Unhinged was released during Kamigawa Block, so maybe you could build a "contemporary" cube out of 8th, mirrodin block, and kami block? Or try to include the "original" cards that were parodied?
Out of curiosity, how long do your games typically last? Even if I were playing with Teferi's Isle, I wouldn't play it on turn one or two... So that means I get it on turns 5, 7, 9... and even though topdecking an explosive play is way more common in cube, the game is usually all but decided by turn 7 or 9. And similar to merl's "cumulative mana" example, just look at how your mana available changes from the turn you play it, assuming your only other mana is basic lands (and assuming you're using the counters off the depletion land):
Island vs Teferi's Isle vs Saprazzan Skerry:
1 vs 0 vs 0
2 vs 1 vs 3
3 vs 4 vs 4
4 vs 3 vs 3
5 vs 6 vs 4
6 vs 5 vs 5
7 vs 8 vs 6
I'd much rather have that extra mana one and two turns after I play it than two, four, and six turns after I play it. Especially since you can save the Skerry for when you need it. And Skerry isn't a card I'd pick over an island either.
I'm just not sure why your so fixated on THE POWER OF DOUBLE-U when you only get it inconsistently, and late, three turns out of the first ten turns of a game.
Seal of Cancel UU
Enchantment
Sacrifice ~: Counter target spell
I like the idea of there being a counterspell on the table. If both players always know about it, it creates interesting gamestates where the other player has to play around it. SHould this cost 1UU? Having a counterspell that you can play in advance is a pretty powerful ability.
regarding the Cubability of Teferi's Isle its awsome,
it doesnt cost the same tempo disruption opportunity as the Ravinca Karoos, Simic Growth Chamber
its like running double fixing by giving double blue which is important to counterspell and some blue creatures, where Karoos only give one blue mana. (i only include BW UW BU UG currently, and am thinking of cutting BW it doesnt do much)
In addition to being really bad tempo-wise (as described previously), Teferi's Isle is terrible for counterspelling, since if you're relying on it, every other turn your opponent is sneaking spells past your counterspells!
I'd probably play Saprazzan Skerry before playing Teferi's Isle, and I sure as heck wouldn't play Saprazzan Skerry.
Yeah, of course every card gets tested and retested, but I'm not sure how I would even compare the two in testing :/
"Often get a free spell that owns bones" vs "Land that makes two-three U mana and makes loads of mana if you get it early and build around it" And Academy ruins is usually a friggin reusable artifact tutor.
Look good? (Assuming I own an Ancient Tomb, and assuming testing hold up these changes.)
Anything else in the lands stick out as something I might want to remove for Horizon Canopy? I'm thinking the balance of the cube wouldn't be hurt much by removing Brushland and giving G/W a little bonus, it's not like G/W is already the most powerful color combination.
e:
@eidolon: I really like Shelldock too. Should I consider removing either of the Academies for it?
The artifact changes look great, No worries there.
However, I wouldn't cut Grand Coliseum, Ancient Tomb, Gemstone Mine, Terramorphic Expanse or Faerie Conclave.
The question is what to cut for them - Aside from Vesuva, I don't know what colorless lands I already have that I would cut. Should I cut, say, Karakas+Shelldock+Coffers+Megaliths+Bosk? Are some of my colorless lands less good than I think they are? Should I abandon color cycles in the lands and just go nuts with the best ones?
I've finished this round of adjustments to the cube:
I was already heavily considering Gauntlet of Power and Static Orb to be cut. I think Erratic Portal and Ring of Gix are nice replacements. Gauntlet of Power->Erratic Portal Static Orb->Ring of Gix Voltaic Key->Ankh of Mishra (I like Voltaic Key, but some of your suggestions are just much better cards in the cube) Gilded Lotus->Zuran Orb (I was going to give Lotus more testing to determine if I thought it was too slow, but in the face of a better card like Zorb, it gets cut)
Lands were one of the parts of the cube I was really happy over, but now you've got me considering a major overhaul.
Firstly, I can understand why Corrupt and Consume Spirit could be bad choices for the cube, so I'm keeping an eye on them. But Cabal Coffers and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth seem good even outside of mono-black. A lot of my black cards require double-B, there's Nantuko Shade... I don't want to "trick" myself with "well if you get this one-in-a-thousand situation Coffers is really good!!" but it seems like it's useful enough to include. Thoughts?
Do you think it's worth abandoning my "land cycles" and just doing the whole thing without cycles? I like the structure I have right now, but it's more important to me that I don't have crappy lands just for the sake of filling a hole.
Looking down the cube comparison thread, let me list other lands I looked at while building the cube:
Any comments on where I got things right/wrong here?
Changes: Karakas or Flagstones of Trokair->Kor Haven (Haven't decided which of the two to cut. I actually have a casual deck that plays Kor Haven but forgot about the card when making the cube, how embarrassing)
Watch List:
-Vesuva->??
-Possibly removing one cycle of color aligned lands for five colorless lands
Thanks to everyone for all the joke cards ideas suggested above! Has anyone else has ever tried to do something like this in their own Cube? It seems almost against the very nature of the Cube and I've almost taken them out a couple times already, but each time I can't quite do it.
I originally just wanted to add the classic worst cards in each color (i.e. Chimney Imp & Wood Elemental), but recently I have tried to change some of them to cards that seem bad enough that they are almost always final picks but fill enough of a niche that they just might the cut if they are in your colors. Maybe someone drafted poorly, switched colors late, or missed something they don't realize until deckbuilding that they actually need, and the joke card happens to do the job necessary or combo unexpectedly. That was the reason for the change from Squire to Indomitable Ancients, and from Vizzerdrix to Sphinx Ambassador.
They are still relatively clearly bad, but they also have the possibility of doing something that's pretty cool in the right circumstances. They could also be included for extra fun in deckbuilding as winning with one of the joke cards would be epic. Maybe I just need to break down and build an Un-Cube where these cards are 1st-pick bombs instead
I haven't played constructed Magic in a really long time, has anyone found a way to break Carnival of Souls yet?
Doesn't look like it is worth the money for the cube at all.
Maybe it's just me because I don't play standard, but I think they really dropped the ball by having all the interesting cards be newer cards. ALL of the previous duel decks had a handful of really good cards that hadn't been reprinted for a long time, making them kind of exciting for casual players. Here, it seems like the only interesting card you can't play in extended is Silver Knight?
Oona's Prowler->Thrashing Wumpus wait, you are taking our the Prowler or am I missing something? I don't see anything wrong about a 3/1 flyer for 1B.
When I made the first set of adjustments, I added Oona's Prowler. However, Oona's Prowler was already in the cube! So, I'm removing the second copy for Wumpus.
i bet it's going to be
Darksteel Relic - 4
Artifact
Darksteel Relic is Indestructible.
Infect
T: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
Will your cube be the only format ever where Goblin Game is played?
And somehow the people in charge of art AND flavor text got confused, resulting in the fabulous Ark of Mishra Ankh of Mishra
Island vs Teferi's Isle vs Saprazzan Skerry:
1 vs 0 vs 0
2 vs 1 vs 3
3 vs 4 vs 4
4 vs 3 vs 3
5 vs 6 vs 4
6 vs 5 vs 5
7 vs 8 vs 6
I'd much rather have that extra mana one and two turns after I play it than two, four, and six turns after I play it. Especially since you can save the Skerry for when you need it. And Skerry isn't a card I'd pick over an island either.
I'm just not sure why your so fixated on THE POWER OF DOUBLE-U when you only get it inconsistently, and late, three turns out of the first ten turns of a game.
I think UU is too cheap. Compare to Hesitation (or Common Courtesy
In addition to being really bad tempo-wise (as described previously), Teferi's Isle is terrible for counterspelling, since if you're relying on it, every other turn your opponent is sneaking spells past your counterspells!
I'd probably play Saprazzan Skerry before playing Teferi's Isle, and I sure as heck wouldn't play Saprazzan Skerry.
"Often get a free spell that owns bones" vs "Land that makes two-three U mana and makes loads of mana if you get it early and build around it" And Academy ruins is usually a friggin reusable artifact tutor.
Flagstones of Trokair->Kor Haven
Shelldock Isle->Faerie Conclave
Karakas->Grand Coliseum
Vesuva->Ancient Tomb
Cabal Coffers->Gemstone Mine
Keldon Megaliths->Dust Bowl
Murmuring Bosk->Terramorphic Expanse
Look good? (Assuming I own an Ancient Tomb, and assuming testing hold up these changes.)
Anything else in the lands stick out as something I might want to remove for Horizon Canopy? I'm thinking the balance of the cube wouldn't be hurt much by removing Brushland and giving G/W a little bonus, it's not like G/W is already the most powerful color combination.
e:
@eidolon: I really like Shelldock too. Should I consider removing either of the Academies for it?
The question is what to cut for them - Aside from Vesuva, I don't know what colorless lands I already have that I would cut. Should I cut, say, Karakas+Shelldock+Coffers+Megaliths+Bosk? Are some of my colorless lands less good than I think they are? Should I abandon color cycles in the lands and just go nuts with the best ones?
I was already heavily considering Gauntlet of Power and Static Orb to be cut. I think Erratic Portal and Ring of Gix are nice replacements.
Gauntlet of Power->Erratic Portal
Static Orb->Ring of Gix
Voltaic Key->Ankh of Mishra (I like Voltaic Key, but some of your suggestions are just much better cards in the cube)
Gilded Lotus->Zuran Orb (I was going to give Lotus more testing to determine if I thought it was too slow, but in the face of a better card like Zorb, it gets cut)
Watch List:
-Powder Keg (or possibly Engineered Explosives, but most likely the Keg) for Smokestack.
Lands were one of the parts of the cube I was really happy over, but now you've got me considering a major overhaul.
Firstly, I can understand why Corrupt and Consume Spirit could be bad choices for the cube, so I'm keeping an eye on them. But Cabal Coffers and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth seem good even outside of mono-black. A lot of my black cards require double-B, there's Nantuko Shade... I don't want to "trick" myself with "well if you get this one-in-a-thousand situation Coffers is really good!!" but it seems like it's useful enough to include. Thoughts?
Do you think it's worth abandoning my "land cycles" and just doing the whole thing without cycles? I like the structure I have right now, but it's more important to me that I don't have crappy lands just for the sake of filling a hole.
Looking down the cube comparison thread, let me list other lands I looked at while building the cube:
Cards I considered but decided weren't powerful enough:
Terramorphic Expanse
Dust Bowl
Vivid lands
Krosan Verge
Urza's Factory
Undiscovered Paradise
Cards I considered and liked but decided I thought the colorless/color-aligned lands I had were better:
Grand Coliseum
Ancient Tomb
Gemstone Mine
Fairie Conclave
Windbrisk Heights
Cards I didn't notice/consider at all:
Horizon Canopy
Any comments on where I got things right/wrong here?
Changes:
Karakas or Flagstones of Trokair->Kor Haven (Haven't decided which of the two to cut. I actually have a casual deck that plays Kor Haven but forgot about the card when making the cube, how embarrassing)
Watch List:
-Vesuva->??
-Possibly removing one cycle of color aligned lands for five colorless lands
I haven't played constructed Magic in a really long time, has anyone found a way to break Carnival of Souls yet?
Ah, I missed that guy in there.
Maybe it's just me because I don't play standard, but I think they really dropped the ball by having all the interesting cards be newer cards. ALL of the previous duel decks had a handful of really good cards that hadn't been reprinted for a long time, making them kind of exciting for casual players. Here, it seems like the only interesting card you can't play in extended is Silver Knight?
done.
When I made the first set of adjustments, I added Oona's Prowler. However, Oona's Prowler was already in the cube! So, I'm removing the second copy for Wumpus.