He is fighting a bit with the person next to him, who has Gifts Ungiven with Unburial Rites (and Recurring Nightmare with Yosei). But I don't think that even matters with 2x Tutor + Entomb Griselbrand.
Yeah at first it looked completely open but after really, really derailing seat two with the Sorin/Lingering Souls pickups from klug (I was pretty proud of thinking of that) I got into a fight. That said, broken UB reanimator is something I'll take over meh WB reanimator any day of the week
Having cards cut from me also "forced" me into Buried Alive/Living Death which I'm looking forward to. Have a few other sweet things planned for this deck. I think it is going to be a lot more fun than my last rotisserie deck which was a much more conventional reanimator deck. Missing out on Elesh Norn and Sphinx of the Steel Wind was a pretty big blow
Abyssal Persecutor has far, far outperformed my expectations and has only gotten better with cards like Ultimate Price letting black kill it more easily. I'm not sure if you've run it in the past but you should really give it a shot.
So I got in two six man drafts of this cube last weekend and it was a blast. Here is my first deck, don't have a picture of the second (UW control).
Based on these drafts I think it really worked well! The token theme worked, blue tempo decks worked and ramp decks worked. The rares also seemed nice, they spiced up the drafts without dominating them. It can become unbalanced based on what is opened (both drafts I have ~5 rares based on dumb luck) and I do want to keep the overall power level of rares low.
The mana fixing was about right though I'd like a little more. Probably adding one more common that makes five colors of mana. I might add Evolving Wilds on top of Teramorphic. I mostly want this to make the off color flashback type cards work better.
Here are the changes. Mostly to promote more aggro. I'm also moving all gold cards to uncommon/rare and adding enemy colored uncommons.
Cut -> Add
Necogen Scudder -> Diregraf Ghoul
Cone of Flame -> Plated Geopede
Rampant Growth -> Wild Nacatal
Axebane Guardian -> Basking Rootwalla
Treetop Village -> Overrun (Treetop will come back because I know it is solid but I want to give some other cards like Stingerfling Spider a chance to prove themselves)
Armadillo Cloak -> Dryad Militant
Blightning -> Rakdos Cackler
I could calculate it from the sheet, but it's probably easier just to ask you: how many cards does this come to using your 3 per common, 2 per uncommon scheme?
I'm still updating and tuning the cube but it is about 500 cards. It is limited by commons which don't quite support 10 drafters, that means you see each common much more often than an uncommon or rare.
I don't consider this a traditional cube for two reasons:
1. Packs are created by rarity.
2. There are mutiple copies of cards.
There is less mana fixing because that is what normal sets look like. I think green is the only color that supports more than a light splash for a third color. I'm okay with that in the abstract but I'll see how it plays.
So I wanted to make another cube that I could bring to events (my main cube is worth too much and theft has become too common for me to be comfortable with this any more). I also wanted to do something that wasn't a carbon copy, I love my cube but also enjoy common/uncommon cubes (living down the street from Klug's excellent cube). I decided on something in the middle.
I basically have a fake Magic set, all the cards are real and you will draft packs of 11 commons, 3 uncommons and one rare. This means that combat matters, blockers matter, planeswalkers are very rare but you have some sweet rares thrown in. Also there are three copies of each common and two of each uncommon so you can double down on a card you want.
As an additional design constraint all the cards in this are new-border non-foil cards. This has gotten much easier with printing of duel decks, Commander and Planechase.
I'm going to be taking this to GP Philly this weekend and I want to get a lot of playing/testing in. I think the core of the list will be fun but there are some balance concerns. Black seems the weakest and red the strongest.
Feel free to comment, I'll probably not be making changes until this weekend/after the weekend but input is appreciated!
As probably the biggest fan of Kiss of the Amesha who drafts this cube I think it would be a fine cut for Skyknight. Between Skynight and Roc the Roc is better but I think that Skyknight is probably better than Kiss and fosters more interactive decks and games.
I think that Ravages of War and Rolling Earthquake should go in any cube that can get them.
I cut Imperial Seal from my cube as sorcery speed hurt it a lot over Vampiric. Even without reveling the card your opponent knows something important is coming from Imperial. That said, if your cube is more combo-focused I think Imperial Seal is an easy include.
I still run and like Lu Xun, he is the best of that effect. That said, he is quite cuttable and I don't think I'll be running him in 12 months.
Burning of Xinye comes down to your thoughts on Wildfire, personally I don't like those cards but if you do you've now got two.
Imperial Recruiter is fine but personally I find him unexciting. The fact that red is getting more and more good 3/x or 4/x creatures (Hero of Oxid Ridge, Hellrider, Zealous Conscripts) has done him no favors.
Fire Ambush is dropping further and further as new burn is printed. At some point you add it in but that point is pretty far down.
Loyal Retainers has some value in a combo-focused cube.
Strategic Planning has some value in a combo-focused or very large cube.
Wei Assassins is an underrated card but there is no need for it with Predatory Nightstalker existing.
Preemptive Strike is an underrated effect but it is the 4th copy of that effect (not counting stuff like Exclude) and I don't really see a cube that would run that many.
It makes for a pretty cool effect in the right deck. Chaining back to back ETB creatures until you reach a fatty is pretty cool. It's like having different planeswalker activations every turn. And the sacrifice ability can be cool with things like Mimic Vat, Genesis, Recurring Nightmare and Volrath's Stronghold. I also really like using Pod on creatures that are going to die from Sneak Attack too.Sacrificing a Reveillark to go get a Titan is pretty damn sweet too.
It's just a cool, fun effect.
It plays kinda like a planeswalker. It resolves and grinds out small advantages that wind up being worth way more than the investment in the long run.
Just to chime in: I like the card. I think on an overall power-level it isn't so hot. However it is a very fun card with some great "build-around" possibilities and when the deck comes together it is really sweet. I have it in my cube because it makes drafts much more interesting than another ramp spell of 4/4 would.
Hey guys, thanks everyone for the positive feedback, it means a lot. I've been really busy so I've fallen behind on recording and posting but I've updated the OP with all the drafts and here are the links as well:
Having done this before I can recommend it, really sweet.
I have two recommendations:
1- Do a team draft 4v4, 3v3, 5v5 it doesn't matter. Drafting with a team is more fun, helps when building decks, gives you people to root for and lets someone pick a card for teammates when they're slowing down the draft.
2- Try and set up a night to draft. I'd rather draft in a 3-4 hour skype session with everyone online than the 1-3 weeks it usually takes to rotisserie by taking turns.
Hey ice age! thanks for posting the cube draft. It has been very enjoyable to watch. Just one thing, Watching match 1, game 1, you probably should have desertioned the geist of saint traft, because it would have been attacking into an empty board, and i am pretty sure that it would have won you the game (and consequentially the match).
I didn't want to do that because based on his deck I assumed he would have stuff like Titans or other large creatures. If I take Giest their and he drops an actual fatty I'm in big trouble. With Angel to shut down Giest I think it was the right play. It turned out his deck was really weird and he didn't have that much big stuff to go with his Wake.
That said, I'm not a huge fan of Desertion for exactly what happens in that game. It is so expensive and can often trap you as in this game. I probably should have taken Giest or even his Paladin as my burn could not touch them. Again that is with hindsight, I was afraid of a fatty at the time.
By the way, in MTGO draft #2, you pass by Black Vise without comment after you've committed to an Upheaval ramp deck. I'm not a huge fan of the Vise, but that was the deck for it.
Or do you really dislike the card?
I really dislike the card. In a draft I've not uploaded yet it the power of Black Vise is shown. On the draw it would have not done that much. The card is just so swingy and does too much or nothing so I hate it and hope WOTC cut it (they won't :() I also don't think it is the best card for that deck. Yes it is strong post-Upheaval and has a chance of killing them but that is all it does and there is a decent chance they'll be close to 20 after I bounce everything. Upheaval in UG ramp is so strong I don't think you need to take that chance, usually you can play something more expensive and more flexible post-Upheaval.
My hope is on having Entomb/Necromancy in hand with four mana open when he attacks me with 500 Pestermites.
Yeah at first it looked completely open but after really, really derailing seat two with the Sorin/Lingering Souls pickups from klug (I was pretty proud of thinking of that) I got into a fight. That said, broken UB reanimator is something I'll take over meh WB reanimator any day of the week
Having cards cut from me also "forced" me into Buried Alive/Living Death which I'm looking forward to. Have a few other sweet things planned for this deck. I think it is going to be a lot more fun than my last rotisserie deck which was a much more conventional reanimator deck. Missing out on Elesh Norn and Sphinx of the Steel Wind was a pretty big blow
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AibgWfz0ukmOdGhfR0xTaF9kajhES3pVTXJhVUp5ZVE
5v5, I'm in seat 1, Klug is in seat 7 and darkmindtone in seat 10.
We are going to smash them.
Based on these drafts I think it really worked well! The token theme worked, blue tempo decks worked and ramp decks worked. The rares also seemed nice, they spiced up the drafts without dominating them. It can become unbalanced based on what is opened (both drafts I have ~5 rares based on dumb luck) and I do want to keep the overall power level of rares low.
The mana fixing was about right though I'd like a little more. Probably adding one more common that makes five colors of mana. I might add Evolving Wilds on top of Teramorphic. I mostly want this to make the off color flashback type cards work better.
Here are the changes. Mostly to promote more aggro. I'm also moving all gold cards to uncommon/rare and adding enemy colored uncommons.
Cut -> Add
Necogen Scudder -> Diregraf Ghoul
Cone of Flame -> Plated Geopede
Rampant Growth -> Wild Nacatal
Axebane Guardian -> Basking Rootwalla
Treetop Village -> Overrun (Treetop will come back because I know it is solid but I want to give some other cards like Stingerfling Spider a chance to prove themselves)
Armadillo Cloak -> Dryad Militant
Blightning -> Rakdos Cackler
Here is the overall list: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0At6YKeerR9kHdGctV0dWcTdfVUkxNkNnSkpVRHp4Q3c&authkey=COqY0pIB
I'm still updating and tuning the cube but it is about 500 cards. It is limited by commons which don't quite support 10 drafters, that means you see each common much more often than an uncommon or rare.
http://www.gatheringmagic.com/matt-kranstuber-joy-of-cubing-10262012-greener-pastures/
We talk about green and how awesome it is (now).
I don't consider this a traditional cube for two reasons:
1. Packs are created by rarity.
2. There are mutiple copies of cards.
There is less mana fixing because that is what normal sets look like. I think green is the only color that supports more than a light splash for a third color. I'm okay with that in the abstract but I'll see how it plays.
Bold=creature
I basically have a fake Magic set, all the cards are real and you will draft packs of 11 commons, 3 uncommons and one rare. This means that combat matters, blockers matter, planeswalkers are very rare but you have some sweet rares thrown in. Also there are three copies of each common and two of each uncommon so you can double down on a card you want.
As an additional design constraint all the cards in this are new-border non-foil cards. This has gotten much easier with printing of duel decks, Commander and Planechase.
So without further ado, here is the list:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0At6YKeerR9kHdGctV0dWcTdfVUkxNkNnSkpVRHp4Q3c&authkey=COqY0pIB
I'm going to be taking this to GP Philly this weekend and I want to get a lot of playing/testing in. I think the core of the list will be fun but there are some balance concerns. Black seems the weakest and red the strongest.
Feel free to comment, I'll probably not be making changes until this weekend/after the weekend but input is appreciated!
I cut Imperial Seal from my cube as sorcery speed hurt it a lot over Vampiric. Even without reveling the card your opponent knows something important is coming from Imperial. That said, if your cube is more combo-focused I think Imperial Seal is an easy include.
I still run and like Lu Xun, he is the best of that effect. That said, he is quite cuttable and I don't think I'll be running him in 12 months.
Burning of Xinye comes down to your thoughts on Wildfire, personally I don't like those cards but if you do you've now got two.
Imperial Recruiter is fine but personally I find him unexciting. The fact that red is getting more and more good 3/x or 4/x creatures (Hero of Oxid Ridge, Hellrider, Zealous Conscripts) has done him no favors.
Fire Ambush is dropping further and further as new burn is printed. At some point you add it in but that point is pretty far down.
Loyal Retainers has some value in a combo-focused cube.
Strategic Planning has some value in a combo-focused or very large cube.
Wei Assassins is an underrated card but there is no need for it with Predatory Nightstalker existing.
Preemptive Strike is an underrated effect but it is the 4th copy of that effect (not counting stuff like Exclude) and I don't really see a cube that would run that many.
Just to chime in: I like the card. I think on an overall power-level it isn't so hot. However it is a very fun card with some great "build-around" possibilities and when the deck comes together it is really sweet. I have it in my cube because it makes drafts much more interesting than another ramp spell of 4/4 would.
Draft 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDFYKhksbfA&feature=BFa&list=PLUueoozVkbf05lIlf2bZQSzYP37WLZSv6
Draft 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuFNqhkANrs&feature=BFa&list=PLUueoozVkbf05lIlf2bZQSzYP37WLZSv6
Draft 4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guRoeOrInhg&feature=BFa&list=PLUueoozVkbf05lIlf2bZQSzYP37WLZSv6
Drunk Draft! - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcE3iFp4ihc&list=PLUueoozVkbf1QC2bszpSd_xo96VMihOon&index=1&feature=plpp_video
I have two recommendations:
1- Do a team draft 4v4, 3v3, 5v5 it doesn't matter. Drafting with a team is more fun, helps when building decks, gives you people to root for and lets someone pick a card for teammates when they're slowing down the draft.
2- Try and set up a night to draft. I'd rather draft in a 3-4 hour skype session with everyone online than the 1-3 weeks it usually takes to rotisserie by taking turns.
I didn't want to do that because based on his deck I assumed he would have stuff like Titans or other large creatures. If I take Giest their and he drops an actual fatty I'm in big trouble. With Angel to shut down Giest I think it was the right play. It turned out his deck was really weird and he didn't have that much big stuff to go with his Wake.
That said, I'm not a huge fan of Desertion for exactly what happens in that game. It is so expensive and can often trap you as in this game. I probably should have taken Giest or even his Paladin as my burn could not touch them. Again that is with hindsight, I was afraid of a fatty at the time.
I really dislike the card. In a draft I've not uploaded yet it the power of Black Vise is shown. On the draw it would have not done that much. The card is just so swingy and does too much or nothing so I hate it and hope WOTC cut it (they won't :() I also don't think it is the best card for that deck. Yes it is strong post-Upheaval and has a chance of killing them but that is all it does and there is a decent chance they'll be close to 20 after I bounce everything. Upheaval in UG ramp is so strong I don't think you need to take that chance, usually you can play something more expensive and more flexible post-Upheaval.