It brings me great joy to show you the cube that I and my friends from Senigallia, Italy, my hometown, have worked on and improved for almost three years.
My community is mostly Legacy and Vintage players, so it was natural for us to start with Magic Online's Vintage Cube, and from there, we modified it with our personal preferences, set after set.
The first thing we noticed was that the packs were always running out of blue cards, and we would always find ourselves with several white, red, and green cards that none of us really wanted by the end of each pack.
Our play group was more attracted to blue control, artifact strategies, or combo decks. As a result, cards like Honor of the Pure, Baneslayer Angel, and Burst Lightning were just underappreciated. Often, you were forced to draft certain archetypes when you didn't want to, even though Cube Draft is supposed to be an escape from normal Draft and a place where one could draft some of the most busted cards in Magic.
As a result, the MenguCube isn't perfectly color balanced. We have 87 blue cards, 84 artifacts, 72 lands, 66 green cards, 60 red cards, 57 black cards, 57 white cards, and even the multicolor cards skew toward blue. As you can see, the cube includes more of the colors and archetypes that we enjoy most: blue cards and artifacts.
In the MenguCube, you don't need to aggressively cut blue in the first picks, like I tend to do whenever I draft MTGO's Vintage Cube. You can focus on some precious dual lands or artifacts first.
ARCHETYPES
ARTIFACTS
Artifacts is the archetype that I love the most, and it's very hard to come together in the normal Vintage Cube on MTGO. There are only ten Signets, and every player is looking for them. In MenguCube, not only do you have twelve options between Signets and Talismans, but you also have access to Coldsteel Heart, Prismatic Lens, Chromatic Lantern, and Hedron Archive.
You will find every single blue Talisman and Signet, once again prioritizing blue mana fixing since your deck is most likely to be blue and you'll want that extra fixing from mana rocks.
The best payoff for ramping up with mana rocks is Upheaval, but I also love to cast Wildfire and Burning of Xinye. Tinker and Emry, Lurker of the Loch are two very powerful cards that only get exploited in this archetype, two of which you definitely have to pick high if you want to draft this archetype.
A special card in my heart is Thought-Knot Seer, which is castable in this cube thanks to the Talismans and the pain lands such as Shivan Reef.
MenguCube also has plenty of answers for this super-good and fun archetype, with red having access to Embereth Shieldbreaker, Irreverent Revelers, Manic Vandal, Opportunistic Dragon, and Release the Gremlins. Green has Manglehorn, Reclamation Sage, Gemrazer, Acidic Slime, Sawtusk Demolisher, and Nature's Claim. These work to hose this archetype.
AGGRO DECKS
Even though we cut down the number of red and white cards, that doesn't mean this is only a combo or control cube. Boros aggro and mono-red are the most winning archetypes in our cube. If you want to draft aggro, you'll find a higher density of good cards in those colors with less competition, since most people just want to draft the fancy cool stuff rather than beating down with a Goblin Guide.
Since there's a lower number of cards of some colors going around, you have to be aware of that. Picking up some dual lands can really help a Boros or Gruul deck to be ready for a splash. Or, you can go fully Boros. White and red are the two best aggro decks, with red being great at killing fast and white shutting the door with Armageddon and Ravages of War.
As I mentioned, keep an eye on anti-artifact creatures. Those are very important and definitely main-deckable considering the huge number of artifacts going around in the packs.
White-Blue X BLINK
An archetype that we recently added and loved is white-blue X blink. Soulherder is a special card and fun to pair with "enters the battlefield" creatures such as Flametongue Kavu or Avalanche Rider.
Ephemerate is another important piece of the ETB blink deck and is especially nice to pair with evoke creatures such as Mulldrifter or Shriekmaw. You can cast these creatures for their evoke cost and blink them before they get sacrificed to get double (or even triple!) triggers and then keep the creature around.
INFINITE TURNS COMBO
Time Vault is a card that appeared in one iteration of Vintage Cube and was further removed for being "unfun." We generally agreed with that and removed most of the regular combo pieces you'd see along with it, such as Manifold Key and Tezzeret the Seeker.
However, we decided to keep the Time Vault combo around. It can only go off with a few specific cards such as Ral Zarek and Kiora's Follower; you can still create an infinite-turn loop, but it'll involve cards that are much easier to remove.
Alternatively, you can also pair the Time Vault with Deceiver Exarch, Pestermite, or Zealous Conscripts to grant yourself an additional turn by untapping the Vault. If you pair them with a Soulherder, you can even get an infinite loop!
RAMP
Ramp is one of the easier archetypes to draft in Vintage Cube, and it's well supported in MenguCube. Green is the second most popular color. When drafting ramp, focus on getting four or five cheap mana creatures, some powerful payoffs, and some key interactions.
The deck is often in Simic colors since you're splashing for some powerful blue cards that you will likely pick up along the way. It's very important to have a Tropical Island or a Breeding Pool because most of the strong blue cards are double-blue and this deck must have at least ten green sources to always kick things off with a Llanowar Elves of some sort.
Once again, it's very important that you prioritize artifact removal. There's plenty of those to choose from, and I tend to main deck all that I draft.
REANIMATOR AND OTHER COMBO DECKS
Just like in Vintage Cube, reanimator, storm, and Eureka/Oath of Druids decks are available. For those who haven't played them, let me explain them.
Swamp, Dark Ritual, Entomb, Exhume is your four-card combo to get a Griselbrand into play as early as turn one. Reanimator isn't just an all-in combo, though. One of my favorite ways to draft a reanimator deck is to pair it with efficient interactive cards, making a blue-black control deck that can hard-cast threats like Grave Titan and Massacre Wurm if it needs to.
My favorite reanimation target is Terastodon since it dodges removal by having a strong enters-the-battlefield trigger. You can often blow up key pieces of the opponent's board to unlock your game or apply lots of pressure by blowing up your own lands and attacking with Elephants.
I tend to take Terastodon very high, since it also works in Sneak Attack, Through the Breach, and Natural Order decks. It's really the perfect card whenever you want to do unfair stuff. If you can't find Terastodon, MenguCube also has Worldspine Wurm, which is great with any of those cards, too.
Storm is obviously a very supported archetype, with several ways to get infinite mana going with Palinchron, High Tide, Mana Flare, or Heartbeat of Spring. After playing storm decks over and over, we ended up cutting Past in Flames, Yawgmoth's Bargain, and Thousand-Year Storm. Despite the fact that these cards are usually associated with storm decks, they just aren't that good. If you want to win with the storm archetype, you should focus on efficient interactions, card advantage, and a win condition. The best option is to deck your opponent with Brain Freeze, but you can also just kill them with Empty the Warrens or Tendrils of Agony.
BLUE CONTROL
Last, but certainly not least, is blue control. With 87 blue cards and many more among the multicolor cards, you'll often find yourself in a blue deck that, of course, can take many different routes: I've already talked about green-blue ramp, white-blue aggro, blue-black reanimator, and blue-red splinter twin. Basically, blue is like parsley: wherever you put it, it'll be a nice addition.
Starting a draft by picking Glen Elendra Archmage and Mana Leak can never lead to a disaster. You can, of course, draft white-blue or blue-black control, but it'll have a harder time than in regular Vintage Cube. There are fewer mediocre Naya creatures, and you'll find yourself winning games less often just by casting a Wrath of God.
Nonetheless, blue control is an excellent archetype. Counterspells plus removal spells plus very good win conditions (Consecrated Sphinx, Bribery, etc.) is a great way to win in MenguCube.
I hope I covered most of the differences between MenguCube and its ancestor, the normal Vintage Cube. I'm proud to assert that we've made a great alternative version of it.
— Andrea Mengucci
-
Full Cube List
-
| Card Name |
Color |
|---|
| Adanto Vanguard |
White |
| Angel of Sanctions |
White |
| Archangel Avacyn |
White |
| Archon of Emeria |
White |
| Armageddon |
White |
| Aven Mindcensor |
White |
| Balance |
White |
| Banishing Light |
White |
| Blade Splicer |
White |
| Brimaz, King of Oreskos |
White |
| Conclave Tribunal |
White |
| Containment Priest |
White |
| Council's Judgment |
White |
| Disenchant |
White |
| Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite |
White |
| Elspeth Conquers Death |
White |
| Elspeth, Knight-Errant |
White |
| Elspeth, Sun's Champion |
White |
| Ephemerate |
White |
| Flickerwisp |
White |
| Gideon Blackblade |
White |
| Gideon, Ally of Zendikar |
White |
| Hero of Bladehold |
White |
| Iona, Shield of Emeria |
White |
| Kenrith, the Returned King |
White |
| Kytheon, Hero of Akros |
White |
| Leonin Relic-Warder |
White |
| Lingering Souls |
White |
| Luminarch Aspirant |
White |
| Mana Tithe |
White |
| Maul of the Skyclaves |
White |
| Monastery Mentor |
White |
| Mother of Runes |
White |
| Oblivion Ring |
White |
| Palace Jailer |
White |
| Path to Exile |
White |
| Porcelain Legionnaire |
White |
| Ravages of War |
White |
| Recruiter of the Guard |
White |
| Restoration Angel |
White |
| Seasoned Hallowblade |
White |
| Skyclave Apparition |
White |
| Spirit of the Labyrinth |
White |
| Stoneforge Mystic |
White |
| Student of Warfare |
White |
| Sun Titan |
White |
| Swords to Plowshares |
White |
| Thalia, Guardian of Thraben |
White |
| Thalia, Heretic Cathar |
White |
| Thraben Inspector |
White |
| Tithe Taker |
White |
| Unexpectedly Absent |
White |
| Usher of the Fallen |
White |
| Village Bell-Ringer |
White |
| Wall of Omens |
White |
| Wall of Omens |
White |
| Wrath of God |
White |
| Ancestral Recall |
Blue |
| Anticipate |
Blue |
| Brain Freeze |
Blue |
| Brainstorm |
Blue |
| Brazen Borrower // Petty Theft |
Blue |
| Bribery |
Blue |
| Careful Study |
Blue |
| Champion of Wits |
Blue |
| Chart a Course |
Blue |
| Commit // Memory |
Blue |
| Compulsive Research |
Blue |
| Consecrated Sphinx |
Blue |
| Control Magic |
Blue |
| Cosima, God of the Voyage // The Omenkeel |
Blue |
| Counterspell |
Blue |
| Cryptic Command |
Blue |
| Daze |
Blue |
| Deceiver Exarch |
Blue |
| Dig Through Time |
Blue |
| Drawn from Dreams |
Blue |
| Echo of Eons |
Blue |
| Emry, Lurker of the Loch |
Blue |
| Fact or Fiction |
Blue |
| Fae of Wishes // Granted |
Blue |
| Fall from Favor |
Blue |
| Force of Will |
Blue |
| Force Spike |
Blue |
| Frantic Search |
Blue |
| Frost Titan |
Blue |
| Gifts Ungiven |
Blue |
| Gitaxian Probe |
Blue |
| Glen Elendra Archmage |
Blue |
| Gush |
Blue |
| High Tide |
Blue |
| Hullbreacher |
Blue |
| Impulse |
Blue |
| Inkwell Leviathan |
Blue |
| Jace, the Mind Sculptor |
Blue |
| Jace, Vryn's Prodigy |
Blue |
| Looter il-Kor |
Blue |
| Mana Drain |
Blue |
| Mana Leak |
Blue |
| Mental Misstep |
Blue |
| Mind's Desire |
Blue |
| Mulldrifter |
Blue |
| Mystic Confluence |
Blue |
| Mystical Tutor |
Blue |
| Narset, Parter of Veils |
Blue |
| Opposition |
Blue |
| Palinchron |
Blue |
| Pestermite |
Blue |
| Phantasmal Image |
Blue |
| Phyrexian Metamorph |
Blue |
| Ponder |
Blue |
| Preordain |
Blue |
| Remand |
Blue |
| Repeal |
Blue |
| Riftwing Cloudskate |
Blue |
| Sai, Master Thopterist |
Blue |
| Sea Gate Stormcaller |
Blue |
| Serum Visions |
Blue |
| Show and Tell |
Blue |
| Snapcaster Mage |
Blue |
| Sower of Temptation |
Blue |
| Spell Pierce |
Blue |
| Spellseeker |
Blue |
| Stroke of Genius |
Blue |
| Sublime Epiphany |
Blue |
| Tamiyo, the Moon Sage |
Blue |
| Teferi, Master of Time |
Blue |
| Thassa's Oracle |
Blue |
| Thieving Skydiver |
Blue |
| Thirst for Knowledge |
Blue |
| Time Spiral |
Blue |
| Time Walk |
Blue |
| Timetwister |
Blue |
| Tinker |
Blue |
| Torrential Gearhulk |
Blue |
| Treachery |
Blue |
| Treasure Cruise |
Blue |
| Trinket Mage |
Blue |
| True-Name Nemesis |
Blue |
| Turnabout |
Blue |
| Upheaval |
Blue |
| Urza, Lord High Artificer |
Blue |
| Vendilion Clique |
Blue |
| Venser, Shaper Savant |
Blue |
| Animate Dead |
Black |
| Bitterblossom |
Black |
| Bloodchief's Thirst |
Black |
| Bolas's Citadel |
Black |
| Brain Maggot |
Black |
| Cabal Ritual |
Black |
| Damnation |
Black |
| Dark Petition |
Black |
| Dark Ritual |
Black |
| Demonic Tutor |
Black |
| Diabolic Servitude |
Black |
| Doomfall |
Black |
| Duress |
Black |
| Entomb |
Black |
| Exhume |
Black |
| Go for the Throat |
Black |
| Gonti, Lord of Luxury |
Black |
| Grave Titan |
Black |
| Griselbrand |
Black |
| Heartless Act |
Black |
| Hymn to Tourach |
Black |
| Imperial Seal |
Black |
| Inquisition of Kozilek |
Black |
| Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet |
Black |
| Kitesail Freebooter |
Black |
| Liliana of the Veil |
Black |
| Living Death |
Black |
| Makeshift Mannequin |
Black |
| Massacre Wurm |
Black |
| Mesmeric Fiend |
Black |
| Mind Twist |
Black |
| Necromancy |
Black |
| Necropotence |
Black |
| Night's Whisper |
Black |
| Noxious Gearhulk |
Black |
| Oona's Prowler |
Black |
| Ophiomancer |
Black |
| Opposition Agent |
Black |
| Pack Rat |
Black |
| Painful Truths |
Black |
| Plague Engineer |
Black |
| Putrid Imp |
Black |
| Ravenous Chupacabra |
Black |
| Reanimate |
Black |
| Recurring Nightmare |
Black |
| Rotting Regisaur |
Black |
| Rune-Scarred Demon |
Black |
| Shallow Grave |
Black |
| Sheoldred, Whispering One |
Black |
| Shriekmaw |
Black |
| Tendrils of Agony |
Black |
| Thoughtseize |
Black |
| Toxic Deluge |
Black |
| Unburial Rites |
Black |
| Valki, God of Lies // Tibalt, Cosmic Impostor |
Black |
| Vampiric Tutor |
Black |
| Yawgmoth's Will |
Black |
| Birgi, God of Storytelling // Harnfel, Horn of Bounty |
Red |
| Bomat Courier |
Red |
| Bonecrusher Giant // Stomp |
Red |
| Burning of Xinye |
Red |
| Chain Lightning |
Red |
| Chandra, Torch of Defiance |
Red |
| Char |
Red |
| Daretti, Scrap Savant |
Red |
| Desperate Ritual |
Red |
| Dire Fleet Daredevil |
Red |
| Earthshaker Khenra |
Red |
| Eidolon of the Great Revel |
Red |
| Embereth Shieldbreaker // Battle Display |
Red |
| Empty the Warrens |
Red |
| Faithless Looting |
Red |
| Fiery Confluence |
Red |
| Fireblast |
Red |
| Firedrinker Satyr |
Red |
| Flametongue Kavu |
Red |
| Glorybringer |
Red |
| Goblin Guide |
Red |
| Goblin Rabblemaster |
Red |
| Goldspan Dragon |
Red |
| Hazoret the Fervent |
Red |
| Hellrider |
Red |
| Imperial Recruiter |
Red |
| Incinerate |
Red |
| Inferno Titan |
Red |
| Irreverent Revelers |
Red |
| Kari Zev, Skyship Raider |
Red |
| Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker |
Red |
| Koth of the Hammer |
Red |
| Legion Warboss |
Red |
| Lightning Bolt |
Red |
| Lightning Strike |
Red |
| Magma Jet |
Red |
| Mana Flare |
Red |
| Manic Vandal |
Red |
| Monastery Swiftspear |
Red |
| Opportunistic Dragon |
Red |
| Pia and Kiran Nalaar |
Red |
| Rampaging Ferocidon |
Red |
| Rekindling Phoenix |
Red |
| Release the Gremlins |
Red |
| Rite of Flame |
Red |
| Robber of the Rich |
Red |
| Searing Spear |
Red |
| Seasoned Pyromancer |
Red |
| Seething Song |
Red |
| Siege-Gang Commander |
Red |
| Sneak Attack |
Red |
| Splinter Twin |
Red |
| Stormbreath Dragon |
Red |
| Sulfuric Vortex |
Red |
| Through the Breach |
Red |
| Underworld Breach |
Red |
| Wheel of Fortune |
Red |
| Wildfire |
Red |
| Young Pyromancer |
Red |
| Zealous Conscripts |
Red |
| Zurgo Bellstriker |
Red |
| Acidic Slime |
Green |
| Arbor Elf |
Green |
| Beast Within |
Green |
| Birds of Paradise |
Green |
| Channel |
Green |
| Courser of Kruphix |
Green |
| Craterhoof Behemoth |
Green |
| Cultivate |
Green |
| Den Protector |
Green |
| Deranged Hermit |
Green |
| Elves of Deep Shadow |
Green |
| Elvish Mystic |
Green |
| Esika, God of the Tree // The Prismatic Bridge |
Green |
| Eternal Witness |
Green |
| Eureka |
Green |
| Farseek |
Green |
| Fastbond |
Green |
| Finale of Devastation |
Green |
| Fyndhorn Elves |
Green |
| Garruk Relentless |
Green |
| Garruk Wildspeaker |
Green |
| Gemrazer |
Green |
| Gilded Goose |
Green |
| Green Sun's Zenith |
Green |
| Harmonize |
Green |
| Heartbeat of Spring |
Green |
| Jolrael, Mwonvuli Recluse |
Green |
| Joraga Treespeaker |
Green |
| Kodama's Reach |
Green |
| Llanowar Elves |
Green |
| Llanowar Visionary |
Green |
| Lotus Cobra |
Green |
| Manglehorn |
Green |
| Master of the Wild Hunt |
Green |
| Natural Order |
Green |
| Nature's Claim |
Green |
| Nissa, Vastwood Seer |
Green |
| Nissa, Who Shakes the World |
Green |
| Noble Hierarch |
Green |
| Oath of Druids |
Green |
| Once Upon a Time |
Green |
| Oracle of Mul Daya |
Green |
| Primal Command |
Green |
| Primeval Titan |
Green |
| Questing Beast |
Green |
| Ramunap Excavator |
Green |
| Reclamation Sage |
Green |
| Regrowth |
Green |
| Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary |
Green |
| Sakura-Tribe Elder |
Green |
| Sawtusk Demolisher |
Green |
| Scavenging Ooze |
Green |
| Search for Tomorrow |
Green |
| Survival of the Fittest |
Green |
| Sylvan Caryatid |
Green |
| Sylvan Library |
Green |
| Terastodon |
Green |
| Thragtusk |
Green |
| Thrun, the Last Troll |
Green |
| Tireless Tracker |
Green |
| Tooth and Nail |
Green |
| Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider |
Green |
| Wall of Roots |
Green |
| Whisperwood Elemental |
Green |
| Woodfall Primus |
Green |
| Worldspine Wurm |
Green |
| Ajani Vengeant |
Multicolor |
| Ashen Rider |
Multicolor |
| Ashiok, Nightmare Muse |
Multicolor |
| Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver |
Multicolor |
| Baleful Strix |
Multicolor |
| Binding the Old Gods |
Multicolor |
| Coiling Oracle |
Multicolor |
| Cut // Ribbons |
Multicolor |
| Dack Fayden |
Multicolor |
| Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast |
Multicolor |
| Deputy of Detention |
Multicolor |
| Dragonlord Atarka |
Multicolor |
| Dragonlord Ojutai |
Multicolor |
| Edric, Spymaster of Trest |
Multicolor |
| Electrolyze |
Multicolor |
| Escape to the Wilds |
Multicolor |
| Expansion |
Multicolor |
| Fallen Shinobi |
Multicolor |
| Figure of Destiny |
Multicolor |
| Fire // Ice |
Multicolor |
| Fractured Identity |
Multicolor |
| Geist of Saint Traft |
Multicolor |
| Hostage Taker |
Multicolor |
| Huntmaster of the Fells |
Multicolor |
| Hydroid Krasis |
Multicolor |
| Izzet Charm |
Multicolor |
| Kiora's Follower |
Multicolor |
| Kitchen Finks |
Multicolor |
| Knight of Autumn |
Multicolor |
| Kolaghan's Command |
Multicolor |
| Leovold, Emissary of Trest |
Multicolor |
| Lurrus of the Dream-Den |
Multicolor |
| Lutri, the Spellchaser |
Multicolor |
| Maelstrom Pulse |
Multicolor |
| Mirari's Wake |
Multicolor |
| Mystic Snake |
Multicolor |
| Nahiri, the Harbinger |
Multicolor |
| Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh |
Multicolor |
| Oko, Thief of Crowns |
Multicolor |
| Omnath, Locus of Creation |
Multicolor |
| Progenitus |
Multicolor |
| Rakdos's Return |
Multicolor |
| Ral Zarek |
Multicolor |
| Showdown of the Skalds |
Multicolor |
| Soulherder |
Multicolor |
| Spell Queller |
Multicolor |
| Sphinx of the Steel Wind |
Multicolor |
| Teferi, Hero of Dominaria |
Multicolor |
| Teferi, Time Raveler |
Multicolor |
| Tezzeret the Schemer |
Multicolor |
| The Scarab God |
Multicolor |
| Thief of Sanity |
Multicolor |
| Trygon Predator |
Multicolor |
| Vindicate |
Multicolor |
| Vraska, Relic Seeker |
Multicolor |
| Wrenn and Six |
Multicolor |
| Xenagos, the Reveler |
Multicolor |
| Azorius Signet |
Artifact |
| Basalt Monolith |
Artifact |
| Batterskull |
Artifact |
| Black Lotus |
Artifact |
| Blightsteel Colossus |
Artifact |
| Boros Signet |
Artifact |
| Chromatic Lantern |
Artifact |
| Chrome Mox |
Artifact |
| Coalition Relic |
Artifact |
| Coercive Portal |
Artifact |
| Coldsteel Heart |
Artifact |
| Crucible of Worlds |
Artifact |
| Dimir Signet |
Artifact |
| Duplicant |
Artifact |
| Emrakul, the Aeons Torn |
Artifact |
| Emrakul, the Promised End |
Artifact |
| Everflowing Chalice |
Artifact |
| Fleetwheel Cruiser |
Artifact |
| Gilded Lotus |
Artifact |
| Golos, Tireless Pilgrim |
Artifact |
| Grim Monolith |
Artifact |
| Hangarback Walker |
Artifact |
| Hedron Archive |
Artifact |
| Izzet Signet |
Artifact |
| Karn Liberated |
Artifact |
| Karn, Scion of Urza |
Artifact |
| Karn, Silver Golem |
Artifact |
| Kozilek, Butcher of Truth |
Artifact |
| Kuldotha Forgemaster |
Artifact |
| Lightning Greaves |
Artifact |
| Lion's Eye Diamond |
Artifact |
| Lodestone Golem |
Artifact |
| Lotus Petal |
Artifact |
| Mana Crypt |
Artifact |
| Mana Vault |
Artifact |
| Memory Jar |
Artifact |
| Metalworker |
Artifact |
| Mindslaver |
Artifact |
| Mox Diamond |
Artifact |
| Mox Emerald |
Artifact |
| Mox Jet |
Artifact |
| Mox Pearl |
Artifact |
| Mox Ruby |
Artifact |
| Mox Sapphire |
Artifact |
| Myr Battlesphere |
Artifact |
| Orzhov Signet |
Artifact |
| Phyrexian Revoker |
Artifact |
| Prismatic Lens |
Artifact |
| Sensei's Divining Top |
Artifact |
| Simic Signet |
Artifact |
| Skullclamp |
Artifact |
| Smuggler's Copter |
Artifact |
| Sol Ring |
Artifact |
| Solemn Simulacrum |
Artifact |
| Sorcerous Spyglass |
Artifact |
| Spellskite |
Artifact |
| Staff of Domination |
Artifact |
| Stonecoil Serpent |
Artifact |
| Sundering Titan |
Artifact |
| Sword of Body and Mind |
Artifact |
| Sword of Feast and Famine |
Artifact |
| Sword of Fire and Ice |
Artifact |
| Sword of War and Peace |
Artifact |
| Talisman of Creativity |
Artifact |
| Talisman of Curiosity |
Artifact |
| Talisman of Dominance |
Artifact |
| Talisman of Indulgence |
Artifact |
| Talisman of Progress |
Artifact |
| Talisman of Resilience |
Artifact |
| The Immortal Sun |
Artifact |
| Thought-Knot Seer |
Artifact |
| Thran Dynamo |
Artifact |
| Time Vault |
Artifact |
| Ugin, the Ineffable |
Artifact |
| Ugin, the Spirit Dragon |
Artifact |
| Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger |
Artifact |
| Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre |
Artifact |
| Umezawa's Jitte |
Artifact |
| Vedalken Shackles |
Artifact |
| Walking Ballista |
Artifact |
| Winter Orb |
Artifact |
| Worn Powerstone |
Artifact |
| Wurmcoil Engine |
Artifact |
| Ancient Tomb |
Land |
| Arid Mesa |
Land |
| Badlands |
Land |
| Barkchannel Pathway // Tidechannel Pathway |
Land |
| Battlefield Forge |
Land |
| Bayou |
Land |
| Bazaar of Baghdad |
Land |
| Blightstep Pathway // Searstep Pathway |
Land |
| Blood Crypt |
Land |
| Bloodstained Mire |
Land |
| Branchloft Pathway // Boulderloft Pathway |
Land |
| Breeding Pool |
Land |
| Caves of Koilos |
Land |
| Celestial Colonnade |
Land |
| City of Brass |
Land |
| Clearwater Pathway // Murkwater Pathway |
Land |
| Clifftop Retreat |
Land |
| Creeping Tar Pit |
Land |
| Dragonskull Summit |
Land |
| Drowned Catacomb |
Land |
| Flooded Strand |
Land |
| Gaea's Cradle |
Land |
| Glacial Fortress |
Land |
| Godless Shrine |
Land |
| Hallowed Fountain |
Land |
| Hengegate Pathway // Mistgate Pathway |
Land |
| Hinterland Harbor |
Land |
| Karakas |
Land |
| Library of Alexandria |
Land |
| Llanowar Wastes |
Land |
| Mana Confluence |
Land |
| Marsh Flats |
Land |
| Mishra's Factory |
Land |
| Mishra's Workshop |
Land |
| Misty Rainforest |
Land |
| Mutavault |
Land |
| Needleverge Pathway // Pillarverge Pathway |
Land |
| Overgrown Tomb |
Land |
| Plateau |
Land |
| Polluted Delta |
Land |
| Prismatic Vista |
Land |
| Raging Ravine |
Land |
| Rishadan Port |
Land |
| Riverglide Pathway // Lavaglide Pathway |
Land |
| Rootbound Crag |
Land |
| Sacred Foundry |
Land |
| Savannah |
Land |
| Scalding Tarn |
Land |
| Scrubland |
Land |
| Shelldock Isle |
Land |
| Shivan Reef |
Land |
| Steam Vents |
Land |
| Stomping Ground |
Land |
| Strip Mine |
Land |
| Sulfur Falls |
Land |
| Taiga |
Land |
| Temple Garden |
Land |
| Temple of Deceit |
Land |
| Temple of Epiphany |
Land |
| Tolarian Academy |
Land |
| Tropical Island |
Land |
| Tundra |
Land |
| Underground Sea |
Land |
| Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth |
Land |
| Verdant Catacombs |
Land |
| Volcanic Island |
Land |
| Wasteland |
Land |
| Watery Grave |
Land |
| Windswept Heath |
Land |
| Wooded Foothills |
Land |
| Woodland Cemetery |
Land |
| Yavimaya Coast |
Land |
Wizards of the Coast
It brings me great joy to show you the cube that I and my friends from Senigallia, Italy, my hometown, have worked on and improved for almost three years.
My community is mostly Legacy and Vintage players, so it was natural for us to start with Magic Online's Vintage Cube, and from there, we modified it with our personal preferences, set after set.
The first thing we noticed was that the packs were always running out of blue cards, and we would always find ourselves with several white, red, and green cards that none of us really wanted by the end of each pack.
Our play group was more attracted to blue control, artifact strategies, or combo decks. As a result, cards like Honor of the Pure, Baneslayer Angel, and Burst Lightning were just underappreciated. Often, you were forced to draft certain archetypes when you didn't want to, even though Cube Draft is supposed to be an escape from normal Draft and a place where one could draft some of the most busted cards in Magic.
As a result, the MenguCube isn't perfectly color balanced. We have 87 blue cards, 84 artifacts, 72 lands, 66 green cards, 60 red cards, 57 black cards, 57 white cards, and even the multicolor cards skew toward blue. As you can see, the cube includes more of the colors and archetypes that we enjoy most: blue cards and artifacts.
In the MenguCube, you don't need to aggressively cut blue in the first picks, like I tend to do whenever I draft MTGO's Vintage Cube. You can focus on some precious dual lands or artifacts first.
ARCHETYPES
ARTIFACTS
Artifacts is the archetype that I love the most, and it's very hard to come together in the normal Vintage Cube on MTGO. There are only ten Signets, and every player is looking for them. In MenguCube, not only do you have twelve options between Signets and Talismans, but you also have access to Coldsteel Heart, Prismatic Lens, Chromatic Lantern, and Hedron Archive.
You will find every single blue Talisman and Signet, once again prioritizing blue mana fixing since your deck is most likely to be blue and you'll want that extra fixing from mana rocks.
The best payoff for ramping up with mana rocks is Upheaval, but I also love to cast Wildfire and Burning of Xinye. Tinker and Emry, Lurker of the Loch are two very powerful cards that only get exploited in this archetype, two of which you definitely have to pick high if you want to draft this archetype.
A special card in my heart is Thought-Knot Seer, which is castable in this cube thanks to the Talismans and the pain lands such as Shivan Reef.
MenguCube also has plenty of answers for this super-good and fun archetype, with red having access to Embereth Shieldbreaker, Irreverent Revelers, Manic Vandal, Opportunistic Dragon, and Release the Gremlins. Green has Manglehorn, Reclamation Sage, Gemrazer, Acidic Slime, Sawtusk Demolisher, and Nature's Claim. These work to hose this archetype.
AGGRO DECKS
Even though we cut down the number of red and white cards, that doesn't mean this is only a combo or control cube. Boros aggro and mono-red are the most winning archetypes in our cube. If you want to draft aggro, you'll find a higher density of good cards in those colors with less competition, since most people just want to draft the fancy cool stuff rather than beating down with a Goblin Guide.
Since there's a lower number of cards of some colors going around, you have to be aware of that. Picking up some dual lands can really help a Boros or Gruul deck to be ready for a splash. Or, you can go fully Boros. White and red are the two best aggro decks, with red being great at killing fast and white shutting the door with Armageddon and Ravages of War.
As I mentioned, keep an eye on anti-artifact creatures. Those are very important and definitely main-deckable considering the huge number of artifacts going around in the packs.
White-Blue X BLINK
An archetype that we recently added and loved is white-blue X blink. Soulherder is a special card and fun to pair with "enters the battlefield" creatures such as Flametongue Kavu or Avalanche Rider.
Ephemerate is another important piece of the ETB blink deck and is especially nice to pair with evoke creatures such as Mulldrifter or Shriekmaw. You can cast these creatures for their evoke cost and blink them before they get sacrificed to get double (or even triple!) triggers and then keep the creature around.
INFINITE TURNS COMBO
Time Vault is a card that appeared in one iteration of Vintage Cube and was further removed for being "unfun." We generally agreed with that and removed most of the regular combo pieces you'd see along with it, such as Manifold Key and Tezzeret the Seeker.
However, we decided to keep the Time Vault combo around. It can only go off with a few specific cards such as Ral Zarek and Kiora's Follower; you can still create an infinite-turn loop, but it'll involve cards that are much easier to remove.
Alternatively, you can also pair the Time Vault with Deceiver Exarch, Pestermite, or Zealous Conscripts to grant yourself an additional turn by untapping the Vault. If you pair them with a Soulherder, you can even get an infinite loop!
RAMP
Ramp is one of the easier archetypes to draft in Vintage Cube, and it's well supported in MenguCube. Green is the second most popular color. When drafting ramp, focus on getting four or five cheap mana creatures, some powerful payoffs, and some key interactions.
The deck is often in Simic colors since you're splashing for some powerful blue cards that you will likely pick up along the way. It's very important to have a Tropical Island or a Breeding Pool because most of the strong blue cards are double-blue and this deck must have at least ten green sources to always kick things off with a Llanowar Elves of some sort.
Once again, it's very important that you prioritize artifact removal. There's plenty of those to choose from, and I tend to main deck all that I draft.
REANIMATOR AND OTHER COMBO DECKS
Just like in Vintage Cube, reanimator, storm, and Eureka/Oath of Druids decks are available. For those who haven't played them, let me explain them.
Swamp, Dark Ritual, Entomb, Exhume is your four-card combo to get a Griselbrand into play as early as turn one. Reanimator isn't just an all-in combo, though. One of my favorite ways to draft a reanimator deck is to pair it with efficient interactive cards, making a blue-black control deck that can hard-cast threats like Grave Titan and Massacre Wurm if it needs to.
My favorite reanimation target is Terastodon since it dodges removal by having a strong enters-the-battlefield trigger. You can often blow up key pieces of the opponent's board to unlock your game or apply lots of pressure by blowing up your own lands and attacking with Elephants.
I tend to take Terastodon very high, since it also works in Sneak Attack, Through the Breach, and Natural Order decks. It's really the perfect card whenever you want to do unfair stuff. If you can't find Terastodon, MenguCube also has Worldspine Wurm, which is great with any of those cards, too.
Storm is obviously a very supported archetype, with several ways to get infinite mana going with Palinchron, High Tide, Mana Flare, or Heartbeat of Spring. After playing storm decks over and over, we ended up cutting Past in Flames, Yawgmoth's Bargain, and Thousand-Year Storm. Despite the fact that these cards are usually associated with storm decks, they just aren't that good. If you want to win with the storm archetype, you should focus on efficient interactions, card advantage, and a win condition. The best option is to deck your opponent with Brain Freeze, but you can also just kill them with Empty the Warrens or Tendrils of Agony.
BLUE CONTROL
Last, but certainly not least, is blue control. With 87 blue cards and many more among the multicolor cards, you'll often find yourself in a blue deck that, of course, can take many different routes: I've already talked about green-blue ramp, white-blue aggro, blue-black reanimator, and blue-red splinter twin. Basically, blue is like parsley: wherever you put it, it'll be a nice addition.
Starting a draft by picking Glen Elendra Archmage and Mana Leak can never lead to a disaster. You can, of course, draft white-blue or blue-black control, but it'll have a harder time than in regular Vintage Cube. There are fewer mediocre Naya creatures, and you'll find yourself winning games less often just by casting a Wrath of God.
Nonetheless, blue control is an excellent archetype. Counterspells plus removal spells plus very good win conditions (Consecrated Sphinx, Bribery, etc.) is a great way to win in MenguCube.
I hope I covered most of the differences between MenguCube and its ancestor, the normal Vintage Cube. I'm proud to assert that we've made a great alternative version of it.
— Andrea Mengucci
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