u/HD114

Orcish Artillery is hilarious, always has been...

What's the best art for Orcish Artillery?

I love the modern landfall mechanic and this is a fun twist to see how you can get your opponent to buff your beater.

So whatcha got? How do you make Dirtcowl Wurm work...?

Friendly reminder, please ensure all recommendations have an old border printing and they apply to the cube format. Failure to do so will result in a Grizzly Bear coming your way!

Today we are picking from the Old Border Cube Niche Card Combo Cube by all of us!

From the curator:

The OB Combo Cube is designed to be drafted for one on one games and the environment varies in speed but always centers on winning through combos rather than traditional draft archetypes like aggro, control, or midrange.

Cube can be found here: https://www.cubecobra.com/cube/list/OBCNCC

Would you like your cube featured? DM me!

Nature's Lore has a great variety of treatments, including a cool reprint! Give me more forests in green and I'm a happy camper!

What's the best art for Nature's Lore?

I often find myself in situations with less cards in hand than my opponent and I've always wanted to find a way to lean into this pattern.

So whatcha got? How do you make Dark Suspicions work...?

Friendly reminder, please ensure all recommendations have an old border printing and they apply to the cube format. Failure to do so will result in a Grizzly Bear coming your way!

The first round of the Starter Deck Experience battlebox was awesome and after the games, one of my fellow drafters I discussed the lack of agency that simply opening packs and putting the cards that you open into the shared library for the next round. For those of you that missed Part 1 of this draft report, you can check it out here.

The Box: Glasgow Limited Magic The Premodern Starter Deck Experience

What really stood out to me this round of gameplay was truly how "random" the first round feels with 70 white border cards (and no gold cards) and how much it reminds me of how it truly felt to play a white border starter deck that came fresh out of the box. What I was able to do this time was provide a bit of "narrative" like a GM would in a roleplaying game prior to the first game talking about "how you just learned about this cool new game called Magic that your friends are getting into" and set the scene for the first game being wonky.

Once the first game ends, the narrative picks up with, "now that you've been playing for a little bit, you have mowed lawns, babysat annoying children, and done everything you can to save up some money to buy your first booster packs to help give you the edge over your friends!" While this is all cute and has no real effect on the game, I found that it really added to the experience overall provided that additional injection of nostalgia that takes this over the top. We opened our booster packs and it was a VERY different experience searching for the five cards that you want to add to your Keep rather than just deciding what cards you wanted to add to the shared library.

Here are the updated rules for giving players agency with the cards that they open in their boosters. After game one and game two players will open a booster pack and pick five cards to add to "The Keep" and ten cards that will be shuffled into the shared library. During the game, a player may:

• Pay 3 at sorcery speed
• Choose one of the cards in their Keep and put it into their hand

Each card from The Keep is cast normally and follows normal rules after it is cast. Cards from The Keep can only be added to your hand once from outside the game. If a card from The Keep is not used, it can be carried into the next game but a players Keep can never exceed five cards.

This new mechanic TOTALLY changed how the games were played and the most interesting part is that everyone treated their keep differently. I used mine as a tool box for prime removal, board altering effects and focused on the main shared library to provide me with the appropriate threats to close out the game. One of my opponents took a different path and used theirs to curve into above average value threats to help stabilize their board faster. This was the most unique aspects of the games with this new mechanic was how it reflected how each of us prioritizes cards when opening a pack!

In short, this new mechanic functioned really smoothly and I'm excited to share the outcomes from the first round of playtesting. Thanks for reading!

Thanks to the crew at RNG for giving us a place to cube week after week!

We are Glasgow Limited Magic. If you are interested in coming out to cube with us, want to get your cube drafted, or looking for a new way to play Magic, come join us! You can DM me for details as we are always looking for new players to join us to draft!

If you want to see more old border cube content, join us at r/oldbordercube!

Today we are picking from Manne's Desert Bar Cube by u/manneyney

From the curator:

"All lands must be drafted (No land station) All cards must be played (No deck building) Bar cube

No counters No tokens Miscellaneous

Old border only Graveyard theme"

Cube can be found here: https://www.cubecobra.com/cube/list/mtcrgdbc

Would you like your cube featured? DM me!

This card has some really cool treatments that give a lot of character for different builds.

What's the best art for Coercion?

Soul Scourge provides a cool life loss/gain effect based on ETB and LTB.

So whatcha got? How do you make Soul Scourge work...?

Friendly reminder, please ensure all recommendations have an old border printing and they apply to the cube format. Failure to do so will result in a Grizzly Bear coming your way!

Lazy Saturday drafts are some of my favorite times to come together and as the weather turns in spring, it's always fun to turn cards sideways with the sun coming through your window as opposed to hiding from the weather. After completing my large honey do list today, I sat down with three OBC veterans to draft my 180 card 93/94 combat cube. This cube has been around for a while and is the perfect environment for four players!

The Cube: Rocky Mountain Yeti Old School Combat Cube

The OBC Discord Channel Invite Link

Onto the Decks!

The Danger Cruiser 2-1 - Counterburn is one of my favorite old school decks and this came together really well in this deck today. The fliers were tough to deal with and the answers both on board and off, [[Brine Hag]] among others, kept the opponents on the back foot and [[Disharmony]] wasn't cast without being a punchy two for one!

Zombie Rats 2-1 - If you did not know that [[Plague Rats]] are zombies, you now know! I have only drafted this archetype a couple of times but it came together really well in combination with some other choice beaters. I started off P1P1 with Icy Manipulator, P1P2 with Psionic Blast and then rapidly pivoted to this zombie fest blowout! The games I lost were to The Danger Cruiser as I could just not keep up with the pressure he relentlessly brought down.

Crazy Cockatrice Combo 1-2 - The [[Lure]] of this deck was backed up by two board wipes on a stick but unfortunately, the combo did not come together... but it certainly was threatening. The Unstable Mutation, Giant Growth, and Berserk combat tricks were also hard spells to deal with. This deck also had the [[Juggernaut]] + [[Invisibility]] combo to create an unblockable beast!

WU-Tang Combat 1-2 - This deck gets the spice award today and watching the [[Hand of Justice]] clear the board turn after turn. The Wall of Swords and the Farrel's Zealot provided perfect defensible positions and Crusade was a prime anthem to allow the Clan to come over the top. This deck took down The Danger Cruiser in game three and it was a really fun match to watch!

Thank you to everyone who came out to draft! This was an amazing old school draft that contributed to a delightful Saturday.

Do you want to draft more? Join the OBC Discord and come jam some games!

Today we are picking from PreModern Cube [2026] drafted by u/gamerqc last week!

From the curator:

"Welcome to the PreModern No Banlist Cube!"

Cube can be found here: https://www.cubecobra.com/cube/list/4b6vv

Would you like your cube featured? DM me!