Random Cube: The Final Countdown

Posted on May 15, 2017

Hello folks and happy Monday to you!

Today is the day we are going to finish this thang. Are you ready?

Cubes are great! But a lot of folks tend to dip into the same set of Cube cards over and over again. Want to know a great way to break out of that? That’s right! By adding cards randomly, as selected by Gatherer. Gatherer likes the random card function, and so do I!

So the challenge is simple. Choose one card randomly for my Cube, and then add one card of my own to build off what I need. And then, as we get close to the end, I’ll finish us off by adding in multiple cards that fill out various needs. I also reserve the right to refuse a random card that’s overly powerful or ornery.

And this is not some fun project, either! Nope! This is a real life planned Cube, and I’ll show you pictures of it in progress at the end.

Ready to get your Random Cube on?

The cards so far:

The Cube So Far ? The Random Cube | Abe Sargent

Now, like most folks, I have my own intentional archetypes that are built into the Cube. There are 15 archetypes. Most of these were chosen randomly. Take a look.

Intentional Archetypes:

Mono-White — Tokens

Mono-Blue — ETB triggers

Mono-Black — Discard

Mono-Green — Counters

Mono-Red — Taxing

— Counterburn

— Colorless matters

— Sacrifice your lands and then bring them back

— Aggro

— Tap and Kill Your Creatures

— Elves

— Graveyards matters self- and other- milling.

— Tap and Untap Your Stuff

— Defender matters

— Enchantments and Auras Matter

All right! Are you ready to get this thang started?

Now what? Random Gatherer Says . . .

You know what would make sense with this? Got it! Let’s give me a way to make a land any basic land type.

Next up Gatherer? Hit me with your best shot!

All right. The combo of first strike and firebreathing is just nasty. And let me keep hitting that basic land type juice.

Who’s got next?

Righteousness does! It’s a fun combat trick too.

Now let’s finish this land-type trifecta, this time with a card that can change an opponent’s type as well.

The great thing about the Flask, Frontier and Compass is that they can be used for mana smoothing as well. And don’t forget some of these combos, like Elsewhere Flask with Jaws of Stone or swampwalking with Compass. Oh, and the Compass has a minor tempo-esque ability. The land becomes the new type, and loses old ones. During your foe’s upkeep, suppose they have two Forests and an Island. Use this to make that Island a Forest and cut off their Blue. It will also remove any other abilities the land may have, so it can shut off a Mishra's Factory or Thespian's Stage. Good stuff.

Will more good stuff follow?

Funny given the additions I just made. In you go. All right, one final card for the Simic archetype on Green’s side.

Plus it’s an enchantment for enchanting fun-times. What card will Gatherer bequeath now?

Krark-Clan Ironworks. Nah. I’m too far into my Cube to care about that. However, I could see me doing something different on the same level as inspiration.

What card hits me next?

All right Big Red! I’ll let your Hammer come inside from the rain. Now the good thing about the Hammer’s hastiness is the 3/3 tokens it makes are colorless. So more support for Rakdos there.

Here’s another bone for the Gruul archetype. I only have space for 2 more Red creatures. Starting to shore up archetypes.

Red’s taxing is fine, and I feel good on the creature side for Gruul. Any good Izzet or Rakdos creatures? Perhaps . . . we’ll see.

Next?

Spontaneous Artist. I’m going to go ahead and skip telling you about stuff like this that is already in my Cube, or I’ll have no space for, much as I’m skipped Name Dropping Un- cards and basic lands.

What what’s the next card that isn’t energy, a duplicate, an illegal card, etc . . . Whether or not it fits my Cube . . .

All right it heads in, but it’s time. I was holding off on the Green support for my Cube because I wasn’t sure if I wanted to add in Life from the Loam or the stronger Crucible of Worlds. But we need Crucible as a useful answer to this junk too! Yes, it’ll likely be a first pick for a lot of players. But it’s a tool we cannot keep out any more.

Okay. Next random.org result?

Oxidda Golem. Nah, have to work too hard. How about . . . random . . .

Nucklavee? Head on in. Sure thing, you are an odd Izzet Chronarch, but that extra chance is enough to make it worth the stretch. On that note?

Wall and recursion!

Random choice?

All right Mr. Fog head on in. And joining you is . . .

At first this was Life from the Loam or Splendid Reclamation. But this works well too more generally for everyone but more for Gruul. 4 more Green card slots left!

Next oh G?

All right, head on in you solid but not amazing creature. Now I wanted to get in Nightshade Peddler or Ruthless Instincts for Green as fun deathtouch options. Instead I am pushing into deathtouch hard . . .

Hit me Baby One More Time!

Nah. Too weak, but I like the idea, more fleshed out.

I like what this is doing in for this Cube. At first the protection of all colors and +2/+2 may seem really nasty. And you can slip past the high defense and hard to kill stuff like the Azorius defender deck. But given that we have a lot of devoid stuff and colorless creatures, it’s not necessarily game over. And now let’s add another obvious enchantment enabler

All right, another pull on the Slot Machine

Not a bad card. Let’s put in another mana rock. How about Fellwar Stone? Coldsteel Heart? The various mana Myr cycle? Armillary Sphere?

As of right now, I only have 9 artifact creatures in my Cube. Let’s help with the mana stuff and make that an even ten.

Next?

Fit my themes perfect. I was looking at Abyssal Hunter. We’ll toss the Thrull right on in though, nicely done. And how about another on-theme addition. And I feel we’re about done with Simic with this one

It also works nicely with the defenders and the tempo aspects of the Cube as well. I can see it taken in Azorius, but with Seedborn Muse? Quest for Renewal? Hubba hubba!

Oh Gatherer, take me away!

I probably would have looked to have added this card into my Cube anyway as a reliable counter, and I got it here for free, so yay! Let’s push Blue creatures a little more with, say,

It’s not nearly as much of a powerhouse in Cube as Commander Cube, but it’s solid. Many players will look to grab it.

O Happy day, Gatherer!

Well, I don’t like Holy Armor per se, but I do like a one-mana White aura that has to head in . . .

Duh. What else? I do feel like White needs a lot more non-creature removal. Let’s add some on-theme removal.

All right Random Time!

All right, head on in Mr. Megamorph. I want to give my Boros a little loving. I feel like there are some good options there. Let’s go with . . .

What now brown cow?

Doran, the Siege Tower. Nah. Too many colors of the wrong type. Next?

Eyeblight Massacre. Hmm.. An on-theme Elf spell? But do I really want a 4 mana Infect? It’ll leave defenders, and a bunch of stuff at 4 mana that already got played. The number of Elves that I could be running it’ll dodge is pretty small. But I did flip it, so in it goes.

What am I adding in?

Spear of Heliod. Boros aggro and Selesnya enchantments both get something out of it, as does the Mono-White token build.

Random Times Tonight!

Mystical Tutor?

Is that too powerful? I don’t think so, so I’m tossing it in. I like the Tutors. What else do I like?

I wanted this to be Countermand, because the mill is set at four. But the problem with that is pretty easy to see. Anyone, like Izzet, might want to grab it. But would they want Induce Paranoia? Only if they want a 4 mana Cancel that literally does nothing else.

Our next randomly selected card from Gatherer will be . . .

I do have a bit of a discard theme, but I don’t see anyone drafting that any time soon, right? Random?

Soul Manipulation. Not enough space for gold spots, although it’s not bad.

Fog? Nah. Again, almost out of Green space.

Head on in good Foul Imp. Let’s start hitting up that three color cycle I have.

Fun, card drawing, flying, and haste. What’s not to love?

What do you have for my Random Night?

I love the card! But I can’t build around it this late. What next?

Head on in! You are super, super hard to cast, but man if you do that’s a solid card. Meanwhile, I’m going to toss in Comet Storm as an X spell for my Red selection.

Who wants to get to the good stuff?

Well that’s three solid burn cards for Red. So let’s hit up somewhere else.

I hope that t will prove another, lighter answer to the land destruction happening here.

Ready for the Random?

Love it. I have been in love with this guy for a long, long time, ever since I leaned on it hard all pre-release weekend long for Aether Revolt. Let’s do another of the three-color friends

I thought about Treva, but I already have Darigaaz and I feel it would be odd to have just two of a five color cycle. And she certainly fits too, right?

All righty my good Gatherer friend, what now?

Hmmm. Can I slip in an unblockable theme here at the end? If had this earlier maybe. But with just four creature slots left in Black, it’s a little hard to do it this late. It would take up too many to support. And given the number of defenders and block pain folks, this can’t be the sort of card you run randomly if you can’t be sure of it hitting.

If not the MD, then what?

My random hits Sleight of Mind, and again, I just don’t have the built-in infrastructure for it. Shoot, if I had gotten Sleight early then maybe my archetype could have Sleight Knight with cards like White Knight to Sleight! But nope, not today!

Pit Scorpion follows, and like MD, that needs some serious commitment I can’t do right now. Then I get something I should have remembered earlier

Remember when I flipped Bottomless Pit? How could I have forgotten:

I love you! Head in! Yay discarding fun. Meanwhile, I want another colorless creature for Rakdos on the black side of the mark. Enter:

Gatherer, how fore to now?

You guys are seriously breaking me here. I just got three Black unblockable fun cards in the last few minutes. But again, it’s too late.

Rustic Clachan? Nah.

Ghost-Lit Stalker?

All right, sure. But just two spots left, so you gotta be careful with my Black creatures from here.

I need another swinging body that Boros wants, but this is solid and can fight and trade with Dauthi Marauder so there’s that coolness happening as well.

Random Up!

All right that’s fine. Head on in! And then how about maybe one more support creature from White for Selesnya.

That’s fine. Just three White creature spots left.

Random?

Okay. I’m taking this as inspiration rather than writ, and going with Prodigal Sorcerer instead.

Ah well, decided to just go two from the cycle and move on. Okay Randomize me!

Would I like to run the Urzatron? Sure! Do I have enough searching? And would you be likely to draft all three? Nope to either. It’s not really a Cube thing. So what else then?

Do I have room to run the five wedges, one of each? Not really, space is tight. I have a shortlist of like 12 Green cards for the last 2 spots I’m waiting on with cards like Sylvan Library, Assault Formation, Bear Umbra, Bow of Nylea, Scapeshift, Sylvan Safekeeper, Enchantress's Presence, Heroic Intervention or Vines of Vastwood, Unbridled Growth, Overrun, Harrow, Crop Rotation, and Edge of Autumn on the shortlist. So given the lack of space, let’s instead do another random direction . . .

There’s nothing wrong with my burn section! All right, let’s go in an unexpected direction. Well, for you, I’ve been secretly looking at this card since I made Selesnya enchantments. Who wants to combine a defender and enchantment theme into one card? This guy!

I know! That’s so janky! Random Time!

I’ll take discard. And that may not have been one of the discard spells I was eyeing, but it works, certainly. Now what?

I wanted to push the tempo theme a little more and then I’ll call it. There are a few more effects I’m looking at on my shortlist. The nastiest is nasty. But others are on the list too. But this is nasty. And I think it’ll be the last of these things on my Blue-radar. I’m sure you can see how strong it is here.

Hammer me Gatherer!

Nevermaker is the sort of creature that I always think, “Maybe I can get it to work” but then I never have the time and something shinier distracts me. Just 4 spots for Blue critters. Now what?

Let’s give White some ability to land up here in my Cube. Especially with the dual lands in here with the basic land types included! This is a downright perfect tool, right? Gatherer, take me home.

Wurm's Tooth. Sorry, lucky charms are just too hard to make work this late in the game, given my colorless theme.

Huh. Unblockable 2/2 for Boros and others? I want to hold off given the small number of White creatures left.

Thoughtlace? Nah.

Abattoir Ghoul? Not enough space.

All right, time to step back. Math time:

White — 22 creatures, 19 others — 41 total, room for 9 other White cards

Black — 23 creatures, 15 others, room for 12 other Black cards

Blue — 21 creatures, 18 other, 39 total, room for 11 others

Red — 23 creatures, 18 others, 41 total, room for 9 more

Green — 26 creatures, 20 other, room for 4 more

With 50 of each color reserved, that leaves 110 for lands, gold, and artifacts and colorless stuff too.

Lands — 28 currently, all essential lands are in already

Artifacts — 11 creatures, 29 others, 40 currently

Gold — 18 creatures, 7 non. Total 25 so far

So for my non-, I have 93 used of 110.

I envision another 10 gold cards, to put me at 3 for each color combination, and the 5 card cycle. That gives 35 and 103 of 110, leaving me just 7 cards for non-gold and non-colored stuff.

I mentioned before that I was considering ending it when space got tight and just finishing it here. We’re getting close. I can finish the last four Green spots any time. All right, let’s lock it down:

Green:

Vines of Vastwood

Enchantress's Presence

Edge of Autumn

Sylvan Caryatid

I was considering adding in Scapeshift and Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle, but that’s a three card combo to win. Not likely to happen, right?

Anyways, that four set includes a surprise protection or Giant Growth effect, more enchantment support, and even another creature and the Edge. Support, mana fetching and more

Green is concluded for now.

Now gold.

I have some issues. My gold numbers are off.

I have gold of:

Izzet — 4

Azorius — 1

Rakdos — 1

Dimir — 2

Boros — 4

Selesnya — 3

Gruul — 0

Simic — 2

Orzhov — 2

Golgari — 1

The last gold card in Izzet was Nucklavee. I pull it for Archaeomancer in Blue. Lightning Helix is great. But it’s too many Boros Cubes and is pretty generic. It’s pulled too.

In heads:

Gruul Guildmage

Clan Defiance

Atarka's Command

Forerunner of Slaughter

Flayer Drone

Detention Sphere

Ojutai's Command

Mind Funeral

Murkfiend Liege

Sin Collector

Glissa, the Traitor

Nath of the Gilt-leaf

These 12 cards include more Elves, colorless dorks, and such. More untapping, more milling, and land sacrificing. And then some generic stuff that helps like the Commands. All of these cards are here and solid.

Gold is done

That gets me 103, and let’s finish with 2 more lands, and 5 more artifacts . . . or colorless cards.

Could I find space for:

Titan's Presence

All is Dust

Gruesome Slaughter

Colorless Edrazi like the titans or something like Artisan of Kozilek

Do any of those work for my “artifact” section? Sure! I love Gruesome Slaughter. But would it feel out of place in my Cube without the obvious Rakdos home? It feels like I might be adding in a fourth Rakdos gold card without actually doing that.

I go ahead and wrap up my lands and artifacts:

Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

Exotic Orchard

Walking Ballista

Scuttlemutt

Palladium Myr

Chromatic Lantern

Cloudstone Curio

That includes some additional mana making and fun times, from Walking Ballista shooting stuff as nice and fun to the Curio adding to the ETB themes that’ll let you self-bounce and then have funs later.

All right, we are done with Green, gold, Lands, Artifacts and such. Four colors left!

Let’s knock out White:

Windborn Muse

Hidden Dragonslayer

Exalted Angel

Spectral Procession

Glorious Anthem

Return to Dust

Faith's Fetters

Wave of Reckoning

Martial Coup

It seems like all of the colors are getting at least two morphs, so I wanted to hook up White as well. I rounded out what it was looking for, and then gave it a few solid non-specific good cards to draft. I thought about Master of Pearls instead of Hidden Dragonslayer. I tried to give White another mass removal spell that would keep many of its creatures alive. And then a mass removal spell that leaves you with creatures maybe! I chose to skip past Land Tax.

Lock it in, White is completed!

Blue:

Willbender

Arbiter of the Ideal

Mischievous Quanar

Clever Impersonator

Monastery Siege

Scatter to the Winds

Fact or Fiction

Illusionist's Stratagem

Dismiss

Deep Analysis

I thought hard about Arcanis, the Omnipotent, but ultimately decided not to head that way. I needed a Clone effect of some sort. You will also be happy to note that my Blue does not include Thousand Winds. You are welcome. And now Blue is concluded as well! Two colors left . . .

Red:

Warbreak Trumpeter

Thundermaw Hellkite

Faithless Looting

Firebolt

Wild Ricochet

Char

Dual Casting

Falter

Red Sun's Zenith

See also — No Tectonic Break. Be glad it’s not here. In other news, I thought about Ember Swallower but it’s not here either. Ah well.

Black:

Fleshbag Marauder

Doomed Necromancer

Palace Siege

Assassinate

Phyrexian Arena

Profane Command

Sudden Death

Makeshift Mannequin

Swarm Surge

Morbid Curiosity

Dread Summons

Brink of Disaster

The final card I cut was Shadows of the Past, a card I wanted to see how it did. Perhaps we’ll slide it in later.

I thought about cards like No Mercy, Liliana's Indignation, Suffer the Past, and Hymn to Tourach or Duress or something. But I wanted to try out Shadows of the Past. I wanted to intentionally make this section have what you expect — making Zombies, reanimation, drawing cards, sacrificing weak stuff, destroying things and then check out Swarm Surge here. I like it either as a mass front-pump, with the potential of some stuff getting the first strike bonus.

And that folks is a random Gatherer inspired Cube!

WHEW!!

That took like 25 hours to hack out, write, create on Excel, search for the cards in my collection, and upload it to cubetutor.com. Are you READY?

The Cube is over at CubeTutor.

Check out the visual spoiler and get your draft on!

Here we go! Take a look at a couple of pictures of the Cube being built right now!