It has two 100% playable cards Pork Leg and Mutavault.
This puts magimerl into red-black, while we draft another white card, Pork Leg. This leaves us to pick up Wrath of God and a random card.
Just thinking ahead. But will be out-voted, I know.
As Fredo said, that's some really good reasoning.
Best case scenario, things play out like you've described and magicmerl takes pile 2 leaving us the Wrath of God. Worst case he takes the Wrath for himself and we get to take out Porcelain Legionnaire and Mutavault and go into red-black aggro outselves. I don't think either of these is a remotely bad scenario so Pile 3 all the way.
My son saw two people using the "turbo" method at our local game store with booster packs from the latest set. Each player opens a pack and chooses a card. They then exchange packs but this time they each choose two cards. They exchange again but this time each takes three cards, and it continues until each pack is gone. They then each move onto their second pack and start over. Hope that makes sense.
We are having a lot of fun so far. We have turbo drafted and used the Winston method as well. Thank you all so much for your valuable feedback.
Glad you're having a good time. If you don't mind my turning the tables for a moment, what's "turbo drafting"? I've never heard of it and Google isn't being helpful on the subject (though it's late and maybe I'm just not searching right.)
We are now up to 300 cards: 50 for each color and 50 artifacts. I also added all the cheap Zendikar dual lands. So far we are just playing one of each card. Is that how you guys do it? If so, does the same rule apply to dual lands and the cheap fetchlands (Terramorphic, etc)?
Almost every cube I've seen sticks to one copy of each card (lands included) and relies on cards with similar effects to provide redundency. (For example, if you want more than one Sejiri Refuge, look for cards like Azorius Chancery and Seaside Citadel.)
Yes. If you have Madrush Cyclops or a similar effect giving Ovinomancer haste from the moment it enters the battlefield (or you use an instant or activated ability to give it haste in response to its triggered ability), you can respond to its triggered ability with its activated ability, returning it to your hand as a cost of doing so. When the triggered ability goes to resolve, you can choose not to return any lands and will not have to sacrifice Ovinomancer as it has already left the battlefield.
If your aggro deck is running equipment, you probably have better creatures to put it on than Vault Skirge. I'll grant that the Skirge gets significantly better if you can boost its power, but it's still very situational and not a very good card without such boosts.
Suntail Hawk and Lantern Kami are very far off from being cube-worthy. Check the Cube Comparison Rusult Thread; neither card is even listed in the rankings or used in the average 720 card cube.
I'm relatively new to the cube myself and haven't played any pauper specific cubes, but I'll take a stab at your questions.
1. While multi-colored cards aren't absolutely neceassary (especially in pauper where there are a lot fewer to choose from), they are very fun and provide a lot of cool effects that you just can't get in single colored cards. I would plan on adding a small multicolored section at some point in the future, but for now you can definitely enjoy your cube without one.
2. Most cubes will either include dual lands with the multicolored cards (i.e. counting Creeping Tar Pit as a blue/black card) or include them in a separate land section. How you do it is up to you and shouldn't matter as it's mainly an organizational thing.
Forty for each color and forty artifacts give you 240 cards. If you're looking to draft with 6 people, (with 3 packs of 15 cards per person which is the norm) you would need at least 270 cards. (You could hold a 4 or 5 player draft as those would require 180 and 225 cards, respectively.)
For two players, there are a number of way you could play with your cube. The simplest is probably sealed deck. To play sealed, you give each player a pool of random cards (six packs worth or 90 cards is pretty standard) and have them build their deck (of at least 40 cards) from those cards and as many basic lands as they need. If you're looking to draft with two players, you could try either Winston drafting (which you can read about here) or Winchester drafting (which you can read about here). I've done (and enjoyed several Winstons with my cube. I haven't had a chance to try Winchester but it looks like fun to me. (I would probably use a few more cards than they recomend for either of those formats.)
I've actually tested Vault Skirge and he's not terrible. The others, I totally agree with, but I wouldn't count Vault Skirge out yet. He's what black needs most in aggro (an evasive dude with life gain) and he's not too shabby in other aggressive decks.
My counter to this would be that black (or any other color, really) aggro needs damage output more than life gain and 1 damage per turn just isn't enough. That's why you don't see many cubes running Scryb Sprites or Suntail Hawk.
Also unless you're saving Vault Skirge for turn 2, it isn't life gain until the third time it deals damage. Paying 2 life to gain one life per turn isn't the model of efficiency.
Actually the best way to start the game is not to bother about what the 'best way is' or what 'good cards' are and just go play. You'll roll into good and best at some point.
In a perfect world, that's a great plan. Unfortunately, in reality, a player is more likely to enjoy the game and keep playing if he or she has a deck that works and is fun to play with rather than shuffling up a bunch of marginal cards from a few random booster packs and getting steamrolled by more experienced players every game (this is also why having a supportive play group is very helpful).
I'm not a huge fan of Coiling Oracle. When you need another landfall trigger, it stinks to drop him and reveal a creature. I would rather run a land fetching card in a dedicated landfall deck.
Playing Magic Online can also be helpful as it automates the game's rules which makes it easier to see how everything's supposed to work. This isn't for everyone however as you do have to pay for cards and packs you buy for Magic Online so if you're not looking to spend money on both a paper collection and an online collection, it probably isn't for you.
Besides, that, do you have friends who already play? If so, there's a pretty good chance that they can be a huge help with both the rules and building your collection (in my years of playing Magic, I've been on both ends of the "I have extras of this card, would you like them?" scenario.)
As others have mentioned, drafting can be a great way to build a collection and improve as a player, but you shouldn't go into it before you're ready. I would recomend playing with friends until you have a good grasp of the basic rules before trying it. Also, you might want to look through card lists for the set or sets you're draftign before you go to the event; sitting down and opening a pack of 14 cards you've never seen before can be daunting, especially if everyone else at the table knows the set by heart. You can learn more about drafting here and try a simulated draft with the latest Core Set here to get an idea what it's like.
First: No. If the Pact of Negation is countered, no part of its effect will happen. It will not set up the delayed triggered ability that requires its controller to pay 3UU or lose the game at the beginning of his or her next upkeep.
Second: Yes. The delayed triggered ability set up by the Pact is a triggered ability and can be counterd by Stifle once it's put on the stack at the beginning of its controller's next upkeep.
A point of note, the sacrifices happen one at a time since the damage is dealt a point at a time rather than all at once. The first thing your opponent would probably sacrifice is the rats. So the question is would the rest of the sacrifices happen to the opponent, since the last known info had him controlling the rats, or would it fall to the person who activated the ability since he controls the ability?
Firstly, the damage doesn't necessarilly happen one at a time (the ability calls for X paid using only black, unlike Pestilence and similar.) If you have BBBB to use, you could pay all four (X=4) for the Crypt Rats ability to deal 4 damage to everything or pay B one at a time (X=1, maintaining priority between activations) to deal 1 damage to everything 4 times. This means that, dependint how you stack it, you could cause there to be 4 sacrifices all at once or 4 sacrifices as separate triggered abilities.
To answer the question, your opponent was the last known controller of the Rats so he will have to sacrifice all of the permanents regardless of how you perform the activation(s).
I'm not a fan of any of those for basically the reasons eidolon232 described.
Geth's Verdict is the most reasonable, I guess, but I don't think the 1 life ist worth changing the 1 in Diabolic Edict to another B. If you already run Diabolic Edict and are really desperate for another instant speed edict, I guess it's OK, but I still wouldn't run it.
Best case scenario, things play out like you've described and magicmerl takes pile 2 leaving us the Wrath of God. Worst case he takes the Wrath for himself and we get to take out Porcelain Legionnaire and Mutavault and go into red-black aggro outselves. I don't think either of these is a remotely bad scenario so Pile 3 all the way.
Thanks and have a good one.
The fetches are harder to duplicate at common and uncommon, but you do still have options. Besides Terramorphic Expanse and Evolving Wilds, you could try the Terminal Moreaine, panoramas from Shards of Alara or the uncommon fetch lands from Mirage.
Of course, your cube is your own so if you wnat to use more than one of each card, it's entirely your choice.
Suntail Hawk and Lantern Kami are very far off from being cube-worthy. Check the Cube Comparison Rusult Thread; neither card is even listed in the rankings or used in the average 720 card cube.
1. While multi-colored cards aren't absolutely neceassary (especially in pauper where there are a lot fewer to choose from), they are very fun and provide a lot of cool effects that you just can't get in single colored cards. I would plan on adding a small multicolored section at some point in the future, but for now you can definitely enjoy your cube without one.
2. Most cubes will either include dual lands with the multicolored cards (i.e. counting Creeping Tar Pit as a blue/black card) or include them in a separate land section. How you do it is up to you and shouldn't matter as it's mainly an organizational thing.
Forty for each color and forty artifacts give you 240 cards. If you're looking to draft with 6 people, (with 3 packs of 15 cards per person which is the norm) you would need at least 270 cards. (You could hold a 4 or 5 player draft as those would require 180 and 225 cards, respectively.)
For two players, there are a number of way you could play with your cube. The simplest is probably sealed deck. To play sealed, you give each player a pool of random cards (six packs worth or 90 cards is pretty standard) and have them build their deck (of at least 40 cards) from those cards and as many basic lands as they need. If you're looking to draft with two players, you could try either Winston drafting (which you can read about here) or Winchester drafting (which you can read about here). I've done (and enjoyed several Winstons with my cube. I haven't had a chance to try Winchester but it looks like fun to me. (I would probably use a few more cards than they recomend for either of those formats.)
Hope this helps and happy cubing.
Also unless you're saving Vault Skirge for turn 2, it isn't life gain until the third time it deals damage. Paying 2 life to gain one life per turn isn't the model of efficiency.
I'm not a huge fan of Coiling Oracle. When you need another landfall trigger, it stinks to drop him and reveal a creature. I would rather run a land fetching card in a dedicated landfall deck.
Besides, that, do you have friends who already play? If so, there's a pretty good chance that they can be a huge help with both the rules and building your collection (in my years of playing Magic, I've been on both ends of the "I have extras of this card, would you like them?" scenario.)
As others have mentioned, drafting can be a great way to build a collection and improve as a player, but you shouldn't go into it before you're ready. I would recomend playing with friends until you have a good grasp of the basic rules before trying it. Also, you might want to look through card lists for the set or sets you're draftign before you go to the event; sitting down and opening a pack of 14 cards you've never seen before can be daunting, especially if everyone else at the table knows the set by heart. You can learn more about drafting here and try a simulated draft with the latest Core Set here to get an idea what it's like.
Second: Yes. The delayed triggered ability set up by the Pact is a triggered ability and can be counterd by Stifle once it's put on the stack at the beginning of its controller's next upkeep.
To answer the question, your opponent was the last known controller of the Rats so he will have to sacrifice all of the permanents regardless of how you perform the activation(s).
Geth's Verdict is the most reasonable, I guess, but I don't think the 1 life ist worth changing the 1 in Diabolic Edict to another B. If you already run Diabolic Edict and are really desperate for another instant speed edict, I guess it's OK, but I still wouldn't run it.