'My Cube, Never Drafted'
Premise:Generic unpowered midsized cube. Generic: trying to incorporate 'popular' archetypes/ideas while maintaining the 'traditional' color identity and card type balance. Of course, there will be some opinionated curator choices as well. Unpowered: None of the 'Power 9' or any breaking bombs. There are still some powerful outliers to play around, but hopefully nothing unbearable. The lower powered cards should have strong synergy considerations to make them playable. Midsized: Around the ~540 card mark. Should keep to multiples of 15 to maintain discrete card packs. Should be drafted for the traditional 8 person pod with 3 packs of 15 each. Currently, at 570, this is a count where not every card is seen during the draft and should give some variety while making archetypes still come together easily.
Example Archetypes:Creature Toolbox
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This combo deck tries to assemble a menagerie of creatures on the battlefield that can win the game instantly. The main win condition is a persist creature (Kitchen Finks, Murderous Redcap) + a sac outlet (Carrion Feeder, Goblin Bombardment) + an enabler which allows the persist creature to be infinitely sacced (Luminous Broodmoth, Vizier of Remedies); this combo can generate an infinite amount of life or deal an infinite amount of damage. If the combo can't be assembled, value pieces such as a Blood Artist effect or non-repeatable sac outlet (Phyrexian Tower, Broadside Bombardiers) can often lead to a win even if it isn't infinite. Another win condition to watch for is Devoted Druid; this card can combo with Vizier of Remedies and Swift Reconfiguration to generate infinite mana. Round out the deck with tutors (Birthing Pod, Eladamri's Call) and silver bullets (Reclamation Sage, Selfless Spirit, Scavenging Ooze).
Tainted Pact
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A 2 card combo deck: Tainted Pact can empty the library and Thassa's Oracle has 'win the game' printed on it. What makes this not completely unfair is the deckbuilding constraints of Tainted Pact and the color requirements of Thassa's Oracle (double pip isn't nothing!). This deck also lacks a good amount of redundancy. Plunge into Darkness can also exile a large amount of cards, but with its own restrictions. Jace, Wielder of Mysteries has the same win condition of Thassa's Oracle, but with an even more extreme mana restriction. Nexus of Fate can work as a win condition with a small library size, but with a very extreme mana cost. These combo pieces are reasonable cards in fair decks as well, so the backup plan of a UB control deck is available.
Artifact Aggro
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There are lots of low cost, colorless cards to supplement aggro decks. For color intensive decks, there are generic filler options (Gingerbrute, Syr Ginger, the Meal Ender, Lost Jitte). There are also more narrow artifact payoffs (Arcbound Ravager, Steel Overseer) for decks which lean closer to tribal and trying to assemble a critical mass of artifacts. For the more artifact heavy decks, there are support cards in every color (Michiko's Reign of Truth, Emry, Lurker of the Loch, Marionette Apprentice, Goblin Engineer, Ozolith, the Shattered Spire). Depending on the color, the artifact aggro deck can feature some slightly different gameplans. and
can add +1/+1 counter synergies (Luminarch Aspirant, Hardened Scales).
Scam
Enchantress
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Enchantress is part combo, part tribal, part midrange pile. Drafting this deck has the 'on rails' feeling of a tribal deck; just take every card (at least every one) with the word 'enchantment' on it. That includes the lords (Argothian Enchantress, Sanctum Weaver), the interaction (Banishing Light, Seal of Cleansing, Song of the Dryads), and the ramp (Utopia Sprawl, Wild Growth). There are a few routes that can shape the deck, plenty of enchantments make tokens (Wedding Announcement, History of Benalia). There are some big mana opportunities like Wild Growth + Earthcraft.
Aristocrats Combo
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Aristocrats is a combo/aggro deck which leverages Black's recursive 1 drop creatures Forsaken Miner Gravecrawler with a free sac outlet Goblin Bombardment Carrion Feeder. This incremental advantage can then go infinite with mana generation Pitiless Plunderer and Blood Artist effects.