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Mar 14, 2012 -- 11:02AM, SkyknightXi wrote:

The Cube that was placed probably makes for a good template for people wanting to craft their own Cube to work with, although I have a few light issues (one or two possibly chalkable to my uncertainty that a heady rush of power is supposed to be the main draw for this format)...

--Slight repetition in effect (probably one of the only two really problematic). Elite Vanguard and Savannah Lions ; Armageddon and Ravages of War ; Wildfire and Burning of Xinye . Keep in mind that I'm only counting within a specific color. Wrath of God and Damnation AREN'T duplicates by this measure, nor are Wrath of God and Day of Judgment (former keeps them from regenerating, latter lets you regenerate). With the Vanguard and Lions, I'd probably replace one of them with Loyal Sentry ...just not sure which one ( Stromkirk Noble is the only real factor to look into).
--Card interdiction (this would be the main chalkable, although I can understand if one would rather abjure this factor): Basically, if a card that is strictly inferior *OR* strictly superior has been printed to another card since the latter's last printing in a booster-available set, the latter card is regarded by me as "interdicted". Thus, Counterspell has been interdicted by Cancel . But in the other direction, Volcanic Hammer is interdicted by Incinerate . Dissipate and Cancel don't interdict each other, by the way; Cancel leaves the card available for taking from their graveyard, Dissipate doesn't. But other than that, Dissipate would take priority as the most recently printed.

Duplicate effects have never seemed unreasonable in cube to me, especially not worse versions of cards. Certain decks, especially more aggressive decks, really need certain effects to show up a lot (white aggro really needs to be able to get a critical mass of 1 drops every draft, red needs enough good burn that volcanic hammer is perfectly reasonable). Depending on how much you care about the "spirit" of the format not using stuff like the p3k duplicates is reasonable, but trying to avoid all "worse" cards can really put a strain on what archetypes are viable. Even if volcanic hammer is miles worse than incinerate, it still ends up being one of the better burn spells ever printed.

Some random thoughts on the cube. Its hard to tell without having played it, but it looks like there are a lot of cc 2 drops (especially in white). It makes the cube look a lot worse, but I having a lot of guys that cost really helps make white aggro viable. Also, this was a perfect opportunity to print Blast from the Past online! What a huge oversight!