A Conversation with Anthony Adams aka. UberBear of the Uber Cube Podcast

 I was fortunate enough to stumble across the  > UberCube Podcast < right before a trip to the Zoo a few years ago. Anthony, Stu and May bring a wonderful friendly vibe and make you want to draft or even build a cube. I joked with my wife after binging a few episodes, "I would love to play with these guys! They just have such a fun vibe, I have to listen to this"

    When I learned that Anthony lived in my state, I reached out and he has been super gracious. I have gotten a chance to meet and play with him and the other great folks from Raleigh, NC several times and am proud to have them as friends. 

When thinking about who I could highlight on the blog and bring a different kind of discussion to, Anthony was top of my list. If you haven't met him, you hopefully can get a chance to learn more about one of the nicest and best creators in the cube space in this conversation. 

LastAbzan, 

Hey Anthony, how was Cube Con?

Uber Bear,  

It was a wonderful experience, reminiscent of the first Cube Con. 

The vibes were rich, and the setting felt very casual and the energy was positive throughout the space .

We stayed at an Airbnb and that really helped us get well rested each night where we played Magic over a kitchen table and talked about our experiences throughout the day.

It was also really amazing to be recognized by individuals in the crowd for our podcast. It was personally rewarding to help grow the Cube community. 

The event was five stars all around!

LastAbzan, 

Cube Con seems to be one of those events that can really help connect you to the greater magic community. For anyone that's not familiar with your podcast, tell us a little bit about it.

Uber Bear, 

Years ago, I had the idea that I wanted to be the change that I wanted to see in the Cube community. Likewise I would challenge everyone to do the same and to share your voices.

That was the inception of the podcast. From there, Stu and I decided to put the proverbial pen to paper. 

Our podcast is a way that we can channel our back porch conversations on a hobby that we are passionate about as a group. 

As the show has evolved, we found it as a medium to share ideas, design, philosophies, and to challenge our thoughts as well as listeners by presenting meta free flow conversations on cube curation. 

LastAbzan, 

How did you and Stu come across Cube? I may recall hearing in one of your episodes that you guys played EDH prior. Is that how you guys met?

Uber Bear,

Stu was playing modern and vintage online.

I was commander and Chris Moore aka Sammich  introduced us to his Pauper cube and perhaps vintage. Timelines are fuzzy when you’re having fun.

May, she was and is a commander player who wanted to design something interesting from the Eldraine story book adventures.

Stu and I converted our commander game conversations/discourse to MTG as a whole  and down the rabbit hole from there on. 

LastAbzan,

How do 4 players that are playing different formats come together in the first place? I am very curious now.

Uber Bear, 

I think ultimately, it was a treasure hunt for finding what brought us all to the game to begin with that kitchen table vibe. Also all four of us favor the idea of creation and game design.

LastAbzan,

I am sure that sentiment is shared with a lot of Magic players. 

How has being a "creator" affected your relationship to the game and the cube community as a whole?

Uber Bear, 

This one is complicated. Since we release every week, I find myself scouring from games in the name of content more than one should. Honest answer is I find a single solid interaction in a game or card response, take notes, and then form an episode. This opposed to just playing the game sometimes can be difficult. 

While it doesn't impact the joy of playing, it does cause me to think more than I sometimes should about a future episode instead of living in the moment of the game if that makes sense. Also being a content creator does shine a spotlight on the imperfections in the performance of a cube. This is certainly self imposed however it can feel like if I am going to talk about one of my designs it better be mostly right. 

On the other coin I sometimes force the idea of just playing the game and turning off that content side of the brain. Cube Con was like this I just played. Now that I am home of course I am going to write about the experience for future recordings. 

I think I could give one piece of advice to myself and your readers is to make time for yourself to enjoy the game for what it is and not what the world expects it to be.

LastAbzan,

That's a great reminder. Well said. 

You drove up to CC with the local Raleigh playgroup.  What is the food situation like on the road up, and how would you characterize the Madison food scene in general?

Uber Bear,

The trip it was not an amazing food experience lol, fast food and protein bars and I am pretty sure a BK Whopper was the death of me. 

Madison however the food was excellent. We have this place we visit every year called the American Tavern that has the best Old Fashions paired with smoke brisket in all forms. We also visited a Public House and had some delightful meals paired with a little bar cube style play. 

Madison has a lot to explore in terms of food and beverage, I would rate it highly. 

LastAbzan, 

I feel like bad fast food is part of the road trip experience. You kind of roll the dice and hope you picked the right place. 

I am personally a snack fiend on the road. Do you have any Go-To travel foods, drinks?

Uber Bear,

Sure do, Waterloo of all flavors and coffee. Food, I lean towards a Quest Bar and trail mix. Keep it simple and have focus foods for driving. Eating healthy while on a long road trip is important as BK has proven lol.

LastAbzan,

You're much better than me. I have to have beef jerky. Usually a sour candy as well. And a diet coke. Lol 

You have several, pretty famous cubes. Which one is your personal favorite to draft from a gameplay perspective?

Uber Bear,

Uber Bear's Artifact Cube. The technical aspects and deck diversity is appealing to me. Plus it was the most difficult to design and curate. The color shifted context or lack there of (55% colorless) created the challenge of balancing.

LastAbzan, 

That's also my favorite of what I've played of yours. I love trinkets. 

You tend to build cubes that have restrictions or clear themes. Outside of your powered cube of course. Is that intentional? Does having a challenge upfront help you hone in and avoid building a homogeneous cube?

Uber Bear, 

Yes. I like thematic  design it allows me to express myself artistically. For those that don’t know I love to write and I love to draw. 

I kinda combined both of these ideas when I’m creating a narrative within a cube .

Take for example The Monopoly. 

Every card choice specifically the name points towards economics . 

Even if I’m being abstract at points towards the idea  of the American dream for all of its faults and imperfections as well as its positive outcomes. 

It’s a way that I can tell a story about corruption and about those that are trying to scratch their way to the surface all the while mimicking a love and hated board game 

LastAbzan,

I love it, quite flavorful. I do recall drafting that cube a while back and getting stomped. 

Do you have any art examples you wanna share?

Uber Bear,

Bear and Bull Markets

 

Endless Debt

Retirement OR the Lottery

LastAbzan 

Very flavorful. 

Wanna share any of your personal art as well?

Uber Bear, 

LastAbzan 

These are great! I had no idea you did the logo for the show. 

I like to draw as well, but have a hard time with freeform and maintaining proper proportions. 

Have you taken any classes?

Uber Bear 

My father taught me while reading stories he sketched them 

We drew together

LastAbzan 

That is a great thing to continue and pass on. 

I appreciate you taking the time to chat with me. I just have a few more questions to finish up. 

What is your favorite episode of the podcast thus far?

Uber Bear

PK’s having Stu personify  Sloppidy Bilepiper 😂

Seriously I actually enjoyed making The unconventional archetypes episode. It was neat to delve into atypical cube/deck, construction.

LastAbzan 

I'll have to relisten to those.

Do you have a favorite Magic card?

Uber Bear 

Yes, this card represents my retirement lol. I  ❤️ Folio's art! 2nd Favorite is Bobo. It was my first real commander deck that I still have together and tune. I love the art and the questions this card ask of the opponents. 

LastAbzan

Hahaha, that art is fantastic. 

We're chatting just as fall hits in North Carolina. Do you have a favorite fall drink? Beer and non-alcoholic beverage

Uber Bear 

Yes. Atomic Pumpkin (spicy) by New Belgium 

Non - coffee with cinnamon

LastAbzan

I haven't done coffee with cinnamon before. Sounds nice. 

What's next for the podcast? You had Uber Cube-a-thon previously, are there other events or other content you're working on?

Uber Bear 

We are working on a secret event still in talks TBD on that one. We are working on adding more YouTube engagement with the online cubes we have in our arsenal on the Uber Cube Discord. In progress on this one too.

LastAbzan 

Very cool. I'll keep an eye out for those.

Appreciate your time! Any parting words?

Uber Bear 

Cube may not outlive Magic but the  Cubemunity will.

Kitty Time: SamP's Arena Cube Roto Draft Part 3

Not going to lie, this has been a very fun, and mind melting experience already. The fact that I have to consider really every card in the cube before I pick is a lot to take in. I want to be open to a lot of different strategies, but also I want to find my direction soon so I can get key pieces. It's a difficult balancing act that I am having fun trying to understand and balance. 

   Day 3: Yesterday ended really well. I did end up taking Mox Opal. Opal is going to pair really nicely with Currency Converter. Taking inexpensive cards that can also have a game warping effect is already something I want to do, and Mox Opal is as close to a Mox as I am going to get in this cube. It's also early enough to build around. 

   

I'm going to catch you up on the other pics as well. Both of the Goyfs have been taken. Ocelot Pride, Thoughtseize, both Hierarch's, Gut, Phlage, Ancient Tomb. It's also important to note that the drafter two seats or three seats away from me drafted Urza, Lord High Artificer. This could be a control win condition, but it may mean I will compete with them for some cards in the artifact lane. 

  I do want to call out what some of these decks look like through the start. It's interesting is that we have four different mono color drafters. I am one of them and so far I am on a black. 

We have the mono blue player that is clearly playing control with an artifact sub theme. 

We then have an aggressive but blink value-based monowhite drafter using Phelia, Solitude, Path to Exile, Elite Spellbinder and both of the Thraben Inspector variants that are in the cube. 

The monored player has Ragavan, Pyrogoyf, Ancient Tomb, Fable of the Mirror Breaker, Laelia, Fury and Chain Lightning. 

The other decks at the table are green X. We have the first player who is drafting Simic but mainly green. They have three fetch lands and two Mana dorks, Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student, Springheart Nantuko, Scythecat Club, and Six. 

We have a clear reanimator deck which is pick number two. They have Reanimate, Thoughtseize, Gut, Troll of Khazad-Dum, Sephiroth and Yagmoth. 

Then we have a Boros value pile. You could say it's boros good stuff; Swords to Plowshares, Ocelot Pride, Phlage, Goblin Bombardment, Lightning Bolt, Reprieve, Stone Forge Mystic and Arena of Glory. 

Then we have a Jund player with two fetch lands, Birds of Paradise, Barrogoyf, Icetill Explorer, Emperor of Bones, Fatal Push, Inti, Fear of Missing Out. 

Then we have the Strip Mine player who is playing Wrenn and Six , three fetch lands, Rofellos and Primevil Titan. 

  We have Dimir control / reanimator strategy with Crabomination, Fallen Shinobi, Sheoldred, Dark Ritual, Dauthi Voidwalker, Overlord of the Balemurk, Time Warp + Temporal Manipulation, Stock Up and Unholy Annex. 

  So that brings me back to myself and where I sit in all of this. I am the fourth pick out of 10. 

Pick 3, I took Deathrite Shaman. Desperate Shaman to me counts as really important interaction. There are two copies of each fetch land in the cube, there are also several very clear reanimator strategies. I am looking at Dauthi Voidwalker, Yawgmoth, Reanimate, Fear of Missing Out and Icetill Explorer all as really powerful ways to interact with the graveyard. So Deathrite Shaman being another black spell to follow up my Demonic Tutor and being able to interact with these strategies and potentially even ramping me, I was very high on my list. So I was able to take it and then immediately afterwards there's more powerful cars that were taken. I am thinking about my interaction and my potential threats. I am trying to balance the amount of interaction, with the amount of proactive pieces for my own game plan as well. So, Deathrite Shaman was an interactive piece in my mind, and then on the way back I noticed that Lurrus was not taken yet. 

  While I was doing this Roto draft, I was also drafting my IPA Cube at a bar. So I was kind of distracted during all of this. I thought for a long period of time about what I should take next and I looked at Lurrus as a very clear power outlier. So I ended up taking it on the way back to me. It works really well with Mox Opal, Currency Converter and other cards I have. It gives me a direction to go down.  I'm very early in the draft and I feel like having a direction of some kind that narrows my focus on what I want to draft is helpful in distilling down the massive amount of cards that are around and focusing in on something clear and proactive.

   
   After Lurrus, I really wanted to pick up another piece of interaction and something that would work well with countering all of the aggressive Decks that I'm looking at. So if I'm facing down Ocelot Pride or a Phelia, I want some ways to catch back up. I ended up taking the Meathook Massacre. I feel like this is a win condition and also away for me to extend the game by boardwiping and gaining a lot of life in the process. So I took that very highly. With Lurrus it's something I could just play from my graveyard for two Mana using Lurrus' ability to slowly drain my opponent out using some kind of a sacrifice outlet. After that pic a lot of other really good cards went and this is not very surprising cuz we're in still in the top 100 cards in the entire cube out of 540. However Massacre got me thinking about an aristocrats type game plan. Also the artifacts that I am also looking at, I didn't think would be prioritized as much by other people. So, I took a gamble and grabbed Marionette Apprentice.

   This was such a perfect card for my deck because I already had MOX opal and I wanted a way to grind out the long game. It made two bodies for 2 mana, it's something I could recur very easily and it worked really well with what Lurrus is trying to do, which is replay cheap spells out of the graveyard. It also combos with treasure tokens from currency converter or other artifacts that I might pick up later to enable my Mox. Nobody else has been blatantly saying I'm playing artifacts just yet outside of potentially the blue player. The blue player picked Urza second pick, however they didn't pick any other artifacts afterwards. That is, until pick 7 with Retrofitter Foundry. Then, my nightmare scenario; they also take Bauble on the way back. Perfect card to pair with Mox and Lurrus. Ouch.

     I'm really at this point I'm still focusing on mainly black. It would be really nice to be able to stay in a one color for as long as possible in my opinion. It just makes my manabase that much easier. It also allows me to stay flexible and watch what other people are doing and jump into a color only if I feel like it's really open. I think that's important because I'm looking at some of the fetch lands getting taken pretty highly and I personally would like to take a fetch that maybe goes in a color that other people are not taking so I can get my key pieces early. So I ended up taking Chthonian Nightmare as a follow-up to Apprentice and Meathook. Is so perfect for my deck because it works well with sacrifice/aristocrats plan. It also basically gives me another copy of Lurrus. I feel like if I'm going to go into the strategy, I should prioritize something that's going to give me a redundant effect in case Lurrus is answered.

Side note: I'm really excited about with this deck as I feel like it counters a lot of the other really strong decks at the table. I'm looking at very aggressive mono red right next to me and I'm looking at a mono white deck on the other side. Those are some of the strongest decks that you can play, however I feel like my deck can gum up the board, gain some life and replay lots of different cards to be able to out value them in the long game. I will be able to go toe2toe with those decks by making cheap creatures that you don't necessarily want to deal. I should be able to stall the board so I have time to find and cast my board wipes. I will need time to tutor, find my answers and have a lot of ways to interact. That's my game plan right now. Just a pure Lurrus value, long game, mid-range type of a game plan. 

   Now the blue player is somewhat concerning because they interact really well with like my bigger spells. However, if you're in mono blue you don't have access to board wipes, and you don't have access to a lot of good creature removal. So my deck I think is also going to be able to pressure a control player very early and get underneath them while they're trying to set up late game engines. So I feel pretty good about my spot. Luckily enough, after I picked up Chthonian Nightmare I picked up Bitterblossom.

Bitterblossom to me in this cube is one of the strongest cards. There are Planeswalkers in this Cube and there are a lot of ways to make tokens in this Cube. I wanted a way to pressure my opponent and pressure their Planeswalkers but also add to my proactive game plan. Give me a body to sack to a Chthonian Nightmare, give me bodies to win with Meathook Massacre and Marionette Apprentice. I'm imagining stalling the game to a point where I have five flyers in play and I just end up winning with a boardwipe to drain for final points of damage. The cheap fliers should also do a good job of blanking my opponents threats with these really difficult to interact with pieces. 


So, I'm looking at my next couple of pics and I'm very excited with where the deck's going. I have a game plan. I also have a need for fixing and removal, and I'm thinking about jumping into white or red or even blue but definitely not green. Green seems to be very contested. Blue and Red seem to be contested as well on the splash. So I'm looking at white and red because the cards that I'm interested in are not going to be the same as the current drafters in those colors. II'm also thinking about taking more graveyard interaction with Agatha's Soul Cauldron and I think that's going to be my next pick because it combinations with Deathrite and some of the key Lurrus pieces like Selfless Spirit and Zack Fair. Or even the cards that my opponents are going to be playing that I want to get rid of like, Dauthi and Yawgmoth.

Do we have a plan? Roto Draft pt. 2

It's the start of day two of our Roto draft of Sam Pratt's Arena Cube. So far I'll catch you up on the pics that have happened so far.

1.Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student. 2. Reanimate 3. Swords to Plowshares 4.Demonic Tutor 5. Ragavan 6. Birds of Paradise 7. Manaleak 8. Wrenn and Six 9. Crabomination 10. Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd.

Round 2:

11. Solitude 12. Fallen Shinobi 13. Strip Mine 14. Urza, Lord High Artificer 15. Barrowgoyf 16. Pyrogoyf and finally my pick #17. Currency Converter

                                

All right so let's talk about why I'm taking Currency Converter here. I thought really long and hard about taking Mox Opal with my first pick. No one has taken Mox Opal, and it doesn't look like anybody is going into artifacts (other than potentially the Urza Player). The fact that he doesn't pick until I've already made my next pick. So, I decided to take CC. It ties together so many different strategies, and it can also become a win condition in and of itself. It is a very unique effect, at a very low cost and it's new to Magic Arena.


So I feel like people maybe have not caught on to how good this card is. I'm passing to the first three players, and I don't feel like any of them are really going to want Mox Opal other than potentially the Tamiyo player. I feel fairly confident that Mox Opal can wheel, and if Max Opal wheels then I'm going to feel really good about picking it up and being very open to a multitude of different strategies.


Currency converter is probably one of the best if not the best(outside of entomb) ways to enable
reanimator and graveyard synergies. I think it's going to really pair nicely with Mox Opal.


Right now it's looking like a may want to go into a couple of different things. My original plan of taking infinite turns it's definitely still on the table. But I don't want to advertise what I want to do super early in this draft. We have a couple of players that I think are going to try to fight for red and white. They're going to go aggro and that's fantastic, but I feel like the removal in the amount of sweepers in this Cube tell me to go into a more controlling deck. I personally don't feel like I have to really sweat and worry as much as I maybe would in another typical draft about the aggro decks.

So I'm looking at my future pics and I already know that this deck really wants to have answers. I am going to really prioritize Toxic Deluge and Meathook Massacre because these are blanket answers to all creatures in Black. Meat Hook Massacre is able to gain me life and catch me back up versus something like Ragavan or Ocelot Pride/ token strategies that are very prevalent in environment.

Outside of the board sweepers, I am going to want efficient single target removal as well. I don't want to have someone play a turn one Ragavan or Ocelot pride and then end up just conceding the game because I don't enough answers. Since, I have currency converter, it's going to play really well into a deck that plays at instant speed. I can hold up counter magic and bait my opponent into deploying their threats. I'll be able to either answer them or if they don't, I can activate converter to find my pieces and gain graveyard advantage while adding to the board. Since, I have access to Demonic Tutor, I have two copies of all of my best spells in my entire deck. I feel like it's going to make my deck so much more consistent.


So far I'm feeling pretty good to start day two and I'm excited to see kind of where things go. I feel like I'll probably have another pic today and I'm looking at Opal.

My first Roto Draft, SamP's Arena Legal Cube

All right so I am drafting Sam Pratt's Arena Cube, rotisserie style. I'll be sharing my thoughts on the experience, draft and keep you up to date during the process.

For those of you who are not familiar with Sam, he is the host of Rough Drafts. Sam is a long time limited magic player and is very knowledgeable about retail draft. Rough drafts is usually a deep dive on a topic or single card specific to the current retail magic set. So, if you like to wax poetic about your favorite common, find hidden gems and uses for innocuous 2 drop creatures in the current format, Sam is your guy.

Now that you know who Sam is, let's talk about Roto draft and this cube before we discuss my first picks.

A rotisserie draft basically means that you are going in a sequential pick order out of the entire pool of cards in the cube. You're then going to snake back around at the end of the rounds. The last player to pick gets the first pick in the next round. You'll just go round by round. pick by pick and you're drafting face up.

Sam's cube is a pretty fun format, and features only cards that are on MTG Arena. There are a lot of powerful and familiar cards available on the client now. Arena went from being Ixalan and Dominaria, to featuring 5 years of sets and also numerous older cards with help from the "bonus sheet" and Historic Anthologies. Strip Mine, Ulamog(the OG), Demonic Tutor and Ragavan are just a few of the cards now available on Arena. Sam has done a good job of balancing powerful cards with efficient interaction. There are must answer one drop creatures like Ocelot Pride and Ragavan, and powerful interaction like Counterspell and Dismember. If you want to take a look at the list, I have it linked it up top.

Now, let's get into the draft:

I got slot number four and I was looking through the list of cards and I was trying to think of anything that I felt like was extremely scarce. Is there anything very powerful and flexible? I think it's pretty strong to have access to one of the only tutors in the cube. I like to play combo, control and I like to be able to have answers when I need the answers. So pick number four, I decided to take demonic tutor.


I immediately got some shade for the pick by the people that I'm drafting with, which makes Roto draft pretty fun. It kind of reminds me of drafting a fantasy football team with buddies, where we can joke around and share when we get sniped the pick before or laugh at the one guy who always picks a kicker way too early.

Apparently people don't value something like demonic tutor. The reason people were saying it's not that good, is because they don't feel like combo is a thing that you can do in Sam's Cube. However I tend to disagree. I pointed this out to Sam just a couple of days ago, that you have the ability to go infinite for turns with some Time Walk effects at 5 mana. There are also several very good board sweeping effects, good counter spells and there is a ton of graveyard recursion.

So my plan with this demonic tutor pick is to open myself up to play some key pieces or build arounds, whether that is a combo or another deck where you want access to a card or two for it to come together. I was afraid to commit to something too narrow from the get-go. If I want to try to go infinite on turns, demonic tutor can help me get my busted card or the ways I need to combo off. I've already done this in this Cube once and I went 2-1, but I didn't have a demonic tutor. There is Time Warp there's Temporal Manipulation, there's the simic Tamio Planeswalker that gets something back out of the graveyard, there is Eternal Witness, Timeless Witness and there is also Commit to Memory.

So my plan with my tutor is, I'm going to play this in really any deck. I'm going attempt to cheekily sneak in a couple extra turn effects and all of the graveyard interaction that I need to recur those. Now, this sounds maybe sounds like an all-in strategy, But, I don't think that both of those Time Walk effects are going to be taken very highly based on the group of people were drafting with. Regardless of whether or not my intial plan comes together, I will always be able to play Demonic Tutor and be very happy about it. As I mentioned before, I am looking for powerful build around cards. I'm less interested in building a "good stuff" deck. Even so, being able to have a 2nd copy of everything in my deck is going to allow me to do that more consistently. Heck, I'll even grab a land if I end up getting mana screwed.

Let's go through a couple of the other first picks. Also some of the cards the notable cars that have not been taking this round.

So we start off with Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student which is a one mana planeswalker basically. Very powerful card.

Then we have reanimate, which is extremely powerful and flexible which is very good. However, Reanimate is the best of several very good reanimation effects. In this Cube you also have: Emperor of Bones, Necromancy and I think there may be one or two more reanimation effects. Clearly reanimate is the best version of that but it's not something that you can't get into later on.

Then there was strip mine, and swords to plowshares. These are all good cards, but I want to name some of the cars that have not been picked yet. Mox opal Chrome Mox, Ancient Tomb.... These cards are so flexible and so powerful that they basically allow you to cheat mana for free. There's so there's no downside to these at 0 mana. Any deck would want this.

I thought long and hard about drafting Mox Opal and committing early to an artifact plan, because there is a ton of artifact support. However, I decided on demonic tutor because of the fact that there is nothing else like it in the cube.

We're going to see if this proves to be the correct pick or not. This is my first Roto draft. And I'm excited to have it in the deck already and look for a game-winning combo or control finisher.