u/flowers_of_nemo

title mostly says it; i've noticed some pauper events running around me and it seems like a fun format. as for what deck i'd like, that's the question. I generally enjoy control and very grindy midrange more than anything else - think the kind of decks that played seasons past or sphinx's revelation in standard, though I also quite enjoy midrange decks that grind with finnicky little value engines.

from my very limited exposure to the format, the tortured existence decks seem most interesting (edit: i've also noticed some turbo fog, another archetype I quite enjoy), if that's still a thing these days - but again, very limited experience. so, what decks might you reccomend i check out for this kind of slow, grindy playstyle.

This turned out quite long so here's a TL;DR.
I'm thinking of building a cube. Quite likely to be an Innistrad planar cube, because I like the plane and this lets me comfortably build off of pre-existing limited enviroments. Also open to non-planar ideas, but I want an overall theme. However, I'm not exactly happy with what the enemy colours would be doing. Check the last paragraphs for more on that.

As the title says, I've come to the conclusion that I'd like to put together a cube. It just seems like a very fun way to play, and hand-constucting the enviroment also lets me avoid many of the things I dislike about the current state of the game :p. That said, I'm not entirely sure on what direction I wish to go.

My First thought was to go for an Innistrad planar cube (maybe with an exception for some conspiracies?); as I am one of countless adoring fans of the plane. However, the archetypes for the enemy colours across Innistrad just don't sit quite right. More specifically, I just feel as though Boros, Orzhov, Izzet and Simic could be more interesting.

My Second thoughts then told me to head towards another plane I love thematically (Though not enough that I'd do a cube purely of it); Ixalan. If I was to pick enemy pair archetypes from across Ixalan, I'd have colour pairings I like across all 10 combinations. However, a few key issues stick out to me that would turn me away from that idea:

- This feels like it could be very thematically jarring; these are both very distinct planes with very distinct themes.
- Both Ixalan and Innistrad tend to be fairly typal; this thus treads dangerously close to building a typal cube with little functional overlap. Perhaps one could build the allied pairs from Ixalan and enemy pairs from Innistrad in as secondary themes in each? But then it starts to get too muddled.

My third thoughts then conjured a final idea: There are, across all of Innistrad, archetypes I'd be happy with in each enemy colour pairing. If I could get each to work, I could return to that planar cube. The issue isn't that they don't exist, it's that they exist only in a single set. Take, for example, Midnight Hunt's Boros. The whole "value from night/day flipping" is one I quite like. However, there's a sum total of 6 boros cards that actually work with this. Generally commons and uncommons, so it works in a MID draft, but I'd much rather build a singleton cube.

I'll do a little list of the archetypes that thought about during this process, but I'm going to single out Boros here because it really does feel like the problem child. Having to just let it be a generic turn-things-sideways aggro pairing isn't technically the end of the world for me, but I'd really much rather it did something interesting. This doesn't have to be much more than "turn-things-sideways-while...", but I'd much rather it had that "while".

Archetype ideas:

Azorius - Tempo spirits
Rakdos - vampire madness
Selesnya - Human go-wide aggro
Dimir - Zombie midrange
Gruul - Werewolf aggro. None of the allied pairs will really be any different to most Innistrad cubes.

Izzet - Spells. Would also be nice to add some kind a subtheme here tbh.
Simic - Either flashback or emerge, mostly depending on how big the cube goes card count wise.
Orzhov - Aristocrats with a possible vampire subtheme?
Golgari - Delirium (and such)
Boros - as I said before, the problem child. the only things I can think of would be either big fliers (i.e. angels + dragons) or equipment. Perhaps you make the core of the deck burn, with a focus on lightning helix style burn?

Final notes:

I'm generally fine with "splashing" some off-plane cards to support an archetype as long as they aren't too jarring. While a cube like this does want the capability to build a good aggro deck to ward off the many graveyard-based midrange things Innistrad loves, I also very much want this cube to be able to include a solid number of all the big, expensive, splashy cards that Innistrad has had across all colours and blocks. Generally I also prefer the idea of a slower cube. (Doesn't have to be low power per se, but I like slower.)

Edit: Just thought I should also note that I'm also very up for the idea of a non-planar cube; Innistrad would exclude many of my pet cards. However I still want to have some overall theme, so if you've suggestions on where I might look for ideas please do suggest : D. (though whatever the case it'd probably not want to go much further than a pioneer power level)

That all said, thoughts, help and advice is very much appreciated!