Alpha is one of the pinnacles of game design, a set so great it created a genre. It established the fundamentals of the game engine, created a near-perfect vision of the color pie, and has hundreds of card designs which have withstood the test of time.

But, you know, surely we can do a bit better.

Okay, okay, put down the pitchforks, it's a joke. But this is a "what-if" about Alpha. What could it look like if informed by the modern cardpool and the lessons we've learned over the years?

This cube is my take on what Alpha could be if we looked at it through the lens of a modern cube designer. The goal is to hit three main points:

1. Keep what makes Alpha great.
2. Clean up the issues which we can now recognize, with a bit of hindsight, weren't particularly fun.
3. Mix in some popular modern card designs and modern set design principles.

The result is a set of cards which can be played in any of the forms we recognize today. Draft, sealed, casual play, competitive play, all are supported. I expect, in reality, this to mostly see play in Limited, so those formats are the main focus.

The Approach

Here's some of the points I hit on while designing this cube:

1. Games are fairly slow. The quality of creatures is fairly low, especially at higher CMCs.

Aggressive strategies are deliberately held back. They do exist, but they need to achieve victory via synergy, not just curving out.

Engines are inconsistent and rare.

2. There are signposted goals to build towards.

If you see a card, there's a purpose for it. If that card is at common or uncommon, its purposes are achievable in Limited. For rares, you may need other rares to make them work.

For Limited, some of these are built into little archetypes:

Power Matters in

This aggressive archetype focuses on playing aggressively to the board, and finishing off the opponent with a fire-breathing creature and Fling.

Key Pieces
Fencing Ace, Angelic Exaltation, Enrage, Dragon Mantle, Fling.

Role Players
Goblin Oriflamme, Steadfast Paladin, Faithbearer Paladin, Pegasus Courser, Inspiring Captain, Angelic Page, Fork (with Fling), and Wall of Fire.

Other Inclusions
Berserk if you're dipping into . Righteousness and Bloodshot Cyclops are also useful pieces at rare.

Looming Shade and Nightmare also do a fire-breathing impression and can also combo with Fling at times.

Lifegain in , secondary in

Key Pieces
Celestial Unicorn, Light of Promise, Steadfast Paladin, Faithbearer Paladin.

Role Players
Healing Salve, Drain Life, Ribbons of Night.

Other Inclusions
Sanguine Bond as a major rare payoff for playing .

Go-Wide in , secondary in or

Key Pieces
Charge, Inspiring Captain, Call the Cavalry.

Role Players
adds Strength of the Pack and value creatures, adds Goblin Oriflamme and Orcish Conscripts. Angelic Exaltation if you have some evasion or trample.

Other Inclusions
Crusade and Gauntlet of Might as anthems if you're deep in a color.

Big Mana Red Big Mana Black

Key Pieces
Looming Shade, Dark Ritual.