1. fetches
2. Strip Mine and Wasteland
3. synergy with Cube bombs Wildfire and Armageddon
4. synergy with sac effects like Braids and Smokestack, as mentioned above.
5. synergy with discard effects.
To be more specific on some really good discard effects that pair nicely with Loam: Raven's Crime, Forbid, Psychatog(although that requires 3 colors), Spitting Image etc.
The card just does so much. As soon as I grab it, I immediately start drafting cards to abuse it. It's a card that will make me go green-- it's that powerful. Just give it a try and you guys will grow to love it. I'd probably put it in over Oath of Druids.
To be more specific on some really good discard effects that pair nicely with Loam: Raven's Crime, Forbid, Psychatog(although that requires 3 colors), Spitting Image etc.
The card just does so much. As soon as I grab it, I immediately start drafting cards to abuse it. It's a card that will make me go green-- it's that powerful. Just give it a try and you guys will grow to love it. I'd probably put it in over Oath of Druids.
Agreed. This card has been an all-star for me. I always find extra ways to abuse it every time I draft it.
Inspired by Wtwlf123, I've written an overview of our black section. You can find it in the 3rd post on page 1.
I'll be adding the overviews for the other sections gradually. Each should serve to give you an idea of what that section has to offer in our cube and where it deviates from the norm.
Thanks to wtwlf for providing the impulse and the idea of visualising the focus for each color section using a 1-10 scale divided between aggro, midrange and control.
If you enjoyed reading it, please let me know! It will give me the necessary motivation to complete the overviews for all sections.
I think the "mission statements" for both the cube as a whole and the individual sections are very useful.
Since focusing more on what I want each section to do, I have understood better why certain "orphan" cards were not getting played. It was not that these cards were bad per se, rather that they did not have a deck or archetype to go into. By either supporting that achetype or removing that card, the cube became much better to draft.
Similarly, these statements are very helpful when critiquing, as they give an indication of what the cube owner is trying to achieve, and hence why certain cards might be present/absent.
Credit to wtwlf123 for his pioneering templates for the cube and section descriptions.
Regarding your notes, Befoul can kill a creature, not an artifact. Also, I am not sure about the critical mass argument for black LD. Sinkhole is below the curve for LD and as such is uniquely powerful, but within your list I only see Befoul and (sort of) Braids as other LD cards. Am I missing anything?
I was intrigued by your "cutting corners" as a theme: I counted 20 cards that cause life loss, nearly a third! Most of these are just downright powerful cards and cube staples. Cards like Necropotence and Grinning Demon are more borderline, but reasonable includes. There is not much in black to mitigate this life loss. Part of the trouble for me is that the Drain Life type cards require loads of black mana, and as such are difficult to draft. How do you find this plays out?
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
Thanks for your comments, Humpty. I agree that this kind of analysis is useful for finding potential cuts.
Indeed I messed up the Befoul, I must have been thinking of Pillage or something. I'll edit the post, but the point still stands. The 'critical mass' was meant for land destruction as a sub-theme, not a major theme. You missed Wrecking Ball in the multi-color section, which together with the colorless land destruction suite (Strip Mine, Wasteland, Dust Bowl and everything that can tap lands) makes black/red land destruction viable as an archetype. We have a pretty high tolerance for land destruction decks. Perhaps 'critical mass' makes it sound like a heavier presence than it is, but removing Befoul and Wrecking Ball from the cube would make black/red land destruction less likely to happen.
About the suicide cards, in practice the player playing even multiple of such cards in a deck without any life gain in general wins his games before losing to the pain cards. The cards just tend to be that powerful. Of course sometimes it's hard to say if a lost game was lost because of the pain, or if it would have been lost anyway, but in general having several cards of this type makes for a very strong deck. So, we see no reason to hold back on them.
Having the cards for R/B LD makes a lot more sense, and in that context I can see why you might include the Befoul and Wrecking Ball. I don't have a problem with LD, but that is not an archetype we support. Would you consider Fulminator Mage to push it further?
Edit-> I've just reviewed your R/B section and the only card you could conceivably cut for the Mage would be Wrecking Ball. I suppose there is always a balance to be sought when supporting archetypes as to how far you go even if it means including "less poweful" cards. /Edit
I've never found the life loss to be a significant problem in black decks, but I notice in your cube you include Juzam DjinnandPlague Sliverand and Phyrexian Scutaand Grinning Demon, whereas similar sized cubes might just have a couple of those. I was curious as to whether having such a density of these cards was a problem, but it sounds like it isn't. I can imagine that it might lead to some fun, tense games though
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
Having the cards for R/B LD makes a lot more sense, and in that context I can see why you might include the Befoul and Wrecking ball. I don't have a problem with LD, but that is not an archetype we support. Would you consider Fulminator Mage to push it further?
Sure, except that the BR slots are at a premium and there's no card I'd be willing to cut for the Mage. EDIT: perhaps I should consider slotting the Mage in the red or black section...
I've never found the life loss to be a significant problem in black decks, but I notice in your cube you include Juzam DjinnandPlague Sliverand and Phyrexian Scutaand Grinning Demon, whereas similar sized cubes might just have a couple of those. I was curious as to whether having such a density of these cards was a problem, but it sounds like it isn't. I can imagine that it might lead to some fun, tense games though
I opened a game last week with Swamp - Mana Crypt - Dark Confidant. I won that game handily and in a hurry. It was pretty intense, and just before playing that opening I may have been heard muttering something along the lines of 'that's just crazy...'
Inspired by Wtwlf123, I've written an overview of our black section. You can find it in the 3rd post on page 1.
I'll be adding the overviews for the other sections gradually. Each should serve to give you an idea of what that section has to offer in our cube and where it deviates from the norm.
Thanks to wtwlf for providing the impulse and the idea of visualising the focus for each color section using a 1-10 scale divided between aggro, midrange and control.
If you enjoyed reading it, please let me know! It will give me the necessary motivation to complete the overviews for all sections.
Looks good. Looking forward to seeing the other ones.
Quote from Humpty_Dumpty »
Credit to wtwlf123 for his pioneering templates for the cube and section descriptions.
Another pretty big update. Besides the RoE swaps, efforts were made to lower the curves all over the board, and to give both black and red aggro a shot in the arm. Some more threshold cards got cut after failing to prove their worth in cube.
Hatred was always a threshold card for being so damn risky. After hesitating for ages, we finally cut it and likely won't miss it. Skeletal Vampire never had a huge impact for its cost, it got cut to lower the curve, hence the two additional 2-drops which also supports the 'help aggro' drive.
The looter was swapped for the RoE looter to see how it plays out. Pestermite is always on the bubble, it got cut to test Coralhelm. Old Jace was sub-par too often, Opportunity and Stroke were cut for being too heavy, they got replaced by much cheaper cards to lower the curve.
Fastbond was cut after we realised that some form of card draw is necessary to make it worthwhile, which makes the card too narrow. The RoE mana elf was the perfect replacement. Admirers were too small as a creature and too slow for the card draw, it got the axe for the much faster Vengevine. Hystrodon was deemed weaker than Ohran Viper. Since our ramp department was really big, we cut two of the weaker cards for Terastodon and Ice Storm, and finally Stonewood Invocation got cut because it just didn't make decklists to make room for another RoE test case, Momentous Fall.
Red was in need of a huge shot in the arm, and that's what we tried to give it. Slower midrangish cards got cut for more aggressive stuff. Devestating Summons and to a lesser degree Kargan Dragonlord are RoE test cases. Wild Ricochet finally got the axe, it has never done anything for us. Finally, the burn department was given a slight facelift with 2 RoE new-comers and a Hammer swap. We were a bit sad to see Hammer of Bogardan go, but we had to face the reality that the recursion just doesn't happen.
The white section saw a bunch of cards fail our vote of confidence: Honor of the Pure for being too narrow, Prison and Muse for being sub-par, Rector for not having enough good targets, and Pacifism/Arrest for being sub-par as removal. Ronom Unicorn could be replaced after we added 2 more white/x disenchant effects in the gold section (more on that below). I don't think the includes need much explanation, just solid to great additions for aggro and some for control to replace the cut control cards.
This section was shrunk a bit, the cut cards proved to be sub-par. The scepter seemed great on paper but it just didn't happen. The rest was filler and didn't make deck lists. Added were the RoE test case All is Dust and two missing (near-)staples.
This section was made smaller and lighter. Knell was the fifth card in a 4-card section, Niv-Mizzet was replaced by Gelectrode which seems much more likely to see play, Mirari's Wake never did much for us and was replaced by the come-back Armadillo Cloak. Finally, Blink and Hedge Mage were cut for the two white/x disenchant effects mentioned earlier, since games are decided so often by artifacts and enchantments we figured we'd try to add some more answers, and these swaps seemed a decent way to accomplish it.
These changes shrink the cube a little more down to 565 cards.
Most of these changes are very good, but I cannot get behind removing Jace (especially for the Commander) or bringing in Devastating Summons. Also, I'm pretty sure I prefer the Hedge-Mage to Orim's Thunder. It can kill an artifact and an enchantment and leave you a 2/2.
I like all the changes except removing Jace Beleren. Jace is fantastic, and better than... (actually any) of the blue cards that are going in, IMO. Repeatable draw ftw.
Hey, lots of support for Jace 1. We'll have to put that back on the agenda. In our experience, often Jace drew you one card, then was a sitting duck for whatever way of getting rid of it the opponent happened to have. At starting loyalty 3, he's just so fragile. How do you guys keep him around?
In any case, thanks for the valuable feedback all! Much appreciated.
Duergar Hedge-Mage should not be replaced with Orim's Thunder. Artifact or enchantment destruction on a creature is quite good. This may be a question of personal preference. Debtors' Knell however should never be cut! That card is a beast. After the first few drafts with my cube, we came to the conclusion that the three most powerful / annoying permanents in the cube were Survival of the Fittest, Umezawa's Jitte and Debtors' Knell (Writing this makes me wonder if Recurring Nightmare wasn't among the drafted cards...), which prompted me to drastically increase the number of artifact and enchantment destruction.
Mirari's Wake is a frequent firstpick and considered one of the best enchantments by my playgroup. And i agree with them, that thing is ridiculous. Uncuttable imo and vastly better than Armadillo Cloak.
This too. I didn't notice you were cutting Wake. It's a beast of an enchantment.
Hey, lots of support for Jace 1. We'll have to put that back on the agenda. In our experience, often Jace drew you one card, then was a sitting duck for whatever way of getting rid of it the opponent happened to have. At starting loyalty 3, he's just so fragile. How do you guys keep him around?
+2 him once first.
Don't be afraid of the both draw. It's fine, and sets him up with some loyalty you can start using for 1-sided drawing later on. Only in the control mirror do you -1 him first... at least in my experience.
Quote from DerBK »
Frantic Search is just card disadvantage. While it doesn't cost mana, that fact is hard to abuse in a cube that doesn't happen to support Storm.
I don't agree with this. It's card disadvantage, but it's instant-speed selection, it's free and a great discard outlet for reanimator (probably the best one... considering you can immediately play the reanimation spell because the Search is free). It's not hard to use/abuse at all. I'll gladly get rid of this card to select the two best cards to go in my hand. It's free instant speed card selection, and it's been great for us.
Jace Beleren: I guess we don't like to give cards away like that! Maybe we've been playing him wrong. Perhaps the correct cut is Jushi Apprentice to put Jace back in?
Frantic Search: I'm not 100% sold on it yet but it looks decent enough as a card selection spell. We're testing it for sure.
Debtor's Knell: is going out. I know how good it can be, but it's really heavy and Desolation Angel just has more punch in that slot.
Duergar Hedge-Mage: is not as good as he looks. Having 2 plains and/or mountains exactly when you need it is harder than than you might think in my experience. Orim's Thunder is at least always a Disenchant for 2W when you need it, and if you get to use the kicker, it's good times.
Mirari's Wake: I sorta expected the backlash for cutting wake, but it has just never performed for us. It's an expensive anthem which makes it unsuitable for aggro (which also doesn't need the extra mana), and in a ramp deck it comes down too late even if it doubles your mana. Stuffing your deck with expensive cards will make for a bad deck if you don't draw Wake, and if you keep the curve reasonable you won't be able to abuse it. IDK, but the fact is that we won't miss it as it has never been insane or even good for us. Armadillo Cloak will be an asset for aggressive decks.
Jace goes back in, we agreed that it's at the very least better than Jushi. The Shapeshifter lost the matchup versus Sakashima since it's more expensive. Rewind was cut because 4 mana is expensive for a hard-counter and the upside is only occasionally useful. Added were a few cards considered staples by many, so we're checking out how they play.
Oath was cut for being too hit-or-miss, Doubling Season failed to perform and Mold Shambler played a lot like a variant of Desert Twister, which is just too expensive. In went 2 aggro creatures and a fattie to ramp into or reanimate.
Firecat was another unimportant midrange card that was replaced by Giant Solifuge, which was moved to red from the multi-color section. This because it plays alot more like a red card than a green and its cost might as well be 2RR, so why not run it in the red section (also see Inkfathom Infiltrator in the black section). We decided that running both Rolling Thunder and Comet Storm was a bit excessive, and Comet Storm lost the head-to-head because it only becomes better than Rolling Thunder if you have 7 mana or more.
White
No changes. I wanted to get rid of Karakas, but Hicham is not entirely convinced and I didn't really have a card to propose as a replacement. Now there's a first.
The M10s were the second allied cycle that didn't have an enemy cycle to back it up (the first is the Worldwake manlands, and those aren't going anywhere soon), and because the cube has shrunk a bit after the last couple of updates the fixers section could stand to become a bit smaller as well. The most aggressive color combinations got pain lands instead of filters to better suit their plan.
The multi-color section was further pruned by removing the awkward Thoctar and cutting one card from each allied color combination. Now the section is a bit more balanced at 5 cards for the allied colors and 4 for the enemy colors: since allied colors are combined a bit more naturally, this is ok.
Comet Storm is almost strictly better than Rolling Thunder at any point. Only something really random like them having a Spitemare out and you having to Comet Storm 4+ damage to everything makes it even remotely comparable. Under 99.9% of circumstances, you want the instant that can deal more overall damage.
Comet Storm is strictly better than Rolling Thunder... all the time. No matter how much mana you've got. No matter what the board state. It's always better.
Both Rolling Thunder and Comet Storm are anyway pretty lame with less than 6 mana. They're actually very slow and bulky spells. Perhaps, instead of swapping back, we should just cut Rolling Thunder for Arc Lightning... It should be usable a lot more often and in more decks than either of the big XRR spells.
The OP is up to date - as always, constructive criticism is welcome.
To be more specific on some really good discard effects that pair nicely with Loam: Raven's Crime, Forbid, Psychatog(although that requires 3 colors), Spitting Image etc.
The card just does so much. As soon as I grab it, I immediately start drafting cards to abuse it. It's a card that will make me go green-- it's that powerful. Just give it a try and you guys will grow to love it. I'd probably put it in over Oath of Druids.
Pauper Cube
I cube, I play EDH, and I can't afford Legacy. The other formats can suck it.
Agreed. This card has been an all-star for me. I always find extra ways to abuse it every time I draft it.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 49th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from MKM!
I'll be adding the overviews for the other sections gradually. Each should serve to give you an idea of what that section has to offer in our cube and where it deviates from the norm.
Thanks to wtwlf for providing the impulse and the idea of visualising the focus for each color section using a 1-10 scale divided between aggro, midrange and control.
If you enjoyed reading it, please let me know! It will give me the necessary motivation to complete the overviews for all sections.
Since focusing more on what I want each section to do, I have understood better why certain "orphan" cards were not getting played. It was not that these cards were bad per se, rather that they did not have a deck or archetype to go into. By either supporting that achetype or removing that card, the cube became much better to draft.
Similarly, these statements are very helpful when critiquing, as they give an indication of what the cube owner is trying to achieve, and hence why certain cards might be present/absent.
Credit to wtwlf123 for his pioneering templates for the cube and section descriptions.
Regarding your notes, Befoul can kill a creature, not an artifact. Also, I am not sure about the critical mass argument for black LD. Sinkhole is below the curve for LD and as such is uniquely powerful, but within your list I only see Befoul and (sort of) Braids as other LD cards. Am I missing anything?
I was intrigued by your "cutting corners" as a theme: I counted 20 cards that cause life loss, nearly a third! Most of these are just downright powerful cards and cube staples. Cards like Necropotence and Grinning Demon are more borderline, but reasonable includes. There is not much in black to mitigate this life loss. Part of the trouble for me is that the Drain Life type cards require loads of black mana, and as such are difficult to draft. How do you find this plays out?
My 380 Beginners’ Cube on Cube Tutor
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
Indeed I messed up the Befoul, I must have been thinking of Pillage or something. I'll edit the post, but the point still stands. The 'critical mass' was meant for land destruction as a sub-theme, not a major theme. You missed Wrecking Ball in the multi-color section, which together with the colorless land destruction suite (Strip Mine, Wasteland, Dust Bowl and everything that can tap lands) makes black/red land destruction viable as an archetype. We have a pretty high tolerance for land destruction decks. Perhaps 'critical mass' makes it sound like a heavier presence than it is, but removing Befoul and Wrecking Ball from the cube would make black/red land destruction less likely to happen.
About the suicide cards, in practice the player playing even multiple of such cards in a deck without any life gain in general wins his games before losing to the pain cards. The cards just tend to be that powerful. Of course sometimes it's hard to say if a lost game was lost because of the pain, or if it would have been lost anyway, but in general having several cards of this type makes for a very strong deck. So, we see no reason to hold back on them.
Edit-> I've just reviewed your R/B section and the only card you could conceivably cut for the Mage would be Wrecking Ball. I suppose there is always a balance to be sought when supporting archetypes as to how far you go even if it means including "less poweful" cards. /Edit
I've never found the life loss to be a significant problem in black decks, but I notice in your cube you include Juzam Djinn and Plague Sliver and and Phyrexian Scuta and Grinning Demon, whereas similar sized cubes might just have a couple of those. I was curious as to whether having such a density of these cards was a problem, but it sounds like it isn't. I can imagine that it might lead to some fun, tense games though
My 380 Beginners’ Cube on Cube Tutor
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
Sure, except that the BR slots are at a premium and there's no card I'd be willing to cut for the Mage. EDIT: perhaps I should consider slotting the Mage in the red or black section...
I opened a game last week with Swamp - Mana Crypt - Dark Confidant. I won that game handily and in a hurry. It was pretty intense, and just before playing that opening I may have been heard muttering something along the lines of 'that's just crazy...'
Looks good. Looking forward to seeing the other ones.
Thanks.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 49th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from MKM!
Glad you liked it!
Another pretty big update. Besides the RoE swaps, efforts were made to lower the curves all over the board, and to give both black and red aggro a shot in the arm. Some more threshold cards got cut after failing to prove their worth in cube.
As ever, comments are welcome.
OUT: Hatred, Skeletal Vampire
IN: Dauthi Slayer, Wretched Anurid
Hatred was always a threshold card for being so damn risky. After hesitating for ages, we finally cut it and likely won't miss it. Skeletal Vampire never had a huge impact for its cost, it got cut to lower the curve, hence the two additional 2-drops which also supports the 'help aggro' drive.
Blue
OUT: Thought Courier, Pestermite, Jace Beleren, Opportunity, Stroke of Genius
IN: Academy Ruins, Force Spike, Enclave Cryptologist, Coralhelm Commander, Frantic Search
The looter was swapped for the RoE looter to see how it plays out. Pestermite is always on the bubble, it got cut to test Coralhelm. Old Jace was sub-par too often, Opportunity and Stroke were cut for being too heavy, they got replaced by much cheaper cards to lower the curve.
Green
OUT: Fastbond, Masked Admirers, Hystrodon, Farhaven Elf, Gemhide Sliver, Stonewood Invocation
IN: Joraga Treespeaker, Vengevine, Ohran Viper, Terastodon, Ice Storm, Momentous Fall
Fastbond was cut after we realised that some form of card draw is necessary to make it worthwhile, which makes the card too narrow. The RoE mana elf was the perfect replacement. Admirers were too small as a creature and too slow for the card draw, it got the axe for the much faster Vengevine. Hystrodon was deemed weaker than Ohran Viper. Since our ramp department was really big, we cut two of the weaker cards for Terastodon and Ice Storm, and finally Stonewood Invocation got cut because it just didn't make decklists to make room for another RoE test case, Momentous Fall.
Red
IN > OUT
Mogg Fanatic > Magus of the Scroll
Gorilla Shaman > Hearth Kami
Fireslinger > Rakdos Pit Dragon
Kargan Dragonlord > Ryusei the Falling Star
Mogg War Marshal > Stingscourger
Viashino Slaughtermaster > Jaya Ballard
Devestating Summons > Wild Ricochet
Forked Bolt > Urza's Rage
Volcanic Hammer > Hammer of Bogardan
Staggershock > Volcanic Fallout
Red was in need of a huge shot in the arm, and that's what we tried to give it. Slower midrangish cards got cut for more aggressive stuff. Devestating Summons and to a lesser degree Kargan Dragonlord are RoE test cases. Wild Ricochet finally got the axe, it has never done anything for us. Finally, the burn department was given a slight facelift with 2 RoE new-comers and a Hammer swap. We were a bit sad to see Hammer of Bogardan go, but we had to face the reality that the recursion just doesn't happen.
White
OUT: Honor of the Pure, Ghostly Prison, Windborn Muse, Academy Rector, Pacifism, Arrest, Ronom Unicorn
IN: Student of Warfare, Wall of Omens, Gideon Jura, Lone Missionary, Parallax Wave, Mana Tithe, Stormfront Pegasus
The white section saw a bunch of cards fail our vote of confidence: Honor of the Pure for being too narrow, Prison and Muse for being sub-par, Rector for not having enough good targets, and Pacifism/Arrest for being sub-par as removal. Ronom Unicorn could be replaced after we added 2 more white/x disenchant effects in the gold section (more on that below). I don't think the includes need much explanation, just solid to great additions for aggro and some for control to replace the cut control cards.
Colorless
OUT: Platinum Angel, Puppet Strings, Jade Statue, Karn, Isochron Scepter, Force Field, Su-Chi, Cathodion
IN: All is Dust, Pithing Needle, Oblivion Stone
This section was shrunk a bit, the cut cards proved to be sub-par. The scepter seemed great on paper but it just didn't happen. The rest was filler and didn't make deck lists. Added were the RoE test case All is Dust and two missing (near-)staples.
Fixers
IN: Chrome Mox, Evolving Wilds
Two cards were added, the importance of acceleration makes Chrome Mox a likely include, and a second Terramorphic Expanse didn't seem too much.
Multi-Color
OUT: Debtor's Knell, Niv-Mizzet, the Fire Mind, Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker, Duergar Hedge Mage, Momentous Blink, Mirari's Wake
IN: Gelectrode, Orim's Thunder, Dismantling Blow, Armadillo Cloak
This section was made smaller and lighter. Knell was the fifth card in a 4-card section, Niv-Mizzet was replaced by Gelectrode which seems much more likely to see play, Mirari's Wake never did much for us and was replaced by the come-back Armadillo Cloak. Finally, Blink and Hedge Mage were cut for the two white/x disenchant effects mentioned earlier, since games are decided so often by artifacts and enchantments we figured we'd try to add some more answers, and these swaps seemed a decent way to accomplish it.
These changes shrink the cube a little more down to 565 cards.
Cheers,
rant
My Cube
CubeCobra: https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/5f5d0310ed602310515d4c32
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I also like Mirari's Wake and Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker, and wouldn't cut those either. But I can see cutting them before cutting something like Jace.
I'd also keep Karn, Silver Golem or Isochron Scepter in over All is Dust... but that's pretty minor.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
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In any case, thanks for the valuable feedback all! Much appreciated.
Uril, the Miststalker RGW -- Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre C -- Vhati il-Dal BG -- Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer RW -- Animar, Soul of Elements URG
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker R -- Maga, Traitor to Mortals B -- Ghave, Guru of Spores BGW -- Sliver Hivelord WUBRG
This too. I didn't notice you were cutting Wake. It's a beast of an enchantment.
Cheers,
rant
My Cube
CubeCobra: https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/5f5d0310ed602310515d4c32
Cube Tutor: http://cubetutor.com/viewcube/1963
+2 him once first.
Don't be afraid of the both draw. It's fine, and sets him up with some loyalty you can start using for 1-sided drawing later on. Only in the control mirror do you -1 him first... at least in my experience.
I don't agree with this. It's card disadvantage, but it's instant-speed selection, it's free and a great discard outlet for reanimator (probably the best one... considering you can immediately play the reanimation spell because the Search is free). It's not hard to use/abuse at all. I'll gladly get rid of this card to select the two best cards to go in my hand. It's free instant speed card selection, and it's been great for us.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 49th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from MKM!
Frantic Search: I'm not 100% sold on it yet but it looks decent enough as a card selection spell. We're testing it for sure.
Debtor's Knell: is going out. I know how good it can be, but it's really heavy and Desolation Angel just has more punch in that slot.
Duergar Hedge-Mage: is not as good as he looks. Having 2 plains and/or mountains exactly when you need it is harder than than you might think in my experience. Orim's Thunder is at least always a Disenchant for 2W when you need it, and if you get to use the kicker, it's good times.
Mirari's Wake: I sorta expected the backlash for cutting wake, but it has just never performed for us. It's an expensive anthem which makes it unsuitable for aggro (which also doesn't need the extra mana), and in a ramp deck it comes down too late even if it doubles your mana. Stuffing your deck with expensive cards will make for a bad deck if you don't draw Wake, and if you keep the curve reasonable you won't be able to abuse it. IDK, but the fact is that we won't miss it as it has never been insane or even good for us. Armadillo Cloak will be an asset for aggressive decks.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 49th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from MKM!
A relatively minor update.
Black
OUT: Silent Specter, Dusk Urchins, Phyrexian Rager
IN: Skittering Skirge, Order of the Ebon Hand, Makeshift Mannequin
A couple of midrange cards of minor importance were replaced with more aggro creatures. The Mannequin gets a test run based on forum recommendations.
Blue
OUT: Jushi Apprentice, Vesuvan Shapeshifter, Rewind
IN: Condescend, Thirst for Knowledge, Jace Beleren
Jace goes back in, we agreed that it's at the very least better than Jushi. The Shapeshifter lost the matchup versus Sakashima since it's more expensive. Rewind was cut because 4 mana is expensive for a hard-counter and the upside is only occasionally useful. Added were a few cards considered staples by many, so we're checking out how they play.
Green
OUT: Oath of Druids, Doubling Season, Mold Shambler
IN: Twinblade Slasher, Pouncing Jaguar, Pelakka Wurm
Oath was cut for being too hit-or-miss, Doubling Season failed to perform and Mold Shambler played a lot like a variant of Desert Twister, which is just too expensive. In went 2 aggro creatures and a fattie to ramp into or reanimate.
Red
OUT: Blistering Firecat, Comet Storm
IN: Magma Jet, Giant Solifuge (moved from multi-color)
Firecat was another unimportant midrange card that was replaced by Giant Solifuge, which was moved to red from the multi-color section. This because it plays alot more like a red card than a green and its cost might as well be 2RR, so why not run it in the red section (also see Inkfathom Infiltrator in the black section). We decided that running both Rolling Thunder and Comet Storm was a bit excessive, and Comet Storm lost the head-to-head because it only becomes better than Rolling Thunder if you have 7 mana or more.
White
No changes. I wanted to get rid of Karakas, but Hicham is not entirely convinced and I didn't really have a card to propose as a replacement. Now there's a first.
Colorless
No changes.
Fixers
OUT: M10 cycle, BR/GR/GW/RW filters
IN: BR/GR/GW/RW pain lands (Horizon Canopy for GW).
The M10s were the second allied cycle that didn't have an enemy cycle to back it up (the first is the Worldwake manlands, and those aren't going anywhere soon), and because the cube has shrunk a bit after the last couple of updates the fixers section could stand to become a bit smaller as well. The most aggressive color combinations got pain lands instead of filters to better suit their plan.
Multi-Color
OUT: Woolly Thoctar, Dimir Cutpurse, Wilt-Leaf Liege, Bituminous Blast, Augury Adept, Giant Solifuge (moved to red)
The multi-color section was further pruned by removing the awkward Thoctar and cutting one card from each allied color combination. Now the section is a bit more balanced at 5 cards for the allied colors and 4 for the enemy colors: since allied colors are combined a bit more naturally, this is ok.
New cube total = 554
(list not current)
My Cube Google Docs Spreadsheet: https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AibgWfz0ukmOdDNhOHlucjcxUi1wVy00NDhLbDUtUlE&hl=en_US#gid=8
(list is always current)
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 49th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from MKM!
Both Rolling Thunder and Comet Storm are anyway pretty lame with less than 6 mana. They're actually very slow and bulky spells. Perhaps, instead of swapping back, we should just cut Rolling Thunder for Arc Lightning... It should be usable a lot more often and in more decks than either of the big XRR spells.
Thoughts?