Matignon's Cube, 360 unpowered
(360 Card Cube)
Matignon's Cube, 360 unpowered
Cube ID
Art by Jim NelsonArt by Jim Nelson
360 Card Unpowered Legacy+ Cube139 followers
Designed by matignon
Owned
$20,108
Buy
$5,190
Purchase
Mana Pool$4320.59

Unpowered Legacy Cube

First thing first : my discord to discuss Cube and other Magic related things : https://discord.gg/4aF9vS3Gyt
We have a community of French Cube owners to discuss Cube related things there.

I've maintained a Cube since around 2004 and it has been my favorite way to play Magic since then. Also I played a bit competitively at some points in the last two decades, won Worlds in 2010 as my career peak.

My Cube always has been a Legacy Cube, since the beginning, mostly because I never owned Black Bordered P9 cards... Initially it was a collection of cards used in competitive constructed Magic curated to play well together in a limited way. That changed a bit around 2019 since starting that time a bit too many cards which I didn't love the gameplay of started to get printed. Simultaneously with the Universe Beyond thing and Commander cards printed in packs, some cards started to tempt me even if never played nor playable in constructed. So nowadays my Cube is still a bit correlated to constructed competitive play, but less so that it was. So I guess it's an archetypal Cube with a slight connection to tournament played cards.

On aesthetics, my Cube is composed of French and English cards which are foiled whenever possible. I also have some old edition cards (Beta, Legends) when possible.
Basic lands used are French Black Border third edition because those are the lands I had when I started and the nostalgia is important in Cube.
All 10 Duals are also French Black Border, can't show that on Cobra since their picture for some reason doesn't exist on Scryfall.
I try to have regular version of all the cards because I think those look better together than with Extended Arts mixed.

Cube size is 360 because that's the sweet spot for me and my playgroup. We mostly team-draft with 6 players so that's the best Cube size for us, I think. I also think that fringe archetypes are easier to include and draft the smaller the Cube is.

Some tidbits of my Cube building process to explain the list :

  • As a Cube philosophy I don't love two/three cards combo that win the game à la Splinter Twin so I try to not include any practical one. Mostly because I don't love the way the draft shapes when those combos are present in a Cube.

  • Don't love cards that snowball, that is to said card that generate more and more value when left unchecked. Some exemple would be Planewalkers in general, Rabblemaster, Adeline or Esika's Chariot. I try not to include cards like that, think it helps the games to be less often one-sided.
    That said, Planewalkers are a part of Magic and I want my Cube to reflect Magic so I have some still. But to keep them in check I have only one Planewalker card per name. One Jace in the Cube, Vryn Prodigy so no Mindsculptor allowed. That let me have a number of Walkers that I like.

  • I try to include synergistic deviations in the most linears archetypes. I think the draft gets more interesting that way but it also makes the Cube harder to draft.
    To examplify this, in White Weenie specifically I have two sub-themes, artifact matters and Human-tribal. So you can draft basic White Weenie but also enhance it with either theme.

  • More often than not I Cube with elapsed players. So I try to have cards do what's written on it if possible. So that means no card that requires an additional Card to be known line Monarch, Initiative or Day//Night.

  • I like Universe Beyond cards so I'm not much a Magic purist. Will try to include on-theme UB cards in small numbers, think it also diversifies the draft experience since those cards are less known to the players.

View All Blog Posts