Art by Jeff A. Mengesest. 2013 (?)
Rarity restricted cube containing only cards that have at some point been printed in paper at either Common or Uncommon.
Some primary considerations for this list include...
- Avoid Power Outliers and game-warping effects.
- Avoid Complexity Creep; primarily in execution or of conditional/clause heavy cards.
- Prioritize reminder text being present for non-evergreen mechanics.
- Prohibit effects that require annotated types/colors, such as the Thriving cycle.
- Keep Double Faced Cards to a minimum.
- Re-evaluate the Commander Masters legends downshifts because those were to support an EDH-centric draft format instead of a more traditional one.
This cube is also roughly sized; I'm not strict on per-color column totals. Some of this is to account for biases in multicolor/colorless cards and to lean towards certain secondary color pairs.
Broad Themes/Archetypes| Color Pair | Themes |
|---|---|
 | Tokens, Flicker, Modified/Pump |
 | Spells Matter, Flicker, Control, Evasion |
 | Sacrifice, Reanimation, Recursive Value, Discard |
 | Burn, Tokens, Sacrifice, Spells Matter |
 | Counters, Mana Acceleration, Beatdown, Graveyard + Regrowths |
After seeing a mono-white deck completely flop last night I think white might be lacking a bit independently. All the archetypes it can support are just way better if you splash into another color, which I don't necessarily think is a bad thing - but it is a bit different than what the other colors can do.
I think what happened last night was a combination of incorrect deck building and perhaps an awkward distribution of low-curve white threats in a 4-player draft, but it still feels like maybe this is a way to start giving white some more in-color higher value payoffs.
Side note, but something I was noticing more while looking through the list again is that white seems to struggle with <3 cmc flicker/bounce targets. There are so few payoffs for a Kor Skyfisher or on-curve Flickerwisp compared to what a lot of the other colors get. That's not even just necessarily in this cube, but in all of Peasant. I'm fine with Skyfisher just being a costed 2/3 flyer, but it might be a bit off to drafters not expecting that.