Basic Information Cube Size: 540 Breakdown: 85 of each color, 75 multicolor (6 for each guild including lands, 15 shard/wedge and rainbow lands), 40 colorless (artifact/eldrazi, lands, phyrexian) Standard or Theme: Peasant Average Number of Players: mostly 2, sometimes 4 How Often Drafted: Lost count.
Card Selection Proxies: Nope Powered: Nope Portal: Yes "Un" Cards: Only Booster Tutor because it's super fun. Banned Cards: Sol Ring for being way too powerful, some cards are out because of cost
Cube Design Standard or Multiplayer: Standard. Sideboards: No cards specifically included for sideboards. Color Balance: Yes Gold Balance: Yes Hybrid/Split/Kicker/Flashback as Gold: As played. Mostly as gold, but I have a hybrid section. Perfectly Balanced CMC: No, why would you.
I've been playing Magic since Urza's Saga just released. After a short while of playing casually and devouring InQuest Magazine (yay!) I started playing standard tournaments (for those who remember: US/MM standard, featuring Replenish, Angry Hermit, Sui Black, Squirrel Opposition. Fun times). Locally at first, then PTQ's and GPT's. I travelled to the odd GP, but I never actually qualified for anything, except a couple Nationals.
I discovered EDH, which has been the format of choice for the last couple of years now. The rest of my collection started gathering dust and I decided to build a cube, giving me a fun way to keep playing with a wide variety of my cards without the need to build decks. Unpowered, with rares, at first. Until I decided I could use the money selling all my Legacy staples would give me, figuring that it was not worth it to keep everything when I would seldom play with them or draft the cube. The obvious choice was a peasant cube.
When I started to build the cube, I used Klug's as a starting point, just to get a feeling of which kind of cards I should be looking for. Luckily I had most of them and I filled it up with cards I had lying around. I've been tuning it ever since.
At first, I wanted this cube to include all the cards from Magic's past that I enjoyed, but didn't have a home anywhere anymore. Some pet cards where put in. Slowly, I've been cutting these because I care more about a healthy draft environment and less about the cube being a random collection of cards. I want to enjoy the archetypes I liked playing all that time.
My cube is a heavily archetype-driven cube with a lot of smaller and larger synergies built in.
While most archetype cubes have lowered the power level or speed of the format to include archetypes, I've tried (successfully, in my opinion) to keep the power level and speed as high as possible. I think I run more (aggressive) 1-drops than most cubes, my removal is generally very efficient and you'll still see high power cards like Skullclamp, Loxodon Warhammer, Propaganda, Maze of Ith.
Rough guidelines:
- I'm aiming to have mostly 2-color (or mono-color) decks. I don't mind 3 color decks, but I'm not specifically supporting them and don't want them to be too easy.
- Every color should be able to play at any speed: aggro, midrange, control. In practice, some colors are better than others in certain roles and play support in other roles, but I try to stay away from 'red is the aggro color and blue is the control color'-type stuff.
- Every 2-color (guild) combination should have at least 2 specific archetypes that it supports, outside of the general speeds of aggro/midrange/control. Some of the guilds have overlapping archetypes internally. For example, Golgari's archetypes are graveyard based, but one is more value/recursion based with Spider Spawning as headliner, while the other is a more bursty threshold/delve-type build.
- Guild cards should be good enough to pull someone into the colors, but:
- Guild cards should mostly support a specific archetype. I removed most of the general good stuff cards in guilds, unless I think it's something the guild needs (Ribbons of Night, Wall of Denial for UB and UW control, respectively), or the card is so good that it pulls a player into the color regardless of archetype (Bloodbraid Elf goes into basically every Gruul deck).
- Archetypes overlap in different color combinations as much as possible. Most archetypes have at least a wedge/shard that supports it, with each specific 2-color combination giving a slightly different deck. Example: 'Enchantment matters' in WGU with UW being more pillowfort-y, GW being double strikers+auras and GU unblockables+auras. (Black's also in the mix, btw). Example 2: White's token strategy plays well with black (sacrifice), red (swarm aggro) and green (midrange tokens). The non-white parts to those decks also play well together, for example in BR sacrifice. Not every archetype does this equally well though, and some archetypes (spells matter comes to mind) can look more or less the same between drafts.
And to finish it off:
- I want people to have a good time.
- There should be no 'best deck'. Sure, some decks are generally a bit better than others and some specific matchups can a little lopsided, but in general everything should have a chance. I don't want people to stay away from certain color combinations or archetypes because they're just not that good against most decks.
Sol Ring: Duh. WAY too good.
White has an emphasis on aggro. With six 1-drop creatures and fourteen aggressive 2-drop creatures, it has the lion’s share of cheap creatures, as well as some great token producers. It has some great control options as well, but can’t stand on its own for control.
Themes: Aggro creatures, tokens, blink
As suspected, blue is an excellent control option in my cube. The traditional counterspells/carddraw/bounce/big flyers are present. Besides the control options, you can draft the base of a tempo aggro deck with cheap flyers, soft counters and a lot of bounce.
Themes: Carddraw/filtering, bounce, tempo
My black section can go every direction. There’s support for fast aggro and good support for control. A big part of the black section is a sacrifice theme, with multiple sac outlets and things that are good to sac and reanimation.
Themes: Sacrifice, reanimation
Red does what it does best traditionally: beat down and burn out. The other mode of red is as a complimentary color to control decks.
Themes: Aggro creatures, burn, sacrifice
The green section is pretty versatile, with both aggro and midrange options. There’s a big ramp component complete with large creatures to ramp into.
Themes: Ramp, tokens
--
Azorius has 3 main options, all of them supported with multicolor cards. The blink effects from white pair amazingly with the bounce effects from blue. Blue and white is the color of cheap flyers, creating a very efficient UW skies aggro deck. Lastly, UW control is a great deck where white’s defensive creatures and removal is a great complement to the carddraw from blue.
Themes: Blink, UW Flyers, UW Control
The gold cards in the Dimir section are mostly to support the B/U control deck. There’s also a good Dimir aggro tempo deck if you combine the cheap evasive creatures from both. Blue discard and black reanimate is something I’m actively looking for as well.
Themes: Control, reanimate
The multicolour Rakdos cards mainly support a hyper-aggressive beatdown deck. Other great decks in which black and red complement each other is a deck with sacrifice tricks (with or without a small green splash) and sometimes a control deck stuffed with heaps and heaps of removal.
Themes: hyper-aggressive, sacrifice, removal.dec
Like Rakdos, gold Gruul cards support aggro. The difference is that Gruul aggro can end up really aggressive (heavier on red) or more midrangy with bigger creatures (heavier on green). Red is also a nice addition to green ramp decks, because of the bigger burn spells and removal.
Themes: Midrange or small aggro
Gold Selesnya cards support both GW aggro and GW Ramp. GW Ramp is a great archetype with white adding some removal and unique finishers to green’s acceleration. Green and white also combine for a good token deck.
Themes: Aggro, ramp, tokens
In the Orzhov section there’s two archetypes that overlap very nicely: WB tokens and BW sacrifice. White’s blink effects are very good with black’s ETB creatures, creating immense value. There’s also a great ‘bleeder’ deck in Orzhov colors: a control deck with a critical mass of extort creatures.
Themes: Sacrifice, tokens, bleeder
Golgari cards support a sacrifice/graveyard/reanimation deck and a GB aggro deck. Black’s removal creatures and green’s ramp combine for a good ‘Rock’ deck.
Themes: Graveyard, sacrifice
Simic has two main modes: UG tempo and UG ramp.
Themes: Ramp, tempo
Most of the cards in the Izzet section can support all kinds of different decks, either UR decks, or as splash cards in for example a GRu ramp deck or UBr control. One of the archetypes that’s supported in UR is the traditional counter-burn): a control deck where red burn is used as removal and finisher in a blue-ish control deck. Another great archetype for these colors is a RU aggro deck, where blue bounce and carddraw supports the red aggro. There are some ‘spells matter’ cards are which are great for either control or aggro.
Themes: Spells, counter-burn, tempo
Boros is mostly an aggro deck combining the plethora of white and red aggro creatures to beat face very very quickly, finishing with efficient burn. The Boros gold cards also support W/r tokens. Boros control decks are rare, and not necessarily supported, but possible.
Themes: Hyper aggressive beatdown, tokens
Nothing.
These are the archetypes I set out to support:
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Archetype: +1/+1 Counters Speed: Aggro, midrange Color(s): White, red, green Anchors:Elite Scaleguard, Abzan Falconer, Abzan Battle PriestRelief Captain, Curse of Predation, Bramblewood Paragon, Durable Handicraft, Armorcraft JudgeCytoplast Root-Kin, Bramblewood Paragon, Rage Forger, Volt Charge, Tezzeret's Gambit. Description:
The +1/+1 counter archetype is a creature-based aggro/midrange deck (depending on the exact color combination), that wants to play a lot of creatures with inherent +1/+1 counters on them and then give team-wide bonuses for a potentially big advantage. Selesnya (midrange) - Of the three guilds that do +1/+1 counters, Selesnya is the slowest version. Size of the creatures is generally a little bigger and let this version play a real midrange game. Cards like Cenn's Tactician and Abzan Battle Priest are better in Selesnya than in other versions. This version is also the most likely to be able to use Durable Handicraft or the proliferate on Contagion Clasp. Boros (aggro) - This version is the most aggressive. A good number of red low drops have +1/+1 counters. White helps the red part of the deck to keep pushing through damage by either pumping up the low drops to be able to keep up with potential midrange opponents, or with cards like Abzan Falconer or Elite Scaleguard. Gruul (aggro) - Gruul falls a little in between, speed-wise. It has the same fast start potential as the Boros version, but goes a little bigger as well. This results in a deck that forces through its creatures based on pure strength. The 'lords' either just make guys bigger (Cytoplast Root-Kin, Volt Charge), give trample (Bramblewood Paragon or just deal damage (Rage Forger). Crossover potential: Pants/double strikers - (both in W/R or W/G) Double strikers and/or small evasive creatures are great to put +1/+1 counters on. Warrior Tribal - With Bramblewood Paragon as crossover card, and both red and green filled with quality warriors (a lot of which already go into the +1/+1 counter deck) it's very likely Gruul +1/+1 counter decks have a Warrior component, or vice versa.
I would be very grateful if anyone would take a look at my cube and give me some feedback!
Welcome to the community my man! I don't have too much time right now, but I'll take a longer look after work today. I'm sure Leelue will be chiming in at some point with great detail, so take notes!
Anyways, keep us posted on your drafts and discoveries and the like.
First impression, after just skimming your list, it looks pretty good. I'll come back later!
I wish cubetutor had an option to compare cubes. Standouts from a quick glance:
Wall of Denial has been a force in my experience, absolutely the strongest Azorius card in my cube.
I prefer Infest over Hideous Laughter, but certainly a case can be made for instant speed.
Skinrender probably deserves a spot. I like him over your non-Shriekmaw 5-6 drops, unless you don't like the way he fits into your archetypes.
If you ever stop supporting G/x ramp so hard (ahh, so many walls!), I think Darkthicket Wolf and Wild Mongrel need serious consideration. I'd even say one of those fits better than Strangleroot Geist with what you're trying to do.
Always nice to see a new cube. How has scorched rusalka been for you? I keep wanting to test it but haven't gotten a chance yet. Seems like kinda a 2nd mortarpod for red aggro which sounds solid but...it costs a spot in my red section to add and red is super tight.
Cards in your list I'm not a fan of:
Smite
Cloudfin Raptor
Seal of Removal
Dissipate
Dominate
Dauthi Slayer
Erg Raiders
Mogg Flunkies
Keldon Vandals
Jungle Lion
Jelenn Sphinx
Kiss of the Amesha
Urban Evolution
Isochron Scepter
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I write about cube and run cube drafts on magic online.
Thanks for the replies so far guys! And thanks for the warm welcome!
Also, this is the first Magic forum/community where people actually suggest cuts/cards they DON'T like instead of just saying 'you should add this and this'. I love it! It's so much more usefull!
Chainer's Edict - even with the flashback, I found I'd usually rather have a traditional "point and click" removal spell instead. Getting beat down by their Pelakka Wurm while they sac a mana elf instead is pretty bad. Could be Go for the Throat?
Boros Elite: Still in testing. It looks awesome on paper, but I have yet to play with it.
Ivory Giant: I loved this guy in TSP block draft and it's a fun card to put in white weenie. It's one of the first cards to get cut when I need someting to go.
Resurrection: This is mostly in over the other (better) options you mention, because it's Beta.
Erg Raiders: Just cut it, see below.
Chainer's Edict: Agreed. It's in the cube for now as part of a small graveyard package to try and enable some sort of BUG dredge/looter/Spider Spawning deck, while also acting as decent removal. If that package doesn't work out, I'll cut it. I do, however, like to have some narrow removal to not make removal too good. I'm still going to get myself a Go for the Throat, just in case.
Terminate: Agreed as well. I have to get myself a Bituminous Blast!
Quote from kuben »
Welcome!
I wish cubetutor had an option to compare cubes. Standouts from a quick glance:
Wall of Denial has been a force in my experience, absolutely the strongest Azorius card in my cube.
I prefer Infest over Hideous Laughter, but certainly a case can be made for instant speed.
Skinrender probably deserves a spot. I like him over your non-Shriekmaw 5-6 drops, unless you don't like the way he fits into your archetypes.
If you ever stop supporting G/x ramp so hard (ahh, so many walls!), I think Darkthicket Wolf and Wild Mongrel need serious consideration. I'd even say one of those fits better than Strangleroot Geist with what you're trying to do.
Wall of Denial: Ah, I knew there was another card I cut because it was somewhat oppressing aggro decks. I put Plumeveil in it's place for now. It might come back in though, the card is great. What's you experience with Wall in regards to stifling aggro?
Infest over Hideous Laughter: Actually, I had Evincar's Justice in this spot and chose Laughter over it after discovering it's an instant. Infest might be better though. I'll think on it.
Skinrender: In! See below.
All the green walls: Hah, you're right! Overgrown Battlement is coming out the next time I need a spot (probably for one of the cards you mention). I did cut some of the ramp already though, see below!
Strangleroot Geist: The Geist is in because I really like the BG sacrifice deck as an additional option to the BR one. Strangleroot, Dreg Mangler, Korozda Guildmage, Young Wolf al enable this. I'm keeping this for now.
Quote from citynoise »
Always nice to see a new cube. How has scorched rusalka been for you? I keep wanting to test it but haven't gotten a chance yet. Seems like kinda a 2nd mortarpod for red aggro which sounds solid but...it costs a spot in my red section to add and red is super tight.
Cards in your list I'm not a fan of:
Smite
Cloudfin Raptor
Seal of Removal
Dissipate
Dominate
Dauthi Slayer
Erg Raiders
Mogg Flunkies
Keldon Vandals
Jungle Lion
Jelenn Sphinx
Kiss of the Amesha
Urban Evolution
Isochron Scepter
Scorched Rusalka: The couple of times I had it, it's been great. The effect is really good, and it's a one drop! I do also have Goblin Bombardment, so maybe it's a bit too much. I'll keep testing this and keep you guys posted.
- Smite: see below
- Cloudfin Raptor: Interesting. Do you like Delver better? I'm quite a fan of the raptor.
- Seal of Removal: I love me some cheap bounce, maybe more so than is good for me. This might come out when I can get over the nostalgic value.
- Dissipate: Agreed, this hasn't been too hot. I'm watching it.
- Dominate: Really? I luuuuuurve Dominate. It's so much more fun than another Control Magic and a nice trick. It's hella expensive though, so maybe you're right..
- Dauthi Slayer: Mostly sentimental value on this one as well. Same as the Soltaris.. the cost is harsh, but I like the card a fair amount.
- Erg Raiders: yup, see below
- Mogg Flunkies: Sentimental value as well, but also quite a big hitter. I like them.
- Keldon Vandals: I keep going back and forth on them. Artifact removal is quite nice, but maybe I don't need Keldon Vandals.. How many artifact removal do you guys run in red?
- Jungle Lion: yeah... the card actually sucks balls. But it's sooo pretty. I'm sure this will come out in the future, after I try to cram in Señor Stompy and discover it doesn't work ;).
- Jelenn Sphinx: Still testing this one. I figures it would be a nice crossover card between UW control and Wx tokens. Watching it.
- Kiss of the Amesha: This is a card I really love. But... I added Feudkiller's Verdict today (see below) and I'm not sure if 2 of those is healthy for the format. Watching it.
- Urban Evolution: I love this as well. I think it's an interesting card, but there's only one archetype it's really good in: UG Ramp. Since I removed some ramp (see below), I'll keep this in for now.
- Isochron Scepter: Agreed. The card is hit or miss, mostly miss. I think I'll cut it. Watching it for now and see how it does in the Guttersnipe deck.
------
Allright, I made some changes and cuts today. However, Cubetutor had a minor bug today causing me to add all the cards 10 times and not posting it on the blog. So here's what I changed:
(In > Out)
Guttersnipe > Reckless Waif
Didn't like Reckless Waif too much. I have a lot of red 1 drops and needed some 3's for the aggro curve. Plus, Guttersnipe enables a whole archetype in itself.
Brimstone Volley > Fireblast
With pain in my heart I cut one of my favorite cards ever in Magic. Fireblast is just sooo narrow. Brimstone Volley is probably a better finisher anyway (deals more damage) and is a lot more versatile. Please, someone convince me Fireblast need to be in the cube!
Shower of Coals > Teetering Peaks
I kinda like Teetering Peaks, but since red already has a utility land I chose the more versatile spell. Also, with Shower of Coals there's more possibility to draft a Red/X control deck (which is also the reason I cut Peaks and not Ghitu Encampment).
Pillage > Manic Vandals
Pillage used to be part of a R/B landdestruction package. I have since cut the rest. I'm not sure if red needs the incidental landdestruction and Manic Vandal is easier to cast in 2 color decks, as well as being a 3-drop creature to attack with.
Sentinel Spider > Borderland Ranger
As stated above, I cut down on some of the ramp. Also, Borderland Ranger has an identical brother in Civic Wayfinder. Easy cut to put in the more interesting/better card.
Pelakka Wurm > Wolfir Silverheart
I don't know what it is, but I just don't like Wolfir Silverheart. It's probably wrong to cut it, but Pelakka Wurm needed to come in anyway.
Regrowth > Cultivate
Again, duplicate effect... cutting down on ramp... bla bla. Regrowth is insane.
Doomed Traveler > Bathe in Light
Traveler plays along with the plethora of sac-effects in the cube. Something had to come out. What do you guys think about cutting Bathe in Light?
Feudkiller's Verdict > Smite
Smite was too cute. Like I said above, I like narrow removal more than most and I like the fact that not every deck will be able to pick this. Still, if a control card was weak enough to cut, Smite is it.
Skinrender > Enslave
I only just acquired one and it's coming in on the double! Enslave is a more interesting card for sure, but somehow I don't like it. It's expensive and I like this effect to be in blue. What is the consensus on Enslave?
Carrion Feeder > Erg Raiders
Feeder is one of my favorite cards in Magic, because it combines two of my favorite archetypes: black aggro and sacrifice shenanigans. I felt like another aggro creature had to give and, sadly, Erg Raiders (although the Arabian Nights version looks totally sweet) had to go. It might come back in, but it's just worse than the other options..
Jetting Glasskite > Delver of Secrets
Delver didn't work out like I wanted, so I decided to give blue another control tool.
Epochrasite > Elixir of Immortality
I have never picked or played Elixir, nor seen it picked or played. Easy cut.
Also, I removed:
- Etched Oracle (was a bit meh)
- Act of Treason (turn out to be more of a red card than I thought, but I'm not ready to actually cut a red card for it)
- Mortify (I had an Orzhov card too many and both Black and White have enough removal as is)
Cloudfin Raptor, Dominate, Jungle Lion, Jelenn Sphinx, and Kiss of the Amesha are all perfectly playable cube cards.
If you don't want to support aggro in blue or green, I could see cutting those 1-drops, but I think every color pair can go aggressive/tempo with the right support these days.
Wall of Denial: Ah, I knew there was another card I cut because it was somewhat oppressing aggro decks. I put Plumeveil in it's place for now. It might come back in though, the card is great. What's you experience with Wall in regards to stifling aggro?
Well, in my five plays, Wall of Denial has 3 wins, 1 hatedraft, and one pack 3 with nobody in WU. It's on the shortlist of cards I'm considering banning. (Grafted Wargear.)
There are certainly times when Wall of Denial drops, eats a Fleshbag Marauder, and aggro rolls. But more often (so far), aggro just doesn't have an answer and can't get to 20. I haven't banned it yet because I still have a small sample size, and I believe you can still attack through it fast enough with a top-tier aggro list.
Scorched Rusalka: The couple of times I had it, it's been great. The effect is really good, and it's a one drop! I do also have Goblin Bombardment, so maybe it's a bit too much. I'll keep testing this and keep you guys posted.
- Smite: see below
- Cloudfin Raptor: Interesting. Do you like Delver better? I'm quite a fan of the raptor.
- Seal of Removal: I love me some cheap bounce, maybe more so than is good for me. This might come out when I can get over the nostalgic value.
- Dissipate: Agreed, this hasn't been too hot. I'm watching it.
- Dominate: Really? I luuuuuurve Dominate. It's so much more fun than another Control Magic and a nice trick. It's hella expensive though, so maybe you're right..
- Dauthi Slayer: Mostly sentimental value on this one as well. Same as the Soltaris.. the cost is harsh, but I like the card a fair amount.
- Erg Raiders: yup, see below
- Mogg Flunkies: Sentimental value as well, but also quite a big hitter. I like them.
- Keldon Vandals: I keep going back and forth on them. Artifact removal is quite nice, but maybe I don't need Keldon Vandals.. How many artifact removal do you guys run in red?
- Jungle Lion: yeah... the card actually sucks balls. But it's sooo pretty. I'm sure this will come out in the future, after I try to cram in Señor Stompy and discover it doesn't work ;).
- Jelenn Sphinx: Still testing this one. I figures it would be a nice crossover card between UW control and Wx tokens. Watching it.
- Kiss of the Amesha: This is a card I really love. But... I added Feudkiller's Verdict today (see below) and I'm not sure if 2 of those is healthy for the format. Watching it.
- Urban Evolution: I love this as well. I think it's an interesting card, but there's only one archetype it's really good in: UG Ramp. Since I removed some ramp (see below), I'll keep this in for now.
- Isochron Scepter: Agreed. The card is hit or miss, mostly miss. I think I'll cut it. Watching it for now and see how it does in the Guttersnipe deck.
I do like delver a lot more than cloudfin raptor.
I would rather play stuff like boomerang, vapor snag, silent departure, etc. than seal of removal. It isn't horrible though.
Dissipate is just going to be cancel a large % of the time
My problem with Dominate is just that it is expensive and if you want an expensive control magic might as well play confiscate/volition reins.
Dauthi costs BB, thats why I don't like it.
I hate cards like Mogg Flunkies/Ember Beast - they basically let your opponent's doomblades become 2-for-1s
I just don't like the 1 toughness and echo, would rather play a manic vandals or hearth kami or something.
I just think Kiss is pretty expensive for a non-board impacting card and it doesn't do a ton for its cost.
I hate urban evolution and consider it uncubeable but I'm probably in the minority.
When it hits it is awesome but sometimes (most times) scepter gets opened in p2/p3 and nobody can really play it.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I write about cube and run cube drafts on magic online.
IMO, Dominate is better than the other expensive control magics due to A) being an instant and B) being immune to enchantment removal. It also occasionally snags a decent token for x=0. Its downside of being expensive against fatties doesn't come up often since U/G ramp is the deck that most wants Dominate to begin with.
I also confused Kiss of the Amesha with Offering to Asha. I think the former is just okay but not terrible.
All of the things I disagree with from the other posters
Cloudfin Raptor: Probably my favorite of the blue 1 drops that attack. Maybe. I would prefer if your blue section had more aggression in it to make it better though (Aether adept, Pestermite, Tandem Lookout, etc)
Delver of secrets: I absolutely do not like this card more than the raptor. Even in a deck with 7 or 8 instants and sorceries, you can still be sitting there for 4 or 5 turns waiting for him to contribute. Ok, a "pretty much" 3/2 haste flier for 0 mana on turn 4 isn't bad. But if your deck is any shallower in instants and sorceries, this card isn't flipping. If you're unlucky, it could be turn 7 by the time this guy flips. Far too spotty for my taste.
Jelenn Sphinx: Has been totally great for me. Doesn't even need to be in tokens. It just turns your seraph of dawn and man-o-war into beasts.
Dominate: Costs 5UU to start taking game-changing cards not named Vampire nighthawk. On the bright side, most cubes are slower when they're new and pick up steam over time so this card is probably good for you now. Eventually, I don't think that's likely to keep up.
Jungle lion: Card is ok but I don't run it. Green decks that want such a whack creature are rare for me.
Shower of coals: Not disagreeing with anything other than the fact that you posted your cube without first getting a shower of coals. That's like asking for an opinion of your wardrobe without first getting pants.
---
If there was one card I noticed right away that you're missing it's Talrand's invocation. Card is nutso.
I like having Fireblast because it's a burn spell that doesn't get sniped by X/r control decks during drafting, as it's more at home as a finisher in R/x aggro. I don't think it's essential though.
My issue with Boros Elite was that it's only good when you're already in a good position (being able to attack with 2 other creatures). Barring haste creatures it doesn't "turn on" until turn 4 and just one removal spell sets that back even further.
@Fireblast: well, that's certainly true and I really love to have the card. Suppose I would add it in again, what would you cut for it?
@Boros: I'm convinced. It's officially one of the first cards to leave in white. Maybe I'll put Bathe in Light back in, or try out Embolden. Thanks!
Quote from kuben »
Well, in my five plays, Wall of Denial has 3 wins, 1 hatedraft, and one pack 3 with nobody in WU. It's on the shortlist of cards I'm considering banning. (Grafted Wargear.)
Exactly my experience. Let me know how it fares!
Quote from citynoise »
I do like delver a lot more than cloudfin raptor.
[...]
My problem with Dominate is just that it is expensive and if you want an expensive control magic might as well play confiscate/volition reins.
[...]
I hate cards like Mogg Flunkies/Ember Beast - they basically let your opponent's doomblades become 2-for-1s
I just don't like the 1 toughness and echo, would rather play a manic vandals or hearth kami or something.
[...]
When it hits it is awesome but sometimes (most times) scepter gets opened in p2/p3 and nobody can really play it.
@Delver/Cloudfin: Why do you like Delver better? In my experience Cloudfin grows more consistently and larger than Delver. Most of the time there are too few spells in my deck to flip Delver a good percentage of the time.
@Dominate: Like Whydirt said, the fact that Dominate is an instant and can't be destroyed is huge. Also, I don't mind that it's not able to just steal everything all the time. I have Control Magic and Mind Control as 'steal this, period' and I like that Ray of Command and Dominate have a slightly different application.
@Flunkies: So far it hasn't come up, but your point is solid. I'm guessing Flunkies will not stay in the cube forever.
@Keldon Vandal: I added Manic Vandal for Pillage, I think I can remove a three drop now and add Torch Fiend. Looks a lot better. Echo is nasty.
@Scepter: Yeah.. I'll cut it. I think I'll add Ulamog's Crusher back in.
Oh, and you've convinced me about Dissipate, I'll remove that as well.
Quote from BrownDog5117 »
A couple that I would like to see added, just based on my experience!:
Baleful Strix
Shardless Agent
Wall of Tanglecord
Master Splicer
Basilica Screecher
Perhaps some of the "can't block" effects in red: Goblin Shortcutter and Fervent Cathar.
Sylvan Ranger
- Baleful Strix: Love to, but it's too expensive (moneywise)
- Shardless Agent: See Baleful Strix
- Wall of Tanglecord: Good call, I'll try to find one
- Master Splicer: For some reason, the Splicers don't appeal to me. Are all of them good? Or just this one?
- Basilica Screecher: Great card, it'll go on the shortlist!
- Goblin Shortcutter: See below
- Fervent Cathart: Shortlisted
- Sylvan Ranger: I think I have enough ramp/fix in green for now.
Quote from Leelue »
All of the things I disagree with from the other posters
Cloudfin Raptor: Probably my favorite of the blue 1 drops that attack. Maybe. I would prefer if your blue section had more aggression in it to make it better though (Aether adept, Pestermite, Tandem Lookout, etc)
Delver of secrets: I absolutely do not like this card more than the raptor. Even in a deck with 7 or 8 instants and sorceries, you can still be sitting there for 4 or 5 turns waiting for him to contribute. Ok, a "pretty much" 3/2 haste flier for 0 mana on turn 4 isn't bad. But if your deck is any shallower in instants and sorceries, this card isn't flipping. If you're unlucky, it could be turn 7 by the time this guy flips. Far too spotty for my taste.
Jelenn Sphinx: Has been totally great for me. Doesn't even need to be in tokens. It just turns your seraph of dawn and man-o-war into beasts.
Goblin shortcutter: Vastly prefer the 1 mana options, frenzied goblin and intimidator initiate, more.
Dominate: Costs 5UU to start taking game-changing cards not named Vampire nighthawk. On the bright side, most cubes are slower when they're new and pick up steam over time so this card is probably good for you now. Eventually, I don't think that's likely to keep up.
Jungle lion: Card is ok but I don't run it. Green decks that want such a whack creature are rare for me.
Shower of coals: Not disagreeing with anything other than the fact that you posted your cube without first getting a shower of coals. That's like asking for an opinion of your wardrobe without first getting pants.
---
If there was one card I noticed right away that you're missing it's Talrand's invocation. Card is nutso.
@ Aggression in blue: How much more aggressive cards would you add? I have no experience with both Pestermite and Tandem Lookout in cube, how good are they? Aether Adept would be the 4th ETB bouncer, I'd rather add one of the other two, I think.
@ Jelenn Sphinx: I'll keep on testing it, this gives me the confidence to do so.
@ Goblin shortcutter&co: Frenzied Goblin is already in and amazing. Intimidator Initiate looks amazing actually. How do you like Fervent Cathar?
@ Dominate: You're probably right. The fact that it's instant speed means it's used more as a trick than a straight Control Magic, so you don't really need to take gamechanging cards with it as long as you do so at a gamechanging time (like in combat for example).
@ Shower of coals: Luckily my pants came in the mail *just* after I finished typing up the opening post then. Haha. I guess I should have mentioned in the opening post that I was bringing in some pretty obvious cards...
@ Talrand's Invocation: To make up for the little pants-accident, Talrand's Invocation was actually already in the cube
---
I'm going to add a wishlist and watchlist section to the opening post.
Edit: I should probably mention that Nivix Cyclops will become a Gelectrode when I get my hands on one.
Master and Winged are likely staples at any size of cube. The green ones are fine, but probably most suited to midsized or larger cubes. Sensor is probably not good enough at any size.
@Delver/Cloudfin: Why do you like Delver better? In my experience Cloudfin grows more consistently and larger than Delver. Most of the time there are too few spells in my deck to flip Delver a good percentage of the time.
@Dominate: Like Whydirt said, the fact that Dominate is an instant and can't be destroyed is huge. Also, I don't mind that it's not able to just steal everything all the time. I have Control Magic and Mind Control as 'steal this, period' and I like that Ray of Command and Dominate have a slightly different application.
@Flunkies: So far it hasn't come up, but your point is solid. I'm guessing Flunkies will not stay in the cube forever.
@Keldon Vandal: I added Manic Vandal for Pillage, I think I can remove a three drop now and add Torch Fiend. Looks a lot better. Echo is nasty.
@Scepter: Yeah.. I'll cut it. I think I'll add Ulamog's Crusher back in.
Oh, and you've convinced me about Dissipate, I'll remove that as well.
- Baleful Strix: Love to, but it's too expensive (moneywise)
- Shardless Agent: See Baleful Strix
- Wall of Tanglecord: Good call, I'll try to find one
- Master Splicer: For some reason, the Splicers don't appeal to me. Are all of them good? Or just this one?
- Basilica Screecher: Great card, it'll go on the shortlist!
- Goblin Shortcutter: See below
- Fervent Cathart: Shortlisted
- Sylvan Ranger: I think I have enough ramp/fix in green for now.
@ Aggression in blue: How much more aggressive cards would you add? I have no experience with both Pestermite and Tandem Lookout in cube, how good are they? Aether Adept would be the 4th ETB bouncer, I'd rather add one of the other two, I think.
@ Jelenn Sphinx: I'll keep on testing it, this gives me the confidence to do so.
@ Goblin shortcutter&co: Frenzied Goblin is already in and amazing. Intimidator Initiate looks amazing actually. How do you like Fervent Cathar?
@ Dominate: You're probably right. The fact that it's instant speed means it's used more as a trick than a straight Control Magic, so you don't really need to take gamechanging cards with it as long as you do so at a gamechanging time (like in combat for example).
@ Shower of coals: Luckily my pants came in the mail *just* after I finished typing up the opening post then. Haha. I guess I should have mentioned in the opening post that I was bringing in some pretty obvious cards...
@ Talrand's Invocation: To make up for the little pants-accident, Talrand's Invocation was actually already in the cube
Raptor vs Delver - My Ux aggro decks rarely have more than 2 creatures in play so raptor was pretty much always a 1/2 or 2/3, and they play a lot of spells so delver flipped/flips a lot.
Dominate - the mana cost matters more to me than the instant/can't be destroyed.
Flunkies - it depends on the environment really
Vandal - yeah I really dislike the echo/1 toughness/lack of haste, I much prefer the other 3mana sorceries/manic vandal/2/1s for 1R that sac
Scepter - crusher is awesome
Baleful Strix - proxy it till you can buy one, I have proxied cards worth $100+ till I could afford it, I don't get the aversion to proxies people have. I currently have cards proxied that I'll end up spending $200+ and $1 on. Play the cards you want to!
Shardless Agent - see baleful strix
Master Splice - I also am not a huge fan of the splicers
Pestermite - is awesome, I play it in control decks too
Aether Adept - these cards are all awesome, play them
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I write about cube and run cube drafts on magic online.
I would not call the splicers staples but they certainly win more than they lose here. great cards so far.
I think ulamog's crusher is not worth it.
I feel like it sits on the sidelines too often.
As for the 3 3 drops I mentioned, I like them all. Tandem lookout is my favorite but aether adept may be stronger on average. Pestermite is the most flexible.
Chainer's Edict was best in aggressive decks, in which Stab Wound is probably better anyway. Plus, so far the dredge/Spider Spawning deck hasn't been too hot, so the flashback part was not needed anyway.
Screecher needed to come in and Dauthi Slayer was the worst 2 drop (BB cost is harsh for an aggro deck). I'm a bit sad because it seems all the fun older cards are getting cut, but oh well.
After your feedback I decided to cut Elite. Guards is more defensive, but because of Extort can still go into an aggro-ish deck. Guards is a fun card for the UW flyer deck as well to stall the ground.
I also brought back Flickerwisp and Glimmerpoint Stag.
+ Flickerwisp, - Ivory Giant
+ Glimmerpoint Stag, - Guardian of the Guildpact
Ivory Giant was too narrow, so that's an easy cut there. The other cut was more difficult. I don't want too many 4 drops in white. The 3 candidates for getting cut where Goldnight Commander , Guardian of the Guildpact, Seraph of Dawn. Commander is the worst of the bunch, imo, but I like how he enables W/x tokens and I want to test him some more. Guardian and Seraph are both generically very good, but for some reason I'm never actively looking to draft Guardian. And since Seraph goes a little better in the bleeder archetype I just added, I tried this. *ducking for incoming flak*
I personally think the splicers are awesome. All of them! Solid 2 for 1's with blink abuse.
That's... something I hadn't considered (weirdly). I might add Master and Winged if I can find the room. This is getting HARD. Why did I want to have a smallish cube again?
Quote from citynoise »
Raptor vs Delver - My Ux aggro decks rarely have more than 2 creatures in play so raptor was pretty much always a 1/2 or 2/3, and they play a lot of spells so delver flipped/flips a lot.
Dominate - the mana cost matters more to me than the instant/can't be destroyed.
Flunkies - it depends on the environment really
Vandal - yeah I really dislike the echo/1 toughness/lack of haste, I much prefer the other 3mana sorceries/manic vandal/2/1s for 1R that sac
Scepter - crusher is awesome
Baleful Strix - proxy it till you can buy one, I have proxied cards worth $100+ till I could afford it, I don't get the aversion to proxies people have. I currently have cards proxied that I'll end up spending $200+ and $1 on. Play the cards you want to!
Shardless Agent - see baleful strix
Master Splice - I also am not a huge fan of the splicers
Pestermite - is awesome, I play it in control decks too
Aether Adept - these cards are all awesome, play them
- Delver/Raptor: I WANT to like Delver, but i found it to be so inconsistent.. Also, I really like Raptor in the UW and UG tempo decks.
- Dominate: I'm getting more and more ready to cut it..
- Flunkies: same. I think I'll go ahead and find a Stormblood Berserker
- Vandal: cut it for Torch Fiend. Thanks!
- Scepter: see above, Crusher is still in the 'maybe' pile for now.
- 'Mite/Adept: Looking for room as we speak, going on wishlist
Quote from Leelue »
I would not call the splicers staples but they certainly win more than they lose here. great cards so far.
I think ulamog's crusher is not worth it.
I feel like it sits on the sidelines too often.
As for the 3 3 drops I mentioned, I like them all. Tandem lookout is my favorite but aether adept may be stronger on average. Pestermite is the most flexible.
Tandem Lookout goes on the wishlist as well. Card looks great in the UW flyer archetype as well.. Probably adding Adept and/or Pestermite first, though.
What is it about the Soltari Bros that you dislike?
The WW part. I don't actually dislike them, I love them (I played T2 with them, so nostalgic value is pretty high) but cuts are getting REALLY hard right now and they are narrower than most cards I have in white. They are great beaters, but often I'd rather have Mistral Charger because it's easier to cast. Maybe I should just cut Loyal Cathar instead and give the finger to the more synergistic card, but that goes against the way my cube has been shaping up so far. What do you think?
that's the reason why i recently brought in justiciar and aven riftwatcher. i wanted more on-color blink targets...the only other 187 duder that i think is still worth considering in a larger cube is inquisitor exarch
i like enchantress for flavor, but agree that forcemage is probably a stronger include. i really dislike spriggan.
btw, where is your leafcrown dryad? with an enchantment themed cube it seems like a no-brainer
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I started a Peasant Cube BLOG! @ peasant-cube.blogspot.com
Basic Information
Cube Size: 540
Breakdown: 85 of each color, 75 multicolor (6 for each guild including lands, 15 shard/wedge and rainbow lands), 40 colorless (artifact/eldrazi, lands, phyrexian)
Standard or Theme: Peasant
Average Number of Players: mostly 2, sometimes 4
How Often Drafted: Lost count.
Card Selection
Proxies: Nope
Powered: Nope
Portal: Yes
"Un" Cards: Only Booster Tutor because it's super fun.
Banned Cards: Sol Ring for being way too powerful, some cards are out because of cost
Cube Design
Standard or Multiplayer: Standard.
Sideboards: No cards specifically included for sideboards.
Color Balance: Yes
Gold Balance: Yes
Hybrid/Split/Kicker/Flashback as Gold: As played. Mostly as gold, but I have a hybrid section.
Perfectly Balanced CMC: No, why would you.
http://cubetutor.com/viewcube/264
I've been playing Magic since Urza's Saga just released. After a short while of playing casually and devouring InQuest Magazine (yay!) I started playing standard tournaments (for those who remember: US/MM standard, featuring Replenish, Angry Hermit, Sui Black, Squirrel Opposition. Fun times). Locally at first, then PTQ's and GPT's. I travelled to the odd GP, but I never actually qualified for anything, except a couple Nationals.
I discovered EDH, which has been the format of choice for the last couple of years now. The rest of my collection started gathering dust and I decided to build a cube, giving me a fun way to keep playing with a wide variety of my cards without the need to build decks. Unpowered, with rares, at first. Until I decided I could use the money selling all my Legacy staples would give me, figuring that it was not worth it to keep everything when I would seldom play with them or draft the cube. The obvious choice was a peasant cube.
When I started to build the cube, I used Klug's as a starting point, just to get a feeling of which kind of cards I should be looking for. Luckily I had most of them and I filled it up with cards I had lying around. I've been tuning it ever since.
At first, I wanted this cube to include all the cards from Magic's past that I enjoyed, but didn't have a home anywhere anymore. Some pet cards where put in. Slowly, I've been cutting these because I care more about a healthy draft environment and less about the cube being a random collection of cards. I want to enjoy the archetypes I liked playing all that time.
My cube is a heavily archetype-driven cube with a lot of smaller and larger synergies built in.
While most archetype cubes have lowered the power level or speed of the format to include archetypes, I've tried (successfully, in my opinion) to keep the power level and speed as high as possible. I think I run more (aggressive) 1-drops than most cubes, my removal is generally very efficient and you'll still see high power cards like Skullclamp, Loxodon Warhammer, Propaganda, Maze of Ith.
Rough guidelines:
- I'm aiming to have mostly 2-color (or mono-color) decks. I don't mind 3 color decks, but I'm not specifically supporting them and don't want them to be too easy.
- Every color should be able to play at any speed: aggro, midrange, control. In practice, some colors are better than others in certain roles and play support in other roles, but I try to stay away from 'red is the aggro color and blue is the control color'-type stuff.
- Every 2-color (guild) combination should have at least 2 specific archetypes that it supports, outside of the general speeds of aggro/midrange/control. Some of the guilds have overlapping archetypes internally. For example, Golgari's archetypes are graveyard based, but one is more value/recursion based with Spider Spawning as headliner, while the other is a more bursty threshold/delve-type build.
- Guild cards should be good enough to pull someone into the colors, but:
- Guild cards should mostly support a specific archetype. I removed most of the general good stuff cards in guilds, unless I think it's something the guild needs (Ribbons of Night, Wall of Denial for UB and UW control, respectively), or the card is so good that it pulls a player into the color regardless of archetype (Bloodbraid Elf goes into basically every Gruul deck).
- Archetypes overlap in different color combinations as much as possible. Most archetypes have at least a wedge/shard that supports it, with each specific 2-color combination giving a slightly different deck. Example: 'Enchantment matters' in WGU with UW being more pillowfort-y, GW being double strikers+auras and GU unblockables+auras. (Black's also in the mix, btw). Example 2: White's token strategy plays well with black (sacrifice), red (swarm aggro) and green (midrange tokens). The non-white parts to those decks also play well together, for example in BR sacrifice. Not every archetype does this equally well though, and some archetypes (spells matter comes to mind) can look more or less the same between drafts.
And to finish it off:
- I want people to have a good time.
- There should be no 'best deck'. Sure, some decks are generally a bit better than others and some specific matchups can a little lopsided, but in general everything should have a chance. I don't want people to stay away from certain color combinations or archetypes because they're just not that good against most decks.
Sol Ring: Duh. WAY too good.
Themes: Aggro creatures, tokens, blink
Themes: Carddraw/filtering, bounce, tempo
Themes: Sacrifice, reanimation
Themes: Aggro creatures, burn, sacrifice
Themes: Ramp, tokens
Themes: Blink, UW Flyers, UW Control
Themes: Control, reanimate
Themes: hyper-aggressive, sacrifice, removal.dec
Themes: Midrange or small aggro
Themes: Aggro, ramp, tokens
Themes: Sacrifice, tokens, bleeder
Themes: Graveyard, sacrifice
Themes: Ramp, tempo
Themes: Spells, counter-burn, tempo
Themes: Hyper aggressive beatdown, tokens
These are the archetypes I set out to support:
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Archetype: +1/+1 Counters
Speed: Aggro, midrange
Color(s): White, red, green
Anchors: Elite Scaleguard, Abzan Falconer, Abzan Battle PriestRelief Captain, Curse of Predation, Bramblewood Paragon, Durable Handicraft, Armorcraft JudgeCytoplast Root-Kin, Bramblewood Paragon, Rage Forger, Volt Charge, Tezzeret's Gambit.
Description:
The +1/+1 counter archetype is a creature-based aggro/midrange deck (depending on the exact color combination), that wants to play a lot of creatures with inherent +1/+1 counters on them and then give team-wide bonuses for a potentially big advantage.
Selesnya (midrange) - Of the three guilds that do +1/+1 counters, Selesnya is the slowest version. Size of the creatures is generally a little bigger and let this version play a real midrange game. Cards like Cenn's Tactician and Abzan Battle Priest are better in Selesnya than in other versions. This version is also the most likely to be able to use Durable Handicraft or the proliferate on Contagion Clasp.
Boros (aggro) - This version is the most aggressive. A good number of red low drops have +1/+1 counters. White helps the red part of the deck to keep pushing through damage by either pumping up the low drops to be able to keep up with potential midrange opponents, or with cards like Abzan Falconer or Elite Scaleguard.
Gruul (aggro) - Gruul falls a little in between, speed-wise. It has the same fast start potential as the Boros version, but goes a little bigger as well. This results in a deck that forces through its creatures based on pure strength. The 'lords' either just make guys bigger (Cytoplast Root-Kin, Volt Charge), give trample (Bramblewood Paragon or just deal damage (Rage Forger).
Crossover potential:
Pants/double strikers - (both in W/R or W/G) Double strikers and/or small evasive creatures are great to put +1/+1 counters on.
Warrior Tribal - With Bramblewood Paragon as crossover card, and both red and green filled with quality warriors (a lot of which already go into the +1/+1 counter deck) it's very likely Gruul +1/+1 counter decks have a Warrior component, or vice versa.
I would be very grateful if anyone would take a look at my cube and give me some feedback!
My Cubes:
Peasant Travel Cube on CubeCobra (180 cards, modern frames) (mtgsalvation thread can be found here)
I had a blog for a while @ peasant-cube.blogspot.com where I may or may not post again, lol
Anyways, keep us posted on your drafts and discoveries and the like.
First impression, after just skimming your list, it looks pretty good. I'll come back later!
My Peasant Cube thread !!! (380 cards)
Draft my Peasant Cube on Cube Cobra !!!
I wish cubetutor had an option to compare cubes. Standouts from a quick glance:
Wall of Denial has been a force in my experience, absolutely the strongest Azorius card in my cube.
I prefer Infest over Hideous Laughter, but certainly a case can be made for instant speed.
Skinrender probably deserves a spot. I like him over your non-Shriekmaw 5-6 drops, unless you don't like the way he fits into your archetypes.
If you ever stop supporting G/x ramp so hard (ahh, so many walls!), I think Darkthicket Wolf and Wild Mongrel need serious consideration. I'd even say one of those fits better than Strangleroot Geist with what you're trying to do.
Cards in your list I'm not a fan of:
Cloudfin Raptor
Seal of Removal
Dissipate
Dominate
Dauthi Slayer
Erg Raiders
Mogg Flunkies
Keldon Vandals
Jungle Lion
Jelenn Sphinx
Kiss of the Amesha
Urban Evolution
Isochron Scepter
peasantcube.blogspot.com
Also, this is the first Magic forum/community where people actually suggest cuts/cards they DON'T like instead of just saying 'you should add this and this'. I love it! It's so much more usefull!
Boros Elite: Still in testing. It looks awesome on paper, but I have yet to play with it.
Ivory Giant: I loved this guy in TSP block draft and it's a fun card to put in white weenie. It's one of the first cards to get cut when I need someting to go.
Resurrection: This is mostly in over the other (better) options you mention, because it's Beta.
Erg Raiders: Just cut it, see below.
Chainer's Edict: Agreed. It's in the cube for now as part of a small graveyard package to try and enable some sort of BUG dredge/looter/Spider Spawning deck, while also acting as decent removal. If that package doesn't work out, I'll cut it. I do, however, like to have some narrow removal to not make removal too good. I'm still going to get myself a Go for the Throat, just in case.
Terminate: Agreed as well. I have to get myself a Bituminous Blast!
Wall of Denial: Ah, I knew there was another card I cut because it was somewhat oppressing aggro decks. I put Plumeveil in it's place for now. It might come back in though, the card is great. What's you experience with Wall in regards to stifling aggro?
Infest over Hideous Laughter: Actually, I had Evincar's Justice in this spot and chose Laughter over it after discovering it's an instant. Infest might be better though. I'll think on it.
Skinrender: In! See below.
All the green walls: Hah, you're right! Overgrown Battlement is coming out the next time I need a spot (probably for one of the cards you mention). I did cut some of the ramp already though, see below!
Strangleroot Geist: The Geist is in because I really like the BG sacrifice deck as an additional option to the BR one. Strangleroot, Dreg Mangler, Korozda Guildmage, Young Wolf al enable this. I'm keeping this for now.
Scorched Rusalka: The couple of times I had it, it's been great. The effect is really good, and it's a one drop! I do also have Goblin Bombardment, so maybe it's a bit too much. I'll keep testing this and keep you guys posted.
- Smite: see below
- Cloudfin Raptor: Interesting. Do you like Delver better? I'm quite a fan of the raptor.
- Seal of Removal: I love me some cheap bounce, maybe more so than is good for me. This might come out when I can get over the nostalgic value.
- Dissipate: Agreed, this hasn't been too hot. I'm watching it.
- Dominate: Really? I luuuuuurve Dominate. It's so much more fun than another Control Magic and a nice trick. It's hella expensive though, so maybe you're right..
- Dauthi Slayer: Mostly sentimental value on this one as well. Same as the Soltaris.. the cost is harsh, but I like the card a fair amount.
- Erg Raiders: yup, see below
- Mogg Flunkies: Sentimental value as well, but also quite a big hitter. I like them.
- Keldon Vandals: I keep going back and forth on them. Artifact removal is quite nice, but maybe I don't need Keldon Vandals.. How many artifact removal do you guys run in red?
- Jungle Lion: yeah... the card actually sucks balls. But it's sooo pretty. I'm sure this will come out in the future, after I try to cram in Señor Stompy and discover it doesn't work ;).
- Jelenn Sphinx: Still testing this one. I figures it would be a nice crossover card between UW control and Wx tokens. Watching it.
- Kiss of the Amesha: This is a card I really love. But... I added Feudkiller's Verdict today (see below) and I'm not sure if 2 of those is healthy for the format. Watching it.
- Urban Evolution: I love this as well. I think it's an interesting card, but there's only one archetype it's really good in: UG Ramp. Since I removed some ramp (see below), I'll keep this in for now.
- Isochron Scepter: Agreed. The card is hit or miss, mostly miss. I think I'll cut it. Watching it for now and see how it does in the Guttersnipe deck.
------
Allright, I made some changes and cuts today. However, Cubetutor had a minor bug today causing me to add all the cards 10 times and not posting it on the blog. So here's what I changed:
(In > Out)
Guttersnipe > Reckless Waif
Didn't like Reckless Waif too much. I have a lot of red 1 drops and needed some 3's for the aggro curve. Plus, Guttersnipe enables a whole archetype in itself.
Brimstone Volley > Fireblast
With pain in my heart I cut one of my favorite cards ever in Magic. Fireblast is just sooo narrow. Brimstone Volley is probably a better finisher anyway (deals more damage) and is a lot more versatile. Please, someone convince me Fireblast need to be in the cube!
Shower of Coals > Teetering Peaks
I kinda like Teetering Peaks, but since red already has a utility land I chose the more versatile spell. Also, with Shower of Coals there's more possibility to draft a Red/X control deck (which is also the reason I cut Peaks and not Ghitu Encampment).
Pillage > Manic Vandals
Pillage used to be part of a R/B landdestruction package. I have since cut the rest. I'm not sure if red needs the incidental landdestruction and Manic Vandal is easier to cast in 2 color decks, as well as being a 3-drop creature to attack with.
Sentinel Spider > Borderland Ranger
As stated above, I cut down on some of the ramp. Also, Borderland Ranger has an identical brother in Civic Wayfinder. Easy cut to put in the more interesting/better card.
Pelakka Wurm > Wolfir Silverheart
I don't know what it is, but I just don't like Wolfir Silverheart. It's probably wrong to cut it, but Pelakka Wurm needed to come in anyway.
Regrowth > Cultivate
Again, duplicate effect... cutting down on ramp... bla bla. Regrowth is insane.
Doomed Traveler > Bathe in Light
Traveler plays along with the plethora of sac-effects in the cube. Something had to come out. What do you guys think about cutting Bathe in Light?
Feudkiller's Verdict > Smite
Smite was too cute. Like I said above, I like narrow removal more than most and I like the fact that not every deck will be able to pick this. Still, if a control card was weak enough to cut, Smite is it.
Skinrender > Enslave
I only just acquired one and it's coming in on the double! Enslave is a more interesting card for sure, but somehow I don't like it. It's expensive and I like this effect to be in blue. What is the consensus on Enslave?
Carrion Feeder > Erg Raiders
Feeder is one of my favorite cards in Magic, because it combines two of my favorite archetypes: black aggro and sacrifice shenanigans. I felt like another aggro creature had to give and, sadly, Erg Raiders (although the Arabian Nights version looks totally sweet) had to go. It might come back in, but it's just worse than the other options..
Jetting Glasskite > Delver of Secrets
Delver didn't work out like I wanted, so I decided to give blue another control tool.
Epochrasite > Elixir of Immortality
I have never picked or played Elixir, nor seen it picked or played. Easy cut.
Also, I removed:
- Etched Oracle (was a bit meh)
- Act of Treason (turn out to be more of a red card than I thought, but I'm not ready to actually cut a red card for it)
- Mortify (I had an Orzhov card too many and both Black and White have enough removal as is)
My Cubes:
Peasant Travel Cube on CubeCobra (180 cards, modern frames) (mtgsalvation thread can be found here)
I had a blog for a while @ peasant-cube.blogspot.com where I may or may not post again, lol
If you don't want to support aggro in blue or green, I could see cutting those 1-drops, but I think every color pair can go aggressive/tempo with the right support these days.
Well, in my five plays, Wall of Denial has 3 wins, 1 hatedraft, and one pack 3 with nobody in WU. It's on the shortlist of cards I'm considering banning. (Grafted Wargear.)
There are certainly times when Wall of Denial drops, eats a Fleshbag Marauder, and aggro rolls. But more often (so far), aggro just doesn't have an answer and can't get to 20. I haven't banned it yet because I still have a small sample size, and I believe you can still attack through it fast enough with a top-tier aggro list.
I do like delver a lot more than cloudfin raptor.
I would rather play stuff like boomerang, vapor snag, silent departure, etc. than seal of removal. It isn't horrible though.
Dissipate is just going to be cancel a large % of the time
My problem with Dominate is just that it is expensive and if you want an expensive control magic might as well play confiscate/volition reins.
Dauthi costs BB, thats why I don't like it.
I hate cards like Mogg Flunkies/Ember Beast - they basically let your opponent's doomblades become 2-for-1s
I just don't like the 1 toughness and echo, would rather play a manic vandals or hearth kami or something.
I just think Kiss is pretty expensive for a non-board impacting card and it doesn't do a ton for its cost.
I hate urban evolution and consider it uncubeable but I'm probably in the minority.
When it hits it is awesome but sometimes (most times) scepter gets opened in p2/p3 and nobody can really play it.
peasantcube.blogspot.com
I also confused Kiss of the Amesha with Offering to Asha. I think the former is just okay but not terrible.
A couple that I would like to see added, just based on my experience!:
Baleful Strix
Shardless Agent
Wall of Tanglecord
Master Splicer
Basilica Screecher
Perhaps some of the "can't block" effects in red: Goblin Shortcutter and Fervent Cathar.
Sylvan Ranger
My Peasant Cube thread !!! (380 cards)
Draft my Peasant Cube on Cube Cobra !!!
Cloudfin Raptor: Probably my favorite of the blue 1 drops that attack. Maybe. I would prefer if your blue section had more aggression in it to make it better though (Aether adept, Pestermite, Tandem Lookout, etc)
Delver of secrets: I absolutely do not like this card more than the raptor. Even in a deck with 7 or 8 instants and sorceries, you can still be sitting there for 4 or 5 turns waiting for him to contribute. Ok, a "pretty much" 3/2 haste flier for 0 mana on turn 4 isn't bad. But if your deck is any shallower in instants and sorceries, this card isn't flipping. If you're unlucky, it could be turn 7 by the time this guy flips. Far too spotty for my taste.
Jelenn Sphinx: Has been totally great for me. Doesn't even need to be in tokens. It just turns your seraph of dawn and man-o-war into beasts.
Goblin shortcutter: Vastly prefer the 1 mana options, frenzied goblin and intimidator initiate, more.
Dominate: Costs 5UU to start taking game-changing cards not named Vampire nighthawk. On the bright side, most cubes are slower when they're new and pick up steam over time so this card is probably good for you now. Eventually, I don't think that's likely to keep up.
Jungle lion: Card is ok but I don't run it. Green decks that want such a whack creature are rare for me.
Shower of coals: Not disagreeing with anything other than the fact that you posted your cube without first getting a shower of coals. That's like asking for an opinion of your wardrobe without first getting pants.
---
If there was one card I noticed right away that you're missing it's Talrand's invocation. Card is nutso.
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
@Fireblast: well, that's certainly true and I really love to have the card. Suppose I would add it in again, what would you cut for it?
@Boros: I'm convinced. It's officially one of the first cards to leave in white. Maybe I'll put Bathe in Light back in, or try out Embolden. Thanks!
Exactly my experience. Let me know how it fares!
@Delver/Cloudfin: Why do you like Delver better? In my experience Cloudfin grows more consistently and larger than Delver. Most of the time there are too few spells in my deck to flip Delver a good percentage of the time.
@Dominate: Like Whydirt said, the fact that Dominate is an instant and can't be destroyed is huge. Also, I don't mind that it's not able to just steal everything all the time. I have Control Magic and Mind Control as 'steal this, period' and I like that Ray of Command and Dominate have a slightly different application.
@Flunkies: So far it hasn't come up, but your point is solid. I'm guessing Flunkies will not stay in the cube forever.
@Keldon Vandal: I added Manic Vandal for Pillage, I think I can remove a three drop now and add Torch Fiend. Looks a lot better. Echo is nasty.
@Scepter: Yeah.. I'll cut it. I think I'll add Ulamog's Crusher back in.
Oh, and you've convinced me about Dissipate, I'll remove that as well.
- Baleful Strix: Love to, but it's too expensive (moneywise)
- Shardless Agent: See Baleful Strix
- Wall of Tanglecord: Good call, I'll try to find one
- Master Splicer: For some reason, the Splicers don't appeal to me. Are all of them good? Or just this one?
- Basilica Screecher: Great card, it'll go on the shortlist!
- Goblin Shortcutter: See below
- Fervent Cathart: Shortlisted
- Sylvan Ranger: I think I have enough ramp/fix in green for now.
@ Aggression in blue: How much more aggressive cards would you add? I have no experience with both Pestermite and Tandem Lookout in cube, how good are they? Aether Adept would be the 4th ETB bouncer, I'd rather add one of the other two, I think.
@ Jelenn Sphinx: I'll keep on testing it, this gives me the confidence to do so.
@ Goblin shortcutter&co: Frenzied Goblin is already in and amazing. Intimidator Initiate looks amazing actually. How do you like Fervent Cathar?
@ Dominate: You're probably right. The fact that it's instant speed means it's used more as a trick than a straight Control Magic, so you don't really need to take gamechanging cards with it as long as you do so at a gamechanging time (like in combat for example).
@ Shower of coals: Luckily my pants came in the mail *just* after I finished typing up the opening post then. Haha. I guess I should have mentioned in the opening post that I was bringing in some pretty obvious cards...
@ Talrand's Invocation: To make up for the little pants-accident, Talrand's Invocation was actually already in the cube
---
I'm going to add a wishlist and watchlist section to the opening post.
Edit: I should probably mention that Nivix Cyclops will become a Gelectrode when I get my hands on one.
My Cubes:
Peasant Travel Cube on CubeCobra (180 cards, modern frames) (mtgsalvation thread can be found here)
I had a blog for a while @ peasant-cube.blogspot.com where I may or may not post again, lol
My Peasant Cube thread !!! (380 cards)
Draft my Peasant Cube on Cube Cobra !!!
Master
Winged
Vital
Maul
Sensor
Master and Winged are likely staples at any size of cube. The green ones are fine, but probably most suited to midsized or larger cubes. Sensor is probably not good enough at any size.
Anyways, I agree with WhyDirt that Master and Wing are staples. I like Vital Splicer a lot too.
My Peasant Cube thread !!! (380 cards)
Draft my Peasant Cube on Cube Cobra !!!
Raptor vs Delver - My Ux aggro decks rarely have more than 2 creatures in play so raptor was pretty much always a 1/2 or 2/3, and they play a lot of spells so delver flipped/flips a lot.
Dominate - the mana cost matters more to me than the instant/can't be destroyed.
Flunkies - it depends on the environment really
Vandal - yeah I really dislike the echo/1 toughness/lack of haste, I much prefer the other 3mana sorceries/manic vandal/2/1s for 1R that sac
Scepter - crusher is awesome
Baleful Strix - proxy it till you can buy one, I have proxied cards worth $100+ till I could afford it, I don't get the aversion to proxies people have. I currently have cards proxied that I'll end up spending $200+ and $1 on. Play the cards you want to!
Shardless Agent - see baleful strix
Master Splice - I also am not a huge fan of the splicers
Pestermite - is awesome, I play it in control decks too
Aether Adept - these cards are all awesome, play them
peasantcube.blogspot.com
I think ulamog's crusher is not worth it.
I feel like it sits on the sidelines too often.
As for the 3 3 drops I mentioned, I like them all. Tandem lookout is my favorite but aether adept may be stronger on average. Pestermite is the most flexible.
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
+ Stab Wound, -Chainer's Edict
+ Basilica Screecher, - Dauthi Slayer
+ Basilica Guards, - Boros Elite
Chainer's Edict was best in aggressive decks, in which Stab Wound is probably better anyway. Plus, so far the dredge/Spider Spawning deck hasn't been too hot, so the flashback part was not needed anyway.
Screecher needed to come in and Dauthi Slayer was the worst 2 drop (BB cost is harsh for an aggro deck). I'm a bit sad because it seems all the fun older cards are getting cut, but oh well.
After your feedback I decided to cut Elite. Guards is more defensive, but because of Extort can still go into an aggro-ish deck. Guards is a fun card for the UW flyer deck as well to stall the ground.
I also brought back Flickerwisp and Glimmerpoint Stag.
+ Flickerwisp, - Ivory Giant
+ Glimmerpoint Stag, - Guardian of the Guildpact
Ivory Giant was too narrow, so that's an easy cut there. The other cut was more difficult. I don't want too many 4 drops in white. The 3 candidates for getting cut where Goldnight Commander , Guardian of the Guildpact, Seraph of Dawn. Commander is the worst of the bunch, imo, but I like how he enables W/x tokens and I want to test him some more. Guardian and Seraph are both generically very good, but for some reason I'm never actively looking to draft Guardian. And since Seraph goes a little better in the bleeder archetype I just added, I tried this. *ducking for incoming flak*
Also:
+ Wall of Tanglechord, - Isochron Scepter
Scepter didn't work out, Wall is great.
---
That's... something I hadn't considered (weirdly). I might add Master and Winged if I can find the room. This is getting HARD. Why did I want to have a smallish cube again?
- Delver/Raptor: I WANT to like Delver, but i found it to be so inconsistent.. Also, I really like Raptor in the UW and UG tempo decks.
- Dominate: I'm getting more and more ready to cut it..
- Flunkies: same. I think I'll go ahead and find a Stormblood Berserker
- Vandal: cut it for Torch Fiend. Thanks!
- Scepter: see above, Crusher is still in the 'maybe' pile for now.
- 'Mite/Adept: Looking for room as we speak, going on wishlist
Tandem Lookout goes on the wishlist as well. Card looks great in the UW flyer archetype as well.. Probably adding Adept and/or Pestermite first, though.
My Cubes:
Peasant Travel Cube on CubeCobra (180 cards, modern frames) (mtgsalvation thread can be found here)
I had a blog for a while @ peasant-cube.blogspot.com where I may or may not post again, lol
Love it.
I'd rather have Guardian than the Stag. Supporting blink is cool and all, but I don't think it's worth giving up the most obnoxious combatant ever.
Because otherwise you end up with a cube like mine, where getting people to draft aggro is like pulling teeth.
On the plus side, I can get Act of Treason to table like every time.
My Type 4 stack (Cube Tutor link)
Hmm. What about cutting Seraph of Dawn? Or do I just cut a 2 drop? (I'm afraid the Soltari bros are getting the axe soon anyway..)
My Cubes:
Peasant Travel Cube on CubeCobra (180 cards, modern frames) (mtgsalvation thread can be found here)
I had a blog for a while @ peasant-cube.blogspot.com where I may or may not post again, lol
That's probably fine. They're very similar.
What is it about the Soltari Bros that you dislike?
My Type 4 stack (Cube Tutor link)
The WW part. I don't actually dislike them, I love them (I played T2 with them, so nostalgic value is pretty high) but cuts are getting REALLY hard right now and they are narrower than most cards I have in white. They are great beaters, but often I'd rather have Mistral Charger because it's easier to cast. Maybe I should just cut Loyal Cathar instead and give the finger to the more synergistic card, but that goes against the way my cube has been shaping up so far. What do you think?
My Cubes:
Peasant Travel Cube on CubeCobra (180 cards, modern frames) (mtgsalvation thread can be found here)
I had a blog for a while @ peasant-cube.blogspot.com where I may or may not post again, lol
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
Latch seeker is the only 3 power, truly unblockable card in the whole cube. AND IT BLOCKS. Card is outstanding.
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
i like enchantress for flavor, but agree that forcemage is probably a stronger include. i really dislike spriggan.
btw, where is your leafcrown dryad? with an enchantment themed cube it seems like a no-brainer