Hello and welcome back to the Magic Super Cube!

To those who are stumbling upon this for the first time, this is the blog where I go through the history of Magic and pick cards from every set that was Standard legal or would have been Standard legal had the format existed to make a massive Cube from those picks.

Today we are delving into an interesting part of Magic history in exploring The Dark, which was a set that attempted to explore the darker side of the colors of Magic, which lent to some interesting design choices.

While a smaller set, we aren’t as desperate for playable cards in some of the other smaller sets, so let’s take a look!

White

When I began looking at the cards for this set I realized that I had enough space to add an additional card of each color to my picks, so there are going to be two creatures and two noncreatures for each color.

With the white creatures I wanted to keep things fairly straightforward, and actually start adding some form of creatures having an additional effect on the board while also providing some combat utility.

With the noncreature spells there is an interesting effect that white does get with a fairly unique side effect for white along with a fairly common effect for white.

My picks for white are Fire and Brimstone, Miracle Worker, Morale, and Pikemen.

Blue

Heading into blue, there are plenty of interesting options to choose from.

For the creature spells I went back and forth on what sort of creatures I wanted for blue. I settled on a creature that is fairly rare for blue at this point in time and a unique creature that I think would synergize with later blue picks.

The noncreature spells were also a tough choice, but they are interesting. One is something that blue doesn’t really do anymore unless paired with another color and the other also is something that helps in combat, which usually isn’t something blue often gets to do.

My picks for blue are Amnesia, Apprentice Wizard, Ghost Ship, and Sunken City.

Black

Unlike many other sets, black didn’t have a lot of obvious options to pick from, which made it a much more interesting selection.

For the creatures I took a look at what would be interesting to have in the set and what I think would be fun to play with. I settled on a goofy creature and a creature that would serve some utility in the future.

The noncreature spells serve as interesting pieces for black. While white normally is the taxing or restrictive color, black has a couple of interesting tax pieces that are made available that provide some interesting interactions for the future.

My picks for black are Eater of the Dead, Season of the Witch, Uncle Istvan, and Worms of the Earth.

Red

Red was a much easier color to choose from this time around, and there is a specific reason why.

This set’s noncreature cards introduced an iconic red card that will have been made available later, but I think picking it now would be better than picking it for the future, along with a strong enough burn effect that could potentially close out the game.

The creatures were also an interesting pick because I skipped out on an iconic creature because of its later ability and instead chose some creatures that would have some typal synergies later.

My picks for red are Blood Moon, Goblins of the Flarg, Goblin Wizard, and Inferno.

Green

Green had a lot of options, but it also delves into an aspect that will help develop the Cube later.

For the creatures I went with two interesting picks. The first was also something new for my picks in that it is a creature that also interacts with a different color in a positive way while the second is a creature that helps develop an archetype that started in Legends.

The noncreature spells also played into some interesting space as one creates an interesting form of ramp while the other gives an early version of an effect that wouldn’t be keyworded until many years later.

My picks for green are Elves of Deep Shadow, Gaea’s Touch, Marsh Viper, and Venom.

Multicolor

Coming right off the back of Legends which introduced multicolor cards, The Dark also has some multicolor options, this time not tied to legendary creatures.

Instead the multicolor cards are tied to two creatures that share a creature type among them and an enchantment that in and of itself isn’t great, but I thought that having all three representatives for multicolor in the set would be neat to have in the Cube.

My picks for multicolor are Marsh Goblins, Scarwood Goblins, and Dark Heart of the Wood.

Artifacts

The artifacts were interesting because there were a few to pick from and some of them are pretty unique in their own right.

One is a form of removal that can see its own developments into an archetype in the future, another is a way to help a creature stay alive in a unique way, and another could be a potential counter to a strategy in the future.

There were however two artifacts that debuted in this set that are iconic and still used in certain formats today, one is a mana rock and the other is a form of interaction that still sees occasional sideboard play in certain formats.

My picks for artifacts are Barl’s Cage, Fellwar Stone, Living Armor, Scarecrow, and Tormod’s Crypt.

Lands

Looking at the lands of the set, they ranged from being underwhelming to strong, which is saying a lot for the four lands that are available in the set, and with the space available I only chose two lands.

The first land could provide an interesting synergy for the future because it interacts well with certain archetypes while also providing a strong utility because of it.

The second land is a strong land that can provide a lot of protective utility, despite not being able to generate mana as a result.

My picks for the lands are City of Shadows and Maze of Ith.

In Conclusion

The Dark as a set provided a lot of interesting variety for card choices and allowed me to start settling some flags for the future.

The next time we come back to the Magic Super Cube is when we get into an interesting period of Magic with Fallen Empires, which has some wider effects in the wider world of Magic, but also has some solid picks available.

As usual, here is the Moxfield link to keep up with all the cards in the Cube!

See you next time!

Peace,

From, J.M. Casual

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