>>> ### PROJECT UNIFY <<< # ***OVERVIEW 📖*** # This is a semi-casual commander cube that aims to have very swingy games with splashy spells! The name of the game is unify, so that means this cube has the stipulation of: # >>>**"All mono-colored commanders have partner."** <<< # You can create incredibly powerful combinations with mono-colored commanders. Imagine combining [[Mondrak, Glory Dominus]] with [[Orthion, Hero of Lavabrink]], or [[Toski, Bearer of Secrets]] with [[Ghoulcaller Gisa]]! There are plenty of creative combinations that can lead to exciting plays. # This cube drafts as commander drafts were introduced: 20 card packs and 2 picks per pack. The decks are made up of 60 cards including the commanders. This helps players stay in a lane of their choice easier as commander is somewhat color restrictive. Can be played up to 6 people, max of 4 per pod. # # ***BASIC STRATEGIES 🗡️*** # With the main theme of the cube mixing commanders, this cube is focused primarily on the 10 guilds. The gimmicks of the 10 guilds in this cube are: # >>># {G}TOKENS{W}<<< >>><<[[!Rhys the redeemed]]>><<< >>><<[[!Caretaker's Talent]][[!Sandstorm Salvager]]>><<< Sometimes, all you want to do is start using your friends' playmats to make room for your army. Swarm enemies with a hoard of beaters who can grow very large with cards like [[Cathars' Crusade]] or [[Pathbreaker Ibex]]. # >>># {G}SELF MILL{B}<<< >>><<[[!The Gitrog Monster]]>><<< >>><<[[!Aftermath Analyst]][[!Ripples of undeath]]>><<< The name of the game is getting a full graveyard. Use value engines such as [[Six]] and return huge creatures with [[Animate dead]] for an epic finish. # >>># {R}STOMPY{G}<<< >>><<[[!Anzrag, the Quake-Mole]]>><<< >>><<[[!Dragonhawk, Fate's Tempest]][[!Goreclaw, terror of qal sisma]]>><<< Overwhelm opponents with huge creatures, and give them haste! Leverage the unnaturally large power with cards like [[The Great Henge]], or just swing for lethal with a simple [[Embercleave]]! # >>># {R}SACRIFICE{B}<<< >>><<[[!Rakdos, the muscle]]>><<< >>><<[[!Warren soultrader]][[!siege-gang lieutenant]]>><<< If you are a fan of aristocrats, this is the pair for you. Use cards like [[Mirkwood Bats]] paired with a sac outlet like [[Goblin Bombardment]] to completely obliterate your opponent's life totals. # >>># {U}DISCARD{B}<<< >>><<[[!Rona, herald of invasion]]>><<< >>><<[[!monument to endurance]][[!psychic frog]]>><<< Dump huge creatures to the yard, and bring them back using reanimation effects like [[Reanimate]], [[The Scarab God]], or even [[Breach the Multiverse]]. # >>># {U}POLYMORPH{R}<<< >>><<[[!The Locust God]]>><<< >>><<[[!proteus staff]][[!Ilharg, the Raze-boar]]>><<< Were you expecting spellslinger? Nope. Turn tiny creatures into something terrifying like a [[Hullbreaker Horror]] thanks to cards like [[Divergent Transformations]]. # >>># {U}CONTROL{W}<<< >>><<[[!shorikai, genesis engine]]>><<< >>><<[[!farewell]][[!jin-gitaxias, progress tyrant]]>><<< Sometimes its necessary to sit back, relax, and [[Counterspell]]. Lock people out their house and throw away the key with a card like [[Ghostly Prison]], while waiting to close out the game with a kicked [[Rite of Replication]]. # >>># {R}EQUIPMENT{W}<<< >>><<[[!bruenor battlehammer]]>><<< >>><<[[!the reaver cleaver]][[!Colossus Hammer]]>><<< This cube is full of powerful equipment, and this deck looks to harness them to the fullest extent using cards like [[Fervent Champion]] and [[Sigarda's Aid]] to cheat on the equip costs. # >>># {W}REANIMATOR{B}<<< >>><<[[!carmen, cruel skymarcher]]>><<< >>><<[[!Reanimate]][[!Angel of the ruins]]>><<< Self mill or just wait for your opponents to fill their graveyards to recur nasty threats, using something like an [[Ancient Brass Dragon]], or reap infinte value with an early [[Archon of cruelty]]. # >>># {U}LANDFALL{G}<<< >>><<[[!Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre strait]]>><<< >>><<[[!tireless provisioner]][[!nezahal, primal tide]]>><<< Ramp out large threats ahead of schedule, maximizing on lands entering the battlefield with cards like [[Lotus Cobra]], and use blue to keep up with card advantage utilizing powerful card draw such as [[Rhystic Study]]. # *Additionally, Each color pair has exactly 1 partner commander that allows players to easily play 3+ colors. These 2 color partners have the word partner printed on them, so they are hard to come by. Some have niche synergy with the archetypes, but these are mainly necessary for commander color fixing.* # # ***COMBINING STRATEGIES ⚔️*** # There are also 1 of each of the 3 color pairs, represented by a powerful commander. These commanders try to unify different strategies to achieve victory in an unconventional ways. Here are the most fitting 3 color commanders for our archetypes: # >>># Better Call Sauron<<< >>>{U} {B} {R}<<< >>><<[[!Sauron, the Dark lord]]>><<< Sauron combines the constant pressure of sacrifice decks while utilizing the different control spells that blue gives him. Optimally he can just sit back while farming aristocrat triggers all the while holding up interaction. # >>># Crazy Dave<<< >>>{W} {B} {G}<<< >>><<[[!The Necrobloom]]>><<< Aka [[The Gitrog Monster]]’s best friend, this *Plants Vs. Zombies* reference loves to go wide and abuse the graveyard. The perfect marriage of token and graveyard synergies. # >>># The King of Pop<<< >>>{W} {R} {G}<<< >>><<[[!ghired, Conclave exile]]>><<< Ghired goes incredibly hard in this cube, as he merges strategies of equipment agression with tokens going wide. The amount of damage he can spew out with haste earns him his spot. # >>># Apes Together Strong!<<< >>>{W} {B} {R}<<< >>><<[[!Caesar, Legion's Emperor]]>><<< Ceasar is easily the strongest aristocrats beater in the cube. He himself is the full package, draws cards, makes dudes, and domes the ops. He can combine synergies of reanimation and sacrifice to seal the deal. # >>># Ha, Shat On!<<< >>>{W} {U} {B}<<< >>><<[[!Hashaton, Scarab's Fist ]]>><<< Hashaton was one if my favorite cards to come out of DFT, along with [[Monument to Endurance]]. Discard was calling my name, and demanded an archetype in the cube. With these cards in mind, dimir had an overhaul to become discard focused so Hashaton would have enough enablers to cheat out huge threats at incredible rates, and Monument could thrive in many styles of decks. # >>># Womp Womp<<< >>>{U} {R} {G}<<< >>><<[[!Loot, the pathfinder]]>><<< Here we go again with another loot. Once again, we have a generic value temur commander instead of one that lends itself to one of our strategies. Hopefully the raw power he supports can really help the archetype thrive! # >>># Fowl Play<<< >>>{W} {U} {R}<<< >>><<[[!Kykar, Wind's Fury]]>><<< Kykar is a fantastic [[Polymorph]] commander, who lends itself to playing back and building a token army. It plays nicely with control elements and token elements to generate value passively. # >>># Jund ‘em Out<<< >>>{B} {R} {G}<<< >>><<[[!Korvold, Fae-Cursed King]]>><<< Korvold is the literal goat of sacrifice strategies. He takes the already great strategy of raksac, then you combine it with green’s ramp package for an explosive and consistent card draw engine that can quickly end games. # >>># El Chulo<<< >>>{W} {U} {G}<<< >>><<[[!Chulane, Teller of Tales]]>><<< Chulane combines landfall synergies of simic making creatures into a powerful card draw engine. A very safe and powerful option that can get easy Ws. # >>># Definitely “Balanced”<<< >>>{U} {B} {G}<<< >>><<[[!Teval, the Balanced scale]]>><<< Sultai was doing great with glarb, but man, this guy just blows him out of the water. This perfectly merges all the archetypes it touches, simic landfall, dimir and golgari graveyard matters. In addition, effects that move cards in your graveyard will just pop out zombies to overwhelm all opponents. # # ***FRINGE STRATEGIES 🌈*** # Finally, there are a few off strategies hidden within the cube, they are pretty rare and tough to build around, but still viable: # >>># Urzodia<<< >>>[[!Urza, Planeswalker]]<<< This card is one of the most powerful planeswalkers ever, if you can assemble it. Combine [[Urza, Lord Protector]] with [[The Mightstone and Weakstone]] to create the ultimate finisher for a control build. # >>># Jaws<<< >>>[[!Captain Howler, Sea Scourge]]<<< Izzet has a sub-theme that dips into discard. Some key factors for red being in the conversation include [[Inti, Seneschal of the Sun]] and [[Faithless looting]], along with most of red’s card advantage involving discarding. Howler seeks to capitalize on all the discard synergy and pump of the board for tons of value. # >>># Bug Zapper<<< >>>[[!mazirek, kraul death priest]]<<< Mazirek is mainly in here to support our jund friend Korvold, but he is also a very strong deck on his own. Borrowing some black sacrifice engines and some green token generation, you can have a very threatening army very quickly. # >>># Experiment X2<<< >>>[[!adrix and nev, twincasters]]<<< These two create one of the most simple off strategies out there, utilizing token generation from green and some token copies from blue, you can create some very powerful boardstates. Throw in a [[Doppelgang]] for maximum shenanigans. # >>># A Life for a Life<<< <<[[!Celestine, the Living Saint]][[!ikra shidiqi, the usurper]]>> Lifegain is scattered throughout the cube, but these 2 commanders combine to make the ultimate build around it. The only other cards that reference lifegain are [[Ocelot Pride]] and [[Enduring Tenacity]]. The dream is to assemble them all for the ultimate secret archetype! # >>># RNGsus<<< >>>[[!Jodah, the Unifier]]<<< Jodah is the namesake card of the cube, and rightfully so. There are incidentally dozens of legends floating around, each being individually powerful. With the right amount of fixing, Jodah can catapult a medium pool into an absolute game ending boardstate. # >>># The Guild-Father<<< >>>[[!Niv-Mizzet, Guildpact]]<<< Niv mizzet plays like a 5 color midrange who looks to assemble permanents of the different guilds to control the board. As the draft concludes there are plenty of open guild cards that just aren’t in people’s colors, so niv becomes the perfect lane to carve a victory. # >>># Project Unite<<< >>>[[!Aragorn, the uniter]]<<< Aragorn is a recent addition I’m trying out, he breaks the cycles of 5 color commanders ad our only 4 color commander, and is a great build around for non black gold cards. He really generates insane value off of each spell cast. Maybe one day if 4 color gets more love we can finish the 4c cycle! # >>># Mono a Mono<<< >>>[[!Sapphire Medallion]]<<< The 5 medallions are the final hallmark of the secret archetype: dual mono colored commanders. This archetype only works if one color is completely open, and there is a huge payoff with [[Throne of Eldraine]]. # # ***LAND CYCLES 🏔️*** # Fixing is very important for the cube- the land cycles of this cube are not just budget friendly, but they are the only capable lands to meet color identity requirements. These cycles include the [[Vivid Grove]] cycle, the [[Thriving Grove]] cycles, and the gate versions of the thriving lands ([[Manor Gate]]) and various lands that can grab basics or add mana of any color. These cycles are essentially tapped lands that allow you to dip into any color you need, it’s crucial to pick up a couple if you want to go more than 2 colors. It’s not a necessity for lands to come out untapped because people set up a lot in this cube. Low non basic counts also upgrade the viability of taking the different splash enabling lands, and limit the amount of 4+ color value piles, while pushing 2 color synergy piles with mono-colored partners. # # ***THE VISION🌅*** # With the new bracket system, I can confidentially say that Project Unify drafts as a 3 (A few game changers but overall high synergy and non optimized builds). Im a big fan of EDH as a format, but have always liked to play more powerful and synergistic decks, and sometimes aren’t matched well when playing at the LGS. This cube hopes to bridge the gap for local players to still have fun and create competitive games for everyone involved, personalized to their play-style. The goal is to **UNIFY** power levels in commander matches, and provide an exciting draft experience. # ***CREATOR NOTES 📝*** # This cube has been in the works for over 2 years, and constantly being playtested, in person and online. (Check the playtest data!) Cards are carefully selected to fit into curves of archetypes nicely, and have functional games each match. So far, mana hasn’t been an issue at all even with all the tapped lands. Yes, I would love to add more dual lands that are ideally untapped (shocks and fetches), but they table way too often, and in commander, you usually play slow enough to cast all your spells no issue. I have seen drafts that separately draft land bases after constructing the meat of their decks, which would allow for a far better land base. The issue is the labor of separating lands each draft and a full extra pack at the end of each draft. But this is definitely not a bad concept. Games tend to last till turns 8-12, sometimes people can pull super far ahead with some game changers, but overall there is an answer to just about every threat. There are some really dangerous combos in the cube as well that can straight up end the game. If they can be assembled with some hassle, there’s no issue. *Thanks for the read. If you want to contact me my discord is Mightyhulk1*