Fast Multiplayer Cube
(450 Card Cube)
Blog Posts (20+)
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Maybeboard Changelist+1, -1
Mainboard Changelist+1, -1

I had categorized the Cutter as a potential include down the road. What I hadn't considered was this swap.
You lose a bit on mana efficiency compared to the Rabbit, but you make up for it with Trample to push through damage and a steady stream of scaling tokens in the right deck.

TDM cube update

Not a ton for this cube as I am staying away from the 3 color cards. I skimmed through them, but none felt compelling enough to warrant a slot (if you think I've missed one, let me know).

Stormscale Scion is a slam dunk though. I've been looking for spell velocity payoffs in Red and this one delivers. It is similar to Elemental Eruption, but I am happy playing both.

Naga Fleshcrafter is another one I am excited for. It looks innocuous and the rate is pretty average for a Clone, but I am convinced it will lead to some epic plays. I love Mirrorweave, but it's tough to find a slot for it as it's narrow. This can be milled, sacrificed or discarded for a surprise turn.

Cutting Jinnie Fay who has been replaced by Stridehangar Automaton for me. It's colorless and makes a single token type that is already present in the cube.
As for Anim Pakal, she is a decent Rabblemaster variant, but I don't need a multicolored slot for that and without a counters theme, isn't as appealing.

Maybeboard

Anafenza, Unyielding Lineage: She is fine wrath protection, but I like Hallowed Spiritkeeper better. Vigilance is a fantastic keyword for MP games and the Spirits having evasion is huge too.

Sage of the Skies, Aligned Heart and Cori-Steel Cutter look promising for decks that don't want to go all in (aka Storm for cowards). I might explore this more down the line, but for now they are a little too fair for this cube's goals.

Voice of Victory and Avenger of the Fallen would be a good fit, but I don't want to introduce Mobilize for only two serviceable cards. The Avenger could be better than I give it credit for though as it's a great defender and provides a ton of potential fodder.

Surrak, Elusive Hunter is an annoying card for the opponents. Gives you gas and at worse replaces itself. It's more of a stompy card though and that's not what I am going for here.

Afterlife from the Loam is insane value that can be cast on the cheap. It's competing with Living Death and Lich-Knight's Conquest as a big GY finisher, but I prefer the other two for now.

Will of the Abzan and Will of the Jeskai could be a solid way to free up some slots in the cube since they play multiple roles. A little too fair for now though and I have the space at 450.

Did I miss some cards?

Going to include a first pass of DFT cards as well as a couple others.

First the card I am most excited about, Brightglass Gearhulk. The mana is rough which probably limits it to Selesnya only, but that's ok as I could use a pull into that color combination. The body is totally reasonable, but the ETB is not!]]
Opening up what card types you can get from Ranger of Eos is huge! You can still get your Esper Sentinel or Walking Ballista, but now you can also get Skullclamp, Fastbond, Urza's Saga, Candelabra of Tawnos or whichever other important piece to your deck.

Riptide Gearhulk seems like a fun one too. Double strike and Prowess go well together and having an ETB that affects the board is powerful in this color combination. Plus it's an artifact so that's perfect.

It replaces Teferi who while decent, is definitely not guaranteed to have much impact in MP games.

We have a couple other artifacts that come in with Stridehangar Automaton giving Academy Manufactor some redundancy. It's easier to trigger and makes a steady stream of attackers/blockers. Amazing card.

Marketback Walker is less impressive, especially in the context of my gutted +1/+1 counter package, but I still want to try it. The floor at 2 mana is reasonable and it has a high ceiling.

Artist's Talent seems like a great way to find the card you are looking for in a combo deck and fills the GY like nobody's business. I like it for it's first chapter, but having a mana sink is nice upside.

Glimpse the Impossible is either a draw 3 for 3, a delayed ritual for 3 or 3 bodies for 3. The rate is there and so is the versatility!

Mischievous Mystic offers evasive bodies and isn't very difficult to trigger. Will be amazing in Izzet builds with Balmor. This replaces The Locust God which at 6 mana, doesn't do it for me anymore even if it works great with wheels.

I am cutting a few iconic cards, notably Lightning Bolt which doesn't do a whole lot in MP and Dreadhorde Arcanist which doesn't have a lot of targets. Imotekh and Securitron Squadron are UB cards that I really don't like the aesthetic of so out they go.

I haven't been in love with actual Counterspell for this cube in a while. It's definitely good enough on power level, but it feels a little bland compared to something like Narset's Reversal or Arcane Denial. For that reason, I am going to try Three Steps Ahead. It's a worse counterspell at 3 mana, but it opens up the door to many more cool plays.

Speaking of cool plays, I am excited to try Murmuration. A White storm payoff is pretty wild, and triggering for every spell creature or noncreature is really open-ended. Definitely a build around that is likely to ride sideboards often, but at 450 I have the space to afford that.

Arabella, Abandoned Doll is the Boros card I've been wanting. A synergistic cheap aggressive card with reach is so perfect for this cube. It encourages attacking and gives you a life buffer so that the crackback is less painful. I will be trying her out alongside Anim Pakal, Thousandth Moon in Boros, but could be convinced something like Phlage, Titan of Fire's Fury is a better fit as it enables Big Boros and diversifies what the color pair can do.

Ocelot Pride is a fantastic token maker that carries equipment well. It goes off nicely with Food tokens and is a one drop with late game relevance. Should have been in a long time ago, but with so many cards, it's tough to remember all of them!

As for the cuts, Oswald is an artifact payoff that even most artifact decks want, making it super narrow. Mikaeus is still decent, but always below rate and since I cut the +1/+1 counter theme for now, it's value is lessened. Finally, the dragon is a fun one, but I really dislike it not bringing back lands. I am looking to bring back Sevinne's Reclamation or Serra Paragon which are very versatile and that I miss.

Red

I am always on the lookout for haste enablers for MP games. Surprise damage can turn a game fast and forces people to stay alert.

Arena of Glory might be one of the best enablers for that since it is usually an untapped land that taps for colored mana and you don't go down on mana the turn you use it.

Flare of Duplication has a ton of applications from a counterspell against a Blue deck to ramp against Green or even removal against a Black or White opponent. Maybe you copy your Wheel of Fortune to surprise mill the table or Mana Geyser for so much mana. Add to that you can cast if for free? Excited to see it in action!

Mana Geyser is a classic ritual that is bound to generate loads of mana. Between this, Jeska's Will and Storm-Kiln Artist, Red now has tools to really combo off with mana galore.

To fit all of these cards in, I decided to cut some of the multicolored good stuff cards, namely Golos, Kess and Korvold. Theyare fantastic cards, but don't ask much of you especially in a double fetchland format. The fixing is good enough in this cube that it is already very easy to build good stuff decks, so I don't want to encourage them more than I have to. They are fun though, so maybe I need to make a battlecruiser MP cube to fit them in :P

Pia and Kiran are a bit outdated compared to some other options. They are serviceable, but at 4 mana less impactful than most cards.

Green

Small swap that I forgot to make with the addition of Bouncelands: Burgeoning. This enchantment lets you trigger landfall every turn with Bouncelands and can let you get way ahead in terms of mana. It is less reliable than Exploration, but so much more explosive.

Hedge Shredder ties artifacts, GY and land themes together in a novel way. Golgari Grave-Troll and other dredgers work wonders, but so does something like Emry, Lurker of the Loch. You don't need to hit many lands for this to get you a lot of value. I will be on the lookout for a few more ways to mill cards in Sultai colors to help it pop.

Mainboard Changelist+1, -1
Maybeboard Changelist+1, -0

I've changed my mind on Omnath over time. I used to see it as a cool splashy build around, but now, I see it as a reward for building a soupy deck and getting paid off. Yes it has cool Landfall synergies, but we've gotten a lot more of those this year. The repeated easy life gain is also a turn off.
Instead, I'll follow @LordJazz suggestion of adding Necromancy which gives me an extra reanimation effect that has great play patterns. I don't want to overload on these, but at 450 I have the space. Stealing a creature EOT and giving it pseudo haste is great or straight up reanimating it during your turn is a proven strategy.

The Enduring cycle is fantastic for MP games. You get a very solid effect, stapled onto a creature that sticks around if the creature is removed. Making mana, drawing cards or giving haste are all top tier abilities.

To make room for them, a few tough cuts.

In White, having a way to get a steady stream of cards is not always easy. Enduring Innocence is a good one though, as the condition is easy to trigger and works well with Blink effects. I am moving away from +1/+1 counters as the payoffs are too few, so Metastatic Evangel is cut.

In Blue, I am cutting the most narrow of the free spells I run: Gush. It is tough to find cuts in this color and I want to avoid removing creatures since I already do not have many. Instead, Enduring Curiosity allows me to have a token payoff similar to Bident of Thassa that I have been wanting, but this one has board presence which changes the equation significantly.

In Red, Impact Tremor is being cut because of an oversaturation of these effects. Agate Instigator, Molten Gatekeeper and Terror of the Peaks do the same thing but are creatures. This means you can interact with them much more easily and avoid the feel bad of losing to an enchantment you can't get rid of. I wouldn't fault you for cutting the 5 drop dragon instead, but I love the crazy plays that can ensue from it too much.

Enduring Courage plays into the ETB theme, but gives it a different twist. I've cube enough with Ogre Battledriver to know how potent that card is!

In Green, I am swapping similar cards (Rishkar, Peema Renegade out, Enduring Vitality in), but the Enduring creature is more resilient, less conditional and a better attacker. This removes a +1/+1 counter support card, but that is a subtheme at best. I never seem to find the perfect payoffs.

I am switching up the token makers in Green with another classic card removed in Deep Forest Hermit. It's a perfectly good card, but the cube now has many token makers way down the curve. Springheart Nantuko is the perfect example. It synergizes with what Green is doing and can lead to some busted board states.
Call of the Herd is also getting replaced with a more MP appropriate card. Formless Genesis is repeatable, scales better and the tokens have Deathtouch.

Mainboard Changelist+1, -1
Maybeboard Changelist+1, -1

Time to bring in a small, but heavy hitter! Frog is an update I should have made a while back, but better late than never. Encourages attacking, fills the GY, counter synergies. It goes well with draw 7s and cards like Insidious Roots. All on a 2 drop.

Sygg is a cool turn 2 play, but it's more passive and reliant on what your opponents are doing. Still a good card and being a hybrid means it's easier to find a slot for it in the future.

Mainboard Changelist+1, -1
Maybeboard Changelist+1, -1

I am very excited about Kykar! I've been on the lookout for an exciting Azorius card and I think I've found the right one.

It cares about spell velocity, which I value highly in this cube and since you cast noncreatures, it is fairly open-ended. Artifacts, instants, sorceries, Planeswalkers, enchantments, they all trigger it.

Kykar is another token producer for the spells matter deck, making White an enticing choice alongside Monastery Mentor.

It's also a rock solid blink engine. You are not capped on how many triggers you can produce (you might run out of creatures though). You can give your creatures pseudo vigilance or save them from removal with instants. If you cast a wrath into this, you will save another creature of yours meaning you aren't completely cold to a hasty beater or something.

Yorion is a fine playable and a fun goal to build around, but I've never seen it companioned yet. Being a hybrid is great, but 5 MV > 4 MV and it only does one thing compared to Kykar. There might be a world where I want to push blink further and then it would make sense to have both.

The Deathmark is very good, and that is my issue with it. It pushes you towards ignoring synergy and just running good stuff cards.

The Overlord is a sweet GY enabler relevant at any stage of the game, something I want more of in Black. The 5/5 body for 5 is fine, but the ETB/attack great value.

Some controversial swaps here as Damnation and [[Wrath of God] are classics. Two issues I have with them is that at four mana, they can come down early enough to really put a dent in an aggressive start. I still have Toxic Deluge, but at least with that one there is a serious life commitment to be paid. Balance also asks you for a certain setup before you can profit.
The second issue is that they only really fit into slower more controlling decks.

Season of Loss has a lot more versatility. You can clear a few creatures and stay ahead against decks with a small amount of threats. You can draw a lot in the aristocrat deck or just win in some circumstances.

Starfall Invocation has less applications, but triggering a good ETB a second time is powerful so is having the first threat post wrath. Gifting a card can be a fun political tool too.

Jace, VP has been a staple in the cube since it came out. It's good early and flips into a PW for some value late game. That being said, two strikes against Jace:

  1. It's a PW in a MP game, so very vulnerable.
  2. It's a flip card and even though I run others, if I can avoid them, I will.

So the Otter has the same looting ability but on a better body (that can scale) and with vigilance to attack, block and loot!

Kappa Cannoneer is one hell of a beater. It comes down early, has evasion and protection. Oh and it scales! The Ward 4 is scary and might be a reason to cut it after testing. The Regent is solid but lacks protection and sometimes interferes with GY recursion. If I can squeeze it back in at some point I might.

Proft's Eidetic Memory is a 2 mana cantrip, but also a very potent pump spell. Combined with draw 7s you can punch someone really hard. It also stays around to be blinked by Displacer Kitten or Flickerwisp. Cheap, powerful and synergistic is right up my alley.

Out comes Vendilion Clique which is a left over from another time. 3 power in the air is great, but it doesn't do enough for specific decks to earn its keep.

Next up, I've been meaning to try out Cloudstone Curio as a versatile engine. Depending on which pieces you assemble you can net mana or cards and it pushes combo decks towards being creature based which I enjoy. To support it I will be adding Cloud of Faeries which already plays nicely with the bounceland mana base and as a free spell, will fit straight into Storm decks. Burning-Tree Emissary is another mana generator. For cards, I am considering Rites of Harmony as a fun build around. This space is pretty new to me, so I am open to suggestions. In the meantime, I will have to draft a bunch and see what is missing.

I’ve been impressed by the Talents from Bloomburrow and this Black one is exciting. A single black mana to generate food tokens. While they are worse than clues from the Investigator, they are still ok especially because they can trigger off tokens too.
The star of the show is the second ability where sacrificing cards means milling yourself. Not 100% sure where that gets you, but the potential is there and letting players figure it out is exciting.

Black used to have a hard time filling the GY, but not anymore and Barrowgoyf helps. Deathtouch + lifelink is fantastic on offense or defence. Getting card advantage while setting up your other synergies is what the cube is about.

Mondrak is an amazing token payoff, but the new Caretaker's Talent is more appealing to me for a few reasons.

  • Complexity: Between phyrexian mana, indestructible counters and the board complexity of keeping track of all the tokens doubled, Mondrak is a mess of a card! A powerful one, but a mess all the same.

  • Card draw: Having a tough to interact with card type (enchantment) and drawing cards is a great way to make sure you are set up for the long game in a MP setting (even a faster one like this).

Jacked Rabbit is a scaling token producer I am excited to include. It's relevant at any mana value, even just for 2. It encourages attacking, draws a card late and has +1/+1 counter/equipment synergy. I am cutting Astrid because I don't like the vibe of that particular card. It's serviceable and fantastic in the Academy Manufactor deck, but I dislike the art and it lets me cut the only card with Explore.

Metastatic Evangel is surprisingly ungated. Every nontoken creature and you proliferate. That is really strong! I haven't explored all there is to do with this creature, but I will be taking a second look at some planeswalkers and more cards like Staff of the Storyteller.

I'll be removing the Dragon Engine for the Evangel as I am saturated on Red 3s. It's a good card, but the least essential 3 drop IMO. I like cards like Embercleave and Lizard Blades that give double strike more. Could easily come back in the future.

Not included in this update is Ocelot Pride as I am trying to figure out the right amount of life gain to support it. I am also coming around on Glyph Elemental and Indebted Spirit as bestow (just like reconfigure) offers a lot of resilience for aggressive decks.

I know I haven't finished the MH3 updates, but there are 2 slam dunks for my Red section that I absolutely want to slot in.

Exciting upgrade here with the Mage replacing the Flamebreather. Making a token copy can be brutal, as pinging for 2 instead of 1 is huge. Then you have fun synergies with Esika's Chariot to make even more copies for the kill.

Here is another straightforward swap where I remove a multicolored 3 drop for a single colored 2 drop. Just like the Mage, the Instigator making a copy is huge as you've doubled up the clock. I need to test if I want another Impact Tremors effect and if so, the Call will be back.

Mainboard Changelist+1, -1
Maybeboard Changelist+1, -1

I forgot the last piece for the last update: a storm payoff that makes dragons! Getting to six mana with Birgi and Artist is much easier and hopefully this helps out BR combo among other decks.

Adding more mana production to Red to help decks Storm off.
Making treasures is a big game since you can store mana for another turn. The Artist is super vulnerable and a removal magnet, but I have still found that 4 mana Baneslayer type cards don’t always get removed immediately because there is generally someone playing something scarier or that applies more pressure.

Revival was added a while back, but it hasn’t done a ton. While Kaldra is a nice SFM target, but that is just about the one card that wants the equipment.

Big Red update with a smaller one in the works (cuts are tough!).

Rabblemaster and FTK are classics, but there are some very interesting and powerful newish cards that do more in a synergistic way.

Gut provides sacrifice synergies for creativity and artifacts, incentivizes attacks and provides evasive tokens.

Bomardiers is a sick piece of removal/finisher. Flinging big creatures/artifacts that you cheated in is a fun challenge. Synergistic removal is perfect when trying to build engines. Plus, once again, you need to attack and commit to benefit which fits my goals.

Molten Gatekeeper is a fantastic card for this cube giving redundancy to the Impact Tremor effect, being an artifact and being used from the GY for a big turn. Cutting the Pirate is ok since I am adding more sacrifice synergies as well as the aggressive slanted Golem.

Reckless Pyrosurfer helps Red go wide with a very abusable ability. The Battle Cry stacking means you can do some serious damage out of nowhere thanks to the Haste.

Robber is a good threat and has done work. It’s usually easy to find an open opponent. I want to try other 2 drops, but it is on the short list of cards to bring back.

The Goyf wants you to care about GYs to really get the most out of it. It also goes face and is silly with Clone effects. Having more toughness also means it’s more likely to stay on board.

I've been trying to find a way to be happy with my sacrifice decks and Warren Soultrader and Marionette Apprentice go a long way into making that happen.

However, I am not a fan of the Gravecrawler combo with the Soultrader + Blood Artist effect. It's too easy!

I'll use the slots to add some cards I've been meaning to fit. Wishclaw Talisman is a synergistic tutor that can also be a political tool. Unlike Demonic Tutor, you probably want some specific targets because it's not as good. Meaning decks that want it will likely get it, perfect!

Malakir Rebirth complements Black's MDFC suite and plays well with the sacrifice theme or even as random protection. Great card.

I'll also be adding Harvester of Misery as a modal removal spell that bins itself for reanimation effects. I really dislike the limitations on Shriekmaw even if it is still a very good card.

Swapping out Regrowth is annoying because it's a simple iconic card. Bala Ged Recovery's front is the same, but obviously adding a backside is more complex. It's a very easy swap though and I don't want two of this effect on a sorcery.

Disciple of Freyalise is more conditional than some of the other MDFCs, however it enters untapped if you need it and it ups the amount of late game plays in a cube with a low curve (like Generous Ent). Drawing cards and gaining life is highly relevant though and a fun Flickerwisp target. With two extra "6 drops", I'll be taking the opportunity to lower the curve be removing Old One Eye. It's a powerful threat, but it doesn't really enable much synergy, it's just a huge beatstick.

Finding cuts is tough and while I do enjoy what Scale up offers, the lack of trample makes it a bit rough. I could come back to this one or a similar effect as Overrun does end games!

Unrelated to this variance reduction, I want to include the new Shifting Woodland that has a high potential for shenanigans. Utility lands do play a role in giving you mana sinks late game, but rather than including an extra, I am trying a different one. Treetop Village is serviceable, but unexciting.

Next up, I'll be adding more MH3 cards, but I really wanted to set the groundworks for smooth Magic gameplay before anything else thanks to the 1 mana land cyclers and MDFCs.

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