This is the first cube I've built and the only one I currently own in paper. The list and philosophy have changed a lot over the years. It all started as a low-ish powered, Pioneer/Modern level cube. As I've learned more about archetype, parasitism and Cube design techniques, I took inspiration from Dekkaru's Cube, raising the power level but keeping in check the speed of some combo archetypes such as Reanimator. Finally, after some in real life draft (yes, that happens!) I have decided to raise the power level a little more, but instead of focusing on individually powerful cards (such as Minsc and Boo, Oko, Initiative stuff, etc), I have decided to increase the synergy of the specific archetypes. In this context, Caleb Gannon and its masterpiece had a lot of influence on the final design. #### **Macro-Archetypes** *** ##### **Aggro:** I love aggro in limited environments. I think its the perfect way to keep over-the-top, high power midrangey/combo strategies in check, without having to decrease the general power level of the Cube. Every color except for blu is able to be fast and aggressive in this Cube: White plays into the usual Wheenies strategy, Black is geared towards Zombies and Aristocrats, Red is spellslinging and Green is home to Elves. <<[[!Ocelot Pride]] [[!Gravecrawler]] [[!Goblin Guide|636603a2-98d7-4d1e-a270-68756024b448]] [[!Allosaurus Shepherd]]>> *** ##### **Control:** I have been slowly resizing the amount of control in the Cube. The archetype is still an important feature of this Cube, but it is mostly present in White and Blue, with support in Black and Red. Control in Blue has a soft artifacts subtheme, overflowing into traditionally Combo strategies with [[Upheaval]]. <<[[!Wrath of God|a91be77a-bd5b-485f-b5ca-0e6148c236ca]] [[!Cryptic Command|38806839-c820-4a19-a92c-70f6f21d2aea]] [[!Cyberdrive Awakener]] [[!Teferi, Hero of Dominaria]]>> *** ##### **Combo:** I love Combo strategies, but I am wary of adding too many single card or two cards combos in the Cube. Nevetheless, the presence of Combo has been steadily increasing over the years, as I believe that the power level of Aggro and the general strength of answers have increased enough to allow some push in this direction. My favorite type of combo decks are the convoluted and sinergistic ones. I have tried to give this feeling to the cube by pushing the Aristocrats and Elves archetypes. Here are some of the combos you can expect in this Cube: 1. [[Mindslaver]] + [[Emry, Lurker of the Loch]]/[[Academy Ruins]] 2. [[Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker]]/[[Splinter Twin]] + [[Zealous Conscripts]]/[[Restoration Angel]]/[[Deceiver Exarch]]/[[Pestermite]] 3. [[Samwise Gamgee]] + [[Cauldron Familiar]] + Sac outlet 4. [[Anafenza, Kin Tree Spirit]]/[[Arwen, Weaver of Hope]] + Persist creatures + Sac outlet 5. [[Dark Depths]] + [[Thespian Stage]]/[[Shifting Woodland]]/[[Mirage Mirror]] There are also some very powerful sinergies in [[Urza, Lord High Artificer]] + [[Winter Orb]], [[Ramunap Excavator]]/[[Wrenn and Six]] + [[Strip Mine]], and strong build-around cards like [[Simulacrum Synthesizer]], [[Upheaval]] and [[Opposition]]. <<[[!Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker]] [[!Mindslaver]] [[!Upheaval|9e201229-34a6-48c8-a07c-d8aefcf5f8a7]] [[!Earthcraft]]>> #### **Color Analysis** I have a simple heuristic when it comes to cube building, which I have never seen anywhere. Suppose I give you every card of a single color, plus the colorless cards. Would you be able to build two decks with different strategies? If the answer is yes, then the cube satisfies the minimum requirement for interesting draft. Obviously this are the *minimum* requirements, but still, it means that every color has enough depth to support two strategies, even without multicolored cards. **Important note: The following are not the only strategies you can find in each color!** *** {W} **White** **White Wheenies**: This is the classical Aggro strategy for white. With a whopping 11 one-drops, including the powerful duo of [[Guide of Souls]] and [[Ocelot Pride]], it is not difficult to find a functioning 23 (24?) core for a deck. [[Stoneforge Mystic]] gives another attack axis, being able to tutor not only the classical [[Batterskull]] and [[Kaldra Compleat]], but also [[Lion Sash]], [[Glimmer Lens]], [[Skullclamp]] and the deceptively powerful [[Grafted Wargear]]. **Tokens Control**: White is also extremely good at controlling the board and fill it with tokens. Any white planeswalker is able to make tokens, [[Staff of the Storyteller]] draws us cards and the two wraths ([[Wrath of the Skies]] and [[Wrath of God]]) conveniently don't hit planeswalkers. Colorless offer many controlling options, from [[The One Ring]] to [[Nevinyrral's Disk]] (which also conveniently leaves our walkers alive). We can also add a lands package, with [[Strip Mine]], [[Wasteland]] and [[Glacial Chasm]] plus [[Crucible of Worlds]], and [[Dark Depths]] plus [[Thespian's Stage]] and [[Mirage Mirror]] to close the game. *** {U} **Blue** **Mono Blue Tempo** **Big Artifacts** *** {B} **Black** **Aristocrats Combo** **Soft Reanimator** *** {R} **Red** **Mono Red Aggro** **Artifact Reanimator** *** {G} **Green** **Elves** **Lands Control** *** {R} **Big Red** The goal of this archetype is to keep the board clear of creatures and denying our opponent of mana, in order to win with a big splashy spell or with powerful planeswalkers. To achieve the first step, watch out for cards like <<[[!Burning of Xinye]] [[!Wildfire]] [[!Fiery Confluence]] [[!Delayed Blast Fireball]]>> This archetype has a natural cross sinergy with artifacts. Our mana curve is usually higher than normal, so we need ramp spells, which usually comes in the form of Signets, [[Basalt Monolith]], [[Coalition Relic]], ecc. You should also remember that [[Burning of Xinye]], [[Wildfire]] and even [[Nevinyrral's Disk]] *do not* affect planeswalkers! This means that, for instance, with [[Daretti, Scrap Savant]] you can set up a loop with [[Nevinyrral's Disk]] to continuously blow up the board. >>> <<[[!Daretti, Scrap Savant]] [[!Nevinyrral's Disk]]>> <<< *** {W}{U} **Blink** Blink is a creature-based archetype, focused on gaining a big advantage on the back of powerful enter-the-battlefield (EtB) effect <<[[!Mulldrifter]] [[!Solitude]] [[!Spell Queller]] [[!Venser, Shaper Savant]]>> and by constantly repeating them with cards like <<[[!Ephemerate]] [[!Restoration Angel|c2ad8639-e586-47f4-baca-2a1af5aa281b]] [[!Soulherder]] [[!Flickerwisp]]>> Despite being centered primarily around the UW combination, both Green and Black are solid color in support of the archetype. Black gives us powerful EtB effects in [[Gonti, Lord of Luxury]], [[Shriekmaw]] and [[Ravenous Chupacabra]], while providing a good blinking effect in [[Kaya, Ghost Assassin]]. Similarly, green has good EtBs in [[Acidic Slime]], [[Kitchen Finks]] and [[Reclamation Sage]], recursion with [[Eternal Witness]] and "blinking" effects with [[Bramble Sovereign]]. *** {W}{B}{R} **Aristocrats** This archetype takes its name from the cards [[Cartel Aristocrat]] and [[Fanlkenrath Aristocrat]], the latter being in the cube. The power of these creatures sits in the fact that they can be used as repeatable sacrifice effects, which can be activated at instant speed. These can be abused in conjunction with powerful death abilities and/or recursive creatures. When drafting an Aristocrats deck, it is important to have a good mix of enablers (i.e. sacrifice effects), such as <<[[!Falkenrath Aristocrat]] [[!Goblin Bombardment]] [[!Carrion Feeder]] [[!Priest of Forgotten Gods]]>> sacrifice fodder, like <<[[!Gravecrawler]] [[!Bitterblossom]] [[!Ophiomancer]] [[!Goblin Rabblemaster]]>> and finally good payoff, such as <<[[!Blood Artist]] [[!Zulaport Cutthroat]] [[!Judith, the Scourge Diva]] [[!Cruel Celebrant]]>> *** {B}{W} **Reanimator** Reanimator is a primarily black strategy, with cross sinergy in almost every other color. The main idea is to find a way to send to our graveyard a big creature, like <<[[!Archon of Cruelty]] [[!Sundering Titan]] [[!Dragonlord Atarka]] [[!Terastodon]]>> and then to cheat it into play thanks to cards such as <<[[!Exhume]] [[!Corpse Dance]] [[!Persist]] [[!Priest of Fell Rites]]>> This can be done very quickly, potentially by turn 2! For this strategy to work it is then of utmost importance to find good cards which help us fill the graveyard. Luckily, there are plently of options: [[Faithless Looting]], [[Entomb]], [[Jace, Vryn's Prodigy]], etc. *** {W}{U}{B}{R}{G} Birthing Pod Pod decks can be extremely strong or extremely weak, hence it's important to know how to read the signals during the draft and what to prioritize. Let's start from the main engines >>> <<[[!Birthing Pod]] [[!Prime Speaker Vannifar]] [[!Fauna Shaman]]>> <<< At least one of these cards is needed to build a good Pod deck. A Pod deck is usually creature based, and its main strength is adaptability: you should be able to always find the right silver bullet to deal with your opponent's deck. The three cards above are crucial to this goal. **Draft tip:** You should always prioritize picking [[Birthing Pod]]. On the other hand, [[Prime Speaker Vannifar]], being multicolored, usually tables. Plan your picks accordingly! Once the main engine is established, you need to find good creatures which have a strong impact on the board ([[Eternal Witness]] [[Solitude]] [[Restoration Angel]] [[Deep Forest Hermit]]). However, don't focus too much on always picking the best creature! Playing some manadorks and having a good mana base is also very important for this kind of decks. Finally, you can set up a win in many way. Either with blink cards, or using clones ([[Saheeli Rai]], [[Phantasmal Image]]), or locking up the board ([[Prophet of Kruphix]], [[Mystic Snake]]), or even setting up a giant [[Living Death]]! *** {G} Lands [To do] >>> <<[[!Field of the Dead]] [[!Thespian's Stage]] [[!Dark Depths]] [[!Strip Mine]]>> <<<