Cloned from [LOTR Cube](/c/c1e7f5ff-7bc5-4268-b8b3-c6e2735e346a) <<[[!Samwise the Stouthearted|44c6a273-9307-432a-96f5-3e536da70f95]][[!Gandalf, Friend of the Shire|eae80537-f355-4aa3-8952-b08f3d1a1e41]][[!Gollum, Patient Plotter|a881aa61-fc7c-4ffb-a129-f75be8b2e498]][[!Gimli, Counter of Kills|b72c5bd1-cca1-4735-b4fc-7a5182fb8cd6]]>> --- >>> # **The Lord of the Rings Cube** <<< --- <<[[!Legolas, Master Archer|84cea85e-dfcc-438e-8b24-4b2e251b86dc]][[!Frodo, Sauron's Bane|6d08e637-c2b3-4b38-9b07-5bba1f13efc3]][[!Sauron, the Dark Lord|b83261ba-c239-4b6a-88eb-bdfc411916b3]][[!The One Ring|126ea71a-9a64-4d1e-a8ca-1efce3b8346f]]>> --- >>> ### **About** <<< --- This is my Lord of the Rings Themed Cube! The goal of the cube is to preserve the feel of drafting the base set while using the commander set to help balance out the colors and improve archetypes. Please check out my signed 540 card peasant cube ([The ARTisan C/Ube](https://www.cubecobra.com/cube/list/artist)), my signed 180 card legacy cube ([The Two Player Cube](https://www.cubecobra.com/cube/list/2bert)), and my signed 360 card unpowered cube ([The High Power Cube](https://www.cubecobra.com/cube/list/highpower)). --- >>> ## **Draft Archetypes** <<< --- >>> ### {W}{U}{B}{R}{G} **Tempted By The Ring** <<< <<[[!The Ring]][[!Call of the Ring]][[!Frodo, Sauron's Bane]][[!Sauron, the Dark Lord]]>> The tempted by the ring mechanic is present in all colors, but it is especially focused in black. It is generally strongest if you are able to trigger it frequently and you have a high concentration of small power creatures (to take advantage of the tempted by the ring's skulk ability). --- >>> ### {W}{U}{B}{R}{G} **Legendary (or Historic) Matters** <<< <<[[!Ioreth of the Healing House]][[!Éomer, Marshal of Rohan]][[!Legolas Greenleaf]][[!Merry, Esquire of Rohan]]>> Cards that care about legendary or historic cards are present in all colors. Fairly easy archetype to accidentally build due to the high density of legendary creatures in the cube. --- >>> ### {W}{U}{B}{R}{G} **Tribal Synergies** <<< <<[[!Moria Marauder]][[!Fangorn, Tree Shepherd]][[!Lord of the Nazgûl]][[!King of the Oathbreakers]]>> Tribes with tribal synergies include humans, halflings, elves, wraiths, goblins, orcs, spirits, and treefolk. Paths of the Dead ([[Cavern of Souls|69d55219-32b0-4281-a020-52107db6d16a]]) and [[Secluded Courtyard|a49a20ea-dcd7-435b-9bb5-abc9dee58fb0]] are included for fixing. --- >>> ### {W}{U} **Draw-Two Control** <<< <<[[!Stalwarts of Osgiliath]][[!Knights of Dol Amroth]][[!Prince Imrahil the Fair]][[!Faramir, Prince of Ithilien]]>> Azorius has the weakest of all the guild signposts with only three draw-two payoffs. In general, this color pair wants to lean heavily into control with fliers, tokens, or human tribal synergies to deal damage. --- >>> ### {U}{B} **Amass Control** <<< <<[[!Surrounded by Orcs]][[!Saruman's Trickery]][[!Mordor Muster]][[!The Mouth of Sauron]]>> Dimir relies heavily on black removal and blue bounce/counter spells to keep opponents under control. Both colors has access to a lot of incremental amass and blue has a few sources of mill. --- >>> ### {B}{R} **Amass Aggro** <<< <<[[!Mirkwood Bats]][[!Grishnákh, Brash Instigator]][[!Uglúk of the White Hand]][[!The Balrog, Durin's Bane]]>> Rakdos decks will favor aggro strategies - generating a lot of low to the ground creatures and tokens. The removal suite is quite strong and there are a number of sacrifice synergies. --- >>> ### {R}{G} **Big-Creature Midrange** <<< <<[[!Éomer of the Riddermark]][[!Warbeast of Gorgoroth]][[!Ent's Fury]][[!Strider, Ranger of the North]]>> Gruul sticks to its big creature roots, but includes a few cards that focus on having creatures with power greater than 4. --- >>> ### {G}{W} **Food Aggro** <<< <<[[!The Battle of Bywater]][[!Elanor Gardner]][[!Samwise Gamgee]][[!Treebeard, Gracious Host]]>> Selesnya has a number of ways to produce Food tokens and several pay-off cards for having food on the battlefield or sacrificing the tokens. --- >>> ### {W}{B} **Tokens Midrange** <<< <<[[!Saradoc, Master of Buckland]][[!Gothmog, Morgul Lieutenant]][[!Shadow Summoning]][[!Denethor, Ruling Steward]]>> Orzhov has a lot of token generators and ways to pump tokens. Sacrifice outlets can be used late game to finish off your opponent. --- >>> ### {U}{R} **Spellslinger** <<< <<[[!Saruman the White]][[!Erebor Flamesmith]][[!Fiery Inscription]][[!Gandalf the Grey]]>> Pretty standard Izzet spells-matter archetype. --- >>> ### {B}{G} **Sacrifice Midrange** <<< <<[[!Gríma Wormtongue]][[!Nasty End ]][[!Old Man Willow]][[!Rise of the Witch-king]]>> Golgari is the slowest of the sacrifice-themed archetypes, but offers the best option for reanimator. --- >>> ### {R}{W} **Human Aggro** <<< <<[[!Beregond of the Guard]][[!Erkenbrand, Lord of Westfold]][[!Théoden, King of Rohan]][[!Éowyn, Shieldmaiden]]>> While Boros is unsurprisingly still focused on the attack step, human tribal is a fairly new twist. Thanks to the commander deck, there are a lot of pay-offs and this is one of the most focused archetypes in the cube. [[Éowyn, Shieldmaiden]] requires splashing blue, but its triggered ability is extremely strong. --- >>> ### {G}{U} **Scry Midrange** <<< <<[[!Elvish Mariner]][[!Celeborn the Wise]][[!Arwen Undómiel]][[!Elrond, Master of Healing]]>> Simic is focused on scrying cards and elf tribal. The guild has a large concentration of pay-offs and enablers thanks to the commander deck. --- >>> ### **Base Set Exclusions** <<< --- {W} **White** White gets a nice boost fromt the commander set and has several options remaining in the maybeboard ([[Mentor of the Meek]], [[Frontline Medic]], etc.) to improve overall power if needed. **[[Nimble Hobbit]]**: Decent ring bearer/ring bearer blocker. Activated ability is pretty underwhelming. **[[Banish from Edoras]]**: Outclassed by [[Swords to Plowshares]] and [[Path to Exile]]. {U} **Blue** Blue is a solid support color that will rarely be your primary color choice. Unfortunately, the card pool is the smallest, so some weaker cards are included. **[[The Watcher in the Water]]**: Interesting design, but very hard to pull-off. **[[Borne Upon a Wind]]**: Flash is ok, but most of the time this will be a two mana cantrip. **[[Lost Isle Calling]]**: Scry pay-off, but it is really slow. **[[Storm of Saruman]]**: 6 mana enchantment that does nothing when it enters the battlefield. Also, expects you to be able to immediately cast a second spell or be able to cast two spells the next turn. {B} **Black** Black is likely the strongest color and gets a significant upgrade to its removal suite with the inclusion of the commander set. [[Toxic Deluge]] and [[Living Death]] are in the maybeboard in case black needs a boost. **[[Shadow of the Enemy]]**: Extremely mana intensive. **[[Witch-king, Bringer of Ruin]]**: I like the other 6 mana black creatures better. {R} **Red** Red is pretty solid with a nice balance of spells and creatures. I have excluded [[Inferno Titan]] for now. **[[Display of Power]]**: Not reliable enough for limited. **[[Fire of Orthanc]]**: OK-ish. On the edge of inclusion, but land destruction is always unpopular. **[[Hew the Entwood]]**: Woof. **[[Fall of Cair Andros]]**: Sometimes this will be really good, but most of the time it will do nothing until you reach 8 mana. **[[Rising of the Day]]**: [[Fervor]] with small upside is not really worth it. {G} **Green** Green was the weakest of the base set colors, but it recieved the greatest number of cards from the commander set. Most notably it picks up a number of 1 mana ramp creatures that helps improve treefolk tribal. Traditional cube favorites [[Hornet Queen]] and [[Woodfall Primus]] are in the maybeboard as well. **[[Brandywine Farmer]]**: Makes food, but mana intensive and underwhelming. **[[Shower of Arrows]]**: Very narrow. Replaced with [[Beast Within]]. **[[The Ring Goes South]]**: Very conditional and bad most of the time. **[[Last March of the Ents]]**: Splashy and in line with what green is doing. I think the risk is too high for inclusion. **[[Long List of the Ents]]**: Flavorful, but a pain to track and likely useless after the third creature type. {W}{U}{B}{R}{G} **Multicolored** **[[Ringsight]]**: Legendary signpost. Very conditional. [[Lord of the Nazgûl]] adds a signpost for Wraiths. **[[Sharkey, Tyrant of the Shire]]**: Very narrow and not a good signpost. [[Hostage Taker]] is the stronger replacement, but [[Gríma, Saruman's Footman]] is more fun. **[[Shagrat, Loot Bearer]]**: Being able to steal your opponents equipment is fun and a 4/4 for 4 is reasonable. I currently prefer [[Sauron, the Lidless Eye]] since the theft ability fits better with the sacrifice archetype and the activated ability is a reasonable finisher. **[[Frodo Baggins]]**: Selesnya has a ton of strong options. Frodo Baggins is great, but tempted by the ring is not really what I want for Selesnya's focus (plus [[Aragorn, Company Leader]] is already included). [[Treebeard, Gracious Host]] is both flavorful, a treefolk, blocks the ring bearer really well and is a food enabler and payoff. [[Farmer Cotton]] and [[Banquet Guests]] are also options as a food enabler and food payoff, respectively. **[[Lotho, Corrupt Shirriff]]**: Pushed out by [[Frodo, Sauron's Bane]]. OKish, but not a signpost and can be a liability. **[[Shadowfax, Lord of Horses]]**: Probably the hardest cut from a flavor standpoint, but 5 mana for 4 power is a bit under-powered and the card does not support a archetype. [[Riders of Rohan]] is a great human signpost. **[[Saruman of Many Colors]]**: Hard to kill, but its triggered ability is pretty unreliable. [[Éowyn, Shieldmaiden]] is stronger build around. **[[Tom Bombadil]]**: Commander card only. {c} **Artifact** **[[Mirror of Galadriel]]**: Legendary payoff, but hard to setup. **[[Stone of Erech]]**: Graveyard hate is not really needed for the cube. --- >>> ### **Additional Notes** <<< --- {1} Cards not included in the cube are tracked in the maybeboard. {2} Four copies of [[Shire Terrace]] are included to help with mana fixing. {3} Four copies of [[Nazgûl]] are included to support Wraith tribal. Nine would be over-kill. {4} Gruul {R}{G} was not represented in the commander set and has no dual lands. {5} Orzhov ({W}{B}), Izzet ({U}{R}) and Golgari ({B}{G}) only had two (good) dual lands in the commander set and, thus, have a tri-land for their third land. {6} The Monarch was excluded from the cube for gameplay reasons.