General CBS

Chris Taylor

Contributor
Random early morning thought:

Random: That's not a cube, it has 4 brainstorms!
Me: Oh, you didn't read it properly. It's actually a C.U.B.E. Custom Upscale Boxed Enviornment. Didn't you notice?

rub-it-in-your-face-middle-finger-in-your-face.gif
 

CML

Contributor
i advocate maxing out on these kinds of dudes. the guy whose reactionary powered cube we ridicule (because he is our friend) refuses to put in that kind of effect because "elvish visionary is awful." i am sure this is a big part of why the decks that come from my cube are much stronger than the decks that come from his, even with the power. he won the last legacy open here and legacy players are typically bad at "general Magic" but come on! elvish visionary is a 4-of in a strong deck in his precious format.

anyway play all of these



edit: probably more on this theme in the 'draw a card' thread
 

CML

Contributor
length of games in new LSV modo cube vids:

DRAFT
13:37 (yes, 13:37)

ROUND ONE (13:31)
4:26
5:35
3:30

ROUND TWO (11:26)
8:24

3:02

thank god for the traditional cube's great stories
 

Jason Waddell

Administrator
Staff member
Drafting a cube (Mirage Rath) where I knew 3% of the cards has changed the way I view Magic.

Other than the perverse joy of dumping on stupid cards, it was really tedious to try and make decisions and I didn't feel like I had any footholds to latch on to. Lack of rarity also didn't help.

Important things:
- filler is good
- taking strong cards should naturally guide you to a deck. you shouldn't have to intentionally take garbage because you know a synergy deck is hidden somewhere in the pool
- if you make a custom cube for christ's sake don't force 360 new cards upon your players. a triple large set draft exposes players to ~ 180 unique cards per draft, and a lot of those are super simple. for "custom" cubing familiar cards (e.g. mana leak, courser) can stand in the place of simple cards if needed, because they don't add to pack-reading complexity
- after reading about two new cards in a pack my brain gives up and just picks something on-color
 
Drafting a cube (Mirage Rath) where I knew 3% of the cards has changed the way I view Magic.

Other than the perverse joy of dumping on stupid cards, it was really tedious to try and make decisions and I didn't feel like I had any footholds to latch on to. Lack of rarity also didn't help.

Important things:
- filler is good
- taking strong cards should naturally guide you to a deck. you shouldn't have to intentionally take garbage because you know a synergy deck is hidden somewhere in the pool
- if you make a custom cube for christ's sake don't force 360 new cards upon your players. a triple large set draft exposes players to ~ 180 unique cards per draft, and a lot of those are super simple. for "custom" cubing familiar cards (e.g. mana leak, courser) can stand in the place of simple cards if needed, because they don't add to pack-reading complexity
- after reading about two new cards in a pack my brain gives up and just picks something on-color

 

CML

Contributor
Drafting a cube (Mirage Rath) where I knew 3% of the cards has changed the way I view Magic.

Other than the perverse joy of dumping on stupid cards, it was really tedious to try and make decisions and I didn't feel like I had any footholds to latch on to. Lack of rarity also didn't help.

Important things:
- filler is good
- taking strong cards should naturally guide you to a deck. you shouldn't have to intentionally take garbage because you know a synergy deck is hidden somewhere in the pool
- if you make a custom cube for christ's sake don't force 360 new cards upon your players. a triple large set draft exposes players to ~ 180 unique cards per draft, and a lot of those are super simple. for "custom" cubing familiar cards (e.g. mana leak, courser) can stand in the place of simple cards if needed, because they don't add to pack-reading complexity
- after reading about two new cards in a pack my brain gives up and just picks something on-color


i disagree with this to the point that i mourn there are no new draft formats for me to look at exclusively new cards and try to figure out, existentially, what's up. my innocence is gone forever. that being said it is a pretty common experience. for example, the smug asian man refuses to read the cards we have over here. i am certain this is why he went 0-2 at the m15 prerelease with an incredible pool.

now this is all good and well (since everyone but the smug asian man enjoyed his poor performance) but as cube designers i think it's our obligation to "like" new formats and new cards, it's not a moral failing to "give up" or be bad at MTG outside of one or two narrowly defined formats, but it is a failing as a designer.
 
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