Highball: Legacy of the Rails

[Onderzeeboot]

I think a number of cards naturally cross the line between synergy and what you call strategy, simply because WotC pushed those cards for constructed or rarity. E.g. the Rekindling Phoenix you mentioned. Those cards are still naturally strong anchor points for synergy based archetypes they play well in, but they do mean it becomes a lot harder for synergy based archetypes without naturally powerful payoffs to compete.

For that matter, I don't know if synergy vs. strategy is the right terminology. Every synergy based deck naturally falls into one or more standard archetypes, so it's not as if synergy based cubes don't do "strategy". There's no synergy over strategy thing going on, so much as your strategies take the form of synergy based decks. Likewise, Funch e.a. aren't really pushing strategy over synergy. Decks you draft will still often be highly synergistic, simply because each of the cards fits so well into its archetype. What those cubes do is include tight, interchangeable support for the different basic theaters of play (aggro, midrange, control). Combo is left out because it isn't possible to support generic combo. In other words, they're not cutting synergy, they're cutting build around cards that require specific support. Basically, an aggro card should be playable in every aggro deck (of the right color). Champion of the Parish is a bad aggro card in these cubes, because it requires a very specific subset of cards (humans, obviously) to function. What's very typical of these cubes, is that their curators don't look at the potential ceiling of a card (which is huge for Champion of the Parish), but rather at the potential floor. If you don't draw another human, Champion of the Parish is a horrible 1/1, completely unplayable for an aggro (or any) deck.

Really, what we're looking at here is cubes on one side characterized by:

* Narrow archetypes, archetypal 'islands' (disregarding color, some cards are expected to work in only one drafter's deck, even if they are not the only drafter in a given broad archetype (aggro, combo, control, or midrange))
* A number of low floor/high ceiling cards (cards that are elevated by synergies with a subset of other cards)
* Synergy over interchangeability (e.g. Harnessed Lightning over Incinerate because you want to support energy)
* Theme over value (when looking at a random booster, the cards often tell you a specific theme is supported, e.g. cards like Life from the Loam, Blood Artist, Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle, or Master of Etherium)

And cubes on the other side of the spectrum, characterized by:

* Broad archetypes, archetypal 'continents' (disregarding color, cards in one drafter's deck are expected to work as well in any other drafter's deck that falls in the same broad archetype)
* High floor cards exclusively (each card should be able to stand on its own)
* Synergy through interchangeability (e.g. Fire Ambush over Harnessed Lightning because that means you don't have to run energy and Fire Ambush goes face, so it has value in aggro as well)
* Value over theme (when looking at a booster, no theme pops out, instead you're looking at a pack of generally useful cards that promise a great density of broadly applicable cards, e.g. Shock, Hieroglyphic Illumination, Boreal Druid)

I'm a bit tired, haven't slept well, so there's probably more I could be saying, but hey, it's a start of a thought!

 

[TrainmasterGT]

I think a number of cards naturally cross the line between synergy and what you call strategy, simply because WotC pushed those cards for constructed or rarity. E.g. the Rekindling Phoenix you mentioned. Those cards are still naturally strong anchor points for synergy based archetypes they play well in, but they do mean it becomes a lot harder for synergy based archetypes without naturally powerful payoffs to compete.

For that matter, I don't know if synergy vs. strategy is the right terminology. Every synergy based deck naturally falls into one or more standard archetypes, so it's not as if synergy based cubes don't do "strategy". There's no synergy over strategy thing going on, so much as your strategies take the form of synergy based decks. Likewise, Funch e.a. aren't really pushing strategy over synergy. Decks you draft will still often be highly synergistic, simply because each of the cards fits so well into its archetype. What those cubes do is include tight, interchangeable support for the different basic theaters of play (aggro, midrange, control). Combo is left out because it isn't possible to support generic combo. In other words, they're not cutting synergy, they're cutting build around cards that require specific support. Basically, an aggro card should be playable in every aggro deck (of the right color). Champion of the Parish is a bad aggro card in these cubes, because it requires a very specific subset of cards (humans, obviously) to function. What's very typical of these cubes, is that their curators don't look at the potential ceiling of a card (which is huge for Champion of the Parish), but rather at the potential floor. If you don't draw another human, Champion of the Parish is a horrible 1/1, completely unplayable for an aggro (or any) deck.

Really, what we're looking at here is cubes on one side characterized by:

* Narrow archetypes, archetypal 'islands' (disregarding color, some cards are expected to work in only one drafter's deck, even if they are not the only drafter in a given broad archetype (aggro, combo, control, or midrange))
* A number of low floor/high ceiling cards (cards that are elevated by synergies with a subset of other cards)
* Synergy over interchangeability (e.g. Harnessed Lightning over Incinerate because you want to support energy)
* Theme over value (when looking at a random booster, the cards often tell you a specific theme is supported, e.g. cards like Life from the Loam, Blood Artist, Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle, or Master of Etherium)

And cubes on the other side of the spectrum, characterized by:

* Broad archetypes, archetypal 'continents' (disregarding color, cards in one drafter's deck are expected to work as well in any other drafter's deck that falls in the same broad archetype)
* High floor cards exclusively (each card should be able to stand on its own)
* Synergy through interchangeability (e.g. Fire Ambush over Harnessed Lightning because that means you don't have to run energy and Fire Ambush goes face, so it has value in aggro as well)
* Value over theme (when looking at a booster, no theme pops out, instead you're looking at a pack of generally useful cards that promise a great density of broadly applicable cards, e.g. Shock, Hieroglyphic Illumination, Boreal Druid)

I'm a bit tired, haven't slept well, so there's probably more I could be saying, but hey, it's a start of a thought!

Sorry I've taken so long to reply to this, I wanted to think about what you were saying here before I just replied.

I did a poor job explaining what I meant by "Strategy VS. Synergy." However, you said what I was trying to convey in my post, so I'll just quote what you said:

What those cubes do is include tight, interchangeable support for the different basic theaters of play (aggro, midrange, control). What's very typical of these cubes, is that their curators don't look at the potential ceiling of a card, but rather at the potential floor. Synergy through interchangeability, value over theme.

...And that's what I meant by "Strategy." Cards in that type of cube aren't being chosen for how they thematically fit with other cards in the cube, but rather for interchangeability, and for value. Synergy, by contrast, was meant to refer to constructions where cards are, as you put it, "elevated by synergies with a subset of other cards." I just used the word "Strategy" to refer to a focus on the three broad theaters of play as opposed to something else. This wasn't meant to imply that these cubes don't do synergy, or likewise cubes that focus on things other than the Aggro-Midrange-Control continuum don't have strategy.

As far as synergy is concerned, I think cards like Diregraf Ghoul and Fledgling Djinn synergize in a very different way than cards like Blood artist and Nantuko Husk. Ghoul and Djinn synergize because they both work well towards the same end goal (kill the opponent as quickly as possibly), while Artist and Husk work together because they're abilities are linked (Sacrificing a creature to the Husk causes the Artist to drain the opponent for 1). Both sets of cards have Synergy, but for completely different reasons.

I think my problem is that I know generally what I want to do with my cube, but it's not something that a lot of other people have done. Since I don't have the Magic experience to evaluate everything well, it makes it hard for me to create the ideal gameplay environment I envision in my head. I don't even know what I'm thinking anymore regarding cube. I have a heck of a lot more self-doubt in my design skills than I did 6 months ago, and I'm not really sure why. Something still just doesn't feel right and I'm not quite sure how to get where I want to go.

Maybe some ideas from part two of that last post I did will help. I'll get on that when I can.

 

[Nanonox]

I’m feeling the same way Trainmaster, where it feels like I am stuck between 2 schools of thought to whom I both wnt to adhere.
I realized this came from reading all the posts on the cube subreddit as well as Usman’s set reviews and Solely Singleton podcast.

I want to play all the “good” cards because I find them fun (chaining cantrips, powerful planeswalkers, effecient ETBs,...), but then I remember everything I read here about balancing the cube card draw colorwise, overloading on value creatures and so on. Bringing them together is probably impossible.

That being said, cubes like Inschio’s brings heaps of power using synergy, but it’s too complicated for my playgroup.Shamizy’s is more in line with what I want (high powered cards with synergy still being rewarded), but I need to adapt it to my environment.

What I’ve tried doing (and that has been drafting well in theory at least) are broad themes across the cube (GY and artifact in this case). Essentially I try and have artifact and GY related cards everywhere I can without sacrificing too much power level.
If the card is too narrow to be played outside an artifact/GY deck it’s not worth it (except for a few enablers). This leads to a threshold of those cards that can come together to build synergy decks. Or if you don’t go that route (because tou didn’t see the enablers, then who cares? Your deck is still good, just more generic).

This is the artifactify principle that dbs wrote about in his great artifact post.

Good luck with your musings, can’t wait to read part 2!

 

[Onderzeeboot]

I think you've got a tight exchange of ideas going on, no need to be hard on yourself Train!

As far as synergy is concerned, I think cards like Diregraf Ghoul and Fledgling Djinn synergize in a very different way than cards like Blood artist and Nantuko Husk. Ghoul and Djinn synergize because they both work well towards the same end goal (kill the opponent as quickly as possibly), while Artist and Husk work together because they're abilities are linked (Sacrificing a creature to the Husk causes the Artist to drain the opponent for 1). Both sets of cards have Synergy, but for completely different reasons.

Yeah, this is a valid observation! Explained like this I think you can fairly say that cubes emphasizing interactions like the latter focus more on synergy. Oh. Wait a minute. I just realized that the latter type of synergy revolves around synergistic card interactions, while the former revolves around strategic synergy. That's a nice distinction, I think.

I think my problem is that I know generally what I want to do with my cube, but it's not something that a lot of other people have done. Since I don't have the Magic experience to evaluate everything well, it makes it hard for me to create the ideal gameplay environment I envision in my head. I don't even know what I'm thinking anymore regarding cube. I have a heck of a lot more self-doubt in my design skills than I did 6 months ago, and I'm not really sure why. Something still just doesn't feel right and I'm not quite sure how to get where I want to go.

Maybe some ideas from part two of that last post I did will help. I'll get on that when I can.

I think second-guessing yourself comes naturally with the job of exploring new design territory. The last time I reshuffled my color wheel, it took me half a year to bite the bullet and accept that I was able to fit in more of my design goals with the new color wheel, even though it meant abandoning the much beloved Grixis shard. I kept looking at different color wheel configurations that might keep Grixis around, but none of them made sense (for me) over the one I had already picked. You could argue that this was a relatively easy switch. Sure, I had to reevaluate my archetypes, and pick hundreds of new cards, but I had a very clear idea of what I wanted to achieve by changing the color wheel (i.e. fix aggro and have better graveyard support). You're looking at the much harder task to bridge the concepts of a Riptidian 'synergistic card interactions' cube and a Funchian 'strategic synergy' cube. Not only does this entail, presumably, a large departure from the cubes you've built up to this point, but you're also dealing with two concepts that seem at odds with each other. As with most cube projects, it's good to keep in mind that it's hard to build a cube that sucks. I mean, the stuff WotC puts out is regarded by most of us (both Riptidian and Funchian designers) as pretty mediocre, but you know what? The WotC cubes are still a lot of fun, because drafting and playing Magic are fun! I think in your case it might be fruitful to write down the similarities between the two cube styles you're trying to marry, as well as the discrepancies. You could then decide how you want to resolve those discrepancies, possibly finding a middle ground, or maybe there's Magic cards that cross the divide. For that matter, I think the cube concept most foreign to you is the Funchian design. It could pay off to take a look at Funchian cubes and see what cards they run that offer potential for synergistic card interaction.

Personally, I would take a second look at those high ceiling cards I talked about. Champion of the Parish isn't a great topdeck, but on curve it has the ability to outshine each and every Funchian pick out there. Break Singleton on it, and you have the start of a great aggro deck. Humans just got a lot of new support in Ikoria as well. General Kudro of Drannith has a decent-ish baseline as a 3/3 that exiles a card from an opponent's graveyard, but serves as a great anchor for BW humans as well. General's Enforcer has that nice 2/3 floor with, again, some graveyard hate built in, but it makes stuff like Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Kytheon, Hero of Akros, Isareth, the Awakener, and Braids, Cabal Minion that much better. As long as you ensure a large enough number of humans in BW, this archetype has enough legs to be competitive while still synergy-driven. The secret is density!

Another option is the RW cycling deck from Ikoria limited. I've heard it described as 'broken' by some people. Certainly, cycling is a mechanic that is greatly endorsed by the Funchian crowd, especially the new options that cycle for only a single mana. From there it's easy to look at some of the older support cards, like Lightning Rift and add a synergistic shell around it. Again, density is the key, and this would require basically the entire cycling crew from Ikoria, breaking Singleton where needed to achieve that all important density.

 

[Erik Twice]

That being said, cubes like Inschio’s brings heaps of power using synergy, but it’s too complicated for my playgroup.Shamizy’s is more in line with what I want (high powered cards with synergy still being rewarded), but I need to adapt it to my environment.

I've realized that my cube, while not as complex as Inscho's, is too complex for the people I want to play it with. We all may see some cards and immediately know they come together to build a deck, but even things like Aristocrats can be a challenge.

What I've noticed is that graveyard/discard synergies are pretty hard for many people. Many people won't recognize the potential of self-mill, for example.

 

[GalacticTraveler12]

Even my brother, with plenty of experience in card games, board games, you name it, has trouble with self-mill. I think it has to do with the uncertainty of it. Discard is easier because you know what you're "giving up", but self-mill as a feature in of itself doesn't seem to attract many players. I might have to show my playgroup old videos of Spider Spawning or Dredge decks to change their minds.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

It's definitely an archetype you have to see for yourself once before you grok it, I think. Draft the deck yourself once, and then show other drafters what cool things you can do after milling yourself.

 

[TrainmasterGT]

Even my brother, with plenty of experience in card games, board games, you name it, has trouble with self-mill. I think it has to do with the uncertainty of it. Discard is easier because you know what you're "giving up", but self-mill as a feature in of itself doesn't seem to attract many players. I might have to show my playgroup old videos of Spider Spawning or Dredge decks to change their minds.

It's definitely an archetype you have to see for yourself once before you grok it, I think. Draft the deck yourself once, and then show other drafters what cool things you can do after milling yourself.

We've had people play some sort of self mill or dredge strategy at all but one of the drafts I can remember. Most of the cards in the cube that self mill either do it as a cost (Life from the Loam), a side-effect (Satyr Wayfinder), or as gravy (Jace, Wielder of Mysteries). I don't run stuff like Crow of Dark Tidings where the self-mill could be perceived as a total downside. Pretty much all of my seasoned drafters know that trying to deck yourself is the real deal in this format .

 

[TrainmasterGT]

Digging Through Time, Part 2​

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I finally know where I want to take this cube, and I think I know how to do it. I have never enjoyed playing Magic as much as I did back when I first started to get good at the game back in 2014 and 2015. While my enjoyment of the game has not experienced an entirely downward trend, no point has been as fun for me as during the Theros-Khans era. Until this past summer, I hadn't played a game of Standard Magic since about a month after Battle for Zendikar came out. I even briefly "quit" the game following the underwhelming release of Oath of the Gatewatch. Granted, I came back for Eldritch Moon, but the point still stands. Although Amonkhet block and Guilds of Ravnica represented design high-points in design in my eyes, poorly designed sets like M20 and Ikoria have given me doubts about the direction of the game. Even War of the Spark, a set I admire and enjoy playing, had a detrimental impact on all of my favorite constructed formats.

All that's been keeping me invested in Magic this whole time has been my cube. My cube acts as a hub for my friend group. It lets us share a common Magic experience without the pollution of whatever less than ideal trend has shaken the broader community that week. As cube design trends came to absorb the recent sets, I found myself feeling disillusioned. Despite my misgivings about recent sets, I think about 90% of cards that have been printed since Guilds of Ravnica have been well designed. Outside of GRBS chase Mythics and the Companions, I've quite enjoyed the last two years of cards. Despite this, the newer parts of the game have just felt wrong. Until recently, I had not been able to pinpoint why.

I have been trying to write this post for a while now. I've had ideas for how I wanted to follow up the first "Digging Through Time" post since I finished typing it up, but I could never write something satisfying. Originally, I was going to share some ideas I had for changing my format, showing a few decklists as proof of concept, possibly bleeding into a third post. However, there was a big issue: I didn't understand what my design goals required. I have wanted to build a format where I could play some of my favorite cards from when I was younger for quite some time now. As I have stated previously, a lot of the cards I want to be playing start getting into the territory where they work in classic Riptide style archetypes, but also tend to ask to be broken by themselves. Unfortunately, there just isn't a lot of literature out there regarding incorporating these cards in our established canon (an archaic perspective is that these cards are GRBS, which may have been true back in 2013, but not so much today given the wider range of playables printed in the interim years). In addition, I wanted drafting to be dynamic: I wanted players to be able to pivot deck style somewhat easily. And, of course, I had to do all of this while keeping things from devolving into random midrange soup.

I was stuck on the power level point for months. While the environment I'm hoping to create is undoubtedly possible, none of the theories being written moved in that direction. Riptide design has been trending towards even lower power formats than normal, with a lot more narrow cards that don't play well with others. Meanwhile, Funchian designers have been moving away from any archetype definition towards all midrange environments, something I've already stated is not my cup of tea. Throughout this entire process, I had been examining new cards and how others were using them. While there were some cool uses of cards, my own experiments never meshed into something I was comfortable with executing.

Just as I was starting to find myself backed into a corner, Magic Arena was finally released on OSX. My family is mostly comprised of artists and business people, and I am a college student. Mac computers tend to work better for those purposes. Unfortunately, this means that access to some pieces of gaming software tends to be limited. However, with the release of Magic Arena for OSX on the (subpar and very buggy) Epic Games store, I have finally been able to play a large amount of tier-1 Standard with recent sets and a variety of different decks. This was illuminating in figuring out what has changed over the past several years. I finally have a detailed understanding of how contemporary Magic differs from the Theros-Khans era.

There are a large number of differences between the standard of my past and today, and listing all of them would be well outside the scope of what I wish to write today. The big things I wish to focus on are as such:
1. A switch from Mana Dork based ramp to land-based "Commander ramp."
2. A switch from Baneslayer style finishers to Titan style finishers.
3. A decreased focus on interactivity between players using Instants and Sorceries.
The switch to Commander ramp from Mana Dorks is one of the primary reasons why we see people resolving Ugin, The Spirit Dragon in current standard when he used to be a sideboard card during the Theros-Khans era. When the best ramp cards in the format are Elvish Mystic and Sylvan Caryatid, ramping to a Three or Four Mana payoff becomes the best strategy. The threats during this era were also a higher risk to play, as they were closer to Baneslayer Angels as opposed to Titans. However, unlike true Baneslayer Angels, the best threats had a little bit of extra value thrown in to ensure they would not be too weak to creature removal. Cards like Siege Rhino provided their owner with a small advantage for being played, but did not set the opponent very far behind only due to their enter the battlefield effect. Meanwhile, cards like Dragonlord Ojutai protected themselves from being removed, but only when being used defensively. Because these creatures' primary benefit were their bodies, removal and interaction were still extremely important to play. Today, since threats tend to immediately replace themselves or repeatedly return, playing strong removal is often inherently a disadvantage. This list of changes is less than exhaustive and based entirely on my perception of events. Much else has changed, but these are the elements that have had the biggest impact on my experience.

Thanks to my revelations regarding how newer formats compared to Theros Khans, I have finally figured out how to go about building my new cube. The data I have aggregated over the past year regarding archetype design has allowed me to see that I can directly port almost all of my favorite decks from late 2014 and early 2015 into a cube environment with practically no trouble. Standard decks like Sidisi Whip, Abzan Control, Esper Dragons, Green-Red Monsters, and Atarka Red have enough similar and replaceable parts that they can come in almost exactly as they were. Some decks from the eternal formats of that era, like Izzet Prowess and Death and Taxes, are also reasonably simple ports. I think I can make something approximating the feel of Magic in 2014 work.

I have been adhering to doctrines designed for synergies I don't care for or min-maxing gameplay for cards I don't like. While I find contemporary cube design theory to be critical to good construction, it has not been adapted to the type of environment I wish to craft. I will have to do some leg work in updating cube theory to work with this environment. Luckily, I now know what makes my ideal format tick, and I think I can execute on this correctly. I have no intention of skipping over new cards and archetypes in my coming discussion. I love many recent mechanics and some recent decks; I just dislike the broader Magic meta of the current era. Careful card choice and thoughtful design will let me adapt the things I like about recent Magic back to the framework of yesteryear. In the next post, I will be discussing the Mechanical themes from the Theros-Khans era and how I wish to implement them into my cube.

The future is now, and that future is 2014.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

I think a lot of what you are looking for is still being printed today, but it gets overshadowed by the "broken" stuff, e.g. Gilded Goose vs. Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath. Titans run the show because they're better than Baneslayers, but cards like Fiend Artisan and Alela, Artful Provocateur (a personal favorite that I run in my own cube) still get printed. Rankle, Master of Pranks is a very satisfying card to build around, and still powerful when you don't. Even though it acts kind of like a Titan, in that it immediately impacts the game, it a) doesn't finish the game as fast and abruptly as a Titan can, and b) is still prone to interaction. Looking forward to see what you do pick up from post-Khans, but also happy for you that you have figured out what you want from your cube. I think I said it before, but it's hard to create a cube that isn't fun to draft if you put even a bit of effort in, so I'm sure you will create something that's a blast to navigate with such a clear plan in place!

 

[Nanonox]

Thank you for writing your thought process. I often look at your posts as you articulate your goals and your design in a way that speaks to me.

I find myself in a similar space where I don't want a low powered cube, but I don't want a min-max one either. What I ended up on are cards that work fine on their own, but that work even better in the right deck. Essentially it means rewarding synergy but not demanding it.

I look forward to seeing your updated cube so I can get inspiration (or just steal your ideas ).

 

[TrainmasterGT]

I think a lot of what you are looking for is still being printed today, but it gets overshadowed by the "broken" stuff, e.g. Gilded Goose vs. Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath. Titans run the show because they're better than Baneslayers, but cards like Fiend Artisan and Alela, Artful Provocateur (a personal favorite that I run in my own cube) still get printed. Rankle, Master of Pranks is a very satisfying card to build around, and still powerful when you don't. Even though it acts kind of like a Titan, in that it immediately impacts the game, it a) doesn't finish the game as fast and abruptly as a Titan can, and b) is still prone to interaction. Looking forward to see what you do pick up from post-Khans, but also happy for you that you have figured out what you want from your cube. I think I said it before, but it's hard to create a cube that isn't fun to draft if you put even a bit of effort in, so I'm sure you will create something that's a blast to navigate with such a clear plan in place!

It is absolutely true that the type of card I'm looking for is being printed today- arguably they even exist in greater numbers than back in Mid 2010s because they are no longer meant to be the best cards stealing the show! Rankle, Master of Pranks is a good example of the type of card I like: Baneslayers with marginal upsides that make them not susceptible to removal. While I'm not the biggest fan of Rankle's specific abilities in practice, I love the card's basic setup and I think cards like him are a good place to look for updating the Khans era for 2021.

Thank you for all of your support through this process, I really appreciate it!

Thank you for writing your thought process. I often look at your posts as you articulate your goals and your design in a way that speaks to me.

I find myself in a similar space where I don't want a low powered cube, but I don't want a min-max one either. What I ended up on are cards that work fine on their own, but that work even better in the right deck. Essentially it means rewarding synergy but not demanding it.

I look forward to seeing your updated cube so I can get inspiration (or just steal your ideas ).

I'm glad you enjoyed the post. It's been pretty difficult getting pen to paper on this topic because I lacked a clear direction for so many months and then had to finish a bunch of random stuff for College once I had an idea of what I wanted to say. While my next update is going to be looking to the Theros-Khans era for inspiration, I'm more than happy to give you some ideas for other sorts of environments if you'd like. Feel free to incorporate as many of my ideas as you'd like. It makes me feel good to know that what I am working with can help other people make their design choices.

 

[TrainmasterGT]

Digging Through Time, Part 3​

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In the previous Digging Through Time segment, I established that I want to make my cube an open-ended experience where decks mirror some of my favorite archetypes from 2014-15. However, I did not go into detail about how I plan to implement some of these themes and how I plan to implement newer themes. This section will discuss each mechanical theme that existed during 2014-15 standard, as well as a few from after that era. The next section will discuss some specific decks I wish to make draftable.

For each mechanic, I'm looking at 3 things:
-Power Level. The mechanic has to do something impactful and appear on impactful cards. However, the mechanic cannot be overpowered.
-Ease of Implementation. The mechanic has to be easy to work into the cube without heavy support or without heavy amounts of parasitic enablers.
-Fit and Feel. Some mechanics might reach the first two criteria but not mesh well with the rest of what I want to do here.

Theros Block
Devotion and Mono-Color Theme
Mono-color decks dominated the first year of Theros standard. Mono-Black, Mono-Red, and Mono-Blue were all popular decks at various points throughout the metagame, and Gruul decks often used a Green devotion core powered by Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. While mono-colored matters themes don't usually lead to the most dynamic draft experiences, I definitely include some devotion cards and mono-color payoffs such as Gray Merchant of Asphodel. I also plan to make sure several Mono-Colored aggro decks are viable in the format, such as Red Burn, B/x Zombies, and Death and Taxes.

Constellation
Constellation used to be my favorite mechanic. Unfortunately, even with Theros Beyond Death's inclusions, the enchantment payoffs are still nowhere near as good as the enablers. The hoops a drafter will have to go through in order to achieve a true constellation enchantress deck are simply not worth the payoff. Unfortunately, I will have to pass on a Constellation archetype.

Enchantments Matter (Theme)
Despite Constellation's somewhat meager support, I think some minor enchantment synergy short of a true enchantress strategy is workable. Powerful cards like Courser of Kruphix, Omen of the Sea, Boon Satyr, Whip of Erebos, and Banishing Light all happen to be enchantments. There are also a few good cards that care about enchantments like Thirst for Meaning, which will more than likely make the cut. So while there might not be a proper enchantments matter deck in the format, there will certainly be a high density of enchantments and probably a few cards which care about them.

Bestow
There was never really a "bestow deck" at any point during Theros Block's reign over standard. That said, the mechanic is pretty powerful by itself and is not parasitic. Bestow will be in this cube, even if it is only represented by Boon Satyr and Herald of Torment.

Heroic
Heroic is a slow, high-risk mechanic that requires deep support for any sort of worthwhile payoff. While Heroic was fun in original Theros limited, it requires a lot of slots to work in a cube and is very parasitic. What's worse is that only a few heroes are actually worth playing in cube. It is not long before a designer has to start scraping the bottom of the barrel for playable heroic cards and enablers. I think I'm going to leave Heroic in my fond childhood memories and Pauper Constructed.

Monstrosity
Monstrosity is a fun mechanic that does not require any support to make work. There are probably a half-dozen monsters that are playable in my target power level. We will certainly see a few monsters in the next version of the cube.

Tribute
Like Monstrosity, Tribute does not require anything to make work. Unlike Monstrosity, Tribute is not particularly fun and doesn't have a lot of playable options. I don't think we will be seeing this mechanic, but there's nothing stopping a card or two from making the cut.

Inspired
Inspired is hard to support as a theme and does not have many options worth playing. We might see Pain Seer, but that is the only card that comes close.

Strive
While there is nothing stopping Strive from making the cut, there aren't a lot of playable Strive cards. We'll see if any make it.

Scry
Scry is one of the best Magic mechanics and was even promoted to Evergreen status in Magic Origins! We will definitely be seeing Scry in the cube. There were two cards in Theros block that cared about scrying, but those cards are simply not good and won't make the cut. So, Scry is awesome, Scry payoffs are lackluster. That's fine.

Magic 2015
Convoke
While I don't plan on doing a heavily supported Convoke tokens archetype, I have two very specific Convoke cards that will play integral roles in at least one deck. That's all I'm going to say on the subject of this keyword for now...

Khans of Tarkir
Wedge Theme
A full-on Wedge theme is hard to make work in a cube without heavy support. In addition, not every Wedge even saw a large amount of play during Theros-Khans standard. Jeskai was only a real deck for the first couple months of the format before Fate Reforged was released, while both Mardu and Temur saw very little play. However, I still want to make sure Wedge decks are playable. I might not be including 3-color cards for every Wedge group, but I will include them where they make sense. I will also be including all of the Triomes once I finish acquiring all of them.

Morph
On the other hand, I will not be including a Morph theme. Morph, as a mechanic, is far weaker than it was during it's original debut back in Onslaught. A 2/2 creature for 3 mana is no longer a relevant body. A playable morph creature needs to either have an extremely high ceiling for turning it face up to be worth the terrible startup cost, or needs to have a playable front end. While cards like Deathmist Raptor, Sagu Mauler, Ashcloud Phoenix, Rattleclaw Mystic and DTK Rare Piker Cycle are all fine cards, they're just not efficient enough to warrant including an entire complex mechanic to the cube. The pool of good morphs is small enough that someone who has familiarised themself with the card pool beforehand should have a good idea of what morph a given player will have the moment it comes into play. I don't believe these cards will be adding anything to the format if I play them. I might include Rattleclaw Mystic because it's a good mana dork, but that's probably as far as I will go.

Outlast
Outlast is a fairly simple mechanic to slot into the cube. While there aren't a lot of playable Outlast cards, any I will happily play any that I can make work. Even if the list of Outlasters begins and ends with Herald of Anafenza, this mechanic will certainly have a home in the cube.

+1/+1 Counters (Theme)
Although the pool of creatures with Outlast is very shallow, the pool of +1/+1 counters matter cards is extremely deep. Due to the relatively large number of non-parasitic counters enablers, I think +1/+1 counters will see some sort of inclusion as an archetype in the cube. The big question right now seems to be whether it is a strategy in all three of the Abzan colors or just Green and White.

Raid
Raid is a simple, non-parasitic mechanic that requires no support other than having creatures. While there are not many playable raiders, those that work will certainly find their way into the cube.

Ferocious
The sea of Ferocious cards is surprisingly deep. Some of my favorite cards, such as Flamewake Phoenix, Wild Slash, Crater's Claws, Shamanic Revelation, Whisperer of the Wilds, and Shaman of the Great Hunt all have this keyword. The theme has even seen support in more recent sets like War of the Spark. While "Ferocious matters" is a bit broad to be a full archetype, most of these cards will slot nicely into the cube.

Delve
Delve was the breakout mechanic of the Khans of Tarkir block. Treasure Crusie and Dig Through Time were so powerful they had to be banned in almost every format except for Standard. Murderous Cut was a hyper-efficient removal spell played by almost every black deck. Gurmag Angler became one of the strongest win conditions in Suicide Zoo, the precursor to contemporary Death's Shadow decks. Even Soulflayer saw some play in meme-filled Chromanticore decks, lovingly called Chromantiflayer.

Delve was the payoff for self-mill style decks, and I plan to use it in that role. In addition, I plan to include the delve-fuled Izzet Spells decks that were present in Modern before the banning of Treasure Crusie and Dig Through Time in January of 2015. While my delve section may ultimately only include half a dozen or so cards, they will be some of the best half dozen in the entire cube!

Prowess
Fun Fact: Prowess was the mechanic the game designers at Wizards of the Coast were most worried about printing, not because it wasn't powerful, but because they were afraid people wouldn't like it. As it turned out, people loved Prowess. It even proved to be the highest-rated mechanic in Khans of Tarkir. Prowess was so popular that the game designers almost immediately bumped it to evergreen status in Magic Origins.

While Prowess has since been reverted to simply being a deciduous mechanic (not every set wanted Spells Matter cards, as it turned out), years of Prowess designs have given us cube designers a wealth of excellent options to choose from. As stated in the Delve section, I want to support an Izzet Spells strategy, with Prowess at its core. In addition, Prowess will be great support for Mono-Red burn decks which will love pumping their teams by casting burn. Prowess is a win-win for this cube both thematically and mechanically.

Fate Reforged/Dragons of Tarkir
Manifest
Manifest is a needlessly complicated mechanic designed to act as a flavorful equivalent to a proto-morph variant. Despite this, it was one of the most impactful constructed mechanics during the Theros-Khans Standard environment. During Fate Reforged Standard, Green-White Manifest was the deck to beat, using Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx to generate copious amounts of mana to use with Mastery of the Unseen and Genesis Hydra. While one deck built around one card would not normally be enough to convince me of a mechanic's worthwhileness, the manifest engine cards' power level is plenty. Whisperwood Elemental and Primoridal Mist are insanely strong magic cards. Whisperwood Elemental is so good that it has even managed to maintain a steady home in the Magic Online Vintage Cube. Primoridal Mist is a great control finisher that feels like a combination of Whisperwood and Mastery of the Unseen. There are also some other niche manifest cards that could make the cut, like Qarsi High Priest, Sultai Emissary, Reality Shift, and Wildcall. While this mechanic is more complicated than morph, it also does not suffer from the "Gray Ogre is a bad floor" problem. At least in the next version of the Cube, Manifest will have a home.

Dash
Dash is another mechanic that requires next to no support to implement in the cube. In addition, Dash cards such as Zurgo Bellstriker and Lightning Berserker were both vital pieces to Atarka Red and Mono-Red burn decks during this era. Mardu Strike Leader and Mardu Shadowspear are also good Black aggro cards. I'm going to play some of these Dash guys.

Bolster
While Bolster is a perfectly fine mechanic with no major issues regarding its inclusion, it's almost exclusively found on weak cards. Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit will be making the cut as an engine piece for White Aggro and Persist Combo decks, but I don't think we will see any other Bolster Boys. It's unfortunate that there aren't more worthwhile cards with this mechanic, because I think Bolster is really fun. Hopefully Modern Horizons 2 brings us some new Bolster goodies this summer.

Formidable
Formidable is another super simple mechanic that doesn't have many playable options. I might include Surrak, the Hunt Caller or Dragon Whisperer, but that is as far as I would wade into this river.

Exploit
Like the previous two mechanics, Exploit doesn't require support to function, but has few playables. I might play Silumgar Sorcerer or Sidisi, Undead Vizier, but I'm not counting on either of them. At this point, I would only consider an Exploit card if I wanted to represent every mechanic from Dragons of Tarkir in the cube.

Rebound
Rebound is a great mechanic for supporting Spells Matter decks or simply providing players with extra value. While none of the Rebound cards I would normally play were printed in the Khans block, Ephemerate, Trumpeting Herd, and Staggershock are all worthy cube inclusions. We will be seeing a little bit of this mechanic.

Magic Origins
Spell Mastery
Spell Mastery is a simple payoff for playing Instant and Sorcery spells without forcing a player into a dedicated spells matter strategy. As is common with the Mechanics from the second half of the Khans block onward, there aren't that many good cards using this harmless keyword, but there are a couple of playable inclusions. I will at least be including Exquisite Firecraft, but there are a couple of other cards with this mechanic that I like, such as Gather the Pack.

Renown
Renown is like Raid in the sense that it encourages attacking. Unlike Raid, it only provides a payoff if the Renown creature actually connects with the player it's attacking. While there isn't anything preventing this mechanic from coming in to the cube, I don't think any of the Renown cards make the cut. At most, I would expect to see Topan Freeblade, Relic Seeker, or Goblin Glory Chaser.

Double-Faced Planeswalkers
The Double-Faced Planeswalkers are wordy and often needlessly complex. However, I want to run Jace, Vryn's Prodigy. This card is great support for Discard and other assorted Graveyard strategies. While he is a bit wordy, he can help slow decks set up their plans and survive later into the game. Plus, I opened a Jace during one of the last FNMs of the Theros-Khans standard cycle, and while I was able to shove him into my deck, I haven't actually been able to play him in a game since 2015. Since I finally acquired the materials to double sleeve my cube, now is a great time to bring Jace out of Mothball and back into action. As for the other Double-Faced Planeswalkers, Kytheon, Nissa, and Liliana are all of the appropriate power level and could make the cut. Chandra, on the other hand, is way too difficult to transform without basically having a storm turn. So I'm going to include Jace, pass on Chandra, and consider the other three.

Thopters
"Create a 1/1 colorless Thopter artifact creature token with flying" hardly qualifies as a mechanic, but it was a major theme in Magic Origins, so I felt that it deserved a discussion here. While I don't think a full-on Izzet Artifacts theme will be present in the cube, I feel strongly that Whirler Rogue, Pia and Kiran Nalaar, and Tezzeret, Artifice Master will all have homes in the cube. Widowed Pia, Sai, Master Thopterist, and Retrofitter Foundry could potentially make the cut as well, although I am less optimistic about these guys. I would play Hangarback Walker if I had a copy, but I don't own one at this time. I'll play it once I get my hands on one.

There you have it! The playability of every mechanic from Theros Block, Khans Block, and their respective Core Sets explained in extreme detail. I originally was also going to talk about the sets following Theros-Khans in this post as well. However, the way I choose to implement those mechanics is going to differ wildly from how I am going to handle Theros-Khans stuff. Fudging the implementation of a possibly environment-warping mechanic like the MDFCs or Adventures could jeopardize the format I am trying to build here. I feet it would be better to leave them to a separate post to give everything room to breathe.

Thank you for reading!
-GT

 

[Onderzeeboot]

FYI, I cut Elite Scaleguard from my cube for being too strong in the +1\+1 counters archetype when I still supported that theme in GW. I suspect you're going to be running at a slightly higher power level than I was back then, so I encourage you to at least test the card. While it's a late drop, it allows you to alpha out of nowhere.

Another card you should not sleep on is Abzan Falconer. It was a staple in the same +1/+1 counters archetype. It's basically what Wonder was for the flashback archetype, except it is easier to interact with, but hits harder (after outlasting at least once). Lovely little cog!

 

[TrainmasterGT]

Digging Through Time, Part 4​

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Now that I've established my opinions on the Mechanics introduced during the Theros-Khans era, it is time to discuss the mechanics released in the following sets through War of the Spark. I will only be discussing Format-Warping mechanics or mechanics that I wish to use for major cube themes in this section. A simple mechanic with one or two cube worthy inclusions simply isn't worth talking about. The exception to this rule will be Battle for Zendikar block, which was designed to work with Khans of Tarkir block's entirety.

As a reminder, I'm looking for these 3 things from each mechanic:
-Power Level. The mechanic has to do something impactful and appear on impactful cards. However, the mechanic cannot be overpowered.
-Ease of Implementation. The mechanic has to be easy to work into the cube without heavy support or without heavy amounts of parasitic enablers.
-Fit and Feel. Some mechanics might reach the first two criteria but not mesh well with the rest of what I want to do here.

Battle for Zendikar Block
Awaken
Awaken is wordy, complicated, and mostly found on mediocre cards. I might play Ruinous Path or Planar Outburst, but none of the others.

Ingest/Processors
As fun as it is to literally eat the opponent's library, I think traditional mill is more effective at this task.. There are almost no good Ingest cards, and very few worthwhile processors. These cards want a deep theme, and the support for that simply does not exist.

Devoid/Colorless Mana/Colorless Matters (Theme)
Devoid and Colorless Mana matters are themes that require a vast amount of special resources to make work. Although some people have had success saying "colorless mana is snow mana," I don't wish to go this path. The Colorless Eldrazi matters cards had a minimal impact on Standard while they were legal. Most of their impact was felt in Modern, where they briefly destroyed the format. Not only am I not planning on including any cards to support this theme, but I would also go so far as to say that I won't be including any devoid cards what so ever.

Rally/Cohort/Allies Matter
Allies are parasitic and underpowered. While a creature or two with the Ally subtype might make the cut, the tribal theme will not.

Support
There are some truly unique cards with the Support mechanic. But they are all to weak for this power level. Next!

Surge
Surge is problematic for a plethora of reasons, despite the fact that it is a fairly simple mechanic on paper. Having cards that mention teammates in a two-player format is strange. Most of the cards with Surge are not costed in such a way so that paying their alternate cost is reasonable in a lean format. A lot of effort is required to make surge work. I could better spend those slots on something else.

Landfall
Landfall is an awesome mechanic because it turns otherwise useless late game lands into good draws. Cards like Fearless Fledgling get huge when triggered by enough lands. Skyclave Shade and Bloodghast turn lands into re-casts for themselves. There are even some good top-end landfall engines like Felidar Retreat which can act as a source of creatures and +1/+1 counters. The mechanic also synergizes well with the Fetchlands. Landfall is a great mechanic, and I will happily be including it in the cube. The only awkward thing here is that I talked mostly about cards from Zendikar and Zendikar Rising in the section about Battle for Zendikar.

Converge
Converge was a mechanic designed to encourage drafters to run as many colors as possible in their decks. The mechanic isn't difficult to make work in a cube environment with good fixing. Despite this, there are approximately three playable converge cards. I think I will be including Bring to Light to make the 34 Rhinos deck more competitive, but that is the extent to which Converge will be present is minimal.

Shadows over Innistrad Block
Delirium
Delirium is at odds with Delve and a number of other graveyard mechanics such as Escape. Delirium wants cards to sit in the graveyard, while most other graveyard mechanics wish to remove cards from the graveyard for fuel. Couple this with the fact that Delirium cares about having a variety of different card types in the graveyard, and it becomes clear that the mechanic is very problematic. While there are a few Delirium cards that could merit inclusion on their own rate, the mechanic as a whole is not something worth supporting.

Madness
Discarding cards for value is a common trope in many cubes, mine included. While Madness seems to play right into this theme, in practice, the results are underwhelming. While Madness is good in very low power environments, the best it can offer me is Fiery Temper, which is just Lightning Bolt with extra steps.

Investigate
Clue Tokens are arguably the best noncreature artifact tokens WOTC has created. I wish they would figure out a way to make cards with Clue tokens more often, even if that meant having to axe the investigate keyword to make things work. I love Thraben Inspector and Tireless Tracker and am excited to play them for years to come.

Zombie Tribal
Zombies are a favorite tribe of my playgroup. They are a great anchor to help get newer players into Black Aggro, and they can give aggressive decks a midrange finish for matches where a purely aggressive plan can't win the game. They also care about the graveyard, something I'm going to push in this format. Zombies are a great inclusion.

Kaladesh Block
Energy Counters
Energy Counters ruined everything, or so the story goes. It's funny looking back, because none of the energy cards are particularly good. They just happened to be the most powerful cards in a sea of relatively low-powered sets that couldn't interact with what energy was able to enable. Looking back at energy, it seems that the only cards worth playing are enablers like Glimmer of Genius and Rogue Refiner. None of the energy payoffs come anywhere close to the power level of the more general good stuff cards that we would find in years previous. Energy is parasitic and does not fit the theme of the cube, so I won't be including any energy cards. Sorry, Aethertide Whale. We'll find a home for you someday.

Improvise
Improvise is like Convoke but for Artifacts. This mechanic is only at home in artifact heavy environments, which this cube will not be.

Revolt
Revolt is an extremely powerful mechanic that requires a little bit of setup to make work. This mechanic was practically designed to work well with Fetchlands with cards like Narnam Renegade, Greenwheel Liberator, and Renegade Rallier being designed with eternal formats in mind. While none of these other cards saw major play, Fatal Push usurped Lightning Bolt's crown as the best conditional removal spell in Modern. While I don't think Revolt will be a theme in this cube, Fatal Push will almost certainly be making an appearance.

Amonkhet Block
Cycling
Cycling is arguably the best Magic mechanic behind Flying. Every card with Cycling can replace itself, meaning that somewhat conditional cards like Censor or Wilt or expensive cards like Lay Claim and Striped Riverwinder can be replaced in the early game when they may not be relevant. I have been running a Discard Matters theme in my cube for years, supported primarily by Cycling cards and Cycling payoffs like Archfiend of Ifnir and Drake Haven. Even though my interpretation of the Archetype consists of cards primarily printed after the Theros-Khans era, I still wish to include a lot of Amonkhet and Ikoria era cycling cards and payoffs. This does raise a slight problem regarding control decks. Control decks during the Theros Khans era lacked good cantrips outside of Anticipate. Instead, the deck relied on Scrying from casting Dissolve and Dig Through Time for card draw. Cycling's mere existence in this format will dramatically change how control decks function in this format. I am weary about how Cycling may impact control. However, I would not otherwise cut powerful cantrips from blue just because Anticipate was the best option during the Theros-Khans era. Cantrips are important to the function of control decks in cube environments. Because there are not many Dig Through Time variants, cantrips and Cyclers will have to pick up the slack. Cycling will not have a detrimental effect on the gameplay of the format. I just wanted to point out how it may affect the "feel" of games as compared to the Standard environment from which this cube will draw inspiration.

Embalm/Eternalize
Embalm and Eternalize are great Graveyard Value mechanics that will help Sultai's self-mill gameplan and fuel Aggro decks in the late game. Not many of these cards will be around, but those that are will positively impact the format.

Ixalan Block
Dinosaurs, Merfolk, Pirates, and Vampires.
Unlike Zombies, the Ixalan tribes do not have deep support. Zombies are found in all five colors and support various decks unified by the tribal theme. None of the Ixalan tribes have heavy support in more than three colors. While some creatures of these types will be present in the cube, I won't support them in any meaningful way.

Double-Faced Enchantments
Ixalan had a cycle of cards that could transform into lands after a certain unique condition was met. Since I'm double sleeving, I actually get to play some of these now. Legion's Landing and Search for Azcanta will be great additions!

Dominaria
Sagas
Sagas are one of the best new Magic mechanics introduced since Khans block. These riffs off of the original design for Planeswalkers are extremely fun and flavorful. Their inclusion does not pose a balance issue for the cube environment, but they still require some special considerations. Because Sagas are so cool, they tend to steal the show whenever they are played. The best Sagas tend to dominate the feel of the game for the turns they are active, even though they might not have the greatest impact on gameplay. As such, I'm going to be a little bit pickier than I normally would be in my Saga Selection. The Sagas from Theros Beyond Death such as Elspeth Conquers Death and The First Iroan Games tell stories set on Theros and fit the worldbuilding of the Theros block. The Dominaria Sagas, by contrast, don't have the same feel as they tell stories from Dominaria's ancient past. In practice, I think this means I won't play some of the better Sagas from Dominaria even if they are power-appropriate, like History of Benalia. THB sagas only get a pass because they feel like cards that could have been printed in the original Theros block.

Historic
Historic is one of the first so-called "batching" mechanics, in which a keyword is used to shorten the length of writing out a bunch of disparately related types or actions. Historic ties together Artifacts, Legendaries, and Sagas. I'm not planning on including a heavy artifacts theme, I'm not putting an emphasis on Legends, and I'm not even running the usual number of Sagas I would in a normal environment. There is no reason for me to support historic.

Guilds of Ravnica
Surveil
Surveil is basically a riff on Scry, which puts unwanted cards into the graveyard as opposed to the bottom of the deck. In Guilds of Ravnica, there were no Scry cards because it is so similar to Surveil. It may make sense to not include any Surveil cards for this reason. The few Surveil cards I am a fan of are good role players, and the mechanic does fit with the graveyard theme from Khans block. It's possible that I won't include any Surveilers, but it is not necessary to cut them.

Ravnica Allegiance
Adapt
Adapt is a riff on Monstrosity. I could see cutting adapt entirely from the cube for the same reasons I listed in the Surveil section. However, I think Incubation Druid is a good enough card to make me not want to avoid the keyword.

War of the Spark
Planeswalkers with Static Abilities
For years, Planeswalkers had only ever been given activated abilities. War of the Spark changed this paradigm by putting static abilities on every Planeswalker in the set, and opening the gates for future Planeswalkers with static abilities. The look of these walkers is a bit different from years past, but the feel is approximately the same. None of the big War Walkers are as powerful as cards like Elspeth, Sun's Champion. The only undesirable Walkers from this set are Teferi, Time Raveler for shutting down instants and Narset, Parter of Veils for being the world's most annoying asymmetrical Spirit of the Labyrinth.

I was going to include my discussion of Throne of Eldraine, Theros Beyond Death, Ikoria, and Zendikar Rising in this piece. However, those sets have mechanics with the most format-warping capabilities. I don't feel comfortable glossing over them, as they're the reason for my writing at length about mechanics.

Tune in next time to hear about the mechanics that changed Magic!
-GT

 

[TrainmasterGT]

Digging Through Time, Part 5​

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It is finally time to finish this little adventure through the mechanics of the past half-decade. Adventures and Modal Double-Faced Cards have more potential than any other mechanic I have discussed so far to warp my cube environment. However, they are also some of the best agents for positive change in the entire history of Magic. If I don't handle these cards correctly, they will ruin the feel of the format I wish to achieve. But, if managed well, they will make games much smoother and possibly even more fun than they might be otherwise.​

As a reminder, I'm looking for these three things from each mechanic:
-Power Level. The mechanic has to do something impactful and appear on impactful cards. However, the mechanic cannot be overpowered.
-Ease of Implementation. The mechanic has to be easy to work into the cube without heavy support or without heavy amounts of parasitic enablers.
-Fit and Feel. Some mechanics might reach the first two criteria but not mesh well with the rest of what I want to do here.

Throne of Eldraine
Adventures
Adventure is one of the two mechanics that compelled me to write at length about post-Khans keywords in the first place. Adventures changed everything. For the first time, creatures had real spells stapled on to them. Before, creatures with spell effects often took the Mulldrifter model, where an enters the battlefield ability would complement the creature's body size. These creatures required extra mana to cast as a cost for getting the spell effect. Adventures take this concept a step further, effectively allowing for a split payment in mana cost instead of everything being paid upfront. Now, a Goblin Piker with Smelt attached could be cast for the fair market price of one spell or the other, rather than a poor amalgamation of both. The WOTC designers took this concept a step further, making cards that wouldn't work under the Mulldrifter model. Take Realm-Cloaked Giant. This card could not have been made as efficient as it stands without the Adventure mechanic, as a 7/7 vigilance with a board wiped stapled on is a huge amount of value to acquire in one sitting.

Adventures have had the greatest impact on the Standard and Cube formats. Their effects here will be felt no less. Leaving Adventures out of this cube is not something I wish to do. This mechanic is one of the most fun and flexible things WOTC has created since the original Theros-Khans era. Adventures help provide aggressive decks with card advantage without the need for formalized card draw spells. Leaving them out hurts a variety of decks which I still wish to support. As such, it is important to pick the right adventures for the format. Similar to Sagas, choosing the right Adventures involves picking cards that won't steal the show. Cards like Brazen Borrower and Lovestruck Beast are very powerful and can draw attention to them as the game's focal point. Meanwhile, cards like Faerie Guidemother are simply value roleplayers. They don't win games; they just help a specific type of deck work. Faerie Guidemother and friends are the type of Adventures I wish to showcase.

Unfortunately, there are a few cards that I still want to include that don't fit cleanly in this paradigm. First is Bonecrusher Giant. Simply put, the Giant has a big impact on the game when played. However, I've never found this card to be game warping in practice. All things considered, the card is actually very fair. It doesn't stack up well against Siege Rhinos and Elspeth, Sun's Champion alike, and its main job is to act as an end game sledgehammer in aggro. However, the Giant's stat block and abilities are beyond what would have been printed during the original Theros Khans era.

The other Adventure I find concerning is Realm-Cloaked Giant. The Giant doesn't do anything inherently broken, being a fine board wipe stapled to an otherwise mediocre creature. However, I worry that a board wipe attached to a finisher might violate the "stealing the show" rule. After all, Realm-Cloaked Giant will destroy all other creatures and then become a giant beater that needs to be answered. Like with Bonecrusher Giant, I've never found Realm-Cloaked Giant to be overpowered in practice, but I think I should at least consider it's exclusion on principle.

Adventure has changed many theatres of Magic in a way most mechanics can't even dream of. It's fun, evocative, and flashy. Excluding the mechanic is a mistake, in my opinion. However, since Adventures have such a clear impact on games, I need to be careful in my card choice. Adventures will have a home in this cube, but they need to act as silent role players instead of games' focal points.

Theros Beyond Death
Escape
Theros Beyond Death honestly feels like a set that Escaped from the Theros-Khans era right into 2020. Cards like Woe Strider and Phoenix of Ash evoke the same emotions one feels playing the underworld themed cards from the original Theros block. It is easy to imagine Woe Strider as a finisher in Sidisi-Whip decks, or Elspeth, Sun's Nemesis as a value engine in Esper Dragons. Even though this mechanic wasn't around for original Theros, it feels like it could have been. Part of updating a past environment for the present is to embrace things that thematically build upon what came before. Escape does this wonderfully, and as such, will have a home in the cube.

However, there are two titans who throw a wrench into this whole plan: Uro and Kroxa. These two cards are emblematic of one of the big problems of 2020 magic: finishers that invalidate removal. Players have to get rid of these Titans when they Escape or risk losing the games to their big bodies and broken attack triggers. However, removing a Titan is a huge setback. By the time Uro has come into play, his controller has usually drawn two cards, gained six life, and put one or two lands from their hand into play. Even if the Uro player's opponent manages to kill Uro with a Hero's Downfall, Uro can just come back later. That player just set themselves behind an additional card for little long-term gain. Luckily, Uro and Kroxa are the only escape cards that adhere to this trend. I can easily leave the Titans out of the picture.

Ikoria
Mutate
Mutate is one of the most needlessly complex mechanics WOTC has ever printed. While it can be kind of fun to build a giant Kaiju monster pile, the risk is rarely worth the reward. A well-placed removal spell can destroy a 12+ mana investment. However, a Mutate stack that doesn't die to removal can sometimes win the game unassisted. These cards are poorly balanced in general and lead to swingy, unbalanced, and generally un-fun game experiences in cube environments lacking dedicated support. I would rather play Teferi, Time Raveler in a cube before adding random Mutate cards.

Companions
The companions are very frustrating to evaluate because they have such a broad power band. Lurrus of the Dream-Den and Yorion, Sky Nomad provide interesting and powerful build around restrictions the lead to innovative draft and deckbuilding experiences. Meanwhile, drafting a deck around Keruga, the Macrosage is a surefire way to go 0-3. Kaheera, the Orphanguard is a free card for control, and Lutri, the Spellchaser is a free-roll in every deck running red or blue. Obosh, the Preypiercer and Gyruda, Doom of Depths are neat build arounds, but lead to poor deckbuilding experiences and unbalanced gameplay. Zirda, the Dawnwaker and Umori, the Collector are very hard to make work in practice for a mediocre gain. Finally, Jegantha, the Wellspring is a card that can occasionally be a free inclusion but often requires some boring concessions to play. All of these cards have a format-warping effect on gameplay. Especially after the Companion Rules change, I see no reason to play any of these cards in this cube. They have too many problems for no real benefits.

Keyword Counters
Keyword Counters add a lot of bulk to the game with minimal gain. While the official cardboard push-out keyword counters can mitigate the memory issues inherent with this mechanic, they still create an inordinate amount of gameplay strain. Luckily, there are a minimal number of Keyword Counter cards worth playing. Vitality Hunter is neat and fits with the Theros theme, and Titanoth Rex is a great big creature for reanimation decks, but those two are about all that are worth playing. Ultimately, not much is lost by excluding this mechanic. I might play Titanoth Rex but that is as far as I am willing to push.

Zendikar Rising
Party
Party is a mechanic many have sung praises for as a better way to implement tribal themes within a magic set. Unfortunately, party has many of the same issues of true tribal, with fewer reasonable payoffs. While there are some individually good party cards like Acquisitions Expert and Grotag Bug-Catcher that could warrant inclusion, I think the mechanic takes a lot to make work optimally in a cube. I'm passing on Party.

Modal Double-Faced Cards
Modal Double-Faced Cards (MDFCs) are some of the most exciting Magic cards we have ever seen. MDFCs are akin to split cards because they contain two unique game pieces on a single card. However, unlike the split cards, the MDFCs have a unique front and back face that act like separate Magic cards. In Zendikar Rising, the back of each MDFC was a land card. In other sets, MDFCs are supposed to have nonland cards on both sides. This evaluation only pertains to the Zendikar Rising MDFC spell//land cards.

The MDFCs are the best draw smoothing effects that have been printed since cycling. Cards like Emeria's Call, Blackbloom Rogue, and Kazandu Mammoth are reasonable finishers that can also act as lands in a pinch. Meanwhile, cards like Spikefield Hazard and Jwari Disruption are cheap disruptive spells that become lands when their effects are not needed. This modality is beyond useful. Because the MDFCs act as both lands and spells, players can simultaneously have a deck with 19 lands and 24 spells without breaking the 40 card deck limit with just 3 MDFCs. Situational cards that would otherwise be highly mediocre, such as Valakut Awakening, Bala Ged Recovery, and Skyclave Cleric all of a sudden become highly playable.

Unfortunately, it is precisely the smoothing effect of the MDFCs that could lead to them being problematic in this format. The Theros-Khans standard season was dominated by cards that played very rigid roles. There were many modal cards that saw play, such as the Charms, Sieges, and Crux of Fate. However, the format mostly consisted of cards that mostly did one thing. Polukranos, World Eater, Mantis Rider, and Siege Rhino were sledgehammers to end the game. Goblin Rabblemaster and Pia and Kiran Nalaar were token factories. Dig Through Time was a big draw spell. Arashin Cleric gained some life. MDFCs, by contrast, play several roles. Compare Arashin Cleric to Skyclave Cleric. Both of these cards are medium 2-drop creatures that gain life, but Skyclave Cleric is also a land drop in games where that is relevant. This could have a major impact on the format, as a high density of extremely flexible cards may change the way games feel.

I am concerned that MDFCs may change the feel of games in this cube compared to my target gameplay. However, I think they might not be as big of a deal in practice as I am drawing them up to be. I'm not going to be playing the Charms or Sieges because they are very mana intensive and can't be played in a variety of decks. The MDFCs, by contrast, are mana sources and can be played in every deck. I can just trade the modal cards from the original Theros-Khans format with the MDFCs to have a similar effect. After all, a player using Abzan Charm to search for lands instead of killing a threat isn't all that different from them using Hagra Mauling as a land when they are mana screwed.

The MDFCs have revolutionized the toolset cube designers have in our arsenal. While their raw flexibility could prove to be an issue in my format designed with a very specific gameplay feel in mind, I'm not entirely convinced they will be an issue. These cards are weak enough on average that won't they won't steal the game. The worst thing that happens is the gameplay is a little more streamlined than I had originally intended, which isn't a bad thing in itself. I am cautiously optimistic about the MDFCs. I think they will only improve the format if I use them correctly.

Mechanics Conclusion
It has been interesting to look back and reflect on sets and themes that I kind of forgot about. Battle for Zendikar block's 10 mechanics especially caught me by surprise. It's easy to forget the past when you can't re-live it. That's the reason why I want my next update to feel like a new cube. I want to be able to capture what I used to love about this game in a meaningful way, and to share what got me hooked with my friends. I hope you've enjoyed reading about the mechanics as much as I have enjoyed writing about them. In the next section, I plan to talk about how I plan to turn old Standard and Modern decks from the Theros-Khans era into draftable archetypes within the cube.

Thank you very much for reading!
-GT

 

[LadyMapi]

One thing to consider about Mutate is that it actually works really well with Dash, and that you can basically consider Mutate cards to be weird auras. The thing is, I'd only really call one Mutate card "fun":



EDIT: I feel like I have to qualify this a bit. The problem with Mutate is that the most enjoyable line of play for both players is not the one that most of the cards encourage you to go down.

I feel like Mutate is the best for both players when you aren't stacking it. For the person playing it, you aren't putting yourself in too much risk of being blown out, and Mutate cards tend to be value-neutral anyway. For villain, they don't need to face down the absurd value that you can get from stacked Mutate triggers.

At the same time... it's super tempting to stack multiple Mutate creatures on top of each other. The simple pleasure of "play an ETB creature" > "mutate onto the ETB creature" > "flicker that pile to chump block + repeat the ETB" gets drowned out by creature Jenga, which sucks for at least one player. And the problem is that most Mutate creatures are really encouraging you to stack them on top of each other. The ones that don't have an "on mutate" trigger to double are few and far between:



Of those four cards, I feel like Parcelbeast has the most play to it.

I'm actually kinda sad that Mutate pulls you towards being so greedy and tends to be so pushed. I'd love to run this bird:



But Mutate is so complicated that including just 1-2 cards with it feels like a waste.

 

[ravnic]

Very interesting writing, especially on adventures. For me these have been maybe the most impactful new mechanic since I've started the cube almost 7 years ago. Yet I've found the same approach you've taken to be the best one. Take the "silent roles player" like Order of Midnight or Embereth Shieldbreaker, leave the splashy ones out. That being said, they bring a lot of synergy potential to the table for "bread and butter cards" still. They trigger prowess, can be bounced for extra adventures, stay in exile safe against hand disruption and board wipes ... and they have nice frames

 

[TrainmasterGT]

Digging Through Time Part 5 & 1/2​

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Dragon-Nest Berserker by Lie Setiawan. He looks like he escaped from Khans block, does he not?​

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I lied in the last part about being done talking about mechanics. I forgot Kaldheim was being released and I would need to write more. Kaldheim doesn't bring much new to the table, so this one should be nice and short.

As a reminder, I'm looking for these three things from each mechanic:
-Power Level. The mechanic has to do something impactful and appear on impactful cards. However, the mechanic cannot be overpowered.
-Ease of Implementation. The mechanic has to be easy to work into the Cube without heavy support or without heavy amounts of parasitic enablers.
-Fit and Feel. Some mechanics might reach the first two criteria but not mesh well with the rest of what I want to do here.

Boast
Boast is what happens when WOTC wants to make a god that cares about something wich would otherwise be an ability word. Despite my quandaries about the status of the mechanic, I actually really like Boast. It's a nice way to encourage attacking without players feeling forced. Boast feels a lot like Raid, and will fit seamlessly into the Cube. Dragonkin Berserker, Usher of the Fallen, and Varragoth, Bloodsky Sire are all awesome cards wich I'm sure my players will love. My only issue with Boast is that there are only like four playable cards with the keyword.

Foretell
Foretell might actually be the Morph variant I'm looking for. Foretelling a card is cheaper than playing a morph, there is more variation in what the card could be, and all of the creatures have their full value even when not foretold. But there's a catch. As of right now, there are only 41 foretell cards. Even if I'm generous, there are maybe 15 cards that are powerful enough to be worth a slot in my Cube. That wouldn't be a problem in of itself. It's just that even the playable cards still eat slots that I would want to spend on other things. As awesome as cards like Doomskar and Starnheim Unleashed seem like they would be in practice, I don't think they justify having to run 13 other middling cards to make them work. I could possibly play the cards I'm interested and leave out the rest. The only issue there is that it takes away most of the hidden information element of the mechanic: the Foretold card will always be one of two things. I think I'm going to pass on Foretell for now. However, if I like how the cards play on Arena, and I can acquire them for a reasonable price, I could see myself including them later.

Snow
Snow is extremely parasitic. Kaldheim doesn't bring anything new to the table for Snow decks other than the Typed Dual Lands. I don't plan on using the in-house "all basics are Snow" rule, and I don't want to spend the slots on including enough Snow lands in the Cube to make a Snow deck viable. So, no Snow for me. I might play the duals, though, as they do work with the fetchlands.

MDFC Gods
The MDFC Gods are not as strong as the Zendikar Rising MDFCs. I'm probably going to play Halvar, God of Battle, as he is a good late-game beater for White decks. I might play him with the Sword of the Realms side on the front so that he is tutorable with Stoneforge Mystic. Otherwise, I could see Birgi, God of Storytelling being good enough for my Cube. Red 3 drops are pretty stacked and Birgi does not fit the theme of the Cube at all, but she does look fun to play with. I could see her as a future inclusion.

Kaldheim Conclusion
Kaldheim was less dense and less exciting than the sets of 2019 and 2020. However, it's still an awesome set and is home to several cards I can see myself playing at some point. Foretell could have a home as a morph stand-in at some point in the future, especially if it comes back in another set.

Next time, I'm going to discuss how I plan to port certain Constructed strategies from the Theros-Khans era into my Cube. Stay tuned, and thanks for reading!
-GT

 

[TrainmasterGT]

Digging Through Time Part 5&3/4

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I'm still a liar as I did not have a chance to finish the Cube before Strixhaven came out. So... here we are again with the mechanics! ​

As a reminder, I'm looking for these three things from each mechanic:
-Power Level. The mechanic has to do something impactful and appear on impactful cards. However, the mechanic cannot be overpowered.
-Ease of Implementation. The mechanic has to be easy to work into the Cube without heavy support or without heavy amounts of parasitic enablers.
-Fit and Feel. Some mechanics might reach the first two criteria but not mesh well with the rest of what I want to do here.

Learn and Lessons
I love the learn mechanic and I love lessons. They are such a great way to help players optimize their draft pools. Since the average cube deck is 40 cards, players are always going to have at least 5 cards left in their sideboards no matter what. Usually, players have somewhere between 15 and 22 cards sitting in the sideboard unused. It is excessively uncommon for a player to draft all of the land cards needed for their deck, so almost every Cube deck will include some number of non-drafted basic lands. As such, there are always going to be some number of cards un-used, rotting in sideboards.

Learn and lesson cards are a great way to reduce card spoilage, as they provide utility to cards outside the game. A player can take a learn card, pick up some lessons later in the draft, and a have a great utility package for their deck. This fun interaction doesn't even take up too much cube space, as a learn card only needs a single castable lesson in the sideboard to work at full capacity. I'm currently working on an article about learn and lesson cards, to be released once I have a little more hands-on experience with the mechanic following Strixhaven's release. In either case, learn and lesson cards are extremely powerful, very flexible, and super fun. I want to experiment with these cards more in the future.

As much as I like the learn mechanic and lesson spells, there are a couple of considerations for this Cube specifically that affect how I feel about the mechanic. As I established in my discussion of Zendikar Rising's spell//land MDFCs, I'm completely ok with highly flexible modal cards that assist with game smoothing. I do not believe any of the learn or lesson cards have a power level significantly above where this Cube is meant to be. I also do not believe space to be a concern. As it is, there are 7 learn cards I want to play and at most 15 lesson cards which I feel are appropriate for the Cube. I can easily make 22 cards worth of space out of my list for these. Learn, with its built-in rummage trigger, even helps to support the several graveyard focused archetypes I am planning to include in the Cube. The biggest issue with learn and lessons is feel.

As I covered in my discussion of the Adventure mechanic from Throne of Eldraine, I do not want cards with mechanics radically different from those available during the Theros-Khans era to draw attention to themselves as a game's focal point. I want these games to feel like they escaped from the past. Learn, with its innovative new design, fails at this spectacularly. Using a wish board just was not something normal Magic decks did during 2015, save for some very fringe Glittering Wish Jeskai Ascendancy variants in Modern. With learn, players are going to be using a wishboard almost every game, no matter what. All of this wishing doesn't fit with what I'm trying to accomplish here. Having said that, I am more than willing to implement this mechanic in the future if playtesting in Strixhaven limited and Standard proves that these cards feel "normal." I really want to play with these cards. They just don't fit the design goals of this Cube.

I want to make it very clear that I would be testing these in my Cube if I didn't have the specific retro gameplay atmosphere in mind. I feel somewhat hypocritical not including these cards in my main list right out of the gate, given my staunch defense of this mechanic. I think these cards might still make the Cube better, and if that is the case, I may include them regardless of feel. Right now, however, learn and lessons feel so different that I think their inclusion might diminish my broader design goals for this version of Highball.

Magecraft
Luckily, the decision about Magecraft is not as that of Learn. Magecraft abilities are basically Young Pyromancer type abilities, except they also trigger when instant and sorcery spells are copied in addition to being cast. Magecraft cards lend themselves nicely to the Spells Matter deck, specifically Izzet Prowess in my case. Symmetry Sage looks like a great stand-in for Delver of Secrets, a card which I do not wish to run in a singleton environment for the reasons I outline in this forum post. Symmetry Sage does a good job dealing early damage, while also potentially buffing a team of small prowess dudes such as Soul-Scar Mage, Blistercoil Weird, and of course, Monastery Swiftspear. Similarly, I love Sedgemoor Witch as a way to help bridge the gap between red's aggressive spells-matter creatures and the insanely powerful hand disruption spells available in black.

While Magecraft may appear to be a spells-matter only mechanic on its surface, but this perception is far from the reality of the situation. Cards with Magecraft can go into pretty much any build that wants to run a few instants and sorceries. Quandrix Apprentice and Dragonsguard Elite are midrange powerhouses that will be right at home in Sultai, Temur, and Abzan decks, where abundant interactive spells will provide abundant Magecraft triggers.

Magecraft is a slam-dunk of a mechanic that will improve cube cohesiveness and add a fun new dimension to several different archetypes.

Enemy-Color Theme
I already discussed the inclusion of a Wedge theme back in Part 3, but the amazing new gold cards in Strixhaven have somewhat adjusted my position. Originally, I was going to be designing to make sure 3-color Wedge decks were playable, but not necessarily the focus of the Cube. After all, the Theros-Khans standard format was home to decks running the gauntlet colors, from mono-color decks all the way to three-color and even four-color decks on rare occasions. If I made the Cube explicitly multicolor focused, I could easily lose a lot of diversity in one and two-color decks.

However, the highly versatile and powerful new gold cards found in Strixhaven are making me re-think the role of multicolor in the Cube. Recently, many designers have been increasing the number of fixing lands in their Cube to ensure decks lose to color deprivation less often. Increasing the amount of fixing in an environment allows for more gold cards to be played. Some designers have used increased fixing to run upwards of 70 gold cards at around a 360 card cube size. For comparison, I usually only run around 30 or so gold cards, including hybrids.

While running 70 gold cards is conducive to my design goals, I wonder if running, say, 45 gold cards would service my ultimate vision. Specifically, since the Khans block was a wedge-focused format, I would increase the number of enemy-colored gold cards, but leave the number of ally-colored gold cards about the same. For example, I could run five cards in each enemy-color pair and three cards in each ally-color pair. This would do two things. First, it would enable me to run more high-quality removal and interactive pieces without having to remove all of the engine cards that I want for archetype support. I could realistically run all of the sweet new Quandrix cards while still having room for Bring to Light. Second, it would encourage people to play wedge-color decks without being heavy-handed with three-color cards. A card like Villainous Wealth can only go into Sultai decks. Witherbloom Command, by contrast, goes into Abzan, Sultai, Jund, and Golgari decks. Even no player has a Sultai deck, someone will probably have a deck that could play Witherbloom Command.

The only decks which could potentially lose out under this model are ally color decks, such as G/W and U/B. Even though these decks wouldn't have fewer gold cards than I would typically give them in one of my cubes, they would have a smaller fraction of the total gold card pool than the enemy color decks. Effectively, the ally color pairs don't directly lose anything, but they don't gain what their enemy colored brethren will. I don't know if this imbalance would negatively affect the broader environment. However, I think the idea of tactical color pair slot imbalance to bolster certain strategies without detracting from others has some amount of merit. I will at least test this strategy and see how it affects the Cube.

Strixhaven Conclusion
Strixhaven is proving itself to be full of great cards for Cube. If you want to read about my opinions on more specific cards from the set, take a moment to read my article on the subject, which is currently live on CubeCobra. Next time, hopefully for real now, I'm finally going to discuss how I plan to port certain Constructed strategies from the Theros-Khans era into my Cube. Thank you so much for reading and for your continued support with this project!
-GT

 

[TrainmasterGT]

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Digging Through Time Part 5&7/8ths

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I'm still not in a position where I'm ready to write the actual article series about this Cube so here we are again, talking about mechanics! I'm going to actually share the list this time because I already have a working version of the Cube that I've been playing.

As a reminder, I'm looking for these three things from each mechanic:
-Power Level. The mechanic has to do something impactful and appear on impactful cards. However, the mechanic cannot be overpowered.
-Ease of Implementation. The mechanic has to be easy to work into the Cube without heavy support or without heavy amounts of parasitic enablers.
-Fit and Feel. Some mechanics might reach the first two criteria but not mesh well with the rest of what I want to do here.

Innistrad: Midnight Hunt
Day/Night
I'll be honest, I really dislike the implementation of the Daybound/Nightbound mechanic in Innistrad: Midnight Hunt and Innistrad: Crimson Vow. This mechanic had a ton of promise, but the net result of what they did with the mechanic was to make Werewolves that are functionally similar on both sides but are oversized on the back. There were barely any cards like Mayor of Avabruck or Huntmaster of the Fells which do something slightly different on the front and the back. I get that it's hard to design cards that have different abilities while in play but still provide a consistent play pattern. However, I think the implementation of the Daybound/Nightbound werewolves was so safe that it ended up not being fun. As for the non-werewolf day/night cards, as interesting as cards like Gavony Dawnguard and Sunrise Cavalier may be, they aren't really worth the effort. Adding an entire tracking token to the game for one or two cards just doesn't feel worthwhile for what the resulting play patterns may be.

In short, most of the werewolves are boring and the non-werewolf cards are uninspiring. I could see myself playing Brutal Cathar at some point as a test as that card fixes the Werewolf problem I addressed above, but that's all.

Coven
Coven is an interesting mechanic that rewards players for having creatures with multiple different powers on the battlefield. There aren't a ton of inspiring cards with the mechanic, but it's low impact enough that some cards could easily have a home here. I'm not enough of a masochist to put Augur of Autumn and Contortionist Troupe into this Cube, but Candletrap seems like a power level appropriate peice of interaction.

Disturb
The disturb mechanic is akin to embalm on steroids. Like embalm, disturb provides another way for creatures to be recycled from the graveyard. Unlike embalm, disturb makes heavy use of double-faced cards. I don't mind double-faced cards as a design tool anymore. Ever since I double-sleeved my Cube, I can have people actually transforming the cards without damaging them. However, I still don't like the fact that the backside of disturb cards can't be seen when they're in a sleeve. None of the current disturb offerings are inspiring enough to make may want to play them in spite of their double-facedness. For now, I think I will be excluding cards with disturb. However, I could see myself playing Katilda, Dawnhart Martyr, Covetous Castaway, Devoted Grafkeeper, or Dennick, Pious Apprentice at some point in the future.

Flashback
Flashback was already on the table for mechanics I could use without needing to worry about fit and feel, but I wanted to touch specifically on the Flashback cards from this set. For the first time, Flashback was allowed onto gold cards! These new golden girls don't feel out of place and are generally speaking good designs. I'm hoping to make room for some of them!

Decayed
Decayed is a cool mechanic that was a limited roleplayer in Midnight Hunt. There's nothing keeping decayed out of this Cube other than the fact that most of the decayed cards just don't quite reach the power level threshold I need them to in order to make the cut. The most this mechanic has to offer right now is some cool stuff for aristocrats decks which I don't plan to support.

Innistrad: Crimson Vow
Exploit
Exploit returned as a mechanic for the Zombies! And many of the new exploit cards have the same aesthetic vibe as the Zombies from the Sultai and Silumgar clans! While there isn't enough here for a full-on "exploit matters" archetype, there are at least a couple of individual cards that are hits. Graf Reaver is a welcome addition!

Training
Reverse Mentor here is a pretty decent mechanic, but unfortunately, most of the cards are not. Most training cards are over-costed and under-statted for my Cube. However, Hopeful Initiate looks like a decent inclusion since it can get quite big very quickly. I'm slightly tempted by Savior of Ollenbock as another White reanimation spell, but this one looks weak enough that I might avoid it for now. In short, Training is a cool mechanic, but there are only a couple of cards that look like decent inclusions for me right now.

Blood Tokens
Blood tokens are a new "junk artifact" alongside Clues, Food, and Treasure. These tokens are a great way to help fill the graveyard and smooth the game by effectively giving every card in your hand Cycling . The fact that the blood tokens are artifacts can also help with metalcraft and affinity abilities. While that isn't super relevant to the current version of the Cube, I'm hoping to change that fact in the near future. Unfortunately, much like the rest of Crimson Vow, the majority of the blood cards are underpowered. However, I think Voldaren Epicture and Blood Fountain as one mana cards with broad applications in the previously noted archetypes (as well as reanimator) make them good options for the Cube.

Likewise, if WOTC prints MH2 quality blood cards in the future, I will probably be including some of those!

Cleave
The much-maligned Cleave mechanic was a topic of hot debate in the Cube community when it was first revealed. Some find the square brackets a little hard to grasp. While I have come to disagree with that assessment through testing, I don't think very many cleave cards will be showing up in the Cube. As with blood, most of the cards are just too weak. Having said that, I like Dread Fugue as an extra 1-mana hand disruption effect, and Dig Up as a green cantrip/Golgari tutor. I will likely make room for those two cards if it makes sense.

Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty
Channel Lands
The Channel Lands are all great ways to help players use a larger percentage of their draft pool. I think many of my arguments as to why the Zendikar Rising MDFCs are so great apply to these cards as well. One thing I've found since writing my original post about MDFCs is that even though all of those cards are great and highly modal, they're almost never cards you want to pick up early in the draft. I feel cards like Spikefield Hazard are weak enough that you don't really ever want to take them until the back half of the pack, potentially on the wheel. This isn't because the cards aren't good, but instead just because the spell side isn't the thing improving your deck. Instead, you're getting a land that can also be a C-/D+ spell. In reality, the best MDFCs are along the lines of Kazanduu Mammoth and Glasspool Mimic, which are good spells that can also be lands.

The reason why I'm bringing this up in the discussion of the Channel lands is that I don't think I'm playing this entire cycle. I have been unimpressed by the "spell modes" of Otawara, Soaring City, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, and Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance. These cards are still great because they're untapped lands in addition to being medium spells (I think they're arguably even better than the MDFCs I mentioned as being good), but the spell mode of these cards are just so expensive that they usually end up being fancy basics. I've played with Otawara, Soaring City several times in the retail limited format and I have yet to actually channel it: having the land has almost always been better.

However, Boseiju, Who Endures and Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire are both legitimately great. Boseiju provides an additional mainboard-worthy artifact and enchantment destruction spell (something which is important in a format with extra enchantments running around), and Eiganjo is a playable creature removal spell stapled to a land. I think these cards are easy inclusions.

Also, despite my previous misgivings about Otawara, Soaring City, I still think I'm going to let it out of the dog house for a while since I own a copy. I think the fact that my Cube has more high-power targets to bounce means that Otawara might find a mark more often than it does in retail limited. Likewise, I think Takenuma, Abandoned Mire is synergistic enough with what black is doing in my Cube that I'm ok with playing it if I open a copy. I don't think these cards are as impressive as Eiganjo and Boseiju, but I think they are still good.

Nonland Channel
Channel was a mechanic that originally appeared on a few cards in Saviors of Kamigawa. However, none of those cards were particularly relevant in any format. These new nonland channel cards appear to be great options for supporting artifact and graveyard decks alike. Plus, several of these cards basically have cycling. If it weren't for the fact that I'm explicitly avoiding cycling matters in this version of the Cube, I would be all over most of these cards for that reason alone. As is, I still think I will be playing a few of these cards as they all make for great glue options for several archetypes. Some of them are even enchantment creatures!

Mechs Vehicles
I didn't mention Vehicles in the Kaladesh section because I didn't want to play any of those cards. But, Neon Dynasty brings with it a bunch of really powerful and awesome mech suits to play with. While these mechs don't quite spark the same feeling as my old school 2014/15 gameplay (I can't wait for people to tell me that's not old school), I think these cards have good enough gameplay that I'm just not worried about it. I don't think they will break the immersion. As I said as part of the Lucky Paper Neon Dynasty Commander Survey:

Shorikai, Genesis Engine is likely the biggest sleeper of Neon Dynasty. Its ability to dodge removal while creating value makes it a stronger engine than even many Planeswalkers.

TDFC Sagas
The Transforming Sagas from Neon Dynasty play extremely well. WOTC did a fantastic job making sure these cards both provided enough value to be playable and had big enough bodies to be relevant when they transform, without necessarily being way undercosted. As with the Disturb cards from earlier, I think these cards being double-faced is to their detriment. I like these designs but I don't think enough of them play specific enough roles in my Cube to justify their inclusion over other options. However, in the future, I could see myself playing some of these as conditions change. Specifically, I think Michiko's Reign of Truth is an auto-include if I test enchantments again at some point. Likewise, The Life of Toshiro Umezawa is a really solid card that could see flat out inclusion with the next update.

Reconfigure
Reconfigure is singlehandedly making me want to play Toolcraft Exemplar and a host of other artifact aggro cards again! I've been considering with toying with an "artifact pile" archetype for a while, but it always seemed difficult to reach a reasonable density of artifacts without heavily speculating into colorless cards and dropping my current singleton restriction. While I still think the latter option is definitely going to make sense if I decide to go for the blue-based "pile" decks, red and white artifact aggro decks won't need this now thanks to reconfigure. Being able to play more equipment in my Cube without having to sacrifice creature density is a great way to help diversify aggro. It also helps to improve Stoneforge Mystic without needing to add any (other) broken cards. Rabbit Battery and Simian Sling in particular look like really powerful ways to buff Red Aggro decks with more 1-drops that remain relevant into the late game. Reconfigure even provides Wrath protection! I'm really loving this mechanic and I think it will be a great addition to the Cube.

Modified, Ninjas, and Samurai
I'm happy to see new Ninjas, Samurai, and glue for equipment/auras/+1+1 counters. However, I don't see a reason at present to implement any of these themes into the Cube. Ninjas could make an appearance if I figure out a way to make mono-blue devotion work in a satisfactory manner, as they seem like an interesting option for Blue decks.

BONUS ROUND: The awful set that was Dungeons and Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms
Dice Rolling
I really hate the uncertainty the dice-rolling cards add to the game. You basically are forced to play a below-rate spell, and hope to get lucky and roll into a critical success. Sorry, the 5% chance that Contact Other Plane is actually good does not make the other 95% of the time worth the cost of entry.

Flavor Words
There's a reason I named the spoiler thread for this set "Dungeons and Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotton Realms: Dripping with Flavor, and Excess Words!" Adding what amounts to flavor text in the rules text area allowed for some wonderfully flavorful cards (like the Color Dragon cycle), but doesn't actually affect gameplay in any meaningful fashion. There's nothing stopping me from including these cards in the Cube, but almost all of the cards don't work mesh well with what I’m doing so I don’t see a reason to include any of them.

Venture into the Dungeon
I really want to like this mechanic, because it's an oddly non-parasitic way to reward players to build around a mechanic. Unfortunately, most of the enablers for this mechanic just don't do enough by themselves to justify the inclusion of this keyword and the baggage it provides. Yes, there are cool things you can do with Venture cards. But the power level and fun potential isn't here to justify the logistical headache of dragging around 24 dungeon tokens, at least for right now.

7/8ths Conclusion
I'll probably have to write another one of these for Streets of New Capenna since I won't have time to write the actual article series before then, but that's no big deal. I do enjoy these little jaunts across Magic's Mechanics. I would love to hear your opinions on what I have to say here!

Thanks,
-GT

 

[Nanonox]

I agree with your takes, it was a good read.

I think one of the challenges is to choose which and how many utility lands you want to run. My favourite are the DnD creature lands right now. However, I could see a White section running these 3 to great success:



these give you mana sinks, flood insurance and win conditions from your land slots! Untapped too, making them playable in decks of different speeds. I think you could trim on some number of win conditions and play these lands instead for a smoother cube experience. I don’t know the right number for my cubes, but it’s interesting to think about!

 

[TrainmasterGT]

I agree with your takes, it was a good read.

I think one of the challenges is to choose which and how many utility lands you want to run. My favourite are the DnD creature lands right now.

Right, it's hard to choose the right balance of utility lands to fixing to spells. I think my original theory behind the MDFCs was that they were going to be cards you wanted to play as spells roughly as often as you wanted to play them as lands, which just doesn't feel like the case. I think this is partially because my Cube's power level ended up being slightly higher than I had initially anticipated when I first wrote about MDFCs, and partially because some of the situational cards like Bala Ged Recovery are still not that strong when you actually cast them. Likewise, some cards such as Jwari Disruption and Spikefield Hazard just feel boring. That doesn't make them bad per se, but when coupled with the fact that the spells also aren't that strong as spells, it leaves you in a position where you're really just putting fancy tap lands in the Cube. I still think the MDFC lands are great utility lands, but loading up on them is not as great as I had originally hypothesized because they're not all useful spells like Glasspool Mimic.

Skyclave Cleric is surprisingly great, though!

However, I could see a White section running these 3 to great success:

these give you mana sinks, flood insurance and win conditions from your land slots! Untapped too, making them playable in decks of different speeds. I think you could trim on some number of win conditions and play these lands instead for a smoother cube experience. I don’t know the right number for my cubes, but it’s interesting to think about!

@landofMordor and company touched on these exact cards in the Neon Dynasty Lucky Paper Community set review when discussing Eiganjo! I think they talk about these mostly in the context of UWx control decks, but I think similar principles will apply to midrange, and possibly even aggro when we're talking about a multiplayer format like yours! I personally like all three of these cards as well and think they can all provide great game smoothing.

 

[Zoss]

I feel like you're looking at the "wrong" Disturb cards for consideration. Specifically, I feel like Lunarch Veteran and Malevolent Hermit might be more your speed than bulky finishers or combo pieces. Lantern Bearer is my other pick for a flagship Distrub critter, but you're not supporting that kind of U aggro and so it wouldn't have a great home in your list.

 

[TrainmasterGT]

I feel like you're looking at the "wrong" Disturb cards for consideration. Specifically, I feel like Lunarch Veteran and Malevolent Hermit might be more your speed than bulky finishers or combo pieces. Lantern Bearer is my other pick for a flagship Distrub critter, but you're not supporting that kind of U aggro and so it wouldn't have a great home in your list.

Hey thanks for the input! I think you're correct in saying that the disturb cards I'm currently looking at aren't great fits for the Cube from a power perspective (there's a reason why I'm not playing them ), but I think they are the cards that fit the best with my goals. They all have some broader synergies that work with different things I would like to try at some point in the future.

The reason why I chose to ignore Lunarch Veteran is because it doesn't really pack enough of a punch to cleanly slot into any deck and the life gain is usually irrelevant except against burn. I think if either side had 2 power this would be a different story, but as is, a couple of 1/1s just isn't where you want to be in this format.

As for Malevolent Hermit, I think it's a cool design, but it really screws up blue tempo stuff in a way that is detrimental to the format in my opinion. The main thing blue does in my Cube right now when it's being used as a base color is efficiently counter spells. I think having a card that randomly hates out counterspells just isn't fun to have around. It made Blue VS. Blue matches annoying on Arena, and I don't want to bring that play pattern into my Cube. I think if control blue ends up hating out midrange or tempo blue I could see bringing it in, but I don't think that's necessary until that matchup discrepancy rears its head as an issue.

Thanks again!