u/justinvamp

It's so fun and whenever it's here for the midweek magic I play it an unreasonable amount. Please make it a permanent queue!

How do you handle the color distribution in your cube? I run a powered cube (not powermax), and have tried very hard to run the same number of cards in each color for distribution purposes. I also used to take that down to the multicolored level as well where each color pair had exactly 5 cards, but broke that recently and now have between 4-6 for each pair. I'd really like to keep the color balance the same, but it means making cuts in some colors (like red and blue) and finding the last couple cards (like black and green) is quite difficult.

I know the MTGO cube and tons of other very popular ones don't really care and just go for the best experience, but I find it very hard to make that break and ideally would like to have them all balanced in terms of both count and gameplay. How do other people handle this?

Is anybody running [[Dreams of Steel and Oil]] in their powered cubes nowadays? With the number of powerful creatures out there, especially ones with etbs or that make multiple bodies, it seems like it could be a great addition.

Black is notorious for having some of the weakest creatures and often having a bit of an identity crisis for powered cube (not counting the reanimation haymakers, I'm talking in the 1-4 cmc range). So rather than trying to keep up on its weakest axis, I'd like to try adding some more efficient interaction and most of the 2 cmc removal spells in the color seem very replacement level nowadays.

I have all the typical [[Duress]], [[Thoughtseize]], [[Inquisition of Kozilek]], [[Cut Down]], [[Fatal Push]], [[Bone Shards]], [[Bloodchief's Thirst]], [[Dismember]], [[Snuff Out]], [[Toxic Deluge]], and a suite of 2 cmc removal spells.

I just got my copy of Cascadia: Alpine Lakes delivered from the kickstarter and am so excited to give it a try! For anyone who's had the chance to play it yet, what are your thoughts and how does it compare to the original?

For powered cubes, do we think that [[Squandered Resources]] is able to be back in rotation? Ever since [[Baloth Prime]] was printed in Edge of Eternities, the [[Titania, Protector of Argoth]]+[[Zuran Orb]]/[[Sylvan Safekeeper]] dream has been very real and threatening. Obviously costing 2 and costing 2 different colors is a huge change and downside, and [[Rain of Filth]] already works both in this combo and with storm. It would pretty clearly be a downgrade to each of these effects, but having them stapled together on a permanent seems decent enough to be worth a look. Especially if your cube runs [[Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis]], as you can fill your graveyard while also generating mana to cast creatures to convoke with.

Does anybody run [[Street Wraith]] in powered environments?

I'm curious if it has legs as a [[Gitaxian Probe]] impersonator that is obviously worse with cards that trigger off casting spells like [[Third Path Iconoclast]] or [[Cori-Steel Cutter]], and also doesn't give you your opponents hand information. However, it is instant speed which could matter in some cases, creates redundancy for [[Doomsday]] piles, and helps trigger all the self-discard goodies like [[Currency Converter]], [[Marauding Mako]], [[Monument to Endurance]] for free if you run those - unlike Probe. And unlike probe, ​​it technically has a creature attached - not relevant the vast majority of the time but can matter similar to [[Generous Ent]]/[[Oliphaunt]].

It's probably not good enough or interesting enough to be worth a slot, but I was curious if anyone else had given it a try and how it worked out.

Final Fantasy being back makes me so happy. It's such a good draft set and I will never ever tire of playing it. They absolutely crushed the design of the set (I know it's UB, I'm talking from strictly a gameplay perspective). It's a completely flawless draft experience and easily my favorite on Arena. Powered Cube is still better for me but in terms of set drafts it easily takes the cake.

The bombs are strong and fun to draft but none are as overwhelming as in some other prince sets (looking at you avatar), there's always something to do with your mana, there are so many viable archetypes, the games go long and there are tons of micro-decisions in each game, and the mechanics for the set (4+ non creatures, Job select, flashback, tiered spells, summons) are all complete home runs.

If wvery UB set was like FF, people would have a way more positive view of it I believe.

I just lost my first game of powered cube because my opponent milled exactly [[Vaultborn Tyrant]] and [[Craterhoof Behemoth]] off of their [[Palantir of Orthanc]]...when I was exactly at 15...after scrying 2 to the bottom.

Classic, not even mad. Welcome back powered cube. Shout out to whoever that was, that was awesome.

I'm not talking about going back in time. If they announced that season 52 would take an exact cast from any one previous season and run it completely back, which season's cast would you pick? And how differently do you think it would play out than in the original season? And what original winner would have the best chance of repeat winning against the same cast?

Not necessarily making a full custom card, but what type of effect or niche to fill would you love to see printed for your cube?

I have a 540 powered vintage cube and would absolutely love:

-A really good green interaction spell on the level of maybe [[Path to Exile]]

-A red [[Entomb]] effect for artifacts (I run a custom card now for the [[Goblin Welder]] stuff but would prefer a real card)

-Another good blue one-drop, especially since I don't run [[Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student]] due to not running any DFCs in my cube

-Id also like a solid sweeper at 3 cmc. There are a couple okay ones, right now I'm running [[Brotherhood's End]] but it's only mediocre. The 4cmc ones are just too slow most of the time, although the playtest card [[Wrath of Leknif]] has been solid.

I finished the main 10 last year and absolutely LOVED them. Then I read all the Bauchelain and Korbal Broach novellas and loved them too. As far as I'm aware, the rest of Erikson's Malazan works (Karkhanas, Witness) are yet unfinished but still being worked on, so I would rather wait until they are completed before diving in.

My sister got me Night of Knives and Return of the Crimson Guard for Christmas last year and I finished Night of Knives, then saw online that people recommended not starting with that one? I enjoyed it a lot and am not totally sure why it seems like many people are down on that one.

Are the Novels of the Malazan Empire meant to be read in publication order? I have bo idea when in the overall timeline they come into play. Or should I pause and jump over to Path of Ascendancy or something else? I'd like to just read the books I own now but if there's a preferred reading order that won't spoil things from other series I'd like to know! Otherwise my plan is just publication order for all NoME, then Path, then hopefully Witness or Karkhanas is finished and I can get over to those.

Now that SoS has been out for a while now and people have had the chance to cube with new cards, where have you landed on what cards are going to stick around for you? I run a powered vintage cube and the only card that I added from the set was [[Erode]], and it's 100% sticking around. But I'm curious about what other people's results have been - I know there were a bunch of speculative posts but now that people have been able to actually play with the cards, what are the findings?

What cards other than Erode should I be keeping an eye on?