Art by Kev WalkerThe Cube is a living hybrid of the MTGO Vintage Cube with a heavy splash of Caleb Gannon's FixedVintage Cube. He has a lot of great Vintage Cube videos as well on his YouTube channel. Prior to this, the cube went through a major re-construction a few years back when a lot of irrelevant cards were removed and blue was upgraded to a ~90 (vs. ~60 for the others) card pool to support the play groups heavy favour of 
. The latest update came in 2021 where a lot of new combos were added - all of the common ones are outlined further below.
Cards are either introduced as part of new sets coming out or from ideas from the play group. Whenever the cube is drafted with 6+ players, each card that is picked last in each pack gets a sticker on the back side of the inner sleeve. Once a card has 3 stickers it's up for review and, as long as it's not part of a combo, the winner of the draft gets to exchange it for a new card that will be added to the cube. This way, there is a natural selection of cards as the ones that don't get played rotate out.
Typical drafts 6-8 playersWe typically draft 4-5 packs to build 2 decks without sideboards. Doing so allows for more fun for everyone: more drafting, more decks to play, more deck variety etc. Games are played Best of 3 with the following structure:
- Deck 1 vs. Deck 1 (randomly selected)
- Deck 2 vs. Deck 2
- If 1-1, Losing Deck vs. Losing Deck (this way you can't put all your good cards into 1 deck and don't care about the other)
The best way to draft the cube for 2 players is a 4 deck draft that somewhat simulates an 8 person draft. Each person gets 3x4 15 card packs. Below, P1P1 equals Player 1 Position 1 etc.
| P1P1 | P1P2 | P1P3 | P1P4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| P2P1 | P2P2 | P2P3 | P2P4 |
- Player 1 opens Pack 1 ("Back Pack") and Player 2 opens Pack 2 ("Front Pack"). Both pick a card.
- P1P1 sends "Back Pack" to P2P2, P2P2 sends "Front Pack" to P1P2. Both pick a card.
- P2P2 sends "Back Pack" to P1P2, P1P2 sends "Front Pack" to P2P3. Both pick a card
- P1P2 sends "Back Pack" to P2P3, P2P3 sends "Front Pack" to P1P3
- P2P3 sends "Back Pack" to P1P3, P1P3 sends "Front Pack" to P2P4
- P1P3 sends "Back Pack" to P2P4, P2P4 sends "Front Pack" to P1P4
- P2P4 sends "Back Pack" to P1P4, P1P4 sends "Front Pack" to P2P1
- P1P4 sends "Back Pack" to P2P1, P2P1 sends "Front Pack" to P1P1
- P2P1 sends "Back Pack" to P1P1, P1P1 sends "Front Pack" to P2P2 and the snake has traveled a whole lap!
Drafting like this lets you follow 2 packs across 4 decks which makes tracking of picks for the opponent harder than you might think! There's also an art to what you try to wheel to your other decks vs. what you pick up directly and of course you need to balance the colors across your decks. Drafting likes this takes time but is highly enjoyable and it's the ultimate way we have found for a 2-player Cube draft!
ArchetypesPictures in the archetype overview might not match the actual art in the cube. For the latest versions of each card, please look at the cube list. The links to supporting cards do not cover all the playable cards in the archetype but gives a hint on what you might want to pull together.
UR TempoUR Tempo can either be drafted purposefully or it can be a plan B when failing to put UR Storm or UR Combo together. Regardless, it is a strong archetype that aims to put cheap, effective threats into play while disrupting the opponent enough to win the game before they have time to stabilize.
UR Combo cares about finding specific cards and surviving long enough to put a game-winning combo together (for example cheating big creatures into play, attack with infinite Pestermites or draw seven cards while the opponent discards their hand). Card draw, card selections and counters/removals to stay alive are key outside the actual combo cards.
BW Death & Taxes is all about stopping the opponent from doing ... anything, really. Discard cards from their hands, tax their spells and destroy their lands and your small creatures will usually be enough to win the game.
UG Opposition is really about one card: Opposition. The rest of the deck should be either cheap mana dorks or token generators to make sure you have enough creatures to tap down the opponents lands and creatures until they scoop.
UW Cheons can be anything from the best to the worst archetype. It can be built with some tempo elements or straight up UW Control where you try to stop the opponent from doing anything relevant before resolving a big threat to close out the game. The challenge is to have an answer to the right things at the right time ...
Storm is the deck that everyone loves to draft where you try to chain together enough spells in one turn to win off something like Tendrils of Agony if you want to make things easy or, if you want to make things interesting, Siege-Gang Commander (see instructional video here)
UR Storm is often based more around mana doublers like High Tide or cards that make your spells cheaper like Goblin Electromancer but with Underworld Breach it got new avenues to win (for example milling yourself out with Brain Freeze and playing a Thassa's Oracle from the graveyard). Of course, a Lightning Bolt copied with Thousand-Year Storm is the way to go for full style points.
Mono Red wants to do one thing: tap out every turn for either a creature or a burn spell and continue to do so every turn to win before the opponent knew what hit them.
Mono White has a different strategy than Mono Red but essentially wants to do the same thing. It is focused more on disrupting the opponent than burning them out. A well-placed Mana Tithe can often win a game.
Mono Green is a hybrid of an aggro/ramp/combo deck. The classic one-shot kill is to play some mana dorks, sacrifice one of them to Natural Order and bring in a Craterhoof Behemoth to swing for the win. It can steal some games with a more mid-range approach but usually you want to do the more broken things.
Artifacts Matters comes in many shapes and forms - everything from a midrange deck with things like Sai, Master Thopterist to a ramp deck or even using Paradoxical Outcome for Artifacts Storm. The key is to find a few of the pay-offs early and then take all the artifacts you can find.
Reanimator tries to put a big dude in the graveyard and then reanimate it for the win. This deck usually wins very quickly or not at all. For a more spicy approach, Emrakul, the Aeons Torn can be brought in by for example Shallow Grave (as a response to its shuffle trigger) for a hasty 15/15. You don't get the extra turn but if you need it you are probably doing something wrong ...
Lands is one of the archetypes that is not supported in the MTGO Vintage Cube but really should be as it is one of the most fun and competitive archetypes in the cube. A recurring Strip Mine is often enough to win the game but you can also summon Marit Lage from the dark depths and swing with a flying 20/20.
Ux Blink (primarily UW Blink) is a grinding archetype that takes advantage of recurring ETB effects. Pick up one or two of the enablers and spend the rest of the draft looking for creatures with ETB effects!
5 Color Niv-Mizzet is utilizing the few, but powerful, cards that either need all 5 colors of mana or that benefit from multicolored spells. They are few, but no one else is likely to want them so if it's open you're usually good to go.
Ux Midrange is a catch-all of all midrange decks with as the base color. It can be the shell of some combos or it can just be a value deck that plays a fair game.
Bx Midrange is a catch-all of all midrange decks with 
as the base color. It can be the shell of some combos or it can just be a value deck that plays a fair game.
Gx Midrange is a catch-all of all midrange decks with 
as the base color. It can be the shell of some combos or it can just be a value deck that plays a fair game.
Martin's Toolbox is more of an idea, a concept, than an archetype. It is representing the joy when you find a new combo that you didn't plan for or see before. It originated from when Martin generated 16 mana with one fetch land (involving Fastbond, Lotus Cobra, Ramunap Excavator and Courser of Kruphix and used Survival of the Fittest to pick up an Emrakul for the win.
Sneak & Show is simple and straightforward: pick up one of the enablers (Sneak Attack being the absolute best) and use them to cheat in a big dude like Griselbrand or Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
As made famous by Lands in Legacy, Marit Lage can be summoned by copying Dark Depths with Thespian's Stage or by removing all counters from Dark Depths with Vampire Hexmage.
KikiTwin is one of the best and most hated combos in the cube. It is continuously debated whether to keep it or not. For the win, play Pestermite or Deceiver Exarch end of turn, untap and make infinite hasty copies of it with Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker or Splinter Twin.
With Vizier of Remedies in play, Devoted Druid does not get -1/-1 counters when untapping and can therefore provide infinite mana. What you want to do with it is completely up to you but for an instant win it can be combined with for example Walking Ballista
A new combo that recently joined the cube. With Professor Onyx or Witherbloom Apprentice in play, target yourself with Chain of Smog of infinite copies and draning triggers. Just make sure that the coast is clear as you otherwise end up with no cards in hand ...
With Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit, Melira, Sylvok Outcast or Vizier of Remedies in play Murderous Redcap can return to the battlefield without a -1/-1 counter. The only other thing needed is a sacrifice outlet like Viscera Seer, Carrion Feeder, Woe Strider or Falkenrath Aristocrat and you can loop it for infinite damage.
With Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit, Melira, Sylvok Outcast or Vizier of Remedies in play Kitchen Finks can return to the battlefield without a -1/-1 counter. The only other thing needed is a sacrifice outlet like Viscera Seer, Carrion Feeder, Woe Strider or Falkenrath Aristocrat and you can loop it for infinite life. Now, this doesn't win you the game but it makes it much harder for the opponent to win ...
Are you interested in the Chain of Smog combo but prefer something slightly more interactive than to win on the spot? Look no further! With Sedgemoor Witch you get infininte 1/1s instead, giving your opponent one turn to try to get out of trouble.
Saheeli Rai can make of a hasty copy of Felidar Guardian who in turn can blink Saheeli. Repeat for as long as you want. It's slightly harder to put together compared to KikiTwin but probably equally boring for the opponent.
For this combo you need to play Time Walk and then return it to hand with Eternal Witness. With a blink outlet like Thassa, Deep-Dwelling or Crystal Shard you can repeat the process and take infinite turns.
If you untap Time Vault with Corridor Monitor once you will probably be in a good spot, if you do it infinite times thanks to a blink outlet like Thassa, Deep-Dwelling or Teleportation Circle you will win the game!
Tezzeret the Seeker is almost a one-card combo (although you need a second card) as it both tutors for and untaps Time Vault. The opponent will have one turn to interact but if they can't, you are victorious.
There are multiple ways to discard your hand and draw seven cards (Wheel of Fortune, Timetwister, Time Spiral, Echo of Eons) but the problem is that the opponent also gets a fresh hand. With Narset, Parter of Veils or Leovold, Emissary of Trest they only get to draw 1 card. If this isn't enough for you, Hullbreacher denies them cards altogether and gives you 7 treasure tokens to help you cast your new cards. Yay!
Like a tale as old as time, you can cast Channel, pay 15 lifes and cast an Emrakul, the Aeons Torn on turn 2. This is usually quite good.
For a true one-card combo (at least in terms of what you put in your deck), exile Sublime Epiphany with Arcane Savant before the game starts. When you play the Savant, you can create infinite copies of it and force the opponent to draw their entire deck + 1 for the win.
By using Flash to put Protean Hulk into play you get to search up creatures with CMC 6 or less and put them into play (since the hulk immediately dies). Pick up Karmic Guide (to return the hulk to the battlefield) and Viscera Seer or Carrion Feeder to sacrifice it again. This time, pick up Murderous Redcap and Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit, Melira, Sylvok Outcast or Vizier of Remedies to give infinite damage on turn 2.