General Modern Cube - Modular Packages - List

[Phinneas]

THE PITCH
I'm tinkering with the idea of creating 15 card packages/modules/expansions for my 360 Cube. You would have a core list of 240 cards, and each player would pick a 15 card package to add to the cube before drafting.

THE ELABORATED PITCH
The idea would be to have a core list of 240 cards that are static (stuff like Lightning Bolt etc, staples), and then prior to the draft each player would publicly select a 15 card pack to add to the draft pool prior to shuffling and pack creation.

I have a really tight 360 Modern list that I love, but sometimes it's fun to add a bit of spice or variability to a draft environment. I'm intrigued by the idea of the public drafting informing subsequent selections. As players sculpt the environment they're about to draft.

If one player drafts the 'Delve Package' and the other drafts the 'Reanimator Package', will the next player choose to reinforce the theme and add the 'Threshold/Delirium Package' and so on, or add in a new archetype that they think they'll end up drafting.

With that in mind, I was hoping you all would have some input into a list of possible 15 card packages that would be worth building. Here's the list I have so far. (I'll add archetypes as they're suggested)

THE LIST

• Dual Lands Package
• Power Nine Package w/Special Guests
• Spells Matter Package (Young Pyromancer, Talrand)
• Delve Package (Dig Through Time, Forbidden Alchemy)
• Reanimator Package (Recurring Nightmare, Entomb)
• Pox Package (Smokestack, Braids)
• Wildfire Package (Wildfire, Burning of Xinye)
• Splinter Twin Package (Splinter Twin, Kiki-Jiki)
• Infect Package (U/G, U/B)
• Storm Package
• Affinity Package

 

[ahadabans]

I fully support this type of cube design and am running something along those lines.

I'm going to assume you are drafting with 8 people? If that is the case, you are avoiding pitfall number one (having packages that are underrepresented because not all the cards end up in packs and therefore poisonous for your draft).

The problem I don't think will be easily solved - and it's why I went a different design direction - is theme overlap.

Here's the fundamental issue I feel you have to solve for. Let's say you add "Reanimator" to your core list. How much synergy does that have with the core list? That's question one. How much overlap will it have with the other packages that get randomly selected? If the overlap is low, then you have drafts that will feel isolated. Person "X" decides to draft reanimator, and all the pieces are uncontested because they are useless outside that package.

This ties in with the poison principle often discussed on this forum. Reality is, Recurring Nightmare is broken good and goes in every deck with creatures, so overlap on that card is not a problem. Affinity though? Only works in affinity. So if one guy drafts it and no one else, he gets the nut deck and it builds itself. If two people draft it, both players end up with unplayable piles of crap.

My first modular cube went down this road. I had 2-3 themes and the overlap was weak sauce. So it led to silo-autodraft mode and it was bad. Deck lists were powerful, but the draft experience was just not good IMO. My new modules have much better cross theme synergy. Take my red module. +1/+1 counters, general aggro decks (that wants a lot of those cards), even the control style cards have some overlap with +1/+1 counters (Foe-Razer Regent, Caldera Hellion). So you can try and take it just straight aggression, or try and slow things down and be more combo/control. It's not a perfect science, but the idea is to make as many cards as possible desirable in the shard/wedge combinations.

 

[japahn]

The idea is great and I'm looking forward to see how it plays out. My main concern is that letting players do the package drafting might sound fun to you, but most groups will not be invested enough to look through the list/piles and make an informed choice.

 

[blacksmithy]

You could also try drafting the packages before drafting your core list. Each player would select a package and use it as their starting card pool, rather than adding it to the common card pool. I'm not sure which draft dynamic you would prefer, but it's an option you could try without changing anything other than the drafting process.

 

[ColonelSanders]

I think this idea is pretty cool. My only worry would be the public, non random aspect. If everyone drafts what's open and is willing to play whatever deck, then no problems. But most players have preferences. If the packages are too specific, I could see weird situations where Player A requests reanimator, and everyone else assumes that person will being trying to draft the deck. This isn't necessarily the end of the world, but it seems like it could create weird dynamics.

 

[Phinneas]

Here's what I've tinkered with so far based off the suggestions you've all made and some further thought about the HOW of this idea.

1. 24 Modules - 15 Cards Each - 8 Archetypal Categories
2. Modules being grouped into archetypal categories allows for greater synergy and density of cross-pollinated effects.
3. Modules must be reasonably open to cross-pollination with other modules.

So far...here's the list...would love your thoughts. Obviously these are just spit-balled ideas.

1. Graveyard Matters
- Delve/Delirium (Dig Through Time, Treasure Cruise, Tarmogoyf)
- Rec/Sur/Pod (Recurring Nightmare, Survival of the Fittest, Birthing Pod, Oath of Druids)
- Reanimator (Entomb, Reanimate, Animate Dead, Goryo's Vengeance, Griselbrand, Makeshift Mannequin)

2. Spells Matter
- Storm
- Spells Matter (Talrand, Guttersnipe)
- Flashback - Yawgmoth's Will?

3. Artifacts
- Affinity (Ravager, Signal Pest, Mox Opal) - As mentioned, this may be too poisonous - Maybe a big Tezzeret style build?
- Tinker (Tolarian Academy, Mindslaver, Blightsteel Colossus, Tinker, Academy Ruins, Sundering Titan, Inkwell Leviathan,
- Wildfire (Wildfire, Burning of Xinye, Destructive Force, Ember Swallower, Greater Gargadon, Thundermaw)

4. Cheats
- Channel (Channel, Fatties)
- Show/Tell (Show and Tell, Fatties)
- Sneak Attack (Sneak Attack, Fatties)

5. Legacy
- Pox/Stax (Smokestack, Braids, Pox,
- Armageddon (Armageddon, Ravages of War
- ?

6. Vintage
- Power Nine w/Friends (Black Lotus, Mox x 5, Ancestral Recall, Time Walk, Timetwister +6
- Lands, Lands, Lands (10 Duals, Library of Alexandria, Strip Mine, Wasteland, Rishadan Port,
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7. Tribal
- Merfolk
- Zombies
- Goblins

8. Unconventional
- Conspiracy (Conspiracies)
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