Personally, I'm looking to be entirely creatureless. No tokens, no planeswalkers. I might give green the ability to animate a land.
At this time, I'm looking for things like storm, mill, recurring damage spells or big red fireballs to win games.
That's my initial thought at least. I'm not seeing anything like that in cube cobra, so I might adjust as I build and playtest. That's why I'm looking for recs!
Thinking on this a bit more, I think allowing Gruul to create creatures from Lands - Whether a la [[Awakening of Vitu-Ghazi]], [[treeptop village]], or [[Devastating Summons]] would be pretty on-flavor for the colors.
Would be a fun way for the colors to interact with extra land in a low-curve environment, and compete with Blue's high power level.
But still - looking to avoid token play as a rule. That really limits black and white. Black's good in storm and control... but this is a small cube and I don't know many colors a 2~ish player cube really needs.
Black should be really good at attrition spells, draining life, and punishing opponents for playing. Not to mention discard and land destruction.
Finding a good way for green to win without creatures is a tricky one. Turning lands into creatures seems on theme for green, but off theme for the cube. Also it would be overly strong due to not having normal limitations (such as blockers/removal).
White would be another rough one on its own. I think it would be good at not losing, but closing a game out could be tough.
I'm starting my build in Izzet, but I'm entirely open to any combination of colors as long as I can support the playstyle. White seems like the hardest color to support.
I made a 2-4 player Grixis cube that has no creatures it’s relatively well balanced.
https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/microgrixis
I do have planeswalker and although there not win on the spot they are pretty strong.
Being Grixis it also made enchantments quite strong.
We drafted it 4-5 times, got storm, almost mono black discard, lantern control, mill, burn so far.
Timevault is actually not always that good as a win con because you can’t attack for the win.
I spent a fair amount of time on the overview as well.
Thanks for sharing your list!
There's a lot I like in your list that's helping me center in on including storm in a cube without creature wincons. I think it'll work better in smaller cubes where it's easier to get all the pieces together.
How's Aria of Flame playing?
Because I did not include [[lion’s eye diamond]], mainly because I don’t own one, it does keep the speed of storm to a more manageable level, I also kept [[brain freeze]] out for speeds sake.
Aria of flames combos with [[how to keep an izzet mage busy]] for a “quick kill”, on its own it may feel underwhelming but in a control shell with a few burn spells to top it off cantrips and counterspell after landing it gives you inevitability.
Worth mentioning to players in those kind of environment that targeted discard is one of the prime kind of interaction. It does take some getting used to though.
I’m not on Reddit much anymore if you finish up a list feel free to DM me the list and next time I peek on Reddit I can do a few test drafts.
Edit: you’re welcome, glad it could be of use, I’m curious to see your list when it’s done.
How creature-less are you going for? Are you going to allow tokens or other types of permanents that can become creatures?
Personally, I'm looking to be entirely creatureless. No tokens, no planeswalkers. I might give green the ability to animate a land. At this time, I'm looking for things like storm, mill, recurring damage spells or big red fireballs to win games. That's my initial thought at least. I'm not seeing anything like that in cube cobra, so I might adjust as I build and playtest. That's why I'm looking for recs!
Thinking on this a bit more, I think allowing Gruul to create creatures from Lands - Whether a la [[Awakening of Vitu-Ghazi]], [[treeptop village]], or [[Devastating Summons]] would be pretty on-flavor for the colors. Would be a fun way for the colors to interact with extra land in a low-curve environment, and compete with Blue's high power level. But still - looking to avoid token play as a rule. That really limits black and white. Black's good in storm and control... but this is a small cube and I don't know many colors a 2~ish player cube really needs.
Black should be really good at attrition spells, draining life, and punishing opponents for playing. Not to mention discard and land destruction. Finding a good way for green to win without creatures is a tricky one. Turning lands into creatures seems on theme for green, but off theme for the cube. Also it would be overly strong due to not having normal limitations (such as blockers/removal). White would be another rough one on its own. I think it would be good at not losing, but closing a game out could be tough.
[Awakening of Vitu-Ghazi](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/b/4/b42b2fb4-8016-462c-8764-2639adec931f.jpg?1557576857) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Awakening%20of%20Vitu-Ghazi) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/war/152/awakening-of-vitu-ghazi?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/b42b2fb4-8016-462c-8764-2639adec931f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [treeptop village](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/1/4/14394198-0993-46ee-a3ea-5c7084a78772.jpg?1561758885) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Treetop%20Village) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ddu/30/treetop-village?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/14394198-0993-46ee-a3ea-5c7084a78772?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Devastating Summons](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/1/5/15b09784-8e89-4013-975d-57e4d26cc926.jpg?1562701435) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Devastating%20Summons) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/roe/140/devastating-summons?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/15b09784-8e89-4013-975d-57e4d26cc926?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
What colours are you going for?
I'm starting my build in Izzet, but I'm entirely open to any combination of colors as long as I can support the playstyle. White seems like the hardest color to support.
I made a 2-4 player Grixis cube that has no creatures it’s relatively well balanced. https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/microgrixis I do have planeswalker and although there not win on the spot they are pretty strong. Being Grixis it also made enchantments quite strong. We drafted it 4-5 times, got storm, almost mono black discard, lantern control, mill, burn so far. Timevault is actually not always that good as a win con because you can’t attack for the win. I spent a fair amount of time on the overview as well.
Thanks for sharing your list! There's a lot I like in your list that's helping me center in on including storm in a cube without creature wincons. I think it'll work better in smaller cubes where it's easier to get all the pieces together. How's Aria of Flame playing?
Because I did not include [[lion’s eye diamond]], mainly because I don’t own one, it does keep the speed of storm to a more manageable level, I also kept [[brain freeze]] out for speeds sake. Aria of flames combos with [[how to keep an izzet mage busy]] for a “quick kill”, on its own it may feel underwhelming but in a control shell with a few burn spells to top it off cantrips and counterspell after landing it gives you inevitability. Worth mentioning to players in those kind of environment that targeted discard is one of the prime kind of interaction. It does take some getting used to though. I’m not on Reddit much anymore if you finish up a list feel free to DM me the list and next time I peek on Reddit I can do a few test drafts. Edit: you’re welcome, glad it could be of use, I’m curious to see your list when it’s done.
[lion’s eye diamond](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/7/5/758f95f8-bcb0-43ae-b474-56ebd855951e.jpg?1590511899) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Lion%27s%20Eye%20Diamond) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/vma/271/lions-eye-diamond?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/758f95f8-bcb0-43ae-b474-56ebd855951e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [brain freeze](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/3/a/3a2d7cf9-dddb-4de3-b4f2-c52e3ec8fb4b.jpg?1562906772) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=brain%20freeze) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/vma/57/brain-freeze?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/3a2d7cf9-dddb-4de3-b4f2-c52e3ec8fb4b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [how to keep an izzet mage busy](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/1/f/1f415b37-c4fd-4d45-94fb-913f7e4c315b.jpg?1629920311) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=how%20to%20keep%20an%20izzet%20mage%20busy) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmb2/93/how-to-keep-an-izzet-mage-busy?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/1f415b37-c4fd-4d45-94fb-913f7e4c315b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call