Wei Assassins? Obviously not a big money card but a nice role player that could be black bordered and foiled. Plus, they always add one or two less that optimal cards. At least this wouldn't be totally useless.
but all my local fnms are standard. How else will I get my shiny shiny FNM foils? :3
I know you were probably joking, but I'd wager that you can probably net most of the FNM foils ever released from reputable online vendors for the price of some standard decks currently in operation.
Also, cube is the major drain on my Magic finances as well. Some people build and buy cards to make awesome EDH decks. My EDH decks are primarily the leftover scraps from the cube.
Word. And that's just right now. Imagine what it'll be like in another 3-4 years? Two different unpowered cubes could be about 50% different from one another, and there wouldn't be a single non-staple card on either list. Awesome.
It's very cool that for cubers, unless they decide to totally stop printing good cards, every year Magic gets better. It's an interesting counter to the waxing and waning of the constructed formats that is often lamented.
The fetchlands and Ravnica lands are pretty expensive, but I'll definitely collect them all one day. It might be a while, though.
Just wanted to add a note of encouragement. Slowly building the cube can be very rewarding. It's an awesome feeling to do a big swap of suboptimal cards out for some of the game's greats. I don't know what your budget is like but mine is fairly modest when it comes to Magic and over the past 2 years I've traded/bought my way into Ravnica duals, fetches and even ABU duals.
It's taken some time but the cube has really become the centerpiece of my Magic collection. You will get there eventually. The most important thing is to enjoy every draft and every new addition, don't feel like you are getting an inferior experience just because you don't have a finished, foiled out cube.
This is so true. I sometimes miss those days. The cubes have become so similar (thanks to all those card rankings and statistics) that my cube feels less like "my cube" and more like a "MTGSalvation cube forum cube". It is certainly better than before though. Well, as long as I keep that personal touch (the 10% you speak of), it's ok.
I think the change is mostly for the better, just as original constructed deck building theory gave way to more modern designs that took mana curve and other factors into account.
Plus, I think that in the next 5 years, with the amount of cubable cards they seem to be churning out on a regular basis, we will definitely get to the point where the last one or two slots in a given color section for average sized cubes might have 3 or 4 fairly even contenders.
I like the idea of Proliferate (not the wording which is blechy) for casual and EDH. It will suck for cube, as will Infect. Granted, we have seen very few cards, but I'm starting to suspect a set that will excite the casual crowd more than the cubists and the pros.
Cheers,
rant
There is still plenty of time for them to bust out the great cards. I'm kind of hoping for a bit of a break so I can push less resources to getting new cards and more resources to filling remaining holes and pimping out the cube.
Also, just out of curiousity, in the past two or three years, what was the set with the lowest amount of (generally accepted) cube includes and how many? I'm assuming M10 was pretty light. But I haven't been tracking it very closely.
Thanks for the feedback as usual guys. Still wringing my hands about the Assassin. I have a soft spot for that guy.
I'm excited for upcoming changes. FTV: Relics gets me some much needed stuff. I plan to finish out my P9 proxies so they can all be added shortly (just Timetwister left). Also, the duel deck fills a couple holes.
Speaking of which, I'm trying to find the swap for the soon to be arriving Elspeth and I was thinking about either Archon of Justice or Marshal's Anthem. Thoughts?
Yeah, I still love feedback when I do my changes (mostly because I often get some more specific personal experiences listed that are typically not present in the rank everything threads or generated in the comparison output) but I typically have a pretty good idea of where my cube varies and how most of the changes will be received thanks to the hard work of our friend eidolon.
I know you were probably joking, but I'd wager that you can probably net most of the FNM foils ever released from reputable online vendors for the price of some standard decks currently in operation.
Also, cube is the major drain on my Magic finances as well. Some people build and buy cards to make awesome EDH decks. My EDH decks are primarily the leftover scraps from the cube.
Agreed.
It's very cool that for cubers, unless they decide to totally stop printing good cards, every year Magic gets better. It's an interesting counter to the waxing and waning of the constructed formats that is often lamented.
Just wanted to add a note of encouragement. Slowly building the cube can be very rewarding. It's an awesome feeling to do a big swap of suboptimal cards out for some of the game's greats. I don't know what your budget is like but mine is fairly modest when it comes to Magic and over the past 2 years I've traded/bought my way into Ravnica duals, fetches and even ABU duals.
It's taken some time but the cube has really become the centerpiece of my Magic collection. You will get there eventually. The most important thing is to enjoy every draft and every new addition, don't feel like you are getting an inferior experience just because you don't have a finished, foiled out cube.
I think the change is mostly for the better, just as original constructed deck building theory gave way to more modern designs that took mana curve and other factors into account.
Plus, I think that in the next 5 years, with the amount of cubable cards they seem to be churning out on a regular basis, we will definitely get to the point where the last one or two slots in a given color section for average sized cubes might have 3 or 4 fairly even contenders.
Love this cube. Thanks for setting this up.
There is still plenty of time for them to bust out the great cards. I'm kind of hoping for a bit of a break so I can push less resources to getting new cards and more resources to filling remaining holes and pimping out the cube.
Also, just out of curiousity, in the past two or three years, what was the set with the lowest amount of (generally accepted) cube includes and how many? I'm assuming M10 was pretty light. But I haven't been tracking it very closely.
SWAP: Quietus Spike --> Sword of Body and Mind
SWAP: Journeyer's Kite --> Mox Diamond
SWAP: Serrated Arrows --> Black Vise
SWAP: Aeolipile --> Zuran Orb
SWAP: Soul Foundry --> Memory Jar
SWAP: Talismans --> Moxes
SWAP: Prismatic Lens --> Black Lotus
SWAP: Tidings --> Timetwister
Edit: Also, is Ember Hauler good enough for my cube? Any idea for swaps?
I'm excited for upcoming changes. FTV: Relics gets me some much needed stuff. I plan to finish out my P9 proxies so they can all be added shortly (just Timetwister left). Also, the duel deck fills a couple holes.
Speaking of which, I'm trying to find the swap for the soon to be arriving Elspeth and I was thinking about either Archon of Justice or Marshal's Anthem. Thoughts?