>>> PREMODERN CUBE <<< > >>> Introduction <<< A 360-cards cube, only containing cards up until Scourge. The gameplay of the cube comes closest to the Premodern format. The cube has some additions which are not part or banned in Premodern. These changes mostly relate to this cube being a singleton format. Most types of playstyles are viable, including Aggro, Control, Midrange, Tempo with a range of combos and synergies in most colors. NOTE: After having played the Premodern Cube for many years with smaller adjustments along the way, it went through a major revision in 2024 based on all gameplay experience (more details on this below under Background & Considerations). > >>> Suggested Archetypes <<< >>> {U}{W} Draw & Go Replenish <<< Play the classical control game. Get card advantage with [[Standstill]] and wraths, and end the game with a finisher or by looting game winning enchantments like [[Form of the Dragon]] into your graveyard to recur with [[Replenish]]. <<[[!Absorb]][[!Compulsion]][[!Form of the Dragon]][[!Replenish]]>> >>> {U}{G} Bounce <<< Play more of a tempo game by casting green beaters while simultaneously keeping up counterspells enabled by [[Seedborn Muse]] and [[Peregrine Drake]], and through bouncing your opponents stuff or your own [[Mystic Snake]] with [[Equilibrium]] for value. <<[[!Equilibrium]][[!Mystic Snake]][[!Seedborn Muse]][[!Beast Attack]]>> >>> {U}{B} Reanimation <<< Classic reanimation - Use cards like [[Careful Study]] and [[Vampiric Tutor]] to loot and tutor for the right pieces, to quickly [[Reanimate]] a beater like [[Akroma, Angel of Wrath]] into play, while interacting with your opponent <<[[!Reanimate]][[!Careful Study]][[!Lim-Dul's Vault]][[!Akroma, Angel of Wrath]]>> >>> {R}{U} Artifact Toolbox <<< Use [[Tinker]] and [[Transmute Artifact]] to tutor for artifacts that either lockdown your opponent with [[Winter Orb]] and [[Mishra's Helix]], or directly into a combo win with [[Phyrexian Devourer]] and [[Altar of Dementia]]. <<[[!Tinker]][[!Winter Orb]][[!Fling]][[!Phyrexian Devourer]]>> >>> {R}{B} Discard <<< Play an all-in discard [[The Rack]] deck including [[Lavaborn Muse]] and [[Storm World]], and take apart your opponents strategy through a variety of discard spells including [[Ravenous Rats]] and [[Mindslicer]]. An alternative route focuses more heavily on sacrificing your creatures with [[Goblin Bombardment]], [[Reckless Abandon]] or [[Braids, Cabal Minion]], and recurring them with [[Living Death]] to do it all over again. <<[[!The Rack]][[!Lavaborn Muse]][[!Cabal Interrogator]][[!Stupor]]>> >>> {R}{G} Landdestruction <<< Load up on landdestruction spells, supported by ramp and big beaters, and close out the game through a [[Sneak Attack]] or [[Natural Order]] into a large finisher like [[Penumbra Wurm]]. <<[[!Birds of Paradise]][[!Stone Rain]][[!Argothian Wurm]][[!Avalanche Riders]]>> >>> {G}{B} Recurring Value <<< Bury your opponent in value by keeping recurring creatures like [[Phyrexian Rager]], [[Multani's Acolyte]] or [[Deranged Hermit]] through [[Genesis]] or the infamous [[Recurring Nightmare]] and [[Survival of the Fittest]] engine. <<[[!Phyrexian Rager]][[!Deranged Hermit]][[!Recurring Nightmare]][[!Survival of the Fittest]]>> >>> {B}{W} Dead Guy Ale <<< BW provides a large number of cheap both evasive and disruptive creatures such as [[Fledgling Djinn]], [[Soltari Trooper]] and [[Hypnotic Specter]] to decrease your opponents life, backed by the most effective distruption including [[Snuff Out]], [[Swords to Plowshares]], [[Vindicate]] and discard. An alternative direction is to build more of a control/combo deck with [[Academy Rector]], [[Yawgmoth's Bargain]], [[Enduring Renewal]] and sacrifice effects including cards like [[Priest of Gix]]. <<[[!Soltari Trooper]][[!Hypnotic Specter]][[!Vindicate]][[!Academy Rector]]>> >>> {R}{W} Aggro <<< The typical aggro deck. Win quickly through loads of low costed creatures such as [[Jackal Pup]] and [[Savannah Lions]], pump them with [[Soltari Champion]], and finish the game through burn or blow out spells such as [[Armageddon]]. <<[[!Savannah Lions]][[!Lightning Bolt]][[!Pianna, Nomad Captain]][[!Ankh of Mishra]]>> >>> {G}{W} Enchantress <<< Draw loads of cards with [[Argothian Enchantress]] and [[Enchantress's Presence]] to either put auras on evasive and protected threats like [[Soltari Monk]] or lockout your opponent with [[Solitary Confinement]]. <<[[!Flickering Ward]][[!Argothian Enchantress]][[!Solitary Confinement]][[!Armadillo Cloak]]>> Of course also mono colored decks and all type of mixed colored decks can be drafted, enabling even more synergies or just good stuff decks. Some examples are: >>> {R}{B}{W} <<< With good fixing this combination opens up for going aggro with [[Fervent Charge]] or a variety of sacrifice combos. >>> {B}{G}{R} or {B}{G}{U} <<< It can be worth to splash {R} or {U} in the {B}{G} value deck to get access to a bit more unfair stuff through [[Sneak Attack]] or looting. >>> {U}{W}{R} <<< A combination that includes several combos and good control spells. > >>> Combos/Synergies <<< More or less game winning. Some can win on the spot, while many "just" provide an often remarkable advantage. {U} [[Iridescent Drake]] + [[Mythic Proportions]] + looting [[Iridescent Drake]] + [[Abduction]] + sacrifice outlet [[Squee, Goblin Nabob]] + looting [[Gilded Drake]] + bounce {W} [[Land Tax]] + [[Scroll Rack]]/looting [[Monk Idealist]] + [[Parallax Wave]] [[Parallax Wave]] + [[Opalescence]] [[Pariah]] + [[Mother of Runes]]/[[Flickering Ward]]/protection [[Academy Rector]] + [[Form of the Dragon]]/[[Yawgmoth's Bargain]] {U} or colorless [[Upheaval]]/[[Mishra's Helix]]/[[Winter Orb]] + mana rocks [[Goblin Welder]] + [[Triskelion]] + artifact {B} or {B}{R} [[Corpse Dance]]/[[Sneak Attack]] + [[Nicol Bolas]]/[[Penumbra Wurm]]/[[Symbiotic Wurm]] {c} or {R} [[Phyrexian Devourer]] + [[Altar of Dementia]]/[[Fling]]/[[Bloodshot Cyclops]] {U}{R} [[Palinchron]] + [[Sneak Attack]] {U}{B} [[Palinchron]] + [[Recurring Nightmare]] {U}{B} or {U}{R} [[Peregrine Drake]]/[[Palinchron]] + [[Corpse Dance]] + sacrifice outlet ([[Goblin Bombardment]]/[[Carrion Feeder]]/[[Phyrexian Plaguelord]]/[[Phyrexian Ghoul]]/[[Altar of Dementia]]) {U}{B}/{R} [[Iridescent Drake]] + [[Abduction]] + sacrifice outlet ([[Goblin Bombardment]]/[[Carrion Feeder]]/[[Phyrexian Plaguelord]]/[[Phyrexian Ghoul]]/[[Altar of Dementia]]) {W} or {W}{G} [[Solitary Confinement]] + [[Squee, Goblin Nabob]]/[[Eternal Dragon]]/[[Genesis]] {W}{B} or {W}{R} or {W}{B}{R} [[Enduring Renewal]] + [[Priest of Gix]]/[[Cathodion]]/[[Su-Chi]]/[[Peregrine Drake]]/[[Palinchron]] + sacrifice outlet ([[Goblin Bombardment]]/[[Carrion Feeder]]/[[Phyrexian Plaguelord]]/[[Phyrexian Ghoul]]/[[Altar of Dementia]]) [[Enduring Renewal]] + [[Skirk Prospector]]/[[Blood Pet]] + [[Goblin Sharpshooter]]/[[Soul Warden]] [[No Rest For The Wicked]] + [[Monk Idealist]] {W}{U} [[Replenish]] + [[Form of the Dragon]]/[[Yawgmoth's Bargain]] + looting {R}{W} [[Land Tax]]/[[Weathered Wayfarer]] + [[Goblin Trenches]] {B}{G} [[Recurring Nightmare]]/[[Squee, Goblin Nabob]] + Survival of the Fittest > >>> Background & Considerations <<< >>> Aggro <<< When trying to balance a broad variety of playstyles, a main challenge has been to enable a viable creature based/aggro strategy within this era of much stronger non-creature spells. While a constructed format such as Premodern can get around this issue by playing 4-offs of the most powerful creatures, in a singleton cube, finding a high enough density of aggro creatures becomes harder. An approach has therefore been to tone down other strategies. For example by removing cards that showed themselves to be too oppresive like Earthcraft, Opposition or Masticore. Another strategy was to select worse variants of creature interaction, by having them be more situational or expensive (e.g. Rout instead of Wrath of Good, more expensive counterspells). Further, when building the base for an aggro deck around white weenies for example. The strengths are mostly not as much in efficient P/T stats, as they are in evasion (Shadow) and protection, which there is plenty off. This is then supported by strong land disruption in the form of Armageddon or Winter Orb and good reach in the form of burn spells including things like Sulfuric Vortex. >>> Fixing <<< Another challenge is the limited selection of land fixing which is heavily skewed towards the Ally pair. The solution for balancing this has been the inclusion of the original duallands, only in the Enemy pairs in combination with Ally Fetchlands. Untapped mana fixing is in turn especially necessary to enable more aggressive strategies. Most available goldlands are therefore also included. Two alternatives would probably be to either accept that the Ally fixing will be better, or playing with multiple painlands. >>> Combo <<< Combo decks are an essential part of the Premodern era. They enable a nice puzzle during drafting and can prevent just having drawn out midrange matches. Tutors are included in most colors to support the viability of combo decks and not just making them randomly happen. While there are efficient reanimation spells and cards like Tinker, Natural Order and Sneak Attack that could be described as quite unfair, they often lack the game ending payoffs. There are also a range of combos in the cube, however, only few are 2-card combos and the majority require several pieces and build around. The payoffs are either slower or can be interacted with. There are on the other hand a lot of 2-card synergies that don't outright win, but generate a major advantage (e.g. Scroll Rack + Land Tax, Recurring Nightmare + Survival of the Fittest, Gilded Drake + bounce, Academy Rector + Form of the Dragon, Solitary Confinement + Squee). Most combos are enchantment or artifact based which makes enchantment removal a good way of interacting for decks thatn don't have access to counterspells.