So I've been working the last few months on tightening my cube list up to support the sixteen macro-archetypes of Magic, based on Patrick Chapin's analysis in his ebook Next Level Deckbuilding. Of all the archetypes, I've managed to get each to function pretty successfully except for Storm combo. I'm aware that there's a long-standing tradition of labeling Storm as unplayable in basically every limited format (at least in recent years). I'm wondering if anyone has managed to incorporate a Storm archetype in their cube without warping the environment too heavily.
I've been through two levels of thinking so far. The first was creating the archetype as it existed on the MTGO Cube. It was four colors, primarily blue and black, with some red and green. Typically, the route to victory involved landing a Heartbeat of Spring, untapping lands with Turnabout or Rude Awakening, and chaining cantrips and Yawgmoth's Will until a Tendrils kill was possible. The problem I ran into was that the deck required several pieces to function at all. If the Heartbeat of Spring or Yawgmoth's Will or Tendrils was picked up by someone else, the deck did nothing. Furthermore, it required a complex manabase to be consistent, resulting in a drafting experience that almost never worked. In theory, the deck could combo kill on turn five or six successfully, but it never once came together in practice.
Right now, I've shifted away from green entirely, focusing on a red ritual-based mana acceleration plan with Past in Flames for a Empty the Warrens kill. The problem here is that the deck can't actually combo off until turn four or five, at which point many other archetypes can deal with twenty goblins or kill on the next turn regardless. I'm considering moving to Brainfreeze as a primary kill condition and leaving Empty as an alternate against any decks packing Eldrazi.
For reference, I have my cube on Cube Tutor linked in my sig.
We ran storm (and are reintroducing it) in a 360 powered environment for about a year. Storm was powerful, but not overpowered, and I tried to include cards that were good in multiple archetypes. Some Storm cards are only good in storm, but every archetype has cards that are only good in it, so I wasn't as concerned about that.
One of the things we didn't like about storm is that it made games very uninteractive. Games are very fun as a puzzle to figure out as a storm player, but it devolves the game into just two goldfishing races for the most part. We wanted to leave that for a bit, but my playgroup has been hankering for some drafted storm so we're gonna try it again when we bump up to 540.
I was actually working on a storm primer, but I'm going to put that off a little longer until I have some experience with it at 540. (Sorry everyone who was waiting for it and never got to see it, I'm also doing a ton of other work IRL)
So I've been working the last few months on tightening my cube list up to support the sixteen macro-archetypes of Magic, based on Patrick Chapin's analysis in his ebook Next Level Deckbuilding. Of all the archetypes, I've managed to get each to function pretty successfully except for Storm combo. I'm aware that there's a long-standing tradition of labeling Storm as unplayable in basically every limited format (at least in recent years). I'm wondering if anyone has managed to incorporate a Storm archetype in their cube without warping the environment too heavily.
I've been through two levels of thinking so far. The first was creating the archetype as it existed on the MTGO Cube. It was four colors, primarily blue and black, with some red and green. Typically, the route to victory involved landing a Heartbeat of Spring, untapping lands with Turnabout or Rude Awakening, and chaining cantrips and Yawgmoth's Will until a Tendrils kill was possible. The problem I ran into was that the deck required several pieces to function at all. If the Heartbeat of Spring or Yawgmoth's Will or Tendrils was picked up by someone else, the deck did nothing. Furthermore, it required a complex manabase to be consistent, resulting in a drafting experience that almost never worked. In theory, the deck could combo kill on turn five or six successfully, but it never once came together in practice.
Right now, I've shifted away from green entirely, focusing on a red ritual-based mana acceleration plan with Past in Flames for a Empty the Warrens kill. The problem here is that the deck can't actually combo off until turn four or five, at which point many other archetypes can deal with twenty goblins or kill on the next turn regardless. I'm considering moving to Brainfreeze as a primary kill condition and leaving Empty as an alternate against any decks packing Eldrazi.
For reference, I have my cube on Cube Tutor linked in my sig.
MTG Cube Theory
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
We ran storm (and are reintroducing it) in a 360 powered environment for about a year. Storm was powerful, but not overpowered, and I tried to include cards that were good in multiple archetypes. Some Storm cards are only good in storm, but every archetype has cards that are only good in it, so I wasn't as concerned about that.
One of the things we didn't like about storm is that it made games very uninteractive. Games are very fun as a puzzle to figure out as a storm player, but it devolves the game into just two goldfishing races for the most part. We wanted to leave that for a bit, but my playgroup has been hankering for some drafted storm so we're gonna try it again when we bump up to 540.
I was actually working on a storm primer, but I'm going to put that off a little longer until I have some experience with it at 540. (Sorry everyone who was waiting for it and never got to see it, I'm also doing a ton of other work IRL)
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