Basic Informationion Cube Size: 360 Cards at the moment, intend to increase if I can find enough support for more archetypes. Breakdown 43 White, 48 Blue, 46 Black, 42 Read, 41 Green, 105 Multicolored, 35 Colorless Theme: As title suggests, the highest skill ceiling cube possible. How Often Drafted: Being built/updated before all bought in paper.
Card Selection Proxies: No Powered: No Portal: Yes "Un" Cards: No Banned Cards: No
I guess we can start by discussing my history of draft/limited and cubing. I have been playing since Gatecrash and have been to nearly every Pre-Release and me and friends buy Booster Boxes and draft sets, (Killer story drafting RTR-Coldsnap-Time Spiral) and my friend has built his own cube so it got me wanting to make my own. With a few years and a good amount of time card evaluating, deck building, and overall playing these formats, I craved the idea of making the most high skill ceiling cube. The entire premise is that almost every card can be played in a different way and you're not entirely sure you played it correctly five turns down the road. Otherwise, all decisions you intend to make will be extremely tough, not just because you only have one of each card, but because each card can do much. It's to test your ability to be extremely efficient, analyze the best routes of victory on a complicated board state, and to be put into new situations and learn much from them.
Design Philosophy
In the cube, you'll notice I don't have the card Lightning Bolt in it, but I have Chain Lightning and Fiery Temper as one mana, deal three damage. Both are just worst than Bolt, but require more deck synergy or timing to play effectively. Again, the point of the cube isn't to have a super high powered cube as to high skill ceiling; as sometimes these ideas get conflated. High skill ceiling is knowing that in a red mirror, Chain Lightning has the ability to be copied, learning how to take advantage of their copy or timing it to when they can't copy it shows higher skill than just using a Bolt. Same with Fiery Temper, it's more expensive and you want to find ways to cast it for its Madness cost, you'll notice many card synergies that can facilitate Madness.
There are cards that can be argued that are just really good, if not exceptionally great cards by themselves: Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Mother of Runes, Liliana of the Veil, etc.
To that, yes they are extremely powerful cards, but they facilitate options and require some skill to use while a card like Lightning Bolt decisions solely is what is my target?, the ones I use as examples of extremely powerful cards are powerful for their effects yes, but they all have high skill ceilings in the decision process making that they are added. For example Liliana is not just a good black card, but an even better Madness enabler that doesn't just allow you to cast your own madness cards but make them discard cards, giving you card advantage using the madness mechanics, however the downside is they can have their own madness cards that they can use by the Liliana's +1.
Placeholder for the final commit of the deck and updates when new sets come out.
Defined Archetypes
I do plan on adding or hopefully refining archetypes to a point where there is clear direction but not necessarily the only way to play these cards.
Jund Madness: Madness is a mechanic that allows when you are to discard a card with madness, you can pay its madness cost to instead cast it rather than just discarding it. Defining cards include Jaya Ballard, Task Mage, Arrogant Wurm, Pack Rat
Jeskai Twin: Although Splinter Twin is the most common and a very popular combo card in modern, there are other cards to put it onto and other ways to go infinite with those creatures. Defining cards include: Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Sky Hussar, Pestermite
Orzhov Tokens: I wanted to create an archetype that has a unique space in which that uses cards that produce tokens and synergize well with a go-wide strategy. Defining cards include: Teysa, Orzhov Scion, Skeletal Vampire, Lingering Souls
Everything Else
Please be aware that this cube is still a work in progress more than it is ready to be played at the moment. Yes, it's 360 cards and can be played at an 8-man draft, however I am not entirely satisfied with all the cards that are in it. So why am I posting it onto the forums? Well I hope from this I can get archetype ideas or at least flush out archetypes that exist with cards that better fit the archetype. Is there anything I am against adding? No, as long as there is a valid reasoning that you can support for the inclusion of it in the cube to enhance or to at least fit into the idea of the cube, which is to have a higher skill ceiling than most to all other cubes. If there are enough ideas and suggests that I can come up with, or be given I will increase the cube size accordingly. However, when you start adding 90 cards at a time, playing 8-man drafts can start to dilute archetypes by having certain cards not in the draft that might be integral for an archetype(s) to work at a given time. However I believe in the magic community and myself to find a way to sculpt this cube where that isn't an issue as much. Also one last thing, suggestions for removing/changing cards is also something that I do encourage rather than just only suggestions for adding cards/archetypes to the cube.
I hope that you enjoyed that you have read and seen, I do hope to create a larger cube or at least a cube that closer resembles my final goal of the highest skill ceiling possible in magic. The ability to be so versatile was the biggest draw to me for magic, and being able to reflect the highest concentration of it in a single draft would make me so happy.
Hello everyone, my name is Cohner and although not new to Magic, I'm new to the forums. I've been playing since Gatecrash, and I remember getting hooked into the game by opening a Foil Aurelia the first week it was released (I still own it). As a magic player, I find myself almost a primarily Modern and Legacy player who also is into Cubing, and the main reason why I find myself finally coming onto the MTGS Forums is because there is not many places to discuss magic in a greater depth, and I find this place to be a good place to also share brews and my cube. Hope to stay awhile and find my home here.
Basic Informationion
Cube Size: 360 Cards at the moment, intend to increase if I can find enough support for more archetypes.
Breakdown 43 White, 48 Blue, 46 Black, 42 Read, 41 Green, 105 Multicolored, 35 Colorless
Theme: As title suggests, the highest skill ceiling cube possible.
How Often Drafted: Being built/updated before all bought in paper.
Card Selection
Proxies: No
Powered: No
Portal: Yes
"Un" Cards: No
Banned Cards: No
I guess we can start by discussing my history of draft/limited and cubing. I have been playing since Gatecrash and have been to nearly every Pre-Release and me and friends buy Booster Boxes and draft sets, (Killer story drafting RTR-Coldsnap-Time Spiral) and my friend has built his own cube so it got me wanting to make my own. With a few years and a good amount of time card evaluating, deck building, and overall playing these formats, I craved the idea of making the most high skill ceiling cube. The entire premise is that almost every card can be played in a different way and you're not entirely sure you played it correctly five turns down the road. Otherwise, all decisions you intend to make will be extremely tough, not just because you only have one of each card, but because each card can do much. It's to test your ability to be extremely efficient, analyze the best routes of victory on a complicated board state, and to be put into new situations and learn much from them.
Design Philosophy
In the cube, you'll notice I don't have the card Lightning Bolt in it, but I have Chain Lightning and Fiery Temper as one mana, deal three damage. Both are just worst than Bolt, but require more deck synergy or timing to play effectively. Again, the point of the cube isn't to have a super high powered cube as to high skill ceiling; as sometimes these ideas get conflated. High skill ceiling is knowing that in a red mirror, Chain Lightning has the ability to be copied, learning how to take advantage of their copy or timing it to when they can't copy it shows higher skill than just using a Bolt. Same with Fiery Temper, it's more expensive and you want to find ways to cast it for its Madness cost, you'll notice many card synergies that can facilitate Madness.
There are cards that can be argued that are just really good, if not exceptionally great cards by themselves: Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Mother of Runes, Liliana of the Veil, etc.
To that, yes they are extremely powerful cards, but they facilitate options and require some skill to use while a card like Lightning Bolt decisions solely is what is my target?, the ones I use as examples of extremely powerful cards are powerful for their effects yes, but they all have high skill ceilings in the decision process making that they are added. For example Liliana is not just a good black card, but an even better Madness enabler that doesn't just allow you to cast your own madness cards but make them discard cards, giving you card advantage using the madness mechanics, however the downside is they can have their own madness cards that they can use by the Liliana's +1.
The Cube on Cube Tutor
Placeholder for the final commit of the deck and updates when new sets come out.
Defined Archetypes
I do plan on adding or hopefully refining archetypes to a point where there is clear direction but not necessarily the only way to play these cards.
U/G/x Trade Routes: For those who've never seen or played the card Trade Routes, using lands to draw cards and to return lands onto the battlefield facilitate Landfall and Life from the Loam strategies. Defining cards include Roil Elemental, Terravore, Avenger of Zendikar.
Jund Madness: Madness is a mechanic that allows when you are to discard a card with madness, you can pay its madness cost to instead cast it rather than just discarding it. Defining cards include Jaya Ballard, Task Mage, Arrogant Wurm, Pack Rat
Jeskai Twin: Although Splinter Twin is the most common and a very popular combo card in modern, there are other cards to put it onto and other ways to go infinite with those creatures. Defining cards include: Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Sky Hussar, Pestermite
Orzhov Tokens: I wanted to create an archetype that has a unique space in which that uses cards that produce tokens and synergize well with a go-wide strategy. Defining cards include: Teysa, Orzhov Scion, Skeletal Vampire, Lingering Souls
Everything Else
Please be aware that this cube is still a work in progress more than it is ready to be played at the moment. Yes, it's 360 cards and can be played at an 8-man draft, however I am not entirely satisfied with all the cards that are in it. So why am I posting it onto the forums? Well I hope from this I can get archetype ideas or at least flush out archetypes that exist with cards that better fit the archetype. Is there anything I am against adding? No, as long as there is a valid reasoning that you can support for the inclusion of it in the cube to enhance or to at least fit into the idea of the cube, which is to have a higher skill ceiling than most to all other cubes. If there are enough ideas and suggests that I can come up with, or be given I will increase the cube size accordingly. However, when you start adding 90 cards at a time, playing 8-man drafts can start to dilute archetypes by having certain cards not in the draft that might be integral for an archetype(s) to work at a given time. However I believe in the magic community and myself to find a way to sculpt this cube where that isn't an issue as much. Also one last thing, suggestions for removing/changing cards is also something that I do encourage rather than just only suggestions for adding cards/archetypes to the cube.
I hope that you enjoyed that you have read and seen, I do hope to create a larger cube or at least a cube that closer resembles my final goal of the highest skill ceiling possible in magic. The ability to be so versatile was the biggest draw to me for magic, and being able to reflect the highest concentration of it in a single draft would make me so happy.