Cube Overview
Design Philosophy:The Bodleian Cube showcases iconic and powerful cards with an emphasis on strategies that combine cards to be more than the sum of their parts. The power level is designed to allow these iconic cards to shine within and alongside archetypes which often suffocate in cubes designed to maximize individual card power. The strategies within the cube are set up to combine and cross pollinate to encourage emergent deckbuilding and present drafters with many possible directions throughout the draft. Each drafter begins with a Cogwork Librarian to enable them to speculate more effectively on many buildarounds within the cube.
These events will feature or have featured Bodleian Cube in the main event.
Cultivate an environment with exciting synergistic plays where card combinations are greater than the sum of their parts.
Maintain a high density of efficient threats and answers within the cube while omitting cards which are so powerful that they make synergy irrelevant.
Ensure that games are fun to lose as well as win. People lose in every game of Magic and there’s a notable difference between a fun and unfun loss.
The aggro, midrange, control combat triangle is a core part of this cube. Combo decks are intentionally excluded.
Archetypes are not typically tied to one specific color pair. This encourages emergent decks and prevents on-rails drafting.
The narrowest cards in the cube should be among the most desired in the decks they’re desired by.
Generic removal spells are typically kept out of gold sections to encourage cross pollination of archetypes and discourage five color good stuff.
Cards with hexproof, shroud, and protection are minimized to enable more interactive gameplay.
Game state agnostically powerful blue instants are restricted to encourage blue decks to engage in combat.
There is main-deckable removal for planeswalkers, enchantments, and artifacts to ensure that these card types are still interactive. As a result, there is no cap on any specific card type.
Bodleian Cube is Baltimore Singleton (There are duplicates of fixing lands). There is great fixing in the cube to support all decks. Five color good stuff piles are kept in check by the speed of the fastest decks in the format.
There is no fast mana in the cube.
These draft rules enable the highly synergistic decks to come together, even without the entire cube being drafted.
This cube is named after the Bodleian Library in Oxford, England. It shares two key similarities with this famous library.The Bodleian Library was among the first to popularize an elaborate registry of donors to showcase their generosity. In Bodleian Cube, the winner of each draft signs a basic land, showcasing their skill to all drafters to come. In addition, a helpful Cogwork Librarian will find players what their deck needs during the draft.
The decks in the Bodleian Cube all complete on the tempo vs attrition axis and the proactive vs reactive axis. There are no combo decks in the cube and nearly all decks must play to the board in order to win. The well positioned decks in any given draft have a good idea of where they fall on both of these axes. There are many archetypes within the cube, but a “Spellslinger” deck is still going to fundamentally have a gameplan such as Midrange, Control, or Aggro. Decks which do not have a cohesive identity on these two axes will struggle.
This is not a cube where each color pair has a given archetype. This design approach is often an oversimplification which can lead to on rails drafting and lack of emergent decks in the format. Instead, the Bodleian Cube focuses on having a diverse selection of archetypes that cross pollinate well with each other and encourage emergent deckbuilding. This rewards creative drafters and enables them to find unique decks that can change multiple times in a given draft based on the cards they choose to add.
Below are descriptions of many of the high level archetypes within the Bodleian Cube. There are far too many combinations to list all of them, but this list is a great starting point for anyone trying to draft the cube or learn about its design. Each archetype has colors listed next to it which are in the format of Primary Color(s) / Secondary Color(s). For example, an archetype listed as / is primarily in white and red and secondarily in black. As a final note, this list is not going to cover the generic two color midrange decks that are achievable in all color pairs. One can absolutely combine the bread and butter cards in two color pairs to make a coherent deck, but these are not explicitly designed around. The Bodleian Cube is designed to reward drafters for synergy in their decks.
The aggro archetype use efficient, low cost threats to get the opponent's life total to zero as quickly as possible. This deck wins by killing the opponent before they can get their bigger threats into play and stabilize. The mana base of Bodleian Cube tends to enable two color aggro decks more readily than monocolor ones.
Rx aggro decks are the fastest in the format due to their hasty threats and burn spells which can kill the opponent if they stabilize on board.
Wx aggro decks lack the burn of their Red counterpart but make up for it with access to stronger removal and disruption. This clears the way for highly efficient creatures and planeswalkers to kill the opponent quickly.
The aristocrats archetype attacks opponents on a different axis by gaining value from its own creatures dying. By combining sacrifice outlets, sacrifice fodder, and sacrifice payoffs this deck can grind the opponent out or kill them outright. These decks can play very fast, or opt to grind out the game with a slower plan.
Yawgmoth, Blood Artist, Goblin Bombardment, and many other cards commit a crime every time a creature dies. This can loop Miner for or make two Gisa tokens every single turn. When this engine comes together it wins the game quickly, and comes about as close to combo as one can get in this cube.
The artifacts archetype is somewhat self explanatory. Build around the engines which care about artifacts and include artifacts and card that create them in your deck
Stoneforge decks are powerful in Bodleian Cube, but play much more fairly than in cubes where Kaldra Compleat is an option. Do not let that trick you into thinking the card is not worth including in your deck. Looping Cryptic Coat or dropping a snap on equipment like Maul mid combat are powerful lines that win games.
The control archetype is all about disrupting the opponents plan and winning with inevitability. In this cube, you are unlikely to stick to pure draw-go or tap-out style control. The best control decks here blend the two styles and know what cards are worth tapping out for. Winning the game quickly once the corner is turned is also key.
There is not a hardened scales deck in this cube, but there are plenty of good cards that put counters on creatures and several creatures that get significantly more powerful when extra counters are put on them. When both kinds of cards are added to a deck the player gains access to some explosive lines of play.
Delirium decks seek to accumulate many card types within the graveyard. They can cover the entire range from proactive to reactive, but all of them need to be careful about how many cards they include which need to consume cards from the graveyard in order to function.
The flicker archetype is all about gaining value by repeating ETB triggers with flicker effects. It can play a variety of speeds based on what creatures are put into the shell
The lands matter archetype is all about getting additional value from playing lands. Fetch lands and ways to play lands from the graveyard are key to powering up the payoffs such as Tireless Tracker and Titania, Protector of Argoth.
Ramp out your payoffs early then use crucible effects to repeatedly play lands from the graveyard to gain value.
Field of the Dead uses its namesake card as a value engine in games that go late. This tends to come together as a ramp deck that can play multiple lands per turn and uses Field as a win condition. Tutors for lands as well as extra payoffs for those tutors both help the deck succeed.
The legends deck rewards the drafter for using legendary creatures or permanants.These payoffs give a different texture to a aggro or midrange shell and are significant threats when built around.
The Lurrus deck is dependent on an early Lurrus open, but is one of the strongest in the cube when it comes together. Recurring the best one and two drops gives the deck a shocking amount of inevitability without sacrificing the ability to win early against unsuspecting opponents.
Properly speaking, the ninjas deck is a tempo deck in UB colors that uses ninja cards as threats. This deck’s goal is to play creatures which are hard to block, then ninjutsu in one of the haymakers which can be protected with counterspells and spot removal while it generates advantage to win the game.
The ramp archetype uses mana acceleration to play large threats ahead of curve. Mana dorks as well as muti-mana ramp spells are key to getting ahead enough of the typical mana curve to have high impact.
Dedicated cheat decks are not supported in the Bodleian Cube. There are several flavors of reanimator here, but they are all making value plays. There are no entomb + reanimate style combo decks
There are a number of cards across black and white that can return creatures or permanents with mana value 3 or less from the graveyard to the battlefield. Tiny Reanimator decks grind the opponent out with an army of these smaller creatures.
This is the version of this deck that brings back large creatures with cards like Virtue or Liliana and tends to come in the form of a Ramp/Rock deck, or a Control deck. Virtue in particular can be a one card, value reanimator engine.
Rock decks use green’s mana acceleration to get premier threats out early. They use removal and recursion to grind the opponent out of the game.
Self mill decks specialize in filling up their graveyard very quickly. This can provide pure card advantage via threats like Uro, options for engines like Six, and even can be used to win the game with Nexus of Fate.
Soul Cauldron is a card which changes a deck all on its own. The floor on the card is reasonable grave hate that can buff creatures. The ceiling is an army of Grists that create an insect every turn and take over the game. There are lots of great activated abilities to make use of with Cauldron, and your opponent’s cards ensure that every matchup provides unique lines to find.
The spells matter archetype plays lots of instants and sorceries as well as cards that care about casting them. They can play a faster flash style of tempo strategy or a slower grindy strategy quite comfortably. It is worth noting that a true “protect the queen” style of delver deck is unlikely to come together in a cube with such high value curve topping plays.
The stompy archetype is about using manadorks to cast midrange threats ahead of curve to take over the game. They differ from a traditional ramp deck in that they are more about playing three, four, and five drops faster than normal rather than the larger creatures ramp decks want to cast.
There are Ux tempo decks which don’t lean into any of the other archetypes in the format. These all aspire to play enough threats and use answers to disrupt the opponent just long enough to win.
The tokens archetype is the quintessential go-wide strategy in this cube. Overwhelm the opponent with too many attackers to block, or pump the entire board to go for the kill. This deck is one of the most flexible when it comes to speed. Aggro decks love to go wide with tokens, and even ramp decks can make use of their potential to great effect.
Drain TokensThe drain based tokens deck leverages death triggers in black to force a no win situation by attacking with tokens to force damage through and kill the opponent.
Chariot is such a cool card that it is worth highlighting a couple unique tokens it can copy. Esika’s Chariot + Ob Nixilis, the Adversary feels like cheating the first time it happens, but the X value for the token is copied, resulting in an army of Mob Nixilis tokens. Vaultborn and Gruff Triplets are more straightforward, but explosive to pull off.
Taking multiple turns at once is a very powerful strategy. There are only a couple of turns spells in the cube, but there are many ways to copy them and get them back from the graveyard to build a deck around the strategy.
Winota /The Winota archetype centers all around the namesake card. She requires a deck that’s split between human and non-human creatures to overwhelm the opponent with a tide of humans from the deck. Prioritize larger humans and lower MV non-humans to maximize her potential.
With Vertex Philly on the horizon, I’ve been thinking a lot on what the final version of this cube will be for that event. I am overall extremely happy with how Bodleian Cube is playing, but am also always happy to do some tweaking of the list.
Most of these changes are increasing the support for spellslingers, tempo, and Gx tokens decks. These are all archetypes that I have been slowly trimming down cards from to make room for other decks, and I think I went a little too far overall. Bringing these cards in should restore them to where I want them to be.
AddsSpyglass Siren - I did not actually give this card a fair test the first time it was in the cube. It got cut to make room to test something else before it truly saw a lot of play. The artifact and evasive body make it relevant for a large number of blue decks, even if it will likely be a role player in all of them. It’s possible that a third flying man variant is not actually desired, but I think Blue decks as a whole will be happy to play to the board early with a blocker that can also help them find a land drop.
Enduring Curiosity - As soon as I locked this list for Cubecon I wondered if I should have added this card too. Having played with it and seen it played elsewhere, I now think it is perhaps the tempo deck equivalent of Yawgmoth, Thran Physician or Urza, High Lord Artificer. It is the kind of card that gives your deck an immediate slant into the archetype and will be an incredible payoff for building around it.
Young Pyromancer - A cube classic that I did not think was needed here for a long time. I do think its presence will increase the options for spellslinger decks, and provide them with another way to compete on board with decks going wide. I was off it in favor of Third Path Iconoclast for a long time, but think that both might be the right fit in this iteration of the cube.
Thing in the Ice - One of the biggest challenges that spellslinger decks face is their inability to come back from an overwhelming boardstate. Thing in the Ice excels on this front, and I’m happy to put it back into the cube.
Sprite Dragon - All of the spellslinger threats in this update are coming back rather than being added for the first time. Sprite dragon was always a solid performer in the past, it just got cut to test other cards. It is back now to continue supporting the tempo-based spells decks.
Fact or Fiction - This is a beloved card, and I want to cube with it. It is fun for both players when it is cast which is an incredible feature for any card. It also gives the Torrential Gearhulk decks another big spell to hit, which is a fun upside.
Dread Return - I really think a reanimation spell that you can cast from the graveyard by sacrificing tokens should have a home in this cube. Fellow designer Dinrovahorror has convinced me of this, and I’m bringing it back in to get more testing.
Birthing Ritual - I am happy to have some narrow cards in the cube, and I think I made the mistake of wanting this to be considered a generally strong role player instead. I cut it because a lot of people were not maindecking it, but I should have accounted more for the fact that it was never supposed to be a card that was maindecked every draft. I love the effect here and want to give it more time to show up in these narrow but cool applications of the card even if it will not be maindecked in a lot of drafts.
Enduring Vitality - This card will be a nice bridge between token and big mana decks, as well as being a good way for go-wide decks to double spell early. I like the decision space that it opens up and how it provides a good incentive for green decks to want to go wide.
Springheart Nantuko - I had avoided this card for a long time in spite of the fact that it bridges so many different decks in this cube. The lack of bestow reminder text is a bummer and the wording of the token ability is way more confusing than it should be. After thinking on it for a long time, I asked my local group and they were overwhelmingly in favor of trying it out. This is a significant complexity budget spend, but I hope it pays off greatly by enabling the green token, etb, and lands decks to shine more. I will be watching it closely, if it is not fun and an all star it likely will not make it long term.
Nettlecyst - Another artifact payoff which is also an equipment for Stoneforge Mystic to hit. I like that this card bridges those two decks, and is a reward for the artifact decks that make a ton of token artifacts. I have not played with it a lot, but I think having multiple artifact payoffs in colorless will make the deck show up more across a variety of colors.
Cuts Worth DiscussingInsidious Fungus - No one has wanted to maindeck this card since I added it. It’s a flexible C- level effect that players will cut because they have more exciting options. I’m going to be a bit more wary of cards like this going forward.
Earthshaker Khenra - A great role player card for proactive red decks, but not one that pushes you in any given direction. Given the amount of decks and archetypes that are supported in Bodleian Cube, there is not a lot of room for cards like this when there are equivalents that support various decks in the cube. Emberheart Challenger is a hasty threat that’s also hard to block, but it leans into more synergies by comparison. I like Khenra, but it also will not affect any decks by leaving.
Grave Titan - I think Grave Titan is an awesome card, and I love the art for it. That said, I think it has not been performing well in this cube for a while. The other options at surrounding manacosts do more, and it loses in spite of being cast a large percentage of the time. I am sad to see this one go, but the changes required to keep it around would be sadder, so it is time for it to go.
Lavaspur Boots - I have never liked this card aesthetically, and I do not think it’s a card that decks want if they do not have Urza's Saga or a significant lack of playables.
Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim - A solid control finisher, but nothing special in this context. Teferi has come in and out several times, and I want to make room for other effects in blue instead. There are lots of new top end cards in blue that I think the control decks would rather have.
Ral, Crackling Wit - This is the third four mana planeswalker with +1 make a 1/1 that I have added then cut for not generating enough value for the cost. I think that baseline is not enough for a four mana card in Bodleian Cube, even if the card is very cool. I would like to find another home for this card, but even the slower UR decks are cutting it in favor of other options.
Bristlebud Farmer - Green has more than enough options at four mana, and this card sparks no joy. It was intended to bolster artifacts in green, which it simply did not do. It’s a reasonable beater, but I like the other options more.
High Fae Trickster - I really wanted this card to get there. It is fun, elegant, and cool. In reality, the 2 toughness was a huge downside. Blue decks were not able to reliably flash it in to block something and expect it to live. That means it only really was able to go off in circumstances where Blue decks could wait to flash it in for a turn where they did not need to do anything on board. Those turns are few and far between, which led to this card not feeling great to play with.
Temporal Trespass - Testing this card made me realize that the turns decks really want ways to recur Time Warp or loop Nexus of Fate more than they want a third turns spell that doesn’t work the same way as either of the other two. Turns decks are showing up way more and not running this card, so it does not feel necessary.
Magma Opus - I realized there are other narrow cards I like more (such as Birthing Ritual) that I would rather use this slot on.