems like 6 mana rocks is more than enough.
http://cubetutor.com/cubeblog/993
http://www.cubetutor.com/cubeblog/23690
I'm hoping for some more builds before posting mine - there's room for even more variation than I thought. Keep 'em coming everyone!
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Celestial Colonnade
1 Volcanic Island
1 Izzet Boilerworks
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Tolarian Academy
5 Island
4 Plains
1 Mountain
1 Mana Vault
1 Land Tax
1 Brainstorm
1 Coldsteel Heart
1 Mana Drain
1 Condescend
1 Counterspell
1 Miscalculation
1 Balance
1 Coalition Relic
1 Worn Powerstone
1 Timetwister
1 Day of Judgment
1 Wrath of God
1 Moat
1 Ajani Vengeant
1 Ral Zarek
1 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Karn Liberated
In hindsight I'd have played one less land in favor of Talisman of Dominance, I think. Had no trouble with the red splash cards, but didn't do very well anyway: went 1-2 in a double elimination format (lost against Naya Zoo and Gu Cheat). The average power level of this draft was very high though.
The reason I posted this build was Isochron Scepter. We just re-added this card to see if it could do work, but I'm kinda biased against it as I generally value consistency over high power/high variance cards. With this pool, I thought Scepter wasn't strong enough, but I wanted to make sure this wasn't just my bias speaking.
Since none of the 3 people replying maindecked Scepter, I guess at least it wasn't just me - looks like the odds of making a deck where Scepter is any good are still low.
Thanks to those who gave feedback!
Isochron could be good in the right kind of deck. Perhaps in the new Izzet deck where it would have plenty of targets and where you get added value off of every use (as opposed to just getting a copy of your lightning bolt/remand). It still good in other decks like BW control, RW control as a way to get some card advantage (imprinting removal/burn).
I also feel that Isochron gets better the smaller the cube list.