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Rough Drafts - Legendary Cube 1


Hello everyone! Today we are doing something we've never done before on MTGGoldfish, a video featuring limited! While you probably know me as a constructed player thanks to Against the Odds, Budget Magic, and Much Abrew About Nothing, I have a secret: I love limited! 

In fact, when I'm not working on videos, I play limited far more than constructed. Cracking packs never gets old, and limited gives me an excuse to play the booster lotto. Plus, limited never gets stale. No matter how many times you draft a format, each draft is a unique experience, an experience that keeps me coming back for more.

Better yet, today's video isn't just limited, it's Cube draft, my favorite Magic format! While I love Magic in all its forms, if I was ever stranded on a desert island and could only play one format for the rest of my days, I'd pick Cube without a doubt. Cube is basically the best of all worlds. Because Cubes aren't limited to a specific set, we get to play with super powerful cards from across Magic's history. We get the exciting random element of opening booster packs. Cube is everything I love about Magic rolled up into one neat little package. 

Let's get to the videos, then we'll talk briefly about the deck and Cube. A quick reminder. If you enjoy the Rough Drafts series and the other video content on MTGGoldfish, make sure to subscribe to the MTGGoldfish Youtube Channel to keep up on all the latest and greatest.

Legendary Cube 1 - Intro

Legendary Cube 1 - Drafting

Legendary Cube 1 - Round 1

Legendary Cube 1 - Round 2

Legendary Cube 1 - Finals (Round 3)

I'm not completely sure how to write an article for a limited deck. Breaking down individual card choices seems foolish. Even if you draft Legendary Cube, you probably won't end up with the same cards. As such, if you have an idea on what you'd like to see in future limited articles, please let me know in the comments. For today, I'm just going to talk briefly about my theory for drafting Legendary Cube and hand out an award for MVC, the Most Valuable Card in our draft deck!

Get The Mana!

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My theory for Legendary Cube is we should spend the entire first pack focusing on ramp and mana fixing. Apart from a few powerful, expensive creatures like the Eldrazi, Maelstrom Wanderer, and Griselbrand, or over the top spells like Cruel Ultimatum, most of the finishers are replaceable. As a result, I'll pick a bounceland or a Signet over just about anything in the format. Since there is no land destruction in the format, and maybe not even a playable aggro deck, it's unlikely we'll get punished for spending our first three or four turns developing our mana and not impacting the board. In Legendary Cube, if you can get ahead of your opponent on mana, it always feels like you're winning. 

Because the format is slow and fixing is so good, I don't even care about the colors of the Signets, bouncelands, and duals I'm picking. They will sort themselves out in packs two and three. Ideally I want to end up with at least four 2-CMC mana rocks. I'm also looking for three or four bouncelands and somewhere between 10 to 14 non-basic lands. After pack one we can spend the rest of the draft taking whatever cards seem the most powerful, regardless of color. We can also take advantage of some of the powerful five-color cards (e.g. Conflux and Legacy Weapon) that reside in the Legendary Cube

Cheap Removal

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With everyone playing huge creatures, efficient, unconditional removal is at a premium. I played a draft where an opponent tapped out for Avacyn, Angel of Hope, which I promptly answered with Path to Exile, allowing me to untap and play a Thraximundar to kill their last creature and win the game. When you can use a Crib Swap, Path to Exile, Putrefy, Mortify, or Hero's Downfall to remove a threat that costs two or three times the mana, the tempo swing is immense. When you can accomplish this blowout two or three times in a game, it's really hard to lose. Apart from mana fixing, I'll take efficient, unconditional removal in any color. 

After we get awesome mana and some efficient removal, then (and only then) do we start picking creatures. To me, they feel replaceable. Sure, some are better than others, but the thing about horrible eight-drops is they are all big enough to win the game unchecked. It really doesn't matter which ones we end up with.

Most Valuable Card

After initially passing Mizzix's Mastery, then almost passing it a second time for a storage land, it ended up being the best card in our deck. Recycling a Cruel Ultimatum or Conflux for four-mana is insane. It also has some synergy with Fact or Fiction, putting opponents in a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. If they sort the piles to keep us from picking Cruel Ultimatum and we have a Mizzix's Mastery in hand, we end up drawing three or four cards and getting the Cruel Ultimatum anyway. On the other hand, is it ever right to give your opponent a Cruel Ultimatum when the have the mana to cast it? 

Even beyond the big, game winning plays, Mizzix's Mastery often came through in the clutch letting us reuse a Mortify or other removal spell. Sure, we pay an additional tax over the card's converted mana cost, but when we really need to kills something, paying an additional mana is fine. While I'm not sure Mizzix's Mastery is playable in every deck, it certainly proved itself in our deck. Being the best card in a deck that contained Cruel Ultimatum and Conflux is impressive. I'll certainly be looking to build around this card in future drafts. 

Conclusion

Anyway, that's all for today. Make sure to leave any suggestions for the future of the series in the comments, along with your thoughts, ideas, and opinions. You can reach me on Twitter (or MTGO) @SaffronOlive.



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