Danger: danger everywhere! This cube has a plethora of degenerate combos that are held in check by the large size of the cube along with strong aggro, midrange, and control support.

To assist newer drafters, the primer below is focused on explaining the more complicated interactions and combo decks that are possible. Because and aggro decks and /x control decks are pretty straightforward and just require basic card evaluation skills, the following primer will not go into detail regarding those decks.

It is also important to note that the multicolored cards are not necessarily "signpost" cards for certain archetypes that you might expect in retail limited environment. They are there to support ideas and decks that can be mostly built from their mono-colored sections, or they are just super bombs in their own right, see Fractured Identity.

So while the primer will focus on combos, it is important to remember that the sheer size of the cube may make it difficult to assemble the combos, however a vintage cube needs these exciting combos to feel truly vintage and the cube needs combos to keep aggro in check, where midrange and control strategies can sometimes struggle.

Notes regarding singleton breaks, fixing availability, and proxy status of certain cards can be found at the end of the primer.

---SPLINTER TWIN + KIKI-JIKI---

Here you want to land a Kiki-Jiki or Splinter Twin and copy a non-legendary creature that has an untap ETB to untap the Kiki or the original enchanted creature - repeat until lethal and move to attacks.

Key Pieces

ETB Untap or Blink Creatures

Note: Restoration angel does not combo with Twin. Similarly, Flickerwisp does not combo with either Twin or Kiki.

Creature Tutors

Note: These creatures tutor other creatures to hand based on either power or toughness, so while they can both grab Kiki-Jiki and Pestermite, only Imperial Recruiter can grab Deceiver Exarch, and neither can grab Conscripts or Restoration Angel. Other, more general tutors exist in the cube that can find any of the combo pieces, but would require a splash into or , or if you are just tutoring for Twin. See the storm section below.

---PERSIST CREATURE COMBO---

This combo centers around the persist creatures, sacking them, and having a +1/+1 counter effect on any creature ETB to offset the -1/-1 counter that will be put on the creature when the ability resolves. The combo can provide an infinite loop for creature ETB and creature death triggers in other basic archetypes, like Aristocrats.

Persist Creatures

Sacrifice Outlets

+1/+1 Counter Effects and Counter Inhibitors

Note: Static anthem abilities do NOT remove the persist counters. There must be an effect that either adds a +1/+1 counter on ETB or an effect that prevents the counter from being added on ETB for the combo to work.

---ALUREN + ACERERAK---

This is a two card combo that wins on the spot (if opponent doesn't have instant speed removal or counter magic) if you resolve Aluren, which allows you to cast Acererak for free from your hand. You will choose to venture into the dungeon, Lost Mine of Phandelver, which will allow you to drain your opponent for 1 each time you pass through the dungeon. Acererak's ability will bounce itself back to hand so long as you do not complete the Tomb of Annihilation.

Note: The dungeon is a token, so you do not need to worry about drafting it.

---GLIMPSE OF NATURE + RITE OF HARMONY---

This combo can infinitely draw through your deck if you have Aluren on the battlefield and you resolve creatures that can bounce themselves back to your hand. Infinite card draw can set up a self-mill win with Oracle, and infinite mana enablers, with a non-summoning sick dork in play to be repeatedly tapped and untapped, can allow you to cast a flashy finisher.

Key Pieces

Mana Enablers

---BROUGHT BACK + SECOND SUNRISE---

This combo relies on having a sac outlet on the battlefield, casting Brought Back, or one of it's variants, holding priority, and casting Dualcaster Mage in response. Allow the mage to resolve, copy the Brought Back on the stack, then sac the mage in response. Allow the copied spell to resolve, bringing back the mage, then copy the original brought back on the stack. Either the sac outlet or another permanent you control is going to need to win the game with repeated ETB or LTB triggers.

Key Spells

Note: Goblin Bombardment and Altar of Dementia are sacrifice outlets with self-contained win conditions i.e. damage and mill. Other sacrifice outlets can be used in conjunction with Blood Artist effects, but those combo set ups are more fragile.

---KARMIC GUIDE---

Karmic Guide enables another infinite loop of creatures to sacrifice to the outlets noted above. Be careful though, Junji takes a piece of you with them each time on the way out!

Drain Effects

These effects will allow you to take advantage of all of these creature-based infinite sacrifice loops, where the outlet itself does not deal damage or otherwise win the game.

---WALKING BALLISTA---

This card combos in two scenarios: (1) find a way to generate infinite mana; or land Ballista with at least two counters on it and have Heliod on the battlefield with mana to give the Ballista lifelink. Either scenario allows you to ping your opponents until they die.

Note: You do not need actual infinite mana, 80 mana would kill an opponent at 20 life.

---INFINITE MANA ENGINES---

Devoted Druid

Note: Druid only needs either Vizier or Luxior, not both to generate infinite mana.

Palinchron

Palinchron can generate infinite mana, so long as seven of your lands tap to produce 12 total mana, four of which is . Academy can help to make up the five mana deficit if there are five artifact under your control. High Tide easy-modes this engine with just six islands in play.

Note: New deck tech has revealed an unintended combo with Sneak Attack, requiring from at most seven lands.

Emry, Lurker of the Loch + Mirran Spy

This combo is pretty straight forward - requires both non-summoning sick Emry and Spy on the battlefield. Tap Emry to recast a Lotus or Petal, Spy trigger to untap Emry, sacrifice the mana rock, and repeat.

Note: LED will also work with some set up - you will need your mana payoff castable from somewhere other than your hand.

Earthcraft + Aluren + Shrieking Drake + non-summoning sick mana dork - see above for details.

---INFINITE TURNS---

Extra Turn Spells

Meloku + Trade Routes + Mystic Sanctuary

The idea is resolving either Meloku or Trade Routes, and having at least three Islands. You cast your extra turn spell, then activate the ability to return Mystic Sanctuary to hand, and then replay the land to put the extra turn spell on top of your library. Each extra turn costs costs if you have access to Time Walk, or if you have the five mana extra turn spells. Trade routes is more efficient but will not kill on its own unless you can profitably attack or repeatedly deal damage. Meloku is more mana-intensive, but will spit out flyers each turn that will be able to kill eventually.

Eternal Witness + Timeless Witness

These two cards are essentially Regrowth on a stick - a stick that you can abuse the ETB trigger with repeatable Flicker-style effects. Here, you want to cast your extra turn spell. You will need two more things: (1) either cast or have already resolved a Witness; and (2) have resolved a Flicker effect. That effect will trigger at end of turn, target the witness, trigger resolves and Witness flickers with new ETB trigger, use that trigger to put to hand the extra turn spell. Similar to the Meloku/Trade Routes infinite turns, this strategy is good to go when you can get in for attacks or if you have other repeatable damage via a planeswalker, etc.

Flicker-style Effects

Note: Flickering an eternalized Timeless Witness token is a bad idea. Absent independent draw, both of these infinite turns strategies are going to lock you into only drawing the extra turn spell unless you decide to stop the combo. Ephemerate is just a value proposition in this plan. You will not be able to get the full value of the spell from the rebound unless there is an extra turn spell in your grave yard during your upkeep, which is difficult because they are sorceries.

---STORM---

Storm is a fan-favorite combo archetype that is well-supported in the cube. Storm is a fair and balanced mechanic where you get to copy a spell with storm for the number of spells cast before it that turn - including your spells and your opponent's spells. Generally, storm seeks to win in one big turn, where you "storm off" by chaining "free" or mana-neutral spells, draw-seven effects, and recasting spells from the graveyard to build up the storm count until you can kill your opponent with a storm spell, or build up enough creatures to win your following turn assuming the board is not wiped. The archetype relies on counter magic to protect the combo and tutor spells to assemble the pieces. The combo is vulnerable to aggro decks where they die before they can storm off. Note that countering a storm spell will not necessarily stop the combo as storm is a "on-cast" mechanic, and the other copies will need counter spells for each.

Storm Cards

Note: Brain Freeze will not beat a deck with a shuffle-effect Eldrazi.

Graveyard and Library Enablers

Note: Citadel is a great Tinker target to start storming off the top of your library early. Desire is a less valued storm card, but can add to your storm count and might hit the tendrils or brain freeze you have been digging for. Will and Breach serve similar purposes in the storm deck - allowing you to cast spells from your graveyard. Will has the drawback of exiling all cards that would go to your graveyard once it resolves, and Breach requires extra cards in your graveyard to escape the cards you want to cast.

Artifact Mana

Note: The cheaper and better your mana, the better your storm deck. LED combos particular well with Will by being able to discard your hand in response to the Will on the stack, add mana, and then be able to be cast again for free from your graveyard.

Rituals

Note: High Tide gets an honorable mention here for it's own merits and the Palinchron infinite mana combo.

Draw-Sevens

Note: Narset, Parter of Veils and Hullbreacher are back-breaking pickups with a few of these draw-sevens.

Mana-Neutral Spells and Free Spells

Tutors

Note: Tutors listed here may not apply to a storm deck.

---DOOMSDAY---

This deck is somewhat related to the storm deck in that it can combo off and win you the game out of nowhere and it sort of becomes a "puzzle" deck where you really need to carefully think though the lines of play available to you. The hallmark card is essentially an insane tutor effect where you get to pick five cards total from your graveyard and library combined and order them as you choose. These five card arrangements are commonly referred to as Doomsday "piles." Importantly, when Doomsday resolves, you retain the cards that were in your hand and the permanents that were already on the battlefield, so if you plan on comboing off that same turn, you will want a way to start drawing into your pile. The key to this deck is making sure that you draw what you need in the order that you need it. In the current iteration of the cube, alternate win conditions relating to self-mill strategies are the most likely path to victory for this deck. This goes without saying, but tutor effects, fast mana acceleration, and hyper efficient card draw are highly valued. This deck can also get value out of Will + LED, so you will certainly find yourself bumping up against the storm drafter.

Key Pieces

---TINKER---

Tinker is a very unique and powerful effect; it will win games out of nowhere because there are some very expensive Tinker-targets to search for. Obviously pairs well with Moxen to get the Tinker off early in the game.

Tinker Targets

The undisputed best Tinker target is Blightsteel Colossus, but the other targets are more than serviceable when Blightsteel doesn't come around the table during the draft.

Build-Your-Own Tinker

Sometimes you land all the pieces of a Tinker deck, without the namesake. Good thing there is a back up option! These effects are also repeatable, so cards like Saheeli, Sublime Artificer and Retrofitter Foundry start to enable value loops of the likes of Wurmcoil and Triplicate Titan.

Urza's Saga

This card plays well in the artifact-based decks because it can make constructs that get buffed by your other artifacts that are on board, and on it's third turn it fetches out a or card.

Big Artifact Mana Producers

These cards, in addition to Academy, can support a fail-safe strategy in Tinker decks by simply generating massive amounts of mana to cast the big payoffs.

---SNEAK ATTACK + THROUGH THE BREACH---

Sneak and Show Emrakul, or variations of that, are the things that cube dreams are made of. These powerful build-arounds are looking to hoard the biggest, baddest fatties in all of Magic - especially ones with strong ETB or attack triggers.

Fatties

Note: While there are many more fatties available in the cube than the ones listed here, this archetype regularly fights with Reanimator decks for those fatties. Similarly, Reanimator effects can be useful in getting a second swing after the sacrifice trigger hits. Show & Tell is a higher risk way to cheat in fatties because your opponent also gets to put in their best non-planeswalker permanent, so that version of the deck is going to prioritize discard to thin out the threats the opponent has access to.

---SHOW AND TELL + EUREKA---

These two cards are some of the highest-power and highest-variance cards in the game. These cards are best-paired with {b}-based hand disruption to imbalance the symmetrical effect and high-impact permanents.

Note: Eureka lets you drop any permanent, including planeswalkers, but Show & Tell does not.

---REANIMATOR---

Reanimator is another very strong archetype that relies on (1) having enough reanimation targets in the deck; (2) finding those targets and getting them into the graveyard via Entomb effects or discard outlets; and finally (3) having reanimation effects. The deck is vulnerable to graveyard hate, Bribery, and Control Magic effects.

Entomb Effects

Discard Outlets

Note: There are additional discard outlets available in the cube.

Reanimate Effects

Note: Shallow Grave and Corpse Dance are generally only used for the Eldrazi with annihilator triggers: Emrakul; Ulamog, and Kozilek. You will cast those instant-speed reanimate effects when the shuffle ability is on the stack, and then boom hasty Eldrazi - but they will be exiled at EOT.

---OMNISCIENCE---

Omniscience can be an excellent build-around enabler for cheaty mccheatyface strategies. Believe it or not, outside of Show & Tell and Eureka, there are a couple of single-sided ways to cheat out this enchantment and go off. Once Omniscience resolves, it becomes a lot harder to lose the game, but if you have nothing to immediately play or are lacking cantrips to get digging through the deck and you are facing down lethal, it can be a big do-nothing way to die, so play conscientiously. Omniscience turns that win are going to want to chain spells, find more to play, until you get to something game-winning.

Enchantment-to-Battlefield Tutors

These cards have very similar effects, but with different set-up requirements. Rector is absolutely begging to be sacrificed as soon as it resolves, and will find your Omniscience or other spicy enchantment from your library and plop it into play. Replenish doesn't need the sacrifice effect, but will require the enchantment(s) you want to already be in the graveyard.

Wilderness Reclamation and Co.

Wilderness Reclamation seems like a strange card on first read, but when you realize that it gives you double your mana at end of turn, you can see where some powerful applications come to mind. Problem is you need to be able to cast spells at instant speed in order to take advantage of the mana-doubling effect. Barracuda lets you cast all of your spells as though they have flash, so you would only need lands that can produce (read two islands and three lands of any other color) once tapped through a Reclamation trigger to hard-cast Omniscience. The Barracuda strategy will allow you to cast more spells at end of turn off the resolved Omniscience, potentially winning on the spot. On the other hand, assuming you are not going to die the next turn, you can use your Reclamation trigger to tap six lands, with at least tapping for to cast Electrodominance for to deal 10 to opponent's face and then drop Omniscience.

Note: Reclamation can be used in a variety of applications outside Omniscience fever-dreams. For example, it pairs exceptionally well with big instants like Nexus of Fate, or sorceries in general if you have +1'd Teferi for turn.

---MONO ---

Mono decks in this cube tend to be your standard ramp decks that rely on curving out mana dorks into a large board to land a Craterhoof Beheamoth, or other green fatty to win the game. This deck can have troubles with sequencing - not enough dorks to speed out an early Natural Order or simply being wiped on T4 by the control deck can be brutal.

Hoof Effects

Token Producers

Note: While the dorks will start to fill the board quickly, landing one or two of these token producers before the Hoof comes down will ensure there are enough creatures to make the Hoof lethal.

Natural Order and Creature Tutor Effects

Creature-Based Ramp

Oath of Druids

This card in a convoluted way says that you get to dig from the top of your library for the first creature you see and put it on the battlefield if at your upkeep your opponent has more creatures than you. Beware that this trigger works both ways, so if you have more creatures than your opponent on their upkeep they will get to dig for a fatty as well. This deck is generally creature-lite in order to keep the quality of the Oath hits high, so outside of 3 or 4 fatties, you will have lands, and other non-creature spells to round out your 40.

Opposition

Opposition can be a back-breaking card for your opponent to deal with if you can cheat out a fatty that makes a bunch of tokens a la Myr Battlesphere. Tapping down their lands on their upkeep is a pretty powerful effect.

---LANDS DECK---

Strip Mine Lock

Land Recursion Effects

Do you enjoy watching while your opponent is five turns into the game and has no lands in play? Then the Strip Mine lock is for you! This deck wants to deny your opponent mana through recursive land destruction effects and abilities to either play lands from the graveyard or return the destroyed lands to your hand so you can play them again. Wasteland is clearly a much less powerful version of Strip Mine, and will not match up well against a mono-colored deck playing only basic lands.

Note: Extra land drop effects like Fastbond, Exploration, and Dryad of the Ilysian Grove will help to widen the gap between you and your Strip-locked opponent. Bonus Note: Courser of Kruphix combos very well with Fastbond.

Land Tutors

These cards will find your Strip Mine or Wasteland from your deck and put it onto the battlefield. They add much-needed consistency to the deck, as a backup for when you don't have Strip Mine in your opening seven.

Additional Land Destruction Effects

Note: The effects from the Stax deck described below slot in well as an additional control option in a lands/stax shell.

---STAX---

Stax is a very, very mean deck that will grind your opponent and you out of resources. Smokestack is a broken card because you can order the trigger to resolve the sacrifice ability before the counter ability resolves, breaking the symmetry. Braids is a weaker version of Smokestack.

Sacrifice Fodder

These are the premier cards to pick up to enable you to break the symmetry of the Stax cards because these will produce permanents you can sacrifice each turn, allowing you to keep your bigger, badder threats.

Pox

Pox effects will probably not win you the game outright because your opponent is on average only getting rid of their worst creature, worst land, and worst card in hand. However being able to replay these effects from the graveyard once or twice will set up a nice Stax-lock. Look for cards like Eternal Witness or Noxious Revival to get more replay value from your pox cards.

Stasis and other prison effects

Stasis is an insane card, but does take some set up to break the symmetry. It is also a bad card to play when you are behind on board. Forsaken City will allow you to pay the at upkeep to keep Stasis around by exiling a card from your hand. Remember that you draw after your upkeep, so you will need one card in hand when your opponent passes turn to you in order to keep the Stasis going. In order to really break the the card, you will also want a way to generate some mana each turn that doesn't require tapping/untapping or ways to cast spells for free. In this cube, Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner plus Tolarian Academy or Gaea's Cradle might be a way to generate some much-needed mana post-Stasis.
The other cards noted here slow the game down in their own way, and one particular combo worth noting is Urza, Lord High Artificer tapping Winter Orb on your opponent's end step so that you get to untap all your lands and leave Winter Orb tapped through your opponent's untap step to let them untap only one land.

Blood Moon Effects

Both of these cards seek to deny your opponent access to the correct color mana. They are situational, but can be backbreaking in the right match up.

---UPHEAVAL---

Upheaval may not look like the most busted card at first glance, but it easily can flip the advantage meter when paired with Fastbond and other fast mana effects so you can redeploy more of your board post Upheaval than your opponent will be able to on their next turn.

All cards in the cube are one-of (singleton) except for the following land cycles for each color pair: ABU Duals, Shocklands, and Fetchlands.

All color pairs have access to a total of 9 dual lands. The full cycle of three-color, fetchable Triomes are available, in addition to five five-color fixing lands. All ten Signets are available, however there are no Talismans.

Power 9, ABU Duals, and Imperial Seal for now are proxied.