In our cube sessions my reject rare cube has offered me and my gaming group the biggest emotional spikes. People are laughing when drafting. Yelling when they find a stupid synergy that might actually work. Scream in despair from seeing cards like Mammoth Harness.
The game play can be pretty slow at times, since gray ogres are the bread and butter of the format. This gives leeway to wacky interactions that normally couldn't work. People try to pull off Celestial Convergence wins, Laboratory Maniac wins, Shared Fate wins, Infernal Spawn of Infernal Spawn of Evil wins (multiple search effects), Doomsday, Ion Storm, Primal Surge, Helix Pinnacle (happened twice already!) and so forth...
I'm not sure is it that people lay down their arms when they hear we are playing the Reject Rare Cube - or does it happen after they start to draft and see the packs and for quite some time feel moments of despair, because the cube is actually a really tricky one where you have to squeeze every inch of value and synergy out of cards that inherently don't have that much value in them. In this cube, drafting your deck for 2 packs in might seem like you don't really have any clue what your deck will be doing and maybe at that point you kind of realize that the environment isn't that competitive, just the opposite. The mood is way more upbeat when we start to play this cube, it's a great feeling actually. People just KNOW you can build around at your choosing without getting t4 killed every time you are trying to go deep.
Funny enough people still clearly prefer my main cube over Reject Rare Cube even though through laughter and friendly banter you would think otherwise. My gaming group consists of players who are from the both ends of the spectrum. The fun first gamers and the wins first gamers. Still it seems the main cube appeals to all of them over the Reject Rare Cube. Is it because the environment is more "safe" and familiar for them to explore and they don't want to work that hard mentally to achieve their goals in any given game? In short is the main cube more elegant and that's why it appeals more? Is it the shorter play time that matters the most ? Or maybe getting the real value plays are what drives each player the most - drawing 6 cards in a turn with Mulldrifter is a more powerful and rewarding feeling than milling a player out with Timesifter?
Not sure if anyone catches my drift here, i totally just let my mind flow on this post. But now that i think what drives players to a cube might actually be to be in search of "big plays". Playing a dude and putting a sword in his hand doesn't reward as much as drawing millions of card, or using Sun Titan to get something nasty back over and over again. Could there be a format where every card decision would OOZE of big plays without being a power cube... i have to chew on this for a moment, it could lead me to something really sweet.
The game play can be pretty slow at times, since gray ogres are the bread and butter of the format. This gives leeway to wacky interactions that normally couldn't work. People try to pull off Celestial Convergence wins, Laboratory Maniac wins, Shared Fate wins, Infernal Spawn of Infernal Spawn of Evil wins (multiple search effects), Doomsday, Ion Storm, Primal Surge, Helix Pinnacle (happened twice already!) and so forth...
I'm not sure is it that people lay down their arms when they hear we are playing the Reject Rare Cube - or does it happen after they start to draft and see the packs and for quite some time feel moments of despair, because the cube is actually a really tricky one where you have to squeeze every inch of value and synergy out of cards that inherently don't have that much value in them. In this cube, drafting your deck for 2 packs in might seem like you don't really have any clue what your deck will be doing and maybe at that point you kind of realize that the environment isn't that competitive, just the opposite. The mood is way more upbeat when we start to play this cube, it's a great feeling actually. People just KNOW you can build around at your choosing without getting t4 killed every time you are trying to go deep.
Funny enough people still clearly prefer my main cube over Reject Rare Cube even though through laughter and friendly banter you would think otherwise. My gaming group consists of players who are from the both ends of the spectrum. The fun first gamers and the wins first gamers. Still it seems the main cube appeals to all of them over the Reject Rare Cube. Is it because the environment is more "safe" and familiar for them to explore and they don't want to work that hard mentally to achieve their goals in any given game? In short is the main cube more elegant and that's why it appeals more? Is it the shorter play time that matters the most ? Or maybe getting the real value plays are what drives each player the most - drawing 6 cards in a turn with Mulldrifter is a more powerful and rewarding feeling than milling a player out with Timesifter?
Not sure if anyone catches my drift here, i totally just let my mind flow on this post. But now that i think what drives players to a cube might actually be to be in search of "big plays". Playing a dude and putting a sword in his hand doesn't reward as much as drawing millions of card, or using Sun Titan to get something nasty back over and over again. Could there be a format where every card decision would OOZE of big plays without being a power cube... i have to chew on this for a moment, it could lead me to something really sweet.
Power cube is just some steak and potatoes shit (or eggplant parmigiana or whatever if you're not into meat); players know they'll be happy when they eat it.
