Conelead Mon Mar 01, 2010 8:51 pm
If we are drafting Andy's cube I will not be attending, not because I refuse to draft a cube other than my own, but because I do not enjoy drafting cubes designed like Andy's. I have drafted cubes containing power 9 before on multiple occasions from different people, and they all follow the same design philosophy. They are simply a selection of what the player feels are the best cards in certain colors. They also inevitably suffer from a few problems:
1) Green is invariably weak, and usually red is too (comparatively).
2) They have a tendency to remove the combat phase from the equation through the use of more powerful spells. This is alleviated by WotC's recent push of the power curve on creatures, but the problem still exists nonetheless.
3) The best decks to draft are invariably constructed-like archetypes, only with a bunch of singletons instead.
4) As a result of (3) they tend to feel like playing bad constructed decks built from a semi-random selection of cards. Frankly, I don't want to play a deck that looks like this:
Exalted Angel, Pristine Angel, Morphling, Ophidian, Thieving Magpie, Austere Command, Wrath of God, Akroma's Vengeance, Kirtar's Wrath, Forbid, Cryptic Command, Dismiss, Counterspell, Mana Leak, Hinder, Repeal, Capsize, Oblivion Ring, Swords to Plowshares, Condemn, Deep Analysis, Compulsive Research
To me, that is not fun. Why don't I just go play T2 and play UW control then? I have the most fun in cube draft when the cube is NOT superpowered and thus contains cards that are interesting role-players. One of the most fun games of Magic I have ever played was in a cube draft where I was on the wrong side of a Simic Guildmage. The card absolutely destroyed me, and it was fun. The guy's deck was based on getting specific enchantments like Diplomatic Immunity, Alexi's Cloak, Floating Shield, and even the lowly Holy Strength into play, then moving them around with stuff like Simic Guildmage and Aura Graft. It was awesome. Experiences like that are the reason I cube draft.
If Andy is willing to assure me that his cube is not just a list of super-powered cards (and has examples to back it up), I would be very willing to draft it, however I feel like the presence of power 9 indicates his design philosophy. I have rarely enjoyed the experience of drafting when drafting a cube of that philosophy, and therefore have no desire to repeat the experience. The socialization that occurs while drafting was enough for me to endure the experience in the past, but in this instance I would rather draft ZZW at Your Move than draft a cube designed that way.
These are my honest opinions. I apologize if they have offended anyone.
