Cricket Bar Cube
(192 Card Cube)
Blog Posts (15)
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Flagging some possible includes from Tarkir: Dragonstorm. Liking what I see from Blue in this set. Especially roiling dragonstorm, this could be a good swap for chart a course and give some build-a-round potential for dragons. The list currently has 3 dragons plus 2 shapeshifters.
I really like static snare. It's the white o-ring version of witchstalker frenzy which has played out really nicely as combat/post-combat removal spell/trick.
Realizing that I only have 2 counterspells in the list. riverwalk technique looks to be a nice modal spell to fit that slot. Probably would swap for one of the Man-o'-war style creatures.

jimcricket42 posted to Cricket Bar Cube -

thinking of Boosting the black artifacts deck with this little package from DFT. Removal spell, creature with relevant ETB and evasion and a big body that has some reach for getting the last few points of damage in a close game.

I have been using the same simple oracle filtering in Scryfall for a while and I have expanded that to include mechanics that are adjacent to tokens and counters, like populate and proliferate.
Also using the -o:counter was filtering out some text that would otherwise be useful such as counterspells.

usd<1 -o:token -is:dfc -o:"+1/+1 counter" -o:partner -o:background -o:friends -o:companion -o:populate -o:investigate -o:proliferate -o:incubate -o:explore -is:funny -o:bolster -o:venture -o:mentor -o:tempts -o:amass -o:backup -o:adapt -o:"poison counter" -o:"oil counter" -o:"-1/-1 counter" -o:ravenous -o:fabricate -o:e -o:"stun counter"

Making a sizable update to the list (on mobile). Will add more to the blog soon.
Focusing on boosting synergy in black. Adding some additional artifact enablers/payoffs. Trying to let black be aggressive. Added some more fixing/synergy with every black bridge land. This will give incidental boosts to cards like all that glitters and cranial plating.
Artifacts get another great card in baleful strix which has finally be printed into the $0.50 range. fell is a great removal spell for black aggressive decks. I added three legendary creatures to make cast down more interesting and each have some buildaround potential.
Im excited for people to “reanimate” boon of the wish-giver with scholar of the lost trove.

I think there is a black based artifact aggro deck that can be viable in this format with some support.
might try adding some or all of the black bridges. Trying to find the best color to pair with black. White seems natural with all that glitters and aggressive creatures like vanguard of the rose and mandible justiciar.

Adding some aggressive 1-3 drops in black. Creatures with keywords that wear equipment well cranial plating. I want to keep some semblance of an artifact matters archetype in black. I've found myself drafting a more controlling red-based gates-matter. There is an aggressive deck in white, but black could be the home of the fast aggro deck.
The OG bar cube by @gallently recently removed the phyrexian rager effects in favor of mechanics that reward combat.
https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/BarCube

As of now, I'm storing my cube in this box:
https://www.tcgplayer.com/product/552255/collectible-storage-bcw-card-storage-boxes-200-count-storage-box
TCG Player describes this box as holding 280 cards. That's pretty accurate. I have 192 + 100 basics and it is PACKED!
My options are get a bigger box (no thanks), cut down the cube or cut down on basics. It's a lot easier to just cut the basics. Realistically 18 of each land should be plenty. That's enough for two people to have 9 of a single color. Which will probably never happen.
Maybe it would be best to also cut down to 180. But that just doesn't sound very fun. If the basics ever becomes an issue I'll have to do the hard work of cutting it down.
I started looking at playtest data and black appears to be the weakest color. Working now on addressing the archetype. I think it's because black does not have a gates payoff. Black has efficient creature removal, hand disruption and... that's about it. I have a halfway there artifact theme in black. Doesn't quite have legs without token gen. Anyway, like I said... working on it.

I think I pilfered some cards from here for my main cube. Looks like I may need to buy a few replacements. One of the nice things about this list are the cards are around $0.10 each. Swapping out some missing cards for better cards that I have on hand. Like Divination for Quick Study and Cancel for Confounding Riddle. After those swaps, I'm only missing 9 cards. Get it together, man!

Finally making a chunky update. 33 cards is 17% of the cube. Removing lesson/learn kindof a difficult mechanic to parse for players who didn’t draft STX. Wanted to up the power level of some additional cards. Hoping to play some winston or 4-player booster draft tonight!

I decided to add 12 cards to the cube so 4 players can draft with 4 packs of 12. This more closely mirrors my main cube where 8 players draft with 3 packs of 16.

I am also taking out some of the off-color kicker cards. Some of them did not play out well in their mono color versions and forced drafters into thinking they needed to reach on splashing the off color creating some three color decks with bad mana. Adding some mono color equiv cards to encourage two color decks with light splash.

Also adding in some lesson/learn cards that just arrived in the mail and some other cards that were meant to be in the cube but needed temp subs for play-ability.

After this update, going to look at the color balance and maybe make a few tweaks by adding not owned cards to the maybeboard.

Played the cube for the first time 12/31/2023. We did a three person sealed each player had a 60 card pool. Player one was on boros aggro, I was on temur adventures splashing white. Player 3 was on GW gates splashing black and blue for opt and disfigure.
Player 3 is pretty new to magic and first time cubing. They spotted some big gate payoffs in archway angel and gate colossus and were able to recur them both the the green insect ninja. I have pictures of decklists, as soon as I figure out how to post them I will toss them up.
All in all there seemed to be plenty of removal and balance of threats. Player three gained 12 life off angel which put the game out of reach. I prioritize removing that green insect ninja higher in the future. Could use some better card selection and draw spells.

The list is set (for now). I have the opportunity to playtest during the Thanksgiving Holiday. Not all the pieces I wanted to include have arrived in the mail yet, so I am supplementing with sub-optimal cards from my chaff collection. Maybe some of them will make the final cut. I will follow up with a draft report next week!

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