Hello and welcome to the Magic Super Cube!

If you were not aware, this is the blog in which I go through out the history of Magic’s sets that were Standard legal or would have been Standard legal had the format existed and from among each and every one of those sets I choose cards in order to make a Cube of epic proportions.

Today we venture back into the traditional Core sets of Magic by taking a look at Ninth Edition and let me tell you this was a challenge to find cards for. This is still in the era of when Core sets were just reprints of cards, and there were a lot of cards that I had already chosen from other sets.

You would think that a set that is 344 cards, not including basic lands, would have some number of cards that I haven’t included, and while that is true, a lot of those aren’t great. The ones that were good were ones I have already picked, meaning I had to dig through to find interesting ones that I haven’t picked before.

Let’s get started!

White

So there were not any multicolor picks to choose from which left more space for each of the five colors to pick four cards from, and let me tell you how difficult that was.

White wasn’t the worst of the five colors, but I would definitely say it wasn’t the easiest, especially on the creature front. I ended up picking a creature that acted as a control piece against larger creatures and technically itself and a creature that was just a solid creature that is hard for two colors to interact with it.

The noncreature spells weren’t as bad, but there was still a tough choice in finding good picks. I ended up finding a card that worked well for white being the catch up ramp color and a way for white to gain life in a way that has some interesting interactions.

My picks for white are Gift of Estates, Marble Titan, Paladin-en-Vec, and Spirit Link.

Blue

From the five colors, I would say that blue was the easiest to pick cards from, which again is not really saying anything spectacular.

On the noncreature front there were a couple of cards that I was surprised I didn’t choose before, with one being a way to take control of a land and the other being a card that is decently iconic, if not for its art but for being a way for blue to destroy something when it normally doesn’t get that effect.

The creatures were a bit tougher, but not nearly as bad as some of the other colors. One is a cheap creature that is pretty strong but has a major downside, and the other is an evasive creature that gives some sort of advantage for being a little aggressive.

My picks for blue are Annex, Imaginary Pet, Polymorph, and Thieving Magpie.

Black

Moving onto black, I would say that this was the second easiest to pick cards from, and that is because there were a couple of cards that I didn’t pick that I thought I did, but turns out I didn’t.

This mostly came from the noncreature spells, where one a card that allows you to interact with your opponents discarding a card in an interesting way and the other is a removal spell that I could have sworn I chosen, but I ended up choosing a card that sounded similar to it.

The creatures were in a similar boat, with one creature being related to a niche creature type that happens to interact with the graveyard and the other being a creature that acts a sacrifice outlet that I could have sworn I chose, but evidently I hadn’t.

My picks for black are Cruel Edict, Megrim, Mortivore, and Nantuko Husk.

Red

Things only got more difficult from here on out because red was pretty tough to choose from, though it wasn’t the hardest.

The noncreature spells are what saved it from being the hardest, and that is because, again, I found cards that I haven’t chosen from other sets because one adds an additional layer to the game by doing something interesting with you the player and the other is a board wipe for smaller creatures that I was shocked that I still hadn’t chosen.

The creatures were also a pretty tough choice, mostly because I had chosen a bunch of them in previous sets. I ended up picking a creature of a niche creature type that looks for a number of a certain type of card in the graveyard and the other is a creature that can serve as a late game board wipe and burn spell all in one.

My picks for red are Bloodfire Colossus, Form of the Dragon, Magnivore, and Pyroclasm.

Green

We finally end things off on green, which was definitely the hardest of the five colors to pick cards from.

There were a decent amount of choices, but interesting ones were a bit harder to pick from, especially on the creature front. I went the safe option and picked a creature that generated mana and a creature that can potentially make a lot of a particular type of creature token.

The noncreature spells were also pretty tough to choose from, with the exception of one because it was one I did want in the Cube and was able to get it before it would leave the Standard potential options. The other noncreature spell is a way to make more efficient use of mana that I was surprised I haven’t chosen before.

My picks for green are Early Harvest, Greater Good, Utopia Tree, and Verdant Force.

Land and Artifacts

Land and artifacts were not too difficult, and that was because there was only one choice for land and there were still a couple of artifacts to pick from.

The primary land cycle of this set was the pain lands, of which I had already chosen from previous set, which left only one unique land that wasn’t picked until this very set.

The artifacts were a little tricky, but I did end up picking an artifact that works well as a sideboard piece, a creature that can work in sacrifice decks, a way to get opponents to discard a card, a well known control piece that I was shocked to see not in the Cube already, an artifact that can situationally be a creature, a decently strong Equipment that can help add an interesting piece for that archetype in the Cube, a large creature, an artifact creature that works well in Enchantress decks, and a mana rock that isn’t the most efficient but still pretty decent.

My pick for land is Quicksand, and my picks for artifacts are Booby Trap, Bottle Gnomes, Disrupting Scepter, Icy Manipulator, Jade Statue, Loxodon Warhammer, Phyrexian Hulk, Thran Golem, and Ur-Golem’s Eye.

In Conclusion

This was not an easy set to pick cards from, and I had to make sure that these cards were not on my master list of picks for the Cube to guarantee I was choosing new cards for the Cube.

When we return the the Magic Super Cube we are going to be entering one of the most well known and well beloved planes in all of Magic by taking a look at Ravnica: City of Guilds and let me tell you, I am somewhat dreading it because of all the multicolor cards to choose from as well as deciding which lands I pick from this set, because let me tell you I have made a choice that I am sticking to and some people may not like it.

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