#### Introduction The Tempo Cube is designed to be an environment where some of Magic’s most iconic creatures and spells can go head to head on a level playing field. To accomplish this, the cube was designed around several restrictions that allow these iconic cards to shine, the most important being that all cards must be castable for 3 or less mana (with one [[exception|cfa7b456-7e83-4587-a875-9b35fde318c2]] shhh). This allows 1 and 2 mana plays to be relevant all game and creates tension starting with the first few turns. If this kind of gameplay sounds exciting to you then... --- <<[[!abcd0e32-2e6b-419b-9e8a-af38f2b48a66]] [[!/11bf83bb-c95b-4b4f-9a56-ce7a1816307a]] [[!b0d88239-43dc-46b8-8d46-626e2f8f1070]] [[!fd97b3cf-924e-4f77-bb82-0bf19592389f]]>> --- >>> ## Welcome to The Tempo Cube!! <<< --- <<[[!5ea82414-3f16-4c8c-8668-1f1ee7566c7b]] [[!a65e485b-03a2-4634-9218-f5bb7c104d41]] [[!292ac228-7a1e-4c21-b81e-204014c0f3b1]] [[!7642dddd-4461-46dd-b396-9e0a89f7232e]]>> --- #### Contents 1. [Restrictions and Expectations](https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/tempocube#restrictions-and-expectations) 2. [Tips and Tricks](https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/tempocube#tips-and-tricks) 3. [Draft "Archetypes"](https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/tempocube#draft-archetypes) 4. [Design Philosophy](https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/tempocube#design-philosophy) 5. [Background](https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/tempocube#background) 6. [Future](https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/tempocube#future) 6. [Resources](https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/tempocube#resources) --- >>> ### Restrictions and Expectations <<< --- I mentioned this cube was built around several restrictions; I've listed them below for your convenience but I will also explain why I found them necessary when designing the Tempo Cube in the Design Philosophy section. I strongly believe in Magic's game designer Mark Rosewater's words: "restrictions breed creativity". Having a goal in place as well as a few design limitations forces you to get creative when researching and digging for specific cards that fit your purposes. Over the course of me building and balancing this cube I've had to change my perspective on how to evaluate cards due to the fact that I have sculpted such a specific environment. It would have been much easier for me to build a cube with only one or two of the following restrictions, but that would likely result in an already existing cube and where's the fun in that? - Spells can be cast for 3 or less mana - There are no planeswalkers in the cube - No wraths - Creatures can't recur on their own for infinite value - No combos or noncreature win conditions - All creatures can be interacted with which means no hexproof or protection - There are no effects that cause a player to reveal their hand - No "Mulldrifters" that only provide one-time, immediate value - The cube was not balanced around rigid micro- or macro-archetypes These restrictions exclude some popular cards that you may be used to seeing in other cubes but don't have a home here like... - [[Oko, Thief of Crowns|3462a3d0-5552-49fa-9eb7-100960c55891]] - [[Wrath of God|b969f680-b176-4bfa-a160-714de8e03c25]] - [[Thoughtseize|3df8c148-e87d-4043-9d8b-ec72bf8b6d5d]] - [[Splinter Twin|2f8f22fb-7291-4517-9b15-e98501f2856b]] Now that you know what you *won't* find, let's talk about what you *will* find, since that's going to be much more useful to you when drafting this cube. --- #### Buildaround Creatures <<[[!52ba20d9-9423-4114-8734-1dac307483c8]] [[!9a7b0ead-5629-429d-bede-8154f3fae96d]] [[!7dcdcfce-3f32-48f9-83f8-87b9ccbf92e3]] [[!919cd266-b796-4a1c-937f-76b565c82495]]>> Everything about this cube revolves around its creatures since they represent the only way to win the game. Creatures define both the draft as cards you will want to build around as well as in game where you will need to protect them long enough for them to do their thing. This cube has no archetypes other than "Tempo" so it is up to you as the player to decide which creatures will define how you build your deck. --- #### Multi-level Interaction <<[[!435589bb-27c6-4a6d-9d63-394d5092b9d8]] [[!5c026c39-b09c-408a-844f-fb5eb785862a]] [[!ed268699-e1cc-4742-b19f-7f0ceaed2733]] [[!1920dae4-fb92-4f19-ae4b-eb3276b8dac7]]>> Given how much the Tempo Cube revolves around creatures, it follows that interacting with those creatures, whether positively or negatively, is your highest priority after getting those creatures on the board. This is where the cube really shines. When both players have threats on the board, the game comes down to who supports and protects theirs better while simultaneously finding a way to prevent their opponent from doing so. Removal is abundant but I've gone to great lengths to make sure it won't be as simple as pointing a kill spell at a creature and that creature subsequently dying. I have shaved some of the [[most|0e8e8743-de34-4d1c-b2ac-b8c334a34362]] [[powerful|75bbe89f-09af-494e-b58e-271f64bde4b5]] [[removal|006d2bf1-20f7-4b09-8d98-8233d91682bd]] [[spells|ef42b5b2-6504-486c-aaa0-9d5e4769ba1d]] to promote more back-and-forth interaction. For example, a direct kill spell like [[Eliminate|f8eb4087-3a4c-4de8-8e29-f4cd71acb180]] can only be countered by a [[protection spell|5c62ea13-9bd5-46ce-a861-68cf9a2c6f8c]] or a [[counter spell|35554fdf-c70a-4baa-a35a-414caa9978be]] while a softer kill spell like [[Cut Down|753db072-5d6a-4f37-8f7d-255572ecd3bd]] can also be countered by many [[combat tricks|d6bfc16a-2871-40a4-b279-636b80491a06]] or [[creatures that grow|ea1e7fed-e6f3-4445-8d01-dca3971f726f]]. Originally, I added all the most powerful removal spells that you would expect because I was used to playing with them in powerful environments. I quickly realized, however, that the best strategy was to load up on all the removal so you could deal with all of your opponent's threats before they had a chance to get any value out of them. This kind of gameplay isn't fun for either party, so as sad as it was to cut famous removal spells like [[Swords to Plowshares|0e8e8743-de34-4d1c-b2ac-b8c334a34362]] I knew it had to be done. Surprisingly, taking out more powerful removal has made gameplay *more* interactive since players have more ways to play around the available removal and protection spells. --- #### Bounteous Fixing <<[[!2f607e7e-30c0-45e9-8f61-bf6e9fe63f2b]] [[!e37da81e-be12-45a2-9128-376f1ad7b3e8]] [[!90da33d4-fe9c-42fe-b326-2fe337dc3ecd]] [[!/7ef37cb3-d803-47d7-8a01-9c803aa2eadc]]>> If you have any experience with drafting the Holiday Vintage Cube on MTGO, you've probably noticed how important it is to take fetches or other dual lands when you see them because they're few and far between. No one likes to have to prioritize the most boring cards (lands) in a draft, but if you don't, you won't get any and it'll be hard to cast your spells on time. Not a great situation. With the Tempo Cube, it's always been important to me to have a higher amount of fixing than usual so my drafters can feel good about taking more exciting cards knowing that fixing will be easier to find. Additionally, all fixing lands can enter the battlefield untapped which is crucial in an environment where you need to be casting your spells as early as turn one. --- #### Supporting Spells <<[[!f18f2608-0d44-442c-97a1-12ac94b7abac]] [[!4afee6b3-55a4-44e5-b08c-85e0c813cd09]] [[!2cfd0693-6dba-4c0d-8c42-859d7bf38c40]] [[!7dcdf1db-bfaf-4160-8003-1fa2e56b00dc]]>> The rest of the cube is made up of spells that support the buildaround creatures as well as some spells that are buildarounds themselves. For example, [[All that Glitters|d9713032-2956-4564-b5f5-2dd16245a4e6]] is a powerful buildaround aura that wants you to have as many artifacts and enchantments on the battlefield as possible. But it also helps support creatures that want [[bigger stats|f3537373-ef54-4578-9d05-6216420ee349]], [[more enchantments|4a0bb5dc-75a6-4bd6-81f8-611197fb0fba]], or to [[cast spells targeting them|52ba20d9-9423-4114-8734-1dac307483c8]]. I have to be careful with this section of the cube, however. Given that the cube is designed around creature interaction, there are very few ways to remove noncreature artifacts and enchantments. For this reason, I avoid powerful enchantments that can [[take over|8145fed6-6b51-420a-84cf-4ea5e0aa1883]] and [[win the game|d1a8afef-fa50-4aeb-94de-a4d90b1e5631]] on their own or otherwise produce [[too much value|d5b5d2a7-8185-4df0-a35a-f89c12857f87]] but I'm happy to include those that can provide value in combination with creatures like [[Retribution of the Ancients|0d3ee29d-b374-471d-80c3-bcad7a4226e6]] or [[equipment|521ee576-5a51-4353-af38-c461f05d66ce]] --- >>> ### Tips and Tricks <<< --- Now that you understand what's in the cube, let's get to what you're probably looking for: how to draft and play this cube. #### Removal When drafting the Tempo Cube, be aware that the most important effect that people will be fighting over is removal. There are many more creatures in the cube than ways to deal with them, so make sure you get your hands on some or you'll quickly get run over in game if your opponent can snowball faster. #### Support After you've learned to prioritize removal, the next step is to focus on what your deck is doing. Other sets and cubes have "signposts" which signal which archetypes are available to draft and push you into those kinds of decks. In the tempo cube, almost every creature is a "signpost" for a certain type of deck: [[Jolrael|7dcdcfce-3f32-48f9-83f8-87b9ccbf92e3]], wants you to look for extra ways to draw cards, [[Stormchaser Drake|3dd5c860-9d27-40d9-af38-aaf40bd52423]] works best with spells that target it, and [[Torens|bd111dc9-b8de-4e92-a63d-75a961b2db3b]] simply wants you to play creatures. You'll hopefully end up with a lot of creatures in your draft pool, so you'll have to decide which are the most powerful or have the most overlap to make it easy to build a deck around. #### Curve In normal drafts, you have to think heavily about your curve. You don't want to have too many cards that cost 4 or more or you'll sit around doing nothing at the beginning of the game. The Tempo Cube is a little different. You hardly have to worry about your curve since all of your cards cost 3 or less. With that said, if you don't think about it at all it's very easy to just go after the most powerful three mana cards. That might work out for you if you get the right ones, but chances are, starting on turn 3 and only getting to play 1 card each turn will be problematic for your chances at victory. Make sure you have enough support and interaction in your 1- and 2- mana slots. #### Land Ratio This next tip may be the most important takeaway from this overview when it comes to helping your chances at winning and I always try to mention it at the beginning of each draft when I'm playing with other people new to the cube. In traditional limited environments, they always tell you that the standard ratio of lands to nonlands should be 17 : 23. This is the optimal way to ensure you have enough lands to play all your spells on curve. Now that works fine when you're finding cards that cost more than 3, but doing that in the Tempo Cube will quickly lead to you overflowing on lands and not having enough spells to cast. In this cube you really only need 3 lands to cast all of your spells which is why I suggest playing a maximum of 15 lands and looking for any way possible to reduce that number. I count [[MDFCs|f25d56f9-aa54-4657-9ac9-e93fbba3e715]], every 2 [[cantrips|ba6b6fc5-5077-4812-b8e9-906783dbaf67]], and [[several|6adfe928-1305-444d-b709-1e714544daaf]] [[other|4034e5ba-9974-43e3-bde7-8d9b4586c3a4]] [[cards|9814d8e8-c462-41ca-9909-1c659f488543]] as lands when getting to that 15 number. If you're mostly on 1- and 2- mana spells, 14 or even 13 may work out better. #### Draft Guide No primer would be complete without a draft guide. I'm sure what you most want to know coming to this overview is which cards to look for and how to draft each color. Ideally as the designer, I would want as much of the cube as possible to be equally viable but, over time and inevitably, a few cards have jumped out as being more powerful than the rest: >>> <<[[!fd97b3cf-924e-4f77-bb82-0bf19592389f]] [[!fa7a55aa-ae61-4933-b7a4-dcc55dac6fcd]] [[!435589bb-27c6-4a6d-9d63-394d5092b9d8]]>> <<< Coming in first is red with some wildly snowballing creatures and hyper-efficient removal. These three cards are excellent reasons to move into red and stay there. When drafting a red deck you'll want to pick up as many of the cheap [[burn spells|2b73d294-6ab1-4051-9b0f-d8e335d37674]] as possible as well as any [[card draw|2cfd0693-6dba-4c0d-8c42-859d7bf38c40]] to keep the cards flowing. The most successful red decks I see usually end up splashing blue for a tempo-y [[spells-matter|281f6118-adb8-4a7d-9c77-5570f3399e6e]] deck or black for a [[removal-heavy|7c884e1e-fecb-4330-b3de-5fc2a60f7173]] midrange deck. >>> <<[[!753db072-5d6a-4f37-8f7d-255572ecd3bd]] [[!b0d88239-43dc-46b8-8d46-626e2f8f1070]] [[!56149192-ddc1-45a4-b7aa-be311da5fe8e]]>> <<< Next up is black with more [[cheap removal|753db072-5d6a-4f37-8f7d-255572ecd3bd]] and [[midrange-y creatures|457ba695-3637-40de-a8a8-e3a43a71674f]] that keep you ahead on cards. As previously mentioned, if you can combine those two things into a deck, you'll put yourself in a very strong position. When drafting black, what you want to watch out for is other players trying to steal your removal. Black has the most removal of any other color so it's okay to miss a few, but make sure not to skip out on the [[most|65864680-9520-4eb3-9774-fa478e54a290]] [[efficient|b5e81649-9954-424c-89d1-f87d73b66047]] ones or other drafters might see it as a sign that black is open. Besides the Black/Red removal-heavy deck mentioned before, black has had a lot of success alongside blue for a [[controlling|8bf5df5b-164d-4ec2-a5e6-bbaea152e271]] or [[evasive|3bd81ae6-e628-447a-a36b-597e63ede295]] tempo deck or green for a midrange [[beatdown|b2bf633e-0470-4b87-99ed-5ad1683b0954]] deck. >>> <<[[!60d695b3-b02b-42c6-bf1b-9d97a8d82eae]] [[!ea1e7fed-e6f3-4445-8d01-dca3971f726f]] [[!cfa7b456-7e83-4587-a875-9b35fde318c2]]>> <<< Green has been one of the harder colors to design for because there aren't a whole lot of cards that even fit the theme (or does that make it easier?). Green cares about big creatures and lands, two things that are hard to get in a cube that only includes cards that cost 3 or less. With that said, one thing small green creatures love to do is [[grow|7dcdf1db-bfaf-4160-8003-1fa2e56b00dc]]. In the current iteration of the cube, green wants its creatures to be growing and out-scaling both its opponent's board and [[conditional removal|e4e6794a-feeb-4fc8-a2ee-38c75c18aaae]] spells. You want to look for cheap creatures that [[get big|658ec634-3eb2-4967-b938-d20d31ab77e3]] quickly, [[protection|e692c208-c171-4964-9207-43c2cbc62845]] spells to keep them around, and ways to [[capitalize|eda59f99-1d6d-4051-ac89-b7cbfa19262e]] on that growth to end games quickly and decisively. Green decks pair well with white for [[more creatures|bd111dc9-b8de-4e92-a63d-75a961b2db3b]], +1/+1 [[counter synergy|977c15c9-2aad-4d1d-86a6-1f9d78ad7af6]], and protection or blue for a more [[reactive scaling|71701c28-f113-4d38-8fd3-a19cd9749661]] gameplan. >>> <<[[!ab1d1461-1625-4163-aacd-a939f4871fad]] [[!abcd0e32-2e6b-419b-9e8a-af38f2b48a66]] [[!fe964e7e-e2c5-4263-889d-0a531eb51442]]>> <<< Where white lacks in raw power, it makes up in versatility. It has synergy with [[tokens|d8f69cea-823c-482b-a605-8138b3d950e6]], [[+1/+1 counters|7305a8d3-5403-4483-92af-863dc91c6084]], [[artifacts|db1d67fe-bffe-45ad-af6a-cb131ddb1a12]], [[enchantments|d9713032-2956-4564-b5f5-2dd16245a4e6]], [[creatures|55611f05-10cf-42d0-b93e-7f0c0c852a06]], and more. It has [[efficient removal|80fca8c0-ae3e-439e-b202-228b9f360e9a]], [[protection spells|1a50984b-5bf5-4432-a149-96492d1683de]], and [[powerful equipment|f18f2608-0d44-442c-97a1-12ac94b7abac]]. White will often be drafted as a supporting color for a different deck by picking up whatever the deck is lacking. When drafting white, look for synergy and for filling gaps in your deck (removal, protection, cheap creatures, etc.) A two-color deck with white as one of the colors will usually choose its second color based on synergy. For example, an [[equipment deck|69e42511-f653-4a6f-a5d4-50e21dfc8077]] will often be red/white and an [[enchantments deck|0a707ab3-b9b5-422a-8b0f-e963d3ad6606]] will usually be green/white. >>> <<[[!5c18c2d8-995c-4736-bdef-464abcd1d31a]] [[!/359d1b13-6156-43b0-a9a7-6bfff36c1a91]] [[!febaaeae-5c0d-45fa-8169-b27b4996f18e]]>> <<< Blue, like white, will often be drafted as a supporting color for decks that [[want evasive creatures|2c76f7e0-37e7-4e87-93a3-a25ba0674645]] or [[spells|e349c204-3a93-4bf7-b79a-5f5f261ea2d3]]. As the only color with access to [[countermagic|1920dae4-fb92-4f19-ae4b-eb3276b8dac7]], blue decks can either choose to be [[more aggressive|11bf83bb-c95b-4b4f-9a56-ce7a1816307a]] with counterspells to back up and protect their plan, or [[more controlling|359d1b13-6156-43b0-a9a7-6bfff36c1a91]] with counterspells to shut down what their opponent is doing. To draft blue, prioritize [[efficient counterspells|35554fdf-c70a-4baa-a35a-414caa9978be]] and [[card draw|98cca453-4611-4f3d-85d8-d74d260c7598]]. --- >>> ### Draft "Archetypes" <<< --- I know I said earlier that this cube doesn't follow strict macro- or microarchetypes, and it doesn't, but that doesn't mean certain themes and effects don't tend to fall more in some colors than others and that if you want to build around them you typically need to draft more cards in those colors. #### Macroarchetypes Tempo is THE macroarchetype of this cube. Usually in any environment Aggro, Midrange, Control, and variations of those will come out due to the nature of cards and decks having different speeds. Aggro relies on small and aggressive creatures while control needs to have plenty of efficient removal and a few reliable ways to end a game that has gone long. In the Tempo Cube having all spells castable for 3 mana or less, decks play at relatively the same speed. It's possible to have a deck with more removal but it still needs to have enough threats to fight through its opponent's potential removal. This leads to decks fighting on a similar axis and a [Who's the Beatdown?](https://articles.starcitygames.com/articles/whos-the-beatdown/) situation appearing in many games. Knowing when to be aggressive and try to push through damage on board versus when to sit back and let the opponent make moves to try to bait them into a bad play is critical. #### Microarchetypes --- ###### +1/+1 counters {W}{B}{G} [Decklist](https://cubecobra.com/cube/deck/63ff6f470aedf40f6b523e39) >>> <<[[!977c15c9-2aad-4d1d-86a6-1f9d78ad7af6]] [[!5330e6b7-eca3-46a4-8905-8f1de16f76af]] [[!7a7e4f99-ece4-473e-b712-40e4c53558e8]]>> <<< +1/+1 counters are a major theme in the cube because they're an easy way to have creatures that grow when you interact with them. These decks tend to aggressive and creature-based but can also be more tempo-y and reactive: protecting creatures that grow over time rather than going on the offensive. --- ###### Spellslinger {U}{R}({W}{G}) [Decklist](https://cubecobra.com/cube/deck/63edb664a678480f712cd085) >>> <<[[!280f2a85-1900-460b-a768-164fc2dea636]] [[!e349c204-3a93-4bf7-b79a-5f5f261ea2d3]] [[!cc0cba4c-d9f0-421f-acf4-ab1adcd59c80]]>> <<< Possibly the most "tempo" aspect of the cube is another common theme: spells-matter. Typically in izzet colors (though often branching into white or green for protection spells and more creatures), this deck wants to be mostly spells with a few powerful creatures that grow quickly or otherwise have a major impact on the board. Efficient removal and counterspells as well as key threats are what to look for when drafting this. --- ###### Ninjas/Evasion {U}{B}({R}{G}) [Decklist](https://cubecobra.com/cube/deck/63e68ec2ddd49d566479a3d6) >>> <<[[!3bd81ae6-e628-447a-a36b-597e63ede295]] [[!0029955b-32a5-4dd8-8a8c-5c80cdfd13aa]] [[!075cd558-2557-409a-8244-2de65664be53]]>> <<< This archetype tends to draw a lot of cards which is a very powerful thing to do in a cube that lets you cast any of your spells before turn 4. Having the ability to refill your hand to continue adding to the board or interacting with your opponent is what makes these types of decks strong. You want cards that reward you for attacking and hitting your opponent, creatures that can easily attack without dying, and lots of removal to make sure that all your other creatures can safely attack as well. --- ###### Zoo {W}{B}{G}({U}{R}) [Decklist](https://cubecobra.com/cube/deck/3c5bfa68-fd21-4359-b735-f17237b011a3) >>> <<[[!d8f69cea-823c-482b-a605-8138b3d950e6]] [[!cfd188ec-5e63-414e-a949-20a0daa82690]] [[!5dfd08da-6717-49ee-94ba-2562224f5baa]]>> <<< When drafting a zoo deck you're simply looking for all the best creatures you can find, and then enough fixing to support playing all the colors you've locked yourself into. This deck doesn't worry so much about protecting its creatures or removing the opposing creatures. Instead it tries to overwhelm its opponent by playing more and better creatures than what they're doing. --- ###### Artifacts {W}{U}({G}{R}) [Decklist](https://cubecobra.com/cube/deck/35c0ad5a-e8da-401d-a16b-ba4754a3d04f) >>> <<[[!2ad29773-7c1b-410d-9f69-7aa751f6ebca]] [[!c0c33a92-5621-40b4-a3a2-b67893edbc01]] [[!ab02f8fb-5d1d-4a65-8283-de70d2a8d048]]>> <<< Artifacts is the newest supported archetype I've added to this list, in large part thanks to [[recent|164b07e6-48ba-4789-bd8f-7cada1fec8a9]]([[ish|db1d67fe-bffe-45ad-af6a-cb131ddb1a12]]) [[additions|2350027a-f3a4-4cba-9dfc-27e33bddb3be]] that have added more reasons to move into the archetype as well as more [[helpful|febaaeae-5c0d-45fa-8169-b27b4996f18e]] [[enablers|7aa37f85-5336-4372-97a2-9c8b00798c7a]] that will reward you for having those payoffs. Drafting this deck can feel like drafting on rails because for the most part you want as many good artifacts as you see, but I'll often see zoo or +1/+1 counter decks that have an artifact subtheme due to the crossover between payoffs and enablers. --- There are many more strategies to look for as you draft, but something I like to do as the designer is to not fully explain the available strategies. My favorite moments are when players find new ways to combine cards into a deck that I haven't seen before. The best way to do this is to not strictly define what decks can be drafted and also not include cards for an archetype in just one color. It may be weird to find cards that care about +1/+1 counters in {R} or {U}, but having them there makes it possible to draft a +1/+1 counters that isn't the typical combination of {W}{B}{G}. --- >>> ### Design Philosophy <<< --- Over the year's of this cube's life, many cards that fit the requirements and the "tempo feel" have either been cut or not made it into the cube. "The Spirit of the Tempo Cube" is the metric I use to make final decisions on whether to add a card or cut one. When designing this cube, I have a very clear but general image in my head of how I want the drafts and games to go. Cards that fit "The Spirit" are those that align with that image. More specifically, I want games to revolve primarily around creatures, but a very specific type of creature. The perfect creatures for this cube are cheap ones (obviously) that will reward you for drafting a deck around them. I want creatures that don't have a big impact on the board immediately but still have a target on their head because of their potential to snowball and take over the game. Abilities I look for are often similar and fall into "Whenever you do a thing, you get a thing". The best part is when there are other creatures that want you to do the same "thing" or give you the same "thing" or do a different "thing" when you get that "thing". That sounds complicated so here's an example: <<[[!5dfd08da-6717-49ee-94ba-2562224f5baa]] [[!1eb02f00-c188-4193-a049-d26f7643e5da]] [[!7305a8d3-5403-4483-92af-863dc91c6084]] [[!7817e039-e509-4b6f-b5a3-deb3769bbdc8]]>> If you somehow have all four of these creatures in play, whenever a nontoken creature enters the battlefield under your control, you create a clue token (which is an artifact) which lets you put a +1/+1 counter on Dusk Legion Duelist, which lets you draw a card, which lets you pay {1} to make a tentacle token. This is an example of the level of synergy I'm looking to support in the cube. Cards that add to combo chains like this and redundancy in links of those chains, as well as powerful cards that don't need to belong to chains. That covers the creatures. Everything else (artifacts, enchantments, instants, and sorceries) is just there to support those creatures. Removal to disrupt your opponent, protection to protect your creatures, draw and filtering cantrips to help find your creatures, and everything else. --- >>> ### Background <<< --- The original idea for the Tempo Cube actually started as the [Voltron Cube](https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/grenrutvoltron) (view at your own risk). I noticed almost every color pair had a fast aggro-combo deck (think izzet blitz, heroic, bogles, etc.) and designed a cube to support all those strategies. After one or two drafts I noticed that two decks that only cared about winning quickly didn't lead to fun gameplay. So I scrapped the idea. When Strixhaven was released, I enjoyed the draft environment so much that I wanted to build a cube using similar themes: especially [[Magecraft|0291c909-bb87-47cb-9b06-5e409e654f15]] and spells-matter. Unfortunately, Strixhaven didn't provide enough spells-matter support for non-izzet colors. Without wanting to leave the cube color-imbalanced, I filled in the rest with whatever I could find that appeared to lead to similar gameplay. Funny enough, after adding all the spells-matters creatures and noncreature support cards, I noticed almost all the good ones cost 3 mana or less. I decided to run with that as a design restriction and thus the Tempo Cube was born. Since the first draft, I've had the privilege of playtesting the cube dozens of times online. To be honest, the gameplay was miserable at first. The best strategy emerged quickly: draft all the removal so your opponent doesn't get to do anything. Not fun. Back then, the cube not only included too much removal, but also the strongest unconditional removal. At first, I didn't want to cut powerful cards because I liked the idea of having a powerful cube under all the restrictions I put in place. After many more playtests, I finally gave in and began to cut out some of the [[more powerful removal|e58e681e-a069-4414-aafe-634c7987fd0d]]. I also trimmed the amount of removal in general and added more sorcery-speed removal that was easier to play around. In addition to the most powerful removal having to be cut, several cards that seemed like must-includes at first due to the theme of the cube turned out to be oppressive despite how easy it was to kill creatures at that point. There are all cards that have been rightfully inducted into the Tempo Cube hall of fame: <<[[!5ad36fb2-c44e-4085-ba0d-54277841ad3a]] [[!3b6e5956-f795-451b-bb24-56462d1ced27]] [[!170693f5-13db-4191-99b1-e527ffb5b88e]] [[!329a8738-3e17-403a-857a-0ba529ce8cd1]]>> Depending on the kind of player you are, you might be glad to not have to run into these in a fast-paced interactive environment, or you might be disappointed to not get the chance to play with these powerful cards. I'm in the latter camp, but as the designer of the cube I have to make sacrifices when gameplay is negatively affected. I'm still not completely satisfied with how games go in this cube, but by tweaking the balance more and waiting for new support cards to be printed, The Tempo Cube will get more fun with every revision. --- >>> ### Future <<< --- In this section, I'll go over a few types of cards I'm still waiting for to be printed. - Enchantments: There are some excellent Enchantment-matters cards I've included in the cube, but there just aren't enough good enchantments to make them good. I'm hoping in the next few sets we get some powerful enchantment-based removal, creature auras that aren't vulnerable to removal, and enchantment creatures. - Artifacts/Colorless: Artifacts have some powerful payoffs and there are plenty of available artifacts. However, the artifact payoffs are spread out across the colors so it's hard to make a two-colored cohesive Artifacts deck. I'd love to see new colorless artifact creatures that fit within the rest of the cube's restrictions. - Card Draw: As I've mentioned, card draw is incredibly important to gameplay. In my opinion, the more 2-mana draw-2's we get, the better. Additionally, creature that have "Do a thing, draw a card" will always be welcome here. My wishlist could go on, there are many more effects I'd love to have in the cube to support lacking archetypes or enable new ones, but perhaps the best way to do that is to design my own custom cards. That won't be in the scope of this primer but is definitely something I could see myself including in paper drafts in the future. --- >>> ### Resources <<< --- Special thanks to all the people in [Caleb Gannon's discord](https://discord.gg/hdr6qGkpaP) server for helping me build and playtest the cube online. Shoutout to [Maramas](https://cubecobra.com/user/view/5d6c2af1de02de1067366225) for their [cube primer primer](https://cubecobra.com/content/article/602abb5969cb75105e271d4e) that inspired me to put so much thought and effort into this one. If you haven't joined the [cubecobra](https://discord.gg/fQNeSZYGja) or [mtg cube talk](https://discord.gg/mtg-cube-talk-263828508126609420) discords they're great places to get all your cube questions answered. And finally, here are past versions of the Tempo Cube from various events if you'd like to compare them with present-day and see how the cube has changed over the years! - [CubeCon 2023](https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/a7277217-4453-4ca3-a01e-bf1e5a913932) - [Cali Cube Champs 2024](https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/9f9f0998-f1c5-42c8-9fb8-e994bfda59e4) - [CubeCon 2024](https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/5120ba27-f2ed-4bcf-be3e-e9813e978161) Thanks for reading, and I hope to see everyone at CubeCon this year!