Please note, this is the 540 card version of my original Innistrad Remastered Cube,and the only one I will be updating moving forward. If you would like to see what the cube looked like pre-Midnight Hunt/Crimson Vow, you can check it out here
Also, feel free to check in on Twitter, as I post regular updates about all things cube there, as well as daily P1P1s. It's also the best place to shoot me a comment or question if you have one!
This cube is meant to pay homage to the theme and game play of the Innistrad Blocks, while also having its own unique feel and play style. Any card that is themed on Innistrad is eligible for inclusion, even if not originally available in a standard legal set.
The cube is designed as a two color format, with mono and three color decks being possible, but infrequent.
Each two color pair has a draftable archetype, and are split between Ally Color Creature Types, and Enemy Color Themes:
Spirits
Take to the skies with a myriad of supernatural Spirits!
The Spirits deck is your typical U/W fliers deck, but with the added benefit of trickiness and graveyard-based value that only those pesky little geists can provide! Keep the ground covered with spells like Beloved Beggar, Covetous Castaway, and Drogskol Shieldmate, while fliers like Shacklegeist, Rattlechains, and Spectral Shepherd chip away in the air and keep your opponents guessing what your next move will be.
That's not all though! Get extra value from your Spirits thanks to Disturb. Cards like Dennick, Pious Apprentice and Faithbound Judge allow you to play them as creatures or auras later game whenever you need to call upon them again, making sure you never run out of spells to cast!
When drafting Spirits, do you best to pick cards that will commit to the board while keeping your opponents off balance. Before they know it, you'll overwhelm them with your tricks and ghastly forces, stealing their last gasp with an unnatural chill.
Zombies
Unleash an undead horde upon your helpless opponents!
What Zombies lack in brain, they make up with in brawn...And Endless hunger. Leverage the graveyard with tools like Organ Hoarder, Crawl from the Cellar, and Prized Amalgam. Chew through your expendable creatures like Gravecrawler and Relentless Dead with spells like Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver, Eaten Alive, and Overcharged Amalgam to take full advantage of your decaying cadre.
The name of the game with The Zombies deck is nigh-endless recursion. Ship your dead off early, and bring them back later; it's not like they have any say in the matter. Send your opponents to an early grave, or bring on your own Zombie Apocalypse and become your opponent's worst nightmare!
Vampires
Draw your foes in close with feigned regality before you pursue them with bloodthirsty resolve!
Vampires are one of the most aggressive decks that can be drafted. Early game plays like Stromkirk Noble, Asylum Visitor, and Bloodtithe Harvester are plentiful, allowing you can come down early and draw first blood. Keep up the pace by leveraging with efficient removal like Neonate's Rush and Infernal Grasp, keeping your opponent's off balance and their blood flowing. There are plenty of tools to help you keep on the heels of your prey as well, from Vampires' Vengeance and Markov Baron, to Florian, Voldaren Scion himself!
The Vampires deck wants to come out fast and overwhelm opponents within the first few turns before they have any chance to defend themselves. Make sure you draw first blood, and drink deeply!
Werewolves
Pursue your prey with primal vigor as they run in terror!
Werewolves is the true midrange deck of the cube. They want to establish an early board presence with threats like Kessig Forgemaster, Mayor of Avabruck, and Tovolar, Dire Overlord before vrute forcing their way through the midgame thanks to cards like Instigator Gang, Ulrich of the Krallenhorde, and Tovolar's Huntmaster.
The Werewolf deck wants to shed their human guise for that of a beast as often as possible and best opponents with sheer size. It is important to leverage activated abilities from cards like Ill-Tempered Loner and Hound Tamer as well spells with Flash like Pack Guardian and Nightpack Ambusher in order to manipulate how and when your Werewolves will transform.
Gather your pack and begin your hunt. Once your kin are assembled, you will easily run tear through any meager your resistance your opponents may try and cobble together.
Humans
Hold the line, and join forces to combat the encroaching evil!
Humans are aggressive, and powerful in numbers. They can come down early, swarm the board, and modify their power, allowing them to beat back whatever threats your opponents have. Champion of the Parish, Thalia's Lieutenant, and Hamlet Captain pressure opponents early and can transition into the mid-to-late game splendidly. Katilda, Dawnhart Prime, Increasing Devotion, and Odric, Lunarch Marshal on the other hand allow you to finish off games quickly and decisively.
The Humans deck is a mix between Aggro and Midrange seeking to go wide with small threats that it can modify throughout the course of the game. Thanks to the help of effects like Travel Preparations and Torens, Fist of the Angels, the Humans deck can pivot between the early and mid game, all the while keeping the pressure on.
Swell the power of your ever-growing community, and the beat back the looming darkness!
Aristocrats
Build a board of expendable pawns, and utilize them in whatever way you deem fit!
Use your early turns to build out a board of cheap, and disposable creatures, ranging from the likes of Butcher Ghoul and Doomed Traveller, to token makers like Thraben Doomsayer and Sorin, Lord of Innistrad. With these hapless fodder we can fuel effects like Extricator of Sin, Rite of Oblivion, and Voldaren Pariah and overtake any opponent.
The Aristocrats deck wants to move at its own pace. It is able to slowly overwhelm opponents with a combination of spells like Lingering Souls and Intangible Virtue, or drag out a game in order to slowly bleed an opponent out with cards like Blood Artist and Vermin Gorger.
This deck gives you complete control over life and death, sacrificing creatures on a whim and bleeding your enemies dry!
Value
Utilize the most potent cards available as you bury your opponents in insurmountable value!
This is one of the slower decks in the cube, straddling the line between midrange and control. With flexible removal like Parasitic Grasp and Bloodline Culling that's backed up with powerful creatures like Briarbridge Tracker and Consuming Blob, the Value deck can drag out games nice and long while the opponent runs out of resources. Death and the graveyard plays an important role in the value deck as well, thanks to spells like Spider Spawning and Blood Fountain.
While most other decks in the cube are synergy-based, the Value deck prides itself on power and efficiency. Cards for this deck range from card advantage engines like Morbid Opportunist and Tireless Tracker, and when combined alongside threats like Cemetery Desecrator and Tolovar's Huntmaster, your opponents will be crushed under the weight of your ever-present advantage.
Command the board and leave your enemies broken behind you as you outpace them every step of the way and grind them into dust!
Self-Mill
Thin you library, and your sanity, as you dump both into the graveyard for unrivaled gain!
The graveyard is a valuable resource for this deck, and spells like Mulch, Otherworldly Gaze, and Armored Skaab are its bread and butter spells. The goal in the early game is to set one's self up to outvalue opponents in the mid and late game. This is thanks to a plethora of graveyard-based cards, like Increasing Savagery, Covetous Castaway, and Vilespawn Spider.
The Self-Mill deck is a slow, grindy deck which wants to drag games long, and outpace opponents with copious amounts of card advantage. With game-enders like Kessig Cagebreakers, Laboratory Maniac, and Slogurk the Overslime, it can turn its slow, plodding game plan into a real threat, able to apply pressure in the late game.
Sanity is a small price to pay for endless value, wouldn't you agree?
Spells
Stupefy your foes with a slew of scheming spells!
Spells is one of the most flexible archetypes in the cube. It is able to skew towards a more aggressive/tempo style by utilizing cards like Thing in the Ice, Play With Fire, and Thermo Alchemist, or a more controlling build thanks to cards like Hard Evidence, Burn Down the House, and Hullbreaker Horror.
Regardless of the build, there are plenty of cards that the different variations of the Spells deck have in common. Think Twice, Smoldering Egg, Flame-Blessed Bolt, and Geistlight Snare are fantastic options for any Spells deck, regardless of its game plan. The key to drafting the Spells deck is finding your lane, and determining which style of deck is most open to you.
Who need an abundance of creatures when you can outplay and outwit opponents with the cards in your hand alone?
Aggro
Forget barring the gates! Break them down with fervor and zeal as you rout your opponents with speed and efficiency!
Hated enemies come together in the Aggro deck as you pick and choose the best white and red cards to add to your cause. Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and Fervent Cathar join forces with Welcoming Vampire and Instigator Gang to brutally tear down opposing life totals.
The Aggro deck is all about getting the job done and getting it done fast. With spells like Rally the Peasants, Brimstone Volley, and Stolen Vitality, your cheap creatures will quickly overcome whatever obstacles cross their paths.
Put grudges aside, select your targets, and slay them swiftly and without mercy!
Griselbrand Reanimator
The Griselbrand Reanimator deck is the honorary 11th supported archetype of the cube.
The goal with this deck is to take the best graveyard shenanigans from each color, and combine them to create a smooth, self-churning machine that will help you bring back massive monsters like Hullbreaker Horror, Somberwald Beastmaster or the titular Griselbrand.
Cards like Faithless Looting, Tracker's Instincts, and Stitcher's Supplier help fill up the yard, while mana dorks like Deranged Assistant and Reclusive Taxidermist help transition you to the late game. Finally, there are plenty of ways to cheat out your threats, like Dread Return and Howlpack Piper.
Grab your color fixing and strap in for a wild ride if you P1P1 Griselbrand of any of his friends. Ramp and Reanimate is the name of the game!
U/R/X Spells
Feeling truly mad? Are red and blue not providing enough...Inspiration? Well, worry not, feel free to as many colors as your delirium dictates!
Unlike with Sultai Graveyard, there is only one way into a multicolor Spells deck: through U/R Spells! A deck like this will be heavy U/R, with a light splash of either green and/or black for a bit of spice. Green provides powerhouses such as Huntmaster of the Fells and Nightpack Ambusher, both of who can take full advantage of all the instants the deck plays. Meanwhile, black provides excellent interaction for the deck, bringing removal like The Meathook Massacre and Bleed Dry to the table.
Once you've decided to follow your scientific pursuits, do not relent! Cobble together whatever bits of inspiration you need! Perfection is found through ideas, iterations and pain. Plenty of plain. Hopefully your opponent's!
Sultai Graveyard
Looking to overwhelm your opponents with a bottomless charnel pit of value? If so, Sultai is the deck for you!
There are two routes into the Sultai Graveyard deck: U/G Self Mill, splashing cards like Spider Spawning or The Gitrog Monster, or G/B Value, splashing cards like Laboratory Maniac or Havengul Lich.
Regardless of how you make it there, Sultai Graveyard takes the card advantage monstrosity that is Self Mill, and the inevitable beast that is Value, and mashed them together into an unholy abomination that dominates the mid-to-late game. If you have any questions about how either the U/G Self Mill or B/G Value deck functions, please refer to their sections above.
Stock up on fixing, and fill up your graveyard! Your opponents will be helpless to stop the ever growing advantage that will soon over take them. You are inevitable.
Mono Green Stompy
Wait...What is that stomping in the distance...? And why is is getting closer??
Mono green is another aggressive deck baked into the cube. Like mono red, it cares little for synergy, and gets by on the pure power and efficiency of its cards. Using ramp creatures like Avacyn's Pilgrim and Scorned Villager you can power out massive game changers like Wolfir Silverheart, Revenge of the Hunted, or even Craterhoof Behemoth!
While it won't be the most commonly drafted deck, mono green is able to leverage powerful creatures and spells to stay ahead of opponent's boards and pressure life totals.
Stalk the woods and hunt opponents with your wild brethren as you take down anyone foolish enough to trespass in your territory!
Good evening folks, hope all has been well despite these dire times!
Today I bring you changes from the other side of Innistrad Remastered. There were a few changes that I wanted to make anyway, but with the new set coming out, I wanted to let things percolate. The minds at WotC are fantastic at making limited sets, and I was wondering if there was any inspiration I could take from INR, or at least from the conversations people would have about it in the coming weeks.
Blazing Torch was always cute in theory, but is a card that was never drafted. I'm still unsure of what exactly I'll put in its place, but for now Thraben Gargoyle will hold down the fort. It's a cheap, good blocker that has two card types and can trade off early with aggressive creatures. Solid filler.
Grimoire of the Dead was supposed to be a colorless option for the reanimator deck, but it just took too much set up. I'm hoping the one-shot, single target Soul Separator will do what I want a bit better.
I made this change a while back, but I have not been thrilled, so I am reverting it. Moorland Rescuer is coming back out for Sigardian Savior. I'll be monitoring and seeing how Savior performs now that it's back.
I love Eldrazi, but they just never work out here. Elder Deep Fiend just never performed well. In its place is Deadeye Navigator, sporting new art! Deadeye is a powerful card, and I want to see what it can do in this format.
This is another change I am reverting. Delver of Secrets is an iconic card that should be in the cube. Curious Homunculus has not done a whole lot in its tenure here. While not bad, I don't think I can justify it staying in over Delver. It might come back some time though.
I like to make sure that certain effects are in the cube, and I always want to make sure there is at least a single mind control effect in here. Grafted Identity hasn't done much, so I am going to do a 1-for-1 swap with Spirit Away to see how it performs. it's pricier for sure, but better for slower decks in my estimation.
Necroduality has performed similarly to Parallel Lives, which is not well at all. In its place comes another zombie card that also fits into the other blue decks: Forgotten Creation! Creation is not a card that's ever been in the cube, so I am very interested to see how it performs.
One thing that I saw a handful of people lamenting about INR is the lack of Flashback loops with things like Spider Spawning, and I realized that that isn't something that my cube provides either. Over time I trimmed down these effects, citing them as "air". Blue and Green weren't performing well at the time, and I thought it was the fault of these cards, but in reality, both colors just needed an overhaul. Now that that has been accomplished, I can afford a couple slots for effects like these! As such...
Runic Repetition and Memory's Journey are coming in for Docent of Perfection and Pieces of the Puzzle. Both of these cards were for the U/R Spells deck, but that deck is pretty bloated as is. As such, by cutting these two cards, I can give a bit of room to the loop-y graveyard flashback stuff in Sultai or Temur that may have wanted them previously.
Falcon Abomination was just curve filler. The main zombie support is in black, so I don't mind nixing this for the return of one of my favorite cards, Geralf's Mindcrusher. Great for zombies, great for self mill, overall just a fun card!
Famine has been...Fine. Inoffensive really. Instead of an inoffensive card though, I'd rather have a card with a clear purpose and role. Vampires need a couple more pulls into back, so I am going to try out Olivia's Wrath. I thought about adding in Captivating Vampire, but I didn't want another lord at 3 mana. Hopefully this does the trick instead!
INR reminded me how much I enjoy Madness and discard. Coming from this, another boon to the vamps are Incorrigible Youths and Stensia Masquerade. With all the Blood and discard outlets, I felt like I should have a couple more decent madness cards. The cards cut, Creepy Puppeteer and Unholy Heat were very good cards, but they didn't push in any one direction. They were generically solid, but I want a bit more pizazz out of these two slots. I wouldn't be shocked to see either of these cards return, but for different cards.
Similarly to Memory's Journey and Runic Repetition, Gnaw to the Bone returns as a vital piece to these slow, loopy decks. I think I was a bit too harsh on it the last time, and just need to see how it works in these slower style of lists. It isn't for every deck, but that's okay. It is replacing Unnatural Growth, as, while I liked the idea of pushing a stompy green deck, this just isn't the way to do it. It's a bit slow and clunky, and the 4 green pips are just too restrictive outside of dedicated green decks.
Danwtreader Elk was another inoffensive card, but Abundant Growth but a new borderless art treatment, and I could use another enchantment to help fuel Delirium...So it's in. It's very pretty.
Predator Ooze is in the same boat as Unnatural Growth, it isn't for any of the established decks, and it has too many green pips. Hermit Druid comes out of nowhere to join the fray...And I'm not sure how good it'll do either all being told. These limited decks have a bunch of basics in them, so it won't be milling a massive amount, but we'll see! Being able to secure a land drop every turn is powerful!
Revenge of the Hunted was just a bit much. I already have Craterhoof Behemoth, so I don't think a second Overrun (and one that you don't have to work for most of the time) is needed. In its spot is another "air" card for the slow, loop deck Turn the Earth. Hopefully with these four pieces, there will be a revitalization of this style of archetype!
Vadrik, Astral Archmage has been alright, but has never really done much. A three mana Goblin Electromancer is a little too pricey, and a lot of the spells for U/R are cheap ones anyway. Eruth, Tormented Prophet has much more synergy with these cheaper spells I think, and will help push U/R decks over the finish line. If that doesn't happen though, this is an easy change to revert.
And finally, Old Stickfingers is out, and Maelstrom Pulse is in. Sticky-boy has done a decent job at getting creatures into the yard, but G/B doesn't just want creatures in the yard, it wants different card types in there! G/B lacks a bit in the sorcery department, and having an excellent removal spell that just also happens to be a sorcery is just what the doctor ordered!
And there we have it, all of the changes post INR!
I haven't had the pleasure of drafting INR yet, but I've been diving into it intently, looking through the set, noting all the synergies and tools and interesting pieces WotC thought would make for a fun draft environment in hopes of applying it to the cube.
What're your thoughts on these changes though? Make sure to let me know! I'd love to hear from you!
Until next time, stay safe out there!