Hi, everyone. I've been playing Magic on and off for quite some time and have finally decided to build my first Cube. While most would put together a collection of their favorite cards, most powerful cards, or devote a cube to a particular block or theme, I've been inspired to give a home to the absolute worst cards in Magic history. At first I was going to try and start up a Reject Rare draft, but that evolved into a Cube project (if it was a RRD, then no doubt half of our decks would consist of Scrambleverses :D.)
So, here's my current idea: a 450 card cube made of singletons of all rarities which cover a broad spectrum of awful design (aka: bad cards). I've been sorting through my own collection of cards as well as searching the "junk" boxes at my local game store. I'd like to have a good balance between the five colors as well as have a good variety of artifacts, gold cards, and nonbasic lands (hey, even if the cubes made of horrible cards it has to still be draftable :D).
The biggest challenge I've had so far is finding bad green creatures; they tend to be more cost efficient than the other colors and most of the ones I've deemed bad enough for this cube tend to have a converted mana cost of 4 (lots of 4/5s or 5/4s with drawbacks). Despite the fact that this will be a "Cube of Poo", it still has to be balanced and have a playable curve.
Here are the cards I've chosen for the Cube so far. This is still work in progress and any input would be greatly appreciated:
The thing about making a 'sphere' is that you still need cards that do something. You want the most inneficient, crappy cards, but people will only actually use them if they help them in some way. No one will play Pale Moon or Moonlace in their draft deck, ever, which means there's no point in having them in there.
Games with cards that are 100% terrible just drag on and on and on. It's more fun to have bad cards, but ones that are still removal, evasion creatures, etc. Good luck!
Thanks for the input everyone. I saw some good ideas in the Sphere thread and might try getting some of those cards. As I said, this is still a work in progress and I'll be adding and very likely cutting some cards from the existing list (ex: I'm reconsidering Pale Moon and Moonlace's place in the cube/sphere).
I'd look at this project in this way; I want the player to look at the first pack, and either laugh hysterically, or been completely confused. I would not make it balanced, or draftable at all as a point of measure.
Elephant Graveyard with no elephants/mammoths is what I'm talking about here.
Earthbind with no flying creatures, or Moat with only flying creatures.
I'd look at this project in this way; I want the player to look at the first pack, and either laugh hysterically, or been completely confused. I would not make it balanced, or draftable at all as a point of measure.
Elephant Graveyard with no elephants/mammoths is what I'm talking about here.
Earthbind with no flying creatures, or Moat with only flying creatures.
How is that fun to draft though? You open a pack of 10 literal unplayables and 5 terrible costed creatures with detrimental abilities?
So we're playing decks of like 15 creatures and 25 lands where we have something like a 7/7/6/5 split among four colors?
That sounds like the worst drafting experience of my life.
How is that fun to draft though? You open a pack of 10 literal unplayables and 5 terrible costed creatures with detrimental abilities?
So we're playing decks of like 15 creatures and 25 lands where we have something like a 7/7/6/5 split among four colors?
That sounds like the worst drafting experience of my life.
It's just how I would about doing it. I enjoy mirth quite a lot.
All depends how it's put together, Interactions become more than creature->attack->answer when you're suddenly faced with the fact that Rocket Launcher is your win con.
Pursing this project I'm trying to find a happy medium between mirth and playability. I definitely want to raise some chuckles from my fellow players, but then again I don't want to include anything that would have absolutely no applications. For example, early on I was considering the inclusion of Odyssey's rare "Shrine" cycle, but seeing as this was conceived as a singleton cube those cards would by default be completely useless. Sure, Mudhole is one of the 25 worst cards of all time, but if I don't find something else that would make it at least remotely relevant, then I'll probably cut it from my final list.
As far as synergy goes, I would like to possibly provide some rare opportunities when someone might sideboard in a Deathlace or some other narrow card to deal with an unexpected bomb. And I do plan on putting some removal spells in there; I'm thinking more in the lines of "highly inefficient" (ex: Waste Away) as opposed to "decent sideboard card" (ex: Dead Ringers).
I really appreciate everyone's input. I'll be making some revisions as soon as I can make my next trip to the local game store.
I made a reject rare cube a few years ago. At first I tried with just horrible (but not worthless) cards but the games were no fun. It seemed who ever got a beater out first won. I changed it to be bad but highly interactive cards. It made the games more fun but still no where near that of a regular cube. My advice would be to build a regular cube or even a themed cube. Now, my rare cube almost never gets played. There are 4 cubes to choose from in my play group. (2 reg, 2 block themed). For kitchen table magic I think my group would rate it Regular Cube>>>Theme Cube>Sealed(if funds allow)>"Wacky" cube>Constructed.
In my attempt the rare constraint did hose up the mana curve so I think you will be better off without it. Also, I didn't put much effort into building it with curve in mind. If you can get it to work it is not I don't think it is a complete waste.
Here is my list if you are interested or want some more ideas. It is not entirely up to date because I don't maintain the spreadsheet anymore. Also a few cards are have been taken out and not replaced and I don't really care. The only reason I haven't taken it apart is because I have no other use for any of the cards.
So, here's my current idea: a 450 card cube made of singletons of all rarities which cover a broad spectrum of awful design (aka: bad cards). I've been sorting through my own collection of cards as well as searching the "junk" boxes at my local game store. I'd like to have a good balance between the five colors as well as have a good variety of artifacts, gold cards, and nonbasic lands (hey, even if the cubes made of horrible cards it has to still be draftable :D).
The biggest challenge I've had so far is finding bad green creatures; they tend to be more cost efficient than the other colors and most of the ones I've deemed bad enough for this cube tend to have a converted mana cost of 4 (lots of 4/5s or 5/4s with drawbacks). Despite the fact that this will be a "Cube of Poo", it still has to be balanced and have a playable curve.
Here are the cards I've chosen for the Cube so far. This is still work in progress and any input would be greatly appreciated:
White:
Blue
Black
Red
Green
Multicolor
Artifacts
Land
I've updated with the rest of the colors and have linked the cards. As I said, this is still work in progress.
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=301586&highlight=sphere
My cube
My cube on Cube tutor
I'm OP_Forever. I'll be putting this in my signature for a while so everyone know I change my nickname.
Juju Alters - Altered MTG Cards
Perhaps you could link all of them to make it easier for us?
Blimpy's Aggro-Focused Cube (powered 360)
I'm always open to suggestions on how to improve my cube. Take a look and ask a question, or give a constructive critique whenever you can.
Elephant Graveyard with no elephants/mammoths is what I'm talking about here.
Earthbind with no flying creatures, or Moat with only flying creatures.
How is that fun to draft though? You open a pack of 10 literal unplayables and 5 terrible costed creatures with detrimental abilities?
So we're playing decks of like 15 creatures and 25 lands where we have something like a 7/7/6/5 split among four colors?
That sounds like the worst drafting experience of my life.
Blimpy's Aggro-Focused Cube (powered 360)
I'm always open to suggestions on how to improve my cube. Take a look and ask a question, or give a constructive critique whenever you can.
It's just how I would about doing it. I enjoy mirth quite a lot.
All depends how it's put together, Interactions become more than creature->attack->answer when you're suddenly faced with the fact that Rocket Launcher is your win con.
As far as synergy goes, I would like to possibly provide some rare opportunities when someone might sideboard in a Deathlace or some other narrow card to deal with an unexpected bomb. And I do plan on putting some removal spells in there; I'm thinking more in the lines of "highly inefficient" (ex: Waste Away) as opposed to "decent sideboard card" (ex: Dead Ringers).
I really appreciate everyone's input. I'll be making some revisions as soon as I can make my next trip to the local game store.
In my attempt the rare constraint did hose up the mana curve so I think you will be better off without it. Also, I didn't put much effort into building it with curve in mind. If you can get it to work it is not I don't think it is a complete waste.
Here is my list if you are interested or want some more ideas. It is not entirely up to date because I don't maintain the spreadsheet anymore. Also a few cards are have been taken out and not replaced and I don't really care. The only reason I haven't taken it apart is because I have no other use for any of the cards.
White:
Blue:
Black:
Red:
Green:
Multi:
Colorless:
Draft my cube on cube tutor--------> here