Glory Days started as a 4-player Modern cube in 2020 and has since grown! Ever changing and evolving, yet always aiming to highlight the history and diversity of MtG. Expect to see low-curving aggro and midrange, with a select few high-end bombs. At the end of the day, it is meant for me and my group to have fun with all magic has to offer. Updated frequently with new hotness from recent sets and cuts of underperformers. Preference for older cards when feasible!
For some more in-depth design philosophy, jump to the bottom of this overview.
DecksAs an unpowered cube that lies somewhere in the realm of 2010's legacy power-level, this cube does not have super specific archetypes. There are some A+B combos and purposeful synergies. Mostly though, I just include cards and let the players discover decks. Some fan favorites can be seen below:
AncientTomb Stompy
Ancient Tomb is one of the most powerful cards in the cube, breaking away from what is typically considered fair in the environment. While good in any deck with pip-light 3's and 4's, it is especially powerful in conjunction with the 1-mana dorks to provide a huge mana advantage. Ramping out the big RG payoffs in Bloodbraid Elf, Mawloc, and Glorybringer on turn two or three can be almost unbeatable. My group affectionately refers to this style of deck as "RG Reids" for my buddy Reid's ability to draft any pile of mid-sized creatures and smoke you with it.
Lands
A fan favorite in many other cubes, like the MTGO Vintage Cube, lands slowly made its way into my own based on player feedback. It started with W6 and Ramunap Excavator to recur value from Urza's Saga and horizon lands. Now, it has a much wider range of possibilities, all the way up to combo decks with Dark Depths, Thespian's Stage, and Field of the Dead.
Battle Bots
This deck is a personal favorite of mine. White aggro decks in the cube can leverage the raw power of Karn and Saga to make huge Construct tokens to close out games. Stoneforge can fetch Swords to break through board stalls or just to tutor utility equipment creatures in Glimmer Lens and Lion Sash. Staples of the aggro decks like Porcelain Legionnaire and Smuggler's Copter help in growing constructs as well. The deck sometimes pairs a second color; often green to recur Urza's Saga or black for removal.
Turns Combo
I did not include the three cards above to be a combo intentionally, but someone in the MTG CubeTalk discord pointed it out. I love it and it is now a main-stay in the cube! The version of the deck looks to play mana-dorks, Eternal Witness type cards, and planeswalkers to take big advantage of Time Warp, with the combo being a back-door option. The
version looks to play a more controlling game where counters and kill spells slow down the game, with Dig Through Time and friends letting you sift for the combo to end it.
Jeskai Combo
As threats in magic begin to overwhelm how they can be answered by reactive spells, it felt like control decks needed a way to overcome creature decks besides Wrath of God. Jeskai Combos have felt very good for that! Saheeli-Cat combo has been in the cube since its original form as a nostalgia piece that has yet to feel overpowered. As the cube expanded, it felt right to add the other Splinter Twin-esque combos. While Twin itself has been cut for being very singular, Kiki-Jiki has remained as a unique card that: is much more intractable than Twin, has a big restriction in its mana cost, and gets played non-combo decks.
Golgari Graveyard
Say Hello-gaak to the archetype that has made pure Golgari more playable in my cube. Many synergistic pieces of this deck go around the table late (Gravecrawler, Carrion Feeder, Satyr Wayfinder, etc.) allowing players to pick up powerful removal and lands ahead of the threats/enablers that make this deck tick. Wight of the Reliquary allows the deck to fight as a lands-combo deck or a beaters deck with landfall creatures like Bristly Bill, Spine Sower. If you like to grind, draft some Gaak.
Like most cubes, this one has some power-outliers. Here are some of the cards my group has identified as cards you need to be prepared to beat during each draft:
The design philosophy of this cube falls into six categories, with each card meaning to invoke some sort of excitement amongst players. The six pillars are:
Uncuttable: Cards that will not come out of the cube ever! They have sentimental value to me; some are gifts from my wife, some are alters from friends and professionals, and some just have meaningful stories to my group. Uncuttable cards also set a great base for the power level of the cube! Since something like Huntmaster of the Fells cannot come out, I need to make sure it is never unplayable (we're getting close to that point but shrug).
Chopping Block: Cards that I have been considering cutting in recent updates. It can be because they are too powerful (like Orcish Bowmasters) or too weak, and sometimes just because of bad vibes. It is usually pretty easy to tell which end of the spectrum it is on, but if you're curious, hit me up on discord!
Cube Champ: I hold monthly cube drafts with my local group where the winner gets a dated copy of Huntmaster of the Fells, and gets to select a card to add to the cube! Cards tagged this way indicate what was added by the winner.
The Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race.
Two cards that unfortunately have aged out of this legacy environment. They will be moving to GTTXIV. Seems like the perfect place for them to shine!
(Huntmaster is still uncuttable and I think better than BBE nowadays)