Welcome to the Dragonstorm Cube!

This cube has been in continuous use and iteration for over 6 years. We play it as a regular in-house draft among a group of personal friends, many of whom do not otherwise play Magic. It was originally started as a challenge to create a format in which one of our favorite cards, Dragonstorm, is viable. Since then it has settled into a modern power level, but the namesake card continues to be supported.

Design Philosophy

While assembling and iterating the cube, I was guided by the following principles.

The Spirit of Magic

I want as many of the game's facets to be represented as possible. Between complex resource management, intricate card interactions and infinite combos, I try to expose the players to the full breadth of unique things that Magic has to offer.

A Modern Mindset

The cube only includes cards from standard sets in the modern era (8e and beyond) as well as modern horizons sets. In other words, it is a modern cube with banned cards, but without universes beyond. The power level is kept at such a level that straight-forward pro-active plans are slightly favored over niche interactions or complicated value engines. This is done in order to support the less experienced players having a good experience, while the veterans can challenge themselves with intricate strategies.

Situational Strength

The average power level of the cards within the context of the cube is kept as even as possible. Each card should either be generically strong but never overly powerful (i.e. have a medium floor and a medium ceiling) or be generically weak but be a breakout card in the right context (i.e. have a low floor, but a high ceiling).

Speed and Colors

I prefer to express the color pie through mechanics instead of game speed. That means I do not designate certain colors as aggressive and others as controlling, but support building aggro, midrange, control and combo decks in just about any color combination.

Archetypes

This cube aims to equally balance power level and synergies. One of the best experiences in magic is overcoming individually more powerful cards with cards that enable each other to be stronger than the sum of their parts.

The following is a list of archetypes that are present in the cube:

Notable Buildarounds

The following cards encourage players to build their decks around maximizing their utility, while not having a clearly defined set of supporting cards.

Cheat Enablers

The following cards allow cheating in the strongest threats without being part of a defined archetype.

Cheat Targets

The following cards present the strongest threats at the cost of having the most restrictive mana requirements.