Dominaria Unified Introduction

This is a "Dominaria Unified" set Cube combining cards and themes exclusively from the sets Dominaria (DOM), Dominaria United (DMU), and The Brothers' War (BRO). It was designed as an experiment in applying guidelines from Mark Rosewater's Nuts & Bolts article series, particularly those focused on design skeletons, to set Cubes. The design skeleton from Nuts & Bolts #13 was used to fill in the Common, Uncommon, and Rare slots with minor adjustments for cohesiveness.

Mechanics

Kicker was chosen as the main deck smoothing mechanic and is present in all five colors, especially Red and Green. Tokens are supported, both for go-wide strategies and as fodder for sacrifice effects. There are two minor tribal themes: Soldiers in Azorius colors and Wizards in Izzet colors. Artifact matters themes present in the three sets--Equipment, Historic, Powerstones, and Prototype--have largely been left out to focus more on Kicker and multicolor support. Domain was also excluded to push more of an environment based on two-color decks with or without a splash. Ultimately this first attempt was to keep themes clean and simple with plenty of overlap and synergy, but combining these three sets can go in several different directions.

Archetypes

• : Soldier Tribal: There are several Soldier creatures in White, with a few in Blue as well. Creature-based effects generally focus on token creation or pump effects. Noncreature spells support a tempo strategy as the deck builds a larger board. The Uncommon Azorius signpost is Raff, Weatherlight Stalwart from DMU.
• : Draw Two: Taking advantage of incidental cantrips and dedicated draw effects, Blue and Black both include creature payoffs for having drawn a second card each turn. Dimir's Uncommon signpost is from BRO: Evangel of Synthesis.
• : Sacrifice: Black and Red both include sacrifice outlets to take advantage of all the tokens running around the Cube. These payoffs can turn small or dying creatures into damage, counters, or more cards. The Rakdos Uncommon signpost is DMU's Lagomos, Hand of Hatred.
• : Kicker: While Kicker is prevalent throughout the Cube, there are extra Kicker cards in Red and Green, as well as creature payoffs. Green's ramp helps take the most advantage of casting Kicker cards early, and some of the more powerful Kicker effects are in Red. The RG Kicker Uncommon signpost is Hallar, the Firefletcher from DOM.
• : Tokens: White's Soldier tokens and Green's Saproling tokens combine to make a large army to swarm the opponent. What else is there to say? The Selesyna Uncommon signpost is DMU's Queen Allenal of Ruadach.
• : Sacrifice: Less aggressive than Rakdos Sacrifice, the Orzhov Sacrifice deck is more attrition-based. In fact, Orzhov could simply be a midrange token deck with a couple of sacrifice outlets for value. The WB Uncommon signpost is Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim from DMU.
• : Spells Matter: While there is a minor Wizards tribal theme, the bulk of the Izzet archetype is more broadly designed around instants and sorceries. This includes Prowess creatures as well as other payoffs. The Uncommon signpost for Izzet is Third Path Iconoclast from BRO.
• : Saprolings: The Golgari pair has a token sacrifice theme with Saprolings, but it can also just do midrange graveyard recursion strategy. The Golgari Uncommmon signpost is DOM's Slimefoot, the Stowaway.
• : Aggro: Unsurprisingly, the Boros color pair combines the aggressive Red elements with all the Soldier tokens in White to support a go-wide strategy. The Boros Uncommon signpost is Fallaji Vanguard from BRO.
• : Ramp: Finally, the Simic color pair combines Green ramp elements with Blue card advantage to take advantage of Kicker spells and large creatures and spells. The Simic Uncommon signpost is Tatyova, Benthic Druid from DOM.

Design

To mimic commercial booster pack quantities, the Cube contains 4 of each Common, 2 of each Uncommon, and 1 of each Rare. Mythics were left out due to a combination of price, complexity, and lack of impact on the draft environment. A Rare cycle of Dual lands has been included, and the fifteenth card of each pack is intended to be one of the Common tapland Duals. Artifacts are intended to fill gaps in deckbuilding. The total count is 101 Commons, 80 Uncommons, 65 Rares, and the 10-card cycle of Common Duals.

Next Steps

I've been really pleased with the initial design based on Maro's Design Skeleton, but would welcome any feedback. While there is an impressive amount of overlap between DOM, DMU, and BRO, obviously not everything could be included. The lack of Artifacts Matter, Legendary Matters, and other themes could take away from the Dominaria feel. There were also times where a lack of options from the card pool led to an out-of-place inclusion to fit the design skeleton. However, I hope this will serve as a resource for anyone looking to build a Dominaria Unified Cube of their own.