MTG Salvation

Quote from Spike Rogue »

Here's a good read for new cube designers from Reddit:

"Making your first cube or want feedback for your cube? Maybe this thread can help!" by Fleme

There's a lot of good advice here about balancing for power, CMC curves, having the right amount of multicolored cards, keeping your cube interactive, and how to put your own unique stamp on this format.

Good catch, added it.

Environments will vary, but it might even be a little too good for us.

After adding some aggro support and a small morph package, I find I'm running too many 2 drops in green, and would like to cut one for the new Selvala.

But which?

Den Protector
Duskwatch Recruiter
Lotus Cobra
Noose Constrictor
Rattleclaw Mystic
Rofellos
Sakura-tribe Elder
Scavenging Ooze
Sylvan Advocate
Sylvan Caryatid
Vinelasher Kudzu
Wall of Blossoms

We found Worldknit decks to be too powerful for our environment, and this looks like more of the same – even with the smaller open hand. Think I'll pass.

I tend to cube with just two players, which makes this both better and worse than in a bigger draft group. Better, because it will always hit one relevant color in our matchup; worse because the other two colors will probably be blanks. (That is, unless it's drafted early, which has all sorts of fun implications for information being revealed - then again, it would be a sorry pack that would see me draft this early.)

Probably a safe pass for me.

I suspect people are underestimating the value of flash on a creature like this, but I'm not sure I'm inclined to cube it myself.

Call me crazy, but this seems terrible. You'll need to trigger it's ability *three times* to actually get value from it, and as it is you'll be dropping a critter from the same point on the curve each time. Yeah, I can see how it would be nice with a Mystic Snake or whatever, but I think I'd rather just have Mystic Snake and another card with an actual value of its own.

Too expensive for too little effect. A seven-drop that fails the terminate test is just unthinkable; it only barely passes the vindicate test, insofar as it will cantrip once. Even with haste I don't think this would be playable.

Greenwarden's been a pretty boring card around here; wouldn't mind slotting this in over it. Seems like superramp and wildfire's best friend; not the worst curve finisher for Gx midrange either. I can even see reanimating this sucker in a pinch.

Personally I love this card. I've never been a big fan of conspiracies – too format warping for the most part – but this does exactly what they should be capable of: generating an entire archetype/draft-strategy. With just one card that's always on!

I'm intrigued. Seems like situationally very powerful. I do wish his stats line were a little more impressive, but I can understand how broken a stronger goader would be in 2-player.

I've probably got space for another 2 drop into red. Might be time to take out one of the 3 Incinerate variants I'm currently running.

Seems great. I think I'll run this over Grenzo, who is *perfectly fine and serviceable* but never an exciting pick (and rarely an exciting play).

I'm cautiously interested in the idea of monarchs in typical one-on-one cube play, even as I'm a little skeptical about a mechanic that so unilaterally rewards creature-based decks – I personally love hard control decks, and can see games turning feel-baddy when one player gets what's essentially a non-interactive emblem that says "draw a card each turn," for much less work than an effect of that power should require.

But anyways, like I said I would try out a monarch card. I just don't think this is the one.

This guy looks fantastic and fun, but it's worth remembering that whatever card you exile with it is a card you don't get to play. So strapping a Time Walk to it is maybe a little silly. I mean, wouldn't you just rather cast the Time Walk for 1U most of the time?

For big expensive spells and off-color spells, however, this dude is the bees knees.

Edit: Does anyone know how this works with Rebound? (e.g. Consuming Vapors?) Double edit: Never mind, it says "cast from hand" pretty clearly.

I've seen positive things crop up on other boards, but aside from Luffy no one's really posted their experiences w her here. How's big Chandra been playing in cube for the last 6 months? What are her long term prospects in your opinion?