>>> ## An unpowered synergy-focused legacy+ cube <<< This cube has a lot of legacy cube staples, but also some cards that allow for neat niche strategies and synergies in the environment. The goal is to have a draft format with some of magic's most (in)famous archetypes and strategies! >>> ### Archetypes: <<< These are the typical archetypes in this cube, and meant as an indication of what different colors want to do. Do note that some of these tend to overlap, so the best strategy when drafting is reacting to key cards that show up! There are also other combinations one can build and other strong interactions not documented here, this is mostly an overview of strategies that may not be intuitive or known by players not familiar to drafting cubes. The basics, usually what you do when not doing anything *unfair*: {W} likes aggresive strategies, pumping out small creatures and locking their opponents down before they are able to execute their own stretegies {U} Likes playing a tempo strategy, countering spells to buy themselves enough time to get out dangerous threats {B} Likes to disrupt their opponents by discarding their cards from hand or controlling the board with efficient creature removal {R} Favors aggresive strategies, both with creatures and their damage spells {G} Wants to gain mana by playing ramp in order to outspeed their opponents with stronger creatures >>> ## Cards that synergize <<< Here are som strategies that require multiple cards to work, but in return are very powerful and often *unfair*. They can be added to your deck as a side-package to your main game plan if they have overlap, or they could even become your main plan, all depending on what you managed to draft: >>> ### Stoneforge {W} <<< <<[[!Stoneforge Mystic]][[!Kaldra Compleat]][[!Batterskull]][[!Sword of Fire and Ice]]>> >>> Abuses [[Stoneforge Mystic]] to cheat [[Kaldra Compleat]] or [[Batterskull]] into play. Also is nice to use for fetching good equipment like [[Umezawa's Jitte]] and [[Sword of Fire and Ice]]/[[Sword of Hearth and Home]] >>> ### Upheaval {U} <<< <<[[!Upheaval]][[!Thran Dynamo]][[!Izzet Signet]][[!Basalt Monolith]]>> Use mana producing artifacts to generate a lot of mana, then cast [[Upheaval]] with extra mana, and recast your mana artifacts immediately to gain a massive advantage. This strategy can also lean into {R} for cards like [[Wildfire]] for redundancy. >>> ### Reanimator {B} <<< <<[[!Reanimate]][[!Griselbrand]][[!Oona's Prowler]][[!Animate Dead]]>> The main goal of reanimator strategies is to get the largest creatures possible like [[Griselbrand]] and friends into the graveyard using discard outlets like [[Oona's Prowler]] or [[Putrid Imp]] so you can cheat them out with a reanimation spell like [[Reanimate]] or [[Animate Dead]]. >>> ### Sneak/breach {R} <<< <<[[!Sneak Attack]][[!Through the Breach]][[!Emrakul, The Aeons Torn]][[!Blightsteel Colossus]]>> Cheat out the biggest creatures you can find to win as fast as possible! >>> ### Ramp into big stuff {G} >>> <<[[!Birds of Paradise]][[!Natural Order]][[!Terastodon]][[!Questing Beast]]>> Play small mana producing creatures like [[Llanowar Elves]] and [[Birds of Paradise]] to quickly gain enough mana to cast [[Natural Order]] or [[Court of Bounty]] and cheat out something big like [[Terastodon]]/[[Craterhoof Behemoth]]. Alternatively just ramp into something decently big mana creatures like [[Questing Beast]] or [[Sawtusk Demolisher]] to overwhelm you opponents. ### Land destruction {R}{G} <<< <<[[!Wildfire]][[!Burning of Xinye]][[!Plow Under]][[!Wrenn and Six]]>> [[Wildfire]] and [[Burning of Xinye]] can bevery strong when played like upheaval, but this archetype doubles down on the land destruction by playing spells like [[Plow Under]] and [[Primal Command]]. Also goes very nicely with the land matters strategy where you loop [[Strip Mine]] and break the symmetry of [[Wildfire]] by playing lands out of your graveyard. >>> ### Tinker {U}{R} <<< <<[[!Tinker]][[!Goblin Welder]][[!Blightsteel Colossus]][[!Triplicate Titan]]>> Cheat in big artifacts from your deck or graveyard. Usually wants to play mana rocks like [[Izzet Signet]] to be able to cheat in the big artifacts or even to loop cards like [[Wurmcoil Engine]] or [[Triplicate Titan]]. >>> ### Opposition lock {U}{G} <<< <<[[!Opposition]][[!Llanowar Elves]][[!Fyndhorn Elves]][[!Elvish Mystic]]>> Use [[Opposition]] to tap down all of your opponent's lands every turn with all your cheap mana dorks like [[Llanowar Elves]]. This strategy pairs well with [[Edric, Spymaster of Trest]] or the usual {G} ramp strategy. >>> ### Splintertwin {W}{U}{R} <<< <<[[!Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker]][[!Splinter Twin]][[!Pestermite]][[!Zealous Conscripts]]>> Abuses [[Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker]] or [[Splinter Twin]] with [[Pestermite]], [[Zealous Conscripts]] or even [[Restoration Angel]] to create infinite tokens! >>> ### Lands {B}{R}{G} <<< <<[[!Crucible of Worlds]][[!Ramunap Excavator]][[!Strip Mine]][[!Life From the Loam]]>> This strategy aims to grind out your opponents with land value. Use [[Crucible of Worlds]], [[Ramunap Excavator]] or lean into {R} for [[Wrenn and Six]] to loop any fetch land [[Wooded Foothills]] or horizon lands [[Nurturing Peatland]] or [[Urza's Saga]]. Deny your opponents mana by looping [[Strip Mine]] or even [[Wasteland]] every turn. >>> ### Storm {U}{B}{R} <<< <<[[!Brain Freeze]][[!Dark Ritual]][[!Tendrils of Agony]][[!Underworld Breach]]>> Storm is a combo deck that aims to cast a lot of spells on any single turn, usually by using "rituals" like [[Dark Ritual]], [[Cabal ritual]], [[High Tide]] and recasting them with cards like [[Underworld Breach]], [[Yawgmoth's Will]] and then winning with a storm card like [[Tendrils of Agony]] or [[Brain Freeze]]. >>> ### Blink {W}{U}{G} <<< <<[[!Restoration Angel]][[!Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd]][[!Mulldrifter]][[!Wall of Blossoms]]>> You can "blink" cards on the battlefield by using cards like [[Restoration Angel]], [[Touch the Spirit Realm]] or even [[Parallax Wave]]. This way, you can get multiple "enters the battlefield"-effects from cards like [[Wall of blossoms]]/[[Wall of Omens]] and big effects like [[Solitude]] or [[Primeval Titan]]. If you want to get fancy with it, you can even cheat in creatures with evoke like [[Mulldrifter]] or *any* creature with [[Flash]] by blink-ing them before they are sacrificed. ## Lastly <<< There are many other cool strategies and interactions to explore, like: - [[Greater gargadon]] + [[Balance]] to sacrifice all permanents, wipe out you opponent's permanentes, and then get [[Greater Gargadon]] on the battlefield the turn after. - [[Containment Priest]] + [[Parallax Wave]] (or other blink cards) to permanently remove your opponent's creatures. - [[Hullbreacher]]/[[Narset, Parter of Veils]] + [[Wheel of Fortune]]/[[Echo of Eons]] to force you opponent to discard their entire hand. - [[Laelia, the Blade Reforged]] + any card with delve like [[Dig Through Time]] or [[Murktide Regent]] for some very explosive turns. And many more that would take too long to list. Part of the joy of drafting this cube is finding some of the these synergies as you go! With the main categories covered, you should be well equipped to draft, play and explore some of Magic's most (in)famous strategies and archetypes.