Cube Draft Summary – Third Draft (12/30/24) Draft Format:

Players: 5
Packs: 5 packs of 15 cards each.
Burning: The last 6 cards of each pack were burned.
Match Structure: Best-of-1 matches.

This draft saw intense competition as players explored archetypes ranging from aggro and aristocrats to spellslinger and grindy midrange decks. The updated cube's high power level delivered exciting moments and diverse strategies across the table.
Match Results:

Caleb (3-0): Caleb piloted a Izzet spellslinger deck that showcased incredible synergy and efficiency. Splashing for key payoff cards like Kykar, Wind's Fury, Kess, Dissident Mage, and Young Pyromancer turned cheap spells like Gitaxian Probe, Ponder, and Chain Lightning into overwhelming tempo and value. Caleb’s deck excelled at controlling the board while applying consistent pressure, going undefeated in the draft
Decklist

Josh (2-2): Josh’s Golgari midrange deck, built around powerful creatures like Tarmogoyf and Meren of Clan Nel Toth, excelled in grindy matchups. Recursion engines like Shriekmaw and Underground Mortuary allowed Josh to outlast opponents. Despite a strong showing against Tyler and Caleb, Josh faltered against Jake’s ramp and Caleb’s spellslinger tempo.
Decklist

Ed (2-2): Ed’s Rakdos aggro/burn deck was a relentless engine of damage. Cards like Zurgo Bellstriker, Bloodsoaked Champion, and Judith, the Scourge Diva provided explosive starts, while Kroxa, Titan of Death’s Hunger and Liliana of the Veil offered disruption and late-game reach. Ed secured two wins against Tyler but couldn’t keep up with Caleb’s tempo or Josh’s resilience.
Decklist

Jake (1-1): Jake’s Golgari ramp deck relied on massive threats like End-Raze Forerunners and Voracious Hydra, fueled by ramp pieces such as Meren of Clan Nel Toth and Natural Order. Jake scored an impressive win against Josh with a devastating top-end play but lost to Caleb’s more efficient strategy.
Decklist

Tyler (0-3): Tyler ran an Orzhov aristocrats deck focused on synergy and value. Cards like Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim, Mire Triton, and Brimaz, King of Oreskos created strong engines, but Tyler’s deck struggled to keep pace with the faster, more explosive strategies in the draft. A lack of focus in deck-building due to the inclusion of several unnecessary boardwipes and over committing to 3+ colors made the Orzhov aggressive package lose much of its focus and power.
Decklist

Key Moments:

Caleb’s Tempo Domination: Caleb’s spellslinger deck delivered a commanding performance against Josh, with Kykar, Wind’s Fury and Chain Lightning enabling a decisive win.
Jake’s Ramp Overdrive: Against Josh, Jake’s Natural Order into End-Raze Forerunners crushed the opposition with a dominant board state.
Ed’s Aggro Burn: Ed’s efficient starts and burn spells overwhelmed Tyler in both of their matches, showcasing Rakdos aggro’s power.
Josh’s Golgari Resilience: Josh’s Tarmogoyf and recursion package proved effective against Ed’s aggro, grinding out a close victory.

Final Thoughts:

This draft continued to show the dominance of aggressive strategies as the Cube meta matures, but not as much as the earlier drafts seemed to indicate. Blue being heavily underdrafted, which allowed Caleb to pick up plenty of spells and cantrips for his spellslinger strategy. Black was picked heavily by the other 4 players, featuring multiple cards in every deck in play. This spread out key and necessary cards from other decks, making each deck less consistent than it traditionally would be.

From Caleb’s spellslinger mastery to Ed’s relentless aggro and Josh’s grindy midrange, each player brought unique strengths to the table. Despite Tyler’s struggles, the matches remained competitive and showcased the cube's capacity for diverse strategies.
Final Standings:

Caleb (3-0) – Jeskai Spellslinger
Josh (2-2) – Golgari Midrange
Ed (2-2) – Rakdos Aggro/Burn
Jake (1-1) – Golgari Ramp
Tyler (0-3) – Orzhov Aristocrats

Cube Draft Summary – Second Draft

Draft Format:

• 4 players, 4 packs of 15 cards each.
• Players burned the last 5 cards from each pack.
• Matches were best of 1 due to time constraints.

This draft was conducted after the cube was updated to higher power levels, leading to a more dynamic and explosive environment.

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Match Results:

1. Josh (2-0): Dominated with a highly synergistic Izzet spellslinger deck. Leveraging aggressive threats like Dragon's Rage Channeler, Young Pyromancer, and Delver of Secrets, Josh combined efficient interaction (Lightning Bolt, Miscalculation) with card advantage tools such as Preordain and Chart a Course. His deck excelled at both tempo and value, overpowering opponents with consistent early pressure and late-game power through Kess, Dissident Mage, with an additional splash of reanimation through several spells, culminating with Emrakul, the Promised End.

2. Tyler (1-1): Played an Orzhov midrange deck with a focus on recursion and aristocrat synergies. Cards like Blood Artist, Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim, and Brimaz, King of Oreskos created strong value engines, while threats such as Murderous Rider and Batterskull offered resilience. Tyler narrowly defeated Caleb’s slower control deck but fell short against Josh's faster, more disruptive strategy.

3. Jacob (1-1): Drafted a Bant ramp deck with explosive top-end threats. Cards like Voracious Hydra, Pelakka Wurm, and End-Raze Forerunners gave him the ability to dominate board states, while ramp pieces such as Joraga Treespeaker and Oracle of Mul Daya accelerated his game plan. Jacob struggled against Josh's tempo-based removal but secured a win against Caleb by going over the top with his large threats.

4. Caleb (0-2): Piloted a Esper control deck featuring powerful planeswalkers (Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, The Wandering Emperor) and a suite of board wipes (Supreme Verdict, Day of Judgment, Toxic Deluge) to stabilize. Despite having a strong late game with finishers like Torrential Gearhulk, Caleb’s deck struggled to handle faster, aggressive strategies, leading to losses against both Tyler and Jacob.

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Key Moments:

• Josh’s Perfection: His spellslinger deck delivered relentless tempo, with cards like Young Pyromancer and Thing in the Ice turning his cheap spells into significant threats. A grindy game against Bant Ramp ended with a reanimated Emrakul, the Promised End being able to go over a leveled up Hexdrinker to clutch out the game.
• Jacob’s Hydra Triumph: A pivotal game against Caleb was won when Goldvein Hydra cleared Caleb's blocker and grew large enough to seal the match.
• Tyler’s Brimaz Value: Tyler’s aristocrat synergies shone in his win against Caleb, where Blood Artist drained Caleb out over several turns despite multiple board wipes.
• Caleb’s Struggles: While his control deck had answers for many threats, its slow starts and lack of proactive plays made it vulnerable to the aggressive decks in the pod. Chromium, the Mutable, a card in the sideboard, should have been swapped in to support Torrential Gearhulk in closing out games.

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Final Thoughts:
Updating the Cube's overall power level has made for a more interesting drafting experience, as drafting decisions are made more difficult when the quality is up across the board. Powerful archetypes ranging from aggressive spellslinger decks to grindy aristocrats and ramp strategies all seem rather viable. The poor performance of control in this pod seems to have been due in part to lacking ways to deal with reliable threats (Batterskull) and close out games. The power of aggressive strategies should be lessened as the cubers become more familiar with the cube and drafting as a whole.

Final Standings:

1. Josh (2-0)
2. Tyler (1-1)
3. Jacob (1-1)
4. Caleb (0-2)

First Cube Draft Summary (10/3)

Draft Format:

• 4 players, 5 packs of 15 cards each.
• Players burned the last 5 cards from each pack.
• Matches were best of 1 due to time constraints.

This was the first and only draft with the cube in its lower-powered configuration, as it was updated for higher power levels afterward.

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Match Results:

1. Jacob (2-0): A Rakdos aggro-aristocrats deck that excelled in tempo and synergy. Key aggressive threats like Goblin Guide, Firedrinker Satyr, and Carrion Feeder allowed for rapid starts, while aristocrat payoffs such as Zulaport Cutthroat and Judith, the Scourge Diva capitalized on sacrifice and combat damage. Jacob's deck overwhelmed both Caleb and Getty with its relentless pressure and efficient removal. Of all the decks, Jacob's benefited greatly by having a low-to-the-ground curve, featuring 7 one-drops and maxing out at 4CMC.

2. Caleb (1-1): Played a Grixis midrange/control deck built around card advantage, disruption, and inevitability. Signature spells like Snapcaster Mage, Faithless Looting, and Treasure Cruise ensured constant resources, while finishers such as Niv-Mizzet, Parun and Kess, Dissident Mage provided powerful late-game threats. Caleb’s deck successfully outlasted Josh’s aggro deck but struggled to stabilize in time against Jacob's fast starts.

3. Josh (1-1): Piloted a Boros weenie-aggro deck with explosive synergy. Creatures like Champion of the Parish, Monastery Swiftspear, and Usher of the Fallen provided early damage, supported by removal and pump spells such as Lightning Helix and Rimrock Knight. While capable of overwhelming slower decks, Josh’s deck lacked the reach to finish Caleb in a drawn-out control matchup. During drafting, Josh was only able to secure 4 aggressive one-drop creatures, lacked the density of Jacob's superior aggro deck (8 one-drops) and thus suffered consistency issues.

4. Getty (0-2): Focused on an Sultai graveyard strategy featuring recursive threats such as Gravecrawler and Sidisi, Brood Tyrant, with additional synergy from cards like Blood Artist and Gonti, Lord of Luxury. Although the deck had potential for grindy value plays, it struggled to stabilize against the speed of Jacob and Josh’s aggressive strategies. While many of the typical graveyard pieces were there, the draft lacking enough synergy and payoff pieces gave both aggressive decks enough time to close out their games before Getty could stabilize.

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Key Moments:

• Jacob’s Dominance: His Rakdos deck efficiently transitioned between aggression and combo-like finishes, cementing its superiority in both of his matchups. While Caleb was able to resolve Niv-Mizzet, Parun in his match against Jacob, the aggressive start and chip damage from fetch/shocklands had him dead on board from Zulaport Cutthroat and Judith, the Scourge Diva's procs on Jacob's next turn.
• Caleb vs. Josh: A battle of resources where Caleb was able to use removal and card draw to outlast Josh’s aggressive deck, stabilizing with Niv-Mizzet, Parun to take the game.
• Getty’s Recursion Stalled: Getty's slower, synergy-based approach couldn’t keep up with the fast threats and reach of Jacob and Josh’s decks. While Jacob's consistency ended the match quickly, Josh's match with Getty stretched out for quite some time before the aggro deck was able to finally close it out.

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Final Thoughts:
This draft demonstrated the strengths and limitations of the cube's lower-powered design, with aggressive decks outperforming synergy-heavy or slower strategies. Following this session, the cube was revamped to increase its power level for future drafts, making this a unique and one-time experience. Special emphasis was given to beef up the graveyard archetype, to ensure that enough payoff cards exists in the cube to consistently show up in draft.

Final Standings:

1. Jacob (2-0)
2. Caleb (1-1)
3. Josh (1-1)
4. Getty (0-2)