Art by Mark Tedin
This is my unpowered cube. It leans towards the nostalgic side, with support for iconic buildarounds like Birthing Pod at the exclusion of hyper-pushed no-synergy-needed snowballing threats like Minsc & Boo or Psychic Frog. Its central design philosophy demands that power requires synergy. High power and universally desired cards which require no synergy are automatic first picks, which decreases the interestingness of drafts and pushes decks towards low-synergy goodstuff piles. The most powerful cards, such as Tolarian Academy and Channel, have demanding deckbuilding requirements which make for more interesting drafts and games. Conversely, niche cards that are only useful in specific archetypes should be some of the most powerful cards in those archetypes in order to not fill draft packs with useless chaff.
Design Notes- I break singleton for double fetches.
- I don't include double-faced cards, outside game objects (e.g., monarch or initiative), non-evergreen mechanics without rules text (e.g., adventure), or Universes Beyond cards.
I've had mixed feelings about this cube for a while, and have finally decided to disassemble it. I'll leave the list up until the end of July for anyone interested in cloning it for their use, but I will then be de-listing it, as I try to have the publicly viewable cubes on my profile be the ones I have physically available to draft.
This cube was originally just another unpowered vintage cube. As power creep has gone off the rails in recent years, and my enjoyment of cards at the height of power has diminished, I started trimming the cards I dislike and returning more nostalgic cards back in. This approach has resulted in a mishmash of older cards I enjoy and powerful newer cards I simply tolerate. Without maximizing power level as a primary motivating factor, this cube has lost its identity. I have other cubes which better appease my interest in high power Magic like 2007 Nostalgia Cube, and I have other cubes to play more recent cards I enjoy below the heights of power.
I also appreciate what it represents for my interests in cube that the cube I now have owned the longest is my Unplayables Cube, which is in many ways the polar opposite to this fairly generic power-motivated cube.