I love the frequency with which we are getting Magic Arena Opens these days. I would play one every weekend if I could. I’ve had solid success with Arena Opens this year to date, cashing in three of my last four tournaments. I’ve had a good handle on all of the limited formats for those events. However, the format for the upcoming Arena Open this weekend is Cube.
CUBE. Ah yes, Cube, my strongest Limited format. And if by strongest you think I mean always drafting the same boring midrange Golgari pile of cards that can never do better than 2-1 at BEST then you are correct. Give me a bunch of under-powered commons and I can draft a well-oiled machine. But give me packs and packs full of rares and mythic rares and then get ready for the most mundane deck of your wildest dreams.
If you’re like me and not exactly a cube aficionado, I’ve decided to give myself (and now you!) as much of an edge as possible this weekend by creating a cheat sheet of all the instant-speed cards in the current iteration of Arena Cube as well as all of the Wrath effects and the only two Foretell cards in the format. Please enjoy at your leisure, and good luck this weekend. Play with lots of gold and red symbols.
Arena Cube Instant-Speed Effects
Blue
0-CMC: Pact of Negation
1-CMC: Brainstorm, Consider, Fading Hope, Opt, Shore Up, Spectral Sailor, Spell Pierce, Rona’s Vortex
2-CMC: Counterspell, Merfolk Trickster, Disdainful Stroke, Omen of the Sea, Impulse, Jwari Disruption, Negate, Spectral Adversary, Blink of an Eye
3-CMC: Silundi Vision, Supreme Will, Thirst for Discovery, Disallow, Saw it Coming, Neutralize, Exclude, Nimble Obstructionist, Brazen Borrower
4-CMC: Commit/Memory, Behold the Multiverse, Dismiss, Memory Deluge, Urza’s Command, Overcharged Amalgam
5-CMC: Voracious Greatshark
6-CMC: Discover the Formula, Sublime Epiphany
X-CMC: Shark Typhoon, Thassa’s Intervention
White
1-CMC: Ephemerate, Mana Tithe, Patriar’s Humiliation
2-CMC: Fateful Absence, Kabira Takedown, Seal Away, Valorous Stance, Touch the Spirit Realm
3-CMC: Unbreakable Formation
4-CMC: Kyodai, Soul of Kamigawa, Restoration Angel, Settle the Wreckage, The Wandering Emperor
5-CMC:
6-CMC: Leyline Binding, Sune’s Intervention
X-CMC: March of Otherworldly Light
Black
1-CMC: Cut Down, Fatal Push, Malakir Rebirth, Village Rites
2-CMC: Deadly Dispute, Go for the Throat, Heartless Act, Infernal Grasp, Lonely End, Sap Vitality
3-CMC: Murderous Rider
4-CMC: Ebondeath, Dracolich, Hagra Mauling, Hostile Negotiations
Red
1-CMC: Fiery Impulse, Lightning Axe, Lightning Bolt, Spikefield Hazard, Unholy Heat
2-CMC: Abrade, Bonecrusher Giant, Lightning Strike, Searing Blood
3-CMC: Kazuul’s Fury
4-CMC: Big Score
6-CMC: Embercleave
X-CMC: Magmaquake
Green
1-CMC: Tamiyo’s Safekeeping, You Line Up the Shot
2-CMC: Inscription of Abundance, Once Upon a Time, Wilt
X-CMC: Shigeki, Jukai Visionary
Multi-Color
2-CMC: Dromoka’s Command, Colossal Skyturtle
3-CMC: Colossal Skyturtle, Kolaghan’s Command
4-CMC: Ertai Resurrected
5-CMC: Lorehold Command
8-CMC: Magma Opus
X-CMC: Sphinx’s Revelation
Colorless
None
Lands
No-CMC: Boseiju, Who Endures, Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, Otawara, Soaring City
Arena Cube Wrath of God Effects
3-CMC: Sweltering Suns
4-CMC: Day of Judgment, Settle the Wreckage, The Elder Dragon War
5-CMC: Time Wipe, Burn Down the House
6-CMC: Farewell, Chandra, Awakened Inferno
7-CMC: Realm-Cloaked Giant, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, Star of Extinction
X-CMC: Magmaquake
Arena Cube Foretell Effects
2-CMC: Saw it Coming, Behold the Multiverse
Hugh Kramer (he/him) has always been a Limited man, both in terms of his preferred Magic: The Gathering format and his capacity to understand basic level subjects. Fatherhood may be a new and wonderful endeavor for Hugh, but endeavoring to understand the human condition has always been the focus of his life. That and proctologist jokes.