Like any halfway-decent Bethesda RPG, Magic: the Gathering is not just one experience, but an endlessly customizable system on which you can craft your own gaming journey. This has become even more apparent in recent years: the community-led Commander format recently surpassed 60-card “casual” Magic to make up the plurality of games played, and the expansion on track to be the TCG’s best-selling of all time is a Lord of the Rings crossover. But nowhere is Magic’s role as a foundation which new gaming architecture can be built upon more obvious than in Cube, the “format” where players design their own custom draft format to replay endlessly with their friends and rivals.

And just as with Skyrim or Starfield, this year’s myriad Magic releases are not without criticism. But for Cube curators — analogous here to the tireless modders creating rich new scenarios across Tamriel or the Mojave Wasteland — the nearly 2,000 brand-new card designs have already proven to be amongst the most compelling in the game’s 30-year history, judging by their disproportionate inclusion in popular Cube lists.

We don’t have any qualitative awards for new Magic cards. Even with the category becoming much less competitive, Quintorius Kand has no chance of winning the award for “Best New Planeswalker” since no such trophy exists. But we do have numbers at our disposal to help recap the year and quantitatively understand just how impactful 2023 has been for the Cube community.

To that end, the team here at Cardboard by the Numbers has endeavored to collate and assess the data. The following analysis was conducted using the 100 most popular Cubes on CubeCobra that meet the following criteria: 1) the Cube has been updated in the last month, 2) the Cube is unrestricted, or otherwise does not have limits to cards included based on rarity, expansion, date of release, etc., 3) the card is intended for 1v1 gameplay, and 4) the Cube can support a full draft table of at least 8 players.

Interested to find out the most impactful cards in Cube and biggest trends? Let’s explore!

Phyrexia: All Will Be One

Phyrexia: All Will Be One started off the year without too much fanfare from the Cube community. Prior to the set’s release, the only cards that seemed to get much excitement were utility uncommons in the form of Canckerbloom, which had been leaked some weeks prior to the start of spoiler season, and Sheoldred’s Edict, a no-nonsense upgrade for Chainer’s Edict, a card that had begun to fall out of favor in recent years anyways.

Even at this year-end review, compared to the three other premiere expansions of the year, Phyrexia has the shallowest pool, with only 22 cards slotting into at least 10% of the sampled cards, compared to 30 in Wilds of Eldraine. This can be largely attributed to the set’s focus on mechanics like toxic and the ability word “contaminated”: themes that are generally considered parasitic, requiring a high volume to justify their inclusion in most limited environments and therefore not as easy to slot in an already-established Cube.

The biggest difference between this list and what respondents to Lucky Paper’s Set Prospective cited a few weeks after a release is the dominance of Atraxa, Grand Unifier. While more often than not, Cube curators tend to identify powerful cards earlier in spoiler season than the rest of the Magic community, Atraxa represents the reverse situation: she became a multi-format all-star as one of the best reanimation targets soon after Phyrexia: All Will Be One‘s release — just not in time for Lucky Paper’s survey.

Putting aside issues with its retail limited format, examining the rest of the top 10 reveals a collection of cards that are mostly slight upgrades or side-grades. There’s no new build-arounds or enablers for interesting strategies, just marginally more efficient cards. The flavor is novel, though, and players were happy to revisit the beloved plane of Mirrodin/New Phyreixa.

1. Atraxa, Grand Unifier – 53
2. Cankerbloom – 46
3. Sheoldred’s Edict – 44
4. Mercurial Spelldancer – 32
5. Nissa, Ascended Animist – 30
6. Planar Disruption – 29
7. Vraan, Executioner Thane – 20
8. The Eternal Wanderer – 19
9. Conduit of Worlds – 19
10. Bloated Contaminator – 19

March of the Machine

March of the Machine was Magic’s big “event set” of the year, bringing the conclusion of a storyline that had been in the background for more than a decade and had taken the center stage starting in 2021’s Kaldheim. More importantly than that, though, the expansion delivered some of the most interesting cards for Cube the year had to offer, including the spells-matter all-star Chrome Host Seedshark, and the Yuta Takahashi World Championship card, Faerie Mastermind, both of which have already demonstrated their relevance to Cubes of various power-levels in the MTGO Vintage list.

But more than that, with an average of 8.2 cards included per Cube (the second-highest of the year’s offerings) and 16 unique cards to make the cut for at least 10% of the sample, March of the Machine represented a massive depth of options for designers. I think this comes from the high quality of the limited format, as highlighted by LSV:

I'm *this* close to calling MOM my favorite draft set of all time – it's got incredible range and great gameplay. Well done, everyone who worked on it (and especially credit to @Grumpherys for leading like 4 of my top 10 draft sets ever).

— Luis Scott-Vargas (@lsv) April 27, 2023

When it comes to double-faced cards, many Cube curators have a higher barrier for inclusion to compensate for the potential confusion and logistical hassle they provide, with many avoiding them altogether. And yet, the likes of Rona, Herald of Invasion and Etali, Primal Conqueror were able to overcome that, with Khenra Spellspear topping the Peasant Cube Top 10 for the year. Such compelling designs have forced the average Cube sampled to up their complexity this year, and it will be worth checking back in a year’s time to see if that trade-off continues to be worth it and these kinds of cards remain as popular.

Interestingly, for Cubes that feature a full cycle of three-color cards or are willing to include a few particularly impactful ones, March of the Machine was more impactful than expansions dedicated to three-color themes like Streets of New Capenna, with cards like Thalia and The Gitrog Monster narrowly missing the top 10 of the set with a 19% play-rate and Borborygmos and Fblthp crashing into an impressive 7% of Cubes.

1. Chrome Host Seedshark – 64
2. Faerie Mastermind – 60
3. Rona, Herald of Invasion – 38
4. Rampaging Raptor – 38
5. Etali, Primal Conqueror – 30
6. Khenra Spellspear – 26
7. Ozolith, the Shattered Spire – 22
8. Pile On – 21
9. Invasion of Gobakhan – 20
10. Guardian of Ghirapur – 20

The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth™

When Reprieve was first revealed as part of the first look for The Lord of the Rings: Tales from Middle-Earth, it was clear to the entire Cube community that we had found our biggest card of the year. Magic players have been clamoring for more counter magic in white for years, and while many a Cube game have been won with a clutch Mana Tithe over the years, Cube curators were even more desperate for the color to lean into this effect than most. There are even arguments that Reprieve is better than its analogue in blue, Remand, due to it not technically countering spells, allowing you to avoid troublesome creatures cast with Delighted Halfling for at least one more turn.

The One Ring is certainly the expansion’s most memorable card, and would likely still be even if not for the record sale associated with the 001/001 edition. Cube curators frequently look to constructed for both personal experience and results to identify cards worth playing in their own limited environments, and The One Ring certainly provided plenty of opportunities for voyeurism this year, dominating Modern and Legacy, and requiring nerfs in Arena-only formats. While not nearly as busted in the largely-singleton Cubes sampled for this project as it is in Modern, The One Ring represents a piece of modern Magic history that players whose temptation was too great to avoid.

In future years, I would anticipate the suite of land-cyclers to continue to rise in interest in Cubes. All five are absolutely playable, even in the most power-motivated of lists, with their cycling mode acting as a Lay of the Land in colors that need the effect more than green, all while filling your graveyard with a valuable target for reanimation / Snapcaster Mage. I wouldn’t be surprised if Troll of Khazad-dûm in particular ends up competing with The One Ring in terms of inclusion rate in the future.

I initially had anticipated that the take-up rate on this expansion would be the significantly lower than the rest due to the community’s mixed reaction to Universes Beyond, but clearly that was not a concern. Of the sets that have been out for at least a month, Tales from Middle-Earth may have the lowest adoption rate of major expansions, but with 90% of Cubes featuring at least one card and two of the top 5 cards of the year sporting an expansions symbol with The One Ring, it’s a far-cry from a boycott.

That said, other Universes Beyond expansions this year did not fare nearly as well: as we’ll discuss later, the Doctor Who Commander release did not see a fraction of the interest that Warhammer 40k did last year, and my Cube was the only one of the 100 to feature cards from the Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves Secret Lair Drop. As has been expected, it seems that UB releases that thematically resonate more with Magic-adjacent properties, but I’m curious to see if this trend continues next year with the likes of Fallout and Assassin’s Creed.

1. Reprieve – 66
2. Orcish Bowmasters – 59
3. Delighted Halfling – 50
4. The One Ring – 46
5. Stern Scolding – 36
6. Andúril, Flame of the West – 34
7. Palantír of Orthanc – 33
8. Lórien Revealed – 21
9. Troll of Khazad-dûm – 20
10. Flowering of the White Tree – 18

Wilds of Eldraine

As of writing, Wilds of Eldraine is the most impactful expansion of the year for Cube. It may not look like it from a first look at these numbers compared to the high-end of Tales from Middle-Earth, but the average Cube in the sample included more than 10 cards from our second visit to Eldraine in their lists, significantly more than any of the year’s other expansions. Twenty-one unique cards found their way into at least 10% of lists, and 117 of the set’s 381 cards are being tried out by at least one Cube curator. While it can’t claim the 100% penetration rate seen by March of the Machine, 97% of the sampled Cubes included at least one card from Wilds of Eldraine.

In years past, a “Savannah Lions with upside” (a one mana-value creature with two power and an additional ability) have been the Cube community’s most-celebrated new cards. Wilds provides us with two of these, but due to a combination of how compelling the other cards from the set are and the glut of good one-drops Wizards of the Coast has printed in recent years, Embereth Veteran and Cheeky House-Mouse barely make the top 10.

Taking up close to a third of the top 10 are the cycle of Restless lands, manlands that have quickly taken over many slots previously occupied from similar cycles in Worldwide and the Battle for Zendikar block. Their rate of play is strongly correlated with their relative power-level to their predecessors: Restless Vinestalk is dramatically more interesting than Lumbering Falls, for example.

1. Mosswood Dreadknight – 50
2. Restless Vinestalk – 45
3. Virtue of Persistence – 39
4. The Goose Mother – 37
5. Restless Bivouac – 37
6. Questing Druid – 37
7. Syr Ginger, the Meal Ender – 36
8. Restless Cottage – 34
9. Embereth Veteran – 34
10. Cheeky House-Mouse – 31

The Lost Caverns of Ixalan

Although many Cube curators are not keen to update their lists immediately after a new set comes out – either opting for more testing before cementing inclusions or waiting for cards to become more available – an overwhelming majority of the sampled Cubes have already added in their picks from The Lost Caverns of Ixalan. Even without quite the same take-up rate as the other major expansions of the year, it’s clear that our most recent visit to Ixalan is one that Cube fanatics are going to be playing with for years to come.

Inti, Bitter Triumph, and Malcom are love-letters to Cube designers of all stripes. Strong enough to fit in with power-max Cubes but fair enough to fit in with contemporaries across much of the Cube spectrum, these three are easy to assess because of their analogues to previous favorites in Cube and constructed formats.

What’s more interesting is the popularity of the map token generators, most notably Sentinel of the Nameless City and Get Lost. While there was considerable consternation on message boards about the added complexity of “nested mechanics” that map tokens commit one to, it seems like a reasonable percentage of Cube curators were willing to overlook that for the great gameplay they encourage. However, the number of unique tokens required for a halfway typical Cube these days makes even the latest Doctor Who commander decks blush, and I wouldn’t fault anyone for sitting out on one of these trinket tokens lest they die of a thousand paper cuts in token creep.

1. Inti, Seneschal of the Sun – 48
2. Bitter Triumph – 43
3. Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel – 42
4. Sentinel of the Nameless City – 39
5. Get Lost – 29
6. Restless Vents – 23
7. Restless Anchorage – 23
8. Deep-Cavern Bat – 22
9. Anim Pakal, Thousandth Moon – 22
10. Stalactite Stalker – 21

Additional Expansions

As has been the case in the last few years, some of the most novel designs came not from the premiere expansions, but from the dozen or so bespoke cards that come packaged in the Commander precons now paired with every set. While previously the volume of new cards introduced directly to eternal formats in this way was limited, this year saw new cards printed in six different Commander releases (Phyrexia: All Will Be One, March of the Machine, The Lord of the Rings: Tales from Middle-Earth, Commander Masters, Wilds of Eldraine, and The Lost Caverns of Ixalan) or in special sets like March of the Machine: Aftermath, plus even more novel cards in Universes Beyond releases, like the Jurassic Park cards featured in The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Set and Collectors boosters or the Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves Secret Lair Drop.

Last year brought Cube curators some of the year’s most compelling cards, like Currency Converter, Swift Reconfiguration, Kappa Cannoneer, and Bennie Bracks, Zoologist. Similarly, this year’s Commander sets brought one of the year’s most beloved cards in Death-Greeter’s Champion, a charming homage to Alesha, Who Smiles at Death. Forth Eorlingas! finally gives power-maxed Cubes a gold card in Boros that is worthy of first-picking, and Staff of the Storyteller is both explicit token payoff and repeatable card-draw in white, both of which are quite welcome.

Doctor Who‘s top representation was the delightful Astrid Peth, Magic’s first representation for the Australian superstar Kylie Minogue. As the “bits and bobs” strategy becomes increasingly viable in Cubes with the volume of cards supporting treasures, clues, and the like, Astrid will only increase in value…if Magic players are able to stomach the crossover element. Overall, Doctor Who did not fare nearly as well as last year’s Warhammer 40k Commander decks: Astrid Peth only found her way into 10% of the sampled lists, while 40k cards like Mawloc and Old One Eye had no trouble conquering over a third of the same Cubes.

Magic’s first “epilogue set”, March of the Machine: Aftermath, was similarly unpopular with Cube enthusiasts. With only a duo of cards represented in at least 10% of our sample (Urborg Scavengers and Ayara’s Oathsworn), the micro-set certainly did not delight. Magic head designer Mark Rosewater said the expansion was their lowest-rated booster product of all time, and Cube curators did not seem to feel any differently about it.

The Top Cube Cards of 2023

1. Reprieve – 66
2. Chrome Host Seedshark – 63
3. Faerie Mastermind – 60
4. Orcish Bowmasters – 59
5. Atraxa, Grand Unifier – 53
6. Mosswood Dreadknight – 50
7. Delighted Halfling – 50
8. Inti, Seneschal of the Sun – 48
9. The One Ring – 46
10. Cankerbloom – 46

The impact of cards printed in 2023 far exceeds what would be suggested purely by the number of new cards provided to the game. This year has been exceedingly rich for Cube curators to try out new strategies and play with new cards!

If you enjoyed this article, we’re still looking for more respondents for our survey of Magic’s limited formats in 2023. Please click here to participate!

As a bonus, using a smaller sample size, we were able to provide a reasonable assessment of the top peasant cards of the year as well!

BONUS: The Top Peasant Cube Cards of 2023

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Miles Atherton is the editor-in-chief of “Cardboard by the Numbers” and has been playing Magic since 2006. Since studying Agricultural Economics at UC Davis, he’s built a career as an award-winning marketing executive in the entertainment industry with a love of data journalism. He’s also written for Anime Buscience and Crunchyroll News, serving as Executive Editor of the latter from 2016 to 2021.