My meta is multiplayer, medium level competitive and not totally cutthroat, but anything goes. No one runs any serious land destruction or Stax, there is somewhat limited blue in the decks present, with mostly battle cruiser, token swarm, and sac-recur represented, with a few other pet decks. We figured that we needed a Stax deck in the meta to play against, just to test our decks against. We have been talking about someone making one for a while, and when I saw Atraxa, I decided to make a Stax-esque deck. Granted, this is not a traditional Stax deck by any stretch, but it does aim at resource denial and control, with a little pillow fort. I have a lot of older/expensive cards because I have been playing since 1994, so the mana base is what it is. It could be made significantly less expensive and still function, but I have the cards.
There is a fair amount of ramp in the deck, despite what it seems, but it is all enchantment ramp. There are 8 actual ramp cards (enchantments, with Burgeoning and Exploration being amazing ramp in this deck), Krosan Verge also ramps for 1, Serra’s Sanctum ramps amazingly in this deck, there are 3 deck filter cards to streamline my land drops, 1 pure fixer enchantment, 1 enchantment that allows untapping a land on opponents’ turns, and the 4 black tutors for extra fixing when needed. It has seemed to work out well enough, even if it is pretty unconventional.
As for interacting with the stack, I would like to add some more counterspell ability, without diluting the Enchantress shell too much. Blue is probably the least played color in my meta, so it hasn’t been as bad as it could be, but adding some more stack interaction would be nice. As it is, Stasis Snare, the Seals, and Parallax Wave can all function at instant speed. I have thought about adding Ertai, I have just not sought one out to test with yet. If I find that I an getting blown away at instant speed, I will add in Ertai.
Breaking parity with resource denial is actually not as hard as you think. The pillow fort cards quickly make attacking me the suboptimal play, and this means players decide between letting me continue to build and swimming upstream. Even if I am unable to maintain it indefinitely through Urban Burgeoning or Mana Bloom, the Stasis/Rising Waters resource denial can be made less painful with the enchantment ramp, Serra’s Sanctum, Enchantress combined with Burgeoning/Exploration, or even carefully used Parallax Wave with Starfield of Nyx or a Seal to remove it just prior to my turn. Even when I am just waiting to draw blue lands, with 3 deck filters, it works a fair amount of the time.
Taking Atraxa out of the equation is not a really as big of a deal as you seem to imply. Stasis lock without her usually ends up stalling me into a position that I can stop drawing cards (Words of Worship or Wheel of Sun and Moon), get off an infinite combo, win with Test of Endurance or Starfield of Nyx overrun, or get Atraxa back. Even if it doesn’t last forever, it can stall for quite a while, and this can get me into a better position anyway. Atraxa damage, Starfield of Nyx Opalescence type overrun, Test of Endurance, and even decking someone are all ways I have won with it. I do lose, but it often happens after I have become the Archenemy, and that is OK.
I guess I can open it up to you, if you have suggestions that could make it stronger. You have identified ramping speed, stack interaction, and wincons as problems you see for this deck. Given that I would like to maintain the colors and Commander, the resource denial and pillow fort type control, and the Enchantress shell, what would you do to make it better? Do you have anything that would change it with a couple of cards, or are you still struggling with the entire deck concept? As it stands, it functions, it can win, and I think it will probably end up evolving my meta to account for it as is.
This is my version of an Atraxa Stax with an Enchantress engine.
Most people go with the counters theme for Atraxa due to her powerful Proliferate ability. When I saw her, I thought, holy cow, that is the craziest Serra Angel ever! With this in mind, I wanted to recreate my favorite Serra Angle Stasis Type 1 deck from back in 1994 when Type 1 meant something, but this time in the Commander format, not Legacy.
Key aspects of what was essentially a Legacy UW Control deck were Stasis and Kismet for a tap out lock, Serra Angel for the win, and Counterspell, Mana Drain, and Power Sink to traffic cop the game, Swords to Plowshares, Wrath of God, Maze of Ith, and Icy Manipulator to control the board, Disenchant for Enchantment and Artifact hate, and Winter Orb as an alternate Stasis. It was straightforward, but allowed for complicated game play. If it made it to turn 4, it usually won. It was my most powerful deck, and was my second favorite behind my low land Manabarbs Vice Elves deck. Good times, limited card pool, and Fallen Empires was the latest disappointment.
Now, MTG is practically infinite. It is fun to try to return to one of my all time favorites with another 22 years of expanded card pool. Atraxa strongly reminded me of my old deck, but Atraxa as your commander is so much better than Serra Angel in this combo. You always start with it in your hand, it is a full CMC cheaper, it has Lifelink and Deathtouch, it can be recast with the small addition of the Commander Tax, and if it gets countered/destroyed/exiled, you can just recast it later. You are part way to the combo at the start of every game, and having it as your Commander is like having a never ending supply of Serra Angels in your deck!
The evolution of MTG since 1994 has brought us replacements for key cards like Stasis and Kismet in the form of Rising Waters and Frozen Aether. With the addition of Skybind and Words of Wind, you can hold the Kismet/Stasis lock indefinitely. Add in some Parallax Wave/Parallax Tide/Starfield of Nix shenanigans, and you get an infinite mana loop to fuel it.
My Serra Angel Stasis deck was UW, but Atraxa brings BUGW. This opens up G for ramp, B for Tutors, and keeps UW for strong control. The way I have it brewed here, it is mostly Bant control with a splash of B for tutors.
Seeing all the Enchantments in the combo, I decided to swing it toward an Enchantress theme. This gave an incredible draw engine, and gave me multiple Tutors for key pieces. It was also pretty easy to replace all the control and Stax components with Enchantments, and eliminate most Instant, Sorcery, Creature, and Artifact elements of the basic deck. After pushing the Enchantress engine, the only important parts of the Atraxa Proliferate ability were for mana fixing through Mana Bloom, Tendo Ice Bridges, Aether Hub, and Gemstone Mine, and the Parallax cards. This may seem strange for many Atraxa brewers, but in this deck, she is a role player. She plays a stronger Serra Angel. Her Proliferate is only optimized as long as it doesn't take away from the Stasis lock or the Enchantress shell. It doesn't need all the other counter stuff to make it the perfect fit for this deck.
After getting the basic shell, I added some strategic cards to combat common deck archetypes. A large number of Tax effects like Ghostly Prison and Sphere of Safety synergize well with mana denial to defend against agro, especially those decks going wide. Detention Sphere is great against token decks as well. Kor Haven, Maze of Ith, and Song of the Dryads are good against Voltron strategies. Rest in Peace and Wheel of Sun and Moon are very nice graveyard hate. Seals of Cleansing and Primordium and Aura of Silence give the Artifact and Enchantment hate. The Parallaxes and a lot of generic nonland permanent removal cards make the control pretty flexible. A single Muddle the Mixture can help to stop some combo and also grabs us some key combo pieces of our own, and when combined with all the ramp, tutoring, and card draw allows us to keep pace with a lot of combo. Alternate wincons in the form of Test of Endurance can allow us to sidestep most strong defense, City of Solitude and Greater Auramancy hoses a lot of control, and when combined with all the recursion in the deck, allows us to power through most control.
Key synergies in the deck are:
1. Atraxa, Stasis/Rising Waters, and Kismet/Frozen Aether. There are multiple ways to get this lock to stick indefinitely, and even if it doesn't, you can often stall the game long enough to get a stronger combo out.
2. Sterling Grove and Starfield of Nyx. Repeatable tutoring for most of the deck. Tutor for the Grove first, and use the Grove to get Starfield. Recur the Grove, get whatever you need. Most of the time, you go after combo #3.
3. Parallax Tide, Parallax Wave, and Starfield of Nyx. Starfield makes both Parallaxes creatures, which can be exiled by Wave, which then brings both back into play with a full 5 Fade counters. This can be used to create infinite mana. With proper stack manipulation you can completely and permanently deny the opponent any mana or creatures. When you get this, you have won.
4. Energy Field with either Rest in Peace or Wheel of Sun and Moon means you cannot lose life.
5. All of the enchantresses with Abundance and ramp means that the deck can spew huge amounts of cards each turn. Sooner or later, you run into a win.
6. Test of Endurance with Atraxa, Herald of the Pantheon, or Words of Worship and a couple of Enchantresses out and you can explode your life total quickly, often leading to a win.
One of the strange things I have noticed with this deck is how often I use black tutors for lands. It seems silly until you realize that if you don't have land, you often have combo pieces instead, and if you just had land, you could get your engine up and running. A Vampiric Tutor into a Savannah, into and enchantress engine, into all the green enchantment ramp, into a wincon is a common game. I could increase the land, but limiting land helps with the Enchantress engine, and the flexibility of tutors to be either land or combo pieces more than makes up for the awkwardness. When I realized this, I was more comfortable cutting all the green sorcery ramp.
Another surprising thing I have noticed is how often Replenish is a dead draw. It is basically an auto-include, but since I am often aiming at the Sterling Grove and Starfield of Nyx combo, I often recur all the necessary pieces with Starfield, and Replenish just sits in my hand. It is amazing for those times when someone pulls off the Enchantment boardwipe, but they happen surprisingly infrequently. I have thought about cutting Replenish on multiple occasions, but the fact that I can regain everything lost to a boardwipe keeps it in there. Replenish and Argivian Find are in there to recover Starfield, since Starfield is the center of a lot of this deck. It can win without it, but it becomes much harder.
All in all, I find the deck to be fun, it can capture some of the feeling of my old type 1 Serra Angel Stasis deck, and has multiple engines for big wins. It can be interactive early, and then explode almost without warning. It is also very different from every other Atraxa deck I have seen. Thanks for looking.
Contents: Innistrad themed Cube (CubeTutor Link) (~800 cards plus 150 basics and appropriate tokens)
Zombie Horde deck (250 card challenge deck)
Wooden Mallet and Stake
Antique Dentist's Tooth Puller for removing Vampire fangs
Small Vintage Magnifying Glass for Investigating
Small Antique Silver Hand Mirror for identifying those who cast no Shadow
Five candles for Fiend Trapping and Banishing
Two Skeleton Keys for opening Mausoleum Doors
Large Vial of Blood Counter game tokens
Eight small vials
- Eastern Wolfsbane and Western Wolfsbane for taming werewolves
- Crystalline Salt for defending against spirits and psychic phenomena
- Holy Water
- Grave Dirt from a man buried 250 years ago for stilling the Walking Dead
- Phoenix Ashes for various Arcane Rituals
- Coffin Nails for sealing in those who would like to leave their coffins
- Handful of small d6 dice.
There is also a hidden drawer behind the Zombie Horde cards and under the keys holding a bunch of d20 spindown life counters.
Feel free to draft and make comments. The cube has original Innistrad, Shadows Over Innistrad, some Dark Ascension, very few Avacyn Restored, a few Origins that are Innistrad related, and then a few other cards that fit the theme to round out some archetypes, mostly from Ravnica. I also added a bunch of draft matters cards and on-theme cards from Conspiracy. I find them to be super fun to add to a draft environment, especially for the casual multiplayer drafts that my family likes to play. I plan to add some Eldritch Moon cards when I get them. It is not exactly a draft sim, but I do hold to a rarity ratio of 3-4/1-3/1/0-1 for commons/uncommons/rares/mythics, making the draft feel like a normal booster draft. I did cull a lot of cards I don't really like from each set included, mostly to enhance the presence specific tribes and archetypes in the remaining cards. The cube is huge, and I need to start trimming, but I want to play with it for a bit to see what I would like to trim. I would like it to include about 125 cards of each color and probably ~3 cards per guild, along with mana fixing lands, conspiracy draft matters cards, and equipment that is on-theme. I don't really see Innistrad theme being powerful artifacts, so this can be pretty limited. The plan is to tune it, let my kids learn to draft it well, then head to my local card shop around Halloween snd try to recruit a draft with some unsuspecting locals.
Thanks all for taking a look. It has been on and off about 3 months collecting cards, collecting materials for props, and then several failed efforts to create the recesses to hold the props. I am super glad it worked out pretty much how I envisioned it, because my wife suffered through a lot of half crazed ideas that I had in creating it, including expanding insulating foam fiascos and trips to our local New England cemeteries to find the oldest grave dirt possible. I swear I thought she was going to lose it when I loaded up the car with her and the kids to tour cemeteries. After seeing it finished, she had no complaints, and gave me some begrudging complements on how it looks. My kids think it is amazing, and are super proud of our family cube. Mission accomplished.
I would say just a notch that is big enough for a finger. You could potentially make it not even go through the lid entirely, just enough to hook a finger in to open it.
I agree. I am not a fan of Eldrazi, but this is an interesting iteration of them. I read all if H.P. Lovecraft as a kid, and this just pushes my buttons.
I finally got my cube into CubeTutor today, and spent a little time tuning things up. Drafted a few decks, but the changes were small enough that I can't tell the difference from before I made the tweaks. Anyway, here it is.
I have also been working on an Innistrad plane cube. It is really quite a daunting task. I decided originally to try for a ISD/DKA/SOI singleton proxy powered cube for multiplayer drafts. I feel like the ISD flavor is the best of all of MTG history, and the draft environment created was outstanding. With the current block being Shadows Over Innistrad, I figure that this would be a good place to start.
I started collecting cards by getting a SOI full set minus the mythics just after prerelease. I also collected or dug out of my collection a full set of ISD and DKA minus most mythics. I threw these in sleeves, added proxies for ABUR duals, fetches, shock, bounce, and some other random duals, and added my proxy 9. I shored this up with some Conspiracy cards that were good for multiplayer games, and I also intended to add conspiracy and draft matters cards at some point, and ante cards that I never got to play with when I was a kid, as I find these to be a blast. At this point, I thought that it was ready, and I started drafting.
First came the realization that making it powered was silly and counterproductive. It was swingy, the base power level of the cards in these sets were not close enough to the MTG power 9(10), and it just left people cherry picking or hate drafting. It decreased the fun to have them in there. After I made it an unpowered cube, I tried again.
After unpowering my cube, it played better, but I was able to see that the draft archetypes I expected were not present. It felt like a really crappy themed EDH deck, not what I was expecting. None of the tribes aside from humans was well represented, and there was duplication of some support cards, but it really didn’t hum. I decided that I needed another big tuning of the cube.
I decided that I would edit out all the underperformers, clear out some of the smaller tribes that just took up space, leaving only the most powerful or iconic of the minor tribes' cards. This assured that every card played well with the set. In the process, I removed things like Hounds, most of the wolves and devils, trimmed the Humans, and actually eliminated the Angels. Since I did not have some of the signature angel cards, and the ones left didn’t really interact well with the rest of the tribes, they were cut. I also removed everything that was even close to jank. I also noted some redundancies in capabilities across all the sets, and thought about how much of each of these elements I wanted. When I had adjusted this, I would pick the most exciting, best, or even most synergistic of the duplicated cards, and cut any unneeded cards.
After this, I went through and changed from singleton to a 3/2/1/0-1 rarity ratios of all that remained. This drastically increased the support for each of the major tribes, and recreated some of the feel of the ISD draft environment. Once this was done, I rebalanced everything a little, adding or subtracting elements that were shifted some with changing the rarity ratios. I maintained the 3/2/1/0-1 ratio, but realized that some functions were over represented, and some were under represented. This was corrected with on theme cards from other sets, and allowed me to include some of my pet cards from other sets.
After playing, it was mostly spot on. You can’t get every draft experience that was possible when Innistrad was originally out, but it does recreate the feel, and it is definitely fun. I am waiting on a shipment of some cards I ordered to tweak what I now have, but it is currently workable and quite fun to draft.
The only problem is that it is HUGE! It is not perfectly color balanced, but it currently is about 750 cards! Innistrad has a total of 277 cards, 16M, 59R, 67U, and 135C. With a rarity ratio of 3/2/1/0-1, that is ~614 cards. Shadows Over Innistrad totals 317, 18M, 59R, 100U, 140C, making another ~577 cards, for a total of ~1200 cards, not counting Dark Ascension, duals, or other manafixing! If you go with 4/2/1/1, it would be 1475 cards! As you can see, with about 750 cards, I trimmed a lot.
My next goal is to maybe add the conspiracy and draft matters cards. I love those cards for what they do for a draft. Very fun, and I have high hopes. We will see how this turns out, but I am at least wary of the potential for badness considering how much powering it messed with things in my original cube. If the conspiracy and draft matters cards work out, I may try powering it again, since my cube is no longer singleton, and this may change how things play out.
So after all this, my advice is that you should go with a 3/2/1/0-1 rarity ratio for cards that you do include, don’t include every card from all of those sets, trim the redundancies that exist across the sets, try to maintain a critical amount of cards that enable all of the cool mechanics and tribes, and don’t be afraid to substitute cards not from those sets if it makes it play better, especially if you can still maintain theme. If you go with a different ratio, or insist on every card from every set, then it gets huge really fast. Mine is huge, and I was almost ruthless with my trimming of underperforming cards.
Introduction:
I am a relatively novice Cuber, but have played MTG since 1994, with a long hiatus for medical school and early parenthood. Now, I play almost exclusively kitchen table Magic with my family. I have two elementary school age kids who are obsessed with MTG, and my wife reluctantly plays to fill out a good multiplayer draft or game. We also play EDH, and the kids love the idea of making a deck with a general. Even when not playing EDH, they often name their decks after a particular creature in it, and the goal is to get that creature out and win with it. I have a very fun 200+ card Zombie Horde deck that sees a lot of play, and it makes for very fun family cooperative game nights. Everyone loves the dark themes of these games. Recently, I bought a Conspiracy booster box, and we are now addicted to drafting. Time to build a cube, incorporating all of our favorite elements.
Number of Players: 4
Format: EDH Cube
Blocks: Innistrad, Dark Ascension, Shadows Over Innistrad, Eldritch Moon, Conspiracy, Conspiracy 2
Powered Cube: Yes
Proxies: Yes
Singleton: Mostly
Cube Size: TBD
Breakdown: Color balanced, with not too many Gold, and enough lands to allow good color fixing.
Theme: Gothic Horror, Politics, Mysteries
Elements and Mechanics: Deathtouch, Transform, Undying, Fight, Parley, Dethrone, Skulk, Morbid, Will of the Council, Delirium, Madness, Flashback, Investigate, Conspiracies, Draft Matters, Graveyard Matters, Ante
With the upcoming Shadows Over Innistrad set, and the popularity of my Zombie Horde deck, I want to create a Gothic Horror themed Cube. I also want to incorporate some of the famous cards from MTG history, from way back when I started playing, and teach my kids about the cards I played with as a kid. I want it to facilitate multiplayer play, and enhance the politics that seem to happen around the table, as my kids often band together to take out their parents before turning on each other, and I want mechanics to support and manipulate this. I want the draft to be fun and include cards that make the draft interesting, with the Conspiracy and Draft Matters cards to support this style of draft. I want to incorporate EDH style generals, to create a face and character for each deck. I want our drafting process to create decks meant to be somewhat persistent, and facilitate the feeling of when I first started playing, when we had a limited pool of cards in my play group derived from a stack of booster packs, and we would spend our weekly allowance on boosters to evolve our decks. I want to include Ante cards, to mix up the cards drafted, so no player can be guaranteed of keeping any card that they drafted for the full play cycle of the decks. I want this to mostly be singleton, with rare exceptions thrown in to highlight the singleton nature of the Cube, enhance the tone of each color, and to facilitate play with some of the Conspiracy cards that make use of multiple copies of cards to make them work. I want artifact creatures to be prominent, and be the major exception to the singleton rule, thematically representing that every living thing is unique, but machines can be duplicated, and do not have individuality. My kids love swords, equipment, and tokens, so I want to have plenty to keep them excited. Playing with kids means that I want to minimize manascrew or manaflood, so color fixing and ramp is essential. And I want the Cube to facilitate many basic archetypes, because I want my kids to learn to draft archetypes and not just piles of cards, and I want it to be interesting to me as well. I also want to tune my Zombie Horde deck parallel to my Cube, so that the decks drafted will be competitive with the Zombie Horde, and we can have cooperative family game nights that are thematic, and create the feeling of a campaign to stop a zombie apocalypse.
I know, tall order. I would appreciate any help I can get.
Size of the cube is less important than themes and proper elements. I want it small enough that no element is drowned out, but large enough that we can have an initial draft, then another single booster draft at the start of each game night to evolve the decks, and will ensure that we don’t run out of cards for at least several sessions.
I want to include mostly cards from Innistrad, Dark Ascension, Shadows Over Innistrad, Eldritch Moon, Conspiracy, Conspiracy 2, and ABUR, but will include any cards that enhance the themes and tone produced as a gestalt. Avacyn Restored will get some play, as will any individual cards from anytime in the history of Magic. I feel like The Dark may also have a lot of cards that would thematically fit as well.
I plan to start with a full set of common/uncommon cards from Innistrad and Dark Ascension, bolster with specific rares and mythics from both those sets, add all the cards from Conspiracy that enhance politics and multiplayer play, as well as Draft matters cards, a copy of every Ante card ever printed, and proxies of the ABUR Duals and Power 9. I will fill in with a Booster box from Shadows Over Innistrad when released, Eldritch Moon when released, and Conspiracy 2 when released. I also recognize that this kind of Cube is often an evolving thing, and will tune it any way necessary to get it where I want it.
After the initial draft, we will construct decks that are at least legal and playable. After this, we will have a secondary draft for EDH generals. I have a small stash of legendary creatures that I will continue to add to, but I also have a full set of every guildmage that I will include as possible generals. This will give at least two possible generals for each two color combination. I am also going to create custom Conspiracy cards for each color that will add a color to the color identity, an ability, as well as an extra cost, to any general they pick, facilitating three or more color decks. There are also the Worldknit and Unexpected Potential cards to increase the flexibility of color identity for generals in the Cube.
Minimum deck size will probably be 40 cards at first, but this may grow the further into the draft cycle we go. I will have to see how easy it is to draft a deck that respects color identity before finalizing this piece.
Beginning life total will be 30.
I will try to respect the intentions of the EDH banned list and rules when constructing this Cube, with adjustments to facilitate the other goals of the Cube.
For this Cube, I envision grid drafting eight rounds to help my kids settle into colors and archetypes, then follow this with 2 rounds of booster drafting, for roughly the equivalent of a 4 booster pack draft. We will then play the initial session, likely against the Zombie Horde.
Each game will start with an Ante, one random card from your deck and one random card from your unused draft pool. Winner takes the Ante, and if the winner is the Zombie deck, the Ante goes back into the Cube for later drafting.
These drafted decks, along with the extra cards, will be kept separate and persistent between drafts. This will facilitate the campaign feeling of the Cube.
The next session will begin with a Cube Tax on each player's unused draft pool. Each player will draw seven random cards from their unused draft pool, and these will be shuffled back into the Cube. After this, each player will receive a random 15 card booster pack, and there will be a round of drafting, adding to their draft pool. Decks will be retuned, and then we will play another session.
I really like the singleton nature of Cube and EDH. Functional reprints and similar cards can be used to increase consistency, but knowing that there is only one copy of each card in the Cube is fun. Unfortunately, this idea does not play particularly well with the Conspiracy and Draft Matters cards. To make these cards relevant, I intend to strategically break singleton for a few cards.
First, I will include a playlet of 4 cards from each color that have self synergy and some relevance for being included in duplicate. Squadron Hawks, Howling Wolf, Screaming Seahawks, and Rite of Flame all fit very well for this idea. I have not settled on a black card yet, and I am open to ideas, but I am considering including Dash Hopes. I like the card, and think that it fits thematically very well, even if it is not a perfect representative of black for this cube. For these cards, I will include only one copy of each in the draft, and when you draft them, you get all four copies for your draft pool.
I want to also ensure that there is a strong element of Draft Matters in this Cube, so I intend to include enough copies of each of the Draft Matters cards that it won't be drowned out by the sheer volume of other cards. I will probably make Draft Matters and Conspiracies account for 5-10% of the cube.
The last way that I will break singleton is with Artifact creatures. I want to include multiples of the Artifact creatures I include, creating the feeling that living creatures have individuality, but machines to not. It will also overlap with some of the Draft Matters cards, as they are mostly all Artifact creatures. Many of the Artifact creatures I include will also be color fixing and Ramp through the Myrs, accomplishing more than one goal at a time.
So strategic breaking of the singleton rule will reinforce color theme, highlight the singleton nature and individuality of living things, color fix, play well with Conspiracies, and enhance the Draft.
This post will be updated and edited as I create and tune my Cube. I intend to use the community as a resource to help me create this Cube, with my above stated goals in mind. I appreciate all the help I get, and thanks ahead of time.
3/26/16 - Created
3/27/2016 - Edited to add Draft matters cards, Artifact creatures, Equipment, and Conspiracies, along with slight changes to Black.
4/10/2016 - Edits to reflect changes after playing some, included some that I was considering.
There is a fair amount of ramp in the deck, despite what it seems, but it is all enchantment ramp. There are 8 actual ramp cards (enchantments, with Burgeoning and Exploration being amazing ramp in this deck), Krosan Verge also ramps for 1, Serra’s Sanctum ramps amazingly in this deck, there are 3 deck filter cards to streamline my land drops, 1 pure fixer enchantment, 1 enchantment that allows untapping a land on opponents’ turns, and the 4 black tutors for extra fixing when needed. It has seemed to work out well enough, even if it is pretty unconventional.
As for interacting with the stack, I would like to add some more counterspell ability, without diluting the Enchantress shell too much. Blue is probably the least played color in my meta, so it hasn’t been as bad as it could be, but adding some more stack interaction would be nice. As it is, Stasis Snare, the Seals, and Parallax Wave can all function at instant speed. I have thought about adding Ertai, I have just not sought one out to test with yet. If I find that I an getting blown away at instant speed, I will add in Ertai.
Breaking parity with resource denial is actually not as hard as you think. The pillow fort cards quickly make attacking me the suboptimal play, and this means players decide between letting me continue to build and swimming upstream. Even if I am unable to maintain it indefinitely through Urban Burgeoning or Mana Bloom, the Stasis/Rising Waters resource denial can be made less painful with the enchantment ramp, Serra’s Sanctum, Enchantress combined with Burgeoning/Exploration, or even carefully used Parallax Wave with Starfield of Nyx or a Seal to remove it just prior to my turn. Even when I am just waiting to draw blue lands, with 3 deck filters, it works a fair amount of the time.
Taking Atraxa out of the equation is not a really as big of a deal as you seem to imply. Stasis lock without her usually ends up stalling me into a position that I can stop drawing cards (Words of Worship or Wheel of Sun and Moon), get off an infinite combo, win with Test of Endurance or Starfield of Nyx overrun, or get Atraxa back. Even if it doesn’t last forever, it can stall for quite a while, and this can get me into a better position anyway. Atraxa damage, Starfield of Nyx Opalescence type overrun, Test of Endurance, and even decking someone are all ways I have won with it. I do lose, but it often happens after I have become the Archenemy, and that is OK.
I guess I can open it up to you, if you have suggestions that could make it stronger. You have identified ramping speed, stack interaction, and wincons as problems you see for this deck. Given that I would like to maintain the colors and Commander, the resource denial and pillow fort type control, and the Enchantress shell, what would you do to make it better? Do you have anything that would change it with a couple of cards, or are you still struggling with the entire deck concept? As it stands, it functions, it can win, and I think it will probably end up evolving my meta to account for it as is.
Most people go with the counters theme for Atraxa due to her powerful Proliferate ability. When I saw her, I thought, holy cow, that is the craziest Serra Angel ever! With this in mind, I wanted to recreate my favorite Serra Angle Stasis Type 1 deck from back in 1994 when Type 1 meant something, but this time in the Commander format, not Legacy.
Key aspects of what was essentially a Legacy UW Control deck were Stasis and Kismet for a tap out lock, Serra Angel for the win, and Counterspell, Mana Drain, and Power Sink to traffic cop the game, Swords to Plowshares, Wrath of God, Maze of Ith, and Icy Manipulator to control the board, Disenchant for Enchantment and Artifact hate, and Winter Orb as an alternate Stasis. It was straightforward, but allowed for complicated game play. If it made it to turn 4, it usually won. It was my most powerful deck, and was my second favorite behind my low land Manabarbs Vice Elves deck. Good times, limited card pool, and Fallen Empires was the latest disappointment.
Now, MTG is practically infinite. It is fun to try to return to one of my all time favorites with another 22 years of expanded card pool. Atraxa strongly reminded me of my old deck, but Atraxa as your commander is so much better than Serra Angel in this combo. You always start with it in your hand, it is a full CMC cheaper, it has Lifelink and Deathtouch, it can be recast with the small addition of the Commander Tax, and if it gets countered/destroyed/exiled, you can just recast it later. You are part way to the combo at the start of every game, and having it as your Commander is like having a never ending supply of Serra Angels in your deck!
The evolution of MTG since 1994 has brought us replacements for key cards like Stasis and Kismet in the form of Rising Waters and Frozen Aether. With the addition of Skybind and Words of Wind, you can hold the Kismet/Stasis lock indefinitely. Add in some Parallax Wave/Parallax Tide/Starfield of Nix shenanigans, and you get an infinite mana loop to fuel it.
My Serra Angel Stasis deck was UW, but Atraxa brings BUGW. This opens up G for ramp, B for Tutors, and keeps UW for strong control. The way I have it brewed here, it is mostly Bant control with a splash of B for tutors.
Seeing all the Enchantments in the combo, I decided to swing it toward an Enchantress theme. This gave an incredible draw engine, and gave me multiple Tutors for key pieces. It was also pretty easy to replace all the control and Stax components with Enchantments, and eliminate most Instant, Sorcery, Creature, and Artifact elements of the basic deck. After pushing the Enchantress engine, the only important parts of the Atraxa Proliferate ability were for mana fixing through Mana Bloom, Tendo Ice Bridges, Aether Hub, and Gemstone Mine, and the Parallax cards. This may seem strange for many Atraxa brewers, but in this deck, she is a role player. She plays a stronger Serra Angel. Her Proliferate is only optimized as long as it doesn't take away from the Stasis lock or the Enchantress shell. It doesn't need all the other counter stuff to make it the perfect fit for this deck.
After getting the basic shell, I added some strategic cards to combat common deck archetypes. A large number of Tax effects like Ghostly Prison and Sphere of Safety synergize well with mana denial to defend against agro, especially those decks going wide. Detention Sphere is great against token decks as well. Kor Haven, Maze of Ith, and Song of the Dryads are good against Voltron strategies. Rest in Peace and Wheel of Sun and Moon are very nice graveyard hate. Seals of Cleansing and Primordium and Aura of Silence give the Artifact and Enchantment hate. The Parallaxes and a lot of generic nonland permanent removal cards make the control pretty flexible. A single Muddle the Mixture can help to stop some combo and also grabs us some key combo pieces of our own, and when combined with all the ramp, tutoring, and card draw allows us to keep pace with a lot of combo. Alternate wincons in the form of Test of Endurance can allow us to sidestep most strong defense, City of Solitude and Greater Auramancy hoses a lot of control, and when combined with all the recursion in the deck, allows us to power through most control.
Key synergies in the deck are:
1. Atraxa, Stasis/Rising Waters, and Kismet/Frozen Aether. There are multiple ways to get this lock to stick indefinitely, and even if it doesn't, you can often stall the game long enough to get a stronger combo out.
2. Sterling Grove and Starfield of Nyx. Repeatable tutoring for most of the deck. Tutor for the Grove first, and use the Grove to get Starfield. Recur the Grove, get whatever you need. Most of the time, you go after combo #3.
3. Parallax Tide, Parallax Wave, and Starfield of Nyx. Starfield makes both Parallaxes creatures, which can be exiled by Wave, which then brings both back into play with a full 5 Fade counters. This can be used to create infinite mana. With proper stack manipulation you can completely and permanently deny the opponent any mana or creatures. When you get this, you have won.
4. Energy Field with either Rest in Peace or Wheel of Sun and Moon means you cannot lose life.
5. All of the enchantresses with Abundance and ramp means that the deck can spew huge amounts of cards each turn. Sooner or later, you run into a win.
6. Test of Endurance with Atraxa, Herald of the Pantheon, or Words of Worship and a couple of Enchantresses out and you can explode your life total quickly, often leading to a win.
One of the strange things I have noticed with this deck is how often I use black tutors for lands. It seems silly until you realize that if you don't have land, you often have combo pieces instead, and if you just had land, you could get your engine up and running. A Vampiric Tutor into a Savannah, into and enchantress engine, into all the green enchantment ramp, into a wincon is a common game. I could increase the land, but limiting land helps with the Enchantress engine, and the flexibility of tutors to be either land or combo pieces more than makes up for the awkwardness. When I realized this, I was more comfortable cutting all the green sorcery ramp.
Another surprising thing I have noticed is how often Replenish is a dead draw. It is basically an auto-include, but since I am often aiming at the Sterling Grove and Starfield of Nyx combo, I often recur all the necessary pieces with Starfield, and Replenish just sits in my hand. It is amazing for those times when someone pulls off the Enchantment boardwipe, but they happen surprisingly infrequently. I have thought about cutting Replenish on multiple occasions, but the fact that I can regain everything lost to a boardwipe keeps it in there. Replenish and Argivian Find are in there to recover Starfield, since Starfield is the center of a lot of this deck. It can win without it, but it becomes much harder.
All in all, I find the deck to be fun, it can capture some of the feeling of my old type 1 Serra Angel Stasis deck, and has multiple engines for big wins. It can be interactive early, and then explode almost without warning. It is also very different from every other Atraxa deck I have seen. Thanks for looking.
1x Test of Endurance
1x Frozen AEther
1x Kismet
1x Parallax Tide
1x Parallax Wave
1x Rising Waters
1x Skybind
1x Stasis
1x Words of Wind
1x Argothian Enchantress
1x Eidolon of Blossoms
1x Enchantress's Presence
1x Herald of the Pantheon
1x Mesa Enchantress
1x Verduran Enchantress
1x Burgeoning
1x Exploration
1x Fertile Ground
1x Mana Bloom
1x Prismatic Omen
1x Sheltered Aerie
1x Urban Burgeoning
1x Utopia Sprawl
1x Weirding Wood
1x Wild Growth
1x Collective Restraint
1x Ghostly Prison
1x Propaganda
1x Sphere of Safety
1x Aura of Silence
1x Banishing Light
1x Detention Sphere
1x Grasp of Fate
1x Oath of Liliana
1x Oblivion Ring
1x Seal of Cleansing
1x Seal of Primordium
1x Song of the Dryads
1x Stasis Snare
1x Greater Auramancy
1x Muddle the Mixture
1x Rest in Peace
1x Solitary Confinement
1x Stony Silence
1x Wheel of Sun and Moon
1x Words of Worship
1x Abundance
1x Archmage Ascension
1x Argivian Find
1x Cruel Tutor
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Enlightened Tutor
1x Idyllic Tutor
1x Imperial Seal
1x Mirri's Guile
1x Muddle the Mixture
1x Plea for Guidance
1x Replenish
1x Starfield of Nyx
1x Sterling Grove
1x Sylvan Library
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Bayou
1x Savannah
1x Scrubland
1x Tropical Island
1x Tundra
1x Underground Sea
1x Breeding Pool
1x Godless Shrine
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Overgrown Tomb
1x Temple Garden
1x Watery Grave
1x Bloodstained Mire
1x Flooded Strand
1x Marsh Flats
1x Misty Rainforest
1x Polluted Delta
1x Scalding Tarn
1x Verdant Catacombs
1x Windswept Heath
1x Wooded Foothills
1x Aether Hub
1x City of Brass
1x Command Tower
1x Exotic Orchard
1x Gemstone Mine
1x Mana Confluence
1x Opal Palace
1x Reflecting Pool
1x Tendo Ice Bridge
1x Kor Haven
1x Krosan Verge
1x Maze of Ith
1x Serra's Sanctum
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
It was inspired by this one.
Contents:
Innistrad themed Cube (CubeTutor Link) (~800 cards plus 150 basics and appropriate tokens)
Zombie Horde deck (250 card challenge deck)
Wooden Mallet and Stake
Antique Dentist's Tooth Puller for removing Vampire fangs
Small Vintage Magnifying Glass for Investigating
Small Antique Silver Hand Mirror for identifying those who cast no Shadow
Five candles for Fiend Trapping and Banishing
Two Skeleton Keys for opening Mausoleum Doors
Large Vial of Blood Counter game tokens
Eight small vials
- Eastern Wolfsbane and Western Wolfsbane for taming werewolves
- Crystalline Salt for defending against spirits and psychic phenomena
- Holy Water
- Grave Dirt from a man buried 250 years ago for stilling the Walking Dead
- Phoenix Ashes for various Arcane Rituals
- Coffin Nails for sealing in those who would like to leave their coffins
- Handful of small d6 dice.
There is also a hidden drawer behind the Zombie Horde cards and under the keys holding a bunch of d20 spindown life counters.
Feel free to draft and make comments. The cube has original Innistrad, Shadows Over Innistrad, some Dark Ascension, very few Avacyn Restored, a few Origins that are Innistrad related, and then a few other cards that fit the theme to round out some archetypes, mostly from Ravnica. I also added a bunch of draft matters cards and on-theme cards from Conspiracy. I find them to be super fun to add to a draft environment, especially for the casual multiplayer drafts that my family likes to play. I plan to add some Eldritch Moon cards when I get them. It is not exactly a draft sim, but I do hold to a rarity ratio of 3-4/1-3/1/0-1 for commons/uncommons/rares/mythics, making the draft feel like a normal booster draft. I did cull a lot of cards I don't really like from each set included, mostly to enhance the presence specific tribes and archetypes in the remaining cards. The cube is huge, and I need to start trimming, but I want to play with it for a bit to see what I would like to trim. I would like it to include about 125 cards of each color and probably ~3 cards per guild, along with mana fixing lands, conspiracy draft matters cards, and equipment that is on-theme. I don't really see Innistrad theme being powerful artifacts, so this can be pretty limited. The plan is to tune it, let my kids learn to draft it well, then head to my local card shop around Halloween snd try to recruit a draft with some unsuspecting locals.
Thanks all for taking a look. It has been on and off about 3 months collecting cards, collecting materials for props, and then several failed efforts to create the recesses to hold the props. I am super glad it worked out pretty much how I envisioned it, because my wife suffered through a lot of half crazed ideas that I had in creating it, including expanding insulating foam fiascos and trips to our local New England cemeteries to find the oldest grave dirt possible. I swear I thought she was going to lose it when I loaded up the car with her and the kids to tour cemeteries. After seeing it finished, she had no complaints, and gave me some begrudging complements on how it looks. My kids think it is amazing, and are super proud of our family cube. Mission accomplished.
ISD/DKA/SOI Plane Cube
I started collecting cards by getting a SOI full set minus the mythics just after prerelease. I also collected or dug out of my collection a full set of ISD and DKA minus most mythics. I threw these in sleeves, added proxies for ABUR duals, fetches, shock, bounce, and some other random duals, and added my proxy 9. I shored this up with some Conspiracy cards that were good for multiplayer games, and I also intended to add conspiracy and draft matters cards at some point, and ante cards that I never got to play with when I was a kid, as I find these to be a blast. At this point, I thought that it was ready, and I started drafting.
First came the realization that making it powered was silly and counterproductive. It was swingy, the base power level of the cards in these sets were not close enough to the MTG power 9(10), and it just left people cherry picking or hate drafting. It decreased the fun to have them in there. After I made it an unpowered cube, I tried again.
After unpowering my cube, it played better, but I was able to see that the draft archetypes I expected were not present. It felt like a really crappy themed EDH deck, not what I was expecting. None of the tribes aside from humans was well represented, and there was duplication of some support cards, but it really didn’t hum. I decided that I needed another big tuning of the cube.
I decided that I would edit out all the underperformers, clear out some of the smaller tribes that just took up space, leaving only the most powerful or iconic of the minor tribes' cards. This assured that every card played well with the set. In the process, I removed things like Hounds, most of the wolves and devils, trimmed the Humans, and actually eliminated the Angels. Since I did not have some of the signature angel cards, and the ones left didn’t really interact well with the rest of the tribes, they were cut. I also removed everything that was even close to jank. I also noted some redundancies in capabilities across all the sets, and thought about how much of each of these elements I wanted. When I had adjusted this, I would pick the most exciting, best, or even most synergistic of the duplicated cards, and cut any unneeded cards.
After this, I went through and changed from singleton to a 3/2/1/0-1 rarity ratios of all that remained. This drastically increased the support for each of the major tribes, and recreated some of the feel of the ISD draft environment. Once this was done, I rebalanced everything a little, adding or subtracting elements that were shifted some with changing the rarity ratios. I maintained the 3/2/1/0-1 ratio, but realized that some functions were over represented, and some were under represented. This was corrected with on theme cards from other sets, and allowed me to include some of my pet cards from other sets.
After playing, it was mostly spot on. You can’t get every draft experience that was possible when Innistrad was originally out, but it does recreate the feel, and it is definitely fun. I am waiting on a shipment of some cards I ordered to tweak what I now have, but it is currently workable and quite fun to draft.
The only problem is that it is HUGE! It is not perfectly color balanced, but it currently is about 750 cards! Innistrad has a total of 277 cards, 16M, 59R, 67U, and 135C. With a rarity ratio of 3/2/1/0-1, that is ~614 cards. Shadows Over Innistrad totals 317, 18M, 59R, 100U, 140C, making another ~577 cards, for a total of ~1200 cards, not counting Dark Ascension, duals, or other manafixing! If you go with 4/2/1/1, it would be 1475 cards! As you can see, with about 750 cards, I trimmed a lot.
My next goal is to maybe add the conspiracy and draft matters cards. I love those cards for what they do for a draft. Very fun, and I have high hopes. We will see how this turns out, but I am at least wary of the potential for badness considering how much powering it messed with things in my original cube. If the conspiracy and draft matters cards work out, I may try powering it again, since my cube is no longer singleton, and this may change how things play out.
So after all this, my advice is that you should go with a 3/2/1/0-1 rarity ratio for cards that you do include, don’t include every card from all of those sets, trim the redundancies that exist across the sets, try to maintain a critical amount of cards that enable all of the cool mechanics and tribes, and don’t be afraid to substitute cards not from those sets if it makes it play better, especially if you can still maintain theme. If you go with a different ratio, or insist on every card from every set, then it gets huge really fast. Mine is huge, and I was almost ruthless with my trimming of underperforming cards.
I am a relatively novice Cuber, but have played MTG since 1994, with a long hiatus for medical school and early parenthood. Now, I play almost exclusively kitchen table Magic with my family. I have two elementary school age kids who are obsessed with MTG, and my wife reluctantly plays to fill out a good multiplayer draft or game. We also play EDH, and the kids love the idea of making a deck with a general. Even when not playing EDH, they often name their decks after a particular creature in it, and the goal is to get that creature out and win with it. I have a very fun 200+ card Zombie Horde deck that sees a lot of play, and it makes for very fun family cooperative game nights. Everyone loves the dark themes of these games. Recently, I bought a Conspiracy booster box, and we are now addicted to drafting. Time to build a cube, incorporating all of our favorite elements.
Number of Players: 4
Format: EDH Cube
Blocks: Innistrad, Dark Ascension, Shadows Over Innistrad, Eldritch Moon, Conspiracy, Conspiracy 2
Powered Cube: Yes
Proxies: Yes
Singleton: Mostly
Cube Size: TBD
Breakdown: Color balanced, with not too many Gold, and enough lands to allow good color fixing.
Theme: Gothic Horror, Politics, Mysteries
Elements and Mechanics: Deathtouch, Transform, Undying, Fight, Parley, Dethrone, Skulk, Morbid, Will of the Council, Delirium, Madness, Flashback, Investigate, Conspiracies, Draft Matters, Graveyard Matters, Ante
With the upcoming Shadows Over Innistrad set, and the popularity of my Zombie Horde deck, I want to create a Gothic Horror themed Cube. I also want to incorporate some of the famous cards from MTG history, from way back when I started playing, and teach my kids about the cards I played with as a kid. I want it to facilitate multiplayer play, and enhance the politics that seem to happen around the table, as my kids often band together to take out their parents before turning on each other, and I want mechanics to support and manipulate this. I want the draft to be fun and include cards that make the draft interesting, with the Conspiracy and Draft Matters cards to support this style of draft. I want to incorporate EDH style generals, to create a face and character for each deck. I want our drafting process to create decks meant to be somewhat persistent, and facilitate the feeling of when I first started playing, when we had a limited pool of cards in my play group derived from a stack of booster packs, and we would spend our weekly allowance on boosters to evolve our decks. I want to include Ante cards, to mix up the cards drafted, so no player can be guaranteed of keeping any card that they drafted for the full play cycle of the decks. I want this to mostly be singleton, with rare exceptions thrown in to highlight the singleton nature of the Cube, enhance the tone of each color, and to facilitate play with some of the Conspiracy cards that make use of multiple copies of cards to make them work. I want artifact creatures to be prominent, and be the major exception to the singleton rule, thematically representing that every living thing is unique, but machines can be duplicated, and do not have individuality. My kids love swords, equipment, and tokens, so I want to have plenty to keep them excited. Playing with kids means that I want to minimize manascrew or manaflood, so color fixing and ramp is essential. And I want the Cube to facilitate many basic archetypes, because I want my kids to learn to draft archetypes and not just piles of cards, and I want it to be interesting to me as well. I also want to tune my Zombie Horde deck parallel to my Cube, so that the decks drafted will be competitive with the Zombie Horde, and we can have cooperative family game nights that are thematic, and create the feeling of a campaign to stop a zombie apocalypse.
I know, tall order. I would appreciate any help I can get.
Size of the cube is less important than themes and proper elements. I want it small enough that no element is drowned out, but large enough that we can have an initial draft, then another single booster draft at the start of each game night to evolve the decks, and will ensure that we don’t run out of cards for at least several sessions.
I want to include mostly cards from Innistrad, Dark Ascension, Shadows Over Innistrad, Eldritch Moon, Conspiracy, Conspiracy 2, and ABUR, but will include any cards that enhance the themes and tone produced as a gestalt. Avacyn Restored will get some play, as will any individual cards from anytime in the history of Magic. I feel like The Dark may also have a lot of cards that would thematically fit as well.
I plan to start with a full set of common/uncommon cards from Innistrad and Dark Ascension, bolster with specific rares and mythics from both those sets, add all the cards from Conspiracy that enhance politics and multiplayer play, as well as Draft matters cards, a copy of every Ante card ever printed, and proxies of the ABUR Duals and Power 9. I will fill in with a Booster box from Shadows Over Innistrad when released, Eldritch Moon when released, and Conspiracy 2 when released. I also recognize that this kind of Cube is often an evolving thing, and will tune it any way necessary to get it where I want it.
After the initial draft, we will construct decks that are at least legal and playable. After this, we will have a secondary draft for EDH generals. I have a small stash of legendary creatures that I will continue to add to, but I also have a full set of every guildmage that I will include as possible generals. This will give at least two possible generals for each two color combination. I am also going to create custom Conspiracy cards for each color that will add a color to the color identity, an ability, as well as an extra cost, to any general they pick, facilitating three or more color decks. There are also the Worldknit and Unexpected Potential cards to increase the flexibility of color identity for generals in the Cube.
Minimum deck size will probably be 40 cards at first, but this may grow the further into the draft cycle we go. I will have to see how easy it is to draft a deck that respects color identity before finalizing this piece.
Beginning life total will be 30.
I will try to respect the intentions of the EDH banned list and rules when constructing this Cube, with adjustments to facilitate the other goals of the Cube.
For this Cube, I envision grid drafting eight rounds to help my kids settle into colors and archetypes, then follow this with 2 rounds of booster drafting, for roughly the equivalent of a 4 booster pack draft. We will then play the initial session, likely against the Zombie Horde.
Each game will start with an Ante, one random card from your deck and one random card from your unused draft pool. Winner takes the Ante, and if the winner is the Zombie deck, the Ante goes back into the Cube for later drafting.
These drafted decks, along with the extra cards, will be kept separate and persistent between drafts. This will facilitate the campaign feeling of the Cube.
The next session will begin with a Cube Tax on each player's unused draft pool. Each player will draw seven random cards from their unused draft pool, and these will be shuffled back into the Cube. After this, each player will receive a random 15 card booster pack, and there will be a round of drafting, adding to their draft pool. Decks will be retuned, and then we will play another session.
I really like the singleton nature of Cube and EDH. Functional reprints and similar cards can be used to increase consistency, but knowing that there is only one copy of each card in the Cube is fun. Unfortunately, this idea does not play particularly well with the Conspiracy and Draft Matters cards. To make these cards relevant, I intend to strategically break singleton for a few cards.
First, I will include a playlet of 4 cards from each color that have self synergy and some relevance for being included in duplicate. Squadron Hawks, Howling Wolf, Screaming Seahawks, and Rite of Flame all fit very well for this idea. I have not settled on a black card yet, and I am open to ideas, but I am considering including Dash Hopes. I like the card, and think that it fits thematically very well, even if it is not a perfect representative of black for this cube. For these cards, I will include only one copy of each in the draft, and when you draft them, you get all four copies for your draft pool.
I want to also ensure that there is a strong element of Draft Matters in this Cube, so I intend to include enough copies of each of the Draft Matters cards that it won't be drowned out by the sheer volume of other cards. I will probably make Draft Matters and Conspiracies account for 5-10% of the cube.
The last way that I will break singleton is with Artifact creatures. I want to include multiples of the Artifact creatures I include, creating the feeling that living creatures have individuality, but machines to not. It will also overlap with some of the Draft Matters cards, as they are mostly all Artifact creatures. Many of the Artifact creatures I include will also be color fixing and Ramp through the Myrs, accomplishing more than one goal at a time.
So strategic breaking of the singleton rule will reinforce color theme, highlight the singleton nature and individuality of living things, color fix, play well with Conspiracies, and enhance the Draft.
This post will be updated and edited as I create and tune my Cube. I intend to use the community as a resource to help me create this Cube, with my above stated goals in mind. I appreciate all the help I get, and thanks ahead of time.
1 Boros Guildmage
1 Dimir Guildmage
1 Duskmantle Guildmage
1 Golgari Guildmage
1 Gruul Guildmage
1 Izzet Guildmage
1 Korozda Guildmage
1 New Prahv Guildmage
1 Nivix Guildmage
1 Orzhov Guildmage
1 Rakdos Guildmage
1 Rix Maadi Guildmage
1 Selesnya Guildmage
1 Simic Guildmage
1 Skarrg Guildmage
1 Sunhome Guildmage
1 Vitu-Ghazi Guildmage
1 Vizkopa Guildmage
1 Zameck Guildmage
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Dash Hopes
4 Howling Wolf
4 Screaming Seahawk
One Drops
1 Champion of the Parish
1 Doomed Traveler
1 Dragon Hunter
1 Expedition Envoy
1 Sanctuary Cat
1 Selfless Cathar
Two Drops
1 Ajani's Sunstriker
1 Avacynian Priest
1 Cloistered Youth
1 Unholy Fiend
1 Niblis of the Urn
1 Thraben Heretic
1 Unruly Mob
1 Loyal Cathar
1 Unhallowed Cathar
1 Serra Avenger
1 Spectral Rider
1 Chapel Geist
1 Elder Cathar
1 Fiend Hunter
1 Gavony Ironwright
1 Mangara of Corondor
1 Midnight Guard
1 Niblis of the Mist
1 Village Bell-Ringer
1 Voiceless Spirit
Four Drops
1 Abbey Griffin
1 Custodi Soulbinders
1 Elgaud Inquisitor
1 Hollowhenge Spirit
1 Mausoleum Guard
1 Slayer of the Wicked
1 Thraben Sentry
1 Windborn Muse
1 Angel of Flight Alabaster
1 Custodi Squire
1 Gallows Warden
1 Geist-Honored Monk
1 Thraben Purebloods
1 Silverclaw Griffin
Six Drops
1 Dearly Departed
Enchantments
One Drops
1 Burden of Guilt
Two Drops
1 Bonds of Faith
1 Intangible Virtue
1 Seal of Cleansing
Three Drops
1 Aura of Silence
1 Banishing Light
1 Curse of the Forsaken
1 Ghostly Possession
1 Karmic Justice
1 Orim's Prayer
1 Unquestioned Authority
Four Drops
1 Curse of Exhaustion
1 Moat
One Drops
1 Faith's Shield
1 Mana Tithe
1 Purify the Grave
Two Drops
1 Break of Day
1 Feeling of Dread
1 Moment of Heroism
1 Ray of Revelation
1 Skillful Lunge
1 Spare from Evil
1 Urgent Exorcism
Three Drops
1 Bar the Door
1 Midnight Haunting
1 Rally the Peasants
1 Rebuke
1 Benevolent Offering
1 Smite the Monstrous
Sorceries
Two Drops
1 Gather the Townsfolk
Three Drops
1 Lingering Souls
1 Paraselene
1 Rousing of Souls
Four Drops
1 Divine Reckoning
Six Drops
1 Akroma's Vengeance
1 Tempt with Glory
One Drops
1 Delver of Secrets
1 Insectile Aberration
Two Drops
1 Deranged Assistant
1 Invisible Stalker
1 Ludevic's Test Subject
1 Ludevic's Abomination
1 Screeching Skaab
1 Shriekgeist
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Stitcher's Apprentice
1 Civilized Scholar
1 Homicidal Brute
1 Dulcet Sirens
1 Headless Skaab
1 Lantern Spirit
1 Niblis of the Breath
1 Reckless Scholar
1 Selhoff Occultist
1 Stitched Drake
1 Stormbound Geist
1 True-Name Nemesis
1 Fortress Crab
1 Makeshift Mauler
1 Moon Heron
1 Nephalia Seakite
1 Tower Geist
Five Drops
1 Battleground Geist
1 Murder of Crows
1 Relentless Skaabs
1 Soul Seizer
1 Ghastly Haunting
1 Skaab Goliath
Enchantments
One Drops
1 Curiosity
1 Sensory Deprivation
Two Drops
1 Spectral Flight
Three Drops
1 Chant of the Skifsang
1 Claustrophobia
1 Curse of the Bloody Tome
1 Propaganda
1 Secrets of the Dead
Six Drops
1 Back From the Brink
Instants
One Drops
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Dream Twist
1 Saving Grasp
1 Thought Scour
Two Drops
1 Frightful Delusion
1 Mana Drain
1 Memory's Journey
1 Split Decision
1 Think Twice
1 Cackling Counterpart
1 Dissipate
1 Forbidden Alchemy
1 Griptide
1 Hysterical Blindness
Four Drops
1 Bone to Ash
1 Domineering Will
1 Fact or Fiction
Five Drops
1 Force of Will
1 Intellectual Offering
1 Lost in the Mist
Sorceries
One Drops
1 Artful Dodge
1 Silent Departure
Two Drops
1 Time Walk
1 Chill of Foreboding
1 Divination
1 Runic Repetition
1 Timetwister
Four Drops
1 Grasp of Phantoms
1 Mystic Retrieval
1 Plea for Power
1 Tempt with Reflections
Five Drops
1 Covenant of Minds
Planeswalkers
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
One Drops
1 Diregraf Ghoul
1 Pharika's Chosen
1 Tormented Hero
1 Typhoid Rats
1 Vampire Lacerator
Two Drops
1 Baleful Eidolon
1 Black Cat
1 Bloodghast
1 Despoiler of Souls
1 Disciple of Griselbrand
1 Fetid Imp
1 Grudge Keeper
1 Hand of Silumgar
1 Highborn Ghoul
1 Manor Skeleton
1 Skirsdag Flayer
1 Thrill-Kill Assassin
1 Treacherous Pit-Dweller
1 Vampire Hexmage
1 Vampire Interloper
1 Walking Corpse
1 Arrogant Bloodlord
1 Chosen of Markov
1 Falkenrath Torturer
1 Ghoulraiser
1 Markov's Servant
1 Markov Patrician
1 Screeching Bat
1 Vampire Nightwawk
1 Village Cannibals
1 Wakedancer
Four Drop
1 Abattoir Ghoul
1 Bloodline Keeper
1 Brain Weevil
1 Falkenrath Noble
1 Juzam Djinn
1 Rotting Fensnake
1 Sangromancer
1 Sightless Ghoul
1 Bitterheart Witch
1 Farbog Boneflinger
1 Stromkirk Patrol
1 Morkrut Banshee
1 Ravenous Demon
1 Archdemon of Greed
Six Drops
1 Magus of the Mirror
1 Vengeful Vampire
Enchantments
One Drop
1 Dead Weight
1 Gruesome Deformity
Two Drop
1 Skeletal Grimace
1 Spiteful Shadows
Three Drops
1 Unhallowed Pact
Four Drops
1 Curse of Oblivion
1 The Abyss
Five Drops
1 Curse of Death's Hold
1 Curse of Misfortunes
1 Curse of Thirst
Instants
One Drops
1 Tragic Slip
1 Undying Evil
Two Drops
1 Altar's Reap
1 Victim of Night
1 Corpse Lunge
1 Gravepurge
1 Tribute to Hunger
Sorceries
One Drops
1 Bump in the Night
1 Deadly Allure
1 Ghoulcaller's Chant
1 Imperial Seal
1 Thoughtseize
Two Srops
1 Smallpox
1 Tyrant's Choice
Three Drops
1 Night Terrors
1 Reap the Seagraf
Four Drops
1 Bite of the Black Rose
1 Damnation
1 Gruesome Discovery
1 Moan of the Unhallowed
1 Death's Caress
1 Harrowing Journey
1 Infernal Offering
1 Maw of the Mire
1 Tempt with Immortality
1 Unburial Rites
Six Drops
1 Reign of the Pit
Ten Drops
1 Curse of the Cabal
Planeswalkers
1 Liliana of the Veil
One Drops
1 Forge Devil
1 Reckless Waif
1 Merciless Predator
Two Drops
1 Ashmouth Hound
1 Bloodcrazed Neonate
1 Hinterland Hermit
1 Hinterland Scourge
1 Torch Fiend
1 Village Ironsmith
1 Ironfang
Three Drops
1 Crossway Vampire
1 Erdwal Ripper
1 Feral Ridgewolf
1 Hanweir Watchkeep
1 Bane of Hanweir
1 Heckling Fiends
1 Kessig Wolf
1 Pyreheart Wolf
1 Rakish Heir
1 Riot Devils
1 Afflicted Deserter
1 Werewolf Ransacker
1 Fumikp the Lowblood
1 Instigator Gang
1 Wildblood Pack
1 Russet Wolves
1 Tormented Pariah
1 Rampaging Werewolf
Five Drops
1 Falkenrath Marauders
1 Nearheath Stalker
1 Night Revelers
1 Pitchburn Devils
1 Scourge of Geier Reach
1 Chainbreaker Devils
1 Markov Warlord
1 Rage Thrower
Enchantments
One Drops
1 Furor of the Bitten
1 Seal of Fire
Two Drops
1 Curse of Stalked Prey
1 Curse of the Pierced Heart
1 Talons of Falkenrath
Three Drops
1 Blood Moon
1 Burning Vengeance
1 Curse of Bloodletting
1 Curse of the Nightly Hunt
Four Drops
1 Sneak Attack
Five Drops
1 Bitter Feud
Instants
One Drops
1 Burst Lightning
1 Galvanic Blast
1 Geistflame
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Burning Oil
1 Desperate Ravings
1 Fling
1 Harvest Pyre
1 Incinerate
1 Searing Blaze
1 Searing Spear
1 Vampiric Fury
Three Drops
1 Brimstone Volley
1 Fires of Undeath
Five Drops
1 Volcanic Offering
Six Drops
1 Fireblast
Sorceries
One Drops
1 Faithless Looting
1 Infernal Plunge
1 Nightbird's Clutches
1 Arc Trail
Three Drops
1 Rolling Temblor
1 Shattered Perception
1 Traitorous Blood
1 Wheel of Fortune
Four Drops
1 Wrack with Madness
Five Drops
1 Blood Feud
1 Scorch the Fields
Six Drops
1 Into the Maw of Hell
1 Grenzo's Rebuttal
X Drops
1 Devil's Play
1 Earthquake
1 Red Sun's Zenith
1 Rolling Earthquake
1 Tempt with Vengeance
One Drops
1 Avacyn's Pilgrim
1 Noble Hierarch
1 Young Wolf
Two Drops
1 Ambush Viper
1 Avatar of the Resolute
1 Boneyard Wurm
1 Darkthicket Wolf
1 Dawntreader Elk
1 Garruk's Companion
1 Gatstaf Shepherd
1 Gatstaf Howler
1 Hamlet Captain
1 Tarmogoyf
1 Scorned Villager
1 Moonscarred Werewold
1 Somberwald Dryad
1 Strangleroot Geist
1 Boon Satyr
1 Elder of Laurels
1 Lambholt Elder
1 Silverpelt Werewolf
1 Grave Bramble
1 Orchard Spirit
1 Ulvenwald Bear
1 Villagers of Estwald
1 Howlpack of Estwald
Four Drops
1 Briarpack Alpha
1 Festerhide Boar
1 Hunted Troll
1 Kessig Recluse
1 Lumberknot
1 Selvala's Enforcer
1 Ulvenwald Mystics
1 Ulvenwald Primordials
1 Wolfbriar Elemental
1 Woodland Sleuth
1 Grizzled Outcasts
1 Hollowhenge Beast
1 Hollowhenge Scavenger
1 Kessig Cagebreakers
1 Krallenhorde Wantons
1 Somberwald Spider
1 Village Survivors
Six Drops
1 Gravetiller Wurm
1 Kindercatch
Eight Drops
1 Terastodon
Enchantments
One Drops
1 Wreath of Geists
Two Drops
1 Full Moon's Rise
1 Seal of Primordium
1 Survival of the Fittest
Three Drops
1 Curse of Predation
1 Favor of the Woods
1 Squirrel Nest
Instants
One Drops
1 Berserk
1 Hunger of the Howlpack
1 Ranger's Guile
1 Moonmist
1 Naturalize
Three Drops
1 Clinging Mists
1 Crushing Vines
1 Gnaw to the Bone
1 Spidery Grasp
1 Wild Hunger
Sorceries
One Drops
1 Caravan Vigil
1 Prey Upon
Two Drops
1 Mulch
1 Tracker's Instincts
1 Travel Preparations
1 Bramblecrush
1 Make a Wish
1 Tempt with Discovery
Five Drops
1 Spider Spawning
1 Selvala's Charge
Six Drops
1 Grim Flowering
X Drops
1 Sylvan Offering
Planeswalkers
1 Garruk Relentless
2 Backup Plan
3 Brago's Favor
4 Double Stroke
2 Immediate Action
2 Iterative Analysis
4 Muzzio's Preparations
1 Power Play
3 Secret Summoning
3 Secrets of Paradise
4 Sentinel Dispatch
4 Unexpected Potential
1 Worldknit
2 Agent of Acquisitions
4 Lore Seeker
2 Cogwork Spy
4 Deal Broker
1 Canal Dredger
4 Cogwork Librarian
2 Cogwork Tracker
2 Lurking Automaton
4 Cogwork Grinder
1 Æther Searcher
4 Ornithopter
4 Arcbound Worker
4 Chronomaton
4 Myr Moonvessel
4 Epochrasite
4 Hovermyr
4 Perilous Myr
4 Alloy Myr
4 Palladium Myr
4 Pilgrim's Eye
4 Scuttlemutt
4 Frogmite
4 Juggernaut
4 Peace Strider
4 Pierce Strider
4 Solemn Simulacrum
4 Synod Centurion
1 Blazing Torch
1 Bonesplitter
1 Darksteel Axe
1 Dead-Iron Sledge
1 Sai of the Shinobi
1 Silver-Inlaid Dagger
1 Wolfhunter's Quiver
1 Cobbled Wings
1 Executioner's Hood
1 Hammer of Ruin
1 Hero's Blade
1 Inquisitor's Flail
1 Sharpened Pitchfork
1 Sword of the Animist
1 Wooden Stake
1 Butcher's Cleaver
1 Ensouled Scimitar
1 Greatsword
1 Heavy Mattock
1 Loxodon Warhammer
1 Magebane Armor
1 Obsidian Battle-axe
1 Sword of Vengeance
1 Sword of Body and Mind
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Sword of War and Peace
1 Trepanation Blade
1 Deathrender
1 Demonmail Hauberk
1 Worldslayer
1 Traveler's Amulet
1 Cellar Door
1 Graveyard Shovel
1 Inquisitor's Flail
1 Altar of the Lost
1 Chalice of Life
1 Immerwolf
1 Stromkirk Captain
1 Baleful Strix
1 Tidehollow Strix
1 Badlands
1 Bayou
1 Plateau
1 Savannah
1 Scrubland
1 Taiga
1 Tropical Island
1 Tundra
1 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
Fetchlands
1 Arid Mesa
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Flooded Strand
1 Marsh Flats
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Polluted Delta
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Blood Crypt
1 Breeding Pool
1 Godless Shrine
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
1 Watery Grave
Battlelands
1 Canopy Vista
1 Cinder Glade
1 Prairie Stream
1 Smoldering Marsh
1 Sunken Hollow
Innistrad Checklands
1 Clifftop Retreat
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Isolated Chapel
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Woodland Cemetery
1 Dragonskull Summit
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Rootbound Crag
1 Sunpetal Grove
Painlands
1 Battlefield Forge
1 Caves of Koilos
1 Llanowar Wastes
1 Shivan Reef
1 Yavimaya Coast
Ravnica Bouncelands
1 Azorius Chancery
1 Boros Garrison
1 Dimir Aquaduct
1 Golgari Rot Farm
1 Gruel Turf
1 Izzet Boilerworks
1 Orzhov Basilica
1 Rakdos Carnarium
1 Selesnya Sanctuary
1 Simic Growth Chamber
1 Crescendo of War
1 Curse of Shallow Graves
1 Dissipation Field
1 Endless Whispers
1 Ghostly Prison
1 Hissing Miasma
1 Koskun Falls
1 No Mercy
1 Pain Magnification
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Pestilence
1 Telepathy
Creatures:
1 Courtly Provocateur
1 Edric, Spymaster of Trest
1 Forcemage Advocate
1 Hunted Dragon
1 Hunted Horror
1 Hunted Lammasu
1 Hunted Phantasm
1 Magister of Worth
1 Magus of the Disk
1 Nullmage Advocate
1 Pulsemage Advocate
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Shieldmage Advocate
1 Spurnmage Advocate
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Coercive Portal
1 Lantern of Insight
1 Norn's Annex
1 Spear of Heliod
1 Spectral Searchlight
Instants:
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Illusionist's Gambit
1 Master Warcraft
1 Mirrorweave
1 Steam Augury
Sorceries:
1 Council's Judgment
1 Death by Dragons
1 Order of Succession
3/26/16 - Created
3/27/2016 - Edited to add Draft matters cards, Artifact creatures, Equipment, and Conspiracies, along with slight changes to Black.
4/10/2016 - Edits to reflect changes after playing some, included some that I was considering.