Hello and welcome to the Magic Super Cube!

This is the series of blogs in which I go throughout the history of Magic sets that were Standard legal or would have been Standard legal had the format existed and choose cards from each of those sets so that I can make a large Cube out of those choices.

Today we are entering a new era for Magic because this was the release of Eighth Edition, which not only marks the first set of the Modern format, but also completely changed the face of Magic cards. This change was not well received at first, but over time people have grown accustomed to it, especially since a few aspects were tweaked into a much more refined card look as time went on.

This being a Core set, it is pretty big at 357 cards and all of them reprints, this provided the usual challenge of early Core sets in me having to check to make sure that I didn’t choose new cards, which did limit certain options because I had already picked them in previous sets.

Let’s get started!

White

So this set does have some artifacts and lands to choose from, but no multicolor does open up the options for four of each color.

White was probably the hardest to choose from, but there really wasn’t any easy choices for any of the colors. The most difficult choices for white were the noncreature spells, in which I had chosen a good number of the ones that were previously chosen, with some of the other options not being ideal. In the end I chose a removal spell and a way to protect your creatures.

The creatures weren’t much easier, but they were in fact easier than the noncreature spells to be sure. I chose a creature that is a decent blocker for only big things and a card that can help facilitate a niche creature type/ability word in the future once it becomes a bit more common to see.

My picks for white are Chastise, Rolling Stones, Story Circle, and Sunweb.

Blue

Blue was a bit easier than white, though that really isn’t saying a lot all things considered.

The creature spells are where I struggled with for blue because while not all of the creatures that were available were ones I had chosen, a majority of them weren’t great. I ended up choosing a creature that helped facilitate card draw and may have some typal synergies in the future for a supplemental creature type and a creature that is a decent size and is evasive.

The noncreature spells for blue were much more interesting for me to choose from, especially because there were some spells that I didn’t choose from earlier sets that could really help blue. in this case I chose a pricey counter spell that has an upside and a way to hose a particular color that I wanted to choose before but couldn’t at the time for one reason or another.

My picks for blue are Archivist, Phantom Warrior, Rewind, and Wrath of Marit Lage.

Black

If I had to pick the easiest color of the five I would choose black, mostly because there were a couple of cards that I didn’t add before and could add now by virtue of it being an early Core set.

This was especially prevalent in the noncreature spells, in which there was an expensive to cast reanimation spell and an iconic board wipe that I would have included in their respective sets, but there were some other options in each of their respective sets.

As far as creature spells go, this was a bit trickier, but not too bad overall. I chose a creature that allowed you to get something back from the graveyard and a creature that while expensive to cast, also acted as a removal spell and had a useful ability attached to it that black rarely gets on its own.

My picks for black are Gravedigger, Nekrataal, Plague Wind, and Zombify.

Red

Red was probably the second easiest to pick from, which isn’t saying too much again because of how many options there were available.

The noncreature spells were really what helped make the selection a bit easier. One is a simple enough burn spell that could be used to help win the game or be especially useful in the late game and another way to win via burn that I was initially surprised I didn’t choose, but looking at the set it was released in it made sense as to why I didn’t choose it before.

The creatures were a bit tougher, mostly because there were some creatures that I have chosen before along with some lackluster other choices. I decided on choosing a creature that acts more as a possible burn spell rather than a creature and a creature that works better as a typal gimmick but also has some decent utility for red.

My picks for red are Blaze, Furnace of Rath, Lightning Elemental, and Two-Headed Dragon.

Green

Green would have been the second hardest to pick cards from, again it doesn’t say much but the reason for green is mostly because the options available were already picked.

While the creatures were the hardest part for green, it was for one particular reason. There was one creature that I chose fairly quickly because it wasn’t picked in its previous set options and time was running low for it. It was the second creature that was the hardest to pick from, which in the end I chose a big creature that has a bit of a downside, but technically cheap to cast for its size.

The noncreature spell were also pretty tough, so in the end I went for some more utility spells. One was a way to deal with our opponents that play a bunch of Islands, and the other is a way for us to get something from our graveyard back into our hand.

My picks for green are Choke, Elvish Piper, Primeval Force, and Revive.

Artifacts and Lands

There were actually some decent artifacts to choose from along with a cycle of lands.

The lands are all very similar, them being able to tap for an allied color, at the price of entering the battlefield tapped, so there wasn’t much to having them have their own section.

The artifacts on the other hand were quite varied, and while I did have to make sure that I hadn’t chosen them before, there were some pretty neat choices. One is a typal glue sort of card that allows you to look at the top number of cards of a creature type you choose while also being a lord of that creature type, one changes your creature’s color which has some niche uses, there is one that is a creature removal spell while also being a sacrifice outlet while doing so, one let’s you recycle enchantments from your graveyard, and the last is either a slow mill card that also deals damage or a funky card advantage engine if you have the right shell for it.

My picks for artifacts are Brass Herald, Distorting Lens, Fodder Cannon, Skull of Orm, and Vexing Arcanix, and my picks for lands are Coastal Tower, Elfhame Palace, Salt Marsh, Shivan Oasis, and Urborg Volcano.

In Conclusion

As with a lot of the early Core sets, choosing cards gets a bit harder each time because of the amount of reprints made available and making sure that I didn’t do any redundant picks.

When we come back to the Magic Super Cube we start off a brand new block, which is one of the strongest blocks of the era and was one of the blocks that many people claimed would kill the game. That very block would be named after it’s first set and would play into the artifact space with Mirrodin.

As usual, here is the Moxfield link to keep up with all the cards in the Cube and here is the second part of it Moxfield II!

See you next time!

Peace,

From, J.M. Casual

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