(Trying to port this over from MTGS. Still working on the formatting and such.)
This is my mono-blue, powered 360. I got the inspiration watching Randy Buehler's "Vintage Super League" series back in 2014, seeing all those countermagic fights over Ancestral Recall and such. I wanted to recreate that feeling, and avoid the typical fighting over blue that usually happens in cube drafts.
Some notes about this format:
- The major archetypes are all represented -- aggro, midrange, control, and combo have a fighting chance.
- Aggro usually takes the form of tempo in this format.
- True removal spells are scarce, but are supplemented by countermagic and theft effects.
- Games are very swingy in the typical Vintage style, sometimes subject to blowouts.
- Passing Conspiracies is a very bad idea
Draft a few decks and let me know what you think!
Quick Facts Cube Size: 360 Powered: YES C Mana: No S Mana: No Conspiracies: Yes Silver-Bordered: No
Updated! A link to the changelog can be found at the CubeTutor link in the OP.
Notably, I finally decided to incorporate the C cards. Aggressive midrange needed a push, and the removal suite needed a buff.
Also, I found out that Deal Broker sucks in this format. Because all of the cards are blue, no one is hurting for playables, and everyone can typically make use of the good stuff they open. In comes Lore Seeker! So far we have not had a full 8-man draft (lots of 2s, 4s, and 6s), so I'm not worried about the extra booster pack just yet.
I drafted up a mono blue list a couple of years go. I remember including only the three non-pro-blue swords in that cube. Seemed like a way to include some powerful equips, but not ruin anyone's fun. Have SoFaI and SoBaM been balanced in your games?
I drafted up a mono blue list a couple of years go. I remember including only the three non-pro-blue swords in that cube. Seemed like a way to include some powerful equips, but not ruin anyone's fun. Have SoFaI and SoBaM been balanced in your games?
I am keeping an eye on them for that very reason. So far the environment has seemed very tempo-oriented, so the Swords are kind of high-risk/high-reward -- spending two turns to play a dude, play a sword, and equip a sword, only to be met with a bounce spell, is backbreaking. I am not sure the other swords give a big enough payoff if you can still turn around and Control Magic their guy.
To date, the only card I have excluded for being too swingy is Llawan, Cephalid Empress. That card was a mistake.
What's been your most memorable match or draft session with this cube?
The most memorable match was actually between two other people in a 4-man draft. One had put together a High Tide Storm combo deck, and the other had built some kind of 50-card Wizard-y Gifts Ungiven control monstrosity that won through Time Walk and Time Warp recursion.
I remember their match going deep into game 3, and both players knew it was going to be a slog. It involved the Storm player casting an early game Mana Severance "for value", trying to figure out how many Islands he was supposed to remove to gain an advantage, without also handicapping himself too much for the countermagic wars that were to come. The game finally went to the Wizard player, when the Storm player decked himself just turns before he could get in lethal damage with his drake tokens from Talrand, Sky Summoner. That Mana Severance, tho!
This was early in the days of my cube, maybe the 2nd or 3rd time we drafted it. There were still a lot of proxies (still are now, but embarrassingly so back then). The Storm guy enjoyed himself so much he contributed a Sol Ring to the cause!
This was early in the days of my cube, maybe the 2nd or 3rd time we drafted it. There were still a lot of proxies (still are now, but embarrassingly so back then). The Storm guy enjoyed himself so much he contributed a Sol Ring to the cause!
Ha. The blue cube I was working on before was intended to be entirely proxies. I had everything built in Magic set editor, with new arts picked out for all of the cards... and then my lap top kicked the bucket.
These includes and cuts promote interactivity and increase the power level overall. It physically pained me to cut Morphling and Tradewind Rider, but it is hard to argue with the relative value of Fleetwheel Cruiser and Arcane Savant.
I drafted up a mono blue list a couple of years go. I remember including only the three non-pro-blue swords in that cube. Seemed like a way to include some powerful equips, but not ruin anyone's fun. Have SoFaI and SoBaM been balanced in your games?
I took out the two Swords yesterday. They were too "binary", in that they either did nothing at all, or they singlehandedly ran away with the game.
Huge changes to the cube, three years in the making.
So this cube had a problem that no one else in my playgroup seemed to notice, and that is that the aggro/tempo archetype was simply too strong. There are many possible decks you could build, but if you drafted cheap fliers plus countermagic, or simply snapped up all the Merfolk in a decent size pool, you were a strong favorite. After dabbling around with a handful of hosers, I realized the problem: creature decks' natural predators are slightly larger creature decks, and my cube did not have enough creatures in general to make that a thing. The limited card pool also meant that creature-light control decks did not have the redundancy of tools to deal with an opponent that would just curve out on turns 1-3 and then sit on countermagic and bounce.
Now the creature count has been upped substantially (roughly 40% of the pool, up from roughly 32%), and supported by more Planeswalkers, many of which make creatures. Now the board state is a bigger focus of the game, and those Skyship Plunderers will rarely go uncontested, and control decks will have enough finishers to close out the game before the opponent rebuilds.
Colorless mana Eldrazi and such are out. Dealing with Wastes was such a pain. Dimensional Infiltrator is still here, but he is good enough anyway even without the last ability.
The Polymorph archetype is gone, along with Blightsteel Colossus. It was simply not strong enough. Show and Tell stays in, though, because it is still randomly good in other decks.
I took the easy route this time, making room for the newer cards by cutting some of their less powerful or less versatile counterparts. I think the new cards fit into a greater variety of decks than those replaced. In particular, Mind's Desire generally fails to impress, even when I am supporting Storm specifically. Echo of Eons feels right at home there, and could go in a handful of other decks just as easily.
I've been trying to build an unpowered mono blue cube, and this list has served as a great jumping-off point. By depowering it, how would the balance between archetypes get affected? I'm trying to keep combo viable without neutering it completely.
The problem with defining this format by what is "fun" is that everyone seems to define fun as what they don't lose to. If you keep losing to easily answered cards, that means you should improve your deck. If you don't want to improve your deck, then you should come to peace with the idea that you are going to lose because you chose to not interact with better strategies.
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This is my mono-blue, powered 360. I got the inspiration watching Randy Buehler's "Vintage Super League" series back in 2014, seeing all those countermagic fights over Ancestral Recall and such. I wanted to recreate that feeling, and avoid the typical fighting over blue that usually happens in cube drafts.
Some notes about this format:
- The major archetypes are all represented -- aggro, midrange, control, and combo have a fighting chance.
- Aggro usually takes the form of tempo in this format.
- True removal spells are scarce, but are supplemented by countermagic and theft effects.
- Games are very swingy in the typical Vintage style, sometimes subject to blowouts.
- Passing Conspiracies is a very bad idea
Draft a few decks and let me know what you think!
Quick Facts
Cube Size: 360
Powered: YES
C Mana: No
S Mana: No
Conspiracies: Yes
Silver-Bordered: No
--> CubeTutor List <--
--> Draft this cube! <--
1x Cloudfin Raptor
1x Cursecatcher
1x Delver of Secrets
1x Enclave Cryptologist
1x Judge's Familiar
1x Martyr of Frost
1x Mausoleum Wanderer
1x Phantasmal Bear
1x Pteramander
1x Rootwater Diver
1x Vedalken Certarch
1x Aphetto Alchemist
1x Augur of Bolas
1x Baral, Chief of Compliance
1x Coralhelm Commander
1x Dandan
1x Dimensional Infiltrator
1x Frost Walker
1x Gilded Drake
1x Glint-Nest Crane
1x Harbinger of the Tides
1x Inkfathom Infiltrator
1x Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
1x Looter il-Kor
1x Lord of Atlantis
1x Master of the Pearl Trident
1x Merfolk Looter
1x Merfolk Trickster
1x Phantasmal Image
1x Rattlechains
1x Rootwater Thief
1x Sea Scryer
1x Silvergill Adept
1x Skyship Plunderer
1x Snapcaster Mage
1x Spiketail Hatchling
1x Stonybrook Banneret
1x Stratus Dancer
1x Sygg, River Cutthroat
1x Thing in the Ice
1x Voidmage Prodigy
1x Warkite Marauder
1x Waterfront Bouncer
1x Wharf Infiltrator
1x Chasm Skulker
1x Cold-Eyed Selkie
1x Exclusion Mage
1x Grand Architect
1x Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
1x Laboratory Maniac
1x Man-o'-War
1x Merfolk Sovereign
1x Merrow Reejerey
1x Nightveil Specter
1x Nimble Obstructionist
1x Patron Wizard
1x Plumeveil
1x Sai, Master Thopterist
1x Sea Drake
1x Sea Gate Oracle
1x Seasinger
1x Serendib Efreet
1x Shorecrasher Elemental
1x Silumgar Sorcerer
1x Spellseeker
1x Spiketail Drakeling
1x Tempest Djinn
1x Thada Adel, Acquisitor
1x Tribute Mage
1x Trinket Mage
1x True-Name Nemesis
1x Vendilion Clique
1x Wake Thrasher
1x Wistful Selkie
1x Esperzoa
1x Master of Etherium
1x Phyrexian Metamorph
1x Thassa, God of the Sea
1x Archaeomancer
1x Dungeon Geists
1x Glen Elendra Archmage
1x God-Eternal Kefnet
1x Master Thief
1x Master of Waves
1x Sower of Temptation
1x Talrand, Sky Summoner
1x Tradewind Rider
1x Urza, Lord High Artificer
1x Venser, Shaper Savant
1x Whirler Rogue
1x Azami, Lady of Scrolls
1x Glyph Keeper
1x Icefall Regent
1x Meloku the Clouded Mirror
1x Mulldrifter
1x Prognostic Sphinx
1x Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1x Aetherling
1x Consecrated Sphinx
1x Dream Eater
1x Frost Titan
1x Sphinx of Jwar Isle
1x Torrential Gearhulk
1x Galecaster Colossus
1x Nezahal, Primal Tide
1x Sphinx of the Final Word
1x Tidespout Tyrant
1x Inkwell Leviathan
1x Hangarback Walker
1x Metallic Mimic
1x Phyrexian Revoker
1x Porcelain Legionnaire
1x Spellskite
1x Adaptive Automaton
1x Etched Champion
1x Metalworker
1x Palladium Myr
1x Masticore
1x Molten-Tail Masticore
1x Karn, Silver Golem
1x Precursor Golem
1x Razormane Masticore
1x Duplicant
1x Steel Hellkite
1x Wurmcoil Engine
1x Aether Searcher
1x Myr Battlesphere
1x Walking Ballista
1x Emrakul, the Promised
1x Force of Will
1x Misdirection
1x Dismember
1x Mutagenic Growth
1x Noxious Revival
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Brainstorm
1x Chain of Vapor
1x Force Spike
1x Gigadrowse
1x High Tide
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Opt
1x Pongify
1x Spell Pierce
1x Spell Snare
1x Arcane Denial
1x Boomerang
1x Brain Freeze
1x Counterspell
1x Cyclonic Rift
1x Daze
1x Gainsay
1x Hurkyl's Recall
1x Impulse
1x Into the Roil
1x Jace's Defeat
1x Mana Drain
1x Mana Leak
1x Memory Lapse
1x Miscalculation
1x Muddle the Mixture
1x Remand
1x Snap
1x Think Twice
1x Unsubstantiate
1x Capsize
1x Complicate
1x Exclude
1x Forbid
1x Frantic Search
1x Psionic Blast
1x Rushing River
1x Supreme Will
1x Thirst for Knowledge
1x Commit // Memory
1x Cryptic Command
1x Dismiss
1x Engulf the Shore
1x Fact or Fiction
1x Gifts Ungiven
1x Ray of Command
1x Turnabout
1x Aetherspouts
1x Gush
1x Mystic Confluence
1x Pact of Negation
1x Power Sink
1x Repeal
1x Blue Sun's Zenith
1x Dig Through Time
1x Dominate
1x Nexus of Fate
1x Pull from Tomorrow
1x Ancestral Vision
1x Ponder
1x Portent
1x Preordain
1x Serum Visions
1x Sleight of Hand
1x Void Snare
1x Chart a Course
1x Ideas Unbound
1x Mana Severance
1x Merchant Scroll
1x Time Walk
1x Transmute Artifact
1x Show and Tell
1x Timetwister
1x Tinker
1x Windfall
1x Deep Analysis
1x Baral's Expertise
1x Thoughtcast
1x Time Warp
1x Echo of Eons
1x Time Spiral
1x Upheaval
1x Treasure Cruise
1x Increasing Confusion
1x Chrome Mox
1x Jeweled Amulet
1x Lotus Petal
1x Mana Crypt
1x Mox Diamond
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Opal
1x Mox Pearl
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Black Vise
1x Bonesplitter
1x Cursed Scroll
1x Mana Vault
1x Pithing Needle
1x Sensei's Divining Top
1x Skullclamp
1x Sol Ring
1x Voltaic Key
1x Chaos Orb
1x Cranial Plating
1x Defense Grid
1x Everflowing Chalice
1x Fellwar Stone
1x Grim Monolith
1x Guardian Idol
1x Isochron Scepter
1x Lightning Greaves
1x Mind Stone
1x Mortarpod
1x Powder Keg
1x Ratchet Bomb
1x Sapphire Medallion
1x Smuggler's Copter
1x Sorcerous Spyglass
1x Sphere of Resistance
1x Time Vault
1x Umezawa's Jitte
1x Winter Orb
1x Coalition Relic
1x Crystal Shard
1x Oblivion Stone
1x Static Orb
1x Tangle Wire
1x Vedalken Shackles
1x Worn Powerstone
1x Fleetwheel Cruiser
1x Icy Manipulator
1x Nevinyrral's Disk
1x Phyrexian Processor
1x Sentinel Tower
1x Thran Dynamo
1x Batterskull
1x Memory Jar
1x Skysovereign, Consul Flagship
1x Mindslaver
1x Genju of the Falls
1x Copy Artifact
1x Ensoul Artifact
1x Legacy's Allure
1x Search for Azcanta
1x Standstill
1x Imprisoned in the Moon
1x Sphinx's Tutelage
1x Threads of Disloyalty
1x Control Magic
1x Opposition
1x Parallax Tide
1x Steal Artifact
1x Future Sight
1x Treachery
1x Mind Over Matter
1x Jace, Cunning Castaway
1x Narset, Parter of Veils
1x Saheeli, Sublime Artificer
1x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1x Karn, Scion of Urza
1x Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
1x Tezzeret the Seeker
1x Tezzeret, Artifice Master
1x Karn Liberated
1x Cogwork Librarian
1x Advantageous Proclamation
1x Backup Plan
1x Brago's Favor
1x Double Stroke
1x Hymn of the Wilds
1x Iterative Analysis
1x Power Play
1x Summoner's Bond
1x Ancient Tomb
1x Blast Zone
1x Blinkmoth Nexus
1x Cavern of Souls
1x City of Traitors
1x Crystal Vein
1x Desert
1x Dust Bowl
1x Faerie Conclave
1x Gemstone Caverns
1x Grasping Dunes
1x Homeward Path
1x Inkmoth Nexus
1x Library of Alexandria
1x Maze of Ith
1x Mishra's Factory
1x Mishra's Workshop
1x Mutavault
1x Riptide Laboratory
1x Rishadan Port
1x Saprazzan Skerry
1x Shelldock Isle
1x Strip Mine
1x Svyelunite Temple
1x The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
1x Tolaria West
1x Tolarian Academy
1x Tower of the Magistrate
1x Wasteland
--> Changelog <--
Draft my Mono-Blue Cube!
lichess.org | chess.com
Notably, I finally decided to incorporate the C cards. Aggressive midrange needed a push, and the removal suite needed a buff.
Also, I found out that Deal Broker sucks in this format. Because all of the cards are blue, no one is hurting for playables, and everyone can typically make use of the good stuff they open. In comes Lore Seeker! So far we have not had a full 8-man draft (lots of 2s, 4s, and 6s), so I'm not worried about the extra booster pack just yet.
Draft my Mono-Blue Cube!
lichess.org | chess.com
"Personally I love high-riak, low-reqars gambles. Life's best with a decent amount of riak. And f*** reqars."
To date, the only card I have excluded for being too swingy is Llawan, Cephalid Empress. That card was a mistake.
Draft my Mono-Blue Cube!
lichess.org | chess.com
"Personally I love high-riak, low-reqars gambles. Life's best with a decent amount of riak. And f*** reqars."
I remember their match going deep into game 3, and both players knew it was going to be a slog. It involved the Storm player casting an early game Mana Severance "for value", trying to figure out how many Islands he was supposed to remove to gain an advantage, without also handicapping himself too much for the countermagic wars that were to come. The game finally went to the Wizard player, when the Storm player decked himself just turns before he could get in lethal damage with his drake tokens from Talrand, Sky Summoner. That Mana Severance, tho!
This was early in the days of my cube, maybe the 2nd or 3rd time we drafted it. There were still a lot of proxies (still are now, but embarrassingly so back then). The Storm guy enjoyed himself so much he contributed a Sol Ring to the cause!
Draft my Mono-Blue Cube!
lichess.org | chess.com
Ha. The blue cube I was working on before was intended to be entirely proxies. I had everything built in Magic set editor, with new arts picked out for all of the cards... and then my lap top kicked the bucket.
"Personally I love high-riak, low-reqars gambles. Life's best with a decent amount of riak. And f*** reqars."
OUT:
- Boseiju, Who Shelters All
- Day's Undoing
- Displacement Wave
- Elixir of Immortality
- Evacuation
- Explosive Apparatus
- Gleemox
- Gossamer Phantasm
- Hall of Triumph
- Jace, Memory Adept
- Karn Liberated
- Magus of the Unseen
- Mindbreak Trap
- Morphling
- Mox Crystal
- Ninja of the Deep Hours
- Sword of Body and Mind
- Sword of Fire and Ice
- Thistledown Liege
- Thorn of Amethyst
- Tradewind Rider
- Warping Wail
IN:These includes and cuts promote interactivity and increase the power level overall. It physically pained me to cut Morphling and Tradewind Rider, but it is hard to argue with the relative value of Fleetwheel Cruiser and Arcane Savant.
I took out the two Swords yesterday. They were too "binary", in that they either did nothing at all, or they singlehandedly ran away with the game.
Draft my Mono-Blue Cube!
lichess.org | chess.com
So this cube had a problem that no one else in my playgroup seemed to notice, and that is that the aggro/tempo archetype was simply too strong. There are many possible decks you could build, but if you drafted cheap fliers plus countermagic, or simply snapped up all the Merfolk in a decent size pool, you were a strong favorite. After dabbling around with a handful of hosers, I realized the problem: creature decks' natural predators are slightly larger creature decks, and my cube did not have enough creatures in general to make that a thing. The limited card pool also meant that creature-light control decks did not have the redundancy of tools to deal with an opponent that would just curve out on turns 1-3 and then sit on countermagic and bounce.
Now the creature count has been upped substantially (roughly 40% of the pool, up from roughly 32%), and supported by more Planeswalkers, many of which make creatures. Now the board state is a bigger focus of the game, and those Skyship Plunderers will rarely go uncontested, and control decks will have enough finishers to close out the game before the opponent rebuilds.
Colorless mana Eldrazi and such are out. Dealing with Wastes was such a pain. Dimensional Infiltrator is still here, but he is good enough anyway even without the last ability.
The Polymorph archetype is gone, along with Blightsteel Colossus. It was simply not strong enough. Show and Tell stays in, though, because it is still randomly good in other decks.
With the extra slots, Storm has more support now with the addition of Saheeli, Sublime Artificer, Sai, Master Thopterist, Sentinel Tower, and Aetherflux Reservoir. Saheeli also works great in artifact aggro and even combos with Time Vault. Card is nuts.
So finally the list is up to date, just in time for Modern Horizons. And what a doozy of a set this is going to be.
Draft my Mono-Blue Cube!
lichess.org | chess.com
Out:
- Negate
- Dissolve
- Traxos, Scourge of Kroog
- Mind's Desire
- Stroke of Genius
- Corrosive Gale
In:
+ Force of Negation
+ Archmage's Charm
+ Urza, Lord High Artificer
+ Echo of Eons
+ Pull from Tomorrow
+ Nexus of Fate
I took the easy route this time, making room for the newer cards by cutting some of their less powerful or less versatile counterparts. I think the new cards fit into a greater variety of decks than those replaced. In particular, Mind's Desire generally fails to impress, even when I am supporting Storm specifically. Echo of Eons feels right at home there, and could go in a handful of other decks just as easily.
I also took the opportunity to upgrade Stroke of Genius to Pull From Tomorrow, which I should have done a long time ago.
Finally, I am testing Nexus of Fate at the request of some of my playgroup. Who knows?
Draft my Mono-Blue Cube!
lichess.org | chess.com
I'm also curious to hear about your thoughts regarding Mystical Dispute, Gadwick, the Wizened, Mystic Sanctuary, and other new ELD stuff.