On Monday, Wizards revealed an exciting new draft format for Arena players. Dubbed the Arena Powered Cube, this Limited environment is chock full of some of Magic’s most broken designs from its entire lifetime. Unfortunately, for anyone hoping to utilize these cards in any Arena Constructed format, the majority of the Cube inclusions cannot be crafted.
The good news is that a bonus sheet with plenty of craftable new-to-Arena cards is coming alongside the Cube, and it will continue to update over time with other options. With this in mind, there’s still hope that some of the more exciting Cube staples will make their way to Arena in the near future. There are a handful of Cube cards in particular that could drastically improve Timeless, Historic, or Brawl.
Force of Negation
As things currently stand, Timeless is riddled with broken Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord combo decks that are capable of creating insurmountable advantages as early as turn one. Mana Drain is often too slow of an interactive piece against Dark Ritual, and utilizing Flare of Denial requires playing mediocre blue creatures like Phantasmal Shieldback.
Force of Negation completely solves this problem. Just like Force of Will, it excels against combo decks, allowing you to make a proactive play to the board while still having interaction at your disposal. The difference, however, is that you usually can’t use Force of Negation proactively to shove through your own combos due to the “not your turn” clause.
As such, the addition of this instant specifically to Timeless would bolster control decks without fear of making Show and Tell shells a bigger problem. Meanwhile, adding an efficient answer to Wrenn and Six or Exploration into Brawl gives slower blue decks a better shot at competing. Even if this spell ultimately eats a Historic ban for falling in the “free spell” category, the upside it provides for other formats is well worth its addition.
Archon of Cruelty
Archon of Cruelty is one of the strongest Reanimator targets out there, but that could be a blessing in disguise for Historic. With no Animate Dead or Goryo’s Vengeance on Arena and Reanimate banned, Reanimator doesn’t have much appeal at the moment. Historic does have access to Persist, however, so this threat could open the door for the archetype to arise.
With Faithless Looting in the mix, and Unmarked Grave having just been featured on the most recent bonus sheet, there’s no shortage of strong ways to get this creature into the graveyard. Going the Indomitable Creativity route is also a legitimate strategy made possible by Archon’s presence. It does pair well with Reanimate in Timeless, but so does Atraxa, Grand Unifier, which far surpasses what Archon is capable of. The potential diversity boost that Archon promotes in Historic makes it a premium bonus sheet inclusion.
Dark Depths
Vampire Hexmage is in the first round of bonus sheet additions to Arena, so it’s only fair that Dark Depths made its way to the client eventually. The combination of these cards makes it trivial to make an Indestructible monster, and cards like Crop Rotation do a good job setting things up.
This land gives Timeless Lands decks a more robust win condition that still can be disrupted by Strip Mine. Considering that Crop Rotation decks aren’t super prevalent in Historic, Dark Depths could provide some major incentive to go that route. Cards like Kozilek’s Command and Unexpectedly Absent, which was on the initial bonus sheet as well, give other strategies efficient outs to the 20/20. Ultimately, this high risk/high reward option appears strong, but not overwhelmingly broken, striking a good balance.
Recurring Nightmare
Recurring Nightmare is a really exciting tool with tons of brewing potential. Unlike traditional reanimation effects, this enchantment is clunky and doesn’t actually do anything unless you have creatures to sacrifice. Instead, what you get for your efforts is the ultimate value engine alongside recursive creatures and threats with strong enters abilities.
Both Historic and Timeless are fast formats that punish players that sit around and durdle, but perhaps a tool as strong as Recurring Nightmare could change that. As for Brawl, this card should be a great addition to Slimefoot and Squee decks that run some big haymakers. Once you get things rolling, the world’s your oyster.
Karakas
Karakas may seem like a weird card to highlight, considering that it would undoubtedly need a ban in Brawl. The opportunity cost to playing it in Historic is also quite low, and considering the lack of answers to it in the format, it might need a ban there as well. The tradeoff, though, is that it provides a variety of Timeless decks with an out to some frustrating opposing draws.
Karakas cleanly answers a fast Saint Elenda or Sheoldred, the Apocalypse from the opponent. Assuming Dark Depths gets put on Arena, its ability to bounce Marit Lage could also help keep the land in check. You can even use it proactively to get additional value out of Ajani, Nacatl Parish, or protect Lurrus of the Dream-Den from removal. In an environment where Strip Mine runs rampant, adding an elite utility land with lots of interesting play patterns to Timeless shouldn’t be problematic.
Every year, more and more cards from Magic’s past are making their way to MTG Arena. Powered Cube was an awesome idea to give Arena enthusiasts a taste of what it’s like to play with some of the best card’s ever printed, and the associated bonus sheets give Constructed fanatics hope of some awesome additions in the future. We look forward excited to find out what new tools await us moving forward.
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