General [Lucky Paper] Cube Power Level: A Users' Guide

I love it. This is exactly the conversation I have (or at least, try to have) with folks when they're building their first cube, or when they're interested in the design philosophy of mine. I especially like the clarity with which you wrote out the advantages of higher and lower power. It's really a spectrum, and finding that sweet spot where you can have your cake and eat it too for your playgroup is one of my core objectives when curating my list.
 

landofMordor

Administrator
I love it. This is exactly the conversation I have (or at least, try to have) with folks when they're building their first cube, or when they're interested in the design philosophy of mine. I especially like the clarity with which you wrote out the advantages of higher and lower power. It's really a spectrum, and finding that sweet spot where you can have your cake and eat it too for your playgroup is one of my core objectives when curating my list.
Thanks, friend! Glad you enjoyed it :)
 
I'm pretty sure the pyramid is a rhombus, making a cube at the nadir of power level also gives you a very narrow set of cards to play with. Both extremes rely on power outliers.

Some of the advantages presented for higher power don't make a lot of sense to me. You can model it after competitive formats for a lot of free data points and you get a more "powerful" play patterns, some gameplay experiences just by nature rely on stronger cards (or custom magic rules) to exist. Having fewer cards to choose from for each set release is only a positive if you have no self-control, it is objectively just a constraint with no upside, and the second point I'm not entirely convinced is a point the way it's written. Invalidating more expensive threats is presented as the advantage, but that's not a net-positive, it means you layer your cube with trap options, and a lower curve is also not inherently correlated with a higher power level. Strong cards will generally be more expensive regardless of whether or not they cost a lot of mana to cast.
 
Having fewer cards to choose from for each set release is only a positive if you have no self-control, it is objectively just a constraint with no upside,
I don’t know about that one. A few other reasons come to mind.

1. Less time spent updating the cube. We spend a lot of time thinking about cube design, but some people just want to play and not worry about the design aspect as much.

2. Potentially more budget if less cards are included (depends on the cards included obviously)

3. Less change in the cube is good for the less enfranchised players. Helps them build some familiarity with the environment.
 
The point is that if you don't want to change your cube all that often, you can just elect not to do it. Being forced into it out of necessity doesn't provide you any benefit, it just removes the option to do otherwise.
 

landofMordor

Administrator
I'm pretty sure the pyramid is a rhombus, making a cube at the nadir of power level also gives you a very narrow set of cards to play with. Both extremes rely on power outliers.
I guess that's true theoretically. But at some point, the "weak power outliers" like maybe Zephyr Spirit, have such awful rates that they're indistinguishable in terms of play pattern from Magic cards whose rates are OK but they just suck to play with, like Eager Cadet. If power level is defined by the size of the set of cards that create an indistinguishable play experience, I don't think those play patterns are meaningfully different. (Put somewhat differently: I will have just as much fun playing a cube made of curatedly weak cards as randomly weak cards, which is to say, not much fun.)

Some of the advantages presented for higher power don't make a lot of sense to me. You can model it after competitive formats for a lot of free data points and you get a more "powerful" play patterns, some gameplay experiences just by nature rely on stronger cards (or custom magic rules) to exist. Having fewer cards to choose from for each set release is only a positive if you have no self-control, it is objectively just a constraint with no upside, and the second point I'm not entirely convinced is a point the way it's written. Invalidating more expensive threats is presented as the advantage, but that's not a net-positive, it means you layer your cube with trap options, and a lower curve is also not inherently correlated with a higher power level. Strong cards will generally be more expensive regardless of whether or not they cost a lot of mana to cast.
I agree with @Nanonox that there are subjective upsides, including a vastly decreased cognitive load while making updates.

And regarding the "trap" options -- as the designer, you just cut the cards that no longer hang at that power level. Like, you've outclassed Hill Giant by playing Watchwolf, so cut the Hill Giants, and you move up in the power landscape.

Maybe it's not 1-to-1 correlation, but I don't know many high power formats with high mana curves. You could contrive a low-power low-mana format, but I don't think that's the usual way cubes evolve.

And I agree that the best-in-class cards across Magic will generally be more expensive. But because of the way Constructed works, the 2nd best Tarmogoyf variant sees very little play, but EDH does play the 2nd best beeg Eldrazi; therefore, it is cheaper to build with Territorial Kavus and Watchwolves than with Ulamogs and Kozileks. I glossed over these nuances to write cogently, but thanks for highlighting these ideas.
 
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I agree with @Nanonox that there are subjective upsides, including a vastly decreased cognitive load while making updates.
It's a theoretical upside, but I don't know how real it is in practice. As a curator of a lower powel level, I have a theoretical larger selection of cards that fit in my power band, I also don't make as strict requirements for the power level of my inclusions, which is a level of analysis I don't have to engage in as much. "Is this card good enough for my cube? Eh, probably." I would say I have a different cognitive load rather than a bigger or lesser one.
And regarding the "trap" options -- as the designer, you just cut the cards that no longer hang at that power level. Like, you've outclassed Hill Giant by playing Watchwolf, so cut the Hill Giants, and you move up in the power landscape.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that the phrasing of your point doesn't make it very clear (to me) what you are trying to convey. I think it's trying to say "it's easy to build high-power on a budget" (which, relatively to lower-power which is the dichotomy at hand, isn't really true, and is more of a "it doesn't have to be as big of a disadvantage as you think" point), but reading the text it also seems to suggest that invalidating expensive cards is an inherent selling point, but that's more so a design advice for creating a specific play pattern more so than a concrete benefit.
Maybe it's not 1-to-1 correlation, but I don't know many high power formats with high mana curves. You could contrive a low-power low-mana format, but I don't think that's the usual way cubes evolve.
Anecdotally I can say if I could trade a lot of my cards with equivalent cheaper cards of a same power level, I would do so if given the opportunity. Anyway, it wasn't really a strong disagreement, but I was mostly getting at two things. Firstly, a lot of expensive cards can only shine in more degenerate environments with fast mana and cheat effects. Secondly, a lot of riptiders advocate for reducing the overall mana value regardless of power level, as it creates more decision-rich games.
 

landofMordor

Administrator
It's a theoretical upside, but I don't know how real it is in practice. As a curator of a lower powel level, I have a theoretical larger selection of cards that fit in my power band, I also don't make as strict requirements for the power level of my inclusions, which is a level of analysis I don't have to engage in as much. "Is this card good enough for my cube? Eh, probably." I would say I have a different cognitive load rather than a bigger or lesser one.
Yeah, everybody's brains do be different, so I certainly respect where you're coming from. My brain definitely doesn't work like that.

Like a lot of cube designers I know, I like to scrutinize every single little card choice... heck, that impulse is what has kept Fight Club and Low Power Spotlight going strong all these years, and it's the reason half of us make blog posts! If we just said "eh, it's a low power cube so you can do whatever you want, why are you agonizing over it like it matters?", RTL would be a lot less active. (Although, a little more laissez-faire would probably do all cube curators good when it comes to this stuff, so props to you for setting the standard.)
 
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