GIMP is exactly the problem. Information from text layers, layer grouping, layer styles, and probably other stuff too is lost when opening a psd in GIMP.
I took my GIMP template down at the time of TMAP thread fiasco. I could probably make it available again but I wanted to make some changes first.
Oh my goodness that would be wonderful! I only use the GIMP, and not being able to make cards with the photoshop template has been rough...
There are SO MANY THINGS RIGHT with this announcement.
I normally don't go for the non-Planeswalker duel decks... but this is actually the best possible kind of duel deck they could ever announce. I absolutely cannot wait.
In light of the discussion on subthemes in cube, and in an attempt to continue theorycrafting my cube to be something that's more fun & dynamic, I've made a swath of changes, either to increase the power level, to adjust themes, and to combat the powerhouse that is Reveillark (in this cube, anyway). Any thoughts on the new cube would be swell!
I have a 180 Winston Cube with this kind of playstyle as a very specific goal, so I understand exactly where this thread is coming from!
I believe the trick to approaching this, as opposed to Tribal Cubes (which I don't find terribly interesting) is to find a way to support archetypes while also using cards that people would want to use on their own. For example, in my cube you might be able to first-pick an Intangible Virtue and force Wx tokens... or you might go the whole draft and pick up things like Siege-Gang Commander, Rise of the Hobgoblins, Spectral Procession, and Accorder Paladin, shooting for a swarm deck that doesn't care that half of its drops are Isamarus and Keldon Marauders. If you find a last-pick Virtue, you might even find that a lot of the aggressive swarm-y creatures were tokens after all, and find it a nice pick!
Basically, my take on it is to build a balanced and fun cube FIRST, making archetypes that work based on a variety of cards rather than a single keystone. You might have WR Tokens as a deck, for example... but it could also be WR Aggro, WRG Midrange, WRB Aggro, BR Aggro... your archetypes should be modular.
Or you could build a cube that asks you to force a certain archetype, like Tribal cubes, but that doesn't sound nearly as much fun to me
What on earth do you mean by that? ;D Are you saying he takes a while to go active?
-Teppich
I believe that he means that the Tracker, unlike an instant-speed Prey Upon (or even regular Prey Upon!), is 100% predictable, since he has summoning sickness. Your opponent is almost always going to be able to predict who you will be assigning to fight, and will be able to react accordingly.
The idea for this cube came from me wanting to somehow develop a small cube that I could easily whip out when me and someone else had a spare hour so we could draft a quick pair of decks and duel. I looked at all the 180 Winston Cubes I could find here, as well as looking at Peasant Cubes to see what kind of cards went well in those kinds of lower-power cubes. I went for the lower-power scale because it occurred to me that the only way I could make a Winston Cube work with the small number of cards seen would be if there was a sizeable hybrid portion--that way people could draft enough cards to build a reasonable 2-color deck if possible, as well as increasing options, since a wide variety of options is what I wanted to allow for in this cube. Also, since in a Winston draft, luck can be king (the scenario when one person looks in a stack, sees and takes a Sol Ring, and the other guy never knew he missed it and instead takes something significantly less good, thinking it's still a nice pull), I wanted to encourage synergy. That way, if I'm drafting Wx tokens, I can prioritize cards like Lingering Souls or Sarcomancy that my opponent, who's drafting Izzet CounterBurn wouldn't want.
I set up my hybrid section with the best hybrid cards (split cards count as hybrid) in the category, as well as supplementing them with a 10-card cycle of off-color flashback cards that could theoretically be cast in a mono-color deck just like hybrid cards could (though they'd be less good, of course). Also I really like flashback, so I included it where I could--and the use of Momentary Blink in the WU flashback slot supplemented cards I already wanted to use, such as Blade Splicer, Mulldrifter, Flametongue Kavu, etc.
So there's an introduction to the cube: it's designed for a 2-player synergistic approach to drafting, using themes that can be drafted around but aren't terrible on their own (tokens, flashback, ETB effects) while using hybrid and off-color flashback costs to allow players to have greater access to available cards in deckbuilding.
Cube Size: 180 Breakdown: 22 Each Color, 30 Hybrid, 20 Artifact, 20 Land Type of Cube: "Winston" Cube (though it can do more than Winston, of course), slight themes included for a more synergistic approach to drafting (hybrid, tokens, flashback, and ETB effects) Average Number of Players: 2 (almost exclusively) How Often Drafted: Occasionally--I only just built it! Location: Waterville or Portland, Maine
Card Selection Proxies: Only until I get them! Portal: Fire Imp (maybe coming out?) Snow: Nope "Un" Cards: No Banned Cards: Power balance is tightly monitored. I don't want this cube to be defined by bomb cards--if a card is incredibly powerful, I want it to be through synergies (Reveillark) rather than raw power (Grave Titan). I want to encourage synergistic deck building rather than just seeing who can draft the next most powerful card. Errata: No, all cards are played according to their oracle wording.
Cube Design Standard or Multiplayer: Standard Sideboards?: Yes, but no sideboard specific cards in cube Cards Sorted As Played/As Written: As Written
Things White likes to do:
Aggressive token-based strategies
Control strategies with DoJ, Elspeth, & Wall of Omens
As I explained earlier, I designed my hybrid section to encourage versatility. It's been tweaked extensively because for a long time, I pushed versatility over usefulness. Some of these color combinations just don't have very good hybrid cards! Stuff like BR was pretty easy, while BG has been giving me headaches forever. Ultimately I decided to allow more "guild-style" hybrid cards just for power level (Ghastlord of Fugue, for example--Oona was just way too bomby) in the hopes that even if someone drafts a UR deck, they might still run a "7-mana Ghastlord" which costs UUUUU. But hopefully we get better hybrid cards in Return to Ravnica!
The Artifact section is mostly just some good utility spells and creatures that everyone could potentially want, though of course certain archetypes would want some artifacts over others!
Lands are pretty hum-dum. They're mostly just here for fixing purposes, rather than being full of amazing activated abilities. I want this cube to have a reasonably large amount of nonbasic land-fixing (but I don't want to shell out for crazy stuff like ABU duals or a full set of shocks)
So for 6 CMC, black sweeps the opposing tribe and brings all of its back into play, but tapped, and as a sorcery that can't be easily recurred. For 1 more, white sweeps the opposing tribe with the much stronger exile than destroy, brings back all its dorks, untapped, and gets a 4/6 flying to boot, and in a recurrable form of a creature.
sigh.
Guess we know why the zombies didn't win
Going to try to squeeze Defy Death into my Gisela EDH deck, since it's very angel-tribal. Not sure I want a hyperabundance of reanimators, though. Or maybe I do? The art and flavor text on that card, though. Oh man. Amazing!
Oh my goodness that would be wonderful! I only use the GIMP, and not being able to make cards with the photoshop template has been rough...
It's Electrolyze
Bump? If someone more skilled than I at photoshop could do these guys, that'd be swell!
Merits to each?
I normally don't go for the non-Planeswalker duel decks... but this is actually the best possible kind of duel deck they could ever announce. I absolutely cannot wait.
Accorder Paladin -> Soltari Champion
Arrest -> Seal of Cleansing
Blind Creeper -> Bitterblossom
Brimstone Volley -> Staggershock
Condemn -> Swords to Plowshares
Duskdale Wurm -> Pelakka Wurm
Jade Mage -> Scavenging Ooze
Mercy Killing -> Selesnya Guildmage
Mind Control -> Confiscate
Phantom Centaur -> Deranged Hermit
Skeletal Vampire -> Harvester of Souls
Sturmgeist -> Meloku, the Clouded Mirror
Swans of Bryn Argoll -> Plumeveil
5-1-12
Preordain -> Ancestral Vision
Confiscate -> Capsize
Into the Roil -> Control Magic
Thieving Magpie -> Dungeon Geists
Spiketail Hatchling -> Snapcaster Mage
Canker Abomination -> Golgari Guildmage
5-5-12
Condescend -> Dissipate
Tracker's Instincts -> Spitting Image
6-1-12
Flame Javelin -> Char
Cankerous Thirst -> Life/Death
Return to Ravnica
Selesnya Guildmage -> Dryad Militant
Wolfbitten Captive -> Jade Mage
Nucklavee -> Nivmagus Elemental
Repeal -> Cyclonic Rift
Golgari Guildmage -> Deathrite Shaman
Bitterblossom -> Pack Rat
Crystal Ball -> Druidic Satchel
Glacial Fortress -> Hallowed Fountain
Dragonskull Summit -> Blood Crypt
Sunpetal Grove -> Temple Garden
Sulfur Falls -> Steam Vents
Woodland Cemetery -> Overgrown Tomb
Wickerbough Elder -> Deadbridge Goliath
Scavenging Ooze -> Sakura-Tribe Elder
Yavimaya Elder -> Nantuko Vigilante
Gatecrash
Hinterland Harbor -> Breeding Pool
Isolated Chapel -> Godless Shrine
Clifftop Retreat -> Sacred Foundry
Rootbound Crag -> Stomping Ground
Drowned Catacomb -> Watery Grave
Gwyllion Hedge-Mage -> Immortal Servitude
Spitemare -> Boros Reckoner
Deadly Allure -> Noxious Hatchling
In light of the discussion on subthemes in cube, and in an attempt to continue theorycrafting my cube to be something that's more fun & dynamic, I've made a swath of changes, either to increase the power level, to adjust themes, and to combat the powerhouse that is Reveillark (in this cube, anyway). Any thoughts on the new cube would be swell!
Cankerous Thirst vs Life//Death
Would it be possible for either you or Jomafro to create proxies for Tamiyo or Tibalt in this style? I'd greatly appreciate it!
Thelonite Hermit vs Deranged Hermit. Is echo or morph better on this mechanic?
I believe the trick to approaching this, as opposed to Tribal Cubes (which I don't find terribly interesting) is to find a way to support archetypes while also using cards that people would want to use on their own. For example, in my cube you might be able to first-pick an Intangible Virtue and force Wx tokens... or you might go the whole draft and pick up things like Siege-Gang Commander, Rise of the Hobgoblins, Spectral Procession, and Accorder Paladin, shooting for a swarm deck that doesn't care that half of its drops are Isamarus and Keldon Marauders. If you find a last-pick Virtue, you might even find that a lot of the aggressive swarm-y creatures were tokens after all, and find it a nice pick!
Basically, my take on it is to build a balanced and fun cube FIRST, making archetypes that work based on a variety of cards rather than a single keystone. You might have WR Tokens as a deck, for example... but it could also be WR Aggro, WRG Midrange, WRB Aggro, BR Aggro... your archetypes should be modular.
Or you could build a cube that asks you to force a certain archetype, like Tribal cubes, but that doesn't sound nearly as much fun to me
I believe that he means that the Tracker, unlike an instant-speed Prey Upon (or even regular Prey Upon!), is 100% predictable, since he has summoning sickness. Your opponent is almost always going to be able to predict who you will be assigning to fight, and will be able to react accordingly.
The idea for this cube came from me wanting to somehow develop a small cube that I could easily whip out when me and someone else had a spare hour so we could draft a quick pair of decks and duel. I looked at all the 180 Winston Cubes I could find here, as well as looking at Peasant Cubes to see what kind of cards went well in those kinds of lower-power cubes. I went for the lower-power scale because it occurred to me that the only way I could make a Winston Cube work with the small number of cards seen would be if there was a sizeable hybrid portion--that way people could draft enough cards to build a reasonable 2-color deck if possible, as well as increasing options, since a wide variety of options is what I wanted to allow for in this cube. Also, since in a Winston draft, luck can be king (the scenario when one person looks in a stack, sees and takes a Sol Ring, and the other guy never knew he missed it and instead takes something significantly less good, thinking it's still a nice pull), I wanted to encourage synergy. That way, if I'm drafting Wx tokens, I can prioritize cards like Lingering Souls or Sarcomancy that my opponent, who's drafting Izzet CounterBurn wouldn't want.
I set up my hybrid section with the best hybrid cards (split cards count as hybrid) in the category, as well as supplementing them with a 10-card cycle of off-color flashback cards that could theoretically be cast in a mono-color deck just like hybrid cards could (though they'd be less good, of course). Also I really like flashback, so I included it where I could--and the use of Momentary Blink in the WU flashback slot supplemented cards I already wanted to use, such as Blade Splicer, Mulldrifter, Flametongue Kavu, etc.
So there's an introduction to the cube: it's designed for a 2-player synergistic approach to drafting, using themes that can be drafted around but aren't terrible on their own (tokens, flashback, ETB effects) while using hybrid and off-color flashback costs to allow players to have greater access to available cards in deckbuilding.
Breakdown: 22 Each Color, 30 Hybrid, 20 Artifact, 20 Land
Type of Cube: "Winston" Cube (though it can do more than Winston, of course), slight themes included for a more synergistic approach to drafting (hybrid, tokens, flashback, and ETB effects)
Average Number of Players: 2 (almost exclusively)
How Often Drafted: Occasionally--I only just built it!
Location: Waterville or Portland, Maine
Card Selection
Proxies: Only until I get them!
Portal: Fire Imp (maybe coming out?)
Snow: Nope
"Un" Cards: No
Banned Cards: Power balance is tightly monitored. I don't want this cube to be defined by bomb cards--if a card is incredibly powerful, I want it to be through synergies (Reveillark) rather than raw power (Grave Titan). I want to encourage synergistic deck building rather than just seeing who can draft the next most powerful card.
Errata: No, all cards are played according to their oracle wording.
Cube Design
Standard or Multiplayer: Standard
Sideboards?: Yes, but no sideboard specific cards in cube
Cards Sorted As Played/As Written: As Written
Things White likes to do:
Aggressive token-based strategies
Control strategies with DoJ, Elspeth, & Wall of Omens
1 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
1 Steppe Lynx
1 Cloistered Youth
1 Wall of Omens
1 Fiend Hunter
1 Soltari Champion
1 Stonecloaker
1 Geist-Honored Monk
1 Reveillark
1 Path to Exile
1 Disenchant
1 Intangible Virtue
1 Journey to Nowhere
1 Seal of Cleansing
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Day of Judgment
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Things Blue likes to do:
Spell-based card advantage & control
Bounce/Tempo strategies when paired with another aggressive color
1 Waterfront Bouncer
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Serendib Efreet
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Dungeon Geists
1 Meloku, the Clouded Mirror
1 Ancestral Vision
1 Silent Departure
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Mana Leak
1 Remand
1 Counterspell
1 Deep Analysis
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Control Magic
1 Capsize
Things Black likes to do:
Early aggro (zombies, Blind Creeper)
Attrition-based control (Phyrexian Arena, Liliana, Barter in Blood)
1 Sarcomancy
1 Guul Draz Assassin
1 Pack Rat
1 Hypnotic Specter
1 Vampire Nighthawk
1 Skinrender
1 Sengir Vampire
1 Disfigure
1 Doom Blade
1 Go for the Throat
1 Chainer's Edict
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Stupor
1 Living Death
Things Red likes to do:
Creature-based aggro (Stromkirk, Lightning Mauler)
Burn-based aggro-control
1 Stromkirk Noble
1 Reckless Waif
1 Keldon Marauders
1 Hellspark Elemental
1 Lightning Mauler
1 Torch Fiend
1 Cunning Sparkmage
1 Fire Imp
1 Flametongue Kavu
1 Firebolt
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Magma Jet
1 Staggershock
1 Pillage
1 Char
1 Sulfurous Blast
Things Green likes to do:
Midrange creatures
Ramp-ramp-ramp (Sup Duskdale Wurm!)
1 Jade Mage
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Strangleroot Geist
1 Skinshifter
1 Eternal Witness
1 Nantuko Vigilante
1 Deadbridge Goliath
1 Briarhorn
1 Indrik Stomphowler
1 Pelakka Wurm
1 Vines of Vastwood
1 Naturalize
1 Regrowth
1 Cultivate
1 Bramblecrush
1 Garruk Relentless
1 Harmonize
As I explained earlier, I designed my hybrid section to encourage versatility. It's been tweaked extensively because for a long time, I pushed versatility over usefulness. Some of these color combinations just don't have very good hybrid cards! Stuff like BR was pretty easy, while BG has been giving me headaches forever. Ultimately I decided to allow more "guild-style" hybrid cards just for power level (Ghastlord of Fugue, for example--Oona was just way too bomby) in the hopes that even if someone drafts a UR deck, they might still run a "7-mana Ghastlord" which costs UUUUU. But hopefully we get better hybrid cards in Return to Ravnica!
1 Azorius Guildmage
1 Momentary Blink
1 Plumeveil
UB
1 Forbidden Alchemy
1 Ghastlord of Fugue
1 Inkfathom Infiltrator
BR
1 Ashenmoor Gouger
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Strangling Soot
RG
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Boggart Ram-Gang
1 Giant Solifuge
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Dryad Militant
1 Travel Preparations
WB
1 Stillmoon Cavalier
1 Immortal Servitude
1 Lingering Souls
UR
1 Mystic Retrieval
1 Fire/Ice
1 Nivmagus Elemental
BG
1 Deathrite Shaman
1 Life/Death
1 Noxious Hatchling
1 Boros Reckoner
1 Rally the Peasants
1 Rise of the Hobgoblins
GU
1 Cold-Eyed Selkie
1 Snakeform
1 Spitting Image
The Artifact section is mostly just some good utility spells and creatures that everyone could potentially want, though of course certain archetypes would want some artifacts over others!
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Perilous Myr
1 Galvanic Juggernaut
1 Trusty Machete
1 Brittle Effigy
1 Mortarpod
1 Mind Stone
1 Runechanter's Pike
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Everflowing Chalice
1 Grafted Wargear
1 Tumble Magnet
1 Vessel of Endless Rest
1 Icy Manipulator
Lands are pretty hum-dum. They're mostly just here for fixing purposes, rather than being full of amazing activated abilities. I want this cube to have a reasonably large amount of nonbasic land-fixing (but I don't want to shell out for crazy stuff like ABU duals or a full set of shocks)
1 Blood Crypt
1 Breeding Pool
1 Godless Shrine
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Grounds
1 Temple Garden
1 Watery Grave
1 Vivid Crag
1 Vivid Creek
1 Vivid Grove
1 Vivid Marsh
1 Vivid Meadow
The Shard Lands
1 Arcane Sanctum
1 Crumbling Necropolis
1 Jungle Shrine
1 Savage Lands
1 Seaside Citadel
If you have any comments, suggestions, thoughts at all, please let me know! This is here for discussion, after all
Guess we know why the zombies didn't win
Going to try to squeeze Defy Death into my Gisela EDH deck, since it's very angel-tribal. Not sure I want a hyperabundance of reanimators, though. Or maybe I do? The art and flavor text on that card, though. Oh man. Amazing!
Yeah, I agree with this sentiment. I, also, have two cubes.
Although with one a 360-themed-artifact cube and the other a 180-peasantish cube... they're not as heavy for upkeep as a 400-card power cube might be.