I currently own a powered cube and here is a somewhat unconventional opinion I have about lands in cube:
Disclaimer:
- It is already a forgone conclusion that Fetch - Dual - Shock are the best cycles of lands. I'm not arguing in any way these lands are not good and should not be an auto include
1. Temple i.e. Temple of Deceit should be an auto include in every color pair - Even if the color pair, such as Boros is a heavily aggro color because cube aggro decks often curve into FTK, Armageddon, Chandra Torch of Defiance in the top end etc. Cube aggro decks don't curve out as smoothly as something like Mono red in other formats and its very common to lose because of not hitting right colors, not hitting right lands, flooding etc. I have found the scry to be extremely useful
Irrigated Farmland is likely the consideration at the moment as the cut if I wanted to go down the 7 lands.
I've found manlands to be incredibly slow and I have almost never attacked with a colonade before - The only one time I recall I needed to attack with a Colonade was because my hand was destroyed by a Mind Twist. I have almost never lost a game because I ran out resources/ threats. I found the turns into a creature aspects to be almost useless and the land has only been drafted because its a UW land. I'm not too thrilled about the cycle land either, but I figured it might be better for more unstable combo decks that have fewer "playables" and wanted to played 1-2 more lands and anticipate drawing into their combo.
3. Whenever I read a forum/ advice about what the number of lands I should play in a 40 card deck (i.e. 17, 18 etc) I always play one more. I find that you lose too many games because of not hitting land drops/ proper mana rather than flooding out. (The only exception to this is if i'm playing a spells matter deck and I need my cantrips/ burn spells).
4. I would add 1-2 more cycles of lands into any cube than most cube designers. - I find people are drafting 3 or 4 color decks most of the time because they want to play with all these synergistic cards. I found a land is more likely to be good in any deck than a random card. I have played a temples or canopy lands where only one of the colors matched the two color pair I was playing because I valued the cycle/ scry alot. Its common to play Fetch/ Mirage fetch i.e. Arid Mesa in a Red-Green deck where you have a stomping ground.
I've also prioritized drafting lands over playables as I've often noticed people end up with 4-5 more playables and need to cut while their mana bases are very bad.
What do people think?
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I'm actively maintaining a comprehensive article to help explain to new cube players how some complex vintage level cards work in a cube environment. Vintage Cube Cards Explained
I agree about prioritizing mana and drafting more lands.
I disagree completely with your assessment of manlands vs temples. Manlands have proven to be consistently valuable performers in literally every theater, and the Temples were an ungodly disappointment. Scrying is nice, but if my lands are entering the battlefield tapped, they better have fetch/dual interactions or increase my deck's threat density.
My hot take regarding cube lands are how savagely underrated the Mirage fetches are. They're GOOD lands.
I've found the scry to be incredibly valuable given how many games I've lost because of not hitting my third - forth land or not hitting the correct mana requirements. I'm still debating between the Irrigated Farmland and the Celestial Colonnade as my 8th UW land.
In the last 5 drafts I've done, I've activated a manland exactly one time and the only reason why I activated my Colonnade was because my hand was mind twisted. (Maybe this was worth it?) But almost every time I was to play a manland, I wished it was a temple instead. (I do draft combo/ aggro more often so there is prob some bias there as well)
I'm actively maintaining a comprehensive article to help explain to new cube players how some complex vintage level cards work in a cube environment. Vintage Cube Cards Explained
The problem I have with a 9th land cycle is what to do about the 9th cycle of land for Orzhov, Golgari etc
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I'm actively maintaining a comprehensive article to help explain to new cube players how some complex vintage level cards work in a cube environment. Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Disclaimer:
- It is already a forgone conclusion that Fetch - Dual - Shock are the best cycles of lands. I'm not arguing in any way these lands are not good and should not be an auto include
1. Temple i.e. Temple of Deceit should be an auto include in every color pair - Even if the color pair, such as Boros is a heavily aggro color because cube aggro decks often curve into FTK, Armageddon, Chandra Torch of Defiance in the top end etc. Cube aggro decks don't curve out as smoothly as something like Mono red in other formats and its very common to lose because of not hitting right colors, not hitting right lands, flooding etc. I have found the scry to be extremely useful
2. Manlands are incredibly bad. I've actually cut Celestial Colonade from my UW section - I'm on 8 lands with
Adarkar Wastes
Flood Plain
Flooded Strand
Hallowed Fountain
Irrigated Farmland
Seachrome Coast
Temple of Enlightenment
Tundra
Irrigated Farmland is likely the consideration at the moment as the cut if I wanted to go down the 7 lands.
I've found manlands to be incredibly slow and I have almost never attacked with a colonade before - The only one time I recall I needed to attack with a Colonade was because my hand was destroyed by a Mind Twist. I have almost never lost a game because I ran out resources/ threats. I found the turns into a creature aspects to be almost useless and the land has only been drafted because its a UW land. I'm not too thrilled about the cycle land either, but I figured it might be better for more unstable combo decks that have fewer "playables" and wanted to played 1-2 more lands and anticipate drawing into their combo.
3. Whenever I read a forum/ advice about what the number of lands I should play in a 40 card deck (i.e. 17, 18 etc) I always play one more. I find that you lose too many games because of not hitting land drops/ proper mana rather than flooding out. (The only exception to this is if i'm playing a spells matter deck and I need my cantrips/ burn spells).
4. I would add 1-2 more cycles of lands into any cube than most cube designers. - I find people are drafting 3 or 4 color decks most of the time because they want to play with all these synergistic cards. I found a land is more likely to be good in any deck than a random card. I have played a temples or canopy lands where only one of the colors matched the two color pair I was playing because I valued the cycle/ scry alot. Its common to play Fetch/ Mirage fetch i.e. Arid Mesa in a Red-Green deck where you have a stomping ground.
I've also prioritized drafting lands over playables as I've often noticed people end up with 4-5 more playables and need to cut while their mana bases are very bad.
What do people think?
Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Here are some other articles I've written about fine tuning your cube:
1. Minimum Archetype Support
2. Improving Green Archetypes
3. Improving White Archetypes
4. Matchup Analysis
5. Cube Combos (Work in Progress)
Draft my Cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/d8i
I disagree completely with your assessment of manlands vs temples. Manlands have proven to be consistently valuable performers in literally every theater, and the Temples were an ungodly disappointment. Scrying is nice, but if my lands are entering the battlefield tapped, they better have fetch/dual interactions or increase my deck's threat density.
My hot take regarding cube lands are how savagely underrated the Mirage fetches are. They're GOOD lands.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
In the last 5 drafts I've done, I've activated a manland exactly one time and the only reason why I activated my Colonnade was because my hand was mind twisted. (Maybe this was worth it?) But almost every time I was to play a manland, I wished it was a temple instead. (I do draft combo/ aggro more often so there is prob some bias there as well)
Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Here are some other articles I've written about fine tuning your cube:
1. Minimum Archetype Support
2. Improving Green Archetypes
3. Improving White Archetypes
4. Matchup Analysis
5. Cube Combos (Work in Progress)
Draft my Cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/d8i
I could see an argument of having all these lands:
Pain - Canopy - Manland - Shock - Fetch - Mirage Fetch - Cycle - Dual - Fast - Temple.
The problem I have with a 9th land cycle is what to do about the 9th cycle of land for Orzhov, Golgari etc
Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Here are some other articles I've written about fine tuning your cube:
1. Minimum Archetype Support
2. Improving Green Archetypes
3. Improving White Archetypes
4. Matchup Analysis
5. Cube Combos (Work in Progress)
Draft my Cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/d8i