Written by Cube is a format for Spike, the win-at-all-costs player. I played the Magic Online Cube extensively the second time it was available. I noticed a lot of cards in the cube that I had cut, sometimes years ago. It seemed to me like Wizards was shoehorning more build-around-me, Johnny cards than would otherwise be needed for a cube drafting experience.
I don’t place many of these types of cards in my cube anymore, because the players that drafted them consistently lost to other players who either filled out their mana curve and played aggressively, or those that took a more controlling route. Winning with these types of cards happened so infrequently that even the rogue deckbuilders became disgusted with them.
I think they chose to do this to up the replay value for non-Spike players, but it really just set these players up for failure. If you are spending 3 or 4 turns trying to setup a combo or synergy, you are getting destroyed by aggro in the meantime. I am not talking about ramp decks here as larger creature decks tend to beat smaller aggro builds much of the time.
Many of these cards are very powerful in constructed. The singleton format is often what makes them unusable. You are drafting around a single card which you may not even draw for many games. I understand that winning every time isn’t always what matters. Johnny players like to win in a cool way, not necessarily the most efficient way, or as often. However, Wizards was offering prizes to Cube tournament winners. It was unfair to set these people up to miss out.
When I speak about trap cards in this article, it is in regards to their unplayability and not to the trap subtype from Zendikar block, (Summoning Trap).
Following is my list of near-unplayable, Johnny Cube cards in the Magic Online cube.
Number Ten
Tradewind Rider
I talked before about how most cube games do not tend to have very many creatures on the battlefield at any given time. Sometimes, this is because the spells are so efficient in cube, and they are not needed. Other times, it is because the removal in cube is so above the normal level, that creatures just cannot stay alive.
Tradewind Rider requires you to have three creatures that you don’t want to use for other applications, such as attacking. Sure, it can be used at the end of your opponent’s turn. However, you still have to be able to keep the rider and two other creatures protected on the battlefield to use a marginal ability.
Many permanents in cube give you value when you cast them or when they enter the battlefield, especially creatures. Tradewind Rider, even if you can get two other creatures to tap for its ability, often helps the opponent. Capsize, from the same set, gives you a lot of what this ability does on a spell making it harder to deal with. I think I’ll stick with that.
I had this card in my cube when I first built it. It seemed very powerful. It never lived up to its constructed hype in my cube and was cut early. Blue has so many more efficient creatures now that we put this genie back in the lamp.
Number Nine
Isochron Scepter
Isochron Scepter was one of the longest-running, trap cards that I left in my cube. It seemed that the players would remember the Moment’s Peace and Mana Drain blowouts more often than the amount of times people drafted it early and failed to build a decent deck from it. I left it in for much longer than I should have. It mucked up the draft signaling because the scepter player would often draft spells from all the colors.
Even in my most recent article, I recalled a tale of how powerful this card was paired with Booster Tutor. Another amazing un-card to copy was Who/What/When/Where/Why for instant-speed, land destruction among others. These gave my early cube some excitement. Scepter still has a legacy.
The problem with the card is, it causes you to have a skewed mana curve when you build your deck, and it limits the amount of creatures you take. It sets up players to make poor decisions based on potential synergy instead of the consistency needed for strong cube decks. Even with the knowledge that there was only one scepter in their decks, players would often draft 12 or more instants of varying colors with no mana fixing to back them up. It was an all-in strategy that was flashy, but didn’t win very often.
Number Eight
Vault of the Archangel
Here is another build-around-me trap that the Wizards team put in the Magic Online Cube. Black / White is probably the most difficult color combination to create a proper mana base for.
Neither color does mana fixing especially well. Caves of Koilos was highly prized in Standard for a while because it was the best fixing solution to get Black and White to work together. Also, the two colors tend to have strong colored mana requirements for their spells and creatures, like Soltari Priest and Hymn to Tourach, especially at lower converted mana costs.
Using up a land slot, that could be used for color-fixing your deck, and having that land require two different colors of mana for an ability that requires multiple creatures to work, is a recipe for disaster. It can be useful if the game goes long, but not enough to warrant taking up a slot in the cube.
Number Seven
Academy Rector
I had ‘Grandma’ in my cube when I first created it. I remembered it as one of White’s powerhouse cards. I’ve fetched up many a Debtors’ Knell and Mirari’s Wake with her in various formats. How well does she translate in cube draft?
Unfortunately, we found out, not very well at all. Especially nowadays, with creatures being so prevalent, and tempo being extremely important, Grandma just doesn’t make the cut at 4-mana.
I don’t run very many high cost enchantments in my cube. Fetching enchantments with her will yield little value. The only cards that would give any value at all are Parallax Wave or, possibly, a Control Magic-effect.
So, she is essentially a Tormented Soul for 4 mana. People will let her through for 1 damage, but that isn’t really getting you far enough to justify losing out on playing Armageddon, Elspeth, Knight-Errant, or even Calciderm, for that matter.
She is just too slow for today’s cubes. She has gone by the wayside like Morphling and other relics of the past.
Number Six
Dream Halls
Now, I’m a fan of Force of Will as much as the next blue mage, but Dream Halls just falls short for me in cube draft. Pitching other cube cards to get a card for free is not the best investment of your playables.
Also, the symmetrical ability ruins the chance of greatness. Most of the draw sevens that could make this good give your opponent cards to pitch as well, like Timetwister or Wheel of Fortune.
You invest five mana into it, and most likely a tutor of some sort, for very little payback. You may get Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker, one out of ten games, but you will lose the other nine.
In cube, you know your opponent is playing top-notch Magic cards because cube cards are chosen for that very reason. You will often get blown out. It’s a desparate situation to hand your opponent four extra Fireblasts or Terminates. This is a gamble that just will not pay off enough to warrant an inclusion in my cube.
This article was running longer than I expected, so I’ve decided to split it up. Join me next time for some more Non-bo, cube cards. Some of my choices, may surprise you.
‘Til next time,
DJ
cuberdj@gmail.com
All images owned by Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro and its affiliates.
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