I named this the Bouillon Cube because it doesn't have all the meat of a true vintage cube, but it should taste almost like it does. Initially I was inspired by the MTGO Vintage cube, but wanting to promote more fair magic and more synergy over pure card power I came up with this!

This cube is designed with 10 two color archetypes; each of which I will go into a brief primer for below. For each color pair I will briefly describe what that color pair’s theme in the cube is, various ways decks can come together, and describe a few critical cards that aren’t multi-colored (the multicolored cards are very specifically all meant to be signpost cards) that may signify to you it’s time to build that particular archetype.

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Table of Archetypes
Artifacts
Control/Reanimator
Counters/Proliferate
Spellslinger
Humans
Tokens
Equipment
Graveyard
Landfall
Sacrifice

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Artifacts What it does :

• This color pair focuses on building a deck with a heavy count of artifacts. Artifact creatures, utility artifacts, and mana rocks all find a nice home in this color pairing, and it is probably one of the most flexible archetypes in the cube thanks to the fact that artifacts are so easy to cast and come in so many different varieties.

Ways it can be played :

• Midrange/value - rely on efficient artifact creatures to generate value such as Ethersworn Sphinx or Chrome Courier and grinding opponents out over the course of the game.
• Combo - look to Tolarian Academy and start picking up Talismans and other mana rocks to drop a Cityscape Leveler on your opponents.
• Control - also a possibility in this color pairing, utilizing board wipes like Wrath of God and strong counter magic such as Mystic Confluence to slow the game down until you can take advantage of - you guessed it artifacts like Mindslaver to lock your opponents out of the game or rely on a classic control finisher like Aetherling.
• Aggro - believe it or not aggressive archetypes are also possible in this color pair taking advantage of powerful and efficient artifact creatures such as Arcbound Ravager.

Signpost cards :

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Control/Reanimator What it does :

• Blue and black is the classic color combo for players who like doing unfair things and torturing their opponents. Playing at instant speed, denying your opponents spells, eating into their hand and destroying their creatures are all actions readily available in this color pair.

Ways it can be played :

• Control - The classic. Respond to your opponents plays with your own at the perfect time, and build card advantage over the course of the game. Efficient black answers such as Fatal Push and Infernal Grasp allow you to handle early threats until you can land card advantage engines like Jace, the Mind Sculptor or an instant speed refill from Fact or Fiction.
• Reanimator - Utilize access to blue draw spells to find cards like Entomb and Reanimate to drop an early Griselbrand or Archon of Cruelty.

Signpost cards :

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Counters/Proliferate What it does :

• Blue and green is all about utilizing the power of counters to beef up your permanents. Overwhelm your opponents with massive creatures with +1/+1 counters, power your artifacts with charge counters or pump up your planeswalkers loyalty counters by utilizing the proliferate mechanic.

Ways it can be played :

• Aggressive - Drop early efficient creatures like Experiment One and Cloudfin Raptor that will grow in strength as the game goes on, throw an Umezawa’s Jitte in the mix and we’ve got a stew going.
• Midrange/Combo - Slow down combat with early bodies like Scavenging Ooze or Flux Channeler that can also help you put more counters on your team, then drop a Skatewing Spy late game and fly over your opponent for the win.
• Stompy - Focus all your efforts on putting counters on your creatures until they are so big that your opponents are forced to block inefficiently.

Signpost cards :

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Spellslinger What it does :

• Win the game off the back of casting non-creature spells, specifically instants and sorceries. Whether it's the spells themselves killing your opponents in the case of Devil's Play or your permanents building advantage as you cast them like Talrand, Sky Summoner; having a deck full of instants and sorceries are your key to success in this archetype.

Ways it can be played :

• Burn - Drop a Guttersnipe. Throw a Lightning Bolt at your opponent until dead.
• Go Wide - Drop a Young Pyromancer or a Talrand, Sky Summoner and then use countermagic to protect them until you have enough tokens to kill your opponent in one lethal attack.
• Control - See the above, but focus more on responding to your opponents threats until you can drop a threat of your own like Urabrask.

Signpost cards :

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Humans What it does :

• This is the one typal archetype in the cube, and it revolves around building a deck with plenty of Human creatures.

Ways it can be played :

• Aggressive - Utlize an early Champion of the Parish or Bloodsoaked Champion to get damage in early and finish your opponents off by pairing one with a Silverblade Paladin.
• Midrange - Play efficient humans throughout the game like Luminarch Aspirant or Tenacious Underdog and then bring in Greymond, Avacyn's Stalwart to supercharge them.
• Grindy/Value - Get the absolute most out of your humans over the course of the game with powerful value engines such as Jerren, Corrupted Bishop and Xathrid Necromancer while you you take out your opponents threats at the same time with Skirsdag Flayer or Gallows at Willow Hill, then win the game when your opponent is out of gas.

Signpost cards :

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Tokens What it does :

• White and green focuses its strategy on creating tokens, copying tokens and ultimately building up a board so big you win combat with sheer numbers.

Ways it can be played :

• Go Wide - You know the drill, make a lot of tokens, boost ‘em up with an Intangible Virtue and swing in for lethal.
• Aggressive - Same as before but now make your tokens faster with cheap early threats like Usher of the Fallen and Precinct Captain and try to kill your opponent before they can stabilize.
• Midrange - Stabilize yourself in the midgame with high impact cards like Thragtusk and Elder Gargaroth, then take over the game with the a swarm of tokens thanks to later game threats like Myr Battlesphere or White Sun’s Zenith.

Signpost cards :

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Equipment What it does :

• This archetype involves providing your creatures with as many equipment cards as possible. Swords, axes, and living weapons - oh my.

Ways it can be played :

• Aggressive - Equip your early threats like Kor Duelist or Fervent Champion and kill your opponents with lightning speed.
• Combo - How would you like to drop a Kaldra Compleat on turn 3 using Stoneforge Mystic?
• Voltron - Just choose one creature and staple as many equipment to it as you can. Utilizing the various swords for protection and reconfigure creatures like Lizard Blades ensures even if your one creature dies, you’ll be able to rebuild your threat quickly.

Signpost cards :

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Graveyard What it does :

• This archetype allows you to use the graveyard as a resource, bringing cards back from the graveyard, empowering spells for having things in the graveyard and more.

Ways it can be played :

• Grindy/Value - Draw the game out as long as necessary while continuously gaining value from cards like Gnawing Vermin that can get you early 2 for 1’s while filling your graveyard up, removing your opponent’s threats with a dirt cheap Overwhelming Remorse and repeating the process thanks to Eternal Witness. Eventually your opponent should run out of gas, and you still get to use the graveyard.
• Reanimator - Similar to the gameplan described in the blue black reanimator strategy, green black can also Entomb a Griselbrand and Reanimate it. However, without blue’s countermagic to protect your gameplan you’ll have to rely on green’s resiliency and ability to recycle your resources.

Signpost cards :

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Landfall What it does :

• This archetype just wants to get as many lands on to the battlefield as possible, with many cards triggering off lands entering the battlefield or caring about how many lands you have.

Ways it can be played :

• Landfall Combo - Gather up as many landfallers as you can, Scute Swarm and Rampaging Baloths should do the trick, then drop as many lands as you can. Utilize fetch lands to drop two a turn, or simply bring a Primeval Titan to the party and overwhelm the board with pure land value.
• Aggressive - Pop an Akoum Hellhound or a Plated Geopede on the field, play a land and attack to your hearts content. If that isn’t enough, a late game Moraug, Fury of Akoum should give you the extra combat you need to get the job done.
• Ramp - Just grab up all the Farseek, Nature’s Lore, and Rampant Growth’s you can find so you can drop an Avenger of Zendikar or a Glistening Dawn. Maybe equip a Blackblade Reforged to something for the hell of it.

Signpost cards :

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Sacrifice What it does :

• Well, the strategy is pretty clear for this one. Gain value for sacrificing your own permanents. Whether you are doing it to drain your opponents life, or boost your creature’s power, its personal sacrifice that leads to success in red/black.

Ways it can be played :

• Aggressive - Early threats like Goblin Blast-Runner hit hard when you sacrifice something as simple as a fetch land, and other threats like Bloodsoaked Champion even serve as repeatable sac fodder as well. Your opponent tried to Lightning Bolt your goblin? Sacrifice it to Viscera Seer to make sure you draw into another threat in response.
• Grindy/Value - Take the game into the later turns by building a value engine consisting of Blood Artist and Priest of Forgotten Gods to build value over time, all while draining your opponent and replenishing your own health. Keep it up until your opponent drops dead.
• Controlling - Rip the most powerful cards out of your opponent’s hand with targeted discard in the form of Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek. Keep them hellbent with Liliana of the Veil and then take of the game with the original villain Yawgmoth, Thran Physician

Signpost cards :

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The best part about the cube? The above archetypes are simply suggestions. You can build any strategy you want realistically, there are 3 color synergies, 5 color possibilities, there are mono-colored strategies that can also work. I can guarantee there are other strategies within the above archetypes that I missed as well, so you'll just have to play the cube to find the rest for yourself.