So, it appears I need to devote a full article to my design philosophy for Cube. I suppose I need to talk about exactly what I’m trying to achieve through the design of my Cube. A variety of points were raised in the discussion over the past two weeks, and I feel that the discussion was not very well-informed, through no fault of my readers. The fault was mine. There was a fundamental disconnect, and that happened because I did not adequately explain what I was trying to do.

So, let’s try this again. Everything I said in my previous two articles still holds true, but I am going to put this out there as a backdrop for what I wrote there. I should have written this article first, but did not do so because I felt it wouldn’t be necessary. I felt that if I simply devoted space to it in tidbits, I could successfully explain everything.

I first want to go over the absolute, overriding principle of everything I do regarding this design—force players to make decisions. What I want most of all is a “thinking man’s” Cube. I want my Cube to require decision-making on your feet both during the drafts and during the games. I want people to draft decks, not piles of cards. Having said that, let’s move on.

So, the first question is, “What is Cube?” Some people hold the conception that Cube is simply a “best-cards” format. A friend of mine who also owns a game store has a Cube that is very shiny and full of pretty much the best cards in Magic. That doesn’t mean it’s a particularly balanced or a good format. Those kinds of things can be fun every once in a while, but it’s not the sort of thing I would want to sit down and draft regularly.

So, “What is Cube?”

This is my working definition: Cube is a format where the builder of the Cube in question creates a card pool for a Limited format under specific, predetermined constraints.

So, let’s look at this working definition in parts:

Part 1: Cube Is a Limited Format

I’ve already touched on this in my first article, and really the two important items are fun and balance. I want to talk about some of the elements I touched on in the first article in a little more detail. We’ll start with balance first.

There are two types of balance—strategic balance and tactical balance. Strategic balance is where no strategy dominates over another. This is one of the easiest basic principles to understand. The ideas behind my Circle of Predation will help achieve strategic balance. But, there is more to balance than that. So, what is tactical balance?

Tactical balance means that players have a wide variety of options as far as individual card selection and play are concerned to achieve their strategic goals. Just as an example: If you have a Cube where Blue has twenty-five spells and fifteen of them are counterspells and six of them are draw spells, you might have strategic balance (maybe counter-based control is checked by something in your Cube), but you would lack tactical balance. Why? Because no matter what you did, your Blue-based control decks would, by necessity, be counter-heavy. There are other ways Blue can influence and control the board (control-magic effects are a big example), but because of your card selection, those tactical options are effectively cut off from players. This is an example of bad tactical balance.

There is one concession as far as tactical balance is concerned, however—aggro. There really is only one way to build an aggro deck in a format as powerful as Cube: mana curve. This means that you really just need to curve 1-drop into 2-drop into 3-drop for aggro to be successful in your format. This is just the practical concession to the power level of the format.

This leads to what I feel to be one of the big things regarding card selection for Cubes—focus. Having too focused a card selection results in stale drafts where the same thing happens over and over again. Part of what defines the difference between Limited and Constructed is the lack of focus of the former in comparison to the latter. That’s not to say that Limited decks lack focus (in fact, they don’t), but they often do lack the same level of focus as Constructed decks. Specifically, they often lack the tactical focus that Constructed decks possess. Cube is first and foremost, in my mind, a Limited format, and thus some lack of focus is necessary.

For instance, I wouldn’t want a deck like this to regularly show up in Cube draft:

• Keiga, the Tide Star
• Meloku the Clouded Mirror
• Azorius Signet
• Mind Stone
• Force of Will
• Counterspell
• Mana Drain
• Forbid
• Absorb
• Mana Leak
• Cryptic Command
• Repeal
• Swords to Plowshares
• Path to Exile
• Faith's Fetters
• Oblivion Ring
• Wrath of God
• Day of Judgment
• Martial Coup
• Akroma's Vengeance
• Fact or Fiction
• Opportunity
• Ancestral Vision
• Mystic Gate
• Azorius Chancery
• Flooded Strand
• 8 Island
• 6 Plains

To me, a deck like that is too focused and should not be the norm in any Limited format. This isn’t a Limited deck. It’s a forty-card Highlander Constructed deck. Just as a counterpoint, to me this looks like a slightly more reasonable-looking tactical execution of that strategy, using many of the same cards:

• Keiga, the Tide Star
• Meloku the Clouded Mirror
• Blinding Mage
• Man-o'-War
• Wall of Omens
• Sower of Temptation
• Vendilion Clique
• Azorius Signet
• Mind Stone
• Counterspell
• Absorb
• Mana Leak
• Repulse
• Repeal
• Path to Exile
• Faith's Fetters
• Story Circle
• Wrath of God
• Day of Judgment
• Martial Coup
• Fact or Fiction
• Ancestral Vision
• Impulse
• Treachery
• Mystic Gate
• Azorius Chancery
• Flooded Strand
• 8 Island
• 6 Plains

That’s not to say that the first deck should never happen, but it should be the exception and not the rule. Why is this?

This stems from the basic idea that in order to provide players with tactical options, you have to “print” cards with different effects. In normal Constructed, Magic handles this via allowing the player to choose what cards go in the deck from a specific card pool. In Limited, they handle it by printing a variety of effects at differing rarities. The important part of the previous sentence is the first part. You have to include a variety of effects in order to provide tactical options for the player. By necessity, this means that you can’t overload on any individual effect, which will have a consistency cost. This is why Limited decks never look as focused as Constructed decks. Returning to my earlier example, if you have twenty-five Blue spells but still want to emphasize countermagic, I think you would be better served doing something like this: eight counterspell, four draw, four bounce, four steal, two “impulse,” three “other.” This way, you provide your players with a wider variety of tactical options to accomplish a variety of goals.

The easiest place to fall into this sort of same-type-of-spell trap is in Red, because so much of what Red does (at least in instant/sorcery terms) is set things on fire. Burn is a huge component of Red’s arsenal, but it is not the only thing that Red does. I have seen many Cubes (my own initial drafts included), where Red has far too much burn, and this tends to lead to unfun drafting experiences.

Backtracking one paragraph, the basic idea of forcing decisions requires that you give your players different options. There really isn’t much of a choice if you look down at Mana Drain, Counterspell, and Forbid. However, if you look down at Remand, Repeal, and Opportunity, all of a sudden you have an actual decision to make. Thus, the most important thing, I feel, is to include a wider variety of spells and effects, thus giving your players more options.

Looking at this from a more theoretical standpoint, this means that I want games to spend the vast majority of their time in Stage 2. Most Limited decks well spend the first three or so turns in Stage 1, and Stage 3 develops when people just start throwing bombs around. Thus, what I really want is interactivity and the chance to make decisions, and thus make mistakes. This means that games have to remain in Stage 2. In essence, this is the area of Magic that I want to focus on.

The main problem with cards like Sol Ring and Mana Crypt is that they frequently break the paradigm surrounding the stages of the game. They accelerate one player into an effective Stage 3, where they are in such a dominating position because the cards they are capable of casting are far more powerful than the cards the opponent is capable of casting. Even if you don’t win the game outright, beginning the game with a piece of fast mana like Sol Ring or Mana Crypt frequently ensures that you can establish such a dominating position that it is very difficult to lose. One-on-one Commander is a format that demonstrates this very well, which is why the really good mana-rocks are all banned in that format.

Those types of games really aren’t fun and don’t feature much interaction, and thus aren’t the type of games I want to be pushing. The types of games I want to be pushing are games where all players make relevant decisions that impact the outcome of the game. This means, in general, that I have to make powerful spells ones that can be interacted with. Thus, the logical conclusion is to steer more toward creatures and other permanents instead of instants and sorceries, as it is significantly easier in Magic to interact with the board.

In addition to this, it’s important to prioritize the gain of advantage, and not an immediate win. A card like Cruel Ultimatum that is likely to end the game when it is cast is not something that I want to be dealing with on a normal basis. Powerful cards that require time to generate advantage (Future Sight is a good example) are exactly the type of thing that is perfect for generating interactivity. Thus, the takeaway is a greater focus on long-term advantage generated by permanents.

Part 2: Specific, Predetermined Constraints

Every Cube has some predetermined design constraints. They vary from things like “what my playgroup likes” to “cards worth less than $1 on Starcitygames.com.” It really doesn’t matter what your design constraints are, but it matters that you have them. But why are they important?

Design constraints are important because they lend structure and a feeling of unity to your card pool. In design for actual Magic sets, this can come from a number of places, but I feel that the biggest one is the flavor and mechanistic theme of a block. Whether a block be focused on artifacts, multicolor, lands, graveyard, or any number of other things, having this sort of design constraint lends unity and focus to a block (or set) both mechanistically and flavorfully.

As far as Cube is concerned, flavor is not really a necessary consideration (although it can be made one), but mechanics are. By setting a design constraint, you put some mechanistic unity into your Cube, and thus give yourself a basic structure to work upon.

The design constraint I set for myself was the color pie. I don’t like Wizard’s representation of most of the colors. Some of what I am looking to shift is small, some of it is large. But, based on Wizards’ own flavor interpretations of each color, I definitely wanted to do a little bit of shifting.

Let’s start at the top—White. White is about order and balance, and to me, that means White should be, mechanistically (not flavorfully), jack of all trades, master of none—and thus be primarily a support color. Why? Because in order to maintain order and balance, you have to be able to perform a variety of tasks to correct imbalances. However, because you are “learning” so many tasks, you can’t be the best at any of them. In that sense, it’s like being a jack of all trades. White will have access to a wide variety of effects, but at a slightly reduced efficiency.

The biggest thing I never understood from a design standpoint is why White gets the best “small” creatures. To me, this never made sense. The best creatures overall should be Green, and Red should have good power/mana-cost ratios on aggressive drops as well. That doesn’t mean that White’s creatures are inefficient, but it does mean that their creatures are going to be spread a bit thinner in terms of application.

What I want from White is the ability to support essentially every strategy through being able to interact well with just about any permanent type. White will have card advantage, creature removal (both spot and mass), enchantment and artifact removal, and planeswalker removal. White will have large, powerful spells, as well as some cheap, efficient creatures and beaters. White will be able to do everything reasonably well, but I will not be selecting the most efficient card in all respects, because I feel that White should not be the most efficient at everything.

In general, this is not a huge mechanistic shift from what Wizards generally does with White, it just means that I won’t always be selecting the best option available for White, because I don’t feel that White should be the “best” at anything.

The main concession for White, of course, is mass creature removal. White will be the best at this. This seems the most logical single concession to make. However, outside of that, I will be pushing the power level of many effects in other colors over that of White. Enchantment/artifact removal is a good example of this. Green will have more cards that interact with both enchantments and artifacts, and thus will have slightly stronger enchantment/artifact removal. Where Green will have Indrik Stomphowler, White will have Cloudchaser Kestrel or Aven Cloudchaser.

So, having dealt with White, let’s move onto Blue. Blue is likely the second biggest change I’m making, if only because of the mechanic that I’m making it in—card-drawing. I don’t feel that Blue should be that great at brute-force drawing cards. In other words, I don’t want too many instants and sorceries that simply draw cards. Blue is going to be the best color for card advantage, but I want it to come in a variety of ways, mainly through card quality.

The biggest thing for Blue is that card-drawing is supposed to, at least flavorfully, represent extensive study. To me, this means that it (1) is rare, (2) requires a good mana investment, and (3) obviously requires a card. This means that Blue’s actual ability to net cards, while it will be strong, will be limited and require time (be more expensive). I’ll supplement this by including more library manipulation like Ponder and Preordain, which while not actually providing +1 card, does provide better card quality. Essentially, I am skewing Blue away from brute-force drawing cards, and more to filtering its way through the library.

I also want Blue to have a bit more of a focus on tempo than is normally present in sets, although I worry about pushing this angle too hard. Blue should also be adept at controlling the flow of the game. Bounce is the primary way to achieve this, but cards like Remand are also excellent at controlling tempo. This is the second aspect of Blue that I want to shift a little.

Black is another color that I think is very hit-or-miss in a lot of sets. As far as Cube is concerned, I feel that Black should have access to a wide variety of effects (but still be best at its typical, Black things like creature-removal and graveyard stuff), even effects that are “off-color,” because I feel that Black should be able to do anything if the player is willing to pay enough for it. I considered including Phyrexian Tribute on this basis, but the card is simply too inefficient. However, I would like to see a Black Naturalize at some point, with some drawback to be determined. I just feel that Black should have a reasonable, if costly, way of interacting with artifacts and enchantments. That is an arbitrary restriction Wizards uses that I have never understood. After all, if “the ends justify the means,” then at some point, shouldn’t you learn how to achieve any ends?

The other thing I wanted to do with Black is a “Swamps-matter” theme. I feel that Black is a color that likes to play with itself, and the best way to represent this is to have a “Swamps-matter/Black-mana-matters” subtheme running through the color. While it doesn’t have to be dominant, it does have to be present.

Moving on, I am fairly happy with the way Wizards does Red, although I do wish they would include a little more of Red’s other abilities that don’t involve lighting things on fire. This is good both from a mechanistic and design standpoint, but also necessary from a tactical-balance standpoint. After all, too much burn is a bad thing.

I will be including land-destruction in Red, because I feel that LD is an integral part of Magic. Being able to interact with your opponent’s land-drops is very important. However, I do recognize that getting all your lands blown up is not fun; thus, mass land-destruction will be off-limits, excepting Ruination, which is there as a check against greedy mana bases. I also intend to limit the number of land-destruction spells. After all, the interaction needs to be there, but it by no means needs to dominate play.

Green is the last color, and is probably the biggest change. Green is supposed to be about nature, growth, instinct, and interdependence, and I feel that Wizards does a pretty abysmal job representing this from a mechanistic standpoint. I wanted to do a number of things with my Green design to correct this.

The first is to give Green a number of ways of generating card advantage, especially of the slow, grinding kind. That is perfectly representative of Green’s “growth.” In essence, I feel that consistent ways of drawing extra cards is as Green as it is Blue. They represent different things flavorfully, but can be done the same way mechanistically. I also don’t want cards like Soul's Majesty around, because tying that sort of draw to the power of a creature never made much sense to me.

Another thing I wanted to do with Green is severely up the “value” and “resiliency” quality of its creatures. This stems from the fact that nature itself is extremely resilient. You can look around and see this every day. Mechanistically, Green can increase its “resiliency” through having creatures that are difficult to kill (because they have defensive abilities), or through creatures that have some sort of beneficial effect immediately. This, I feel, is the best two-pronged way to represent this sort of resiliency. This is especially true of Green’s larger creatures, because a player is going to invest so much mana in them.

The final thing I wanted to do with Green relates to inevitability. After all, given enough time, nature always prevails, so I feel that Green should have ways of generating small advantages that add up over a long period of time. The easiest way to do this is token-generation, and thus I feel that that will be a good avenue toward giving Green some long-game inevitability, which is sorely lacking in most of Wizards’ designs surrounding the color.

This is a basic summary of what I wanted to do with the color-pie-related issues. It is by no means exhaustive or even really detailed, but just a basic outline. If you want to see these ideas in action, you should take a look at the full Cube (link at end of article). There was, however, a second major design constraint that I wanted, and that was to make tribal a relevant, but not overpowering, interaction.

The first thing to do was obviously to determine the individual tribes I wanted. I settled on Rebels for White, Merfolk for Blue, Zombies for Black, Goblins for Red, and Elves for Green. I believe that Goblins, Elves, and Merfolk require little explanation. As far as going with Zombies for Black, there were a number of reasons for this.

1. Vampires does not, as of yet, play enough like a tribe. It really only has two lords, Captivating Vampire and Vampire Nocturnus. [Note: The use of the word “lord” here refers to a card that cares about the number of creatures of a certain type in play for some reason. Thus, not all lords give +X/+X.]
2. I wanted to give each tribe its own separate identity, and I feel that Vampires didn’t separate itself from Goblins/Elves/Merfolk enough.
3. Zombies felt more Black, largely because of the graveyard interactions and Graveborn Muse.

As far as Rebels are concerned, I went with Rebels because it is one of the more unique “tribal” things that has ever been done. Soldiers or Knights would have also been reasonable as a choice for White, but not only do I sort of like Rebels, the uniqueness of the Rebel mechanic pushed it over the top. Initially, I was not sure if the mechanic would be powerful enough (I had a Knights modification ready for the Cube), but it’s proven to be sufficiently good over time.

I definitely didn’t want tribal to show up all the time like it did in Lorwyn, but I wanted it to be an important synergy, because it frequently shows up in actual Magic play. I felt that the best way of doing this was through a three-pronged push:

1. When possible, make use of lords that are useful by themselves or with very limited support. When this isn’t possible, ensure that your lords are powerful and provide sufficient incentive to draft around. Graveborn Muse is an example of the first kind of lord, whereas Undead Warchief is an example of the second.
2. Attempt to ensure that the vast majority, if not all, of the non-lord creatures are playable outside of tribal decks.
3. Control the frequency of occurrence of the creature type so that only occasionally will variance push the number of creatures of a specific type in a draft pool above the point where it is viable and/or good.

The first two relate to card selection, which I will discuss in the articles surrounding each individual color. The caveat, of course, is Rebels, which I am sort of railroaded into for card selection due to the fact that the mechanic only appears in about 1.3 blocks. As far as the frequency of occurrence, as I mentioned earlier, I went to Lorwyn and looked at tribal balances in all three colors, discovering that the “main” tribe always constituted about one-third of the color’s cards. In order to push that number down, but not out, I settled on one-fifth as the number to shoot for, eventually ending up in actuality at 21 out of 102. When I added the couple of changelings in each color and the occasional off-color support, I felt that that would be enough. Turns out it is.

This has been an exploration of the basics of what I was trying to do when I designed the Cube. I’m not saying that my way is right, or that you have to follow this. That isn’t the point of this exercise. The point is to look at designing a format from the ground up, and looking at all the various things that influence the health and playability of a format. Lessons learned from things like this can be applied elsewhere, specifically to Standard, Extended, Legacy, and Modern. The point is to try to look at central elements of formats in general, and the various ways in which design can shape a format.

Chingsung Chang

Conelead most everywhere and on MTGO

Khan32k5 at gmail dot com

The full Cube is on Google Docs as well as embedded below:

[cardlist]

[Creatures]

1 Accorder Paladin

1 Acidic Slime

1 Aeon Chronicler

1 AEthersnipe

1 Air Elemental

1 Albino Troll

1 Amoeboid Changeling

1 Amrou Scout

1 Amrou Seekers

1 Anavolver

1 Angel of Despair

1 Aphetto Alchemist

1 Arc-Slogger

1 Augur of Skulls

1 Augury Owl

1 Avalanche Riders

1 Avatar of Woe

1 Aven Cloudchaser

1 Aven Riftwatcher

1 Avenger of Zendikar

1 Avian Changeling

1 Axegrinder Giant

1 Benalish Trapper

1 Birds of Paradise

1 Black Knight

1 Blade of the Sixth Pride

1 Blightwidow

1 Blood Knight

1 Blood Seeker

1 Bloodbraid Elf

1 Bloodhall Ooze

1 Bog Wraith

1 Bogardan Hellkite

1 Boggart Ram-Gang

1 Borderland Ranger

1 Briarhorn

1 Brine Elemental

1 Calming Licid

1 Cavern Harpy

1 Celestial Crusader

1 Cemetery Reaper

1 Cetavolver

1 Chameleon Colossus

1 Changeling Hero

1 Changeling Titan

1 Child of Night

1 Clone

1 Cloudchaser Kestrel

1 Cloudgoat Ranger

1 Cloudskate

1 Coffin Queen

1 Coiling Oracle

1 Coralhelm Commander

1 Crookclaw Transmuter

1 Crypt Champion

1 Cunning Sparkmage

1 Cursecatcher

1 Dark Confidant

1 Defiant Falcon

1 Defiant Vanguard

1 Desolation Giant

1 Dimir House Guard

1 Dragon Tyrant

1 Dragonmaster Outcast

1 Dread Warlock

1 Drumhunter

1 Elite Vanguard

1 Elvish Archdruid

1 Elvish Harbinger

1 Elvish Warrior

1 Empyrial Archangel

1 Enclave Cryptologist

1 Enlisted Wurm

1 Errant Doomsayers

1 Errant Ephemeron

1 Essence Warden

1 Eternal Dragon

1 Eternal Witness

1 Exalted Angel

1 Faceless Butcher

1 Fathom Seer

1 Fauna Shaman

1 Festering Goblin

1 Figure of Destiny

1 Firemane Angel

1 Flamekin Harbinger

1 Flamekin Spitfire

1 Flametongue Kavu

1 Fledgling Djinn

1 Fleshbag Marauder

1 Frenzied Goblin

1 Frostwind Invoker

1 Furnace Whelp

1 Fyndhorn Elves

1 Gaea's Skyfolk

1 Gatekeeper of Malakir

1 Giant Scorpion

1 Goblin Artillery

1 Goblin Bushwhacker

1 Goblin Chieftain

1 Goblin Goon

1 Goblin Guide

1 Goblin King

1 Goblin Patrol

1 Goblin Piledriver

1 Goblin Ruinblaster

1 Goblin Sharpshooter

1 Goblin Shortcutter

1 Goblin Wardriver

1 Goldmeadow Harrier

1 Graveborn Muse

1 Gravedigger

1 Grazing Gladehart

1 Grim Lavamancer

1 Gilded Drake

1 Halimar Wavewatch

1 Hearth Kami

1 Hearthcage Giant

1 Hellfire Mongrel

1 Hero of Bladehold

1 Hero of Oxid Ridge

1 Horned Turtle

1 Howling Banshee

1 Hypnotic Specter

1 Impaler Shrike

1 Imperious Perfect

1 Indrik Stomphowler

1 Infantry Veteran

1 Inkfathom Divers

1 Inner-Flame Acolyte

1 Ixidron

1 Jackal Pup

1 Joraga Treespeaker

1 Jungle Lion

1 Keldon Marauders

1 Kird Ape

1 Knight of Cliffhaven

1 Knight of Meadowgrain

1 Knight of the Holy Nimbus

1 Laquatus's Champion

1 Leaf Gilder

1 Leech Bonder

1 Lighthouse Chronologist

1 Lightning Angel

1 Lightning Dragon

1 Liliana's Specter

1 Llanowar Elves

1 Lord of Atlantis

1 Lord of the Undead

1 Loxodon Hierarch

1 Magus of the Moat

1 Magus of the Scroll

1 Mahamoti Djinn

1 Man-o'-War

1 Masked Admirers

1 Massacre Wurm

1 Merfolk Looter

1 Merfolk Seastalkers

1 Merfolk Skyscout

1 Merfolk Sovereign

1 Merrow Reejerey

1 Mirror Entity

1 Mistform Wall

1 Mogg Flunkies

1 Mogg War Marshal

1 Morphling

1 Mother of Runes

1 Murderous Redcap

1 Mystic Snake

1 Nantuko Husk

1 Nantuko Shade

1 Nantuko Vigilante

1 Necravolver

1 Nightwind Glider

1 Ninja of the Deep Hours

1 Nissa's Chosen

1 Noble Hierarch

1 Nomad Decoy

1 Noxious Ghoul

1 Null Champion

1 Obstinate Baloth

1 Okiba-Gang Shinobi

1 Overgrown Battlement

1 Paladin en-Vec

1 Patron of the Wild

1 Penumbra Spider

1 Penumbra Wurm

1 Phantom Centaur

1 Phyrexian Rager

1 Plaxmanta

1 Pouncing Jaguar

1 Primal Forcemage

1 Pristine Angel

1 Pulse Tracker

1 Putrid Leech

1 Qasali Pridemage

1 Rage Nimbus

1 Rakavolver

1 Ramosian Captain

1 Ramosian Commander

1 Ramosian Lieutenant

1 Ramosian Sergeant

1 Ramosian Sky Marshal

1 Rathi Trapper

1 Ravenous Baloth

1 Reassembling Skeleton

1 Reveillark

1 Reveille Squad

1 Rhox

1 Riftmarked Knight

1 Riftwing Cloudskate

1 Ronin Houndmaster

1 Rootbreaker Wurm

1 Rootwater Hunter

1 Rot Wolf

1 Rotlung Reanimator

1 Scab-Clan Mauler

1 Scavenger Drake

1 Scorched Rusalka

1 Scourge of Kher Ridges

1 Sea Sprite

1 Seht's Tiger

1 Sejiri Merfolk

1 Selesnya Guildmage

1 Sengir Vampire

1 Serra Angel

1 Severed Legion

1 Shadow Guildmage

1 Shivan Dragon

1 Shoreline Ranger

1 Shriekmaw

1 Siege-Gang Commander

1 Silkbind Faerie

1 Silklash Spider

1 Silver Drake

1 Silvergill Adept

1 Simian Grunts

1 Skinrender

1 Skinthinner

1 Skirk Marauder

1 Skywatcher Adept

1 Slith Firewalker

1 Snapping Drake

1 Soul Warden

1 Spark Elemental

1 Sparksmith

1 Spikeshot Elder

1 Spiketail Hatchling

1 Stonehorn Dignitary

1 Stonybrook Angler

1 Stormblood Berserker

1 Stormfront Pegasus

1 Stormscape Battlemage

1 Streambed Aquitects

1 Sun Titan

1 Sunscape Battlemage

1 Taunting Elf

1 Taurean Mauler

1 Thelonite Hermit

1 Thermal Glider

1 Thornscape Battlemage

1 Thoughtbound Primoc

1 Timberwatch Elf

1 Tin Street Hooligan

1 Transcendent Master

1 Troll Ascetic

1 Twisted Abomination

1 Undead Warchief

1 Vampire Hexmage

1 Vampire Lacerator

1 Vampire Nighthawk

1 Vedalken Mastermind

1 Vesuvan Shapeshifter

1 Viashino Bladescout

1 Viscera Seer

1 Wall of Blossoms

1 Wall of Bone

1 Wall of Frost

1 Wall of Omens

1 Warren Pilferers

1 Waterfront Bouncer

1 Welkin Tern

1 Whipcorder

1 White Knight

1 Wild Dogs

1 Willbender

1 Will-O'-The-Wisp

1 Withered Wretch

1 Woodland Changeling

1 Wren's Run Vanquisher

1 Wretched Anurid

1 Yavimaya Dryad

1 Yavimaya Elder

1 Zealot il-Vec

1 Zombie Cutthroat

1 Adaptive Automaton

1 Moltensteel Dragon

1 Molten-Tail Masticore

1 Platinum Angel

1 Porcelain Legionnaire

1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind

1 Triskelion

1 Wurmcoil Engine

1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath

1 Ambassador Laquatus

1 Arashi, the Sky Asunder

1 Ashling the Pilgrim

1 Cabal Patriarch

1 Commander Eesha

1 Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief

1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

1 Ezuri, Renegade Leader

1 Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni

1 Jaya Ballard, Task Mage

1 Keiga, the Tide Star

1 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner

1 Kodama of the North Tree

1 Kokusho, the Evening Star

1 Korlash, Heir to Blackblade

1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth

1 Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero

1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence

1 Mageta the Lion

1 Meloku the Clouded Mirror

1 Nemata, Grove Guardian

1 Oona, Queen of the Fae

1 Oros, the Avenger

1 Pianna, Nomad Captain

1 Rith, the Awakener

1 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary

1 Squee, Goblin Nabob

1 Sygg, River Cutthroat

1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir

1 The Mimeoplasm

1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre

1 Venser, Shaper Savant

1 Verdeloth the Ancient

1 Wort, Boggart Auntie

1 Yosei, the Morning Star

1 Ohran Viper

[/Creatures]

[Planeswalkers]

1 Ajani Goldmane

1 Chandra Nalaar

1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

1 Garruk Wildspeaker

1 Garruk, Primal Hunter

1 Jace Beleren

1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

1 Koth of the Hammer

1 Liliana Vess

1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker

1 Sorin Markov

1 Venser, the Sojourner

[/Planeswalkers]

[Instants]

1 Abolish

1 Absorb

1 Act of Aggression

1 Agony Warp

1 Beast Attack

1 Beast Within

1 Bituminous Blast

1 Blinding Beam

1 Brainstorm

1 Brute Force

1 Capsize

1 Char

1 Comet Storm

1 Condemn

1 Condescend

1 Constant Mists

1 Counterspell

1 Cruel Revival

1 Cryptic Command

1 Dawn Charm

1 Dead // Gone

1 Diminish

1 Disenchant

1 Doom Blade

1 Entomb

1 Essence Scatter

1 Exclude

1 Fact or Fiction

1 False Orders

1 Fatal Frenzy

1 Fire // Ice

1 Forbid

1 Giant Growth

1 Go for the Throat

1 Grab the Reins

1 Harm's Way

1 Harrow

1 Hindering Light

1 Impulse

1 Incinerate

1 Jilt

1 Krosan Grip

1 Lightning Bolt

1 Lightning Helix

1 Magma Jet

1 Makeshift Mannequin

1 Mana Leak

1 Mighty Leap

1 Momentary Blink

1 Moment's Peace

1 Mystical Tutor

1 Naturalize

1 Opportunity

1 Orim's Thunder

1 Path to Exile

1 Predator's Strike

1 Prophetic Bolt

1 Pulse of the Fields

1 Remand

1 Remove Soul

1 Repeal

1 Repulse

1 Rushing River

1 Safe Passage

1 Savage Beating

1 Seed Spark

1 Shatter

1 Shining Shoal

1 Smother

1 Sprout Swarm

1 Starstorm

1 Stonewood Invocation

1 Strangling Soot

1 Suffocating Blast

1 Swords to Plowshares

1 Tendrils of Corruption

1 Terminate

1 Turnabout

1 Undermine

1 Unsummon

1 Vampiric Tutor

1 Windstorm

1 Withering Boon

1 Worldly Counsel

1 Worldly Tutor

1 Crib Swap

1 Eyeblight's Ending

1 Gilt-Leaf Ambush

1 Nameless Inversion

1 Rootgrapple

1 Tarfire

[/Instants]

[Sorceries]

1 Akroma's Vengeance

1 Aphetto Dredging

1 Assault Strobe

1 Battle Screech

1 Boom // Bust

1 Bribery

1 Chainer's Edict

1 Conflux

1 Corrupt

1 Creeping Mold

1 Crime // Punishment

1 Day of Judgment

1 Death Cloud

1 Deep Analysis

1 Deep Reconnaissance

1 Demolish

1 Desert Twister

1 Diabolic Intent

1 Dirge of Dread

1 Drain Life

1 Dread Return

1 Duress

1 Empty the Warrens

1 Flame Slash

1 Gift of the Gargantuan

1 Green Sun's Zenith

1 Guided Passage

1 Harmonize

1 Hull Breach

1 Hurricane

1 Ill-Gotten Gains

1 Incremental Growth

1 Lavalanche

1 Maelstrom Pulse

1 Martial Coup

1 Mind Rot

1 Mind Sludge

1 Molten Rain

1 Mutilate

1 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss

1 Night's Whisper

1 Obliterate

1 Overrun

1 Overwhelming Stampede

1 Panic Attack

1 Phyrexian Rebirth

1 Pillage

1 Ponder

1 Preordain

1 Primal Command

1 Probe

1 Profane Command

1 Promise of Power

1 Pyroclasm

1 Rampant Growth

1 Reckless Charge

1 Red Sun's Zenith

1 Regrowth

1 Relentless Assault

1 Resurrection

1 Rise from the Grave

1 Rude Awakening

1 Ruination

1 Shattering Spree

1 Sign in Blood

1 Spectral Procession

1 Stone Rain

1 Sunlance

1 Thoughtseize

1 Traitorous Instinct

1 Tribal Flames

1 Vindicate

1 Voices from the Void

1 Wildfire

1 Wrap in Flames

1 Wrath of God

1 All Is Dust

[/Sorceries]

[Enchantments]

1 Angelic Renewal

1 Armadillo Cloak

1 Control Magic

1 Death Pit Offering

1 Dralnu's Crusade

1 Eel Umbra

1 Elephant Guide

1 Enslave

1 Faith's Fetters

1 Fertile Ground

1 Fire Whip

1 Fires of Yavimaya

1 Fool's Demise

1 Frozen Solid

1 Future Sight

1 Glorious Anthem

1 Goblin Warrens

1 Griffin Guide

1 Heartbeat of Spring

1 Honor of the Pure

1 Lashknife Barrier

1 Luminarch Ascension

1 Night Soil

1 Oblivion Ring

1 Onslaught

1 Opposition

1 Oversold Cemetery

1 Pacifism

1 Parallax Wave

1 Pariah

1 Pernicious Deed

1 Pestilence

1 Phyrexian Arena

1 Pillory of the Sleepless

1 Propaganda

1 Quag Sickness

1 Rancor

1 Rhystic Study

1 Smoke

1 Snake Umbra

1 Spidersilk Armor

1 Squirrel Nest

1 Story Circle

1 Survival of the Fittest

1 Treachery

1 Unstable Mutation

1 Zur's Weirding

1 Bitterblossom

1 Bound in Silence

[/Enchantments]

[Artifacts]

1 Adventuring Gear

1 Azorius Signet

1 Basilisk Collar

1 Bonesplitter

1 Boros Signet

1 Coalition Relic

1 Coat of Arms

1 Dimir Signet

1 Dispeller's Capsule

1 Ensnaring Bridge

1 Golgari Signet

1 Grafted Wargear

1 Gruul Signet

1 Icy Manipulator

1 Izzet Signet

1 Lashwrithe

1 Loxodon Warhammer

1 Moonglove Extract

1 Mortarpod

1 Nevinyrral's Disk

1 Nim Deathmantle

1 Orzhov Signet

1 Pithing Needle

1 Rakdos Signet

1 Selesnya Signet

1 Sigil of Distinction

1 Simic Signet

1 Skullclamp

1 Sword of Fire and Ice

1 Whispersilk Cloak

1 Legacy Weapon

1 Predator, Flagship

1 Umezawa's Jitte

[/Artifacts]

[Lands]

1 Adarkar Wastes

1 Arcane Sanctum

1 Azorius Chancery

1 Battlefield Forge

1 Boros Garrison

1 Brushland

1 Cascade Bluffs

1 Caves of Koilos

1 City of Brass

1 Crumbling Necropolis

1 Dimir Aqueduct

1 Evolving Wilds

1 Fetid Heath

1 Fire-lit Thicket

1 Flooded Grove

1 Golgari Rot Farm

1 Graven Cairns

1 Gruul Turf

1 Izzet Boilerworks

1 Jungle Shrine

1 Karplusan Forest

1 Llanowar Wastes

1 Mutavault

1 Mystic Gate

1 Orzhov Basilica

1 Rakdos Carnarium

1 Reflecting Pool

1 Rugged Prairie

1 Rupture Spire

1 Savage Lands

1 Seaside Citadel

1 Selesnya Sanctuary

1 Shivan Reef

1 Simic Growth Chamber

1 Sulfurous Springs

1 Sunken Ruins

1 Terramorphic Expanse

1 Twilight Mire

1 Underground River

1 Urza's Factory

1 Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree

1 Vivid Crag

1 Vivid Creek

1 Vivid Grove

1 Vivid Marsh

1 Vivid Meadow

1 Wooded Bastion

1 Yavimaya Coast

[/Lands]

[/cardlist]