Today’s article is brought to you by the card Nulldrifter. Mulldrifter is a longtime favorite of mine, and the only thing I didn’t like about this design riff when it was first previewed was that I didn’t have a use for Nulldrifter. Yet.
I’ve had it as a Cube bucket list item for a while to try to craft a singleton environment where Tron lands were appealing and viable to draft, and it just happens that a seven-mana spell pulling at my nostalgic heartstrings was exactly the inspiration I was waiting for! As it became clear that Eldrazi would be a heavy theme in Modern Horizons 3, I thought that an Eldrazi Twobert might be a fun project to try to tackle, and I’m happy to say I was right!
You can find the list for my Eldrazi Twobert on Cube Cobra, and we’ve been drafting it for a few weeks on the We Will Be Cubing stream (Thursday nights at 6:30 PM Central Time!). When I first assembled the list, I tried to pay homage to Rise of the Eldrazi Limited with a defender theme, but that didn’t pan out at all. Over time the list has become progressively more colorless, and the aesthetic and play experience are both in a great place now, though there are some knobs that I’m continuing to turn. Let’s take a look at the Cube by color to show off the design!
White
White is among the colors changing the most from my initial sketch, with Eldrazi Displacer and Angelic Aberration being the only two white Eldrazi. Both cards are great, but that leaves a lot of slots to fill!
I identified colorless threats as a way to fill out the Cube early on, and both Platoon Dispenser and Steel Seraph have always been in the Cube, with Platoon Dispenser far exceeding my expectations! As the Cube has evolved, I’ve shaped a “go-wide” strategy that is largely rooted in white and green and cards that make tokens, pump your creatures, or otherwise benefit from you making tokens are a significant aspect of the environment.
I tried a larger hideaway package for one draft, but found Collector’s Cage and Rabble Rousing to be pretty heavy-handed, with Windbrisk Heights both fitting the environment better and presenting a reasonable cost to cast the hideaway spell. I want big Eldrazi to be cast and take over games sometimes, but I do want you to work for it!
White is long on catch-all exiling removal, which is strong but selective effective given all of the ways to go wide as well as all of the cast triggers on big Eldrazi. I was hesitant to add Swords to Plowshares to the Cube, but it’s felt like a fine fit, certainly not as oppressive as the pushed hideaway package was.
Witch Enchanter is both a nice answer to the myriad mana rocks and powerful enchantments in the Cube, as well as a way to get players to functionally play more lands in their decks. It was the first modal double-faced card (MDFC) that I slotted in, and I’ve added a few more since and will likely add a few more still as we continue to draft the Cube!
The last card in white that I want to address is Gideon, Ally of Zendikar. There’s nothing even a little Eldrazi-adjacent about Gideon, and while the card does contribute to the go-wide strategy, it still might look a bit out of place. The short version is that there aren’t enough Eldrazi with good play patterns to make a full singleton Cube without any other kinds of cards.
The longer version is that I landed on putting in every member of The Gatewatch that battled the Eldrazi, along with the three who originally sealed them away as well as the ones who unlocked them, for a little flavor. The even longer version is that I like the way that planeswalkers play and that I advocate for giving players access to cards they can be confident in drafting highly, particularly in generally unusual environments.
Blue
Blue has been a bit more static, with a longer roster of powerful Eldrazi to choose from than white. The cheap flyers like Dimensional Infiltrator have been a little suspect, but I added some support for a lower-to-the-ground aggressive deck, and cheap counters like Consign to Memory and Ceremonious Rejection offer a way to try to go under the bigger Eldrazi decks.
Enclave Cryptologist and Surge Engine both pay homage to Rise of the Eldrazi, though one does this more literally than the other. Most level up cards don’t really fit the environment, but having some mana sinks is crucial to enable players to have both one-mana spells and eight-plus-mana spells in the same deck.
Jace, the Mind Sculptor might look excessive in the planeswalker department, but I tried both Jace Beleren and Jace, Architect of Thought, and neither played. The Cube’s high mana curve might suggest that Jace is a menace, but there are tons of creatures that generate value that apply a lot of pressure to Jace, as well as a good peppering of outright planeswalker removal to keep these cards in check.
Black
Despite not having many Eldrazi to speak of, black is the color that has changed the least since my first draft of the Cube. Discard, removal, and exiling effects all just play really well here. Go Blank has been an overperformer, with Mind Rot just being pretty good when players are trying to cast very expensive spells!
I’ve cast more Distended Mindbenders for eight in this Cube than for the emerge cost, but that’s a feature, not a bug. Phyrexian Fleshgorger serves as an honorary Eldrazi, and is part of the package of large creatures that enable Ugin’s Labyrinth. The option to cast it as a three-drop is nice, though I don’t believe I’ve seen that come up yet!
I was a little wary of Infernal Reckoning at first, but it has felt fine, and definitely doesn’t pose any kind of issue if Swords to Plowshares is acceptable. Mostly it’s just cool to show off a kind of obscure “hate” card that only one-for-ones and thus plays reasonably.
Red
Red is another color that hasn’t shifted too much, largely due to a solid roster of Eldrazi to choose from. Herigast has been an awesome piece of top-end, though I am somewhat skeptical that Hideous Taskmaster has a net positive impact on the environment.
I was a bit worried about Eldrazi Linebreaker running away with games, but the Cube is long enough on removal and blockers that it’s just been a good card and not a busted one, which is great. Goblin Cratermaker has never been much of a card anywhere else, but it has actually overperformed here as an efficient way to stop many of the five-plus-mana cards from taking over games.
Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker is the planeswalker in the Cube I’m most likely to cut for not being impactful enough. There are a few other red fives in the Cube, and of them, it’s maybe better than Barrage Tyrant, but Eldrazi lands can’t cast it ahead of schedule. I do like the flavorful planeswalker package, but at this point I’m likely to cut Sarkhan for Sarkhan’s Unsealing, which mostly accomplishes the same goal while also playing into the spread of cards like Kozilek’s Unsealing and Path of Annihilation that set you up to go huge with the expensive Eldrazi.
Green
Green has changed a lot in my first draft, but that’s only because green is the color you would want to root a defender theme in. There’s actually quite a lot of serviceable green Eldrazi for going wide and going tall alike!
My favorite green cards in the Cube are actually Ancient Stirrings and Once Upon a Time. Once Upon a Time is not a reasonable card if you can cast it for free, but it’s often not worth two mana. This is a Cube that takes advantage of the free mode to push Tron and other busted lands, while also being the kind of environment where the card is reasonable to cast for two.
Nissa, Voice of Zendikar is the most efficiently powerful card for the go-wide decks, and pairs great with Awakening Zone and From Beyond. I’ve been a little wary of cards that might incentivize players to name a creature type other than Eldrazi with Obelisk of Urd, but Nissa is the one exception that I’m fine making in that regard, given that green needs to be doing something special to counterbalance all of the powerful colorless mana ramp to still be a meaningful color.
Sowing Mycospawn is one of my favorite cards in the Cube. A four-mana creature with a decent body that ramps you is solid, especially if you have some Eldrazi or Tron lands to find. The mana sink that the kicker ability offers while also pushing back against your opponent’s development is a very powerful yet beatable effect for six mana. I know not everyone can stomach having their lands removed, but a little bit of that scratches a nostalgic itch for me.
Gold
I knew that I wanted Talismans in this Cube for colorless fixing, and with the amount of slots I wanted for colorless cards and the dearth of gold Eldrazi in some color combinations, I only had room for one gold slot for every color. Mirari’s Wake is a no-brainer for both the go-wide and the go-big decks, and Sorin, Grim Nemesis is another haymaker that most players haven’t thought about in years that fits very well in this environment.
Technically I have an extra Simic slot, but both Waterscape Battlemage and Drowner of Truth are splashable and don’t really require the level of commitment of real gold cards, and both are cards that I see as significant value-adds to the Cube: Drowner for both being a land and subsidizing Ugin’s Labyrinth, and Battlemage for being an answer to the busted artifacts and enchantments in the Cube.
I was skeptical of Ulalek, Fused Atrocity at first for not doing anything the turn you cast it, but such setup cards have become one of the most charming aspects of the Cube for me. Similar to Kozilek’s Unsealing, you don’t get much the turn Ulalek comes down, but if you don’t answer it, then things can get out of hand quickly! Ulalek is also surprisingly easy to cast, given the volume of colorless mana sources in the Cube.
Colorless
When I think Eldrazi, I think Thought-Knot Seer. I also think Eldrazi titans. There was no way to get away from the most successful Eldrazi in Constructed Magic or from the biggest bads of the clan. I wanted one of each of the Titans, and tried to pick the one I wanted by approximating how easy they were to cast as well as how likely they were to be beaten to provide the best play experience. I think that Emrakul, the Promised End is the only reasonable Emrakul, and Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre strikes me as a hair above the Ceaseless Hunger in terms of not being as brutal to play against. Kozilek, the Broken Reality has played great, and is definitely the most foundational to the current Cube experience.
Beyond that, there are some nice haymakers in the form of cards like Eldrazi Monument and Forsaken Monument to try to take over games, and plenty of role-players in the form of mana ramp as well as strong, cheap creatures for Eldrazi decks. The colorless column has grown over time as the Cube has evolved, eating more mono-color slots, which just feels right for an Eldrazi Cube. Notably, the heavy colorless column makes it comparatively easy to get enough playables for a deck, and makes some additional land slots easier to bear.
Lands
The two mana-fixing cycles for this Cube were selected specifically for their ability to make colorless mana, and it’s honestly been hilarious watching painland plus filter land manabases function. The mana is generally pretty good, but it does cost you some life!
I was wary of Eldrazi Temple, Eye of Ugin, and Ugin’s Labyrinth at first, but filling the Cube with Talismans and enough mana ramp for everyone to get some has left them not feeling problematic. I’m really glad that they’ve played well, because they’re a significant part of the aesthetic of the environment.
Though I wasn’t sure how Tron lands would play at all, at this point we’ve already had three different drafts where one player ended up with the full Tron, and I’ve seen them come online multiple times. I couldn’t be happier with this result! Planar Nexus is a critical card for making these lands work, and I’m personally big on using the not-tournament-legal Nearby Planet to further subsidize this engine. Cloudpost hasn’t done as much as these lands in early drafts, but I’ll keep it around a bit longer and see if that changes or if I might want to try stuff like Vesuva to push that specific lane a little further.
This Cube has far exceeded my expectations in terms of how fun it is to play, and I’m really happy with where it’s at. There is still some tinkering to do, which I’ll certainly be updating on the Cube Cobra page as I play with it more. I also have a bonus sheet ready to try for my next draft!
Wastes or No Wastes?
A common question I’m asked regarding this Cube is whether basic Wastes are available in the land box.
I have landed on not offering them for a few reasons. There are a ton of colorless sources in the main Cube, and there aren’t effects that tutor for basic lands. As such, I believe adding Wastes to almost any deck would generally just make that deck worse. Further, my intention is for the bonus sheet to give players even higher access to lands that are more useful than basic Wastes, and their only appeal would be one strictly of novelty, which I don’t value very highly abstractly.
If you’re looking for something off the beaten path and/or you’re a fan of Eldrazi, I would recommend looking into this Cube. The games the environment offers range from low-curve beatdowns, to wide battlefields staring each other down, all the way to giant monsters showing up to completely take over! Seasoned Cube designers know that not every idea comes together, but this one really has tentacles. Er… legs.
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