Mise Well Draft

Posted on April 22, 2014

There are many joys to be found in the building of a Cube. Seeding neat interactions, crafting a play environment, and being able to play Magic in a way that is appealing to you, the creator, are just some of them. Cube design is part art, part science, and all awesome. However, the best part of Cube, for my money, is the actual drafting. On Thursday, April 10, I was able to draft my Cube in an eight-person pod with some people you might recognize.

In clockwise order around the table, we had:

Alex – Your fearless Cube designer and writer, all-around awesome guy

Rashad Miller – Magic coverage scientist, he of many hats

Kevin – New York Magic ringer and pilot of the all-white-bordered Dakkon Blackblade Commander deck

Zach – Draft regular and fan of dry wit

Bert – Another Draft regular, fantastic hair

Marshall Sutcliffe – Member of Magic coverage team, cohost of Limited Resources podcast, writer for DailyMTG.com and this very site; also tall

Seth – Old-timer who helped design and develop the Cube, noted curmudgeon

Brian David-Marshall – Magic coverage, Pro Tour Historian, cohost of Top 8 Magic podcast, accumulator of Magic-related experiences and titles (also known as BDM)

Before I go any deeper, I need to thank the eminent BDM for helping to set this up. I grew up playing Magic in Brian’s old shop Neutral Ground, and I was the proverbial Little Kid there for many years. When the call went out for a Cube Draft prior to Grand Prix Philadelphia, it was BDM who chimed in that part of the coverage team would be in town on that Thursday.

As an avid listener of both Limited Resources and Top 8 Magic, I knew I was in for a treat. All three of these men have different drafting styles and discerning eyes. I saw a competitive and fun Draft with the hope for some fantastic feedback.

I was not disappointed.

After we arranged ourselves around the table, we began shuffling packs (although apparently not well enough—some packs were loaded with one color and completely missing another). Teams were to be determined at random after the Draft was completed to prevent potential hate-drafting. My Draft went insanely well. I opened a Pyrotechnics and was passed a Fireblast, which cemented me in red. A mid-pack-one Echo Tracer left me open for blue but, I kept seeing strong green and white creatures. I started picking up some of the cheaper white and Boros options, but by end of pack two, I was pretty sure I was going to be mono-red (a first for my Cube).

I only faced two difficult Draft picks. The first was pick three or four: I was forced to pick between Kabuto Moth and Vulshok Sorcerer. Both of these cards provide powerful effects and would go to shape my Draft. Picking the Kabuto Moth would push the focus toward creature-based combat while picking the Sorcerer would take another red card out of the Draft while making all my direct-damage spells better. While there are multiple pingers, there is only one Moth, so if I wanted that effect, I needed to pick it early. However, I felt that with such a strong red card early, I would be rewarded for sticking to my color and making my first two picks better. This pick paid off, as I was one of two red drafters at the table.

The second challenging pick was my first selection of the third pack. I was faced with an above-average red spell—Searing Blaze if memory serves—or Mulldrifter. At this point, I was solidly red with a smattering of white, but Mulldrifter is insanely powerful. I resolved to try to make mono-red work and took the Searing Blaze.

I ended up going 3–1 with this spicy deck:

Mono-Red ? Cube | Alex Ullman

Lands (17)
17 Mountain

Relevant Sideboard (2)
1 Hanweir Lancer
1 Nyxborn Rollicker

I ended up on a team with Kevin (Azorius), Rashad (Orzhov), and Seth (Jund) facing off against Bert (Orzhov), Brian (B/U/G), Marshall (Dimir), and Zach (Simic). Our team was ultimately triumphant. Thankfully, I had a good look at everyone’s deck and was able to receive feedback about the Draft from most of the participants. Let’s see what they had to say.

On Their First Picks

Marshall – Cavern Harpy. I had never played with it before, and I never really read what it did the very few times it had crossed my path. Seemed like my kind of card.

Brian – Some blue bounce spell. Was hoping to go Dimir.

Rashad – I think it was Probe or Waterfront Bouncer.

Seth – Jilt

Bert – Bonesplitter

Kevin – Oblivion Ring. It was the only white card in the pack.

From here, it seems that in the absence of an individually powerful card (Pyrotechnics or Bonesplitter), a solid plan is to take a good blue card and hope to draft Islands. It is also good to note that both Rashad and Seth ended up abandoning their first picks, meaning the Cube has enough powerful cards to warrant ditching initial intentions.

Question: Did the deck line up with your expectation of what a Dimir deck could/should be?

Marshall – Absolutely. When I draft Dimir, I want one of two things: a tempo-based creature deck that can create a quick board state and protect it or a slow, grindy control deck with a great long game. The deck I drafted was more of the latter, and I think that's good. I was able to use some very cool interactions to make the game go long, and I could then use some other cool interactions to make sure I won once it made it to that point.

Brian – It was not as tricksy as those decks can be when you include fewer common cards. I had to dip a toe in black for Consume Strength, which, while powerful, is challenging in a Cube in which people will often have mono-colored—or nearly so—aggro decks.

Rashad – Very much so—super-grindy.

Bert – Yeah, it seemed like a sweet, classic, Orzhov deck. I was pleasantly surprised with how many flyers there were in black. I went more tempo but easily could've (should've?) drafted a more controlling deck with some blockers and fewer 2-drops.

Seth also remarked that he was trying to draft R/U/G but ended up drafting strong Rakdos cards such as Blightning and Wrecking Ball late, leading him to regret passing an earlier Terminate. It is reassuring to my designer ears to hear that these decks tended to line up with the preconceived notions of what these drafters were expecting to see going in.

Question: What was your favorite card/aspect/interaction of the deck? What was your least favorite?

Marshall – My favorite card in the deck was Cavern Harpy. I haven't played with it much before, as it rarely makes the cut in rare or powered Cubes. Another card I hadn't played with before is Shaper Parasite. As it turns out, these two cards together combine for my favorite interaction of the Draft.

Brian – My favorite interaction is Ninja of the Deep Hours and Wingcrafter. You fly over with the 1-drop and another paired creature, ninjutsu in the card-drawer, and then pair it with Wingcrafter post-combat. My least favorite aspect was having to stretch into a third color.

Rashad – The Gravedigger-like effects really make the W/B deck powerful. I can't really remember anything I disliked, although some extort creatures may be a bit too linear for a Cube strategy. For example, Basilica Screecher really only increases your extortion density, whereas Kingpin's Pet and Syndic of Tithes can go in aggressive strategies.

Seth – The best moment of the Draft for me was sacrificing a token from the Nest Invader to generate a third mana to cycle a Krosan Tusker and make my third land drop. It felt like cheating.

Bert – The extort guys are super-fun in actual gameplay.

Kevin – Vulshok Morningstar is a powerhouse. I did not like how little value the heroic guys have compared to in Block.

While Bert and Rashad disagree on pure extort creatures like Basilica Screecher, it is great to see that everyone could easily identify something they loved doing in the Cube. This is hugely important when creating a Draft environment: If you do not give players something they can latch onto and enjoy, it could diminish the chance they want to draft your Cube again.

Question: What was your favorite moment of the Draft?

Marshall – My favorite moment of the Draft was against Rashad Miller. We were in Game 3, and we had played a super-grindy game in which I had the aforementioned Cavern Harpy/Shaper Parasite combo eating away at his board over the course of four or five turns. He was still ahead, however, as he had a Twisted Abomination attacking every turn. I was blocking with my Harpy and whittling his board down with my Shaper Parasite, but also, my life was dwindling. I knew that he had Scholar of Athreos and Gray Merchant of Asphodel in his deck, and I couldn't beat either one. I had Counterspell in hand as well as Soul Manipulation, but I could only cast one on his turn after bouncing his Abomination with a returned Mist Raven. I countered the Abomination on the way back down, but he had Scholar as a follow-up, leaving me only one draw step to find a way to either kill it or bounce it since I was at 1 life. I didn't find the out I needed, but I love close, grindy games like that, and this one was particularly fun.

Rashad – Smashing Marshall (he’s so easy).

Brian – See Ninja of the Deep Hours.

Kevin – I was time-warped to 2001 by BDM casting Wild Mongrel on turn two and smashing my face in. I did not like that part so much, but the rest was pretty good.

Zach – I loved when I played against the mono-red deck and finally stabilized at 1 or 2 life. I was ready to take over the game—as long as you didn't top-deck burn in the next three turns. You did, and I lost, but it felt super-right for our decks to be at that state.

Question: How Could the Cube Improve?

I also asked for some advice on making the Cube better. The first-time drafters passed, but both Seth and Brian provided insight.

Seth – The Cube definitely seems to punish newcomers, but I am unsure as to why.

Brian – It was a solid Draft experience. I want more multicolored cards. I don't know if missing is the right word, but I would have loved for the Draft to feel more collated. I feel this way in Cube often when you have packs that seem unnaturally biased toward one color. I might just be salty about seeing a pack with Rushing River, Undo, and four other blue cards in it.

I took the points that Seth and Brian made to be linked—the Draft experience itself can be challenging. With a low multicolored count, there is not so much guidance in how to draft, especially for newer players. This was only hindered by the poor collation of some packs. Seth has drafted this Cube more than anyone other than me, so his comment is something to watch out for. It could be I need to do a better job with my multicolored section in helping to guide guilded Drafts—or simply include more on-guild mono-colored cards.

Guess it’s time for more research (also known as Drafts).

Thank you again to the drafters for providing me with feedback! As an added bonus, here’s Seth’s undefeated Jund deck (4–0, 8–0):