In this article, Ryan Overturf will share his views on the arena cube, and talk about appropriate strategies, high-snap positioning, and pitfalls to avoid.

Arena cube will return on January 6, US time for two weeks. The Ironman Decathlon final will be held in the near future with the cube round as the competition system. In this article, Ryan Overturf will share his views on the arena cube, and talk about appropriate strategies, high-snap positioning, and pitfalls to avoid. The special cube on

MTGO will last for another week, but if you prefer MTGA, good news, good news! The MTGAcube round of grabs will return on January 6 and last for two weeks. Given that these activities are timely and I have never written any articles about arena cubes before, so today this article will be entirely focused on the quick cube round grab. Although I have never written about Arena Cube before, we did discuss the change of cube card pools in previous episodes (The 540), and I think the basic principles are still the same.

I put the updated arena cube card pool on Cube Cobra as usual, and then I noticed that this time there were still quite a lot of changes. This is not unexpected, considering the various recent developments on MTGA. Compared to MO's special cubes, arena cubes should change over time for a variety of reasons.

If you have played Arena Cube, its basics are almost the same, but many cards have been replaced. The most significant change is the introduction of those MTGA exclusive cards. I knew before that the addition of these cards is purely a matter of time, and they will make it more difficult for cube enthusiasts to get started with arena cubes than ordinary arena players. I personally think this is a good thing for MTGA users, but it will also catch some players off guard. Fortunately, there are not many limited cards in the arena, so it will not affect everyone's experience in general.

From this fancy word "A", we can see that these cards have been modified, and the effect is different from the paper version:

I can't use the Universe Nectar card horizontally and vertically, but the remaining three cut cards seem to me to have moderate strength for the arena cube. If you want to cut off your inspiration, I will fully support Arena Cube to do so.

In addition, there are also these MTGA exclusive cards in the arena cube:

(Sijada's believers, cloning maker, exploring recipes, witches bound, Toraf's believers, settled in the wilderness, faceless spy, soul stealing axe, archive keys, abandoned intersections)

not many cards, but you need to pay attention. Generally speaking, it is not good to choose a card from the spell book, except for the archive key. This card can bring you a lot of strong cards in cube history (rhino: or historical sites?). Even if it doesn't give you what you want, it is at least a cost-effective tool. The upper limit of this card is very high because it may bring the following cards:

(Divine Day is coming, Judgment of Doomsday, Time Bend, Counterattack Spell, Demonic Instructor, Final Blade, Lightning Shock, Request for the First Infant, Cloth's Grasp, Regeneration of New Sprouts, Extinguishing Sparks, Electrolysis, Growth Vortex, Lightning Spiral, Rotten)

Not all decks are interested in four-cost acceleration, but these additions have turned it into the strongest acceleration artifact in history. Similarly, Exploring the recipe is also the best 6-cost check now. It only catches spells, and the effect of reducing all hands by one fee is much more powerful than it seems. Archive keys and exploration recipes are both single cards that can be grabbed at one time.

OK, let’s put the electronic cards aside first, and I will analyze the arena cube according to the color.

white

is similar to the special cube on MO. Pure white fast attack is one of the strongest ideas for arena cubes. The difference from the special cube is that the white fast in the arena cube is very suitable for mixing colors. The 2-cost 3/1 person in the arena is more intense. If you have a card, they can help you deal with it for a while.

As usual, you will want to rely on a low-cost curve similar to the leader and the inspector of Seban. However, the strength of the arena round grab will require you to have some stronger thugs. If I can catch one of the following cards, I may choose the strategy of quick-fire:

(Month Bishop Mikaye, Fearless Enemy, New Angel)

Huihou Qiusuoke was once in this list, but it was not as strong as it was originally changed. For similar reasons, I chose the new angels here instead of the admiring elephant tribe. The Jingyang Xiang Clan and Huihou Qiusuoke are both good cards, and I will use them if they have them (the Qiusuoke takes precedence over the Xiang Clan), but they will waste some rhythm before bringing significant returns, so I will not consider grabbing these two cards high.

In addition to fast attack strategies, white also has some solid medium-speed cards and control cards. Here are the best of them:

(elite lock monk, empty realm undead, return angel, punishment angel, great monk Erenon, Sarami envoy, turn sword into plow, Starheim total attack)

These cards are the most cost-effective in cubes. Arena cubes are basically the cube type with bombs, so high cost-effectiveness is the key to grasping them. In the arena cube, I either catch extreme fast break cards or mix up the above cards in a more control-oriented deck.

Finally, what I want to remind you is to deal with the remnants in the card pool. I always think it is an overrated card, and its usage is often terrible, so I would like to warn you to know its existence when playing arena cubes. Don't be fooled by your opponent's "good game" and then go all in.

Blue

is different from white, but it is more in line with the characteristics of blue. The blue fast attack card is unbearable. What is also different from white but conforms to the blue characteristics is that blue has a large number of cards that serve as various functions. A large number of filter cards and counter spells make blue the strongest monochrome in this cube and many other cubes.

Memory loss and counterattack spells are the significant enhancement brought by the Secret Book to Blue, and the aforementioned Exploration formula is also crucial.

I also want to mention how annoying the ship-breaking Frightened Beast is in the arena cube. In the current special cube, it is undoubtedly a destructive character. If you can't handle it right away, it's hard to imagine how to beat it later. In the arena cube, it is much easier to live to choose a cube by 7-fee, and the more likely you are to shoot it, the better it will perform. If you haven't played against this thing before, then you really need to be there once, and then you will know that everyone is not following the crowd.

Generally speaking, my goal of catching the arena cube is to either make a fast attack or get into the blue. Unless the blue card in this cube is greatly weakened, I will implement this policy.

black

black is more embarrassing in the arena cube, because it is obvious that the designer is promoting the idea of big black, but this card is much weaker than pure white or pure red. Sometimes An Fuling's secret disciples will attract me, but this type of card is much lower than usual.

(Losewen leader Ayala, Phyrexisia's Imperial Beast, An Fuling's An

Black does have some good cards in terms of handling threats and forming threats. I'll pair them with at least one other color. The following are the essence of the arena cube black card:

(waste robber, the ghost of the empty realm, the king of evil drama, Lanka, doctor Solan Yogmov, Spider God Queen Rose, Professor Black Jade, Grab Thoughts, Demon Master, Meat Gate Datus, Phyrexisia Arena)

I think the addition of the Demon Master is pleasant. Although I entered MTGA through the Sculhai Secretariat and was immediately banned by the historical site, the Demon Master still has somewhere to appear. Its existence certainly makes the special cube enthusiast feel friendly.

In addition to these good black cards, there are actually a lot of cards with limited uses, such as removing and sacrificing components, but I mainly catch black when black is open and can act as an auxiliary color. In the arena cube, black is recognized as the worst color.

red

Now let’s talk about the reasons why I love arena cubes - pure red fast attacks dominate the environment completely. When we were discussing on The 540 program, Justin Parnell said that he prefers the latter between pure red and pure white, while I prefer the former. Now, the lightning strike has also entered the cube through the secret book, and I will continue my choice.

What’s fun is that there are actually not many red cards in the cube that need to be discussed specifically, but the strength of this cube makes this group of people with good curves perform well. There are some high-quality mid-speed options, such as the Bone Broken Giant, the Ability Flame Warlock and the Final Dragon, but their power is that they are also good in the fast attack cards. I will mainly consider grabbing red as the main color, going towards the fast attack idea, or adding black, if it is open enough, it will allow me to move towards medium speed and control decks.

In most cases, I have been more smooth to catch red because many single cards look bad. For example, cards like the flame spitting lizard will basically be passed back. The cards you play can be passed back, so you have the opportunity to pay attention to the curve is the top priority for the arena cube to catch the red. If you are lucky enough, you can catch the split double-body combination skills on MTGA:

(Indeed, four rounds, you are dead)

Ancient Jinfeng is brainless, and the melting and tempering Anaks and Ancient Jinfeng are an elastic threat that can quickly end the game. If you want to consider the time-consuming process of the entire round of grabbing, then grab the An Jinfeng in one packet. Strictly speaking, it is optional, like the sudden appearance of inspiration and the wilderness of the dead, but if you play with your mobile phone, there is nothing to hesitate. Because you will use black and lacquered cards like Ghost Palm Flag, and you won’t be able to take this path if your heart is not big enough. If this kind of curve cannot be worn back, you should change the color quickly.

green

talks about green, and it is more common cards. Green fast attack creatures are generally not good. Luoyan fairies are very outrageous. If I don’t catch fast attack cards, I would want to use a lot of green and blue cards in this cube.

Compared with other cubes, green does not have any particularly outstanding single card in arena cubes. The difference in the power of cards on different curves is very small. Both one and two-cost acceleration are good, while five or higher cards can bring great value. New Leaf Tree Spirit and Shengyuan Liver are two different cards, but their essentially similar functions, and they are both major threats you want to take pictures as soon as possible.

(old giant beast, Wovenson multi-headed dragon, queen bee)

There is no card like Bessemos in this cube that can end the game with one blow, which is why I like to match blue and green. Our goal is to speed up, draw cards, and then stop the opponent from winning the game with a counter spell.

Looking for the Bishu Spirit is better than what it looks like. Low fees, or even cultivation, such three-cost acceleration is your core, because you need to reach a key point that can capture a greater threat than your opponent and can prevent your opponent from reversing the situation.

Multi-color

I mainly focus on monochrome or double-color fast attacks in the arena cube, or blue-green, and you can play five colors with your efforts. In any case, I am willing to grab the ground first and then catch multi-colored spells. However, facing these cards, I will seriously consider choosing them as a catch:

(soul shepherd, mind thief, beetle god, lie god Valky, escape to the fantasy, Northland Poetry Competition, tireless pilgrimage to the Armored Goros)

These are the cards in cube that have high threats and great returns. My favorite among them is the tireless pilgrimage to Arctico Ros. When we discussed with Justin Parnell before, we all agreed that if the Dead Wilds can operate, it is the strongest idea for the Cube at present. If you don't play fast attacks, the Dead Wild and Goros are your best choices.Also, having the chance to activate Goros' ability will allow you to defeat most of the cards in the cube. 3/5 is a solid blocker when facing fast attack cards, and the card advantages it brings can also make you calm and composed when facing various strategies of your opponent.

artifact

high-catch artifact is basically what I mentioned before:

(Paradise wing machine, palladium secret ear, cold steel core, guardian statue, soul stone, treasure map, cultivation caravan, dome instrument, archive library key)

Although it is not worthy of being a pick, Jingche Giant can always become a good thug for my fast attack deck. It can't always add a counter as you wish, but it's at least 3/3.

ground

There are countless color-tuning places in this cube card pool, with 5 groups of two-color grounds, adjacent color cycle ground and group.

(electric shock circle, path, slow ground, divination ground, two-color loop circle, group system)

If you pay more attention to the color of the mantra, group system is a good helper to help Goros accelerate and make the five colors operate. Magical Trails and abandoned intersections are also good color grading options.

Except for the dead, other colorless places are relatively ordinary. I really like monochromatic land, and I guess I will use the Bear Goblin Nest to make a big attack in the next cube round.

(Frost Dragon Cave, Storm Giant Hall, Demon Eye Tyrant's Nest, Bear Goblin Nest, Multi-Headed Snake Lizard Nest)

For the final of the Ironman Decathlon, I will play at least 3 arena cube rounds to catch. Whether you choose to attack small creatures quickly or form a large army of spiritual figurines, the experience of MTGAcube round-catching will be very good.