So I hear there's been discussion at the BTP about removing the basic land box. Instead of providing basic lands, all lands are put into the main cube, as in the Desert cube. This would require you to add cards/packs to the draft to compensate (I'm thinking 4 packs of 17?), but this approach offers some interesting possibilities.
Lots of cool lands get left out due to not being worth a cube slot. This is, of course, what led to the ULD, which for most purposes is a far more elegant solution. However in most cubes implementing the ULD, strong fixing is put in the main cube, and as a result weak fixing never gets a chance to shine. Many lands are eschewed because even in the ULD, these cards are too weak without a lot of support.
Now I don't mean gainland weak, or evolving wilds weak. We are looking at cards that barely justify inclusion over a basic land (or don't!). But there is a lot of potential for these cards, which rarely is tapped into when they're competing with duals and free basic lands. Here's an example:
The energy mechanic is a great form of ETB value, which ties into themes such as counters, sacrifice, and proliferate. A manabase based off aether hubs has fascinating color dynamics: you can play a mono color deck, using aether hubs to power your energy cards, or you can play a 3 or 4-color deck, using energy cards to power your aether hubs. It gets even more interesting with Trade Routes and the Lairs as fixing/energy generation engines in conjunction with aether hub. A cube whose fixing comes largely from these lands could be really cool, but the issue is, the card is not good in a vacuum. When something so integral (fixing) is dependant on nonland cards (energy producers), every form of 3+ color deck requires a focus on said mechanic. Your whole cube, is forced to revolve around boosting the value of these weaker lands to the point that they're worth a draft pick. In my cube Deserts require such focus: the cube is built around graveyard themes, and land sacrifice payoffs are plentiful. The low power level is necessary to make the deserts' effects impactful by comparison, zombie tribal boosts your token makers, and the only manafixing in the land section comes from deserts. It would be very difficult for these lands to be tossed in as a subtheme, and as a result they lead to very convergent design: I'd imagine any two cubes running deserts would look very similar.
But what if you could easily integrate these types of lands? What if they were naturally strong picks? An aether hub is pretty appealing if you don't get free basics after the draft. When you get to customize hundreds more cube slots, without the inconsistency of a larger cube, you can support much more diverse themes: you basically are adding 7-14 unique effects to each deck 's land section. How about a goat tribal subtheme? Want to cube Crystal Quarry, Dwarven Ruins, even Riptide Laboratory? Plus land tutors like Tolaria West gain newfound importance.
Are these shenanigans worth the extra drafting (and designing!) time, or is it ultimately not worth the effort?
Lots of cool lands get left out due to not being worth a cube slot. This is, of course, what led to the ULD, which for most purposes is a far more elegant solution. However in most cubes implementing the ULD, strong fixing is put in the main cube, and as a result weak fixing never gets a chance to shine. Many lands are eschewed because even in the ULD, these cards are too weak without a lot of support.
Now I don't mean gainland weak, or evolving wilds weak. We are looking at cards that barely justify inclusion over a basic land (or don't!). But there is a lot of potential for these cards, which rarely is tapped into when they're competing with duals and free basic lands. Here's an example:
The energy mechanic is a great form of ETB value, which ties into themes such as counters, sacrifice, and proliferate. A manabase based off aether hubs has fascinating color dynamics: you can play a mono color deck, using aether hubs to power your energy cards, or you can play a 3 or 4-color deck, using energy cards to power your aether hubs. It gets even more interesting with Trade Routes and the Lairs as fixing/energy generation engines in conjunction with aether hub. A cube whose fixing comes largely from these lands could be really cool, but the issue is, the card is not good in a vacuum. When something so integral (fixing) is dependant on nonland cards (energy producers), every form of 3+ color deck requires a focus on said mechanic. Your whole cube, is forced to revolve around boosting the value of these weaker lands to the point that they're worth a draft pick. In my cube Deserts require such focus: the cube is built around graveyard themes, and land sacrifice payoffs are plentiful. The low power level is necessary to make the deserts' effects impactful by comparison, zombie tribal boosts your token makers, and the only manafixing in the land section comes from deserts. It would be very difficult for these lands to be tossed in as a subtheme, and as a result they lead to very convergent design: I'd imagine any two cubes running deserts would look very similar.
But what if you could easily integrate these types of lands? What if they were naturally strong picks? An aether hub is pretty appealing if you don't get free basics after the draft. When you get to customize hundreds more cube slots, without the inconsistency of a larger cube, you can support much more diverse themes: you basically are adding 7-14 unique effects to each deck 's land section. How about a goat tribal subtheme? Want to cube Crystal Quarry, Dwarven Ruins, even Riptide Laboratory? Plus land tutors like Tolaria West gain newfound importance.
Are these shenanigans worth the extra drafting (and designing!) time, or is it ultimately not worth the effort?
