- The amount of lands seems ok. I was running some test games on MWS (against myself) and it seemed correct. Keep in mind that two of my lands (Strip Mine and Outpost) can barely be considered lands. Plus I want a lot of mana for my token producers, and I run armageddon. I'll give -2 lands a shot though and see if it flies.
- I want Teferi in there, I was just a tad worried that he would often be a 3/4 for 5 (3 blue to boot) but I've never really gotten to play with him before, so I may be underestimating. I like Ninja a lot, I just wasn't sure with so few weenies (see flying Men in the board) if he would come into play for less than 4. Mystical Teachings is another card I'm unfamiliar with. Only one card in my deck produces black, so usually it's just four mana to go get a five mana creature (Teferi) or a counter, which seemed slow and expensive to me.
- Are any of the three cards above better than cards I'm running? For example, if I can't remove any lands, should I swap in any of the three, and for what? (Even if I can cut the lands this will help me value cards better).
- I think the creature count is ok, especially after I add one or two. I run cantrips (and Clamp) to find them, and counters to protect them.
- The draft seemed fairly decent power-wise to me, but I guess that's cube dependant. We are still using the Worlds Cube, so there are some clunkers in there, and it probably didn't help that the guy sitting across from me was drafting the same archetype in a 4 man. Also, feel free to question my drafting skill, as I am new to drafting in general. IIRC my first three picks each pack went:
So most threads here seem devoted to either constructing a cube or drafting itself. Since I'm not that good at Limited deck building I figured I'd start this for anyone who wants advice.
I drafted from an online cube tonight, and ended up with this:
Recursion and Arti/Enchament hate just doesnt say "DRAFT ME" too much. Not saying they are bad, but does green having an solid "I win" cards?
Survival of the Fittest.
I think greens strength comes in its ability to assist almost any archetype as a second (or third) color. Need mana fixing or Accel? Birds and Elves. Need defense? Green has the best walls. Need midrange fatties? Green. Need difficult to kill creatures for a win con? See Shroud and Gigapede. Need Weenies, Recursion or other CiP effects mainboard? Etc.
I understand that greens objective power level might not be as high as some other colors, but if you pick the right green cards for a cube, and everyone is passing them, the guy drafting gerrn should be highly competitive.
Thanks for all the above reponses. A few more questions:
- Is there a place that sells sleeves cheap in bulk?
- So as far as drafting strategy, how high should I be drafting accel (Sol Ring, Lotus, Moxen)? Would they go above bombs like Jitte or Meluko, or just after? What about color fixers like Duals? Also, at what point should I think about hate drating and what does the power gap have to be like to justify it?
I see a lot of discussion of first picks but I seem to struggle in middle round. Has anone ever broken down every pack they've been handed in an entire draft? Has anyone tried to classify an entire cube by tiered power levels of cards?
1) I will most likely be drafting with 4 total people, and was curious about the best method of drafting. I had heard that some people drafted out of the complete pool of cards, but that's pretty much not an option for us as a few of my friends are more casual players and their heads would explode. Also, I have pretty much no knowledge of drafting lingo (or strategy for that matter) so go slow with this answer (for example I have no idea what a Solomn draft is.
2) I would like to add some of the Shadowmoor block cards, but am afraid of upsetting the balance. Any advice on what to add/take out?
If you could help me or point me to help, I'd appreciate it.
Won 2-0 vs. Phantizle after some severe luckout on my part. gg's man, may the shuffler be with you in the future (and also not crash the game on your god-hands..).
- The amount of lands seems ok. I was running some test games on MWS (against myself) and it seemed correct. Keep in mind that two of my lands (Strip Mine and Outpost) can barely be considered lands. Plus I want a lot of mana for my token producers, and I run armageddon. I'll give -2 lands a shot though and see if it flies.
- I want Teferi in there, I was just a tad worried that he would often be a 3/4 for 5 (3 blue to boot) but I've never really gotten to play with him before, so I may be underestimating. I like Ninja a lot, I just wasn't sure with so few weenies (see flying Men in the board) if he would come into play for less than 4. Mystical Teachings is another card I'm unfamiliar with. Only one card in my deck produces black, so usually it's just four mana to go get a five mana creature (Teferi) or a counter, which seemed slow and expensive to me.
- Are any of the three cards above better than cards I'm running? For example, if I can't remove any lands, should I swap in any of the three, and for what? (Even if I can cut the lands this will help me value cards better).
- I think the creature count is ok, especially after I add one or two. I run cantrips (and Clamp) to find them, and counters to protect them.
- The draft seemed fairly decent power-wise to me, but I guess that's cube dependant. We are still using the Worlds Cube, so there are some clunkers in there, and it probably didn't help that the guy sitting across from me was drafting the same archetype in a 4 man. Also, feel free to question my drafting skill, as I am new to drafting in general. IIRC my first three picks each pack went:
P1:
Strip Mine (everything was too color intensive)
Time Walk
Firebolt
P2:
Skull Clamp
Armageddon
Mox Pearl
P3:
Decree of Justice
Pristine Angel" target="blank">Pristine Angel
Force of Will
I drafted from an online cube tonight, and ended up with this:
Black:
Buried Alive
Lurking Evil
Big Negs (Phyrexian Negator)
Blue:
Willbender
Trinket Mage
Mystical Tutor
Dissipate
Brainstorm
Arcane Denial
Time Walk
Remand
Opt
Misdirection
Force of Will
Mystical Teachings
March of the Machines
Flying Men
Ninja of the Deep Hours
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
White:
Stonecloaker
Ronom Unicorn
Peacekeeper
Pristine Angel
Sacred Mesa
Armageddon
Decree of Justice
Abeyance
Balancing Act
Empyrial Armor
Green:
Pattern of Rebirth
Call of the Herd
Red:
Dwarven Blastminer
Firebolt
Keldon Marauders
Red Elemental Blast
Artifacts:
Coalition Relic
Mox Pearl
Skullclamp
Gold:
Armadillo Cloak
Land:
Azorius Chancery
Strip Mine
Kjeldoran Outpost
Reflecting Pool
I know I'm going up against BG, BR, and another UW deck. I, without much cube exp, build this:
// Lands
1 [AL] Kjeldoran Outpost
1 [DIS] Azorius Chancery
1 [TE] Reflecting Pool
1 [AQ] Strip Mine (2)
7 [UNH] Island
7 [UNH] Plains
// Creatures
1 [PLC] Stonecloaker
1 [FNM] Willbender
1 [FD] Trinket Mage
1 [CS] Ronom Unicorn
1 [WL] Peacekeeper
1 [DS] Pristine Angel
// Spells
1 [FUT] Coalition Relic
1 [b] Mox Pearl
1 [DS] Skullclamp
1 [MI] Sacred Mesa
1 [MI] Mystical Tutor
1 [FNM] Dissipate
1 [IA] Brainstorm
1 [AL] Arcane Denial (2)
1 [A] Armageddon
1 [A] Time Walk
1 [RAV] Remand
1 [IN] Opt
1 [WL] Abeyance
1 [MM] Misdirection
1 [SC] Decree of Justice
1 [AL] Force of Will
// Sideboard
SB: 1 [OD] Balancing Act
SB: 1 [TSP] Mystical Teachings
SB: 1 [10E] March of the Machines
SB: 1 [WL] Empyrial Armor
SB: 1 [AN] Flying Men
SB: 1 [BOK] Ninja of the Deep Hours
SB: 1 [TSP] Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
Thoughts?
Survival of the Fittest.
I think greens strength comes in its ability to assist almost any archetype as a second (or third) color. Need mana fixing or Accel? Birds and Elves. Need defense? Green has the best walls. Need midrange fatties? Green. Need difficult to kill creatures for a win con? See Shroud and Gigapede. Need Weenies, Recursion or other CiP effects mainboard? Etc.
I understand that greens objective power level might not be as high as some other colors, but if you pick the right green cards for a cube, and everyone is passing them, the guy drafting gerrn should be highly competitive.
- Is there a place that sells sleeves cheap in bulk?
- So as far as drafting strategy, how high should I be drafting accel (Sol Ring, Lotus, Moxen)? Would they go above bombs like Jitte or Meluko, or just after? What about color fixers like Duals? Also, at what point should I think about hate drating and what does the power gap have to be like to justify it?
I see a lot of discussion of first picks but I seem to struggle in middle round. Has anone ever broken down every pack they've been handed in an entire draft? Has anyone tried to classify an entire cube by tiered power levels of cards?
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgevent/mi07/cubelist
and had a couple of questions:
1) I will most likely be drafting with 4 total people, and was curious about the best method of drafting. I had heard that some people drafted out of the complete pool of cards, but that's pretty much not an option for us as a few of my friends are more casual players and their heads would explode. Also, I have pretty much no knowledge of drafting lingo (or strategy for that matter) so go slow with this answer (for example I have no idea what a Solomn draft is.
2) I would like to add some of the Shadowmoor block cards, but am afraid of upsetting the balance. Any advice on what to add/take out?
If you could help me or point me to help, I'd appreciate it.
GL to you too. I liked your deck a lot.
Deck code: 4D53596C
email/IM: [email]ahwrenn@gmail.com[/email]