Overview

The best of modern limited!

This was initially a Double Feature (Midnight Hunt + Crimson Vow) inspired cube, but I have revamped it as a medium powered synergy cube representing the last few years (2021-2023) of Magic. If you play a lot of limited Magic like me, you will easily recognize most of these cards!

The goals are quick gameplay that starts on turn one that rewards synergy and smart deckbuilding. Drafting should present constant challenges of picking between multiple good choices. Graveyard is also a theme across the entire cube.

I really was a fan of the themes in Double Feature, especially the graveyard themes, but not all the color pairs came together. There were a few things that bothered me:

• There were too many bombs that can win the game on casting. I strive for an even power level across the cube.

• Dimir was too strong. Blue in particular just wanted to be black's buddy, while also paring nicely with white. Blue had synergies with red, but Izzet spells would not reliably come together. Simic just felt weak, despite having some synergy.

• Green in general was too weak, lacking both early and late game creatures that can end the game.

• Gruul was extremely weak, despite Werewolfs being badass.

• I wanted more graveyard synergies across all colors.

With this in mind, I wanted to make the following changes:

• Still retain werewolf and vampire themes with some of the best synergy cards like Mayor of Avabruck, Immerwolf, Stromkirk Captain, Anje, Maid of Dishonor etc. I want it to be enticing and natural to go for these tribal themes.

• Make the entire cube more graveyard based. Every color interacts with the graveyard in synergistic ways with roughly ~140 cards being graveyard centric. The goal is for this to be a soft synergy across the entire cube.

• Make blue more generic and more spell-based. I did not really want cards like Biolume Egg or Geralf, Visionary Stitcher because those are black cards. Likewise, I also do want cards like Shipwreck Sifters because they are too narrow for cube (and frankly, too weak).

• Instead, I wanted to double down on blue spells, because this fits well all other colors. I leaned into Dominaria United's playbook with Haughty Djinn and Tolarian Terror.

• With white, I lean slightly more into go-wide, enchantments, and sticky threats. The obvious flagship is still Adeline, Resplendent Cathar. I added cards like Michiko's Reign of Truth, Spirited Companion, Danitha, Benalia's Hope, Raffine's Guidance, and The Restoration of Eiganjo to support enchantments and Brine Comber (one of my favorite cards). A number of enchantments from Neon Dynasty were added across the board because they are so damn flexible and well designed. Likewise, I added Raffine's Informant and Sigardian Savior to help reinforce the graveyard theme.

• I liked black a lot in Double Feature but Golgari was pretty weak. I decided to add more graveyard synergies: Necrogoyf, Liliana's Elite, Chupacabra Echo, Writhing Necromass, and Lively Dirge. These play so nicely with the Golgari cards Old Stickfingers, Old Rutstein and [[Grim Flayer] and Green's Deathbonnet Sprout, Urborg Lhurgoyf, Eccentric Farmer etc. This also synergizes with Blue who want spells in the graveyard. However, black still retains its Double Feature themes of vampires and aristocrats. Rakdos is still a strong vampire based aggro deck.

• Red remains aggressive supporting generic aggro and spells. I added cards such as Dragon's Rage Channeler, Bedlam Reveler, Electrostatic Infantry, Squee, Dubious Monarch, Firebolt, and The Elder Dragon War to enhance spells while increasing graveyard synergies with other colors.

• Finally, we get to green. Supporting Werewolves is a goal, so I included many good Werevolves in both Green and Red such as Mayor of Avabruck, Volatile Arsonist, Howlpack Piper, Child of the Pack, Tovolar, Dire Overlord, Huntmaster of the Fells and Volatile Arsonist. I supplemented green in two other ways. First, I added some domain cards such as Llanowar Greenwidow, Hiveheart Shaman, Briar Hydra and Herd Migration to give green a different look and support multi-color green decks that want to steal some splashes. Second, I added more flashback cards to help Simic: Call of the Herd, Spider Spawning, Roar of the Wurm that supplement Shadowbeast Sighting and Rise of the Ants. By the way, Simic has my favorite multi-color cards in the cube that feed off the graveyard.

Color Strategy

Signposts are a good indication of what the color combination is trying to do.

Go wide, tempo, and spirits.

Control and graveyard payoffs.

Hasty aggro and burn.

Vampire aggro and aristocrats.

Werewolves beatdown.

Go wide and pump.

Go wide and aristocrats.

Spells and tempo.

Graveyard payoffs and recursion.

Flashback and graveyard payoffs.