Art by Terese NielsenMirrodamn! A Modern Artifact-Centred Cube for Draft and Sealed
This cube is inspired by the time when I started playing my first booster drafts at Friday Night Magic in the local gaming stores back in the early 2000s. It's all about the artifact-centered gameplay of the infamous Mirrodin block – but with some exciting twists!
While the base mechanics and abilities of the classic Mirrodin block, such as artifacts, equipment, affinity, modular, indestructible, and more, lay the foundation for this cube, it's enriched with additional mechanics revolving around things like artifact tokens, toxic/poison markers, or proliferate to enhance synergies between artifacts, counters, and tokens.
Even though some cards, like artifact lands and affinity spells, turned out to be overpowered and imbalanced in constructed during that time, they can lead to interesting dynamics in limited, which this cube is all about. Feel free to leave any comments, suggestions, or advice for better balancing!
Summary
- 540-card modern cube with a focus on synergies between artifacts, counters, and tokens
- balanced power level with focus on synergies and a few bombs
- 55 cards of each color identity:
- 5 multicolor archetypes with 7 cards each:
- 193 other colorless/artifact spells:
- 37 lands, including mostly artifact lands
- No planeswalkers
- Mostly colorless artifact decks are possible, but there's also the option to go almost artifact-free and benefit from your opponent's artifact count and artifact-focused removal
- While the cube is designed for an 8-person draft with high replay value, it can also be played as a sealed format
Themes and Archetypes
Artifacts & Artifact creatures
Before going through the single and multicolour archetypes, the artifact themes give a great introduction to the different themes of this cube.
- Artifact creatures
The largest portion of the artifact creatures in this cube consists of cheap creatures ranging from 
to 
mana. Many of them have useful effects that can support a variety of strategies, such as Metallic Mimic, Coretapper, Diamond Mare, Perilous Myr, Sorcerer's Broom, Automatic Librarian, or Filigree Familiar.
Among them, there are also several cards that can be used for fixing and ramping, such as Plague Myr, Prismite, Alloy Myr, Burnished Hart, or Palladium Myr. There's also a mana-producing Myr for each color: Gold Myr, Silver Myr, Leaden Myr, Iron Myr, and Copper Myr.
Since synergies involving +1/+1 and other counters are significant in this cube, there are numerous modular artifact creatures, including Arcbound Overseer, Arcbound Reclaimer, Arcbound Slith and many more. Additionally, there are creatures that enter the battlefield with +1/+1 counters, some of which use Sunburst, like Solarion, Etched Oracle, or Walking Ballista.
Furthermore, there are a few creatures that can assist in creating artifact tokens, such as Threefold Thunderhulk, Thopter Assembly, and Academy Manufactor, as well as strong creatures to support your artifact based decks, like Karn, Legacy Reforged or Mycosynth Golem.
Lastly, you have the option to draft a Myr tribal deck, as Myrs like Myr Welder, Myr Kinsmith, or Myr Retriever are plentiful in this cube. There are also cards that can help increase your Myr count through creature tokens, such as Myr Battlesphere, or provide benefits for playing Myrs or other artifact creatures, like Urtet, Remnant of Memnarch, Myr Galvanizer, Chief of the Foundry or Steel Overseer.
- Noncreature Artifacts
Just like artifact creatures, most noncreature artifacts cost between and mana. Generally, they support many different deck ideas and strategies with effects such as those seen in Animation Module, Manifold Key, The Ozolith, Eye of Vecna, Conversion Chamber, or Staff of Compleation.
There is also a respectable number of equipment cards. Instead of simply boosting the power or toughness of your creatures, most of them provide other useful effects that can support a variety of deck ideas. Some of them, like Ring of Evos Isle, Ring of Kalonia, Ring of Thune, Ring of Valkas, or Ring of Xathrid, are capable of adding +1/+1 counters to your board. Others, such as Whispersilk Cloak, Vectis Gloves, or Cliffhaven Kitesail, can grant your creatures evasion. But there are also other useful effects, like those of Paradise Mantle, Screaming Shield, Darksteel Plate, Mask of Memory, Goldvein Pick, and many more.
Lastly, there are a few more expensive artifacts with a casting cost between 
and 
mana. Some of them possess potentially powerful effects, such as those found in Lux Artillery, Mystic Forge, Well of Lost Dreams, Myr Turbine, or Summoning Station.
- Artifact Lands
Except for Cascading Cataracts, Foundry of the Consuls, Glimmervoid, and Urza's Factory, all the other lands found in this cube are artifact lands. There are four instances of each single color , Ancient Den, Seat of the Synod, Vault of Whispers, Great Furnace, and Tree of Tales, and two instances of each color pair represented in this cube , which are Razortide Bridge, Mistvault Bridge, Drossforge Bridge, Slagwoods Bridge, and Thornglint Bridge.
White – Equipment & Protection
White cards are primarily focused on protective creature decks with an emphasis on equipment. You can draft a few good equipment cards such as Glimmer Lens or Mace of the Valiant, and enhance the abilities of creatures like Loxodon Punisher or Sunspear Shikari. Safeguard your board with tricks like Blacksmith's Skill and Valorous Stance, and make your creatures indestructible with cards like Shielded by Faith or Zamriel, Seraph of Steel. Even if you lose your crucial creature or equipment cards, there are ways to retrieve them from the graveyard, such as Repair and Recharge. You can secure victory by deploying powerful equipped creatures and utilizing flyers.
As a secondary theme, there are creatures with +1/+1 counters such as Knighted Myr, Slith Ascendant, or Arcbound creatures like Arcbound Javelineer, which can be incorporated into decks that utilize them (for instance, modular artifact decks). Additionally, keep in mind that there are also three red Arcbound creatures that can possibly be splashed.
White removal spells often employ typical pacifism effects, like those found in Forced Worship or Planar Disruption. However, there are also instant and sorcery spells that can destroy or exile artifacts, enchantments, or creatures, like Altar's Light or Soul Nova. Some spells, like Circle of Protection: Artifacts or Loxodon Gatekeeper, help you prevent damage or delay your opponent.
Blue – Affinity for Artifacts
Blue benefits from utilizing your own artifact spells and artifact lands. Place a greater emphasis on cheap artifacts or artifact creatures to benefit from creatures with affinity for artifacts, such as Broodstar, Qumulox, or Steelfin Whale, and creatures which profit from a high artifact count, like Master of Etherium or Filigree Attendant. Additionally, cards like Thopter Spy Network, Urza, Lord High Artificer, or Whirler Rogue can assist you in increasing your artifact count.
Cards like Vedalken Archmage or Thoughtcast further benefit you by providing card advantage in the late game. You can win the game by utilizing powerful or evasive creatures. As a secondary theme, there is a chance to mill your opponent with cards like Teferi's Tutelage or Font of Progress. Keep in mind that there are also artifact cards that can support this strategy in this cube.
Use cards like Looming Hoverguard, Into Thin Air, or Psychic Overload to gain tempo and develop your board. If you can make some creatures unblockable, you can gain additional value from cards like Sharding Sphinx and Slith Strider, or simply win the game with a single powerful creature.
Black – Lifegain & Lifedrain
Black utilizes life as a resource, often giving you the option to pay life for powerful effects or requires spending life points for better mana efficiency. This includes creatures like Phyrexian Scuta or Wall of Blood, enchantments like Greed or Phyrexian Reclamation, or instants and sorceries like Infernal Grasp, Gruesome Realization or Read the Bones.
To counteract the loss of life, there are several creatures with lifelink such as Aetherborn Marauder, Vampire Nighthawk or Duskfang Mentor, or equipment like Mask of Griselbrand, as well as other spells that can heal you, such as Consume Spirit. Spells like Relic Bane or Reaper's Talisman can also drain life from your opponent, providing an opportunity to finish games in your favor.
Additionally, certain black creatures like Mephitic Ooze or Nims, such as Nim Devourer, Nim Grotesque and Nim Shambler, benefit from the number of artifacts you control. Other cards provide rewards for artifacts entering graveyards, for example Moriok Rigger or Disciple of the Vault. There are also various ways to return artifacts or creatures from graveyards back to your hand or the battlefield, like Geth, Lord of the Vault, Beacon of Unrest or Betrayal of Flesh.
Red – Aggro Sacrifice
Red has the highest creature count among all colors and leans towards an aggressive playstyle, relying on a mixture of cheap to mid-range creatures. Many of these creatures utilize artifact sacrifices for additional effects, such as Megatog, Kuldotha Flamefiend or Krark-Clan Engineers. Some of them also derive benefits from your own artifacts, such as Embersmith or Slag Strider.
To maintain a sufficient number of artifacts for sacrifice, you can draft cards that generate treasure or other artifact tokens, such as Gadrak, the Crown-Scourge, Vault Robber, Big Score or Diamond Pick-Axe. With a stroke of luck, you may also draft Sibling Rivalry or Involuntary Employment and use them to sacrifice your opponent's creatures.
Furthermore, there are numerous cards that can destroy or exile opposing artifacts, such as Gorilla Shaman, Shrapnel Slinger, Into the Core or Echoing Ruin, as well as damage spells like Electrostatic Bolt, Galvanic Blast or Excavation Explosion. Some strong creatures with and without flying such as Hellkite Tyrant, Kuldotha Phoenix or Slag Fiend can also contribute to winning the game. Additionally, there is a chance to draft Arcbound creatures such as Arcbound Whelp, which can be combined with other modular artifact creatures or even their white Arcbound counterparts.
Green – Toxic Creatures & Counters
Green cards utilize various effects involving counters, such as +1/+1, -1/-1, or poison counters, to overpower your opponents with strong or toxic creatures. Some creatures and cards like Kalonian Hydra, Glinting Creeper, Ozolith, the Shattered Spire, or Explorer's Cache enter the battlefield with counters or can help to distribute counters onto other creatures you control. Others possess toxic or infect effects that place counters on opposing creatures and players, such as Viridian Corrupter, Venomous Brutalizer or Paladin of Predation.
Certain spells like Cankerbloom, Expand the Sphere or Smell Fear allow you to proliferate, increasing the number of counters on both your own creatures and opposing creatures or players. This can be advantageous on its own, especially when combined with modular artifact creatures or other artifacts that use charge counters or similar mechanics. Additionally, fighting-spells like Infectious Bite or Bushwhack provide additional benefits from your buffed creatures.
Furthermore, green offers a wide range of anti-artifact effects, ranging from simple removal spells like Creeping Mold or Oxidize, to creatures with protection such as Infested Roothold, Tel-Jilad Archers or Tel-Jilad Fallen, and even more potent effects found in cards like Hum of the Radix, Collector Ouphe, Tanglewalker or Roaring Slagwurm. There is also the opportunity to support your deck with efficient fixing and ramp spells like Viridian Acolyte, Sylvok Explorer or Journey of Discovery.
Multicoloured Cards
Multicolored cards don't necessarily represent their own archetypes in this cube, but they can be seen as useful additions to the single-color themes. Since there are many ways to fix your mana in this cube, they can also be splashed relatively easily. Therefore, this section will only show a few representatives of the 7 cards for each color pair.
Azorius
Cards like Filigree Angel, Cephalopod Sentry, Shinechaser, or Chrome Courier combine elements of white and blue deck concepts revolving around utilizing artifacts and protective spells.
Dimir
With cards such as Soul Diviner, Contraband Kingpin, Puppet Conjurer, or Tezzeret's Touch, you can support blue and black strategies and gain card advantage.
Rakdos
Cards like Mishra, Tamer of Mak Fawa, Stormclaw Rager, Junkyard Genius, and Oni-Cult Anvil can be used in decks that develop strategies around utilizing sacrifices and the graveyard.
Gruul
The red and green pair mostly focuses on removal and ramping spells, such as Meria, Scholar of Antiquity, Svella, Ice Shaper, Artifact Mutation, and Vithian Renegades.
Selesnya
Cards like Fracturing Gust, Aura Shards, Yotian Dissident, and Qasali Pridemage support green and white decks with strong anti-artifact spells and potential +1/+1 counter effects.
Have fun playing and feel free to leave any feedback or comments!
Mirrodamn! Version 1.0
by scrobe (Feb 2024)