Art by Magali VilleneuveAre you brave enough? Are you enough of a game master?
An unpowered, low-curving, eternal environment. Interactive, combat-driven games where broad overlapping synergies can be combined in myriad ways.
About
This cube was first created in late 2022, solely from cards I own, as something to do while I laid in bed with COVID-19. It is now an ongoing project reflecting my evolving perspective on the game of Magic. Cards are foiled where convenient to do so, and a select few cards are hand altered by me because art is fun. I keep the exact versions and status of cards up-to-date in cube cobra.
Design goals
Note that my own understanding of my goals is constantly
evolving, and best outlined through my changelog posts.
This cube aims to be interactive, diverse, decision-rich, and highly re-playable, with depth of card interaction to explore. Inclusions may be powerful, but are not power motivated, instead prioritizing both draft experience and game play patterns. Drafting is non-linear, and games present meaningful decisions to both players starting on turn one.
My goal is to produce an environment where synergy, interaction, and tempo all matter, and the best decks will leverage each in varying amounts.
- Functional decks. Decks should have ample mana fixing, card selection, and interaction in order to perform their best.
- Drafter expression. Rather than prescribe decks, enable drafters to be creative. Use emergent, bottom-up design to focus on interactions between individual cards rather than along predetermined archetype lines.
- Interactive strategies. All strategies can be interacted with. This cube does not enable any combo or cheat strategies.
- Synergistic upside. Most decks will be a form of aggro, midrange, or control, and will need to consider their position on the tempo/value plane. Combining various broad synergies within these macro-archetypes provides variety and opportunity for upside.
- Budgeting complexity. Spend complexity on truly interesting build-arounds and avoid complexity in glue cards. Complex cards, cards without reminder text, double-faced cards, and unique mechanics must pass a high bar set arbitrarily by myself. Game-state tracking mechanics (monarch, initiative, daybound, etc.) are not present.
- Balanced bombs. These cards can usually win games on their own and can have a side-effect of invalidating previous game actions. These are few and far between. Expensive threats are interactive (no hexproof or shroud) and held in check by comparatively strong aggro packages and tuned removal. Bombs are still useful for driving prolonged games to a conclusion.
Themes
For those looking for a bit more detail, here's a non-comprehensive list of some of the themes and strategies available in this cube.
Pure aggro
It doesn't matter who wins second - prioritize tempo advantage.
Pure control
It only matters who attacks last - prioritize value advantage.
Spells
A high percentage of cheap spells makes this a versatile theme that can manifest in many ways.
Lands
Two sets of fetch lands and bountiful mana fixing help enable lands-first strategies.
Artifacts / enchantments
Find ways to leverage trinket artifacts for value.
ETB / LTB
Prioritize value by being resilient to removal, with potential for flicker synergies.
Counters
Pressure your opponent with incrementally larger midrange threats.
Equipment matters
Use flexible equipment creatures to build a tall, resilient, aggressive field.
Go wide
Pick from a variety of options for how to leverage a wide board.
Graveyard
Use your graveyard for value.
Draw and discard
Control the game using card selection to build value and cheap cantrips to maintain tempo.
Sacrifice
Greatness, at any cost.
Power
Have the biggest of boys.
Fundamentals
- The cube has 2x fetch lands, 2x shock lands, and generally lots of fixing. Considering your mana base while drafting is important to build an optimal deck.
- Most decks play 2 or 3 colors.
- Many strategies interact with the graveyard. Keep an eye out for graveyard interaction for your deck and sideboard.
- Don't expect strong "kindred" decks, combo decks, or cheat-into-play strategies.
- Look to combine cards in novel ways rather than for prescribed archetypes.
Example decks
Uploaded decks that have performed well in previous drafts of this cube.
| Colors | Description |
|---|---|
  | Dimir draw-go control |
  | Lands with Titania |
| Aggro-control with Goblin Bombardment |
| Go-wide tokens |
 | Spellslinger |
| ETB tempo |
| Equipment aggro |
Draft formats
Some of the ways you can draft this cube.
8 Players
- 3 packs of 15 (sees 360 cards)
6 Players
- Team draft. 4 packs of 15, burn 3 at end of each pack (sees 360 cards)
- Team draft. 3 packs of 15 as normal (sees 270 cards)
5 Players
- 5 packs of 12, burn 2 at end of each pack (sees 300 cards)
4 Players
- Houseman draft recommended. (sees 288 cards)
- 5 packs of 15, burn 6 at end of each pack (sees 330 cards)
2 Player:
Achievements
Suggestions welcome!
| Achievement | First Achieved | Who |
|---|---|---|
| Fall of the Thran + Titania, Protector of Argoth | 10/21/2023 | Dom |
| Win with 0 cards in your library | 10/21/2023 | Dom |
| Win a game with 1 life remaining | 12/02/2023 | Cara |
| Awaken the Thing in the Ice | 12/02/2023 | Xander |
| Attack with an infinity/infinity creature | 12/13/2023 | Cara |
| Get more than 3 copies of Gruff Triplets on the field at once | 03/28/2024 | Parker |
| Win a match with a deck drafted from the back of an Uber | 05/14/2024 | Jen |
| Cast | 05/18/2024 | Greg |
| Deploy a 5/5 Territorial Kavu | 12/07/2024 | Matt D |
| Wrath of God on an opponent's turn | ||
| Win without reducing your opponent to 0 life | ||
| Kill yourself with Bolas's Citadel | ||
| Kill an opponent with Bolas's Citadel | ||
| Ninjutsu Moon-Circuit Hacker 3 times in a game | ||
| Win a game before turn 5 | ||
| Deal 10 or more damage to your opponent with burn spells | ||
| Go 3-0 with a 5-color deck | ||
| Go 3-0 with a mono-color deck | ||
| Use Dreadhorde Arcanist to cast a spell with mana value >=3 | ||
| Win a match with no basic lands in your deck |
Draft data is collected and analyzed using cube tools
The fun cannot be halted.
Man-O'-War is just a straight swap for Exclusion Mage. I like the art more. I like the that it's a classic card. I like that it has more utility.
Enlightened Tutor is a cool utility card - there are a lot of juiced artifacts / enchantments floating around nowadays. You can use this to grab your win condition, removal, synergy piece, etc. Here are a few: