"Board Wipes are fair because they impact both players equally."

~Famous quote from Upheaval player moments before losing a friend.

Upheaval, Wildfire and numerous similar effects make up the core of an inexpensive and effective control deck that can slot into any cube that has mana rocks and a high tolerance for slow games. Let's break down this high-risk, and highly contentious archetype and see if it is right for your cube.

Check out the other articles in this series here: The Comprehensive Guide to Cube Archetypes

Key Cards

1. Upheaval - One of the most iconic and disruptive spells ever printed, Upheaval can reset the entire game for 6 mana. By returning all permanents to their owner's hands, Upheaval clears out creatures, enchantments, and lands, creating a powerful moment where you can recover faster than your opponent if you play your cards right.
2. Wildfire / Burning of Xinye - Unlike Upheaval, which affects all permanents, Wildfire focuses primarily on lands, destroying them while also dealing damage to creatures. This makes Wildfire an incredibly effective way to cripple the opponent's mana base while clearing out their creatures in the process. Though it isn't as clean as Upheaval it often does the job in a pinch.
3. Mana Rocks - Sol Ring, Izzet Signet, and Thran Dynamo. (We'll get into these in a moment)

Strategy Overview

At its core, this archetype is all about disrupting the opponent's ability to play Magic by using massive board resets. This is accomplished through the use of spells that eliminate a large portion of both players' resources. This archetype works by leveraging your ability to float excess mana or mitigate your losses to recover faster.

Here's a breakdown of how the game typically progresses:

1. Ramp and Mitigate: In the early game, the goal is to accelerate your mana, and prevent the opponent from developing a board. Kill aggressive creatures before they kill you and counter spells that could prevent you from resetting the board effectively. The best form of ramp comes in the form of mana rocks that will be untouched by Wildfire and easily recast after Upheaval. The idea is to outpace your opponent's development by making sure you can reset the board first.
2. Board Reset: After your mana base is sufficiently developed, you'll look to cast one of your key board-wiping spells. This is where Upheaval shines, as it has the potential to leave the opponent with nothing but a hand of cards and no permanents, which they have to replay at the cost of additional mana. Alternatively, Wildfire or Burning of Xinye can leave them with little to no land, greatly limiting their options to recover.
3. Recover and Finish: The next step is to leverage your earlier mana advantage to play threats before your opponent can get back in the game. In the case of Upheaval you have the opportunity to float excess mana and recast spells before ending your turn. In effect you get to restart the game with 4-5 mana in play. At that point any number of threats from Inferno Titan to Lodestone Golem are enough to quickly end the game.

Common Challenges

While this archetype can be devastating when it fires on all cylinders, it's not without its weaknesses. Here are some common pitfalls to watch out for:

• Vulnerability to Aggression: Since the archetype often focuses on building towards a big reset, it can be susceptible to aggressive starts from opponents who can apply pressure early. Aggro decks that can overwhelm you before you can stabilize may cause this strategy to falter.
• Unstable Early Game: The sheer explosiveness of the ramp spells required to fuel Upheaval and Wildfire can sometimes backfire if the game doesn't go as planned. If you don't find a way to ramp into your spells, you're often left stranded without any way to disrupt your opponent or protect yourself.
• Reliance on Key Spells: The core spells of this archetype, particularly Upheaval, are powerful but also situational. Drawing them too early or in the wrong context can leave you vulnerable, as you have few creatures or defenses in place.

Getting Weird With It

While the cards themselves are powerful, they work best in a smaller cube where you will be guaranteed to see your key cards each draft. For those of you who enjoy more variance or at the very least more innovative archetypes here are three ways to have extra "Fun" with the key cards.

1. Green: The inclusion of cards like Fastbond or Ramunap Excavator allow you to do some silly things with all the lands going to your graveyard or back into your hand. Splashing into green to simply out ramp your opponents give the chance to do very interesting things or even simply cast creatures large enough to survive the damage of Wildfire.
2. I Thought Storm Was Open: If you include storm in your cube, then you've experienced the last minute pivot into reanimator when the deck doesn't come together. Upheaval plays surprisingly well with those same pieces, and in a pinch is a very cute way of increasing your storm count by bouncing and recasting your various mana rocks.
3. Bounce House: If you are really feeling spiteful these cards also play well with bounce spells that can either be used to control the early game or rescue a creature before casting Burning of Xinye. If you really want to end a friendship you can always ramp to 9 mana and cast Teferi's Protection before firing off your board wipe to really hurt some feelings.

Conclusion

The Wildfire, Upheaval, and Burning of Xinye archetype offers a truly explosive style of play in Cube. It thrives on disrupting opponents by resetting the board and forcing them into a difficult position with limited resources. However, its reliance on ramping and key spells means it requires precise setup and careful management of the board state to achieve victory. When it works, the results are devastating, but like any risky strategy, its success is far from guaranteed. If you enjoy high-stakes gameplay where the tables can turn in a single spell, this archetype might be the perfect fit for your cube.