Alpha Remastered: Alpha, Beta, Arabian, Mirage
(510 Card Cube)
Blog Posts (20+)
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In:

  • Nether Shadow: Comboes easier with Lord of the Pit in the same color.
  • Blaze of Glory: Y'know I'm still not a fan but white's well is pretty dry.
  • Siren's Call: One of my pet cards, glad to have it back.
  • Lure: Although the flying Cockatrice is not a fantastic combo, green has the power to make good use of this card. Might change out Cockatrice for Basilisk or just add the latter in a later edit.
  • Firebreathing: Nice little aggressive card than can help red close the distance or trade off for something bigger. Not exactly fireworks going off for ol' Breezy, but it's something.
  • Magical Hack: Works positively with Karma, Tribal lords, Land Animators (Bell, Living Lands), Island Sanctuary, Islandhome creatures (Dandân, Serpent)
  • Karma: More deliberate win con in matchups that demand a different threat than creatures. Niche enough to consistently draft with Magical Hack.
  • Blaze of Glory: As a roundabout way to get key creatures out of the way, this was alright. The amount of mind saltos you have to do to even go down in cards just isn't worth it.
  • Siren's Call: I love this card, so it pains me to cut it. Doesn't really fill any specific niche and is a one-shot Imp... Might come back later on.

I refer back to my previous post for the logic behind these adds/removals.

  • Sleight of Mind: Enables more creative uses of CoP's, White Knights, Repentant Blacksmiths and Northern Paladins.
  • Clockwork Beast: Answer to color hosers.
  • The Hive: Late game answer to color hosers. Also enables Lord of the Pit to do it's thing.
  • Pirate Ship: Too clunky in the face of more straightforward options such as Prodigal Sorc & Staff.
  • Ebony Horse: The idea of this card is interesting, though this cube rarely provides the correct situation do enable it. Decks looking to beat down safely don't have enough room for this horsey, sadly.
  • Celestial Prism: I know, I know. I would provide better fixing if the cube had access, but this is so terrible it just never ever found a place.

I've been diving more into what I want this cube to have in regards to archetypes and draft decisions. I think it's a good approach to more finely define archetypes first and then worry about having more deliberate draft impact such as flex cards, pivot opportunities and balancing color depth for a table of 8-10.

This article by Abe Sargent from 2015 really caught my eye and confirmed that I'm on a solid path:
https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/abesargent-052515-alpha-beta-unlimited-decks

That said, something I found most interesting is my earlier omission of color changers such as Sleight of Mind. These cards might offer more than I'd originally thought. The idea back then was to combine color changers with Nothern Paladin, White Knight or CoPs to achieve the correct hosing effect against your current matchup.
The article also states that Karma combined with Magical Hack can morph into a wincon in any deck. This might offer Stasis a new and niche way to close out games.

I personally love these minisynergies - two or three card combos that create a unique effect. That's why this cube provides a lot of those: Channel + Fireball, Icy + Winter Orb, Fastbond + Wheel of Fortune/Timetwister, the list goes on.

Now, the question I'm mulling over in my mind is:
Is this actually fun?

To go about answering this, let's look at what these play patterns feel like from the perspective of players facing color hosing strategies. I'm quite sure nobody enjoys stepping up to your table with a suicide black deck only to face a CoP:Black on turn 2. That's because you're effectively stealing the most important game design element I can think of: agency. If you feel like you can never achieve anything in a match, it may bring you down. Though fun is subjective, this is likely a common thread.
My worry is that if you assemble this strategy, other decks can never expect to break through due to a shortage of tools to fight against it.

On the other hand, this cube is meant to bring the ABU(N) experience into our current year. Hosing colors is exactly what was part of the play patterns back then. Completely leaving it out, goes against this initial philosophy of the cube.
It's also not quite as impenetrable as it seems right now, limited as the tools may be:
- CoP's never affect artifacts. This makes artifact creatures like Juggernaut, already a powerhouse, a natural counter.
- There's Disenchant, Counterspells and, in a pinch, Desert Twister and Nevinyrral's Disk.
- Focused aggro decks should be fast enough to go under combo decks, at least that's my goal.

I think I'll give it a go. I'll need more practical experience and player feedback to make informed decisions and I'd rather throw everything at the wall than hold stuff back so it never gets a chance.

  • Lifetap, Sleight of Mind: Color stuff, finally out.
  • Word of Command: How for Sengir's sake did I not cut this till now? It just does next to nothing. And not in a good way.

The additions were originally overlooked in the import and fit well imo.

  • Black hosers: Conversion, Karma
  • Jump: Swapped for Flight.
  • Earthbind: While there has to be answers to blue top-ends, RDW should peeter off later on... and just earthbinding a djinn wouldn't help anyways.
  • Scryb Sprites: While combining nicely with Aspect of Wolf, this is not the angle I want G to go with.
  • Hurloon Minotaur: Just too many red 3-drops. Probably the last cut in that direction.
  • Aladdin: Another cut that hurt to implement. While I do like stealing moxes and having an answer to a few other artifacts, this is just too expensive and niche.
  • Ifh-Biff Efreet: Same as Scryb Sprites, G sould have answers to fliers, not go aggro in the air.
  • Do-nothings: Simulacrum, Island Fish Jasconius, Lich (even though I love it in other environments), Oasis, Library of Leng)
  • While it's important to have late game mana sinks, I want there to be a point to sculpting the right shell for the right sink. So, these had to go: Jandor's Ring, The Hive, Clockwork Beast,
  • While some of these were fan favourites (which never stopped me before), these just don't really do anything: Ring of Ma'rûf, Jade Monolith, Sunglasses of Urza, Bazaar of Baghdad, Diamond Valley)

Black:
With Fear and Weakness joining the party, black has more room to become a bit more complex and doesn't need it's dud-ish creatures.

White:
Eye for an Eye really doesn't solve any of this color's problems.

Blue:

  • Spell Blast: Cut as it's the worst of multiple options.
  • Volcanic Eruption: Color hoser that can finally be cut without going under my arbitrary threshold for blue.

Green:

  • Sandstorm: Might return if slower G decks need a silver bullet against RDW.
  • Stream of Life: While originally intended to help Pestilence decks, it's just not really needed. If you stabilize the board in B/G for example, you can just go for a one-sided wipe using a shell of regenerating creatures.
  • Tranquility: I still want to give the Enchantress Archetype a chance, so gutting mass enchantment removal in it's color seems appropriate.
  • Camouflage: It's effect ranges from coin-flipping to useless so... no.
  • Thicket Basilisk: G doesn't need a worse, second Cockatrice.
  • Metamorphosis: Call me insane, but I just noticed this isn't actually ramp. I know.
  • Wanderlust: Even though I love the idea of a grindy wincon, this just doesn't cut it.

I have no idea how these didn't end up in the cube from the start. They're here in print, gotta be some sort of import error. Added for consideration.

For completeness sake, from the cards I forgot: Not adding Burrowing, Creature Bond, Cursed Land, Evil Presence, Farmstead (yuck), Feedback, Firebreathing, Holy Armor, Invisibility, Kudzu, Lance, Lure, Phantasmal Terrain, Power Leak, Psychic Venom, Steal Artifact, Unholy Strength, Warp Artifact

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