The Stone Soup Cube
Welcome to the Stone Soup Cube!
The Stone Soup is a low-power and highly synergistic cube. It aims to provide a drafting, deckbuilding and gameplay experience in which the total is higher than the sum of the individual parts – when brought together individual cards create powerful engines, combos, and gameplay synergies.
This guide aims to provide a quick introduction and reference for first time drafters of the Stone Soup cube.
Check out the CubeCobra page for the full list or to do some practice drafts against bots.
New to drafting?
Drafting can seem daunting, especially if you're drating a cube for the first time. If you're new or inexperienced, keep the following basics in mind:
- Build a proper mana curve. More expensive cards can be more powerful, but you can't draft all 6-drops and hope to survive until you can cast them. Prioritize cheaper (2 and 3 mana value) creatures and spells, since you'll need them in your opening hand and during the first turns;
- Draft removal. You have your cards and your strategy, but you also need to find ways to disrupt your opponent. Take removal when you see it;
- Let the cards dictate your deck. You picked a blue card in the first pack but haven't seen any blue cards for a while? It's likely your fellow players are taking the blue cards. Draft the deck you're given, not the one you idealized;
- Don't forget to take the lands. Lands may seem unexciting, but good lands that can generate your colors can be the best part of your deck. Remember: you must be able to cast your spells. If you come across a land in your colours and which allows you to cast your spells, you should probably take it.
Index
- Major Archetypes
- Minor Archetypes and Decks
- Notable Combos
Major Archetypes
There are four major themes in the Stone Soup. Major archetypes bridge almost all colours:
- Discard/Madness
- Tap/Untap
- Artifacts
- Wildfire/Sacrifice
- Proliferate/Counters
Discard and Madness
In its simplest form, the Madness deck is found in the colors red and green, offering cheap aggressive creatures as well as late-game payoffs.
There are also discard outlets in other colors and artifacts, as well as rewards for either discarding cards or having cards in the graveyard. You can bridge into blue, for example, for a more tempo focused build, taking advantage of the self-bounce theme in this color:
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Changelings
There is a total of 9 cards with the Changeling ability. Creatures with Changeling have all creature types, even when they are not on the battlefield.
Shapeshifters are useful in almost any deck in their colours. However, keep an eye on tribal payoffs: creatures with Changeling can give you some unexpected advantages.
-1/-1 Counters
Payoff cards
Notable Combos
Since it is dedicated to highly synergistic decks and cards, the Stone Soup cube has a number of combos that you will learn to identify and abuse as you draft and play the cube. In this section, you can find the infinite combos: those that can win the game on the spot, that you should both keep in mind while drafting but also while choosing when and how to interact with your opponent.
Liliana's Contract and Changelings
Since there are only four demons in the cube, it's going to be hard to win with Liliana's contract unless you're also drafting the changelings. Keep in mind that Mirror Entity is an instant winning combo, as long as you can get to your upkeep and you control three other creatures.
Deathtouch
There are some creatures with deathtouch and some ways to give deathtouch to creatures. This can make for some interesting situations. A Goblin Sharpshooter targeted by Nezumi Prowler, for example, can wipe your opponent's whole board. Although not as devastating, a similar situation could happen the other way around.
Intruder Alarm and Krenko, Mob Boss
Simple infinite combo, as long as Krenko doesn't have summoning sickness. Create a goblin, Intruder Alarm untaps Krenko, rinse and repeat.
Of course, since Krenko creates tokens, any way to untap him via the tokens leads to an infinite combo. Consider, for instance, the following cards. As long as you have enough mana to get started, you can sacrifice the goblins to generate colorless mana and then use this mana to untap Krenko again.
Cryptolith Rite, Earthcraft, and Aggravated Assault
As long as you have five creatures, Cryptolith Rite or Earthcraft plus Aggraved Assault is an infinite combo. If you have six creatures, you gain infinite mana as well.
Incubation Druid and Other Untappers
As long as you have a way to generate mana, you can keep untapping creatures. This can net you infinite mana or, with Umbral Mantle, even infinite power/thoughness.
There are other ways to achieve similar effects. If you have a Kiora's Follower with a Pemmin's Aura, you can keep untapping any bounceland that generates blue, netting you one extra mana each time. The following cards make infinite white mana:
Kodama of the East Tree Shenanigans
Kodama of the East Tree is a very powerful card. There are numerous cards that synergise with it in the cube, but it is in the land-focused deck that it truly shines. Consider that, whenever you play a bounceland, such as Izzet Boilerworks, you can immediately replay the land you just returned to your hand.
If you have a Meloku in play, you can return a land to you hand, creating a creature token. Then, with Kodama's ability, you can play the land again, tap it for , returning it once again to your hand and creating another spirit. This nets you infinite creature, as well as landfall triggers.
Other cards which easily synergise with Kodama are Tireless Provisioner and Tireless Tracker. Here, you could play Boros Garrison, getting a Food, Treasure, or Clue token. Then, Boros Garrison bounces itself back to your hand. As the token enters, it triggers the Kodama's ability, allowing you to replay the land again and restart the cycle.
