MTG Salvation

OUT --> IN

Cubes are designed to create a Limited environment with a high power level and specific unique feel. This unique feel is what sets each cube apart from mainstream draft or sealed play as well as what sets each cube apart from each other cube. This primer is intended to provide the frame that this cube was designed to fill.

This is a quick outline of my cube and its goals, sorry if I've missed any typos or the like. I run no proxies.

I should point out early that this was not constructed in the manner of most cubes. Rather than aim for a specific target number, we started off at a constricted total of 360 cards and then added cards in "classes" of equal numbers of each colour at a time. Artifacts and lands have not been monitored in the same way except to make sure that colour-based cycles have been maintained (really, this refers specifically to signets). Multicolour have not been restricted in that precise totals method that is so popular in cube construction. Instead multicolour has been created to strengthen specific colour-ties or shape gameplay. While the colour combinations do not appear in identical numbers, they have been weighted to not overly stress any specific combination. This is not a perfect science, but it hasn't seemed to cause any issues.

1. First among the goals of this cube was to provide high-power cards: cards were chosen because they had the potential to shape the rest of the course of the game. This was accomplished through a number of means. First, format defining cards have been included wherever possible: Yawgmoth's Bargain, Arcbound Ravager, Jackal Pup, Lotus Petal, and Tarmogoyf are all tournament staples of the past or present and are obvious inclusions. On the other hand, some people are less comfortable with the power cards of tournaments. For example, Phyrexian Negator scares the ☺☺☺☺ out of less tournament-savvy players, but it is a great card. Just the same, these players have been accounted for in this cube. Cards like Akroma, Silvos and Phage, while still cube-worthy and competitive in their own right, have been specifically included to provide the raw sense of awe that newer players want in their first pick. These flashy and sometimes mana-glutted cards are good, but due to their more limited uses, they receive less slots.

2. The Second Goal that I kept in mind when crafting this cube was that cards need to be flashy. This doesn’t mean that bad cards were included to be pretty, but it means that having a foil or prerelease version of a card on hand made it more likely to see play. A perfect example of this was Lava Spike. While I wanted more burn for red, the stunning foil of Lava Spike pushed it from being merely a contender on the edge to a strong winner. Another implication of this is that when upgrading my cube with new acquisitions, I keep a keen eye out for things like the Arabic Stone-Tongue Basilisk from the Odyssey pre-release or the Hebrew Glory from the Judgment pre-release. Signed cards, pre-release cards, textless and foil cards were all prioritized based on the Second Goal. I have included foreign language cards in a couple spots, but I have been unsure about pursuing this subtheme for fear of effectively barring the inexperienced from cube play.

3. The Third Goal is an old Magic feel. I have been playing magic longer than most, I started back in Mercadian Masques just before the release of Nemesis, and I like the feel of the older sets. I have always had a penchant for the cards from sets like mirage, tempest, and saga, and despite power-level problems, I think it is obvious how integral they have been to the game’s formation. I also have an irrationally strong preference for the old card templates. With this unusual preference in mind, I set out to ensure that this cube would satiate as much of these desires as possible. This Cube would be old. Old specifically is defined on two nested qualities. The inner level is pre-Mirrodin: Mirrodin was the set that incorporated the new formatting scheme and is what I call the beginning of the end. Pre-Mirrodin cards and pre-Mirrodin mechanics all receive a soft priority. While much of the cube is in fact comprised of post-Mirrodin cards, any printing prior to Mirrodin was given a bump in the selection process. The outer sphere is Pre-M10 rules. I prefer to play with 6th edition rules and I believe that the game is worse off for the rules change (Don’t even think of touching my mana-burn). My playgroup by-and-large either agrees with me or tolerates this quirk, so I have vetoed almost any card that uses the new terminology or relies on the new rules. So any card that says “exile” or “battlefield” is nearly automatically vetoed. Same goes for cards dependent on the new rules base, such as those that rely on the absence of mana burn (here’s looking at you Omnath). So pre-Mirrodin cards have a small bump in the selection process and post-M10 cards in general are restricted to cards that do not use the new terminology and are also restricted to not breaking the power-level of the game (Baneslayer will never ever see any love from me and definitely will be burned before I would allow it near the cube). As an example of that last point, Wurmcoil Engine was once in the cube, but it was far too format warping. A resolved Wurmcoil Engine had an extremely likelihood of ending the game quickly in the controller’s favour. Wurmcoil and most modern mythics are just too bomby. Compare them to Tahngarth, the legend from Planeshift. He has become well known in our playgroup as the “Masticore Killer” because he seems to take them out with startling regularity with combat damage on the stack (thereby forcing a double regeneration). Tahngarth is a powerful piece of removal, but he doesn’t have the level of power to compete with things that are so powerful for so cheap (I mean, Penumbra Wurm is 1 mana more than the engine with a strong color-commitment, but is clearly unable to compete). There are some cards allowed in as exceptions, Molten-Tail Masticore was included to complete the cycle, and Etched Champion was considered a fair midrange creature, but these exceptions are made with extreme caution. The gist here is: Old-border cards are preferred, new-border must not violate 6th edition rules enforcement, new cards must be more carefully evaluated for balance than old, and as an aside, if there is a non-original printing of a card in the cube, I am likely tracking down an original to replace it.

4. The Fourth Goal is that 5 colour decks must be supported. 5 colour decks are very hard to build well as it is, so while I don’t expect them to be played all the time, I believe the archetype important enough for me to specifically work to help it see play (unlike W/G/R aggro that practically builds itself). Draco, and other Invasion block cards (as well as later cards like Fist of Suns) have been specifically chosen to be good for the 5 colour player. While cards geared for 5 colour have been included specifically, I have been careful to ensure that most are useable or good outside of 5 colour and that they don’t weigh on the power of the cube as whole.

5. The Fifth Goal is simply that the colours are designed to be balanced and much of the future changes will likely be to improve balance. This needs no explaining, but it was a key part of the design. No colour or specific colour combination is intended to be or become dominant.


Evaluation of Cube Performance:
I think that the cube is rather balanced, but this is not without caveats. 5 or 4-Colour Control has been one of the dominant archetypes in our drafts and sealed play. I do not believe that aggro is unviable, but both of the two most experienced players in our group have a strong inclination toward the archetype before even starting the drafts. I am one of these people. I have drafted tri-colour zoo twice to great effect (largely to prove to myself that there wasn’t an imbalance), once with a black splash of Phyrexian Negator off of all-colour sources (with birds of paradise, city of brass, thran quarry, fellwar stone and crop rotation in your pool, you don’t need to sweat a single off-colour mana-symbol). Both times, the strength of the decks reassured me that it was viable and effective.
Weenie has never been drafted in our cube, I believe the archetype to be too difficult to support in a limited environment where mid-range aggro should always see its chance to shine. So outright weenie has never been seen, too many 4 and 5-drops are run that are essential to forcing past the removal inherent to the format.


While I believe no specific build or colour combination to be inherently dominant, I still have concerns.

First is that white always seems to be a powerhouse. It is possible to draft well without it, but it is difficult to not draft the colour of mass removal. I don’t think the rest of my playgroup really notices this, but I worry that old-school white’s position as the colour of removal makes it too good.

Green for a long time was underpowered. I don’t know how else to put it. But, with the careful creation of a small sub-theme of library manipulation, and the addition of much more mana-accel and good beats like Mirri (yes, Mirri, Cat Warrior from Exodus. Who would have known she’d become an occasional first-pick card in a format with balance, bargain, and necropotence?), Green has become a highly-drafted colour.

Red started off as a tad over-powered, but has been brought into a good balance as the other colours have been tweaked.

Black was the other problem-child colour(the first was green). Black, above all other colours has been extremely prone to becoming insular. In the beginning stages of the cube’s formation, black’s splashable removal was highly drafted, but nobody would commit to the colour. Black bombs like Pit Spawn were common force-picks. Three key changes have lifted black out of the dregs and back into balance. The first change was ironically not in black, but rather the surge in mana accel that green received to increase its viability had the welcome side effect of making black’s insular nature less problematic in 2 and even 3-colour decks. Being able to reliably cast your phage or pit spawn in a tri-colour deck makes it become a nice high pick like it should be. The second change was adding more black draw to decrease its dependence on being paired with the second most insular colour, blue. This made a colour valued for its removal able to find that removal on its own and thus able to be its own support. The irony of making a colour less insular by making it more self-sufficient still amuses me. The third change was the addition of more black removal. People needed a reason not to pitch their tent in white. By offering enticing treats like damnation and terminate, black was made into a compelling choice. CIP effect creatures like nekrataal were part of this push.

Blue has been a conundrum for me. It sees play as is, largely by me (but stroke of genius has never not been someone’s first pick) and it seems powerful. Despite this, I have trouble understanding why, it doesn’t seem to pack a high density of the draw or counters or bounce that it is known for, but it has been very strong. So, I guess blue works but it just is less focused than the other colours. Definitely not underpowered.


Full Card List
I tried to include the edition where relevant, but if I didn't catch that more than edition existed, assume that I am running the original.

Click here for the tappedout.net page for this cube