Draft a small deck quickly, but play complex games.

Rules

• Draft 2 packs of 10 cards (for 8 players), or whatever format you prefer for lower player counts.
• Decks (including basic lands) must be exactly 15 cards.
• You can't lose the game by drawing from an empty library (aka Rule 704.5b is not in effect).

Strategy and Gameplay

The goal of this cube is to create a micro-cube experience that still delivers on big board states, complex matchups, fun side-boarding strategies, and more. With tons of recursion and a small library, you can execute your gameplan almost every game, since you draw your entire deck by turn 8. Beyond that, you have much more information about what is in what zone than you might in a normal game of Magic.

I want games to feel like a complicated chess endgame, but with the randomness inherent to Magic. Players should be able to think several steps into the future, and knowledge of your own and your opponent's deck should be rewarded. The cube size is kept pretty tight to prevent transformational sideboards from being too overwhelming.

##Is it working? (history of the cube)
This cube has evolved over ~8 years, from a pile of cards I had lying around, into what I now think is a carefully curated environment full of wonder and awe. Some of the original proxies from the first ever test draft in 2017 are still in the cube to honor it's heritage. Overall, I think originally games were a hodgepodge of normal magic cards with one re-shuffle effect or recurring threat. Now, decks tend to be a web of gameplan and resiliency, sporting multiple different ways to recur threats and answers into hand and back into the library.

General Design Principles

• Land destruction is okay, greedy manabases should be punished, and players have a number of ways to get lands back out of the graveyard.
• Games should typically not end before recursion has become relevant. Aggro should exist, but interact with the graveyard.
• Lands shouldn't tap for multiple colors, it's already very easy to splash a color just by including one basic.
• Artifacts and Enchantments should not be able to be exiled from the battlefield, but creatures should. (an exception is made for The Kami War due to it's restrictive casting cost.
• It should be hard to make a draw, cards that stall the game and provide no avenue to victory should be considered carefully.

Archetypes

Archetypes are a bit hard to define in this environment, so I'll just go over some of my favorite decks that have popped up while drafting. Someone comes up with something fun and new all the time, from using Goblin Guide and Ghoulcaller's Bell for "lantern control," to assembling complex Rube Goldberg combos.

2 color mono Black control

Using a Boseiju, Who Endures, and a Golgari Rot Farm to shore up weaknesses to artifacts and enchantments, this deck played Ghoulcaller's Bell, Thoughtseize and some removal spells to disassemble the opponent's gameplan, and remove their recursion options. Eventually, an Inverter of Truth would refill the deck while presenting a pretty quick clock.

Five color pack rat

This deck was a bunch of recursion cards, a Pack Rat, and a Chamber Sentry. With the help of mana dorks or Tomb Trawler, this deck would put a couple new cards in it's hand every turn, and discard them to pack rat to create an ever-growing army.

Heap Doll control

This deck used Heap Doll, Court of Ardenvale, and Web of Inertia to lock down the board, while eventually whittling the opponent's deck down to nothing and winning by swinging with the 1/1. A backup Mutavault stood in when the heap doll was exiled.

Mana Vortex Control

This one was very simple, a combination of mana rocks, mana dorks, and Mana Vortex gave rise to a deck that stripped away it's opponent's lands while maintaining the ability to cast spells itself.

Mono W aggro

Using threats with ETBs in concert with a Tel-Jilad Stylus let this deck grind through removal and clinch wins.