FlowerSunRain
Contributor
As I was working on my Sligh Curve Cube idea, I noticed a problem that I knew going to happen. Indeed, it was pretty obvious as its a design problem in basically any cube, but the extremely low mana curve of the Sligh Curve just made it super-extra blatant.
In order to get a good curve, you have to cut lots of sweet 3-5 cost cards and include lots of sour 1 cost cards.
Basically there seems to be two basic approaches here. Most cubes, "the traditional cube" so to speak, sacrifices the curve in favor of sweeter cards. These are what I might call a "museum cube", a large subsection of which is what I've heard referred to here as a "powermax cube". Ensuring that the cube is filled to the brim with the best (be it iconic, powerful, or whatever) cards is the primary concern, while the playability is secondary.
The other approach is to put playability first, which means lots of cards that you might like or that are to some objective measure "more powerful" need to get binned in favor of lesser cards that combine to create more interesting gameplay.
I formed a rough skeleton for the Sligh Curve cube based entirely upon the second principle. And when I was done, I thought I could very well be on my way to tuning an extremely amazing gameplay experience.
But, looking at my piles of awesome cards, most of which were 4 mana, that I really liked playing but simply didn't fit, I noticed that I actually wasn't at all happy with my design.
So, I reflected upon this. I am a huge gamer. I own tons of games and the reason I own tons of games is to fulfill different gamelay desires. Many of the games I play have awful art, hideous production or mind-numbing themes and none of that lowers the joy I get in playing them. So why aren't I happy with my gameplay focused Magic Cube?
I guess part of the joy in playing Magic comes from playing the awesome cards I like. I guess that shouldn't be shocking.
The moral of my introspection was that I don't want to compromise between awesome cards and tight gameplay. I don't want to play a Grim Monolith Cube or this thing I just made.
So, I had an idea. Perhaps their is something else that can be compromised: control. Frankly I don't really care what types of decks come out of the draft pool as long as they make for good games. I like the idea of having to adjust and adapt. I like playing with a variety of awesome cards and don't need every single awesome card to show up in each draft.
So, for the Sligh Curve Cube, I'm leaning towards a unique arrangement. The Sligh Curve cube will be arranged into 5 different sets: 1cc, 2cc, 3cc, 4+cc, Land. Each set will be drafted one at a time. The sets will have as many cards in them that are deemed awesome, functional and competitive. The first pack will be the 4cc+ pack and will contain 8 cards. This will be followed by the 1 cc pack which contains 16 cards, then the 2cc which contains 12 cards and the 3cc which contains 8. The lands are drafted roto utility land draft style (8 picks, maybe 10?).
I think that recently my mind has been swept away by concepts that are certainly valuable, but to me not particularly important. I'm going to experiment with this idea for a bit, see how forced curve drafting and flexible card pool play out. Will it spell for a chaotic mess or a tactical paradise?
I have no idea, but at least now I'm excited to find out.
In order to get a good curve, you have to cut lots of sweet 3-5 cost cards and include lots of sour 1 cost cards.
Basically there seems to be two basic approaches here. Most cubes, "the traditional cube" so to speak, sacrifices the curve in favor of sweeter cards. These are what I might call a "museum cube", a large subsection of which is what I've heard referred to here as a "powermax cube". Ensuring that the cube is filled to the brim with the best (be it iconic, powerful, or whatever) cards is the primary concern, while the playability is secondary.
The other approach is to put playability first, which means lots of cards that you might like or that are to some objective measure "more powerful" need to get binned in favor of lesser cards that combine to create more interesting gameplay.
I formed a rough skeleton for the Sligh Curve cube based entirely upon the second principle. And when I was done, I thought I could very well be on my way to tuning an extremely amazing gameplay experience.
But, looking at my piles of awesome cards, most of which were 4 mana, that I really liked playing but simply didn't fit, I noticed that I actually wasn't at all happy with my design.
So, I reflected upon this. I am a huge gamer. I own tons of games and the reason I own tons of games is to fulfill different gamelay desires. Many of the games I play have awful art, hideous production or mind-numbing themes and none of that lowers the joy I get in playing them. So why aren't I happy with my gameplay focused Magic Cube?
I guess part of the joy in playing Magic comes from playing the awesome cards I like. I guess that shouldn't be shocking.
The moral of my introspection was that I don't want to compromise between awesome cards and tight gameplay. I don't want to play a Grim Monolith Cube or this thing I just made.
So, I had an idea. Perhaps their is something else that can be compromised: control. Frankly I don't really care what types of decks come out of the draft pool as long as they make for good games. I like the idea of having to adjust and adapt. I like playing with a variety of awesome cards and don't need every single awesome card to show up in each draft.
So, for the Sligh Curve Cube, I'm leaning towards a unique arrangement. The Sligh Curve cube will be arranged into 5 different sets: 1cc, 2cc, 3cc, 4+cc, Land. Each set will be drafted one at a time. The sets will have as many cards in them that are deemed awesome, functional and competitive. The first pack will be the 4cc+ pack and will contain 8 cards. This will be followed by the 1 cc pack which contains 16 cards, then the 2cc which contains 12 cards and the 3cc which contains 8. The lands are drafted roto utility land draft style (8 picks, maybe 10?).
I think that recently my mind has been swept away by concepts that are certainly valuable, but to me not particularly important. I'm going to experiment with this idea for a bit, see how forced curve drafting and flexible card pool play out. Will it spell for a chaotic mess or a tactical paradise?
I have no idea, but at least now I'm excited to find out.
