Historic (MtgA) Cube

XRS

XRS

Making History ​
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With the epidemic making tabletop Magic impossible I set out to make a cube that could be drafted using the Historic card pool on MTG Arena. I'm thinking 450, but I could be talked into pruning it down to 360. This is the first cube I have built from scratch - so please bear with me if there are too many one or two drops. I am also unsure of ratio of lands to spells or creatures to removal et cetera.
The logistics of drafting are as follows. The list can be exported to a third party website like herokuapp. We gather 8 players simultaneously for a virtual draft. Each player builds their deck - exports it MTGA and challenges other players. You NEED to have the cards in your collection in order to particpate. Anyone with a reasonable collection want to join for a draft? PM me.
Historic, mind you, contains all the sets from Ixalan onwards, including two anthologies https://scryfall.com/sets/ha1 https://scryfall.com/sets/ha2 and some randomly inserted cards Bladewing the Risen and The Gitrog Monster (<3). I recently learned that they will begin to work their way backwards meaning Amonhket and HOU will be released this summer. Small rant on historic. It was very shortsighted to have a format have the same name as a mechanic that may or may not return... rant over

My point of departure was daydreaming about overlapping synergies between the following cards.



The gears immediately began churning once I saw the return of cycling in Ikoria. Now it is established beyond a doubt that cycling is the boogeyman of the draft format. It has even shown up in constructed. It has many powerful payoffs



that coupled with the one-mana (especially colorless) cyclers to make a very fast clock.



The challenge, I find, is to include cards that are not too lackluster when cast but still have a cheap cycling cost. Another issue in the draft exchange is that the cycling player (based in whie/red) will steal picks from those playing other colors eg. Memory Leak or Boon of the Wish-Giver.

I then started branching out. I have been impressed with the limited design of recent sets, Throne of Eldraine, Theros and Ikoria emphasize cards that work in multiple archetypes.:

.
Omen - go wide, life gain, (way toned down) imitation of Timely Reinforce in control, sacrifice and constellation trigger. All of this with card filtering and flood insurance built in.
Dismissal - spells matter, zombie tribal, +1/+1 and proliferate (or UB Amass in the draft format)
Anax - Go wide, sacrifice, devotion, "ferocious", historic and constellation triggers.
Knight - repeatable discard outlet (especially with Faith of the Devoted), Ferocious, Life gain matters, self-mill, green or black devotion. Knight Tribal

LINK TO THE CUBE (WORK IN PROGRESS)
https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/5eaede8678706f102403bf9bThis is what I have come up with so far. Each color pair and the archetypes I try to support within them along with some marquee cards.

Allied colors
{W}{U} Artifacts/enchantments matter, Blink Arcanist's Owl Master Splicer All that Glitters
{U}{B} (Classic control - "Flash" Blacklance Paragon Slitherwisp Naiad of Hidden CovesBrineborn Cutthroat
{B}{R} Discard, sacrifice and recursion - Weaponize The Monsters Gutterbones Bastion of remembrance
{R}{G} Ferocious (power > 4) Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma Sarkhan's Unsealing Zilortha, Strength Incarnate Pelakka Wurm
{G}{W} TBD (Constellation?) Setessan Champion Sigil of the empty Throne

Enemy colors
{W}{B} Life gain matters with some smattering of token sacrifice - Ajani's Pridemate Epicure of Blood Lampad of Death's Vigil Regal Bloodlord
{W}{R} Cycling - Go wide - Valiant Rescuer Coordinated Charge Heroic Reinforcements
{R}{U} Prowess*, Draw 2 each turn, Wizards (might have to hone in on 1 or 2 of these)
Saheeli, Sublime Artificer Improbable Alliance Channeled Force also some cheap spells stapled onto creatures with the adventure mechanic Merchant of the Vale
{U}{G} This pair is less focused than the others. It houses Vannifar + tappers. Ramp and flash
{B}{G} Reanimator and graveyard-recursion - Cycle, discard or mill your fatties and reanimate them with Blood for Bones or Back for More or just grind them out with Deathless knight or Loathsome Chimera

With devotion cards, adamant and the 4 hybrid mana cost creatures I hope to seed some incentive to go strictly mono color or heavy in one color with a splash. As in Eldraine draft I also intend for the artifacts to fill out the gaps in such decks - e.g white devotion with Arcanist's Owl cantripping when it hits creatures, equipment or removal spells.

* as opposed to instant/sorcery to give cross-synergy with artifacts and planeswalkers.

Troubleshooting
  • Is there too much "air" with artifact cantrips, Opt and the odd Warlord's Fury. The cycle payoffs MUST have cheap cyclers while the Wizards and Prowess creatures need the spells to actually be cast. :eek: So far I've tried to satisfy both, but it may be too far of a stretch.
  • I have a hard time balancing green. How many ramp spells at the different mana costs is reasonable?
  • Inclusion and selection of hate cards. Examples: Soul-Guide Lantern for GY hate. In a pinch it also triggers Prowess and Draw 2 or is recurrable with Emry, Lurker of the Loch. Fell Specter is this guy too dorky as a hate card against cycling/discard shenanigans? It does have some interaction with Duress, Hypnotic Specter etc. Are there enough enchantment and artifact removals and removal that exiles?
Sample decks:

Sultai Flash










This might be stretching the mana a bit - but it atleast showcases the archetype. The deck operates mainly at instant speed. There is some overlap between instants and the Gitrog caring about cycling your lands to draw a card. Funnily there is also a win more combo with the serpent and the monster.

GWb Constellation/Ramp










Again - not 100% sure about the build and mana but this showcases the self-contained reanimator package of Krosan Tusker and Titanoth Rex + reanimator spell in an otherwise quite focused Constellation deck.


EDIT1-13: Fixing broken links and formatting.
EDIT14: Historic Anthology III is out may 8. Featuring - moar cycling, flashback, Hondens (?) Body double and much more! Tectonic Reformation was the number 1 card I wished to enter the historic format and now it is in!The entire spoiled set of 27 cards https://scryfall.com/sets/ha3?order=spoiled&as=grid
EDIT15 (this joke may be wearing thin): Had some bursts of inspiration and feedback and have finished my first iteration of the 450 card cube.
 
XRS

XRS

I just wanted to share my thought on this sets impact on historic cube. It goes without saying that the introduction of powerful cards like restoration angel, seasoned pyromancer or yawgmoth, thran physician is a boon for The Arena Cube™. I find however that in constructing your own cube on arena one has to take into account the wildcard economy. I am therefore focusing on commons and uncommons for this "review". I only comment on rares that offer unique effects.

I think that Historic Horizons is such a game changer that it warrants a complete overhaul of the cube. Stay tuned.

Good stand-alone cards for peasant:


^ Abundant harvest was only available from the mystical archives as a rare.

Engine Pieces:


This sacrifices for no cost and at instant speed in contrast to other available sacrifice outlets. It doesn't do anything on its own. But with payoffs like blood artist on a wide board a free sac outlet threatens to kill your opponent outright in a way that the other outlets can not.



A very potent combo, but also very repetititve. Kor skyfisher is a welcome addition to the historic card pool nonetheless.



This definitely makes blue white blink more of a consideration.



Black has a glaring lack of discard-outlets. White and blue has some good options and red has a slew of rummaging and discard effects. With the these two additions black finally has self-contained engines.



I am unsure whether deathless knight warrants inclusion on its own merits. Gutterbones is playable on its own while being an engine piece. Note that the knight allows you to "combo" at instant speed while gutterbones only works on your turn.


We have had similar effects, but they have been stapled to two-color two drops. The previous jumpstart also introduced Branching evolution which in fact doubles counters. Evolution has felt fairly clunky in the arena cube offerings. The mentor is good especially since Wotc has definitely been pushing +1/+1 counters as a theme for green and green aligned guilds with Selesnya in particular.

Archetypes:
Reanimator
Speaking of discard outlets: reanimator was often based in dimir. Blue provided good looting effects and reanimation targets while black had the actual reanimation spells. Granting black it's own discard outlets makes the archetype more flexible and resilient.
MH2 also bolsters white options for reanimation. Dimir decks were already eager to splash white for unburial rites. There is also a "mini-reanimator" package.



I am eyeing marionette master as a top-end inclusion for this pocket of synergy. Blue also offers clones like mirror image, glasspool mimic or body double for bringing back with vesperlark or graceful restoration.

Affinity/Modular
There were already a lot of cards that operated in this space. Historic horizons introduces plenty of good artifacts (enablers)and payoffs.

Aggro:


Eggs:




Crossover
Thirst for knowledge with reanimator
Saheeli, sublime artificer with spellslinger
Master splicer and Whirler rogue with blink
Arcbound Prototype et al. with greens counter doubling and proliferate.

Yorion and God-eternal Bontu are also notable in that they let you blink or sacrifice a wide variety of permanent.

Wrapping up:
These are some early takes and brainstorming. I am in the process of constructing an arena cube from scratch. I am trying different configurations and finding the right balance of rares and mythics.
 
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blacksmithy

i agree that artisan restriction is almost a must for Arena cubes that you plan to play with others, as it’s VERY hard to justify spending wilds on a virtual cube experience. i’ve been hoarding gold and gems for historic horizons jumpstart, it’s gonna be great fun!
 
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