Trying out a bunch of stuff to see what sticks. I'm sure some of these aren't right, but we wanted to give a bunch of things we've been curious about a shot.
Heartwood Storyteller in for Reclaim
I haven't been too hyped up on Reclaim, and we wanted to get more card draw into green. We'll see how it goes.
Boar Umbra in for Hunting Pack
Snake Umbra in for Saproling Burst
We wanted to get a few more auras into the cube. I imagine that whatever doesn't work out will be replaced with Hunting Pack, but we'll see.
Land Tax in for Glorious Anthem
Hyena Umbra in for Pianna, Nomad Captain
Transcendent Master in for Soltari Champion
Knight of the White Orchid in for Otherworldly Journey
Oh god I'm so sad about that.
but I'm really happy about this:
Razormane Masticore in for Dolmen Gate
The Crusher might not be right- we'll see- but at least the Masticore is back!
We just made a bunch of changes to white, so I'll address this here: I agree that our cube doesn't support aggro, and I think that's ok. Actually I think that is normal for a limited format. I know a lot of people really want aggressive red/white decks to be draftable in their cube. For me, it's ok if the most aggressive deck still has 4 and 5 drops, which is how our cube works in practice.
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Boar + Hyena Umbra and the rather unconventional Eel Umbra look like candidates for the cube for me, but still I hesitate to include them in my cube without further testing, because of the potential loss of both tempo and card advantage when they kill one of your creatures in response to an Aura.
ReplyDeleteThere are viable aggro strategies in most draft formats, even if it they are less common in some sets.
Sure it is fun to play all the expensive creatures and spells that have been largely ignored by competitive players (this is why EDH keeps on growing in popularity like few other casual formats), but things get a lot more interesting when you don't have two XYz midrange card advantage decks battling each other all the time. I mean it sounds kind of boring when your way to success is to play more big creatures than your opponent instead of having threads/solutions for early-, mid- and lategame.
happy cubing , eidolon
I don't want to argue this point endlessly, but what you describe is absolutely not how our cube plays out. I personally am a person who likes really "answer-y" decks, and I wouldn't be happy with the cube if it was just playing more big dudes than your opponent. I agree that there are aggro strategies in draft formats, but those are more similar to what we have in our cube than what you see in constructed decks. Even in triple alara reborn, for example, there were all-star 4 and 5 drops like sludge strider, bloodbraid, and effectively behemoth sledge. That's why I disagree with the general plan of "make sure you have a one drop, even if it is a wretched creature and even worse in the late game". In an aggressive cube deck, i want to go Hellspark into Ashenmoor Gauger into Blazing Specter into Demigod. In other words, I want to curve out, not play cards that are totally worthless in the late game. We have 8 one drops in the cube, and I'm really happy that only one of them is definitely not good in the late game.
ReplyDeleteWhy do aggro creatures (and especially the 1 drops) need to be good in the late game? Aggro decks don't want to sacrifice tempo for a better lategame, that is what midrange decks are for, but overwhelm your opponents with a mass of early beaters before they are able to realize their game plan and win over card advantage.
ReplyDeleteIf you are able to get a creature on the board on turn 1+2 you you can often set your opponent to a single digit without playing much else.
If you are interested in more information about aggro in the cube, there is a useful article her:
http://mtgsalvation.com/1190-cube-design-theory-part-1.html