Hello and welcome to the Magic Super Cube!

This is the blog where I take a look at Magic sets throughout the game’s history and choose cards from Standard sets or sets that would have been Standard legal had the format existed and have those cards choices put into an enormous Cube.

Today we are going to be taking a look at Torment, a set that had a neat gimmick for the time, and that gimmick was that there would be more black cards in the set than white or green cards, where the reverse would be true in the next set Judgement.

I had originally considered picking more black cards than white or green cards in this set while in Judgement do the same, but since there are no artifacts or multicolored cards in this set, the difference would make things pretty uneven for the future picks, so I decided against it.

Instead each of the five colors is going to get five picks and the same will be for Judgement, for the most part at least.

Let’s get started!

White

As far as sets go, Torment was incredibly easy to pick cards from, which is definitely interesting especially with how few white cards were in the set.

The creatures were the hardest part for white because I didn’t find too many that were interesting. I did end up choosing a creature that helps with a strategy that white doesn’t really have access too often even if it is a bit expensive to cast and a creature that has a unique form of recursion that can also be used in a strategy that isn’t too common for white.

The noncreature spells were more interesting to pick from with one being a cheap way to deal with graveyards, an interesting combat trick that can actually fuel a strategy that has been cropping up more in white even as recently as the most recent sets, and a way to deal with a ton of creatures at once while also playing into some graveyard and discard strategies.

My picks for white are Aven Trooper, Morningtide, Reborn Hero, Spirit Flare, and Vengeful Dreams.

Blue

Blue was also an interesting time in choosing cards, not the easiest or the hardest but solidly in the middle.

Again, this was due to the creatures, of which there were some pretty interesting options. I decided to pick a creature that plays really well into mill and graveyard strategies if you manage to keep the creature alive, and a creature that can act as a way to counter a particular type of spell while also having a flying body in play.

The noncreature spells are where some of the more interesting choices in blue come from for the set. The first is a card that plays with a mechanic that is very much blue but doesn’t see much play in modern card design, a counter spell that plays really well in a graveyard strategy and can also work well in a discard strategy, and an iconic draw spell that has some recursion.

My picks for blue are Alter Reality, Cephalid Vandal, Circular Logic, Deep Analysis, and Hydromorph Gull.

Black

I had a wealth of choice for black since there were a lot of cards to choose from, and while it could have presented a challenge, it actually wasn’t too bad.

The creature choices were actually pretty easy since there was a legendary creature that plays an interesting recursion strategy that can use any graveyard at a bit of a risk, and a creature that I was surprised to learn how expensive it was for a common, but it being a free discard outlet helped make it make sense.

The noncreature spells were also pretty simple all things considered. The picks I ended up with was a ritual spell that gets stronger the more you play into the graveyard, a form of removal that can get by some of the early potential protections for creatures, and a cheeky reference that plays extremely well into graveyard strategies.

My picks for black are Cabal Ritual, Chainer, Dementia Master, Chainer’s Edict, Dawn of the Dead, and Putrid Imp.

Red

If I had to pick the hardest color to pick cards from, I would say it was red and that was because there were plenty of solid cards to pick from.

The creatures weren’t too bad to pick from, since there is a creature that can be used as a cheap way to use cards in your graveyard as a resource to help end the game and a creature that I added because it plays well into a particularly chaotic red strategy that is very much a risky creature to play for so much mana.

The noncreature spells are where I struggled the most because there were so many options to pick from that I struggled to narrow down which ones I wanted. In the end I chose a burn spell that would normally be pricey unless you play a discard strategy where it becomes a Lightning Bolt, a way to protect your next instant or sorcery spell while also being a cantrip, and an interesting burn spell since it can be prevented in a way that red doesn’t usually operate in.

My picks for red are Crazed Firecat, Fiery Temper, Grim Lavamancer, Overmaster, and Skull Scorch.

Green

Green was also not too hard to pick cards from, though did have a couple of difficulties.

This mostly arose in the noncreature spells where I went back and forth on a couple of options. I decided to pick a neat card that helps establish another typal strategy to the Cube that can be cast at least twice, a way to either prevent your opponent from using certain cards from their graveyard or help get cards back from your graveyard to your library, and a card that can be a massive boon for a token strategy even if it is symmetrical.

The creature spells weren’t too bad to pick from, with one being a fairly well known creature that has a unique way of getting into play for free and a creature that can help you get excess land cards into your graveyard while also making it stronger and drawing you some more cards.

My picks for green are Acorn Harvest, Basking Rootwalla, Dwell on the Past, Nantuko Cultivator, and Parallel Evolution.

Lands

This was by far the easiest of all possible card choices for the set.

Since there were no artifacts or multicolor cards to pick from this expanded my picks from the set, which really wouldn’t have effected the choices for the land slot because there were only five options for the lands and they all are pretty interesting to add to the Cube because of their unique way of fixing mana or potentially producing a ton of mana.

My picks for lands are Cabal Coffers, Tainted Field, Tainted Isle, Tainted Peak, and Tainted Wood.

In Conclusion

Overall while I thought that being so focused on a particular color would make this a difficult set to pick from, this is one of the easiest sets to have picked cards from.

I can only hope that Judgement is also as easy, even though that set weighs more on two colors while also having fewer black cards. It is also a smaller set so hopefully that helps makes things easier.

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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