Unplayables Cube
Overview
The Unplayables Cube is a highly-synergistic cube consisting of cards so weak they were effectively unplayable in every* limited and constructed format. However, the Unplayables Cube is not a gag cube. It is first and foremost designed for archetype variety and interactive gameplay. To that end, while this cube contains some of the weakest cards in Magic's history, it does not contain the weakest cards, so don't expect to see cards that don't do anything useful like One with Nothing or Mudhole. Instead, you'll have to build synergistic decks that overcome individual cards' weaknesses by combining cards like Vampire Scrivener and Righteous Cause or Aboroth and Haunted Cloak.
Some of the most individually powerful cards in the cube are
though most cards look more like
Archetype Guide
Vanillify
Many creatures in the Unplayables cube have huge stats and even huger downside abilities. However, if you can separate their stats from their abilities with either Soul Separator or Ooze Garden, you're left with a massive vanilla creature to wreak havoc on your opponent. You can also use Primal Forcemage to get an extra large order of ooze.
Hit and Run
Big efficient creatures like Inferno Hellion and Saprazzan Outrigger are supposed to be one-time use, in that they have to be sacrificed or have to replace your draw step and be recast. You can sidestep this restriction by responding to the creature's trigger at the end of the turn via Sundial of the Infinite, phasing the creatures out via Teferi's Veil, or bouncing them via Contempt or Obelisk of Undoing.
Inversion Combo
Creatures that can pump their toughness way up like Tireless Tribe and Trenching Steed may not seem very threatening, but if you switch their toughness with their power using cards like Mannichi, the Fevered Dream or Dwarven Thaumaturgist, they quickly become a lethal threat.
Activation Ramp
Braid of Fire and Thran Turbine make a lot of mana very quickly, but awkwardly that mana can only be used during your upkeep. Fallaji Excavation's Powerstone tokens can only be used for artifacts and abilities. You can make good use of all that mana with expensive activated abilities of cards like Altar of Shadows or any of the Tower cycle. These cards with high-impact activated abilities are also a great thing to do with your mana after casting epic spells like Endless Swarm or Neverending Torment.
Pseudo-vigilance
Massive creatures like Dormant Gomazoa and Deep-Slumber Titan are great ways to defeat your opponent... other than the small downside that they enter tapped and don't untap. But combine them with cards that untap them like Thassa's Ire, Triclopean Sight, or Seeker of Skybreak and you've built a nearly unstoppable threat.
Equipment Aggro
It can be difficult in the Unplayables Cube for aggressive decks playing tiny low cost creatures to deal 20 damage and defeat your opponent. Equipment provide a great way to make those dinky creatures fearsome threats in the late game which can plow through your opponent's blockers.
Kaboom!
Cards that care about the top of your library like Goblin Machinist, Infernal Genesis, and Naya Soulbeast can be very powerful or they can be total duds depending on whether you get lucky. But with the help of cards like Goblin Spy or Wizened Snitches, you don't need luck to know when to fire them off. You can even set up a Draco on top of your library and get a massive hit directly to your opponent's face.
Lantern Control
Just like the Lantern Control deck of Modern fame, you can control the top of your opponent's library with a combination of being able to see their top card using Lantern of Insight and choosing whether or not to mill it with Codex Shredder. You won't have Ensnaring Bridge to keep yourself alive though, so you'll have to survive in other ways as you mill your opponent out.
Coin Flips
Cards like Fiery Gambit and Mogg Assassin can be extremely powerful or total duds depending on your luck. With Krark's Thumb, you can shift the balance towards a useful outcome making those cards much better on average. Okaun, Eye of Chaos and Zndrsplt, Eye of Wisdom reward you just for having taken a chance.
Spirits
The spirits of Kamigawa might not be very cost effective, but with the soulshift ability you can grind your opponent out of the game with card advantage by rebuying cards like Stoic Ephemera or Eidolon of Philosophy. You can also generate value from their spiritcraft abilities by casting Glitterfang turn after turn. Don't worry about knowing whether an older card is a spirit or not; all creatures that are spirits in the cube say "spirit" on their typeline.
Artifacts
Beep. Boop. Beep. Cards that scale with your artifact count like Vermiculos and Chromescale Drake don't care about the quality of those artifacts. Mass Production might be slow and make small artifact creatures, but it sure make plenty of them. Cheap artifacts like Universal Solvent and Team Pennant will power up your artifact-loving spells while providing a little utility as well.
Domain
Creatures like Draco, Stratadon, and Wayfaring Giant are not just huge, but they can even be efficiently costed too! You just have to have a high-variance manabase with basic lands of every type. There are no nonbasic lands with multiple basic land types in the cube, so you'll have to work hard to get those types onto the battlefield.
Threshold
Creatures like Krosan Beast and Moldgraf Scavenger are below even the power level of the Unplayables cube at first. However, if you can get enough cards into your graveyard, they blossom into massive threats that even normal Magic would consider fearsome.
ETBeatdown
Primal Forcemage makes small hasty creatures huge for their first turn. Electropotence lets you pay mana to deal damage equal to the power of your creatures entering the battlefield. Both love Viashino which you have to replay each turn, or get to replay each turn, depending on your perspective. Flowstone Hellion can use its flowstone ability a few extra times with Primal Forcemage pumping it for an extra punch.
Design Notes
Most cards in the Unplayables Cube have never been playable in any limited or constructed format. There are some exceptions.
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Interaction and mana fixing below a certain power threshold simply don't fulfill their roles, so some interaction and fixing in the cube is only very weak.
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Cards from universally low-power limited environments like Kamigawa or Masques blocks had much weaker competition for playability, and are at the right power level for the cube even if they were somewhat playable in those environments.
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Cards which heavily relied upon synergies to be playable in their format, and even then weren't very strong get a pass. For example Krosan Beast relying on threshold enablers or Universal Solvent serving primarily as a textless artifact for .
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Cards whose power comes solely from being part of a combo are not excluded on that basis. Tireless Tribe and Lantern of Insight are unplayable on their own merits even though they were part of constructed decks that were able to utilize them.
Other Notes
This version of the Unplayables Cube was featured at CubeCon 2024.