My biggest issue was that I didn't want to wait until 5 mana to play my anthems. With all the other anthems available I felt it was better to play those early and then spend my turn 5 playing Cloudgoat Ranger instead of another anthem.
Also re: Death Cloud, I find that you want it in a deck with a lot of other disruption (discard, sinkhole/strip mine) and you ideally cast it for 2-3. It's less Upheaval and more Plow Under, if that makes sense.
My biggest issue was that I didn't want to wait until 5 mana to play my anthems. With all the other anthems available I felt it was better to play those early and then spend my turn 5 playing Cloudgoat Ranger instead of another anthem.
A double anthem that flashes in is something completely different though (IMO) than the cheaper ones. It can flash in after blockers, it can be be blowout combat trick and its much bigger deal than +1/+1. In a vaccume I would want to cast Cloudgoat Ranger on turn 5 but depending on my deck and the boardstate this win the game more often. I think I will slot it in over Intangible Virtue in my next update (recently lost my job so who knows when that will be :laugh2:).
Death Cloud never even worked for us when cast for smaller ammounts, 5 mana is a lot for a double small pox. I really like the card but it just never worked for us, it could be it was never going into the perfect deck but I'm trying to cut down on cards that need all the stars to align as they are a bit of a trap for drafters. I fully expect some grumbling when I tell my players as they like the card in theory, but they never play it.
My biggest issue was that I didn't want to wait until 5 mana to play my anthems. With all the other anthems available I felt it was better to play those early and then spend my turn 5 playing Cloudgoat Ranger instead of another anthem.
A double anthem that flashes in is something completely different though (IMO) than the cheaper ones. It can flash in after blockers, it can be be blowout combat trick and its much bigger deal than +1/+1. In a vaccume I would want to cast Cloudgoat Ranger on turn 5 but depending on my deck and the boardstate this win the game more often. I think I will slot it in over Intangible Virtue in my next update (recently lost my job so who knows when that will be :laugh2:).
In theory you're not wrong, but I find that in practice 5 mana is just kind of a lot for an anthem, even one with all the pros that Dictate has. It's not bad, but it's not always really great either.
On Jokulhaups, I have been on the verge of readding it again a few times. I have been enjoying R/x control decks lately and as I add more planeswalkers it only gets better. I think the looking at it as a red upheaval is a pretty good way to look at it, the only problem is finding the cut (I don't want to cut wildfire/burning) but I think I'll bench Hammer of Purphoros for a while since he hasn't got any play latly.
If I can find it I'll make the swap tonight and see.
My biggest issue was that I didn't want to wait until 5 mana to play my anthems. With all the other anthems available I felt it was better to play those early and then spend my turn 5 playing Cloudgoat Ranger instead of another anthem.
With three creatures out, Dictate adds as much p/t as Cloudgoat does... with haste. It sometimes plays like white Thundermaw Hellkite / Reality Smasher. One that can't be entirely killed with (creature) spot removal. And is even kinda recursive / resilient against mass removal (each creature you drop after a sweeper "reactivates" one of its +2/+2 buffs).
Dictate is one of the best curve topper 5-drops you can play in an aggro deck.
Yeah it's definitely not bad, but with 5 mana white spells being one of the tightest spots in cube I found just running creatures there and depending on 3 mana anthems + gideon + ajani + hero of bladehold is enough. I definitely get its powerful, but it's also kind of redundant--and the most expensive of redundant options.
That being said, it certainly wasn't bad, but at the end of drafts the white weenie player never felt like they lacked options for anthems and often sided with the cheaper options and then just ran out their big 5 mana creature instead. I would definitely find room to test/play it if I had a larger cube, and if players wanted it I would've kept it, but they just didn't need another anthem.
I think Dictate is pretty sweet sometimes, but mind it doesn't actually give you a body. If your opponent is killing off one of your guys each turn, say with black spot removal, you might only have a single creature to benefit from Dictate by the time you cast it. I think often white Planeswalkers give you comparable power, and aren't fully dead in the worst case scenarios. I'd probably want to play Dictate only if I don't have various Elspeths, Ajanis and Gideons available.
If I went up to 540 I would likely run Dictate of Heliod. At 450 it missed after extensive testing. The average case scenario with this card wasn't enough to justify its continued inclusion despite there being occasional games where it made an appreciable impact. I do love an anthem that doubles as a combat trick though. If a spell like this came with a body or if they printed a Glorious Anthem with flash at the same cost as GA I would be very excited.
Dictate was bad for us too. It is a five drop that requires meaningful board presence to do anything. I also dislike playing five drops in aggressive decks, and I think most white four drops are better than this card for that theater.
And that's why I am talking about this card in the "unpopular successes" thread. The card seems very unpopular here, but it was a huge success for us. There are few cards that go as consistently trough the following sequence:
You are losing. You resolve this card. You are winning.
Dictate is one of those cards. It's a top 10 white card for me. Roughly comparable to Armageddon.
I don't think anyone was trying to say you're posting in the wrong thread, I think other folks wanted to say this was nearly on all our lists. Or at the very least, we all tried it.
You're naturally just going to get card comparison arguments with something like dictate anyhow; like, earlier with Jokulhaups and Death Cloud, those cards are more unique. There isn't really a "better version" of either that still has the fullness of the effect; at best we have Wildfire and Smallpox (or Pox I guess, but triple black is such a damn pain), but they aren't exactly the same thing. Dictate strikes me as having less uniqueness, so that sort of invites competition, instead of the previously mentioned cards, who can be discussed purely on how well they support or define an archetype on their own. Like, when I brought up Sphinx of Lost Truths, that also isn't a super-unique card; it's just a neat 3/5 for 5. This is just a neat enchantment.
I mean, you could argue creatures into Dictate into win is a similar line to creatures into 'geddon into win. Kinda. Maybe? Ok, no, it's not remotely close.
I don't have any experience with Dictate myself, but it does look like a very powerful card in the right situation. However, I feel like that specific situation is more specific than the situation you're looking for when you want to cast Armageddon, so I don't think the two are really comparable. Again, though, I've not played the card myself, so this is all speculation on my part.
StarSlayer this is 100% the place for posting about your experience with Dictate. Thanks for sharing it. This thread is a place to share unpopular ideas that found success in your own cube.
I don't think anyone was trying to say you're posting in the wrong thread, I think other folks wanted to say this was nearly on all our lists. Or at the very least, we all tried it.
StarSlayer this is 100% the place for posting about your experience with Dictate. Thanks for sharing it. This thread is a place to share unpopular ideas that found success in your own cube.
Sorry, it seems that my last comment was giving a wrong impression that I didn't intend it to do. I meant that for praising Dictate, this thread is just the right place because it fits the intent of this thread perfectly.
Onto my own unpopular idea! I'm planning on cutting Dreadbore for 3 reasons!
1) Want to run Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast.
2) Black has this effect covered with both Never // Return and Hero's Downfall.
3) It's my most minor gripe with it, but Dreadbore doesn't feel red whatsoever.
I feel you. I went through this a year or two ago. I am a huge fan of removal that deals with both creatures and planeswalkers. I was very hesitant to cut Dreadbore. I ultimately did it mostly due to point numer 2): Whereas such flexible removal was scarce a couple of years ago, we now have more decent options, making Dreadbore less necessary.
Dictate is one of those cards. It's a top 10 white card for me. Roughly comparable to Armageddon.
You don't get to call me the king of hyperbole anymore. You've just stolen the crown.
Except that wasn't a hyperbolic statement, but rather one reflecting my own experience of cubing with both cards for years. I am still baffled why Dictate is such an all-star in my cube but is getting lukewarm responses from most other cubers.
The only real explanation that I have is that the stronger creature-focus of my cube has a much higher impact on decks and matchups and general dynamic of the typical game than it seems at first glance. I do see my cube as a rather standard traditional unpowered list. The supported archetypes are rather common, as are most card choices. I try to run the most powerful cards, except for a dozen or so that I consider powered (thus making my cube unpowered) and half a dozen that I just dislike. The ratios for colors, multicolors, colorless, lands and fixing are within the norm, too. The only thing where my cube deviates is the number of creatures: I run roughly 5% more than most other lists. For years, I didn't consider this noteworthy. 5% seems so little. However, again and again, I find that I have a very different experience with a certain type of cards: Those that demand a certain creature density and/or those that thrive in creature-focused matchups.
With this in mind, Dictate of Heliod has been an absolute all-star in my cube. "I won every game where I resolved Dictate." is a common statement among my drafters. Similar to "I won every game where I resolved Armageddon.". And while the latter is the more powerful Magic card, there are more situations where it is not wise to cast it. Like, when your opponent has a relevant board presence that rivals or exceeds your own. And due to the creature-centric nature of my cube, those situations aren't uncommon, leading to games where you draw Armageddon, but it doesn't really help you. And you have to admit that it rarely helps you when you are behind on board. Unlike Dictate, which not only helps you win faster, but also prevents you from losing in such a situation. As LSV says: The best bombs are those that not only win you the game when you are ahead, but also stabilize you when you are behind and are generally good in many situations. That's just what Dictate does. Provided that you have at least two or three creatures on the battlefield. And at least in my cube, that is rarely a problem in the proper deck.
If that statement isn't hyperbole, than none of my statements have been either. Since every statement regarding cube is filtered through personal experiences and local metas, and every statement is subjective. You call me out on being hyperbolic all the time, yet somehow when you throw out statements like this, it's completely legitimate? Gotcha.
Let's take it easy. I don't want people to feel discouraged from sharing ideas that don't resonate with popular opinion, hyperbolic or not. As you said, it's subjective so you can both be right based on your personal experiences. Aside from this, just by the nature of this thread some of the assertions within are going to come off as hyperbolic to the majority of other posters and that is OK. This might encourage someone to try something unexpected with varied results or you might just feel like Psyduck up there when you read some of it. Either way, I think this thread is a great resource for discovering some cards that certain playgroups might enjoy that don't enjoy popular support.
I'm all for folks experimenting with unpopular cards. I use several "pet" cards in my list that are wildly unpopular cube cards. I just don't like being accused of hyperbole by members that make outlandish claims of their own, and want to do so with impunity. The hypocrisy is a tough pill to swallow. I want folks to understand that opinions shared anywhere (not just in this thread) are all subjective, and accusing people of hyperbole probably isn't appropriate on these forums. Basically, don't be the pot calling the kettle black, and then try to justify it with further hypocrisy.
While I run a commander cube, there are a few things that I've done that are even unpopular options among others making multiplayer cubes that have worked out wonderfully for me and my group.
Integrated Conspiracy Cards: This one is the hill I will die on. I find there's a lot of reverence for the purity of the draft among cubers, and I don't quite get it. I have a lot of issue with the idea that you can't use conspiracies or draft matters cards without it being inherently silly. I'm gonna refrain from getting up on my soap box though.
More important to me is my experiences, though. When I draft it with friends they tend to greatly enjoy the complexities draft-matters offer to the draft. Their value is complicated and takes a lot more consideration of where you are in the draft than most picks. The only one I include that hasn't been regarded totally seriously is Lore Seeker which stays in because my players love the novelty of being able to add an extra pack of commanders in mid draft. (It's a choice of that or a regular pack. They always take generals.)
Conspiracies are a much more cut and dry affair. (I'm not in the loop enough to still know if their integration is even unpopular still) They make a lot interesting things possible that otherwise wouldn't be, they're straightforward, and their value is comparable to most other cards in the cube. People don't take them, at least not the ones I include, to make their decks silly; they take them because they synergize with their deck. They've been extremely popular.
Basic Taplands: This one I'm definitely not about to condone for general use, but it's worked well in the microcosm of my playgroup. I allow players to use the common tapland (OGW/SOI) cycle in exactly the same way during deckbuilding as basic lands. I was told pretty unanimously by cubers that it was an awful idea. Originally the purpose was training wheels for friends who were new to drafting, but I learned quite a few things when I put it into practice:
1) My new drafters already knew enough about magic to value good nonbasic land picks.
2) They make my cube play far more smoothly and greatly reduce instances of players in a multiplayer game being frustrated from the sidelines because of color-screw.
3) They don't meaningfully make actual good nonbasics any less valuable of a pick. Nobody wants to be playing a turn behind the table without good reason.
4) Everyone in my usual circle is happier having them as an option rather than not.
Perhaps it speaks to issues with my cube design that having taplands as an option make it run more smoothly, but downplaying multicolor and color-heavy cards would undermine the cube's premise. It'd be more conventionally wise to have less emphasis on three and four color decks, but it wouldn't serve the purpose the cube has had since its inception.
More importantly than that is that players have enjoyed what it adds to deck construction and the flow of play.
___
My group and I quibble over small card choices and archetypes a lot, but the big departures I've made have actually met no resistance, and it's very assuring to know that.
I'll take this opportunity to address a semi-unique aspect of my cube that breaks a sort of taboo in the cube community - Custom Cards. To start, here's my 450 unpowered, partially custom cube - http://www.cubetutor.com/visualspoiler/78529.
When designing cubes, it's something we all know that certain archetypes receive more support than others. Black and green aggro, while viable in many cubes without the use of custom cards, come at an opportunity cost - dedicating a large number of slots to these cards. Many cubes sidestep this issue by not supporting black or green aggro at all. Other archetypes require dedicated support and still don't get there sometimes (ie Lands.dec, Stax, etc)
I elected to use custom cards to boost some of these lesser played archetypes to balance a wider variety of cube archetypes. It's also useful to fill holes in cube that people have been wanting. I've listed some examples - they're all a work in progress to balance. It's been great being able to tailor the power level of the cards to how I envision the cube.
Sinhama, the Emminent 1G
Legendary Creature - Cat
4/2 Quite pushed, but fits green's color pie well.
Taika, Queen of Nistos 1GG
Legendary Creature - Cat
Whenever a creature you control deals combat damage to a player, put a +1/+1 counter on it.
Other attacking Cats you control get +1/+1 and have first strike.
2/3 Probably the most pushed (borderline broken perhaps) of the bunch, this is a very strong pull into Green aggro, while remaining quite good in midrange builds. With the increase in playable cats, we decided to make Cats a viable build around. It's undergone multiple power reductions, and may need more.
Reckless Pride G
Creature - Cat 1G: ~ gets +2/+0 until the end of turn. At the end of turn, sacrifice ~. Activate this ability only once per turn.
2/1 A design borrowed from Altarus123. A solid beater that is much needed support for green aggro.
Nightfall Stalker B
Creature - Zombie
Menace
Whenever ~ attacks, you lose 2 life.
2/1 Would obviously never see print today, and this card is obviously fantastic.
Spitting Widow B
Creature - Zombie Spider
Whenever ~ deals combat damage to a player, that player loses 1 life.
Whenever ~ dies, target opponent gains 3 life.
2/1 Pushed, but has been fairly balanced as far as testing goes
Ulak, Heartless Warden 1B
Legendary Creature - Zombie Demon
Whenever ~ attacks, defending player reveals the top card of his or her library and puts it into his or her hand. That player loses life equal to its converted mana cost.
2/2 A tricky one to balance. Could possibly be given some sort of evasion, but giving it shadow proved to be too much.
Descent into Hell 2BB
Enchantment
At the beginning of each opponent's upkeep, put a Void counter on ~.
At the beginning of each player's end step, that player sacrifices X permanents, discards X cards, and loses X life, where X is the number of Void counters on ~. Yeah this one is decently busted. No more busted than Armageddon, however, as it still requires you to be ahead on board. A build around for stax.
Sunforge Adept 2W
Creature - Human Cleric 2W: Exile another target creature. Return that creature to the battlefield at the beginning of the next end step.
3/3 A color(less?) shifted Eldrazi Displacer. I liked the blink support, but didn't want to support colorless in the cube.
Blitz Basilisk 4RR
Creature - Dragon
When ~ enters the battlefield, you may put a creature card from your onto the battlefield. That creature gains haste. Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step.
Evoke 2R
5/5 Support for the Sneak and Show archetype. Don't worry - no Annihilator triggers are possible in the cube.
Colossus of Ruin 8
Artifact Creature - Golem
When ~ enters the battlefield or dies, destroy target permanent.
8/8 We were missing one nice Tinker target, so this was the solution. Tinkerable, rampable, and Sneak Attackable
Flowerescence 1G
Sorcery
Look at the top four cards of your library. Put one into your hand, one on the bottom of your library, one on the top of your library, and one into your graveyard. A decent sized color break admittedly, but it was created to help BG reanimator.
There are a few others, and in total there are 29 custom cards in the cube. Some still need to be balanced with playtesting, but so far they have allowed me to explore new ideas as a cube designer, and they've been received pretty well by our cube group. It also allows players to create personal cards, which really enhances the personal feel of the cube. As for aesthetics, a little work in MSE and the help of a printing company have allowed them to look very nice (although still obviously fake). I've enjoyed the experience of creating custom cards so much that I designed an entire custom cube (see my sig).
TL;DR - My 450 unpowered cube has custom cards, and it has been well received. They're a blast, but obviously not for everyone.
My Cubes - The Busted Cube. A fully functional, almost 100% custom cube. The project started out by asking "What if other colors got cards on the power level of Mana Drain,Ancestral Recall, and Time Walk?" Draft and enjoy!
I've said this in numerous threads but I love this card, [card] citadel siege [\card] wins games. It's never a dead card and while usually it can be seen as slow, the +2/+2 its first turn always matters, and I can't count the times I've chosen the tap mode in any aggro decks to tap down a sneak attack threat. It's in the most competitive slot in the cube, and it still shines.
Basic Taplands: This one I'm definitely not about to condone for general use, but it's worked well in the microcosm of my playgroup. I allow players to use the common tapland (OGW/SOI) cycle in exactly the same way during deckbuilding as basic lands.
I honestly like this idea more than the separate "land draft" people talk about running.
Is there a cap on the number allowed per deck? How many go into most decks? How many copies do you keep on hand?
EDIT:
Re: Unpopular Successes -
Janky creatureless discard outlets.
Starting with Collective Brutality, I've been adding more creatureless discard outlets into my cube, beyond the conventional Liliana of the Veil/Smallpox. The biggest successes that I see the least are Last Rites, Raven's Crime and Sickening Dreams, which do more to lock the game out than Putrid Imp, feel a little less awkward in Go-Big combo reanimator than the aggro enablers, and get less competition with generic Bx beatdown cards like Oona's Prowler or Heir of Falkenrath.
Hi all. These are all card that have proven themselves through testing in my cube, and I think most of them are virtually unplayed. My cube is slower than most of yours, but I think a lot of these cards would be worth testing in higher power cubes. I wrote up white and blue. I'll do the other colors later.
Wall of Reverence: A filthy, nasty, wicked, and cruel card. I would consider this mainstream cubeable.
World Queller: This is another one that has become a major staple.
Gather the Townsfolk: This is innocuous, but it has proven itself. Raise the Alarm seems a mediocre base, but the fateful hour comes up pretty damn often for us.
Oust: I don't know if this is commonly played, but it's always been a great tempo card here.
Unified Front: This has never been fewer than three guys, and four guys are not rare.
Porphyry Nodes: White stax is a thing. Porphyry nodes requires some careful play, but it's nuts for a one-drop. I'd play Drop of Honey of it were cheap.
Story Circle: When I was a kid, I thought this was broken. All these years later, I think I might have been right. Some decks just fold to this, and most decks are crippled by it.
Hedron Crab: I've spoken of this before. It's great for me, but it might be bad in faster cubes.
Overtaker: A discard outlet, and one of the only existing repeatable Threatens. This plus an aristocrat is tough to get around and easy to set up.
Callous Oppressor and Dominating Licid: Jeepers on toast, these cards are mean. This is why I'm not as excited for creature steals as many people. Enough things are already getting stolen.
Also re: Death Cloud, I find that you want it in a deck with a lot of other disruption (discard, sinkhole/strip mine) and you ideally cast it for 2-3. It's less Upheaval and more Plow Under, if that makes sense.
Also, follow us on twitter! @TurnOneMagic
A double anthem that flashes in is something completely different though (IMO) than the cheaper ones. It can flash in after blockers, it can be be blowout combat trick and its much bigger deal than +1/+1. In a vaccume I would want to cast Cloudgoat Ranger on turn 5 but depending on my deck and the boardstate this win the game more often. I think I will slot it in over Intangible Virtue in my next update (recently lost my job so who knows when that will be :laugh2:).
Death Cloud never even worked for us when cast for smaller ammounts, 5 mana is a lot for a double small pox. I really like the card but it just never worked for us, it could be it was never going into the perfect deck but I'm trying to cut down on cards that need all the stars to align as they are a bit of a trap for drafters. I fully expect some grumbling when I tell my players as they like the card in theory, but they never play it.
In theory you're not wrong, but I find that in practice 5 mana is just kind of a lot for an anthem, even one with all the pros that Dictate has. It's not bad, but it's not always really great either.
Also, follow us on twitter! @TurnOneMagic
If I can find it I'll make the swap tonight and see.
Dictate is one of the best curve topper 5-drops you can play in an aggro deck.
Uril, the Miststalker RGW -- Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre C -- Vhati il-Dal BG -- Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer RW -- Animar, Soul of Elements URG
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker R -- Maga, Traitor to Mortals B -- Ghave, Guru of Spores BGW -- Sliver Hivelord WUBRG
That being said, it certainly wasn't bad, but at the end of drafts the white weenie player never felt like they lacked options for anthems and often sided with the cheaper options and then just ran out their big 5 mana creature instead. I would definitely find room to test/play it if I had a larger cube, and if players wanted it I would've kept it, but they just didn't need another anthem.
Also, follow us on twitter! @TurnOneMagic
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You are losing. You resolve this card. You are winning.
Dictate is one of those cards. It's a top 10 white card for me. Roughly comparable to Armageddon.
Uril, the Miststalker RGW -- Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre C -- Vhati il-Dal BG -- Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer RW -- Animar, Soul of Elements URG
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker R -- Maga, Traitor to Mortals B -- Ghave, Guru of Spores BGW -- Sliver Hivelord WUBRG
You're naturally just going to get card comparison arguments with something like dictate anyhow; like, earlier with Jokulhaups and Death Cloud, those cards are more unique. There isn't really a "better version" of either that still has the fullness of the effect; at best we have Wildfire and Smallpox (or Pox I guess, but triple black is such a damn pain), but they aren't exactly the same thing. Dictate strikes me as having less uniqueness, so that sort of invites competition, instead of the previously mentioned cards, who can be discussed purely on how well they support or define an archetype on their own. Like, when I brought up Sphinx of Lost Truths, that also isn't a super-unique card; it's just a neat 3/5 for 5. This is just a neat enchantment.
You don't get to call me the king of hyperbole anymore. You've just stolen the crown.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
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I don't have any experience with Dictate myself, but it does look like a very powerful card in the right situation. However, I feel like that specific situation is more specific than the situation you're looking for when you want to cast Armageddon, so I don't think the two are really comparable. Again, though, I've not played the card myself, so this is all speculation on my part.
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
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Onto my own unpopular idea! I'm planning on cutting Dreadbore for 3 reasons!
1) Want to run Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast.
2) Black has this effect covered with both Never // Return and Hero's Downfall.
3) It's my most minor gripe with it, but Dreadbore doesn't feel red whatsoever.
So my Rakdos section will be Daretti, Kolaghan's Command, Falkenrath Aristocrat, and Grenzo, Dungeon Warden.
Also slotting in Sifter Wurm for Pelakka Wurm for some testing and Ramunap Excavator is in for Wickerbough Elder.
I feel you. I went through this a year or two ago. I am a huge fan of removal that deals with both creatures and planeswalkers. I was very hesitant to cut Dreadbore. I ultimately did it mostly due to point numer 2): Whereas such flexible removal was scarce a couple of years ago, we now have more decent options, making Dreadbore less necessary.
Except that wasn't a hyperbolic statement, but rather one reflecting my own experience of cubing with both cards for years. I am still baffled why Dictate is such an all-star in my cube but is getting lukewarm responses from most other cubers.
The only real explanation that I have is that the stronger creature-focus of my cube has a much higher impact on decks and matchups and general dynamic of the typical game than it seems at first glance. I do see my cube as a rather standard traditional unpowered list. The supported archetypes are rather common, as are most card choices. I try to run the most powerful cards, except for a dozen or so that I consider powered (thus making my cube unpowered) and half a dozen that I just dislike. The ratios for colors, multicolors, colorless, lands and fixing are within the norm, too. The only thing where my cube deviates is the number of creatures: I run roughly 5% more than most other lists. For years, I didn't consider this noteworthy. 5% seems so little. However, again and again, I find that I have a very different experience with a certain type of cards: Those that demand a certain creature density and/or those that thrive in creature-focused matchups.
With this in mind, Dictate of Heliod has been an absolute all-star in my cube. "I won every game where I resolved Dictate." is a common statement among my drafters. Similar to "I won every game where I resolved Armageddon.". And while the latter is the more powerful Magic card, there are more situations where it is not wise to cast it. Like, when your opponent has a relevant board presence that rivals or exceeds your own. And due to the creature-centric nature of my cube, those situations aren't uncommon, leading to games where you draw Armageddon, but it doesn't really help you. And you have to admit that it rarely helps you when you are behind on board. Unlike Dictate, which not only helps you win faster, but also prevents you from losing in such a situation. As LSV says: The best bombs are those that not only win you the game when you are ahead, but also stabilize you when you are behind and are generally good in many situations. That's just what Dictate does. Provided that you have at least two or three creatures on the battlefield. And at least in my cube, that is rarely a problem in the proper deck.
Uril, the Miststalker RGW -- Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre C -- Vhati il-Dal BG -- Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer RW -- Animar, Soul of Elements URG
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker R -- Maga, Traitor to Mortals B -- Ghave, Guru of Spores BGW -- Sliver Hivelord WUBRG
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 49th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from MKM!
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 49th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from MKM!
Integrated Conspiracy Cards: This one is the hill I will die on. I find there's a lot of reverence for the purity of the draft among cubers, and I don't quite get it. I have a lot of issue with the idea that you can't use conspiracies or draft matters cards without it being inherently silly. I'm gonna refrain from getting up on my soap box though.
More important to me is my experiences, though. When I draft it with friends they tend to greatly enjoy the complexities draft-matters offer to the draft. Their value is complicated and takes a lot more consideration of where you are in the draft than most picks. The only one I include that hasn't been regarded totally seriously is Lore Seeker which stays in because my players love the novelty of being able to add an extra pack of commanders in mid draft. (It's a choice of that or a regular pack. They always take generals.)
Conspiracies are a much more cut and dry affair. (I'm not in the loop enough to still know if their integration is even unpopular still) They make a lot interesting things possible that otherwise wouldn't be, they're straightforward, and their value is comparable to most other cards in the cube. People don't take them, at least not the ones I include, to make their decks silly; they take them because they synergize with their deck. They've been extremely popular.
Basic Taplands: This one I'm definitely not about to condone for general use, but it's worked well in the microcosm of my playgroup. I allow players to use the common tapland (OGW/SOI) cycle in exactly the same way during deckbuilding as basic lands. I was told pretty unanimously by cubers that it was an awful idea. Originally the purpose was training wheels for friends who were new to drafting, but I learned quite a few things when I put it into practice:
1) My new drafters already knew enough about magic to value good nonbasic land picks.
2) They make my cube play far more smoothly and greatly reduce instances of players in a multiplayer game being frustrated from the sidelines because of color-screw.
3) They don't meaningfully make actual good nonbasics any less valuable of a pick. Nobody wants to be playing a turn behind the table without good reason.
4) Everyone in my usual circle is happier having them as an option rather than not.
Perhaps it speaks to issues with my cube design that having taplands as an option make it run more smoothly, but downplaying multicolor and color-heavy cards would undermine the cube's premise. It'd be more conventionally wise to have less emphasis on three and four color decks, but it wouldn't serve the purpose the cube has had since its inception.
More importantly than that is that players have enjoyed what it adds to deck construction and the flow of play.
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My group and I quibble over small card choices and archetypes a lot, but the big departures I've made have actually met no resistance, and it's very assuring to know that.
Generals meant to be drafted first in a single pack of 6 cards.
And here is the actual cube, meant to be drafted in 4 regular sized packs. (60 card decks)
When designing cubes, it's something we all know that certain archetypes receive more support than others. Black and green aggro, while viable in many cubes without the use of custom cards, come at an opportunity cost - dedicating a large number of slots to these cards. Many cubes sidestep this issue by not supporting black or green aggro at all. Other archetypes require dedicated support and still don't get there sometimes (ie Lands.dec, Stax, etc)
I elected to use custom cards to boost some of these lesser played archetypes to balance a wider variety of cube archetypes. It's also useful to fill holes in cube that people have been wanting. I've listed some examples - they're all a work in progress to balance. It's been great being able to tailor the power level of the cards to how I envision the cube.
Sinhama, the Emminent 1G
Legendary Creature - Cat
4/2
Quite pushed, but fits green's color pie well.
Taika, Queen of Nistos 1GG
Legendary Creature - Cat
Whenever a creature you control deals combat damage to a player, put a +1/+1 counter on it.
Other attacking Cats you control get +1/+1 and have first strike.
2/3
Probably the most pushed (borderline broken perhaps) of the bunch, this is a very strong pull into Green aggro, while remaining quite good in midrange builds. With the increase in playable cats, we decided to make Cats a viable build around. It's undergone multiple power reductions, and may need more.
Reckless Pride G
Creature - Cat
1G: ~ gets +2/+0 until the end of turn. At the end of turn, sacrifice ~. Activate this ability only once per turn.
2/1
A design borrowed from Altarus123. A solid beater that is much needed support for green aggro.
Nightfall Stalker B
Creature - Zombie
Menace
Whenever ~ attacks, you lose 2 life.
2/1
Would obviously never see print today, and this card is obviously fantastic.
Spitting Widow B
Creature - Zombie Spider
Whenever ~ deals combat damage to a player, that player loses 1 life.
Whenever ~ dies, target opponent gains 3 life.
2/1
Pushed, but has been fairly balanced as far as testing goes
Ulak, Heartless Warden 1B
Legendary Creature - Zombie Demon
Whenever ~ attacks, defending player reveals the top card of his or her library and puts it into his or her hand. That player loses life equal to its converted mana cost.
2/2
A tricky one to balance. Could possibly be given some sort of evasion, but giving it shadow proved to be too much.
Descent into Hell 2BB
Enchantment
At the beginning of each opponent's upkeep, put a Void counter on ~.
At the beginning of each player's end step, that player sacrifices X permanents, discards X cards, and loses X life, where X is the number of Void counters on ~.
Yeah this one is decently busted. No more busted than Armageddon, however, as it still requires you to be ahead on board. A build around for stax.
Sunforge Adept 2W
Creature - Human Cleric
2W: Exile another target creature. Return that creature to the battlefield at the beginning of the next end step.
3/3
A color(less?) shifted Eldrazi Displacer. I liked the blink support, but didn't want to support colorless in the cube.
Blitz Basilisk 4RR
Creature - Dragon
When ~ enters the battlefield, you may put a creature card from your onto the battlefield. That creature gains haste. Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step.
Evoke 2R
5/5
Support for the Sneak and Show archetype. Don't worry - no Annihilator triggers are possible in the cube.
Colossus of Ruin 8
Artifact Creature - Golem
When ~ enters the battlefield or dies, destroy target permanent.
8/8
We were missing one nice Tinker target, so this was the solution. Tinkerable, rampable, and Sneak Attackable
Flowerescence 1G
Sorcery
Look at the top four cards of your library. Put one into your hand, one on the bottom of your library, one on the top of your library, and one into your graveyard.
A decent sized color break admittedly, but it was created to help BG reanimator.
There are a few others, and in total there are 29 custom cards in the cube. Some still need to be balanced with playtesting, but so far they have allowed me to explore new ideas as a cube designer, and they've been received pretty well by our cube group. It also allows players to create personal cards, which really enhances the personal feel of the cube. As for aesthetics, a little work in MSE and the help of a printing company have allowed them to look very nice (although still obviously fake). I've enjoyed the experience of creating custom cards so much that I designed an entire custom cube (see my sig).
TL;DR - My 450 unpowered cube has custom cards, and it has been well received. They're a blast, but obviously not for everyone.
Regular 450 unpowered cube (with some custom cards) - 450 Unpowered
thats my cube
I honestly like this idea more than the separate "land draft" people talk about running.
Is there a cap on the number allowed per deck? How many go into most decks? How many copies do you keep on hand?
EDIT:
Re: Unpopular Successes -
Janky creatureless discard outlets.
Starting with Collective Brutality, I've been adding more creatureless discard outlets into my cube, beyond the conventional Liliana of the Veil/Smallpox. The biggest successes that I see the least are Last Rites, Raven's Crime and Sickening Dreams, which do more to lock the game out than Putrid Imp, feel a little less awkward in Go-Big combo reanimator than the aggro enablers, and get less competition with generic Bx beatdown cards like Oona's Prowler or Heir of Falkenrath.
Magus of the Tabernacle: This immediately become a staple in white.
Wall of Reverence: A filthy, nasty, wicked, and cruel card. I would consider this mainstream cubeable.
World Queller: This is another one that has become a major staple.
Gather the Townsfolk: This is innocuous, but it has proven itself. Raise the Alarm seems a mediocre base, but the fateful hour comes up pretty damn often for us.
Oust: I don't know if this is commonly played, but it's always been a great tempo card here.
Unified Front: This has never been fewer than three guys, and four guys are not rare.
Porphyry Nodes: White stax is a thing. Porphyry nodes requires some careful play, but it's nuts for a one-drop. I'd play Drop of Honey of it were cheap.
Story Circle: When I was a kid, I thought this was broken. All these years later, I think I might have been right. Some decks just fold to this, and most decks are crippled by it.
Dreamscape Artist: The body is piddling, but the value is mad.
Overtaker: A discard outlet, and one of the only existing repeatable Threatens. This plus an aristocrat is tough to get around and easy to set up.
Callous Oppressor and Dominating Licid: Jeepers on toast, these cards are mean. This is why I'm not as excited for creature steals as many people. Enough things are already getting stolen.
Vizier of Tumbling Sands: A million uses.
Riptide Shapeshifter: This is a sweet toolbox for a cheat deck, even if five is a little steep. Shapeshifter names Leviathan.
Stormtide Leviathan: GTUUUNSSSHHH!!!
Thought Scour: I don't know if a lot of people play this, but I see it as a sweet cantrip for graveyard decks.
Exhaustion: It's closer to Time Walk than it seems, and it's devastating to recur.
Spelltwine: This has made some of the most memorable situations.
Sigil of Sleep: This is mostly in for how powerful it becomes with pingers. Thermo-Alchemist is particularly potent with it.
Slow Motion: This is insanely annoying, and it never goes away.
Dampening Pulse: This goes out against some decks, but it trashes others. These effects always play better than they look, and this is not exception.
Puca's Mischief: Just thinking about it makes me smile.
Sensei Golden-Tail: This has been in my cube a long time, and it's only ever taught a few students, and the lessons never mattered.
Angel of Flight Alabaster: I so wanted combos to arise here, but they haven't.
Honor of the Pure: This isn't getting cut immediately, but I'm surprised by how poorly it has performed.
Shapesharer: It just sits there fishing for more of your mana.
Aetherplasm: I know you all could have told me this was bad, but I had to see for myself... It isn't good.
Censor: This has only ever been cycled. That's not too bad, but it's got to counter something someday, or it dies.
Low-power cube enthusiast!
My 1570 card cube (no longer updated)
My 415 Peasant+ Artifact and Enchantment Cube
Ever-Expanding "Just throw it in" cube.