You don't need (and shouldn't) pick it P1P1. You take it when there's nothing better to trade it for a double pick on P2P1 or P3P1.
Going with statistics, if Cogwork Librarian trades on P2P1 or P3P1 for a second card it's worth as much as the top 13% of your cube (you take the best 2 cards out of 15). Select all the top picks of your cube until you have 13%. On average, this card will trade for one of those. In my 360 powered cube, it will on average trade up with one of the top 48 cards. If you are unlucky and don't have a good second pick on P2P1 you can wait for the next pick or until P3P1.
If the WCS happens and the card is only in the 3rd pack, it's still very good. At that point in the draft you should know what deck you're aiming for. You can safely pick it high instead of hate drafting and double dip in a pack that as the needed cards for your deck.
As long as your always drafting, I don't see how this couldn't be a auto-include, unless you don't want to play the effect.
The point of the card is not to first pick it (unless you've got a terrible pack). Here's the strategy:
Pick it 3rd, 4th pick or later to have 2 top picks next packs. If you got it first pack you can hold it until third pack (remember the card is put back in the pack when you take that second card, it can then be redrafted) so that no one else can re-use it too favorably. In a 360 powered cube this card can gain you access to a mox level quality pick easily.
The WCS is that the card is in the third packs, but even in that case, you can pick it to have the last 2 cards of a pack. The card will always become the last pick of a pack because it's always reseeded. Last picks in third packs are rarelyplayed anyway, nothing lost there.
Would gladly take suggestions or comments for the red splash. I find Goblin Guide helps you speed up your game and I prefer Figure of Destiny over Student of Warfare unless I'm missing something?
What other red cards would you run (main or side) with this build?
Round 1 (0-2) (Soul Sisters)
Match 1: Starting hand with 2 Blood Moon and not much else. Just got rolled over without much opposition from me.
Sideboard:
-4 Blood Moon
+2 Ensnaring Bridge
+1 Pyroclasm
+1 Spell Pierce (Repeal would have been a better choice)
Match 2: Got the board locked down with a Ensnaring Bridge and casted Wildfire 2 times to keep my opponent in check. With 7 cards left in my library I still didn't draw any Koth or Tamiyo of the game. My opponent was finally able to attack a few times with 1 power creatures because of a Spell Pierce I couldn't get rid of. Maybe get another Koth in the deck?
Round 2 (1-2) (Living End)
Match 1: He got on a good start cascading into living end turn 3. Was able to stabilize with Blood Moon and Ensnaring Bridge to finish the game with Koth.
Match 2 and 3: Quickly took over both games with Koth, countering his stuff.
Round 4: Bye
Impressions: The deck has some good potential but needs tweaking. For too much matchs I was waiting for my finisher while the board was locked. Those could have been a easy win if I'd have drawn Koth. While Tamiyo can be a good answer vs some treats, she's really slow to ultimate and by then you need to have drawn a Bolt to get the win. Koth is much better but I can't see the deck having any succes with only 1 finisher. We'd be vulnerable to Pithing Needle and Revoker or Extirpate effects, and those seems to be main deck more and more in the current meta.
Here's my expected changes at this point:
-1 Wildfire
-1 Tamiyo
-1 land
+1 or +2 Koth?
+1 Ral Zarek? Would like some suggestions here...
I've just started playing modern and decided to give a shot at a UR version of Blood Moon. Blue gives us ways to better protect ou mana denial strategies and opens up great sideboard cards for any match-up:
Yes it seems to be a good option vs resilient creatures. If I include it I might switch Koth for Ral Zarek. I already find Koth to be a bit weak in that deck since he's only a offense player and can't stall the game. Not being able to attack with mountains would make the card almost useless. The problem I see with Ral on the other hand is that the +1 does not have any synergy in the deck.
Is there any other finisher with a CMC under 6 (to play before a Wildfire) that would fit in the deck? For a creature I think it's critical for it to survive a Wildfire. Thundermaw Hellkite could be an option. Still I'm not too fond of a creature finisher since it brings back alive the removal in your opponent's hand.
I've just started playing modern and decided to give a shot to deckbuilding. Seing a meta with greedy manabase I wanted to exploit this weakness using Blood Moon and Wildfire:
For most of the match-ups you want to stop your opponent with Blood Moon to give you time to set-up your Wildfire. Remand, Pyroclasm and Lightning Bolt are there to help you get there. With 8 stones we can reasonably expect to land Wildfire turn 4 quite often. From there you want to grind out your win with Koth or Tamiyo. Tamiyo can also be used to deny mana or stall a creature on the board. Finally Molten Rain is there to make sure your opponent is left with no board after a Wildfire. You can also redirect it's damage to a planeswalker.
The deck is really strong against 3 colored decks, who are quite present in the current meta. Few decks have answers to Blood Moon and even fewer can answer it before a Wildfire. Remand is even stronger due to the land denial strategy. Also, having no creatures creates dead cards in some match-ups. Path to Exile on a Koth activated Mountain gets your Mountain back and will just delay your kill by a turn with no loss.
WildMoon is weaker against creature-light RDW decks. We have a lot of dead cards against that match-up and Wildfire is not as effective (unless the player just cast Faithless Looting discarding his remaining lands which they always do). The deck is generally strong against aggro but can have some difficulties against persist or undying creatures. Casting Wildfire to continue getting beatten isn't the best play.
With RtR almost all spoiled I'm working on a major update now. Here's the feedback from our various draft session with the current list:
- Wizard/Merfolk is weak. Both tribes are just way to slow and can't keep-up with other tribes. Wizards also don't have any real lord. I'm thinking about replacing the whole color to some kind of Artifact tribe. Still not sure about that one or how it could be done. I need to look into blue artifact matter cards and see if it makes sense.
- Evasion is critical. One thing you're sure to see on the other side is creatures. Changeling Titan can be useful to complete a deck but there's no way he'll actually be able to connect.
- The decks and matchups are really cool. There's some nice combo pieces in all the tribes and death can come really fast. Stalled boards usually don't last for too long.
As alway's, comments and recommandations are welcomed!
A sort of Grim Lavamancer that can sometimes fix your mana and is graveyard hate. It's only downside against the Lavamancer is that you can only target players with the Black ability (yes, it's a big downside). But there's so much other upside that it wouldn't make sense for a black aggro section not to run it. It's reach in a color that doesn't have any.
I've been considering increasing from 3 to 4 for each guild of my 360 powered cube but finally won't. I don't mind not running cards like Vraska the Unseen because both colors already have great 5-6 drops. What I'm having issues with is not running Loam Lion or Deathrite Shaman because of the quality of the cards in their guilds. Even if I don't like the idea of a imbalanced gold section I feel those cards should stay in for proper aggro support and they will take the place of a white and a black card.
I really like that we're seeing more and more themed cubes. But outside of the well-established cubes (Powered/unpowered/Pauper/Peasant), creating a cube takes a lot of time because there isn't much of a reference. Balance between the colors and archetypes take a long while to do and in the end the drafting environment might not be that great.
What I mean with all this is that getting some experience at least playing or better, managing a standard cube will greatly help you build that themed cube. If you're still up to it then great and good luck!
There's some INN/DKA/AVR cards that I consider staples that aren't on your want list. Don't know if you decided not to include them or else:
Goldnight Commander: A decent anthem effect when playing creatures on curve. If you support tokens in white this can get ridiculous since the bonus is for each creature entering play. Another big plus is that he doesn't need to attack to provide the effect.
Call to the Kindred: You're pretty sure to hit a creature every turn and it can be played in any tribe. The aura part is the major weakness but in a removal light environment I'm sure it won't be a major problem.
Descendants' Path: In the same category than Call to the Kindred. This one cost less, is not an aura but you have about 50% chance of hitting. If it stick for more than 2 turns it will be a good investment.
Do you still play your tribal cube? What do you feel are the sections that needs to be adjusted? I feel the weakest tribes are Merfolk/Wizard due to their general control oriented cards. Having next to no removal or card to stabilize the race is hard against goblins or elves. Is it also your experience?
Does the milling strategy work with cards like Ambassador Laquatus? If you're not milling I feel those cards are sub-par and couldn't be included.
Going with statistics, if Cogwork Librarian trades on P2P1 or P3P1 for a second card it's worth as much as the top 13% of your cube (you take the best 2 cards out of 15). Select all the top picks of your cube until you have 13%. On average, this card will trade for one of those. In my 360 powered cube, it will on average trade up with one of the top 48 cards. If you are unlucky and don't have a good second pick on P2P1 you can wait for the next pick or until P3P1.
If the WCS happens and the card is only in the 3rd pack, it's still very good. At that point in the draft you should know what deck you're aiming for. You can safely pick it high instead of hate drafting and double dip in a pack that as the needed cards for your deck.
As long as your always drafting, I don't see how this couldn't be a auto-include, unless you don't want to play the effect.
Pick it 3rd, 4th pick or later to have 2 top picks next packs. If you got it first pack you can hold it until third pack (remember the card is put back in the pack when you take that second card, it can then be redrafted) so that no one else can re-use it too favorably. In a 360 powered cube this card can gain you access to a mox level quality pick easily.
The WCS is that the card is in the third packs, but even in that case, you can pick it to have the last 2 cards of a pack. The card will always become the last pick of a pack because it's always reseeded. Last picks in third packs are rarelyplayed anyway, nothing lost there.
2 Blade Splicer
4 Flickerwisp
4 Figure of Destiny
4 Goblin Guide
4 Inquisitor Exarch
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Leonin Arbiter
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Aether Vial
4 Path to Exile
Lands
4 Clifftop Retreat
4 Ghost Quarter
3 Mountain
6 Plains
4 Sacred Foundry
2 Tectonic Edge
Would gladly take suggestions or comments for the red splash. I find Goblin Guide helps you speed up your game and I prefer Figure of Destiny over Student of Warfare unless I'm missing something?
What other red cards would you run (main or side) with this build?
2 Desolate Lighthouse
4 Steam Vents
8 Island
10 Mountain
Instants
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Remand
2 Spell Pierce
Sorceries
4 Faithless Looting
3 Pyroclasm
4 Wildfire
4 Blood Moon
Artifacts
1 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Izzet Signet
3 Mind Stone
Planeswalkers
2 Koth of the Hammer
1 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
2 Counterflux
2 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Pyroclasm
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Repeal
3 Shattering Spree
2 Spell Pierce
1 Squelch
Round 1 (0-2) (Soul Sisters)
Match 1: Starting hand with 2 Blood Moon and not much else. Just got rolled over without much opposition from me.
Sideboard:
-4 Blood Moon
+2 Ensnaring Bridge
+1 Pyroclasm
+1 Spell Pierce (Repeal would have been a better choice)
Match 2: Got the board locked down with a Ensnaring Bridge and casted Wildfire 2 times to keep my opponent in check. With 7 cards left in my library I still didn't draw any Koth or Tamiyo of the game. My opponent was finally able to attack a few times with 1 power creatures because of a Spell Pierce I couldn't get rid of. Maybe get another Koth in the deck?
Round 2 (1-2) (Living End)
Match 1: He got on a good start cascading into living end turn 3. Was able to stabilize with Blood Moon and Ensnaring Bridge to finish the game with Koth.
Sideboard:
-3 Pyroclasm
+1 Squelch
+2 Relic of Progenitus
+2 Ensnaring Bridge
Match 2: Got down Koth too late and got rolled over by his army.
Match 3: Was able to lock him down but he was able to destroy 2 Ensnaring Bridge before I could draw Koth, again...
Round 3: (2-1) (UR Storm)
Match 1: Got a Koth early and could have got the game if not for multiple misplays. Opponent went off.
Sideboard:
-3 Pyroclasm
-1 Ensnaring Bridge
+2 Spell Pierce
+2 Counterflux
Match 2 and 3: Quickly took over both games with Koth, countering his stuff.
Round 4: Bye
Impressions: The deck has some good potential but needs tweaking. For too much matchs I was waiting for my finisher while the board was locked. Those could have been a easy win if I'd have drawn Koth. While Tamiyo can be a good answer vs some treats, she's really slow to ultimate and by then you need to have drawn a Bolt to get the win. Koth is much better but I can't see the deck having any succes with only 1 finisher. We'd be vulnerable to Pithing Needle and Revoker or Extirpate effects, and those seems to be main deck more and more in the current meta.
Here's my expected changes at this point:
-1 Wildfire
-1 Tamiyo
-1 land
+1 or +2 Koth?
+1 Ral Zarek? Would like some suggestions here...
Thanks for any comments or advice!
2 Desolate Lighthouse
4 Steam Vents
8 Island
10 Mountain
Instants
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Remand
Sorceries
4 Faithless Looting
4 Pyroclasm
4 Wildfire
4 Blood Moon
Artifacts
1 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Izzet Signet
3 Mind Stone
Planeswalkers
3 Koth of the Hammer
1 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
2 Counterflux
1 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Repeal
3 Shattering Spree
4 Spell Pierce
1 Squelch
Is there any other finisher with a CMC under 6 (to play before a Wildfire) that would fit in the deck? For a creature I think it's critical for it to survive a Wildfire. Thundermaw Hellkite could be an option. Still I'm not too fond of a creature finisher since it brings back alive the removal in your opponent's hand.
2 Desolate Lighthouse
4 Steam Vents
8 Island
10 Mountain
Instants
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Remand
Sorceries
3 Molten Rain
4 Pyroclasm
4 Wildfire
4 Blood Moon
Artifacts
4 Izzet Signet
4 Mind Stone
Planeswalkers
3 Koth of the Hammer
2 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
2 Counterflux
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Repeal
3 Shattering Spree
4 Spell Pierce
2 Squelch
For most of the match-ups you want to stop your opponent with Blood Moon to give you time to set-up your Wildfire. Remand, Pyroclasm and Lightning Bolt are there to help you get there. With 8 stones we can reasonably expect to land Wildfire turn 4 quite often. From there you want to grind out your win with Koth or Tamiyo. Tamiyo can also be used to deny mana or stall a creature on the board. Finally Molten Rain is there to make sure your opponent is left with no board after a Wildfire. You can also redirect it's damage to a planeswalker.
The deck is really strong against 3 colored decks, who are quite present in the current meta. Few decks have answers to Blood Moon and even fewer can answer it before a Wildfire. Remand is even stronger due to the land denial strategy. Also, having no creatures creates dead cards in some match-ups. Path to Exile on a Koth activated Mountain gets your Mountain back and will just delay your kill by a turn with no loss.
WildMoon is weaker against creature-light RDW decks. We have a lot of dead cards against that match-up and Wildfire is not as effective (unless the player just cast Faithless Looting discarding his remaining lands which they always do). The deck is generally strong against aggro but can have some difficulties against persist or undying creatures. Casting Wildfire to continue getting beatten isn't the best play.
Any input is appreciated!
Each time I try to find room for a new white card I'm looking at Day of Judgment as a possible cut. It's still in my 360 powered cube.
- Wizard/Merfolk is weak. Both tribes are just way to slow and can't keep-up with other tribes. Wizards also don't have any real lord. I'm thinking about replacing the whole color to some kind of Artifact tribe. Still not sure about that one or how it could be done. I need to look into blue artifact matter cards and see if it makes sense.
- Evasion is critical. One thing you're sure to see on the other side is creatures. Changeling Titan can be useful to complete a deck but there's no way he'll actually be able to connect.
- The decks and matchups are really cool. There's some nice combo pieces in all the tribes and death can come really fast. Stalled boards usually don't last for too long.
As alway's, comments and recommandations are welcomed!
I've been considering increasing from 3 to 4 for each guild of my 360 powered cube but finally won't. I don't mind not running cards like Vraska the Unseen because both colors already have great 5-6 drops. What I'm having issues with is not running Loam Lion or Deathrite Shaman because of the quality of the cards in their guilds. Even if I don't like the idea of a imbalanced gold section I feel those cards should stay in for proper aggro support and they will take the place of a white and a black card.
But I'm still not sure if it's the right call...
What I mean with all this is that getting some experience at least playing or better, managing a standard cube will greatly help you build that themed cube. If you're still up to it then great and good luck!
-5 colorless
+1 of each color
Out - In
WWW
Crusader of Odric - Soltari Champion
Elite Inquisitor - Soltari Trooper
Avian Changeling - Hero of Bladehold
Kinsbaile Borderguard - Intangible Virtue
Mosquito Guard - Veteran Armorsmith
+ Martial Coup
UUU
Undead Alchemist - Sea Gate Oracle
Riptide Director - Vendilion Clique
+ Sower of Temptation
BBB
Infernal Caretaker - Dark Confidant
Zombie Apocalypse - Vengeful Pharaoh
+Sedraxis Alchemist
RRR
Mogg Conscripts - Goblin Patrol
Goblin Cohort - Grim Lavamancer
War-Spike Changeling - Mudbutton Torchrunner
+ Goblin Bombardment
GGG
Caller of the Hunt - Elves of Deep Shadow
Viridian Shaman - Fauna Shaman
+ Quirion Ranger
123
- Blazing Torch
- Coat of Arms
- Diviner's Wand
- Runed Stalactite
- Soul Foundry
WUBRG
Nath of the Gilt-Leaf - Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Inkfathom Witch - Havengul Lich
Goldnight Commander: A decent anthem effect when playing creatures on curve. If you support tokens in white this can get ridiculous since the bonus is for each creature entering play. Another big plus is that he doesn't need to attack to provide the effect.
Call to the Kindred: You're pretty sure to hit a creature every turn and it can be played in any tribe. The aura part is the major weakness but in a removal light environment I'm sure it won't be a major problem.
Descendants' Path: In the same category than Call to the Kindred. This one cost less, is not an aura but you have about 50% chance of hitting. If it stick for more than 2 turns it will be a good investment.
Edric, Spymaster of Trest: Not from the last bloc but a missing auto-include.
Have you been drafting your cube often, what as been your experience so far?
Does the milling strategy work with cards like Ambassador Laquatus? If you're not milling I feel those cards are sub-par and couldn't be included.
Thanks for your list! It's been a great help!