Cube Size: 180 cards Breakdown: 29 each color, 10 guild, 25 colorless Standard or theme cube: Peasant Average Drafts: 2-4 players, once a month Type of Draft: 5 packs of 9 cards for 3-4 players, Grid Draft/Sealed for 2 players
UW - Fliers/bounce
UB - Control/Reanimator
RB - Aggro/Aristocrats
GR - Aggro/Midrange
GW - Tokens
BW - Aristocrats
GB - The Rock/Reanimator
UG - Tempo/Ramp
UR - Spells Matter/Counter Burn
RW - Aggro/Tokens
* I definitely feel the cube has a lot of exploring still to do, as I've stuck to only few archetypes, but I do understand a smaller cube will need more synergy to work.
* I may also have too many token producers in the cube that would be eating up valuable design space.
* There are many cards I have yet to try, although some seem overpowered for this cube, such as Curse of Shallow Graves,Curse of Predation and Rites of the Raging Storm.
* Red still seems like its not aggressive enough, and I have dialed back the amount of lifegain in the cube significantly.
* I might try to explore different archetypes during the evolution of this cube
* I love the design of some conspiracies and it would seem interesting to add them in once in a while.
Made a few changes after testing out the cube on cockatrice:
Stormfront Pegasus -> Stonecloaker : Stormfront was just a filler creature, on curve flyer. Stonecloaker has too many relevant abilities to ignore. Flash, Flying, Ability to protect, and remove a potential graveyard problem card - full of value!
Grizzly Fate -> Clear Shot : Giving green a 2nd removal spell, and toning down on tokens in green. Only Blue doesn't have removal spells now.
Looter-il-kor -> Merfolk Looter : Shadow is relevant for getting in some evasive damage, though not choosing to draw and discard might set back some hands.
Nekrataal -> Nezumi Graverobber : Having brought Shriekmaw in previously, black might have too many removal spells. Trading it for Graverobber might help with black's curve, while adding relevant abilities in graveyard removal, and reanimator. Hopefully this turns out well.
Forbid -> Condescend : I never used Forbid and nor did I see anyone in blue use it either. It seems Condescend would do a better job with the added benefit of Scry.
2) Might try to go deeper into +1/+1 counters archetype, and aristocrats might need 1 more outlet to function to its full potential
3) I have quite a few Elves in the cube, and it looks like I may be able to get some tribal shenanigans going on - Watchlist: Timberwatch Elf
4) Another card I was interested in trying was Rise from the tides. Yes I know I was trying to cut back on tokens, but it seemed that blue needed a big payoff spell for the endgame. Not sure what to replace yet, but will test out later.
Hey man, don't mind ofcourse! You can take some ideas off of the Average cubes on Cubetutor as well to fill up the gaps.
No changes at the moment. Though I'm thinking of adding something huge for Black in Havoc Demon or Phyrexian Gargantua. Also thinking of maybe adding a little more discard.
Might be testing out +1/+1 counters for GW archetype.
Hey dude! After seeing you post in the This or That thread, I took a look at your list and thought I'd offer my 2c. I'm by no means a c/ube expert and don't have experience with a c/ube this small, so if what I'm saying doesn't vibe with the spirit or goals of your c/ube, feel free to just ignore me. Just had a couple thoughts I figured I'd share. And it was also super easy to look over, since it's small.
Basically, most of my suggestions are going to hinge on trying to diversify cards that I think are too similar. Your c/ube is built small for a smaller group, so it seems like you're seeing most of the c/ube in any given draft. I think that means you don't have to worry so much about consistency and can include fewer cards that do kind of the same thing. In the same vein, when you have two cards that do similar things, but one is quite a bit worse at what it does than another, it seems like something more exciting could go in that slot.
Okay, things!
First of all, how are you finding fliers as the U/W archetype? Personally, I think that the 2 mana 2/1 fliers are usually pretty important for that archetype but they're rough to include even in larger c/ubes because they overlap less with other archetypes than a lot of other cards. I think your skies archetype would rely a lot on picking up cards like Spectral Procession, which the token decks are also picking up pretty highly? I would consider going blink/control as opposed to blink/skies, but that could just be me. I think it might open up a good bit of room in a couple areas if you would decide to go that route. IF you do, Reflector Mage or Mistmeadow Witch could work well in the guild slot.
It's always weird to see Expedition Envoy but I do think aggro wants those 2/1s pretty badly so I agree with playing two. Any love for Mother of Runes or do you think she might be too strong for your environment? Personally, I would move Thraben Inspector out for Wall of Omens as a card advantage creature and open up the one drop slot for Mom or a tap-to-tap creature (they're pretty iconic in white, right?) or Cenn's Tactician if you go the +1 counter route.
As far as two-drops go, I'm personally not a fan of Kor Skyfisher. The value mode of bouncing something like Inspector is often just too much of a tempo downswing in my experience. Aggressive decks that appreciate the body also don't want to be losing resources in the early turns, either.
White threes seem a little too stacked. It's your biggest slot from the looks of things and I think it could stand to curve a little lower. I think playing Banisher Priest and Fairgrounds Warden together is an example of cards being too similar, and I would drop Priest because of the WW cost. I also don't care for Stonecloaker that much. I don't think you need a hate card specifically for reanimator especially in a small cube and it has the same problem as the Skyfisher as being a card that's pretty awkward to play.
Glimmerpoint Stag is another example of a card that's worse than another card (Flickerwisp) but these are the cards you want for the blink/value archetype over the self-bounce creatures so I don't really want to tell you to think about removing it! If you're looking for any other white 4s to add, I think Visionary Augmenter might be really well for you. It works with tokens, blink, and +1/+1 counter synergies. Relief Captain has also been pretty amazing for me, again if you add +1/+1 counter cards.
Since I've mentioned it so much, I guess I should say what I think about +1/+1 support generally - I think it could work. Adding all the +1/+1 "lords" would take up a LOT of space and they are pretty narrow, but after playing with a bunch of them, I think only a few are really high impact and you could get by with just playing those. Abzan Falconer and Elite Scaleguard are the best payoff cards, in my experience.
Similarly, having three straight-up token making cards as your only sorceries feels a little bland as well. I'm not sure what to suggest as a replacement, though, as white's non-creature cards aren't particularly deep. As a note, I think Battle Screech is super strong and is probably better than Enlistment and Triplicate, if you want to upgrade one.
I like what's going on in your Blue section. Personally, I dropped Illusory Angel as I found it really hard to cast a lot of the time. It may work out better for you. I have also heard a lot of people around here finding Mnemonic Wall underwhelming. The 0/4 body really doesn't do much but the time turn five rolls around. Archaeomancer, unfortunately, suffers the same way. I've just given up on spell recursion in blue at this rarity, unfortunately.
I also think you could use a payoff card for the spells archetype somewhere in blue, as the two biggest ones are currently in red. I like Rise from the Tides or Prescient Chimera, myself.
I also think your Black section looks really solid. Reassembling Skeleton and Phyrexian Rager both seem kind of medium. I think in the two-drop slot you could use an aggressive creature for the Red/Black deck, as I think that deck will sometimes lose the aristocrats pieces to the B/W deck and need to just go face without the token/sac synergies. Fledgling Djinn, Heir of Falkenrath, or Dauthi Horror are all great. With how deep the removal in black is, I don't think you need to dedicate creature slots to control-oriented black decks as much as you might in other colors.
Speaking of removal, I know a few members of the forum, myself included, have felt a need to tone down the removal in our black sections. It ended up just being both too good (removal on creatures is crazy efficient in peasant) and too plentiful, and especially in a smaller c/ube, I could see that being a problem for you as well. Being removal heavy isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I found that it does kind of invalidate strategies like ramp. Just something to keep an eye on when you're drafting, if B/x decks are winning all your drafts or players are going into black more than other colors I think cutting removal (or subbing in narrower removal, like Vengeful Rebel) can be an answer to that.
I also think you might want one two-mana reanimation card to support a faster re-animator deck. Dread Return always played worse than I expected it to in practice - its value in older formats comes a lot from dredge, and in Peasant I never found that decks that had creature fodder to sacrifice were often doing the reanimating.
Red section looks pretty much perfect. Made me kind of realize how great the top 50% of red cards are compared to the bottom 50% in 360 cubes haha. Only one thing - do you see your spells matter deck typically playing out as more aggressive or more controlling? I noticed my players typically building it more as a control deck, and that ended up making Guttersnipe feel pretty unrewarding. If you end up feeling that way as well, Weaver of Lightning has been great for me as a control version of 'snipe.
Servant of the Conduit seems out of place, the limitation on its ramp just seems like such a downside especially compared to the really incredible one-drop ramp elves. If you're looking for color fixing at two mana, Sakura-Tribe Elder has always been awesome. Second to that, Wall of Roots and Devoted Druid probably compete for the best green-only ramp cards at two mana. I've also noticed a lot of people have stopped running Yavimaya Elder recently. I think he's droppable if you're also playing Krosan Tusker and Kodama's Reach at 3 mana for color fetching. There's a lot of good +1/+1 counter support cards at 3 mana in green, Maulfist Revolutionary is a personal favorite.
I think Plated Crusher is better than Pelakka Wurm if you're running one big green finisher. While the etb/dies triggers of Wurm give you value if it gets killed by a two-mana Black spell, it's nothing compared to Hexproof. Like, far and away the best payoff for ramp and reanimator.
Only comment on the guild section (besides what I've said already and in the other thread), is that Murderous Redcap, while amazing, is probably going to be snatched up by people playing Red or Black, not people playing red AND black. Fire Covenant is BONKERS and rewards being in the guild very highly. Just as a consideration.
As far as colorless cards go, I like your selection of artifacts. I would be interested to know how Isochron Scepter plays out in your environment. I've been considering cutting it from my c/ube because the number of targets seems just a little thin. If I cut the size of my c/ube in half, though, I could see it going completely the other way and being overpowered, but maybe that's not at all how it would work in practice. So yeah, if you happen to see it come up and remember to post about it, I'd love to hear some info.
I've found Signal Pest kind of awkward. I think there are better artifacts to support aggro, and better artifacts to support tokens. Pest is kind of in the middle and not good enough at either, IMO.
I like Snare Thopter over Pierce Strider but they're comparable.
I know the options for lands without including whole cycles are limited, but Transguild Promenade and Rupture Spire just feel even worse than CIPT lands. I think an Ash Barrens would be an awesome swap for one of them, the other gets a bit harder though.
Anyways. This was really enjoyable for me to go through your c/ube, so thanks for posting it! The idea of a micro c/ube is pretty interesting (I hardly ever have more than 4 to draft with, myself), and it made it easy to consume your list, so I guess it was the perfect recipe for me to really dig into it! Haha. I hope you find some of my suggestions helpful, like I said, don't take me too seriously if you don't want to, I'm just commenting with my own experiences.
Lastly (which probably should have been firstly..), welcome to the c/ube forums! Haha. With such a unique environment, I'm hype to hear more about your experiences drafting and such.
How would you proceed if making tokens less prevalent was a goal?
I'm cutting out mainly green's token producers, and keeping it firmly in White and Red colors only. Blue would get only Talrand's Invocation and black has only Rakshasa Gravecaller
Hey dude! After seeing you post in the This or That thread, I took a look at your list and thought I'd offer my 2c. I'm by no means a c/ube expert and don't have experience with a c/ube this small, so if what I'm saying doesn't vibe with the spirit or goals of your c/ube, feel free to just ignore me. Just had a couple thoughts I figured I'd share. And it was also super easy to look over, since it's small.
Basically, most of my suggestions are going to hinge on trying to diversify cards that I think are too similar. Your c/ube is built small for a smaller group, so it seems like you're seeing most of the c/ube in any given draft. I think that means you don't have to worry so much about consistency and can include fewer cards that do kind of the same thing. In the same vein, when you have two cards that do similar things, but one is quite a bit worse at what it does than another, it seems like something more exciting could go in that slot.
HOLY SH*T WALL OF TEXT! hahaha thanks for the very DEEP feedback! I'm actually going to be shaking up my cube a little, listing out cards that are archetype defining and seeing where fillers need to be cut. As a Micro Cube, synergy is very important, and each card needs to make an impact for sure, either as a primary role or a flexible card that fits in 2 or 3 archetypes. I'll see if I can reply most of the things you have suggested.
Okay, things!
First of all, how are you finding fliers as the U/W archetype? Personally, I think that the 2 mana 2/1 fliers are usually pretty important for that archetype but they're rough to include even in larger c/ubes because they overlap less with other archetypes than a lot of other cards. I think your skies archetype would rely a lot on picking up cards like Spectral Procession, which the token decks are also picking up pretty highly? I would consider going blink/control as opposed to blink/skies, but that could just be me. I think it might open up a good bit of room in a couple areas if you would decide to go that route. IF you do, Reflector Mage or Mistmeadow Witch could work well in the guild slot.
It's always weird to see Expedition Envoy but I do think aggro wants those 2/1s pretty badly so I agree with playing two. Any love for Mother of Runes or do you think she might be too strong for your environment? Personally, I would move Thraben Inspector out for Wall of Omens as a card advantage creature and open up the one drop slot for Mom or a tap-to-tap creature (they're pretty iconic in white, right?) or Cenn's Tactician if you go the +1 counter route.
As far as two-drops go, I'm personally not a fan of Kor Skyfisher. The value mode of bouncing something like Inspector is often just too much of a tempo downswing in my experience. Aggressive decks that appreciate the body also don't want to be losing resources in the early turns, either.
White threes seem a little too stacked. It's your biggest slot from the looks of things and I think it could stand to curve a little lower. I think playing Banisher Priest and Fairgrounds Warden together is an example of cards being too similar, and I would drop Priest because of the WW cost. I also don't care for Stonecloaker that much. I don't think you need a hate card specifically for reanimator especially in a small cube and it has the same problem as the Skyfisher as being a card that's pretty awkward to play.
Glimmerpoint Stag is another example of a card that's worse than another card (Flickerwisp) but these are the cards you want for the blink/value archetype over the self-bounce creatures so I don't really want to tell you to think about removing it! If you're looking for any other white 4s to add, I think Visionary Augmenter might be really well for you. It works with tokens, blink, and +1/+1 counter synergies. Relief Captain has also been pretty amazing for me, again if you add +1/+1 counter cards.
Since I've mentioned it so much, I guess I should say what I think about +1/+1 support generally - I think it could work. Adding all the +1/+1 "lords" would take up a LOT of space and they are pretty narrow, but after playing with a bunch of them, I think only a few are really high impact and you could get by with just playing those. Abzan Falconer and Elite Scaleguard are the best payoff cards, in my experience.
Immolating Glare looks underwhelming next to Swords to Plowshares. Blessed Alliance gets some points for being more versatile, but I don't know if Glare is justifiable. I think something like Cloudshift, Gryff's Boon, or Feat of Resistance could replace it. Just as a spell that does something other than removal or making tokens.
Similarly, having three straight-up token making cards as your only sorceries feels a little bland as well. I'm not sure what to suggest as a replacement, though, as white's non-creature cards aren't particularly deep. As a note, I think Battle Screech is super strong and is probably better than Enlistment and Triplicate, if you want to upgrade one.
You totally slaughtered my white section for sure. First thing is, in a Micro Cube, each card that fits in multiple archetypes, such as Spectral Procession, keeps the challenge of picking such cards 1st/2nd/3rd high. It fits in Skies, Aristocrats and Tokens, keeping anyone open to such possible archetypes until they pick one.
The U/W fliers archetype has played well before, and I'm going to try to go a little deeper into it first(more fliers/lords), but I will be testing Reflector Mage in the future. I am avoiding Protection as a mechanic in my cube, hence I've kind of banned Mother of Runes in my head. In an aggressive deck Kor Skyfisher is definitely not a play someone would want to make, but I guess it adds value for any ETB creatures, though it will likely be my cut for another archetype. I like Stonecloaker as a multi purpose card. It not only comes down as a surprise blocker, it can save a creature from removal/blocking and re buys ETB abilities, and yes a narrow Reanimator hate. I do agree on pruning and lowering the curve a little for white, though the CMC is still a good bell curve throughout. I'll talk about +1/+1 counters archetype at the end.
Immolating glare is definitely on its way out. I may replace it with another removal, perhaps something like Angelic Purge or Faith's Fetters but definitely considering Otherworldly Journey. I did have Battle Screech in earlier, and it was pretty strong at that time, hence the Enlistment. Also I like that the Enlistment is replayable
I like what's going on in your Blue section. Personally, I dropped Illusory Angel as I found it really hard to cast a lot of the time. It may work out better for you. I have also heard a lot of people around here finding Mnemonic Wall underwhelming. The 0/4 body really doesn't do much but the time turn five rolls around. Archaeomancer, unfortunately, suffers the same way. I've just given up on spell recursion in blue at this rarity, unfortunately.
I also think you could use a payoff card for the spells archetype somewhere in blue, as the two biggest ones are currently in red. I like Rise from the Tides or Prescient Chimera, myself.
I also think your Black section looks really solid. Reassembling Skeleton and Phyrexian Rager both seem kind of medium. I think in the two-drop slot you could use an aggressive creature for the Red/Black deck, as I think that deck will sometimes lose the aristocrats pieces to the B/W deck and need to just go face without the token/sac synergies. Fledgling Djinn, Heir of Falkenrath, or Dauthi Horror are all great. With how deep the removal in black is, I don't think you need to dedicate creature slots to control-oriented black decks as much as you might in other colors.
Speaking of removal, I know a few members of the forum, myself included, have felt a need to tone down the removal in our black sections. It ended up just being both too good (removal on creatures is crazy efficient in peasant) and too plentiful, and especially in a smaller c/ube, I could see that being a problem for you as well. Being removal heavy isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I found that it does kind of invalidate strategies like ramp. Just something to keep an eye on when you're drafting, if B/x decks are winning all your drafts or players are going into black more than other colors I think cutting removal (or subbing in narrower removal, like Vengeful Rebel) can be an answer to that.
I also think you might want one two-mana reanimation card to support a faster re-animator deck. Dread Return always played worse than I expected it to in practice - its value in older formats comes a lot from dredge, and in Peasant I never found that decks that had creature fodder to sacrifice were often doing the reanimating.
Reassembling Skeleton gives the Aristocrats deck a recurrable fodder and has worked. Phyrexian Rager is definitely a filler card I've been considering replacing. I'm likely brining in Heir of Falkenrath back in, as I need discard outlets for Reanimator. For removal, I currently have 6 in black (Skinrender being the weakest), 7 in white (including the Warden/Priest), and 2 in green (red's burn spells are all removal). I definitely will need to tone down some removal, but it definitely is a balancing act. What reanimator spell would you suggest? I used Dread Return as it can be used twice, and kind of suited the sacrifice theme.
Red section looks pretty much perfect. Made me kind of realize how great the top 50% of red cards are compared to the bottom 50% in 360 cubes haha. Only one thing - do you see your spells matter deck typically playing out as more aggressive or more controlling? I noticed my players typically building it more as a control deck, and that ended up making Guttersnipe feel pretty unrewarding. If you end up feeling that way as well, Weaver of Lightning has been great for me as a control version of 'snipe.
Red 2 drops are definitely where all the value belong! UR spells has definitely been more aggressive for my players, and I do definitely want to add more cards for it archetype (more burn? :P). That's a great suggestion and will keep it in my maybeboard.
Servant of the Conduit seems out of place, the limitation on its ramp just seems like such a downside especially compared to the really incredible one-drop ramp elves. If you're looking for color fixing at two mana, Sakura-Tribe Elder has always been awesome. Second to that, Wall of Roots and Devoted Druid probably compete for the best green-only ramp cards at two mana. I've also noticed a lot of people have stopped running Yavimaya Elder recently. I think he's droppable if you're also playing Krosan Tusker and Kodama's Reach at 3 mana for color fetching. There's a lot of good +1/+1 counter support cards at 3 mana in green, Maulfist Revolutionary is a personal favorite.
I think Plated Crusher is better than Pelakka Wurm if you're running one big green finisher. While the etb/dies triggers of Wurm give you value if it gets killed by a two-mana Black spell, it's nothing compared to Hexproof. Like, far and away the best payoff for ramp and reanimator.
Yes I definitely had Servant in there as an all round fixer, but does have a decent body too. I'm considering an energy theme if possible for UG, though I feel it will stretch the cube thin. I'm definitely keeping Yavimaya Elder, its always a great value card. Also double green keeps it firmly for ramp. Maulfist Revolutionary will find a way into the cube for sure, just a great card overall.
I've had Plated Crusher before. It simply takes over the game once in play. I do like my Cube to be interactive, so it just seems to go over the top. Perhaps my thinking is wrong, and kills off Reanimator and Ramp as viable archetypes? I definitely need maybe 1 or 2 more good reanimator ramp targets for sure.
Only comment on the guild section (besides what I've said already and in the other thread), is that Murderous Redcap, while amazing, is probably going to be snatched up by people playing Red or Black, not people playing red AND black. Fire Covenant is BONKERS and rewards being in the guild very highly. Just as a consideration.
As far as colorless cards go, I like your selection of artifacts. I would be interested to know how Isochron Scepter plays out in your environment. I've been considering cutting it from my c/ube because the number of targets seems just a little thin. If I cut the size of my c/ube in half, though, I could see it going completely the other way and being overpowered, but maybe that's not at all how it would work in practice. So yeah, if you happen to see it come up and remember to post about it, I'd love to hear some info.
I've found Signal Pest kind of awkward. I think there are better artifacts to support aggro, and better artifacts to support tokens. Pest is kind of in the middle and not good enough at either, IMO.
I like Snare Thopter over Pierce Strider but they're comparable.
I know the options for lands without including whole cycles are limited, but Transguild Promenade and Rupture Spire just feel even worse than CIPT lands. I think an Ash Barrens would be an awesome swap for one of them, the other gets a bit harder though
The problem with Fire Covenant is that its an old card, and finding it near where I live is definitely hard. It would actually help the Rakdos guild, but I've cut back on as much lifegain as possible to give aggro a leg. Redcap is a great card though and could combo off with +1/+1 counters.
Isochron Scepter has been a very hit or miss artifact. Imprinting a counterspell or a removal spell on it definitely makes the game lopsided and unfun. It is beatable though, if your deck can keep up the pressure.
Signal Pest is a psuedo lord for the aggro and tokens deck for sure. Its definitely been underwhelming. Any suggestions?
I thought that Pierce strider could work in flicker decks but perhaps Snare thopter may actually be the better card.
Also any thoughts of adding back in Hedron Archive or adding in Mind Stone for ramp?
Yes I will be switching both those lands, one for Ash Barrens, and the other I was considering Gemstone Mine.
For the +1/+1 counters archetype, Juniper Order Ranger will be going in the guild section, and Im definitely looking to have 2 lords in green and 2 in white. This might not be enough, but its something to start with.
Thanks for the welcome, thanks for the feedback and thanks for the honesty! I'll definitely test your cube on cubetutor for fun!
You totally slaughtered my white section for sure. First thing is, in a Micro Cube, each card that fits in multiple archetypes, such as Spectral Procession, keeps the challenge of picking such cards 1st/2nd/3rd high. It fits in Skies, Aristocrats and Tokens, keeping anyone open to such possible archetypes until they pick one.
Fair enough. It just always nags at me when I see a card like Triplicate Spirits next to Spectral Procession in a pack or even in consecutive packs, because I'm always looking to snap up Procession but Triplicate feels so noticeably worse that if I have Procession, I'm looking for other things, and if I miss Procession, I feel bad for having the worse version. Some amount of redundancy is necessary of course and I was probably overvaluing more niche, single-archetype cards in my suggestions.
I think Wall is pretty bad for its cost outside of Ghostly Flicker situations, but since they're both kind of narrow in terms of the archetypes they go in, you see them together more often than I would and it represents a legitimate combo option for that deck. I do think that Wall is better than Archaeomancer.
What reanimator spell would you suggest? I used Dread Return as it can be used twice, and kind of suited the sacrifice theme.
Animate Dead, probably. Necromancy also has the flashy instant-speed mode. I just like the turn two discard outlet into turn three reanimate to be available somewhere. Dread Return is awesome, IMO, when you're discarding it to something and also have tokens. The first cast feels weak and flashing it back by sacrificing, like, creature cards feels really bad. You do have a large amount of tokens, but if you're trying to tone that down I think Return will get weaker as well.
Red 2 drops are definitely where all the value belong! UR spells has definitely been more aggressive for my players, and I do definitely want to add more cards for it archetype (more burn? :P). That's a great suggestion and will keep it in my maybeboard.
Maybe I have weird drafters. They never picked Illusory Angel and always play spells as control.
Yes I definitely had Servant in there as an all round fixer, but does have a decent body too. I'm considering an energy theme if possible for UG, though I feel it will stretch the cube thin.
A lot of the energy cards are good on their own, and if you go in on +1 counters, I'd look at the Thriving cycle, especially the Green and Red creatures. Thriving Rhino and Thriving Grubs. When they feed themselves, they're just fine. Servant... I don't think is as fine when it can only ramp twice, compared to other options that are permanent. I think the value of a 2/2 body is less than the value of consistent output over the game.
I've had Plated Crusher before. It simply takes over the game once in play. I do like my Cube to be interactive, so it just seems to go over the top. Perhaps my thinking is wrong, and kills off Reanimator and Ramp as viable archetypes? I definitely need maybe 1 or 2 more good reanimator ramp targets for sure.
You are right that it's dominating and pretty hard to interact with outside of a big multi-block. Still, the "dies to doom blade" argument is super real with the power level of removal we have, so I think "interactive" on a seven-mana card can be a big downside. Penumbra Wurm is an online uncommon, if you're okay with those, that's a bit stickier but doesn't have hexproof.
The problem with Fire Covenant is that its an old card, and finding it near where I live is definitely hard. It would actually help the Rakdos guild, but I've cut back on as much lifegain as possible to give aggro a leg. Redcap is a great card though and could combo off with +1/+1 counters.
Redcap is super great, of course. It just sticks out as the only hybrid card in a gold section. Balancing hybrids would take up too many slots in a small c/ube though, so I probably shouldn't harp on it.
Signal Pest is a psuedo lord for the aggro and tokens deck for sure. Its definitely been underwhelming. Any suggestions?
Nothing that I can think of that's a straight replacement. Spined Thopter or Mortarpod. Or just anything you want to add to colorless.
I thought that Pierce strider could work in flicker decks but perhaps Snare thopter may actually be the better card.
Flicker synergy is a thing, but I don't know if those decks want the life loss over flickering something like Mulldrifter or a removal creature.
Also any thoughts of adding back in Hedron Archive or adding in Mind Stone for ramp?
Mind Stone is always awesome for anything that isn't straight aggro.
For the +1/+1 counters archetype, Juniper Order Ranger will be going in the guild section, and Im definitely looking to have 2 lords in green and 2 in white. This might not be enough, but its something to start with.
The green lords are so much worse than the white ones. Trample looks real bad when compared to flying or just tapping out the opponent's team. Still, we got what we got, I guess.
Ok guys, I've gone for a few days, to try and restructure my cube. I did it from scratch, wrote down the archetypes, put on a new cube in cubetutor, built it from the ground up, BUT I did use quite a bit of my old cards (have to use it as a base at least)
The archetypes I got down are:
Primary/Secondary
UW - Skies / Blink
UB - Control / Reanimator
UG - Ramp / Tempo (was considering this for either energy or +1/+1 counters
UR - Spells matter / Counter burn (basically same thing)
WB - Aristocrats / control
WR - Tokens / aggro
WG - +1/+1 counters / Go Wide & Tall (overrun/tokens)
BR - Sweeper Control / aggro
BG - Reanimator / The Rock
RG - Energy / +1/+1 Counters
Here's my Future Future Peasant Micro Cube! Its a Future Future cube as I'm testing this out first on Cockatrice to see how it goes. I will obviously need to keep tweaking it and do still have my original cube intact but may transform it to this after testing.
Red and Blue has mostly stayed the same, just a few cards to help the Spells archetype, and buffed up with Favourable Winds for Skies.
I've implemented +1/+1 counters in Green and White, adding 4 lords for First Strike, Flying, Trample, and Reach (I know I'm missing Elite Scaleguard, but I'm testing the curve as well). There should be plenty of support. Even a few red creatures gain +1/+1 counters, creating competition for such cards.
With Black I decided to go deeper in Aristocrats and Reanimator. Adding discard options like Skirk Ridge Exhumer, and Call of the bloodline for both archetypes, and in green adding Llanowar mentor and Greenseeker to help with discard and ramp options. I do fear there still may be an abdundance of tokens, but these come at a cost. Blue still has the same options to enable reanimator but with an additional Looter il-kor.
RG is the energy aggro deck, lead by Longtusk Cub, and backed up in the 2 artifact Modules for energy and +1/+1 counters. I fear this may come together weakly, but only through drafts I will find out.
The archetypes are definitely more vaired, but it seems the cube may be trying to do too much at once.
You totally slaughtered my white section for sure. First thing is, in a Micro Cube, each card that fits in multiple archetypes, such as Spectral Procession, keeps the challenge of picking such cards 1st/2nd/3rd high. It fits in Skies, Aristocrats and Tokens, keeping anyone open to such possible archetypes until they pick one.
Fair enough. It just always nags at me when I see a card like Triplicate Spirits next to Spectral Procession in a pack or even in consecutive packs, because I'm always looking to snap up Procession but Triplicate feels so noticeably worse that if I have Procession, I'm looking for other things, and if I miss Procession, I feel bad for having the worse version. Some amount of redundancy is necessary of course and I was probably overvaluing more niche, single-archetype cards in my suggestions.
I think Wall is pretty bad for its cost outside of Ghostly Flicker situations, but since they're both kind of narrow in terms of the archetypes they go in, you see them together more often than I would and it represents a legitimate combo option for that deck. I do think that Wall is better than Archaeomancer.
What reanimator spell would you suggest? I used Dread Return as it can be used twice, and kind of suited the sacrifice theme.
Animate Dead, probably. Necromancy also has the flashy instant-speed mode. I just like the turn two discard outlet into turn three reanimate to be available somewhere. Dread Return is awesome, IMO, when you're discarding it to something and also have tokens. The first cast feels weak and flashing it back by sacrificing, like, creature cards feels really bad. You do have a large amount of tokens, but if you're trying to tone that down I think Return will get weaker as well.
Red 2 drops are definitely where all the value belong! UR spells has definitely been more aggressive for my players, and I do definitely want to add more cards for it archetype (more burn? :P). That's a great suggestion and will keep it in my maybeboard.
Maybe I have weird drafters. They never picked Illusory Angel and always play spells as control.
Yes I definitely had Servant in there as an all round fixer, but does have a decent body too. I'm considering an energy theme if possible for UG, though I feel it will stretch the cube thin.
A lot of the energy cards are good on their own, and if you go in on +1 counters, I'd look at the Thriving cycle, especially the Green and Red creatures. Thriving Rhino and Thriving Grubs. When they feed themselves, they're just fine. Servant... I don't think is as fine when it can only ramp twice, compared to other options that are permanent. I think the value of a 2/2 body is less than the value of consistent output over the game.
I've had Plated Crusher before. It simply takes over the game once in play. I do like my Cube to be interactive, so it just seems to go over the top. Perhaps my thinking is wrong, and kills off Reanimator and Ramp as viable archetypes? I definitely need maybe 1 or 2 more good reanimator ramp targets for sure.
You are right that it's dominating and pretty hard to interact with outside of a big multi-block. Still, the "dies to doom blade" argument is super real with the power level of removal we have, so I think "interactive" on a seven-mana card can be a big downside. Penumbra Wurm is an online uncommon, if you're okay with those, that's a bit stickier but doesn't have hexproof.
The problem with Fire Covenant is that its an old card, and finding it near where I live is definitely hard. It would actually help the Rakdos guild, but I've cut back on as much lifegain as possible to give aggro a leg. Redcap is a great card though and could combo off with +1/+1 counters.
Redcap is super great, of course. It just sticks out as the only hybrid card in a gold section. Balancing hybrids would take up too many slots in a small c/ube though, so I probably shouldn't harp on it.
Signal Pest is a psuedo lord for the aggro and tokens deck for sure. Its definitely been underwhelming. Any suggestions?
Nothing that I can think of that's a straight replacement. Spined Thopter or Mortarpod. Or just anything you want to add to colorless.
I thought that Pierce strider could work in flicker decks but perhaps Snare thopter may actually be the better card.
Flicker synergy is a thing, but I don't know if those decks want the life loss over flickering something like Mulldrifter or a removal creature.
Also any thoughts of adding back in Hedron Archive or adding in Mind Stone for ramp?
Mind Stone is always awesome for anything that isn't straight aggro.
For the +1/+1 counters archetype, Juniper Order Ranger will be going in the guild section, and Im definitely looking to have 2 lords in green and 2 in white. This might not be enough, but its something to start with.
The green lords are so much worse than the white ones. Trample looks real bad when compared to flying or just tapping out the opponent's team. Still, we got what we got,
I've taken your advice and posted a different cube up. Will be testing it to see how it goes
I've made quite a few changes to the cube, depowering a few cards and removal. I felt this would help with the environment, as games tended to be more swingy, than grindy.
Here's the cube up on cubetutor!
Cube Size: 180 cards
Breakdown: 29 each color, 10 guild, 25 colorless
Standard or theme cube: Peasant
Average Drafts: 2-4 players, once a month
Type of Draft: 5 packs of 9 cards for 3-4 players, Grid Draft/Sealed for 2 players
Other Info
Proxies: No
Un cards: No
Pimped: No, I don't like foils much, as where I live they curl a hell lot
Banned: Sol Ring, Skullclamp, Loxodon Warhammer, Behemoth Sledge, Ghostly Prison, Propaganda, Crystal Shard
Color Balance: Yes
Gold Balance: Yes
Hybrid/Kicker/Split/Flashback as Gold: Yes
UW - Fliers/bounce
UB - Control/Reanimator
RB - Aggro/Aristocrats
GR - Aggro/Midrange
GW - Tokens
BW - Aristocrats
GB - The Rock/Reanimator
UG - Tempo/Ramp
UR - Spells Matter/Counter Burn
RW - Aggro/Tokens
* I definitely feel the cube has a lot of exploring still to do, as I've stuck to only few archetypes, but I do understand a smaller cube will need more synergy to work.
* I may also have too many token producers in the cube that would be eating up valuable design space.
* There are many cards I have yet to try, although some seem overpowered for this cube, such as Curse of Shallow Graves,Curse of Predation and Rites of the Raging Storm.
* Red still seems like its not aggressive enough, and I have dialed back the amount of lifegain in the cube significantly.
* I might try to explore different archetypes during the evolution of this cube
* I love the design of some conspiracies and it would seem interesting to add them in once in a while.
Curse of Shallow Graves
Curse of Predation
Great Oak Guardian
Phantom Centaur
Arborback Stomper
Rites of the Raging Storm
[card]Lust for War
[/card]
Jodah's Avenger
Feudkiller's Verdict
Custodi Squire
Path to Exile
Affinity
Legacy:
GBCombo Elves
EDH:
GEzuri, Renegade Leader's Elf Ball
Cube:
180 Peasant Micro Cube
Stormfront Pegasus -> Stonecloaker : Stormfront was just a filler creature, on curve flyer. Stonecloaker has too many relevant abilities to ignore. Flash, Flying, Ability to protect, and remove a potential graveyard problem card - full of value!
Grizzly Fate -> Clear Shot : Giving green a 2nd removal spell, and toning down on tokens in green. Only Blue doesn't have removal spells now.
Looter-il-kor -> Merfolk Looter : Shadow is relevant for getting in some evasive damage, though not choosing to draw and discard might set back some hands.
Nekrataal -> Nezumi Graverobber : Having brought Shriekmaw in previously, black might have too many removal spells. Trading it for Graverobber might help with black's curve, while adding relevant abilities in graveyard removal, and reanimator. Hopefully this turns out well.
Forbid -> Condescend : I never used Forbid and nor did I see anyone in blue use it either. It seems Condescend would do a better job with the added benefit of Scry.
Future possible changes:
1) I'm looking to maybe add in City of Brass and Gemstone Mine to aid aggro colors that need Double colors in their 2 drops (Consul's Lieutenant, Goblin War Driver), possible out for Aether Hub, and Rupture Spire.
2) Might try to go deeper into +1/+1 counters archetype, and aristocrats might need 1 more outlet to function to its full potential
3) I have quite a few Elves in the cube, and it looks like I may be able to get some tribal shenanigans going on - Watchlist: Timberwatch Elf
4) Another card I was interested in trying was Rise from the tides. Yes I know I was trying to cut back on tokens, but it seemed that blue needed a big payoff spell for the endgame. Not sure what to replace yet, but will test out later.
Affinity
Legacy:
GBCombo Elves
EDH:
GEzuri, Renegade Leader's Elf Ball
Cube:
180 Peasant Micro Cube
Any news or changes to report?
No changes at the moment. Though I'm thinking of adding something huge for Black in Havoc Demon or Phyrexian Gargantua. Also thinking of maybe adding a little more discard.
Might be testing out +1/+1 counters for GW archetype.
Affinity
Legacy:
GBCombo Elves
EDH:
GEzuri, Renegade Leader's Elf Ball
Cube:
180 Peasant Micro Cube
Basically, most of my suggestions are going to hinge on trying to diversify cards that I think are too similar. Your c/ube is built small for a smaller group, so it seems like you're seeing most of the c/ube in any given draft. I think that means you don't have to worry so much about consistency and can include fewer cards that do kind of the same thing. In the same vein, when you have two cards that do similar things, but one is quite a bit worse at what it does than another, it seems like something more exciting could go in that slot.
Okay, things!
First of all, how are you finding fliers as the U/W archetype? Personally, I think that the 2 mana 2/1 fliers are usually pretty important for that archetype but they're rough to include even in larger c/ubes because they overlap less with other archetypes than a lot of other cards. I think your skies archetype would rely a lot on picking up cards like Spectral Procession, which the token decks are also picking up pretty highly? I would consider going blink/control as opposed to blink/skies, but that could just be me. I think it might open up a good bit of room in a couple areas if you would decide to go that route. IF you do, Reflector Mage or Mistmeadow Witch could work well in the guild slot.
It's always weird to see Expedition Envoy but I do think aggro wants those 2/1s pretty badly so I agree with playing two. Any love for Mother of Runes or do you think she might be too strong for your environment? Personally, I would move Thraben Inspector out for Wall of Omens as a card advantage creature and open up the one drop slot for Mom or a tap-to-tap creature (they're pretty iconic in white, right?) or Cenn's Tactician if you go the +1 counter route.
As far as two-drops go, I'm personally not a fan of Kor Skyfisher. The value mode of bouncing something like Inspector is often just too much of a tempo downswing in my experience. Aggressive decks that appreciate the body also don't want to be losing resources in the early turns, either.
White threes seem a little too stacked. It's your biggest slot from the looks of things and I think it could stand to curve a little lower. I think playing Banisher Priest and Fairgrounds Warden together is an example of cards being too similar, and I would drop Priest because of the WW cost. I also don't care for Stonecloaker that much. I don't think you need a hate card specifically for reanimator especially in a small cube and it has the same problem as the Skyfisher as being a card that's pretty awkward to play.
Glimmerpoint Stag is another example of a card that's worse than another card (Flickerwisp) but these are the cards you want for the blink/value archetype over the self-bounce creatures so I don't really want to tell you to think about removing it! If you're looking for any other white 4s to add, I think Visionary Augmenter might be really well for you. It works with tokens, blink, and +1/+1 counter synergies. Relief Captain has also been pretty amazing for me, again if you add +1/+1 counter cards.
Since I've mentioned it so much, I guess I should say what I think about +1/+1 support generally - I think it could work. Adding all the +1/+1 "lords" would take up a LOT of space and they are pretty narrow, but after playing with a bunch of them, I think only a few are really high impact and you could get by with just playing those. Abzan Falconer and Elite Scaleguard are the best payoff cards, in my experience.
Immolating Glare looks underwhelming next to Swords to Plowshares. Blessed Alliance gets some points for being more versatile, but I don't know if Glare is justifiable. I think something like Cloudshift, Gryff's Boon, or Feat of Resistance could replace it. Just as a spell that does something other than removal or making tokens.
Similarly, having three straight-up token making cards as your only sorceries feels a little bland as well. I'm not sure what to suggest as a replacement, though, as white's non-creature cards aren't particularly deep. As a note, I think Battle Screech is super strong and is probably better than Enlistment and Triplicate, if you want to upgrade one.
I like what's going on in your Blue section. Personally, I dropped Illusory Angel as I found it really hard to cast a lot of the time. It may work out better for you. I have also heard a lot of people around here finding Mnemonic Wall underwhelming. The 0/4 body really doesn't do much but the time turn five rolls around. Archaeomancer, unfortunately, suffers the same way. I've just given up on spell recursion in blue at this rarity, unfortunately.
I also think you could use a payoff card for the spells archetype somewhere in blue, as the two biggest ones are currently in red. I like Rise from the Tides or Prescient Chimera, myself.
I also think your Black section looks really solid. Reassembling Skeleton and Phyrexian Rager both seem kind of medium. I think in the two-drop slot you could use an aggressive creature for the Red/Black deck, as I think that deck will sometimes lose the aristocrats pieces to the B/W deck and need to just go face without the token/sac synergies. Fledgling Djinn, Heir of Falkenrath, or Dauthi Horror are all great. With how deep the removal in black is, I don't think you need to dedicate creature slots to control-oriented black decks as much as you might in other colors.
Speaking of removal, I know a few members of the forum, myself included, have felt a need to tone down the removal in our black sections. It ended up just being both too good (removal on creatures is crazy efficient in peasant) and too plentiful, and especially in a smaller c/ube, I could see that being a problem for you as well. Being removal heavy isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I found that it does kind of invalidate strategies like ramp. Just something to keep an eye on when you're drafting, if B/x decks are winning all your drafts or players are going into black more than other colors I think cutting removal (or subbing in narrower removal, like Vengeful Rebel) can be an answer to that.
I also think you might want one two-mana reanimation card to support a faster re-animator deck. Dread Return always played worse than I expected it to in practice - its value in older formats comes a lot from dredge, and in Peasant I never found that decks that had creature fodder to sacrifice were often doing the reanimating.
Red section looks pretty much perfect. Made me kind of realize how great the top 50% of red cards are compared to the bottom 50% in 360 cubes haha. Only one thing - do you see your spells matter deck typically playing out as more aggressive or more controlling? I noticed my players typically building it more as a control deck, and that ended up making Guttersnipe feel pretty unrewarding. If you end up feeling that way as well, Weaver of Lightning has been great for me as a control version of 'snipe.
Servant of the Conduit seems out of place, the limitation on its ramp just seems like such a downside especially compared to the really incredible one-drop ramp elves. If you're looking for color fixing at two mana, Sakura-Tribe Elder has always been awesome. Second to that, Wall of Roots and Devoted Druid probably compete for the best green-only ramp cards at two mana. I've also noticed a lot of people have stopped running Yavimaya Elder recently. I think he's droppable if you're also playing Krosan Tusker and Kodama's Reach at 3 mana for color fetching. There's a lot of good +1/+1 counter support cards at 3 mana in green, Maulfist Revolutionary is a personal favorite.
I think Plated Crusher is better than Pelakka Wurm if you're running one big green finisher. While the etb/dies triggers of Wurm give you value if it gets killed by a two-mana Black spell, it's nothing compared to Hexproof. Like, far and away the best payoff for ramp and reanimator.
Only comment on the guild section (besides what I've said already and in the other thread), is that Murderous Redcap, while amazing, is probably going to be snatched up by people playing Red or Black, not people playing red AND black. Fire Covenant is BONKERS and rewards being in the guild very highly. Just as a consideration.
As far as colorless cards go, I like your selection of artifacts. I would be interested to know how Isochron Scepter plays out in your environment. I've been considering cutting it from my c/ube because the number of targets seems just a little thin. If I cut the size of my c/ube in half, though, I could see it going completely the other way and being overpowered, but maybe that's not at all how it would work in practice. So yeah, if you happen to see it come up and remember to post about it, I'd love to hear some info.
I've found Signal Pest kind of awkward. I think there are better artifacts to support aggro, and better artifacts to support tokens. Pest is kind of in the middle and not good enough at either, IMO.
I like Snare Thopter over Pierce Strider but they're comparable.
I know the options for lands without including whole cycles are limited, but Transguild Promenade and Rupture Spire just feel even worse than CIPT lands. I think an Ash Barrens would be an awesome swap for one of them, the other gets a bit harder though.
Anyways. This was really enjoyable for me to go through your c/ube, so thanks for posting it! The idea of a micro c/ube is pretty interesting (I hardly ever have more than 4 to draft with, myself), and it made it easy to consume your list, so I guess it was the perfect recipe for me to really dig into it! Haha. I hope you find some of my suggestions helpful, like I said, don't take me too seriously if you don't want to, I'm just commenting with my own experiences.
Lastly (which probably should have been firstly..), welcome to the c/ube forums! Haha. With such a unique environment, I'm hype to hear more about your experiences drafting and such.
Draft my Peasant Cube.
HOLY SH*T WALL OF TEXT! hahaha thanks for the very DEEP feedback! I'm actually going to be shaking up my cube a little, listing out cards that are archetype defining and seeing where fillers need to be cut. As a Micro Cube, synergy is very important, and each card needs to make an impact for sure, either as a primary role or a flexible card that fits in 2 or 3 archetypes. I'll see if I can reply most of the things you have suggested.
You totally slaughtered my white section for sure. First thing is, in a Micro Cube, each card that fits in multiple archetypes, such as Spectral Procession, keeps the challenge of picking such cards 1st/2nd/3rd high. It fits in Skies, Aristocrats and Tokens, keeping anyone open to such possible archetypes until they pick one.
The U/W fliers archetype has played well before, and I'm going to try to go a little deeper into it first(more fliers/lords), but I will be testing Reflector Mage in the future. I am avoiding Protection as a mechanic in my cube, hence I've kind of banned Mother of Runes in my head. In an aggressive deck Kor Skyfisher is definitely not a play someone would want to make, but I guess it adds value for any ETB creatures, though it will likely be my cut for another archetype. I like Stonecloaker as a multi purpose card. It not only comes down as a surprise blocker, it can save a creature from removal/blocking and re buys ETB abilities, and yes a narrow Reanimator hate. I do agree on pruning and lowering the curve a little for white, though the CMC is still a good bell curve throughout. I'll talk about +1/+1 counters archetype at the end.
Immolating glare is definitely on its way out. I may replace it with another removal, perhaps something like Angelic Purge or Faith's Fetters but definitely considering Otherworldly Journey. I did have Battle Screech in earlier, and it was pretty strong at that time, hence the Enlistment. Also I like that the Enlistment is replayable
Illusory Angel has worked great actually, as a psuedo Serra Angel, hasn't been too difficult to cast. I've actually had a deck in where Archaeomancer, Eternal Witness, Possesed Skaab and Baloth Null were Ghostly Flickered for a lot of value. Mnemonic Wall just has a better body to deal with smaller threats. I'm definitely considering Rise from the Tides for that archetype, it seems like a hell of a pay off.
Reassembling Skeleton gives the Aristocrats deck a recurrable fodder and has worked. Phyrexian Rager is definitely a filler card I've been considering replacing. I'm likely brining in Heir of Falkenrath back in, as I need discard outlets for Reanimator. For removal, I currently have 6 in black (Skinrender being the weakest), 7 in white (including the Warden/Priest), and 2 in green (red's burn spells are all removal). I definitely will need to tone down some removal, but it definitely is a balancing act. What reanimator spell would you suggest? I used Dread Return as it can be used twice, and kind of suited the sacrifice theme.
Red 2 drops are definitely where all the value belong! UR spells has definitely been more aggressive for my players, and I do definitely want to add more cards for it archetype (more burn? :P). That's a great suggestion and will keep it in my maybeboard.
Yes I definitely had Servant in there as an all round fixer, but does have a decent body too. I'm considering an energy theme if possible for UG, though I feel it will stretch the cube thin. I'm definitely keeping Yavimaya Elder, its always a great value card. Also double green keeps it firmly for ramp. Maulfist Revolutionary will find a way into the cube for sure, just a great card overall.
I've had Plated Crusher before. It simply takes over the game once in play. I do like my Cube to be interactive, so it just seems to go over the top. Perhaps my thinking is wrong, and kills off Reanimator and Ramp as viable archetypes? I definitely need maybe 1 or 2 more good reanimator ramp targets for sure.
The problem with Fire Covenant is that its an old card, and finding it near where I live is definitely hard. It would actually help the Rakdos guild, but I've cut back on as much lifegain as possible to give aggro a leg. Redcap is a great card though and could combo off with +1/+1 counters.
Isochron Scepter has been a very hit or miss artifact. Imprinting a counterspell or a removal spell on it definitely makes the game lopsided and unfun. It is beatable though, if your deck can keep up the pressure.
Signal Pest is a psuedo lord for the aggro and tokens deck for sure. Its definitely been underwhelming. Any suggestions?
I thought that Pierce strider could work in flicker decks but perhaps Snare thopter may actually be the better card.
Also any thoughts of adding back in Hedron Archive or adding in Mind Stone for ramp?
Yes I will be switching both those lands, one for Ash Barrens, and the other I was considering Gemstone Mine.
For the +1/+1 counters archetype, Juniper Order Ranger will be going in the guild section, and Im definitely looking to have 2 lords in green and 2 in white. This might not be enough, but its something to start with.
Thanks for the welcome, thanks for the feedback and thanks for the honesty! I'll definitely test your cube on cubetutor for fun!
Affinity
Legacy:
GBCombo Elves
EDH:
GEzuri, Renegade Leader's Elf Ball
Cube:
180 Peasant Micro Cube
Fair enough. It just always nags at me when I see a card like Triplicate Spirits next to Spectral Procession in a pack or even in consecutive packs, because I'm always looking to snap up Procession but Triplicate feels so noticeably worse that if I have Procession, I'm looking for other things, and if I miss Procession, I feel bad for having the worse version. Some amount of redundancy is necessary of course and I was probably overvaluing more niche, single-archetype cards in my suggestions.
I think Wall is pretty bad for its cost outside of Ghostly Flicker situations, but since they're both kind of narrow in terms of the archetypes they go in, you see them together more often than I would and it represents a legitimate combo option for that deck. I do think that Wall is better than Archaeomancer.
Animate Dead, probably. Necromancy also has the flashy instant-speed mode. I just like the turn two discard outlet into turn three reanimate to be available somewhere. Dread Return is awesome, IMO, when you're discarding it to something and also have tokens. The first cast feels weak and flashing it back by sacrificing, like, creature cards feels really bad. You do have a large amount of tokens, but if you're trying to tone that down I think Return will get weaker as well.
Maybe I have weird drafters. They never picked Illusory Angel and always play spells as control.
A lot of the energy cards are good on their own, and if you go in on +1 counters, I'd look at the Thriving cycle, especially the Green and Red creatures. Thriving Rhino and Thriving Grubs. When they feed themselves, they're just fine. Servant... I don't think is as fine when it can only ramp twice, compared to other options that are permanent. I think the value of a 2/2 body is less than the value of consistent output over the game.
You are right that it's dominating and pretty hard to interact with outside of a big multi-block. Still, the "dies to doom blade" argument is super real with the power level of removal we have, so I think "interactive" on a seven-mana card can be a big downside. Penumbra Wurm is an online uncommon, if you're okay with those, that's a bit stickier but doesn't have hexproof.
Redcap is super great, of course. It just sticks out as the only hybrid card in a gold section. Balancing hybrids would take up too many slots in a small c/ube though, so I probably shouldn't harp on it.
Nothing that I can think of that's a straight replacement. Spined Thopter or Mortarpod. Or just anything you want to add to colorless.
Flicker synergy is a thing, but I don't know if those decks want the life loss over flickering something like Mulldrifter or a removal creature.
Mind Stone is always awesome for anything that isn't straight aggro.
The green lords are so much worse than the white ones. Trample looks real bad when compared to flying or just tapping out the opponent's team. Still, we got what we got, I guess.
Draft my Peasant Cube.
The archetypes I got down are:
Primary/Secondary
UW - Skies / Blink
UB - Control / Reanimator
UG - Ramp / Tempo (was considering this for either energy or +1/+1 counters
UR - Spells matter / Counter burn (basically same thing)
WB - Aristocrats / control
WR - Tokens / aggro
WG - +1/+1 counters / Go Wide & Tall (overrun/tokens)
BR - Sweeper Control / aggro
BG - Reanimator / The Rock
RG - Energy / +1/+1 Counters
Here's my Future Future Peasant Micro Cube! Its a Future Future cube as I'm testing this out first on Cockatrice to see how it goes. I will obviously need to keep tweaking it and do still have my original cube intact but may transform it to this after testing.
Red and Blue has mostly stayed the same, just a few cards to help the Spells archetype, and buffed up with
Favourable Winds for Skies.
I've implemented +1/+1 counters in Green and White, adding 4 lords for First Strike, Flying, Trample, and Reach (I know I'm missing Elite Scaleguard, but I'm testing the curve as well). There should be plenty of support. Even a few red creatures gain +1/+1 counters, creating competition for such cards.
With Black I decided to go deeper in Aristocrats and Reanimator. Adding discard options like Skirk Ridge Exhumer, and Call of the bloodline for both archetypes, and in green adding Llanowar mentor and Greenseeker to help with discard and ramp options. I do fear there still may be an abdundance of tokens, but these come at a cost. Blue still has the same options to enable reanimator but with an additional Looter il-kor.
RG is the energy aggro deck, lead by Longtusk Cub, and backed up in the 2 artifact Modules for energy and +1/+1 counters. I fear this may come together weakly, but only through drafts I will find out.
The archetypes are definitely more vaired, but it seems the cube may be trying to do too much at once.
Affinity
Legacy:
GBCombo Elves
EDH:
GEzuri, Renegade Leader's Elf Ball
Cube:
180 Peasant Micro Cube
I've taken your advice and posted a different cube up. Will be testing it to see how it goes
Affinity
Legacy:
GBCombo Elves
EDH:
GEzuri, Renegade Leader's Elf Ball
Cube:
180 Peasant Micro Cube
I've updated the cube, and started running deeper archetypes. A few notable changes:
Transguild Promenade -> City of Brass (better fixing for aggro decks)
Rupture Spire -> Gemstone Mine (better fixing for aggro decks)
Added in the +1/+1 Archetypes in GW, updated various cards, no Longshot Squad, keeping 3 lords and Durable Handicraft to help work it.
Halimar Wavewatch -> Rise from the tides (finisher for UR spells archetype)
Krosan Tusker -> Plated Crusher (Great Reanimator and ramp target)
Become Immense -> Gaea's Anthem (Overall better card, works well with Favorable Winds/Intangible Virtue for a beating)
Reanimator gets new tools in:
Dread Return -> Exhume (faster reanimation spell)
Servant of the Conduit -> Greenseeker (works in both reanimator and ramp)
Phyrexian Rager -> Call the Bloodline (Helps with Discard, Blockers for control, and Tokens for Aristocrats)
Affinity
Legacy:
GBCombo Elves
EDH:
GEzuri, Renegade Leader's Elf Ball
Cube:
180 Peasant Micro Cube
I've made quite a few changes to the cube, depowering a few cards and removal. I felt this would help with the environment, as games tended to be more swingy, than grindy.
Go for the throat -> Murder (3cmc over 2cmc and a little more black needed)
Ultimate Price -> Murderous Cut (same reason, becomes a more costly removal)
Amonkhet update:
Swords to Plowshares -> Cast Out (versatile removal, which can be cycled on early)
Village Messenger -> Bloodlust Inciter (Great for giving aggro a hasty beater)
War-name Aspirant -> Bloodrage Brawler (better stats than any red 2 drop, the discard doesn't matter much)
Shrine of Burning Rage -> Ahn-Crop Crasher (another great beater from amonkhet, red has definitely been upgraded. Shrine has inevitability,, hence it goes out)
Shrine of Loyal Legions -> Vizier of Deferment (This shrine was also quite a beating, and still aiming to trim token producers. Vizier has seen some flashy plays though)
Embodiment of Fury -> Staggershock (Red needs more burn than bodies)
Cryptolith Fragment -> Ash Barrens (straight up simple fixing)
It definitely looks like Red Aggro has got a great boost, and will have to monitor how well Control can stand up to this.
Affinity
Legacy:
GBCombo Elves
EDH:
GEzuri, Renegade Leader's Elf Ball
Cube:
180 Peasant Micro Cube