I have a high power level cube that is currently sitting at 683 cards. I have about 10-12 of each gold 2-color combination but only have 6 black/red cards.
What do you think are the 10 strongest black/red cards out there for cube?
I don't include Bit Blast and Void because they aren't powerful, but because they are expensive (mana cost) and didn't see much play in the archetypes that B/R typically fields.
10-12 cards of each colorpair, not counting the lands?!? OMG, the gold hurts my eyes. I'd focus on cutting the other colorsections down to 6 instead of increasing this one.
Besides the brightness issue, I actually like the high-gold count. One of the sub-themes of my cube is multi-color deck building. Hence the high number of golds.
Besides the brightness issue, I actually like the high-gold count. One of the sub-themes of my cube is multi-color deck building. Hence the high number of golds.
It is kind of an urban legend that adding more gold promotes more multi-color decks. Having larger multicolored sections actually makes it harder to build any deck (except 5-color).
Warning: Math incoming.
*I'm not counting lands into this, but presume they would be the same for both cubes and the difference highlighted here will be the same.
Situation A (My cube) Size of each colored section: 55
Cards in Colorless/Land Section: 60
Gold cards per color pair: 4
Gold cards per shard/wedge: 0
Cards applicable to given decks:
1-Color: 115
2-Color: 174
3-Color: 237
4-Color: 304
5-Color: 375
Situation B (More Multicolored) Size of each colored section: 45
Cards in Colorless Section: 60
Gold cards per color pair: 8
Gold cards per shard/wedge: 1
Cards applicable to given decks:
1-Color: 105
2-Color: 158
3-Color: 220
4-Color: 292
5-Color: 375
[QUOTE=TakeABow;/comments/4303246]It is kind of an urban legend that adding more gold promotes more multi-color decks. Having larger multicolored sections actually makes it harder to build any deck (except 5-color).
First, thanks, I had never really thought through the math of adding in more gold cards.
My conclusion is:
More gold does lower the available cards to each single color or color combination as demonstrated by your math. You are correct that 5-color is the only grouping that does not suffer a decrease in the number of cards. However, in my experience, most players are not inclined to play 5-color due to fixing issues and therefore will fight to play less. Additionally, in your example, while playing 2 color in the high-multi cube is harder than in your cube (158 available cards v. 174) it is still significantly easier than playing single color in your cube (158 v. 115.) Therefore, while there is a slight decline in playability, I don't think it destroys the ability to build a deck of a specified type (besides maybe mono-color, but that was kind of the point...)
I actually started with a lower gold card count. Since increasing I have noticed several changes:
1) people must decide on a strat earlier in the draft to be successful.
2) mana-fixing is more valuable, and thus successful drafters will take it higher.
3) Many people will find a gold card or two the like early, and build their deck around that.
Effect 1 I have not made up my mind about, on the one hand, it favors experienced drafters who focus early. On the other hand, it favors newb drafters by lowering the number of choices and taking some of the subtlety out of deck building. I have not decided which way this goes and whether I like it.
Effect 2 I like a lot. I found that before I upped the gold count fixing was kind of an afterthought and you would only take late or if a card fell right into your color scheme. With fewer options, fixing becomes exponentially more valuable, and therefore figuring out where to draft them adds a whole new level of complexity.
Effect 3: I like this one also. There are a lot of cool gold cards, particularly creatures. I think one of my favorite deck concepts was one of my friend's who built his entire deck around getting out Thraximundar out on turn 2.
I just wanted to throw the math out there for you. I wasn't saying that what you were doing is wrong, and if it works for you, great! I always found that the 'build around me' gold cards were cool when you opened them pack 1, but often were in packs 2-3 and never got played at all. I'm glad it works for you and your group.
I started with a much larger multicolor section and reduced it to help the 2 and 3-color decks be more powerful. Monocolor isn't something that really ever happens (once every 15 drafts maybe?), I just included it for completeness.
This is my first thread.
I have a high power level cube that is currently sitting at 683 cards. I have about 10-12 of each gold 2-color combination but only have 6 black/red cards.
What do you think are the 10 strongest black/red cards out there for cube?
Current cards in cube are:
Bituminous Blast
Blightning
Murderous Redcap
Sarkhan the Mad
Terminate
Wrecking Ball
Thanks!
Welcome to the forums.
Right now my black/red section looks like this:
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Blazing Specter
1 Blightning
1 Blood Crypt
1 Bloodstained Mire
I don't include Bit Blast and Void because they aren't powerful, but because they are expensive (mana cost) and didn't see much play in the archetypes that B/R typically fields.
[Remixes] - [The Brutal Cube - 360 Powered] - [My Cube Article] - ['Print-This' Wishlist]
I run:
Murderous Redcap
Blightning
Bituminous Blast
Sarkhan the Mad
Terminate
Blazing Specter
Rare-B-Gone
After those, I'd probably choose:
Fulminator Mage
Wrecking Ball
Void
My Legacy-Legal Cube <--- Draft It!
wtwlf123's Classic Cube
Lanxal's Pauper Cube
Cubers, UNITE! Don't forget to post your cube location on The Great Cube Map Thread
Besides the brightness issue, I actually like the high-gold count. One of the sub-themes of my cube is multi-color deck building. Hence the high number of golds.
It is kind of an urban legend that adding more gold promotes more multi-color decks. Having larger multicolored sections actually makes it harder to build any deck (except 5-color).
Warning: Math incoming.
*I'm not counting lands into this, but presume they would be the same for both cubes and the difference highlighted here will be the same.
Situation A (My cube)
Size of each colored section: 55
Cards in Colorless/Land Section: 60
Gold cards per color pair: 4
Gold cards per shard/wedge: 0
Cards applicable to given decks:
1-Color: 115
2-Color: 174
3-Color: 237
4-Color: 304
5-Color: 375
Situation B (More Multicolored)
Size of each colored section: 45
Cards in Colorless Section: 60
Gold cards per color pair: 8
Gold cards per shard/wedge: 1
Cards applicable to given decks:
1-Color: 105
2-Color: 158
3-Color: 220
4-Color: 292
5-Color: 375
[Remixes] - [The Brutal Cube - 360 Powered] - [My Cube Article] - ['Print-This' Wishlist]
First, thanks, I had never really thought through the math of adding in more gold cards.
My conclusion is:
More gold does lower the available cards to each single color or color combination as demonstrated by your math. You are correct that 5-color is the only grouping that does not suffer a decrease in the number of cards. However, in my experience, most players are not inclined to play 5-color due to fixing issues and therefore will fight to play less. Additionally, in your example, while playing 2 color in the high-multi cube is harder than in your cube (158 available cards v. 174) it is still significantly easier than playing single color in your cube (158 v. 115.) Therefore, while there is a slight decline in playability, I don't think it destroys the ability to build a deck of a specified type (besides maybe mono-color, but that was kind of the point...)
I actually started with a lower gold card count. Since increasing I have noticed several changes:
1) people must decide on a strat earlier in the draft to be successful.
2) mana-fixing is more valuable, and thus successful drafters will take it higher.
3) Many people will find a gold card or two the like early, and build their deck around that.
Effect 1 I have not made up my mind about, on the one hand, it favors experienced drafters who focus early. On the other hand, it favors newb drafters by lowering the number of choices and taking some of the subtlety out of deck building. I have not decided which way this goes and whether I like it.
Effect 2 I like a lot. I found that before I upped the gold count fixing was kind of an afterthought and you would only take late or if a card fell right into your color scheme. With fewer options, fixing becomes exponentially more valuable, and therefore figuring out where to draft them adds a whole new level of complexity.
Effect 3: I like this one also. There are a lot of cool gold cards, particularly creatures. I think one of my favorite deck concepts was one of my friend's who built his entire deck around getting out Thraximundar out on turn 2.
I just wanted to throw the math out there for you. I wasn't saying that what you were doing is wrong, and if it works for you, great! I always found that the 'build around me' gold cards were cool when you opened them pack 1, but often were in packs 2-3 and never got played at all. I'm glad it works for you and your group.
I started with a much larger multicolor section and reduced it to help the 2 and 3-color decks be more powerful. Monocolor isn't something that really ever happens (once every 15 drafts maybe?), I just included it for completeness.
[Remixes] - [The Brutal Cube - 360 Powered] - [My Cube Article] - ['Print-This' Wishlist]