Art by Richard Kane FergusonYou are a dark wanderer traversing a frozen hellscape. Civilization is far behind you and only the jagged peaks of a black Unknown lie on the horizon. The companions you meet along the way can be trusted no further than the convenience of allyship might stretch, but you welcome them nonetheless. They are survivors, like yourself; battle scarred veterans, some living by the blade, others by the dark arts. Demonic forces inhabit these frigid wastes and each day your party faces a new onslaught of bloodthirsty horribles. Each battle won promises only that you will live to fight another. If you are lucky, you may find aid from the disinherited races of this ice kingdom: Giants, trolls, elves, and dragons. And if your soul is black enough, your intentions steeped in nihilism, then you may even gain favor of the demons of this cursed land. Good luck, Wanderer. May your blade be tempered and true.
This is a Snow Cube that takes aesthetic inspiration from the works of fantasy illustrators like Frank Frazetta. Its aim is to create the feeling of a harsh barbarian world of swords and sorcery, a lá Conan the Barbarian novels. To achieve this, the deck focuses on art over abilities. It is a combat-based cube, with virtually no combo potential. The focus is putting equipment on creatures and turning them sideways. Most decks have a Limited feel to them and are mostly of the midrange variety, though there are some control decks that can be drafted.
Being a Snow Cube, there is a snow subtheme throughout. However, the cube’s land station does not consist solely of snow lands; you have to draft those lands yourself. The list runs the dual-color snow lands in multiples, and it also runs 20 Snow-Covered Wastes. A drafted Snow-Covered Waste can be traded in after the draft for a Snow-Covered land of any color.
I’m not going to list out every archetype here. As I said, there’s mostly just midrange and control. Since I have taken cards primarily from Ice Age, Coldsnap, Kaldhaim, and Modern Horizons, I have found myself finding ways to support small tribal themes. Barbarians, Berserkers, and Warriors are supported, as are Giants and, in a small way, Zombies. I know Tribal can sometimes be parasitic in cube, or force you to draft on rails. I’ve tried to limit the amount of “tribe matters cards”, but I believe within these tribes, there is enough of a density of creatures that a small handful of support cards can be used without being utterly useless in draft. It helps that these are just the most common creature types in the sets I have taken from, as well as being the creature types that lend themselves best to my Sword & Sorcery aesthetics.
Though there are Snow-cards across all the colors, BUG is really the “Snow Deck”. You can also find yourself in a Snow-Control lane that seems to be WU, with Elminster as your signpost for the deck, and a card like Marit Lage's Slumber as a win-con.
As for the other decks, you’ll have to discover what each color pair does. This cube has a lot of equipment up for grabs, but RW is the “equipment matters” deck. GB is the “deathtouch matters” deck, utilizing cards like Ohran Frostfang, and Fynn, the Fangbearer. GW is sort of just “Value Town”, and BR is the closest thing to an “aggro” deck in the cube.
I hope you enjoy drafting it! It’s a unique experience, since I’m trying to capture a vibe rather than a specific type of play. Any feedback is much appreciated!