I've recently come to what I'd be happy calling a finalized list. Big shoutout to the peasant cube community. They've been super helpful whenever I felt stuck on a design problem.
Recently decided to try the conspiracies. Since I'm running more powerful cards, I put Skull Clamp back in too. While the card is obviously one of the best in the cube, it's (in my experience) not been the unbeatable card advantage engine I feared it might be. That may just be because I've never had to play a tokens deck running it, but for now it's staying in. (I cut it for a while there!)
I've taken a real shine to Shockmaw Dragon. It's the kind of exciting curve topper red was previously lacking, and its trigger kills 40% of the creatures in the cube. I've also pushed reanimator a bit, and I've been really pleased by how its come out. The cards aren't too parasitic (a couple of uncastable eldrazi are the only real offenders) and I've managed to get a convincing deck to come together in a live draft on the first try.
Original post preserved so that I can have a laugh at the list in a year.
This is my first time posting on MTGS so hopefully I don't make any faux pas.
The current list is a work in progress which I've been developing for several months. I've done a lot of research and lurked the hell out of this forums' peasant section, so if you post much there then I've probably looked at your list for inspiration. The breakdown is 55 of each colour, 40 gold and 45 colourless cards. At the time of writing I'm about 60% to completing this cube. I'm posting it up here now so that I can hopefully get lots of feedback from more experienced cubers before I start spending cash on the rest of it.
My main concerns at the moment revolve around the creature count in each of the colours, and weather the curves are on point. There's several cards in particular which I'm on the fence about, either for them being dull (Azorius Arrester), hard to cast (Inquisitor Exarch) or sub-par (Thassa's Emissary). Those cards are highlighted in red on Cubetutor and if anybody has opinions on them, I’d be very interested. I’ll be the first to admit my card evaluation skills are lacking so if I’ve severely underrated any of the cards on that list, please let me know.
My other main concern is the inclusion of Skullclamp. I really want to be able to play with this card because it's a lot of fun for the person using it, but at the same time if it proves too strong I would be prepared to cut it. Playing other powerful cards like Ghostly Prison is pretty tempting too, but in that cards case I'm worried it would completely kill aggro whenever the card resolved.
E:It seems that new accounts can't post links. My cubes number on cubetutor is 15685. I'll edit this post with an actual hyperlink once I've posted a bit more lol.
Skillclamp is much too strong unless your environment is tailor made to be able to support it (and even then I have my doubts). I can guarantee you that the card is your first faux pas.
Anyway, the next concern would be the handling of cards that cost 2 mana but have two of the same color mana symbols in their mana cost. Generally speaking, you don't want these cards in your cube unless they A) retain value in the midgame or B) they can dominate utterly in the early game. A card like inquisitor exarch does neither of those things. A good borderline case that you can use for future card evaluation is strangleroot geist. Even though part of the problem with that card is that green aggro is sort of poor, the GG cost sets it back too much for some. A card like rakdos guildmage (which I evaluate as a monoblack card) or searing blaze can fit those descriptions a little better.
Other than that, it's hard to say what you should do now. I don't know what cards your running out of necessity (gatekeeper of malakir) or what cards you're missing because you're not done yet like.. spectral procession. Capsize will be interesting because it has fallen out of favor with the masses here in general But since your cube is developing it will probably be great for a while. It could serve as your litmus test: the more capsize feels too slow the more towards the norm your cube is becoming?
The list is what I'm aiming to build, not what I already own. The owned list is only 57% of what's currently "cubed". As far as testing it, I've only run 2 drafts so far (using Cockatrice) and played a bunch of sealed with a friend (again, on Cockatrice).
Spectral Procession is a card I've gone on and off as I've developed the list. At the moment it's in the cut pile as I was worried that WWW (or WW2) was too much, but I suppose the same argument could be used for Gatekeeper of Malakir (you don't seem hot on this card? I like it a lot but I'd like a second opinion). I'm certainly biased in that I tend to favor control decks over other archetypes, and it's a bias I've tried to prevent being reflected in the card pool. With that in mind, I'll try to find somewhere to shoehorn Procession in (probably replacing Inquisitor Exarch).
I guess my eventual goal for the cube will be to find some archetypes which are already draftable in the current list, and then reinforce without it becoming parasitic. Intangible Virtue has been recently included for this purpose, based on how popular token heavy decks have been in the test drafts I've run so far. One card to reinforce an archetype seems innocuous, but I'm wary that it's the start of a slippery slope. Has anybody found this card too niche to be worth its slot? Fallen Angel is another card in this category, for a similar kind of deck which I'm inclined to cut at the moment.
Spectral procession is a staple and far better than inquisitor. It usually gets played at 4 and is still a pain to deal with. Triple black really keeps gatekeeper from being playable. Unless you are mono black you won't be able to cast it until turn 5/6 or later. The more turns you give your opponent to develop their board, the less useful a non-targeted sacrifice becomes.
And curse of predation is the best card in that draft pool and should be main decked.
Your list looks pretty sweet - especially red (I actually like capping the creature CMCs at 4 instead of delving into red's progressively sketchier high-cost beaters) and green (my first thought was that the section looked durdly, but it looks like it also has the tools to durdle effectively).
The cards that stand out to me are:
Intangible Virtue: Takes a critical mass of token-producers to do anything, but I think you have that critical mass.
Timely Reinforcements: This card is real good when it's good, but I don't know about playing it before Spectral Procession. Procession does more or less the same thing, but is good in many more decks.
Augur of Bolas/Duress: Better in constructed and in normal cube than they are here, just because our sorceries and instants aren't all that game-warping and limited decks tend to play fewer of them.
Exhume: I don't know if this card has the support in this format to be great. There aren't a lot of big targets or enablers, so its symmetry isn't reliably worth the card or the mana.
Cloudshift and Ghostly Flicker are cute, but I've lost a lot of confidence in them. I'd keep an eye on how often they do anything that's worth a card.
Syndic of Tithes: I don't think ths should be treated as an Orzhov card. Any deck that can cast it can activate its Extort, so it doesn't do anything in WB that it doesn't do mono-W, and isn't all that noticeably improved in WB from WR/WG/WU.
Black's Mana curve looks a little top-heavy. Might be a little awkward for decks not splashing green.
Chronomaton should be fine, especially as his cube is in development. Cubes at this stage can have stagnant board states more often as well as underdeveloped aggro.
Spectral procession is 100% fantastic at 2WW. Not including it is a crime.
Gatekeeper of malakir is almost always bad. Besides the inherent difficulty of assembling triple of a color, when you finally do and it's not on turn 3 or 4 you've not accomplished a whole lot for your trouble. Sacrifice effects are not all that good and need a better upside. Fleshbag marauder isn't a top tier card, but it makes enough lists because it is consistent and occasionally abusive.
I think duress is fine. Hitting removal or a token generator and gaining information is worth way more than 1 mana and makes up for the misses.
The extort guys do enough in their native color to qualify as monocolored. The ambiguity of a guildmage or phyrexian mana cards just isn't here.
Curse of predation is the best card in that entire cardpool and needed to be maindecked.
I like Duress quite a bit. It gives black an opportunity to deal with things that it doesn't normally deal with. It also is clutch in Reanimator when you need a little security that your fatty isn't going to get path to exile'd, etc. It's also good against the value/control decks that keep a full grip and 2-for-1 your spuds all day.
Exhume is a good archetype support card. It goes it one deck, and will almost always wheel, but it's often difficult to get a enough reanimation spells to make the deck come together...I think of Exhume as lending a hand of support. In a cube with Careful Study, Raven's Crime, and other early enablers it's pretty bonkers.
Exarch is removed due to overwelming feedback, as is Gatekeeper. Maaka seemed like the best cut to get that last piece of burn I've been trying to squeeze in. Hunter was added because it's *GenericStrongBW-Card#4* but if anybody has any better options I'd like to hear about them. Ravens Crime comes in because it's a card I've enjoyed playing in Constructed and improving hand disruption seems like an interesting option. Spectral Procession is in because I was wrong!
Reanimator is a deck I've toyed with a bit, but I suspect that Peasant lacks the bombs required to really make it a thing. If I were to try it, I'd probably replace Fallen Angel with another renaimation card, switch Chronomoton to an Artisan of Kozilek and find some other fatties to run. I might even have to nerf exile based removal. Careful Study could find its way into the list too. Study could also lead to a UG Madness deck which I've enjoyed playing in Pauper but I don't think can work in a singleton environment or without becoming parasitic (Basking Rootwalla, Circular Logic, Arrogant Wurm with stuff like Aquamoeba).
It's a cool thought experiment but I think for the time being that's where it should stay. Does anybody have experience heavily supporting reanimation or madness?
reanimation is possible if you have some of the dredge monsters such as nyx weaver. but you need to fit unburial rites and forbidden alchemy to make it work for sure although forbidden alchemy could make a sweet flashback deck for izzet.
Disagree. Both dredge duders and forbidden alchemy are too slow for legitimate reanimator. They're both decent for a general recursion based midrange deck. Relying on dredge to bin a fatty is about as fast as dropping a thran dynamo or worn powerstone and ramping into one and will be eaten up by aggro and especially control. Proper reanimator needs to be a couple turns quicker than both to be successful.
Been updating the list regularly with a lot of help from the peasant community. It's in a spot now where I'm very happy with it and I'm 60% to having the whole list built in paper. Check it out, give it a draft, let me know what you think (sorry Leelue, clamps still in!).
Or me. But I hardly manage to have regular drafts so my opinion on whether or not the card should be banned is likely irrelevant. However, it has yet to ruin one draft.
All the cards (except Mishra's Factory which for now will be Evolving Wilds) are here! I've got a full draft pod ready to go tomorrow night at the LGS (everyone I talk about the cube to is super keen so that's encouraging!).
Since I had some spare time, I prepped the boosters. Cogwork Librarian is face out (and the pack1's all labled) so that I can rig the draft and make sure it's in Pack 1. I'll turn it face down and get everybody to take their own stack of 3 packs so I don't know who actually ends up with it so it's not cheating!
Keen as heck to finally draft this in physical magic with people I can talk to!
Too many long days at work, commitments in the evening and an early night mean I'm posting this on Saturday morning after the Wednesday draft. I'm an adult, I do what I want!
The draft went off without a hitch on Wednesday. Everybody who said they were going to come play actually turned up! I ran it through the LGS so we all put in a booster for prizes at the end (packs are opened and winner gets first pick, and so on). I even got a plainswalker point for my casual limited event! What value
Unfortunately... I didn't win. My first cube draft and I didn't win. FOR SHAME! I ended up playing this BW Aggro deck, with just about all the sweet cards that deck could want. It's not my favorite archetype but I at least wanted to do one draft where I didn't force blue, hahaha.
Power Play is strong but hardly broken. Everybody I had to play *****ed about it to some extent though so I'll see how it performs in the future and may end up cutting it. I really like it though and wouldn't be too cut up about sitting across from it.
Shrine of Loyal Legions may not be the card for this deck. I ended up gimping a bit too much tempo to get it out and the one time I got to crack it they all just ate a Drown in Sorrow. Perhaps it's not the "goes in every deck" card I thought it was (which is a good thing really)
The one time I saw Hymn to Tourach, my opponent has one card in hand.
I struggled to get it down to 40 cards but felt with Pestilence in the deck I was better off maintaining 17 land. There were other cards I was considering but I can't remember what most of them were besides Mogis's Marauder. I think the fact that I didn't include that was either a mistake or suggestive that Marauder may not actually be worth his slot in the cube.
There was several games there where I had Lashknife Barrier and Pestilence both in the deck, but I never got to live that dream.
Tournament Report:
Match One - UR Tempo piloted by Mr R
One of my best magic buddies made the extra effort to come out just to play and ended up with this deck and two conspiracies (Advantageous Proclamation and Unexpected Potential which he used to make Counterspell easy to cast).
Game one played out back and forward with both of us trading creatures, removal and countermagic until one of us could keep a threat. I ended up winning over two turns with a Soltari Trooper holding both of my equipment while his Calcite Snapper looked on sadly.
Game two was equally back and forward and I eventually resolved my Pestilence, only to have both my creatures die to an Arc Trail. He then started laying the beats with Frostburn Weird (at the time I was stuck on three black sources)... only to then pump it +3/-3 and a split second later slap himself in the face as I began tapping my swamp. No takebacksies! The game went on to revolve around me keeping his creatures off the table with Pestilence and keep his hand low on cards with Raven's Crime (mostly cleaning out counterspells and land). I was eventually able to start laying the beats on a clear board with Dragon Hunter while the score was 3 (me) to 10 (him). We both knew each turn would bring me one card closer to dieing to burn. In the end he proceeded to wiff his draws while took him down to 4. I was then able to end the game with my Animate Dead on his Murderous Redcap + Pestilence for two to seal the deal. Tight!
In retrospect, I cheated with the Pestilence since I totally forgot to sacrifice it. *****!
Match Two - UB Reanimator piloted by Mr Z
I was sitting next to Mr Z during round one so we both got to look at each others decks and discuss the cards. Of all the players that played that night, he was probably the one most interested in the actual design of the cube. When I was organizing the event on Facebook, I made a post outlining the various "archetypes" players might expect to make during the draft. Seeing that fatties + reanimation was traveling a fair distance in pack one, Mr Z took that as a clear signal to start drafting Reanimator. I was pretty chuffed that somebody other than the guy who made the cube was able to correctly make this kind of decision. I consider this deck existing to be one of the big successes of the night. Gushing aside, onto the match:
Game one was basically a nongame. I mulled to 6, he mulled to 5. I played 1drop 2drop, he scooped stuck on one land. Oh well..
Before game two, we did some sideboarding since we both knew what our decks were. I took out Raven's Crime among other cards, not wanting to make his life any easier. I don't think I could have asked for a better opening hand, with Turn 1 Dragon Hunter into Turn 2 Dryad Millitant and Vampire Lacerator. After going down to 12, Mr Z revealed his Drown in Sorrow and I drowned in sorrow over getting 3for1'd. On turn 5 I topdecked Lingering Souls and we spent a few turns dealing with the tokens. After groaning, the UB deck ended up being able to handle them reasonably well with three shots of Darkblast and a Baleful Strix. From there, Mr Z was able to take control of the game using removal to stop me attacking and Psychatog to put a clock on me. In the end I was able to stop the tog but was left without an answer for his reanimated Pathrazer of Ulamog (I did try to block it with one creature though... I swear I've read all these cards!)
Game three was an interesting opener for me and I'd be curious to hear what others have to say about my line of play. Turn 1 I played Plains Dragon Hunter. Turn two, my hand consisted of the following:
After umming and arring for about a minute, I settled on playing Plains and Shrine. My reasoning was playing the tapped land would be too much of a tempo hit for the upside of playing Pianna next turn (or a black 1drop and a shrine/other twodrop). Playing the shrine sooner seemed like the wiser play since it would be able to sit there and build counters against the UB deck with no means to interact. As it turns out, I topdecked another plains and was able to play Pianna on curve. Mr Z. then used turn 3 to deploy his best friend the 'Tog with the intention of sitting back on defense. My turn 4, I draw a swamp and again go in the tank. I decide to do something cool regardless of weather it was the right play (I think it was though?) and bestow my Gnarled Scarhide on Mr Z's Psychatog. After a moment of silence, Mr Z realized what that meant and gave me a highfive. I turned my guys sideways and passed the turn.
Then it got interesing. Recognising that he wasn't going to be able to play defence this match and with a shrine revving up mr Z starts playing offence. my life pad shows me going from 20 to 12 to 8 while I was stuck unable to make anything happen in the face of a Baleful Strix (my dragon hunter had eaten removal and my Vampire Lacerator wasn't doing much other than tickling me every turn). Threatening lethal with an attacking Tog, I was forced to crack the shrine for 5 Myr and chump it with the intention of somehow mounting a counter offense next turn. It wasn't to be though as Mr Z played out his Drown in Sorrow mainphase two to wipe all the creatures besides Psychatog. *****! Praying to the heart of the cards, I draw my card for the turn (one card in hand now) and pass it back. Psychatog comes in again and I ask how much damage I'm going to take. Mr Z discards one card and exiles two more from the yard.
"Five total" he says while I'm at 5. "Go for the Throat?" I ask, pointing my topdeck'd removal at the tog. Yep!
Finally reunited with my long lost enchantment creature, I start bringing it back over the next two turns. This whole time there's the Pathrazer in Mr Z's grave and I'm itching to topdeck my Animate Dead and really seal the deal. Unfortunately for me, it wasn't to be as he drew Reanimate and (going down to 5, there was some lifegain in there but I don't remember how it happened) put his Eldrazi on the table. GG!
Match Three - GRu Midrange with Mr A
Mr A has been playing magic for less than a year but has come a long was as a player, even winning one of the local Game Days. This was the first time he's drafted a cube but he still understood the value of fixing in his three colour deck. Unfortunately.. that may have been his undoing. While he had several trilands, vivids and havens, they cost him a lot of games through bad tempo. Once I get my hands on a Breeding Pool, I'm going to swap the havens for shocklands and go Peasant+. Call the cops, I don't give a ****!
Game One was a bit of back and forward until I managed to stick Curse of the Shallow Graves and Grafted Wargear. Then it got dumb and I won.
Game Two was much of the same unfortunately. Mr A didn't have the best draws though and I know he had a lot of great cards like Slice and Dice that would have helped.
The finals was Mr Z on UB Reanimator vs Mr L on GWb Midrange. I didn't get to watch much of the match, but it was won by Mr L in game three. Here's the winning deck (it's kinda dredge-y!):
The little bands I made for the packs were helpful. I'll definitely use them again.
Cogwork Librarian did work and was enjoyed. He'll be staying for now and I wouldn't rule out getting another.
There's about half a dozen other people who've expressed interest in playing so I shouldn't be starved for players any time soon.
I need to explain to players before the draft starts a bit more about the cube. Several players expressed to me that they seriously undervalued the importance of artifact and enchantment removal since there's very few of those cards which really matter in the booster sets they draft. While I don't think I should include more of it, I will make sure I stress their value in the future.
Mr A was playing Skullclamp and it was certainly not broken in his deck so that's encouraging.
We had two matches go to time. This wasn't as much to do with a lack of removal (I think?) and more to do with a lack of ways to really clearly a congested board and the underdrafted enchantment removal for cards like Ghostly Prison and Sphere of Safety. Constant Mists also did work but the player who used it said it was more useful for slowing the game down than actually helping him win. All three of those cards were on my watchlist already and I'll be keeping a very close eye on them going forward.
I suspect at least part of the reason games went to time was also due to the fact that players were just unfamiliar with the cards.
I should enforce a rule where players don't have more than 1 pack in a queue next to a slow player. It puts a lot of pressure on those unfamiliar with the environment (oh no did I actually acknowledge the existence of un-fun things? I'm growing soft!)
We got down to about 8 plains left (of 40). Interesting but I don't think it necessarily says anything about white other than that it was popular that night. Something to keep an eye on in the future.
Here's the decks that ended up drafted on the night and their rank at the end:
1st - GW Midrange - Mr L
2nd - UB Reanimator - Mr Z
3rd - WB Aggro - Mr T (me)
others: UR Tempo - Mr R UW Control - Mr SS RG Ramp - mr Mr SC RGU Midrange - Mr A GWU Mists - Mr L
I'll maintain a record of how cards perform similar to how Browndog does when I get around to it since I think it's a valuable resource to have. We also did a 4man grid draft yesterday but only played one round. I'll probably post my list (UB Reanimator) in the "last deck you drafted" thread later.
I have not noticed that going first is a "big deal", for what it's worth. It might have been in my 2-mans, but if someone were to ask me I'd say it just compounds bad starts against good ones.
That's probably true and you're correct that I was planning on using it as a poor man's burn spell.
I might take some more time to actually write out my draft stories next time. This was not my best writing and I had no clue it would end up so long haha
yep echoing the squirrel, mogi's marauder over pestilence in an aggro deck. i'd've switched those and then dropped a land for another business spell. glad the draft went well and pretty sweet to have reanimator on your first go. i love hearing about psychatog beats. warms the cockles
I can't imagine why you would want to stop supporting it. It's the kind of deck that is unique and strong and gets everyone at the table excited. Additionaly, withe the exception of like 4 cards, tthey're all useful in other decks so it's not even that parasitic.
I can't imagine why you would want to stop supporting it.
Because I've never cared about playing it
Yeah but you're literally the Grinch of Peasant.
We had a “trade day” last weekend organised by the uni’s Card Game Society. While the event was hyped with a reject rare iron man draft, the bulk of play ended up revolving around my cube. One of the players had to leave after round 1 so his deck was given to one of the people who missed out on the initial draft for the last two rounds. Onto the report!
I don’t remember a whole lot about this game other than the fact it draaaaaged on. Jarrod’s deck was dense on counterspells, sweepers and lockdown cards, but pretty light on wincons. Game one revolved around him countering and removing my threats until he could play beatdown with his Faerie Enclave.
In game two I got off to a fast start off the back of a turn two Nezumi Cutthroat into turn 3 beatdown alongside my Treetop Village. Jarrod was playing from behind all game and things only got worse when he played Standstill while behind on board. Yeah... I won that one. By this point we were the only people still playing our round and at any event with a clock we probably would have gone to time. I blame Jarrod for this since he’s the slowest control player I’ve ever had the misery of sitting across from hahaha (me being slow as heck too is irrelevant, I was the beatdown!)
Game three was more of game one unfortunately. Jarrod played a turn two Shrine of Loyal Legions which put me under pressure to find an out before his inevitability kicked in. It wasn’t to be as I struggled to maintain any real kind of board presence. Shriekmaw looked like it might be able to start doing the job with my Curse of Shallow Graves and Curse of Predation but it ended up eating a Temporal Isolation. I sort of forgot to keep attacking with it after that but in my defence, I was spending all my mana anyway so I wouldn’t have been able to pay for Jarrod’s Ghostly Prison).
In retrospect, I think Jarrod’s deck was perfectly positioned to pray on mine. All my ETB removal was blanked in the face his manlands (Faerie Conclave and Mishra’s Factory) and token creatures. Without the ability to resolve any of my big haymakers I struggled to close games out. The whole room let out a sigh of relief when we finished since several of them had been waiting over half an hour.
Round 2 – Brandon’s Naya Aggro
I hadn’t met Brandon before the event so I wasn’t too sure what to expect going into our match. He explained to me that he’s not a regular at the LGS and doesn’t play much magic these days but that he’d come down to check out the trading event. Hopefully we see more of him in the future as he was clearly a better player than I was anticipating (cocky much?).
Game one can best be described as Cutthroat Beatdown. Brandon’s board developed quickly off of a turn two Ancient Tomb but he failed to capitalize on the mana advantage after the initial burst. His board state wasn’t able to keep up in the face of all my ETB removal creatures and eventually Curse of Predation + evasion closed it out
We were off to the races in game two as both of us played onedrops into evasive twodrops. A Bonesplitter put Brandon ahead but I was able to remove it the following turn with my Reclamation Sage. Thinking I’d take a hit from his Soltari Champion and then remove it next turn stabilising around 5, I passed the turn back. It wasn’t to be unfortunately as [card]Grafted Wargear[card] came out, knocking me down to 2 before burn sealed the deal. Ouch!
Game Three was a bold keep by me. 5 basic lands and Curse of Predation. Snap keep right? It worked out pretty well though as Brandon had a slightly slower start this game (still getting a turn three Soltari Champion!). A topdecked Bituminous Blast into Murderous Redcap combo cleared his board during his turn 5 (a 3-for-1!) and he passed back after playing a lonely Porcelain Legionnaire. With a -1/-1 counter on my redcap, I opted to sit back and deploy some more threats of my own. Kitchen Finks was next out for me, followed by Fire Imp to clear his Legionnaire. Brandon couldn’t handle the value of persist + Curse and promptly conceded. 5 lands + Curse is too strong!
Round 3 – Ash’s GW Midrange
As I sat down with Ash, he informed me that “this week I’m not going to lose to bloody curses”. Good to see people are learning but let’s see if it works out for him! He also informed me that he was jamming BBE for the second week in a row because it’s “so good”. This guy gets it.
Game one went Treetop Village into Satyr Wayfinder into turn 3 4 damage against Ash’s empty board. I don’t remember much about this game but my life pad shows him gonging 20, 16, 15, 12, 9, 1 while I stayed on 0 so I guess it was super one-sided.
Game two was not much of a game either unfortunately. My 5 land no-action hand did about as much as I expected in the face of a sweet curve by Ash with a turn 4 BBE. My meagre attempt to develop a board with Nessian Asp just ate a path (I’d just gotten the FNM promo earlier that day! Hype!) which turned on his Land Tax to boot. It happens but Ash really did have a sick curve so I don’t think I could have kept up with an average hand anyway.
Game three of this match was the most value.dec my value deck got to be all day. My ETB removal creatures always had targets, my manland got to get in plenty and curse of predation once again stole the show. We were relatively even at one point when Ash threw out his Acidic Slime to destroy my Island (with cruise in hand!). Two turns later I topdecked a Bituminous Blast which lead to Regrowth which got my island back and let me finally have the cruise I always dreamed of. Ash tried to stabilise his lacklustre board with Trostani’s Summoner but forgot to factor Treetop Village into his combat math and died the turn after. GG!
Final Standings:
1st – Zach and Matt with R.dec (Zach drafted reanimator at our last event and came second then, definitely one to watch)
2nd – Jarrod with 4 Colour Control (WUBR)
3rd – Me with Jund Cruise (BRG)
4th – Gareth with UB Shard (Everyone was excited by the value in this deck, I expect it to be popular going forward now that it’s been “discovered”)
5th – Ash on GW Midrange
6th – Brandon with GWR Aggro
7th – Rendle with UG Conspiracy (Rendle still insists that conspiracies are broken)
8th – Luke with GB Dredgeanimator (Luke won our first draft, what a fall!)
My manabase was probably one forest away from being rock solid. I generally didn’t have too much trouble casting anything, but at two points got stuck at one green source with Kitchen Finks rotting in my hand. I’d be lying if I said the final configuration of lands I ran wasn’t influenced by my compulsive need to have matching art. I need to find more of these lands!
The deck lacked focus. Three colour goodstuff tends to do that but a lot of it was the result of me waffling between archetypes and colours throughout the draft. I should have committed to a theme sooner and drafted around it but when I tried that I ended up finding none of the cards I expected to wheel came back. Players are catching onto the archetypes too well too soon and it’s resulting in some people creating subpar decks as they fight over key cards (The abortive Dredge/Reanimator list in last place being a great example). I think this is a problem that will correct itself going forward (I hope?)
Several players commented on the immense power of the mono-red deck. This is something I noticed while developing the list and testing online too. My theory is now that people know how good it can be, more people will fight over the red cards and it’ll be less likely that somebody ends up with a monopoly on them. I expect that should do a lot to nerf the deck. If that doens’t work out, I’ll probably start turning cards like Lightning Strike into more interesting cards like Generator Servant.
Skullclamp ended up 7th and will remain dormant in the 360 for now.
I've recently come to what I'd be happy calling a finalized list. Big shoutout to the peasant cube community. They've been super helpful whenever I felt stuck on a design problem.
Recently decided to try the conspiracies. Since I'm running more powerful cards, I put Skull Clamp back in too. While the card is obviously one of the best in the cube, it's (in my experience) not been the unbeatable card advantage engine I feared it might be. That may just be because I've never had to play a tokens deck running it, but for now it's staying in. (I cut it for a while there!)
I've taken a real shine to Shockmaw Dragon. It's the kind of exciting curve topper red was previously lacking, and its trigger kills 40% of the creatures in the cube. I've also pushed reanimator a bit, and I've been really pleased by how its come out. The cards aren't too parasitic (a couple of uncastable eldrazi are the only real offenders) and I've managed to get a convincing deck to come together in a live draft on the first try.
1x Dryad Militant
1x Elite Vanguard
1x Gideon's Lawkeeper
1x Mardu Woe-Reaper
1x Mother of Runes
1x Savannah Lions
1x Accorder Paladin
1x Cloistered Youth
1x Daring Skyjek
1x Kami of Ancient Law
1x Kor Skyfisher
1x Mistral Charger
1x Raise the Alarm
1x Seeker of the Way
1x Soltari Trooper
1x Syndic of Tithes
1x Wall of Omens
1x Attended Knight
1x Aven Riftwatcher
1x Banisher Priest
1x Fiend Hunter
1x Flickerwisp
1x Kor Hookmaster
1x Midnight Haunting
1x Pianna, Nomad Captain
1x Stonecloaker
1x Battle Screech
1x Calciderm
1x Glimmerpoint Stag
1x Goldnight Commander
1x Guardian of the Guildpact
1x Kor Sanctifiers
1x Master Splicer
1x Seraph of Dawn
1x Timely Hordemate
1x Cloudgoat Ranger
1x Serra Angel
White Spells
1x Shrine of Loyal Legions
1x Condemn
1x Harm's Way
1x Path to Exile
1x Swords to Plowshares
1x Disenchant
1x Blinding Beam
1x Sunlance
1x Spectral Procession
1x Timely Reinforcements
1x Feudkiller's Verdict
1x Journey to Nowhere
1x Temporal Isolation
1x Banishing Light
1x Lashknife Barrier
1x Oblivion Ring
1x Faith's Fetters
Blue Creatures
1x Enclave Cryptologist
1x Errant Ephemeron
1x Looter il-Kor
1x Merfolk Looter
1x Omenspeaker
1x Riftwing Cloudskate
1x Vaporkin
1x Waterfront Bouncer
1x Welkin Tern
1x Calcite Snapper
1x Frost Lynx
1x Illusory Angel
1x Man-o'-War
1x Ninja of the Deep Hours
1x Sea Gate Oracle
1x Serendib Efreet
1x Archaeomancer
1x Mist Raven
1x Talrand's Invocation
1x Wing Splicer
1x Mulldrifter
1x Murder of Crows
1x Jetting Glasskite
Blue Spells
1x Crystal Shard
1x Vapor Snag
1x Counterspell
1x Impulse
1x Mana Leak
1x Memory Lapse
1x Miscalculation
1x Remand
1x Think Twice
1x Complicate
1x Exclude
1x Forbid
1x Ghostly Flicker
1x Hour of Need
1x Repulse
1x Thirst for Knowledge
1x Fact or Fiction
1x Into the Roil
1x Gush
1x Jace's Ingenuity
1x Condescend
1x Repeal
1x Preordain
1x Compulsive Research
1x Deep Analysis
1x Treasure Cruise
1x Narcolepsy
1x Standstill
1x Control Magic
1x Thassa's Emissary
Blue Land
1x Faerie Conclave
Black Creatures
1x Carnophage
1x Carrion Feeder
1x Diregraf Ghoul
1x Vampire Lacerator
1x Gnarled Scarhide
1x Spiteful Returned
1x Blood Artist
1x Dauthi Horror
1x Fledgling Djinn
1x Nezumi Graverobber
1x Rakdos Guildmage
1x Reassembling Skeleton
1x Thrill-Kill Assassin
1x Wretched Anurid
1x Bone Shredder
1x Chittering Rats
1x Dauthi Marauder
1x Hypnotic Specter
1x Mogis's Marauder
1x Phyrexian Rager
1x Vampire Nighthawk
1x Falkenrath Noble
1x Marsh Flitter
1x Murderous Redcap
1x Nekrataal
1x Orc Sureshot
1x Skinrender
1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
1x Shriekmaw
1x Phyrexian Gargantua
1x Twisted Abomination
1x Tragic Slip
1x Undying Evil
1x Go for the Throat
1x Ultimate Price
1x Snuff Out
1x Murderous Cut
1x Inquisition of Kozilek
1x Reanimate
1x Unearth
1x Chainer's Edict
1x Exhume
1x Hymn to Tourach
1x Sign in Blood
1x Drown in Sorrow
1x Read the Bones
1x Barter in Blood
1x Zombify
1x Animate Dead
1x Dance of the Dead
1x Curse of Shallow Graves
1x Necromancy
1x Diabolic Servitude
1x Pestilence
Red Creatures
1x Frenzied Goblin
1x Jackal Pup
1x Monastery Swiftspear
1x Rakdos Cackler
1x Reckless Waif
1x Stonewright
1x Borderland Marauder
1x Burning-Tree Emissary
1x Firefist Striker
1x Gore-House Chainwalker
1x Hellspark Elemental
1x Keldon Marauders
1x Lightning Mauler
1x Mogg War Marshal
1x Plated Geopede
1x Stormblood Berserker
1x War-Name Aspirant
1x Young Pyromancer
1x Cunning Sparkmage
1x Fervent Cathar
1x Fire Imp
1x Goblin Heelcutter
1x Guttersnipe
1x Hordeling Outburst
1x Pyreheart Wolf
1x Splatter Thug
1x Beetleback Chief
1x Bloodfray Giant
1x Flametongue Kavu
1x Keldon Champion
1x Shockmaw Dragon
Red Spells
1x Shrine of Burning Rage
1x Lightning Bolt
1x Incinerate
1x Lightning Strike
1x Magma Jet
1x Searing Blaze
1x Staggershock
1x Stoke the Flames
1x Fireblast
1x Faithless Looting
1x Firebolt
1x Flame Slash
1x Reckless Charge
1x Arc Trail
1x Flame Rift
1x Pyroclasm
1x Acidic Soil
1x Flames of the Firebrand
1x Fireball
1x Slice and Dice
1x Goblin Bombardment
1x Madcap Skills
1x Lust for War
Green Creatures
1x Arbor Elf
1x Elvish Mystic
1x Joraga Treespeaker
1x Llanowar Elves
1x Devoted Druid
1x Jade Mage
1x Leafcrown Dryad
1x Nest Invader
1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
1x Satyr Wayfinder
1x Strangleroot Geist
1x Wall of Blossoms
1x Wall of Roots
1x Wild Mongrel
1x Abzan Beastmaster
1x Carven Caryatid
1x Civic Wayfinder
1x Eternal Witness
1x Hungry Spriggan
1x Kitchen Finks
1x Reclamation Sage
1x Wolfir Avenger
1x Yavimaya Elder
1x Blastoderm
1x Briarhorn
1x Briarpack Alpha
1x Penumbra Spider
1x Predator's Howl
1x Temur Sabertooth
1x Wickerbough Elder
1x Acidic Slime
1x Centaur Glade
1x Nessian Asp
1x Deadwood Treefolk
1x Gravetiller Wurm
1x Nemesis of Mortals
1x Krosan Tusker
1x Pelakka Wurm
Green Spells
1x Vines of Vastwood
1x Naturalize
1x Harrow
1x Explore
1x Regrowth
1x Kodama's Reach
1x Search for Tomorrow
1x Harmonize
1x Grizzly Fate
1x Overrun
1x Roar of the Wurm
1x Rancor
1x Utopia Sprawl
1x Wild Growth
1x Curse of Predation
1x Treetop Village
Azorius
1x Arctic Aven
1x Plumeveil
1x Momentary Blink
Dimir
1x Psychatog
1x Baleful Strix
1x Ribbons of Night
Rakdos
1x Fire Covenant
1x Bituminous Blast
1x Blightning
Gruul
1x Flinthoof Boar
1x Bloodbraid Elf
1x Ghor-Clan Rampager
Selesnya
1x Qasali Pridemage
1x Trostani's Summoner
1x Behemoth Sledge
Orzhov
1x Tidehollow Sculler
1x Lingering Souls
1x Unburial Rites
Golgari
1x Putrid Leech
1x Dreg Mangler
1x Nyx Weaver
Simic
1x Trygon Predator
1x Horizon Chimera
1x Shardless Agent
Izzet
1x Gelectrode
1x Electrolyze
1x Prophetic Bolt
Boros
1x Boros Charm
1x Lightning Helix
1x Goblin Trenches
Colourless Creatures
1x Ulamog's Crusher
1x Artisan of Kozilek
1x Pathrazer of Ulamog
1x Epochrasite
1x Perilous Myr
1x Porcelain Legionnaire
1x Spined Thopter
1x Cogwork Librarian
1x Galvanic Juggernaut
Artifacts
1x Pierce Strider
1x Bonesplitter
1x Skullclamp
1x Trusty Machete
1x Wayfarer's Bauble
1x Coldsteel Heart
1x Isochron Scepter
1x Lightning Greaves
1x Mask of Memory
1x Mind Stone
1x Mortarpod
1x Grafted Wargear
1x Worn Powerstone
1x Icy Manipulator
1x Serrated Arrows
Phyrexian Spells
1x Mutagenic Growth
1x Dismember
Lands
1x Arcane Sanctum
1x Bloodfell Caves
1x Blossoming Sands
1x City of Brass
1x Crumbling Necropolis
1x Dismal Backwater
1x Evolving Wilds
1x Frontier Bivouac
1x Gemstone Mine
1x Jungle Hollow
1x Jungle Shrine
1x Mirrodin's Core
1x Mishra's Factory
1x Mystic Monastery
1x Nomad Outpost
1x Opulent Palace
1x Rugged Highlands
1x Sandsteppe Citadel
1x Savage Lands
1x Scoured Barrens
1x Seaside Citadel
1x Swiftwater Cliffs
1x Thornwood Falls
1x Tranquil Cove
1x Vivid Crag
1x Vivid Creek
1x Vivid Grove
1x Vivid Marsh
1x Vivid Meadow
1x Wind-Scarred Crag
Conspiracies
1x Advantageous Proclamation
1x Double Stroke
1x Power Play
1x Unexpected Potential
Original post preserved so that I can have a laugh at the list in a year.
The current list is a work in progress which I've been developing for several months. I've done a lot of research and lurked the hell out of this forums' peasant section, so if you post much there then I've probably looked at your list for inspiration. The breakdown is 55 of each colour, 40 gold and 45 colourless cards. At the time of writing I'm about 60% to completing this cube. I'm posting it up here now so that I can hopefully get lots of feedback from more experienced cubers before I start spending cash on the rest of it.
My main concerns at the moment revolve around the creature count in each of the colours, and weather the curves are on point. There's several cards in particular which I'm on the fence about, either for them being dull (Azorius Arrester), hard to cast (Inquisitor Exarch) or sub-par (Thassa's Emissary). Those cards are highlighted in red on Cubetutor and if anybody has opinions on them, I’d be very interested. I’ll be the first to admit my card evaluation skills are lacking so if I’ve severely underrated any of the cards on that list, please let me know.
My other main concern is the inclusion of Skullclamp. I really want to be able to play with this card because it's a lot of fun for the person using it, but at the same time if it proves too strong I would be prepared to cut it. Playing other powerful cards like Ghostly Prison is pretty tempting too, but in that cards case I'm worried it would completely kill aggro whenever the card resolved.
Thanks again for any feedback you may have. Here’s the cubetutor link so you can see the cards I’m most concerned about.
Last updated: 30/12/2014
E:It seems that new accounts can't post links. My cubes number on cubetutor is 15685. I'll edit this post with an actual hyperlink once I've posted a bit more lol.
E2:Hyperlink added.
1x Elite Vanguard
1x Gideon's Lawkeeper
1x Mother of Runes
1x Steppe Lynx
1x Accorder Paladin
1x Cloistered Youth
1x Daring Skyjek
1x Kami of Ancient Law
1x Knight of Meadowgrain
1x Kor Skyfisher
1x Mistral Charger
1x Raise the Alarm
1x Seeker of the Way
1x Soltari Trooper
1x Syndic of Tithes
1x Wall of Omens
1x Attended Knight
1x Aven Riftwatcher
1x Fiend Hunter
1x Flickerwisp
1x Kor Hookmaster
1x Kor Sanctifiers
1x Midnight Haunting
1x Pianna, Nomad Captain
1x Spectral Procession
1x Stonecloaker
1x Azorius Justiciar
1x Battle Screech
1x Calciderm
1x Glimmerpoint Stag
1x Goldnight Commander
1x Guardian of the Guildpact
1x Master Splicer
1x Seraph of Dawn
1x Cloudgoat Ranger
1x Serra Angel
1x Shrine of Loyal Legions
White Instant
1x Cloudshift
1x Condemn
1x Gods Willing
1x Harm's Way
1x Path to Exile
1x Swords to Plowshares
1x Disenchant
1x Otherworldly Journey
1x Shelter
1x Blinding Beam
White Sorcery
1x Sunlance
White Enchantment
1x Intangible Virtue
1x Journey to Nowhere
1x Temporal Isolation
1x Banishing Light
1x Lashknife Barrier
1x Oblivion Ring
1x Faith's Fetters
1x Enclave Cryptologist
1x Wingcrafter
1x Augur of Bolas
1x Looter il-Kor
1x Merfolk Looter
1x Ninja of the Deep Hours
1x Omenspeaker
1x Quickling
1x Sigiled Starfish
1x Vaporkin
1x Aether Adept
1x Calcite Snapper
1x Illusory Angel
1x Man-o'-War
1x Pestermite
1x Sea Gate Oracle
1x Archaeomancer
1x Mist Raven
1x Talrand's Invocation
1x Tower Geist
1x Wing Splicer
1x Mnemonic Wall
1x Mulldrifter
1x Murder of Crows
1x Jetting Glasskite
1x Jodah's Avenger
1x Errant Ephemeron
1x Crystal Shard
Blue Instant
1x Vapor Snag
1x Counterspell
1x Essence Scatter
1x Impulse
1x Mana Leak
1x Memory Lapse
1x Remand
1x Think Twice
1x Capsize
1x Complicate
1x Exclude
1x Forbid
1x Ghostly Flicker
1x Hour of Need
1x Repulse
1x Fact or Fiction
1x Gush
1x Condescend
1x Repeal
1x Preordain
1x Compulsive Research
1x Deep Analysis
1x Foresee
1x Treasure Cruise
Blue Enchantment
1x Narcolepsy
1x Control Magic
Blue Enchantment Creature
1x Thassa's Emissary
1x Carnophage
1x Carrion Feeder
1x Diregraf Ghoul
1x Thoughtpicker Witch
1x Vampire Lacerator
1x Blood Artist
1x Dauthi Horror
1x Fledgling Djinn
1x Reassembling Skeleton
1x Thrill-Kill Assassin
1x Wretched Anurid
1x Bone Shredder
1x Chittering Rats
1x Dauthi Marauder
1x Hypnotic Specter
1x Mogis's Marauder
1x Phyrexian Rager
1x Vampire Nighthawk
1x Falkenrath Noble
1x Gravedigger
1x Marsh Flitter
1x Moan of the Unhallowed
1x Nekrataal
1x Skinrender
1x Fallen Angel
1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
1x Okiba-Gang Shinobi
1x Sengir Vampire
1x Shriekmaw
1x Phyrexian Gargantua
1x Twisted Abomination
1x Tragic Slip
1x Undying Evil
1x Go for the Throat
1x Ultimate Price
1x Snuff Out
1x Murderous Cut
Black Sorcery
1x Duress
1x Innocent Blood
1x Inquisition of Kozilek
1x Raven's Crime
1x Unearth
1x Exhume
1x Hymn to Tourach
1x Sign in Blood
1x Drown in Sorrow
1x Read the Bones
Black Enchantment
1x Animate Dead
1x Curse of Shallow Graves
1x Necromancy
1x Stab Wound
1x Diabolic Servitude
1x Pestilence
1x Gnarled Scarhide
1x Spiteful Returned
1x Frenzied Goblin
1x Intimidator Initiate
1x Jackal Pup
1x Monastery Swiftspear
1x Reckless Waif
1x Stonewright
1x Borderland Marauder
1x Firefist Striker
1x Gore-House Chainwalker
1x Hellspark Elemental
1x Keldon Marauders
1x Lightning Mauler
1x Mogg War Marshal
1x Plated Geopede
1x Stormblood Berserker
1x War-Name Aspirant
1x Young Pyromancer
1x Cunning Sparkmage
1x Fervent Cathar
1x Fire Imp
1x Guttersnipe
1x Pyreheart Wolf
1x Splatter Thug
1x Beetleback Chief
1x Bloodfray Giant
1x Fanatic of Mogis
1x Flametongue Kavu
1x Keldon Champion
1x Shrine of Burning Rage
Red Instant
1x Lightning Bolt
1x Shard Volley
1x Incinerate
1x Lightning Strike
1x Magma Jet
1x Searing Blaze
1x Staggershock
1x Stoke the Flames
1x Fireblast
Red Sorcery
1x Firebolt
1x Flame Slash
1x Forked Bolt
1x Arc Trail
1x Flame Rift
1x Whipflare
1x Acidic Soil
1x Arc Lightning
1x Hordeling Outburst
1x Rift Bolt
1x Shower of Coals
1x Slice and Dice
1x Rolling Thunder
1x Goblin Bombardment
1x Madcap Skills
1x Lust for War
1x Raid Bombardment
1x Arbor Elf
1x Elvish Mystic
1x Experiment One
1x Joraga Treespeaker
1x Young Wolf
1x Jade Mage
1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
1x Satyr Wayfinder
1x Strangleroot Geist
1x Sylvan Ranger
1x Viridian Emissary
1x Wall of Blossoms
1x Wall of Roots
1x Wild Mongrel
1x Eternal Witness
1x Reclamation Sage
1x Wolfir Avenger
1x Yavimaya Elder
1x Blastoderm
1x Briarhorn
1x Briarpack Alpha
1x Masked Admirers
1x Penumbra Spider
1x Predator's Howl
1x Sprout Swarm
1x Wickerbough Elder
1x Acidic Slime
1x Centaur Glade
1x Nessian Asp
1x Nessian Game Warden
1x Deadwood Treefolk
1x Howlgeist
1x Nemesis of Mortals
1x Krosan Tusker
1x Pelakka Wurm
1x Vines of Vastwood
1x Evolution Charm
1x Naturalize
1x Beast Within
1x Harrow
Green Sorcery
1x Prey Upon
1x Explore
1x Rampant Growth
1x Regrowth
1x Kodama's Reach
1x Search for Tomorrow
1x Harmonize
1x Grizzly Fate
1x Overrun
1x Hurricane
1x Roar of the Wurm
Green Enchantment
1x Rancor
1x Utopia Sprawl
1x Curse of Predation
1x Leafcrown Dryad
1x Azorius Guildmage
1x Arctic Aven
1x Lyev Skyknight
1x Momentary Blink
Dimir
1x Shipwreck Singer
1x Psychatog
1x Baleful Strix
1x Ribbons of Night
Rakdos
1x Rakdos Cackler
1x Murderous Redcap
1x Fire Covenant
1x Blightning
Gruul
1x Kird Ape
1x Burning-Tree Emissary
1x Bloodbraid Elf
1x Ghor-Clan Rampager
1x Dryad Militant
1x Qasali Pridemage
1x Kitchen Finks
1x Behemoth Sledge
Orzhov
1x Syndic of Tithes
1x Tidehollow Sculler
1x Lingering Souls
1x Unburial Rites
Golgari
1x Putrid Leech
1x Dreg Mangler
1x Pharika's Mender
1x Nyx Weaver
Simic
1x Coiling Oracle
1x Kiora's Follower
1x Trygon Predator
1x Horizon Chimera
1x Frostburn Weird
1x Gelectrode
1x Izzet Charm
1x Electrolyze
Boros
1x Spitemare
1x Boros Charm
1x Lightning Helix
1x Goblin Trenches
1x Ulamog's Crusher
Colourless Artifact Creature
1x Chronomaton
1x Epochrasite
1x Perilous Myr
1x Porcelain Legionnaire
1x Cogwork Librarian
1x Galvanic Juggernaut
1x Pierce Strider
Colourless Artifact
1x Bonesplitter
1x Skullclamp
1x Sylvok Lifestaff
1x Trusty Machete
1x Guardian Idol
1x Isochron Scepter
1x Mask of Memory
1x Mind Stone
1x Mortarpod
1x Sphere of the Suns
1x Darksteel Ingot
1x Pristine Talisman
1x Icy Manipulator
1x Serrated Arrows
1x Mutagenic Growth
1x Dismember
Colourless Land
1x Arcane Sanctum
1x City of Brass
1x Crumbling Necropolis
1x Evolving Wilds
1x Frontier Bivouac
1x Gemstone Mine
1x Jungle Shrine
1x Mishra's Factory
1x Mystic Monastery
1x Nomad Outpost
1x Opulent Palace
1x Sandsteppe Citadel
1x Savage Lands
1x Seaside Citadel
1x Terramorphic Expanse
1x Transguild Promenade
1x Vivid Crag
1x Vivid Creek
1x Vivid Grove
1x Vivid Marsh
1x Vivid Meadow
Draft it on Cubetutor here, and CubeCobra here.
Treasure Cruise did nothing wrong.
Anyway, the next concern would be the handling of cards that cost 2 mana but have two of the same color mana symbols in their mana cost. Generally speaking, you don't want these cards in your cube unless they A) retain value in the midgame or B) they can dominate utterly in the early game. A card like inquisitor exarch does neither of those things. A good borderline case that you can use for future card evaluation is strangleroot geist. Even though part of the problem with that card is that green aggro is sort of poor, the GG cost sets it back too much for some. A card like rakdos guildmage (which I evaluate as a monoblack card) or searing blaze can fit those descriptions a little better.
Other than that, it's hard to say what you should do now. I don't know what cards your running out of necessity (gatekeeper of malakir) or what cards you're missing because you're not done yet like.. spectral procession. Capsize will be interesting because it has fallen out of favor with the masses here in general But since your cube is developing it will probably be great for a while. It could serve as your litmus test: the more capsize feels too slow the more towards the norm your cube is becoming?
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
Spectral Procession is a card I've gone on and off as I've developed the list. At the moment it's in the cut pile as I was worried that WWW (or WW2) was too much, but I suppose the same argument could be used for Gatekeeper of Malakir (you don't seem hot on this card? I like it a lot but I'd like a second opinion). I'm certainly biased in that I tend to favor control decks over other archetypes, and it's a bias I've tried to prevent being reflected in the card pool. With that in mind, I'll try to find somewhere to shoehorn Procession in (probably replacing Inquisitor Exarch).
I guess my eventual goal for the cube will be to find some archetypes which are already draftable in the current list, and then reinforce without it becoming parasitic. Intangible Virtue has been recently included for this purpose, based on how popular token heavy decks have been in the test drafts I've run so far. One card to reinforce an archetype seems innocuous, but I'm wary that it's the start of a slippery slope. Has anybody found this card too niche to be worth its slot? Fallen Angel is another card in this category, for a similar kind of deck which I'm inclined to cut at the moment.
E: An example of a Intengible Virtue deck I forced on cubetutor:
1x Jade Mage
1x Kami of Ancient Law
1x Raise the Alarm
1x Eternal Witness
1x Kor Hookmaster
1x Reclamation Sage
1x Timely Reinforcements
1x Battle Screech
1x Goldnight Commander
1x Penumbra Spider
1x Predator's Howl
1x Wickerbough Elder
Artifact Creature
1x Epochrasite
1x Mortarpod
1x Behemoth Sledge
Sorcery
1x Sunlance
1x Search for Tomorrow
1x Grizzly Fate
1x Overrun
Enchantment
1x Intangible Virtue
1x Banishing Light
1x Lashknife Barrier
Enchantment Creature
1x Leafcrown Dryad
Land
1x Seaside Citadel
7x Plains
9x Forest
1x Arc Trail
1x Azorius Justiciar
1x Beast Within
1x Condemn
1x Curse of Predation
1x Deadwood Treefolk
1x Faith's Fetters
1x Ghor-Clan Rampager
1x Goblin Trenches
1x Guardian Idol
1x Harmonize
1x Hour of Need
1x Howlgeist
1x Mnemonic Wall
1x Momentary Blink
1x Repeal
1x Roar of the Wurm
1x Splatter Thug
1x Sylvok Lifestaff
1x Temporal Isolation
1x Wall of Blossoms
Draft it on Cubetutor here, and CubeCobra here.
Treasure Cruise did nothing wrong.
And curse of predation is the best card in that draft pool and should be main decked.
Your list looks pretty sweet - especially red (I actually like capping the creature CMCs at 4 instead of delving into red's progressively sketchier high-cost beaters) and green (my first thought was that the section looked durdly, but it looks like it also has the tools to durdle effectively).
The cards that stand out to me are:
Intangible Virtue: Takes a critical mass of token-producers to do anything, but I think you have that critical mass.
Timely Reinforcements: This card is real good when it's good, but I don't know about playing it before Spectral Procession. Procession does more or less the same thing, but is good in many more decks.
Augur of Bolas/Duress: Better in constructed and in normal cube than they are here, just because our sorceries and instants aren't all that game-warping and limited decks tend to play fewer of them.
Exhume: I don't know if this card has the support in this format to be great. There aren't a lot of big targets or enablers, so its symmetry isn't reliably worth the card or the mana.
Cloudshift and Ghostly Flicker are cute, but I've lost a lot of confidence in them. I'd keep an eye on how often they do anything that's worth a card.
Syndic of Tithes: I don't think ths should be treated as an Orzhov card. Any deck that can cast it can activate its Extort, so it doesn't do anything in WB that it doesn't do mono-W, and isn't all that noticeably improved in WB from WR/WG/WU.
Black's Mana curve looks a little top-heavy. Might be a little awkward for decks not splashing green.
Strangleroot Geist, Knight of Meadowgrain and Gatekeeper of Malakid are CC costed, but I think they're all strong enough to be justifiable. Inquisitor Exarch, less so.
There are a couple cards I just don't think are good (Chronomaton, Inquisitor Exarch, Viridian Emissary, Cloudshift), but I'm sure a couple games will verify whether they're strong enough.
Spectral procession is 100% fantastic at 2WW. Not including it is a crime.
Gatekeeper of malakir is almost always bad. Besides the inherent difficulty of assembling triple of a color, when you finally do and it's not on turn 3 or 4 you've not accomplished a whole lot for your trouble. Sacrifice effects are not all that good and need a better upside. Fleshbag marauder isn't a top tier card, but it makes enough lists because it is consistent and occasionally abusive.
I think duress is fine. Hitting removal or a token generator and gaining information is worth way more than 1 mana and makes up for the misses.
The extort guys do enough in their native color to qualify as monocolored. The ambiguity of a guildmage or phyrexian mana cards just isn't here.
Curse of predation is the best card in that entire cardpool and needed to be maindecked.
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
Exhume is a good archetype support card. It goes it one deck, and will almost always wheel, but it's often difficult to get a enough reanimation spells to make the deck come together...I think of Exhume as lending a hand of support. In a cube with Careful Study, Raven's Crime, and other early enablers it's pretty bonkers.
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
1x Syndic of Tithes
Cuts
1x Inquisitor Exarch
1x Timely Reinforcements
1x Gatekeeper of Malakir
1x Rubblebelt Maaka
1x Blind Hunter
1x Spectral Procession
1x Raven's Crime
1x Lightning Strike
Exarch is removed due to overwelming feedback, as is Gatekeeper. Maaka seemed like the best cut to get that last piece of burn I've been trying to squeeze in. Hunter was added because it's *GenericStrongBW-Card#4* but if anybody has any better options I'd like to hear about them. Ravens Crime comes in because it's a card I've enjoyed playing in Constructed and improving hand disruption seems like an interesting option. Spectral Procession is in because I was wrong!
Reanimator is a deck I've toyed with a bit, but I suspect that Peasant lacks the bombs required to really make it a thing. If I were to try it, I'd probably replace Fallen Angel with another renaimation card, switch Chronomoton to an Artisan of Kozilek and find some other fatties to run. I might even have to nerf exile based removal. Careful Study could find its way into the list too. Study could also lead to a UG Madness deck which I've enjoyed playing in Pauper but I don't think can work in a singleton environment or without becoming parasitic (Basking Rootwalla, Circular Logic, Arrogant Wurm with stuff like Aquamoeba).
It's a cool thought experiment but I think for the time being that's where it should stay. Does anybody have experience heavily supporting reanimation or madness?
Draft it on Cubetutor here, and CubeCobra here.
Treasure Cruise did nothing wrong.
Draft it on Cubetutor here, and CubeCobra here.
Treasure Cruise did nothing wrong.
Just a matter of time
Unless you're inscho, apparently.
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
Needed to post that somewhere. That's all.
Draft it on Cubetutor here, and CubeCobra here.
Treasure Cruise did nothing wrong.
Since I had some spare time, I prepped the boosters. Cogwork Librarian is face out (and the pack1's all labled) so that I can rig the draft and make sure it's in Pack 1. I'll turn it face down and get everybody to take their own stack of 3 packs so I don't know who actually ends up with it so it's not cheating!
Keen as heck to finally draft this in physical magic with people I can talk to!
Draft it on Cubetutor here, and CubeCobra here.
Treasure Cruise did nothing wrong.
The draft went off without a hitch on Wednesday. Everybody who said they were going to come play actually turned up! I ran it through the LGS so we all put in a booster for prizes at the end (packs are opened and winner gets first pick, and so on). I even got a plainswalker point for my casual limited event! What value
Unfortunately... I didn't win. My first cube draft and I didn't win. FOR SHAME! I ended up playing this BW Aggro deck, with just about all the sweet cards that deck could want. It's not my favorite archetype but I at least wanted to do one draft where I didn't force blue, hahaha.
1 Pianna, Nomad Captain
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Elite Vanguard
1 Soltari Trooper
1 Pestilence
1 Gnarled Scarhide
1 Animate Dead
1 Shriekmaw
1 Hymn to Tourach
1 Hypnotic Specter
1 Vampire Lacerator
1 Go for the Throat
1 Curse of Shallow Graves
1 Skinrender
1 Lingering Souls
1 Dryad Millitant
1 Perilous Myr
1 Trusty Machette
1 Shrine of Loyal Legions
1 Grafted Wargear
1 Scoured Barrens
1 City of Brass
1 Vivid Marsh
1 Nomad Outpost
1 Power Play
7 Swamp
6 Plains
Thoughts:
Tournament Report:
Match One - UR Tempo piloted by Mr R
One of my best magic buddies made the extra effort to come out just to play and ended up with this deck and two conspiracies (Advantageous Proclamation and Unexpected Potential which he used to make Counterspell easy to cast).
Game one played out back and forward with both of us trading creatures, removal and countermagic until one of us could keep a threat. I ended up winning over two turns with a Soltari Trooper holding both of my equipment while his Calcite Snapper looked on sadly.
Game two was equally back and forward and I eventually resolved my Pestilence, only to have both my creatures die to an Arc Trail. He then started laying the beats with Frostburn Weird (at the time I was stuck on three black sources)... only to then pump it +3/-3 and a split second later slap himself in the face as I began tapping my swamp. No takebacksies! The game went on to revolve around me keeping his creatures off the table with Pestilence and keep his hand low on cards with Raven's Crime (mostly cleaning out counterspells and land). I was eventually able to start laying the beats on a clear board with Dragon Hunter while the score was 3 (me) to 10 (him). We both knew each turn would bring me one card closer to dieing to burn. In the end he proceeded to wiff his draws while took him down to 4. I was then able to end the game with my Animate Dead on his Murderous Redcap + Pestilence for two to seal the deal. Tight!
In retrospect, I cheated with the Pestilence since I totally forgot to sacrifice it. *****!
Match Two - UB Reanimator piloted by Mr Z
I was sitting next to Mr Z during round one so we both got to look at each others decks and discuss the cards. Of all the players that played that night, he was probably the one most interested in the actual design of the cube. When I was organizing the event on Facebook, I made a post outlining the various "archetypes" players might expect to make during the draft. Seeing that fatties + reanimation was traveling a fair distance in pack one, Mr Z took that as a clear signal to start drafting Reanimator. I was pretty chuffed that somebody other than the guy who made the cube was able to correctly make this kind of decision. I consider this deck existing to be one of the big successes of the night. Gushing aside, onto the match:
Game one was basically a nongame. I mulled to 6, he mulled to 5. I played 1drop 2drop, he scooped stuck on one land. Oh well..
Before game two, we did some sideboarding since we both knew what our decks were. I took out Raven's Crime among other cards, not wanting to make his life any easier. I don't think I could have asked for a better opening hand, with Turn 1 Dragon Hunter into Turn 2 Dryad Millitant and Vampire Lacerator. After going down to 12, Mr Z revealed his Drown in Sorrow and I drowned in sorrow over getting 3for1'd. On turn 5 I topdecked Lingering Souls and we spent a few turns dealing with the tokens. After groaning, the UB deck ended up being able to handle them reasonably well with three shots of Darkblast and a Baleful Strix. From there, Mr Z was able to take control of the game using removal to stop me attacking and Psychatog to put a clock on me. In the end I was able to stop the tog but was left without an answer for his reanimated Pathrazer of Ulamog (I did try to block it with one creature though... I swear I've read all these cards!)
Game three was an interesting opener for me and I'd be curious to hear what others have to say about my line of play. Turn 1 I played Plains Dragon Hunter. Turn two, my hand consisted of the following:
After umming and arring for about a minute, I settled on playing Plains and Shrine. My reasoning was playing the tapped land would be too much of a tempo hit for the upside of playing Pianna next turn (or a black 1drop and a shrine/other twodrop). Playing the shrine sooner seemed like the wiser play since it would be able to sit there and build counters against the UB deck with no means to interact. As it turns out, I topdecked another plains and was able to play Pianna on curve. Mr Z. then used turn 3 to deploy his best friend the 'Tog with the intention of sitting back on defense. My turn 4, I draw a swamp and again go in the tank. I decide to do something cool regardless of weather it was the right play (I think it was though?) and bestow my Gnarled Scarhide on Mr Z's Psychatog. After a moment of silence, Mr Z realized what that meant and gave me a highfive. I turned my guys sideways and passed the turn.
Then it got interesing. Recognising that he wasn't going to be able to play defence this match and with a shrine revving up mr Z starts playing offence. my life pad shows me going from 20 to 12 to 8 while I was stuck unable to make anything happen in the face of a Baleful Strix (my dragon hunter had eaten removal and my Vampire Lacerator wasn't doing much other than tickling me every turn). Threatening lethal with an attacking Tog, I was forced to crack the shrine for 5 Myr and chump it with the intention of somehow mounting a counter offense next turn. It wasn't to be though as Mr Z played out his Drown in Sorrow mainphase two to wipe all the creatures besides Psychatog. *****! Praying to the heart of the cards, I draw my card for the turn (one card in hand now) and pass it back. Psychatog comes in again and I ask how much damage I'm going to take. Mr Z discards one card and exiles two more from the yard.
"Five total" he says while I'm at 5. "Go for the Throat?" I ask, pointing my topdeck'd removal at the tog. Yep!
Finally reunited with my long lost enchantment creature, I start bringing it back over the next two turns. This whole time there's the Pathrazer in Mr Z's grave and I'm itching to topdeck my Animate Dead and really seal the deal. Unfortunately for me, it wasn't to be as he drew Reanimate and (going down to 5, there was some lifegain in there but I don't remember how it happened) put his Eldrazi on the table. GG!
Match Three - GRu Midrange with Mr A
Mr A has been playing magic for less than a year but has come a long was as a player, even winning one of the local Game Days. This was the first time he's drafted a cube but he still understood the value of fixing in his three colour deck. Unfortunately.. that may have been his undoing. While he had several trilands, vivids and havens, they cost him a lot of games through bad tempo. Once I get my hands on a Breeding Pool, I'm going to swap the havens for shocklands and go Peasant+. Call the cops, I don't give a ****!
Game One was a bit of back and forward until I managed to stick Curse of the Shallow Graves and Grafted Wargear. Then it got dumb and I won.
Game Two was much of the same unfortunately. Mr A didn't have the best draws though and I know he had a lot of great cards like Slice and Dice that would have helped.
The finals was Mr Z on UB Reanimator vs Mr L on GWb Midrange. I didn't get to watch much of the match, but it was won by Mr L in game three. Here's the winning deck (it's kinda dredge-y!):
1 Devoted Druid
1 Penumbra Spider
1 Rancor
1 Strangleroot Giest
1 Briarhorn
1 Nemesis of Mortals
1 Spider Spawning
1 Battle Screech
1 Hermit Druid
1 Soltari Champion
1 Golgari Brownscale
1 Curse of Predation
1 Master Splicer
1 Dismember
1 Satyr Wayfinder
1 Mother of Runes
1 Grizzly Fate
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Commune with the Gods
1 Raise the Alarm
1 Goldnight Commander
1 Krosan Tusker
1 Kami of Ancient Law
17 Lands
Thoughts and Observations:
Here's the decks that ended up drafted on the night and their rank at the end:
1st - GW Midrange - Mr L
2nd - UB Reanimator - Mr Z
3rd - WB Aggro - Mr T (me)
others:
UR Tempo - Mr R
UW Control - Mr SS
RG Ramp - mr Mr SC
RGU Midrange - Mr A
GWU Mists - Mr L
I'll maintain a record of how cards perform similar to how Browndog does when I get around to it since I think it's a valuable resource to have. We also did a 4man grid draft yesterday but only played one round. I'll probably post my list (UB Reanimator) in the "last deck you drafted" thread later.
What a long post.
Draft it on Cubetutor here, and CubeCobra here.
Treasure Cruise did nothing wrong.
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
I might take some more time to actually write out my draft stories next time. This was not my best writing and I had no clue it would end up so long haha
Draft it on Cubetutor here, and CubeCobra here.
Treasure Cruise did nothing wrong.
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
Draft it on Cubetutor here, and CubeCobra here.
Treasure Cruise did nothing wrong.
Because I've never cared about playing it
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
Yeah but you're literally the Grinch of Peasant.
We had a “trade day” last weekend organised by the uni’s Card Game Society. While the event was hyped with a reject rare iron man draft, the bulk of play ended up revolving around my cube. One of the players had to leave after round 1 so his deck was given to one of the people who missed out on the initial draft for the last two rounds. Onto the report!
1 Leafcrown Dryad
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Fire Imp
1 Shriekmaw
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Nessian Asp
1 Civic Wayfinder
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Eternal Witness
1 Nezumi Cutthroat
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Penumbra Spider
1 Satyr Wayfinder
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Pelakka Wurm
1 Curse of Shallow Graves
1 Animate Dead
1 Treasure Cruise
1 Regrowth
1 Bituminous Blast
1 Flame Slash
1 Curse of Predation
1 Treetop Village
1 Mirrodin’s Core
1 Savage Lands
1 Island
3 Mountain
6 Forest
4 Swamp
Round 1 – Jarrod with 4 Colour Control
I don’t remember a whole lot about this game other than the fact it draaaaaged on. Jarrod’s deck was dense on counterspells, sweepers and lockdown cards, but pretty light on wincons. Game one revolved around him countering and removing my threats until he could play beatdown with his Faerie Enclave.
In game two I got off to a fast start off the back of a turn two Nezumi Cutthroat into turn 3 beatdown alongside my Treetop Village. Jarrod was playing from behind all game and things only got worse when he played Standstill while behind on board. Yeah... I won that one. By this point we were the only people still playing our round and at any event with a clock we probably would have gone to time. I blame Jarrod for this since he’s the slowest control player I’ve ever had the misery of sitting across from hahaha (me being slow as heck too is irrelevant, I was the beatdown!)
Game three was more of game one unfortunately. Jarrod played a turn two Shrine of Loyal Legions which put me under pressure to find an out before his inevitability kicked in. It wasn’t to be as I struggled to maintain any real kind of board presence. Shriekmaw looked like it might be able to start doing the job with my Curse of Shallow Graves and Curse of Predation but it ended up eating a Temporal Isolation. I sort of forgot to keep attacking with it after that but in my defence, I was spending all my mana anyway so I wouldn’t have been able to pay for Jarrod’s Ghostly Prison).
In retrospect, I think Jarrod’s deck was perfectly positioned to pray on mine. All my ETB removal was blanked in the face his manlands (Faerie Conclave and Mishra’s Factory) and token creatures. Without the ability to resolve any of my big haymakers I struggled to close games out. The whole room let out a sigh of relief when we finished since several of them had been waiting over half an hour.
Round 2 – Brandon’s Naya Aggro
I hadn’t met Brandon before the event so I wasn’t too sure what to expect going into our match. He explained to me that he’s not a regular at the LGS and doesn’t play much magic these days but that he’d come down to check out the trading event. Hopefully we see more of him in the future as he was clearly a better player than I was anticipating (cocky much?).
Game one can best be described as Cutthroat Beatdown. Brandon’s board developed quickly off of a turn two Ancient Tomb but he failed to capitalize on the mana advantage after the initial burst. His board state wasn’t able to keep up in the face of all my ETB removal creatures and eventually Curse of Predation + evasion closed it out
We were off to the races in game two as both of us played onedrops into evasive twodrops. A Bonesplitter put Brandon ahead but I was able to remove it the following turn with my Reclamation Sage. Thinking I’d take a hit from his Soltari Champion and then remove it next turn stabilising around 5, I passed the turn back. It wasn’t to be unfortunately as [card]Grafted Wargear[card] came out, knocking me down to 2 before burn sealed the deal. Ouch!
Game Three was a bold keep by me. 5 basic lands and Curse of Predation. Snap keep right? It worked out pretty well though as Brandon had a slightly slower start this game (still getting a turn three Soltari Champion!). A topdecked Bituminous Blast into Murderous Redcap combo cleared his board during his turn 5 (a 3-for-1!) and he passed back after playing a lonely Porcelain Legionnaire. With a -1/-1 counter on my redcap, I opted to sit back and deploy some more threats of my own. Kitchen Finks was next out for me, followed by Fire Imp to clear his Legionnaire. Brandon couldn’t handle the value of persist + Curse and promptly conceded. 5 lands + Curse is too strong!
Round 3 – Ash’s GW Midrange
As I sat down with Ash, he informed me that “this week I’m not going to lose to bloody curses”. Good to see people are learning but let’s see if it works out for him! He also informed me that he was jamming BBE for the second week in a row because it’s “so good”. This guy gets it.
Game one went Treetop Village into Satyr Wayfinder into turn 3 4 damage against Ash’s empty board. I don’t remember much about this game but my life pad shows him gonging 20, 16, 15, 12, 9, 1 while I stayed on 0 so I guess it was super one-sided.
Game two was not much of a game either unfortunately. My 5 land no-action hand did about as much as I expected in the face of a sweet curve by Ash with a turn 4 BBE. My meagre attempt to develop a board with Nessian Asp just ate a path (I’d just gotten the FNM promo earlier that day! Hype!) which turned on his Land Tax to boot. It happens but Ash really did have a sick curve so I don’t think I could have kept up with an average hand anyway.
Game three of this match was the most value.dec my value deck got to be all day. My ETB removal creatures always had targets, my manland got to get in plenty and curse of predation once again stole the show. We were relatively even at one point when Ash threw out his Acidic Slime to destroy my Island (with cruise in hand!). Two turns later I topdecked a Bituminous Blast which lead to Regrowth which got my island back and let me finally have the cruise I always dreamed of. Ash tried to stabilise his lacklustre board with Trostani’s Summoner but forgot to factor Treetop Village into his combat math and died the turn after. GG!
Final Standings:
1st – Zach and Matt with R.dec (Zach drafted reanimator at our last event and came second then, definitely one to watch)
2nd – Jarrod with 4 Colour Control (WUBR)
3rd – Me with Jund Cruise (BRG)
4th – Gareth with UB Shard (Everyone was excited by the value in this deck, I expect it to be popular going forward now that it’s been “discovered”)
5th – Ash on GW Midrange
6th – Brandon with GWR Aggro
7th – Rendle with UG Conspiracy (Rendle still insists that conspiracies are broken)
8th – Luke with GB Dredgeanimator (Luke won our first draft, what a fall!)
1 Mogg Warmarshal
1 Lust for War
1 Jackal Pup
1 Hordeling Outburst
1 Staggershock
1 Lightning Strike
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Keldon Marauders
1 Firebolt
1 Keldon Champion
1 Young Pyromancer
1 Stoke the Flames
1 Magma Jet
1 Arc Trail
1 Acidic Soil
1 Madcap Skills
1 Flames of the Firebrand
1 Stormblood Berserker
1 Incinerate
1 Searing Blaze
1 Fireblast
1 Cunning Sparkmage
1 Guttersnipe
1 Shrine of Burning Rage
15 Mountain
Thoughts on my deck and the overall event:
Draft it on Cubetutor here, and CubeCobra here.
Treasure Cruise did nothing wrong.