This cube, as the name suggests, is primarily inspired by the classic Death and Taxes archetype and my favorite archetype, Tempo decks.

This cube is built to emphasize and explore the gameplay edges surrounding various types of tax effects, from Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Daze, and (my personal favorite) Mana Tithe. While pitting those against cards/archetypes like Collected Company and Izzet Tempo which usually seek to win through speed and mana efficiency.

As part of playing on mana efficiency, threats with Ward or the ability to be played for very cheap have been prioritized to encourage players to think carefully about how and when the play their removal. Similarly, cards like Clarion Spirit and Sprite Dragon are also present to encourage multi-spelling and timing considerations.

Archetypes:

Unlike many “traditional” unpowered cubes, this cube has very little in the way of “defined” archetypes, particularly across two-color/guild pairs. Each color has 1-2 core strengths with 1-2 key weaknesses, and the way those intertwine is largely dependent on the individual drafter and the cards in their deck.

Every drafter should be cognizant of how their deck is playing on the tempo vs value axis. Drafters will benefit greatly from considering how their deck functions as both the Beatdown and the defense in any given matchup. Many game 2 and 3s are and will be decided by choosing sideboard options that hedge against the particular tempo requirements of that matchup.

White

Aggro:

White is a primarily aggressive color. Players in white based decks should look for early plays and snowballing threats. Cards like Luminarch Aspirant and Champion of the Parish are early plays that can quickly close out games when properly protected and supported. Similarly going wide with Clarion Spirit and Adeline, Resplendent Cathar may be a bit slower but can absolutely win games “alone” if left unanswered.

Tempo:

White is primarily a supporting color for tempo decks, and even then it is probably the second worst “tempo” color in the cube. While it does have access to very strong tempo cards via Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Monastery Mentor, and Mana Tithe—the majority of the white “tempo” plays in the cube cost 3-4 mana and therefore tend to be worse into Aggro or other tempo matchups. White also has the fewest options for 2-for-1 effects, which also doesn’t help much on the tempo axis.

Control:

White is arguably the best “supporting” control color. With Azorius control being one of the few “prescriptive” archetypes, white’s powerful 1-for-1 removal in tandem with several key gold cards like Teferi, Hero of Dominaria and Supreme Verdict mean that control decks with access to white will have a solid variety of options for removal and sweepers while something like Archangel of Tithes or Gideon, Ally of Zendikar slowly bring the game to a close.

Blue

Aggro:

Blue is by far the least “aggressive” color in the cube. Currently blue features only 10 (non-gold) creatures and only 2-3 of them have any real argument for being “Aggro” creatures. Blue is generally too reactive of a color in this cube to function well with or in true Aggro decks.

Tempo:

While blue is not a good Aggro color, it is a phenomenal tempo color. Deploying 1-2 early threats like Sprite Dragon or Delver of Secrets with the ability to protect them via counterspells and removal is one of the more successful (and popular) strategies I have seen in this cube.
Young Pyromancer style cards like Third-Path Iconoclast and Saheeli, Sublime Artificer provide excellent value for tempo decks via repeatedly making blockers while also eventually going wide enough to turn the corner and become the beat down.

Control:

To (probably) no one’s surprise, blue is the premium control color for this cube. It’s just kind of hard to argue with cards like Counterspell, Mana Drain, and force of will. Not to mention 20+ fetchlands making Brainstorm, Jace the Mind Sculptor, and Treasure Cruise even more standout than the usual compared to fully singleton cubes.

With nearly 2 dozens pieces of stack interaction and several of the best finishers in the list (Frost Titan, Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim, Tolarian Terror, Shark Typhoon, etc), blue is often a critical component of the strongest control decks.

Black

Aggro:

Black is an excellent supporting color for Aggro decks in particular. A fair mix of removal and recursive threats make black a nice companion piece to any deck looking to clear blockers and push damage.
This cube also supports a Death's Shadow package through the painful mana base + cards like Bitter Blossom. This deck needs to be exceptionally aggressive to maximize the value of each card and kill their opponents before their own low life total matters.

Tempo:

The recursive nature of black’s threats and its ability to comfortably maintain mana-favorable 1-for-1 trades at various mana costs helps Black function well in tempo focused decks.
1-mana hand disruption like Duress and Thoughtseize and low cost removal like Cut Down and Tragic Slip are critical for black-based decks who want the maximum return on their mana investments.

Control:

Black is probably the third best control color, though there are definitely arguments for it being in second place. The wide sweet of 1-for-1 disruption and removal, plus a handful of X-for-1 cards like Languish, Witherbloom Command, or Kolaghan’s Command can help form a strong baseline for a black-heavy control deck.
In similar fashion to Blue, Black also has an excellent selection of creatures and method’s by which to end the game. The premium cards in this department are Lurrus of the Dream-Den and Sheoldred, the Apocalypse. These cards generate advantage and value that almost nothing else in the cube can compete with. Sheoldred tends to stonewall Aggro while also bringing on 4pt life swings every turn, even without attacking. Similarly Lurrus’ ability to interact with nearly 120 of the permanents in the cube even as a companion, means that graveyard value plans can make exceptional use of the nightmare cat, even while facing down mana flood and/or screw.

Red

Aggro:

Unsurprisingly, red goes fast. Red features a suite or very aggressive 1-2 drop creatures, and everything that costs more than 2 can close games very quickly. Powerful standouts like Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer and Bomat Courier in particular, are capable of generating exceptional value while also dealing damage.
Red also features a nice suite of instant speed damage and burn effects like Lightning Bolt and Embercleave which can help push opponents from single-digit life totals to dead extremely quickly.

Tempo:

Red’s instant speed interaction and low cost threats make it an excellent choice for tempo decks. Similar to blue, many of the premium tempo cards like Young Pyromancer and Sprite Dragon can rapidly evolve into threats/board states that are difficult to handle if and opponent doesn’t have the right cards are the right time.

Control:

Red is often at its weakest in control decks. The red cards in this list largely lean into proactive/aggressive strategies, which don’t often pair well with the generally more reactive play-style of control decks.
Control decks utilizing red will likely benefit most from Red-Gold cards like Kroxa, Titan of Death’s Hunger and Prismari Command to try and maximize shorter value while building towards a long-term endgame/game plan.

Green

Aggro:

Probably the least aggressive color behind blue, green is capable of producing wide board states and turning its creatures sideways, but being aggressive is definitely a weak point for green decks in the early game.
Green aggression starts on turns 2-4 via ramping into value-based threats like Sentinel of the Nameless City, Tireless Tracker, and/or Tarmagoyf. Similarly, Green as a support color in a deck like Gruul Aggro tends to go over fairly well thanks to cards like Brushfire Elemental and Territorial Kavu.

Tempo:

Green “tempo” in this cube is much more of a traditional “midrange” deck than it is to a “tempo” deck. ~7 1-mana dorks that tap for mana + further ramp from two drops mean that green’s tempo plays are generally trying to just play bigger cards faster than their opponents can play their relevant threats. Playing out an early Primeval Titan or Nissa Who Shakes the World can generate enough value that smaller tempo plays from opponents simple wont be able to keep up.
Value engines like Hedge Shredder and Titania, Protector of Argoth similarly can also generate levels of value that other colors are simply incapable or matching.

Control:

Green’s weakest point is definitely control. Similar to Red, Green’s cards simply don’t line up well into the playstyles control tends to do best within this cube.
Green’s best control cards are it’s finishers and value engines which can be used to help control decks stay ahead on resources while they get setup to drop the bombs needed to close out the game.