Hey there. I also have an EDH cube -> link in sig. Some questions regarding how you use your cube.
Do you play with an increased deck size to mimic the large decks of constructed edh?
Do you play with 40 life rather than 20?
Do your games typically go past turn 10?
Do you play 1v1 or multiplayer?
heyhey! actually we've only tried it once so far, I followed your guidelines roughly - 60 or 65 card decks, I think we drafted 5 packs; we played with 40 life and games almost always went past turn 10 because my group like to build multicolor durdly messes. the 1 Rx player almost always wins (in normal cube, goes to show my playgroup, tho I'm adding more aggro support to move away from the durdles); the games were 1v1 actually mostly and then one group game at the end, I'm not sure why we didn't multiplayer more. we drafted the commanders first in a pack then drafted the decks whiched worked out ok, everyone had 5 commanders to choose from.
I have it all setup, but I think my group wants to draft 40s all the time since we only get to play about once month. I do want to try it again since I think my cube runs more EDH type cards than the normal smaller fast cube.
Nice pics man, you've got a nicely pimped cube, with some cards I wish I had!
What's up with the Mox Pearl proxy being so much worse than the others?
Thanks! Time and money (mostly money) well spent. I've managed to get everything under a couple dollars and now I can only long for the cards I can't afford.
Oh the mox pearl... the ink smudged off when I was inserting it into the perfect fit sleeve. I printed all the other proxies a week before and they mostly thoroughly dried so smudging wasn't an issue.
I'm not particularly happy with the foil proxies TBH. The foil paper with adhesive backing I found turned out to not be exactly what I wanted. It's like a perfect mirror sheen foil as opposed to a glittery foil, so the cards are impossible read under a light. Also, my printer is great for photo paper, but it doesn't print on the foil paper very well. I suspect to get a really awesome foil proxy you need one of those heat bonding printers, which is really ridiculous to purchase for personal use. good enough for now. I hope to one day own actual power!
UPDATED POTENTIAL CHANGE LIST
Makeshift Mannequin - Pestilence
Liliana of the Dark Realms - Liliana Vess
Living Death - Tragic Slip
Massacre Wurm - Visara the Dreadful
Inkwell Leviathan - Sea Drake
Eureka - Bear Umbra
Pouncing Jaguar - Wolfir Avenger
Wild Dogs - Omnath, Locus of Mana
Woodfall Primus - Avenger of Zendikar
Probe - Glimpse the Unthinkable
Gavony Township - Sundering Growth
Firebolt - Chandra, the Firebrand
Rolling Earthquake - Charmbreaker Devils
Burning of Xinye - Gratuitous Violence
Elite Vanguard - Blinding Angel
Wall of Omens - Nearhearth Pilgrims
I'm going to make the following adjustments and changes:
Necromancy - Makeshift Mannequin - I think Necromancy is the better option. None of the big reanimation targets have shroud or pro black (ie, Akroma), so being an aura won't be an issue. being 1 mana cheaper is very important also. Show and Tell - Confiscate - these next two cards are just following line with adding eureka and big ramp targets Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre - Helm of Possession - the easiest to cast eldrazi. we'll see how this goes. this could actually be a colossus of either type as that also supports tinker, but i'm not sure which way to go. artisan of kozilek also is a possibility since he plays better with reanimation... any feedback is appreciated!
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edit
going with blightsteel colossus - if we're going for a colorless finisher, go for the baddest. also a tinker target which the eldrazi are not.
As I've played my cube more, I've realized that certain strategies needs cards to function effectively, and at my cube size, sometimes cards don't show up because there isn't a critical mass of support cards. I'm adding more cards to support specific archetypes and removing the relegated to last pick/sideboard cards.
Goblin Settlers - Kumano, Master Yamabushi >> Kumano is a card from a long time ago and these days, no one maindecks him. They all want hasty 5 drops which the cube has plenty of. It's too bad, he's a nice mana sink, tho red really doesn't need a mana sink. I suppose Siege-Gang Commander is a 5 drop mana sink. Goblin Settlers supports the red LD theme going. The benefit of the ETB as opposed to LTB trigger doesn't need discussion.
Faith's Shield - Apostle's Blessing >> Debatable, still a 23rd card. We lose the ability to protect from artifacts (minor loss) to protecting any permanent, 2 life saved and a miser's fateful hour.
Unburial Rites - Debtors' Knell >> This is a super painful cut as I super love debtors' knell, but it was just too slow. Unburial Rites gives two activations, supports a reanimator (albeit slow), plays well with Gifts Ungiven. As we know GTC's promises have been disappointing, so this is fine.
Searing Spear - Rolling Thunder >> Realized I was being silly for not wanting to include a worse incinerate. Rolling Thunder never saw maindeck play, and I think my red section had too many X spells.
Life // Death - Spiritmonger >> Everyone says Spiritmonger's time has passed, I think they're right. Spiritmonger was still a house in play whenever someone played it, but I think answers these days have become too diversified since the days of Spiritmonger and he isn't as resilient as he used to be. Life // Death lends more support to reanimator and who knows, maybe Life will give a win out of nowhere
Tattermunge Maniac - Hull Breach >> Hull Breach never was main decked. I think it was simply too narrow and not what RG cared about, though I am disappointed in cutting more artifact hate. Tattermunge Maniac I don't particularly like due to his drawback, but he's a 2 power 1 drop that's a hybrid in the colors in which I support aggro.
Jungle Lion - Scute Mob >> Timmy's will cry and maybe I can find some other guy to cut instead because I love the flavor of the card, but Jungle Lion is a better aggro card if bland.
Grim Monolith - Mindslaver >> Mindslaver lock with Academy Ruins never came together and I'm not sure any control deck wanted to go that route. Too expensive for a limited format, so it's being cut for a gross mana rock which supports a lot of archetypes. I think I'm at the limit of the number of rocks I want to run and this was the most powerful one I didn't include yet.
This update was fairly large again. These past few iterations have focused on strengthening existing strategies and cutting away cards that routinely get last picked/sideboard fodder. To this end, I removed one card from each guild section (down to seven) and added two cards to each color. I also decided to break up some land cycles, though no color got short-changed roughly speaking.
GTC provided eight cards and could have provided more if I wanted to include more guild leaders. I'm happy with my choices and hopefully, playing the cards will be fun!
Update pics of my entire cube. Links updated too.
Swaps
Carnophage - Guul Draaz Assassin
Diregraf Ghoul - Nezumi Shortfang
Dauthi Horror - Sign in Blood
Preordain - Confiscate
Memory Lapse - Remove Soul
Sea Gate Oracle - Ludevic's Test Subject
Kessig Wolf Run - Mouth of Ronom
Slayer's Stronghold - Hellion Crucible
Thanks for the comments! I do love acquiring pimp, foils and alters. I’m only missing pimp versions of Tarmogoyf, Rishadan Port and Gaea’s Cradle. At this point, the way those cards priced, I should just commission some alters and be done with it. I did that with Jace, TMS. Part of me is hoping I can get foils of all of them, because deep down, I really prefer foils, but I can’t justify spending that kind of money. At least not right now.
Relisting my changelog with actual explanations. I didn’t have time this past weekend. Taking photos and rehosting them took all afternoon.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- GTC updates, updated pics and links
This update was fairly large again. These past few iterations have focused on strengthening existing strategies and cutting away cards that routinely get last picked/sideboard fodder, particularly aggro in green and black. To this end, I removed one card from each guild section (down to seven) and added two cards to each primary color. I also decided to break up some land cycles since the worst cards of the cycle were pretty mediocre, though no color got short-changed roughly speaking.
GTC provided eight cards and could have provided more if I wanted to include more guild leaders. I'm happy with my choices and hopefully, playing the cards will be fun!
Update pics of my entire cube. Links updated too.
Swaps: Out -> In
Guul Draaz Assassin -> Carnophage – Several cards were lackluster in performance, so in trying to support aggro more, I’ve added the good 2 power 1 drops. Guul Draaz in particular people played, but was never impactful enough. I think it cost too much to level and was mediocre until you fully invested in him.
Nezumi Shortfang ->Diregraf Ghoul– See above. This makes me sad as I have a soft spot for the Nezumi two drops. Nezumi graverobber seems to be the better of the two, however, so he stays for now, tho I can see him being outclassed someday.
Sign in Blood - Dauthi Horror – Easy swap. Sign in blood never got played, tho it seems like a fine card. Dauthi Horror I chose over Dauthi Slayer due to its easier mana cost. The 1 toughness will make him more vulnerable to red’s pingers, but I think the easier casting cost makes up for it.
Confiscate -> Preordain– I liked the idea of Confiscate – an answer in blue to any type of permanent, and the best type of answer (stealing it), but alas, I think the CMC was too daunting. Originally, I had not included preordain because I didn’t want so many cheap cantrips, but I realize now that it’s important to have several cards of similar function so drafters have a chance to get them.
Remove Soul -> Memory Lapse – This was the result of a poll. Creatures are almost always what win Cube games, and an easy to cast hard creature counter was good in my mind. My playgroup prefers Memory Lapse however, something about “timewalk”. I personally prefer hard counters, but if people more likely will maindeck memory lapse, then it’s time for the swap
Ludevic's Test Subject -> Sea Gate Oracle – Ludevic’s never saw maindeck play. Perhaps I should have given him more time in the new 2 power 1 drop environment to see if people would consider him for an early blocker. Sea gate comes down a full turn later against aggro, but is a better value proposition. I really wish he costed 2. I did consider Augur of Bolas, but I think the whiff potential is too high. This correct?
Mouth of Ronom -> Kessig Wolf Run – I’ve moved these utility lands out of the guild section and back into lands. It didn’t make sense to people while sorting the cards after drafts to put these in guilds. Plus, it makes cuts easier in the guild section. As noted above, I’ve also come to terms with not having full cycles of lands, so I’m keeping the two best of these utility lands. Mouth of Ronom I thought would be used as a reusable removable spell with Crucible, but I think it’s too slow and it’s never been maindecked.
Hellion Crucible - Slayer's Stronghold – I had given each color a special nonbasic land, but red’s options are the worst. Hellion Crucible? I suppose ghitu encampment would have been better, but it’s not great. Slayer’s Stronghold has been enjoyed by the few boros drafters, so its stays. Despite cutting the one red special nonbasic, it’s getting access to both Wolf Run and Stronghold so hopefully, that makes up for the loss.
Removed from multicolor – 10 total
Mirrorweave – so fun, but the weakest of the azorius options. Maybe one day I can put him back in for lulz.
Slayer's Stronghold – easy cut because it’s going to the land section Havengul Lich – too durdly for UB and mana intensive, I think Oona is a better finisher.
Putrid Leech – hard cut, but he seemed to be the weakest of the 7
Hull Breach – never used, but losing artifact/enchantment hate irks me since I’d to keep a high amount of it.
Desolate Lighthouse – Cutting lands from multicolor. This one didn’t seem strong enough to include in the lands section
Gerrard's Verdict – The debate between this card and tidehollow sculler has been going on the forum for a while. My playgroup overwhelming prefers tidehollow and I personally agree. Potentially grabbing the situationally best card seems better than two of the opponent’s current worst. To each group their own, and my group appears to prefer tidehollow.
Olivia Voldaren – This makes me sad also since she’s a sick anti-creature tool for control. However, BR has transitioned to an aggressive deck and this card doesn’t’ fit that mold. She was on the block since there are also Murderous Redcap and Falkenrath Aristocrat @ 4 cmc. I could see swapping out Murderous Redcap, but it’s hard to argue with a resilient guy that ETB shocks and pings. Blinking seems cute, but I don’t see those color combos coming together that often.
Gavony Township – This land I’m most disappointed in cutting. This lands fits perfectly with mana guys, aggro guys and tokens, all of which are in WG. If I could find another land to cut from my utility section, I’d be happy to consider it. Any suggestions?
Lorescale Coatl – Also debated with coiling oracle. Coatl can get huge very quickly, but I think people liked the value of oracle. Ramping mana into bigger things one of the UG strategies; there usually isn’t a dearth of big guys in UG. Also, Coatl sits in the same 3 drop spot as Edric, which seems like a less than ideal curve.
Added – replaced no particular card from multicolor – 2 per color, 10 total
Carrion Feeder – 1 drop, zombie support. Helps dodge awkward white removal enchantments & blue control effects & red threaten effects so creatures can be replayed from the graveyard. I considered Putrid Imp as a graveyard enabler, and I might consider him against for another card, but Feeder seems better right now.
Sea Drake – This guy I cut recently, but I’m putting back for now. I’m not sure if he really belongs. A 4 power flyer is hard to ignore though. One of the weaker cards – if I could find another counterspell, maybe that’s the better choice…remove soul?
Aether Adept – Man-0’-War is good and undercosted. Adept is the same, slightly harder to cast, but just as good.
Wall of Roots – I’m ambivalent about this card, but it ranks highly in the super list. It’s a good ramp card and a good blocker, which usually aren’t paired together, all on turn 2. I’m unsure because ramp/midrange generally beats aggro and I don’t want the matchup to be too onesided. Does this card help the archetype against it’s weaker matchups? I’m not sure…
Wolfir Avenger – I’ve noticed that green, despite being an efficient color, really has few 3 or more power 3 drops. Centaur Courser? Troll Ascetic is good. Great Sable Stag is a legitimate card and a strong tool against control. Maybe it should go in to shore up green’s weaker matchups? Wolfir Avenger is similar type of card as Stag. Flash and regen are counterparts to protection and can’t be countered clauses. Is Stag the better card?
Magma Jet – This is fixing an oversight. 2 damage for 2 mana isn’t a great rate, but scry is good.
Blistering Firecat – I originally wanted more resilience in red so I dropped firecat during that phase. I was wrong. The damage output from firecat at the top of the red curve is insane and exactly what red wants, even if isn’t resilient. Red spends resources for as much damage as possible now as efficiently as possible. It’s somewhat disconcerting that this is a big part of what red is (sometimes all it is seen as), but having added wildfire support recently and more LD, hopefully additional archetypes for red can be teased out.
Moat – I dislike the noninterative board state it creates, but it’s super power for control; almost can be considered a 4th wrath affect @ 4 CMC. Also hard to remove. I don’t see myself obtaining one of these anytime soon sadly, so proxy it is. I think this was part of the reason I wasn’t running it. Oh well, gotta do what’s best for the cube.
Catastrophe – Highly ranked on comparison list. I’ve been looking for a powerful expensive 6 noncreature card, and catastrophe is high up there. I think it compares favorably to Austere Command and Akroma’s Vengeance. Hitting lands is a powerful tool and I think I chose Catastrophe over the other more flexible 6 mana wraths because I’m not running Ravages of War. I’m not committed to Catastrophe. I would happily run something goofy like True Conviction or the other wraths if there was more interest in those cards.
GTC swaps
Crypt Ghast -> Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed – Xiaohou and Necrotic Ooze have both kind of stunk up the four drop slot, with Xiahou routinely tabling and being sideboarded. Maybe it’s just a good commander card. My group voted to keep Necrotic Ooze for now; I think the problem is that there are few creatures with awesome activated abilities (funny how I cut Nezumi shortfang above) since creatures these days are more focused on ETB abilities to get immediate value. Anyways, Crypt Ghast: I played him this past weekend and the body is pretty pitiful and really can’t fight in a meaningful way. However, the mana ramp was good. It wasn’t great – I was playing 3 colors, but I had enough duals that I could generate 3 or 4 extra mana, which was enough to hardcast my reanimation target on turn 5 (which is kind of awkward, but great). The extra mana also meant I was able to extort with every spell, which kind of offset the fact he couldn’t block at all. I like him. I’m a big fan of extort (from my GTC limited play), and I can see him staying for a long while. Maybe someone someday will live the dream and hardcast Griselbrand on turn 5.
Experiment One -> Deadwood Treefolk – I like Treefolk a lot. He’s a house in my uncommon cube and was good in limited, but I think he’s not what green wants to ramp to. Sick value; could it be better than Genesis? I’m inclined to say no on the balance. Experiment One is good blah blah.
Boros Charm -> Goblin Legionnaire – Losing damage on the stack has been hard for this goblin. I do like the fact he’s relevant after he can’t attack profitably anymore, but he’s been outclassed I think. Charm is good blah blah.
Boros Reckoner -> Desolation Giant – I thought I talked about Giant earlier? Guess not… Giant is powerful, but not what RW wants to do (which is attack early). I think RW control is an option, but it’s along the lines of Wildfire. Besides no one maindecked this guy, and I’m not sad to see him go. Reckoner is leagues better for what RW is trying to do. I suppose the infinite life combo is possible with the other cards in the cube, but I find it unlikely it would ever come together. Duskmantle Seer -> Probe – this was originally slotted for dimir charm, but Duskmantle is so much more powerful. Probe was recently added, but I don’t think it was ever maindecked. People are correct that this fits into a UB aggro/tempo deck. It’s THE 4 drop I want to see and play when I think about that deck. An aside, my UB section now has 5 creatures and 2 spells. I find this odd for UB, which is traditionally a control color. I’ve come to terms with it understanding that U and B have plenty of good spells, but fewer powerful creatures. This differences matchup well together.
Domri Rade -> Tin Street Hooligan – I like Hooligan; he’s an on curve 2 drop with an upside I really like. Sadly, I think he’s just not good enough anymore. Domri Rade was played this past weekend, and I think the feeling was that he was good. The +1 hits about as often as expected, but he’s gaining loyalty while doing. This lets you fight, where the power really shines. I think the guy who played also managed to ultimate, which was GG. Two planeswalkers in RG. I’m not sure how I feel about that, but it’ll stay for now.
Simic Charm -> Spitting Image – Including spitting image was my effort to give UG some spell to play (tho ironically, it gives a creature), but it never was maindecked. Simic Charm is cheap, flexible and all the modes are good in UG decks. Easily an upgrade.
Gideon, Champion of Justice -> Calciderm – ah, the last one change I made and last entry. This swap seems comparable. I actually like Calciderm a lot in white as a huge cheap and hard to interact with beater. He routinely would kill a couple guys or take out 10 life. He blocked well too, which is something white generally couldn’t do since the mostly guys are starting at 3 cmc and above. Gideon kind of does the same. I’m not sure about him. I played him this weekend, but I think in the wrong deck. I think he’s better in an aggro deck that’s trying to attack and worse in a deck that’s trying to durdle (which is what I had). He doesn’t block, but he saves you loss of life. He hits fairly hard, unless he’s been attacked down. The other issue is that the 4cmc noncreature slot is bloated currently (added moat above), and if I were to cut something, this card may be it (along with Faith’s Fetters). I’m going to wait a few drafts and see if someone can make him shine. If he turns out insane, then so be it. An aside: white has the most planeswalkers in any single color @ 5 (8 with multicolor, all others have between 1 and 2 per color (4 to 6 with multicolor).
I spent few time today to watch your cube pictures. I like much the design especially for red and green. Aggro oriented with much small casting cost. My red atm is oriented more for multiplayer (middle/late game) but I want to focus it on 1vs1. Also I like the black card advantage theme, I definitely want to try Dusk Urchins ad the M13 swampwalker liliana.
I think your cube is very balanced and a reference for a 500/600 cards build.
But I got some small doubts. For istance..
wildfire and burning of xin ye are in but crater hellion still out.
Also sneak attack out but show and tell in. Channel in but Eldrazies out.
Masticore and nekrataal out, I think masticore is a high pick in a aggro oriented cube.
Some flashback/reanimator/dredge cards in but intuition out. Mirari's wake preferred to Glare of Subdual, Glare is very very solid in an aggro cube. You have Order and Eureka! but no Progenitus. I should include the darksteel colossus to have 1 more chance to close the tinker combo.
This is a consequence of test? No space to include them? I don't think you forgot, the choices you made are absolutely pondered.
some other cards I tested and they worked very well are the black zombie Muse (there's a lot of zombies in black) and the Oracle of Mul Daya, I want to suggest them.
Regards,
Hey, thanks for your note!
I see Wildfire and Burning partly as board wipes, but I think the more devastating part of the card is the land destruction. Crater Hellion is a great card, and I’m contemplating dropping Moltensteel Dragon for Hellion (the cards serve different roles, but red has plenty of good four drops in aggro already). Hellion would be another nice mana rock ramp target and conveniently survives wildire itself.
Sneak Attack I left out on purpose. It’s a card befitting for fatties, but not how I want to cheat them into play. 1) Sneak Attack in red, which has no fatties worth cheating out and no other cards to support the cheat into play type deck. 2) I dislike that the creatures are sacrificed. There are a lot of good fatties with good ETB abilities, but I don’t think any of them are game changing enough to overcome the loss of the creature. I’d rather be able to have the creature stay in play once it’s cheated into play. There are plenty of good targets for channel already without resorting to the Eldrazi – Karn, Battlesphere, green fatties. We chose not to include the eldrazi in this iteration and instead picked blightsteel colossus since he can cheated into play and is the ideal tinker target. I actually dislike blightsteel since he’s so uninteractive, but he’s the best guy. I don’t include darksteel since blightsteel is enough. If we did pick up an eldrazi, it would likely be just Umalog or Kozilek who are hardcastable sometimes. Emrakul is possibly the most powerful, but he’ll only ever get played in the eureka deck which is too narrow to include. Same goes for Progenitus who will never be ramped into. I want to avoid having such narrow cards even if they are super powerful. Eureka or NO any of the green fatties should win the game almost as certainly as Emrakul or Progenitus. Darksteel is an option, but any of the other big artifacts work just as well.
Masticore is a preference of my playgroup. Most of them dislike discarding cards, and in the aggro mode, he’s only ok. Nekrataal I took out for boneshredder. I have skinrender at the four drop slot with a bigger body and less restrictive targeting. It’s a good card no doubt, but I didn’t want to overload the 4 drop slot with ETB destroy abilities.
Intuition is an interesting card choice, haven’t thought about it. I have Gifts Ungiven in currently which is similar – gifts is at least always a 2 for 1. Intuition is an even 1 for 1 not including graveyard stuff. A quick look on the cube comparison result tab shows Intuition to be a sparsely played card @ 16%. I I’m going to pass on it for now.
I had to cut Glare recently because GW is a very hard guild to get into. If I cut a creature out of my section, Glare is the card that would come back in.
I have thought about Graveborn muse instead of Bloodgift Demon. More zombie support and the card comes down sooner. I’ll have to ask my play group.
I also thought about Oracle of Mul Daya, but I found the body so unimpressive. I think at four drop I’d rather have good bodies and use lower CMC ramping cards.
All good considerations! I’m going to post your note into my thread for future reference.
I'd run Nekrataal and Skinrender and Bone Shredder and Shriekmaw in every cube >360 (and I'd probably run Fleshbag Maruader in addition in every cube ~450).
About Sneak Attack: It isn't just to play fatties, although it's great for that. It's also to run ETB guys out as instants, play a bunch of guys at once for an alpha strike, play a surprise blocker, fill your graveyard for shenanigans, fuel Greater Gargadon/Carrion Feeder/Falkenrath Aristocrat, and get something disgusting on your Mimic Vat. It also combos with Crystal Shard/Erratic Portal, Kamigawa dragons, Reveillark, and Karmic Guide. If you let go of viewing it as just a way to cheat fatties, you can see how truly versatile and valuable it is.
Absorb -> Sphinx’s Revelation – Absorb is better on curve and hard counters are good, but no one actually played the card in my group. We’ve seen Revelation cast for 3-5 several times and people have been happy with it like that. It’s not bonkers, but people are happy to maindeck it.
Brion Stoutarm -> Aurelia’s Fury – Brion has awesome abilities for four mana, but red and white have a plethora of 4 drops that are probably better. Fury hasn’t been played yet, and it’s not an early pick for RW. I’m waiting for someone to try it out and tell me how awesome it is, but I have a feeling it will be dropped in the future.
Tidehollow Sculler -> Obzedate, Ghost Council – I’m not sure about this swap actually. I’m trying to stay away from expensive finishers and Obzedat is a fairly hard to cast finisher. Tidehollow came down early and interacted with the opponent. I might switch this back if Obzedat doesn’t see more love.
Tragic Slip -> Diabolic Edict – Slip ok. The -1/-/1 was only ok, taking out a few targets, but never what you wanted. The upside of course was exactly what you wanted, but you rarely had it when you wanted it. A lot of setup is required. Edict is an instant and that helps decks efficiently use mana. All about it. Plus I got the awesome Arena promo.
Molten-Steel Dragon – Crater Hellion – Molten-Steel’s upside was a fast and dramatic finisher out of nowhere. Instant speed removal abounds in cube tho, so I believe people didn’t like the liability so they never drafted the card. Hellion fits in the Wildfire deck and is good for red control generally. I’ve had him here before – we’ll see if someone drafts him again.
Carrion Feeder -> Putrid Imp – I added feeder to give zombies more cards and give black a potentially aggressive 1 drop. Fine card, but I think Imp is better. It’s also a zombie, can be aggressive and supports reanimator, which always can use more help.
Pouncing Jaguar -> Basking Rootwalla – Jaguar came up on the bottom of some recent green 2 power 1 drop lists and Rootwalla was higher. I like the potential madness value, otherwise it’s a fine but unexciting card.
Skred -> Sneak Attack – I have 2 cards left in snow which are good, efficient cards. With duals and utility lands, I found that I rarely have more than 2 or 3 snow lands in play on early turns if I’m R/x, which is just ok, not amazing. Sneak Attack is another card along the lines of show and tell and eureka, natural order. It’s super lame that all of these cards are in different colors, but I suppose all the fatties are spread out among the colors too. I think it’ll be a marginally played card, but super fun when it comes together.
Phyrexian Ironfoot -> Kozilek, Butcher of Truth – The last snow card. He’s an efficient body with sometimes awesome pseudo vigilance/can’t curve out and untap this guy ability. I was always happy to maindeck him since he stopped most aggro with no drawback (Serendib Efreet). Kind of sad to see him go. Kozilek is gross; the easiest to cast of the Three Eldrazi and disgusting card advantage. I like the fact that he can be destroyed. Ulamog and Emrakul being nearly unkillable is dumb. I thought I added enough big colorless fatties with Blightsteel, but the people clamored for an Eldrazi, so here he comes. Did you know his foil is ridiculously priced? I actually had Masticore slotted for this swap, but my playgroup dislikes the Masticores generally.
Fastbond -> Overrun – Fastbond is undeniably powerful, but no one played it. I don’t think my deck had cards to really abuse it with (not playing gush, maybe Sea Drake?) Checking the latest cube comparison list, Fastbond came in at 11%, so not a hard cut. Overrun is awesome. It’s exactly what green wants to do to win with small creatures. I thought having Garruk Wildspeaker was enough, but why not have another?
Loxodon Warhammer -> Gilded Lotus – I love Warhammer. Absolutely love the card from numerous draft formats. No card turns a weenie into a racing threat. But, warhammer is probably the weakest of the 3-drop equipment, and there are a ton of them. 5 Swords and Grafted Wargear - that’s already a clogged section. Sigh. Gilded Lotus is undeniably strong tho and fits numerous decks. I think if a deck can survive casting it on turn 5, that deck should be well on its way to winning. It’s probably now the last mana rock I’ll include my colorless section also.
Snow lands – Foil Lands – Out with the snow lands which I never foiled out and in with awesome basic foils. My goal is to collect one of each foil land from various sets (Masques, Invasion, Odyssey, Onslaught, Mirrodin, Kamigawa, Ravnica, Lorwyn, Rise of the Eldrazi, Scars of Mirrodin, Innistrad, Avacyn Restored, Return to Ravnica). I will likely replace LOR and ROE if I a set of lands is printed down the road.
Scute Mob - Fyndhorn Elves
Stormbind - Burning-Tree Emissary
Shrine of the Loyal Legions - Entreat the Angels
Desolation Angel - Tidehollow Sculler
<Gaddock Teeg> - Voice of Resurgence --> Armada Wurm out and VoR in.
Gideon, Champion of Justice - Imposing Sovereign
Aftershock - Chandra, Pyromaster
Primordial Hydra - Kalonian Hydra
Why on earth would you cut Gideon? I rate him one of white's top 10 cards.
I prefer Desolation Angel to Tidehollow. If you resolve the Angel, you are highly likely to win. It's killer in Orzhov and Esper control decks. Sculler never impressed me when he was in my cube. If you really want to run Sculler, I'd cut Angel of Despair first for sure.
Why on earth would you cut Gideon? I rate him one of white's top 10 cards.
I prefer Desolation Angel to Tidehollow. If you resolve the Angel, you are highly likely to win. It's killer in Orzhov and Esper control decks. Sculler never impressed me when he was in my cube. If you really want to run Sculler, I'd cut Angel of Despair first for sure.
The rest looks good.
Cheers,
rant
I cut Gideon, Champion of Newerth or Justice or whichever. Not Jura.
Desolation Angel - Tidehollow Sculler is a playgroup preference. I'm aware of the opinions on this forum about both. I've wanted to see Desolation Angel do awesome things, but it's never happened in my group. It's actually never seen maindeck play since I put it in a year ago, so it's getting cut.
Tidehollow is the preferred 2 drop in my group. I'm aware of the opinions on Gerrard's Verdict also, but my group doesn't value discard that highly, particularly compared to the 2/2 body of sculler.
Angel of Despair is well loved for the ETB ability. Reanimator is a favorite here also, so AoD will likely stay for a long time.
* * Hydroid Krasis --> Edric out.
I don't support green or blue aggro, so Edric seems like a silly inclusion. I think it's probably good if I supported a UG Tempo deck, but my Qube doesn't have it. Incidentally, I think Dovin will kind of fulfill this role in a UW tempo deck. I chose Krasis over Frilled Mystic because it seems more splashy and perfect for the typical UG ramp deck. I also learned the life gain and draw are triggered on cast so it still provides value even if countered.
* * Electrodominance --> Devil's Play out
Verdict is still out, but this card does broken things potentially, which I think Qube should be about.
* * Gutterbones --> Kokusho out
Another good one drop that brings me to the right number to consistently have black aggro options. Kokusho was only bonkers in my mind as a Nightmare target, and that rarely happened. There are better reanimate targets these days.
* * Spawn of Mayhem --> Isareth out
Isareth is weak. The Spawn will take out some folks. Of note, the add +1/+1 counter trigger is when YOU are at 10 life or less, not the opponent.
* * End-Raze Forerunners --> Overrun out
Another top end that's situationally better than Craterhoof since it grants vigilance. My Qube is big enough to support another green fatty, esp over Overrun which is limited gold, but Qube meh.
* * Dovin, Grand Arbiter --> Fractured Identity out
Identity is undoubtedly a good card, but UW control already has plenty of toys in the Guild. Arguably, Venser should come out, but the card is sometimes good. He'll leave eventually. Dovin opens up a new avenue for UW Tempo, which is something rarely ever played. White weenie creatures need more archetypes to be played in too (though the white weenie deck often does well in Justin's hands).
* * Judith, the Scourge Diva --> Spike Jester out??
Spike Jester is actually a great card in Rakdos. I'd consider cutting terminate instead (already have Dreadbore). Judith adds a lot of oomph to the deck, and the death trigger targets anything, that's super good, especially with the recursive nature of the small black creatures.
Other changes:
* * Thousand-Year Storm --> Stormchase Mage out
@Gonzalo Peralta you're right, this is the perfect Qube card. I don't support storm, but this card probably generates enough value probably in a dedicated spells deck. You only need a couple spells topped off with a Prophetic bolt for this card to be silly.
* * Glorybringer --> Bloodrage Brawler out
Bad card out. Glorybringer is FTK but flying and hasty (mostly). Seems great as a finisher for Red.
I definitely think you should keep Fractured Identity over Venser. I like Edric, but if the decks he's good in never come together, I guess he's an OK cut.
What's up with the Mox Pearl proxy being so much worse than the others?
Juju Alters - Altered MTG Cards
heyhey! actually we've only tried it once so far, I followed your guidelines roughly - 60 or 65 card decks, I think we drafted 5 packs; we played with 40 life and games almost always went past turn 10 because my group like to build multicolor durdly messes. the 1 Rx player almost always wins (in normal cube, goes to show my playgroup, tho I'm adding more aggro support to move away from the durdles); the games were 1v1 actually mostly and then one group game at the end, I'm not sure why we didn't multiplayer more. we drafted the commanders first in a pack then drafted the decks whiched worked out ok, everyone had 5 commanders to choose from.
I have it all setup, but I think my group wants to draft 40s all the time since we only get to play about once month. I do want to try it again since I think my cube runs more EDH type cards than the normal smaller fast cube.
Thanks! Time and money (mostly money) well spent. I've managed to get everything under a couple dollars and now I can only long for the cards I can't afford.
Oh the mox pearl... the ink smudged off when I was inserting it into the perfect fit sleeve. I printed all the other proxies a week before and they mostly thoroughly dried so smudging wasn't an issue.
I'm not particularly happy with the foil proxies TBH. The foil paper with adhesive backing I found turned out to not be exactly what I wanted. It's like a perfect mirror sheen foil as opposed to a glittery foil, so the cards are impossible read under a light. Also, my printer is great for photo paper, but it doesn't print on the foil paper very well. I suspect to get a really awesome foil proxy you need one of those heat bonding printers, which is really ridiculous to purchase for personal use. good enough for now. I hope to one day own actual power!
UPDATED POTENTIAL CHANGE LIST
Makeshift Mannequin - Pestilence
Liliana of the Dark Realms - Liliana Vess
Living Death - Tragic Slip
Massacre Wurm - Visara the Dreadful
Inkwell Leviathan - Sea Drake
Eureka - Bear Umbra
Pouncing Jaguar - Wolfir Avenger
Wild Dogs - Omnath, Locus of Mana
Woodfall Primus - Avenger of Zendikar
Probe - Glimpse the Unthinkable
Gavony Township - Sundering Growth
Firebolt - Chandra, the Firebrand
Rolling Earthquake - Charmbreaker Devils
Burning of Xinye - Gratuitous Violence
Elite Vanguard - Blinding Angel
Wall of Omens - Nearhearth Pilgrims
360 Uncommons only Cube!
360 Uncommons only Cube!
Necromancy - Makeshift Mannequin - I think Necromancy is the better option. None of the big reanimation targets have shroud or pro black (ie, Akroma), so being an aura won't be an issue. being 1 mana cheaper is very important also.
Show and Tell - Confiscate - these next two cards are just following line with adding eureka and big ramp targets
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre - Helm of Possession - the easiest to cast eldrazi. we'll see how this goes. this could actually be a colossus of either type as that also supports tinker, but i'm not sure which way to go. artisan of kozilek also is a possibility since he plays better with reanimation... any feedback is appreciated!
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edit
going with blightsteel colossus - if we're going for a colorless finisher, go for the baddest. also a tinker target which the eldrazi are not.
360 Uncommons only Cube!
The PK3 cards are pretty cool - the cards are in crispy condition still.
360 Uncommons only Cube!
As I've played my cube more, I've realized that certain strategies needs cards to function effectively, and at my cube size, sometimes cards don't show up because there isn't a critical mass of support cards. I'm adding more cards to support specific archetypes and removing the relegated to last pick/sideboard cards.
Goblin Settlers - Kumano, Master Yamabushi >> Kumano is a card from a long time ago and these days, no one maindecks him. They all want hasty 5 drops which the cube has plenty of. It's too bad, he's a nice mana sink, tho red really doesn't need a mana sink. I suppose Siege-Gang Commander is a 5 drop mana sink. Goblin Settlers supports the red LD theme going. The benefit of the ETB as opposed to LTB trigger doesn't need discussion.
Faith's Shield - Apostle's Blessing >> Debatable, still a 23rd card. We lose the ability to protect from artifacts (minor loss) to protecting any permanent, 2 life saved and a miser's fateful hour.
Unburial Rites - Debtors' Knell >> This is a super painful cut as I super love debtors' knell, but it was just too slow. Unburial Rites gives two activations, supports a reanimator (albeit slow), plays well with Gifts Ungiven. As we know GTC's promises have been disappointing, so this is fine.
Searing Spear - Rolling Thunder >> Realized I was being silly for not wanting to include a worse incinerate. Rolling Thunder never saw maindeck play, and I think my red section had too many X spells.
Life // Death - Spiritmonger >> Everyone says Spiritmonger's time has passed, I think they're right. Spiritmonger was still a house in play whenever someone played it, but I think answers these days have become too diversified since the days of Spiritmonger and he isn't as resilient as he used to be. Life // Death lends more support to reanimator and who knows, maybe Life will give a win out of nowhere
Tattermunge Maniac - Hull Breach >> Hull Breach never was main decked. I think it was simply too narrow and not what RG cared about, though I am disappointed in cutting more artifact hate. Tattermunge Maniac I don't particularly like due to his drawback, but he's a 2 power 1 drop that's a hybrid in the colors in which I support aggro.
Jungle Lion - Scute Mob >> Timmy's will cry and maybe I can find some other guy to cut instead because I love the flavor of the card, but Jungle Lion is a better aggro card if bland.
Grim Monolith - Mindslaver >> Mindslaver lock with Academy Ruins never came together and I'm not sure any control deck wanted to go that route. Too expensive for a limited format, so it's being cut for a gross mana rock which supports a lot of archetypes. I think I'm at the limit of the number of rocks I want to run and this was the most powerful one I didn't include yet.
Picture to follow.
360 Uncommons only Cube!
This update was fairly large again. These past few iterations have focused on strengthening existing strategies and cutting away cards that routinely get last picked/sideboard fodder. To this end, I removed one card from each guild section (down to seven) and added two cards to each color. I also decided to break up some land cycles, though no color got short-changed roughly speaking.
GTC provided eight cards and could have provided more if I wanted to include more guild leaders. I'm happy with my choices and hopefully, playing the cards will be fun!
Update pics of my entire cube. Links updated too.
Swaps
Carnophage - Guul Draaz Assassin
Diregraf Ghoul - Nezumi Shortfang
Dauthi Horror - Sign in Blood
Preordain - Confiscate
Memory Lapse - Remove Soul
Sea Gate Oracle - Ludevic's Test Subject
Kessig Wolf Run - Mouth of Ronom
Slayer's Stronghold - Hellion Crucible
Removed from Multicolor section
Mirrorweave
Desolation Giant
Havengul Lich
Putrid Leech
Hull Breach
Desolate Lighthouse
Gerrard's Verdict
Olivia Voldaren
Gavony Township
Lorescale Coatl
Added
Carrion Feeder
Vampire Lacerator
Sea Drake
Sea Gate Oracle
Wall of Roots
Wolfir Avenger
Magma Jet -
Blistering Firecat
Moat
Catastrophe
GTC swaps
Crypt Ghast - Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed
Experiment One - Deadwood Treefolk
Boros Charm - Goblin Legionnaire
Boros Reckoner - Slayer's Stronghold
Duskmantle Seer - Probe
Domri Rade - Tin Street Hooligan
Simic Charm - Spitting Image
Gideon, Champion of Justice - Calciderm
360 Uncommons only Cube!
Cheers,
rant
My Cube
CubeCobra: https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/5f5d0310ed602310515d4c32
Cube Tutor: http://cubetutor.com/viewcube/1963
The Great Cube Map!
My Powered Cube
Draft it here!
(CubeTutor & MTGS)
360 Peasant Cube!
Custom Cube
RWU Miracles RWU
Relisting my changelog with actual explanations. I didn’t have time this past weekend. Taking photos and rehosting them took all afternoon.
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GTC updates, updated pics and links
This update was fairly large again. These past few iterations have focused on strengthening existing strategies and cutting away cards that routinely get last picked/sideboard fodder, particularly aggro in green and black. To this end, I removed one card from each guild section (down to seven) and added two cards to each primary color. I also decided to break up some land cycles since the worst cards of the cycle were pretty mediocre, though no color got short-changed roughly speaking.
GTC provided eight cards and could have provided more if I wanted to include more guild leaders. I'm happy with my choices and hopefully, playing the cards will be fun!
Update pics of my entire cube. Links updated too.
Swaps: Out -> In
Guul Draaz Assassin -> Carnophage – Several cards were lackluster in performance, so in trying to support aggro more, I’ve added the good 2 power 1 drops. Guul Draaz in particular people played, but was never impactful enough. I think it cost too much to level and was mediocre until you fully invested in him.
Nezumi Shortfang ->Diregraf Ghoul– See above. This makes me sad as I have a soft spot for the Nezumi two drops. Nezumi graverobber seems to be the better of the two, however, so he stays for now, tho I can see him being outclassed someday.
Sign in Blood - Dauthi Horror – Easy swap. Sign in blood never got played, tho it seems like a fine card. Dauthi Horror I chose over Dauthi Slayer due to its easier mana cost. The 1 toughness will make him more vulnerable to red’s pingers, but I think the easier casting cost makes up for it.
Confiscate -> Preordain– I liked the idea of Confiscate – an answer in blue to any type of permanent, and the best type of answer (stealing it), but alas, I think the CMC was too daunting. Originally, I had not included preordain because I didn’t want so many cheap cantrips, but I realize now that it’s important to have several cards of similar function so drafters have a chance to get them.
Remove Soul -> Memory Lapse – This was the result of a poll. Creatures are almost always what win Cube games, and an easy to cast hard creature counter was good in my mind. My playgroup prefers Memory Lapse however, something about “timewalk”. I personally prefer hard counters, but if people more likely will maindeck memory lapse, then it’s time for the swap
Ludevic's Test Subject -> Sea Gate Oracle – Ludevic’s never saw maindeck play. Perhaps I should have given him more time in the new 2 power 1 drop environment to see if people would consider him for an early blocker. Sea gate comes down a full turn later against aggro, but is a better value proposition. I really wish he costed 2. I did consider Augur of Bolas, but I think the whiff potential is too high. This correct?
Mouth of Ronom -> Kessig Wolf Run – I’ve moved these utility lands out of the guild section and back into lands. It didn’t make sense to people while sorting the cards after drafts to put these in guilds. Plus, it makes cuts easier in the guild section. As noted above, I’ve also come to terms with not having full cycles of lands, so I’m keeping the two best of these utility lands. Mouth of Ronom I thought would be used as a reusable removable spell with Crucible, but I think it’s too slow and it’s never been maindecked.
Hellion Crucible - Slayer's Stronghold – I had given each color a special nonbasic land, but red’s options are the worst. Hellion Crucible? I suppose ghitu encampment would have been better, but it’s not great. Slayer’s Stronghold has been enjoyed by the few boros drafters, so its stays. Despite cutting the one red special nonbasic, it’s getting access to both Wolf Run and Stronghold so hopefully, that makes up for the loss.
Removed from multicolor – 10 total
Mirrorweave – so fun, but the weakest of the azorius options. Maybe one day I can put him back in for lulz.
Slayer's Stronghold – easy cut because it’s going to the land section
Havengul Lich – too durdly for UB and mana intensive, I think Oona is a better finisher.
Putrid Leech – hard cut, but he seemed to be the weakest of the 7
Hull Breach – never used, but losing artifact/enchantment hate irks me since I’d to keep a high amount of it.
Desolate Lighthouse – Cutting lands from multicolor. This one didn’t seem strong enough to include in the lands section
Gerrard's Verdict – The debate between this card and tidehollow sculler has been going on the forum for a while. My playgroup overwhelming prefers tidehollow and I personally agree. Potentially grabbing the situationally best card seems better than two of the opponent’s current worst. To each group their own, and my group appears to prefer tidehollow.
Olivia Voldaren – This makes me sad also since she’s a sick anti-creature tool for control. However, BR has transitioned to an aggressive deck and this card doesn’t’ fit that mold. She was on the block since there are also Murderous Redcap and Falkenrath Aristocrat @ 4 cmc. I could see swapping out Murderous Redcap, but it’s hard to argue with a resilient guy that ETB shocks and pings. Blinking seems cute, but I don’t see those color combos coming together that often.
Gavony Township – This land I’m most disappointed in cutting. This lands fits perfectly with mana guys, aggro guys and tokens, all of which are in WG. If I could find another land to cut from my utility section, I’d be happy to consider it. Any suggestions?
Lorescale Coatl – Also debated with coiling oracle. Coatl can get huge very quickly, but I think people liked the value of oracle. Ramping mana into bigger things one of the UG strategies; there usually isn’t a dearth of big guys in UG. Also, Coatl sits in the same 3 drop spot as Edric, which seems like a less than ideal curve.
Added – replaced no particular card from multicolor – 2 per color, 10 total
Carrion Feeder – 1 drop, zombie support. Helps dodge awkward white removal enchantments & blue control effects & red threaten effects so creatures can be replayed from the graveyard. I considered Putrid Imp as a graveyard enabler, and I might consider him against for another card, but Feeder seems better right now.
Vampire Lacerator – 2 power 1 drop
Sea Drake – This guy I cut recently, but I’m putting back for now. I’m not sure if he really belongs. A 4 power flyer is hard to ignore though. One of the weaker cards – if I could find another counterspell, maybe that’s the better choice…remove soul?
Aether Adept – Man-0’-War is good and undercosted. Adept is the same, slightly harder to cast, but just as good.
Wall of Roots – I’m ambivalent about this card, but it ranks highly in the super list. It’s a good ramp card and a good blocker, which usually aren’t paired together, all on turn 2. I’m unsure because ramp/midrange generally beats aggro and I don’t want the matchup to be too onesided. Does this card help the archetype against it’s weaker matchups? I’m not sure…
Wolfir Avenger – I’ve noticed that green, despite being an efficient color, really has few 3 or more power 3 drops. Centaur Courser? Troll Ascetic is good. Great Sable Stag is a legitimate card and a strong tool against control. Maybe it should go in to shore up green’s weaker matchups? Wolfir Avenger is similar type of card as Stag. Flash and regen are counterparts to protection and can’t be countered clauses. Is Stag the better card?
Magma Jet – This is fixing an oversight. 2 damage for 2 mana isn’t a great rate, but scry is good.
Blistering Firecat – I originally wanted more resilience in red so I dropped firecat during that phase. I was wrong. The damage output from firecat at the top of the red curve is insane and exactly what red wants, even if isn’t resilient. Red spends resources for as much damage as possible now as efficiently as possible. It’s somewhat disconcerting that this is a big part of what red is (sometimes all it is seen as), but having added wildfire support recently and more LD, hopefully additional archetypes for red can be teased out.
Moat – I dislike the noninterative board state it creates, but it’s super power for control; almost can be considered a 4th wrath affect @ 4 CMC. Also hard to remove. I don’t see myself obtaining one of these anytime soon sadly, so proxy it is. I think this was part of the reason I wasn’t running it. Oh well, gotta do what’s best for the cube.
Catastrophe – Highly ranked on comparison list. I’ve been looking for a powerful expensive 6 noncreature card, and catastrophe is high up there. I think it compares favorably to Austere Command and Akroma’s Vengeance. Hitting lands is a powerful tool and I think I chose Catastrophe over the other more flexible 6 mana wraths because I’m not running Ravages of War. I’m not committed to Catastrophe. I would happily run something goofy like True Conviction or the other wraths if there was more interest in those cards.
GTC swaps
Crypt Ghast -> Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed – Xiaohou and Necrotic Ooze have both kind of stunk up the four drop slot, with Xiahou routinely tabling and being sideboarded. Maybe it’s just a good commander card. My group voted to keep Necrotic Ooze for now; I think the problem is that there are few creatures with awesome activated abilities (funny how I cut Nezumi shortfang above) since creatures these days are more focused on ETB abilities to get immediate value. Anyways, Crypt Ghast: I played him this past weekend and the body is pretty pitiful and really can’t fight in a meaningful way. However, the mana ramp was good. It wasn’t great – I was playing 3 colors, but I had enough duals that I could generate 3 or 4 extra mana, which was enough to hardcast my reanimation target on turn 5 (which is kind of awkward, but great). The extra mana also meant I was able to extort with every spell, which kind of offset the fact he couldn’t block at all. I like him. I’m a big fan of extort (from my GTC limited play), and I can see him staying for a long while. Maybe someone someday will live the dream and hardcast Griselbrand on turn 5.
Experiment One -> Deadwood Treefolk – I like Treefolk a lot. He’s a house in my uncommon cube and was good in limited, but I think he’s not what green wants to ramp to. Sick value; could it be better than Genesis? I’m inclined to say no on the balance. Experiment One is good blah blah.
Boros Charm -> Goblin Legionnaire – Losing damage on the stack has been hard for this goblin. I do like the fact he’s relevant after he can’t attack profitably anymore, but he’s been outclassed I think. Charm is good blah blah.
Boros Reckoner -> Desolation Giant – I thought I talked about Giant earlier? Guess not… Giant is powerful, but not what RW wants to do (which is attack early). I think RW control is an option, but it’s along the lines of Wildfire. Besides no one maindecked this guy, and I’m not sad to see him go. Reckoner is leagues better for what RW is trying to do. I suppose the infinite life combo is possible with the other cards in the cube, but I find it unlikely it would ever come together.
Duskmantle Seer -> Probe – this was originally slotted for dimir charm, but Duskmantle is so much more powerful. Probe was recently added, but I don’t think it was ever maindecked. People are correct that this fits into a UB aggro/tempo deck. It’s THE 4 drop I want to see and play when I think about that deck. An aside, my UB section now has 5 creatures and 2 spells. I find this odd for UB, which is traditionally a control color. I’ve come to terms with it understanding that U and B have plenty of good spells, but fewer powerful creatures. This differences matchup well together.
Domri Rade -> Tin Street Hooligan – I like Hooligan; he’s an on curve 2 drop with an upside I really like. Sadly, I think he’s just not good enough anymore. Domri Rade was played this past weekend, and I think the feeling was that he was good. The +1 hits about as often as expected, but he’s gaining loyalty while doing. This lets you fight, where the power really shines. I think the guy who played also managed to ultimate, which was GG. Two planeswalkers in RG. I’m not sure how I feel about that, but it’ll stay for now.
Simic Charm -> Spitting Image – Including spitting image was my effort to give UG some spell to play (tho ironically, it gives a creature), but it never was maindecked. Simic Charm is cheap, flexible and all the modes are good in UG decks. Easily an upgrade.
Gideon, Champion of Justice -> Calciderm – ah, the last one change I made and last entry. This swap seems comparable. I actually like Calciderm a lot in white as a huge cheap and hard to interact with beater. He routinely would kill a couple guys or take out 10 life. He blocked well too, which is something white generally couldn’t do since the mostly guys are starting at 3 cmc and above. Gideon kind of does the same. I’m not sure about him. I played him this weekend, but I think in the wrong deck. I think he’s better in an aggro deck that’s trying to attack and worse in a deck that’s trying to durdle (which is what I had). He doesn’t block, but he saves you loss of life. He hits fairly hard, unless he’s been attacked down. The other issue is that the 4cmc noncreature slot is bloated currently (added moat above), and if I were to cut something, this card may be it (along with Faith’s Fetters). I’m going to wait a few drafts and see if someone can make him shine. If he turns out insane, then so be it. An aside: white has the most planeswalkers in any single color @ 5 (8 with multicolor, all others have between 1 and 2 per color (4 to 6 with multicolor).
360 Uncommons only Cube!
Hey, thanks for your note!
I see Wildfire and Burning partly as board wipes, but I think the more devastating part of the card is the land destruction. Crater Hellion is a great card, and I’m contemplating dropping Moltensteel Dragon for Hellion (the cards serve different roles, but red has plenty of good four drops in aggro already). Hellion would be another nice mana rock ramp target and conveniently survives wildire itself.
Sneak Attack I left out on purpose. It’s a card befitting for fatties, but not how I want to cheat them into play. 1) Sneak Attack in red, which has no fatties worth cheating out and no other cards to support the cheat into play type deck. 2) I dislike that the creatures are sacrificed. There are a lot of good fatties with good ETB abilities, but I don’t think any of them are game changing enough to overcome the loss of the creature. I’d rather be able to have the creature stay in play once it’s cheated into play. There are plenty of good targets for channel already without resorting to the Eldrazi – Karn, Battlesphere, green fatties. We chose not to include the eldrazi in this iteration and instead picked blightsteel colossus since he can cheated into play and is the ideal tinker target. I actually dislike blightsteel since he’s so uninteractive, but he’s the best guy. I don’t include darksteel since blightsteel is enough. If we did pick up an eldrazi, it would likely be just Umalog or Kozilek who are hardcastable sometimes. Emrakul is possibly the most powerful, but he’ll only ever get played in the eureka deck which is too narrow to include. Same goes for Progenitus who will never be ramped into. I want to avoid having such narrow cards even if they are super powerful. Eureka or NO any of the green fatties should win the game almost as certainly as Emrakul or Progenitus. Darksteel is an option, but any of the other big artifacts work just as well.
Masticore is a preference of my playgroup. Most of them dislike discarding cards, and in the aggro mode, he’s only ok. Nekrataal I took out for boneshredder. I have skinrender at the four drop slot with a bigger body and less restrictive targeting. It’s a good card no doubt, but I didn’t want to overload the 4 drop slot with ETB destroy abilities.
Intuition is an interesting card choice, haven’t thought about it. I have Gifts Ungiven in currently which is similar – gifts is at least always a 2 for 1. Intuition is an even 1 for 1 not including graveyard stuff. A quick look on the cube comparison result tab shows Intuition to be a sparsely played card @ 16%. I I’m going to pass on it for now.
I had to cut Glare recently because GW is a very hard guild to get into. If I cut a creature out of my section, Glare is the card that would come back in.
I have thought about Graveborn muse instead of Bloodgift Demon. More zombie support and the card comes down sooner. I’ll have to ask my play group.
I also thought about Oracle of Mul Daya, but I found the body so unimpressive. I think at four drop I’d rather have good bodies and use lower CMC ramping cards.
All good considerations! I’m going to post your note into my thread for future reference.
360 Uncommons only Cube!
About Sneak Attack: It isn't just to play fatties, although it's great for that. It's also to run ETB guys out as instants, play a bunch of guys at once for an alpha strike, play a surprise blocker, fill your graveyard for shenanigans, fuel Greater Gargadon/Carrion Feeder/Falkenrath Aristocrat, and get something disgusting on your Mimic Vat. It also combos with Crystal Shard/Erratic Portal, Kamigawa dragons, Reveillark, and Karmic Guide. If you let go of viewing it as just a way to cheat fatties, you can see how truly versatile and valuable it is.
Cheers,
rant
My Cube
CubeCobra: https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/5f5d0310ed602310515d4c32
Cube Tutor: http://cubetutor.com/viewcube/1963
Brion Stoutarm -> Aurelia’s Fury – Brion has awesome abilities for four mana, but red and white have a plethora of 4 drops that are probably better. Fury hasn’t been played yet, and it’s not an early pick for RW. I’m waiting for someone to try it out and tell me how awesome it is, but I have a feeling it will be dropped in the future.
Tidehollow Sculler -> Obzedate, Ghost Council – I’m not sure about this swap actually. I’m trying to stay away from expensive finishers and Obzedat is a fairly hard to cast finisher. Tidehollow came down early and interacted with the opponent. I might switch this back if Obzedat doesn’t see more love.
Tragic Slip -> Diabolic Edict – Slip ok. The -1/-/1 was only ok, taking out a few targets, but never what you wanted. The upside of course was exactly what you wanted, but you rarely had it when you wanted it. A lot of setup is required. Edict is an instant and that helps decks efficiently use mana. All about it. Plus I got the awesome Arena promo.
Molten-Steel Dragon – Crater Hellion – Molten-Steel’s upside was a fast and dramatic finisher out of nowhere. Instant speed removal abounds in cube tho, so I believe people didn’t like the liability so they never drafted the card. Hellion fits in the Wildfire deck and is good for red control generally. I’ve had him here before – we’ll see if someone drafts him again.
Carrion Feeder -> Putrid Imp – I added feeder to give zombies more cards and give black a potentially aggressive 1 drop. Fine card, but I think Imp is better. It’s also a zombie, can be aggressive and supports reanimator, which always can use more help.
Pouncing Jaguar -> Basking Rootwalla – Jaguar came up on the bottom of some recent green 2 power 1 drop lists and Rootwalla was higher. I like the potential madness value, otherwise it’s a fine but unexciting card.
Skred -> Sneak Attack – I have 2 cards left in snow which are good, efficient cards. With duals and utility lands, I found that I rarely have more than 2 or 3 snow lands in play on early turns if I’m R/x, which is just ok, not amazing. Sneak Attack is another card along the lines of show and tell and eureka, natural order. It’s super lame that all of these cards are in different colors, but I suppose all the fatties are spread out among the colors too. I think it’ll be a marginally played card, but super fun when it comes together.
Phyrexian Ironfoot -> Kozilek, Butcher of Truth – The last snow card. He’s an efficient body with sometimes awesome pseudo vigilance/can’t curve out and untap this guy ability. I was always happy to maindeck him since he stopped most aggro with no drawback (Serendib Efreet). Kind of sad to see him go. Kozilek is gross; the easiest to cast of the Three Eldrazi and disgusting card advantage. I like the fact that he can be destroyed. Ulamog and Emrakul being nearly unkillable is dumb. I thought I added enough big colorless fatties with Blightsteel, but the people clamored for an Eldrazi, so here he comes. Did you know his foil is ridiculously priced? I actually had Masticore slotted for this swap, but my playgroup dislikes the Masticores generally.
Fastbond -> Overrun – Fastbond is undeniably powerful, but no one played it. I don’t think my deck had cards to really abuse it with (not playing gush, maybe Sea Drake?) Checking the latest cube comparison list, Fastbond came in at 11%, so not a hard cut. Overrun is awesome. It’s exactly what green wants to do to win with small creatures. I thought having Garruk Wildspeaker was enough, but why not have another?
Loxodon Warhammer -> Gilded Lotus – I love Warhammer. Absolutely love the card from numerous draft formats. No card turns a weenie into a racing threat. But, warhammer is probably the weakest of the 3-drop equipment, and there are a ton of them. 5 Swords and Grafted Wargear - that’s already a clogged section. Sigh. Gilded Lotus is undeniably strong tho and fits numerous decks. I think if a deck can survive casting it on turn 5, that deck should be well on its way to winning. It’s probably now the last mana rock I’ll include my colorless section also.
Snow lands – Foil Lands – Out with the snow lands which I never foiled out and in with awesome basic foils. My goal is to collect one of each foil land from various sets (Masques, Invasion, Odyssey, Onslaught, Mirrodin, Kamigawa, Ravnica, Lorwyn, Rise of the Eldrazi, Scars of Mirrodin, Innistrad, Avacyn Restored, Return to Ravnica). I will likely replace LOR and ROE if I a set of lands is printed down the road.
360 Uncommons only Cube!
Wild Dogs - Nantuko Vigilante
Jeska, Warrior Adept - Pyrewild Shaman
Basilisk Collar - Engineered Explosives
Coralhelm Commander - Old Man of the Sea
Gelectrode - Ral Zarek
Oona, Queen of Fae - Far // Away
Necrotic Ooze - Blood Scrivener
Rakdos Shred-Freak - Spike Jester
Morphling - Aetherling
360 Uncommons only Cube!
Civic Wayfinder >> Sylvan Ranger
I'd like to replace Shrine of the Loyal Legions with a more impactful tokens cards - any suggestions?
360 Uncommons only Cube!
Scute Mob - Fyndhorn Elves
Stormbind - Burning-Tree Emissary
Shrine of the Loyal Legions - Entreat the Angels
Desolation Angel - Tidehollow Sculler
<Gaddock Teeg> - Voice of Resurgence --> Armada Wurm out and VoR in.
Gideon, Champion of Justice - Imposing Sovereign
Aftershock - Chandra, Pyromaster
Primordial Hydra - Kalonian Hydra
360 Uncommons only Cube!
I prefer Desolation Angel to Tidehollow. If you resolve the Angel, you are highly likely to win. It's killer in Orzhov and Esper control decks. Sculler never impressed me when he was in my cube. If you really want to run Sculler, I'd cut Angel of Despair first for sure.
The rest looks good.
Cheers,
rant
My Cube
CubeCobra: https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/5f5d0310ed602310515d4c32
Cube Tutor: http://cubetutor.com/viewcube/1963
I cut Gideon, Champion of Newerth or Justice or whichever. Not Jura.
Desolation Angel - Tidehollow Sculler is a playgroup preference. I'm aware of the opinions on this forum about both. I've wanted to see Desolation Angel do awesome things, but it's never happened in my group. It's actually never seen maindeck play since I put it in a year ago, so it's getting cut.
Tidehollow is the preferred 2 drop in my group. I'm aware of the opinions on Gerrard's Verdict also, but my group doesn't value discard that highly, particularly compared to the 2/2 body of sculler.
Angel of Despair is well loved for the ETB ability. Reanimator is a favorite here also, so AoD will likely stay for a long time.
360 Uncommons only Cube!
360 Uncommons only Cube!
Omenspeaker - True-Name Nemesis
Disenchant - Unexpectedly Absent
Undead Gladiator - Ophiomancer
Giant Growth - Curse of Predation
Sorin Markov - Toxic Deluge
Deadbridge Goliath - Polukranos
Academy Ruins - Shelldock Isle
Angel of Serenity - Akroma, Angel of Wrath
Angel of Despair - Ashen Rider
Vraska the Unseen - Putrid Leech / Dreg Mangler?
Beacon of Destruction - Gauntlet of Might
Beacon of Unrest- Whip of Erebos
Gravepact - Sinkhole
360 Uncommons only Cube!
360 Uncommons only Cube!
http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/3854
* * Hydroid Krasis --> Edric out.
I don't support green or blue aggro, so Edric seems like a silly inclusion. I think it's probably good if I supported a UG Tempo deck, but my Qube doesn't have it. Incidentally, I think Dovin will kind of fulfill this role in a UW tempo deck. I chose Krasis over Frilled Mystic because it seems more splashy and perfect for the typical UG ramp deck. I also learned the life gain and draw are triggered on cast so it still provides value even if countered.
* * Electrodominance --> Devil's Play out
Verdict is still out, but this card does broken things potentially, which I think Qube should be about.
* * Gutterbones --> Kokusho out
Another good one drop that brings me to the right number to consistently have black aggro options. Kokusho was only bonkers in my mind as a Nightmare target, and that rarely happened. There are better reanimate targets these days.
* * Spawn of Mayhem --> Isareth out
Isareth is weak. The Spawn will take out some folks. Of note, the add +1/+1 counter trigger is when YOU are at 10 life or less, not the opponent.
* * End-Raze Forerunners --> Overrun out
Another top end that's situationally better than Craterhoof since it grants vigilance. My Qube is big enough to support another green fatty, esp over Overrun which is limited gold, but Qube meh.
* * Dovin, Grand Arbiter --> Fractured Identity out
Identity is undoubtedly a good card, but UW control already has plenty of toys in the Guild. Arguably, Venser should come out, but the card is sometimes good. He'll leave eventually. Dovin opens up a new avenue for UW Tempo, which is something rarely ever played. White weenie creatures need more archetypes to be played in too (though the white weenie deck often does well in Justin's hands).
* * Judith, the Scourge Diva --> Spike Jester out??
Spike Jester is actually a great card in Rakdos. I'd consider cutting terminate instead (already have Dreadbore). Judith adds a lot of oomph to the deck, and the death trigger targets anything, that's super good, especially with the recursive nature of the small black creatures.
Other changes:
* * Thousand-Year Storm --> Stormchase Mage out
@Gonzalo Peralta you're right, this is the perfect Qube card. I don't support storm, but this card probably generates enough value probably in a dedicated spells deck. You only need a couple spells topped off with a Prophetic bolt for this card to be silly.
* * Glorybringer --> Bloodrage Brawler out
Bad card out. Glorybringer is FTK but flying and hasty (mostly). Seems great as a finisher for Red.
360 Uncommons only Cube!
Cheers,
rant
My Cube
CubeCobra: https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/5f5d0310ed602310515d4c32
Cube Tutor: http://cubetutor.com/viewcube/1963