Lich's Mirror is garbage, unless your opponent has killed you with a weird combo. Once you "respawn", the the creatures that have killed you last turn are still on the table and ready to mash at you while you have neither mana nor blockers.
I can adjust the cut/add percentage for the cc tool to anything you like. If you want more potential additions, here are the red results for a a cube that is planning to increase the size to 150%:
Cards
That is actually extremely helpful. Could you run the entire cube through that 150% filter?
And I agree, Lich's Mirror seemed better than it actually is at first. :/
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.
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.
Just overhauled the Cube. Wanted to keep it balanced for optimal drafting.
Cut to 45 cards per color. Used Eidolon's CC Thread to help decide which to cut. I cut everything that was used in <40 cubes, and then put a few cards back in each color to get to 45. I have the cards that were cut in a pile to be added when I can add to the colors evenly and hopefully in a balanced fashion.
I essentially cut all gold cards until I can make each guild even, at least in card quantity. I will post my thoughts on that soon enough.
I am also staying away from land cycles (a.k.a., Treetop Village, other man-lands) until I have the complete cycle, in order to maintain (at least on paper) balance between them.
Like Usman said in his blog, it is a not a good idea to include cards only for the reason to complete a cycle. You can balance the cards in another way as well, like giving Green a mana elf and Black Dark Ritual instead of a second colored utility land / or for the GUilds a Signet/ Manland instead of bad multicolored card.
I understand. How to I justify putting Treetop Village in there while no other colors have a man-land? Should I cut a green card for it and call it the 45th green card?
And I think cycles like the refuge lands are ok to apply this method to, right? As in, don't put them in until you have all of them?
yes, cut a green card for treetop village because like any other green card it's only playable in a deck with green mana available.
you can click on my cube link to see an example of the guild model. i run different lands and different amounts of mana producing permanents for each color pair. the amount of support is balanced, but the type of support isn't, and many cycles are incomplete.
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.
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.
Not the most balanced cycle, but I want to keep the gold as balanced as possible. Here's how I envision it being eventually. Each color combination would have:
1 Bomb Creature/Planeswalker
1 Bomb Spell
2-3 Removal Spells
2 mid-range creatures
2 Small creatures
Unmake should definitely be Mortify in stead, WB already can deal with most creatures for 0-2 mana.
You won't find good cards for this category in each color, like a GWremoval spell + this would result in 80-90 gold cards, which is something that I would not want to see in a cube with <720 cards.
Well I wouldn't mind having a 720 Card Cube eventually, but I have a long way to go.
If I had Mortify, I'd throw it in there. I think one is on the way, though. So, would 1 Bomb, 3 Creatures/Spells be ok? I like the idea of every color combination having one "auto-pull" card... like Ajani Vengeant. I have one, but I have trouble putting him in without something to balance him at each other dual color combo. I guess the same could be said about my lack of a Jace Beleren, but I'm getting one very soon and Blue has good things in there.
I suppose I wouldn't mind loosely basing each color off of a similar method of "balancing". Such as, 2 bomb creatures in each color that are 6+cc (Think Sun Titan and Akroma). Would that be a bad thing to strive for in each color?
If you don't restrict yourself too much to those numbers, it could be a good rule of thumb. But remember that not all colors were created equal (for example, black 6+cc creatures are pretty awful unless you count Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni and Ob Nixilis, the Fallen as 6cc).
If you don't restrict yourself too much to those numbers, it could be a good rule of thumb. But remember that not all colors were created equal (for example, black 6+cc creatures are pretty awful unless you count Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni and Ob Nixilis, the Fallen as 6cc).
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.
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.
Black has a good 5/6 mana section, but that's the cap. White has Akroma, Angel of Wrath, Blue has Inkwell Leviathan, Red has Bogardan Hellkite and Green has Terastodon and Woodfall Primus. Black critters are more midrangey (as it also lacks as many good 1cc guys as some other colors), which, as the main color for reanimator decks, is kinda sad.
it was definitely sad before, but i think grave titan did a lot to fill the gap. i would happily play him and inkwell in a blue/black reanimator as back up control finishers if my main goal isn't realized. and black actually has a ton of really great 2cc aggro guys to make up for the lack of 1cc guys (although it has 4 good choices now that fume spitter exists). since i made the effort, black aggro has done really well here.
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.
Black has some good 2cc guys, yes, but it's still nowhere near what white, red or green have. Bx is a really good aggro option here as well (BG in particular can be sick), but that's mostly because black is very good at disruption, and what it lacks in 1cc drops, it makes up for with Sinkhole, Hymn to Tourach and Thoughtseize.
Ah, and it's 5 good choices: Guul Draz Assassin is pretty good, although more midrange than aggro
I disagree about guul draz assassin being good I tried cut and have not missed him
my black section has 12 aggressive 2cc creatures and my white has 13. so they're actually pretty even in my cube. the white cards are definitely better but i don't think black is that far behind. you're right that the disruption evens it up as well.
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.
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.
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.
-1 Condemn
+1 Emeria Angel
I like Condemn more, but it is a defensive only card, while the Angel gives you a second 4 drop in white which seems to be more important for this cube.
I agree with this, as well as liking Basking Rootwalla.
I ordered 300 sleeves off of Ebay last week. When they come in, I'll add a bunch of these cards (as well as some good gold ones) into the cube, as well as sleeve up some more basic land, because I'm getting to the point where cutting the most unusual cards in the cube have come to be ones that I like (like Basking Rootwalla, Mind Control and Condemn).
That is actually extremely helpful. Could you run the entire cube through that 150% filter?
And I agree, Lich's Mirror seemed better than it actually is at first. :/
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A few more cards I forgot to add to the earlier list - Should they go in?
1 Wall of Omens
1 Liliana's Specter
1 Lash Out
1 Searing Blaze
1 Acidic Slime
1 Mold Shambler
1 Oran-Rief Recluse
1 Sword of Vengeance
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1 Sun Titan
1 Reveillark
1 Knight-Captain of Eos
1 Knight of Meadowgrain
1 Student of Warfare
1 Sphinx of Jwar Isle
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Tinker
1 Serendib Efreet
1 Nezumi Graverobber
1 Reassembling Skeleton
1 Barter in Blood
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Bane of the Living
1 Puppeteer Clique
1 Shriekmaw
1 World at War
1 Caldera Hellion
1 Wildfire
1 Flame Slash
1 Hellkite Charger
1 Earthquake
1 Mogg Fanatic
1 Incendiary Command
1 Siege-Gang Commander
1 Magus of the Scroll
1 Comet Storm
1 Forked Bolt
1 Banefire
1 Beastial Menace
1 Finest Hour
1 Steel Hellkite
1 Coalition Relic
1 Winter Orb
Lots of these cards are on the cc list, I just need to know if any of these cards SHOULDN'T be in the Cube.
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in my opinion, i wouldn't bother with these:
1 World at War
1 Caldera Hellion
1 Incendiary Command
1 Beastial Menace
1 Finest Hour
1 Steel Hellkite
these are essentially staples:
1 Sun Titan
1 Reveillark
1 Knight of Meadowgrain
1 Student of Warfare
1 Sphinx of Jwar Isle
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Tinker
1 Serendib Efreet
1 Nezumi Graverobber
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Bane of the Living
1 Shriekmaw
1 Wildfire
1 Earthquake
1 Mogg Fanatic
1 Siege-Gang Commander
1 Magus of the Scroll
1 Forked Bolt
1 Banefire
1 Coalition Relic
1 Winter Orb
and these are probably not necessary but are solid cards:
1 Barter in Blood
1 Puppeteer Clique
1 Hellkite Charger
1 Caldera Hellion
1 Flame Slash
1 Comet Storm
Cut to 45 cards per color. Used Eidolon's CC Thread to help decide which to cut. I cut everything that was used in <40 cubes, and then put a few cards back in each color to get to 45. I have the cards that were cut in a pile to be added when I can add to the colors evenly and hopefully in a balanced fashion.
I essentially cut all gold cards until I can make each guild even, at least in card quantity. I will post my thoughts on that soon enough.
I am also staying away from land cycles (a.k.a., Treetop Village, other man-lands) until I have the complete cycle, in order to maintain (at least on paper) balance between them.
About to edit the OP with the changes.
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I understand. How to I justify putting Treetop Village in there while no other colors have a man-land? Should I cut a green card for it and call it the 45th green card?
And I think cycles like the refuge lands are ok to apply this method to, right? As in, don't put them in until you have all of them?
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you can click on my cube link to see an example of the guild model. i run different lands and different amounts of mana producing permanents for each color pair. the amount of support is balanced, but the type of support isn't, and many cycles are incomplete.
-1 Briarhorn
+1 Treetop Village
-1 Jaya Ballard, Task Mage
-1 Searing Blaze
+1 Ember Hauler
+1 Inferno Titan
-1 Snap
+1 Aether Adept
+1 Talisman of Progress
+1 Talisman of Dominance
+1 Talisman of Indulgence
+1 Talisman of Impulse
+1 Talisman of Unity
+1 Evolving Wilds
+1 Perilous Myr
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+1 Azorius Guildmage
+1 Unmake
+1 Agony Warp
+1 Fire/Ice
+1 Electrolyze
+1 Terminate
+1 Putrefy
+1 Kird Ape
+1 Lightning Helix
+1 Quasali Pridemage
+1 Mystic Snake
Not the most balanced cycle, but I want to keep the gold as balanced as possible. Here's how I envision it being eventually. Each color combination would have:
1 Bomb Creature/Planeswalker
1 Bomb Spell
2-3 Removal Spells
2 mid-range creatures
2 Small creatures
Is this a good way to think of balancing guilds?
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Well I wouldn't mind having a 720 Card Cube eventually, but I have a long way to go.
If I had Mortify, I'd throw it in there. I think one is on the way, though. So, would 1 Bomb, 3 Creatures/Spells be ok? I like the idea of every color combination having one "auto-pull" card... like Ajani Vengeant. I have one, but I have trouble putting him in without something to balance him at each other dual color combo. I guess the same could be said about my lack of a Jace Beleren, but I'm getting one very soon and Blue has good things in there.
I suppose I wouldn't mind loosely basing each color off of a similar method of "balancing". Such as, 2 bomb creatures in each color that are 6+cc (Think Sun Titan and Akroma). Would that be a bad thing to strive for in each color?
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I was thinking general rule of thumb. Cause White has Sun Titan and Akroma, Blue has Sphinx of Jwar Isle and Inkwell Leviathan, Red has Hellkite Charger and Bogarden Hellkite, Green has Pelakka Wurm, Terastodon and Woodfall Primus (makes sense for Green to have slightly more big creatures). So I guess the black equivalent would be the two creatures mentioned above?
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kokusho, the evening star and grave titan are "pretty awful?"
those two are by far the two 6cc creatures you want in black.
it was definitely sad before, but i think grave titan did a lot to fill the gap. i would happily play him and inkwell in a blue/black reanimator as back up control finishers if my main goal isn't realized. and black actually has a ton of really great 2cc aggro guys to make up for the lack of 1cc guys (although it has 4 good choices now that fume spitter exists). since i made the effort, black aggro has done really well here.
I disagree about guul draz assassin being good I tried cut and have not missed him
-1 Rewind
+1 Aether Adept
-1 Naturalize
+1 Wickerbough Elder
-1 Words of War
+1 Flame Javelin
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Searing Blaze was taken out in the last change (I may not have changed the OP yet).
EDIT: Some more changes.
-1 Rude Awakening
-1 Leatherback Baloth
-1 Sign in Blood
-1 Trinket Mage
-1 Mind Control
-1 Hinder
-1 Celestial Crusader
+1 Yavimaya Elder
+1 Wall of Blossoms
+1 Consuming Vapors
+1 Body Double
+1 Keiga, the Tide Star
+1 Enlightened Tutor
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-1 Condemn
+1 Emeria Angel
-1 Sphinx of Lost Truths
+1 Jace Beleren
-1 Pelakka Wurm
+1 Tarmogoyf (!)
-1 Basking Rootwalla
+1 Fauna Shaman
-1 Imperious Perfect
+1 Kodama of the North Tree
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I agree with this, as well as liking Basking Rootwalla.
I ordered 300 sleeves off of Ebay last week. When they come in, I'll add a bunch of these cards (as well as some good gold ones) into the cube, as well as sleeve up some more basic land, because I'm getting to the point where cutting the most unusual cards in the cube have come to be ones that I like (like Basking Rootwalla, Mind Control and Condemn).
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