I'm Usman, the designer of Ravnica Cube. I've been playing Magic since 1994—when you could get easily grab Fallen Empires packs just about anywhere. I've been deep in the trenches of cube design for over a decade, creating my first cube in 2009. I was the first cube writer to regularly write about Cube and started writing about Cube in 2010 for Quiet Speculation, Star City Games, and at my current home CoolStuffInc. I've also been podcasting about Cube with my friend Anthony since 2010—our initial episode spotlighted Stoneforge Mystic and why people should play it more often, and we've been #blessed to have several card preview episodes, including one for Dragon's Rage Channeler! (I've provided links to my written content in my Linktree at the end of the article, as well as a card list for Ravnica Cube.)

I've generally been the type to challenge cube design orthodoxy (arguably more so in my youth), and this cube is one that's different from the norm.

While the context of Cube is, for many, defined within the context of Magic Online's Legacy Cube and Vintage Cube, this cube is more akin to the roots of Cube, and how the roots of Cube initially started with a high multicolor focus. Because of the constraints of the cube (making it mostly Ravnica with some Plane-generic cards to fill in the holes), it's closer to a Masters set than what many people think of with Cube, albeit with modern cube design theory in mind.

So, what is Ravnica Cube?

This cube is a 540-card cube that focuses more on multicolor than the average cube, with more lands and smaller WUBRG and artifact sections. While it does not have the Ravnica signets, there's artifact ramp with the Keyrune cycle, Chromatic Lantern, Prophetic Prism, and more!

And while it isn't comprised solely of cards from Ravnica, most of the cards are, and the non-Ravnica cards make sense within the context of the Plane, and you wouldn't bat an eye seeing one in a Ravnica-themed set. Because the power level is closer to a Masters set than your normal cube, I've opted not to include some of the more powerful cards from the block that can take over a game by themselves, like Hydroid Krasis or some of the extremely powerful, punishing cards, like Teferi, Time Raveler.

Lands!

The Plane of Ravnica is lush with mana! In many non-restricted cubes, the fetch-dual mana base is generally a given, because they help to unlock mana costs so easily.

In this cube, I've not included the Onslaught and Zendikar fetch lands, but I've included a myriad of dual lands, including Ravnica's shock lands and a bevy of other multicolor-producing lands and some other miscellaneous utility lands.

Although this cube doesn't have the tried-and-true fetch-dual mana bases, this cube has more mana-producing lands than the average cube. Play those spells!

Since I'm able to utilize more multicolor cards than the average cube (about 200 of the cards are multicolor, hybrid included, but 135 without hybrid included, which is no slouch), I utilized the multicolor slots to help guide the direction of the color pairs, although you certainly are by no means obligated to play the color pairs and triads in that manner.

Boros

For much of the life of the Boros Legion's history in Magic, it was centered around combat—attacking in legions, and looking for a wide board to take down the opponent quickly. In Ravnica Cube, Boros plays similarly, using the color pair's aggression to push through damage with wide boards of aggressive creatures.

Cards like Deafening Clarion are more for other colors to splash, but much of the rest of the color pair plays about how you'd expect it to.

Rakdos

Rakdos plays similarly as a color pair without any cards over a mana value of 4, apart from Bedeck // Bedazzle. Black plays more of a support role with its strong removal spells, and Rakdos is mainly about playing on that axis: play cheap creatures, disrupt the opponent, and overwhelm.

While there aren't direct Hellbent payoffs aside from the Rakdos-flavored Wheel of Misfortune, cards like Pestilent Spirit work best in Rakdos by letting your burn scale up better. Like Orzhov, it's also able to use black's cards that care about creatures dying, providing extra value to burn when it's not going face.

Gruul

Gruul still loves to smash and plays the part of an aggressive midrange deck by using its larger creatures and cards that tower over smaller creatures. It goes over the top of aggressive decks while aggressively putting pressure on the slower decks of the format with cards like Gruul Spellbreaker, Earthshaker Giant, Deadbridge Goliath, and Nullhide Ferox.

To make it so that Gruul punishes one-for-one removal game plans, it's able to use cards that emulate the "British Racing Green" archetype from John Terrill's Cultic Cube. Although it doesn't utilize the same cards, like Troll Ascetic, Vorapede, and Nightpack Ambusher, it has some tools like Reach of Branches, which trigger off of Stomping Grounds and the other Forest dual lands!

Izzet

The weird Izzet guild also plays similarly to how it generally plays in Ravnica: burninating creatures and drawing cards. I've included the many iterations of Niv-Mizzet, not only because of his vain and ever-changing nature, but to provide some strong payoffs for playing the color pair.

Dimir

Dimir's role in this cube is similar to how it plays from most Planes, as a controlling color pair that utilizes black's strong removal package and blue's instant-speed card draw. It can play a Draw-Go style game that plays whatever it can as removal, or as a roadblock with upside, like Dimir Infiltrator.

Azorius

Azorius plays a few different roles in this cube, playing as a control archetype that leverages its control elements and mass removal, à la Time Wipe, but also is able to act as a tempo-style, aggro-control type of deck, using Greg Hatch's one-time favorite Sky Hussar to leverage small bodies for card advantage, and white's bevy of one-drops and cheap interaction to disrupt slower game plans.

Selesnya

Perennial everyman, Selesnya plays a wider midrange game than Gruul because of convoke and its payoffs for going wide. Since there aren't as many mass-removal effects as there are in your average cube, you aren't as punished for going wide—but be careful of those that exist! White's token payoffs, like Divine Visitation and Song of the Worldsoul, reward you for caring about tokens as well.

Golgari

Initially, Golgari was a graveyard deck since it's synonymous with the archetype, but it just wasn't getting there in this environment. It wasn't very consistent, and it had a very feast/famine style of gameplay that I wasn't a fan of. Instead, Golgari is similar to how it plays in its non-Ravnica forms, as the archetypical midrange deck, chock-full of removal and ways to utilize the recursive black creatures if it wants a more aggressive lean. Good ol' rock.

Simic

The counter theme that encapsulated the Simic combine wasn't working in this environment, so it's more of a flash color pair. if Azorius is a split identity of tempo and control, Simic is a split of tempo and ramp, with the color pair having interaction that puts out board presence while having payoffs for ramping into bigger spells.

Orzhov

Lastly, Orzhov. In cubes, it generally manifests as disruption, a supplement to control or a path for Aristocrats via sacrifice synergy. On this Plane, it plays a bit of all of those as well—cards like Humiliate, Shrieking Grotesque, and Sin Collector play to the disruptive aggro angle of the deck, but the deck also works with cards like Ogre Slumlord, Vindictive Vampire, and Malefic Scythe that reward you for creatures dying.

Mostly Green

On the Plane of Ravnica, green represents growth in various forms, and in this cube, it can be utilized to branch into other colors. It's one of the better ways to play the five-color Niv-Mizzet Reborn decks!

Hybrids

Although the Plane of Ravnica is light on artifacts, I've utilized hybrids from the Ravnica blocks and various other Planes, like Shadowmoor, to bring in a lot of hybrid cards to act as the archetypal "glue" for multiple decks to use, as well as bolstering monocolor or mostly monocolor decks.

There isn't direct payoff like Gray Merchant of Asphodel or Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, but this cube does utilize the two-, three-, and four-cost hybrid cards to help more aggressive-leaning decks with warm bodies. Cards like Civic Saber, Bloodhall Ooze, Battle Brawler, Wandering Champion, and Conqueror's Flail provide some incidental benefits for creatures that have multiple colors.

Don't feel like you have to utilize both halves of a Guildmage to use one. Selesnya Guildmage is just fine with only white or green mana, although the mana fixing does help to activate those abilities in decks that may not normally be able to use them if needed.

I hope that you enjoy my spotlight cube—thanks to Wizards of the Coast for the opportunity!

Check out my links on my Linktree!