It really is the nice thing about having my entire cube proxied. I don't really care about theft or the cards getting scuffed up.
I'm actually currently working on another cube that is built to be so budget that sleeves don't make sense. I just bought 120 cards for it last night and it was $10 shipped.
I didnt know if the green agro decks take advantage of mana dorks to accelerate into turn 3. I also normally find swords too slow for the sligh style strategies but dorks might help with that.
Artifacts: Triskelion and Juggernaut are two auto includes in your artifact section. Cathodion, Bottle Gnomes, Suchi (out of your price range). Not sure about it's price but Manticore was an absolute house for years. could help bolster that section.I would also add Serrated Arrows.
White. Savannah Lions is missing. Suntail Hawk would be another decent 1 drop. In a 360 card cube you probably want 5-6 white one drop creatures. Soltari Trooper, Soltari Priest, and Soltari Monk would make some unblockable creatures in your white aggressive strategies. I would play Exile and Pacifism for two more creature removal spells. I always liked youthful knight. It's cheap and a quality baseline creature.
Blue: Brainstorm and Mana Leak are auto includes even in modern cubes. Zuran Spellcaster is a strictly better Capricious Sorcerer. This is a format slow enough where Capsize would be good. So you should get all up in that capsize. Man, I forgot how good Future Sight was in older cubes. Fog Bank has been the stone cold nuts in my bohemian cube. Waterfront Bouncer and Tradewind Rider are probably worth playing too. Morphling is about double what you want to spend on a card but it's one of the best creatures printed until well into the modern era of cards. Faerie Conclave would be at home in blue.
Black: I like Pesilence more than Hecatomb. Much easier to cast. Hypnotic Specter is too good to pass. You should also be playing Dark Ritual. I have never seen Do or Die before. That card is cool. Phyrexian Rager and Phyrexian Arena are good draw spells for this era. Arena is still played.
Red: Squee, Goblin Naboo has game in your cube. You should be playing more Red 1 drops. Jackal Pup and Goblin Patrol are immediate cards I would look at. Mogg Flunkies would probably be worth it too. If you can get one a Chain LIghtning would be great. Volcanic Hammer is better than it looks. I'd probably play Shivan Dragon too.
Green: Wall of Blossoms is the best friend of Wall of Roots. Utopia Tree would probably be decent if you need another mana dork. Yavimaya Elder is verry good. I like Thorn Elemental and Verdant force more than your other super fatties. Untamed Kavu in Dominiria has really proved to me how good Kavu Titan use to be. Wild Mongrel is good. Deranged Hermit is an expensive card by your standards. But if you ever wanted to splurge it would never leave your list. Treetop Village is traditionaly slotted as a green card during cube construction.
Multicolor: I would probably go down to three cards per alied multicolor section and 2 per enemy color section. It would probably look something like this.
Lands
I'd play 10 revised duals (since you already have them) 10 pain lands, 5 Mirage Fetchlands (Upgrade to onslaught if you ever can), and 5 other duals.
I'd also include City of Brass, Grand Coliseum, Gemstone Mine, Ancient Tomb, Strip Mine, Mishra's Factory,
-Trickster Mage
-Careful Study
-Stormtide Leviathan
+Remand
+Scry Bird
+Scourge of Fleets
-Pack Rat
-Nidorious Imp
-Withered Wretch
-Underworld Dreams
+Rat King
+Black Cat
+Pit Keeper
+Splendid Agony
-Gamble
-Kiln Fiend
+Burst Lightning
+Torch Fiend
-Essence Warden
-Gravetiller Wurm
+Wild Nacatl
+Great Oak Guardian (Modified)
-Crucible of Worlds
-Ring of Invisibility
+Signal Pest
+Short Sword
-Anyobo
+Drana's Emissary
Explantions:
-Worship cycled between being useless and making games feel terrible.
-Charge never saw play
-Doomed Traveler was the one drop that saw the least play. Could easily see this returning.
+Icatian Javelinner: Thought of a nifty way to word this and want to give it a chance.
+Benalish Elite:Wanted to give provoke a try. Earlier version had banding and that seemed stupid.
+Raise the Alarm: Simple token maker. Turned into a new card to use the same token as Town Crier.
-Trickester Mage/Stormtide Leviathan/Careful Study: First two never saw play. This a reminent of an earlier version of the cube which was much more archetype focused and Reanimator was a key part of black's identity.
+Reamand: Wanted another counterspell.
+Raven Familiar: Upgraded Flying Men. A Familiar giving you information is pretty flavorful too.
+Scourge of Fleets: I still want a big ocean creature in the set. Tidal Kraken would be my next try.
-Pack Rat: Was way too powerful.
-Nidorious Imp: Reanimator hold out.
-Withered Wretch: Was suppose to be a foil for the reanimator deck.
-Underworld Dreams: Never saw play
+Rat King: More balanced Pack Rat. I still want to represent Plague Rats though.
+Black Cat: Seems like a simple effect. Giving it a chance.
+Pit Keeper: Aggressive 2 drop that does something if you see it late game.
+Splendid Agony. I don't have -1/-1 counters really represented in my cube.
-Gamble: Saw no play. I was including it mostly to have a white,blue,black,red, and green 1 drop tutor.
-Kiln Fiend: Never could get the oops spell deck to work.
+Burst Lightning: Felt like I needed another burn spell or two. Starting here. It's hard to find burn spells that can co-exist with lightning bolt.
+Torch Fiend: Needed another artifact removal spell in red.
-Essence Warden: Saw zero play.
-Gravetiller Wurm: I had dreams of natural ordering into this.As an 8/8 it would be the largest creature in the cube.
+Wild Nacatl: Currently have Kird Ape. will probably add loam lion at some point.
+Mosswood Treefolk: I didn't have a treefolk in cube. Plays well in the mana dork ramp strategy.
-Crucible of Worlds: This is one of my favorite magic cards. I never found myself wanting to slot this into a deck. Could come back.
-Ring of Invisbility. Equipment that doesn't boost power is a tough sell. Darksteel Plate might not be far behind.
+Signal Pest: All my artifact creatures have been great. Decided to try adding in another one.
+Short Sword: About as simple as equipment can get. We will see if +1/+1 is enough of a bonus.
Starting to work on expanding this. I would like to be eventally be able to get it up to 450 cards with a decent amount of cards to switch in and out depending on my whims.
Pick an art (The I in Icatian has been capitalized in my file.)
I'm thinking of adding the following cards into an on deck binder. Anyone have any additional suggestions?
Loam Lion
Deftblade Elite (Minus prevention ability)
Akrassan Squire (renamed Benelish squire)
Mistral Charger
Kor Hookmaster
Alaborn Cavalier
3/3 flyer for 3W (how does a clean version of that not exist?)
Spirit LInk
Raise the Alarm
1/1 Scry 2(?) bird for U
SOme leviathan/octopus/kraken in Stormtide Leviathans slot.
Remand
Dismiss
Desertion
Faerie Conclave
Rat King
Inquisition of Kozilek (Yawgamoth?)
Languish
Chandra's Outrage (New name)
Fire Imp
Torch Fiend
Chandra's Phoenix (new name)
Monastery Swiftspear
Burst Lightning
1. Someone at some point made a ABU and a Arabian/Antiquities/legends/dark template for photoshop. I used that to make the entire set.
2. Painted a few cards myself (psychatog, stoneforge mystic, and pack rat) But mostly got the art from deviant art. I have seen so much weird porn due to this project. Really that website should be burned to the ground.
3. I and another guy did most of the wording. We frequented gatherer a ton to review old card wording and tried to parse what we could.
After the Space: The Convergence cube got taken down I've been very hesitant with sharing the card renders from my cube. I've been worried about a C&D from wotc. Especially, besides the three arts that I painted for this set, I didn't get permission from anyone to use their art on these cards.
If you are interested in drafting the thing I am going to be at GP Milwaukee with the cube and will be holding drafts.
Current design says counterspell is too cheap but cancel is too expensive. The effect should cost 1/2UU but 1/2 mana doesn't really exist. This is an attempt to bridge the gap between two and three.
White:
My four drops are terrible. I like wall of reverence. dislike Daybreak Elemental and Coalition Honor-Guard
I want to cut worship. It leads to too many games where it comes down turn 3-4 and opponent just picks up their deck. Friend suggested color-shifted Ali from Cairo in this slot.
Avenging Angel could be something else and I don't think anyone would miss it.
Mother of Runes is on the edge of too good. Possibly change it to work similar to Story Circle
Blue:
Possibly could use another counterspell.
Invisible Stalker has some of the same problems it had in it's original draft format. Might be ok or maybe give it an autumn willow way for opponent to turn off it's hexproof.
Stormtide Leviathan could be cut no problem.
I'm still not smart enough to play gifts ungiven.
Dungeon Geist is a prefect card in this format.
Black
Dark Night of the Soul randomly being a world enchantment mattered in a game.
Pack Rat: Yeah it's too good here like it was in Rav. Thinking of changing it to
Rat King 1B
Creature - Rat
~'s p/t is equal to the number of rats you control.
2B, T, Discard a card: Create a black rat token with "this creature's p/t are equal to the number of rats you control.
*/*
Red
Red could use another burn spell (maybe two)
I find myself being very hesitant about playing any of the RR creatures. I'm not sure if that's just me being too worried about the casting cost or not.
Gamble could be cut.
Goblin War Marshal could be Goblin Instigator. It's simpler.
Green
My ramp package is working well. I like how none of them work the same as each other.
Essence Warden could be cut.
Untamed Kavu has been great.
Gravetiller Wurm is lackluster as a ramp target.
Exploration is terrible it it's not in your opening 7.
Multicolor
Dual land selection is fine
Agony Warp, Fires of Yavimaya could be a stronger card.
I'm a little unconfortable with Aonyobo being such a custom card. Most of my other ones are just slight tweeks on existing magic cards.
Edric, Brion, and Olivia have been game defining cards in the games they have been played. I want my gold to b be rare but important. I could almost see going down to just 1 per guild. But I like having a creature and spell in each guild so I'll probalby keep it the same. Doubt I would expand this section if I expanded the cube overall.
Colorless
Not sure if Crucible has enough shinanigans
Ring of Invisibility (Whispersilk cloak) has been week.
All the artifact creatures see play. Could see adding in another 1-2.
Automaton is on the edge of too good. Every deck seems to be willing to play it.
Zhalfirin Void has been surprisingly decent.
Overall:
I like most of my invented cards (minus daybreak elemental)
I'm happy with how this is turning out. After watching GP Vegas's beta draft, my cube does not emulate that. I would have to scale back considerably on what my creatures do. Remove almost all of the token cards and load up on vanilla and french vanilla creatures. Things like turning Thalia, Accorder Palaidn, and Selfless Spirit into Youthful Knight, Knight of New Benalia, and mistral charger. In order to do that I would have to be able to understand the format well enough to consider merits of a third or fourth power on a vanilla creature and I don't have the playtesting time available to me to do that properly. Nor am I certain I want to do that.
My favorite card of all time is Stoneforge Mystic. I have done really well in legacy with it. Hell I even have a playset altered to be the ninja turtles.
I'm actually currently working on another cube that is built to be so budget that sleeves don't make sense. I just bought 120 cards for it last night and it was $10 shipped.
Artifacts: Triskelion and Juggernaut are two auto includes in your artifact section. Cathodion, Bottle Gnomes, Suchi (out of your price range). Not sure about it's price but Manticore was an absolute house for years. could help bolster that section.I would also add Serrated Arrows.
White. Savannah Lions is missing. Suntail Hawk would be another decent 1 drop. In a 360 card cube you probably want 5-6 white one drop creatures. Soltari Trooper, Soltari Priest, and Soltari Monk would make some unblockable creatures in your white aggressive strategies. I would play Exile and Pacifism for two more creature removal spells. I always liked youthful knight. It's cheap and a quality baseline creature.
Blue: Brainstorm and Mana Leak are auto includes even in modern cubes. Zuran Spellcaster is a strictly better Capricious Sorcerer. This is a format slow enough where Capsize would be good. So you should get all up in that capsize. Man, I forgot how good Future Sight was in older cubes. Fog Bank has been the stone cold nuts in my bohemian cube. Waterfront Bouncer and Tradewind Rider are probably worth playing too. Morphling is about double what you want to spend on a card but it's one of the best creatures printed until well into the modern era of cards. Faerie Conclave would be at home in blue.
Black: I like Pesilence more than Hecatomb. Much easier to cast. Hypnotic Specter is too good to pass. You should also be playing Dark Ritual. I have never seen Do or Die before. That card is cool. Phyrexian Rager and Phyrexian Arena are good draw spells for this era. Arena is still played.
Red: Squee, Goblin Naboo has game in your cube. You should be playing more Red 1 drops. Jackal Pup and Goblin Patrol are immediate cards I would look at. Mogg Flunkies would probably be worth it too. If you can get one a Chain LIghtning would be great. Volcanic Hammer is better than it looks. I'd probably play Shivan Dragon too.
Green: Wall of Blossoms is the best friend of Wall of Roots. Utopia Tree would probably be decent if you need another mana dork. Yavimaya Elder is verry good. I like Thorn Elemental and Verdant force more than your other super fatties. Untamed Kavu in Dominiria has really proved to me how good Kavu Titan use to be. Wild Mongrel is good. Deranged Hermit is an expensive card by your standards. But if you ever wanted to splurge it would never leave your list. Treetop Village is traditionaly slotted as a green card during cube construction.
Multicolor: I would probably go down to three cards per alied multicolor section and 2 per enemy color section. It would probably look something like this.
Teferi's Moat, Iridescent Angel, Absorb
Psychatog, Shadowmage Infiltrator, Recoil
Terminate, Pyre Zombies, Void
Kird Ape, Hull Breach, Raging Kavu
Armadillo Cloak, Mystic Enforcer, something else
Vindicate, Desolation Angel
Spiritmonger, Pernicious Deed
Mystic Snake, Temporal Spring
Fire//Ice, Prophetic Bolt
Goblin Legionaire, Goblin Trenches
Lands
I'd play 10 revised duals (since you already have them) 10 pain lands, 5 Mirage Fetchlands (Upgrade to onslaught if you ever can), and 5 other duals.
I'd also include City of Brass, Grand Coliseum, Gemstone Mine, Ancient Tomb, Strip Mine, Mishra's Factory,
-Charge
-Doomed Traveler
+Icatian Javelinner
+Benalish Elite
+Raise the Alarm
-Trickster Mage
-Careful Study
-Stormtide Leviathan
+Remand
+Scry Bird
+Scourge of Fleets
-Pack Rat
-Nidorious Imp
-Withered Wretch
-Underworld Dreams
+Rat King
+Black Cat
+Pit Keeper
+Splendid Agony
-Gamble
-Kiln Fiend
+Burst Lightning
+Torch Fiend
-Essence Warden
-Gravetiller Wurm
+Wild Nacatl
+Great Oak Guardian (Modified)
-Crucible of Worlds
-Ring of Invisibility
+Signal Pest
+Short Sword
-Anyobo
+Drana's Emissary
Explantions:
-Worship cycled between being useless and making games feel terrible.
-Charge never saw play
-Doomed Traveler was the one drop that saw the least play. Could easily see this returning.
+Icatian Javelinner: Thought of a nifty way to word this and want to give it a chance.
+Benalish Elite:Wanted to give provoke a try. Earlier version had banding and that seemed stupid.
+Raise the Alarm: Simple token maker. Turned into a new card to use the same token as Town Crier.
-Trickester Mage/Stormtide Leviathan/Careful Study: First two never saw play. This a reminent of an earlier version of the cube which was much more archetype focused and Reanimator was a key part of black's identity.
+Reamand: Wanted another counterspell.
+Raven Familiar: Upgraded Flying Men. A Familiar giving you information is pretty flavorful too.
+Scourge of Fleets: I still want a big ocean creature in the set. Tidal Kraken would be my next try.
-Pack Rat: Was way too powerful.
-Nidorious Imp: Reanimator hold out.
-Withered Wretch: Was suppose to be a foil for the reanimator deck.
-Underworld Dreams: Never saw play
+Rat King: More balanced Pack Rat. I still want to represent Plague Rats though.
+Black Cat: Seems like a simple effect. Giving it a chance.
+Pit Keeper: Aggressive 2 drop that does something if you see it late game.
+Splendid Agony. I don't have -1/-1 counters really represented in my cube.
-Gamble: Saw no play. I was including it mostly to have a white,blue,black,red, and green 1 drop tutor.
-Kiln Fiend: Never could get the oops spell deck to work.
+Burst Lightning: Felt like I needed another burn spell or two. Starting here. It's hard to find burn spells that can co-exist with lightning bolt.
+Torch Fiend: Needed another artifact removal spell in red.
-Essence Warden: Saw zero play.
-Gravetiller Wurm: I had dreams of natural ordering into this.As an 8/8 it would be the largest creature in the cube.
+Wild Nacatl: Currently have Kird Ape. will probably add loam lion at some point.
+Mosswood Treefolk: I didn't have a treefolk in cube. Plays well in the mana dork ramp strategy.
-Crucible of Worlds: This is one of my favorite magic cards. I never found myself wanting to slot this into a deck. Could come back.
-Ring of Invisbility. Equipment that doesn't boost power is a tough sell. Darksteel Plate might not be far behind.
+Signal Pest: All my artifact creatures have been great. Decided to try adding in another one.
+Short Sword: About as simple as equipment can get. We will see if +1/+1 is enough of a bonus.
No
Benalish Elite W
Creature - Soldier
Banding, Provoke
1/1
Pick an art (The I in Icatian has been capitalized in my file.)
I'm thinking of adding the following cards into an on deck binder. Anyone have any additional suggestions?
Loam Lion
Deftblade Elite (Minus prevention ability)
Akrassan Squire (renamed Benelish squire)
Mistral Charger
Kor Hookmaster
Alaborn Cavalier
3/3 flyer for 3W (how does a clean version of that not exist?)
Spirit LInk
Raise the Alarm
1/1 Scry 2(?) bird for U
SOme leviathan/octopus/kraken in Stormtide Leviathans slot.
Remand
Dismiss
Desertion
Faerie Conclave
Rat King
Inquisition of Kozilek (Yawgamoth?)
Languish
Chandra's Outrage (New name)
Fire Imp
Torch Fiend
Chandra's Phoenix (new name)
Monastery Swiftspear
Burst Lightning
Fauna SHaman
Acidic Slime
Treetop Village
Memnite
Signal Pest
Pithing Needle
2. Painted a few cards myself (psychatog, stoneforge mystic, and pack rat) But mostly got the art from deviant art. I have seen so much weird porn due to this project. Really that website should be burned to the ground.
3. I and another guy did most of the wording. We frequented gatherer a ton to review old card wording and tried to parse what we could.
If you are interested in drafting the thing I am going to be at GP Milwaukee with the cube and will be holding drafts.
Current design says counterspell is too cheap but cancel is too expensive. The effect should cost 1/2UU but 1/2 mana doesn't really exist. This is an attempt to bridge the gap between two and three.
White:
My four drops are terrible. I like wall of reverence. dislike Daybreak Elemental and Coalition Honor-Guard
I want to cut worship. It leads to too many games where it comes down turn 3-4 and opponent just picks up their deck. Friend suggested color-shifted Ali from Cairo in this slot.
Avenging Angel could be something else and I don't think anyone would miss it.
Mother of Runes is on the edge of too good. Possibly change it to work similar to Story Circle
Blue:
Possibly could use another counterspell.
Invisible Stalker has some of the same problems it had in it's original draft format. Might be ok or maybe give it an autumn willow way for opponent to turn off it's hexproof.
Stormtide Leviathan could be cut no problem.
I'm still not smart enough to play gifts ungiven.
Dungeon Geist is a prefect card in this format.
Black
Dark Night of the Soul randomly being a world enchantment mattered in a game.
Pack Rat: Yeah it's too good here like it was in Rav. Thinking of changing it to
Rat King 1B
Creature - Rat
~'s p/t is equal to the number of rats you control.
2B, T, Discard a card: Create a black rat token with "this creature's p/t are equal to the number of rats you control.
*/*
Red
Red could use another burn spell (maybe two)
I find myself being very hesitant about playing any of the RR creatures. I'm not sure if that's just me being too worried about the casting cost or not.
Gamble could be cut.
Goblin War Marshal could be Goblin Instigator. It's simpler.
Green
My ramp package is working well. I like how none of them work the same as each other.
Essence Warden could be cut.
Untamed Kavu has been great.
Gravetiller Wurm is lackluster as a ramp target.
Exploration is terrible it it's not in your opening 7.
Multicolor
Dual land selection is fine
Agony Warp, Fires of Yavimaya could be a stronger card.
I'm a little unconfortable with Aonyobo being such a custom card. Most of my other ones are just slight tweeks on existing magic cards.
Edric, Brion, and Olivia have been game defining cards in the games they have been played. I want my gold to b be rare but important. I could almost see going down to just 1 per guild. But I like having a creature and spell in each guild so I'll probalby keep it the same. Doubt I would expand this section if I expanded the cube overall.
Colorless
Not sure if Crucible has enough shinanigans
Ring of Invisibility (Whispersilk cloak) has been week.
All the artifact creatures see play. Could see adding in another 1-2.
Automaton is on the edge of too good. Every deck seems to be willing to play it.
Zhalfirin Void has been surprisingly decent.
Overall:
I like most of my invented cards (minus daybreak elemental)
I'm happy with how this is turning out. After watching GP Vegas's beta draft, my cube does not emulate that. I would have to scale back considerably on what my creatures do. Remove almost all of the token cards and load up on vanilla and french vanilla creatures. Things like turning Thalia, Accorder Palaidn, and Selfless Spirit into Youthful Knight, Knight of New Benalia, and mistral charger. In order to do that I would have to be able to understand the format well enough to consider merits of a third or fourth power on a vanilla creature and I don't have the playtesting time available to me to do that properly. Nor am I certain I want to do that.