Welcome to the Creative Cube—a playground for those who love to experiment, innovate, and push archetypes in exciting new directions. Here, players mix and match themes, uncover hidden combos, and craft powerful value engines. Every draft presents a fresh puzzle, rewarding creativity, adaptation, and bold decision-making!
Previously featured at CubeCon 2023 & CubeCon 2024.
I. 1-Minute Primer
II. Drafting the Cube
III. Primary Themes
IV. Sample Decklists
Getting ready to draft? Here’s a quick rundown of what to expect:
Plentiful Fixing – Don’t overvalue fixing; it’s abundant. Aim for two colors with a possible splash.
No "Free Spells" – If your opponent is tapped out, you’re safe to make your move.
Powerful Cards Still Matter – Cohesive decks are key, but strong standalone cards can still impact games.
Artifacts Are Everywhere – Artifacts play a crucial role across many archetypes. Artifact removal is limited but impactful.
No Auto-Win Bombs – Success comes from building towards your game plan, not just resolving a single powerful card.
Interaction is Key – Board presence and combat matter. You have some time to set up, but ignoring interaction is risky.
The Creative Cube is an Eternal-legal, singleton environment designed to reward players who blend themes into exciting and powerful decks. Strategies center around artifacts, ramp, sacrifice, +1/+1 counters, and graveyard recursion, among others. Most cards contribute to multiple archetypes, offering flexibility during drafts.
Example: Collector's Cage powers up +1/+1 counter decks, enables go-wide strategies through its Hideaway ability, taps for Warden of the Inner Sky, and can be sacrificed to Bartolome del Presidio.
The cube balances moderate complexity—creating dynamic board states without slowing down gameplay. It emphasizes decision-making and interaction while avoiding mechanics that require excessive tracking (e.g., day/night) and overly wordy cards.
To help guide drafters, the Creative Cube features clear signposts, build-arounds, and payoffs. As players gain experience, they’ll uncover deeper cross-synergies between archetypes, rewarding creative deckbuilding and strategic adaptation.
The Creative Cube features primary themes that span two or more colors, with each two-color pair offering its own unique take on a given strategy. Ample mana fixing and versatile "glue cards" make splashing colors easy, encouraging players to craft multi-faceted decks. Below are the common themes and key signpost cards for each color pair.
While these serve as strong starting points, players are encouraged to experiment with other themes and color combinations, discovering new synergies and creative deckbuilding opportunities.
Below are decklists from our local playgroup:
While at SCG CON Charlotte, I had the opportunity to try out the latest iterations of Parnell's Cube and UberBear's Artifact Cube. Artifact aggro has needed some love in the Creative Cube, so I was looking for solutions that didn't lean heavily on Modular, since it can be very parasitic.
I had some interesting finds while playing, including Cyberman Patrol, Iron Apprentice, and JackKnight. I'm also bringing back some cards tried in the past, such as Paladin Danse, Steel Maverick, Gingerbrute, and Syr Ginger, the Meal Ender that were good on their own, but flourish when the environment better supports them. To put more artifact rectangles on the board, Spyglass Siren, Whirler Rogue, and Forensic Gadgeteer are making their way in (plus will be good friends with Stridehangar Automaton).
Outside of artifact aggro, trying a few other adjustments for cards that simply weren't getting there, and to see if Emperor of Bones can play nicely with the cube if Atraxa, Grand Unifier is put in Time Out (she knows what she's done).