Inspired by the "Turbo Cube" made by @anthonymattox.

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My main design goal is to create a high-powered format without the high cost that comes from the traditional staples of high-power Cube formats. There are Cubes that make cards cheaper or give you free cards, but I wanted to take an approach that felt closer to traditional Magic.

So why not just use your life as resource? You start with 20 and only need 1 to win. This also causes some neat ripple effects: lifegain can be used as ramp, and burn spells attack the opponent's mana. This also creates a novel feeling of tension; spending too much life will cost you the game, spending too little will leave you behind in boardstate which will also cost you the game.

High powered, so expect shenanigans. I try to disallow T1 kills, but don't be surprised when you are staring down a potentially lethal board before you have a chance to play a land.

I am planning on reworking the "guided tour" section of the primer

Lifegain has a meaningful boost since life can be spent as mana. Normally unplayable, lifegain now works as a combo enabler.

Timely and Sunset are interesting here. Rule 605.3a states that you can only activate mana abilities while you have priority. Mana abilities don't use the stack, so typically the player casting the spell will have the opportunity to lower their life total first, then their opponent can decide to pay life for mana to reduce their life total so the lifegain part of the effect does nothing upon resolution.

Colorless costs are simply life costs in most cases. Cycling cards are in all 5 colors as well. Lifegain payoffs might be too good; gaining life is already very good.

Untapping lands has an interesting effect here. Colored mana is relatively limited compared to colorless, so untapping effects grant you access to more mana. Bounce spells round out Blue, with the added potential for blink shenanigans.

Another card that interacts with the emblem in an odd way. If you pay life to get to 13, you can't use that mana to pay the cost. You can still activate the channel emblem in the middle of the 13 life trigger to pay for it.

Shutting down lifegain is good here.

A lot of cards in Black come with the added cost of playing or losing life. With the Channel emblem in play, these cards are now weaker because you have something else to spend your life total on, and generally to better effect. I will just have to rely on good old aristocrats/reanimation.

Red doing what it does best, dealing damage. One of the fun aspects of this Cube is the balance of how much life are you willing to spend, and Red does a great job of keeping it interesting.

Green gets to show off more if it's identity due the the Channel Emblem. Colored mana is still limited, so grabbing lands will always find use. Lifegain is strong in green, which is strong in this Cube.

Not a lot of multicolored cards. A bunch of them are hybrid so they are easier to cast.

Artifacts/colorless cards are quite potent here.

Because colored mana is a limiting factor, mana rocks are picked quite highly.

Even Pristine Talisman is helpful; It "pays for itself" over a few turns and gives you mana even your life is low.

Plenty of lands are affected by the emblem.

Most everything has been covered. I like keeping things more open-ended to make deckbuilding interesting. There's still a few surprises waiting to be discovered, even potentially something I didn't think of.

Ideas Maybeboard

• Everyone gets bonus cards to play with (5 eggs?)
• Guarantee everyone has access to mana rocks
• Make cycling better. Another emblem? Maybe add after cycling?