This is a vision of Alpha Edition that starts over from scratch, incorporating modern cards and lessons learned in 30+ years of MTG history.

Ideal cards for this set have a fantasy flavor that is compatible with the Dominaria plane. These cards are not about circuit boards, candy canes, cars, or mummies. They do not have legendary characters from other planes in their titles.

The selection of cards herein attempts to represent the 2023 color pie as faithfully as possible.

Much is absent; all of this comes later: gold cards, legendary cards, split cards, hybrid cards, planeswalkers, double sided cards, treasure tokens, sagas, adventures, hundreds of keyword abilities, and more.

Enchant creature auras are included. Creature tribes and lords are included.

Color hosers, while present in Alpha, are not here due to the unavailability of a suitably balanced and fun cycle.

One goal was is include exciting and unusual cards. If you look through the Alpha card list, there's some pretty weird and unexpected stuff, so I wanted to capture a bit of that vibe without getting too complicated and niche.

A limited set of keyword creature abilities includes flying, reach, trample, defender, menace, deathtouch, lifelink, ward, flash, first strike, and vigilance. Other keywords include scry, sacrifice, create, and mill. Many others are missing, such as hexproof, indestructible, double strike, cycling, flashback, kicker, prowess, surveil, and protection. The only types of counters are +1/+1 counters, and a somewhat limited number of token types is used.

While some cards were omitted for power level reasons, maintaining a tight power level balance is not a strict goal of this cube. The cube is not designed with draft archetypes in mind. That said, the draft experience wouldn't be nearly as bad as the real Alpha Edition.