Cubing with Big Nass #2

Posted on May 14, 2012

After last week’s miserable failure, I decided to draft a normal deck. I did try out storm a couple more times, and it’s really difficult to make it work. I’ve found that the Magic Online Cube is more suited to decks full of haymakers. I went into this Draft with an open mind and ended up with a pretty sweet deck. As usual, text commentary follows the video links.

Draft

For reference, I submitted this:

"W/U Cube Draft Deck"

Planeswalkers (2)
1 Elspeth Tirel
1 Venser, the Sojourner

Match 1, Game 1

Match 1, Game 2

Match 1, Game 3

Match 2, Game 1

Match 2, Game 2

Match 3, Game 1

Match 3, Game 2

Match 3, Game 3

Pack 1, Pick 1:

My Pick:

There’s nothing completely insane that jumps out at me in this pack. Vendilion Clique is a card that I like a lot, and it fits perfectly well in either a control or an aggro deck.

Pack 1, Pick 2:

My Pick:

Nothing makes your opponent miserable quite like a turn-one Land Tax. It’s easily the most broken card in the pack, so that’s what I’m going with.

Pack 1, Pick 3:

My Pick:

While I don’t have any Equipment yet, any that I do draft will be much better with the Mystic. It’s a small case of buying the saddle before the horse, but I feel that it’s worth the gamble. I don’t really want to dip into green for Knight of the Reliquary, though that it is a really sweet card.

Pack 1, Pick 4:

My Pick:

Forbid and Land Tax is a pretty good combo, but I think I’d rather have a decent Wrath of God in my W/U control deck.

Pack 1, Pick 5:

My Pick:

The original duals are amazing and become even better with fetch lands. Aeon Chronicler is a good one, but win conditions are easily replaceable. Having a good mana base isn’t.

Pack 1, Pick 6:

My Pick:

Fetch lands are always high picks in my book.

Pack 1, Pick 7:

My Pick:

I’d obviously much rather have a Sword, but this will have to do. Whoever took that Ulamog is going to be pretty happy with the Show and Tell.

Pack 1, Pick 8:

My Pick:

I haven’t played with the Lich yet, but it seems pretty sweet, and I want to try it out. I could also take Sphere of the Suns, but it’s kind of bad.

Pack 1, Pick 9:

My Pick:

This will make playing Havengul Lich easier. Now I just need any white or black fetch land, and the mana base will be where I want it to be.

Pack 1, Pick 10:

My Pick:

Pack 1, Pick 11:

My Pick:

Pack 1, Pick 12:

My Pick:

Forbid is a better card, but I don’t want to overload on counterspells.

Pack 1, Pick 13:

My Pick:

Pack 1, Pick 14:

My Pick:

Pack 1, Pick 15:

My Pick:

Pack 2, Pick 1:

My Pick:

Holy planeswalkers, Batman! I can immediately discount Sorin and Garruk due to their mana requirements. While I do love to draw cards, Jace Beleren doesn’t quite dominate a game like Elspeth Tirel does.

Pack 2, Pick 2:

My Pick:

In case it doesn’t show up properly, the card in between Karakas and Priest of Urabrask is Fire // Ice. I’m a huge fan of Control Magic effects, and I’d much rather steal my opponent’s creatures than play my own. Unless they’re over-costed or situational, I find it difficult to not take them. Treachery is the best one, but Control Magic is still really good.

Pack 2, Pick 3:

My Pick:

Luminarch Ascension can be really annoying, but I’d rather have a solid removal spell at this point. As I said before, win conditions are fairly replaceable, and you just want to make sure you survive to the late game.

Pack 2, Pick 4:

My Pick:

Oust and Memory Lapse are both tempo cards, neither of which I’m particularly interested in. Liliana is a good one, but I don’t think my mana base will be able to support her. That leaves Frost Titan as the best choice.

Pack 2, Pick 5:

My Pick:

This is a speculative pick. I’m still working on the assumption that I’ll want to splash red for something since I can do it rather easily. If I do end up in a four-colored deck, Etched Oracle is pretty insane. Were I not considering that option, Impulse would be a fine choice. I could also take Enlightened Tutor, but I don’t like playing the card-disadvantage tutors unless I have something completely insane, which I don’t yet.

Pack 2, Pick 6:

My Pick:

Oh Mind's Desire, why must you tempt me? Undermine is not really where I want to be, as hitting the opponent for 3 doesn’t have much value, and I’m not always going to have black mana. Kjeldoran Outpost is pretty good even if you sometimes have awkward draws with it.

Pack 2, Pick 7:

My Pick:

Now, Absorb is a card I want, since against certain decks, I will stabilize at a low life total, and some life-gain helps put me out of reach of burn spells.

Pack 2, Pick 8:

My Pick:

It’s hard to argue with Force of Will here. It allows me to tap out for one of my boom-booms without fear of reprisal.

Pack 2, Pick 9:

My Pick:

Augury Adept isn’t that great, but I can see myself siding it in against a deck with few creatures.

Pack 2, Pick 10:

My Pick:

This was a misclick. In the video, I was debating between Mentor of the Meek and Karakas, and didn’t notice my time running out. I think Karakas would have been my pick since it combos quite well with Vendilion Clique and removes opposing legends effectively. I don’t have enough creatures to go with the Mentor of the Meek to make it good.

Pack 2, Pick 11:

My Pick:

Pack 2, Pick 12:

My Pick:

Pack 2, Pick 13:

My Pick:

Pack 2, Pick 14:

My Pick:

Pack 2, Pick 15:

My Pick:

Pack 3, Pick 1:

My Pick:

Wrath and win condition all in one! Sign me up!

Pack 3, Pick 2:

My Pick:

Bitterblossom is a very sweet card, but it’s not the best fit for the deck I’ve drafted. Devil's Play would just be a Blaze, making it much less attractive. Cheap removal like Condemn is really what I need at this point.

Pack 3, Pick 3:

My Pick:

Don’t mind if I do. Maybe I’ll open Mirari's Wake.

Pack 3, Pick 4:

My Pick:

The perfect fetch land.

Pack 3, Pick 5:

My Pick:

The perfect dual land.

Pack 3, Pick 6:

My Pick:

The perfect planeswalker. Well, okay; not really, but I wanted to keep it going.

Pack 3, Pick 7:

My Pick:

I like Court Hussar a lot, but Precursor Golem is just bananas with Venser.

Pack 3, Pick 8:

My Pick:

Continuing along with my theme of making this look like an Onslaught-era W/U control deck.

Pack 3, Pick 9:

My Pick:

Pack 3, Pick 10:

My Pick:

Pack 3, Pick 11:

My Pick:

Pack 3, Pick 12:

My Pick:

Pack 3, Pick 13:

My Pick:

Pack 3, Pick 14:

My Pick:

Kira is a huge nonbo with Venser, and Momentary Blink works quite well with a number of my cards.

Pack 3, Pick 15:

My Pick:

Those last three picks were pretty nice; I’m not going to lie.

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This was how the deck ended up:

"W/U Cube Draft Deck"

Planeswalkers (2)
1 Elspeth Tirel
1 Venser, the Sojourner

I had a reason for not playing the Godless Shrine, but now I can’t remember what it was. We can chalk that one up to old-man brain. I had a lot of relevant sideboard cards, and at various points, Stoneforge Mystic, Dismantling Blow, Blue Elemental Blast, Glen Elendra Archmage, Behemoth Sledge, and Augury Adept were all brought in.

I had some pretty intense games, so I recommend checking them out. I succumbed in the finals to a B/R aggro deck after he drew a Beacon of Destruction after I Cliqued him to put the card I put on the bottom back on top. Such is Magic, but I still had a blast with the Cube. I hope it returns soon with some updates to make it better than ever.

Until next time, may you always draw your Beacons and your Zeniths multiple times.

Nassim Ketita

arcticninja on Magic Online

http://www.youtube.com/nketita

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