tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70692239567254850272024-03-18T08:13:45.447-07:00MTG CubeNick Nobodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08217616255450989605noreply@blogger.comBlogger1110125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069223956725485027.post-13542439098423220532024-02-22T08:17:00.000-08:002024-02-22T08:17:15.299-08:00Homemade Cube Crossroads<p><br /></p><p>I am at a nice lull in the homemade cube project. The second run of cards are out, well palyed and understood. They fixed most of the problems, and the new problems with them, and the cube at large are mostly now known too. The really problematic cards, boring cards, and bad cards, are all cut and there is a relatively small waiting list of tuning tweaks to existing cards and some new designs not far off ready to print for the third run. Rather than rushing this through as I did with round two of the card prints, I am going super slowly. This has all been the case for some weeks and I expect to stay that way for many more with relatively little change or progress. It very much feels like the time in the creative process to simple let it brew in the background. Not apply much active thought, let the enthusiasm recharge and let the subconscious ruminate over it all. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/e/e/eec5d627-b3d7-4e11-81c7-bf4cef5409a6.jpg?1562945307" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="574" height="400" src="https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/e/e/eec5d627-b3d7-4e11-81c7-bf4cef5409a6.jpg?1562945307" width="287" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>I attribute a large part of this lull to a directional choice that needs making in regards what I want my homemade cube to be. It was not even a question I was aware of when I embarked upon the project. Recently most of the group I cube with went on holiday together and a bunch of other gamer mates. There was like 20 of them with more than enough for some 8 man events. They wanted to take the homemade cube with them and I was happy to oblige with some outside testing being of much interest. While they were away playing that, I did my first cubes using my main cube since getting the homemade stuff. The experiences of those main cube games after so long and the feedback from the strangers all pointed towards the same thing. Do I want poker Magic or do I want chess Magic? </p><p>These are the best ways I can think to shorthand the directions I can go in but I shall elaborate. Neither is better or worse than the other, it is simply a preference. My homemade cube was described as "too smooth" and "lacking jeopardy" which are reasonable criticisms. The huge consistency, option density and reasonable power level of threats in my cube ensures you are losing to screw and flood infrequently nor getting beaten by a god draw. You get to play your game but your game is going to be long and hard fought. The tide will change with incremental advantages over many turns. Games are long, there are lots of choices, and the player making the better ones tends to win! A good test of skill? Yes. The most fun you could be having with Magic? Unlikely.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/5/c59dfb0f-45c7-431f-b5a3-d9b429fc6dde.jpg?1562201239" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="488" height="400" src="https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/5/c59dfb0f-45c7-431f-b5a3-d9b429fc6dde.jpg?1562201239" width="287" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>In stark contrast the games in my main cube are a lot shorter. Out of three games it feels like you only get one real game, with the other two being decided by the draw, be it a god draw or a wonky land one. Games are much shorter, a best of three takes little longer than a single game in the homemade cube. There is a lot of going all in, something happens which you probably lose to so you take a risky line that contains your only possible out. These games are some of the most fun. The ones where you felt like you had no agency are frustrating. In my strive to cut out the frustration I also seemed to cut some of the fun as well.</p><p>Basically the average game in my homemade cube is substantially better than that with normal magic. The best games however are absolutely to be found in real Magic. I have slated much about their design process over the years but now I start to peel back the layers of the onion I am able to appreciate where they really do excel. And that is making fun cards and fun and exciting formats. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/c/b/cbe6e7e5-ffea-4c6c-8a42-28e695029f24.jpg?1562938086" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="574" height="400" src="https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/c/b/cbe6e7e5-ffea-4c6c-8a42-28e695029f24.jpg?1562938086" width="287" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>I have been looking very hard at what is fun and what designs result in it, it is hard to distil. There is indeed an article in the works discussing the concept of fun within card design. My main aim is to inject the homemade cube with as much fun as possible. It is fine on all other accounts so that seems like the place to focus. I strongly suspect however that the main way I am going to be able to inject fun into the homemade cube is to make it more poker and less chess. More swingy cards, more wild and wonderful threats etc. I think a lot of fun comes at the cost of balance, certainly if we are talking about fun in terms of unit of fun per unit of time rather than amount of fun per game. The main issue I had with the homemade cube with time. It was just impractical more than anything else. We were all playing best of one so as to get the matches in.</p><p>So, the crossroads I am at is simply the poker direction or the chess direction. Do I carry on with my original design premise and make the most balanced and skill intense format that has long dry chess like games. Or do I veer back towards Wizards and try and create more all in situations, more risk, shorter games, more fun...</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/b/3bdcfae4-86c9-4d8a-bcfe-f0a928ec29db.jpg?1562858706" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="488" height="400" src="https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/b/3bdcfae4-86c9-4d8a-bcfe-f0a928ec29db.jpg?1562858706" width="287" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Ultimately I have overshot and regardless of how far back I ultimately track, some backtracking will be done. The main focus is on the search for fun cards and so I can certainly start that process in the realms of the cards I deem to still be good design and balanced. Perhaps we will get lucky and find a sweet spot. We can reassess then. Certainly I will also be trying a mashup cube at some point with both my main and homemade in action. See if we (Wizards and I) can combine efforts to reach that sweet spot. I certainly prefer my games on the consistent side of things but I think I am much more that way than the average. I am better served by making the homemade cube what my player base want more so than just what I want. And that isn't even taking into account practical considerations like game length. It seems foolish to just make my cube a somewhat copy of things that already exist, but equally, it seems stupid to intentional keep something less fun or less practical for the sake of principle. Regardless, the sweet spot, for me or my playgroup, is going to be somewhere between the main cube and the current state of the homemade cube, and I look forward to the slow meandering journey over the next couple of years trying to find it!</p>Nick Nobodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08217616255450989605noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069223956725485027.post-14073034939279574672024-01-31T16:58:00.000-08:002024-01-31T16:58:52.556-08:00Trample vs Flying<p> </p><p>A mate offhandedly said "trample is the best ability on a threat" the other day, as if that was obvious. He meant of the more reasonable combat abilities rather than things like hexproof and indestructible. Even so, intuitively I value flying more, and this is reasonable when you consider lower cost cards. Trample is a scaling ability and at its best on bigger dorks, being of little to no value as the creature's power tends to zero. Most magic is played at smaller mana costs and so on average flying is worth quite a bit more than trample. As are things like first strike and menace. He was right though. There is a point at which trample is going to be getting more done towards closing out a game than flying is. This is obviously going to have to be a discussion about averages as there will be every context under sun where trample on the smaller dork is better than flying on the bigger etc. That all in mind however, trample can't be chumped, it has to be met with toughness. You can't so easily shut off combat damage triggers and things like lifelink on a dork with trample. Give a trample guy deathtouch and it is about as scary as it gets. So, simple question, on average, at what power value trample better than flying?</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/1/418df457-4aab-486c-b691-41f03ec8a6df.jpg?1562131512" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="488" height="400" src="https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/1/418df457-4aab-486c-b691-41f03ec8a6df.jpg?1562131512" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>It is a bit of a loaded question really as ever is the case in magic. Even if we are averaging across all games and all matchups it is still both format dependant and affected by the toughness. For simplicity we will just consider X/X dorks where toughness equals power. This is somewhat the norm. For a rough rebalance when considering lopsided dorks, I would tend towards flying as toughness gets lower than power. On a 4/3 flying might be worth more than trample, while on a 4/5 it might be the other way round for example. There is also the general consideration that flying has defensive capacities and trample does not. This means in slower decks there is absolutely added utility in those fliers. My mate did however stipulate "threat", which means you are hoping to close the game out with it rather than stall. Threat also implies big, which is how his statement could be so simple and yet so casually accurate. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/d/c/dc95d4a6-ad4b-46c5-8a75-e70102363844.jpg?1598914051" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="574" height="400" src="https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/d/c/dc95d4a6-ad4b-46c5-8a75-e70102363844.jpg?1598914051" width="287" /></a></div><br /><p>(Amazed this Sphinx is the closest I could find to a vanilla 5/5 flier for 6!)</p><p>So, with all those caveats out the way, when is trample better than flying on a threat? I can only speak to the various cubes I have played but it is around the five power mark. On average slightly above I would say, like 5.5 or something meaningless like that. I think however it is the case that a few outliers, specifically against green where you are preferring a flyer to a trampler quite some way up the power curve. As such, I think if you disregard green and then consider again then my estimate of 5.5 drops to somewhere below 5 power at which trample is on average better on your threat. Anyone else with any differing ideas on when the crossover happens, or anything further to add on the matter I would be interested to hear. Beyond that, this is a mercifully short article. I have slapped down an opinion on what I think the number is for that cross over point, which is five or a bit over that if we are allowed fractions, but I can't really justify it or demonstrate it, it is simply a feeling based on experience. </p><p><br /></p>Nick Nobodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08217616255450989605noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069223956725485027.post-49676211395129853002024-01-23T06:52:00.000-08:002024-01-23T06:52:54.276-08:00An Ode to Giant Spider<p><br /></p><p>As we all know power creep has hit magic pretty hard, with creatures being the most notably and consistently affected. Most pre-modern dorks are a joke compared to post modern ones, and most modern dorks are pretty pathetic by the standards of those in the last five years. The list of dorks that have been best, or like top 3 in cube, and then gone on to be cut because they are not good enough is real long. No spell on the other hand has been top 3 in any category then gone on to get cut for lack of power with the possible exception of Fact or Fiction. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/7/7/77636b4c-faea-4bf5-b88c-dd5bb88dc930.jpg?1559591693" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="574" height="400" src="https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/7/7/77636b4c-faea-4bf5-b88c-dd5bb88dc930.jpg?1559591693" width="287" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Now, Giant Spider has never been in the cube, but it has had many things supporting its iconic 2/4 reach body. I have had opportunity to see how this sized body performs over the years and it is frankly kind of baffling. It is somehow a card that has never been good as such, or at least never broken or over powered, while never being bad either. No one is complaining about the egregious Giant Spider! The weird part is that is doesn't seem to get much worse over time. That 2/4 reach body just puts in a good shift of work. I have splashed in limited seal deck just for Giant Spider (M10 or M11 I believe and it was just the ticket!)</p><p>The more I try and understand why the Spider is so static in regards the effects of power creep the more I feel as if it must be because the Spider is like the fulcrum, the bar, the tipping point, of sorts. If you think of the dorks in Alpha that are good it is Serra Angel and Shivan Dragon that jump out. If you think of the creatures that are bad, then it is almost everything else (as threats at least). What to the Angel and Dragon have in common? They trump a Spider. What does everything else do? Match up pretty poorly against Spider. Certainly everything at or below the mana value of Spider in Alpha is at least held by Spider. Move on to Arabian Nights and the best dorks there are Juzzam and Ernham Djinns, both of which can match the Spider. A trend!</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/9/2995530c-16bd-4dcb-99c2-008bba00052c.jpg?1562446149" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="488" height="400" src="https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/9/2995530c-16bd-4dcb-99c2-008bba00052c.jpg?1562446149" width="287" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>It is that really defensive lean that makes Spider such a fair tipping point. It is hard to get past the card and thus provides a bar to get over for offensive threats, but being so defensively weighted itself it does not represent much threat and thus cannot really ever stretch into the realm of broken. It is decent on defence yes, but you can't overly leverage that because the card neither provides tempo nor value. A card like Wall of Omens is a far more useful control tool as it still does some defensive work, and while it is no where near the defensive strength of the Spider, it did cost half the mana and no cards! Giant Spider is a seemingly simple and unassuming card that is yet somehow one of the most enigmatic and well balanced creatures in the whole game. Like the eye of a storm, funny things can happen dead centre. Spider is a card that sees little to no play outside of limited and yet still feels as if it has had relevant effect on the meta. </p><p><br /></p>Nick Nobodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08217616255450989605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069223956725485027.post-10230337649935510772024-01-16T14:46:00.000-08:002024-01-17T03:03:12.142-08:00Homemade Cube Second Print Run Spoilers<p> Hello</p><p><br /></p><p>As promised here are the spoilers for the new cards printed for the Homemade Cube project. I am just posting the new stuff here rather than the cards I rebalanced from the first printing, I'll stick them in a later post. The cards in this post fall into roughly three groups. There are those cards I made to solve problems and these make up the bulk of the cards. There are a lot of meatier and top of curve threats, a bunch of mana sinks, and a load of incentives towards playing mono colour decks in this group. Next up are the experiments where I am toying with mechanics. A lot of these cards were produced as a learning experience rather than with the intent to have them last in the cube. This group includes the catch-up cards and a lot of the cost reduction mechanic cards. Lastly we just have my continuation of designing stuff as it was from the original printing. I slightly upped the complexity and toyed with things like fortifications and adventure cards while trying to incorporate as many aspects of the game and mechanics as possible. The cards are arranged by colour rather than these groups however so you will have to do that bit for yourselves!</p><p>I was rather sloppier with these new cards taking less care to balance them and with less attention given to things like naming and proof reading! Mostly I think this is a response to realizing it is a lot less effort to fix and reprint thins than it is to get it right first time and it all helps with the learning. Most of these new cards will either get reprinted for some tweak or just cut directly. There was a really low hit rate on the experiment cards with almost none of them appealing nor meriting any work "fixing". Of the other cards there is just plenty to tone down and fix. Turns out the best way to test cards is by playing them and the best way to get cards seeing play is to print them and to print them on the powerful side of things. </p><p>Despite the sloppiness of these new cards they are doing the trick and the homemade cube is playing very much like how I wanted it to. The balance is decent and the "problems" I am now fixing with the third iteration of cards are few and small. All in all things are very well on track and going better than expected on all fronts. Here are the new cards we have been playing with and testing for the last seven weeks now roughly. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>New Green</p> <blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" data-id="a/RB7EXG2" lang="en"><a href="//imgur.com/a/RB7EXG2">NewGreen</a></blockquote><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js"></script><p><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #00b0f0; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></p><p>New Red</p><blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" data-id="a/tr0HOyO" lang="en"><a href="//imgur.com/a/tr0HOyO">NewRed</a></blockquote><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js"></script><p><br /></p><p>New Black</p><blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" data-id="a/QAXKa0j" lang="en"><a href="//imgur.com/a/QAXKa0j">NewBlack</a></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>NewBlue</p><blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" data-id="a/ggYAGGq" lang="en"><a href="//imgur.com/a/ggYAGGq">NewBlue</a></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>NewWhite</p><blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" data-id="a/f1v9U0G" lang="en"><a href="//imgur.com/a/f1v9U0G">NewWhite</a></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>Rest Of New Stuff </p><blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" data-id="a/07cxhUe" lang="en"><a href="//imgur.com/a/07cxhUe">RestOfNewStuff</a></blockquote><p><br /></p>Nick Nobodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08217616255450989605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069223956725485027.post-11870281842853467492024-01-11T18:31:00.000-08:002024-01-11T18:31:16.985-08:00Homemade Cube Part 15: Update<p> </p><p>This is basically now just a blog diary of the homemade cube progress and is much more of a thing for me than anyone else. As such, only those that are interested in following the design process of this project are going to get much out of reading more here. I have had my second dose of new cards for coming up a couple of months now. I will upload the full spoilers of this second pile of new cards soon. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_fhqBqRBiUho1k7VwQo-2LGbyhXpZ9dQNYKvowX6PJCwyhsI_DUpgpxopHvawdsD6-4TwZqbBEAnymt6c9QlDn1evOZNlIcU8KYmHgqqKIn-LuifwMMJMicVeeS8KyVhdLsxcaUnh2ZoJuJZge1oDSv0_Q722mtmoCwf0AxLek4ZiKX-2bzEvNwvtjPU/s523/Jungle%20Troll.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_fhqBqRBiUho1k7VwQo-2LGbyhXpZ9dQNYKvowX6PJCwyhsI_DUpgpxopHvawdsD6-4TwZqbBEAnymt6c9QlDn1evOZNlIcU8KYmHgqqKIn-LuifwMMJMicVeeS8KyVhdLsxcaUnh2ZoJuJZge1oDSv0_Q722mtmoCwf0AxLek4ZiKX-2bzEvNwvtjPU/w286-h400/Jungle%20Troll.png" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>We are in the sweet spot time window for testing these new cards and the changed meta, where you have a good idea of the situation but there is still plenty to learn and root out. It is no longer the blind fumbling about stage, but it remains a long way from being any kind of solved as a format. This dose of extra cards was about 200 new card designs aimed at solving issues, and about 200 revisions to old cards, of which nearly half were just aesthetics or grammar. Of the 100 or so rebalanced cards almost all were nerfs. There was the odd buff and the odd rework but for the most part things needed toning down. Turns out I am very good at knowing what I need to add to a card to make it playable, but not so good at knowing where to stop to keep it fair. This is of no surprise given I spent over a decade searching for cards that reach a minimum of power level rather than those not exceeding a maximum. It is also kind of useful as far as problems go. In order to test a card one has to play it. A card too weak is hard to spot and takes a lot longer to do so as you are spotting it by an absence of action. Consequently having not seen much of the card you have no idea why it is bad or by how big of a margin. At least if a card is too good you get a good idea of why quickly, and can then cut it if it is being oppressive. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkuK71e6MZo0kfLlOfnsLHn0fT-uAivKUCYCyRvuNIWn68T1CMUD3SjxrN1ZMefCHTcPwUw6Qsi5r9HfijQE-F44dbYo0_E0hFY9Ef8E0H63gjiyHA4fQomb08my8mIJVTD-yaYgf6HzmOk7RPzz0kpPelvHbUMUxk1vYhHPnkZKM30KTC16SC3zkA2m0/s523/Body%20of%20Work.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkuK71e6MZo0kfLlOfnsLHn0fT-uAivKUCYCyRvuNIWn68T1CMUD3SjxrN1ZMefCHTcPwUw6Qsi5r9HfijQE-F44dbYo0_E0hFY9Ef8E0H63gjiyHA4fQomb08my8mIJVTD-yaYgf6HzmOk7RPzz0kpPelvHbUMUxk1vYhHPnkZKM30KTC16SC3zkA2m0/w286-h400/Body%20of%20Work.png" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>I had managed to get the size of the cube down to about 600 before the new cards hit. Wanting to keep it below 720 cards I did some fairly aggressive culling. Mostly just boring stuff that was fine but well understood. I have strongly felt that a 540 cube was a near optimal size for quite some time now but it turns out this is somewhat specific to the context of a cube using the real pool of magic cards and the bottlenecks and power gradients found therein. If you make a power gradient less steep and widen bottlenecks the size of your cube can expand as much as you like. There are some perks to larger sizes but on the whole I think closer to enough is better than way more, mostly just from a logistical point of view. A smaller cube is an easier shuffle and sort etc. It is also more accessible to newer players. With this in mind I didn't add all the new cards at once and drip fed additions in along side cutting things to keep size down. I am running a little below 680 at present and would like to get that closer to 600 in time but I am not in much of a rush and no longer think it is relevant to aim at 540 as before. Practically I think I am going to try and settle on 612 as that is largest single order print size the company I am using prints to. That means it is going to be nice and convenient to get a whole working cube printed off in one go and will make for a cool gift to a couple of mates.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPm894151DHaiurmkCv3AQdLjCM3Q1JTkZRtYqS0BvixfJOkxoibKSzRMVE9FaLU1apPnFinkcYP6saZc-3ObUWGaZRY3P7b0Kmf3QIfJicOdPBkaLlSQveBEEtWsOcrqPpSDsX6WEm14M5VU4QE6TPN-3wWq-AkSvwKzMArzKFBKcbfuCjHCwB3uF-HI/s523/Oni%20Glutton.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPm894151DHaiurmkCv3AQdLjCM3Q1JTkZRtYqS0BvixfJOkxoibKSzRMVE9FaLU1apPnFinkcYP6saZc-3ObUWGaZRY3P7b0Kmf3QIfJicOdPBkaLlSQveBEEtWsOcrqPpSDsX6WEm14M5VU4QE6TPN-3wWq-AkSvwKzMArzKFBKcbfuCjHCwB3uF-HI/w286-h400/Oni%20Glutton.png" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>The new cards, while a long way off the quality of the first lot, have done the job at solving the issues I was having with the format to begin with. There is now enough top end power and games are ending more consistently within a reasonable time frame. The first go was good, we got closer than I was expecting to the mark, but it was still only about 80% of the way there. This new batch seems to have gotten us to over 90% of where I was hoping to get to. As such the third shot at new cards and reworks/rebalancing should take us to over 95% which I am more than happy calling a finished product. I'll be able to cull to the best 612 once I have had testing on the third release. Any changes from that testing can be implemented on those 612 best and then I can consider it a completed project. The main upshot of all this is that once completed I will stop going on about it quite so much! I will likely do a bit of tinkering and add a few new ideas and tweaks in over the years from that point but it will not be taking all my attentions and will not dominate what ever remains of the blog by that point!</p><p>Testing windows will be increasingly long. The first lot only took a couple of months to identify the issues, and then no more than a couple more to have done enough design work to feel like they might be solved, this time round it is about half the pace, and so I don't expect to be in any place to make the third order until summer this year, and from then it is likely going to be winter again before I am settled on a final 612 and that final load of cards are sufficiently tested. Assuming that prediction is on point it means it will have taken about 18 months to turn over about a thousand cards. Much as that feels impressive given the small scale of the operation, it does not feel repeatable. This first go is milking years of idle thoughts on the matter that subsequent efforts cannot lean on. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDAGwcYqGAatxjp3d4g7WwfxLbdTZ4n6XfI3e27TeriWedSTc1hwqqFqMVgnaLpUGkDjG1dbFCUMbWKWlJoUNKWwXNii1-bqRK35Bq8_MHhvMctpkEvOlfMcrWy4-ZXl0IMqHZ-MR_ZKvEnQYW4ssQstNK4RjzcVRGEIL-_gD2ouovEU6AEzgnH7zFkrA/s523/Spitting%20Hydralisk.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDAGwcYqGAatxjp3d4g7WwfxLbdTZ4n6XfI3e27TeriWedSTc1hwqqFqMVgnaLpUGkDjG1dbFCUMbWKWlJoUNKWwXNii1-bqRK35Bq8_MHhvMctpkEvOlfMcrWy4-ZXl0IMqHZ-MR_ZKvEnQYW4ssQstNK4RjzcVRGEIL-_gD2ouovEU6AEzgnH7zFkrA/w286-h400/Spitting%20Hydralisk.png" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>There is also a good chance the Art Cube project concludes within this time frame and puts it on hold for a while. We are now at about 900 cards (I was aiming at 1000 before we do a pre-print cull, although I now want more like 1200), and I am at around 80% viewed of the artists I was wanting to look through. As such there is every chance this is something I print before the summer. I am not even going to predict how long it might remain in the limelight for. Disregarding the Art set however I think we are looking at three or so months of testing where we are now, a month in limbo while we wait for the third and final big order, then a good six months of testing that.</p><p>There are a bunch of cards I already changed once and have now deemed they need a second change. Typically these have been the more complicated cards like the Class cards which just have more moving parts to understand and balance. I reckon if I can't get a card right in 3 attempts it is probably best to move on. That being said, we are still finding typos from the initial print run, cards that have been played repeatedly. There was an Edict called Edit and a Yavimaya card spelled Yayimaya that we only just spotted last time we played. Both great cards seeing a lot of play and both there since the beginning. I also have some vey literate and pedantic friends who have been pretty eagle eyed at spotting other errors. All that to say I expect these sneaky subtle errors will outlast any balance issues there might be on cards! </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPeoSyaeErjEzsIBOdV7nxAieaYTACs2Xec64Jh8GxnxjUIOwjCgjdvdwpR9hoJ_jmCLoNm1BSOAz9TWgNjtE9oDvj73frON3nvReK1RRy9Jx1wU0gmoVFys_JXgM5JrUJAi18uwINCsYQ2XNc9OqW2i_GyNczj-g4XlNHml0lWXfo8p29rQlaOgC9AaA/s523/Tracker%20Class.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPeoSyaeErjEzsIBOdV7nxAieaYTACs2Xec64Jh8GxnxjUIOwjCgjdvdwpR9hoJ_jmCLoNm1BSOAz9TWgNjtE9oDvj73frON3nvReK1RRy9Jx1wU0gmoVFys_JXgM5JrUJAi18uwINCsYQ2XNc9OqW2i_GyNczj-g4XlNHml0lWXfo8p29rQlaOgC9AaA/w286-h400/Tracker%20Class.png" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>My design objectives have morphed a little now. I was aiming for clean, simple, balanced cards in open design space in the beginning. I wanted to represent every aspect of the game. Now I am far more focused on making every card a card that increases the fun of the format. It was almost over balanced, over fixed, to the point games were too long, a little too taxing on the brain, and a perhaps even a little dry like chess. Effectively I overshot my goal and discovered things I didn't know about Magic and game design. The new Holy Grail of design for me is maximum fun. The first printing got a really nice framework of core set style cards with which to build upon with more fun, interesting, and complicated cards. I am in fact now working on some double sided cards. Much as I find them a bit overly complex and a bit of a phaff to play with it turns out that some of the most beloved cube cards are flip cards. If ones goal is to make the most fun format then it would seem remiss to exclude flip cards. It is mildly concerning as flip cards are more complex, with more moving parts, and I have clearly demonstrated to myself that those are the types of cards I am worst at designing. Further to that I have had almost no experience of playing with battles and so I expect my designs for those to be even more off the mark.</p><p>Speaking of card types I have not played with the fortifications I designed have been interesting. They are like little land equipment. I had about three times as many designed as I actually printed off and tested but I was so unsure about them I kept it to the most appropriate of the bunch to start with, the ones I was more confident of being viable. Mostly those have been a success and with what has been learned from them I hope to bring a couple more into the fold.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAnhv0wthH0Hsa81jExKuAqnFIU4oExJRD_EGO5vutt5KKiY_9qZNtwN-7_rOsGKB42tDWLxkG_c_FCa7XkrdPX25-03wgXgX8DbHV65fehQ65d2wfJveXQNmd_aUjjzzjfwvxlYaLr1fy1OF4ELqISHLh-Tp5X02W2nO8OgtX_ONDGgmW0MSwDiHX13Y/s523/Library.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAnhv0wthH0Hsa81jExKuAqnFIU4oExJRD_EGO5vutt5KKiY_9qZNtwN-7_rOsGKB42tDWLxkG_c_FCa7XkrdPX25-03wgXgX8DbHV65fehQ65d2wfJveXQNmd_aUjjzzjfwvxlYaLr1fy1OF4ELqISHLh-Tp5X02W2nO8OgtX_ONDGgmW0MSwDiHX13Y/w286-h400/Library.png" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Companions are a card type I am working really hard on. They are super fine lines as far as balancing goes but that isn't so much the issue. It is really all about making them fun, something people want to build around. I had both playable and unplayable companions but some of those playable ones did not excite and that was an issue. Companions in a cube setting allow you to tie together some narrower elements. They let you draft a synergy deck more viably as you will always have part of your tool kit available. As such I have tried to lean into this and allow otherwise overly synergy based narrow archetypes to exist as supported by a fun companion. Turns out there is a lot to say about companions and this is already an overly long article so perhaps they get a segment of their own. All sorts of quirky things unique to them crop up, like, a companion can be boring because of how you have to build to include it as well as the effect it has on the game. I managed some of both of those! I also managed to make some companions that support the correct cool narrow archetype in a colour pair but then failed to correctly offer the required support. I changed the green white companion into an enchantment based one which was great, but then I made it a value tool rather than a reach tool and consequently no one ever played it because it was either no use or total overkill. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWgxUVaopGL6TYc9gOWH0inypAkaCWn3x_1bOzt9S-qjzXj0RwX3nQQ1FtJ5DsKYX7hH_hCe3vWTzfi4G6jatIA9lAtYZQK7YylPSSCQ5QQZAtV8Wq4mC26lXdNiDwghBppn6mthTGcy0QQtfn4_jqc4tygj9gPGhghTVHEksvJXdE95GtpjyJGlr27bE/s523/Felicity%20Flick.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWgxUVaopGL6TYc9gOWH0inypAkaCWn3x_1bOzt9S-qjzXj0RwX3nQQ1FtJ5DsKYX7hH_hCe3vWTzfi4G6jatIA9lAtYZQK7YylPSSCQ5QQZAtV8Wq4mC26lXdNiDwghBppn6mthTGcy0QQtfn4_jqc4tygj9gPGhghTVHEksvJXdE95GtpjyJGlr27bE/w286-h400/Felicity%20Flick.png" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>As far as the meta goes, I am quite happy with it. I would call it a format of Anthems and Wraths as they seem to be the two effects that dominate when trying to pin point the cause of a win. There are still areas to improve upon but I would no longer say there are problems that need to be fixed, which is probably a big part of why the testing and revision phase is slowing up, there is less urgency. </p><p>Control is a little stronger than I would like but it isn't dominating. The format could use a few more things that are awkward to control, and that can then lead to a victory. I have plenty of the former but it isn't getting the job done quite so well as it is rarely also the latter. Planeswalkers are no longer busted but they are still generally among the top end of the power range. Decks that are slower and more controlling are best placed to leverage them, as well as the Wraths, which in turn trump the anthem based builds, and that is all feeding into this mild imbalance. I also gave blue a bit too much meat for the board, a few too many efficient dorks with a lot of stats. This let blue really leverage its control cards and throw its weight around. The colour really needs the limitation of being a bit thin and outclassed on the board. Blue was the weakest colour prior to the second printing, now it is the second strongest. Luckily it is not out by much at all, and by less than my normal cubes are typically too! </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilVeaarTjn6B8WjA3QwKlAtskwdENbtx2A2NJJDg6KZXNpVWzmaU2oXXCsPtOWYx5_IGkyPViFxWXhZ8wt5PJuEN4MNJJjUhE4nYjB3rn8f1y5nprduTb62c1xkkrIXVwZLrCxpHUsRkvYrOj8chECuVbE_AtHtSqZOXApTVswmJMVTQd8kLG0qTZGS3w/s523/Homelands%20Trumpet.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilVeaarTjn6B8WjA3QwKlAtskwdENbtx2A2NJJDg6KZXNpVWzmaU2oXXCsPtOWYx5_IGkyPViFxWXhZ8wt5PJuEN4MNJJjUhE4nYjB3rn8f1y5nprduTb62c1xkkrIXVwZLrCxpHUsRkvYrOj8chECuVbE_AtHtSqZOXApTVswmJMVTQd8kLG0qTZGS3w/w286-h400/Homelands%20Trumpet.png" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>The card draw side of things is very much where I want it to be. It is hard to run out of stuff to spend your mana on in most decks which is precisely what I was hoping for. Moving beyond the specifics of Wraths and Anthems there is a really obvious correlation between winning and mana development. There is high demand on the mana rocks and ramp, with green likely being the best performing colour, simply because access to more mana over time has strongly tended towards winning. Most decks are making most of their land drops too, all the way past turn six. The sub 16 land format I predicted has not come to pass but it is not too far off. If the threats were as they are in the normal cube but had the support and value mine offers then it might well be a 14/15 land format. The thing is that with games going longer and good value on offer, even the cheaper and more aggressive decks wish to carry on deploying land for quite some time. It feeds off itself as well. The more value you have, clues to crack etc, the more lands you want to deploy to do so, and in doing so, you draw more cards and with them more lands thus fuelling those extra drops. A 16 land deck in my cube typically feels like a 19 land deck in my normal cube in terms of being able to drop a land consistently each turn well past the midgame. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7UuISTfCRzml-o2JnvcMXImOlkpbUTsat-b0SxKoX43VAcM5k-CUzMXpFvLg_3mEP7GFdlN0BO2vR9bJfqnksMXL9GRR5xDJ7lWSqDu2bDW3HcE07_3hwfe2SKbr3WPRXgK651x3rZdFJFe6ySFFrRW_ZKh6EtEkVtw9Zi558hceVlG_Va9OyFdhYmBw/s523/Wooden%20Sphere.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7UuISTfCRzml-o2JnvcMXImOlkpbUTsat-b0SxKoX43VAcM5k-CUzMXpFvLg_3mEP7GFdlN0BO2vR9bJfqnksMXL9GRR5xDJ7lWSqDu2bDW3HcE07_3hwfe2SKbr3WPRXgK651x3rZdFJFe6ySFFrRW_ZKh6EtEkVtw9Zi558hceVlG_Va9OyFdhYmBw/w286-h400/Wooden%20Sphere.png" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Much as the new injection of cards solved the teething problems I was finding with the format it is very noticeably lower quality in terms of design. I spend ages preening through the cards in the first release and tried to make it as near perfect as I could. By the time the second lot were out I appreciated how easy it will be to amend mistakes, and how often I would likely be making more cards and really lowered the bar on my output. I was happy just churning out cards I knew were off on power level or a bit sloppy on design because I wanted to test them, see quite how out they are and the effects that had. You can learn more from a mistake after all!</p><p>A lot of the top end I made to ease that bottleneck was a little pushed, as was a lot of the stuff aimed at boosting mono coloured strategies. The latter has not proved a problem with the cards being fun and well received and bringing the mono decks to roughly where we want them. They were rather underperforming before hand. The mana sinks all over performed as well but this was down to my failing to appreciate game length difference. If things speed up a little such cards will cease to be issues and so I don't feel presently like I need to directly address them.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj50gBOljh4EFDIYVB8VXOpfQD1SKd5SlxctHLRkXWJNFX9nBzsyztTAg25Nl5tLyBZJp1SzYKAjuB5qK65LxTJ4QSKEhLxodD8SYdIpbJeq7ZPpRZZ9Srb5GwND49ESGfXxLP9SVO5FeXd4yDvZCOHV0axhnm7fm6hyphenhyphen-qaQGcgX2Ok-GDISVjikhUylwg/s523/Neptune.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj50gBOljh4EFDIYVB8VXOpfQD1SKd5SlxctHLRkXWJNFX9nBzsyztTAg25Nl5tLyBZJp1SzYKAjuB5qK65LxTJ4QSKEhLxodD8SYdIpbJeq7ZPpRZZ9Srb5GwND49ESGfXxLP9SVO5FeXd4yDvZCOHV0axhnm7fm6hyphenhyphen-qaQGcgX2Ok-GDISVjikhUylwg/w286-h400/Neptune.png" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>A bunch of the new cards are just not playing all that well. The catch-up mechanic doesn't feel nice and is a bit confusing. Some of the more pushed cards have been nearing oppressive on occasion on the old power level side of things. The heavy handed "fixes" didn't have the desired affect at all such as the sparkhunter cards as a knee-jerk reaction to the initial potency of the walkers. Going forward I will take a much more gentle and gradual approach to solving issues and I will tackle these problems at both ends at one rather than just hitting the one end real hard and hoping it works out! Overall I expect only about 20-25% of the new designs to remain in the finished cube which is a really low take up. This is especially impressive given how clearly the power level had raised between the two sets of cards. Despite having complained about power creep for so long I immediately went and did it myself and worse! Luckily I am still in the testing phase and can rein in the things that went too far. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY6QuD3eTTd6_wE1ITPHvTJ7SmFRHIsXNtVYGUxF1RHuwGTmQpsg-ieetrk8Es482zqxib23oB_PNhk98qzk9c7ZyceywuCGj7kdBT7v1OmXmbknKNOlJb01oCpb7ifxpUo9jvvx0lnBe2pHshiZEiCOSVbrTbZvSIiSu3RsQV8T-Z1l3nSJQERIzVR5g/s523/Courser%20of%20the%20Immortal%20Sun.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY6QuD3eTTd6_wE1ITPHvTJ7SmFRHIsXNtVYGUxF1RHuwGTmQpsg-ieetrk8Es482zqxib23oB_PNhk98qzk9c7ZyceywuCGj7kdBT7v1OmXmbknKNOlJb01oCpb7ifxpUo9jvvx0lnBe2pHshiZEiCOSVbrTbZvSIiSu3RsQV8T-Z1l3nSJQERIzVR5g/w286-h400/Courser%20of%20the%20Immortal%20Sun.png" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>The main takeaway here is that things are going well, the project is really fun, much more illuminating that I had anticipated, being enjoyed by my whole group and not just me, and likely looking to be the main way we cube going forwards. Despite the relatively sloppy, careless and rushed second batch of cards and their low take-up rate they have done the required job and we are very happy playing a format with no issues and that we all have rather more agency than before to improve as we see fit.</p><p><br /></p>Nick Nobodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08217616255450989605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069223956725485027.post-20782375812794172712023-12-29T07:27:00.000-08:002023-12-29T07:27:01.425-08:00Overpowered or Undersupplied<p> </p><p>When a card in a format is getting near ubiquitous play it means one of two things. Most would just go with the assumption that the card is simply high powered, which is often the case. The other possibility however is that there are not enough alternatives for the effect the card offers in the format. The card is undersupplied rather than over powered. Decks need an array of tools. Deck construction is not just a case of putting the most powerful cards together, nor is it even doing that with mana colour and curve considerations taken into account. You need an appropriate amount of interaction and threats, varying in degree based on the type of deck. You may also need other tools to facilitate what is going on in your specific build. In a typical cube deck I will have some space allocated to consistency, that of card selection and ensuring I have enough mana, and of the right colours. I will have some slots dedicated to value generation too, all on top of the classic removal and dork understandings of interaction and threats. I might then also have a deck trying to make use of the graveyard and as such I will be trying to hit a certain number of loot, mill, and discard effects to support that. As you can probably imagine, this need of certain tools is more pronounced in the more constructed settings of Magic but it is still relevant in cube.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/e/0/e01a59e7-bde1-4150-bb4f-a19d769764f2.jpg?1592710616" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="574" height="320" src="https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/e/0/e01a59e7-bde1-4150-bb4f-a19d769764f2.jpg?1592710616" width="230" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>As a cube curator over the years I have always tried to provide the options on cards that people seem to like. There was a time, long long ago, where consistently all of the one mana card quality spells on offer would get played. This was when I was just packing the premium ones commonly found in legacy. As such I added in Opt and immediately it saw ubiquitous play. So in went Sleight of Hand and it too was almost never left out. Finally we got to Portent (long long before Consider was printed). Portent got enough play to stay in the cube but it was also to be seen sat in sideboards. Not only was Potent not receiving the near ubiquitous play that had hitherto been seen in all those blue one mana card quality spells, but I was starting to finally see the occasional Sleight of Hand, Serum Visions and Opt left out of lists as well. Prior to the addition of Portent the demand for card quality was not met. Simply by helping to meet the demand the addition of Portent saw more powerful cards than it getting less action. </p><p>This is because in a draft you might pick up that Portent early knowing you will want a couple of cards like that in your deck. Later when offered that slight upgrade you might choose to pick a different card all together, where as if you didn't already have something in that Portent slot you would be snapping up that Sleight of Hand or whatever it happens to be. Going from an OK card to a good card is a minor upgrade to a deck while going from nothing at all to that good card is a rather more significant one. As such, the opportunity cost of not taking that Sleight of Hand is so much reduced that alternatives appeal more. This is the ideal balance point in a format. You want your weakest tool to be playable, if it is too weak to see play then it is adding nothing to the format. Ideally you want your weakest tool to be sufficiently playable so as to reduce the demand on other cards in its class. This then lets you properly assess the demand for a card based on power. All card quality effects looked equally good based on play stats until I actually met demand for them by the addition of Portent. There after the play stats of the various card quality one drops in blue started to reflect those cards potencies within my cube meta. </p><p>This is all well and good as a mere curator of cubes. You do what you can with the cards at your disposal. You can always trim the size of your cube in some areas as a way to inflate numbers on card types without needed more to be printed. The various bottlenecks in cube are interesting, discovering them in each individual cube and then trying to solve those issues, either as a curator or a player, are good fun parts of cubing. </p><p>When designing cards however, as I have been for my custom cube, you control the supply. From the perspective of the designer I am trying to supply the natural demand for these various effects. I want just enough of the effects to supply demand and I want as flat a power gradient on those cards as possible, ideally affected by context much more than raw power. I want players to chose between cards based on how they are for the deck rather than because one is just that much better and more powerful than the other. As a player you only need to learn about the relative power levels of cards within formats, the specific context based power levels. As a format designer you want to be much more aware of the supply and demand side of things as well. You need to know roughly what ingredients and in what ratios the main archetypes and colours want in any meta. If you see cards getting too much play and determine they need nerfing rather than being made more abundant you are going to make matters worse.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/0/c/0ce44270-a684-4489-9077-521456e6dfaa.jpg?1687210977" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="574" height="320" src="https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/0/c/0ce44270-a684-4489-9077-521456e6dfaa.jpg?1687210977" width="230" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>The thing that brought all this to the foreground of my attention was the basic land cyclers. With the likes of Lorien Revealed performing incredibly well in constructed formats as well as the others getting a fair old pile of action in one way or another. Power wise all of that cycle are low. I made my own cycles of low power generic land cyclers and they were comfortably my most played spells. To me this really shines a spotlight on an area wildly undersupplied in magic in general. These cards are very useful and do a great job of solving the main inconsistency in magic. They are a long long way off powerful. They are getting play due to a real deficiency of tools that afford consistency without too much cost. </p><p>I moved to five cycles of one mana land cyclers per colour in my 700odd card sized cube with my second printing of cards and finally got to the point where land cyclers were not always making lists. The play rate is still high and the power level is still low, lower than before with most of the original bunch getting a slight nerf, but at least I am meeting demand. One very marked effect of having this wealth of land cyclers in my format is the drop off in demand for other card quality cards, be that looting and scry effects bolted onto cards or dedicated card quality spells. Not a shock, just impressive how noticeable it is and feels. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4khK0nRUa0kDm8RF8mh8rz_AlbHOkl9N1u3WA6XDeJ7VsHQYo_FRXGFLW7X2kT7KEp51qvqgXza-9MHfgaPv0bp8EfWWDXS0lakF6lQtfl48K4yLROKHmjdn3ctOUakcHHt1DphvOckJGLfyvqz-quxo6eAtTJQq6UlFfD1kQRnbnro3s1ag_dXJWJEU/s627/Woodsman%20Spider.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4khK0nRUa0kDm8RF8mh8rz_AlbHOkl9N1u3WA6XDeJ7VsHQYo_FRXGFLW7X2kT7KEp51qvqgXza-9MHfgaPv0bp8EfWWDXS0lakF6lQtfl48K4yLROKHmjdn3ctOUakcHHt1DphvOckJGLfyvqz-quxo6eAtTJQq6UlFfD1kQRnbnro3s1ag_dXJWJEU/s320/Woodsman%20Spider.png" width="230" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>Partly in cube this is down to the cardboard problem I spoke of in a recent article. If I play a Preordain in my deck then one of my cards has no direct affect on my winning of the game. If we just take our whole deck and put all the pieces out on the table and all the cards in our hand, the pure card quality spell does nothing while the Giant Spider forest cycler adds a Giant Spider's worth of power to the proceedings. As the cardboard problem isn't really a problem outside of cube it wasn't adding to the downward pressure on things like Preordain in those places. In cube this double hit of proper land cycler supply and ability to mitigate the cardboard problem has therefor changed the meta rather more significantly. This is always the case when you have two affects both scaling in the same direction, the rate it that much more pronounced and rapid than with the single scaling effect. </p><p>So the main takeaway here is simply that if a card isn't getting play it might be over supply not under powered, and equally, a card getting all the play might be undersupplied and not over powered. It tends to be healthier and safer testing, tinkering and probing the supply side of the issue before going in on the power side of things. Dilution of a problem is my go to first port of call both as a cube curator, and now as a designer too. There is also the case of being able to create demand with power, much akin to the ability to generate demand for things in economics by sufficiently reducing cost. This however is already a plenty long enough article to we will look at the effects on increasing demand with power another time. </p><p><br /></p>Nick Nobodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08217616255450989605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069223956725485027.post-29040645777847060452023-12-16T09:34:00.000-08:002023-12-16T09:34:35.490-08:00The Cardboard Problem<p> </p>Most players think of power just in relation to what a card does and how much it costs to play, and for the most part this is the relevant way to consider the power of a card. We all know intuitively that a Lightning Bolt is a far more powerful card than a Lightning Blast despite the Blast actually being a direct upgrade in effect. Once you disregard mana cost there is only nominal power, which isn't often that useful of a sole measure in magic. What you are in fact dealing with when disregarding costs, is power per card. Power per card is the unit by which we understand the cardboard problem and it could be defined as simply having insufficient power per card within your deck and nothing to do with power per mana, which might well be high. <div><br /><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/6/3/63fec3f9-d399-48e6-84b6-c8410c24c382.jpg?1562054251" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="574" height="320" src="https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/6/3/63fec3f9-d399-48e6-84b6-c8410c24c382.jpg?1562054251" width="230" /></a></div><br /><div><br /><p>Most players will not really have encountered the cardboard problem, or at least not to any sufficient degree to notice it. Three factors contribute to it, library size, format power, and format balance/game length. For constructed and EDH the library size is too big to be relevant, and in limited the power level is too low for it to be relevant. It is only really in some kinds of cube and in 15 card highlander that you can appreciate it. It was also a pretty big deal in Hearthstone where balance was pretty good and deck size was only 30 cards. This is all well and good, but what actually is the cardboard problem? How is it relevant?</p><p>Simply put, the cardboard problem is where you are running out of cards, not in hand, but in your deck, and that is what is deciding the game. It is not even really a decking problem. If you play any of these formats where the cardboard problem can be seen while adding the rule where you don't lose by trying to draw from an empty library, the result is much the same. There becomes a point in many games where you just know you don't have enough gas left in your deck to get the job done. You didn't run out of life, you didn't run out of things to do, you didn't lose to screw, you just didn't have enough overall power to get the job done. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/a/3a86a2ae-aaf3-4d4d-ae06-ec3d4a539550.jpg?1562718786" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="488" height="320" src="https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/a/3a86a2ae-aaf3-4d4d-ae06-ec3d4a539550.jpg?1562718786" width="230" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>So why is this a problem? Surely just add more powerful cards into your deck? Certainly this works to a point, but you start to get all a bit clunky. You need those cyclers and cantrips to smooth out a draw so you don't stumble to a screw or flood early. You need cheaper cards to be involved in the early game, and you really want some sources of card advantage so that as you develop your mana in the mid and late game you are able to cast multiple cheaper spells in a turn. This is all good basic magic. So yes, if you cut out the cheaper cards and draw cards too much it stops being a problem because you lose well before it would come up! Build your cube deck properly, or optimally, however and things can start to get a bit sketchy in a closer longer game. You are now straddling a fine line between early game consistency and keeping pace, without burning through resources recklessly and overly churning through your deck such that you will have enough gas to compete in the long game. In other words consistency and raw nominal power start to compete with each other in your build.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/9/49129453-1fe8-47de-b6aa-5b92d3d74c99.jpg?1702339552" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="488" height="320" src="https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/9/49129453-1fe8-47de-b6aa-5b92d3d74c99.jpg?1702339552" width="230" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>It is easy to see why library size affects this cardboard problem. A more powerful format tends to have more effective means of drawing cards and churning through a deck, it will do these things more quickly, and it will also tend towards having cheaper cards overall, thus commanding more draw effects so as to keep the tap running. Deck size, as with life, only starts to be relevant when it is running out which is why the balance of the meta is relevant. More balance translates to longer games. I avoided saying slower formats as these are more typically corelated with less powerful formats. It is this general lack of balance that I attribute to masking this problem in most cube settings. Relatively few cubes are built primarily for balance and as such the number of games you see that are still close as either player nears the end of their deck is low. And fewer still where both players hit the final quarters of their decks in the same match. </p><p>I was only starting to notice this problem in the last few years of cube. I was opting to play threats instead of value generation. I was cutting down on the filler cards that I was playing but it was minor. Not worth worrying about and easily countered with minor draft and deck building adjustments. Along comes my homemade cube project which is incredibly balanced and full of value and filler cards but deficient in finishers. Something like a quarter of the games are getting to the point where both players have libraries in the single figures size wise. We have been doing a lot of best one one to give you an idea of quite how balanced and long games are! </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/8/3875e753-117a-40b6-9cd2-dd5dfd11a38d.jpg?1562446171" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="488" height="320" src="https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/8/3875e753-117a-40b6-9cd2-dd5dfd11a38d.jpg?1562446171" width="230" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>I thought this might be an issue while designing it and so had a bunch of cards that put things from your graveyard on the bottom of your library but it was a terrible fix in practice. It is like lifegain, you just don't want to invest in it ever. It is not a relevant thing until right at the end of the game and as such you are just way better off spending any resources on being in a better position prior to that. With things like escape and delve kicking about putting cards back into your library is often a drawback as well! The only way to include reshuffle effects is to slap them on for free but this is messy and a bit random. I think I would argue for playing with 50 card decks before relying on that "Wheel of Sun and Moon" strategy to try and solve the problem. So the problem I envisaged is real, and the fix I included for it failed. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/5/55976e4b-718f-44b2-b93d-de5f75dc3bbe.jpg?1562830320" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="488" height="320" src="https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/5/55976e4b-718f-44b2-b93d-de5f75dc3bbe.jpg?1562830320" width="230" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>The other way to approach the problem in a design sense is to speed up the game. You do this with power in a general sense but ideally directed power. Power up the tempo effects, threats, and things that provide reach (or the capacity to close out a game) within your meta. Comically it is exactly that which I have been complaining about WotC doing for a while. But then their formats are not really suffering the cardboard problem so I can still argue that they are over doing it! Regardless, I under did it in my powerful cards and reachy cards that can end games. As such, I designed a whole bunch of extra tempo threats, high nominal power cards, and things that end games, I printed them off and things have improved a bit, but only a bit. Turns out it doesn't change all that much if you do it for both sides. The issue is that my card design overall follows a pattern of avoiding being win more or polar or random and so that inherent balance of card is the problem, not so much the lack of threats or power of them etc. You need wayward, random cards apparently! Blood Moon style hosers, protection and landwalk abilities which are blank in some matchups and unbeatable in others. What I am getting at is that what I think of as "bad design" is a large part of what has kept the cardboard problem away from cube until recently.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/0/c081e5cf-81e2-4afb-a912-8267de29e88d.jpg?1562202493" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="488" height="320" src="https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/0/c081e5cf-81e2-4afb-a912-8267de29e88d.jpg?1562202493" width="230" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>So, what is the upshot of all this? What is the takeaway? I think the big one is that Magic has a cap on it. You cannot infinitely improve in any one area without ultimately starting to incur costs in others. This should obviously be no shock, this is exactly how things work in the real world. As you iron out any perceived flaws (such as inconsistency) you incur new challenges (in this case both game length and the cardboard problem). </p><p>Really now we are getting to the nub of it, because it is not really a problem, it is just a facet of the game. I am just calling it a problem because I have a bias at play. My favourite thing to do in magic is draw cards. Beyond that I like to be doing stuff. I am happy as Larry spinning wheels. Lots of moving parts with little going on is where I am at. These decks are packed full of things like Chromatic Star and Mishra's Bauble, full of cyclers, Preordains, tutors, and raw draw. It all works together in harmony but the power per cards is low. These decks often struggle to win despite getting to do their thing and this is usually due to the cardboard problem. Another solid reason why EDH is so popular! Basically I find increasingly I am having to cut down on these types of cards I enjoy in my decks and consequently in my cubes and this makes me a bit sad. Card design helps a little but I cannot have it all! I think the 50 card library size might be the best fix on offer but as with any fix, it is just extending your buffer, you are not removing a cap. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/8/58c9e9a7-e170-4361-b7d5-22fc0771c489.jpg?1562911386" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="488" height="320" src="https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/8/58c9e9a7-e170-4361-b7d5-22fc0771c489.jpg?1562911386" width="230" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>A large takeaway from this principle, and one all 15 card highlander players are only too aware of, is that card draw spells and effects are themselves capped and have diminishing returns prior to their cap. Over draw is a common mistake players make in cube. Value tools only generate consistent power returns in an infinite library. As with any real library, a finite library yields diminishing returns on value generation.</p><p>It is one of those things you can have some fun applying a bit of maths to. In a 40 card deck you have roughly 32 draws available to you before you have to have achieved a win assuming you have no effects that can recycle used cards back into your deck. Assuming you have no card draw cards, no cyclers, and nothing that thins or mills the deck, then bam, you have a bit over 30 turns to win, lots of time, should be plenty. Start to throw in those other effects however and the potential game length you can fight for quickly shortens. Each sac land is two cards. Each time you cycle it is two cards. A Night's Whisper is three cards down. Each one of these that thins or reduces down the deck brings you closer to the other ones that do it as well. They all scale up with each other. You can directly over do it and mathematically demonstrate that fact. If you know you ideally need 14 turns to win but your average card is actually 2.5 cards from your deck then you simply won't have the stuff to get you there too much of the time. You will be out of stuff before you can win, that or, much more likely, you will be sat slowly losing with stuff in hand you cannot afford to use or that has been somehow already rendered useless. 2.5 might sound like a lot but it really isn't in cube. Many cards wind up being two, and plenty can be a lot more. A Faithless Looting is five, a Fact or Fiction is six. Sure, most decks will win by turn 14 and most won't quite hit the 2.5 cards average but that is just for the average game. You can have well under those numbers but just happen to have a long game and the cardboard problem will scupper you. You really want to minimize the chance of it happening which means shifting the whole centre of the bell curve away from this point, which means being incredibly conservative with "do nothings", card draw and filler in the slower decks. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/f/0fbb1c41-388f-4ff2-af37-ad64a0f4618e.jpg?1562086900" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="488" height="320" src="https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/f/0fbb1c41-388f-4ff2-af37-ad64a0f4618e.jpg?1562086900" width="230" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p>One little aside that I find somewhat mindboggling is that the cardboard problem is sufficiently noticeable in my homemade cube that a one mana Merfolk Looter does not get play. The above card but jsut a blue mana to deploy! The power level in my homemade cube is absolutely lower than unpowered cubes, there is plenty of (non-combo) graveyard synergy, and yet a one mana Looter cannot get play time. A card that is a fine card, but then halved in price! Imagine a Concentrate or a Rampant Growth at half price! A Wrath of God? You get the idea... This means essentially you are saying that committing to a sufficient number of loots to make the Looter worth it in card quality and support terms, incurs too much of a cost in terms of unused card resources to be a wise play. It is a direct casualty of the cardboard problem. I come from a background in magic where the idea that an unanswered turn one Looter not providing ample consistency to reliably win the game hard to comprehend. It is good that we have now reached a point where the game is balanced sufficiently that I don't need to comprehend it, I can experience it first hand!</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p></div></div>Nick Nobodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08217616255450989605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069223956725485027.post-46225139356140000222023-12-02T06:30:00.000-08:002023-12-02T06:30:33.690-08:00Fine Art Lands III<p> </p><p>A while back a mate of mine put a whole load of fine and classic art to a variety of magic lands, basics and commonly used duals. These have proven lovely to use and so he more got done. Now I have near 80 of each of the basics and most of the commonly used cube dual lands, more than enough to support any cube draft. The link below is to the blog post containing the first set of images done a couple of years ago. After that are the Imgur galleries of the various new ones.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://mtgcube.blogspot.com/2021/06/fine-art-lands-ii.html">https://mtgcube.blogspot.com/2021/06/fine-art-lands-ii.html</a></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>The Islands;</p><p>
</p><blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" data-id="a/MFb1U8d" lang="en"><a href="//imgur.com/a/MFb1U8d">Islands</a></blockquote><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js"></script><p></p>
<p><br /></p><p>The Forests;</p><p>
</p><blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" data-id="a/Pdz7KGk" lang="en"><a href="//imgur.com/a/Pdz7KGk">Forests</a></blockquote><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js"></script><p></p>
<p><br /></p><p>The Mountains;</p><p>
</p><blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" data-id="a/5W3clZC" lang="en"><a href="//imgur.com/a/5W3clZC">Mountains</a></blockquote><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js"></script><p></p>
<p><br /></p><p>The Plains;</p><p>
</p><blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" data-id="a/r4T4d1B" lang="en"><a href="//imgur.com/a/r4T4d1B">Plains</a></blockquote><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js"></script><p></p>
<p><br /></p><p>The Swamps;</p><p>
</p><blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" data-id="a/CzA7eQI" lang="en"><a href="//imgur.com/a/CzA7eQI">Swamps</a></blockquote><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js"></script><p></p>
<p><br /></p><p>The Sacs and Triomes;</p><p>
</p><blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" data-id="a/kLjUl1w" lang="en"><a href="//imgur.com/a/kLjUl1w">Duals</a></blockquote><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js"></script><p></p>
<p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js"></script><p></p>Nick Nobodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08217616255450989605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069223956725485027.post-87262464036658488412023-11-24T02:35:00.000-08:002023-11-24T02:35:20.356-08:00An Ode to Cycling<p> </p><p>I would always have put cycling as a top five or ten mechanic if asked about the subject. I suspect on many occasions I will have proffered such opinions unsolicited! I would likely have put more exciting mechanics like flashback or escape above it. I would certainly have slapped the additive mechanics of scry and some kicker style mechanics above it as well. I have held these loose opinions for as long as these mechanics have been things (Just realising I predate cycling in Magic, not just in age, but actually playing, has made me feel real old). It took just one summer of being a Magic designer rather than a Magic player to rate cycling as the clear champion of mechanics. Head and shoulders above the rest. It just does it all. I am now somewhat of the opinion that Magic would be a better game if every single card has cycling 3 or 4 as a basic attribute. Fluctuator would likely need banning but beyond that I think it would be all good! It would do more to help limited and singleton formats than it would constructed formats. It would also do more to help lower powered formats on the whole where the negative implications on spending mana to tread water are that much less. Simply put, two mana lost in standard hurts a lot less than it would in modern. As ever I mostly speak from a cube perspective, which as a limited and singleton format, the addition of more cycling would be greatly received. You could even just slap it on the basic lands and have a significantly improved game. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/2/92078408-e0e4-443e-b0fd-aac0ac651f46.jpg?1562925843" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="488" height="400" src="https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/2/92078408-e0e4-443e-b0fd-aac0ac651f46.jpg?1562925843" width="287" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>So why is cycling so good? Simply put, it fixes any card as far as I can tell. Some kind of cycling can be employed to turn any underpowered, narrow, or conditional card into something you might play. Cycling does this without really adding any power. Indeed, the act of cycling is almost always detrimental in that you gain no net resources while consuming some. Cycling never adds to the ceiling of a card, it never makes it broken. I guess it easily could on some madness cards but in general all you are doing with cycling (assuming some actual cost to do so) is raising the floor of a card. When you cycle a card you effectively forgo the potential power of that card to improve the performance of the deck as a whole. It is like in Star Trek when they divert power to the engine room! It is when colony insects sacrifice themselves for the hive. Cycling a card feels like a sacrifice for the greater good! Pay some small cost and get a reroll on the random. That card is gone but the deck is in better shape going forwards.</p><p>Another reason cycling is great is simply that it is tapping into one of the most fun aspects of magic - that is drawing cards. It is that lottery feeling, that potential gain of fresh new power. I love to draw cards, even when that is costing me cards. Everyone loves drawing cards, it is a big part of where the fun is found in Magic, without it you would be looking at a much drier chess like game. More drawing is roughly translating into more fun!</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/3/83fa36d2-0a60-40a5-a182-a63e1e65b2bd.jpg?1562922861" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="488" height="400" src="https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/3/83fa36d2-0a60-40a5-a182-a63e1e65b2bd.jpg?1562922861" width="287" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>So what are you actually doing to a card when you slap cycling on it? For the sake of argument, lets say a generic two colourless mana to cycle, as was the standard in Urza's block where we first met the mechanic. Basically we have made it a modal card. Our card now has at least two things that it does, one of which is almost always useful. Rare is the game where drawing a card isn't desirable! This addition of a card draw mode makes our card wildly more option dense. We have an extra thing we can do with the card, that we can do at any time. Often cycling is cheaper than casting the card too which further increases the option density of the card simply by making it relevant to consider sooner than it otherwise would. </p><p>There is also some tension to be had with cycling. Once cycled, your card is gone. You can cycle at any time but once you decide to do so that is final. This tension combined with the ongoing option to cycle and the ever changing context of the game at hand results in a nice dynamic and involved feeling. You can't just work out what is right and then shelve it and not reconsider. Continual evaluation is required to play correctly with cycling cards.</p><p>So how does one evaluate cycling on a card? How to tell how much is being added to a card? There are a couple of rules of thumb you can go with. Broadly speaking you want cycling costs at odds with the cost of the spell. Big expensive spells want cheap cycling costs, and while cheap spells don't want expensive cycling costs over small ones, they can afford the larger costs. This is just getting a cards range covered. The drawback of big spells is being useless prior to having the mana for them, and cheap cycling mitigates this perfectly. In a screw you can cycle and dig for land, in a flood you have a big expansive spell to sink a bunch of mana into. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/5/f5b5b9bb-ee9f-4a52-bd74-fd2759c8e3d3.jpg?1604782013" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="488" height="400" src="https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/5/f5b5b9bb-ee9f-4a52-bd74-fd2759c8e3d3.jpg?1604782013" width="287" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>The issue with cheaper spells tends to be low nominal power as the game goes on. Being able to cycle off that ramp card or 2/1 dork is well worth it if you have sufficient average power in your other cards. Late game, when the cheaper spell isn't looking so hot you are far less constrained by mana and far more constrained by nominal power and cards. You are more than happy to pay one or two more mana to cycle away that low impact, low value card in the hope of finding something meaty.</p><p>Cycling is worth more on polar cards. This can be, as discussed, the very expensive and the very cheap cards. It can also be, as only mentioned in passing, those that are narrow in some way, be that conditional, or situational. You want contrast in a modal card for that modal card to really shine. Cycling is a super average ability. It is the average card in your deck! A little worse in fact thanks to having paid the cycling cost to get there. A good contrast is something conditional or situational and their inherent high potential ceiling of power. Your bread and butter cards are not ideal candidates for cycling, you just want to be casting those as much as possible. Cycling on a Searing Spear isn't a very enticing prospect to give the ability to, you are mostly just wanting to cast such things. On a combat trick, or a removal spell with a limited range of targets however, these more conditional and situational cards, they really appreciate the cycling.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/e/0e790851-f0f7-4f1a-80e6-94be649499b6.jpg?1591230467" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="488" height="400" src="https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/e/0e790851-f0f7-4f1a-80e6-94be649499b6.jpg?1591230467" width="287" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>As far as your basic cyclers go I really like either two colourless mana or one coloured mana. One generic mana is a bit much, the card you put that on has to be really useless else the cost of inclusion is simply not enough. Colourless cyclers are incredibly easy cards to splash for as you are never punished too hard for not having the coloured mana available. If you reduce the cycling cost to a single mana it halves the tempo loss on such cards. I do like the single mana cyclers in cube but I like them to be coloured mana to keep things rather more reasonable and contained. Cube is such a powerful format that you cannot afford two mana to cycle until relatively late in the game. This makes a lot of the cycling cards unplayable if you are expecting to have to cycle them more often than not. You just can't afford to be getting clogged up. Ultimately the most rounded cycling cost I found was that shown below. It allowed a card to be a very cheap include in a deck firmly of those colours while remaining a much fairer option to safely act as a splash card. That was a perfect balance for awkward cards like Naturalize. Cards you always want access to in cube, but that often do too little at any given time. I have designed a lot of Disenchants and the only ones I have made playable without making over powered are those, like this, with cycling. If this were just cycling 2 it would mostly see play as a splash card, not having the power or convenience to appeal enough to heavy green players. With cycling of just a green mana this card loses the appeal of being a splashable answer but does start to look great in any green deck due to the low cost of inclusion and high utility. Make it just 1 to cycle and you break the card, you play it anywhere that can find green mana to play it, why wouldn't you? The split cost feels like it opens up the card as much as possible to maximize the overall playability without crossing over that line of being overly convenient. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhQ2G8YolGxL98nAPymPTOJAGs_Egvv-JxQ2EtoOeKBavPGh40PTSCkRz5CSVXEJdj69CV8wFE9rtdJaiUXtOtKNI-y4n-zcVKZFHlwDyMa2PLHZXwfvvdcc_bAEB-_dRPy4Lk2cG1Gn6XQtdug3a3gMEH7iJ23Zn5Dp8QzdONvXM-lvnroYBiI587cxA/s784/Molding.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="784" data-original-width="562" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhQ2G8YolGxL98nAPymPTOJAGs_Egvv-JxQ2EtoOeKBavPGh40PTSCkRz5CSVXEJdj69CV8wFE9rtdJaiUXtOtKNI-y4n-zcVKZFHlwDyMa2PLHZXwfvvdcc_bAEB-_dRPy4Lk2cG1Gn6XQtdug3a3gMEH7iJ23Zn5Dp8QzdONvXM-lvnroYBiI587cxA/w286-h400/Molding.png" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>I have of course just been talking about the very basic cycling upto now. That is the spending of mana to turn your cycling card into the top card of your library. There are plenty of other forms of cycling with their own perks, all of which adding great scope to the mechanic. Simple things like paying life instead of mana as in the case of Street Wraith transforms a card into a whole different beast, one where the cost of doing so can itself be a perk. Then there are those cards that have an effect when cycled, acting like an uncounterable alternate spell. Gempalm incinerator and the like. Then there are those that act like a tutor and cycle for a specific type of thing are also very interesting. Having been around a long time cycling has evolved into many different beasts, most of which are great. I approve of most of these uses provided they are designed well.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/9/0/909ac95c-ee41-482c-8b4d-196fe0d5b3c1.jpg?1592764780" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="574" height="400" src="https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/9/0/909ac95c-ee41-482c-8b4d-196fe0d5b3c1.jpg?1592764780" width="287" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>By far and away the most interesting in terms of design of these cycling variants are the ones that find a basic land. This is almost the perfect Magic card. Like the MDFC lands, but much cleaner, and generally better. They have been a bit of a game changer. The low low power level a card needs to be playable when you have some form of basic land cycling for a colourless mana on the card I think surprised everyone. You are quite close to turning a card into a land that enters tapped when you put landcycling 1 on it. Better in many ways as you get to fill up the bin and you get to pay your 1 mana tax prior to the laying of the land. Being so purely defined as land or gas you have the perfect card in a screw or flood. They are the perfect consistency tool. They do the job you play card quality spells to do but they do so by cutting out that middle man. I hope we continue to see cheap landcycling cards going forwards. Nice low powered cards that just sit there improving games and consistency for everyone. Below is the only other design for a pure Disenchant effect I have managed to make playable and appealing. Where nothing else seemed to work for the card, cycling proffers multiple solutions!</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkgBChz92ZEVCC0aUHRcDsCm68Hgz7yCtPsB8O9l4FxfkTw4ICzPNvcwtLnw5sJ7WEA1XY3N9qTK9y6MXmNe5onOJzcG3FhCGF1yl-doRiAuvbXfCLyPWfA-KkXYsXcI059HiP3HOcm20YTEEZSrFb8UiV5-HhibcvUflSKTwpsxl9S-H-PZ98aTbg6I8/s784/Disempower.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="784" data-original-width="562" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkgBChz92ZEVCC0aUHRcDsCm68Hgz7yCtPsB8O9l4FxfkTw4ICzPNvcwtLnw5sJ7WEA1XY3N9qTK9y6MXmNe5onOJzcG3FhCGF1yl-doRiAuvbXfCLyPWfA-KkXYsXcI059HiP3HOcm20YTEEZSrFb8UiV5-HhibcvUflSKTwpsxl9S-H-PZ98aTbg6I8/w286-h400/Disempower.png" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>So there we have it, the best mechanic in magic. Able to solve every problem and fix every card. I respected it as a player, I adore it as a designer. I love it on lands, I love it when it finds lands. I love it on my big spells, on my small spells, and on my cheeky spells. Cycling is doing some real heavy lifting in helping Magic be the best game it can be!</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Nick Nobodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08217616255450989605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069223956725485027.post-6547416709310230582023-11-17T02:38:00.000-08:002023-11-17T02:38:35.481-08:00Card Reviews<p><br /></p><p>As you can likely tell, I have not done my usual preliminary review for The Lost Caverns of Ixalan nor any of the Doctor Who and Fallout stuff. Nor do I presently plan on doing a little "after the release summary review" as I did for Wilds of Eldraine for any of these releases. I suspect this is the new status quo for other new releases too.</p><p>Spoiler season used to be one of my favourite times. I would get all excited about the new cards and doing a full set review was a great way for me to fully absorb the new stuff. While that excitement has been slowly and slightly waning for many years I finally killed it with my homemade cube project. Losing a bit of interest in something is a far cry from finding something to replace it. Now I have a different way to enjoy Magic more fully again I can't keep enough interest to keep my mind focused or even my eyes open when trying to read new cards. As with anything in life, you need to care to provide motivation.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/b/b/bb142d99-b210-47c8-897c-be62f90d2192.jpg?1674421347" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="574" height="400" src="https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/b/b/bb142d99-b210-47c8-897c-be62f90d2192.jpg?1674421347" width="287" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Much as it feels odd to hang up the gloves on something I have been doing over a decade it is absolutely not something one should force. You need the passion and love to be there to make work not seem like work. I tried to force myself to play and test for Magic events back in 2006 when all the heart wanted to do was play the World of Warcraft. That made things worse and had me off all kinds of magic for several years. I nearly killed my hobby by trying to do things I didn't want to.</p><p>I've no idea on my future with Magic, I presume I will return to various forms of normal cubing at some point, although I have not touched a real Magic card since September when my homemade cube arrived. And even if I do return there is no guarantee I'll be reviewing cards again. I am quite looking forward to letting others take the lead on pioneering cubes. I suspect if I come to update my cube in a few years with all the cards I have missed in my break it will be quite the novel project. I'll be looking for other versions of me to see what cards they are putting in their cubes, following their lead and taking advice rather than handing it out! </p><p>I have been enjoying documenting my progress on the homemade cube projects but obviously that is of incredibly narrow interest. I had assumed much of the views I had received so far on the project was just curiosity from long time readers. I think if that is all I put out it will not take long for those curiosity clicks to dry up. The home made cube posts are already significantly below other kinds of cube content posts on the blog with a Top X list generally getting the most, a new release review being second, and the rest all being a chunk less (but still higher than my latest offerings). Much as I do some general magic theory and stuff like Top X lists I fear that a lot of that will become increasingly less well informed if I am not keeping up with current releases (obviously if I am not reading and reviewing spoilers I am not buying new cards or updating any cube lists). There is no point releasing content for stuff if I don't know what I am talking about and I won't know what I am talking about if I do not have the play experience to back it up.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/4/1/414d3cae-b8cf-4d53-bd6b-1aa83a828ba9.jpg?1562906979" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="574" height="400" src="https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/4/1/414d3cae-b8cf-4d53-bd6b-1aa83a828ba9.jpg?1562906979" width="287" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>With all that said, I have no clue what the long term is going to look like for this blog. The short term will be dominated by my design projects and beyond that only time will tell! Thanks to my readers for the props and civility. The cube community is a good'un. It turns out when you are sufficiently small, and not trying to turn a profit, the internet can still be a lovely place.</p>Nick Nobodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08217616255450989605noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069223956725485027.post-57281000192156597962023-11-12T11:20:00.000-08:002023-11-12T11:20:42.221-08:00Homemade Cube: Solving Problems With Card Design<p><br /></p><p>Long have I been trying to improve the cube meta by adding in cards that I think will best help whatever problem is at hand. Usually this has less than the desired impact because the cards I am using to try and solve problems are inherently low powered cards relative to the cube, else they would likely already be in the cube! When making your own cards for the same situation you can rather more force the issue by making more powerful cards if you so desire. This seems like a bit of a risky endeavour and likely to result in more overall work. I have found a few things I would like to improve in my homemade cube and I have designed a bunch of cards to assist with that. I have not pushed the power but I have tried to ensure the cards will see play, meaning I think they are all above the average power level of the played cards in my homemade cube. </p><p>So what problems am I trying to fix? Planeswalkers were over powered in early testing. Almost all of the ones I designed I have nerfed a little. Further to that I have three direct design strategies aimed at reducing the dominance of planeswalkers, and an indirect general aim that should also help calm them down. The first is simply more evasive cards, especially lower on the curve. Both evasive dorks and those that are already in play make the life of planeswalkers a little trickier.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6iEPIDiaBK3sDOu9zBwpgUzDZPv61DFhpMZqUZpjL_NLzu37idA9HxhPkNg5OvyzLTNgpRVBXSGz-ZMk-gnQ5Pud6fZyPtHd_ZNzAMeGW-tHn8VAyn6xkezUN4lIV0iaM_FbanoDIxug3yn4-__HGrkiCzpb-32zJNUO7wxSs8bHE5rmx_W9nlRK7CXQ/s784/Canopy%20Sentinel.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="784" data-original-width="562" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6iEPIDiaBK3sDOu9zBwpgUzDZPv61DFhpMZqUZpjL_NLzu37idA9HxhPkNg5OvyzLTNgpRVBXSGz-ZMk-gnQ5Pud6fZyPtHd_ZNzAMeGW-tHn8VAyn6xkezUN4lIV0iaM_FbanoDIxug3yn4-__HGrkiCzpb-32zJNUO7wxSs8bHE5rmx_W9nlRK7CXQ/w286-h400/Canopy%20Sentinel.png" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Next up is simply more direct removal. Removal isn't the best answer to a walker in general as they will have always had one activation out of it making it almost always a two for one in their favour. Sure, you will often net a couple of mana but you would much rather be able to kill the walker in combat. That all being said, you would much rather eat that 2 for 1 and have the walker alive just one turn than lose to it over five turns... As such I designed rather more removal capable of hitting walkers. Removal is great at self balancing and so having a little too much is no bad thing, as it presently stands I think the pricier removal that can hit walkers is going to win out over the cheaper creature only stuff but they may not be the case once the other tweaks take effect.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaSiSkkSdBIajRRbz7slnX194TAmph5JJUmuRBAuq8DN9u_cqUpTgL1mfx50hR6Vkz51t9AcFHWeLK73N5nXrbP4jDttVxeOoEHU_uHcNIi90vKUlhFsbJlKgi8ueNGiXWS07t_bj7NTP7dl0qPTFaqJld45bh6K_vKaDjcwqy4rHpgyiWYMSpqzLL6C0/s784/Beckoning%20Grave.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="784" data-original-width="562" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaSiSkkSdBIajRRbz7slnX194TAmph5JJUmuRBAuq8DN9u_cqUpTgL1mfx50hR6Vkz51t9AcFHWeLK73N5nXrbP4jDttVxeOoEHU_uHcNIi90vKUlhFsbJlKgi8ueNGiXWS07t_bj7NTP7dl0qPTFaqJld45bh6K_vKaDjcwqy4rHpgyiWYMSpqzLL6C0/w286-h400/Beckoning%20Grave.png" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>lastly on the targetted planeswalker containment I have a few "sparkhunter" dorks which are absolutely the most directed of all the solutions. They may well be a little too narrow in that they are little more than fine filler when not facing walkers, but become quite impressive when they are. This polarity might make them unplayable, it might instead just have a poor play pattern. Over this kind of solution feels a little too "on the nose" and is an experiment I am somewhat expecting to see fail, or at least not perform in all the required ways to be fully fit for purpose. Returning to my analogy of Magic metagames as eco-systems, a card like this feels like introducing a foreign and ultimately invasive species to tackle a problem. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTs3fHL4g3PqNIVxZaJ6_qF_CB-EmMB7q_nHtTDqm11T_e47N-SEUUuqqbVu3tmGth7fuAE9wbS3MyQieTzJRvQsiCPCR2vVu305EA7QNOI6_FfX0vQTfUjiLhIRYBWBqpAHwBIX7PUZJ4rt0W2gSrvc_VIle9CvSO6ewcsp1UgwTlVq2MoepzZ7Qlxs0/s784/Leitbur%20Zealot.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="784" data-original-width="562" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTs3fHL4g3PqNIVxZaJ6_qF_CB-EmMB7q_nHtTDqm11T_e47N-SEUUuqqbVu3tmGth7fuAE9wbS3MyQieTzJRvQsiCPCR2vVu305EA7QNOI6_FfX0vQTfUjiLhIRYBWBqpAHwBIX7PUZJ4rt0W2gSrvc_VIle9CvSO6ewcsp1UgwTlVq2MoepzZ7Qlxs0/w286-h400/Leitbur%20Zealot.png" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Next up is a pretty simply problem with an even easier fix. I didn't make enough top end. A cube or format is always going to have a bottleneck. A place either lacking in sufficient numbers or power that creates a kind of false demand on those types of card above and beyond what you would expect for any given power level. Essentially it means things like playing Boreal Elf despite it being pretty rubbish, just because there are not enough 1 drop mana dorks in the format. While I complain about Modern Horizons a lot in various ways, they did at least solve the mana dork bottleneck! As for my homemade cube the bottleneck is at the top end, I simply didn't produce enough meaty cards. Almost all the decent on colour cards at four mana and up get played in almost every event as it stands and this means that not only is there clearly a bottleneck there, but quite a severe one. As such I have made quite a lot of bonus top end meat. As with removal, it is absolutely better to overshoot this kind of problem and then trim back. Indeed you will be better informed overall by doing so.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF9rnGWRcIG4Nrso2sChEFOgQHjWrzeUYCUHnmS_alc8gdLoefjvolTk-tA-EpQt-7rm1PkBksDh2RPhZ_WAy64NVNgn6C5IOQbhkDxaYFgvlBjYavw-q7iXViVh88PIJKCTJyvF0CtS2X7JN1J5YY9iV880hqglp7UilqoS9LC6rac_Zl1FJu_k-k7vY/s784/Giant%20Octopus.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="784" data-original-width="562" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF9rnGWRcIG4Nrso2sChEFOgQHjWrzeUYCUHnmS_alc8gdLoefjvolTk-tA-EpQt-7rm1PkBksDh2RPhZ_WAy64NVNgn6C5IOQbhkDxaYFgvlBjYavw-q7iXViVh88PIJKCTJyvF0CtS2X7JN1J5YY9iV880hqglp7UilqoS9LC6rac_Zl1FJu_k-k7vY/w286-h400/Giant%20Octopus.png" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>In a tangential issue we have game length. Not only is my homemade cube lacking in top end power it is deficient in game closing reach. I love a long game but I don't want mostly long games. I also want to win within about three turns of feeling like I am winning. It often is the case that I feel like I am winning and then it takes five or more turns to convert that into an actual win. Just removing the bottleneck on top end meat, threats, and power will do a lot to solve this situation. There is however a type of card that is good at converting advantage into reach or closing power. A card like Overrun for example. These are hard to balance as they have a steep incline from being too narrow to being too generally powerful. Overrun for example wins a lot of games on the spot on the one hand while sitting in hand doing nothing a lot of the time on the other. You want a card less polar in performance than Overrun while retaining its other qualities. And, you want this to be the sort of thing open to all the colours and archetypes. Overrun is both incredibly green and entirely creature focused. That is not a tool we can reasonably use for our blue white control deck! Below is my take on a black card that can do a good job of closing out a game fast when you have established a lead without being a dud when on the back foot. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1m_iSRSN-8B9YOz7t6W0Z18K7cakwKlN2PpR27L8TQ0-ULqLJJPxR0fsNKIYQnnk9eOduJ9Ov0KtlByyGmk4-AIH5-Ag2-oUZEhqku1xIbE625FRzZ3Y-NFSRTeZQRaGunFynmhLK6b06ANWuM8y9fPRsqF2k14PF7qCE0iVl0VoWO_MtQ9ZQclrbHYs/s784/Bone%20Dragon.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="784" data-original-width="562" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1m_iSRSN-8B9YOz7t6W0Z18K7cakwKlN2PpR27L8TQ0-ULqLJJPxR0fsNKIYQnnk9eOduJ9Ov0KtlByyGmk4-AIH5-Ag2-oUZEhqku1xIbE625FRzZ3Y-NFSRTeZQRaGunFynmhLK6b06ANWuM8y9fPRsqF2k14PF7qCE0iVl0VoWO_MtQ9ZQclrbHYs/w286-h400/Bone%20Dragon.png" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Next up we have another simple problem. Mono coloured decks are underperforming. Not a big problem but something I would like to address a little. The more overall balance the better as far as I am concerned and so I would like a mono deck to perform comparably to a 2 or 3 colour one. To give the more single colour based decks a boost I designed two cycles of cards that scale up in potency the more you focus cards and basics from one colour. I think these cards will be playable in relatively even split two colour decks but unexciting. They seem outright bad for 3 or more colours, while importantly, seeming incredibly strong in mono colour decks. Perhaps too strong sadly but this is why we experiment and test! We have a little cycle of cost reducers inspired by the allied colour ones from Invasion block. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCDxgUNBnJrB1Js_DyqM0eqW_obBqjvXqXvr47q9wS8QZ34oyZ1tHGgRXiG4hbn5VIfZMP5diKjWLXVWEEVyaaAYvToyWwEREyd6-r1G8q-BJG6TYEzPds-P5w41NoMm4O_bbWUjDlhHtzJ5NNXYJEh9nqrnTPCTAz2nHB4ByT-diuEzKrDw3SmhFXo6w/s784/Goblin%20Drum%20Quartet.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="784" data-original-width="562" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCDxgUNBnJrB1Js_DyqM0eqW_obBqjvXqXvr47q9wS8QZ34oyZ1tHGgRXiG4hbn5VIfZMP5diKjWLXVWEEVyaaAYvToyWwEREyd6-r1G8q-BJG6TYEzPds-P5w41NoMm4O_bbWUjDlhHtzJ5NNXYJEh9nqrnTPCTAz2nHB4ByT-diuEzKrDw3SmhFXo6w/w286-h400/Goblin%20Drum%20Quartet.png" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Then we have the meatier four drop cycle of creatures inspired by Vernal Bloom that greatly empower mana production. My suspicion is that these cards will be problematic. Utterly broken when you have a mono coloured deck and the mana sinks to pair with it, but really impotent without both. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKtJ3jz6jso0X4jjAmkMYDpjhg8iLlxNHaKHlf36GEGrj5p7YBPY-EF0SXNZ7CrtJsrPPsbF2ew-3JWTSvmgITBrFZv-3pkB8VAudFI8vv2K8Dg-Dhw-9QqufKP2m3t2D2yLU_E8NTzvHhXFFm9FkaVEYIyogpBcingvUSyrq2zSbPAWmM35agxM0Q3x8/s784/Vernal%20Vernon.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="784" data-original-width="562" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKtJ3jz6jso0X4jjAmkMYDpjhg8iLlxNHaKHlf36GEGrj5p7YBPY-EF0SXNZ7CrtJsrPPsbF2ew-3JWTSvmgITBrFZv-3pkB8VAudFI8vv2K8Dg-Dhw-9QqufKP2m3t2D2yLU_E8NTzvHhXFFm9FkaVEYIyogpBcingvUSyrq2zSbPAWmM35agxM0Q3x8/w286-h400/Vernal%20Vernon.png" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>In a calmer attempt to incentivize stacking on type of basic land in a deck I had a cycle of EtB effect four drop dorks that scale in a very colour pie appropriate way.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUkfyM8bDJOA-Zm9Ce3fSXIRPDQBfeyplvdh2zK5Kl0vy7y5rJPgIgaBvxfz_Jmip4tjB29jrDltsRfYQYdwOBJ-r1HrJz0S6yngrKuoJRv6DkA5BtIJ8oOREPrMxZkCERhqe3deO0vqHj-PfkIqDVQc1lAmPbJJWzapRF_VK3UCVczkcLZe34x7iPZJY/s784/Quartermaster.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="784" data-original-width="562" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUkfyM8bDJOA-Zm9Ce3fSXIRPDQBfeyplvdh2zK5Kl0vy7y5rJPgIgaBvxfz_Jmip4tjB29jrDltsRfYQYdwOBJ-r1HrJz0S6yngrKuoJRv6DkA5BtIJ8oOREPrMxZkCERhqe3deO0vqHj-PfkIqDVQc1lAmPbJJWzapRF_VK3UCVczkcLZe34x7iPZJY/w286-h400/Quartermaster.png" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>As far as mono coloured incentives go, you can produce cards that scale with the quantity of cards in that colour or the corresponding lands as have shown in the last few concepts. You can also just make really powerful cards with a really high intensity of coloured mana pips. We are talking Benalish Marsh, Necropotence, Cryptic Command, and Goblin Chain-Whirler. These sorts of cards are well above the curve power wise but cannot just be played. You need to be mono or heavily in that colour. It works but I am not a huge fan. It is prohibitive design, you are just printing narrow cards, balanced with over the top power. It is hard to make those fun for all players. And with cards being narrow you cannot have many at all in a cube before problems arise. I have no more than one per colour in my main cube and I would prefer less for my homemade cube if at all possible! As such I leant on the adamant mechanic and produced cards that were playable without adamant, but really quite good with. I used some design tricks to try and keep this disparity in check. Generally I supplemented tempo with value or value with tempo so as to not overload on one aspect. I also produced more reactive answer cards, which tend to be far less oppressive when a little over tuned. Speaking of over tuned, here is the red adamant card that should perhaps not target players or only investigate. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNcvqCTxMEezbx2MFeAvTavdLInLzmcJ9q70bz6DSAZ2FbQE9gL_XturgiCZ4hOO523hkz-ykGoJa70WPKN2HnJ7NZ3CZd_fhzPYo-YFcF3yr0DQ817CV7f_aawri30vBIerqLz-PMEXMG09ZPoJGGJblIKNDSgW83JZUQDJjJmUcvpeAnEi2vGOWRfQU/s784/Engulf.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="784" data-original-width="562" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNcvqCTxMEezbx2MFeAvTavdLInLzmcJ9q70bz6DSAZ2FbQE9gL_XturgiCZ4hOO523hkz-ykGoJa70WPKN2HnJ7NZ3CZd_fhzPYo-YFcF3yr0DQ817CV7f_aawri30vBIerqLz-PMEXMG09ZPoJGGJblIKNDSgW83JZUQDJjJmUcvpeAnEi2vGOWRfQU/w286-h400/Engulf.png" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Lastly I tried to solve an age old issue in all of magic. Indeed (said smugly), in my homemade cube it seems like far less of an issue than in other formats! That is the advantage gained by going first. You can do a bit to address it with card design but it is somewhat fundamental to the way the game works. As such I went for a more mechanically based approach. I am intrigued to see how it works out but in practice I think the idea is too cumbersome to be a realistic and practical means of improving the game. For my cube and my playgroups, sure, perhaps it will work out and be a good thing but overall it is not a serious suggestion. I do not like the way it breaks the illusion of the game by referring to out of game things. I also don't like how generally wordy these cards are. Certainly worth a little experiment but I am anticipating these not quite being the ticket. I had two main groups, a bunch of cars that get a mana reduction.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKezayK8CQzvYwbu20EbmLww0hkvb3g78TKxFP7_yHc6TGTqRX4euef_NX1sBZXekpS4pABsvsxSW95WxnjO95_ob9UyAzNw6nS4V7joi04V4ezzX7-OfAiMAM3wZEkfV04gqXbDwKBRpyTEFegLPZoqFeAtLDMMjU1_2YQ7dVMgPgILD6sc4QeFL6EwI/s784/Fatality.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="784" data-original-width="562" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKezayK8CQzvYwbu20EbmLww0hkvb3g78TKxFP7_yHc6TGTqRX4euef_NX1sBZXekpS4pABsvsxSW95WxnjO95_ob9UyAzNw6nS4V7joi04V4ezzX7-OfAiMAM3wZEkfV04gqXbDwKBRpyTEFegLPZoqFeAtLDMMjU1_2YQ7dVMgPgILD6sc4QeFL6EwI/w286-h400/Fatality.png" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Then there is also a cycle of mana producers that enter untapped when you trigger your catch-up. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHvzNBTr1lwvtYWkjBopSunav2rMe_ocN1CpkrFU4Jl-pwFM8k2Pze7Wzbnm-d-K_RplnwReBBDWfIP1PZRVZibm7pt_BEHoMZXWOGMG0tnjSn1-F_L0i_nReM_uT9cr-3jEqq485eqeK8e0CU8SUOhv-DxR70yQsHTY0vTr78RmdT7nlk6E1jFdPvehY/s784/Lillie%20Pond.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="784" data-original-width="562" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHvzNBTr1lwvtYWkjBopSunav2rMe_ocN1CpkrFU4Jl-pwFM8k2Pze7Wzbnm-d-K_RplnwReBBDWfIP1PZRVZibm7pt_BEHoMZXWOGMG0tnjSn1-F_L0i_nReM_uT9cr-3jEqq485eqeK8e0CU8SUOhv-DxR70yQsHTY0vTr78RmdT7nlk6E1jFdPvehY/w286-h400/Lillie%20Pond.png" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>That really is just a little teaser. It turns out that I sped up in creativity once the first batch was sent to the printers and then started to actually get tested. An experimentally backed up deficit or problem apparently gets my creativity fired up! There was a little design focus on mana sinks, a focus on some bigger spells, some more cycling just because it is so great, some more disenchant effects, a whole load of playing around with adventures and fortifications, a whole pile of your basic green ramp, red burn, blue counters etc, some bigger energy payoff and supply cards, and just a pile of random stuff made along the way! The bulk is actually just top end meaty threat cards to ease that bottleneck. I have now over 200 new cards ready to send of to the printers along with about the same again in reprints of existing cards for one reason or another. Given how close the alpha test was to what I was aiming at I have fairly high hopes for the resulting format. I was a little worried the format might be way too imbalanced or just dull and not fun to play before we properly started playing it. Now that is not a concern and I am all in on trying to improve and optimize it. The only downside of all this is I haven't even read the spoilers for the latest Ixalan set, nor that Dr Who stuff. I am just having more fun, while retaining more control, doing the homemade stuff. I'll get the full spoilers for the new cards up at some point soon and then try and figure out a good way to get a cube list presented. I think I can do it in cube cobra with custom card art but it might be a chore not worth embarking upon (yet). </p><p><br /></p>Nick Nobodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08217616255450989605noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069223956725485027.post-20246269544201214572023-11-05T07:03:00.000-08:002023-11-05T07:03:35.133-08:00Top Down Design - The Art Set<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVAI9R4ZbXGvET-WXULyByO9s0UbsE8XYbBdODre-cbpYkIv33snFl-njUKCLkOK1VBMdgaw3o9JKTlfhf1qGC6dQGLRKLN5An8qfWw-HYA02thk6YQhuUNMdILh5JecZBFh-45MRSVPKO9Q64OroUIPz-kKI_NsQVVoygvQBChAP-sUzbVkqOqd20w3c/s784/Departure%20of%20the%20Winged%20Ship.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="784" data-original-width="562" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVAI9R4ZbXGvET-WXULyByO9s0UbsE8XYbBdODre-cbpYkIv33snFl-njUKCLkOK1VBMdgaw3o9JKTlfhf1qGC6dQGLRKLN5An8qfWw-HYA02thk6YQhuUNMdILh5JecZBFh-45MRSVPKO9Q64OroUIPz-kKI_NsQVVoygvQBChAP-sUzbVkqOqd20w3c/w286-h400/Departure%20of%20the%20Winged%20Ship.png" width="286" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><div>I have referenced a mysterious new design project a couple of times recently in posts. While this project was inspired by the homemade cube, conceptually it predates it. This project is a cube or set that is based on real life artwork, and is is about as opposite as can be from the homemade cube. When I was first gifted the fine art set of lands in 2020 or so my friend and I looked at trying to put art to the nonland cards as well. It was off somehow. We accepted it didn't work, enjoyed the lands that did work, and moved on with our lives. Move on a few years and I am doing the homemade cube in which I learned much, and one of those things was about what makes a card design work. When a card is right it just clicks into place somehow. Like a well engineered plastic gizmo. It goes from being just an idea in your head to a reality, as if it had always existed. A card needs more than good mechanics, it needs to feel right. You get this by having the right harmony between name, mechanics, and art. You sort of want a lead from one of those three and the others to support it without over complicating matters. When done well by the designer a player can pre-empt what the card is all about at a glance because everything is where it should be. It is a kind of ergonomics of design. When done badly it creates a kind of unsettling dissonance instead. This is where the attempt to use classic art on existing magic cards failed so hard. It was like forcing square pegs into round holes. The art was so strong it had to lead but you can't lead anything when it is already fixed. The key to working with external artworks is to let them lead the way in design. This is where the top down design aspect is coming in. You look at the picture and then try to frame what it is saying or evoking, but in the language of Magic mechanics. It is really fun and leads to some wacky cards. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1VWcLRKTubOMujK15OyEgyIslwaBaq9-Gc7Tkypq-WzLPA3tzk_TREI8jUJj9LoD6jSW1-TpIvKmDWvsODMamDiZIgGtE-qT7pgycgG4B0yXb_tQsWUrkVVcB1W2OXIue71eQJL5ihHB8aQSvv62jsyGIfLcYghesAwg6T-6b_5faQd9sCq_r-Lhe-4w/s784/Windmill%20at%20Zandaam.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="784" data-original-width="562" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1VWcLRKTubOMujK15OyEgyIslwaBaq9-Gc7Tkypq-WzLPA3tzk_TREI8jUJj9LoD6jSW1-TpIvKmDWvsODMamDiZIgGtE-qT7pgycgG4B0yXb_tQsWUrkVVcB1W2OXIue71eQJL5ihHB8aQSvv62jsyGIfLcYghesAwg6T-6b_5faQd9sCq_r-Lhe-4w/w286-h400/Windmill%20at%20Zandaam.png" width="286" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p>This is a stark contrast in approach to how I did the homemade cube. As I had several parameters I was trying to adhere to I was very directed in my design choices. I had a clearly defined and mapped out blueprint for what I was aiming at thanks to my years honing of my existing cube. I was simply trying to recreate that while trying to solve what I saw as issues with it, but doing so with clean and simple cards, in as true a tribute to magic as possible. I knew all my ratios well, both in terms of mana curve and card/effect types. I knew how much ramp and burn and countermagic I wanted. I also knew what kind of power level to be pegging this all at. Much of the design process was knowing what I needed more of, and then looking for the gaps in the design space for that, and then filling them. The art and names were then selected to work for the mechanics. It was a mechanic lead process for the most part. It felt like a construction project. I laid the foundations, I built up a structure or framework, then I fixed things around that framework, and finally finished it all off smoothing over the dodgy bits and filling in the gaps! It was build up and built to specification. There are a lot of perks to this bottom up style of design but I suspect it is a bit drier and stagnant in end product. It was at the engineering end of the creative spectrum rather than the pure artistic. The most interesting cards, those that are most liked by the players, tended to be those few in the homemade cube that were designed top down, as inspired by something non-mechanic based, be it a name I thought of, an artwork I stumbled upon and liked (the most common of the routes to a top down design in the homemade cube project), a tribute I wanted to make, or just some random concept I had. If the cards people like most are those that are top down rather than bottom up then perhaps it is a good idea to design a cube with that method taking the lead.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZOKm78Gfb9FZ_YGsKIfGnaf_0z-9tIF2BP1Sv-4-ZkjK2kuR1xSnARNBkwtsPzBGsroj_8rQ_Y_a8J-1oIebLo9VHRyyr9XMABRyGI7QYWi33t9zvqP3aUElVZw__til54cCv6-iHzb4E7oBMDjTC2lqpZ4O-_aoeagNBPTxWrhmZ58gRNmp8LpXMUMY/s784/The%20Potato%20Eaters.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="784" data-original-width="562" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZOKm78Gfb9FZ_YGsKIfGnaf_0z-9tIF2BP1Sv-4-ZkjK2kuR1xSnARNBkwtsPzBGsroj_8rQ_Y_a8J-1oIebLo9VHRyyr9XMABRyGI7QYWi33t9zvqP3aUElVZw__til54cCv6-iHzb4E7oBMDjTC2lqpZ4O-_aoeagNBPTxWrhmZ58gRNmp8LpXMUMY/w286-h400/The%20Potato%20Eaters.png" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Letting fancy and the creative inspiration lead the way results in a very wonky looking set of cards. The curves are off, the ratios are off. It might be fine, it might be the most fun way to play it, but that seems unlikely. It seems like the further you stray from sensible and established balance the more likely things are to becomes unplayable. Our solution to this problem is to wildly overdesign cards for the set and then be somewhat ruthless in culling down to a smaller number of cards with sensible looking card balances. This can be done from a gameplay and mechanical point of view and serve the role that having top down design did in the homemade cube, but without getting in the way of the design process on an individual card level. This will mean a lot of beloved cards, and mechanical groupings will likely not make the final release, but that is the cost of having ones cake and eating it. Creating a set out of a much greater pool of cards feels more like a sculpture. The set is already in there somewhere, you just have to slowly chip away at the right bits to reveal the set contained within. The engineering project building from the ground up for the homemade cube, and the slowly revealing sculpture that is the art set. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs-hW0ZBAq1oEAaYwOVD9dx8cHjfCkuAAe2UKUc7Zwf0AUc6sBEdYkm3YoIylNvRRRDToGjiB0lN4TY5kOpaCQ2QnnB77QmzIlHgh_fXpOLro6r55j6W9-YH9rTfNUwSGSiS6o6Aw2AfmCuYJ7QZUDkvhGAlF99-Ufz08ELuFEiETPwkVHAcQZeIDuG_o/s784/The%20Leap%20of%20the%20Rabbit.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="784" data-original-width="562" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs-hW0ZBAq1oEAaYwOVD9dx8cHjfCkuAAe2UKUc7Zwf0AUc6sBEdYkm3YoIylNvRRRDToGjiB0lN4TY5kOpaCQ2QnnB77QmzIlHgh_fXpOLro6r55j6W9-YH9rTfNUwSGSiS6o6Aw2AfmCuYJ7QZUDkvhGAlF99-Ufz08ELuFEiETPwkVHAcQZeIDuG_o/w286-h400/The%20Leap%20of%20the%20Rabbit.png" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>The plan is to make around 1000 cards and then start the chipping away process. Plans are all well and good but I expect to wildly over shoot on the front end while also jumping the gun on the back end too! In the back of my mind I am already earmarking a bunch of the cards for things I expect to cut or that I expect will be retained. We are also over 500 cards made already and I feel like I have barely scratched the surface of what the art world has to offer! </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2ijnj-ySBbufzL-P51dgNq4ElQVvNeyJ5GTozYmhAhfExMmpveqVm1cD9XjDbWgIluO_y2OlRchmyG4L2hJnlsy5Gr8frq7e6TT8V_fF_g9-j5MgWg-QS-LvsQapviziD6zEWNZhdV80OHVP2VTVWU0pMjALb-l6EcoKU1fLDC0aVgdmJDF6QNA0fLOc/s784/Guernica.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="784" data-original-width="562" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2ijnj-ySBbufzL-P51dgNq4ElQVvNeyJ5GTozYmhAhfExMmpveqVm1cD9XjDbWgIluO_y2OlRchmyG4L2hJnlsy5Gr8frq7e6TT8V_fF_g9-j5MgWg-QS-LvsQapviziD6zEWNZhdV80OHVP2VTVWU0pMjALb-l6EcoKU1fLDC0aVgdmJDF6QNA0fLOc/w286-h400/Guernica.png" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>One of my goals with the homemade cube was for simple, clean, and elegant cards. This affected a lot of design choices. I was aiming to keep text down. I wanted cards doing fewer things by themselves and so I set a limit of three things per card maximum. There were several cards I let stray outside of the power level I would have liked simply because it let me keep the text on the card that much shorter and simpler. This was a good choice and a really good discipline to get into that I would fully recommend to anyone on their first design project. If nothing else, it means you have more card space to work with when it comes to the inevitable re-tuning of cards required once some testing gets underway. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxSYK3Q08_9KDKbnSnbDtgt3zrOXP1UUghQeMe_JCGku6wJsBnuPvPPVwISi0AVeI3yyfToUAFMwDkY7iCUnJDroiDePTpKtEsBuoEtWMGduXPONOVUHoALn4OK1iUxU9ABSVuB4zjdUOcAquTizbvt03xGtmMT0WQ_0IBYyFKCct8k_9e4AjM31z_nv0/s784/The%20Son%20of%20Man.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="784" data-original-width="562" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxSYK3Q08_9KDKbnSnbDtgt3zrOXP1UUghQeMe_JCGku6wJsBnuPvPPVwISi0AVeI3yyfToUAFMwDkY7iCUnJDroiDePTpKtEsBuoEtWMGduXPONOVUHoALn4OK1iUxU9ABSVuB4zjdUOcAquTizbvt03xGtmMT0WQ_0IBYyFKCct8k_9e4AjM31z_nv0/w286-h400/The%20Son%20of%20Man.png" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Not only was I being as clean and simple as possible mechanically with my Homemade Cube, I was also being as canon as possible. I highly respected colour pie mechanically and in flavour terms. I represented creatures as they are to be found represented in Magic. This was mostly for tribute based reasons but in practice it worked out really really well for helping people appraise what the cards did quickly and effortlessly. Despite seeming just like a flavour thing it was a real restriction on design. This card should have flying, a dork of this type should be at least this size, etc. Limits are good for expediting the process. All the shut off routes somewhat lead you to the "correct" or "optimal design a bit faster, but these terms are just within the contexts I had set. Remove these constraints and there are many more potential correct and optimal designs out there. One could certainly posit that there are no bad magic cards, only inappropriate meta games! </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir10Lb0Skvihll0hHTtekJdqvFzkx2zmoBMyCgU-qO-C76O6RfmOaVF9rPkTfDX5iq8R5pR3gswNw8x8b0hyphenhyphenjGinVGLs8VtsHnrRoPgyJyTCPVpPjyU4RMTpql5HAqy0DSEsA3VG3Y6K70nVesC9n3IKkVk9OEXLlHyvBXZCyN3CX9Oz9x8S7dbmjgmjM/s784/Lightning%20at%20Twilight.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="784" data-original-width="562" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir10Lb0Skvihll0hHTtekJdqvFzkx2zmoBMyCgU-qO-C76O6RfmOaVF9rPkTfDX5iq8R5pR3gswNw8x8b0hyphenhyphenjGinVGLs8VtsHnrRoPgyJyTCPVpPjyU4RMTpql5HAqy0DSEsA3VG3Y6K70nVesC9n3IKkVk9OEXLlHyvBXZCyN3CX9Oz9x8S7dbmjgmjM/w286-h400/Lightning%20at%20Twilight.png" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>For the Art Set I felt I had earned the right to let my hair down rather more. I had earned my wings and I was going to fly. No longer was I bound by convention. If I wanted to slap on 5 abilities I would. If I wanted to write a mini essay of text on a minor card I would allow myself. I let my types, sizes, and colour pies all go a bit loosey goosey. I was just trying to match the weird and wonderful art as best I could and in order to do that I really wanted the full range of what magic mechanics have to offer. I wasn't being verbose, different, controversial, or convoluted for the sake of it. Any time I was any of those it is because I thought the artwork portrayed was best depicted as such. Indeed I found some artwork where the minimalist approach of limited text/effects to best help the art stand out on the card. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZKvz4O7-vYjHTs1XNFZtCKqfNYQq8Bp5QdZPOgNscCBYnDBqrUFkDtEaT4G_MH-rVixwCh81kKVnM_wawzpD0peOG5OWHzyMwJ1ZOmLP73XDvnVu-Pp0EuNfYl5eNkq2134vK58kiYHjrK458kPyRRX_Kmvpcy_F23mAd6qtKn1Rbl6RhpMltycuAh-M/s784/Third%20of%20May%201808.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="784" data-original-width="562" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZKvz4O7-vYjHTs1XNFZtCKqfNYQq8Bp5QdZPOgNscCBYnDBqrUFkDtEaT4G_MH-rVixwCh81kKVnM_wawzpD0peOG5OWHzyMwJ1ZOmLP73XDvnVu-Pp0EuNfYl5eNkq2134vK58kiYHjrK458kPyRRX_Kmvpcy_F23mAd6qtKn1Rbl6RhpMltycuAh-M/w286-h400/Third%20of%20May%201808.png" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>I am in no great rush to get this project out and done. I am very much enjoying the journey and relaxed pacing of this project. I will likely do the odd teaser article before I do a full spoiler drop of the Art Set but that full spoiler drop is at least a year away what with other more time critical projects also in progress. It also seems as if rushing creative projects has the adverse affect while also diminishing their fun. A big plus this Art Set project has over the Homemade Cube is that I am not only having a blast with my favourite hobby and enjoying a creative outlet, but also I am learning about art and culture and a lot of non-Magic stuff and I am really enjoying that as well! All the more reason to keep it ongoing.</p><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Nick Nobodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08217616255450989605noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069223956725485027.post-91464718458466017672023-10-22T06:15:00.003-07:002023-10-22T06:15:47.708-07:00The Gold Cube<p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/6/d/6d779966-4bd4-4315-8b45-d3a4492f2bb2.jpg?1673148613" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="574" height="400" src="https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/6/d/6d779966-4bd4-4315-8b45-d3a4492f2bb2.jpg?1673148613" width="287" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>The Gold Cube was the most recent of my novelty cube ideas that I built up and tested. I am sure it is an idea that has been done many times before, I am not trying to claim any originality here, just going to talk about my findings and experience a little. I only really did this project because, unlike me, my play group love a gold card. As a cube curator I think gold cards clog up space by being all narrow and I generally resent them for it! I keep my gold sections to a minimum which apparently means my playgroup is starved of attention from gold cards. Further to that I have a huge swathe of gold cards that have had very little play time as I collect new cards, test them out, then quickly cull them for ever more. Being typically more powerful that a similar card of fewer colours a lot of gold cards get tried out in cube, but being inherently narrow, very few last. To make some better use out of this huge pile of gold stuff and to appease my mates I designed this cube. Below is a list of where my list started but it fairly quickly evolved as I learned about the format. </p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/ro3r?view=spoiler">https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/ro3r?view=spoiler</a></p><p><br /></p><p>The first thing to note is that I started with a base of about 50 odd cards that are very much not gold cards! The idea of a cube without one drops, or at least, without many, initially appalled me! I didn't want a format where Deathrite Shaman and Figure of Destiny were the two best cards simply because they are the only top rate gold one drops.... It turns out that it was worse having a gold cube where all the best cards and important picks were not gold. The best deck in that first meta was a blue red tempo deck with as few gold cards as possible... With that initial design fail handled I got over the one drop situation and cut everything that wasn't a gold card, a land, or an artifact, the latter groups of which were almost exclusively there to assist with fixing. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/e/4/e4335951-e73e-45cb-b2a5-6e9d14ba87ee.jpg?1562795027" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="574" height="400" src="https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/e/4/e4335951-e73e-45cb-b2a5-6e9d14ba87ee.jpg?1562795027" width="287" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>It turned out to be a bit of a blessing culling the one drops from the cube as it allows you to play slower mana bases with better fixing, and this is important. You need a lot more fixing and almost all the best lands for doing this enter tapped. The best lands for this cube are the Triomes and the original set of Tri lands. Closely followed by the Vivid and Thriving lands. In sealed deck I would often just play the three colours that I had both the Triomes for. A Savage Lands and a Ziatora's Proving Grounds in my pool and I am looking like a Jund player! The Temple cycle also proved really good as they were one of the few ways you could proactively and relevantly enhance your game on turn one. It was hard to do a better opener than a Temple. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/f/0/f0ead529-accb-4b6f-ab60-d715d80b3c99.jpg?1690006753" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="574" height="400" src="https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/f/0/f0ead529-accb-4b6f-ab60-d715d80b3c99.jpg?1690006753" width="287" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>I found that the Gold Cube somewhat built itself as we started playing it. Things are stretched somewhat so you are forced towards the best build fairly quickly. In essence, fewer options here helps you arrive at or near the optimal quickly. You need a lot of fixing and thus a lot of lands, but equally, you can't dedicate too many slots to fixing and so the sweet spot is much more heavily highlighted that it is in normal cube. You also only have about 300 cards per colour pair significantly reducing your options. Especially when you are trying to have sensible looking curves in your guilds. With so many fewer cards you can obviously expect a much greater degree of separation in power between your best cards and your worst cards. The best being some of the most powerful cards in cube already, and the worst being a long way worse. In many cases I was playing basically every playable card at that spot on the curve in each guild. This also sharpens focus somewhat but it did also reduce variation a little. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/4/e/4e4fb50c-a81f-44d3-93c5-fa9a0b37f617.jpg?1639436752" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="574" height="400" src="https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/4/e/4e4fb50c-a81f-44d3-93c5-fa9a0b37f617.jpg?1639436752" width="287" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Decks tending towards being three colour midrange good stuff piles and the players who won were those that got the highest density of the good cards and cast them. There felt like there was rather less drafting and play skill involved and rather more luck of the draw. Indeed, we got really bored of the best gold cards almost instantly. The reason I have been doing all these side projects is boredom with more conventional magic. In trying to escape things like The Scarab God and Teferi I had actually made a format where they were more common and more oppressive. As such I cut all the gold cards that appeared in my main cube from the Gold Cube and proceeded to have a lot more fun with it there after.</p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/7/e/7e599847-8ab0-4fd6-b2c0-cb44a7669aa5.jpg?1682209825" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="574" height="400" src="https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/7/e/7e599847-8ab0-4fd6-b2c0-cb44a7669aa5.jpg?1682209825" width="287" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Although the quality of games was lower than with more traditional cubes this wasn't a big deal. The experience was different and fun enough that it was overall a pretty positive thing. Lots of cards that have never played with or against each other got to do so and lots of quirky cool things happened. Games had a habit of ending quickly. There were certainly some long grindy games as you might expect with a midrange centric meta, but the average game was shorter than with my normal cube. This was for two reasons as far as I could tell. The gold cards are typically quite powerful, reachy, threats. Often quirky ones as well that are awkward to answer or contain. A lot of random cards would just hit the table and end the game in short order. This is exacerbated by the second factor, which is just that there isn't all that much good removal in the gold cube. Gold cards are naturally that bit more expensive on average, not to mention more colour intense. This means that the cheap removal isn't as cheap or easy to cast. When most of your removal is expensive clunk you wind up having to play less of it even if you pick up plenty. A lot of games just turn into players dumping massive haymaker threats into play until one trumps what is going on and takes the game! A very Timmy experience! This shorter game went nicely hand in hand with the more Timmy experience and seemed to be well enjoyed despite the clear flaws of the format.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/5/e5a2a709-0273-48a3-874b-13aff4872b0a.jpg?1631235364" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="488" height="400" src="https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/5/e5a2a709-0273-48a3-874b-13aff4872b0a.jpg?1631235364" width="287" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>The worst flaws were actually logistic ones rather than gameplay ones. It is essentially a limited magic set but rather than 5 colours, it is effectively 10 colours. Three colour decks are the norm and the equivalent of a two colour deck in normal limited. A two colour deck is really hard to do in gold cube and somewhat like a mono deck. All this madness meant that sealed deck was a chore. You had to sort everything into a million different piles to assess what you had. This meant loads of space needed, lots of attention required, and a bit more time needed too. This just got a little tedious after a while. Draft wasn't unaffected either. While sorting wasn't an issue there the effective existence of extra colours (10 rather than 5) was. There simply wasn't all that much competition. If you all focus on mainly one guild then there are still some guilds without people in them. It also means that when you drop below 8 drafters the rate at which competition for cards drops is way way faster than for conventional cubes. The Gold Cube does not play well with fewer numbers. Indeed it might be best if drafted with like 12-16 players or something mad! Comically I then tried to design a fully colourless cube, and toyed with designs for cubes with fewer than five colours, to increase the tension in draft. Essentially trying to reverse the problem encountered with the Gold Cube and turn it into a positive. I managed to write that up and post it back in May! It was a much smaller project than the gold cube but it was fully inspired by it. We also did a couple of drafts of the normal cube without white and without blue a few times each when we were light on numbers. The tragedy of that experiment was that no one really cared or noticed or had any comment or observation. That probably means it is a good thing, but equally, we haven't done it since, or talked about it or anything like that...</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/6/0/600dca0f-5964-45e7-86df-f16a5b4a0106.jpg?1626098375" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="574" height="400" src="https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/6/0/600dca0f-5964-45e7-86df-f16a5b4a0106.jpg?1626098375" width="287" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>All in all the Gold Cube was a pretty positive experiment that I am sure will be revisited. It was imperfect but imperfect in all the right sort of ways. If you want that sort of experience then it delivers. One logistical perk of the Gold Cube is that it uses very few cards from my main cube, or did once I cut the mono coloured cards and the gold cards with overlap. It was then just some fixing artifacts and the premium dual lands. This makes it quite easy to have multiple cubes built up and functioning at once. Most of my other cube designs have too much intertwined overlap to be able to easily port between the two. The B Cube was the only other cube I have managed to successfully run alongside my main cube and played interchangeably. The Gold Cube has the added advantage of being fun and different which the B Cube somewhat failed at doing. This means there is actually some benefit to be had from having both playable at the same time! Parting gem of wisdom - Niv-Mizzet Reborn is really rather good in gold cube. While perhaps not the best card in the set it is certainly the card most improved upon its performance in other formats! </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/5/6/56a2609d-b535-400b-81d9-72989a33c70f.jpg?1582037402" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="574" height="400" src="https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/5/6/56a2609d-b535-400b-81d9-72989a33c70f.jpg?1582037402" width="287" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Nick Nobodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08217616255450989605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069223956725485027.post-75892431038257290442023-10-04T12:36:00.224-07:002023-10-05T10:10:32.265-07:00Homemade Cube: Full Spoilers!<p> </p><p><br /></p><p>After many months of teasing, here it finally is to see in all it's glory - the Homemade Cube full spoiler list! While this is the exact list of cards I have been testing and playing with, this spoiler list is more like the Beta version, while I have been using the Alpha set. This discrepancy is because I have (digitally) altered some hundred cards or so over the course of 12ish events. While I am still playing with the originals you will be seeing the proposed changes for the reprint. I am sure I will do some articles on the original versions at some point but not until this part of the design and development is complete. It seemed sensible to give the best iterations of the cards rather than the originals.</p><p>Of these hundred or so cards that were changed about 20% to 25% have been for aesthetic reasons. Either I misaligned the picture in the frame, spelled something wrong, or got some templating grammar off. There are still a bunch of these lurking about to iron out so if anyone spots any please stick it in the comments so I can keep the number of reprints I end up doing to a minimum! There were a couple of cards tweaked for flavour reasons. I called a card a forest and it wasn't which was irksome. I also had a card with wings but no flying so that needed a bit of a rework. Everything else was a change made for balance reasons. Mostly these have been slight nerfs, a stat off here, a mana cost on an activation added there, etc. About 5% of the changes have been buffs, and all pretty minor ones. It is not at all surprising that the over powered cards stick out first while the underpowered stuff takes a while to make itself known. I suspect there will be relatively more balancing with buffs going forwards. There were of course some more serious nerfs, usually in the form of having a mana added, there have been about 5% of those too. Further to that I managed to get all the artists credited on this "Beta" version of the Cube. </p><p>There will be more balance changes to come as testing continues but the most egregious stuff has been calmed. I have a bunch of new designs to print alongside those (so far) hundred odd corrections from the Alpha printing. Some of these new cards are aimed at solving issues presenting so far in testing such as being a bit thin on top end or planeswalkers being a bit sticky. Then there are just a bunch of cards that are more like an expansion, a bit more complex or exotic! Those I plan to be added drip feed over time to spice things up as required, unlike the changes to existing cards which I want actioned asap really. I have a bunch of adventure cards and fortifications and this sort of jazz in the expansion half of the new designs. I doubt I will ever finish this product in my eyes and similarly I doubt I will ever think it is perfect. I would advise holding off a little if you wanted a copy, as I am confident I will improve it significantly within a couple of print iterations and a year or so of playtesting them. Beyond that it should have flatlined rather in terms of improving but I am happy to help anyone who might want to get a copy printed for themselves, then or sooner! It is certainly a lot of fun now, despite having those clear areas in which I feel I can improve it.</p><p>Right, enough pre-amble. Enjoy my love of the old school aesthetic and my generally basic and poor ability to name cards! Here is the spoiler broken down into colours, gold, artifacts and land.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Here are some green cards:</p><p><br /></p>
<blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" data-id="a/ofos5HJ" lang="en"><a href="//imgur.com/a/ofos5HJ">Swamps</a></blockquote><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js"></script>
<p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Here are some red cards:</p><p><br /></p>
<blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" data-id="a/grc7we2" lang="en"><a href="//imgur.com/a/grc7we2">Swamps</a></blockquote><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js"></script>
<p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Here are some black cards:</p><p><br /></p>
<blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" data-id="a/4CxK39l" lang="en"><a href="//imgur.com/a/4CxK39l">Swamps</a></blockquote><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js"></script>
<p><br /></p><p>Here are some blue cards:</p><p><br /></p>
<blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" data-id="a/BhYqbyY" lang="en"><a href="//imgur.com/a/BhYqbyY">Swamps</a></blockquote><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js"></script>
<p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Here are some white cards:</p><p><br /></p>
<blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" data-id="a/0yJ2309" lang="en"><a href="//imgur.com/a/0yJ2309">Swamps</a></blockquote><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js"></script>
<p><br /></p><p>Here are some gold cards:</p><p><br /></p>
<blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" data-id="a/ZO4Xy9S" lang="en"><a href="//imgur.com/a/ZO4Xy9S">Swamps</a></blockquote><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js"></script>
<p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Here are some artifact cards:</p><p><br /></p>
<blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" data-id="a/MtW1TRV" lang="en"><a href="//imgur.com/a/MtW1TRV">Swamps</a></blockquote><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js"></script>
<p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Here are some land cards:</p><p><br /></p>
<blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" data-id="a/kq7ZwU7" lang="en"><a href="//imgur.com/a/kq7ZwU7">Swamps</a></blockquote><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js"></script>
<p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>While there are many cards I am tweaking so as to make more suitable for the cube meta there are also plenty I am not bothering with. So far I have cut 74 cards from the cube, which is a little over 10%. I am expecting to cut nearly the same again over the next few months. There are a range of reasons for why these cards are getting cut from the cube and not tweaked or reworked. Usually they are fine on power and trying to increase or reduce the power level is going to make the card worse overall for the cube. </p><p>Some cards were cut because they were logistically not that fun to play with, too much fiddling around and maintenance. Some were cut because they were mechanically not that fun. Some were cut because they were overly narrow in what they were offering. Mostly the cards got cut because they were too fluffy. I love a cheap do nothing cantrip sort of card and made a few too many of them! A lot of these were cards I rather forced because I wanted to represent that kind of ability in set somehow. Like, a set without a Fog didn't feel it could go round calling itself a tribute to Magic. This is where my project having several goals didn't line up neatly. A tribute to Magic has slightly different attributes to a set of cards to play as a cube and the cut cards are shining a light on what those differences are. </p><p>There is a last set of 10 cards I cut because they take up more room than they are worth. I thought I would be clever and try and make a cycle of ten extra playable pseudo-gold cards that were playable in mono colour but offered something more to a player in the right two colours. These stealth gold cards were supposed to be more playable than a normal gold card but in practice they were just messy and a bit feel bad if you didn't support them. To quote one of the main helpers on this project "Why can't your gold cards just be gold cards?" And for this project he seems to have hit the nail on the head. Gold slots are precious, use them for juice, don't fill them with diluted down standard mono colour stuff. I liked the design on the cycle, the power level and interest were good, and I would like to see that sort of card for constructed play, but for taking up slots in a cube, it is not an optimal direction to go. These cut cards will be like my "constructed reserves" are now. I will keep them and allow them for events like rotisserie and anything else on the more constructed and larger pool side of the cube spectrum. For limited and draft however they are just clogging up the works. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Here are the cards I have cut so far:</p><p><br /></p>
<blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" data-id="a/09Ouat6" lang="en"><a href="//imgur.com/a/09Ouat6">Swamps</a></blockquote><p><br /></p><p> </p><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js"></script>
<p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Nick Nobodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08217616255450989605noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069223956725485027.post-1409656281930370972023-10-01T03:20:00.000-07:002023-10-01T03:20:31.643-07:001998 Nostaliga<p>Prior to the home made cube project that has consumed all my magic energy since the spring, this was the project I was working on. As with most other magic things since then I have not really touched it. It exists as the penultimate in a long strong of projects aimed at rekindling the joy of magic and finding a creative outlet. Mostly these have been novel ways of constructing cubes, combo cubes, gold cubes, budgets cubes, that sort of thing, including of course the homemade cube project! This nostalgia project however is one of the only ones not directly cube focused, only being cube adjacent. For those not familiar with the first time I did this it is simply a set of deck lists in the style of cube decks (40 card singleton) that are paying tribute to a specific, and thus far old, time period. It is essentially my equivalent of the old school format. Here is a link to the original article, complete with what prompted the project and the first decks I made for it.</p><p><a href="https://mtgcube.blogspot.com/2022/10/1996-nostaligia.html">https://mtgcube.blogspot.com/2022/10/1996-nostaligia.html</a></p><p>The builds in this so called 1998 version are somewhat dotted over the following three or so years from the 1996 period I celebrated last time, finishing in Urza's block. Broadly they are still based upon decks released in the gold bordered worlds precon decks, or at least a selection of the more interesting, distinct, and portable to singleton ones. They are the 2nd generation in the evolution of competitive decks, they start to have focus and be classifiable into our current vernacular of control, aggro etc, unlike the first batch which were all just piles of cards! So many of these are the progenitors of core archetypes we still use and play today. Any long time readers of the blog will see that this is where my pining for Stompy comes from, it is the only deck in this set of 8 that has never really had a line of succession. Like, sure, there have been periods when white weenie is not a good archetype to play in any format, but that is a meta thing, it is always back at some point. Stompy however seems to have been more of an anomaly at this time and has fundamentally struggled since. There is so much nostalgia here I am getting side tracked in the introduction....</p><p>These lists are not the finished article or anything. There are plenty of ways to be building these decks both in terms of power level and aesthetic. You could also go tighter on the period from which cards were taken from. Further to that I am still in the process of collecting cards for these decks and so some are missing things or have an incorrect version. I simply figured I would never get this out if I didn't write it when enthusiasm was still high. It is not like I am picking up cards for these decks with any real urgency or significant budget! That latter aspect has resulted in the purchase of many non-English language cards. Normally I avoid this as it really reduces accessibility to the cube but in the case of these old decks most people know the cards, they are simpler to remember, the English wording on old stuff is often less than helpful anyway, they are much more a thing to look at than to play with, and those who are unlikely to know what these cards already do are not the sort of people I would bust these decks out for expecting them to get that enjoyable nostalgia hit with. It also means we get some really good names for some classic old cards to nicely liven things up. As I suspect the pictures do not allow for actual reading of the cards I will offer some of the best; Rengenbogen Ifreet, Disco di Nevyniraal, and Killer Beenen! They are fun things to say. I find the german cards to be particularly onomatopoeic and roll of the tongue well. Being me I have also obviously tried to give a basic land suite appropriate for the era. And with that let us look at the decks themselves. </p><p><br /></p><p>Survival Rock</p><p>This deck looks like a midrange deck and is likely remembered as one but in actuality it was closer to both combo and control, at least for the time period. Certainly it plays a lot more like current midrange decks, a lot due to being one of the first "creatures as spells" sort of builds. This was how it generated value but given how poor dorks were back in the day it was not much value and all very slow making this one hell of a grindy deck. A lot of mana ramp is used to compensate but this also reduces power level further. This list is actually much closer to extended rock decks than it is sthe uccessful standard Survival decks of the time. The worlds list was a four colour mess I had no intention of trying to copy in singleton. Given that this archetype had the most range of any of the archetypes on how I built it I was happy to streamline it and play just black green. If I were building this differently I would either lean away from the combo and remove the two big dorks or into the combo and play Duress, Buried Alive, Pattern of Rebirth, Phyrexian Ghoul, and Living Death. Playing it really highlighted some quirks of the era. In one game against the blue white deck we had to do a mid-game "sideboard" swapping in an answer to Volrath's Stronghold upon drawing it and realizing it was completely unbeatable. It just represented infinite value due to how slow the games were. For reference, earlier that game a 6 mana 1/1 flying Bone Shredder was deployed purely to apply pressure!</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwyCc7GPuv54hNFLn2BQB9s-DWIw509lNfFdRhmP9yIO5ZTCQzYqCqy5-doAG_xFh94_x2Vy5iWiQPYSQxWX6xc0NxKAfwRPyJtbJXO6pY2JtXRr5BemDifcXMPu6myQSaUVyuCLLV5eUzpVn9NfBUTHZeGDHCBnXGLelrd-KDuLX5UqOB-cyY0ehO/s2048/osrock.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwyCc7GPuv54hNFLn2BQB9s-DWIw509lNfFdRhmP9yIO5ZTCQzYqCqy5-doAG_xFh94_x2Vy5iWiQPYSQxWX6xc0NxKAfwRPyJtbJXO6pY2JtXRr5BemDifcXMPu6myQSaUVyuCLLV5eUzpVn9NfBUTHZeGDHCBnXGLelrd-KDuLX5UqOB-cyY0ehO/w640-h480/osrock.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Big Red</p><p>When I was a teen I had the gold bordered version of this deck that Kai Budde piloted to success, and it was a joy to play. Absolutely I played it on the kitchen table and without sleeves. I dread to think of the value I personally removed from it and the full set of Monoliths, Tombs, and City of Traitors it contained! If Magic decks were vehicles this was some kind of muscle car, a juicy old Mustang Shelby or something. It purred along at great pace and did disgusting powerful things. This singleton iteration manages to capture the deck quite well both aesthetically and in how it plays. In my haste I forgot to put in Wastelands and Phyrexian Processor, the latter of which a fairly key component in the original. Another missing key card from the deck is Covetous Dragon who always felt like the poster-boy for the build, the red artifact theme dragon that was very efficiently costed. This is really a big mana deck and plays a lot like modern Tron decks. It has somewhat more build options that a lot of the other decks I built for this project. Being artifact themed is what does this, there was a lot of power to be milked from artifacts around this time, especially if you were packing big mana effects and synergies like Goblin Welder.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4bMw4dNWgXNT4vLLEz-f_q78W26uigmdVEIG85zGJ4WbAv_FJOU2i4xt4hHCndbdFKKINv_Cv9jOKljZqK8NCR8L6Cj7OhwyAN6WcfPe1pHwaOhgwDfpv_ex2NhF7DdO4LKLLsDirs-pj5Vn4wg8PsABuvewcaMF23QJMEIuNMy0xPFt9YWIuxbhv/s2048/osbigred.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4bMw4dNWgXNT4vLLEz-f_q78W26uigmdVEIG85zGJ4WbAv_FJOU2i4xt4hHCndbdFKKINv_Cv9jOKljZqK8NCR8L6Cj7OhwyAN6WcfPe1pHwaOhgwDfpv_ex2NhF7DdO4LKLLsDirs-pj5Vn4wg8PsABuvewcaMF23QJMEIuNMy0xPFt9YWIuxbhv/w640-h480/osbigred.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>Draw Go</p><p>Much as lists like this are some of the most nostalgia inducing it is rather a wonder how they ever won anything. This list seems to get bodied by everything else here. It is slow with relatively few answers to specific things. I think it might be one of those things where by these decks were good at beating bad people and bad decks and back then we were all bad! The slightly less bad could prey on the awful and make this kind of sorry excuse for a control deck look good and gain a reputation. Even if this list were ever capable of stabilizing I fear it would then fail to win in time due to low power and density of threats. I should jam a few more manlands in the list but it isn't going to do enough. The millstone plan of the 1996 lists is a lot more legit, however that last list was mostly doing better than this one thanks to the competition it faced. The 1996 decks were not good! They are the sort of thing a wise control player can prey upon. In the few years following blue draw-go control decks gained little while other strategies gained lots. In very few games this was borne out quite clearly in these tribute games.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc9vamGzXUO1XffpCuT2CisP7AI1yyxCT5WRU82AoxfJidKZEgFQdkeKIpiA_4pw0-eh9mLKINYlY86cEV_GHAimmNSElORJDYrvNyA3X9ilz7G4UPr3WJIdIm1MTIerpapu78Ezvy57Qa5SXgulodGNC9UWINIY0n6sWT_iRNA_YyCc689fuwUG2M/s2048/osdrawgo.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc9vamGzXUO1XffpCuT2CisP7AI1yyxCT5WRU82AoxfJidKZEgFQdkeKIpiA_4pw0-eh9mLKINYlY86cEV_GHAimmNSElORJDYrvNyA3X9ilz7G4UPr3WJIdIm1MTIerpapu78Ezvy57Qa5SXgulodGNC9UWINIY0n6sWT_iRNA_YyCc689fuwUG2M/w640-h480/osdrawgo.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Sleigh </p><p>It is still quite remarkable how thin on the ground it was for low cost dorks of any sensibly efficiency around this time period in Magic. I was really close to getting me some Ironclaw Orcs... In order to sensibly fill out a 40 card singleton list I had to really stretch the cards used and thus this doesn't really resemble any of the various red aggressive decks of those era. I would say that the first red deck "Sleigh" was first to understand and abuse the concept of mana curve. Like a Zerg rush, you are not necessarily trying to be more powerful than the opponent, just faster while powerful enough to get over the line before said opponent is really up and online. As we moved from Sleigh to Ponza the focus shifted a little towards low economy games and mana denial. If your deck is full of cheap cards you can deploy them and then spend some time attacking mana bases and thus get a lot more mileage out of your cheaper cards. Lastly in the evolution of red aggressive decks from this era we have the more RDW notion of inevitability. You are cheap but you have reach and redundancy. So long as they don't kill you then eventually you will kill them. This list pictured below is a mix of all three elements. Everything is damage focused and with a low cost focus. There is a smattering of the more freely included mana disruption as well as a selection of ongoing or repeatable damage sources that scale well with this disruption and provide for that inevitability alongside the burn. Despite relatively few good low end card options there is still plenty of ways to play around with this, making it as low to the ground as possible. Making it more burn, or more creature focused. Packing the likes of Stone Rain and Pillage and trying to go full Ponza, that sort of thing. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxNCR7S0txqWxA64hW7XZ458hHH59_lDD10U6eyBKVogbHKW1Qo5_CawUTLFgAO4ZIkIVyyglAefd9G337FQKa42B1F7P0pBn12fTthChaHeDGyszB9wdWstn1LTaKqI3OO9NyljFfmygt6uCUFiPYMbRKTvCgCTtHpBr8mIbtF_gpkeAz1NYCWrj1/s2048/ossleigh.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxNCR7S0txqWxA64hW7XZ458hHH59_lDD10U6eyBKVogbHKW1Qo5_CawUTLFgAO4ZIkIVyyglAefd9G337FQKa42B1F7P0pBn12fTthChaHeDGyszB9wdWstn1LTaKqI3OO9NyljFfmygt6uCUFiPYMbRKTvCgCTtHpBr8mIbtF_gpkeAz1NYCWrj1/w640-h480/ossleigh.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Stompy</p><p>This is one of my favourites. In part is it seems so pure, like, what you are supposed to do in Magic - make dorks and attack with them for the win. Also I think because this is the elusive list that didn't go on to becomes an all time staple as I mentioned at the start. Forests are my favourite IRL land and green stuff just looks great. Plains may typically wind up looking nicer than Forests when it comes to land art but Forests are still delightful and in combination with green cards it is hard to be anything other than delightful. Mirage happens to be one of my absolute favourite blocks in terms of art style and so this deck is really the nexus of where my favourite border, time period, set, and colour meet. The flavour is spot on too, elves, cats, dogs, birds, insects (back then we got to enjoy bees and swarms rather than getting all biologically accurate with our type nomenclature), centaur, monkeys, treefolk, trolls, snakes, and of course, bears. When this deck comes out it comes out very impressively and looks utterly unbeatable. This deck can really get stats on the board and that'll beat most decks without strong mass removal. This deck is the least interactive of all the lists with a couple of pump spells to ensure combat is always on your side, the two creatures that are so above the curve you have to play them, and that happen to disrupt, and the mana denial artifact that works so well with mana dorks and Cradle that it seemed wrong to leave out. I think Stompy is the perfect name for this list, that is exactly what it does. High statted, often trampling dorks, stomping on your face. Rogue Elephant feels like the most "stompy" of all the creatures and I left it out of this list, just not a good magic card. When you have just the one copy of Harvest Wurm on offer those synergies are not cutting it and your cards are risky and underpowerd. It is obviously wrong not playing Cursed Scroll in a list with so much mana and so little removal and reach but then the same cards in all the decks gets a little waring, tedious too when you have just the one copy! Proxies rather ruin the vibe of this experience and so I was opting for sub par decks instead! I felt like I should also be playing the original Tarmogoyf - Ernham Djinn. Sadly even these couple of years on from 1996 the card had been power crept out of things. Another thing I loved about this kind of deck was the raw power of Cradle, which felt fair at the time. Tolarian Academy never felt fair and it never has been. Being forced into playing with creatures and their low power and high vulnerability made Cradle relatively contained for a surprisingly long time. This deck is calming and fun to just goldfish. That is likely the best thing to do with it. The games it gives are fine but they are usually over quickly one way or another, being quite one sided, and offering relatively little choices or interaction. This deck feels very green. I can clearly see where my inspiration for green card design has come from! </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtvTXjHkl8FsytHwI2H-vsJZoVMX6hyp-8fiXPUmAgWtVNY8TPIdNfXKXSC8sQZ4oqgtU_DtYvj-mZ-jfo5ZozE-7r7sMM9wwAMrCUJ9dmNw90ZtANz0RzPpa7IQQ5TOnhIyjmtcs4EFhMVMi0OWg30iInNs6TjfP7aSu0lE3kyguWksm5RTzd8V88/s2048/osstompy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtvTXjHkl8FsytHwI2H-vsJZoVMX6hyp-8fiXPUmAgWtVNY8TPIdNfXKXSC8sQZ4oqgtU_DtYvj-mZ-jfo5ZozE-7r7sMM9wwAMrCUJ9dmNw90ZtANz0RzPpa7IQQ5TOnhIyjmtcs4EFhMVMi0OWg30iInNs6TjfP7aSu0lE3kyguWksm5RTzd8V88/w640-h480/osstompy.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>UR Tempo</p><p>Tempo is the awkward offspring of aggro and control. Midrange is named in such a way to give the impression that it is the midpoint between aggro and control and in some capacities it is. Midrange tends to sit between aggro and midrange in terms of both threats and answers but midrange is defined more by it's lack of specific plan or direction, or position in a meta. It is generally looking to overpower players by having the most power per mana and the most generally useful cards. Aggro decks have a lot of low powered cards and control decks have a lot of cards that are reactive and thus don't always do something. Midrange decks avoid these problems. Tempo decks on the other hand keep the lower powered cheaper threats of the aggro decks and the more situational reactive spells of the control decks. They deploy stuff to go under but then rather than rushing down from that point they try and control the game such that those threats do more work. Tempo decks are typically a lot less powerful than midrange decks, and a lot more fragile. The trade off is that you get rather more control over the game. You get to dictate things a bit more and can outplay people as if a control deck can while also getting some of those free wins against opponents that stumble off the blocks. This is the first example of a tempo deck I have found putting out results in Magic's history. Despite looking like a janky pile of disparate and weak cards it manages to show incredible understanding of the game well ahead of its time. No disrespect to Sleigh and the abuse of mana curve but it is a fairly basic aspect of magic game theory and would have been uncovered very quickly by someone. The notion of a tempo deck is a lot more nuanced and complicated. It is still not really well understood by the whole community a quarter century later. I do think quite enough credit is given to Janosch Kuhn for his 1997 worlds top 8 "speed control" and Paul McCabe's "agro control" deck. I do not know who was the first to design a tempo deck but theses guys seems the first to have understood and played it well enough to post big results and major events. Even more impressive given there is nothing cheap you could really call a threat, thus further hiding the tempo archetypes plan!</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6A9ZAydRA4La-DZO6tWqrhFpEuYrvRPB2X_jdZadIJru0z-ZshXByz_A1Wji2FfhvMHh33exgfJfxjRa0meKrS6H22C_XeRjzo9YtGqLmJgfN0sraKnPGWIy07DzmDhgy_hJiSNPCDAa0_Wn952GuzyH3vIzQOPNDieSzhHziMPd79xOwK34JD9On/s2048/osurtempo.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6A9ZAydRA4La-DZO6tWqrhFpEuYrvRPB2X_jdZadIJru0z-ZshXByz_A1Wji2FfhvMHh33exgfJfxjRa0meKrS6H22C_XeRjzo9YtGqLmJgfN0sraKnPGWIy07DzmDhgy_hJiSNPCDAa0_Wn952GuzyH3vIzQOPNDieSzhHziMPd79xOwK34JD9On/w640-h480/osurtempo.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Academy (unchanged)</p><p>We had a little picture of this one in the last article. Unchanged since then and still just as abusive. This was the first properly broken deck that put many off the game. It is still broken now and comfortably beats a lot of archetypes from a lot of formats. Absolutely it rubs its dick in the face of all the other decks here. Basically it has to misfire and lose rather than other decks really being capable of beating it when both running as intended. I had to stretch the cantrip and artifact mana a bit at the low end because of the singleton but it didn't seem to hurt the deck that much. When you have that much raw power at your fingertips a few less Grim Monolith / Academy and a few more Sky Diamond didn't seem to be holding it back or bringing it into contention. The utilitarian way to play decks like this is the goldfish, just as fun for you racing that turn clock, without being an exercise in tedium for someone else. This was the first time that over powered cards had lined up so well as to have synergy as well. Previously over powered cards were not that much of a problem because they were more isolated. Random variation and all having access to them evened it out. With this Academy list it was all just stupidly streamlined. Draw cards, make mana, win. The ease this archetype can win when it doesn't even see Academy is foolish. And it has so much dig and draw that you almost always see it. The only reason I know this is because I win so often on the same turn I find the Academy but had already made my land drop for that turn. Considering how small the card pool is for this list, and that it is a mono coloured, singleton, combo deck. It is unreal how consistent it is. And how quick. And yes, to any who haven't, or wont be looking at the list too hard, the win condition is aiming a draw X spell at your opponent. And no, there are no infinite mana combos in this list, just a whole lot of capacity to generate mana.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmxi7FNufm209QnVmOYddbwkdoRNlhFVBNeKGRg2visYe0btbY3x_IGASVnMM2fEcPG7Hj3oI8ZaYG7yZMhH8_MVirt0nDR_H7T8HOU1YkRPeXQRVa7JWz_NmChTD5qaU5zCqx2B3Is3rD8R3p-SySfHR5ksSH9PzzkYgRgwoxnlDNiVFbiP8TNha2/s2048/academy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmxi7FNufm209QnVmOYddbwkdoRNlhFVBNeKGRg2visYe0btbY3x_IGASVnMM2fEcPG7Hj3oI8ZaYG7yZMhH8_MVirt0nDR_H7T8HOU1YkRPeXQRVa7JWz_NmChTD5qaU5zCqx2B3Is3rD8R3p-SySfHR5ksSH9PzzkYgRgwoxnlDNiVFbiP8TNha2/w640-h480/academy.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>White Weenie </p><p>This just oozes flavour, knights, angels, some soldiers, a cleric and a lion. It was as if this deck was submitted by C. S. Lewis himself. If Sleigh is to be credited with being the first deck to realize the mana curve white weenie is arguably the first realization of the "go wide" strategy. There was not much in the way of tokens back in the day but there were plenty of cheap under powered dorks and the odd Anthem you could stick with them. Having the best aggressive one drop in the game for over a decade also rather helps your cause. Equally the few great white spells like Disenchant, Swords to Plowshares, and Land Tax helped to up the power level. All nicely rounded off with your expected "right, no more magic playing today" cards that are to be found in basically all the decks of this era. Having anything in play and casting an Armageddon had been winning games since long before white weenie but it did rather neatly slot into this more focused strategy. I remember when it was considered that white weenie decks often had the inevitability due to being able to pull all of the basic lands out of their deck fairly reliably with Land Tax, thus ensuring they would draw action every turn. Some reasonable logic in the day but the idea of playing a 2/2 or something every turn and winning with that now is laughable. Sure, have all the lands you want too! Not going to help much. This list is basically every playable dork costing two or less printed in white in the first five years of magic. Put with that all the Anthems, few generically good white cards and disruption, and hey presto, a deck.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLK_iIpkUZjuBPnEuEwcg_a_rByc0ZLM9ZZmirL7RLn-wM8JPi35_44nsBpX7BAb_YaOFp55RFJe83lvJAwluflfh7thsO3gCAkFEdtijWyn4MZ20ezdTRz2GUYabR_KnvIX1UK0uzoQqVfqPtPYF0fBeShrgwVg2qs5oR3pCLkIBafzzmd-_dYMgx/s2048/oswhiteweenie.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLK_iIpkUZjuBPnEuEwcg_a_rByc0ZLM9ZZmirL7RLn-wM8JPi35_44nsBpX7BAb_YaOFp55RFJe83lvJAwluflfh7thsO3gCAkFEdtijWyn4MZ20ezdTRz2GUYabR_KnvIX1UK0uzoQqVfqPtPYF0fBeShrgwVg2qs5oR3pCLkIBafzzmd-_dYMgx/w640-h480/oswhiteweenie.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>The 1996 Stuff</p><p>Black felt under represented here in the 1998 time period and so here is this lovely Necropotence deck again, despite it being a couple of years prior to the era represented in this post. The list still with a stanky new-bordered Sinkhole but otherwise an aesthetic delight. Much as it is a famed deck of the era it doesn't match up all that well against anything. Like the blue white control decks, that situation didn't improve over the following couple of years! That however doesn't stop it being a whole lot of fun clearing the board with a Disk, flopping out a turn one Hippy, or drawing upto seven cards every turn! With decks as pleasing as these you do not need to be winning to be having a good time.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxbgk-M_bR7J5mnZKri7od05nU6a66V8V6cS99-mQCQm6IrWxqNU-v5iVYChFCMPxQVXLcm_w3iPe4uh0f6ImHiO_dxk6clLvFsHM5-Z9CWNXQwmPR3sqoefpNw7pLV62hu1YYzts_2fBPG819_gGR8VfC4bhpqTPWw_hx1PELo4sCVc8jtsjmCo02/s2048/osnecro.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxbgk-M_bR7J5mnZKri7od05nU6a66V8V6cS99-mQCQm6IrWxqNU-v5iVYChFCMPxQVXLcm_w3iPe4uh0f6ImHiO_dxk6clLvFsHM5-Z9CWNXQwmPR3sqoefpNw7pLV62hu1YYzts_2fBPG819_gGR8VfC4bhpqTPWw_hx1PELo4sCVc8jtsjmCo02/w640-h480/osnecro.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>While playing with these cards is a great laugh it is also comical. Comically bad, and random, and clueless. It is more unlike Magic that playing Unfinity was recently, and yet it is Magic, it is how the game started out and so has far more right to call itself "proper magic" or whatever. It looks and feels so different, and without those rose tinted googles and awe it would likely be a bad experience. Certainly compared to the modern game. Sure we don't have these clean, simple, iconic, and lovely cards now. But we have better things like well designed cards and consistency in the games. Quality of life changes that really improve on this great game. So, much as I very much enjoyed this trip to the past, I am also very grateful that it is the past. I may miss much of these older cards and I might complain a lot about plenty Wizards are doing over the last couple of years, but there is no denying that the quality of games has improved drastically.</p><p><br /></p>Nick Nobodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08217616255450989605noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069223956725485027.post-27851930578493678852023-09-24T11:59:00.001-07:002023-09-24T11:59:11.616-07:00Homemade Cube: Initial Findings and Conclusions<p><br /></p><p>I finished the set, ordered the cards, and I am now at around 10 events played with it. Just the design process alone was fascinating, fun, and rewarding. Actually playing with the cards and seeing how they turned out has been even more of those things. Much was, and is being learned, about magic, about design in general, and about other people, what they like and that sort of thing. This whole home made cube process has been one of the most interesting and rewarding endeavours I have involved myself in, which was really unexpected. The learning of things outside of magic was especially surprising, and of course most welcome. I suspect a large part of the enjoyment I got from the project is because Magic has been my creative outlet for many years, and with my dwindling interest in it over the last couple I was being a little starved of this important part of life. As such, when I found one that I was enthused for again I latched on pretty voraciously.</p><p>I was probably spending about 4 hours a day on average thinking about it and tinkering with it over the design phase, which was at least 12 weeks, likely rather more. Certainly toning it back a bit now... I was aiming for 600 cards and ended up printing 718 unique cards. Obviously I have not exactly stopped designing cards, and I have a folder with at least 50 more cards I have since designed under the same parameters. I am in no rush to get those out and have no specific plan for how I might use them. The main focus now is learning from, and improving upon those original 718.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnBOHoRh99mSaYXsPJzCedj5cTgUq5ys08aAy7V_K062XueMypsaMYYoUAxZQQ6yNnBhgUzBzte7AGngiioGhkVEoaXyojD-D7pMRQT0s_g_pY__bkGxxwRffe7_hpoz2wSrjom3UVKDTyW9n5bGLiM9_tXyvBtBiYLzvDMc__gshIuMMvhXSCrv7GqjU/s523/Unrest.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnBOHoRh99mSaYXsPJzCedj5cTgUq5ys08aAy7V_K062XueMypsaMYYoUAxZQQ6yNnBhgUzBzte7AGngiioGhkVEoaXyojD-D7pMRQT0s_g_pY__bkGxxwRffe7_hpoz2wSrjom3UVKDTyW9n5bGLiM9_tXyvBtBiYLzvDMc__gshIuMMvhXSCrv7GqjU/w286-h400/Unrest.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>In these early testing stages I have found plenty of mistakes, ranging from poorly cropped pictures, to misspellings, to cards I want to rebalance in some way. The biggest group of these cards in need of corrections are slightly over tuned cards I want to tone down a little. About 25% are grammatical and aesthetic corrections. A mere 3 cards have had a proposed buff on their original printing. Leaving about 10% of these cards that are fairly egregious over tunings. These 8 or so cards are sufficiently tedious in power level that I have already cut them. Not only are cards like that able to lower the quality and fun of games, they are also getting in the way of other cards getting action and revealing their secrets. Once it is revealed they are a bomb they get played near 100% of the time which is not what you want for anything other than perhaps a fixing land.</p><p>Once the candidates for tweaks, tuning, and touching up dries to a steady trickle I will look to finally post the whole set up. While I suspect I will never quite stop tweaking and tinkering, I feel like this first big revision will mark a good starting off point. There will be nothing too out of line in it and it will not take too long to get to that stage. If I try and wait until I think it is perfect it will never get seen! It is also not impossible that people might want to try the cube out for themselves and make it in some way (which I am obviously happy to assist with) but this does make me inclined to not release anything that might have "bugs" and other issues in it that could be ironed out easily! </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicZNCb0eBO0EolG2LFUIw7KZ2uX2Ok-eqWo0AjqJK5KyfW9qSFWPeg2ATUSzhs7GiuW5-5gcOM674cq9X5yOeX5AW_0qg_E7qsIys-EsSvMOwgtcgz5SOzbs5Ssjw5CgFvfyY1niGCBSSBH3hV6CprW6mSXKX2Wfn7pTw3RpHH0tM8bseynIv3QPu7Wm8/s523/Seal%20of%20Learning.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicZNCb0eBO0EolG2LFUIw7KZ2uX2Ok-eqWo0AjqJK5KyfW9qSFWPeg2ATUSzhs7GiuW5-5gcOM674cq9X5yOeX5AW_0qg_E7qsIys-EsSvMOwgtcgz5SOzbs5Ssjw5CgFvfyY1niGCBSSBH3hV6CprW6mSXKX2Wfn7pTw3RpHH0tM8bseynIv3QPu7Wm8/w286-h400/Seal%20of%20Learning.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>So, what have we learned? I do not have many regrets, here are the two I do have. I didn't put on the artist names. Not only does that feel rude, but it made the cards look a little different as there was quite a large blank black chunk at the bottom. You got used to it real quick but initially it made the cards look a little smaller. I obviously then spent a whole day going through 718 cards in my Magic Set Editor file and added in the artists so that the next batch won't have that problem!</p><p>Second regret is not keywording "search your library for a [thing], reveal [thing], put it [somewhere], then shuffle your library" and "reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal a [thing], put that [thing] [somewhere] and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order." These two phrases represent like 40% of the test on my cards! If they had simply been "tutor" and "seek" respectively then things would have been a lot cleaner. I think seek is already something they use on Arena and so I should probably find another word, although perhaps it is fine as they kindof do similar things? Here are the lines of text that these cards would have had I thought to do this from the start.</p><p><br /></p><p>Seek a land to the battlefield tapped. </p><p>But instead I have those block of words;</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFyLrcH86JFYH9mpBhD0lFmZhmXheDWn2liQreEv6Vj5J9Rr1IfMQMkuJ7CjU_YTZmUnscAttjGivJjbq_O7yYRQoJYCbAEkd_pJbGzpZYY5vWcFlculwQ8VYIlZvOJr_wFGQkA_naE4o2OMsLKOB05FO0e6UCe7Rd5KRh0teuFGhWHa6P0zX3bYso_LE/s523/Rampant%20Planting%20.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFyLrcH86JFYH9mpBhD0lFmZhmXheDWn2liQreEv6Vj5J9Rr1IfMQMkuJ7CjU_YTZmUnscAttjGivJjbq_O7yYRQoJYCbAEkd_pJbGzpZYY5vWcFlculwQ8VYIlZvOJr_wFGQkA_naE4o2OMsLKOB05FO0e6UCe7Rd5KRh0teuFGhWHa6P0zX3bYso_LE/w286-h400/Rampant%20Planting%20.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>When this enters the battlefield, tutor an artifact to your hand.</p><p>Not quite as bad as the last card but still 4 lines of text for a common and basic action.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBWbjynYImEHCYVHV2TED1KpOL7q3KMs8rAlp3BWabYZVFb4WwSzCqgLdoUeFtAcDFASc47-MAx7Nk6wIxHxeF8zAXyOwr4RTv_2QiKAxQlqcGShKiItKYixmWXmktnmZ7md3DcvNjco6r-69Ll6EieDCOVUND0LaxgSj8jsrXSDpxB00dpsiLj0ZdXLw/s523/Steelforge%20Mystic.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBWbjynYImEHCYVHV2TED1KpOL7q3KMs8rAlp3BWabYZVFb4WwSzCqgLdoUeFtAcDFASc47-MAx7Nk6wIxHxeF8zAXyOwr4RTv_2QiKAxQlqcGShKiItKYixmWXmktnmZ7md3DcvNjco6r-69Ll6EieDCOVUND0LaxgSj8jsrXSDpxB00dpsiLj0ZdXLw/w286-h400/Steelforge%20Mystic.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>This card below is one of my most wordy in the whole set however it is fundamentally a very simple card, clean in theory but messy in practice down to my lack of keywording foresight. The grass is always greener however, it might have just confused players and been more trouble than it is worth. I think ideally I am just suggesting it is a change Wizards should do themselves! Like they finally did with mill. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw-8FjvQTEj9cGW0LYCKOSmISUTloGusPcDwNRy3nyfU2U1r13jKxgLHkFDf_CgnVCWr9mxWbntTnITEF3zlGXXVwd_kz3oma8VBasHjGsa_8zu82597RETkmZen5bS-4ch0M188bUSrunXcKugVB9IeFJmIZt2ME0Dn3YTV6M0_9Z9DUalHeVPd4_q7g/s523/Forest%20Guidance.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw-8FjvQTEj9cGW0LYCKOSmISUTloGusPcDwNRy3nyfU2U1r13jKxgLHkFDf_CgnVCWr9mxWbntTnITEF3zlGXXVwd_kz3oma8VBasHjGsa_8zu82597RETkmZen5bS-4ch0M188bUSrunXcKugVB9IeFJmIZt2ME0Dn3YTV6M0_9Z9DUalHeVPd4_q7g/w286-h400/Forest%20Guidance.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>The card above is a riff on Guided Passage, which some players may or may not remember. It was a design inspiration first, and then a help with finding the name for the card. In practice it is also somewhat helpful for players who are familiar with Guided Passage in grasping what the new card does. You can skim read this, or assume things about it and generally be fine with that level of attention. This kind of thing, be it a specific card tribute, or an inspiration, or just following Magics approach to doing things, has been a recurring theme in the set. I was aiming at a kind of tribute set that represented the core elements of the game and this had the very welcome side effect of making things generally very easy to understand, not just to those familiar with the game, but seemingly all levels of player. If a card has the word Lightning on it there is a good chance it is doing 3 damage to something etc! A lot of this was me being unimaginative with naming stuff but it seems to have wound up being a positive thing. I have been really blown away by how quickly players, old and new alike, have been able to pick up and play the cards. Few words, plenty of room for reminder text, and a design philosophy that holds your hand the whole way through learning the new cards, all add up to make for a surprisingly smooth show. I have been getting things wrong far more than everyone else because I am remembering different iterations of cards and assuming I know what is going on, while others are actually reading the clear and simple cards! Having done drafts of Tales of Middle Earth and Unfinity recently with the same group of players, I can comfortably say my friends (who normally just play my cube) took to the home made cube far easier than these other sets, despite it being twice the size! It has made me respect simple cards even more. Simple cards do not make for a simple game. Just a more accessible ones.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRCFTLyTYo9dV_ATj6BOwBstCrLZ5xWqxvCSjpr7n9046U7-GbsarPj2U00-a7qqfTqfx3h8HUoURshQKaR62WdBewM_v9Kv6I9VH4auzxg_TMexsVUL6ge52-nxna8E23W5RNyP0LYLO6CPRk9yzMgKrx9vaf6Ae_gKDhfsc57MnFmvpvMyV9HL_i9LY/s523/Junior%20Monk.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRCFTLyTYo9dV_ATj6BOwBstCrLZ5xWqxvCSjpr7n9046U7-GbsarPj2U00-a7qqfTqfx3h8HUoURshQKaR62WdBewM_v9Kv6I9VH4auzxg_TMexsVUL6ge52-nxna8E23W5RNyP0LYLO6CPRk9yzMgKrx9vaf6Ae_gKDhfsc57MnFmvpvMyV9HL_i9LY/w286-h400/Junior%20Monk.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>I didn't bother making all my card names unique from magic. Some I knowingly reused, and I am sure there is the odd one I unknowingly stole too! I did wonder if I would regret this choice. It looks like it might make things a little trickier if I want to use it with Cockatrice at some point but I am sure I can cross that bridge if and when I get there. For now I am enjoying the clarity of simple or obvious names. Many of the names I copied were direct easter eggs intended to be enjoyed by those in the know. The card below is one such card, and much as I love the aesthetic on this card, the design turned out to be a little underpowered and tedious. Just too much admin and ongoing thought for a minor part of the game. I just want my lands to be a bit simpler! This cycle is likely the first of the lands cycles to be dropped as the cube size drops over time.</p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeiaw94aUD9Gp_UD1cipXjuX8NBBjcQzRmBVgBxZIvT3z5mmP5gW7xBl31mZM0jCZX-4HJq71mWOPcXWKhEctEW83LSddFV6v0CE79GXwkA6vZXDc8fGVfgO1ju3EZ5_qYZzz6tYQkmZf5Fd3YT81tnkBH6i_miZ03xy51m2Who0pCCVv1pIA04LSltPE/s523/Singing%20Trees.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeiaw94aUD9Gp_UD1cipXjuX8NBBjcQzRmBVgBxZIvT3z5mmP5gW7xBl31mZM0jCZX-4HJq71mWOPcXWKhEctEW83LSddFV6v0CE79GXwkA6vZXDc8fGVfgO1ju3EZ5_qYZzz6tYQkmZf5Fd3YT81tnkBH6i_miZ03xy51m2Who0pCCVv1pIA04LSltPE/w286-h400/Singing%20Trees.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p>One commentator mentioned a problem with my design ethos in regards internal card tensions that can feel bad. I put quite a lot of care into dealing with cards that feel bad to play against but I entirely overlooked ones that might feel bad to play with. This has become apparent in the feedback I am getting. There is lots of "this cards should do this" kind of comment, to which I reply why it shouldn't in a mechanical and balance sense, to which they typically agree, but still dislike the card because it feels wrong to them somehow. Turns out I need to go away and spend some time learning what it is people like and dislike about cards that do not relate to balance so that I can do a better job of this in the future! </p><p>In a similar light to cards that are technically balanced and fine but are ruined by externalities like people feelings, we have cards that are logistically tedious. I used a lot of cards that give away life and a lot of cards that produce food, clues, and treasure. I figured this was all fine as there is precedent for it in magic, and even more so in cube. There are all the token types in cube and a really high density of them. Turns out I dialled that up even harder and it can get a bit overwhelming. I likely need to solve this with more use of card based tokens rather than dice and beads as I tend to use. The flexibility and scope these artifact tokens offer is way too good to forgo. The life concession cards however are another matter. Those that do so in a one off hit are fine but I have a cycle of lands that give away life like Grove of the Burnwillows and this is just a bit tedious. It is enforced admin and it disrupts the flow of play a little. Power wise I am super happy with these cards for a cube setting, but perhaps I can do a better job of finding a card that physically plays more smoothly. Below is a good example of a card that would be very well suited to an Arena only set, where the tedious logistics are carried out automatically by the computer.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_5nkF4FnavKBi3FISDIjzNOWInkPOtE554ukr2xARlITInDhTAEJcQC7sE4kaMbJxCavX6xDNvRCL79M1iRScrA2rUNKVJcXIudJ1bHy2fOhd2LrO-CsTa-_kh8vD28rKNYhS7kyjdWuHZ-dTY452hz6ier7GpTJBlJz5j1scD1WSM9oeqoPazdFLkzA/s523/Blossoming%20Bog.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_5nkF4FnavKBi3FISDIjzNOWInkPOtE554ukr2xARlITInDhTAEJcQC7sE4kaMbJxCavX6xDNvRCL79M1iRScrA2rUNKVJcXIudJ1bHy2fOhd2LrO-CsTa-_kh8vD28rKNYhS7kyjdWuHZ-dTY452hz6ier7GpTJBlJz5j1scD1WSM9oeqoPazdFLkzA/w286-h400/Blossoming%20Bog.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>One big lesson I learned was the value of patience, a long review period. It should have been obvious with the likes of Skullclamp and other last minute change horror stories from magic history. Apparently I needed to learn this lesson for myself. I had 18 spare slots on my order based on the set size the company prints to, and not being one to waste them I hurried along my 18 most liked cards from my drafts and printed them too. Not only were these cards far less considered and reviewed, they were also ones I liked most rather than thought were good, usually this just meant some art I really liked... Obviously we can all see where this is going. The vast majority of these 18 cards have already wound up in nerf corner, a couple of them seriously so. Turns out reflection time is really healthy. Here is one of these over performing cards, that as yet, I have no great idea on how to "fix". </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifrbmeq6kEwlJYUY41mhfBoSflZfVNqs7xR2OiMMgBN0CSNLC0VquApujgBGQQYSuoCGYRsS4GbTjL2G6EnvVXWQgJIt-WKc4m8WQ6TVylVdeDU1OzVZZtOPM8jwgRS4Q3EgWkjM9E-42grtEfISNfKJ4VqjqSe62LcdNa00-t98UnFH3MfShEwDVYMKA/s523/Kormus%20Horn.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifrbmeq6kEwlJYUY41mhfBoSflZfVNqs7xR2OiMMgBN0CSNLC0VquApujgBGQQYSuoCGYRsS4GbTjL2G6EnvVXWQgJIt-WKc4m8WQ6TVylVdeDU1OzVZZtOPM8jwgRS4Q3EgWkjM9E-42grtEfISNfKJ4VqjqSe62LcdNa00-t98UnFH3MfShEwDVYMKA/w286-h400/Kormus%20Horn.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>So those are the specific things I have learned so far. I have some more general take aways as well. Mostly I seem to have done what I was trying to do. There is plenty of room for improvement but I am pleased with the results and enjoying the games. The thing I got most wrong, that so far is being the most detrimental to the experience is how badly I misjudged the speed of the format. I knew it would be slower than my cube but I did not expect it to be by quite so much. Unsurprisingly almost all the factors I focused on in design are things you would expect to slow games compared to more conventional cubes. Greater consistency, more evenly spread power level, better life gain and card advantage, lower power in the top end with less game ending reach. These were all things I intentionally did. Magic metagames are complex eco systems, predicting the effects of one change is hard. Predicting the outcome of several additive changes is liable to be way off. And it was. This is not to say that it is all control. Aggro decks and midrange decks are doing fine, they are just real slow to turn an advantage into a win. This game style, with a high instance of older art, and the simpler card design philosophy did all contribute to quite and old school feeling. </p><p>The consequence of this slow format is not skewing which kinds of decks are dominant but which kinds of cards. Shockingly, all those cards that benefit from time in some way are over performing much more than I would like. This includes all of the planeswalkers, all the saga and class cards, and the various ongoing effect cards. There are some other factors pushing some of these groups but broadly this is where most nerfs have been aimed. Equally, I am trying to solve the problem at both ends by designing a bit more top end meat, game closing tools, and better answers to these over performing card types. I feel a problem so large as this needs a gradual solution. Eco systems need to move and have the time to do that, they cannot just jump from one place to another. For now I am going to have to stomach that certain types of cards are more potent than I would like. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghNB9Ax05uegVs2wgDWzh8NGniXJrxN5IiV_Pb1sxXhsmNZj896jkoMkwRAB2JSw6QOnZE1HdUxY3YqQL9HFuUcNi_lAPgn7Dt7WQiyeA5Ens9d0dlCk_OYAjqH1a3N-AksQ5vCenIzkp4cuuslnou2A2U6YZC3DgHspSt787H-KNodbUkLyC3N4s0kMU/s523/Ambrose,%20Haphazard%20Inventor.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghNB9Ax05uegVs2wgDWzh8NGniXJrxN5IiV_Pb1sxXhsmNZj896jkoMkwRAB2JSw6QOnZE1HdUxY3YqQL9HFuUcNi_lAPgn7Dt7WQiyeA5Ens9d0dlCk_OYAjqH1a3N-AksQ5vCenIzkp4cuuslnou2A2U6YZC3DgHspSt787H-KNodbUkLyC3N4s0kMU/w286-h400/Ambrose,%20Haphazard%20Inventor.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Empowering slow yield cards is not the only consequence of a slower format. There is a lot to be said for raw card power. When you both see a lot of your deck it starts to become more about who has the most total power. You can just out threat weight the opponent. This has been meaning that players are punished for playing too much "fluff". Card quality effects are a little less desirable than before because they are a card in your deck that doesn't directly help you get to your victory condition. You just cycle through it. I love fluff cards and made plenty of them. They are seeing play certainly, but less than I was anticipating based on the need for raw power. Indeed, the inverse is true at the other end of the spectrum. I didn't quite make enough five and six drops for the meta that has arisen and so this group of cards is seeing way more play than I was expecting, and this is despite them being the most down powered group compared to real magic cards. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpxBYtSNc5MVb6HpTXuynyfNORA-DKWzwjFIPd18GV7VPePRsTK9FsnVWbu0VjW6x2hXN6twZOW_eVk-HaAkkIfX1cguxoZzZPHOSWepcf7DIOnhQLXiNTxXmZrtYsH-YXx1FSQmM_G92TXUyLxCnUi2xBunNn0zZkGK0AuPPDfEgV19cpbNtn4X8fb48/s523/Tales%20of%20the%20Fish.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpxBYtSNc5MVb6HpTXuynyfNORA-DKWzwjFIPd18GV7VPePRsTK9FsnVWbu0VjW6x2hXN6twZOW_eVk-HaAkkIfX1cguxoZzZPHOSWepcf7DIOnhQLXiNTxXmZrtYsH-YXx1FSQmM_G92TXUyLxCnUi2xBunNn0zZkGK0AuPPDfEgV19cpbNtn4X8fb48/w286-h400/Tales%20of%20the%20Fish.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>These slow games have been very high quality. Lots of choices, lots of back and forth swings, and the feeling at the end of them that results could have gone differently if different choices were made at various points. These are all qualities I would attribute to a good game. However... I like to get my games in and there can be too long, too much of a good thing. Not finishing an event due to time constraints isn't where we want to be. Not all games are long certainly but there are more longer games, more epic games, less brutally short games etc, all rather pushing that average up. This means greater potential wait times for opponents to free up etc. There are plenty of good logistical reasons to have games closing out a bit quicker. I like the odd long game but I wouldn't want it to be the norm. I think I want my games in the 10-15 minute range for the most part, with perhaps one 30-40 epic per event. That is usually long enough to mean it was a game but short enough to leave time for the odd epic and get most matches done well within the hour. It is not until you start tinkering under the hood of these kinds of thing that you realize how important these non gameplay logistical elements are to design, yet they tend to go somewhat unseen by the players when you get it right.</p><p>All told I am very happy with how things have come out. It really feels like playing magic. The cards look and feel real. They all seem super plausible, and the games just feel like good games of cube magic. They do have that very old school vibe to them, thanks in part to how slow they are. Partly also because your life total feels like a more interesting and relevant resource. I do plan to try and improve upon the things that I have brought up in this article with cuts, re-balancing tweaks, and new additions. I had always assumed I would need to do some significant playtesting to get things right with the set, meaning I am all sorts of pleased with myself for how well things are playing right off the bat. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaSfI5iHtgt_piUUtSyjj9qHmeeasa82FzsIy580sOeCLG3IEbUO5GjN4BAhXiAvdPhn1nFaB8cruhORay-Vng54ehWQ3rrn7T6XGaXbimHKlulhgpvWZKjuDAZ0cEl2fEgk3bsiQ3xWgdYLFnfzudYEMq17LVYbX-o82CULJjUrNhXUQ9d70aMpVNnUg/s523/Firesight.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaSfI5iHtgt_piUUtSyjj9qHmeeasa82FzsIy580sOeCLG3IEbUO5GjN4BAhXiAvdPhn1nFaB8cruhORay-Vng54ehWQ3rrn7T6XGaXbimHKlulhgpvWZKjuDAZ0cEl2fEgk3bsiQ3xWgdYLFnfzudYEMq17LVYbX-o82CULJjUrNhXUQ9d70aMpVNnUg/w286-h400/Firesight.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>I have no real idea of timescales at this stage. I am doing another custom magic cards project now, with a friend, inspired by this one, that is rather more casual and very top down focused, using historic masterpieces as inspiration rather than using just Magic art. Most of the cards I made for the homemade cube were inspired in a bottom up kind of way. Only a few cards, typically inspired by a piece of art, received a top down approach, and those were some of my favourites. As such, I am having lots of fun with this top down project as well! All of this means I am presently playing with new home made cube, designing new cards for it, considering changes to existing cards in it, all while tinkering with a whole separate and new project. I am busy again with Magic! I will try to get some sensible looking complete card list for my homemade cube up as soon as possible, but equally, I don't want to rush out a sub par showing, nor do I wish to turn this very fun set of projects into a chore. Hence, no clue on timescales. We are still very much in the early stages, so too many unknowns. I don't even have a notion of what articles I'll be putting out, if any in the interim. I have a couple of old unfinished ones perhaps. Rest assured this is very much not the last you will be hearing from the home made cube!</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Nick Nobodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08217616255450989605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069223956725485027.post-28665465914345286672023-09-18T11:09:00.007-07:002023-09-18T11:09:54.312-07:00Homemade Cube Part 11<p>This is the final of the development articles I will release on the home made cube. I actually wrote it second but kept putting it off as I didn't want to showcase the dirty cards contained within! That is because this article is all about how to design cards with effects people dislike on them, or making use of bad mechanics. Given than several months have now passed since first writing this most of the cards have changed, which I at least have found somewhat interesting. These all changed pre-printing, there are now also plenty more cards I want to tweak post testing them. I am about 8 events in and I have a folder of about 80 cards with proposed changes. Mostly nerfs, the odd buff and about a fifth of cards with grammatical or aesthetic issues. Suffice it to say there will be some results and conclusions articles to follow, and of course the cube itself at some point! </p><p>There are some aspects of magic that not all players like. Typically the receiving player is not a fan of a fairly broad spectrum of effects that stop them playing the game. This can be mana denial stopping them from casting their things, permission countering them, discard plucking them away before use, or a selection of tax effects bogging down the game. Certainly people don't like to lose but there are good ways and bad ways to lose. In no surprise at all cards that people don't like line up neatly with these bad ways to lose. The majority of that is the feeling you didn't get to play. Fine, if your deck did its thing and got beat, but if you didn't do anything there is very little to take away. Below is a card that shuts down a commonly used avenue to victory and is not much of a good time. This is fortunately not how it went to the printers and was made a little more palatable! </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG6DL-bMbk7NofmBO_MGbfoiA8KcefoHT_EVWREXW1FKLo4_rytxIMf-KeR4cadscgWLcWSKvhIXAYFBFWpH63nSNDjY0iKm8XLJBT46XYI7_VsRC5zc49XuJkDJHePkdJ7KoVc9yZEht77LDCaxjz_W3uhFARLCowhfIeAEKV7QvvSlsyMRqaKaAq1bA/s627/Force%20Shield%20.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG6DL-bMbk7NofmBO_MGbfoiA8KcefoHT_EVWREXW1FKLo4_rytxIMf-KeR4cadscgWLcWSKvhIXAYFBFWpH63nSNDjY0iKm8XLJBT46XYI7_VsRC5zc49XuJkDJHePkdJ7KoVc9yZEht77LDCaxjz_W3uhFARLCowhfIeAEKV7QvvSlsyMRqaKaAq1bA/w288-h400/Force%20Shield%20.png" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>There are only two classes of hated card that really falls outside this category of cards people don't like for stopping them playing. The first of those are things that allow you to beat people with their own cards. Either you steal them and play them or you just wait till they play them and steal them then! It just feels rough somehow. Your Control Magics and Gonti's. The other group are the free spells, or specifically the gotcha ones, be they removal or counter magic. People don't like being caught off guard or always having to be aware of something. People like the comfort of a tapped out situation. A free spell is something that should be approached with caution, not just from a mechanical point of view but also a compassionate one too! I have a smattering of both such types of cards but they are generally at the lower end of my power level range, and typically designed to afford as much counter play as possible. My zero mana spells tend not to be doing disruptive things or affecting tempo, this keeps them on the safe side of things. As for the other group, if you are going to steal people things, make them pay for it. Allow the ability to get it back. Don't let them do it at sneaky instant speeds bypassing potential interaction there either. Below is what I think is about as fair as it is possible to make a broad spectrum and playable Control Magic. Not the most exciting but certainly representative of an element of the game. This doesn't have obnoxious scaling, can be undone, and can be played around to some extend as well.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiarPz22UralAstkQMdaas-wbdZ-Fw6zU6RJIkOqk-uulnWsqj6BPB1KnyeIWB3O9PTAhj35tBj1upnukfo3taiRtEqeoux6WA-R52E_nIdCQ27uEiIlcQRyZ9t8f3rZmTLgSACemQt78Z528hHrRsvtbWWeZpYIxtOPHefIzwSTHs9cCh6OTl5yl65f8A/s627/Marionette%20Strings.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiarPz22UralAstkQMdaas-wbdZ-Fw6zU6RJIkOqk-uulnWsqj6BPB1KnyeIWB3O9PTAhj35tBj1upnukfo3taiRtEqeoux6WA-R52E_nIdCQ27uEiIlcQRyZ9t8f3rZmTLgSACemQt78Z528hHrRsvtbWWeZpYIxtOPHefIzwSTHs9cCh6OTl5yl65f8A/w288-h400/Marionette%20Strings.png" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>I was trying to design a fun format that eschews away from "bad" design however I was also trying to do a tribute to Magic and showcase the breadth of the game. You can't do that without including some of these "bad" effects. Some you can tone down by playing fewer of them, such as the stealing effects, however you can't really just not have counterspells as that is a big part of what blue is about. You are being unfaithful to the game, but also giving yourself an impossible task of filling the gap left by countermagic. Where you cannot calm with reduced numbers you can at least calm with power. The countermagic suite is one of the few areas where my homemade cube is below the power level bar compared to most other cubes. I have no free counter magic that is for sure! The counter magic I do have I have tried to keep reasonable.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhisT5AcJB1G4S02cugHICwerGb98KgaUkUNHxY-J2TdIPc9XOmRupeof7_J7z-vcv1cKyQ_xZxDu7M3yCcXGFzfxvZZLWKSyFPddaFHqaHL3KJ1h82AtuPrKkMG6vTL1HXBy7VJxjxCIAv5iEAnzHzVGJ_GAIZ80yAn8FQD8NuWgE46yk6UPiaE6M9lac/s627/Condense.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhisT5AcJB1G4S02cugHICwerGb98KgaUkUNHxY-J2TdIPc9XOmRupeof7_J7z-vcv1cKyQ_xZxDu7M3yCcXGFzfxvZZLWKSyFPddaFHqaHL3KJ1h82AtuPrKkMG6vTL1HXBy7VJxjxCIAv5iEAnzHzVGJ_GAIZ80yAn8FQD8NuWgE46yk6UPiaE6M9lac/w288-h400/Condense.png" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Another strategy I have used to tone down disliked mechanics is a spreading out and tucking away kind of affair. I had only two cards capable of destroying a basic land and both only do so once. No Armageddon here! No Strip Mine Crucible of Worlds nonsense. Having just two effects is certainly pretty toned down but it is not the only length I have gone to. Both cost five mana which is fairly tucked away. Cheap land destruction is the most egregious. I have moved it up the curve to take the sting out of things but I have added it to other things so as to keep the power level somewhat attractive. Even with all that the card below has not faired well in testing. It wasn't fun or appreciated. The issue is simply that it is green and thus quite easy to play this on turn three. On the play that is way too oppressive, not to mention tempo and value all at once. Rather than try and fix this I am liable simply to cut it all together. It is not like I need things to kill basic lands. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDnvIUANHbnVxZ5MEHxSoXCwCjlZ56E1g1zeB6_ksSZtNc-VXIm-lqGT3-jVWNMBTmFYKwLOp0w4jXzRWBx68cHTFEFmNTwzDHnmuykq_1Gq5ZHGNGofkK3Wt7jRIOfuX0n6XqsDLRP0aezZurhPSFI-H1qzaC2uXv1ud0oJR9DuuvRzx-MDXFzV9ylKU/s627/Hill%20Giant.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDnvIUANHbnVxZ5MEHxSoXCwCjlZ56E1g1zeB6_ksSZtNc-VXIm-lqGT3-jVWNMBTmFYKwLOp0w4jXzRWBx68cHTFEFmNTwzDHnmuykq_1Gq5ZHGNGofkK3Wt7jRIOfuX0n6XqsDLRP0aezZurhPSFI-H1qzaC2uXv1ud0oJR9DuuvRzx-MDXFzV9ylKU/w288-h400/Hill%20Giant.png" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>The last thing I did, the spreading out, is about playability. Both my five drops that could kill a basic land are gold cards, in this case ones that share no colours at all. It is going to be pretty hard to fit them both into a deck and abuse a mana denial strategy. Indeed, just by being gold we are going to be seeing less of the card assuming it is of comparable power level and playability otherwise. This is an approach I have taken repeatedly, the hiding of the less loved effects in gold, up the curve, spread about the colours, and in short supply. As it turns out I have since nerfed the Angel below to only hit non-lands. It didn't seem like it was a good thing to have on the card. It is plenty powerful enough already and while it isn't in the colours of other land destruction effects it is in the colour of flicker effects and that would be a miserable way to lose. I was trying to evoke the spirit of Vindicate but in practice exorcising the ghost of Stone Rain losses is a more valiant calling. It turns out you don't need to have a land destruction theme for it to be egregious, just one well timed hit is all it takes. And so with that fall all the means of attacking basic land and total mana production present in my cube. Sure, they might be aspects of the game but I am not so into a tribute that I am going to harm the playability of it to represent.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgxpQwbB7e5famtpVsZpOKy3rUofY4-ZBfr17434IyxbdUUF_kbCRGprdjixVFol7Wd8LIYGTbWQjXAIF3t_h8BF0ypD-ycuV9Mb_geu9huTFTp46qKIyLaJR9Qo7lqPRmD3xEWOjIg2rrYyoohCqoeeyUny5EuAPS2Yltf8nNY1hU4clqhqBmEwsgV5Y/s627/Fell%20Angel%20.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgxpQwbB7e5famtpVsZpOKy3rUofY4-ZBfr17434IyxbdUUF_kbCRGprdjixVFol7Wd8LIYGTbWQjXAIF3t_h8BF0ypD-ycuV9Mb_geu9huTFTp46qKIyLaJR9Qo7lqPRmD3xEWOjIg2rrYyoohCqoeeyUny5EuAPS2Yltf8nNY1hU4clqhqBmEwsgV5Y/w288-h400/Fell%20Angel%20.png" width="288" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>At this point we start to move into territory I was reserving for a different article although they both concern "bad" elements of the game. This is a more general one about types of effects people don't like and isn't so much to do about things that are mechanically poor. There are actually a bunch of things that are technically quite poor mechanically but that people like or enjoy. There is just something to the gamble of a cascade that is fun! Hard to call it a good mechanic from a design point of view but the people like it and so there we are! With effects like cascade I have simply tried to include them in the most safe and contained manner possible. Obviously it is much easier for me to do so not having to worry about no mana suspend cards in the format. Designing without the baggage of pre-existing cards and formats is certainly making my job a lot easier! </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglSAR6Es56wsvBnPlbahYrL3gk-7UXTIAkFbR5dG2DmHEFmKNGbqW6Mx0_WrC8WhKUFiA-yktCI0pUkZZk6WGvZGv3qhB69ca1ixZpfxbcVho5n31_RlSIT1LzqGssyDopq_kXWbiVfnzJh2xiwcMiSgzPP2O6a3GQ7KJfG8u7prFf8Xdsa0x_BxqLOAo/s627/Mad%20Lad.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglSAR6Es56wsvBnPlbahYrL3gk-7UXTIAkFbR5dG2DmHEFmKNGbqW6Mx0_WrC8WhKUFiA-yktCI0pUkZZk6WGvZGv3qhB69ca1ixZpfxbcVho5n31_RlSIT1LzqGssyDopq_kXWbiVfnzJh2xiwcMiSgzPP2O6a3GQ7KJfG8u7prFf8Xdsa0x_BxqLOAo/w288-h400/Mad%20Lad.png" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>There are other "bad" mechanics that are not necessarily loved by players but that are highly flavourful and feel important to reflect in a tribute to magic. First strike is a good example of this. Not hated or anything but not something that is great for the game as it can shut things down in combat a bit defensively and make tricks all a bit too risky to play into. First strike is most egregious when you start to stack it up. As such the first port of call was turning as many of my designs for cards where I had used first strike into something else, be that vigilance or lifelink or whatever felt appropriate. Thinning it out over the colours a bit more. The next thing to do was more nested in the design of the cards themselves. Making it only apply when attacking is a trick wizards have been using themselves for a while and solves the problems with the ability. The cost is a little added complexity and noise on the cards but this is exactly what it should be used for. The art of keeping designs clean and simple is in part so that you have the space to fix things when needed without winding up with a mess of a design. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG9jXt-om5j-dyLjPsYfw1Qsx4xGZB1Z2ZJTroAXgXIFgshjTmsLFhArKug7fyg82M4d-IuGfxWuq6295CO60PgKdniVB2rwWwrWzuxGEsF9qXTSJsmBI3Wg-hUdGd0gyFLzbD-tCuw_BQ4ZwFQlDmqBgPYmXa61DhRsVl-1glcgIY7CHP9BXufC2_Bsc/s627/Dark%20Knight.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG9jXt-om5j-dyLjPsYfw1Qsx4xGZB1Z2ZJTroAXgXIFgshjTmsLFhArKug7fyg82M4d-IuGfxWuq6295CO60PgKdniVB2rwWwrWzuxGEsF9qXTSJsmBI3Wg-hUdGd0gyFLzbD-tCuw_BQ4ZwFQlDmqBgPYmXa61DhRsVl-1glcgIY7CHP9BXufC2_Bsc/w288-h400/Dark%20Knight.png" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>I find I am not compelled to slap loads of examples of these kinds of thing as they tend not to be my favourite of cards. They are more like the blemishes in the set I am trying to cover up. Yes, they are parts of the whole but they are getting more attention from the makeup bag than other areas of the face! Dark Knight is a nod to Black Knight, but protection is horrible design and so became ward. Deathtouch was granted to make the card relevant and interesting and sufficiently powerful in the modern game, and so the first strike needed to receive that common fix. The classic but ungainly Black Knight has a makeover and becomes presentable! I don't like it but I like it more than the original, and I feel like it is about as close as I am getting to a Black Knight without straying into the realms of bad design. </p><p>One final means of reducing hated effects I have found myself using a lot is the application of phyrexian mana instead of normal mana to some of the tax effects. Normally I dislike giving my opponents choices but on tax cards it goes down very well. It takes that oppressive cornered feel out of it a little. The card below manages to evoke the flavour of Tabernacle without stinking the whole room out. It also does this by being a creature and also an artifact as well making it far more easily removed. This is what also happened with the gold Ghostly Prison/Propaganda card I showed off first. That will have to do for bad cards for now!</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD6vK3mnWAGfSJNFt85nl8QBjDfL8kNoLFdAts_vQ3AVYHt5ggEts4Daz2gzL_BPmvzLV24DTc0iymH97FP-tc0YgIdGjtciGiuAQPqGUSSX11EJAxPCFRe453YjBNuQw6v6x0DTpccIJdlRkD0IbuO0RMVGnNhnYDzJp4HHQ9fkWyFQrwh5tF8Qu24fc/s523/The%20Introvert.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD6vK3mnWAGfSJNFt85nl8QBjDfL8kNoLFdAts_vQ3AVYHt5ggEts4Daz2gzL_BPmvzLV24DTc0iymH97FP-tc0YgIdGjtciGiuAQPqGUSSX11EJAxPCFRe453YjBNuQw6v6x0DTpccIJdlRkD0IbuO0RMVGnNhnYDzJp4HHQ9fkWyFQrwh5tF8Qu24fc/w286-h400/The%20Introvert.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><p><br /></p>Nick Nobodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08217616255450989605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069223956725485027.post-17455684142981381362023-09-11T13:19:00.002-07:002023-09-11T13:19:22.680-07:00Homemade Cube Part 10<p><br /></p><p>I understand that Richard Garfield has made the comment about magic that "it is not individual cards that are, or should be interesting, but the interactions between cards". This is one of the big reasons why I have tried to keep cards as simple as possible. It is also for this reason that I would class cards like Negate and Doom Blade to be some of the best designed cards in the game. There is however very little room left for simple yet sensibly powered cards such as these. This therefore means more complicated cards. This in turn is like jumping from a two body system to a three body system, if that is a meaningful reference! A Negate is clean, pointed and simple. It does one thing and is pretty easy to appraise. Add in another element and suddenly you have a far more complicated card that is hard to parse and solve. Your card can wind up falling into many more camps. Below is a nice simple card. It does one thing. It of course also shares this text with other cards that exist. Simple ones like Glorious Anthem too, this can get away with being cheaper because Anthem is slightly blow the mark and this is gold. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeUuntVr36cb3xTO3fyJ7NoiXpbfMe8ijw2FGKLVNxsibMZEVsJEhJSuoPG7qfj3FdR4aYSOjR8Haw0km0s5ptgr9G602S_rceLRjgTw0bNgm_20SncnJ07iSWoFyxMKW27sJiNP_3I1ua2bFLYIObmoK_AszwOTfgcAZCLG34QBGD-U_qCWL7sMDss1c/s523/Blessing.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeUuntVr36cb3xTO3fyJ7NoiXpbfMe8ijw2FGKLVNxsibMZEVsJEhJSuoPG7qfj3FdR4aYSOjR8Haw0km0s5ptgr9G602S_rceLRjgTw0bNgm_20SncnJ07iSWoFyxMKW27sJiNP_3I1ua2bFLYIObmoK_AszwOTfgcAZCLG34QBGD-U_qCWL7sMDss1c/w286-h400/Blessing.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>There are many ways in which a card can gain complexity. We have the well understood modal camp. There are plenty of cards with Negate as an option for what the card can do, along with some other non-negate stuff. Then there are just those composite cards that do a bunch of stuff such as Llanowar Visionary. They don't give the option on a few different things, they just do all of the different things! You have Elvish Visionary - a card draw dork, and Llanowar Elf - a mana dork. Both, as far as utility creatures go, as simple as you can get. Slap them together and you have Llanowar Visionary, a mana dork and value card. As neither of those things detract from the other, they are both just positive things to have without being overly conditional or situational and so the card is a purely positive additive card. That doesn't make it better than the constituent parts, that is about context and what your deck wants, but they do tend to have a good amount of raw power in a vacuum! Then you have cards where there is a downside or drawback component like Arcane Denial. These are a bit more interesting as you can sometimes negate the drawback or turn it to your advantage and in doing so scale the power of your card up multiple times. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmO878EhqoKGVKo5-noXANlVjWVB0G4UahdEjyKolB4pz3yvs-UGwKSg2rJossC4gzPMMKnVD_nIVxStjowAmLqxiimwo9Da4CMqdqGNCbXwAj2pm_gTRz5sqpneNzSKvmpijVh2i8WxKRSBdzNok5JsFDjs1JOvTJhjw8Xf-hBEhfjt6E2vLym-4aixQ/s523/Root%20Charm.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmO878EhqoKGVKo5-noXANlVjWVB0G4UahdEjyKolB4pz3yvs-UGwKSg2rJossC4gzPMMKnVD_nIVxStjowAmLqxiimwo9Da4CMqdqGNCbXwAj2pm_gTRz5sqpneNzSKvmpijVh2i8WxKRSBdzNok5JsFDjs1JOvTJhjw8Xf-hBEhfjt6E2vLym-4aixQ/w286-h400/Root%20Charm.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Somewhere in the middle, between these additive cards and these drawback cards are those that have a collection of positive elements but that do not neatly line up, either in a vacuum or in context. Utilizing one will come at the expense of other aspects of the card. I find these internal card tensions to be fun to play with. Below is a really simple example of such a card, where by you cannot have more than one trigger from the battle cry if you want the exalted to trigger. I have been able to put a little bit more on this card in terms of power due to how these two mechanics have tension with each other and cannot both perform well. While we have capped the ceiling, we have also raised the floor, which is a nice place to be. We have also made for a much more interesting card because of all the varied options it presents as an attacker. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgei7RCbfJWovslcFQTefZKOf-0MDTCLj5ROU1jHjN3C3Flgx_uQeulPgdm1YkOPpnMYSstTladcg8DTc4XooYNCtIj4RxLUXt53x_wbkviW2nLdUQrCqygRdTiqrBwCsjE1Mf5jvH4L0SWG9uX_RxTbrdTJ1sC0RTt5_-6xm0mBYFoD7xeh4AKrp7JKA4/s523/Herald.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgei7RCbfJWovslcFQTefZKOf-0MDTCLj5ROU1jHjN3C3Flgx_uQeulPgdm1YkOPpnMYSstTladcg8DTc4XooYNCtIj4RxLUXt53x_wbkviW2nLdUQrCqygRdTiqrBwCsjE1Mf5jvH4L0SWG9uX_RxTbrdTJ1sC0RTt5_-6xm0mBYFoD7xeh4AKrp7JKA4/w286-h400/Herald.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>We have looked at this card before I think but in a different light. City Square is basically just a Triome if you draw it. The interesting tensions on the card are directly lifted from the Triome cycle, or indeed all the playable cycling lands. Basically a cycling land is one you want to hold as long as possible in case you start to flood and want that extra card draw. Being an EtB tapped land however, you want to deploy it as soon as you have a window to do so. Say you have no one drop, then flopping out a tapped land feels free. Being forced to work out how likely you are to cycle a card at the time of the window for the free EtB aspect adds an element of skill that is missing from many fixing lands. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNtT_16TUVldieXWLHKhUA63TN25PNaZCKabRCpCLZnb1JhhaRHxTGLDVeP80uzkhv6-lMbC0-xdWibkcAKGSbZocNRkxwonFeqD8U7_v40AhAMu1XDfUgb_7b2NLj_WbsiURHWSxPh-Kr1qPPUh1Ya8rJhRJFHsSvpIRjeT5O4v-LTBfHeORsyO3T8bw/s523/City%20Square.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNtT_16TUVldieXWLHKhUA63TN25PNaZCKabRCpCLZnb1JhhaRHxTGLDVeP80uzkhv6-lMbC0-xdWibkcAKGSbZocNRkxwonFeqD8U7_v40AhAMu1XDfUgb_7b2NLj_WbsiURHWSxPh-Kr1qPPUh1Ya8rJhRJFHsSvpIRjeT5O4v-LTBfHeORsyO3T8bw/w286-h400/City%20Square.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Pentad Construct is a utility and support card. You can use it to ramp and fix or you can use it to get into combat with and perhaps get to retain the stats on the board once it dies. Doing one comes at the cost of the other. This is a pretty direct and linear situation. Further to that, it is a card you can deploy early at low power or later with more. One scaling tension is enough to make a card interesting, two will hopefully do more than merely double the interest! </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ0nxl6YT9amw0zbLGTXfVK_EiMnK2SySpOlKbARz2qmeXHh7sDJh-sMX_X4IH0P6gZqebRdXAx0-D8UuWuFo54-cG09zVdUTTliTif9qzegCYY7Me8xhreTE75e3sYAjoqLDVXn5IEKgTWd-9_kfO3yTDDW_PrhP10fD6LlBX1s1as-Yemg1nYva4jw8/s523/Pentad%20Construct.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ0nxl6YT9amw0zbLGTXfVK_EiMnK2SySpOlKbARz2qmeXHh7sDJh-sMX_X4IH0P6gZqebRdXAx0-D8UuWuFo54-cG09zVdUTTliTif9qzegCYY7Me8xhreTE75e3sYAjoqLDVXn5IEKgTWd-9_kfO3yTDDW_PrhP10fD6LlBX1s1as-Yemg1nYva4jw8/w286-h400/Pentad%20Construct.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>I have a cycle of six drops that can diminish their size to gain effects. These were inspired by Wall of Roots. While you are generally going to be wanting to use the effects where sensible to do so as they represent more value than a mere +1/+1, there is still plenty of internal tension. None of the cycle have any combat abilities and so can easily be bested. This will mean careful size management of these dorks if you want to use them in combat or avoid certain removal effects. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqbgF8Don6qe-W8MoRfZYa1MsEJgYPu8dk8hHq_J4Z4TJdnGIl3RGhgfE9iLOmzA34HRPW_beoH3Mg79HWKKdVMOhpn7M44IN_Bv0bW6bcdjcfI89upbZhNUd_oNvN6Zn8pW9iq27v6y4Nm-AhiJbZKaVTSIEot_wYC9L1pmAcc9BJmZeLja3iB2Iz80M/s523/Faceshredder.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqbgF8Don6qe-W8MoRfZYa1MsEJgYPu8dk8hHq_J4Z4TJdnGIl3RGhgfE9iLOmzA34HRPW_beoH3Mg79HWKKdVMOhpn7M44IN_Bv0bW6bcdjcfI89upbZhNUd_oNvN6Zn8pW9iq27v6y4Nm-AhiJbZKaVTSIEot_wYC9L1pmAcc9BJmZeLja3iB2Iz80M/w286-h400/Faceshredder.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>This next card is very pushed and may well need tuning down. Much as it has some tension it is all good things. Either you save your stuff and have a bigger construct or you crack your clues and draw more cards. Mostly I think it will be the latter, especially when you don't have other things to do with the powerstones, but every now and again, you will just want those stats. I think there will be a lot of similarity to when you fetch a Bauble or some such with an Urza's Saga and then don't sac it. Hopefully my saga attempt is not quite as broken as Urza's!</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQkAW-3bNb9CzeR6fUpbfWtOplxXZAuEg8tiJFw0p8lhjHCxkf1rxxw33KV-tT-MONxfTMlBBLPmYxXgC4sFnvtUQZk6MpVWVw_rYvhxkVApR3Ctg-YrIS6mwUwbCoQ1gbYuE3HpqhBZyMi9-kXokSb4qXNSCjDNJcvU_8DQi--_EphVhNboZKdeo7U3o/s523/Thran%20Artiface.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQkAW-3bNb9CzeR6fUpbfWtOplxXZAuEg8tiJFw0p8lhjHCxkf1rxxw33KV-tT-MONxfTMlBBLPmYxXgC4sFnvtUQZk6MpVWVw_rYvhxkVApR3Ctg-YrIS6mwUwbCoQ1gbYuE3HpqhBZyMi9-kXokSb4qXNSCjDNJcvU_8DQi--_EphVhNboZKdeo7U3o/w286-h400/Thran%20Artiface.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>So, we have all modal cards, all cycling cards, and by that logic any other mechanic that gives some kind of modality such as evoke providing some form of internal tension. Read ahead is a good one, it lets you trade total returns for expedience. Companions are another quite extreme card with tension although it comes in the deck building stage, you have to chose if the constraints on your deck cost you more or less than the companion you are accommodating offers you in return. For some reason I always enjoyed the delirium design challenge and so that is pretty much the inspiration for this little companion. Much as companions are very interesting, they are also very dangerous. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the 13 I have designed for the cube get culled down to zero, or near there. At the very least I would expect them to be the most heavily rebalanced of the cards. You have so much more potential danger and are trying to hit an even finer line of power level. That of being below average, yet still just about playable as a maindeck card, but interesting and potent enough to bother having as a companion. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYxEIwHaNpeNuoftSzhDRYUjDcHG-CCeWRNDIFa_c5TUfWwRgBXZFz5US-a2wCAjLHY3M3owHbuIuD4IcBxYT8kzkiUVjYFKBT4yXE2a0zHmKRDoZirNiM7qfY0dBxeM8WTsNBov4mySCFFsAqu9_qHhDfIccGtMNaVJOpGNrSsX1Vk2yUVgQG_hqe-10/s523/Deirdre%20Delieirdre.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYxEIwHaNpeNuoftSzhDRYUjDcHG-CCeWRNDIFa_c5TUfWwRgBXZFz5US-a2wCAjLHY3M3owHbuIuD4IcBxYT8kzkiUVjYFKBT4yXE2a0zHmKRDoZirNiM7qfY0dBxeM8WTsNBov4mySCFFsAqu9_qHhDfIccGtMNaVJOpGNrSsX1Vk2yUVgQG_hqe-10/w286-h400/Deirdre%20Delieirdre.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>There are cards where the tension is about the investment you make in them. I wanted to showcase Dragon Wagon here but I already did that card as a mana sink example! If you dedicate too much mana to the card and end up with idle mana and you get hit with an efficient and appropriate removal spell then you are pretty sad about it. Instead let us look at a level up dork as they share those elements a bit. Like a companion this tension is more of a building decision than a gameplay one, although it is certainly both, and I am a fan of that. Is your deck able to afford that mana investment and that risk, does it need to do so?</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfPfOlilzNtgCQ9b4nKmrlPNx02d2XkRFnImtiskKtHF6hMc_g9LDN91tGLzpPZPLXTnTmJrTuA8-SlumvFDjc5MRZ3ELlTzeo_GDLRGbKSusZN8PmIBI3JPrvqbWxp3UTUsc5Zvp9hvSCYqbZHv4zUphNpH7k_o-utN45JAAQaCu5t96hoyy_npa8ehc/s523/Career%20Goblin.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfPfOlilzNtgCQ9b4nKmrlPNx02d2XkRFnImtiskKtHF6hMc_g9LDN91tGLzpPZPLXTnTmJrTuA8-SlumvFDjc5MRZ3ELlTzeo_GDLRGbKSusZN8PmIBI3JPrvqbWxp3UTUsc5Zvp9hvSCYqbZHv4zUphNpH7k_o-utN45JAAQaCu5t96hoyy_npa8ehc/w286-h400/Career%20Goblin.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>There can be tension in information. I have always been fascinated by how some people play when they know about things like removal or countermagic. It is sometimes as if the information makes people play worse not better! With that in mind I made a bunch of answer cards that reveal themselves and cards that reveal other cards. The Seal cycle of cards was one way to do this but I was especially pleased with this use of the forecast mechanic. <p></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZfbrkLSMIgHYCD8gdjyNqtvha0pFKoOj7To9z5BjFXkfGGMyZKkvKjXrrYgMg10nhjg50I2s8vIgrs-L3qfidH_H10M0Vhx2Rpn7yeteWSw_Z7pQC1ovns7LWVq2m5s76_t4FiemaLzmfqb5EyflG_om2G7qqK8ixYzz0pmVKRgUvqVvciZvjWtSzu4s/s523/Dimble.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZfbrkLSMIgHYCD8gdjyNqtvha0pFKoOj7To9z5BjFXkfGGMyZKkvKjXrrYgMg10nhjg50I2s8vIgrs-L3qfidH_H10M0Vhx2Rpn7yeteWSw_Z7pQC1ovns7LWVq2m5s76_t4FiemaLzmfqb5EyflG_om2G7qqK8ixYzz0pmVKRgUvqVvciZvjWtSzu4s/w286-h400/Dimble.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>The cards arrived a few days ago so this design process series will be coming to a close and this will be the penultimate article of this nature I think. Obviously there will be a few about the testing and review step, as well as some full spoilers for the set once I work out how to do the galleries for them! Not to mention a conclusion sort of an affair. I have done 3 events so far and been very pleased with the results. Despite this I have already found about 10 cards with typo style errors on them and another 10 or so with rebalancing tweaks I want to make. I am sure there will be many more to follow!</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Nick Nobodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08217616255450989605noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069223956725485027.post-70343170526123924482023-09-04T13:21:00.000-07:002023-09-04T13:21:45.873-07:00Homemade Cube Part 9<p><br /></p><p>Being a tribute to Magic I wished to include as much as sensibly possible in the way of examples of mechanics. Some very emblematic cards and mechanics are actually horrible designs and not at all fun to play with. A challenge I relished was using a bad mechanic, or paying tribute to a dodgy card, and making it palatable in the process. </p><p>Making a card fairly innocuous is a great way to stifle dodgy mechanics. Miracle is horrendous, it is such a swingy effect. Especially if you are sticking Time Walks, and Wrath/Fireball combos on to them.... If you make a miracle out of Revitalize however, you are not subjecting yourself to anywhere near that level of polarity</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOS_6-rd5HB7jIVXQvTyN4IG8GddKzi4hQuOqXkq_kpR4GzJer_4KJR7aIcuqQNBqzGn_je9y2euwwYgCXzXG6yWXvja6zYdWKa0xilBzHmYhxYWTBp-MSQEFPBse0x19cD3GgGGqi3JI2D9EZoeCx3K5b29Nq2deCUF1zoJ-V9M_mO86tVvKptU6KQbQ/s523/Angelic%20Embrace.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOS_6-rd5HB7jIVXQvTyN4IG8GddKzi4hQuOqXkq_kpR4GzJer_4KJR7aIcuqQNBqzGn_je9y2euwwYgCXzXG6yWXvja6zYdWKa0xilBzHmYhxYWTBp-MSQEFPBse0x19cD3GgGGqi3JI2D9EZoeCx3K5b29Nq2deCUF1zoJ-V9M_mO86tVvKptU6KQbQ/s320/Angelic%20Embrace.jpg" width="229" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>I have always hated Banisher Priest style cards in cube as they feel so polar. Great when they work, really dodgy in the face of removal, even just bounce. They are however incredibly white and cannot simply be ignored. As such I just split up the card so as to also split up the risk. You don't lose your dork and give them theirs back, just one of the other when it comes to spot removal. You still want to be a bit careful with this card and not just toss it out on any old thing that has a strong EtB effect you want to avoid giving them a second shot with, but you do at least have a card that isn't just a white knuckle shit for you whenever it is in play.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9ekxzKVxTL_m0A7vn8mvU8GkP8pKVKrlj3rM2pLgabzp26DoQpys-Fw5t56f4PLkwHrWDT8Z6Zui-vAl9UFswNZyQnS5fjaiOLwf0GJGC7-HV6VYu_BUvns7uHscBM5p-wlyQi-BTLdh-OJqY4Ju0bWqz8HvSNHJv6KjEOSb1TadprqIk-LmvnPev-sQ/s523/Locked%20in%20the%20Tower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9ekxzKVxTL_m0A7vn8mvU8GkP8pKVKrlj3rM2pLgabzp26DoQpys-Fw5t56f4PLkwHrWDT8Z6Zui-vAl9UFswNZyQnS5fjaiOLwf0GJGC7-HV6VYu_BUvns7uHscBM5p-wlyQi-BTLdh-OJqY4Ju0bWqz8HvSNHJv6KjEOSb1TadprqIk-LmvnPev-sQ/s320/Locked%20in%20the%20Tower.jpg" width="229" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Another common white effect that I find plays poorly is removal that only hits stuff actively involved in combat. I think it is because white gets into stalls a lot of the time, and is also fairly dull, lacking in trickery, and as such pretty easy to read. Simple fix to a card dodgy for this kinds of reasons is to slap on some cycling. Cycling of sufficiently low cost makes almost anything playable! </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbXB8cNcIJMDKDzrDplaDrMjFU8CXALYRwt-c7xXP1smCVdkorKm4c1JyJFHXzdxHZCGYqLl8gG-3MUnzlEZm-JVBqs8orGBs4u9JlEVy0o-MO-ZCANjgnAy2l9rKHFkbAypzMgyZnY90Vh7ARRlUtyXwOhr1YQblQQae8N2le0bZtVDSN0Y1sMzw2KA8/s523/Gone%20in%20a%20Flash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbXB8cNcIJMDKDzrDplaDrMjFU8CXALYRwt-c7xXP1smCVdkorKm4c1JyJFHXzdxHZCGYqLl8gG-3MUnzlEZm-JVBqs8orGBs4u9JlEVy0o-MO-ZCANjgnAy2l9rKHFkbAypzMgyZnY90Vh7ARRlUtyXwOhr1YQblQQae8N2le0bZtVDSN0Y1sMzw2KA8/s320/Gone%20in%20a%20Flash.jpg" width="229" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Cycling is just a nice clean form of card modality. And modality is another fantastic way to hide your narrow and dodgy mechanics. Planeswalkers, Charms, Confluences, Commands, and even the likes of classes and sagas all offer a kind of inbuilt modality where we can house some of our less desirable elements. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPG1YE6XewFO3xejksYpF8SUGDbGZt5XVpMtoc2DU93kTq6StA3bJrrVpwReQl9V6cY0aCKhiMJwOzEcNG4Y0PCSs6uoSJXHjnHswUlv9_HQyq9M-Q7hzs0h6a40-3GF5_PJgEK5dZv4lB_dKSDzuMmyl1Bmsm2gsOb15Gv4vX6OApWR0CKBExcwcQbR4/s523/Hasran%20Charm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPG1YE6XewFO3xejksYpF8SUGDbGZt5XVpMtoc2DU93kTq6StA3bJrrVpwReQl9V6cY0aCKhiMJwOzEcNG4Y0PCSs6uoSJXHjnHswUlv9_HQyq9M-Q7hzs0h6a40-3GF5_PJgEK5dZv4lB_dKSDzuMmyl1Bmsm2gsOb15Gv4vX6OApWR0CKBExcwcQbR4/s320/Hasran%20Charm.jpg" width="229" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Some mechanics are weak simply because they demand support. With such mechanics you can simply bake in the needed support to the card as a whole. Sagas do this especially well. It is just a type of polarity a card can have but it is at least a much easier type of polarity to fix than most. A lot of things need fodder to use or some kind of setup, many things beyond devour, and using tools like adventure, sagas, and aftermath can allow us to somewhat cleanly build that in. This card feels rather over tuned and should probably make three Thrull tokens and only have devour 2 on the final mode. That being said, sagas always house a lot of power. Play testing will reveal where the line needs to be for this tribute card. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNDZjx1Z-qGI7Jhq3P3gRXRS4PpULAmEO61fwZlPnOXDBp3_F-GPESWp4m1RYTcL_i5j4joO9EtcxedgBgpp69XWw3q9HhbKCyGFdo2ChwP4NKOkDlF-kRBAnUxk2kptGwewx3iHxrreJGRs4YZA2_jsxJDDztKfxKJsHKWLUAcUHCmLu99jlz9HI0ZbA/s523/The%20Horror,%20the%20Horror.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNDZjx1Z-qGI7Jhq3P3gRXRS4PpULAmEO61fwZlPnOXDBp3_F-GPESWp4m1RYTcL_i5j4joO9EtcxedgBgpp69XWw3q9HhbKCyGFdo2ChwP4NKOkDlF-kRBAnUxk2kptGwewx3iHxrreJGRs4YZA2_jsxJDDztKfxKJsHKWLUAcUHCmLu99jlz9HI0ZbA/s320/The%20Horror,%20the%20Horror.jpg" width="229" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>At the opposite end of the scale to this idea of baking in support there is diluting down the offending mechanic. Cumulative upkeep is fairly poor in general, as mechanics go, with very few interesting or playable cards that support it. If you take a card with cumulative upkeep and give it a EtB effect then this is going to be a part of the card that does not have its value hampered by the upkeep cost. In effect you are diluting away some of the bad mechanic! The card blow is mostly Evacuation which has no baring on the upkeep. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip2Hn8zTt0wd9FujSIlzok7fb6LT8J8S0HHsuNCvkPZKbCE_8c3A6rErpVAGnt5btgv_JKu2IVNCc8VrjLCoM1saXGHalNOAC4CqAxlzCXkMdgoD4mS5yvYssNjMVa_ikG_lM-zhO5mrkfKgLPaqjsNPI2Z-_Fndt7zXQO8iHhFSO_2FdeRyU-SeYzEXo/s523/The%20Flood.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip2Hn8zTt0wd9FujSIlzok7fb6LT8J8S0HHsuNCvkPZKbCE_8c3A6rErpVAGnt5btgv_JKu2IVNCc8VrjLCoM1saXGHalNOAC4CqAxlzCXkMdgoD4mS5yvYssNjMVa_ikG_lM-zhO5mrkfKgLPaqjsNPI2Z-_Fndt7zXQO8iHhFSO_2FdeRyU-SeYzEXo/s320/The%20Flood.jpg" width="229" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Some effects are just tedious to play against and can be frustrating when on a permanent type you are unable to answer. I have put some of these effects on walkers so as to help offer all archetypes some means of answer. Bastion of Remembrance is an absolute house of a card in my cube. It was very much the inspiration behind this little walker. I wanted that effect available to black but I wanted it answerable.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqX9plD5xlhNcwkZ2wjwWzj5TkdVqapNeCULocTnzihaZ2uDNAy5PhCRgNTD4TmmdwSu8Oo-X8Nl9JAXIB9OSDsXhWH2VkUVZX7lIKGwPJniwu5LVC_eAJgSXrWvuv-VjthtRhL1n-EUi8GbrVhtn8oisRj8iY4kobmp2_v2ydXvCK-TJW9H4IfApwzGY/s523/Simone%20of%20Sengir.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqX9plD5xlhNcwkZ2wjwWzj5TkdVqapNeCULocTnzihaZ2uDNAy5PhCRgNTD4TmmdwSu8Oo-X8Nl9JAXIB9OSDsXhWH2VkUVZX7lIKGwPJniwu5LVC_eAJgSXrWvuv-VjthtRhL1n-EUi8GbrVhtn8oisRj8iY4kobmp2_v2ydXvCK-TJW9H4IfApwzGY/s320/Simone%20of%20Sengir.jpg" width="229" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>In games some juicy content is locked behind a pay wall. I managed to lock away some bad mechanics behind a pay wall of sorts. There are plenty of random bad mechanics that depend on what your opponent has, land walk, protection, and that sort of thing. Intimidate is one such janky ability but when tucked away behind a reasonably expensive activation cost it stops contributing and affecting the main cost of the card anywhere near as much as it would if it were passive. It is a kind of dilution effect but achieved in a different way. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTN-61tAuJVoWlGCcxx8ExGkDPTjXU3r7n54Afqmdirjw_4fxYyt9RO5mzqhxIAzCG-6EZtUqLKe5eGJO2ka2JNiiwavra3RtQX3fjlZW3ajkmYgc2BVZpaBmJgQjh8YD2aVdw6Uwzf5BGbqYOLCQECvjOG--TZNGxfQZFGYAqmoSuuEx3rKjk0Qb7_jo/s523/Orcish%20Outrider.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTN-61tAuJVoWlGCcxx8ExGkDPTjXU3r7n54Afqmdirjw_4fxYyt9RO5mzqhxIAzCG-6EZtUqLKe5eGJO2ka2JNiiwavra3RtQX3fjlZW3ajkmYgc2BVZpaBmJgQjh8YD2aVdw6Uwzf5BGbqYOLCQECvjOG--TZNGxfQZFGYAqmoSuuEx3rKjk0Qb7_jo/s320/Orcish%20Outrider.jpg" width="229" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>There are the odd card that is just a soup of abilities. It is a bit like dilution but is also a bit like self support. This card supports one dull, one weak, and one bad ability (Graft, Outlast, and Heroic respectively). I am not suggesting that this is a great card or anything, either power wise or design wise, but for a cube setting it is certainly a lot more viable that most other cards supporting any of these three key words! These three seem to add value and interest to the other abilities, somewhat helping to justify them, while making them less narrow or polar. This is very much a sum greater than its parts kind of a card. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL2epxBv_rBaC1KvBl-kRLAnf6D2VxaD-nTfIYoG7at3AWS64w0ozF_xv1UhJHB6aEfuaSRRvS474-tQGtdVEPmc2cRFha3eWRjxUglHegabXlzhi9AEFq8qn2o-fHxCs36mDGEs5Ytyk-hdwbPKWAjgPDwLs8_MSAswAel6-YDIKKMRcmXzQ83klfeIU/s523/Sardaukar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL2epxBv_rBaC1KvBl-kRLAnf6D2VxaD-nTfIYoG7at3AWS64w0ozF_xv1UhJHB6aEfuaSRRvS474-tQGtdVEPmc2cRFha3eWRjxUglHegabXlzhi9AEFq8qn2o-fHxCs36mDGEs5Ytyk-hdwbPKWAjgPDwLs8_MSAswAel6-YDIKKMRcmXzQ83klfeIU/s320/Sardaukar.jpg" width="229" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>So there we have it, a little deep dive into how the sausages are made! I have now finished the home made cube ready for its first lot of playtesting. I rather overshot my initial plan of hitting 600 or so cards and finished a couple shy of 720! I will be whittling it down to somewhere in the 600 region in this alpha test while picking up which cards need tweaks to their designs. I will try and get the full set I am playing with uploaded as some kind of gallery. There is likely a couple more of these homemade cube progress and process style blog posts to come as well before that. </p>Nick Nobodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08217616255450989605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069223956725485027.post-72489864325449877162023-08-28T14:54:00.001-07:002023-08-28T14:54:57.782-07:00Wilds of Eldraine Review<p> </p><p>This set I simply don't have sufficient interest to bother doing a full set review. Mostly this is down to my homemade cube project taking up most of my Magic energy, but obviously Wizards has not helped much with my interest over the past few years either! I tried to read the spoiler as it was coming out and there were so many adventures and wordy cards I just couldn't care enough to focus. This will be the first set I have not reviewed since I started doing so over a decade ago! That being said, I still am going to do a checklist of cards to get, where I think they will wind up, and a rating for them. All that will be missing is the blurb that goes with my rating trying to justify it. Sadly, without having to think quite so hard about my opinion of a card and formulating that into words I am going to be rather more off the mark than usual. It will be interesting to see by how much post testing! Once done with ratings then finally a perhaps a paragraph or two about any thoughts I might have on the set as a whole. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/b/8b0e6daf-0dec-4718-af79-b7ce137c3135.jpg?1692938623" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="488" height="400" src="https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/b/8b0e6daf-0dec-4718-af79-b7ce137c3135.jpg?1692938623" width="287" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Auto Includes</p><p><br /></p><p>Restless Fortress 8</p><p>Restless Vinestalk 8</p><p>Restless Spire 7.5</p><p>Restless Cottage 8.5</p><p>Virtue of Courage 7.5</p><p>Decadent Dragon 8</p><p>Charming Scoundrel 7</p><p>Horned Loch-Whale 8</p><p>Pickock Prankster 7.5</p><p>Lord Skitter, Swere King 7.5</p><p>Virtue of Persistence 7.5</p><p>Goddric, Cloaked Reveler 7.5</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/9/6/96a05063-0556-42e4-8d4c-8e92be160ef5.jpg?1692937052" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="574" height="400" src="https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/9/6/96a05063-0556-42e4-8d4c-8e92be160ef5.jpg?1692937052" width="287" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>To Test (High expectations)</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Court of Locthwain* 7</p><p>Tegwyll's Scouring* 7</p><p>Candy Trail 7.5</p><p>Restless Bivouac 7.5</p><p>The Huntsman's Redemption 7</p><p>Questing Druid 7</p><p>Mosswood Dreadknight 7.5</p><p>Hearth Elemental 7</p><p>Embereth Veteran 7.5</p><p>Specter of Mortality 7</p><p>Faerie Dreamthief 7</p><p>Twinning Twins 7</p><p>Frolicking Familiar 7</p><p>Farsight Ritual 7</p><p>Elusive Otter 7</p><p>Pollen-Shield Hare 7</p><p>Heartflame Delist 6.5</p><p>Regal Bunnicorn (The white Tarmogoyf!) 7</p><p>Virtue of Loyalty 7.5</p><p>Werefox Bodyguard 7.5</p><p>Torch the Tower 7</p><p>Asinine Antics 7</p><p>Beseech the Mirror 6.5</p><p>Rankle's Prank 7</p><p>Tangled Colony 7</p><p>Food Fight 7</p><p>Kellan, the Fae-Blooded 7</p><p>Scalding Viper 7</p><p>Elvish Archivist 7.5</p><p>The Goose Mother 7</p><p>Agatha's Soul Cauldron 7</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/b/8/b85e0aed-bfb2-4aa8-a754-849c4d9a6a58.jpg?1692939989" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="574" height="400" src="https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/b/8/b85e0aed-bfb2-4aa8-a754-849c4d9a6a58.jpg?1692939989" width="287" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>To Test (Low expectations)</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Tough Cookie 6</p><p>Three Bowls of Porridge 5</p><p>Gruff Triplets 5</p><p>Flick a Coin 6</p><p>The irencrag 5</p><p>Syr Gginger, the Meal Ender 6</p><p>Witchstalker Frenzy 6.5</p><p>The Witche's Vanity 5</p><p>Spiteful Hexmage 5</p><p>Woodland Acolyte 6</p><p>Cheeky House Mouse 6</p><p>Cooped Up 6</p><p>Hylda's Crown of Winter 6</p><p>Expel the Interlopers 6</p><p>Lady of Laughter 6.5</p><p>Plunge into Winter 5</p><p>Shrounded Shepherd 5</p><p>Spellbook Vendor 6.5</p><p>Stroke of Midnight 6</p><p>Freeze in Place 5</p><p>Gadwick's First Duel 5</p><p>Sleep-Cursed Faerie 5</p><p>Talion's Messenger 6</p><p>Tenacious Tomeseeker 6</p><p>Ashiok, Wicked Manipulator 6</p><p>Devouring Sugarmaw 6</p><p>Voracious Vermin 5</p><p>Immodane, the Pyrohammer 4</p><p>Monstrous Rage 5</p><p>Raging Battlemouse 6</p><p>Redcap Gutter-Dweller 6.5</p><p>Rotisserie Elemental 5</p><p>Beanstalk Wurm 4</p><p>Blossoming Tortoise 6.5</p><p>Bramble Familiar 6</p><p>Up the Beanstalk 6</p><p>Welcome to Sweettooth 6</p><p>Talion, the Kindly Lord 7</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/2/d/2d5e991f-23b2-4db0-a452-7755125b1fd2.jpg?1692939184" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="574" height="400" src="https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/2/d/2d5e991f-23b2-4db0-a452-7755125b1fd2.jpg?1692939184" width="287" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Constructed Reserve Stuff</p><p><br /></p><p>Hopeful Vigil 5</p><p>Moonshaker Cavalry 6</p><p>Slumbering Keepguard 3</p><p>Stockpiling Celebrant 2</p><p>Ingenious Prodigy 6</p><p>Snaremaster Sprite 4</p><p>Spell Stutter 3</p><p>Callous Sell-Sword 5</p><p>Hopeless Nightmare 5</p><p>Not Dead After All 6</p><p>Harried Spearguard 6</p><p>Brave the Wilds 6</p><p>Night of the Sweets' Revenge 3</p><p>Virtue of Strength 5</p><p>Likeness Looter 6</p><p>Obyra, Dreaming Duelist 4</p><p>Rowan, Scion of War 5</p><p>Collector's Vault 5</p><p>Throne of Eldraine* 6</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/c/ecd6d8fb-780c-446c-a8bf-93386b22fe95.jpg?1692940074" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="488" height="400" src="https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/c/ecd6d8fb-780c-446c-a8bf-93386b22fe95.jpg?1692940074" width="287" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Not a whole lot to say about this set. I don't think my lack of excitement or interest is any real reflection of the set. It seems fine. I like the plane. It is perhaps a little too cartoony and cute for my tastes but not by much, and that certainly isn't how we should be looking at sets. The power level is about where you would want it which is a relief, the first Eldraine visit was marred rather by unreasonable power levels. There are lots of potentially good cube cards here but none that look to be oppressive in power or staples in their frequency of play, other than the manlands of course. Just a bunch of fine looking mid and top end variations of stuff. </p>Nick Nobodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08217616255450989605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069223956725485027.post-8013254638045490192023-08-24T08:07:00.000-07:002023-08-24T08:07:06.657-07:00Homemade Cube Part 8<p> </p><p>Today we are going to be making some predictions based on design choices. I currently play a pretty reliable 17 lands in my 40 when playing my main cube these days. This is up over the years as mana sinks and sources of value have gotten better. Scrap that, as tempo has become more important, is the predominant reason. Those first two things mean you don't suffer floods as badly when and if they happen but really it is about the tempo. You want to just curve and you want to do so in tempo positive ways, either efficiently shutting down theirs, or progressing your own. The best way to win in my cube these days is by having a powerful midrange deck full of generically good cards and then curving out all the way to five while managing to usefully spend all fifteen mana along the way, ideally capping it off with some absurd five drop. More lands makes this more likely. I would likely be playing nearer 18 lands per deck if it were not for the fact that so many cube cards draw and dig and generally help you to curve.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5EW9YTwwH9RoCrFhXyVEtcY_XfKS2hIxHlGNu-mB3oP9btAgO06hHk5RSU3HVNF4UtThwUEw7CE1vR_tpfxjHN3KbxKT3frg_w1AGgr1iMjYlNhaQ81YaqATOtK1dJyDrFcTHhafbrlE0eCQabZZ1fd3h8OcRPN1lDrMlvsZGW6IOtTJZUr-ra0bU4TU/s627/Rubbish%20Dump.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5EW9YTwwH9RoCrFhXyVEtcY_XfKS2hIxHlGNu-mB3oP9btAgO06hHk5RSU3HVNF4UtThwUEw7CE1vR_tpfxjHN3KbxKT3frg_w1AGgr1iMjYlNhaQ81YaqATOtK1dJyDrFcTHhafbrlE0eCQabZZ1fd3h8OcRPN1lDrMlvsZGW6IOtTJZUr-ra0bU4TU/w288-h400/Rubbish%20Dump.png" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>I predict that in my homemade cube I will be playing closer to 15 lands on average. There are a lot of reasons why I think this will be the case so lets have a look at each in turn. Firstly my curve is lower in the home made cube. There are a lot more one drops and rather less three drops and upward, all pulling the average down somewhat. In a very simplified way, if there is less to spend mana on you are going to need less of it! I think this will be the more significant of the factors that reduce the number lands I want to play.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiFvkftuKGGFaK20eNWZJkDauOzYRyCYMrzCKvj1jXXW-W-Kf0_EXK7TYrQB_iAq3n88P8kw41Bk4fCqVN32Z0xPSS0Bj5lKYc_1gwVRsBYgfyrUAHtAHQIxa7z1JR9w2J9dJyAwYCEPeMrGQ8DVN23sGh0y08b7ZwmlF6_E-7aj2cW4ytG19xg3DjSc4/s627/Advance%20Scout.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiFvkftuKGGFaK20eNWZJkDauOzYRyCYMrzCKvj1jXXW-W-Kf0_EXK7TYrQB_iAq3n88P8kw41Bk4fCqVN32Z0xPSS0Bj5lKYc_1gwVRsBYgfyrUAHtAHQIxa7z1JR9w2J9dJyAwYCEPeMrGQ8DVN23sGh0y08b7ZwmlF6_E-7aj2cW4ytG19xg3DjSc4/w288-h400/Advance%20Scout.png" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>A more subtle factor is that I think the top end in my homemade cube is less powerful and less able to brute force a win. In a world where your five drop is winning you the game quickly and reliably you want to get there as fast as possible as is increasingly the case in my main cube. I don't think my homemade top end is quite so alluring and as such not as important to arrive at punctually. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMmwpaUX7BQFRNwwM-Mx0iD7J6SKMpyIJyaNQ_ChNmyiMQ7ElTedSGAWkOSpJbM_mRuxoXmZWfl4IjyX4AI5ucPTPsyr7HrXNPUUdRwemMTZAj-BenO1Pn1S6PCLCkmSOunpKgICLvpX-o3RSX9P2QtVOVWSqFt8Jn29U1Ep59Rug1WtrDhFrm8OVjsho/s627/Cumulonimbus.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMmwpaUX7BQFRNwwM-Mx0iD7J6SKMpyIJyaNQ_ChNmyiMQ7ElTedSGAWkOSpJbM_mRuxoXmZWfl4IjyX4AI5ucPTPsyr7HrXNPUUdRwemMTZAj-BenO1Pn1S6PCLCkmSOunpKgICLvpX-o3RSX9P2QtVOVWSqFt8Jn29U1Ep59Rug1WtrDhFrm8OVjsho/w288-h400/Cumulonimbus.png" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>One of the other factors that I tweaked in the homemade cube was the reduced cost of card advantage and card quality, with an increased abundance in the latter. If it costs less, you are going to be able to play more, and are incentivized to do so, and there being more around makes that easy to do. More filtering and digging effects typically result in fewer lands getting played. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwpMzsKghema9bGqGkoxm5y4is4n61dpvq6bgL9aZ37U63X0owc45fN3wWZj9qbswyhmGURDhUqN8uMmeRIivt7MVBNKLogxw56bnTIy8rSwun800Anob66fnUgKA3av2ODpkes-m7G1dsCz6UvdxqgOvvB-mo0Yy1TCG9xe00NlpGNfH9wic9E5VY_-0/s627/Spelunking%20Expedition.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwpMzsKghema9bGqGkoxm5y4is4n61dpvq6bgL9aZ37U63X0owc45fN3wWZj9qbswyhmGURDhUqN8uMmeRIivt7MVBNKLogxw56bnTIy8rSwun800Anob66fnUgKA3av2ODpkes-m7G1dsCz6UvdxqgOvvB-mo0Yy1TCG9xe00NlpGNfH9wic9E5VY_-0/w288-h400/Spelunking%20Expedition.png" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>The card above also reminds me that there is a fair amount of incidental treasure in the set as well. Both cards give you treasure and those giving it away. These really help get you over those key threshold. You might have a deck which only ever needs five mana for two five drops. For those five drops to be relevant enough of the time they need supporting with sufficient lands. You might well however be able to trade a couple of lands into treasure generating cards, get the same level of playability out of your five drops, and increase the overall threat and power density of your deck. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2-8HL_WsFdQmtSaca6Le-DVCpY0xNGVNCX1Gk0kLvhJ1DrjIAtiWKrxAE0VmiApU6MsfsVZe9rdewJ-5wcpKkHhjBu6im1nnUP5X9Bcl8nKd1qeUlJJx6HkfnipOY5RZsagPjd1YB8-lUV9NNxC6-dI9s7bwkEqTHRobOZOptDK07WrEH782EazWmbY4/s627/Care%20Package.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2-8HL_WsFdQmtSaca6Le-DVCpY0xNGVNCX1Gk0kLvhJ1DrjIAtiWKrxAE0VmiApU6MsfsVZe9rdewJ-5wcpKkHhjBu6im1nnUP5X9Bcl8nKd1qeUlJJx6HkfnipOY5RZsagPjd1YB8-lUV9NNxC6-dI9s7bwkEqTHRobOZOptDK07WrEH782EazWmbY4/w288-h400/Care%20Package.png" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Inspired by the quality of the one mana basic land cyclers in Tales of Middle Earth I ended up packing two full cycles in my home made cube. This is comprised of a 4 and a 5 drop dork in each colour, each with a single flavourful key word and a relatively low power, by cube standards at least. These cheap cyclers are very alike to the MDFC cards in function and I expect them to see a lot of play and replace a lot of lands in the process. Lorien Revealed is one of the most played five drops in the more powerful constructed formats already. I similarly expect the land cyclers to be some of the most played in my cube. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLGvTZsEIJJcnyX7pWtJuzBZAWdAMgEtwgcB0ReewXLk23OfiuG5xgpqf1rXUIX_RKoWcBMKYly15k6t9Jgwkxv1xPhuF1Zxz_cTiFpKbg3LLNGymWMuBp4ddDIocxFKCLpKnp-njw7d0mnH8jH-BrenB_itwBXkr48nQuuoiG5gyFw2K8L2d5dupQC7k/s627/Kraken.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLGvTZsEIJJcnyX7pWtJuzBZAWdAMgEtwgcB0ReewXLk23OfiuG5xgpqf1rXUIX_RKoWcBMKYly15k6t9Jgwkxv1xPhuF1Zxz_cTiFpKbg3LLNGymWMuBp4ddDIocxFKCLpKnp-njw7d0mnH8jH-BrenB_itwBXkr48nQuuoiG5gyFw2K8L2d5dupQC7k/w288-h400/Kraken.png" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Further to that I slapped on a lot of "Lay of the Land" effects onto Charms and other modal card fairly often, both as a way to give low impact card neutral options thus lowering the narrowness of some of these cards, but also just as a good way to increase game consistency. While not quite as potent as the land cyclers I suspect the relative abundance of these will add to that effect in a relevant way.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUJdt9J6b2GxbUxKfstRh4AKPc1EhgIGAH97_K73dwUWehC_4nfBFTr38XLQ0ukeFCDMqI4QAclEKDj27JNKfiDEat6Rpo1OdG3CxuJ3NR2XWDPazeZ9weqobC0j2YQ5q4TqkqQEC83oUQrYn8W9x-DKIGYELDWrkkkYNP-Hgs4yZhOx3-1eSJDPus-H8/s627/Gloom%20Charm.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUJdt9J6b2GxbUxKfstRh4AKPc1EhgIGAH97_K73dwUWehC_4nfBFTr38XLQ0ukeFCDMqI4QAclEKDj27JNKfiDEat6Rpo1OdG3CxuJ3NR2XWDPazeZ9weqobC0j2YQ5q4TqkqQEC83oUQrYn8W9x-DKIGYELDWrkkkYNP-Hgs4yZhOx3-1eSJDPus-H8/w288-h400/Gloom%20Charm.png" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Mana sinks are getting better and more common. There is just always some land to activate, some card in the bin to escape or flashback. Just some dork you can pump a load of mana into. This is not the reason I am playing at least 17 lands in my normal cube, as discussed, that is mostly for the tempo. The perk of the mana sinks is simply that I am happier about playing more. Things do not go so disastrously when you flood out a bit. A flood these days is far less problematic than a screw. While I do have mana sinks a plenty in my home made cube they likely fail to impress more than the raw card advantage tools on offer. As such I expect people to be drawing more cards and playing more cards, rather than investing more mana in cards already in play. I feel like my mana sinks offer less in the way of reach than existing ones, and there is relatively less power in them. If you are drawing more cards rather than investing more mana in existing ones then you will draw more lands with them and not need such a high ratio of lands to spells in the first place. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiL8rR63XbRFQ_D72szhJ1hBCh1_-GqVsTvYo4tsi0d9uZP4UgUZoGFYIda-TtPBiJM2mCspam7VVCgwAtZ_9tUxEXzbY-GTCQDGWpJElfv_6AUfXGNqeAz3LdjLVk9nnmqCRKTcrgxfYj5FyV72u0p4G6gvVBweYssdKmA9sasXlhs1ep3lLK7dQJlL0/s627/Dragon%20Wagon.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiL8rR63XbRFQ_D72szhJ1hBCh1_-GqVsTvYo4tsi0d9uZP4UgUZoGFYIda-TtPBiJM2mCspam7VVCgwAtZ_9tUxEXzbY-GTCQDGWpJElfv_6AUfXGNqeAz3LdjLVk9nnmqCRKTcrgxfYj5FyV72u0p4G6gvVBweYssdKmA9sasXlhs1ep3lLK7dQJlL0/w288-h400/Dragon%20Wagon.png" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>So there we have it, a collection of reasons as to why I expect to play significantly less lend per deck in this homemade cube meta than I am accustomed to; </p><p>Lower curve. </p><p>Less powerful top end. </p><p>Abundant card quality and cheap land cyclers.</p><p>Efficient card advantage.</p><p>Pleanty of treasure and cards that search up basics.</p><p>Less exciting and powerful mana sinks.</p><p><br /></p><p>Looking forward to seeing if I am right and if I have managed to artificially cut land counts in decks by a significant margin (well over 10% in terms of lands and by 5% considering all cards) simply with considered card design. If so I might try my hand at other similar challenges. That is of course, assuming we also hit the main objective, that of being a fun format to play!</p><p><br /></p>Nick Nobodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08217616255450989605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069223956725485027.post-22274372447966414042023-08-18T15:00:00.001-07:002023-08-18T15:00:19.542-07:00Homemade Cube Part 7<p> </p><p>I made a post already regarding intended tweaks to the general power level of the cards I was making. It only covered half the story however. They were the cards I chose to shift a little, for the sake of learning or achieving specific goals. There are a pile of other types of card that I designed with rather unconventional power level bars based on where they are going - a cube. Occasions where I am forced into going against conventions in card power level rather than electing to. It is a bit like how the balance of cards in MtG sets differs between Commander product, things going into standard, and things going straight to modern. The Cards are not uniformly different in power level. Commander cards can afford loads of stuff that would be egregious in 1v1 formats, cheap efficient dorks are rarely all that exciting in commander, nor are single target counterspells, discard effects, or cheaper removal. Those sorts of cards in commander products are often way more powerful when looked at through the lens of a modern or cube player. In modern you can afford to really push the high curve cards, from about 4 mana up the card wants to be utterly devastating, the kind of top end card that is wildly oppressive in standard just isn't going to be close to playable in modern most of the time etc. etc. All formats have their different bars for power and cube is no different, some types of cards perform much better and need no pushing to get attention while other kinds of cards need a lot more of a push, or can simply take a much bigger push in power without upsetting any balances. The card below is wildly over powered and shouldn't be printed in any constructed format but as a one of in a limited setting it is going to do no real harm at all. It is a one for one answer that will often leave the caster behind on multiple metrics. I was going to balance it to be less powerful relative to exiting removal but I was happy with how clean and simple the card was and so I have chosen to keep it as it is. Being gold and removal grants extra licence to push limits.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5Z2xGqp2YCGsAb_O7GPa2zQT4fiVmrPbYBMGGTbqj7dx7vod7LGMGqhDPeQT9XJXZRa_3XjpsIfV67RIUqGVHPqPDou5kwE9q9XafUeYnJqdFpK_XCIlubs7Vwx3wmDqBSfv-Or_iVe0dty3VNH7k7YYuHQbdn5wOG3Z-MqOBAsldA7gT5kvu7OXNi3M/s627/Refute.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5Z2xGqp2YCGsAb_O7GPa2zQT4fiVmrPbYBMGGTbqj7dx7vod7LGMGqhDPeQT9XJXZRa_3XjpsIfV67RIUqGVHPqPDou5kwE9q9XafUeYnJqdFpK_XCIlubs7Vwx3wmDqBSfv-Or_iVe0dty3VNH7k7YYuHQbdn5wOG3Z-MqOBAsldA7gT5kvu7OXNi3M/w288-h400/Refute.png" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>First and foremost cube is a limited format and in those there are some reasonable heuristics that ring reasonably true throughout. The majority of your non-land cards want to be threats or answers. This means that any card outside of that group has a bit more work to do. Some groups rather more than others. Ramp, card quality, and card draw, while all suffering from diminishing returns in a deck, are all desirable and playable to a good extent in cube. They don't need any sort of buff or nerf compared to the reasonable and balanced iterations of these cards you find in cubes. These ramp, card draw, card quality cards, and one other group - creature buffs, make up the bulk of the non-threat, non-answer cards you find in cubes. Below is simply a minor, yet significant, buff to Sleight of Hand, which is a playable but relatively low tier card quality spell in cube. This is significantly more option dense than Sleight which is a nice win for so few extra words or complexity. It is also a much cooler synergy piece in a world with lots of graveyard stuff.</p><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH2syYyDblVTtNaKFZeDdKbCDyjwxjqTOVRomhVJLmp3Fe8Y4YZaBZ9Gx-8uIlOnbzaaVEgfv7fWSg9HmGbdZu2_7H4NqsuMb81JTGE8Q9gEyYXiTQm52RfdsELpjHXe4gk22WaLAuhjS_-1AiltjCWT1UU5aMIcVY1FUWgRYqHHl_DJOpDjG9x1UcOjg/s627/Visions.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH2syYyDblVTtNaKFZeDdKbCDyjwxjqTOVRomhVJLmp3Fe8Y4YZaBZ9Gx-8uIlOnbzaaVEgfv7fWSg9HmGbdZu2_7H4NqsuMb81JTGE8Q9gEyYXiTQm52RfdsELpjHXe4gk22WaLAuhjS_-1AiltjCWT1UU5aMIcVY1FUWgRYqHHl_DJOpDjG9x1UcOjg/w288-h400/Visions.png" width="288" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Creature buffs come in such a variety of forms that we need to break it down. There are persistent global buffs that I usually just call Anthems and there are persistent single target buffs like equipment and vehicles. These are all strong tools that can add scaling and reach and good raw power but that must be used with caution as they do nothing when you don't have dorks to use with them. The various persistent buff effects, although suffering some diminishing returns, do not need any help to perform well in cube, you just can't go nuts playing and including them. The card below is a side grade on Glorious Anthem, which itself is the sort of baseline acceptable power for an Anthem. While this might not be more powerful it does manage to be a little more interesting and interactive which is always nice. </p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsAjljCzsZj4LgTD6YKbD_FqEnQ6LrZ3Jfd8NrHvyvRculiyZwSLgpv9IK1r_uFK7ua-j0QKFPJEw3rHwvxZNXynODawrlnK56JHTp6NGIKDH1ePMWrU9yK3Ioi-yBJTkV5g5Pex-4p4pw7YP56N-kRPzWPlCkl2ZVDKSI6jQWw-j93byeknlgTin4yo8/s627/Mardu%20Standard.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsAjljCzsZj4LgTD6YKbD_FqEnQ6LrZ3Jfd8NrHvyvRculiyZwSLgpv9IK1r_uFK7ua-j0QKFPJEw3rHwvxZNXynODawrlnK56JHTp6NGIKDH1ePMWrU9yK3Ioi-yBJTkV5g5Pex-4p4pw7YP56N-kRPzWPlCkl2ZVDKSI6jQWw-j93byeknlgTin4yo8/w288-h400/Mardu%20Standard.png" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>It is the other kinds of buff cards that need real help. The "at the time" buffs which are your Giant Growth cards and your Curiosities. These not only need you to have creatures, they need you to have them at the time of deployment. They are narrower and riskier as a result and really need a massive push to become playable. Combat tricks tend to be quite swingy when they work out well so I typically try and improve them by increasing playability. This means tossing on some cycling or putting them as part of a Charm or other modal card. That is my preferred means of aiding a combat trick. Adding power just makes them more swingy. Tucking narrow effects onto modal cards; Charms, Commands, Planeswalkers, Confluences, things with escalate, entwine, and the like has been my main way of including things that are either too narrow or too low powered to merit their own card. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilIY93Gyv2Oi29MyhwCCY8t0XED7SvIlE1fVWVVGAF6ojKmAgLlVVJVeD484z7cpCfVUdWEFj4pkrd1O9lzbPrjaP4eGubtXvKHioLIR4l6w0dTy8pYSJG-hsRgaygx7haRn_cJocpe0w0YqL5XwarUpFR-tX4n741_Q0IbODaKVnjlonhCwVcQHibIKE/s627/Acorn%20Charm.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilIY93Gyv2Oi29MyhwCCY8t0XED7SvIlE1fVWVVGAF6ojKmAgLlVVJVeD484z7cpCfVUdWEFj4pkrd1O9lzbPrjaP4eGubtXvKHioLIR4l6w0dTy8pYSJG-hsRgaygx7haRn_cJocpe0w0YqL5XwarUpFR-tX4n741_Q0IbODaKVnjlonhCwVcQHibIKE/w288-h400/Acorn%20Charm.png" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>As far as aura based buffs go it is really hard to say. Rancor is really the only one to have ever done much work in cube but this is because it was more of an equipment in function if used carefully. That, and it was over powered in its time of course too, yet it doesn't get a look in now. Armadillo Cloak is another card you could put a case forward for but it only really did anything because it was put on cards with hexproof and other tedious such things. It was more of a combo as a result. In an attempt to make some aura buffs playable I have really pushed the boat out. These are some of the highest power auras out there and shouldn't be printed for any constructed setting ever! Likely my most pushed cards in the set. Hopefully it is enough to get them some action without being too oppressive in terms of game play. I have attempted to achieve this by offering relatively meagre tempo gains and focusing more on safety and value. This card is just Curiosity but pushed significantly, twice. So much so that it gives the card a kind of modality where it can be used as protection or as card draw.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWJrfaA32KPM6uutsYbwP9i-h5xh-LqjSLTvI-_DDYJ_j5ukacjYiakATB-k1G9OOE65TYYjRHxfQEGVHHKUu8AEvyGgHWVA9azPezIN0KAmD5meKs0tEwsxF5QKaX2CBfn5-4J9An7rMbgVpwFC6VP4fF_9TtNLYs2VaXOB-3vkChMhzYFjvSOBgHqZg/s627/Cephalopod%20Umbra.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWJrfaA32KPM6uutsYbwP9i-h5xh-LqjSLTvI-_DDYJ_j5ukacjYiakATB-k1G9OOE65TYYjRHxfQEGVHHKUu8AEvyGgHWVA9azPezIN0KAmD5meKs0tEwsxF5QKaX2CBfn5-4J9An7rMbgVpwFC6VP4fF_9TtNLYs2VaXOB-3vkChMhzYFjvSOBgHqZg/w288-h400/Cephalopod%20Umbra.png" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>In cubes that do not include combo archetypes and strategies the various Tutor cards are not very exciting. In my midrange cube things like the Recruiters are too low powered and narrow. Even Demonic Tutor is rarely worth it. No spell stays competitive once you add two mana unless it has impressive scaling or you are a toolbox deck. Neither are really things in most cubes. Synergy cards just put parasitic strain on the limited side of things. That gave me a bunch of room to toss in some fairly safe tutor cards that would be a little too dangerous to include in most other formats. While not the most powerful of the tutors I have made, the one below is one of the more interesting ones. I have a lot of small dorks like this that find a colour pie appropriate range of stuff that is cheaper than you would expect to see on a real card. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYWzESNxvjEpgJtVfJAJjGQ-m0FgLuKkNy4bsBvanOikBxEqi0jKJ0bV12UFs5vtYYjNxaqG9wUBv8s4GoXYnGeVlqBG-j5jUpMoFC0LDnrclFMZN5LX3kImaSYFBTPfbDb3JnhriiAi9Vlsc0TziLYMxFeCatAqMyT_1S_CT6i_hrMHpaGLxjevfwFuA/s627/Mischievous%20Imp.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYWzESNxvjEpgJtVfJAJjGQ-m0FgLuKkNy4bsBvanOikBxEqi0jKJ0bV12UFs5vtYYjNxaqG9wUBv8s4GoXYnGeVlqBG-j5jUpMoFC0LDnrclFMZN5LX3kImaSYFBTPfbDb3JnhriiAi9Vlsc0TziLYMxFeCatAqMyT_1S_CT6i_hrMHpaGLxjevfwFuA/w288-h400/Mischievous%20Imp.png" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Utility lands are almost never worth it in cube as they not only tend to have quite a low impact on games, they also "waste" a pick you could just have run a basic land over. In constructed it is nice to get all sorts of extra value in your mana base with cool utility lands. It is almost never worth doing that in cubes as the opportunity cost is so high. I didn't make many utility lands, most of those I did make also did some fixing. The more pure utility lands I made I pushed pretty hard so as to make them actually worth a slot. I also slapped on some land types to make them more accessible and thus able to be part of a plan or synergy more readily. Even with all this pushing I am not sure these will last. This is still a Plains that comes in tapped and requires effective 4 mana to draw a card. That is still not a cost you can pay in most stages of most games. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggQYpEjwL5Z4CjgOx8bzR1B7xSgwywEKJbZ4bZ7aNkzpVr9x92Nl9nQeqCvSQaUhTdOoqa19He0rWt8do3QTI2gU1su2WQ6ER_9XK_fPZ6On0mP8UwSMQNSdJbc0Xw0K2CnYihGgQdEsAHt0KC_qNtzP2h3aa4XRDEO87w1XtQRoG4mrHNYZkoQkN0T7U/s627/Town%20Center%20.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggQYpEjwL5Z4CjgOx8bzR1B7xSgwywEKJbZ4bZ7aNkzpVr9x92Nl9nQeqCvSQaUhTdOoqa19He0rWt8do3QTI2gU1su2WQ6ER_9XK_fPZ6On0mP8UwSMQNSdJbc0Xw0K2CnYihGgQdEsAHt0KC_qNtzP2h3aa4XRDEO87w1XtQRoG4mrHNYZkoQkN0T7U/w288-h400/Town%20Center%20.png" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Fixing, like removal, is another area you cannot do too much damage with. I thought I had finished all my required land cycles relatively early on in proceedings but I overshot the mark rather significantly on cards made (just shy of 700 as we head towards the printing), and so to accommodate them properly I had to make some more lands dedicated to fixing. As lands in cube dilute playable spells, you want as few as possible. You also want enough so as to not be having games decided all the time by bad mana. A solution to this is to have land cycles that are compact, they offer a lot of fixing range in relatively few cards. Being a bit short of nice clean designs I threw out these seemingly insanely good lands. I threw out a token "legendary" status as a nod to how good they would be in constructed. But, even with all that, they still actually fall short of the raw power of sac lands in cube and so I am not even all that fussed on power level. I get some nice pretty, space efficient, and oh so clean, tri lands for my home made cube. And I feel justified in doing so based on existing precedent. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKnH8N3FnYrjyKlcn7591SqC9VpUrID5Gxa8vjU2cjG4eZmAZFAWLDECNfQJe0YLppNF0BSq1EH6L4hik1VXXr0Cq6LTUWP5nOcGhU5NSCAZUwSdEQR2W_ndt7Qe8nk8sPoAQAOqMkdcYLKKtzZYD-jgGtKmWKaFVFOk5L17n-u00tJumpQPdz1RY3aDI/s627/Segovia.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKnH8N3FnYrjyKlcn7591SqC9VpUrID5Gxa8vjU2cjG4eZmAZFAWLDECNfQJe0YLppNF0BSq1EH6L4hik1VXXr0Cq6LTUWP5nOcGhU5NSCAZUwSdEQR2W_ndt7Qe8nk8sPoAQAOqMkdcYLKKtzZYD-jgGtKmWKaFVFOk5L17n-u00tJumpQPdz1RY3aDI/w288-h400/Segovia.png" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>There are those cards that are inherently a bit narrow. Raise Dead is a classic black effect you want to give a nod to. The card is cheap and card neutral which is usually enough. Things that are card neutral are those that get away with not being a threat or an answer themselves. Indeed, Raise Dead can be a threat or an answer if you have the right cards in the bin! The issue with it is that it can do nothing. You need the things there to play it and as such it can fail to offer opportunities. By making it a Seal effect rather than an immediate one you can get the card out of your hand and invest the mana in playing it without having a (useful) target. By bolting on a very low value passive you can make the card a bit more self contained and a bit more useful. This is now arguably at its best on turn one as opposed to its least playable. This might even be the case without the mill in a lot of settings. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7kvF-Ky7NnQ-s-kon8qohoAG73nFr1hsO5dhwSbr6ounb5SS3tasEqKx047yoEoPPQXSlpc13OHj0xY0y54bjWI2ccbunv0Hjgb-3iSy6Bbd5oriGUNui5jYu5uyLzJwYM36xhiou1WhMPj1Wm4ozS3YSPUHOZHhVy42NvFPLK8HnCWqD3on5p31GjfM/s627/Seal%20of%20the%20Dead.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7kvF-Ky7NnQ-s-kon8qohoAG73nFr1hsO5dhwSbr6ounb5SS3tasEqKx047yoEoPPQXSlpc13OHj0xY0y54bjWI2ccbunv0Hjgb-3iSy6Bbd5oriGUNui5jYu5uyLzJwYM36xhiou1WhMPj1Wm4ozS3YSPUHOZHhVy42NvFPLK8HnCWqD3on5p31GjfM/w288-h400/Seal%20of%20the%20Dead.png" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Lastly we have those build around and support cards at either end of the synergy spectrum. The card below is just an attempt to "fix" Goblin Bombardment. This is at the payoff end of the synergy spectrum. I like Goblin Bombardment and the archetypes you play it in but I find it a little oppressive in power, allowing too much freedom and negating too many effects on the way. I have certainly tuned down the impunity with which you can use and abuse it but I think I have managed to keep it reasonably decent by expanding its range to toss artifact as well. You want cards like this not on creatures so that they stick around a bit better and offer their services more consistently. That however makes it not technically a direct threat itself and thus demanding of more scrutiny as well as plenty of power and as much playability as possible. Ultimately this kind of card should exist in the group of the creature buffs. It doesn't make them better in combat but it does still add power to them in much the same way. This is a creature buff and an artifact buff so that is nice. I don't have many of the latter.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs4voE6psgbiRr8wXqfnzip7uuFNmGOiBBpxEPT840Eulc2-LfNUTZMZpe-XUQMLoMe9KKD7sonA-jeRa58qh3yh4I4Oc3Jcxy8x4OiRfAyaPEjOXCX0dRO_OH_tIPXVUdPoYA9VV7kwAcRF23fqEOFA1tCweFrft6XLGEalsvTWx_XzDwJbesDiFUUtA/s627/Scrap%20Catapult.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs4voE6psgbiRr8wXqfnzip7uuFNmGOiBBpxEPT840Eulc2-LfNUTZMZpe-XUQMLoMe9KKD7sonA-jeRa58qh3yh4I4Oc3Jcxy8x4OiRfAyaPEjOXCX0dRO_OH_tIPXVUdPoYA9VV7kwAcRF23fqEOFA1tCweFrft6XLGEalsvTWx_XzDwJbesDiFUUtA/w288-h400/Scrap%20Catapult.png" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>The support end of the synergy spectrum looks more like the card below. Synergies are pretty dependent on their support cards. The payoff determines the ceiling but the support card determine the floor, a less exciting but ultimately way more important feature of any card or strategy. Support cards typically do nothing on their own so while you need to be a bit careful with how much power you slap on a payoff effect you can be rather more safe dumping a bunch into a support effect. This self mill tool isn't a safe card to print at all for any sort of constructed setting but it is rather more appealing to cube than something like a Stitcher's Supplier. The extra mill off supplier isn't worth the lower power and increased narrowness of a 1/1 body when compared to a card in hand. You may have noticed that just between this and the Imp shown earlier black graveyard based decks are well supported. There is plenty of payoff but again, it tends to be in the form of value rather than tempo. There is just lots of escape stuff meaning self mill in black is a big like card quality and a bit like card draw. These kinds of cards in a setting where the payoff was tempo and threat based would be a lot scarier. Luckily no Hogaak, Vengevine, Bloodghast, and the like here. We are all a lot more Woe Strider! </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1x74x40Dxo__QQnLylhaMcJiH-1rF4GXzDT5QTZ2FSe3AsxyG_qO1UQZTm7U3bLReUnzJ0bGgr5-uRCrzq3MLv2LEmLStjQLfVtU1Agv81U7qIVg2iKAFchK5NPORoBi5u5kdAFbfBhmYYUAR7xA8GJVv4zaRhLkXkiB3tG2YE2jddhgVpVMzrmEYgaQ/s627/Dredging.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1x74x40Dxo__QQnLylhaMcJiH-1rF4GXzDT5QTZ2FSe3AsxyG_qO1UQZTm7U3bLReUnzJ0bGgr5-uRCrzq3MLv2LEmLStjQLfVtU1Agv81U7qIVg2iKAFchK5NPORoBi5u5kdAFbfBhmYYUAR7xA8GJVv4zaRhLkXkiB3tG2YE2jddhgVpVMzrmEYgaQ/w288-h400/Dredging.png" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Nick Nobodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08217616255450989605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069223956725485027.post-70691914814614421982023-08-12T10:05:00.001-07:002023-08-12T10:05:09.831-07:00Homemade Cube Part 6<p> </p><p>In this instalment we are simply going to take a look at some of the many cards I have "designed" that are just slightly tweaked versions of another card. Perhaps they cost a mana less or they have a stat or two more. Perhaps they got a scry bolted on or something like that. Turns out a lot of the best design space is just where cards missed the mark. Plenty of good ideas have been squandered by lack of power, or rendered useless by power creep, and I am here to clean up on those missed opportunities! </p><p>As this cube design is a tribute to Magic I have been trying hard to evoke a lot of the classic cards. Bringing classic cards up in power level to where they need to be to compete with modern cards can be simple but it can also be quite a shift. Retaining the essence of the original card is the most important aspect of the transition. The more a card moves the harder it is to keep a resemblance of the starting point. This is a bit of a trade off with the fact that you do have more design space the further away you get from a muse. </p><p>Giant Spider is a card that I think is emblematic and is one of the more extreme examples. We had already needed to power creep to Punumbra Spider before the halfway point between alpha and now! That and the last few years have been the most intense for power creep. All in all a Giant Spider needs to be a lot more card to have a chance of seeing play. Keeping the body and basic frame of the card the same is the best way to evoke a classic creature. Just one simple ability however is the cleanest from a design point of view. Finding the right ability that feels spidery and green, while also being able to do one massive but precise power jump in a perfect neat step was not immediately easy or obvious but I am happy with my shot at it. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOsbQfcueuxFSCNQ5ur0V0UQo66eAm6WJdtj98i91zebHf9GsoQIJ9q3trvGGHF4DfiCNmavxH9tf3IhvaaybtJbOpljd3fMA6W6rXP1iZC8_mnLTJ4qO-KFyKnpC4LJttOg5-4lWqtLoYsmEN49X1EW4veexmiYNv5RjiuwHRi8pyMbCLZsOv7hDTLK0/s627/Brooding%20Spider.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOsbQfcueuxFSCNQ5ur0V0UQo66eAm6WJdtj98i91zebHf9GsoQIJ9q3trvGGHF4DfiCNmavxH9tf3IhvaaybtJbOpljd3fMA6W6rXP1iZC8_mnLTJ4qO-KFyKnpC4LJttOg5-4lWqtLoYsmEN49X1EW4veexmiYNv5RjiuwHRi8pyMbCLZsOv7hDTLK0/w288-h400/Brooding%20Spider.png" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Where possible I like to add interest to a card. If I can not add complexity to the design but add interest or option density to a card somehow then that feels like a win. The classic tapper is a fine card in white but it needs a bit of a push to get cube attention these days. This slight tweak on the cost is clean, i.e. adding no real complexity. The card is just as busy as before and the change feels like it adds at least enough power. And it does so while offering an extra dimension of choice in how one uses the card. I even feel like I managed to pull off the flavour somehow. That was generally the hardest part of designing with Phyrexian mana. The flavour felt quite tied in but the mechanic actually gives a lot of freedom and design space. Obviously also super dangerous if used inconsiderately but hopefuly that has been avoided here!</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh318EmRgdhoTbdxk18c26_pED_sd4WXztlpCX2TvmdAjlvAssnOYhxU6-L9oG8w6At9gk2sAbmQe56Oijodt_kudzvtXYQnXiLmk2iWOi1I8Yx8o2xyBRSG9WBuE64LdA14NTvPI6_QVBv27RpNIgydy8NRxL0Pu1k4WtiXMzRi2WUJG8UfT_zV0-TLFQ/s627/Unconventional%20Trapper.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh318EmRgdhoTbdxk18c26_pED_sd4WXztlpCX2TvmdAjlvAssnOYhxU6-L9oG8w6At9gk2sAbmQe56Oijodt_kudzvtXYQnXiLmk2iWOi1I8Yx8o2xyBRSG9WBuE64LdA14NTvPI6_QVBv27RpNIgydy8NRxL0Pu1k4WtiXMzRi2WUJG8UfT_zV0-TLFQ/w288-h400/Unconventional%20Trapper.png" width="288" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p><br /></p><p>I have always kindof resented Adventurous Impulse for being the clean flagship green card quality spell in terms of neat design, but also sucking a bit and not seeing much play. While that role in green has now probably been filled by Abundant Harvest I still want to see the Impulse at cube power level. It even has Impulse in the name! Anywho, a simple tweak for looking at 3 card to looking 4 deep really removes the risk and general narrowness of the card. It makes it a lot more than a third better! It is still card neutral and tempo negative and so a long long wat off being too powerful, just nice and fair. The kind of card I want to see in my hand and in my cube. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBuHHbhKoIDRq88DUzUpGWpoIMmb1DSZUN-HdfN_uIqG2I98XU6sjfdYmNM57OvAx5G85Owvk_hYCyvGwIGqFbQVXr0IyuNAS5EXt1UrFezpn7S3YiblYpW23UwuE_ivb2fv7t1Fv5ImglgaqYh3tY-mQVyhaOTTx6h0PLWsaGxGaufO5XvobWfb41Nr8/s627/Exploring%20Impulse.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBuHHbhKoIDRq88DUzUpGWpoIMmb1DSZUN-HdfN_uIqG2I98XU6sjfdYmNM57OvAx5G85Owvk_hYCyvGwIGqFbQVXr0IyuNAS5EXt1UrFezpn7S3YiblYpW23UwuE_ivb2fv7t1Fv5ImglgaqYh3tY-mQVyhaOTTx6h0PLWsaGxGaufO5XvobWfb41Nr8/w288-h400/Exploring%20Impulse.png" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Cube, as with every different Magic format, has slightly different values for things. I harp on a lot about gold cards and their specific nuances to cube. This card is that born out in design. There are almost no "generic" cards that see play in Modern but not in cube. Terminate is basically it. It is a solid and dependable removal spell, the best for two mana, and being gold has perks for being used as a pitch card. In cube however the loss of playability it gets from being tied to two colours does way more damage to the card than the amount it is better than things like Go for the Throat. Gold cards need to be more of a step up from mono coloured cards than you might expect. With that in mind I took a card that was already "best in class" and felt more than happy improving its power level. I can get away with this in cube not just because it is gold but also because it is a removal spell. A one for one removal spell at that and in a singleton format that really isn't causing any problems or breaking the format. You are generally at much lower risk dumping a bit more power into certain types of card, and spot removal like Exterminate, for a limited only environment is one such situation. Further to that there are different ways you can empower a card. There are direct ways that will relate to cost and effect in terms of card economy and those will have pronounced effects and can be dangerous business. In this case I have simply broadened the card, it is more powerful in that it will perform better overall but the ceiling of any instance of performance is basically unchanged. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvbVOFvINfgBZZ0MJY9l3ystrjynz_3qX_W7gF74xWh0NQ3zUuohaGxdWcce35NrqPttCmNgA5Hh466lVj0Ab_UdshqM5vz7BqTZeaqLVEWEfpNj9-c_yb_Dgj1d3ORPglHJ6BHbwVEaZyN4e0gokjKbYkfzmIodPFMa-BbAakNrKSNeHhTuZcwNqoiso/s627/Exterminate.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvbVOFvINfgBZZ0MJY9l3ystrjynz_3qX_W7gF74xWh0NQ3zUuohaGxdWcce35NrqPttCmNgA5Hh466lVj0Ab_UdshqM5vz7BqTZeaqLVEWEfpNj9-c_yb_Dgj1d3ORPglHJ6BHbwVEaZyN4e0gokjKbYkfzmIodPFMa-BbAakNrKSNeHhTuZcwNqoiso/w288-h400/Exterminate.png" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>There is also adding power to a card without adding anything but choice. I like Storm's Wrath in cube, it suits some decks very nicely but it is a bit narrow and it certainly isn't a bomb or anything. Simply by making it modal we not only add a lot of interest to the card, we also add power and playability. Same effective output but the refined control results in a lot more card. I am not even sure this version will be anything more than an average spell. I could probably make it even more option rich, interesting, and powerful with a third mode that deals four to both players so as to try and reel in those aggro players as well!</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho0U4m2OPJ2X5J8TvoC_q-mr-EXE95C1S35Bf-BY-kwQhFDM4-Gyih1BhPXz0MhkbXK5RwGd3sFV3XyHuOqvEJLXHs_YlDMJHMctY18PjeNF3sS0id39FRE2EK5SMNibwhQVzDNklXF4uYZpb9BA1KXISs0scK1rD10Pf_AWzmphQjx0IRvGUJVlrCc5k/s627/Blastwave.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho0U4m2OPJ2X5J8TvoC_q-mr-EXE95C1S35Bf-BY-kwQhFDM4-Gyih1BhPXz0MhkbXK5RwGd3sFV3XyHuOqvEJLXHs_YlDMJHMctY18PjeNF3sS0id39FRE2EK5SMNibwhQVzDNklXF4uYZpb9BA1KXISs0scK1rD10Pf_AWzmphQjx0IRvGUJVlrCc5k/w288-h400/Blastwave.png" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>I also did a lot of converting cards into "energy" cards. By that I mean the cards are as good as identical to a fine existing card in function assuming you have no other sources or uses for energy. Below is a Giant Growth in isolation which is pretty sub par as far as cube goes. Given the energy mechanic however you get to add in other energy if you want more pump or save some for the next thing if you need less. It is exactly why Harnessed Lightening wound up being so much better than basically all other red "3 damage for 2 mana" spells. It could kill big things and was efficient at killing small stuff. Hopefully this Giant Growth homage will prove equally empowered on the original! Hopefully it will not result in too many one shot kill combo decks getting drafted.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1UhP3UA_EgaM7y3o3MguGMPyaptxbIxjxsPbyFl-t15T1vKK7dghrGVpOhApvnIE7jN_D11iikwEH-1ApNuAIZsr_FErEK9xx3RqXreUjIoTl7TS0Xove9KAg6D-ubNWNbEf8Q8clsQODooqn-u7h37DhBzLYAqKwNiinxBNgZF7Xgq0qNPafutLZcMk/s627/Energize.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1UhP3UA_EgaM7y3o3MguGMPyaptxbIxjxsPbyFl-t15T1vKK7dghrGVpOhApvnIE7jN_D11iikwEH-1ApNuAIZsr_FErEK9xx3RqXreUjIoTl7TS0Xove9KAg6D-ubNWNbEf8Q8clsQODooqn-u7h37DhBzLYAqKwNiinxBNgZF7Xgq0qNPafutLZcMk/w288-h400/Energize.png" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Savannah Lion is a card that I have added to a lot in a variety of ways. There must be over ten white one mana 2/1 dorks and at least the same again in the other colours combined as well. This is nothing new though, Wizards have been printing direct upgrades to the Lions for near two decades themselves. I was going to showcase some Savannah Lions upgrades that were also direct upgrades to other cards simultaneously but that isn't too hard to imagine when you take a 1/1 like Icatian Javelineer or Goblin Balloon Brigade and make it a 2/1. The best Lion however is simply the one I gave cycling to. It provides interesting choices in the midgame when you need to work out if it is tempo you need or more gas in your card. It helps you get out of screws and it has ideal scaling being a high tempo turn one play you can fight early with or a card you can cash in for more juice later when it isn't packing the punch you want anymore. Simple is best and that is very much the case here. From a game theory point of view this is likely one of the best Lions in the set even though there are some that have seemingly more going on.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLTV83BWR6SZHKYLNmDyVbII_ppXUgQL7uWpsny0QpJE8MthyBrKvM8BFKvLwXZMkehL04_e8n_IGCfKvo5V67J9_HIWqpY1C7UTpXjL5MSuS9aOZwEAEC6ZJHyvyxJ8hx9fNrLVj7dmNuU1YdMmkUi4Rdr9y4ADnyVfqQ28CnZx5Ke037RZytKQ9GJL0/s627/Rear%20Guard.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLTV83BWR6SZHKYLNmDyVbII_ppXUgQL7uWpsny0QpJE8MthyBrKvM8BFKvLwXZMkehL04_e8n_IGCfKvo5V67J9_HIWqpY1C7UTpXjL5MSuS9aOZwEAEC6ZJHyvyxJ8hx9fNrLVj7dmNuU1YdMmkUi4Rdr9y4ADnyVfqQ28CnZx5Ke037RZytKQ9GJL0/w288-h400/Rear%20Guard.png" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>So there we have it, a little overview of a couple of cards and ways in which I have adjusted existing things to suit my needs. This is absolutely one of the larger areas in which I could have pulled example cards from but that is rather unsurprising. In the same way there is supposedly only seven types of storey you can tell, there are likely few distinct forms a magic card can take and everything is just a tweaking of that! That being said, I have in many cases tried to make it clear what cards we are pulling inspiration from or trying to emulate.</p><p><br /></p>Nick Nobodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08217616255450989605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069223956725485027.post-15335678093704321242023-08-04T04:05:00.002-07:002023-08-04T04:05:24.480-07:00Homemade Cube Part 5<p> </p><p>Saving space with efficient dual land cycles and fixing is the order of today's article. Saving space is not something most magic players have had to consider. It is a design element rather specific to the curators of cubes. Put simply there is a inbuilt tension on dual lands and fixing. You want fixing effects so that games are more consistent but they take up valuable cube space. By adding more dual lands your mana bases get better and less games are decided by colour screw which is great. However you also dilute the pool. People have less options and less playables when it comes to building their decks. There are several compounding reasons behind this. </p><p>Firstly when you pick lands they are typically going to replace a free basic land and so picking lands results in you having fewer playable cards to build from. Secondly there are just more dead cards floating around in packs. It is very rare that every colour pair is being played in a draft, or at least not to the degree that is going to mean dual lands are hoovered up for that colour pair (as is usually the case when you have players in four or five colours, they are just cherry picking the odd premium dual). Factors can exacerbate this further such as having fewer than eight players in a draft, or draft formats that typically provide weaker card quality overall such as Winston or team Rochester. Or indeed, both of those things at once!</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEfZ-i-edTDAeIlwhkwsZ80iD8KmzKqZeAmGrvwHGZkMyKEd9WcaJJ9zfMLSQge9K7Ur1FxYE6qWgQEXFUsMVb6pvgvVHYi9oGY2QY2TBIy7VcA6k1pnHV5H3VBwZh5c32SMfGpgFqSk0SD2sJcWby5cCa8sO7uC5JKFjhUsXIXHM-r9_0WTzVEaLxJnw/s627/City%20Square.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEfZ-i-edTDAeIlwhkwsZ80iD8KmzKqZeAmGrvwHGZkMyKEd9WcaJJ9zfMLSQge9K7Ur1FxYE6qWgQEXFUsMVb6pvgvVHYi9oGY2QY2TBIy7VcA6k1pnHV5H3VBwZh5c32SMfGpgFqSk0SD2sJcWby5cCa8sO7uC5JKFjhUsXIXHM-r9_0WTzVEaLxJnw/w288-h400/City%20Square.png" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>In constructed deck building you are looking to max out your dual lands. You do not want to provide this option in cube. I would look to only run a couple of basic lands in a two colour constructed deck if I were blessed with enough sufficiently good dual lands in that format. In cube however, if you could pack that many lands your deck is likely a bit thin and building it didn't come with all that many choices.</p><p>There are some tricks that one can use as a curator to increase the effective fixing present within the land section of your cube. This is by using lands that are effectively fixing for more than just one colour pair. A land like City of Brass is effectively all 10 colour pairs in one. It is always fixing for you regardless of what you are in and this makes it a more interesting pick consideration. The thing with City of Brass is that it isn't a great land despite being one of the best that fix for any colour. It is a lot weaker than a simple on colour pain land in your typical two colour deck! Further to that there are few other rainbow lands within a reasonable distance of City of Brass in power. In a singleton cube therefor you just can't lean on cards that offer such broad fixing.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj13zBDhGxTrxGsulKgeVtPYx2Oz4T0V9eJpFTJ9OeP2vOuepRPH0Vyr3wcMhPA5PGyeEp3MqEfNdXYhyjAw4NQsmspx7TdHCKLpC7FaG2aeeG-ZERjniNcKgL3-fBDofVjB4OEIhR-Knd1lGJHDefZkyQ4XjS0SeqT8h6ireuqg8YkTcRwSUgTOgGMntM/s627/Power%20Plant.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj13zBDhGxTrxGsulKgeVtPYx2Oz4T0V9eJpFTJ9OeP2vOuepRPH0Vyr3wcMhPA5PGyeEp3MqEfNdXYhyjAw4NQsmspx7TdHCKLpC7FaG2aeeG-ZERjniNcKgL3-fBDofVjB4OEIhR-Knd1lGJHDefZkyQ4XjS0SeqT8h6ireuqg8YkTcRwSUgTOgGMntM/w288-h400/Power%20Plant.png" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Sac lands often act a bit like the City of Brass in cube assuming you can pick up at least one of the on colour lands with the appropriate types. This is actually the main reason sac lands are so highly picked and played in cube and not so much the synergies they have with revolt, landfall, delve, and Brainstorm as is more the case in constructed settings! The synergies are nice but just having a nice reliable piece of fixing that is probably going to work for all your colours whatever you end up in is pretty great. </p><p>The Triomes help with this massively. Not only do they empower the sac lands massively but they also represent three dual land cycles in one. It is in part this space economy that has made the Triomes so successful in cube. They just offer so much fixing in very little cardboard. There are many more powerful lands you could play but there are not that have quite that degree of space economy as well which is really to their credit.</p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihiuqeMgqCWI-Zsev64pfbw6Tgq-SMOZwaeL_vJ7mpvp1qmDvnDfsa_3_lbgfl7fNdX-zbkWq7dYjxrKZF0-gCOpeIoSDZ2_IwxfUczHWv9IEOyL_GPpZHQWWPeZaKyYI2x7Z0O7e399irMEK_CTup0tYaLBXR8i43stRMhQr5mJMisusQ-DniYey7Y04/s627/Spectral%20Horizon.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihiuqeMgqCWI-Zsev64pfbw6Tgq-SMOZwaeL_vJ7mpvp1qmDvnDfsa_3_lbgfl7fNdX-zbkWq7dYjxrKZF0-gCOpeIoSDZ2_IwxfUczHWv9IEOyL_GPpZHQWWPeZaKyYI2x7Z0O7e399irMEK_CTup0tYaLBXR8i43stRMhQr5mJMisusQ-DniYey7Y04/w288-h400/Spectral%20Horizon.png" width="288" /></a></div> <p></p><p><br /></p><p>In between rainbow lands and the tri colours lands are the half cycles. Things like the Thriving and Vivid lands. They offer effectively four dual lands in one card and they are complete cycles in five cards and not ten. This makes it feel like they are eight times more efficient on space in a cube per amount of fixing than a traditional cycle of ten lands with each colour pair (although I would argue it is only four times in practice but even so, a massive upgrade). Typically these half cycles are lopsided offering better fixing on the "main" colour and less potent fixing on the other(s). </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtgbwDl2ocE-K0Ppqi94U5i8cPgFvlYHtuyPjGYtzZSmvI1lgIos6wjZKopBQd_mZU-cCcsA5fqAGpG7Wx2OpOMaoShw3ZsqL6vdZzjTAZiqwDHllRhGIDN18qrf9xBzjQdUu07X15ehfUBJ2NhW5a7r9b70rcaO4tcZb5YPBa5J2h6h4t4J__cKiZ35o/s627/Serengeti.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtgbwDl2ocE-K0Ppqi94U5i8cPgFvlYHtuyPjGYtzZSmvI1lgIos6wjZKopBQd_mZU-cCcsA5fqAGpG7Wx2OpOMaoShw3ZsqL6vdZzjTAZiqwDHllRhGIDN18qrf9xBzjQdUu07X15ehfUBJ2NhW5a7r9b70rcaO4tcZb5YPBa5J2h6h4t4J__cKiZ35o/w288-h400/Serengeti.png" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>These half cycles have not been explored all that fully by Wizards for what I suspect are several reasons. One of which is simply that they do not love printing lands that are functionally better than basic lands, which in turn results in rather restricted design space as far as lands that might wind up being heavily played goes. I think that this is an outdated design premise as basic lands confer lots of natural benefits while non-basics tend to come with their own risks. I was happy to produce a couple of half cycles that fix for one of their colours as well as a basic land. It seemed like a great way to increase the consistency on the mana side of things without harming other areas of the cube. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUseDJlTAOI-SdbVNT2KACX_Ul-NKgpOmw379bq2UtL_ygqSdUx1ixxEVQuPi1aG6C2oYWQJr8Xaf8GkddUa1mACnXAIVbRJHQY8fWr-cvpyDNdf2UgebNlouW4d4fJwfHgmEoyudGMghNAKF3sYuI1c80MElZiWJvcfXxwBPX4_f5HEeCCR2bb3etST4/s627/Khyber%20Pass.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUseDJlTAOI-SdbVNT2KACX_Ul-NKgpOmw379bq2UtL_ygqSdUx1ixxEVQuPi1aG6C2oYWQJr8Xaf8GkddUa1mACnXAIVbRJHQY8fWr-cvpyDNdf2UgebNlouW4d4fJwfHgmEoyudGMghNAKF3sYuI1c80MElZiWJvcfXxwBPX4_f5HEeCCR2bb3etST4/w288-h400/Khyber%20Pass.png" width="288" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p>My main cube is 540 cards and has four dual lands in each colour pair plus all 10 sac lands and all 10 triomes taking up a total of 60 card slots. I always want more fixing in my decks but if I add a cycle of land you really feel it in the drafts. In my homemade cube I still have 4 sets of cycles that are 10 cards each but then I have three half cycles (pictured two directly above and one directly below) instead of sacs and Triomes which feels like it gives a comparable amount of fixing without it being so polarized, and while taking up a little less space. Much of that freed up space has been used on rainbow lands to further increase consistency. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8q_46ZUks0mE5m360KY4CJU2n_2p4j2lvyS9CuC5cS5BPP7bu4_0G9pR5sza5mHEK7fcj0Opzdi0e89QGLH8-DR_Exgo0CiLEuEBHE_oXoI9TaGdgGn4wah_4_kgarsXUO93lAS3TL50BtEqIYuuMgYoa5C9eaIW5nK21-ZIYUtWa9S5FknIzaqfc1G8/s627/Wild%20Bog.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8q_46ZUks0mE5m360KY4CJU2n_2p4j2lvyS9CuC5cS5BPP7bu4_0G9pR5sza5mHEK7fcj0Opzdi0e89QGLH8-DR_Exgo0CiLEuEBHE_oXoI9TaGdgGn4wah_4_kgarsXUO93lAS3TL50BtEqIYuuMgYoa5C9eaIW5nK21-ZIYUtWa9S5FknIzaqfc1G8/w288-h400/Wild%20Bog.png" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Given that cube is different from constructed you can afford to be more generous on your lands when designing specifically for it. As such I have pushed some of the rainbow lands a little further than you could for the likes of standard and even modern. I have also found I was slapping on some below par, but otherwise "bonus" fixing modes on some of my utility lands. And that pretty much sums up my strategy for fixing as far as the land portion of the homemade cube goes. Half cycles, pushed rainbow lands, and being happy to make non-basic lands that are a direct fixing upgrade on a basic. I didn't want anything as powerful as the original duals or the sac lands but I was aiming for not all that far behind that mark. Good playable fixing isn't broken as such, it just lets people play the game, and so it is a great place to be generous with the power levels. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1z8bQRKArtzz8V4XhNh7Kyu0_lGD4Wycq8RxzXfiIG6PRRz7VI_XZEgo9K33OG86rE2He_dXOln6SHE98tPWvggvt1htuSOCXVAP0Mz-g_rGBdYkdZeR8FGiBoOV_OQk-L4EY4_GpB9fkWMVbulcp9QUj3JWAOvEz6DYCuJVYyDwCBa0IPzhzBRqGaws/s627/Recycling%20Facility.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1z8bQRKArtzz8V4XhNh7Kyu0_lGD4Wycq8RxzXfiIG6PRRz7VI_XZEgo9K33OG86rE2He_dXOln6SHE98tPWvggvt1htuSOCXVAP0Mz-g_rGBdYkdZeR8FGiBoOV_OQk-L4EY4_GpB9fkWMVbulcp9QUj3JWAOvEz6DYCuJVYyDwCBa0IPzhzBRqGaws/w288-h400/Recycling%20Facility.png" width="288" /></a></div><p></p><p> </p><br />Nick Nobodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08217616255450989605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069223956725485027.post-50226212629329463702023-07-29T02:46:00.000-07:002023-07-29T02:46:45.964-07:00Homemade Cube Part 4<p> </p><p>So far we have looked at some general things. In this article I want to focus on a much more specific thing, and that is removal in green. Specifically removal of creatures. Green classically does not do this. Certainly not well. This is good in terms of flavour and colour identity but it is restrictive. More so in cube I have found than anywhere else. In cube the dorks are punishing, you can be locked out by an active Grim Lavamancer, or beaten to death by a quick to flip Delver of Secrets. You also just lose to cards like The Scarab God unless you have an overwhelming advantage before it is played. Cube is also a limited format where you are mostly playing a midrange dork against dork affair. Lack of removal in these situations puts you at quite the disadvantage, you are always essentially just going all in. Certainly green has things that compensate for this, mainly that of mana ramp. Typically it gets around a weakness in removal by playing one or two steps ahead of the curve and crushing opponents beneath raw power. This works to some degree but it is unreliable, and doesn't always give the most enjoyable of games. I like a bit more interaction from both sides of the table. Green can often feel a bit uninvolved and helpless. Either your stuff is better and you roll them or they have things you can't deal with and that is that. </p><p>With all that in mind I wanted to give green good access to removal. This is easier said than done however if you are trying to stay true to the colour pie and provide a good representation of the game. Green has some tools already in the fight against creatures. It has fight effects which are getting better but are still not really there as far as common cube play goes. The effect is intrinsicly risky and conditional making it fairly bad compared to other removal, even when somewhat pushed. Green also has the capacity to kill fliers directly but this is all too situational to be something we can rely on. Every little helps but we have to house our flying removal on modal cards else they will be unplayable in a setting like cube. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiINQL9MJDLPYyXk1kQCYedqU9eC0QZs2o5gwDHWMtMPZqPlaTHEqS5RpIowIJ1uTbH1KGQcKNKQtj7_DZpfh4BHrtOSRa2RvWxNLjIR2-HRhwnz2zXgbFLybrSeNQpn4ftGnb_Aub__FmSI_8V_567gubZF5TIU4mhksrUJc4gAPkFV0BjT0YIcsjcx5k/s627/Grounding.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiINQL9MJDLPYyXk1kQCYedqU9eC0QZs2o5gwDHWMtMPZqPlaTHEqS5RpIowIJ1uTbH1KGQcKNKQtj7_DZpfh4BHrtOSRa2RvWxNLjIR2-HRhwnz2zXgbFLybrSeNQpn4ftGnb_Aub__FmSI_8V_567gubZF5TIU4mhksrUJc4gAPkFV0BjT0YIcsjcx5k/w288-h400/Grounding.png" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p>(An example of the kind of power you need in a Disenchant for it to get a look in at a cube format. Even with the modality this is still a pretty narrow card and needed a good push to look viable)</p><p><br /></p><p>Even a smattering of well placed anti flier cards is not solving the problem, it is just a part of the way there. Fight effects will help get us rather further and makes up the bulk of my removal suit in green. The majority I have stuck on creatures so that part of the unreliability issues of fight effects is eased. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPXSqKb75XFynJa7RqAvECZSflEYRZImE1CXL34yhJDjAckgmHn4XOwjrFjd0Pui-JrniSYGmQAQW3JnAcxbGr59YANqFzD6TIN4b7D8YjDqZ6mdlsTR7gxR_qy-0a-BSLBn4m4WxOLcjZSpnLYYquyfoLjzO2gpDvTiOwEsw5OF6gtAUo8Br4azBJ6Ac/s627/Crouching%20Tiger.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPXSqKb75XFynJa7RqAvECZSflEYRZImE1CXL34yhJDjAckgmHn4XOwjrFjd0Pui-JrniSYGmQAQW3JnAcxbGr59YANqFzD6TIN4b7D8YjDqZ6mdlsTR7gxR_qy-0a-BSLBn4m4WxOLcjZSpnLYYquyfoLjzO2gpDvTiOwEsw5OF6gtAUo8Br4azBJ6Ac/w288-h400/Crouching%20Tiger.png" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Other fight effects I have slapped onto cards that can wait and not need mana investment at the time of use. This is another way to help avoid the issue of needing a dork in play. The Seal I highlighted in Part 2 is a good example of this. It is also usable at instant speed making it far more dynamic and safe. The card below goes in the other direction and goes for a modal approach towards gaining playability. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkYxC3yxatSRVcDiVCLM93-yprVq4ZTiHo62XxznpcfmqnhFB6ePBuW596tonNxEaTiioxiAhOmIhmLNOTiszNY0XCxB7Ea_GGX5rjIWut2DOSnh4FA1SKTu5TdfVe5uNl3yP9xVqFnO_7FrOavXp7F5X7ORmGn535nsao1XUBnazWaPkpb9lC8ZhC__k/s627/Huntsman.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkYxC3yxatSRVcDiVCLM93-yprVq4ZTiHo62XxznpcfmqnhFB6ePBuW596tonNxEaTiioxiAhOmIhmLNOTiszNY0XCxB7Ea_GGX5rjIWut2DOSnh4FA1SKTu5TdfVe5uNl3yP9xVqFnO_7FrOavXp7F5X7ORmGn535nsao1XUBnazWaPkpb9lC8ZhC__k/w288-h400/Huntsman.png" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Next up is an old mechanic that is a long way from perfect but that has both precedent and good flavour as far as being on green cards goes. I am talking about provoke. A mechanic only really done once and only found on 9 cards. It is basically fight but it is more restricted in that it utterly fails to do anything against dorks that can tap in some way and that can only work during your own combat step. It does have the upside of being reusable, and being sufficiently weak compared to fight, would allow me to put it on dorks for relatively low cost. It has other perks being able to tie up otherwise would be blockers but still mostly just a limp fight! The design space for provoke is also completely open what with it having so few cards and being found in a set with shockingly low powered dorks. I like how clean it looks on cards thanks to the key wording. There is also the classic "provoke of blocking" which is just flash. While one of the more common ways green has answered dorks throughout magic history it is only a defensive tool and it is not all that reliable. I do have a couple of ways green can sneak out an instant speed unexpected blocker but I don't really consider that to be out of the ordinary or noteworthy. It is probably closer to a pump spell in that it lets you "misrepresent" how you are able to block and bait a bad attack. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJmt9MQR9t69SZIzRuRi8BgipdNtPmmg3KswddbbT12erJG4TOn58tiPbnDVbRBvKcL3Hvo2gPvuFCV6mHSgI6EGNSFlTVYR6O3bJIkXK0vP8KUnNmt29bFQpac-OKMXZ7wlp6LF-3PJbUTSDSbuEud6g48WLPRuQB82Jwe_1SOUtP2F6037bLeanrnt0/s627/Cheetah.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJmt9MQR9t69SZIzRuRi8BgipdNtPmmg3KswddbbT12erJG4TOn58tiPbnDVbRBvKcL3Hvo2gPvuFCV6mHSgI6EGNSFlTVYR6O3bJIkXK0vP8KUnNmt29bFQpac-OKMXZ7wlp6LF-3PJbUTSDSbuEud6g48WLPRuQB82Jwe_1SOUtP2F6037bLeanrnt0/w288-h400/Cheetah.png" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Of course one of the most common places for green to source their removal effects is from the colourless section of cards. Blast Zone, Walking Ballista, Karn, Oblivion Stone and cards of this nature have been helping green handle things all over the shop. My homemade cube will be no different with colourless cards able to set in and help out in a variety of ways. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidjM9juTxAtN1-jgZIujis9Lj8ge3I7jGEi5jCcUicYGYDE9Le0XiyQKq6r-k9GpidX9lbEgda8RczxOKbqqPi3mEJsz2IAdvo2PXUxDJ-npgObOsXi_86puAAfd8ZWjHpLCrREqCnC3eMkNCWaVfPJS0pbz7GSGTdm1RBBX2wBrXiBusOKyfwEDBWJ6Y/s627/Barbed%20Arrows.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidjM9juTxAtN1-jgZIujis9Lj8ge3I7jGEi5jCcUicYGYDE9Le0XiyQKq6r-k9GpidX9lbEgda8RczxOKbqqPi3mEJsz2IAdvo2PXUxDJ-npgObOsXi_86puAAfd8ZWjHpLCrREqCnC3eMkNCWaVfPJS0pbz7GSGTdm1RBBX2wBrXiBusOKyfwEDBWJ6Y/w288-h400/Barbed%20Arrows.png" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Lastly there is some precedent for direct damage in green with the insect sting flavour. All these various green cards have been low powered and by all I think there are like three total! Even so, I felt like I was well within the colour pie creating this little green Shock. The slow pace of use, the being tied to a creature, and the general summoning sickness issues all make me perfectly happy with the flavour here. I feel entitled to take such a large leap in power because I am designing at cube power levels and with generally currently degrees of power creep to contend with as well. Dorks and removal have had that more than anything else and so this card seems entirely fine. I could probably let it hit any target and still have it be more than fair for task at hand. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB6NLzG5oKEKIq5KY1Bvb5XP77cWw98YA3Nb_p72LBbRgwXI4zA-cpyxV5DUHut1huT9qjo41srSoNbj83wC-UOTXrQ3TpYDS8RvVWKl9BW2DxZpbq9LhqY_oH1FqG4sJe7JQ7zNBGn19avJjc0T06p-QLhrH9T5y3e_yGGpocgCYYSP6Wh8Bkfeg4bPg/s627/Deadly%20Bees.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB6NLzG5oKEKIq5KY1Bvb5XP77cWw98YA3Nb_p72LBbRgwXI4zA-cpyxV5DUHut1huT9qjo41srSoNbj83wC-UOTXrQ3TpYDS8RvVWKl9BW2DxZpbq9LhqY_oH1FqG4sJe7JQ7zNBGn19avJjc0T06p-QLhrH9T5y3e_yGGpocgCYYSP6Wh8Bkfeg4bPg/w288-h400/Deadly%20Bees.png" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>I have given green a fairly well rounded pile of options when it comes to handling dorks. There may not be raw power when compared to the other colours but there is breadth and depth in the options and the power gap is as low as it has ever been. It is a substantial change compared to any cube I have ever played with. I cannot imagine this is going to push green over the edge but I do hope it lets green play more interactive games of magic. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKZaM5psGE4BcVL8iIC05XjVnc8mRC8QZlvN9pKToM2cHtzoBZU20yICGVKY5JnXmtOpOTk0DBUCryFlaDo_KoRS0Kp2DU-ijMULU3N1czZvW3bcYuBIH6RD4mZys_DbCH8WIhPnjcejJeVizTsB9Fn1hgLG5g7Wq4YpS3nIuV73RO9monSfwsLqnUt3E/s1046/Hunter%20Class.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1046" data-original-width="750" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKZaM5psGE4BcVL8iIC05XjVnc8mRC8QZlvN9pKToM2cHtzoBZU20yICGVKY5JnXmtOpOTk0DBUCryFlaDo_KoRS0Kp2DU-ijMULU3N1czZvW3bcYuBIH6RD4mZys_DbCH8WIhPnjcejJeVizTsB9Fn1hgLG5g7Wq4YpS3nIuV73RO9monSfwsLqnUt3E/w286-h400/Hunter%20Class.png" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Nick Nobodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08217616255450989605noreply@blogger.com0