I am relatively new to cube as I was a modern player and active in EDH. I sold my modern decks and turned those into Draft simulators for DOM "minus planeswalkers" and ISD "minus Lili, Snappy, and Olivia". The reason for quitting Modern was finical burnout. Same went for my Teferi Cedh deck; sold the high dollar cards and got a PS4 instead.
My cube currently is pretty close to one of the Card Kingdom beginner cube lists, V4 if i remember correctly. Now that I have been looking into archetypes, and how cards cross pollinate between them got me thinking on how I can upgrade my cube.
The goal for this cube is not necessarily to run the best cards, expensive cards "modern burnout & don't want to repeat that here," just fun cards. I was wondering on what the groups thought was on a price cap per card for most situations. What I had in mind was a cap at 1.50, 2.00 per card and not have every card hit that limit. If the card exceeds that and is critical for the archetype, that's fine within reason. I know proxys "homemade" are always an option but original is preferred.
AS of now the only cards that are above that limit are the pain lands "Ice Age art" and Scry lands.
Any thoughts on a price cap for the bulk of the cards?
I just took a quick look at my own cube and over half are priced under 5 dollars. I wouldn't want to lower the threshold much more than that. The thing is it's all up to what you personally want and come up with. Under 2 dollars is doable but I wouldn't want to.
I should of been stated that the actual dollar limit posted was spit balled. More than anything, the goal of the cube is just to be enjoyed by all and if a card in the process gets damaged, I want it to be cheap to replace. Also, low dollar cards lessen the possibility of theft when its played outside of my trusted groups.
The Cube cards that cost less than $2 USD Thread is a great place to start; in the words of Spike Rogue "These cards aren't just cheap, they've beaten out some tough competition to earn slots in many of the tightest cube lists in the cube community, so I'm happy to recommend them as good value that should be efficient, powerful, and/or versatile enough to be worth a slot in your cube for years to come."
With a bit more thought, I do like the idea of keeping the cards to a lower budget and want to lean to some of the lesser known, less played cards to keep things fun and interesting. There will be a few anchor cards for archetypes and other build around me cards. Essentially, the cube will be dubbed "B-list."
FoG, I did think about double sleeving, but I really don't like the bulk that it adds. Sleeve quality was not skimped on as all the cubes are Dragon Shields, and I really don't want to sleeve up 3 cubes.
The only decks "EDH" ddbl sleeved are my Meren of clan Nel Toth and Capt'n Sissay due to total card value.
My cube (below) is an extra-large, low-power, budget list. It's not the most up-to-date, and some of the cards have gone up in value since they were added, but for a cube like the one you're looking to build, you might find it helpful.
There is no need to add more value to your cube than you want to. There are few things that can't be accomplished with cards under $3 each.
Basically, if I were you, I'd have a rule where every card must be under $2-- unless there is no card to fill a specific slot under that amount. Then, if it's an important slot, increase the limit to more like $4, but that shouldn't be necessary very often. Even a unique card like Birthing Pod has budget replacements, like Yisan, the Wanderer Bard and Hibernation's End (which I've found to be a surprisingly powerful engine). Some cards are hard to live without though: every cube wants a City of Brass.
As long as you control the power-level so it's not too unbalanced, you should be just fine with the budget versions of basically anything.
The very first thing I'd add is the best budget thing you can do for a cube: ten trilands. I prefer them to every ETB tapped dual-land, and they're less than a dollar apiece.
Most cubes tend to start like this, using what you own, and then filling it out with some budget options. I started like this, and did 3-5 dollar limits, but eventually, I had to drop some dough to upgrade the mana base (I played the tri-lands and pain lands first), because players want those duals and color fixing effects.
The guys here are correct, double sleeving is clutch especially as the card value climbs, most cards can be replaced with a budget options.
I recommend you start with a small cube-360 or so, and then you can expand it over time if you want. This will help keep the budget down. It is easier to expand the cube rather than cut it down.
Look at "Life begins at 20" "pauper cube."
Milo of the Cube, "Noob Cube"
Adam Styborski's "Pauper Cube"
These will help you find some budget options for your archetypes.
I am relatively new to cube as I was a modern player and active in EDH. I sold my modern decks and turned those into Draft simulators for DOM "minus planeswalkers" and ISD "minus Lili, Snappy, and Olivia". The reason for quitting Modern was finical burnout. Same went for my Teferi Cedh deck; sold the high dollar cards and got a PS4 instead.
My cube currently is pretty close to one of the Card Kingdom beginner cube lists, V4 if i remember correctly. Now that I have been looking into archetypes, and how cards cross pollinate between them got me thinking on how I can upgrade my cube.
The goal for this cube is not necessarily to run the best cards, expensive cards "modern burnout & don't want to repeat that here," just fun cards. I was wondering on what the groups thought was on a price cap per card for most situations. What I had in mind was a cap at 1.50, 2.00 per card and not have every card hit that limit. If the card exceeds that and is critical for the archetype, that's fine within reason. I know proxys "homemade" are always an option but original is preferred.
AS of now the only cards that are above that limit are the pain lands "Ice Age art" and Scry lands.
Any thoughts on a price cap for the bulk of the cards?
Also I'll add that if replacement is a factor, just double sleeve your entire cube and risk of damage is drastically reduced
Draft My Cube!
With a bit more thought, I do like the idea of keeping the cards to a lower budget and want to lean to some of the lesser known, less played cards to keep things fun and interesting. There will be a few anchor cards for archetypes and other build around me cards. Essentially, the cube will be dubbed "B-list."
FoG, I did think about double sleeving, but I really don't like the bulk that it adds. Sleeve quality was not skimped on as all the cubes are Dragon Shields, and I really don't want to sleeve up 3 cubes.
The only decks "EDH" ddbl sleeved are my Meren of clan Nel Toth and Capt'n Sissay due to total card value.
There is no need to add more value to your cube than you want to. There are few things that can't be accomplished with cards under $3 each.
Basically, if I were you, I'd have a rule where every card must be under $2-- unless there is no card to fill a specific slot under that amount. Then, if it's an important slot, increase the limit to more like $4, but that shouldn't be necessary very often. Even a unique card like Birthing Pod has budget replacements, like Yisan, the Wanderer Bard and Hibernation's End (which I've found to be a surprisingly powerful engine). Some cards are hard to live without though: every cube wants a City of Brass.
As long as you control the power-level so it's not too unbalanced, you should be just fine with the budget versions of basically anything.
The very first thing I'd add is the best budget thing you can do for a cube: ten trilands. I prefer them to every ETB tapped dual-land, and they're less than a dollar apiece.
Low-power cube enthusiast!
My 1570 card cube (no longer updated)
My 415 Peasant+ Artifact and Enchantment Cube
Ever-Expanding "Just throw it in" cube.
The guys here are correct, double sleeving is clutch especially as the card value climbs, most cards can be replaced with a budget options.
I recommend you start with a small cube-360 or so, and then you can expand it over time if you want. This will help keep the budget down. It is easier to expand the cube rather than cut it down.
Look at "Life begins at 20" "pauper cube."
Milo of the Cube, "Noob Cube"
Adam Styborski's "Pauper Cube"
These will help you find some budget options for your archetypes.