Hello and welcome to the Magic Super Cube!

If you didn’t know, this is the blog series in which I take a look at sets that have been released in throughout the history of Magic’s Standard sets or sets that would have been Standard had the format existed and then pick cards from each of those sets in order to make what I am hoping is the largest Cube in the world.

We are going to be finishing things off from the original Ravnica block by taking a look at Dissension, another small set of 180 cards that was as I expected right in the middle of difficulty when compared to the other two sets in the block.

Let’s get started!

White

When taking a look at the white cards, I actually had a bit of difficulty when choosing cards.

This primarily came from the creature side of things, as a lot of the creatures provide an interesting niche, but some worked better for the Cube than others. In the end I chose a creature that benefits two archetypes, enchantments and +1/+1 counters.

The noncreature spells were a bit easier, with the picks being a way to remove an attacking creature from combat in a unique way and a way to make use of your creatures dying by gaining you some life in the process.

My picks for white are Celestial Ancient, Condemn, and Proper Burial.

Blue

Blue was a bit easier than white, but not by much when looking at the set as a whole.

Again this fell onto the creatures that were available, but the creatures in blue were not as interesting in my opinion. The creature that I did end up choosing is a creature that can service well in a mill strategy that has a pretty solid way of recurring itself.

The noncreature spells were much easier in comparison, and the reason why is because from blue to green there was at least one iconic spell to choose from. In blue’s case there were two, one is a way to get a good bit of draw and the other is a very cheap and effective counter spell in the early game.

My picks for blue are Enigma Eidolon, Psychic Possession, and Spell Snare.

Black

I would have to say that black was the second easiest color to pick cards from.

As it has become a recurring pattern, the most difficult choice was the creature spell. There were plenty of interesting creatures in black that made the choice difficult, but in the end I chose a creature that provides a defensive utility while also having the option of becoming an aggressive threat.

The noncreature spells were incredibly easy in comparison. One is a situational tutor that gets really good if you happen to have no cards in hand and the other is a card that may has a some unique interactions with changing colors and land types.

My picks for black are Infernal Tutor, Nightcreep, and Slithering Shade.

Red

I would say that of the five colors, red was probably the hardest, but that still wasn’t too bad overall.

As you would expect, the creature spell for red was tough because there was a mix of interesting creatures, average creatures, and not ideal creatures. In the end I chose a creature that works very well with your creatures dying.

The noncreature spells were also a bit tough, again because there were plenty of solid options to choose from. I ended up picking a card that has some interesting utility with wheel effects and a card that plays into a more control aspect for red that I like to have available for the color.

My picks for red are Ignorant Bliss, Stalking Vengeance, and War’s Toll.

Green

Green, by far, was the easiest of the five colors to pick from and it wasn’t even close.

As opposed to the other colors, I had the easiest time picking cards for the creature spells. The two creatures I chose had ways to create infinite combos with the right combination of cards, one by cheating creatures out and the other making a ton of copies of itself.

Picking the noncreature spell was even easier because it is a spell that helps ramp you in the early game and when played with the right combination of cards can actually net you a lot more mana than you would expect.

My picks for green are Protean Hulk, Sprouting Phytohydra, and Utopia Sprawl.

Multicolor, Artifacts, and Lands

I’m grouping all three together here because the lands and artifacts were pretty easy and followed the same pattern as the previous sets, which didn’t need a whole section on their own.

The multicolor cards are where a lot of choices had to be made. Starting with the cards from the Guilds from this set, I went with a creature that works very well in as a control deck, a card that provides a small buff to attacking creatures and a bigger benefit if you have no cards in hand, and a creature that can either ramp you or draw you a card depending on what the top card of your library is.

The difficulties came in that there were the split cards of set, which represented two guilds on each card, allies on one cycle and enemies on another cycle. Seeing as I had limited space from my selections, I made the choice to not choose one cycle and instead choose cards I think would work well. I also chose an artifact creature that is quite unique because of how it plays with color identity.

My picks for artifacts are Transguild Courier, Azorius Signet, Rakdos Signet, and Simic Signet. My picks for lands are Azorius Chancery, Rakdos Carnarium, and Simic Growth Chamber. My picks for multicolor are Grand Arbiter Augustin IV, Anthem of Rakdos, Coiling Oracle, Trial//Error, Hit//Run, Pure//Simple, Crime//Punishment, and Odds//Ends.

In Conclusion

Overall Ravnica block was a challenge to pick cards from. There were so many options to pick from, a lot of tough choices that had to be made but I managed to do so in a way that I am satisfied with.

When we return to the Magic Super Cube, we are not going to a new Core set or starting a new block, rather we are going to be taking a slight detour with a set that technically is the final set of a block from so long ago. We are going to be taking a look at Coldsnap, an odd block that wanted to play into an interesting gimmick with mixed results.

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