It Really Is Magic

Standardized Slinging

Recently, I have started playing magic again with my wife. We have played off and on again over the years and I have been trying to get more opponents. I like to brew and build, crafting cunning card combos and recently I have been pursuing the 'perfect' play environment in my pauper cube. I have played some small local tournaments when I was younger, never really placing well and now that I know more, I understand I was usually playing jank.

I have been listening to Mark Rosewater's 'Drive to Work' pod cast [Link to the Wizards Pod Cast page] which is mostly about Magic the Gathering from an R&D perspective. I have listened to some episodes, but I found it when he was in the late 300s for episodes already. I have found that I personally enjoy the technical parts of the game design and have found these types of episodes to be very useful in developing my cube.

The other format I have been trying to get to take off with the folks I like spending time with is Pauper. I thought it was going to get more people in the game with inexpensive cards to build decks from, but I seem to be wrong. What I really could use is a paper version of Penny Dreadful which would really be WAY too much work to track.

(No)Power Cube

My pauper cube gets the most mileage these days. My wife and I play sealed from it regularly and we found a micro sealed format that we also play extensively.  I have been trying to balance it so each of the two color pairs has something solid to play and get some crossover options into other pairings for additional options in case a player gets color cut in the draft.

I have been making some tweaks and changes. Red/White agro is a little pushed right now, but more importantly, I have been having trouble sorting out a solid 'identity' for Green/Blue and for Blue/Black. I think I am also missing finisher cards for mono Blue.

For some frame of referance, here is what I have been trying to make happen with the colors. Some of the descriptions may seem contraindicative, but I would like each color to be paired with each other color, so I need to keep the options.

For each single color, I have the following themes I try to stick to:

White - Agro and Control
Blue - Card Draw and Control
Black - Graveyard and Control
Red - Burn and Agro
Green - Tokens and Big Creatures

Combinations of colors let me carve out a more niche space. Here is what I imagine my color pairs should be decent at:

White/Blue: Control or Tempo
Blue/Black: Discarding Bounce or Evasive Long Game
Black/Red: Turbo Reanimator or Turbo Agro
Red/Green: Value Agro
Green/White: Enchantments Matter
White/Black: Tempo or Token Snacks
Blue/Red: Cantrips and Burn
Black/Green: Graveyard Value
Red/White: Agro and Burn
Green/Blue: Token Control/Ramp?

For anyone that plays magic, most of these terms make sense. In case my made up gibberish isn't explanatory enough though, 'Evasive Long Game' is small evasive threats and control because these threats will need at least a few turns to get the job done, and 'Token Snacks' is make a pile of token creatures and then sacrifice them to something that has a game changing (even ending) payoff.

At any rate, I am looking for ideas on what I could put in to make Blue/Black and Green/Blue feel more playable. If anyone has ideas, I would certainly be willing to try them out. Right now, I am thinking about trying the mill strategy in Blue/Black which is usually decent in 40 card decks. I also have been thinking about trying the 'Awaken' mechanic from Battle for Zendikar in Green/Blue to make the lands matter from Green and give Blue the control aspect. This mechanic also sort of feels like 'Kicker' in the sense that you can get more out of cards as the game goes on with the alternative casting cost and perks.

Testing and Tuning

My infatuation with exclusively playing pauper has worn off, but this cube has been great fun to play and endless fun to refine. I will definitely be trying out some other projects like a more powerful cube and a Ravnica guilds themed 'battle box' of 10 decks designed to play against each other.

If anyone has ideas for my cube, let me know. I would also enjoy knowing how it drafts/builds on Cube Tutor if you want to give it a shot.

As always, happy gaming!
-Zenfall