So, I'd like to start off saying that cube looks very fun and I really would like to build one for my friends to play, but the more I think about it and start thinking of cards to put in it, the more I miss the point of it. I really like the Ravnica guilds, and I would use mostly cards from those Ravnica sets. I would even add in some more cards with the new upcoming Ravnica set With 360 cards, there would be 36 from each guild, which would be super easy to do. But then I start thinking, well, with 8 people drafting from 10 guilds, each player would basically choose one guild and draft that guild exclusively, and each player would do that. The last two just wouldn't be played at all, since we only build 40-card decks. I could just foresee the same drafting happening each time I do it, and consider just building 10 decks, one for each of the guilds, and we could just pick decks and do a tourney with those.
How do you balance a cube so that you could still get a different deck each time you draft with it, to make things interesting?
You don't build a cube with 36 cards from each guild in it. Gold cards should be really limited (well under 10% of the list). The vast majority of the cube should be mono-colored cards and colorless cards. You use a lot of interchangeable parts. You support aggro, midrange, control and combo decks in every color combination. Add enough viable archetypes so that players aren't pigeonholed into drafting specific things. Every draft experience is different if you build the cube correctly, which is why it has such amazingly high replay value.
If all your players do is pick a guild and draft it, it'll be very boring, and would grow stale very quickly.
Well, when I mentioned 36 cards from each guild, I didn't mean 36 gold cards. So far my list per guild would be tree color-foxing artifacts, three special lands, 10 of each color, and the last 10 can be between the duals and colorless, whichever is the best blend for those, 5 of each maybe? 6/4? Not sure yet.
You can build a Ravnica themed cube, that’s actually one of the more common themed cubes.
My advice is don’t worry about playing different decks all the time. The important thing is to have fun, and for a good amount of people that means forcing X archetype all day every day.
There's a reason the recent Ravnica sets feature only 5 guilds (and why Dragon'd Maze was considered a mess).
Most cards in a Ravnica set are actually guild-neutral. Do a little simulated draft of Guilds of Ravnica (I recommended draftsim.com ) and you'll see how even if you're drafting, say, Dimir, you'll get black Undergrowth cards and blue Jump-Start spells to go with your Surveil effects.
I haven't actually played with those cards yet, but I guess Moodmark Painter buffing a Watcher in the Mist will be a common finishing play, which you probably won't have in pre-made dimir deck.
I just checked and GRN has only about 30% gold cards. Even if you want a cube that's more gold than average, 10 cards per guild at 360 is more than enough. Most of rest should be monocolored/colorless cards that fit multiple guilds. And be ready to see white Battalion effects in Selesnya token decks and things like that.
I used to have a peasant Ravnica cube so I understand your dilemma, but this is easily achieved.
According to Maro's design articles, Return to Ravnica Block actually has 20 archtypes, one slow (control/combo) and one fast(aggro/tempo) for each of the ten guilds. Simic, for example, can play tempo (Experiment one, then grow it) or Control, (Simic Sky Swallower finisher)
There are also multiple tools that does not limit drafting to guilds:
1) Hybrid and split cards - Hybrid/Split cards can be used in 7 out of the 10 archtypes and are very versatile.
2) Mono color cards that support multiple guilds. Blade Splicer (or Seller of Songbirds, if you want to stay in this plane) supports Boros Batallion/Mentor as well as Selesnya Tokens. Green cards that have Scavenge support Simic +1/+1 counters as well. Cipher support Izzet spell matters. GRN and Allegiance is designed to have more synergies, too. For exammple, Surveil supports both Jump Start and Undergrowth.
3) Powerful bombs provide variance in gameplay, so games can be more fun and will have nice surprises once in a while. Planeswalkers tend to fall on this category.
Given you want 10 guilds, Dragon's maze is the set closest to making your targeted cube. Limited feedback from this is not that great, but you can definitely improve it using the additional 6 sets (and upcoming one), as well as generic spells that can pass of Ravnica themed. You can also look up existing Ravnica cubes as reference.
Yeah, cubes are very personal things. Each tends to be different and unique from others, and as others have pointed out, your cube should support multiple archetypes within color combinations.
My cube, is unpowered, 360 cards, and each color should be able to be played by itself or paired with another color. For example, white supports: tokens, flicker, control, aggro (especially when paired with red), spells matters, and aristocrats.
I want players to look at their packs and think, "Damn, I don't want to pass any of this."
I chose my guild cards to help compliment those archetypes.
For more indepth information about my cube here is a link to the post in my blog on cubetutor where I identify what each aspect of my cube is supposed to be doing. Although like all cubes, it is a work in progress.
Sorry for the late response, but in my view, the point of cube is to support a format to play with the most broken degenerated banned and restricted cards like Deathrite Shaman, Dig Through Time etc
If your cube is just general GoodStuff or FunStuff, then it won't matter. Color combinations will happen naturally and it'll be okay.
If you rail road every deck into certain archetypes, you're going to end up with the situation you describe. If that's a negative for you, then don't build you cube like that. If it's a positive, go balls deep then.
How do you balance a cube so that you could still get a different deck each time you draft with it, to make things interesting?
If all your players do is pick a guild and draft it, it'll be very boring, and would grow stale very quickly.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
My advice is don’t worry about playing different decks all the time. The important thing is to have fun, and for a good amount of people that means forcing X archetype all day every day.
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
Most cards in a Ravnica set are actually guild-neutral. Do a little simulated draft of Guilds of Ravnica (I recommended draftsim.com ) and you'll see how even if you're drafting, say, Dimir, you'll get black Undergrowth cards and blue Jump-Start spells to go with your Surveil effects.
I haven't actually played with those cards yet, but I guess Moodmark Painter buffing a Watcher in the Mist will be a common finishing play, which you probably won't have in pre-made dimir deck.
I just checked and GRN has only about 30% gold cards. Even if you want a cube that's more gold than average, 10 cards per guild at 360 is more than enough. Most of rest should be monocolored/colorless cards that fit multiple guilds. And be ready to see white Battalion effects in Selesnya token decks and things like that.
According to Maro's design articles, Return to Ravnica Block actually has 20 archtypes, one slow (control/combo) and one fast(aggro/tempo) for each of the ten guilds. Simic, for example, can play tempo (Experiment one, then grow it) or Control, (Simic Sky Swallower finisher)
There are also multiple tools that does not limit drafting to guilds:
1) Hybrid and split cards - Hybrid/Split cards can be used in 7 out of the 10 archtypes and are very versatile.
2) Mono color cards that support multiple guilds. Blade Splicer (or Seller of Songbirds, if you want to stay in this plane) supports Boros Batallion/Mentor as well as Selesnya Tokens. Green cards that have Scavenge support Simic +1/+1 counters as well. Cipher support Izzet spell matters. GRN and Allegiance is designed to have more synergies, too. For exammple, Surveil supports both Jump Start and Undergrowth.
3) Powerful bombs provide variance in gameplay, so games can be more fun and will have nice surprises once in a while. Planeswalkers tend to fall on this category.
Given you want 10 guilds, Dragon's maze is the set closest to making your targeted cube. Limited feedback from this is not that great, but you can definitely improve it using the additional 6 sets (and upcoming one), as well as generic spells that can pass of Ravnica themed. You can also look up existing Ravnica cubes as reference.
My cube, is unpowered, 360 cards, and each color should be able to be played by itself or paired with another color. For example, white supports: tokens, flicker, control, aggro (especially when paired with red), spells matters, and aristocrats.
I want players to look at their packs and think, "Damn, I don't want to pass any of this."
I chose my guild cards to help compliment those archetypes.
For more indepth information about my cube here is a link to the post in my blog on cubetutor where I identify what each aspect of my cube is supposed to be doing. Although like all cubes, it is a work in progress.
http://www.cubetutor.com/cubeblog/116070
If you rail road every deck into certain archetypes, you're going to end up with the situation you describe. If that's a negative for you, then don't build you cube like that. If it's a positive, go balls deep then.
Ignoring what Magic players say isn't the answer, it's listening to what they have to say and doing the exact opposite that's correct.