General Remix Draft: Artifacts on Arena

[alvoi]

Good evening everybody,

Maybe not many users on this forum use Arena, but if you do, for the next two weeks there will be a format that is very particular in my opinion, since it is halfway between a lower-powered Cube and a Masters set. They called it "remix draft" and is basically a fake new set done by using already existing cards.

If you want to have more information: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/mtg-arena/announcing-remix-draft-artifacts-on-mtg-arena
As always, WotC is not able to show the Cube lists properly so here it is: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/remix-artifacts

I find it very interesting that they are experimenting with this kind of stuff, I play Arena only for the Limited environments, and it lightens my heart that they are prone to do some Cube-like formats which are not "just put all the best cards in the Cube and call it a day" since it's not exactly my style of play.

Also, I like that they chose not to put any of the Arena-only (Alchemy) cards in this draft format, since it means that it could be possible to replicate something similar in real life. Maybe somebody (maybe me, maybe someone else) will one day do a Cube based on this remix draft format!

 

[Brad]

They called it "remix draft" and is basically a fake new set done by using already existing cards.

Nice.

I've always wanted to do this kind of project, but it seems like it would get stale so much sooner than a cube, so it never seems worth going through with. I think it's a good way to capture certain themes in a way that's familiar to drafters.

 

[Schafkurai]

Good evening everybody,

Maybe not many users on this forum use Arena, but if you do, for the next two weeks there will be a format that is very particular in my opinion, since it is halfway between a lower-powered Cube and a Masters set. They called it "remix draft" and is basically a fake new set done by using already existing cards.

If you want to have more information: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/mtg-arena/announcing-remix-draft-artifacts-on-mtg-arena
As always, WotC is not able to show the Cube lists properly so here it is: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/remix-artifacts

I find it very interesting that they are experimenting with this kind of stuff, I play Arena only for the Limited environments, and it lightens my heart that they are prone to do some Cube-like formats which are not "just put all the best cards in the Cube and call it a day" since it's not exactly my style of play.

Also, I like that they chose not to put any of the Arena-only (Alchemy) cards in this draft format, since it means that it could be possible to replicate something similar in real life. Maybe somebody (maybe me, maybe someone else) will one day do a Cube based on this remix draft format!

Filling out their questionnaires diligently and putting cube as my favorite format is showing some results.

Cube masters draft set incoming in 2025 at 600 € a box, I'm sorry everybody.

EDIT: I did start a draft yesterday and it was fun so far . I built a decent Selesnya counters deck and funnily enough, of the four rounds I played, three were against other selesnya decks. I will probably play it a bit more and see how much long term fun is it be had with it.

 

[Humpty_Dumpty]

Thanks for the heads up. It looks interesting and I may give it a try.

I've always wanted to do this kind of project, but it seems like it would get stale so much sooner than a cube, so it never seems worth going through with.

Is the ‘stale’ worry that there are only 290 cards, that it is artifact focused to the exclusion of other themes, or something else? Also, if you were to do something like this, how would it differ from Cube? Would you create packs? Would there be different frequencies of different rarities? Would drafters keep their picks? Otherwise wouldn’t it just be an artifact themed Cube.

Cube masters draft set incoming in 2025 at 600 € a box, I'm sorry everybody.

Is this an actual thing? Cube is serious business: don’t joke about Cube.

 

[Schafkurai]

Is this an actual thing? Cube is serious business: don’t joke about Cube.

More of a jab at WotCs product development practices. By now there must be handfuls of us cube curators filling out those surveys and someone at wizards will surely notice that there is money to be had . The real Cube masters is coming this year though (hint, it's disguised as another format that keeps complaining about new cards entering their format.

On a more "serious" note, I wonder though. Would it be detrimental if Wizards made product aimed at cube aficionados? We are very experienced at opting out of what we don't want.

 

[Brad]

Is the ‘stale’ worry that there are only 290 cards, that it is artifact focused to the exclusion of other themes, or something else?

Seeing card A vs card B much more frequently, due primarily to the commons.

For myself, I've polled my playgroup and they don't even want duplicate lands. They value singleton pretty highly. I think that this is kind of stupid, but it's a preference they have, so, whatever.

Also, if you were to do something like this, how would it differ from Cube?

There's a few options, depending how lazy you are.

Would you create packs?

This is probably the best, but requires the most work. I like the idea of having a land slot if someone goes this route. You can support artifact lands as WotC did here, or go for something like snow, deserts, gates, or caves. Things that are harder to make work without breaking singleton.

Would there be different frequencies of different rarities?

Yeah. There'd be 3-4x commons, 2x uncommons, 1x rares. This would make it feel pretty similar to a set. Then take the C/U/R/M distribution from an actual set and multiply that out.

Would drafters keep their picks? Otherwise wouldn’t it just be an artifact themed Cube.

I assume they're doing multiples on commons/uncommons, based on the description "fake new set" in the OP.

I can't actually tell whether they are doing multiples or not from the article. They must be for the lands, at least? Probably for the whole thing?

They have infinite quantities and randomization due to it being online, so I hope that they're simulating a "fake new set" rather than a weird cube restriction. If it's a cube with weird rarity restriction, then this is a let down.

 

[Schafkurai]

n't actually tell whether they are doing multiples or not from the article. They must be for the lands, at least? Probably for the whole thing?

They have infinite quantities and randomization due to it being online, so I hope that they're simulating a "fake new set" rather than a weird cube restriction. If it's a cube with weird rarity restriction, then this is a let down.

You surmised correctly, it is a fake new set with traditional rarity distributions (since it's not a phantom draft, we can't have them get too many rares now can we).

It feels a bit more like a cube because I don't think it follows their set blueprints so strictly. I feel like there is way less removal (which made me slightly mad, because I lost my last match to double Cloudsteel Kirin) and also the multicolor cards are not equally distributed. Maybe they're just trying out some things. I will probably play a few more drafts but somehow the games feel a bit more repetitive (I have been on the receiving end of unlockable Gearseeker Serpent much more often than during Kaladesh).

 

[Brad]

but somehow the games feel a bit more repetitive

Cus you have multiples of commons.

I bet this underwent little to no testing, so there's probably plenty of issues in the list, as well.

 

[Modin]

It feels a bit more like a cube because I don't think it follows their set blueprints so strictly. I feel like there is way less removal...

My experience was quite the opposite. I have 5+ good-very good removal spells in my bg deck and could have had even more. Might be the color balance

 

[Schafkurai]

My experience was quite the opposite. I have 5+ good-very good removal spells in my bg deck and could have had even more. Might be the color balance

That may be, a sample size of 3 for me is also not very robust . I somehow ended up in Selesnya twice and was playing 18-20 creature decks. Work out nicely once, not so well the second time. Maybe I'm also just not picking removal high enough.

 

[gaytransmulldrifter]

Been playing this a bit and I like that they're trying out more cube-like environments on Arena but man it can be a little frustrating how a lot of the cube stuff tends to feel like a "play the most big things" simulator.