The 1 Drop Cube

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A 240 card cube composed exclusively of card that cost 1 mana to play.

This cube is a descendent of Glenn Jones' 1 Drop Cube, revised substantially over years of play. The cube is eternal, singleton, and designed to be played with a minimum deck size of 30 cards. Typical decks are 2-3 colors and games tend to revolve around advancing and protecting on-board threats like Warden of the First Tree to close out the game.

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Rules of Play

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• For 4 players, draft 5 packs of 8 cards.
• For 8 players, draft 4 packs of 10 cards.
• Build decks of 30 cards. (Testing suggests running between 8 and 12 lands.)

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Guidelines for Inclusion

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1. All spells must be conventionally played for the "cost" of 1 mana. (E.g. Crashing Footfalls counts because it can only be cast by paying its Suspend cost.)
2. Only cards printed in paper products are considered.
3. Cards with in their casting cost are not considered.

As additional notes, I'm avoiding mill and lifegain strategies. Both produce a ton of adverse incentives which tend to drive games towards inaction.

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Hall of Fame

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The following cards have been in the cube, but were "promoted out" to allow a more diverse range of cards with a similar effect to shine.

• Contract from Below - before August 20th, 2017 (date lost when Cube Tutor went down)
• Isolate - July 7th, 2019
• Fatal Push - July 7th, 2019
• Hexdrinker - November 14th, 2022
• Ancestral Recall - May 29th, 2023

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Primer

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As a first-time drafter, I suggest keeping an eye out for anything that gradually increases in power (via leveling, counters, etc.) and then building around it. I'd also recommend privileging card advantage - cantrips are common, but proper divinations are scarce.

In general, I've moved away from supporting archetypes and instead just let the color pie do its work. Below are some notes on each color and how I perceive its role at the moment (4/11/24) but this is by no means be-all end-all account of the cube.

In white, you'll find small creatures that reward you for going wide. The trick is finding a way to capitalize on that wide board when your opponent has just as many early game plays. White cards frequently care about humans, soldiers, and equipment, but usually these typal considerations tend to support a single card, rather than buffing the entire squad. White also has access to premiere removal, but in a slightly lower quantity than colors like red or black.

In blue, you'll find the highest concentration of evasion and a suite of some of the strongest cantrips in Magic's history. Blue also has access to some of the biggest creatures in the cube, usually through a kicker-like cost or Awaken. True card advantage can still be difficult to come by, however, and you'll want to keep an eye out for spells-matter pay offs that turn all your game actions into lasting advantage.

In black, you'll find the most consistent pool of removal and the greatest density of cards that care about the graveyard (either putting cards into it via discard or getting them out via reanimation). There's a small Zombie typal theme, but it tends to support a few powerful engine cards rather than reward taking every zombie and seeing what happens. Black has trouble with the cube's powerful enchantment and artifact tools and rarely produces quite as much board presence as the other colors, so you'll need to be eke out every bit of advantage you can out of your resources.

In red, you'll find extremely powerful burn spells as well as a surprising variety of "sweeper" like effects. What red lacks, however, is lasting board presence. Every once in a while, a successful go-wide strategy emerges, but red frequently finds itself as a controlling color, picking off key game pieces. You'll need to find a way to convert your outsized access to two-for-ones into a long-term game winning strategy.

In green, you'll have access to some real beefy creatures - substantially larger than anything any of the other colors can field. You'll also have access to excellent protective and recursive tools to make sure those threats stick around. Green dabbles in graveyard strategies as well thanks to some includes from MH2. What you'll lack is interaction to deal with your opponent's threats. Keep an eye out for powerful levelers and other spells that reward you for using more mana than a typical 1 drop.

In the colorless section, you'll find a variety of engine cards. You'll also find some really excellent equipment to help grow your threats into something more than a 2/1. Most of these tools don't really overlap, but many decks care about hitting a certain quantity of artifacts, so expect to cobble multiple of them together.

The lands section largely coheres to the "every card must cost to play" rule. That means most lands enter tapped. The one exception here is the cycle of Pathways which provide tools for aggro decks and generally support light splashes. Most decks play 8 - 12 lands, so you're total number of sources is quite tight and almost all of your costs will be specific colored pips. If your deck cares about fetching basics, you might have even more of a squeeze. As a result, fixing is really essential for developing a consistent deck.