General Battlebond 2018
- Thread starter Velrun
- Start date
I think Battlebond is looking great. I have a traditional draft cube in paper, but this seems like an opportunity to make a 2HG cube for four players. That is, it's a good option when you only have four players and a large cube might be too deep (too many archetypes open). Is anyone working on a four-player 2HG cube including (but not necessarily limited to) BBD? If this is drafted as BBD is, at 4 packs per team, that's only 120 cards at minimum (more for variance), which is tiny. What sort of design space would we have there? Would this draft better as a cube with 6 packs/team instead of 4?
I am also interested in discussion on the same question that Kirblinx brought up: what's the right way to include partners? I personally don't usually prefer packing draft boosters, but rather just shuffling and drafting the whole cube. Maybe it's just fine the way it is: for instance, EMN draft worked okay with meld cards, but mostly because Midnight Scavengers and Hanweir Garrison were very playable on their own, so you try to draft those first and perhaps get the other piece as a gift. In this case, if the two partners are both equally playable, maybe they get split too much? Or, does everyone feel that for a 2HG cube, we should be preparing draft packs? I don't think the partners are necessarily too strong when they come together, because this would be a cube designed around them, but maybe there's more variety if they don't?
I am also interested in discussion on the same question that Kirblinx brought up: what's the right way to include partners? I personally don't usually prefer packing draft boosters, but rather just shuffling and drafting the whole cube. Maybe it's just fine the way it is: for instance, EMN draft worked okay with meld cards, but mostly because Midnight Scavengers and Hanweir Garrison were very playable on their own, so you try to draft those first and perhaps get the other piece as a gift. In this case, if the two partners are both equally playable, maybe they get split too much? Or, does everyone feel that for a 2HG cube, we should be preparing draft packs? I don't think the partners are necessarily too strong when they come together, because this would be a cube designed around them, but maybe there's more variety if they don't?
I'm not sure how viable these specific partner cards are without the other half. Battlebond is designed such that the pair will always be together in a given pack and can then be snapped up at once when your team picks. Drafting strategy then kicks in as to whether you pick the pair or just one of the two and look for the wheel, which works in retail limited, but to employ this in a cube environment would require some heavy seeding and seems more tedious than anything. I think the best thing to do would just be a squadron pick deal; the drafter who picks the half that is included within the cube gets the partner pair after the main draft is completed. If there are enough designs that are powerful enough on their own, at that point it's probably fine to split them up, but I just haven't seen a particularly great or powerful standalone yet.
I've done squadrons with certain cards + lands in my cube and it's been working fine thus far, going to give buildarounds a try the next time I can fire with 8 people. It's a pretty simple concept that I find most people to be more open too once you explain to them how it works.
I've done squadrons with certain cards + lands in my cube and it's been working fine thus far, going to give buildarounds a try the next time I can fire with 8 people. It's a pretty simple concept that I find most people to be more open too once you explain to them how it works.
Squadrons for partners makes sense. It avoids the tedium of seeding, while still ensuring that you get both halves. Let's say you wanted to go ahead with this, in a BBD-style team draft, where both players draft simultaneously. Does picking the partner net both cards, but consumes both players' picks? If so, that means passing a pack with an extra card - is that good? If it only consumes one player's pick, though, that seems too strong: it's a strong pair of cards plus a free playable second pick.
Another option would be to use partner squadrons, but use grid, tenchester, smaller packs, or some other draft procedure?
Another option would be to use partner squadrons, but use grid, tenchester, smaller packs, or some other draft procedure?
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
I believe they already said all partners are enemy colored.
Edit: Apparently red and black are allied colors in the real world (read: not my cube). Oops! :')
Onderzeeboot, I know you have a shifted wacky color wheel, but red and black are allied colors! Auger spree is an allied colored card.
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Oh, hahahahahaha, wow! Shows how ingrained my shifted color wheel is into my system nowadays. Auger Spree honestly didn't register as ally colored to me :'D
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Reading the title, before seeing the card, I was expecting a sorcery for 1WU that drew you two and gained you three life...
I'm actually a bit disappointed.
I realised right after I posted, but then just left it.
Question! Why? In most cubes, people support the 10 2 colour combinations, is there a difference with this now? How has it changed things?
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
I only support the ally color pairs, but according to my colorshifted wheel. So UB and UR are supported, for example, but not WU and GU. I switched to this system for a few reasons:
1. It's novel. My cube plays differently from the other cubes existing in our playgroup.
2. I wanted to more heavily support multicolor decks, but if you support all ten pairs, you run into certain problems. It's why WotC didn't put all ten guilds in the same set in the Ravnica blocks.
3. If you support all ten color pairs, a few of the drafters will end up in a color combination that no one else plays, meaning they get to pick up all the good multicolor cards in their guild basically for free, even wheeling them. While you could argue that that's a fine reward for reading the draft and picking the right colors, I wanted a little more tension between the drafters.
4. Restricting yourself to only five supported color pairs means the fixing is way better than it is in regular cubes, simply because there's more lands per guild. This means every player should be able to pick up some fixers, provided they prioritize them.
5. I wanted to support three color cards as well. Cards like Nicol Bolas and Cruel Ultimatum are fan favorites, that really have no place in a regular cube. By supporting only five two color combinations, I can also support the three color combinations that can be formed by pairing each of the guilds with each other.
5b. To further support three color decks, I have an additional rule that you get a triland with each three color cards. So, for example, if you pick up Cruel Ultimatum, you also get a Crumbling Necropolis for free after the draft, which you may use in deck construction. This has been a tremendous good way to promote three color decks (and even the occasional four color deck).
Last but not least, I have to give credits to Jason for coming up with the idea. Obligatory link!
Isn't this a pretty neat card? Seems like it could be fun in some kind of aristocrat style aggro deck, where you are both likely to trade a lot as well as having sac outlets to utilize?
This is good stuff! I don't remember this.
Me neither.
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Yeah, that was a really cool article than firmly planted an idea for a cooler cube into my head 
I have changed the color wheel multiple times since then, but the idea is still living up to its potential!
I have changed the color wheel multiple times since then, but the idea is still living up to its potential!Full spoiler is out now. Really impressed by how clean this set is! Presumably 2HG is fairly complex, so WotC has cleverly kept the complexity of individual cards down. Almost got a lower power cube vibe.
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Yeah, pleasantly surprised. The set feels pretty cohesive in what it's doing.