Harrison's Theros Horizons Cube A Theros-Themed Draft with Mechanical Consistency

Anywhere you look on the plane of Theros, there's a story to be told. Bend gods to your will, bring the polises to ruin, or be the champion the plane desperately needs.

This cube was originally a Theros Set Cube composed strictly of cards with art on the plane of Theros. In the interest of making a mechanically interesting draft experience, cards from other planes have been added then reskinned with the Universes Beyond nickname method.

Below I will cover the design of this cube, and further the planted archetypes for color identities.

Design The Pillars

There are two elements at war with each other in any themed cube: Mechanics and Flavor. Every cube makes concessions to one to make gains the other. This cube holds to a few different design pillars than its first iteration.

• Fun First: The mechanics of the draft environment should feel powerful, dynamic, and fun.
• Theros Flavor: The flavor of each card must evoke the feeling and lore of Theros as a setting in its art, flavor, and mechanics.
• Synergy: The draft environment must have notable consistency in its mechanical overlap in the chosen elements: scrying, heroic, graveyard, sacrifice, and enchantments.
• Power: No card should be included strictly on power considerations if there is a more synergistic option. (Ex. Swords to Plowshares does not fit the synergy of any archetype in the cube, so it will never be added.)

The Method

First, we had a selection of cards strictly from Theros sets or with Theros art. Each card was given tags to show its relevance in various archetypes. Archetypes with little support (Ex. Inspired) were cut, archetypes which needed more support were given cards from outside of Theros (Ex. Scrying).

Cards that are significantly below-rate for 2023 magic (consider that Theros was released in 2013, a whole decade ago) are replaced with close mechanical updates and which will receive reskinning with Theros flavor. Each color pairing was given a thorough check for balance and consistency, then each color was evaluated, stripped, built back, then culled to size.

From this process came the emergence of 5 primary archetypes that align with the 5 wedges. So let's get into those.

Archetypes The Wedges

• Prophecy - - Keranos, Kruphix, and Klothys all deal with the future. For this reason, these colors all care about Scrying. Song of Creation works perfectly with this theme. Knowing what's on top makes sure that you don't run out of gas.

• Ideals - - Ephara, Keranos, and Iroas are all extremely invested in ideals of society, knowledge, and victory. This flavor connection comes through perfectly with the Heroic mechanic, a personal favorite of mine. Hinata, Dawn-Crowned is the staple heroic card.

• War - - Iroas and Mogis are the twin gods of war, and war is always about sacrifice. Ghen, Arcanum Weaver exchanges the blessings of one god for those of another, so you're always managing your battlefield and making sacrifices.

• Death - - Pharika and Phenax both provide different views of death, so this wedge is built on milling yourself. Sidisi, Brood Tyrant cares about putting cards into your graveyard and loves attacking, paying you off by growing your board.

• Return - - Pharika kills, Athreos guides, and Karametra grows. This wedge wants to bring creatures and enchantments back from the graveyard. Anikthea, Hand of Erebos wants enchantments to be in your graveyard, then wants to bring them back as Eidolons, Alseids, or otherwise as enchantment creatures.

The Pairs

• - Heroic, Scry (Spells)
• - Heroic (Core)
• - Heroic (Auras)
• - Graveyard, Sacrifice (Enchantments)
• - Sacrifice (Core)
• - Enchantments
• - Graveyard (Core)
• - Graveyard (Return)
• - Scry (Creatures)
• - Scry (Core)