Title is pretty self-explanatory. If you were to open a book/article called "Basic Guide to Cube", what would you expect to find in it? Any and everything you could think of would be helpful. Thanks!
For me it's:
1. What is a cube, and why build one?
2. What are you looking to get out of a cube experience? The general go to is generally "the best of the best" draft format, but there are others that are equally valid. Themed, tribal, block, format, dragon cubes, etc. Whatever your fancy is.
3. How is cube fundamentally different than a normal drafting experience? Why are some cards really good in cube but not in other limited formats, and vice versa? Why do we include so many lands in cube? How can I get my cube to more closely align with such-and-such limited environment?
4. Cube size and why to build to a certain size.
5. Singleton vs. non-singleton, the merits of each. Color balance, and when it's alright to maintain or break it.
6. Archetypes, and why synergy matters.
7. Last but not least, the power of playing a cube manager. Adding and cutting cards to fit the narrative you're trying to tell (such as deciding on powered vs. unpowered, or supporting certain pillars such as aggro and control).
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My apologies, children, for I am afraid I cannot save you all.
For me it's:
1. What is a cube, and why build one?
2. What are you looking to get out of a cube experience? The general go to is generally "the best of the best" draft format, but there are others that are equally valid. Themed, tribal, block, format, dragon cubes, etc. Whatever your fancy is.
3. How is cube fundamentally different than a normal drafting experience? Why are some cards really good in cube but not in other limited formats, and vice versa? Why do we include so many lands in cube? How can I get my cube to more closely align with such-and-such limited environment?
4. Cube size and why to build to a certain size.
5. Singleton vs. non-singleton, the merits of each. Color balance, and when it's alright to maintain or break it.
6. Archetypes, and why synergy matters.
7. Last but not least, the power of playing a cube manager. Adding and cutting cards to fit the narrative you're trying to tell (such as deciding on powered vs. unpowered, or supporting certain pillars such as aggro and control).
these are great and exactly the type of questions/points Im looking for, thanks!
How long would this article be? There's tons to say, so I guess it depends on how brief you want to keep it.
However brief, I would add some specifics to the talk about archetypes: the ideas of archetype-specific cards, general goodstuff cards and cross-pollination should at least be briefly mentioned. The basic idea that a cube card can be either "just good" in the environment, really extremely good in a specific archetype, or good in several archetypes: and that if you want to enable several archetypes, you should have cards that are good in several of them, not just separate archetype cards. And that though cube is an amazing limited format, it's still a limited format, which leads to restrictions on what archetypes you can enable.
How long would this article be? There's tons to say, so I guess it depends on how brief you want to keep it.
However brief, I would add some specifics to the talk about archetypes: the ideas of archetype-specific cards, general goodstuff cards and cross-pollination should at least be briefly mentioned. The basic idea that a cube card can be either "just good" in the environment, really extremely good in a specific archetype, or good in several archetypes: and that if you want to enable several archetypes, you should have cards that are good in several of them, not just separate archetype cards. And that though cube is an amazing limited format, it's still a limited format, which leads to restrictions on what archetypes you can enable.
It's already massive (15k+ words) but there's so much more I want to cover. I don't expect to be done with it by the end of the year.
1. Lands. What cycles of them people use? What number of lands at each cube size?
2. Spotlight of cube all stars, possibly with a focus on more obscure cards that are cheap financially but a lot of fun in cube or have their own archetype. (Upheaval, wheel of fortune, wildfire etc.)
3. Creature/non-creature balance for each colour. Blue for instance may want more spell, white may go wide and small, does green want lots of guys or ramp and big guys.
An actual break down of how to go about starting your cube. I suppose it's a different process for everyone but I fount it daunting at first; deciding on 360+ cards to play with can be hard especially with a big collection.
Originally I split mine all down in to colours then just picked out what I liked best from each colour with a friend, we repeated this process afew times until we had a set of cards everyone liked. The hardest part is actually taking the time to put together your original cube, everything after the first iteration is fine tuning.
The best advice I could give is just to do it and don't worry too much about power balance etc. at first. Once you have the first rough cube put together you can start to get a feel for what direction you want to take it.
[quote from="SirPicaro »" url="http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/the-cube-forum/761670-what-would-you-expect-to-find-in-a-basic-cube?comment=7"]It's already massive (15k+ words) but there's so much more I want to cover. I don't expect to be done with it by the end of the year.
Why not break it into multiple shorter articles with different topics? I'd love to see a regular cube article again. To be completely honest an extremely long article would just end up being tl;dr for me no matter how much I enjoy the subject matter.
[quote from="SirPicaro »" url="http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/the-cube-forum/761670-what-would-you-expect-to-find-in-a-basic-cube?comment=7"]It's already massive (15k+ words) but there's so much more I want to cover. I don't expect to be done with it by the end of the year.
Why not break it into multiple shorter articles with different topics? I'd love to see a regular cube article again. To be completely honest an extremely long article would just end up being tl;dr for me no matter how much I enjoy the subject matter.
</blockquote>
My goal is to produce a comprehensive guide, something someone can pick up if they're starting a cube, want to learn more about cube, or want to explore new ideas. While I see the merit in doing more shorter articles, there is also merit to producing a guide, as there is merit in a Basic Guide for anything (chess, football, drawing, etc.) When Im actually done with it I might release parts of it as individual articles to consume on their own, but I really want to release this as one thing whenever it's ready (which will not be soon and I'm A-OK with that.) I get that's not for everyone, but that's how these things go and a lot of the stuff I'm planning on covering will be redundant for seasoned cubers for yourself as is so I'm expecting some amount of tl;d and that's OK.
Part of my goal is producing a guide that deals with concepts instead of specific cards too. I've looked at other guides and some of them are really dated because of how much focus they put into specific cards, so I'm trying to see what bigger ideas or concepts I could explore. There will be specific cards to mention, as there are some cards that it would be incredibly unlikely/'impossible' for them to re-print enough cards to make them obsolete, but for the most part I want to look at identity/archetype/philosophy/etc.
Budget and planning a cube budget
Prioritizing acquisitions
Building a cube from the ground up vs using an existing list
Proxying vs gradual card improvement
Budget staple cards and how to evaluate/compromise
Approaches to upgrading (broad swaths vs narrow/expensive)
Foiling and Altering
Maintaining multiple cubes
storage and sleeving
Preventing theft & playing with strangers
I would include a section on drafting strategies and techniques. Personally, I just like to take the best card out of the pack for most of pack one and not lock into something until pack two, but there are times when your first pick is game-winning if you draft enough support so you go all in from the start. Maybe talk about reading what you think opponents are playing so you can determine what you think will wheel and whether to hate draft certain cards. Maybe talk about the different kinds of drafts you can do like three packs of fifteen, four packs of twelve, or sealed draft.
Also, follow us on twitter! @TurnOneMagic
haha jk.
do you mean in general or for a specific cube?
http://www.cubetutor.com/cubeblog/63569
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
Also, follow us on twitter! @TurnOneMagic
1. What is a cube, and why build one?
2. What are you looking to get out of a cube experience? The general go to is generally "the best of the best" draft format, but there are others that are equally valid. Themed, tribal, block, format, dragon cubes, etc. Whatever your fancy is.
3. How is cube fundamentally different than a normal drafting experience? Why are some cards really good in cube but not in other limited formats, and vice versa? Why do we include so many lands in cube? How can I get my cube to more closely align with such-and-such limited environment?
4. Cube size and why to build to a certain size.
5. Singleton vs. non-singleton, the merits of each. Color balance, and when it's alright to maintain or break it.
6. Archetypes, and why synergy matters.
7. Last but not least, the power of playing a cube manager. Adding and cutting cards to fit the narrative you're trying to tell (such as deciding on powered vs. unpowered, or supporting certain pillars such as aggro and control).
these are great and exactly the type of questions/points Im looking for, thanks!
Also, follow us on twitter! @TurnOneMagic
However brief, I would add some specifics to the talk about archetypes: the ideas of archetype-specific cards, general goodstuff cards and cross-pollination should at least be briefly mentioned. The basic idea that a cube card can be either "just good" in the environment, really extremely good in a specific archetype, or good in several archetypes: and that if you want to enable several archetypes, you should have cards that are good in several of them, not just separate archetype cards. And that though cube is an amazing limited format, it's still a limited format, which leads to restrictions on what archetypes you can enable.
It's already massive (15k+ words) but there's so much more I want to cover. I don't expect to be done with it by the end of the year.
And thanks!
Also, follow us on twitter! @TurnOneMagic
2. Spotlight of cube all stars, possibly with a focus on more obscure cards that are cheap financially but a lot of fun in cube or have their own archetype. (Upheaval, wheel of fortune, wildfire etc.)
3. Creature/non-creature balance for each colour. Blue for instance may want more spell, white may go wide and small, does green want lots of guys or ramp and big guys.
Originally I split mine all down in to colours then just picked out what I liked best from each colour with a friend, we repeated this process afew times until we had a set of cards everyone liked. The hardest part is actually taking the time to put together your original cube, everything after the first iteration is fine tuning.
The best advice I could give is just to do it and don't worry too much about power balance etc. at first. Once you have the first rough cube put together you can start to get a feel for what direction you want to take it.
Why not break it into multiple shorter articles with different topics? I'd love to see a regular cube article again. To be completely honest an extremely long article would just end up being tl;dr for me no matter how much I enjoy the subject matter.
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
Follow me. I tweet.
My goal is to produce a comprehensive guide, something someone can pick up if they're starting a cube, want to learn more about cube, or want to explore new ideas. While I see the merit in doing more shorter articles, there is also merit to producing a guide, as there is merit in a Basic Guide for anything (chess, football, drawing, etc.) When Im actually done with it I might release parts of it as individual articles to consume on their own, but I really want to release this as one thing whenever it's ready (which will not be soon and I'm A-OK with that.) I get that's not for everyone, but that's how these things go and a lot of the stuff I'm planning on covering will be redundant for seasoned cubers for yourself as is so I'm expecting some amount of tl;d and that's OK.
Part of my goal is producing a guide that deals with concepts instead of specific cards too. I've looked at other guides and some of them are really dated because of how much focus they put into specific cards, so I'm trying to see what bigger ideas or concepts I could explore. There will be specific cards to mention, as there are some cards that it would be incredibly unlikely/'impossible' for them to re-print enough cards to make them obsolete, but for the most part I want to look at identity/archetype/philosophy/etc.
Also, follow us on twitter! @TurnOneMagic
The only thing I would add is distinguishing Cube and Limited Draft Format.
This distinction is important when comparing cubes.
Twitter
Youtube Channel
Cube Podcast
Draft my Cube!
Budget and planning a cube budget
Prioritizing acquisitions
Building a cube from the ground up vs using an existing list
Proxying vs gradual card improvement
Budget staple cards and how to evaluate/compromise
Approaches to upgrading (broad swaths vs narrow/expensive)
Foiling and Altering
Maintaining multiple cubes
storage and sleeving
Preventing theft & playing with strangers
"Personally I love high-riak, low-reqars gambles. Life's best with a decent amount of riak. And f*** reqars."
In search of a foil french Dromar, the Banisher, pm me if you have one you want to part with, also foil Stratadon's.