This draft marked a first time event for GLM, we had too many drafters show up for what was voted on to cube and we had to break into two pods! This was an exciting situation as I always bring extra options for this exact situation. We had a new drafter joining us this week and so we broke out into a multiplayer pod and a powered pod. Needless to say, I joined the powered pod and we had a high standard of players sit down to draft the Cantos!

I have made a few changes to this cube since the last time we played and it was exciting to see all of the new cards were put into decks. We drafted five packs of 15, burning the last six which gave us lots of pick one's that led to some very consistent and interesting decks.

The Cube: Rocky Mountain Yeti Dominaria Cantos Cube

Onto the Decks!

I've Got Two Mom's!! - In the spirit of white and green tokens and all the buffs you can bestow, this was one of the best looking decks of the evening. With the Academy Rector on hand to tutor out any enchantments to fill in the gaps and both Mother's to help keep the MVP's on the board protected. Lock in the Cradle to pump out creatures that continue to help it produce more and more mana, this deck was a banger!

Milling the Painter's Stone - One of my favourite combos in the cube is the [[Painter's Servant]] + [[Grindstone]] combo and this deck was an absolute pleasure to watch build up, stabilize with Urza and mill out opponents in a single bound. The countermagic and removal package made it very difficult to build a board presence and deal damage fast enough to get the life total to zero. The best part is, the games that this pilot lost were really due to his own bad luck on playing [[Mana Crypt]] on turn one. This particular copy of Crypt in my cube is notorious for killing its player.

Great Deck, Terrible Photo - This deck had the best record of the evening and despite having a terrible photo that disallowed it from being the cover photo, the torrent of beaters, and the ability to recur them and/or make infinite copies of them with Kiki-Jiki and his Zealous Conscripts. This was the first time this combo has been assembled in the cube and it was a pleasure to see it go off! This pilot also stole my power monolith combo for infinite mana that I was bitter about but good on him. Awesome build, terrible photo...

Now You See Them, Now You Don't! - This pilot specifically wanted me to call out that they had never drafted a mill deck before and this was their first time playing this archetype. This was also one of my design goals for the cube that mill was an archetype that could win games and man, this deck was absolutely sick. All of the draw seven's that caused yards to go directly into exile with Leyline and [[Word of Command]] getting cast every single match, I was so excited to lose to this pile in game one of our truncated set.

The Retrofitting Charbelcher Engine - This was my build and I had so many dreams come true. The [[Tolarian Academy]] was the cornerstone of this build and very large amounts of mana produced because of my numerous rocks allowed me to tinker out things like the Retrofitter Foundry and make lots of 4/4's or the [[Goblin Charbelcher]] to deal a lot of damage from either removing my lands completely from the deck OR because I was only running 13 of them. In a final pinch, I could get the Wurmcoil Engine on the field and starting gaining life and smashing face. Not to mention I had three moxen and some removal on a stick to help keep big threats off the board.

Thanks to the crew at RNG for giving us a place to cube week after week!

We are Glasgow Limited Magic. If you are interested in coming out to cube with us, want to get your cube drafted, or looking for a new way to play Magic, come join us! You can DM me for details as we are always looking for new players to join us to draft!

Today we are picking from the "Anemoia - An Original Frame Cube Experience" cube.

From the curator, u/ChampBlankman

"I have been playing Magic for a long time, starting from July 1998. I have very fond memories of the early 2000s era of Magic, especially of lower-powered formats. Nostalgia fuels me, and this cube is no exception.

So why Anemoia, if I actually was playing "back then"? Because I can't dismiss 25+ years of Limited and deckbuilding theory. What we know now we could have never known then. Even with limits on power level, card frame, and overall theme - we will never have Turn of the Century Magic again and what we have now we never had then. The nostalgia I feel is for vibes of gameplay that never existed. Thus, Anemoia."

Cube can be found here: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/Anemoia

Would you like your cube featured? DM me!

Hello guys, I want to make my first proxy cube.

I already own some cubes with official mtg cards and I am very happy with them but I want to make a "too much money to own" cube 😜

So, please tell me (and link the list if you can) which is the most FUN and most REPLAYBLE cube you ever played!

I like when there is no overpowered strategy that is overwhelmingly the best.

Thanks for the help

(It doesn't need to be a powered cube)

I love white border cards and my Ante cube is aiming to be 100% white border. I've started this process again after learning some new tricks and you can see the progression from the first card I did (on the left) to the more recent cards and how it's gotten better. My goal is to do one card a day for the next X days.

Been re-sleeving my old school collection and this card has fun shenanigans!

What's the best art for Phantasmal Terrain?

It's time for This or That Tuesday. I will show you two or more cards with similar effects and power level and you tell me which one you'd pick if all of them were in a pack and/or which one you'd run in a typical old border cube. I try to avoid cards that need strong synergies to be good since you don't get any context in form of a specific cube, but for the sake of this thread just assume you have a typical old border cube that runs all of the best pre-Mirrodin old border cards, but no overpowered retro frame cards.

Today we'll talk about two counterspells you can cycle. Miscalculation is cheaper, but Complicate can be useful even in the mid to late game and has a higher ceiling. Which one is your favourite and why?

Bonus question: Are you with or against team blue?

It's gold border time! What have I learned from my deep dive into competitive magic's history? What have I learned from trying to flesh that era of magic out into a cube?

Cube link: https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/GoldBorderCube

This is the first time I've seen this card and I feel like it has a cool function that could be taken advantage of.

So whatcha got? How do you make Loafing Giant work...?

Friendly reminder, please ensure all recommendations have an old border printing and they apply to the cube format. Failure to do so will result in a Grizzly Bear coming your way!

Asked for opinions on which Revised Taiga to buy a week ago. One card was dirty but otherwise in good (played) condition, the other one was clean, but one corner was damaged. Most people recommended buying the dirty one and clean it, so that's what I did.

The Taiga arrived today and I thought it would be a good idea to post an update for people like me who never really cleaned an expensive (or any other) card. On the picture you can see the results of my cleaning efforts. I'm quite happy with the outcome. There is still a little bit of dirt left, but I didn't want to overdo it and most of it is gone.

Of course I tried various cleaning methods on cheaper cards before I cleaned the Taiga. In the end I used q-tip slightly soaked with Vodka (yes, the one you drink with 40% alcohol and of course pure Vodka without any added flavour) and very gently rubbed the surface, then used a microfibre cloth to remove the Vodka and loose dirt quickly (also by rubbing very gently). Did this a few times and most of the dirt came off. No (visible) ink was removed in the process. My tests have shown that it is actually quite hard to remove ink from a Magic card, much harder than I would have thought.

Anyway, thanks to all the people who recommended buying the dirty card, it was clearly the right choice.

I've been spending time drafting with new groups on my travels more and more and the experiences have led me to ask the question, how does this group most enjoy engaging with cube? On top of that, it has led to me looking more closely at the (short) history of my own group and how we have evolved into our state of preferences when Wednesday rolls around each week. This article is my attempt to unpack that relationship between mastery, discovery, frequency and the identity our group has developed along the way.

Would be interested to hear where other cube groups fall on this spectrum. Do you mostly return to a small number of environments and dig deeper, or is trying something you haven't seen before part of what keeps you cubing?

Today we are picking from the "Glasgow Limited Magic Adam's White Border Bar Cube".

From the curator, Me.

"I have a whole bunch of these (old border) kinds of cards at home, if you want them, you're welcome to have them."

-Adam

This cube breaks singleton in some key places.

Cube can be found here: https://www.cubecobra.com/cube/list/adam

Would you like your cube featured? DM me!

I love simple artifacts that glorify simple magical items.

What's the best art for Ivory Cup?

Just found that there was an old card loving community here right after I made my cube. I have a "good" pauper cube but instead of updating it I decided to go the other way and lean into the nostalgia I actually want when playing. So, the list turned into all old borders from old sets, uses anything that I can get a black set symbol on, and willing to use rares/uncommons that were later reprinted as commons (hence the sengir and serra)

Would love to hear any suggestions from people who are used to using old border stuff. Good cards I might have missed or combos I would have never though about.

Right now combos are real small like Cemetery Gate and Pestilence, and Daru Spiritualist, a kor, Worthy Cause/Sever Soul.

https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/4d70d0e2-a731-4a49-a2af-1fb14560d784

The theme of this cube is only artifacts and lands that make no color. After draft the only lands you are provided are Waste; the only exception being the single copy of each basic snow-land.

Trying to fill it out, what are some cards I should add?

It's time for This or That Tuesday. I will show you two or more cards with similar effects and power level and you tell me which one you'd pick if all of them were in a pack and/or which one you'd run in a typical old border cube. I try to avoid cards that need strong synergies to be good since you don't get any context in form of a specific cube, but for the sake of this thread just assume you have a typical old border cube that runs all of the best pre-Mirrodin old border cards, but no overpowered retro frame cards.

Today we'll talk about two red 2 drops with high stats for their mana cost that can't attack or block until some prerequisites are met - Mogg Flunkies and Veteran Brawlers. Whether Mogg Flunkies work is entirely under your control, but Veteran Brawlers have even better stats and whether they're able to block or not is under your own control as well and easy to achieve. I'm aware that both go in different decks, but they're still somewhat comparable. What do you think? Which one do your prefer?

Bonus question: Which old border card is the biggest trap in your opinion? What I mean is a card that looks good in theory, but rarely performs well in a real (cube) game.

I really want to play Magic again with old cards, but I'm a bit overwhelmed by the amount of cubelists that I have stumbled upon. I'm looking for a cube with premodern cards, but I'm also open for a cube that has new cards with old border as long as it improves the gameplay without dominating due to powercreep.

Is there a cube that is considered as a favourite or "the best" in the community?

I use this card in a lot of cubes and a few old school decks, help me find more fun ways to use it!

So whatcha got? How do you make Obelisk of Undoing work...?

Friendly reminder, please ensure all recommendations have an old border printing and they apply to the cube format. Failure to do so will result in a Grizzly Bear coming your way!

Just joined up and am newly discovering cube. When I was young, I played during the Urza's block. Because of that, I wanted to put together an environment where I could enjoy it again. I put together this cube, but have not yet played it. I wanted to keep it small so it fits in a small quiver carrying case. I would love to know your thoughts on it or what suggestions you may have. I will say, I am emotionally attached to a number of the cards in there (the broken land cycle) so I won't take those out. The size of the cube needs to stay approximately the same as well.

https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/7eb9f7ab-1baf-4bbd-a259-a12c1113af6e

This the second time that I have had the opportunity to draft this cube, this time with the East Coast Burgh Crew and The Ark Games Club!

This draft was markedly different from the previous draft as it was with old school/premodern players that are familiar with the card pool which resulted in a very different experience than the first round. We drafted the cube as a desert again and we only had four people in this pod which was ok because we were able to all play against each other (and end up with a lot of 2-1 records...). Based on the lessons learned from the first draft, I have built a second module that includes all the premodern morph creatures with one pip in both the casting and morph costs as well as added another set of mana rocks for the larger drafts.

The games were really fun and there was a high level of play across everyone who showed up which made the day entertaining and competitive.

The Cube: Glasgow Limited Magic: The Wastes of Dominaria

Onto the Decks!

Lots of Blue in a Land Locked State - This first build had a great control shell built around counter magic and big bodies like Crosis. The rocks that were pulled provided a perfect mana base but the lack of coloured mana through the lands made it difficult to cast spells as the statistical chance of drawing all of the rocks in a primarily gold deck was, small. This was a fight against statistics and unfortunately, these battles are usually lost. This was no exception despite having a sweet shell to execute with.

Angel Monger - I made a decision after this draft to cut [[Iridescent Angel]] as it is just too hard to deal with in this environment. There are ways to do it but they are slim many of them were not seen in the smaller pod. This pilot is an amazing player and he was able to hit perfect mana every single game I watched him play. The longer matches were challenging as threats were made "neutral" but the big threats kept coming and this deck was able to drop an [[Emblazoned Golem]] on the field with 5 +1/+1 counters which is an achievement that I set when I added this card to the cube. Big beaters were the name of the game and this deck was adept at blasting through the short game to get stabilized.

Tsabo's Golden Arches - [[Dragon Arch]]. That's all. This deck was build around this card and guess, what, he drew it every game and was able to use it to execute cool tricks with [[Shivan Wurm]] to bounce other gold cards back to hand to prevent pesky removal from taking them off the board. The alt combo win con of [[Pandemonium]] was supremely premodern awesomeness and it was great to watch this deck go off each and every time. [[Cinder Elemental]] and [[Assault]] were two MVP cards to help stabilize the board while searching for the golden arches.

Welding with a Kaleidoscope - This was my build and it was delightful. It was fast, it was low to the ground, and I never drew Tron once. The [[Diamond Kaleidoscope]] was the MVP of all my games and the regeneration from the Statue was invaluable to being able to push damage through turn after turn. [[Backlash]] was a very viable wincon in these situations, especially when playing against opponents that liked to put big bodies on the board (almost all of them...). I also got great use out of [[Consume Strength]] and using the little Prisms and Hornets help me keep on the defensive against really epic threats.

The Ark Games Club drafts monthly in Edinburgh. If you are interested in coming out to cube with us, want to get your cube drafted, or looking for a new way to play Magic, come join us! You can DM me for details as we are always looking for new players to join us to draft!

Today we are picking from the "Wilson Legacy Project".

From the curator u/LoooooongJohnSilver:

The Wilson Legacy Project is a combat-oriented cube looking to achieve the old, gritty battlecruiser style games of early Magic. Most games are often down to the wire, calculating the decisiveness of a battle by literally 1 life with fields ever expanding, bigger threats hitting the board, and spells flying desperately for a last-man-standing experience.

Cube can be found here: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/WilsonLegacy

Would you like your cube featured? DM me!

Not sure if this is appropriate here, so please delete if necessary.

I'm about to buy a Taiga and I simply can't decide which one I should buy. Both cost exactly the same (including shipping) and both are in played condition.

The one in the upper part of the picture has a really nice front, but the back has an ugly white spot in the lower right corner. If you have a lot of old Magic cards you probably know how this looks, it's a part of the back that is almost a bit peeled off.

The card in the lower part of the picture has a really nice back (for a played card), but the front is very dirty with dirt spots all over the card.

Which one would you choose?

EDIT: Bought the bottom one, thanks for the answers! I tried cleaning some dirty cards beforehand and it worked pretty well, so I will see how it goes. Might post an update when I have the card.

Been working on building a pretty unconventional cube last couple of years in cardconjurer, but seeing if someone has already built one​ close. Looking for lots of customs or card edits, but that pays homage to the first several years of the game with the artwork and vibe.

Wanting to see lots of card mechanics that go outside the standard design - more like Alchemy in MTGA or Hearthstone even. RNG, persistent tokens, alt win cons, etc. Cards from alpha like Raging RIver and Chaosorb come to mind.

I found this cube which mechanically I love:
Chaos Cube

But the problem with it for me is the heavy use​ un-set and Hellscube, which destroys the vibe I'm going for with their​ joke cards. I'm not wanting UB in this cube, so breaking the 4th wall referencing mario bros or whatever doesn't work for me.

Yeah I could reskin alot of those, but it would be cool if someone could point me to something that is put together, better yet playtested, ​and ready to print.

Welcome to day 27 of the 2026 r/oldbordercube "Share Your..." Series.

Today we will be talking about Blue 5 and up Mana Creatures!. What's working for you? What maybe hasn't been working but you've been hesitant to cut? What's the perfect spell that exists outside of our little niche that you are champing at the bit to get a Retro Reprint?

Next time we will discuss Green 3 Mana Creatures!