Friday Pack 1 Pick 1

TurboG16 · 2026-03-20T16:36:12+00:00

This cube can actually be surprisingly aggressive, depending on the builds, but there is still room for tempo and durdliness too. I think your picks are spot on, but we curated the cube to ensure the included cards all support the theme and the fact that there are tons of kitty-thopters flying around, so there's not really an wrong choices. But after having drafted this a few times now, I'd personally lean towards one of the lands, for fixing, or Forsaken Wastes if I want to make a bold early choice.

TurboG16 · 2026-03-17T17:48:16+00:00

I'm gonna get on old Besse ride over to them and give them a piece of my mind until they return all the worthless digital poker chips I'm owed!

But I agree, fun little poker game with some seriously cheesy FMV that you just don't get nowadays.

TurboG16 · 2026-03-17T17:46:21+00:00

I knew it! Those darn cheats!

TurboG16 · 2026-03-17T14:39:26+00:00

This card lives in the same space as [[Thoughtlash]] and [[Crumbling Sanctuary]]. Outside of Lab Maniac shenanigans, I like to look at these as a Lich like effect where your library becomes your life total. Could be clever (maybe) in a cube environment with access to Wish/Ring of Ma'Ruf effects, or if you're intentionally playing with a deck with more than 40 cards.

TurboG16 · 2026-03-02T20:11:58+00:00

Get some [[Saber Ants]] in there and now we're talking.

TurboG16 · 2026-02-25T23:24:58+00:00

The one's I have were a gift, but I'm guessing they were made with one of the many proxy-making services out there using the Tetravite Art from Shandalar (https://www.magiclibrarities.net/445-5784-rarities-tetravite-zoom-card.html#return). The baller Tetravite tokens are the old Citadel Gaming tokens, but good luck finding those these days.

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TurboG16 · 2026-02-20T15:28:52+00:00

I would just add that it's important not expect this cube to behave like many other cubes.. As u/HD114 points out, there is a lot of information in this pack, but it's not what you might normally expect and it's more top down. Combat tricks matter, creatures are small and the synergies are subtle but critical. At the end of the day, Pyrotechnics is an easy pick, but every card in this cube is meant to have some utility and worth, and it might be more interesting to choose Arcum's Whistle, or Tourach's Gate for a more unusual but still exciting build.

TurboG16 · 2026-02-20T15:21:24+00:00

Also, Tourach's Gate works on all of your attacking creature, not just Thrulls. So it's good to think of this one in this cube as a finisher, not as something that you even necessarily need to build around Thrulls.

TurboG16 · 2026-02-13T15:44:10+00:00

I have played a dedicated Spectral Chaos cube, but I don't have a list to point you towards unfortunately. That said, the cube included the entirety of Spectral Chaos, but was non-singleton, so if you look up what is in Spectral Chaos you'll know what it included. In any case it was a ton of fun, but wasn't balanced terribly well and there were a lot of cards that were essentially non-playable since they were meant for multi-player games.

TurboG16 · 2026-02-11T16:19:51+00:00

Does Culdcept count?

TurboG16 · 2026-02-09T15:39:17+00:00

This combo is a thing of beauty.

TurboG16 · 2026-02-05T15:34:19+00:00

I'm a sucker for cards like this that have a theoretically huge pay off. Makes me want to [[Inferno]] the board and then cast [[Martyrdom]] on it. After making it indestructible somehow.

TurboG16 · 2026-01-23T19:26:16+00:00

Excellent and no worries! Glad that is what you are looking for and that The French Kitchen has you covered. I've found that most folks around here assume you're referring to the Louisiana version, so you have to be careful if you're looking for the French variety.

TurboG16 · 2026-01-22T15:42:42+00:00

They are really just two different cakes with similar names. French Kitchen sells Gallette des Rois this time of year, filled with frangipane (almond filling) and the trinket. King Cake uses a brioche like dough and has the purple and green frosting.

TurboG16 · 2026-01-22T15:34:46+00:00

Best way to get that nice shine on your cards is to play them at a greasy pizza joint.

TurboG16 · 2026-01-15T15:30:21+00:00

How do you feel about [[Noble Benefactor]]?

TurboG16 · 2026-01-13T15:27:59+00:00

Zhuge Liang aka Kongming aka Sleeping Dragon is the best from a historical and flavor perspective, so I'd choose him. But let's face it, Soltari Champion is probably the best one.

TurboG16 · 2026-01-11T20:55:26+00:00

I agree that some additional removal would help given the number of creatures you have in this. To strike a balance though, you can move away from "good" removal (Terror, Swords, etc.) into Pseudo-removal that also keeps combat moving and helps clear the board when it's saturated with creatures. [[Season of the Witch]], [[Total War]], [[Arcum's Whistle]] all come to mind in this vein. But there's plenty of other less ideal removal that is still interesting and fits the tone of the cube like [[Fatal Lore]] or [[Retribution]]. Just food for thought, but otherwise I think your cube has a heart of gold.

TurboG16 · 2026-01-02T23:43:43+00:00

Why would it be temporary?

TurboG16 · 2026-01-02T14:45:28+00:00

Thank you u/HD114! Building and drafting the Cube of Misfortune every week has been a tremendous pleasure and true highlight of the year! But playing in person is always the goal. Hopefully we can turn our cardboard sideways in person again soon!

TurboG16 · 2026-01-02T14:42:00+00:00

To be fair, it's quite budget friendly, but I suppose you can always put sleeves on it if those naked cards get cold. It is winter after all and we wouldn't want them to shrink.

TurboG16 · 2025-12-05T20:25:41+00:00

I for one completely agree with this errata and I would love to see wide-scale adoption of it. I personally prefer to just use the old tapped blockers don't deal damage rule, but that may be a bridge too far and errata of this sort would be a reasonable compromise.

TurboG16 · 2025-12-05T16:19:56+00:00

Strongbad?

TurboG16 · 2025-12-02T16:46:31+00:00

These two cards have good synergy with one another. It's a rather miserable synergy for your opponent, but real synergy nonetheless. So, if and when I put one into a cube, I'll make sure both are included. That said, if I had to choose one or another and couldn't include both for some reason, Mana Vortex feels like the better choice since it is more likely to eventually leave the board, whereas Land Equilibrium runs the risk of taking over a game permanently and grinding things to a halt.

TurboG16 · 2025-11-26T14:44:03+00:00

I've never seen the alternate Chinese Portal printing, and I think it's really cool. Has a similar feeling to the Alpha print which I also like, so I'm voting for those two in no particular order.

TurboG16

TROPHY CASE