Theros Vorthos Commander v4.1.2
(480 Card Cube)
Theros Vorthos Commander v4.1.2
Cube ID
Art by Alayna DannerArt by Alayna Danner
480 Card Multiplayer Commander Set Cube26 followers
Designed by AaronMosh
Owned
$1,133
Buy
$638
Purchase
Mana Pool$588.18

Welcome to the plane of Theros, please enjoy your stay!

This Commander cube includes cards from Theros, Journey into Nyx, Born of the Gods, Theros Beyond Death, and some unique Theros-themed cards from other sets. Additionally, it contains cards with ambiguous names, art, and flavor text to complement primary set cards, while simultaneously drawing on the themes of Ancient Greece. All cards were meticulously chosen to stay on theme within these guidelines.

While the cube sticks to pretty strict thematic guidelines, there's still some room for flexibility and creative interpretation. For certain slots that are harder to fill, I've used cards that fit the theme, even if they require a bit of a looser take on the core principles.


Important drafting notes

  • There are 24 packs, each containing 20 cards.
  • All Mono-color Commanders have the “Partner” ability.
  • Planeswalkers can serve as your commander.
  • The starting life total is 40, and commander damage is 21.
  • Sideboards are your leftover draft cards and Commanders can be swapped.
  • For each type of token generated, there are physical tokens available.
  • A copy of Echo of the gods, Star Compass, and Commander's Sphere are available for all players to use.
    - Echo of the gods is my homebrew variant of The Prismatic Piper, it fits the cube flavor, provides support for mechanics in the cube, and is at a power level that people wouldn't be upset if they had to use.

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Drafting rules

  • Players draft 3 packs.
  • Choose 2 cards per card selection.
  • First pack, pass cards to the left; Second pack, pass to the right; Third pack, pass to the left again.
  • After the draft, players have 1 hour to create a 60 card Commander deck. The 60 cards includes 1-2 commanders from your drafted cards. Your deck must match your commanders' color identity.

Deck building

3-8 players
  • Land Count (24-26): If you want to play it safe, then go for 26 lands.
  • Creature Count (19-23): Creatures are the primary way to deal damage
  • Spell Count (12-16): Removal spells are important since larger creatures are far more likely to be cast.
2 players: Increase deck size from 60 to 100. You likely will have to use a three-color partner pair or commander to achieve consistent play.
  • Land Count (40-43)
  • Creature Count (32-38)
  • Spell Count (20-27)

Mana curve

3-8 players
  • 1 mana: 2-4
  • 2 mana: 6-8
  • 3 mana: 8-10
  • 4 mana: 6-8
  • 5 mana: 4-6
  • 6 mana: 2-4
  • 7+ mana: 0-2
2 players
  • 1 mana: 3-7
  • 2 mana: 10-13
  • 3 mana: 13-17
  • 4 mana: 10-13
  • 5 mana: 7-10
  • 6 mana: 3-7
  • 7+ mana: 0-3

Archetypes

The listed archetypes are meant to cover most of what you will encounter when building and are only meant to provide guidance/general build direction. Single-color partner commanders let you mix and match beyond these listed archetypes and provide a fun different way of approaching deck building.


wu: Constellation Lifegain

Enchantment-focused tempo deck that gains life while building board presence. Ephara draws cards off creature ETBs, Daxos provides evasion and lifegain while casting opponents' spells. Constellation creatures and auras generate incremental advantage. Wins with fliers backed by enchantment synergies and lifegain.


ub: Mill Control

Hard control strategy that mills opponents out. Phenax turns defensive creatures into mill engines, Ashiok exiles and creates threats. High-toughness creatures and interaction protect the gameplan. Wins through decking with recursive threats as backup.


br: Aggro Sacrifice

Fast aggressive deck with sacrifice synergies. Mogis punishes opponents each turn, Kroxa strips hands and recurs for damage. Sacrifice outlets and aggressive creatures maintain pressure. Wins through early pressure backed by burn and recursion.


rg: Aggro/Power Matters

Fast aggressive strategy that ramps to deploy threats early. Xenagos doubles power for explosive combat, Klothys provides Ramp and direct damage. Hydras and power-matters creatures scale with the game. Wins through massive creatures attacking early and often.


gw: Constellation Midrange

Enchantment-matters midrange that ramps and builds board presence. Karametra fixes mana through creature ETBs, Calix grows creatures and creates token copies. Constellation triggers build advantage. Wins through enchantment creatures and incremental advantage.


wb: Reanimator Lifegain

Grindy reanimator strategy that gains life and recurs threats. Athreos returns creatures or drains life, Tymna draws cards through combat damage. Uses cheap recursion and expensive reanimation targets. Wins through powerful reanimated creatures with life cushion.


ur: Tempo Control

Controls the board with efficient creatures and spells while building card advantage. Keranos provides consistent damage and draws, Arjun refreshes your hand whenever you cast a spell. Wins through creature pressure backed by countermagic and burn.


bg: Graveyard Midrange

Grinds value through self-mill and recursion. Pharika exiles creatures to create deathtouch tokens, Polukranos provides removal and recurs from the graveyard. Uses reanimation and graveyard synergies for card advantage. Wins through efficient threats and attrition.


rw: Aggro Midrange

Aggressive strategy that pushes damage through combat. Iroas makes creatures unblockable and indestructible on attacks, Haktos provides a hard-to-remove threat. Uses efficient creatures to maintain pressure. Wins through relentless attacks and protection effects.


gu: Midrange Control

Ramp-control deck that builds mana advantage. Kruphix stores mana and removes hand size, Thrasios provides card advantage and ramp. Combines counters with big threats. Wins through massive creatures with interaction and card draw.


gwu: Enchantment Aggro

Enchantment creature deck that draws cards through combat. Kestia can buff other creatures and draws cards. Combines constellation payoffs with aggressive enchantment creatures. Wins through card advantage and creature pressure.


rwb: Aggro/Reanimator

Aggressive reanimator deck that fills the graveyard and brings back threats. Kroxa and Kunoros reanimates creatures and is a powerful threat. Combines self-mill and discard effects with aggressive creatures and reanimation. Wins through recurring threats and sustained pressure.


wbg: Enchantment Graveyard

Enchantment-focused graveyard deck that creates zombie tokens. Anikthea exiles non-Aura enchantments from your graveyard when it enters or attacks to create 3/3 Zombie creature copies. Combines self-mill with enchantment creatures and constellation triggers. Wins through token generation and enchantment synergies.


urw: Tempo Agro

Tempo deck that casts multiple creatures and spells per turn. Gnostro provides versatile utility. Combines efficient low-cost creatures with cheap interaction. Wins through early pressure and efficient threats.


rgwu: 4-Color Goodstuff

Ramp deck that plays the best cards from four colors. Kynaios and Tiro draws cards and ramps lands. Combines efficient creatures with interaction and card advantage. Wins through powerful threats and resource advantage.


This update primarily focuses on simplifying some things.

  1. Capping each dual-color pair to two commanders to balance the drafting experience. Over time, my ongoing adjustments have gradually whittled down the available dual-color commanders from 3 to 2 per pair, so I decided to go ahead and finish what I started by standardizing them all at 2 for a consistent drafting experience.
  2. Removing the extra steps needed to understand the full context of a card. While I enjoy dual-faced cards, paired cards, and experience counters. I want the cube to focus on smooth drafting without the overhead of flipping cards or explaining unique mechanics (ie. battles) that may or may not even be used.

I want to get the most out of each game by cutting reasonable complexity, which helps reduce decision fatigue. Through this I can create a smoother drafting experience where players focus on meaningful decisions rather than flipping or referencing multiple cards.

Changes:

Invasion of Theros explained above, Bola Slinger is the replacement.

Greater Auramancy removes interaction almost entirely for a player. My goal has been to increase the ability for people to interact with each other, that's what makes the game fun. Omen of the Sun Is the replacement.

Xenagos, the Reveler, Xenagos as a character is already in the cube and while the planeswalker version works well, I only have 5 cards to work with in that color, so I think the god works better for this play environment. Satyr Hedonist allows for some early game ramp.

Sythis, Harvest's Hand has an overlapping ability with Satyr Enchanter. Removing it is not about limitation of a certain ability, I want to offer choices between cards that enhance each other in different ways rather than overlapping. Plus I had to remove a Commander and that one made the most sense. Bronzehide Lion Is the replacement.

Ravos, Soultender was a tough one. I ultimately settled on Tymna the Weaver because she plays well on using life as a resource and I have been want to expand support for that a little bit more.

Athreos, Shroud-Veiled Athreos is already in the cube and I prefer the other one anyway. Scholar of Athreos offers a nice late game mana sink and can gain you a bit of life while reducing others.

Kassandra, Eagle Bearer I hated removing her, but she comes paired with another card, forcing drafters to reference both while drafting. Lightning Helix gives a nice instant removal spell while gaining life similar to Phlage, Titan of Fire's Fury ability.

Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas Requires keeping track of counters on a separate card. I have been sleeping on Haktos the Unscarred. I considered him to much of a glass cannon until I realized his immunity extends to every mana cost except one number, not just the examples shown on the card. I think he would be fun to play with.

Till next time!

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