Pulp Cube 2: Return of the Pulp Cube

Posted on September 25, 2017

Hello folks!

Welcome back to my Pulp Cube already in progress. My goal is to create a draftable and playable Cube that is designed to evoke the Pulp era of literature from 1890 until 1940 (roughly). It’s an era of adventure. Of pushing the boundaries. Of flight. Of exploring the poles. Of archeology. Of big heroes who have made major impacts in our pop culture and media today.

Conan the Barbarian, The Lone Ranger, Tarzan, Sherlock Holmes, Buck Rogers, Zorro, Doc Savage, Flash Gordon.

It’s the era of H.P. Lovecraft and Cthulhu. Of Clark Ashton Smith and R.E. Howard and even early writings of Fritz Lieber. It’s the era of Abraham Merritt and Edgar Rice Burroughs. It’s about big ideas, and powerful good guys who are faced by unequivocally evil villains like Fu Manchu, and there is never a question as to who is who and what is what.

I have wanted to embrace the Pulp underpinnings of this game (and genre) for a while, and this project, inspired by the massive Pulp Stylings of Ixalan, definitely takes me to the next level.

I began taking my artistic visual-only Cube and turn it into a real project a few weeks ago. Check it out here.

Now if I want to hit 50 cards in each color, Black is still too big. I need to look askance at Black. My Blue is also still too big for its britches as well. Time to be mercenary about this. A few more cuts:

Pox — Great card, and maybe the more castable Smallpox would hit later.

Pillar Tombs of Aku — I love the flavor of this card so much. But it’s weak and easily answered.

Greed — 2 life for 1 card ain’t great here. This isn’t a Commander Cube.

Tombstalker — I only want to leave in a single Demon, which is the studly Demon of Death's Gate.

Quest for Ancient Secrets — Like Pillar Tombs of Aku, this card’s concept, art, and name are all major hits. Big win! Save for the fact that all it does is shuffle a graveyard back to the library afterwards. Not mechanically effective enough. I wish it would draw you some cards, or tutor for a card or something more . . . useful.

Flooded Shoreline — Not good enough

Psychic Possession — Ditto

All major Pulp hits! But not mechanical ones. That gets me to 317 cards overall, and these current numbers: 28 white, 49 blue, 56 black, 35 red, 48 green, 36 lands, 7 gold, and 58 colorless artifacts. As a reminder, my goals are 50, 50, 50, 50, 50, 40, 20, 50. Although I would be willing to make adjustments as I play with stuff. Before I build up flavorful themes, where do I have mechanical archetypes in my deck already?

Black

Sacrificing, Discard, and using the graveyard — Bogbrew Witch, Black Cat, Disease Carriers, Bubbling Cauldron, Infernal Tribute, Altar's Reap, Undertaker, Plague Witch, Cackling Witch, Buried Alive, madness on Big Game Hunter, threshold of Infected Vermin, Childhood Horror, Doomed Necromancer, Coffin Queen, Hell's Caretaker, etc.

Blue

Currently, Blue is the only color with an in-color pump card. Not Bad Moon for Black, not Crusade for White. But Sunken City? I should pull it out. Meanwhile, Forgotten Knowledge. Could I add in Arcane spells to use with The Unspeakable? Pro-Artifacts?

White

Pro artifacts and equipment here and there. Aggro.

Red

Control-ish stuff like Earthquake, Fissure, Aftershock, Lightning Bolt, etc, and Caverns of Despair feeding into that.

Green

Anti-flying. Gentle ramp.

Suggested archetypes:

— Aggro?

— Artifacts matter

— Ape tribal

— Add in Clues matter

— Dark and Forgotten knowledge

— Control?

— ???

— Tokens? Aggro?

Blue and Green

Before the release of Shadows Over Innistrad I was lacking one of the biggest Pulp genres out there. The mystery and noir side of the Pulp. It’s a huge part of the genre!

With heroes like detectives and reporters that investigate the seedy aspects of life, and put things together, this was a huge aspect of Pulp and lacking it made me sad. Now all I need is a Western themed Magic set and we’ll have everything!

I was going to be adding in the Mystery Subgenre of Pulp Fiction to the Cube after Shadows over Innistrad was released, and it makes sense as a draftable archetype as well:

So what makes the cut?

Blue:

Daring Sleuth

Confirm Suspicions

Gone Missing

Ongoing Investigation

Trail of Evidence

Green:

Confront the Unknown

Root Out

Artifact:

Magnifying Glass

Could I add in White’s Survive the Night and Expose Evil? Is Tireless Tracker still on theme? What about Briarbridge Patrol?

I think so, and I’ll toss in all four cards, giving me a total of 12 clue-making and using cards.

That takes me over in Blue and Green, but we can pull other stuff later.

What other archetypes make sense? After all, knowing what mechanical archetypes I want to support will help determine what cards to look for.

Desert Matters

Can I make two colors have a draftable Desert Matters theme?

I can give one to White with Desert's Hold (too bad that Solitary Camel has that dope-y Bolas Horns monument in the background or else I’d run it to make the numbers match if I could). I would do if the cards met my flavor requirements. You could do Solitary Camel I suppose, but would Gilded Cerodon and Sand Strangler fit? Now I could do Shefet Monitor as a big giant lizard in the desert, that would fit, but the rest of the Hydras or Naga don’t.

Well, that’s not totally true now that I think about it.

The Serpent Men are a major enemy created by Robert E. Howard that both Kull the Conqueror and Conan the Barbarian have to face. Clark Ashton Smith will also adapt them to his own fantasy stories. So, if I wanted, I could add in a Lizard Man race and be fine, like the Viashino.

Now I could do Selesnya Deserts. I was holding on to Selesnya Elephants in the back of my mind as a possible archetype, but this works. I could also do Unquenchable Thirst instead of Dehydration. If you don’t have a Desert, it’s still just as good but cheaper.

In:

Solitary Camel (ignore the art? )

Desert's Hold

Shefet Monitor

Sidewinder Naga

Dune Diviner

Wall of Forgotten Pharaohs

Lands:

Swap — Painted Bluffs in for Unknown Shores; Survivors' Encampment for Shimmering Grotto, Hashep Oasis for Heart of Yavimaya

In — Endless Sands, Sunscorched Desert.

Swap — Dehydration out for Unquenchable Thirst

While I am on this subject, anything else from Amonkhet or Hour of Devastation that fits the Arabian, Egyptian and Desert subtheme that I want to include? I love the Wall of Forgotten Pharaohs, for example.

I don’t want to add in a mass undead theme anywhere. But maybe one Mummy would be fine, right?

I love Trespasser's Curse, Sunset Pyramid, Frilled Sandwalla, Beneath the Sands, Hyena Pack, Scaled Behemoth, Oashra Cultivator, Oracle's Vault, and Embalmer's Tools. But let’s lock down some right now.

I add in:

Cast Out

Unwavering Initiate

Vizier of Deferment

I went with the Initiate to show the darker potential of it, but it’s the only embalm card I have. I don’t want to push that too much for my Cube. I need more White cards anyway.

What’s my next theme?

B/R Sacrifice

Right now I have a number of sacrifice cards in Black, with death triggers like Disease Carriers or Black Cat, as well as some sacrificial cards. Just a few in Red would give me a theme. Rukh Egg? Okay, I have a few changes, get ready:

Out — Sengir Vampire, Sengir Nosferatu

Swap — Falkenrath Aristocrat for Army Ants, Scorched Rusalka for Bird Maiden

If I can make it work flavor-wise, then I think Blazing Hellhound would be my other Rakdos card.

Now the Aristocrat is perfect, because I was looking to drop my Vampire count. It moves it out of my rough Black patch, and I think the angry ghost of a dead creature trying to piece together it’s death by torching people is pretty pulp-ish too, so Scorched Rusalka is in.

W/B Pestilence

I just had an inspiration . . .

I have Cemetery Gate and Infected Vermin in my Black suite already. I was about to pull them out when I realized that they were on theme . . .

What if I made my suite about Pestilence and protection?

In:

White Knight (original art preferably)

Hand of Honor

Blood Baron of Vizkopa

Pestilence for Evil Presence

Perfect! The Hand of Honor pushes my Pan-Asian Pulp Theme, the White Knight is perfectly suited, and the Blood Baron is another clever addition of a Vampire without going overboard. Finally, Pestilence fits, like Pox or Smallpox or other cards concepted after diseases and other illnesses that were common exploring in that time. They all work!

Aerial Aces and Flying

I want to solidify as aggro and then get a draftable archetype for Black and Green. Reanimation?

One of the key subgenres of Pulp Fiction that has been mostly lost today is the flying subgenre. Flying started during the heydays of the Pulp Era, and like other major things occurring in real life, fiction quickly took over. Just like the headlines of the day included archeological discoveries in the desert, so too did fiction. As explorers were sending expeditions to the poles, so too did fiction. As people were creating flying and turning pilots like Amelia Earnhardt and Charles Lindbergh into heroes, so too did our fiction.

There was this cool flying genre of Pulp Fiction that most people have forgotten about. I watched a couple of films and some serials in the genre, so I am pretty familiar with it.

Here, take a look:

This is one of the early 1930s serials called The Mystery Squadron, which is one of the first to have actual airplane and flying scenes shot for it, rather than models or something. It was hugely influential on later serials and flying sequences in movies as well.

This is the Ace Drummond comic strip, which began in 1933, again charting an aerial flying genre of writing during this era:

There was even an entire genre of short stories in this vein, and here is one good example of it:

This is the Battle Aces pulp magazine, a monthly love of all things aerial delivered to your door. And Battle Aces is hardly the only one. We also have pulp magazines published monthly like Air Trails,Sky Riders, Sky Raiders, War Birds, Flying Aces, Air Warand even Battle Birds. Here’s a few more to signify the era:

G-8 is a series of the unnamed G8 character, set during the WWI (although written later in the early and mid 30s). Some of the bad guys he’ll face are giant robots, the undead and invisible planes! He was so popular that he lasted for 110 issues.

I’m sure you get the idea.

Now the reason why I am laying is this context for you is because I am considering adding Pilots to the Cube.

Now, Steampunk and other modern riffs on the Pulp Era is not pulp. I do not consider those aspects of modern feel of that oeuvre that made the cut in Kaladesh and Aether Revolt to count. But there is very much a sort of concept of Pilots and flying that the Steampunk genre connects with, that is also vital to the plane and people of Kaladesh as well. Take Weldfast Wingsmith. That feels more Steampunk than Pulp to me. Ditto Inventor's Goggles or Filigree Familiar.

Given that, what do I think would be suitably pulp-y. And is there enough here to build a draft around? This is an especially important question given the flavor of the world evokes Magic hard.

Too bad Depala is a Dwarf who pumps Dwarves. For those who know Dwarves from fantasy, I think the Pulp Cube would feel . . . off.

Dwarves are a modern heroic fantasy trope. There are no Dwarf Stories or Dwarven Tales pulps out there. So unless the Dwarves are few and far between, and look non-Dwarf, it would have issues.

We’d also need enough Pilots to crew Vehicles. I need enough Vehicles to make the set work.

For example, in theory, based on mechanics, I could do:

Veteran Motorist

Speedway Fanatic

Renegade Wheelsmith

Aeronaut Admiral

Gearshift Ace

Reckless Racer

That would be six Pilots. And then I could add in some vehicles . . . but which ones? Bomat Bazaar Barge or Cultivator's Caravan? I don’t want anything too . . . steampunk-y or Magical.

I’m not sure I see these being what I’m thinking of when I think of Aerial Adventure Pulps. Adding in an Airship or two is fine. This is the era of Airships:

So I could do one or three Airship vehicles certainly. But that feels like it’s too many Kaladesh magic themed cars. Right?

Right!

But it’s not really a pulp-era thing to have Sky Pirates that fight from Airships like . . . say . . . this:

That’s a modern take on it, not one then. Pirates? Absolutely! Pilots! Sure! Airships? You got it! But these mélange that looks like steampunk or something different? Nope. That’s not here.

Now, in terms of racing? Shoot, there are entire sporting, boxing, and racing pulps too!

Piloting indeed.

Given that, I think the Pilot theme is fine, but is it the best use of my Boros colors? Probably.

For now I’ll put a pin in Pilots, given their need for enough vehicles to work together. We can get both pirate ships and vees from Kaladesh to help with the plan, but I would need enough to matter, given that anyone could meaningfully draft a vehicle for any deck.

What else from this block entices me?

Skywhaler's Shot, Disappearing Act, Night Market Lookout, Incendiary Sabotage, Ghirapur Orrery, and Panharmonicon are on my list. What about Skyship Plunderer or Destructive Tampering?

All right, I have one or two more archetypes to hack out.

My current archetypes are — Desert Matters (), Artifacts Matter (), Ape Tribal (), Clues (), Dark Knowledge (), Pestilence, (), but and are still not solidified . . .

Hmmm . . .

I have a full Blue section right now. Anything I could do to hack into something Blue is already doing? And then add in Red support where I have room? I think I might have it.

Could I do Pirates with some Pirates from Ixalan fleshing us out?

Now the problem with that is I have three tribal themes, all three of which are in Red. Red gets Apes, Pirates, and Pilots. Might as well pull that Rakdos theme for Rogues or something, right?

Could I do Arcane?

Based on flavor, I think you could justify adding in:

Blue:

Toils of Night and Day

Reach Through Mists

Sift Though Sands

Peer Through Depths

Murmurs from Beyond

Eye of Nowhere

Red:

Unearthly Blizzard

Torrent of Stone

Blind with Anger

And maybe Through the Breach and Ideas Unbound.

Based on mechanics, I think Overblaze, Path of Anger's Flame, and some cards would be okay with different art, like Glacial Ray, Cut the Earthly Bond, Crushing Pain, Crack the Earth, and First Volley.

We could go with Arcane spells, and then use The Unspeakable to bring them back after hitting. Most of the Arcane stuff would fit into the “Knowledge Better Left Forgotten” basic core. You can see them above.

Let’s move in.

Swap:

Out Sudden Storm, Forbidden Alchemy and Iceberg for the three instants that get The Unspeakable.

Out Gush for Murmurs from Beyond

Out Monastery Flock for Eye of Nowhere

Out Giant Octopus for Toils of Night and Day

In:

Unearthly Blizzard

Torrent of Stone

Blind with Anger

Through the Breach

Now before you begin to think Through the Breach is a little outside of the Pulp Era, allow me to share with you the idea of portals, and summoning dark eldritch creatures from beyond that plays into the Arcane concept . . .

Such as Abraham Merrit’s The Moon Pool:

You’ll get the idea soon enough.

And there we are, ready to Arcane this thang up.

All right, now one final archetype in Black and Green. Thoughts?

Right now my numbers are:

37 White, 54 Blue, 54 Black, 39 Red, 55 Green, 8 multicolored, 38 land, 60 artifacts

Now I want 50 of each color, 20 gold, 40 lands, and 50 artifacts. That’s 360. Although I am willing to add in a few extra cards if I need to here and there. And those numbers are minus my Pilots.

So my Black and Green are already full to the brim of stuff. Where and what could I tether together to make it work? I can’t add in 5 or 6 Black and Green cards for each color that won’t fit elsewhere.

Could I go Tribal with Rats, Insects or Snakes or Spiders or something?

Insect — I think I could fit in cards like Ant Queen, Hornet Queen or Deadly Insect for the Cube easily.

Rat — Tons of options, but not Green ones

Spider — Would Spider Spawning fit?

Snake — Tribal is , not , but we have a lot of Snakes already. Most of the tribal cards are legendary from the plane of Kamigawa and would likely feel off.

Insect Tribal feels the easiest to slide in. I already am running Insects like Fog of Gnats, Brood of Cockroaches, Giant Cockroach, Hornet Nest, Killer Bees, Invasive Species.

I also feel like Insects are natural fits in the Pulp Cube, just like Apes. And there aren’t any Ape tribal cards, but can still make it happen, right? Same thing here. I can still make this happen.

I add in:

Black:

Out — Silent Assassin and Brood of Cockroaches, In Endless Cockroaches and Devouring Swarm

This gives me more players for and better Insects to draft for this deck.

Green:

Out — Boa Constrictor and Wooly Spider for Ant Queen and Deadly Insect.

Land:

Swarmyard

Before I make those final changes, are there any other directions I want to consider for Golgari? I think Insects are the best tribe to do here, but do I want that over other draftable themes? Yes.

Now that I have done that I want to add another Pulp subtheme to my White to flesh it out.

Heroic Deeds

I need to flesh out my White and I think a section on Heroic Deeds of these explorers, adventurers, reporters, detectives and more is pretty important to see. I think a few of these cards make a lot of sense:

I want to add in some of these cards to flesh out some of my drafting mechanics:

I am thinking about moving to just ten gold cards from 20, one of each two-colored combination. Right now, I have no draft theme with two cards in its colors, save for Boros with two, potential, Pilots. In fact, many colors just don’t have an obvious choice for that gold card anyway. How does one do something like Gruul Apes when there aren’t any Gruul Apes at all, not even a bad one? Right now, my Gruul card is Savage Twister, which would normally count, right? Right! Plus, that would free up ten slots for more artifacts, which should help, given that I have an artifact theme in one color and (Potentially) a Vee theme in another. Getting my number up to 60 artifacts from 50 is nice given that context, and I am already at 60 artifacts, so there is that too.

New Cards and Changes:

Kird Chieftain — More Apes!

Siege Modification — Vees?

Primitive Justice — Apes for the Win! It gives the format one break against artifacts getting overly crazy.

What about Artifacts?

If Hanna were not a major character, check her out:

There’s nothing there that jumps out and reads MAGIC MAGIC GRR ARGH or the Weatherlight Skyship she is on, and that makes it a nice piece and concept. But, it’s a little duplicative of Argivian Archaeologist already in (although I could either keep it in, or sub in something for its spot) as well as being a character we know, and I have been pulling out stuff like Godo, Selvala, and Skyship Weatherlight. I feel adding in Hanna, even one with great art and concept like this, would feel like I was moving in the wrong direction.

BUT, here are my other only cards that care about artifacts:

Are any of those playable? Are they workable in a Pulp context? Hanna at least is, no question. I toss her in, because at least she works. I also leave in Argivian Archaeologist as many of my artifacts have self-sacrifice themes in them already as well as Sage of Lat-Nam still having a spot in the Pulp Cube.

More Additions

Spectral Guardian — Love how flavorful it is too. You come across some mystic relics, but before you can do anything to them, a Spirit tied to this place reveals itself and you have to deal with it before you can mess with the artifacts. That is very pulp-ish to me.

Argivian Find — Look at that art!

What about my Dimir archetype of Dark and Forgotten Lore?

I have two things that appeal to me in those colors: Glimpse the Unthinkable or Extract from Darkness. I am doing the latter, because of how strong it is generally, and useful without any backup but also suits what is happening in those two colors.

I love Evil Twin in there right now, that is so pulp.

Could I add in Grave-Shell Scarab as my Golgari card? There’s not cityscape scene behind it, like you might expect for Ravnica, and there’s just someone zoomed out riding a giant beetle. I feel like that feels on point, so I’m tossing it in.

I think that works:

See? Not bad, right. It also increases my Insect count too.

Selesnya gets a card that everyone knows, but double check the art and I think you’ll see where it’s here . . .

First of all, there’s no major Magic-al elementals or overly Alara-esque accoutrements on the card, and it looks like it could be snapped in Europe. Secondly, it’s got an ability that works with the Desert matters theme quietly. Sacrifice a Forest or Plains for a Desert! Get bigger for your dead lands, including those dead Deserts! I’m sure you get the idea, right?

Izzet?

Could we do?

I think that would likely be okay.

Gruul?

Right now, I have the generically flavored Savage Twister. I could do the on-flavor, Simoon, or something like Voracious Cobra, Wreak Havoc, Fossil Find and such.

Now take a look at the Cobra . . .

It’s not bad in limited, the first strike and pseudo-deathtouch are fine together. But basically, we can’t get any Ape themed stuff, and mostly the various cards are just utility or the Cobra.

I’m going with the Cobra for now as a place-holder, until something better comes along.

Simic?

I have Jungle Barrier in right now, which does not match the Clue-based draft archetype.

Could I toss in Pygmy Hippo? Snakeform? Fable of Wolf and Owl? Malignant Growth? Bring to Light? Or do I prefer Jungle Barrier? Pygmy Hippo was weakened post-mana burn, and thus I’d prefer the Barrier to remain for now.

Swaps:

Famine in for Hex — Helps my theme.

Enclave Cryptologist — Good card, good feel, Merfolk feels off. Swap for Master Thief.

Flood for Argivian Restoration

Quicksmith Spy for Archivist — I like QS Spy which plays well into the Clue theme of as well.

Extract from Darkness for Breathstealer's Crypt

Out: