Hello, folks! Are you ready to get your Cube on? Awesome! Today, I want to bring to you a Cube that’s been about a month in the making. The goal of this Cube is simple: be an iconic Cube with iconic cards from all over Magic that’s also draftable and playable. That’s the goal: a truly iconic set of cards for Cube and Magic enthusiasts.

Again, the goal here is to have the most iconic cards of all time. Two weeks ago, I discussed what that meant. These are cards used for marketing, for selling sets, for massive flavor, for setting a tone, for being the first, for having a certain cachet, and for being hotly desired. The first burn spell I want is Lightning Bolt, the first exiling removal for white I want is Swords to Plowshares, and so forth.

Now as you can see, we didn’t always go in that direction. There are occasions when I went with a later version of an effect because it was cleaner. Sometimes, I went with a slightly different take because we needed it in the Cube for playability. But as a general rule, I almost always went with the iconic version of a card, not the best.

Let me give you a perfect example: The expansion set Visions introduced creatures with triggers for when they arrived on the battlefield. Five such creatures were in the set, but two are wonky and hard to use. Three were highly played and decorated: Nekrataal, Uktabi Orangutan, and Man-o'-War. All three made my iconic Cube. Sure, today, you’d probably pull Nekrataal for Shriekmaw and the Uktabi Orangutan for Reclamation Sage, but they have earned their place here. Most cards with nicknames that everyone knows are probably candidates for ionic status (the Orangutan is called “Sex Monkies”).

As for playability, I tried to have some playable archetypes in the Cube that you can draft around and that tie into iconic stuff. Take Slivers. They are arguably the single most iconic tribe of all time. Slivers were added to numerous sets in order to sell them—from selling Onslaught block and Time Spiral block and being a huge part of the marketing of Magic 2014 and even 2015, Slivers are a huge part of the tribal cloth of Magic. But for the most part, the Slivers used are included more for helping build a Sliver deck and filling holes rather than pure iconic status. Only a handful of Slivers were so good, so powerful, or so important to decks that they are here on their own recognizance (Sliver Queen, Crystalline Sliver, etc.). Virtually every Sliver could be iconic for that reason.

In my first Cube, I included two cards that absolutely should be here based on their iconic status: Relentless Rats and Squadron Hawk. And if this were a printable set in which a common or uncommon would be drafted a few times, I’d leave them in. But at the end of the day, the Cube can’t have a 2-mana Suntail Hawk. I slid in Pack Rat for the Relentless ones, and Brimaz, King of Oreskos heads in for the Hawk. Trinket Mage was originally in the set, but it couldn’t find much outside of the Power 7 and stuff like Skullclamp and Sensei's Divining Top. So I pulled it for Pestermite.

Again, the goal here is to keep things iconic. Take a classic creature like Erhnam Djinn. Is it iconic? Yup! First of all, it was one of the fastest and best creatures in its era. It loaned its name to a very good deck after being reprinted in Chronicles (ErhnaGeddon). They used it to sell sets like Beatdown as a promo. Then, when they decided to reprint it in Judgment, they used it to market the set. It’s clearly an iconic part of green’s history, and I wanted to include the Erhnam Djinn, along with more recent stuff like Craterhoof Behemoth and Primeval Titan.

Layering draftable archetypes into this list can sometimes be pretty easy. Take blue and green. During Odyssey bock, there were a variety of powerhouses printed in these two colors. Grabbing the ones needed for a G/U Madness/Flashback deck is pretty easy. No one who played then would deny that cards like Wild Mongrel, Basking Rootwalla, Roar of the Wurm, and Quiet Speculation dominated the era. So we have a deck around that concept that you can draft.

The recently-added Pestermite can combo with Splinter Twin and Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker. That’s the red and blue theme. You can see a few themes here and there in the Cube begin to emerge. Blue and white has a control theme built around Isochron Scepter, Orim's Chant, Abeyance, and other fun things to put on a Scepter (Counterspell, Ancestral Recall, etc.). Red and green have a beats deck that can go all Fires on someone—Fires of Yavimaya and Sarkhan Vol give haste, and you can use Birds of Paradise, Llanowar Elves, and such to speed up, and you can use cards like Blastoderm, Flametongue Kavu, Erhnam Djinn, and Juggernaut to get in some early beats and then finish with an intriguing card like Thundermare or Thundermaw Hellkite to squeeze out the last damage.

Similarly, I went with only certain mono-colored Planeswalkers. Obviously, that first cycle from Lorwyn has to be in this Cube. And then I added just one more to join them. I couldn’t have too many slots given up to ’Walkers. But I could certainly move in some gold ones, such as Sorin, Lord of Innistrad and Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. Most ’Walkers are used to market and sell sets these days, so we could have a lot more. But I had to cut them off due to numbers.

But it can be harder to find other cards. Take High Tide. High Tide is a very iconic card from blue’s history. Do I run it? U/R can use it to bump up mana a bit for a Fireball. But it’s not likely that’ll be enough. I just don’t think High Tide fits into any draftable themes. So I ultimately left it on the bench. But a card like that makes a compelling case for entry. There are others, too. As the first card that played with creature types, Unnatural Selection has always had some strong power levels. But is it good enough here? So I pulled it for Deceiver Exarch to give red another combo target.

What about Megrim? Megrim is a powerful card as a discard-friendly outlet. And Megrim was played heavily at the kitchen table. Trust me. But later cards like Waste Not and Liliana's Caress are either cheaper or better. Should I really run Megrim over those? And do I have enough discard? I have Ravenous Rats, Hymn to Tourach, Liliana Vess, Liliana of the Veil, Duress, and Hypnotic Specter. Is that enough?

There are a lot of cards that become iconic because of the stories behind them. Cards like Avalanche Riders, Solemn Simulacrum, Meddling Mage, Shadowmage Infiltrator, Ranger of Eos, Snapcaster Mage, and Dark Confidant were created by winners of the Magic Invitational. So there is a story behind them. Other cards have nicknames that are ubiquitous. And some have their name used as the mechanics. Millstone is so synonymous with putting cards from the top of the library to the graveyard that we call that milling. It has to be included. Merfolk Looter really established the “looting” mechanic. Prodigal Sorcerer taps to deal 1 damage to something and was nicknamed “Tim.” Every similar poke for 1 damage was called “Timming” someone for a damage, even when it came from another color or source. (Both Pirate Ship and Rod of Ruin were in the same set, but it was Prodigal Sorcerer that stole the show on that front.)

I also want to keep asking questions. Is Maro strong enough to keep its spot? What about Skizzik? Do I need more Equipment? Do I need more black 1-drops? Is Hatred reliable enough? The Elder Dragon cycle from Legends is clearly among the most iconic, but are they really playable? Should I pull them for the Dragonlord cycle? Should I pull Damnation for Crux of Fate?

What about lands and mana? Should I add another layer of lands? Should I add a full set of ten or just a set of five, like the Vivid lands? Are the Karoo lands (Simic Growth Chamber, et al), iconic enough? Or should I toss in the tap duals like Watery Grave? Should I run the fetch lands instead? Could I add in the Myr cycle like Silver Myr and such to help out? I could really use another grab-any-land card or two. Could I fit in Sylvan Scrying or Weathered Wayfarer?

As the first real sacrifice engine, Ashnod's Altar has a lot of cachet. But do I have a Cube that cares? Or is it superlative? What about Saproling Burst? It was a major player during its era, it was very iconic, it plays nicely into the Fires R/G build, and it combos to kill someone with Pandemonium.

So what do you think? Check out the visual spoiler, or give it a go with a Draft, and let me know! It’s time to get iconic.