Atavus (n.) Ancestor [Latin]

Atavism (n.) A trait which reappears after having been lost through evolutionary change in previous generations.

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Bombs as cool as they look. Spontaneous synergies. Killer filler.

One nonland rare/mythic per pack.

Design notes:

"Is it possible to make a cube where prior memorization doesn't confer an advantage?"
"What does it take for a cube to foster bluffing and counterplay from the very first encounter?"

These were the guiding questions for Atavus. It's not enough to "make the fun thing strong" -- the strong thing should be obvious and appealing to the drafter, should emergently reveal its own next-level synergies to the deckbuilder, and should expose clear lines of counterplay to its victim.

Immediately this implies a relatively wide power band, pockets of combat-focused synergies with a smattering of prescriptive signposts, and creature-first rules of engagement, respectively. Most importantly, battlefields have to remain clean, amenable to memorization within the very first game, so that for games 2 and 3, players can begin to bluff and anticipate their opponent's tricks.

The last piece of the puzzle: I really wanted a Cube home for my Alara block foils. As such, Atavus consciously evokes a 2010s aesthetic and play pattern, but has no hard restrictions on eligible cards.

Harder rules:

• around 5 instant-speed effects per color, duplicated as needed
• instants change combat decisions (these are paired rules)
• gold spells and rares can be super-sets of the core instant-speed effects (e.g. Izzet Charm is Galvanic Bombardment meets Spell Pierce, and thus doesn't require new counterplay)
• other "spell-like" effects will be sorcery, or tied to permanents
• key mechanics are combat-focused, and optimizing the mechanic naturally leads the player to good deckbuilding fundamentals (e.g. Raid, Bloodthirst)
• no cards that lead to trivia checks

Softer rules:

• no shuffle
• few tokens (~2 types for each color? "Copy" counts as one.)
• no non-evergreen without reminder text
• no one-off mechanics (more true for complex mechanics)
• rares feel powerful
• uncommons and commons are competitive with rares, through synergy and rate
• 2008-2016 power level

my brother and i, belly-down on grandma's rug, making up the rules to our duel decks as we go. we have just discovered that vault skirge is unbeatable with necropouncer equipped. he's brewing a ghoulraiser deck; i'm savoring the flavor text of woolly thoctar.