>>> ![Image](https://i.imgur.com/4LPrzsX.png) <<< --- You find yourself in a thematic twist on the concept of Desert Cube, in which the only lands you get to build a deck with are the ones you find while drafting! Mechanical and flavor inspiration were taken from the Desert theme in the Amonkhet block and the survival adventure theme of Zendikar, hence the shared name. There are plentiful Cycling cards, MDFC lands, and Landfall effects, as both finding and playing lands are especially important to survival here. To help with the absence of a basic land station, this cube is designed to be drafted in 3 packs of 18 cards each, which will average out to about 6 lands per pack. In smaller pods, 4 packs of 15 can be used to reveal more of the environment and improve the odds of finding enough on-color lands. --- ### Singleton Breaks and Mana Fixing: This Desert contains 8 copies of each basic land, and two copies of each member of the [[Desert of the True]] cycle. All other cards are singleton. There is a full cycle of fetchlands, full cycle of dual Deserts, and full cycle of typed duals (AKH Cycling cycle and MKM enemy-color Surveil cycle). This leads the cube composition to be roughly 1/3 lands overall, and of that number about 1/3 are Basic-typed, 1/4 are Desert-typed, and 1/4 provide fixing for multiple colors. --- ## Archetypes at a glance: #### {W}{U} Clues/Historic/Flicker <<[[!a80447e9-a359-49cf-82fa-9ee36ed730d3]] [[!Jem Lightfoote, Sky Explorer]] [[!e3eb3b95-9540-45f4-8600-bedaff98e624]] [[!b1e23c4f-06bf-4f34-8221-408ce90ec672]]>> --- #### {U}{B} Mill/Discard/Exile <<[[!a7f43e9f-8a0e-4534-ba4d-14cde33df864]] [[!Lazav, Familiar Stranger]] [[!Undead Alchemist]] [[!Undercity Informer]]>> --- #### {B}{R} Haste/Aggro/Tokens <<[[!Chainer, Nightmare Adept]] [[!Lagomos, Hand of Hatred]] [[!Ambuscade Shaman]] [[!Ardoz, Cobbler of War]]>> --- #### {R}{G} Landfall/Landsac/Rocks <<[[!Mina and Denn, Wildborn]] [[!Brushfire Elemental]] [[!Toggo, Goblin Weaponsmith]] [[!Tireless Provisioner]]>> --- #### {G}{W} Trinkets/Recursion/ETBs <<[[!Samwise Gamgee]] [[!Renegade Rallier]] [[!Sandsteppe War Riders]] [[!Astrid Peth]]>> --- #### {W}{B} Life/Death/Reanimator <<[[!Zoraline, Cosmos Caller]] [[!Hero of the Dunes]] [[!Late to Dinner]] [[!Polluted Cistern // Dim Oubliette]]>> --- #### {U}{R} Wizards/Spells/Cycling <<[[!Rielle, the Everwise]] [[!Balmor, Battlemage Captain]] [[!Windrider Wizard]] [[!Rockslide Sorcerer]]>> --- #### {B}{G} Descent/Self-Mill/Recursion <<[[!Wight of the Reliquary]] [[!Akawalli, the Seething Tower]] [[!Souls of the Lost]] [[!Coati Scavenger]]>> --- #### {R}{W} Weenies/Pumps/Aggro <<[[!The Jolly Balloon Man]] [[!Arabella, Abandoned Doll]] [[!Subira, Tulzidi Caravanner]] [[!Delney, Streetwise Lookout]]>> --- #### {G}{U} Self-Mill/Delirium/Aggro <<[[!Slogurk, the Overslime]] [[!Vilespawn Spider]] [[!Patchwork Beastie]] [[!Ghost of Ramirez DePietro]]>> --- >>> ![Image](https://i.imgur.com/098a5UA.png) <<< --- >>> ## The Story <<< --- After Nicol Bolas destroyed all known civilization on Amonkhet, and used his eternal army and zombie gods to invade Ravnica, the desert plane still had survivors trapped in a harsh, zombie-filled wasteland and only one god remaining to protect them. Elsewhere, Zendikar was devastated in the wake of the Eldrazi titans, with mana bonds weaker than ever before, and the expeditionary houses struggling just to survive. These two planes, shadows of their former selves, found their fates intertwined by an unknown force, and just as Rath was overlaid onto Dominaria: the dunes, undead, and survivors of Amonkhet were transported to Zendikar, burying the jungles, seas, and hedrons in miles of desert sand. For the Zendikari, there are now all-new temples and landscapes to explore, new treasures and traps to discover, and their refuges become some of the only safe havens untouched by the living dead rising from fields of sand. The survivors of Amonkhet find themselves in a land more bountiful and verdant than they ever dared to imagine, no longer trapped in ruins at the center of an endless wasteland. And what's more, legends thought lost to time, from other planes entirely, have begun walking in from the dunes with no memory of what brought them here. Is this some final contingency plan from Nicol Bolas, now seemingly defeated? Has something, or someone, else brought them here for a larger purpose? Or are they simply another mirage? Mysteries lie beneath every dune in... The Amonkar Desert. You can read the first chapter of this story [here!](https://medium.com/@unluckylooter/desert-story-chapter-one-cdce1bdf6cef) --- Header image art by [Deltakosh](https://deltakosh.artstation.com) Credit to Maramas (a.k.a. u/JuliusVinaigrette on Reddit) for both inspiring the writing of this primer and teaching me many methods for making it look nice. Her excellent primer article is [here](https://cubecobra.com/content/article/602abb5969cb75105e271d4e). Additional credit to [Dreddmor](https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/one4all) for inspiring the new visual format!