Art by Christopher MoellerI started building this cube in early 2020. In its earliest form, it was a very budget (~$100) collection of 360 cards, based on the Upgraded Card Kingdom Starter Cube 2.2 done by @cubefortwo. You can check that list out here: https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/cardkingdomupgradecube
There was still plenty of room for improvement - but being very new at cube design, I reached out to Matt to give me a hand evaluating some more upgrades. Over the next 2 years, I slowly added a few cards here and there, trying to improve the power level and balance the archetypes. In the summer of 2022, I made a relatively large update, adding in several more expensive cards that I hadn't been ready to pull the trigger on previously. The result was a still relatively budget-friendly, medium-power cube - but I feel it's a lot more interesting to draft now than it was in its original form.
RESTRICTIONSThis cube is strictly singleton, but may include functionally identical cards. All cards must be authentic Magic: the Gathering cards - proxies are not allowed.
Budget: No card in this cube may cost more than $5 CAD at the time of purchase, but cards will not be removed from the cube if their value exceeds that limit after purchase. The only exception I made was for the checkland cycle, which the cube desperately needed and I was able to include for an average cost of 46 cents over my self-imposed limit.
Sets & Printings: As a personal preference, I don't include cards from UN-sets (even the eternal-legal ones), Universes Beyond or Mystery Booster playtest cards. I prefer to use only black-bordered cards (with the exception of Volcanic Hammer - Wizards, please reprint that thing), and I avoid original/retro frame cards, cards with special art treatment, and foils to maintain a cohesive visual aesthetic throughout the cube. It also helps to keep individual card prices down.
Rarity: There are no rarity restrictions in this cube.
ARCHETYPESMono-colored decks can be drafted in each color, but two-color decks (as you would expect) tend to be a bit stronger and more resilient due to the variety of effects available without sacrificing much in the way of speed. Three-color decks are also possible, but due to the limitations of the mana base available, are likely to be a bit on the slow side. Be sure to draft answers for threats that get played early to buy enough time to get your own game plan going.
Typical white weenie. Keep your curve low, using cheap utility creatures and spot removal to clear a path for your threats. A wide board is the key to victory here.
Very much a tempo build. Bounce and counter your opponent's threats while using cantrips to draw into your finishers.
A slightly different take on aggro, using hand disruption and cheap removal to keep the path clear for your attackers, then recurring them if they get removed.
Arguably the quickest mono-color aggro deck, you'll need low-to-the-ground, hasty creatures to put early pressure on your opponent. Then, once they're weak, smack them in the face with burn spells to finish them off.
Stompy! Play a bunch of early mana dorks and ramp your way into some big, beefy finishers, then trample your way to victory!
I tried to give each guild their own unique identity and not resort to "good stuff" builds, while still offering single colored cards that would be desirable for multiple strategies. There is still some overlap between the color pairs (which we'll see in the three color section), but each of the following decks can definitely stand on its own.
White/blue is centered around the blink archetype, but I've started to lean more towards control elements than just straight value. Play lots of utility creatures that you can flicker to gain a tempo advantage over your opponent. Then, when the coast is clear, drop your finisher and close out the game.
Combining the counterspells and bounce effects in blue with the hand disruption and creature removal in black, this color pair is all about hard control. Strip your foe of resources, lock them out of the game, then swing in and finish them off.
Playing black and red is all about abusing your own resources for gain. Cast a bunch of cheap expendable/recurrable creatures, then rush your opponent. Can't get through their defenses? Sac your expendable/recurrable creatures over and over to ping your enemy to death!
Gruul sits solidly in midrange territory. Use red's burn to slow your opponent's board growth while green's mana ramp gets you quickly to your big beefy creatures. Then just roll on over and beat your foe's face in!
Green/white is all about going wide with tokens. Make a bunch of tokens, pump them up with some anthem effects and overwhelm your enemy's defenses.
This color pair is a classic aristocrats strategy. By repeatedly sacrificing your cheap creatures & tokens, you'll gain incremental advantage over your opponent while slowly chipping away at their life total.
Another classic, Izzet is a spellslinger deck. Draft a ton of instants & sorceries (as well as a few payoffs for them), and watch the other player struggle to come up with a play that you can't find an answer to!
In black/green, we're running a self-mill/reanimator package. Mill or discard your biggest, baddest beaters into the graveyard early, then bring them back from the dead and crush your opponent!
Basic meat and potatoes aggro here. Use white's removal and red's burn to keep the path clear for a swarm of cheap, efficient creatures. Getting overwhelmed? Drop a board wipe to level the playing field and start again.
Last but not least of the guilds is Simic. Here, we're running a super ramp deck that aims to generate a lot of mana as fast as possible. Then, you'll use that mana to drop a big, hard-to-remove creature (or two) and put your opponents against the ropes early in the game. Use counterspells and other evasive measures to protect those threats while you ride them to victory!
There are viable decks available in all ten three-color combinations, but not all are created equal. The cube wasn't designed specifically for three-color decks (there are no shard or wedge cards) and some pairs naturally have more overlap than others.
This could be nothing other than straight-up, no-holds-barred control. These colors give you access to all the best control pieces in the cube. Counterspells, spot removal and board wipes are the core of your plan, along with some cantrips to make sure you've always got the answers you need. Don't forget to draft a few win-cons to play once you've got your opponent completely locked out.
Grixis is another control build, but here red's burn spells will perform double duty as spot removal and direct damage to pressure your opponent into going into defense mode. Board wipes are less available, so be sure to take advantage of hand disruption and card draw to make sure you stay one step ahead of your competition.
Jund works best as a mid-range strategy, ramping into some of the biggest, meanest monsters in the cube. You can also make use of the available sacrifice and self-mill effects to outvalue your opponents and make sure to have all of your resource where and when you need them.
Tokens, baby! Create and buff an army of token creatures, then swarm your opponent. Board wipes are devastating to this deck, so be sure to draft some way to protect your forces against them.
This color combination brings a little something extra to the blink theme. Green adds extra utility in the way of ramp and tokens, allowing you to outrun and outvalue your opponent. Of the three-color combinations, this is probably one of the harder ones to pull off, but when you do, it's very rewarding.
Another control build, using red's direct damage spells to maintain consistent pressure. Use board wipes to control the creature population, and counterspells for everything else, then drop any one of the powerful available 'walkers to finish the job.
Blue adds cantrips here to help increase the speed and efficiency of the reanimator deck. Blitz through your deck and play creatures from your graveyard to catch your opponent off guard.
Rush your opponent with access to all of the most efficient hasty creatures. Run out of steam? Sac all of your one drops and use them to pick away at the enemy's life total.
Temur is the rampiest of ramp decks. Mana dorks, ramps spells and big, nasty creatures are your targets in draft.
Make a bunch of tokens and sac them for value!
Taking advantage of some end of summer price drops, I'm making a few swaps to replace some more lackluster cards with some newer, more interesting options.
Indebted Spirit is just better in almost every way than Doomed Traveler, withe the ability to have a bigger impact than being a simple chump blocker later in the game.
Gods Willing has been "fine", but that's about it, so we'll replace it with a new(er) flexible removal spell - Get Lost.
Fblthp, the Lost is a cantrip on a 1/1 and the rest of his text rarely matters. Thunderclap Trainer is still a cantrip - although it trades a bit of flexibility for card selection, and the extra toughness means it will stay relevant longer. The offspring cost is pretty high, but if you have the mana, getting this effect twice can be game-changing.
Jhessian Thief is another card that's just okay. Chrome Host Seedshark fits in the same decks, but has more impact in almost every sense. If it's not answered, the Incubator tokens it creates can become a real problem.
Electrostatic Field should probably have come out of the cube a long time ago, and since the spells deck has plenty of support I'm going to take this opportunity to add a card I quite honestly didn't even know existed until I started seeing it pop up in other people's lists. Gut, True Soul Zealot is a Rabblemaster variant with a twist that will lead to spicier play patterns than the card it replaces.
There's nothing inherently wrong with Khenra Spellspear, except that sits in a red slot, but it's really just a 5th Izzet card - and not one that would make the top 10 options for that guild. We're going to try Emberheart Challenger, which the spells deck will still enjoy...but other decks should be interested in as well.
Finally, Trumpeting Herd has been nothing to write home about. It gives you two vanilla 3/3's for four mana, but the second body is so telegraphed, that your opponent can usually play around it without slowing themselves down too much. The bodies Esika's Chariot gives you two might be a little smaller, but if you untap with it, making a copy of ANY token you control should be worth the tradeoff. Will it be good? I guess time will tell, but it will almost definitely be more fun.