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Table of Contents:

1. Introduction
2. Methodology
3. Overview
4. Conclusion

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Welcome to my Dominaria United remastered set cube! My goal is to make what is already an amazing draft format just slightly better, using the power of data from 17Lands and hindsight. The two main ways I've attempted to improve upon the set are by replacing the absolute worst performing cards and the ones which clash with the themes present.

Dominaria United was a fantastic limited environment because it was fun to draft and play while also being deep enough that hardcore drafters remained interested instead of abandoning ship when cube came around. However, after enough drafts a few weaknesses do appear. Firstly, color balance, while good, was not perfect, with some color pairs struggling due to a lack of good synergy cards available. Secondly, while the power level of commons was relatively more even than in many sets, there were a few duds that were absolutely terrible. And lastly, a few cards, many of them rares, felt out of place as they supported mechanics not featured in the set.

This set cube exists to both welcome back returning drafters and introduce new ones to a slightly altered and (hopefully) improved version of the set.

From the perspective of the limited drafter, many of the rares in DMU were disappointing, and for a few reasons. Firstly, some of them were just plain weak. Secondly, many of them did not synergize with the themes of their color(s). And thirdly, many of them were payoffs for tribes or mechanics largely not featured in this set.

My design philosophy when choosing replacement cards was that rares/mythics should be interesting to open in some way. Sometimes they are interesting because they are simply powerful (ex. Wedding Announcement), which can incentivize drafters to move into a color, stick to one they had only dipped their toes in, or even splash. Other rares are interesting because they are weak to unplayable normally, but when built around can become your deck's gameplan (ex. Double Vision). In short, good rares should change pick orders, and drafting is more interesting when the cards you have already picked influence how much you value cards in the rest of the draft.

If you have never drafted Dominaria United then this section should offer some guidance. The changes I've implemented, by replacing the unplayable and unsupported cards, should leave the themes and archetypes of the set largely unchanged.

The main mechanics of the set are enlist, domain, kicker, read ahead, and last and most certainly least, stun counters.

Enlist is an aggressive mechanic, as you can only enlist on attacks, and allows small creatures to punch above their weight by forcing their friends to lend a hand. Enlist ended up being quite balanced, weaker than mentor, but stronger than training.

Domain cards get stronger with the more basic land types you control, and to support them the first common duals with types were printed in this set.

All the kicker cards in DMU had off-color kicker costs. In general, kicker cards fall into two camps. 1) Cards you only play when both the card's colors are in your colors. Ex. Vineshaper Prodigy in Simic. 2) Cards you don't mind playing regularly but will splash the kicker for. Ex. Battlewing Mystic.

The sagas printed in DMU all have read ahead which allows great flexibility at the cost of some raw power.

Stun counters are a new mechanic but are only featured on three cards in the set. Impede Momentum is the only card that actually utilizes them as anything more than an errata.

This set cube is complete, for now. I may revise the list in the future after I draft it with friends, if bot drafting on CubeCobra ever gets fixed. There are some cards I am uncertain about in this remaster but would like to play with before deciding if I replace them.

Most uncertain inclusions:
Smash to Dust -> Warlord's Fury
Djinn of the Fountain -> Murmuring Mystic/Umara Wizard/Sailor's Bane
I really had no idea what card to use here, I only know that Djinn is a disappointingly bad payoff for spells.