I like Relentless Dead, but mono-black isn't super well supported in my cube so the card has half a strike against it. Stax usually ends up being B/W in my cube, so sometimes needing to start BB is awkward.
I think we're almost there on Zombie tribal being a mainstream cube possibility. I always look with sadness at Bloodghast's creature type. Probably because of my history with D&D I've always looked at ghasts as zombies (since Magic treats ghouls as zombies) but R&D seems to call them spirits for some reason. (And Bloodghast is a vampire as well of course. Really an odd name choice in my opinion.)
We play casually enough that things like that aren't too much of an issue for us.
When possible we use the latest version of a card. I still have the old Mother of Runes and Human is a common enough interaction that I'll probably replace it soon. (Makes me sad, as I have a big soft spot for Urza block, but clarity is probably preferable to sentimentality here, and at least the Commander version still has the original art and flavor text.)
The only masterpiece card I run right now is Vedalken Shackles. I'm one of those who like having a Cube "museum", and that card is a cube staple that's affordable in its masterpiece version. (And I actually like the art better than either of the previous arts, and that's not true for the other inventions.) That said, I don't currently have any expeditions or invocations and I'm not in a rush to get any. The invocation card frame was a huge miss for me.
I don't have Verdurous Gearhulk in my cube right now, but I could see swapping it in at some point if things get stale.
Summer Greetings to all cube forum members! Welcome to the 2017 Summer Santa thread. We have run a Secret Santa in the Cube Forum since the Christmas of 2011. There's been enough talk of this lately that I want to open sign-ups now and give people plenty of time to get in.
We're starting early enough this time around that there won't be a second run of sign-ups. June 25th is a hard cut-off so that people can make necessary plans and work around any summer vacations.
FAQ (Shamelessly stolen from Juju's thread last year in the spirit of, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it.")
1. What's a Secret Santa?
A Secret Santa is where where the people who sign up give gifts anonymously to other members of the group. Each person who signs up will be given a random person to send a gift to, and will receive a gift from a random person in return. It's a nice way for everyone to get a gift, without having to spend lots of money.
2. Is this for me?
If you're a member of this esteemed Cube Forum, and you have a desire to connect with the community by giving (and receiving!) gifts, then this could very well be for you. We have had some issues in the past with people not sending gifts etc. so while we do not wish to be exclusionary, we do expect you to meet some criteria. Ideally, you are an active poster within the cube forum, and you have a cube, or are building a cube yourself. I reserve the right to deny entry into the Secret Santa if you are a very new member (i.e. no posts, or no posts in the cube forum). Please don't be offended!
3. Is this expensive? How do I know what to get?
Slow down there! That's two questions! We have found that a gift of around $15 in value (or more) is reasonable, as that can really make someone's day with a cube staple or two. Be as generous as you like, however!
As for the question of what to get, I will be asking people who sign up to send me a wishlist of cards that they want. Please make your wishlist as big as you can possibly make it, to give your Santa more options!
4. Do I have to give cards?
Nope! You can get as creative as you like. If you've signed up, at your request, I can potentially ask your recipient if they would like something that isn't on their wishlist. For example, I usually ask if they would be happy to receive altered cards. (However, please understand that most people are looking for cards. If your partner has specifically requested cards, please honor that.)
5. Hot Damn, how do I sign up?
Follow these steps:
1. Reply in this thread with your intention to sign up.
2. Private Message me with your postal details and your wishlist. Please give as much information as you can in order to make it easy on your Santa. Feel free to link to wishlists or collections on other sites. Special Summer Addendum: If you are taking any long vacations that you think your Santa should know about in order to avoid any postal mishaps, let me know.)
3. I will then get back to you when signups close with your recipient's details. (Sign-ups will close June 25th to give people time to sign up, but also give us the month of July to ship gifts.)
6. How soon should I mail my gift?
As soon as you can! You don't want your gift to arrive late, so get on it!
7. What do I do when I receive my gift?
Post a picture of it up here in this thread! It's great to see the gifts that get sent each year.
8. Could I be asked to send to someone in another country?
It's possible, and we want to have this activity open to everyone on the forum. In order for someone in Ireland or Korea participate, we need to have people willing to send around the world. If sending internationally is completely out of your budget and you feel strongly that you are not comfortable with that possibility, contact me via PM. (If you're willing to ship one or two singles without tracking, an international stamp is only #1.15 in the US.)
I have three more duals (the Mardu colors) to get Collector's Edition versions of, plus the enemy fetches. That will eliminate all the proxies. After that it's a matter of getting a few last cards I didn't proxy, like Snapcaster, and upgrading if I feel like it. For example, I'd like at least one Alpha card and one Beta card, and I may try to get some rarities like an Alpha-cut 4th edition and such.
For the basic needs I'm looking at about 400 or so over time. Then maybe another few hundred for other customizations that aren't strictly necessary.
Edit: I also try to do as much as I can through trades and buylists, so I don't anticipate actually spending hundreds in cash.
I remember being so blown away by the original Ravnica as a whole, I have a big soft spot for Lightning Helix. I don't know if it's literally my favorite life gain card in the entire cube, but I'll throw it in for discussion's sake.
I don't really like true free for all very much. Politicking is just thoroughly uninteresting to me as a game mechanic. (I tolerate playing those "find the spy" style board games at board game nights, but I don't really like them.)
However, I do enjoy multiplayer. In my playgroup we generally try to find a format that gives the game a bit of direction. We play star if we have 5 people, or 2HG or Emperor with 4 or 6. That keeps aggro viable as well.
I was referring more to DSF's suggestion of using your cube and those like it as a baseline. I think your suggestions, and everyone else's very helpful. I just wanted to make the point that this cube isn't going to look like one of these high power cubes, even in its ideal state.
Also, I absolutely admit that 20 cards per guild was an insane suggestion. Thinking about it in greater depth, I'd do more like 8 per guild for a 540ish cube. Perhaps 5 or 6 for something smaller, and that's with a dedicated support package.
Do NOT play 20 cards per guild unless your cube is 1000+ cards.
Sorry, I wasn't clear enough.
Kranny, Spike Rogue, and wtwlf123 run cubes that are in the ballpark of what I'd like mine to look like. I don't think those cubes are the model for everyone, they just help me set guidelines for myself.
There are lots of different cubes on CubeTutor, including multi-color heavy ones, and my point was that it might be helpful to identify a few cubes you like to help you refine your own ideas.
For what it's worth, it was announced recently (I think on MaRo's blog) that the Gatewatch planeswalkers won't dominate quite as much in the coming years. I look forward to having some new options, or seeing some revamped old friends.
I run 5 multi-color cards per guild section at 450, but I love gold cards, and I'm at the very high end. I also consider hybrid cards and things like Lingering Souls as part of those 5, so that eases color requirements a bit too.
If you want to build a "multi-color" cube you have to recognize that you are moving away from a high-powered cube. Not because the cards aren't powerful, but because mana bases will be clunky and archetypes will be muddier and/or less flexible than in a "normal" cube. Lands will come into play tapped more often, people will have to wait on colors sometimes, etc.
There's nothing wrong with that as long as you realize what you're getting yourself and your players into. It'll probably play more like Shards of Alara or Khans of Tarkir than it will like Cube per se. (I'd find that totally fun, but not everybody would.)
About wtwlf's last point: I totally agree. The averages aren't the best place to look. I keep three to four cubes in mind as inspiration and I make heavy use of CubeTutor's "compare two lists" feature. (Specifically, those are Spike Rogue's cube, Wtwlf's cube, and Kranny's cube. Each one is a little different, so I get a nice cross section. I also look at Usman's from time to time, but since his is smaller and powered, it's hard to make direct comparisons.)
Basically, I keep track of the cards that I'm running that 2-3 of my comparison cubes are not, and vice versa. If I'm the only one out of the four of us running or not running a card, I need a strong justification for including (or excluding) it. "Fun", "price", "synergy", etc. can all be strong justifications, but I have to check my ego. If I think a card is fun, but nobody in my playgroup is drafting it, and experienced cube curators aren't running it, it probably needs to go.
If your group is interested in exploring aggressive green decks, I'd say yes. Because it can be powerful and a lot of fun. But you need multiple players interested in drafting aggro. If you only ever have one aggro drafter, you likely don't need it. We constantly have players drafting aggro decks in pretty much every color combination, so we love having it around as an option. Other groups have had different results. I'd test it out and see, or at least discuss it thoroughly with your playgroup.
What pulls you into green aggro? (Honest question, not trying to be sarcastic.) Red has burn and furious speed, white and black have disruption, anthems and sometimes tokens. What makes you say, this deck will be better with green because ________.
The day they printed Kessig Prowler was one of the best days of my life, but I still feel like green lags behind the other colors in this arena. I really hope we get more aggressive one drops.
If Alpha or Beta are within your grasp I'd go for those, if not I'd run a Collector's Edition copy of each one. With that as a starting point, here's what I'd do with the remaining copies (all black border of course):
Counterspell: DCI Legend Promo (Old frame, funky art, rare but not too expensive), Tempest (Weatherlight Saga flavor text), Eternal Masters or Duel Decks (New frame, decent art on either one)
Stone Rain: FNM Promo if you like old frame foils, and then some combination of Ice Age, Mercadian Masques and Mirage. The Mirage flavor text is cool, but the art is pretty boring. As you can see I like to get a sampling from different points in Magic's history.
Dark Ritual: I think most of the new arts are better. If you want an intentionally dated look you could go with Ice Age or Mirage, but I like Urza's Saga, Mercadian Masques (if you like Guay) and Planechase.
I think we're almost there on Zombie tribal being a mainstream cube possibility. I always look with sadness at Bloodghast's creature type. Probably because of my history with D&D I've always looked at ghasts as zombies (since Magic treats ghouls as zombies) but R&D seems to call them spirits for some reason. (And Bloodghast is a vampire as well of course. Really an odd name choice in my opinion.)
When possible we use the latest version of a card. I still have the old Mother of Runes and Human is a common enough interaction that I'll probably replace it soon. (Makes me sad, as I have a big soft spot for Urza block, but clarity is probably preferable to sentimentality here, and at least the Commander version still has the original art and flavor text.)
I don't have Verdurous Gearhulk in my cube right now, but I could see swapping it in at some point if things get stale.
Summer Greetings to all cube forum members! Welcome to the 2017 Summer Santa thread. We have run a Secret Santa in the Cube Forum since the Christmas of 2011. There's been enough talk of this lately that I want to open sign-ups now and give people plenty of time to get in.
We're starting early enough this time around that there won't be a second run of sign-ups. June 25th is a hard cut-off so that people can make necessary plans and work around any summer vacations.
FAQ (Shamelessly stolen from Juju's thread last year in the spirit of, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it.")
1. What's a Secret Santa?
A Secret Santa is where where the people who sign up give gifts anonymously to other members of the group. Each person who signs up will be given a random person to send a gift to, and will receive a gift from a random person in return. It's a nice way for everyone to get a gift, without having to spend lots of money.
2. Is this for me?
If you're a member of this esteemed Cube Forum, and you have a desire to connect with the community by giving (and receiving!) gifts, then this could very well be for you. We have had some issues in the past with people not sending gifts etc. so while we do not wish to be exclusionary, we do expect you to meet some criteria. Ideally, you are an active poster within the cube forum, and you have a cube, or are building a cube yourself. I reserve the right to deny entry into the Secret Santa if you are a very new member (i.e. no posts, or no posts in the cube forum). Please don't be offended!
3. Is this expensive? How do I know what to get?
Slow down there! That's two questions! We have found that a gift of around $15 in value (or more) is reasonable, as that can really make someone's day with a cube staple or two. Be as generous as you like, however!
As for the question of what to get, I will be asking people who sign up to send me a wishlist of cards that they want. Please make your wishlist as big as you can possibly make it, to give your Santa more options!
4. Do I have to give cards?
Nope! You can get as creative as you like. If you've signed up, at your request, I can potentially ask your recipient if they would like something that isn't on their wishlist. For example, I usually ask if they would be happy to receive altered cards. (However, please understand that most people are looking for cards. If your partner has specifically requested cards, please honor that.)
5. Hot Damn, how do I sign up?
Follow these steps:
1. Reply in this thread with your intention to sign up.
2. Private Message me with your postal details and your wishlist. Please give as much information as you can in order to make it easy on your Santa. Feel free to link to wishlists or collections on other sites. Special Summer Addendum: If you are taking any long vacations that you think your Santa should know about in order to avoid any postal mishaps, let me know.)
3. I will then get back to you when signups close with your recipient's details. (Sign-ups will close June 25th to give people time to sign up, but also give us the month of July to ship gifts.)
6. How soon should I mail my gift?
As soon as you can! You don't want your gift to arrive late, so get on it!
7. What do I do when I receive my gift?
Post a picture of it up here in this thread! It's great to see the gifts that get sent each year.
8. Could I be asked to send to someone in another country?
It's possible, and we want to have this activity open to everyone on the forum. In order for someone in Ireland or Korea participate, we need to have people willing to send around the world. If sending internationally is completely out of your budget and you feel strongly that you are not comfortable with that possibility, contact me via PM. (If you're willing to ship one or two singles without tracking, an international stamp is only #1.15 in the US.)
Anybody planning on going to GenCon? I'll be there and looking to cube if anyone wants to. (I don't think I'm actually going to bring my cube though.)
For the basic needs I'm looking at about 400 or so over time. Then maybe another few hundred for other customizations that aren't strictly necessary.
Edit: I also try to do as much as I can through trades and buylists, so I don't anticipate actually spending hundreds in cash.
However, I do enjoy multiplayer. In my playgroup we generally try to find a format that gives the game a bit of direction. We play star if we have 5 people, or 2HG or Emperor with 4 or 6. That keeps aggro viable as well.
Sorry, I wasn't clear enough.
Kranny, Spike Rogue, and wtwlf123 run cubes that are in the ballpark of what I'd like mine to look like. I don't think those cubes are the model for everyone, they just help me set guidelines for myself.
There are lots of different cubes on CubeTutor, including multi-color heavy ones, and my point was that it might be helpful to identify a few cubes you like to help you refine your own ideas.
If you want to build a "multi-color" cube you have to recognize that you are moving away from a high-powered cube. Not because the cards aren't powerful, but because mana bases will be clunky and archetypes will be muddier and/or less flexible than in a "normal" cube. Lands will come into play tapped more often, people will have to wait on colors sometimes, etc.
There's nothing wrong with that as long as you realize what you're getting yourself and your players into. It'll probably play more like Shards of Alara or Khans of Tarkir than it will like Cube per se. (I'd find that totally fun, but not everybody would.)
About wtwlf's last point: I totally agree. The averages aren't the best place to look. I keep three to four cubes in mind as inspiration and I make heavy use of CubeTutor's "compare two lists" feature. (Specifically, those are Spike Rogue's cube, Wtwlf's cube, and Kranny's cube. Each one is a little different, so I get a nice cross section. I also look at Usman's from time to time, but since his is smaller and powered, it's hard to make direct comparisons.)
Basically, I keep track of the cards that I'm running that 2-3 of my comparison cubes are not, and vice versa. If I'm the only one out of the four of us running or not running a card, I need a strong justification for including (or excluding) it. "Fun", "price", "synergy", etc. can all be strong justifications, but I have to check my ego. If I think a card is fun, but nobody in my playgroup is drafting it, and experienced cube curators aren't running it, it probably needs to go.
What pulls you into green aggro? (Honest question, not trying to be sarcastic.) Red has burn and furious speed, white and black have disruption, anthems and sometimes tokens. What makes you say, this deck will be better with green because ________.
The day they printed Kessig Prowler was one of the best days of my life, but I still feel like green lags behind the other colors in this arena. I really hope we get more aggressive one drops.
Counterspell: DCI Legend Promo (Old frame, funky art, rare but not too expensive), Tempest (Weatherlight Saga flavor text), Eternal Masters or Duel Decks (New frame, decent art on either one)
Stone Rain: FNM Promo if you like old frame foils, and then some combination of Ice Age, Mercadian Masques and Mirage. The Mirage flavor text is cool, but the art is pretty boring. As you can see I like to get a sampling from different points in Magic's history.
Dark Ritual: I think most of the new arts are better. If you want an intentionally dated look you could go with Ice Age or Mirage, but I like Urza's Saga, Mercadian Masques (if you like Guay) and Planechase.