First, of all I want to say you guys are amazing. Seriously. This forum shaped my understanding of cube design back when I first got into it, and you are still here today doing the same stuff. My last post was in 2014 and you guys have been posting every day since then. This is dedication to the art of the cube.
Here is my question: Any suggestions on how to catch up? The main thing I'm looking for would be something like a list of everybody's cube / cubetutor links. I'm also wondering if anybody ever posts articles or something - some way to take the sometimes-hard-follow format of a forum and converts it to an easier to consume form.
Finally, I'd like to share what I've been up to. I converted my 360 card cube into a 360 slot polycube after reading Jason's article. I took it pretty far. I have every single slot defined and no card is guaranteed a spot (besides Beast Within and Chaos Warp). I'll periodically build a cube from the polycube and we'll play through it a few times, then do it again. My favorite part of building each cube is filling in the "free" slots. One drops, eight drops, creatures, enchantments, whatever. So much freedom!
I love polycube and don't think I could go back. My playgroup likes new stuff. This lets us keep new cards coming in. Before I switched I had too many sacred cows that I could never cut. Now? I just toss them on the bench knowing they'll be back. I like to think of the polycube/cube process as a "sliding window". Your slot definitions or "schema" ensures there is always a core skeleton, but the outer layer flows and shifts constantly. The same but different (crispy hashbrown effect).
Finally, I've moved out of the mindset that I'm building some "final cube". I accept that I'm never be "done", and this has allowed me to break a lot of the restrictions I had before. I've tossed out all card frame restrictions, I've learned to loosen up the color balance, and I'm trying all kinds of new themes. I'm also allowing myself to incorporate some of the more powerful cards that I used to feel risked ruining games because I include them in batches. Now Grave Titan, Baneslayer, Aetherling, Drana, Natural Order, etc, can come in or go out together. We can have a few a high power, high variance cubes if we want. Want to use a bunch of cool new stuff from Ixalan block? Better put the A-Team on the bench.
Here is my question: Any suggestions on how to catch up? The main thing I'm looking for would be something like a list of everybody's cube / cubetutor links. I'm also wondering if anybody ever posts articles or something - some way to take the sometimes-hard-follow format of a forum and converts it to an easier to consume form.
Finally, I'd like to share what I've been up to. I converted my 360 card cube into a 360 slot polycube after reading Jason's article. I took it pretty far. I have every single slot defined and no card is guaranteed a spot (besides Beast Within and Chaos Warp). I'll periodically build a cube from the polycube and we'll play through it a few times, then do it again. My favorite part of building each cube is filling in the "free" slots. One drops, eight drops, creatures, enchantments, whatever. So much freedom!
I love polycube and don't think I could go back. My playgroup likes new stuff. This lets us keep new cards coming in. Before I switched I had too many sacred cows that I could never cut. Now? I just toss them on the bench knowing they'll be back. I like to think of the polycube/cube process as a "sliding window". Your slot definitions or "schema" ensures there is always a core skeleton, but the outer layer flows and shifts constantly. The same but different (crispy hashbrown effect).
Finally, I've moved out of the mindset that I'm building some "final cube". I accept that I'm never be "done", and this has allowed me to break a lot of the restrictions I had before. I've tossed out all card frame restrictions, I've learned to loosen up the color balance, and I'm trying all kinds of new themes. I'm also allowing myself to incorporate some of the more powerful cards that I used to feel risked ruining games because I include them in batches. Now Grave Titan, Baneslayer, Aetherling, Drana, Natural Order, etc, can come in or go out together. We can have a few a high power, high variance cubes if we want. Want to use a bunch of cool new stuff from Ixalan block? Better put the A-Team on the bench.
