Hello and welcome to the Magic Super Cube!

For those new here, this is where we go through the history of Magic and choose cards that were Standard legal or would have been Standard legal if the format had existed and use them for a massive Cube from these choices.

Today we return to Core sets of Magic by taking a look at 5th Edition, which was a massive undertaking because the set has almost 450 cards to go through, of which all were reprints from other sets.

The difficulty came from making sure that I didn’t choose the same cards I have chosen before.

Let’s go!

White

Starting things off with white, I noticed that my picks were going to be a bit easier this time around because the lands that were available in Fifth Edition were one I had picked before, and there were no multicolored cards in this set.

This made it a bit easier for me because it let me pick five from each color and from artifacts. For the white noncreature spells, I chose a bit of an interesting variety of cards to include a combat trick, a control, piece, and a niche protection spell.

For the creature spells, I went in two directions. One was very much a meme pick because I thought it would be a fun include, and the other was a decent smaller creature that I think that the set could benefit from.

My picks for white are Circle of Protection: Artifacts, Kismet, Mesa Falcon, Order of the White Shield, and Righteousness.

Blue

Next we take a look at blue, and there were a couple of cards that I chose that I am almost surprised I didn’t choose before, but am glad I chose now.

For the creature cards there was a bit of difficulty, but I ended up choosing a couple of creatures that were of a decent size for blue, with one being a well known creature for blue and the other that could play into a unique archetype in the future.

It is with the noncreature spells where I filled up the cards that I didn’t choose prior. One was a well known draw spell, then there was a common piece of removal for blue, and the last was a way to manipulate things on the battlefield, which is especially something that I want to play with later in the Cube.

My picks for blue are Air Elemental, Brainstorm, Dark Maze, Twiddle, and Unsummon.

Black

We now take a look at black, which also had a couple of cards that were not included in the sets that came in, but do have some great use for the Cube.

Starting with the creature spells, we had a couple of options. One is a card that I didn’t choose from earlier and it would be a way to help expand on a typal archetype that I am surprised that I didn’t do earlier, and the other is a niche token generator that has several uses for different strategies.

The noncreature spells also helped fill in some of the gaps for black. One is a control piece for a specific color, another is a way to deal with a card type that black doesn’t normally get to deal with, and the last one is a card that should be in the Cube, if not for how useful it is then in how iconic it is.

My picks for black are Gloom, Raise Dead, Sengir Autocrat, Warp Artifact, and Zombie Master.

Red

When looking at red, there weren’t too many cards that needed to be filled in, but there were a couple that I think would work well in the long run.

For the noncreature spells I found that this was more the case. I decided to choose a mana accelerant, some removal against a certain card type that the Cube is lacking in, and another bit of removal that is more selective and one most people don’t generally play with.

The creature spells were a little more free form for what I ended up with. One is a flying creature that most people wouldn’t normally choose but may have some neat applications as the Cube evolves and the second is a weaker version of another card in the Cube but one that can be used decently effective in the future.

My picks for red are Bird Maiden, Flame Spirit, Mana Flare, Shatter, and Stone Rain.

Green

Green was the color that had the most cards to fill in from older sets, and I hope I did pretty well.

For the noncreature cards I went heavy on cards that green needed or could benefit the most from. I chose a unique way to interact with combat, a solid ramp piece, and a piece of card advantage I wished I had picked earlier, but finally relented on as it was the last time that I could pick this card.

The creature cards were a bit more on the tricky side since I picked a lot of the iconic ones already. I ended up picking a card that would help a future typal strategy while being useful for green to have and a card that would definitely help a future archetype once it becomes a bit more established.

My picks for green are Elvish Archers, Lure, Sylvan Library, Verduran Enchantress, and Wild Growth.

Artifacts

Now we finish things up with artifacts, which didn’t have too many holes to fill, though I did make a bit of a spicy choice.

Among the artifacts that I ended up choosing, I decided that having artifacts that served as some sort of utility served the Cube better than a couple of creatures, although there is an artifact creature that I chose because it was pretty unique to include.

The other artifacts that I chose was a way to interact with Aura’s, provided a tax against creature focused decks, a way to potentially save a creature at risk of damage to yourself, and a well known control piece that can make things more difficult but interesting if played well.

My picks for artifacts are Crown of Ages, Feroz’s Ban, Jade Monolith, Shapeshifter, and Winter Orb.

In Conclusion

This was a bit of a difficult set to choose from, primarily because of how massive the set was, but I do think that what I picked was done for the benefit of the Cube.

When we return to the Magic Super Cube, we’ll be finishing up Mirage block by taking a look at Weatherlight, which should be a bit easier for us since it is a small set of under 200 cards.

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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