Nostalgia in Cube: Old Cards and Why They Belong

Old cards in a cube are there for one of two reasons, and the owner should know which. Some are old and still good: Lightning Bolt, Swords to Plowshares, Counterspell, Wrath of God, Dark Ritual. They would be in the cube if they were printed yesterday. Others are old and loved: Shivan Dragon, Serra Angel, Sengir Vampire, Erhnam Djinn. They are in because someone at the table will see them and remember being eleven.

Both reasons are legitimate. The trouble starts when an owner confuses them, keeps a card for the memory while telling themselves it is for the power, and then wonders why it is picked fourteenth every week.

Why do old cards matter to a cube at all?

Because a cube is, among other things, a collection of the owner’s Magic history, and most drafters’ histories too. A card is not only its rules text. Shivan Dragon is also the first rare a lot of people opened. Serra Angel is also the card on the wall of the store where they learned to play. When those cards show up in pack two, the drafter feels something the newest Mythic cannot make them feel.

That feeling is worth slots. Not many, and not at any cost, but some. A cube with zero cards printed before 2015 is efficient and a little cold. A cube that looks like it was assembled from every era of the game tells the drafter that the game has a past and they are part of it.

The strongest case: the people who show up twice a year. They do not know what Fable of the Mirror-Breaker does. They know what Wrath of God does. Old cards are the part of the cube that is legible to someone who stopped reading spoilers fifteen years ago, and those people are often the ones the cube exists to bring back.

Which old cards still earn their slot on power?

More than you might think, and it is worth separating them out so the nostalgia budget is spent only on the cards that need it.

Cards from the game’s first decade that are still at or near the top of their slot in an unpowered cube:

• Removal and interaction: Lightning Bolt, Swords to Plowshares, Counterspell, Mana Leak, Wrath of God, Disenchant (still fine), Hymn to Tourach (in some lists), Duress, Fireblast.
• Card advantage: Fact or Fiction, Ancestral Recall (if powered), Sylvan Library, Necropotence, Phyrexian Arena.
• Mana and acceleration: Dark Ritual, Llanowar Elves, Birds of Paradise, Sol Ring, the original duals and fetches.
• Threats and engines: Sneak Attack, Opposition, Recurring Nightmare, Survival of the Fittest, Oath of Druids, Armageddon (if your cube allows it), Balance (same).
• Creatures that still play: Mother of Runes, Goblin Guide’s ancestors like Jackal Pup in a pauper list, Man-o’-War, Flametongue Kavu, Ravenous Baloth, Kird Ape in the right cube.

None of these need a nostalgia argument. They are good. The point of listing them is that an owner who wants an old-feeling cube can get most of the way there with cards that are also correct. The cube reads as classic without paying a power tax.

Which old cards are there for the memory?

Now the harder category: cards that are not at the top of their slot but belong anyway. A rough tier list, from most defensible to least.

Still playable, slightly below rate. Serra Angel is a 4/4 flying vigilance for five. In an unpowered cube, that is a fine top-end for white aggro and a fine blocker for white control. It is worse than Archangel Avacyn and better than nothing. Shivan Dragon at six mana is a real finisher in a cube without Glorybringer and Inferno Titan. Sengir Vampire, Mahamoti Djinn, Juzám Djinn in a powered list: all playable, all a little behind.

Playable in a lane, dead outside it. Erhnam Djinn in a green stompy deck. Hypnotic Specter in a black aggro deck with Dark Ritual. Nekrataal when the opponent has a creature. These are cards that make a deck when drafted on purpose and are a late pick otherwise, which is fine.

Loved and not good. Craw Wurm. Force of Nature. Lord of the Pit. Time Elemental. These are the cards that come up when someone says “you have to have X” and X has not been castable since 1996. They belong in a cube whose purpose is memory above all else, and nowhere else.

The question to ask is not “is this card good” but “does this card ever make a deck better than the card it replaces, for some drafter, some week.” Serra Angel passes. Craw Wurm does not.

How many slots should nostalgia get?

A house number, not a standard: in a 540, we keep around 20 to 25 cards that are in mostly for how they feel, about 4 or 5 percent of the list. That is enough that every draft has three or four of them floating around and not so many that a drafter can build a deck out of them by accident. In a 360, the number is around 12 to 15.

Those slots are competing with the newest card in the same slot, and the newest card is often better. The way we justify it to ourselves is a trade: the 20 slots cost us a small amount of average power and buy a cube that regulars and visitors alike recognize as ours. We cover that trade more broadly in fun cards vs strong cards.

A few rules we use to keep the nostalgia section honest:

1. Every nostalgia card must be playable. It can be below rate. It cannot be a blank. A 6/4 for six with no abilities is a blank in any cube above pauper.
2. No more than one per slot. One nostalgic five-drop flyer in white, not three. Serra Angel or Baneslayer Angel; not both plus Archangel of Thune.
3. Track pick order. If a nostalgia card is going last-pick five drafts running, it is not providing the feeling anymore. It is providing a bad pick. Swap it for a different old card and see if that one lands.
4. Ask the room. The owner’s nostalgia is not the group’s. Someone who started in Zendikar does not feel anything about Serra Angel; they feel something about Lotus Cobra. Which is also now an old card.

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What about the cards that have aged into nostalgia?

This is the part that sneaks up on owners. Cards from 2010 to 2015 are now a decade or more old. For a lot of current players, Snapcaster Mage, Thragtusk, Restoration Angel, Huntmaster of the Fells, and Siege Rhino are the cards they remember being new. Some of those are still at rate. Some are not. In our view, Restoration Angel is close to the line in many unpowered cubes; Thragtusk is probably past it.

The lesson is that the nostalgia budget rotates. The cards that fill it in ten years will be the ones your group is excited about now. An owner who keeps a few of the cards that defined each era, rather than only the cards that defined the first era, ends up with a cube that feels like the whole game.

That also means being willing to cut some of the Alpha-through-Legends cards as the group changes. If nobody at the table started before 2010, Erhnam Djinn is not nostalgia. It is a 4/5 with a drawback. Keep it if you like it, but know that you are the one it is for.

Where do old frames and old printings fit?

A separate question from old cards: old versions of cards. Many owners run the original printing of Lightning Bolt, the Beta Serra Angel, or a Revised dual, because the old frame is part of the feeling. This is a reasonable use of money if you have it and a reasonable use of proxies if you do not, which is a topic in itself in MTG proxies ethics.

The design consideration is readability. Old frames are harder to read across a table, and some old wordings are confusing (Time Elemental is the famous example). For a cube that welcomes new players, consider modern printings of old cards, or at least modern-frame reprints with the original art. For a cube of eight veterans, run whatever makes you happy.

FAQ

Should a cube include old cards?

Yes, in two groups: old cards that are still strong, which need no justification, and a small budget of old cards that are there mainly for how they feel. Keep the second group playable and small.

How many nostalgia cards should a cube have?

A house guideline is around 4 to 5 percent of the list, roughly 12 to 15 in a 360 and 20 to 25 in a 540. Every one of them should still be able to make a deck.

Is Shivan Dragon good in cube?

In an unpowered cube without stronger six-drops, it is a playable finisher for red decks. In a cube with Glorybringer and Inferno Titan it is behind, and belongs only if the memory is worth the slot.

How do I know if an old card is only there for nostalgia?

Ask whether it ever makes a deck better than its replacement would, for some drafter, some week. If the answer is no, it is a museum piece, and it needs a cube whose purpose is being a museum.

Keep the history, cut the blanks

A cube should feel like the game it came from, which means carrying some of the game’s past. Choose the old cards that still play, add a small handful that are there for the memory, and be honest about which is which. The game is the reason. The people are the point.

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