Number Crunching

After I built my cube, I had to try and get a feel for what cards were working and what cards were not working based completely on feel. This worked fine when I was only looking at my own card pool or draft choices. There is the added problem of cards depending so much on context. Sulfuric Vortex is amazing… unless the rest of your pool has no red cards or you are drafting a blue deck. Further difficulty is added simply from differences in my own play style vs. the people I draft with. Identifying cards based on their feel works out alright, but I wanted to find something that would let me back up my assumptions with actual data.

To help me identify weak cards, I began to do mock drafts of my cube. I’m sure there are other sites out there that allow you to do this, but the two sites I found that are helpful are: www.tappedout.net and www.cubetutor.com (both links point toward my cube on that site). Both of these sites have benefits and drawbacks to them. Tappedout.net lets you see what the other drafters drafted and also allows you to set up drafts with real people (since bots are great but don’t always make logical choices as a real drafter would). Cubetutor doesn’t allow you to have multiple people draft with you, but it does provide analysis of the drafts in the form of Highest Picked/Least Picked lists that can be filtered to show specific information.

For the purposes of this particular post, I am focusing more on cubetutor since it gives me the data I am looking for. Below is a breakdown of the top five cards of each color along with the lowest five cards of each color.

White

White decks in my cube tend to be either aggro decks or control decks. I don’t see too many decks that fall in between those two extremes. So, without further adieu, here are the lists…

Top

1. Day of Judgement: I think this card is number one because it was recently added to my cube at the time that I wrote this. I decided to leave it in there though since card six is Wrath of God. Since the same effect ended up in the top five either way, I figured it didn’t really matter.
2. Swords to Plowshares: This one didn’t really surprise me… this card pretty much goes into any deck that can tap for white mana.
3. Faith’s Fetters: More “removal” for the lists. This one also gets drafted in many contexts, especially since it will take down Planeswalkers and such.
4. Oblivion Ring: Actually ends up being one of the best removal spells in my whole cube… It has all the awesomeness of Swords and all the utility of the Fetters yet somehow comes in behind both of them.
5. Elspeth, Knight-Errant: This is could be my favorite planeswalker in the whole cube. It is hard to explain how awesome this one is so if you are not already familiar with her, just play her and you’ll see…

Bottom

1. Abeyance: Not surprised here. This card is actually already on my ‘hit list’ so its life in the cube is about to be cut short. I will say that there are a few scenarios where this card is amazing, but most of the time it doesn’t end up going into a deck at all and it is almost always the last card from a pack.
2. Student of Warfare: I am honestly not sure how this card ended up at the bottom of this list. I love playing the types of decks that want to have the student in them. My only guess on this one is that when presented with this card or some of the removal listed above, it just doesn’t make the cut.
3. Gift of Estates: Another card that is already on my hit list. This card either doesn’t get drafted at all, or doesn’t make it into decks. I guess if the effect wasn’t so conditional it might be good (Tithe isn’t on this ‘worst of list’ after all).
4. Armageddon: Similar to Student of Warfare, I think this card just gets passed because of the nature of the decks that want to use it. You have to be playing a specific style of deck to use this one. Even though this card is at the bottom, it is not in danger of being taken out of my cube.
5. Divine Sacrament: This card is kinda tricky for me. I realize that there are better anthem effects out there, but I like cards that make you have to think before you cast them. The upside, once you get threshold, is pretty cool too. That said, I think this card is at the bottom because of the nature of my white section in general. I personally pick creatures and removal over anthems when given the choice.

Blue

As one would imagine, blue tends to be more control. There is a mill theme along with plenty of bounce effects that tend to get played within my play group. In the case of this list, there are a couple of cards that have only been in my cube for a short time and I think that skewed the numbers. I left those cards in their position, but added two extra cards at the end to account for what I think will be a self-correcting issue.

Top

1. Aetherling: The first pack of Dragon’s Maze I opened had this gem inside. I put it into my cube pretty much instantly and haven’t regretted it at all.
2. Crosstown Courier: This is the first of the cards I mentioned above. I don’t think this is accurate in terms of where this card should be. It does support my mill theme, but I can’t imagine that it would actually get drafted this highly.
3. Force of Will: This card seems more like a true #2 card to me. Any deck that has blue mana and/or other blue spells will normally want to take this one pretty early.
4. Tamiyo, the Moon Sage: By herself, Tamiyo is pretty awesome. If you can somehow get Stasis into play while she is on the field, then things can get really crazy.
5. Uncovered Clues: Another card that I don’t think really belongs this high in the list. It does tend to be pretty good, but I doubt it beats out the next two cards on the list…
6. Deep Analysis: I think this card is a good value card that gets put into decks because of the splashability of it.
7. Meloku, the Clouded Mirror: There have been rumblings about the cube community that perhaps Meloku isn’t as good as she used to be… she might not be as good as she was, but she is still pretty awesome in my cube. Probably the most groan-inducing card up to this point in these lists.

Bottom

1. Memory Lapse:  I thought it was strange to see any countermagic at the bottom of the blue list, but I guess if it had to be one, it would be this one. This card isn’t really a bad card. I think there are just better options in the cube that get picked first.
2. Reins of Power: This card is a lot of fun and, when timed correctly, can end the game on the spot. Combos really well with Aetherling and any other cards that can get out of the game for a little while. Also goes well with Stasis since it lets you untap everything.
3. Standstill: This deck is one I have been looking at cutting for a while. It feels like one of those “win-more” cards. It is basically only good when you are ahead anyway so you are probably already winning when you cast it in the first place.
4. Stasis: This is a card that has been mentioned a few times already. I am not at all surprised to see it in this list because it is a build around card that can be hard to use. I see this card get passed around a lot, and that is too bad. The few times I have seen it hit the table, that player won the game.
5. Talrand’s Invocation: This is a support card for the ‘spells matter’ theme that I have running in blue and red. Not really a shock to see this one here since those decks are somewhat hard to draft. I still think that this is a pretty decent card though (I would probably run a 4/4 flyer for 4 and this works out to be a better deal than that).

Black

My current black section is going to be getting some changes in the near future. Aggro doesn’t normally work out so I’ll be putting more behind the control/reanimation aspects of black. For now though, here are the lists…

Top

1. Pack Rat: I feel like this card does everything you could ever want a black card to do. It is decent in the aggro deck, it is a reanimation enabler, it is a reanimation target, it is a mana sink, it feeds into itself, it…  I could probably go on, but suffice it to say that this is probably the best black card in my cube and its place in this list reflects that.
2. Liliana Vess: Disruption and Tutor plus a Living Death that has been turned to 11? Yeah, I’ll take that. Her cost is only slightly high, but that is alright, since black decks can normally protect her.
3. Nezumi Cuttthroat: I would say that this had the same problem as those blue cards up there, but it doesn’t. This card has pretty much always been in my cube. I think that this is because it plays well with equipment and it is a good curve filler. Still, seems strange that it would be the third most drafted black card.
4. Recurring Nightmare: I love this card so very much… It is so very broken and still so perfectly awesome.
5. Mutilate: I simply don’t have the money to go buy Damnation… Mutilate basically does the same thing to everything anyway so I didn’t bother to proxy it. Not only that, but Mutilate will kill things that Damnation won’t (anything that is Indestructable specifically).

Bottom

1. Twilight’s Call: This card being the least drafted black card is a little surprising. I tend to like cards like this one. In this case, I think it is the fact that this card is a little harder to use profitably. Living death is easy enough to manage, but the symmetry of this one is harder to break.
2. Necropolis Regent: This card really only works as a reanimation target. In that regard, I tend to go for Laquatus’s Champion first if I have the choice. The regent has been on my list of possible cuts, but I haven’t really decided if I want to do that just yet.
3. Geralf’s Messenger: This is a cool card for the aggro style decks that might use it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really break the game the way Necropotence or Pox does so it tends to get passed.
4. Cabal Coffers: To make this card work, you have to be pretty committed to black. Not many people are really willing to do that in this type of format. It also isn’t terribly easy since you almost have to be mono-black to make it work.
5. Innocent Blood: This card is already on my list of cards to be removed. Probably going to swap it out for Doomblade or something equally awesome for removal.

Red

Most of the aggro decks that show up in drafts are Red/x decks. Most everything in red is either direct damage or efficient aggro style creatures. There are some ‘spells matter’ cards in here as well, but that is a relatively minor sub-theme.

Top

1. Sulfuric Vortex: This card is the sixth most drafted card in my cube overall. It stands to reason that it would be number one in the red section. This card does a lot of things and I rarely pass on it (pretty much only in the third pack when it is too late to adjust my deck to use it).
2. Inferno Titan: You read this card and think “cool, free Arc Lightning” (or if you are not that old “cool free Flames of the Firebrand”) which doesn’t always sound awesome. But then you cast it, take down two or three of your opponents guys and watch as they try to figure out how to block it… Then you attack and take down two or three more guys and probably hit your opponent at that point. Some of the biggest swings in the games I’ve played have come courtesy of the Inferno Titan.
3. Chandra’s Phoenix: I find myself drafting this card a lot because there aren’t really very many good three drops for red. This one does a great job and even goes into other decks that might be using the red spells that will trigger the recursion.
4. Thundermaw Hellkite: I have a sort of love/hate relationship with this card. On one hand I love it because it typically ends games on the spot if your deck curves the way you hope it will. On the other hand, this card basically made Rathi Dragon a thing of the past, which makes me pretty sad.
5. Searing Spear: This card seems a little random to me, but then I look a little lower on the list and find more burn spells. I think this one is at the top of that list due more to circumstances than anything else. This probably could have been any number of other burn spells just as easily.

Bottom

1. Krenko, Mob Boss: I don’t really have a goblin theme in place in my cube, but this card is pretty good on his own. After the second or third time you activate Krenko, you have a pretty massive army in place. I can see why this is in this place though. It is hard to get Krenko going without the other pieces around him, so he is on my watch list.
2. Siege-Gang Commander: Speaking of goblins… this one is a little harder to figure out than Krenko. The commander is pretty cool in its own right and actually does more than Krenko does. That said, this card isn’t on my hit list.
3. Guttersnipe: One of the support cards for the spells matters theme in red. I like this card, but it really only works out in that one type of deck. As a 2/2 it isn’t very impressive as a three drop. The times that I have gotten Guttersnipe into play it has been pretty awesome. I don’t really have this card on my hit list right now.
4. Reckless Charge: I think this card has landed here simply because red players are more likely to take this efficient creature or that bit of removal. This card is a game changer if it resolves though.
5. Pillage: I am fairly surprised to see this one this far down. This actually ends up being one of the best removal spells in the whole cube. Needless to say, this card is in no danger of being cut.

Green

I have always struggled with green. Something about the color is just boring to me. I had a couple of my green loving friends help me with this section and it has become a very aggro color since that change. Obviously, most of what green does, is creature based so that is what my section does.

Top

1. Tarmogoyf: So, I saw this card was over $100 to buy it and I didn’t get it. Honestly, looking at the card itself, there isn’t anything on there that explains why this card is so expensive or powerful. Then I played it and also saw it played against me and now I get it. This card is almost always a 3/4 for 2, which makes it extremely difficult to block it or get rid of it. Awesome, but I still don’t think it is worth over $100.
2. Survival of the Fittest: This card goes so well with any deck that can cast it. I don’t think it is as over the top amazing as it was when it was first printed, but It is still a very good card.
3. Primeval Titan: I think that this is the weakest titan in my cube right now. It is still a pretty awesome card, but it rarely breaks a game open like it would in a format like Commander.
4. Thragtu sk: I don’t even know if there is any need to comment on this card. It is hard to describe the effect it has on the game other than to say that once it hits the table, the game immediately becomes a game about the thragtusk.
5. Garruk’s Companion: I don’t really have an explanation on this one. I think it is weird that it would beat out a card like Birds of Paradise. I suppose this could be a product of making Gruul decks and wanting to have a two drop like this one.

Bottom

1. Scryb Sprites: This is a card that is actually very good, but doesn’t normally get picked because the cards around it are just better. I imagine that the other players in my playgroup would value this card more highly than I do though so I leave it in.
2. Wild Beastmaster: This card has some interesting interactions, but you have to be able to grab the growth spells to really get the most out of this card.
3. Thorn Elemental: This card has been floating around in my cube since the beginning, but I’m not sure how much longer it will remain. I’m sure there are better cards out there that will get the job done. Like the Scryb Sprites, this card goes really well with the Growth Effects and anything that lets it get cheated into play.
4. Green Sun’s Zenith: I haven’t quite been able to get this card to work the right way. I’m sure that is just me, but this card is still on my watch list to see how it works out in games.
5. Call of the Herd: I see around the interwebs that this is a good card. I can’t quite figure out what makes it so great though. Getting two creatures into your deck at the cost of one card is pretty nice though. Not quite something I want to spend a high pick on though.

The End for Now

I got the numbers for the artifact cards, and the various multicolored cards, but none of those numbers are very interesting. In the case of the multicolored cards, the numbers are confusing (Gruul cards have Stomping Grounds at the top of the list and Taiga at the bottom?). If you have a cube, you should be using Cubetutor. Beyond the analysis stuff the site is really helpful for tracking your cube.  Feel free to draft my cube and send me a link to yours so I can return the favor. The more drafters the better the data! See you again (hopefully in less than a few months).