Art by Chris RahnWelcome to my version of an unpowered vintage cube. Mainly this cube got inspired by the official version of the MTGO vintage cube (designed by @dekkerglen) as of July 2022. As a result there is a big overlap in single card choices. Other inspiration I received from the wtwlf123's Cube (designed by @wtwlf123) and MtG Cube (designed by @MtGCube). In the following I will provide you with information about the general idea of this cube (cube overview), which archetypes the cube enables to being drafted (archetypes), which main principles I followed when I designed the cube (underlying principles) and which changes have been made to the cube over time (change log). The first two chapters might be interesting for you if you want to draft this cube. The principles chapter might be interesting for you when you want to build a cube yourself.
Cube overviewThe cube encompasses 384 cards and is being designed for an 8 player draft. With 384 cards and 8 players you create 4 packs per player with 12 cards each. So each player will end up with 48 cards at the end of the draft. Four packs enable drafting “left, right, left, right” so that no player has a draft disadvantage because of the direction the cards getting passed while drafting. Each color and each color pair has exactly the same number of cards so that there is no natural inclination that one color or color pair is being drafted more than another. Cards with a too high value to cost ratio (so cards which are clearly better than most of the other cards in the cube) are excluded. Among others, that led to the elimination of Ancestral Recall, Time Walk, Black Lotus, Sol Ring, Fractured Identity, etc. There are only a few combos included in this cube (no storm, no sneak attack, no channel, etc.). Almost each color or color pair can be played as aggro or tempo/midrange deck. Blue, black and white are naturally the best colors to play control. Artifact is not a deck archetype itself but rather a supporting “color”. The land-base focuses heavily on color-fixing. This cube contains a full cycle of triome-lands as well as a full double cycle of fetch-lands. That makes playing multiple colors more easy, enables a greater variety of deck archetypes and facilitates exploiting card synergies across colors. If you want to know more about how this cube was designed, check out the chapter underlying principles.
ArchetypesIn the following there is a short overview of the archetypes that can be played in this cube. The cards which are displayed by pictures constitute typical cards played in the respective archetype. As tempo/midrange archetypes are very similar to one another there are displayed together. The first two cards are normally more tempo cards while card three and four rather tend to be played in midrange decks.
Mono White AggroMono white typically focuses on small creatures and a small portion of cheap interaction. This deck wants to put early pressure on the board. A student of warfare paired with a mother of runes might win you the game.
Mono blue is a control deck which heavily focuses on card draw, loot effects and card which take advantage of loot effects. Accruing value by playing many instants and sorceries is also a theme. Ethereal Forager and Murktide Regent work wonders in almost every blue deck which contains many cheap instant and sorcery spells.
Mono black is very similar to mono white: A lot of small creatures and cheap interaction.
Mono red is typically the most aggressive deck archetype. It utilizes small creatures paired with burn spells. The main goal of almost each spell played in this deck is to hit the opponent directly in the face.
Mono green normally entails mana dorks and big creature spells which can be slammed on the board in round 3 or 4. As mono green does only have very limited ways to interact with the opponent, the main goal is to play a big creature spell as early as possible. Also other mana accelerators such as Courser of Kruphix are normally played in mono green.
Aggro decks are characterized by a low mana curve. Most of the spells have a Mana value of one, two or three. Depending on the color various kind of cheap instant and sorceries are mixed in the deck.
See White + X Aggro
See White + X Aggro
See White + X Aggro
Generally speaking, tempo/midrange decks try to either put a threat on the board on turn three or four, which accrues value over time or slam down a wincon between turn 4 and 6. The tempo deck then tries to protect the card it played so that value can be accrued over time (for example a planeswalker which draws cards). The midrange deck tries to control the board until the wincon is played. Tempo and midrange decks both encompass many disruptive elements which try to interfere with the opponent’s game plan. An also typical element of tempo/midrage decks are signets to have accelerated available Mana.
See White + X Tempo/Midrange
See White + X Tempo/Midrange
See White + X Tempo/Midrange
See White + X Tempo/Midrange
Blue + X is mostly either Blue/White or Blue/Black control as Red and Green lack proper removal spells for the late game. The goal is to control the board, accrue a card advantage over time and slam down a game winning card.
White contains four spells which allow you to blink a creature on the battlefield. This effect paired with strong ETB effects can give a player the decisive blow to win a game. In this cube White + X blink can almost be paired with any other color. White/blue, however, might be the strongest color pair for blink.
The whole cube contains two dedicated mill cards: Glimpse the Unthinkable and Sphinx's Tutelage. Paired with a Snapcaster Mage or wheel effect those cards can mill out an opponent very quickly. To build such a deck (as with most following archetypes) at least one tutor should be drafted to enable playing the key cards.
This cube does not contain many slots for the “normal” reanimator spells as it would fill up the cube with too many cards which would be close to unplayable outside the reanimator archetype. The only “real” reanimator spells this cube contains are: Altar of Bhaal, Recurring Nightmare, Animate Dead and Reanimate. The great aspect of Altar of Bhaal and Recurring Nightmare is that those cards can be used in many archetypes as value cards. On the flipside this cube contains a ton of cards with looting effects. That means that those reanimator cards paired with looting effects and big creatures enable a player to sneak it big creatures through the graveyard. Feldon of the Third Path is also worth mentioning as the card works as pseudo reanimator spell. Even a Sneak Attack is great in such a deck as pseudo value-sac-outlet.
See “Reanimator light”. The difference in this archetype is that Daretti, Scrap Savant and Goblin Welder act as reanimator cards. This cube contains enough big artifact creatures to support this archetype. Of course combing this archetype with the “Reanimator light” archetype might also be a good option.
This deck tries to have small creatures to sacrifice (for example through Bitterblossom oder Scute Swarm) and a card which accrues high value of sacrificing creatures. Attrition, for example, is a real powerhouse and Westvale Abbey might be the best finisher for such a deck.
Five color Niv-Mizzet constitutes a five color good stuff archetype with Niv-Mizzet Reborn as center piece. The deck should contain many dual color cards as Niv-Mizzet Reborn can grap those when it enters the battlefield. As the deck must contain a lot of color fixing and with that usually also many fetch lands Omnath, Locus of Creation fits also greatly in this archetype.
This cube contains many options to play storm. The standard route to play storm in this cube is to create a lot of mana through cards such as High Tide or Mana Flare combined with Treachery and Frantic Search as well as draw spells such as Treasure Cruise and [Dig Through Time]]. With a lot of Mana at one’s disposal and a high storm count the game then can be won either through a very big Finale of Devastation, Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, Brain Freeze or Empty the Warrens. With Thousand-Year Storm also a burn spell with a high storm count might finish the game. The last “standard” option would be to hard-cast Bolas's Citadel or to find it through Tinker, sacrifice 10 permanents to shoot 10 damage directly into the face (given the opponent’s life total is 10 or less). Timetwister and Wheel of Fortune are also frequently played in storm to get a fresh hand of seven cards to increase the storm count.
Sneak Attack, Oath of Druids and Monster Manual are cards around which a similar archetype evolves. All of the decks containing those cards entail big creatures which can be sneaked onto the battlefield for lesser Mana resources than the creature normally would cost. To dampen the power of this combo, this cube does not contain any big eldrazi creatures.
“Draw 7 effects” the whole cube contains only two: Wheel of Fortune and Timetwister. When Narset, Parter of Veils is played followed by one of the Wheels only you draw seven and the opponent discards their hand.
Opposition works with many colors in this cube as most colors support creating tokens. Opposition is especially well known in conjunction with Deep Forest Hermit as you are able to create four tokens on the spot. With those tokens you tap that player’s lands in the beginning of that player’s upkeep until you can find another card which wins you the game. Also hitting with your four 2/2 Squirrels, of course, might constitute the game winning play.
Upheaval is mainly played with Signets, Mana dorks or both. You should have access to at least 8 or 9 Mana before you cast Upheaval so that you have some Mana left with which you can cast your Dorks again.
The following nine principles were formed to design the cube. Principles one to four apply to the cube as a whole. Principles five to nine were taken for individual card choices:
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Each game has to be fast paced
Each archetype has to enable a player to play a fast game or to interact as early as turn 1 or 2. That leads to the premise that across colors most of the spells have to be of Mana value two and three (naturally the Mana curve of Red is lower than the one of Blue). -
Each game has to be highly interactive
The number of disruptive cards with respect to the total number of cards of the cube has to be high. -
Each game should differ from another
The archetypes aggro, tempo/midrange and control should be playable in as many color pairings as possible. By default, however, some color pairings can’t facilitate each archetype. Red/Green, for example, can’t support the archetype control. -
*Players should be enabled to play many colors in their decks”
The cube must contain many sources of color fixing. To achieve this, the cube contains a full cycle of signets, a full cycle of dual lands, a full cycle of shock lands, a full cycle of triome lands and a full double cycle of fetch lands. Having a full double cycle of fetch lands also synergizes with cards which let you play lands from your graveyard and effects which trigger when “a land enters the battlefield under your control”. -
Each card has to be the best available card
Each card in the cube is carefully chosen and has to be the best card in comparison with any other card potentially available. That leads, for example, to an elimination of Cancel as Counterspell is strictly better. -
Each card has to have a similar value to cost ratio
Value refers to the overall contribution of a card to the achievement of a player’s game plan, cost to the Mana value of a card. Picking cards with a significant higher value to cost ratio is not a matter of skill but rather a matter of luck. Ancestral Recall, for example, has a strictly higher value to cost ratio as Thirst for Discovery. Therefore, Ancestral Recall is excluded. Other noteworthy card exclusions are: 1) Enablers: Sol Ring, Black Lotus, all Moxes, Time Walk, Mana Crypt, Mana Vault, Grim Monolith, Mana Drain, Channel, Sneak Attack, Tinker 2) Finishers: Fractured Identity, Treachery, Bribery, Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, Griselbrand, Inkwell Leviathan. Excluding those cards leads to a more steady game development and less abrupt losses/wins, which (in my opinion) leads to a better drafting experience. -
Each card must provide value on its own
Each player must be able to draft cards in order to form a deck, which is playable. Cards whose value is mainly derived from a mechanic which is not very well supported by the cube are excluded. A card, for instance, which says “whenever you surveil” can’t make it into the cube as the surveil mechanic is too color specific. -
Each card should synergize with many other cards in the cube
In addition to “each card has to provide value on its own” as many cards as possible should synergize with each other through respective card mechanics. A great card mechanic which synergizes with many other cards in the cube is, for example, creature ETB effects as the creature can be flickered in White, bounced in Blue, revived from the graveyard in Black and a copy of that creature created in Red. Other noteworthy card mechanics which create synergies are: “whenever you cast an instant or sorcery”, “whenever you draw a card”, “whenever a creature you control deals combat damage”, “whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control”, “each card you exile from your graveyard while casting this spell pays for
” and “you may play land cards from your graveyard”. -
Each permanent card must be removable
Permanent cards which can’t be removed by a player are bothersome for the player playing against that card. A card is also classified as “not removable” if there are only very few cards in the cube which could remove it as chances are high that a player does not even get the chance of drafting such a card. Thus, this cube contains no cards with the following abilities: indestructible, hexproof and protection from a player/everything. The only exceptions are Geist of Saint Traft as this creature can be easily blocked and Westvale Abbey as this card is a key card in an archetype and hard to set up.
18.07.2022
More one drops and two drops were included in exchange for two and three drops. Black now has three more one drops Gravecrawler, Dread Wanderer and Diregraf Ghoul. White has two more one drops Dauntless Bodyguard and Isamaru, Hound of Konda. Blue now has two one drops: Delver of Secrets and Pteramander. In red and green one card was changed: Joraga Treespeaker and Falkenrath Pit Fighter.
29.07.2022
Some of the black one drops were excluded again as they are not as powerful as one drops in other colors. The cube now contains a new archetype: Five-color Niv-Mizzet.
01.08.2022
Many of the planeswalkers were discarded from the cube as most provide too much value on their own. Having too many cards which are too powerful on their own violates principle 8: “Each card should synergize with many other cards in the cube”. Almost all planeswalkers in the cube are now only supportive and no finishers on their own. This cube now contains three new archetypes: Reanimator, Artifact Reanimator and Mill (see archetypes).