Many people have asked me about the different draft archetypes in a cube draft so I thought I'd do a write up covering this. First of all, I know that it can be overwhelming to a newer player who has never cube drafted before to see non-modern cards in a draft and immediately know how to evaluate them. The bad news is that it isn't going to get any easier unless you try it where as the good news is that it isn't as hard as you think if you just sit down and consider your options.
The first and foremost important part about cube drafting, and something that is often overlooked, is that you aren't simply drafting the best card out of each pack, you're building a deck with each pick. What I mean by this is that you're always drafting cards that fit an exact archetype rather than just "removal" or "evasion creatures" or whatnot. Let me supply a sample pack for you to get a generalized idea. You open up in pack 1:
Survival of the Fittest
Braids, Cabal Minion
Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
Lightning Bolt
Sulfuric Vortex
Mana Drain
Swords to Plowshares
Sword of Fire and Ice
Stoneforge Mystic
Farseek
Tooth and Nail
Dark Ritual
Underground Sea
Mishra's Factory
Goblin Guide
Now, this is why you get really overwhelmed very quickly. WATDO? In cube draft, you can feel a little at ease in that every card is very good and you can't make a "bad pick." Everything is playable and it's like that on purpose. Feel free to draft to your strengths your first few drafts and then evolve into the more complicated draft strategies. Now, the "best card" in this pack is Sulfuric Vortex. Vortex is considered by many to be the top card you can get in any cube draft. Why is this? Well, many decks take time to develop and a turn 3 (or even earlier) Vortex really messes with that plan. Coupled with the fact that mono red is the most consistent cube draft archetype, Vortex is extremely strong and should be valued over anything else. Passing a Vortex means that you need to be aware of it and open to the fact that you're likely to lose to it later in the tournament.
Past the Vortex there are a lot of cards that are relatively even on power level. Mana Drain and Swords to Plowshares are key cards for their color and should be valued very highly and Sword of Fire and Ice is the best non-mana producing Artifact in the cube. If you would rather keep your options open, nobody would scoff at you for taking the Sword or even the Underground Sea. Mana fixing is valued very highly in the cube. Don't be afraid to take it early and often because I assure you that you'll still get amazing cards for your deck.
Tezzeret, Braids, and Survival of the Fittest are perfect examples of "archetype" cards and should be valued extremely high if you want to move in to one of their respective decks. Let me just right into the different decks of the cube:
Pox - Pox decks are one of my favorite decks because it really abuses the game mechanics of cards that were created before Planeswalkers were around. These cards make players sacrifice permanents from game effects but conveniently don't make you sacrifice planeswalkers. Some of the key cards for Pox decks are: Pox, Smallpox, Death Cloud, Garruk (any of them), Liliana of the Veil, Persist creatures, mana ramp spells, Braids, and black hand disruption. The deck is almost always Black and Green. Bloodghast also really enhances the deck with it's ability to sacrifice to Pox and Smallpox and still be able to come back to attack. This is one of my favorite decks to draft but really relies on the key cards or else you just end up with a Black/Green Rock deck with no cool tricks (which isn't a bad deck in the slightest).
Tezzeret - A Tezzeret deck is pretty self explanatory. You move in on taking a Tezzeret early and then take nearly every artifact, especially artifact mana. This is another of my favorite decks to draft and will likely move in on it any time I see a first pack Tezzeret. Key cards for this deck are the obvious Tezzeret, the Moxen, artifact mana, Phyrexian Metamorph, Winter Orb, Academy Ruins, Tolarian Academy, Tinker, Trinket Mage. The deck is typically just Blue/Black but splashing a third or even fourth color is attainable with the right amount of artifact mana. Having a finisher like Inkwell Leviathan or Wurmcoil Engine is prefered.
Zoo - Zoo decks are the most common form of aggro decks aptly named for their animal type creatures such as Isamaru and Kird Ape. They're traditonally Naya but occasionally also play Blue for cards such as Cloudfin Raptor, Snapcaster Mage, Delver of Secrets, or a few aggro-control elements. The deck is all in on creatures and just relies on speed and brute force to overwhelm an opponent before they can get set up. A sign to move into this deck will be getting passed or first picking a pack 1 Armageddon. Key cards for the deck are: Stoneforge Mystic, any 1-drop from any non-black color, cheap equipment, cheap burn, Noble Hierarch, Birds of Paradise, four drop finisher (Hellrider, Hero of Bladehold, etc.), Swords to Plowshares + Path to Exile The decks curve is extremely low and plays very few cards higher than a three CMC. This deck is also called the Cavis special and it usually features a multitude of non-basic lands in order to play all your colors effectively.
Reanimator - In my opinion, this is the hardest deck to draft because the various control decks will also want your Animate Dead, Necromancy, and Diabolic Servitude. This deck is exactly what you think it would be: huge creatures cheated into play by various graveyard effects occasionally coupled with Show and Tell or Sneak Attack. It's always black based but also plays red for sneak attack, blue for counterspells and Show and Tell, or both for discard outlets like Izzet Charm. The key components for a Reanimator deck are having creatures good enough to end the game early as well as enough ways to get them into your graveyard and finally enough ways to cheat them into play. Key cards for the deck are: Akroma, Elesh Norn, Inkwell Leviathan, Emrakul (with Show/Tell and Sneak Attack), Entomb, any Reanimate Spell, discard outlets (Putrid Imp, Faithless Looting, Izzet Charm, Entomb), cheap counterspells, and black hand disruption.
Mono Red - As I mentioned earlier, red is the most consistent deck in the entire cube. You can go hyper aggro with several 1-2 drops along with cheap removal or you can go big with Thundermaw Hellkite, Koth, big Chandra, and make of the powerful 4+ drops that red has. For aggro decks you'll really want cards like Jackal Pup, Rakdos Cackler, Goblin Guide, Lightning Mauler, Hellspark Elemental, Ball Lightning, Lightning Bolt, Cursed Scroll, and Magus of the Scroll where as for big red decks you're looking for Koth, Chandra, Thundermaw Hellkite, Seige Gang Commander, Inferno Titan, artifact mana, Banefire, Devil's Play.
Black aggro - One of the most underdrafted decks, black aggro is fast and very dangerous. Being the only deck at the table that can play Phyrexian Obliterator and Nantuko Shade, you'll often able to wheel your key cards so that you can take things such as Liliana of the Veil and cheap disruption early instead. The deck likes to be Zombie based so Sarcomancy, Carnophage, and Gravecrawler are valued very highly. Other black one drops such as Rakdos Cackler and Vampire Lacerator are also at a premium. Artifact disruption such as Tangle Wire and Smokestack are also very, very good if you get a Gravecrawler or Bloodghast as you can repeatedly sacrifice them to the Smokestack effect.
Blue based control - The multi-colored blue based control decks are some of the most powerful decks at the table but at the same time can also be the weakest. What I mean by this is that the cards are all highly coveted by other control decks at the table and the best cards typically get spread out. One of the best control decks is actually just mono-blue which has the capabilities of playing Vedalkan Shackles to the fullest and control magic and clone effects with finishers like Meloku. Key cards for this deck are: Shackles. Control Magic, Bribery, Treachery, Phyrexian metamorph, Mana Drain, Meloku, and the Jaces. Other forms of Blue control are American control which plays very much like the modern version of the deck, as well as just straight UW or UB control. However you cut it, the core cards are always the same and you should always be on the lookout for Meloku, Bribery, and Jaces along with cheap counterspells.
Natural Order/Ramp decks - Also called the Shawn Carroll special, green ramp is a very powerful deck. The time to move into this deck is when you get gigantic green finishers, perferably Craterhoof Behemoth and ways to search it up such as Natural Order and Green Sun Zenith. The deck will take mana dorks very highly after picking up the behemoth and just set up for a critical mass turn of large trampling elves. Woodfall Primus and Avenger of Zendikar are also quite good for the deck. The deck can be mono green but could always benefit from a second color, usually red, and just likes huge fatties to ramp into such as the Titans and Wurmcoil Engine. Tooth and Nail and Rude Awakening kills are also commonplace with these decks. Key cards are: 1-mana elves, Tooth and Nail, Green Sun Zenith, Craterhoof Behemoth, Natural Order, Dryad Arbor, Kessig Wolf Run, Primeval Titan, and Channel if you happen to get a Tooth and Nail or an Eldrazi to cheat into play.
White aggro - White based aggro decks are basically Zoo decks with more consistency. I also refer to these decks are Armageddon decks as they typically aren't very powerful without the signature card. Still though, it's possible to pull off W/B aggro decks with enough disruption to survive without Armageddon, especially with a Stoneforge Mystic and powerful equipment such as a Sword or Jitte. Boros decks can also be explosive if you're able to get the landfall tag team of Steppe Lynx and Plated Geopede.
Red/Green Land Denial - Ah, the most hated deck in all the cube! If you really want to be a pain in someones ass, you can draft this deck which essentially denies your opponent the mana to cast their game ending spells. While typically too slow to punish the aggro decks, this deck preys on the combo and control decks which makes it a cube mainstay. Key cards for the deck are: Stone Rain, Pillage, Molten Rain, Plow Under, Avalanche Riders, Bloodbraid Elf, Goblin Ruinator, Wasteland, Strip Mine, and the few other land denial cards in the cube. Finishes that also destroy lands such as Woodfall Primus are also pretty sweet.
This is just to get you started with cube drafting. If you have any questions about your favorite draft archetype, please feel free to ask! Stop by the shop on Thursdays for cube drafts as well as on most weekends. Thanks for reading!
