by www.PauperCube.com ✤ Est. 03/08/2019
Do you like nostalgia and weird limited formats where the Power Nine and Bird Maiden are both equally playable? Have I got the cube for you!
I like white bordered cards. They're the cards I first started playing with and they hold a special place in my heart. There's also a lot of older, classic cards that wouldn't see play today but still hold a lot of nostalgia for me and others. I decided to build this cube out of those old cards and used the white borders as both a cost-saving measure and a design constraint.
Due to the lack of signpost cards and clear synergy, most archetypes are less-defined than you'd find in many more modern cubes. However, there are still strategies that I have tried to "bake in" to help guide deckbuilders, and there are plenty of potent ways to mix-and-match individual cards.
White Weenie
Flood the board with cheap creatures. We ride at dawn!
Crusade is probably the best card you can draft for this archetype; a boost to all of your creatures will help them punch well above their weight.
Other ways to help get your creatures through or make them tougher will be important -- Infantry Veteran, Master Decoy, and Warrior's Honor (note it's the misprint with a lower casting cost -- this is intentional!).
Defensive options like Samite Healer, Healing Salve, and Righteousness can make combat math a nightmare for your opponents.
Take to the skies! There are fliers available at every mana value along the curve from two to five.
Need something tougher? Buff your creatures with auras like Holy Strength and Blessing.
Seas & Skies Control
Merfolk, birds, and making your opponents' life a living hell -- every blue mage's dream!
Lord of Atlantis is at uncommon, so if you can get one or more early you can make a go at an aggro merfolk build by picking up Phantasmal Terrain, Merfolk Looter, Coral Merfolk, and Merfolk of the Pearl Trident.
Much like white, blue has aerial options at every mana value from two to five -- or chuck a zebra into the air with Flight.
Your creatures may not be the best, so feel free to take advantage of your opponent's -- Clone, Control Magic, and the instant-speed Ray of Command.
There are also chunkier options like Sea Serpent and Water Elemental once you've locked down the board.
Control the board by doing classic blue things. Draw cards (Inspiration), bounce creatures (Unsummon), and counter spells (Counterspell).
Black Attrition
Play the long game -- after all, undeath is forever.
A lot of the most powerful cards are at uncommon to minimize one-sided games where one player doesn't get to do anything, but there is a discard theme running throughout black. You can absolutely build a Megrim deck.
Kill everything. With Terror, Befoul, and Weakness all available at common, there's plenty of removal to go around.
Reanimate creatures that give you a two-for-one (Gravedigger, Nekrataal) or that are difficult to deal with (Drudge Skeletons, Frozen Shade).
Take to the skies! There are fliers available at every mana value along the curve from two to five.
Need something tougher? Buff your creatures with auras like Holy Strength and Blessing.
Goblin Burn
Either light it on fire or hit it on the head.
The Goblin curve starts at one with Raging Goblin. There are multiple two- and three-drops including Goblin General at common so you can really push damage through.
Aggression is the name of the game. Blood Lust, Giant Strength, and Firebreathing will let your creatures swing in for maximum damage. For style points, combine with Dwarven Warriors.
Similar to black, there's so much removal available at basically any mana value -- Lightning Bolt, Lightning Blast, Disintegrate, Fissure, Fireball, Earthbind, etc.
Do not underestimate Lava Axe. It's a strict upgrade over the Cinder Hatchet and it will allow you to close out the game if your creatures can't get there.
There are also beefier options like Fire Elemental, Earth Elemental, and Balduvian Horde.
Typal
You may have noticed Merfolk, Goblin, and Elf typal themes in their associated colors. Each of their resident Lords (Lord of Atlantis, Goblin King, and Elvish Champion) has been downshifted to uncommon to enable this, although each color has its different strengths and struggles.
Elder Dragon Legends
The original Elder Dragon Legends are each present in the draft. Due to their heavy color requirements, they're usually only draftable in pack one, or perhaps in pack two if you're already in at least two of their colors. However, if you do manage to build a deck around them and they stick around, they're liable to take over the game.
Auras
Creatures are in general fairly disappointing, especially at common, but there are a ton of auras that you can use to beef them up. It's especially easy to take late-pick creatures like Atog and tack on Blessing, Flight, or even Web. This lets the creatures punch above their weight.
Originally this was a mono-green archetype, but Rabid Wombat and Yavimaya Enchantress both didn't end up making the cut as the cube was refined. Verduran Enchantress is still in, meaning you can pick that up early and go base-green for card advantage, but there are good auras in all five colors.