I'm trying to look outside the box with some suggestions here. None of these are Pack Rat, of course.
If you play multiplayer, then Luminarch Ascension is good for white. Otherwise, one that's fallen out of a little favor is Sacred Mesa, which only needs mana to go with it.
Sturmgeist is one that may work for blue if a bit fragile, but if you want something cheaper I've liked Mindshrieker, which can get out of hand pretty easily. EDIT: Meloku, the Clouded Mirror is probably the actual choice, if not AEtherling, though.
Red's a bit tougher. Flameblast Dragon is what comes to mind for me.
I'm glad you enjoy it. I drafted it the other night and enjoyed it because Cube as a format is awesome I also think the powered version on MTGO at 540 is infinitely better than the unpowered one at 720. I'm also more able to easily relate to the 540 because my Cube is 540 powered.
To do a quick comparison I just glanced at the white section in the Holiday Cube & compared it to my Cube. There are 14 cards that the MTGO Cube runs that I don't. I understand there are many great cards nowadays and when you get to the "lesser" cards of any sized Cube there will be some variation but of the 14 cards difference in our lists I would *never* run 10 of them in a 540 powered Cube. It gets so much worse when they go to 720. Even in an unpowered 720 environment they end up with 10-20% of the cards that I would never run in a Cube that size. It's hard for me to enjoy any variation of the MTGO Cube because I know that I (and many people on here) could do a much better job.
I appreciate you providing your reasoning. I guess the part that I took the most exception to in your original post was where you said "any advice on Cube construction from anyone associated with it should be taken with a grain of salt," which could make one think that there is some cred that needs to be established before you can give your opinion on Cube, but now that I've got a little bit more of an idea where you're coming from, it doesn't rub me the wrong way as much. Incidentally, the fact that it does run that many different cards than you (or I, for that matter) run actually makes it kind of an ideal place where I can try out some cards I hadn't considered running before in a Cube environment.
And I definitely echo your Primeval Titan thoughts, and want to add that he's one of the most efficient methods of thinning out your deck of lands for longer games.
[Preface]The MTGO Cube is awful and any advice on Cube construction from anyone associated with it should be taken with a grain of salt.[/Preface]
Is this what people truly believe? I usually have fun when I draft the MODO cube, and that's the only real criteria I use to determine whether or not a cube is "good." It's very different from my own cube, and I do prefer my own to it, but that doesn't mean it's awful. At least, not in my mind.
As to the topic, cards like Kodama's Reach and Cultivate are fantastic for 3+ color decks, and multicolor planeswalker control decks are one of my favorite archetypes to draft. I even used to run Explosive Vegetation, but I do think that was stretching it a bit. My cube is powered, runs signets, and I still run Farseek and Rampant Growth as well. Turn 1 forest, Mox, Rampant Growth is a very strong start for a ramp deck. Although I can see a smaller cube cutting some of the more expensive ramp, at the 630 that mine is at, I like it.
I've also recently added Mwonvuli Acid-Moss, but that's a double whammy with the LD attached to it as well.
Sure, but the density of shuffle effects is very low. The fetches only provide an average of about 1 shuffle effect for the average deck, while constructed decks that are running these kind of cards typically have 12+.
I just don't see what's not really awesome about Kira. It basically blanks every one of your opponent's creatures' ETB triggers that target creatures, a lot of nasty enemy planeswalker abilities, any targeted removal spell, and the random activated/triggered ability here and there.
Yes, sometimes it costs twice as much to equip. But really, my overall experience is very positive.
I used to loveTower Above but it wasn't quite good enough for my cube, I was really hoping this card would be the variant on that card that got there...I tested it for probably about 6 months, and in that time it felt like it had less of an impact than its replacement, Biorhythm, did in just 2 drafts. That's not so much an endorsement of Biorhythm (although I am pleasantly surprised by it so far) as much as it is a criticism of Revenge of the Hunted.
If it's difficult to get a 6-8 player draft, then don't worry about trying to test for it. Make sure your cube is fun to do whatever formats you do play, that's the most important thing. My cube originally had a lot of cards for multiplayer in it, but as time went on people preferred 1 on 1 games, so I've adjusted my cube as such.
I think if you're going to be drafting with 4 on a regular basis archetypes will be more difficult to support in larger cubes, so go smaller if that's what you like.
Not only does it need to be in your opener to be good, but your hand also has to be awful as well.
Well, if this card is in your hand, it helps make it worse. I think this card is not maindeckable or sideboardable in any deck. Which is too bad because I think it's a pretty neat card, it's design space that's really yet to be explored-I want this card to be good!
[COLOR=black] Personally I think there are more conventional ways of fixing the problem you are having. Having a mixed set of duals rather than a cycle I think will certainly help. Maybe a list something like this:
I think this would actually be the opposite of what the OP is talking about - this is basically saying "Oh, the extra WB land is a painland, that must be an aggro color!" and letting the manafixing decide the deck instead of just running the manafixing that works for every archetype.
I'm more concerned about the slippery slope. If you decide you "need" another set of fetches, why not run another copy of cards X, Y, and Z? It'd be much easier to support aggro with 5 Steppe Lynxs, 5 Gravecrawlers, and 5 Goblin Guides.
Demagogue, I've been having similar feelings as you and I am poised to try running it the next time I update my cube (just got a foil one, too), but it will be a while before it has adequate testing.
If you play multiplayer, then Luminarch Ascension is good for white. Otherwise, one that's fallen out of a little favor is Sacred Mesa, which only needs mana to go with it.
Sturmgeist is one that may work for blue if a bit fragile, but if you want something cheaper I've liked Mindshrieker, which can get out of hand pretty easily. EDIT: Meloku, the Clouded Mirror is probably the actual choice, if not AEtherling, though.
Red's a bit tougher. Flameblast Dragon is what comes to mind for me.
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I appreciate you providing your reasoning. I guess the part that I took the most exception to in your original post was where you said "any advice on Cube construction from anyone associated with it should be taken with a grain of salt," which could make one think that there is some cred that needs to be established before you can give your opinion on Cube, but now that I've got a little bit more of an idea where you're coming from, it doesn't rub me the wrong way as much. Incidentally, the fact that it does run that many different cards than you (or I, for that matter) run actually makes it kind of an ideal place where I can try out some cards I hadn't considered running before in a Cube environment.
And I definitely echo your Primeval Titan thoughts, and want to add that he's one of the most efficient methods of thinning out your deck of lands for longer games.
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Is this what people truly believe? I usually have fun when I draft the MODO cube, and that's the only real criteria I use to determine whether or not a cube is "good." It's very different from my own cube, and I do prefer my own to it, but that doesn't mean it's awful. At least, not in my mind.
As to the topic, cards like Kodama's Reach and Cultivate are fantastic for 3+ color decks, and multicolor planeswalker control decks are one of my favorite archetypes to draft. I even used to run Explosive Vegetation, but I do think that was stretching it a bit. My cube is powered, runs signets, and I still run Farseek and Rampant Growth as well. Turn 1 forest, Mox, Rampant Growth is a very strong start for a ramp deck. Although I can see a smaller cube cutting some of the more expensive ramp, at the 630 that mine is at, I like it.
I've also recently added Mwonvuli Acid-Moss, but that's a double whammy with the LD attached to it as well.
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And even they don't run the Sage.
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Yes, sometimes it costs twice as much to equip. But really, my overall experience is very positive.
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I think if you're going to be drafting with 4 on a regular basis archetypes will be more difficult to support in larger cubes, so go smaller if that's what you like.
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Well, if this card is in your hand, it helps make it worse. I think this card is not maindeckable or sideboardable in any deck. Which is too bad because I think it's a pretty neat card, it's design space that's really yet to be explored-I want this card to be good!
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I think this would actually be the opposite of what the OP is talking about - this is basically saying "Oh, the extra WB land is a painland, that must be an aggro color!" and letting the manafixing decide the deck instead of just running the manafixing that works for every archetype.
I'm more concerned about the slippery slope. If you decide you "need" another set of fetches, why not run another copy of cards X, Y, and Z? It'd be much easier to support aggro with 5 Steppe Lynxs, 5 Gravecrawlers, and 5 Goblin Guides.
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If Gillette were swordsmiths.
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For what it's worth, I consider Needle naming Jitte and other cards like Faith's Fetters actual removal here, but technically, yeah, that's right.
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