Overview

I was inspired by commander legends drafts and wanted to capture that experience. This cube is designed to replicate a new, fun, engaging EDH experience every time you sit down to play. Supporting upwards to 8 players, draft with your friends and break into 4-player pods.

What to Expect

• Games feel like EDH: In this list, you will find popular and undervalued commanders mixed with cards that are powerful, fun, and unique.

• Combat-focused gameplay: the cube rewards combat to prevent boring board stalls and keep games shorter with effects like goad, monarch, initiative, and more. There are a lot of fun payoffs for swinging and ways to politic through the combat as well.

• Archetypes that are well-supported and overlap together: many of the 3-color generals exemplify this. Each of the archetypes should have interesting synergies with each other to keep drafting and gameplay smooth and fresh every time.

• Streamlined drafting and deck-building rules: I tried to keep from deviating from the standard rules of Magic. The draft rules from Commander Legends are used here with little innovation to make the process as simple and intuitive as possible.

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ARCHETYPES

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Blink your creatures through the aether to capture max value.

This archetype focuses on entering the battlefield triggers, and builds on ways of multiplying the instances and effects. Things to look out for are: "When this creature enters the battle field", "exile target creature until end of turn"

Notable generals: Abdel Adrian, Gorion's Ward + Candlekeep Sage, Roon of the Hidden Realm , Oji, the Exquisite Blade

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Sneak and steal to gain an advantage by using your enemy's tools against them.

This deck is an aggressive version of the theft strategy. It heavily rewards dealing damage to opponents in exchange for taking their spells and/or drawing cards.

Notable generals: Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge, Tasha, the Witch Queen, Esior, Wardwing Familiar + Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools

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Harness pain magic that causes as much suffering to your opponents as possible.

No pain, no gain. This group-slug-style deck wants you and your opponents to sacrifice permanents to gain value. While the core theme is sacrificing, many cards in this archetype also deal in increments of damage and cause opponents to discard cards.

Notable generals: Bane, Lord of Darkness, Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper, Orca, Siege Demon

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Call upon the world to your aid. Crush your foes with the very land beneath your feet!

This deck is the go-tall stompy strategy. Ramp into large threats with attack and landfall triggers that put pressure on your opponent's life totals.

Notable generals: Surrak Dragonclaw, Minsc, Beloved Ranger, Neyith of the Dire Hunt

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Unite the many and overrun your enemies with the power of the largest army.

This deck wants to go-wide with an onslaught of tokens. Utilize anthems and combat tricks to make an unbeatable army.

Notable generals: Rhys the Redeemed, Phabine, Boss's Confidant, Cadira, Caller of the Small

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Sacrifice the unworthy and beckon their spirits to do your bidding.

This aristocratic style of play wants you to generate tokens or play creatures with death triggers and sacrifice them for greater value. There is a secondary strategy of "dark deals" where you offer your opponents small advantages in exchange for a bigger payoff.

Notable generals: Jan Jansen, Chaos Crafter, Alharu, Solemn Ritualist + Agent of the Iron Throne, Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim

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Assemble unorthodox combos that shock your way to victory!

This is the spell-slinging, combo-adjacent deck. Many of the cards in this archetype will care about the casting of non-creature spells and reward explosive turns where you cast many spells in succession.

Notable generals: Veyran, Voice of Duality, Elsha of the Infinite, Tetsuo, Imperial Champion

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Control the very circles of life. All things must die, and new creatures will consume the remains.

This is the reanimator/morbid strategy. This archetype rewards you for putting cards in graveyards with discard and removal and allows you to use the graveyard as a resource to pull back from.

Notable generals: Erinis, Gloom Stalker + Scion of Halaster , Tasigur, the Golden Fang, Karador, Ghost Chieftain

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Master the art of combat by wielding powerful weapons and controlling your opponents' every move.

This archetype is centered around aggression and controlling combat. It takes advantage of creatures with attack triggers, equipment to suit them up, and combat tricks.

Notable generals: Karlach, Fury of Avernus + Veteran Soldier , Iroas, God of Victory, Queen Marchesa

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Wield evolutionary magic to grow your creations into true apex predators.

This deck wants to ramp into big threats and make them bigger with +1/+1 counters. Many cards in this archetype will care about power and toughness, and the manipulation of counters.

Notable generals: Pir, Imaginative Rascal + Toothy, Imaginary Friend , Rigo, Streetwise Mentor, Durnan of the Yawning Portal + Clan Crafter

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Wield the power of friendship to build up everyone's board while giving a slight advantage to yourself.

This deck wants to have fun while adding control elements to avoid any party poopers wanting to stop the fun train.

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Major Themes

The major themes that recur are tokens, +1+1 counters and equipment, this is to ensure that there will be plenty of combat and great times had by all.

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DRAFT/COMMANDER RULES

Players draft from 3 packs of 20 from the cube and build a deck of 60 (59/58 + general(s)). Players draft two cards at a time. Each pack is seeded with three legendary creatures from the Commander section of the cube. Any card with "Choose a Background" also has "Partner" and vice versa. Any legendary creature drafted may be used as a general. Additionally, players' starting life totals are 40.

In order to replicate the feel of commander (and for the sake of balance and drafting freedom), it is vital that some staples be made available to all players. Players each start the draft with the following cards in their draft pool:

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DRAFT PRIMER

I've found that this cube does a really good job of appealing to different types of drafters. Newer players should have an easy time grabbing the first legendary creature they like and forcing a deck that should work fairly well; however, the draft environment doesn't have to be all "on-rails," as you might expect. I've developed a guide to the value drafter that should help players build nuanced, effective, and fun decks.

During the draft, you should prioritize your picks effectively. The following guide is to help beginners with the cube accomplish this:

There are four major card types to look out for in packs 1 and 2.

1. Gamer Enders: -- the highest priority are the game-winning cards. This includes cards like Approach of the Second Sun, Clone Legion, Rise of the Dark Realms, Mob Rule, and Ezuri's Predation. These cards are first pickable, as resolving one will usually result in a game win.

2. Fixing/Ramp -- Second is mana fixing. Both lands and rocks fit nicely here. It is often correct to pick these up before you are even locked into any colors, as the ability to cast your spells more consistently greatly increases your deck viability.

3. Commanders -- Third is your general. Many players will snap up legendary creatures immediately, passing up on cards that would otherwise greatly improve their deck. I find it is often best to make sure you aren't passing either of the first two categories of cards first before making a move into locking your deck's colors and strategy down. This still needs to be a high priority as your deck legality hinges on it.

4. Haymakers -- Finally are cards that, no matter what, will always make the cut and are strong signals that color is open when passed. Notable cards in this category are: Finale of Glory, Ancient Gold Dragon, Propaganda, Spark Double, Rise and Shine, Toxic Deluge, Blight Mound, Brass's Bounty, Impact Tremors, Greater Good, Second Harvest.

After these conditions are met, you should begin looking for cards that fit your deck appropriately and help along your game-plan.

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Rules Quick Guide

• Start with Command Tower, Commander's Sphere, Sol Ring, and The Prismatic Piper
• Draft 3 packs of 20
• Draft 2 cards at a time
• Standard commander color identity rules
• Any legendary creatures drafted at any time may be used as a general
• Cards with "Partner" have "Choose a Background" and vice versa
• Commander damage is 21
• Minimum deck size is 60
• Starting life totals are 40
• Friendly mulligan rules (first mulligan is free)