Hello and welcome back to the Magic Super Cube!

If you’re new, this is where we go throughout the history of Magic and pick cards from sets that were Standard legal or would have been if the format had existed and make an enormous Cube from all of those picks.

Today we are taking a look at Mirage, which according to the internet is the first set that actually took Sealed play into consideration, and similar to Alliances I had a hard time picking cards from this set.

As opposed to Alliances however, this set was hard because there were a lot of good cards to choose from, especially from a massive set of 350 cards (330 if we don’t include basic lands).

This set had so many excellent cards to choose from, I almost wish that I had upped the total card count from each set, but if I did that here then I would have to go back to each and every set to make more picks, which is a lot of work.

Maybe when the Cube catches up to current sets I can do a supplementary series of extra cards to add, but that’s not for today.

Today is Mirage, and I have made my picks for this set and there are a lot of good ones, lets get started!

White

Starting off with white, this was probably the easiest of the five colors to choose from.

The creature spell I chose for white was the most difficult of the choices for white, but I ended up with a more defensive creature in terms of their ability.

The noncreature spells were a bit easier, especially since there is one iconic spell that would help reinforce certain archetypes in the Cube and the other is a way to help protect some of your things in an off kilter way.

My picks for white are Benevolent Unicorn, Enlightened Tutor, and Vigilant Martyr.

Blue

Blue was tough, in the sense that everything else was tough because there were so many options to choose from.

The creature spell was the hardest to pick, and this one was more so because none of the creatures really stood out to me, but there was one that had a neat effect that I think would be nice to have for a blue creature.

The noncreature spells presented an interesting challenge because there was one immediate choice, but the second choice was where things became challenging. In the end I decided that I would choose a card that would be interesting to play for some interesting interactions in the future as the Cube develops.

My picks for blue are Daring Apprentice, Flash, and Mystical Tutor.

Black

This was probably the hardest one of the five colors to pick from, on both sides.

The creature option was tough because there some neat creatures and effects to pick from, with the one I ended up with was a way to potentially encourage some mono color strategies, as well as playing into a potentially aggressive strategy.

The noncreature spells were also difficult because there were plenty of interesting options to choose from. I ended up choosing a recursion spell and a defensive spell that can act as a sort of kill spell, but in a different manner of speaking.

My picks for black are Purraj of Urborg, Shallow Grave, and Withering Boon.

Red

Red was interesting because I choose more creatures for red, even though there were plenty of solid noncreature options.

As far as which noncreature options I chose, I looked at the number of random coin flip cards and was very tempted to pick some, I ended up choosing a card that added a different sort of random variable, but one that I think is much more interesting.

For the creature spells I wanted to go one direction for which one I ended up with, but then realized that this was also the opportunity to add an additional typal archetype to the mix, because there are two creatures that would help open that space up.

My picks for red are Final Fortune, Hivis of the Scale, and Zirilan of the Claw.

Green

Green was probably the second easiest of the picks, but there were still some tough choices to be made.

Notably the creature spell was hard to pick because there are a couple of iconic creatures to choose from and I was only picking one for this set. In the end I went with a creature that would, overall, be better for the Cube because of how it could interact with cards already in the Cube and in the future.

The noncreature spells were the easiest part, one being a card to help complete the small cycle of cards introduced in this set, and the other being an iconic ramp spell that made its debut in Mirage.

My picks for green are Maro, Rampant Growth, and Worldly Tutor.

Multicolor

As sets start coming out, more and more multicolored cards will be made, and this is also where things can get difficult.

Mirage had a bunch of allied colored cards, but also had some enemy colored cards and after thinking about it, I decided to pick some enemy colored cards for a bit of variety.

While not as plentiful as the allied colored cards, there were still some interesting options in the enemy colored cards including a recursion piece, an aggressive creature, mana generation, damage redirection, and a weird card that can help and hurt your opponents.

My picks for multicolored are Purgatory, Emberwilde Caliph, Cadaverous Bloom, Reflect Damage, and Malignant Growth.

Artifacts

This one was originally going to be an easy choice, but then I realized that there was a single card that would complicate things.

Mirage introduced a cycle of artifacts and originally I was going to pick them and go on with the set, but then I saw that there was one iconic artifact that I had to choose, which would break the cycle. Luckily for me, this cycle would be used again in a later set so I could save them for later.

Other than that one iconic artifact, there were some other interesting options to choose from. I ended up with a defensive artifact, a very cheap creature with a massive downside, a creature that has an effect that I thought came later in Magic’s history, and a big creature that also could act as a generic creature for a particular typal strategy.

My picks for artifacts are Amber Prison, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Phyrexian Dreadnought, Sand Golem, and Teeka’s Dragon.

Lands

My picks for lands were the easiest to pick from in the whole of this set, which was a nice breath of fresh air.

The set introduced a cycle of lands that, while not as good as certain lands in the future, were some solid lands that can fulfill a similar niche that those other lands serve.

The lands I ended up not choosing were not great since while one did add multiple mana, it had a severe downside and the other, while fine in its own right, could be chosen in a later set with no major downsides.

My picks for lands are Bad River, Flood Plain, Grasslands, Mountain Valley, and Rocky Tar Pit.

In Conclusion

This was a fun set to pick cards from, a bigger step up from Alliances personally and it also helps that I am also in a better mood then I was than when I picked for Alliances.

When we next return to the Magic Super Cube we’ll be exploring Visions, the second set of the Mirage block and a set that will present some more interesting cards for the Cube.

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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