I have been the hunt for another Liliana for this cube and I just got a Liliana Vess so I'll make that switch. Juggernaut has just been in there forever and could probably be replaced. I like him as a colorless creature but he is more a nostalgia pick than anything. When I figure out a better artifact creature he will probably go.
hey geb, first time visiting ur thread and would like to say that this is a terific idea!! a traveling cube easy to carry and adjust for ever big or small travel!!
i am really considering doing one same as well along with the regular 450 powered and foiled i got!!
thanks for sharing ur idea keep it up man!!
For a long time I didn't think anyone was reading this, but I figured it was a good way for me to document changes and work my way through getting my cube "right" (whatever that is).
I LOVE that recently small cube conversations seem to be taking off both here and on Reddit in /r/mtgcube - it's great that we have a small group of cube folks building 180s now! Thanks for reading and welcome to the insanity!
Btw Geb, I was also curious how you generally draft your cube. I presume 90 cards for 2-man Winston/Winchestor. What do you do for 3 man? Or 4 man? My current thought is stick to Winston or Winchester for 3-man and play a multiplayer game after the draft. 4-man I was thinking normal drafting might start working and you could play multiplayer or swiss style mini-tournament. What have you been doing?
For two man we go between Winston and Winchester or Grid Drafting. For three and four man we do traditional 3 pack drafts and that seems to work out pretty good. I answered your other question over in your cube thread, and I am thrilled other folks are finding that a 180 card cube can be fun. When I started this most cubers just thought I was nuts ;). They are probably right, but persistence has given me a combination of.cards that works for our group. Whenever I make one of those hard "180 cube cuts" I just remember that I can still run the card in my 450.
Even if folks don't play their 180 I feel like it makes a great skeleton for a 360 and really taught me the fundamentals of cube building.
Glad that you have fixed the problem! I have just found most gold cards to be dead drafts when we do a traditional 3 pack draft, but the additional cards would probably straighten this out a bit as well. 180 card cubes are always a series of tough choices.
If you can't find a City of Brass wait a few weeks and grab a Mana Confluence - almost the same card and should be easier to nail down
I just wanted you to know that I've kept tabs on this cube for several months now, and that I appreciate that you keep posting here with updates! I haven't actually been able to try it myself, but I hope to within a few days. So just remember that at least one person does keep visiting this thread ♥
Glad you are getting value out of the thread - I have had a lot of fun with this little cube! I think I enjoy tweaking its contents as much as I do playing it
I run Timetwister in my unpowered Travel Cube - it's never felt unbalanced with it in decks. We find it fun and since I had one I decided why the heck not play it?
I think at first glance you are going to have to drastically reduce the number of cards in your multicolor section of your cube. Coming off of the Ravnica block everyone is pumped about the guilds and their identities - but 40 is a really tough number to slot. You are stifling the archetypes and strengths of the colors and their roles. I only run 10 in my 180 and 10 dual lands. Pull 30 of the multicolor and use them to strengthen he archetypes you want to see "strong" in each color. Add a couple more color fixing lands that can be used by any color - like City of Brass to get your color fixing up to 10. That will give back 28 card slots. Give 5 cards back to each color and use the last three for artifacts. If you do this I think that alone will go a long way to giving you two color decks when the draft hits.
Think about being half way through the draft with two colors chosen for your deck - depending on the draft the odds say that there are 18 dead cards and up to potentially 36 left that you are going to sideboard or be forced to splash a third color to support.
As far as specifics, I usually tell people to focus on cards with more than one use depending on the situation. The command cycle is a great example - Primal, Cryptic, Profane are the three I would consider. These can be pricey so maybe try and trade for them. Bow of Nylea is another good example that may be more budget friendly. Creatures with ETB effects are important as well, but it looks like you have that covered pretty well.
I think you are closer than you think. Play with the multicolor section and let me know.
The 100 life total thing just screams "it's a trap" to me. I'm not saying its a bad card. It would be awesome to crack this in a pre-release type environment - and I'm sure casuals and kids will love it for the splashiness. I wanted to like this card but I must be getting better at evaluating for my cube because I just see it as a 50.00 foil money sink that will ultimately end up in my on deck binder.
Well my all foil cube has a bunch of both. I tend to buy the art that I like the best, but I do have some "rules" I try to buy by.
In general if a card has iconic art, I tend to side with that. I have been playing since beta, so for me the iconic art is usually the original art. However if I can't stand the art, or the card isn't really that old (say a FNM reprint of a card still in standard) I tend to pick the one I like best with the preference toward the promo.
My cube is kind of screwy to most because I don't put any non-foils in the cube, so if the card has only been foiled once - say in a from the vault set - then that's the one I'm stuck with
I have been playing Magic since beta and I have never thought about deck construction in quite this way. It really makes you analyze what you are pulling from the pack. That being said, my group hardly ever plays more than a two color deck so I like most of the cards in my cube despite the hard realities. Maybe my group, which is totally casual, is more for the greedy splashy spells that the on curve players.
It does make me happy that I made the right choice with including the vivid lands. They really shored up my mana fixing since foil fetch lands are still too expensive for their inclusion -- c'mon reprint!
B
Liliana Vess -----> Liliana of the Veil
For a long time I didn't think anyone was reading this, but I figured it was a good way for me to document changes and work my way through getting my cube "right" (whatever that is).
I LOVE that recently small cube conversations seem to be taking off both here and on Reddit in /r/mtgcube - it's great that we have a small group of cube folks building 180s now! Thanks for reading and welcome to the insanity!
For two man we go between Winston and Winchester or Grid Drafting. For three and four man we do traditional 3 pack drafts and that seems to work out pretty good. I answered your other question over in your cube thread, and I am thrilled other folks are finding that a 180 card cube can be fun. When I started this most cubers just thought I was nuts ;). They are probably right, but persistence has given me a combination of.cards that works for our group. Whenever I make one of those hard "180 cube cuts" I just remember that I can still run the card in my 450.
Even if folks don't play their 180 I feel like it makes a great skeleton for a 360 and really taught me the fundamentals of cube building.
If you can't find a City of Brass wait a few weeks and grab a Mana Confluence - almost the same card and should be easier to nail down
Glad you are getting value out of the thread - I have had a lot of fun with this little cube! I think I enjoy tweaking its contents as much as I do playing it
I think at first glance you are going to have to drastically reduce the number of cards in your multicolor section of your cube. Coming off of the Ravnica block everyone is pumped about the guilds and their identities - but 40 is a really tough number to slot. You are stifling the archetypes and strengths of the colors and their roles. I only run 10 in my 180 and 10 dual lands. Pull 30 of the multicolor and use them to strengthen he archetypes you want to see "strong" in each color. Add a couple more color fixing lands that can be used by any color - like City of Brass to get your color fixing up to 10. That will give back 28 card slots. Give 5 cards back to each color and use the last three for artifacts. If you do this I think that alone will go a long way to giving you two color decks when the draft hits.
Think about being half way through the draft with two colors chosen for your deck - depending on the draft the odds say that there are 18 dead cards and up to potentially 36 left that you are going to sideboard or be forced to splash a third color to support.
As far as specifics, I usually tell people to focus on cards with more than one use depending on the situation. The command cycle is a great example - Primal, Cryptic, Profane are the three I would consider. These can be pricey so maybe try and trade for them. Bow of Nylea is another good example that may be more budget friendly. Creatures with ETB effects are important as well, but it looks like you have that covered pretty well.
I think you are closer than you think. Play with the multicolor section and let me know.
The 100 life total thing just screams "it's a trap" to me. I'm not saying its a bad card. It would be awesome to crack this in a pre-release type environment - and I'm sure casuals and kids will love it for the splashiness. I wanted to like this card but I must be getting better at evaluating for my cube because I just see it as a 50.00 foil money sink that will ultimately end up in my on deck binder.
Dark Confidant -----> Knight of Imfamy
Woo Hoo! Foil with the original Bob art!
In general if a card has iconic art, I tend to side with that. I have been playing since beta, so for me the iconic art is usually the original art. However if I can't stand the art, or the card isn't really that old (say a FNM reprint of a card still in standard) I tend to pick the one I like best with the preference toward the promo.
My cube is kind of screwy to most because I don't put any non-foils in the cube, so if the card has only been foiled once - say in a from the vault set - then that's the one I'm stuck with
I have most of the foils in my cube tagged on cube tutor if you are interested to see my choices. http://cubetutor.com/viewcube/744
Really in the end, get whatever makes you happy.
U
Spellskite -----> Sea Gate Oracle
B
Chainer's Edict -----> Doom Blade
G
Garruk Wildspeaker -----> Garruk, Primal Hunter
It does make me happy that I made the right choice with including the vivid lands. They really shored up my mana fixing since foil fetch lands are still too expensive for their inclusion -- c'mon reprint!
-- Geb --