No Holds Barred Vintage Cube 2025

Posted on Dec 03, 2025

A new Thanksgiving tradition returns ... get set for a heaping helping of Combo fury for one week starting Wednesday, December 3! Remember that expired Season 3 Qualifier Points can be used for a free entry into the single-elimination queue until December 10th.

Here’s Chris Wolf with all the knowledge ...

Hello Cuberz! 

Yes, it’s that time of the year again where we let loose and have Vintage Cube fire on all cylinders with our No Holds Barred version. For those of you that weren’t here for its debut, last year’s article should get you up to speed. Note that this version of the Cube is 510 cards - a small trim from last year.

What’s Changed? 

Players can still take The Initiative with White Plume Adventurer, infinite turns with Time Vault or (Demonic) Consult(ation) the (Thassa’s) Oracle to spell doom for their opponents. Additional fast-mana is also present in the form of Spirit Guides, “Name Sticker” Goblin and most notably Gleemox. So, what’s new? 

Players who enjoy this sort of environment like it for being rich in combos, its high velocity, and unforgiving nature. Thus, the most frequent complaints we received last year were about cards not being up-to-par with the more powerful things going on. So, we decided to fix that by reducing the Cube to 510 cards, making it a bit more lean and streamlined. Have you ever heard the saying: “Sometimes you just get Vintage Cube’d!”? Well, here it’s going to happen much more often. Very much true to the “more power, more combo” approach, Moxen, Black Lotus, and friends will be opened, and combos will come together more frequently. 

But, you say, doesn’t this get boring rather quickly with 70% of the total card pool being opened every draft pod? Well, we agree on a general basis, but with a runtime of only one week, we want to give those among you that are all about this exact experience the chance to live it out to the fullest! 

Card Choices 

If you remember last year’s iteration (or read the article), you’ll see not much has changed structurally. The only combo that had to give way was Splinter Twin, but because we’re definitely power-/combo-maxing here, we replaced it with a new one. 

Helm of Obedience is a new addition that can mill your opponents out when combined with Rest in Peace or Dauthi Voidwalker. The main combo piece is Rest in Peace because it’s harder to remove, and both sides can be found by Enlightened Tutor. But Dauthi Voidwalker, fueled by black rituals and protected by discard spells, can work just as well. It was a great suggestion by our trusted testing team member Ben that we are excited to see in action. 

Apart from that, every other combo remains the same. We mentioned Time Vault and Thassa’s Oracle above. Chain of Smog and all land- or Storm-related combos transplanted from the regular Vintage Cube are also present, as are the artifact combos, like Forensic Gadgeteer + Basalt Monolith or Thopter Foundry + Sword of the Meek. The No Holds Barred-exclusive Auriok Salvagers is also back from last year. There are, of course, a couple of new printings that have proven themselves as strong pieces for their respective archetypes such as Cori-Steel Cutter and Vivi Ornitier, or Baloth Prime and Icetill Explorer. 

As for the rest, feel free to check out the full list below or click the link to Chris Wolf’s CubeCobra page for easy viewing. 

Good luck with the gloves off! 

Card List