FREE MTGO Vintage Cube - Tips and Analysis

We are approaching the end of the year, and for those who play Magic Online, Wizards has a surprise!

You may have noticed that a different token appeared in your collection, or for those who play and have not noticed, see if this icon appears in the "Other products" tab in your collection, within MTGO:

Only accounts created before December 15 received that token.

This token allows you to participate once in an event called Vintage Cube in the "Limited" tab, which is nothing more than a Draft, but with a list of pre-selected cards, hence the name Cube.

Inside it, you can have cards of only one set or several sets, normally there are no duplicates in the list, and their quantity can vary; a cube can have 300, 500 or even more than 1000 cards. This one in particular is aimed at the Vintage format, it currently has 540 cards and the updated list can be found at this link .

Have you thought about Drafting a Black Lotus?! But calm down, this event is of the "Phantom" type, that is, everything you open in the boosters will only be valid in this event, not being added to your collection.

After entering the event, drafting and building your deck, you will be able to play 3 games, earning you this award:

Current prizes:

3 Wins = 150 Play Points + 1 Treasure Chest + 2 Qualifier Points + 1 Friendly trophy

2 Wins = 100 Play Points

1 Wins = 50 Play Points

0 Wins = The experience of playing cards you don't see every once in a while.

Stay tuned, as the Vintage Cube event where this token will be valid will only be available from December 22, 2021 until January 12, 2022. After this period, the tokens will be removed from accounts that do not use it.

I'll talk a little more about the Vintage Cube later, but without going into depth on Draft concepts per se; for that, I recommend this article by Migucheras, which explores very well how to do well in a draft, such as evaluate the cards, among other topics.

There are some fundamental rules that need to be followed in all Drafts, and the main one to get into any Draft with some advantage is: see the available cards. Whether you're going to open them or not is another story, but entering a Draft without knowing what you'll have access to or what you might be up against is a long shot, so I've brought some important pieces so that you can have a better experience.

Cube composition:

76 - Blue

70 - Land

69 - Black

69 - Red

68 - White

68 - Green

67 - Colorless

5 - Simic

5 - Dimir

5 - Rakdos

5 - Gruul

5 - Selesnya

5 - Azorius

5 - Boros

5 - Golgari

5 - Izzet

4 - Orzhov

4 - Multicolor (3+ colors)

Starting by the color distribution, we can see there are few multicolored cards, and the most predominant colors are Blue & Black.

Do you know those cards you don't want to be used against you? That card that can (and will) unbalance the game? So, this is the list of cards that you won't pass up at all, most of them offer a huge mana advantage or draws, and even extra turns:

1. Black Lotus

2. Sol Ring

3. Ancestral Recall

4. Time Walk

5. Mox: Mox Pearl, Mox Emerald, Mox Jet, Mox Ruby, Mox Sapphire

6. Mana Crypt

7. Mana Drain

8. Oko, Thief of Crowns

9. Mana Vault

10. Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer

Ok, we talked about broken cards, but now we'll talk about the following "picks", cards that are good, and end up fitting in different decks and strategies (as long as they obey the colors you will follow).

They are not in order and there are certainly several others, I tried not to be exhaustive, but at the same time to give you a sense of what we have available so that when you take a direction, you know what you can find. These cards do well in many deck types, so efficiency and flexibility are what they provide:

Here is an analysis on how the mana costs are distributed among the 540 of the Cube, with the medium value being 3,22 with an higher focus on value 2 and 3:

Mana value 0 = 96

Mana value 1 = 69

Mana value 2 = 107

Mana value 3 = 101

Mana value 4 = 64

Mana value 5 = 49

Mana value 6 = 25

Mana value 7 = 9

Mana value 8 = 11

Mana value 9 = 2

Mana value 10 = 3

Mana value 11 = 1

Mana value 12 = 1

Mana value 13 = 1

Mana value 15 = 1

After this information and remembering how we have mana stones available, it is to be expected that matches develop fast, and for that, a good manabase should not be ignored.

As with broken cards, sometimes you need to invest in getting dual lands early on so that your strategies, depending on the deck, don't bump into color combinations.

Dual Lands:

Of course, you'll prefer an old dual to a shockland, but both are efficient to bring with fetchlands, and that makes a considerable difference to the game:

Fetchlands:

As in every high-level format, fetchlands appear as a mana adjustment in addition to your deck, while removing the possibility of drawing unnecessary lands in the late game. At Vintage Cube, we have all ten available:

Other mana base picks:

Duals and fethclands can make your deck play out more easily and fluidly, a solid and consistent mana base can be a game differential, while using more specific lands like fastlands, or checklands, can slow you down. Therefore, it is important to be careful and only use them if there are no other alternatives.

Of course, cards like Mutavault, Prismatic Vista, Library of Alexandria, Celestial Colonnade, Den of the Bugbear, and Urza's Saga have their value, but care should be taken when choosing them.

Another nice point is that all 10 Signets are in this cube too, and might be a good choice to run 1 to 2 in your base mana:

If you've played limited at some point, you should know that there are cards that, when they come in at the right time, can define and win the game:

Additionally, it is worth noting that Reanimate, Animate Dead + Bazaar of Baghdad, Natural Order and Sneak Attack are present in this cube and may catch someone off guard, however with many forms of interaction, sometimes having an effective answer can be more effective than trying to win with a combo.

Finishing our article, I'm going to summarize the 5 tips in this article:

1. Pick the "broken" cards;

2. Follow a game plan, don't try to do everything in your deck;

3. Use efficient and flexible support parts;

4. Think cautiously about your manabase, it is fundamental;

5. Don't forget to spice it up with some bombs.

I hope you have fun and get some victories in this wonderful Cube! Until the next article!