General A Basic Guide to Cube

S

Salmo2

http://turnonemagic.com/abasicguidetocube/

Hi everyone,

First, sorry for creating a dual account--I had another here, and even came here to ask about the history of cube for you all, but I can't figure out what that e-mail or PW was sooooooo here we are...SORRY!

Any who--

This is a project that I've been conceiving for years and for the last ~year have been working at on-and-off. Essentially, it's a guide to cube--it's impossible to cover everything, so it covers what I feel are a lot of the basics both for starting a cube and exploring ideas/theorycrafting within the format itself. I look at quite a few subjects, including:

-What a cube is
-What you can put into your cube and the options available
-The basic strengths and weaknesses of each color
-Alternative cube theory
-And a bunch of other *****

Any comments or suggestions for future iterations are appreciated, as I plan for this to be an evolving guide. My biggest issue with the resources available out there are how outdated some are, and this is only 2-3 years away from the guide's printing that the guide feels outdated. In another 2-3 years some of the guides out there will seem like they're talking about a completely different format.

Even though there is more I feel like I could add, it's nice to have a finished product and to finally stop saying "i'm working on this guide..." and just have the guide instead.

Either way, cheers and happy cubing!

--Sam
 
Onderzeeboot

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
I liked the article. It puts a lot of focus on the archetypal singleton cube, especially at the beginning, but does explore other avenues. The shoutout to us at the end is also nice of course ;) It's great that you bring up proxying in a positive way, but you missed one reason to do so, and one that is pretty common around here as well: you can design your own cards! Obviously this is not something someone just starting with cube would necessarily want to (or should) do, it is a very valid reason to use proxies. Overall, as an introduction to cube (which imo is not the same as an how to build your first cube article) it does a pretty good job!
 
S

Salmo2

Onderzeeboot said:
I liked the article. It puts a lot of focus on the archetypal singleton cube, especially at the beginning, but does explore other avenues. The shoutout to us at the end is also nice of course ;) It's great that you bring up proxying in a positive way, but you missed one reason to do so, and one that is pretty common around here as well: you can design your own cards! Obviously this is not something someone just starting with cube would necessarily want to (or should) do, it is a very valid reason to use proxies. Overall, as an introduction to cube (which imo is not the same as an how to build your first cube article) it does a pretty good job!
Click to expand...

Thanks!

I put that focus on for a variety of reasons:

-First and foremost, it's the type of cube I like to play the most, and understand the most. I don't like to overextend my experiences (hence the brief section on tribal cubes) but I feel that--from my own experience--a majority of cubes you'll encounter will reflect this play style, even with a decent % difference in card choice. Through all my years playing on cockatrice and xmage, it turns out that people enjoy playing with the powerful cards that define what the 'standard' cube experience is, and that most people will shy away from trying a new style of cube. It's a lot easier to fill a MODO Legacy Cube queue in xmage than it is to fill a mono blue cube queue, for example.

-It's what most people are introduced to cube as. Cube has a long-standing history of being that type of format, and even today there are definitely more people being introduced to cube through MODO's versions of cube which are more similar to that style of cube than others.

-I think it's the best jumping off point for exploring new directions. Once you hammer down what is possible in a typical cube or rather what a 'core' cube provides, you can explore different archetypes, and from there you can explore different archetypes, and from there etc etc etc. It's kind of like how you need to learn how to ollie before you can do a kick flip before you can do a 900.


In terms of omitting making custom cards: It's not something I'm personally a huge fan of, as I like playing with what's provided to me. I think it's cool that people design their own cards and that there are cubes which feature a high percentage of these custom cards, but as you touch upon I think exploring that line of thought in terms of 'improving' a cube experience with custom cards should be explored after you've come to understand what cube is all about, which for a basic guide seems a little more than basic. I've had an idea for a while now to look at custom cards built and break down why I like and don't like certain designs, so it's definitely something I considered, but not something I felt was appropriate for this guide.


In terms of the shout out--of course! I've been a lurker for some time as I always like to see different opinions and while I may not be an active poster here, some of the posts and things I've read have led me to take different view points on certain cards and design choices. Instead of pigeonholing my way of thinking about cube into one style, I pretty much try to consume everything and come to my own conclusions from there, and I would be remiss to not mention a community in which I've taken a decent amount of advice and ideas from. Posters like yourself have been kind to me when I have popped up, so it's my pleasure, truly :)
 
Onderzeeboot

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Oh yeah, sure! I meant that as a positive thing! As much as I like all the weird cubes hanging around on Riptide, I'm fully aware that the average Riptide cube is not your, well, average cube. That's why I love the shoutout at the end, much like good articles will often offer tips for further reading if the article peaked your curiosity in its subject. In the end I think the ideas on this forum, more than any other source, have molded my cube into something truly unique. If it weren't for the discussions on breaking singleton, Jason's idea for keeping cubes with a heavy gold component playable, and the people that convinced me that actually putting your custom cards in your cube can be a good thing (TM), my cube wouldn't be where it's at today.
 
S

Salmo2

Onderzeeboot said:
Oh yeah, sure! I meant that as a positive thing! As much as I like all the weird cubes hanging around on Riptide, I'm fully aware that the average Riptide cube is not your, well, average cube. That's why I love the shoutout at the end, much like good articles will often offer tips for further reading if the article peaked your curiosity in its subject. In the end I think the ideas on this forum, more than any other source, have molded my cube into something truly unique. If it weren't for the discussions on breaking singleton, Jason's idea for keeping cubes with a heavy gold component playable, and the people that convinced me that actually putting your custom cards in your cube can be a good thing (TM), my cube wouldn't be where it's at today.
Click to expand...

Some people like scrambled eggs, some people like omelettes, others want to make it into french toast...essentially, as long as you're cubing, you're probably having a great time!
 
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