DEFINITION & EFFICIENCY
No matter how many cards compose our cube, its number will always be finite. And since the card pool is limited and only forty cards go in a deck, we may come to realize that the number of slots available are limited.
Given this scarcity I want to introduce the concept of "Slot efficiency". In simple terms: A card, idea or archetype is "slot efficient", when it furthers the cube's goals significantly compared to the amount of space it takes in the cube. Inversely, "a card, idea or archetype is inefficient when it takes a large amount of space for what it provides.
Let me use two examples. Imagine I want to add a combo to my cube. Which one of these is more efficient in slots, Dark Depths or Storm?
Dark depths:
Storm:
etc, etc, etc.
Simple, right? Dark Depths is more efficient because it takes fewer slots to achieve the same desired result. So far, so good. However, slot efficiency is not just a measure of how many cards an archetype needs in a cube, but how much you get for spending that space. Hence, let see a second example.
Imagine I want to support Storm a little more and decide to spend 3 slots on it. Which of these packages will do more for the archetype?
Package one:
Package two:
The first package will do little for storm. The cards don't work with each other and have vastly different requirements. On the other hand, if you dabble in black, you can happily run all the cards from Package two in your deck. The second package is more slot efficient, it does more to boost the archetype at the same "cost".
I find that running inefficient cards, that help an archetype, but do so inefficiently, is one of the recurring problems in cube design. We have a tendence to add cards that "technically" support a deck, or that you could run but that aren't a great enough fit to justify their inclusing in the cube.
For example, one of these two cards is going to make me excited about Blink and another one won't. Which one is it?
It's not that Countless Gears Renegade is bad, but's it's a far worse target than Akroma. You can build a deck taround the latter and have a satisfactory result, while Countless Gears Renegade tends to be cut because you would rather blink Man O'War.
The biggest strides I've made in my cube have come by increasing the efficiency of my slots. Too often, the matter wasn't even the number of support cards, or the difficulty of the archetype but that the cards I had weren't doing enough of what I wanted. Looking for these inefficient slots is a huge part of improving a cube.
SLOT EFFICIENCY VS PARASITISM
You may notice that slot efficiency has some overlap with parasitism. Parasitic cards are often less efficient and you can easily find scenarios where the reasons behind parasitism and inefficiency are practically identical between one another. But this is not always the case. For example, powerful "good stuff" cards are the opposite of parasitic, but they are incredibly inefficient at boosting your archetypes.
Sure, you'll play Questing Beast in most decks that can support it, but it does nothing other than being good. On the other hand, Earthcraft is much less broadly useful, but it's extremely efficient at creating a specific archetype.
HOW TO INCREASE SLOT EFFICIENCY
1) Your archetype cards should have a large impact on their own
2) Avoid second-tier support
In Cube it's almost inevitable to end up with more cards than you can actually put in your deck. Hence, there's no need for most "second tier" support card. Often, you can get away with far fewer slots if the individual cards are better suited. You can always tone the archetype down in other ways, if needed.
3) Avoid generally strong "good stuff" cards
Strong, "good stuff" cards will make it into every deck yet not help any of your archetypes. Try to minimize them whenever possible. If the only reason you can think to include a card is "because it's good" then it may not be the best card for the slot!
4) Find "two for ones"
Often, you can find cards that support several archetypes at once. For example, you can pick your fatties so they can be cheated out with every method (Reanimator, Sneak Attack, Welder) instead of just one of them. You can blink Fleshgorger, reanimate it or ramp into it. Elemental works for tokens and counters, Elvish Reclaimer seeks lands and is good in aggro graveyard decks and Chromatic Star has a ton of different utilities, from artifact support to chaining storm.
Anyways, it's just something I've been thinking about. What do you think?
No matter how many cards compose our cube, its number will always be finite. And since the card pool is limited and only forty cards go in a deck, we may come to realize that the number of slots available are limited.
Given this scarcity I want to introduce the concept of "Slot efficiency". In simple terms: A card, idea or archetype is "slot efficient", when it furthers the cube's goals significantly compared to the amount of space it takes in the cube. Inversely, "a card, idea or archetype is inefficient when it takes a large amount of space for what it provides.
Let me use two examples. Imagine I want to add a combo to my cube. Which one of these is more efficient in slots, Dark Depths or Storm?
Dark depths:
Storm:
etc, etc, etc.Simple, right? Dark Depths is more efficient because it takes fewer slots to achieve the same desired result. So far, so good. However, slot efficiency is not just a measure of how many cards an archetype needs in a cube, but how much you get for spending that space. Hence, let see a second example.
Imagine I want to support Storm a little more and decide to spend 3 slots on it. Which of these packages will do more for the archetype?
Package one:
Package two:
The first package will do little for storm. The cards don't work with each other and have vastly different requirements. On the other hand, if you dabble in black, you can happily run all the cards from Package two in your deck. The second package is more slot efficient, it does more to boost the archetype at the same "cost".
I find that running inefficient cards, that help an archetype, but do so inefficiently, is one of the recurring problems in cube design. We have a tendence to add cards that "technically" support a deck, or that you could run but that aren't a great enough fit to justify their inclusing in the cube.
For example, one of these two cards is going to make me excited about Blink and another one won't. Which one is it?
It's not that Countless Gears Renegade is bad, but's it's a far worse target than Akroma. You can build a deck taround the latter and have a satisfactory result, while Countless Gears Renegade tends to be cut because you would rather blink Man O'War.
The biggest strides I've made in my cube have come by increasing the efficiency of my slots. Too often, the matter wasn't even the number of support cards, or the difficulty of the archetype but that the cards I had weren't doing enough of what I wanted. Looking for these inefficient slots is a huge part of improving a cube.
SLOT EFFICIENCY VS PARASITISM
You may notice that slot efficiency has some overlap with parasitism. Parasitic cards are often less efficient and you can easily find scenarios where the reasons behind parasitism and inefficiency are practically identical between one another. But this is not always the case. For example, powerful "good stuff" cards are the opposite of parasitic, but they are incredibly inefficient at boosting your archetypes.
Sure, you'll play Questing Beast in most decks that can support it, but it does nothing other than being good. On the other hand, Earthcraft is much less broadly useful, but it's extremely efficient at creating a specific archetype.
HOW TO INCREASE SLOT EFFICIENCY
1) Your archetype cards should have a large impact on their own
2) Avoid second-tier support
In Cube it's almost inevitable to end up with more cards than you can actually put in your deck. Hence, there's no need for most "second tier" support card. Often, you can get away with far fewer slots if the individual cards are better suited. You can always tone the archetype down in other ways, if needed.
3) Avoid generally strong "good stuff" cards
Strong, "good stuff" cards will make it into every deck yet not help any of your archetypes. Try to minimize them whenever possible. If the only reason you can think to include a card is "because it's good" then it may not be the best card for the slot!
4) Find "two for ones"
Often, you can find cards that support several archetypes at once. For example, you can pick your fatties so they can be cheated out with every method (Reanimator, Sneak Attack, Welder) instead of just one of them. You can blink Fleshgorger, reanimate it or ramp into it. Elemental works for tokens and counters, Elvish Reclaimer seeks lands and is good in aggro graveyard decks and Chromatic Star has a ton of different utilities, from artifact support to chaining storm.
Anyways, it's just something I've been thinking about. What do you think?
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