Art by Bruce Brenneise
Grixis Avernus Cube is a stack-heavy, interactive commander format. It uses global, unremoveable Descent into Avernus's and artifact synergies to turn the dial up to 11.
Expect games where Player 1 presents a win, Player 2 presents a win attempt on top of that, then Player 3 and 4 will enter the fray with their own wins, counter spells or redirects. And that will be turn 3.
This format is busted and an absolute blast.
3-4 player multiplayer
All normal commander rules entirely unmodified EXCEPT
100 starting life
20 card deck
Each player starts with a Descent into Avernus in play that cannot leave the battlefield
Games typically go to turn 4. The farthest we've gotten is 5.2
No lands
We've never had a tie or anything remotely close to it. If the remaining players die to an Avernus trigger, the person who had the most health before the trigger would win. If the players had the same health, then you can settle it however you'd like -- but again, we've never had this happen
- Take wincons like power.
- It's a stack-heavy format. Even if you're not actively in the stack, make an effort to help the stack resolve properly.
- Use assorted tokens as treasures, especially because it makes it easier to use them for improvising. Try to get dedicated Food, Clue, and general use creature tokens (e.g., 1/1 artifact creature, 2/2 creature, etc.). Infinitokens would work great for this.
- Keep a pad of paper for cards with counters that gain a ton of them -- looking at you Arcbound Crusher.
- I'll let you figure out the rest because you only get to learn a format once.
I've also made a Glinteye version of the cube -- aka non-white aka 
. It's still in testing but it's hot AF. Displaced Dinosaurs is what made me brew it but I'm most excited about Unbound Flourishing.
Want to see how white works one day but haven't gotten around to it.
And finally, if you use this as a jumping off point to brew your own version of the cube, keep this in mind -- this format is busted. If a card looks too strong -- it probably isn't*. Put it in and just enjoy it.
*Mayhem Devil, Maddening Cacophony and Brainfreeze don't count. They're too strong imo.
Suggestions?I'd love to hear them. I'm always working to balance control decks -- which perform very well here because they can hoard treasures. I haven't played as much on this iteration, but I'm hoping they're in line a bit more.
Inspired by the original Avernus cube by @Irreleverent.
Nin is underperforming. She's a cool wincon, but hard to make work for three reasons:
- There isn't a ton of X synergy without the green add-on to the cube (Glinteye Avernus Cube: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/3e15b7f0-2462-4183-9007-ee3a037f8f52)
- I've removed most of the mill cards because they're hard to balance in a way I feel is satisfying
- I personally had a bad experience with Ertai bounce control and I don't know if Nin can compete well with the increase of triggered/activated ability counters.
- She don't got haste. She can come out turn one pretty easy and make it to upkeep, but reasons 1-3 push her over the edge.
All that said, Ghyrson acts as a good signpost and gives Izzet an option to compete with Rakdos burn.