I've been interested in cube ever since I first read one of Waddell's articles way back in Spring and participated in a couple of cube drafts on campus at my university. I've been a longtime listener of Maro's Drive To Work podcasts as well and have been intrigued by his thoughts on game design and his talks on what went into each specific set/block. The card-by-card stories were always very interesting and really helped me to imagine the kinds of environments that he had crafted and how they came together.
Over the summer I finally got down to designing and building up my first cube and it's finally to a point where I don't mind sharing it here with all the awesome people at Riptide! When I first began creating the cube, I would simply look at best-of lists featuring the premier cards in each color/archetype and tried using that as a base. However, I quickly found that many of these cards were broken and unfun to play with so I decided to look for an alternative. There's just nothing interesting at all about a game where you win on Turn 2 or 3 with some unanswerable threat or get so far ahead that there's no competition. That's fine in constructed, but I don't want that shit when I'm playing for fun. That's when I stumbled upon these forums.
It was super refreshing to see unique takes on cube design that were different from the typical power-max mindset. I wanted to build a cube that was fun, interactive, and allowed for cool synergies and strategies to shine rather than a race to see who drops the first bomb. I mean, the most memorable Magic games are those where you're trading blows with your opponent and fighting for inches. That's what I hope to create with my cube.
I've adopted and tweaked many of the common archetypes and themes that others have implemented in their cubes on these forums and I've been really happen with them. Recursive Black Aggro, Birthing Pod, Lifegain and other like archetypes are featured in my Cube. The Utility Land Draft has been a huge hit with my playgroup. Breaking singleton was the best decision ever and I can't understand why so many people cling onto such an outdated concept at the expense of better gameplay.
My goal is to create an environment that is intricate, multi-layered, and highly interactive. I will swap out raw power for synergy across multiple archetypes and possible decks to promote better gameplay. I want to have a Cube where there are complex decisions to make throughout, where it isn't simply the best decision to just draft raw power over synergies. I want there to be a real payoff for good drafting that will trump just picking up all the good cards that come your way.
Anyway, without further ado, here are the contents of my Cube: http://cubetutor.com/visualspoiler/14504
I update it pretty frequently whenever a new set comes out, sadly not as much time to get in real world repetitions nowadays but hey, that's what theorycrafting on a forum is for! Hit me up with any suggestions you have!
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Sweet 3-0 Decks:
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Even Color Distribution Method (for 15 card packs):
1) Divide everything in your cube by color into 5 piles (WUBRG) with gold/colorless/land cards together in a 6th pile.
2) Take cards from each of the 5 piles and shuffle it into the 6th gold/colorless/lands pile until the 6th pile equals half the size of your cube (At 420 I take 23 from each of the WUBRG piles and add it to the 95 + 50 in the 6th pile; end up with 260 total).
3) Distribute the mixed 6th pile evenly into each colored pile (should end up with 84 in each pile), then shuffle those piles thoroughly.
4) You should now be left with 5 mixed piles each leaning towards a majority of a specific color.
5) Take three cards from each of your five piles to make 15 card packs, repeat until you have 24 packs for a full pod.
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Quilt Drafting:
(credit to a user on MTGS who posted this years ago)
When you can't fire an actual draft with a pod of 6-8 people, another method for smaller groups (2-4 people) to get their fix is quilting. The process is very simple
1) Shuffle up your cube (perhaps with the method listed above) and deal out cards in an N x N grid, usually with N = 8 or 9.
2) The cards should be laid out in a grid with each card positioned 90 degrees rotated from the previous. It should end up looking something like this:
3) Each player may only choose a card that has a narrow edge exposed, alternating picks between players. In the picture above, for example, you can pick up the Go For The Throat in the corner but not the Vampire Lacerator a few cards down.
4) As more cards are picked, you'll unlock cards deeper into the grid. You usually want to draft around half the grid (so 32 picks in a 64 card quilt) before laying out a new one. Repeat for 3 quilts or until each player has approximately 44-48 cards within their chosen pool.
I've found that this is a great draft variant that leads interesting decks and is a kind of mini-game unlocking the depths of the quilt. Maybe you don't make a certain pick based off what your opponent might get as a payoff. Is it really worth it to pick up this filler creature if it unlocks an absolute bomb for your opponent the next pick? Should I focus upon this piece of fixing right now or can I pick it up later down the line? The open information makes the drafting process very interactive and might actually be a way to get new player to cube more familiar with what you've designed. Being able to discuss picks and make analyses on the fly is great.
For added difficulty/more fun/randomness, you can set up a quilt with only the outer edges visible and the inner cards flipped down until the narrow edge is exposed. Enjoy!
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In Depth Archetype Breakdowns I've Written:
B/W Humans
U/R Artifacts
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My Utility Land Draft:
Over the summer I finally got down to designing and building up my first cube and it's finally to a point where I don't mind sharing it here with all the awesome people at Riptide! When I first began creating the cube, I would simply look at best-of lists featuring the premier cards in each color/archetype and tried using that as a base. However, I quickly found that many of these cards were broken and unfun to play with so I decided to look for an alternative. There's just nothing interesting at all about a game where you win on Turn 2 or 3 with some unanswerable threat or get so far ahead that there's no competition. That's fine in constructed, but I don't want that shit when I'm playing for fun. That's when I stumbled upon these forums.
It was super refreshing to see unique takes on cube design that were different from the typical power-max mindset. I wanted to build a cube that was fun, interactive, and allowed for cool synergies and strategies to shine rather than a race to see who drops the first bomb. I mean, the most memorable Magic games are those where you're trading blows with your opponent and fighting for inches. That's what I hope to create with my cube.
I've adopted and tweaked many of the common archetypes and themes that others have implemented in their cubes on these forums and I've been really happen with them. Recursive Black Aggro, Birthing Pod, Lifegain and other like archetypes are featured in my Cube. The Utility Land Draft has been a huge hit with my playgroup. Breaking singleton was the best decision ever and I can't understand why so many people cling onto such an outdated concept at the expense of better gameplay.
My goal is to create an environment that is intricate, multi-layered, and highly interactive. I will swap out raw power for synergy across multiple archetypes and possible decks to promote better gameplay. I want to have a Cube where there are complex decisions to make throughout, where it isn't simply the best decision to just draft raw power over synergies. I want there to be a real payoff for good drafting that will trump just picking up all the good cards that come your way.
Anyway, without further ado, here are the contents of my Cube: http://cubetutor.com/visualspoiler/14504
I update it pretty frequently whenever a new set comes out, sadly not as much time to get in real world repetitions nowadays but hey, that's what theorycrafting on a forum is for! Hit me up with any suggestions you have!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sweet 3-0 Decks:
Efreets and Demons [Jobeth] (10/1/14)
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Grenzo's Dungeon (10/14/14)
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BW Aggro (2/12/15)
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GR Aggro [Peicong] (4/7/15)
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Mardu Control [Leo] (09/24/15)
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Sultai [Henry] (1/6/16)
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Naya Bellower (1/6/16)
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Little Abzan Combo [Peicong] (3-28-16)
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Izzet Tempo [Bertran] (3-13-17)
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Azorius Midrange [Leo] (6/2/17)
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Grixis Artifact Control [Addison] (6/2/17)
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UB Reanimator [Will] (7/26/19)
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Classic UW Control [Ryan] (3/17/23)
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Even Color Distribution Method (for 15 card packs):
1) Divide everything in your cube by color into 5 piles (WUBRG) with gold/colorless/land cards together in a 6th pile.
2) Take cards from each of the 5 piles and shuffle it into the 6th gold/colorless/lands pile until the 6th pile equals half the size of your cube (At 420 I take 23 from each of the WUBRG piles and add it to the 95 + 50 in the 6th pile; end up with 260 total).
3) Distribute the mixed 6th pile evenly into each colored pile (should end up with 84 in each pile), then shuffle those piles thoroughly.
4) You should now be left with 5 mixed piles each leaning towards a majority of a specific color.
5) Take three cards from each of your five piles to make 15 card packs, repeat until you have 24 packs for a full pod.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quilt Drafting:
(credit to a user on MTGS who posted this years ago)
When you can't fire an actual draft with a pod of 6-8 people, another method for smaller groups (2-4 people) to get their fix is quilting. The process is very simple
1) Shuffle up your cube (perhaps with the method listed above) and deal out cards in an N x N grid, usually with N = 8 or 9.
2) The cards should be laid out in a grid with each card positioned 90 degrees rotated from the previous. It should end up looking something like this:
3) Each player may only choose a card that has a narrow edge exposed, alternating picks between players. In the picture above, for example, you can pick up the Go For The Throat in the corner but not the Vampire Lacerator a few cards down.
4) As more cards are picked, you'll unlock cards deeper into the grid. You usually want to draft around half the grid (so 32 picks in a 64 card quilt) before laying out a new one. Repeat for 3 quilts or until each player has approximately 44-48 cards within their chosen pool.
I've found that this is a great draft variant that leads interesting decks and is a kind of mini-game unlocking the depths of the quilt. Maybe you don't make a certain pick based off what your opponent might get as a payoff. Is it really worth it to pick up this filler creature if it unlocks an absolute bomb for your opponent the next pick? Should I focus upon this piece of fixing right now or can I pick it up later down the line? The open information makes the drafting process very interactive and might actually be a way to get new player to cube more familiar with what you've designed. Being able to discuss picks and make analyses on the fly is great.
For added difficulty/more fun/randomness, you can set up a quilt with only the outer edges visible and the inner cards flipped down until the narrow edge is exposed. Enjoy!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In Depth Archetype Breakdowns I've Written:
B/W Humans U/R Artifacts--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My Utility Land Draft:
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