A Fresh Take on Battlebox

This being my first article on the site let me introduce myself for those of you who haven’t met me. My name is Isaac Sears I’m a 2 time grand prix Top8er, 2014 World Magic Cup United States Member and World Magic Cup Semi Finalist, and am a huge fan of modern, legacy, cube, and especially battlebox. 

            What is battlebox? You may ask. Don’t worry 

Battlebox was originally named Danger Room named that after the X-men’s training room. The format, as far as I can tell at a cursory glance, was made by Brian De Mars around June 2014 and popularized by Ben Stark. Each player starts the game with 1 of each basic and 5 comes into play tapped dual lands. After you count all the mana sources each color should be represented exactly 3 times (easiest to use all the ally or enemy guildgates). These lands start in a command zone of sorts from which you may play 1 land each turn. My group likes to have a shared library but separate graveyards, this makes scry decisions more interesting but may not be for everyone. Each player starts with 20 life and 4 cards in hand. 4 cards sounds like too few until you realize there are no lands in the box and a good amount of cards have the text “draw 2” on them. Guess what? your hand size is still 7 mothersmurfer. 

            One of the things you will realize after playing the format for a while or looking at my list below is that there are no planeswalkers. In fact, oddly enough, in this great format there aren’t too many “great cards” (at least not ones that you’d classically refer to as such). Sure, there’s lightning bolt and fatal push but there’s no Snapcaster, no Tarmogoyf, no Jace, not even a Kolaghans’ Command. “But how can this be Isaac? you said this was a great format.” Well, you know how sometimes you’re playing a game of magic and you’ve out-thought your opponent and jedi mind-tricked them into 3 for 1-ing themselves, or its just a favorable matchup when somehow you draw 16 lands in a row and they rip all 5 of their fireblasts? Well this can’t happen in battlebox.

            For one, in battlebox you can never get land screwed or flooded as both players start with the same lands in a zone that doesn’t conflict with either of their draws. And two, the cards (in my battlebox at least) are balanced so that you don’t have these busted unbeatable cards or card advantage machines that then you smush your opponent because:

This is very different design philosophy from other common battlebox choices, as the goal is to reward tight play and remove excessively high variance in top-decks. In short, my box is closer to the more evenly powered Ben Stark interpretation as opposed to the more powerful and swingy Brian DeMars version.

This is also why battlebox was initially called The Danger Room. Like the X-men’s training area, the battlebox is a place for people to sharpen their skills and improve. My cards are more like 5 or 6s on the overall play-ability level in magic, more like a decent 2nd pick in a draft rather than what you’d put in your PTQ deck. 

My Battlebox List:

abrade
absorb
acrobatic maneuver
aether chaser
aether poisoner
aether swooper
agony warp
alabaster wall
alley evasion
ana disciple
angel of mercy
anointer priest
anticipate
apostle of purifying light
arc trail
archers parapet
architects of will
arctic aven
arrow volley trap
artful takedown
augur of bolas
augur spree
aven cloudchaser
aven eternal
aven fisher
azorius charm
baloth cage trap
bant charm
bant sojourners
barter in blood
battle at the bridge
belligerent hatchling
black sun’s zenith
blessed alliance
blightning
blightwidow
blind hunter
blindblast
blinding souleater
bloodghast
bloodrite invoker
boggart ram-gang
bone to ash
boros charm
boulderfall
brain maggot
brainbite
branching bolt
briarpack alpha
burn away
burning oil
burst lightning
butcher ghoul
byway courier
cackling counterpart
call of the conclave
cankerous thirst
capsize
cartouche of ambition
cartouche of knowledge
carven caryatid
cast out
castigate
censor
centaur healer
chandras pyrohelix
char
clear shot
cloudkin seer
coiling oracle
collective brutality
complete diregard
complicate
condemn
connive // concoct
contagion clasp
couriers capsule
court hussar
cremate
crosis’s charm
crypt ghast
cunning strike
darigaaz’s charm
dawnglare invoker
dawning angel
dead weight
deadeye harpooner
deadshot minotaur
deafening clarion
death pulse
deceiver exarch
deem worthy
dega disciple
delay
desperate ravings
devour flesh
dimir charm
dimir doppelganger
dire fleet daredevil
direct current
disallow
disciple of phenax
discovery // dispersal
disdainful stroke
disfigure
dismember
dispel
dissipate
divination
doom blade
doomfall
dramatic rescue
dromars charm
duress
dusk legion zealot
eldrazi skyspawner
elgaud inquisitor
elvish visionary
ember hauler
erdwal ripper
essence extraction
essence scatter
executioners capsule
experimental aviator
expose evil
extinguish all hope
eyes in the skies
fairgrounds warden
faiths fetters
fan bearer
farbog boneflinger
fatal push
feat of resistance
fervent denial
fiend hunter
filigree familiar
final judgement
fire // ice
firebolt
fires of undeath
fists of flame
flamewave invoker
fleshbag marauder
flinthoof boar
forbidden alchemy
fortuitous find
fortunes favor
furious reprisal
galestrike
gang of devils
gatekeeper of malakir
geistblast
generous stray
ghastly demise
ghor-clan rampager
ghoulcaller’s accomplice
gideon’s lawkeeper
glint-nest crane
gloodwidow
go for the throat
goblin cratermaker
goblin heelcutter
grapple with the past
gravedigger
griffin guide
grim lavamancer
griptide
grixis sojourners
gruesome discovery
gryff vanguard
haze of pollen
hieroglyphic illumination
highspire artisan
hollowhenge spirit
horizon scholar
hungry flames
ice-fang coatl
ichor slick
illusionist’s stratagem
impulse
incendiary flow
inferno fist
inquisitor exarch
integrity // inteverntion
into the void
iona’s judgment
ionize
ironclad slayer
ith, high arcanist
izzet charm
izzet chronarch
jeskai sage
journey to nowhere
jund charm
jund sojourners
kayas guile
kederekt creeper
killing glare
kinscaer harpoonist
kird ape
kitchen finks
kor skyfisher
lavafume invoker
lay bare the heart
leafcrown dryad
leatherback baloth
leave in the dust
lightning bolt
lightning helix
liliana’s specter
loam lion
logic knot
loxodon gatekeeper
loyal cathar
mad prophet
make mischief
malakir familiar
mana leak
mardu charm
maulfist doorbuster
mausoleum turnkey
memory lapse
merchant of secrets
midnight scavangers
miscalculation
misdirection
mist raven
mistblade shinobi
morbid hunger
morbid plunder
mortarpod
mortify
mortis dogs
murderous redcap
mystic meditation
mystic retieval
mystic snake
narset’s reversal
naya charm
naya sojourners
negate
never // return
nimble innovator
ninja of the deep hours
noose contrictor
notion rain
noxious hatchling
nylea’s disciple
ob nixilis’s cruelty
oblivion ring
ogre savant
ohran viper
oran-rief recluse
origin spellbomb
orzhov charm
oust
overgrown battlement
painful lesson
peace strider
peel from reality
penumbra spider
pestermite
phyrexian rager
pierce strider
pillory of the sleepless
piracy charm
pitchburn devils
pitfall trap
pith driller
plague myr
plated geopede
plaxmanta
pore over the pages
prakhata pillar-bug
perilous myr
prepare // fight
price of fame
primal boost
prophetic bolt
protect // serve
psionic blast
pull from the deep
puppet conjurer
purge the profane
putrefy
putrid leech
pyrite spellbomb
qasali pridemage
radiant’s judgment
rags // riches
raka disciple
rakdos ragemutt
ral’s outburst
ravenous rats
read the bones
reap the seagraf
reckless racer
reclamation sage
recollect
recover
reduce // rubble
renegade rallier
repusle
restoration specialist
return to nature
revoke privileges
rhox war monk
rift bolt
risen reef
river boa
root out
runewing
rush of vitality
sanctum gargoyle
sandsteppe outcast
savage alliance
savage twister
saving grasp
scour all possibilities
scryb ranger
sea gate oracle
security blockade
sejiri merfolk
selesnya charm
separatist voidmage
serrated arrows
settle beyond reality
sever the bloodline
shaman of spring
shambleshark
shelter
shrewd hatchling
sickleslicer
sign in blood
silent skimmer
silkweaver elite
silumgar sorcerer
simian grunts
simic charm
sin collector
sinister sabotage
skinwing
skywhaler’s shot
slagstorm
slaughterhorn
slice and dice
sling-gang lieutenant
smokespew invoker
snare thopter
solar blast
soul manipulation
spell pierce
spellskite
spike feeder
spiketail hatchling
spite // malice
spiteful motives
splendid agony
sprouting renewal
sprouting thrinax
staggershock
standard bearer
starlight invoker
start // finish
status // statue
stave off
steamcore weird
stir the sands
stonecloaker
stonewood invoker
stormbound geist
stormscape apprentice
string of disappearances
submerge
subtle strike
succumb to temptation
suffocating blast
summary dismissal
summoners bane
sunfire balm
suppression bonds
supreme will
surrakar banisher
suture priest
swat
sweltering suns
switcheroo
tah-crop skirmisher
telling time
temur charm
terminate
think twice
thirst for knowledge
thopter arrest
thopter engineer
thornado
thornscape apprentice
thought erasure
thrill of the hunt
thunderscape apprentice
time to feed
topple the statue
tormentor exarch
tower drake
tower geist
tragic slip
treasured find
tree of redemption
treva’s charm
tribute to hunger
trostani’s judgment
trueheart duelist
turn // burn
twisted reflection
tyrant’s scorn
ultimate price
ulvenwald bear
unburden
undead augur
undead gladiator
undermine
unhinge
unsubstantiate
unwavering initiate
valakut invoker
vapor snag
vedalken dismisser
vesperlark
vessel of ephemera
vines of vastwood
violet pall
visionary augmenter
vizier of deferment
vizier of tumbling sands
voice of the provinces
void grafter
volt charge
wall of omens
wall of roots
wasteland scorpion
watcher for tomorrow
watchwolf
welding sparks
whirler virtuoso
whispers of the muse
wild hunger
wild mongrel
wild nacatl
wildheart invoker
wipe clean
withdraw
withered wretch
witness the end
wolfbitten captive
woodland sleuth
xathrid necromancer
zealous persecution