I recently conclude that my multicolor section was too high for my Cube (5 cards + 3 lands per guild at 360) so I have to cut 1 card per guild, and I hoped that you guys could give me some advice.
My Cube is an Unpowered 360 with some bans, due to high power or unfun games.
I lurked in this forum for a long time and was extremely interessed with your opinions but never thought I had something interesting to add to your evaluations, so I had no need to create an account and reply to you guys.
Funnily enough, my first post won't be about Magic but about Cube philosophy, and, if I dare say, about the importance of valuing opinions.
I'll start by making a statement which I think everyone here deeply agree with : "Cube is fun".
I think we're mainly Spikes here, so of course, winning is part of fun. But style is also a thing. In my Cube playgroup, we vote at the end of the Cube for the most awesome thing that happened during the session. The winner gets a reward and the title of "Best play of the day" or something along those lines. It's incredibly Casual, but it's a way to show that he show us something awesome and we all love it, because we also love to speak about Magic after.
So, what does it change ? For some, it won't change anything and they'll still play for winning, which is fine, because they have fun this way. For others, sometimes less competitive players, it's a way to draft not only a good deck, but a fun one. Maybe they'll lose some win percentage, but they'll create something awesome that they'll remember !
Winning with Jace and Teferi is nice and stuff, but Cruel Ultimatum your opponent and rebuy it with Eternal Witness, then block with Witness, Cruel again, and do it a third time is way better.
Let's just assume that competitive players who want to try something else than competitive play can prioritize fun, could we ?
With that in mind, what if they don't find it fun to play with Thoughtseize ? What if they prefer to do their own dumb thing and let others do stupid but extremely fun things too ?
Well, if no one of my playgroup find a card fun, I'm urge to cut it out. I deeply understand that the community is dazed by this cut, and as a fan of Thoughtseize, I'm pretty interessed too. But Super said that the card wasn't played by his group, does that mean that they're dumb *******s and we should teach them everything with a condescending tone ? I don't think so. I'd love to have a chat with him about what cards are prefered and in which archetypes (Should I play Thoughtseize in a Pod/Collected Company deck when I can have access to Mesmeric Fiend instead ?).
When in lack in information, misjudgment is easy and I think some of you guys were overreacting a bit too much and too harshly.
That being said, Super is not perfect either, as you could have provide us informations on why this card is not played and which stratedy are prevalent in your Cube. If Combo is prevalent, I think that selective discard can help fair decks to compete, more so than early beaters. But maybe it's already midrange decks on the head of the pack and discard is of no use because of the grindyness of the games.
With more information, we can understand your cut, but here, it's like coming on a Thanksgiving Dinner and refuse to eat anything without saying that you're veggie. It can be perceived offensive by some, while it'll be perfectly ok if you explain the context.
Moreover, I think there's no reason to start a fight here. I deeply respect this community and adore the work they put on improving the Cube content for Cube owners. I have no doubt that they're a big part of why my players enjoy my Cube more now than 5 years ago. However, on certain points, I strongly disagree with them, be it about the Power question or the wanted efficiency, where I prioritize the gimmicky stuff, which I and my players found funnier.
Your Cube is yours and, by extension, it belongs a bit to your playgroup, but not a bit to the community.
As always when you ask advices, take the best and try it out. I'd love to see a Cube without discard and see how it goes for everyone. Is the fun police required for everyone to have fun or no ?
Stick to your gun and do things for you and your group, but if that fails, consider asking for help, it's always good to try improving.
Finally, Cube is not a static thing, you can change it whenever you want. I made countless mistakes by trying cards or trying to implement archetypes and ultimately I removed them. I've failed and I'll fail again. But I can go back, so just try it out.
Well, it was a terrible first post, but I just wanna say that "Cube is fun" and "Someone trying something new is pretty interesting if it gives us new data".
Cheers and long live the Cube.
PS : Oh, and just to be on topic, I'll do :
+ Gutterbones
- Necromancy
+ Unburial Rites
- Sorin, Lord of Innistrad (I quite dislike the prevalence of the Walkers in Cube in general)
Seems better than GFTT to me, but I'd probably cut Murderous Cut for it.
I recently conclude that my multicolor section was too high for my Cube (5 cards + 3 lands per guild at 360) so I have to cut 1 card per guild, and I hoped that you guys could give me some advice.
My Cube is an Unpowered 360 with some bans, due to high power or unfun games.
So, please cut one from each guild :
Azorius : Spell Queller - Dragonlord Ojutai - Teferi, Hero of Dominaria - Fractured Identity - Celestial Colonnade
Dimir : Hostage Taker - The Scarab God - Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver - Baleful Strix - Creeping Tar Pit
Rakdos : Vial Smasher the Fierce - Falkenrath Aristocrat - Murderous Redcap - Kolaghan's Command - Rakdos's Return
Gruul : Kird Ape - Orcish Lumberjack - Bloodbraid Elf - Huntmaster of the Fells - Dragonlord Atarka
Selesnya : Voice of Resurgence - Kitchen Finks - Knight of Autumn - March of the Multitudes - Mirari's Wake
Orzhov : Tidehollow Sculler - Gerrard's Verdict - Lingering Souls - Vindicate - Unburial Rites
Golgari : Grim Flayer - Meren of Clan Nel Toth - The Gitrog Monster - Assassin's Trophy - Pernicious Deed
Simic : Coiling Oracle - Edric, Spymaster of Trest - Trygon Predator - Nissa, Steward of Elements - Shardless Agent
Izzet : Crackling Drake - Dack Fayden - Izzet Charm - Electrolyze - Keranos, God of Storms
Boros : Figure of Destiny - Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice - Nahiri, the Harbinger - Boros Charm - Lightning Helix
Thanks for the help,
I lurked in this forum for a long time and was extremely interessed with your opinions but never thought I had something interesting to add to your evaluations, so I had no need to create an account and reply to you guys.
Funnily enough, my first post won't be about Magic but about Cube philosophy, and, if I dare say, about the importance of valuing opinions.
I'll start by making a statement which I think everyone here deeply agree with : "Cube is fun".
I think we're mainly Spikes here, so of course, winning is part of fun. But style is also a thing. In my Cube playgroup, we vote at the end of the Cube for the most awesome thing that happened during the session. The winner gets a reward and the title of "Best play of the day" or something along those lines. It's incredibly Casual, but it's a way to show that he show us something awesome and we all love it, because we also love to speak about Magic after.
So, what does it change ? For some, it won't change anything and they'll still play for winning, which is fine, because they have fun this way. For others, sometimes less competitive players, it's a way to draft not only a good deck, but a fun one. Maybe they'll lose some win percentage, but they'll create something awesome that they'll remember !
Winning with Jace and Teferi is nice and stuff, but Cruel Ultimatum your opponent and rebuy it with Eternal Witness, then block with Witness, Cruel again, and do it a third time is way better.
Let's just assume that competitive players who want to try something else than competitive play can prioritize fun, could we ?
With that in mind, what if they don't find it fun to play with Thoughtseize ? What if they prefer to do their own dumb thing and let others do stupid but extremely fun things too ?
Well, if no one of my playgroup find a card fun, I'm urge to cut it out. I deeply understand that the community is dazed by this cut, and as a fan of Thoughtseize, I'm pretty interessed too. But Super said that the card wasn't played by his group, does that mean that they're dumb *******s and we should teach them everything with a condescending tone ? I don't think so. I'd love to have a chat with him about what cards are prefered and in which archetypes (Should I play Thoughtseize in a Pod/Collected Company deck when I can have access to Mesmeric Fiend instead ?).
When in lack in information, misjudgment is easy and I think some of you guys were overreacting a bit too much and too harshly.
That being said, Super is not perfect either, as you could have provide us informations on why this card is not played and which stratedy are prevalent in your Cube. If Combo is prevalent, I think that selective discard can help fair decks to compete, more so than early beaters. But maybe it's already midrange decks on the head of the pack and discard is of no use because of the grindyness of the games.
With more information, we can understand your cut, but here, it's like coming on a Thanksgiving Dinner and refuse to eat anything without saying that you're veggie. It can be perceived offensive by some, while it'll be perfectly ok if you explain the context.
Moreover, I think there's no reason to start a fight here. I deeply respect this community and adore the work they put on improving the Cube content for Cube owners. I have no doubt that they're a big part of why my players enjoy my Cube more now than 5 years ago. However, on certain points, I strongly disagree with them, be it about the Power question or the wanted efficiency, where I prioritize the gimmicky stuff, which I and my players found funnier.
Your Cube is yours and, by extension, it belongs a bit to your playgroup, but not a bit to the community.
As always when you ask advices, take the best and try it out. I'd love to see a Cube without discard and see how it goes for everyone. Is the fun police required for everyone to have fun or no ?
Stick to your gun and do things for you and your group, but if that fails, consider asking for help, it's always good to try improving.
Finally, Cube is not a static thing, you can change it whenever you want. I made countless mistakes by trying cards or trying to implement archetypes and ultimately I removed them. I've failed and I'll fail again. But I can go back, so just try it out.
Well, it was a terrible first post, but I just wanna say that "Cube is fun" and "Someone trying something new is pretty interesting if it gives us new data".
Cheers and long live the Cube.
PS : Oh, and just to be on topic, I'll do :
+ Gutterbones
- Necromancy
+ Unburial Rites
- Sorin, Lord of Innistrad (I quite dislike the prevalence of the Walkers in Cube in general)
+ Spawn of Mayhem
- Kalitas, Traitor of Geth
+ Prime Speaker Vannifar
- Trygon Predator
My Cube (Unpowered) list if needed : http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/31672