Art by Wayne ReynoldsInstead of focusing on many different kinds of counters, this cube celebrates +1/+1 counters for creatures and charge counters for artifacts. In this way, rather than being guided by archetypes, this creature-centric environment drives players to emergent synergies across colors and card types.
As a perennial fan of +1/+1 counters, I'm thrilled to share one of my favorite ways to play. This has been a labor of love over many years and I hope you discover something novel while exploring it!
Design Restrictions and Setup
As noted, this cube champions +1/+1 counters and charge counters. Critically, there are no -1/-1 counters, no poison counters, and no keyword counters. There are a few oddballs, but in general the goal is that players should know what impacts power and what doesn't. This environment already trends toward higher board complexity and I value game states that are easier to parse at a glance. I've chosen to avoid silver-bordered cards and playtest cards as well.
This 450-card singleton cube works well in a standard draft setup (8 players, 3 15-card packs) but also shines in two- and four-player drafts because of the flexible synergies across cards. Additionally, 450 allows the cube to stretch up to 10 players.
Gameplay and Goals
I'm aiming for board-based, interactive matches that utilize counters in fun ways. The format is slightly faster than it may appear at first glance, meaning that more value-oriented decks will have to have shore up early games to avoid getting run over. There are a few combos buried in the works too but they all require some deckbuilding conceit and none of them immediately win the game. Most often, the path to victory will be found through creatures, timely combat tricks, and removal... though some drafters prefer a well-charged Darksteel Reactor.
While there are individually powerful cards, I hope players find the most satisfaction in surprise synergies. My goal for each draft is that players enjoy themselves in a way that they haven't before.
Less time to play means more time between updates and this one is pretty minor. Most of the +1/+1 counter elements in Aetherdrift were to denote Exhaust, so generally not ideal adds. While Tarkir: Dragonstorm has a number of counters cards, most are a bit under rate to account for endure creating a token or adding counters... or they put counters on each creature you control which is huge here... or they engage with multiple counter types which I'm avoiding.
A few notes for future me (or you, who knows!):
- Inti, Seneschal of the Sun has needed to go for a long time. There's not a lot of discard support but Ivora, Insatiable Heir looks cool so I'm willing to give it a try.
- Deekah, Fractal Theorist hasn't ever gotten there in this environment. It reads well, it points to a cool theme, but at five mana it often just eats removal or is immediately outclassed by other threats.
- Sinkhole Surveyor gives me flashbacks to Ledger Shredder but I hope that requiring life and not looting will make this more accessible. I'll be keeping an eye on this one.
- Likely the most welcome cut here is Hex Parasite. It's been a thorn in the side of many players over the life of the cube and I'm ready to give the people what most of them want. We'll see if Marketback Walker is too much as a swap in but it's decidedly different from how dire Walking Ballista was... I hope.