The Deep Dive: Recent Episodes
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A podcast dedicated to the Historic Cube format, its unique characteristics and its ongoing evolution. Join our community for weekly Historic cubing and discussion! We fire drafts on Sundays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, in addition to rotating rotisserie drafts. https://discord.gg/6ncYbzU
https://discord.gg/6ncYbzU
https://cubecobra.com/user/view/5d7e611e18ab6b1e4f54272f
Join us this week as we take a deep dive into Rakdos. Rakdos is one of the most thematically deep guilds in the Historic card pool and offers designers a range of options to work with. From brutally fast aggro, to attrition based sacrifice and grindy graveyard decks, the coolest guild in Magic has it all.
Links
Our Discord Community
Cube Cobra Page
YouTube Content
Join us this week as we dive into the topic of rotisserie drafting! Getting into your first roto draft can be daunting and there are a variety of ways to approach it. We demystify the subject for you and give some of our own preferred perspectives on the practice. We've also included a convenient template for organizing your own roto drafts in the links below! We did not create this sheet, so full credit to the Lucky Paper Radio gents for making this available when they did their own episode on roto drafting. Thanks guys!
Links
Our Discord Community
Cube Cobra Page
YouTube Content
ROTO Draft Template
Join us this week as we dive into a world of gangsters, glittering towers and back stabbing on the streets of New Capenna!
Links
Our Discord Community
Cube Cobra Page
YouTube Content
Hey folks!
We're back after a short hiatus to bring you an overview of the available strategies in the upcoming Tinkerer's Cube on Arena. This cube is a more casual power level and features alternative themes to the more traditional Arena Cube. Join us as we explore what's real, and what's not there, in this week's episode of The Deep Dive!
Links
Tinkerer's Cube List
Our Discord Community
Cube Cobra Page
YouTube Content
Join us this week as we discuss the most powerful cards available in the Historic card pool! We approached our lists from different perspectives and a number of powerful cards are discussed at length.
Links
Our Discord Community
Cube Cobra Page
YouTube Content
Join us this week as we dive into the inky depths of Black in Historic cube! In this episode we cover Black's:
- Identity in Magic
- Journey in our own cube
- Best strategies in Historic cube
- Needs in future design
We will be covering the other colors in depth in their own dedicated, future episodes. Stay spooky, black mages.
It's a good ole' fashioned set review. This set features a lot of thematic depth, stunning flavor and, most importantly, a slate of great cards for cube. Not much else to say about it, let's dive in!
Links
Our Discord Community
Cube Cobra Page
YouTube Content
In this week's episode we dive into the topic of "Baneslayers" as a creature type.
How do you define one? Why do they struggle in today's powerful cube environments? What does it take for a Baneslayer to compete in today's Magic?
If you're a fan of this style of card and want to make them work in your environment, this discussion is for you.
Links
Our Discord Community
Cube Cobra Page
YouTube Content
It feels a little odd to release a 2021 retrospective 2 weeks after everyone else, but we thought it was important to get our Arena Cube primer out before the Arena Decathlon event.
Join us as we review a ridiculous year for White, bear with Chris as he chugs a whole gallon of Hater-ade and look ahead to the releases of 2022.
Happy (belated) New Years everyone.
Links
Our Discord Community
Cube Cobra Page
YouTube Content
Hi all,
The first high-profile event involving Arena cube is taking place this upcoming January 8th! This seminal event is qualified for with tokens earned from various "Decathlon" events happening now. Top prize for the best-of-3 Arena cube event includes a complete (x4) set of Kamigawa and an envy-incuding Jace, the Mind Sculptor avatar.
Historic cube is our corner of the neighborhood and, whether you're planning to spike the event or simply enjoy more oppo tears, The Deep Dive has the hot takes you need to hit the queues running. Join us as we evaluate the new list and get your edge!
Links
Arena Cube List
Our Discord Community
Cube Cobra Page
YouTube Content
We are back this week with the final (we promise!) episode of our running build-a-cube series. The list we'll be discussing today can be found here:
The Thematic Cube
After building our basic archetype cube, getting some reps in with the play group and feeling out our environment it's time to spice things up with some themes.
We'll be going through the process of adding themes from start to finish. Throughout the process we'll be discussing theme identification, cross-pollination, color overlap, effect density and other considerations.
We'll also be touching on tuning our environment's play experience/power outliers now that we've played some matches (hint: Teferi, Time Raveler is a miserable Magic card).
Links
Our Discord Community
Cube Cobra Page
YouTube Content
Hi all,
Apologies for the wonky release schedule, holidays and all that. The cube example used for this episode can be found here:
The Basic Archetype Cube
In this episode we take the principles outlined in the "Building Colors and Basic Archetype Design" and apply to to actually building a cube! The constructed cube will be a theme-less good stuff cube to focus on basic card selection and environment construction.
The topic of density is discussed at length, in addition to basic gold section design and other principles.
Links
Our Discord Community
Cube Cobra Page
YouTube Content
This week we dive into theme development and gold section design. Once we've built our first iteration of the cube and developed our aggro, midrange and aggressive archetypes we can look to add dynamic flavor to our project with themes.
This episode tackles defining themes as a concept, choosing themes for your cube and cross-pollinating them for a fluid, creative drafting experience.
Join us next episode as we synthesize the approaches from the series, building an example cube and talking through the design process!
Links
Our Discord Community
Cube Cobra Page
YouTube Content
Join us this week as we venture deeper into Innistrad with our Crimson Vow review. The episode was recorded the night before the final commons dump. Anything (that we consider) relevant that was missed will be covered at the top of our next episode. This set features a wide spread of playable cards so strap your flippers on and let's dive!
Links
Our Discord Community
Cube Cobra Page
YouTube Content
Hey all,
This week we continue our "Build-a-Cube" series aimed at helping novice or prospective cube designers conceptualize and build a cube.
This episode focuses on understanding Magic's basic archetypes, how to build mono-colored sections including these archetypes, effect density to support archetypes and how archetypes cross over between colors.
The goal is to provide a blueprint for building a classically structured cube that makes standard archetypes available to drafters without complex, narrow themes. The next episode in the series will cover theme development and more specific synergies in cube.
This series will span 4 episodes and cover this topic in depth:
- Episode 1: Goals and Parameters
- Episode 2: Building Colors and Basic Archetype Design
- Episode 3: Theme Development and Gold Section Design
- Episode 4: Iteration and Improvement
Links
Our Discord Community
Cube Cobra Page
YouTube Content
Hey all,
This week we kick off our "Build-a-Cube" series aimed at helping novice or prospective cube designers conceptualize and build a cube. More advanced content later in the series will be relevant to new and veteran cubers alike.
This episode address the goals and parameters to establish for your cube before you select a single card. What do you want your environment to feel like? What play and draft experience are you looking for? Are you on a budget or have a specific card pool in mind? Join us as we explore these questions and more.
This series will span 4 episodes and cover this topic in depth:
- Episode 1: Goals and Parameters
- Episode 2: Mono-Color Design
- Episode 3: Multicolor Design and Theme Development
- Episode 4: Iteration and Improvement
Links
Our Discord Community
Cube Cobra Page
YouTube Content
Hey all,
Apologies for the late post, your boy has been down with a back injury.
This week is the obligatory MID review! You've likely heard these cards reviewed at this stage but who doesn't love more card talk? We'll be back next week with another cube design topic, for now enjoy Tim's sultry, enchanting vocal stylings.
Links
Our Discord Community
Cube Cobra Page
YouTube Content
This week we take a dive down to an old shipwreck full of relics from civilizations past. Historic cube has received some old cards with pedigrees, generally from Historic Anthologies and reprint sets. We were excited to receive these cards but some of them have not proven up to snuff by modern design standards. Join us as we examine some dusty old cardboard and why it's just not cutting it anymore.
Links/Contact
Our Discord Community
Cube Cobra Page
YouTube Content
This week we dive into green removal, its role in cube and design considerations around its inclusion. Join us as we bite into green!
Links/Contact
Our Discord Community
Cube Cobra Page
YouTube Content
This week we review Jumpstart: Horizons for Historic Cube. The vast majority of these cards have been previously printed and will be discussed as packages that will have a substantial impact on our format. From tempo, to white tokens, to blink, Christmas has come early this year. All hail Soulherder!
Links/Contact
Our Discord Community
Cube Cobra Page
YouTube Content
On this week's episode Tim and Chris examine themes and packages possibly contained in Jumpstart: Horizons and the implications they could have for Historic cube design. Some existing themes are receiving excellent new support while other themes, like artifact aggro, are being pushed in the card pool for the first time. Join us as we examine the overall design implications the coming influx of Horizons cards represents!
Links/Contact
Our Discord Community
Cube Cobra Page
YouTube Content
This week Theo is standing in for Chris while he is away on vacation. Dive into Adventures in the Forgotten Realms with us as we review this set for Historic Cube!
Links/Contact
Our Discord Community
Cube Cobra Page
YouTube Content
Hey folks! This week we're talking parasitic archetypes, what defines them and the implications they can have for your cube design. Parasitic archetype design is a classic pitfall when piecing a cube together, especially if you're just starting out. In other news, Jank Diver Gaming recently participated in a cube team draft against a squad from Ryan Spain's Going Optimal Discord and recorded our drafts and matches. Check it out on our YouTube page if you enjoy watching the drafting process.
Links/Contact
Our Discord Community
Cube Cobra Page
YouTube Content
This week we are joined by Theopolist, admin extraordinaire and talented cuber, to discuss the design and overall gameplay of the most recent iteration of the Arena Cube. The Arena Cube, while flawed, is serving as a gateway into the hobby for a new generation of Magic players and we are excited to share our thoughts on it with the community! A link to the Arena Cube list is included next to our regular contacts list below.
Links/Contact
Arena Cube List
Our Discord Community
Cube Cobra Page
YouTube Content
Considering building a Peasant cube to get into the hobby? We're back this week with some lessons-learned from designing and playtesting our own Peasant cube in the Historic card pool. Benefit from our experience and avoid these pitfalls when putting together your first draft!
Links/Contact
Our Discord Community
Cube Cobra Page
YouTube Content
Chris and Tim are back with a more free form episode that is purely an audition tape for the WOTC design team! C'mon guys, we always bring donuts and we never forget an office birthday. This episode is dedicated to the things we would like to see added to the Historic card pool AND new effects that we feel should or could be added to the game, divided by color. The main discussion is preceded by a brief review of Historic Anthology V for Historic cube. If you, the listeners, have any ideas for new design spaces his us up in the Discord and let us know!
Links/Contact
Our Discord Community
YouTube Content
Time Stamps
Historic Anthology V- 5:35
White- 48:16
Blue- 1:39:30
Black- 1:48:15
Red- 2:01:00
Green- 2:16:50
Colorless- 2:32:10
In this week's episode we give the Jank Diver Peasant Cube the primer treatment! Our design goals and supported archetypes are covered here, in addition to some general thoughts on the Peasant format. If you're considering building a Peasant cube yourself have a listen and benefit from our lessons learned. We draft this cube through our growing Discord community (link below) every Sunday at 7:30 p.m. EST. The list is linked below for those that want to follow along!
List: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/jdgp
Discord: https://discord.gg/6ncYbzU
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCot_0XDKU-H7ZQ1f8B25Cgg
E-mail: jankdivergaming@gmail.com
In this week's episode we cover the design goals, themes and color identities found in our community's Unrestricted cube. If you enjoy overviews of cube construction this episode is for you! The list is linked below for those that want to follow along.
List: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/jdgu
Discord: https://discord.gg/6ncYbzU
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCot_0XDKU-H7ZQ1f8B25Cgg
E-mail: jankdivergaming@gmail.com
Chris and Tim of Jank Diver Gaming review Strixhaven for the Historic cube environment in the second episode of the Deep Dive. Stick around after the card reviews where the hosts discuss the design of the set itself with a focus on mechanics and cube applicability. Time stamps below.
Contact
Our Discord Community
YouTube Content
Time Stamps
White
Archive- 12:50
Main Set- 27:05
Blue
Archive- 42:00
Main Set- 58:15
Black
Archive- 1:11:00
Main Set- 1:31:15
Red
Archive-1:54:55
Main Set- 2:03:34
Green
Archive-2:08:20
Main Set-2:27:46
Colorless and Multicolored
Colorless- 2:39:02
Multicolor- 2:46:05
Design Review
Criticism- 3:35:45
What We Liked:-3:53:20
The Deep Dive's inaugural show! Meet the hosts Chris and Tim and join them for a discussion of Historic Cube as a format from a high-level perspective.