Esper WIP
(180 Card Cube)
Esper WIP
Cube ID
Art by IzzyArt by Izzy
180 Card Cube0 followers
Designed by RikenteTheory
Owned
$5,497
Buy
$6,085
Purchase
Mana Pool$6045.97

This is a slightly powered (no Ancestral Recall, Time Walk, or Timetwister) Esper micro cube designed for either a two person grid draft or four person 5x9 draft. Archetypes in this cube are not based on color combinations, as most of the cards are colorless. This along with the plethora of lands available leads to easy mana for all but the most ambitious decks. Here's a quick rundown of the archetypes that you might see emerge within a draft.

Aggro
The aggro decks will typically use white as a base and splash into black when necessary. This whole cube list actually got written because I was excited about a deck running both Porcelain Legionnaire and Blade of the Oni. When coming up with other cards to add I thought about many decks that have existed throughout magic's history. This is why you'll see things like Arcbound Ravager with Disciple of the Vault, Memnite with Glint Hawk, and Toolcraft Exemplar with literally anything.

Typically aggro decks succeed in powered environments on the back of disruption. That does exist here in the form of Thalia, black discard spells, or land destruction with Strip Mine/Wasteland. However, this cube also has far fewer board wipes than normal. The only real options are Toxic Deluge and Living Death, which come with their own risks when facing aggro. Even when swept, there are outs. You can "hide" your reconfigure creatures from removal by equipping them to your other creatures. Kemba, Kha Regent is basically an army in a can with any number of other equipment. Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle can bring back most of your threats. Even something as simple as Painsmith can close out a game.

Aggro should not be underestimated. There are a ton of durdly combo decks available, but many of them may not be able to stop the pain train in time to go off. Watch out for this one.

Bomberman
Auriok Salvagers is a hell of a drug. The classic vintage deck uses that guy, Black Lotus (or Lion's Eye Diamond, which is absent from this cube), and Pyrite Spellbomb. You spend two mana with Salvagers to recur the Lotus, cast the Lotus, sac it to generate three mana, then repeat. This creates an arbitrary amount of mana of any color. Eventually you can use the Salvagers to recur your Spellbomb and kill your opponent. Since red is absent from the cube, we have to find a new way to win. The easiest is certainly Walking Ballista. Alternatively, Conjurer's Bauble will let you draw your deck immediately, and hopefully you can win from there. The only other real option is Retrofitter Foundry, which is a little risky since it doesn't win the game on the spot.

This combo is powerful and typically relies on several cards that you would already be happy running. This makes it a good plan B in a deck, but the narrow requirements make it a difficult plan A. I think you'd generally be better served having this as something you eventually draw into instead of going all-in on this plan.

Reanimator
When people think of "reanimator" they probably think of Griselbrand or Iona, Shield of Emeria. Neither of these cards exist in this environment because I really wanted to lean into the artifact theme. This is why our targets are much more fair: Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant, Noxious Gearhulk, Myr Battlesphere, etc. This means that reanimating a target is not terribly likely to win you the game on the spot, but can generate a ridiculous amount of value.

One of the coolest cards in this archetype is definitely Beacon of Unrest, which can grab a creature or artifact, and can do so from either graveyard! Even if your plan A gets disrupted, taking a huge threat from your opponent can get you the "W"!

View All Blog Posts