I am for a while now trying to weave a monocolor theme into my cube, comparable to what you've seen in sets like Theros or Eldraine. I'm still working on the perfect execution. It is a theme that I rarely see mentioned or when it seems to have a bad reputation because people think it brings to many restrictions for drafting and deckbuilding. Yes, there are limitations and I wouldn't enjoy it as a primary theme probably, but it can be fun as a subtheme. Something that makes up maybe a fifth of the metagame. And there are ways to limit the limitations. So I wanted to talk about it.
Why supporting mono color?
The number one reason is flavor (and nostalgia for me personally). I enjoy the feeling of a mono deck and don't enjoy it when you can play Cryptic Command and Cloudthresher in the same deck too easily. But as I've experimented with it, I realized that the things that you need to do to make drafting monocolor realistic can lead to a huge variety in drafting and playing the cube.
So, what are these steps?
#1) Play a lot of colorless cards.
Cards that only cost generic mana are great for this theme, as they will slot into monocolored decks just as easily as the go into colorful decks. They are also great for the cube in general, as they are a way to have more potential picks in each pack - for the mono white drafter and the grixis drafter alike. Also I think we are at the point where we have so many cool colorless cards that can fulfil all kinds of needs in all kinds of cubes, that increasing the number a fair bit is an easy task.
Colorless utility lands do double duty here. They theoretically can be played in decks of any color(s) and thus increasing flexibility in drafting. But they are also easier to play if your spells require fewer different colors. So they also push towards less colors or even monocolor a bit.
Then there are also colorless cards, that are best in decks heavy on a singular color. Those work as payoffs for all 5 kinds of monocolored decks while being less likely to get picked by two-color drafters. Cards like Strata Scythe, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx or Endless Atlas are great if you want to have a monocolored deck pop up in most drafts.
#2) Chose the right fixing
This is not primarily about reducing fixing. You still want 2- and 3-colored decks to be draftable and interesting, else the environment would get stale very quickly. While you might need a bit less fixing, I wouldn't reduce the amount of fixing by more than 10 or 15%. What I would do, is add the right things: fixing lands that might be interesting for monocolored decks. Fetchlands can synergize with mechanics like landfall or revolt, cycling lands also work with the graveyard and might just be worth it (if you'd play Slippery Karst, you'd play Scattered Groves), horizon lands, bounce lands, scry temples ... there are quite a few fixing land cycles that can be solid in mono decks.
Also, mana rocks like signets or talismans are usually great as ramp even when they don't fix your mana. I'd play my Dimir Signet in mono black every day.
And while rainbow fixing lands don't play well in monocolored decks, they can be fixing for whatever the 2- and 3-colored decks at the table need and thus might save a few slots.
#3) Rethink your multicolor sections
Here we have three selesnya 3-drops. While one might just say they're the same, they're not. If we imagine 15 decks, 10 two-colored and 5 monocolored, then the Knight would go into only one of them without splashing specifically for it. The Riders would go into three of them, as casting them outside of selesnya, mono green or mono white wouldn't be easy on curve. The Safeguard on the other hand would go into 9 of the 15 hypothetical decks. So to make monocolor a thing, it would be a good idea to decrease the number of cards in the first category, the classic gold cards. Also, increasing the number of cards from category three, the flexible hybrids, will increase the number of potential picks for each monocolor drafter as well as everyone else. Also, while they're far less flexible, having a few cards of category two, the heavy hybrids, can be a nice tool to promote monocolored decks. While the selesnya drafter will pick up the Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers, the azorius and golgari drafters won't be interested, and the bant drafter probably wont as well. So the mono green or mono white drafters will have far less competition. That means that a strong heavy hybrid like Divinity of Pride can not only be a good orzhov card, but also an incentive to go mono white or black.
#4) Think about what your colors can do
If you build your cube in a way that a drafter can pick 40+ cards that are castable in a mono red deck, but then those cards all do very different things, they will have a hard time. That means you should do even more what you probably already do: make sure to have as few cards as possible that only go with one specific archetype of their color. If you'd give someone 30 random red cards, you want them to be able to build a somewhat cohesive deck out of them,all while not making your cube boring and mono thematic.
That can be achieved by giving each color it's own theme/archetype, in addition to e.g. the guild archetypes you might be running. For example, lets look at the cards above. My red archetypes were: gruul madness, boros gowide aggro, rakdos sacrifice and izzet spells control. Glory Chaser was just a nice one drop both my boros and gruul decks liked, Oracle was a sac outlet for rakdos and a decent two drop for boros and gruul, and Outburst is a bunch of dudes for aggro/sacrifice and a spell that summons blockers for izzet. All these where in my cube before, but they happen to all be goblins. So when I went over my red section, I realized that most of my creatures were goblins anyway. So that's a way to find a monocolor theme. Just check what your color can do on it's own, and which themes could be supported without major changes.
That's all folks!
Okay, there we have it. While supporting explicit monocolor brings some limitations with it, the steps you might make to enable it, can in my opinion be a good thing for your cube in general.
Has anyone made similar or different experiences in enabling monocolor?
Oh, and before I am done, of course a few cards that actively reward you for going mono are great signposts. Just treat them similar to gold cards: Only add a small number and/or prefer flexible ones. Those that can still be good in 2-colored decks are easier to integrate.
Why supporting mono color?
The number one reason is flavor (and nostalgia for me personally). I enjoy the feeling of a mono deck and don't enjoy it when you can play Cryptic Command and Cloudthresher in the same deck too easily. But as I've experimented with it, I realized that the things that you need to do to make drafting monocolor realistic can lead to a huge variety in drafting and playing the cube.
So, what are these steps?
#1) Play a lot of colorless cards.
Cards that only cost generic mana are great for this theme, as they will slot into monocolored decks just as easily as the go into colorful decks. They are also great for the cube in general, as they are a way to have more potential picks in each pack - for the mono white drafter and the grixis drafter alike. Also I think we are at the point where we have so many cool colorless cards that can fulfil all kinds of needs in all kinds of cubes, that increasing the number a fair bit is an easy task.
Colorless utility lands do double duty here. They theoretically can be played in decks of any color(s) and thus increasing flexibility in drafting. But they are also easier to play if your spells require fewer different colors. So they also push towards less colors or even monocolor a bit.
Then there are also colorless cards, that are best in decks heavy on a singular color. Those work as payoffs for all 5 kinds of monocolored decks while being less likely to get picked by two-color drafters. Cards like Strata Scythe, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx or Endless Atlas are great if you want to have a monocolored deck pop up in most drafts.
#2) Chose the right fixing
This is not primarily about reducing fixing. You still want 2- and 3-colored decks to be draftable and interesting, else the environment would get stale very quickly. While you might need a bit less fixing, I wouldn't reduce the amount of fixing by more than 10 or 15%. What I would do, is add the right things: fixing lands that might be interesting for monocolored decks. Fetchlands can synergize with mechanics like landfall or revolt, cycling lands also work with the graveyard and might just be worth it (if you'd play Slippery Karst, you'd play Scattered Groves), horizon lands, bounce lands, scry temples ... there are quite a few fixing land cycles that can be solid in mono decks.
Also, mana rocks like signets or talismans are usually great as ramp even when they don't fix your mana. I'd play my Dimir Signet in mono black every day.
And while rainbow fixing lands don't play well in monocolored decks, they can be fixing for whatever the 2- and 3-colored decks at the table need and thus might save a few slots.
#3) Rethink your multicolor sections
Here we have three selesnya 3-drops. While one might just say they're the same, they're not. If we imagine 15 decks, 10 two-colored and 5 monocolored, then the Knight would go into only one of them without splashing specifically for it. The Riders would go into three of them, as casting them outside of selesnya, mono green or mono white wouldn't be easy on curve. The Safeguard on the other hand would go into 9 of the 15 hypothetical decks. So to make monocolor a thing, it would be a good idea to decrease the number of cards in the first category, the classic gold cards. Also, increasing the number of cards from category three, the flexible hybrids, will increase the number of potential picks for each monocolor drafter as well as everyone else. Also, while they're far less flexible, having a few cards of category two, the heavy hybrids, can be a nice tool to promote monocolored decks. While the selesnya drafter will pick up the Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers, the azorius and golgari drafters won't be interested, and the bant drafter probably wont as well. So the mono green or mono white drafters will have far less competition. That means that a strong heavy hybrid like Divinity of Pride can not only be a good orzhov card, but also an incentive to go mono white or black.
#4) Think about what your colors can do
If you build your cube in a way that a drafter can pick 40+ cards that are castable in a mono red deck, but then those cards all do very different things, they will have a hard time. That means you should do even more what you probably already do: make sure to have as few cards as possible that only go with one specific archetype of their color. If you'd give someone 30 random red cards, you want them to be able to build a somewhat cohesive deck out of them,all while not making your cube boring and mono thematic.
That can be achieved by giving each color it's own theme/archetype, in addition to e.g. the guild archetypes you might be running. For example, lets look at the cards above. My red archetypes were: gruul madness, boros gowide aggro, rakdos sacrifice and izzet spells control. Glory Chaser was just a nice one drop both my boros and gruul decks liked, Oracle was a sac outlet for rakdos and a decent two drop for boros and gruul, and Outburst is a bunch of dudes for aggro/sacrifice and a spell that summons blockers for izzet. All these where in my cube before, but they happen to all be goblins. So when I went over my red section, I realized that most of my creatures were goblins anyway. So that's a way to find a monocolor theme. Just check what your color can do on it's own, and which themes could be supported without major changes.
That's all folks!
Okay, there we have it. While supporting explicit monocolor brings some limitations with it, the steps you might make to enable it, can in my opinion be a good thing for your cube in general.
Has anyone made similar or different experiences in enabling monocolor?
Oh, and before I am done, of course a few cards that actively reward you for going mono are great signposts. Just treat them similar to gold cards: Only add a small number and/or prefer flexible ones. Those that can still be good in 2-colored decks are easier to integrate.
