How do you guys feel about multicolor cards in micro cubes? My list has two of each guild (20 total) and a few other hybrid cards thrown in. My list is 192, so just over 10% multicolor. On one side, I want the multicolor cards to help round out the archetypes and give a good payoff, but at the same time they are kinda bomby and could easily be splashed (I have ~25 cards dedicated to fixing).
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I personally don't like multicolor in micro cubes unless you're dedicating large swaths of the cube to it...which would make for a strange cube, relatively speaking. When you limit the card pool so intensely, there's no reason to choke your mono sections to accommodate guilds imo.
I'd rather have 15 wubrg + 15 colorless than 14 wubrg 5 colorless and 2x each guild. The numbers just seem weird to me.
Hey people, loving all the input on this thread! I've been testing my cube a lot and though I started out with 3 packs of 15, Zerve has pointed me in the right direction of 5 packs of 9. I do feel that this could be another commandment for microcubes. The smaller the selection in the packs, the more focus you can give to certain picks.
I've made quite a few changes to my Peasant Microcube of 180 cards. link http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/65592
~Previously white was quite a powerful color, so I've nerfed it for different value cards, and it seems to have worked so far. I may have to take out 1 or 2 removal spells, but unsure what to replace them with (maybe fiend hunter for PtE)
~The only change in green was to add Servant of the conduit to open more splashes.
~Black's aristocrats and reanimator themes are doing well (i thought reanimator wouldn't do well, but it mostly works in UBg or GBu shell splashing for eternal witness, baloth null, possesed skaab and ghostly flicker). Also considering dropping 1 or 2 removal, as they seem easy pickups to splash for.
~Red was not as aggressive as first, but with the changes, the swarm strategy seems to work. I may have to remove some lifegain creatures to help balance aggro.
~Blue was very weak, but with add ons like waterfront bouncer and illusory angel, they look stronger. I'm looking to replace Cloudfin raptor and curious humonculous, but unsure what to put in their place. Any suggestions?
~For Colorless, I've added more fixing in the form of sphere of the suns, pilgrims eye, and cryptolith fragment. Icy manipulator is a staple in Peasant cubes, but I never see it get picked nor do I think it will be as impactful. I've also abstained from the annhilator mechanic and Bane of bala ged. big/splashable creatures for ramp decks, that won't go over the top seem better.
Blue creatures are tough. I had the biggest issues trying to filter through the jank. I even caved and canned my old budget micro cube, because adding a single Snapcaster Mage just did everything.
I think your assessment of Cloudfin being kinda weak is correct. It's a cool card, but it sucks if you draw it late. It does have some cool synergy with Waterfront Bouncer though. I love Delver of Secrets but not sure if you want it in your cube. An interesting blue 1-drop, which doesn't suck late game, is Wingcrafter. I personally run Judge's Familiar (it's an uncommon) in my cube, along with Delver @ 192 cards. Enclave Cryptologist is also a popular (but a bit boring) choice. My list's blue is a bit more aggressive though.
Thanks for the input Zerve! I don't think Delver would do well as I dont think it would flip often. Wingcrafter is one I've considered, as well as Judge's Familiar, although I feel wingcrafter is the stronger choice.
I've also considered Halimar wavewatch in this spot, seeing it as a good early defender for blue, and can be upgraded into a threat later on. Definitely going to jam it in.
Also what are people's opinions on Anger, Wonder, Brawn and Valor?
Thanks for the input Zerve! I don't think Delver would do well as I dont think it would flip often. Wingcrafter is one I've considered, as well as Judge's Familiar, although I feel wingcrafter is the stronger choice.
I've also considered Halimar wavewatch in this spot, seeing it as a good early defender for blue, and can be upgraded into a threat later on. Definitely going to jam it in.
Also what are people's opinions on Anger, Wonder, Brawn and Valor?
Wingcrafter is an absolute monster in our MicroCube of 90 cards and is the only U 1CMC we run. All others are just trash in a 90.
Since we began testing our list has been tuned to almost perfection. good luck
I've been having a lot of trouble recently trying to pin-down what I want to do with UG in my cube. At the moment, I have it just as "value creatures," but it's kinda boring and not very synergistic.
What kind of archetypes do you run for UG? These are what I have found recent sets.
Value Creatures / ETB
Tempo
Evolve
Emerge
Hexproof
Clues/Investigate
Two possible choices emerged (hehe) which I considered more heavily. One was to go with UG tempo, and the other with UG morph/manifest. Let's start with the former.
UG tempo seems to be a popular archetype among a number of cubes. It's easyish to support, and a bunch of the cards do well on their own. In a way, it's a low maintenance archetype which may just appear naturally when making your other picks. But on the other hand, it's not very synergistic and kinda functions as just "goodstuff." UG flash also fits well into the archetype, with cards like Bounding Krasis, Mystic Snake, and Boon Satyr. In my cube UW is the tempo color, and having UG flash also function as tempo could make for some interesting bant style tempo decks, including the standard favorite Collected Company.
On the other hand, I started looking into UG morph/manifest. Initially I thought a micro cube couldn't support this. It would be too narrow, or the few morph/manifest cards would just get memorized and it would kill the whole mindgaming aspect. But after looking into it more and more, thought it could be a possibility. Personally I think this fits the color fantasy of UG more, by being tricky and deceitful (blue), but also having that big splashy predatory instinct feeling (green) when you flip over a Sagu Mauler.
Many of those cards do OK in a vacuum, or can still function in other color archetypes. Hooded Hydra does well in ramp (GR or Gx), Den Protector works well in most decks, Stratus Dancer does well in UW tempo and UB control, and cards like Write into Being provide card advantage and filtering for blue based control. Obviously janky cards like Secret Plans and Trail of Mystery don't have a place in this cube, but I could see a lot of them working well with Prophet of Kruphix in UG.
Wonder is certainly the strongest. Not only because it has and grants evasion, but also because blue has a lot of discard effects.
I would rank the remaining: anger = valor > brawn.
Generally you usually want to have them in your graveyard as a very difficult to remove enchantment.
guess that's true, maybe I wont' put wonder, but put in the other 3 to work in their colors, or to splash with blue. Wonder also seems redundant for blue, as most creatures have flying anyways.
I've been having a lot of trouble recently trying to pin-down what I want to do with UG in my cube. At the moment, I have it just as "value creatures," but it's kinda boring and not very synergistic.
What kind of archetypes do you run for UG? These are what I have found recent sets.
Value Creatures / ETB
Tempo
Evolve
Emerge
Hexproof
Clues/Investigate
Two possible choices emerged (hehe) which I considered more heavily. One was to go with UG tempo, and the other with UG morph/manifest. Let's start with the former.
UG tempo seems to be a popular archetype among a number of cubes. It's easyish to support, and a bunch of the cards do well on their own. In a way, it's a low maintenance archetype which may just appear naturally when making your other picks. But on the other hand, it's not very synergistic and kinda functions as just "goodstuff." UG flash also fits well into the archetype, with cards like Bounding Krasis, Mystic Snake, and Boon Satyr. In my cube UW is the tempo color, and having UG flash also function as tempo could make for some interesting bant style tempo decks, including the standard favorite Collected Company.
On the other hand, I started looking into UG morph/manifest. Initially I thought a micro cube couldn't support this. It would be too narrow, or the few morph/manifest cards would just get memorized and it would kill the whole mindgaming aspect. But after looking into it more and more, thought it could be a possibility. Personally I think this fits the color fantasy of UG more, by being tricky and deceitful (blue), but also having that big splashy predatory instinct feeling (green) when you flip over a Sagu Mauler.
Many of those cards do OK in a vacuum, or can still function in other color archetypes. Hooded Hydra does well in ramp (GR or Gx), Den Protector works well in most decks, Stratus Dancer does well in UW tempo and UB control, and cards like Write into Being provide card advantage and filtering for blue based control. Obviously janky cards like Secret Plans and Trail of Mystery don't have a place in this cube, but I could see a lot of them working well with Prophet of Kruphix in UG.
I dunno, did I delve too deep into this? Do you think this kind of archetype has viability in a small, but a bit underpowered ~190 cube?
I love morph as mechanic, but it is a little slow. Ghostly Flicker can be a card used for turning them face up, especially the ones that have huge costs, and can be re-bought with Den Protector, Archaeomancer, Eternal Witness. I do truly wish Sagu Mauler was an uncommon, I'd definitely have him in my Peasant cube. cards like Icefeather haven is overcosted (morph+unmorph) whereas a Man-o-War and a Mist Raven are just cheaper overall. I guess you have to find the cards that are worth turning facing up like Den Protector, or smaller, incremental investments such as Sagu Mauler. UG definitely is in a funny position, but I do feel a tempo/flicker deck works really well.
For what it's worth, I've crafted my Simic section to be tied to a tempo strategy that chugs along with a bounce engine. It's synergistic and can be quite potent. I'm not saying it is the best choice, but it's what I've done and it functions higher than a "good stuff" deck.
Btw 6jerfz, I've tested out your list, created a RW aggro list, and a Jund Midrange kind of deck.
I've got some suggestions over your list.
Blue - I do think this list is pretty great. You might just be missing on 1 more flying creatures, but I like it so far.
Black - only change I would make here is Dark Ritual, perhaps for a discard effect like Harsh Scrutiny(new Despise)/Duress/Hymn to Tourach/IoK unless you go for another removal spell.
White - First, I'm stealing Emancipation Angel and Stonecloaker as potentials for my list. I feel that Steppe Lynx may not be great and you would rather have an aggressive 1cmc or 2cmc creature that doesn't need an effect to use it every turn. Mana tithe could be replaced with a spell like Raise the Alarm unless you feel it keep UW control alive.
Red - I FREAKING LOVE Shivan Meteor. Such a flavorful card, and gives red the potential to deal with any threat. You are right on your Blog about Blood Mist on its late game shenanigans, also it works well with Stonewright. I don't like Jackal Pup, as it can be a bad card for yourself, and there are plenty of better 1 drop options out there. Also Qal Sisma Behemoth, is like Steppe Lynx, the activation needed each turn, could be wasteful.
Green - List seems almost on point. Only cards I would remove are Jungle Lion and Lignify. You mentioned you wanted an aggressive mana dork, I'd suggest Werebear. Sure it takes some work to become aggressive, but its a relevant card in the early/mid/late game. Another aggressive/ramp creature is Borderland Ranger, though it needs some payment and gives your opponents options too. I would replace lignify with a fight card/pump card/ramp card - whichever you feel is in the right direction for your cube.
Colorless - I was happy with the amount of fixing there was, and would not change that. I know you are trying to push ramp, but 1 Hedron Archive with the Armillary sphere, seems enough. Basalt Monolith can be another artifact or a creature for that matter.
Thanks for the in-depth review! I appreciate that a lot and I think you raised a lot of good points.
Black: I had a discard package a while ago and took it out. I've been underwhelmed with Dark Ritual to be honest, so that was on my radar for potential cuts. If I do end up going with discard, I'm likely to add something like Raven's Crime, so I get more discards per card slot than a single discard effect.
White: I've been pretty happy with Mana Tithe. It does what it is supposed to do, even if it does that rather boringly. I will take your suggestion on Steppe Lynx into consideration, but I am wary of adding more token generators.
Red: I play the Behemoth as an experiment and it has played decently, but by no means is it a stellar card. I'm considering my options for a replacement, same for Jackal Pup. Jackal Pup has long been a staple red card, even in powered cubes, until recent printings of strictly better cards...at rare. Any suggestions for a replacement?
Green: Jungle Lion is effective, yet boring...possibly a good replacement target (suggestions needed). I'm not sure about cutting Lignify for a fight spell...I've liked the ability to essentially blank any opposing creature with Lignify, but perhaps fighting would be better for aggro decks. I'll have to consider that, too.
Colorless: I'll see about the ramping. I may be tilted a bit towards ramp with the monolith and hedron archive.
My white swaps I'm considering are a bit different than yours: Goldmeadow Harrier, Icatian Javelineers, or Thraben Inspector. I'm going with the Inspector because white is not an aggressive color in my list, so a difficult blocker with an etb cantrip effect seems right up my alley. Add in all the bounce in white, and this guy can end up grabbing you a few cards in the long run.
Red: Thought about swiftspear and have determined I don't have enough support. I've played Reckless Waif in a powered cube and it got cut long before Jackal Pup. A 2/1 for R is too important to red to cut for a conditional card like waif....I'll keep looking, but for now, Jackal Pup is sticking around.
Green: I'll give Werebear a test.
Colorless changes are so open to any of a myriad of potentialities. I feel like I'm at the right spot with both creatures, equips, and fixing in colorless. Maybe Mishra's Factory?
I need to replace Heir of Falkenrath...no DFCs allowed and I'm breaking my own rule. I've used Nezumi Graverobber before in this cube and found my reanimator package as a whole was too good. But without Animate Dead, Strands of Night, and Necromancy...I think it will be okay playing a fragile creature that requires multiple activations before getting its full potential.
Hey guys, Ive been testing my cube a lot on cockatrice with 4 players, and its been playing out well. First my cube: http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/65592
Recent Changes:
* snuff out -> murder (instead of being free, made it double black, and unconditional)
* skysnare spider -> sentinel spider (comes down sooner, and is a smaller body)
* guardian automation -> Pierce strider (nerfing on lifegain a bit, plus blinking pierce strider can be effective)
* spitemare -> goblin trenches (it looks better on paper for the boros archetype)
* path to exile -> kytheon's tactics (white had 8 removal in spells/enchant/creatures) (Tactics makes it not such a splashable spell, but also has the upside of vigilance ~ instead of rally the peasants).
* ghirapur gearcrafter -> pyreheart wolf (making red creatures harder to block)
Im still trying to balance the power in the cube. Ive given blue a lot of tools and aggressive creatures, though it still seems to lag in its archetypes. UW is strong, UG can do well with ETB effects, whereas UB and UR are 1 or 2 cards away from being good. Blue seems to be 1 control card away from being complete. It could be a creature card or 1 more counterspell (only running 3 and that seems too few), though Im unsure what to cut. Miscalculation, force spike, memory lapse are the ones on my radar
Black's aristocrats and reanimators are doing well. Black has 7 removal spells (3 creatures) and 2 sweepers, making it a very strong color to splash. Im considering dropping a removal spell for a discard spell or any other reanimator/control spell. Hymn to tourach seems like a backbreaking card, but I dont see it picked often, nor do have I seen it played. This too can be replaced for another discard effect. Considering- Blackmail, Harsh Scrutiny, Despise, Duress, Unburial Rites, Zombify, Necromancy. Any other suggestions?
Red has been fulfilling itself as the aggro color. It does to a decent job at midrange too. I feel that it may slightly be short on burn though. 5 burn spells, and 2 great sweepers keeps it decent. Guttersnipe may do some extra damage, and Flametongue Kavu handles most threats. Smoldering werewolf does an ok FTK impression, but it can grow larger and deal an extra 2 damage per turn. However, Ive stumbled on Fanatic of Mogis and it looks like a good burn spell slapped on a creature, but Im wondering, is it better than smoldering werefolf? Goblin Glory Seeker has been underwhelming as well and Im considering swapping it with Goblin Arsonist. Thinking on adding Goblin Arsonist, Fanatic of Mogis, but Im not too sure where to make space for burn spells like Rift Bolt, Staggershock, or Lightning Strike.
White and Green still seem like the best colors, edging each other out in different departments.
White still has the most removals but no sweepers. It does form a great pair as Boros or Selesnya tokens, and so to nerf it, Im thinking about dropping a token producer. Either that, or another color needs a sweeper to deal with them. Lingering Souls could be on the chopping block. I could also drop Triplicate spirits and replace it with Cenn's Enlistment. A repeatable spell, but it may drop the support for the UW flying archetype. Also Ive been recommended Blinding Beam, for aggro/control strategies instead of a team pump spell, and Feudkiller's verdict for control as well (though it seems it might just kill aggro in one sweep). Considering Blinding Beam, Cenn's Enlistment, Feudkiller's Verdict, Rally the Peasants.
Green has really powerful creatures in a peasant level environment. I do like my list as of now, but some threats might be too resilient like Plated Crusher, Seed Guardian, and Penumbra Spider. Backed by Blossoming defense and Vines of Vastwood, it makes them really strong. Im thinking of replacing with Embodiment of Insight (to pair with its brother in red), and/or Tajuru Pathwarden and/or Briarhorn.
Multicolor - the only one im disappointed with is Izzet's Spellheart Chimera. Ive been suggested to try Fire//Ice in its place, but i do feel it wont make much of an impact as the other colors.
Colorless - No changes I feel, Im quite happy with it at the moment.
Forbid is a great control card in general but also plays nicely with the reanimator archetype.
Raven's Crime has been performing well in my discard section in my 90-card cube. It's repeatable, cheap, and relatively low power (aka not entirely unfair).
Jackal Pup all the way over Goblin Glory Seeker. I don't really like Fanatic of Mogis or Smoldering Werewolf. I think red would rather burn blockers out of the way than hope to smack the opponent directly in the face with an ETB trigger, but that's just me.
I would drop Lingering Souls for the simple reason that it is an extra card for the Orzhov guild, which is a slight imbalance in your list. Token producing cards and the tokens archetype is very hard to balance in a small list.
I've thus far loved Briarhorn in my green section. It works with reanimator, as a pump spell, a decent creature on its own, can be bounced, etc. Hill Giants win drafts! Especially flashing, Giant GrowthHill Giants. Highly recommended!
Side note: I asked the mods to sticky this thread over the "[IDEA] Possibly 180 or 270..." thread, since that one is almost entirely inactive and covers the same ground as this thread
So I've been thinking about my green section lately and I've come to the conclusion that I just find it uninteresting. I'm thinking of changing the theme/archetype from a pretty generic "ramp" archetype to something a little more synergy-based. The problem is, I'm not sure what green does that is interesting enough to devote a section of my cube to. Morph, monstrous, EtB pump creatures, tribal? If I could find something that played well with other colors as well as being self-sufficient in green, I'd be thrilled to make the switch. Any suggestions?
EDIT: Sorry for the double post, just trying to get some more chit chat in the thread by bumping it.
Perhaps try tribal? Maybe elves? Look at my list for a minor Elves Tribal feel. (Imperious Perfect is the build around card, and you can have Timberwatch elf as the pump.)
Perhaps try tribal? Maybe elves? Look at my list for a minor Elves Tribal feel. (Imperious Perfect is the build around card, and you can have Timberwatch elf as the pump.)
The problem with going tribal for a green-only tribe like elves is that it doesn't necessarily translate well to guild pairs. I've looked at the tribes in my stack and I'd pretty much have to go with humans. I scoped out gatherer and just didn't like the options. Still considering maybe beasts or elementals though, so I haven't entirely given up on tribal.
Also +1/+1 counters matter is an archetype, that gets more and more payoffs in peasant, maybe you wanna go that road?
+1/+1 counters matter is tied for first for archetypes I'm considering, centering around Cytoplast Root-Kin. Hunting Triad, Cytoplast Rootkin, Young Wolf, Strangleroot Geist, etc. are all decent options. The fact that it plays nice with the bounce archetype in white and blue, has synergies with at least a few other colors in my cube already are big pluses already. I'm sure there's some +1/+1-fight removal spells in green, too.
The other archetype/theme I'm probing is Threshold aggro. Blue plays a lot of non-creature spells that can build up the 'yard and does have quite a good tempo game, black likes pitching things in the graveyard for reanimation, red will pair fine with a scaling aggro archetype. It would play a more mid-range game with white.
Thanks for the suggestions, guys. 'll have to test both out and see how I feel.
+1/+1 counters matter is tied for first for archetypes I'm considering, centering around Cytoplast Root-Kin. Hunting Triad, Cytoplast Rootkin, Young Wolf, Strangleroot Geist, etc. are all decent options. The fact that it plays nice with the bounce archetype in white and blue, has synergies with at least a few other colors in my cube already are big pluses already. I'm sure there's some +1/+1-fight removal spells in green, too.
The other archetype/theme I'm probing is Threshold aggro. Blue plays a lot of non-creature spells that can build up the 'yard and does have quite a good tempo game, black likes pitching things in the graveyard for reanimation, red will pair fine with a scaling aggro archetype. It would play a more mid-range game with white.
Thanks for the suggestions, guys. 'll have to test both out and see how I feel.
Actually as a smaller cube the +1/+1 archetype will definitely workout well. Outlast mechanic can be used as well - Tuskguard Captain, Longshot Squad, Abzan Falconer, Ainok Bond-Kin , can all help as build around cards for the archetype.
On my current 180 Peasant cube, I'm very happy on where the cube is right now. Its quite well balanced and all the archetypes have been quite fulfilled in my testing on cockatrice. Waiting on Aether Revolt for any changes.
With that done I've started a new project, a 180 Peasant Artifacts Cube. I decided to keep it Peasant as some of the rare Artifact cards do get busted with some of the rare colored cards, and helps keep the value low. Here's the cube at the moment - http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/67546
I started at 250 cards, and it was such a headache to cut down to 180. I'm sure there's some cards noticeably missing, and I'm all ears. Yes I kind of forced the multicolored cards in, and they aren't really build around cards, but some of them can be quite powerful in their colors. Trygon Predator, Behemoth Sledge, Glassdust Hulk and Flamewright are such cards.
In the cube there are quite a few bombs:
-Darksteel Sentinel, the only indestructible creature in the cube.
-Fangren Marauder, the life gain is off the charts
-Smash to smithereens, for obvious reasons
-Ceremonious Rejection/Steel Sabotage.
Archetypes:
There isn't really any dual colored archetypes I feel. Each color brings something different to the table.
Major Tribe - Golems (Green/White/Blue)
Minor Tribe - Myr (White)
White - Myr/Golem Tribal/Artifact return/Equipment Matters (I do feel I should go a little deeper on the equipment matters)
Blue - Control/Affinity/Trinket
Black - Aggro/Kill Spells(This one is narrow for sure, but it does have some interesting cards)
Red - Burn/Artifact Destruction
Green - Artifact Destruction/Life gain/Golem Tribal
Okay, I've got two iterations of my possible cube up on cubetutor now...one with a threshold archetype for green and one with a +1/+1 theme, respectively Test90 and Test 90 +1/+1. Would you guys mind either drafting both and or looking at the lists to see what tweaks you'd make? I'm probably going to buy the cards for each and see how I like them since it will cost about $1 total.
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http://www.cubetutor.com/cubeblog/65652
Playing: Modern UB Fae
I'd rather have 15 wubrg + 15 colorless than 14 wubrg 5 colorless and 2x each guild. The numbers just seem weird to me.
I've made quite a few changes to my Peasant Microcube of 180 cards. link http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/65592
~Previously white was quite a powerful color, so I've nerfed it for different value cards, and it seems to have worked so far. I may have to take out 1 or 2 removal spells, but unsure what to replace them with (maybe fiend hunter for PtE)
~The only change in green was to add Servant of the conduit to open more splashes.
~Black's aristocrats and reanimator themes are doing well (i thought reanimator wouldn't do well, but it mostly works in UBg or GBu shell splashing for eternal witness, baloth null, possesed skaab and ghostly flicker). Also considering dropping 1 or 2 removal, as they seem easy pickups to splash for.
~Red was not as aggressive as first, but with the changes, the swarm strategy seems to work. I may have to remove some lifegain creatures to help balance aggro.
~Blue was very weak, but with add ons like waterfront bouncer and illusory angel, they look stronger. I'm looking to replace Cloudfin raptor and curious humonculous, but unsure what to put in their place. Any suggestions?
~For Colorless, I've added more fixing in the form of sphere of the suns, pilgrims eye, and cryptolith fragment. Icy manipulator is a staple in Peasant cubes, but I never see it get picked nor do I think it will be as impactful. I've also abstained from the annhilator mechanic and Bane of bala ged. big/splashable creatures for ramp decks, that won't go over the top seem better.
Affinity
Legacy:
GBCombo Elves
EDH:
GEzuri, Renegade Leader's Elf Ball
Cube:
180 Peasant Micro Cube
I think your assessment of Cloudfin being kinda weak is correct. It's a cool card, but it sucks if you draw it late. It does have some cool synergy with Waterfront Bouncer though. I love Delver of Secrets but not sure if you want it in your cube. An interesting blue 1-drop, which doesn't suck late game, is Wingcrafter. I personally run Judge's Familiar (it's an uncommon) in my cube, along with Delver @ 192 cards. Enclave Cryptologist is also a popular (but a bit boring) choice. My list's blue is a bit more aggressive though.
For the Curious Homunculus, perhaps a bit of a more aggressive creature? Prowess: Umara Entangler Jeskai Elder or Flyers: Welkin Tern Spellstutter Sprite or draw stuff Azure Mage. Halimar Wavewatch is an interesting one I came across.
Requesting drafts and feedback, both good and bad.
http://www.cubetutor.com/cubeblog/65652
Playing: Modern UB Fae
I've also considered Halimar wavewatch in this spot, seeing it as a good early defender for blue, and can be upgraded into a threat later on. Definitely going to jam it in.
Also what are people's opinions on Anger, Wonder, Brawn and Valor?
Affinity
Legacy:
GBCombo Elves
EDH:
GEzuri, Renegade Leader's Elf Ball
Cube:
180 Peasant Micro Cube
Wingcrafter is an absolute monster in our MicroCube of 90 cards and is the only U 1CMC we run. All others are just trash in a 90.
Since we began testing our list has been tuned to almost perfection. good luck
What kind of archetypes do you run for UG? These are what I have found recent sets.
Value Creatures / ETB
Tempo
Evolve
Emerge
Hexproof
Clues/Investigate
Two possible choices emerged (hehe) which I considered more heavily. One was to go with UG tempo, and the other with UG morph/manifest. Let's start with the former.
UG tempo seems to be a popular archetype among a number of cubes. It's easyish to support, and a bunch of the cards do well on their own. In a way, it's a low maintenance archetype which may just appear naturally when making your other picks. But on the other hand, it's not very synergistic and kinda functions as just "goodstuff." UG flash also fits well into the archetype, with cards like Bounding Krasis, Mystic Snake, and Boon Satyr. In my cube UW is the tempo color, and having UG flash also function as tempo could make for some interesting bant style tempo decks, including the standard favorite Collected Company.
On the other hand, I started looking into UG morph/manifest. Initially I thought a micro cube couldn't support this. It would be too narrow, or the few morph/manifest cards would just get memorized and it would kill the whole mindgaming aspect. But after looking into it more and more, thought it could be a possibility. Personally I think this fits the color fantasy of UG more, by being tricky and deceitful (blue), but also having that big splashy predatory instinct feeling (green) when you flip over a Sagu Mauler.
Cards which I think could be worthy of spots in my cube are: Sagu Mauler, Stratus Dancer, Deathmist Raptor, Icefeather Aven, Den Protector, Write into Being, Wildcall, Whisperwood Elemental, and Ethereal Ambush. Some simple swaps could me made for stuff like Rattleclaw Mystic or Hooded Hydra. And of course the jank: Secret Plans, Trail of Mystery, and Temur War Shaman.
Many of those cards do OK in a vacuum, or can still function in other color archetypes. Hooded Hydra does well in ramp (GR or Gx), Den Protector works well in most decks, Stratus Dancer does well in UW tempo and UB control, and cards like Write into Being provide card advantage and filtering for blue based control. Obviously janky cards like Secret Plans and Trail of Mystery don't have a place in this cube, but I could see a lot of them working well with Prophet of Kruphix in UG.
Don't forget Jeskai Infiltrator
I dunno, did I delve too deep into this? Do you think this kind of archetype has viability in a small, but a bit underpowered ~190 cube?
Requesting drafts and feedback, both good and bad.
http://www.cubetutor.com/cubeblog/65652
Playing: Modern UB Fae
guess that's true, maybe I wont' put wonder, but put in the other 3 to work in their colors, or to splash with blue. Wonder also seems redundant for blue, as most creatures have flying anyways.
I love morph as mechanic, but it is a little slow. Ghostly Flicker can be a card used for turning them face up, especially the ones that have huge costs, and can be re-bought with Den Protector, Archaeomancer, Eternal Witness. I do truly wish Sagu Mauler was an uncommon, I'd definitely have him in my Peasant cube. cards like Icefeather haven is overcosted (morph+unmorph) whereas a Man-o-War and a Mist Raven are just cheaper overall. I guess you have to find the cards that are worth turning facing up like Den Protector, or smaller, incremental investments such as Sagu Mauler. UG definitely is in a funny position, but I do feel a tempo/flicker deck works really well.
Affinity
Legacy:
GBCombo Elves
EDH:
GEzuri, Renegade Leader's Elf Ball
Cube:
180 Peasant Micro Cube
I've got some suggestions over your list.
Blue - I do think this list is pretty great. You might just be missing on 1 more flying creatures, but I like it so far.
Black - only change I would make here is Dark Ritual, perhaps for a discard effect like Harsh Scrutiny(new Despise)/Duress/Hymn to Tourach/IoK unless you go for another removal spell.
White - First, I'm stealing Emancipation Angel and Stonecloaker as potentials for my list. I feel that Steppe Lynx may not be great and you would rather have an aggressive 1cmc or 2cmc creature that doesn't need an effect to use it every turn. Mana tithe could be replaced with a spell like Raise the Alarm unless you feel it keep UW control alive.
Red - I FREAKING LOVE Shivan Meteor. Such a flavorful card, and gives red the potential to deal with any threat. You are right on your Blog about Blood Mist on its late game shenanigans, also it works well with Stonewright. I don't like Jackal Pup, as it can be a bad card for yourself, and there are plenty of better 1 drop options out there. Also Qal Sisma Behemoth, is like Steppe Lynx, the activation needed each turn, could be wasteful.
Green - List seems almost on point. Only cards I would remove are Jungle Lion and Lignify. You mentioned you wanted an aggressive mana dork, I'd suggest Werebear. Sure it takes some work to become aggressive, but its a relevant card in the early/mid/late game. Another aggressive/ramp creature is Borderland Ranger, though it needs some payment and gives your opponents options too. I would replace lignify with a fight card/pump card/ramp card - whichever you feel is in the right direction for your cube.
Colorless - I was happy with the amount of fixing there was, and would not change that. I know you are trying to push ramp, but 1 Hedron Archive with the Armillary sphere, seems enough. Basalt Monolith can be another artifact or a creature for that matter.
Affinity
Legacy:
GBCombo Elves
EDH:
GEzuri, Renegade Leader's Elf Ball
Cube:
180 Peasant Micro Cube
Black: I had a discard package a while ago and took it out. I've been underwhelmed with Dark Ritual to be honest, so that was on my radar for potential cuts. If I do end up going with discard, I'm likely to add something like Raven's Crime, so I get more discards per card slot than a single discard effect.
White: I've been pretty happy with Mana Tithe. It does what it is supposed to do, even if it does that rather boringly. I will take your suggestion on Steppe Lynx into consideration, but I am wary of adding more token generators.
Red: I play the Behemoth as an experiment and it has played decently, but by no means is it a stellar card. I'm considering my options for a replacement, same for Jackal Pup. Jackal Pup has long been a staple red card, even in powered cubes, until recent printings of strictly better cards...at rare. Any suggestions for a replacement?
Green: Jungle Lion is effective, yet boring...possibly a good replacement target (suggestions needed). I'm not sure about cutting Lignify for a fight spell...I've liked the ability to essentially blank any opposing creature with Lignify, but perhaps fighting would be better for aggro decks. I'll have to consider that, too.
Colorless: I'll see about the ramping. I may be tilted a bit towards ramp with the monolith and hedron archive.
Great assessment! Thank you again for that.
Steppe Lynx - either a straight swap with Expedition Envoy or Soul Warden if you need a bit of lifegain
Jackal Pup - Monastery Swiftspear, Reckless Waif, War-name Aspirant, Stormblood Beserker (you don't necessarily need it to be a 1 drop)
Jungle Lion - I'd say test out the Werebear in this spot for now, see if you like it.
Monolith - Porcelain Legionnaire, Filigree Familiar, Cathodian (creature+ramp), Mind Stone (card draw+ramp in built).
Those are some suggestions, test them out, it could work in your 90.
Affinity
Legacy:
GBCombo Elves
EDH:
GEzuri, Renegade Leader's Elf Ball
Cube:
180 Peasant Micro Cube
Red: Thought about swiftspear and have determined I don't have enough support. I've played Reckless Waif in a powered cube and it got cut long before Jackal Pup. A 2/1 for R is too important to red to cut for a conditional card like waif....I'll keep looking, but for now, Jackal Pup is sticking around.
Green: I'll give Werebear a test.
Colorless changes are so open to any of a myriad of potentialities. I feel like I'm at the right spot with both creatures, equips, and fixing in colorless. Maybe Mishra's Factory?
I need to replace Heir of Falkenrath...no DFCs allowed and I'm breaking my own rule. I've used Nezumi Graverobber before in this cube and found my reanimator package as a whole was too good. But without Animate Dead, Strands of Night, and Necromancy...I think it will be okay playing a fragile creature that requires multiple activations before getting its full potential.
Recent Changes:
* snuff out -> murder (instead of being free, made it double black, and unconditional)
* skysnare spider -> sentinel spider (comes down sooner, and is a smaller body)
* guardian automation -> Pierce strider (nerfing on lifegain a bit, plus blinking pierce strider can be effective)
* spitemare -> goblin trenches (it looks better on paper for the boros archetype)
* path to exile -> kytheon's tactics (white had 8 removal in spells/enchant/creatures) (Tactics makes it not such a splashable spell, but also has the upside of vigilance ~ instead of rally the peasants).
* ghirapur gearcrafter -> pyreheart wolf (making red creatures harder to block)
Im still trying to balance the power in the cube. Ive given blue a lot of tools and aggressive creatures, though it still seems to lag in its archetypes. UW is strong, UG can do well with ETB effects, whereas UB and UR are 1 or 2 cards away from being good. Blue seems to be 1 control card away from being complete. It could be a creature card or 1 more counterspell (only running 3 and that seems too few), though Im unsure what to cut. Miscalculation, force spike, memory lapse are the ones on my radar
Black's aristocrats and reanimators are doing well. Black has 7 removal spells (3 creatures) and 2 sweepers, making it a very strong color to splash. Im considering dropping a removal spell for a discard spell or any other reanimator/control spell. Hymn to tourach seems like a backbreaking card, but I dont see it picked often, nor do have I seen it played. This too can be replaced for another discard effect. Considering- Blackmail, Harsh Scrutiny, Despise, Duress, Unburial Rites, Zombify, Necromancy. Any other suggestions?
Red has been fulfilling itself as the aggro color. It does to a decent job at midrange too. I feel that it may slightly be short on burn though. 5 burn spells, and 2 great sweepers keeps it decent. Guttersnipe may do some extra damage, and Flametongue Kavu handles most threats. Smoldering werewolf does an ok FTK impression, but it can grow larger and deal an extra 2 damage per turn. However, Ive stumbled on Fanatic of Mogis and it looks like a good burn spell slapped on a creature, but Im wondering, is it better than smoldering werefolf? Goblin Glory Seeker has been underwhelming as well and Im considering swapping it with Goblin Arsonist. Thinking on adding Goblin Arsonist, Fanatic of Mogis, but Im not too sure where to make space for burn spells like Rift Bolt, Staggershock, or Lightning Strike.
White and Green still seem like the best colors, edging each other out in different departments.
White still has the most removals but no sweepers. It does form a great pair as Boros or Selesnya tokens, and so to nerf it, Im thinking about dropping a token producer. Either that, or another color needs a sweeper to deal with them. Lingering Souls could be on the chopping block. I could also drop Triplicate spirits and replace it with Cenn's Enlistment. A repeatable spell, but it may drop the support for the UW flying archetype. Also Ive been recommended Blinding Beam, for aggro/control strategies instead of a team pump spell, and Feudkiller's verdict for control as well (though it seems it might just kill aggro in one sweep). Considering Blinding Beam, Cenn's Enlistment, Feudkiller's Verdict, Rally the Peasants.
Green has really powerful creatures in a peasant level environment. I do like my list as of now, but some threats might be too resilient like Plated Crusher, Seed Guardian, and Penumbra Spider. Backed by Blossoming defense and Vines of Vastwood, it makes them really strong. Im thinking of replacing with Embodiment of Insight (to pair with its brother in red), and/or Tajuru Pathwarden and/or Briarhorn.
Multicolor - the only one im disappointed with is Izzet's Spellheart Chimera. Ive been suggested to try Fire//Ice in its place, but i do feel it wont make much of an impact as the other colors.
Colorless - No changes I feel, Im quite happy with it at the moment.
Affinity
Legacy:
GBCombo Elves
EDH:
GEzuri, Renegade Leader's Elf Ball
Cube:
180 Peasant Micro Cube
Raven's Crime has been performing well in my discard section in my 90-card cube. It's repeatable, cheap, and relatively low power (aka not entirely unfair).
Jackal Pup all the way over Goblin Glory Seeker. I don't really like Fanatic of Mogis or Smoldering Werewolf. I think red would rather burn blockers out of the way than hope to smack the opponent directly in the face with an ETB trigger, but that's just me.
I would drop Lingering Souls for the simple reason that it is an extra card for the Orzhov guild, which is a slight imbalance in your list. Token producing cards and the tokens archetype is very hard to balance in a small list.
I've thus far loved Briarhorn in my green section. It works with reanimator, as a pump spell, a decent creature on its own, can be bounced, etc. Hill Giants win drafts! Especially flashing, Giant Growth Hill Giants. Highly recommended!
Spellheart Chimera is badsauce. 0/3 Flyer for 3 is pretty garbage. Fire//Ice is fine, albeit not very defining for the guild (though you do have Isochron Scepter, which is pretty great). Maybe Prophetic Bolt or Electrolyze? Or even Izzet Staticaster to help balance tokens?
Side note: I asked the mods to sticky this thread over the "[IDEA] Possibly 180 or 270..." thread, since that one is almost entirely inactive and covers the same ground as this thread
EDIT: Sorry for the double post, just trying to get some more chit chat in the thread by bumping it.
Affinity
Legacy:
GBCombo Elves
EDH:
GEzuri, Renegade Leader's Elf Ball
Cube:
180 Peasant Micro Cube
Or are you interested in a Fiora flavor cube? Conspire and win!
Level 2 Judge
The problem with going tribal for a green-only tribe like elves is that it doesn't necessarily translate well to guild pairs. I've looked at the tribes in my stack and I'd pretty much have to go with humans. I scoped out gatherer and just didn't like the options. Still considering maybe beasts or elementals though, so I haven't entirely given up on tribal.
+1/+1 counters matter is tied for first for archetypes I'm considering, centering around Cytoplast Root-Kin. Hunting Triad, Cytoplast Rootkin, Young Wolf, Strangleroot Geist, etc. are all decent options. The fact that it plays nice with the bounce archetype in white and blue, has synergies with at least a few other colors in my cube already are big pluses already. I'm sure there's some +1/+1-fight removal spells in green, too.
The other archetype/theme I'm probing is Threshold aggro. Blue plays a lot of non-creature spells that can build up the 'yard and does have quite a good tempo game, black likes pitching things in the graveyard for reanimation, red will pair fine with a scaling aggro archetype. It would play a more mid-range game with white.
Thanks for the suggestions, guys. 'll have to test both out and see how I feel.
Actually as a smaller cube the +1/+1 archetype will definitely workout well. Outlast mechanic can be used as well - Tuskguard Captain, Longshot Squad, Abzan Falconer, Ainok Bond-Kin , can all help as build around cards for the archetype.
On my current 180 Peasant cube, I'm very happy on where the cube is right now. Its quite well balanced and all the archetypes have been quite fulfilled in my testing on cockatrice. Waiting on Aether Revolt for any changes.
With that done I've started a new project, a 180 Peasant Artifacts Cube. I decided to keep it Peasant as some of the rare Artifact cards do get busted with some of the rare colored cards, and helps keep the value low. Here's the cube at the moment - http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/67546
I started at 250 cards, and it was such a headache to cut down to 180. I'm sure there's some cards noticeably missing, and I'm all ears. Yes I kind of forced the multicolored cards in, and they aren't really build around cards, but some of them can be quite powerful in their colors. Trygon Predator, Behemoth Sledge, Glassdust Hulk and Flamewright are such cards.
In the cube there are quite a few bombs:
-Darksteel Sentinel, the only indestructible creature in the cube.
-Fangren Marauder, the life gain is off the charts
-Smash to smithereens, for obvious reasons
-Ceremonious Rejection/Steel Sabotage.
Archetypes:
There isn't really any dual colored archetypes I feel. Each color brings something different to the table.
Major Tribe - Golems (Green/White/Blue)
Minor Tribe - Myr (White)
White - Myr/Golem Tribal/Artifact return/Equipment Matters (I do feel I should go a little deeper on the equipment matters)
Blue - Control/Affinity/Trinket
Black - Aggro/Kill Spells(This one is narrow for sure, but it does have some interesting cards)
Red - Burn/Artifact Destruction
Green - Artifact Destruction/Life gain/Golem Tribal
Let me know what you guys think!
Affinity
Legacy:
GBCombo Elves
EDH:
GEzuri, Renegade Leader's Elf Ball
Cube:
180 Peasant Micro Cube
Not in Modern Master 2015. There it is an Uncommon.
Or are you interested in a Fiora flavor cube? Conspire and win!
Level 2 Judge
Affinity
Legacy:
GBCombo Elves
EDH:
GEzuri, Renegade Leader's Elf Ball
Cube:
180 Peasant Micro Cube