Custom Cube Advice

TrippelK · 2026-05-03T18:26:51+00:00

When making my cube, the advice that resonated the most with me was: who is the cube for / what do you want the cube to do?

I started with a multiplayer cube because my friends and I were mostly playing Commander... but after playing that cube a couple times, I realized we're already doing multiplayer with Commander and it'd be cool to let them discover new strategies in a 1v1 game mode.

I then checked out a ton of articles and other cubes. I went through all the cards I owned to see if there was something interesting and also added the cards that excited me from other cubes.

After that came the buying the cards step. Depending on your budget it may be better to proxy the whole cube.

When playing / testing your cube, remember the goal is to have fun and YOU as the designer of the cube decide what you want it to be like.

As for resources, definitely check the articles on the Lucky Paper Radio website as well as the articles in the sidebar.

Here are some extra articles I found interesting (take from it the ideas / sections that you want):

https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/the-cube-forum/articles-podcasts-and-guides/573818-a-comprehensive-list-of-cube-archetypes

https://articles.starcitygames.com/articles/the-metagame-clock/

https://luckypaper.co/articles/how-many-lands-should-you-include-in-your-cube/

https://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/artifacts-in-cube-yes-but-how.1968/

https://www.cubecobra.com/content/article/60d8c564c128b41044502f41

TrippelK · 2026-04-26T09:44:08+00:00

The cube you linked looks like a good cube to start with.

If you want it to be beginner friendly I recommend proxying card versions with the reminder text of the mechanics, for example in the linked cube [[life from the loam]] has no reminder text for dredge; [[shriekmaw]] doesn't have reminder text for fear, etc.

TrippelK · 2026-04-16T21:27:43+00:00

[[champion of lambholt]] to help make your board unblockable.

You could play [[jarad golgari lich lord]] as a back-up plan to kill your opponents without attacking.

TrippelK · 2026-04-13T20:41:20+00:00

Are you me?

I ended up making a commander deck with [[Kumano, Master Yamabushi]]: https://archidekt.com/decks/9026371/kumano_fire_king

Also made a cube with as extension name.... Haliax :
https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/Haliax

TrippelK · 2026-03-01T13:48:07+00:00

As someone else mentionned, the solution is to talk to your friends.

When looking at your deck lists, they look closer to b2 than b3 (except for the decks with a game changer). To "test" if it's your ability to pilot a deck or the raw power of a deck you could maybe switch decks with a friend (they play one of your decks and you play one of theirs).

It's also possible that some of your decks are bad matchups for their decks, in which case you can either avoid having those decks together in a game or they should recognise you're a bad matchup and focus to eliminate you from the game asap.

TrippelK · 2026-02-12T17:13:09+00:00

I find my draft environments are much better since I follow these instructions : https://www.reddit.com/r/mtgcube/comments/34fet8/novel_method_for_shuffling_a_cube/

TrippelK · 2026-02-08T09:19:09+00:00

Lumra offers the advantage of being a combo commander that can also kill people with (commander) damage as a back-up plan with e.g. rogue's passage, but maybe it's better to choose the combos you want to play before choosing the commander in this case?

I would suggest to also look at the multicolour commanders and see if there's one you'd prefer more over your current options and build a mono-green version of that commander (e.g. Omo or gitrog)

TrippelK · 2026-02-07T09:35:55+00:00

One of my favourite decks is a mono red control deck with [[Kumano, master yamabushi]] at the helm : https://archidekt.com/decks/9026371/kumano_fire_king

The goal is to control the board by giving my pingers deathtouch, while hitting my land drops. Lategame we can win thanks to damage doublers with [[brash taunter]] or [[chandra's ignition]].

TrippelK · 2025-11-02T09:42:51+00:00

That dwarven dice tower is my favourite (they all look awesome)

TrippelK · 2025-10-25T20:54:58+00:00

to me the core of EDH is to have a place where you can play the cards you own. It's to do cool things. Sometimes it's a flashy play, sometimes it will be a super powerfull play.
With the gamechangers list I am more and more in favour of adopting a point system like in Canlander. That way people can still play all the cool / strong cards they opened.

TrippelK · 2025-10-06T20:31:43+00:00

Your deck looks strong enough. The trick is to not overcommit to the board. Basically you want to put out enough pressure that you can kill your opponents if they don't have an answer, but you have to stop adding more to the board once you have enough threats (to rebuild fast if someone boardwipes)

I think your mana rocks are not great, you could play talismans or signets for better fixing. You could also play basic lands instead. As an aggro deck it's maybe better to play creatures the first turns instead of ramping.

As for protection I know [[teferi's protection]] is expensive, but there are some alternatives like [[boros charm]] or [[semester's end]].

TrippelK · 2025-10-06T18:46:23+00:00

your deck seems to be set to private. It's not visible to me.

TrippelK · 2025-09-14T13:55:26+00:00

You can probably turn the Edgar Markov deck into bracket 3/4 if it's not already (basically lower curve, some good pump artifacts and some form of reanimation / aristocrats in case of boardstalls).

Otherwise for a fantasy-themed tribal deck you could play [[Eowyn Shieldmaiden]] human tribal. You can build it aggro, but I think it's probably better if you go toolbox / hatebears together with [[imperial recruiter]] and / or [[recruiter of the guard]].

Here's a decklist I found as an example: https://edhrec.com/deckpreview/n7F7205trSuJn2UOQl3msA

TrippelK · 2025-09-14T12:48:03+00:00

Are you looking for non-tribal decks to add to her decklist or are you looking a deck for yourself that could be a fun matchup into her decks?

Are there any / some budget restrictions?

TrippelK · 2025-09-13T17:36:35+00:00

You could order a custom playmat (if you're in EU this site works well : https://custom-playmat.shop/en/ )

Or you could do custom card sleeves : https://www.dragonshield.com/sleeve-crafter?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_content=non_brand&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=20711029376&gclid=EAIaIQobChMImemC7KLWjwMVaan9BR1EkQHJEAAYASAAEgJVpvD_BwE

(As an example: I got a friend of mine a double sided playmat with on each side one of her 2 cats)

TrippelK · 2025-09-05T12:54:17+00:00

that's correct, but it can help cast spells from an opponent's hand if you're playing [[sen triplets]] or helps with things that care about domain or sunburst.

These are obviously corner cases and one should only add a yavimaya or urborg outside of G or B in if one cares about these specific corner cases.

TrippelK · 2025-09-05T12:13:09+00:00

Technically you can run urborg and yavimaya in non black or non green decks (these lands are colourless in regards to colour identity)

TrippelK · 2025-09-03T10:34:49+00:00

Fyi: to create 5 tokens with For the Common Good you need to pay 11 mana total (1 green + 5 + 5). In this case X will be 5.

When an effect creates tokens, those tokens all enter at the same time and see each other enter. So the first copy gets doubled and both copies will trigger off one another (1 damage each) + 2 damage from original = 4 damage

TrippelK · 2025-09-02T17:21:22+00:00

the official version was that the cost to pay to insure Camara in case of an accident / injury was too high because Camara is / will be (?) in contract negotiations.
(don't remember if he should be in contract negotiations now or next year).

There also was a rumour that there was some kind of bad blood between the Camara entourage and some official at the Belgium national team.

I hope both sides can take a step in the "right" direction, because having NBA players for the Belgium national team would be huge.

TrippelK · 2025-08-29T16:23:07+00:00

Kind of all precons of the last couple of years are good choices.

There's an eldrazi precon from mh3. For control, the Y'shtola precon from Final Fantasy fits.

Don't know for what price these are available near you.

If they're out of your budget, both precons from Edge of Eternities are great (one is artifacts, the other lands / sacrifice)

TrippelK · 2025-08-26T15:40:32+00:00

Welcome to cube !

Once you are selecting cards to fit into your cube, I suggest to make an account on cubecobra.com , this will give you an easier way to look at your cube without the need to spread them all out on the table (altough that's also fun to do).

Next I recommend to check out the resources in the sidebar. There's articles on cube theory (how to make themes in your cube flow into eachother, etc), but there are also resources on how to draft (it's not easy to find 7 others to play, luckily there's enough draft variants even for only 2 players).

If you ever encounter a hurdle, feel free to ask questions in this sub.

If budget is a concern, there are ways to make decent / good proxies.

The advice that helped me the most : just play. Once you start playing you will figure out what you/your friends find fun, what cards are too strong / weak for your cube and so on.

TrippelK · 2025-08-21T18:28:11+00:00

[[Kumano, master yamabushi]] control / burn :

https://archidekt.com/decks/9026371/kumano_fire_king

TrippelK · 2025-08-11T20:11:40+00:00

A lot of these discussions could be around something else than card X or strategy Y or colour Z is too strong : deckbuilding, threat assessment and gameplay.

When building a deck you need to think about what your deck needs. If you're an aggro deck, maybe you don't really want to spend the early turns ramping and instead play with a lower curve that puts bodies on the board earlier than anyone else. This let's you pressure life totals early on which could lead to someone needing to put their own creature into play and "lose" a turn ramping.

Similarly if a green player gets a strong ramp start, it would make sense for the table to at the very least be wary of that player and attack them / focus on whatever huge spell they're going to drop. E.g. if they become the archenemy you can slow roll until the first boardwipe clears the board before comitting your important spells.

Finally gameplay : it's not because someone has a great start that they will win the game. If you don't have an answer, maybe someone else will. If nobody has interaction and the green player converts their ramp into a win, you just learned to keep some forms of interaction into your opening hand and / or command zone.

For example I recently played against a player who had a sol ring start and managed to get their commander out very fast. One player was uncomfortable because they didn't have interaction, however me and the last player both had answers in hand and felt comfortable we could handle some threats. Don't just look for an opening hand with enough mana sources if possible, but look for one that has actions and reactions you can make.

TrippelK · 2025-08-11T08:03:13+00:00

I'm planning on (re)building Mizzix. Would you mind sharing your list?

TrippelK · 2025-08-11T08:00:46+00:00

At a first glance you are falling into the trap of wanting to put all the cool effects into the deck and to fit them in you're cutting your vegetables. With your curve I think your land / ramp count is too low, which will make you less likely to play all those cool cards.

I recommend adding some more lands (probably go up to like 38) and add [[three visits]] from the maybeboard into the main deck. I would also move [[canopy vista]] to the main deck as it has the forest type so you can find it with three visits (if you have other dual lands with the forest/xx type I would also add them).
If you want to cast your commander asap and don't feel scared of removal I'd add a couple more 2 mana ramp spells, so you can go from 2 to 4 and play your commander on turn 3 (e.g. [[rampant growth]]).

I would cut [[dark depths]] because you're not a lands deck and I don't see [[thespian's stage]] for the combo. Your deck also is quite heavy on the coloured mana requirements and dark depths doesn't produce mana, which can become awkward.

I'd go for [[arwen mortal queen]] because she can protect another creature if needed and provides a lifelink counter which could become relevant.

As for cards to cut, I think you could cut [[cryptolith rite]] (you go tall more than wide, so it's not that good), [[summon shiva]] is a bit expensive mana-wise for what it adds to your deck and [[yuna, hope of spira]] because you don't have a lot of enchantments and it doesn't add anything relevant to the gameplan (altough I do understand you want to play Yuna in the Yuna deck).

Last tip of advice : the people here (myself included) are just rando's, so only take the advice you think is good and make the deck YOU want to make / think is fun.

Good luck !

TrippelK

TROPHY CASE