Every other colour can do multiple archetypes, so green should have that capacity too IMO.
We cut green aggro entirely from my powered 360 and allow green to contribute to two strategies: ramp (mainly with lands) and combo. There's actually a lot of cross-over between the two strategies, so cards like Heartbeat of Spring or Rude Awakening can be played in either deck.
KBH - If we ever add un-cards, I for sure will cube with Necro-Impotence. Thanks for the recommendation.
Hicham - How high is Probe drafted on average, and what specific deck archetypes utilize it other than Storm? I haven't even considered Probe as I figured it would only find a home in storm, and it may not even make the cut many times.
360 powered storm.dec may be improved by adding these cards: Bubbling Muck - I'll be keeping track of how much mana Bubbling Muck would produce while going off. If it's high enough, it may warrant testing. This only needs two untapped swamps after this resolves to be a Dark Ritual. Desperate Ritual - I'm adding some arcane cards to the cube in the next update (Through the Breach, Ideas Unbound), and I already have Kodama's Reach and something else that I can't remember off the top of my head. Adding a +1 mana ritual can make Yawgmoth's Will and Past in Flames slightly better, so I'm okay with adding one and seeing how it goes. Doomsday - I just thought of this card so I'm putting it here to do some research later. Truth be told, I have no idea if this is cubeable or not. Probably not, but whatever imma explore this option. Exploration - Fastbond has been absolutely incredible for us. Exploration is significantly worse, but may warrant testing. Gush - Gush combos extremely well with Fastbond, and is decent with Oracle of Mul Daya. Other than that, I'm not excited by the card. It's very high risk - high reward. Cutting a blue card for it would be the real big issue, I just don't see that happening at this point. Guttersnipe - I've held off testing this guy for a bit. Storm really needs a critical mass of mana, draw, tutoring and ways to replay all three. Guttersnipe helps with storm count because it deals damage as you're going through the motions, but most of the time I'd rather just have another card that makes mana or draws cards. The nice thing about Guttersnipe is he can go into multiple decks, so he may warrant testing. High Tide - I'll be keeping track of how much mana High Tide would produce while going off. If it's high enough, it may warrant testing. This only needs two untapped Islands when this resolves to be as good as a Dark Ritual on mana production. Ideas Unbound - This card may be good. It's a two mana draw 3, which is great, and helps with reanimator substrategies. It's also arcane, so I may be able to include Desperate Ritual if I have this and Kodama's Reach in. Ill-Gotten Gains - It's possible this card is good enough. Black Lotus, Lion's Eye Diamond, Storm spells in general, and Mind's Desire make me really tempted to try this out. This will likely be added soon. Null Profusion - This card may be good enough to warrant testing. The problem I have with it is it is a six mana enchantment that does not assure victory the same turn you play it or the one after. That being said, it's pretty sweet and other than getting jammed up on lands, it could create some very beastly plays, particularly with Fastbond. Merchant Scroll - It's a tutor for Frantic Search mostly. Also works well with Ancestral Recall, Mystical Tutor, Fact or Fiction, and Gifts Ungiven, as well as maybe some other stuff I'm not thinking of right now. Just putting this up so I remember to test it. Omniscience - This can get into play via Show and Tell (sweet), Academy Rector (sweet), Shelldock Isle (do-able), Dream Halls (do-able but somewhat redundant), Mind's Desire (do-able but meh), and ramping (difficult). I may try this card because I'm crazy like a cat and that's why they call me Whiskers. Subnote: This makes infinite storm and colorless mana with Grinning Ignus. Recycle - See Null Profusion above. Replenish - I'm going to start testing Replenish. Not sure what to cut for it yet. It's very good with Gifts Ungiven and now that we run Personal Tutor in addition to all the ones more powerful than it, we may be able to build a deck featuring Replenish as a comborific win condition. We're adding in Omniscience next round too, so if you discard Omniscience in the first three mana (very do-able) you'll be able to Replenish it back once you hit 3W and then cast everything else in your hand. Obviously very good with Necropotence, Yawgmoth's Bargain, Mirari's Wake, Mana Reflection, Dream Halls, Control Magic, Treachery, Cadaverous Bloom and Pernicious Deed). It's also good with enchantments if they get discarded via an enemy Hymn to Tourach or disenchanted too. Getting back an Oblivion Ring/Banishing Light, Faith's Fetters, Moat, Sylvan Library, Fastbond, Wild Growth, Utopia Sprawl, Overgrowth, Survival of the Fittest or Bitterblossom is decent. It's particularly relevant in reanimator where enchantment destruction is boarded in against you. Even getting back a Sneak Attack can be sweet. I don't know how many decks that play those cards will want to play Replenish too -- I think it will be at its best in storm. I know a lot of cube managers don't cube with some of the cards we do that are amazing with Rector or Replenish, like Yawgmoth's Bargain, Necropotence, Mirari's Wake, or Mana Reflection, but a lot of people play enchantments that we don't (Journey to Nowhere, Detention Sphere, Spear of Heliod, and Seal of Cleansing off the top of my head) that might give Replenish some value in their eyes. I'll report back with some testing reports after Friday where I'll try to get a few drafts together and seed Replenish and draft it myself. Rift Bolt - It's efficient and gives an extra storm, but I'm not sure how many storm decks would actually play this card. If we added it, it may get played in mono-red or boros/rakdos aggro, but it would be a subpar option for all those decks. Snap - With the addition of some mana-ramping enchantments (Wild Growth, Utopia Sprawl, Overgrowth) this card may be good enough to test as it can be replayed off of Yawgmoth's Will and has some other interesting applications. I'd have to cut a blue card for it though which is basically impossible. Summer Bloom - Like Exploration, this card may be worth it. May warrant testing. Wheel of Fate - It's slow. That being said, it does help with Storm, and is castable off Mind's Desire, Dream Halls, and Shelldock Isle. May warrant testing.
Cards that support storm that we DO NOT use: Ad Nauseam - Although we haven't tested this card, most of our storm kills work via untapping enhanced lands, which makes our average converted mana cost very large. Cloud of Faeries - Not enough bang for the buck. Producing two mana (with a land doubler) can be excellent, but we'd have to cut one of our blue cards for this, and I just don't see that happening. The fact that it plays as a ritual which cannot be re-cast off of Past in Flames or Yawgmoth's Will is the nail in the coffin. Demonic Consultation - I'm not sure I would play this even if it didn't exile 6 right off the top. This is the riskiest potentially amazing card you can play in storm. Diminishing Returns - Exiling the top 10 cards of your library is pretty terrible. Unless you have 3 win conditions, I wouldn't even think about playing this, and I rarely play 3 win conditions in a storm deck. Gauntlet of Might - Only affects mountains and is terrible against mono-red. Straight pass. Ignite Memories - We played with this card for about two weeks (about ~10ish total decks were made with the card). For whatever random reason, we actually saw Ignite a lot as our primary and only kill condition in most of the decks it was played in. While it did accomplish a kill or two, it is extremely unpredictable and a very bad win condition compared to most of the other things we've tested. I actually stormed for 15 then cast Ignite (16 total copies) and couldn't manage to bring my opponent below 8 life because Time Spiral filled his hand with lands (his exact hand was 3x lands, Black Lotus, two 3 mana spells and a Skullclamp). The card has a bad relationship with draw-7s. I've cut it because it was very underwhelming. I wouldn't be opposed to testing it again in the future, but we are much happier with Grapeshot for the time being. Infernal Tutor - This card is horrible in cube, as hellbent is an absolute requirement for it being cast. It's great with Lion's Eye Diamond but horrible without it. I will not cut a black card that is decent in multiple archetypes to get a subpar card for one archetype, but if you are running literally every card that can be good in storm, this one I guess makes the list. Peer Through Depths - I often need a mana producing enchantment to start storming off. This is unimpressive. Reset - If this was able to be played on my turn, it may be good enough to test. As is, this card is unimpressive. Serum Visions - I would play this at a larger cube size, but at 360 we cannot afford a blue cut for another one mana manipulation cantrip. Sleight of Hand - See Serum Visions above. Turnabout - This card does not have many functions except in storm, and blue cards are the hardest ones to cut. Rude Awakening has another mode that can be played in green ramp. Pristine Talisman - The extra life provided each turn can be relevant, but we would have to cut an artifact for this. We just don't have room. Vernal Bloom - 3G for a mana doubler is great, but unfortunately this only affects forests.
Any ritual or one-time use effect that produces only one mana (Rite of Flame, Elvish Spirit Guide, Simian Spirit Guide, etc) is not good enough. +1 mana rituals that can be replayed off of Yawgmoth's Will are decent in storm, but really bad in other decks and I'm not cutting cards to make room for them. Desperate Ritual may be a small exception because of the Splice-Onto-Arcane clause, I'll be testing that soon to see if it's good enough.
If you know a great storm card that isn't in my cube or on the list above, please let me know!
I may have overlooked a very cubable storm card and would love to make the archetype better!
This list is just so I don't forget what I'm doing, but feel free to enjoy.
Yes, the extra 15 cards are to make sure I don't run out of cards for Lore Seeker.
After thinking about it some more, I think what I'm going to do is have a card "on deck" to swap out for Lore Seeker when we get 8 people. That way I'm not diluting the card quality beyond 360 for normal drafts.
I think I may like your idea better for a ~450 cube because your goal is a variety of tons of different strategies and the extra 15 cards actually helps that out.
Just curious, why the extra colorless additions? Is it just to get enough cards for a booster pack off of Lore Seeker? That's a great idea, I'd like to go up to 375 but I'd feel too guilty diluting my card pool.
Looks like a super fun update, let us know how the cards work out! Especially Academy Rector -- I think I may want to add it to our cube if it works out well for you!
I love those two conspiracies and like having access to all the most powerful cards in Magic while drafting. Backup Plan particularly helps our combo decks, and we're a big fan of combo around here.
I want to test Grenzo before I cut one of my Rakdos cards for him (Dreadbore or Murderous Redcap). I'd likely cut the redcap if he got added. I'm 50-50 on him right now but I haven't played with him yet, I could see him being much better than redcap.
I'm going to test Paliano, but chances are it won't make the cut. I'd give it a 10% shot of making it.
EDIT: Double Stroke is actually a conspiracy card I passed over. Doubling the power of the most powerful instant or sorcery in your deck is pretty crazy. I'll test it and see if it makes the cut, getting 6 cards off an Ancestral or 8 damage off of a Char or Fireblast is crazy good.
Advantageous Proclamation is a card I had not originally planned on testing, but it may warrant inclusion. Being able to reduce the size of an aggro or combo deck an be game-breaking. It's even good in mid-range or control.
O-Ring allows you to target any permanent, Banishing Light only allows you to target a permanent an opponent controls.
Yep, I've Oblivion Ring'd my own Mind Sculptor before Upheaval. I'm also in the camp that they should be different cards/votes if they do different things.
Oath of Druids (odd card to put here, but storm actually makes use of this card extremely well, you can go get a giant fatty against aggro such as Wurmcoil Engine or Sphinx of the Steel Wind for life gain, Palinchron to set up a kill, you can play an Eldrazi as a secondary strategy if your deck can produce a ridiculous amount of mana, -- it also fills up the graveyard for big Yawgmoth's Wills, works very well with Past in Flames and Recoup when you have a ton of mana, and is also an interesting strategy on its own -- if you are thinking about supporting storm in your cube, definitely try Oath of Druids)
EDIT:
1. Ancestral Recall
2. Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3. Mana Drain
4. Time Walk
5. Treachery
6. Consecrated Sphinx
7. Time Spiral
8. Shelldock Isle
9. Tinker
10. Upheaval
11. Vedalken Shackles
12. Phyrexian Metamorph
13. Snapcaster Mage
14. Fact or Fiction
15. Tolarian Academy
16. Ancestral Vision
17. Sower of Temptation
18. Glen Elendra Archmage
19. Vendilion Clique
20. Meloku the Clouded Mirror
These are so hard because we're going off P1P1 and it's all subjective.
EDIT: Added some cards I forgot (Tolarian Academy, Shelldock Isle).
We cut green aggro entirely from my powered 360 and allow green to contribute to two strategies: ramp (mainly with lands) and combo. There's actually a lot of cross-over between the two strategies, so cards like Heartbeat of Spring or Rude Awakening can be played in either deck.
Hicham - How high is Probe drafted on average, and what specific deck archetypes utilize it other than Storm? I haven't even considered Probe as I figured it would only find a home in storm, and it may not even make the cut many times.
Bubbling Muck - I'll be keeping track of how much mana Bubbling Muck would produce while going off. If it's high enough, it may warrant testing. This only needs two untapped swamps after this resolves to be a Dark Ritual.
Desperate Ritual - I'm adding some arcane cards to the cube in the next update (Through the Breach, Ideas Unbound), and I already have Kodama's Reach and something else that I can't remember off the top of my head. Adding a +1 mana ritual can make Yawgmoth's Will and Past in Flames slightly better, so I'm okay with adding one and seeing how it goes.
Doomsday - I just thought of this card so I'm putting it here to do some research later. Truth be told, I have no idea if this is cubeable or not. Probably not, but whatever imma explore this option.
Exploration - Fastbond has been absolutely incredible for us. Exploration is significantly worse, but may warrant testing.
Gush - Gush combos extremely well with Fastbond, and is decent with Oracle of Mul Daya. Other than that, I'm not excited by the card. It's very high risk - high reward. Cutting a blue card for it would be the real big issue, I just don't see that happening at this point.
Guttersnipe - I've held off testing this guy for a bit. Storm really needs a critical mass of mana, draw, tutoring and ways to replay all three. Guttersnipe helps with storm count because it deals damage as you're going through the motions, but most of the time I'd rather just have another card that makes mana or draws cards. The nice thing about Guttersnipe is he can go into multiple decks, so he may warrant testing.
High Tide - I'll be keeping track of how much mana High Tide would produce while going off. If it's high enough, it may warrant testing. This only needs two untapped Islands when this resolves to be as good as a Dark Ritual on mana production.
Ideas Unbound - This card may be good. It's a two mana draw 3, which is great, and helps with reanimator substrategies. It's also arcane, so I may be able to include Desperate Ritual if I have this and Kodama's Reach in.
Ill-Gotten Gains - It's possible this card is good enough. Black Lotus, Lion's Eye Diamond, Storm spells in general, and Mind's Desire make me really tempted to try this out. This will likely be added soon.
Null Profusion - This card may be good enough to warrant testing. The problem I have with it is it is a six mana enchantment that does not assure victory the same turn you play it or the one after. That being said, it's pretty sweet and other than getting jammed up on lands, it could create some very beastly plays, particularly with Fastbond.
Merchant Scroll - It's a tutor for Frantic Search mostly. Also works well with Ancestral Recall, Mystical Tutor, Fact or Fiction, and Gifts Ungiven, as well as maybe some other stuff I'm not thinking of right now. Just putting this up so I remember to test it.
Omniscience - This can get into play via Show and Tell (sweet), Academy Rector (sweet), Shelldock Isle (do-able), Dream Halls (do-able but somewhat redundant), Mind's Desire (do-able but meh), and ramping (difficult). I may try this card because I'm crazy like a cat and that's why they call me Whiskers. Subnote: This makes infinite storm and colorless mana with Grinning Ignus.
Recycle - See Null Profusion above.
Replenish - I'm going to start testing Replenish. Not sure what to cut for it yet. It's very good with Gifts Ungiven and now that we run Personal Tutor in addition to all the ones more powerful than it, we may be able to build a deck featuring Replenish as a comborific win condition. We're adding in Omniscience next round too, so if you discard Omniscience in the first three mana (very do-able) you'll be able to Replenish it back once you hit 3W and then cast everything else in your hand. Obviously very good with Necropotence, Yawgmoth's Bargain, Mirari's Wake, Mana Reflection, Dream Halls, Control Magic, Treachery, Cadaverous Bloom and Pernicious Deed). It's also good with enchantments if they get discarded via an enemy Hymn to Tourach or disenchanted too. Getting back an Oblivion Ring/Banishing Light, Faith's Fetters, Moat, Sylvan Library, Fastbond, Wild Growth, Utopia Sprawl, Overgrowth, Survival of the Fittest or Bitterblossom is decent. It's particularly relevant in reanimator where enchantment destruction is boarded in against you. Even getting back a Sneak Attack can be sweet. I don't know how many decks that play those cards will want to play Replenish too -- I think it will be at its best in storm. I know a lot of cube managers don't cube with some of the cards we do that are amazing with Rector or Replenish, like Yawgmoth's Bargain, Necropotence, Mirari's Wake, or Mana Reflection, but a lot of people play enchantments that we don't (Journey to Nowhere, Detention Sphere, Spear of Heliod, and Seal of Cleansing off the top of my head) that might give Replenish some value in their eyes. I'll report back with some testing reports after Friday where I'll try to get a few drafts together and seed Replenish and draft it myself.
Rift Bolt - It's efficient and gives an extra storm, but I'm not sure how many storm decks would actually play this card. If we added it, it may get played in mono-red or boros/rakdos aggro, but it would be a subpar option for all those decks.
Snap - With the addition of some mana-ramping enchantments (Wild Growth, Utopia Sprawl, Overgrowth) this card may be good enough to test as it can be replayed off of Yawgmoth's Will and has some other interesting applications. I'd have to cut a blue card for it though which is basically impossible.
Summer Bloom - Like Exploration, this card may be worth it. May warrant testing.
Wheel of Fate - It's slow. That being said, it does help with Storm, and is castable off Mind's Desire, Dream Halls, and Shelldock Isle. May warrant testing.
Ad Nauseam - Although we haven't tested this card, most of our storm kills work via untapping enhanced lands, which makes our average converted mana cost very large.
Cloud of Faeries - Not enough bang for the buck. Producing two mana (with a land doubler) can be excellent, but we'd have to cut one of our blue cards for this, and I just don't see that happening. The fact that it plays as a ritual which cannot be re-cast off of Past in Flames or Yawgmoth's Will is the nail in the coffin.
Demonic Consultation - I'm not sure I would play this even if it didn't exile 6 right off the top. This is the riskiest potentially amazing card you can play in storm.
Diminishing Returns - Exiling the top 10 cards of your library is pretty terrible. Unless you have 3 win conditions, I wouldn't even think about playing this, and I rarely play 3 win conditions in a storm deck.
Gauntlet of Might - Only affects mountains and is terrible against mono-red. Straight pass.
Ignite Memories - We played with this card for about two weeks (about ~10ish total decks were made with the card). For whatever random reason, we actually saw Ignite a lot as our primary and only kill condition in most of the decks it was played in. While it did accomplish a kill or two, it is extremely unpredictable and a very bad win condition compared to most of the other things we've tested. I actually stormed for 15 then cast Ignite (16 total copies) and couldn't manage to bring my opponent below 8 life because Time Spiral filled his hand with lands (his exact hand was 3x lands, Black Lotus, two 3 mana spells and a Skullclamp). The card has a bad relationship with draw-7s. I've cut it because it was very underwhelming. I wouldn't be opposed to testing it again in the future, but we are much happier with Grapeshot for the time being.
Infernal Tutor - This card is horrible in cube, as hellbent is an absolute requirement for it being cast. It's great with Lion's Eye Diamond but horrible without it. I will not cut a black card that is decent in multiple archetypes to get a subpar card for one archetype, but if you are running literally every card that can be good in storm, this one I guess makes the list.
Peer Through Depths - I often need a mana producing enchantment to start storming off. This is unimpressive.
Reset - If this was able to be played on my turn, it may be good enough to test. As is, this card is unimpressive.
Serum Visions - I would play this at a larger cube size, but at 360 we cannot afford a blue cut for another one mana manipulation cantrip.
Sleight of Hand - See Serum Visions above.
Turnabout - This card does not have many functions except in storm, and blue cards are the hardest ones to cut. Rude Awakening has another mode that can be played in green ramp.
Pristine Talisman - The extra life provided each turn can be relevant, but we would have to cut an artifact for this. We just don't have room.
Vernal Bloom - 3G for a mana doubler is great, but unfortunately this only affects forests.
Any ritual or one-time use effect that produces only one mana (Rite of Flame, Elvish Spirit Guide, Simian Spirit Guide, etc) is not good enough. +1 mana rituals that can be replayed off of Yawgmoth's Will are decent in storm, but really bad in other decks and I'm not cutting cards to make room for them. Desperate Ritual may be a small exception because of the Splice-Onto-Arcane clause, I'll be testing that soon to see if it's good enough.
I may have overlooked a very cubable storm card and would love to make the archetype better!
This list is just so I don't forget what I'm doing, but feel free to enjoy.
maybe Idylic Tutor
maybe Pelakka Wurm
maybe Soul of New Phyrexia
maybe 1U 5/5 artifact card I forget the name
After thinking about it some more, I think what I'm going to do is have a card "on deck" to swap out for Lore Seeker when we get 8 people. That way I'm not diluting the card quality beyond 360 for normal drafts.
I think I may like your idea better for a ~450 cube because your goal is a variety of tons of different strategies and the extra 15 cards actually helps that out.
Looks like a super fun update, let us know how the cards work out! Especially Academy Rector -- I think I may want to add it to our cube if it works out well for you!
I love those two conspiracies and like having access to all the most powerful cards in Magic while drafting. Backup Plan particularly helps our combo decks, and we're a big fan of combo around here.
Possible adds:
I want to test Grenzo before I cut one of my Rakdos cards for him (Dreadbore or Murderous Redcap). I'd likely cut the redcap if he got added. I'm 50-50 on him right now but I haven't played with him yet, I could see him being much better than redcap.
I'm going to test Paliano, but chances are it won't make the cut. I'd give it a 10% shot of making it.
EDIT: Double Stroke is actually a conspiracy card I passed over. Doubling the power of the most powerful instant or sorcery in your deck is pretty crazy. I'll test it and see if it makes the cut, getting 6 cards off an Ancestral or 8 damage off of a Char or Fireblast is crazy good.
Advantageous Proclamation is a card I had not originally planned on testing, but it may warrant inclusion. Being able to reduce the size of an aggro or combo deck an be game-breaking. It's even good in mid-range or control.
Yep, I've Oblivion Ring'd my own Mind Sculptor before Upheaval. I'm also in the camp that they should be different cards/votes if they do different things.
1. Balance
2. Stoneforge Mystic
3. Elspeth, Knight-Errant
4. Armageddon
5. Gideon Jura
6. Elspeth, Sun's Champion
7. Restoration Angel
8. Hero of Bladehold
9. Sun Titan
10. Swords to Plowshares
11. Mirror Entity
12. Mother of Runes
13. Wrath of God
14. Day of Judgment
15. Brimaz, King of Oreskos
16. Baneslayer Angel
17. Moat
18. Faith's Fetters
19. Land Tax
20. Unexpectedly Absent
Changed my order up a bit. 1:24am jun 5
Semi-Broken Artifact Mana: (we run all the super-broken artifact mana too)
Rituals:
Lands:
Land Enhancements Enchantments:
Land Untappers:
Suspend cards and storm count help:
Assorted broken cards and storm-support help cards that may not be found in a 'normal' powered 360:
Conspiracies and draft-altering cards that help storm:
- Advantageous Proclamation
- Backup Plan
- Brago’s Favor
- Cogwork Librarian
- Deal Broker
- Double Stroke
- Iterative Analysis
- Lore Seeker
- Power Play
- Unexpected Potential
We also play Time Vault combo with Voltaic Key/Tezzeret the Seeker/Ral Zarek, so we value the draw 7s and card search like Impulse pretty highly around here.