Welcome to my Old School Cube! Introduction

I love the look and feel of older cards and wanted to create a cube to tap into that feeling. Warning: high amount of nostalgia!

This cube features cards from the original Magic set Alpha through Alliances. Why did I choose this time period? While I love the idea of a true Old School cube that only includes cards up to Fallen Empires, I wanted to add in some of the redundant effects from Ice Age to round out some strategies. Since the card pool is static, it also helps to increase variety. This is also the time period I have some of the fondest memories of.

I didn't want to include Mirage for a variety of reasons. As a prequel to the Weatherlight Saga, it doesn't really have the flavor I was looking for. Additionally, it introduces top of the library tutors, slow fetches, and a number of other effects that I didn't really find in the spirit of Old School. The cards were also physically printed with stronger colors and have much more streamlined card text, in a way marking a phase shift in Magic set design.

This cube breaks singleton here and there where needed, to increase interaction and help support some archetypes. I like the variety that singleton brings, so I wanted to maintain that feel as much as possible while still allowing for a more streamlined gameplay experience. I also heavily break singleton in the lands section, running the full suite of dual lands, City of Brass, Mishra's Factory, and Strip Mine. Having this much fixing opens up a lot of strategies, as well as making both aggressive decks and resource denial viable and spicy.

The following special rules are in effect for this cube:

• I use the Alpha versions of Orcish Oriflamme and Orcish Artillery, both of which have a MV of .
• If you draft an Urza's Tower, you're given 1x Urza's Mine and 1x Urza's Power Plant. (This is for each copy of the tower you draft.)
• For each Lord of Atlantis drafted, you're given 1x each of Merfolk of the Pearl Trident, Vodalian Knights, and Phantasmal Terrain after the draft.
• For each Goblin King drafted, you're given 1x each of Mons's Goblin Raiders, Goblin Chirurgeon, and Goblin Grenade after the draft.
• If you draft Zombie Master, you're given 1x each of Scathe Zombies, Cyclopean Mummy, and Evil Presence after the draft.
• If you draft a Nether Shadow you're given 3x additional Nether Shadow after the draft.

Edit: The above cards have been added to the "basic lands" section so that you can add them to your deck after the draft.

Note: I understand that having a bunch of "additional rules" is not for everyone as it increases the draft complexity, but my OS group appreciates it. If you play this cube, feel free to swap out anything needed to suit your tastes!

I think that discovering what the cube has to offer, what kinds of decks come together, and all the little interactions is very fun. So instead of giving a list of archetypes and combos, here's a brief summary of what to expect from each color:

WHITE
White's strength in Old School lies in its defensive options (Moat, Island Sanctuary, Wrath of God), plethora of pump effects (2x Crusade), and the easiest access to targeted enchantment removal (Disenchant). White has the most options for dealing with any permanent type, including the single best removal in the format (Swords to Plowshares). Armageddon is also one of the best closers in any aggressive deck.

BLUE
Blue has the strongest spells in a vacuum (Ancestral Recall, Time Walk, Mana Drain) and has access to counterspells, strong flying creatures (Serendib Efreet, Air Elemental) as well as some really good options for an aggressive or tempo deck (Land Equilibrium, Zur's Weirding). As a result blue can pair really well with any color, its main weakness being no global removal effect of any kind.

BLACK
Black comes armed with the most amount of creature removal options, excellent midrange threats (Hypnotic Specter, Juzam Djinn), and a host of reanimation options (Animate Dead, Hell's Caretaker). However, black's biggest strength comes from the sheer amount of disruption it brings to the table (Sinkhole, Hymn to Tourach, Nether Void, Pestilence). Mono black is especially potent because of Demonic Tutor and Necropotence.

RED
Red's aggressive decks are complimented by the sheer amount of burn that can hit face, including multiple X spells which are (un)surprisingly good. It also has access to land destruction (Stone Rain, Pillage), artifact removal (Shatter, Gorilla Shaman) as well as a good punisher card in Manabarbs. Red also has multiple regenerating creatures as well as the ability to make huge amounts of mana (Mana Flare, Gauntlet of Might) so it can easily play a more controlling build. Red struggles a bit with enchantments and creatures that can outpace a burn spell.

GREEN
Green pairs well with any color because every color can benefit from green's excellent ramp options. It also has strong endgame creatures (Autumn Willow, Gargantuan Gorilla), good untap effects (Nature's Chosen, Elder Druid), access to global enchantment removal (Tranquility), and one of the best card draw options in the format in the way of Verduran Enchantress. Green is generally weak to an aggressive early game.