Cloned from [Data Generated Vintage Cube](/c/613d81be1de8d5027f16ba32) <<[[!Black Lotus|4a2e428c-dd25-484c-bbc8-2d6ce10ef42c]][[!Ancestral Recall|2dd41293-d7c8-4422-9f0c-b3e96350f5c9]][[!Polluted Delta|ef86989d-ce80-4e55-aece-7d11710eeffa]][[!Demonic Tutor|a5e571ef-1645-4584-ab53-e7ea5d443dea]]>> --- >>> # The Data Generated Vintage Cube <<< --- <<[[!Swords to Plowshares|e95a352d-187f-4d8d-a6bb-4188da756b7c]][[!Lightning Bolt|6e8b2951-3c66-4042-add9-b2615951ba52]][[!Birds of Paradise|852d7a68-8682-4073-a44b-f10f5613879c]][[!Dack Fayden|9d4b1e44-3c66-4b1b-8a1d-308aa4f841f8]]>> --- >>> ## Overview <<< --- This is a cube created via an algorithm that supports the archetypes typically found in a powered vintage cube environment. Here you will find the most broken and powerful cards from Magic's storied history. --- >>> ## Data-Driven Cube Building <<< --- As a Magic The Gathering fan and a cube enthusiast, I understand the effort and time required to hand curate a paper cube. It's a labor of love to carefully select cards that work well together, fit the cube's theme, and balance the power level. For me however, as life's responsibilities started to pile up, I found it increasingly challenging to keep up with the task of evaluating the ever-growing number of new Magic The Gathering cards. I didn't want my cube to become outdated, but keeping up with new releases was becoming a daunting task. That's when I decided to apply my data-driven approach to this problem. I wanted to create an algorithm that could evaluate and filter a vast pool of cards and provide me with a curated list that fits my cube's specific requirements. I was also excited about the prospect of using a method that would allow me to discover new cards and combinations that I hadn't considered before (As an example, I no longer follow spoillers and hadn't heard of the card [[Atraxa, Grand Unifier|4a1f905f-1d55-4d02-9d24-e58070793d3f]] before being recommended to the cube) Although I initially wanted to save time by automating the cube-building process; these days, I find myself spending just as much time, if not more, tweaking and refining the algorithm and data collection methodology. However I don't mind the additional time investment as it allows me to explore my passion for coding interesting solutions to a novel problem, and the excitement of discovering new card combinations keeps me motivated. Overall, building the algorithm and cube has been an enjoyable and rewarding experience. It's not only allowed me to create a cube that stays current with new releases, but it's also given me an opportunity to apply my data-driven approach to a hobby that I'm passionate about. ### The Data Fundamentally, data is required in order to find common patterns among cards used , and in order to generate a relevant cube. There were many data driven approaches that could have been taken; For example, earlier I had considered analyzing cards via vector similarity. For this approach to generating a cube that is representative of other cubes of my desired target (in the powered vintage category) I decided to go with a simpler frequency analysis approach. This approach utilizes cube data from Cube Cobra (thank you fellow cubers) as the input source to the algorithm. Currently, to get this data I manually pull each cube's card information down as a csv and save to a directrory. In the future if Cube Cobra implements a /get cube endpoint, that could greatly speed up this process. Alternatively, I could write a scraper to manually pull down the data as well; but for now, manually pulling the data down will do fine, it's just a bit more labor intensive. After deciding that I would use Cube Cobra data, I had to decide how I would select the cubes whose data I would utilize. This process has changed over the years. Initially I would run a Cube Cobra search with the folowing criteria. * cube is in the vintage category * cube has 360 cards * cube contains the card "Black Lotus" * order results by Popularity Pre 5.9 update, this search returned quite relevant results and I would often take the first ~70 or so cubes (always excluding this cube) and use that as the input. There was some light discretionary filtering so as not to skew results too much. so for example, I excluded [old-school](https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/333wx) or [time-era specific](https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/1ezk) cubes, cubes [missing one](https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/nogreen) or [more colors](https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/mono-red) , or cubes themed around one [archetype](https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/stormcube) or [block/set](https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/73r). The beauty here is that as each quarter goes by, the results pulled back would change a little bit as new cubes were created or old cubes updated and in this way the input data to the algorithm was a good representation of how the cube community as a whole was building powered vintage cubes. A note, on the search here. Post 5.9 Cube Cobra, the search functionality has been re-worked. To the best of my knowledge, we cannot currently submit searches that specify criteria such as the cube's category or number of cards. Fortunately we can still search cubes containing specific cards. Additionally, the methodology for how Cube Cobra ranks popular cubes seems to have been re-worked such that popularity is orderd by number of followers descending. I have been using [this search link](https://cubecobra.com/search/card%3A%22black%20lotus%22?order=pop&ascending=false) to get cubes, which I must additionally do discretionary filtering manually based on number of cards. One of the issues of pulling data in this way is that there are some very "popular" cubes that have [not been updated in years](https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/scgconcube). Including these sorts of data points cause issues when one of the goals is to keep the cube updated as new sets are released. Additionally, there are some [great](https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/sol) [cubes](https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/rcc) that are close to my cube's target size of 360 but not exactly that many cards. Including these cubes seems like a good opportunity. So I've now added two new additional criteria. * Cube must have been updated in the last 12 months * Cube must have within 360 +/- 30 cards I still have challenges finding a good representative sample of cubes that I'm happy with. Interestingly taking the top 70 or more cubes, makes a really good overall representation of what the average powered vintage cube looks like, but simultaneously the frequency sampling method that I will describe in the next section can discount newer cards, which again finding these is one of the goals of building this algorithm in the first place. Through experimentation I've found that using a small sample of cubes that are widely followed and frequently updated provides me with recommendations on new exciting new cards. However, this is no panacea as using this small sample can also allow some quirky non-category representative cards to make the recommendation cut if the sample has many copies of the card. I'll detail how I currently overcome this in the algorithm description. As an aside, the algorithm creates a representative cube based on whatever set of input cubes you send to it; so a [Legacy Cube](https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/614742fa6d154e104359d86f), a [Peasant Cube]() or whatever flavor of cube you enjoy most are all fair game. ### The Algorithm *Bit of a hack job that...* I use the following color categories in the algorithm description and analysis that follows | Color Category | Symbol | |:---------------|:--------| | White | {w} | | Blue | {u} | | Black | {b} | | Red | {r} | | Green | {g} | | Multi-Colored | {m} | | Colorless | {c} | | Land | {T} | The algorithm does the following to generate a cube. 1. Load all the data gathered in the previous section in a DataFrame object. 2. For each color category in the table above do the following sub setps. - Count the occurences of each card - Sort the cards by occurences descending, then ELO descending - Calculate the average number of cards _k_ of the current color in all cubes - return a DataFrame object of the top _k_ cards for the current color. Here is a partial example output for blue at this stage >>>![image](https://i.imgur.com/WT4TZlk.png)<<< 3. Concatenate all cube color frames into a single object. This is the first iteration of the data generated cube. 4. The cube created in step 3 will often have either too few or too many cards since we are taking average numbers of cards played per color to make each color section of the cube. To get the cube to the target number of cards the algorithm does the following based on cards in the current cube. - If the cube has too few cards, then redo steps 2-3. The algorithm is provided with a parameter that extends the average number of cards per color and this step is run recursively until the size of the generated cube is over target; yes, the algorithm over-generates on purpose.* - If the cube has too many cards in it, the algorithm removes the lowest frequency cards irrespecitve of color until the target size is reached. **As an example if a 360 card target cube only has 356 cards in it, then the algorithm generates a new 356 card cube +1 card for each color category listed in step 2 (i.e. 8 cards) for a new cube of size 364.* ### Cube Blacklist When building a cube, you have the option to provide a blacklist to the algorithm. If you choose to use this feature, the cards included in the blacklist will be excluded from the cube. This can be particularly useful when building format-specific cubes that have a ban list, such as Legacy. Wizards of the Coast provides format-specific ban lists that you can refer to when building your cube. In Vintage, there is also a ban list that includes cards that reference Ante, Chaos Orb, Falling Star, and Shahrazad. However, I am currently not using a blacklist for these cards. Additionally, these cards are not frequently played (even in vintage cubes) and are not ever recommended for inclusion by the algorithm due to low play rates. So in absence of a banlist, the results generated in this cube are a faithful representation of card usage across the cube community. ## Analysis What follows are analysis and visualizations of the results of using an algorithm to generate a cube. ### Inclusion Rate Distribution Analyzing the distribution of inclusion rates can provide valuable insights into card popularity and help identify both popular and niche cards. By examining the relationship between inclusion rates and card counts, a general trend emerges where higher inclusion rates are associated with higher card counts. Cards that have high inclusion rates can be considered core to Vintage cubes generally. >>>![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/Y1Tubrt.png)<<< However, an interesting observation in this distribution is the presence of a drop in cards included in the cube followed by a bounce in card count around the 40% inclusion rate mark. Based on the grpah, this phenomenon indicates that the core of the cube consists of cards that are included at rates above 50%, suggesting their widespread acceptance and popularity within the community. On the other hand, cards with inclusion rates below this threshold may represent newer staples that haven't yet gained widespread recognition or cards that provoke disagreement and varying opinions among players. I'd say that generally by studying the distribution of inclusion rates relative to card counts, cube designers can make informed decisions about card selection and adjust the composition of their cube. They can ensure that the core includes highly regarded and frequently used cards while also considering the inclusion of emerging staples that may have the potential to reshape the cube's metagame. Understanding the dynamics of inclusion rates helps me strike a balance between established favorites and fresh additions. ### ELO Distribution ELO scores are not normally distributed. This makes presenting visual analysis on these less interesting (normalizing these scores still results in heavily skewed visual representations) and as such, when we discuss ELO scores and their analysis I have filtered out cards which are two standard deviations above the mean ELO score, this causes the remaining cards to be fairly close to a normal distribution. Further, the fact that there are a few cards which dominate other card's ELO is in line with experience that vintage cube is often centered around opening and drafting really powerful cards. Here are the cards that are two deviations above the mean ELO score. | Card Name | Inclusion Rate | ELO | Type | Color Category | |:---------------------------------|:-----------------|--------:|:-------------|:-----------------| | [[Black Lotus]] | 100.00% | 16061.2 | Artifact | {c} | | [[Ancestral Recall]] | 95.60% | 6641 | Instant | {u} | | [[Sol Ring]] | 97.80% | 6236.4 | Artifact | {c} | | [[Mox Sapphire]] | 98.90% | 5635.7 | Artifact | {c} | | [[Time Walk]] | 93.41% | 4647.2 | Sorcery | {u} | | [[Mox Ruby]] | 98.90% | 2617.3 | Artifact | {c} | | [[Mox Jet]] | 98.90% | 2531.5 | Artifact | {c} | | [[Mox Pearl]] | 98.90% | 2452.3 | Artifact | {c} | | [[Mox Emerald]] | 98.90% | 2330.8 | Artifact | {c} | | [[Mana Crypt]] | 93.41% | 2031.4 | Artifact | {c} | | [[Mox Diamond]] | 86.81% | 1730.5 | Artifact | {c} | | [[Mana Vault]] | 90.11% | 1722.4 | Artifact | {c} | | [[Mana Drain]] | 89.01% | 1721.9 | Instant | {u} | | [[Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer]] | 85.71% | 1711.3 | Creature | {r} | | [[Strip Mine]] | 85.71% | 1697.2 | Land | {T} | | [[Oko, Thief of Crowns]] | 84.62% | 1694.1 | Planeswalker | {m} | | [[Demonic Tutor]] | 97.80% | 1671 | Sorcery | {b} | | [[Jace, the Mind Sculptor]] | 87.91% | 1666.2 | Planeswalker | {u} | | [[Lightning Bolt]] | 98.90% | 1657.5 | Instant | {r} | | [[Umezawa's Jitte]] | 87.91% | 1651.3 | Artifact | {c} | | [[Fable of the Mirror-Breaker]] | 50.55% | 1646 | Creature | {r} | | [[Sheoldred, the Apocalypse]] | 52.75% | 1641.3 | Creature | {b} | | [[Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes]] | 54.95% | 1632.9 | Planeswalker | {m} | Once outliers are excluded from the analysis, visualizing ELO scores can provide insights into the relative power level of the remaining cards. Here we explore whether certain types or colors of cards tend to have higher ELO scores. First, the general distribution of ELO scores among cards in the cube is shown below. >>>![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/yTn5pVd.png)<<< The above graph still shows that there is a slight positive skew to card ELO, meaning that the cube tends to be characterized by individually powerful cards. I would be interested in replicating this analysis on cubes for other formats such as Pauper, Modern and Legacy and overlaying the density estimation to compare the relative ELO distributions per format. For now, we can still see that the average ELO is (subjectively) high, clocking in at 1378. Next lets looks at ELO ranges based on card color categories. ![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/WeCzoqH.png) ![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/AhoV7v4.png) WIP, more coming ## The Archetypes What follows below is an *almost* verbatim copy of [@LSV](https://strategy.channelfireball.com/all-strategy/author/luis-scott-vargas/)'s ultimate guide to vintage cube. The cube supports all the following draft archetypes and LSV's explanations are great to read. If you prefer to read the original articles on ChannelFireball, here are the links: - [Part 1](https://strategy.channelfireball.com/all-strategy/mtg/the-ultimate-guide-to-cube-part-1-the-cards/) - [Part 2](https://strategy.channelfireball.com/all-strategy/mtg/the-ultimate-guide-to-cube-part-2-the-archetypes/) - [Part 3](https://strategy.channelfireball.com/all-strategy/mtg/the-ultimate-guide-to-cube-pt-3-archetypes-continued/) - [Part 4](https://strategy.channelfireball.com/all-strategy/mtg/the-ultimate-cube-guide-part-4-aggro/) Now let's get started on archetypes. There’s a lot of nuance here, especially with knowing how to blend Reanimator and Sneak Attack, or Big Mana Blue and Storm, or pivot from one of these to another, but knowing the base decks is a huge upgrade to your Cube skills. These are specific to Vintage Cube, but some, like Mono Green or White Weenie, are pretty much the same in Legacy or Modern Cube as well. First, let’s start in the most logical place – blue decks. Blue is the best color in Cube, hands down, and the average Cube draft can support five blue drafters without much trouble. Since Cube has so many playables, you can be cut on blue in both directions and still have a lot of powerful blue cards. Plus, blue gets some of the busted cards like [[Ancestral Recall]], [[Time Walk|ade7d00d-4e7b-46e9-ace1-63f628a589fc]] and [[Mana Drain|e691adef-3027-4e6a-889f-9f4e2df36a7c]], so there’s a good reason that it’s the base for multiple different archetypes. *** >>> ### Generic Blue <<< <<[[!Fact or Fiction|7fd4d018-dcf3-4439-8445-02d66e44f7d3]][[!Mana Leak|d736f28a-9007-458c-9b6a-f39edde23e4c]][[!Treachery]][[!Dimir Signet|35148573-7788-4023-a63c-4a09f48273c1]]>> This is a bunch of different decks rolled into one, and is the deck most people think of when they imagine Vintage Cube. This is the deck you end up in when you just take good blue cards, and as such once you learn the core, you can customize it with various win conditions. This is a hard one to learn because of how many ways it branches (drafting Mono Green is much simpler, for example), but once you know how to draft a good blue deck you can always have a good fallback plan. #### Game Plan Disrupt the opponent with counterspells, and develop your mana base/find your win conditions using card draw spells. #### Key Cards - Broken cards (Moxes, [[Time Walk|ade7d00d-4e7b-46e9-ace1-63f628a589fc]], etc) - Interaction ([[Remand|69001c08-2541-47e3-8343-2e5089a9b193]], [[Mana Leak|d736f28a-9007-458c-9b6a-f39edde23e4c]], [[Counterspell|9e11bf7c-f439-4529-b29a-d711359807ef]], [[Glen Elendra Archmage|09516d3d-e6c2-4359-af2a-a4aa244ca033]], [[Treachery]]) - Card draw ([[Fact or Fiction|7fd4d018-dcf3-4439-8445-02d66e44f7d3]], [[Ancestral Recall|2dd41293-d7c8-4422-9f0c-b3e96350f5c9]], [[Chart a Course|98291778-2ec2-47e2-ac99-5f8cfbb3cf24]]) - Mana Acceleration ([[Izzet Signet|ab29ff99-b246-49e8-bb77-c7906b502232]], [[Dimir Signet|35148573-7788-4023-a63c-4a09f48273c1]], [[Ancient Tomb|f77d5b90-5ea1-403e-ab85-3040e1da933b]], [[Coalition Relic|7a7c98b0-d64d-4d0a-b284-1187a8e7095e]]) The core of “the blue deck” are the cards I mentioned in [part one](https://strategy.channelfireball.com/all-strategy/mtg/the-ultimate-guide-to-cube-part-1-the-cards/), the cheap interactive and flexible cards, plus card draw like Fact or Fiction, Compulsive Research and Thirst for Knowledge. If you start with these, filling in a win condition isn’t too hard. This is the baseline which I start every Cube draft with, at least until I pick up a more specific engine card that pushes me into a theme. This strategy is compatible with all the combo decks and only doesn’t mesh well with aggro (Mono White and Mono Red) and Mono Green Ramp. If you grow confident in identifying and taking these baseline blue cards, you have a good base to start with that lets you branch into all the decks I’ll be talking about next. Now that we have Generic Blue Cards on our mind, let’s get more specific. *** >>> ### Big Mana/Artifact Blue <<< <<[[!Upheaval|9e201229-34a6-48c8-a07c-d8aefcf5f8a7]][[!Izzet Signet|ab29ff99-b246-49e8-bb77-c7906b502232]][[!Tinker|7da23b15-dfb8-4267-9b33-d7a4c035c434]][[!Mana Drain|e691adef-3027-4e6a-889f-9f4e2df36a7c]]>> This deck relies heavily on artifacts and is the best deck when you have picked up good acceleration. Bonus points if you spike a [[Sol Ring|c0fb91ec-20a8-4c13-9469-18885b1ecca3]] or [[Mana Drain|e691adef-3027-4e6a-889f-9f4e2df36a7c]], as this uses those cards better than any other deck. #### Game Plan Use artifact ramp to turbo out a finisher and go over the top of whatever the opponent is doing. [Example Draft](https://cubecobra.com/cube/deck/6160945682a272102a8274ea). #### Key Cards - [[Upheaval|9e201229-34a6-48c8-a07c-d8aefcf5f8a7]] – This is by far the best finisher in this deck, as Upheaval makes whatever the opponent has done completely irrelevant. - [[Timetwister]] / [[Wheel of Fortune]] / [[Time Spiral]] / [[Memory Jar]] – If you have good acceleration, dropping a quick draw seven gives you many more resources than your opponent, as well as setting up whatever finisher you are using. - [[Wildfire]] / [[Burning of Xinye]] – You can basically always wheel these, which is a nice bonus for being in the deck. Wildfire obliterates the creature-based decks. - [[Consecrated Sphinx]] / [[Inferno Titan]] / [[Karn Liberated]] / [[Ugin, the Spirit Dragon]] – These are the four best finishers that you can realistically cast and among the best ways to use the mana off Mana Drain. - [[Tinker]] / [[Bolas’s Citadel|1e6e80ec-68a4-4cfb-a712-2ea0d26dc6a1]] / [[Sundering Titan]] / [[Blightsteel Colossus]] / [[Myr Battlesphere]] – The Tinker package fits nicely into this deck and is a good way to make use of all the artifacts you were already playing. - Planeswalkers: [[Narset, Parter of Veils]] / [[Dack Fayden]] / [[Jace, the Mind Sculptor]] are all at their best in this deck because of the ramp and go-big strategy they enable. - Ramp – In order, this deck wants the following accelerants: - [[Sol Ring]], Moxes, [[Mana Crypt]], [[Ancient Tomb]] - [[Mana Vault]], [[Grim Monolith]], [[Urza, Lord High Artificer]], [[Thran Dynamo]], [[Mox Diamond]], [[Coalition Relic]] - Signets, [[Chrome Mox]], [[Everflowing Chalice]] - [[Tolarian Academy]], [[Mishra’s Workshop]] – The better your deck is, the better these are, but I usually won’t take them until later in the draft (you want seven or more cheap artifacts for Academy, and five or more expensive ones for Workshops) This deck is generally blue/red, as Inferno Titan, Wildfire, Wheel of Fortune, Fire // Ice and Dack Fayden are exactly what you want to pair with your good blue cards. This deck lives or dies on its artifact ramp, and needs 5+ ways to generate a lot of mana. #### Ways to Get Into the Deck - Take Upheaval. It’s the number one non-power card in the format for this deck. - Pick up three or four accelerants in pack one. Once I have a Mana Vault, and Ancient Tomb, and a few Signets, I start looking for big mana sinks and draw sevens. - Get a fifth or sixth pick Tinker after having one or two artifacts (bonus points if you saw an Inkwell or something because those often wheel). *** >>> ### Sneak and Breach <<< <<[[!Sneak Attack|d07dc95d-82a8-4a58-8ea2-d4513bd7316d]][[!Through the Breach|6da09e6a-2965-4855-bd41-41b41ba188fb]][[!Emrakul, the Aeons Torn|67600383-bbb8-411c-b8e6-2296650bc747]][[!Griselbrand|b51666ae-2aef-4cb1-9cd4-44aec81530f8]]>> The Sneak Attack deck is my pick for the most reliable broken deck in the Cube. It’s a two-card combo and Sneak is fast, hard to interact with and combines with a ton of other cards, so the second part of the combo isn’t even very specific. I basically won’t pass Sneak Attack at this point (and I’m sure by writing this I’m making it less likely I see it in the future). #### Game Plan Use Sneak Attack or Through the Breach (or Channel) to turbo out Eldrazi or other giant monsters. #### Key Cards - [[Sneak Attack|d07dc95d-82a8-4a58-8ea2-d4513bd7316d]] – The best combo piece in the Cube. - [[Through the Breach||6da09e6a-2965-4855-bd41-41b41ba188fb]] – A bad Sneak Attack is still great. - [[Channel]] – Double green is a little rough and this demands colorless monsters, but it’s still cheap and broken. - [[Dack Fayden]] – Dack helps assemble the combo, while also being good with cards like Shallow Grave if you end up splashing black. - Monsters – The finishers you want to Sneak out, in order*: - [[Emrakul, the Aeons Torn]] - [[Griselbrand]] - [[Woodfall Primus]] - [[Sundering Titan]] - [[Blightsteel Colossus]] - [[Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger]] - Tutors – I like splashing black for tutors that can get both Sneak/Breach and monsters. - [[Demonic Tutor]] - [[Vampiric Tutor]] - [[Imperial Seal]] **if you’re a Channel deck, move up colorless creatures appropriately* This deck is usually Grixis, mainly blue-red with a light black splash. It doesn’t mind having some acceleration, but it’s not nearly as critical as in the big mana deck. Part of the beauty of this deck is that the whole Sneak package is very small – the addition of Sneak Attack, Vampiric Tutor, and two Eldrazi can make any blue deck into one with a busted endgame. It’s the perfect finisher for decks with good card draw and disruption. >>>![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/HpkEX5y.jpg)<<< Under no circumstances should you play [[Show and Tell]] (and especially not [[Eureka]]). There are zero recorded instances of a player casting Show and Tell and winning, so don’t get tricked. Casting Show and Tell and having to wait a turn while also letting the opponent put their best permanent into play is just a recipe for disaster. It’s a fine sideboard card against low-curve aggro, but for the love of Jace, don’t take this card early or play it in your main deck. #### Ways to Get Into the Deck - See an early Sneak Attack or Channel, or a fifth to seventh pick Through the Breach - See a third or fourth pick Emrakul or Griselbrand - Take a late pick other Eldrazi and see Sneak or Breach in packs two or three *** >>> ### Kiki-Twin <<< <<[[!Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker|162018eb-5483-4fa2-9c5a-abb639eecf91]][[!Splinter Twin|2f8f22fb-7291-4517-9b15-e98501f2856b]][[!Deceiver Exarch|1f123ad6-fe84-4fed-9c0f-6b41921e9c26]][[!Pestermite|f252ae53-443c-4a27-b8f0-639a9a2b8598]]>> This deck uses the combo of Kiki-Jiki or Splinter Twin plus one of Exarch, Pestermite, [[Zealous Conscripts]] or [[Restoration Angel]] (note that Twin plus Angel is the only combo that doesn’t work). It’s Izzet with a white splash for Restoration Angel or [[Recruiter of the Guard]] and usually plays like a control deck with a combo finish (though some versions can be more aggressive, with creatures like [[Brazen Borrower]] and [[Vendilion Clique]] as pressure). #### Game Plan Combo the opponent out, with a backup plan of getting value from Kiki / Twin / Resto on creatures with good ETB effects. [Example Draft](https://cubecobra.com/cube/deck/6156b6b9cadcf9101a117f1b). #### Key Cards - [[Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker]], [[Splinter Twin]] – There are more pieces of the other half of the combo, so these are a priority. This deck is good enough that these are worth picking above all but the broken cards early. - [[Deceiver Exarch]], [[Zealous Conscripts]], [[Restoration Angel]], [[Pestermite]] – Exarch is the overall best because it’s cheap and hard to kill, followed by Conscripts and Angel, which are the best if you aren’t comboing. Pestermite is the lowest priority, though if you already have Kiki/Twin, you aren’t passing any of these. - [[Volcanic Island]]/[[Scalding Tarn]] – The mana in this deck is particularly rough so if you think you might end up here, Volcanic (or [[Steam Vents]]) is a very high priority. I take fixing in this deck even higher than my already high picks. - [[Imperial Recruiter]]/[[Recruiter of the Guard]] – If you have Kiki, these are a one-card combo, as they get Kiki, then get copied by Kiki to get the other piece. These being good in the deck also makes it more appealing to pick up cards like [[Phyrexian Metamorph]] and [[Phantasmal Image]]. - Good ETB creatures go up in value – [[Snapcaster Mage]], [[Wall of Omens]], [[Inferno Titan]], [[Phyrexian Metamorph]], [[Flametongue Kavu]], etc. This deck plays well as a value deck. Like the Sneak deck, this deck can be a finishing package for any blue control deck, and as such is a desirable place to be. It even dovetails nicely with Sneak, as Sneak Attack makes the combo very cheap to assemble. I’m willing to take Kiki very early as a result, which unsurprisingly is one of the ways to end up in this deck. #### Ways to Get into the Deck - See an early Kiki or Twin - See a mid-pack creature (Resto, Exarch, etc) - Have a good amount of value creatures, and see Kiki/Twin in pack 2/3 *** >>> ### Storm <<< <<[[!Black Lotus|4a2e428c-dd25-484c-bbc8-2d6ce10ef42c]][[!Time Spiral]][[!Tendrils of Agony]][[!Yawgmoth's Will|75d4f6fc-c5cd-416c-aafd-19c2f2c0cd51]]>> Ahh, Storm. This is my favorite deck, though I’m in no way saying it’s the best deck (as I’ve stated, I think that honor belongs to a good Sneak Attack deck). I love drafting Storm because of how fun it is to solve the puzzles it presents and because sometimes you end up winning with off-the-wall combinations of cards. The upsides of Storm (in terms of winning the game) are that it can be extremely fast, hard to interact with and doesn’t care at all about what the opponent is doing. The downsides are that it’s hard to play, requires a lot of very specific cards and can easily not get there even when you do have a good storm deck. Now that I’ve sold you on drafting the best archetype, let’s dig into it. #### Game Plan Generate mana with Mana Flare effects or Ritual effects, cast draw sevens and win via [[Tendrils of Agony]] or [[Brain Freeze]] (hopefully). These are the main three engines, and you want as many of these as possible in your storm decks. [Example Draft](https://cubecobra.com/cube/deck/6156149785c930103665ab34). Storm is a bit trickier than most of these decks, so I’m going to approach it a little differently. It’s less about key cards than key combinations, so let’s talk those first: - [[Time Spiral]]/[[Frantic Search]] plus [[Mana Flare]]/[[High Tide]] – This is the easiest way to generate absurd amounts of mana. Time Spiral is an obscenely high pick, and once you have it, you should be on the lookout for the mana-doubling effects. - [[Yawgmoth’s Will]] plus [[Dark Ritual]]/[[Cabal Ritual]]/[[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] – The rituals are fine by themselves and are definitely good in Storm regardless, but Yawg’s Will is when they really go nuts. Lion’s Eye Diamond turns into Black Lotus with Will and goes from a zero to 10 very quickly. - [[Fastbond]] plus [[Time Spiral]]/[[Timetwister]]/[[Wheel of Fortune]]/[[Memory Jar]] – Fastbond is another card that goes from mediocre to insane with the right combos, which in this case are the draw sevens. #### Key Cards - [[Black Lotus]] – I’m calling this out even though it’s a broken card to note that Lotus is better here than in any other deck, and a reason to slam Storm if you ever see it. - [[Time Spiral]] – This card is one of the best reasons to be in Storm. - Tutors ([[Demonic Tutor]], [[Vampiric Tutor]], [[Imperial Seal]]) – These also help make your Storm deck tick, since it’s all about assembling combos. - Draw Sevens – As mentioned before, these are super important to get enough cards to hit critical mass. - Card draw – [[Frantic Search]] and the normal blue card draw and filtering is important here. - [[Mana Flare]] effects – [[High Tide]] is the best of these, but puts a lot more pressure on your mana base. - Artifact Ramp – Signets, [[Coalition Relic]], etc. These are good in the deck, though if you have Mana Flares, Time Spiral, or Yawg Will, they become less important. - Rituals – These tend to wheel, so I don’t prioritize them very highly. If they aren’t, things could get ugly. #### Note on Win Conditions [[Brain Freeze]] is the best win condition, followed by [[Tendrils of Agony]], though you can string together all sorts of crazy ways to win. The trick with Storm isn’t winning the game, it’s generating mana and cards – once you have infinite mana and all your cards, winning the game isn’t that hard to accomplish. I don’t prioritize win conditions much and am perfectly content in slotting in any of the combos like Sneak Attack, Kiki-Jiki or just Eldrazi plus Mind’s Desire to finish the game. I’ve even hard-cast Emrakul off Turnabout and Time Spiral, though my favorite has been Upheaval plus Emrakul the Promised End in the same turn (I forced them to discard all their lands). #### How You Get into the Deck - You have a burning desire to enjoy the purest form of Magic (seriously, Storm isn’t usually the best thing to do, but it is awesome). - You get an early Time Spiral and wheel mana accelerants - You open Black Lotus I love Storm, and love how complicated it is. This is not an entry-level deck, so I’d highly recommend the other decks I’ve talked about before Storm if you are dipping your toes into the format. *** >>> ### Reanimator <<< <<[[!Reanimate|ac394f35-d999-43ea-97cf-99a736d4b2dd]][[!Entomb|f60a2091-fb97-4f04-911b-fce9b6351044]][[!Griselbrand|b51666ae-2aef-4cb1-9cd4-44aec81530f8]][[!Putrid Imp|1b9e6c5c-4bc4-4f41-8c2c-f5b8c97c53c5]]>> This deck is heavy black, and in the case of the best versions, even mono black (though blue-black and black-red are are more common than mono black). It’s capable of some of the fastest draws in the format and does a lot of sweet things that can overlap with the [[Sneak Attack]] deck. #### Game Plan Put a giant monster into your graveyard, then reanimate it. [Example Draft](https://cubecobra.com/cube/deck/615de12bbf9bf91014f5b500). #### Key Cards - [[Entomb]] – This is bar-none the best card for this deck, as it not only acts as a tutor for a fatty but it also puts it right where you want it. Entomb is like two busted cards rolled into one for only one mana. Once you’re in the deck, you take this over anything. - [[Griselbrand]] – The Griseldad is worth noting above the rest of the targets because he is by far the best. He lets you redraw to combo again even if he dies and stabilizes the board almost every time. - Tutors – [[Demonic Tutor]], [[Vampiric Tutor]], [[Imperial Seal]] – These are especially good in this deck because it’s base black. - [[Reanimate]] / [[Animate Dead]] / [[Necromancy]] – These are your go-to reanimation spells. They’re cheap, bring the creature back permanently and don’t ask much besides having a creature in the bin. - [[Exhume]] – This also brings back the creature permanently, but has the potential downside of also reanimating one of your opponent's creatures. - [[Recurring Nightmare]] – This requires small creatures like [[Putrid Imp]], [[Baleful Strix]] and [[Mesmeric Fiend]], but is more powerful when it gets going. Looping creatures with ETB abilities is sick and it’s especially nice sacrificing [[Woodfall Primus]]. - Creatures – [[Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite]], Eldrazi, [[Woodfall Primus]], Titans. There are a lot of possibilities here and you want a mix of finishers, disruptive creatures like Woodfall Primus and one sweeper (Norn, [[Inferno Titan]]). - Discard outlets – [[Putrid Imp]], [[Oona's Prowler]], [[Frantic Search]], [[Faithless Looting]] (and many more). These are more plentiful than animates and creatures so they’re lower priority, but you do want these. The outlets that draw you cards also increase consistency, which is nice. - [[Dark Ritual]] – I normally don’t play this outside of Storm but this deck is an exception. Ritual leads to some of your more busted draws. The core of the deck is black, while blue and red offer various discard possibilities to supplement that. Red also offers [[Sneak Attack]]/[[Through the Breach]], which are a natural fit into a deck with tutors and big monsters. This deck doesn’t need artifact ramp as much as other decks, so move that down if you are going this direction. *Note on [[Survival of the Fittest]]: I haven’t found traditional Recurring Nightmare/Survival versions of the deck to be great. Besides Survival, there are very few green cards that you actually want in the deck, so I usually stick to blue or red.* #### Ways to Get Into the Deck: - See an early Entomb or Griselbrand. - Have a tutor or two and see mid-pack reanimation spells/discard outlets. Besides broken cards, Entomb, Griselbrand and tutors, this deck doesn’t have a lot of cards I like taking very early. I won’t usually start with a pick two Reanimate and I’m not taking Putrid Imp or Woodfall Primus in my first few picks. However, if you see a few reanimator cards in your first few picks, take generic good cards and note if they wheel. If they do, this deck is open and can be quite good when it is. *** >>> ### Mono Green Ramp <<< <<[[!Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary]][[!Green Sun's Zenith|02335747-54e3-4827-ae19-4e362863da9b]][[!Craterhoof Behemoth|a249be17-73ed-4108-89c0-f7e87939beb8]][[!Channel|6fa6468a-335a-467d-aef6-e537af9d5c1c]]>> This deck is better in Legacy Cube than in Vintage Cube because it doesn’t gain much from the transition, but it’s still a great deck when it’s open. This is also one of the easier decks to get proficient with because, well, it’s mono green. Take the green cards and you’ll do a decent job (as long as you avoid traps like [[Thrun, the Last Troll]]). #### Game Plan Use mana ramp creatures and artifacts to accelerate out a fast finisher or disruption. [Example draft](https://cubecobra.com/cube/deck/615758d9c3e16e102f9dcd84). #### Key Cards: - [[Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary]] – Rofellos is the best of the best when it comes to ramp. - [[Channel|6fa6468a-335a-467d-aef6-e537af9d5c1c]] – This makes Eldrazi appealing, but can turbo out cards like [[Karn Liberated]] or [[Ugin, the Spirit Dragon]] as well. - [[Upheaval]] – This is also a great Upheaval deck. - [[Natural Order]] – The OG [[Tinker]] is especially nice because every target is castable. - [[Craterhoof Behemoth]] – This is the best finisher by far, as it just ends the game whenever it hits the board. It’s a tier above all the other big green payoffs. - [[Green Sun's Zenith|02335747-54e3-4827-ae19-4e362863da9b]] – This doubles as a threat and a mana accelerant, so it’s a valuable pickup. - [[Oracle of Mul Daya]] / [[Courser of Kruphix]] – Oracle is much better, but both of these are great. Look for shuffle effects if you have them too. - Mana dorks – [[Joraga Treespeaker]], [[Noble Hierarch]], [[Birds of Paradise]], [[Sylvan Caryatid]] (and more). These are the crux of the deck but there are so many that you don’t need to prioritize them above the game-enders. - Card draw – [[Sylvan Library]], splashed [[Fact or Fiction]]/[[Chart a Course]]. You need good card draw and powerful finishers to prevent flooding out in your 24 mana source deck. - Finishers – [[Karn Liberated]], [[Ugin, the Spirit Dragon]], Eldrazi, [[Woodfall Primus]], [[Primeval Titan]], [[Terastodon]]. Which of these you want depends on if you have Natural Order, Channel, etc, but you do need a couple in order to make the deck work. They become more valuable as the draft progresses, though I don’t usually take them super early. - Land / Artifact destruction – [[Strip Mine]], [[Wasteland]], [[Reclamation Sage]], [[Acidic Slime]], [[Plow Under]]. Unless you’re Hoofing them very quickly, you’re going to need to slow them down, and the best form of disruption for mono green is to attack their mana. Mono Green isn’t as mono colored as the name suggests because green does allow you to splash somewhat easily. The biggest key to splashing is getting the green/X dual land of whatever color you want, because the deck does want fourteen or more Forests. [[Tropical Island]] is an insanely high pick as a result because blue is the most common splash color. >>>[[!Opposition|95be2701-af7c-483e-8165-e8bd4b2774ed]]<<< Opposition is a special case. It’s mostly a subset of mono green (though there is a blue/white Opposition [tempo deck](https://cubecobra.com/cube/deck/61575598c3e16e102f9dadba) out there), and it’s one of the best cards for mono green. If you get an early Opposition, the main changes you want to make to your pick order are that Tropical Island and mana dorks that tap for blue become critical (alongside fetches that get Trop) and blue cards like [[Remand]], [[Mana Leak]], [[Fact or Fiction]] and [[Brazen Borrower]] become viable picks. You also want to lean towards a more creature-heavy deck and [[Deep Forest Hermit]] becomes awesome instead of just good. #### Ways to Get Into the Deck - See an early Rofellos, Channel, Opposition, Natural Order or Craterhoof Behemoth. - See a fourth to sixth pick Green Sun’s Zenith or Oracle of Mul Daya. - See mid-pack or wheel green mana dorks. One of the risks of this deck is that it’s pretty focused and doesn’t overlap with many other decks. As a result, I don’t get into it all that often, though it’s very good when it is open. *** >>> ### Mono Brown <<< <<[[!Sundering Titan|dd963b5b-598c-47ee-bacb-40a408051761]][[!Mishra's Workshop|135de5c7-6ac9-4b68-8f1a-97f120a4b125]][[!Thran Dynamo|3f0c9dee-fab5-4522-9821-343f84b0c8ab]][[!Tinker|7da23b15-dfb8-4267-9b33-d7a4c035c434]]>> Fair warning – I love this deck but it’s rarely the right deck to draft. It’s a lot of fun but it’s a gamble that you’ll see the right cards, and even then it doesn’t always come together. It does do a lot of broken things when you have a good version though, so have no fear that the power isn’t there. #### Game Plan Go super hard on artifact ramp and use sweepers like [[Balance]], [[Wildfire]] or [[Upheaval]] to wipe the opponent’s board. It also has [[Tinker]] for early giant artifact monsters. #### Key Cards - [[Upheaval]] – This is the best card for the deck (aside from broken cards). - [[Urza, Lord High Artificer]] – Urza is a force to be reckoned with and a great reason to be all artifacts. He makes a giant token and can spin the wheel multiple times a turn. - Artifact ramp – [[Mana Vault]], [[Grim Monolith]], [[Mox Diamond]], [[Thran Dynamo]], Signets, [[Everflowing Chalice]] and [[Coalition Relic]] are all cards you want as many of as possible. - [[Mishra’s Workshop]] / [[Tolarian Academy]] – All of these cards are huge payoffs if you get there with 12-plus artifacts. It’s a shame how early Academy tends to go but the other two you can get mid or late. - Draw Sevens – [[Time Spiral]], [[Memory Jar]], [[Timetwister]], [[Wheel of Fortune]] – This deck generates tons of mana, so drawing seven is great for it. - [[Tinker]] – Tinker is at its best in this deck since you have all the pieces naturally. - Big Artifacts – [[Blightsteel Colossus]], [[Sundering Titan]], [[Myr Battlesphere]], [[Wurmcoil Engine|6927d6d4-93fe-4ded-b091-a0c671c1716b]] – You can turbo these out with Tinker and Forgemaster or just cast them. - Sweepers – [[Balance]], [[Wildfire]], [[Burning of Xinye]] – Despite Balance being overrated, it’s very good in this deck. Artifacts don’t get counted, so you can dump your hand of mana rocks and set the opponent to very few resources. - Four or more mana artifacts – [[Lodestone Golem]], [[Solemn Simulacrum]], [[Walking Ballista]] – If you have Mishra’s Workshop, all of these cards become very good. - Mana denial – [[Crucible of Worlds]], [[Strip Mine]], [[Wasteland]], [[Smokestack]], [[Tangle Wire]], [[Winter Orb]] – Attacking the opponent’s mana is a common theme here and this locks them out nicely. This deck tends to be near mono blue but often splashes one or two cards of various colors. You want room for good colorless lands and because of all your random signets, it’s easy to play all these sweet cards. I’ve played mono blue with [[Demonic Tutor]], [[Balance]] and [[Sylvan Library]] before. #### Ways to Get Into the Deck - Open with broken artifact mana. [[Sol Ring]] is a wonderful reason to force mono brown. - See a fifth pick Mishra’s Workshop. - Decide you want to enjoy grinding the opponent down and force the deck (this is how I usually get into the deck). I really enjoy playing this deck since it’s a nice change of pace. *** >>> ### Mono White <<< <<[[!Thalia, Guardian of Thraben|e6f9792f-7435-49dd-98b4-cc2e9f556338]][[!Mother of Runes|0b1a46ab-95cb-4c24-924f-fc2afd4fcac7]][[!Student of Warfare|9f4df9be-324b-458a-9379-ab4aa437a6d2]][[!Mana Tithe|7d48d622-f397-4f31-b1a5-0c23f60aa71c]]>> Mono White or “white weenie”, is a deck full of underpowered cards that actually manages to win a ton. When it’s open, which it usually is, this deck can be very good. #### Game Plan Play cheap white creatures and back them up with mana denial and equipment. [Example Draft](https://cubecobra.com/cube/deck/6157536bc3e16e102f9da0f0). #### Key Cards: - [[Thalia, Guardian of Thraben]], [[Lodestone Golem]] – In order, these are the disruptive cards you need for WW to really shine. Thalia is by far the best and one of the cards that makes this deck awesome. They really put a damper on all the decks trying to do unfair things and slow them down enough to make them play your game. - [[Strip Mine]], [[Wasteland]] – These are also critical mana denial elements and can almost serve as Time Walks if the opponent doesn’t have a ton of acceleration. - Cheap creatures – You want mostly one and two drops and should be sparing with the amount of threes and fours you play. All the cheap white creatures are viable but you should lean towards resilient and disruptive ones (though beaters are still fine). - [[Armageddon]], [[Ravages of War]] – Playing one of these on turn four will often win the game on the spot, as you should have spent the first couple turns deploying creatures. - [[Stoneforge Mystic]] + [[Batterskull]]/Swords/[[Umezawa’s Jitte]] – I’m not the biggest fan of Equipment in this cube, but Stoneforge is a powerful card that makes some of it worth running. This package is at its best against other fair decks. - [[Mana Tithe]] – I’d always run this, if only for the satisfaction of Mana Tithing something like Ugin. This deck is pretty straightforward and one of its advantages is that most of its cards are interchangeable. As long as you have some mana disruption, what you pressure the opponent with doesn’t matter quite as much. I’ll admit I don’t draft this deck a ton but I do have a lot of respect for it. As long as you lean into one-drops and away from Brimaz.dec, you can crush all the idiots like me by casting a single Thalia. #### Ways to Get Into the Deck - Force it. I know multiple people who’ve done quite well doing just that because the deck is underdrafted. Assuming it’s open from pack one is not the worst idea. - Pick up an early Strip Mine and Thalia. If you start with disruption, you’ll do well. - Note a bunch of white creatures in packs and have them wheel. *** >>> ### Mono Red <<< <<[[!Goblin Guide|636603a2-98d7-4d1e-a270-68756024b448]][[!Strip Mine|e0f6a92f-edd8-4cb6-be91-f3ec229b20a6]][[!Lightning Bolt|6e8b2951-3c66-4042-add9-b2615951ba52]][[!Sulfuric Vortex|79955e27-eef7-43bd-9895-e9209ed1537f]]>> I used to force this deck in Cube, for reasons unclear to me. Maybe I just like blowing up peoples’ lands? I even drafted it at the World Championship in 2012, the only time (that I know of) that Cube was played on the professional stage. This deck is also quite good and also tends to be underdrafted. #### Game Plan Attack the opponent with one drops, disrupt their mana and finish them with burn. [Example Draft](https://cubecobra.com/cube/deck/615a85610c0c8b101ea219db). #### Key Cards - [[Eidolon of the Great Revel]], [[Sulfuric Vortex]] – These two cards are cards nobody else wants while being the best cards for the deck. They deal tons of damage quickly and without much interaction while Vortex also stops cards good against this deck. - [[Goblin Guide]] (and other one drops) – All the red one drops are playable but Guide is by far the best. You really want one drops in this deck, the more the better, and twos and threes are so much less important. - [[Strip Mine]], [[Wasteland]], [[Embereth Shieldbreaker]] – Once again, you have to disrupt the opponent. You aren’t faster than the fast combo decks, so cut off their mana and slow them down. - [[Lightning Bolt]], [[Chain Lightning]], [[Fiery Confluence]], [[Fireblast]], other burn spells – Likewise, all the burn spells are good and these top four are especially potent. You want as much burn as possible, as it’s what deals the last eight to 12 damage. - [[Hellrider]], [[Lodestone Golem]], [[Chandra, Torch of Defiance]], [[Thundermaw Hellkite]] – Cards that cost four or more aren’t a high priority. You’ll play one to three of them but the best version of the mono red deck has one at most. The deck is pretty single-minded. Attack them early and blow up a land or an artifact and you usually have enough time to burn them out. It’s very important to note that this deck gets much worse if it’s two colors, so I only splash if I have three or four fixers and only splash one to three cards. #### Ways to Get Into the Deck - Like Mono White, you can just force this deck. It’s a great deck when nobody else is drafting it. - See an early Sulfuric Vortex, Goblin Guide or Eidolon of the Great Revel. Anyone who passes these cards isn’t drafting mono red, so if you see a fifth pick Vortex, you’re in. - Note red cards and see them wheel. Like Mono White, if the cards are wheeling, you are in good shape, and this is a distinct possibility.