If you're getting four copies of each card from Zendikar, that's an awesome deal and a great way to start your cube.
If you're getting one copy of each common card and uncommon card from the Zendikar set, you'll have 161 cards. This is good for two people doing a winston draft, but for 8 players, you would want at least 360 cards.
I want to explore the possibility of running this guy.
In a 360 unpowered cube with no real 'tribal' theme, I already run a few creature lords that are good on their own (Lord of Lineage and Siege-Gang Commander), and black and red have a lot of good vampires, goblins and zombies as a result of the last few sets, which makes Adaptive Automaton attractive as a 'wild card' lord.
In a normal cube with no themes, this guy could be set to supporting Humans, Vampires, Zombies or Goblins and pump a decent number of creatures, and he also supports token strategies.
Lastly, it would help a new player sit down and draft a linear strategy without needing to be well-versed in all of the different synergies available in a cube.
Vaevictis Asmadi is very playable - the upkeep cost means that he can't be pacified or stolen by decks that don't share your colors, and he can kill in one/two hits if you want to go all in with him.
The "safety first" cube: Lord of the Pit and any other finisher that tries to damage its controller, Earthquake, Hurricane and everyone gets a copy of each circle of protection in addition to their draft pool.
Any advice on substitutions I should make? Also, if you had to choose: FTV or Judge Balance?
Also, I need to find room for: Land Tax, Vendilion Clique, Sower of Temptation, Duals and Shocklands (I'll have a complete set of shocks when Gatecrash rolls around. They're too expensive at present). Opinions would also be appreciated.
Maybe you could have cube-specific errata for Constant Mists to the effect of "You lose the match in twenty minutes from the time you first play this card"? It could be applied to Sensei's Divining Top and Scroll Rack, as well.
In general: make sure that your aggro has plenty of burn, mana denial, or whatever you can do to seriously disrupt mana development around turn four, in addition to a critical mass of cheap face beaters. (Source: http://www.wizards.com/sideboard/article.asp?x=sb20010607a)
In this specific case: despite the presence of fun cards like the dryad from RTR and the watchwolf from Ravnica, I wouldn't be 100% sure that aggro is really a 'thing' in the format you're trying to build. What I've read on Ravnica suggests that it was a very control-heavy format (something like, "it was a stately affair, something-three-color-something, Tidespout Tyrant"), and RTR isn't a lightning-fast format either.
Thus, Ravnica and Return to Ravnica cube = a fairly slow format.
Thanks for stopping by, even if you're not enjoying the series as its written
I think we differ in our readings of the text: I know that the strategies you're advocating are valid because they're the strategies I use, and the positions you're opposing aren't ones I'm defending.
This thread is for the discussion of my latest article, The Art of War and Magic - Chapter 11. We would be grateful if you would let us know what you think, but please keep your comments on topic.
A word of warning: I started off about two years ago with a cube made only out of stuff I had 'lying around'. Now ~1/3rd of my cube is foiled, and I'm in talks with my wife to get the Power 9 in some form before we try for kids. Cube budgets are a pretty slippery slope.
If you're getting one copy of each common card and uncommon card from the Zendikar set, you'll have 161 cards. This is good for two people doing a winston draft, but for 8 players, you would want at least 360 cards.
(EDIT - aaand some several other people beat me to it )
I want to explore the possibility of running this guy.
In a 360 unpowered cube with no real 'tribal' theme, I already run a few creature lords that are good on their own (Lord of Lineage and Siege-Gang Commander), and black and red have a lot of good vampires, goblins and zombies as a result of the last few sets, which makes Adaptive Automaton attractive as a 'wild card' lord.
In a normal cube with no themes, this guy could be set to supporting Humans, Vampires, Zombies or Goblins and pump a decent number of creatures, and he also supports token strategies.
Lastly, it would help a new player sit down and draft a linear strategy without needing to be well-versed in all of the different synergies available in a cube.
Thoughts?
*EDIT - D'oh, wrong subforum! My apologies
Any advice on substitutions I should make? Also, if you had to choose: FTV or Judge Balance?
Also, I need to find room for: Land Tax, Vendilion Clique, Sower of Temptation, Duals and Shocklands (I'll have a complete set of shocks when Gatecrash rolls around. They're too expensive at present). Opinions would also be appreciated.
Channel + equipment and equip costs.
Skipping your first land drop when you're playing a reanimator deck on the draw can be sick tech.
Knowing what cards play nicely with Stax.
In this specific case: despite the presence of fun cards like the dryad from RTR and the watchwolf from Ravnica, I wouldn't be 100% sure that aggro is really a 'thing' in the format you're trying to build. What I've read on Ravnica suggests that it was a very control-heavy format (something like, "it was a stately affair, something-three-color-something, Tidespout Tyrant"), and RTR isn't a lightning-fast format either.
Thus, Ravnica and Return to Ravnica cube = a fairly slow format.
I think we differ in our readings of the text: I know that the strategies you're advocating are valid because they're the strategies I use, and the positions you're opposing aren't ones I'm defending.