Art by Svetlin VelinovHuge WIP warning for this whole thing :)
This primer is made using the template from Maramas’ Primer for Cube Primers article
This is my take on an interesting theoretical idea which I’ll try to explain here! The culmination of a few facts about my recent play experiences of Magic have informed a thought process about designing a cube from the top down.
- Over time, many “archetypes” have been carved out by large groups of cards across many sets
- These archetypes span multiple colors, sometimes the whole color wheel, with each color’s identity playing a key role in how that color’s cards interact with any given archetype.
- Multicolor deck-building support in a limited environment such as cube is greatly benefited by the introductions of specific card sets such as fetches, untapped duals, shocks, and tricycle lands.
If all of these things are somewhat true, then I ought to be able to do the following:
- Highlight a few design areas of Magic that I like experiencing, or enjoy seeing the play patterns of.
- Select archetypes which are supported over multiple sets throughout Magic’s history that fit these play patterns or experiences
- Create a curated and complete cube list that platforms taking archetypes in colors that don’t at first seem the most popular, but with other card support and mana base support, can turn into fun and engaging deck pieces.
Using these thoughts, I gathered 5 general archetypes that have plenty of card support over time, and spread selections for these archetypes out across 4 of 5 colors to encourage drafting similar but not the same archetypal deck strategies that could span many color combinations, and still create fun to repeat draft and play experiences.
Table of Contents:
- Cheat Sheet
- Cube Environment & "House Rules"
- History
- Primer (START HERE if you're relatively new to cube drafting!)
Cheat sheet:
A few things are important for this draft experience right out of the gate
- Mana is...
- Global archetypes are…
- Cycles of cards…
Lands Matter
Graveyards
Spellcasting
Enchantments / Enchantress
Cycling
A primary motivation behind the creation of this cube was that *each of the color pairs available to any given archetype ought to be viable for a full draft in that archetype. * I hope this means that you can have a night where you draft Boros and it’s a cycling deck one draft, and it’s a Top-o-deck list the next.
Fringe-playable archetypes for those who seek to draft them:
You’ll want your own here. I like to list cards with hover-over text like this (1 2 3 4 5) when I’m listing a lot of them in one spot, which means you’ll type (1 2 3 4 5).
Cube Environment & "House Rules":
Pod Size & Pack Size:
Do you have a specific style of drafting? Explain it here!
House Rules:
What are yours? I’ll leave mine here in case yours are similar:
- You can look at all of your picks during the draft (unless everyone agrees not to beforehand). Some people need the memory space taken up by those cards, and I find that 99% of drafters are fine with this as long as they know beforehand.
- If you draft Pod, you can take a picture of your deck before playing and reference it in-game at any time. It actually speeds games up, not slows games down, since you can check for targets while your opponent is thinking. Plus, it eliminates those real feels-bad moments where you whiff. It's fine to whiff when you brainfart and Tinker while you're already holding your only fatty, but for Pod decks it's different. They struggle enough as it is; don't beat a dead horse.
- Not a house rule, but a common comment I get: I do not like cards with Monarch. Palace Jailer is a powerful card, true, but I do not like the playstyles that Monarch cultivates, however, so it is out.
History:
Your cube has a history, even if it’s just “I threw this list together yesterday after the idea of a Cube popped into my head where there are no black cards except a single copy of Yargle.” Put that history here.
Some kind of transitional sentence before the rest of your primer, if you have a big primer:
Atypical Archetypes & Why to Play Them
I’m leaving the full text of the primer here as a reference. You’ll want to change it to match your cube, or even better, write your own that’s specific to your environment.
So you want to draft a cube (obligatory). Well, you'd better go into your first cube draft with some idea of what you can actually, ah, draft. This primer is oriented toward getting you familiar with the types of decks you are most likely to encounter in this cube and others like it.
Note: If you don't actually know what a "draft" is yet, read this first. Conversely, if you already know why cards like Porcelain Legionnaire, Heir of Falkenrath, and Looter il-Kor are in the same draft environment as Blightsteel Colossus and Jace, the Mind Sculptor, then you don't really need this primer. Go poke around with some bot drafts and show what you know.
Now that the old farts are gone, let's talk shop.
To be overly derivative, Cube is about drafting decks, not cards. Have you heard of "BREAD"? Doesn't matter; we're not using it here. Almost every card in the cube looks "good" at face value, so just drafting good cards will not leave you with a deck on-par with the other decks that drafters are building.
So how do you draft a deck? You look for archetypes.
- ar·che·type | \ ˈär-ki-ˌtīp
NOUN: the original pattern or model of which all things of the same type are representations or copies. (Merriam-Webster)
Thank you, Mr. Dictionary. I've learned a smart word but am still draft dumb.
- ar·che·type (Magic: the Gathering edition)
NOUN: A general game-plan for victory that one emulates by combining cards which further said game-plan, often to synergistic effect.
That is to say, an archetype is not just about the words on your cards. It's a way of life It's a way of piloting a deck—a way of building a deck—a way of (you guessed it) drafting a deck. Below, I will be outlining not just the types of cards that fall into each of the cube's major archetypes, but also how each of those decks wants to be drafted and played.
"I came here for the pretty pictures," you are no doubt saying right now. Well then:
The Pretty Pictures:What gameplay area or effect is bolstered in importance for your deck? Is it…..
--
What’s the big picture: Lands is a utility midrange archetype, relying on sturdy threats that gain value through lands-matters effects. Each color variety treats lands as they “matter” in an array of different styles.
How do I draft it: Enablers and Payoffs: Utility lands, land tutors, land matters creatures, land sac outlets, land recursion outlets.
Spice / color combination variance aa
Matchups: a
Example decks aa
What’s the big picture: Lands is a utility midrange archetype, relying on sturdy threats that gain value through lands-matters effects. Each color variety treats lands as they “matter” in an array of different styles.
How do I draft it: Enablers and Payoffs: Utility lands, land tutors, land matters creatures, land sac outlets, land recursion outlets.
Spice / color combination variance aa
Matchups: a
Example decks aa
What’s the big picture: Lands is a utility midrange archetype, relying on sturdy threats that gain value through lands-matters effects. Each color variety treats lands as they “matter” in an array of different styles.
How do I draft it: Enablers and Payoffs: Utility lands, land tutors, land matters creatures, land sac outlets, land recursion outlets.
Spice / color combination variance aa
Matchups: a
Example decks aa
What’s the big picture: Lands is a utility midrange archetype, relying on sturdy threats that gain value through lands-matters effects. Each color variety treats lands as they “matter” in an array of different styles.
How do I draft it: Enablers and Payoffs: Utility lands, land tutors, land matters creatures, land sac outlets, land recursion outlets.
Spice / color combination variance aa
Matchups: a
Example decks aa
What’s the big picture: Lands is a utility midrange archetype, relying on sturdy threats that gain value through lands-matters effects. Each color variety treats lands as they “matter” in an array of different styles.
How do I draft it: Enablers and Payoffs: Utility lands, land tutors, land matters creatures, land sac outlets, land recursion outlets.
Spice / color combination variance aa
Matchups: a
Example decks aa
That brings a close to the deeper look at all the types!
To quote from earlier:
bit about the color design, supposed flexibility, supposed re playability, and less common card platforming in the cube itself
Go forth and cube! Draft it, tell your friends and parents about it. Just get out there and turn some cardboard or digital objects sideways. : )
If you want to read more about Maramas’ design philosophy, you can check out this CubeCobra article.
"Gold-Bordered cards are wonderful things,"
—Maramas