Background

I had a peasant cube for some time that was built out of my collection and mostly thrown together with efficacy and circumstantial 2 for 1s in mind. Card advantage was king, and it was only drafted a few times but was always very grindy magic. I got the itch to update it, and it turned into a bit more of an undertaking and more time invested then I imagined. There are still some holdouts from that time that still feel a bit out of place but are near and dear to my heart and have stayed, despite the face of the cube changing pretty drastically.

Now I feel I have assembled something that fit the main goals of:

• Something I could bling out
• Maintain for relatively cheap
• Play with cards and archetypes I enjoy
• Have high-power level games
• Play quickly
• Are almost exclusively cards printed at common or uncommon

This makes for an interesting space as those are a lot of (often in conflict) goals. As I added and changed the lists I also found that I wanted to include cards that changed how you evaluate cards, and leaned on some silver boarder cards to do that. Things like Goblin Haberdasher or Angelic Herald offer that in a way that is very satisfying to me. I don't consider when adding cards to the cube if they have a hat or not, but if you have that goblin you know for a fact your checking. If these will survive the test of time remains to be seen, but for now I really enjoy them.

Colors Identities

Here I'll talk about main drivers for the colors, which tend to plug into subthemes in other colors to make archetypes. They're not equitably split necessarily but hopefully provide a framework to discover synergies organically. Subthemes (potentially obviously) aren't likely to be the core of a deck, or be the main way to evaluate cards, but do house interesting interactions.

White

White is a funny place to start, because it maybe has the most drastic divide between it's most powerful and least powerful cards. It's a space with some of the most powerful cards in magic like Swords to Plowshares, Balance, and Palance Jailer, but also some more flavorful includes like Youthful Valkyrie or Gather the Townsfolk. I've attempted to balance including a lot of this premium white removal while also having some more nuanced interactions.

Major Themes

• Flicker/Blink/ETB Matters
  I opted for a lot of the classics, mixed with some other slower versions. All timer hall of famers like Restoration Angel (my favorite card ever!) and Flicker Wisp team up with some newer kids on the block like Rumor Gatherer or Sun Pearl Kirin. Blue is the most obvious paring, offering a series of powerful ETBs like Clocknapper or Mull Drifter as well as a few blink effects themselves in Essence Flux and our Azorious cards like Mistmeadow Witch and Soulherder. In general I enjoy White cards a lot, and feel this may be one of the strongest lanes of the cube currently and is under close scrutiny.

• Go Wide Aggro
  Aggro is a classic, and I think this delivers. Curving out with things like Descendent of Storms > Resolute Reinforcements > Lingering Souls > Rally the Peasants this is a place for you. In general I attempted to make each include here also go into other strategies, as the person who sits down to draft white wheenie is a rare one, it's definitely here though!

A consideration is looking for Orzhov sacrifice effects to cash in if your aggro plan can't get you across the line like Flesh Taker or Bartolome. Green also offers an opportunity to turn otherwise innocuous tokens into a more threatening army either with +1/+1 synergy. Though potentially obviously Boros can really lean into the aggro plan, with cards like Gut True Soul to upgrade threats, or threaten and burn effects to upend blockers.

Subthemes

• Angel Tribal
  I'm probably too cute for my own good here, but there are a lot of angels mostly because I enjoy them. Youthful Valkyrie is our only payoff, but things like the warp on Starfield Shepard or Flicker effects on Restoration Angel can actually produce a fair amount of power quickly on a 2 low cost flyer. Also you can swing with Serra Angel, which will never not be what I want to be doing.

• Artifacts
  Calling this a subtheme is gracious, but there are some cute things here. Spring-loaded Sawblade is a great body attached to efficient removal, Rosie Cotton or Momo can create food tokens quickly which Bartolome can eat to pump or just power an all that glitters to smash with. Also, you know, Balance loves having artifacts around.

• Enchantments Matter
  Again, not fully flushed out but some neat opportunities here, especially when paired with Black has a lot of cute interactions. Monk Idealist can fetch things like Angelic Renewal and be flickered when needed to get it back again. Enchant based O-Ring style removal or Black Enchantment creatures can power up All That Glitters. Also, Balance of course.

Random Asides
White also houses part of one of the few infinite combos in the cube with Rosie Cotton + Scurry Oak.

Blue

Currently, blue is a bit of a mess. I only take some credit for that, as it's also somewhat confused in the greater magic design space, but it's trying to cram A LOT into ~46ish cards and I think you can feel it looking at the list of includes. In the long run this color will probably see the most changes.

Major Themes

• Control
  I mean, I am what I am- and I am a man who loves a Counterspell. You have a suite of control spells, with some powerful effects like Counterbalance + Sensei's Top and value engines like Fact or Fiction and Aethermancer to keep your hand topped off. Pair with things like a Mind Control-ed threat to finish the game.

• Storm / Mill(?)
  I have gone back and forth on this, but at this point Brain Freeze storm is perfectly playable, though may be tricky to see come together in draft. High Tide + Frantic Search/Turn About or Peregrin Drake paired with cantrips can get you there, as well as cards outside of blue such as Manamorphose or Dark Ritual to supplement storm count. Micromancer, Sensei's Top, Augur of Bolas or Demonic Tutor are considerations to help find these key cards. Or perhaps I can interest you in a Ruin Crab to stop early aggro and start your mill plan early?

Sub Themes

• Spells Matter
  This is really more of a Izzet theme, but as some of the prowess creatures have been cut to make room for others but there are some monoblue cards like Jhessian Thief, Augur of Bolas or hyper efficient cheap cards like Vapor Snag holding down the fort here.

• Tempo / Sneaky Value
  This may justify a spot in Main Themes, but for now is here. A lot of seemingly innocuous cards can produce a lot of value in the right circumstance. Things like Stern Scolding is a 1 mana counter that hits a lot of much more expensive threats. Or free counters like Daze, can open up space for evasive threats supplemented by ninja driven card advantage. Things like Hypnotic Sprite bounced with Mistblade Shinobi after using it's adventure, only to adventure again is somewhat niche, but is a lot of tempo to keep up with.

• Blink/Flicker/ETB Matter
  You can check the section in White as well, but these are some of the more obvious synergies. A Clocknapper when played right can often feel like a janky Time Warp, and Essence Fluxing or Ephemerating that Clocknapper can feel like you're doing it again. Maybe Pair with a Mistmeadow Witch and ensure your opponent doesn't go to combat ever again!

Black

Black, similar to White, also feels like I have a wide variety of power levels included. I've attempted to toned a lot of the removal to be efficient, but situational. I think Black is powerful, but also has character, and is currently the baseline of what I want the other colors to feel like.

Major Themes

• Reanimator
  I mean, this is what it's all about right? Reanimate or Animate Dead and smash in with a Pathrazer of Ulamog or Troll of Kaza-dun. Consider looking into red discard effects like blood tokens or Faithless Lootings.

• Sacrifice
  Dockside Chef or Carrion Feeder, powered by tokens, or maybe red threaten effects, can produce a lot of value. In color options exist too, in things like Fire Navy Trebuchet or Reassembling Skeleton.

• Enchantments Matter
  I love this assemblance of cards and also recognize it may be too cute. Unholy Indenture, Nurgles Rot, Stab Wound, Seal of Doom, pair nicely with Ashioks and Hateful Eidelon. be on the lookout for enchantment creatures like Gnarled Rothide and Dockside Chef to turn Extinguish All Hope into a one sided board wipe.

Sub Themes

• Graveyard Matters/Recursion
  This is really a fully fleshed out theme in Golgari, but obviously black plays a role so I will put it here. It can support Reanimator and Sacrifice, but also stand alone. Cards like Driver of the Dead or Gurmag Angler want cards in there, Old Rutstein or Spider Spawning are ways to benefit as well.

Red

Major Themes

• Aggro

• Burn

Sub Themes

• Sacrifice
• Discard

Green

Major Themes

• +1/+1 Counters
• Ramp / Big Stomp
  Sub Themes

Random Thoughts and Card Pick Explainations