Unstable Cubicorns– TrainmasterGT's Low Complexity Battle Box.

[TrainmasterGT]

Unstable Cubicorns: A Battle Box for Training​

For years, I have been looking for ways to introduce people to Magic through self-contained experiences like Cube. I've filled both the forums and Cubecobra with dead noob cube lists that barely made it past the sketch phase, such as my original 360 Noob Cube and my later attempt at a 180 Newbie Cubie. While these Cubes are reasonably well designed, they really don't do the exact thing I need them to. I want an experience that feels like playing limited Magic without actually requiring players to know anything about the game before we sit down and shuffle up. Anything draftable simply cannot work with this goal, since players need to know what cards do in order to successfully construct a deck. While my Noob Cubes work as superior approximations of Core Set limited, their status as full-fledged draft environments means that they don't work for the level of player I want to cater towards. Luckily, there is a solution to my problem: Battle Box!

What is Battle Box?
Battle Box is a format where players draw all of their cards from a communal deck containing only spells. Each player starts the game with 10 lands outside the game, one of which they can play every turn. This mixture of lands contains one of each basic and one of each ally-color tapped dual land. Otherwise, a Battle Box can really have anything a designer wishes to include. Normally, specific archetypes are not present within a Battle Box since cards are drawn from a communal deck. However, there are sometimes themes permeating the entire box, such as artifacts, graveyard matters, or combat tricks. Most Battle Boxes also tend to have lower mana curves and no ramp, since players have essentially perfect mana no matter what. High mana value cards tend to be weaker than their cheaper counterparts since the "drawback" of expensive cards (needing to play and draw more lands) is entirely absent from a Battle Box. For more information on this format, read Anthony Mattox's wonderful article A Guide to Battle Box on Lucky Paper.

Why Battle Box?
One of my favorite games to play with my family is Unstable Unicorns:

This card game removes many of the learning barriers of TCGs like Magic by eschewing the mana system and deckbuilding components of the experience. Instead, the game has players draw from a Communal deck which contains a bunch of highly-synergistic individual cards.

The game also includes Counterspells:

Even though Unstable Unicorns has a much simpler rules engine than Magic, it retains many of the same complexity elements that make Magic a lot of fun. There are cantrip Unicorns, Unicorn counterspells, and even Unicorn removal spells. The only thing it's missing is Unicorn Colossal Dreadmaw and Unicorn Brushwagg. Despite the low level of rules baggage, Unstable Unicorns really feels like playing something akin to a mid-2010s Riptide Cube or Caleb Gannon's Powered Synergy Cube. There are lots of unique opportunities for interesting card combinations and interaction between players that other games this easy to learn can't really emulate.

This all comes back to Battle Box. Battle Box shares many elements with Unstable Unicorns. In both games, players draw from a communal deck and play with pre-determined synergistic cards. The biggest difference is that Battle Box retains elements of Magic's mana system. Because Unstable Unicorns is so easy to learn, I've come to realize that a Magic: The Gathering variant of Unstable Unicorns is the on-ramp to the game that I have been searching for. A Battle Box designed with easy to understand cards and a flat power level could be an incredibly useful tool for teaching Magic to new players.

Unstable Cubicorns: Goals
For my Unstable Cubicorns battle box, I have a series of goals that I wish to acheive:

1) Ease of Comprehension.
I don't want cards that are difficult to understand plaguing the format. A little bit of complexity if fine, even welcome, but cards need to be intuitive. I will be using cards with reminder text wherever possible, and avoiding the inclusion of overly-wordy cards except for when they are simple to understand.

2) Pick-Up and Play: Low Baggage.
I want Unstable Cubicorns to no setup other than setting out some playmats and shuffling the deck. It shouldn't be an ordeal to start playing the game. To that end, I will be eschewing the use of Counters and Tokens. Non-card game peices can add a lot of bulk to the game for minimal gain in a teaching environment. While Counters and Tokens can give a lot to a Cube environment, where extra game peices can lead to explosive game plays and fun lines of play, they don't help me to acheive my goals of simplicity and ease to play.

3) Inclusion of Key Mechanics From my Cube.
Ultimately, if I'm teaching someone to play Magic, it's because I want them to be able to draft my Cube at some point. Cube is my Favorite way to play Magic and I want to introduce more people to the hobby. I want to include important Cube mechanics like Adventure, Cycling, and Flashback to the box in order to get people comforatble playing using them in a variety of situations.

4) Flat-ish Power Band
I don't like randomly losing games to power outliars, wether it's because I drew all of the bad cards or because my opponent drew too many good cards. To alleviate this pressure, I'm going to try to keep the power band fairly narrow. I still plan to include a few power outliars and high-rolls to showcase the adrenaline rush of drawing and playing good cards, but I don't gameplay experience to revolve around a high power band. I want every card to feel like it matters in some capactiy.

5) Resonance and Iconic Cards.
I want cards in my battle box to connect with the player. They should be Cute or Cool, Scary or Sexy, and Mighty or Memey (or both). I plan to do this through striking art, powerful abilities, or good flavor. For this reason, I also want to include some iconic Magic cards like Serra Angel that have historically connected with players.

6) Include at least one instance of every Evergreen Mechanic and most Deciduous Mechanics
This is a goal I added after building the first version of the Battle Box, but I would like it if this Battle Box included every evergreen mechanic and most of the deciduous mechanics with reminder text where possible. This mode of play is a great way to introduce players to every major mechanic, since they will most likely be playing with every color of card over the course of a given game.

7) Keep the game moving.
Last but not least, I want to keep the game advancing. My goals have lead me to creating a very low-power format, and as such, games are at risk of taking too long and stalling out. Even though the card pool mostly consists of retail limited cards, I want the gameplay to be roughly as fast as Standard. As previously noted, I want to get players comfortable with some of the gameplay dynamics in my Cube and getting them used to faster formats is a good way of doing that. Luckily, the "all gas" model of Battle Box combined with smart usage of mechanics like Raid should help with this goal.

Unstable Cubicorns: Major Mechanics
Raid

Raid is an extremely useful mechanic for keeping the game moving. New players can often forget to attack, so having spells remind them to do that is a big deal. Players should see the "raid" keyword and want to attack in order to turn on their raiders. Raid will appear in mostly in Blue, Black and Red, with the one White raider that doesn't make a token also appearing.

Adventure

Adventures are a great source of depth and card advantage in extremely flavorful packages. I want people to get comfortable using Adventures, so I will be making heavy use of them in the Battle Box. They're a little bit more complex to teach than I might like, but they're important enought that I think they're worth the bulk.

Visionaries and Rats

Battle Boxes usually don't use cards like Divination which simply draw multiple cards since the format is so heavy on gas to begin with. However, cantrips are often included to provide game smoothing. After all, even though the mana base might be perfect, a player's grip of spells might not be. Elvish Visionaries and Ravenous Rats are great cards because they can help teach card economy and in some cases smooth out rough draws. The rat variants will also help players get used to using the graveyard for value, since they will force players into discarding cards, fueling flashback and reanimation spells.

Unstable Cubicorns: Minor Mechanics
Alliance

Alliance rewards playing creatures, something I want players doing every turn. I don't want people holding back creatures in this format– they should be running them out and using them in combat. Some alliance cards like Venom Connoisseur even encourage attacking, as they give bonuses to the entire team.

Flashback

Flashback is a great mechanic for teaching about graveyard value while also smoothing the game. It is a fun, flavorful, and useful mechanic that I want players to understand.

Vanilla Creatures

Vanilla Creatures add very little extra mental load a game while often having great lore and story elements. I decided to add a few Vanillas to the Battle Box in order to offset some of the more complex cards like the Adventures. I've chosen to take the Yargle approach to my Vanillas: given them endearing flavor and interesting statlines in order to make them feel relevant even though they are fundamentally simple.

Conclusicorn
Unstable Cubicorns has been a blast of a Battle Box to design and Build. So far, it has been fun to play and has acheived many of the goals I set out to accomplish in my above post. It does require a bit of tweaking, which I will get to in my next few posts. As a whole, however, the first version of Unstable Cubicorns has been successful and is a well-rounded new-player experience.

>>Unstable Cubicorns Battle Box Link<<

Thanks for reading!
-GT

 

[TrainmasterGT]

Gameplay Reviewnicorn #1​

I've been playing Unstable Cubicorns with my little sister for about three weeks now, and I think I have a pretty reasonable idea about how the base format works. My sister used to play Magic a little bit when she was about 10 and I was around 12, but she hasn't played since shortly after the release of Khans of Tarkir. This means that her knowledge of the game is only a little bit greater than someone who has never played before, making her an ideal candidate to help test. As a whole, Unstable Cubicorns has been very successful at achieving its goals, although there is still a little bit of room for improvement. I had never played a Battle Box before building Unstable Cubicorns, so I mostly focused on adding cards I wanted to play with instead of copying a list from someone else. While I didn't ignore the heuristics those before me had laid out, I definitely used them less as rules and more as a general skeleton. The format just seemed so different than anything else I have ever played that I felt I would get the best data from my own gameplay experiences. I think this was the correct decision, but as a result of this, I will need to make slightly larger changes than I had originally hoped. That's ok, however, because effectively two new sets came out since I started building this box and there are a lot of cards from both that I want to try. Here are some highlights of what I learned:

The Complexity is about Right.
I wanted to keep the complexity fairly low, and I think it's in the right spot. Adventures were predictably on the complicated side of things, but I feel like once someone understands what adventure does (play the instant/sorcery half first and play the creature later or simply cast the creature by itself), they don't have any trouble beyond the usual comprehension issues with instants. Otherwise, Savage Punch has been hard to understand for some reason. I was playing this card because I thought it was extremely resonant, but apparently not.

Games are a little on the Slow Side.
I don't think games are too slow as a whole, but I think games where players draw too many expensive cards or noncreature cantrips early end up lasting two or three turns longer than I would like. The most fun games have been the ones where players curve 1-2-3-double spell on 4 or curve gate-2-3-4. I think I should remove some of the spells that don't directly interact with the board and a couple of the more expensive spells.

Too many 3s.
As I said above, the Battle Box's mana curve is a little high. Most of this issue is due to an excess of 3-drops. Right now, there are 23 three mana cards in the Cube, with 19 of those being creatures. I find 3s to be the most likely to get caught in hand and go unplayed. The 4 and 5 drops are powerful enough that they warrant being cast right away when possible, but the 3s are almost never that good or exciting. Realistically, I don't need to cut too many of the 4 or 5 drops, but I do need to trim probably five 3 drops in order to get the game to where I want it to be.

The Power Level is Pretty Good.
Having said all of that, the power level of the Cube is roughly correct. No cards feel overpowered. Even the "power outliers" I mentioned feel appropriate for their costs. I could afford to cut some of the worst cards and put in better cards to tighten the power band a little bit, but realistically the power neighborhood for 90% of the cards is correct.

Noncreature Cantrips aren't Good.
I do not like the way noncreature cantrips feel in this format. I thought having some card selection/cheeky draw would be cool here, but it's not. Playing these cards almost never feels better than just casting a creature. It's a shame, because I love cantrips in the context of my Cube. There, cantrips almost always end up in decks that can leverage them fully every game. I also get to play with cards like Young Pyromancer and Sprite Dragons that don't fit my current inclusion criteria that have compounding bonuses from playing cantrips.

The sole exception is Telling Time, which is interesting because it can be used to screw the opponent out of a good draw when timed correctly. However, since normal games of Magic do not use a communal deck, this isn't a dynamic I strictly need in an environment with teaching elements. It's just a fun card.

Pump Spells are Fun, and probably Very Good
By contrast, cards like Giant Growth and Titan's Strength have been playing really well! I knew some people liked combat tricks in Battle Box, but I didn't really understand why until getting to play them myself. They actually add a lot of fun to onboard combat by making cool creatures bigger. While they're not better than removal tricks, I think they're cool enough to be worth expanding upon. I would like to add more pump if possible.

Too many creatures?
Right now, 69% of the cards in Unstable Cubicorns are creatures (nice). I think it might be nice to reduce this number by a little bit and add some more interactive spells. I have to be careful here, because I don't want this format to turn into two people trading removal spells until someone draws Striped Riverwinder and wins. One of the biggest criticisms of the popular Tempo Cube is that games end up going long because most decks have more answers than threats. This gameplay pattern is not fun and it is something I want to avoid. However, I also don't want boards getting too wide and hard to comprehend, which also extends games in an unsavory fashion. As of right now, I need to reduce the creature count a little bit. I should probably also add more things that have trample and flying.

No Unicorns
I need to put a Unicorn in here. I wanted to get the one from Baldur's Gate but I stupidly didn't pick one up during the draft and now I don't have one. Oh well, I'll just buy it with my Altar of Bhaal and shiny Brokers Charm for my main Cube.

Individual Card Notes
Vigilant Baloth

I have been trying to fit Vigilant Baloth in a Cube since my first attempt at building a Noob Cube in December 2018. 4 years later, I thought I had finally found a home for this card. I did not. Vigilant Baloth is fine, but just doesn't feel that exciting in a perfect curve format. It ends up being a big idiot Creature that gets endlessly chumps and stops the opponent from ever attacking. Also, it just gets eaten by Colossal Dreadmaw. I might give this card a second chance, because I really like it, but as of right now I think it's an easy cut.

Brushwagg

I bought a Brushwagg just before it spiked in price last year, but hadn't done anything with it yet. I put it in here, and the card is good. So good, in fact, that I had to target it with Swords to Plowshares. Not even as a meme, it actually made sense to kill a Brushwagg. This is some hidden power that transcends its meme status.

Catacomb Crocodile

Catacomb Crocodile might seem a little bit antithetical to the "keep games moving" portion of my original design strategy, but it's such an endearing card that I thought it would make sense to include. Remember, if 95% of the cards in the Cube are meant to keep games going forwards, but 5% slow down things a little bit, that 5% is going to feel special. Being special is exactly where I want to be with vanilla creatures. Plus, it's an unironically good attacker. It's very hard to kill in combat without being multiblock, but its power is low enough that it's usually not going to do more than 2-for-1. It's almost like Shakedown Heavy in this environment, but, you know, actually good. This old forum exchange between @Chris Taylor, @Peter LaCara, @Onderzeeboot, and @vennythekid has cemented Catacomb Crocodile in my personal Magic canon and Unstable Cubicorns is the perfect place for it for the time being.

Ancient Carp

Nothing I just said about Catacomb Crocodile applies to Ancient Carp 2/5 makes it too small to attack effectively, so it basically ends up being a big blocking idiot in a color with another actually good 5 drop. Sorry, @tfresor, I'm gonna have to cut your signature.

Windcaller Aven

I thought cycling+jump and a 4/3 flier would make me like this card, turns out, I don't. The cycling mode is not great, and the creature is also not great, and expensive to boot. I'm cutting it.

Electric Revelation

This card is heinous. I thought it would be cool to play with other Flashback cards and other things that provide value from beyond the grave. Instead, it's a 3-mana do nothing that rots in hand. A low power level can't make bad cards good, I'm afraid. It just unleashes the inner power of cards that were already amazing.

​

Striped Riverwinder

Playing Unstable Cubicorns has made Striped Riverwinder my sister's favorite card. It's a bit shocking, because she's a dropout Selesnya Guildmage. I guess she'll just have to get a job as a new Broker's Initiate.

All joking aside, I'm glad this card is striking a chord with my players player so far, because it's a card from my main Cube. I want anything players see in my main Cube to be good both here and there, just to help keep a little bit of consistency across the formats.

I'll be making some changes to the Battle Box over the next few weeks, so keep an eye out for those. There are a bunch of actually exciting cards from Baldur's Gate that I want to test out here as well.

Thanks for reading!
–GT

 

[landofMordor]

Clearly articulated goals and a great execution! Love it.

You talked a little about the bread and butter effects, and I agree for the most part that Raid and Alliance will promote great gameplay. Adventure’s 2-for-1 nature could promote grindy plays but also most of the designs are just so good that I agree you can’t not test them

I’m curious (without having the time to pore over the list atm) what you consider the power outliers to be in this format, and how they contribute to the gameplay goals.

thanks for sharing!

 

[TrainmasterGT]

Clearly articulated goals and a great execution! Love it.

Hey thanks! I appreciate the kind words!

You talked a little about the bread and butter effects, and I agree for the most part that Raid and Alliance will promote great gameplay. Adventure’s 2-for-1 nature could promote grindy plays but also most of the designs are just so good that I agree you can’t not test them

Raid and Alliance definitely have been great so far, especially Venom Connoisseur.

As for Adventures, you're right in saying that they could slow down the game. I've been trying to mitigate that issue by using mostly offensive adventurers. I'm running the following right now:

Of these 5 cards, 3 are pump spells, and 1 can be used to tap down creatures offensively. The only outlier is Order of Midnight, which is a raise dead. While I could definitely see the order contributing to grinder gameplay, the fact that it's a nice low-cost flier means that it is often correct to run it out before it has a chance to go on an adventure. When it does adventure, that evasive body is still usable, meaning that it will often push damage.

Some of the adventures I want to run from CLB are also pretty offensive, although one or two get back into that defensive territory that could slow down the game:

Most of these cards have abilities that can push damage, if not on the adventure side then definitely as creatures. I'm a little unsure about Young Blue Dragon as it is two things that I don't currently like that much in this environment (a cantrip and a 5-drop creature), but I'm hoping it's more than the sum of its parts like Garenbrig Carver. Fang Dragon seems like a good way to rid the board of Elvish Visionaries, although it too may prove to slow down the game more than speed it up.

The only one of these cards I'm 100% sold on is Blessed Hippogriff. It can save a creature during combat and then go on to give a player's biggest attacker flying. That seems valuable here.

I’m curious (without having the time to pore over the list atm) what you consider the power outliers to be in this format, and how they contribute to the gameplay goals.

I would say the cards I thought were the biggest power outliers for being too good when I built the Cube were probably:

Retrospectively, I would say I was mostly correct. Almost every one of these cards overperformed, with Colossal Dreadmaw and Striped Riverwinder specifically winning games.

Having had a chance to play with both Vigilant Baloth and Famished Foragers, I think these cards are both worse than I had initially thought. I talked about Vigilant Baloth in my above post which I just updated. As for Famished Foragers, I thought this card would be an interesting "you should attack" payoff. Most battle boxes do not include ramp, but this card can give you some extra mana if you hit the opponent before casting it. Unfortunately, there's just not a lot to do with on turn 4 other than activate Forager's ability, since a player most likely won't have a cheap mono-red follow-up. I don't think Famished Foragers is a bad card here, but I think it's on the weaker side instead of being a strong card.

Otherwise, I think I was right about the rest of these cards being powerful. Some cards I missed include Liliana's Specter and Inspiring Overseer. Obviously, these two cards are good, but I thought they would be a little worse in an environment where nothing is particularly explosive. As it turns out, Wind Drake that messes with the card economy is still good even in a format where the average creature is a Grizzly Bear. Brushwagg has also overperformed, but I wouldn't call it a power outlier. It's just a good card here because it doesn't usually die in Combat and eats 1/1s and 2/1s for Breakfast.

Thanks for sharing!

You're welcome! I'm glad you thought it was cool!

 

[landofMordor]

This makes sense and I agree about these outliers. What would you think about a disciplined uncommon/rare cycle of gold cards to provide new players with a rush of excitement?

For example:







You mention that a flat power level is important, and I totally agree, but I wonder if these restrained rares offer the following:

- a sense of excitement at the rate, the legendary typeline, the combination of novel game text
- a discovery of the relationship between mana cost and power
- an exploration of how the color pie interacts
- the opportunity for weak players to get lucky and beat a skilled opponent, and the opportunity for weak players to ascribe their losses to “bad luck” instead of “I’ll never get good at this game”.

I suggested rares whose value is either on a different axis than the Serra Angel/Dreadmaw angle, whose value is tied into combat, and/or whose rates are above curve but become quickly outsized in a world where mana screw doesn’t exist. I think all of those are modest enough that Serra Angel will still seem impressive, but they just have the cool factor of being gold and/or legendary.

If that’s not working for you on cool factor, I may also suggest some uncommon legendarios (you have so many to choose from thanks to WotC’s “signposting” lol). Legends are super super flavorful and a big opportunity here, I think.

 

[blacksmithy]

train i just wanted to say that you’ve convinced me to look for a copy of unstable unicorns

 

[TrainmasterGT]

This makes sense and I agree about these outliers. What would you think about a disciplined uncommon/rare cycle of gold cards to provide new players with a rush of excitement?

This is a really good idea! I had been considering something similar when I was first starting to build the box, but space constraints and the desire to try a bunch of mono-color cards made me shelve the plan (save for Marauding Looter and Sumala Woodshaper). I can't play two of the cards you suggested because they use +1/+1 counters, but I could definitely look into the Warsinger.

You mention that a flat power level is important, and I totally agree, but I wonder if these restrained rares offer the following:

- a sense of excitement at the rate, the legendary typeline, the combination of novel game text
- a discovery of the relationship between mana cost and power
- an exploration of how the color pie interacts
- the opportunity for weak players to get lucky and beat a skilled opponent, and the opportunity for weak players to ascribe their losses to “bad luck” instead of “I’ll never get good at this game”.

I think you're totally correct in your assessments here, especially that last point. Totally flat power bands tend to be more amicable to the needs of experienced players, who don't want to lose because the opponent simply drew better cards. This is arguably the main reason why Streets of New Capenna is not a well-liked draft format while Kamigawa Neon Dynasty is an all-time best. By contrast, newer players do better in environments with a broader power band, because as you said, it gives them the opportunity to win through luck and feel like they lose through luck.

I've been looking at some cards to try, and I think I want to go with some of these:

I'm not exactly sure what I'm trying yet, but it would be nice to get a variety of other cool cards in here.

Thanks for your suggestions!!

train i just wanted to say that you’ve convinced me to look for a copy of unstable unicorns

Good to hear! It's a very fun game, and probably one your kids would enjoy as well! I would recommend getting the normal base set and not the NSFW base set. The cards in each are different (they're not simply different skins of one another), and the normal base set has a very nice theme and flavor that isn't retained in the NSFW version. Don't get me wrong, the NSFW version has some cool cards that I would definitely want if I were curating the ultimate Unstable Unicorns deck (such as the Shotgun Baby Unicorn, Cult Leader Unicorn, and the Eunuchorn), but I don't think all of the NSFW cards contribute the best beginner experience on their own.

 

[landofMordor]

I completely adore Tymaret and that is exactly what I’m talking about. So flavorful. I read through the CC today and it looked quite small compared to most cubes so I assumed you had room, but I also get that fewer cards makes for an easier shuffle.

I’m less crazy about the 3 color cards here, particularly because they muddle the flavor clarity of what each color contributes to the whole. Why is Corpse Appraiser red? Why is Brazen Upstart red? Contrast to Protean Raider or Vene Warsinger whose color ID clearly matches mechanics. In most cubes I wouldn’t question this, but in a cube where Catacomb Croc is as baller as it is, I think we can raise the bar for flavor a little higher

owlbear cub seems kinda bonkers here btw. 3 mana 3/3 for only a single pip seems too good here imo.

i have this knockoff version of Unicorns called Goat Lords. I do not like it, lol. But it’s mechanics are just remarkably worse than Unicorns.

 

[TrainmasterGT]

I completely adore Tymaret and that is exactly what I’m talking about. So flavorful. I read through the CC today and it looked quite small compared to most cubes so I assumed you had room, but I also get that fewer cards makes for an easier shuffle.

The size is so small because 100 Sleeves is all I had . I used these Legion games Casette sleeves that I had purchased back in like 2019 but never put on a deck:

I could buy more but I don't see a need to at this time. There are only so many low-complexity cards that really do what I need them to for this format. I think if I started going to a larger size I would end up playing a bunch of redundant cards that basically fill the same role as other cards but don't fit as well. It would also start diluting the effect of the high density of visionary creatures, which have been quite nice up until now.

I know that's not really the point of what you wrote, but I wanted to talk about it anyway.

I’m less crazy about the 3 color cards here, particularly because they muddle the flavor clarity of what each color contributes to the whole. Why is Corpse Appraiser red? Why is Brazen Upstart red? Contrast to Protean Raider or Vene Warsinger whose color ID clearly matches mechanics. In most cubes I wouldn’t question this, but in a cube where Catacomb Croc is as baller as it is, I think we can raise the bar for flavor a little higher

I want to try these because the rate on them is good and because I have the beautiful Gilded Foil versions of both, but I think you actually are right about eschewing them for designs with clearer ties to each of their colors. When I started building this Battle Box, it became obvious very quickly to me that creating themes within each color didn't actually make sense because all of the cards would be shuffled together and drawn randomly. So, a life gain theme in White and a graveyard theme in Black wouldn't actually do anything because players can't control whether or not they draw certain parts of a "deck." Instead, I focused primarily on picking effects that moved the Cube forward. As a result, while each color had some recurring motifs (ravenous rats effects in Black, direct damage in Red, Kor Skyfishers in White, and so on), they weren't given mechanical identities.

The thing is, since this environment is meant for teaching, I probably should be looking to choose cards that have abilities clearly tied to their slice of the mechanical color pie. Even though players won't have the ability to understand what playing "a Blue deck," "a Green deck," "a Boros deck," "an Abzan deck," and so on might look like just through playing this box, they should be able to grasp what "a Blue card" looks like and plays like. I could do some interesting work leveraging each color's unique slice of the mechanical color pie in this environment. This could be invaluable in giving players an idea of how the different colors are supposed to feel. It might be difficult showing certain facets of color here due to some of the limitations I've elected to use for this box (no ramp for Green, no tokens for White, no raw draw for Blue), but I could at least give players the basic tools they will need to comprehend the differences between the colors.

I wonder if battle box is cards-not-decks design. Or maybe deck (singular) not decks (plural) design? That distinction might be relevant to designing this sort of environment, but for now, it's just an interesting thought experiment.

Owlbear cub seems kinda bonkers here btw. 3 mana 3/3 for only a single pip seems too good here imo.

Honestly, you're probably right here too. I was looking to try it as a cute and flavorful "win the game" button that also could be played around (you don't have to play an 8th land as long as the owlbear comes down before turn 8), but a 3/3 with upside could actually just be too big.

Granted, the removal power level is high enough that killing a 3/3 is not difficult. The removal in this battle box was curated with an "old school magic" mentality where the answers are significantly more efficient than the threats. This was partially done to teach the value of removal spells to players, but also to keep the curve lower and keep the game moving faster. In the case of Owlbear Cub, that means I might be able to play the card without any issues. But, it will be harder to trade with in combat than the average creature, which is likely an important issue.

i have this knockoff version of Unicorns called Goat Lords. I do not like it, lol. But it’s mechanics are just remarkably worse than Unicorns.

I would definitely recommend buying real Unstable Unicorns if you get the chance. For less than the cost of a Blood Crypt, you too can enjoy one of my favorite card games.

Additional Notes from Discord

I considered the merit of Echo in this environment after the user Seussman mentioned it, but I don't think it makes too much sense here. I want players to be casting lots of spells and using their mana and cards to maximum efficiency. Most Echo cards don't do this, because they require a second mana payment just as expensive or more expensive than their original cost. There are some individual cards with less expensive or non-mana payments that could make the cut in a vacuum, such as Orcish Hellraiser, Deepcavern Imp, and Rakdos Headliner, but realistically speaking I don't think these cards have play patterns that would significantly improve this battle box. If Unstable Cubicorns contained every simple card of roughly this power level, then these options would be worth exploring, but with only 100 slots I don't think they're necessary.

There's kind of a lot in these comments, but for the first three points:
–No tracking is wonderful,
–I'm not doing any tribal stuff here, there's too much variance,
–the mana base consists of 5 basic lands and 5 ally color gates for each player.

As for Pensive Minotaur, I'm pensive about that one myself.

Pensive Minotaur was part of my initiative to include many vanilla creatures in my Battle Box. I had originally planned to do two Vanilla creatures per color, making 10% of the battle box vanilla. I cut this down to one enforced Vanilla per color due to my not loving the options for Blue and not owning a copy of Ancient Brontodon. I picked vanillas that were either above rate, heavily defensive, or uniquely flavorful. Given how poorly Ancient Carp has played, I have decided to cut that card. While I could replace it with one of the other blue cards that didn't make the cut, I think removing the vanilla requirement entirely might be the way to go. Unless I do something else funny like Ancient Crab, there's not much utility in having a mediocre blue vanilla running around, when the rest of the vanillas actually serve real gameplay purposes.

This brings us back to Pensive Minotaur. Realistically speaking, this card is here because I like the flavor. Sure, it has a meme, which helps...

...but memes alone don't necessarily lead to good gameplay.

Now, sure, Penive Minotaur is one of the only cheap defensive creatures in the battle box, which means it is kind of special on stats alone. But the real reason it's here is that it's a funny card. And honestly, it's really only funny because I can not look at it and see anything other than "why is leg," which is not an experience I share with other people. Maybe I should cut it.

I'm going to do a poll. Vote for one or more: Keep Minotaur, cut the Blue Vanilla, Keep Minotaur, add Ancient Crab, and cut the Vanilla Requirement.

>>Click Here to Take the Poll<<​

Thanks for reading!
–GT

 

[landofMordor]

I like wishcoin crab too

 

[TrainmasterGT]

Changeicorns!​

I'm not going to make full posts for every update but over 20% of the box changed so I thought I should spell it out here.
Out:


In:

The big theme of this update is Streamlining. I wanted to pick cards that would make games go a little faster and let players cast more spells per turn. I mostly did this by adding some additional large threats with adventures, adding extra evasion, and lowering the Battle Box's curve. To compensate for the addition of a few more large creatures, I added a touch of extra removal and powered up some of the existing removal in addition to adding a couple of cheap combat tricks.

The other main goal was getting in more cards with reminder text for evergreen keywords. Double-Strike, Equip, and Indestructible join the mix thanks to Fencing Ace, Short Sword, and Armor of Shadows. I still need to find good options for First Strike, Flash, and Ward, but that's not a major concern as of right now. Finding an appropriate double-striker is huge for now.

Individual Notes:
Shanna, Sisay's Legacy

I'm worried Shanna gets bigger than I would like. She's probably the best two-drop in the Battle Box right now. However, she can help move the game forward by being able to attack into most boards with impunity while simultaneously not outright winning the game due to the quantity of Elvish Visionaries running around. Likewise, the increase in average removal quality should make her safe for the test at a minimum. I could see cutting her in the future, but for now, I like her.

Lightning Bolt, Flame Slash and Kaleidoscorch

I wanted to improve the quality of the burn in the Battle Box a little bit. Lightning Bolt is cheaper lightning strike and Flame Slash is Strangle that can kill some of the new threats, so those shouldn't be major issues. I am a little worried about Kaleidoscorch being too good as it represents 7 damage to face, but I don't think Arrow Storm was a problem before (at least that I've seen), and it can basically do the same thing. I'm definitely keeping an eye on these.



I'm a little bit skeptical that a Board Wipe is really what this Battle Box needs, but I think murdering random Visionaries and Pikers should help to move the game along a bit. This can really screw up the opponent's combat math for a turn as well, which could end up winning some games. Fang Dragon shouldn't be too good but I would not be surprised if I end up disliking and cutting it in the future.

Young Blue Dragon

I was not a fan of the cards that could only cantrip and the more expensive creautres that didn't simply end the game. I'm not sure stapling the two together makes a better card. A 3/3 flier might be big enough to end the game here, however, and being able to do something with a 5 could fix the problem of cantrips not being effective. We'll see!


Elegant Entourage

I'm a little bit worried that a 4/4 for 4 that gives out free trample is too much. However, this should end games. I just hope it ends them in a fun way rather than a frustrating one.

Short Sword and the absence of Chitinous Cloak

I'm adding Short Sword as a nice little permanent power buff. I looked into adding Chitinous Cloak as well, but I'm worried that card is a little too much power especially since it provides menace to boot. I didn't add the cloak– should I have tried it?

The absence of Renegade Freighter, Consulate Dreadnought, Irontread Crusher, and Mobile Garrison

I wanted to add some Vehicles to the box in order to reduce board stall and introduce the Crew mechanic. I like these options because they can let multiple small creatures effectively band for a big attack or block. However, I wasn't sure what to cut, so I ended up shelving the idea for now to keep in known quantities for testing the other new cards.

These vehicles would also let me add in some cards from the Kaladesh block. One minor goal of mine was to have cards from every standard-legal set I have been active for. Right now, I'm missing cards from Dragon's Maze, Kaladesh, Aether Revolt, Kaldheim, Strixhaven, and Crimson Vow. Vehicles could solve the Kaladesh problem while also speeding up the game.

The absence of Tymaret, the Murder King

I didn't add Tymaret right away because I didn't know what to cut. I like Tymaret, but I think his value is a bit diminished without tokens. He's still likely good with visionaries running around, but he's enough of an unknown quantity that I decided against making the change for now.

The absence of Timely Hordemate

I didn't know what to cut, but I would still like to try this card at some point. It's the only option currently that lets me expand the Raid theme into white while fitting my no tokens no counters rule, and it's a really good value card. Again, I don't want to cut known quantities that I like or am totally unsure about when I'm testing literally 20% new cards.

The absence of Unicorns

I want a Unicorn for a box called "Unstable Cubicorns." Steadfast Unicorn is still my first pick for this slot, but I still don't have one and likely won't until next time I purchase cards for my main Cube. I could have tried Ronom Unicorn, but I don't have enough enchantments at present for it to really feel worthwhile. Likewise, or Daybreak Charger is an option, but I don't love it's ability because it can be very RNG early on. I would also likely be cutting Raptor Companion for it, and I don't really want to be cutting my simple vanilla Dinosaur friend for anything short of a fluffy doggo.

Thanks for reading!
–GT

 

[LadyMapi]

?

 

[TrainmasterGT]

?

I definitely considered this one, but the fact that it's a 3 drop pushed it out in my evaluation. There are a lot of really great 3-mana cards for this type of environment. Unfortunately, 3-drops are usually pretty awkward to play with in high numbers as it becomes very difficult to double-spell with a glut of 3s. Likewise, Brightmare plays in a similar space to Territorial Hammerskull and Watertrap Weaver, but it can't tap down a creature every turn or keep a creature locked down. If I cut one of those other cards I could see bringing it in, but for now it's a bit redundant.

I appreciate the suggestion!

 

[alvoi]

Hi Trainmaster and everyone else!

My sister gifted me a copy of Unstable Unicorns (the game, not the cube) for Christmas and I played with it and I found it really funny. The only other time I had heard of the game was this topic but I was more interested in the Cube part of the topic (and maybe I was wrong, since the game is really interesting and has a lot of interaction which aren't trivial, it sometimes really feels like playing cube! Only weakness is that maybe there aren't enough counterspells, there are some good bombs and I can't counter them all!). So nothing, I just wanted to post this and maybe ask for some updates on your cube! I have a question now that just came to my mind: did you ever consider for your cube multiple copies of the same card? I guess that Unstable Unicorns would be a bit harder if all cards were singleton, but instead you have a lot of Basic Unicorns and counterspells so some basic cards are fixed and this speeds up the game a bit for a newcomer I guess. What is your opinion about that?

 

[TrainmasterGT]

Hi Trainmaster and everyone else!

My sister gifted me a copy of Unstable Unicorns (the game, not the cube) for Christmas and I played with it and I found it really funny. The only other time I had heard of the game was this topic but I was more interested in the Cube part of the topic (and maybe I was wrong, since the game is really interesting and has a lot of interaction which aren't trivial, it sometimes really feels like playing cube! Only weakness is that maybe there aren't enough counterspells, there are some good bombs and I can't counter them all!). So nothing, I just wanted to post this and maybe ask for some updates on your cube! I have a question now that just came to my mind: did you ever consider for your cube multiple copies of the same card? I guess that Unstable Unicorns would be a bit harder if all cards were singleton, but instead you have a lot of Basic Unicorns and counterspells so some basic cards are fixed and this speeds up the game a bit for a newcomer I guess. What is your opinion about that?

Hey Alvoi, thank you for the kind words! I'm glad you have had the opportunity to play the real Unstable Unicorns and have seen some of the similarities that I have identified between that game and Magic.

I just wanted to post this and maybe ask for some updates on your cube!

I haven't made any changes since the last time I posted; I've just been testing the battle box. Since Unstable Cubicorns is a two-player Battle Box, it's much easier for me to arrange meaningful testing sessions and acquire better data on the power level and play dynamics of individual cards when compared to an eight-player drafted Cube. There's a little bit I know I want to change, such as replacing Deadly Recluse with Thornweald Archer and cutting more cards without reminder text, but as a whole I'm happy with where this environment stands currently.

I have a question now that just came to my mind: did you ever consider for your cube multiple copies of the same card?

Not for this particular environment. I want to have all of the main card types and as many of the important key mechanics in the Battle Box as possible. 100 cards is a very small pool for a battle box (many are over 200 cards), and as a result, I don't have enough room to fit in everything I want without keeping the singleton restriction. I could definitely see a larger version of this box having multiple copies of good removal spells like Lighting Bolt and Doom Blade, Cantrip Creatures, and French Vanilla Beaters.

I guess that Unstable Unicorns would be a bit harder if all cards were singleton, but instead you have a lot of Basic Unicorns and counterspells so some basic cards are fixed and this speeds up the game a bit for a newcomer I guess. What is your opinion about that?

My sister and I will actually take out all of the Basic Unicorns when we just play together, but we're both reasonably good at the game so having the Basic Unicorns that don't do anything actually slows us down .

As for a nonsingleton Battle Box environment, I think it definitely makes sense under various circumstances depending on your specific design goals. As I said earlier, for this relatively small Battle Box there just wasn't enough room to include multiple copies of the same card. However, a larger box or a box with different design goals can greatly benefit from multiple copies of certain cards. I'm working on another Battle Box right now, which doubles up on a few important cards.

Hopefully this helps!
-GT

 

[TrainmasterGT]

I just had Chat GPT tell me about this battle box in the style of George Carlin. Here's what it wrote:

Sure, I'll give it a shot! TrainmasterGT's battle box is a unique and fun way to enjoy the game of Magic: The Gathering, and it's definitely not your typical format.

This battle box is designed to be a low-complexity format that's easy to learn and accessible to players of all skill levels. It features a pool of pre-selected cards that are balanced for gameplay, as well as a selection of basic lands.

The gameplay in TrainmasterGT's battle box is focused on creature combat and board control, with players vying for control of the battlefield and working to eliminate their opponents' creatures. The battle box is designed to be played with a minimum of two players, and it's perfect for casual play.

But here's the thing, folks. What really sets TrainmasterGT's battle box apart is the theme. You see, it's not your typical Magic format with serious cards and intense gameplay. No, no, no. It's all about unicorns. That's right, unicorns. And not just any unicorns, but unstable unicorns.

Now, you might be thinking, "What the heck does that even mean, George?" Well, let me tell you. Unstable unicorns are a type of card that are known for their humorous and unpredictable effects. They can be a real wild card in the game, adding an element of surprise and unpredictability that keeps things interesting.

So, if you're looking for a fun and lighthearted way to play Magic: The Gathering, TrainmasterGT's battle box is definitely worth checking out. It's a unique format that's sure to put a smile on your face and keep you entertained for hours.

 

[TrainmasterGT]

Early Summer 2023 Updateicorn!​

Hello! It's been a minute since I've updated the battle box, but I have a new list of changes ready to start testing!

In:


Out:

If you would like to see the full list of cards in the box sorted by date added, click here!

The big theme of this update is: Reminder Text! As elegantly explained by the card Duh, (Reminder text is any italicized text in parentheses that explains rules you already know.) I want reminder text to be on as many cards as possible in this battle box. One of the important elements of learning Magic, in my opinion, is being able to start playing by yourself with minimal assistance. Reminder text helps new players to have an easier time playing without help, because the cards will fully explain what they do.

As of this update, I have cut almost every without reminder text in the battle box. The only exceptions are cards with Flying, Blessed Hippogriff, and Venom Connoisseur. Blessed Hippogriff and Venom Connoisseur use indestructible and deathtouch, respectively. Both of these keywords are pretty close to being self-explanatory and have at least one other card in the box with reminder text. While the two cards could maybe be cut due to their high complexity levels, I think they're cool enough and play well enough to keep around for now. In fact, I actively do not wish to cut Venom Connoisseur.

Otherwise, I have finally added oracle text for First Strike in the form of Kindled Fury and Ward in the forms of Dwarven Forge-Chanter and Tomakul Honor Guard. I would like to add more reminder text for this First Strike in the future, but for now it will do.

Individual Notes:
Raptor Companion -> Stormfront Pegasus
This is the only real increase in complexity from these changes. Stormfront Pegasus is a cool, simple card while Raptor Companion often faded into the shadows. While I don't like cutting vanillas, I couldn't think of a better cut from white right now.

Caller of Gales -> Storm Crow
I felt like there were too many bad one drops in the Box before this update. As such, I cut several excess one drops including Caller of Gales. Storm Crow was the addition I chose due to both it's status as a meme and because it has the reminder text for flying.

Dockside Chef -> Onyx Mage
Dockside Chef is another "victim" of the one-drop purge. I found players rarely activated his ability, so he was mostly just a one mana 1/2. Onyx Mage is a cool mana sink with the reminder text for Deathtouch. I could definitely see the Mage being a little too good, but I can cut him if that's an issue. Chef is still a cute and flavorful card, so I may bring him back in the future if the Mage doesn't work out.

Stirge -> Phyrexian Rager
Stirge was a mediocre creature and never worth activating. Phyrexian Rager is an iconic cantrip creature. Enough said.

The only difficult part of this swap is figuring out which art to use for Phyrexian Rager. I'm using DMU for now but I may go with the Apocalypse or Mirrodin Besieged art later.

Strangling Soot -> Testament Bearer
Strangling Soot was an expensive removal spell that often didn't get cast. Testament Bearer is a cool new card I want to test. I don't like how much this string of updates has increased the overall mana curve of the box, especially in black, but that is an issue for a later date.

Reckless Charge -> Kindled Fury
Reckless Charge didn't have the reminder text for Haste, and was also easy to forget in the graveyard. Kindled Fury isn't a great card, but it's a neat trick with reminder text for an important keyword.

Fissure Wizard -> Immersturm Raider
This is literally just an aesthetic change. I've been trying to include at least one card from every set released during the time I have been playing, and I didn't have a Kaldheim card yet. Plus, Immersturm Raider is cooler than Fissure Wizard.

Kaleidoscorch -> Crimson Mage
Kaleidoscorch is being cut for its high power level and because of how easy it is to forget it in the graveyard. 7 damage for 7 mana is enough to end the game out of nowhere, which is enough to kill the card by itself. When combined with the fact that both seasoned and new players forget they have this card in their graveyard, Kaleidoscorch is an easy cut. Crimson Mage plays well in my opinion and has the reminder text for Haste. I think it's "boring" enough to potentially cut in the future, but I like it enough for now.

Burning-Fist Minotaur -> Dwarven Forge-Chanter
Burning-Fist Minotaur is another casualty of the "no reminder text purge." Dwarven Forge-Chanter has the reminder text for both Prowess and the life payment variant of Ward. Easy swap, although I am sad to see the Minotaur go as I like its art.

Famished Foragers -> Plundering Predator
Famished Foragers was always mediocre, Plundering Predator is awesome.

Deadly Recluse -> Thornweald Archer
As a 1/2, Deadly Recluse could never attack well, and incentivized the opponent to not attack. However, its body was so bad that people didn't always want to "waste" a removal spell to kill it and start attacking. It created these awful staring matches where neither player was really doing anything. Replacing the Recluse with Thornweald Archer should help to alleviate this issue, since the archer has an offensively-slanted body. While I am a little worried about it getting chump blocked, I did just remove several low value one drops that would conceivably feel bad for this to attack into. I think I will be happy with this change, although I am a little sad to see the Recluse's cool art go.

Elegant Entourage -> Tomakul Honor Guard
Elegant Entourage was complicated, swingy, and didn't tell people what "trample" did. Tomakul Honor Guard has the reminder text for the mana payment variant of Ward. This was a pretty easy swap.

Owlbear -> Spore Crawler
Owlbear is a painful cut, but I did not like that it both has "flavor words" in the form of the "Keen Sense" ability while lacking the reminder text for Trample. Spore Crawler is the last green card I wanted to add for today, so it gets the bear's slot. Owlbear is so cool that I am considering using Magic Set Editor to print reminder text onto cards that lack it in their original printings. This would also let me save Burning-Fist Minotaur along with possibly updating Blessed Hippogriff and Venom Connoisseur. I'm not sure I want to do this yet, but I am considering it heavily.

Conclusions
Overall, I think this should be an interesting update. While I mostly "cut from the bottom" on power level, I did remove a few swingy finishers. I think I also may have changed the power level of Fang Dragon by modifying the number of creatures with one toughness. In either case, I'm excited to see what playtesting results show! I have a list of cards that I am considering "on deck" for the Battle Box at the moment. I will post that list soon if there is public interest.

Thank you for reading!
–GT

 

[Name]

Do you also play with a shared graveyard?

 

[TrainmasterGT]

Do you also play with a shared graveyard?

No, that would make the flashback cards and some of the other graveyard synergy cards too weird. I basically want this to be a normal Magic experience outside of the shared deck and lands from exile.

 

[Name]

No, that would make the flashback cards and some of the other graveyard synergy cards too weird. I basically want this to be a normal Magic experience outside of the shared deck and lands from exile.

That's what I anticipated as you have a couple of gy matters cards. I really like your concept. Did you consider limiting effects like only etb, no activated abilities or abilities that require tapping to limit on board complexity resp. timing complexity?

 

[TrainmasterGT]

That's what I anticipated as you have a couple of gy matters cards. I really like your concept. Did you consider limiting effects like only etb, no activated abilities or abilities that require tapping to limit on board complexity resp. timing complexity?

I chose not to limit activated abilities because I think it's important that new players learn how to use timing to their advantage. This box strips out a lot of the complexity we often see in other types of environments due to the perfect fixing and lack of tokens, counters, and Planeswalkers. As such, this is a safe place to teach the complexity inherent to activated abilities because overall board complexity is so minimized. For what it's worth, there are only about half a dozen cards with on-board activated abilities. A couple of those cards just give haste, so the few cards with broader impact end up feeling important when they are in play.