Cube Size: 500 Cards Cube CMC: 2.82 Breakdown: 67 Each Color, 63 Artifact, 45 Multicolor, 57 Land Standard or Theme Cube: Standard Average # Players: 4-5 How Often Drafted: Once weekly, sometimes more
Card Selection Powered?: Yes Portal?: Yes Proxies: No Snow?: No "Un-" Cards: No Banned Cards: No Errata: No
Cube Design Standard or Multiplayer: Standard Sideboards?: Yes, but no sideboard specific cards in cube Cards Sorted As Played/As Written: As Played
Since I've been lurking here for a long time, I figured I'd celebrate getting rid of my last proxy by posting my list here both to help me keep it organized and to help improve it. It started as basically a copy of wtwlf123's list and has slowly evolved in various directions in response to my group. We almost always have 5 people and play a draft (4 packs of 11) and a two-headed giant sealed, so it's important that the cards are good both in duels and in multiplayer.
My biggest question at the moment is how to improve green. It's pretty much universally the weakest color in the drafts. It has a couple of strong cards, but I feel like with the fast mana artifacts, the mana ramp is much weaker relatively. Aggro decks are fine, both black/red, and red/white (along with the mono versions), but green really doesn't seem to contribute much to them.
My biggest question at the moment is how to improve green. It's pretty much universally the weakest color in the drafts. It has a couple of strong cards, but I feel like with the fast mana artifacts, the mana ramp is much weaker relatively. Aggro decks are fine, both black/red, and red/white (along with the mono versions), but green really doesn't seem to contribute much to them.
naya aggro doesn't see any action? do kird ape, loam lion, and wild nacatl not see play? could just be group preference, you could try adding more LD or maybe just drop the aggro from green altogether if no one is playing it. green does midrange quite well and can also contribute to control. but i really like green aggro, myself. it looks like you have a good list for it, so i'm not sure what to suggest.
When I see Healing Salve, I'm often like "Oh girl, I wish I could turn every card into this." Thanks they removed the gain life part, otherwise this would have been broken.
Congratulations on losing the last proxy! Looks like a nice list.
Green was the last colour I added aggro to. Until then it was mostly ramp, midrange or a basis for 5-colour decks. Adding aggro worked out better than I had hoped, as it doubled the number of aggro-colour pairs available. Looking at your list, I wonder if it is just a group preference thing. I think it may also be the case that green has access to less powerful cards and strategies.
Do you play any form of multiplayer other than two headed giant? 2HG plays pretty similar to duel, but if you play free for all or other variants, might I suggest a multiplayer addendum? See the list in my sig for details.
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
Thanks everyone for the welcome! And thanks quietquieter - as I'm sure you could tell, I flagrantly stole your formatting
You guys are probably right that it's basically a group preference thing. I'll have to try forcing green again this week and see if I can make it work.
Quote from islip »
But the power 9 proxied right? Wow if it isn't!
Nope - those were the last ones
I'll have to post pictures at some point; this seems like an appropriate place to brag. They're unlimited; it's actually kind of cool that the white bordered cards are the special ones. Basically just the power, dual lands, and portal stuff.
Quote from islip »
You only have 3 green spells with a CMC over 5. What are your ramp spells for? Maybe ether add more fatties or remove the ramp, I advise the former
I was actually worried I had too many huge green guys. There's the three big ones, then 3 huge artifact targets (not including chimeric mass or green sun's zenith). But otherwise it's often helpful to have a bunch of mana whether for cycling recurring nightmare a few times, charging up thornling or chameleon colossus, or just firing off a big banefire. Though maybe my thinking that is part of the problem I'm having...
Incidentally, does this seem about the right number of red X spells? Two targettted, two sweepers? I was thinking about adding back in fireball though I don't have a great cut at the moment.
Quote from Humpty_Dumpty »
Do you play any form of multiplayer other than two headed giant?
Nah, just 2HG. It's worth mentioning that card evaluations are somewhat different in two-headed giant though, even if it looks like a duel. Upheaval and firestorm are both insanely good for example, and time walk is even better than normal to the point that we were considering time warp (probably the portal one so it can't be willbendered).
Also, one change:
Phyrexian Processor => Precursor Golem
I've always liked the processor, but it hasn't been seeing much play. There's a lot of maindecked and highly valued artifact hate, so it's been really risky lately. Even if you do get one guy out of it, that's 8 mana over two turns and a fair amount of life for a fairly weak guy. So you really need 2+ or maybe 3+ activations out of it, which I'm not sure is totally reasonable. Also, bounce is really, really good against it.
Precursor golem seems better against artifact removal (a lot of it is on bodies, so doesn't kill all the golems) and doesn't cost you life. Also, it's great with the two green pump spells and has some nice interactions with any of the flicker type things (in exchange for a horrible interaction with searing blaze or smash to smithereens)
My opponent used Path to Exile on my Precursor golem once
I've had a look around, and most cubes including mine only have about 3 fatties. I guess only 2 archetypes want them, G/x ramp and reanimator. But If you want to try another fatty, Eidolon recently added Gaea's Revenge and said it is going well for him.
When I see Healing Salve, I'm often like "Oh girl, I wish I could turn every card into this." Thanks they removed the gain life part, otherwise this would have been broken.
Well, I'm with you on this one. Far more immediate of an impact, and far less devastating when destroyed (outside of random Smash to Smithereens/Repulse-style shenanigans).
Well, I'm with you on this one. Far more immediate of an impact, and far less devastating when destroyed (outside of random Smash to Smithereens/Repulse-style shenanigans).
At least those rely on your opponent having the specific cards that devastate you when they destroy your golems. Processor hits you for 9 (or whatever) consistently, right when you play it. And I care a lot less about my opponent drawing 3 cards than me losing life with nothing to show for it from a simple Disenchant.
How has Ice Storm been for you? Does it seem to fit well, or is Creeping Mold just better most of the time?
Ice storm's been pretty good. It's nice in a different flavor of deck than creeping mold - more of a hard aggro red/green or green/white deck. Disruption, especially at 3 mana is really important, since keeping your opponent off of 4 mana for as long as possible is really key since the four drops are so good. That said, Creeping Mold is almost certainly better, but they're different enough that I've been pretty happy with Ice Storm.
I've cubed with Goblin War Buggy and Temporal Spring.
The Goblin is merely OK - the problem is in an aggro deck you will want to be doing more things on your third turn than he will let you do because of the Echo. He was made before the start of the Lorwyn creature power push, so he fails in comparison to things like Goblin Guide. Wizards hasn't quite pushed the 2-3cmc beater slot in red yet, it seems, but who knows what will happen in the next sets. I would pass. If you really want another small red drop with haste, I'd look into Suq'Ata Lancer, Ronin Houndmaster, and Hell-Bent Raider (a card I'm about to test). The first two are splashable hasters with pseudo evasion, and the latter is possibly better, with first strike.
Temporal Spring is a pretty nice spell for a weak guild. The ability to hit anything is really nice. It's very comparable to Recoil, except that Temporal Spring forces the discard to be the permanent you want gone, and they can cast it again. Early on, you can get them to miss a land drop. Later, you can give them an extra one in lieu of gas. I like it.
-Nezumi Shortfang: I like him a lot, but he's a little too vulnerable. When he gets going, he's fantastic and control decks like him a lot against midrange and other control decks, but he's been getting cut quite a bit lately.
-Disfigure: Weakest removal spell. I like it, but something had to give
-Exhume, Entomb, Makeshift Mannequin: Reanimator as a combo deck happened exactly once in the last year. It was cool if not spectacular, but these cards have sat on the sidelines over and over and over again.
-Yawgmoth's Will: The upside for this card is unbelievable. In practice it was getting cut or getting marginal value. You tended to get a fetchland and a removal spell or creature which is pretty weak for ~5 mana
-Ob Nixilis, the Fallen: He's been ok - not terrible but not spectacular. I feel like this slot is pretty open though (as "random black finisher") so I don't mind swapping it around some
+ Lashwrithe: I think this card is going to be good. Very good even. Not just in monoblack, but in Bg or Br. At 3 swamps and another land, it's a 3/3 with a +3/+3 equipment. If you have another creature (an evasive one?), it even has haste
+ Phyrexian Obliterator: Taking the Ob Nixilis slot, I'm not sure how this guy'll work out. He's too awesome to ignore though, so I'm willing to give him a shot as a 6-drop.
+ Necropotence: Since I'm pushing the monoblack archetype a bit further, I think this card has a good chance. Even in a half black deck, it'll come down before Yawgmoth's Bargain on average, and in monoblack it'll obviously happen way before that
+ Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth: With three "swamps matter" in addition to the already tough costs of black, this seems like an obvious include. It's not exciting, but it'll add a ton of consistency.
+ Pulse Tracker: I wanted another 2 power 1-drop in black. Here he is. Also, scales nicely for two-headed giant
+ Dismember: In some ways, I think black cares the least about this card, but it'll go here since there's space and it'll see a fair amount of play in black decks too. A new Snuff Out that green and blue can use is pretty cool.
So in general, the black changes swap the reanimator theme for a pure black theme. We'll see how it goes, but with only 4 swaps, all of them cards that didn't see much play (whereas monoblack saw occasional play), I'm pretty hopeful.
Red
- Goblin Welder: He was a 1/1 for 1 the only times anyone played him. I don't think he's needed to fill in the 1-slot in red and he was never exciting for his ability
- Dwarven Blastminer: Occasionally, he'd be dangerous and warrant killing. More often, he'd be a 1/2 for 2 or a 2/2 for 3 with the added fear that he could maybe be a Blistering Firecat. I run more land destruction than usual, and this guy was pretty bad
- Goblin Settler: Another land destruction card that underperformed. He wasn't bad by any means, but he was very much not Avalanche Riders and I think he's a pretty safe cut
- Goblin Wardriver: I like battle cry. The white battle cry guys are nuts. This guy was not. He was hard to play and red just doesn't have the same number of guys as white, especially early enough
- Searing Blaze: This wasn't a bad card, but it's a little inconvenient - both double red, the land, and the creature requirement make it less useful than it is in constructed. It hasn't been bad, though, so it might come back in if something else works particularly poorly.
+ Urabarask, the Hidden: My guess is that this'll be swapped out. For now though, he seems cool enough to warrant a try. Mass haste is great if you can untap with it and the weak Kismet is worth something too.
+ Slagstorm: This could as easily be Whipflare, but I'll try the one that's different from Pyroclasm first. I'd like another sweeper in red and this is it. I'm not hugely excited about Earthquake in this slot, both for not hitting flyers and for hurting yourself.
+ Fireball: I need another X-spell to replace Earthquake in decks that mostly point it at their opponent's head. This is the best I've got, though maybe Demonfire is better.
+ Moltensteel Dragon: I think this guy is underrated. A 4/4 flyer for 4 is on curve and the built-in hatred + firebreathing makes him instantly lethal. Maybe your opponent will always have the removal spell, but as a finisher in counterburn or in red/white aggro, I think he's got a chance.
+ Act of Aggression: This is probably the weakest of some unusual cards coming in for red. I like combat tricks a lot and I feel like my cube actually has too few of them (and that that's a problem). This has a reasonable chance of being a 2 for 1 and fills the normal Act of Treason roles as well. Maybe it'll be horrible, but I won't know until I try. This may well become Final Fortune at some point.
The general red changes are to push midrange a bit harder and cut some underperforming guys. With the phyrexian mana giving red better access to a couple of cheap guys (hello Porcelain Legionairre) I can safely cut an aggro guy or two to push midrange
Blue
- Tezzeret, the Seeker: Even in the artifact deck, this guy wasn't very good. Sure, he'd occasionally go find Mimic Vat or Vedalkin Shackles, but usually he was just worthless. I love the artifact deck, but when he wasn't even seeing play in that (unlike his future self), I think it's time for him to take a break
- Tolarian Academy: Unlike Tezzeret, this was seeing play in the artifact deck. But by the point where it was helpful (I had threeish artifacts), I already had more mana than I could use. It tended to be win more. That said, it's a great card, but something had to give
- Palinchron: A pretty mediocre finisher. Somewhat tough to kill (unless you did it in response to the trigger), but also not that great at combat and not impervious to recurring tricks in the way shroud guys are. He can carry equipment which is nice, but that's not the most useful trait for a finisher
- Frantic Search: Without the hardcore reanimate archetype, this flavor of card fixing is less necessary. It was either this or one of the one mana blue cantrips, but since this is actually card disadvantage, I went with it
+ Phyrexian Metamorph: Probably the single card I'm most excited about. It won't change the world (and it's not the strongest card in the set on power level), but it's an awesome effect at a totally reasonable cost. Copying both artifacts and creatures for only 3 mana (of any color) is nuts
+ Spellskite: I think this may be really good. Like a blue (or colorless!) Mother of Runes - it's not as good since it needs to eat the spell, but I think it's definitely worth trying. It's in blue since I think paying the blue rather than the life will actually be relevent a lot of the time.
+ Misdirection: Even if it sits in sideboards a fair amount, I like having this card in the cube. It makes people think about situations differently and the blowout when it works is a lot of fun
+ Shelldock Isle: Another card that's been in before, I think this one's worth putting back. There's enough expensive stuff that the possible ramp along with the Impulse-on-a-stick aspect makes it worthwhile. Great with Venser too.
Not a lot of blue changes. Cutting some cards from the artifact deck that I don't like very much, as well as two free spells that just haven't been holding their weight. Adding some cards I miss and a couple of cool new ones.
White
- Knight of the White Orchid: While a 2/2 first strike for WW isn't bad, there are definitely better creatures out there. The land happened surprisingly rarely (or when it did, the creature wasn't hugely relevent). Often you'd wish you'd drawn a land instead. Versatility is worth something, but this particular versatility isn't as useful as I'd hoped.
- Sunblast Angel: A flex spot for big white creature with a controlling side effect. It's flexing.
- Kjeldoran Outpost: Once upon a time, this land was phenomenal. Even now, it's useful. But the cost is actually pretty high. Not only are you spending a land drop and two cards (this one and the land), but it's also costing you an effective three mana a turn to make 1/1 soldiers. While it's true that they add up, the types of decks that can afford the cost tend not to be able to take advantage of 1/1's. They're a fine finisher, but there are other finishers that don't cost a land drop and are much faster. I also run more land destruction than normal (or did before this update) and this one's a pretty devestating land to hit.
+ Blade Splicer: A 3/3 first striker for 3 is probably not good enough. But it's flickable for value and comes with a free 1/1. If white were a better color for recurring nightmare, this'd be more awesome, but I think there's enough flicking going on that it'll be easily worth it. White is also the best suited to using a 1/1, either through anthems or equipment.
+ Porcelain Legionairre: Plausibly the best card in the set. It's got absolutely nuts stats for two mana and the decks that play it tend not to care about their own life. Even control decks wouldn't hate a 3/1 first striker for two, though they obviously care much more about their own life.
Two more little guys, in exchange for one. A couple of cards that don't see play much for one that I think will see tons of play, another that I think will see some, and a last that'll be awesome every once in a while.
Green
- Terrastodon: Elephant man is good. I have too many big guys in green though, so one had to go and this is my least favorite of the bunch.
- Hurricane: This one is tough. It's a very non-green effect (and non-white too) which is nice for a fair number of green decks. But it hasn't been played a lot lately and I think in part that's because a player-only x spell just isn't as necessary even in a color that doesn't get very many of them.
- Albino Troll: Very nice stats, but the echo is really brutal. If you play it early (when its stats are huge), there are two turns you can't regenerate it and you also miss your three drop. It tends to die a lot right around then, which is a pretty enormous tempo loss. It's not a bad card, but it's been pretty dangerous lately.
+ Beast Within: My initial reaction to this card was that it was absolutely nuts. Perhaps that's not true and a 3/3 is pretty dangerous, but there were so many situations that green decks couldn't beat that it seems very good. It still can't kill a Sphinx of the Steel Wind, but there will be lots of useful targets for it. I also think people are underestimating the 3/3 flash aspect of it. It might not work, but I wouldn't hate putting any of my cuts back in.
+ Brutalizer Exarch: I cut Mold Shambler for not flicking or reanimating very well, so this guy fixes that problem. The search effect also seems like it'd be useful more than rarely, so I'm excited to see this guy in action.
+ [CARDNoxious Revival[/CARD]: Reclaim is pretty good and a lot of colors other than green wouldn't mind access to that effect. This is noticably better by being both free and able to mess with your opponent's graveyard. Whether that's good enough, I'm not sure, but we'll find out.
Here we're cutting a handful of mediocre cards for some interesting stuff that may well end up being mediocre itself. I have some hope that they'll be awesome, but there's only one way to find out.
Colorless
- Juggernaut: He's obsolete. Once upon a time he was amazing, but for four mana, you can do way better these days.
- Powder Keg: Between this, Ratchet Bomb, and Engineered Explosives, we have a lot of options for colorless low cost sweepers. I feel like this is the weakest of the three and I don't really mind cutting it.
- Precursor Golem: I liked the golem. He was quite good a lot of the time. But I need to cut another creature and I still prefer Triskelion. Maybe I'll find another cut to save him.
- Basalisk Collar: I don't need this equipment anymore. It's good, but there's another lifelink equipment coming in and it was often getting cut from decks.
- Evolving Wilds: It's a good, solid colorfixing land. Another option for this slot was Everflowing Chalice, but I like the chalice better. It helps that I have another one of these that's staying in.
+ Batterskull: I think this one's a given. It's a pretty solid body with two solid defensive abilities. Oh, and it can equip to my other creatures. And make another germ if I stall out. There is high potential for awesome here.
+ Karn Liberated: A solid, huge planeswalker. Not a bad option for a control finisher, deadly in ramp decks. Not for everyone, but pretty good in most slower decks.
+ Hex Parasite: I like cheap artifact creatures. This one is nicely relevent. If not always, at least at times. He can eat counters from planeswalkers, but also from the bombs, fading counters from Tangle Wire, and he's crazy with persist guys (Glen Elendra Archmage anyone?) This guys an artifact rather than a black card since I think its ability will only be used a couple of times and it'll see about as much play in non-black decks as in black ones. This one's kind of a judgment call and it may move to black in the future.
+ Sword of War and Peace: This was a safe bet to come in even before we had the text. Swords are good, though I'm starting to wonder if I shouldn't cut one. That's a lot of 3 cost equipment...
+ Spined Thopter: I love the pegasi and I'm willing to pay 2 life to play one in green or red. This is in the artifact section (as opposed to every other phyrexian mana card) since I actually think blue wants it the least.
Other than Precursor Golem I'm happy to lose all these guys and I'm pretty excited about their replacements.
So that's the most changes I've made at one time since I swapped in blue aggro (and may be more than that), but I'm really pretty excited about a lot of them. I'm cutting a fair number of cards I don't like and adding in some that are exciting and interesting, even if they don't end up being the best things ever.
For the most part these changes are pretty fantastic. The only two cards that I really hate you cutting are Precursor Golem and most especially Searing Blaze. I can see you were hesitant to remove the Golem already, so I would certainly look at Bottle Gnomes as something to cut in it's place. Searing Blaze has been one of the most insane red spells in the cube around here, and I just chalk up the fact that most people on these forums don't run it to not giving it a fair shot. It's basically six damage for two mana, often divided in the most optimal way for maximum value.
When I see Healing Salve, I'm often like "Oh girl, I wish I could turn every card into this." Thanks they removed the gain life part, otherwise this would have been broken.
I'll give that a shot. Precursor Golem back in for Bottle Gnomes.
I wouldn't mind saving searing blaze, but I'm not sure what to cut for it. Fire Ambush seems like the most reasonable cut, but the splashability is very nice.
I'm with you on Precursor Golem over Bottle Gnomes and I'm also a fan of Searing Blaze. For me, Words of War never did anything impressive and Fire Ambush / Volcanic Hammer also seems like a fine cut.
My Cube experience is so far not very big, but one thing that I NEVER saw in any draft we played is mono -X - deck. Seriously, No mono-red, because people draft creatures for Boros or burn for splashes, especially X- spells. No mono black, probably because removals are picked for splashes and creatures for BG, discard spells for UB ofc. I was very close to mono U, but only because 3 out of 5 players drafted red. The point is - do really mono-color strategies exist on Cube drafts? Or just in theory? Or maybe my playgroup is just "non-standard"?
This surprises me. The main impetus for adding mono black was actually the fact that a mono (or almost mono) black list showed up a couple of times. It's not terribly common for an actual mono-X list to show up - maybe once every two drafts? - but almost mono lists do come up pretty often. In fact, out of the five or six decks per draft, at least one has been either straight mono or mono with 3 or fewer splashed cards in the last few weeks. Obviously the mono-black cards don't require an actual mono-black list; just mostly black. And most of them aren't unplayable in a half-black deck; Urborg is actually fantastic fixing since a lot of the black cards are very black heavy even before this swap. Obliterator and necropotence are hard to play, but in a half black list they're still reasonably on curve (obliterator as a 6 drop, necropotence as a 4-5 drop). Lashwrithe isn't great - a 2/2 for 4 even with the equipment is pretty poor, but at least it grows.
On that note, I was thinking about moving Hex Parasite to black. Other than the cards that were just added, is there anything in black that'd be good to cut for it?
Innistrad Changes (and changes vaguely related to Innistrad)
White:
-Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite: She was huge, but hugely expensive and didn't really win the game. I have no problems cutting her.
-Grand Abolisher: He didn't really get a fair shake. I like him, but he's nothing particularly special and I wanted to try out some new stuff.
-Pianna, Nomad Captain: She's fine. Nothing amazing, but fine. I want to give Mentor and Mikaeus a little time, but if she came back in for Mentor in a month I wouldn't be surprised. She has the nasty habit of dying a lot, either to a wrath/clasm the turn after she comes out or just in combat, so I don't really have a problem cutting her.
-Stormfront Pegasus: I have a ton of 2-drops in white and this is probably the least exciting. The pegasi are good but not great and I prefer Cloistered Youth, at least to this one.
-Weathered Wayfarer: His upside always seems so awesome, but he never really seems to live up to it. Either you're on the play so you'd have to miss a land drop or you don't really have time for the tempo loss, he's only been great if you have strong utility lands to find. I don't really have any trouble waving goodbye to him.
+Cloistered Youth: 3/3 for 2 seems good. Kind of boring, but sometimes boring is just what you need.
+Kjeldoran Outpost: Maybe too cute, but with Mentor and Mikaeus there are some more token supporters. Possibly too slow which is why it got cut a year ago and also very dangerous in the face of blink cards or land destruction, but I'm hopeful.
+Mentor of the Meek: It's a little narrow, but I have hopes. I haven't seen this guy much since I added him, but he's been fine the couple times he did show up. If you just get 2 cards out of him, that's pretty close to a Mulldrifter which is obviously pretty good.
+Mikaeus, the Lunarch: This is a guy that I vastly underrated. The ability to play him on curve whenever that may be is pretty awesome. He's a little slow after that, but the ability to grow your team if you're up or to grow himself (and then your team) if you're stalemated is nice and on an empty board he can just swing for the win himself. Dies to pretty much everything, but like the levelers you're only putting in as much as you can afford so it's not nearly as dangerous as it seems.
I haven't seen some of these cards in play as much as, say, the werewolves, but they seem fine for now. Probably the Outpost and the Mentor will get cut in a month or two for the Pegasus and Pianna, but I wanted to see them play out.
On an unrelated note, Timely Reinforcements has been absolutely nuts. It's dead occassionally, but it also just wins games. Even against controlling decks, sometimes you end up down on board, play timely and it lets you poke in a little bit of extra damage to win. Obviously against aggressive or midrange decks it's fantastic and in the aggro mirror it's backbreaking. This was another of my weird test cards and it's actually been surprisingly good.
Blue:
-Gilded Drake: He always seems so cool. A 2 mana [CARD]Control Magic[\CARD] with insane upside with flicking and bounce should be phenomenal. I see all the best case scenarios. And yet, none of them happen. Much more often it rots in hands or sideboards because a 3/3 flyer is really good. Aggressive decks often have literally nothing that you're willing to trade it for, midrange ones do, but a 3/3 flyer is still a legitimate threat, and control decks can often answer it (and many control finishers can't even be targetted by it). If you can't do bounce shenanigans with the Drake, he's usually been a liability and the bouncing has just never worked out despite a lot of effort.
-Misdirection: I have a love/hate relationship with this card. It's come in and out more than any other card in the cube. It's possible this cut should be Ponder or Waterfront Bouncer, but I like both of them better. When this card works, it's a blowout. When it doesn't, it's a mulligan and there's really not a ton of space in between. I like this card a lot, but I think I'd rather go with some consistency and sacrifice some power for now.
+Snapcaster Mage: He's a beast. Not quite Eternal Witness, but in a color much more suited to taking advantage of it and with flash. I've seen him recur Balance, Thoughtseize (A lot), Time Walk, Wrath of God (even though it's a little awkward), and probably others that I'm forgetting. He's really, really good and more fun than I expected.
Black:
-Lashwrithe: Mono-black was a flop. This card was fine as a 3/3 or +3/+3 equipment in the mid-game, but nothing special. No problems cutting the whole package.
-Necropotence: The best of the mono-black even if Pithing Needle was brutal on it. Still no problems cutting it.
-Phyrexian Obliterator: The worst of the mono-black. I'm not sure it ever connected. Not once. It got cast a few times and died to removal or blocked by Wall of Denial or bounced. Good riddance.
-Pulse Tracker: This guy's fine and probably a little underrated. Diregraf Ghoul is way, way better. No qualms cutting him.
-Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth: Also a good card even outside of mono-black, but it's time has come too. It's fine if unexciting, but there's better stuff coming.
+Bloodgift Demon: And another try at a guy to fill the "big black beater" slot. 5/4 flying with upside sounds good. I guess we'll see
+Diregraf Ghoul: Possibly the most obvious include in the whole set. 2/2 for B with no real drawback seems good. I guess he can't chump block the turn he comes out, but that's not so bad.
+Liliana of the Veil: She seems nuts. Gatekeeper is quite good and she seems like a gatekeeper with pretty real upside. Easy and clear addition.
+Sewer Nemesis: He's been bigger than Juzam Djinn by the time he's gone to swing every time so far. Pretty tough to burn out, he's been very good. Black's 4-drop is a little heavy, but I think that's fine for now.
So basically for black it's cutting the mono-black stuff for the obvious inclusions fro Innistrad. Nothing weird going on here.
Red:
-Chaos Warp: I think this is better than it gets credit for. It was fine - often a path to vindicate at instant speed, but occassionally really bad and sometimes it hit a spell. The problem is that the randomness led to it not really seeing play - even though it was fine, the fear led to people not really enjoying it. Since it's mostly intended as a fun card, I'm ok with cutting it since it wasn't fun.
-Firestorm: This guy's awesome in 2HG and fine in general. We haven't been playing as much 2HG as we've gotten more people and "fine" tends not to be good enough anymore. It was getting cut a fair amount, so I have no problem removing it, at least for now.
-Gorilla Shaman: Another mediocre red 1 drop. I've seen it kill 1 artifact in a year and a half. I mean, I understand that's not normal - it should be mowing down moxes and the like, but it just hasn't happened. So it's gone.
-Moltensteel Dragon: Fine card. I'm cutting it to give Instigator Gang a shot and they fill similar roles. It's very vulnerable by being both an artifact and a creature, so it actually hasn't been anything special for us. I don't mind running it, but since I'd like to give the gang a shot this is the most natural cut.
-Red Sun's Zenith: Between RSZ, Banefire, and Fireball, I think Fireball is the best. Between RSZ and Banefire, I think it's a toss-up. Exiling is nice and the ability to tutor for it again is nice as well, but when you want a Banefire, you have to have Banefire. I really think this is a coin flip and I'm fine with it falling out this way.
-Searing Blaze: Too hard to cast. RR is a pain, the land thing is a mild inconvenience, and every once in a while you want it to just go to the face and can't. It's got great upside, but the RR is just too annoying lately, so I think it's my least favorite burn spell for the moment.
-Slagstorm: Again, the RR is annoying for the decks that want it. 3 damage isn't that much more than 2. I also think I'm ok on red sweepers - the split damage spells serve a similar role and are basically as good.
-Urabrask the Hidden: Another mediocre card that had some great moments, but I don't mind cutting him - the aggro decks think he's too slow, the control decks don't want his weak body, and the midrange decks are kind of ambivalent.
+Brimstone Volley: This has been awesome. I've yet to have a problem hitting for 5 with it in aggressive decks (~7 games) and if you can rebuy it, it's nuts. A Lava Axe for 3 mana that also kills Baneslayer Angel? I was skeptical until I played it, but it's been fantastic.
+Devil's Play: This one may actually be the most obvious include from the set. The best X spell ever? Yes, please. I guess if you're splashing you don't always get the upside?
+Instigator Gang: He's filling the big dumb red curve topper. I haven't seen him much yet (more a matter of not drawing him than not running him), but he seems worth a shot.
+Reckless Waif: She's been great. The werewolves in general are much, much better than I expected. Turn 1 on the play she pretty much always flips - few decks have that many 1 or 0 drops, and even if she doesn't, it's rare that decks can keep it up. Plus at some point you miss your drop and she flips. I'm not sure that it's better than a 2/1 for 1 (probably about the same?), but that's better than red gets, so it's not a huge problem. It's certainly far better than Goblin Patrol, at least in the games we've played.
+Shrine of Burning Rage: It's been great in standard, so I'm curious. Probably won't last forever, but there's not a ton of cost to trying it. Hasn't come up yet, so I don't have much opinion.
+Squee, Goblin Nabob: I love Squee so I'm trying him again. He's narrow, but maybe that's ok. Maybe he'll get cut again, but we'll see.
+Stormkirk Noble: Another solid red one drop. Much better than Slith Firewalker. Not even close. Not quite as good as the Waif (can I emphasize again how awesome she's been?), but still better than most of the one drops in red. The "can't be blocked by humans" clause is surprisingly relevent too.
One drops in red have always been a problem and I'm glad to pick up two excellent aggressive ones. I didn't have high hopes for them, but they've both impressed me along with Brimstone Volley.
Green:
-Creeping Mold: Like for like cut for Bramblecrush. This could be Beast Within, except that we've actually liked it quite a bit. Killing an early land or a planeswalker can be very nice. Similarly, destroying your own land for a surprise blocker is nice. I don't have strong feelings on which card should be cut, but since my group prefers Beast Within, I'm ok with sticking with it.
-Pouncing Jaguar: This cut and the Wild Dogs one are going to be the most controversial. This just isn't a good card. A 2/2 is much better than a 1/1, but echo is truly brutal. Sure, late game it doesn't matter, but late game neither does a 2/2. Compare the Jaguar to something like Arbor Elf that doesn't see much cube inclusion - instead of giving you a great turn 2, it takes away your second turn. One drops in green aren't great, but the two drops are fantastic - Tarmogoyf, Scavenging Ooze, Lotus Cobra, and so on are all excellent. If the jaguar doesn't come down on turn 1, he's pretty unimpressive, but if he does come down on the first turn, he destroys your second turn. All in all, this wasn't a trade off the aggressive green decks were willing to make, so he's gone and I'm pretty happy about it.
-Rampant Growth: I was trying this out to see if it helped ramp enough. It's fine, but unnecessary - ramp is good enough even without this and I'd prefer another 1-drop elf in its place.
-Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary: Great card in mono-green or even mostly green. Pain outside of that. Kind of like Lotus Cobra a lot of the time, except that the cobra gets to attack as well and can also make any color of mana. There's a lot of competition at the 2-drop slot in green and this guy just barely doesn't make it.
-Spike Weaver: A cool effect, just a little bit slow. Four is also pretty packed in green and when you wanted a fog, this guy tended to be just a little bit too slow. Again, not a bad card and I'm glad I played it for so long, but its time has come too.
-Wild Dogs: This guy I like much, much better than Pouncing Jaguar, but my group doesn't. He's not really the kind of card you can just beat them with to show he's awesome (no one remembers losing to a 2/1 but they definitely remember the games where they took him) and I don't care enough to keep him. Maybe if some of the new additions don't pan out, I'll sneak him back in. Cycling is nice, but his drawback is not insubstantial - between fetch lands, shock lands, and black side effects it's not at all impossible for the aggro deck to fall behind a little on life and this guy obviously punishes that. Again, he may well come back, but I don't think it's a huge loss.
+Avacyn's Pilgrim: I wanted another 1 drop mana elf. I think this is the best of them that I'm not playing. Arbor Elf is another option, but the fear of missing a forest is real and I don't mind making W mana. If I have the Pilgrim out, I clearly have green already, so getting a new color isn't the worst thing ever. Maybe Boreal Druid would look cleaner, but the Pilgrim is clearly stronger so I'm going to go with that. Maybe this'll end up swapping back for Wild Dogs, but I doubt it since I've been pretty happy with green aggro lately.
+Bramblecrush: Creeping Mold #2 seems good. I like the mold, I like killing planeswalkers, so I'm pretty happy.
+Garruk Relentless: Hasn't come up much yet, but making infinite 2/2's has been nice when he has. Haven't used his back face much and the fight only once or twice, but he's definitely been solid.
+Mayor of Avabruck: Perhaps the weirdest addition (or second after the pilgrim), this guy is a monster. Absolutely fantastic. He comes down early enough that he's easy to flip, you lose very little tempo if he dies, and if he doesn't he ends games faster than any other 2 drop in the cube by an enormous margin. I can't recommend this guy highly enough; he's a beating early or late and can literally kill someone on his own. I had low expectations, but he's very, very good and has seen a ton of play in the last couple weeks.
+Mire Boa: Out for a little, now back in. I'm pretty impartial - green's 2-drop slot is stacked, but the boas are both fine. Maybe I'll cut it for the Rampant Growth again, kind of depending on how things fall out.
+Moldgraf Monstrosity: He looks cool. An 8/8 trample for 7 is fine power-wise and he certainly has a relevent upside when he dies. Haven't seen him come out much, but seems good.
Green aggro is much, much better than it used to be and that's mostly due to the Mayor. He's been really, really good and forces your opponent to play suboptimally if they don't have a removal spell. And the +1/+1 for humans isn't even irrelevent. All-in-all a very exciting card and I'm reasonably happy with my green changes.
Artifact:
These cuts (as well as one from each color and one land) are to add an extra cycle of lands for fixing. I felt like the fixing was a little bit too light, but these are all very, very painful, so I may be better off cutting a card from each color - the colors aren't nearly as tight as the artifacts these days.
-Engineered Explosives: All of these are great cards, but this is the one I'll miss the most. Fantastic with Academy Ruins and solid on its own. It's a little narrow and it doesn't always do quite enough, but if I could sneak one of these back in, this would be it.
-Everflowing Chalice: Good, solid card, but nothing special; I don't really mind cutting it.
-Isochron Scepter: Narrow, but one of my favorite cards, it's sad to cut it but on power level doesn't bother me too much.
-Scroll Rack: Another card that seems like it should be good, has had good games, but is pretty unimpressive if you can't shuffle. If you can, this is phenomenal, but if you can't tends to be pretty bad. I would love to get it back in, but the cuts have gotten brutal.
Actually writing this has made me think that maybe it's time to cut from each of the colors instead. I wouldn't mind moving Hex Parasite to artifact since it's seen a bunch of play outside of black (and is really good; I never realized how many counters there were on cards) and maybe the Phyrexian Metamorph as well which would let me cut two artifacts and then a spell from the three least tight colors. Hmmmmm...
Land:
As I said in the artifact cuts, I wanted one more cycle of fixing. I'm not sure these are the right lands to add. For BR, GR, and GW, it's easy. I'm sure that I don't want bounce-lands; they've been truly awful despite their potential for awesomeness they tend to die a lot which is an enormous tempo loss. Other than that, I'm not really sure which lands I want; I threw some in and I figure we'll see how it goes.
-Rishadan Port: This is the last of the artifact cuts for the cycle of lands. It's good and sees play, but I don't hate cutting it - it's sort of like a strip mine that costs you 2 mana rather than 1. Complements aggressive mana denial strategies well and it's a good answer for man-lands, but doesn't answer things like Library of Alexandria all that well. I'd save it if I could (Undiscovered Paradise?), but I'd rather have the new fixing cycle.
-Blazing Specter: Specter out, Blightning in. I make this swap every six months or so and I haven't really settled on a preference. Since I'm adding a 4 drop to BR, this seemed like a fine time.
-Fulminator Mage: Fine card, not as cool as Olivia, so this seemed like the obvious place to go.
-Momentary Blink: This is really the Grand Arbiter Augustin IV slot, but I hate the Arbiter (I feel like he doesn't contribute much to the board and you have to tap out for him in the combination that's least ok with that), so I was trying out other things. In that spirit, I'm continuing to experiment.
-Sarkhan Vol: Fine card, nothing special. The threaten's been good a couple of times, the dragons have won at least one game, and the +1/+1 and haste has been nice. Again, nothing awesome, so no problem losing him.
-Stormbind: This is an excellent way to end games, but that's basically all it does. It's like a much better Words of War and sometimes that's what you want. Especially with the readdition of Squee, Goblin Nabob, it may be that I should keep this, but I have some experimenting to do, so I don't have much problem with tihs cut.
+Daybreak Ranger: This guy has been awesome. Not as good as the Mayor, but excellent. He's nice since he still works even if your opponent can flip him back on his turn (you fight on their turn and then in your upkeep). Creature removal in green is rare and the one red mana isn't that hard to pick up so he's definitely splashable. And a 3 mana 4/4 is a bargain even in green.
+Gavony Township: This is probably too slow. It's taking the Mirari's Wake slot that's been Stirring Wildwood lately (but that got added to the fixing cycle to create a hole). It's been good the one time it showed up, but it's a little hard to tell off just one instance. It is a land though which makes it much cheaper to add to your deck, so I think it's worth a shot.
+Geist of Saint Traft: Another experiment in UW, he's been better than I'd feared, but not amazing. If he gets in once for free (say with Lightning Greaves or a little removal), he's worth 10ish damage and he's tough to interact with. I'm willing to let him hang out for a bit and we'll see where it goes from there.
+Kessig Wolf Run: This has been great. Like Stormbind it's a way to finish the game, but unlike Stormbind it's not a dead card until then since it can tap for mana. I imagine I'll have games where I wish this were a forest or a mountain but it hasn't happened yet. Instead it's just a stream of fireballs to the head whether on a bird or on a blocked attacker. It also allows you to trade up nicely and makes combat math a nightmare for your opponent. Late game mana sinks are good, especially for green decks, and this one is excellent.
+Olivia Voldaren: She's taken over 2 games and just died three times which isn't bad for a 4 drop. Basically a masticore that hits much harder in exchange for being a little less resilient. I'm alright with keeping it around for a while since the upside is enormous even if she's not that hard to kill.
Generally cutting weak cards for ones that have a chance at least to be better, so I'm pretty happy with the gold cards. Kessig Wolf Run is the best of the additions with Daybreak Ranger not far behind, but we'll see how they hold up in the months and weeks to come.
I like some of the stuff you are doing and dislike some other stuff:
White looks fine, although I think Wayfarer is better than Mentor.
Blue is fine, although I like Gilded Drake a lot.
Black changes are awesome!
I dislike what you are doing with red. Moltensteel is one of red's best DEAL WITH ME OR DIE cards. It puts your in a really terrible spot: Have/draw instant removal or die. I've found it to be really impressive. Gorilla Shaman should do very well in a Powered cube. I dont' understand why it isn't killing Moxen and Sol Rings for you. I don't think any of the cards you are bringing in are that good except Devil's Play and Squee and maybe Instigator Gang.
I dislike the green changes, but you don't like the green 1-drops which I think are great. I like Garruk, Bramblecrush, and Mire Boa, so they should definitely come in. Hornet Queen and Rampant Growth are good cuts.
My next cuts would be Green Sun's Zenith, Pelakka Wurm, and--most definitely--Nest Invader. I'm glad the Mayor is working for you
I'd cut Thawing Glaciers or Undiscovered Paradise long before I cut Rishadan Port. I can't really get behind cutting Scroll Rack, and I hear nothing but good stuff about Engineered Explosives even though I have no experience with the card.
I really like the Ravnica bouncelands in UR and UG.
I really enjoyed the detailed write-up that you presented there. I like that you're not afraid to cut "staples" to experiment with newer cards as well. I'll echo your feelings about Reckless Waif, Mayor of Avabruck, Daybreak Ranger, and Kessig Wolf-Run. They've all been very good here as well, and Mentor of the Meek has already had a few moments where he got out of hand relatively quickly. While I don't necessarily agree with all the cuts and additions, overall it looks like it's an overall positive change. The only cards I see being removed that I really, really wouldn't want to cube without are Searing Blaze, Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary, Rishadan Port, Elesh Norn (has been one of the best finishers in my cube), and Mistral Charger (I think Ronom Unicorn is a much better cut). So far the Lashwrithe/Phyrexian Obliterator package has been pretty popular around here, but I can understand wanting to remove it if it hasn't done the same for your players.
I was also interested to hear about your positive experiences with Hex Parasite. It seems like it hasn't picked up too much among people on these forums and I'm hesitant to add it, but I may give it a run after hearing it's been doing well for you and your players.
Rant, thanks for the detailed advice. I'm not sure I agree with you about wayfarer (I haven't had very good luck with it, I guess), but I agree that Mentor might not work out. No way to know until I try though.
I also agree about gorilla shaman - it seems like it should be awesome. I have 15 artifacts in my cube that cost 1 or less and aren't lotus or top (which dodge removal pretty well). In a 6-player draft (what we usually do these days), there are 270 cards out, so in expectation there are 8 artifacts of cost 1 or less, so each player will have an expected 1.3. So the shaman is, in expectation going to cost 3 mana to kill one card in their deck (including his own casting cost), as well as do some small amount of damage and chump block. In general, I'd say these aren't uniformly distributed among drafters, but given what they are (5 moxes, sol ring, among others), they tend to be closer to randomly distributed than most cards. Compared to Smash to Smithereens, that's pretty unimpressive. Granted, his upside is pretty big (they could have a bunch of artifacts), but equally he could be a blank when they drop Tangle Wire or Batterskull. So I had high hopes for him and I'm glad he's worked out for you, but I'm happy getting rid of him.
On Moltensteel Dragon, I also agree somewhat - it's a cool card and I was really excited to run it. It hasn't worked out great for us and the 4-drop slot is pretty busy in red - maybe cut Chandra, the Firebrand instead? I mean, I could lose Keldon Champion but he's been uniformly good and it'd make me a little sad. Otherwise the cards at 4 are pretty much invincible - there's some really good stuff in that slot...Maybe in the end Instigator Gang won't be great and I can swap the dragon back in. Yeah, I'm not really sure what the right answer is here, but it's certainly worth thinking about.
On the green cuts, I can understand liking the one drops - I ran them for a long time too. I think probably Wild Dogs should come back in at some point, but he's universally reviled in my group so we'll see. Otherwise nothing I'm cutting really bothers me much - I like the cards you're suggesting much more. Pelakka isn't amazing, but he's not a bad top end and I like him as a reanimating target as well as a ramp target. Green Sun's Zenith has been very, very good - it's a Worldly Tutor without the card disadvantage (or time disadvantage) but only for green creatures. Thankfully green has a ton of excellent creatures - it's often an Elf if you draw it early, a Chameleon Colossus late, or a Woodfall Primus very late (or, of course, a utility creature) - that's pretty awesome for a one mana premium. Nest Invader you're absolutely right on - that's actually already been cut (I was surprised when you mentioned it so I went through my cut pile and found it), but I have no idea what for. I wonder if I'm just short a green card? Then I can sneak back in Rofellos. Good catch - thanks!
Yeah, the artifact/land cuts are brutal. Probably better off cutting Scepter and Chalice and then cards from White, Green, and Red (moving hex parasite and metamorph to artifact since they see play everywhere - legionairre should probably join them, but he's actually been drafted more in white than elsewhere though I'm not sure why). Incidentally, why has Scroll Rack been so good for you? I understand it's appeal in theory and it's pretty good with shuffle effects (it's like a big looter then), but it's straight card disadvantage and if you can't shuffle it tends to be pretty bad. At least Top doesn't have the card disadvantage stigma and is very hard to kill. I keep wanting it to be great, but it I've been a bit disappointed.
On the bouncelands, it's possible my group (and I) just had some bad experiences and so aren't really willing to try them again. I run slightly more land destruction than you do, but that shouldn't make a difference. They're pretty slow, but if they don't get nuked, they're quite good. I guess I'll think about it a little and maybe give them another shot.
Kenny, thanks for your response as well. I'm surprised you ended up liking Elesh Norn so much - she was great exactly once for us and that was when she got thoughtseized and reanimated by the aggressive deck which isn't exactly where you want to be. Ignoring that one incident, she tended to be just a little too slow. 7 is a lot of mana and by that point you were either in a bad enough position that she didn't help much or she'd die to removal without actually impacting the board. The -2/-2 thing seemed like it should be awesome, but in practice you were either dead to their x/2s by that point or killing the x/2s didn't stop the actual threat (burn, sulfuric vortex, cursed scroll, whatever). I'd be interested to hear what kinds of decks you've been running her in. Mostly hardcore control as a finisher?
Rofellos and Rishadan Port are at the very edge for me. They've both been good but not amazing and I could see it falling out either way. Though if I actually have a hole in green, I'll happily slot Rofellos right back in.
I think you're right on Mistral Charger - Unicorn is a better cut. My gut was that I needed more enchantment hate, but it turns out there are only ~20 in the cube, several of which you don't even care about killing (like Sarcomancy or Rancor) and some which have an impact before you'd have a chance to kill them (or, like Recurring Nightmare you never have a chance to kill them). So I think enchantment only removal is actually pretty bad (and, of all colors, white is pretty good at it) and this is a very good call - thanks!
Searing Blaze I have very mixed feelings about. It's been in and out a ton and it usually gets drafted reasonably highly. But it's been the 24th/25th/26th card a lot - the last one that gets cut in deck building. It's slightly too awkward. When it works, it's awesome - it's a huge tempo swing as well as some solid damage to the head. So I'm very much on the fence about it. I could cut Volcanic Hammer instead; it's much less impressive, but it's been a solid contributor.
I'd be interested to hear how Mentor of the Meek does for you - I'm curious about it but not totally sold yet. And I'm glad to hear other people are having success with the werewolves as well; I hadn't really seen much positive about them on these boards, but I've really liked them.
On Hex Parasite. I'm not sure how helpful anecdotes are, but I have a bunch - in the last two decks I've played it in (WG and RG aggressive), it's killed Elspeth, Jace Memory Adept, Gemstone Mine, Mikaeus (granted, it was my own Mikaeus after my opponent phantasmal imaged the hex parasite, but at least I got to remove no counters from the image to kill it back), and Phantom Centaur. That's pretty excellent value from a silly 1/1, and a couple of times it got in for reasonable damage afterward (the Gemstone Mine and the Phantom Centaur got eaten on my turn). As far as eating counters go, it effectively has haste, so it's actually a perfectly reasonable planeswalker answer - you lose a little value since they got to activate it once, but that's not so bad. Plus you get a 1/1 too! I don't want to exaggerate and say it's the best thing ever, but 1 drops are scarce and this guy's pretty good - there are surprisingly many counters you can remove and they're often relevent (I haven't lived the dream with Glen Elendra Archmage yet, but someday). Besides, he can enable bloodthirst, chump block, carry weapons, and do all the things creatures do. I'd certainly recommend him; worst case you can always cut him again.
On an unrelated note, the BG deck that you top 8'd an SCG open with is still my favorite Legacy deck ever.
On an unrelated note, the BG deck that you top 8'd an SCG open with is still my favorite Legacy deck ever.
Many thanks! I'm not really excited about how that format is turning out in the post-Misstep world with Snapcaster everywhere, so I'm not really sure what to do with a junk strategy these days.
Thanks for the anecdotes on Hex Parasite! I'll be sure to give him a run in the cube in the oncoming weeks to test it out. One drops are certainly hard to come by, so I'm hopeful.
Cube Size: 500 Cards
Cube CMC: 2.82
Breakdown: 67 Each Color, 63 Artifact, 45 Multicolor, 57 Land
Standard or Theme Cube: Standard
Average # Players: 4-5
How Often Drafted: Once weekly, sometimes more
Card Selection
Powered?: Yes
Portal?: Yes
Proxies: No
Snow?: No
"Un-" Cards: No
Banned Cards: No
Errata: No
Cube Design
Standard or Multiplayer: Standard
Sideboards?: Yes, but no sideboard specific cards in cube
Cards Sorted As Played/As Written: As Played
1 Elite Vanguard
1 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
1 Mother of Runes
1 Savannah Lions
1 Steppe Lynx
1 Student of Warfare
//2cc
1 Accorder Paladin
1 Cloistered Youth
1 Knight of Meadowgrain
1 Kor Skyfisher
1 Leonin Relic-Warder
1 Lone Missionary
1 Mistral Charger
1 Porcelain Legionnaire
1 Silver Knight
1 Soltari Monk
1 Soltari Priest
1 Soltari Trooper
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Stormfront Pegasus
1 Wall of Omens
1 Blade Splicer
1 Exalted Angel
1 Flickerwisp
1 Mirran Crusader
1 Mirror Entity
1 Paladin en-Vec
1 Pianna, Nomad Captain
1 Soltari Champion
//4cc
1 Calciderm
1 Hero of Bladehold
1 Kor Sanctifiers
//5cc
1 Baneslayer Angel
1 Cloudgoat Ranger
1 Karmic Guide
1 Reveillark
1 Sun Titan
//Xcc
1 Mikaeus, the Lunarch
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Land Tax
1 Mana Tithe
1 Path to Exile
1 Swords to Plowshares
//2cc
1 Balance
1 Disenchant
1 Journey to Nowhere
1 Seal of Cleansing
1 Temporal Isolation
1 Glorious Anthem
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Spectral Procession
1 Timely Reinforcements
//4cc
1 Ajani Goldmane
1 Armageddon
1 Day of Judgment
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Faith's Fetters
1 Moat
1 Ravages of War
1 Wrath of God
1 Elspeth Tirel
1 Gideon Jura
1 Rout
//6cc
1 Akroma's Vengeance
1 Catastrophe
//Xcc
1 Decree of Justice
1 Faerie Conclave
//1cc
1 Enclave Cryptologist
//2cc
1 Looter il-Kor
1 Phantasmal Image
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Spellskite
1 Waterfront Bouncer
1 Aether Adept
1 Man-o'-War
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Serendib Efreet
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Willbender
//4cc
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Lu Xun, Scholar General
1 Sower of Temptation
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Meloku the Clouded Mirror
1 Mulldrifter
//6cc
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Frost Titan
1 Keiga, the Tide Star
1 Sphinx of Jwar Isle
1 Academy Ruins
1 Force of Will
1 Shelldock Isle
//1cc
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
1 Force Spike
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
//2cc
1 Arcane Denial
1 Counterspell
1 Impulse
1 Into the Roil
1 Mana Drain
1 Mana Leak
1 Memory Lapse
1 Miscalculation
1 Remand
1 Time Walk
1 Capsize
1 Crystal Shard
1 Forbid
1 Jace Beleren
1 Psionic Blast
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Timetwister
1 Tinker
1 Vedalken Shackles
//4cc
1 Control Magic
1 Cryptic Command
1 Deep Analysis
1 Dismiss
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Bribery
1 Desertion
1 Jace, Memory Adept
1 Treachery
//6cc
1 Time Spiral
1 Upheaval
//Xcc
1 Condescend
1 Repeal
1 Carnophage
1 Diregraf Ghoul
1 Fume Spitter
1 Hex Parasite
1 Sarcomancy
1 Vampire Lacerator
//2cc
1 Black Knight
1 Bloodghast
1 Dark Confidant
1 Dauthi Horror
1 Nantuko Shade
1 Nezumi Graverobber
1 Oona's Prowler
1 Vampire Hexmage
1 Bone Shredder
1 Dauthi Marauder
1 Hypnotic Specter
1 Liliana's Specter
1 Vampire Nighthawk
//4cc
1 Bane of the Living
1 Braids, Cabal Minion
1 Graveborn Muse
1 Juzam Djinn
1 Nekrataal
1 Sewer Nemesis
1 Skinrender
1 Bloodgift Demon
1 Shriekmaw
//6cc
1 Grave Titan
1 Kokusho, the Evening Star
//8cc
1 Tombstalker
1 Contagion
1 Snuff Out
1 Volrath's Stronghold
//1cc
1 Disfigure
1 Dismember
1 Duress
1 Imperial Seal
1 Innocent Blood
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Reanimate
1 Thoughtseize
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Animate Dead
1 Bitterblossom
1 Chainer's Edict
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Doom Blade
1 Go for the Throat
1 Hymn to Tourach
1 Night's Whisper
1 Sinkhole
//3cc
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Necromancy
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Recurring Nightmare
1 Stupor
1 Consuming Vapors
1 Damnation
1 Nether Void
//5cc
1 Liliana Vess
//6cc
1 Sorin Markov
//Xcc
1 Black Sun's Zenith
1 Mind Twist
1 Profane Command
1 Goblin Guide
1 Goblin Patrol
1 Greater Gargadon
1 Grim Lavamancer
1 Jackal Pup
1 Mogg Fanatic
1 Reckless Waif
1 Spikeshot Elder
1 Stormkirk Noble
//2cc
1 Blood Knight
1 Fireslinger
1 Hearth Kami
1 Hellspark Elemental
1 Kargan Dragonlord
1 Keldon Marauders
1 Plated Geopede
1 Stormblood Berserker
1 Blistering Firecat
1 Chandra's Phoenix
1 Fire Imp
1 Ghitu Slinger
1 Hell's Thunder
1 Keldon Vandals
1 Manic Vandal
1 Squee, Goblin Nabob
//4cc
1 Avalanche Riders
1 Flametongue Kavu
1 Goblin Ruinblaster
1 Hero of Oxid Ridge
1 Instigator Gang
1 Keldon Champion
1 Moltensteel Dragon
1 Siege-Gang Commander
//6cc
1 Crater Hellion
1 Inferno Titan
1 Fireblast
1 Ghitu Encampment
//1cc
1 Burst Lightning
1 Chain Lightning
1 Firebolt
1 Forked Bolt
1 Lightning Bolt
//2cc
1 Arc Trail
1 Incinerate
1 Magma Jet
1 Pyroclasm
1 Searing Blaze
1 Volcanic Hammer
1 Arc Lightning
1 Brimstone Volley
1 Char
1 Molten Rain
1 Pillage
1 Slagstorm
1 Staggershock
1 Stone Rain
1 Sulfuric Vortex
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Aftershock
1 Koth of the Hammer
//5cc
1 Chandra Nalaar
//6cc
1 Wildfire
//Xcc
1 Banefire
1 Devil's Play
1 Fireball
1 Rolling Earthquake
1 Treetop Village
//1cc
1 Avacyn's Pilgrim
1 Basking Rootwalla
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Fyndhorn Elves
1 Joraga Treespeaker
1 Jungle Lion
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Noble Hierarch
1 Twinblade Slasher
//2cc
1 Fauna Shaman
1 Lotus Cobra
1 Mayor of Avabruck
1 River Boa
1 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Skinshifter
1 Tarmogoyf
1 Viridian Zealot
1 Wall of Blossoms
1 Wall of Roots
1 Wild Mongrel
1 Eternal Witness
1 Great Sable Stag
1 Nantuko Vigilante
1 Ohran Viper
1 Troll Ascetic
1 Uktabi Orangutan
1 Viridian Shaman
1 Yavimaya Elder
//4cc
1 Blastoderm
1 Chameleon Colossus
1 Obstinate Baloth
1 Phantom Centaur
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Vengevine
1 Wickerbough Elder
//5cc
1 Acidic Slime
1 Deranged Hermit
1 Genesis
1 Indrik Stomphowler
1 Kodama of the North Tree
1 Thornling
1 Brutalizer Exarch
//7cc
1 Moldgraf Monstrosity
1 Pelakka Wurm
//8cc
1 Woodfall Primus
1 Rancor
1 Vines of Vastwood
//2cc
1 Regrowth
1 Survival of the Fittest
1 Sylvan Library
//3cc
1 Beast Within
1 Call of the Herd
1 Cultivate
1 Harrow
1 Ice Storm
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Krosan Tusker
1 Bramblecrush
1 Garruk Relentless
1 Garruk Wildspeaker
//5cc
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
1 Plow Under
//Xcc
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Phyrexian Revoker
//4cc
1 Lodestone Golem
1 Molten-Tail Masticore
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Precursor Golem
1 Razormane Masticore
//6cc
1 Triskelion
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Myr Battlesphere
//8cc
1 Sundering Titan
//Xcc
1 Chimeric Mass
1 Bonesplitter
1 Skullclamp
//2cc
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Grafted Wargear
1 Sword of Body and Mind
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Sword of War and Peace
1 Bonehoard
//5cc
1 Batterskull
1 Black Lotus
1 Chrome Mox
1 Everflowing Chalice
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Diamond
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
//2cc
1 Grim Monolith
1 Mind Stone
//3cc
1 Coalition Relic
1 Black Vise
1 Cursed Scroll
1 Pithing Needle
1 Sensei's Divining Top
//2cc
1 Ankh of Mishra
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Scroll Rack
1 Winter Orb
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Mimic Vat
1 Oblivion Stone
1 Ring of Gix
1 Tangle Wire
//4cc
1 Erratic Portal
1 Icy Manipulator
1 Nevinyrral's Disk
1 Smokestack
1 Memory Jar
//7cc
1 Karn Liberated
//Xcc
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Bayou
1 Plateau
1 Savannah
1 Scrubland
1 Taiga
1 Tropical Island
1 Tundra
1 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Flooded Strand
1 Marsh Flats
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Polluted Delta
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Cascade Bluffs
1 Caves of Koilos
1 Celestial Colonnade
1 Copperline Gorge
1 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Darkslick Shores
1 Fetid Heath
1 Flooded Grove
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Lavaclaw Reaches
1 Llanowar Wastes
1 Raging Ravine
1 Rugged Prarie
1 Seachrome Coast
1 Stirring Wildwood
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Twilight Mire
1 Breeding Pool
1 Godless Shrine
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
1 Watery Grave
1 City of Brass
1 Dust Bowl
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Gemstone Mine
1 Grand Coliseum
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Maze of Ith
1 Mishra's Factory
1 Mutavault
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Rishadan Port
1 Strip Mine
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Thawing Glaciers
1 Undiscovered Paradise
1 Wasteland
1 Dimir Signet
1 Psychatog
1 Shadowmage Infiltrator
1 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
//Black/Blue/Red
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
//Black/Blue/White
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
//Black/Green
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Putrefy
1 Putrid Leech
//Black/Green/Red
1 Broodmate Dragon
//Black/Red
1 Blightning
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Olivia Voldaren
1 Terminate
1 Desolation Angel
1 Mortify
1 Stillmoon Cavalier
1 Vindicate
//Blue/Green
1 Edric, Spymaster of Trest
1 Mystic Snake
1 Simic Sky Swallower
1 Trygon Predator
//Blue/Green/White
1 Rafiq of the Many
//Blue/Red
1 Electrolyze
1 Fire // Ice
1 Izzet Signet
1 Prophetic Bolt
//Blue/White
1 Azorius Signet
1 Geist of Saint Traft
1 Venser, the Sojourner
1 Wall of Denial
1 Bloodbraid Elf
1 Daybreak Ranger
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Kird Ape
//Green/Red/White
1 Wild Nacatl
//Green/White
1 Gavony Township
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Loam Lion
1 Qasali Pridemage
//Red/White
1 Ajani Vengeant
1 Duergar Hedge-Mage
1 Figure of Destiny
1 Lightning Helix
My biggest question at the moment is how to improve green. It's pretty much universally the weakest color in the drafts. It has a couple of strong cards, but I feel like with the fast mana artifacts, the mana ramp is much weaker relatively. Aggro decks are fine, both black/red, and red/white (along with the mono versions), but green really doesn't seem to contribute much to them.
Thanks for any help or advice!
naya aggro doesn't see any action? do kird ape, loam lion, and wild nacatl not see play? could just be group preference, you could try adding more LD or maybe just drop the aggro from green altogether if no one is playing it. green does midrange quite well and can also contribute to control. but i really like green aggro, myself. it looks like you have a good list for it, so i'm not sure what to suggest.
Green was the last colour I added aggro to. Until then it was mostly ramp, midrange or a basis for 5-colour decks. Adding aggro worked out better than I had hoped, as it doubled the number of aggro-colour pairs available. Looking at your list, I wonder if it is just a group preference thing. I think it may also be the case that green has access to less powerful cards and strategies.
Do you play any form of multiplayer other than two headed giant? 2HG plays pretty similar to duel, but if you play free for all or other variants, might I suggest a multiplayer addendum? See the list in my sig for details.
My 380 Beginners’ Cube on Cube Tutor
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
I do have some suggestions to improve green:
I'm personally not a big fan of:
You only have 3 green spells with a CMC over 5. What are your ramp spells for? Maybe ether add more fatties or remove the ramp, I advise the former
My Cube.
Casual Decks
UG Madness GU
W Stonehewer Equipment W
WU Millfolk UW
B Necroskitter (FFA) B
WU Multi-Kicker (FFA) UW
BW Near-Death Experience (FFA) WB
You guys are probably right that it's basically a group preference thing. I'll have to try forcing green again this week and see if I can make it work.
Nope - those were the last ones
I'll have to post pictures at some point; this seems like an appropriate place to brag. They're unlimited; it's actually kind of cool that the white bordered cards are the special ones. Basically just the power, dual lands, and portal stuff.
I was actually worried I had too many huge green guys. There's the three big ones, then 3 huge artifact targets (not including chimeric mass or green sun's zenith). But otherwise it's often helpful to have a bunch of mana whether for cycling recurring nightmare a few times, charging up thornling or chameleon colossus, or just firing off a big banefire. Though maybe my thinking that is part of the problem I'm having...
Incidentally, does this seem about the right number of red X spells? Two targettted, two sweepers? I was thinking about adding back in fireball though I don't have a great cut at the moment.
Nah, just 2HG. It's worth mentioning that card evaluations are somewhat different in two-headed giant though, even if it looks like a duel. Upheaval and firestorm are both insanely good for example, and time walk is even better than normal to the point that we were considering time warp (probably the portal one so it can't be willbendered).
Also, one change:
Phyrexian Processor => Precursor Golem
I've always liked the processor, but it hasn't been seeing much play. There's a lot of maindecked and highly valued artifact hate, so it's been really risky lately. Even if you do get one guy out of it, that's 8 mana over two turns and a fair amount of life for a fairly weak guy. So you really need 2+ or maybe 3+ activations out of it, which I'm not sure is totally reasonable. Also, bounce is really, really good against it.
Precursor golem seems better against artifact removal (a lot of it is on bodies, so doesn't kill all the golems) and doesn't cost you life. Also, it's great with the two green pump spells and has some nice interactions with any of the flicker type things (in exchange for a horrible interaction with searing blaze or smash to smithereens)
I've had a look around, and most cubes including mine only have about 3 fatties. I guess only 2 archetypes want them, G/x ramp and reanimator. But If you want to try another fatty, Eidolon recently added Gaea's Revenge and said it is going well for him.
My Cube.
Casual Decks
UG Madness GU
W Stonehewer Equipment W
WU Millfolk UW
B Necroskitter (FFA) B
WU Multi-Kicker (FFA) UW
BW Near-Death Experience (FFA) WB
How has Ice Storm been for you? Does it seem to fit well, or is Creeping Mold just better most of the time?
Well, I'm with you on this one. Far more immediate of an impact, and far less devastating when destroyed (outside of random Smash to Smithereens/Repulse-style shenanigans).
(list not current)
My Cube Google Docs Spreadsheet: https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AibgWfz0ukmOdDNhOHlucjcxUi1wVy00NDhLbDUtUlE&hl=en_US#gid=8
(list is always current)
At least those rely on your opponent having the specific cards that devastate you when they destroy your golems. Processor hits you for 9 (or whatever) consistently, right when you play it. And I care a lot less about my opponent drawing 3 cards than me losing life with nothing to show for it from a simple Disenchant.
My Cube Blog @theCubeMiser on Twitter
Ice storm's been pretty good. It's nice in a different flavor of deck than creeping mold - more of a hard aggro red/green or green/white deck. Disruption, especially at 3 mana is really important, since keeping your opponent off of 4 mana for as long as possible is really key since the four drops are so good. That said, Creeping Mold is almost certainly better, but they're different enough that I've been pretty happy with Ice Storm.
Unrelatedly, does anyone have experience with The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale, Goblin War Buggy, or Temporal Spring?
I've cubed with Goblin War Buggy and Temporal Spring.
The Goblin is merely OK - the problem is in an aggro deck you will want to be doing more things on your third turn than he will let you do because of the Echo. He was made before the start of the Lorwyn creature power push, so he fails in comparison to things like Goblin Guide. Wizards hasn't quite pushed the 2-3cmc beater slot in red yet, it seems, but who knows what will happen in the next sets. I would pass. If you really want another small red drop with haste, I'd look into Suq'Ata Lancer, Ronin Houndmaster, and Hell-Bent Raider (a card I'm about to test). The first two are splashable hasters with pseudo evasion, and the latter is possibly better, with first strike.
Temporal Spring is a pretty nice spell for a weak guild. The ability to hit anything is really nice. It's very comparable to Recoil, except that Temporal Spring forces the discard to be the permanent you want gone, and they can cast it again. Early on, you can get them to miss a land drop. Later, you can give them an extra one in lieu of gas. I like it.
My Cube Blog @theCubeMiser on Twitter
Black:
-Nezumi Shortfang: I like him a lot, but he's a little too vulnerable. When he gets going, he's fantastic and control decks like him a lot against midrange and other control decks, but he's been getting cut quite a bit lately.
-Disfigure: Weakest removal spell. I like it, but something had to give
-Exhume, Entomb, Makeshift Mannequin: Reanimator as a combo deck happened exactly once in the last year. It was cool if not spectacular, but these cards have sat on the sidelines over and over and over again.
-Yawgmoth's Will: The upside for this card is unbelievable. In practice it was getting cut or getting marginal value. You tended to get a fetchland and a removal spell or creature which is pretty weak for ~5 mana
-Ob Nixilis, the Fallen: He's been ok - not terrible but not spectacular. I feel like this slot is pretty open though (as "random black finisher") so I don't mind swapping it around some
+ Lashwrithe: I think this card is going to be good. Very good even. Not just in monoblack, but in Bg or Br. At 3 swamps and another land, it's a 3/3 with a +3/+3 equipment. If you have another creature (an evasive one?), it even has haste
+ Phyrexian Obliterator: Taking the Ob Nixilis slot, I'm not sure how this guy'll work out. He's too awesome to ignore though, so I'm willing to give him a shot as a 6-drop.
+ Necropotence: Since I'm pushing the monoblack archetype a bit further, I think this card has a good chance. Even in a half black deck, it'll come down before Yawgmoth's Bargain on average, and in monoblack it'll obviously happen way before that
+ Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth: With three "swamps matter" in addition to the already tough costs of black, this seems like an obvious include. It's not exciting, but it'll add a ton of consistency.
+ Pulse Tracker: I wanted another 2 power 1-drop in black. Here he is. Also, scales nicely for two-headed giant
+ Despise: In for Nezumi Shortfang, I think the targetted discard will be more useful for more decks. Aggro can take Gideon Jura, control can take Mirror Entity and everyone can be happy.
+ Dismember: In some ways, I think black cares the least about this card, but it'll go here since there's space and it'll see a fair amount of play in black decks too. A new Snuff Out that green and blue can use is pretty cool.
So in general, the black changes swap the reanimator theme for a pure black theme. We'll see how it goes, but with only 4 swaps, all of them cards that didn't see much play (whereas monoblack saw occasional play), I'm pretty hopeful.
Red
- Goblin Welder: He was a 1/1 for 1 the only times anyone played him. I don't think he's needed to fill in the 1-slot in red and he was never exciting for his ability
- Dwarven Blastminer: Occasionally, he'd be dangerous and warrant killing. More often, he'd be a 1/2 for 2 or a 2/2 for 3 with the added fear that he could maybe be a Blistering Firecat. I run more land destruction than usual, and this guy was pretty bad
- Goblin Settler: Another land destruction card that underperformed. He wasn't bad by any means, but he was very much not Avalanche Riders and I think he's a pretty safe cut
- Goblin Wardriver: I like battle cry. The white battle cry guys are nuts. This guy was not. He was hard to play and red just doesn't have the same number of guys as white, especially early enough
- Searing Blaze: This wasn't a bad card, but it's a little inconvenient - both double red, the land, and the creature requirement make it less useful than it is in constructed. It hasn't been bad, though, so it might come back in if something else works particularly poorly.
+ Urabarask, the Hidden: My guess is that this'll be swapped out. For now though, he seems cool enough to warrant a try. Mass haste is great if you can untap with it and the weak Kismet is worth something too.
+ Slagstorm: This could as easily be Whipflare, but I'll try the one that's different from Pyroclasm first. I'd like another sweeper in red and this is it. I'm not hugely excited about Earthquake in this slot, both for not hitting flyers and for hurting yourself.
+ Fireball: I need another X-spell to replace Earthquake in decks that mostly point it at their opponent's head. This is the best I've got, though maybe Demonfire is better.
+ Moltensteel Dragon: I think this guy is underrated. A 4/4 flyer for 4 is on curve and the built-in hatred + firebreathing makes him instantly lethal. Maybe your opponent will always have the removal spell, but as a finisher in counterburn or in red/white aggro, I think he's got a chance.
+ Act of Aggression: This is probably the weakest of some unusual cards coming in for red. I like combat tricks a lot and I feel like my cube actually has too few of them (and that that's a problem). This has a reasonable chance of being a 2 for 1 and fills the normal Act of Treason roles as well. Maybe it'll be horrible, but I won't know until I try. This may well become Final Fortune at some point.
The general red changes are to push midrange a bit harder and cut some underperforming guys. With the phyrexian mana giving red better access to a couple of cheap guys (hello Porcelain Legionairre) I can safely cut an aggro guy or two to push midrange
Blue
- Tezzeret, the Seeker: Even in the artifact deck, this guy wasn't very good. Sure, he'd occasionally go find Mimic Vat or Vedalkin Shackles, but usually he was just worthless. I love the artifact deck, but when he wasn't even seeing play in that (unlike his future self), I think it's time for him to take a break
- Tolarian Academy: Unlike Tezzeret, this was seeing play in the artifact deck. But by the point where it was helpful (I had threeish artifacts), I already had more mana than I could use. It tended to be win more. That said, it's a great card, but something had to give
- Palinchron: A pretty mediocre finisher. Somewhat tough to kill (unless you did it in response to the trigger), but also not that great at combat and not impervious to recurring tricks in the way shroud guys are. He can carry equipment which is nice, but that's not the most useful trait for a finisher
- Frantic Search: Without the hardcore reanimate archetype, this flavor of card fixing is less necessary. It was either this or one of the one mana blue cantrips, but since this is actually card disadvantage, I went with it
+ Phyrexian Metamorph: Probably the single card I'm most excited about. It won't change the world (and it's not the strongest card in the set on power level), but it's an awesome effect at a totally reasonable cost. Copying both artifacts and creatures for only 3 mana (of any color) is nuts
+ Spellskite: I think this may be really good. Like a blue (or colorless!) Mother of Runes - it's not as good since it needs to eat the spell, but I think it's definitely worth trying. It's in blue since I think paying the blue rather than the life will actually be relevent a lot of the time.
+ Misdirection: Even if it sits in sideboards a fair amount, I like having this card in the cube. It makes people think about situations differently and the blowout when it works is a lot of fun
+ Shelldock Isle: Another card that's been in before, I think this one's worth putting back. There's enough expensive stuff that the possible ramp along with the Impulse-on-a-stick aspect makes it worthwhile. Great with Venser too.
Not a lot of blue changes. Cutting some cards from the artifact deck that I don't like very much, as well as two free spells that just haven't been holding their weight. Adding some cards I miss and a couple of cool new ones.
White
- Knight of the White Orchid: While a 2/2 first strike for WW isn't bad, there are definitely better creatures out there. The land happened surprisingly rarely (or when it did, the creature wasn't hugely relevent). Often you'd wish you'd drawn a land instead. Versatility is worth something, but this particular versatility isn't as useful as I'd hoped.
- Sunblast Angel: A flex spot for big white creature with a controlling side effect. It's flexing.
- Kjeldoran Outpost: Once upon a time, this land was phenomenal. Even now, it's useful. But the cost is actually pretty high. Not only are you spending a land drop and two cards (this one and the land), but it's also costing you an effective three mana a turn to make 1/1 soldiers. While it's true that they add up, the types of decks that can afford the cost tend not to be able to take advantage of 1/1's. They're a fine finisher, but there are other finishers that don't cost a land drop and are much faster. I also run more land destruction than normal (or did before this update) and this one's a pretty devestating land to hit.
+ Blade Splicer: A 3/3 first striker for 3 is probably not good enough. But it's flickable for value and comes with a free 1/1. If white were a better color for recurring nightmare, this'd be more awesome, but I think there's enough flicking going on that it'll be easily worth it. White is also the best suited to using a 1/1, either through anthems or equipment.
+ Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite: She's huge, she's mean, and she kills all their little guys. She's taking the flex spot vacated by Sunblast Angel.
+ Porcelain Legionairre: Plausibly the best card in the set. It's got absolutely nuts stats for two mana and the decks that play it tend not to care about their own life. Even control decks wouldn't hate a 3/1 first striker for two, though they obviously care much more about their own life.
Two more little guys, in exchange for one. A couple of cards that don't see play much for one that I think will see tons of play, another that I think will see some, and a last that'll be awesome every once in a while.
Green
- Terrastodon: Elephant man is good. I have too many big guys in green though, so one had to go and this is my least favorite of the bunch.
- Hurricane: This one is tough. It's a very non-green effect (and non-white too) which is nice for a fair number of green decks. But it hasn't been played a lot lately and I think in part that's because a player-only x spell just isn't as necessary even in a color that doesn't get very many of them.
- Albino Troll: Very nice stats, but the echo is really brutal. If you play it early (when its stats are huge), there are two turns you can't regenerate it and you also miss your three drop. It tends to die a lot right around then, which is a pretty enormous tempo loss. It's not a bad card, but it's been pretty dangerous lately.
+ Beast Within: My initial reaction to this card was that it was absolutely nuts. Perhaps that's not true and a 3/3 is pretty dangerous, but there were so many situations that green decks couldn't beat that it seems very good. It still can't kill a Sphinx of the Steel Wind, but there will be lots of useful targets for it. I also think people are underestimating the 3/3 flash aspect of it. It might not work, but I wouldn't hate putting any of my cuts back in.
+ Brutalizer Exarch: I cut Mold Shambler for not flicking or reanimating very well, so this guy fixes that problem. The search effect also seems like it'd be useful more than rarely, so I'm excited to see this guy in action.
+ [CARDNoxious Revival[/CARD]: Reclaim is pretty good and a lot of colors other than green wouldn't mind access to that effect. This is noticably better by being both free and able to mess with your opponent's graveyard. Whether that's good enough, I'm not sure, but we'll find out.
Here we're cutting a handful of mediocre cards for some interesting stuff that may well end up being mediocre itself. I have some hope that they'll be awesome, but there's only one way to find out.
Colorless
- Juggernaut: He's obsolete. Once upon a time he was amazing, but for four mana, you can do way better these days.
- Powder Keg: Between this, Ratchet Bomb, and Engineered Explosives, we have a lot of options for colorless low cost sweepers. I feel like this is the weakest of the three and I don't really mind cutting it.
- Precursor Golem: I liked the golem. He was quite good a lot of the time. But I need to cut another creature and I still prefer Triskelion. Maybe I'll find another cut to save him.
- Basalisk Collar: I don't need this equipment anymore. It's good, but there's another lifelink equipment coming in and it was often getting cut from decks.
- Evolving Wilds: It's a good, solid colorfixing land. Another option for this slot was Everflowing Chalice, but I like the chalice better. It helps that I have another one of these that's staying in.
+ Batterskull: I think this one's a given. It's a pretty solid body with two solid defensive abilities. Oh, and it can equip to my other creatures. And make another germ if I stall out. There is high potential for awesome here.
+ Karn Liberated: A solid, huge planeswalker. Not a bad option for a control finisher, deadly in ramp decks. Not for everyone, but pretty good in most slower decks.
+ Hex Parasite: I like cheap artifact creatures. This one is nicely relevent. If not always, at least at times. He can eat counters from planeswalkers, but also from the bombs, fading counters from Tangle Wire, and he's crazy with persist guys (Glen Elendra Archmage anyone?) This guys an artifact rather than a black card since I think its ability will only be used a couple of times and it'll see about as much play in non-black decks as in black ones. This one's kind of a judgment call and it may move to black in the future.
+ Sword of War and Peace: This was a safe bet to come in even before we had the text. Swords are good, though I'm starting to wonder if I shouldn't cut one. That's a lot of 3 cost equipment...
+ Spined Thopter: I love the pegasi and I'm willing to pay 2 life to play one in green or red. This is in the artifact section (as opposed to every other phyrexian mana card) since I actually think blue wants it the least.
Other than Precursor Golem I'm happy to lose all these guys and I'm pretty excited about their replacements.
So that's the most changes I've made at one time since I swapped in blue aggro (and may be more than that), but I'm really pretty excited about a lot of them. I'm cutting a fair number of cards I don't like and adding in some that are exciting and interesting, even if they don't end up being the best things ever.
I don't think mono-black will stick for long, and yet I hope it does.
The cuts looks very good. I'd cut Lodestone Golem and Bottle Gnomes before Precursor Golem.
My Cube.
Casual Decks
UG Madness GU
W Stonehewer Equipment W
WU Millfolk UW
B Necroskitter (FFA) B
WU Multi-Kicker (FFA) UW
BW Near-Death Experience (FFA) WB
I'm not quite sold on Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, Hex Parasite, Noxious Revival, Beast Within, or Act of Aggression for cube yet, but I can certainly understand the interest in at least testing them.
(list not current)
My Cube Google Docs Spreadsheet: https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AibgWfz0ukmOdDNhOHlucjcxUi1wVy00NDhLbDUtUlE&hl=en_US#gid=8
(list is always current)
I wouldn't mind saving searing blaze, but I'm not sure what to cut for it. Fire Ambush seems like the most reasonable cut, but the splashability is very nice.
This surprises me. The main impetus for adding mono black was actually the fact that a mono (or almost mono) black list showed up a couple of times. It's not terribly common for an actual mono-X list to show up - maybe once every two drafts? - but almost mono lists do come up pretty often. In fact, out of the five or six decks per draft, at least one has been either straight mono or mono with 3 or fewer splashed cards in the last few weeks. Obviously the mono-black cards don't require an actual mono-black list; just mostly black. And most of them aren't unplayable in a half-black deck; Urborg is actually fantastic fixing since a lot of the black cards are very black heavy even before this swap. Obliterator and necropotence are hard to play, but in a half black list they're still reasonably on curve (obliterator as a 6 drop, necropotence as a 4-5 drop). Lashwrithe isn't great - a 2/2 for 4 even with the equipment is pretty poor, but at least it grows.
On that note, I was thinking about moving Hex Parasite to black. Other than the cards that were just added, is there anything in black that'd be good to cut for it?
White:
-Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite: She was huge, but hugely expensive and didn't really win the game. I have no problems cutting her.
-Grand Abolisher: He didn't really get a fair shake. I like him, but he's nothing particularly special and I wanted to try out some new stuff.
-Pianna, Nomad Captain: She's fine. Nothing amazing, but fine. I want to give Mentor and Mikaeus a little time, but if she came back in for Mentor in a month I wouldn't be surprised. She has the nasty habit of dying a lot, either to a wrath/clasm the turn after she comes out or just in combat, so I don't really have a problem cutting her.
-Stormfront Pegasus: I have a ton of 2-drops in white and this is probably the least exciting. The pegasi are good but not great and I prefer Cloistered Youth, at least to this one.
-Weathered Wayfarer: His upside always seems so awesome, but he never really seems to live up to it. Either you're on the play so you'd have to miss a land drop or you don't really have time for the tempo loss, he's only been great if you have strong utility lands to find. I don't really have any trouble waving goodbye to him.
+Cloistered Youth: 3/3 for 2 seems good. Kind of boring, but sometimes boring is just what you need.
+Kjeldoran Outpost: Maybe too cute, but with Mentor and Mikaeus there are some more token supporters. Possibly too slow which is why it got cut a year ago and also very dangerous in the face of blink cards or land destruction, but I'm hopeful.
+Mentor of the Meek: It's a little narrow, but I have hopes. I haven't seen this guy much since I added him, but he's been fine the couple times he did show up. If you just get 2 cards out of him, that's pretty close to a Mulldrifter which is obviously pretty good.
+Mikaeus, the Lunarch: This is a guy that I vastly underrated. The ability to play him on curve whenever that may be is pretty awesome. He's a little slow after that, but the ability to grow your team if you're up or to grow himself (and then your team) if you're stalemated is nice and on an empty board he can just swing for the win himself. Dies to pretty much everything, but like the levelers you're only putting in as much as you can afford so it's not nearly as dangerous as it seems.
I haven't seen some of these cards in play as much as, say, the werewolves, but they seem fine for now. Probably the Outpost and the Mentor will get cut in a month or two for the Pegasus and Pianna, but I wanted to see them play out.
On an unrelated note, Timely Reinforcements has been absolutely nuts. It's dead occassionally, but it also just wins games. Even against controlling decks, sometimes you end up down on board, play timely and it lets you poke in a little bit of extra damage to win. Obviously against aggressive or midrange decks it's fantastic and in the aggro mirror it's backbreaking. This was another of my weird test cards and it's actually been surprisingly good.
Blue:
-Gilded Drake: He always seems so cool. A 2 mana [CARD]Control Magic[\CARD] with insane upside with flicking and bounce should be phenomenal. I see all the best case scenarios. And yet, none of them happen. Much more often it rots in hands or sideboards because a 3/3 flyer is really good. Aggressive decks often have literally nothing that you're willing to trade it for, midrange ones do, but a 3/3 flyer is still a legitimate threat, and control decks can often answer it (and many control finishers can't even be targetted by it). If you can't do bounce shenanigans with the Drake, he's usually been a liability and the bouncing has just never worked out despite a lot of effort.
-Misdirection: I have a love/hate relationship with this card. It's come in and out more than any other card in the cube. It's possible this cut should be Ponder or Waterfront Bouncer, but I like both of them better. When this card works, it's a blowout. When it doesn't, it's a mulligan and there's really not a ton of space in between. I like this card a lot, but I think I'd rather go with some consistency and sacrifice some power for now.
+Snapcaster Mage: He's a beast. Not quite Eternal Witness, but in a color much more suited to taking advantage of it and with flash. I've seen him recur Balance, Thoughtseize (A lot), Time Walk, Wrath of God (even though it's a little awkward), and probably others that I'm forgetting. He's really, really good and more fun than I expected.
Black:
-Lashwrithe: Mono-black was a flop. This card was fine as a 3/3 or +3/+3 equipment in the mid-game, but nothing special. No problems cutting the whole package.
-Necropotence: The best of the mono-black even if Pithing Needle was brutal on it. Still no problems cutting it.
-Phyrexian Obliterator: The worst of the mono-black. I'm not sure it ever connected. Not once. It got cast a few times and died to removal or blocked by Wall of Denial or bounced. Good riddance.
-Pulse Tracker: This guy's fine and probably a little underrated. Diregraf Ghoul is way, way better. No qualms cutting him.
-Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth: Also a good card even outside of mono-black, but it's time has come too. It's fine if unexciting, but there's better stuff coming.
+Bloodgift Demon: And another try at a guy to fill the "big black beater" slot. 5/4 flying with upside sounds good. I guess we'll see
+Diregraf Ghoul: Possibly the most obvious include in the whole set. 2/2 for B with no real drawback seems good. I guess he can't chump block the turn he comes out, but that's not so bad.
+Liliana of the Veil: She seems nuts. Gatekeeper is quite good and she seems like a gatekeeper with pretty real upside. Easy and clear addition.
+Sewer Nemesis: He's been bigger than Juzam Djinn by the time he's gone to swing every time so far. Pretty tough to burn out, he's been very good. Black's 4-drop is a little heavy, but I think that's fine for now.
So basically for black it's cutting the mono-black stuff for the obvious inclusions fro Innistrad. Nothing weird going on here.
Red:
-Chaos Warp: I think this is better than it gets credit for. It was fine - often a path to vindicate at instant speed, but occassionally really bad and sometimes it hit a spell. The problem is that the randomness led to it not really seeing play - even though it was fine, the fear led to people not really enjoying it. Since it's mostly intended as a fun card, I'm ok with cutting it since it wasn't fun.
-Firestorm: This guy's awesome in 2HG and fine in general. We haven't been playing as much 2HG as we've gotten more people and "fine" tends not to be good enough anymore. It was getting cut a fair amount, so I have no problem removing it, at least for now.
-Gorilla Shaman: Another mediocre red 1 drop. I've seen it kill 1 artifact in a year and a half. I mean, I understand that's not normal - it should be mowing down moxes and the like, but it just hasn't happened. So it's gone.
-Moltensteel Dragon: Fine card. I'm cutting it to give Instigator Gang a shot and they fill similar roles. It's very vulnerable by being both an artifact and a creature, so it actually hasn't been anything special for us. I don't mind running it, but since I'd like to give the gang a shot this is the most natural cut.
-Red Sun's Zenith: Between RSZ, Banefire, and Fireball, I think Fireball is the best. Between RSZ and Banefire, I think it's a toss-up. Exiling is nice and the ability to tutor for it again is nice as well, but when you want a Banefire, you have to have Banefire. I really think this is a coin flip and I'm fine with it falling out this way.
-Searing Blaze: Too hard to cast. RR is a pain, the land thing is a mild inconvenience, and every once in a while you want it to just go to the face and can't. It's got great upside, but the RR is just too annoying lately, so I think it's my least favorite burn spell for the moment.
-Slagstorm: Again, the RR is annoying for the decks that want it. 3 damage isn't that much more than 2. I also think I'm ok on red sweepers - the split damage spells serve a similar role and are basically as good.
-Urabrask the Hidden: Another mediocre card that had some great moments, but I don't mind cutting him - the aggro decks think he's too slow, the control decks don't want his weak body, and the midrange decks are kind of ambivalent.
+Brimstone Volley: This has been awesome. I've yet to have a problem hitting for 5 with it in aggressive decks (~7 games) and if you can rebuy it, it's nuts. A Lava Axe for 3 mana that also kills Baneslayer Angel? I was skeptical until I played it, but it's been fantastic.
+Devil's Play: This one may actually be the most obvious include from the set. The best X spell ever? Yes, please. I guess if you're splashing you don't always get the upside?
+Instigator Gang: He's filling the big dumb red curve topper. I haven't seen him much yet (more a matter of not drawing him than not running him), but he seems worth a shot.
+Reckless Waif: She's been great. The werewolves in general are much, much better than I expected. Turn 1 on the play she pretty much always flips - few decks have that many 1 or 0 drops, and even if she doesn't, it's rare that decks can keep it up. Plus at some point you miss your drop and she flips. I'm not sure that it's better than a 2/1 for 1 (probably about the same?), but that's better than red gets, so it's not a huge problem. It's certainly far better than Goblin Patrol, at least in the games we've played.
+Shrine of Burning Rage: It's been great in standard, so I'm curious. Probably won't last forever, but there's not a ton of cost to trying it. Hasn't come up yet, so I don't have much opinion.
+Squee, Goblin Nabob: I love Squee so I'm trying him again. He's narrow, but maybe that's ok. Maybe he'll get cut again, but we'll see.
+Stormkirk Noble: Another solid red one drop. Much better than Slith Firewalker. Not even close. Not quite as good as the Waif (can I emphasize again how awesome she's been?), but still better than most of the one drops in red. The "can't be blocked by humans" clause is surprisingly relevent too.
One drops in red have always been a problem and I'm glad to pick up two excellent aggressive ones. I didn't have high hopes for them, but they've both impressed me along with Brimstone Volley.
Green:
-Creeping Mold: Like for like cut for Bramblecrush. This could be Beast Within, except that we've actually liked it quite a bit. Killing an early land or a planeswalker can be very nice. Similarly, destroying your own land for a surprise blocker is nice. I don't have strong feelings on which card should be cut, but since my group prefers Beast Within, I'm ok with sticking with it.
-Hornet Queen: The weakest of my big creatures by a fair margin, so it's getting cut for Moldgraf Monstrosity.
-Pouncing Jaguar: This cut and the Wild Dogs one are going to be the most controversial. This just isn't a good card. A 2/2 is much better than a 1/1, but echo is truly brutal. Sure, late game it doesn't matter, but late game neither does a 2/2. Compare the Jaguar to something like Arbor Elf that doesn't see much cube inclusion - instead of giving you a great turn 2, it takes away your second turn. One drops in green aren't great, but the two drops are fantastic - Tarmogoyf, Scavenging Ooze, Lotus Cobra, and so on are all excellent. If the jaguar doesn't come down on turn 1, he's pretty unimpressive, but if he does come down on the first turn, he destroys your second turn. All in all, this wasn't a trade off the aggressive green decks were willing to make, so he's gone and I'm pretty happy about it.
-Rampant Growth: I was trying this out to see if it helped ramp enough. It's fine, but unnecessary - ramp is good enough even without this and I'd prefer another 1-drop elf in its place.
-Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary: Great card in mono-green or even mostly green. Pain outside of that. Kind of like Lotus Cobra a lot of the time, except that the cobra gets to attack as well and can also make any color of mana. There's a lot of competition at the 2-drop slot in green and this guy just barely doesn't make it.
-Spike Weaver: A cool effect, just a little bit slow. Four is also pretty packed in green and when you wanted a fog, this guy tended to be just a little bit too slow. Again, not a bad card and I'm glad I played it for so long, but its time has come too.
-Wild Dogs: This guy I like much, much better than Pouncing Jaguar, but my group doesn't. He's not really the kind of card you can just beat them with to show he's awesome (no one remembers losing to a 2/1 but they definitely remember the games where they took him) and I don't care enough to keep him. Maybe if some of the new additions don't pan out, I'll sneak him back in. Cycling is nice, but his drawback is not insubstantial - between fetch lands, shock lands, and black side effects it's not at all impossible for the aggro deck to fall behind a little on life and this guy obviously punishes that. Again, he may well come back, but I don't think it's a huge loss.
+Avacyn's Pilgrim: I wanted another 1 drop mana elf. I think this is the best of them that I'm not playing. Arbor Elf is another option, but the fear of missing a forest is real and I don't mind making W mana. If I have the Pilgrim out, I clearly have green already, so getting a new color isn't the worst thing ever. Maybe Boreal Druid would look cleaner, but the Pilgrim is clearly stronger so I'm going to go with that. Maybe this'll end up swapping back for Wild Dogs, but I doubt it since I've been pretty happy with green aggro lately.
+Bramblecrush: Creeping Mold #2 seems good. I like the mold, I like killing planeswalkers, so I'm pretty happy.
+Garruk Relentless: Hasn't come up much yet, but making infinite 2/2's has been nice when he has. Haven't used his back face much and the fight only once or twice, but he's definitely been solid.
+Mayor of Avabruck: Perhaps the weirdest addition (or second after the pilgrim), this guy is a monster. Absolutely fantastic. He comes down early enough that he's easy to flip, you lose very little tempo if he dies, and if he doesn't he ends games faster than any other 2 drop in the cube by an enormous margin. I can't recommend this guy highly enough; he's a beating early or late and can literally kill someone on his own. I had low expectations, but he's very, very good and has seen a ton of play in the last couple weeks.
+Mire Boa: Out for a little, now back in. I'm pretty impartial - green's 2-drop slot is stacked, but the boas are both fine. Maybe I'll cut it for the Rampant Growth again, kind of depending on how things fall out.
+Moldgraf Monstrosity: He looks cool. An 8/8 trample for 7 is fine power-wise and he certainly has a relevent upside when he dies. Haven't seen him come out much, but seems good.
Green aggro is much, much better than it used to be and that's mostly due to the Mayor. He's been really, really good and forces your opponent to play suboptimally if they don't have a removal spell. And the +1/+1 for humans isn't even irrelevent. All-in-all a very exciting card and I'm reasonably happy with my green changes.
Artifact:
These cuts (as well as one from each color and one land) are to add an extra cycle of lands for fixing. I felt like the fixing was a little bit too light, but these are all very, very painful, so I may be better off cutting a card from each color - the colors aren't nearly as tight as the artifacts these days.
-Engineered Explosives: All of these are great cards, but this is the one I'll miss the most. Fantastic with Academy Ruins and solid on its own. It's a little narrow and it doesn't always do quite enough, but if I could sneak one of these back in, this would be it.
-Everflowing Chalice: Good, solid card, but nothing special; I don't really mind cutting it.
-Isochron Scepter: Narrow, but one of my favorite cards, it's sad to cut it but on power level doesn't bother me too much.
-Scroll Rack: Another card that seems like it should be good, has had good games, but is pretty unimpressive if you can't shuffle. If you can, this is phenomenal, but if you can't tends to be pretty bad. I would love to get it back in, but the cuts have gotten brutal.
Actually writing this has made me think that maybe it's time to cut from each of the colors instead. I wouldn't mind moving Hex Parasite to artifact since it's seen a bunch of play outside of black (and is really good; I never realized how many counters there were on cards) and maybe the Phyrexian Metamorph as well which would let me cut two artifacts and then a spell from the three least tight colors. Hmmmmm...
Land:
As I said in the artifact cuts, I wanted one more cycle of fixing. I'm not sure these are the right lands to add. For BR, GR, and GW, it's easy. I'm sure that I don't want bounce-lands; they've been truly awful despite their potential for awesomeness they tend to die a lot which is an enormous tempo loss. Other than that, I'm not really sure which lands I want; I threw some in and I figure we'll see how it goes.
-Rishadan Port: This is the last of the artifact cuts for the cycle of lands. It's good and sees play, but I don't hate cutting it - it's sort of like a strip mine that costs you 2 mana rather than 1. Complements aggressive mana denial strategies well and it's a good answer for man-lands, but doesn't answer things like Library of Alexandria all that well. I'd save it if I could (Undiscovered Paradise?), but I'd rather have the new fixing cycle.
-Izzet Boilerworks
-Llanowar Wastes
-Simic Growth Chamber:
+Blackcleave Cliffs
+Cascade Bluffs
+Copperline Gorge
+Darkslick Shores
+Flooded Grove
+Hinterland Harbor
+Isolated Chapel
+Rugged Prarie
+Seachrome Coast
+Sulfur Falls
+Twilight Mire
+Woodland Cemetery
Gold:
-Blazing Specter: Specter out, Blightning in. I make this swap every six months or so and I haven't really settled on a preference. Since I'm adding a 4 drop to BR, this seemed like a fine time.
-Fulminator Mage: Fine card, not as cool as Olivia, so this seemed like the obvious place to go.
-Momentary Blink: This is really the Grand Arbiter Augustin IV slot, but I hate the Arbiter (I feel like he doesn't contribute much to the board and you have to tap out for him in the combination that's least ok with that), so I was trying out other things. In that spirit, I'm continuing to experiment.
-Sarkhan Vol: Fine card, nothing special. The threaten's been good a couple of times, the dragons have won at least one game, and the +1/+1 and haste has been nice. Again, nothing awesome, so no problem losing him.
-Stormbind: This is an excellent way to end games, but that's basically all it does. It's like a much better Words of War and sometimes that's what you want. Especially with the readdition of Squee, Goblin Nabob, it may be that I should keep this, but I have some experimenting to do, so I don't have much problem with tihs cut.
+Blightning: In for Blazing Specter. No strong feelings but I like changing it up a bit.
+Daybreak Ranger: This guy has been awesome. Not as good as the Mayor, but excellent. He's nice since he still works even if your opponent can flip him back on his turn (you fight on their turn and then in your upkeep). Creature removal in green is rare and the one red mana isn't that hard to pick up so he's definitely splashable. And a 3 mana 4/4 is a bargain even in green.
+Gavony Township: This is probably too slow. It's taking the Mirari's Wake slot that's been Stirring Wildwood lately (but that got added to the fixing cycle to create a hole). It's been good the one time it showed up, but it's a little hard to tell off just one instance. It is a land though which makes it much cheaper to add to your deck, so I think it's worth a shot.
+Geist of Saint Traft: Another experiment in UW, he's been better than I'd feared, but not amazing. If he gets in once for free (say with Lightning Greaves or a little removal), he's worth 10ish damage and he's tough to interact with. I'm willing to let him hang out for a bit and we'll see where it goes from there.
+Kessig Wolf Run: This has been great. Like Stormbind it's a way to finish the game, but unlike Stormbind it's not a dead card until then since it can tap for mana. I imagine I'll have games where I wish this were a forest or a mountain but it hasn't happened yet. Instead it's just a stream of fireballs to the head whether on a bird or on a blocked attacker. It also allows you to trade up nicely and makes combat math a nightmare for your opponent. Late game mana sinks are good, especially for green decks, and this one is excellent.
+Olivia Voldaren: She's taken over 2 games and just died three times which isn't bad for a 4 drop. Basically a masticore that hits much harder in exchange for being a little less resilient. I'm alright with keeping it around for a while since the upside is enormous even if she's not that hard to kill.
Generally cutting weak cards for ones that have a chance at least to be better, so I'm pretty happy with the gold cards. Kessig Wolf Run is the best of the additions with Daybreak Ranger not far behind, but we'll see how they hold up in the months and weeks to come.
White looks fine, although I think Wayfarer is better than Mentor.
Blue is fine, although I like Gilded Drake a lot.
Black changes are awesome!
I dislike what you are doing with red. Moltensteel is one of red's best DEAL WITH ME OR DIE cards. It puts your in a really terrible spot: Have/draw instant removal or die. I've found it to be really impressive. Gorilla Shaman should do very well in a Powered cube. I dont' understand why it isn't killing Moxen and Sol Rings for you. I don't think any of the cards you are bringing in are that good except Devil's Play and Squee and maybe Instigator Gang.
I dislike the green changes, but you don't like the green 1-drops which I think are great. I like Garruk, Bramblecrush, and Mire Boa, so they should definitely come in. Hornet Queen and Rampant Growth are good cuts.
My next cuts would be Green Sun's Zenith, Pelakka Wurm, and--most definitely--Nest Invader. I'm glad the Mayor is working for you
I'd cut Thawing Glaciers or Undiscovered Paradise long before I cut Rishadan Port. I can't really get behind cutting Scroll Rack, and I hear nothing but good stuff about Engineered Explosives even though I have no experience with the card.
I really like the Ravnica bouncelands in UR and UG.
Cheers,
rant
My Cube
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Cube Tutor: http://cubetutor.com/viewcube/1963
I was also interested to hear about your positive experiences with Hex Parasite. It seems like it hasn't picked up too much among people on these forums and I'm hesitant to add it, but I may give it a run after hearing it's been doing well for you and your players.
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(list is always current)
Rant, thanks for the detailed advice. I'm not sure I agree with you about wayfarer (I haven't had very good luck with it, I guess), but I agree that Mentor might not work out. No way to know until I try though.
I also agree about gorilla shaman - it seems like it should be awesome. I have 15 artifacts in my cube that cost 1 or less and aren't lotus or top (which dodge removal pretty well). In a 6-player draft (what we usually do these days), there are 270 cards out, so in expectation there are 8 artifacts of cost 1 or less, so each player will have an expected 1.3. So the shaman is, in expectation going to cost 3 mana to kill one card in their deck (including his own casting cost), as well as do some small amount of damage and chump block. In general, I'd say these aren't uniformly distributed among drafters, but given what they are (5 moxes, sol ring, among others), they tend to be closer to randomly distributed than most cards. Compared to Smash to Smithereens, that's pretty unimpressive. Granted, his upside is pretty big (they could have a bunch of artifacts), but equally he could be a blank when they drop Tangle Wire or Batterskull. So I had high hopes for him and I'm glad he's worked out for you, but I'm happy getting rid of him.
On Moltensteel Dragon, I also agree somewhat - it's a cool card and I was really excited to run it. It hasn't worked out great for us and the 4-drop slot is pretty busy in red - maybe cut Chandra, the Firebrand instead? I mean, I could lose Keldon Champion but he's been uniformly good and it'd make me a little sad. Otherwise the cards at 4 are pretty much invincible - there's some really good stuff in that slot...Maybe in the end Instigator Gang won't be great and I can swap the dragon back in. Yeah, I'm not really sure what the right answer is here, but it's certainly worth thinking about.
On the green cuts, I can understand liking the one drops - I ran them for a long time too. I think probably Wild Dogs should come back in at some point, but he's universally reviled in my group so we'll see. Otherwise nothing I'm cutting really bothers me much - I like the cards you're suggesting much more. Pelakka isn't amazing, but he's not a bad top end and I like him as a reanimating target as well as a ramp target. Green Sun's Zenith has been very, very good - it's a Worldly Tutor without the card disadvantage (or time disadvantage) but only for green creatures. Thankfully green has a ton of excellent creatures - it's often an Elf if you draw it early, a Chameleon Colossus late, or a Woodfall Primus very late (or, of course, a utility creature) - that's pretty awesome for a one mana premium. Nest Invader you're absolutely right on - that's actually already been cut (I was surprised when you mentioned it so I went through my cut pile and found it), but I have no idea what for. I wonder if I'm just short a green card? Then I can sneak back in Rofellos. Good catch - thanks!
Yeah, the artifact/land cuts are brutal. Probably better off cutting Scepter and Chalice and then cards from White, Green, and Red (moving hex parasite and metamorph to artifact since they see play everywhere - legionairre should probably join them, but he's actually been drafted more in white than elsewhere though I'm not sure why). Incidentally, why has Scroll Rack been so good for you? I understand it's appeal in theory and it's pretty good with shuffle effects (it's like a big looter then), but it's straight card disadvantage and if you can't shuffle it tends to be pretty bad. At least Top doesn't have the card disadvantage stigma and is very hard to kill. I keep wanting it to be great, but it I've been a bit disappointed.
On the bouncelands, it's possible my group (and I) just had some bad experiences and so aren't really willing to try them again. I run slightly more land destruction than you do, but that shouldn't make a difference. They're pretty slow, but if they don't get nuked, they're quite good. I guess I'll think about it a little and maybe give them another shot.
Kenny, thanks for your response as well. I'm surprised you ended up liking Elesh Norn so much - she was great exactly once for us and that was when she got thoughtseized and reanimated by the aggressive deck which isn't exactly where you want to be. Ignoring that one incident, she tended to be just a little too slow. 7 is a lot of mana and by that point you were either in a bad enough position that she didn't help much or she'd die to removal without actually impacting the board. The -2/-2 thing seemed like it should be awesome, but in practice you were either dead to their x/2s by that point or killing the x/2s didn't stop the actual threat (burn, sulfuric vortex, cursed scroll, whatever). I'd be interested to hear what kinds of decks you've been running her in. Mostly hardcore control as a finisher?
Rofellos and Rishadan Port are at the very edge for me. They've both been good but not amazing and I could see it falling out either way. Though if I actually have a hole in green, I'll happily slot Rofellos right back in.
I think you're right on Mistral Charger - Unicorn is a better cut. My gut was that I needed more enchantment hate, but it turns out there are only ~20 in the cube, several of which you don't even care about killing (like Sarcomancy or Rancor) and some which have an impact before you'd have a chance to kill them (or, like Recurring Nightmare you never have a chance to kill them). So I think enchantment only removal is actually pretty bad (and, of all colors, white is pretty good at it) and this is a very good call - thanks!
Searing Blaze I have very mixed feelings about. It's been in and out a ton and it usually gets drafted reasonably highly. But it's been the 24th/25th/26th card a lot - the last one that gets cut in deck building. It's slightly too awkward. When it works, it's awesome - it's a huge tempo swing as well as some solid damage to the head. So I'm very much on the fence about it. I could cut Volcanic Hammer instead; it's much less impressive, but it's been a solid contributor.
I'd be interested to hear how Mentor of the Meek does for you - I'm curious about it but not totally sold yet. And I'm glad to hear other people are having success with the werewolves as well; I hadn't really seen much positive about them on these boards, but I've really liked them.
On Hex Parasite. I'm not sure how helpful anecdotes are, but I have a bunch - in the last two decks I've played it in (WG and RG aggressive), it's killed Elspeth, Jace Memory Adept, Gemstone Mine, Mikaeus (granted, it was my own Mikaeus after my opponent phantasmal imaged the hex parasite, but at least I got to remove no counters from the image to kill it back), and Phantom Centaur. That's pretty excellent value from a silly 1/1, and a couple of times it got in for reasonable damage afterward (the Gemstone Mine and the Phantom Centaur got eaten on my turn). As far as eating counters go, it effectively has haste, so it's actually a perfectly reasonable planeswalker answer - you lose a little value since they got to activate it once, but that's not so bad. Plus you get a 1/1 too! I don't want to exaggerate and say it's the best thing ever, but 1 drops are scarce and this guy's pretty good - there are surprisingly many counters you can remove and they're often relevent (I haven't lived the dream with Glen Elendra Archmage yet, but someday). Besides, he can enable bloodthirst, chump block, carry weapons, and do all the things creatures do. I'd certainly recommend him; worst case you can always cut him again.
On an unrelated note, the BG deck that you top 8'd an SCG open with is still my favorite Legacy deck ever.
Many thanks! I'm not really excited about how that format is turning out in the post-Misstep world with Snapcaster everywhere, so I'm not really sure what to do with a junk strategy these days.
Thanks for the anecdotes on Hex Parasite! I'll be sure to give him a run in the cube in the oncoming weeks to test it out. One drops are certainly hard to come by, so I'm hopeful.
(list not current)
My Cube Google Docs Spreadsheet: https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AibgWfz0ukmOdDNhOHlucjcxUi1wVy00NDhLbDUtUlE&hl=en_US#gid=8
(list is always current)