For the former, you can use Coastal Piracy to have tokens available for defence after each unblocked attack, any card drawn can be combined with Mystic Redaction, Sphinxs Tutelage or Psychic Corrosion, the Mystical Tutor and Solve the Equation help us find the right cards for any strategy, for example Time Warp, Pyromancers Goggles or Swarm Intelligence (matching the Commander)
It is built to provide an excellent balance of budget, and brawn, allowing you to compete without breaking the bank
Here are the cube relevant cards from teh year not on the top ten
While power creep does exist in MTG, there tend to be cards that stick out throughout the years and help redefine different formats as they do so
Ghave, Guru of Spores would become the kind of commander that goes infinite with just about any 99, while Karador, Ghost Chieftain is a rock solid graveyard player