This post is a work in progress. I am sure that I have missed cards, and will try to add them when I see them. Thanks!
Silver-Bordered, or Non-legal official cards (NLO), have always been a bit of controversial topic in the Cube community, since they are in no way balanced within the rest of Magic cards. As someone that uses them and a resident promoter of their inclusion, I thought I would take a moment to share my thoughts on them, and provide a central place for discussion on MTGS. Most of the cards listed below have been discussed in SCDs or the old UN-thread, but in a very scattered manner. I hope this provides a useful one-stop resource for designers just opening up to the idea of non-legal official (NLO) cards.
Below you will find a first a discussion about why or why not to use NLO cards, followed by a list of cards that I have used or discussed with the community and my quick break-down on their pros and cons.
Why Use NLOs?
As far as I see there are three primary reasons to use NLO cards:
Fun: The first is because they are fun. Fun is of course subjective, but after using them in my cube for over a year, I have found that they add an element of silliness and levity lacking in normal cards. They also explore design space specifically off limits in other cards. This benefits the cube by adding additional variety, considerations, and strategies impossible to experience with out these cards.
Power: The second is that a very small number of these cards are just extremely powerful. If your goal is to try out the most powerful or efficient cards in Magic, then NLO cards should at least be considered. The specific power cards and their effects are listed below.
History: For a few people, like me, a Cube should not just be a draft-set that is powerful, but also something of a history of Magic. NLO cards are certainly part of Magic's history - one that very few players have ever experienced. That makes including NLO cards something that really catches players eyes and makes my Cube a more complete history of the game.
Why Not?: A lot of people simply feel that cards that are illegal in all sanctioned formats should also be illegal in cube. A very understandable position. There is no way to argue against this position, and it is certainly valid. Personally, I just find this rule is less fun. The NLO cards are also compared to custom cards. While I can see that point, these are designed by Wizards, and not designed to fill a specific role as usually the case with custom cards.
Other reasons for not running them are more flavor or art based. These cards look and feel different. If you only like black bordered cards, they will be really out of place (though silver bordered foils are beautiful). The same goes for the art - it is pretty wacky and out there. The flavor and art of the cards really break with the serious face of Magic. I personally love that, but I also go out of my way to play white, gold, silver, and black bordered cards in order to capture more of Magic's history, so my opinion is a little wacky too.
Which Cards Are Playable?
Below is a list of NLO cards that I have either tested or considered for cube. This list is by no means exhaustive but is a great place to start if you are considering testing a few your self.
Pros: Lots of very cool interactions with other cards in the cube. Ultimate your walker the turn you drop it while adding 6+ loyalty. Make Skinrender grant +3/+3. Turn Curse of Predation into a huge burden on your opponent. Very cool stuff.
Cons: Does nothing by itself. Breaks the normal rules so badly that it can feel like cheating. Feels too powerful outside of a powered cube IMHO.
Pros: Really adds a new dimension to how the game plays, and teaches the parts of a turn. Acts like a weirdly worded Time Walk. Worst case is drop this when your opponent taps out, and get a full free turn. Best case is untap, draw, attack with Sun Titan, drop Topsy Turvy, attack with Sun Titan again, draw, uptap, disenchant Topsy Turvy on your opponent's end step, untap, draw, attack with Sun Titan getting back Topsy Turvy, attach again, draw, untap... And yes, I have seen this happen. It is totally insane.
Cons: Can be difficult to play with. New players can be frustrated by it (though less so then Mind Twist). Really tests your knowledge of the Magic phases. If your unpowered cube doesn't run Mind Twist because of power, then this might be too much as well.
Pros: Super fun token generator that makes an unused portion of the card a new deck building axis. Likely the most powerful token generator in the history of Magic. Strongly bolsters the Fires deck, makes green a strong(er) token color, and is usually a one shot with Purphoros. Also rewards having many beautiful lands and a variety of card sources. The tokens are colorless, non-artifacts which can come in really handy against protection cards.
Cons: Rewards having many beautiful lands. Some have said that it is sub-optimal cube design to have different art lands. Personally I think very carefully selected and moderated land from different sets and arts is very appealing. Each to his own.
Pros: An absolutely insane card with a little bit of planning. Worst case is that you remove the four most problematic cards in your opponent's deck. Best case is that you grabbed some 5 color fixing and can play their best cards. This card is a beating -- feeling like a 4x Treachery for only 4 mana.
Cons: You will forget about your opponent's cards at some point. The $100+ price tag means you will want to proxy test this one before buying. It can feel extremely oppressive to have cast on you, so its fun level will be group dependent.
Pros: Adds a fun mini game to the cube, where you get to open a cube pack and choose a card to use for that game only. High variance, sometimes can just win a game out of no where, but usually will be somewhat middling. MaRo has ruled that Cube Packs count as official targetable packs by this card, if house rules bother you.
Cons: Totally possible to just miss. Also if you always draft the whole cube each time you draft, then it will have no pool to pull from. The card has some serious limitations to keep in mind based on the size of your group and cube. Lastly, it is very easy to forget to remove your booster tutor cards, which can mess up the draft.
Pros: In a rare cube, this just kills so much. If you can draft a RB deck that is mostly C and U cards, then it is a cheap one sided O-Stone.
Cons: Extremely hard to build around in most Cubes. It has a very high ceiling, but more often then not, it just rots in your hand because it does so much damage to you too. Also takes a multicolored slot, which are very limited.
Pros: A burn spell with Buyback. One of the most flexible cards printed, it can do a ton of things. Cool to have so many options and so many keywords.
Cons: The poster boy for cards that require a lot of Magic knowledge to play. No reminder text at all means that players have to ask what half the modes are. This may or may not be an issue for your group. Over costed without using one of the special modes.
Pros: A second City of Brass. Amazing fixing. Amusing use of 1/2 mana. Very rarely, the 1/2 makes all the difference. Condescending someone for 1/2 more than they can pay is hilarious. Can also cast Condescend or Syncopate off one land as a Force Spike.
Cons: With City of Brass, Mana Confluence, and Grand Coliseum already filling this need, I'm not sure you want another 5cc fixer under 540 or so. Personally, I am not a fan of the art. Each to their own on that front.
Power: High (but only because of it's flexibility)
Pros: Card basically does anything. 5 totally different modes in each color is pretty cool. Card looks crazy too, which can be good depending on your taste.
Cons: Not all modes are created equal, so it does not end up playing like the 5 color spell I was hoping it would. Also can be an honest pain to read.
Pros: A 0 cost mana rock that feels balanced in an unpowered or low powered cube. The fact that it explodes for 5 when you roll a 1 makes for some interesting choices when to use it. Also very funny when it does blow up.
Cons: Basically a colorless mox, since you never get the color you want. Sometime it will blow up right away, or kill you at a low life total. Incredibly unreliable.
Pros: A 0cc 2/2 flier that provides 3 devotion to U and is a fine tempo creature -- when you can sneak it in.
Cons: Very under powered when not cheated into play. Creates arguments like no other card in Magic. The debate about when people must notice it and how disputes are handled will likely require house rules to keep someone from table-flipping.
Pros: A 10/10 Trample for 2 when you get him going. Amusing subgame makes your opponents think about what they are casting. An awesome excuse to yell Bingo!
Cons: A lot to get going. Needs to be on the board when the spell is cast, so unless you drop him early he will not get the counter needed. None of the rows are a super shoe in, but you can mitigate that somewhat by holding spells until you need them to turn him on.
Pros: A 7/7 for GG that you get to keep, sorta. Basically a fully pumped Goyf all the time. Way cool in a Snow Cube.
Cons: Oh the rules. Phasing in particular makes this card a rule nightmare, as its Echo, Cumulative Upkeep, and Fading all do funky things because of it. Phasing also makes it playable, as it's cost don't get totally out of hand -- assuming that I understand these rules right... Point made.
Pros: Choosing any 4+ letter rules word is extremely powerful. Similar to TNN, the Kids have the 'As it enters' rules, meaning if you choose Instant (7 letters) it cannot be responded to. Other words of four or more letters: Creature, Sorcery, Planeswalker, Artifact, Equipment, Enchantment -- you get the idea.
Cons: Even with its crazy power, it is unclear how well it competes in Azorius, particularly at 4cc. It can certainly be a pain to deal with if used well, but less so then TNN.
Pros: Hilarious Pact like rules for a 3/1. Can be very good in the R aggro deck, as it lets you drop two threats and hopefully win the game on your last turn, without paying (like any Pact).
Cons: The rules are a bit confusingly written, but any group who has used a Pact card should be able to grasp it. It's biggest problem is that it is just a little too weak.
Pros: Basically Super-Duper Eureka at twice the cost. Hilarious board states. Extremely satisfying to cast. A crazy ramp card that should end the game.
Cons: A crazy ramp card that does not necessarily always end the game. Sometimes you are gonna have a huge smile on your face as you cast this, only to realize afterward that your opponent got the better deal without paying 8 mana.
Pros: If you foil out your Cube, this card can be extremely powerful. The cost 1 less in particular can do some crazy things.
Cons: Have to foil out your Cube. Personally I don't like the differentiation between foil and not, but your group might love it if they feel differently.
Pros: A R bear that ends up having from protection from a ton of stuff. Often plays out like a unblockable 2/2 with semi-shroud.
Cons: Requires you to determine if flavor or just rules count, and be very clear on that. If you count all lines of text (which seems most natural) then there is no equipment the Editor can wear. Protection from a lot of the bigger cards, but weak to several of the 2 power 1 drops and removal spells. Have to make a rule on text-less cards if you run them.
General Recommendations For First Time Inclusions
Start with only one or two NLOs in your cube. This allows people to get used to the idea of them being cards with actual play and strategy. If you suddenly throw in 10 of these crazy cards the group will treat it as a joke.
Start with cards that are less rules intensive. I think Symbol Status is a great candidate as it is fun, clear, and easy to resolve in the middle of a game without a judge on hand. I would NOT start with Topsy Turvey, Blast from the Past, or Old Fogey unless your group is all seasoned Magic vets.
Be very careful with cards like Cheatyface. They can create some fairly intense bad feelings and arguments without a very specific group. Of course they could be perfect for your group too.
Don't be afraid to cut these cards. I ran Rare-B-Gone way way longer then I should have because I so wanted it to be fun. It wasn't, and I should have cut it way earlier.
I run Blast from the Past as my sole silver-bordered card at present. Although it has a lot of rules on it, as long as players are familiar with them (all the keywords are on other cube cards) it is fairly straightforward. It functions completely within the normal Magic rules set too.
I used to run Topsy Turvy. It was a powerful card, particularly if you could work out how to abuse it, but it created unpleasant headaches for too many players trying to keep track of the phase, and so was cut.
Token strategies are supported in my cube, so I'll be on the lookout for a copy of Symbol Status.
I used to run Rare-B-Gone, but it was annoying trying to remember which cards from before the coloured expansion symbols were used were rare.
Booster Tutor was another card I used to run, but cut because of laziness. Once the novelty had worn off it felt like a chore digging out a cube booster each time it was cast.
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
All of that and no discussion of what is probably close to the single best silver-bordered card you can run? Gifts Given
If you draft some 5 color fixing, that card is insane. You just have to remember not to leave your opponent's cards in your deck.
Fruitcake Elemental is pretty cool too. I currently have it in my list, but plan to trade it off. One of my friend's dropped a fruitcake while he had some token maker out, so he always had a chump blocker, but his opponent didn't have anything reusable, so the fruitcake wore him down quickly. Its also very good if it can come down with haste.
I think those are really the only 2 holiday promos you would want to run in a normal cube.
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Rest in RIP My Signature, I guess. 2015-2016, we hardly knew ye.
Total side note but I like how people are discussing running this over itself.
Well, it has to be said that Kolaghan is clearly better than Kolaghan. Considering what BR decks usually want and how stiff the competition in this guild is, there is no way that I would run Kolaghan over Kolaghan! Kolaghan might make it in as the sixth guild card or so. Kolaghan on the other hand ranks several places below that.
It was so funny to me when they described this as a downgrade to the original Zurgo during the Pax East panel. I was thinking if this is a downgrade, they should really "downgrade" all legendary creatures. Haha.
My deck designing is quite concise at this point:
1. Come up with deck idea
2. Realize this idea is somehow fundamentally similar to another deck I have or that is commonly played in my group
3. Decide I don't want to disassemble one of my existing decks
4. Give up and do nothing
I don't see the point of this new shroud mechanic. It's strictly worse than Hexproof. Threshold is pretty bad too, Delirium is a much better mechanic and probably easier to activate.
Otherwise this card is a pretty neat guy. Dodges removal and grows into a Primal Huntbeast. 3/5
just my 2 cents, but in my 336 powered cube, both blast from the past & cheatyface have been fine cards. blast from the past has been a utilitarian burn spell, providing red some additional reach & card draw. cheatyface on the other hand has been a workhorse. its amazing how any deck gets better w/ a free 2/2 flyer; especially when he shows up early in the game!
Thanks! I agree with you on the novelty thing. I would love to cut Booster Tutor (as you can probably tell from my write up). But the group loves it - it is always highly drafted and played. I will certainly keep an eye out for a card I can justify cutting it for to them.
All of that and no discussion of what is probably close to the single best silver-bordered card you can run? Gifts Given
If you draft some 5 color fixing, that card is insane. You just have to remember not to leave your opponent's cards in your deck.
Wow, huge oversight. It will be fixed as I flesh out the list. Thanks for pointing that out!
just my 2 cents, but in my 336 powered cube, both blast from the past & cheatyface have been fine cards. blast from the past has been a utilitarian burn spell, providing red some additional reach & card draw. cheatyface on the other hand has been a workhorse. its amazing how any deck gets better w/ a free 2/2 flyer; especially when he shows up early in the game!
Your group must be way less argumentative then mine! That is awesome that it worked well for you. We are just a little too scrappy.
I was not trying to imply that they were bad includes. My goal is to point out the best part and worst part about each card, hopefully so people can know what the effect of the card is.
You're welcome. You should probably point out that Gifts Given is like $100+, which is a lot for a card you will only be using in Cube and will have a hard time trading, but resolving one just feels so nice that its worth it.
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Rest in RIP My Signature, I guess. 2015-2016, we hardly knew ye.
Total side note but I like how people are discussing running this over itself.
Well, it has to be said that Kolaghan is clearly better than Kolaghan. Considering what BR decks usually want and how stiff the competition in this guild is, there is no way that I would run Kolaghan over Kolaghan! Kolaghan might make it in as the sixth guild card or so. Kolaghan on the other hand ranks several places below that.
It was so funny to me when they described this as a downgrade to the original Zurgo during the Pax East panel. I was thinking if this is a downgrade, they should really "downgrade" all legendary creatures. Haha.
My deck designing is quite concise at this point:
1. Come up with deck idea
2. Realize this idea is somehow fundamentally similar to another deck I have or that is commonly played in my group
3. Decide I don't want to disassemble one of my existing decks
4. Give up and do nothing
I don't see the point of this new shroud mechanic. It's strictly worse than Hexproof. Threshold is pretty bad too, Delirium is a much better mechanic and probably easier to activate.
Otherwise this card is a pretty neat guy. Dodges removal and grows into a Primal Huntbeast. 3/5
Have fun with these cards! They are meant to make cube more enjoyable. If they don't, cut them in an instant (that goes for any card).
Wise words, indeed. I tried to include 3 Unhinged cards (Symbol Status, Frazzled Editor, and Booster Tutor), and my playgroup did not react well to it. They lasted two drafts before I removed them by popular demand. I thought they were really fun and powerful but not unbalancing, but I was very much in the minority.
During their short life in my cube I drafted and played Symbol Status and Frazzled Editor. Symbol Status was a great, as long as you're careful about what basic lands you put in your deck it's pretty much a guaranteed 4 1/1 tokens for 4 mana, but can easily make a lot more and it curves really nicely into Overrun.
I really liked Frazzled Editor, it has protection from so many things in the cube that it's very close to being an indestructible, unblockable Grizzly Bear with shroud. That's exactly the kind of power level I was hoping to get by playing an Un- card. In terms of playability, the biggest drawback is that it's almost impossible to equip. One thing that makes this card unwieldy, is that the text box is difficult to read because of the intentional typos and crossed out words. Language barrier is already an issue where I am (Western expat play group at a Korean game shop), so it's worth keeping in mind for some cubes.
No one drafted or played Booster Tutor in my group, and it caused the most complaints about not seeming like a real Magic card. They used more colorful language than I am allowed to use on this board. I didn't agree with them, but the big problem I had with it as cube manager was that in cube it pretty much has to be played with functional errata (using undrafted cube cards instead of a sealed booster pack) which means that I had to explain that at the beginning of each and every draft for fairness' sake. To me, this seemed like more trouble than it was worth for a single card out of 450 in spite of the high power level. New players come and go often where I cube, so I'd rather run cards that require as little additional explanation as possible. Booster Tutor was the one card of the three I was happy to cut.
Not all players are willing to embrace the sillier side of Magic, but I agree that Un- cards are a really cool part of MTG history that's worth including in the cube if your playgroup is willing. I'll probably give Frazzled Editor, Symbol Status, and (if I can get one) Blast From the Past another try in a year or so once cube isn't quite so new to the people I'm playing with.
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465 card Unpowered cube thread. Draft it here and I'll be happy to return the favor.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
I currently run Gifts Given, Magical Hacker, and Booster Tutor. I dropped Topsy Turvy as it was too confusing and in practice felt a lot closer to Final Fortune than Timewalk if you didn't have a way of breaking symetry. Who/What/Where/When/Why was dropped when Isochron Scepter was, but what a sweet combo that was.
My playgroup really likes to push the power envelope so the Gifts and Hacker fit right in (CAUTION: resolving Gifts equivalent to kicking a puppy).
Booster Tutor has been a group favorite. Often surrounding games stop just to see what jackpot the caster might hit. I errated it with a pen so drafters know its a cube booster. This is something I would never do to a regular card but in this case it feels quite "Un".
Your guy's talk about Blast From the Past has me trying to figure how to work it back in.
[b] Why Not?: A lot of people simply feel that cards that are illegal in all sanctioned formats should also be illegal in cube. A very understandable position. There is no way to argue against this position, and it is certainly valid. Personally, I just find this rule is less fun. The NLO cards are also compared to custom cards. While I can see that point, these are designed by Wizards, and not designed to fill a specific role as usually the case with custom cards.
I would add to this list two things: Firstly, the cards aren't a flavourful fit with the rest of Magic. There's all kinds of nonsense going on, from bizarre mechanics of putting cards on players or shoes on cards to singing stuff, to weird flavour that is at a total contrast to the usual environments. I actually loved the Unhinged release event and had a ton of fun drafting that set, but when I had many of those cards in the cube it felt kind of wrong.
Second thing is simple aesthetics. The border colour being something other than black bothers a lot of players.
Despite this there is a surprising number of strong UN-cards. Symbol Status, City of Ass, Rare-B-Gone, Booster Tutor and Topsy Turvy are the best ones that come to mind. EDIT: Oh yeah, and Blast from the Past.
Blast doesn't actually break any game rules. It's honestly a card that they *could* have printed in Time Spiral Block. Sure, it's a bit complex, but it's mostly 1RR Shock + Draw a card with 3R Flashback Shock. Later in the game you can get a Goblin for 2R out of either casting, or buyback the main casting for 4R. It's strong, but not too strong, and definitely interesting.
Status requires you to care about your arts, but assuming all your land arts are different, it's effectively 2GG for "Put a 1/1 into play for each land you control and sometimes a few extra 1/1's" which is pretty solid.
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Currently Playing:
Legacy: Something U/W Controlish EDH Cube
Hypercube! A New EDH Deck Every Week(ish)!
Pros: Really adds a new dimension to how the game plays, and teaches the parts of a turn. Acts like a weirdly worded Time Walk. Worst case is drop this when your opponent taps out, and get a full free turn. Best case is untap, draw, attack with Sun Titan, drop Topsy Turvy, attack with Sun Titan again, draw, uptap, disenchant Topsy Turvy on your opponent's end step, untap, draw, attack with Sun Titan getting back Topsy Turvy, attach again, draw, untap... And yes, I have seen this happen. It is totally insane.
Cons: Can be difficult to play with. New players can be frustrated by it (though less so then Mind Twist). Really tests your knowledge of the Magic phases. If your unpowered cube doesn't run Mind Twist because of power, then this might be too much as well.
I would say the best case (that I have seen) is getting topsy with Capsize or with Crystal Shard/Erratic Portal and Venser.
[b] Why Not?: A lot of people simply feel that cards that are illegal in all sanctioned formats should also be illegal in cube. A very understandable position. There is no way to argue against this position, and it is certainly valid. Personally, I just find this rule is less fun. The NLO cards are also compared to custom cards. While I can see that point, these are designed by Wizards, and not designed to fill a specific role as usually the case with custom cards.
I would add to this list two things: Firstly, the cards aren't a flavourful fit with the rest of Magic. There's all kinds of nonsense going on, from bizarre mechanics of putting cards on players or shoes on cards to singing stuff, to weird flavour that is at a total contrast to the usual environments. I actually loved the Unhinged release event and had a ton of fun drafting that set, but when I had many of those cards in the cube it felt kind of wrong.
Second thing is simple aesthetics. The border colour being something other than black bothers a lot of players.
Despite this there is a surprising number of strong UN-cards. Symbol Status, City of Ass, Rare-B-Gone, Booster Tutor and Topsy Turvy are the best ones that come to mind. EDIT: Oh yeah, and Blast from the Past.
Yeah, if you don't like having white or gold bordered cards in your cube, you might not like having silver borders either.
On the first point, I agree that cards that require singing, dancing, balancing, or whatever would super annoy me. Fortunately, the majority of un cards aren't cards that require singing, agility, or whatever. Most of them "work" within the rules of magic, and of the ones mentioned in the OP, only cheatyface circumvents the rules in a severe way. However, if you start delving deeply into un-cards, you may run into this problem. However, one of the things I actually really like about the un-cards is that you can decide how crazy you want the cards to be. Many function just as normal magic cards, and on the other end of the spectrum you have cards like ashnod's cupon and ambiguity, which I would hate but if you like stuff like that you have the option.
I'm surprised noone has mentioned my favorite un-card yet: Jack-in-the-Mox. It's is almost a fair power card. No other card adds that much excitement (for both players) and this by rolling a die and (possibly!) adding mana.
The other one we run is Blast from the Past. It's solid and a bit trixy, but still far behind Jack.
Great starting list. In my rather powerful cube (powermax!) I currently run the following cards, and I'll add a little comment for each one.
EDIT: my favourite by far is Look at Me, I'm R&D and I highly suggest everyone give it a try!
Cheatyface - 2/2 flying for 0 goes into each and every aggro deck. We made a rule where it has to be in play for 2s, but people generally self govern (my playgroup is more about having fun so we haven't had any issues with cheating). The rule is that if it gets caught, it gets exiled, and if it dies, you can't randomly cheat it out of your graveyard into play (unfortunately we didn't have this rule at first and it was the most resilient threat in the cube).
Super Secret Tech - this is a card I force. We define premium as foil cards, and with my cube ~30% foil, its playability is slowly getting better. My dream is that one day, people will first pick SST and begin drafting foils (like how people who pick Rare-B-Gone end up drafting non-rares) to make an OP deck. Unfortunately it hasn't seen much play yet but I hope that with the foil count increasing, that will change soon.
City of Ass - Great 5 colour fixer, occasionally relevant with Garruk Relentless (for 3 mana) and Engineered Explosives (for sunburst). Obviously not so useful for aggro decks (because of ETBT) but great for multicolour control decks.
Booster Tutor - Fun black card that finds its way into many black decks. I have a 385 cube so the extra cards are used for boosters. It adds more of a fun element to the cube than anything.
Enter the Dungeon - Another mostly fun card for cube. I think it has a ~50% win rate so far for the caster, so this would be a card I would likely cut in the future. Side games are always fun though.
B-I-N-G-O - Another deceptively powerful card. I usually design a deck around it to try and maximize the number of counter triggers, and the most I've had has been two rows, which made it a 19/19 trample.
Old Fogey - A challenging card for beginners, but a great 2 drop since it has an interesting board presence for the next 6 turns. It kind of plays like something with repeating suspend - you prepare for the "big turns" when it lands, but similarly try and set up defensive plays for when you know its phased out. A 7/7 for a T2 investment on T4 is nothing to sneeze at. Usually finds its way into midrange decks that need a roadblock/lightning rod in the first couple of turns.
Symbol Status - Can't say much more that hasn't been said. I keep my basic lands as diverse as possible (to explore the "singleton" arts on all the cards) which makes diversifying the mana base sets easy.
Rare-B-Gone - This is a pretty basic build-around-me card. Hits a stupid amount of nonbasic lands so it usually acts as a really one sided balance.
Meddling Kids - I can't overstate the power level of this card - it's like a pithing needle for decks. Examples of words to name include counter (hits pws, counterspells), token, damage (what is a burn spell?), destroy (or removal?), discard, lands, etc. It blows whole decks out of the water and demands a response immediately. Best of all, you can tailor it to the information you have, or to the board state (similar to Pithing Needle).
Rocket-Powered Turbo Slug - Another fun card, it's a randomly good free bolt to help aggro decks squeeze in that last bit of damage. I don't think anyone has lost off its SBE yet.
Frazzled Editor - A fun card that is actually not as great as you'd think. There are a lot of "vanilla" creatures in cube which makes him less useful, and he basically has protection from planeswalkers and equipment (byebye swords). I am surprisingly okay with cutting him.
Blast from the Past - Can't say much more about this card that hasn't been said. It usually gets played for its 1RR cycle + madness.
Framed! - This is a gem. Similar to Symbol Status, Framed! makes you design your land base so that all your lands are done by the same artist... then when you cast it, it randomly gives you the opportunity to untap all your lands and make big plays. At the end of the day it's not super OP but it's fun.
Magical Hacker - Broken beyond compare in cubes that run planeswalkers. He regularly gets banned out after someone is blown out by him (I've T2 Hacker into T3 Liliana OTV before). Without planeswalkers, he's good against decks with equipment and +1/+1 counters (and probably a lot more fair). He is usually first picked and jammed into every deck with planeswalkers.
Number Crunch - This is the last Gotcha! card that I run. At the end of the day I view it as a bit like capsize. Bounces permanents, and randomly recurs to your hand. Even off two activations (before your opponent catches on), I consider that good enough value.
Look at Me, I'm R&D - This is by far my favourite NLO, without comparison. This card demands to be built around, and challenges the player to choose the right number pair, and challenges plays well after the card resolves. My favourite situation was when I chose the numbers 2 and 3. Suddenly, my Mulldrifter was dropping huge value as a 3/3 flying drawing me 3 cards. The next turn my opponent cast Profane Command... to choose 3 abilities instead of 2. The shenanigans associated with this card are endless. Really good with token generators that spam out 2/2s, as well as wiping a board of X/1s. Such a diverse card, I can't push it enough.
Staying Power - Compared to LAMIR&D, this is a pretty lame card and has not seen nearly the same number of outrageous plays. It mainly becomes useful in decks that give random anthem effects (Soltari Champion), though I have seen good plays with Sarkhan Vol as well. This card is probably cuttable.
Jack-in-the-Mox - easily a mox crystal with a random explosion. I've never personally rolled a 1 in all my years of cubing it, but I've seen my fair share of blow ups.
Ghazban Ogress - a 2/2 for G, this card would make wtwlf123 very happy. If it's the first game of the night, its a 2/2 with no drawback. If you're winning (as any self respecting aggro player should be doing), it has no drawback. Once you start losing, you can simply side it out and pretend you never drafted it.
Censorship - One of the cards I want to experiment with with my U devotion package before cutting it again. It randomly shocks and is really great against "seasoned" players, since they are the ones that usually have habits. Naming something as simple as "tap" or "go" or "draw" can put in 2-6 damage easily before they catch on. Great for aggro decks but I think it's in the wrong colour (exception being U devotion).
Prismatic Wardrobe - It's a vindicate for W with a slight drawback. We've had a few blowouts involving underwear colour but all in all, it has been a very solid card.
Once More with Feeling - Now here's a controversial card. I view this as the wrath to end all wraths. The advantage actually goes to the losing player (the caster) since all the cards that have been played (on the battlefield/in the graveyard) are exiled and excluded from the second game. This is THE comeback card and is surprisingly easy to cast (probably because you're not casting it until late late game, when WWWW is not so challenging). I hate playing against it but the unreal plays it has enabled locks it in as a solid include in my 385 list.
I am torn about these cards. Booster Tutor is well loved, and I try to include it when we play at a shop, so players can buy real boosters. Jack-In-The-Mox is a staple, especially since I don't have real power. We haven't found it to be overpowering. I have tried other things like Incoming, Topsy Turvy, and Blast from the Past, and Once More with Feeling, but even though they are flashier than the two I use they created some bad feelings and their felt too gimmicky for my group.
One I really like that hasn't been discussed yet is
While it seems like a pretty serious drawback, it is well mitigated by the aggro decks that want it. It usually just means playing your next card before or after combat to that it can attack. I also like to toggle it off before the other players next turn, goading them to turn it on for me. Generally an unassuming card but it is very fun and there is always a deck that needs a 3 drop. I will probably play this until wizards prints better aggressive artifact creatures.
Lots of great suggestions! I will be out of the country for the next while, so I will not be able to update the OP for sometime. Just letting you know that I am not ignoring all the great comments!
Fruitcake Elemental is fun. The drawback looks huge at first, but it isn't hard to break the symmetry on the card. (Give it lifelink and you never have to pass it )
I'm looking at taking Fruitcake Elemental out of my cube though. I like it, but I want to run 1 silver-bordered card of each color, and I think I'd rather run Symbol Status just because tokens.
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Rest in RIP My Signature, I guess. 2015-2016, we hardly knew ye.
Total side note but I like how people are discussing running this over itself.
Well, it has to be said that Kolaghan is clearly better than Kolaghan. Considering what BR decks usually want and how stiff the competition in this guild is, there is no way that I would run Kolaghan over Kolaghan! Kolaghan might make it in as the sixth guild card or so. Kolaghan on the other hand ranks several places below that.
It was so funny to me when they described this as a downgrade to the original Zurgo during the Pax East panel. I was thinking if this is a downgrade, they should really "downgrade" all legendary creatures. Haha.
My deck designing is quite concise at this point:
1. Come up with deck idea
2. Realize this idea is somehow fundamentally similar to another deck I have or that is commonly played in my group
3. Decide I don't want to disassemble one of my existing decks
4. Give up and do nothing
I don't see the point of this new shroud mechanic. It's strictly worse than Hexproof. Threshold is pretty bad too, Delirium is a much better mechanic and probably easier to activate.
Otherwise this card is a pretty neat guy. Dodges removal and grows into a Primal Huntbeast. 3/5
Good thread. I'm considering Togglodyte for my Peasant cube. It's not hugely different from the "werewolf mechanic" (e.g. Reckless Waif) and a colorless 4/4 for 3 would be welcome addition for aggro decks.
Carnivorous Death-Parrot is relatively dull for a silver-bordered card but has fairly efficient stats.
Chaos Orb perhaps belongs in this discussion too? I know it doesn't have a silver border but it certainly "feels like" an "Un" card when you play with it.
Power: High
Pros: It's a colorless Vindicate (or more!) if you're any good at flipping cards.
Cons: Like Cheatyface, it's a card you'll need to work out the ground rules for in advance to avoid table-flipping levels of arguments and frustration.
My favorite use for Chaos Orb is to swap it out for this baby during a match.
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Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Rest in RIP My Signature, I guess. 2015-2016, we hardly knew ye.
Total side note but I like how people are discussing running this over itself.
Well, it has to be said that Kolaghan is clearly better than Kolaghan. Considering what BR decks usually want and how stiff the competition in this guild is, there is no way that I would run Kolaghan over Kolaghan! Kolaghan might make it in as the sixth guild card or so. Kolaghan on the other hand ranks several places below that.
It was so funny to me when they described this as a downgrade to the original Zurgo during the Pax East panel. I was thinking if this is a downgrade, they should really "downgrade" all legendary creatures. Haha.
My deck designing is quite concise at this point:
1. Come up with deck idea
2. Realize this idea is somehow fundamentally similar to another deck I have or that is commonly played in my group
3. Decide I don't want to disassemble one of my existing decks
4. Give up and do nothing
I don't see the point of this new shroud mechanic. It's strictly worse than Hexproof. Threshold is pretty bad too, Delirium is a much better mechanic and probably easier to activate.
Otherwise this card is a pretty neat guy. Dodges removal and grows into a Primal Huntbeast. 3/5
Once More with Feeling - Now here's a controversial card. I view this as the wrath to end all wraths. The advantage actually goes to the losing player (the caster) since all the cards that have been played (on the battlefield/in the graveyard) are exiled and excluded from the second game. This is THE comeback card and is surprisingly easy to cast (probably because you're not casting it until late late game, when WWWW is not so challenging). I hate playing against it but the unreal plays it has enabled locks it in as a solid include in my 385 list
This is not how we play it. We use it more as a finisher for white decks. The exiling tends to not be symmetrical if your opponent has a bunch more lands in play than you and you can run on 2-3 lands. It is also like a Shahrazad that always works and is always played when they're at 20.
One thing I would like to add is that Necro-Impotence lets you draw your entire deck the turn after you play it. We don't Cube enough to have figured out the easiest/best ways to abuse it but things like Lab Maniac instantly come to mind.
Chaos Orb perhaps belongs in this discussion too? I know it doesn't have a silver border but it certainly "feels like" an "Un" card when you play with it.
Power: High
Pros: It's a colorless Vindicate (or more!) if you're any good at flipping cards.
Cons: Like Cheatyface, it's a card you'll need to work out the ground rules for in advance to avoid table-flipping levels of arguments and frustration.
Yeah, if you're playing chaos orb and your group likes it I think it's a good jumping-off point to try a few un-cards, as chaos orb really does feel like an un-card.
Fruitcake Elemental is pretty cool too. I currently have it in my list, but plan to trade it off. One of my friend's dropped a fruitcake while he had some token maker out, so he always had a chump blocker, but his opponent didn't have anything reusable, so the fruitcake wore him down quickly. Its also very good if it can come down with haste.
We've been thinking about how the new Conspiracy cards might change our Cube and the idea of what cards get better with haste (Immediate Action) is one of our points of emphasis. Green in particular seems like it could benefit the most. eg tack haste on to Fruitcake and he looks much better. And Old Fogey is probably even better in this role.
The problem with something like Wolfir Silverheart -- insane as it is -- is that on an empty board it does very little. Kalonian Hydra would be another obvious choice but it does cost 5 mana.
Chaos Orb, in the circles I cube in, is more or less errata'd to just be "1, T: Destroy Chaos Orb and target permanent". Makes for a powerful effect without any of that randomness involved.
I like the use of silver bordered cards in cubes. Blacker Lotus is something that frequently appears as a Black Lotus for 4 mana instead of 3 (that is, without having to tear it to pieces). People have complained about its absurd power level, but that's usually after they just lost to turn 1 Gideon Jura or something. Overall, with errata it offers one of the most powerful plays in all of Magic the gathering, so if you don't mind playing silver-bordered cards with house-rules text then you'll set yourself up for a lot of one-sided fun.
I've seen Topsy Turvy appear in some cubes over time. One time, I cast it against an opponent who had never seen it before. He was so befuddled he outright refused to play the remainder of the game and conceded. It wasn't seen in many people's cubes after that. It really can be hard to comprehend backwards Magic sometimes.
Blast From The Past doesn't really function like a silver-bordered card. It's very fair, very skill-testing, very versatile, and helpful in every deck with red as the main color. Probably the most cube worthy of all NLOs.
I want to see a cube try to make use of Johnny, Combo Player. It looks fair; a fragile body with comparatively high casting cost and activation cost. The upside is obviously insane, but it may be too slow and too fragile. I'd like to see for myself though.
I don't like Jack-in-the-Mox. It's hard for me to enjoy such high-variance cards in any draft format, even if it's just casual gameplay. I don't really like having a 17% chance of utterly obliterating myself every time I tap it. I'm not against its inclusion, and it's obviously highly powerful, but I don't like playing with it to the point that I will frequently pass it.
I want to see Once More With Feeling in action. Having a complete reset button when the game seems unwinnable is quite reasonable for a cube to have in terms of utter power. And, in the only deck you could consistently cast it (mono white aggro), there's a high chance you'll be the benefactor of the new life totals. It leaves you an out to topdeck so that you're never truly dead as long as you see your draw step. And I imagine it's very, very tilting to play against when you have a stranglehold on a game, only to see your opponent rip it and go land-Isamaru-pass. Kind of reminds me of Balance in that respect. It's also pretty sick if you can set up a suspended card beforehand.
Magical Hacker seems buuuusted with planeswalkers, which are over-cubed with as it is. I think it's just a little too far outside my comfort zone. The more I think about it, his interaction with planeswalkers seems on the same power level as things like Black Lotus or Mind Twist; that is, something that's close to saying "the game is now over, thanks for playing".
Cheatyface strikes me more as a strictly-for-fun cube card. The people I cube with definitely cube first and foremost for the fun factor, but we usually put money down, and when you put money down the rules become more enforced. I can't imagine Cheatyface is appropriate in that regard. I don't think I want to see any heated arguments over whether a 0-mana 2/2 should "resolve" or not. Just doesn't seem like it's worth the headache. Great for dicking around though.
We've done Chaos Orb errata more like the new card Council's Judgment: Choose a permanent. Its controller sacrifices it.
No targeting, no regen, etc. But if/when we bring it back next time we'll probably try actually flipping it. My brother and I both suck at flipping though, so thats why we haven't had it in our Cube for a while.
Not sure about Blacker Lotus. I don't remember if we tried it in a Cube match or not but our errata was:
T: Sac, Remove Blacker Lotus from the match
So if you had it in Game 1 you had to decide if you needed or wanted to try and conserve it for a future use. I think that captures the flavor fairly well -- and you're forced to Cube a 41st card too.
We were going to do something similar for ante with Contract from Beow as well, but we ended up not because you can actually end up ante-ing quite a few cards. We just made players give them back after the match and if you don't have enough cards in your deck in game 2 or 3 you have to add basics. In the future we will probably NOT make ante cards be returned because losing after casting Contract normally draws a lot of jeers so you oughta feel a little in-game sting when it happens too
Do NOT play Cheatyface with money on the line. Even people who campaign for him to be in the draft are known to get a little peeved if they play against it. Its a card you can add to every 10th draft maybe. One interesting thing is that its phenomenal for devotion -- so now its a little hard to say if its a colorless card or a blue card.
Its also not really possible to errata him. We tried to make it a werewolf style ability that involved no spells being played this turn. But at that point it is literally a custom card.
In terms of higher casting cost cards, one that is REALLY out there is Drake Stone. Its never seen print or anything but it is pretty insane. We would normally eschew something gimmicky like this, but man, THAT is a great guild card.
I've seen Topsy Turvy appear in some cubes over time. One time, I cast it against an opponent who had never seen it before. He was so befuddled he outright refused to play the remainder of the game and conceded. It wasn't seen in many people's cubes after that. It really can be hard to comprehend backwards Magic sometimes.
We have mixed feelings. Its probably no more befuddling than Humility but Humility is also an un-card for all intents and purposes. We decided that eventually we will test it thoroughly to determine if it is really close to Time Walk or if it is just a gimmick. If its Time Walk #2 we will keep it but otherwise its getting shelved. For now I am taking the word of the players who report that it is broken or nearly so.
Silver-Bordered, or Non-legal official cards (NLO), have always been a bit of controversial topic in the Cube community, since they are in no way balanced within the rest of Magic cards. As someone that uses them and a resident promoter of their inclusion, I thought I would take a moment to share my thoughts on them, and provide a central place for discussion on MTGS. Most of the cards listed below have been discussed in SCDs or the old UN-thread, but in a very scattered manner. I hope this provides a useful one-stop resource for designers just opening up to the idea of non-legal official (NLO) cards.
Below you will find a first a discussion about why or why not to use NLO cards, followed by a list of cards that I have used or discussed with the community and my quick break-down on their pros and cons.
Why Use NLOs?
As far as I see there are three primary reasons to use NLO cards:
Fun: The first is because they are fun. Fun is of course subjective, but after using them in my cube for over a year, I have found that they add an element of silliness and levity lacking in normal cards. They also explore design space specifically off limits in other cards. This benefits the cube by adding additional variety, considerations, and strategies impossible to experience with out these cards.
Power: The second is that a very small number of these cards are just extremely powerful. If your goal is to try out the most powerful or efficient cards in Magic, then NLO cards should at least be considered. The specific power cards and their effects are listed below.
History: For a few people, like me, a Cube should not just be a draft-set that is powerful, but also something of a history of Magic. NLO cards are certainly part of Magic's history - one that very few players have ever experienced. That makes including NLO cards something that really catches players eyes and makes my Cube a more complete history of the game.
Why Not?: A lot of people simply feel that cards that are illegal in all sanctioned formats should also be illegal in cube. A very understandable position. There is no way to argue against this position, and it is certainly valid. Personally, I just find this rule is less fun. The NLO cards are also compared to custom cards. While I can see that point, these are designed by Wizards, and not designed to fill a specific role as usually the case with custom cards.
Other reasons for not running them are more flavor or art based. These cards look and feel different. If you only like black bordered cards, they will be really out of place (though silver bordered foils are beautiful). The same goes for the art - it is pretty wacky and out there. The flavor and art of the cards really break with the serious face of Magic. I personally love that, but I also go out of my way to play white, gold, silver, and black bordered cards in order to capture more of Magic's history, so my opinion is a little wacky too.
Which Cards Are Playable?
Below is a list of NLO cards that I have either tested or considered for cube. This list is by no means exhaustive but is a great place to start if you are considering testing a few your self.
Magical Hacker
Pros: Lots of very cool interactions with other cards in the cube. Ultimate your walker the turn you drop it while adding 6+ loyalty. Make Skinrender grant +3/+3. Turn Curse of Predation into a huge burden on your opponent. Very cool stuff.
Cons: Does nothing by itself. Breaks the normal rules so badly that it can feel like cheating. Feels too powerful outside of a powered cube IMHO.
Topsy Turvy
Pros: Really adds a new dimension to how the game plays, and teaches the parts of a turn. Acts like a weirdly worded Time Walk. Worst case is drop this when your opponent taps out, and get a full free turn. Best case is untap, draw, attack with Sun Titan, drop Topsy Turvy, attack with Sun Titan again, draw, uptap, disenchant Topsy Turvy on your opponent's end step, untap, draw, attack with Sun Titan getting back Topsy Turvy, attach again, draw, untap... And yes, I have seen this happen. It is totally insane.
Cons: Can be difficult to play with. New players can be frustrated by it (though less so then Mind Twist). Really tests your knowledge of the Magic phases. If your unpowered cube doesn't run Mind Twist because of power, then this might be too much as well.
Symbol Status
Pros: Super fun token generator that makes an unused portion of the card a new deck building axis. Likely the most powerful token generator in the history of Magic. Strongly bolsters the Fires deck, makes green a strong(er) token color, and is usually a one shot with Purphoros. Also rewards having many beautiful lands and a variety of card sources. The tokens are colorless, non-artifacts which can come in really handy against protection cards.
Cons: Rewards having many beautiful lands. Some have said that it is sub-optimal cube design to have different art lands. Personally I think very carefully selected and moderated land from different sets and arts is very appealing. Each to his own.
Gifts Given
Pros: An absolutely insane card with a little bit of planning. Worst case is that you remove the four most problematic cards in your opponent's deck. Best case is that you grabbed some 5 color fixing and can play their best cards. This card is a beating -- feeling like a 4x Treachery for only 4 mana.
Cons: You will forget about your opponent's cards at some point. The $100+ price tag means you will want to proxy test this one before buying. It can feel extremely oppressive to have cast on you, so its fun level will be group dependent.
Booster Tutor
Pros: Adds a fun mini game to the cube, where you get to open a cube pack and choose a card to use for that game only. High variance, sometimes can just win a game out of no where, but usually will be somewhat middling. MaRo has ruled that Cube Packs count as official targetable packs by this card, if house rules bother you.
Cons: Totally possible to just miss. Also if you always draft the whole cube each time you draft, then it will have no pool to pull from. The card has some serious limitations to keep in mind based on the size of your group and cube. Lastly, it is very easy to forget to remove your booster tutor cards, which can mess up the draft.
Rare-B-Gone
Pros: In a rare cube, this just kills so much. If you can draft a RB deck that is mostly C and U cards, then it is a cheap one sided O-Stone.
Cons: Extremely hard to build around in most Cubes. It has a very high ceiling, but more often then not, it just rots in your hand because it does so much damage to you too. Also takes a multicolored slot, which are very limited.
Blast From The Past
Pros: A burn spell with Buyback. One of the most flexible cards printed, it can do a ton of things. Cool to have so many options and so many keywords.
Cons: The poster boy for cards that require a lot of Magic knowledge to play. No reminder text at all means that players have to ask what half the modes are. This may or may not be an issue for your group. Over costed without using one of the special modes.
City of Ass
Pros: A second City of Brass. Amazing fixing. Amusing use of 1/2 mana. Very rarely, the 1/2 makes all the difference. Condescending someone for 1/2 more than they can pay is hilarious. Can also cast Condescend or Syncopate off one land as a Force Spike.
Cons: With City of Brass, Mana Confluence, and Grand Coliseum already filling this need, I'm not sure you want another 5cc fixer under 540 or so. Personally, I am not a fan of the art. Each to their own on that front.
Who/What/When/Where/Why
Pros: Card basically does anything. 5 totally different modes in each color is pretty cool. Card looks crazy too, which can be good depending on your taste.
Cons: Not all modes are created equal, so it does not end up playing like the 5 color spell I was hoping it would. Also can be an honest pain to read.
Jack-in-the-Mox
Pros: A 0 cost mana rock that feels balanced in an unpowered or low powered cube. The fact that it explodes for 5 when you roll a 1 makes for some interesting choices when to use it. Also very funny when it does blow up.
Cons: Basically a colorless mox, since you never get the color you want. Sometime it will blow up right away, or kill you at a low life total. Incredibly unreliable.
Cheatyface
Pros: A 0cc 2/2 flier that provides 3 devotion to U and is a fine tempo creature -- when you can sneak it in.
Cons: Very under powered when not cheated into play. Creates arguments like no other card in Magic. The debate about when people must notice it and how disputes are handled will likely require house rules to keep someone from table-flipping.
B-I-N-G-O
Pros: A 10/10 Trample for 2 when you get him going. Amusing subgame makes your opponents think about what they are casting. An awesome excuse to yell Bingo!
Cons: A lot to get going. Needs to be on the board when the spell is cast, so unless you drop him early he will not get the counter needed. None of the rows are a super shoe in, but you can mitigate that somewhat by holding spells until you need them to turn him on.
Old Fogey
Pros: A 7/7 for GG that you get to keep, sorta. Basically a fully pumped Goyf all the time. Way cool in a Snow Cube.
Cons: Oh the rules. Phasing in particular makes this card a rule nightmare, as its Echo, Cumulative Upkeep, and Fading all do funky things because of it. Phasing also makes it playable, as it's cost don't get totally out of hand -- assuming that I understand these rules right... Point made.
Meddling Kids
Pros: Choosing any 4+ letter rules word is extremely powerful. Similar to TNN, the Kids have the 'As it enters' rules, meaning if you choose Instant (7 letters) it cannot be responded to. Other words of four or more letters: Creature, Sorcery, Planeswalker, Artifact, Equipment, Enchantment -- you get the idea.
Cons: Even with its crazy power, it is unclear how well it competes in Azorius, particularly at 4cc. It can certainly be a pain to deal with if used well, but less so then TNN.
Rocket-Powered Turbo Slug
Pros: Hilarious Pact like rules for a 3/1. Can be very good in the R aggro deck, as it lets you drop two threats and hopefully win the game on your last turn, without paying (like any Pact).
Cons: The rules are a bit confusingly written, but any group who has used a Pact card should be able to grasp it. It's biggest problem is that it is just a little too weak.
Incoming!
Pros: Basically Super-Duper Eureka at twice the cost. Hilarious board states. Extremely satisfying to cast. A crazy ramp card that should end the game.
Cons: A crazy ramp card that does not necessarily always end the game. Sometimes you are gonna have a huge smile on your face as you cast this, only to realize afterward that your opponent got the better deal without paying 8 mana.
Super Secret Tech
Pros: If you foil out your Cube, this card can be extremely powerful. The cost 1 less in particular can do some crazy things.
Cons: Have to foil out your Cube. Personally I don't like the differentiation between foil and not, but your group might love it if they feel differently.
Frazzled Editor
Pros: A R bear that ends up having from protection from a ton of stuff. Often plays out like a unblockable 2/2 with semi-shroud.
Cons: Requires you to determine if flavor or just rules count, and be very clear on that. If you count all lines of text (which seems most natural) then there is no equipment the Editor can wear. Protection from a lot of the bigger cards, but weak to several of the 2 power 1 drops and removal spells. Have to make a rule on text-less cards if you run them.
General Recommendations For First Time Inclusions
I run Blast from the Past as my sole silver-bordered card at present. Although it has a lot of rules on it, as long as players are familiar with them (all the keywords are on other cube cards) it is fairly straightforward. It functions completely within the normal Magic rules set too.
I used to run Topsy Turvy. It was a powerful card, particularly if you could work out how to abuse it, but it created unpleasant headaches for too many players trying to keep track of the phase, and so was cut.
Token strategies are supported in my cube, so I'll be on the lookout for a copy of Symbol Status.
I used to run Rare-B-Gone, but it was annoying trying to remember which cards from before the coloured expansion symbols were used were rare.
Booster Tutor was another card I used to run, but cut because of laziness. Once the novelty had worn off it felt like a chore digging out a cube booster each time it was cast.
My 380 Beginners’ Cube on Cube Tutor
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
Gifts Given
If you draft some 5 color fixing, that card is insane. You just have to remember not to leave your opponent's cards in your deck.
Fruitcake Elemental is pretty cool too. I currently have it in my list, but plan to trade it off. One of my friend's dropped a fruitcake while he had some token maker out, so he always had a chump blocker, but his opponent didn't have anything reusable, so the fruitcake wore him down quickly. Its also very good if it can come down with haste.
I think those are really the only 2 holiday promos you would want to run in a normal cube.
Thanks! I agree with you on the novelty thing. I would love to cut Booster Tutor (as you can probably tell from my write up). But the group loves it - it is always highly drafted and played. I will certainly keep an eye out for a card I can justify cutting it for to them.
Wow, huge oversight. It will be fixed as I flesh out the list. Thanks for pointing that out!
Your group must be way less argumentative then mine! That is awesome that it worked well for you. We are just a little too scrappy.
I was not trying to imply that they were bad includes. My goal is to point out the best part and worst part about each card, hopefully so people can know what the effect of the card is.
Wise words, indeed. I tried to include 3 Unhinged cards (Symbol Status, Frazzled Editor, and Booster Tutor), and my playgroup did not react well to it. They lasted two drafts before I removed them by popular demand. I thought they were really fun and powerful but not unbalancing, but I was very much in the minority.
During their short life in my cube I drafted and played Symbol Status and Frazzled Editor. Symbol Status was a great, as long as you're careful about what basic lands you put in your deck it's pretty much a guaranteed 4 1/1 tokens for 4 mana, but can easily make a lot more and it curves really nicely into Overrun.
I really liked Frazzled Editor, it has protection from so many things in the cube that it's very close to being an indestructible, unblockable Grizzly Bear with shroud. That's exactly the kind of power level I was hoping to get by playing an Un- card. In terms of playability, the biggest drawback is that it's almost impossible to equip. One thing that makes this card unwieldy, is that the text box is difficult to read because of the intentional typos and crossed out words. Language barrier is already an issue where I am (Western expat play group at a Korean game shop), so it's worth keeping in mind for some cubes.
No one drafted or played Booster Tutor in my group, and it caused the most complaints about not seeming like a real Magic card. They used more colorful language than I am allowed to use on this board. I didn't agree with them, but the big problem I had with it as cube manager was that in cube it pretty much has to be played with functional errata (using undrafted cube cards instead of a sealed booster pack) which means that I had to explain that at the beginning of each and every draft for fairness' sake. To me, this seemed like more trouble than it was worth for a single card out of 450 in spite of the high power level. New players come and go often where I cube, so I'd rather run cards that require as little additional explanation as possible. Booster Tutor was the one card of the three I was happy to cut.
Not all players are willing to embrace the sillier side of Magic, but I agree that Un- cards are a really cool part of MTG history that's worth including in the cube if your playgroup is willing. I'll probably give Frazzled Editor, Symbol Status, and (if I can get one) Blast From the Past another try in a year or so once cube isn't quite so new to the people I'm playing with.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
My playgroup really likes to push the power envelope so the Gifts and Hacker fit right in (CAUTION: resolving Gifts equivalent to kicking a puppy).
Booster Tutor has been a group favorite. Often surrounding games stop just to see what jackpot the caster might hit. I errated it with a pen so drafters know its a cube booster. This is something I would never do to a regular card but in this case it feels quite "Un".
Your guy's talk about Blast From the Past has me trying to figure how to work it back in.
Etali, Primal Storm EDH
@ scourge - blast from the past is a fine card. if you like/run spells like firebolt &/or burst lightning, it fits right in
I would add to this list two things: Firstly, the cards aren't a flavourful fit with the rest of Magic. There's all kinds of nonsense going on, from bizarre mechanics of putting cards on players or shoes on cards to singing stuff, to weird flavour that is at a total contrast to the usual environments. I actually loved the Unhinged release event and had a ton of fun drafting that set, but when I had many of those cards in the cube it felt kind of wrong.
Second thing is simple aesthetics. The border colour being something other than black bothers a lot of players.
Despite this there is a surprising number of strong UN-cards. Symbol Status, City of Ass, Rare-B-Gone, Booster Tutor and Topsy Turvy are the best ones that come to mind. EDIT: Oh yeah, and Blast from the Past.
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
Blast doesn't actually break any game rules. It's honestly a card that they *could* have printed in Time Spiral Block. Sure, it's a bit complex, but it's mostly 1RR Shock + Draw a card with 3R Flashback Shock. Later in the game you can get a Goblin for 2R out of either casting, or buyback the main casting for 4R. It's strong, but not too strong, and definitely interesting.
Status requires you to care about your arts, but assuming all your land arts are different, it's effectively 2GG for "Put a 1/1 into play for each land you control and sometimes a few extra 1/1's" which is pretty solid.
Currently Playing:
Legacy: Something U/W Controlish
EDH Cube
Hypercube! A New EDH Deck Every Week(ish)!
Pros: Really adds a new dimension to how the game plays, and teaches the parts of a turn. Acts like a weirdly worded Time Walk. Worst case is drop this when your opponent taps out, and get a full free turn. Best case is untap, draw, attack with Sun Titan, drop Topsy Turvy, attack with Sun Titan again, draw, uptap, disenchant Topsy Turvy on your opponent's end step, untap, draw, attack with Sun Titan getting back Topsy Turvy, attach again, draw, untap... And yes, I have seen this happen. It is totally insane.
Cons: Can be difficult to play with. New players can be frustrated by it (though less so then Mind Twist). Really tests your knowledge of the Magic phases. If your unpowered cube doesn't run Mind Twist because of power, then this might be too much as well.
I would say the best case (that I have seen) is getting topsy with Capsize or with Crystal Shard/Erratic Portal and Venser.
Draft my cube!
Watch me stream!
I dont feel like I want to run stuff like Cheatyface or Frazzled Editor. Those dont feel like Magic cards.
https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/3pq
Yeah, if you don't like having white or gold bordered cards in your cube, you might not like having silver borders either.
On the first point, I agree that cards that require singing, dancing, balancing, or whatever would super annoy me. Fortunately, the majority of un cards aren't cards that require singing, agility, or whatever. Most of them "work" within the rules of magic, and of the ones mentioned in the OP, only cheatyface circumvents the rules in a severe way. However, if you start delving deeply into un-cards, you may run into this problem. However, one of the things I actually really like about the un-cards is that you can decide how crazy you want the cards to be. Many function just as normal magic cards, and on the other end of the spectrum you have cards like ashnod's cupon and ambiguity, which I would hate but if you like stuff like that you have the option.
Jack in the mox is in the OP
375 unpowered cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/601ac624832cdf1039947588
EDIT: my favourite by far is Look at Me, I'm R&D and I highly suggest everyone give it a try!
Cheatyface - 2/2 flying for 0 goes into each and every aggro deck. We made a rule where it has to be in play for 2s, but people generally self govern (my playgroup is more about having fun so we haven't had any issues with cheating). The rule is that if it gets caught, it gets exiled, and if it dies, you can't randomly cheat it out of your graveyard into play (unfortunately we didn't have this rule at first and it was the most resilient threat in the cube).
Super Secret Tech - this is a card I force. We define premium as foil cards, and with my cube ~30% foil, its playability is slowly getting better. My dream is that one day, people will first pick SST and begin drafting foils (like how people who pick Rare-B-Gone end up drafting non-rares) to make an OP deck. Unfortunately it hasn't seen much play yet but I hope that with the foil count increasing, that will change soon.
Who/What/When/Where/Why - As has been mentioned this is a pretty rocking card - but the best use of it I've seen so far is paired up with Isochron Scepter.
City of Ass - Great 5 colour fixer, occasionally relevant with Garruk Relentless (for 3 mana) and Engineered Explosives (for sunburst). Obviously not so useful for aggro decks (because of ETBT) but great for multicolour control decks.
Booster Tutor - Fun black card that finds its way into many black decks. I have a 385 cube so the extra cards are used for boosters. It adds more of a fun element to the cube than anything.
Enter the Dungeon - Another mostly fun card for cube. I think it has a ~50% win rate so far for the caster, so this would be a card I would likely cut in the future. Side games are always fun though.
B-I-N-G-O - Another deceptively powerful card. I usually design a deck around it to try and maximize the number of counter triggers, and the most I've had has been two rows, which made it a 19/19 trample.
Old Fogey - A challenging card for beginners, but a great 2 drop since it has an interesting board presence for the next 6 turns. It kind of plays like something with repeating suspend - you prepare for the "big turns" when it lands, but similarly try and set up defensive plays for when you know its phased out. A 7/7 for a T2 investment on T4 is nothing to sneeze at. Usually finds its way into midrange decks that need a roadblock/lightning rod in the first couple of turns.
Symbol Status - Can't say much more that hasn't been said. I keep my basic lands as diverse as possible (to explore the "singleton" arts on all the cards) which makes diversifying the mana base sets easy.
Rare-B-Gone - This is a pretty basic build-around-me card. Hits a stupid amount of nonbasic lands so it usually acts as a really one sided balance.
Meddling Kids - I can't overstate the power level of this card - it's like a pithing needle for decks. Examples of words to name include counter (hits pws, counterspells), token, damage (what is a burn spell?), destroy (or removal?), discard, lands, etc. It blows whole decks out of the water and demands a response immediately. Best of all, you can tailor it to the information you have, or to the board state (similar to Pithing Needle).
Rocket-Powered Turbo Slug - Another fun card, it's a randomly good free bolt to help aggro decks squeeze in that last bit of damage. I don't think anyone has lost off its SBE yet.
Frazzled Editor - A fun card that is actually not as great as you'd think. There are a lot of "vanilla" creatures in cube which makes him less useful, and he basically has protection from planeswalkers and equipment (byebye swords). I am surprisingly okay with cutting him.
Blast from the Past - Can't say much more about this card that hasn't been said. It usually gets played for its 1RR cycle + madness.
Framed! - This is a gem. Similar to Symbol Status, Framed! makes you design your land base so that all your lands are done by the same artist... then when you cast it, it randomly gives you the opportunity to untap all your lands and make big plays. At the end of the day it's not super OP but it's fun.
Magical Hacker - Broken beyond compare in cubes that run planeswalkers. He regularly gets banned out after someone is blown out by him (I've T2 Hacker into T3 Liliana OTV before). Without planeswalkers, he's good against decks with equipment and +1/+1 counters (and probably a lot more fair). He is usually first picked and jammed into every deck with planeswalkers.
Number Crunch - This is the last Gotcha! card that I run. At the end of the day I view it as a bit like capsize. Bounces permanents, and randomly recurs to your hand. Even off two activations (before your opponent catches on), I consider that good enough value.
Look at Me, I'm R&D - This is by far my favourite NLO, without comparison. This card demands to be built around, and challenges the player to choose the right number pair, and challenges plays well after the card resolves. My favourite situation was when I chose the numbers 2 and 3. Suddenly, my Mulldrifter was dropping huge value as a 3/3 flying drawing me 3 cards. The next turn my opponent cast Profane Command... to choose 3 abilities instead of 2. The shenanigans associated with this card are endless. Really good with token generators that spam out 2/2s, as well as wiping a board of X/1s. Such a diverse card, I can't push it enough.
Staying Power - Compared to LAMIR&D, this is a pretty lame card and has not seen nearly the same number of outrageous plays. It mainly becomes useful in decks that give random anthem effects (Soltari Champion), though I have seen good plays with Sarkhan Vol as well. This card is probably cuttable.
Jack-in-the-Mox - easily a mox crystal with a random explosion. I've never personally rolled a 1 in all my years of cubing it, but I've seen my fair share of blow ups.
Ghazban Ogress - a 2/2 for G, this card would make wtwlf123 very happy. If it's the first game of the night, its a 2/2 with no drawback. If you're winning (as any self respecting aggro player should be doing), it has no drawback. Once you start losing, you can simply side it out and pretend you never drafted it.
Censorship - One of the cards I want to experiment with with my U devotion package before cutting it again. It randomly shocks and is really great against "seasoned" players, since they are the ones that usually have habits. Naming something as simple as "tap" or "go" or "draw" can put in 2-6 damage easily before they catch on. Great for aggro decks but I think it's in the wrong colour (exception being U devotion).
Prismatic Wardrobe - It's a vindicate for W with a slight drawback. We've had a few blowouts involving underwear colour but all in all, it has been a very solid card.
Once More with Feeling - Now here's a controversial card. I view this as the wrath to end all wraths. The advantage actually goes to the losing player (the caster) since all the cards that have been played (on the battlefield/in the graveyard) are exiled and excluded from the second game. This is THE comeback card and is surprisingly easy to cast (probably because you're not casting it until late late game, when WWWW is not so challenging). I hate playing against it but the unreal plays it has enabled locks it in as a solid include in my 385 list.
One I really like that hasn't been discussed yet is
Togglodyte
While it seems like a pretty serious drawback, it is well mitigated by the aggro decks that want it. It usually just means playing your next card before or after combat to that it can attack. I also like to toggle it off before the other players next turn, goading them to turn it on for me. Generally an unassuming card but it is very fun and there is always a deck that needs a 3 drop. I will probably play this until wizards prints better aggressive artifact creatures.
The holiday card I most want to try is
Fruitcake Elemental
Fruitcake Elemental is fun. The drawback looks huge at first, but it isn't hard to break the symmetry on the card. (Give it lifelink and you never have to pass it )
I'm looking at taking Fruitcake Elemental out of my cube though. I like it, but I want to run 1 silver-bordered card of each color, and I think I'd rather run Symbol Status just because tokens.
My favorite use for Chaos Orb is to swap it out for this baby during a match.
This is not how we play it. We use it more as a finisher for white decks. The exiling tends to not be symmetrical if your opponent has a bunch more lands in play than you and you can run on 2-3 lands. It is also like a Shahrazad that always works and is always played when they're at 20.
One thing I would like to add is that Necro-Impotence lets you draw your entire deck the turn after you play it. We don't Cube enough to have figured out the easiest/best ways to abuse it but things like Lab Maniac instantly come to mind.
Yeah, if you're playing chaos orb and your group likes it I think it's a good jumping-off point to try a few un-cards, as chaos orb really does feel like an un-card.
375 unpowered cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/601ac624832cdf1039947588
We've been thinking about how the new Conspiracy cards might change our Cube and the idea of what cards get better with haste (Immediate Action) is one of our points of emphasis. Green in particular seems like it could benefit the most. eg tack haste on to Fruitcake and he looks much better. And Old Fogey is probably even better in this role.
The problem with something like Wolfir Silverheart -- insane as it is -- is that on an empty board it does very little. Kalonian Hydra would be another obvious choice but it does cost 5 mana.
I like the use of silver bordered cards in cubes. Blacker Lotus is something that frequently appears as a Black Lotus for 4 mana instead of 3 (that is, without having to tear it to pieces). People have complained about its absurd power level, but that's usually after they just lost to turn 1 Gideon Jura or something. Overall, with errata it offers one of the most powerful plays in all of Magic the gathering, so if you don't mind playing silver-bordered cards with house-rules text then you'll set yourself up for a lot of one-sided fun.
I've seen Topsy Turvy appear in some cubes over time. One time, I cast it against an opponent who had never seen it before. He was so befuddled he outright refused to play the remainder of the game and conceded. It wasn't seen in many people's cubes after that. It really can be hard to comprehend backwards Magic sometimes.
Blast From The Past doesn't really function like a silver-bordered card. It's very fair, very skill-testing, very versatile, and helpful in every deck with red as the main color. Probably the most cube worthy of all NLOs.
I want to see a cube try to make use of Johnny, Combo Player. It looks fair; a fragile body with comparatively high casting cost and activation cost. The upside is obviously insane, but it may be too slow and too fragile. I'd like to see for myself though.
I don't like Jack-in-the-Mox. It's hard for me to enjoy such high-variance cards in any draft format, even if it's just casual gameplay. I don't really like having a 17% chance of utterly obliterating myself every time I tap it. I'm not against its inclusion, and it's obviously highly powerful, but I don't like playing with it to the point that I will frequently pass it.
I want to see Once More With Feeling in action. Having a complete reset button when the game seems unwinnable is quite reasonable for a cube to have in terms of utter power. And, in the only deck you could consistently cast it (mono white aggro), there's a high chance you'll be the benefactor of the new life totals. It leaves you an out to topdeck so that you're never truly dead as long as you see your draw step. And I imagine it's very, very tilting to play against when you have a stranglehold on a game, only to see your opponent rip it and go land-Isamaru-pass. Kind of reminds me of Balance in that respect. It's also pretty sick if you can set up a suspended card beforehand.
Magical Hacker seems buuuusted with planeswalkers, which are over-cubed with as it is. I think it's just a little too far outside my comfort zone. The more I think about it, his interaction with planeswalkers seems on the same power level as things like Black Lotus or Mind Twist; that is, something that's close to saying "the game is now over, thanks for playing".
Cheatyface strikes me more as a strictly-for-fun cube card. The people I cube with definitely cube first and foremost for the fun factor, but we usually put money down, and when you put money down the rules become more enforced. I can't imagine Cheatyface is appropriate in that regard. I don't think I want to see any heated arguments over whether a 0-mana 2/2 should "resolve" or not. Just doesn't seem like it's worth the headache. Great for dicking around though.
No targeting, no regen, etc. But if/when we bring it back next time we'll probably try actually flipping it. My brother and I both suck at flipping though, so thats why we haven't had it in our Cube for a while.
Not sure about Blacker Lotus. I don't remember if we tried it in a Cube match or not but our errata was:
T: Sac, Remove Blacker Lotus from the match
So if you had it in Game 1 you had to decide if you needed or wanted to try and conserve it for a future use. I think that captures the flavor fairly well -- and you're forced to Cube a 41st card too.
We were going to do something similar for ante with Contract from Beow as well, but we ended up not because you can actually end up ante-ing quite a few cards. We just made players give them back after the match and if you don't have enough cards in your deck in game 2 or 3 you have to add basics. In the future we will probably NOT make ante cards be returned because losing after casting Contract normally draws a lot of jeers so you oughta feel a little in-game sting when it happens too
Do NOT play Cheatyface with money on the line. Even people who campaign for him to be in the draft are known to get a little peeved if they play against it. Its a card you can add to every 10th draft maybe. One interesting thing is that its phenomenal for devotion -- so now its a little hard to say if its a colorless card or a blue card.
Its also not really possible to errata him. We tried to make it a werewolf style ability that involved no spells being played this turn. But at that point it is literally a custom card.
In terms of higher casting cost cards, one that is REALLY out there is Drake Stone. Its never seen print or anything but it is pretty insane. We would normally eschew something gimmicky like this, but man, THAT is a great guild card.
http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/491
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We have mixed feelings. Its probably no more befuddling than Humility but Humility is also an un-card for all intents and purposes. We decided that eventually we will test it thoroughly to determine if it is really close to Time Walk or if it is just a gimmick. If its Time Walk #2 we will keep it but otherwise its getting shelved. For now I am taking the word of the players who report that it is broken or nearly so.