https://www.reddit.com/r/mtgcube/comments/1invsxe/why_you_should_build_another_cube_draft_report/

Everyone should feel the relief that comes over you when constraints that stretched your previous design disappear. With a couple of successful playtests of my Foundations Cube (https://www.cubecobra.com/cube/list/FundamentalFoundations), I set my sights on overhauling my main cube (https://www.cubecobra.com/cube/list/ggcube). Having the Foundations Cube allowed me to let go and embrace complexity, combos and “mean” cards.

So much of my recent experience has been echoed in Lucky Paper Radio’s recent episodes. As mentioned by Andy, we get tied down with too many objectives when we try to fit so many ideals and ideas into a single cube and we can end up with a better product when we can separate those concerns. In addition as recently discussed, within my group I’m a known vintage cube hater for many of the same reasons stated by Anthony and Andy. But there is something to be learned from the beloved vintage cube. We love old school build-arounds that test deck building and drafting skills, the open-ended feeling during the draft and the resulting crazy decks. So I moved forward with the goal of cramming in more classic pre-modern cards into a modern cube.

Thus began my search for pre-modern, non-power cards I could afford in paper that are powerful and fun in a modern context. So I proceeded to add mean white cards (Balance, Cataclysm, Armageddon), stormy blue cards (Stroke of Genius, High Tide, Gifts Ungiven), powerful black cards (Recurring Nightmare, Necropotence, Buried Alive), green buildarounds (Oath of Druids, Natural Order, and Rofellos) and artifacts I hadn’t touched in ages (Memory Jar, Smokestack, Lotus Petal and Lotus Bloom). Then I ripped out more than a third of the cards in my cube to give drafters some of that excitement that you find in a vintage cube.

Last night, I sat out the draft and spectated the games which was a blast and gave me much more insight into the new cube. Overall, based on the decks and games, I am thrilled with the results and can’t wait to figure out how to get my hands on Phyrexian Dreadnought, Wheel of Fortune and Cabal Therapy to squeeze them in next. Here are my two favorite moments from the night:

Doom Foretold / Armageddon: Demonic Pact gets full value before getting sacrificed to Doom Foretold. Winning a game by playing Doom Foretold into Armageddon. Not reading opponent’s Slogurk before casting Armageddon, giving Slogurk +5/+5 but somehow overcoming this mistake but then losing to runner-runner fetch lands that pump Slogurk for perfect lethal.

Oath of Druids / Nexus of Fate vs Mill Deck: My brain hurt watching this game trying to figure out how each deck could win. I had never seen an Ancestral Vision come off suspend and then target the opponent for fear of decking. I had never seen someone refuse an Oath trigger to discard Nexus of Fate to make sure it’s in their library for protection. The final game came down to a Stroke of Genius targeting the opponent but falling 1 card short.

Decklists

Trophy Selesnya Lands: After I cut Michael’s beloved Risen Reef and Omnath, he decided to not let that deter him from drafting a lands deck. Michael had an insane amount of hard fought, story worthy games. Titania made enough elementals to chew through Ghalta and Myr Battlesphere. And best of all, a sideboarded Eladamri’s Call into Containment Priest shutdown a game winning Natural Order.

Runner Up Proft’s Prowess: Micah is the resident fun police and low curve enjoyer and found his way into a sick Izzet deck with 3 zero mana spells. Micah made some hard deck building decisions, having to decide between an even lower curve with white or insane churn using blue and it seems like he made the right decision because Proft’s Eidetic Memory looked outstanding especially when he Finale of Promise into Thought Scour and Faithless Looting and buried his opponent in value and damage.

RakSac: There’s nothing like a good Act of Treason (Kari Zev’s Expertise in this case) and Ken used it to great effect on the number of huge fatties in the cube. Voldaren Thrillseeker continues to make its case as the best fair Fling effect and Fiend Artisan, which I’ve been pushing for a long time, truly got it’s time to shine in this deck as a fat goyf and an important combo piece tutor.

Esper Control: Sebastian doesn’t really think in terms of archetypes so he was right at home with this esper control deck that splashes a Warleader’s Call and Grim Lavamancer. It was remarked that Sebastian’s deck is unbeatable when he plays Bitterblossom on 2.

Necro Survival: Frank is packing a ton of old school power with Natural Order, Buried Alive, Survival of the Fittest and Necropotence. What was really amazing is every game I watched there was some enormous threat on Frank’s side but somehow the match wasn’t necessarily over. Even when Frank had an Apex Altisaur and a metamorphed copy, his opponent was digging for outs and maybe could have escaped with a win with some better luck (or play but Gifts Ungiven is a complicated card).

Esper Geddon: Half land destruction, half esper pixie, all Khang. There wasn’t a world I imagined where an esper deck would be packing Armageddon but here we are. I really couldn’t look away from this beautiful disaster that at times looked like a powerful strategy and other times a confusing mess but I love Khang all the more for putting it together. Gerrard’s Verdict was a feared card and Doom Foretold and Demonic Pact looked very good against the opposition.

5 Color NOG (Nexus Oath Gifts): Looking at this deck hurts my brain. The number of lines I saw Ben work through on his way to determining a good but not perfect decision was very high and made us joke that u/ragehs from our playgroup would drive this list to a 3-0. This was easily the spiciest deck and I loved watching every game.

Coward Crab: Frank wheeled a Ruin Crab after not wheeling a Hedron Crab and prophetically called out an unknown coward. This deck had such promise and came so close in so many games and even truly popped off but ultimately fell short (perhaps 1 Ruin Crab short). I laughed so hard in all these games though as the player either played Teferi’s Tutelage into Memory Jar or looked at me with a tear in his eye as Terravore was stranded in his hand while 8 cards are milled but somehow no lands have hit the yard.

The biggest conclusions I’ve drawn from the past 2 drafts are: (1) Cycling is healthy and quite popular in the draft so I can cut back some support. (2) Aggro decks can use a little help since the last 2 drafts have been dominated by slower control decks.

In white, I haven’t supported a go-wide strategy well enough to see it surface so I’m throwing in a couple powerful token generators and boosting the number of low drops. I’m also swapping out some cycling cards, prioritizing true cycling for 1 and giving an old sweeper a try.

Midnight Haunting => Spectral Procession
Holy cow => clarion spirit
wonder => raise the alarm
Breath of life => monk of the open hand
fumigate => akroma's vengeance
soaring sandwing => imposing vantasaur
planar disruption => fleeting flight

In blue, we’ve had 2 drafts pass with players who wanted to play izzet prowess (who doesn’t) and somewhat fell flat. I’m going to give a small boost in blue by adding a couple cantrips so we can trigger and fill the yard. This can be accommodated by removing some cycling cards (although Windcaller Aven actually saw play).

windcaller aven => fleeting distraction
lay claim => into the roil
opt => thought scour

In black, Golgari graveyard felt very strong and could stand to lose some support. Also I haven’t seen a Rakdos drafter so I’m going to push a little bit on the aggro front. World-Weary and Revenge of the Rats have been in black decks’ sideboards so they can hit the curb for a much more exciting Decree of Pain.

nested shambler => infestation sage
Cult conscript => bloodsoaked champion
shrieking billowmass => bloodsky berserker
Revenge of the rats => dead weight
world weary => decree of pain

In red, the biggest issue I saw was Boros and Izzet decks falling short. I’ve boosted the white and blue side of that equation and mostly stayed the same here with small upgrades, especially with a couple more powerful 2 drops. Experimental Frenzy is a key addition to help aggressive decks that I hope is not overly complex because it's a very fun card. Alternatively, newer players found Sulfuric Vortex to not be so fun.

footlight fiend => rigging runner
kessig flamebreather => Young pyromancer
axgard calvary => Slumbering cerebus
sulfuric vortex => Experimental frenzy
Lava dart => obliterating bolt
magma jet => flames of the firebrand
goblin surprise => hordeling outburst
seismic monstrosaur => slice and dice

In green, I’ve decided to lean into landfall as a simple mechanic that people love and makes players feel clever. Our Wilderness Reclamation expert decided it’s not good in this cube so it’s cut. Wild Growth is super powerful since it ramps without being exposed to much interaction.

ambush wolf => mossborn hydra
Wild growth => lotus cobra
apothecary stomper => rampaging baloth
savage punch => felling blow
Wilderness reclamation => audacity

Tatyova hasn’t seen play so I want to try to give Simic another angle. Elenda is a flashy card that points to lifegain and sacrifice. Sprite Dragon gives Izzet prowess a really great creature and Izzet control is already pretty well supported as a cycling or spells deck so it can stand to lose Enigma Drake. Lastly, I haven’t seen a player go Rakdos so I’m going to try out Alesha, Who laughs at fate. I’m a little hesitant about this card because I don’t like that you can have her sit back out of combat, but it can be good to have a power outlier.

ghor-clan rampager => itzquinth, firstborn of gishath
tatyova, benthic druid => dreamdew entrancer
Indulging patrician => elenda, the dusk rose
back for more => casualties of war
staggering insight => depose // deploy
enigma drake => Sprite dragon
slick sequence => fire // ice
perforating artist => alesha, who laughs at fate

Bag of Holding might come back but also it’s a cute card in a currently over supported archetype so it can take a rest while I try cross-archetype glue card Circuit Mender. Hollow One is of course classic and sweet but narrow so I’d like to try Runaway Boulder.

Hollow one => runaway boulder
bag of holding => circuit mender

https://www.reddit.com/r/mtgcube/comments/1hy928a/intro_to_cube_night_report_decklists/

Happy new year /r/mtgcube! Yesterday, we played the Fundamental Foundations Cube (https://www.cubecobra.com/cube/list/FundamentalFoundations) where the goal of the cube is to help onboard newer or out-of-touch players to the Cube community. So if you’re around San Francisco and wanting to dip your toes, reach out to me for our Discord invite! I just wanted to give a quick summary of the draft and 2 things I’ve done recently to help me create better cubes.

Cube Night
We had a big turnout with 3 new players drafting and 2 co-pilots (HABs - husba nds and boyfriends) providing some guidance during the draft. The highlight of the night was the newest player successfully went 2-1 with the Golgari deck having the entire table gather around behind him gleefully watching as he turn 2 Satyr Wayfinder into turn 3 Gorging Vulture into turn 5 Living Death. And even though the opponent was 6 feet under, they spent the next 5 minutes telling the new player how to order the ETB triggers. Some other highlights include Ben piloting the Dimir control deck and running through the field like a buzzsaw and by the end of the night everyone was convinced his deck was unbeatable and a dream 40 decklist for this cube. Niv-Mizzet, Parun not only making a deck list but being cast and winning. 16 Homunculus Horde summoned to block a Ghalta, Primal Hunger And Quakefoot Cyclops being hardcast multiple times and being decidedly not that bad.

Oversupporting Archetypes
One maxim I follow is pushing archetypes to the max and pulling back after some data has been collected. Only 2 drafts in with this cube, cycling may be over-supported. When I was creating the cube, there were lots of doubts on our discord with the cycling archetype and if it would be powerful or popular enough. So far I’ve found it's good enough to compete and beloved by the experienced players. I love that cycling cards are showing up in every decklist but I think the 3 Jeskai decks all ended up cannibalizing each other and I could cut back a bit of support to push the overlapping spells matters archetype. But I want to stress that I got to this point quickly because of the initial oversupport.

Retaining Decks and Sideboard
Another change I’ve made is I’m asking players to keep their decks and sideboards together. Keeping the decks together is not new, I like taking the pictures myself because I can take non-glare, organized photos after the fact. But I’ve just started taking pictures of the sideboards for a couple reasons. #1: Especially since this is a 360 cube, I know what was drafted and not played or didn’t make the cut even though it was in the same colors. #2: Just looking at the sideboards from this one time I’ve kept them, I think there are builds that could vastly improve the performance of the decks so it’s possible I could draw wrong conclusions from the results. #3: I can play with these real decks with my friends over the next couple weeks and get my own insights.

Notes just for CubeCobra:

• Wild Growth might be too strong because its really hard to interact with that early
• Sulfuric Vortex (too brutal), Revenge of the Rats (redundant), Wilderness Reclamation (my main flash player said he didn't need it) can be cut
• Looking into Urza's Rage, Shadowmage Infiltrator, repeatable lifegain in white and green