>>> # Overview: <<< This is an Ikoria themed cube! It is non-singleton, focusing on the mechanics of the original Ikoria set, and all of the cards included feature Ikoria art or Ikorian characters, with the exception of the following lands for mana fixing: * All 10 Fetchlands (proxied with Ikoria concept art) * The ally-colour Amonkhet cycling lands * The ally-colour landscapes from Modern Horizons 3 The draft environment aims to be a remastering of the original Ikoria draft, with a few extras from Commander 2020. Payoffs for cycling have been reduced, and the worst performing cards in other colours have had their numbers adjusted as well. In the future, I plan to expand the cube to include Ikoria cards from other sets, as well as cards that feel right thematically. *** >>> # Drafting: <<< This cube is drafted in 3 packs of 16 cards (15 + 1 seeded gain-land) for pods of 8 drafters. Shuffle all of the cards, except for the gain-lands together to form packs, regardless of rarity. I haven't tested any draft variants with this list, but the mana-fixing is good enough that I think things like Sealed or Winston should be fine. >>> ## House Rules: <<< To help mimic the feel of original Ikoria, packs are seeded with 1 gain-land. I just keep 3 of each with the cube and shuffle them before distributing them into packs. As noted above, that means that packs will be 16 cards total. >>> <<[[!0c8269e6-b30c-4fdc-82a7-d503c133afa6]][[!01926862-bf2d-4a2b-af94-1ea5e4dd7444]][[!7108c071-5f1c-4cf5-90c6-530cee3f7685]]>> <<< Companions are played pre-errata. They were one of the most exciting parts of original Ikoria draft, and it's a bummer to play them with the errata in flashback drafts (even though some are still quite strong with the change). If I draft this cube a lot and find that this becomes problematic, maybe I'll change it. >>> <<[[!5ad36fb2-c44e-4085-ba0d-54277841ad3a]][[!fb1189c9-7842-466e-8238-1e02677d8494]][[!1d52e527-3835-4350-8c01-0f2d5d623b9c]]>> <<< *** >>> # Themes: <<< You will find in here most of the themes from the original Ikoria. I tried my best to preserve the open-ended, synergy-driven feel of the original set. This is more of an overview of mechanics than strict colour-pair archetypes. >>> ## Cycling <<< >>> {U}{R}{W} <<< >>> <<[[!78b81339-746d-4f71-9943-01c0f6a5683a]][[!2d3eeddd-c86d-4f35-ba57-3caa9565fcb0]][[!0efac1ed-3f01-487c-86be-8239568b4425]]>> <<< One of the most infamous archetypes of the original set, I've reduced the number of payoffs, as well as {1} cyclers in all colours. The hope is that this will let some of the less played payoffs such as [[Escape Protocol]] and [[Savai Thundermane]] shine, making the deck feel less oppressive but still fun to play. >>> ## Mutate <<< >>> {B}{G}{U} <<< >>> <<[[!ca777d40-736a-4cd6-85c4-5afd52f2fadd]][[!610bb98c-d66a-44cc-92e2-a80d700b59e4]][[!a39ae1e4-d4dd-4691-af5a-5fa25ace4ebe]]>> <<< Mutate exists in all colours, but was always primarily focused in Sultai colours. I left mutate cards in all colours, but kept the numbers slightly higher in Sultai. Note that there is a cycle of mutate cards with hybrid mana mutate costs, which can be splashed with the intent to only mutate them. >>> ## Humans <<< >>> {R}{W}{B} <<< >>> <<[[!cc01faf4-fabb-40c9-a1d6-359280535f91]][[!f6a45d0e-582a-4ec1-b83b-71b6a0ff6249]][[!1387b7be-f69e-4919-9070-a89654c656f3]]>> <<< The Mardu colours have a mix of sacrifice, aggro and Human typal themes. The various colour combinations within Mardu can feel pretty different, sliding along the scale between those three. >>> ## Graveyard <<< >>> {W}{B}{G} <<< >>> <<[[!c9da02a1-7b39-4a0e-8466-6512a02f3e3b]][[!819257c8-9806-48bd-ba49-e117ca31de54]][[!2e1ed055-8988-4625-9d57-8ce8a4e04aea]]>> <<< The set has a bit of a graveyard theme, supported by all of the cycling creatures and sacrifice enablers. This theme is mostly in Abzan colours, with a blend of cycling, reanimation, self-mill, and sacrifice. It's more of a grindy, value strategy than turbo reanimation. >>> ## Humans & Non-Humans <<< >>> {G}{U}{R} <<< >>> <<[[!c95fb136-f21d-4f3a-82b7-bcf490b7e90c]][[!530ff2a1-6447-4653-a661-d9a39156d6fa]][[!e634baa3-2cdd-412a-9407-c347fe46f9b8]]>> <<< One of the more minor themes of the set, but worth calling out here, was having a human and non-human at the same time. This theme was in every colour, but most notably in Temur colours especially Simic. >>> ## Keywords Matter <<< >>> {W/U}{U/B}{B/R}{R/G}{G/W} <<< >>> <<[[!d39e00aa-9af9-4e53-8540-3fb56009c9b4]][[!6209dbfd-b765-44c5-b3ad-94f6e0705926]][[!8067f195-8b6e-4329-a34e-43e52f67c571]]>> <<< >>> <<[[!c608543d-cb60-44c3-a437-e4a18c311420]][[!ab220695-e1a9-45ec-a1b1-5a82c9c90a03]]>> <<< The ally-colour pairs all have multiple cycles of payoffs for certain keywords. Some of the ones which were weaker in original Ikoria draft (e.g. Dimir Flash), I've tried to improve slightly by cutting weak enablers. >>> ## Companions <<< >>> {W}{U}{B}{R}{G} <<< >>> <<[[!275426c4-c14e-47d0-a9d4-24da7f6f6911]][[!6209dbfd-b765-44c5-b3ad-94f6e0705926]][[!451507de-9c42-43ee-b9ba-1f69e9aa29d2]]>> <<< >>> <<[[!1d52e527-3835-4350-8c01-0f2d5d623b9c]][[!d4ebed0b-8060-4a7b-a060-5cfcd2172b16]]>> <<< >>> <<[[!5ad36fb2-c44e-4085-ba0d-54277841ad3a]][[!fb1189c9-7842-466e-8238-1e02677d8494]][[!75ac31e0-ac70-4ee6-b2b1-cc445ffa1da9]]>> <<< >>> <<[[!1bd8e61c-2ee8-4243-a848-7008810db8a0]][[!a90ee952-de7a-420f-993c-a38db89bc8ac]]>> <<< Each of the 10 companions is available, and unlock their own little archetypes. As mentioned above, this cube plays with the pre-errata Companion rules. Like the original Ikoria, they are all definitely playable, but some are weaker than others. I'd like to improve the disparities between them in the future.