Broadly speaking this is somewhere between a vintage and legacy cube powerlevel wise. There is none of the truly busted power and I try to stay away from the more degenerate strategies to hopefully keep combat and board interaction relevant. On the other hand I do want to include as many powerful and iconic cards as possible and to support a wide variety of different approaches to the game. This is a primer to the different archetypes present in the cube, some of the reasoning behind my process and few signpost cards for each archetypes that are high priority picks and good signs to move into a given deck. As a general overview there are a few main axis that decks operate in in this cube. Artifact strategies, Graveyard strategies and Land strategies are the main synergy families and shape decks alongside more common aggressive and control decks. Those are obviously not hard boundaries but I find most decks can be categorized within one of two of these axis. There tends to be at least one specific strategy per guild with a lot of overlap between archetypes and some powerful off color cards to push deck diversity, for example [[monastery mentor]] is a very powerful card in a spellslinger deck but that strategy is heavily centered around izzet. Mentor is then a strong pull away from the average deck and I'm always on the lookout for cards like that. For a quick overview Guild cheat sheet: {w}{u} - Blink - Artifact aggro - Control {u}{b} - Discard value - Reanimator {b}{r} - Madness aggro - Artifact sacrifice {r}{g} - Land recursion - Ramp {g}{w} - +1/+1 aggro - Creature combo {w}{b} - Creature combo - Aristocrats {b}{g} - Self mill - Reanimator {g}{u} - Landfall - Artifact tokens {u}{r} - Spells matters - Discard value {r}{w} - Legendaries - Artifact aggro **Artifacts** Artifact synergies are a big part of the cube, I would argue a much more significant one than in your average cube as I aim to support about two commited artifact players at an 8 player table. To this end there is a decent variety of approaches to the archetype which obviously have a lot of overlap. **Big artifact** I would say this is the standard artifact strategy that abuses powerful mana generators to power up big plays and card advantage engines. A key feature of this archetype tends to be using artifact producers such as [[Chrome Host Seedshark]] or [[Saheeli, Sublime Artificer]] to feed into [[Tolarian academy]] or [[Urza, Lord High Artificer]]. Artifact density tends to be very important here and you will usually be based in blue with green and red being common supporting colours. *High picks:* <<[[!Tolarian academy]][[!Urza, Lord High Artificer]][[!Retrofitter Foundry ]][[!Mishra's Workshop]]>> **Artifact sacrifice** This is a grindier version of the artifact plan based on sacrificing cheap artifacts for value and recurring value pieces from the graveyard. Things like [[goblin engineer]] and [[Emry, Lurker of the loch]] are important here alongside sacrifice payoffs ([[Mayhem devil]] [[Syr Ginger, the Meal Ender ]]) and value sac fodder ([[Chromatic star]] [[experimental synthesizer]] [[Sensei's Divining Top ]]). This also the best home for the combo of [[thopter foundry]] and [[sword of the meek]] as both cards are individually fine in the deck. You will typically end up in rakdos or grixis with some potential for other splashes. *High Picks:* <<[[!Goblin Engineer]][[!Descent into avernus]][[!Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast]][[!Emry, Lurker of the Loch ]]>> **Artifact aggro** Is what it says on the tin. Small aggressive artifact creatures ([[porcelain legionaire]],[[Icehide Golem]],[[Esper Sentinel]]) with payoffs for having a lot of artifacts ([[cranial plating]],[[Nettlecyst]],[[Galvanic blast]]) and a lot of going sideways. Generally you will be white based going towards boros or selesnya with +1/+1 overlap (see further down). *High picks:* <<[[!Nettlecyst]][[!Urza's Saga]][[!Mox Opal ]][[!Esper Sentinel ]]>> **+1/+1 counters** This deck is heavily centered around selesnya and runs off things that put counters on creatures ([[Luminarch aspirant]],[[court of garenbrig]],[[Rishkar, Peema Renegade ]]) and effects that reward you for doing so ([[hardened scales]],[[walking ballista]],[[Hangarback walker]]). It can also be an artifact oriented deck with cards like [[arcbound ravager]], [[steel oversee]] or [[patchwork automaton]] but does not have to be. There are also some cards worth splashing for, especially in red ([[Showdown of the scalds]],[[Inti, Seneschal of the Sun ]]). Typically this strategy ends up being on the slower side for an aggressive one but has the potential to go really big. *High picks:* <<[[!Luminarch aspirant]][[!Walking ballista]][[!Hardened Scales]][[!Court of Garenbrig ]]>> **Graveyard** Now this is a very broad category ranging from aggressive madness , to dedicated self mill, reanimator or aristocrat. And all of these have very fuzzy borders. In general you will be at least in black or blue as and mostly steer clear of white aside from some one off cards or for orzhov aristocrats. I'll go through a few subarchetypes here, just keep in mind that these are especially susceptible to overlap and intermixing. **Madness** Madness is one of my favorite mechanic and one that is very beloved from my players. Ultimately, while I do include a good number of honest to go madness cards, this is more of an umbrella term for "cards that pay you off for discarding". The aggressive version of this is centered around rakdos and wants very cheap and efficient discard outlets tied to aggro creatures ([[putrid imp]], [[Inti, Seneschal of the Sun]], [[Oona's prowler]] combined with cheap madness effects ([[Fiery Temper ]],[[Terminal Agony ]]) or recursive creatures ([[Poxwalkers]],[[bloodghast]]) and possibly a good amount of burn. *High picks:* <<[[!Anje's ravager]][[!Terminal Agony ]][[!Inti, Seneschal of the Sun]][[!Fable of the Mirror-Breaker]]>> Adding blue to the equation gets you into the controlling version of the deck. Technically you could be straight dimir or izzet, respectively with overlap for reanimator or spell matters. However, due to the slower nature of being a controlling deck you will often end up dimir with a bit of all these synergies involved. The main components are value cards that involve discard, especially looting effect ([[Faithless Looting]],[[Jace, Vryn's Prodigy]],[[Likeness Looter ]]) and ways to offset the discard downside ([[obsessive search]],[[Master of Death]],[[Containment Construct]]). From there overwhelm the ennemy under card advantage and try to win before decking yourself (or bring a [[thassa's oracle]] along). *High picks:* <<[[!Rielle, the Everwise]][[!Currency converter]][[!Dack Fayden]][[!Liliana of the Veil]]>> **Reanimator** Throwing a big monster in your greaveyard and bringing it back on the cheap is a time-old tradition amongst black mages. In this cube you want to put priority on the reanimation spells ([[reanimate]],[[animate dead]],[[Necromancy]]) and reanimation targets ([[Griselbrand]],[[Archon of Cruelty]],[[Iona, Shield of Emeria]]) over discard outlets as those are very common to support other discard strategies. Obviously there is a lot of overlap with the aformentioned discard value decks and a grixis or dimir control deck with reanimation outs is a very real deck. *High picks:* <<[[!reanimate]][[!animate dead]][[!Archon of Cruelty]][[!Atraxa, Grand Unifier]]>> **Graveyard recursion** Yes this is just another way to say reanimator, for a slightly different flavor of the deck. This one centered around golgari plays more to the board with ways to leverage sac fodder to recure things from the gravyeard ([[Rise of the witch king]], [[Dreadful return]], [[Recurring nightmare]]), often going for slightly grindier targets than the very dedicated dimir variations ([[Hornet queen]], [[Deep forest hermit]], [[Ravenous Chupacabra ]]) and having a decent amount of overlap with aristrocrats. *High picks* <<[[!Recurring Nightmare]][[!Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis ]][[!Survival of the Fittest]][[!Hornet Queen]]>> **Self Mill** Staying on the reanimator gradient this version of the deck is less about discard effects and more about filling your gravyeard ([[Golgari grave-troll]], [[grisly salvage]], [[Stitcher's Supplier]]) with valuable recursive cards ([[Lingering souls]], [[Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis]], [[Prized amalgam]]) and either going for reanimation effects or trying to win straight up with [[thassa's oracle]] or milling the opponent with [[altar of dementia]]. The more dedicated versions of this strategy will commonly be sultai and sometimes splash white. *High Picks:* <<[[!Thassa's oracle]][[!Altar of dementia]][[!Golgari grave-troll]][[!Bazaar of Baghdad]]>> **Aristocrats** Solidly based on orzhov, aristocrats want a combination of cheap or recursive creatures to throw away ([[bloodghast]], [[Jadar, Ghoulcaller of Nephalia ]], [[Skrelv's hive]]), ways to sacrifice these creatures for value ([[priest of the forgotten gods]], [[Bartolomé del Presidio]], [[Yawgmoth, Thran Physician]]) and effects that pay you off for creatures dying ([[Blood artist]], [[Vraan, Executioner Thane]], [[Midnight Reaper]]). The level of commitment to this approach is quite flexible as you could play a goodstuff type orzhov deck with a couple of sacrifice payoffs or be all in on killing your opponent with [[blood artist]] type card. Again there is a lot of overlap with graveyard themes, especially with the grindier side of it in golgari, making abzan aristocrats a pretty good option. This is also where creature based combos find their best home as they often require free sac outlets that aristocrats want regardless. *High picks* <<[[!Skullclamp]][[!Yawgmoth, Thran Physician]][[!Orcish Bowmasters]][[!Lingering Souls]]>> **Creature Combo** Combos packages have to be the thing I iterated the most on while working on this cube. I enjoy combos being part but I also want to avoid having too many parasitic cards that are only good in two card combos or that are very high power level (so no splinter twin or mana vault key for example). The solution I have been trying to implement is focusing on creature based combos with a lot of interchangeable pieces which has landed me in abzan. Most available combos involve three cards, one free sacrifice outlet ([[Bartolomé del Presidio]], [[Carrion feeder]], [[Viscera seer]]) and two creatures that produce infinite sac fodder, here is a list of those: [[Kitchen Finks]] or [[Murderous Redcap]] + [[Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit]], [[Luminous Broodmoth]] or [[Metallic Mimic]] or specifically [[Heliod, Sun-Crowned]] for finks [[Saffi Eriksdotter]] + [[Renegade Rallier]] or [[Extraction Specialist]] [[Felidar Guardian]] + [[vesperlark]] There are a few more combos that do not require sac outlet or black cards: [[Heliod, Sun-Crowned]] + [[Walking Ballista]] [[Heliod, Sun-Crowned]] or [[Archangel of Thune]] + [[Spike feeder]] [[Felidar Guardian]] + [[Parallax wave]] and an etb creature There is enough combo density and overlap to make this a real achievable deck. The fact that almost all the pieces are creatures makes creature tutor and recursion effects a must to push through disruption. The importance of free sac outlets also give the archetype a lot of natural overlap with aristocrat strategies. *High Picks:* <<[[!Birthing Pod]][[!Saffi Eriksdotter]][[!Luminous Broodmoth]][[!Kitchen Finks]]>> *Lands* In theory this deck could just be gruul or simic but by the nature of it being about getting a lot of lands it makes playing a lot of colors somewhat trivial. There are two main axis of power in these decks, one is land recursion using things like [[Ramunap Excavator]] or [[Wrenn and Six]] to loop value lands, be it fetches for ramp or things like [[strip mine]] or [[Urza's Saga]]. On the other side of that coin are landfall strategies using extra land drop effects ([[fastbond]], [[exploration]], [[Dryad of the Ilysian Grove]]) and things that benefit from lands coming into play ([[Tireless Tracker]], [[Toggo, Goblin Weaponsmith]], [[Nissa, Resurgent Animist]]). Typically you should put a lot of priority on good lands when drafting this strategy, and especially fetchlands as they can double trigger landfall effects and enable you to splash for powerful effects. *High Picks:* <<[[!Fastbond]][[!Lotus Cobra]][[!Upheaval]][[!Omnath, Locus of Creation]]>> **Blink** Solidly centered around azorius colours with options to go into any of the other three for strong etb effects. What you want to do here is pretty straightforward, get powerful etb effects ([[Blade splicer]], [[Venser, Shaper Savant]], [[Reflector Mage]]) and ways to blink them ([[Ephemerate]], [[Restoration Angel]], [[Soulherder]]) for obscene amounts of value. The nice thing here is that most of the etb cards are very good on their own and you can be as invested as you want in blinking them, leaving this archetype to usually play the controlling role. *High Picks:* <<[[!Solitude]][[!Ephemerate]][[!Displacer Kitten]][[!Brago, King Eternal]]>> **Spells Matter** Izzet spellslinger decks are a long standing tradition and it is no different in this cube. Simply put, playing a lot of spells ([[expressive iteration]], [[preordain]], [[lightning bolt]]) is what you want to do in izzet regardless, as they are mostly very good, and then you add a few cards that pay you off for playing a lot of spells ([[Murktide regent]], [[Young pyromancer]], [[Third Path Iconoclast ]]) and you basically have a deck, especially if you get a lot of cheap spells that replace themselves ([[Gitaxian probe]], [[Manamorphose]], [[Frantic Search]]. These decks will range somewhere between a focused izzet tempo strategy and more controlling approaches with possible overlaps with other strategies and colors. *High Picks* <<[[!Thing in the ice]][[!Ponder]][[!Snapcaster Mage]][[!Fiery Confluence]]>> **Legendary aggro** This is more of a subtheme than a full blown focused strategy but I feel like it's worth pointing out. With Wizard's recent focus on monetizing edh, we have seen the concentration of legendary creatures, and especially cheap legendary creatures, skyrocket which has opened the way for a an historic/legendary matters subtheme in boros which has always been a color with a lack of interesting identity (imo). Things like [[Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful]] or [[Merry, Esquire of Rohan ]] are the type of payoffs you can expect. Ultimately this means that drafting boros is a bit less on rails as it used to be as you will have to balance between legendary strats and artifact ones. *High Picks:* <<[[!Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer]][[!Karakas]][[!Thalia, Guardian of Thraben ]][[!Andúril, Flame of the West]]>> Those are all the main supported strategies. Of course you can draft and do very well without focusing on any of those. Mono colour decks for exemple are quite strong, especially white and red aggrod and green ramp. And you can also play good stuff midrange/control decks that aren't too focus on synergies. My goal is to have as many viable strategies as possible in the cube to make sure there is variety from draft to draft. **Notable absences** - The power 9 and other cards of similar powerlevel ([[sol ring]],[[mana crypt]]). As much as I like vintage cube I'm aiming for something just slightly less degenerate here that is still at least a bit approachable for less seasoned players. - Initiative card. I tried them and they just add too much complexity and are close to being too good. They skewed things around them too much and are way less satisfying to play than other better designed cards. Also aggro doesn't really need the help, aggressive white and red decks are already pretty high amongst the best decks around. - Planeswalkers. Yes there are a few iconic or very original ones but way less than in your typical cube. I just don't really enjoy the play patterns that having a lot of planewalkers eveywhere lead to. I'm Also on the fence about including [[Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes]], gruul could use the help but it is a very obnoxious card. - Storm. Going back to wanting to keep this cube somewhat accessible, I love me a good (well probably janky as hell let's be honest) cube storm deck but it's extremely counter-intuitive to build and brings in a bunch of cards that don't work well when playing normal magic. - Busted combos. I am trying to walk a fine line between including unfair strategies and having these strategies actually feel unfair. Things like key-vault of twin combos are a bit too easy to put together for my taste and would lead to too many feels bad. Same reason why [[entomb]] is not in the cube as it really turbo powers reanimator's most busted starts.