Usman’s Articles

Articles written before I became a regular cube writer:

• Cube Design Theory: Aggro in Cube.  This article was originally written for MTGSalvation back when the idea of aggro in cube was winning on turn 12 instead of turn 18.  It talks about how to support aggressive strategies in your cube (something that many cubes still struggle with.)
• Cube Buried Treasures, part 1 and part 2 for CubeDrafting.com.  These articles addressing oft-overlooked cube cards such as Crater Hellion, Wild Dogs and Desertion.
• A Grizzly Fate for a 5 Mana Sorcery. This article talks about how sometimes, you really want a card to be good, but it just doesn’t compete with similar cards (similar cost and/or function) anymore.
• Six Sides of Context for ManaNation, an article addressing the role of context and how to use it when evaluating cards for a cube.

Articles for Quiet Speculation:

• Six Degrees of Foundations.   This article talks about how to start a cube – like the restrictions (power/no power/no fast mana, commons vs com/unc vs “rare”, etc.)
• Six Degrees: Jump in the Pool!  This article talks about developing a pool of cards to draw from when starting the cube design process.  It talks about using other online lists, the Cube Comparison Thread on MTGSalvation, etc.  (Back in my day, we didn’t have these things and we had to walk 3 miles uphill in the snow!)
• Six Degrees of Newness.  This article talks about how to critically evaluate new cards.  The article briefly touched on a lot of concepts (BCSM, exaggeration of drawbacks/benefits) which I’ve gone into in future articles and will do so in the future.
• Six Degrees: Get Out of the Pool! This article talks about taking an initial pool of cards and paring it down into a final list.  It talks about how paralysis of analysis can happen and how breaking down information can help, since a cube is a pretty daunting task.

The next 7 articles are the “Cube SWOT” series, analyzing the 5 colors in cube from a holistic point of view, showing that understanding the strengths, weaknesses and archetypes in each color is key to a solid cube (ie since red is mostly aggressive, putting a ton of red X-spells isn’t going to be good as they’re not that great in aggressive decks.)

• Cube SWOT: White
• Cube SWOT: Blue
• Cube SWOT: Black
• Cube SWOT: Red
• Cube SWOT: Green
• Cube SWOT: Multicolor
• Cube SWOT: Lands and Artifacts
• Six Degrees: Governing the Guildless.  This article talks about the various methods used to classify multicolor and multi-color aligned cards: Literal (Stormbind is red-green, Kird Ape is red, Raging Ravine is a land,) Functional (Stormbind is red-green, Kird Ape is red-green, Raging Ravine is a land) and Guild (Stormbind, Kird Ape and Raging Ravine are all red-green)  along with how these classifications affect a cube overall.  It also talks about, if you don’t like any of these but want to use your own, how to do so.
• Six Degrees: Don’t You Forget About Timmy.  As spike-y as a cube is,  this article talks about how to appeal to the Timmy types with “build-around-me” cards like Venser, the Sojourner that are “big and flashy” but still win games in cube.

Articles for Star City Games:

• Holistic Wisdom: Hosers in Cube.  In this article, I talked about the use of hosers in cube, talking about traditional ones (Great Sable Stag is obviously good against blue and black) as well as others which attack archetypes (Smash to Smithereens and Gatekeeper of Malakir both being solid control-hosers, since those decks tend to use a lot of artifacts and few creatures respectively while having enough “universal” use to make them maindeckable.)
• Holistic Wisdom: Holistic Approach.  In what should have been my debut article, I talk about what exactly a “holistic approach” to cube entails, by looking at a cube from an overall “big picture” view and other such things I learned when I went to grad school.
• Holistic Wisdom: BCSM and the Ghost of Billy Mays.   This article talks about how thinking in the absolute best-case (or worst-case in Best [Worst] Case Scenario Mentality) can lead to misevaluating cards.  I’ll go more into the topic in future articles, especially how “the ghost of Billy Mays can whisper in your ears” through talking points, as understanding the concept is key to having a good cube.  Props to Limited Resources to coming up with the concept.
• Holistic Wisdom: Opportunity Cost.  I talk about the concept of opportunity cost and how it applies to cube (for example, even though Karakas has uses as an upgraded plains, its uses don’t warrant its place in cube since other, better things could be used instead.)
• Holistic Wisdom: New Phyrexia Review For Cube.  I review New Phyrexia’s cube cards.
• Cube Holistic Wisdom:  The Cube’s Supporting Cast.  In this article, I talk about how some cards require support (Life from the Loam, Stoneforge Mystic, Abyssal Persecutor) but still shine in cube and how to gauge what cards require too much support to be worth it.
• Cube Holistic Wisdom:  All Hands On Deck.  I talk about the use of an “on-deck” box/binder/shelf/drawer, essentially cards that aren’t in your cube but are in consideration for your cube.  All cubes should have one and this article talks about how and why.
• Cube Holistic Wisdom: Same Card, Different Cube.  I talk about how cards can play differently from cube to cube based on supported archetypes and card support using a few Limited examples – Lone Missionary in Rise of the Eldrazi vs how it’d be in Zendikar draft and how Harrow performed differently in Zendikar and Invasion – applying this to cube.
• Cube Holistic Wisdom: The Pain of Letting Go of Cards.  Hard cuts are hard.  This article talks about how to make them from your cube.
• Cube Holistic Wisdom: Commander Decks and M12 Review.  Review of Commander’s and M12′s cards for cube, with a bonus section of talking about cards relevant for pauper and peasant cubes.
• Cube Holistic Wisdom: Cycles.  Article about how cycles manifest in cube and how that can result in people using suboptimal cards just to fill in cycles, the guild system, etc.
• Cube Holistic Wisdom: Ravnica Pillars: Signets and Bouncelands in Cube.   It has become a misconception that signets and bouncelands are too good for cube and that in order to have a well-balanced cube, you have to cut them.  In this article, I explain why that’s untrue.
• Cube Holistic Wisdom: Non-Rare Cubes and Why You Should Have One.  In this article, I talk about why having a non-rare cube (in addition to others) is a useful tool to help become a better cube designer through looking at cube from a different perspective.
• Cube Holistic Wisdom: Initial Impressions.  In this article, I talked about initial impressions and how to temper initial thoughts on cards for cube and how to think not in extremes with the then-new Innistrad cards.
• Cube Holistic Wisdom: Kaizen and being ROTTY.  I talk about how the concept of Kaizen (continuous improvement) is a vital concept for all cubists (ie not just having no bad cards in your cube, but shaping it into a good format) and how being “ROTTY” (overly results-oriented) is a disservice for cube card evaluation.
• Cube Holistic Wisdom: Innistrad Cube Review.   Review of cube for Innistrad, nothing too shocking.  I went over some of the more loose cards to err on the side of looseness (so that I can cover less-obvious cards, even if I find myself shaking my head at prior card evaluations.  Lessons learned!)
• Cube Holistic Wisdom: Cube Anatomy 101.  In this article, I do a bit of a retrospective about the history of cube and how that historical context can cause people to think in constrictive ways (all sections having to be a multiple of 5, for example.)  It’s a concept that I’d like to expand on in the future.
• Cube Holistic Wisdom: Rooster Drafting.  A draft format created by former Limited Resources co-host and present WoTC R&D employee Ryan Spain – it’s a variant of limited which is a mix of rotisserie and sealed where you essentially draft the packs.  Article includes a walkthrough of the format.  Really interesting format that I’d like to do more in the future.
• Cube Holistic Wisdom: SCG Ranks Blue Card Draw Spells For Cube.   I asked a bunch of SCG writers to rank some “safe” cards for blue in cube.  I was surprised by how highly the first card was placed (but still think it’s a stellar card.)
• Cube Holistic Wisdom: The Importance of Four Mana.  4 mana is an important mark for cube decks and archetypes and I explain why.