Fallout is upon us! The much-hyped crossover between the beloved game franchise — one that will take up even more online discourse in a few weeks with a new Amazon show — and the greatest game ever made (Magic: the Gathering) may not have lived up to the high expectations of all Magic players, but the four Commander decks are all fun and flavorful out of the box, in addition to providing excellent treats for Cube curators of all styles.
When it comes to both Universes Beyond and Commander-specific releases, cards tend to get more easily overlooked in the context of Cube. Many Cube curators use constructed performance as a benchmark for the “Cubeability” of a given card, and more still tend to avoid UB releases altogether, generally citing aesthetic or flavor preferences. However, these sorts sets have gems galore for custom draft formats, and many of my most beloved cards of the last few years were paradoxically originally printed in releases never intended for limited Magic, like Triarch Praetorian, Arwen, Weaver of Hope, or Astrid Peth.
For Murders of Karlov Manor, I tried out a rating system with four categories, cumulating in a (mostly aggregated) final score out of 10. Rather than sparking discussion about cards or elements that folks otherwise may not have factored into their evaluation, this ended up having what I’d call the “IGN effect”, where the final score was the only consideration for conversation, so today, I’ll be testing out a new format: ranking the cards based on how big my Cube would need to be for me to play them, and calling out the best cards outside my own specific interests.
For context, my Cube is a mostly-fair midrange-focused Legacy+ list containing 720 cards. It’s a step below the power-level of a Vintage Cube like the MODO list or AlphaFrog’s, I’m testing out a whopping 14 cards with the expansion symbol PIP — that’s more than Warhammer 40k, The Lord of the Rings Commander, or Doctor Who! As a result, most of the cards featured here today will indeed be played at least a few times with my playgroup.
To repeat myself for clarity, these tiers are based on the Cube size I would personally play them at. It’s meant as guidance but not advice, as Cube environments tend to, by their structure, be meaningfully different form one another and have different goals, synergies, playgroups, etc.
360
If my Cube were cut down to 360 cards I would be playing:
What a neat card!
At two mana, you have an artifact creature that’s promises to power two themes that have become increasingly supported by WotC in recent years: white artifact aggro and token spam. The Squadron in kind of the reverse of the surprisingly popular Pollen-Shield Hare in terms of how it boosts the go-wide strategy of tokens, and I like the way they play differently. With Securitron Squadron, at five mana, you get six power split over a pair of vigilant creatures. At seven, you get a 2/2 and two 5/5s! These kinds of modal cards feel so much better than the two-drops of yore and allow for a greater number of real games to be played in the deeply-randomized world of Magic.
While it’s my clear favorite card from the set, Securitron Squadron is unfortunately also about as 2024 of a card as it gets. It necessitates tokens (ideally custom ones, because using “Copy” tokens is about as helpful to visualizing game states as a pile of dice), it requires plenty of dice, it focuses on a game element that doesn’t mean anything lore-wise (tokens), and as TrainmasterGT pointed out on Reddit, it can be logistical hell to track +1/+1 counters on tokens. Two of the three versions of the card do not spell out what “Squad” does! But these annoyances are nothing compared to the warm feeling in my heart I’ll get from following this card up with a Staff of the Storyteller or Deranged Hermit.
Sweepers in black have come a long way since Black Sun’s Zenith was a menace. After Toxic Deluge and Damnation, there’s not been an obvious third mass creature destruction spell. With the increase in value of creatures over the last five years in particular, one would think that sweepers are even more essential to a healthy Legacyish Cube environment, but paradoxically, the increased potency of a single 3-drop makes recovering from them much easier for the defending player. As such, I did not think we’d see a Cube-worthy sweeper for the color that benefits nearly as much from efficient spot removal for quite some time.
Cue Nuclear Fallout. Besides having the best art and flavor text of the Fallout expansion, this variable wrath can be set up to your advantage with more ease than a Damnation or Day of Judgment, and at much less cost. The pseudo-Pyroclasm at X=1 has an acceptable use-case, and at X=2, the card is generally a superior Languish, a card that’s been in and out of my Cube since I rode a date-stamped copy to a 5-0 victory at the Magic Origins pre-release. The flexibility is not the whole story, though: the self-mill and incidental damage that comes with the radiation counters are hugely advantageous, promoting graveyard strategies or allowing you to use the card as a full game-ending fireball with enough mana to back it up.
The only issues I have with the card are the lack of reminder text for radiation counters and the need for a new token, both of which would be deal-breakers for a lesser card. This makes the card harder to recommend to others who (very reasonably) don’t want to have dozens of one-off random mechanics and additional play pieces, but also speaks to my love of the super flexible sweeper that has more than one cherry on top if I’m able to overcome those things.
Golgari is not a terribly deep guild for power-motivated or power-curious Cube curators: besides removal, there are few choices that are more compelling than similarly-costed mono-colored cards in green and black. Because of my playgroup’s average draft ability, I like to use gold cards as a draw into a color pair, rather than as a reward to get late for diligent drafters. As a result, Alpha Deathclaw would be one of the last cards in the guild to get cut from my Cube, and I have to wholeheartedly recommend it to you, dear reader.
Similar to Grave Titan, Alpha Deathclaw serves triple-duty as ramp payoff, reasonable reanimator target, and midrange top-end. At only six mana, it’s not unreasonable to expect the beast to find its way onto the battlefield through normal gameplay to clear the biggest threat on the board. Simultaneously, cheating it in early leaves you not only with a massive creature, but you can swipe one of your opponents’ lands in the process. In a world where Ashen Rider is still riding along with the tightest of Vintage Cubes, Alpha Deathclaw is well worth your attention if the UB frame and flavor is not too large a detriment to your play experience.
450
Though it cannot revive a cheeky Oko taken too early from this world, I think Pre-War Formalwear is a great pickup, one that I prefer even to Sevinne’s Reclamation.
Helping Hand has over-performed for me — I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that a slightly worse Unearth plays better in a color with three-drops like Adeline, Resplendent Cathar and Loran of the Third Path.
When people got excited over Call a Surprise Witness, I got it, but I didn’t want to pay 2 mana for it.
But I do want to pay 3 for this. The base effect is good, and this does the Recommission thing where it turns a medium 2-drop into a more reasonable threat, eliminating a lot of the feelbad for the situations where you don’t have a 3-drop in the yard. It can also be re-used as a clunky but fine piece of equipment later, blinked to be re-used, and helps support the white artifact synergies that WotC is increasingly printing.
Like with the previously-mentioned Securitron Squadron, the Radstag can be a pain to track and threatens to make a visually overwhelming board state, but if you’re willing to commit to appropriate peripherals, Watchful Radstag is the sea-worthy three-drop. It only takes a single evolve trigger — a simple enough feat — to feel like you’re “getting there”. While modern three-drops usually provide more immediate value and don’t ask you to follow it up with an even bigger creature, having one or two cards that have a slower impact on the game is acceptable and provides novel draft and deck-building strategies. It helps that the Radstag can make ridiculous board states in just a turn or two, which certainly softens the impact of the otherwise fragile play.
540 Cards
Say hello to a 2-MV creature that unconditionally draws a card when it hits, only the second one ever printed. Mischievous Catgeist was the first, but this critically has two more toughness, making it much less likely to get chumped or otherwise survive attacking. It’s also both legendary and an artifact, two elements that help it synergize in compelling ways with other popular cards for many types of Cubes.
Many of Blue’s premiere two-drops are looters. Those may be situationally better, particularly in a graveyard-forward environment like mine, but I think having a mix of pure card draw and looting as rewards for attacking
The only issue? The bottom ability is going to be trinket text in 80%+ of games. It’s cool that you can do it at instant speed, and it’s cool to have that threat of activation. I think it’s neat, really, but there’s just way too much text on the card, and as much as I like the ability, I’d rather just have a simpler, cleaner card.
I’m always keen to test out new removal, and V.A.T.S. carries with it the dream of being a Plague Wind for four mana! Normally, I don’t like cards that deny your opponents interaction. I’d like my removal to be counterable, or at least for folks to be able to respond, like with a blink effect. However, with creatures getting so intensely powerful, I don’t mind having a single card that undermines that — the lack of predictability is one of the things that makes Cube so much fun! And for four mana, it’d feel terrible if you wasted your kill spell. The story equity in V.A.T.S. is so big and the effect is so unique that I can’t wait to cast this for years to come.
Assaultron Dominator reminds me of a mono-red Voltaic Brawler, which was a fine Cube card back when it came out.
I’m hesitant to have this as my only energy card, but I like the flexibility and the artifact typing. Worth a consideration in larger Cubes or ones with a lot of artifact synergies, the latter of which would only get better as my Cube decreased in size, hence my value of the card at this tier.
The Inti-like trigger really makes an otherwise almost-reasonable card into a real value engine — Junk tokens are hugely powerful.
Its biggest issue is the competition at 3. Anything I take out for this card will be higher power in the average scenario, but Veronica threatens a lot of fun synergies and makes a bigger impact the longer she stays on the board. That said, it’s hard to play this in the same Cube as Fable…but I’m going to try.
At 720 cards, I run a single card for each three-color pair, mostly because I like to be able to and not because it promotes better gameplay. If my Cube was any smaller, I would only run three-colored cards that had outsized impact on the game, without regard for balance between shard and wedge representation. At 540 cards, Caesar, Legion’s Emperor would absolutely be one of those cards.
Previously, I was running Kroxa and Kunoros for Mardu, a card that speaks to my particular (reanimation-heavy) interests in Cube. A solid titan, I’d encourage more Cube curators to test it out, and I may eventually feel compelled to double-up on Mardu and re-add it, but for now, I can’t help but delight in Caesar’s contributions to the heavily-supported token archetypes, the legendary-matters midrange decks based in white, the aristocrats decks centered in Orzhov, and the five-color goodstuff decks that can try to wheel sick payoffs. Caesar takes such great advantage of the multitude of decks and board states you’re likely to encounter in a singleton environment that demonstrates why cards designed for a multiplayer format can be so enticing for Cube: he can do so much (he doesn’t even have to be the one attacking!), while still giving your opponent plenty of counter play.
This is the kind of card that makes drafters’ eyes go wide with curiosity and excitement. “What can I do with this?” they’ll say, and then they’ll lose their mind when they get passed a late Samwise Gamgee or Academy Manufactor in the next pack. A silly bits and bob card that leans on some of the least restrained design space R&D has explored in recent years, Nuka-Cola Vending Machine doesn’t have a place in every deck, but whether you’re looking for marginal Urza support or slow value-engines, Nuka-Cola Vending Machine is the kind of card that sparks joy, and isn’t that really what Cube is all about?
720
One of the first cards to get cut if I were ever to shrink the size of my Cube, Paladin Danse is a close analogue to Boromir, Warden of the Tower that plays better in most games but has a meaningfully worse sacrifice effect. I like the keywords, I like that he’s an artifact creature, and I like, both thematically and gameplay-wise, being able to save both my robots and humans. The fact that he gets exiled with this effect and can’t be resurrected by the likes of a Pre-War Formalwear is a small frustration, but I think this is my favorite version of Frontline Medic they’ve made and I appreciate how it’s not bogged down with incredibly niche use-cases or ring tempting.
To be clear: I don’t think this card is necessarily at the power-level of my Cube, but I like what it’s trying to do, and want to see if it can do it.
One of the most-hyped cards of the set, and arguably the most iconic, the Pip-Boy 3000 is a slow equipment that gives Jitte-level flexibility but at a much fairer power level. Cards that can be fetched by an Urza’s Saga or Trinket Mage are always worth an extra look, and by providing a card that can play the role of a Bloodforged Battle-Axe where necessary but can also help you dig for cards or double-spell early if getting in that extra point of damage isn’t necessary makes this a compelling card. Flexibility is the real value here, as none of these effects feel great at three mana for your first hit, but it’s also not something to be ignored in a largely-singleton environment like Cube.
Though genuinely not a powerful card, Mister Gutsy screams “please prioritize this!” at drafters, and that’s proven valuable time and time again for my Cube. With 720 cards, you can afford quite a few one-card archetype enablers and/or payoffs, and having this sort of card in colorless makes it all the more likely to actually get used. Contrary to my philosophy on gold slots, these one-card archetype supporters are supposed to be “wheelable” picks, payoffs for being in a niche deck. It’s not the strongest card, but it’s the kind that’s fun to play with, and Junk tokens are excellent. Thank you for being at my service, Mister Gutsy!
A lot of the above cards are particularly interesting in specific environments that don’t match my own gameplay needs, but have designs that get my game designer gears turning. I would love it if Butch DeLoria, Tunnel Snake would be an exciting pick in my Cube, but the rare Bitterblossom or Ophiomancer tokens in my own list make that just a dream for now. Well Rested is the rare aura that has reasonable play in even a semi-powered environment, and Rose, Cutthroat Raider is a top-pick in multiplayer Cubes. Also…I would have killed to have ED-E, Lonesome Eyebot cost just one fewer mana.
As mentioned before, both Commander-specific expansions and Universes Beyond tend to get significantly less interest from the Cube community, so I hope this review helps out at least a few of you to find novelties that work perfectly in your lists. I want to thank Ryan Overturf at Star City Games for also covering the expansion from a Cube POV, and encourage you to check out his article as well; it seems we had a few similar favorites!
Who are you trying out in your Cube? Let us know in the comments or on our social channels, and thanks so much for reading! We have basic land coverage on the regular as well as new Magic: the Gathering infographics and analysis every week, so if you’ve enjoyed this article, sign up for our newsletter and be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Threads!!
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, Anime News Network, and Crunchyroll News, serving as Executive Editor of the latter from 2016 to 2021.
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