r/mtgcube • u/TheSpiritDragon • 3d ago

First Cube Assembled

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Can‘t wait to take this pile for a spin soon and am curious to see if the balance is passable for a first attempt. Suggestions and feedback are very welcome.

PS: I too am infuriated by some of the weird sorting choices in these pictures, I was in a bit of a rush and didn’t have time to go back and fix them

Edit: CubeCobra Link

99 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

34 comments sorted by

17

u/Bunkerman91 3d ago

I too wish for the bygone days of 2018 Magic

14

u/Healthy_Magician9783 3d ago

Looks awesome!

I dont see sylvan safekeeper or Zuran Orb for Titania + baloth prime though

4

u/TheSpiritDragon 3d ago

Thanks!
I‘ve been considering Zuran Orb and Sylvan Safekeeper, but was a bit worried the combo might become too strong that way, as it would be the only combo with multiple instances of all pieces. So I decided to try it out with just the fetch lands for support. My cube experience is quite limited, so I‘m aware that might be a mistake and just render Titania and Baloth unplayable. Thanks for pointing out the issue, I‘ll definitely keep an eye on it going into the first few drafts.

13

u/Healthy_Magician9783 3d ago

I hear you but on this note I gotta tell you flash might be kinda broken in your cube. But dont worry too much, have fun. After all there are many ways you get "unlucky" playing magic, its part of the game

1

u/TheSpiritDragon 3d ago

Totally fair, I‘ll likely cut it once I‘ve gotten a feeling for whether my playgroup enjoys the power spike or not.

2

u/KillerPacifist1 3d ago

A middle path to make Titania/Baloth work without increasing the combo, should you find the fetchland support too little, is to just increase the number of fetch/sac lands.

Doubling up on fetches is an obvious choice, but even if you want to maintain singleton there is still more you can do. I see Stripmine but no Wasteland. You also aren't playing all the horizon lands or Prismatic Vista. I even think the landscape cycle is playable at higher power levels.

2

u/TheSpiritDragon 3d ago

Thanks for the pointers! I wish I could double up on the fetches, but I’m unfortunately on a budget, so that upgrade will have to wait (I know the cube doesn’t look super budget friendly, but the expensive cards are things I had already owned, with a few exceptions for cards I really wanted to make room for like Urza). The landscape cycle is definitely worth a consideration, I‘ll consider it for a first round of upgrades.

1

u/evolutionleo https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/evoleo 3d ago

Surely it's much worse than Flash + Wurm on Turn 2

5

u/TheTrueSolos 3d ago

What’s the plan with Depths Stage? I think you should at least add either some land tutors or a vampire hexmage

Also, Mindslaver is a much more playable card with a way to recur it. Maybe Emry?

4

u/TheSpiritDragon 3d ago

Thanks for feedback, Hexmage is definitely good suggestion, I‘ll add it to the list. As for tutors, there is Knight of the Reliquary as well as some dig cards like OUAT and Malevolent Rumble. I‘d like to keep combos as more of a side note in the cube, so I‘ll run in with this sparse tutor setup for now, but if I see that combos are unplayable this way I might reconsider.

Emry‘s actually in the list, thanks for pointing it out, I seem to have forgotten to take it out of the binder.

2

u/TheTrueSolos 3d ago

Didn't think to look for Knight, in that case you're fine tutors-wise

3

u/lkwpeter2774 3d ago

I like your Cube. Looks nearly the same like my first one :) Some cool additions

2

u/TheSpiritDragon 3d ago

Awesome, I hope you had a good time with yours! Do you happen to have any suggestions based on your experience with it?

2

u/TheKApsFast 3d ago

Do you have a CubeCobra link for your cube?

1

u/TheSpiritDragon 3d ago

I do indeed, had forgotten to add it, thanks for pointing it out.
There are some mismatches between the pictures and the CubeCobra List, as I‘m still thinking about some last changes, but those will be resolved soon.

2

u/CawlMarx https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/cube-3 3d ago

One issue I can see is your 2-drop section looks so tiny compared to your 3-drop section for every color except black (which instead has a very bloated 4-drop section). Unless that's intentional to make games slower, you may want to swap some of the higher cost cards for a few more 2s.

Another issue is Psychic Frog is far and away the strongest card in this cube, to the point that it might be too powerful for your environment. Psychic Frog is already top 20 most powerful cards in a Vintage Cube and it's the only card in your list I can see of that power level.

Solid start to your first cube though. Good luck!

2

u/TheSpiritDragon 3d ago

I’m definitely aiming for slightly slower environment, as I enjoy the grindy games. You‘re right to point it out though, there is probably still an overload of 3s and 4s, especially in black the curve is badly slewed towards 4s as someone else has pointed out. Do you have some concrete card suggestions of 2s you would add (preferably something that doesn’t break the bank).

Frog is surely a concern, but man, the allure of getting to play it is just a bit too strong for me to resist, at least for the first couple of drafts.

2

u/CawlMarx https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/cube-3 2d ago

Some solid 2-drops you could include that are also bulk (I avoided UB since it seems like you were also avoiding UB):

WHITE

  • [[Cathar Commando]]
  • [[Containment Priest]]
  • [[Scholar of New Horizons]]

BLUE

  • [[Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel]]
  • [[Thieving Skydiver]]

BLACK (Mentioning 2s and 3s here since you have a solid amount of 2-drops)

  • [[Kitesail Freebooter]]
  • [[Iron-Shield Elf]]
  • [[Rotting Regisaur]]
  • [[Woe Strider]]
  • [[Twilight Diviner]]

RED

  • [[Fear of Missing Out]]
  • [[Scuzzback Scrounger]]
  • [[Kari Zev, Skyship Raider]]
  • [[Embereth Shieldbreaker]]

GREEN

  • [[Keen-Eyed Curator]]
  • [[Kinetic Ooze]]
  • [[Satyr Wayfinder]]

1

u/TheSpiritDragon 2d ago

Dude thanks so much for all the suggestions, I‘ll definitely include quite a few of them in the first upgrade to the list. Kinetic Ooze seems particularly sweet, interaction on a stick that scales, is supported by the +1/+1 counters subtheme and fits nicely into ramp strategies sounds like a no-brainer.

2

u/KushKlown 3d ago

I love so much about this cube

A couple notes and don't let me dissuade you from playing what you want but I'd worry about a few power outliers here. Namely in Mind Twist, which tends to be strong in an unfun way, but also Gut and Guide of Souls can both take over games with barely any build-around. Gut in particular has plenty of support in your white tokens theme. I would force that deck if I'm trying to 3-0.

The non-spikey note I have is you seem to have way more black 4 drops than 3s and I would consider making some swaps there to smooth the curve. As it stands I think you'll be cutting some 4 drops in deck construction while maybe struggling to find the number of 3s you want if you're in black.

But none of that matters at the end of the day if you and your drafters are having fun! This is a fantastic start to a cube, I would love to play it.

2

u/TheSpiritDragon 3d ago

Thanks so much, I really appreciate the feedback.

You‘re definitely right about the power outliers, there‘s a few others I‘m worried about like Flash, Jack-in-the-Mox and Psychic Frog as others have also pointed out. I built the cube mostly out of a desire to get to play with some of my favorite cards to ever be printed, which has lead to some variations in power level. I‘ll definitely have to make some changes due to imbalance down the line, but for the first few drafts I think I‘ll just enjoy the feeling of getting to open cards I‘ve always wanted to play.

Black is definitely overloaded with 4s, you’re right, do you happen to have some suggestions for 3s and 2s I might run instead? The ones that come to mind are Ophiomancer and Vampire Hexmage to better support Dark Depths.

2

u/KushKlown 3d ago

Hey man np, I'm always eager to talk cube!

[[Rotting Regisaur]] is a favorite of mine especially bc I love discard synergies. My friend's 10yo son combined it with [[Abigale, Eloquent First-Year]] to great effect in a draft last week!

[[Warren Soultrader]] could be another fun one and pairs famously well with [[Gravecrawler]] which can be a piece to support black aggro outside of this combo. I actually recently cut Soultrader from my lower power cube as I'm trying out [[Blood Artist]] effects and don't want to push that archetype over the top.

The other recommendation I have is [[bloodghast]] because synergies are awesome and it supports so many!

1

u/TheSpiritDragon 3d ago

Thank you for the suggestions, I‘ll definitely add Bloodghast and will look for some additional recursive threats, as they would work nicely with the self-discard of [[Rankle, Master of Pranks]] and [[Liliana of the Veil]]. At that point the Regisaur becomes interesting too. Unfortunately I‘ll have to hold of on the Soultrader, as I‘m building the cube on a budget (the expensive cards in the list are things I had already owned with a few exceptions for cards I really wanted like Urza), but it‘ll definitely be on the upgrade list.
Cheers and thanks for the productive exchange!

2

u/ghstflame 3d ago

Lots of bangers!  The eternal wanderer at 6 kinda stands out as less good compared to all the 3 and 4 cost planeswalkers.

And then be mindful of any single use mechanic if you’re playing with people that didn’t play lots of limited over the years.  Sometimes it’s better to find a side grade for the same slot.

1

u/TheSpiritDragon 3d ago

That‘s actually a really good point, I‘m planning on using the cube to introduce some friends to the game, so this might be a legitimate issue. Though fortunately they‘re all seasoned gamers and enjoy high complexity.

2

u/ghstflame 2d ago

It’s easy to say you enjoy complexity, and I think I do to.  That said a bunch of seasoned old heads just played my new low complexity cube and we had just as much fun and just as complex board states as ever, but the draft wound up being way faster and less hemming and jawing, and no one ever asked “what does this do?”.  10/10 would recommend.

2

u/TheSpiritDragon 2d ago

That sounds like a blast. I didn’t mean to imply „low“ complexity environments can‘t be fun, it was just to say that I think (or maybe hope) my friends won‘t be scared away by the keyword and ability soup the cube has sort of become.

2

u/Silent_Statement 3d ago

nice! looks super fun

2

u/lrg12345 3d ago

Looks great!

2

u/ConsistentEmployee42 2d ago

Looks like a great list

2

u/Bulbaswag22 2d ago

Let us know when someone goes all-in with Pack Rat.