Art by Mike Raabe
The Actual Vintage Cube emulates vintage and legacy, as best as a cube can.
It includes many of the most popular vintage and legacy strategies, many you don't see in the average cube.
The cube itself is a 430, powered environment with a singular goal in mind: Capture the feel, power-level, and popular archetypes of the vintage format. If you want to be able to draft dredge, storm, humans, or many other popular vintage archetypes that are not included in most cubes because:
- they are too powerful,
- they are too parasitic, or
- they are normally too hard to make work,
then this might be the cube for you. Being too powerful or degenerate doesn't matter if all strategies can be very powerful. Being parasitic is something I wanted some cards and archetypes to be because without them, the vintage feel is not maximized or even present.
How to Draft
The cube normally drafts in 8 player pods with 3 packs of 16 cards, but it can be drafted with as little as two players.
I draft 3 packs of 16 because it allows players to not scrape for playables, and it also causes packs to wheel twice.
Things of Note
There are both normal basic lands and snow basics to allow Tainted Pact to almost never whiff.
I use the Unstable borderless lands as my basics in person, which I do not regret buying at all.
Or at least that's what I tell myself...
There are no house rules that I follow when playing in person.
I mostly try to avoid house rules as it can confuse new and inexperienced drafters, which my playgroup is often getting more of.
Archetypes:
(
) Cheaty:
- Tinker
- Sneak & Show
- Natural Order
- Through the Breach
- Oath of Druids
- Channel
- Goblin Welder
- Flash
- Reanimator
Reanimation spells: Reanimate, Exhume, Dread Return, Animate Dead, Necromancy, Recurring Nightmare, Goryo's Vengeance, Unburial Rites
Cheat/Reanimation targets:
- Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
- Serra's Emissary
- Iona, Shield of Emeria
- Inkwell Leviathan
- Grave Titan
- Archon of Cruelty
- Griselbrand
- Inferno Titan
- Primeval Titan
- Craterhoof Behemoth
- Terastodon
- Woodfall Primus
- Worldspine Wurm
- Ashen Rider
- Sphinx of the Steel Wind
- Ancient Stone Idol
- Blightsteel Colossus
- Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
- Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
- Triplicate Titan
- Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
Example Deck: http://cubecobra.com/cube/deck/62b8e9967d9ba84dd7d956ab (Reanimator)
() Graveyard (Dredge/Ichorid, Hollow Vine, etc)
- Narcomoeba
- Stitcher's Supplier
- Bloodghast
- Golgari Thug
- Necroplasm
- Stinkweed Imp
- Ichorid
- Darkblast
- Cabal Therapy
- Blazing Rootwalla (Req. splash)
- Basking Rootwalla
- Vengevine
- Golgari Grave-Troll
- Noxious Revival
- Life from the Loam
- Prized Amalgam
- Shambling Shell
- Deathrite Shaman
- Hogaak, Risen Necropolis
- Tasigur, the Golden Fang
- Hollow One
- Bazaar of Baghdad
- Dakmor Salvage
) 8-Cast/Artifacts
- Emry, Lurker of the Loch
- Sai, Master Thopterist
- Trinket Mage
- Urza, Lord High Artificer
- Thought Monitor
- Thoughtcast
- Goblin Engineer
- Galvanic Blast
- Arcbound Ravager
- Metalworker
- Lodestone Golem
- Karn, the Great Creator
- Mox Opal
- Welding Jar
- Mystic Forge
- Inventors' Fair
- Mishra's Workshop
- Tolarian Academy
) Storm
- Flusterstorm
- High Tide
- Brain Freeze
- Turnabout
- Timetwister
- Echo of Eons
- Mind's Desire
- Time Spiral
- Dark Ritual
- Cabal Ritual
- Ad Nauseam
- Night's Whisper
- Yawgmoth's Will
- Tendrils of Agony
- Dark Petition
- Wishclaw Talisman
- Necropotence
- Birgi, God of Storytelling
- Laelia, the Blade Reforged
- Simian Spirit Guide
- Desperate Ritual
- Pyretic Ritual
- Burning Wish
- Grapeshot
- Galvanic Relay
- Wheel of Fortune
- Empty the Warrens
- Past in Flames
- Underworld Breach
- Lion's Eye Diamond
- Lotus Petal
- Defense Grid
How to draft: Always take your storm payoffs first. You don't want to get down to the last few cards and realize you don't have any storm payoffs. Even one storm payoff is fine since storm decks run cards like Dark Petition and Mystical Tutor, which can search for your payoff. After you get a few storm payoffs, draft your rituals, and cheap cantrips and spells.
It takes several cards to make a storm deck work, but when it works, it really works.
Combo- () Thassa's Oracle/Laboratory Maniac + Demonic Consultation/Tainted Pact
- (
) Time Vault + Voltaic Key/Manifold Key/Mirage Mirror - () Dark Depths + Thespian's Stage/Mirage Mirror
- (
) Zirda, the Dawnwaker + Basalt Monolith/Grim Monolith - () Auriok Salvagers + Lion's Eye Diamond/Black Lotus
) Spells/Tempo (Jeskai Mentor, Izzet Spells, UR Tempo, etc)
- Monastery Mentor
- Snapcaster Mage
- Brazen Borrower
- Ethereal Forger
- Murktide Regent
- Cheap spells + Cantrips (i.e., Mental Misstep, Consider, Unholy Heat)
- Dragon's Rage Channeler
- Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
- Young Pyromancer
- Seasoned Pyromancer
- Bedlam Reveler
- Expressive Iteration
- Prismari Command
Example Deck: https://cubecobra.com/cube/deck/62b8fdc97d9ba84dd7da3486
(/x) Ramp/Order/Oath
- Arbor Elf
- Birds of Paradise
- Llanowar Elves
- Fauna Shaman
- Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
- Primeval Titan
- Craterhoof Behemoth
- Terastodon
- Crop Rotation
- Veil of Summer
- Worldly Tutor
- Green Sun's Zenith
- Explore
- Natural Order
- Carpet of Flowers
- Fastbond
- Utopia Sprawl
- Oath of Druids
- Survival of the Fittest
- Dryad Arbor
) Death and Taxes/Stax
- Cathar Commando
- Containment Priest
- Ethersworn Canonist
- Leonin Arbiter
- Leonin Relic-Warden
- Luminarch Aspirant
- Sanctifier en-Vec
- Spirit of the Labyrinth
- Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
- Archon of Emeria
- Elite Spellbinder
- Lavinia, Azorius Renegade
- Chalice of the Void
- Sphere of Resistance
- Thorn of the Amethyst
- Winter Orb
- Ensnaring Bridge
- Tangle Wire
- Trinisphere
Example deck: http://cubecobra.com/cube/deck/62b8cef27d9ba84dd7d852fc (Some sprinkled on for some extra spice)
) Humans
- Champion of the Parish
- Mother of Runes
- Cathar Commando
- Luminarch Aspirant
- Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
- Thalia's Lieutenant
- Tomik, Distinguished Advokist
- Elite Spellbinder
- Thalia, Heretic Cathar
- Deafening Silence
- Dark Confidant
- Kitesail Freebooter
- Opposition Agent
- Magus of the Moon
- Noble Hierarch
- Mayor of Avabruck
- Lavinia, Azorius Renegade
- General Kudro of Drannith
- Kambal, Consul of Allocation
Synergies + Interactions
Wheels:
Hullbreacher/Narset, Parter of Veils + Timetwister/Windfall/Wheel of Fortune/Echo of Eons/Time Spiral
Singleton Breaks
- Tendrils of Agony
- Dark Petition
- Vengevine
- Golgari Grave-Troll
- Mishra's Workshop
- OG Duals
- Fetchlands
- Wasteland
Tendrils of Agony and Dark Petition are each two-of, because without them, storm struggles to function, especially ANT and DPS (Dark Petition Storm).
Vengevine is a two-of since many of the graveyard strategies in this cube need it to function. It is, of course, the namesake to HollowVine. Similar to why Golgari Grave-Troll is a two-of.
Mishra's Workshop is a four-of because Shops basically can't function without it. It's also a great support piece to many other artifact decks.
Three of each Revised Dual and two of each Fetch land help with fixing and allow players to go into just about any color combination.
Wasteland is a four-of in the cube because it makes the cube feel more like vintage (If you didn't know, most vintage decks run 4 Wastelands, a Strip Mine, and maybe even a Ghost Quarter)