Playing my only FNM for the foreseeable future tomorrow. It's Modern, so should I bring UW Tron or GW Death and Taxes? I just got my set of Kitchen Finks, but I like T4 Elesh Norn more.
so my buddy woke up late and we didnt get to the WMCQ on time, but we played in the TCG Platinum, and then I played in the PTQ sunday. I scrubbed out of the first event at 1-3, and though I was able to reel off 5-0 to start the PTQ, lost 3 straight to eliminate myself from contention.
I came away from the weekend with the strong impression that Jund is just not playable in current standard. It has poor matchups against too large a portion of the field. The new Junk aristocrats deck is a bad matchup (and I think one of the top choices in the format) Junk rites is pretty much an unwinnable matchup, and bant hexproof and the new aetherling control decks are slightly unfavorable as well. I would not play the deck again
I really like that Junk Aristocrats deck Brad Nelson played.
I'm also of the impression that Olivia herself is still very good in the current format, but I really don't think traditional Jund is the place for her.
Been meaning to ask you, how large should a cube be? I kinda want to do a Rise of the Eldrazi cube, but I have no idea what size I should be looking for. Would 3xCommon, 2xUncommon, 1xRare/Mythic be a reasonable size? It'd be about 483 cards without basics. Would I just trim 33 total cards to make it an even 450?
It really depends on what environment you want to create. The bare minimum is 360, which allows you 24 packs of 15, meaning that you will see every card every draft. This is probably ideal if you're looking for an environment where it is possible to draft very intricate strategies (storm combo, for instance, where if you just don't see a kill con then you just have drafted a deck that literally can't win.)
A lot of cubes tend to be more than this, around 720, because this allows you to have a more dynamic draft format where different archetypes shine in each iteration of the cube.
If you're interested in cubing in general, I would strongly check out the magic box with Eck and TSG on mtgcast. They also have a "bare bones" cube posted which I think is a very good starting point. But there are lots of great cube informations in that podcast.
Been meaning to ask you, how large should a cube be? I kinda want to do a Rise of the Eldrazi cube, but I have no idea what size I should be looking for. Would 3xCommon, 2xUncommon, 1xRare/Mythic be a reasonable size? It'd be about 483 cards without basics. Would I just trim 33 total cards to make it an even 450?
I cut mine down to close to 360 for this meet because I knew we wouldn't be drafting it too much and wanted to increase the awesome density for those few drafts, in general I'm in the 720ish pool of thought because of the dynamics it allows. This is all for a traditional cube though, for set based cubes I think smaller is likely better, and that you should exclude mythics.
I was thinking about making a cube. I was going to base it on the various card cycles, in the hopes that that would result in vaguely balanced colors.
One time, back in 'nam, Sudo was set upon by an entire squadron of charlies. He challenged them all to a game of Pictionary, which he won resoundingly. The charlies were forced to not only surrender the skirmish, but also their world-famous chili recipe, which Sudo sold to Texas for a hefty profit. Sudo is a master of diplomacy.
TBH I think a lot of people get too caught up in cycles when they're building cubes. Like, there's no intrinsic reason why you shouldn't pick the best 720 cards, and damn all the rest. If you want lightning bolt and ancestral in your cube, that is not a reason to include giant growth and healing salve. Pick cards of equivalent power levels at that slot instead.
I think this is really something that is important when it comes to lands. A lot of cube builders feel the need to include every land from every cycle in the cube, and thats not necessary imo because different color pairs tend to want different things from their lands.
In post 2768, Thestatusquo wrote:TBH I think a lot of people get too caught up in cycles when they're building cubes. Like, there's no intrinsic reason why you shouldn't pick the best 720 cards, and damn all the rest. If you want lightning bolt and ancestral in your cube, that is not a reason to include giant growth and healing salve. Pick cards of equivalent power levels at that slot instead.
I think this is really something that is important when it comes to lands. A lot of cube builders feel the need to include every land from every cycle in the cube, and thats not necessary imo because different color pairs tend to want different things from their lands.
I just like the concept of cycles, is all. I wouldn't throw in Healing Salve just because of Lighnting Bolt, except that the entire cube is supposed to be cycle themed. My other idea is a combo themed cube; include all the wonky combos in the 720, but I don't know really how to work that.
One time, back in 'nam, Sudo was set upon by an entire squadron of charlies. He challenged them all to a game of Pictionary, which he won resoundingly. The charlies were forced to not only surrender the skirmish, but also their world-famous chili recipe, which Sudo sold to Texas for a hefty profit. Sudo is a master of diplomacy.
I like the idea of a combo cube in theory, but in practice I think it would play out very poorly. I think the majority of drafts would just be 1 or 2 guys who "got there" and 6 guys who are playing decks that almost literally do nothing.
Which is why I'm not sure. Ideally, a combo cube should have enough beats that people who don't get there on the combo can get there on the ground, but I don't even have a clue how the balance would work for that.
One time, back in 'nam, Sudo was set upon by an entire squadron of charlies. He challenged them all to a game of Pictionary, which he won resoundingly. The charlies were forced to not only surrender the skirmish, but also their world-famous chili recipe, which Sudo sold to Texas for a hefty profit. Sudo is a master of diplomacy.
Yeah, the problem is with all the blanks in there that are just viable in the combos, those decks would just be so inferior to the decks that "got there" that I think it would be an unfun play environment for most people in any given draft.
Someone gets his storm deck together and I'm trying to race him with my goblin guide followed by heartbeat of spring? Poop.
I suppose I could do the newbie thing, and just make my first cube a standard power cube.
One time, back in 'nam, Sudo was set upon by an entire squadron of charlies. He challenged them all to a game of Pictionary, which he won resoundingly. The charlies were forced to not only surrender the skirmish, but also their world-famous chili recipe, which Sudo sold to Texas for a hefty profit. Sudo is a master of diplomacy.
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