I recently cut it. It was my last true "pet card" in my 450 powered list. I hated to see it go, because it gave us some good stories over the years. I don't mind the "feel bad" games, since there are much worse things that can happen in Cube. (Mind Twist, Plow Under, etc.) I think its time is long past, but if I were playing someone else's Cube, I'd draft it in a heartbeat.
I'm always looking for small things to pimp my Cube "experience" -- something my drafters will think is cool that will elevate their draft experience. For instance, these are some things I've done to upgrade the experience. (nothing out of the ordinary)
6 foot giant playmats that cover the entire table
Full set of token cards, sleeved to the colors of the tokens
Cube Vault to hold the Cube
Set of draft order cards (Antiquities-era artifact cards with casting costs from -10)
What other things have you done to elevate the experience of your draft? Deck holders? Uniform set of spindowns for life tracking? Pimped +1/+1 tokens?
Just for anyone else browsing this thread in the future, I've been using MTG Arena (https://mtgarena.appspot.com/) for my last couple of drafts. It handles the pairings, calculates results including DCI tiebreakers, and has a good mobile interface.
Anyone on the Cube forums going to be attending BGG.con? (boardgamegeek.com convention) I'll be hosting a Cube draft event there, it will be our 5th year.
Also, thanks for the replies above. I'm going to test Channel, I've left out the Blaze variants, and I'm stoked about deciding to finally include the Portal functional reprints. If someone doesn't go Wildfire this year, I'm going to be disappointed!
Can someone answer a couple of questions about red X burn spells for me?
Why have red X burn spells fallen out of favor? I notice no one runs Fireball, Devil's Play, etc. Doesn't Red benefit from having a finisher that can burn someone for the last few points of damage?
As a follow-up, I notice a lot of people do run both Earthquake and Rolling Earthquake. Do these spells effectively become Fireball replacements in red aggro? Is the idea that if you need to burn the last few points of life from someone, you're going to have more life than them, so why not use Earthquake to finish them off? Is Earthquake run in many lists because it's the both the finisher I mentioned, and a utility sweeper?
Bonus question: Dryad Militant or some other card if I don't run green aggro? It feels like White has gotten some really great aggro cards recently, so I'd almost rather run something cooler in this spot, since Green doesn't want it.
I've been drafting on CubeTutor and using the 2015 MTGS Cube Rankings to see if I can challenge myself to re-evaluating certain cards. One of the surprising things (for me) was to see Sulfuric Vortex as Red's #1 card. It's probably because I haven't seen it in action before.
If you're solidly in W aggro in pack 1, with lots of good stuff (White 1-drops, Sword, Skullclamp), and then you see Dark Confidant and Sulfuric Vortex P2P1, which are you more likely to draft, and why?
It's a day of celebration! Today I completed a 5 1/2-year journey by buying the last card that de-proxies my powered Cube. After selling a bunch of games last month, I made some big purchases for a CE Black Lotus, the last 2 Onslaught fetchlands, Moat, and Liliana. But for whatever reason, it was the Savannah that was the last purchase.
I started lurking on here nearly 6 years ago, and built my Cube in 2010. I started with 69 proxies out of 450 cards, and today I feel so immensely proud of having completed my 5-year project.
A huge thanks to this community as a whole, and especially to wtwlf123 for being such an inspiration to those of us just starting out with Cube drafting. I get to play it so infrequently, but every time I do, it brings a huge amount of entertainment to our playgroup. It's one of my most prized possessions, and something I know I'll keep the rest of my life.
Thanks for indulging this post, and understanding this geeky moment of celebration.
Mentor is potentially more exciting for those who dare to dream.
Thanks for sharing the experiences, all. I enjoy high-reward cards that generate fun Cube stories when they work, and I'm willing to have the card fizzle a few times just to see it go off just once. Plus, I still run Isochron Scepter (a pet card), and even if it's too cute to work, I dream of one day seeing some sort of Boros or Jeskai deck with Young Pyromancer, Isochron Scepter, and this guy. Talk about daring to dream.
Hopefully bumping this thread isn't a problem. I've read through all 3 pages of this and I'm still on the fence. With the price being so high, I want to be sure he's not a flameout, or on the chopping block 3 months from now.
Warning: remedial questions incoming. Take it easy on me.
I've been reading through the 2014 Cube Power Rankings, and realize that I'm undervaluing some of the cards. There are some cards in the Cube that I see people refer to as P1P1 pickable, but I have a hard time evaluating whether they're just "good stuff" cards, or "build-around" cards. I'm going to throw a few out here, and I'm hoping for some feedback on these cards. Specifically, are they just "goodstuff" that you throw into whatever deck you wind up building, or after P1P1 picking these cards, are you then looking to build a very specific deck around them. (like with Wildfire)
The cards I have questions about. (sorry if some of these are obvious) Dark Confidant Does P1P1 picking Bob always force you into Bx Aggro?
Balance I get why Balance is a top card, but I have trouble figuring out what kind of deck it fits in. Is this midrange/control Goodstuff, or are you looking for something specific after P1P1 Balance?
Elspeth, Knight-Errant The card that inspired my question. I was surprised to see Elspeth as #2 in the White section, and it made me want to take a closer look. Is she just Goodstuff in any white deck, or are you looking to build a particular deck type when you P1P1 her?
Gideon Jura I was also surprised to see this as White's #5 card. I really undervalue him. Does he go in any W/x midrange / control as Goodstuff?
Armageddon I use this mostly in W/x Aggro, but do people also run this as Goodstuff in any white deck? (like Conrol -- T3 Wrath, T4 finisher, T5 Armageddon?)
Upheaval I've read the SCD on Upheaval. I get that you draft as many mana rocks as you can get your hands on. Is this useful at all if you don't see it early?
Braids, Cabal Minion I recently added a Pox package, so I know she can lead you there. I know she also goes well as a T4 drop in B/x aggro. Outside of those decks, is she run in Black Goodstuff, or is she only situationally good?
Liliana of the Veil Same question on Liliana. If I P1P1 pick her, I can look for ways to abuse the discard (Squee, Crucible of Worlds, start of a Reanimator deck, etc.) I may have just answered my own question...
We have a high number of control / midrange players in my playgroup, and I'd love to draft a really wicked RB or WB aggro deck to show them how powerful it can be. However, I'm historically a diehard control player, with a lack of experience drafting and piloting aggro decks. I have a few questions about aggro:
How many one-drops is too many in an aggro deck?
Is 15/16 land a good rule of thumb?
I tried my hand at a RB aggro deck from my cube. Can someone take a look at this draft and let me know if I've built it right? Too many one-drops? Should I be playing the extra 3/4 drops? What about Dreadbore?
If you play any blue tempo decks, I'd replace the bounces with Painlands in the blue enemy combinations. If all the decks are midrange and control decks, the Bouncelands are fine options, as are the Checklands.
I don't heavily support blue tempo, and our blue decks are heavily slanted towards control. (my playgroup is mostly novices, and blue tempo would be tough for them to pick up) I think I'll leave the Bouncelands for now.
Quote from Spike Rogue »
Usually I also prefer the pain lands over filter lands but your cube has multiple WW and BB two drops, so you might want to consider running Fetid Heath in your Orzhov section.
That's a really good callout. I like playing BW decks, and all of those WW/BB costs are awkward to play. This is a really great idea, thanks!
Thanks for the recommendations. Here's another question. I currently run four lands in each gold section. Three are always ABU Dual, Fetchland, Shockland. The others differ by color. Are these lands still top-tier for their colors?
What other things have you done to elevate the experience of your draft? Deck holders? Uniform set of spindowns for life tracking? Pimped +1/+1 tokens?
Also, thanks for the replies above. I'm going to test Channel, I've left out the Blaze variants, and I'm stoked about deciding to finally include the Portal functional reprints. If someone doesn't go Wildfire this year, I'm going to be disappointed!
Bonus question: Dryad Militant or some other card if I don't run green aggro? It feels like White has gotten some really great aggro cards recently, so I'd almost rather run something cooler in this spot, since Green doesn't want it.
If you're solidly in W aggro in pack 1, with lots of good stuff (White 1-drops, Sword, Skullclamp), and then you see Dark Confidant and Sulfuric Vortex P2P1, which are you more likely to draft, and why?
I started lurking on here nearly 6 years ago, and built my Cube in 2010. I started with 69 proxies out of 450 cards, and today I feel so immensely proud of having completed my 5-year project.
A huge thanks to this community as a whole, and especially to wtwlf123 for being such an inspiration to those of us just starting out with Cube drafting. I get to play it so infrequently, but every time I do, it brings a huge amount of entertainment to our playgroup. It's one of my most prized possessions, and something I know I'll keep the rest of my life.
Thanks for indulging this post, and understanding this geeky moment of celebration.
Has anyone solidified their opinion on him?
I've been reading through the 2014 Cube Power Rankings, and realize that I'm undervaluing some of the cards. There are some cards in the Cube that I see people refer to as P1P1 pickable, but I have a hard time evaluating whether they're just "good stuff" cards, or "build-around" cards. I'm going to throw a few out here, and I'm hoping for some feedback on these cards. Specifically, are they just "goodstuff" that you throw into whatever deck you wind up building, or after P1P1 picking these cards, are you then looking to build a very specific deck around them. (like with Wildfire)
The cards I have questions about. (sorry if some of these are obvious)
Dark Confidant Does P1P1 picking Bob always force you into Bx Aggro?
Balance I get why Balance is a top card, but I have trouble figuring out what kind of deck it fits in. Is this midrange/control Goodstuff, or are you looking for something specific after P1P1 Balance?
Elspeth, Knight-Errant The card that inspired my question. I was surprised to see Elspeth as #2 in the White section, and it made me want to take a closer look. Is she just Goodstuff in any white deck, or are you looking to build a particular deck type when you P1P1 her?
Gideon Jura I was also surprised to see this as White's #5 card. I really undervalue him. Does he go in any W/x midrange / control as Goodstuff?
Armageddon I use this mostly in W/x Aggro, but do people also run this as Goodstuff in any white deck? (like Conrol -- T3 Wrath, T4 finisher, T5 Armageddon?)
Upheaval I've read the SCD on Upheaval. I get that you draft as many mana rocks as you can get your hands on. Is this useful at all if you don't see it early?
Braids, Cabal Minion I recently added a Pox package, so I know she can lead you there. I know she also goes well as a T4 drop in B/x aggro. Outside of those decks, is she run in Black Goodstuff, or is she only situationally good?
Liliana of the Veil Same question on Liliana. If I P1P1 pick her, I can look for ways to abuse the discard (Squee, Crucible of Worlds, start of a Reanimator deck, etc.) I may have just answered my own question...
Snapcaster Mage Just plain Goodstuff in any blue deck?
- How many one-drops is too many in an aggro deck?
- Is 15/16 land a good rule of thumb?
- I tried my hand at a RB aggro deck from my cube. Can someone take a look at this draft and let me know if I've built it right? Too many one-drops? Should I be playing the extra 3/4 drops? What about Dreadbore?
Thanks for the help!I don't heavily support blue tempo, and our blue decks are heavily slanted towards control. (my playgroup is mostly novices, and blue tempo would be tough for them to pick up) I think I'll leave the Bouncelands for now.
That's a really good callout. I like playing BW decks, and all of those WW/BB costs are awkward to play. This is a really great idea, thanks!
Azorius - Celestial Colonnade
Dimir - Creeping Tar Pit
Rakdos - Lavaclaw Reaches
Gruul - Raging Ravine
Selesnya - Horizon Canopy
Orzhov - Caves of Koilos
Golgari - Llanowar Wastes
Simic - Simic Growth Chamber
Izzet - Izzet Boilerworks
Boros - Battlefield Forge
Thoughts on Stirring Wildwood and Woodland Cemetery?