WARNING: This article is really, really long. But I hope it will be inspiring for those who read it, and that everyone who reads this changes at least one card in their Cube lists due to an idea they got from this article. Comments, criticism and corrections are of course very welcome.
One of the first things any new player learns (or needs to learn if he’s to find any success and enjoyment in the game), is that some Magic cards are more powerful than others. They have low mana costs for their effects, they do something few other cards in the game (or format) do, or they’re extremely versatile. So deckbuilding is just an exercise in determining which cards are the most powerful in any given format (a relatively easy exercise) and throw as many of them as our mana will allow into a deck, right? Luckily, this is not the case. Some relatively less powerful cards shine in combination with certain other cards, forming decks that are greater than the sum of their parts and that can go toe-to-toe with the decks playing the most powerful cards in the format. Such cards are said to have “synergy” with each other. The basic tension between power and synergy is at the heart of basically any Magic format.
Cube is no exception. While Cube originated from a desire to play Limited with the best (i.e. most powerful) cards in Magic’s history, when you combine cards from over 20 years’ worth of Magic sets, strange things happen and strong synergy-based decks come together. The next logical step, and one most Cube designers have taken a long time ago (although to different degrees), is to intentionally “seed” certain synergies into their lists. Whether it’s because a Cube designer wants to recreate and relive a beloved deck from some past or current format, or it’s with the aim of mimicking recent retail Limited formats, where some or all color combinations usually have fairly well-defined synergy-based strategies available to them, the end result is the same: drafters are incentivized to pay attention not just to the power levels of the cards in their packs, but also to any synergies those cards have with the cards already drafted (or even with cards they hope to open or get passed later in the draft!).
Cube is no exception. While Cube originated from a desire to play Limited with the best (i.e. most powerful) cards in Magic’s history, when you combine cards from over 20 years’ worth of Magic sets, strange things happen and strong synergy-based decks come together. The next logical step, and one most Cube designers have taken a long time ago (although to different degrees), is to intentionally “seed” certain synergies into their lists. Whether it’s because a Cube designer wants to recreate and relive a beloved deck from some past or current format, or it’s with the aim of mimicking recent retail Limited formats, where some or all color combinations usually have fairly well-defined synergy-based strategies available to them, the end result is the same: drafters are incentivized to pay attention not just to the power levels of the cards in their packs, but also to any synergies those cards have with the cards already drafted (or even with cards they hope to open or get passed later in the draft!).
In this article I will use the term “archetype” to refer to a set of cards that share a certain synergy, or to a deck based around that particular synergy. I think this use is fairly commonplace in Cube discussions, but it’s important to note that it’s slightly different from the use of “archetype” in non-Cube Magic talk, where it has the meaning of “deck sharing similarities (and usually a number of cards) with other known decks, regardless of the deck in question being power-based or synergy-based”. In non-Cube Magic, one may refer to “the Blue-White Control archetype”, or the “Sligh/Red Aggro archetype”. For the purposes of this article, however, those are not descriptions of archetypes, but indicate that decks belong to a certain “theatre”. Decks in the same theatre can differ wildly from one another, but share a similar fundamental strategy, meaning they look to win the game in a similar way and in a similar amount of time (i.e. turns).
There are four theatres: aggro, control, midrange and combo.
An aggro deck uses creatures costing one to three mana backed up by some form of disruption and/or reach to reduce the opponent’s life total to zero in the early game (around turn five, ideally). A midrange deck relies mainly on creatures and planeswalkers costing from three to five mana, often played ahead of schedule due to mana acceleration and backed up by some card or board advantage engine to grind opponents out in the mid to late game. A control deck’s strengths are cheap interaction (blockers or spot removal spells), counterspells, mass removal and card drawing. It wants to win in the late game after answering all the opponent’s threats and dedicates only a few deck slots to actual victory conditions. A combo deck foregoes all or most interaction with the opponent in order to assemble a combination of cards that will win the game more or less on the spot, relatively early in the game.
Note that I consider combo to be a separate theatre, but an optional one. While decks using each of the three main strategies will come together almost automatically in each draft (although not necessarily an equal amount of each), the question of whether a combo deck is possible depends entirely on the particular Cube list in use and requires special attention of the Cube designer. It’s entirely possible to run a successful list without any combo support, but it’s also possible to support archetypes that play very similarly to combo decks in Constructed Magic and that cannot be usefully classified as aggro, control or midrange.
Archetypes and theatres exist side by side. Each deck belongs to a certain theatre (note that hybrids are possible) and may or may not belong to one or more archetypes. Some archetypes always play in the same theatre (Storm is always a combo deck), while others can be flexible (Tokens can be an aggro deck, a midrange deck, or even a combo deck in extreme circumstances).
Archetypes are also not to be confused with themes. A “theme” is a design choice with an overarching impact on the entire Cube, where many or even all of the individual cards are somehow related to the central theme. Themes can be gameplay-related (e.g. Tribal Cubes, Artifact Cubes, Multicolor Cubes, Creatureless Cubes (!)) or be based on flavor, storyline or even something like a particular artist. Archetypes differ from themes because they’re much narrower in scope: in a small (360-450) list, supporting an archetype can often be done by adding 5-10 archetype-specific cards, while introducing a particular theme will most likely entail a full Cube re-design.
There are four theatres: aggro, control, midrange and combo.
An aggro deck uses creatures costing one to three mana backed up by some form of disruption and/or reach to reduce the opponent’s life total to zero in the early game (around turn five, ideally). A midrange deck relies mainly on creatures and planeswalkers costing from three to five mana, often played ahead of schedule due to mana acceleration and backed up by some card or board advantage engine to grind opponents out in the mid to late game. A control deck’s strengths are cheap interaction (blockers or spot removal spells), counterspells, mass removal and card drawing. It wants to win in the late game after answering all the opponent’s threats and dedicates only a few deck slots to actual victory conditions. A combo deck foregoes all or most interaction with the opponent in order to assemble a combination of cards that will win the game more or less on the spot, relatively early in the game.
Note that I consider combo to be a separate theatre, but an optional one. While decks using each of the three main strategies will come together almost automatically in each draft (although not necessarily an equal amount of each), the question of whether a combo deck is possible depends entirely on the particular Cube list in use and requires special attention of the Cube designer. It’s entirely possible to run a successful list without any combo support, but it’s also possible to support archetypes that play very similarly to combo decks in Constructed Magic and that cannot be usefully classified as aggro, control or midrange.
Archetypes and theatres exist side by side. Each deck belongs to a certain theatre (note that hybrids are possible) and may or may not belong to one or more archetypes. Some archetypes always play in the same theatre (Storm is always a combo deck), while others can be flexible (Tokens can be an aggro deck, a midrange deck, or even a combo deck in extreme circumstances).
Archetypes are also not to be confused with themes. A “theme” is a design choice with an overarching impact on the entire Cube, where many or even all of the individual cards are somehow related to the central theme. Themes can be gameplay-related (e.g. Tribal Cubes, Artifact Cubes, Multicolor Cubes, Creatureless Cubes (!)) or be based on flavor, storyline or even something like a particular artist. Archetypes differ from themes because they’re much narrower in scope: in a small (360-450) list, supporting an archetype can often be done by adding 5-10 archetype-specific cards, while introducing a particular theme will most likely entail a full Cube re-design.
The benefits of the archetype-based approach to Cube design are clear: the drafting process becomes more interesting, because it’s not just a matter of picking two (hopefully open) colors and then drafting the most powerful card in those colors that’s in each pack. Archetype-based decks are very satisfying to play (at least when they’re successful), as the drafter feels like he has created a small work of art (even though arguably the credit should go at least partly to the Cube designer). Archetypes also help to set one Cube apart from another, because whether a certain archetype is available depends on the subjective preferences of the Cube designer. Since finding the most powerful cards in each color is easy (relatively speaking), all Cubes would look alike if power level was the only criterion to decide on a card’s in- or exclusion.
However, archetype-based Cube design can be taken too far. Since cards that are included due to their synergies with other cards are by definition less powerful in a vacuum, drafters who are drafting a deck not based on that particular set of synergies will not be interested in those cards. Conversely, a player who is drafting a certain archetype will be less interested in any cards not working well in that archetype. In the extreme case, where a list has as many archetypes as there are drafters, and very few cards that are generally powerful, the decks will look the same draft after draft, and you might as well be playing Constructed at that point.
The solution to this issue is twofold: “anchor cards” and “cross-pollination”. “Anchor cards” are cards whose objective (i.e. archetype-independent) power level is high enough that their inclusion in the Cube can be justified based on that alone, but that get even better when played in a certain archetype. Restoration Angel is an anchor card for the Blink archetype, as is Tinker for the Artifacts archetype, and Siege-Gang Commander for the Tokens archetype. Using anchor cards, it’s possible to support archetypes without including too many cards that are useful only in that archetype.
“Cross-pollination” occurs when two different archetypes share certain similarities, or rely partly on the same set of cards, so that it’s possible to include elements of both in the same deck. Think of it as “synergy between synergies”. Examples are Tokens-Pox/Stax, and Storm-Spells Matter. A card that works well in multiple supported archetypes can earn its place in the Cube, even if its objective power level isn’t quite on par with that of other Cube cards.
Another pitfall to watch out for is scattering support cards for a single archetype over too many colors. You may have a couple of cards in all five colors that have awesome synergy, but if no deck can reliably cast all of those cards, the archetype will not be successful. It’s better to choose one or two colors for each archetype and only support the archetype within those colors. Note that some archetypes are deep enough that you can conceivably run cards for them in all five colors, for example Tokens and Blink.
However, archetype-based Cube design can be taken too far. Since cards that are included due to their synergies with other cards are by definition less powerful in a vacuum, drafters who are drafting a deck not based on that particular set of synergies will not be interested in those cards. Conversely, a player who is drafting a certain archetype will be less interested in any cards not working well in that archetype. In the extreme case, where a list has as many archetypes as there are drafters, and very few cards that are generally powerful, the decks will look the same draft after draft, and you might as well be playing Constructed at that point.
The solution to this issue is twofold: “anchor cards” and “cross-pollination”. “Anchor cards” are cards whose objective (i.e. archetype-independent) power level is high enough that their inclusion in the Cube can be justified based on that alone, but that get even better when played in a certain archetype. Restoration Angel is an anchor card for the Blink archetype, as is Tinker for the Artifacts archetype, and Siege-Gang Commander for the Tokens archetype. Using anchor cards, it’s possible to support archetypes without including too many cards that are useful only in that archetype.
“Cross-pollination” occurs when two different archetypes share certain similarities, or rely partly on the same set of cards, so that it’s possible to include elements of both in the same deck. Think of it as “synergy between synergies”. Examples are Tokens-Pox/Stax, and Storm-Spells Matter. A card that works well in multiple supported archetypes can earn its place in the Cube, even if its objective power level isn’t quite on par with that of other Cube cards.
Another pitfall to watch out for is scattering support cards for a single archetype over too many colors. You may have a couple of cards in all five colors that have awesome synergy, but if no deck can reliably cast all of those cards, the archetype will not be successful. It’s better to choose one or two colors for each archetype and only support the archetype within those colors. Note that some archetypes are deep enough that you can conceivably run cards for them in all five colors, for example Tokens and Blink.
In order to provide Cube managers with some ideas on which archetypes to support, I’ve compiled the following alphabetical list. It is meant to be comprehensive, meaning that some of the “archetypes” will be a bit “out there”, i.e. I don’t expect many Cube designers to include them. Of course, I’m bound to have missed some archetypes, so if you think of any others, please leave a comment to that effect and I will add them to the list.
For each archetype, I’ve listed the color(s) that are able to support it (main and secondary), its “anchor cards” (see above), some archetype-specific cards (i.e. cards you probably only want to include if you intend to support that archetype*), the “theatre(s)” the archetype can play in and any “cross-pollination” with other archetypes (see above). Note that this depends on Cube size. A card may well be a staple at 720 and “only” an archetype-support card at 360.
I’ve intentionally excluded from the list a number of powerful cards that nevertheless require a deck to be built around them in order to be effective. Examples are Moat, Upheaval, Doran, the Siege Tower and Isochron Scepter. These cards have very unique effects that are not available (at reasonable costs) on any other cards. At the same time it’s pretty obvious which cards work well together with them (you play Moat in a deck with fliers, Doran with creatures with higher toughness than power and Isochron Scepter with cheap instants - shocking, I know). I don’t think it’s very useful to consider these full-blown archetypes.
A final comment: while I hope any Cube designer can find some inspiration in this list, it’s mainly written for singleton, single-player, rares-allowed, unthemed (see above), Vintage-legal Cubes of any size. This is simply because I have little to no experience with other types of Cubes.
Description: This archetype focuses on moving lands between the library, the battlefield and the graveyard, and more specifically, on the powerful interaction of Life from the Loam and Crucible of Worlds with Strip Mine, Wasteland, fetchlands, and other utility lands. It’s often possible to get two or more landfall triggers a turn, which makes any card with that ability word pretty busted. It’s also the best deck possible for breaking the symmetry of mass land destruction (Armageddon, Wildfire). The beautiful thing about this archetype is that it’s built around cards that are present in most lists anyway for their natural power level, so supporting it can be done by adding just two or three cards that you wouldn’t have played otherwise.
Main Color(s): Green
Secondary Color(s): White, Red
Anchor Cards: Life from the Loam, Crucible of Worlds, Strip Mine, Wasteland, Horizon Canopy, Steppe Lynx, Plated Geopede, Lotus Cobra, Primeval Titan, Mishra’s Factory, Mutavault, Mox Diamond, Armageddon, Ravages of War, Land Tax
Archetype-specific Cards: Knight of the Reliquary, Countryside Crusher, Courser of Kruphix, Oracle of Mul Daya, Constant Mists, Zuran Orb, Vinelasher Kudzu, Emeria Angel, Rampaging Baloths, Harrow, Deathrite Shaman, Crop Rotation, Weathered Wayfarer, Seismic Assault, Adventuring Gear
Theatre(s): Aggro, Midrange
Cross-pollination: Domain (this archetype has an easier time than most achieving the full domain), Dredge (Life from the Loam and Knight of the Reliquary are good at filling your graveyard), Top-of-Deck Matters (via Courser of Kruphix and Oracle of Mul Daya, plus the abundance of shuffle effects is useful), Wildfire (the eponymous card is anything but symmetrical in a deck like this).
Description: While cards whose only function is to gain life are notoriously bad, when the lifegain is a bonus on a card with another desirable effect, things are quite different. Quite a few cards that happen to gain life as part of an overall package are Cube staples, with some of the commonly played ones being Lone Missionary, Knight of Meadowgrain, Kitchen Finks, Baneslayer Angel, Exalted Angel, Scavenging Ooze, Courser of Kruphix, Vampire Nighthawk, Faith’s Fetters, Batterskull and multiple versions of the planeswalkers Ajani and Sorin. If you have enough of these effects in your list (creatures with Extort can also help), a couple of cards that care about gaining life or about having a high life total could become attractive options.
Main Color(s): White
Secondary Color(s):Black, Green
Anchor Cards: Ajani Goldmane
Archetype-specific Cards: Ajani’s Pridemate, Archangel of Thune, Serra’s Ascendant, Soul Warden, Suture Priest, Path of Bravery, Well of Lost Dreams, Ajani, Caller of the Pride, Ajani Steadfast, Blood Baron of Vizkopa, Sanguine Bond, Essence Warden
Theatre(s): Aggro, Midrange, Control
Cross-pollination: Tokens (via the Ajanis, Sorin, Archangel of Thune, Path of Bravery and the various Soul Warden effects), +1/+1 Counters (via Ajani’s Pridemate and again Archangel of Thune).
Description: The only “Combo” archetype present in many “standard” Cubes, Reanimator decks need three things: a big creature, a way to get it into the graveyard, and a reanimation spell. That may seem like a tall order for a Limited deck, but luckily several cards are able to help on two or more fronts. The archetype is conveniently centered in Black, the color with the best and most abundant tutor effects. Looting effects act as discard outlets while digging for missing pieces, and Survival of the Fittest and Fauna Shaman tutor for fatties and bin them as well. Sceptics quickly learn to respect the archetype when facing a T3 Griselbrand or Woodfall Primus for the first time. Note that although the reanimation spells themselves are listed below as archetype-specific cards, they’re actually respectable inclusions in other (mainly midrange) decks as well.
Main Color(s): Black
Secondary Color(s): Blue, Red, Green
Anchor Cards: Recurring Nightmare, Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Imperial Seal, Enclave Cryptologist, Looter il-Kor, Survival of the Fittest, Fauna Shaman, Pack Rat, Liliana of the Veil
Archetype-specific Cards: Reanimate, Exhume, Animate Dead, Necromancy, Dance of the Dead, Unburial Rites, Makeshift Mannequin, Living Death, Life // Death, Entomb, Buried Alive, Lotleth Troll, Oona’s Prowler, Griselbrand, Sheoldred, Whispering One, Merfolk Looter, Thought Courier, Waterfront Bouncer, Thirst for Knowledge, Compulsive Research, Wild Mongrel
Theatre(s): Combo
Cross-pollination: Fatty Cheat (cards like Show and Tell and Sneak Attack work well in the deck), Rec/Sur/Pod (shares many of the same cards and could be considered the midrange version of the same archetype), Madness (both like discard outlets), Dredge (both like binning their own creatures).
For each archetype, I’ve listed the color(s) that are able to support it (main and secondary), its “anchor cards” (see above), some archetype-specific cards (i.e. cards you probably only want to include if you intend to support that archetype*), the “theatre(s)” the archetype can play in and any “cross-pollination” with other archetypes (see above). Note that this depends on Cube size. A card may well be a staple at 720 and “only” an archetype-support card at 360.
I’ve intentionally excluded from the list a number of powerful cards that nevertheless require a deck to be built around them in order to be effective. Examples are Moat, Upheaval, Doran, the Siege Tower and Isochron Scepter. These cards have very unique effects that are not available (at reasonable costs) on any other cards. At the same time it’s pretty obvious which cards work well together with them (you play Moat in a deck with fliers, Doran with creatures with higher toughness than power and Isochron Scepter with cheap instants - shocking, I know). I don’t think it’s very useful to consider these full-blown archetypes.
A final comment: while I hope any Cube designer can find some inspiration in this list, it’s mainly written for singleton, single-player, rares-allowed, unthemed (see above), Vintage-legal Cubes of any size. This is simply because I have little to no experience with other types of Cubes.
Description: This archetype makes use of cards that get better the more artifacts there are in your deck. It uses mana rocks to power out expensive artifacts ahead of schedule and creates card advantage through its artifact-based planeswalkers and recursion elements. This archetype can be especially powerful in Powered Cubes, due to the presence of “jewelry”, i.e. cheap (read: broken) artifact mana like the Moxen, Sol Ring and Mana Vault.
Main Color(s): Blue
Secondary Color(s): Black, Red
Anchor Cards: Tinker, Sundering Titan, Myr Battlesphere
Archetype-specific Cards: Tezzeret the Seeker, Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas, Goblin Welder, Thirst for Knowledge, Metalworker, Lodestone Golem, Mindslaver, Tolarian Academy, Academy Ruins, Mishra’s Workshop, Karn, Silver Golem
Theatre(s): Control, Combo
Cross-pollination: Reanimator (both play big robots and ways to get them into play early, via the graveyard or otherwise), Wildfire (both like mana rocks), Time Vault Combo (which could be considered a sub-archetype of Artifacts, but gets it own entry because it’s both unique and somewhat controversial).
PS: I should note that many more cards exist that care about Artifacts, including but not limited to cards with the Affinity and Metalcraft keywords, Esperzoa and M15 role players Shrapnel Blast and Ensoul Artifact. While it is certainly possible to Cube with such cards, it will typically require a larger artifact section than Cubes would normally run and therefore turn the Cube into an Artifact-themed one.
Main Color(s): Blue
Secondary Color(s): Black, Red
Anchor Cards: Tinker, Sundering Titan, Myr Battlesphere
Archetype-specific Cards: Tezzeret the Seeker, Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas, Goblin Welder, Thirst for Knowledge, Metalworker, Lodestone Golem, Mindslaver, Tolarian Academy, Academy Ruins, Mishra’s Workshop, Karn, Silver Golem
Theatre(s): Control, Combo
Cross-pollination: Reanimator (both play big robots and ways to get them into play early, via the graveyard or otherwise), Wildfire (both like mana rocks), Time Vault Combo (which could be considered a sub-archetype of Artifacts, but gets it own entry because it’s both unique and somewhat controversial).
PS: I should note that many more cards exist that care about Artifacts, including but not limited to cards with the Affinity and Metalcraft keywords, Esperzoa and M15 role players Shrapnel Blast and Ensoul Artifact. While it is certainly possible to Cube with such cards, it will typically require a larger artifact section than Cubes would normally run and therefore turn the Cube into an Artifact-themed one.
Description: A very broad archetype that abuses the many powerful creatures with enters-the-battlefield (ETB) effects that have been printed over the years. Named for the card Momentary Blink, it aims to re-use those ETB effects by either temporarily exiling the creature in question or by bouncing and replaying it. Since almost all Cubes run creatures with ETB effects, often in all five colors, this is a commonly supported archetype.
Main Color(s): White, Blue
Secondary Color(s): All five
Anchor Cards: Restoration Angel, Flickerwisp
Archetype-specific Cards: Crystal Shard, Erratic Portal, Stonecloaker, Cloudshift, Parallax Wave, Waterfront Bouncer, Momentary Blink, Venser, the Sojourner, Kor Skyfisher, Galepowder Mage, Brago, King Eternal
Theatre(s): Aggro, Midrange, Control
Cross-pollination: Rec/Sur/Pod (both like creatures with ETB effects), Tokens (several creatures create one or more tokens when entering the battlefield).
Main Color(s): White, Blue
Secondary Color(s): All five
Anchor Cards: Restoration Angel, Flickerwisp
Archetype-specific Cards: Crystal Shard, Erratic Portal, Stonecloaker, Cloudshift, Parallax Wave, Waterfront Bouncer, Momentary Blink, Venser, the Sojourner, Kor Skyfisher, Galepowder Mage, Brago, King Eternal
Theatre(s): Aggro, Midrange, Control
Cross-pollination: Rec/Sur/Pod (both like creatures with ETB effects), Tokens (several creatures create one or more tokens when entering the battlefield).
Description: As the name implies, this archetype is based around the Devotion mechanic from Theros block, specifically Thassa, God of the Sea and Master of Waves. These cards are extraordinarily powerful when you have sufficient permanents with multiple Blue mana symbols on them. It’s popular among Cube managers looking for a way to provide Blue with an aggressive strategy. It could conceivably be expanded into a Merfolk Tribal archetype using cards like Lord of Atlantis and Master of the Pearl Trident, although I’ve never seen that done.
Main Color(s): Blue
Secondary Color(s): None
Anchor Cards: None (possibly Opposition)
Archetype-specific Cards: Thassa, God of the Sea, Master of Waves, Coralhelm Commander, Aether Adept, Kira, Great Glass-Spinner, Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir, Nightveil Specter
Theatre(s): Aggro, Midrange
Cross-pollination: Tokens (via Master of Waves), Top-of-Deck Matters (via Thassa’s Scry ability).
Main Color(s): Blue
Secondary Color(s): None
Anchor Cards: None (possibly Opposition)
Archetype-specific Cards: Thassa, God of the Sea, Master of Waves, Coralhelm Commander, Aether Adept, Kira, Great Glass-Spinner, Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir, Nightveil Specter
Theatre(s): Aggro, Midrange
Cross-pollination: Tokens (via Master of Waves), Top-of-Deck Matters (via Thassa’s Scry ability).
Description: If a deck reaches a critical mass of burn spells, it starts functioning more as a combo deck than as an aggro deck. The difference between a red aggro deck and a burn deck is that the former is creature-based and predominantly uses its burn spells to clear away blockers, and only aims them at the opponent’s head if that will immediately end the game. The latter plans on using one-shot effects (spells or creatures from the Ball Lightning-family) to reduce the opponent’s life total to zero as quickly as possible, while ignoring the board. The difference between the two decks is often one of degree, meaning that it’s debatable if Burn is to be considered a distinct archetype. I chose to include it here because there are quite a number of frequently-played Cube cards that only really make sense if the “Burn-style” is specifically supported.
Main Color(s): Red
Secondary Color(s): None
Anchor Cards: Sulfuric Vortex, Hellspark Elemental
Archetype-specific Cards: Lava Spike, Skullcrack, Smash to Smithereens, Flames of the Blood Hand, Pulse of the Forge, Eidolon of the Great Revel, Hell’s Thunder, Blistering Firecat, Ball Lightning, Chandra’s Phoenix, Chandra’s Spitfire, Fireblast, Shrine of Burning Rage, Vexing Devil
Theatre(s): Aggro, Combo
Cross-pollination: Spells Matter (making sure your burn spells do something apart from reducing your opponent’s life total helps quite a bit, and Blue card drawing or filtering lets you find more burn spells).
Main Color(s): Red
Secondary Color(s): None
Anchor Cards: Sulfuric Vortex, Hellspark Elemental
Archetype-specific Cards: Lava Spike, Skullcrack, Smash to Smithereens, Flames of the Blood Hand, Pulse of the Forge, Eidolon of the Great Revel, Hell’s Thunder, Blistering Firecat, Ball Lightning, Chandra’s Phoenix, Chandra’s Spitfire, Fireblast, Shrine of Burning Rage, Vexing Devil
Theatre(s): Aggro, Combo
Cross-pollination: Spells Matter (making sure your burn spells do something apart from reducing your opponent’s life total helps quite a bit, and Blue card drawing or filtering lets you find more burn spells).
Description: Tons of individual cards and several entire mechanics (Unleash, Evolve, Graft, Heroic, Bloodthirst, Modular, Scavenge, Undying, Monstrosity …) across all five colors use +1/+1 counters. While cards that specifically care about +1/+1 counters have existed for a long time, the archetype recently got a shot in the arm due to the printing of the Outlast mechanic in Khans of Tarkir. It’s still not a commonly supported archetype, and I don’t necessarily expect that to change, but the potential is there for Cube designers willing to try.
Main Color(s): Green, White
Secondary Color(s): All five
Anchor Cards: Ajani Goldmane, Kalonian Hydra, Curse of Predation
Archetype-specific Cards: Ainok Bond-Kin, Abzan Falconer, High Sentinels of Arashin, Archangel of Thune, Ajani, Caller of the Pride, Ajani Steadfast, Doubling Season, Cytoplast Root-Kin, Plaxcaster Frogling, Fathom Mage, Master Biomancer, Renegade Krasis, Phantom Centaur, Ajani, Mentor of Heroes, Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch, Forgotten Ancient, Spike Feeder, Spike Weaver, Anafenza, the Foremost, Ghave, Guru of Spores
Theatre(s): Aggro, Midrange
Cross-pollination: Voltron (putting +1/+1 counters on evasive/unkillable/double-striking guys is useful), Lifegain (via Archangel of Thune and Ajani’s Pridemate), Tokens (via Doubling Season and Archangel of Thune, among others).
Main Color(s): Green, White
Secondary Color(s): All five
Anchor Cards: Ajani Goldmane, Kalonian Hydra, Curse of Predation
Archetype-specific Cards: Ainok Bond-Kin, Abzan Falconer, High Sentinels of Arashin, Archangel of Thune, Ajani, Caller of the Pride, Ajani Steadfast, Doubling Season, Cytoplast Root-Kin, Plaxcaster Frogling, Fathom Mage, Master Biomancer, Renegade Krasis, Phantom Centaur, Ajani, Mentor of Heroes, Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch, Forgotten Ancient, Spike Feeder, Spike Weaver, Anafenza, the Foremost, Ghave, Guru of Spores
Theatre(s): Aggro, Midrange
Cross-pollination: Voltron (putting +1/+1 counters on evasive/unkillable/double-striking guys is useful), Lifegain (via Archangel of Thune and Ajani’s Pridemate), Tokens (via Doubling Season and Archangel of Thune, among others).
Description: There was a Cycling archetype in the recent MTGO-only Vintage Masters draft format. It was based around Astral Slide and Lightning Rift, two powerful cards from Onslaught Limited and the Constructed formats using that set. Since there are a couple of Cycling cards in most (larger) lists already, and including a few more doesn’t carry a particularly heavy cost due to the nature of the mechanic (especially true for the Onslaught cycle lands - Secluded Steppe and friends), it could be tempting to try to introduce the archetype to Cube. Unfortunately, with only two real build-around cards, which do absolutely nothing without the cyclers, I’m not very optimistic about this archetype’s chances.
Main Color(s): Red, White
Secondary Color(s): All five
Anchor Cards: None
Archetype-specific Cards: Astral Slide, Lightning Rift, Fluctuator, Eternal Dragon, Krosan Tusker, Edge of Autumn, Wild Dogs, Decree of Justice, Akroma’s Vengeance, Renewed Faith, Starstorm, Slice and Dice, Miscalculation, Cloud of Faeries, Complicate, Secluded Steppe, Drifting Meadow, Forgotten Cave, Smoldering Crater, Tranquil Thicket, Slippery Karst, Lonely Sandbar, Remote Isle, Barren Moor, Polluted Mire, Undead Gladiator
Theatre(s): Midrange, Control
Cross-pollination: Blink (via Astral Slide), Lands (cycle lands work well with Life from the Loam)
Main Color(s): Red, White
Secondary Color(s): All five
Anchor Cards: None
Archetype-specific Cards: Astral Slide, Lightning Rift, Fluctuator, Eternal Dragon, Krosan Tusker, Edge of Autumn, Wild Dogs, Decree of Justice, Akroma’s Vengeance, Renewed Faith, Starstorm, Slice and Dice, Miscalculation, Cloud of Faeries, Complicate, Secluded Steppe, Drifting Meadow, Forgotten Cave, Smoldering Crater, Tranquil Thicket, Slippery Karst, Lonely Sandbar, Remote Isle, Barren Moor, Polluted Mire, Undead Gladiator
Theatre(s): Midrange, Control
Cross-pollination: Blink (via Astral Slide), Lands (cycle lands work well with Life from the Loam)
Description: Black can be a difficult color to find a clear identity for in Cube. The most commonly supported archetypes in the color (Pox/Stax and Reanimator) have some unique issues (a heavy reliance on BB- and BBB-costing spells, and a need to include a relatively high number of relatively narrow cards, respectively), which may make them not to everyone’s taste. Dedicated support for a Discard archetype may be an option for Cube designers in that situation. Black has an abundance of playable discard spells (the very best of which are almost certainly in your list already), as well as various cards that punish the opponent further for discarding or get bonuses based on the opponent’s hand size. If you want to go really deep, you could even try to emulate the old Megrim combo decks with cards like Underworld Dreams, Fate Unraveler, Memory Jar, Wheel of Fortune, Incendiary Command, Chandra Ablaze and Windfall.
Main Color(s): Black
Secondary Color(s): Blue, Red (mainly for the Combo aspect)
Anchor Cards: Liliana of the Veil, Hymn to Tourach, Hypnotic Specter, Mind Twist
Archetype-specific Cards: Stupor, Raven’s Crime, Wrench Mind, Ravenous Rats, Mardu Skullhunter, Liliana’s Specter, Abyssal Specter, Abyssal Nocturnus, Guul Draz Specter, Nezumi Shortfang, Headhunter, Silent Specter, Liliana’s Reaver, Okiba-Gang Shinobi, Augur of Skulls, Liliana Vess, Liliana’s Caress, Megrim, Waste Not, Sangromancer, The Rack, Shrieking Affliction, Nyxathid, Blightning
Theatre(s): Aggro, Midrange, Combo
Cross-pollination: Pox/Stax (Pox is a fine discard spell in its own right), MonoBlack (the Discard archetype is heavy Black by nature and is therefore in a good position to take advantage of the powerful MonoBlack cards).
Main Color(s): Black
Secondary Color(s): Blue, Red (mainly for the Combo aspect)
Anchor Cards: Liliana of the Veil, Hymn to Tourach, Hypnotic Specter, Mind Twist
Archetype-specific Cards: Stupor, Raven’s Crime, Wrench Mind, Ravenous Rats, Mardu Skullhunter, Liliana’s Specter, Abyssal Specter, Abyssal Nocturnus, Guul Draz Specter, Nezumi Shortfang, Headhunter, Silent Specter, Liliana’s Reaver, Okiba-Gang Shinobi, Augur of Skulls, Liliana Vess, Liliana’s Caress, Megrim, Waste Not, Sangromancer, The Rack, Shrieking Affliction, Nyxathid, Blightning
Theatre(s): Aggro, Midrange, Combo
Cross-pollination: Pox/Stax (Pox is a fine discard spell in its own right), MonoBlack (the Discard archetype is heavy Black by nature and is therefore in a good position to take advantage of the powerful MonoBlack cards).
Description: Several sets throughout Magic’s history have included a “5-Color Matters” theme, either by including really powerful cards that cost one (or more!) of each color to cast, or by giving bonuses that increase with the number of basic land types you control (the latter is the Domain mechanic that was introduced in Invasion (Collective Restraint) and given an ability word in Time Spiral). While casting WUBRG-costed cards in a timely manner can be a difficult ordeal in Cube, this archetype plays naturally with the popular drafting strategy consisting of picking up the best cards in each pack regardless of color, and rounding out your deck with abundant mana-fixing. You may or may not want to promote this drafting style.
Main Color(s): Green
Secondary Color(s): All five
Anchor Cards: Engineered Explosives, City of Brass, Mana Confluence, Birds of Paradise, Kodama’s Reach, Cultivate
Archetype-specific Cards: Allied Strategies, Collective Restraint, Tribal Flames, Gaea’s Might, Might of Alara, Tromp the Domains, Etched Oracle, Chromanticore, Coalition Victory, Progenitus, Legacy Weapon, Door to Nothingness, Quirion Dryad, All Suns’ Dawn
Theatre(s): Midrange, Control
Cross-pollination: Super Ramp (both aim to cast cards with outrageous mana costs and use the same type of manafixing and -ramping cards to do so), Fatty Cheat (cheating something into play is a good plan B for when you can’t quite pay retail).
Main Color(s): Green
Secondary Color(s): All five
Anchor Cards: Engineered Explosives, City of Brass, Mana Confluence, Birds of Paradise, Kodama’s Reach, Cultivate
Archetype-specific Cards: Allied Strategies, Collective Restraint, Tribal Flames, Gaea’s Might, Might of Alara, Tromp the Domains, Etched Oracle, Chromanticore, Coalition Victory, Progenitus, Legacy Weapon, Door to Nothingness, Quirion Dryad, All Suns’ Dawn
Theatre(s): Midrange, Control
Cross-pollination: Super Ramp (both aim to cast cards with outrageous mana costs and use the same type of manafixing and -ramping cards to do so), Fatty Cheat (cheating something into play is a good plan B for when you can’t quite pay retail).
Description: Black and Green have historically been the best colors at interacting with graveyards, most infamously through the original Ravnica mechanic Dredge, whose namesake deck still terrorizes Legacy and Vintage. Do not expect this archetype to play like that deck in Cube, though. The Cube version is not a combo deck, but a midrange one that seeks to fill its graveyard (with creatures in particular) and plays a bunch of cards that benefit from said full graveyard in some way. Useful keywords for this archetype include Flashback, Threshold, Delve, Scavenge and Retrace, while creatures with the Lhurgoyf-mechanic and those capable of returning themselves from the graveyard to the battlefield also shine in this deck. This is a pretty deep and open-ended archetype, so there’s definitely room for creative Cube designers to find a specific niche within it for their lists.
Main Color(s): Black, Green
Secondary Color(s): Blue, Red (mainly for their looting effects)
Anchor Cards: Gravecrawler, Bloodghast, Tarmogoyf, Life from the Loam, Tombstalker, Living Death
Archetype-specific Cards: Sewer Nemesis, Splinterfright, Bonehoard, Nighthowler, Varolz, the Scar-Striped, Jarad, Golgari Lich-Lord, Golgari Grave-Troll, Stinkweed Imp, Nether Traitor, Ichorid, Commune with the Gods, Satyr Wayfinder, Grisly Salvage, Grizzly Fate, Raven’s Crime, Worm Harvest, Nimble Mongoose, Werebear, Deadbridge Goliath, Hooting Mandrils, Sultai Scavenger, Murderous Cut, Ghastly Demise, Vengevine, Sidisi, Brood Tyrant, Hedron Crab, Nemesis of Mortals
Theatre(s): Midrange
Cross-pollination: Reanimator (both benefit from creatures in the graveyard), Rec/Sur/Pod (good at getting creatures into the graveyard) [in fact all three archetypes could reasonably be classified as sub-archetypes to a Black/Green Graveyard Matters super-archetype], Lands (via Life from the Loam and the Retrace mechanic), Zombies (many of the relevant cards are Zombies, most notably Gravecrawler), Pox/Stax (recursive creatures make that archetype’s sacrifice effects asymmetrical).
Main Color(s): Black, Green
Secondary Color(s): Blue, Red (mainly for their looting effects)
Anchor Cards: Gravecrawler, Bloodghast, Tarmogoyf, Life from the Loam, Tombstalker, Living Death
Archetype-specific Cards: Sewer Nemesis, Splinterfright, Bonehoard, Nighthowler, Varolz, the Scar-Striped, Jarad, Golgari Lich-Lord, Golgari Grave-Troll, Stinkweed Imp, Nether Traitor, Ichorid, Commune with the Gods, Satyr Wayfinder, Grisly Salvage, Grizzly Fate, Raven’s Crime, Worm Harvest, Nimble Mongoose, Werebear, Deadbridge Goliath, Hooting Mandrils, Sultai Scavenger, Murderous Cut, Ghastly Demise, Vengevine, Sidisi, Brood Tyrant, Hedron Crab, Nemesis of Mortals
Theatre(s): Midrange
Cross-pollination: Reanimator (both benefit from creatures in the graveyard), Rec/Sur/Pod (good at getting creatures into the graveyard) [in fact all three archetypes could reasonably be classified as sub-archetypes to a Black/Green Graveyard Matters super-archetype], Lands (via Life from the Loam and the Retrace mechanic), Zombies (many of the relevant cards are Zombies, most notably Gravecrawler), Pox/Stax (recursive creatures make that archetype’s sacrifice effects asymmetrical).
Description: A significant number of low-cost creatures in most Green sections happen to be Elves, mostly of the “mana dork” or “utility creature” variety. This means that supporting an Elves Tribal deck is a possibility, especially if you’re willing to include a few slightly suboptimal cards (from an objective power level point-of-view) to reach a critical mass of Elves. The payoff can be quite considerable, because there are no fewer than five reasonable lords available to the tribe, contributing to a potentially powerful beatdown strategy. Due to the presence of Priest of Titania and Elvish Archdruid, together with staple Rofellos, Elves can also generate obscene amounts of mana early in the game, fueling gigantic creatures or large X-spells (Fireball-variants or Genesis Wave and the like). Note that I wouldn’t recommend trying to recreate the Legacy Elves Combo deck (powered by Glimpse of Nature and Wirewood Symbiote) in a Cube environment - but you’re welcome to try if you're feeling adventurous.
Main Color(s): Green
Secondary Color(s): Blue, Red (one card each)
Anchor Cards: Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary, Joraga Treespeaker, Llanowar Elves, Fyndhorn Elves, Elvish Mystic, Fauna Shaman, Reclamation Sage, Deranged Hermit, Bloodbraid Elf, Edric, Spymaster of Trest
Archetype-specific Cards: Priest of Titania, Elvish Archdruid, Imperious Perfect, Elvish Champion, Joraga Warcaller, Ezuri, Renegade Leader, Elvish Visionary, Masked Admirers, Deathrite Shaman, Wellwisher, Viridian Shaman, Boreal Druid, Elves of Deep Shadow, Civic Wayfinder, Nettle Sentinel, Oracle of Mul Daya, Talara’s Battalion, Wren’s Run Vanquisher, Twinblade Slasher, Wolf-Skull Shaman, Wood Elves, Yeva, Nature’s Herald
Theatre(s): Aggro, Midrange
Cross-pollination: Super Ramp (see above).
Main Color(s): Green
Secondary Color(s): Blue, Red (one card each)
Anchor Cards: Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary, Joraga Treespeaker, Llanowar Elves, Fyndhorn Elves, Elvish Mystic, Fauna Shaman, Reclamation Sage, Deranged Hermit, Bloodbraid Elf, Edric, Spymaster of Trest
Archetype-specific Cards: Priest of Titania, Elvish Archdruid, Imperious Perfect, Elvish Champion, Joraga Warcaller, Ezuri, Renegade Leader, Elvish Visionary, Masked Admirers, Deathrite Shaman, Wellwisher, Viridian Shaman, Boreal Druid, Elves of Deep Shadow, Civic Wayfinder, Nettle Sentinel, Oracle of Mul Daya, Talara’s Battalion, Wren’s Run Vanquisher, Twinblade Slasher, Wolf-Skull Shaman, Wood Elves, Yeva, Nature’s Herald
Theatre(s): Aggro, Midrange
Cross-pollination: Super Ramp (see above).
Description: Theros Block having an Enchantment theme has rekindled some interest in making an Enchantments Matter archetype work in Cube. White and Green seem like the best colors for it, since they both have the largest number of already-Cubeable enchantments and the best cards that interact with enchantments, most notably the Enchantress creatures that draw cards for each enchantment played. Supporting this archetype will probably require you to make some unconventional choices like shifting White removal towards Pacifism- and Oblivion Ring-effects, Green mana acceleration towards Wild Growth-effects, Disenchants to Seals, and playing more Bestow creatures, Auras and Anthems than you otherwise would. Whether the payoff is there is for each Cube designer to decide.
Main Color(s): White, Green
Secondary Color(s): All five
Anchor Cards: Enlightened Tutor, Rancor
Archetype-specific Cards: Argothian Enchantress, Verduran Enchantress, Mesa Enchantress, Enchantress’s Presence, Eidolon of Blossoms, Sigil of the Empty Throne, Academy Rector, Replenish, Auratog, Nyx-Fleece Ram, Sightless Brawler, Eidolon of Countless Battles, Spirit of the Labyrinth, Courser of Kruphix, Boon Satyr, Mirari’s Wake, Griffin Guide, Elephant Guide, Angelic Destiny, Ethereal Armor, Dictate of Heliod, Zur the Enchanter, Seal of Cleansing, Seal of Primordium
Theatre(s): Midrange
Cross-pollination: Voltron (which likes Auras and Bestow creatures), Storm (whose untap effects benefit from Wild Growths), Tokens (which likes Anthems).
Main Color(s): White, Green
Secondary Color(s): All five
Anchor Cards: Enlightened Tutor, Rancor
Archetype-specific Cards: Argothian Enchantress, Verduran Enchantress, Mesa Enchantress, Enchantress’s Presence, Eidolon of Blossoms, Sigil of the Empty Throne, Academy Rector, Replenish, Auratog, Nyx-Fleece Ram, Sightless Brawler, Eidolon of Countless Battles, Spirit of the Labyrinth, Courser of Kruphix, Boon Satyr, Mirari’s Wake, Griffin Guide, Elephant Guide, Angelic Destiny, Ethereal Armor, Dictate of Heliod, Zur the Enchanter, Seal of Cleansing, Seal of Primordium
Theatre(s): Midrange
Cross-pollination: Voltron (which likes Auras and Bestow creatures), Storm (whose untap effects benefit from Wild Growths), Tokens (which likes Anthems).
Description: Less a true archetype and more a set of loosely connected cards, each of which can be used to put some large monster onto the table (permanently or temporarily) without paying its mana cost (hence the name). Some cheating methods will even allow you to get a noncreature permanent onto the battlefield. Maybe more than any other, this archetype is capable of spectacular plays that are remembered for a long time. The price you pay for such stories-for-the-ages is wild inconsistency. Cheating methods are relatively few in number, spread out over several colors, and not all of them work equally well with the same fatties. For that reason, this archetype often works best as a secondary plan in a normal midrange (ramp) or control deck.
Main Color(s): Blue, Green
Secondary Color(s): Black, Red
Anchor Cards: Tinker, Sneak Attack, Natural Order, Woodfall Primus
Archetype-specific Cards: Shelldock Isle, Flash, Show and Tell, Dream Halls, Through the Breach, Corpse Dance, Channel, Eureka, Oath of Druids, Garruk, Caller of Beasts, Tooth and Nail, Defense of the Heart, Pattern of Rebirth, Elvish Piper, Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, Blightsteel Colossus, Progenitus, Worldspine Wurm, Griselbrand, Quicksilver Amulet, Polymorph, Riptide Shapeshifter
Theatre(s): Midrange, Control, Combo
Cross-pollination: Super Ramp (because hardcasting the fatty in question can be a good plan B), Reanimator (even though several of the fatties this archetype tries to abuse have anti-reanimation clauses, most cheating methods also work acceptably well with regular reanimation targets).
Main Color(s): Blue, Green
Secondary Color(s): Black, Red
Anchor Cards: Tinker, Sneak Attack, Natural Order, Woodfall Primus
Archetype-specific Cards: Shelldock Isle, Flash, Show and Tell, Dream Halls, Through the Breach, Corpse Dance, Channel, Eureka, Oath of Druids, Garruk, Caller of Beasts, Tooth and Nail, Defense of the Heart, Pattern of Rebirth, Elvish Piper, Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, Blightsteel Colossus, Progenitus, Worldspine Wurm, Griselbrand, Quicksilver Amulet, Polymorph, Riptide Shapeshifter
Theatre(s): Midrange, Control, Combo
Cross-pollination: Super Ramp (because hardcasting the fatty in question can be a good plan B), Reanimator (even though several of the fatties this archetype tries to abuse have anti-reanimation clauses, most cheating methods also work acceptably well with regular reanimation targets).
Description: Not to be confused with Burn, this archetype is named for Invasion-era Standard staple Fires of Yavimaya. Since creatures have to be undercosted for their mana cost to get into the Cube in the first place, it’s an attractive idea to give those creatures haste and get them to attack a turn quicker. Especially devastating with creatures that have an attack trigger (Titans, Kalonian Hydra). This is a fairly shallow, but easy to support archetype (in fact, it’s barely distinguishable from a generic RG Midrange deck).
Main Color(s): Red
Secondary Color(s): Green
Anchor Cards: Lightning Mauler, Sarkhan Vol
Archetype-specific Cards: Fires of Yavimaya, Ogre Battledriver, Urabrask the Hidden, Generator Servant, Xenagos, God of Revels, Lightning Greaves, Hammer of Purphoros, Reckless Charge
Theatre(s): Midrange
Cross-pollination: Tokens (especially Sarkhan Vol and Ogre Battledriver)
Main Color(s): Red
Secondary Color(s): Green
Anchor Cards: Lightning Mauler, Sarkhan Vol
Archetype-specific Cards: Fires of Yavimaya, Ogre Battledriver, Urabrask the Hidden, Generator Servant, Xenagos, God of Revels, Lightning Greaves, Hammer of Purphoros, Reckless Charge
Theatre(s): Midrange
Cross-pollination: Tokens (especially Sarkhan Vol and Ogre Battledriver)
Description: As with Elves, a good number of staple Red creatures are Goblins. They were one of the first creature types to be supported by tribal-matters cards, and that support continues to this day. It’s therefore no surprise that a deck full of Goblins has access to some really powerful lords and other tribal effects. Most Cubes technically support Goblins Tribal already due to their inclusion of Goblin Rabblemaster and Siege-Gang Commander, but it’s definitely feasible to go a bit further than that and make a strong aggro archetype available to your Red drafters. It will, of course, require you to include some objectively less powerful cards in order to reach critical mass.
Main Color(s): Red
Secondary Color(s): Black, White
Anchor Cards: Goblin Guide, Goblin Rabblemaster, Siege-Gang Commander, Murderous Redcap, Grenzo, Dungeon Warden
Archetype-specific Cards: Goblin Chieftain, Goblin King, Krenko, Mob Boss, Goblin Grenade, Mogg War Marshall, Beetleback Chief, Krenko’s Command, Dragon Fodder, Hordeling Outburst, Goblin Piledriver, Goblin Warchief, Sparksmith, Pyrewild Shaman, Goblin Trenches, Spike Jester, Marsh Flitter, Stingscourger, Goblin Wardriver, Ember Hauler, Mogg Fanatic, Legion Loyalist, Spikeshot Elder, Goblin Ruinblaster
Theatre(s): Aggro
Cross-pollination: Tokens (many cards produce Goblin tokens), Spells Matter (Guttersnipe is a Goblin and the Goblin-producing Sorceries work well in the archetype).
Main Color(s): Red
Secondary Color(s): Black, White
Anchor Cards: Goblin Guide, Goblin Rabblemaster, Siege-Gang Commander, Murderous Redcap, Grenzo, Dungeon Warden
Archetype-specific Cards: Goblin Chieftain, Goblin King, Krenko, Mob Boss, Goblin Grenade, Mogg War Marshall, Beetleback Chief, Krenko’s Command, Dragon Fodder, Hordeling Outburst, Goblin Piledriver, Goblin Warchief, Sparksmith, Pyrewild Shaman, Goblin Trenches, Spike Jester, Marsh Flitter, Stingscourger, Goblin Wardriver, Ember Hauler, Mogg Fanatic, Legion Loyalist, Spikeshot Elder, Goblin Ruinblaster
Theatre(s): Aggro
Cross-pollination: Tokens (many cards produce Goblin tokens), Spells Matter (Guttersnipe is a Goblin and the Goblin-producing Sorceries work well in the archetype).
Description: Without looking at your list, I can state with a pretty high degree of confidence that Human is the most numerous creature type in your Cube. They’re available across all colors, among a variety of mana costs, and they include some of the best creatures in the game. Interestingly enough, not all that many Human Tribal effects have been printed. They were unofficially banned by WOTC for a time for flavor reasons, and since they’ve been considered fair game, only a few such cards have seen the light of day. Therefore, Humans is not really an archetype, but just a few notable cards that you can include at a pretty low cost (depending on your list). Note that a reason not to do so could be that quite some older creatures have been errata’d to be Humans, and depending on which version you have in the Cube, it can be a PITA to remember if a certain card interacts with a Human Tribal effect or not.
Main Color(s): None
Secondary Color(s): White, Black, Green
Anchor Cards: None (or too many to list, depending on how you look at it)
Archetype-specific Cards: Champion of the Parish, Xathrid Necromancer, Mayor of Avabruck, Falkenrath Aristocrat, Silver-Inlaid Dagger
Theatre(s): Aggro, Midrange
Cross-pollination: None
Main Color(s): None
Secondary Color(s): White, Black, Green
Anchor Cards: None (or too many to list, depending on how you look at it)
Archetype-specific Cards: Champion of the Parish, Xathrid Necromancer, Mayor of Avabruck, Falkenrath Aristocrat, Silver-Inlaid Dagger
Theatre(s): Aggro, Midrange
Cross-pollination: None
Description: This archetype focuses on moving lands between the library, the battlefield and the graveyard, and more specifically, on the powerful interaction of Life from the Loam and Crucible of Worlds with Strip Mine, Wasteland, fetchlands, and other utility lands. It’s often possible to get two or more landfall triggers a turn, which makes any card with that ability word pretty busted. It’s also the best deck possible for breaking the symmetry of mass land destruction (Armageddon, Wildfire). The beautiful thing about this archetype is that it’s built around cards that are present in most lists anyway for their natural power level, so supporting it can be done by adding just two or three cards that you wouldn’t have played otherwise.
Main Color(s): Green
Secondary Color(s): White, Red
Anchor Cards: Life from the Loam, Crucible of Worlds, Strip Mine, Wasteland, Horizon Canopy, Steppe Lynx, Plated Geopede, Lotus Cobra, Primeval Titan, Mishra’s Factory, Mutavault, Mox Diamond, Armageddon, Ravages of War, Land Tax
Archetype-specific Cards: Knight of the Reliquary, Countryside Crusher, Courser of Kruphix, Oracle of Mul Daya, Constant Mists, Zuran Orb, Vinelasher Kudzu, Emeria Angel, Rampaging Baloths, Harrow, Deathrite Shaman, Crop Rotation, Weathered Wayfarer, Seismic Assault, Adventuring Gear
Theatre(s): Aggro, Midrange
Cross-pollination: Domain (this archetype has an easier time than most achieving the full domain), Dredge (Life from the Loam and Knight of the Reliquary are good at filling your graveyard), Top-of-Deck Matters (via Courser of Kruphix and Oracle of Mul Daya, plus the abundance of shuffle effects is useful), Wildfire (the eponymous card is anything but symmetrical in a deck like this).
Description: While cards whose only function is to gain life are notoriously bad, when the lifegain is a bonus on a card with another desirable effect, things are quite different. Quite a few cards that happen to gain life as part of an overall package are Cube staples, with some of the commonly played ones being Lone Missionary, Knight of Meadowgrain, Kitchen Finks, Baneslayer Angel, Exalted Angel, Scavenging Ooze, Courser of Kruphix, Vampire Nighthawk, Faith’s Fetters, Batterskull and multiple versions of the planeswalkers Ajani and Sorin. If you have enough of these effects in your list (creatures with Extort can also help), a couple of cards that care about gaining life or about having a high life total could become attractive options.
Main Color(s): White
Secondary Color(s):Black, Green
Anchor Cards: Ajani Goldmane
Archetype-specific Cards: Ajani’s Pridemate, Archangel of Thune, Serra’s Ascendant, Soul Warden, Suture Priest, Path of Bravery, Well of Lost Dreams, Ajani, Caller of the Pride, Ajani Steadfast, Blood Baron of Vizkopa, Sanguine Bond, Essence Warden
Theatre(s): Aggro, Midrange, Control
Cross-pollination: Tokens (via the Ajanis, Sorin, Archangel of Thune, Path of Bravery and the various Soul Warden effects), +1/+1 Counters (via Ajani’s Pridemate and again Archangel of Thune).
Description: Named for the Torment mechanic (repeated in Time Spiral Block) that gave rise to one of the most dominating Standard decks of all time. While that deck was Green/Blue, as was the deck that broke Legacy after the printing of Vengevine and that led to the banning of Survival of the Fittest, arguably the best color for the Cube archetype is Red. Fiery Temper and especially Violent Eruption are really broken cards if you can consistently cast them through a discard outlet, and Arrogant Wurm, part of the reason why the aforementioned Standard deck played Green, got a Red version in Planeshift (Reckless Wurm). Red also has at least as many discard outlets as Green, and they’re usually not limited to creatures like Survival. The deck can also make good use of Hellbent cards (although not many good ones exist) and the Delve mechanic. The main issue with the archetype is that its best cards are spread over 3 or 4 colors, which makes it a challenge to make the mana of a Madness deck work.
Main Color(s): Red, Green
Secondary Color(s): Blue, Black
Anchor Cards: Faithless Looting, Fauna Shaman, Survival of the Fittest, Dack Fayden, Enclave Cryptologist, Looter il-Kor
Archetype-specific Cards: Violent Eruption, Fiery Temper, Reckless Wurm, Squee, Goblin Nabob, Jaya Ballard, Task Mage, Rakdos Pit-Dragon, Gathan Raiders, Wild Mongrel, Basking Rootwalla, Arrogant Wurm, Vengevine, Roar of the Wurm, Hooting Mandrils, Merfolk Looter, Thought Courier, Waterfront Bouncer, Circular Logic, Dark Withering, Lotleth Troll, Tormenting Voice, Firestorm
Theatre(s): Aggro, Midrange
Cross-pollination: All graveyard-based archetypes, especially Reanimator (they share a love for discard outlets) and Rec/Sur/Pod (they share a key card in Survival of the Fittest), Spells Matter (both the Madness spells and the looting effects are useful in the archetype).
Main Color(s): Red, Green
Secondary Color(s): Blue, Black
Anchor Cards: Faithless Looting, Fauna Shaman, Survival of the Fittest, Dack Fayden, Enclave Cryptologist, Looter il-Kor
Archetype-specific Cards: Violent Eruption, Fiery Temper, Reckless Wurm, Squee, Goblin Nabob, Jaya Ballard, Task Mage, Rakdos Pit-Dragon, Gathan Raiders, Wild Mongrel, Basking Rootwalla, Arrogant Wurm, Vengevine, Roar of the Wurm, Hooting Mandrils, Merfolk Looter, Thought Courier, Waterfront Bouncer, Circular Logic, Dark Withering, Lotleth Troll, Tormenting Voice, Firestorm
Theatre(s): Aggro, Midrange
Cross-pollination: All graveyard-based archetypes, especially Reanimator (they share a love for discard outlets) and Rec/Sur/Pod (they share a key card in Survival of the Fittest), Spells Matter (both the Madness spells and the looting effects are useful in the archetype).
Description: Whatever the format is, a subset of Magic players will inevitably try to win by decking. WOTC has been happy to oblige these players by printing a steady stream of milling cards (after Millstone from Alpha). This strategy is - in theory - even more attractive in Limited formats, including Cube, due to the 40-card decks. The archetype’s main problem is its very insular nature: few milling cards are reasonable inclusions on their own (with the exception of some that can be decent finishers in control decks), a milling strategy needs critical mass to work, and it is very hard to interact with in-game. There is also a substantial subset of players that hate losing to Milling strategies. Cube designers wanting to explore this archetype will have to pay careful attention to these issues.
Main Color(s): Blue, Black
Secondary Color(s): None
Anchor Cards: Jace Beleren
Archetype-specific Cards: Jace, Memory Adept, Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver, Oona, Queen of the Fae, Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker, Phenax, God of Deception, Hedron Crab, Glimpse the Unthinkable, Traumatize, Nephalia Drownyard, Nemesis of Reason, Consuming Aberration, Sewer Nemesis, Geth, Lord of the Vault, Millstone, Sands of Delirium, Mesmeric Orb, Breaking // Entering, Thought Scour
Theatre(s): Control, Combo
Cross-pollination: Dredge and Reanimator (a number of milling cards allow self-targeting, which may be useful as an alternate method of filling the graveyard).
Main Color(s): Blue, Black
Secondary Color(s): None
Anchor Cards: Jace Beleren
Archetype-specific Cards: Jace, Memory Adept, Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver, Oona, Queen of the Fae, Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker, Phenax, God of Deception, Hedron Crab, Glimpse the Unthinkable, Traumatize, Nephalia Drownyard, Nemesis of Reason, Consuming Aberration, Sewer Nemesis, Geth, Lord of the Vault, Millstone, Sands of Delirium, Mesmeric Orb, Breaking // Entering, Thought Scour
Theatre(s): Control, Combo
Cross-pollination: Dredge and Reanimator (a number of milling cards allow self-targeting, which may be useful as an alternate method of filling the graveyard).
Description: More than any other color, Black has access to cards that reward players for committing fully to a single color, starting in Alpha with Nightmare. Some of them are powerful enough to be competitive in Cube, most notably Necropotence, which is a top-10 card in the format provided it can be cast reliably. The Devotion mechanic in Theros has recently added some useful cards for this archetype. By nature, the archetype features cards that only work well in a monocolor (or mostly monocolor) deck, which may not be to every Cube designer’s tastes.
Main Color(s): Black
Secondary Color(s): None
Anchor Cards: None, strictly speaking
Archetype-specific Cards: Necropotence, Phyrexian Obliterator, Nantuko Shade, Geralf’s Messenger, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Erebos, God of the Dead, Abhorrent Overlord, Corrupt, Tendrils of Corruption, Liliana of the Dark Realms, Cabal Coffers, Lake of the Dead, Lashwrithe, Mutilate, Mind Sludge, Korlash, Heir to Blackblade, Squelching Leeches, Crypt Ghast, Nirkana Revenant, Mogis’s Marauder, Nightveil Specter
Theatre(s): Aggro, Midrange, Control
Cross-pollination: Discard and Pox/Stax (all three require a heavy commitment to Black).
Main Color(s): Black
Secondary Color(s): None
Anchor Cards: None, strictly speaking
Archetype-specific Cards: Necropotence, Phyrexian Obliterator, Nantuko Shade, Geralf’s Messenger, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Erebos, God of the Dead, Abhorrent Overlord, Corrupt, Tendrils of Corruption, Liliana of the Dark Realms, Cabal Coffers, Lake of the Dead, Lashwrithe, Mutilate, Mind Sludge, Korlash, Heir to Blackblade, Squelching Leeches, Crypt Ghast, Nirkana Revenant, Mogis’s Marauder, Nightveil Specter
Theatre(s): Aggro, Midrange, Control
Cross-pollination: Discard and Pox/Stax (all three require a heavy commitment to Black).
Description: Although there are some (fairly bad) cards that specifically interact with Morph creatures, there is no such thing as a Morph deck, making it a stretch to talk of a “Morph archetype”. The reason why Morph is listed here is that an important part of their gameplay lies in the opponent’s uncertainty about the identity of each face-down creature. If there are only a few Morph creatures in the list, this uncertainty is lost and the remaining Morph creatures are worse than they would normally be. That’s why it is advisable to include a minimum number of Morph creatures if you want to include any at all, even if it’s just one in each color.
Main Color(s): None
Secondary Color(s): All five.
Anchor Cards: None (Exalted Angel and Rattleclaw Mystic probably come closest)
Archetype-specific Cards: Exalted Angel, Whipcorder, Master of Pearls, Willbender, Voidmage Prodigy, Vesuvan Shapeshifter, Kheru Spellsnatcher, Bane of the Living, Grim Haruspex, Headhunter, Silent Specter, Zombie Cutthroat, Blistering Firecat, Gathan Raiders, Akroma, Angel of Fury, Ashcloud Phoenix, Rattleclaw Mystic, Nantuko Vigilante, Hystrodon, Thelonite Hermit, Hooded Hydra, Sagu Mauler, Zoetic Cavern
Theatre(s): Any
Cross-pollination: None, although several Morphs are also archetype-specific cards for other archetypes.
Main Color(s): None
Secondary Color(s): All five.
Anchor Cards: None (Exalted Angel and Rattleclaw Mystic probably come closest)
Archetype-specific Cards: Exalted Angel, Whipcorder, Master of Pearls, Willbender, Voidmage Prodigy, Vesuvan Shapeshifter, Kheru Spellsnatcher, Bane of the Living, Grim Haruspex, Headhunter, Silent Specter, Zombie Cutthroat, Blistering Firecat, Gathan Raiders, Akroma, Angel of Fury, Ashcloud Phoenix, Rattleclaw Mystic, Nantuko Vigilante, Hystrodon, Thelonite Hermit, Hooded Hydra, Sagu Mauler, Zoetic Cavern
Theatre(s): Any
Cross-pollination: None, although several Morphs are also archetype-specific cards for other archetypes.
Description: This is another entry where “archetype” is used in a fairly loose manner, but pinpoint land destruction spells can be said to have synergy with each other, and there have been “Land Destruction decks” throughout Magic’s history (even though it’s been many years since a playable Stone Rain-variant was printed). Land destruction can be used by aggro decks to extend the early game where they’re at their best, or by midrange (ramp) decks to “bridge the gap” to their powerful four- and five-mana plays.
Main Color(s): Red
Secondary Color(s): Black, Green
Anchor Cards: Avalanche Riders, Plow Under, Strip Mine, Wasteland
Archetype-specific Cards: Pillage, Molten Rain, Stone Rain, Goblin Ruinblaster, Ravenous Baboons, Goblin Settler, Ogre Arsonist, Sinkhole, Ice Storm, Argothian Wurm, Shivan Wumpus, Deathrite Shaman
Theatre(s): Aggro, Midrange
Cross-pollination: Blink (for the creatures with ETB land destruction effects), Lands (Strip Mine is a key card in both archetypes), Wildfire (pinpoint LD helps ensure the opponent is crippled by the namesake spell).
Main Color(s): Red
Secondary Color(s): Black, Green
Anchor Cards: Avalanche Riders, Plow Under, Strip Mine, Wasteland
Archetype-specific Cards: Pillage, Molten Rain, Stone Rain, Goblin Ruinblaster, Ravenous Baboons, Goblin Settler, Ogre Arsonist, Sinkhole, Ice Storm, Argothian Wurm, Shivan Wumpus, Deathrite Shaman
Theatre(s): Aggro, Midrange
Cross-pollination: Blink (for the creatures with ETB land destruction effects), Lands (Strip Mine is a key card in both archetypes), Wildfire (pinpoint LD helps ensure the opponent is crippled by the namesake spell).
Description: This archetype uses symmetrical discard and sacrifice effects to keep the game in the low-resource stage for an extended time. It is named for Smokestack and Pox, two cards that, just like other archetype staples like Liliana of the Veil, Braids, Cabal Minion and Smallpox, can be taken advantage of by playing recursive creatures and token generators. While the archetype is centered in Black due to the large number of Black mana symbols in the casting costs of its key cards, a White or Red splash can be helpful for more token generation and sacrifice outlets.
Main Color(s): Black
Secondary Color(s): White, Red
Anchor Cards: Liliana of the Veil, Gravecrawler, Bloodsoaked Champion, Bloodghast, Ophiomancer, Bitterblossom
Archetype-specific Cards: Pox, Smallpox, Braids, Cabal Minion, Smokestack, Reassembling Skeleton, Curse of Shallow Graves, Grim Haruspex, Goblin Bombardment, Greater Gargadon, Blood Artist, Carrion Feeder, Mogg War Marshall, Grave Pact, Dictate of Erebos, Geralf’s Messenger, Murderous Redcap, the Abyss, Nether Void, Attrition, Falkenrath Aristocrat, Butcher of the Horde, Mortarpod, Nether Traitor, Epochrasite, Contamination, Abyssal Persecutor, Death Cloud
Theatre(s): Aggro
Cross-pollination: Lands (this archetype has an easy time getting lands into the graveyard for Life from the Loam and Crucible of Worlds), MonoBlack (if your deck can cast Pox, it could probably benefit from a Necropotence as well), Reanimator (getting creatures in the graveyard is easy, and reanimation spells are cheap enough to cast with a low land count), Rec/Sur/Pod (both archetypes take advantage of creatures with recursion abilities or death triggers), Tokens (which are one way to break the symmetry of Braids & friends).
Main Color(s): Black
Secondary Color(s): White, Red
Anchor Cards: Liliana of the Veil, Gravecrawler, Bloodsoaked Champion, Bloodghast, Ophiomancer, Bitterblossom
Archetype-specific Cards: Pox, Smallpox, Braids, Cabal Minion, Smokestack, Reassembling Skeleton, Curse of Shallow Graves, Grim Haruspex, Goblin Bombardment, Greater Gargadon, Blood Artist, Carrion Feeder, Mogg War Marshall, Grave Pact, Dictate of Erebos, Geralf’s Messenger, Murderous Redcap, the Abyss, Nether Void, Attrition, Falkenrath Aristocrat, Butcher of the Horde, Mortarpod, Nether Traitor, Epochrasite, Contamination, Abyssal Persecutor, Death Cloud
Theatre(s): Aggro
Cross-pollination: Lands (this archetype has an easy time getting lands into the graveyard for Life from the Loam and Crucible of Worlds), MonoBlack (if your deck can cast Pox, it could probably benefit from a Necropotence as well), Reanimator (getting creatures in the graveyard is easy, and reanimation spells are cheap enough to cast with a low land count), Rec/Sur/Pod (both archetypes take advantage of creatures with recursion abilities or death triggers), Tokens (which are one way to break the symmetry of Braids & friends).
Description: The only “Combo” archetype present in many “standard” Cubes, Reanimator decks need three things: a big creature, a way to get it into the graveyard, and a reanimation spell. That may seem like a tall order for a Limited deck, but luckily several cards are able to help on two or more fronts. The archetype is conveniently centered in Black, the color with the best and most abundant tutor effects. Looting effects act as discard outlets while digging for missing pieces, and Survival of the Fittest and Fauna Shaman tutor for fatties and bin them as well. Sceptics quickly learn to respect the archetype when facing a T3 Griselbrand or Woodfall Primus for the first time. Note that although the reanimation spells themselves are listed below as archetype-specific cards, they’re actually respectable inclusions in other (mainly midrange) decks as well.
Main Color(s): Black
Secondary Color(s): Blue, Red, Green
Anchor Cards: Recurring Nightmare, Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Imperial Seal, Enclave Cryptologist, Looter il-Kor, Survival of the Fittest, Fauna Shaman, Pack Rat, Liliana of the Veil
Archetype-specific Cards: Reanimate, Exhume, Animate Dead, Necromancy, Dance of the Dead, Unburial Rites, Makeshift Mannequin, Living Death, Life // Death, Entomb, Buried Alive, Lotleth Troll, Oona’s Prowler, Griselbrand, Sheoldred, Whispering One, Merfolk Looter, Thought Courier, Waterfront Bouncer, Thirst for Knowledge, Compulsive Research, Wild Mongrel
Theatre(s): Combo
Cross-pollination: Fatty Cheat (cards like Show and Tell and Sneak Attack work well in the deck), Rec/Sur/Pod (shares many of the same cards and could be considered the midrange version of the same archetype), Madness (both like discard outlets), Dredge (both like binning their own creatures).
Description: The admittedly uninspiring archetype name derives from the Rec(urring Nightmare)/Sur(vival of the Fittest)-fueled deck of Tempest-era Standard (yes, those two cards were Standard-legal at the same time, go figure), as well as from relatively recent addition Birthing Pod, that works as a hybrid between the two aforementioned cards. The only true toolbox deck in the format, Rec/Sur/Pod aims to find, use and re-use creatures with ETB abilities, death triggers or recursion, of which Black and Green have no shortage in most lists. Other colors can contribute to the value chain as well, with cards like Restoration Angel, Reveillark, Glen Elendra Archmage, Flametongue Kavu and Sneak Attack. Listing archetype-specific cards for this deck seems futile, since there’s so much synergy with tons of Cube staples already that it seems unnecessary to include too many specialized support cards.
Main Color(s): Black, Green
Secondary Color(s): All five
Anchor Cards: Recurring Nightmare, Survival of the Fittest, Fauna Shaman, Birthing Pod, Volrath’s Stronghold
Archetype-specific Cards: Living Death, Diabolic Servitude, Genesis, Vengevine, Masked Admirers, Victimize, Attrition, Grave Pact, Dictate of Erebos, Whip of Erebos, Squee, Goblin Nabob
Theatre(s): Midrange
Cross-pollination: Reanimator (the Combo version of this archetype, sharing many key cards), Madness and Dredge (discard outlets and binned creatures, respectively), Pox/Stax (both like to sacrifice their own guys), Blink (share a love for ETB creatures)
Main Color(s): Black, Green
Secondary Color(s): All five
Anchor Cards: Recurring Nightmare, Survival of the Fittest, Fauna Shaman, Birthing Pod, Volrath’s Stronghold
Archetype-specific Cards: Living Death, Diabolic Servitude, Genesis, Vengevine, Masked Admirers, Victimize, Attrition, Grave Pact, Dictate of Erebos, Whip of Erebos, Squee, Goblin Nabob
Theatre(s): Midrange
Cross-pollination: Reanimator (the Combo version of this archetype, sharing many key cards), Madness and Dredge (discard outlets and binned creatures, respectively), Pox/Stax (both like to sacrifice their own guys), Blink (share a love for ETB creatures)
Description: The Blue-Red Spells Matter archetype makes use of a small, but steadily growing subset of cards that care about instants and sorceries being cast. The cards are pretty unassuming on their own, but they work so well with what the color pair wants to be doing anyway (countering and burning stuff while looting and/or drawing extra cards) that the resulting decks can be quite fearsome. The archetype is also open-ended enough to receive useful input from the other colors. Interestingly, this deck is hard to put into a specific theatre, since the deck can play wildly differing amounts of small creatures, reach, countering and card draw, and can even display traits of a Combo deck in some cases.
Main Color(s): Blue, Red
Secondary Color(s): All five
Anchor Cards: Young Pyromancer, Forbid, Deep Analysis, Faithless Looting
Archetype-specific Cards: Talrand, Sky Summoner, Guttersnipe, Augur of Bolas, Delver of Secrets, Kiln Fiend, Staggershock, Isochron Scepter, Runechanter’s Pike, Wee Dragonauts, Spellheart Chimera, Monastery Swiftspear, Jeskai Elder, Capsize
Theatre(s): Any
Cross-pollination: Tokens (especially Opposition), Burn (this deck can bring a lot of direct damage to the table), Storm (of which it is the less broken, but easier to support and more flexible step-brother).
Main Color(s): Blue, Red
Secondary Color(s): All five
Anchor Cards: Young Pyromancer, Forbid, Deep Analysis, Faithless Looting
Archetype-specific Cards: Talrand, Sky Summoner, Guttersnipe, Augur of Bolas, Delver of Secrets, Kiln Fiend, Staggershock, Isochron Scepter, Runechanter’s Pike, Wee Dragonauts, Spellheart Chimera, Monastery Swiftspear, Jeskai Elder, Capsize
Theatre(s): Any
Cross-pollination: Tokens (especially Opposition), Burn (this deck can bring a lot of direct damage to the table), Storm (of which it is the less broken, but easier to support and more flexible step-brother).
Description: Probably the worst mistake Wizards R&D has ever repeated, the Storm mechanic is responsible for more broken decks and banned cards than any other. It’s no wonder that many have tried to introduce the archetype to Cube. This is, however, more difficult than it looks. Storm decks are delicately balanced machines, with specific amounts of mana acceleration (often Ritual effects), cantrips, tutoring, and business spells (often draw-7’s) They often play cards that would be almost useless in any other deck. These factors make it a challenge to support the archetype in a Singleton Limited format without running a bunch of cards that are automatic 15th picks if no one is drafting Storm. Also, the non-interactive nature of the games involving the archetype may not be to everyone’s tastes. Storm generally works best in smaller, Powered Cubes, where the density of broken mana acceleration, tutors and draw-7’s is at its highest.
Main Color(s): Blue, Black
Secondary Color(s): Red, Green
Anchor Cards: Timetwister, Time Spiral, Dark Ritual, Vampiric Tutor, Demonic Tutor, Yawgmoth’s Will, Wheel of Fortune
Archetype-specific Cards: Brain Freeze, Mind’s Desire, Tendrils of Agony, Empty the Warrens, Grapeshot, Cabal Ritual, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Lotus Petal, Seething Song, Dream Halls, Palinchron, Frantic Search, Turnabout, Ancestral Vision, Mana Flare, Heartbeat of Spring, Dictate of Karametra, Rude Awakening, Memory Jar, Nightscape Familiar, Necropotence, Yawgmoth’s Bargain, Past in Flames, Manamorphose, Snap, Cloud of Faeries
Theatre(s): Combo
Cross-pollination: Spells Matter (both like casting multiple spells in the same turn), Super Ramp (the deck needs a lot of mana and can incorporate a plan B of playing one big spell if the Storm count isn’t quite there)
Main Color(s): Blue, Black
Secondary Color(s): Red, Green
Anchor Cards: Timetwister, Time Spiral, Dark Ritual, Vampiric Tutor, Demonic Tutor, Yawgmoth’s Will, Wheel of Fortune
Archetype-specific Cards: Brain Freeze, Mind’s Desire, Tendrils of Agony, Empty the Warrens, Grapeshot, Cabal Ritual, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Lotus Petal, Seething Song, Dream Halls, Palinchron, Frantic Search, Turnabout, Ancestral Vision, Mana Flare, Heartbeat of Spring, Dictate of Karametra, Rude Awakening, Memory Jar, Nightscape Familiar, Necropotence, Yawgmoth’s Bargain, Past in Flames, Manamorphose, Snap, Cloud of Faeries
Theatre(s): Combo
Cross-pollination: Spells Matter (both like casting multiple spells in the same turn), Super Ramp (the deck needs a lot of mana and can incorporate a plan B of playing one big spell if the Storm count isn’t quite there)
Description: Mana acceleration (or “Ramp” for Rampant Growth) is so central to Green’s color identity that it’s hard to imagine a Cube where a midrange Green deck aiming to cast large monsters ahead of schedule is not supported, so “normal” Ramp is not an “archetype” for the purposes of this article. However, when the strategy is taken to a level where the deck wants to cast spells costing eight or more (note that this threshold is somewhat arbitrary), it becomes a distinct archetype requiring specific support. At that point, it starts functioning as a Combo deck that foregoes most meaningful interaction with the opponent in order to cast a game-ending spell somewhere around turn five. The Legendary Eldrazi trio and X-spells like Genesis Wave are popular choices.
Main Color(s): Green
Secondary Color(s): All five
Anchor Cards: Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary, Primeval Titan, Natural Order
Archetype-specific Cards: Nissa, Worldwaker, Awakening Zone, Channel, Thran Dynamo, Gilded Lotus, Omnath, Locus of Mana, Oracle of Mul Daya, Heartbeat of Spring, Dictate of Karametra, Mana Flare, Mirari’s Wake, Genesis Wave, Tooth and Nail, Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, Worldspine Wurm, Decree of Justice, Entreat the Angels, Rite of Replication
Theatre(s): Midrange, Combo
Cross-pollination: Fatty Cheat (many decks play a mix of ways to either ramp out or cheat in a huge creature), Elves (some Elf Tribal effects can generate huge amounts of mana), Storm (both make use of large amounts of mana).
Main Color(s): Green
Secondary Color(s): All five
Anchor Cards: Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary, Primeval Titan, Natural Order
Archetype-specific Cards: Nissa, Worldwaker, Awakening Zone, Channel, Thran Dynamo, Gilded Lotus, Omnath, Locus of Mana, Oracle of Mul Daya, Heartbeat of Spring, Dictate of Karametra, Mana Flare, Mirari’s Wake, Genesis Wave, Tooth and Nail, Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, Worldspine Wurm, Decree of Justice, Entreat the Angels, Rite of Replication
Theatre(s): Midrange, Combo
Cross-pollination: Fatty Cheat (many decks play a mix of ways to either ramp out or cheat in a huge creature), Elves (some Elf Tribal effects can generate huge amounts of mana), Storm (both make use of large amounts of mana).
Description: Taking infinite turns by repeatedly untapping a Time Vault with Voltaic Key is the most popular win condition in Vintage, because it takes up very few deck slots and involves cheap colorless cards that are easy to tutor for by Tinker and Tezzeret the Seeker (the latter also functions as an alternate combo piece). Cube designers looking for more Combo support may be interested in a Time Vault archetype, but some caution is advised: Time Vault, more than any other card mentioned in this article, is an almost completely dead card outside of the combo, and Voltaic Key is not much better in that regards. Moreover, the combo can be pretty brutal to play against, because it can be assembled very early in the game (theoretically on turn one, even in Cube), but takes a long time to actually win with. For these reasons, it’s probably best to reserve this archetype for the smallest, highest Powered Cubes, where broken plays are the norm rather than the exception.
Main Color(s): Blue
Secondary Color(s): Red, Green
Anchor Cards: Ral Zarek
Archetype-specific Cards: Time Vault, Voltaic Key, Tezzeret the Seeker, Kiora’s Follower, Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient, Rings of Brighthearth
Theatre(s): Control, Combo
Cross-pollination: Artifacts (where Tezzeret is a key card and the Key can be used to untap Mana Vault, Grim Monolith and similar cards), Twin Combo (where Deceiver Exarch and Pestermite can be used as one shot extra turns with Time Vault in play), Pox/Stax (where Time Vault can at least theoretically be used to cripple an opponent via Smokestack and Braids, Cabal Minion).
Main Color(s): Blue
Secondary Color(s): Red, Green
Anchor Cards: Ral Zarek
Archetype-specific Cards: Time Vault, Voltaic Key, Tezzeret the Seeker, Kiora’s Follower, Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient, Rings of Brighthearth
Theatre(s): Control, Combo
Cross-pollination: Artifacts (where Tezzeret is a key card and the Key can be used to untap Mana Vault, Grim Monolith and similar cards), Twin Combo (where Deceiver Exarch and Pestermite can be used as one shot extra turns with Time Vault in play), Pox/Stax (where Time Vault can at least theoretically be used to cripple an opponent via Smokestack and Braids, Cabal Minion).
Description: This is probably the deepest of all archetypes, and one that is supported in one way or another in almost all Cubes, just because a lot of really-good-in-a-vacuum cards happen to involve tokens. Taking advantage of tokens can be done in many ways: Anthem-effects and pseudo-Anthem effects (Battle cry, Mirror Entity, Sublime Archangel, Hellrider), putting multiple permanents into play as sacrifice fodder, getting multiple triggers out of Purphoros, God of the Forge and similar cards, locking the opponent out with Opposition, abusing Populate cards, or getting creatures into play without actually using Creature spells (relevant for Spells Matter-builds and individual cards like Oath of Druids and Polymorph). The Tokens archetype can be supported in any color, with White and Red probably being the most popular choices.
Main Color(s): White, Red
Secondary Color(s): All five
Anchor Cards: Accorder Paladin, Blade Splicer, Brimaz, King of Oreskos, Mirror Entity, Hero of Bladehold, Cloudgoat Ranger, Elspeth, Knight-Errant, Ajani Goldmane, Elspeth, Sun’s Champion, Spectral Procession, Opposition, Meloku the Clouded Mirror, Ophiomancer, Bitterblossom, Young Pyromancer, Goblin Rabblemaster, Siege-Gang Commander, Hero of Oxid Ridge, Hellrider, Master of the Wild Hunt, Deranged Hermit, Garruk Wildspeaker, Garruk Relentless, Lingering Souls, Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
Archetype-specific Cards: Spear of Heliod, Glorious Anthem, Dictate of Heliod, Intangible Virtue, Ogre Battledriver, Signal Pest, Curse of Predation, Overrun, Mirari’s Wake, Sarkhan Vol, Sublime Archangel, Archangel of Thune, Master of Pearls, Precinct Captain, Ajani Steadfast, Elspeth Tirel, Master of Waves, Talrand, Sky Summoner, Curse of Shallow Graves, Marsh Flitter, Skeletal Vampire, Mogg War Marshall, Beetleback Chief, Goblin Bombardment, Greater Gargadon, Edric, Spymaster of Trest, Martial Coup, Decree of Justice, Entreat the Angels, Tempt with Vengeance, Thelonite Hermit, Hooded Hydra, Precursor Golem, Grizzly Fate, Predator’s Howl, Raise the Alarm, Triplicate Spirits, Mignight Haunting, Gather the Townsfolk, Dragon Fodder, Krenko’s Command, Hordeling Outburst, Increasing Devotion, Conqueror’s Pledge, Geist-Honored Monk, Scion of Vitu-Ghazi, Rootborn Defenses, Sundering Growth, Gaea’s Cradle, Gavony Township, Kjeldoran Outpost, Vitu-Ghazi, the City Tree, Moorland Haunt
Theatre(s): Any
Cross-pollination: Blink (many creatures create tokens upon entering the battlefield), Goblins and other Tribal archetypes (all the major tribes have token makers for the appropriate creature type), Pox/Stax (tokens help to make the eponymous spells less symmetrical)
Main Color(s): White, Red
Secondary Color(s): All five
Anchor Cards: Accorder Paladin, Blade Splicer, Brimaz, King of Oreskos, Mirror Entity, Hero of Bladehold, Cloudgoat Ranger, Elspeth, Knight-Errant, Ajani Goldmane, Elspeth, Sun’s Champion, Spectral Procession, Opposition, Meloku the Clouded Mirror, Ophiomancer, Bitterblossom, Young Pyromancer, Goblin Rabblemaster, Siege-Gang Commander, Hero of Oxid Ridge, Hellrider, Master of the Wild Hunt, Deranged Hermit, Garruk Wildspeaker, Garruk Relentless, Lingering Souls, Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
Archetype-specific Cards: Spear of Heliod, Glorious Anthem, Dictate of Heliod, Intangible Virtue, Ogre Battledriver, Signal Pest, Curse of Predation, Overrun, Mirari’s Wake, Sarkhan Vol, Sublime Archangel, Archangel of Thune, Master of Pearls, Precinct Captain, Ajani Steadfast, Elspeth Tirel, Master of Waves, Talrand, Sky Summoner, Curse of Shallow Graves, Marsh Flitter, Skeletal Vampire, Mogg War Marshall, Beetleback Chief, Goblin Bombardment, Greater Gargadon, Edric, Spymaster of Trest, Martial Coup, Decree of Justice, Entreat the Angels, Tempt with Vengeance, Thelonite Hermit, Hooded Hydra, Precursor Golem, Grizzly Fate, Predator’s Howl, Raise the Alarm, Triplicate Spirits, Mignight Haunting, Gather the Townsfolk, Dragon Fodder, Krenko’s Command, Hordeling Outburst, Increasing Devotion, Conqueror’s Pledge, Geist-Honored Monk, Scion of Vitu-Ghazi, Rootborn Defenses, Sundering Growth, Gaea’s Cradle, Gavony Township, Kjeldoran Outpost, Vitu-Ghazi, the City Tree, Moorland Haunt
Theatre(s): Any
Cross-pollination: Blink (many creatures create tokens upon entering the battlefield), Goblins and other Tribal archetypes (all the major tribes have token makers for the appropriate creature type), Pox/Stax (tokens help to make the eponymous spells less symmetrical)
Description: There’s several already-Cubeable cards that care about what’s on top of your deck, most notably Future Sight, Prophetic Flamespeaker, Chandra, Pyromaster, Courser of Kruphix, Oracle of Mul Daya, Domri Rade and the Miracles. These cards become very potent when combined with a way to manipulate the top card of your library, especially repeatedly. There’s quite a few of those, as well: Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Sylvan Library, Sensei’s Divining Top and Scroll Rack. Any Scry effect also helps, as do Ponder and Brainstorm. The great thing about this archetype (and the term is used in a loose sense here) is that almost all of the cards are Cube staples in their own right. Extra support is not strictly required, but being aware of this class of synergies can help when choosing between two cards with an otherwise similar power level.
Main Color(s): Blue, Red, Green
Secondary Color(s): None
Anchor Cards: Chandra, Pyromaster, Courser of Kruphix, Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Sylvan Library, Sensei’s Divining Top, Mystical Tutor, Brainstorm
Archetype-specific Cards: Future Sight, Thassa, God of the Sea, Prognostic Sphinx, Prophetic Flamespeaker, Bonfire of the Damned, Oracle of Mul Daya, Domri Rade, Scroll Rack, Temple of Epihany, Temple of Abandon, Temple of Mystery, Noxious Revival, Worldly Tutor, Sylvan Tutor Keranos, God of Storms
Theatre(s): Midrange
Cross-pollination: Lands (via Courser of Kruphix and Oracle of Mul Daya, plus this archetype appreciates shuffle effects more than most).
Main Color(s): Blue, Red, Green
Secondary Color(s): None
Anchor Cards: Chandra, Pyromaster, Courser of Kruphix, Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Sylvan Library, Sensei’s Divining Top, Mystical Tutor, Brainstorm
Archetype-specific Cards: Future Sight, Thassa, God of the Sea, Prognostic Sphinx, Prophetic Flamespeaker, Bonfire of the Damned, Oracle of Mul Daya, Domri Rade, Scroll Rack, Temple of Epihany, Temple of Abandon, Temple of Mystery, Noxious Revival, Worldly Tutor, Sylvan Tutor Keranos, God of Storms
Theatre(s): Midrange
Cross-pollination: Lands (via Courser of Kruphix and Oracle of Mul Daya, plus this archetype appreciates shuffle effects more than most).
Description: The TurboLand archetype can be considered the Combo version of Lands Matter and makes use of cards that allow multiple land drops a turn, most notably Fastbond and Exploration. These can be combined with the original Ravnica cycle of bounce lands (Azorius Chancery) and cards that return lands to the hand from the battlefield, in order to generate large amounts of mana and card advantage. Any mass card draw spells are useful as well, since they will presumably provide you with more lands. Since the archetype requires a considerable number of narrow combo pieces, it's probably best suited for smaller, combo-oriented lists.
Main Color(s): Green
Secondary color(s): Blue
Anchor Cards: Courser of Kruphix, Crucible of Worlds, Life from the Loam
Archetype-specific Cards: Fastbond, Exploration, Azusa, Lost but Seeking, Oracle of Mul Daya, Horn of Greed, Burgeoning, Trade Routes, Gush, Future Sight, Explore, Amulet of Vigor
Theatre(s): Combo
Cross-pollination: Lands Matter (they share several cards, and the combo version of the deck is even better at racking up Landfall triggers), Super Ramp (makes good use of large amounts of mana), Storm (also likes a ton of mana and mass card draw), Top-of-deck Matters (via Courser of Kruphix, Oracle of Mul Daya and Future Sight).
Main Color(s): Green
Secondary color(s): Blue
Anchor Cards: Courser of Kruphix, Crucible of Worlds, Life from the Loam
Archetype-specific Cards: Fastbond, Exploration, Azusa, Lost but Seeking, Oracle of Mul Daya, Horn of Greed, Burgeoning, Trade Routes, Gush, Future Sight, Explore, Amulet of Vigor
Theatre(s): Combo
Cross-pollination: Lands Matter (they share several cards, and the combo version of the deck is even better at racking up Landfall triggers), Super Ramp (makes good use of large amounts of mana), Storm (also likes a ton of mana and mass card draw), Top-of-deck Matters (via Courser of Kruphix, Oracle of Mul Daya and Future Sight).
Description: One of the format-defining decks in Modern, the Twin Combo deck uses Splinter Twin or Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker together with Pestermite, Deceiver Exarch, Zealous Conscripts or Restoration Angel (the latter only works with Kiki) to create an infinite number of hasty tokens. Even though in a Singleton Limited format the deck can never approach the consistency it has in Modern, the archetype has been a favorite of Cube designers looking to add some Combo elements to their lists. The reasons are that the cards in question are respectable inclusions on their own merits, and that the combo doesn’t require a deck built around it. If a deck has access to the correct mana and some means of card selection, it can probably benefit from Kiki and friends as either as either its main win condition or an alternate route to victory.
Main Color(s): Blue, Red
Secondary Color(s): White
Anchor Cards: Restoration Angel, Zealous Conscripts
Archetype-specific Cards: Deceiver Exarch, Pestermite, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Village Bell-Ringer, Sky Hussar, Imperial Recruiter
Theatre(s): Control, Combo
Cross-pollination: Time Vault Combo (Pestermite and Deceiver Exarch can untap Time Vault), Blink (Kiki and Twin are solid as a way to copy an ETB-trigger every turn, and the other archetype-specific cards have ETB-effects themselves).
Main Color(s): Blue, Red
Secondary Color(s): White
Anchor Cards: Restoration Angel, Zealous Conscripts
Archetype-specific Cards: Deceiver Exarch, Pestermite, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Village Bell-Ringer, Sky Hussar, Imperial Recruiter
Theatre(s): Control, Combo
Cross-pollination: Time Vault Combo (Pestermite and Deceiver Exarch can untap Time Vault), Blink (Kiki and Twin are solid as a way to copy an ETB-trigger every turn, and the other archetype-specific cards have ETB-effects themselves).
Description: This archetype uses creatures that like being enhanced by Equipment, Auras and pump spells to create hard-hitting and difficult to interact with threats. Creature abilities to look out for are Hexproof, Double Strike and any form of evasion. Creatures with Exalted also tend to work well. This is another archetype that can be supported to various degrees. Most Cubes run at least a few creatures with one of the relevant keywords, as well as various Equipment and Rancor. Any support above and beyond that is up to the Cube designer’s discretion. If one wants to go really far in this direction, one could even start thinking about including Infect and Heroic cards, two mechanics that are notoriously insular and difficult to integrate in Cube. On the other hand, including too many cards with Hexproof, Protection and Evasion may reduce interactivity and cause an undesirable number of cheap wins (or losses).
Main Color(s): White, Green
Secondary Color(s): All five
Anchor Cards: Mirran Crusader, True-Name Nemesis, Thrun, the Last Troll, Bonesplitter, Sword of Fire and Ice (and the other Swords), Umezawa’s Jitte, Elspeth, Knight-Errant, Geist of Saint Traft, Rancor
Archetype-specific Cards: Fencing Ace, Soltari Trooper, Soltari Priest, Soltari Monk, Soltari Champion, Fabled Hero, Hero of Iroas, Kor Spiritdancer, Silverblade Paladin, Angelic Destiny, Sublime Archangel, Ajani, Caller of the Pride, Ethereal Armor, Griffin Guide, Invisible Stalker, Prophetic Flamespeaker, Markov Blademaster, Pyrewild Shaman, Reckless Charge, Madcap Skills, Wrecking Ogre, Silhana Ledgewalker, Troll Ascetic, Witchstalker, Boon Satyr, Briarhorn, Berserk, Vines of Vastwood, Stonewood Invocation, Elephant Guide, Loxodon Warhammer, Ghor-Clan Rampager, Boros Charm, Rafiq of the Many, Fleecemane Lion, Sigarda, Host of Herons, Simic Charm, Uril, the Miststalker, Hatred, Spiteful Returned, Herald of Torment, Mogis’s Warhound
Theatre(s): Aggro
Cross-pollination: Enchantments Matter (if focusing on the Aura aspect), +1/+1 Counters (putting those onto this archetype’s creatures is powerful), Tokens (any Anthem or pseudo-Anthem effect is good, especially with double-striking creatures).
Main Color(s): White, Green
Secondary Color(s): All five
Anchor Cards: Mirran Crusader, True-Name Nemesis, Thrun, the Last Troll, Bonesplitter, Sword of Fire and Ice (and the other Swords), Umezawa’s Jitte, Elspeth, Knight-Errant, Geist of Saint Traft, Rancor
Archetype-specific Cards: Fencing Ace, Soltari Trooper, Soltari Priest, Soltari Monk, Soltari Champion, Fabled Hero, Hero of Iroas, Kor Spiritdancer, Silverblade Paladin, Angelic Destiny, Sublime Archangel, Ajani, Caller of the Pride, Ethereal Armor, Griffin Guide, Invisible Stalker, Prophetic Flamespeaker, Markov Blademaster, Pyrewild Shaman, Reckless Charge, Madcap Skills, Wrecking Ogre, Silhana Ledgewalker, Troll Ascetic, Witchstalker, Boon Satyr, Briarhorn, Berserk, Vines of Vastwood, Stonewood Invocation, Elephant Guide, Loxodon Warhammer, Ghor-Clan Rampager, Boros Charm, Rafiq of the Many, Fleecemane Lion, Sigarda, Host of Herons, Simic Charm, Uril, the Miststalker, Hatred, Spiteful Returned, Herald of Torment, Mogis’s Warhound
Theatre(s): Aggro
Cross-pollination: Enchantments Matter (if focusing on the Aura aspect), +1/+1 Counters (putting those onto this archetype’s creatures is powerful), Tokens (any Anthem or pseudo-Anthem effect is good, especially with double-striking creatures).
Description: Named for the Urza’s Saga card that was (for all intents and purposes) functionally reprinted in a Portal set (Burning of Xinye), this archetype aims to build a board position where it can cast its namesake card and leave the opponent with (ideally) zero permanents while keeping a big threat and a few mana sources itself. This is achieved by playing mana acceleration, preferably via Rampant Growth-effects or Artifact mana, creatures with a toughness of at least five, and/or Planeswalkers. The archetype is a favorite among Cube designers looking to make a strategy available to Red that’s completely different from the cheap-creatures-and-burn plan the color tends to employ.
Main Color(s): Red
Secondary Color(s): All five (but mainly Green)
Anchor Cards: Thundermaw Hellkite, Inferno Titan, Sakura-Tribe Elder, Kalonian Hydra, Primeval Titan, Coalition Relic, Solemn Simulacrum
Archetype-specific Cards: Wildfire, Burning of Xinye, Destructive Force, Ember Swallower, Worn Powerstone, Thran Dynamo, Everflowing Chalice, Chandra Nalaar, Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker, Vorapede, Greater Gargadon
Theatre(s): Midrange, Control
Cross-pollination: Artifacts (both value mana rocks more than most decks), Ponza (pinpoint Land Destruction synergizes decently with Wildfire), Lands Matter (which is very good at re-using the sacrificed lands plus Knight of the Reliquary survives even a “naked” Wildfire).
Main Color(s): Red
Secondary Color(s): All five (but mainly Green)
Anchor Cards: Thundermaw Hellkite, Inferno Titan, Sakura-Tribe Elder, Kalonian Hydra, Primeval Titan, Coalition Relic, Solemn Simulacrum
Archetype-specific Cards: Wildfire, Burning of Xinye, Destructive Force, Ember Swallower, Worn Powerstone, Thran Dynamo, Everflowing Chalice, Chandra Nalaar, Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker, Vorapede, Greater Gargadon
Theatre(s): Midrange, Control
Cross-pollination: Artifacts (both value mana rocks more than most decks), Ponza (pinpoint Land Destruction synergizes decently with Wildfire), Lands Matter (which is very good at re-using the sacrificed lands plus Knight of the Reliquary survives even a “naked” Wildfire).
Description: While few Zombies are Cube staples in the strictest sense, many cards in the tier just below “absolute staple” have the creature type, and several of the various Zombie Tribal effects that have been printed over the years are quite powerful as well. The tools are definitely there if you want to support a Zombie archetype, especially if you already have a lot of ways to take advantage of sacrifice effects and/or the graveyard.
Main Color(s): Black
Secondary Color(s): Blue, Green
Anchor Cards: Gravecrawler, Sarcomancy, Diregraf Ghoul, Grave Titan
Archetype-specific Cards: Carrion Feeder, Geralf’s Messenger, Skinrender, Graveborn Muse, Blood Scrivener, Cemetery Reaper, Xathrid Necromancer, Curse of Shallow Graves, Call to the Grave, Death Baron, Diregraf Captain, Lotleth Troll, Lich Lord of Unx, Lifebane Zombie, Liliana’s Reaver, Lord of the Undead, Necromancer’s Stockpile, Sidisi, Blood Tyrant, Undead Warchief, Nightscape Familiar, Putrid Leech, Spiteful Returned, Tidehollow Sculler, Wight of Precinct Six, Putrid Imp, Dreg Mangler, Fleshbag Marauder, Undead Gladiator
Theatre(s): Aggro, Midrange
Cross-pollination: All the graveyard-centric archetypes, but mainly Pox/Stax.
Main Color(s): Black
Secondary Color(s): Blue, Green
Anchor Cards: Gravecrawler, Sarcomancy, Diregraf Ghoul, Grave Titan
Archetype-specific Cards: Carrion Feeder, Geralf’s Messenger, Skinrender, Graveborn Muse, Blood Scrivener, Cemetery Reaper, Xathrid Necromancer, Curse of Shallow Graves, Call to the Grave, Death Baron, Diregraf Captain, Lotleth Troll, Lich Lord of Unx, Lifebane Zombie, Liliana’s Reaver, Lord of the Undead, Necromancer’s Stockpile, Sidisi, Blood Tyrant, Undead Warchief, Nightscape Familiar, Putrid Leech, Spiteful Returned, Tidehollow Sculler, Wight of Precinct Six, Putrid Imp, Dreg Mangler, Fleshbag Marauder, Undead Gladiator
Theatre(s): Aggro, Midrange
Cross-pollination: All the graveyard-centric archetypes, but mainly Pox/Stax.
As noted throughout this article, some cards with slightly lower power levels (for Cube standards, of course) may nevertheless be worth including because they contribute to several specific archetypes (preferably while being respectable cards in their own right).Here are ten cards you may not have considered before, but which may have an interesting role to play in your list.
Archangel of Thune
Should you choose to support the Lifegain or the +1/+1 Counters archetype (or both!) this card is the first one to add to your list. It is also a strong roleplayer in the Tokens deck and a solid addition to any generic White midrange or control deck. There are several infinite combo’s with this card as well:
•Archangel + Spike Feeder (a card versatile enough that it almost made this top-10 in its own right) gives you infinite life and an enormous flier
•Archangel + Kitchen Finks + a sacrifice outlet is the same (plus you get infinite of whatever the sac outlet is doing)
•Archangel + Triskelion + Nearheath Pilgrim or any other way to give the Trike lifelink is infinite damage
•Archangel + a Soul Warden effect + any mass token generator doesn’t go infinite but leads to ridiculous board states
Should you choose to support the Lifegain or the +1/+1 Counters archetype (or both!) this card is the first one to add to your list. It is also a strong roleplayer in the Tokens deck and a solid addition to any generic White midrange or control deck. There are several infinite combo’s with this card as well:
•Archangel + Spike Feeder (a card versatile enough that it almost made this top-10 in its own right) gives you infinite life and an enormous flier
•Archangel + Kitchen Finks + a sacrifice outlet is the same (plus you get infinite of whatever the sac outlet is doing)
•Archangel + Triskelion + Nearheath Pilgrim or any other way to give the Trike lifelink is infinite damage
•Archangel + a Soul Warden effect + any mass token generator doesn’t go infinite but leads to ridiculous board states
Epochrasite
Let’s just list the archetypes this card is relevant for: Artifacts, Blink, +1/+1 Counters, Pox/Stax, Rec/Sur/Pod, Storm and Wildfire. And that’s in addition to its baseline utility as a cheap and easy to cast value engine for any matchup where you’re more interested in blocking than attacking in the early game.
Let’s just list the archetypes this card is relevant for: Artifacts, Blink, +1/+1 Counters, Pox/Stax, Rec/Sur/Pod, Storm and Wildfire. And that’s in addition to its baseline utility as a cheap and easy to cast value engine for any matchup where you’re more interested in blocking than attacking in the early game.
Frantic Search
Putting cards in the graveyard is useful for Reanimator, Dredge and sometimes Artifacts, costing no mana helps with casting multiple spells in the same turn, which is good for Storm and Spells Matter, generating mana with any land producing more than one is good for Super Ramp and again Storm, and it’s a great Madness enabler as well (you can pay for a madness spell you discard with the lands you untap). If your Cube is Combo- and/or Graveyard-oriented, this card should be in it.
Putting cards in the graveyard is useful for Reanimator, Dredge and sometimes Artifacts, costing no mana helps with casting multiple spells in the same turn, which is good for Storm and Spells Matter, generating mana with any land producing more than one is good for Super Ramp and again Storm, and it’s a great Madness enabler as well (you can pay for a madness spell you discard with the lands you untap). If your Cube is Combo- and/or Graveyard-oriented, this card should be in it.
Manamorphose
Similar to Frantic Search in that it provides a spell without costing mana (or even a card, in this case) for Storm and Spells Matter (if you want more of that effect, Gitaxian Probe is another good option), it doubles as a low-opportunity cost fixer for multicolor aggro decks that can’t afford to play nonland fixing otherwise and absolutely need to play their bombs (for example, the Khans of Tharkir wedge cards) on curve. As a bonus, it’s a pretty neat card to stick under an Isochron Scepter.
Similar to Frantic Search in that it provides a spell without costing mana (or even a card, in this case) for Storm and Spells Matter (if you want more of that effect, Gitaxian Probe is another good option), it doubles as a low-opportunity cost fixer for multicolor aggro decks that can’t afford to play nonland fixing otherwise and absolutely need to play their bombs (for example, the Khans of Tharkir wedge cards) on curve. As a bonus, it’s a pretty neat card to stick under an Isochron Scepter.
Masked Admirers
A green card advantage engine, which is a pretty rare sight. It can be Blinked, milled and re-used (Dredge), discarded and re-used (Madness and Rec/Sur/Pod), sacrificed and re-used (Rec/Sur/Pod and Pox/Stax), and it’s an Elf! There aren’t that many situations where a 3/2 for 4 that draws you a card is actively bad by itself, either.
A green card advantage engine, which is a pretty rare sight. It can be Blinked, milled and re-used (Dredge), discarded and re-used (Madness and Rec/Sur/Pod), sacrificed and re-used (Rec/Sur/Pod and Pox/Stax), and it’s an Elf! There aren’t that many situations where a 3/2 for 4 that draws you a card is actively bad by itself, either.
Perilous Myr
This little guy is so unassuming, yet does so much. Artifacts, Pox/Stax, Rec/Sur/Pod and Wildfire all love to add him to their rosters, and he’s a valuable early drop for control decks of any color as well, stopping many an aggro deck’s best starts right in their tracks.
This little guy is so unassuming, yet does so much. Artifacts, Pox/Stax, Rec/Sur/Pod and Wildfire all love to add him to their rosters, and he’s a valuable early drop for control decks of any color as well, stopping many an aggro deck’s best starts right in their tracks.
Pyrewild Shaman
This card is like a charm, but with ten different modes (albeit more situational ones) instead of a mere three. It’s a combat trick that lets an aggro deck efficiently remove a midrange or control deck’s speedbump (like a Wall or Courser of Kruphix). It can be discarded for value in a Madness deck and brought back via one of that deck’s tramplers. It’s a late-game mana sink and repeatable damage source for aggro decks. It can pump one of Voltron’s Hexproof or Double Strike attackers at instant speed. It can come down as a creature and pick up a Rancor or a piece of Equipment. It can take advantage of a Goblin Tribal effect. It’s repeatable fodder for cards like Butcher of the Horde, Lotleth Troll and the Masticores. It’s a one-toughness creature for Skullclamp, it’s a situational Lava Spike and if worst comes to worst it can even block!
This card is like a charm, but with ten different modes (albeit more situational ones) instead of a mere three. It’s a combat trick that lets an aggro deck efficiently remove a midrange or control deck’s speedbump (like a Wall or Courser of Kruphix). It can be discarded for value in a Madness deck and brought back via one of that deck’s tramplers. It’s a late-game mana sink and repeatable damage source for aggro decks. It can pump one of Voltron’s Hexproof or Double Strike attackers at instant speed. It can come down as a creature and pick up a Rancor or a piece of Equipment. It can take advantage of a Goblin Tribal effect. It’s repeatable fodder for cards like Butcher of the Horde, Lotleth Troll and the Masticores. It’s a one-toughness creature for Skullclamp, it’s a situational Lava Spike and if worst comes to worst it can even block!
Undead Gladiator
The third of the durdly recursive engine cards with a relevant creature type. He provides a discard outlet for Madness and Reanimator, a repeatable cycler for Astral Slide and Lightning Rift, a convenient way for Dredge to put a creature into the graveyard to kickstart Splinterfright or Sewer Nemesis, and a Zombie for Gravecrawler and Graveborn Muse. That’s in addition to his functionality as a warm body and as a late-game card quality engine.
The third of the durdly recursive engine cards with a relevant creature type. He provides a discard outlet for Madness and Reanimator, a repeatable cycler for Astral Slide and Lightning Rift, a convenient way for Dredge to put a creature into the graveyard to kickstart Splinterfright or Sewer Nemesis, and a Zombie for Gravecrawler and Graveborn Muse. That’s in addition to his functionality as a warm body and as a late-game card quality engine.
Waterfront Bouncer
At face value, Waterfront Bouncer is a terrible Magic card. Unsummon is a situational effect, in essence because it trades card advantage for tempo, which may not be what you need. Waterfront Bouncer requires you to pay three times as much mana, wait a turn, and discard another card (!) to get the same effect. And yet, the Bouncer does a lot of work in the right Cube list. It’s a discard outlet for Reanimator and Madness (fitting particularly well into the latter’s tempo game) and it’s an engine card in Blink decks. It also works well with some other individual cards like Sneak Attack, and provides a means to interact with opposing Reanimator of Fatty Cheat strategies and Control Magic effects.
At face value, Waterfront Bouncer is a terrible Magic card. Unsummon is a situational effect, in essence because it trades card advantage for tempo, which may not be what you need. Waterfront Bouncer requires you to pay three times as much mana, wait a turn, and discard another card (!) to get the same effect. And yet, the Bouncer does a lot of work in the right Cube list. It’s a discard outlet for Reanimator and Madness (fitting particularly well into the latter’s tempo game) and it’s an engine card in Blink decks. It also works well with some other individual cards like Sneak Attack, and provides a means to interact with opposing Reanimator of Fatty Cheat strategies and Control Magic effects.
Whip of Erebos
The Whip is an Artifact for the Artifacts deck (useful for returning Myr Battlesphere and Sundering Titan, or becoming a 5/5 Lifelink with Tezzeret 2.0 or Karn) and an Enchantment for, well, the Enchantment Matters deck. It is insane in the Blink deck, since its various anti-abuse clauses still allow shenanigans with temporary Exile effects. It’s a decent support card in the various graveyard-related strategies, mainly Rec/Sur/Pod and Dredge, and it provides some very welcome lifegain for the heavy Black strategies that often run a lot of self-damaging effects, as well as for the Lifegain deck.
The Whip is an Artifact for the Artifacts deck (useful for returning Myr Battlesphere and Sundering Titan, or becoming a 5/5 Lifelink with Tezzeret 2.0 or Karn) and an Enchantment for, well, the Enchantment Matters deck. It is insane in the Blink deck, since its various anti-abuse clauses still allow shenanigans with temporary Exile effects. It’s a decent support card in the various graveyard-related strategies, mainly Rec/Sur/Pod and Dredge, and it provides some very welcome lifegain for the heavy Black strategies that often run a lot of self-damaging effects, as well as for the Lifegain deck.
She does a lot of work as:
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I'm running a hybrid list with 4 Lily, 3 Tezz, and 2 JtMS. Due to KCommand resurgence and desire to turn on Opal faster I'm 4/3/2 Bauble/Opal/Jar. Jace is a great wincon in the deck that offers different flexibility from Tezz but most of the time Jace is just fatesealing in my testing so far. He's great at guaranteeing a win behind Bridge, but this is far from the best deck for truly making use of him. Jace was borderline useless in the matchups I ran into last night but that's going to happen.
I think it may be worth considering a shift to a Grixis Prison shell now. Part of the issue before was durdling into nothing with a chalice, blood moon or Bridge on the BF. Using an explosive artifact Mana package with some SSG and a stronger sweet of 4 cmc walkers could be great. T2 blood moon, T3 Jace bounce for example makes more use of Jace's abilities and could lock some opps out of the game. This is definitely an approach I'd like to try.
1
I will plan to record some with the new list later this week.
PS traded into 3 Opals over the weekend at GP Toronto and then played the list to a 3-3 in PTQ on Sunday. First real event with the deck in paper. It had mostly been online for me before. Beat Humans, lost to burn (really lazy keep in G3 on the draw), lost to Traverse Shadow with all of the hand disruption and Stubs, beat Amulet in 3 (that took some serious doing), lost to Abzan, beat Affinity.
1
I really like Collective Brutality, but the tricky part is realizing when it's worth it to pitch an otherwise good card to use a second ability. It's easy to pitch a Thoughtseize against Burn to escalate it. It's less easy to escalate on top of giving a creature -2/-2 by pitching a Snapcaster to it to get rid of the opponent's Fatal Push to clear the way for Tarmogoyf the next turn. Snapcaster is so strong it feels like it's better in your hand, but effectively there are matchups where the tempo of essentially trading the Snappy for their Fatal Push without spending the 2 mana on Tarmogoyf for the Fatal Push to just eat it anyway is totally worth it. It's not always clear when that is appropriate obviously. The other thing I like about it is just the flexibility in modal cards. It is not the strongest kill spell, discard effect, or lifegain spell for 2 mana, but it plays as extra removal and lifegain against almost any go wide deck. It's extra discard against almost every combo deck that can hit the combo pieces costing over 3 cmc. It just is flexible.
As for the countermagic I love Countersquall, but again it's not without its costs. In the end I may go back to a Countersquall/Negate split, but I want to see how well the Spell Pierce work on protecting us in those T1 on the draw against a T2 Stony Silence type draws. It may not be good enough without more early threats like Delver of Secrets, but one doesn't know without trying.
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In the BGx versions of Sultai Serum Visions is not a necessary card. You are trying to disrupt and close. Thought Scour helps feed your Goyfs, Flayers and Snapcaster Mages far more effectively than Serum Visions does while simultaneously acting as a sort of combo trick pumping your creatures after blocks.
In the UBx version of Sultai that are playing more controlling you almost certainly want Serum Visions.
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I like the manabase. The 4 Darkslick Shores incentivizes you to fetch Forest or Swamp early which is better for Blood Moon. I love Treetop Village in general, and since you're more aggressive in this build the cheaper activation is probably worth it. There is definitely some room to tune here, but generally speaking it looks good.
https://twitter.com/bazardebagda/status/831161925979471873/photo/1
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Grim Flayer
3 Snapcaster Mage
3 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Instants 13
4 Fatal Push
3 Thought Scour
3 Stubborn Denial
3 Abrupt Decay
Sorceries 8
3 Thoughtseize
2 Inquistion of Kozilek
2 Collective Brutality
1 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Liliana of the Veil
Lands 22
4 Polluted Delta
3 Verdant Catacombs
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Watery Grave
1 Breeding Pool
2 Swamp
1 Forest
1 Island
4 Darkslick Shores
1 Blooming Marsh
2 Treetop Village
3 Surgical Extraction
1 Spell Pierce
2 Collective Brutality
3 Rain of Tears
2 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
1 Painful Truths
3 Damnation
1
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Grim Flayer
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Artifacts 2
2 Mishra's Bauble
Instants 12
4 Fatal Push
3 Mana Leak
1 Countersquall
2 Go for the Throat
2 Abrupt Decay
Sorceries 7
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
1 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Liliana of the Veil
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
Lands 23
4 Polluted Delta
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Verdant Catacombs
2 Watery Grave
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Breeding Pool
2 Swamp
1 Island
1 Forest
3 Blooming Marsh
2 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Dispel
2 Negate
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Feed the Clan
3 Fulminator Mage
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Night of Souls' Betrayal
1 Damnation
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There is some merit, but I think the BUG Midrange builds, more so than any other BGx build, suffers the most from a contradiction in desire to be proactive versus reactive. Jund's red reactive spells can help proactively close the game. White is using powerful hate cards to proactively shut down opponents. The hand disruption is generally proactively trying to clear the way for your creatures or delay your opponent until you can. Countermagic by nature has to be reactive and so it creates this tension in BUG more so than in other decks. It might be different if there was a "true" counterspell at two cmc that could be held up as a catch all counter (in conjunction with something like Abrupt Decay), but Mana Leak is the best you have, and unfortunately the card is terrible late game and BUG is the most likely to run into the long game. This leads to running more conditional counters like Spell Snare, Countersquall, Stubborn Denial etc since they are at least "hard" counters.
This again just leads to an issue where instead of having either Abrupt Decay or Counterspell you have Abrupt Decay or conditional countermagic. This leads to a lot more instances where your hand will just NOT line up with what your opponent is doing. This is why I think the midrange builds of BUG need to just naturally be more reactive. That said I still think there is some merit because countermagic allows BUG to do one thing the other BGx matchups can't do and that is have game in nearly EVERY matchup. So while with that style of build you may lose a lot more due to awkward draws you're also going to have days where everything lines up, Inquisition away their removal, slam a Tarmogoyf, hold up countermagic/removal that is appropriate in the matchup and you just can't lose.
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I absolutely think Liliana, the Last Hope is playable in a version of this deck. I could even see one in the main, one in the side. This is actually part of what I've been considering as one of the extra two delirium enablers, just trying to figure out what I'd want to trade online to pick a copy up. I do think that the meta is not the greatest for Lily right now as a removal spell (thought as Genini said there are definitely matchups she shines), but she should be decently easy to protect in this build as an alternate win condition. Also her down tick not only can recur a Snapcaster but help feed the graveyard for Snap/Goyf/Flayer. As it is I was strongly considering cutting the 3rd Grim Flayer for something and I think this will be it. It's possible with the addition of a Lily, and eventually an Engineered Explosives it might be possible to fit a 3rd Flayer back in at least Delirium wise, but we'll have to see.
@Retswerd
I haven't tested Bitterblossom yet, but I will say with the builds I'm playing the only deck that has been a consistent struggle for me was Grixis Delver. Bitterblossom can be excellent against them out of the side assuming you are able to focus on protecting your life total. I also think it can be good as a two of in a more tempo/delirium focused build that maxes on Grim Flayer/Tamrogoyf with Thought Scours and Collective Brutality as ways to get it in the GY.
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I'm a newbie with relatively few matches under my belt, so take my comment with a grain of salt. It seems very very serviceable, most of this is theoretical. Not only is it lifegain that seems to line up well for around turn 3-4, where versus a deck like burn you either are going for it or trying to setup a second run, but in the longer grindy matchups like BGx it seems like it would really be a good card to have extending the game by a turn and getting you another threat. It seems extra good there w/BG Infect as you may be able to get Phyrexian Crusader that could live through a Night of Souls' Betrayal. I've been packing two, and while it's seemed decent against Burn, it wasn't good enough versus Zoo when I played it.