Cube Tutor Visual Spoiler
Now I'm on cube tutor, and I'm completely abandoning my Google doc.
TL; DR: Cube rules:
1) Plains are the only basic land. Other colors require you to draft the mana producers for them.
2) Skullclamp has errata to draw only one instead and Mouth of Ronom assumes your plains are actually snow plains.
3) Planeswalkers are killed (and reanimated, and granted protections) by anything that affect creatures. This skews their power level heavily downward. But with all the sweepers in the format, they were simply too dominant before this rule change
4) For eight players, draft 3 packs of 13. For six players, draft 4 packs of 10. For four players, Rochester with 5 packs of 8.
I had heard stories about a mono-blue cube (source unknown) that was pretty sweet, so that sparked an idea: what color would be the best for a mono-colored cube? I came up with white, mostly because of all the colors, it seemed like it could support the most meaningful interactions.
White + Artifacts provides access to:
The result is a very interactive, skill-intensive format that is really fun. You still get a lot of "only could happen in a cube draft" plays, and even though every deck is just white, you rarely get the feel of a "mirror match." Games are usually back and forth, people rarely lose to color screw (I've ran too many colorless lands before - that was embarrassing), and the format is surprisingly deep.
It means the idea started as Mono-White before switching to Mono-Plains. As you've likely guessed, I've only sleeved up Plains for this cube. White is the color of mana you consistently have access to, but the other colors do exist in the cube. Their mana symbols are permitted (unlike having a mono-white commander). W/x hybrid cards are in. Phyrexian Mana spells are in. And if you manage to get, let's say, red man from Coalition Relic and play Gut Shot without paying life, you can.
All of the mana-fixing in the cube is 5-color, so there doesn't need to be any balancing of the non-white colors. That makes things easier on me, the cube designer, and simplifies things for the drafters as well.
Non-white mana can also be used for more than just phyrexian or hybrid cards. Currently, the goal is that almost all cards are "playable" with just white mana, but some cards get better with access to non-white mana: Off color kickers and flashback are the easy examples, but Sky Hussar is a great even if you can't cast him. Unburial Rites works from the yard, but with mana-fixing, you can use it twice. Scion of Darkness is near-impossible to cast; instead you cycle it and reanimate later.
Of course, the next extension of having access to non-white mana is for spells that absolutely require other colors of mana to be usable. From a game design perspective, a case could be made for adding something like Rolling Earthquake. It would be a very powerful card that requires you to have drafted the mana-fixing. However, because the cube was conceived as mono-white (before re-adjusting to mono-plains), I feel this would violate the flavor of the cube. Gold cards with White also opens up a whole can of worms. After much thought, I've decided to include gold cards, but extremely sparingly - only when the functionality is extremely unique. For now, this means the only gold cards are the W/X planeswalkers.
Major Theme: Artifacts and Enchantments Matter: White has oodles of good enchantments, and plays well with artifacts. I made the extra effort to include high-powered cards in these types, and put in many Disenchant effects to match. As beneficial auras are still a liability to get 2-for-1'd, I did not include many of them.
Major Theme: Sweepers: If there is another thing White is really good at doing, it is hitting the reset button. Wrath of God has seen countless variants, and most are included. No board state is ever insurmountable, and caution must always be used when committing more permanents to the board. Of course, as sweepers become ubiquitous, cards that prevent or help rebound from their effects become more valuable. Furthermore, almost all sweepers are Destroy effects: most "anti-wraths" play around destruction and are useless against exile and/or tuck effects. Therefore, Hallowed Burial, Final Judgment and similar cards are intentional exclusions.
Tribal: White has various creature types that have gotten support, so Humans, Soldiers, Knights, and Rebels are just some of the creature types to show off their synergy.
Reanimator: White lacks the under-costed Reanimation tools of black, so the suite here is primarily to re-buy threats. Still, some discard outlets are provided to allow shaving a couple of turns off of playing bombs, if desired.
Equipment: There's a lot of it, and the power level is juiced. Works well both primary themes as it helps protect against creature sweepers, but artifact destruction is also readily available.
Lands: Because a draft can end with all castable spells, utility lands allow you to play with more cards that you've drafted. Therefore, any land which taps for 1 or W is automatically under consideration for inclusion. Lands are the hardest type for White to interact with, so care must be taken to ensure that no land is too powerful if left on board.
White Matters: Not so much a theme, but the power level of several cards are skewed due to mono-white, some enough to warrant inclusion (or exclusion) - Brave the Elements can be a blowout, Sunlance is left out. Strata Scythe gets alarmingly big.
Intentional Exclusions: Shadow, Fast Mana, 1 Sided White Hosers.
THIS CUBE IS A WORK IN PROGRESS. All cubes usually change with time, but I'm still willing to make major modifications at this point. I'm very open to suggestions, and although I've laid out my goals, my only hard and fast rule for this cube is "Plains are the only Basic Land." I'll consider any argument to cut or add cards to the cube, and I'm sure there are some gems I've missed, and some cards I have that are cruft and/or too good.
Now I'm on cube tutor, and I'm completely abandoning my Google doc.
TL; DR: Cube rules:
1) Plains are the only basic land. Other colors require you to draft the mana producers for them.
2) Skullclamp has errata to draw only one instead and Mouth of Ronom assumes your plains are actually snow plains.
3) Planeswalkers are killed (and reanimated, and granted protections) by anything that affect creatures. This skews their power level heavily downward. But with all the sweepers in the format, they were simply too dominant before this rule change
4) For eight players, draft 3 packs of 13. For six players, draft 4 packs of 10. For four players, Rochester with 5 packs of 8.
Introduction
I had heard stories about a mono-blue cube (source unknown) that was pretty sweet, so that sparked an idea: what color would be the best for a mono-colored cube? I came up with white, mostly because of all the colors, it seemed like it could support the most meaningful interactions.
White + Artifacts provides access to:
- Strong removal for every permanent type
- Aggro creatures
- Late-game trumps
- Graveyard interactions
- Strong defensive cards
- Equipment
The result is a very interactive, skill-intensive format that is really fun. You still get a lot of "only could happen in a cube draft" plays, and even though every deck is just white, you rarely get the feel of a "mirror match." Games are usually back and forth, people rarely lose to color screw (I've ran too many colorless lands before - that was embarrassing), and the format is surprisingly deep.
What does Mono-Plains mean, exactly?
It means the idea started as Mono-White before switching to Mono-Plains. As you've likely guessed, I've only sleeved up Plains for this cube. White is the color of mana you consistently have access to, but the other colors do exist in the cube. Their mana symbols are permitted (unlike having a mono-white commander). W/x hybrid cards are in. Phyrexian Mana spells are in. And if you manage to get, let's say, red man from Coalition Relic and play Gut Shot without paying life, you can.
All of the mana-fixing in the cube is 5-color, so there doesn't need to be any balancing of the non-white colors. That makes things easier on me, the cube designer, and simplifies things for the drafters as well.
Non-white mana can also be used for more than just phyrexian or hybrid cards. Currently, the goal is that almost all cards are "playable" with just white mana, but some cards get better with access to non-white mana: Off color kickers and flashback are the easy examples, but Sky Hussar is a great even if you can't cast him. Unburial Rites works from the yard, but with mana-fixing, you can use it twice. Scion of Darkness is near-impossible to cast; instead you cycle it and reanimate later.
Of course, the next extension of having access to non-white mana is for spells that absolutely require other colors of mana to be usable. From a game design perspective, a case could be made for adding something like Rolling Earthquake. It would be a very powerful card that requires you to have drafted the mana-fixing. However, because the cube was conceived as mono-white (before re-adjusting to mono-plains), I feel this would violate the flavor of the cube. Gold cards with White also opens up a whole can of worms. After much thought, I've decided to include gold cards, but extremely sparingly - only when the functionality is extremely unique. For now, this means the only gold cards are the W/X planeswalkers.
Primary Cube Themes:
Major Theme: Artifacts and Enchantments Matter: White has oodles of good enchantments, and plays well with artifacts. I made the extra effort to include high-powered cards in these types, and put in many Disenchant effects to match. As beneficial auras are still a liability to get 2-for-1'd, I did not include many of them.
Major Theme: Sweepers: If there is another thing White is really good at doing, it is hitting the reset button. Wrath of God has seen countless variants, and most are included. No board state is ever insurmountable, and caution must always be used when committing more permanents to the board. Of course, as sweepers become ubiquitous, cards that prevent or help rebound from their effects become more valuable. Furthermore, almost all sweepers are Destroy effects: most "anti-wraths" play around destruction and are useless against exile and/or tuck effects. Therefore, Hallowed Burial, Final Judgment and similar cards are intentional exclusions.
Minor Themes:
Tribal: White has various creature types that have gotten support, so Humans, Soldiers, Knights, and Rebels are just some of the creature types to show off their synergy.
Reanimator: White lacks the under-costed Reanimation tools of black, so the suite here is primarily to re-buy threats. Still, some discard outlets are provided to allow shaving a couple of turns off of playing bombs, if desired.
Equipment: There's a lot of it, and the power level is juiced. Works well both primary themes as it helps protect against creature sweepers, but artifact destruction is also readily available.
Lands: Because a draft can end with all castable spells, utility lands allow you to play with more cards that you've drafted. Therefore, any land which taps for 1 or W is automatically under consideration for inclusion. Lands are the hardest type for White to interact with, so care must be taken to ensure that no land is too powerful if left on board.
White Matters: Not so much a theme, but the power level of several cards are skewed due to mono-white, some enough to warrant inclusion (or exclusion) - Brave the Elements can be a blowout, Sunlance is left out. Strata Scythe gets alarmingly big.
Intentional Exclusions: Shadow, Fast Mana, 1 Sided White Hosers.
THIS CUBE IS A WORK IN PROGRESS. All cubes usually change with time, but I'm still willing to make major modifications at this point. I'm very open to suggestions, and although I've laid out my goals, my only hard and fast rule for this cube is "Plains are the only Basic Land." I'll consider any argument to cut or add cards to the cube, and I'm sure there are some gems I've missed, and some cards I have that are cruft and/or too good.