Kamigawa's Onslaught on Mirrodin (2002-2006-ish nostalgia cube).

This cube is inspired by (but not limited to) the look and feel of Magic from the times when I first started playing, which was around the Onslaught Block. A nostalgic journey through Magic’s "golden age", built around iconic creatures, classic spells, and powerful synergies across all five colors. Remembering the pre-modern era and early 2000s design, it captures the essence of what made Magic timeless—tight gameplay, memorable legends, and strategic diversity. It also tries to achieve a balance for some of my pet cards and strategies (which may have never really made it elsewhere). Cards like Akroma, Angel of Wrath, Arcanis the Omnipotent or Silvos, Rogue Elemental may seem like nothing for today's power-creeped standards but for kids in high school in the early 2000s, these blew our minds! I remember thinking "how in the world would they make something more powerful than Darksteel Colossus??? There's no way right? It's just not possible... Ignorance really is bliss.

"Fair Magic" Gameplay

One of my goals is to create a more "Fair Magic" environment, like we used to play back then. For this goal I didn't include any 2 card combos or any unfair synergies so that games feel more grindy.
The cube features efficient creatures, premium removal, and haymaker threats without relying on the most broken staples of that time. It rewards clever drafting and deckbuilding, offering a fair but dynamic environment that highlights interaction and synergy.
There are also a couple of trap cards, so be careful.

Archetypes and Design

This cube emphasizes interactivity, synergy, and mid-to-late game decision-making. All five colors are equally represented, with mana-fixing provided by shocklands, tapped duals, and talismans to encourage multicolor decks. The cube is mainly designed for two color decks but many archetypes can blend seamlessly into each other, leaving room for splashing a third color for those who draft wisely.

Control the board with removal, bounce, and counterspells while deploying evasive threats to win over time.

Slow the game with discard and removal, then win with your evasive creatures (or your opponets) and reanimation.

Aggressive creatures plus sac outlets and burn. Creature attrition value.

Ramp or drop efficient threats early, then smash with large creatures and burn to remove blockers.

Token generation, anthem effects, and enchantresses.

Removal-heavy control with some reanimate subthemes and prison elements.

Cast lots of instants/sorceries to generate value and win with burn or draw advantage.

Use the graveyard as a resource with recursive threats and efficient removal.

Fast beatdown with equipment synergy and burn. Very proactive archetype.

Creature-based ramp and draw, +1/+1 counters, and value creatures.

Additional synergies

The Onslaught block was very creature heavy and aimed to promote tribal mechanics. I wanted to recreate that environment to some degree, but not make it the main focus of the cube. There are some monocolored tribes, like Goblins, and some tribes that extend across all five colors, like Dragons.

Here are the most represented tribes

White wants to build a board of efficient small creatures, often going wide with tokens like those from Mobilization and use anthem effects or equipments to pressure. It also plays the control role, using taxes effects like Ghostly Prison, fog spells like Holy Day, and removal enchantments. Angels act as late-game bombs.

Blue doesn't have strong tribal synergies, as it's not a creature heavy color. Instead, it leans into a tempo-control playstyle, using bounce spells like Boomerang and counterspells like Mana Leak to stall the game while winning through flying/evasive creatures. It also features a few theft effects like Chromeshell Crab and Confiscate to swing board states in your favor. Blue excels at generating card advantage and thrives in draw-go or spellslinger-style decks.

If you're really into tribal, well... there are some white Birds floating around. Just saying.

Black thrives on attrition, using discard and removal to grind down opponents before reanimating powerful threats like Kokusho, the Evening Star or Havoc Demon. Sacrifice based combos and recursion create deep synergies with graveyard centric play.

Red is your primary aggro color. It wants to curve out fast with Goblins or burn, then finish with Dragon bombs like Ryusei, the Falling Star or Fireball-style spells. It also has tools for sacrifice decks, especially when paired with Black or Green. Don't sleep on Through the Breach, you can cheat in some big dumb creatures like Darksteel Colossus to steal some wins out of nowhere or Symbiotic Wurm and and leave behind the 7 Insects to clean up the mess.

Green goes big and wide with ramp, efficient creatures, and combat dominance. It supports tribal Elf synergies, which can be explosive when paired with pump or overrun effects. It’s also the best color for splash fixing.

Each color has its own identity except colorless. Even though I included many cards from the Mirrodin block, I want colorless to be more in the support role. If you played back when Mirrodin came out you should know how broken affinity decks and some artifact mechanics were around that time, so I just left those out. ( Seat of the Synod, Frogmite, Skullclamp, Thoughtcast, Disciple of the Vault, Arcbound Ravager )

Artifacts play a huge role in fixing with the talismans Talisman of Dominance and the myr mana dorks Leaden Myr and have some value engines like Solemn Simulacrum or Sensei's Divining Top, even board wipes like Oblivion Stone.

Wrapping up

This cube is built for drafters who value tight gameplay, clean archetypes, and deep decision-making. Every color is has its own tribal synergies like Goblins, Elves, Soldiers, and Zombies adding layers of interaction without locking players into narrow builds. Draft flexibility is key, players who recognize open lanes and optimize their curve, mana base, and synergy will find themselves rewarded.

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