# **Overview** This cube is meant for multiplayer free-for-all gameplay. Drafting this cube is similar to drafting Baldur's Gate. Players draft 3 packs of 20 cards, taking 2 cards on each pick. Cube Cobra does not currently support taking 2 cards in a pick, so practicing here isn't perfect. The minimum deck size is 60. Life totals start at 40. Unlike Baldur's Gate, there are no Commanders. With 520 cards, the cube supports 1 pod of 8 players, with 2 extra packs. Lore Seeker will likely add 1 of these packs into the draft mid-draft. The other extra pack can be used for Booster Tutor, though a player may use a sealed booster pack of any official set if they prefer. This cube's draftable archetypes are based on the enemy color pairs and the wedges. Enemy color pairs have more defined strategies, whereas the few cards in wedges either play into those strategies or act as generically good cards worth splashing. (Please note that cards currently listed under the "Maybe Board" will be added into the cube proper once received in person.) # **Archetypes** **Orzhov Lifegain** <<[[!Nykthos Paragon]][[!Rodolf Duskbringer]][[!Blood Baron of Vizkopa]]>> As classic an archetype as they come. Both colors provide you with lifegain and payoffs. In past versions of this cube, where this color pair had access to a ton of extort cards and the other pairs were less well-defined, this was the best deck you could end up with. It's better balanced now, but still certainly strong and easy to build. White has many cards like [[Path of Bravery]] that fit well into both this Orzhov deck and the Boros Tokens deck, so keep an eye out for those! You can also use wedge cards like [[Siege Rhino]] or [[Licia, Sanguine Tribune]] efficiently in this deck! **Golgari Reanimator** <<[[!Griselbrand]][[!Terastodon]][[!Diregraf Rebirth]]>> This deck is one of the harder ones to put together and pilot, but it can lead to some pretty brutal starts! Both colors lend expensive reanimation targets to the deck. Black is responsible for most of the reanimation, though a few BG cards like [[Journey to Eternity]] function similarly. Green can't really reanimate on its own, but offers ramp as a backup plan when you don't get reanimation going early. It's also important to have ways of getting your reanimation targets into the graveyard. Cards like [[Stitcher's Supplier]] or [[Mulch]] are effective at filling the graveyard, but aren't terribly precise. Black also offers [[Buried Alive]] and [[Gravebreaker Lamia]] to get your big creatures directly into the graveyard. Green mostly offers more self-mill, though [[Noose Constrictor]] can discard a creature card in a pinch, and while [[Titanoth Rex]] isn't the most exciting payoff for this strategy, it does discard itself! As for wedge cards worth splashing, Abzan is definitely the more reliable wedge. [[Nethroi, Apex of Death]] and [[Teneb, the Harvester]] play directly into your strategy, while [[Kathril, Aspect Warper]] plays into a similar space. In Sultai you have [[Sidisi, Brood Tyrant]] as a reward for all of those self-mill cards and [[Muldrotha, the Gravetide]] as, well, Muldrotha. **Simic Morph/Manifest** <<[[!Primordial Mist]][[!Yedora, Grave Gardener]][[!Sagu Mauler]]>> The morph/manifest theme was settled on long, long before I knew what I was doing in terms of cube construction. It's come a long way since the early days of this cube, but it's still missing the level of support the other color pairs enjoy. That said, when you back this theme up with generically powerful cards like [[Oko, Thief of Crowns]] and [[Koma, Cosmos Serpent]] it's easier than it looks to put together something capable of winning games! The trick to making this archetype work is making your morph/manifest cards worth more than the sum of their parts. Cards like [[Unblinking Bleb]] might be unremarkable on their own, but can also interact in powerful ways with cards like [[Ixidron]], [[Yedora, Grave Gardener]] or [[Illithid Harvester]]. You can even put together the old Pickles combo with [[Brine Elemental]] and [[Vesuvan Shapeshifter]]! When it comes to wedge cards, you have two major pieces to look for. [[Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer]] is a very obvious pickup for this deck as both an enabler and payoff for the strategy. [[Animar, Soul of Elements]] isn't as obvious, but quickly makes all of your morphs free to cast while growing huge! **Izzet Artifacts** <<[[!Inkwell Leviathan]][[!Combustible Gearhulk]][[!Saheeli Rai]]>> This archetype is interesting in that there's a ton of support for it, but you can take a few different directions in deckbuilding. Perhaps you're looking to [[Tinker]] out a [[Darksteel Colossus]] early, or maybe you want to accrue value with cards like [[Experimental Synthesizer]] and [[Thoughtcast]]. You can even take an aggressive approach with cards like [[Mechanized Warfare]]! While any deck can theoretically make use of the many colorless artifacts in the cube (and some of them are better equipped to make use of specific artifacts,) you have the most to gain from running a bunch of these. You have a larger card pool to utilize when drafting this deck, so keep that in mind! Just also keep in mind the ways the different strategies this deck can use as you draft (maybe don't take that [[Inkwell Leviathan]] if you don't plan on cheating it out.) None of the Jeskai or Temur cards really have a ton of extra synergies with your deck, but between the extra value you get from colorless artifact cards and the generically good wedge cards you can run, it's not much of a loss. Technically you can use [[Animar, Soul of Elements]] to reduce your colorless artifact creatures to free, but that card is going to be sought after in general. **Boros Tokens** <<[[!In The Trenches]][[!Impact Tremors]][[!Adriana, Captain of the Guard]]>> Another classic strategy. Make lots of creatures and turn them sideways until your opponents drop dead! Like Orzhov Lifegain, this is an easy deck to put together. You'll want to prioritize ways to make multiple bodies like [[Adeline, Resplendent Cathar]] and ways to pump the team like [[Hero of Oxid Ridge]]. Two wedge cards, [[Kykar, Wind's Fury]] and [[Queen Marchesa]], can be effective ways of making multiple bodies with assorted upside in this deck. I'd also like to point out [[Piru, the Volatile]] here. No, it's not terribly efficient, and no you don't generally want to let it die and nuke your board of small creatures, but if you have a ton of creatures then Piru will gain you a ton of life on death. Keep it in mind! **Five Color** <<[[!Golos, Tireless Pilgrim]][[!Urza, Academy Headmaster]][[!Worldknit]]>> It's kind of weird calling this an archetype, but it's very possible to build successful five-color decks. [[Worldknit]] makes this instantly possible at the cost of forcing you to run every card you draft. Beyond that, looking for flexible ramp/fixing like [[Sakura-Tribe Elder]] will help you make a functional version of this deck. Like in many environments where five-color is a realistic option, being base-green will help your consistency greatly. Your payoffs for being five-color will usually be the generically powerful cards in each color/pair/wedge alongside cards like [[Chromanticore]] or [[Child of Alara]]. [[Urza, Academy Headmaster]] is wildly inconsistent, but he's funny and you should totally play him. # **Cycles, Combos, Individual Card Choices and Other Notes** **The Morphling Cycle** <<[[!Brightling]][[!Morphling]][[!Endling]][[!Torchling]][[!Thornling]]>> This cycle originally started as just [[Torchling]] being included in the oldest days of the cube, back when I'd just stuff random cool rares/mythics in for the sake of it. Slowly this grew to encompass the other cards in the mega-cycle (minus [[Aetherling]], who was once in the cube but removed when I got the cool promo [[Morphling]].) None of these are particularly powerful in the context of a multiplayer format, but they're neat. They will occasionally lead to interesting combat scenarios, and it's not like they see play anywhere else, so I'm happy giving them a home here. **Enemy-Colored Planeswalkers** <<[[!Kaya, Ghost Assassin]][[!Nissa of Shadowed Boughs]][[!Oko, Thief of Crowns]][[!Saheeli Rai]][[!Comet, Stellar Pup]]>> I always liked the idea of having a cycle of multicolor planeswalkers in the cube, but they've always been pretty unremarkable. They tend to die very quickly and don't have a ton of impact of the board state. They also don't usually play into the color pair themes. That said, I wanted to make sure the cube had some planeswalkers, and the current group is definitely much better for the job than some of the past options. I'm most interested to see how [[Oko, Thief of Crowns]] and [[Comet, Stellar Pup]] play out. **Hybrid Cards, And Also Mizzium Transreliquat** <<[[!Lurrus of the Dream-Den]][[!Deathrite Shaman]][[!Spitting Image]][[!Mizzium Transreliquat]][[!Figure of Destiny]]>> Theoretically these all function as cards that are playable in either color, as opposed to needing both. That said, it's fairly uncommon to see an Izzet Artifacts deck running [[Figure of Destiny]]. [[Lurrus of the Dream-Den]] and [[Deathrite Shaman]] are definitely worth running in any deck that can cast them, with DRS being actively better in Golgari decks that can use all of its activated abilities. [[Spitting Image]] is a weird case. In Simic Morph, it's not really that great a card. Copying morphs just usually isn't fantastic, even if its a mana sink. You might be able to get more value in the Izzet decks, but where Spitting Image really shines is in enabling [[Arcane Savant]] to become a one-card infinite combo. By drafting [[Spitting Image]] and leaving it out of the deck, [[Arcane Savant]] can make infinite copies of itself on entering the battlefield. If you think that's bad, just be glad it's not [[Clone Legion]] anymore. The combo doesn't come together that consistently, and it's not an immediate win since you do need to generally survive a turn before swinging (this isn't a problem with [[Impact Tremors]] or [[Hammer of Purphoros]]) but it's powerful enough where it's something I have in mind. If the combo proves too strong, one of the offending cards will be removed. That leaves us with [[Mizzium Transreliquat]], which is decidedly not a hybrid card. Any deck can run it, but specifically Izzet decks will get the most value out of it. It irks me having this one card not fit the pattern of the rest of the cycle, but for now it gets a pass. I'll keep an eye out for more interesting hybrid Izzet cards. **Most of the Theros Gods' Weapons** <<[[!Spear of Heliod]][[!Bident of Thassa]][[!Whip of Erebos]][[!Hammer of Purphoros]]>> I started out with [[Bident of Thassa]] and [[Hammer of Purphoros]] here as potential support for the Izzet Artifacts deck. Years ago, merely being a blue and/or red artifact was enough to warrant consideration in the cube. Bident has proven to have fun multiplayer applications and is strong enough on its own to merit inclusion in the cube. Hammer is definitely weaker but at least has added potential in the Boros decks to facilitate faster attacks. Next were [[Spear of Heliod]] and [[Whip of Erebos]]. It turned out that both of these artifacts happened to work well with other archetypes. Spear obviously works as an anthem effect in aggressive Boros decks, while both Golgari Reanimator and Orzhov Lifegain appreciate some part of the Whip. That leaves [[Bow of Nylea]] conspicuously missing. Honestly, while it doesn't play neatly into the cube's archetypes the way the other weapons do, it's not so weak as to not be worth running. I can certainly see adding it to the cube at some point. **Rivals of Ixalan Flip Enchantments** <<[[!Profane Procession]][[!Journey to Eternity]][[!Hadana's Climb]][[!Storm the Vault]][[!Path of Mettle]]>> Most of these are very strong picks in the cube. [[Journey to Eternity]] and [[Storm the Vault]] in particular play with their color pairs' themes well, while [[Profane Procession]] and [[Hadana's Climb]] are strong individual cards. The odd one out is [[Path of Mettle]], which can, at times, be actively detrimental to the Boros Tokens player. One can build around it such that it's basically all upside, but even then the payoff isn't as strong as the lands the other color pairs get. **Strixhaven Commands** <<[[!Silverquill Command]][[!Witherbloom Command]][[!Quandrix Command]][[!Prismari Command]][[!Lorehold Command]]>> I love having this cycle here. They're not the strongest cards, nor do they play into the cube's themes, but they're strong and flexible enough to do important work. **Un-Cards** <<[[!Booster Tutor]][[!Urza, Academy Headmaster]][[!Urza's Fun House]][[!Animate Graveyard]]>> [[Booster Tutor]] is a classic cube inclusion. It and [[Urza, Academy Headmaster]] have both been in the cube for quite a while. As mentioned in the five-color segment, Urza isn't a consistent payoff for that deck, but it's a fun card that players tend to gravitate towards. I wouldn't really consider cutting either from the cube anytime soon. The other two un-cards included are new additions that need to do a little more to secure their spots in the future. [[Urza's Fun House]] was added as a fun secondary way to get to the AskUrza website in a game. My only real concern is that it may prove somewhat confusing to players that don't realize the Urzatron lands aren't in the cube (neither is [[Nearby Planet]] for that matter.) It's also a colorless land in a cube with relatively light mana fixing, so it's possible it gets cut someday for another land. [[Animate Graveyard]] is one of the few cards I fear might be too strong for the cube. I can easily think of scenarios where the creature you get for five mana here is obscenely strong. It'll need testing for sure. I like that it's a weird twist on a payoff for the reanimator deck, but honestly I wouldn't be surprised if it's the kind of card any black deck should be running. **Conspiracies** <<[[!Backup Plan]][[!Emissary's Ploy]][[!Hold the Perimeter]][[!Hymn of the Wilds]][[!Power Play]][[!Weight Advantage]][[!Worldknit]]>> Most of the included conspiracies are great picks. [[Backup Plan]], [[Hold the Perimeter]] and [[Power Play]] all improve basically any deck and should be taken fairly highly. [[Emissary's Ploy]] can allow weird splashes for cheap creatures. [[Hymn of the Wilds]] and [[Worldknit]] both require that drafters build around them to a degree, and both can lead to unique and powerful decks. [[Weight Advantage]] is another build-around, but not one that the cube is built around itself. It's here as a fun option for clever players that can make it work. Two conspiracies that aren't here are [[Advantageous Proclamation]] and [[Sovereign's Realm]]. Both have been considered at different times. Proclamation was denied a spot back when players built 40-card decks in this cube, as it was already very easy to deck out. If that's no longer the case it can be reconsidered. [[Sovereign's Realm]] is mostly a better [[Worldknit]], but unfortunately it doesn't work with the current cube's rules. Given that each player drafts 60 cards and builds 60 card decks, it's impossible to draft a [[Sovereign's Realm]] and play it. You'll always end up with a maximum of 59 cards that can go into the deck, and since you can't play basic lands you can't hit the minimum. [[Worldknit]] comes with its own problems, namely that you do have to figure out how many basics you need, and the cube can cut it close on basics as a result of how many you need. **Draft-Matters Cards** <<[[! **Lands** <<[[!