In 1995, Wizards of the Coast released its first stand-alone expansion, Ice Age. The original idea for the expansion was that the basic set of cards in the 1991 pre-Alpha version of the game could be adjusted to produce a more balanced and enjoyable game. Across four years of development and delays, things became much more complicated for Ice Age, but that initial spark of inspiration nevertheless made it through to the final version released to the public.

Of the 373 unique cards in Ice Age, 8% were reprints from Alpha, 8% were "tweaked" versions of cards from Alpha, and 84% were original creations. The tweaks included cards such as Brainstorm and Incinerate, which were depowered versions of Ancestral Recall and Lightning Bolt, and Sacred Boon, a more powerful Healing Salve. Together with the reprints Dark Ritual and Giant Growth, these five cards produced what the designers believed was a more balanced boon cycle.

Tweaking and balancing cards from Magic's original set would go on to become a tradition in Magic design that carries through to this day.

My design goal for this cube was the same as the original goal of Ice Age's design team: to build a better basic set. To execute that goal, I researched the various balance tweaks and redesigns of Alpha cards that have been printed over the last 30 years and examined the relative power levels and balancing efforts that have been applied to Magic's various constructed and limited formats.

I have applied labels to the cards sorting them into the following four time periods:

Classic: 1st Edition through Portal Three Kingdoms (Years 1-6)
Postclassic: Mercadian Masques through Coldsnap (Years 7-13)
Modern: Time Spiral through Dragons of Tarkir (Years 14-22)
Postmodern: Magic Origins and forward (Years 23+)

I have identified which cards are widely played in various constructed formats. I consider a card a "staple" if it's within the top 50 most-played cards of its color in a given format according to mtgdecks.net.

Color Combinations:
Control

Reanimator

Burn

Ramp or Stompy

Enchantments

The following cards have been translated into either nerfed versions or replacements that fill a similar niche:

Balance >> Cataclysm
Time Walk >> Time Warp
Time Vault >> Pariah's Shield
Chaos Orb >> Meteor Golem
Ancestral Recall >> Fact or Fiction
Channel >> Rings of Brighthearth
Black Lotus >> Lotus Petal
Mox Sapphire >> Talisman of Dominance
Mox Ruby >> Talisman of Impulse
Mox Jet >> Talisman of Indulgence
Mox Pearl >> Talisman of Progress
Mox Emerald >> Talisman of Unity
Sol Ring >> Chrome Mox
Timetwister >> Echo of Eons
Demonic Tutor >> Profane Tutor
Wheel of Fortune >> Reforge the Soul
Fastbond >> Exploration
Mana Drain >> Rewind
Mana Crypt >> Ancient Tomb
Mind Twist >> Mind Shatter
Mana Vault >> Basalt Monolith
Hymn to Tourach >> Chain of Smog
Dark Ritual >> Culling the Weak
Swords to Plowshares >> Path to Exile
10 dual lands >> 10 shock lands

The rest of the cards are either original Alpha cards, cards from the Classic period that provide more depth to the Alpha card pool and have the feel of core set cards, or more recent variations/evolutions of these two types of cards.

To build a 360-card set cube out of this pool of cards, use the following:

2x Each Common (220)
92 Uncommons (Remove 18 at random)
24 Rares / Mythics
24 Mana fixers

Each pack of 15 cards should have 1 Rare / Mythic, 1 mana fixer, and a mix of 13 commons and uncommons.

Here are pages with images of custom M15 card frame cards that I created for the cube:
https://imgur.com/gallery/SwZV2Yz
https://imgur.com/gallery/D0ns0bB