In General: Grandpa's Pauper Cube Part 4: Fast Facts

I am Grandpa Growth. You're a Zoner. This is The General Zone. On Sunday's here on the blog we talk about whatever it is I want to talk about...which for the last month has been Pauper CUBE!

Today we will finish my month long saga about Pauper Cube. We have discussed history, design, recent updates, and for my final act I will leave you with some fun facts and stories from my experiences with my own Pauper Cube.

• In my original design for the cube, it was split into three sections based on different eras of Magic: Early sets, the block era, and the modern era. The idea was to draft one pack composed of only cards from each era. This would give the feeling of a full block structure where the block was the entire history of the game. Ultimately, I scrapped the idea because it was annoying to separate all the cards back into the different groups after the draft, but I still like the idea and am looking for another way to implement it. 
• There are sub-sets of cards that support specific archetypes like Storm, Infect, or Defenders, that wouldn't normally be playable in the cube because you wouldn't be guaranteed to see the cards that your deck needed. The sub-sets are 15-20 cards that are randomly inserted into the draft packs as a whole unit. That way you are sure that drafting a specific deck is possible, but it could be very dicey if multiple people try to go in on the archetype.
• I have also toyed around with the idea of shrinking the cube down to either 360 or 240, or at least having a sub-set for play in which all the relevant cards for Pauper combo decks would appear. It would be sweet to be able to have a limited environment where the archetypes are clearly defined. Storm, Midnight Presence, Blue/Black Reanimator, Jund/Reanimate, Dredge, etc. Who wouldn't love combo mirrors?
• I originally wanted to include stickers to cover the art on the cards. These stickers would feature pop culture references, funny/cute images, or eerily similar pieces of art from outside Magic. If this sounds like a silly idea, that would be because it is. But alas, this is the kind of thing that my friends and I get a kick out of. Example:

• In my original design I also had several uncommon cards that I felt improved the environment and played particularly well. Strip Mine, Maze of Ith, Complicate, and a few others were all included.During my update for Born of the Gods, I decided it was time to remove them and have a truly commons-only cube. I think it improved the format, but the loss of such defining cards has definitely lowered the power level.
• I had also created a sub set of uncommon cards that could be introduced into the packs just like I described earlier, but these were always uncommons from the latest set. A sort of 'Uncommon of the Month' club.
• Can you guess which Magic set has the most cards in my Cube? ...it's Gatecrash. Here's the top five:

1. Gatecrash - 26
2. Return to Ravnica - 22
3. Khans of Tarkir - 21
4. Rise of the Eldrazi - 21
5. Ravnica, Time Spiral - 18

Notice anything? There are a lot of lands in my cube, and therefore it is no surprise that the sets with land cycles are at the top of this list. Here is what that list would look like if you discounted the sets with major land cycles:

1. Rise of the Eldrazi -21
2. Time Spiral - 18
3. Innistrad - 13
4. Alara Reborn, Eventide, Planar Chaos, Tempest, Theros - 11

• With the most current update, I have changed things around. My previous article stated that Portal Second Age was the only set from which I had not included a card. Well, that has changed. There are now two: Antiquities and M15. A situation that I will be looking to correct at my first opportunity. Past that, there are six sets at the bottom tied with only 1 card each. Those sets are: Urza's Destiny, Saviors of Kamigawa, Prophecy, and all three Portal Sets. 
• I have chosen not to count Starter 1999 and 2000 as 'sets', but if I did count them, they would also be zeroes, technically. There are cards in the cube which have appeared in those sets, but I have not put any card into the cube that was ORIGINALLY printed in those sets. The reason being that they were mostly reprints so I treat them like pre-New World Order core sets (and all the cards pretty much sucked anyway).
• The most common Creature type is Human. I would make a list, but there really isn't anything else that is even close.
• I have played a two person Winston Draft where one of the players ended up with every single Extort Creature (there are 6). The odds of this happening are very slim, but not that unreasonable compared to what happened next. In one of our games he mulliganed to six cards and found that he had drawn all six Extort Creatures! The odds of this happening in his 40 card deck are 1 in 3,838,380. After staring in bewilderment for some time, he eventually decided that he needed to mulligan again.
• The most life that I have seen gained off of a Crypt Incursion: 36
• The most tokens that I have ever seen in play concurrently from a Lab Rats: 23 
• The most tokens that I have ever seen in play concurrently from a Sprout Swarm: Strangely, only 7. This probably just means that you are more likely to outright WIN THE GAME soon if you go off with Sprout Swarm than if you go off with Lab Rats (citation needed).
• Most damage dealt with a Sparksmith: 7, this record is unlikely to be broken because I have since removed many of the Goblin cards.
• I have twice seen someone lose to a lethal Fireball for the full 20.
• Most Mulldrifters cast in a single game: 5
• The original build had a dedicated Tribal theme with spirits being featured prominently, but I never once successfully Soulshifted something. 
• In my original 360 card design there were all six artifact lands and the UrzaTron, but no one ever got the full set of either into a single deck.

I can't recall anything else notable and this article has grown too long already. That is all she wrote on the Pauper Cube kiddies. I will be back next week with something COMPLETELY DIFFERENT involving one of my favorite new cards: Treasure Cruise

-GG

In General: Grandpa's Pauper Cube Part 3: Cube Considerations

Hello Zoners! Welcome to In General. The Sunday segment here on The General Zone is about general topics applicable to Magic. Today's article is a continuation of a series all about my Pauper Cube.

In today's segment I will share with you the design document that governs how I build and maintain my cube. I think that this is the most important planning piece that you can do because it sets the stage for all the decisions you are going to make in the future. It is important to conceptualize what you want to accomplish and set out clear rules for how you will achieve those goals.

Guidelines

• 540 cards, Commons only, designed for casual Booster Draft and Sealed deck play.
• Singleton only, only one copy of each card is included.
• The cube does not follow the Pauper banned list. There is currently no banned list for the Cube and all cards that have been printed at common at least once are theoretically eligible for inclusion.
• No cards from Unhinged or Unglued are currently included in the cube although some cards from these sets have appeared in previous editions of the cube. E.g. Carnivorous Death-Parrot.
• No foils. Although they look nice, many foil prints warp, bend, or curl. They are also heavier than standard cards. All of these factors make the foils detectable even through sleeves, which would give frequent players an unfair advantage over players that are new to the Cube play group because they could identify certain cards by the general shape that they take.
• No foreign language cards. I only include the standard English printings of cards. Again, although they are desirable collector's items, they slow down drafting and gameplay if a player doesn't understand what a particular card says. This can also give more experienced players who could recognize card art or other features the ability to quickly evaluate cards in draft and create an unfair advantage. It is important to me that the cube stays accessible to new players. It is a casual format.
• No textless cards. Same as above.
• Whenever possible I use the original printing of a card from the first set it appeared in. Note: I will always allow players to use the Gatherer site to look up oracle wordings or judge rulings during play and draft. I assume all cards to work in the way that their oracle wording is stated in the event that it is functionally different than the card as it was printed.
• Cube updates occur frequently, but always at least once when a new set is first released. I monitor how individual cards are used and how they perform. I allow myself to change cards on a one-for-one basis pretty much whenever I feel it is necessary, but I do like to give questionable cards a few weeks to prove themselves.
• In previous editions, the cube expanded by two cards every time a set was released, meaning that it grew in size over time. With the release of Khans of Tarkir I committed to a major expansion of the cube moving from about 480 to 540 cards. This is already very large so I am not sure if I am going to continue my policy of adding two cards per set.

My Ongoing Goals for the Pauper Cube

• Make every card legitimately main deck-able. Efficient sideboard cards are necessary for any limited environment, but value-added versions of common cards are much more likely to see consistent play in every draft.
• Include at least one card from every expert-level expansion and modern core sets. 
• Include cards with historical significance, notable tournament performances, or unique abilities. There is a limit to how far I am willing to take this though, Benthic Explorers, while unique for a Blue card, just isn't competitive in this limited format.
• Include sufficient fixing so that drafters can take any card they want from a pack and realistically play all of their best cards in their deck regardless of color. Decks with better mana will get screwed less often than decks with less off-color requirements, so there is a benefit to being a disciplined drafter, but I don't want someone to feel left out if they are playing Blue/Green and the only removal they saw was Red.
• As always, decks with a coherent strategy and solid mana curve are more likely to win, so I try to keep the average converted mana cost of all the cards as low as possible. I shoot for a target of 2.5 and try to keep the Creature count above 50%. This mix ensures that the average average deck drafted from my cube looks like an all-stars team of other limited environments. More colors, but tighter curves. 
• Speed is one consideration that I often overlook. Proactive decks are good in this format, but pure Aggro decks often perform poorly. I want a way to create aggressive decks that win without giving up powerful taplands and multicolor cards.
• The Cube, first an foremost, should be a fun way to showcase the awesomeness that is Pauper. If it isn't fun to play or it isn't a good ambassador for the format, then it isn't doing its job.
• People should come away from a draft with a new perspective on how Pauper can be played. Most people underrate the power and depth of the format, assuming that commons are generally bad. That might be true of most commons, but Pauper is an eternal format and over the years some nasty stuff has gone to print. I want people to have that educational experience in an organic and entertaining way.

That is it for today. I will be back next week when I finish up my Pauper Cube series by sharing some fun facts. See you then, Zoners.
-GG

In General: Grandpa's Pauper Cube Part 1: A Brief History

I have referenced my Pauper Cube in many of my previous articles, but I have never actually posted the list on the blog. That changes today. I will discuss Cube and it's history. I am going to talk about Cube, C/Ube, and Pauper Cube; the differences that interested me, where I got my start with Pauper Cube, and what my goals were/are for my own draft set. Let's begin.

Wherefore Cube?

When most people explain the concept of Cube to a new player, they do so by saying something like this: "It is a collection of cards that you draft from, just like regular limited, but it is made up of the best cards of all time!"

When the first Cube was built, that was probably true. Throughout the early years of community development, all cubes were very similar. There were only so many cards that were 'Cube worthy' and it was easier to make decisions about what to cut. There were only six categories of cards really: the five colors and colorless. For a long time Cubes were almost unanimously 360 cards, 60 of each color and 60 Artifacts/Lands. Hence the name: Cube, an object with six equal sides. Cubes rigidly followed the singleton rule. This configuration worked out perfectly so that an entire eight man draft pod could put together 45 cards in their pool and the entire set would get played.

As time went on and the game continued to grow Cubes grew along with it. There were now so many good cards that you couldn't always cram everything in and still have room to personalize. Cube designers started to experiment with the characteristics: size, composition, mana curve, themes, balance. Discrete archetypes grew out of this: Mono Red Aggro, Mono Black, Reanimator, Blue White control, 'The Enemy': mid-range value decks of varying color compositions, e.g. Junk. It was possible for cubers to design with these specific archetypes in mind so you could see consistency every time you played.

Divergence

Nowadays, Cube looks very different. Now the answer to the question of what Cube is has changed as well. A Cube is a player-designed, community grown card set for Limited Phantom play. That is a broad and nebulous definition, but at least it is wholly accurate. It is no longer appropriate to talk about Cube as "the best cards ever". That, simply put, is too narrow an interpretation and limits the potential of the environment you are trying to create.

I have seen a Plants vs. Zombies Cube. A Human vs. Zombies Cube. A Tribal Cube. An everything but Blue Cube. A Zoo Cube, which was awesome. Who do you think wins in the battle of cats, lizards, hounds, apes, birds, and fish? There is a Cube for every kind of player AT LEAST!

So when you decide to make a Cube, you are deciding on what restrictions you want to place on this new format. There really aren't any rules except that it should be internally consistent. It is like a comic book universe of Magic cards. You decide the characters and the setting and the story just plays itself out in every game.

An important step for me was deciding on what FORMAT I wanted my Cube to be played in. I love draft, so I primarily designed it with eight-man booster draft in mind. This is more or less the most common approach, but you can tailor any set to play differently in a given format, so keep that in mind. I knew I wanted to do somethings differently with my own Cube, but it took some digging to generate ideas.

(Magic the) Gathering Information

I began by reading. The Cube community has always been a strong, underground society. Back in the day there was no MTGO Cube for new people to look at so the only way to learn about Cube was to go and play somebody else's. I took much of my inspiration from Adam Styborsky's Pauper Cube, which is linked HERE! And also Eric Klug's Common/Uncommon Cube, seen HERE! I already had a friend with more a standard Cube so I knew from the outset that I wanted to do something different. Messing around the rarity restrictions seemed like a natural place for me to take it because I have such a deep love for the Pauper constructed format.

I wanted to create a draft environment that showcased the surprising power and incredible depth that Pauper has to offer. I wanted to show people that you can do very broken things, just like in regular cubes, but also show people some unique cards from Magic's past that would normally never get into a Cube.

With those overarching principles in place I starting building...but I have run out of time to talk about it this week. I won't leave you hanging, here is the list as it stands now: Grandpa's Pauper Cube. Next week I will go deeper into the design choices and my personal philosophy on Cube and after that I will talk about the updates I made for Khans of Tarkir. Till then Zoners.
-GG

In General: Design by Request

Welcome to In General, the column where we discuss just about anything relating to the game of Magic. A couple of weeks ago I wrote about designing your own cards to fill specific holes in your Cube designs. The example I used in that article was a Black Disenchant. This was meant mostly as a challenge for players to think outside the box, consider design principles objectively, and take some initiative in crafting great experiences for your cube.

I want to make the point that I don't necessarily condone going off the rails and just making your own cards all willy-nilly. You might as well invent your own game at that rate. But at the same time, I think of all the great things that the community has contributed to the game: Invitational cards, You Make the Card promotions, the new outsider designs in M15. New formats like Cube, Winston draft, and Commander - some of my favorite things about Magic didn't come from Wizards at all. From that perspective, there is definitely room to create new experiences, especially in a format as unique and personal as Cube.

Since writing that previous article, The Disillusion Problem, I have been asked the same question many times in my personal life. My friends and readers all wanted to know some variation of the same thing: "What 'fake' cards do you think need to be a part of your Cube?"

That is a tough question to answer because in theory, all possibilities are correct, and those possibilities are infinite, it is just a question of finding the correct place to apply your design. Once you have looked thoroughly at your format and decided conclusively that something is missing, it should be obvious what effect you need to fill that hole.

What I just said requires one to think about a specific context. Which would inherently preclude me from thinking about any of these cards in a vacuum. All design is bad in a vacuum. Context provides the constraints that allow for the possibility of good design. Without that these are just some random cards that don't exist. Look at this meaningless collection of meaningless things!

I was always enamored with the card Fluctuator. Not because it was particularly good, but because it didn't do what I thought it should do. Mental Discipline was a Blue card in the same block and this always struck me as odd. Cycling is in every color. Why then, is the ability to cycle any card in your hand Blue? For mechanical reasons, I always thought this should be colorless. For flavor reasons, I thought it should be a machine, and thus an Artifact, instead of an Enchantment. The name I wanted to use however, was taken, so I had to simply reference it.


Duress has been printed a dozen or so times. There have been approximately a hundred variants of it. Why then, has there never been a spellshaper that produces the Duress effect? There are nearly a hundred spellshapers that create functional copies of all sorts of cards. I find it strange and dissatisfying that this isn't a real thing.

Also, Glengarry Glen Ross is a sweet movie.


I alluded to this design gap in my previous article. I see the formation of a super-cycle that gives each color access to its own version of this effect at the same converted mana cost, all at instant-speed. I don't see why not.


Brian David-Marshall once wrote an article that simultaneously lamented the fact that this card does not exist and predicted that it would never see print in the future. I can agree with his sentiments on both accounts. Many would find this card disturbing given the current direction that Wizards is taking Magic in. Remember though, in the early years of the game, there was no Negate, there was only Remove Soul. It was that way for many, many years. During those times it would have been equally sacrilegious to print Spell Pierce.


As you can see, many of these card ideas harken back to an earlier point in the game's history. It would be impossible to print this in modern Magic, but in the early days, things like this were quite common. It never sat right with me that only Blue and Red got elemental blasts. Particularly when Black and White are the colors where players would be most familiar with this archetypal hero/villain dichotomy.

It would be equally awkward to print 'WEB' and 'BEB', and then leave only Green out. It would be most awkward however, to give Green a card that counters spells and destroys permanents. Two things that, at the time, were completely outside of Green's color pie.

It is clear in modern design that this would be a Green card. Keep in mind though, that during the early years of the game Red blew up the lands, Red punished playing nonbasics, Red rewarded you for playing Creatures. It took years of design work to change peoples minds on this issue. When I first saw Silence in Mirrodin era standard, I was curious about what it would look like in other colors and, at that time, this iteration could very easily have been Red. Perhaps, a symmetrical effect like: This turn, players may not cast noncreature spells.'




There was a large theme in Magic for about the first five or so years that there were ways to change things about cards. Spells like Deathlace or Whim of Volrath were quite common. This is a new twist on an old idea. One that has fallen far out of favor in design because of its complexity and lack of intuitive conveyance. The current game though, would make this a very interesting card, given the new card types that have been created and the new interactions you can create with them.

Well there you go. I showed you some more fake cards. I think that is what you guys really wanted all along. There is no real way to establish that these are good or bad designs. Similarly I can't advocate including them in any design file because every format is different. Every designer has different goals. Every set has different needs. I cannot simply say, these should be in Cubes, because that statement is inherently flawed.

I hope you have been enjoying M15 spoilers. You can look forward to full coverage including set reviews and in-depth card analysis of all the Legendary Creatures in the set coming up in the next few weeks, so stay tuned to the blog.

-GG

In General: Conspiracy - Disillusion

Hello and welcome back to In General, the column where we apparently discuss just about anything as long as it is tangentially related to Magic: the Gathering. Today I will conclude my ongoing rant about Conspiracy, by finally discussing The Disillusion Problem.

This idea is so named for a fake Magic card that I first saw years ago. Take a look:

The name is a double entendre, referring both to this card specifically, but also to the idea that you don't necessarily have to only take the cards that R&D gives you. With sufficient knowledge, design skill, and inspiration, you can create new cards to address specific issues in your casual play environments. In this example I am exclusively considering Powered Cube, where the format is defined by fast artifact mana. Without a way to interact with those cards, Black is severely limited in the 'fair' decks it can build.

This idea of 'peeking behind the curtain' of R&D can be liberating and scary. The strange, new draft-altering cards presented in Conspiracy broke many of the fundamental rules of the game. This creates a slippery slope: what is sacred? If you break one rule, what is to say you can't break a different one?

The Disillusion Problem stated simply is this: "If they can break the rules. Why can't I?"

There is a debate inside R&D between Mark Rosewater, who believes the color pie by should be defined by what each color is 'good at', and Aaron Forsythe, who believes the color pie should be defined by what each color has access to.

We can see Rosewater's idea with a card like Hornet Sting. Green isn't 'good at' direct damage, so this card is weak compared to Shock (the standard for this type of effect).

We see the other side of the coin with Disenchant and Black. Black...just doesn't have one. Zero total ways to answer a Doubling Season or Tangle Wire. Well technically, Black has Gate to Phyrexia and Phyrexian Tribute, but I am going to take up the stance that these cards are not good enough to see play in any format.

What is missing from this picture?

Is it Thoughsteize? Is it really? The point is that SOMETHING is missing and in the interest of a more balanced play experience for my own Cube, SOMETHING should occupy this space. I don't think that Disillusion is a printable card. However, there is an established theme within the design of Black cards that has been used hundreds of times of the years: Pay life to get what you want. These are more mechanically sound examples:




This isn't an article about how to design balanced cards. It is just meant to inspire you to take some initiative in creating your own fun. R&D breaks a few rules every once in a while, why can't you?

-GG

In General: Journey Into Nyx Pauper Picks

Hey Zoners! Welcome to another In General. In a rare departure from the norm, I am going to be discussing individual cards in today's article. I don't usually get so nitty-gritty, but I wanted a chance to talk about some of the great new common cards before we concluded our coverage of the new set. So with the preamble behind us, here are a few of my favorite commons from Journey Into Nyx.

Flavor plot twist: This siren is a mute.

Going in roughly alphabetical order here. Cloaked Siren is interesting. Unlike some historical comparables this card has definite upside. Snapping Drake? Psssh. Old hat. This is a much more aggressive card than Nephalia Seakite, but that comes at a cost. This is much less likely to be able to ambush attackers profitably. I see this as a high draft pick in it's block format, but at this point, I am not going to be putting it in my Pauper Cube.

My hand runneth over...with cards!

I am always disappointed when Divination gets reprinted. It isn't...bad, per se, but it certainly isn't great. The real problem though, is that falling back on the default all the time stops innovative new cards like this from getting printed. I am really excited by this card. I am sure it is going to be a popular card in draft and I think it is even capable of making the jump to Standard where there really aren't good two-mana counters. This is a shoe-in for my cube, where I predict it will be making a permanent home.

There is definitely a cup, but I am not sure
you would call this a fountain.

Still on the topic of sweet, succulent card advantage, Font of Return is literally soaked in value. There is no shortage of good graveyard recursion spells in Pauper, but I am considering increasing the size of my cube just so that I can include more sweet cards like this that may otherwise have to get cut for space concerns.

The real question is: can minotaurs tell the
difference between satyrs and themselves?

Flurry of Horns? It's like...font of minotaurs! A 2/3 Haste for 3 is a decent-to-strong common. Getting two at once can threaten lethal amounts of damage. I am going to be giving this a shot in my Pauper cube, but I do have some concerns. Do aggressive decks even have enough lands to reliably cast a five drop? Is this better than just having literally any burn spell? I don't want to include this if it is just a way for slower decks to immediately catch up in the race or clog the board so aggressive decks stall out. If I am going to include a Red threat with Haste, I want it to reinforce aggressive strategies, not neuter them.

I like to think that this lizard is in the
middles of delivering a Wayans bros. style
"WHAAAZZZZZZAAAAAAAPP!"

Anybody could tell you that Red is in desperate need of more card selection at common. This is as welcome a card as I could imagine for its color and cost. It isn't overpowered, it isn't flashy, just rock solid. If they spend removal on this, they have less for your more aggressive/scarier Creatures. If they don't, the Scry is likely to take over the late game. It is unfortunate that this is not a 2/2, as there are almost infinite ways to kill a one-toughness Creature in Pauper.

I have a soft spot for unique cards and make it a point to try and include the widest variety of effects possible in my cube, even when that means compromising slightly on power.  White counterspells, Green card draw, Blue mana accelerators, and now repeatable Red Scry effects.

I am eagerly awaiting the printing of  the
first, Ninja Starfish. Part shuriken. Part sea
life.

About uniqueness...Starfish have it. There just aren't enough of them in the game. They are super cool, although from a flavor perspective, I think they should all regenerate.

This puts the brakes on early aggressive plays and ensures that you will draw into critical lands or removal. That is a heck of a lot of value for a tiny echinoderm.


This is a big-booty for an airborne supply squad. How do they fly with a badonkadonk like that? As a 3/5 for 5, this is the largest White Flier in Pauper. It is also capable of blocking an Errant Ephemeron, the actual largest Flier in the format. That is enough for me. It can easily outclass Plover Knights in size, and that card is a big game in my cube.

That is all for this week folks. Next week we will be off the Journey Into Nyx bandwagon. That means it is back to the old rail road grind for me with a more regular In General next Sunday! See you then, Zoners.

TGZ News: GPSAC, MTGO Cube, and Born of the Gods

Hey Zoners! Grandpa Growth here bringing you what is up in the world of Magic in another TGZ News!

GP Sacremento finished up last weekend and it was definitely an exciting tournament. The live coverage by members of Team ChannelFireball was awesome and their very own Tom Martell ended up taking down the whole tournament. If you missed out you should definitely check out the text coverage on the mothership and the video of the Top 8 Draft on Channelfireball.com:
http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/eventcoverage/gpsac14/welcome
http://www.channelfireball.com/videos/grand-prix-sacramento-top-8/

Exciting news for casual fans, MTGO Cube will return January 29th! Announced this week on Daily MtG complete with an updated Cube list. Make sure to set aside some time next week to crack virtual packs and have some good old fashioned fun.
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/other/01202014

Born of the Gods spoilers are all over the internet making waving and lighting up Twitter feeds from here to Hong Kong. Whether you are testing modern for the upcoming Pro Tour or just trying to get a leg up at your local prerelease make sure you check out the full visual spoiler. At the time of this post nearly the entire set has been spoiled!
http://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/article.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/bornofthegods/cig#

You Make the Pick

Happy Friday! We have finally concluded our first full week of the new year and so far it didn't disappoint. We have awesome spoiler leaks from Born of the Gods, a new deck pack for Duels 2014, and the announcement of Magic 2015. M15 is going to feature a big scary Garruk! The promo art is very dark and the slogan, "Hunt Bigger Game" has me all aflutter. I love me some Green. I love me some Garruk. And most of all I love me some big games! What? You thought Uncle Landdrops was the only big game hunter on the blog...? NOPE.

Today we have our first You Make the Pick! I show you a pack, tell you a bit about it, what I would take, and then you guys sound off in the comments and let me know what you think about the pick and what you would take. We are going to kick things off with a doozy. This was from a Holiday Cube draft recorded by Caleb Durward for ChannelFireball.com. You can see the videos here: B00M! He is a prolific grinder, brewer, and writer. He does text articles and both constructed and limited gameplay videos. Definitely check him out. Below is the pack, click the caption to see a larger version.

The Pack:

The Pick:

In the video Caleb saw this as his pack two and (Minor Spoilers): took Black Lotus to compliment his Black/Blue Living Death/Reanimation strategy. Totally reasonable, but I thought that this pack would make an incredible example of how awesome Holiday Cube is. This is a real brain teaser, or Mind Twister if you prefer puns. Powered Cube is a crazy format full of fast kills, unfair decks, and exotic board states. Every single card here is a runaway hit in Cube and are staples of the format; except perhaps Looter and Welder which are not as ubiquitous.

Since we are looking at it from a Pick 1, Pack 1 perspective this is even harder. There is power in spades. There is fast mana. Slow mana (only by comparison). A Tinker target. A Tinker deck enabler. Fatties to ramp into or reanimate. The best counterspell ever. The best dual land. The best mono Red curve topper. Two awesome White value cards. And a Freaking Mind Twist. It's like "Twelve Days of Christmas" up in this pack. Holiday Cube is all about giving people a chance to play with fun broken power cards, but even if you manage to ignore the elephant in the room there are real arguments for taking about ten of the non-power nine cards.

In the end, I think that I would take Library of Alexandria. It is the only card in the pack that I have not had a chance to play with. It doesn't commit me to any particular strategy or color, although it seems like it would be best in a somewhat durdly draw-first kind of deck. The power is undeniable, and heck, it even taps for mana. This is a real tough pack to crack and it demonstrates the high density of difficult decisions that you need to make in a format like Cube. As an experienced player and true lover of puzzles, I can't get enough of this.

So, now the only question left to ask is...what would you pick?!