I'd like to compile together and discuss the various types of formats people have enjoyed for fewer than 8 players.
Battle Box
Micro-Sealed
Winston
Winchester
Solomon
BANG!
Grid
Quilt
...I know there's a lot more, so I'll edit this.
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A 2-player variant I've created:
Make a stack of 140 cards. Deal 7 cards face down to each player. Both players look at their 7 and choose a card to keep, then shuffle the remaining 6. Both players hand each other the 6 cards that are left, choose one of the 6 to keep, then shuffle and randomly discard one card face down to a communal discard pile. Both players hand each other the remaining 4 cards, choose one to keep, and discard face down the remaining 3. Repeat with new packs of 7 until all are gone.
This way, you receive a lot of options while still having interaction with your opponent. If you fail to wheel a second card from a pack, it will be unknown whether your opponent took that card or whether it was randomly discarded (50% chance that it was discarded).
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Another format I am considering for cube (as a 4-player variant) is Team Mini Master Sealed. This is a format which is played at PAX East every year with foil uncut sheets going to the champions. o_O
Your team starts with two packs of the current block and together you build two separate decks. You then face off against two other players and play individually. Ties at 2-2 were always handled pretty poorly, in which the judges would have planned makeshift tiebreakers via "who had the most life" or "a sudden death game." My suggestion would be to play a final Two-Headed Giant game.
After you win a match, your team would receive an additional booster and you would rebuild. This aspect of the format reminds me of Micro-Sealed, except that you keep what you already had. If you make it past the first round, this format is a blast.
Firstly, for cube, I think the games should begin with at least 45 cards per team. Perhaps the winning team receives a 10-card pack and the losing team receives a 20-card pack? Or the winning team must randomly lose 10 cards from their pool and receive 10 new cards, and the losing team simply receives 20? There may be a more elegant or creative system to this.
Battle Box
Micro-Sealed
Winston
Winchester
Solomon
BANG!
Grid
Quilt
...I know there's a lot more, so I'll edit this.
--------------------------------------------
A 2-player variant I've created:
Make a stack of 140 cards. Deal 7 cards face down to each player. Both players look at their 7 and choose a card to keep, then shuffle the remaining 6. Both players hand each other the 6 cards that are left, choose one of the 6 to keep, then shuffle and randomly discard one card face down to a communal discard pile. Both players hand each other the remaining 4 cards, choose one to keep, and discard face down the remaining 3. Repeat with new packs of 7 until all are gone.
This way, you receive a lot of options while still having interaction with your opponent. If you fail to wheel a second card from a pack, it will be unknown whether your opponent took that card or whether it was randomly discarded (50% chance that it was discarded).
--------------------------------------------
Another format I am considering for cube (as a 4-player variant) is Team Mini Master Sealed. This is a format which is played at PAX East every year with foil uncut sheets going to the champions. o_O
Your team starts with two packs of the current block and together you build two separate decks. You then face off against two other players and play individually. Ties at 2-2 were always handled pretty poorly, in which the judges would have planned makeshift tiebreakers via "who had the most life" or "a sudden death game." My suggestion would be to play a final Two-Headed Giant game.
After you win a match, your team would receive an additional booster and you would rebuild. This aspect of the format reminds me of Micro-Sealed, except that you keep what you already had. If you make it past the first round, this format is a blast.
Firstly, for cube, I think the games should begin with at least 45 cards per team. Perhaps the winning team receives a 10-card pack and the losing team receives a 20-card pack? Or the winning team must randomly lose 10 cards from their pool and receive 10 new cards, and the losing team simply receives 20? There may be a more elegant or creative system to this.
