Cycles are typically a group of five or ten cards, printed in the same set, each representing a color or guild, with similar flavor or function. For example, the original cycle consisted of Healing Salve, Ancestral Recall, Dark Ritual, Lightning Bolt, and Giant Growth – each a one-mana instant which featured the number three. As is clear from that very first cycle, not all cards are created equal.

In this article, I take a look at which cards in my cube originate from cycles, and which cards from those cycles I chose to play or cut.

Core Set Titans

At one time, the entire Titan cycle were cube staples. However, in the ten years since their printing, Grave Titan, Inferno Titan, and Primeval Titan have pulled far ahead of Sun Titan and Frost Titan in my cube.

Each of the Jund Titans offers its color a game-ending threat that demands an answer. Grave Titan quickly builds an army of Zombies that impact the board even after the Titan is removed. Inferno Titan clears blockers and pushes huge chunks of damage at your opponent. Primeval Titan ramps, thins, and fetches vital man lands or utility lands from your deck.

While I technically still run Sun Titan, I don’t think it’s been main-decked in about two years. Both it and Frost Titan have been outclassed by more efficient, powerful, and resilient top-end win conditions like Elspeth, Sun's Champion, Will Kenrith, or Torrential Gearhulk.

Lorwyn Planeswalkers

The original cycle of Planeswalkers brought a new avenue of attack to cubers’ arsenals. Jace Beleren and Garruk Wildspeaker still shine today, while Ajani Goldmane, Chandra Nalaar, and Liliana Vess haven’t scratched my cube in years.

Jace Beleren generates continual card advantage in control and midrange decks. It efficiently pressures your opponent to find an answer to your draw engine while allowing you to develop both your board and your hand. Garruk Wildspeaker is a quintessential Planeswalker – protecting itself, ramping, and quickly threatening to end the game with an ultimate. While these original Planeswalkers may not be among the most powerful ever printed, they still hold their own in cube as role-players.

All three of the Mardu Planeswalkers are still viable in low-power settings, but have been drastically outclassed in my cube. Ajani Goldmane is atrocious from behind, with neither of its non-ultimate abilities impacting an empty board. Chandra Nalaar doesn’t have an impactful enough +1 and its -X is inefficient removal. Liliana Vess has been outdated by Planeswalkers at half the cost like Liliana of the Veil or more powerful options such as Liliana, Death's Majesty.

Urza’s Legacy Man Lands

The Urza’s Legacy Man Lands were the first cycle I broke in my cube. While I played with Forbidding Watchtower, Ghitu Encampment, and Spawning Pool in early iterations of my cube, only Faerie Conclave and Treetop Village survived.

Both Faerie Conclave and Treetop Village meet the game plan and add dimension to the land sections of their respective colors. Faerie Conclave provides blue with a resilient and hard-to-remove threat which slowly ends the game while you control the board with sweepers and counters. Treetop Village allows green decks to pack a midrange threat into their land selection, and provides resilience against removal, reach for empty board states, and a surprisingly-relevant blocker.

I’m not in the market for the next three Man Lands. Forbidding Watchtower is a 1/5 with no evasion, which relegates it to the role of a blocker – Fogging one creature for two mana. Ghitu Encampment is a powerful 2/1 first striker, but aggro decks demand their lands enter the battlefield untapped. Spawning Pool is perhaps the most interesting and resilient of the cycle, but the 1/1 stat line holds it back.

Swords of X and Y

While I split up the Core Set Titans, Lorwyn Planeswalkers, and Urza's Legacy Man Land cycles because of power level discrepancies, I broke up the Sword of X and Y cycle for both power and cube design reasons.

After many years of playing all five Swords, I started to notice that these powerful cards would get drafted with low priority. The Swords were most demanded by midrange decks, which only represented about 25% of the meta (with some exceptions, such as Sword of War and Peace in aggro). I concluded that the density of five Swords exceeded the demand for the effect at 360, and I decided that I would cut about half of the cycle to increase their value in the draft.

Sword of Fire and Ice is the most versatile and powerful of the original five Swords. Its Shock is good as soft removal or to push damage to the face, and it provides card advantage each time it connects for damage. Sword of Body and Mind is the most dangerous and polarizing of the Swords for cube. In 40-card decks, Body and Mind threatens to end the game after connecting for damage just two or three times. While many dislike its game-warping power, I appreciate how Body and Mind is the only sword which demands an answer. Finally, Sword of Feast and Famine is a midrange specialist, forcing card disadvantage upon your opponent while providing you with a huge mana advantage. In addition, Feast and Famine's protection from Black is the most powerful and relevant protection clause of the three Swords that I play.

Sword of Light and Shadow was cut because of the insignificance of its life gain and the slowness of Raise Dead, despite its protection being the most powerful of the cycle. Conversely, Sword of War and Peace served best in aggro decks, but was outshined by more efficient artifacts such as Grafted Wargear or even Bonesplitter.

Two additions were made to the Sword of X and Y cycle last year, but neither have broken into my cube, so take my analysis with a grain of salt. Sword of Sinew and Steel's ability to destroy both a Planeswalker and an artifact can be surprisingly relevant, and protection from Black and Red is quite powerful. Sword of Truth and Justice holds its own in +1/+1 counter archetypes and Planeswalker-heavy environments, but can be a bit one-dimensional elsewhere. While both are strong contenders, neither were powerful enough to break into my top three or diverse enough to give me a reason to increase the number of Swords I play.

Talismans / Signets

With the arrival of Modern Horizons and the completion of the Talisman cycle, I made the decision to swap from Signets to Talismans. The change gave me an opportunity to assess if I actually needed the full cycle of ten Talismans at 360. Similar to the Swords of X and Y, the Signets took up too many slots in my cube and did not feel scarce enough to be sought-after in draft. I decided that ten – or even five – was too many to play. Instead, I set out to play only the Talismans which best accentuated the archetypes and strategies of my cube.

Talisman of Dominance and Talisman of Progress fit into several decks in my cube. Azorius and Dimir control decks thrive when two-drop accelerants allow them to cast their much more powerful four+ drops like Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Liliana, Death's Majesty ahead of curve. Talismans can also ensure a player is able to protect early-game threats like Bitterblossom or Stoneforge Mystic with Counterspell backup.

In Tinker lists, Talismans make a noble sacrifice to cheat out Sundering Titans and Wurmcoil Engines. In Upheaval decks, Talismans are combo pieces which help to ramp out to 10+ mana before they can be redeployed to gain a massive mana advantage post-Upheaval. Finally, the Azorius and Dimir Talismans improve decks with artifact synergy playing cards such as Whirler Rogue and Karn, Scion of Urza.

The equation for Talisman of Impulse and Talisman of Unity is much simpler. These Talismans stayed in my cube to accelerate the Green-based midrange and ramp decks. They serve best when allowing a player to cast Trostani Discordant, Carnage Tyrant, or other similar threat ahead of curve.

The six Talismans I don’t play do not individually deserve their own commentary. Many, like Talisman of Conviction, simply do not fit the identity of their color pair, and as a result, were most often drafted by off-color decks. However, Talisman of Creativity makes a strong argument for inclusion, as Red is a tertiary color behind Blue and Black in Control, Tinker, Upheaval, and Artifact decks. Talisman of Curiosity also deserves consideration, as it provides overlap between the two main Talisman colors – Blue and Green. I ultimately decided against including these Talismans to cut down on the density of the effect, but do not be surprised if they return at some point in the future.

Guild Man Lands / Multicolor Section

When I decided to cut my guild sections from four spells/four lands down to three spells/three lands, I was faced with a tough design question: do I have to cut Celestial Colonnade, Creeping Tar Pit, and Raging Ravine? Cutting duals (Tundra), shocks (Hallowed Fountain), and fetches (Flooded Strand) was unthinkable, but the three Worldwake Man Lands felt like staples in my cube.

While I am not partial to keeping cycles intact, lands and guild slots introduce additional considerations of symmetry and balance to the fold. For those that haven’t played with them, Celestial Colonnade, Creeping Tar Pit, and Raging Ravine are all a clear cut above the rest. Much like Faerie Conclave and Treetop Village, each meet the game plan, give dimension, and provide a resilient threat to the land sections of their respective colors. While other Guild Man Lands like Shambling Vent and Hissing Quagmire were serviceable at my power level, the bottom-feeders of Needle Spires, Lumbering Falls, and Lavaclaw Reaches made it so I was unable to play a cycle of ten – or even five – while remaining congruent in power level to my cube.

My solution: remain committed to playing three lands and three spells in each guild, but count Celestial Colonnade, Creeping Tar Pit, and Raging Ravine in the spell slot of their respective guilds. As an example, here is my Dimir section:

Underground Sea
Watery Grave
Polluted Delta
Creeping Tar Pit
Baleful Strix
Hostage Taker

Meanwhile, a guild without a Man Land:

Plateau
Sacred Foundry
Arid Mesa
Figure of Destiny
Lightning Helix
Ajani Vengeant

At 360, this solution has been an excellent compromise – the colors and guilds feel balanced and the power level of the cards is consistent. I was able to continue playing the cards that I enjoyed, while maintaining the integrity of symmetry to the guilds.

Conclusions

From Lightning Bolt to Cryptic Command to Treetop Village, cycles provide cubers with powerful and unique series of cards. Do you want to know the most important cycle to cube designers? The election cycle. For all cubers in the USA, head to www.vote.org to get registered, check your status, or make a plan to vote. Feel free to send me a DM on Twitter or Discord if you need help researching or choosing candidates – from Federal Government to Local School Board, I’m happy to help you weigh your options.

Back to cube. What cycles do you run? Which do you run as complete cycles, and which have you decided to split up? Let me know in the comments!

@thesidestepkids | thesidestepkids#7403 | /u/thesidestepkids

360 Unpowered Cube | 450 Pioneer+ Cube