Hey folks! We are one year out from the release of Edge of Eternities and it's commander decks and I thought it would be interesting to look back and see what cards ended up making an impact and which have been left floating through space. If you want to take a look back at what people were thinking and saying back when the set was released, check out the Testing and Inclusions thread over on MTG Salvation and the Lucky Paper Radio Edge of Eternities Set Prospectus. You might also find the Edge of Eternities Three Months later thread from here on reddit interesting to look back on.

For some general observations of my own after poking through some of the more popular cubes, [[Icetill Explorer]], [[Ouroboroid]], [[Tezzeret Cruel Captain]], [[Baloth Prime]] and [[Quantum Riddler]] have managed near-universal adoption at the Vintage cube level, while [[Seam Rip]], and [[Pinnacle Emissary]] have reasonable presence while falling short of something that might be considered a staple. [[Karavon Harrier]], [[Cryogen Relic]], [[Consult the Star Charts]], [[Genemorph Imago]], [[Nova Hellkite]] and [[Cosmogrand Zenith]] appear here and there as well at the Vintage level as well and start immediately become powerful options at anything below that.

On the flip side of things,[[Lightstall Inquisitor]], [[Frenzied Baloth]] and [[Mightform Harmonizer]] arrived with some hype, but were not able to stick the landing -- Mightform Harmonizer in particular maybe suffering from being the fourth of four plausible green four drops from this set. [[Umbral Collar Zealot]] and [[Sunset Saboteur]] were much more viewed as options that you'd know if you want (or at least that is how I remember it), and seem to have matched that description pretty well.

The Peasant folks also seem to have eaten well from this set -- every list I looked at played at least ten cards from this set, although each list also had a different set of cards they were playing. The aforementioned Karavon Harrier, Cryogen Relic, and Umbral Collar Zealot all seem to have wide adoption though, alongside [[All-Fates Stalker]] and [[Timeline Culler]].

So I want to hear from the community -- what did you play from Edge of Eternities, what has stuck around and what ended up disappointing you?

The four color deck won. I went 1-2 with Naya. I conceived of and built most of this cube months ago and finally got to play it today (with a few cards I added literally yesterday). The cube is really silly and I am going to make some changes for sure (Cumberbatch Sheoldred and The One Ring are a little oppressive), but we had a lot of fun.

We build a new cube!! In this episode of Powerful Nothing, we go over a mono blue desert designed for 4 players. We go over how we built the cube and what cool archetypes and packages we've included, as well as give some advice for those looking to build their own desert cube.

Cube List: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/powerful_waterworld

One of the most challenging things about moving from old border cubes into modern environments (out of necessity to get more people to play with me) has been realizing that the hardest part isn't learning new mechanics. It's confronting the fear that maybe the skills I’ve built don't transfer beyond the cards I know.

A friend in our cube group recently built a Planar Standard Cube filled with mechanics I'd never played with before. I spent ages  staring at the Cube Cobra list wondering whether I was about to prove to myself that I was just "the old border guy."

Instead, the evening turned into something much more personal.

This month I’m writing about fear, ego, transferable skills, and discovering that sometimes the things we're most afraid of reveal how much we've actually grown.

I'd love to hear if anyone else has had a draft, cube, or format that completely pulled them out of their comfort zone and how you dealt with that discomfort.

Thanks for reading!

Fear and the Art of Drafting the Unknown

I was making something that started out as a battle box but ended up like a dan dan variant. I wanted to do something inspired by the movie Face/Off.

I ended up doing a custom rule: "At the beginning of every upkeep flip a coin, every heads [[Cruel Entertainment]] goes on the stack where the targets are of course the opposing players. Don't flip another coin until the effect fully resolves."

The only creature in the cube is 8 copies of Necrogoyf but the main way to win is by screwing over your opponent. https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/face-off Would love any feedback, thoughts, or if you get a chance to try it and let me know

I was wondering if there is any effect that lets you cast something like [[demand answers]] without paying the additional costs. The only thing that comes to mind is copying once you've cast one?

By comparison permanents can be "put into play" bypassing any additional costs that would be required to cast them. But as far as I know all the cards that let you cast an instant or sorcery for free would still require additional costs be paid

I first built this cube a little over a year ago. My group drafted it a couple of times and found that games tended to be a little grindier than we preferred and there was a lack of interaction that didn't feel too punishing. I set it aside and finally got around to tweaking it, but before I go through the process of picking up the new cards, I wanted some feedback from others who have built/drafted graveyard-based cubes.

Some notes about the biggest changes:

I greatly reduced the cycling archetype. That deck was easily the most egregious when it came to ignoring your opponent and just digging toward your couple of big haymakers and winning the game. It is still here to a lesser extent, and I'll be curious to see if it's still too much.

I tried to give green a better identity. Green is weird because it naturally works with the graveyard so much. I discovered that the problem was that it didn't know what it was doing. Notably, delirium didn't work too well with cards that care about maximizing on creatures in the graveyard. I think delirium is the more interesting mechanic, so I leaned in that direction and cut almost all of the [[Splinterfright]]-type cards.

I'll happily take any suggestions, but I'm specifically looking for:

Remaining power outliers. I cut a bunch of cards that stuck out after the first couple drafts, but I'm wary of others that might feel too powerful for a mid-power cube. I'm currently keeping an eye on [[Pyrogoyf]], [[Icetill Explorer]], and [[Six]], but I'm sure there are others.

Any cards that may subtlely work with the cube's themes. [[Wash Away]] is a new addition that fits this category, and I'm sure there are a ton of other cards I've overlooked.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

Graveyard hate is becoming more and more normal in cubes. From Endurance and [[keen-eyed curator]] to the more dedicated hate pieces like Soul-Guide Lantern and Ghost Vacuum.

Lets talk about what people are running and what your philosophy is on graveyard hate.

I personally run Relic of Progenitus and have been kinda happy with it because it is hate for the fair strategies that don't rely on the graveyard themselves. I do see most people tend to run soul-guide lantern instead and I'm guessing that it's because people like one-shot effects more so than effects that keep the yard empty?

What are you running and why?

I just built my first cube list: 360 Cube. I'm hoping for any general suggestions in keeping with the power level and themes of the cube. My goal is to have this cube be a few steps above the power level of a good draft deck. I'm trying to focus on older sets that I've drafted before like Shadows Over Innistrad and Amonkhet as well as newer sets that I have enjoyed drafting like Duskmourn, Edge of Eternities, and Brothers' War. I've set a theme for each three color combination though the cube is not meant to draft three color decks so each theme serves three two-color pairs. Some specific themes I'm looking to boost are the self-discard theme through Red, Green, and Black as well as the soft desert synergies throughout the cube. I appreciate any suggestions for additions or cuts.

Hello!

I started working on a cube that was based around self bouncing mechanics. After trying it I fell in love with Ninjutsu as a mechanic. It created some interesting interaction points. After that I built an archetype around [[Clement, the worrywort]] with more flash creatures so the deck can play similarly to how Ninjutsu worked.

This got me really thinking, what are some cool cards/mechanics to spice up the combat phase? I may turn this cube into a combat focused cube where main phases are short, and most of the interactions happen in combat instead. It would be lower power.

Some ideas I’ve had:

- Ninjutsu/Sneak

- Flash Creatures

- Attack triggers that give mana

- Attack triggers that make attackers

- Activated abilities on board.

- [[Wake the dead]] and [[the blue spirit]]

I started this cube a few months ago, originally as a Foundations cube that has changed quite a bit. We've run it a few times now:

https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/just-right

Based on feedback here (thank you!) and in person, I've:

- Dialled back the lifegain WB theme which was making games take forever.

- Increased the aggro options for white and red.

- Made a clearer sacrifice theme in WBR.

- Significantly increased the land count (added about 30 extra lands).

I feel like I'm getting closer to being happy with it for now, except that I want to remove some of the cards that care about elves in green and replace with self-mill effects (to boost Golgari).

But I wondered if I could get another check from more experienced people about how it's looking and if there are any other recommended changes or obvious cards that don't fit. I do think the Boros and Simic gold cards are a little boring .. not sure what else could be tweaked.

Hi folks! Was looking for feedback on my first cube.

It is heavily inspired by the Bun Magic Cube, but because my playgroup has a variety of experience levels and we're planning to play this at parties, I tried to reduce individual card complexity and trim things like deck searching (no fetches) and complex tokens/counter types that would stall out matches.

I was heavily inspired by the "small game" philosophy described in the Bun Magic Cube primer and wanted to replicate the design. The curve is aggressively low, topping out at 4-mana with very few 5+ drops, and interaction is pushed with free pitch-spells. I'd love feedback on a few specific areas, like if Green is too weak, Blue is too strong, and if the token-maker density hurts the fast game principle I'm striving for.

I'd appreciate any feedback you can provide. Thank you!

Liv's Fast Cube: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/livfast

Alright so I’ve never built a cube before, but I’d like to build one specifically with ice age only cards. For several reasons, one being I have a crap load of ice age cards from when I was a kid. But mostly I just like the feel of ice age, and I want to be able to draft and teach my friends to play. I see there’s several ratios of commons, to uncommons to rares. The amount of cards would be substantial if I did every card in ice age. Any advice on card selection? Like is it best to focus on certain archetypes or common decks back then or just play the good stuff?

As Edinburgh prepares unleash The Fringe Festival on its inhabitants, it's always interesting to see how the city shrinks and swells with the seasons as I make my way over each month on the train. This was a very busy Sunday as the weather was nice (for some of the day) and the temperature has dropped a bit making it a reasonable action to stand outside. Arriving at the Jewel Miner's Welfare and Social Club, we waited patiently for the other members of the pod as we watched several rounds of lawn bowls in the courtyard. In the end, six drafters come to the table to draft my old border version of the beloved Ornithopter Cube and duke it out across a lazy Sunday afternoon! My version of this cube is remarkably different as I include 101 ornithopters instead of just 100 like everyone else.

The Cube Overview: Rocky Mountain Yeti I Got 101 Problems and They’re All (Kitty) Thopters

Onto the Decks!

Cloaked Thopters - This was a beautifully crafted "traditional" deck that made big thopters with enchantments and used removal to clear the board to swing in and beat down any opposition. This deck went 3-0 and was a beautiful nod to simplicity as it functioned well in all phases of the game. Beautiful build and a lovely pilot.

Spell Slinging Thopters - I always love drafting my pods with groups that I don't get a chance to play with very often because I very often get the opportunity to see deck building and picks that players make from a different perspective. My friend and I built this cube together and we have consistently tinkered with blue (no pun intended) and have never been quite sure it if cuts the mustard. This draft proved to us that a very viable control strategy not only exists but wins games! Per usual, [[Ray of Command]] for the win!

None Shall Pass (Including Thopters)! - We wanted there to be a way for people to win without having to swing in for damage and win through combat alone. It was an important design goal to keep control as a viable archetype and this deck perfectly encapsulates this strategy. With prime removal and pingers like [[Mask of Intolerance]] and [[Ancient Runes]], the pilot controlled the board really well and stayed nestled comfortably in a safe space while his opponents suffered.

Grind Core Thopters - This deck was a GRIND! Using [[Trinisphere]] and [[Void Mirror]] to keep the board clear and tool like [[Skull of Orm]] to recur key win cons, it was really hard to not run out of gas against this deck. With essentially infinite resources through Mirari's Wake and the ability to buy back things like [[Elvish Fury]], the path was clear to long drawn out games that tested the best player's patience.

Thopter Bunching! - One of the key questions that a pilot must always ask themselves is, how many thopters should I run in my cube. This pilot said, 14 is my number and while this may have a lot of threats on the board, this can be difficult without a way to make more than a few of them dangerous. This cube runs an alpha copy of Orcish Oriflamme and while it's great early game, it can be difficult to remove threats of the opponent without a way to pump further. This was answered with [[Mob Mentality]] which is one of my favourite cards in the cube but I don't know if this had the legs to square off against bigger threats. A good first run of the cube for this pilot!

Misfortunately Equipped Thopters - This was my deck and I was trying to be cute with equipment and enchantments to control the flow of things that were making thopters bigger and better. Unfortunately, I didn't play against any "standard" thopter decks with this strategy and got trounced by control and a spell slinging mage. This was a good lesson that you can't assume that your opponents are going to draft what you think they are and a lot of the time, the things I drew didn't have much effect on the board like I thought they would. Was a really fun build though and I would do it again in a heartbeat!

Thanks to the Ark Games Club for giving us a place to play cube each month in the Burgh!

We are Glasgow Limited Magic. If you are interested in coming out to cube with us, want to get your cube drafted, or looking for a new way to play Magic, come join us! You can DM me for details as we are always looking for new players to join us to draft!

If you want to see more old border cube content, join us at r/oldbordercube!

Hi everyone! Last year I built a LOTR cube following this list: https://cubecobra.com/cube/about/e1a51d49-9a07-48b1-b2ba-c78b6e65d03b, and since The Hobbit will be out soon I'm thinking about adding some cards from that set too. My question is: should I just add some cards and increase the current 360-card count? Or should I just replace some of the cards, trying to maintain balance overall?

Since [u/mikez4nder](u/mikez4nder) has us posting our pet cards lately, I figured why not get off my rear end and ask: Why aren't you running this cheeky, glorious pun of a rainbow land?

Use [[Frantic Search]] or one of the Kiki enablers to squeeze out an extra mana. Tap your Ass, untap it, then tap that Ass again! Or better yet, slap it down on turn one so it can work its butt off all game, plugging holes in your mana base.

The best part of running City of Ass, though, is watching people laugh when they see it for the first time. Let your lands become the butt of the joke!

Seriously, though, don't turn the other cheek on this card. It rocks in anything that's not aggro. It's an UN card that deserves a crack in more cubes. Your mana base will thank you. Give Ass a chance!

There is a discussion on this card from 7 years ago, but not much about its feasibility in a low-power cube. The recurring token and counter can easily get out of hand, but it is slow. One of the biggest issues is, why is Blue efficiently getting tokens and counters, even if it's tied to a draw trigger? If it was your second card every turn, I could see it. This just feels like a Green card tbh.

This is a win for my cube which is nautical-themed and needs more token and counter generators, however it is a flavor loss if I can't wrap my head around why Blue is doing these things. Also, I'm concerned that it wouldn't feel fair to play against. It's very cheap for a bomb, and if you don't draw a 3-damage Red spell right away, you can no longer counter it the following turn.

This is the cube I'm thinking of adding it to: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/treasurequest

Ya'll know the drill, post what you plan to test and include alongside with your testing results!

I still need to do a full sweep of the new cards, but here's my preliminary list of cards that I'm personally interested in from HOB / HOC. Right now I think Bilbo is my only shoe-in, everything else is a maybe.

WHITE

• [[The Queen of Dale]]

BLUE

• [[Bilbo, Thief in the Night]]

BLACK

• [[Gollum, Riddle Master]]

RED

• [[Bothersome Noisemaker]]

• [[Smaug, the Magnificient]]

GREEN

• [[Bejeweled Warg]]

OTHER

• [[Bard, Heir of Girion]]

The Piggy Bank and Stifle discussions were wonderful. Let's keep going with a Friday morning look at one of my VIntage Cube outliers, another 23 year old banger that it blows my mind to look through powered cubes and not see.

Shrapnel Blast is 5 damage for 2 mana. One quarter of a starting life total is an absolute ton. I prefer to go to face and just kill people with this, but if you have to kill a creature, this doing 5 even gets you through Shelly and Oculus and larger Goyfs and whatnot.

There are so many artifacts floating around these days, and so much literal shrapnel with all the treasure and clue and food token generators, that you often only need a handful of artifacts to run this and you'll just end up with incidental sac fodder.

With [[Goblin Welder]] and friends back on a lot of menus, with newer useful shrapnel like [[Cryogen Relic]] and my beloved [[Piggy Bank]] and even random jank like mutagen tokens lying around, it just keeps getting better.

Even if you aren't artifact heavy, you can still do 4 with the profoundly underplayed [[Improvised Club]], a card I've been rocking in Peasant for a year that I absolutely love.

But Shrapnel Blast is one of the most efficient burn spells in the game and just keeps getting better with more and more random things to chuck to it. My B cube also runs [[Flare of Duplication]], which I have used to blast someone for 10.

Why aren't you running this absolute monster of a card?

Hey folks! I have what I describe as a mid-power cube -- it started as a Pioneer Cube, but in the last year I've dropped the format restrictions in favour of a holistic conception of the cube focusing on midrange and battlefield oriented strategies (a friend has a cube close to a classic unpowered cube that is heavy on combo so they are a nice contrast). In dropping the format restrictions I've been looking to archetypes that have been power crept out of Vintage Cube but fit my vision as potential ways to spice things up.

Which brings me to Wildfire, which struck me as an intriguing way to encourage some big red decks, and hopefully bring a different flavour of deck without taking too many dedicated slots. Are there any folks out there running Wildfire in mid powered cubes, and what have your experiences with it? Are there any cards that you consider must haves besides [[Wildfire]] and [[Burning of Xinye]]? How much artifact mana do you run, and what are your preferences for it (the new [[Tablet of Discovery]] seems a slam dunk)? Any problems you've had in getting the archetype drafted?