MTG Salvation

Signets are great. But I found them unnecessary to support all the decks I wanted. I just play all the good colorless ones instead, get the same outcome without being forced into a 10-card cycle, and all the rocks have equal value across all the decks they can go in instead of their value being determined by their color match. If my cube was bigger, I'd probably have to run the Signets instead, but at 540 or smaller, I found using all the colorless mana rocks does a much better job of supporting all the same decks with less dedicated slots and more consistency.

I really like Talismans more than Signets because there is a slight drawback for the ramp. Ive been really happy since ive switched from Signets to Talismans, Diamonds and the colorless rocks. Its harder to draft the 4-color good stuff control decks and still supports Wildfire and Artifact.dec.

I really like Talismans more than Signets because there is a slight drawback for the ramp. Ive been really happy since ive switched from Signets to Talismans, Diamonds and the colorless rocks. Its harder to draft the 4-color good stuff control decks and still supports Wildfire and Artifact.dec.

I also prefer the Talisman to the Signets for the pairs they're available for.

I run 5 signets, and they are the best 2 mana rocks, but.. They warp the format a bit. The effect may not be desired.

10 signets in a small-medium cube tends to make it REALLY rampy and over the top. Some people like this gameplay, I prefer something a little more in the middle.
Another local powered cube we play with in vancouver runs all 10. In that cube , no matter what other people draft Im always free to jam 3-5 colors, mana rocks -> planeswalkers + good cards and the archetype can get a bit stale (1-3 people in it every draft).

Mana rocks are only playable in control/ramp/artifact strategies, so the more you add , the more people will play those stratgies.

I only run the signets that produce blue mana. It balances the other colors and tend to push blue into the artifact matter a bit more, which is fine and natural for it. Upheaval decks like it and Wildfire tend to use blue a lot so I think its well balance the way it is. Mind Stone, Grim Monolith and Pentad Prism are also things that I run. The last one is in there for Storm pruposes btw.

Mine's a little different; I only run Esper among the signets.

In addition to Mind Stone, Guardian Idol, Sphere of the Suns, Prismatic Lens.

Also, I find those Izzet artifact decks prefer their artifacts to be creatures.

I currently run the 4 blue signets, Coldsteel Heart, Everflowing Chalice, Fellwar Stone, Grim Monolith, Guardian Idol, Mind Stone and Prismatic Lens as 2CMC mana rocks.
I plan to cut the 4 signets in my next update, because I am cutting 1 card in each guild section. In that update, Dimir and Azorious will get the Talismans instead and I will probably also add Sphere of the Suns in my colorless section.

How many mana rocks do you guys like to include in the different deck types? Exclude moxen, they should pretty much always be played. I am thinking mostly about the 2 cmc but maybe Mana Vault and the 3 cmc ones can be considered too. Assume that you don't need them for fixing reasons, just for ramp reasons. For me:

Aggro: none
Midrange/Control: 2-3; Would any of you play more? Less?

I am less sure about these:

Upheaval/Wildfire/Ramp: As many as you can get? Is 6+ too much?

Any other special considerations?

I usually go with 2 for midrange/control with maybe a mox or a 3cmc rock in there as well depending on my curve. For Wildfire/Artifact I like 4ish.

Number of manafacts I like in my decks and/or see in decks drafted from my cube:

Aggro: 0
Midrange: 0-2
Control: 2-4
Upheaval/Wildfire/Ramp: 4-6

Those numbers include all (unpowered, aka 2+ mana) manafacts, not just 2-cost ones.

Green landsearchers may be used as substitutes for manafacts.