The Conspiracy Cube

Follow the adventures of my MTG Conspiracy Cube as we test it out and come up with the best multiplayer cube ever

[theconspiracycube]

Playtest 1 Review

Things I’m happy with:

3 of each common appears to be the right number for redundancy without enabling the decks that I don’t want to see with 5+ of the same card

2 of each uncommon gives enough that each archetype should have one floating around in the pool and possibly two

There were enough cards in the Dimir colors to build two similar decks without one being ridiculously overpowered

No mythics actually felt right so I’m actually just going to leave them out for now

Dream Fracture was a huge blowout

Favored Winds is a huge beating with the right support

Stronghold Discipline was surprisingly effective against my Azorius flyers/tokens deck

Academy Researchers was amazing in the Dimir deck

The Will of the Council cards were always fun to resolve even if they went against what you wanted

Things I’m not happy with:

Reya Dawnbringer came down far too late to be relevant which is not what I want to see out of rares

Stifle and Misdirection were both disappointing because of the number cards with a reduced

Magus of the Mirror is too slow to be interesting

Exploration sat in the sideboard because you have to be deep in blue for it to be relevant due to not having the card flow

Reflecting Pool doesn’t fix mana the way I would like for a rare

I'm pretty sure a lot of the reprint rares I'm just going to swap out. It seems like a lot of them were selected for making reprints more available rather than them being particularly relevant.  I want the rares to be things that break stalemates to avoid massive board stalls and can push things to a conclusion.

Reprint rares:

(Out) Reya Dawnbringer - too expensive and too slow, would be best as a reanimation target

(In) Rout - a good sweeper is what I want to see as a rare

(Out) Misdirection - not enough single target things to make it worth playing

(Out) Stifle - multiplayer is not conducive to the tempo plays Stifle is best with

(In) Ill-Gotten Gains - was very cool when it was played; lots of power but politically charged

(Out) Magus of the Mirror - really needs to be usable any time, the upkeep restriction makes it incredibly hard to use

(In) Heartless Hidetsugu - does a great job of putting people on a clock and can be very relevant for multiple archetypes

(On the fence) Sulfuric Vortex - not sure about this one yet, need to see someone play it effectively as several of the red decks are slower

(Out) Exploration - only good with a ton of blue cards to keep the lands flowing, would rather just have a more universally effective card

(In) Terastodon - great at dealing with the artifacts and enchantments that enable a lot of shenanigans and has plenty of political implications

(In) Wolfbriar Elemental - great bomb that can break the game open late or catch you up

(In) Basandra, Battle Seraph - very solid stall breaker and large evasive body

(In) Decimate - 4 for 1s are exactly the kind of removal needed most of the time

(In) Dimir Doppleganger - plays exceptionally well in the Dimir deck as a ever-changing threat depending on what they’ve played so far

(On the fence) Edric, Spymaster of Trest - the Simic deck really isn’t trying to go wide and it’s not a great political deck, but he might still make the cut depending on what I decide to do with the archetype

(In) Spiritmonger - Golgari desperately needs big beater to finish out the game after all the attrition and Spiritmonger is a nice balanced way to handle it

(On the fence) Altar of Dementia - In theory it’s cool because it’s a free sac outlet, but really none of the archetypes have a good way to take advantage of it

(On the fence) Deathrender - A moderate power and toughness boost with the potential for shenanigans

Still working on what I want to put in, but I’m fairly sure I want to put in a set of shard colored uncommons to encourage a 2 color deck with a splash or even a 3 color deck, but I don’t want to push too hard because I’ll have to add more color fixing at common.

[theconspiracycube]

First Playtest Results

Decks drafted: - 2 Dimir, similar playstyle of creature light spell kill with secondary recursion - Mono green stompy making good use of the green combat triggers - Azorius flyers - Boros midrange, didn't appear to have defender theme Notes: Drafting 20 packs instead of 16 is much more friendly to drafting since it's easier to abandon and over drafted color, but the number of packs makes it easy to think things are open when they really aren't. Only 2 of each uncommon is definitely the way to go. A lot of the uncommon are very powerful in the right archetype and can make things pretty ridiculous. I had double Favorable Winds, double Intangible Virtue and it was ridiculous with triple Rousing of Souls. Three of each common felt about right currently. With a 6th person we'd go back down to 3 packs per person. I might consider adding a common to each color to increase the variance. I like some of the rares, but some of the reprints are just bad. Both Misdirection and Stifle need to be replaced. I'm not a huge fan of Raya Dawnbringer.

[theconspiracycube]

Conspiracy - Sleeving up the Cube

I pulled everything I had available and sleeved up the cube today.  That got me everything but the mythics, which I’m still debating how many to include.  I realized when I was looking at the stacks of cards that 4 of each common is just too many.  I know from experience that sometimes you open 6 Lizard Warrior and it’s just silly when you get the Hidden Agendas to back it up, but I’d like the games to be a little less lopsided anyway.  Plus, it means it’s more likely people will avoid going all in on the strategy as much, which I view as a plus.

Right now, I’m leaning toward shard color mythics that plays well for any of the two color pairs, but that draws you into a splash to make draft more interesting. Marchesa is right around where I want things to be - very powerful if you can land it, but difficult to cast and not an automatic first pick.  These would replace Pernicious Deed, Mirari’s Wake, and Dack Fayden, while Coersive Portal would stick around as an extra random mythic.

My current considerations:

Bant: Jenara, Asura of War (concerned she might be too much of a bomb but we’ll have to see)

Esper: Sydri, Galvanic Genius (there are enough constructs and recursion that she might enable a deck all on her own)

Jund: Sek’Kuar, Deathkeeper (feeds the death train that all Jund decks deal with)

Grixis: Marchesa, the Black Rose (good as a finisher for Dimir, or a way to keep the gas going for Rakdos or Izzet)

Naya: Gahiji, Honored One (great political card that boosts tokens too) 

I’m also thinking about adding a single tri-color uncommon per color combo just to see if it’s enough to make people want to play 3 colors.  The issue is I don’t have a ton of support for true 3 color play in Conspiracy by default, so this would require some more enablers.  I’m not necessarily against the idea but I haven’t thought it through completely yet.

Current considerations for tri-color uncommons (not much to choose from for wedges but I like the creatures better than the charms in general right now):

Bant: Flurry of Wings (makes tokens that also fly, which covers all the bases)

Esper: Etherwrought Page (feeds reanimator, gives free life, or provides a slow bleed)

Grixis: Elder Mastery (keeps your small creatures alive through sweepers and turns them into big threats, also feeds opponent reanimator for Dimir)

Jund: Sprouting Thrinax (dies for stuff in Rakdos and Golgari, massive speedbump for Gruul)

Naya: Fiery Justice (a potential 5 for 1 is good for any of Selesnya, Naya, or Gruul)

Abzan: Armament Corps (token pumper for Selesnya, huge threat for Orzhov and Golgari)

Jeskai: Warden of the Eye (Blue is by far the most spell heavy color and Boros needs a way to recur removal long enough to stay relevant)

Sultai: Sultai Soothsayer (great blocker that also fills the graveyard for future shenanigans)

Mardu: Mardu Roughrider (difficult to block finisher for all three)

Temur: Bear’s Companion (makes a dinosaur across two bodies)

[theconspiracycube]

Conspiracy Set Review: Mythic Rares First Draft

Now that I've beaten the archetypes to death and identified some of the fringe playable ones, it's time to figure out what I don't feel is worth keeping in the set for my cube version.  If something isn't pulling its weight (being crucial to one deck or appealing to at least 2 decks) it's coming out!

In collector number order (cause that's how I roll):

Muzzio, Visionary Architect There are not enough artifacts in the set or a real artifact deck to support him.  I could theoretically add more artifacts to make it a fringe deck, but I'd really rather get something cool and good in multiplayer in here instead.  Looking at a list of cards makes it seem like there might be, but most of those are seeded and competing with conspiracies so you can't really get there with a deck.

Verdict: Out

Scourge of the Throne This guy is generically good and I want to keep him in.  Pretty much every red archetype wants him as a high end bomb so he stays.

Verdict: In

Dack Fayden Dack is surprisingly great in here.  He's definitely solid in the Izzet deck because of the repeat card advantage, and there's enough powerful artifacts that you might want to steal that the -2 is also relevant.  His ultimate also doesn't automatically win the game for you, which I like. I don't know if he's an auto include, since he'd have to be splashed by anyone else, but the looting or making an opponent loot is so good it's usually worth it.

Verdict: On the fence

Marchesa, the Black Rose I mentioned her in the fringe archetypes post, but she's really playable in any two color deck that can afford the splash.  She's probably best in the Izzet or Rakdos deck, but the Dimir deck can totally run her and I'm just going to make it more doable with the updates.

Verdict: In

Coercive Portal Coercive Portal is a fun card for multiplayer in general and specifically for the Will of the Council Orzhov deck.  Definitely a keeper as it'll still be appealing in either mode to multiple types of decks.

Verdict: In

Pristine Angel This is the only mythic I didn't get in 5 boxes of Conspiracy, and I'm not really upset about it.  Back in the day I bet she was really scary, but it's not back in the day any more.  I want to say we can do better but I'm torn because most of the options are so broken that they'd completely destroy the game, but Pristine Angel is so blah.  I don't want to put in a bunch of planeswalkers as they can be overly oppressive but that's a significant quantity of the white mythics.

Verdict: On the fence

Phage the Untouchable Phage makes me sad.  She's a neat card, but she's so bad without a way to make her unblockable.  She also costs waaaay too much.  She's actively bad in Dimir and Rakdos because she can't be reanimated, she's only okay in Orzhov, and she's too expensive in Golgari. There's more interesting cards.

Verdict: Out

Hydra Omnivore This is another home run like Scourge of the Throne.  If you can cast green spells you want this guy.

Verdict: In

Mirari's Wake Wake is a great card and I really like it.  It's great at running away with the game if you're ahead, but I'm not sure if it's worth the slot in the cube as the power level seems a little silly.

Verdict: On the fence

Pernicious Deed Deed is another card that has a long history of winning multiplayer games.  I'm a big fan of Deed in general - especially so here because it's a sweeper in a multiplayer format.  At the same time, I'm not sure I want to include enough multicolor mythics to color balance this with Marchesa.

Verdict: On the fence

Looking at the mythics really makes me consider how many of them I want to keep.  If I'm going to include them at all I'd really like for it to be color balanced, which means I'd want to add 5 more beyond what's here.  My symmetry-loving self says that's the right answer.  I also like the idea of the mono-color mythics being the iconic for the tribe.

First draft mono-color mythic configuration: White: Sublime Archangel Blue: Windreader Sphinx Black: Reaper of the Abyss Red: Scourge of the Throne Green: Hydra Omnivore I really like Sublime Archangel for multiplayer and it's good for any of the decks, even as a generic topdeck.  I also like that it doesn't lock the opponent out of killing it like Pristine Angel does.  Reaper from the Abyss feels very mythic here as well, getting a great vibe for both Rakdos and Orzhov while having the Golgari keyword and still being a great win condition for the Dimir deck.

[theconspiracycube]

Conspiracy Draft Archetypes: Fringe Archetypes

There's several archetypes that occasionally come up as options.  Rather than beat them all to death like I did the main ten color pairs, I'm just going to list them with a brief description and some of the important cards, as most of them are based on getting a particular rare or uncommon and shaping the draft around it.

Archetype 1: 5 color Worldknit

This deck, while obvious, is also the easiest to explain.  If you see a Worldknit early, you can easily just draft the best card each pick as long as it fits your curve.  We have yet to see a Worldknit before pack 2 in my group, and we've been drafting with 4 packs for testing purposes and because we enjoyed it much more than only 3 with 4 players.

Most important card(s): Worldknit

Archetype 2: Grixis Dethrone

Very similar to the Izzet dethrone deck, but with more removal.  Usually happens when someone opens Marchesa and wants to live the dream.  The main reason to push it is black removal makes it much easier to open up the way for your attackers.

Most important cards(s): Marchesa, the Black Rose; solid black removal

Archetype 3: Kindred Commons + Conspiracies

Every color has at least one or two vanilla or french vanilla creatures that won't be picked highly that are borderline playable.  The idea here is to draft all the conspiracies and figure out which color is open so you can grab 3-4 of a particular common, name it with your conspiracies, and get undercosted creatures to stomp face with or play multiple spells with the same name for a similar effect.

Most important card(s): Secret Summoning and Muzzio's Preparations for creatures, Double Stroke and Iterative Analysis for non creatures.

Archetype 4: Flamekin Pants (R/x Auras)

This deck is all about getting 1 or 2 Flaring Flame-kin and trying to turn them into a giant unbeatable monster.  I've drafted this once before after starting in Izzet and not seeing the dethrone cards coming around.  It's quite fun to play but the best auras are G/W.  This archetype is much more luck based than some of the others as it requires several uncommons to be really good, but it's great when you can pull it off.

Most important card(s): Flaring Flamekin, auras (Elephant Guide, Unquestioned Authority, Vow of Duty are your best options)

[theconspiracycube]

Conspiracy Draft Archetypes: Simic Kindred Creatures

This update has taken me forever to get back to, mostly because it took several drafts to get this monstrosity of an archetype to actually work.  In theory, you're supposed to be able to be able to just draft tons of creatures then dig to them and overwhelm people.  The problem is, without the conspiracies to back you up this archetype very rarely works.  You're also very vulnerable to anyone else going into green, because blue really doesn't have the big monsters to support this properly.  All that said, if no one's going after the green creatures you're fine.

Best uncommons for this archetype:

Air Servant - one of the best evasive beaters in the set

Jetting Glasskite - another evasive beater that's difficult to target

Lead the Stampede - restocking your hand to get more creatures is key to victory for this archetype

Pelakka Wurm - Simic is, more than anything else, the go big or go home color combo and most other decks won't be able to support this

Wood Sage - seeder uncommon designed to help you dig for answers

Best commons for this archetype:

Compulsive Research - you'll likely be digging for lands early and creatures late

Elvish Aberration - mana early, beater late

Howling Wolf - one of the value commons that you'll want; even though it feels really overcosted you'll need to draft it early to make sure you have enough

Screaming Seahawk - see Howling Wolf, only this one is much more playable with only 2

Shoreline Ranger - mana early, beater late that also flies

As you can see above, this archetype has some of the most boring commons and uncommons that you want to draft highly.  None of the new cards in Conspiracy were really intended for this archetype outside of the conspiracies themselves.  This archetype works fine if no one else drafts 2 or more of a particular creature and actually wants the conspiracies, but my group has long since discovered the power of free stuff and they always go highly regardless of the colors people are in.

In short, Simic is by far the most frustrating archetype to try to draft. I don't have a problem with fatties and card draw being an archetype, but it works much better when there's less competition and that is not the case here.  The same problem exists for drafting multiple creatures and conspiracies because there's a random bad creature in each color that is suddenly playable with haste or +1/+1 or costing 1 colorless less.  I'm still deciding how I want to go with this one, but right now I'm seriously considering a morph archetype as that would enable both this deck and the Gruul deck while simultaneously creating creatures that aren't nearly as appealing for non-Simic.  It would also make them less conspiracy dependent.

[theconspiracycube]

Conspiracy Draft Archetypes: Boros Defenders

What's the first thing you think of when you think of Boros? Fast efficient creatures backed up with some burn for reach, right?  Not in Conspiracy!  Here we have a color pair that's all about clogging up the ground with defenders and killing people with Vent Sentinel and a flyer or two.  For those who drafted Rise of the Eldrazi a bunch, you probably ended up in this archetype at least once, and it's as fun and different as it was then.  It's not quite as controlling as you might think, as it's not heavily removal dependent due to all your defenders and once you can tap a Vent Sentinel it usually puts out 3+ unblockable damage.  It ends up playing very midrange-y and is great if you're looking for something different.

Best uncommons for this archetype:

Deathforge Shaman - you're looking to go late and this is a great way to finish them off after a couple pings from a Vent Sentinel or some evasive beats

Flamewright - seeder uncommon, makes you defenders and lets you cash them in if they're on the way out anyway

Heckling Fiends - forcing creatures to attack is great when attacking you isn't profitable

Wakestone Gargoyle - great evasive body that turns itself on when you're ready to attack and also turns on your other defenders

Warmonger's Chariot - don't let the color identify fool you, this is for the Boros deck so you can attack with your defenders late

Best commons for this archetype:

Cinder Wall - you can pick them up late but they're great for your strategy as they'll trade with their x/3s or attack without fear if you have Wakestone Gargoyle or Warmonger's Chariot

Guardian Zendikon - pretty much nothing save a huge bomb can attack through this on the ground and even if they kill it you can put it on another land to slow them down

Power of Fire - backup for Vent Sentinels, it can turn your other defenders into damage dealers

Pride Guardian - looks terrible, is actually great because of the number of 2/x creatures in the format and you can pick them up on the wheel easily

Vent Sentinel - one of, if not the best card for the archetype; if you're serious about it you should be picking one of these over pretty much anything else in a pack

Boros defenders really wants multiple Vent Sentinels to be awesome, but it can work if you have the uncommons.  The nice thing is that Vent Sentinels aren't quite big enough to be super appealing to non-Boros drafters and most of your other cards can be picked up extremely late, so you pick the Vent Sentinels early and just let all the "bad" defenders table.  Your general goal is to sit there and look non-threatening until you have enough defenses, then stick a Vent Sentinel and start killing people.  You can also do the same thing with Apex Hawks or even Courier Hawks depending on how many flyers people have floating around.

The one thing I'd like to do with this is sneak one more useful defender into the format that plays well with other defenders to give people a reason to draft this deck besides Vent Sentinel. I'm not sure if it should be at the uncommon or common level yet though.

[theconspiracycube]

Conspiracy Draft Archetypes: Golgari Morbid

Golgari does something in Conspiracy that started in Scars of Mirrodin and became big in Innistrad - morbid and death triggers.  No one likes it when their creatures die for nothing, but with morbid it's almost never for nothing provided you have the cards to take advantage of the deaths.  This is the prototypical Golgari "Rock" deck that plays cards that are okay on their own and amazing when the synergies all click together.  Most if not all of the morbid cards are okay by themselves but get downright silly when you can reliably get the morbid effect.

Best uncommons for this archetype:

Deathreap Ritual - seeder card is great as it makes it easy to keep triggering morbid without running out of cards

Gamekeeper - dies, triggering morbid and getting you a replacement creature

Morkrut Banshee - kills a 4/4 and leaves a 4/4 behind with the morbid trigger which is likely backbreaking to one opponent's board state

Plagued Rusalka - sac outlet to trigger morbid

Predator's Howl - a 2/2 with flash for 4 isn't exciting, but 3 2/2s with flash is amazing for 4

Best commons for this archetype:

Altar's Reap - gets card parity and a morbid trigger

Hunger of the Howlpack - +3/+3 permanently turns any creature into a must-answer threat

Necromantic Thirst - lets you recur your sacrificed creatures

Typhoid Rats - trades with large creatures and 

Wakedancer - 4 power and toughness for 3 mana on 2 bodies is never a bad deal

Golgari in Conspiracy is the epitome of the "value" deck - every card is meant to be played together in some fashion and you fill in the holes in your curve with generic beaters.  It has a ton of potential for upside but if you're competing with someone else in the pod, you're both liable to end up with subpar decks.  The deck is definitely more forgiving towards sharing green than it is black, but at the same time most of the black cards aren't highly desired in other archetypes.  The biggest thing I plan on doing to this archetype is improve some of the green support when I start making card changes.

[theconspiracycube]

Conspiracy Draft Archetypes: Izzet Dethrone

Izzet does something very different in this set - it attacks, and often.  Normally Izzet decks do something more offbeat like focus on artifacts or it's a spell based archetype with supporting mechanics.  In Conspiracy, it's definitely an aggressive archetype looking for ways to keep attacking with its dethrone creatures until they're big enough to just outright win combat.  The deck is also very tempo-oriented.  You want to drop a bunch of dethrone creatures early and then back them up with removal and counterspells to keep getting in until you can start finishing people off.  Dethrone's an all-new mechanic for Conspiracy and it's definitely an interesting one to try and maximize. Between trying to maximize the amount of dethrone triggers you're getting as well as making sure you attacks are meaningful, you get a lot of interesting tension and decision making.  

Best uncommons for this archetype:

Marchesa's Infiltrator - decent dethrone guy that can keep your hand full while attacking

Marchesa's Smuggler - seeder uncommon that does everything the deck wants

Treasonous Ogre - gives you a way to accelerate a bit, but more importantly gives you a way to decrease your own life total to get dethrone triggers again

Uncontrollable Anger - combat trick that also plays well into what you want to do with your dethrone creatures anyway

Wind Dancer - makes your dethrone guys much harder to block

Best commons for this archetype:

Grenzo's Cutthroat - plays very well with the other combat tricks available due to first strike

Marchesa's Emissary - comes down a little later but a great target for enchantments or equipment due to hexproof

Orcish Cannonade - clears out an early blocker, helps keep your life lower than someone's, and cantrips

Traveler's Cloak - cantrips through your deck while making your dethrone guy unblockable against one or more opponents

Wrap in Flames - keeping up to 3 creatures from blocking almost guarantees a solid attack, perfect for later when you want to get multiple dethrone triggers in a single turn

Izzet is one of the most early game focused decks I've had a chance to draft so far.  It definitely wants to beat down early and often.  A dethrone creature is slightly overcosted with one dethrone trigger and noticeably undercosted with 2, so you definitely want to start attacking as soon as possible and keep doing it.  Fortunately, there's plenty of support for it in the set, especially at common.  There are multiple spells that do a great job of making a path for your dethrone creatures or making them unblockable.  I don't think much needs to be done to improve this archetype when it comes to modification time.

[theconspiracycube]

Conspiracy Draft Archetypes: Orzhov Will of the Council Control

Orzhov is the most controlling of the color pairs in Conspiracy.  I haven't played an archetype that was this controlling in a draft a significant amount previous to this format, but it definitely makes sense considering the differences in the multiplayer format.  At the same time, many of the cards are based around the new mechanic Will of the Council, which is very much a pick-your-poison type mechanic for multiplayer. You can always assume people will vote for whatever will benefit them the most (or help you the least, depending on the player) so it's a very political deck as well.

Best uncommons for this archetype:

Bite of the Black Rose - potential sweeper or discard, either should hopefully get you card advantage

Council Guardian - makes a great late game finisher as well as a great wall to make attacking miserable, especially if you can get more than one color out of it with multiple vote

Mortify - remove creatures as long as they don't have protection and destroy enchantments as necessary, arguably the best point removal in the set

Skeletal Scrying - great way to restock your hand after cleaning up the board with point removal

Unquestioned Authority - make your small creatures into finishers or very difficult to remove blockers

Best commons for this archetype:

Apex Hawks - blocks Spirit tokens early game or turns into a finisher late game

Brago's Representative - getting extra votes on your Will of the Council cards is very helpful, and he blocks very well

Custodi Squire - great source of recursion and a potential win condition that plays well with the other commons you want

Grudge Keeper - semi-unexciting body but can force through your Will of the Council votes so people can avoid damage 

Tyrant's Choice - board control or life loss, either works in your favor

Orzhov is definitely the most late game deck I've piloted so far.  Most of the good cards in the color pair that play nice together want to delay the game as much as possible so it can eventually win with a big flyer, whether that be a Custodi Squire, Apex Hawks, or one of the rares available.  You definitely want to pick removal highly in these colors as you have a fair number of options for win conditions, several of which won't be appealing to other decks.  I think this is one of the more interesting archetypes out there and I wish I could include more Will of the Council effects for it.  Either way, this deck probably needs the least help out of the ones I've looked at so far.

[theconspiracycube]

Conspiracy Draft Archetypes: Selesnya Tokens

Selesnya hits another tried and true archetype for Limited - make tokens and turn them sideways.  We saw this for Selesnya in both original Ravnica and Return.  The underlying theme is actually about making more creatures that your opponents can handle, and that is usually done one of two ways but preferably both.  You can either flood the board with enough creatures that you can get in for damage through their blockers, or you can make your creature more difficult to block profitably.  A good tokens deck does both of these things.  For multiplayer, you also need a way to get card advantage because your weenie tokens will almost certainly end up dying to your opponent's removal/blockers.  Fortunately, we have Parley in the set, which are also appealing for the archetype as the best ones make more tokens.

Best uncommons for this archetype:

Intangible Virtue - vigilance is one of the most useful multiplayer keywords, and boosting your tokens is fantastic

Predator's Howl - your tokens will die in combat; making extras is a great consolation prize

Selvala's Charge - makes board-relevant tokens and replaces itself

Squirrel Nest - 1/1 for 1 that doesn't cost you a card is exactly what this deck wants

Woodvine Elemental - nothing says play tokens like a repeatable overrun

Best commons for this archetype:

Copperhorn Scout - untapping your team is key to making your opponents look elsewhere for attacks

Doomed Traveler - beats early, chump blocks mid game to turn into a flyer

Echoing Courage - tokens of a particular type all have the same name

Rousting of Souls - huge part of what makes this deck work

Wrap in Vigor - saves your team from sweepers and lets you attack into messy board states

Selesnya is an early to mid game deck that very much wants to get ahead in the life race and then plinky in with evasive tokens or steamroll through with excessively large tokens in the late game for the last opponent or two.  Out of the friendly color archetypes I think it's the one that's most dependent on a few key cards to be draftable. There isn't a good fill in for Rousing of Souls at common, so if you first pick one of the good uncommons, you should be picking every Rousing of Souls you see.  I struggled when looking at the commons and uncommons to fill in 5 key cards for the archetype that weren't just generically useful like Ajani's Sunstriker and Moment of Heroism.  That will have to be one of the things I address when I update my the cards for my cube.

[theconspiracycube]

Conspiracy Draft Archetypes: Gruul Dinosaurs

Gruul hits the standard notes for a RG draft archetype (at least since Scars of Mirrodin) - ramp into fatties.  The first time I heard the “Dinosaurs” name for the archetype was in Scars of Mirrodin.  It’s probably because Alpha Tyrranax and Molder Beast look very classical dinosaur-esque.  The key is having the acceleration available to make it possible to play these guys a few turns early and just run over your opponents before they can catch up with your mana advantage.

Best uncommons for this archetype:

Boldwyr Intimidator - huge guy that can make himself and your team unblockable with all your excess mana

Deathforge Shaman - sometimes it’s more expedient to just go right to the dome

Lead the Stampede - this should be at least a consistent 2 for 1, and could potentially be a lot bigger

Fires of Yavimaya - only thing better that early fatties is early fatties that attack a turn early so your opponents can’t plan for it 

Pelakka Wurm - huge guy that gives you a bonus coming in and going out

Best commons for this archetype:

Chartooth Cougar - make sure you hit your land drops early, firebreathing beater late

Charging Rhino - big guy that can’t be team blocked

Sakura-Tribe Elder - key piece of the deck for obvious reasons

Skitter of Lizards - hasty beats early, hasty dinosaur late

Sporecap Spider - does a great job of keeping almost everything from attacking profitably while you set up your dinosaurs

Gruul is a great deck for smashing face.  It actually plays a lot like experienced Commander/EDH players would expect - ramp and fix your mana the first few turns, then just go over whatever defenses they’ve put up with your huge monsters.  Depending on how much ramp you get, it can be a mid game deck or a late game deck that just plays multiple dinosaurs to clobber everyone.

[theconspiracycube]

Conspiracy Draft Archetypes: Rakdos Archenemy

Rakdos is what I am calling the archenemy archetype in Conspiracy.  There are multiple cards in the color combination that hit all your opponents and they aren't just at rare. There are multiple sweepers for little creatures at uncommon and this is the deck that wants them. There's also several commons that mess with combat math and those slot into this deck perfectly.  

Top uncommons for this archetype:

Bite of the Black Rose - small sweeper or mass discard

Skeletal Scrying - refill your hand at instant speed

Smallpox - untargetted removal that hits everyone

Spontaneous Combustion - 3 damage for sacrificing a creature that was going to die anyway is good

Volcanic Fallout - instant speed sweeper

Top commons for this archetype:

Brimstone Volley - creatures will die aplenty, allowing you go right for opponent's life totals

Infectious Horror - damages everyone at once

Liliana's Specter - great X for 1 that sticks around with a close to on-curve body

Power of Fire - repeatedly ping opponents and make combat math impossible to predict

Syphon Soul - draining everyone at once is great for offsetting the extra attention you'll be attracting

Rakdos is one of the best archetypes for taking on the table simultaneously in Conspiracy provided you have the uncommons to support it.  The overall speed of the deck ends up determined by what other support cards you draft.  You can go with the slower, more recursion oriented deck using Unhallowed Pacts to recur your creatures or steal an opponent's or you can get more aggressive using the dethrone cards from red.

[theconspiracycube]

Conspiracy Draft Archetypes: Azorius Flyers

The Azorius theme is pretty standard in here - WU weenie flyers.  We see this a lot as white and blue are the primary colors for flying, so it’s a familiar archetype and one that’s easy to spot.

Top uncommons for this archetype:

Air Servant - big flyer that taps things in his way

Favorable Winds - pump your team, little to no competition in other archetypes for the card

Jetting Glasskite - big flyer with built in protection

Sky Spirit - efficient beater than can attack through most flyers due to first strike

Soulcatcher - build your own fatty when your other flyers inevitably get killed

Top commons for this archetype:

Apex Hawks - on curve flyer that can be monstrously huge late

Courier Hawk - keeps opposing Spirit tokens pointed somewhere else while plinking for damage in the air

Crookclaw Transmuter - potentially great combat trick that also provides solid beats in the air late

Custodi Squire - flying body with built in recursion giving you some late game opportunities

Rousing of Souls - more flying bodies means more damage

The deck’s goal is basically to curve out into flyers and beat face.  It’s definitely an early to mid-game deck, though it has some late game potential in the multikicker creatures and grabbing a wall or two to handle bigger ground pounders.

[theconspiracycube]

Conspiracy Draft Archetypes: Dimir Reanimator

Dimir is somewhat new with the reanimator and spell-heavy theme. We’ve seen a lot of mill type decks for Dimir drafting before, but this is one of the first times I’ve seen and played with a solid reanimator theme in draft before.  With multiple uncommons that drop creatures onto the battlefield and a common enchantment that’ll Raise Dead for you repeatedly, gone isn’t really gone in this deck.

Top uncommons for this archetype:

Breakthrough - dig for the reanimation spell and the target as well as getting the target into your graveyard

Extract from Darkness - fantastic reanimation spell that lets you steal your opponent’s bombs

Fact or Fiction - digs for spells and fills your graveyard

Jetting Glasskite - great target to reanimate with evasion and built in protection

Victimize - dump a weenie and get two fatties

Top commons for this archetype:

Compulsive Research - dig for the reanimation effects

Reckless Scholar - more card sifting

Syphon Soul - Drain life to make up for lack of blockers early

Twisted Abomination - Great reanimation target that gets you lands early

Typhoid Rats - trades with ground creatures or becomes Victimize fodder as necessary

Dimir is definitely a mid to late game deck that lets you slowly craft your hand to a point that you can set up a completely dominating board position.  Even just using the landcycling creatures early and a Necromantic Thirst on an evasive beater can be enough to set you up for a serious late game of Twisted Abominations and Shoreline Rangers.

[theconspiracycube]

First Draft of the Conspiracy Cube

Based on the first couple games and some basic math, the first draft of the actual cube will be the following:

Normal rarity: 4 of each common 2 of each uncommon 1 of each rare 1 of each mythic rare

Conspiracies and cogwork: 4 of each common 2 of each uncommon 1 of each rare

Pack distribution will be the same as a normal pack of Conspiracy:

10 commons 3 uncommons 1 rare or mythic 1 conspiracy or cogwork or Paliano

I really enjoy the way things play right now and until I’ve had a chance to play with this a bunch I don’t want to change anything.  I also really enjoy the power of the Hidden Agendas right now, so I want to keep the same stuff going to start.

As soon as CubeTutor.com updates for Conspiracy I'll get a copy of the list over there.

[theconspiracycube]

Draft Archetypes

Once we got the whole spoiler, I started trying to figure out what we have for deck archetypes.  I’m pretty sure I’ve got the basics figured out now, especially after a few drafts.

Conspiracy archetypes:

WU Flyers

UB Recursion

BR X for 1s

RG Ramp into fatties

GW Aggro Tokens

WB Will of the Council

UR Dethrone Aggro

BG Morbid

RW Defenders

GU Kindred and Ramp