+ Searing Blaze (I'm skeptical about this card. The RR, need of two targets, and need of Landfall seem like a lot of things that can make the card suboptimal in a given situation. Regardless, I'm going to test it at least.)
- Urza's Rage (It just came in (again) and probably isn't permanently gone. )
+ All Suns' Dawn (My friends and I have played lots of 5-color control lately, so this card plays into that.)
+ Joraga Treespeaker
- Civic Wayfinder (He's never really disappointed me, but he's not as good as Treespeaker either.)
- Stonewood Invocation (I felt like cutting a spell was more important than cutting a creature, and this seemed like the weak link. I still think it's a great card, though.)
Beastbreaker of Bala Ged seems Kavu Titan-ish. Is he worth it? I don't know what I would even cut if I added him.
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.
While Mindslaver is a cool card to try out, because it can cause some serious blowouts, spending 2 turns in the lategame for a card that isn't even good against all decks is not worth a permanent slot in the cube.
I decided to put testing it on hold, so I didn't buy one. But at the very least it's a Time Warp which sort of negates one of the turns.
Also, would you recommend me adding the Beastbreaker? And if so, for what?
I have a medium-sized update today.
+ Essence Scatter
- Convolute (This card is not as bad as it looks, and I prefer it to Deprive. But I haven't tested Deprive very much yet.)
+ Enslave (I think this is interesting. The 1 damage is probably irrelevant but a 2-for-1 in Mind Control fashion is unusual for black.)
+ Nezumi Graverobber
+ Pulse Tracker
- Blind Creeper (Not awful, but everybody seems to hate it.)
- Rise from the Grave (With the addition of Life//Death and Nezumi Graverobber and the addition of the costly Enslave, I thought I'd give this card a rest.)
- Smallpox (It usually impresses me when it's actually cast, but it doesn't make the final 40 of my decks very often.)
+ Basking Rootwalla (The Madness is pretty irrelevant, but I've been really impressed with Twinblade Slasher lately.)
+ Thornling
- Indrik Stomphowler (This card is great, but I already have Acidic Slime and Wickerbough Elder and that kind of effect is in lower demand for my Cube; I'm missing a lot of important artifacts and enchantments. Stomphowler will certainly return one day unless they print something that trumps it.)
- Terra Stomper
the update looks solid. i don't like losing stomphowler but i understand your reasoning. i think banefire is much better than red sun's zenith. and i don't think essence scatter is very good.
not impressive at any stage. the only time it's close to being on curve is when it's a bear, and that's just not good enough for cube.
Also, would you recommend me adding the Beastbreaker? And if so, for what?
i'd cut briarhorn or mitotic slime for beastbreaker. at this size you'll eventually end up cutting him i think, but right now he'd be a good addition to your list.
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.
+ Beastbreaker of Bala Ged
+ Green Sun's Zenith (I really want to test this out.)
- Albino Troll (He probably doesn't make my final 40 as often as he should, but he hasn't been super-special when he has. The 1G for Echo and to regenerate is often annoying. I think Mitotic Slime (as quitequieter suggested) or Master of the Wild Hunt is probably a better cut, but I'm attached to both and I think I'll stay with this cut for now.)
- Briarhorn (Such a cool card, and I'm sad to see it go.)
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.
Those are good points. In my next update (probably in a few days), I'll likely bring Troll back in for Slime, Master of the Wild Hunt, or if I'm unimpressed, Beastbreaker.
On another note...
All-around, which section(s) of my Cube do you feel need the most work?
I feel like my White is the strongest since I'm missing the fewest top-tier cards. I need to pick up a Wrath of God most relevantly, but I think other than that it's doing fine.
A lot of Blue's best cards are relatively expensive. I was lucky to trade for a (poor-quality ) Sower of Temptation, but I'm still missing the other Cubeable Fairies and some other staples like Cryptic Command. I feel as though my Blue is the weakest but I may be wrong.
Black has been improved a lot lately, but I still need to get some of its expensive staples like Dark Confidant and Bitterblossom...
Red got helped majorly by the all-foil deck, but there are still some cards I'm having trouble deciding whether or not to bring back in, like Urza's Rage, Magus of the Scroll and Goblin Assault. Overall I think it's one of the strongest though.
And I'm not sure about Green at all.
My Artifact section is a lot better now than it once was. It plays totally differently. Ditto for Lands, though it will be difficult to acquire fetches.
And with the addition of Glissa, at least now the Multicolor section has no "filler" cards. (She technically is filler for one of BG's better cards, but she's far less filler-ish than the split card was at least.)
Any feedback is welcome! Thanks everyone for all the feedback you've already given. It's really helped me out with everything.
it's the nature of a somewhat budget cube using no proxies that blue will suck. white and red are pretty inexpensive to get up to a high power level, in contrast. the state of my blue section was far worse than the rest of my cube for most of the time i was collecting cards. now i use proxies and that's not really an issue anymore.
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.
I've been able to draft my Cube in person a handful of times relatively lately, something I hadn't really had a chance to do since its very early days (I had done a lot of Winstons on MWS/Cockatrice with friends, though).
I didn't get a lot of stuff from the NPH release; I opened the worst Sealed Pool I have ever had. Hopefully I'll be able to draft soon or something.
I traded a ton today, and I think I can make quite an improvement to the Cube. I'm not sure whether it's better to expand the Cube slightly (maybe by 10-15 cards) or try to keep it as-is.
I'm looking on advice for what to cut for these cards (if anything):
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.
+ Hell's Thunder
+ Magus of the Scroll - He was in a long time ago but I cut him. I feel like I need to give Red a low-drop to make up for the loss of Wardriver.
+ Moltensteel Dragon
+ Sudden Shock
+ Urabrask the Hidden
- Flame Javelin - I seem to like this card less than most, but I will re-test it someday. Maybe I just underestimate how often I can cast it for RRR.
- Goblin Wardriver - It hurts me a bit to cut a 2-drop from Red when I feel like it needs them most, but I think the changes overall will help and Wardriver has unfortunately always underwhelmed me.
- Hammer of Bogardan - I think I'll miss this more than Flame Javelin even though it's probably worse. Nobody ever seems to have enough time to cast it multiple times.
- Keldon Champion - This is the hardest card for me to cut in this whole spoiler, and I'm not sure this is the right one. I just felt like the 4-slot was getting clogged up.
+ Beast Within - I have never seen this in action but it seems really powerful.
+ Brutalizer Exarch - Perhaps the right cut for this is Mold Shambler but I'd kinda like to have both at least for a little while.
+ Obstinate Baloth
+ Oracle of Mul Daya - I had this in a long time ago and was underwhelmed, but I picked up a foil and thought I'd test again.
- Kodama of the North Tree - Love the card, but it never seems to work out exactly as I hope.
- Noxious Revival - It seems like this isn't bad at all, and I feel like I didn't test it long enough. But I'm perhaps too attached to cards that may've been better cuts like All Suns' Dawn and Harmonize.
- Ravenous Baloth - I felt like the 4-drop slot was getting clogged in Green too. The Baloth-for-Baloth trade is questionable I think. Is Obstinate even necessarily better than Ravenous with my lower-than-normal discard suite? Maybe Master of the Wild Hunt should go but he hasn't been in the pool lately and I like him more than most people seem to.
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.
Some cards are going through a revolving door with this update. I missed the Prerelease due to a flat tire, but I'm going to try to draft a couple times this weekend so hopefully I'll get some good M12 cards!
+ Repulse (I really just kind of stuck something in to replace Tezzeret. I don't know if this was the best card to add, but I don't even remember why I cut it to begin with. Exactly how good is Repulse?)
- Tezzeret the Seeker (Tezzeret has only seen play like twice. I don't know if I really have enough artifacts to make him quite worth it. When the quality of my Cube increases, he should come back in.)
+ Thrun, the Last Troll
- Krosan Grip (This is a perfectly fine card, but I don't want to cut any of my other four drops for Thrun- at least not yet. Master of the Wild Hunt hasn't seen play in a while, but I like him more than most, and Oracle of Mul Daya is still being tested; it impressed me the past couple of drafts but I'm not sure how I feel about it overall. As for Grip... I feel like my Cube has too much artifact/enchantment removal in Green and not quite enough of the best Cube artifacts/enchantments that need to be destroyed. But this is not a permanent cut or anything.)
+ Life//Death (I'm hoping the all-foil Reanimator deck will provide me with better reanimation spells so I don't have to settle for cards like this.)
- Glissa, the Traitor (Plus I'm kind of biased against this card, which hasn't really done anything for me.)
+ Marsh Flats
+ Sunken Ruins (I don't even think this is better than Drowned Catacomb, but I've never played with Filterlands in my Cube before. I actually really like the M10 lands. I wish M12 had enemy color ones.)
+ Razorverge Thicket (Similarly, is this better or worse than Sunpetal Grove?)
- Drowned Catacomb
- Orzhov Basilica
- Sunpetal Grove
+ Frost Titan (I'd like to give this giant a second try since I traded for a DOTP one, but is four 6-drops plus Meloku and Inkwell too many finishers in Blue?)
+ Looter il-Kor (This is the first card with Shadow in the Cube.)
+ Phantasmal Image (Managed to pull a foil in a draft!)
+ Spellskite
- Conundrum Sphinx (I keep telling myself "But he's still a 4/4 flyer!" but I never end up playing him.)
- Daze
- Ninja of the Deep Hours (My group really likes this card, but I've always been unimpressed.)
- Spined Thopter (This card is fine, but it doesn't really seem to help Blue that much, and Blue needs more help than Red and White do in my particular Cube.)
+ Child of Night (I don't think this card is super-great or anything, but I'm interested to see how it'll play out.)
+ Grave Titan
+ Onyx Mage
+ Rune-Scarred Demon
- Disfigure (I doubt this cut is correct, but I don't really want to cut any of Doom Blade's friends.)
- Doomed Necromancer (It hurts to cut something that reanimates, but the fact that he has to wait a turn is a little annoying.)
- Liliana's Specter (This is just a second 3-drop being cut. It's not a bad card or anything.)
- Skeletal Vampire (He's vanished from most Cubes by this point, but he's been hanging out in mine since the beginning!)
I wouldn't cut Liliana's Specter for either of Onyx Mage or Child of Night. Any deck that would want either of those creatures would rather have the Specter.
Lodestone Golem is the wrong cut. Especially for Nim Deathmantle, which isn't a very good card at all.
Hero of Oxid Ridge is the 2nd best red 4-drop behind FTK. I'd certainly cut almost anything else for Koth.
Agree completely with wtwlf, and would add that Disfigure should also stay in over one of those creatures. Spined Thopter is perfectly playable as a colourless card if you want to keep it as it will see more play in every other colour as a rule.
HoOR is mighty and is much better than Urabrask, Champion, and most other red 4-5 drops. He's only slightly worse than Kavu and even then, he's sometimes much better. He's on an incredible kill streak (4 players) in my cube after coming down early.
Run Koth too though. He's another 4 power haste creature and is one of the best 'walkers.
I'll cut Keldon Champion instead of Hero for now. Eventually when I expand my Cube there'll still be room for the Champion. I love him and I've seen what he can do, but I haven't seen the Hero in action much, so I'll throw him back in.
I expect the Deathmantle to be bad and the black 2-drops to be somewhat decent, but I do love Disfigure and Liliana's Specter so their absences won't be permanent. I'll likely re-add them in my next update; I just wanted to see how the black creatures and Deathmantle (which was suggested by a friend) fare.
The Lodestone Golem will likely come back as well over the Deathmantle if I don't get a better artifact by then, but he has trouble making my final 40 sometimes. I always feel like the 4-mana spot is always a bit contested in my aggro decks, and I'm not sure when it's correct to run Golem and cut other four-drops and when it's not.
I'll cut Keldon Champion instead of Hero for now. Eventually when I expand my Cube there'll still be room for the Champion. I love him and I've seen what he can do, but I haven't seen the Hero in action much, so I'll throw him back in.
I expect the Deathmantle to be bad and the black 2-drops to be somewhat decent, but I do love Disfigure and Liliana's Specter so their absences won't be permanent. I'll likely re-add them in my next update; I just wanted to see how the black creatures and Deathmantle (which was suggested by a friend) fare.
The Lodestone Golem will likely come back as well over the Deathmantle if I don't get a better artifact by then, but he has trouble making my final 40 sometimes. I always feel like the 4-mana spot is always a bit contested in my aggro decks, and I'm not sure when it's correct to run Golem and cut other four-drops and when it's not.
A turn 4 lodestone golem can mean that you shut off their turn 4 wrath, and if they want to play multiple spells then you also screw around with them as well. The disruption that he causes is a lot better than I initially thought when I added him.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Want to Cube but don't have one? Check the map if anyone is in your area and get cubing!
I'd run the Golem over other 4-drops in decks that have other disruption. Tangle Wire, Rishidan Port, Ring of Gix, Pillage... that sort of thing. The extra 1 on your opponent's spells can keep them from playing spells they need to stabilize. It combos well with similar disruptive effects.
+ Yosei, the Morning Star
- Condemn (I thought about cutting Pacifism instead, but it's better in aggro than Condemn.)
+ Keiga, the Tide Star
- Spiketail Drakeling
+ Night's Whisper
- Ambition's Cost
+ Searing Blaze (I'm skeptical about this card. The RR, need of two targets, and need of Landfall seem like a lot of things that can make the card suboptimal in a given situation. Regardless, I'm going to test it at least.)
- Urza's Rage (It just came in (again) and probably isn't permanently gone. )
I've thought about re-adding Goblin Assault. Thoughts?
+ All Suns' Dawn (My friends and I have played lots of 5-color control lately, so this card plays into that.)
+ Joraga Treespeaker
- Civic Wayfinder (He's never really disappointed me, but he's not as good as Treespeaker either.)
- Stonewood Invocation (I felt like cutting a spell was more important than cutting a creature, and this seemed like the weak link. I still think it's a great card, though.)
Beastbreaker of Bala Ged seems Kavu Titan-ish. Is he worth it? I don't know what I would even cut if I added him.
+ Crystal Ball
- Whispersilk Cloak (Probably my weakest equipment. I considered cutting Brittle Effigy but this seemed better.)
I have thought about purchasing a Mindslaver.
+ Bloodbraid Elf
+ Fire//Ice
+ Life//Death (Since my Cube lacks cards like Animate Dead and Necromancy, having another low-cost reanimation spell will be helpful. It kind of irks me that the Life half is considerably weaker. This feels like it cheats Green.)
- Fires of Yavimaya (A friend suggested Giant Solifuge instead, but I prefer it to Fires.)
- Gelectrode
- Lord of Extinction (My main motivation for adding the split card was to get rid of him. One day I'll get a Spiritmonger, Pernicious Deed, or Maelstrom Pulse to replace Life//Death.)
My Custom Cube - a super-powered Core Set
i also like giant solifuge more than fires of yavimaya.
I decided to put testing it on hold, so I didn't buy one. But at the very least it's a Time Warp which sort of negates one of the turns.
Thoughts on Gnarlid Pack?
Also, would you recommend me adding the Beastbreaker? And if so, for what?
I have a medium-sized update today.
+ Essence Scatter
- Convolute (This card is not as bad as it looks, and I prefer it to Deprive. But I haven't tested Deprive very much yet.)
+ Enslave (I think this is interesting. The 1 damage is probably irrelevant but a 2-for-1 in Mind Control fashion is unusual for black.)
+ Nezumi Graverobber
+ Pulse Tracker
- Blind Creeper (Not awful, but everybody seems to hate it.)
- Rise from the Grave (With the addition of Life//Death and Nezumi Graverobber and the addition of the costly Enslave, I thought I'd give this card a rest.)
- Smallpox (It usually impresses me when it's actually cast, but it doesn't make the final 40 of my decks very often.)
+ Banefire (Don't get me wrong, this is awesome. But do I really need 5 X spells, plus a possible sixth in Red Sun's Zenith?
- Searing Blaze
+ Basking Rootwalla (The Madness is pretty irrelevant, but I've been really impressed with Twinblade Slasher lately.)
+ Thornling
- Indrik Stomphowler (This card is great, but I already have Acidic Slime and Wickerbough Elder and that kind of effect is in lower demand for my Cube; I'm missing a lot of important artifacts and enchantments. Stomphowler will certainly return one day unless they print something that trumps it.)
- Terra Stomper
+ Everflowing Chalice
+ Grafted Wargear
+ Mind Stone
+ Powder Keg
- Brittle Effigy (On paper it seems good, but in practice it doesn't see a lot of play.)
- Runed Servitor
- Trusty Machete
- Worn Powerstone
My Custom Cube - a super-powered Core Set
not impressive at any stage. the only time it's close to being on curve is when it's a bear, and that's just not good enough for cube.
i'd cut briarhorn or mitotic slime for beastbreaker. at this size you'll eventually end up cutting him i think, but right now he'd be a good addition to your list.
+ Accorder Paladin
+ Hero of Bladehold
- Marshal's Anthem (This is the hardest cut for me to make.)
- War Priest of Thune
+ Sower of Temptation
- Repulse (Conundrum Sphinx and Body Double were also on the chopping block.)
+ Goblin Wardriver
+ Hero of Oxid Ridge
- Demonfire
- Word of Seizing
+ Beastbreaker of Bala Ged
+ Green Sun's Zenith (I really want to test this out.)
- Albino Troll (He probably doesn't make my final 40 as often as he should, but he hasn't been super-special when he has. The 1G for Echo and to regenerate is often annoying. I think Mitotic Slime (as quitequieter suggested) or Master of the Wild Hunt is probably a better cut, but I'm attached to both and I think I'll stay with this cut for now.)
- Briarhorn (Such a cool card, and I'm sad to see it go.)
+ Chimeric Mass
+ Myr Battlesphere
+ Ratchet Bomb
- Karn, Silver Golem (Animating Signets and stuff is fun but he's not really necessary.)
- Sigil of Distinction
- Stalking Stones (Never seemed to make my final deck.)
+ Glissa, the Traitor
- Life//Death (Even though it will bother me aesthetically, I may eventually put this back in as a Black card.)
My Custom Cube - a super-powered Core Set
On another note...
All-around, which section(s) of my Cube do you feel need the most work?
I feel like my White is the strongest since I'm missing the fewest top-tier cards. I need to pick up a Wrath of God most relevantly, but I think other than that it's doing fine.
A lot of Blue's best cards are relatively expensive. I was lucky to trade for a (poor-quality ) Sower of Temptation, but I'm still missing the other Cubeable Fairies and some other staples like Cryptic Command. I feel as though my Blue is the weakest but I may be wrong.
Black has been improved a lot lately, but I still need to get some of its expensive staples like Dark Confidant and Bitterblossom...
Red got helped majorly by the all-foil deck, but there are still some cards I'm having trouble deciding whether or not to bring back in, like Urza's Rage, Magus of the Scroll and Goblin Assault. Overall I think it's one of the strongest though.
And I'm not sure about Green at all.
My Artifact section is a lot better now than it once was. It plays totally differently. Ditto for Lands, though it will be difficult to acquire fetches.
And with the addition of Glissa, at least now the Multicolor section has no "filler" cards. (She technically is filler for one of BG's better cards, but she's far less filler-ish than the split card was at least.)
Any feedback is welcome! Thanks everyone for all the feedback you've already given. It's really helped me out with everything.
My Custom Cube - a super-powered Core Set
I've been able to draft my Cube in person a handful of times relatively lately, something I hadn't really had a chance to do since its very early days (I had done a lot of Winstons on MWS/Cockatrice with friends, though).
I didn't get a lot of stuff from the NPH release; I opened the worst Sealed Pool I have ever had. Hopefully I'll be able to draft soon or something.
+ Blade Splicer
+ Elspeth Tirel
+ Porcelain Legionnaire
- Eight-and-a-Half-Tails
- Akroma's Vengeance
- Galepowder Mage (I am not sure if these White cuts are correct or not, but my friends and I tend to cut these three from our final 40 often. In the case of Vengeance it's probably particularly wrong to do so.)
+ Spined Thopter
+ Phyrexian Metamorph (Has already done a lot of neat things.)
- Clone
- Deprive
+ Dismember
- Last Gasp
+ Life from the Loam
+ Noxious Revival
- Beastbreaker of Bala Ged
- Mitotic Slime
+ Lotus Bloom
- Dread Statuary
+ Verdant Catacombs (First fetchland added to the Cube.)
- Golgari Rot Farm (I assume this is a better cut than Llanowar Wastes?)
My Custom Cube - a super-powered Core Set
I'm looking on advice for what to cut for these cards (if anything):
Leonin Relic-Warder - I don't think he's addable quite yet.
Mirran Crusader
Phyrexian Rebirth - If anything, Story Circle is probably the cut, but I'm slightly attached.
Blue Sun's Zenith - Doesn't seem quite good enough. I already cut Mind Spring and I'm not sure how this compares.
Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur - Costs too much, I think.
Shelldock Isle
Black Sun's Zenith
Consuming Vapors
Despise - I lack Inquisition of Kozilek and Thoughtseize so this may help hold the fort until I get one.
Go for the Throat
Life/Death - The modern card face lacks reanimator cards and I almost feel this is re-addable as a Black card. It may be better than Glissa, though, in retrospect, so maybe she should get cut?
Cerebral Eruption - I don't think this is good enough.
Goblin Assault - This was cut a while ago, but I think I should re-add it.
Hell's Thunder
Invader Parasite
Moltensteel Dragon
Red Sun's Zenith - I like Comet Storm better than this.
Sudden Shock
Urabrask the Hidden
Beast Within
Brutalizer Exarch
Mutagenic Growth
Obstinate Baloth
Oracle of Mul Daya
Bonehoard
Darksteel Axe - I really don't think this is good enough, but a friend suggested it.
Molten-Tail Masticore
Phyrexian Processor
Phyrexian Revoker
Thank you in advance for any help!
My Custom Cube - a super-powered Core Set
Wait you're using FNM promos too, which means you're already running the best of what's available.
Juju Alters - Altered MTG Cards
also it kills you.
Faster than it kills your opponent, I might add.
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!
Hehe, last night that never even crossed my mind, and for some reason this (and wtwlf's follow-up post) cracked me up.
I expanded the Cube by 5 cards but I made enough difficult cuts that I don't feel as guilty about it!
Here's my rough draft of the changes:
+ Mirran Crusader
+ Phyrexian Rebirth
- Pacifism - I feel weird cutting this.
+ Riftwing Cloudskate
+ Shelldock Isle
- Body Double
+ Black Sun's Zenith
+ Consuming Vapors
+ Despise - Again, I would be less excited about this if I had Thoughtseize and/or Inquisition of Kozilek.
+ Go for the Throat
- Arrogant Bloodlord - The more I look at this, the more I feel it really isn't that bad at all. But I have too many 1BB cards.
- Infest - I rarely seem to play this, and I like the Black sweepers I have better.
- Sign in Blood - Enslave may be a better cut, but I haven't seen it in action yet.
+ Hell's Thunder
+ Magus of the Scroll - He was in a long time ago but I cut him. I feel like I need to give Red a low-drop to make up for the loss of Wardriver.
+ Moltensteel Dragon
+ Sudden Shock
+ Urabrask the Hidden
- Flame Javelin - I seem to like this card less than most, but I will re-test it someday. Maybe I just underestimate how often I can cast it for RRR.
- Goblin Wardriver - It hurts me a bit to cut a 2-drop from Red when I feel like it needs them most, but I think the changes overall will help and Wardriver has unfortunately always underwhelmed me.
- Hammer of Bogardan - I think I'll miss this more than Flame Javelin even though it's probably worse. Nobody ever seems to have enough time to cast it multiple times.
- Keldon Champion - This is the hardest card for me to cut in this whole spoiler, and I'm not sure this is the right one. I just felt like the 4-slot was getting clogged up.
I couldn't find a slot for Red Sun's Zenith and/or Goblin Assault. Are those better adds than any of the above?
+ Beast Within - I have never seen this in action but it seems really powerful.
+ Brutalizer Exarch - Perhaps the right cut for this is Mold Shambler but I'd kinda like to have both at least for a little while.
+ Obstinate Baloth
+ Oracle of Mul Daya - I had this in a long time ago and was underwhelmed, but I picked up a foil and thought I'd test again.
- Kodama of the North Tree - Love the card, but it never seems to work out exactly as I hope.
- Noxious Revival - It seems like this isn't bad at all, and I feel like I didn't test it long enough. But I'm perhaps too attached to cards that may've been better cuts like All Suns' Dawn and Harmonize.
- Ravenous Baloth - I felt like the 4-drop slot was getting clogged in Green too. The Baloth-for-Baloth trade is questionable I think. Is Obstinate even necessarily better than Ravenous with my lower-than-normal discard suite? Maybe Master of the Wild Hunt should go but he hasn't been in the pool lately and I like him more than most people seem to.
+ Bonehoard
+ Molten-Tail Masticore
+ Phyrexian Processor
+ Phyrexian Revoker
- Everflowing Chalice
- Juggernaut - Yet again, the 4-drop slot felt too contested. I'm not sure whether he was the correct cut or if Lodestone Golem would have been better.
- Sundering Titan - I like the other big artifact creatures better even though I probably am undervaluing the Titan.
- Triskelion - I think Triskelion is really really cool, and originally I was going to cut Myr Battlesphere instead but that seemed wrong. I will miss him a lot but I think he's the correct cut for now.
My Custom Cube - a super-powered Core Set
I've found Kodama of the North Tree much better than Oracle of Mul Daya.
You are running Tinker, Shelldock Isle, and some reanimator stuff, so I think Sundering Titan should stay in. I think it's better than Lotus Bloom, Prismatic Lens, Chimeric Mass, and Obelisk of Alara. There is probably no scarier Tinker target in the cube.
Cheers,
rant
My Cube
CubeCobra: https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/5f5d0310ed602310515d4c32
Cube Tutor: http://cubetutor.com/viewcube/1963
these are pretty much the only cuts i disliked and those are good alternate cuts (and reasoning). thanks, rant!
+ Repulse (I really just kind of stuck something in to replace Tezzeret. I don't know if this was the best card to add, but I don't even remember why I cut it to begin with. Exactly how good is Repulse?)
- Tezzeret the Seeker (Tezzeret has only seen play like twice. I don't know if I really have enough artifacts to make him quite worth it. When the quality of my Cube increases, he should come back in.)
+ Goblin Wardriver (I'd like to try Red Sun's Zenith, but is 5 X spells too many for a Cube of my size? Comet Storm is a pet card of mine, so I wouldn't want to cut that either way.)
+ Keldon Champion
- Sudden Shock (I Demonic Tutored for this to kill Psychatog, which was pretty awesome and won me a game I would've otherwise lost, but now that that's happened I can rest easy as I cut it from my small Cube for now.)
- Urabrask the Hidden
+ Thrun, the Last Troll
- Krosan Grip (This is a perfectly fine card, but I don't want to cut any of my other four drops for Thrun- at least not yet. Master of the Wild Hunt hasn't seen play in a while, but I like him more than most, and Oracle of Mul Daya is still being tested; it impressed me the past couple of drafts but I'm not sure how I feel about it overall. As for Grip... I feel like my Cube has too much artifact/enchantment removal in Green and not quite enough of the best Cube artifacts/enchantments that need to be destroyed. But this is not a permanent cut or anything.)
+ Karn Liberated
+ Sundering Titan
- Myr Battlesphere (Myr Battlesphere is a great Cube card, but a friend wanted my copy and I can always get another one. )
- Prismatic Lens (Since I have all 10 Signets, this is often redundant.)
+ Life//Death (I'm hoping the all-foil Reanimator deck will provide me with better reanimation spells so I don't have to settle for cards like this.)
- Glissa, the Traitor (Plus I'm kind of biased against this card, which hasn't really done anything for me.)
+ Marsh Flats
+ Sunken Ruins (I don't even think this is better than Drowned Catacomb, but I've never played with Filterlands in my Cube before. I actually really like the M10 lands. I wish M12 had enemy color ones.)
+ Razorverge Thicket (Similarly, is this better or worse than Sunpetal Grove?)
- Drowned Catacomb
- Orzhov Basilica
- Sunpetal Grove
My Custom Cube - a super-powered Core Set
+ Savannah Lions (I got a foil copy of this for cheap. As far as I know, this is the last foil I'll ever need from 8th/9th Edition, so I won't ever have to worry about white borders again!)
+ Wall of Omens
- Goldmeadow Harrier
- Phyrexian Rebirth
+ Frost Titan (I'd like to give this giant a second try since I traded for a DOTP one, but is four 6-drops plus Meloku and Inkwell too many finishers in Blue?)
+ Looter il-Kor (This is the first card with Shadow in the Cube.)
+ Phantasmal Image (Managed to pull a foil in a draft!)
+ Spellskite
- Conundrum Sphinx (I keep telling myself "But he's still a 4/4 flyer!" but I never end up playing him.)
- Daze
- Ninja of the Deep Hours (My group really likes this card, but I've always been unimpressed.)
- Spined Thopter (This card is fine, but it doesn't really seem to help Blue that much, and Blue needs more help than Red and White do in my particular Cube.)
+ Child of Night (I don't think this card is super-great or anything, but I'm interested to see how it'll play out.)
+ Grave Titan
+ Onyx Mage
+ Rune-Scarred Demon
- Disfigure (I doubt this cut is correct, but I don't really want to cut any of Doom Blade's friends.)
- Doomed Necromancer (It hurts to cut something that reanimates, but the fact that he has to wait a turn is a little annoying.)
- Liliana's Specter (This is just a second 3-drop being cut. It's not a bad card or anything.)
- Skeletal Vampire (He's vanished from most Cubes by this point, but he's been hanging out in mine since the beginning!)
+ Koth of the Hammer
- Hero of Oxid Ridge (I feel this is weaker than my other four drops, including Keldon Champion which I shouldn't have cut for Urabrask that one time.)
+ Nim Deathmantle
- Lodestone Golem
+ Gelectrode
+ Venser, the Sojurner (I'd like to give him a try.)
- Azorius Guildmage
- Spellbound Dragon
My Custom Cube - a super-powered Core Set
Lodestone Golem is the wrong cut. Especially for Nim Deathmantle, which isn't a very good card at all.
Hero of Oxid Ridge is the 2nd best red 4-drop behind FTK. I'd certainly cut almost anything else for Koth.
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!
HoOR is mighty and is much better than Urabrask, Champion, and most other red 4-5 drops. He's only slightly worse than Kavu and even then, he's sometimes much better. He's on an incredible kill streak (4 players) in my cube after coming down early.
Run Koth too though. He's another 4 power haste creature and is one of the best 'walkers.
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
Cheers,
rant
My Cube
CubeCobra: https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/5f5d0310ed602310515d4c32
Cube Tutor: http://cubetutor.com/viewcube/1963
I'll cut Keldon Champion instead of Hero for now. Eventually when I expand my Cube there'll still be room for the Champion. I love him and I've seen what he can do, but I haven't seen the Hero in action much, so I'll throw him back in.
I expect the Deathmantle to be bad and the black 2-drops to be somewhat decent, but I do love Disfigure and Liliana's Specter so their absences won't be permanent. I'll likely re-add them in my next update; I just wanted to see how the black creatures and Deathmantle (which was suggested by a friend) fare.
The Lodestone Golem will likely come back as well over the Deathmantle if I don't get a better artifact by then, but he has trouble making my final 40 sometimes. I always feel like the 4-mana spot is always a bit contested in my aggro decks, and I'm not sure when it's correct to run Golem and cut other four-drops and when it's not.
My Custom Cube - a super-powered Core Set
A turn 4 lodestone golem can mean that you shut off their turn 4 wrath, and if they want to play multiple spells then you also screw around with them as well. The disruption that he causes is a lot better than I initially thought when I added him.
The Great Cube Map!
My Powered Cube
Draft it here!
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!