Art by Chris RahnThis cube leans on Caleb Gannon's Synergy Cube, as well as the MTGO Vintage Cube and wtwfl123 Cube.
Mana Crypt and Sol Ring are intentionally left out, because they accelerate too much and consistently. A Black Lotus just gives an advantage for a single turn, and a Mox only a single Mana. And this is supposed to be a powered Vintage Cube, so P9 must be included :)
White
- Aggro
- Artifacts
- Control
- ETB
Blue
- Spells
- Control
- Artifacts
- ETB
Black
- Aggro
- Sacrifice
- Reanimator
- Spells
Red
- Aggro
- Artifacts
- Spells
- Sacrifice
Green
- Lands
- Ramp
- ETB
- Sacrifice
The Archetypes and the text are oriented by this great article by Ascended Mage. Thanks for sharing this great knowledge with us.
Artifacts: (//)
This archetype makes use of cards that get better the more artifacts there are in your deck. It uses mana rocks to power out expensive artifacts ahead of schedule and creates card advantage through it's mostly blue spells.
Blink (//)
A very broad archetype that abuses the many powerful creatures with enters-the-battlefield (ETB) effects that have been printed over the years. Named for the card Momentary Blink, it aims to re-use those ETB effects by either temporarily exiling the creature in question or by bouncing and replaying it. Since almost all Cubes run creatures with ETB effects, often in all five colors, this is a commonly supported archetype.
Spells-Matters: ()
Spells-Matters Archetype makes use of a small, but steadily growing subset of cards that care about instants and sorceries being cast. The cards are pretty unassuming on their own, but they work so well with what the color pair wants to be doing anyway (countering and burning stuff while looting and/or drawing extra cards) that the resulting decks can be quite fearsome.
Storm:
Storm decks are delicately balanced machines, with specific amounts of mana acceleration (often Ritual effects), cantrips, tutoring, and business spells (often draw-7’s) They often play cards that would be almost useless in any other deck. These factors make it a challenge to support the archetype in a Singleton Limited format without running a bunch of cards that are automatic 15th picks if no one is drafting Storm. Also, the non-interactive nature of the games involving the archetype may not be to everyone’s tastes. Storm generally works best in smaller, Powered Cubes, where the density of broken mana acceleration, tutors and draw-7’s is at its highest.
Rec/Sur/Pod: ()
The admittedly uninspiring archetype name derives from the Rec(urring Nightmare)/Sur(vival of the Fittest)-fueled deck of Tempest-era Standard (yes, those two cards were Standard-legal at the same time, go figure), as well as from relatively recent addition Birthing Pod, that works as a hybrid between the two aforementioned cards. The only true toolbox deck in the format, Rec/Sur/Pod aims to find, use and re-use creatures with ETB abilities, death triggers or recursion, of which Black and Green have no shortage in most lists
Reanimator: ()
Reanimator decks need three things: a big creature, a way to get it into the graveyard, and a reanimation spell. That may seem like a tall order for a Limited deck, but luckily several cards are able to help on two or more fronts. The archetype is conveniently centered in Black, the color with the best and most abundant tutor effects. Looting effects act as discard outlets while digging for missing pieces (mostly ). Note that although the reanimation spells themselves are listed below as archetype-specific cards, they’re actually respectable inclusions in other (mainly midrange) decks as well.
Pox/Stax: (/)
This archetype uses symmetrical discard and sacrifice effects to keep the game in the low-resource stage for an extended time. It is named for Smokestack and Pox, two cards that, just like other archetype staples like Liliana of the Veil and Braids, Cabal Minion, can be taken advantage of by playing recursive creatures and token generators. While the archetype is centered in Black due to the large number of Black mana symbols in the casting costs of its key cards, a White or Red splash can be helpful for more token generation and sacrifice outlets.
Lands: (/)
This archetype focuses on moving lands between the library, the battlefield and the graveyard, and more specifically, on the powerful interaction of Life from the Loam and Crucible of Worlds with Strip Mine, Wasteland, fetchlands, and other utility lands. It’s often possible to get two or more landfall triggers a turn, which makes any card with that ability word pretty busted. It’s also the best deck possible for breaking the symmetry of mass land destruction (Armageddon, Wildfire)
Ramp:
Mana acceleration (or “Ramp” for Rampant Growth) is so central to Green’s color identity that it’s hard to imagine a Cube where a midrange Green deck aiming to cast large monsters ahead of schedule is not supported. It functions as a Combo deck that foregoes most meaningful interaction with the opponent in order to cast a game-ending spell somewhere around turn five. The Legendary Eldrazi are popular choices.
Burn/Aggro:
If a deck reaches a critical mass of burn spells, it starts functioning more as a combo deck than as an aggro deck. The difference between an aggro deck and a burn deck is that the former is creature-based and predominantly uses its burn spells to clear away blockers, and only aims them at the opponent’s head if that will immediately end the game.
Fatty-Cheat:
Less a true archetype and more a set of loosely connected cards, each of which can be used to put some large monster onto the table (permanently or temporarily) without paying its mana cost (hence the name). Some cheating methods will even allow you to get a noncreature permanent onto the battlefield. Maybe more than any other, this archetype is capable of spectacular plays that are remembered for a long time. The price you pay for such stories-for-the-ages is wild inconsistency. Cheating methods are relatively few in number, spread out over several colors, and not all of them work equally well with the same fatties. For that reason, this archetype often works best as a secondary plan in a normal midrange (ramp) or control deck.
Domain (5-color Matters):
This archetype uses the powerful multicolored cards in the cube. There are a few payoffs for having all 5 colors, but generally it is kind of a "good stuff" deck.
Thieves: (/)
This archetype uses cards that stops the opponent from drawing extra cards and then casting a wheel effect, which usually leads to a superb card advantage and a better board state later.
Twin-Combo: ()
One of the format-defining decks in Modern, the Twin Combo deck uses Splinter Twin or Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker together with Pestermite, Deceiver Exarch, Zealous Conscripts or Restoration Angel (the latter only works with Kiki) to create an infinite number of hasty tokens. It needs some tutor effects or cantrip to function consistently.
and many more
