Set on a plane stripped of mana, the Desolation cube is a colorless centric cube with few ways to generate colored mana; of which, most require a cost. Unlike most cubes or draft formats, only Wastes (not all basics) may be added post-draft.

To compensate for the low availability of colored sources, there is large proportion of colorless spells. In addition, many colored cards have morph or colorless cycling costs. The color split is slanted black, so the few duals will always produce black. The idea is that generating colored mana in this environment always requires a cost, and many black spells include taxing effects.