Hi All! I am maintaining/building a 450 unpowered cube and currently have the following mana base:
10 RAV Shocks
8 ONS/ZEN Fetches except for UW and UB, which are replaced by Mirage fetches
5 WWK Man lands
...
The rest are a combination of filter lands, pain lands, and check lands, mostly chosen because of availability but I am not posting them because they are not relevant.
I am about to acquire some original duals (RG, RW, and possibly WG and RB), and I was thinking to put them in cube. Given the price and (un)availability of Blue aligned ONS Fetches and Blue aligned Duals (curse you Legacy!), I imagine that this unbalanced configuration will stick for a while (and possibly permanently).
Somehow I imagine ONS fetches will be reprinted down the line making them cheaper so this is less of an issue.
Unfortunately, ABU duals will never drop in price.
I was thinking that it all works out because blue tends to be the slower colours and Aggro needs duals and fast fetches more.
Well, my question is: will this greatly cause an imbalance in cube? Would you suggest *not* putting in any ABU dual if not the complete cycle?
Dont be beholden to running cycles. I run all the duals, shocks and fetches. After that I run a mix of scry, scars, filters and others to fill out my sections. Run what the color wants, dont just blindly put in cycles of lands.
In my opinion you should just proxy the duals and fetches you don't have. The reason has less to do with blindly following a cycle and more to do with what your players expect when they're drafting. If I open a pack and see a wooded foothills and a scrubland, I'm going to expect a polluted delta or tundra to be in the cube. I think that when designing a cube, you need to either include the obvious cycles in order to allow your drafters to accurately predict what's in the cube, or explicitly explain to your drafters each and every inconsistency like this. I'd just print up some proxies and go with the former.
Collector's Edition might be a viable way to get "real" ABU duals at a cheaper price to fill out the ones you don't have.
You haven't checked the prices on those lately have you? They are a budget option, but Seas are still Ebaying for $100.
I try to balance the dual land cycles in my Cube, but also figure basics are still king. So, if I don't have a Polluted Delta yet it's no big deal. If I'm missing 3 Scrylands it's no big deal. I'd just use what you have and not sweat it.
Collector's Edition might be a viable way to get "real" ABU duals at a cheaper price to fill out the ones you don't have.
You haven't checked the prices on those lately have you? They are a budget option, but Seas are still Ebaying for $100.
I try to balance the dual land cycles in my Cube, but also figure basics are still king. So, if I don't have a Polluted Delta yet it's no big deal. If I'm missing 3 Scrylands it's no big deal. I'd just use what you have and not sweat it.
Well, it's still *technically* cheaper, isn't it? And it's not illegal or shoddy-looking like any of the other alternatives would be.
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I currently use 6 ABU duals, 8 Fetch, 10 Shocks, 1 Mirage Fetch, 2 Manlands, 2 Fastlands, 1 buddy land. Many people on here have been cubing a long time or are in a place to just buy what they need. For me I am trying to trade and build up my cube. 2 of my duals are collectors edition, and 2 of my onslaught fetches are gold bordered (those are still a cheap alternative)
The verdict? Nothing breaks. Frankly if you fine with giving the allied colors manlands you are not that worried about extreme balance issues.
Well, it's still *technically* cheaper, isn't it? And it's not illegal or shoddy-looking like any of the other alternatives would be.
Printing a home-use-only proxy is not illegal.
Perhaps not, but it is almost certainly shoddy-looking.
You can print very nice-looking proxies. We proxy several of the duels in our cube as they are in the process of being traded into and purchased and often get complements on how good they look. You just have to go a little beyond simply printing them out on normal paper.
Well, it's still *technically* cheaper, isn't it? And it's not illegal or shoddy-looking like any of the other alternatives would be.
Printing a home-use-only proxy is not illegal.
Perhaps not, but it is almost certainly shoddy-looking.
You can print very nice-looking proxies. We proxy several of the duels in our cube as they are in the process of being traded into and purchased and often get complements on how good they look. You just have to go a little beyond simply printing them out on normal paper.
...At which point you move into copyright infringement territory
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Well, it's still *technically* cheaper, isn't it? And it's not illegal or shoddy-looking like any of the other alternatives would be.
Printing a home-use-only proxy is not illegal.
Perhaps not, but it is almost certainly shoddy-looking.
You can print very nice-looking proxies. We proxy several of the duels in our cube as they are in the process of being traded into and purchased and often get complements on how good they look. You just have to go a little beyond simply printing them out on normal paper.
...At which point you move into copyright infringement territory
No, no you don't. Legally there's no difference between printing a nice proxy and printing an ugly proxy. In fact, since nice proxies often use alternate art, it's probably even less "wrong" (if you accept the premise that somehow printing a home-use proxy is wrong.) Printing proxies is 100% the best way to do lands for your cube if you are on a budget and you don't want to run inferior options.
As many noted that it wont affect the format much, I think I am just going to push through with the unbalanced ABU duals.
This is just a personal idiosyncracy of mine, but. I don't want proxies in my cube. I see it as a collecton of many of the cards I previously used and I want them all to be legit.
As for Collector's edition and Gold bordered products, I am open to this. They are, after all, official products and for all purposes, intended for casual play (including cube).
I am not to blame anyone who proxies duals or any kind.
10 RAV Shocks
8 ONS/ZEN Fetches except for UW and UB, which are replaced by Mirage fetches
5 WWK Man lands
...
The rest are a combination of filter lands, pain lands, and check lands, mostly chosen because of availability but I am not posting them because they are not relevant.
I am about to acquire some original duals (RG, RW, and possibly WG and RB), and I was thinking to put them in cube. Given the price and (un)availability of Blue aligned ONS Fetches and Blue aligned Duals (curse you Legacy!), I imagine that this unbalanced configuration will stick for a while (and possibly permanently).
Somehow I imagine ONS fetches will be reprinted down the line making them cheaper so this is less of an issue.
Unfortunately, ABU duals will never drop in price.
I was thinking that it all works out because blue tends to be the slower colours and Aggro needs duals and fast fetches more.
Well, my question is: will this greatly cause an imbalance in cube? Would you suggest *not* putting in any ABU dual if not the complete cycle?
Thanks
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You haven't checked the prices on those lately have you? They are a budget option, but Seas are still Ebaying for $100.
I try to balance the dual land cycles in my Cube, but also figure basics are still king. So, if I don't have a Polluted Delta yet it's no big deal. If I'm missing 3 Scrylands it's no big deal. I'd just use what you have and not sweat it.
WUBRGPauper Battle BoxWUBRG ... and why I am not a fan of Wayne Reynolds' Illustrations.
Well, it's still *technically* cheaper, isn't it? And it's not illegal or shoddy-looking like any of the other alternatives would be.
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As much as I love the fetch/ABUR duals working together in a cube, I'm convinced that most games would be just fine without them.
WUBRGPauper Battle BoxWUBRG ... and why I am not a fan of Wayne Reynolds' Illustrations.
The verdict? Nothing breaks. Frankly if you fine with giving the allied colors manlands you are not that worried about extreme balance issues.
Printing a home-use-only proxy is not illegal.
375 unpowered cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/601ac624832cdf1039947588
Perhaps not, but it is almost certainly shoddy-looking.
Currently Playing:
Legacy: Something U/W Controlish
EDH Cube
Hypercube! A New EDH Deck Every Week(ish)!
You can print very nice-looking proxies. We proxy several of the duels in our cube as they are in the process of being traded into and purchased and often get complements on how good they look. You just have to go a little beyond simply printing them out on normal paper.
375 unpowered cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/601ac624832cdf1039947588
...At which point you move into copyright infringement territory
Currently Playing:
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No, no you don't. Legally there's no difference between printing a nice proxy and printing an ugly proxy. In fact, since nice proxies often use alternate art, it's probably even less "wrong" (if you accept the premise that somehow printing a home-use proxy is wrong.) Printing proxies is 100% the best way to do lands for your cube if you are on a budget and you don't want to run inferior options.
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As many noted that it wont affect the format much, I think I am just going to push through with the unbalanced ABU duals.
This is just a personal idiosyncracy of mine, but. I don't want proxies in my cube. I see it as a collecton of many of the cards I previously used and I want them all to be legit.
As for Collector's edition and Gold bordered products, I am open to this. They are, after all, official products and for all purposes, intended for casual play (including cube).
I am not to blame anyone who proxies duals or any kind.