The Fugitive Wizard: July 2010

(Deep) Analysis:
First- we increased the size of the Cube to 720 (a 16 person draft) last update, but I have dragged my feet on updating the list, so if you're seeing this online and are surprised at the difference in size between this and the last update, that's why.
I did these changes autocratically, so if anyone in the playgroup wants to give input regarding these changes feel free. These changes are not written in stone.

NEW MULTICOLOR POLICY:
From this point forward any card with more than one colored mana symbol anywhere in the card frame will be considered multicolored. There are two exceptions- otherwise colorless cards which have colored activation costs or mono-colored cards with colored mana producing abilities. This should really make sorting the Cube more easy.

Example I: Ancient Grudge and Ribbons of Night will no longer be Red and Black cards, respectively. They will be multicolor like Court Hussar and Plaxmanta.
Example II: Cliffrunner Behemoth and Sejiri Merfolk will remain Green and Blue, respectively since although they interact with different colored permanents and lands, respectively, they don't actually contain more than a one type of colored mana symbol in the card frame.
Example III: Obelisk of Alara is still considered colorless despite having multiple colored activation costs.
Example IV: Noble Hierarch and Izzet Signet are considered Green and colorless respectively despite having multi-colored mana producing abilities.

One other benefit was that it allowed me to cut multicolor more deeply without actually giving up that many multicolored slots. I only reduced the number of multicolored cards by five, but I decreased the total number of cards with multiple mana symbols within the card frame by thirteen. I evened up the number of cards in each two color combination as well- eight now. I don't think it matters to the draft experience, but I do think it will matter if a multicolor card goes missing. Finally I actually (slightly) increased the number of tri-colored spells. I want people to be able to draft multicolor as a strategy and be rewarded, but I don't want it to be correct to splash for a third color as a matter of course. Hopefully this enables aggro a little more but also allows hardcore multicolor players to play the most powerful spells without any difficulty. One last thing: I changed the format of displaying mulitcolor to conform with the two-color "guild" model and then tri-colored spells. This is the only way I ever divide them anyway, and if a card is missing it will be much easier to isolate now.

COLORED CARDS:
Blue is Blue- always very strong, with a small variance between the weakest and strongest cards. Green is in a great place as well, with a very narrow power band. These are the most consistent colors and it shows in the difficult cuts I had to make. White is next best off, still a very consistent color right now as well. I took out Hallowed Burial to ease back the mass removal and enable aggro. I would have liked to have cut two board sweepers in White, but the next "worst" White sweepers are probably Planar Cleansing or Rout and I didn't have the heart to cut either. I added some combat tricks to help out decks with lots of creatures to keep alive, hopefully aggro decks. Red and Black are still in rough shape in my opinion. Both have relatively wide power bands that make drafting them as a main color risky. I removed bigger dudes and spells from Red in favor of some cheaper spot removal. No one was playing seven mana dragons anyway. Black- well what can I say about Black? We didn't get a lot of strong additions from Rise to help replace the dreck. At least we are rid of two cards that never saw play. I wanted to remove a Black sweeper like Mutilate, but I couldn't justify leaving in a card like Dead Reckoning to cut a great card like Mutilate, not at this time. M11 should be kinder to us.

ARTIFACTS/COLORLESS:
I only added two Eldrazi spells, Artisan of Kozilek and Eldrazi Conscription. I thought they might be worth the high cost for those effects. I don't know if this was correct. I could also see adding none at all or some of the big Eldrazi like Kozilek or Emrakul. Let me know what you think.

LAND
No changes. But I am hearing what people are saying about dialing back the fixing. If multicolor is still out of control, I think we can cut either the Karoos (probably the best choice) or the Worldwake manlands when we add M11. Be thinking of good lands to replace them with. I would like to see more cards like Kor Haven and Oran-Reif the Vastwood; powerful mono-colored effects. The last option is to cut the signets but I think they're more vulnerable than lands and thus more interesting to play with and against. Let's see how the changes I've made now play out though, first.

Finally: If anyone has a copy of Nirkana Revenant for trade or sale, let me know. I thought I had one, but must have traded it. I have all the other adds.

Here are the most recent changes:

White
In
Oust
Emerge Unscathed
Transcendent Master
Wall of Omens
Student of Warfare
Gideon Jura
Linvala, Keeper of Silence

Out
Planar Cleansing
Jotun Grunt
Stormfront Riders

Blue
In
Coralhelm Commander
Sphinx of Magosi
Lighthouse Chronologist
Sea Gate Oracle
Enclave Cryptologist
Regress

Out
Guile
Illusionary Servant
Mindbreak Trap
Permafrost Trap
Sejiri Merfolk

Black
In
Guul Draz Assassin
Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief
Nirkana Revenant
Consuming Vapors

Out
Bloodchief Ascension
Dead Reckoning

Red
In
Staggershock
Kargan Dragonlord
Lord of Shatterskull Pass
Devastating Summons
Traitorous Instinct
Forked Bolt
Flame Slash

Out
Lavaball Trap
Ricochet Trap
Shivan Hellkite
Devastating Dreams

Green
In
Vengevine
Joraga Treespeaker
Pelakka Wurm
Awakening Zone

Out
Cliffrunner Behemoth
Moldervine Cloak
Tower Above

Multicolor
In
Sarkhan the Mad
Doran, the Siege Tower

Out
Deathbringer Thoctar
Mirari's Wake
Wort, Boggart Auntie
Lim-Dul's Vault
Wrexial, the Risen Deep
Stun Sniper
Intimidation Bolt
Blitz Hellion
Spellbreaker Behemoth
Vithian Renegades
Azorious Herald
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
Lorescale Coatl

Artifact/Colorless
In
Artisan of Kozilek
Eldrazi Conscription

Out
Karn, Silver Golem
Sigil of Disctinction

The Fugitive Wizard

Monday, July 5, 2010

TooSarcastic's Cube Draft List v5.0 (through Rise of the Eldrazi)