Cube Construction
1) 365 Cards, breakdown: 25 land, 30 colorless, 55 per color, 35 gold.
2) Functional repeats are out, except for Terramorphic Expanse.
3) Building on a budget: No Chain Lightning, Sinkhole
4) Black Borders: for aethetic reasons mostly. I like Number Crunch or the Rock Lobster cycle, but they just look ugly with everything else being black border. Portal is okay, but I don't think I ended up using anything from there.
5) IRL Common: Master's Editions are out, anything bumped down to common in paper is okay.
This is my first fully built out cube. I consulted the various pauper threads, general cube articles, and my own draft experiences from most of the sets represented in this cube. I haven't yet run a public beta test yet, but I've done run some 8 mans through by myself. Obviously, this means my conclusions are incredibly skewed towards my own ideas of what's "good", so I'm coming onto the forum for advice and suggestions. My thoughts on this so far:
1) This cube started out at 540 cards, but I cut it down to 450 after the first run. I'm considering cutting it down even more. I used to be a big 720+ Cube fan, but physically running this cube has show me that 450 is already an excellent number. There's still some chaff that could be eliminated.
2) Every color but Green has excellent first pick options - Oblivion Ring, Capsize, Pestilence, Rolling Thunder, etc. I don't think any Green card comes close. Every color but Green also has excellent second tier options, but it doesn't seem like good Green cards kick in until midway during pack 1 when some colors dry up in certain seats.
3) A personal goal was to make pauper storm a viable draft strategy. It seems to have worked out, but it does mean that the cards I want in storm aren't really useful anywhere else. I still really like this archetype though.
4) I have found few incentives to dip into a second color. This may be something that plays into my own preferences - I also prefer to stick to whatever color I'm in as long as possible. At the end of the draft, even with solid cards of other colors or gold cards, I have generally felt decks stronger as monocolor or a very, very light splash.
5) Midrange and ramp haven't really seemed to work out. Perhaps the failling ramp strategy is a result of Signets/Bouncelands, but on the midrange front, it just seems to get off way too slow compared to the aggressive deck available to each color.
6) The only truly successful multicolor deck I've been able to put together has been Naya Zoo. Blue-White is able to put together a decent tempo list, but it seems weaker than any straight monocolor deck. Every other combination seems to lead into a more midrange-type.
7) Related to 6), I rarely seem to want to pick up gold cards, with exceptions to cards like Blightning. Am I just undervaluing gold?
So, Pauper experts - how does my list look? Any glaring missing cards? Am I even drafting this right?
First off, congrats on your cube building. Though the fun has just begun. Could be helpful if you put an info tab up the top that all the other cube lists have (colour splits, portal and unhinged cards allowed?, etc.).
Also, be aware that I have only done 2 6-man drafts with my 360 pauper cube so my information is also pretty rough.
1) This cube started out at 540 cards, but I cut it down to 450 after the first run. I'm considering cutting it down even more. I used to be a big 720+ Cube fan, but physically running this cube has show me that 450 is already an excellent number. There's still some chaff that could be eliminated.
As I just said, I am running 360, which is working pretty well for me at the moment. If I ever get regularly 8 people to play it then I might go up to 450, just to get some variance, and put in some fancier themes (infect maybe).
2) Every color but Green has excellent first pick options - Oblivion Ring, Capsize, Pestilence, Rolling Thunder, etc. I don't think any Green card comes close. Every color but Green also has excellent second tier options, but it doesn't seem like good Green cards kick in until midway during pack 1 when some colors dry up in certain seats.
Sprout Swarm is the bomb card in green. Think of it as the green capsize. My playgroup think of it quite highly. Blastoderm is also fairly first pickable. Armadillo cloak is also quite the bomb (and is in green... sort of...). But I do see where you are coming from. Although for some reason in one of my drafts 4 out of the 6 people ended up with G/X decks. So don't underestimate it's power.
4) I have found few incentives to dip into a second color. This may be something that plays into my own preferences - I also prefer to stick to whatever color I'm in as long as possible. At the end of the draft, even with solid cards of other colors or gold cards, I have generally felt decks stronger as monocolor or a very, very light splash.
This is probably due to your own preference. Every draft I have done, everyone has ended up in solid two colour decks (and one tri colour). Everyone has different drafting styles. I like to pick the most powerful cards in the first pack then figure out what is open by the second, since there are so many playables, you can wait that late.
5) Midrange and ramp haven't really seemed to work out. Perhaps the failling ramp strategy is a result of Signets/Bouncelands, but on the midrange front, it just seems to get off way too slow compared to the aggressive deck available to each color.
6) The only truly successful multicolor deck I've been able to put together has been Naya Zoo. Blue-White is able to put together a decent tempo list, but it seems weaker than any straight monocolor deck. Every other combination seems to lead into a more midrange-type.
7) Related to 6), I rarely seem to want to pick up gold cards, with exceptions to cards like Blightning. Am I just undervaluing gold?
You really need to just test it with other people. Every draft of mine someone wants to go BR aggro, and even one guy managed to draft a UB control deck. People have preferences and are unaware what your cube is capable of. They will go (probably) go two colours due to them believing that is the norm in draft and you will probably be surprised as to how well they do.
List looks pretty solid, just need more big green. No glaring omissions, you must have looked at the pauper rankings thread
Major overhaul: I've decided to cut this cube down to 365 cards. I don't always have 7 other people to cube with, so there's really no point for 450 cards. It also means when I do have a full pod, once person (me!) can force storm! I'm going to go through the more painful cuts, but if I'm committing pauper treason by cutting something that's actually ridiculous, please let me know! Philosophically, I'm moving some Phyrexian mana type cards to colorless, and things that majorly benefit only one color to said color (Teetering Peaks in Red, Knight of the Skyward Eye in White). I'm going to justify a lot of these cuts because I'm going to be building more cubes after this, and since commons tend to skew aggressive, I'm going to reward those cards more. Functional reprints have all been cut, with the exception of Terramorphic Expanse. The extra 5 are in the multicolor section, because there are some niche cards that I really like but wouldn't cut more solid cards for. Most of these changes are from referring to the sub-400 pauper cubes on the forum.
Lands: Currently at 35 cards, cutting down to 25.
Obviously a very tight fit, but relatively simple in my mind - I adore bouncelands, and love the simplicity of guildgates.
Colorless: Currently at 40 cards, cutting down to 30.
In reality, this is more like cutting 15 cards, because of all the de factor colorless Phyrexian cards being shifted over. I'm going to cut some of the more expensive mana fixing and weaker equipment.
White: Currently at 65 cards, cutting to 55.
I had a mini enchantment theme here, but there's just not good enough stuff solely at common to justify it, I think. It'll be pushed to a more controlling cube.
All good cuts. The cube looks like a well oiled machine. Only a couple of cards in at the moment that I personally don't like. Zombie Cutthroat is pretty bad. You think a 3/4 for 3 might be alright, but the 5 life hurts a lot, it is never worth it and people just never play it. I'd replace it with either pristine talisman (The lifegain gets way out of hand), or vulshok gauntlets
Also, just because of all the cards you have in there now, I think ghostly flicker could be a fun build-around-me. All you need is either archeomancer or mnemonic wall and you have a combo with any other CiP permanent. Probably a bit too hard to draft though...
I probably should have asked this before but what is the optimal storm deck you can make in the cube? How many win conditions are there for it? Just fissure, empty and grapeshot? How well would the deck work with only one of these?
You're absolutely right about Cutthroat, I'll swap it out for Talisman.
Ghostly Flicker seems pretty fun, it seems a bit "win more", but I can easily see it being an integral part of storm. Ghostly Flicker + Archaeomancer + Cloud of Faeries + Bounceland = ridiculous fun? I think so!
Speaking of which, Storm would have taken a minor hit in this update, cutting Steel Wall, Wall of Tanglecord from early defense, and Lotus Petal, Cabal Ritual from mana, but no other deck would really want them. Pauper storm's goal is to cast Temporal or Empty for ~5, and it's actually been something I've consistently managed to hit. Grapeshot isn't really a win condition, but storm+removal = fun times! I've tried a counterburn-storm shell before, which didn't work out very well, so the key to storm may just be having more defensive guys to buy time. I definitely feel that Halimar Wavewatch is an integral part of the deck, perhaps I should try to get Wall of Tanglecord back in.
Edit: I'm not wild about Phantasmal Bear, maybe cut that for Flicker?
Also, here's a question for you - most everyone seems to be playing Crookclaw Transmuter, and I really liked him in TSP draft, but he's seemed a little underwhelming for me. What are you using him for? If I want a big beater, that's what I have Illusionary Forces for. As a surprise blocker, it will still die to everything, so you're basically playing "3U, Instant, Divine Verdict", so I'd rather have something like Nephalia Seakite.
Crookclaw Transmuter is mostly just about the flash. So you can keep up counterspell mana, and produce a threat if the chance arises. Nephalia Seakite fills the same niche, but Crookclaw Transmuter has more options attached to it, and everyone loves options. I have it in my cube and one person drafted UB control. They were slowly beating down the person with a Yotian Soldier while it was using it's big behind to keep Pestilence on the board and the board clear. He used the transmuter to trade with a 4/4 then killed next turn with a swing and pestilence triggers.
Phantasmal Bear is pretty underwhelming, but there isn't much better in the 1-drop slot. I run Wingcrafter, which is alright. It helps out UX tempo decks, and does the job quite admirably. (have you ever seen a Thundering Tanodon jump?! :P). Can always cut it for daze if you want.
Also on the topic of blue, you tried to make blue aggressive, but I have some concerns that it won't work as you don't have many creatures (your blue split is 24/31) and cards like Welkin Tern suffer.
Also Prodigal Sorcerer looks out of place. I don't know that blue would want it, either the control, tempo or control decks feel like they could use better cards. I'd swap it with Aether Adept but would like to hear if it has done well for you.
Wall of Tanglecord looks a bit hard to put in. Your colourless section is pretty solid. The two weakest cards I can see are Strider Harness (Due to the high initial cost) and Mind Stone (Due to competing with the signets) but that is just personal opinion.
Also, as another card suggestion I have had good success with Kiln Fiend and with your storm archetype in your cube he could be a decent fit. I would cut Blisterstick Shaman due to its high mana cost for its effect. Plus I feel you need more two drops in your red curve.
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Cube Construction
1) 365 Cards, breakdown: 25 land, 30 colorless, 55 per color, 35 gold.
2) Functional repeats are out, except for Terramorphic Expanse.
3) Building on a budget: No Chain Lightning, Sinkhole
4) Black Borders: for aethetic reasons mostly. I like Number Crunch or the Rock Lobster cycle, but they just look ugly with everything else being black border. Portal is okay, but I don't think I ended up using anything from there.
5) IRL Common: Master's Editions are out, anything bumped down to common in paper is okay.
Current List
Lands
Colorless
White Creatures
White Spells
Blue Creatures
Blue Spells
Black Creatures
Black Spells
Red Creatures
Red Spells
Green Creatures
Green Spells
Multicolor
Old Comments
This is my first fully built out cube. I consulted the various pauper threads, general cube articles, and my own draft experiences from most of the sets represented in this cube. I haven't yet run a public beta test yet, but I've done run some 8 mans through by myself. Obviously, this means my conclusions are incredibly skewed towards my own ideas of what's "good", so I'm coming onto the forum for advice and suggestions. My thoughts on this so far:
1) This cube started out at 540 cards, but I cut it down to 450 after the first run. I'm considering cutting it down even more. I used to be a big 720+ Cube fan, but physically running this cube has show me that 450 is already an excellent number. There's still some chaff that could be eliminated.
2) Every color but Green has excellent first pick options - Oblivion Ring, Capsize, Pestilence, Rolling Thunder, etc. I don't think any Green card comes close. Every color but Green also has excellent second tier options, but it doesn't seem like good Green cards kick in until midway during pack 1 when some colors dry up in certain seats.
3) A personal goal was to make pauper storm a viable draft strategy. It seems to have worked out, but it does mean that the cards I want in storm aren't really useful anywhere else. I still really like this archetype though.
4) I have found few incentives to dip into a second color. This may be something that plays into my own preferences - I also prefer to stick to whatever color I'm in as long as possible. At the end of the draft, even with solid cards of other colors or gold cards, I have generally felt decks stronger as monocolor or a very, very light splash.
5) Midrange and ramp haven't really seemed to work out. Perhaps the failling ramp strategy is a result of Signets/Bouncelands, but on the midrange front, it just seems to get off way too slow compared to the aggressive deck available to each color.
6) The only truly successful multicolor deck I've been able to put together has been Naya Zoo. Blue-White is able to put together a decent tempo list, but it seems weaker than any straight monocolor deck. Every other combination seems to lead into a more midrange-type.
7) Related to 6), I rarely seem to want to pick up gold cards, with exceptions to cards like Blightning. Am I just undervaluing gold?
So, Pauper experts - how does my list look? Any glaring missing cards? Am I even drafting this right?
Old Lists
Version 1.0 (up through RTR)
Lands
Colorless
White Creatures
White Spells
Blue Creatures
Blue Spells
Black Creatures
Black Spells
Red Creatures
Red Spells
Green Creatures
Green Spells
Multicolor
Modern: URStormUR|BRGW Jund BRGW|GWUB Gifts GWUB
Commander:XKarnX
Cubes: Level 1: Pauper
Also, be aware that I have only done 2 6-man drafts with my 360 pauper cube so my information is also pretty rough.
As I just said, I am running 360, which is working pretty well for me at the moment. If I ever get regularly 8 people to play it then I might go up to 450, just to get some variance, and put in some fancier themes (infect maybe).
Sprout Swarm is the bomb card in green. Think of it as the green capsize. My playgroup think of it quite highly. Blastoderm is also fairly first pickable. Armadillo cloak is also quite the bomb (and is in green... sort of...). But I do see where you are coming from. Although for some reason in one of my drafts 4 out of the 6 people ended up with G/X decks. So don't underestimate it's power.
This is probably due to your own preference. Every draft I have done, everyone has ended up in solid two colour decks (and one tri colour). Everyone has different drafting styles. I like to pick the most powerful cards in the first pack then figure out what is open by the second, since there are so many playables, you can wait that late.
If you want a ramp strategy you need an incentive to ramp. You need more big creatures in green. I had this problem as well. Along with Havenwood Wurm and Ulamog's Crusher you need a couple more big guys like: Maul Splicer, Citanul Woodreaders, Kavu Primarch and/or Oakgnarl Warrior.
You really need to just test it with other people. Every draft of mine someone wants to go BR aggro, and even one guy managed to draft a UB control deck. People have preferences and are unaware what your cube is capable of. They will go (probably) go two colours due to them believing that is the norm in draft and you will probably be surprised as to how well they do.
List looks pretty solid, just need more big green. No glaring omissions, you must have looked at the pauper rankings thread
Major overhaul: I've decided to cut this cube down to 365 cards. I don't always have 7 other people to cube with, so there's really no point for 450 cards. It also means when I do have a full pod, once person (me!) can force storm! I'm going to go through the more painful cuts, but if I'm committing pauper treason by cutting something that's actually ridiculous, please let me know! Philosophically, I'm moving some Phyrexian mana type cards to colorless, and things that majorly benefit only one color to said color (Teetering Peaks in Red, Knight of the Skyward Eye in White). I'm going to justify a lot of these cuts because I'm going to be building more cubes after this, and since commons tend to skew aggressive, I'm going to reward those cards more. Functional reprints have all been cut, with the exception of Terramorphic Expanse. The extra 5 are in the multicolor section, because there are some niche cards that I really like but wouldn't cut more solid cards for. Most of these changes are from referring to the sub-400 pauper cubes on the forum.
Lands: Currently at 35 cards, cutting down to 25.
Obviously a very tight fit, but relatively simple in my mind - I adore bouncelands, and love the simplicity of guildgates.
Out:
In:
Terramorphic Expanse
Colorless: Currently at 40 cards, cutting down to 30.
In reality, this is more like cutting 15 cards, because of all the de factor colorless Phyrexian cards being shifted over. I'm going to cut some of the more expensive mana fixing and weaker equipment.
Out:
White: Currently at 65 cards, cutting to 55.
I had a mini enchantment theme here, but there's just not good enough stuff solely at common to justify it, I think. It'll be pushed to a more controlling cube.
Out:
In:
Blue: Tweaking blue to be slightly more aggressive.
Out:
In:
Black: Already very good with its themes, just cutting a bit of chaff.
Out:
In:
Red: Like black, just cutting some chaff.
Out:
In:
Green: Beefing up the fatties department!
Out:
In:
Multicolor:
Out:
P.S. How do I edit the title from [450] to [365]?
Modern: URStormUR|BRGW Jund BRGW|GWUB Gifts GWUB
Commander:XKarnX
Cubes: Level 1: Pauper
Also, just because of all the cards you have in there now, I think ghostly flicker could be a fun build-around-me. All you need is either archeomancer or mnemonic wall and you have a combo with any other CiP permanent. Probably a bit too hard to draft though...
I probably should have asked this before but what is the optimal storm deck you can make in the cube? How many win conditions are there for it? Just fissure, empty and grapeshot? How well would the deck work with only one of these?
Ghostly Flicker seems pretty fun, it seems a bit "win more", but I can easily see it being an integral part of storm. Ghostly Flicker + Archaeomancer + Cloud of Faeries + Bounceland = ridiculous fun? I think so!
Speaking of which, Storm would have taken a minor hit in this update, cutting Steel Wall, Wall of Tanglecord from early defense, and Lotus Petal, Cabal Ritual from mana, but no other deck would really want them. Pauper storm's goal is to cast Temporal or Empty for ~5, and it's actually been something I've consistently managed to hit. Grapeshot isn't really a win condition, but storm+removal = fun times! I've tried a counterburn-storm shell before, which didn't work out very well, so the key to storm may just be having more defensive guys to buy time. I definitely feel that Halimar Wavewatch is an integral part of the deck, perhaps I should try to get Wall of Tanglecord back in.
Out
Zombie Cutthroat
In
Pristine Talisman
Thinking About:
Edit: I'm not wild about Phantasmal Bear, maybe cut that for Flicker?
Also, here's a question for you - most everyone seems to be playing Crookclaw Transmuter, and I really liked him in TSP draft, but he's seemed a little underwhelming for me. What are you using him for? If I want a big beater, that's what I have Illusionary Forces for. As a surprise blocker, it will still die to everything, so you're basically playing "3U, Instant, Divine Verdict", so I'd rather have something like Nephalia Seakite.
Modern: URStormUR|BRGW Jund BRGW|GWUB Gifts GWUB
Commander:XKarnX
Cubes: Level 1: Pauper
Phantasmal Bear is pretty underwhelming, but there isn't much better in the 1-drop slot. I run Wingcrafter, which is alright. It helps out UX tempo decks, and does the job quite admirably. (have you ever seen a Thundering Tanodon jump?! :P). Can always cut it for daze if you want.
Also on the topic of blue, you tried to make blue aggressive, but I have some concerns that it won't work as you don't have many creatures (your blue split is 24/31) and cards like Welkin Tern suffer.
Also Prodigal Sorcerer looks out of place. I don't know that blue would want it, either the control, tempo or control decks feel like they could use better cards. I'd swap it with Aether Adept but would like to hear if it has done well for you.
Wall of Tanglecord looks a bit hard to put in. Your colourless section is pretty solid. The two weakest cards I can see are Strider Harness (Due to the high initial cost) and Mind Stone (Due to competing with the signets) but that is just personal opinion.
Also, as another card suggestion I have had good success with Kiln Fiend and with your storm archetype in your cube he could be a decent fit. I would cut Blisterstick Shaman due to its high mana cost for its effect. Plus I feel you need more two drops in your red curve.