Planar Cube Series #6

Phase II - Microsealed League Formats for 4 Players

Like Kaladesh, Mirrodin has a modular design focused on artifacts, but I tried to contrast the two sets as much as possible. In addition to the set itself, from which players make decks representing the Mirran faction, I added a bevy of premade decks representing the Phyrexian faction. Players must face at the end of each session to claim victory, creating a built-in meta game, as you know what you'll be facing...as long as you survive the other players long enough to get there.

Mirrodin marks an important transition in this series of planar cubes. In addition to embracing rarity from the start, it also was designed to accommodate microsealed, a unique format that amps up the deckbuilding and variety without requiring a larger cube. Its influence is on the light side here, as I mostly just removed cards that would not work well with it.

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This small cube draws upon both blocks set in Mirrodin to create a balanced, interesting format for 4 players. Synergies are complex and interwoven.

Themes

I am still reworking these to ensure balance across rarities. The last iteration went for 4-color themes, but that basically felt like there were just five decks (at most) with slightly different flavors depending on the colors you were in. I've since tried to make sure there are pockets of synergy for each color pair, hopefully increasing the number of "flavors" available. However, decks are still likely to fit into the plane's overarching themes:

• Artifacts (metalcraft, affinity, equipment, etc.)
• Counters (+1/+1, charge, proliferate)
• Aggro (tokens/weenies, equipment, anthems)
• Voltron (protection, evasion, equipment)
• Ramp (via the many mana rocks and other forms of mana acceleration)
• Recursion (blinking, bouncing, returning from graveyard)

Microsealed

Although you do not have to play it this way, this set has been designed with microsealed in mind. In this format, players each get a pool of cards from which they build a 15-card deck. Games are played like normal games of Magic but with the following tweaks:

1. You do not lose to decking.
2. You may at "morph" speed pay 3 life to shuffle your graveyard into your library.
3. Whenever you search your library, you may search your sideboard instead.
4. Between games, you may sideboard in up to three cards to your deck. Any cards you remove from your deck are retired permanently for the duration of the session. Retired cards are not considered part of your card pool.

If you want to get really fancy, there is a more elaborate format described in the blog post "The Mirran Rebellion," which establishes league-style play, encourages building multiple decks in a single session, brings in a story element, and has a multiplayer component!