Best of Draft Cube

[Thomas David Baker]

A cube of the best common and uncommon draft picks from the last 22 sets. Here's what we have so far.

What do you think?

Lists particularly in need of review by people who know what they are doing are: ROE, COK, BOK, SOK, LRW, MOR, GPT, DIS, 5DN.

# ROE Beastbreaker of Bala Ged Brimstone Mage Corpsehatch Dawnglare Invoker Domestication Enclave Cryptologist Flame Slash Forked Bolt Hada Spy Patrol Heat Ray Joraga Treespeaker Last Kiss Narcolepsy Nirkana Cutthroat Oust Pelakka Wurm Smite Staggershock Vendetta Wall of Omens # WWK Bestial Menace Calcite Snapper Cunning Sparkmage Leatherback Baloth Loam Lion Refraction Trap Searing Blaze Tideforce Elemental Tomb Hex Vapor Snare # ZEN Baloth Woodcrasher Burst Lightning Disfigure Gatekeeper of Malakir Grazing Gladehart Hideous End Inferno Trap Journey to Nowhere Kor Skyfisher Living Tsunami Marsh Casualties Merfolk Seastalkers Plated Geopede Punishing Fire River Boa Shepherd of the Lost Torch Slinger Trusty Machete Vampire Nighthawk Vines of Vastwood	# M10 Air Elemental Armored Ascension Blinding Mage Cudgel Troll Doom Blade Dragon Whelp Fireball Goblin Artillery Harm's Way Howl of the Night Pack Lightning Bolt Merfolk Looter Mind Control Overrun Pacifism Pyroclasm Serra Angel Sleep Tendrils of Corruption # ARB Behemoth Sledge Bituminous Blast Bloodbraid Elf Enlisted Wurm Esper Stormblade Marisi's Twinclaws Qasali Pridemage Slave of Bolas Terminate Vengeful Rebirth # CFX Ember Weaver Esper Cormorants Grixis Slavedriver Parasitic Strix Path to Exile Sedraxis Alchemist Shambling Remains Viashino Slaughtermaster Volcanic Fallout Wild Leotau # ALA Agony Warp Branching Bolt Bull Cerodon Executioner's Capsule Fatestitcher Infest Jund Charm Knight of the Skyward Eye Magma Spray Naya Charm Necrogenesis Oblivion Ring Resounding Thunder Rhox Charger Rhox War Monk Sprouting Thrinax Tower Gargoyle Vithian Stinger Wild Nacatl Woolly Thoctar	# EVE Ballynock Trapper Cankerous Thirst Desecrator Hag Hatchet Bully Noggle Bandit Puncture Blast Savage Conception Snakeform Unmake Wickerbough Elder # SHM Biting Tether Boggart Ram-Gang Burn Trail Devoted Druid Firespout Grief Tyrant Hungry Spriggan Incremental Blight Kitchen Finks Kulrath Knight Mistmeadow Witch Murderous Redcap Plumeveil Prison Term Rune-Cervin Rider Seedcradle Witch Silkbind Faerie Spectral Procession Torrent of Souls Trip Noose # MOR Boldwyr Intimidator Meadowboon Obsidian Battle-Axe Rivals' Duel Spitebellows Stonybrook Schoolmaster Swell of Courage Thornbite Staff Violet Pall War-Spike Changeling # LRW Briarhorn Changeling Berserker Cloudgoat Ranger Crib Swap Dreamspoiler Witches Eyeblight's Ending Final Revels Goldmeadow Harrier Imperious Perfect Knight of Meadowgrain Lash Out Makeshift Mannequin Marsh Flitter Mulldrifter Nameless Inversion Neck Snap Shriekmaw Tarfire Thundercloud Shaman Warren Pilferers	# FUT Arc Blade Foresee Gathan Raiders Ichor Slick Imperiosaur Infiltrator il-Kor Kavu Primarch Nacatl War-Pride Spin into Myth Sprout Swarm # PLC Calciderm Shaper Parasite Necrotic Sliver Deadwood Treefolk Shade of Trokair Harmonize Pyrohemia Dead / Gone Enslave Stonecloaker # TSP Basalt Gargoyle Brine Elemental Careful Consideration Castle Raptors Crookclaw Transmuter Durkwood Baloth Errant Ephemeron Firemaw Kavu Griffin Guide Looter il-Kor Nightshade Assassin Riftwing Cloudskate Spiketail Drakeling Sporesower Thallid Strangling Soot Sudden Death Sulfurous Blast Temporal Isolation Tromp the Domains Weatherseed Totem
# GPT Blind Hunter Electrolyze Gelectrode Mortify Pillory of the Sleepless Repeal Savage Twister Thunderheads Wee Dragonauts Wildsize # DIS Condemn Guardian of the Guildpact Leafdrake Roost Minister of Impediments Plumes of Peace Rakdos Guildmage Rakdos Ickspitter Rise / Fall Sky Hussar Wrecking Ball # RAV Belltower Sphinx Boros Guildmage Carven Caryatid Compulsive Research Drooling Groodion Faith's Fetters Galvanic Arc Greater Mossdog Keening Banshee Lightning Helix Mark of Eviction Moldervine Cloak Moroii Oathsworn Giant Putrefy Selesnya Guildmage Shambling Shell Trophy Hunter Vedalken Dismisser Watchwolf	# SOK Captive Flame Death Denied Ghost-Lit Raider Hail of Arrows Hand of Cruelty Hand of Honor Manriki-Gusari O-Naginata Rushing-Tide Zubera Stampeding Serrow # BOK Genju of the Cedars Genju of the Falls Genju of the Fields Genju of the Spires Horobi's Whisper Matsu-Tribe Sniper Ninja of the Deep Hours Okiba-Gang Shinobi Shimmering Glasskite Throat Slitter # COK Befoul Cage of Hands Distress Ghostly Prison Hanabi Blast Hideous Laughter Hinder Kabuto Moth Kami of Ancient Law Kitsune Blademaster Mystic Restraints Nezumi Graverobber No-Dachi Otherworldly Journey Pull Under Rend Flesh Ronin Houndmaster Sakura-Tribe Elder Samurai of the Pale Curtain Sensei's Divining Top	# 5DN Cranial Plating Devour in Shadow Eternal Witness Furnace Whelp Grafted Wargear Loxodon Anchorite Magma Jet Sunburst Manta Vedalken Mastermind Vulshok Sorcerer # DST Barbed Lightning Chittering Rats Juggernaut Leonin Battlemage Leonin Bola Loxodon Mystic Nemesis Mask Skullclamp Test of Faith Vulshok Morningstar # MIR Aether Spellbomb Barter in Blood Betrayal of Flesh Blinding Beam Bonesplitter Crystal Shard Grab the Reins Icy Manipulator Isochron Scepter Leonin Skyhunter Lightning Greaves Loxodon Warhammer Mask of Memory One Dozen Eyes Predator's Strike Pyrite Spellbomb Slith Firewalker Terror Thirst for Knowledge Viridian Shaman	# Fixing Akoum Refuge Graypelt Refuge Jwar Isle Refuge Kazandu Refuge Sejiri Refuge Rupture Spire Arcane Sanctum Crumbling Necropolis Jungle Shrine Savage Lands Seaside Citadel Azorius Chancery Boros Garrison Dimir Aqueduct Golgari Rot Farm Gruul Turf Izzet Boilerworks Orzhov Basilica Rakdos Carnarium Selesnya Sanctuary Simic Growth Chamber Azorius Signet Boros Signet Dimir Signet Golgari Signet Gruul Signet Izzet Signet Orzhov Signet Rakdos Signet Selesnya Signet Simic Signet

[Michael Duke]

The Cube was awesome to play. I did notice that I don't think there is enough artifact cards to make things like Cranial Plating and Thirts for Knowledge worthwhile. I don't rate Drooling Groodion at all and had a look at other Rav cards to replace it, only thing I could see was seige wurm, which probably fits the curve nicely or flash conscription which was always nice. and some other picks I could be picky about, but not overly bothered. would be nice to see resounding silence in there.

Also, might be worth while putting some guys with shroud/regen in due to the level of removal in the cube, can't think of any off the top of my head

[James Mills]

By the way In COK draft Sensei's Divining Top was unplayable and was never a first pick.

[Louis Mackie]

This cube was great to play and draft - I don't think there's too much removal, but I feel that it needs some more counterspells as blue isn't that great - except Mulldrifter, who is clearly the best card in this cube.

[Thomas David Baker]

Your deck was UR and the stone cold nuts and 2-0ed! So U is plenty playable. Perhaps this is just a format without counterspells? You can always alternate with Teachings cube to get your fix. Will think on this as Gianni wants them too.

I wonder if some of the supergeneric 1-for-1 removal should come out for other stuff. Or perhaps it's fun to play a format where that is commonplace instead of early pickable? Will continue to play the cube and see what we think

The undefeated decks so far were RB removal + pingers, UR bounce + card draw + burn?, nothing in the team draft and Mills' UWG aggro with tricks? So RRBUWG. That seems like a good sign.

Louis Mackie said:

This cube was great to play and draft - I don't think there's too much removal, but I feel that it needs some more counterspells as blue isn't that great - except Mulldrifter, who is clearly the best card in this cube.

[Thomas David Baker]

Thanks for COK list Mills - will possibly just replace ours with mine. Unless other folks want to chime in?

Although some bastards made me do this with real cards so will see about availability/cost.

[Michael Duke]

I probably did just get ludicrously lucky with the obscene amount of removal and raw card advatnage cards.. everything in my deck was either pinging, nekretaal's or removal.. be good to draft it again though.

Louis Mackie said:

This cube was great to play and draft - I don't think there's too much removal, but I feel that it needs some more counterspells as blue isn't that great - except Mulldrifter, who is clearly the best card in this cube.

[James Mills]

DOn't chamge the list too much for COK - I would say that 90% of the first picks you have are spot on - I tried not to duplicate anything you had.

When I get some time I will do a list for BOK and SOK too.

Also technically I did go undefeated with my draft deck however I didn't get to play my third game but I felt my deck was insane!

Stampeding Serrow + Eternal Witness = <3

Thomas David Baker said:

Thanks for COK list Mills - will possibly just replace ours with mine. Unless other folks want to chime in?

Although some bastards made me do this with real cards so will see about availability/cost.

[James Mills]

Could you add the Panorama's from Shards - They were first pickable if you tried to go down the 5 colour route.

[Louis Mackie]

In all fairness my deck has lots of good red cards (Kulrath Knight, Bolt, Puncture Blast, Burn Trail, Rakdos Guildmage, Sith Guy, Arc Blade etc), Mulldrifter, and some decent cards that combo well with Mulldrifter (Ninja Deeps, Shard, Spellbomb, Rise/Fall). If I didn't get the early Mulldrifter I probably would've gone heavier into Naya as Ninja and Looter isn't as good as Savage Conception, Enlisted Wurm. I just feel the individual power level of cards is higher in other colours.

Maybe just a bit of counterspells so you can make a control deck that can protect it's creatures instead of simply blasting them away (as fun as that is :D).

Thomas David Baker said:

Your deck was UR and the stone cold nuts and 2-0ed! So U is plenty playable. Perhaps this is just a format without counterspells? You can always alternate with Teachings cube to get your fix. Will think on this as Gianni wants them too.
I wonder if some of the supergeneric 1-for-1 removal should come out for other stuff. Or perhaps it's fun to play a format where that is commonplace instead of early pickable? Will continue to play the cube and see what we think
The undefeated decks so far were RB removal + pingers, UR bounce + card draw + burn?, nothing in the team draft and Mills' UWG aggro with tricks? So RRBUWG. That seems like a good sign.

[Dan Barrett]

Working on something similar to this now Tom is gone, but from Lorwyn onwards as that's when I actually started drafting. It's gonna be all sentimental and I'll cry whenever I draft it with you guys, *sniff*

As such, there are more slots for each set (so please feel free to suggest cards that didn't quite make the cut for Tom's cube), and also I'll put a list of what i'm missing up later. If you have foils you wish to donate (inc basic land), please do let me know.

In time I intend to make it 5-10% rares, so it feels quite similar to a regular draft, and is affordable for me to maintain in future.

[Max Botten]

Just thinking, shouldn't power of fire been in this for shadowmoor, it was the first pick of the commons for most pros, and second to silkbind faerie for the rest

[Thom Richardson]

How soon are you wanting to get this up and running? If you cut all the pre lorwyn you currently need to go up to 30 cards a set to get to 360. This goes down every time a new set some out, but its still a lot to add.

For example:

Zen:
Kor Hookmaster
Kazandu Blademaster
Hedron Crab
Gomazoa
Bladetusk Boar
Goblin Shortcutter
Surrakar Maurader
Heatstabber Mosquito

were all first pickable in some packs (especially pack 2) but obviously not as high power.

ROE:
Ondu Giant
Surrieal Memoir
Mnemonic Wall
Overgrown Bttlement
Wall of Omens
Artisan of Kozilek
Ulamog's Crusher
Kiln Fiend
Knight of Cliffhaven
Emrakul Hatcher
Kozilek's Predator

Are all important archetype cards that would probably still be good in the cube.





Dan Barrett said:

Working on something similar to this now Tom is gone, but from Lorwyn onwards as that's when I actually started drafting. It's gonna be all sentimental and I'll cry whenever I draft it with you guys, *sniff*

As such, there are more slots for each set (so please feel free to suggest cards that didn't quite make the cut for Tom's cube), and also I'll put a list of what i'm missing up later. If you have foils you wish to donate (inc basic land), please do let me know.

In time I intend to make it 5-10% rares, so it feels quite similar to a regular draft, and is affordable for me to maintain in future.