MTG Salvation

The Antiquities War Cube

The two brothers Urza and Mishra wanted only to learn about the Thran, the ancient artificers whose talents they had inherited. But their rivalry, fueled by two halves of an ancient powerstone found deep within the Caves of Koilos, brought Dominaria to full-scale war. The artificers' war has left its mark on the history of not only Dominaria, but upon the entire Multiverse itself. This is the Antiquities War.

This started when I was thinking I wanted to build a cube of my own--but being a storyteller at heart, having a regular old cube wasn't enough for me. Then I recalled my love of old cards (particularly the Antiquities set), and realized I could make a cube that would make my players into two warring artificers. And so the artifact cube was born.

After a number of massive overhauls, I have reached the cube I have now. The metagame is one that is defined by artifacts, particularly artifact creatures. I also wanted to include powerful spells so that, in addition to having games defined by battling artifact creatures, I could have players slinging powerful spells at each other (Yawgmoth's Will, I'm looking at you). This could also give the cube a retro-feel, when creatures were less powerful and spells were amazing. I supplemented this retro-feel by NOT INCLUDING EQUIPMENT. Seems like a horrible oversight, given that this is an artifact theme cube, but in order to simulate a more classic environment, I am noting the absence of equipment and planeswalkers.

Further, because this is meant to simulate a war between brother artificers, the singleton rule has been lifted from the artifact's section of the cube. This lets me run the artifacts that are worth running and still maintain the artifact density that I want (as well as let me do things like run 4 Assembly-Workers, or let everybody have a Prismatic Lens/Worn Powerstone). The brothers dueled using machines that were often noticeably similar to one another's, so running multiples is something that I like that makes this cube a little more interesting.

The way this cube is meant to be drafted is with 14-card packs which are supplemented by a single artifact land at random. However, this is the Antiquities War, and all of the artifact lands are highly Mirrodin-specific. So that's easy. I'll make new ones (you'll note that the art came from various Antiquities lands, in order to keep the feeling similar to the set this cube is based on). This, by the way, is how you make a storyline-themed cube: with functional reprints that have been re-skinned.



NOTE: THE CUBE LISTED HERE IS OUT OF DATE. SEE CUBETUTOR FOR CORRECT LIST


If you have any comments, suggestions, thoughts at all, please let me know!

Very nice. I love it. Dragon Engine!? Awesome.

Those Artifact lands looks very good. And you even added quotes! How did you make them?

The artifact lands I simply made in Magic Set Editor, but now that I have access to acetone I'm thinking of trying to put them on blanked foils so that they have more pop. However, that requires me to make them in Photoshop, which is a program I unfortunately do not have :/
(curse you GIMP for not properly carrying over Photoshop templates!)

Pretty big update as I get ready for M13 coming out soon.

Oath of Lieges -> Ghostly Prison
Hanna's Custody -> Glorious Anthem
Ravenous Baboons -> Avalanche Riders
Dread Statuary -> Strip Mine
Thornweald Archer -> Deadly Recluse
Vulshok War Boar -> Spiraling Duelist
Jayemdae Tome -> Trading Post
Mantis Engine -> Chronomaton
Juggernaut -> Chronomaton
Ornithopter -> Porcelain Legionnaire
Synod Centurion -> Porcelain Legionnaire
The Rack -> Endoskeleton

Also, I'm working on rebuilding the Artifact Lands to look really interesting and unique using the GIMP, so I'll repost them when they're finished!

I think you should have used different art for the artifact lands. It's weird to me that they have the same art as other cards.

I mean, considering you're already running Mishra's Factory....

Otherwise, I'm loving the theme of this cube. Does it play well?

Haven't been by this thread in a while! Here's my update back from Return to Ravnica: (I didn't do an update for Gatecrash because I didn't see any cards I wanted)

Return to Ravnica
Ashes to Ashes -> Praetor's Grasp
Everflowing Chalice -> Mox Opal
Juggernaut -> Volatile Rig

@Juju: The Mishra's Factory I run is the Elspeth vs Tezzeret one, so I never run into art problems. I specifically wanted to use the old art because it was nostalgic to Antiquities while also giving me a way to integrate the story of the Brother's War into the cube. I could have used other art... but that would have been a great deal harder, especially when dealing with such specific Dominarian locations.

@Bone Doc: I actually already included a few of those cards! You probably looked in the wrong place for Academy Ruins (it's in blue) and for Phyrexian Metamorph (it's in Artifacts). I considered the trinkets theme but honestly I feel like it would require too much dedication to small artifacts to be worth it, and I tend not to be fond of most small artifacts. I recognize it as an artifact subtheme, but it's not one I want to run.

Super cool idea. Live in MA but pass through Portland a lot. I'd love to give it a try sometime!

That'd be sweet! Ironically I'm about to graduate and be moving to Boston come next August, so meeting up for cubing may be easier than that

Just finished running a 6-man draft with this cube this evening, & this time I had the forethought to keep decks intact afterwards so I could look at what got played and write up a post about it!

We had 6 drafters: me and five people who were somewhat familiar with the cube but haven’t drafted it in a while (though to be fair, none of us have done an offline cube draft in months). It went over quite well, and people seemed to be interested despite some of the gimmicks. The general consensus was that it was incredibly difficult to draft because the sheer volume of colorless cards meant it was:
A) Difficult to see which colors were open (I drafted BR control and the players on each side of me both drafted UB control)
B) Difficult to evaluate which cards were the best picks, since there were strictly more options, and for the most part the power level is more flat than a typical set.
Also, green was overlooked at first until the two green players realized that and went nuts utilizing the powerful color that it is.

Deck One: UG Midrange
Artifact Lands? Yes
First Pick? Obelisk of Alara
Feedback? “My biggest mistake was not picking Naturalize as soon as I saw it. Green is really good in this cube!”
Deck Summary: Using bomb cards such as Acquire, Ezuri’s Brigade, Sculpting Steel/Phyrexian Metamorph, this player sought to end the game quickly if his opponent didn’t have an answer. He backed it up with a bunch of aggressive attackers, mostly in green (Citanul Druid is practically Tarmogoyf). He had plenty of answers in the form of Slice in Twain and Duplicant, Lignify and Beast Within, and used the engine of Obelisk of Alara to make sure he ended the game effectively. One time he had three Obelisks out at once!

Deck Two: UB Phyrexian Control
Artifact Lands? No
First Pick? Yawgmoth's Bargain
Feedback? “I got hosed when I realized half the table was drafting black control...”
Deck Summary: In lieu of hard removal, this player Domineered his opponent’s creatures, and locked the rest down with Icy Manipulator and Puppet Strings, backing up his threats with plenty of countermagic and hand disruption. He didn’t get any mana rocks to support his Staff of Domination, but had plenty of Phyrexian card advantage: Phyrexian Arena, Yawgmoth's Will, and Yawgmoth's Bargain. His final win conditions generally came down to Phyrexian Processor and/or Thopter Assembly.

Deck Three: wubRG Welder-Vat
Artifact Lands? Yes
First Pick? Wurmcoil Engine
Feedback? “I will under no circumstances pass Steal Artifact, Naturalize, or Acidic Slime in this cube in the future!”
Deck Summary: Built initially around Goblin Welder/Wurmcoil Engine shenanigans, it turned out to be a solid CIP/dies control deck. Wurmcoil, Acidic Slime, Sanctum Gargoyle, Junk Diver, and Triskelion all shone when tinkered with the Mimic Vat and the Welder, with an additional powerful sac engine coming from Atog. Naturalize and Steal Artifact were far and away the player’s two favorite cards they drafted, however.

Deck Four: WR Burn
Artifact Lands? No
First Pick? I dunno, but probably either Mox Diamond or Hammer of Bogardan
Feedback? “Hammer of Bogardan is REALLY good. Also I keep drafting the same deck with this cube but it’s always fun!”
Deck Summary: Fairly simple, really. Play aggressive creatures, clear the board, burn the face. Support with removal and land destruction.

Deck Five: BR Utility Artifacts <this was me
Artifact Lands? Yes
First Pick? Mox Opal
Feedback? “Next time I gotta play an aggressive green deck.”
Deck Summary: I played a control build that tried to keep the board in check with Damnation and Volatile Rig while either my Covetous Dragon swooped in for damage (rarely) or I assembled an engine of utility artifacts: Trading Post, Crucible of Worlds, Artifact Lands, Zuran Orb, Furnace Celebration, and sac outlets like Keldon Necropolis. I picked up the Furnace Celebration early and did an okay job building the deck… would have been better if I weren’t flanked by black players! My engine was possible thanks to excellent card advantage from the Crucible as well as Skeleton Shard and Serum Tank.

Deck Six: UB Bombs
Artifact Lands? No
First Pick? I dunno, but probably Thran Dynamo.
Feedback? “My deck didn’t really come out the way I wanted it to, but I got to combo Aphetto Alchemist with Thran Dynamo so that was fun.”
Deck Summary: This deck relied on its three bombs to seal its victory: Darksteel Juggernaut, Pentavus, and Colossus of Sardia. To get them, it used tutors and cheating effects (Master Transmuter, Kuldotha Forgemaster) and slowed the game down dramatically with Tangle Wire, Crystal Shard, and Winter Orb. Most of the fun came from comboing Aphetto Alchemist with Thran Dynamo for excessive mana.