Art by Matt CavottaType: Eternal (mostly) Singleton Unpowered Cube
Speed: Medium
Identity: Strong enablers, almost no "broken" stuff or combos, multicolor support and a few draft matters cards
Power Differential: medium to strong cards but also synergistic cards
Ideal Amount of Colors: 2-3 but 4 or 5 are also possible
Variance: every card gets drafted (16 card packs)
This cube is Singleton with the exception of Cogwork Librarian (3 copies) and Wasteland (2 copies).
House Rule: When Lightning Colt is cast via Flashback it will enter the Battlefield upon leaving the Stack.
My Goal for this Cube is to have interactive and decision-rich gameplay in a cube that features iconic, strong, unusual, weird and spicy cards.
the iconic
This cube features some very strong enablers but explicitly excludes some of the more "broken" stuff:
- Underworld Breach is included, but Brain Freeze and Lion's Eye Diamond are not.
- Narset, Parter of Veils is included but "wheel" effects like Wheel of Fortune are not.
- a lands theme is present with Crucible of Worlds and Wasteland but Fastbond, Life from the Loam, Dark Depths are not included.
- reanimation is possible with Reanimate, Recurring Nightmare and others, but big payoffs like Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Archon of Cruelty and the likes are not included
In the same vein, this cube doesn't feature any of the Power 9, no Storm, no Kiki-Twin Combo, no Channel-Emrakul, no Sneak/ Show Combo, no Tinker etc.
... in this cube is quite good. For every color pair there is a fetchland, a shockland, an OG Dual and another 2-colored land.
For each 3-color pair there is also a "Triome".
This cube supports a lot of different angles to build your deck. The following list will outline some of the overarching themes and possibilties but feel free to experiment on your own and try something different!
Aristocrats/ Sacrifice/ Tokens aims to grind out opponents and generate value by sacrificing stuff.
Is mostly supported in Mardu Colors and notable Cards are Mayhem Devil, Cruel Celebrant, Queen Marchesa, Blood Artist, Goblin Bombardment, Bitterblossom, Marionette Apprentice, Viscera Seer, Carrion Feeder.
Blink/ Flicker aims to repeatedly have creatures with strong ETB effects enter the battlefield.
Most enablers are in Azorius and notable cards are enablers like Soulherder, Ephemerate or Yorion, Sky Nomad and any creatures with useful ETB effects like Reflector Mage, Baleful Strix, Thragtusk or Acidic Slime.
Artifacts generally cares about artifacts in play/ graveyard and generates value by reducing costs or cheating stuff into play.
Mostly aligned with Izzet, notable cards are Goblin Welder, Daretti, Scrap Savant, Saheeli, Sublime Artificer, Sai, Master Thopterist, Thought Monitor, Whirler Rogue, Myr Battlesphere, Galvanic Blast, Nettlecyst or Mindslaver.
Colorless stuff is a bit of a weird one. There is not really an entire colorless deck in this cube (I think) but there are some cards and some synergies that care about that.
Most notably, Ugin, the Ineffable, Zenith Chronicler, Sundering Titan, Basalt Monolith, Foundry Inspector, maybe even Null Elemental Blast?.
Here's a challenge for you: try drafting a mostly colorless deck!
Lands stuff primarily aligned in green, notable cards are Titania, Protector of Argoth, Ramunap Excavator, Oracle of Mul Daya, Lotus Cobra, Tireless Provisioner, Rampaging Baloths. All work well with Fetchlands, one of the two copies of Wasteland or Ghost Quarter.
The Lands archetype also finds some synergies in other colors, with The Gitrog Monster and Tatyova, Benthic Druid, Wrenn and Six being the most obvious for , and respectively.
Oh and there's also Field of the Dead.
Aggro is mostly based in Boros colors.
Notable Cards are Goblin Guide, Kari Zev, Skyship Raider, Goblin Rabblemaster, Hellrider, Shrine of Burning Rage, Sulfuric Vortex, Usher of the Fallen, Accorder Paladin, Seasoned Hallowblade, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Mana Tithe, Rishadan Port, Showdown of the Skalds, Heroic Reinforcements.
There are also some aggressive cards in the other colors, so keep an open mind for or aggressive strategies.
Hasty Stompy means an aggressive Gruul deck that quickly produces hasty big creatures.
Notable cards are Lightning Mauler, Rhythm of the Wild, Bloodbraid Elf, Orcish Lumberjack, Wolfir Silverheart, Ogre Battledriver, Vengevine or Champion of Lambholt.
Ramp is based around green and aims to ramp quickly and then deploy expensive threats.
Notable cards are mana dorks (Birds of Paradise, Sanctum Weaver, Fanatic of Rhonas) and ramp spells (Farseek, Nature's Lore) coupled with card draw (Abundant Harvest, Winding Way or even Malevolent Rumble) and big threats in any color like Villainous Wealth, Torment of Hailfire, Summon the Pack or Sandwurm Convergence.
Stax/ Disruption means a low to the ground Orzhov deck that disrupts the opponent with discard and tax effects, plays efficient removal and maybe even forces some sacrifices.
Notable cards are Inquisition of Kozilek, Thoughtseize, Tidehollow Sculler, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Tangle Wire, Mana Tithe, Fatal Push, Path to Exile, Swords to Plowshares.
spells stuff cares about casting noncreature spells and is mainly aligned with Izzet, but also finds some synergies in other colors.
Notable cards are Young Pyromancer, Electrostatic Infantry, Balmor, Battlemage Captain, Narset, Parter of Veils, Stormchaser's Talent, Archaeomancer, Dreadhorde Arcanist and Snapcaster Mage.
Graveyard Stuff cares about stuff in the graveyard, obviously. It generates value by reusing cards from the yard or cheating stuff into play. It's mostly present in Golgari colors but (Faithless Looting) and (Shoreline Looter) also add some value.
Notable cards are Recurring Nightmare, Chthonian Nightmare, Reanimate, Vengevine, Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis, Survival of the Fittest, Fauna Shaman, Tasigur, the Golden Fang.
Control will usually play 2-3 of the mentioned colors and will try to answer the opponent's threats and then win in some flashy way.
Notable cards are efficient Removal (Brazen Borrower, Swords to Plowshares, Sheoldred's Edict, Abrade) Counterspells/ Disruption (Mana Leak, Reprieve, Daze, Thoughtseize) and mass removal (Baral's Expertise, Wrath of God, Languish) paired with win-cons like Approach of the Second Sun, Luminarch Ascension, Villainous Wealth, Walking Ballista, Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh or some other fancy big stuff.
Go-wide/ Tokens cares about cards that produce and buff multiple creatures/ tokens. This is primarily aligned in White but there are also token producing cards in the other colors.
Notable White cards are Usher of the Fallen, Paliano Vanguard, Sublime Archangel, Angel of Invention, Sram's Expertise, Lingering Souls, Mirror Entity and Skullclamp.
Noteworthy is also the synergy to sacrifice-strategies.
5-Color Niv-Mizzet Reborn/ Golos, Tireless Pilgrim this one is simple. Just take all the fixing, some green ramp cards like nature's lore and Faeburrow Elder and then all the two-colored goodstuff like Grist, the Hunger Tide, Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast, Prismari Command, Baleful Strix or Bring to Light. Add some 3-color cards like Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God or Thalia and the Gitrog Monster to spice things up and you're ready to go.
Oh and there's also Field of the Dead.
There are some explanation-worthy cards in this environment. In general, you can adhere to the principle of "reading the card explains the card" but some of the cards warrant an explanation nonetheless.
-
Draft-matters cards have an effect on the draft itself. Some require you to take notes during the draft so make sure that at least one person has pen and paper at hand.
All of these require you to reveal the card once you draft it so make sure to do so and announce it to your fellow drafters.
The cards are:
Paliano Vanguard, Regicide, Paliano, the High City, Cogwork Librarian and last but not least:
Lore Seeker
For Lore Seeker, instead of a sealed Booster, there will always be 16 extra cube cards that are added to the draft. -
Conspiracies are drafted as usual but have an effect without being inside your deck. Currently, only Unexpected Potential is included and you must name a card in secret before the game and reveal it to your opponent during the game when you want to use the effect.
-
Un-Cards come from "fun-sets", are not legal in any sanctioned format and contain some UNusual mechanics and designs, hence the illegality. However, this is Cube! So some are included. The cards are:
Ineffable Blessing, Super-Duper Death Ray, Clown Car and
Summon the Pack
The booster for Summon the Pack will always be a sealed booster and provided by me. Currently, we use Theros Beyond Death boosters. -
Playtest Cards come from Mystery Boosters, are also not legal in any sanctioned format and contain some even more unusual mechanics and designs, hence the illegality. However, this is Cube! So some are included. The cards are:
Unicycle does what it says. It's an Equipment but also a Vehicle. When it is attached to a creature and becomes a creature itself, it stops being equipped.
Lightning Colt is an Instant and a Creature. So it triggers "whenever you cast an instant" effects and can be bought back by Archaeomancer. It can also gain Flashback through Snapcaster Mage.
House Rule: When Lightning Colt is cast via Flashback it will enter the Battlefield upon leaving the Stack.