Last year I assembled a cube 100% based on my card collection, but it was quite clear that certain color combinations were stronger so the last few weeks I've been reading up on cards and have already replaced at least 1/3 of the original cube. However, I am at a point right now where I feel that card updates are becoming quite costly so I'm asking more experienced cube builders for advice on what immediate issues you can identify and which staples I should prioritize.
BASIC STATS: Cube size: 360 cards Breakdown: 52 each color, 30 guild, 30 artifacts, 40 nonbasic lands Theme: "Unpowered best possible cards" Link:http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/86500
I'm not following any particular theme or design restrictions, I just want the best cards for the money. However, as you can see I am lacking expensive cards like Jace and Tarmogoyf. Eventually I'll get them but at this point I feel that if I can get 3 good cards for the price of one I'll slowly build up that way.
My personal reflections Black I am quite happy with black, I'm supporting reanimator quite well and feel that the creatures are quite good.
Red I'm approaching a good point with red as well, obviously missing Goblin Guide but otherwize supporting a goblin theme. How do you feel about the spells? Should i have more artifact destruction? I am also not running basically any land destruction.. I've always viewed that as "unfun" but now I'm thinking that maybe aggro decks need that to compete in a "stronger" environment?
Blue I've never been a blue player so I've done my best to gather some good control spells. I'm running Upheaval and am supporting it with Psychatog. I think I have most of the good Counterspells, I have 3 Mind Control enchantments and am topping it off with Treachery, maybe I should reduce it to 2 cards?
I think there's room for improvement on the creature side.. I've ordered Kira, Great Glass-Spinner which I think will be an awesome addition but would really like some ideas on how to improve here.
White White feels wery aggroish, but honestly I'm not sure where I'm taking it. The spell section feels like a mess apart from spells like Balance, Lingering souls and Wrath of God.. I have a few token cards, but it doesn't really feel I'm supporting it properly, so maybe you guys have ideas how to make a clear statement that tokens are supported? Any advice on "how many" cards I'd need for that would also be fantastic (I'm still quite new to this as you can tell). I'd also like to note that I do like angels, but there's so many good ones, I started with Restoration Angel.
Green
I haven't updated green that much lately since it was clearly the strongest color when I started out, however now I feel that it might have fallen behind a bit. I'm thinking about adding Primeval Titan and some stronger ramp cards maybe? I've also thought about Parallel Lives to help tokens out a bit, but I don't have any green token cards so maybe that's just misleading.
Multicolor
I've added some planeswalkers here to playest them, my group isn't a fan of them in general, but I want to see how they play out. In general the guilds' power level varies quite a bit so there's a lot of work left to do here.
Artifacts
Artifacts are decent now, but I want to move towards getting some of the famous Sword of X and Y and stronger creatures like Wurmcoil Engine.
Nonbasic Lands
This I would like to hear some opinions on.. I'm running 3 full sets of budgetlands, panoramas and 5 random utility lands. I've heard that improving the land base increases the quality of the cube substantially, so should I focus more here now before fixing any of the other colors? It's obviously a quite big investment to fix the mana base, but it's worth to prioritize.
Final thoughts
Yeah, so I've spent a great amount of time to get the cube to this point and at times it feels quite "lonely" (as I'm building it myself). I've learned a lot about MTG's history and cards in the process, but would really like some opinions from experienced builders. I know in some of your eyes this is really basic but I appreciate all the help I can get.
Last year I assembled a cube 100% based on my card collection, but it was quite clear that certain color combinations were stronger so the last few weeks I've been reading up on cards and have already replaced at least 1/3 of the original cube. However, I am at a point right now where I feel that card updates are becoming quite costly so I'm asking more experienced cube builders for advice on what immediate issues you can identify and which staples I should prioritize.
BASIC STATS:
Cube size: 360 cards
Breakdown: 52 each color, 30 guild, 30 artifacts, 40 nonbasic lands
Theme: "Unpowered best possible cards"
Link: http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/86500
I'm not following any particular theme or design restrictions, I just want the best cards for the money. However, as you can see I am lacking expensive cards like Jace and Tarmogoyf. Eventually I'll get them but at this point I feel that if I can get 3 good cards for the price of one I'll slowly build up that way.
My personal reflections
Black I am quite happy with black, I'm supporting reanimator quite well and feel that the creatures are quite good.
Red I'm approaching a good point with red as well, obviously missing Goblin Guide but otherwize supporting a goblin theme. How do you feel about the spells? Should i have more artifact destruction? I am also not running basically any land destruction.. I've always viewed that as "unfun" but now I'm thinking that maybe aggro decks need that to compete in a "stronger" environment?
Blue I've never been a blue player so I've done my best to gather some good control spells. I'm running Upheaval and am supporting it with Psychatog. I think I have most of the good Counterspells, I have 3 Mind Control enchantments and am topping it off with Treachery, maybe I should reduce it to 2 cards?
I think there's room for improvement on the creature side.. I've ordered Kira, Great Glass-Spinner which I think will be an awesome addition but would really like some ideas on how to improve here.
White White feels wery aggroish, but honestly I'm not sure where I'm taking it. The spell section feels like a mess apart from spells like Balance, Lingering souls and Wrath of God.. I have a few token cards, but it doesn't really feel I'm supporting it properly, so maybe you guys have ideas how to make a clear statement that tokens are supported? Any advice on "how many" cards I'd need for that would also be fantastic (I'm still quite new to this as you can tell). I'd also like to note that I do like angels, but there's so many good ones, I started with Restoration Angel.
Green
I haven't updated green that much lately since it was clearly the strongest color when I started out, however now I feel that it might have fallen behind a bit. I'm thinking about adding Primeval Titan and some stronger ramp cards maybe? I've also thought about Parallel Lives to help tokens out a bit, but I don't have any green token cards so maybe that's just misleading.
Multicolor
I've added some planeswalkers here to playest them, my group isn't a fan of them in general, but I want to see how they play out. In general the guilds' power level varies quite a bit so there's a lot of work left to do here.
Artifacts
Artifacts are decent now, but I want to move towards getting some of the famous Sword of X and Y and stronger creatures like Wurmcoil Engine.
Nonbasic Lands
This I would like to hear some opinions on.. I'm running 3 full sets of budgetlands, panoramas and 5 random utility lands. I've heard that improving the land base increases the quality of the cube substantially, so should I focus more here now before fixing any of the other colors? It's obviously a quite big investment to fix the mana base, but it's worth to prioritize.
Final thoughts
Yeah, so I've spent a great amount of time to get the cube to this point and at times it feels quite "lonely" (as I'm building it myself). I've learned a lot about MTG's history and cards in the process, but would really like some opinions from experienced builders. I know in some of your eyes this is really basic but I appreciate all the help I can get.