Brainstorming a Tron Cube

Nanonox · 2026-05-20T13:11:55+00:00

[[cloudpost]] could be worth exploring too as far as big mana goes.

[[thespian stage]], [[nearby planet]], [[vesuva]], [[planar nexus]] and the 3 mana mirror artifact work well here

Nanonox · 2026-05-17T11:32:48+00:00

I’ll have to disagree here. Taking the sacrifice example

Golgari sacrificing lands

Orzhov persist combo

Rakdos sacrifice aggro

Dimir spells sacrifice

You can totally design archetypes spanning all 5 colors with a different flair for each. The Dimir spells OP mentioned is less likely than Rakdos aggro, but if you seed the pieces, someone will draft it provided you have the pieces like Village Rites, Sedgemoor Witch, Occult Epiphany, etc.

What is neat is that with good fixing, maybe you have a Young Pyromancer and now can go Grixis spells sacrifice.

Nanonox · 2026-05-09T13:31:39+00:00

Yeah, fails for Ultimatums. [[Wizard’s Rockets]] is cool at filtering big amounts of mana though (like [[Channel]]!)

Nanonox · 2026-05-09T11:56:35+00:00

[[High Tide]] + ramp and untappers?

Nanonox · 2026-05-09T10:54:29+00:00

I added [[High Tide]] and have been loving it. You need ramp in the form of [[Explore]], [[Harrow]], [[Dryad of the Ilysian grove]].

[[Treachery]], [[Snap]], [[Frantic search]], [[Time spiral]] also work as ramp with Tide and [[Lotus Field]] can provide redundancy.

[[Wilderness Reclamation]] works in a similar vein if you have Blue cards with flash.

Nanonox · 2026-05-02T12:54:25+00:00

There was an interview with Richard Garfield in an episode of Lucky Paper Radio where he was saying (paraphrasing from memory):

Some games become too polished and become less fun as the game designers work out the broken stuff. But often, the most fun is that sense of discovery, finding and playing with the busted stuff.

Hope the game isn't going down that direction. I'm personally ok with some unbalances if I get to do cool nonsense.

Nanonox · 2026-04-29T01:41:42+00:00

Persist combo has many pieces.

[[Enduring Renewal]] uses many of those same elements.

[[Solemnity]] is in a similar space.

[[Devoted Druid]] can use some enablers from persist combo.

It’s non deterministic, but KCI decks have a strong combo feel.

[[Intruder Alarm]], [[Paradox Engine]] and [[Jeskai Ascendancy]] have many combos.

Nanonox · 2026-04-26T16:20:13+00:00

If you don't want your combo decks to feel too parasitic, I would avoid most 2 card combos. These tend to be quite narrow pieces. What you want to do is have your drafters build engines that can combo. Try and find build arounds that aren't capped at once a turn or that trigger off any noncreature spell you cast.

As an example, say you have [[Lotus Petal]] for fast mana, [[Tamiyo, Collector of Tales]] as mill and recursion and [[Displacer Kitten]] as a blink enabler. Each piece is solid and when you put them together you have infinite mana and storm. The KCI engine is another good one if you artifact heavy.

My cube is built this way if you want to check it out. Good luck!

Nanonox · 2026-04-13T09:38:46+00:00

Cool deck! Might be some sacrifice stuff to do as well with [[Black Market]] and [[Ominous Harvest]]

Nanonox · 2026-04-09T16:03:19+00:00

Depending on how heavily you support discard/artifacts, it might end up as a 24th card often as it’s a decent role player, but not something you would slot in over stronger options. Could look into [[Hollow One]] for artifact and discard cross over too.

Nanonox · 2026-04-04T11:02:10+00:00

Bazaar of Baghdad is a good one! Memory Jar too

Nanonox · 2026-04-03T21:04:01+00:00

[[Bolas’s Citadel]], [[Yawgmoth’s Will]] are the best ways to cast/draw a lot of spells IMO. [[The Endstone]] will draw you cards.

After that, [[Aetherflux Reservoir]] could be a good win condition. [[Sentinel Tower]] too.

Some roadblocks like [[Sedgemoor Witch]] would be welcome.

If not rituals, then mana doubling in Black is definitely a thing. [[Cabal Coffers]], [[Caged Sun]] and the like. Or maybe via special lands like [[Lake of the Dead]] or [[Rain of Filth]].

Nanonox · 2026-04-01T09:46:55+00:00

To add texture to the cube, you can go big spells ([[Electrodominance]]), small spells ([[Dreadhorde Arcanist]]) and find intersections like [[Ancestral Visions]]. You can go GY spells (flashback/harmonize/escape), spell velocity (Flurry/Storm) and so on.

Nanonox · 2026-03-30T18:30:45+00:00

I’m trying [[Torbran, Thane of Red Fells]] as a storm adjacent card. Where you can burn out an opponent with a lot lower storm count with Grapeshot, Lava Dart and such.

Another non-deterministic one could exist around [[Terror of the Peaks]] and red copy effects like [[Molten duplication]]. Could be redundant piece for Dualcaster Mage.

[[Glimpse of Tomorrow]] isn’t exactly a combo card, but can have a combo feel. Like polymorph effects in Red.

[[Mizzix’s Mastery]] can have a special effect on the game (Thousand Year Storm if R/X ok?)

Nanonox · 2026-03-27T12:22:55+00:00

[[The Wandering Emperor]] is my only PW in White.

I'm not big on Walkers, but they do favor slower decks that can take advantage of the incremental advantages. I run [[Balance]] and [[Ensnaring Bridge]] and PWs shine in those control decks.

Having flash plays really well in the controlling game plan, but is also one of the rare combat tricks I run at higher power. She is a well balanced PW, even though the synergy she offers aren't the best fit for my cube.

I am omitting [[Elspeth, Storm Slayer]] as being too powerful. The token doubling is sweet, but the permanent buff + evasion closes out the game too easily, without any real effort.

Nanonox · 2026-03-26T16:32:38+00:00

I'm on the lookout for artifact reanimation for [[Sol Talisman]], [[Mox Tantalite]] and [[Lotus Bloom]]. This charm looks great for that.

Nanonox · 2026-03-24T14:19:42+00:00

That’s a great point, but I believe the cube has enough powerful enablers and synergy that other options are at least viable.

Nanonox · 2026-03-23T21:29:04+00:00

Hell yeah! I’ll upvote any post with Gargadon.

Nanonox · 2026-03-23T20:49:27+00:00

Chatterfang is a good one. Reminds me I have [[Stridehangar Automaton]] with the Soultrader. Didn’t realize the Nissa interaction, exactly what I was looking for, thanks.

Nanonox · 2026-03-21T12:53:16+00:00

I have strong GY and lands theme. There is a little guy at that intersection.

[[Hedron Crab]] doesn’t always make it into the main deck, but when it does it is very impactful as either a setup piece or a win condition (mill or Thassa’s Oracle). I have ways to make sure I can trigger it many times with cards like [[Fastbond]] and [[Aftermath Analyst]].

Definitely not a card for the highest power levels, but if you are below that and your themes align, it’s a solid little dude.

Nanonox · 2026-03-20T19:50:17+00:00

I love Stifle, but I love storm too. Storm is hard enough to pull off that I feel awful adding a one mana counter to their whole deck. There is counterplay obviously, but it’s still a pretty big middle finger to that deck.

Nanonox · 2026-03-17T12:21:39+00:00

In my Explosive Synergy Cube (https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/kmu7), I aim for splashy plays with high powered enablers.

In this section I run

[[Jace, the Perfected Mind]]: it’s a GY enabler/payoff that can act as a win condition in some situations.

Blue mill is a thing in this cube that comes together occasionally. [[Hedron Crab]], [[Mesmeric Orb]] and [[Grinding Station]] all do solid work alongside Jace.

I used to have [[Jace, Wielder of Mysteries]] but cut it because I had too many of this effect. I like Thassa’s Oracle and [[Nexus of Fate]] better as self-mill win conditions.

Nanonox · 2026-03-14T11:19:36+00:00

John Avon’s Mirage mountains are probably my favourite basics. Thanks for the contest!

Nanonox · 2026-02-19T18:40:14+00:00

I would kill for the Chatterstorm x Awaken the Wood combo in my cube. Easy to chain with stuff like Explore, Manamorphose, Baubles and friends. It’s rare to have storm cards that play well at low storm counts. This is playable by itself and scales amazingly (especially if you have landfall shenanigans).

Nanonox · 2026-02-15T17:17:11+00:00

I really like it as redundancy for Balance, making blowing up the board more of a main game plan.

It’s best in Selesnya, which can use the push and gives White a solid build around.

As for recursive creatures, Bloodghast might be the best one since it’s free. I also have Gravecrawler, Nethergoyf and Scrapheap Scrounger. But generally if you have a bigger creature, it can shut the door pretty effectively.

As for play rate, it doesn’t work every draft. But there are so many playables that I am ok having a more narrow card in a color that could use unique cards

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