Sealed Cube S0, E2: the second deck(s?)

Deckbuilding from the second set of six boosters reveals a very different type of RB deck: low curve aggro with many cheap creatures, lots of 1-for-1 removal, and a few strong creatures to hammer home the last few points of damage. Includes both Phyrexian and Foriysian Totem and an Empty the Warrens in case a go wide strategy is warranted.

The photo shows 25 cards in the main, in the final build Hoarder's Greed and Verschlingender Schatten join the cards in the right most column for the sideboard.

The mana base is a lot less demanding than in the previous Grixis deck, and should be able to sustain two double black cards and a Strip Mine with 12 black and 11 red mana symbols, so I will try 9 Swamp, 6 Mountain (and a Wooded Foothills as seventh Mountain).

Once again I used nothing for this deck that would matter for a second deck built from the rest of the cardpool. As green is utterly unexciting, I'll try a 16 land flying / beatdown deck as a secondary.

I can't bring yself to pay the 3 life per use for Tarnished Citadel, but will play a Lair, a Ravnica bounceland and a storage land to get away with 16 lands total. I have 12 white mana symbols with one double-white card, 11 blue mana symbols at higher cost and will add 7 Islands and 6 Plains for a total of 9 white and 8 blue sources.

In a first test match between the two, game 1 both mulligan (2b UW twice - drawing Lair and bounceland as only lands each time!) and race each other with small creatures. 2a RB gets there first. Game 2, 2a UW is mana flooded for a quick 0-2 defeat.

Sealed Cube Season 0 Episode 0 : Intro

A new gaming project: I want to use my growing Core Cube to build a number of Sealed Decks and play them against each other.

The Cube: built from the boosts I used over the years for Sealed, Drafts, Winston Draft. The design goal is to create a Core-Set-Like experience, i.e. exactly not a powered Cube. Instead, I want to stay very much in line with the core tenets of the color pie. This implies aspects like

• more spells, less creatures in blue, black, red
• removal and direct damage in black and red
• small creatures in white and blue, evasion in blue (flying also in white)
• mana ramp and color fixing always touches green (i.e.no non-green multi color lands or artifacts)
• card draw and counters in blue
• big creatures in green

I don't pay attention to rarities, but do try to have a good mix of "normal" cards and not too many specials, bombs or build- around cards.

I build 15-card-boosters with a default of (exception do apply):

• one cheap (1-3 mana) and one expensive (4+) Card for each color and for multi color for a total of 12 cards
• one artifact (mostly colorless , colored artifacts are treated as colored cards) and one land (mostly, but not only, mana fixers)
• one card that is a kind of "first pick", e.g. unconditional removal, bomb creatures or planeswalkers

I have no limit to the Cube size, it is much larger than the minimum 24 boosters = 360 cards

The League Format: current plan is

• 40 card decks built from six boosters, with sideboards
• first builds look like the ability to build a second, maybe slightly weaker, deck out of the same pool might occur more often than not
• 4 decks in 2nd league, 4-8 decks in 1st league
• Round Robin within each league (maybe even away and home games with home choosing to go first or draw first)
• last deck from 2nd league is dissolved, last two decks from 1st league are relegated to 2nd league and replaced by one net new deck and the 2nd league champion
• while the leagues grow to their intended size, dissolving decks can be skipped and/or only one deck be relegated to 2nd league 

Sealed Cube season 0, episode 1: the first deck(s)

Here's the first deck(s) for my Core Cube Sealed League.

Deckbuilding has no clear favorite concept emerging from the first six boosters, but as the two candidate decks have practically no overlap in the cardpool I'll just build both.

The first idea is a GW deck with 

• lots of (well, seven...) Elves but limited synergy (only Immaculate Magistrate really benefits from many other Elves in play, and Elvish Harbinger can find it
• Tromp the Domains as a strong reason to go green, although a two color deck isn't ideal
• the combo of Concerted Effort and Crash the Ramparts as a poor man's DIY Overrun

Here are the cards (the two at the bottom left are sideboard). If you look carefully you will notice that apparently I managed to put two dauntless Cathars into the cube - not so unlikely given that the cube is rather large and keeps growing slowly over the years. I will take one of them out of the cube when I retire this deck.

For mana, I have 13 green and 14 white mana symbols, with two double-white and one double-green cards and two green mana dorks, so I'll go for 9 Forest, 8 Plains (unfortunately none of the multi color lands were GW, with most color fixing in BG and thus useless for either deck I'm building).

The other deck is what this cube is best at: a Grixis combination of lots of removal and clunky, expensive, weird creatures. No overwhelming bomb creatures, though, so there is some risk involved with having 10 double-colored cards spread over all Grixis colors. The three cards top right are promising sideboard options. (After taking the photo, I added Brutal Expulsion to the sideboard, too, the picture mistakenly shows 24 cards for the main. And I moved Guttural Response to the other deck's sideboard.)

I have 9 blue mana symbols (2 double-blue cards), 15 black (5 double-black, incl. a BB Hunted Horror) and 10 red (2 double-red) with only one Jund Panorama to find a Mountain or Swamp. So I will try running 5 Islands, 6 Swamps, 5 Mountains and hope the deck doesn't get color screwed too much. 

However, I like that the cube doesn't make it too easy to build overwhelming decks around red or black removal, so it will be interesting to see where the power vs. consistency tension leaves these decks.

A first friendly test match between them ended 2-0. In game 1, 1a GW just played lots of creatures and pushed through damage while 1b UBR couldn't find a second Swamp to play its double-black creatures or pump Evernight Shade. in game 2, 1b UBR initially created some pressure but 1a GW reset the game with Magus of the Disk (keeping its emerging star Oakhame Adversary alive with Turn to Mist) and then once again overwhelmed its opponent with lots of creatures in the air. Some sequencing mistakes and some unlucky draws (no removal for opposing flyers, no Swamps to get Evernight Shade to lethal power) meant defeat for 1b UBR.

Workbench Mai 2026

Im Mai haben wir keinen Termin für einen Malnachmittag zu dritt gefunden, aber ein paar kleine Fortschritte gibt es doch.

Nach den Motorrädern selbst sind jetzt auch die ersten zwei Fahrer fast komplett bemalt, es fehlen noch Details, Optik und Ausstattung

Bei den Flachfiguren kommen die verbliebenen Reste meiner letzten Bestellung zum Einsatz - höchste Zeit für die nächste Bestellung, ich muss nur aufpassen dass die vielen Notizen nicht durcheinanderkommen zB von hier und hier.

Musterung der letzten Rekruten - links und unten genügend Kroaten für eine Einheit in geschlossener Ordnung mit 6 Bases a 4 Minis, oben Husaren für offene Ordnung mit vier mal 3 Mann

Mehr Arbeit als sonst macht das Verputzen der Gussgrate, die Husaren warten noch auf ihren Einsatz 

Flachfiguren (Workbench April 2026)

Im April blieben die WH40K Projekte im Schrank, dafür gibt es kleine Fortschritte bei den Flachfiguren.

Fertig geworden ist das zweite Batallion, 2. russisches Grenadierregiment.

neu dazugekommen: 2. Batallion

das ganze 2. Grenadierregiment

Halb fertig: russische Kosaken - die anderen sechs warten grundiert und geduldig, bis sie auch drankommen.

Und gerade auf dem Maltisch sind österreichische Kürassiere. Wenn man genau hinschaut (aufs Bild klicken bringt die Vergrößerung auf den Bildschirm) sieht man schon Gesichter und Handschuhe.

Malnachmittag März 2026

Die drei Projekte unserer Malnachmittage gehen weiter: Templars...

... umd erste Motorräder für mein Tallarn Schnelle-Wüstentruppe-Projekt:

Höhepunkt heute sicher Logan Grimnar mit seinen beiden Wölfen.

Malnachmittag Februar 2026

Zweiter Malnachmittag mit den Jungs aus der Gemeinde. Hier wieder ein paar Schnappschüsse.

Erstes Projekt: Black Templars. Die weißen Tücher und Schulterplatten bilden einen klaren Kontrast zur schwarzen Rüstung. Das dunkle Rot der Waffen bringt einen weiteren Farbtupfer, knallt aber nicht so bunt.

Black Templar Neophytes

Zweites vom letzten mal fortgesetztes Projekt: Space Wolves. Sehr dynamische Posen und bei den helmlosen Gesichtern auch sehr individuelle Modelle. Und die Rüstungsfarbe ist nicht langweilig aber auch nicht knallig bunt.

noch Work in Progress

Schon fertig. Schöner Farbkontrast der Rüstung und der gelben Schulterpanzer. Auch das grün der schweren Bolter finde ich nen guten, nicht bonbonbunten Farbtupfer.

Mein Projekt geht mit den zu motorisierten Tallarnern umgebauten Cultist Jackals weiter. Ich hab die ersten Motorradfahrer gebaut, teilweise noch mit zusätzlichem Gepäck und etwas professionelleren Schusswaffen aus der Bitz Box, und mit den Helmen der Kazrkin.

Schon halbfertig bemalt ist das Quad (mit wenigen Umbauten, halt einer ordentlichen Pistole). Im Sinne der pragmatischen, improvisierenden Art, wie diese schnelle Truppe ihr Material zusammenstellt, hab ich die Karosserie nur teilweise in dem Wüstentarn lackiert, der ansonsten Standard ist, und einen großen Teil in dunkelblau so nach dem Motto "Teile zusammen klau(b)en und zusammenschrauben bis die Karre fährt, und dann los".