Type: Peasant (Commons and Uncommons)
Size: 540
Breakdown: 76 each color, 60 multi-color, 60 colorless, and 40 nonbasic lands
Proxies: No
"Un" Cards: No
Pimped: yes as much as possible. Some cards are not available as foils / full arts / promos though.
Banned: Skullclamp, Sol Ring - testing everything else for now
This is my Peasant cube. I haven't been able to play or update it for ages, and my old threat in this forum is long gone, so here is a fresh threat.
My cube is usually drafted by 4-6 people but rather sporadic, so I have been looking for information and experience reports in this forum mostly. I want to mention Browndog and his Peasantville cube here especially, because I have been following it for years now and loved all updates and the reasoning behind every update. Same goes for Calibretto. Your cubes were always good inspiration.
Currently, my cube is under construction, so not all cards in the list are going to stay. I have been struggling to find a good source of information though as the threats here are all pretty dead and I would really love to discuss some things. In particular what to do with my white section, +1/+1 or life link, blink or a good mix? Where do you go for arch type discussions nowadays or cube help?
I love that you were inspired by my cube man! Here's to the best format ever! Glad to have you with us.
I don't quite have experience with that size of a cube, as my cube usually fluctuated between 375-390 over the past 8 years its been around.
I would always start by asking yourself, "What archetypes am I supporting?" This is the easiest way to know what's good enough to make it into your cube. Every card I put into my cube is in there for a specific reason. Few exceptions for power level , but for the most part, they all support a pre-determined role in one or more archetypes that I have enabled for every color / color pair.
I went through every two color combination in my cube and figured out what I wanted those decks to be doing. Then I went through every cmc of each color and made sure there were cards there that supported those archetypes. There were cards that were specifically for one kind of deck and some that were meant to overlap. For instance, white has a lifegain theme in Orzhov and a flying them in Azorius. That is why I added Healer's Hawk into my cube. That card supports both of these strategies, while also being a decent card to enchant in the Selesnya deck.
When you define each two color combination into being 1-3 different strategies (not sure how that mindset changes at your cube size), your card selection becomes a lot easier. Find cards that support that archetype very well as well as some cards that support it decently, but overlap with another one.
Biggest thing to keep in mind.. a lesson I learned the hard way over 8 years of cubing.. is SYNERGY > POWER LEVEL. Don't forget that. I've moved into a more synergistic and focused card pool and have never regretted it. Less 2 for 1's and more archetype cards lead to way more interesting games of magic.
You need to figure out your archetypes first. Also, 540 cards is enough for 12 people to draft; if you only have 4-6 people drafting, 300-400 might be a better size and allow you to pull your less synergetic cards while still allowing variation from one draft to the next. I run 400 cards, and our drafts are usually 6-8 people.
For my cube, I brainstormed archetypes for each guild, as well as 2-3 for each color. Cards that fit multiple archetypes are especially nice because they fit well into multiple builds. For example, a card with an ETB to add +1/+1 counters fits well in blink and +1/+1 counters decks.
If you determine your archetypes, making suggestions for cuts or additions will become a lot easier.
Thank you for your responses! I have been here since a decade or longer, I once went under the name Cubing here (I think - can't find any of the old stuff).
The size is due to two things, one, we usually play 2 drafts when we meet, so my cube supports two drafts back to back without having to set up the second draft before, and second, I am terrible when it comes to cuts/swapping cards. I am fond of so many cards, it's always a pain to find cards that have to go.
I also tried to add a few Warriors here and there that I felt were okay on their own too and added Kor Blademaster for Testing. It has a lot of mini Synergies and I wanted to see how it performs. It goes extremely well with all those red Goblin Warriors, profits from +1/+1 counters and goes well with Oketra's Monument and a piece of Equipment or Imperious Perfect (A pet card of mine).
The size is due to two things, one, we usually play 2 drafts when we meet, so my cube supports two drafts back to back without having to set up the second draft before, and second, I am terrible when it comes to cuts/swapping cards. I am fond of so many cards, it's always a pain to find cards that have to go.
I can see the advantage, but I also see several disadvantages.
- How well distributed are the cards/colors for each draft? Does Draft 1 have more green cards and Draft 2 less just do to random shuffling? Or do you actually make an even split beforehand?
- Same concept but with archetypes - does Draft 1 have enough support for a particular archetype, but then Draft 2 lacks the support even though it has a signpost card? For example, the majority of flyers in one draft but Empyrean Eagle in the other?
Overall, why not just build two smaller cubes? You could do a better job balancing colors, supporting archetypes, and guaranteeing that the proper cards will be available, and this would even allow you to make different archetypes for each cube. I have three cubes (Peasant, Un-Cube, and a 2HG micro-cube) with a fourth on the way (Tiny Leaders); this allows for very unique drafting experiences, and each is fully supported.
So White is heavily focused on tokens (you listed it for all four guilds), with blink, flyers, aristocrats, and +1/+1 counters as other supported archetypes. How about the non-white colors and guilds? What are their supported archetypes?
I also tried to add a few Warriors here and there that I felt were okay on their own too
I also found a Warrior subtheme forming in my cube. Mardu Woe-Reaper was just a good 2/1 for W, Bramblewood Paragon supported +1/+1 counters, Blood-Chin Rager gave itself menace, and I had 21 Warriors just because they were good cards in their own right. I'm not sure anyone in my group has ever tried drafting Warriors.deck, but I hope to see it come together some day.
and added Kor Blademaster for Testing. It has a lot of mini Synergies and I wanted to see how it performs. It goes extremely well with all those red Goblin Warriors, profits from +1/+1 counters and goes well with Oketra's Monument and a piece of Equipment or Imperious Perfect (A pet card of mine).
Seems like an interesting card with the right support, but it says "Equipped Warriors you control have double strike."
You have 13 total equipment out of 540 cards (less than 2.5%) and 29 other Warriors (less than 6%) that his ability can affect (+2 other cards that can become/create a Warrior). I find the odds pretty abysmal that you draft him, draft some equipment, get him, another Warrior (again, he already has Double Strike and so only affects other creatures), and an equipment in play to get a bonus that can be shut off just by killing him, killing the other creature, or destroying the equipment. 99% of the time, he's just a Fencing Ace. Would you consider Fencing Ace?
If the cube was half the size but with the same support numbers, it would still be pretty low but far more likely.
- Yes I do indeed make boosters with an even split before the daft night.
Overall, why not just build two smaller cubes? You could do a better job balancing colors, supporting archetypes, and guaranteeing that the proper cards will be available, and this would even allow you to make different archetypes for each cube.
A smaller cube may be a project for the future, for now, I would like to stick to the 540. Thinking about it, I might try something like a base cube at 360 or so and then certain Expansion packs that add an arch type or can be swapped for an arch type. Would be really useful to have an overview/breakdown of the of Best in slot cards per color and arch type etc.
Seems like an interesting card with the right support, but it says "Equipped Warriors you control have double strike."
You have 13 total equipment out of 540 cards (less than 2.5%) and 29 other Warriors (less than 6%) that his ability can affect (+2 other cards that can become/create a Warrior). I find the odds pretty abysmal that you draft him, draft some equipment, get him, another Warrior (again, he already has Double Strike and so only affects other creatures), and an equipment in play to get a bonus that can be shut off just by killing him, killing the other creature, or destroying the equipment. 99% of the time, he's just a Fencing Ace. Would you consider Fencing Ace?
If the cube was half the size but with the same support numbers, it would still be pretty low but far more likely.
Fencing Ace: clear no, although he profits from any pump/aura/equipment spells and becomes a respectable beater, that alone is definitely not enough to warrant a card in a cube, even at this size.
Fencing Ace with a tiny upside that sometimes can be relevant seems kind of fun though.
I somehow liked the idea that people could end up with small tribal decks such as Elves or Goblins and as many of those are Warriors too, Blood-Chin Rager and Kor Blademaster seemed like fun additions. RB Goblins with Sling-Gang Lieutenant and Rager seems strong as most Goblins happen to be Warriors also. RW Goblins/Warriors with Mortar Pot and Heirloom Blade or Grafted Wargear using Enlightened Tutor to search for either equipment or white Enchantment Removal like Oblivion Ring or Goblin Bombardment..
Maybe I am too optimistic, but I wanted to try. I appreciate the feedback and new views a lot, keep them coming please.
If anyone else has more recent articles, I'd love to read them, too. Sometimes I wish I had more time for content creation, because I'd love to see more resources out in the wild.
We had a cube draft this weekend, 4 Players. It was the first time the cube was drafted after the overhaul and it was a blast! I took it down with a pretty amazing UW List:
Hey JustThisandThat. I love this list. Long time peasant cuber. My group gets together once a week to do 8 man drafts and I'm always looking for ways to keep the format fresh with new cards and archetypes. How has the blink archetype treated you? I've gone back and forth on this one as ephemerate, ghostly flicker and soulherder have been just insane and often unbeatable in a halfway decent deck. Has this been the case for you?
(CubeTutor Visual Spoiler)
(Cube Cobra Visual Spoiler)
Size: 540
Breakdown: 76 each color, 60 multi-color, 60 colorless, and 40 nonbasic lands
Proxies: No
"Un" Cards: No
Pimped: yes as much as possible. Some cards are not available as foils / full arts / promos though.
Banned: Skullclamp, Sol Ring - testing everything else for now
My cube is usually drafted by 4-6 people but rather sporadic, so I have been looking for information and experience reports in this forum mostly. I want to mention Browndog and his Peasantville cube here especially, because I have been following it for years now and loved all updates and the reasoning behind every update. Same goes for Calibretto. Your cubes were always good inspiration.
Currently, my cube is under construction, so not all cards in the list are going to stay. I have been struggling to find a good source of information though as the threats here are all pretty dead and I would really love to discuss some things. In particular what to do with my white section, +1/+1 or life link, blink or a good mix? Where do you go for arch type discussions nowadays or cube help?
Looking forward to all feedback and help!
I don't quite have experience with that size of a cube, as my cube usually fluctuated between 375-390 over the past 8 years its been around.
I would always start by asking yourself, "What archetypes am I supporting?" This is the easiest way to know what's good enough to make it into your cube. Every card I put into my cube is in there for a specific reason. Few exceptions for power level , but for the most part, they all support a pre-determined role in one or more archetypes that I have enabled for every color / color pair.
I went through every two color combination in my cube and figured out what I wanted those decks to be doing. Then I went through every cmc of each color and made sure there were cards there that supported those archetypes. There were cards that were specifically for one kind of deck and some that were meant to overlap. For instance, white has a lifegain theme in Orzhov and a flying them in Azorius. That is why I added Healer's Hawk into my cube. That card supports both of these strategies, while also being a decent card to enchant in the Selesnya deck.
When you define each two color combination into being 1-3 different strategies (not sure how that mindset changes at your cube size), your card selection becomes a lot easier. Find cards that support that archetype very well as well as some cards that support it decently, but overlap with another one.
Biggest thing to keep in mind.. a lesson I learned the hard way over 8 years of cubing.. is SYNERGY > POWER LEVEL. Don't forget that. I've moved into a more synergistic and focused card pool and have never regretted it. Less 2 for 1's and more archetype cards lead to way more interesting games of magic.
My Peasant Cube thread !!! (380 cards)
Draft my Peasant Cube on Cube Cobra !!!
You need to figure out your archetypes first. Also, 540 cards is enough for 12 people to draft; if you only have 4-6 people drafting, 300-400 might be a better size and allow you to pull your less synergetic cards while still allowing variation from one draft to the next. I run 400 cards, and our drafts are usually 6-8 people.
For my cube, I brainstormed archetypes for each guild, as well as 2-3 for each color. Cards that fit multiple archetypes are especially nice because they fit well into multiple builds. For example, a card with an ETB to add +1/+1 counters fits well in blink and +1/+1 counters decks.
If you determine your archetypes, making suggestions for cuts or additions will become a lot easier.
2023 Average Peasant Cube|and Discussion
Because I have more decks than fit in a signature
Useful Resources:
MTGSalvation tags
EDHREC
ManabaseCrafter
The size is due to two things, one, we usually play 2 drafts when we meet, so my cube supports two drafts back to back without having to set up the second draft before, and second, I am terrible when it comes to cuts/swapping cards. I am fond of so many cards, it's always a pain to find cards that have to go.
Regarding the arch types with white:
UW: Blink, Flyiers, Tokens
RW: Aggro, Tokens, Go wide
BW: Aristocrats, Tokens, drain
GW: Tokens, +1/+1 Counters,
Card choices:
UW:
Empyrean Eagle - Flyers Lord
Migratory Route - Flyers, Tokens
Soulherder - Blink
Elite Guardmage - Flyers, Blink
Reflector Mage - Blink
Dovin, Hand of Control - Hybrid (Testing)
RW:
sunhome guildmage - Aggro, Token
Rally the Peasants - Aggro, Token
Boros Charm - Aggro, Token
Lightning Helix - Anything
Heroic Reinforcements - Token
Spitemare - Hybrid
BW:
Hidden Stockpile - Aristocrats, Tokens
Lingering Souls - All-star
Tidehollow Sculler - Aristocrats, All-Star
Cruel Celebrant - Aristocrats
Cliffhaven Vampire - unsure about this one, lots of little synergies
Kaya, Bane of the Dead - Hybrid (Testing)
GW:
Good-Fortune Unicorn - +1/+1, Token,
Qasali Pridemage - All-Star
Conclave Cavalier - Tokens, Beater (Testing)
Trostani's Summoner - Tokens, Ramp
Behemoth Sledge - Was Armadillo Cloak, Testing again, very powerful card
Kitchen Finks - Hybrid, All-Star, Combo piece
I also tried to add a few Warriors here and there that I felt were okay on their own too and added Kor Blademaster for Testing. It has a lot of mini Synergies and I wanted to see how it performs. It goes extremely well with all those red Goblin Warriors, profits from +1/+1 counters and goes well with Oketra's Monument and a piece of Equipment or Imperious Perfect (A pet card of mine).
- How well distributed are the cards/colors for each draft? Does Draft 1 have more green cards and Draft 2 less just do to random shuffling? Or do you actually make an even split beforehand?
- Same concept but with archetypes - does Draft 1 have enough support for a particular archetype, but then Draft 2 lacks the support even though it has a signpost card? For example, the majority of flyers in one draft but Empyrean Eagle in the other?
Overall, why not just build two smaller cubes? You could do a better job balancing colors, supporting archetypes, and guaranteeing that the proper cards will be available, and this would even allow you to make different archetypes for each cube. I have three cubes (Peasant, Un-Cube, and a 2HG micro-cube) with a fourth on the way (Tiny Leaders); this allows for very unique drafting experiences, and each is fully supported. So White is heavily focused on tokens (you listed it for all four guilds), with blink, flyers, aristocrats, and +1/+1 counters as other supported archetypes. How about the non-white colors and guilds? What are their supported archetypes? I also found a Warrior subtheme forming in my cube. Mardu Woe-Reaper was just a good 2/1 for W, Bramblewood Paragon supported +1/+1 counters, Blood-Chin Rager gave itself menace, and I had 21 Warriors just because they were good cards in their own right. I'm not sure anyone in my group has ever tried drafting Warriors.deck, but I hope to see it come together some day. Seems like an interesting card with the right support, but it says "Equipped Warriors you control have double strike."
You have 13 total equipment out of 540 cards (less than 2.5%) and 29 other Warriors (less than 6%) that his ability can affect (+2 other cards that can become/create a Warrior). I find the odds pretty abysmal that you draft him, draft some equipment, get him, another Warrior (again, he already has Double Strike and so only affects other creatures), and an equipment in play to get a bonus that can be shut off just by killing him, killing the other creature, or destroying the equipment. 99% of the time, he's just a Fencing Ace. Would you consider Fencing Ace?
If the cube was half the size but with the same support numbers, it would still be pretty low but far more likely.
2023 Average Peasant Cube|and Discussion
Because I have more decks than fit in a signature
Useful Resources:
MTGSalvation tags
EDHREC
ManabaseCrafter
A smaller cube may be a project for the future, for now, I would like to stick to the 540. Thinking about it, I might try something like a base cube at 360 or so and then certain Expansion packs that add an arch type or can be swapped for an arch type. Would be really useful to have an overview/breakdown of the of Best in slot cards per color and arch type etc.
Fencing Ace: clear no, although he profits from any pump/aura/equipment spells and becomes a respectable beater, that alone is definitely not enough to warrant a card in a cube, even at this size.
Fencing Ace with a tiny upside that sometimes can be relevant seems kind of fun though.
I somehow liked the idea that people could end up with small tribal decks such as Elves or Goblins and as many of those are Warriors too, Blood-Chin Rager and Kor Blademaster seemed like fun additions. RB Goblins with Sling-Gang Lieutenant and Rager seems strong as most Goblins happen to be Warriors also. RW Goblins/Warriors with Mortar Pot and Heirloom Blade or Grafted Wargear using Enlightened Tutor to search for either equipment or white Enchantment Removal like Oblivion Ring or Goblin Bombardment..
Maybe I am too optimistic, but I wanted to try. I appreciate the feedback and new views a lot, keep them coming please.
Are there any 2020 articles/forum discussions/other sources to read about the state of different arch types and the according best in slot picks nowadays?
I.e. white - blink: Thraben Inspector, Kor Skyfisher, Attended Knight, Flickerwisp, Fiend Hunter, etc.
White - All stars: Mother of Runes, Swords to Plowshares, and so forth?
If anyone else has more recent articles, I'd love to read them, too. Sometimes I wish I had more time for content creation, because I'd love to see more resources out in the wild.
2023 Average Peasant Cube|and Discussion
Because I have more decks than fit in a signature
Useful Resources:
MTGSalvation tags
EDHREC
ManabaseCrafter
Creatures:
Pteramander, Spined Thoopter, Augury Owl, Empyrian Eagle, Fairground Warden, Reflector Mage, Cloudfin Seer, Pilgrim's Eye, Tide Skimmer, Clone, Palace Jailer, Custodi Squire, Sentinel of the Eternal Watch
Other Spells:
Pacification Array, Force Spike, Bubble Snare, Manaleak, Psionic Blast, Loxodon Warhammer, Aetherize, Talrands Invocation, Control Magic, Migratory Route
Lands:
Evolving Wilds, City of Brass, Ancient Tomb, Vivid Creek
Please keep the feedback coming, I really enjoy talking about card choices and different views!