Welcome to my cube!
This is the 'Brutal' Cube - the leanest, fastest, and most explosive 360 card cube in existence.
That means no-holds barred, and you can expect to see Power 9, Unglued, Portal,
and many of the most powerful and efficient cards ever printed on this list.
What is this Cube you speak of?
Simply put, a cube is a collection of magic cards which were chosen to be used for limited formats.
Rather than open pre-made random packs from one or a combination of sets, we can use a cube.
Usually 360 or more cards to allow for up to 8 players to draft 3x 15 card packs each, cubes are
often pre-sleeved and ready to play draft with. At the end of the night, everyone returns the cards
they drafted so the cube can be used again and again. Most cubes follow the highlander rule
(There can only be one of each card) and are typically balanced meticulously by the cube owner to
create a fun and diverse format. While truly limited format Magic, cubes often contain very
powerful cards which can cause games to play out much more like constructed formats do.
There are many different kinds of cubes, ranging from including the Power 9 all the way to including
only common cards, and each one is unique. And because of the nature of limited and the highlander
format, every draft is different. Many people, including myself, can't stop cubing once they start.
Why Cube? It is Casual
Cube's are by definition not sanctioned, which means that you lose the high-pressure and cut-throat
nature of tournament magic. Many people love competitive magic as well, but Cube is a great time
to play magic but have fun at the same time. Cube is a great place to take risks trying to draft a crazy
deck that might never be worth the risk if money was on the line. It is a fantastic way for a group of
Magic-playing friends to relax while enjoying a few beers.
Cube is Free to Play
The very nature of cube makes it so that after the cube is built, it costs nothing for the players to have
an evening of fun. This makes it a great way to get players who might normally shy away from regular
limited because of the financial commitments required to keep playing magic more often. Many people
who would have given up magic entirely for monetary reasons, needing to spend time doing research
on pick orders or decklists or just because they can't commit the time that they used to will happily play
Cube magic. At the end of a draft, all the cards go back in the box and they are ready for the next time.
Play with old Favorites
Many older cards have long since fell out of common use in any competitive format. Yet some of these
are the most powerful cards in the cube. Take Recurring Nightmare for example. The linchpin of the 1998
World Championship deck isn't really 'good' in any sanctioned format. But it is an incredible cube card.
There are many more examples like this and cube gives those cards a chance to shine again alongside
new tournament staples and planeswalkers. Cube acts like a hall of fame for Magic's past and present.
It is Ever Changing
Because Wizards of the Coast is constantly releasing new sets, many cubes are updated every few months
with new cards. This keeps things fresh while continuously improving the power level and balance of the
format. Most cubes will swap out a considerable number of cards each year for new printings. Cube is a
living format, constantly evolving and adapting as Magic itself does.
:symch:—Overall Vision—:symch:
The Brutal Cube aims to be a fast-paced draft environment for competitive play across all colors and major
archetypes while simultaneously encouraging interactivity and decision making in all arenas. Balance should
be benchmarked considering both high-level drafting, deckbuilding, and play skills and take steps to mitigate
bias towards individual strategies. Successfully upholding these criteria ensures enjoyment draft after draft.
WWW—White—WWW
White strives to be a flexible color, supporting aggressive strategies in one hand, and control in the other. It
provides access to removal for all card types, and has powerful symmetrical effects which can be leveraged by
tactical play to be extremely asymmetrical and glean card advantage. It should have efficient creatures and
measures to protect them both in and out of combat as well as ways to 'blink' and re-trigger 187's.
UUU—Blue—UUU
Blue is designed to play mainly in the control arena, but can flex into support roles for both midrange, ramp,
and tempo strategies. It provides card advantage and card selection solutions as well as permission. Blue
has premium late-game win conditions and methods to exploit opponent's positions of strength by taking
control of or copying powerful effects.
BBB—Black—BBB
Black is invested into both aggressive and control strategies, as a primary player in both arenas. It has
access to excellent removal for creatures and efficient disruption and tempo effects. Additionally black
provides card advantage through systemic and one-time exchanges of other resources, as well as 2-for-1
situations.
RRR—Red—RRR
Red is a support color for control, but flourishes mainly as an aggressive color. Red cards should focus mainly
on being efficient avenues for damage to an opponent, or providing methods for prolonging unbalanced
situations. Red should have a multitude of ways to remove artifacts and lands, while simultaneously
providing a myriad of hasted creatures and multi-functional efficiently costed creatures.
GGG—Green—GGG
Green plays in all arenas, and does so well as a primary player in midrange and ramp strategies and a supporting
role in aggressive and control decks. It brings a variety of effects to the table, including non-creature removal,
mana fixing, ramp, and cost-efficient medium sized creatures. Green also has durable creatures and ways to
re-utilize powerful cards from the graveyard.
:symbw::symur::symgb:—Multicolor—:symwg::symub::symgr:
Each multicolor card should seek to enable and encourage play of the two-color pair it represents. The Dual,
Shock, and Fetch lands are a huge step towards facilitation of each pair, and are included for each combination.
The remaining cards should focus on helping each color pair accomplish the goals of the two colors combined vision
statements while simultaneously being powerful enough on their own to merit drafters wanting to pick the card
from the pack.
:0mana::1mana::2mana:—Universal—:3mana::4mana::xmana:
Universal cards can be simply described as cards which fit the overall vision statement but do not fall into a
respective color. Cards in this section should provide help to at least one major subset of strategies, and do
so with efficiency and efficacy.
Top Level Architecture:
360 total cards
50 White / Blue / Black / Red / Green Cards
50 Multicolor Cards — 5 from each color pair
60 Universal Cards
I do not have a dedicated 'Land' or 'Artifact' section like many cubes do. Instead Lands and Artifacts compete
for slots against spells. This means that Scrubland is measured against cards from the Black-White section, and
likewise Vedalken Shackles is measured against Blue cards. Colorless or 5-color effects such as Mox Diamond
and Wasteland are measured against each other in the Universal Section. Additionally, cards which cost Phyrexian Mana or Hybrid Mana are included in this section because they are fundamentally much easier to play than 'normal' colored cards
causing them to be played in a much larger percentage of decks. This causes them to act much more like universal
cards than colored cards, and the best place for them to be filed is under Universal. This allows for overall power level to
determine merit for inclusion in the list rather than stipulating some mandatory number of lands and artifacts for
the sake of symmetrical design. This has helped mitigate some of the inherent imbalance between sections.
This cube does not require a particular balance of creature and non-creature cards for each section. Doing so
is designing-in imbalance, which is the opposite of what a high-performance cube environment aims to do.
Attempting to facilitate faster, more engaging games of magic with increased interaction requires designing the
cube with a low Critical Turn (See my article, linked below, below for more information on that). To accomplish
this goal, The Brutal cube targets to have an average non-land mana cost of 2.70 or lower, with the average
of creatures below 2.90. Currently these statistics are 2.647 and 2.837 respectively, which is on-target.
Basic lands are provided while drafting. Each basic land of each type has different art and a different set symbol
This is to enable the powerful Symbol Status and help maintain the highlander 'feel' while showcasing great art.
Cube cards fit a different inclusion curricula than a typical magic set (although the B.R.E.A.D. method for draft priority still
applies). What I mean by this is that before I think about putting a card in the cube, I make sure it fits somewhere in one
of these categories. Cards which don't fulfill one of these get cut from the list.
C - Card Advantage - Cards with built-in 2-for-1's or produce systemic card advantage (e.g. Bitterblossom and Flametongue Kavu) U - Unrelenting - Cards which will win the game, given enough time; Most Planeswalkers and stuff like Vortex are in this category B - Bombs - These cards are the best of the best, often with game-changing power (e.g. Umezewa's Jitte, Sword of Fire and Ice) E - Efficiency - Cards which will do a lot for their mana cost; This will include most targeted removal, creatures, and acceleration
Additionally, each section of the cube has been designed according to a specific vision, with individual goals and capabilities.
Inclusions Smash to Smithereens
There are plenty of artifacts to destroy in cubes. Shatter + 3 damage at instant speed is pretty darn awesome.
We are constantly impressed with how much better this has done for us than Keldon Vandals ever did.
Nature's Claim
You can tell me that the drawback is too severe. You can tell me that aggro can't play the card. You can even tell
me that if I want this effect not strapped to a creature that there are betteroptions. False. The sheer power of being
a single green mana is what makes this card so good. It is much easier to keep G open to play this than 1G or more
and keep to your gameplan. It is fast enough that it can answer the turn 1 Sol Ring or Skullclamp, or the turn 2 Jitte.
It also has the benefit of taking out plenty of enchantments like Vortex, Bitterblossom, and Survival. Nature's Claim
has been a high-pick and finds its way into decks of every archetype. I consider this card a core component of the cube
and I am far away from cutting it.
Squee, Goblin Nabob
Squee is a member of many cubes, and here is why: He enables every singly asymmetric and discard-trigger effect
to perpetuate forever. While he does little on his own, the effect he can provide with cards like Smokestack and Survival of the Fittest is so pronounced that he is practically a shoe-in.
Exclusions Wildfire
It costs 6 mana. — When it works, it works great. But when it doesn't work, it sits in-hand and wishes it was a
different card. We found that it was the latter more often than not once we got aggro properly supported. Without realfastmana, it usually gets played 3+ turns after the critical turn and can't change the outcome. I rank it behind Crater Hellion as a 6-cost card and the Hellion doesn't make the list either.
Ajani Goldmane
While quite powerful on his own, Ajani suffers from what I like to call 4-mana-syndrome. The most powerful cards
in the cube cost 4 mana, and white has a lion's share already, (excuse the pun). He just can't match up with his
competitors at 4 mana, and misses the boat by that measure, despite being stronger in a vacuum than the weakest
white cards in the cube.
These cards are on the lower edge of the power spectrum and are the likely candidates for replacement when I make changes.
Overview:
Decrease multicolor by 1 card per section
Increase universal section by 10 cards
Move :sympw::sympu::sympb::sympr::sympg: cards to Universal
Move :symwg::symbw::symrb::symgr::symgu: cards to Universal
Move Squee to Universal
While investigating other 360 cubes today I noticed Rout is missing from a lot of them. I think taking out Rout is a good idea because wrath effects are quite rampant in 360/450 cubes and Rout is unfortunately the "worst" because casting *** on turn 4 is almost required against some decks.
Enlightened Tutor fetches many important cards, so much so that it almost is a Vampiric Tutor.
EDIT: I would also consider Goldmeadow Harrier, possibly for this update or a future one.
My brother and I are working on a Br00tal Cube that we plan to Winston and are going color by color evaluations.
So far we've done white and worked on Green as well.
We are skeptical of the following cards
Mana Tithe -- in powered 360, really?
Lone Missionary -- pretty sure he is not in the Top 10 White 2 drops
Paladin en-vec -- better protection than Mirran Crusder but the bar is kind of high past 2
Yosei the Morning Star -- don't think this a viabe use of a 6 man slot in the Cube overall
Catastrophe -- we know its strong but Wrath, Day, Moat, Armageddon, Ravages, Balance..common theme is 4 (or less..Balance)
We never even considered Harrier or Rout. They rarely seem to show up in 360 lists so they are probably 400-450 cards.
The cards we have in mind instead are
Enlightened Tutor > Mana Tithe
Knight of Meadowgrain > Lone Missionary
Moat > Catastrophe (hard to call it a Brutal Cube without Moat IMO)
Sun Titan > Yosei
Except for Knight of Meadowgrain I think these should be all be auotmatics.
We're still fumbling with the last few spots actually. We like using Mistral/Stormfront over higher mana "better" cards too although almost all 360s use the other two Planeswalkers instead.
Oh, we also take a dimmer view of white three drops -- you don't have Flickerwisp or Spectral Procession in your list and neither do we but when we perused other 360s most did. (Oddly, Spectral Procession always gets listed as a three). We're not totally happy with the lesser 4s (Calciderm, Sanctifiers) either but we're not sure what to do about that yet.
PS because of the fact that Porcelain is half colorless half white, we feel ok about not really counting Wild Nacatl against white at all.
Last Edit, wht Un cards if any did you consider? Some stuff seems cool and playable but doesn't have the power level for 360 (like Drawn Together and probably Staying Power). Once More With Feeling has a pretty insane for its pretty insane mana cost. Shahrazad is basically an Un card and is probably actually playable if you're going strictly for "brutality". Look At Me I'm R&D seems like it would be abusable somehow. Charm School is the other one we're thinking about it.
This is the 'Brutal' Cube - the leanest, fastest, and most explosive 360 card cube in existence.
Actually, it looks like most other powered 360 lists out there. Which are all lean, explosive and brutal.
Here are my thoughts:
Goldmeadow Harrier is super weak for 360. It's super weak for 450, actually. I'd swap it out for Enlightened Tutor ASAP.
Likewise, the Pegasi don't really belong at 360. They're fine filler cards for larger cubes, but they're prety weak compared to the other 2-drops you'll find at this level.
Paladin en-Vec is an okay card, but it's underwhelming for 360. Flickerwisp is a stronger card, IMO.
Ajani Goldmane is really good, as is Moat. I'd play both of those cards at 360 for sure. I'd pass on one of the Pagasi and Rout to play them both.
Yosei is cool, but he's no Sun Titan. That card has such sick interactions at 360; it's just a beast compared to the Dragon.
..........
Kira is a little weak. And you're missing Upheaval (one of the best blue cards in the cube). I'd make that swap immediately.
The rest of the blue section looks pretty standard. I'd find room for at least one of the two good blue-alligned lands though. Both the Conclave and the Ruins have performed great at 360 for me.
..........
I like Yawgmoth's Will a lot, and it got even better when I dropped to 360. I'd play it over one of the Terror variants.
Sewer Nemesis is a pretty sick beating. I like it a lot more than Barter in Blood.
Entomb leads to some of the sickest plays. The true leanest meanest "Brutal" cube would want T2 Reanimation shenanigans.
..........
Rift Bolt is super loose at 360. I'd much rather be playing an extra Vandal to deal with Swords and Moxen.
I'd find room for Molten Rain for sure. Probably over the weakest X-spell (Banefire).
..........
Nature's Claim is just bad. You can't use it in aggro, and when you're playing control, the extra mana in Naturalize isn't very taxing. But there's already so many good fraggles in green that the non-creature effects aren't even needed. I'd cut it and play something like Acidic Slime instead.
Berserk is a fun pet card, but it's pretty loose. You're missing two completely sick Garruks from this list! Both the Primal Hunter and Relentless are super-sick, and belong in this list. I'd cut the Stag for the other one.
The rest of the section looks pretty good.
..........
I like Absorb, GAAIV and even Venser more than the Wall and the Guildmage in WU.
I prefer Bit Blast to Blightning, but that's really playgroup dependent.
I'd rather have the Stillmoon Cavalier or Desolation Angel than the Verdict at 360.
The other guild sections look great.
..........
City of Ass should be in here if you're playing Un- cards. It's strictly better than Grand Coliseum now (but I'd play both I think).
I think you need more Tinker targets. Just the Wurmcoil is going to be too few. Far too few. Battlesphere and Sundering are both excellent choices, and they're good for Tinker decks, ramp decks and reanimator. With no Tinkered Sundering Titans and Battlespheres, your cube loses a bit more of its "brutal" status.
..........
That's all I got for now. You're going to love powered 360 dude. Props on the cutting down ...it's a hard thing to do, but it's totally worth it.
Option 2 - Include Moat and keep Yosei able to fly over it, while improving the curve. Calciderm has to go if I add another 4 drop. Out Catastrophe Calciderm
Battlesphere 'feels' like the right thing to do to provide adequate support for all three of those themes. Not to mention that the card is freaking awesome.
It's totally awesome. It's a death-ball of myrs for God's sake.
I love Gemstone Mine. More than most other cube drafters probably. But you have to make tough cuts at 360; the backbone of your ramp/tinker/and reanimation decks shouldn't be part of them.
Are you sure your cube is "the leanest, fastest, and most explosive 360 card cube in existence" ?
Looking through your list, I'd say that it's either equal or slightly less lean/fast/explosive than wtwlf123's cube, and while I'd consider his cube one of the more balanced and powerful around, I think there are a few that are probably "faster" if we want to use that terminology.
What's so brutal about it?
Here are a few of my thoughts that hopefully haven't already been covered (I looked a bit through the comments already).
Your list isn't alphabetized or separated into creature/non-creature! Argh!
Phyrexian cards:
This is more of a preference thing, but I'd classify a bunch of them as colorless (Porcelain Legionnaire, Phyrexian Metamorph, etc), go up to 60 colorless cards, and go down a card in your guild section in each guild (to 50 total) so you can get more monocolored cards in there. You're essentially improving your overall card quality by subbing out Celestial Colonnade for an insane blue card, for instance.
Pegasi:
Contrary to popular belief of my playgroup (and others), I like pegasi. They're a good evasive option and I'd think I'd probably be playing them as my next white beaters.
Lone Missionary:
This card is kind of stifling to aggro, and while it looks good on the "average mana cost" curve, it kind of acts like a wall because it trades with something small and gains a control deck lots of life in the process. Not to mention the interactions with blinky cards.
Willbender:
This card is kind of obvious at 360 since you don't play any other morphs in blue. I'd probably play the green Naturalize morph guy in addition to the other ones that you're playing if you're also going to play Bane of the Living and Blistering Firecat. I'd go all 5 or just Exalted Angel, and I prefer just the Angel. People can figure out what morph you have pretty easily, and even if it's a toss up between 1 or 2 of them, it's not like they're going to Ancestral themselves when you have Willbender mana up. I don't even know if this card was that good when we were playing 3 blue morphs.
Kira, Great Glass-Spinner:
This card is fine, but we never really made it work here. It's really designed for an aggro-control or blue tempo suite, but it doesn't look like you support a lot of that (which is good because I don't think the cards are there for it yet). I'd swap this out for Aether Adept, since I think Aether Adept does everything this card wants to do, just better.
Frantic Search:
This card is fine for reanimator, and if you want to support that a little more heavily, it's a good one. It's not a common choice at 360, but it's not a bad one. Intuition is probably better for this purpose though, for what it's worth, and I wouldn't play Frantic Search in a lot of non-reanimator decks, so I'd feel comfortable making this swap.
Dismiss:
This card on the other hand is just bad at 360, four mana is way too slow.
Time Spiral:
I've said my peace on Time Spiral, but choosing this over Upheaval is blasphemy, especially if you want to support aggro as much as you do.
Contagion:
This card cripples aggro.
Bane of the Living:
Morph that everyone sees coming that also cripples aggro. Once I started cutting anti-aggro cards to support it, Bane of the Living was the first to go. It's very oppressive (very good at what it does, so if you like this effect in addition to the wraths and sweepers you have, I'd keep this guy in, actually, but you have enough already IMO).
Barter in Blood:
Let me know how this card works out, I'm curious about this one.
Smash to Smithereens:
This might be a bit too narrow for 360, even though it is very good at what it does.
Pyroclasm:
How often does red control get played in your group? Probably not that often with the cards you have access to. Pyroclasm is probably sitting on your sideboards a lot, and this card is probably the most oppressive card to aggro on the entire list. I'm a big anti-Pyroclasm guy, but if you want to ennable 4cc more than it is already (which is probably already a lot since you have a large gold section), I guess you can go for it. Rolling Earthquake is the same thing here.
Blistering Firecat:
This card is fine, but a little red intensive. If you're going to try to do the 5 morph thing, I guess he's the best option for red, but I think he's a tiny bit too weak for 360 on his own.
Chandra, the Firebrand:
This is getting cut from a ton of 360s, and for good reason. It's just not that awesome at this level compared to more efficient stuff.
Banefire:
Is a 3rd single-target X-spell necessary? We recently went down to two (Fireball/Devil's Play) and the pick order on them jumped up considerably because there were less of them in the cube. I think less is more when it comes to X-spells.
Your green one drop section is very small. No Wild Dogs, Llanowar Elves, Fyndhorn Elves?
Nature's Claim:
I read your blurb, but the only real reason to play this is if your opponent has a first turn Mana Crypt or Sol Ring. Naturalize is better the vast majority of the time, there are very few must-answer-absolutely-now-with-one-mana-enchantments/artifacts. The life gain is just too crippling for aggro to play.
Berserk:
While an interesting combat trick, I'd rather have Vines of Vastwood. Not only will Vines actually protect your guy, but it will also pump your guy for just as much (or more) than Berserk most of the time. I don't think using Berserk on an enemy guy is enough to make it better than VoV.
Rampant Growth:
You're already playing Sakura Tribe Elder, Krosan Tusker, Kodama's Reach, and Cultivate, do you need another one of these effects? I'd rather just have a mana elf. It seems weird to play Nature's Claim over Naturalize but this over mana elves.
Great Sable Stag:
This guy is like the green version of Paladin En-Vec. Good, but certainly not brutal.
Blastoderm, Phantom Centaur:
For the mid-range deck, these are better measures to D-up against aggro than to attack control. For aggro, they'd probably rather play smaller guys than 4cc guys (which are in high numbers in other colors).
Pelakka Wurm:
I'd much rather play Woodfall Primus than this guy, but if you are going to play this guy I would cut Vorapede for Woodfall Primus. Having two fatties is nice for reanimator.
Also, no Garruk Primal Hunter or Garruk Relentless?
[QUOTE=Blimpy;/comments/4445233]Are you sure your cube is "the leanest, fastest, and most explosive 360 card cube in existence" ?
Looking through your list, I'd say that it's either equal or slightly less lean/fast/explosive than wtwlf123's cube, and while I'd consider his cube one of the more balanced and powerful around, I think there are a few that are probably "faster" if we want to use that terminology.
Hey Blimpy, my bro and I are working on putting together a cube and are curious which cubes you consider the "fastest" because we're kind of exploring all angles right now.
Are you sure your cube is "the leanest, fastest, and most explosive 360 card cube in existence" ?
Looking through your list, I'd say that it's either equal or slightly less lean/fast/explosive than wtwlf123's cube, and while I'd consider his cube one of the more balanced and powerful around, I think there are a few that are probably "faster" if we want to use that terminology.
Explosive/Fast != extreme focus on aggro.
Phyrexian cards:
This is more of a preference thing, but I'd classify a bunch of them as colorless (Porcelain Legionnaire, Phyrexian Metamorph, etc), go up to 60 colorless cards, and go down a card in your guild section in each guild (to 50 total) so you can get more monocolored cards in there. You're essentially improving your overall card quality by subbing out Celestial Colonnade for an insane blue card, for instance.
I don't know if my playgroup is ready for me to cut another gold card from each section just yet. We like having them around, and they do a good job encouraging 2-3 color decks. If I had less, I would expect to see more 3 and 4 color decks around which we don't want.
Pegasi:
Contrary to popular belief of my playgroup (and others), I like pegasi. They're a good evasive option and I'd think I'd probably be playing them as my next white beaters.
I think these are among the best 2 drops I have.
Lone Missionary:
This card is kind of stifling to aggro, and while it looks good on the "average mana cost" curve, it kind of acts like a wall because it trades with something small and gains a control deck lots of life in the process. Not to mention the interactions with blinky cards.
It gets played in every deck and is excellent support for control, who need some dedicated small-cost stuff. The aggro mirror match loves it as well.
Willbender:
This card is kind of obvious at 360 since you don't play any other morphs in blue. I'd probably play the green Naturalize morph guy in addition to the other ones that you're playing if you're also going to play Bane of the Living and Blistering Firecat. I'd go all 5 or just Exalted Angel, and I prefer just the Angel. People can figure out what morph you have pretty easily, and even if it's a toss up between 1 or 2 of them, it's not like they're going to Ancestral themselves when you have Willbender mana up. I don't even know if this card was that good when we were playing 3 blue morphs.
Willbender changes the landscape of the game, either by being a huge blowout or by forcing your opponent to play completely differently.
Kira, Great Glass-Spinner:
This card is fine, but we never really made it work here. It's really designed for an aggro-control or blue tempo suite, but it doesn't look like you support a lot of that (which is good because I don't think the cards are there for it yet). I'd swap this out for Aether Adept, since I think Aether Adept does everything this card wants to do, just better.
We have found that we construct a decent number of X/u and X/U aggro-control (Tempo) and midrange decks which love Kira. I see her like a slightly harder to cast spellskite but with attacking power.
Frantic Search:
This card is fine for reanimator, and if you want to support that a little more heavily, it's a good one. It's not a common choice at 360, but it's not a bad one. Intuition is probably better for this purpose though, for what it's worth, and I wouldn't play Frantic Search in a lot of non-reanimator decks, so I'd feel comfortable making this swap.
As a free spell, it nearly always performs well, supports reanimator when needed, and helps recover from a few bad draws early wonderfully without costing tempo. Not the best card in the section, but we love it.
Dismiss:
This card on the other hand is just bad at 360, four mana is way too slow. Fair enough. I should probably investigate a replacement for it
Time Spiral:
I've said my peace on Time Spiral, but choosing this over Upheaval is blasphemy, especially if you want to support aggro as much as you do. As a 'free' spell it leads much more directly to games ending 'right now' than upheaval ever has. We voted a while back and decided we liked TS better and thought that it worked in more decks.
Contagion:
This card cripples aggro.
I'm not concerned with it 'crippling' aggro (as it is a 2-for-2 trade when it happens, but more interested with the fact that it is a 'free spell' and at least decently good everywhere. Having it around accelerates the critical turn of the cube.
Bane of the Living:
Morph that everyone sees coming that also cripples aggro. Once I started cutting anti-aggro cards to support it, Bane of the Living was the first to go. It's very oppressive (very good at what it does, so if you like this effect in addition to the wraths and sweepers you have, I'd keep this guy in, actually, but you have enough already IMO).
Barter in Blood:
Let me know how this card works out, I'm curious about this one. This gets played by aggro against midrange and control all the time. It is kind of a secret weapon since aggro usually has 3-4 creatures and midrange has 2-3 bigger ones. Aggro can knock out two 3-4 CC guys and only sacrifice some 1 and 2 mana cards. Against control it can wipe out a big target. These plays are situational, but it works in the right matchups. Additionally it is played well by creature-lite midrange/ramp and control decks.
Smash to Smithereens:
This might be a bit too narrow for 360, even though it is very good at what it does. I run this over Keldon Vandals and it does a great job. I'm very confident in S2S's power and we find it always is useful.
Pyroclasm:
How often does red control get played in your group? Probably not that often with the cards you have access to. Pyroclasm is probably sitting on your sideboards a lot, and this card is probably the most oppressive card to aggro on the entire list. I'm a big anti-Pyroclasm guy, but if you want to ennable 4cc more than it is already (which is probably already a lot since you have a large gold section), I guess you can go for it. Rolling Earthquake is the same thing here.
4CC and 5CC are almost never played here with success Whenever people try it they usually end up 0-X on the night in matches. R/X control does show up a decent amount due to the flexibility of burn as removal.
Blistering Firecat:
This card is fine, but a little red intensive. If you're going to try to do the 5 morph thing, I guess he's the best option for red, but I think he's a tiny bit too weak for 360 on his own. I find Firecat to end lots of games. When we cut it, we missed it, and when we put it back in, we saw it winning games right away. It is a great card in midrange and aggro.
Chandra, the Firebrand:
This is getting cut from a ton of 360s, and for good reason. It's just not that awesome at this level compared to more efficient stuff. I think you're probably right about her, actually. I may go for Hellrider instead
Banefire:
Is a 3rd single-target X-spell necessary? We recently went down to two (Fireball/Devil's Play) and the pick order on them jumped up considerably because there were less of them in the cube. I think less is more when it comes to X-spells.
I like the density of them where it is. They all get picked highly, and I like the different roles they can fill (Repeatable, Splittable, Wins past countermagic)
Your green one drop section is very small. No Wild Dogs, Llanowar Elves, Fyndhorn Elves? I have never found the mana elves to do as much as I liked. Wild Dogs is at the right power level to make it in, and we are considering it over Rampant Growth right now.
Nature's Claim:
I read your blurb, but the only real reason to play this is if your opponent has a first turn Mana Crypt or Sol Ring. Naturalize is better the vast majority of the time, there are very few must-answer-absolutely-now-with-one-mana-enchantments/artifacts. The life gain is just too crippling for aggro to play. It isn't just the fast answer, but the fact that I can play a 2-drop on turn 3 and Nature's Claim. Or a 3-drop and this on turn 4.
Berserk:
While an interesting combat trick, I'd rather have Vines of Vastwood. Not only will Vines actually protect your guy, but it will also pump your guy for just as much (or more) than Berserk most of the time. I don't think using Berserk on an enemy guy is enough to make it better than VoV.
We saw better results from Berserk than from VoV, so for now we are keeping it in. With the changes coming to green, we may see the need to exchange them. I see them as nearly the same power level.
Rampant Growth:
You're already playing Sakura Tribe Elder, Krosan Tusker, Kodama's Reach, and Cultivate, do you need another one of these effects? I'd rather just have a mana elf. It seems weird to play Nature's Claim over Naturalize but this over mana elves.
Clearly a weaker card at this point, probably going to get replaced by wild dogs.
Great Sable Stag:
This guy is like the green version of Paladin En-Vec. Good, but certainly not brutal.
The Stag is still performing quite well for us at the moment. Maybe this will change. It is a very cuttable card but I don't have much I would want to replace it with.
Blastoderm, Phantom Centaur:
For the mid-range deck, these are better measures to D-up against aggro than to attack control. For aggro, they'd probably rather play smaller guys than 4cc guys (which are in high numbers in other colors). The green revamp is planning on tossing Blastoderm for Rofellos.
Centaur is still extremely good but you're right that it is lacking a bit in sheer power. We may end up going for one of the mana elves or Garruk 3 over it.
Pelakka Wurm:
I'd much rather play Woodfall Primus than this guy, but if you are going to play this guy I would cut Vorapede for Woodfall Primus. Having two fatties is nice for reanimator.
Also, no Garruk Primal Hunter or Garruk Relentless? Garruk 2.0 hasn't impressed us as much as it seems to others. 3.0 we are on the fence about whether or not the effect is good enough, but the consensus is now that it probably is worth a real slot. We have been testing a lot of different configurations of green lately.
I plan to articulate some of these choices more once we get the cube tightened up a bit more. We are going color-by-color and finding ways to improve them. White is mostly figured out but I haven't made my final decision yet. Green is in-progress. Red is up after than, then black, then blue.
While I'm at it, the potential green changes look like:
Out
Blastoderm
Wild Dogs
Garruk Relentless -or- Fyndhorn Elves
In
Rofellos, Llanawar Emissary
Rampant Growth
Phantom Centaur
Maybe Great-Sable-Stag also to include both Fyndhorn Elves AND Garruk 3.
I think the consensus is that more gold cards encourage more colors in a deck instead of less. Think about it - if 50% of your cube were gold cards, would you only play one guild, or would you consider splashing for another color, or possibly two?
As for the Nature's Claim argument of 2 drop + NC on turn 3 or 3 drop + NC on turn 4, when is this ever relevant? What cards do you need to answer absolutely asap at that turn where you can't just wait a turn and do it with Naturalize? Moreover, how often does that scenario even happen?
Why would Contagionaccelerate "the critical turn?" O.o
Welcome to my cube!
This is the 'Brutal' Cube - the leanest, fastest, and most explosive 360 card cube in existence.
That means no-holds barred, and you can expect to see Power 9, Unglued, Portal,
and many of the most powerful and efficient cards ever printed on this list.
What is this Cube you speak of?
Simply put, a cube is a collection of magic cards which were chosen to be used for limited formats.
Rather than open pre-made random packs from one or a combination of sets, we can use a cube.
Usually 360 or more cards to allow for up to 8 players to draft 3x 15 card packs each, cubes are
often pre-sleeved and ready to play draft with. At the end of the night, everyone returns the cards
they drafted so the cube can be used again and again. Most cubes follow the highlander rule
(There can only be one of each card) and are typically balanced meticulously by the cube owner to
create a fun and diverse format. While truly limited format Magic, cubes often contain very
powerful cards which can cause games to play out much more like constructed formats do.
There are many different kinds of cubes, ranging from including the Power 9 all the way to including
only common cards, and each one is unique. And because of the nature of limited and the highlander
format, every draft is different. Many people, including myself, can't stop cubing once they start.
Why Cube?
It is Casual
Cube's are by definition not sanctioned, which means that you lose the high-pressure and cut-throat
nature of tournament magic. Many people love competitive magic as well, but Cube is a great time
to play magic but have fun at the same time. Cube is a great place to take risks trying to draft a crazy
deck that might never be worth the risk if money was on the line. It is a fantastic way for a group of
Magic-playing friends to relax while enjoying a few beers.
Cube is Free to Play
The very nature of cube makes it so that after the cube is built, it costs nothing for the players to have
an evening of fun. This makes it a great way to get players who might normally shy away from regular
limited because of the financial commitments required to keep playing magic more often. Many people
who would have given up magic entirely for monetary reasons, needing to spend time doing research
on pick orders or decklists or just because they can't commit the time that they used to will happily play
Cube magic. At the end of a draft, all the cards go back in the box and they are ready for the next time.
Play with old Favorites
Many older cards have long since fell out of common use in any competitive format. Yet some of these
are the most powerful cards in the cube. Take Recurring Nightmare for example. The linchpin of the 1998
World Championship deck isn't really 'good' in any sanctioned format. But it is an incredible cube card.
There are many more examples like this and cube gives those cards a chance to shine again alongside
new tournament staples and planeswalkers. Cube acts like a hall of fame for Magic's past and present.
It is Ever Changing
Because Wizards of the Coast is constantly releasing new sets, many cubes are updated every few months
with new cards. This keeps things fresh while continuously improving the power level and balance of the
format. Most cubes will swap out a considerable number of cards each year for new printings. Cube is a
living format, constantly evolving and adapting as Magic itself does.
The Brutal Cube aims to be a fast-paced draft environment for competitive play across all colors and major
archetypes while simultaneously encouraging interactivity and decision making in all arenas. Balance should
be benchmarked considering both high-level drafting, deckbuilding, and play skills and take steps to mitigate
bias towards individual strategies. Successfully upholding these criteria ensures enjoyment draft after draft.
:symw::symu::symb::symr::symg::symch::sympw::sympu::sympb::sympr::sympg:
———————————
WWW—White—WWW
White strives to be a flexible color, supporting aggressive strategies in one hand, and control in the other. It
provides access to removal for all card types, and has powerful symmetrical effects which can be leveraged by
tactical play to be extremely asymmetrical and glean card advantage. It should have efficient creatures and
measures to protect them both in and out of combat as well as ways to 'blink' and re-trigger 187's.
UUU—Blue—UUU
Blue is designed to play mainly in the control arena, but can flex into support roles for both midrange, ramp,
and tempo strategies. It provides card advantage and card selection solutions as well as permission. Blue
has premium late-game win conditions and methods to exploit opponent's positions of strength by taking
control of or copying powerful effects.
BBB—Black—BBB
Black is invested into both aggressive and control strategies, as a primary player in both arenas. It has
access to excellent removal for creatures and efficient disruption and tempo effects. Additionally black
provides card advantage through systemic and one-time exchanges of other resources, as well as 2-for-1
situations.
RRR—Red—RRR
Red is a support color for control, but flourishes mainly as an aggressive color. Red cards should focus mainly
on being efficient avenues for damage to an opponent, or providing methods for prolonging unbalanced
situations. Red should have a multitude of ways to remove artifacts and lands, while simultaneously
providing a myriad of hasted creatures and multi-functional efficiently costed creatures.
GGG—Green—GGG
Green plays in all arenas, and does so well as a primary player in midrange and ramp strategies and a supporting
role in aggressive and control decks. It brings a variety of effects to the table, including non-creature removal,
mana fixing, ramp, and cost-efficient medium sized creatures. Green also has durable creatures and ways to
re-utilize powerful cards from the graveyard.
:symbw::symur::symgb:—Multicolor—:symwg::symub::symgr:
Each multicolor card should seek to enable and encourage play of the two-color pair it represents. The Dual,
Shock, and Fetch lands are a huge step towards facilitation of each pair, and are included for each combination.
The remaining cards should focus on helping each color pair accomplish the goals of the two colors combined vision
statements while simultaneously being powerful enough on their own to merit drafters wanting to pick the card
from the pack.
:0mana::1mana::2mana:—Universal—:3mana::4mana::xmana:
Universal cards can be simply described as cards which fit the overall vision statement but do not fall into a
respective color. Cards in this section should provide help to at least one major subset of strategies, and do
so with efficiency and efficacy.
Top Level Architecture:
360 total cards
50 White / Blue / Black / Red / Green Cards
50 Multicolor Cards — 5 from each color pair
60 Universal Cards
I do not have a dedicated 'Land' or 'Artifact' section like many cubes do. Instead Lands and Artifacts compete
for slots against spells. This means that Scrubland is measured against cards from the Black-White section, and
likewise Vedalken Shackles is measured against Blue cards. Colorless or 5-color effects such as Mox Diamond
and Wasteland are measured against each other in the Universal Section. Additionally, cards which cost Phyrexian Mana or
Hybrid Mana are included in this section because they are fundamentally much easier to play than 'normal' colored cards
causing them to be played in a much larger percentage of decks. This causes them to act much more like universal
cards than colored cards, and the best place for them to be filed is under Universal. This allows for overall power level to
determine merit for inclusion in the list rather than stipulating some mandatory number of lands and artifacts for
the sake of symmetrical design. This has helped mitigate some of the inherent imbalance between sections.
This cube does not require a particular balance of creature and non-creature cards for each section. Doing so
is designing-in imbalance, which is the opposite of what a high-performance cube environment aims to do.
Attempting to facilitate faster, more engaging games of magic with increased interaction requires designing the
cube with a low Critical Turn (See my article, linked below, below for more information on that). To accomplish
this goal, The Brutal cube targets to have an average non-land mana cost of 2.70 or lower, with the average
of creatures below 2.90. Currently these statistics are 2.647 and 2.837 respectively, which is on-target.
Basic lands are provided while drafting. Each basic land of each type has different art and a different set symbol
This is to enable the powerful Symbol Status and help maintain the highlander 'feel' while showcasing great art.
:symw::symu::symb::symr::symg::symch::sympw::sympu::sympb::sympr::sympg:
Cube cards fit a different inclusion curricula than a typical magic set (although the B.R.E.A.D. method for draft priority still
applies). What I mean by this is that before I think about putting a card in the cube, I make sure it fits somewhere in one
of these categories. Cards which don't fulfill one of these get cut from the list.
C - Card Advantage - Cards with built-in 2-for-1's or produce systemic card advantage (e.g. Bitterblossom and Flametongue Kavu)
U - Unrelenting - Cards which will win the game, given enough time; Most Planeswalkers and stuff like Vortex are in this category
B - Bombs - These cards are the best of the best, often with game-changing power (e.g. Umezewa's Jitte, Sword of Fire and Ice)
E - Efficiency - Cards which will do a lot for their mana cost; This will include most targeted removal, creatures, and acceleration
Additionally, each section of the cube has been designed according to a specific vision, with individual goals and capabilities.
Links to other Interesting Reading
The Critical Turn in Cube Design - Cube Design Philosophy - The Magic Show - "Gleaning the Cube"
Unique Effects in the Cube - Cube Anatomy 101 - Cube Construction and Card Selection - Cube Design Theory: Part I
Counting Card Advantage - A Mana Curve can be a Line or a Blob - Who's The Beatdown?
1 Savannah Lions
1 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
1 Steppe Lynx
1 Student of Warfare
1 Mother of Runes
1 Loam Lion
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Path to Exile
1 Land Tax
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Stormfront Pegasus
1 Mistral Charger
1 Accorder Paladin
1 Soltari Trooper
1 Kor Skyfisher
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Lone Missionary
1 Cloistered Youth
1 Soltari Monk
1 Soltari Priest
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Wall of Omens
1 Balance
1 Disenchant
1 Journey to Nowhere
1 Flickerwisp
1 Mirran Crusader
1 Mirror Entity
1 Soltari Champion
1 Exalted Angel
1 Blade Splicer
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Ajani, Caller of the Pride
1 Restoration Angel
1 Hero of Bladehold
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Faith's Fetters
1 Wrath of God
1 Day of Judgment
1 Armageddon
1 Ravages of War
1 Moat
1 Cloudgoat Ranger
1 Reveillark
1 Gideon Jura
1 Sun Titan
1 Catastrophe
1 Ponder
1 Brainstorm
1 Preordain
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Force Spike
1 Waterfront Bouncer
1 Looter il-Kor
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Phantasmal Image
1 Miscalculation
1 Remand
1 Memory Lapse
1 Mana Leak
1 Counterspell
1 Mana Drain
1 Time Walk
1 Impulse
1 Man-o'-War
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Timetwister
1 Psionic Blast
1 Tinker
1 Forbid
1 Frantic Search
1 Jace Beleren
1 Vedalken Shackles
1 Crystal Shard
1 Dungeon Geists
1 Sower of Temptation
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Deep Analysis
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Control Magic
1 Gifts Given
1 Cryptic Command
1 Meloku the Clouded Mirror
1 Jace, Memory Adept
1 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
1 Bribery
1 Treachery
1 Keiga, the Tide Star
1 Time Spiral
1 Upheaval
1 Snuff Out
1 Contagion
1 Vampire Lacerator
1 Sarcomancy
1 Carnophage
1 Diregraf Ghoul
1 Gravecrawler
1 Dark Ritual
1 Reanimate
1 Duress
1 Thoughtseize
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Imperial Seal
1 Vampire Hexmage
1 Bitterblossom
1 Oona's Prowler
1 Dauthi Horror
1 Dark Confidant
1 Blood Scrivener
1 Pack Rat
1 Bloodghast
1 Animate Dead
1 Go for the Throat
1 Doom Blade
1 Chainer's Edict
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Smallpox
1 Hymn to Tourach
1 Sinkhole
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampire Nighthawk
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Pox
1 Recurring Nightmare
1 Necromancy
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Braids, Cabal Minion
1 Nekrataal
1 Skinrender
1 Consuming Vapors
1 Damnation
1 Nether Void
1 Shriekmaw
1 Puppeteer Clique
1 Grave Titan
1 Kokusho, the Evening Star
1 Mind Twist
1 Goblin Guide
1 Jackal Pup
1 Mogg Fanatic
1 Spikeshot Elder
1 Grim Lavamancer
1 Greater Gargadon
1 Gorilla Shaman
1 Kird Ape
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Chain Lightning
1 Firebolt
1 Burst Lightning
1 Faithless Looting
1 Reckless Charge
1 Stormblood Berserker
1 Lightning Mauler
1 Plated Geopede
1 Keldon Marauders
1 Hellspark Elemental
1 Kargan Dragonlord
1 Ash Zealot
1 Hearth Kami
1 Smash to Smithereens
1 Incinerate
1 Searing Spear
1 Magma Jet
1 Arc Trail
1 Pyroclasm
1 Chandra's Phoenix
1 Blistering Firecat
1 Sulfuric Vortex
1 Char
1 Staggershock
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Pillage
1 Stone Rain
1 Hero of Oxid Ridge
1 Avalanche Riders
1 Flametongue Kavu
1 Hellrider
1 Koth of the Hammer
1 Siege-Gang Commander
1 Thundermaw Hellkite
1 Rolling Earthquake
1 Banefire
1 Fireball
1 Devil's Play
1 Wild Nacatl
1 Wolfbitten Captive
1 Ulvenwald Tracker
1 Noble Hierarch
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Joraga Treespeaker
1 Fyndhorn Elves
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Nature's Claim
1 Rancor
1 Berserk
1 Tarmogoyf
1 Mire Boa
1 River Boa
1 Wild Mongrel
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Strangleroot Geist
1 Lotus Cobra
1 Fauna Shaman
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
1 Wall of Blossoms
1 Wall of Roots
1 Regrowth
1 Sylvan Library
1 Survival of the Fittest
1 Life from the Loam
1 Uktabi Orangutan
1 Troll Ascetic
1 Eternal Witness
1 Yavimaya Elder
1 Krosan Tusker
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Cultivate
1 Symbol Status
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Vengevine
1 Bramblecrush
1 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Garruk Relentless
1 Thornling
1 Indrik Stomphowler
1 Thragtusk
1 Genesis
1 Vorapede
1 Plow Under
1 Pelakka Wurm
1 Stomping Ground
1 Taiga
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Stormbind
1 Bloodbraid Elf
1 Polluted Delta
1 Underground Sea
1 Watery Grave
1 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Shadowmage Infiltrator
1 Flooded Strand
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Tundra
1 Detention Sphere
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Savannah
1 Temple Garden
1 Windswept Heath
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Voice of Resurgence
1 Blood Crypt
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Terminate
1 Dreadbore
// Enemy Colors
1 Godless Shrine
1 Marsh Flats
1 Scrubland
1 Vindicate
1 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Steam Vents
1 Volcanic Island
1 Fire // Ice
1 Ral Zarek
1 Arid Mesa
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Plateau
1 Boros Charm
1 Ajani Vengeant
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Breeding Pool
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Tropical Island
1 Trygon Predator
1 Simic Sky Swallower
1 Mishra's Factory
1 Rishadan Port
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Gemstone Mine
1 City of Brass
1 City of Ass
1 Strip Mine
1 Wasteland
1 Maze of Ith
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Diamond
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
1 Grim Monolith
1 Coalition Relic
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Masticore
1 Molten-Tail Masticore
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Myr Battlesphere
1 Porcelain Legionnaire
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Figure of Destiny
1 Rakdos Cackler
1 Dryad Militant
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Lingering Souls
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Dismember
1 Squee, Goblin Nabob
1 Cursed Scroll
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Pithing Needle
1 Winter Orb
1 Ankh of Mishra
1 Scroll Rack
1 Tangle Wire
1 Mimic Vat
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Icy Manipulator
1 Nevinyrral's Disk
1 Smokestack
1 Skullclamp
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Grafted Wargear
1 Sword of War and Peace
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Sword of Body and Mind
1 Batterskull
[Remixes] - [The Brutal Cube - 360 Powered] - [My Cube Article] - ['Print-This' Wishlist]
Smash to Smithereens
There are plenty of artifacts to destroy in cubes. Shatter + 3 damage at instant speed is pretty darn awesome.
We are constantly impressed with how much better this has done for us than Keldon Vandals ever did.
Nature's Claim
You can tell me that the drawback is too severe. You can tell me that aggro can't play the card. You can even tell
me that if I want this effect not strapped to a creature that there are better options. False. The sheer power of being
a single green mana is what makes this card so good. It is much easier to keep G open to play this than 1G or more
and keep to your gameplan. It is fast enough that it can answer the turn 1 Sol Ring or Skullclamp, or the turn 2 Jitte.
It also has the benefit of taking out plenty of enchantments like Vortex, Bitterblossom, and Survival. Nature's Claim
has been a high-pick and finds its way into decks of every archetype. I consider this card a core component of the cube
and I am far away from cutting it.
Squee, Goblin Nabob
Squee is a member of many cubes, and here is why: He enables every singly asymmetric and discard-trigger effect
to perpetuate forever. While he does little on his own, the effect he can provide with cards like Smokestack and
Survival of the Fittest is so pronounced that he is practically a shoe-in.
Crucible of Worlds
Good for many reasons. It combats enemy land destruction and allows you to play Armageddon or Catastrophe without
batting an eye. It provides a way to reuse fetchlands and never miss a land drop again while also fixing your manabase.
You can use lands to pay discard costs and then play the land you just discarded. It can revive dead manlands. You can
use it with Braids, Cabal Minion, Smokestack, or Strip Mine to lock your opponent down completely.
Exclusions
Wildfire
It costs 6 mana. — When it works, it works great. But when it doesn't work, it sits in-hand and wishes it was a
different card. We found that it was the latter more often than not once we got aggro properly supported. Without
real fast mana, it usually gets played 3+ turns after the critical turn and can't change the outcome. I rank it behind
Crater Hellion as a 6-cost card and the Hellion doesn't make the list either.
Ajani Goldmane
While quite powerful on his own, Ajani suffers from what I like to call 4-mana-syndrome. The most powerful cards
in the cube cost 4 mana, and white has a lion's share already, (excuse the pun). He just can't match up with his
competitors at 4 mana, and misses the boat by that measure, despite being stronger in a vacuum than the weakest
white cards in the cube.
These cards are on the lower edge of the power spectrum and are the likely candidates for replacement when I make changes.
[Remixes] - [The Brutal Cube - 360 Powered] - [My Cube Article] - ['Print-This' Wishlist]
Mana Tithe
Arcane Denial
Nezumi Graverobber
Hypnotic Specter
Torch Fiend
Arc Lightning
Yeva, Nature's Herald
Deadbridge Goliath
Slayers' Stronghold
Electrolyze
Sigarda, Host of Herons
Stilmoon Cavalier
IN;
Loam Lion
Thirst for Knowledge
Imperial Seal
Blood Scrivener
Kird Ape
Stone Rain
Thornling
Hornet Queen
Boros Charm
Ral Zarek
Voice of Resurgence
Lingering Souls
Blightning
Celestial Colonnade
Geist of Saint Traft
Karn Liberated
Spined Thopter
Call of the Herd
Chameleon Colossus
Ashmouth Hound
Blast from the Past
Frazzled Editor
Stone Rain
Kor Sanctifiers
Bane of the Living
Tombstalker
Imperial Seal
Booster Tutor
IN;
Dreadbore
Detention Sphere
Supreme Verdict
Rakdos Cackler
Dryad Militant
Deadbridge Goliath
Thragtusk
Ash Zealot
Searing Spear
Thundermaw Hellkite
Arc Lightning
Ajani, Caller of the Pride
Yeva, Nature's Herald
Pox
Smallpox
Pack Rat
Puppeteer Clique
Decrease multicolor by 1 card per section
Increase universal section by 10 cards
Move :sympw::sympu::sympb::sympr::sympg: cards to Universal
Move :symwg::symbw::symrb::symgr::symgu: cards to Universal
Move Squee to Universal
OUT;
(Slot Opened)
1 Psychatog
2 Mystic Snake
3 Gerrard's Verdict
4 Kird Ape
5 Putrefy
6 Prophetic Bolt
7 Azorius Guildmage
W Reconnaissance
U Gifts Ungiven
U Thirst for Knowledge
G Great Sable Stag
G Deranged Hermit
MOVES;
(Slot Opened) -> (Slot Filled)
W -> 1 Porcelain Legionnaire
U -> 2 Spined Thopter
U -> 3 Phyrexian Metamorph
B -> 4 Dismember
R -> 5 Squee, Goblin Nabob
8 -> 8 Kitchen Finks
9 -> 9 Murderous Redcap
IN;
(Slot Filled)
6 Gemstone Mine
7 Stillmoon Cavalier
W Silverblade Paladin
W Restoration Angel
U Arcane Denial
U Dungeon Geists
U Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
U Timetwister
B Animate Dead
R Lightning Mauler
G Ulvenwald Tracker
G Fyndhorn Elves
Booster Tutor**
Out:
[CARD]Liliana's Specter
[/CARD]
**Booster Tutor comes with this 15 card pack to tutor from:
Jace Beleren
Reconnaissance
Plow Under
Wall of Roots
OUT
Capsize
Goldmeadow Harrier
Jungle Lion
Pouncing Jaguar
Spined Thopter
Garruk Relentless
Moat
Geist of Saint Traft
OUT
Willbender
Plow Under
Calicderm
Wall of Denial
IN:
Enlightened Tutor
Flickerwisp
Sun Titan
OUT:
Rout
Paladin en-Vec
Yosei, the Morning Star
Green
IN:
Llanawar Elves
Symbol Status
Rofellos, Llanawar Emissary
OUT:
Rampant Growth
Phantom Centaur
Blastoderm
Red
IN:
Hellrider
Frazzled Editor
Stone Rain
OUT:
Chandra, the Firebrand
Rift Bolt
Arc Lightning
Black
IN:
Sinkhole
OUT:
Barter in Blood
Blue
IN:
Gifts Given
Upheaval
OUT:
Dismiss
Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
Universal
IN
City of Ass
Myr Battlesphere
OUT
Grand Coliseum
Gemstone Mine
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Worldy Tutor
Enlightened Tutor
I'm sure there are more but after playing tutors I have much more respect for them.
Worldly Tutor isn't quite good enough I think. Enlightened Tutor fetches equipment more often than not + the ability to toolbox up your Journey to Nowhere or Oblivion Ring and/or some powerful cards from other colors like Recurring Nightmare, Sulfuric Vortex, Wurmcoil Engine or Treachery. I haven't considered it in a long time but I think I probably should include it - Where is there room for it?
Maybe Rout?
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Enlightened Tutor fetches many important cards, so much so that it almost is a Vampiric Tutor.
EDIT: I would also consider Goldmeadow Harrier, possibly for this update or a future one.
So far we've done white and worked on Green as well.
We are skeptical of the following cards
Mana Tithe -- in powered 360, really?
Lone Missionary -- pretty sure he is not in the Top 10 White 2 drops
Paladin en-vec -- better protection than Mirran Crusder but the bar is kind of high past 2
Yosei the Morning Star -- don't think this a viabe use of a 6 man slot in the Cube overall
Catastrophe -- we know its strong but Wrath, Day, Moat, Armageddon, Ravages, Balance..common theme is 4 (or less..Balance)
We never even considered Harrier or Rout. They rarely seem to show up in 360 lists so they are probably 400-450 cards.
The cards we have in mind instead are
Enlightened Tutor > Mana Tithe
Knight of Meadowgrain > Lone Missionary
Moat > Catastrophe (hard to call it a Brutal Cube without Moat IMO)
Sun Titan > Yosei
Except for Knight of Meadowgrain I think these should be all be auotmatics.
We're still fumbling with the last few spots actually. We like using Mistral/Stormfront over higher mana "better" cards too although almost all 360s use the other two Planeswalkers instead.
Oh, we also take a dimmer view of white three drops -- you don't have Flickerwisp or Spectral Procession in your list and neither do we but when we perused other 360s most did. (Oddly, Spectral Procession always gets listed as a three). We're not totally happy with the lesser 4s (Calciderm, Sanctifiers) either but we're not sure what to do about that yet.
PS because of the fact that Porcelain is half colorless half white, we feel ok about not really counting Wild Nacatl against white at all.
Last Edit, wht Un cards if any did you consider? Some stuff seems cool and playable but doesn't have the power level for 360 (like Drawn Together and probably Staying Power). Once More With Feeling has a pretty insane for its pretty insane mana cost. Shahrazad is basically an Un card and is probably actually playable if you're going strictly for "brutality". Look At Me I'm R&D seems like it would be abusable somehow. Charm School is the other one we're thinking about it.
Actually, it looks like most other powered 360 lists out there.
Here are my thoughts:
Goldmeadow Harrier is super weak for 360. It's super weak for 450, actually. I'd swap it out for Enlightened Tutor ASAP.
Likewise, the Pegasi don't really belong at 360. They're fine filler cards for larger cubes, but they're prety weak compared to the other 2-drops you'll find at this level.
Paladin en-Vec is an okay card, but it's underwhelming for 360. Flickerwisp is a stronger card, IMO.
Ajani Goldmane is really good, as is Moat. I'd play both of those cards at 360 for sure. I'd pass on one of the Pagasi and Rout to play them both.
Yosei is cool, but he's no Sun Titan. That card has such sick interactions at 360; it's just a beast compared to the Dragon.
..........
Kira is a little weak. And you're missing Upheaval (one of the best blue cards in the cube). I'd make that swap immediately.
The rest of the blue section looks pretty standard. I'd find room for at least one of the two good blue-alligned lands though. Both the Conclave and the Ruins have performed great at 360 for me.
..........
I like Yawgmoth's Will a lot, and it got even better when I dropped to 360. I'd play it over one of the Terror variants.
Sewer Nemesis is a pretty sick beating. I like it a lot more than Barter in Blood.
Entomb leads to some of the sickest plays. The true leanest meanest "Brutal" cube would want T2 Reanimation shenanigans.
..........
Rift Bolt is super loose at 360. I'd much rather be playing an extra Vandal to deal with Swords and Moxen.
I'd find room for Molten Rain for sure. Probably over the weakest X-spell (Banefire).
..........
Nature's Claim is just bad. You can't use it in aggro, and when you're playing control, the extra mana in Naturalize isn't very taxing. But there's already so many good fraggles in green that the non-creature effects aren't even needed. I'd cut it and play something like Acidic Slime instead.
Berserk is a fun pet card, but it's pretty loose. You're missing two completely sick Garruks from this list! Both the Primal Hunter and Relentless are super-sick, and belong in this list. I'd cut the Stag for the other one.
The rest of the section looks pretty good.
..........
I like Absorb, GAAIV and even Venser more than the Wall and the Guildmage in WU.
I prefer Bit Blast to Blightning, but that's really playgroup dependent.
I'd rather have the Stillmoon Cavalier or Desolation Angel than the Verdict at 360.
The other guild sections look great.
..........
City of Ass should be in here if you're playing Un- cards. It's strictly better than Grand Coliseum now (but I'd play both I think).
I think you need more Tinker targets. Just the Wurmcoil is going to be too few. Far too few. Battlesphere and Sundering are both excellent choices, and they're good for Tinker decks, ramp decks and reanimator. With no Tinkered Sundering Titans and Battlespheres, your cube loses a bit more of its "brutal" status.
..........
That's all I got for now. You're going to love powered 360 dude. Props on the cutting down ...it's a hard thing to do, but it's totally worth it.
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This is a big update / reboot of the cube.
I'll add a section to explain my decisions about some of my odd card choices eventually (include and exclude)
'Forthcoming Upgrades'
Out
Grand Coliseum
Rout
Gemstone Mine
In
City of Ass
Enlightened Tutor
Myr Battlesphere
'Other Potential Changes'
Option 1 - Like-for-Like swaps at CMC positions to 'upgrade'
Out
Yosei, the Morning Star
Paladin en-Vec
In
Sun Titan
Flickerwisp
Option 2 - Include Moat and keep Yosei able to fly over it, while improving the curve. Calciderm has to go if I add another 4 drop.
Out
Catastrophe
Calciderm
In
Flickerwisp
Moat
Option 3 - Everything
Out
Yosei, the Morning Star
Catastrophe
Calciderm
In
Sun Titan
Flickerwisp
Moat
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I'd cut Yosei, Paladin and Calciderm for Moat, Titan and Flickerwisp though. Which would be option 4. But still lacking in Ajani Goldmane.
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I need to really get my head around exactly what I want white to look like so I can decide what to do with it.
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BRRakdos, Lord of RiotsBR
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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.
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I love Gemstone Mine. More than most other cube drafters probably. But you have to make tough cuts at 360; the backbone of your ramp/tinker/and reanimation decks shouldn't be part of them.
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I think I need to get mine altered to have Alucard on it somewhere.
Image leeching replaced.
—Lanxal
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Looking through your list, I'd say that it's either equal or slightly less lean/fast/explosive than wtwlf123's cube, and while I'd consider his cube one of the more balanced and powerful around, I think there are a few that are probably "faster" if we want to use that terminology.
What's so brutal about it?
Your list isn't alphabetized or separated into creature/non-creature! Argh!
Phyrexian cards:
This is more of a preference thing, but I'd classify a bunch of them as colorless (Porcelain Legionnaire, Phyrexian Metamorph, etc), go up to 60 colorless cards, and go down a card in your guild section in each guild (to 50 total) so you can get more monocolored cards in there. You're essentially improving your overall card quality by subbing out Celestial Colonnade for an insane blue card, for instance.
Pegasi:
Contrary to popular belief of my playgroup (and others), I like pegasi. They're a good evasive option and I'd think I'd probably be playing them as my next white beaters.
Lone Missionary:
This card is kind of stifling to aggro, and while it looks good on the "average mana cost" curve, it kind of acts like a wall because it trades with something small and gains a control deck lots of life in the process. Not to mention the interactions with blinky cards.
Willbender:
This card is kind of obvious at 360 since you don't play any other morphs in blue. I'd probably play the green Naturalize morph guy in addition to the other ones that you're playing if you're also going to play Bane of the Living and Blistering Firecat. I'd go all 5 or just Exalted Angel, and I prefer just the Angel. People can figure out what morph you have pretty easily, and even if it's a toss up between 1 or 2 of them, it's not like they're going to Ancestral themselves when you have Willbender mana up. I don't even know if this card was that good when we were playing 3 blue morphs.
Kira, Great Glass-Spinner:
This card is fine, but we never really made it work here. It's really designed for an aggro-control or blue tempo suite, but it doesn't look like you support a lot of that (which is good because I don't think the cards are there for it yet). I'd swap this out for Aether Adept, since I think Aether Adept does everything this card wants to do, just better.
Frantic Search:
This card is fine for reanimator, and if you want to support that a little more heavily, it's a good one. It's not a common choice at 360, but it's not a bad one. Intuition is probably better for this purpose though, for what it's worth, and I wouldn't play Frantic Search in a lot of non-reanimator decks, so I'd feel comfortable making this swap.
Dismiss:
This card on the other hand is just bad at 360, four mana is way too slow.
Time Spiral:
I've said my peace on Time Spiral, but choosing this over Upheaval is blasphemy, especially if you want to support aggro as much as you do.
Contagion:
This card cripples aggro.
Bane of the Living:
Morph that everyone sees coming that also cripples aggro. Once I started cutting anti-aggro cards to support it, Bane of the Living was the first to go. It's very oppressive (very good at what it does, so if you like this effect in addition to the wraths and sweepers you have, I'd keep this guy in, actually, but you have enough already IMO).
Barter in Blood:
Let me know how this card works out, I'm curious about this one.
Smash to Smithereens:
This might be a bit too narrow for 360, even though it is very good at what it does.
Pyroclasm:
How often does red control get played in your group? Probably not that often with the cards you have access to. Pyroclasm is probably sitting on your sideboards a lot, and this card is probably the most oppressive card to aggro on the entire list. I'm a big anti-Pyroclasm guy, but if you want to ennable 4cc more than it is already (which is probably already a lot since you have a large gold section), I guess you can go for it. Rolling Earthquake is the same thing here.
Blistering Firecat:
This card is fine, but a little red intensive. If you're going to try to do the 5 morph thing, I guess he's the best option for red, but I think he's a tiny bit too weak for 360 on his own.
Chandra, the Firebrand:
This is getting cut from a ton of 360s, and for good reason. It's just not that awesome at this level compared to more efficient stuff.
Banefire:
Is a 3rd single-target X-spell necessary? We recently went down to two (Fireball/Devil's Play) and the pick order on them jumped up considerably because there were less of them in the cube. I think less is more when it comes to X-spells.
Your green one drop section is very small. No Wild Dogs, Llanowar Elves, Fyndhorn Elves?
Nature's Claim:
I read your blurb, but the only real reason to play this is if your opponent has a first turn Mana Crypt or Sol Ring. Naturalize is better the vast majority of the time, there are very few must-answer-absolutely-now-with-one-mana-enchantments/artifacts. The life gain is just too crippling for aggro to play.
Berserk:
While an interesting combat trick, I'd rather have Vines of Vastwood. Not only will Vines actually protect your guy, but it will also pump your guy for just as much (or more) than Berserk most of the time. I don't think using Berserk on an enemy guy is enough to make it better than VoV.
Rampant Growth:
You're already playing Sakura Tribe Elder, Krosan Tusker, Kodama's Reach, and Cultivate, do you need another one of these effects? I'd rather just have a mana elf. It seems weird to play Nature's Claim over Naturalize but this over mana elves.
Great Sable Stag:
This guy is like the green version of Paladin En-Vec. Good, but certainly not brutal.
Blastoderm, Phantom Centaur:
For the mid-range deck, these are better measures to D-up against aggro than to attack control. For aggro, they'd probably rather play smaller guys than 4cc guys (which are in high numbers in other colors).
Pelakka Wurm:
I'd much rather play Woodfall Primus than this guy, but if you are going to play this guy I would cut Vorapede for Woodfall Primus. Having two fatties is nice for reanimator.
Also, no Garruk Primal Hunter or Garruk Relentless?
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.
Looking through your list, I'd say that it's either equal or slightly less lean/fast/explosive than wtwlf123's cube, and while I'd consider his cube one of the more balanced and powerful around, I think there are a few that are probably "faster" if we want to use that terminology.
Hey Blimpy, my bro and I are working on putting together a cube and are curious which cubes you consider the "fastest" because we're kind of exploring all angles right now.
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Explosive/Fast != extreme focus on aggro.
Phyrexian cards:
This is more of a preference thing, but I'd classify a bunch of them as colorless (Porcelain Legionnaire, Phyrexian Metamorph, etc), go up to 60 colorless cards, and go down a card in your guild section in each guild (to 50 total) so you can get more monocolored cards in there. You're essentially improving your overall card quality by subbing out Celestial Colonnade for an insane blue card, for instance.
I don't know if my playgroup is ready for me to cut another gold card from each section just yet. We like having them around, and they do a good job encouraging 2-3 color decks. If I had less, I would expect to see more 3 and 4 color decks around which we don't want.
Pegasi:
Contrary to popular belief of my playgroup (and others), I like pegasi. They're a good evasive option and I'd think I'd probably be playing them as my next white beaters.
I think these are among the best 2 drops I have.
Lone Missionary:
This card is kind of stifling to aggro, and while it looks good on the "average mana cost" curve, it kind of acts like a wall because it trades with something small and gains a control deck lots of life in the process. Not to mention the interactions with blinky cards.
It gets played in every deck and is excellent support for control, who need some dedicated small-cost stuff. The aggro mirror match loves it as well.
Willbender:
This card is kind of obvious at 360 since you don't play any other morphs in blue. I'd probably play the green Naturalize morph guy in addition to the other ones that you're playing if you're also going to play Bane of the Living and Blistering Firecat. I'd go all 5 or just Exalted Angel, and I prefer just the Angel. People can figure out what morph you have pretty easily, and even if it's a toss up between 1 or 2 of them, it's not like they're going to Ancestral themselves when you have Willbender mana up. I don't even know if this card was that good when we were playing 3 blue morphs.
Willbender changes the landscape of the game, either by being a huge blowout or by forcing your opponent to play completely differently.
Kira, Great Glass-Spinner:
This card is fine, but we never really made it work here. It's really designed for an aggro-control or blue tempo suite, but it doesn't look like you support a lot of that (which is good because I don't think the cards are there for it yet). I'd swap this out for Aether Adept, since I think Aether Adept does everything this card wants to do, just better.
We have found that we construct a decent number of X/u and X/U aggro-control (Tempo) and midrange decks which love Kira. I see her like a slightly harder to cast spellskite but with attacking power.
Frantic Search:
This card is fine for reanimator, and if you want to support that a little more heavily, it's a good one. It's not a common choice at 360, but it's not a bad one. Intuition is probably better for this purpose though, for what it's worth, and I wouldn't play Frantic Search in a lot of non-reanimator decks, so I'd feel comfortable making this swap.
As a free spell, it nearly always performs well, supports reanimator when needed, and helps recover from a few bad draws early wonderfully without costing tempo. Not the best card in the section, but we love it.
Dismiss:
This card on the other hand is just bad at 360, four mana is way too slow.
Fair enough. I should probably investigate a replacement for it
Time Spiral:
I've said my peace on Time Spiral, but choosing this over Upheaval is blasphemy, especially if you want to support aggro as much as you do.
As a 'free' spell it leads much more directly to games ending 'right now' than upheaval ever has. We voted a while back and decided we liked TS better and thought that it worked in more decks.
Contagion:
This card cripples aggro.
I'm not concerned with it 'crippling' aggro (as it is a 2-for-2 trade when it happens, but more interested with the fact that it is a 'free spell' and at least decently good everywhere. Having it around accelerates the critical turn of the cube.
Bane of the Living:
Morph that everyone sees coming that also cripples aggro. Once I started cutting anti-aggro cards to support it, Bane of the Living was the first to go. It's very oppressive (very good at what it does, so if you like this effect in addition to the wraths and sweepers you have, I'd keep this guy in, actually, but you have enough already IMO).
Barter in Blood:
Let me know how this card works out, I'm curious about this one.
This gets played by aggro against midrange and control all the time. It is kind of a secret weapon since aggro usually has 3-4 creatures and midrange has 2-3 bigger ones. Aggro can knock out two 3-4 CC guys and only sacrifice some 1 and 2 mana cards. Against control it can wipe out a big target. These plays are situational, but it works in the right matchups. Additionally it is played well by creature-lite midrange/ramp and control decks.
Smash to Smithereens:
This might be a bit too narrow for 360, even though it is very good at what it does.
I run this over Keldon Vandals and it does a great job. I'm very confident in S2S's power and we find it always is useful.
Pyroclasm:
How often does red control get played in your group? Probably not that often with the cards you have access to. Pyroclasm is probably sitting on your sideboards a lot, and this card is probably the most oppressive card to aggro on the entire list. I'm a big anti-Pyroclasm guy, but if you want to ennable 4cc more than it is already (which is probably already a lot since you have a large gold section), I guess you can go for it. Rolling Earthquake is the same thing here.
4CC and 5CC are almost never played here with success Whenever people try it they usually end up 0-X on the night in matches. R/X control does show up a decent amount due to the flexibility of burn as removal.
Blistering Firecat:
This card is fine, but a little red intensive. If you're going to try to do the 5 morph thing, I guess he's the best option for red, but I think he's a tiny bit too weak for 360 on his own.
I find Firecat to end lots of games. When we cut it, we missed it, and when we put it back in, we saw it winning games right away. It is a great card in midrange and aggro.
Chandra, the Firebrand:
This is getting cut from a ton of 360s, and for good reason. It's just not that awesome at this level compared to more efficient stuff.
I think you're probably right about her, actually. I may go for Hellrider instead
Banefire:
Is a 3rd single-target X-spell necessary? We recently went down to two (Fireball/Devil's Play) and the pick order on them jumped up considerably because there were less of them in the cube. I think less is more when it comes to X-spells.
I like the density of them where it is. They all get picked highly, and I like the different roles they can fill (Repeatable, Splittable, Wins past countermagic)
Your green one drop section is very small. No Wild Dogs, Llanowar Elves, Fyndhorn Elves?
I have never found the mana elves to do as much as I liked. Wild Dogs is at the right power level to make it in, and we are considering it over Rampant Growth right now.
Nature's Claim:
I read your blurb, but the only real reason to play this is if your opponent has a first turn Mana Crypt or Sol Ring. Naturalize is better the vast majority of the time, there are very few must-answer-absolutely-now-with-one-mana-enchantments/artifacts. The life gain is just too crippling for aggro to play.
It isn't just the fast answer, but the fact that I can play a 2-drop on turn 3 and Nature's Claim. Or a 3-drop and this on turn 4.
Berserk:
While an interesting combat trick, I'd rather have Vines of Vastwood. Not only will Vines actually protect your guy, but it will also pump your guy for just as much (or more) than Berserk most of the time. I don't think using Berserk on an enemy guy is enough to make it better than VoV.
We saw better results from Berserk than from VoV, so for now we are keeping it in. With the changes coming to green, we may see the need to exchange them. I see them as nearly the same power level.
Rampant Growth:
You're already playing Sakura Tribe Elder, Krosan Tusker, Kodama's Reach, and Cultivate, do you need another one of these effects? I'd rather just have a mana elf. It seems weird to play Nature's Claim over Naturalize but this over mana elves.
Clearly a weaker card at this point, probably going to get replaced by wild dogs.
Great Sable Stag:
This guy is like the green version of Paladin En-Vec. Good, but certainly not brutal.
The Stag is still performing quite well for us at the moment. Maybe this will change. It is a very cuttable card but I don't have much I would want to replace it with.
Blastoderm, Phantom Centaur:
For the mid-range deck, these are better measures to D-up against aggro than to attack control. For aggro, they'd probably rather play smaller guys than 4cc guys (which are in high numbers in other colors).
The green revamp is planning on tossing Blastoderm for Rofellos.
Centaur is still extremely good but you're right that it is lacking a bit in sheer power. We may end up going for one of the mana elves or Garruk 3 over it.
Pelakka Wurm:
I'd much rather play Woodfall Primus than this guy, but if you are going to play this guy I would cut Vorapede for Woodfall Primus. Having two fatties is nice for reanimator.
Also, no Garruk Primal Hunter or Garruk Relentless? Garruk 2.0 hasn't impressed us as much as it seems to others. 3.0 we are on the fence about whether or not the effect is good enough, but the consensus is now that it probably is worth a real slot. We have been testing a lot of different configurations of green lately.
I plan to articulate some of these choices more once we get the cube tightened up a bit more. We are going color-by-color and finding ways to improve them. White is mostly figured out but I haven't made my final decision yet. Green is in-progress. Red is up after than, then black, then blue.
While I'm at it, the potential green changes look like:
Out
Blastoderm
Wild Dogs
Garruk Relentless -or- Fyndhorn Elves
In
Rofellos, Llanawar Emissary
Rampant Growth
Phantom Centaur
Maybe Great-Sable-Stag also to include both Fyndhorn Elves AND Garruk 3.
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As for the Nature's Claim argument of 2 drop + NC on turn 3 or 3 drop + NC on turn 4, when is this ever relevant? What cards do you need to answer absolutely asap at that turn where you can't just wait a turn and do it with Naturalize? Moreover, how often does that scenario even happen?
Why would Contagion accelerate "the critical turn?" O.o
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I like Phantom Centaur at 360 more than the Blastoderm. He's bonkers with a Sword on him, and every deck will have a Sword.
I'd cut Sable Stag and Rampant Growth for Fyndhorn Elves and Garruk Relentless.
And then I'd find room for Garruk, Primal Hunter.
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