So one of the benefits Cube draft gives people is to really play with the format, and be much more experimental than WotC could. One idea I've been playing with is, instead of drafting three 14 card packs, having players draft two packs of 21 cards.
One part of drafting that really interests me is the idea of "Do I take this card now, or am I confident it will be passed around, so I can take this card that's slightly weaker in my deck but will be more highly desired by others?" Larger packs make that more of a thing. Also, each of these packs could contain 2 cards in a rare/mythic slot, so instead of being faced with an obvious bomb in the P1P1, players might have more of a nuanced choice. Also, they see a bigger picture of what the card pool will be before taking their P1P1, so they can strategize more long-term.
The idea first came to me when making a custom set for Cube drafting. It's 2 sets, and the first is color balanced, while the second is weighted towards G and against UB (like Torment did for B). I wanted to keep an event split of the sets, not 2-1 or 1-2, so having 2 large packs with an even split appealed to me.
Usually when we draft, we have four people, not a full eight. When we started cubing initially we were doing three packs of 15. But we started to notice our decks started to look kind of awkward. Like none of us could draft an archetype, and instead all ended up with weird hodge-podge decks. I'm not sure the exact science behind it, but I think it comes from a few of the following factors. Random distribution doesn't mean an even split between archteypes in each pack. So instead of a pack containing 2 cards for the ramp deck, and 2 for the burn, and 2 for blue, etc. instead we might see 4-6 cards in a pack for the ramp deck. And then in another pack, we might see 0 cards for that deck. So in an 8-player draft, when you have 4 cards for an archetype in a pack, 2 or 3 of the 8 players might go into that deck, instead for us 3 to 4 of the 4 went in. Likewise, in a pack with 0 cards for the archetype you're drafting in an 8 player draft, you'll end up with 2 dead cards, but with 4 players you end up with 4 dead cards from the pack, which is harder to recover from, so you need to use some of those cards and get a combination of archetypes that don't really mix well. Kind of tied into that, is I think getting four cards from a pack made it harder to read and pass signals for everyone. Our solution was when we draft with four players to do 5 packs of 9, instead.
I feel that the large packs might have you run into similar issues we saw. I think it's worth trying for a few drafts, but it's also something to keep in mind while you're drafting and look out for, while you decide if you want to draft that way again in the future.
As a cuber who rarely gets the full 8 players (we usually only have 4-6) in my 400 cube, it is definitely important to draft larger pools. We usually do three packs of 20, just so there's a higher likelihood of the different archetypes being supported.
Example: in my last cube, we did no funny business with pack size. Just four dudes, three packs of 15. Three of us drafted UB reanimator (one guy had esper actually) and the fourth player drafted Bant midrange. It made for some awkward games.
I think regardless of your cube size or amount of players on a given cube session, you should try to make sure at least 2/3 of the cube is seen each time to increase likelihood of different archetype representation
I have found in my groups since we don't get 8 usually, we like to take the number of people * 2 and then subtract 1. and then draft as many packs as needed to have each person get 45 cards (or close to it depending on the math).
One part of drafting that really interests me is the idea of "Do I take this card now, or am I confident it will be passed around, so I can take this card that's slightly weaker in my deck but will be more highly desired by others?" Larger packs make that more of a thing. Also, each of these packs could contain 2 cards in a rare/mythic slot, so instead of being faced with an obvious bomb in the P1P1, players might have more of a nuanced choice. Also, they see a bigger picture of what the card pool will be before taking their P1P1, so they can strategize more long-term.
The idea first came to me when making a custom set for Cube drafting. It's 2 sets, and the first is color balanced, while the second is weighted towards G and against UB (like Torment did for B). I wanted to keep an event split of the sets, not 2-1 or 1-2, so having 2 large packs with an even split appealed to me.
Corrupt Control B | Burn R | UG Turbofog UG | White Weenie W | GW Tethmos WG | BG Cycling Combo BG
Enchantress GBW | Colorless Tron C | Red Deck Wins R | UG Madness UG | Mono-G Tron G | UR Puzzlehorns UR
Rhystic Tron WU| WU Prowess WU | BR Reanimator BR | Mono-R Control R | Stompy G | Temur Tron URG
Mardu Infinite Priest WBR | 85-Card Dredge BRG | Elves GU | Boros Bully RW | Jeskai Familiars RWU
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
I feel that the large packs might have you run into similar issues we saw. I think it's worth trying for a few drafts, but it's also something to keep in mind while you're drafting and look out for, while you decide if you want to draft that way again in the future.
[180 classic cube]
Example: in my last cube, we did no funny business with pack size. Just four dudes, three packs of 15. Three of us drafted UB reanimator (one guy had esper actually) and the fourth player drafted Bant midrange. It made for some awkward games.
I think regardless of your cube size or amount of players on a given cube session, you should try to make sure at least 2/3 of the cube is seen each time to increase likelihood of different archetype representation
Draft My Cube!
http://www.cubetutor.com/cubeblog/63569