This is an archive of my cube prior to the release of Gothic.
Here is my up to date cube: https://curiosa.io/decks/cm7cfadx00017l7030f2uyd1g?tab=view
Below is the full primer I wrote and updated also archived at the time Gothic released.
YouTube: youtube.com/@Frogimago
Join our weekly drafts Wednesdays @ 7:30pm ET by joining this Discord:
Sorcerersatthecore.com/discord
My tutorial on how to draft on TTS:
https://youtu.be/mvlg1Bku-3E?si=2jpKY0dwTuJTXqY5
Welcome to my cube! I intend for this to be the most powerful singleton cube possible. But if specific cards emerge that are un-fun I will consider cutting them. It's 360 cards currently since increasing the size would greatly lower the power level. I also value a diverse draft experience and would prefer this cube grow to 540 cards once the card pool supports it.
HOUSE RULES
STRATEGY GUIDE:
The cores and mixes are quite good. There are many expensive bombs, getting them out before your opponent develops their board is an easy way to win. The curve is less than perfect. I would prefer there to be about 10 more 2-mana minions so you'll need to prioritize 2-mana minions highly. Premium removal is needed to stop the many bombs. Keep an eye out for an Avatar that fits with your gameplan, or the generically great ones like Elementalist. Some of the best cards in the cube are the Cores/Philosopher's Stone, Four Waters of Paradise, The Green Knight, Infernal Legion, Ring Of Morrigan.
PICK ORDER SUGGESTION
Artifact Ramp
Premium 2-Mana Minions
Removal
Threshold Fixing
Bombs
Everything else
COMBOS
The Green Knight + Lady of the Lake
13 Treasures of Britain + Kythera Mechanism
Pnakotic Manuscript + Plague of Frogs
Drums of Doom + Druid
Roots of Ygdrassil + Sinkhole
Excalibur + King Arthur (W/ Elementalist) or Azuridge Caravan
ELEMENT RANKING
Fire and Water
Air
Earth
ARCHETYPES
MIDRANGE
Everything is some form of midrange. Your average curve will be something like:
1 spell that costs 1
4 spells that cost 2
6 spells that cost 3
5 spells that cost 4
4 spells that cost 5
4 spells that cost 6+
The hardest part is getting the one and two mana spells so be sure to prioritize those. Only prioritize 5 and 6 mana cards that are either great removal or legitimate game enders.
AGGRO
It's very hard to draft an aggressive curve due to a lack of premium 2-mana minions. So take some 5-6 mana spells even if you're trying to beat down. You're unlikely to end the game quickly so you'll want some top end. Sorcerer is the preferred Avatar.
CONTROL
By control I really mean a midrange deck with a higher than average curve or a deck that has a larger than normal suite of premium removal. Ideally both. I think Archimago has a real shot at being a competitive control Avatar if you amass 10+ good magics to control the game with.
WATER CONTROL
A mono-water deck has emerged as a powerful control option. Flooding abilities include Floodplain, Atlantean Fate, Great Old One, but most powerful is Waveshaper, Avatar of Water is also in but far less effective. The ability to flood your opponents' sites is important for a few key cards, most importantly, Mariner's Curse. This has been extremely impressive as a repeatable removal spell. And you can force it to trigger using Coy Nixie, Nelly Longarms, Guile Sirens and other forced movement options. The powerful game delaying control option in Water pair extremely well with the powerful and difficult to deal with minions such as Diluvian Kraken, Great Old One, and Mester Stoor Worm. Shapeshift is very good in this deck, especially if you have ways to generate free Frog tokens. Most of your opponents' decks are midrange with 6+ expensive minions, making Waveshaper's tap ability busted, especially if you can use forced movement to bring their threats together.
RAMP
You can watch me draft Earth ramp in this video: {{https://youtu.be/y4G83UzvNZY?si=2y1E4W8z0xRVk2zD}} or this video:
{{https://youtu.be/dLSqqBLDWgw?si=NSrYj2kjRkAkBwaU}}
You want 5+ sources of ramp and 5+ expensive cards to cast (6+ mana). This is the only deck that can use Black Obelisk effectively. I don't think this deck necessarily needs to be Earth but there are 3 or more sources of ramp in Earth that help a lot and some of the best things to ramp into are in Earth so it's pretty likely that's where you want to be. Geomancer is the preferred Avatar.
COMBO
you can watch me try to draft Combo in this video: {{https://youtu.be/TSx69NCtN6A?si=Iz7NjJkRGvbDH8s9}}
There's not a ton of combos yet but some of the ones that exist are quite potent. The two combos that draw cards are what I think of when I think of a combo deck (see list of combos above). Seer is the best Avatar to assemble these. If you pick up one half of the 13 Treasures combo, other players are unlikely to draft the other half so you're pretty likely to get it assembled. The small deck size makes it easier to assemble them consistently.
CUBE DETAILS
Sites:
There are 2 sites in every pack. I broke singleton for 2 of each of the dual- and tri-element sites (and Sinkhole). That is all the fixing sites in the cube (so no colour out of space etc.) There are 6 utility sites of each element. There are colorless sites for players to assemble Roots + Sinkhole
Avatars:
I'm testing Sorcerer as a draftable Avatar. Considering the cube's high curve and power level, I don't expect Sorcerer to be too oppressive to justify removal. No Enchantress because not enough auras. I've been very impressed with the effect of the Avatars so far. I saw Archimago come together once and be good. Don't risk playing the tri-element sites with Pathfinder.
Minions:
The general advice I've heard is you want about 17 minions, 7 non-minions in your Spellbook. That's 70% minions. I applied this benchmark to the entire cube. Currently 63% of spells (non-site, non-avatar cards) are minions. It turns out the 3-mana 3-power minions aren't good enough. There are lots of these replacement level minions in the cube currently acting as curve fillers. They will exit the cube when Gothic comes out.
Stats for nerds:
58 spells of each element
29 multicolor spells
6 sites of each element
20 multi-element sites
2.0 sites/pack
Average Mana Cost of Minions in Each Element:
Earth: 4.1
Fire: 3.8
Water: 3.5
Air: 4.1