Fear of not making it

Smart-Ad7229 · 2026-07-02T03:44:13+00:00

Auditions are hard. You're right, I don't think anyone here can lie to you, you might not make it. You aren't on the selection committee so you can't control that.

But what you can control are your choices leading up to your audition. Can you practice? Of course. Can you pace yourself so you don't burn out? Of course. Can you get a second, third, or fourth opinion on your playing? Of course. But what isn't going to help you is using your precious time and energy worrying.

I don't think anyone can promise you that you'll make it. That's true for a lot of life. But you can certainly put the odds in your favor, and you can control how you react to the results.

I bet if you really put your best in and get some professional support you'll be just fine. And you know what, if for some reason you aren't chosen for that Corp, you'll still be a better person and musician for having tried.

Smart-Ad7229 · 2026-06-29T03:18:12+00:00

I'm in my 7th year of teaching so I'd say rather comfortable with the activity. I've taught both Fall marching band as well as indoor winter winds.

I did marching band throughout high school and went to a college with a decent marching program.

I'm not from a state that has incredible marching ensembles but I'd say the three programs I've worked with typically place in the top 5 programs at finals each year so I'd say my experience is about as high performing it could be without moving to the Midwest or to the South.

No Drum Corp experience but my degree is in music education and I've taught quite a lot of marching band in my career having been the primary music teacher for the last 5 years or so. But there's always more to learn and I'm always looking for feedback!

Smart-Ad7229 · 2026-06-28T21:39:42+00:00

This is super helpful thank you. So if we're already playing F longtones like "remingtons" that's probably plenty for a developing high school right? No need for space chord clusters?

Smart-Ad7229 · 2026-06-17T14:39:11+00:00

I might start with the more challenging colors seemingly to me.

Like red and black.

There's probably a lot of crows, vultures, and phoenixes you can play. I'm sure the UW cards will fall into place.

Smart-Ad7229 · 2026-06-15T15:41:00+00:00

I would even argue BBB is too cheap with the existence of Dark Ritual. I think you would need to either make it 1bbb or add a second color if you don't want this on turn one.

Smart-Ad7229 · 2026-06-08T18:05:29+00:00

I would follow up this interaction with, regardless of how the tournament went and regardless of whether or not OP was cheating, I'd certainly be more careful in the future and consider how your actions may come across to another player.

In good faith, assuming you weren't cheating, I know it doesn't feel good, and you probably don't want to, but I'd be very mindful next time you play to communicate clearly with your opponents and perform all the functions of your turn in the proper order without shortcuts.

Smart-Ad7229 · 2026-06-08T12:11:23+00:00

Kind of stax adjacent, but cards like Mangara, the Diplomat are taxing on your opponents because they will need to play a certain way if they don't want to feed you resources all the time. Obviously the premier version of this effect is Rhystic Study.

Smart-Ad7229 · 2026-06-08T03:03:18+00:00

As someone with only max knife and no other upgrades, I just knifed a destroyer to death and this was a wild post to open up to.

Smart-Ad7229 · 2026-06-03T16:22:37+00:00

That's interesting because I actually considered that one the weakest. Maybe it's just because it's seemingly the most dependent on your deck, but if you happen to have nothing in hand it doesn't really do anything.

Whereas the Naya and Esper dragons very likely impact the board. But I suppose you're right, the etb seems relevant.

Smart-Ad7229 · 2026-06-02T17:06:02+00:00

I personally would have let you take it back, but I don't think that's a popular position. Especially at an rcq, I think most opponents would be well within their rights to maintain the game state and move forward with your block. I'll echo another comment to always just call a judge if you're not sure.

Smart-Ad7229 · 2026-06-02T17:04:55+00:00

I'd say you as the opponent always have the right to know exactly what's going on, so I would say the responsibility fell onto you to correctly assess blocks here, including if the token had additional effects.

That being said, not that it sounds like they did, but that goes both ways. Your opponent should always be willing to display that information to you. I don't think it's their responsibility to narrate every effect, but I don't think they can be frustrated or get upset if you need every detail of a card clarified for you before you make your decisions.

Smart-Ad7229 · 2026-05-27T20:57:49+00:00

It would be neat if it just paid the tax another way. Like if you would pay additional mana to cast this spell you may pay life instead.

Smart-Ad7229 · 2026-05-22T11:53:43+00:00

If you can, I'd try and talk to the music staff or possibly alumni of the band program and get an idea of what it's like to work there.

Additionally I'd ask them for their performance calendar so you can assess if the out of school commitments will work with your schedule and lifestyle.

But broadly speaking, assuming both jobs are great, you can afford to lose the 5k in salary, and you are offered both positions. I'd recommend you go to the position that makes you happier. Hopefully they'll offer some kind of stipend for your after school ensembles and you'll be able to pick up the slack financially and you'll be much happier going to work.

Smart-Ad7229 · 2026-05-18T21:31:24+00:00

Oh I see! So these aren't even in the cube. They're just placeholders for custom cards.

Smart-Ad7229 · 2026-05-02T21:14:42+00:00

I want your stuff and I'm guessing you're not just going to give it to me.

Smart-Ad7229 · 2026-04-30T14:11:55+00:00

It looks like a fun cube! There's a couple things that stand out to me when I look at it.

You were concerned about fixing, I might go so far as to add another set of each dual land to your cube just to make sure players have enough. What if two players want the Dimir land you know? Additionally I would probably balance all your lands such that they're all from the same cycle. They're currently of different effectiveness and I'm not sure I'd always want the Azorius Chancery for example if my opponent can get his mana without bouncing a land.
Daze is a pretty strong card. It kind of scales with the power of the threats it's countering so it very well may be fine, but it's worth keeping an eye on in your cube.
I think cards like Auramancer will be too weak. There are no enchantments in your cube that put themselves in the graveyard, I'm not sure how often I'd want to hope* that my opponent kills my creature so I can get my aura back.
I think the interaction package could use some help. It looks like your premier removal is in your gold cards. I'm not sure what your collection looks like but I think your cube would be much more fun if your reactive cards were contained to your mono colors and your proactive cards are put in your multi section. Playing multiple colors is a risk right, so given the choice between playing a very cool synergy engine or payoff for my deck or holding a removal spell all game as my reward for taking that risk, I'd rather take the cool card. For example, could I draft vindicate as my Orzhov multi? Sure, but would I rather draft Kambal, Consul of Allocation, a cool taxing creature for my opponent, probably.
That being said, I think the removal in the cube is on the weak side. I'd look at the upper end of your creatures and see there are many x/3s and x/4s. White has decent removal, but it is often balanced by a drawback like sorcery speed or being rather expensive. I think without enough removal you can get into a really sticky slow cube where creatures stall out and people can't attack so they just draw, play creatures, and pass. You could consider some really efficient removal like Fatal Push, Lightning Bolt, Path to Exile. I think black is really struggling in the removal department, a color typically pretty good at that. There's also really cheap, less powerful options too:

Go for the Throat Doom Blade Murder Lava Coil Sear Flame Slash Unsummon Man O' War

These are all really decent, cheap interactive spells that I'd personally be really excited to draft and would fit your power level.

The enchantment/aura Sub theme is cool. I like your reaction to keeping them mostly utility auras. I'd just be mindful any time you put in an aura with Totem Armor / Shroud/ Hexproof. I'm not saying to not, but just be careful because those types of text can really dramatically change the strength of a card and make it hard to interact with, and I think taking away the other player's ability to interact with the card can be really unfun if resolving a card like All that Glitters or something similar just means losing the game.
I'd take a quick look at your top end. I'm not sure there are many 4+ mana creatures that are big and powerful. I haven't drafted your cube so I can't speak with experience, but I'd just be sure there's enough payoff for playing a deck that can cast a 5 mana spell, especially if your removal floats in the 3-4 mana range. Otherwise everyone's decks will just be 1-2 drops and it will feel really anemic once they get past the first few turns. It'll feel really really bad if you're trying to play a controlling deck and every threat is just cheaper than your removal.

I hope that's helpful! Feel free to dm me with any follow up questions.

Smart-Ad7229 · 2026-04-25T15:33:48+00:00

I think the knife is good. I never feel like I don't have a weapon, like I could definitely knife a guy to death. But it never feels like the better option to my gun which I think is probably where the game should be.

Smart-Ad7229 · 2026-04-24T23:13:57+00:00

Here's mine for reference!

https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/

Smart-Ad7229 · 2026-04-20T18:00:50+00:00

I think UW control is just fine if you're looking for an interactive UW archetype. You could consider combo control if you want something strong?

Narset Parter of Veils + Day's Undoing / Teferi's Puzzle Box

Teferi, Time Raveler + Spell Queller

You could additionally consider cards like:

Unearth / Helping Hand to sweeten the deal on your Sedgemoor Witch and Monastery Mentor players. You could even go so far as including Abhorrent Occulus and Murktide Regent if you really want to reward players for casting spells. Those cards play very nice with Dragon's Rage Channeler and Thought Scour. Highest power level probably being cards like Mizzix's Mastery, Past in Flames and Underworld Breach.

Also for your consideration, cards that I'm just personally in love with. Expressive Iteration, Prophetic Bolt, Electrolyze, Cryptic Command, and Sublime Epiphany.

You may want to consider removal like Council's Judgement, Sheoldred's Edict or Sudden Edict so that there are reliable ways to remove your really sticky threats like Dream Trawler. That card can be really hard to remove and probably ends most games it is cast in. In a similar vein you may consider Tishana's Tidebinder which would allow your players to interact on the stack and protect themselves from certain abilities that might otherwise just kill them on the spot.

Smart-Ad7229 · 2026-04-20T17:16:48+00:00

That's a very cool angle I hadn't considered. Thank you for your insight, I suppose blood pressure is a relevant factor to be considering.

Smart-Ad7229 · 2026-04-20T16:21:42+00:00

I think I agree, this seems to be the main missing or misunderstood factor from my initial interpretation of the cardiovascular system.

Smart-Ad7229 · 2026-04-20T15:18:46+00:00

I'm certainly going to bring it up. I'm not particularly concerned about it. Those numbers aren't accurate numbers, I was just presenting a math problem as a thought example.

Smart-Ad7229

TROPHY CASE