2-4 person Foundations Cube
Work in progress for a 180-card cube using the Foundations Starter Collection as its core.
As a base, I think the starter collection gives you most of the things you’d want from a small, lower powered cube. However, I do think there are some issues that arise from using this product that is not meant to be a cube as the basis of a cube.
My first concern is that, while the collection comes with exactly the number of mana fixing lands that you would want for a cube of this size, the combination of gates, temples, and gain lands really put aggressive decks at a disadvantage. I think moving down to two cycles helps the issue, but it doesn’t fix it and I think lowering the amount of fixing players see isn’t ideal. My solution to this problem is to add two cycles of dual lands that are currently around 15 dollars for all 20: manlands and the pain lands.
The pain lands in place of the gates will allow aggro decks to have the untapped mana fixing they need while also putting a little pressure on slower decks (which can be balanced by either the gain lands or temples). The manlands should provide versatility for all play styles, but I worry that they’ll, on the whole, tip things in favor of slower decks once again. For the manlands I’ll be using the restless cycle, but swapping in creeping tar pit for the UB restless land because I don’t like having one random aggressive mill card.
Second, I think the artifacts are a bit weak. Solemn Simulacrum will take the place of either diamond mare (which I think is nice for slower decks and for those drafting a mostly mono colored deck) or adaptive automaton (which I don’t think does enough for the weak typal synergies present in three of the colors). I’d also like to see another strong equipment and utility artifact. My desire to strengthen the gold cards, will ultimately greatly cut down on the artifacts.
Third, the gold cards are all over the place in quality. This is an additional problem for me, since I’d like to have 30 gold cards in the cube. UR is the worst off and must look to Balmor and the new Niv-Mizzet. I also want to swap in the new Kykar to take advantage of some of the great ETBs in UW, which the current UW gold cards don’t do. I’m also looking forward to including good-fortune unicorn in place of the WG enchantment. Im also considering Muldrotha as a 31st gold card—I think it provides some more variety over time.
Finally, I do think there are some very strong two- and three- drop creatures that would boost the generic power level of the cube a bit while creating a more engaging experience. I’ll be evaluating these cards (primarily for white, blue, and red) over the coming weeks. I’m a bit worried about the potential for the cat, vampire, and elf synergies to make drafting less open, so I may look to swap in creatures that weaken those synergies. If the set had more than one or two of each creature outside their main color, I wouldn’t even think about it.
These are just my cursory thoughts after spending a few days working on this list and getting the starter collection in hand today. This is my first attempt at a cube and I’m thrilled that WotC has created a product that makes starting a first cube easy and affordable. I don’t have a large play group—and no one I play with has much experience with cube, so a twobert cube is perfect for me. And if I ever find myself with a larger playgroup again, there are lots of ways to expand this list to 360.