Custom Legacy Cube: Archetypes

Archetypes

The cube is supposed to support 9 archetypes which partially overlap. At first I will go through all the archetypes and throw any card for that archetype that comes to my mind into the file. Then I will check overlaps and numbers and smooth things out. So the following nine archetypes are at the core of my design. To keep track of everything I give a three-letter-code to each archetype that can easily be fit into the skeleton, referenced in comments and so on.

Cascade (CSC)

This is the major midrange archetype in the cube. It is centered in Jund colors (BRG) but gets a few cards in blue. The cascade mechanic doesn't necessarily have to be at the center of the archetype but there should be enough cascade cards to get at least a few of them. Real-world guides for this are the Legacy decks Shardless Bug, Jund and Waterfalls aka 4-Color-Cascade.

Delver Tempo (DTP)

Obviously one of the rather aggressive archetypes. Inspiration are the RUG, BUG and WUR Delver decks of Legacy and therefor the archetypes gets cards in all colors. There are also some Zoo-like cards in this archetype.

Miracles (MRC)

This is the hardcontrol archetype which draws its main inspiration from the Legacy deck of the same name. It is placed in WUR colors and holds several combos based on artifact/enchantment-interaction that didn't get their own archetype such as Counter/Top, Painter/Grindstone, RIP/Helm and Thopter/Sword.

Nauseam Tendrils Storm (ANT)

The Storm Combo archetype is very hard to properly support in a cube so this is a challenge. It sits mainly in B and R but has splashes in U and W as the real-world inspiration are the ANT deck as well as the TES deck from Legacy. The powerlevel for this archetype is higher than the average in the cube since it's quite narrow.

Reanimator (REA)

This popular archetype combines the Legacy Reanimator and Tin Fins decks and also contains some typical Dredge cards though a typical Ichorid deck will not be viable. The deck is supposed to be a high risk - high reward kind of thing. There is a lot of graveyard hate running around but if you manage to dodge that or play around it you have a pretty high chance of winning.

Rock Depths (RDP)

Another midrange/goodstuff archetype but with a very different playstyle compared to Cascade. It's supposed to stand somewhere between Nic Fit, the Rock and Lands. It has good chances against creature decks and a strong late game but is weak to most combo decks when it doesn't get its own combo going.

Sneak and Tell (SNT)

Another more straightforward combo deck. The archetype tries to combine the Sneak and Show and Omnitell decks from real-life Legacy. I'm very careful with this archetype since it was very oppressive and dominant in the first incarnation of this cube.

Stoneblade (STB)

This is the tapout-control archetype of the cube. It's modeled after the different Stoneblade decks of Legacy but is mostly centered in Esper colors. If possible I want it to have no terribly bad matchups but no perfectly good matchups either. It should have a fair shot against any other archetype if drafted and played correctly.

Vial Bears (VBR)

Somewhere between Maverick and Death'n'Taxes is the Vial Bears archetype. As you can tell from the name, this deck has a lot of hatebears against different archetypes and is the only deck to get those since I don't want my archetypes to degenerate to different forms of hatepiles.

These are my archetypes. If you have any ideas/critique/feedback, feel free to share them. I also don't mind you proposing new card ideas. There will be individual details pages to document the progress of the different archetypes. New card ideas should be posted there.

Updated on 07 Jul 2014 by Jsys Cryst