Ready to see what’s changed? Let’s go!

View the cube in Google docs.

White

Drops:

Goldmeadow Harrier
Catastrophe
Kor Firewalker
Emeria Angel
Magus of the Disk
Steppe Lynx
Sunblast Angel
Celestial Crusader
White Sun’s Zenith
Silver Knight

Adds:
Gideon’s Lawkeeper
Cloistered Youth
Mentor of the Meek
Fiend Hunter
Geist-Honored Monk
Mikaeus, the Lunarch
Grand Abolisher
Hero of Bladehold
Angelic Destiny
Blade Splicer

It’s hard out here for a hate bear. It was time to say goodbye to a true classic, Silver Knight and a recent amazing hoser, Kor Firewalker, for some more raw power and versatility. Now I love me a hate bear, and Grand Abolisher is actually doing some incredibly good work. The times it has shut down my counterspells and spells like Condemn are not imaginary and have swung games in the white weenie player’s favor.

The two pro red guys were also making it incredibly difficult for red decks to win at times. It’s a careful balance not to let U/W Control overtake your cube sessions, and I do all I can to ensure “guys in the red zone and burn to your face” is still a viable strategy. While I will miss my times with Silver Knight (as they are many), I will not miss the frustration as the RDW guy who watches his whole deck get trumped by a 2/2. Kor Firewalker was a much more potent dagger in this regard, obviously.

Goldmeadow Harrier simply got the upgrade to Gideon’s Lawkeeper (what can I say, I like pairing up my Planeswalkers with their minions), and Cloistered Youth is one HELL of a two drop. A two mana 3/3? Yessir! No need to give Kor Firewalker to the control decks–hit em where it hurts in aggro.

Other cuts include Yet Another Wrath/Armageddon Control Didn’t Need (Catastrophe), Too Slow Anymore (Magus of the Disk), Not Effective Enough (Sunblast Angel, often a 1-for-1, and if you made it to 6 mana vs Aggro and X-for-1′d this…then a lot has gone right anyway.) Had high hopes for White Sun’s Zenith but found it, again, just too much mana or too white or whatever metric you’d like to use for it living in sideboards too often and I’d rather put cards in there that add to existing archetypes or at least see play.

Super excited about Mentor of the Meek, I love my white Faceless Butcher that’s now cheaper in Fiend Hunter, God knows I love me a Cloudgoat Ranger and heeeeere’s Geist-Honored Monk! Mikaeus, the Lunarch is an unsung hero, able to fit anywhere on the curve and do some seriously good work with weenie decks. Another Ajani Goldmane is more than welcome. Lastly, I need to get Angelic Destiny in this cube and pronto. Angelic Rancor? Thank you! So sexy. Also, of course, a wonderful combo with Grand Abolisher. Oh, and Blade Splicer. Such value. Such. Value.

Lastly I switched out Emeria Angel for Hero of Bladehold (this was a late addition to this article). Hero of Bladehold is definitely strong enough for both aggro and control decks, and while Emeria Angel -was- a bit better for control, I’m happy giving aggro the better creature in this 4-drop slot.

Next!

Blue Cards

Drops:
Upheaval
Volition Reins
Vesuvan Shapeshifter
Kira, Great Glass-Spinner

Adds:
Snapcaster Mage
Jace, Memory Adept
Phantasmal Image
Azure Mage

Sacred cows? What sacred cows? I’ve moved Upheaval in and out of my cube. It’s a hard card to appreciate. It’s a hard card to draft around. It’s a tough card to put yourself in a winning position, often exclusively with Psychatog and friends.

And I just want blue cards that are fun to play and fit into more decks. I think we have that.

Volition Reins is Yet Another Control Magic. I have lots of those, and they’re cheaper too. Vesuvan Shapeshifter got replaced by a two mana version. Way, way better. I’m beyond the Pickles Lock (and it was often a silly pipe dream anyway), so let’s just continue with raw efficiency.

Azure Mage is exactly the card to replace Kira, the Great Glass-Spinner. Kira is NOT where I want blue to be in this cube. It is the best color. It is control. It is about drawing cards and doing bits of damage here and there, things that Azure Mage excels at. As for Jace, Memory Adept, what’s better than three Jaces in your cube? I mean, really?

Black Cards

Drops:
Massacre Wurm
Fume Spitter
Wei Ambush Force
Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
Wretched Anurid
Sign in Blood

Adds:
Bloodline Keeper
Diregraf Ghoul
Vampire Interloper
Liliana of the Veil
Bloodgift Demon
Skeletal Scrying

So according to my Advanced Calculations (aka correcting my Excel formula) it appears I had 76 Black cards in my last update. Oops. Now we’re back on track, again killing some sacred cows.

Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni is a great card. A cool card. Flavorful as hell, still very popular, and will be rocking Commander and cubes for years to come. But for me, I have played with this card for–literally–six years. And it’s been a great six years. At first she was an all-star, a high pick, a heavy hitter who put fear in multiple opponents.

But over time, she began to get outclassed. I expected her to get a lot better with my black aggro push, but interestingly it only showed how expensive and narrow she really was. The aggro deck wasn’t making the control decks discard a lot of fatties, making her not as effective. You don’t want to bust her out without getting maximum value, and her spot on the curve in an aggro deck was often frustrating. Anyway, g’bye sweet rat. You’ll be missed. (But probably not.)

Just upgrading some aggro guys with Fume Spitter and friends into awesome dudes like Diregraf Ghoul, Vampire Interloper and Army-In-A-Box Bloodline Keeper. Sign in Blood was upgraded to Skeletal Scrying. Just a much better card drawing spell, instant speed, scalable, etc. One of those Wish-I-Had-It-In-There-For-Years cards.

Bloodgift Demon is pushed in all the right ways and I love it. Liliana of the Veil…do I really need to explain her inclusion? She is indeed a weapon of great power. I’m excited to see how many different control & aggro builds can use her best.

Red Cards

Drops:
Viashino Slaughtermaster
Red Sun’s Zenith
Fireslinger
Dwarven Blastminer
Skirk Marauder
Blast From the Past
Blistering Firecat
Ghitu Slinger
Wildfire

Adds:
Devil’s Play
Chandra’s Phoenix
Brimstone Volley
Instigator Gang
Chaos Warp
Stormblood Berserker
Reckless Waif

Yes that IS more drops than adds. Oops again, 2.0 beta edition. Moving on.

No one was more disappointed with Blast from the Past than I was. It’s a fine spell, really. Super fun. One problem: Super expensive. Yes, cute U/R decks love it. It can be goofy fun in G/R ramp. But the decks it saw the most play in, Mono Red, R/G aggro and R/B aggro, all wanted something cheaper, stronger, or more versatile. Feel free to imagine Brimstone Volley or Chaos Warp taking its slot.

Viashino Slaughtermaster is just SO awkward. It really wants to be scary in the ways Stormblood Berserker is. But it isn’t.

Upgrading Red Sun’s Zenith to Devil’s Play is pretty obvious. I traded up my Fireslinger and Ghitu Slinger for cards like Instigator Gang and Chandra’s Phoenix. The first is completely unstoppable when flipped, great at the top of the aggro curve,and Chandra’s Phoenix is just amazing. I have left another sacred cow on the chopping block with Blistering Firecat. I have fond, fond memories of this card. I wish it won as much as I was always convinced it would. It usually just died and ate a lot of mana in the process.

Wildfire? Pretty sacred. Don’t care. The decks that used to use this card have moved on, become more efficient at what they do, or just use different game plans. There was a day when Keiga, the Tide Star + Wildfire was one of the most powerful one-two punches in Magic. Those days are over.

Lastly, the #1 way Red decks win in my experience is by hitting their Turn 1 drops. And Reckless Waif is no Goblin Guide but hella close. Hella.

Green

Drops:
Sylvan Ranger
Devoted Druid
Farseek
Wolfbriar Elemental
Rampaging Baloths

Adds:
Skinshifter
Garruk, Primal Hunter
Garruk Relentless
Scavenging Ooze
Daybreak Ranger

Ah, upgrades and Planeswalkers. This one is short and sweet.

I love me a Garruk, I tell you. Three Jaces, Three Garruks. Fully okay with this. Garruk, Primal Hunter is just…absurd, and Garruk Relentless is just now making its way into Standard decks the world over. Scavenging Ooze is another winner from Commander, and I think we can all agree Skinshifter is a -wee- bit more exciting than Sylvan Ranger. I cut Devoted Druid because, well, I got plenty of 1-drop accelerators and this was simply the worst/clunkiest two mana accelerator.

Lastly, oh Wolfbriar Elemental. I know what I was trying to do with you, and I think everyone else saw it too. You want to be a mono green deck’s best friend. And those decks exist. But not in this format.

And is that the Kibler-favorite Daybreak Ranger? You bet it is. Replacing the far too unsexy Rampaging Baloths (Hell, Primeval Titan is better), this card is nuts pre and post-flip. I hope it hits Standard hard, as I think it deserves it and Kibler is certainly trying to make it happen. Regardless, when it flips it’s basically Visara the Dreadful if you have red mana. Not too shabby.

Colorless Cards

Drops:
Lashwrithe
Bonehoard
Obelisk of Alara
Sigil of Distinction

Adds:
Shrine of Burning Rage
Shrine of Loyal Legions
Mortarpod
Phyrexian Revoker

Okay, so Bonehoard is cute. Seriously, seriously cute. Moving on with my life now.

Also, Lashwrithe was not actually that bad. But “not actually that bad” is not a recommendation, it is a placation and settling for a card that could be more interesting, more played, and a hell of a lot less narrow.

Sigil of Distinction I’m just tired of giving +3/+3 or +2/+2 to any given creature. Another card that reads like it would be an auto-include into every cube, but in practice has very rarely been ‘good’ let alone great. Obelisk of Alara is cool. Flavorful, neat, does somewhat powerful things with somewhat not-demanding mana requirements. I’d rather have either Shrine than this card. Or Mortarpod. Or a proactive card like Phyrexian Revoker.

As for those additions, just how sick are those Shrines? Pretty damn sick! I love their power level and am very happy to remove cards that will see little play with cards that should see lots of play.

Phyrexian Revoker should’ve been in here for awhile. Somewhat of an oversight, sometimes for size reasons, etc. But aggro decks of all sorts will appreciate naming Jace, the Mind Sculptor as soon as possible.

MultiColor Cards

Drops:
Shambling Remains
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
Voidslime

Adds:
Olivia Voldaren
Geist of Saint Traft
Edric, Spymaster of Trest

So, let’s play a little game of Sick Upgrades.

First? Shambling Remains => Olivia Voldaren

Have you ever untapped with Olivia in play? Have you? Seriously? Good lord that card is dumb. It makes Kumano, Master Yamabushi the Squire of this Stoneforge Mystic relationship.

Grand Arbiter Augustin IV => Geist of Saint Traft

So I draft this U/W Control deck. You know how much mana denial I have? Not much. You know how badly I want you to not use your infinite burn spells and removal spells on my guys? Lots. I can Wrath of God and bounce your guys. I just need something that is cheap, easy to defend and kills in four turns. OHEI Geisty!

Voidslime => Edric, Spymaster of Trest

So there was once a wee little counterspell that did wee little things in various degrees. In its few and far between Blue/Green control decks (that often want to be aggro-oriented with a touch of control–and doesn’t like tough mana requirements at times), it did some good work. It stopped a few powerful spells. It messed up some important triggers.

But then the Spymaster came into town. And he draws you cards. LOTS of cards. And is quickly on the board on Turn 2 with a variety of accelerants.

Did I mention he draws you cards? Voidslime never drew me a damn thing.

Lands

Drops:
Windbrisk Heights
Exotic Orchard

Adds:
Moorland Haunt
Kessig Wolf Run

Man do I love me a sweet nonbasic land. As our new Standard is slowly showing us, the best of the Innistrad rare lands are these two and it’s not close. Both do very powerful things incrementally or all at once, and often win the game soon after.

I loved Windbrisk Heights‘ reign in Standard. I’ve activated it a few times in the cube, too. I felt like it was great to try and put pressure on your opponent by threatening its use, I loved of course the tie-in with Spectral Procession, and Exotic Orchard felt like a great fixer. But Windbrisk Heights often didn’t do enough. Many times getting to the prerequisite creature amount would give you the 3-for-1 they were waiting on. Their removal spells would stop it from firing, and often you’d feel bad when you watched the whole game go by without triggering it, or you’d try so hard only to see an Elite Vanguard or something underneath.

As for Exotic Orchard…meh. I just felt like it was the worst of the fixer lands, while Moorland Haunt and/or Kessig Wolf Run are both much sexier. By miles. Lots. Bunches. Get outta here, and take your unreliable mana with you.

Conclusion

So that’s it! I apologize for the delay of course, but I think we’ve once again moved the goalposts. The cube is now more powerful, more streamlined, and I hope more fun. The idea is to give the most visceral experience possible, and I appreciate any and all feedback. Did I miss something from M12 or Innistrad? Should I have went all-in on Mayor of Avabruck and friends? Feel free to chime in.

Thanks again for your patience, and I expect to see you here again in February for a whole new set of changes with the release of Dark Ascension.

- Evan

Do you like Magic?  Of course you do.  Cube drafting?  Probably – I haven’t found anyone who doesn’t.  How about Sci-Fi?  It’s not a far-fetched to say that sci-fi fans and magic fans have a bit of overlap.

With Innistrad on the horizon, Magic 2012 is fast settling into its role as the core set that will oversee Standard for the next year. The mythic titans return once again alongside a bunch of new Planeswalkers and various other format defining cards like Solemn Simulacrum and Skinshifter . We here at The Peasant Cube however concern ourselves not with mythic bombs and spikey rares, but with the strong – if not necessarily sexy – workhorses of the set. And while the set if full of good, fascinating and staple cards with black and silver expansion symbols, below are a selection of some of our favourites along with other peasant-legal cards that we think are among the most interesting. Both old and new are present and we’ve provided a brief commentary on the card along with a suggestion or two for alternatives.

Reprints

Acidic Slime

This is an all-round strong cards and it’s good to see it back for another year. Green is not short of Naturalize effects, and Creeping Mold and Ice Storm effects can be found in green without looking too hard. The advantage of having the Slime in the cube is twofold. It gives card advantage to a colour that is often lacking in that department. It also goes some lengths to breaking the redundancy in green; a pile with Krosan Grip, Seal of Primordium and Acidic Slime is more interesting/less repetitive than Grip, Naturalize and Creeping Mold. It also has a more interesting interaction with cards like Zombify and Momentary Blink.

As far as the stats go, a 2/2 for 5 mana is not normally something to brag about. It trades down with smaller, cheaper creatures, however having death touch means it also trades up with bigger, expensive creatures too. This means that, on the defensive at least, you don’t lose as too mana in the exchange.

Similar to: Creeping Mold, Indrik Stomphowler

Auramancer

This has returned in M12 to facilitate the sets enchantment sum-theme. While your cube may not have enchantments in the same quantity as the core set, the chances are the overall quality of the average enchantment is greater than M12’s. Auras such as Faiths Fetters, Control Magic and Armadillo Cloak often end up in the graveyard as your opponent gets rid of them or the creatures they enchant. Other enchantments, like the seals, Compulsion and Zektar Shrine Expedition put themselves in the bin doing half of the work for you. Auramancer may have identity issues. It is only be a 2/2 for 3 mana which means in may not be good in an aggressive weenie strategy and the card advantage may not be necessary in a control strategy. That said, I’m sure white weenie wouldn’t say no to rebuying a previously countered Rancor. Nor blue-white control to getting back a Volition Reins.

Similar to: Dowsing Shaman, Skull of Orm

Belltower Sphinx

I am personally a big fan of Belltower Sphinx. It is an alternate win condition card with utility outside of a dedicated mill strategy. This is something that a lot of alternate win conditions have difficulty achieving.

Aside

Strategies such as decking and poison are often parasitic; you need to fill your deck with as many cards with that goal as possible. If you don’t, your deck ends up weaker than a deck that wins through conventional means. From a cube builder’s perspective that means that if you include any mill cards, you need to include enough for it to be a viable strategy. If you don’t people will quickly realise its not a playable deck and what few cards you do have in the cube end up dead cards taking up valuable cube real-estate. What number of cards equates “enough” is a matter of opinion but you should take into consideration the size of your cube with regards to the percentage of cards that actually get seen in each draft.

End aside

Belltower Sphinx is a mill card disguised as a big flying creature. It is a win condition on two fronts and slots nicely into any blue mill deck while also being playable in control. This means that players not in a dedicated mill strategy (of which there are likely to be many) can play it and it won’t always end up 15th pick when nobody want to draft in that direction. In this respect it has a similar role to Broken Ambitions or Lurking Informant as opposed to cards like Millstone or Tome Scour which have one function only.

Similar to: Soratami Mindsweeper, Flint Golem

Gideon’s Lawkeeper

This isn’t strictly a reprint. It is however almost identical to Goldmeadow Harrier. Even their types are similar; they are both soldiers. One mana tappers are good because they act as cheap removal which can then upgrade when a bigger creature is summoned, similar to Prison Term. They also help to break up the redundancy of white removal which is often a variant of Pacifism or Sword to Plowshares. While tapping a creature down may not be able to deal with creatures that have abilities in the same way that ‘destroy’ or ‘exile’ effects or lethal damage can, being able to control when a player uses an ability with a

Similar to: Goldmeadow Harrier, Blinding Souleater, Benalish Trapper

Sengir Vampire

An old fan favourite, Sengir Vampire has made this list to celebrate being back at uncommon in the core set. Last seen in 10th edition as a rare, the vampire is a powerful creature for black and can be both top of the curve in a Bx aggressive deck, or a finisher in UB control. The leeching ability is often a win-more however just a couple of triggers can put it out of the range for most removal and creatures to deal with. Sengir Vampire mirrors Serra Angel in both stats and history, both playing similar roles in black and white respectively.

Similar to: Skyshroud Vampire, Fallen Angel

Thran Golem

Thran Golem is one of two reprinted cards in this list where M12 is their debut at uncommon. It is also a card that ties in with M12’s enchantment sub-theme. Unlike Auramancer however, it only interacts with auras that you are happy to put on your own creatures. These are scarce in comparison to Pacifism style auras due to the potential for loss of card advantage. There are some auras that have built in card advantage in order to mitigate the potential loss such as Rancor and Griffin Guide. Others, such as Armadillo Cloak and Pollenbright Wings are so powerful that even one hit from an enchanted Golem makes them worthwhile. While a 3/3 for 5 is unexciting, a 5/5 with flying, first strike and trample is game winning. Having just a couple of auras that can ‘turn on’ Thran Golem is probably enough and can make it a good inclusion in your cube without the need for an aura subtheme.

Similar to: Igneous Golem, Golem Artisan

Volcanic Dragon

Something that has been lacking in Magic’s history is common and uncommon dragons. The best we had are baby dragons or drakes. To fill the role of ‘dragon’ – i.e. big red flying beater – we’ve had to turn to cards such as Sabertooth Wyvern and Geyser Glider. All this ends with M12! Volcanic Dragon is the other card on our list of rares-turned-uncommon and will give a big boost to red decks in pauper cubes across the world. This is one of the cards I’m personally more excited about for my cube as red has been under represented in the past and was easily outclassed in the late game by other colours angels, demons, elementals, wurms and such.

Similar to: Nothing at un/common!

Zombie Infestation

This is an interesting win condition for black decks that draw a lot of cards or expect games to go long. It is also a discard outlet for cards with madness, getting Wonder in the bin or to make yourself hellbent etc. Zombie Infestation does a lot of the same things as Psychatog but is a bit less efficient. However in peasant cube there are less sweepers than most other formats whereas there is a lot of strong point removal making a bunch of 2/2s sometimes more relevant than a single big creature. While Zombie Infestation may not be a powerhouse, it in a win condition that can facilitate some nice interactions with other cards and mechanics giving the players unique tools to play with.

Similar to: Savage Conception, Skirk Ridge Exhumer

New

Arachnus Web

Green removal is always something that raises an eyebrow. It is usually clunky and overcosted. Arachnus Web actually looks pretty good as an Arrest variant. That is until you reach the last line of text. In M12 draft you have the chance to play the web alongside Arachnus Spinner which means that the web can be a source of card advantage and even though you have to sacrifice it when it’s on a big creature, you can bring it back again as long as its counterpart is still in play. In peasant cube you don’t have the ability to pair them together as Arachnus Spinner is a rare. Still, the web is the best of a bad bunch when it comes to green removal and if you’re dead set on giving green this type of ability, Arachnus Web may be the answer you have been looking for.

Similar to: Entangling Vines, Utopia Vow

Aven Fleetwing

The hexproof ability of this card is what really makes it stand out (that and the awesome artwork). While a 2/2 flier for 4 may not be the most efficient body ever printed, its ability to doge removal while flying over head makes this card a viable route to victory. The one sidedness of hexproof means that Aven Fleetwing can be enchanted or equipped to speed up the clock and make it more of a brawler in creature combat. Aven Fleetwing may not look all that impressive at first glance but the combination of unblockability and untargetablility means that it can take over games if people don;t pay it the attention it deserves.

Similar to: Advanced Hoverguard, Shimmering Glasskite

Azure Mage

There has been a debate in the past on whether having an ability like this on a fragile creature is better than having it on an enchantment or artifact. Sure, Treasure Trove can’t attack for two, but it can’t be bolted either. Much like how Dark Confidant is considered far and away better than Dark Tutelage, I think Azure Mage is much stronger for being stood on two legs. Being able to attack and block early while still having reach late game means this guy is rarely a dead draw. You may not be too happy if you see it in your opening hand but at least you will get some utility.

It should also be pointed out that the activated ability doesn’t require a tap as part if the cost. This not only means that you can throw it into the red zone and still draw a card, but when you hit eight mana you can start drawing two additional cards a turn which will make it very hard for you to lose in long, drawn out games.

Similar to: Enclave Cryptologist, Jayemdae Tome

Buried Ruin

Peasant-legal utility lands tend to be – other than a few exceptions – rather lackluster. Cards such as Gods’ Eye, Gate to the Reikai and Zoetic Cavern are enlisted to keep numbers up and drafting them interesting. Buried Ruin comfortably sits between completely broken and borderline useless and gives decks that can use it a powerful effect. Returning a Serrated Arrows, Armillary Sphere or any artifact creature can be crucial late game when the need for extra land is minimal and the need for extra spells is a premium.

Similar to: Not a whole lot, nothing at un/common

Jade Mage

Throughout Magic’s history, the majority of creatures that make 1/1 tokens tend to have built in mechanisms to stop the swarm coming too hard, too fast. The most common of these is a tap activation meaning that, without a way to untap, you can only create one token per turn. This is not the case with Jade Mage which can allow you to make multiple tokens a turn if you have enough mana. This is likely as the activation costs of three mana is actually quite cheap, especially at un/common. This means that two activations costs six, three cost nine etc. Compare this to an activation of four, which is more common in the past, which costs eight mana to activate twice and a whopping twelve mana to activate just three times. I don’t wish to labour the point but I want it to be clear that while three mana may not seem that cheap at first, it soon becomes obvious that only costing three is a big deal.

Similar to: Imperious Perfect, Selesnya Guildmage

Manalith

Recently we had a cycle of artifacts like this in the Shard of Arala Obelisks. Seven years prior to that, we had the invasion cameos. Manalith is a strict upgrade to all of these in a straight up comparison however including one over the other change significantly change the dynamic of your cube.

If you chose to include the cameos, each allied colour pair has access to one, completely on-colour cameo. If you choose to include the obelisks, each allied pair now has access to two 3-mana on-colour ramp artifacts. This not only increases competition for each card, but also increases the number of artifact colour fixing spells a deck can have. If you choose to have Manalith in your cube instead, you have just one card that fills all roles, instead of splitting them up between five cards. This means that there is more competition for the card when drafting (which translates to it getting picked higher) but also decreases how many artifact ramp spells a deck can play. This has a knock on effect that makes aggressive decks a bit more powerful.

It would be wrong to talk about mana artifacts without giving a brief mention of the ravinca signets which are stronger than the cameos I’ve talked about above. Usman Jamil wrote a great article about the signets here on starcitygames.com which I highly recommend.

Similar to: Alloy Myr, [/card]Darksteel Ingot[card]

Master Thief

Taking control of an opponents creature has always been a strong effect in limited as it not only gives you +1 creatures but also gives your opponent -1 creatures which effectively puts you ahead by two. This is why Mind Control is the best non-rare in M12 limited. While the number of creatures you can steal with Master Thief is limited to robots, the fact it can steal non-creatures opens it up to another world of possibilities. Stealing an untapped mana artifact can put you just as far ahead as stealing a creature can and any artifact win a one use ability or sacrifice ability such as Courier’s Capsule or Armillary Sphere counteracts the clause that you lose control of the artifact when Master Thief dies. Another interesting interaction is with equipment. If you steal your opponents Loxodon Warhammer and equip it to your own creature, when [/card]Master Thief[/card] is gone, the equipment will stay attached to your dude until the opponent pays the equip cost to put it on one of theirs. If they don’t have a creature to equip, the warhammer will stay on your guy even though your opponent control it once again.

Similar to: Aladdin

Sorin’s Thirst

The double black in the cost of this card make it an interesting draft pick. Something like Incinerate or Doom Blade will often be the first or second card to get picked out a booster because there is a good chance it will get played regardless of the colours that player ends up in. Sorin’s Thirst is comparable to the aforementioned cards in terms or power level however it is significantly more difficult to splash in a deck that isn’t running a lot of black. If you’re aiming to build a cube where splashing is difficult then Sorin’s Thirst is powerful removal that rewards players for going into black.

Similar to:Vicious Hunger, Devour in Shadow

Stormblood Berserker

The spiritual successor to Scab-Clan Mauler with an easier casting cost. Stormblood Berserker is an aggressive two-drop in a colour that history has shown needs a lot of help. The biggest problem here is that the best one-drop red creatures are often rare. There are no Goblin Guides or Grim Lavamancers to help make the beserkers a 3/3 on turn two and this may be something you’d have to keep in mind if you add this to your cube. One way around this is free spells such as Gut Shot or delayed spells like Rift Bolt or Seal of Fire. However aiming burn spells at the opponents head on turn two may be card disadvantage that only weakens the red deck in the long run.

Similar to: Plated Geopede, Keldon Marauders

[/card]Timely Reinforcements[/card]

Timely Reinforcements has recently been proving its strength in Caw-Blade decks which can take advantage of both the life gain against aggressive decks, and the creatures in any match up where a sword is good. In peasant cube, I’m sure it will be a solid all rounder providing decks with life and bodies when under pressure. Because of the Land Tax-esque restriction it may end up in the sideboard of tempo-based Wx aggro decks but it is most likely to find a home in white-blue control decks. Where ever it ends up, it is going to hose aggressive decks, especially red ones, and this is something that should be considered before you include it in your cube.

Simlar to: Even the Odds, Spectral Procession

Turn to Frog

Blue removal is often non-to-semi-permanent and tempo based such as Unsummon, Frozen Solid, Sleep or Mind Control. This means that blue needs to seek help from other colours and solely use that colours removal, or it needs to be in a tempo-based aggro deck. As green also lacks decent removal spells, blue-green decks often need to be tempo-orientated to be successful. Turn to Frog is the most recent card in a long line of Humble type effects and fills a specific role in the Ux tempo decks. It can shrink big creatures mid combat, it can almost fog a creature, and it can stop annoying combat abilities such as deathtouch and lifelink.

Similar to: Ovinise, Snakeform

Hopefully this short walk through Magic 2012 has brought a few new options to light for your own cubes; be it brand spanking new M12 cards or reprints, or older analogues you didn’t know exist. Please feel free to hit me up with any questions, queries or comment either here, on my site or direct on twitter.

Lennox
@mtg_lennox

Over 100 cards dropped!

EVERY color now 10 cards smaller!

HUGE sea changes in multiple colors, strategies abandoned, strategies reborn!

Let’s go!

View the new cube list on Google Docs.

So let’s start with the goals from our Scars of Mirrodin additions:

Blue Control Must Die – We’ve got almost an entire new color (Black), we’ve got plenty of streamlining of Red and Green (colors that should give Blue the most difficulty), and I’m made multiple cuts and adjustments to the color Blue itself. Preliminary results are good.

Lower the entire CMC of the Cube  - I think I did this, particularly in Black. I don’t calculate this myself, but I’ll throw this into a deck builder script and get some hard data.

Make Green Matter/Better – With 19 drops and nine brand new additions, I think I’ve made Green stronger, slimmer, but more effective. By moving them into a very creature-dependent mana ramp, I lower the converted mana cost of the color while also making them more focused at what the color is supposed to do–have scarier monsters and better acceleration than any other color.

So with those goals in mind, what do I have in mind after these changes?

Make Black Completely Different – Yes, that IS the removal of a lot of Reanimation spells and tools. The fact is, you can have Reanimator elements in your cube, but if no one is actually playing those reanimation spells, the goal is lost. Black has just been the worse half of U/x Control, so I want to really push the aggro element. I brought back cards like Stupor and I lowered the mana curve of the threats available to you. I hope this will give the color the aggro element (along with higher CMC stuff for the control decks to use) to make it dynamic and used by both types of decks, instead of just one.

Provide a new Cube Experience – Change is good. It’s time I threw out some old and brought in some new. TONS of cards left me with this update, and I’m looking to change up what the Cube is to me week-in and week-out. With some sacred cows killed (Doran, the Siege Tower), and some crappy cards finally put out to pasture (gg Molten Disaster), I think the Cube now feels fresh and different.

Look To Others For Guidance & Changes – The fact is, I’m very busy. I got one night a week for cubing, and that’s all of the data I can gather. But there are plenty out there talking about cube, from Usman Jamil on StarCityGames.com, to the awesome forums right here on this site to other forums out on the web. Hundreds of hours of playtesting I’m not putting in, and that’s why I’m taking others suggestions and posts at a much higher regard these days.

So with that said, let’s go:

White

Drops:

Arrest
Austere Command
Conquerer’s Pledge
Griffin Guide
Orim’s Chant
Pulse of the Fields
Return To Dust
Blade of the Sixth Pride
Knight of the White Orchid
Revoke Existence
Soltari Emissary
Spectral Lynx
Transcendent Master
Wall of Reverence
Marshal’s Anthem
Iona, Shield of Emeria
Hallowed Burial
Momentary Blink
Miraculous Recovery

Adds:

Stoneforge Mystic
Catastrophe
Porcelain Legionnaire
Kor Skyfisher
Goldmeadow Harrier
Mirran Crusader
White Sun’s Zenith
Temporal Isolation
Seal of Cleansing

Okay, where do we being? First, let’s just saying the lack of Stoneforge Mystic to my cube is a long, sad tale that should’ve been rectified when the card debuted (when I debated adding it and decided it ‘wasn’t good enough yet’…argh). I actually love the card Catastrophe and I’m very excited to see it in my cube now.

Other cards fill small rolls. Mirran Crusader is just ridiculous with equipment, stops a variety of powerful strategies, and has great and unique protection from colors. Bread-and-butter cards like Goldmeadow Harrier and Temporal Isolation I think will be welcome. White Sun’s Zenith gets no love but will be a control player’s best friend.

Blue

Drops:

Into the Roil
Negate
Repeal
Rite of Replication
Spreading Seas
Take Possession
Brine Elemental
Fathom Seer
Jushi Apprentice
Master Transmuter
Riftwing Cloudskate
Sunder
Legacy’s Allure
Deprive
Body Double
Gifts Ungiven

Adds:

Phyrexian Metamorph
Spell Pierce
Daze
Consecrated Sphinx
Upheaval
Opposition

So here we go with more sea changes. Blue loses some things, gains some things, and becomes even more of a sharp and deadly weapon (gulp–but hey, it IS the best color). Cards like Sunder looked totally sweet but didn’t work out, while the old classic Upheaval is missed. Opposition is a key card in U/G strategies and needs to exist. The entire Brine Elemental/Fathom Seer “Pickles Combo” (with Vesuvan Shapeshifter) is cute, but never actually came together. No seriously–in the past three years, I can’t remember it being put together beyond that one time when it first came out and everyone was anxious to try it. So…yeah, g’bye.

Jushi Apprentice is a card I adore–but it was just SO BAD on the battlefield. The blue decks NEVER want to use Jushi’s ability versus counting a spell or drawing cards with other, more efficient, spells and abilities. It was SO frustrating to see him just do nothing game after game after game. Finally I must remove him. Master Transmuter was a bad idea. ‘Nuff said.

Legacy’s Allure was always a turn or two too slow for me. Unfortunate but true. My final cuts were Body Double (no Mirror Entity = no infinite combo…and when it was in the cube, it was almost impossible to assemble) and Gifts Ungiven. I know, Gifts is insane etc, but part of these changes is trying new things. I’m not getting rid of my copy of the card or anything, but for now it’s off the official list I’m playing.

As for the additions, I’ve got big hopes for Phyrexian Metamorph (who looks insane), I’m happy to welcome Spell Pierce to the family, Desertion returns after a LONG hiatus, and is that Consecrated Sphinx? You bet it is

Black

Drops:

Choking Sands
Consuming Vapors
Corpse Dance
Dread Return
Persecute
Slaughter
Vendetta
Bane of the Living
Nightscape Familiar
Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
Phyrexian Plaguelord
Puppeteer Clique
Silent Specter
Stinkweed Imp
Throat Slitter
Visara the Dreadful
Withered Wretch
Zombie Cutthroat
Cabal Interrogator
Knight of Stromgald
Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
Entomb
Exhume
Smother
Makeshift Mannequin

Adds:

Oona’s Prowler
Dismember
Graveborn Muse
Daggerclaw Imp
Massacre Wurm
Go For the Throat
Black Sun’s Zenith
Nezumi Cutthroat
Blind Creeper
Wretched Anurid
Dark Confidant
Pulse Tracker
Sheoldred, Whispering One
Stupor
Gatekeeper of Malakir

So. Now. Bout this. We have ourselves the largest change to the color black in the history of my cube. And I mean ever. This represents the removal of a huge Reanimator strategy and the inclusion of a pure aggro element.

Only card I’m iffy on removing: Withered Wretch. Still a bear, and does fix graveyard annoyances. Otherwise, let’s kill some sacred cows!

How bout that Stinkweed Imp cut? This card has been in my cube from the very beginning. What deck wants this card? Control. Aggro decks don’t want this, they want something to deal damage. This is a wall. It’s a wall that stops players from attacking. I’ve made an active decision to remove a few walls from the equation (like Wall of Reverence in White), and here is another. Stinkeweed Imp is an annoying wall, and it had to go.

Cards like Daggerclaw Imp are very straightforward. You know what you’re in for. You see what you got. Nezumi Cutthroat is in a deck that wants to kill you as fast as possible. The 3/3 for twos like Wretched Anurid and Blind Creeper work in conjunction with burn and edict effects (along with pure removal like Go For the Throat) to stomp you before you get started.

One of the things I’m curious about is if there are enough edict effects. There are plenty more to choose from (including the just-printed Geth’s Verdict).

Anyway, Dark Confidant has been in my cube for awhile but he’s officially joining the list; Sheoldred, Whispering One IS ridiculous when you untap with her or return her to play in anyway. Stupor is a card that follows up Hymn to Tourach in a 1-2 punch way that few decks can overcome.

All colors love Dismember, while Black Sun’s Zenith will make control decks happy.

Red

Drops:

Dragonmaster Outcast
Bogardan Hellkite
Hellkite Charger
Jaya Ballard, Task Mage
Obsidian Fireheart
Rakka Mar
Rorix Bladewing
Kumano, Master Yamabushi
Comet Storm
Dead / Gone
Flame Rift
Genju of the Spires
Heat Shimmer
Reckless Charge
Rack and Ruin
Incendiary Command
Molten Disaster
Beacon of Destruction
Volcanic Fallout

Adds:

Goblin Wardriver
Goblin Patrol
Rivalry
Stone Rain
Red Sun’s Zenith
Fireslinger
Blast from the Past
Frazzled Editor
Ghitu Slinger

Yes, that is the introduction of silver-bordered cards to my cube! I’m excited to get my fun on, with Frazzled Editor quite a house at times when you think about it, and good ole beatdown cards like Fireslinger and Ghitu Slinger returning to the color.

I’m sure you have to mouseover Rivalry. Yeah, that card is sweet. I love what that card does, represents, and how it punishes players in exactly the right way. This one is courtesy of Kenny Mayer, whose cube I really like and take a lot of inspiration from (find it here). I’ve cubed with Kenny many, many times, and we think alike on many aspects of this magical format.

Moving on, is that Stone Rain? Yes, Stone Rain! I’ve begun to realize that much of the power of Red is in its ability to stop you from developing your gameplan. When it’s not attacking or burning, it’s destroying your artifacts or lands. The ability to keep you off your 4+ mana spells is often crucial for Jackal Pups to get there.

As for the drops, they’re almost universally expensive spells that I felt weren’t crucial. I’m not a 100% on Rorix Bladewing (I’m not selling it off just yet or anything, just removing it from the list / format for now), but I’m happy with the rest of the cuts. It’s time to trim the fat and get to business.

Green

Drops:

Centaur Glade
Lignify
Wild Mongrel
Nimble Mongoose
Mold Shambler
Cloudthresher
Awakening Zone
Bestial Menace
Iwamori, of the Open Fist
Scute Mob
Stonewood Invocation
Elephant Guide
Restock
Squall Line
Moldervine Cloak
Harrow
Mitotic Slime
Explosive Vegetation

Adds:

Thrun, the Last Troll
Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
Oracle of Mul Daya
Green Sun’s Zenith
Explore
Indrik Stomphowler
Devoted Druid
Beast Within

So I’ve cut a LOT of chaff out of Green. I’m still not sure if I’ve provided enough early game beats (ie I may need to re-add Mire Boa and cards like Pouncing Jaguar), but I do want the focus for Green to be creature-based acceleration and big plays as a result. Cutting personal faves like Lignify, if that’s what it takes, that’s what I’ll do. Other cards that I liked that just weren’t powerful enough (Bestial Menace) will have to sit back for awhile and see how these changes affect this color moving forward.

Artifacts / Colorless

Drops:

Sword of Vengeance
Triskelavus
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
All is Dust
Puppet Strings
Platinum Angel
Darksteel Colossus
Masticore

Adds:

Tumble Magnet
Sword of Feast and Famine
Sword of War and Peace
Karn Liberated
Spellskite
Batterskull
Ankh of Mishra
Bonehoard
Lashwrithe
Trusty Machete
Ring of Gix

Yup — I actually added five cards to the Artifact/Colorless section. This includes the Swords, cards that took time to prove awesome like Tumble Magnet, sweet rares like Spellskite, and old favorites like Ankh of Mishra. Meanwhile, I got my Living Weapon groove on with Lashwrithe to help fuel the mono black and black-based aggro decks, and Ring of Gix is a necessary Icy Manipulator card I needed in the cube.

As for the drops, yes, I killed another sacred cow. I hate to say it, but Masticore is just not good enough anymore for my list. The two new versions? They’re great, and will remain so for some time. But the original has slowly but surely been outclassed. Nowadays I want my regenerating 4/4′s to be Hexproof and so on.

Lots of Equipment here, as mentioned, but Trusty Machete gets little respect and I think its time we brought the beats back to the cube. Karn Liberated is an obv, and has been a welcome addition.

Multicolor

Drops:

Dimir Guildmage
Spellbreaker Behemoth
Enlisted Wurm
Identity Crisis
Broodmate Dragon
Lighting Angel
Doran, the Siege Tower
Creakwood Liege
Life/Death
Snakeform
Lorescale Coatl
Call the Skybreaker
Bull Cerodon
Firemane Angel
Goblin Legionnaire
Mistmeadow Witch
Rafiq of the Many
Wrecking Ball
Burning-Tree Shaman

Adds:

Shambling Remains
Glissa, the Traitor

Yup, another huge sea change: For the first time since I’ve had a cube, the multicolor components are imbalanced. I’m ready to give the idea of ‘some combinations just have better cards / interactions’ than others. I’m tired of substandard U/G cards (looking at YOU Lorescale Coatl), R/W cards and so on. Sacred Cows like Doran, the Siege Tower may be cute and look powerful, but they’re not. It’s a three mana 5/5 that’s VERY hard to cast, it’s not in a format that can utilize it fully (like Lorwyn draft/sealed could), and it usually becomes a ‘virtual’ 5 or 6 drop because of it’s tough mana cost. Then you wait until Turn 5 or 6 to play a 5/5. And so on.

Regardless, cards that did little (Firemane Angel) or were just too narrow (Rafiq of the Many) don’t need to clog up our drafts and fill our sideboards with unplayables. We need cards that fill roles.

Which brings me to my only additions – Shambling Remains and Glissa, the Traitor. If you’re R/G or R/B, I want you to be scary. Remains guy does what those colors are now geared to do best. I trust it will come through. Glissa provides slow, incremental advantage, perfect for the G/B Rock deck.

Lands

No Changes. Pretty happy with my lands right now.

Conclusion

So here it is! It took a little too long to get here, but it’s here. The cube is now fitter, trimmer, and a new experience. I’ve gotten rid of some roadblocks, I’ve given new direction to colors and strategies that needed it, and I killed a TON of sacred cows. My cube is now down to a svelte 580 cards. Yay

Now it’s time to play, and figure out where to go from here. The Cube is your chance (and mine) to be the designer and developer of a format. This is my format, and it’s where I push what I want the colors to do and how they best interact. I trust these changes will make the cube the most balanced and fun format Magic can offer. I trust your own changes (and inclusions) will do the same for you and your playgroup.

Until next time, where we’ll go over M12!

- Evan “misterorange” Erwin

We’d rather see one, two, or none per draft, and certainly not more than two in a deck, and that’s what leads us to limit the number that can be the in cube as a whole. However, I find it kind of soul-crushing (I know, rough life) to realize that Gideon Jura doesn’t get a spot, and that likely no blue planeswalker ever will get a chance, no matter how cool. It also bothers me philosophically, because I like the power level of the cube and run other broken cards – Umezawa’s Jitte, Sol Ring – but I just don’t love the games that occur with tons of planeswalkers.

One possible solution I’ve been thinking about lately is to group all planeswalkers into a section, and then to add a number of cards from that section to the draft pool to suit your tastes. Of course, this doesn’t work for cubes that use the entire card pool in each draft (as in 360-card cubes supporting 8 drafters), but for larger cubes or smaller groups, it’s a possibility. For example, we might end up with around 20 cards in the section, and then could add 3 from that section to a Winston draft pool.

This method is really just a way of assigning certain cards a higher rarity than others, and you could use it for any card type you found overpowered or stifling- equipment, fast mana, or color-fixing lands. I haven’t tried it out yet, and I’m not sure I will. But I wanted to throw the idea out there, and ask if other people have done this, or if you use any other method of making certain cards rarer than others.

So here’s my first post on one of my favorite hobbies: cube design.

I like to design different cubes for pure entertainment, although I rarely build them after designing them because the fun of the exercise was in the design. Plus, it’s a lot of work to put physical cubes together! Among the ones I’ve designed in the past are an all-creature cube, a Spirit-themed cube (think Kamigawa plus other interactions/Spirits throughout Magic), and a mono-blue cube (with artifacts of course).

Designing cubes with concrete goals about the games and strategies players can create is very interesting and difficult, often very similar to designing a completely different game from conventional Magic. I’d really wanted to explore some directions that vastly changed the power level of cards after my work with the Spirit cube, and decided my next project would be an all one-drops cube. I wanted it to be small, a cube designed for 2-4 players at most and really only built for Winston/Solomon drafting, two of my favorite formats to play idly.

The idea of a cube where Sol Ring isn’t even good was very alluring, and the idea of making cards like Flame Jab and Scythe Tiger awesome was really attractive to me. I built the cube once on my way to the Memphis Open, to get a feel for the ideas, and trimmed it down to about 270 cards: 90 cards too many. I decided to let it sit for a few weeks, and then come back at it. That’s what I did yesterday!

One odd rule I set myself was “no X spells,” because I didn’t want all the games to be about Fireball and Feral Hydra while so many other strategies got overshadowed, and because those cards don’t feel like one-drops. I decided kicker was fine, as all of those cards were actually built to be cast for one mana enough of the time. Although a little cheating, it makes Sol Ring and such stronger, and I wanted to justify including them while not breaking them.

Here’s the list:

Black

Creatures
1 Carnophage
1 Carrion Feeder
1 Circling Vultures
1 Death’s Shadow
1 Duskwalker
1 Entrails Feaster
1 Festering Goblin
1 Fume Spitter
1 Guul Draz Assassin
1 Guul Draz Vampire
1 Plagued Rusalka
1 Quag Vampires
1 Shadow Guildmage
1 Slithering Shade
1 Vampire Lacerator
1 Zulaport Enforcer

Pseudo-dudes
1 Genju of the Fens
1 Quest for the Gravelord
1 Sarcomancy

Removal
1 Bone Splinters
1 Darkblast
1 Deathmark
1 Disfigure
1 Executioner’s Capsule
1 Ghastly Demise
1 Midnight Charm
1 Vendetta

Card Manipulation
1 Bloodchief Ascension
1 Phyrexian Reclamation
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Reanimate
1 Unearth

You might notice the absence of some cards that seem good, like Inquisition of Kozilek, Duress, etc. These cards are deceptively weak in a format where everyone can dump their hands quickly. In fact, black is one of the strongest colors in the cube thanks to its strong creatures and awesome removal, but it is limited by an intense vulnerability to both artifacts and Genjus.

Blue

Creatures
1 Drifter il-Dal
1 Enclave Cryptologist
1 Faerie Squadron
1 Kraken Hatchling
1 Skywatcher Adept

Pseudo-dudes
1 Genju of the Falls
1 Wind Zendikon

Removal
1 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Hydroblast
1 Mark of Eviction
1 Mind Harness
1 Pongify
1 Psychic Purge
1 Seal of Removal
1 Unsummon

Card Manipulation
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
1 Curiosity
1 Preordain
1 Shared Discovery
1 Dizzy Spell
1 Mystical Tutor

Counterspells
1 Annul
1 Dispel
1 Disrupt
1 Divert
1 Force Spike
1 Mental Misstep
1 Spell Pierce
1 Turn Aside

I’m kind of worried about blue. It’s definitely only a support color, but it offers one of the best cards in the format—Ancestral Recall—and some of the strongest solutions to the Genjus. As my gut tells me that the Genjus are really strong, blue is more attractive as a result if I’m right. I also gave blue the color hosers but didn’t give them to red, because being able to attack red that way increases blue’s power level, while red doesn’t need to be picking on the crippled color.

White

Creatures
1 Akrasan Squire
1 Auriok Glaivemaster
1 Caravan Escort
1 Cenn’s Tactician
1 Devoted Caretaker
1 Elite Vanguard
1 Goldmeadow Harrier
1 Icatian Javelineers
1 Icatian Priest
1 Infantry Veteran
1 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
1 Kitesail Apprentice
1 Mother of Runes
1 Mystic Penitent
1 Order of the Stars
1 Savannah Lions
1 Student of Warfare
1 Weathered Wayfarer

Pseudo-dudes
1 Genju of the Fields
1 Hyena Umbra

Removal
1 Condemn
1 Dispeller’s Capsule
1 Harm’s Way
1 Kirtar’s Desire
1 Mana Tithe
1 Path to Exile
1 Sunlance
1 Swords to Plowshares

Card Manipulation
1 Argivian Find
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Land Tax
1 Steelshaper’s Gift

White has a definite “equipment matters” theme but also offers you the ability to kill basically anything. It’s great as a beatdown and control color. I thought about just running ten more white cards than every other color and making it a color multiple players had to fight over, but didn’t like how that dynamic would play in Winston draft.

Green

Creatures
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Elvish Lyrist
1 Elvish Scrapper
1 Fyndhorn Elves
1 Granger Guildmage
1 Joraga Warcaller
1 Jungle Lion
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Llanowar Mentor
1 Mtenda Lion
1 Mwonvuli Ooze
1 Nettle Sentinel
1 Nimble Mongoose
1 Noble Hierarch
1 Pouncing Jaguar
1 Quirion Ranger
1 Rogue Elephant
1 Scavenger Folk
1 Scute Mob
1 Scythe Tiger
1 Skarrgan Pit-Skulk

Pseudo-creatures
1 Genju of the Cedars
1 Rancor

Removal
1 Crumble
1 Hornet Sting
1 Nature’s Claim
1 Oxidize

Card Manipulation
1 Glimpse of Nature
1 Noxious Revival
1 Sylvan Tutor
1 Utopia Sprawl
1 Worldly Tutor

I like green. Robust creatures, a little mana-fixing, and a healthy amount of artifact destruction mean that green decks are going to be pretty playable. It was the easiest color to design, because I knew exactly what I wanted. You’ll note I didn’t include pump spells—I don’t think that creature trading is going to be very good in the format, and green’s creatures are already pretty solid. Most games will come down to jockeying for board advantage against opposing removal and equipment, which pump spells won’t really assist. I may be wrong, at which point we’ll revisit the issue starting with Mutagenic Growth.

Red

Creatures
1 Bloodfire Dwarf
1 Bloodhall Ooze
1 Dragonmaster Outcast
1 Frostling
1 Goblin Guide
1 Goblin Patrol
1 Gorilla Shaman
1 Grim Lavamancer
1 Kris Mage
1 Magus of the Scroll
1 Martyr of Ashes
1 Mogg Fanatic
1 Skitter of Lizards
1 Spikeshot Elder

Pseudo-dudes
1 Devastating Summons
1 Genju of the Spires

Removal
1 Crush
1 Overload
1 Burst Lightning
1 Chain Lightning
1 Death Spark
1 Firestorm
1 Flame Jab
1 Forked Bolt
1 Lava Dart
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Seal of Fire
1 Searing Touch
1 Shard Volley

Card Manipulation
1 Gamble

Red’s definitely got the best removal, but it’s not amazing at attacking and has no strong card manipulation available, relying on advantages gained by Death Spark, pingers, and the like. Firestorm is certainly one of the biggest bombs in the format however, and red is both really good and very dangerous. Green is likely to be the color that plays best against red, although black may have that honor thanks to Death’s Shadow and the ability to keep it around, not to mention the nigh-unbeatable Bloodchief Ascension.

Artifacts

Removal
1 Blazing Torch
1 Brittle Effigy
1 Cursed Scroll
1 Leonin Bola
1 Pithing Needle
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
1 Shuriken
1 Viridian Longbow

Mana
1 Horizon Spellbomb
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
1 Springleaf Drum
1 Wanderer’s Twig
1 Wayfarer’s Bauble

Enhancement
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Bonesplitter
1 Flayer Husk
1 Trusty Machete

Card Manipulation
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Skullclamp

These are just all awesome cards, although their value has changed from previous formats. The decks reliant on equipment and kicker creatures will consider Sol Ring and Mana Vault, while other decks will consider them unplayable. The Vault may wind up being bad enough to cut entirely, which will probably lead to Sylvok Lifestaff making it in. The fixers give players the option of splashing in powerful cards, although time will tell how viable fixing actually is in the format given the low land counts I expect most decks to run. Skullclamp and Cursed Scroll are certainly two of the very best cards in the format, but all of these are reasonable.

Gold

1 Figure of Destiny
1 Oona’s Gatewarden
1 Tattermunge Maniac
1 Wax/Wane

There wasn’t a playable U/W hybrid, and the R/B ones were all basically worse versions of existing black and red cards, so I choose to eschew them and just do the R/W instead. These are pretty basic choices, with Figure one of the best creatures and Wax/Wane one of the more versatile spells against the Genju.

I’ll hopefully be building this over the next few weeks, and I’d like to find some time to play with it leading up to and at the Invitational. I’m going to be working on an all-old face cube and an all-new face cube in the near future, but I’d love to hear any quirky ideas for cubes or see others that you guys have worked on. I know Alex Bertoncini has a fun combo cube and a tribal cube, and lots of players have built peasant cubes that are really gas.

Feel free to post here or tweet them to me, @SecludedGlenn on Twitter.

- Glenn Jones

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I’ve been playing cube drafts for about three years and it constitutes about 90 percent of my time playing Magic. I draft on a regular basis with a group of about twelve players from my local store ranging from low to high skill levels. I also draft with new players and out-of-state friends at pre-releases and PTQs. With such experience, I’d like to share a few of my thoughts about the keys to success in this format. The value of my advice will vary based upon the cards contained in each cube and player preferences, but these insights should be fairly universal and of use to any cube enthusiasts.

Efficient Use of Mana, More Than Any Other Factor, Wins Games

“I believe that long term success in Magic, and the definition of the best decks, is determined primarily by how much mana we can profitably consume.” -Michael J. Flores, Jockey for the Beatdown- 11/1/2010

Mike is spot-on. Regardless of your skill or the power level of the cards in your deck, the easiest way to lose games is by not making a play until turns there or four. Successful decks need to be able to use their mana every turn beginning on turn two (even if it’s cycling on realistically bluffing a counterspell). This rule has three important strategic applications:

1. Drafting & Constructing a Deck: be conscious of your curve and look for cards which provide multiple options at different mana costs. Additionally be aware of your color commitments; drafting several cards in two different colors with double (or more) colored casting costs will lead to inefficient mana use unless you are willing to highly prioritizing fixing. The most troublesome combinations for double many costs are in W/B and U/B.
2. Mulligan Decisions: As I general rule of thumb, I will mulligan away any hand in which my first action will be on turn four. I will mulligan away most hands in which my first action will be on turn three unless I have tempo-gaining cards such as Man-o-War, Venser, Shaper Savant, or Control Magic.
3. Game Play: The abundance of activated abilities and card draw ensure that Cube is a format in which you will almost always have something to do with your mana at any point in the game. Mana used now saves you from having to spend mana later for the same effect, so you should be looking to tap out (or come as close as possible) every turn. For example, given the option between keeping an Eternal Dragon in hand and cycling it turn two, you should almost always cycle it even if your hand is already land heavy. You’ll be taking one more card out of your deck, ensuring a late land drop, and giving yourself the option to recur the Dragon later. Another example: perhaps you hold back on turn three with Exclude and Repulse in hand. Your opponent attacks with some irrelevant 2/2 and passes the turn casting nothing. Here you should almost always Repulse the 2/2 to gain tempo rather than saving it in hopes or a more opportunistic use.

Draft a Fundamentally Blue, Red, or Combo Deck

This statement is not synonymous with the standard beatdown/control/combo archetype classification: you need to be playing with blue cards, red cards, or a combo deck. Additionally, if playing blue or red, those cards need to be doing some of the fundamental things which are the core strengths of these colors. These colors possess two key strengths largely absent from the remaining colors, each addressed below.

1. Abundance of relevant instants: the value of instant speed cards should be apparent to anyone who has played the game for any significant period of time (more options, the ability to essentially pool two turns of mana against an opponent’s one turn, surprise factor). In most limited formats instants are less powerful (or more costly) compared to sorcery-speed counterparts for the purpose of creating balanced limited formats. Most cube drafts owners, however, create their cube looking to include the most powerful cards in each given color. While balance is always a consideration in cube construction, it is usually focused upon card quantity within colors and casting cost, not power levels. As a result, cubes often contain an abundance of relevant, powerful instants in blue and red, the two colors which have, through the history of the game, been disproportionately given more powerful instants. While all colors have received many instant speed cards, not all are as relevant to cube. Examining each color:White: white’s instants vary from one-for-one spot removal (addressed below), artifact/enchantment tutors, damage redirection, disenchant effects, and lifegain. These cards often lack the ability to generate card advantage outside of limited situations.Black: almost all of black’s instants are spot removal, which is not very strong. Two important exceptions: Hatred (which can just win a game) and Corpse Dance (a card which can be played multiple times for great value depending on the deck).Green: green is severely lacking instants (my cube contains only Vines of the Vastwood, Stonewood Invocation, and Krosan Grip). Aside from the shallow pool of green instants to choose from, most green instants in other cubes open a player up to easy two-for-ones (most other pump spells, Harrow, etc.).

   Blue: Blue gets counterspells, card drawing, deck manipulation, tutoring, and bounce. Counterspells are rarely dead in this format, generate tempo, and sometimes draw extra cards. Bounce spells in my cube (Repeal and Repulse) can be grouped in with card drawing as generating card advantage and tempo. Tutoring and deck manipulation prevent dead draws and draw other powerful cards.

   Red: Red is almost exclusively burn spells and Threaten effects (Grab the Reins and Word of Seizing). The true value of red’s instants, discussed below, is their flexibility to fight for board advantage or to burn out your opponent for the win.

2. The ability to win despite board position: Blue and red have the greatest pool of cards that give a player the option to “play their game” regardless of board position. Nearly all of the cards in White, Black, and Green affect only the board or advance the player in a defensive manner (such as life gain) as opposed to an active manner to win the game. These colors tend to generate tempo by casting spells in their main phase, destroying permanents, and curving out with their permanents. Blue, however, can often disregard board position through tempo-generating cards, while red has the option of sending all burn spells to the opponent once the red player loses board advantage.

These two qualities give any deck which utilizes these strengths a significant advantage over other decks which fail to do so. This rule leaves the remaining colors (black, green, and white) to be played in conjunction with blue and red card or together in combo decks. Competitive combo decks, including blue or red decks without instants include:

1. Reanimator decks: best centered around some recursive engine such as Recurring Nightmare or Corpse Dance.
2. Blue-based artifact decks: best centered around tutors and cards such as Tinker, Tezzeret, the Seeker , and the Thopter Combo.
3. Reveillark decks: best centering around either Crystal Shard/Blink effects or the Body Double/ Karmic Guide combo.
4. Stax Decks: more of a synergistic deck than a combo deck. Best centered around sacrifice effects such as Braids, Cabal Minion and Smokestacks combined with cards like Bitterblossom, Bloodghast, Crucible of Worlds, and Strip Mine.

Draft Archetypes Instead of Cards

This rule naturally follows the previous rule, but requires a little more explanation. Your goal with your first few picks should be to draft cards which create an engine for you to inevitably win the game. Instead of drafting independently valuable cards (Wrath effects, most card draw effects, most green creatures) you should seek out cards which create a synergistic deck. For example, when I take an early Upheaval, cards such as Greater Gargadon, Aeon Chronicler, Shelldock Isle, Tarmogoyf, Psychatog, and Tombstalker greatly climb in my pick orders.

This isn’t to say you must open the pivotal cards early to build the deck. You can often anticipate certain cards being passed to you in later packs, especially in smaller cubes (e.g. Braids, Cabal Minion, Oath of Druids , Opposition). The cards you can reasonably anticipate will vary based upon cube composition and the other player’s preferences, but you will often be surprised at how often you “get there.”

A special note regarding beatdown decks: you might be thinking beatdown decks are a generic catch-all for small creature decks. These decks, however, can be drafted in several different directions. For example, R/G can be drafted as (1) a sligh deck with one and two-drop creatures and 10+ burns spells, (2) a tempo based LD Deck with many two and three-drops with cards such as Avalanche Riders, Pillage, Molten Rain, and Thoughts of Ruin, or (3) a more high end deck with mana elves and 5 and 6-drop creatures. These archetypes are usually much more powerful when focused than merged and as such, you should be drafting cards appropriate for your archetype usually by the beginning of pack 2.

Overvaluing Creature Removal

When making additions to my cube, I try to only add creatures which either (a) are extremely efficient in terms of power level to casting cost (e.g. Tarmogoyf, Goblin Guide, Student of Warfare, Meloku the Clouded Mirror), (b) are resilient to removal (e.g. Simic Sky Swallower, Puppeteer Clique, Hellspark Elemental), and/or (c) give a player some value upon coming into or leaving play (e.g. Solemn Simulacrum, Cloudgoat Ranger, Pestermite). Spot removal has moderate to high value against the first category, very low value to the second, and limited value to the third. Wrath effects share many of the same problems. For this reason, creature removal should rarely be taken early in cubes with less than 1000 cards. I will almost always play a few, but rarely use early picks to do so.

The Best Cards You’re Probably Passing

The following is a few cards from each color which I believe players tend to undervalue:

1. Guardian of the Guildpact: probably undervalued because of unfamiliarity. Very few things kill him, so he’s usually either an indestructible wall or unblockable, which makes him deadly with equipment.
2. Mana Tithe/ Force Spike: almost always a one-mana Counterspell. It can often mean the difference between a win and a loss for a control deck on the draw.
3. Remand: few cards gain tempo like Remand. This card can easily make me keep an otherwise must-mulligan 2-land hand. Similarly, Venser, Shaper Savant also provides backbreaking tempo and gains additional value if you have any means to reuse him.
4. Looter il-Kor: I have won more cube drafts because of this card than any other. He is passed very late, rarely draws a removal spell from most opponents, is deadly with equipment, and smoothes out your draws. I feel that if he hits an opponent three or more times that I cannot lose the game.
5. Corpse Dance: You can easily draft a deck around this card abusing ETB abilities or creatures which die during an endstep (Ball Lightning, Skizzik, Blistering Firecat).
6. Dusk Urchins: a solid creature at home both in a beatdown or a control deck, developing the board and drawing cards. It will almost always give you a two-for-one and sometimes more.
7. Greater Gargadon: one of the few first-pick quality red cards. This enormous threat prevents your opponent from targeting your creatures for value (e.g. Control Magic, Capsize with Buyback, Ribbons of Night). It also has great synergy with mass LD cards such as Armageddon, Upheaval, Balance, and Obliterate.
8. Ingot Chewer: I always try to run at least one or two maindeck answers to artifacts and this comes with a serviceable body attached. The evoke cost becomes very useful in playing around counterspells and for storm decks (if your cube supports those).
9. Rude Awakening: passed way too late way too often. Resolution usually = gg.
10. Briarhorn: a pump spell without the potential two-for-one opponent’s removal spell. Flash gives this card a very fundamentally blue feel.
11. Tanglewire: played turns 3-5 in an aggressive deck usually wins the game.
12. Epochrasite: the Rodney Dangerfield of artifacts. This card is amazing for stopping beats and plays very well with Upheaval or Armageddon effects.
13. Spellbound Dragon: I’m pretty sure Wizards intended this guy to cost six. It will filter hands while putting an opponent on a short clock.
14. Plaxmanta: blowout. After Looter il-Kor, this card has won me more games than any other. Card advantage and a massive tempo swing all for 2 mana.
15. Shelldock Isle: For forgoing 3 mana, you usually flip a card from your deck of a higher casting cost. Highlights include Upheaval, Obliterate, and Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. Be mindful of LD spells if you’re considering putting a combo piece underneath.

My No-Pass List

There are almost no cards I would draft over the following: Reveillark, Balance, Ancestral Recall, Vedalken Shackles, Upheaval, Treachery, Recurring Nightmare, Mind Twist, Sol Ring, Black Lotus, Umezawa’s Jitte, Skullclamp, Sword of Fire and Ice, and Library of Alexandria. With the exceptions of Upheaval and Sword of Fire and Ice, I would take all of the above cards over the five moxes most of the time.

Quick Note on Mulligan Rules

My group has a mulligan rule whereby if you have 0, 1, 6, or 7 lands in your opening hand, you may show your opponent your hand and take a free mulligan. You may repeat this process until you keep a hand or take a real mulligan. If you mulligan, you may once again take a free mulligan if you show a hand of 0, 1, 5, or 6 lands. This patterns continues of 0, 1, max hand size -1, max hand size. All players must play at least 15 lands to avail themselves to free mulligan. I highly recommend this rule as it makes cube drafting much more enjoyable than regular mulligan rules.

In Conclusion

These insights are, again, subject to cube contents and player preferences. While players can utilize any strategy with various degrees of success, these are the strategies which have provided me with the most success in this format. Hope you enjoyed!

-Doug Lambert

When I tell people about my Cube I generally get one of two reactions; “That sounds awesome!” or “You’re ruining Magic.” If you have an open mind and want to experience what I believe to be the most fun way to play Magic then continue on.

What makes my Cube so unique is not the composition, although we exclude many cards that are in every standard Cube. Rather, it’s the game play that is different. We don’t play with any basic lands in our decks. This is not a new idea, tons of other CCGs utilize this mechanic but Magic the Gathering being the first didn’t think to include it. I’m convinced that if Magic was reinvented today with the knowledge that we have it would be done this way.

Here’s how it works: players may on their turn exile any one card from their hand and put into play any one basic land. This can only be done once a turn and only as a sorcery, the same rules that apply to playing basic lands. This mechanic does a variety of things to change the way Magic is played, and will I admit not all of them are benefits. However, I do believe that the benefits greatly outweigh any hindrance. The four results of this change are mana-fixing, deck building speed, increased options and removal of some archetypes.

Mana-Fixing

Our group of Cubers, after playing dozens of times, got together and pondered the following question. What is the worst part about Magic? The answer: getting mana-screwed. How many times have you cursed your deck because you aren’t getting any mana, while your opponent has plenty to spare. The worst part is, you know your deck is good. You keep thinking to yourself, “If only I had some more mana I would have won.” Well, it doesn’t have to be that way. What if you always had enough mana to do what you needed? Now there’s a difference between your opponent playing land destruction or control thereby taking away your ability to have and use mana and simply being mana-screwed.

Obviously, if you play the right cards and balance your deck you can alleviate most situations that would cause a mana-screw. However, there is always a percentage of games where you either get too much mana, not enough mana or the wrong colors of mana. After keeping advanced metrics over dozens of games we discovered that the average deck is susceptible to getting mana-screwed about 20% of the time. That means 1 out of 5 games you will have a severe disadvantage against your opponent.

There’s good news though; our mechanic fixes all three types of mana-screw! Games where this occurs are simply not fun. And in my opinion, the Cube is supposed to be about fun. Let’s take a look at the three types of mana-screw that will ruin your day:

1. Too little mana – In your opening hand you have one or two mana, things look good. But, the next 10 cards you draw are all non-lands. Crap, you are dead. Our Cube doesn’t allow this to happen. If you keep drawing cards you can’t play, just throw them away for mana until you can play something. As soon as you have enough mana in play to do what you need to do, you can stop exiling cards and play everything you draw.

2. Too much mana – This one can happen in two different ways. The first is drawing X lands in a row early. While you are playing lands your opponent is playing cards. The second variation I’m sure all Magic players are familiar with. It’s late in the game, your opponent has just played a bomb and you have two turns to live. On your next turn you draw a Plains. Useless. The following turn you draw a Forest. Thanks a lot deck. This rarely happens in our Cube. It can because you will still have non-basic lands in your deck. But because all of the basic lands are gone, you have 35-38 non land cards in your deck. This almost guarantees that when you need a spell or creature, you will draw one.

3. Wrong color mana – Since the Cube makes 3, 4 and even 5 color decks a possibility, players are often stuck with the wrong mana. How many times have you drawn 3 Plains but really needed blue mana? Our Cube fixes this as well. After drawing your initial hand, you can easily decide what types of mana you’ll need and simply go get them. If you have a Red-Green deck but you draw 6 Green cards in your opening hand guess what color mana is not so important any more?

Deck Building Speed

Once we moved to playing Magic without basic lands we noticed that decks came together after a draft much faster. For one thing, you don’t need to look at the casting cost of each of the cards you drafted and figure out how many of each type of basic land to include. This happens on the fly during the game. If you need a Plains, exile something from your hand and get a Plains. It’s as simple as that.

The other reason that decks can be built faster is that you get to include 40 non-basic land cards. So the time spent deciding on which cards to cut for basic land is non-existent. Usually in our Cube once a player reaches 40 cards they just stop drafting and are immediately ready to play. We cut our “prep” time (that is, all the time before you can actually play a game in a Cube draft) in half. Where it used to take one and a half hours for four people to draft a Cube, now it takes 45 minutes. We’ve gotten so fast that we usually do two entire Cube drafts in one night because playing out an entire Cube only takes about 3 hours.

Increased Options

The second result of removing basic lands is the idea of increased options. If you play 40 card decks in your Cube you will likely run anywhere from 9-16 basic lands. Leaving you at best with 31 spells and creatures. In our Cube you always play with 40 functional cards. This allows more robust decks with greater options at your disposal. Let’s say you’re playing Red, Green Black and in your initial hand you draw 3 Red cards, 3 Black cards and 1 Green. You have the option of exiling the Green card for a Swamp or Mountain. Or not, but you get to make the decision, not the randomness of a draw. Playing Magic the standard way does not allow you to play multiple paths each game. You’re forced to play the cards your dealt unless you have something like Timetwister that allows you to manipulate your hand.

I’ve drafted Cube decks that played totally different three games in a row because I exiled different cards for land. This point cannot be overstated. The manor in which Magic is played without the inclusion of basic lands in decks adds a whole new level of strategy. That is saying something as Magic in general is one of the most strategic card games out there. When you draw a hand that has 7 of the best 400 cards in Magic and you have to throw away a card, that is a tough decision. But isn’t that what makes games great? Tough decisions? Do you throw away a 6CC bomb that does nothing for you now? Or the creature removal spell that you’ll surely need later? What about a 2CC weenie that will pay immediate dividends? Or a mana accelerator? What kind of deck is your opponent playing? If you know he runs very few artifacts maybe you can feel safe exiling that Disenchant.

There’s another effect here that is important to note. This has happened countless times in our Cube drafts. We typically play best two out of three in our Cube. Game one against an opponent I play Living Death for the win. Good times. In the second game though what card turns up in my opening hand? Living Death. I now have the option to say, “You know what, Living Death is awesome, but I just won with it. It might be fun to try a different route in this game. Not to mention, it costs five mana so I can exile it now and play something that costs one mana.” And because my deck has 40 non basic land cards in it, it’s very likely that I have several other finishers. Or maybe I love Living Death enough to play it every game, so I toss something else. The point is, the decision is mine.

Removal of Some Archetypes

The last effect of removing basic lands is what most people grate against. That is the removal of certain types of decks. Land Destruction can still be played in this format but it is much tougher. Obviously if your opponent can play another land every turn you can never hope to remove all of their land. However, getting an advantage with land in play is still incredibly powerful. If on turn five I have five lands and you have three I’m still in a great position.

Obviously there are several control themes that don’t work as well. The pace of our games is much faster than playing the standard way. Though I would still argue that our games are more fun and faster paced than most Cubes. There are several cards that don’t really work in our Cube as a result of excluding basic lands. Fetch lands don’t really serve a purpose anymore. After a while though they aren’t missed because their value was in fixing a problem (mana-screw) that doesn’t exist anymore.

Another common complaint when players first try the no basic land deck is “I don’t want to have to throw away Swords to Plowshares for a land because it’s the worst card in my hand. When you think about it, this isn’t really a legitimate complaint. If you were playing with 28 cards and 12 basic lands, it’s likely that that Swords would have been a basic land. You just wouldn’t have been given the choice to make it one. That is what makes this mechanic great. If you have to cut 12 drafted cards to make room for basic land you may have removed Swords from your deck. I don’t have to make that sacrifice. I can play 40 functional cards and decide which ones, on a game by game basis, become basic land. Maybe I’m deciding between Swords to Plowshares and Disenchant as to which I want to exile for land. Well, if my opponent has a big creature out, I keep Swords. Or, if he has no creatures and Tawnos’s Coffin, then I keep disenchant.

In conclusion, I feel that if you’re willing to give this a try you will not be sorry and will likely never play Magic the standard way again. Everyone that has played our Cube is convinced that this is the most fun way to play. Some were standoffish at first, but now they love it. As a test you can try this: play a Cube where some players keep basic lands in their decks and some don’t. I guarantee that the players without basic lands will win more of the time (provided that all players are of similar ability). First off, the standard players will lose 20% of the time just because they won’t get the mana they need. Secondly, the basic land removers will have more choices in hand.

What have you to lose? If you’re like me, you’ve drafted Cube hundreds of times. Try it without basic lands next time and see what happens. If you hate it you can always go back to the normal way for the next hundred drafts. But if you love it, it will change the way you play Magic for the rest of your life.

- Ben Albert