So Nivix Cyclops was a card I had very high hopes for. I really thought it would come in and be an archetype defining card. Then it sucked. It turned on like twice but sometimes that meant squeezing burn spells or something into a window I didn't like, or other games it was a horned turtle and nothing more.
Disappointing.
Consume Strength was an absolute house when my cube was pauper only, and I kept it in because I kept thinking of it in terms of its original environment. Now, Putrefy if much more versatile, and I cut that because I felt that black decks had enough removal in mono-color as it was (already cut Terror and Diabolic Edict). I'm about to cut it for perhaps Cankerous Thirst for a test run or Ebony Treefolk.
I'd have to say Flametongue Kavu. Every time I played it, it never killed anything. It's just so bad.
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j/k
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I'd have to say Mindclaw Shaman for me. When he hit, he was awesome, but he missed more than he hit.. and when I hardcast a 2/2 for 5 that does nothing.... it's pretty demoralizing.
Yeah, same. Probably because I have at least 2 players in my play group that constantly play grindy midrange value decks, and I play control so it's just another piece in the puzzle to take over the game in the long run. Even if you had another land in your deck instead of Urza's Factory, it's not like it would win you the game anyways (unless the Factory's colorless mana was color screwing you). It just gives you the -option- to make tokens.
Crystal Ball was a bust, and probably the biggest busts are Sensei's Divining Top, Brainstorm, and Aether Vial. Finding out that those cards weren't all that amazing in CU/be was a big "HUH?" moment.
Can I say Etched Oracle? I only built my cube fairly recently and had that guy in there at the start since I have an irrational love for it, but it went last pick almost every time I did a test draft and had to be cut.
My main problem with it was that it has no immediate effect on the board or the cards in your hand. Things like Preordain and Impulse are much better value for finding another answer/threat now rather than waiting a turn or two (which is often too late).
As with Urza's Factory, Ball gets better if your cube is on the slower/grindier side of things (which is fine if that's how you prefer your environment). It was just too slow/low impact over here unfortunately.
You're totally right, Crystal Ball sucks at immediate impact, but that's just not what the card's function is. Pelakka Wurm sucks at being an aggro beater, yet it is a fantastic card. Silly comparisons aside, I still like Crystal Ball. Some of my most famous misses are already documented: Urza's Factory, Sensei's Divining Top, Brainstorm. Also on the list: Bascially every draft-format rock-solid card that I liked and then ported to cube and it sucked. Dawnglare Invoker is on the "working" end of the spectrum, and there are much worse...
Specialities about the cube: U tempo, B aggro, R slow-ish are supported. G aggro is not.
Currently trying to support tokens in all colors but blue, in different ways: W pumps them, B sacrifices them, R suicides them, G has decent-sized ones.
cube list outdated
*literal C/U definition according to gatherer
**some cards are banned. Library of Alexandria, Land Tax, Sol Ring.
. Even if you had another land in your deck instead of Urza's Factory, it's not like it would win you the game anyways (unless the Factory's colorless mana was color screwing you). It just gives you the -option- to make tokens.
The problem with this is that colorless lands like the card that randomly gets you a creature from the yard are so low impact that, while they might not lose a game for you, they don't win a lot either. They dilute packs.
I still like crystal ball. At first, we thought it was absurd (as it was in M11 limited), but I think it's still a decent card. It just doesn't fit everywhere.
The card selection is pretty amazing, and it basically just says "If you don't want to, you're not drawing any lands / low-impact spells for the rest of the game".
It's been cut from decks, but there were decks he was very good in.
I like Chainer's Edict. In an aggro deck it's usually fine since you can often cast it when your opponent just has a single dude out. In control, you eventually get a 2-for-1 with flashback.
In addition to making sure I don't have too much removal available, I've started pushing for variety and adding some conditional removal. I'm fine with having a couple of the best spells available, but some that come with conditions is cool too in terms of making drafting and games more interesting. You might have noticed that is also what Wizards has been doing in recent sets: moving most of the unconditional removal spells up a rarity from common and uncommon to uncommon and rare . For example, I'm okay with Doom Blade and Go For The Throat, but I don't also need Ultimate Price and Terror. Instead, I'm looking to re-add Stab Wound because it's not the greatest at pure removal, but has good synergy with black's bleeder/drain cards.
This is basically following my evolution of having a pure goodstuff cube toward supporting archetypes and making the most fun draft and play environment I can.
I don't even know why people play edicts.
The ones I use are the above 2 and fleshbag marauder.
Gotta kill that calcite snapper somehow.
I don't get the hatred for cards like crystal ball. Sure they do nothing to the board state but you don't play them in decks that can't support that. I'll spend 3 and sac a land on turn 8 to only draw gas for the rest of the game in my removal-heavy control deck. The card itself doesn't put you ahead on board but the advantage it generates translates into a winning board position very quickly while also ensuring a huge advantage in a long game. Give it 3 turns and you're winning, give it 12 turns and you're still winning - the card is kinda a must-answer. Either you answer it or it will just bury you.
Infest was really lackluster for me which is strange since pyroclasm has been really great.
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I write about cube and run cube drafts on magic online.
How many people run calcite snapper? I know some do, but I don't.
Citynoise aren't you the one who doesn't like foresee? For 4 mana on one card I scry 2. For 4 mana on the other I scry 4 and draw two. I don't need to invest much more than that to win the game most days, but you need 3to4 activations of crystal ball to equal the output of foresee.
also crystal ball is foresee for nonblue control. not to mention that repeatable effects will always look terrible compared to a one-off, similar effect, so i don't really see why foresee and crystal ball are being compared.
How many people run calcite snapper? I know some do, but I don't.
Citynoise aren't you the one who doesn't like foresee? For 4 mana on one card I scry 2. For 4 mana on the other I scry 4 and draw two. I don't need to invest much more than that to win the game most days, but you need 3to4 activations of crystal ball to equal the output of foresee.
I'd put foresee at like 6/10 with a range of +-1 and ball at 4/10 but with a range of +-4. It is on average very crap but in the decks that want it is just crushing, much moreso than foresee.
Edit:What palingesia said, I like it the most in GB and GW decks.
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Goblin Bombardment. One of my favorite EDH cards, and seemed good when I was theorycrafting but it never really did anything. I think red is just the wrong color for this effect, at least in my cube as Mortarpod has been consistently good.
When I added bombardment like a month ago it was shaky yet showed promise. Now it's (probably) pretty good.
Being able to make all of your opponent's.removal just removal without any upsides has proven to be pretty strong.
I expected big things for Bombardment and it delivered. The card is nutty. I'm so happy I threw it in. Great with Blood Artist and the like. Great for blanking removal. Great for persist and undying guys. The list goes on... such a good card imo.
Nivix Cyclops was a card I had very high hopes for. I really thought it would come in and be an archetype defining card. Then it sucked. It turned on like twice but sometimes that meant squeezing burn spells or something into a window I didn't like, or other games it was a horned turtle and nothing more.
Disappointing.
What cards have let you down the most?
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
Lol'd
.........
j/k
.......
I'd have to say Mindclaw Shaman for me. When he hit, he was awesome, but he missed more than he hit.. and when I hardcast a 2/2 for 5 that does nothing.... it's pretty demoralizing.
My Peasant Cube thread !!! (380 cards)
Draft my Peasant Cube on Cube Cobra !!!
hahahahaha, I actually thought the same thing. [also Mirrodin Luminous Angel.]
I drafted a C/U cube that used Mindclaw Shaman as well, mostly was do-nothing, alas.
I used to write cube articles on StarCityGames, now for GatheringMagic and podcast about cube (w/Antknee42.)
Urza's Factory is a decent card in my cube.
I actually had to check my list to see if I'm still running Crystal Ball. I now know what's getting cut for Epochrasite.
My Type 4 stack (Cube Tutor link)
Crystal Ball was a bust, and probably the biggest busts are Sensei's Divining Top, Brainstorm, and Aether Vial. Finding out that those cards weren't all that amazing in CU/be was a big "HUH?" moment.
Cubetutor link - 380 Peasant Cube
CubeTutor: www.cubetutor.com/cubeblog/72
Thread: http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=512410
Thanks
AznO
Opm's Cube on MTGS
Wife's Etsy Store (Hair Accessories for Girls)
You're totally right, Crystal Ball sucks at immediate impact, but that's just not what the card's function is. Pelakka Wurm sucks at being an aggro beater, yet it is a fantastic card. Silly comparisons aside, I still like Crystal Ball. Some of my most famous misses are already documented: Urza's Factory, Sensei's Divining Top, Brainstorm. Also on the list: Bascially every draft-format rock-solid card that I liked and then ported to cube and it sucked. Dawnglare Invoker is on the "working" end of the spectrum, and there are much worse...
450, Peasant*, unpowered**
Specialities about the cube:
U tempo, B aggro, R slow-ish are supported. G aggro is not.
Currently trying to support tokens in all colors but blue, in different ways: W pumps them, B sacrifices them, R suicides them, G has decent-sized ones.
cube list outdated
*literal C/U definition according to gatherer
**some cards are banned. Library of Alexandria, Land Tax, Sol Ring.
The problem with this is that colorless lands like the card that randomly gets you a creature from the yard are so low impact that, while they might not lose a game for you, they don't win a lot either. They dilute packs.
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
The card selection is pretty amazing, and it basically just says "If you don't want to, you're not drawing any lands / low-impact spells for the rest of the game".
It's been cut from decks, but there were decks he was very good in.
The ones I use are the above 2 and fleshbag marauder.
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
In addition to making sure I don't have too much removal available, I've started pushing for variety and adding some conditional removal. I'm fine with having a couple of the best spells available, but some that come with conditions is cool too in terms of making drafting and games more interesting. You might have noticed that is also what Wizards has been doing in recent sets: moving most of the unconditional removal spells up a rarity from common and uncommon to uncommon and rare . For example, I'm okay with Doom Blade and Go For The Throat, but I don't also need Ultimate Price and Terror. Instead, I'm looking to re-add Stab Wound because it's not the greatest at pure removal, but has good synergy with black's bleeder/drain cards.
This is basically following my evolution of having a pure goodstuff cube toward supporting archetypes and making the most fun draft and play environment I can.
Gotta kill that calcite snapper somehow.
I don't get the hatred for cards like crystal ball. Sure they do nothing to the board state but you don't play them in decks that can't support that. I'll spend 3 and sac a land on turn 8 to only draw gas for the rest of the game in my removal-heavy control deck. The card itself doesn't put you ahead on board but the advantage it generates translates into a winning board position very quickly while also ensuring a huge advantage in a long game. Give it 3 turns and you're winning, give it 12 turns and you're still winning - the card is kinda a must-answer. Either you answer it or it will just bury you.
Infest was really lackluster for me which is strange since pyroclasm has been really great.
peasantcube.blogspot.com
Citynoise aren't you the one who doesn't like foresee? For 4 mana on one card I scry 2. For 4 mana on the other I scry 4 and draw two. I don't need to invest much more than that to win the game most days, but you need 3to4 activations of crystal ball to equal the output of foresee.
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
also crystal ball is foresee for nonblue control. not to mention that repeatable effects will always look terrible compared to a one-off, similar effect, so i don't really see why foresee and crystal ball are being compared.
I'd put foresee at like 6/10 with a range of +-1 and ball at 4/10 but with a range of +-4. It is on average very crap but in the decks that want it is just crushing, much moreso than foresee.
Edit:What palingesia said, I like it the most in GB and GW decks.
peasantcube.blogspot.com
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
My Trade Thread
Being able to make all of your opponent's.removal just removal without any upsides has proven to be pretty strong.
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
My Peasant Cube thread !!! (380 cards)
Draft my Peasant Cube on Cube Cobra !!!
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