I think this will be a really helpful thread for both sharing information about your cube (so the community will get a better idea of how your cube plays) as well as your playgroup.
We recently (I think in November 2011) began actively removing "anti-aggro focused" cards from the cube to help aggro become more competitive - it's made a world of difference for our cube and it has a very weenie feel to it now. I've noticed some cubes have eschewed green aggro in favor of ramp or different strategies, and I'm very interested to know how these decks fare when played against the rest of the cube.
Cube Size :
Powered? :
Average number of drafters :
Most frequent draft format :
Popular archetypes :
Strongest archetype(s) :
Weakest archetype(s) :
Other (fun, wacky, unique, etc) archetype(s) supported :
Archetypes your cube goes out of the way to support :
Common archetypes your cube chooses to not support (and why) :
What are some current issues you have with your cube that you'd like help changing?
Explain what makes your cube different:
U/x aggro (aggressive blue creatures supported) U/, U/, and U// "traditional" control U/x "Artifact" decks (lots of artifacts and ways to abuse them, like Tolarian Academy, Academy Ruins, Tinker, etc)
U//x Reanimator B/x aggro B/x control
"The Mono-Red Aggressive Deck" (self explanatory) R/x aggro R/x control R/x land destruction R/ or R/ or R// "Wildfire" decks (noncreature ramp and fatties)
G/x aggro G/x mid-range G/x control G/x ramp G/ "Rec-Sur" (Recurring Nightmare, Survival of the Fittest, and Fauna Shaman along with other possible reanimation spells work in tandem to get cheap guys into your hand and abusable fatties into your graveyard to combo)
I'm going to re-edit the OP with archtypes people support so that newcomers to the thread have a list and they don't have to remember everything. If you have anything to add to this list, please either write it up in this thread or PM me and I'll add it no problem. If one person supports it, it's worth putting up here.
Cube Size: 360 Powered? Yes. Average number of drafters: 2. Most frequent draft format: Winston. Popular archetypes: 3, 4, and 5 color control with a blue base, various types of aggro. Strongest archetype(s) : U/G mid-range. Because we support aggro like it's the most important thing ever, green tends to be very strong. Weakest archetype(s) : Reanimator. We just lack the support to do it well in most winstons, even though it's still there and very occasionally works out. Other (fun, wacky, unique, etc) archetype(s) supported: We used to support Time Vault + Voltaic Key. Archetypes your cube goes out of the way to support: Aggro. We want aggro to be a viable strategy every single time a winston comes up, which means giving lots and lots of cards to non-blue colors and removing some very problematic cards (Razormane Masticore, Triskelion). Common archetypes your cube chooses to not support (and why) : Wildfire decks just didn't work for us. People just wouldn't draft them and they were routinely last picked. We also have a difficult time making Life From The Loam decks work. What are some current issues you have with your cube that you'd like help changing? I'd like to get reanimator more support. I'd also like to have slightly more variety, as supporting aggro as much as we do tends to give a large amount of redundancy to the cube, although we're not exactly sure how to solve that problem. Explain what makes your cube different: We love aggro and support it ridiculously well. Even if a one drop is considered too bad for a lot of 540s, we'll at least try it out in our 360 powered list. It'll most likely make the cut. We got fed up with 2 man formats being dominated by control decks that just relied on powerful cards. We'd rather force control decks to use a lot of aggressive cards than the other way around.
Cube Size : 405 Powered? : Indeed. Average number of drafters : Six-Eight Most frequent draft format : Booster Draft Popular archetypes: 5CC, R/x Aggro, W/x Aggro, U/x Control, B/G Midrange, 5CC/Superfriends, G/U Ramp, X/u and X/X/u aggro-control. Strongest archetype(s): W/B Aggro, U/B Control, B/G Midrange Weakest archetype(s): 5CC/Superfriends Other (fun, wacky, unique, etc) archetype(s) supported: X/X/x aggro-control strategies (these were enabled by prioritizing easily splashable 2 and 3 drops). Archetypes your cube goes out of the way to support: Prison Common archetypes your cube chooses to not support (and why) : Blink - I don't see it raising the competitive level of the cube because it makes me reduce overall card quality. Reanimator - Requires me to play too many 'niche cards' which put stuff in the graveyard to stay competitive with other decks and ends up dilluting the card pool. What are some current issues you have with your cube that you'd like help changing?: Going to cut down to 360 soon, probably as part of the DA update. Explain what makes your cube different: I gleefully cut high-CMC cards and have an extremely lean mana curve which leads to fast, brutal games with an earlier fundamental turn than every other cube I have played with. At 360 I think it will be even more explosive and fun.
Cube Size: 487 at the moment, though the cube has been shrinking steadily since its creation. No, we don't like random limitations when it comes to cube design (such as using round numbers). Powered?: yes Average number of drafters: usually 8 virtual drafters (each of us controlling 4 seats in a Rochester draft), sometimes 4 or 6 if I organize a cube draft with other people (in which case we booster draft). Most frequent draft format: see above - usually Rochester (which is the best format ever), sometimes booster draft. Popular archetypes: Hicham: classic control, monoblack suicide, land destruction aggro, 3+ color good stuff, counterburn; Fredo: aggro in general, ramp disruption or fatty ramp, toolbox, artifact, planeswalker control, blue tempo, rock Strongest archetype(s): among the supported archetypes I can't say any can really be called strongest. All kinds of archetypes come out on top. Weakest archetype(s): classic control and Xg aggro (though they still win drafts occasionally, and control decks are never weak - they just seem to have trouble winning drafts). Other (fun, wacky, unique, etc) archetype(s) supported: we don't really support archetypes I'd call whacky or unique. All of our archetypes are fun though (at the very least for their pilots ) Archetypes your cube goes out of the way to support: green ramp, which is played regularly and is usually powerful; red control; artifacts; blue tempo (to a lesser degree) EDIT: also, aggro in white, red and black for a healthy aggro/midrange/control equilibrium. Common archetypes your cube chooses to not support (and why): reanimator, because it needs narrow/sub-par cards to be supported and was mostly not competitive even when it came together. Green aggro can be drafted but we slanted the green section more towards ramp. What are some current issues you have with your cube that you'd like help changing? white aggro seems somewhat dominant, it feels like white players are often pushed into aggro by the card flow during draft. Control in general has trouble winning drafts, though control decks seldom end last. These are pretty minor quibbles though, our cube rules Explain what makes your cube different: more support for green ramp, blue tempo and land destruction. Very small multi-color section. EDIT: also, a very low curve: the average cost is about 2.8 mana, we run less high-cost finishers than other cubes of the same size and more 2-drops.
Fredo, you forgot my beloved Do-a Lot-Win very slowly archetype ( Key cards: Time Spiral, Timetwister, Upheaval, Scroll Rack)
I love this kind of deck, Fredo hates to play against it:)
Fredo, you forgot my beloved Do-a Lot-Win very slowly archetype ( Key cards: Time Spiral, Timetwister, Upheaval, Scroll Rack)
I love this kind of deck, Fredo hates to play against it:)
Cube Size: 400 Powered? Yes. Average number of drafters: 2. Most frequent draft format: Primarily Winston, but Sealed too. Popular archetypes: Rock midrange (WBG). Two colour control (UW, UB, RU, WB). XYz aggro (Zoo/Grixis/Team America), XY aggro (WR, BW), G/x midrange. Strongest archetype(s) : Two colour aggro splashing blue for draw and filtering is immense. The aggro colours are often WB or RB. Weakest archetype(s) : Counterburn is rarely drafted because its components are highly drafted in other archetypes. Reanimator is supported, but it's difficult to draft for the same reasons. The reanimator cards go high for many deck types. Other (fun, wacky, unique, etc) archetype(s) supported: None. Archetypes your cube goes out of the way to support: Aggro. This is necessary to achieve a reasonable balance between the three primary theatres. Common archetypes your cube chooses to not support (and why) : Red control as a forced archetype never worked out for us, and in any case it's a natural buttress to blue and white in control decks, not needing too much support. Drafting around one card is a bad idea in highlander formats anyway. Wildfire and Bogardan Hellkite were cut in favour of more aggressive drops. What are some current issues you have with your cube that you'd like help changing? More playable early drops would help, in any colour. Blue aggro one or two drops that stand alone as good cards would be welcome, as I don't intend to include blue aggro cards that require a large number to be drafted to be good. Red needs better one drops and two drops. Also, improved wedge cards would be a boost (see below) Explain what makes your cube different: In addition to the small guild system (3 cards per duo, and three lands) I run some of the three colour cards that are often excluded at this level. I am planning to cut some of them, but plan on continuing with the ones that really exemplify their shard/wedge strategy. Lightning Angel (Team America aggro), Doran (Rock), and Maelstrom Wanderer (URG control/ramp) are all great examples, and all always make the cut in their signature deck types. Otherwise, my Cube is relatively aggro focussed and I run perhaps only 1-2 finishers in each 60 card colour section.
We recently (I think in November 2011) began actively removing "anti-aggro focused" cards from the cube to help aggro become more competitive - it's made a world of difference for our cube and it has a very weenie feel to it now. I've noticed some cubes have eschewed green aggro in favor of ramp or different strategies, and I'm very interested to know how these decks fare when played against the rest of the cube.
Cube Size :
Powered? :
Average number of drafters :
Most frequent draft format :
Popular archetypes :
Strongest archetype(s) :
Weakest archetype(s) :
Other (fun, wacky, unique, etc) archetype(s) supported :
Archetypes your cube goes out of the way to support :
Common archetypes your cube chooses to not support (and why) :
What are some current issues you have with your cube that you'd like help changing?
Explain what makes your cube different:
W/x aggro
W/x control
W/x "Tokens" (token makers like Spectral Procession and Cloudgoat Ranger in addition with ways to pump those tokens like Ajani Goldmane, Glorius Anthem, etc)
W-based "Balance" decks (heavy on artifacts, enchantments, planeswalkers and tutors for Balance)
U/x aggro (aggressive blue creatures supported)
U/, U/, and U// "traditional" control
U/x "Artifact" decks (lots of artifacts and ways to abuse them, like Tolarian Academy, Academy Ruins, Tinker, etc)
U//x Reanimator
B/x aggro
B/x control
"The Mono-Red Aggressive Deck" (self explanatory)
R/x aggro
R/x control
R/x land destruction
R/ or R/ or R// "Wildfire" decks (noncreature ramp and fatties)
G/x aggro
G/x mid-range
G/x control
G/x ramp
G/ "Rec-Sur" (Recurring Nightmare, Survival of the Fittest, and Fauna Shaman along with other possible reanimation spells work in tandem to get cheap guys into your hand and abusable fatties into your graveyard to combo)
WUBRG "4CC/5CC" (4 color control, 5 color control)
U//x Counterburn
U// planeswalker control
U/x "Bounce" (ETB or LTB creatures like Mystic Snake or Skinrender with Crystal Shard, Erratic Portal, Waterfront Bouncer, Man-o-war, etc)
W/ "Blink" (ETB or LTB creatures supported with cards that remove and return creatures to the battlefield like Venser, the Sojourner, Flickerwisp, Momentary Blink, etc)
"Squee, Goblin Nabob" decks (Decks that have a large amount of cards that use discarding as a cost like Waterfront Bouncer or Masticore, or ways to sacrifice him such as Braids, Cabal Minion or Smokestack. Skullclamp works well too.)
I'm going to re-edit the OP with archtypes people support so that newcomers to the thread have a list and they don't have to remember everything. If you have anything to add to this list, please either write it up in this thread or PM me and I'll add it no problem. If one person supports it, it's worth putting up here.
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.
Powered? Yes.
Average number of drafters: 2.
Most frequent draft format: Winston.
Popular archetypes: 3, 4, and 5 color control with a blue base, various types of aggro.
Strongest archetype(s) : U/G mid-range. Because we support aggro like it's the most important thing ever, green tends to be very strong.
Weakest archetype(s) : Reanimator. We just lack the support to do it well in most winstons, even though it's still there and very occasionally works out.
Other (fun, wacky, unique, etc) archetype(s) supported: We used to support Time Vault + Voltaic Key.
Archetypes your cube goes out of the way to support: Aggro. We want aggro to be a viable strategy every single time a winston comes up, which means giving lots and lots of cards to non-blue colors and removing some very problematic cards (Razormane Masticore, Triskelion).
Common archetypes your cube chooses to not support (and why) : Wildfire decks just didn't work for us. People just wouldn't draft them and they were routinely last picked. We also have a difficult time making Life From The Loam decks work.
What are some current issues you have with your cube that you'd like help changing? I'd like to get reanimator more support. I'd also like to have slightly more variety, as supporting aggro as much as we do tends to give a large amount of redundancy to the cube, although we're not exactly sure how to solve that problem.
Explain what makes your cube different: We love aggro and support it ridiculously well. Even if a one drop is considered too bad for a lot of 540s, we'll at least try it out in our 360 powered list. It'll most likely make the cut. We got fed up with 2 man formats being dominated by control decks that just relied on powerful cards. We'd rather force control decks to use a lot of aggressive cards than the other way around.
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.
Powered? : Indeed.
Average number of drafters : Six-Eight
Most frequent draft format : Booster Draft
Popular archetypes: 5CC, R/x Aggro, W/x Aggro, U/x Control, B/G Midrange, 5CC/Superfriends, G/U Ramp, X/u and X/X/u aggro-control.
Strongest archetype(s): W/B Aggro, U/B Control, B/G Midrange
Weakest archetype(s): 5CC/Superfriends
Other (fun, wacky, unique, etc) archetype(s) supported: X/X/x aggro-control strategies (these were enabled by prioritizing easily splashable 2 and 3 drops).
Archetypes your cube goes out of the way to support: Prison
Common archetypes your cube chooses to not support (and why) : Blink - I don't see it raising the competitive level of the cube because it makes me reduce overall card quality. Reanimator - Requires me to play too many 'niche cards' which put stuff in the graveyard to stay competitive with other decks and ends up dilluting the card pool.
What are some current issues you have with your cube that you'd like help changing?: Going to cut down to 360 soon, probably as part of the DA update.
Explain what makes your cube different: I gleefully cut high-CMC cards and have an extremely lean mana curve which leads to fast, brutal games with an earlier fundamental turn than every other cube I have played with. At 360 I think it will be even more explosive and fun.
[Remixes] - [The Brutal Cube - 360 Powered] - [My Cube Article] - ['Print-This' Wishlist]
What are some of the ways you guys really push Prison? Also, are you supporting it when going down to 360?
I'll have to keep a look out for your 360 list, I'm really interested now. I also share your love of cutting high CMC cards.
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.
Powered?: yes
Average number of drafters: usually 8 virtual drafters (each of us controlling 4 seats in a Rochester draft), sometimes 4 or 6 if I organize a cube draft with other people (in which case we booster draft).
Most frequent draft format: see above - usually Rochester (which is the best format ever), sometimes booster draft.
Popular archetypes: Hicham: classic control, monoblack suicide, land destruction aggro, 3+ color good stuff, counterburn; Fredo: aggro in general, ramp disruption or fatty ramp, toolbox, artifact, planeswalker control, blue tempo, rock
Strongest archetype(s): among the supported archetypes I can't say any can really be called strongest. All kinds of archetypes come out on top.
Weakest archetype(s): classic control and Xg aggro (though they still win drafts occasionally, and control decks are never weak - they just seem to have trouble winning drafts).
Other (fun, wacky, unique, etc) archetype(s) supported: we don't really support archetypes I'd call whacky or unique. All of our archetypes are fun though (at the very least for their pilots )
Archetypes your cube goes out of the way to support: green ramp, which is played regularly and is usually powerful; red control; artifacts; blue tempo (to a lesser degree) EDIT: also, aggro in white, red and black for a healthy aggro/midrange/control equilibrium.
Common archetypes your cube chooses to not support (and why): reanimator, because it needs narrow/sub-par cards to be supported and was mostly not competitive even when it came together. Green aggro can be drafted but we slanted the green section more towards ramp.
What are some current issues you have with your cube that you'd like help changing? white aggro seems somewhat dominant, it feels like white players are often pushed into aggro by the card flow during draft. Control in general has trouble winning drafts, though control decks seldom end last. These are pretty minor quibbles though, our cube rules
Explain what makes your cube different: more support for green ramp, blue tempo and land destruction. Very small multi-color section. EDIT: also, a very low curve: the average cost is about 2.8 mana, we run less high-cost finishers than other cubes of the same size and more 2-drops.
I love this kind of deck, Fredo hates to play against it:)
I feel compelled to repeat everything I hear
*shudders*
Cube Size: 400
Powered? Yes.
Average number of drafters: 2.
Most frequent draft format: Primarily Winston, but Sealed too.
Popular archetypes: Rock midrange (WBG). Two colour control (UW, UB, RU, WB). XYz aggro (Zoo/Grixis/Team America), XY aggro (WR, BW), G/x midrange.
Strongest archetype(s) : Two colour aggro splashing blue for draw and filtering is immense. The aggro colours are often WB or RB.
Weakest archetype(s) : Counterburn is rarely drafted because its components are highly drafted in other archetypes. Reanimator is supported, but it's difficult to draft for the same reasons. The reanimator cards go high for many deck types.
Other (fun, wacky, unique, etc) archetype(s) supported: None.
Archetypes your cube goes out of the way to support: Aggro. This is necessary to achieve a reasonable balance between the three primary theatres.
Common archetypes your cube chooses to not support (and why) : Red control as a forced archetype never worked out for us, and in any case it's a natural buttress to blue and white in control decks, not needing too much support. Drafting around one card is a bad idea in highlander formats anyway. Wildfire and Bogardan Hellkite were cut in favour of more aggressive drops.
What are some current issues you have with your cube that you'd like help changing? More playable early drops would help, in any colour. Blue aggro one or two drops that stand alone as good cards would be welcome, as I don't intend to include blue aggro cards that require a large number to be drafted to be good. Red needs better one drops and two drops. Also, improved wedge cards would be a boost (see below)
Explain what makes your cube different: In addition to the small guild system (3 cards per duo, and three lands) I run some of the three colour cards that are often excluded at this level. I am planning to cut some of them, but plan on continuing with the ones that really exemplify their shard/wedge strategy. Lightning Angel (Team America aggro), Doran (Rock), and Maelstrom Wanderer (URG control/ramp) are all great examples, and all always make the cut in their signature deck types. Otherwise, my Cube is relatively aggro focussed and I run perhaps only 1-2 finishers in each 60 card colour section.
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms: