I know everyone is pretty bored with Cube Draft discussion, but honestly I've got nothing else Magic-related going on lately. Like CBG, I am kind of burned out with the whole 4 set per year thing. I am very glad I did not buy more than a box of Eventide, as it turned out to be shit. I think the move to multiformat Pro Tours is really good for Magic, but otherwise all that other policy change crap going on lately is really boring to me. But I am really pushing to have the next iteration of the Cube complete by Shards of Alara previews, so I will write this last post about it.
We had a great weekend for Cube Drafts, with GU hosting an 8 person Draft on Friday and a 12 person on Saturday. I was at first leery of store-based Cube drafts because so many of the people playing haven't contributed cards, and it was easier for all those pimped out cards to walk out the door surreptitiously. But I was wrong. People seem to genuinely enjoy the format, and every card is still accounted for after about a half dozen of these store based drafts. Not bad, considering how easy it is to even just misplace cards when they're scattered all over the store. There is a lot of love for this format. We also have more data to come to some conclusions about the soon-to-occur changes to the Cube.
COLOR FIXING
The Captain and I spoke about cutting the color-fixing in the Cube by one ten-card cycle, since three color decks and beyond are eminently achievable. But the response that I got when I asked people about the fixing was that they really like the flexibility. I seemed to be the only one who actually thought of it as a problem. This may be because I am trying to squeeze other good things in the Cube as well, so I am always looking for cuts. But maybe we can leave the color fixing as is for now. Major_Luck likes the idea of cutting the Ravnica shock lands for the five fetch lands. The fetches are probably more powerful (especially with ten original duals floating around) and they would free up five slots that could still be used to expand, oh I don't now, say the five enemy color combinations featured in Eventide? Clever, eh? The issue is far from settled however.
RECURSION
I deliberately forced a reanimator deck on Friday night. I can attest to its raw power. I played terribly and somehow still managed to make it to the finals, against Fugie, of all people. He got there with a three (or was it four?) color control deck, which also gives us some data about the format, even taking into account Fugie's notoriously rainbow-flavored deck building predilections. I think that we can safely pare back some of the reanimation, and even add a little graveyard hate, with no real damage to the archetype. Trust me, when a guy like me can mill 30 cards of his deck into the graveyard by turn six, and then win before decking himself, the archetype is too strong. I am no combo player.
MULTICOLOR
More multicolor cards should arrive with Eventide. That is really all there is to say about this change. Hybrid versus gold cards are not as important an issue as I first thought. As The Captain pointed out, in a pool of 540 cards, whether or not two of the cards can be played only in U/W decks vs. U and W decks just isn't significant.
AGGRO
Control is really quite juiced since our move to 540. Everyone is in agreement on this. Our cuts and adds should leave a more balanced picture than before.
CREATURES
Although our current configuration has a reasonable creature/spell mix (about 50% overall), the ratio of creatures to spells should be increased, if only slightly. It seems very difficult to draft enough creatures. Most of my recent decks have sported only 12 or so dudes. This is probably a function of how amazing controlling strategies are (why play 18 dudes when you can just counterspell/kill/bounce/sweep the board instead?) but it warrants a mention.
CUTS
You know it has to happen. We have to get rid of some cards to make room for other juicy stuff. I haven't thought huge amounts about this, but these are cards I would consider. I am skewing toward working toward the goals above, in case it isn't obvious. Let me know your own ideas as well, if you have any. I don't think the below links will work and am too lazy to change them.
Aegis of Honor
Divine Offering
Enduring Renewal
Kataki, War's Wage
Pariah
Cho-Manno, Revolutionary
Prison Term
Rule of Law
Braingeyser
Collective Restraint
Cunning Wish
Evacuation
Hydroblast
Propaganda
Threads of Disloyalty
Darkblast
Corpse Dance
Korlash, Heir to Blackblade
Night of Souls' Betrayal
Nihilith
Priest of Gix
Rend Flesh
Living Death
Diabolic Servitude
Demonfire
Flamebreak
Ghostfire
Lava Hounds
Mana Flare
Pyroblast
Seal of Fire
Shock or Tarfire or Sudden Shock, just one of them.
Shard Phoenix
Basking Rootwalla
Carven Caryatid
Defense of the Heart
Mirri, Cat Warrior
Fyndhorn Elves
Spawnwrithe
Spidersilk Armor
Survival of the Fittest
Tower Above
Vinelasher Kudzu
Desolation Giant
Fiery Justice
Firemane Angel
Grave-Shell Scarab
Lightning Angel
Memory Plunder
Nath of the Gilt-Leaf
Silkbind Faerie
Void
Vulturous Zombie
Icy Manipulator
Lotus Petal
Serrated Arrows
Volrath's Stronghold
Wasteland
Terramorphic Expanse Probably just to add City of Brass
Tolarian Academy
Maybe the Rav duals
I was going to have a new mix today, but I have no web host any more. I don't know what happened to all the data I uploaded, but the whole beatspro site appears to have vanished. That's what I get for expecting free online hosting for 1000 megs of files. I am looking at other options.
As usual, sorry for the length.
T
2 comments:
I have 10 GB of storage and 400 GB of transfer if you want to post them with me. Let me know and I can set you up an account.
--CBG
I believe I've said it before. I am not a fan of cutting inherently powerful cards from the cube. The cards I would vote for keeping are:
Living Death
Diabolic Servetuide
Corpse Dance
Demonfire
Survival of the Fittest
Icy Manipulator
I agree the reanimator deck is very strong. But I don't think it is to powerful to nuter from the cube. I think a more sutible way to fix it is simply adding a few more utility cards into the cube. Cards like Weathered Wretch or Crypt Keeper.
At the same time I am a big fan of adding more powerful cards to the cube and letting it balance itself out that way also.
Aggro needs to get better. Part of this might simply be able to be solved by adjusting the ratio of creatures/spells in the cube. I would lean more towards a 55%-60% creature cube.
Finally. I would be really weary of cutting 60 cards from the cube all at the same time. It could potentially represent a major shift in the cube. I would recommend changing out 1-5 cards on an every other week basis. That way observations can be made and see if something is getting way to out of control.
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