Seeing the discussion here I got the idea that more than one person in this forum is interested in the idea of a Cube where everything is artifact-based. While surely the idea is not new and probably many such Cubes exist in the wild, I think that it could be nice and useful to try and build a Cube together, with many ideas coming from different people, in order to make something unique. Why exactly artifacts? I feel they are a very synergistic type of card, and also they get a lot of support from Wizards. Also, Wizards itself did a couple of years ago a Remix Draft: Artifacts that was almost a Cube with seeded rarities and where every colour combination had some artifact theme (some where Clues/Investigate, Food, etc, while some others were more "classic" artifact aggro). Since we are on this forum and not on the Balduvian Trading Post forum, I feel that we should aim for a high synergy cube with mid power level. So surely no power 9, vault-key or shops!
Artifact Aggro
I think that the more aggressive archetypes in the Cube could be some things based on build-around cards like Tempered Steel, Steel Overseer and Hardened Scales (there is a lot of overlap between +1/+1 counters and artifacts, as witnessed by modular but also by the Remix Draft environment). But also stuff like Master of Etherium and Chief of the Foundry, or even Thopter Spy Network. Clearly we will need some aggressive creatures to attack with, like Glint Hawk, the arcbound creatures, Atog, Vault Skirge, Signal Pest etc. Also affinity cards like Gearseeker Serpent or Myr Enforcer. And the bolts like Shrapnel Blast and Galvanic Blast. I see these more aggressive archetypes mainly in colour combinations with white, so for example W/U, W/R, W/G and maybe also R/G. Even though probably since this Cube will have many colourless cards (because in the first sixteen years of the game all artifact were colourless), probably the archetypes can be a bit loose and go outside the usual paradigm from WotC.
Artifact Control
I always loved the "Tezzerator"-style decks in constructed, so I see that some control decks could be based on things like that: a bit of artifact ramp (with Signets and Talismans and other stones), maybe some toolbox (Trinket Mage and Tezzeret the Seeker), obviously a package of hate artifacts (spellbombs, Pithing Needle, etc) and the usual Thirst for Knowledge for card advantage. Now the year is 2025, so many new cards have been printed, so for example I think some new cards like Grim Bauble, Cryogen Relic and Dubious Delicacy could slot nicely in this kind of toolbox control deck. Especially if we give these decks a way to recur artifact, that may be via Emry, Lurker of the Loch or via some Cloudstone Curio shenanigans. It looks that blue is the central colour in this kind of archetype, even though I feel like blue is the colour with more connections to artifacts, in general. But I think that probably control decks will mainly be U/B or U/G (if we put in also some connections with Clues like Tireless Tracker, Wavesifter and Lonis, Cryptozoologist). But there are many many value cards with artifacts, from the now-banned-in-pauper Deadly Dispute (especially in combination with Ichor Wellspring) to Thought Monitor to Sayi, Master Thopterist and so on
Artifact Combo
We have to be careful to insert combos if we want them to be at the same power level of the other decks. One artifact combo deck I really always loved is Eggs, and many of the cards (the eggs themselves, Elsewhere Flask, Reshape) are probably good enough to be included in the Cube, so we can put in also Second Sunrise and Faith's Reward and let people have fun. In addition to this, I think there are many many possible combos or just "strong synergies" doable with artifacts, like the classic Goblin Welder putting a big 9 mana artifact on the battlefield at turn 2-3, and so on. Trash for Treasure, Goblin Engineer, Grinding Station, Scrap Trawler... there are many cards that are strong on their own but are also engines for powerful combos. I wouldn't put too many 2-card combos though, so no painter-grindstone or obviously vault-key. Something like Thopter Foundry and Sword of the Meek instead should be fine. Probably U/R should be a combo combination, maybe also B/R. Here I am thinking of B/R more like a "value sacrifice of artifacts" chain combo, like there were in standard those decks with Oni-Cult Anvil and all the Blood tokens. Here with the many variants of Deadly Dispute it should be pretty easy to assemble this kind of death machine. There is also Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar (I wrote it from memory so probably it is wrong) and her diary, and there was maybe a Scars of Mirrodin card that comboed with them?
Foods? Tokens?
Maybe some of the archetypes could also be centered around Food tokens, or also other kinds of token (there are... a lot right now. Clues, Blood, Food, Treasures, Powerstones, and probably many more that I can remember, but already 5 are many. I remember vividly when the Gold token of Gild was something new and exciting). I was thinking Food in particular because now it has been an archetype in three different draft formats (ELD, LTR and WOE) so there should be plenty of support cards. Academy Manufacturer, Astrid Peth (if we allow UB cards...), Experimental Confectioner, Feasting Troll King, Tireless Provisioner, Gilded Goose, the cat-oven combo, Tough Cookie that is also a very aggressive card. And then there are Glimmer Bairn and stuff like that to exploit the mass production of tokens. But there are many other possibilities, I just remembered the existence of Map tokens so for example there was some t2 deck some time ago that used Spyglass Siren and Sentinel of the Nameless City to produce low-cost artifact tokens and then use stuff like Zoetic Glyph to animate them. Probably there are similar things that were not legal in standard at the time
What do you all think of this project? Do you like the idea? Where would you start? I feel one of the most difficult things to do when starting a Cube project is which cards to add first, or whether it is better to delineate the general "areas" of the Cube and then adding the cards later...
Artifact Aggro
I think that the more aggressive archetypes in the Cube could be some things based on build-around cards like Tempered Steel, Steel Overseer and Hardened Scales (there is a lot of overlap between +1/+1 counters and artifacts, as witnessed by modular but also by the Remix Draft environment). But also stuff like Master of Etherium and Chief of the Foundry, or even Thopter Spy Network. Clearly we will need some aggressive creatures to attack with, like Glint Hawk, the arcbound creatures, Atog, Vault Skirge, Signal Pest etc. Also affinity cards like Gearseeker Serpent or Myr Enforcer. And the bolts like Shrapnel Blast and Galvanic Blast. I see these more aggressive archetypes mainly in colour combinations with white, so for example W/U, W/R, W/G and maybe also R/G. Even though probably since this Cube will have many colourless cards (because in the first sixteen years of the game all artifact were colourless), probably the archetypes can be a bit loose and go outside the usual paradigm from WotC.
Artifact Control
I always loved the "Tezzerator"-style decks in constructed, so I see that some control decks could be based on things like that: a bit of artifact ramp (with Signets and Talismans and other stones), maybe some toolbox (Trinket Mage and Tezzeret the Seeker), obviously a package of hate artifacts (spellbombs, Pithing Needle, etc) and the usual Thirst for Knowledge for card advantage. Now the year is 2025, so many new cards have been printed, so for example I think some new cards like Grim Bauble, Cryogen Relic and Dubious Delicacy could slot nicely in this kind of toolbox control deck. Especially if we give these decks a way to recur artifact, that may be via Emry, Lurker of the Loch or via some Cloudstone Curio shenanigans. It looks that blue is the central colour in this kind of archetype, even though I feel like blue is the colour with more connections to artifacts, in general. But I think that probably control decks will mainly be U/B or U/G (if we put in also some connections with Clues like Tireless Tracker, Wavesifter and Lonis, Cryptozoologist). But there are many many value cards with artifacts, from the now-banned-in-pauper Deadly Dispute (especially in combination with Ichor Wellspring) to Thought Monitor to Sayi, Master Thopterist and so on
Artifact Combo
We have to be careful to insert combos if we want them to be at the same power level of the other decks. One artifact combo deck I really always loved is Eggs, and many of the cards (the eggs themselves, Elsewhere Flask, Reshape) are probably good enough to be included in the Cube, so we can put in also Second Sunrise and Faith's Reward and let people have fun. In addition to this, I think there are many many possible combos or just "strong synergies" doable with artifacts, like the classic Goblin Welder putting a big 9 mana artifact on the battlefield at turn 2-3, and so on. Trash for Treasure, Goblin Engineer, Grinding Station, Scrap Trawler... there are many cards that are strong on their own but are also engines for powerful combos. I wouldn't put too many 2-card combos though, so no painter-grindstone or obviously vault-key. Something like Thopter Foundry and Sword of the Meek instead should be fine. Probably U/R should be a combo combination, maybe also B/R. Here I am thinking of B/R more like a "value sacrifice of artifacts" chain combo, like there were in standard those decks with Oni-Cult Anvil and all the Blood tokens. Here with the many variants of Deadly Dispute it should be pretty easy to assemble this kind of death machine. There is also Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar (I wrote it from memory so probably it is wrong) and her diary, and there was maybe a Scars of Mirrodin card that comboed with them?
Foods? Tokens?
Maybe some of the archetypes could also be centered around Food tokens, or also other kinds of token (there are... a lot right now. Clues, Blood, Food, Treasures, Powerstones, and probably many more that I can remember, but already 5 are many. I remember vividly when the Gold token of Gild was something new and exciting). I was thinking Food in particular because now it has been an archetype in three different draft formats (ELD, LTR and WOE) so there should be plenty of support cards. Academy Manufacturer, Astrid Peth (if we allow UB cards...), Experimental Confectioner, Feasting Troll King, Tireless Provisioner, Gilded Goose, the cat-oven combo, Tough Cookie that is also a very aggressive card. And then there are Glimmer Bairn and stuff like that to exploit the mass production of tokens. But there are many other possibilities, I just remembered the existence of Map tokens so for example there was some t2 deck some time ago that used Spyglass Siren and Sentinel of the Nameless City to produce low-cost artifact tokens and then use stuff like Zoetic Glyph to animate them. Probably there are similar things that were not legal in standard at the time
What do you all think of this project? Do you like the idea? Where would you start? I feel one of the most difficult things to do when starting a Cube project is which cards to add first, or whether it is better to delineate the general "areas" of the Cube and then adding the cards later...
