I tried it. Not bad, but had some problems. Even though the hot keys are the same and I use them, the client ended up being slower for me and I had to switch mid-way through an event to try to avoid timing down. Round 1 I won 2-0 but would not have had time for game 3. I switched halfway through round 2 and still lost to time though, which hasn't happened to me since I was new.

Some more serious problems include not showing me what a morph is when I Treachery it away from my opponent. It does tell you the morph cost so I was able to deduce the creature, but you should be able to see the card face.

It also skipped my Temporal Mastery miracle trigger when I drew it off of Consecrated Sphinx on my opponent's turn. The Mastery was the leftmost card in my hand so I assume I drew it first, but nothing happened.

It also doesn't sort your library for you when you search it, which makes finding singletons a pain.

It also doesn't show reminder text for keyword abilities in the card popup, which would actually be nice for cube. I don't always know the details of older abilities and I assume given they have essentially unlimited space that they would include it. I did see a reminder text setting, so maybe I had that on wrong? This will require further investigation.

Visually the whole client is nicer, and the internal windows behave much better. Unfortunately some elements of the interface are too understated/hard to notice. The cards in hand/library/graveyard are much more subtle, which makes them harder to read at a glance. The queues suffer from a similar sort of situation. Nothing distinguishes them from each other in terms of font or highlighting, so it can be slow to read through. The font is also quite a bit smaller than the current client, which is bad for squinters. I don't normally have trouble reading text on the screen, but had to concentrate to do so several times with the new client.

Drafting is better. I like seeing the table order, and the way they let you arrange your deck while you play is improved. On the other hand when it comes time to deck build the area reserved for your sideboard is about three times the area for your deck, and I couldn't figure out how to change that. I also don't know how to save a draft deck, but maybe it does it automatically. I didn't check for that, but that would be nice.

I'm sure the program underneath is structured better, and having worked as a programmer I understand the intense amount of work involved in rewriting a code base and making sure it's well documented and easily upgradable. I would assume that MTGO users do not even see the biggest and most important changes, and the thing that most excites me about the new version is a greater ability to change and improve it.

Would someone be kind enough to lend me tix until I get my credit card figured out? Or I can buy some through paypal

Anybody want to test some modern? I have RDW, RWU Aggro, I could probably make Storm and maybe Splinter Twin pretty easily, and have been wanting to throw together a MBC deck to see if it works (I suspect it would get crushed by RDW and Affinity but think it should do okay against the rest of the field). Getting tougher to find opponents willing to play Modern these days.

I'd test but I'd have to borrow decks

I have UW Tron and could build UR Storm with a bit of borrowing.

Kyle Boddy article posted today on SCG:

http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/c...line-Cube.html

ty

haha i came across the best bug: when you click drop during the 2 minutes of waiting for a final of an 84, you get 8 packs and the other finalist gets 4.
sometimes i do this when i dont want to play but my opponent declines the split, and then i ship the confused guy 2 packs

I think swords in cube are pretty over-rated.

I used to think that until Adam convinced me to take them high and and play them with as few as 3 creatures (plus one or two Control Magic effects of course).

They're really, really busted. I also used to think G/B sword was the best, but in the MODO cube I think the W/R sword is usually best, followed up by G/U and R/U. Though they all run close in value.

kyleb, nice article.

I agree with most of what you say, and it's interesting to hear the opinion of someone that drafts a little differently than I do. I don't usually go U/B unless I'm combo/reanimator, but I have seen some of the black cards you mention being powerhouses wheel, so the fact that it's often open is a big plus. I think part of what holds me and other cube drafters back, especially if they are new or online only players, is that the power level of some of the cards is tough to evaluate. I didn't know how great Okiba-Gang Shinobi was for example. Evaluation is especially difficult in a format like Cube.

I really like your list of unpassables. I have been passed all of them except JTMS and the swords midway through pack 1 (pick 4+), which baffles me, especially Treachery. Do people not realise that a 0cc control magic is kind of sweet in DragonCube™?

A couple cards that I think should be mentioned on that list are Skullclamp, Demonic Tutor, and Channel. Yes Skullclamp requires a bit of work and puts you in a normally less than ideal deck, but drawing infinite cards is usually enough to overcome those shortfalls. Pairs especially nicely with Armageddon. Demonic Tutor is a redundant copy of the best card in your deck at the time you cast it. Very nice and worth splashing for even. Tutors are very good because there's always another sweet spell you can draft, but redundancy is only available on certain effects. Channel is not just for dreamers. Using it to deploy one or two amazing threats early can be backbreaking, especially if one of those threats is Ulamog. Or Karn. Or Sundering Titan.

I mostly agree with your cuts. I feel like the Wizards cube has a lot of chaff in it. I know there will always be unplayables when you don't have to play every card you draft, but I'd prefer the unplayables to be either trap cards that trick bad players into thinking their archetype is good, or niche roleplayers. That's why even though it's not at all good I think Vexing Devil should stay and keep vexing bad players.

The cards I want to see leave are the ones I imagine just never get played, even by people drafting weird decks. I think the worst is cards that sort of ignore their color's identity and so don't fit any decks of that color, though I feel like the updated list did a good job of removing the worst offenders. Wakethrasher is an example that made the cut though. Other benchwarmers that bother me: why is Firemane Angel in the cube? Wooly Thoctar? The third best Masticore (Razormane)? The list goes on. These aren't sideboard cards or cards that are stars in rare decks. They just stink, and there must be at least fifty of them.

I have to defend Priest of Urabrask against deletion though. Storm needs all the help it can get. You must also never cast Dream Halls, because All Sun's Dawn has won me multiple games. I actually wish there was a little more support for combo. There is no danger of it taking over the cube metagame and it's a really fun archetype to play. Faithless Looting was a glaring omission I agree, and Desperate Ravings too. I really wish I had another option for cubing besides waiting for the next round on MTGO, because your article has me missing it already and it's only been two days.

I shouldnt get passed Griselband in an 8-4 cause he is worth soo much right? Just got him 3rd

3 peel from realities too many?

He's worth 6-7 tix, so yeah I don't think there's any common/uncommon in the set that increases your EV that much. Some players are just obsessed with making the "right" pick though, and Griselbrand is not particularly playable.

3 peels is probably not too many, but this depends a ton on your curve/deck. I'd want 3+ 2-drops I think.

Haven't played a lot of cube (due to the mentioned terrible prize support) but I was surprised to see Goblin Trenches mentioned in the list of "cards that have to go." Did you play with it when it was legal the first time? It's a great fininisher, and with swords in the format it seems even more nuts. Maybe the mana support to put a WR card in a control deck just isn't there?

Thoughts on Onslaught draft now that we're pack-rich?

Evasion seems clutch, as does efficient green. It seems like there is a huge power disparity between cards.

my strategy in OLS has always been: draft sparksmith or timberwatch. if u dont get any of those draft UW soldiers, its redic good and its the only archetype daru stinger is good in.
take that white 1/1 provoke guy high, hes really good. he + dragon scales => lots of free wins.

fun fact: zombie cutthorat is the best common for all colors.

edit: ALWAYS ALWAYS play 18 lands in this format. if u miss ur 3rd land drop ur dead, ur opponent has infinite grey ogres.

Back before Scourge came out I forced suicide zombies (usually splashed red or blue for removal/choking tethers/searing flesh type cards), which was the sickest archetype ever. I won 7 netdrafts in a row at one point against very strong swedish players (jens thoren, johan sadegpour, anton jonsson type players, along with lesser known but still very good players) as a 16 year old semi scrub. Then Scourge came and ruined the deck, definitely needed two packs of Shepherd of Rot/Anurid/etc

Good times.

Is anyone a judge? I'm going to start training to be a level 1.

That's basically how I remember OLS draft: basically make sure every pick is either sparksmith, timberwatch elf, or a card which kills or ignores those, and you'll be fine. Otherwise, god help you.

Can anyone direct me to a website where I can see what's new and everything? Or what has been new with every new pack? Last time I played was 2005ish

Wikipedia is actually a pretty good place to look... Start with the list of sets here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...Gathering_sets

Follow links on individual set names to get descriptions of new mechanics, etc etc.

I recommend just focusing on what's in standard or even just learning the latest sets by playing limited with them online.

+1 on the sparksmith thing but Timberwatch got a lot worse when it became OLS (vs OOL). Scourge green is balls. IIRC the colors basically go:

Red: The nuts in O, ok in Legions and terrible in S
Green: ok in O, ok with one bomb common in L and atrocious in S
Black: ok in O, the nuts in L and S
Blue: Terrible in O, awesome in L, ok in S. You better have good off-color removal or a ton of flyers.
White: ok in all three. You better have good off-color removal or a ton of flyers

Are there any good strat books for Magic? Anything like a Watkinson or Harrington for us?