Art by IzzySudden death cube (SDC) is a small and quick micro cube format for 1v1 limited play first described by BreadWedding on reddit.
It comes with 54 (10 of each color & 4 cl) cards total, which are drafted using 6 grids of 9. Each player builds a 15 card deck. Players start with 1 life instead of 20 and whoever causes a tie loses the game. Matches are played bo3. I use the 'who wins the roll decides whether they want to go first in draft or play' rule.
The format aims at short, intense and interactive games. The powerlevel is moderate and flat compared to other cube formats e.g. games should not be decided solely by who drew their mythic rare, but by good plays. Lists need to be very well curated and balanced when it comes to threats and answers.
Even though I think the format is pretty interesting, it is neither very well known nor is much content existing. It is limited to a couple of posts on reddit:
- https://www.reddit.com/r/mtgcube/comments/lb2eo9/sudden_death_a_fast_twoplayer_cube_experience/ by BreadWedding
- https://www.reddit.com/r/mtgcube/comments/ok9tlh/afr_sudden_death_cube_new_cards_and_testables/ by ChemSlayer
- https://www.reddit.com/r/mtgcube/comments/nszijt/mh2_sudden_death_cube_card_prospects_and_testables/ by ChemSlayer
- https://www.reddit.com/r/mtgcube/comments/pj8jto/looking_for_feedback_on_my_sudden_death_cube/ by cleverpun0
- https://www.reddit.com/r/mtgcube/comments/r355fr/sudden_death_cube_discussion/ by stargrinder
- https://www.reddit.com/r/mtgcube/comments/rblip7/sudden_death_cube_further_discussion/ Wintersmith7
and the blogs on inidvidual cubes.
A couple of cubes here on cubecobra, with elaborate comments on card choices are:
- https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/sob by BreadWedding
- https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/z04 by Chemslayer
- https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/ssd by stargrinder
- https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/cleverdeath by cleverpun
- https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/oox by ObsidianRaven
- https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/1life by ellogeyen, who wrote about it on riptidelab https://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/sudden-death-cube-1-life.3584/
This is my general take on the format. Opinions and discussion on my card choices are in the blog.
I haven't played the format that much yet. All explanations below are personal conclusions drawn from experiences with other formats transferred to SDC resp. derived from its specifics.
Reducing the deck size to 15 and starting at 1 life changes the format quite.
The most obvious change is the duration. A game goes to 9 turns max. Consequently, milling will certainly be very valid. In fact mill cards should be balanced very carefully.
If you stick with the common land/deck ratio you will want to go with 6/15 here. E.g. to cast a 6 drop you would have to draw all lands of your deck!
In theory, monocolored decks are possible, but the nature of grid draft make in near impossible. Two-colored decks seems the way to go.
Starting at 1 life instantly makes life a very important resource (when starting at 20 it usually is the least important). E.g. you cannot pay life, you cannot take a hit in combat or lose life any other way - at least until you have gained life before. Consequently, life gain becomes a lot stronger, too.
As you cannot take a single hit, a 1/1 on turn 1 is a strong threat. Both players and theaters (aggro and control) need to take this into account; resp. by design the tools needed must be provided. Balancing between threats and removal is key here! E.g. if both players play their 1/1 for 1 in the first turn and the starting player can remove the blocker on turn 2 it is still an easy win.
I expect 2 drops being a strong cards to solidify your strategy.
3 drops are the 'bombs' of SDC.
Both combat damage and milling are valid ways to win a game of SDC.
- The most obvious way to get around the opponents defense is evasion. A single evasive threat can easily win the game.
- Going 'wider' than the opponent also can do the job. As having one more attacker that can connect is often enough.
- Going 'under' the opponent e.g. the unanswered 1/1 on turn 1 is probably the easiest win on turn 2.
- Going 'bigger' is also pretty valid as the opponent may not be able to double block, because that would leave one attacker unblocker, which makes the biggest creature a one-sided the abyss.
- With 15 card decks, drawing your starting hand already cuts it in half. As soon as the early attacks have been fended of milling 2-4 of their cards or shuffling back a couple of our cards equals game.
Card advantage is a lot less important as you only have to 'get one hit in' no matter what the cost is. This makes pure card draw spells bad as you get too far behind 'on the board'. On the other hand it strengthens bounce spells or direct damage 'to the face' as long as it wins you the game on the spot.
Card draw in general is a double-edged sword as it brings you a lot closer to decking resp. on the backfoot in this race if you draw more than the opponent.
The special circumstances of the format require special measures when it comes to card choices. These are:
- Direct damage that also can go to the face has to be balanced e.g. by making it symmetrical, high cmc, or require additional cost you need to work for. To avoid 'non-games' where it is used in the early turns.
- Removal has to be kept in check, either in terms of the creature size or the cost, but especially, if possible, with regard to the strength on offense and defense. If possible 'defensive' removal should be prioritized over 'offensive' removal.
- Evasion e.g. flying, trample, menace is very strong and should come at a cost e.g. life, high cmc etc.
- Haste and flash are also pretty strong because it can raise the number of attackers by suprise.
- Lifegain is very relevant for SDC as it enables using life as a resource and as a way to help control strategies.
When a deck comes with a total of 5 or 6 lands, mana is much more restricted than in a usual game of limited, as the total amount of mana available is in the typical range of mana costs. E.g. there is not much sense in including a 6 cmc creature if you cannot cast in until the last turn of the game realiably, as cannot attack before decking.
Turn to reach number of mana sources with 4 total
| Percentage\Number of sources | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 75% | 1 | 2 | 5 | 8 |
| 90% | 1 | 4 | 7 | 9 |
Turn to reach number of mana sources with 5 total
| Percentage\Number of sources | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 75% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 8 |
| 90% | 1 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 9 |
Turn to reach number of mana sources with 6 total
| Percentage\Number of sources | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 75% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 8 |
| 90% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 9 |
Not only is it tough to play 5 or 6 drops as it may take until the last turn of the game, it is also difficult to get multiples of a single color. A 2/3, 2/4 or 3/3 split is most common for two-colored decks.
Below I listed the number of colored sources needed to reach more than 75% resp. 90% of hitting c resp. cc on a specific turn.
Number of colored sources required to provide colored mana part on time
| Percentage\Mana cost | C | 1C | CC | 2C | 1CC | 3C | 2CC | 4C | 3CC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 75% | 3 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| 90% | 4 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 4 |
Designwise, this clearly indicates that CC cards don't belong to SDC. Furthermore 1CC cards will only be cast on curve with very heavy color commitment.