I draft my cube with two people almost exclusively, and we've been experimenting with a variety of formats. Currently we do a mixture of Winston and Grid drafting, but a couple of weeks ago I remembered an old solitaire game I used to play called Crazy Quilt, and the Cube Quilt draft was born. It's still in early testing stages, but so far it has made for a very fun, different Rochester/Winchester variant.
Here's how it works:
Deal out 64 cards in a grid, with each card rotated 90 degrees from the previous. This is the "quilt". See here:
The rules are simple. You can only choose a card with a narrow edge exposed. That's it! So in the photo above, you can't draft Ajani Vengeant until someone picks Azorius Signet or Squee. Once Ajani Vengeant is taken, Bloodline Keeper would become available, and so forth. No-one is likely to ever take Solemn Simulacrum since your opponent would take that Wurmcoil Engine...
When 32 cards (i.e., half) have been drafted, you scoop up the board and deal out a second 64 cards and do it again. At the end, each person will have drafted 32 cards, 16 from each quilt.
Having to spatially plan what you think you can get from a board makes this a very unique method of drafting. Personally, I prefer some amount of hidden information in my drafts, and will only do this as a change of pace, but for those who enjoy Rochester-style games this should be fun. We've found that drafts can go very differently--sometimes people are careful not to expose their opponent's best cards, hatedrafting is rampant, and decks are weaker. Other times players focus on getting their cards, and decks are strong and streamlined.
I'll be interested to hear how it works for others. Enjoy!
Here's how it works:
Deal out 64 cards in a grid, with each card rotated 90 degrees from the previous. This is the "quilt". See here:
The rules are simple. You can only choose a card with a narrow edge exposed. That's it! So in the photo above, you can't draft Ajani Vengeant until someone picks Azorius Signet or Squee. Once Ajani Vengeant is taken, Bloodline Keeper would become available, and so forth. No-one is likely to ever take Solemn Simulacrum since your opponent would take that Wurmcoil Engine...
When 32 cards (i.e., half) have been drafted, you scoop up the board and deal out a second 64 cards and do it again. At the end, each person will have drafted 32 cards, 16 from each quilt.
Having to spatially plan what you think you can get from a board makes this a very unique method of drafting. Personally, I prefer some amount of hidden information in my drafts, and will only do this as a change of pace, but for those who enjoy Rochester-style games this should be fun. We've found that drafts can go very differently--sometimes people are careful not to expose their opponent's best cards, hatedrafting is rampant, and decks are weaker. Other times players focus on getting their cards, and decks are strong and streamlined.
I'll be interested to hear how it works for others. Enjoy!
