The Couple's Cube

Hello Everyone! I know its been a while, but my last week or so has been very busy with baseball, band and the likes. So today, I've decided to return with a bit of a treat.

My friend Will Nehlsen recently started a power cube. I have ALWAYS wanted to build a cube ever since I drafted one for the first time, but I haven't really had the time to get much of one started. With Will starting one up, I decided that it was time to do the same. I only faced one major problem in this.........where would I find the time? Like I said, my life is very busy and going through every Magic card and nitpicking which ones I like and don't like is very time consuming. Sure, I could just go online and use another person's cube, but in my eyes that is cheating. This got me thinking about a smaller cube. A cube for 1v1 Winston Drafts consisting of only about 100 cards or so.

With this base put into place, I only needed an idea for the cube. I figured that for a small 1v1 cube, a theme would be more interesting than just 100 of the best cards. First, I thought about a crap cube, which would be not the 100 best, but instead the 100 worst cards. After getting ideas from friends about bad cards, I didn't like what the final product would look like. This sent me back to the drawing board for ideas. After an hour or so of Google searches, I came up with people who were doing tribal cubes. Since my cube was only 100 cards, I decided to pick just one creature type. The only problem was thinking of a creature type that appeared in all 5 colors. Elves and goblins didn't work and soldiers wasn't that interesting. My friend Adam then recommended Elementals. A quick gatherer search showed more Elementals than I ever knew of. So many creatures are Elementals and I didn't even realize it. I was quickly attracted to the thought. When looking through gatherer, I discovered how powerful the color red would be. I had to do my best to limit it down, while still including the staples like Flamekin Harbinger and Smokebraider. A few hours later, and I had a basic list. I decided that it was good enough for the time being, a printed the cards that I didn't own out on paper. Quickly they were sleeved into penny sleeves and I searched for 20 of each basic land. One of the cool ideas I had for the cube was that instead of putting lands into it and clogging it up, I decided that each player would automatically start with a Primal Beyond (Elemental tribal land) in his/her sealed pool. I was ready to try it out.

The day was Sunday, and it was NPH release day. I quickly found a friend to try out the cube with and we had a blast. We built our decks and I got destroyed, but it was fun overall. I played with friends about 7 more times that day and each time was fun (except for one where I completely mis-drafted and my deck was VERY BAD). My friend Shawn quickly caught on to the idea, and decided him and my friend Max were each making one too. We brainstormed ideas and had a few good ones on the drawing board. One part about my cube everyone especially loved was the free land. They decided they would do that in their own mini-cubes. Shawn drove me home that night, and we had fun trying to think of names for the mini-cube. Shawn came up with Couple's Cube and it stuck. From there, my job was to build a second one that was just as cool as this one.

Overall, the cube made it a great night (especially after my horrific 2-3 finish in the release event). For anyone who loves quick fun, one draft and match only takes about a total of an hour. It makes for the ability to do it many times in a night, and it is very different from a normal Magic draft.

That's all for today! Thank you for reading and if you have any ideas for my second Couple's Cube, let me know in the comments. I started one that was all cycles (commands, original planeswalkers, the genju's, the pacts, etc.), but I didn't like the look of it. It was scrapped and I am now hungry for more ideas. Please help in the comments, and all ideas are appreciated. Remember, it is more of a theme, similar to tribal (preferably not another tribal), so don't give ideas like all card with art by Rebecca Guay (yes, someone did say that). Thanks again, and I'll return next time, possibly with an interview. Also, jump over to rogueinsight.blogspot.com. That is my friend Mike's blog, and it is a great read. Follow me on Twitter @AJKerrigan55. Goodbye.

New Phyrexia Limited Review - White

Hello again,
Welcome back! Today I will doing a set review in limited for the color white. I will go over some of the more important cards and rate how good they are in limited. LSV does set reviews on channel fireball for New Phyrexia, except he also does constructed rating as well. As limited is currently my favorite format, I will focus on limited. The rating system is as follows:
5.0 - I will always first pick this, sometimes without even looking at the rest of the pack. I will switch colors to play this, unless it is easily splash-able. 
4.0 - I almost always first pick this card. If I'm highly dedicated to at least two other colors and is not easily splashed, I may pass it for something else but this is rare.
3.0 - If possible, I try not to switch into another color for this, but I can splash it. If it's in my color, I usually play this.
2.0 - This card isn't great, but it will occasionally find it's way into the main and be sided in if not. This rating might also represent cards that need heavy support to be decent, which usually isn't great.
1.0 - Unless I'm on a bet (and even then) I will not play this. 

I'll probably stick to the cards 3.0 or better, to save time. Cards not on here are probably not a 3 in my eyes, or I just missed it.

 

Rating: 3.5

This card is the face of efficiency. 4/4 for 2W is good alone, but when split onto two bodies and the bigger one has first strike, you get crazy. There's a reason this is the rare splicer.

Rating: 4.0

Putting your opponent behind a turn can really make a difference in limited. On top of that, once you land this, which in limited is reasonably possible, you put your opponent back really far. This card isn't excellent and I only want one in a deck, but it pulls its weight.

Rating: 5.0

The fact that we will open New Phyrexia first helps the rating, because we aren't dedicated to colors yet. If New Phyrexia was last, I might say 4.5. This card, once on the table, not only wipes the board and helps you win faster, but your opponents lose the ability to play top deck chump blockers.

 Rating: 3.0

This card in some situations is worse than Arrest. The ability to still block may be important, but the ability to still use activated abilities is what drops this card very low. Many cards in the block shine without attacking or blocking like Geth, Hoard-Smelter, Carnifex Demon etc. The ability to switch it around is cool though, not only for the late and mid-game value, but also for the ability to fix misplays.

Rating: 4.0

This card is what aggro needs. Turn one, for a measly one mana and two life, you get a 3/1 first strike. On the play, you should get in for at least 6 damage uninterrupted. First strike makes it even better and harder to kill. This card will be seeing a lot of early grabbing.

Rating: 3.5

This card, once dropped, can really change a game. Against infect it is lacking, but a 3/3 flier for 5 is still good. This card is a good addition to any white deck, especially when you need both reach and extra turns against aggro based draft decks.

Rating: 3.0

This card is a great infect card, and maybe playable in non-infect white controling decks. In infect, 3 toughness is great, as proved by Cystbearer. It may cost 5, but it gives infect deck the reach they need, and non-infect a good defense.

Rating: 3.0

This card pulls its weight very well. When dropped on turn 2, this card is great and can really exceed your money back. Late game, it gives a bit of reach, but it's not the greatest card to draw in top deck mode. It is a great card in white, but I don't think it deserves to much of a splash.

 

So that's it for the ratings, thank you for reading. I will soon return with the other colors. Let me know in the comments if you thought this helped, or if you disagree with any of my choices. Also let me know if I missed anything important. New Phyrexia will certainly do a lot to the draft block, opening up many new strategies. I will most likely enjoy this format, and I hope you will too. Remember, follow me on twitter @AJKerrigan55 if you haven't already.