u/vacalicious

My four-year-old daughter Josephine made me this card for my cube yesterday, after she saw me reorganizing cards from the draft the day before. She told me this is called “Jo Jo’s Week.” When I asked what it did, she said that it “Makes people think of her.” So there you have it. Eat your heart out, r/custommagic.

Seven of us got together yesterday in my dining room in south central Connecticut to draft my cube and drink my whiskey.

To nobody's surprise, I ended up on my beloved Sneak & Recur. I p1p1'ed Archon over Phlage and Pyrogoyph, as a matter of personal preference. The big mean flyer showed up in all my games as I went 3-0, 6-0 with some lucky draws. After Captain Archon, the MVP was [[Charming Scoundrel]], who ramped into my 6s or binned Archon, and then provided sac fodder for Nightmare to recur Archon. If you're not already running this awesome utility two drop, definitely give her consideration.

During the draft, I experienced a classic power creep moment. I had to decide between [[Etali, Primal Conqueror]] and [[Barrowgoyf]]. Etali would have been nuts in my cheaty deck, of course, but he's merely the reward for doing the thing. Whereas Barrowgoyph both does the thing and rewards you for doing the thing. Crazy card. Total bomb.

Shredder and Cecil only made my list because I waffled in pack 1 after getting a 4th pick Gaak, and grabbed some green dudes over red utility guys before realizing that green wasn't actually open. And as u/mikez4nder always says, take the [[Thoughtseize]]. Easy p2p2 for me.

One last note, and speaking of cards you should never pass: Strip Mine. I will never pass it, short of needing a specific combo piece. Draft the Strip and "enjoy" the 1-2 games it singlehandedly wins when you shut off half the opponent's mana for a stretch of the game. My poor buddy Robin lost his only mountain in our first game and that was all she wrote. Even without a Crucible effect, Strip remains utterly disgusting. It's the card in my cube that I hate the most lol

Not pictured: Azorius artifacts with Urza/Worb, Abzan good stuff, and a suuuuuuuuper spicy Flash/Bazar/Reanimate/Atraxa build that I sadly did not get to play against.

Apologies for the quality, this is a screengrab from the livestream.

+1 Sol Ring
+1 Hurricane
-1 Braingeyser
-1 Mana Vault
-1 Steal Artifact
-1 Land Tax

So much for the RG deck I was working on lol. Gotta retool now.

Since u/mikez4nder has us posting our pet cards lately, I figured why not get off my rear end and ask: Why aren't you running this cheeky, glorious pun of a rainbow land?

Use [[Frantic Search]] or one of the Kiki enablers to squeeze out an extra mana. Tap your Ass, untap it, then tap that Ass again! Or better yet, slap it down on turn one so it can work its butt off all game, plugging holes in your mana base.

The best part of running City of Ass, though, is watching people laugh when they see it for the first time. Let your lands become the butt of the joke!

Seriously, though, don't turn the other cheek on this card. It rocks in anything that's not aggro. It's an UN card that deserves a crack in more cubes. Your mana base will thank you. Give Ass a chance!

Newest addition as I build up a few 7-Point decks.

I've noticed that [[Goblin Welder]] has crept back into higher-level cubes in recent time. I saw u/mikez4nder make the same observation the other day. Welder was in my cube for ages, but I removed it a few years back because it dies to everything, especially as we get more and more good cheap removal. But the last few drafts I ended up on Izzet artifacts and thought that I could have used the card.

Should Welder get another try?

I'm especially curious of the opinion of u/The_queens_cat, whose cube I have long followed and enjoyed, and who has had Welder sleeved up this whole time.

We all love getting a group together to draft cube. But sometimes you and a buddy crack some craft beers and cube sealed packs and that’s a fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon. (Especially when the wives are kind enough to take the kids out!) These were my two decks from my buddy’s cube, my beloved Golgari, and good-old Izzet spellslinger.

I still got blown the F out by [[Fractured Identity]], of course, but getting lifelink on two of my favorite cartoon villains from my childhood is the kind of bizarre moment I cube for in 2026 lol

Continuing to build up my Old School collection to play some ATL/X-pts/7-pt

Seems slow, inconsistent, Baneslayery . . . but very cool. Obviously not for higher-powered cubes, but I can fantasize about a Christmasland deck with this, [[Duelist of the Mind]], [[Astrologian's Planisphere]], [[Proft's Eidetic Memory]], [[Wan Shi Tong, Librarian]], [[Occult Epiphany]], Brainstorms/Brainsurge, and Draw 7s.

I've been gearing up to play some DFB Green. Slowly but surely swapping out my proxies for the real deal. The Tablets have been great in the sideboard, and can become part of an Atog deck in a snap.

Rakdos is pretty loaded at this point, and I really wish this made an artifact token for some reason, or had Ravenous. That said, I always like modal designs for cube.

Seems good for artifact cubes.

Anyone got a legends theme? The uncounterable discard Pyroclasm effect isn't that bad, I suppose.