Hello and welcome back to the Magic Super Cube!

If you are new here, this is where we take a look at Magic sets in chronological order from sets that were Standard legal or would have been Standard legal had the format existed and choose cards from those sets to make an enormous Cube.

We are finishing up Urza’s block by taking a look at Urza’s Destiny, and much like it’s predecessors there are plenty of great cards that came from the set and to pick from.

While it is a small set at 143 cards, this set is packed to the gills with some solid cards, and I had to make some difficult choices. As with a bunch of the previous sets there were no multicolor cards and only one viable land pick, so there are going to be more options for each color and a whole bunch of artifacts.

Let’s get started!

White

This was the toughest color to choose from for this set, and that is because that even though I opened up the choices for each color, there was still only so much space.

The creature spells were easier to pick from, and even that was tricky because there was a couple of interesting options to pick from. I chose a card that is an incredibly powerful tutor and the other is a card that works pretty decently on the defensive.

The noncreature spells were incredibly difficult because I managed to narrow it down to three options, and having to choose two from those three was difficult. In the end I chose a card that is the name of a particular strategy and helps lead the way for more cards of that type to be supported later in the Cube, and the other is a way to get a mass amount of reanimation, but only for a particular card type.

My picks for white are Academy Rector, Flicker, Replenish, and Wall of Glare.

Blue

I had a hard time with a lot of colors, and blue was probably one of the easier of the five colors to choose from.

The creatures were pretty easy since there weren’t too many that I was impressed with, so in the end I decided on picking a creature that is a companion pick with another card from an earlier set in this block and an evasive creature that can be useful in several strategies in the future.

The noncreature spells were pretty tricky, and that was because there were plenty of good options to choose from, but several of those choices are available in later sets. I decided on choosing cards that were not available in future sets, despite these two cards being big influences on cards in the future, with one being a particular build around and the other being a powerful theft spell.

My picks for blue are Bubbling Beebles, Donate, Metathran Soldier, and Treachery.

Black

Black was also a tough choice, and even though it was tough I would say that this was the second easiest color to choose from.

The noncreature spells again provided the most difficult choice, in particular because the cards I wanted to add were not really available in future sets. I ended up picking a mana accelerant that would get better with a card in the future, and an incredibly efficient card draw engine.

The creature spells were a little easier to pick from because while there were a couple of interesting creatures, the ones that stood out to me is a creature that helps with a reanimation strategy for at least a turn and a creature that can double as a way to remove creatures in a unique way.

My picks for black are Apprentice Necromancer, Bubbling Muck, Nightshade Seer, and Yawgmoth’s Bargain.

Red

Of the five colors, red was probably the easiest to pick from, and that is saying something because there was still a couple of tough choices.

The noncreature spells weren’t as bad as some of the other colors, though I did decide on avoiding some of the more obvious burn spells that were available in the set. Instead, I decided on picking a card that works well with mass burn spells and a solid pump spell that also happens to work well with the previous spell.

The creature spells were a little tricky, but in the end I decided that picking a creature that actually works as an effective burn spell and a creature that helps develop a typal archetype by helping get some more bodies in play.

My picks for red are Cinder Seer, Goblin Marshal, Repercussion, and Trumpet Blast.

Green

Green was right in the middle in terms of how easy it was to pick cards from, at least from the five colors.

The creature spells are where the choices were probably the hardest, and my picks mostly stemmed on whether or not the card would be available in future sets or not. So I chose a creature that is very good at producing mana even if it is a bit restrictive, and a creature that helps a particular strategy very well.

The noncreature spells were a bit tricky as well, again with it coming down to cards that I think would be pretty interesting for the Cube to have. One of those picks being a card that is a pretty interesting color hate piece that also provides advantage and the other being a way to deal with particular card type and provide a decent benefit alongside it.

My picks for green are Compost, Multani’s Decree, Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary, and Yavimaya Enchantress.

Artifacts and Land

As with some of the earlier sets, there was only one viable land pick, but unlike some of the previous sets, there was a lot of artifact picks, which dominate a good number of picks for the set.

The land pick of the set is the one and only unique land that was added to the game for this set, and the land is fine in the grand scheme of things but is otherwise nothing to write home about, except for it pricey because of it being on the Reserved List.

As far as the artifact picks, there were a lot to pick from and a solid variety as well. There is something that punishes attacking creatures, an artifact sacrifice outlet, an artifact recursion piece, a well known creature that was powerful for its time, a way to get a ton of colorless mana in a quick and efficient manner, a slow and steady board wipe that can be tuned to your needs, a funky control piece that restricts what untaps, a beloved mana rock, and a powerful typal support piece.

My land pick is Yavimaya Hollow and my artifact picks are Caltrops, Extruder, Junk Diver, Masticore, Metalworker, Powder Keg, Storage Matrix, Thran Dynamo, and Urza’s Incubator.

In Conclusion

This was a pretty difficult set to pick cards from, which I think is pretty fitting for Urza’s block as a whole, since there were a lot of solid cards to pick from, as well as some neat, niche picks.

When we return to Magic Super Cube we go to a set that was made as a lower powered answer to Urza’s block. This was because Urza’s block was one of the blocks that almost “killed Magic”, so there had to be a drastic change in power level in order to right the ship as it were. We will be taking a look at the first set of Masques block by looking at Mercadian Masques, which is also the first set that was released without holding cards back for the Reserved List, and while the power level has taken a downturn, there are still some string cards from the set.

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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