A 6 person discard/cycling themed cube intended to be drafted 4 packs of 12
Overview:
Many of the core ideas that drive this cube’s design are carried over from the Graveyard Combo Cube, but reenvisioned in a lower-power context. Some qualities that are prioritized:
- Complexity through modality
- Decision-making tempo and volume
- Variety of axes of play
- Explosive sequences and combos
- “Secret” archetypes
Complexity through modality:
The backbone of this cube is built on mechanics like Cycling and Channel. I’ve always appreciated how these mechanics exemplify complexity through modality. With these cards you are always navigating which option to use and when. Do you cycle something away in an effort to smooth out your beginning turns to avoid mana screw? or to hunt for something that can hit the battlefield early, to gain an early advantage? or do you save it as a threat/answer for the late game?
Decision-making tempo and volume:
An added bonus of these cards is they have a wider range of relevancy throughout the various stages of the game. One issue I’ve always run into with my lower powered cubes is how simplistic the decision-making can be in the early turns, and how few decisions there are to make until you start approaching turn 4-5. That problem is alleviated when most of the cards over 2 mana have a channel, cycle, evoke, or reinforce option.
Variety of axes of play:
As with my other cube, it is important that all theaters of play are viable here:
- Aggro
- Tempo
- Midrange
- Control
- Combo (including aggro-combo, combo control, etc)
Explosive sequences and combos:
Novel 3-4 card combos and high-reward synergies are my M.O., and this cube has no shortage of them. I want strange and memorable games to be a common occurrence. I don’t get to play often enough for dull games.
“Secret” archetypes:
My favorite limited formats have all had “secret” archetypes. The one that most often comes to mind for me was MH1’s Stream Control .
In that spirit, I’ve embedded some “easter egg” archetypes that won’t successfully come together often, but are sure to be memorable if they do. The 4x12 draft format adds a some space in the draft pool for a little extra fringe nonsense.
General Notes:
Status: I consider this concept to be significantly realized at this point, but I can never leave anything alone for too long. There’s plenty left up in the air. There are probably around a dozen cards that are actively on the cutting block, and maybeboard that is full of half-baked ideas. I’m open to any observations/suggestions you may have. Test drafts are much appreciated.
Cube size: The older you get, the easier it is to get 6 people together to draft than 8. The cube size is also partially limited by the available card pool. Increasing to 360 would have me tapping into more of the objectively bad cycling and channel cards, and I want to avoid cards that are always pitched and never worth casting.
Bicycle Lands: I typically avoid customs, but not releasing the full suite of Bicycle lands is annoying. I’m using some customs I found online for the missing 3.
References: This isn’t a particularly new idea in the cubiverse. There’s a lot of cycling theme cubes out there. Below are a couple of the main ones I looked at:
- Throgan’s Cycling Cube
- AlexanderOfMacedonia’s ReCycling Cube
Thanks for looking!
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