Landfill - A Bar Cube!

Landfill

This whole project started from a simple thought experiment: What kind of results would I get on Scryfall if I searched something like "c=g cmc=3 usd<1 -o:create -o:counter is:new -is: DFC -is:ub game: paper"? It seemed like an absurdly restrictive set of search terms, and I knew it would prune out a lot of favorite cards of mine, including all Sagas, all Planeswalkers, any card that could transform, and tons of cards that use +1/+1 counters, ability counters, etc. Would anything decent be left, and would any of it be Cool and Fun?

To my surprise, this search string gives back over 500 cards, and as I trawled through them I noticed some very Fun, very Cool cards cropping up. Two particular creatures jumped out of the results:



These two begin to suggest something, don't they? And both cards have consistently orbited my other cube lists, never quite making the cut. Could I make a home for them here? They immediately reminded me of this Riptide thread: Land Storm, so I started digging. Soon enough, more of my favorite cards started to turn up:



The brew began to percolate. Many weeks later, the initial list emerged, and it was so inexpensive I basically just bought the damn thing on a whim! Do you know how long it's been since I shuffled unsleeved Magic cards!? It's a sumptuous feeling. Almost as good as playing a hyper-budget cube stuffed with rares and mythics overlooked by competitive constructed formats (and Commander players). Did you know Ranger of Eos costs basically nothing now!? I didn't!

The core themes of this cube are Lands Matter and Graveyard Matters. From there, we branch out in as many directions as possible for our decks. I want to incentivize Landfall decks, Zoo decks, discard decks, reanimator decks, and so forth. Looking for midrangey good-vibes Magic that I can carry around easily and play on a picnic table or at the pub.
 
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Reprint Watch
Here's where I track cards I want to include, but can't afford to play unsleeved. The soft limit is $1, but cards that are especially excellent for the cube can go up to about $2.50. But not too many! It's a bar cube, after all. Identifying Magic cards that are fun to play but irrelevant to constructed formats has always been fun for me, especially during spoiler season.


Heartbreakers
Here's my memorial wall for cards I desperately wish I could include in the cube, but they're DFC's or they use a counter of some kind. Maybe something will come along that'll scratch the same itch? Maybe you, the kindly reader, know of a decent alternative?


Token Makers
Strictly limiting token creation is a guiding principle in this cube. In my other paper cubes I love to include as many unique tokens as possible, but most bar cubes outlaw them altogether. I'm not willing to cut them completely, but I think it's interesting to talk about the exceptions here.
 
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this is a cheap alternative for Flubs, waaaaay worse (notice how it says "cast a spell" instead of "land OR cast a spell") but also way more explosive too, draw EVERY cast. You definitely have enough scry, surveil, and retrace to support it. Ooooh and that single plot card too. I'd probably force that deck every time if I saw it in the first pack, but it might need a little bit more draw density or flashback to fly. It looks flipping sweet for this cube though.
 
Draft Report!

Had a friend over to draft this thing the other day. One of my goals with this cube was to create a list that scaled well with player count. My theory is that cubes with very broad themes can play just as well with two players as with eight, since there are no real narrow "decks" built into the list. Most of the cards can go into most of the decks here.

We drafted a simple 2-player variant with nine packs of 7 cards. You pick one, pass, pick two, pass, pick two, and burn the last two. I have found this variant to be very satisfying and it leads to some fun table talk.

Here are the decks we built:

Bant Lands

Creatures (14)
Ruin-Lurker Bat
Genemorph Imago
Sungold Sentinel
Rhet-Tomb Mystic
Sun-Blessed Healer
Llanowar Loamspeaker
Llanowar Greenwidow
Knight of the Reliquary
Augur of Autumn
Burnished Hart
Jolrael, Voice of Zhalfir
Primeval Herald
Timeless Dragon
Multani, Yavimaya's Avatar

Spells (9)
Bushwack
Primal Might
Path to Exile
Faithful Mending
Memory Lapse
Trade Routes
Armillary Sphere
Thirst for Discovery
Glacierwood Siege

Lands (17)
Celestial Collonade
Myriad Landscape
Restless Vinestalk
Restless Prairie
Scattered Groves
Irrigated Farmland
Hidden Courtyard
Forest
Island
Plains


Sultai Delve

Creatures (14)
Faerie Dreamthief
Ghostly Pilferer
Osseous Sticktwister
Traveling Botanist
Nimble Obstructionist
Nighthawk Scavenger
Dreadwing Scavenger
Rotting Regisaur
Fulminator Mage
Skyway Robber
Sphinx of Forgotten Lore
Night Incarnate
Sphinx of Clear Skies
Necropolis Fiend

Spells (9)
Ominous Parcel
Metamorphic Blast
Unearth
Portent of Calamity
Witherbloom Command
Mulch
Grim Discovery
Life // Death
Diresight

Lands (17)
Llanowar Wastes
Underground River
Fetid Pools
Restless Reef
Swamp
Island
Forest


What followed was the most fun game of Magic I've played in a long time. To qualify this statement: I am not really in a season of life where I'm playing a ton of Magic. But I've played a lot of games, and this was a GREAT game. My MVP was Jolrael, Voice of Zhalfir who combined with Restless Vinestalk and Genemorph Imago for consistent pressure and card advantage. But my opponent kept casting big fliers, eventually topping out with Sphinx of Clear Skies and Necropolis Fiend (with plenty of ammo in the graveyard.) We ended up in a tense dance of threat and counter-threat, but I was unable to clear the way for a lethal attack. Eventually my opponent found enough breathing room to kill my Genemorph Imago, and I never recovered. A fantastic game, and exactly the sort of back-and-forth I want from this cube.

Obviously some of these cards have already been replaced in the list (Timeless Dragon cut for Starfield Shepherd and Metamorphic Blast cut for Sleep of the Dead).

Is there too much flying in this cube? Maybe I should lean into it and include some tools like Winged Words and Lofty Denial. In any case, this was a great first run for the cube. One thing I loved was the "classic" feel of the game, which really put me in mind of my early days in Magic. During our game, the options and possibilities were very clear and legible, and the cards simply did what they said. There was time for the game to develop, and the board wasn't littered with extra rectangles. Nothing was accumulating counters or cranking out copies of itself. It was really refreshing, and a stark contrast to my Welder's Workshop environment.

Plus, this was probably my first unsleeved game of Magic in about 10 years. I really missed seeing the backs of these cards!
 
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