My favorite way to play Magic is limited, drafting a new set is always fun and exciting. New cards, new synergies to unlock and the Wild Wild West vibes of knowing that others you're playing against are experiencing this for the first time as well. It's a beautiful thing.
However, there is an issue with retail limited. Formats become solved over time. The wealth of content produced by folks like Limited Resources, Sam Pratt(Rough Drafts) and Alex with Limited Level-Ups combined with data from thousands of drafts and games on 17lands.com widens the gap between your average Joe and a seasoned limited grinder. The later understands what archetypes are best, what rares/mythics are worth building around and what a good deck in each color pair should look like. This creates a huge discrepancy between these two types of players and their end results.
However, there is an issue with retail limited. Formats become solved over time. The wealth of content produced by folks like Limited Resources, Sam Pratt(Rough Drafts) and Alex with Limited Level-Ups combined with data from thousands of drafts and games on 17lands.com widens the gap between your average Joe and a seasoned limited grinder. The later understands what archetypes are best, what rares/mythics are worth building around and what a good deck in each color pair should look like. This creates a huge discrepancy between these two types of players and their end results.
My brother in-law is new to Magic. I convinced him to come "hang out" with my fellow Magic nerds, drink a beer, and check out cool Goblin artwork a few months back. He oddly enough was dabbling in Warhammer 40k at the time, and I shared some of the cards and art that was used for the Warhammer Magic EDH decks. He was very intrigued and this led down a path of discovery for him.
He came out to a cube BBQ event I organized at my home while my wife was at the beach with the kiddo. Brisket tacos, old school cubes, good weather and a bustling atmosphere drew him in. After that day, he was pretty much hooked. I got random texts about a card he discovered or a some Secret Lair that he bit on. It has been a very fun and rewarding thing to be a part of.
I bring all of this up, as a preface for my new cube: Second Nature, because it was designed with him and folks like him in mind. In fact, this entire blog stemmed from a long post I made to try and help him understand how to draft and approach a new cube. I couldn't fit it all on my Cube Cobra update, so I was kind of forced.
Second Nature above all is meant to be the most accessible cube I have built thus far. It is comprised entirely of cards that are available to craft on MTG Arena. I know this is nothing new. However, I wanted to take it a few steps further and of course make it somewhat unique. MTG Arena does not allow you to just play with whatever they have outside of their own formats without first acquiring each card using their wildcard system. You're basically spending in-game currency to purchase a digital copy of whatever card you wish to play with. Commons and uncommons are plentiful and earned at a faster clip than higher rarity slots like mythic and rare. Given that I want to be able to play this cube with a newer player, I minimized the need for higher rarity cards.
Second Nature above all is meant to be the most accessible cube I have built thus far. It is comprised entirely of cards that are available to craft on MTG Arena. I know this is nothing new. However, I wanted to take it a few steps further and of course make it somewhat unique. MTG Arena does not allow you to just play with whatever they have outside of their own formats without first acquiring each card using their wildcard system. You're basically spending in-game currency to purchase a digital copy of whatever card you wish to play with. Commons and uncommons are plentiful and earned at a faster clip than higher rarity slots like mythic and rare. Given that I want to be able to play this cube with a newer player, I minimized the need for higher rarity cards.
Using more commons and uncommons serves another purpose in my design goal for this cube. I want this to feel more like a retail limited set. My favorite cube, and by far my most popular cube with my playgroup is my IPA Block cube. It mimics Invasion/Planeshift/Apocalypse draft by including duplicates of commons and only 1 copy of uncommon and rare cards. When you open a pack, you mostly see commons, but will have a few uncommons and a rare to pick from. So, it does feel similar to opening a booster pack from back in the day.
I want to evoke the feeling you get from sitting down and drafting a pack of retail limited, but with some fixes. I won't go too deep on this topic, but the recent changes Wizards of the Coast has made to retail sets includes cards that are not meant for limited play. In Second Nature, I have included 3 copies of each common, 2 of each uncommon and 1 of each rare. So, you will still be able to easily construct your draft deck with minimal wildcards on MTG Arena, but will also be able to power up your card pool with impactful and synergistic rares.
I want to evoke the feeling you get from sitting down and drafting a pack of retail limited, but with some fixes. I won't go too deep on this topic, but the recent changes Wizards of the Coast has made to retail sets includes cards that are not meant for limited play. In Second Nature, I have included 3 copies of each common, 2 of each uncommon and 1 of each rare. So, you will still be able to easily construct your draft deck with minimal wildcards on MTG Arena, but will also be able to power up your card pool with impactful and synergistic rares.
Now that you have a peek behind the curtain and into my mindset for this cue project, let's review the archetypes and some of the notable cards.
UW Blink. 
Classic archetype that looks to gain value over and over with card draw and creature ETB effects. This is a mid-range deck that can also be on the controlling side by nature of blue counterspells and white removal. Soul-Herder and Cloudblazer are the signpost uncommons here
UB Ninjas
So fun. Use evasive creatures in blue and black to sneak in for damage and on hit effects. This deck looks to control the board and gain advantage for a powerful late game. Cards like Fogwalker and Aether Poisoner are both evasive and have ETB effects that do double duty here.
BR Sacrifice
Utilize aggressive red creatures to push early damage, then sacrifice then for value once they have been outclassed by your opponents threats. Act of Treason and several free sacrifice outlets are available at common here, so look to close out the game with a steal and sac combo or burn your opponents last life total away using red's damage effects.
RG Landfall
The mana base in this cube is mainly common and some uncommons, so expect to be more 2 color than not. The traditional Gx multicolor soup decks that are prevalent in cubes these days doesnt really exist. Instead this Landfall archetype is aggressive and looks to push damage with landfall effects that buff creatures or deal damage to your opponent directly. Brushfire Elemental and Akoum Hellhound do serious work in this deck.
UG Flash
One of my favorite decks of a bygone era. Green Blue flash looks to use blue instant speed interaction and green combat tricks/auras to make combat and life in general very difficult for your opponent. This deck is a little more skill testing than others but is very fun to pilot. Cards like Frilled Mystic and Repulsive Mutation can be backbreaking, so prioritize them highly.
GW Enchantments
Less turtle-up and win without combat, this archetype looks to steamroll opponents with a myriad of impactful auras and evasive creatures. Cards like Gladecover Scout or Beloved Princess as 12/12 creatures is kind of sweet to pull off and definitely happens here.
WR Heroic
This deck is definitely on the aggressive side. It wants to put the opponent on the backfoot and make them block with their key pieces so they don't die from out of nowhere. The heroic deck can turn a 1/1 into a 5/5 pretty easily and close out with white fliers or red direct damage. Akroan Skyguard can get massive and make life very difficult if it's backed up with a few white protection spells and auras.
WB Modified
Like the heroic deck, this WB strategy wants to buff your creatures and overpower the opponent. However, this archetype also plays with the control elements in black and sacrifice synergies to go into the late game as well. Oona's Blackguard and Aerie Auxiliary are perfect cards to pair together here.
GB Graveyard Matters
This archetype is a late game powerhouse. Green has strong creatures and interaction for non-creature pieces and black has strong creature removal and recursion engines. Pair the 2, and you have a recipe for a grindy deck built for attrition. Cards that self mill, and reward you for having a large graveyard are very important here. Look for cards Like Champions of Dusan or Liliana's Elite at common for this deck.
UR Spells
Spell Aggro is such a sweet deck to pilot. Blue and Red interaction paired with aggressive and evasive creatures puts your slower decks on the backfoot. Get on board and utilize blue and red interaction to disrupt your opponent. Cards like Thermo-Alchemist and Balmor Battle-Mage can push a ton of damage here.
Lastly, I want to call out some notable rares and further dive into the manabase.
Lastly, I want to call out some notable rares and further dive into the manabase.
The manabase consists of lapped duals, including a surveil or scry land for each color pair. There are 10 copies of evolving wilds and 2 copies of demolition field to help enable landfall synergies. So, fixing is abundant, but there is a real cost to playing off curve.
A lot of times folks will tank their manabase or warp their draft around cards that are just too good not to play. However, as we lead into the rares, most of the rares are synergistic and need some support to really shine. So, I hope that these inclusions will lead to better draft navigation and really reward folks that find their lanes.
Rares that do work in a lot of decks:
A lot of times folks will tank their manabase or warp their draft around cards that are just too good not to play. However, as we lead into the rares, most of the rares are synergistic and need some support to really shine. So, I hope that these inclusions will lead to better draft navigation and really reward folks that find their lanes.
Rares that do work in a lot of decks:
Collected Company - Basilisk Collar
These are generically good in most decks. Company was an include for Flash, and Collar for modified strategies, but either of these cards can be impactful on their own. Company is a powerful one time effect, so I am less worried about it taking over a game. Collar could warp a game and make combat very difficult, so it is something I will keep an eye on.
Notable rares for each color:
These are generically good in most decks. Company was an include for Flash, and Collar for modified strategies, but either of these cards can be impactful on their own. Company is a powerful one time effect, so I am less worried about it taking over a game. Collar could warp a game and make combat very difficult, so it is something I will keep an eye on.
Notable rares for each color:
White: Avatar's Wrath - This is a unique effect in this cube. Outside of Black, this is the only mass removal effect in the cube. It also requires the drafter to build around it to make the best use of it. White is able to buff creatures with auras and heroic stuff, so the ability to have your one pumped threat stay in play is the ideal scenario for this card. Bonus for rebuying ETB creatures in white.
Blue: Bident of Thassa - The card draw is very much a blue thing and leans into the evasive threats in the blue archetypes pretty well. I like the powerlevel of this card vs something like Enduring Curiousity. Being Sorcery Speed and not attached to a creature that comes into play after being removed makes this a powerful, yet fair piece.
Black: Deadly Cover Up - The mass removal is a thing that will only come up sometimes due to the size of the cube, but I like the added benefit here of removing key commons and uncommons from your opponent's deck. This won't come up in many other cubes, so it's something I wanted to take advantage of here. Great card, and very much a black thing.
Red: Emberheart Challenger - Exactly the type of engine and powerful creature Red wants. Creatures can be dealth with in a lot of colors, but the haste and all-in nature of challenger is very much a red trait and I am happy to say this is a power outlier in this cube.
Green: Scythecat Cub + Nightpack Ambusher - I am calling out 2 rares here. Cub is a generically powerful card that doesn't require much to pop off. However, this cube doesn't have ways to play multiple lands per turn without an investment of a card. So, I am ok with it being here and playing a similar role to Emberheart Challenger in Red. Nightpack Ambusher is the main reason to play Flash, outside of tempo/control proclivities. Ambusher just sits there and generates value every single turn. However, it is a creature and there are plenty of ways to interact with it.
That is my overview for the cube. If you are reading this and have access to playing online, I want to encourage you to check out the list and hit me up to jam a draft sometime. I am looking forward to future iterations and changing the format on the regular. I go by Last Abzan on Discord and BlueSky
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