Art by Yongjae ChoiWelcome to my dual colour cube. A cube designed to be both simple and gratifying for new and old players alike. It has a specific archetype for each dual-colour combination and is highly synergy based.
In this primer I am giving a brief description of each archetype in the cube, which cards you should look out for and how each deck should be played.
Although these archetypes are designed to be drafted in this way feel free to draft as you please.
Control
Aristocrats
Aggro
Tokens
Midrange
Spells
Ramp
Midrange
Graveyard
Monsters
Blue-White Control
The Archetype is classic control. Playing boardwipes and planeswalkers for card advantage, whilst countering and removing all the cards you opponents are trying to play. Probably countering all your opponents fun at the same time.
The cards you are looking for are counterspells (Miscalculation, Counterspell, Force of Negation) removal (Condemn, Supreme Verdict, Wrath of God) and game-ending creatures and-or planeswalkers (Dragonlord Ojutai, Torrrential Gearhulk, Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, Elspeth, Sun's Champion).
Black-White Aristocrats is a creature centric archetype. It's designed to use it's creatures as resources. Trading them for card draw, life, damage in a number of other useful ways.
The cards you are looking for are either ways to use creatures, such as Woe Strider, Midnight Reaper or Zulaport Cutthroat, or creatures which are particularly exploitable such as Lingering souls, Serra Paragon or Gravecrawler. Once a board presence has been assembled, burying your opponents with value and superior resources.
Red-White Aggro Aggro utilizes low cost creatures to push damage before your opponent has the chance to properly recover.
The key to this archetype is having cheap ways to push damage such as low cost spells (Lightning Bolt, Burst Lightning) and creatures (Goblin Guide, Kytheon, Hero of Akros, Mogg War Marshal). Following this up with some form of reach to finish them off. This comes in many forms such as evasion (Thundermaw Hellkite, Glorybringer) burn (Skewer the Critics, Chain Lightning) or good old just having more creatures than you opponent (Hero of Bladehold).
Green-White Tokens Tokens is all about going wide. Flooding the board with creatures and strengthening your army, much to your opponents despair.
This archetype is all about creature combat and using your vast board presence to overwhelm opponents. The deck is looking for a high density of low cost creatures which help to flood the board (Thraben Inspector, Kytheon, Hero of Akros, Elvish Mystic, Duskwatch Recruiter, Emmara, Soul of the Accord), there are also a number of token effects to keep ahead of your opponents (Torrens, Fist of the Angels, Pest Infestation, Esika's Chariot) and effects for buffing all your creatures (Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Mirari's Wake).
Blue-Black Midrange Midrange is a deck which aims to use early removal to interrupt tempo and play extremely powerful threats to bury your opponents using your superior resources or card advantage.
This deck leans on the more controlling side of midrange. It has access to strong removal (Go for the Throat, Tyrant's Scorn, Fatal Push, Ravenous Chupacabra) and counterspells (Miscalculation, Mana Leak, Supreme Will) as well as versatile threats for ending games (Torrential Gearhulk, The Scarab God, Thief of Sanity, Tasigur, the Golden Fang).
Blue-Red Spells Spells is all about instant and sorceries. Playing many and using them to gain incremental advantages.
The first thing your gonna need for this deck are non-creature spells, and lots of them. Cheap Cantrips (Preordain, Ponder, Brainstorm, Faithless Looting) and Burn (Lightning Bolt, Burst Lightning, Flame Slash) to give you a consistent and powerful early game. You can then use these cards to fuel your cards that care about spells (Young Pyromancer, Thing in the Ice, Sprite Dragon, Crackling Drake, Dragon's Rage Channeler).
Blue-Green Ramp loves to play big creatures and spells faster than is usually acceptable. Utilizing cards such as Farseek, Growth Spiral and Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath.
But what can you with this extra mana? Use it to cast powerful spells such as Nissa, Who Shakes The World, Hydroid Krasis and Ugin, The Spirit Dragon
Black-Red Midrange is a midrange deck which takes a more aggressive stance than other midrange decks in this cube. Using it's card to gain card advantage and gain tempo to defeat opponents.
This is a archetype which utilizes a number of tools to defeat opponents. Cheap removal (Flame Slash, Abrade, Fatal Push, Doom Blade) to fight against creatures, card advantage (Kolaghan's Command, Laelia, the Blade Reforged, Dark Confidant) for additional value as well as powerful game ending creatures. (Glorybringer, Grave Titan)
Green-Black Graveyard Graveyard is all about gaining card advantage and tempo from graveyard interactions. Beating your opponents with powerful graveyard based interactions.
The things you are gonna need for this archetype are creatures with powerful enter the battlefield or leave the battlefield effects (Thragtusk, Gonti, Lord of Luxury, Ishkanah, Grafwidow) so you can replay them multiple times. Ways to return creatures from the graveyard (Eternal Witness, Nullpriest of Oblivion, Order of Midnight, Wretched Confluence), removal (Abrupt Decay, Assassin's Trophy, Murderous Cut) to keep you alive and ways to fill the graveyard with useful tools (Pack rat, Keskit, the Flesh Sculptor, Grisly Salvage).
Cards you looking for to put you in this archetype are Ishkanah, Grafwidow, Find//Finality, Polukranos Unchained, Wretched Confluence.
Red-Green Monsters Monsters is about playing efficient threats on curve and using them to overwhelm your opponents.
Monsters is what it says on the tin. Using early cards to kill threats (Lava Coil, Inscription of Abundance, Searing Spear) and to allow you to ramp into bigger threats (Elvish Mystic, Sakura Tribe-Elder, Lotus Cobra, Courser of Kruphix, Xenagos, the Reveler). Then comes the monsters (Klothys, God of Destiny, Dragonlord Atarka, Polukranos, World Eater, Rekindling Phoenix, Inferno Titan). Above curve and with powerful effects to overwhelm your opponent.
Cards that can send you into this archetype are Dragonlord Atarka, Klothys, God of Destiny or Xenagos, the Reveler.