I've actually thought this would be fun to do. In a similar fashion to the "draft the person's above cube" thread, it is quite possible for us to "bash on" or "tear apart" one specific person's cube, one week at a time. I think hearing other people's honest comments wihtout any negative repercussions would provide both information *for* the bashed cube designer, as well as the community to have insight on why said cuber designed it this way. We all share about like.. idk 80% of cards to our cubes, but differ from one another in that last 20%.
Idk, what do you guys think? Worth doing? If you're totally down for it, just bash on my cube as much as you want. Call me out on all the "wtf, why this card" inclusions and non-bos you can find. I think it be quite fun.
Your white curve isn't really cutting it for me. More 4's than 3's?
Is Azorius Arrester good?
Steppe Lynx in 2016?
Attended Knight, 2016?
Sandstone Bridge, any year.
Azure Mage seems too slow.
I like counterspells but 9 in 360 seems pretty high to me. Surely you could cut some of the worse ones to play some new cards.
Your black aggressive cards are big rather than evasive. Does that work out well enough? I tried Wretched Anurid early in my cube and often found it was giving my opponent a decent clock against me
Gatekeeper of Malakir is a tough card to play.
Mogg Fanatic, 2016?
How is Spiketail Drakeling? Seems neat.
What mode does Thassa's Emissary get cast in usually?
I'm kind of worried this thread is going to turn into a bit of "why isn't your cube my cube?". Without actually sitting down and drafting a format a couple of times, it's really difficult to get any kind of feel for it, especially when most of our cubes all have at least 200 cards in common.
There's a number of cards I'd like to bash, but I'm running most of them, and I'm too fragile to open myself up to legitimate criticism.
loljk
I'm playing Intangible Virtue and other token support and I'm about to cut Doomed Traveler for being terrible. Is it just for Skies?
Timely Hordemate seems to push an aggressive White deck, but you're only playing one of the White 2/1s for 1?
Like half of your blue 2s aren't (arguably) 2s. Does this ever cause problems? I can see it being fine for control decks (and control seems easy with all those counterspells), but how often does Blue tempo or Skies work out?
Is the surge on Containment Membrane really good enough to make up for the fact that it doesn't tap the creature?
Do Black decks ever lose games in your c/ube? The B removal suite looks pretty loaded. Is the inclusion of Bloodhunter Bat enough to balance it out?
Do Black decks ever win a game in your c/ube? Mire Boa is in there!
I'm not sure I'd pack Scion Summoner once you're up to 8 green 3s.
Needs more Golem tribal support.
[[Insert "IN 2016???" Joke Here]]
Sprouting Thrinax looks very lonely as the only 3-color card. In all seriousness, do you find that he's good enough to push people into Jund? Can he ever come down on turn 3? Is he good enough on other turns?
Snakeform is actually just really cool and I'm always looking for new hybrids to try. How's it faring?
Seems like a good thread idea. It's awkward to actually discuss cards in the "Draft Above" thread as like every time it happens someone gets skipped or takes the conversation out of the thread.
Also while I agree that this forum is subject to a good degree of inbreeding and homogenization, when you make weird choices with cards you ought to be able to defend them. More eyes on something is pretty much always a good thing (unless that thing is a human shoulder, a la Magnifying Glass). And, of course, just because someone criticizes your choices doesn't mean you have to change them.
A) Do Black decks ever lose games in your c/ube? The B removal suite looks pretty loaded. Is the inclusion of Bloodhunter Bat enough to balance it out?
B) It's awkward to actually discuss cards in the "Draft Above" thread as like every time it happens someone gets skipped or takes the conversation out of the thread.
A) I just had a terrible day and this cheered me up tremendously
B) Also some lowbrow people get decidedly snippy when you talk about their draft.
One helpful thing I can say is that your cube runs a very large number of cards that are super high variance (or have extremely low floors)
I run some of these so it's not like I think most of these are necessarily bad but having so many at once is something I'd not do
I played that card for a while and it was cast just as much for blue. Unless there is some hybrid balance, half mana, thing going on here that, obviously, I am unaware of.
Even Cackler in the black section makes me feel weird.
I guess in addition to the roasting, I should step in to defend myself. Before I do so, I'll just mention that I try to not run any duplicate cards. I want my cube to have the highest possible variance of cards possible. Of course this isn't perfect, such as the inclusion ofCarnophageandDiregraf Ghoul, which for the most part are identical. In addition, I try not to run things that are for the most part, "worse" than another card. The first comparison that comes to mind would be Nezumi Cutthroat and Dauthi Horror.
These two things listed above may give reason to my selections.
- Gatekeeper of Malakir seems super hard to get to work. (btw, this is NOT a race joke even though it could be read as one)
- Bloodhunter Bat. nuff said.
- Orzhov Bloodhunter Bat. WHAT?
- Looming Spire seems worse than Teetering Peaks and the other unplayable red spell land I can't be bothered to remember.
- Splicers? Is this 2013?
Gatekeeper is ALWAYS the next card to be cut from my cube. He IS hard to cast.
I like Bloodhunter Bat.
I don't like my orzhov section at all. I want to replace almost every card in orzhov. Looming Spire is just in here for testing I suppose. Same with Sandstone Bridge.
I must be the only one that enjoys the splicers. I really enjoy Wing Splicer.
Your white curve isn't really cutting it for me. More 4's than 3's?
Is Azorius Arrester good?
Steppe Lynx in 2016?
Attended Knight, 2016?
Sandstone Bridge, any year.
Azure Mage seems too slow.
9 counterspells
Mogg Fanatic, 2016?
How is Spiketail Drakeling? Seems neat.
What mode does Thassa's Emissary get cast in usually?
Azorius Arrester is solid in aggro and control I think. He's never a dead draw either. If you're an aggro deck on turn 5 and wanna get some dudes past that w/e creature on the other side, play him out and enjoy. If you previously casted Diregraf Ghoul on turn 1, then you can just part the sea with Azorius Arrester on turn 2.
Similarly, on the defensive side, you can play him out to delay a swinger and he trades up into most 3drops the following turn. Steppe Lynx is also solid early, but dead late, which I feel is the case for a decent number of aggro cards. Attended Knight is.. it goes in every single white deck, but *shrugs* isn't good at any particular one thing.
I just added Azure Mage in place of ... something. Haven't seen it in play yet. Remove Soul and Dismiss are always right around the corner from being cut. Mogg Fanatic is in cuz I enjoy having some amount of control cards in red, instead of them all being aggro. He's not anything fantastic.
I actually don't like Spiketail Drakeling. I just put him in as a spacefiller. He's also the next card to be cut. Thassa's Emissary is often cast bestow'd on a small evasive card.
Leelue's list
I'll respond to this separately/later, cuz it's so long.
Cards I despise: Containment Membrane: Narcolepsy or Singing Bell Strike are definitely better options.. Blind Creeper: You'll find that he dies a lot. Play Wretched Anurid if you want a semi decent, still bad 3/3 for 2. Looming Spires: I found that red aggro decks really don't want their lands coming into play tapped unless it's Ghitu Encampment Mire Boa: Swampwalk... Snakeform: This card in the Green section bothers me. Plumeveil: Can't say I'm a big fan of a defensive card like this in a guild section. or at all for that matter. Sprouting Thrinax: Is he your only tri-color card. It's bothering me. Urza's Factory: Too slow.
Oh and.. Right on with the Bloodhunter Bat!
I understand the dislike of Containment Membrane. It's only in as a test. It hasn't seen play, but i don't think it's going to stay in for long. Blind Creeperdoes die a lot. But he also doesn't die a lot. Even if he gets in somewhere between 2 and 5 damage, that's plenty damage for me to enjoy. With that all being said, he *is* the worst 2drop black aggro card I have. Looming Spires - I wish I had room for this card. I like the 360 size, but I liked almost every single new ETB effect land from BFZ. I'm super aware that they aren't solid picks Mire Boa is here to stay. Black's just gonna have to figure out how to deal with taking 2 a turn. I remember years ago doing the math between Mire Boa and River Boa, and Mire Boa came out on top for reasons I can't remember. Snakeform is in the green section cuz it replaced Wildsize. Wildsize and Snakeform both (for me) were "win combat, draw a card." Meh. I'm not too picky with the hybrid thing. Plumeveil is actually a downgrade from Wall of Denial. Unexciting. I've never thought about the "defensive card like this in a guild section" before.. Something to think about! Sprouting Thrinax is always the next card out. I should get rid of him. He never makes it into any decks cuz 3color decks are not quite as common (although possible). I shuold do this after I finish this post. URza's Factory is slow. But it's solid in those mono-blue decks that I sometimes have going on, or in a blue/green deck that's gotten to the late-late game.
I'm playing Intangible Virtue and other token support and I'm about to cut Doomed Traveler for being terrible. Is it just for Skies? Timely Hordemate seems to push an aggressive White deck, but you're only playing one of the White 2/1s for 1?
Like half of your blue 2s aren't (arguably) 2s. Does this ever cause problems? I can see it being fine for control decks (and control seems easy with all those counterspells), but how often does Blue tempo or Skies work out?
Is the surge on Containment Membrane really good enough to make up for the fact that it doesn't tap the creature?
Do Black decks ever lose games in your c/ube? The B removal suite looks pretty loaded. Is the inclusion of Bloodhunter Bat enough to balance it out?
Do Black decks ever win a game in your c/ube? Mire Boa is in there!
I'm not sure I'd pack Scion Summoner once you're up to 8 green 3s.
Needs more Golem tribal support. Sprouting Thrinax looks very lonely as the only 3-color card. In all seriousness, do you find that he's good enough to push people into Jund? Can he ever come down on turn 3? Is he good enough on other turns? Snakeform is actually just really cool and I'm always looking for new hybrids to try. How's it faring?
Doomed Traveler is not in for the flyer's or tokens deck. I like him a lot in the defensive white decks. two blockers against a red/black aggro. two chump blockers in the midgame against whoever. Timely Hordemate is super solid, which I think most of us agree on. I am only running one of the 2/1 for W cuz I don't wanna run duplicates. This might also answer reasons on why I have Steppe Lynx which some don't particularly like (which I suggest to try! He's solid from like turns 1-4 in an aggro deck).
The removal package? I don't think I'm too swollen in black removal. Perhaps one too many 4drop creatures that blow something up. I actually don't really like Nekrataal... Mire Boa is in to stay! Black can figure out ways to take 2 per turn. You can turn on the pressure to force them to block and regen Mire Boa, bounce it with blue, pacify with white, etc. Yea, red might have no way of dealing with it or green, but.. Meh. Scion Summoner is in this flex spot for green's 3drops. I'm not sure how I feel about him. I do like him more than Trusted Forcemage which was the last card that was in that slot. Sprouting Thrinaxwants push people into jund, but often the deck in the end is better as a just red/black deck or black/green deck. He's always right on the chopping block. Snakeform is awesome.
I hadn't really looked at or played with the Splicers before. I currently play Phantom Monster, and Wing Splicer seems like a decent swap even if I play no other splicers. Not a strict upgrade as the 1/1 is easier to kill mid combat to ground my golem, but upside of being able to flicker etc. Seems like they are all ok though not spectacular on their own, but give your drafters something to look out for if they've already picked one up.
While it's only two cards, does the card advantage of Exclude and Dismiss become annoying on the receiving end? Does Mana Drain in the deck also makes things silly?
Every red instant is burn, plus a lot of sorceries. Maybe there is too much burn? There are a few red control cards, but red (at least at first blush) looks like it is aggro cards plus burn. How often does something like a sweeper control deck with a Rite of the Raging Storm turn up?
How does Beast Within normally play out? I've not used it, just curiosity as opposed to criticism.
I'm not sold on Explore. Does it help enable anything in particular that I didn't notice? I just noticed Steppe Lynx and Plated Geopede, has it done any work with them? It seems like Explore would be at odds with what decks that have those cards in it want to do.
You said above you don't like your Orzhov section, but I don't like Mortify as a 'boring' option for that slot. It's a fine card, I just want my gold cards to help define archetypes or do more interesting things. That is just a matter of preference though. Same with Lightning Helix, I just gave it the boot for the same reason.
How does Spike Jester play out? It all looks fair, but I'd be concerned about it just dying to anything.I suppose it is in the colours of the most removal though.
Drafted a UR Spells Matters deck, going in blind before looking at your list. Apart from Archaeomancer (which I didn't see during the draft), there doesn't appear to be any blue reward cards. Which is probably fine, I just expected to see some and was holding out for them, hoping for the payoff. That's probably the interesting thing about this type of thread or drafting blind; what are people thinking when they draft? What are they waiting for or expecting to show up based on what they've seen so far? It doesn't make the design of any cube wrong, but could be important for those that have new players trying their cube on a regular basis.
I can back you up on the splicers. They are "fine" cards, wing splicer in particular. It's a card that I wouldn't question seeing in a list, but don't run myself.
If/when you respond to me, just remember that most of the cards in my list are cards that I think are deserving of a spot individually. I was more concerned with an overarching theme of inconsistent results
Also, remember, I have the same restrictions on my list as Leadfeather. Maybe to an even worse degree. I have a few exceptions (notably on aggro 1 drops, porcelain legionnaire) but you'll see domestication and mind control instead of control magic for example.
I hadn't really looked at or played with the Splicers before. I currently play Phantom Monster, and Wing Splicer seems like a decent swap even if I play no other splicers. Not a strict upgrade as the 1/1 is easier to kill mid combat to ground my golem, but upside of being able to flicker etc. Seems like they are all ok though not spectacular on their own, but give your drafters something to look out for if they've already picked one up.
While it's only two cards, does the card advantage of Exclude and Dismiss become annoying on the receiving end? Does Mana Drain in the deck also makes things silly?
Every red instant is burn, plus a lot of sorceries. Maybe there is too much burn? There are a few red control cards, but red (at least at first blush) looks like it is aggro cards plus burn. How often does something like a sweeper control deck with a Rite of the Raging Storm turn up?
How does Beast Within normally play out? I've not used it, just curiosity as opposed to criticism.
I'm not sold on Explore. Does it help enable anything in particular that I didn't notice? I just noticed Steppe Lynx and Plated Geopede, has it done any work with them? It seems like Explore would be at odds with what decks that have those cards in it want to do.
You said above you don't like your Orzhov section, but I don't like Mortify as a 'boring' option for that slot. It's a fine card, I just want my gold cards to help define archetypes or do more interesting things. That is just a matter of preference though. Same with Lightning Helix, I just gave it the boot for the same reason.
How does Spike Jester play out? It all looks fair, but I'd be concerned about it just dying to anything.I suppose it is in the colours of the most removal though.
Drafted a UR Spells Matters deck, going in blind before looking at your list. Apart from Archaeomancer (which I didn't see during the draft), there doesn't appear to be any blue reward cards. Which is probably fine, I just expected to see some and was holding out for them, hoping for the payoff. That's probably the interesting thing about this type of thread or drafting blind; what are people thinking when they draft? What are they waiting for or expecting to show up based on what they've seen so far? It doesn't make the design of any cube wrong, but could be important for those that have new players trying their cube on a regular basis.
Obviously I am not answering for Mr. Feather, but I play a lot of the same cards as he does for which you listed (or I have played)... Here are my opinions.
Splicers are great, I only play the white and blue one, but they are great for flickering which is the archetype I use for UW. The white one is closer to being removed than the blue one, but there will have to be something 3+ to replace them for me.
Rite of the raging storm + sweeper has not happened in my cube yet, but rite has dropped a couple times... always a pain in the ass. Love it.
I just removed beast within and replaced it with epic confrontation (since I had a foil version laying around). A lot of times the things I wanted to beast within were just not worth it. I sometimes would just end up beast within'ing my own land or permanent for a 3/3. I didn't feel it was useful enough compared to power cube settings where your opponent getting a 3/3 is not a big deal.
I understand people talking about boring cards, especially in guild sections... i.e. lightning helix, but really there isn't much else to play for boros and the card is solid. I will keep it in unless I hear some really good things about Nahiri's Machinations.
The drake was in my cube in a previous version as a kind of temp/draw-go kind of card with the upside of possible combo with things like archeomancer, but I ended up removing them both as I felt I didn't have enough extremely powerful cards to get back and abuse.
Anyway, just my opinion. Love the criticize my cube idea. I would eventually like people to go through mine too... however I feel it would end up just being people criticizing my picks and then me defending them and not much changing.
Well I assume that we check MTGS every day ortwo, so 4 days probably...? should be enough time to cycle through every regular. I'm willing to take another day or two of roasting. It's actually quite insightful for me. Leelue self-nominated himself for this coming monday.
I hadn't really looked at or played with the Splicers before. I currently play Phantom Monster, and Wing Splicer seems like a decent swap even if I play no other splicers. Not a strict upgrade as the 1/1 is easier to kill mid combat to ground my golem, but upside of being able to flicker etc. Seems like they are all ok though not spectacular on their own, but give your drafters something to look out for if they've already picked one up.
While it's only two cards, does the card advantage of Exclude and Dismiss become annoying on the receiving end? Does Mana Drain in the deck also makes things silly?
Every red instant is burn, plus a lot of sorceries. Maybe there is too much burn? There are a few red control cards, but red (at least at first blush) looks like it is aggro cards plus burn. How often does something like a sweeper control deck with a Rite of the Raging Storm turn up?
How does Beast Within normally play out? I've not used it, just curiosity as opposed to criticism.
I'm not sold on Explore. Does it help enable anything in particular that I didn't notice? I just noticed Steppe Lynx and Plated Geopede, has it done any work with them? It seems like Explore would be at odds with what decks that have those cards in it want to do.
You said above you don't like your Orzhov section, but I don't like Mortify as a 'boring' option for that slot. It's a fine card, I just want my gold cards to help define archetypes or do more interesting things. That is just a matter of preference though. Same with Lightning Helix, I just gave it the boot for the same reason.
How does Spike Jester play out? It all looks fair, but I'd be concerned about it just dying to anything.I suppose it is in the colours of the most removal though.
"on the receiving end?" I'm not sure i fully understand. Mana Drain is good, but not broken. It's up there with Grafted Wargear and Maze of Ith. Beast Within sticks around cuz I like the option of it being used in Green to blow up a Loxodon Warhammer or something of the like. It's a sideboard card. Explore is just a nice cantrip ramp card. Nothing fantastic. I could see myself removing it, but I just like the way it feels to explore, find the land you wanted, and play it out. Idk. I like drawing cards.
I truly hate my orzhov section. The only card I like in my orzhov is Lingering Souls. Every other card feels like a.. black card on a bad brand of steroids. Tidehollow Sculler is just an upped Mesmeric Fiend. Same with Blind Hunter to Bloodhunter Bat (With that being said, Blind Hunter is still #2 in my cube, behind #1) and Mortify to Go For The Throat. Spike Jester is a bland, but good card. It's archetype defining, as it puts someone into (clearly) r/b aggro. So long as there's an open field, it's a Hellspark Elemental without the dying. Peregrine Drake is liiiiike, super awesome. It's a free 2/3 flier. It eats a lot of creatures up, and you still are able to have mana open for counterspell or another creature. I think Leelue once called it a delayed cascade.
"On the receiving end" means "as the person who has the card played against them
Peregrine drake is a 0 mana 2/3 flier that you can only draw in the lategame. That's just big enough to be relevant, and in a deck that wants to cast counterspells ot illusory angel it's alright.
(I vote for this to be a weekly thing - if the thread dies for a few days at a time that's not really a problem, but the clarity of "this is x's week" seems like a good thing)
Starting tomorrow, Leelue's list is in the hot seat. Perhaps Leadfeather can change the title of the thread to Criticize My Cube (This Week: Leelue's Cube).. something like that.
Idk, what do you guys think? Worth doing? If you're totally down for it, just bash on my cube as much as you want. Call me out on all the "wtf, why this card" inclusions and non-bos you can find. I think it be quite fun.
Bring it on.
http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/634
Oh wait, not that kind of criticism... I think it's kinda light on multicolor lands. Sure you have the 3 way lands, but it's not a lot of fixing.
Is Azorius Arrester good?
Steppe Lynx in 2016?
Attended Knight, 2016?
Sandstone Bridge, any year.
Azure Mage seems too slow.
I like counterspells but 9 in 360 seems pretty high to me. Surely you could cut some of the worse ones to play some new cards.
Your black aggressive cards are big rather than evasive. Does that work out well enough? I tried Wretched Anurid early in my cube and often found it was giving my opponent a decent clock against me
Gatekeeper of Malakir is a tough card to play.
Mogg Fanatic, 2016?
How is Spiketail Drakeling? Seems neat.
What mode does Thassa's Emissary get cast in usually?
I'm kind of worried this thread is going to turn into a bit of "why isn't your cube my cube?". Without actually sitting down and drafting a format a couple of times, it's really difficult to get any kind of feel for it, especially when most of our cubes all have at least 200 cards in common.
Draft it on Cubetutor here, and CubeCobra here.
Treasure Cruise did nothing wrong.
loljk
I'm playing Intangible Virtue and other token support and I'm about to cut Doomed Traveler for being terrible. Is it just for Skies?
Timely Hordemate seems to push an aggressive White deck, but you're only playing one of the White 2/1s for 1?
Like half of your blue 2s aren't (arguably) 2s. Does this ever cause problems? I can see it being fine for control decks (and control seems easy with all those counterspells), but how often does Blue tempo or Skies work out?
Is the surge on Containment Membrane really good enough to make up for the fact that it doesn't tap the creature?
Do Black decks ever lose games in your c/ube? The B removal suite looks pretty loaded. Is the inclusion of Bloodhunter Bat enough to balance it out?
Do Black decks ever win a game in your c/ube? Mire Boa is in there!
I'm not sure I'd pack Scion Summoner once you're up to 8 green 3s.
Needs more Golem tribal support.
[[Insert "IN 2016???" Joke Here]]
Sprouting Thrinax looks very lonely as the only 3-color card. In all seriousness, do you find that he's good enough to push people into Jund? Can he ever come down on turn 3? Is he good enough on other turns?
Snakeform is actually just really cool and I'm always looking for new hybrids to try. How's it faring?
Seems like a good thread idea. It's awkward to actually discuss cards in the "Draft Above" thread as like every time it happens someone gets skipped or takes the conversation out of the thread.
Also while I agree that this forum is subject to a good degree of inbreeding and homogenization, when you make weird choices with cards you ought to be able to defend them. More eyes on something is pretty much always a good thing (unless that thing is a human shoulder, a la Magnifying Glass). And, of course, just because someone criticizes your choices doesn't mean you have to change them.
Draft my Peasant Cube.
A) I just had a terrible day and this cheered me up tremendously
B) Also some lowbrow people get decidedly snippy when you talk about their draft.
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
I run some of these so it's not like I think most of these are necessarily bad but having so many at once is something I'd not do
This list of cards I would shrink. Too much lolzipan in that dessert for my tastes
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 wins games on its own. We are thinking about banning it.
Cards I despise:
Containment Membrane: Narcolepsy or Singing Bell Strike are definitely better options..
Blind Creeper: You'll find that he dies a lot. Play Wretched Anurid if you want a semi decent, still bad 3/3 for 2.
Looming Spires: I found that red aggro decks really don't want their lands coming into play tapped unless it's Ghitu Encampment
Mire Boa: Swampwalk...
Snakeform: This card in the Green section bothers me.
Plumeveil: Can't say I'm a big fan of a defensive card like this in a guild section. or at all for that matter.
Sprouting Thrinax: Is he your only tri-color card. It's bothering me.
Urza's Factory: Too slow.
Great idea on the roast!
I like your cube quite a bit. Looks really really solid.
Oh and.. Right on with the Bloodhunter Bat!
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
Even Cackler in the black section makes me feel weird.
Hybrid classification in general is a bother.
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
These two things listed above may give reason to my selections.
aka, I won't run Elvish Mystic and Llanowar Elves, or Incinerate[ and Searing Spear.
Ahem..
I think my cube has pretty good land! I don't wanna include any rares.
Gatekeeper is ALWAYS the next card to be cut from my cube. He IS hard to cast.
I like Bloodhunter Bat.
I don't like my orzhov section at all. I want to replace almost every card in orzhov.
Looming Spire is just in here for testing I suppose. Same with Sandstone Bridge.
I must be the only one that enjoys the splicers. I really enjoy Wing Splicer.
Azorius Arrester is solid in aggro and control I think. He's never a dead draw either. If you're an aggro deck on turn 5 and wanna get some dudes past that w/e creature on the other side, play him out and enjoy. If you previously casted Diregraf Ghoul on turn 1, then you can just part the sea with Azorius Arrester on turn 2.
Similarly, on the defensive side, you can play him out to delay a swinger and he trades up into most 3drops the following turn.
Steppe Lynx is also solid early, but dead late, which I feel is the case for a decent number of aggro cards.
Attended Knight is.. it goes in every single white deck, but *shrugs* isn't good at any particular one thing.
I just added Azure Mage in place of ... something. Haven't seen it in play yet.
Remove Soul and Dismiss are always right around the corner from being cut.
Mogg Fanatic is in cuz I enjoy having some amount of control cards in red, instead of them all being aggro. He's not anything fantastic.
I actually don't like Spiketail Drakeling. I just put him in as a spacefiller. He's also the next card to be cut.
Thassa's Emissary is often cast bestow'd on a small evasive card.
I'll respond to this separately/later, cuz it's so long.
I understand the dislike of Containment Membrane. It's only in as a test. It hasn't seen play, but i don't think it's going to stay in for long.
Blind Creeper does die a lot. But he also doesn't die a lot. Even if he gets in somewhere between 2 and 5 damage, that's plenty damage for me to enjoy. With that all being said, he *is* the worst 2drop black aggro card I have.
Looming Spires - I wish I had room for this card. I like the 360 size, but I liked almost every single new ETB effect land from BFZ. I'm super aware that they aren't solid picks
Mire Boa is here to stay. Black's just gonna have to figure out how to deal with taking 2 a turn. I remember years ago doing the math between Mire Boa and River Boa, and Mire Boa came out on top for reasons I can't remember.
Snakeform is in the green section cuz it replaced Wildsize. Wildsize and Snakeform both (for me) were "win combat, draw a card." Meh. I'm not too picky with the hybrid thing.
Plumeveil is actually a downgrade from Wall of Denial. Unexciting. I've never thought about the "defensive card like this in a guild section" before.. Something to think about!
Sprouting Thrinax is always the next card out. I should get rid of him. He never makes it into any decks cuz 3color decks are not quite as common (although possible). I shuold do this after I finish this post.
URza's Factory is slow. But it's solid in those mono-blue decks that I sometimes have going on, or in a blue/green deck that's gotten to the late-late game.
Doomed Traveler is not in for the flyer's or tokens deck. I like him a lot in the defensive white decks. two blockers against a red/black aggro. two chump blockers in the midgame against whoever.
Timely Hordemate is super solid, which I think most of us agree on. I am only running one of the 2/1 for W cuz I don't wanna run duplicates. This might also answer reasons on why I have Steppe Lynx which some don't particularly like (which I suggest to try! He's solid from like turns 1-4 in an aggro deck).
The removal package? I don't think I'm too swollen in black removal. Perhaps one too many 4drop creatures that blow something up. I actually don't really like Nekrataal...
Mire Boa is in to stay! Black can figure out ways to take 2 per turn. You can turn on the pressure to force them to block and regen Mire Boa, bounce it with blue, pacify with white, etc. Yea, red might have no way of dealing with it or green, but.. Meh.
Scion Summoner is in this flex spot for green's 3drops. I'm not sure how I feel about him. I do like him more than Trusted Forcemage which was the last card that was in that slot.
Sprouting Thrinax wants push people into jund, but often the deck in the end is better as a just red/black deck or black/green deck. He's always right on the chopping block.
Snakeform is awesome.
While it's only two cards, does the card advantage of Exclude and Dismiss become annoying on the receiving end? Does Mana Drain in the deck also makes things silly?
Every red instant is burn, plus a lot of sorceries. Maybe there is too much burn? There are a few red control cards, but red (at least at first blush) looks like it is aggro cards plus burn. How often does something like a sweeper control deck with a Rite of the Raging Storm turn up?
How does Beast Within normally play out? I've not used it, just curiosity as opposed to criticism.
I'm not sold on Explore. Does it help enable anything in particular that I didn't notice? I just noticed Steppe Lynx and Plated Geopede, has it done any work with them? It seems like Explore would be at odds with what decks that have those cards in it want to do.
You said above you don't like your Orzhov section, but I don't like Mortify as a 'boring' option for that slot. It's a fine card, I just want my gold cards to help define archetypes or do more interesting things. That is just a matter of preference though. Same with Lightning Helix, I just gave it the boot for the same reason.
How does Spike Jester play out? It all looks fair, but I'd be concerned about it just dying to anything.I suppose it is in the colours of the most removal though.
Is Peregrine Drake there to enable anything in particular?
Drafted a UR Spells Matters deck, going in blind before looking at your list. Apart from Archaeomancer (which I didn't see during the draft), there doesn't appear to be any blue reward cards. Which is probably fine, I just expected to see some and was holding out for them, hoping for the payoff. That's probably the interesting thing about this type of thread or drafting blind; what are people thinking when they draft? What are they waiting for or expecting to show up based on what they've seen so far? It doesn't make the design of any cube wrong, but could be important for those that have new players trying their cube on a regular basis.
1x Azure Mage
1x Infiltrator il-Kor
1x Mogg War Marshal
1x Young Pyromancer
1x Fire Imp
1x Gelectrode
1x Guttersnipe
1x Spitemare
Artifact Creature
1x Perilous Myr
Artifact
1x Shrine of Burning Rage
Instant
1x Impulse
1x Incinerate
1x Searing Blaze
1x Electrolyze
1x Psionic Blast
1x Repulse
1x Staggershock
1x Fact or Fiction
1x Jilt
1x Firebolt
1x Treasure Cruise
1x Talrand's Invocation
1x Shower of Coals
Land
1x Crumbling Necropolis
1x Frontier Bivouac
1x Mystic Monastery
1x Urza's Factory
6x Island
7x Mountain
1x Bituminous Blast
1x Blinding Beam
1x Centaur Glade
1x Compulsive Research
1x Condescend
1x Dismember
1x Fire // Ice
1x Goblin Bushwhacker
1x Icefeather Aven
1x Imperial Recruiter
1x Kor Sanctifiers
1x Lust for War
1x Necromancy
1x Pristine Talisman
1x Reflector Mage
1x Utopia Sprawl
1x Vivid Meadow
1x Void Grafter
If/when you respond to me, just remember that most of the cards in my list are cards that I think are deserving of a spot individually. I was more concerned with an overarching theme of inconsistent results
I suppose it's only fair that I step up and get my cube roasted next.
http://cubetutor.com/274
Also, remember, I have the same restrictions on my list as Leadfeather. Maybe to an even worse degree. I have a few exceptions (notably on aggro 1 drops, porcelain legionnaire) but you'll see domestication and mind control instead of control magic for example.
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
Obviously I am not answering for Mr. Feather, but I play a lot of the same cards as he does for which you listed (or I have played)... Here are my opinions.
Splicers are great, I only play the white and blue one, but they are great for flickering which is the archetype I use for UW. The white one is closer to being removed than the blue one, but there will have to be something 3+ to replace them for me.
Rite of the raging storm + sweeper has not happened in my cube yet, but rite has dropped a couple times... always a pain in the ass. Love it.
I just removed beast within and replaced it with epic confrontation (since I had a foil version laying around). A lot of times the things I wanted to beast within were just not worth it. I sometimes would just end up beast within'ing my own land or permanent for a 3/3. I didn't feel it was useful enough compared to power cube settings where your opponent getting a 3/3 is not a big deal.
I understand people talking about boring cards, especially in guild sections... i.e. lightning helix, but really there isn't much else to play for boros and the card is solid. I will keep it in unless I hear some really good things about Nahiri's Machinations.
The drake was in my cube in a previous version as a kind of temp/draw-go kind of card with the upside of possible combo with things like archeomancer, but I ended up removing them both as I felt I didn't have enough extremely powerful cards to get back and abuse.
Anyway, just my opinion. Love the criticize my cube idea. I would eventually like people to go through mine too... however I feel it would end up just being people criticizing my picks and then me defending them and not much changing.
My 180 Peasant Cube on Cubetutor
My Peasant Cube thread !!! (380 cards)
Draft my Peasant Cube on Cube Cobra !!!
"on the receiving end?" I'm not sure i fully understand. Mana Drain is good, but not broken. It's up there with Grafted Wargear and Maze of Ith.
Beast Within sticks around cuz I like the option of it being used in Green to blow up a Loxodon Warhammer or something of the like. It's a sideboard card.
Explore is just a nice cantrip ramp card. Nothing fantastic. I could see myself removing it, but I just like the way it feels to explore, find the land you wanted, and play it out. Idk. I like drawing cards.
I truly hate my orzhov section. The only card I like in my orzhov is Lingering Souls. Every other card feels like a.. black card on a bad brand of steroids. Tidehollow Sculler is just an upped Mesmeric Fiend. Same with Blind Hunter to Bloodhunter Bat (With that being said, Blind Hunter is still #2 in my cube, behind #1) and Mortify to Go For The Throat.
Spike Jester is a bland, but good card. It's archetype defining, as it puts someone into (clearly) r/b aggro. So long as there's an open field, it's a Hellspark Elemental without the dying.
Peregrine Drake is liiiiike, super awesome. It's a free 2/3 flier. It eats a lot of creatures up, and you still are able to have mana open for counterspell or another creature. I think Leelue once called it a delayed cascade.
Peregrine drake is a 0 mana 2/3 flier that you can only draw in the lategame. That's just big enough to be relevant, and in a deck that wants to cast counterspells ot illusory angel it's alright.
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
(I vote for this to be a weekly thing - if the thread dies for a few days at a time that's not really a problem, but the clarity of "this is x's week" seems like a good thing)
Draft it on Cubetutor here, and CubeCobra here.
Treasure Cruise did nothing wrong.
Starting tomorrow, Leelue's list is in the hot seat. Perhaps Leadfeather can change the title of the thread to Criticize My Cube (This Week: Leelue's Cube).. something like that.
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
Draft it on Cubetutor here, and CubeCobra here.
Treasure Cruise did nothing wrong.