I think you'll miss the Skinshifter and the Twinblade Slasher. I find that they get in more damage than their current replacements, on average.
They're both good cards and I like them both a lot, I'm just not sure what I should take out for them if I want to get them in there. I could take out some fat to support green aggro a bit better, which might be an option if green aggro is underperforming. We've only gotten in a few drafts with it so far. Going from 450 to 360 is pretty huge, everything changes a lot.
If I put them back in, I would most likely be cutting other things. Any suggestions?
All of my cube experiences with Imperial Seal have been great. Taking a top 5 black spell and making it a sorcery instead of an instant doesn't suddenly render it completely unplayable. It's not as good as Vampiric Tutor, but it's still a beast of a card, IMO.
I want to support "hard" aggro as much as possible, and having another accessible one drop is pretty key to that. A side bonus is that green is desired more (Kitchen Finks is played in white decks far more often than green). The problem is, of course, Kitchen Finks is a much better card and works better in a conjunction with the vast majority of decks. It's not terrible in aggro either.
Can anyone who has experience at a powered 360 or 405 level like to chime in? I'd appreciate the advice.
I think the Finks is the best WG card, followed by the Lion and then the Pridemage. I love all three though.
I wish I had room for all three, but that would require cutting 2 cards from each WUBRG color or 1 card from each WUBRG color and 5 cards from colorless.
Cutting any of them hurts. I might have to actually cut Kitchen Finks for Loam Lion, unfortunately, as that will help aggro more (take a life gaining card out that blocks all day and adds to W/'s value).
cutting kitchen finks is just a bad idea in my opinion. it's great in all decks. i would cut the pridemage. it's a great card but less crucial to any particular archetype than lion and lower powered than finks. green should have enough artifact/enchantment hate so losing it wouldn't hurt too much. there's no equivalent of the finks, i think it's one of the best gold cards.
When I see Healing Salve, I'm often like "Oh girl, I wish I could turn every card into this." Thanks they removed the gain life part, otherwise this would have been broken.
Phantom Centaur has been quite good here. Definitely one of green's best 4-drops. The fact that it is basically pro black pro red pro combat is just so overpowering sometimes.
I want to keep green aggro a priority and can't really find another cut. Skinshifter and Albino Troll are just barely not good enough, but I'd really like to get the Slasher back in. Phantom Centaur I've decided is better than Cultivate/Kodama's Reach #2.
For reference and easy access, here's my green section:
Okay, so we've gotten in a lot of drafting (mostly Winston) with the 360 recently and I have a few thoughts:
1) Winston drafting the 360 is much more fun than drafting with 450 or 540. There are a ridiculous amount of choices when deckbuilding and there are more bombs overall, so it doesn't feel like your opponent gets all the bombs and you get stuck with nothing or only one that never shows up.
2) Green has performed much better at this level than it has at the other two. I'm not exactly sure why, but it seems like green aggro is doing exceptionally well. Green mid-range is incredible in 360 Winston. We've been really happy with it.
3) Isochron Scepter is not as impressive as it was at 450, but I can't figure out why. It might just be the overall quality of cards is too strong and pushes it outside of being awesome, even in decks with a lot of targets.
5) Artifacts are absolutely ridiculous at this level. Swords are the absolute nuts at this level, it seems like at least 50% of games are ended by them or some other powerful artifact. I am definitely going to get Viridian Shaman into this list. Sex monkeys have impressed me more than ever.
7) 4 and 5 color control are much stronger in Winston at this level due to mana fixing being very abundant. In an 8 man it's almost impossible for me to not play 4cc. I thought the opposite would be true for some reason.
9) Did I mention green is like really good for some reason? I don't know why it got so much better, we've just all been extremely impressed with it at 360, far more than we've ever been. The aggro and mid-range elements are just exceptional.
10) Blue also seems to have gotten a lot better, but it also gets split more. Because the blue cards on average are so powerful, it seems a lot of people try to get into blue early and cut other blue players out of cards. When they eventually drop out, the blue players have already been cut on a fair amount of cards. When blue is only drafted by 2 or 3 people, the decks tend to be on the absurd side.
I think green is especially strong in 360 for a few reasons
1) increased consistency in ramping elements
2) steep drop-off in 3-drop quality creatures
3) desire to add in more fatties in a larger cube
4) most importantly - denser artifact removal creatures help out with higher sword density
I think green is especially strong in 360 for a few reasons
1) increased consistency in ramping elements
2) steep drop-off in 3-drop quality creatures
3) desire to add in more fatties in a larger cube
4) most importantly - denser artifact removal creatures help out with higher sword density
I'm going to be changing some things around in my 360 after doing some Winston's tonight. A few changes I have to do involve green, so I'd like to get some feedback on that later.
I think one Llanowar Elf is enough for 360 and will be experimenting with cutting the ice age version. Some people might be opposed to that as decks that can use one Llanowar Elf will most likely enjoy two, so I'm unsure about that atm.
I'm also interested in cutting Cultivate (Kodama's Reach would stay in) for the same reason. I can get a slightly greater diversity this way and improve aggro as well.
Inquisition has been fantastic. Profane Command is a likely cut if I ever want to add in another black spell. Snuff Out, while definitely not fantastic, is fine for the time being.
I might do:
+1 Sinkhole
-1 Profane Command
To support black aggro a bit better. It could use the help. Aggro all over could use the help, in fact.
Okay, so here are some changes I'll be making shortly. I want to see how they affect the balance of the cube, hopefully shifting them in aggro's favor.
Color shifting Loam Lion and Kird Ape give us additional aggro potential. Monowhite and monored are very rarely played here (and are paired with green often), so even though the colors themselves might be losing out on a card or two, aggressive color combinations are not hurt, which is really what I'm worried about with color balance.
To make up for the loss of Kird Ape in R/, I decided on Sarkhan Vol because I'm also cutting Life From The Loam, so Stormbind is not as powerful in our 360.
Pyroclasm is rarely (if ever) played, and it's only function is to hamper aggro, which I am intentionally trying to prevent in this update. Moreover, we're already running Earthquake and Rolling Earthquake. I don't need another effect like this.
Life From The Loam was rarely played and doesn't combo incredibly well with a large portion of our cube (cutting lots of the cards from a powered 450 makes this card unsurprisingly much worse). Viridian Shaman (in addition to sex monkeys) is absolutely needed at this level. Quick sword destruction is in high demand.
In keeping with the aggro additive subtheme, Twinblade Slasher was looking for a way to get back, and I think I've found a great card to cut for him. Kodama's Reach and Cultivate are functional reprints and are exceptional at what they do, but between both of them and Krosan Tusker, we have enough of that effect at 360 and really just need more aggro support.
If you could, help me find a card to cut for Skinshifter. Phantom Centaur and Blastoderm are pretty awesome, but one of them might be the cut. I'd really like to get Skinshifter back in, we really liked him at 450. Here's my green section for reference:
Snuff Out was the worst removal spell in black by a fair margin, although I'm definitely sad to see it go. Nether Void should be a more welcome addition, however, as we love Armageddon around here, and the black Armageddon was certainly missed.
Isochron Scepter for whatever reason is just not pulling its weight at the powered 360 level. I wish it were, but unfortunately one of our pet cards is falling by the wayside to support aggressive strategies in Lodestone Golem a bit better.
The main reason for me to continue supporting Trike's inclusion in the cube was as another Tinker target. Well, Memory Jar is probably a better Tinker target to begin with, and doesn't hurt aggro as much as Trike does (and also has the side-effect of some sweet Memory Jar stories).
Smokestack needed to get back in the cube. Scroll Rack is a sad cut for it, but cards that fit almost entirely into only controlling strategies are not going to be kept around for long unless they're in blue. I really like Scroll Rack, however, and would love for it to make an another appearance if one of these other cards doesn't work out (or if I end up moving Wild Nacatl from its own multicolored section to green, which I doubt will happen).
I think you should keep Kird Ape and Loam Lion in the multicolor section since you undoubtedly need two colors to play them.
Paladin en-Vec and Snuff Out have been quite good for us so I disagree with those changes.
As for a green card to cut I would cut Thornling. Other suggestions include Vines of Vastwood, Deranged Hermit, Plow Under, Woodfall Primus, Rancor, Blastoderm.
Memory Jar has a MD of 29% here. However, it has a so powerful potential and it is so iconic of broken cards I think it should be played in every cube.
Don't you only judge inclusions and exclusions by MD percentage though?
Keeping Memory Jar in when your data tells you to exclude it seems contradictory to your whole reasoning behind keeping MD percentages. Not trying to make this a MD percentage tangent too much. I'm just wondering if there are exceptions that you have for certain cards with your way of including/excluding cards.
Profane Command has been amazing for us in control AND aggro. The toolbox card can squeeze damage through blockers (via Fear), remove blockers, reanimate a smaller creature, and burn the player. I can't count how many times I've used Profane Command to win a game.
Profane Command has been amazing for us in control AND aggro. The toolbox card can squeeze damage through blockers (via Fear), remove blockers, reanimate a smaller creature, and burn the player. I can't count how many times I've used Profane Command to win a game.
It was great in our 450 powered cube, but it's definitely been found wanting at 360 powered. I think Sinkhole is a better addition, I really don't want to cut anything else for it, and I think Profane Command was the correct cut.
I'm definitely more sad about the Snuff Out -> Nether Void swap, but I still think that's probably the right decision. Maybe Inquisition of Kozilek or Duress is a better cut, but I doubt it. Inquisition might be the better cut.
In keeping with supporting aggro, a green 2/2 flyer that can be equipped with a sword is a very welcome addition. He helps create a critical mass of aggressive low drops, where Blastoderm only adds to the already oversaturated four drop spot.
Calciderm is awesome and not going anywhere, but when you take one of green's best creatures and give it to another color, chances are it's going to be much better in that color than it ever was in green.
While Blastoderm might be the better card in a vaccum, we have to play suboptimal aggressive cards over better ones all the time in cube to support aggro. Green aggro is doing very well at 360, but I'd like to see it overpowered and have to tune it down than the other way around. Getting rid of a shroudy 4-mana 5/5 blocker also helps this goal.
EDIT:
We really like Natural Order around here, and at 360, it's definitely a great card to have as the chances of you getting something awesome are higher if you build your cube around it. Tinker only has three awesome targets at the moment in the 360 (Wurmcoil Engine, Myr Battlesphere and Sundering Titan). There are other targets that are good too, but not as exciting (Batterskull, Memory Jar).
Natural Order can currently get Woodfall Primus and Simic Sky Swallower. If I was to add a fatty to bring it to three awesome cards to parallel Tinker, I would most likely add Terastodon.
This would also give me more incentive to support reanimator, which could use the help at the moment. Entomb, Exhume, and Thirst for Knowledge are very loved cards around here, so it might be fun to try that path out at this level.
DOUBLE EDIT:
These would be my changes were I to go with the Natural Order + Reanimator route:
I'm most unsure about the cutting of Yawgmoth's Will, but it's not been making the cut except in U/ decks with lots of low mana cost instants, and those types of decks don't generally need the boost in power Yawg Win provides. I expected to see it a lot more in R/B decks, but that's just not been happening as much as I'd like it to. I could possibly cut Bone Shredder instead, but I already cut Snuff Out, so removing more removal is meh.
They're both good cards and I like them both a lot, I'm just not sure what I should take out for them if I want to get them in there. I could take out some fat to support green aggro a bit better, which might be an option if green aggro is underperforming. We've only gotten in a few drafts with it so far. Going from 450 to 360 is pretty huge, everything changes a lot.
If I put them back in, I would most likely be cutting other things. Any suggestions?
Blimpy's Aggro-Focused Cube (powered 360)
I'm always open to suggestions on how to improve my cube. Take a look and ask a question, or give a constructive critique whenever you can.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
-1 Kitchen Finks
+1 Loam Lion
I want to support "hard" aggro as much as possible, and having another accessible one drop is pretty key to that. A side bonus is that green is desired more (Kitchen Finks is played in white decks far more often than green). The problem is, of course, Kitchen Finks is a much better card and works better in a conjunction with the vast majority of decks. It's not terrible in aggro either.
Can anyone who has experience at a powered 360 or 405 level like to chime in? I'd appreciate the advice.
Blimpy's Aggro-Focused Cube (powered 360)
I'm always open to suggestions on how to improve my cube. Take a look and ask a question, or give a constructive critique whenever you can.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
I wish I had room for all three, but that would require cutting 2 cards from each WUBRG color or 1 card from each WUBRG color and 5 cards from colorless.
I rank them like this:
1) Kitchen Finks
2) Qasali Pridemage
3) Loam Lion
Cutting any of them hurts. I might have to actually cut Kitchen Finks for Loam Lion, unfortunately, as that will help aggro more (take a life gaining card out that blocks all day and adds to W/'s value).
Blimpy's Aggro-Focused Cube (powered 360)
I'm always open to suggestions on how to improve my cube. Take a look and ask a question, or give a constructive critique whenever you can.
i think the percentage is probably even higher.
I agree with HotShot; the Centaur is pretty beastly.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
Cheers,
rant
My Cube
CubeCobra: https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/5f5d0310ed602310515d4c32
Cube Tutor: http://cubetutor.com/viewcube/1963
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
-1 Cultivate (or Kodama's Reach, I have both in there right now)
+1 Twinblade Slasher
I want to keep green aggro a priority and can't really find another cut. Skinshifter and Albino Troll are just barely not good enough, but I'd really like to get the Slasher back in. Phantom Centaur I've decided is better than Cultivate/Kodama's Reach #2.
For reference and easy access, here's my green section:
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Fyndhorn Elves
1 Joraga Treespeaker
1 Jungle Lion
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Noble Hierarch
1 Pouncing Jaguar
1 Wild Dogs
//2CC
1 Fauna Shaman
1 Lotus Cobra
1 Mire Boa
1 River Boa
1 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Tarmogoyf
1 Wall of Blossoms
1 Wall of Roots
1 Wild Mongrel
1 Eternal Witness
1 Troll Ascetic
1 Uktabi Orangutan
1 Yavimaya Elder
//4CC
1 Blastoderm
1 Chameleon Colossus
1 Phantom Centaur
1 Thrun, The Last Troll
1 Vengevine
1 Wickerbough Elder
//5CC
1 Acidic Slime
1 Deranged Hermit
1 Genesis
1 Indrik Stomphowler
1 Thornling
1 Woodfall Primus
1 Rancor
1 Vines of Vastwood
//2CC
1 Life From The Loam
1 Regrowth
1 Survival of the Fittest
1 Sylvan Library
1 Cultivate
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Krosan Tusker
//4CC
1 Bramblecrush
1 Garruk Relentless
1 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Plow Under
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
//Land
1 Treetop Village
Blimpy's Aggro-Focused Cube (powered 360)
I'm always open to suggestions on how to improve my cube. Take a look and ask a question, or give a constructive critique whenever you can.
1) Winston drafting the 360 is much more fun than drafting with 450 or 540. There are a ridiculous amount of choices when deckbuilding and there are more bombs overall, so it doesn't feel like your opponent gets all the bombs and you get stuck with nothing or only one that never shows up.
2) Green has performed much better at this level than it has at the other two. I'm not exactly sure why, but it seems like green aggro is doing exceptionally well. Green mid-range is incredible in 360 Winston. We've been really happy with it.
3) Isochron Scepter is not as impressive as it was at 450, but I can't figure out why. It might just be the overall quality of cards is too strong and pushes it outside of being awesome, even in decks with a lot of targets.
4) Reanimator is much, much worse than it was at 450. No Entomb, Frantic Search, Thirst for Knowledge, Intuition, Exhume, or Nezumi Graverobber probably has something to do with that though.
5) Artifacts are absolutely ridiculous at this level. Swords are the absolute nuts at this level, it seems like at least 50% of games are ended by them or some other powerful artifact. I am definitely going to get Viridian Shaman into this list. Sex monkeys have impressed me more than ever.
6) Life from the Loam has not been added to any deck at all, ever.
7) 4 and 5 color control are much stronger in Winston at this level due to mana fixing being very abundant. In an 8 man it's almost impossible for me to not play 4cc. I thought the opposite would be true for some reason.
8) Bribery is absolutely bonkers at 360.
9) Did I mention green is like really good for some reason? I don't know why it got so much better, we've just all been extremely impressed with it at 360, far more than we've ever been. The aggro and mid-range elements are just exceptional.
10) Blue also seems to have gotten a lot better, but it also gets split more. Because the blue cards on average are so powerful, it seems a lot of people try to get into blue early and cut other blue players out of cards. When they eventually drop out, the blue players have already been cut on a fair amount of cards. When blue is only drafted by 2 or 3 people, the decks tend to be on the absurd side.
Blimpy's Aggro-Focused Cube (powered 360)
I'm always open to suggestions on how to improve my cube. Take a look and ask a question, or give a constructive critique whenever you can.
You have a 180 in your sig!
Blimpy's Aggro-Focused Cube (powered 360)
I'm always open to suggestions on how to improve my cube. Take a look and ask a question, or give a constructive critique whenever you can.
1) increased consistency in ramping elements
2) steep drop-off in 3-drop quality creatures
3) desire to add in more fatties in a larger cube
4) most importantly - denser artifact removal creatures help out with higher sword density
I'm going to be changing some things around in my 360 after doing some Winston's tonight. A few changes I have to do involve green, so I'd like to get some feedback on that later.
I think one Llanowar Elf is enough for 360 and will be experimenting with cutting the ice age version. Some people might be opposed to that as decks that can use one Llanowar Elf will most likely enjoy two, so I'm unsure about that atm.
I'm also interested in cutting Cultivate (Kodama's Reach would stay in) for the same reason. I can get a slightly greater diversity this way and improve aggro as well.
Blimpy's Aggro-Focused Cube (powered 360)
I'm always open to suggestions on how to improve my cube. Take a look and ask a question, or give a constructive critique whenever you can.
I might do:
+1 Sinkhole
-1 Profane Command
To support black aggro a bit better. It could use the help. Aggro all over could use the help, in fact.
Blimpy's Aggro-Focused Cube (powered 360)
I'm always open to suggestions on how to improve my cube. Take a look and ask a question, or give a constructive critique whenever you can.
-------
Okay, so here are some changes I'll be making shortly. I want to see how they affect the balance of the cube, hopefully shifting them in aggro's favor.
Color shifting Loam Lion and Kird Ape give us additional aggro potential. Monowhite and monored are very rarely played here (and are paired with green often), so even though the colors themselves might be losing out on a card or two, aggressive color combinations are not hurt, which is really what I'm worried about with color balance.
Goal: Make aggro stronger / overpowered.
*Kird Ape (color shifted from Gruul to red)
+1 Sarkhan Vol
-1 Pyroclasm
To make up for the loss of Kird Ape in R/, I decided on Sarkhan Vol because I'm also cutting Life From The Loam, so Stormbind is not as powerful in our 360.
Pyroclasm is rarely (if ever) played, and it's only function is to hamper aggro, which I am intentionally trying to prevent in this update. Moreover, we're already running Earthquake and Rolling Earthquake. I don't need another effect like this.
+1 Loam Lion
-1 Paladin En-Vec
Loam Lion was a needed addition to the cube. Paladin En-Vec has been the worst white card in the cube for a long time, he won't be missed.
-1 Life From the Loam
+1 Viridian Shaman
Life From The Loam was rarely played and doesn't combo incredibly well with a large portion of our cube (cutting lots of the cards from a powered 450 makes this card unsurprisingly much worse). Viridian Shaman (in addition to sex monkeys) is absolutely needed at this level. Quick sword destruction is in high demand.
-1 Cultivate
+1 Twinblade Slasher
In keeping with the aggro additive subtheme, Twinblade Slasher was looking for a way to get back, and I think I've found a great card to cut for him. Kodama's Reach and Cultivate are functional reprints and are exceptional at what they do, but between both of them and Krosan Tusker, we have enough of that effect at 360 and really just need more aggro support.
+1 Skinshifter
-1 SOMETHING?
If you could, help me find a card to cut for Skinshifter. Phantom Centaur and Blastoderm are pretty awesome, but one of them might be the cut. I'd really like to get Skinshifter back in, we really liked him at 450. Here's my green section for reference:
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Fyndhorn Elves
1 Joraga Treespeaker
1 Jungle Lion
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Noble Hierarch
1 Pouncing Jaguar
1 Twinblade Slasher
1 Wild Dogs
//2CC
1 Fauna Shaman
1 Lotus Cobra
1 Mire Boa
1 River Boa
1 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Tarmogoyf
1 Wall of Blossoms
1 Wall of Roots
1 Wild Mongrel
1 Eternal Witness
1 Troll Ascetic
1 Uktabi Orangutan
1 Viridian Shaman
1 Yavimaya Elder
//4CC
1 Blastoderm
1 Chameleon Colossus
1 Phantom Centaur
1 Thrun, The Last Troll
1 Vengevine
1 Wickerbough Elder
//5CC
1 Acidic Slime
1 Deranged Hermit
1 Genesis
1 Indrik Stomphowler
1 Thornling
1 Woodfall Primus
1 Rancor
1 Vines of Vastwood
//2CC
1 Regrowth
1 Survival of the Fittest
1 Sylvan Library
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Krosan Tusker
//4CC
1 Bramblecrush
1 Garruk Relentless
1 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Plow Under
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
//Land
1 Treetop Village
-1 Profane Command
+1 Sinkhole
I want to support black aggro more as well. Profane Command is costly and Sinkhole should help out a lot with aggro.
-1 Snuff Out
+1 Nether Void
Snuff Out was the worst removal spell in black by a fair margin, although I'm definitely sad to see it go. Nether Void should be a more welcome addition, however, as we love Armageddon around here, and the black Armageddon was certainly missed.
-1 Moltensteel Dragon
+1 Rivalry
I want to try out mini-vortex and Moltensteel Dragon is easily the worst red card I am currently playing.
-1 Isochron Scepter
+1 Lodestone Golem
Isochron Scepter for whatever reason is just not pulling its weight at the powered 360 level. I wish it were, but unfortunately one of our pet cards is falling by the wayside to support aggressive strategies in Lodestone Golem a bit better.
-1 Triskelion
+1 Memory Jar
The main reason for me to continue supporting Trike's inclusion in the cube was as another Tinker target. Well, Memory Jar is probably a better Tinker target to begin with, and doesn't hurt aggro as much as Trike does (and also has the side-effect of some sweet Memory Jar stories).
-1 Scroll Rack
+1 Smokestack
Smokestack needed to get back in the cube. Scroll Rack is a sad cut for it, but cards that fit almost entirely into only controlling strategies are not going to be kept around for long unless they're in blue. I really like Scroll Rack, however, and would love for it to make an another appearance if one of these other cards doesn't work out (or if I end up moving Wild Nacatl from its own multicolored section to green, which I doubt will happen).
Blimpy's Aggro-Focused Cube (powered 360)
I'm always open to suggestions on how to improve my cube. Take a look and ask a question, or give a constructive critique whenever you can.
Paladin en-Vec and Snuff Out have been quite good for us so I disagree with those changes.
As for a green card to cut I would cut Thornling. Other suggestions include Vines of Vastwood, Deranged Hermit, Plow Under, Woodfall Primus, Rancor, Blastoderm.
Paladin & Snuff are on the way out here as well, but not quite yet.
I would narrow your green cuts to Woodfall, Vines, Blastoderm, in order of first to go.
Don't you only judge inclusions and exclusions by MD percentage though?
Keeping Memory Jar in when your data tells you to exclude it seems contradictory to your whole reasoning behind keeping MD percentages. Not trying to make this a MD percentage tangent too much. I'm just wondering if there are exceptions that you have for certain cards with your way of including/excluding cards.
Blimpy's Aggro-Focused Cube (powered 360)
I'm always open to suggestions on how to improve my cube. Take a look and ask a question, or give a constructive critique whenever you can.
Profane Command has been amazing for us in control AND aggro. The toolbox card can squeeze damage through blockers (via Fear), remove blockers, reanimate a smaller creature, and burn the player. I can't count how many times I've used Profane Command to win a game.
It was great in our 450 powered cube, but it's definitely been found wanting at 360 powered. I think Sinkhole is a better addition, I really don't want to cut anything else for it, and I think Profane Command was the correct cut.
I'm definitely more sad about the Snuff Out -> Nether Void swap, but I still think that's probably the right decision. Maybe Inquisition of Kozilek or Duress is a better cut, but I doubt it. Inquisition might be the better cut.
Blimpy's Aggro-Focused Cube (powered 360)
I'm always open to suggestions on how to improve my cube. Take a look and ask a question, or give a constructive critique whenever you can.
-1 Blastoderm
+1 Skinshifter
In keeping with supporting aggro, a green 2/2 flyer that can be equipped with a sword is a very welcome addition. He helps create a critical mass of aggressive low drops, where Blastoderm only adds to the already oversaturated four drop spot.
Calciderm is awesome and not going anywhere, but when you take one of green's best creatures and give it to another color, chances are it's going to be much better in that color than it ever was in green.
While Blastoderm might be the better card in a vaccum, we have to play suboptimal aggressive cards over better ones all the time in cube to support aggro. Green aggro is doing very well at 360, but I'd like to see it overpowered and have to tune it down than the other way around. Getting rid of a shroudy 4-mana 5/5 blocker also helps this goal.
EDIT:
We really like Natural Order around here, and at 360, it's definitely a great card to have as the chances of you getting something awesome are higher if you build your cube around it. Tinker only has three awesome targets at the moment in the 360 (Wurmcoil Engine, Myr Battlesphere and Sundering Titan). There are other targets that are good too, but not as exciting (Batterskull, Memory Jar).
Natural Order can currently get Woodfall Primus and Simic Sky Swallower. If I was to add a fatty to bring it to three awesome cards to parallel Tinker, I would most likely add Terastodon.
This would also give me more incentive to support reanimator, which could use the help at the moment. Entomb, Exhume, and Thirst for Knowledge are very loved cards around here, so it might be fun to try that path out at this level.
DOUBLE EDIT:
These would be my changes were I to go with the Natural Order + Reanimator route:
-1 Skinshifter
+1 Natural Order
-1 Thornling
+1 Terastodon
-1 Yawgmoth's Will
+1 Entomb
-1 Inquisition of Kozilek
+1 Exhume
-1 Memory Lapse
+1 Thirst For Knowledge
I'm most unsure about the cutting of Yawgmoth's Will, but it's not been making the cut except in U/ decks with lots of low mana cost instants, and those types of decks don't generally need the boost in power Yawg Win provides. I expected to see it a lot more in R/B decks, but that's just not been happening as much as I'd like it to. I could possibly cut Bone Shredder instead, but I already cut Snuff Out, so removing more removal is meh.
Another option is moving Dismember to colorless and cutting Memory Jar.
Some more proposed changes:
+1 Stormbind
-1 Sarkhan Vol
+1 Life From the Loam
-1 Something Green
Help me cut something for LFTL, here's my green section (Natural Order and Terastodon are staying in for now, don't suggest them!)
GGGGG
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Fyndhorn Elves
1 Joraga Treespeaker
1 Jungle Lion
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Noble Hierarch
1 Pouncing Jaguar
1 Twinblade Slasher
1 Wild Dogs
//2CC
1 Fauna Shaman
1 Lotus Cobra
1 Mire Boa
1 River Boa
1 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Tarmogoyf
1 Wall of Blossoms
1 Wall of Roots
1 Wild Mongrel
1 Eternal Witness
1 Troll Ascetic
1 Uktabi Orangutan
1 Viridian Shaman
1 Yavimaya Elder
//4CC
1 Chameleon Colossus
1 Phantom Centaur
1 Thrun, The Last Troll
1 Vengevine
1 Wickerbough Elder
//5CC
1 Acidic Slime
1 Deranged Hermit
1 Genesis
1 Indrik Stomphowler
1 Terastodon
1 Woodfall Primus
1 Rancor
1 Vines of Vastwood
//2CC
1 Regrowth
1 Survival of the Fittest
1 Sylvan Library
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Krosan Tusker
//4CC
1 Bramblecrush
1 Garruk Relentless
1 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Natural Order
1 Plow Under
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
//Land
1 Treetop Village
TRIPS EDITS:
As long as we're talking about modifying the cube a good bit, I'm also thinking about the following changes:
+1 Faithless Looting (new DKA card)
+1 Goblin Welder
+1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind (classified in wild nacatl's section, I'd take out a colorless card for it).
I'd just have to find the cuts...
Blimpy's Aggro-Focused Cube (powered 360)
I'm always open to suggestions on how to improve my cube. Take a look and ask a question, or give a constructive critique whenever you can.