<commit_before>---
published: true
layout: post
title: Synergy Cube Primer
author: mikey
comments: true
categories: mtg boardgames
---

Welcome to the Synergy Cube!

If you're here, it's probably because you want to learn about my cube. I have recently changed my philosophy behind the design of the environment. Back when I started, the idea was to play the most powerful cards in MTG, so naturally, I built a Legacy max-power cube. I tried to limit the swingyness of that playstyle (I've always hated it), but could never quite get over the feel-bads when they happened. Eventually, I got to where I am today; a cube built on synergies and archetypes. The main difference from before was that many cards could not see play because the powerband of existing cards would just push out fun/synergistic decks. Having a flatter power level should do wonders for the gameplay as well. 

## Building a Cube

In the course of my journey, I've probably changed upwards of 100 cards to reflect this, removing major powerstones of the previous format (Skullclamp, Opposition, Umezawa's Jitte...) and replaced them with synergistic archetypes that are built on themes placed in the mono-colored sections. Each of these sections comprises of many themes, that, while distinct from each other, are synergistic when put together. This differs from a lower-powered cube built the same way because those drafts tend to be "on-rails". This draft environment is very much in the middle, which straddles power with synergy; where one does not overwhelm the other, but instead plays in harmony together.

How is this done? Well, by introducing many archetypes in each color, along with themes that align with seamlessly, and peppering that philosphy with payoff cards to reward drafters in those lanes. Therefore, choosing a build-around card can create decks, but so can picking archetype-strengthening cards as well. Too many strictly defined archetypes will result in "on-rails" drafting and too many powerful cards will have players draft piles of "good stuff" decks; that's not what I want in this environment. Seeded within the cube's multicolor sections are cards that hint towards archetypes, much like a retail draft. Depending on the depth of these archetypes, each guild pair can support multiple deck types using just a couple cards. The best thing about cube is that it's not about drafting these creator-defined decks, but drafting things you can make up on your own; emergent gameplay! 

You can be as creative as you wish, but just know that this isn't a purely Johnny/Jenny cube in that your deck still needs to follow in the normal trappings of a draft deck. Aggro, mid-range, tempo and control are all present here and your deck will likely fall under one of those macro-archetypes. 

## My Cube

As I just mentioned, your deck can fall under any of the generic macro-archetype shells: aggro, mid-range, tempo or control. There are plenty of cards with the power-level to create those decks. But, there are also many other decks that can be drafted for those willing to experiment.

You can see the list of the cube [here](https://www.cubecobra.com/cube/list/mischief_unpowered) and you can practice draft against bots [here](https://www.cubecobra.com/cube/playtest/mischief_unpowered).

In all the highlighted archetypes below, I will include a sample draft of that deck, before highlighting some of the key cards for the deck and a short synopsis. Let's get started!

## Archetypes
----

### Selesnya Tokens
[WG Tokens](https://www.cubecobra.com/cube/deck/5ee06b3e4724960f53959a08)

<img src="/images/mtg/isd-19-intangible-virtue.jpg" alt="Intangible Virtue" width="200"/><img src="/images/mtg/grn-208-trostani-discordant.jpg" alt="Trostani Discordant" width="200"/><img src="/images/mtg/dtk-36-secure-the-wastes.jpg" alt="Secure the Wastes" width="200"/>

The token deck looks to pair token creators with anthems in order to create overwhelming board states. This deck plays much like a white aggro deck during the early stages of the game then pivots into exploding with tokens (many of which will have flying) to finish off unsuspecting opponents. Using green, you get Trostani Discordant, and red has even more token creators with <NAME> and <NAME>. Don't forget there is a perfect signpost card in Boros with Heroic Reinforcements.

### Rakdos Welder Artifacts
[BR Welder Artifacts](https://www.cubecobra.com/cube/deck/5ee0574a4724960f5394a98f)

<img src="/images/mtg/ulg-80-goblin-welder.jpg" alt="Goblin Welder" width="200"/><img src="/images/mtg/c14-33-daretti-scrap-savant.jpg" alt="Daretti, Scrap Savant" width="200"/><img src="/images/mtg/kld-96-noxious-gearhulk.jpg" alt="Noxious Gearhulk" width="200"/>

Rakdos (and red in particular) has a subtheme of artifacts to create texture within many midrange and big red decks. This deck seeks to exploit the synergy with Goblin Welder and the graveyard by using discard enablers to dump those cards like Noxious Gearhulk into the graveyard then using Daretti, Scrap Savant or Goblin Welder to bring it back into play! This deck can have some explosive starts, but you'll still need to have all 3 pieces of the combo to do it by turn 2. Regardless, this is a powerful deck that can create many exciting game play moments.

### Gruul Wildfire
[GR Wildfire](https://www.cubecobra.com/cube/deck/5edef6c74724960f5382d3f9)

<img src="/images/mtg/usg-228-wildfire.jpg" alt="Wildfire" width="200"/><img src="/images/mtg/5dn-114-crucible-of-worlds.jpg" alt="Crucible of Worlds" width="200"/><img src="/images/mtg/m11-192-primeval-titan.jpg" alt="Primeval Titan" width="200"/>

A classic deck from back in the power-max cube days. This archetype has still survived and is poised to still be a threat. What this deck does is try to accelerate mana production by using numerous manarocks (Mind Stone, Guardian Idol), droping a 5+ toughness creature, preferably something like Primeval Titan, and then playing a Wildfire or Burning of Xinye the following turn. Pairing this with blue, gets you card filtering to find Wildfire faster, pairing with green get you recursive lands and many large fatties. Wildfile works with any of the other colors and is one of the premier big red decks in the format. 

### Orzhov Human Aggro
[WB Human Aggro](https://www.cubecobra.com/cube/deck/5edee99a4724960f53823b99)

<img src="/images/mtg/c20-335-general-kudro-of-drannith.jpg" alt="General Kudro of Drannith" width="200"/><img src="/images/mtg/isd-6-champion-of-the-parish.jpg" alt="Champion of the Parish" width="200"/><img src="/images/mtg/soi-43-thalia-s-lieutenant.jpg" alt="Thalia's Lieutenant" width="200"/>

Human Tribal aggro is viable and fast aggro deck, and one of the newer enabled archetypes by lowering the power level. Within this deck, you are planning on using white and black disruption to keep opponents off-kilter while your aggressive creatures finish them off. White gets many taxing effects (Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Vryn Wingmare) and black gets to attack the opponent's hand with cards like Thoughtseize and Duress. Corpse Knight is a great way to keep the pressure on while playing to the board. Be careful, sweepers will ruin the day of any aggro drafter, but there are many ways to recover post-sweeper in black and white: Luminous Broodmoth, Xathrid Necromancer or even Hollowed Spiritkeeper.

### <NAME>
[UB Ninjas](https://www.cubecobra.com/cube/deck/5edd6973d65648101a0d4b61)<commit_msg>Update 2020-6-11-synergy-cube-primer.md<commit_after>---
published: true
layout: post
title: Synergy Cube Primer
author: mikey
comments: true
categories: mtg boardgames
---

Welcome to the Synergy Cube!

If you're here, it's probably because you want to learn about my cube. I have recently changed my philosophy behind the design of the environment. Back when I started, the idea was to play the most powerful cards in MTG, so naturally, I built a Legacy max-power cube. I tried to limit the swingyness of that playstyle (I've always hated it), but could never quite get over the feel-bads when they happened. Eventually, I got to where I am today; a cube built on synergies and archetypes. The main difference from before was that many cards could not see play because the powerband of existing cards would just push out fun/synergistic decks. Having a flatter power level should do wonders for the gameplay as well. 

## Building a Cube

In the course of my journey, I've probably changed upwards of 100 cards to reflect this, removing major powerstones of the previous format (Skullclamp, Opposition, Umezawa's Jitte...) and replaced them with synergistic archetypes that are built on themes placed in the mono-colored sections. Each of these sections comprises of many themes, that, while distinct from each other, are synergistic when put together. This differs from a lower-powered cube built the same way because those drafts tend to be "on-rails". This draft environment is very much in the middle, which straddles power with synergy; where one does not overwhelm the other, but instead plays in harmony together.

How is this done? Well, by introducing many archetypes in each color, along with themes that align with seamlessly, and peppering that philosphy with payoff cards to reward drafters in those lanes. Therefore, choosing a build-around card can create decks, but so can picking archetype-strengthening cards as well. Too many strictly defined archetypes will result in "on-rails" drafting and too many powerful cards will have players draft piles of "good stuff" decks; that's not what I want in this environment. Seeded within the cube's multicolor sections are cards that hint towards archetypes, much like a retail draft. Depending on the depth of these archetypes, each guild pair can support multiple deck types using just a couple cards. The best thing about cube is that it's not about drafting these creator-defined decks, but drafting things you can make up on your own; emergent gameplay! 

You can be as creative as you wish, but just know that this isn't a purely Johnny/Jenny cube in that your deck still needs to follow in the normal trappings of a draft deck. Aggro, mid-range, tempo and control are all present here and your deck will likely fall under one of those macro-archetypes. 

## My Cube

As I just mentioned, your deck can fall under any of the generic macro-archetype shells: aggro, mid-range, tempo or control. There are plenty of cards with the power-level to create those decks. But, there are also many other decks that can be drafted for those willing to experiment.

You can see the list of the cube [here](https://www.cubecobra.com/cube/list/mischief_unpowered) and you can practice draft against bots [here](https://www.cubecobra.com/cube/playtest/mischief_unpowered).

In all the highlighted archetypes below, I will include a sample draft of that deck, before highlighting some of the key cards for the deck and a short synopsis. Let's get started!

## Archetypes
----

### Selesnya Tokens
[WG Tokens](https://www.cubecobra.com/cube/deck/5ee06b3e4724960f53959a08)

<img src="/images/mtg/isd-19-intangible-virtue.jpg" alt="Intangible Virtue" width="200"/><img src="/images/mtg/grn-208-trostani-discordant.jpg" alt="Trostani Discordant" width="200"/><img src="/images/mtg/dtk-36-secure-the-wastes.jpg" alt="Secure the Wastes" width="200"/>

The token deck looks to pair token creators with anthems in order to create overwhelming board states. This deck plays much like a white aggro deck during the early stages of the game then pivots into exploding with tokens (many of which will have flying) to finish off unsuspecting opponents. Using green, you get Trostani Discordant, and red has even more token creators with <NAME> and <NAME>. Don't forget there is a perfect signpost card in Boros with Heroic Reinforcements.

### Rakdos Welder Artifacts
[BR Welder Artifacts](https://www.cubecobra.com/cube/deck/5ee0574a4724960f5394a98f)

<img src="/images/mtg/ulg-80-goblin-welder.jpg" alt="Goblin Welder" width="200"/><img src="/images/mtg/c14-33-daretti-scrap-savant.jpg" alt="Daretti, Scrap Savant" width="200"/><img src="/images/mtg/kld-96-noxious-gearhulk.jpg" alt="Noxious Gearhulk" width="200"/>

Rakdos (and red in particular) has a subtheme of artifacts to create texture within many midrange and big red decks. This deck seeks to exploit the synergy with Goblin Welder and the graveyard by using discard enablers to dump those cards like Noxious Gearhulk into the graveyard then using Daretti, Scrap Savant or Goblin Welder to bring it back into play! This deck can have some explosive starts, but you'll still need to have all 3 pieces of the combo to do it by turn 2. Regardless, this is a powerful deck that can create many exciting game play moments.

### Gruul Wildfire
[GR Wildfire](https://www.cubecobra.com/cube/deck/5edef6c74724960f5382d3f9)

<img src="/images/mtg/usg-228-wildfire.jpg" alt="Wildfire" width="200"/><img src="/images/mtg/5dn-114-crucible-of-worlds.jpg" alt="Crucible of Worlds" width="200"/><img src="/images/mtg/m11-192-primeval-titan.jpg" alt="Primeval Titan" width="200"/>

A classic deck from back in the power-max cube days. This archetype has still survived and is poised to still be a threat. What this deck does is try to accelerate mana production by using numerous manarocks (Mind Stone, Guardian Idol), droping a 5+ toughness creature, preferably something like Primeval Titan, and then playing a Wildfire or Burning of Xinye the following turn. Pairing this with blue, gets you card filtering to find Wildfire faster, pairing with green get you recursive lands and many large fatties. Wildfile works with any of the other colors and is one of the premier big red decks in the format. 

### Orzhov Human Aggro
[WB Human Aggro](https://www.cubecobra.com/cube/deck/5edee99a4724960f53823b99)

<img src="/images/mtg/c20-335-general-kudro-of-drannith.jpg" alt="General Kudro of Drannith" width="200"/><img src="/images/mtg/isd-6-champion-of-the-parish.jpg" alt="Champion of the Parish" width="200"/><img src="/images/mtg/soi-43-thalia-s-lieutenant.jpg" alt="Thalia's Lieutenant" width="200"/>

Human Tribal aggro is viable and fast aggro deck, and one of the newer enabled archetypes by lowering the power level. Within this deck, you are planning on using white and black disruption to keep opponents off-kilter while your aggressive creatures finish them off. White gets many taxing effects (Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, <NAME>) and black gets to attack the opponent's hand with cards like Thoughtseize and Duress. Corpse Knight is a great way to keep the pressure on while playing to the board. Be careful, sweepers will ruin the day of any aggro drafter, but there are many ways to recover post-sweeper in black and white: Luminous Broodmoth, Xathrid Necromancer or even Selfless Spirit.

### <NAME>
[UB Ninjas](https://www.cubecobra.com/cube/deck/5edd6973d65648101a0d4b61)
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