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Card Total:
150 cards
25 tokens
1 overtime token
11 bonus sheet cards
5 bonus sheet tokens
Numbers by Card Type:
7 Planeswalkers
8 Enchantments
14 Artifacts
21 Sorceries
23 Creatures
41 Instants
36 Lands
26 Tokens
Bonus Sheet:
11 Encounters
5 Tokens
Art Design:
The Boneyard Project has signed on to redesign this set and future expansions as early as 2027. We are excited for this collaboration. Visit their Etsy store and support their talent!
As for now, we’ve utilized AI to launch this cube sooner than later so we can all grow with it as a community!
If you like what we’ve done with the AI launch model, be sure to buy your copy before 2027. We will be phasing out this beta art design once Boneyard takes over!
Unique Mechanics:
Encounters: Inspired by Saga Enchantments, these noncreature spells act like emblems (not permanents) and depict famous canon events from across various lore. Once an encounter receives its final “Phase” counter, it exiles and then transforms into its “final phase." Each front is given split second in order to almost guarantee the encounter can’t be skipped, just like a canon event. These cards also have a unique set symbol and are considered part of the corresponding set release’s bonus sheet. The Custom Set encounters have FF7’s "Meteor” to pay respects to this Universe Beyond-themed mini-set bonus sheet. Each new expansion will have its own Universe Beyond mini-set bonus sheet with its own unique set symbol.
NOTE: These Universe Beyond mini set bonus sheets are NOT for sale. These cards are only accessible by earning them while competing in one of our Cube or Mini Qualifier events.
Terra Triad/Diode: These lands count as multiple lands on the battlefield. Inspired by an original Type 4 Cube custom card, “Three Islands" (basically The Eternal Island design) by Paul Mastriano and Stephen Menendian (OG Type 4 Cube pioneers who introduced Noah to the format), our team loved the concept so much that we expanded upon the idea by also giving the lands various searchable types in order to make more cards viable in the format. These abilities also inspired us to complete the “Betrayal” cycle. Betrayal of Flesh (black) is in the Core Set. Side note, we also just wanted many more power/relevant lands in the cube. The World Lands break game rules and enable archetypes, and the land-type lands enable landcycling effects and the new custom token type “Conqueror Token”” which is basically Lander Token on steroids.
Super Epic: We found the Epic mechanic to be too weak but interesting to consider. We chose to level it up, make the resolution of the spell extremely powerful, and occur every upkeep to make the drawback desirable enough to build around. We love how these turned out!
Prelate Lore: The five original female Planeswalker Prelates and their signature Decree spell were also previously designed custom cards from back in the day when Type 4 was relatively new, circa 2005. Along with Dream World and The Lightspeed Matrix, these eight cards set the bar for how we chose to design this foundational custom set. Our goal is to bring this format back to life and show the world that extreme chaos and extremely powerful interactions are some of the most interesting and skill-testing experiences. It’s also fun. We love fun!
Triplet Siblings: These are our attempt at developing lore-based characters within the Type 4 Cube universe. We intend to develop a wide range of signature spells and abilities based on these creatures in future sets to come.
Matrix Artifacts: We considered splitting these up, but we wanted to prioritize a well-rounded draft experience for this primary custom set. These artifacts are all excellent build-arounds and help enable archetypes and synergies that otherwise would be too challenging to achieve. Think of these like format glue. We intend to experiment with specializing in our smaller expansion sets.
Pregame Effects: These we also considered releasing gradually, but we wanted more pregame effects after every draft, so we decided there likely couldn’t be enough. Between the Draconic Artifact Lands, Leylines, and Chancellors, games have immediately become considerably more explosive and exciting!
Granted: There are a handful of Booster Tutor-like cards in the Core Set (Cunning Wish, etc.), but after each game, those cards need to be removed from our decks, and sometimes we forget and end up cheating involuntarily when playing new games with the same decks. Plus, with the new tournament format for our Cube Qualifiers, we had the idea of designing Wish-like cards that actually allowed players to keep the cards they add to their decks for the rest of a tournament round. Example: If Player 1 casts Enchanting Wish and adds a Historic card to their hand but loses that game, Player 1 is “Granted” the choice to leave it in their deck or move it to their sideboard to play with in future games during that round. Easily one of our favorite custom mechanics in the set!
Detach: We wanted to make sure the split second mechanic was well supported but also responsibly managed. With our desire to make Type 4 Cube an enjoyable and exciting tournament format, Detach is the mechanic we landed on for this purpose and will be included in future set expansions.
Outcast: We also wanted to create powerful madness cards, as there aren’t that many official cards with madness that are suitable for the Type 4 format. Outcast not only synergizes well with madness, but it will also be utilized in future set expansions that leverage casting spells from exile. The flavor of being an outcast and reconciling with additional abilities added to the spell when cast from exile hits hard!
Over Time: While testing this cube to make it a fun but reliable tournament format that almost guarantees games end within 35 minutes, our cube team created the Sudden Death emblem to guarantee games end with clear winners and tournaments end before bedtime. You can read this token below in the token section of this page.
Lastly, there are a handful of unique cards that aren’t part of a specific cycle. At least not yet. These are also intended to act like glue and potential build-arounds that create corner-case synergies and play patterns that wouldn’t normally occur. We do intend to expand upon some of these already in our scheduled upcoming expansions this summer and fall. Stay tuned!
Overall, the 150-card Custom Set plus its 11-card bonus sheet (FF7 Encounters) are designed to mix with the 600-card Core Set of official MTG cards for a total of 761 drafted cards. This number is our preference for a 16-player tournament environment, leaving 41 cards undrafted so Wish-like cards have “packs” for players to add cards to hand from.
During our Cube and Mini Qualifier events, the most recently released Universe Beyond mini set bonus sheet cards will be awarded to the final table Competitors. This is the only way to acquire these cards to add to your own Type 4 Cube at home.
Future 100-card expansion sets and their corresponding Universe Beyond mini-set bonus sheet Encounters are intended to replace the 100-card Moxfield Core Set sideboard list in order to maximize power-level density and archetype cohesiveness.
We’re excited to be sharing this experience with the world. Be sure to join us on Discord to connect and share your experiences and potential new expansion card ideas with us!
PS, Custom Set tokens will be included in all Custom Set Precon orders for FREE!
Here’s what you receive with each custom cube precon set:
4x each Token Artifact
4x each Token Emblem
4x each Token Legendary
8x each Token Creature
8x each Token Land
This way 4 players are accounted for and can use dice to represent additional tokens as needed.
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Proxy Friendly house rules:
Players share an infinite mana pool that never empties between turns and phases.
Players can use the infinite mana pool to pay the cost in the top right corner of a spell once per turn. Alternate costs, additional costs, and activated abilities are unrestricted.
Infinite responding abilities are won by the defending ability.
Spells and abilities that can directly win the game are banned.
Players start games with 5 cards in hand.
One mulligan for a new hand of 5 cards.
Seat 1 draws a card to start their 1st turn.
The maximum hand size is 7 cards.
Players start each game at 20 life.
Custom cards are mythic rarity.
Tournament Games are 30 mins and must have a winner. Read about “Sudden Death”below.
Rule exception:
If mana from an ability, like Cascading Cataracts, filters the infinite mana pool and pays the entire converted mana cost (top right mana value of a card), that spell doesn’t count towards your one spell per turn limit.
Sudden Death:
Sudden Death is an emblem that starts each game in play.
1. No Time — When game times expire, this emblem takes effect after the current turn ends.
2. No Escape — Each player loses 5 life during each player’s untap step. If this effect would bring a life total to 0 or less, set that life total to 1 instead.
3. No Mercy — At the beginning of each end step, each player who didn’t take a game action loses 1 life. If this kills each player, this only effects the active player instead.
4. No Choice — At the beginning of each cleanup step, if a single player has the highest life, that player wins the game.
You can view the Sudden Death emblem in the Token section of this gallery below.
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Casual Type 4 Cube draft:
Generally, a minimum of four players randomize the cube; each creates three piles of 15 cards and then uses those piles as makeshift booster packs to draft a total of 45-card decks. Similar to traditional FNM booster drafting.
After the draft experience is complete, players choose a minimum of 40/45 as their main decks and then shuffle up to play a 4-player free-for-all game. The Proxy Friendly team tends to play multiple games with the same decks and then start a new draft with a portion of the cube that hasn’t been drafted yet. Keeps it fresh all night!
Competitive Type 4 Cube draft:
Our Cube Qualifier events are 16-player capped tournaments that start with four draft pods. Visit our events page for format details.
Each pod follows a judge's call for when it’s time to pick up and pass their packs until all three packs have been drafted. Players receive the most time during the first 4 picks per draft round to accommodate the unavoidable reading to understand our Custom Set cards potentially in each pack. Our Proxy Friendly booth will have Custom Set cards displayed in binders on-site for players to study beforehand.
Players then receive time to finalize their decks before playing. Tournament seating and game 1 turn order are determined randomly by topdeck.gg tournament software.
Round 1: Players play against the players they drafted with in a “first to two wins” match with a maximum game total of five. Games are 30 minutes long. If the game has not been won by the end of time, “Sudden Death” take effect. You can read about Sudden Death on this page at the front of the Token section below. When a single player has the highest life total at the beginning of a cleanup step, that player wins the game.
Round 2: Round 1 winners play against each other in a “first to two wins” match with a maximum game total of five. Games are 30 minutes long. If the game has not been won by the end of time, our “Sudden Death” emblem token takes effect. You can read about Sudden Death on this page at the front of the Token section below. When a single player has the highest life total at the beginning of a cleanup step, that player wins the game.
1st Place is granted a 1-round bye into our 10K Circuit Finale; and the Top 4 each draft between premium Magic singles and earn a Starter Cube Set.