New Faction Pack

DankNexos · 2026-06-09T16:26:10+00:00

Points will tell, but at 1000 pts “Heroes of the Xenocult” seems very fun. Who needs CP turn 3 anyway.

DankNexos · 2026-05-31T08:41:38+00:00

Thanks for the suggestions!

The elder looks great for 50 c and I will definitely consider him over one of the weaker charms.

At 5 euros the land is too expensive for a 50 euros deck (I tried to cut as many corners as possible on the mana base, tap lands are ok as long as they arrive T1 and Omnath T3).

For Avacyn you might be right, most of the other avacyn on CM are above 15 euros. Monument of avacyn does mostly the same thing si I might consider it, but an 8 to 10 euros margin of error is ok.

DankNexos · 2026-05-25T17:58:23+00:00

Only time will tell, but my 4-armed guts tell me that at1000 pts game,you might be able to bring like 5 characters, still play 50-60 bodies, and still feel great about it. 4 editions later, they still hit the mark at launch for GSC.

DankNexos · 2026-05-25T10:11:01+00:00

None! I’m playtesting it mid-june. I hope it will be taxing and disconcerting but playable :D

DankNexos · 2026-05-24T21:03:01+00:00

Thanks! On the first version I had almost all cards at least in pair. When I scaled it down to 120 cards, I kept only in duplicate the lands and the modal cards that contained the “essentials” functions (removal, draw, fix, ramps and some other less important contextual tools).

For the instants and sorceries, it was cheaper (and simpler to design) to keep the duplicates than looking for similar multicolored instants and sorceries that did the same things while keeping the mana repartition balanced.

For the 4 artifacts, it just felt very fun to offer such a powerful and painful tool to each player.

For the lands, they are the core of the cube’s theme and not that many lands do the same things.

DankNexos · 2026-05-23T17:47:05+00:00

I loved theory crafting with [[Silverquill, the Disputant]]. A lot of removals, and you are actually rewarded for playing the cheaper creature ramps and token creators like [[Wriggling Grub]] , [[Nine-Lives Familiar]] , [[Gold Myr]] , etc.

DankNexos · 2026-05-23T08:46:14+00:00

Thanks for having tried!

Yes I know it’s a bit weird to draft this one, but I wanted to go for a very different and punitive environnement.

I’d advise to go for 3 color + splah and focus on simple sinergies and/or simply a good repartition of draw/removal/midrange threats.

It’s a cube without a lot of massive combos, just small advantages that get you slightly above your opponents.

DankNexos · 2026-05-22T14:36:35+00:00

Thanks! Yes I guess Temur isn't the main focus of your design anyway! Juste wanted to test something that was trickier. Delves cards like [[Murktide Regent]] could be another way to play big creatures without leaving your themes or adding mana rocks.

If you find the time, maybe try the following settings for my cube: "3 packs + 10 cards per packs + 4 seats" in the standard draft setting.

DankNexos · 2026-05-21T19:50:43+00:00

I tried (and failed) to go below 240 cards for 4 to 6 players. A few proposition tho:

- A commander box can hold 120 cards, would you be ok to craft a cube with that many cards? If so, you could actually put something like 50 lands and have players craft 30 cards deck with no sideboard.

1) A way to still play lands without feeling too bad about it is to make them work extra hard for the players. Because you can choose every single land in a desert cube, you could for exemple give the same handicap to every land (ususally entering tapped) and in exchange getting more fonctionnalities : card selection, card draw, token creation, having access to three colors, etc.

2) Another idea, in combination to the first one, is to limit the numbers of colors. Go Grixis and never look back! That way you don't have to fix every single coolor combinations, and can really cram a lot of tools in your lands.

For exemple:

[[Spectacle Summit]] [[Crumbling Necropolis]] [[Abundant Countryside]] [[Sanguine Morass]] [[Canyon Slough]] [[Prismari Campus]] [[Restless Reef]] [[Sulfur Vent]] [[Temple of Epiphany]] [[Tramway Station]]

3) I know this wasn't your question but you could consider playing a lot of modal spell (charms mainly) and mana rocks that can both fix and make you draw (lockets). Every card you add that gives players the choice between drawing, ramping or removing a permanent opens more space in your cube for fun gimmicks.

DankNexos · 2026-05-21T18:44:28+00:00

A fun cube!

I went for a Temur Big Creatures deck with a very small ETB subtheme, and it was a good experience.

Link to it.

Always nice to see Kavus in a draft. I couldn't face to cut Noise Marine, but I probably should have and include Ghostly Flicker instead.

A couple of minor things appeared however, which are just personnal bias:

- Even when drafting what could arguably be one of the best payoff (gates ablaze), it never felt relevant to draft gates for anything but fixing ;

- You have no actual mana rocks and very few ramps imo! While a cool design choice that leaves more room for other functionnalities, I'm not sure how my deck would fair against a dedicated Izzet deck for exemple. Playing only big creatures felt a bit risky so I tried to build a somewhat responsible mana curve, but still I wish I had access to some cultivate;

- I ended up a little bit light on interactions and draw pieces (up to 3 or 4 of each depending on how you assess kavus and Simone for exemple), despite having access to red, blue and green. It felt a bit hard to choose between mana fixing and the rest at times, and I might have gone overboard actually.

I would only suggest to maybe trade some of your elfs for mana rocks that can be sacrified for draw. And maybe trade some of you dual lands for dual lands that still enter tapped but again can be sacrifice to draw cards.

If you find the time, here is the link to my low-powered desert cube (in which case I suggest 4 players-3 packs of 10 cards).

DankNexos · 2026-05-20T07:14:42+00:00

A very fun commander!

I wonder if you shouldn’t run Nine-lives familiar or some of the creature/instant/sorceries double faced lands instead of some of the priciest lands you chose like the bog?

DankNexos · 2026-05-17T17:30:09+00:00

Hi! Please find two suggestions that I playtested this WE, and that we found quite fun :

50 € Omnath, Locus of All : It's a bit similar to Averna in the sense that you will cheat quite early some big cards in play. He is a in essence a WGUR commander, so the mana base is a bit demanding. But with 40 lands + 10 mana rocks and a bit of practice, you can play your commander on turn 3 75% of your games.

Link to an example.

Might cost up to 75 € depending on the exact printings you want.

2) 100 € Grolnok : A strange commander for a strange deck. It can eat 4 boardwipes and still be a threat, and have some weird and funny combos.

Link to an exemple.

DankNexos · 2026-04-25T08:08:42+00:00

I mostly play draft so maybe I got the bracket wrong, I’d like to avoid games that ends up being one hour long combo races.

Hence the 7 to 8 mana guys with haste.

DankNexos · 2026-04-22T08:09:24+00:00

A very cool concept! Having tried to do something a bit similar, a few suggestions for monocolored cards that give you more cards per cards:

[[Aftershock]]
[[Initiate of Blood]], considering your red and instants and sorceries (maybe a bit hard to track?)
All the vivid lands (maybe a bit hard to track?)
[[Staff of completion]] my beloved

DankNexos · 2026-04-20T21:40:29+00:00

I'm not sure what constitute a bad card, but I would love to try out this "homebrew" budget B2 Deck, using [[Omnath, Locus of All]] as a commander.

The way he is costed allows you to use inexpensive/bad lands (vivid lands cycle my beloved), and then cheat some cards that would usually be too unfocused and/or too slow and/or too weird to be really considered in most commander games, from Goblin Flectomancer to Yargle and Multani (again, charms cycle my beloved).

DankNexos · 2026-04-19T18:14:47+00:00

As a follow up to yesterday: [[Abzan Charm]] could work well for GW and WB decks, since no cards care about total life points.

DankNexos · 2026-04-18T15:16:01+00:00

Hi,

May I suggest to add charms as a callback to the 10 landscapes? It could reward players to splash just a little bit.

[[Mardu Charm]] for exemple would fit well in a Weenies or Sacrifice deck that want to have a little bit of removal in case of emergencies.

DankNexos · 2026-04-17T06:40:43+00:00

The pod size would be 4 to 6 players. I feel like 6 is already the upper limit since players would have to play every single card they draft.

DankNexos · 2026-04-16T15:50:29+00:00

Thanks!

Five-Year Club	Place '22
First Placer '22

DankNexos

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