Hey, I'm thinking about putting together a smallish cube (no more than 360) to complement the cubes my playgroup has. We have 2 rare cubes, 1 peasant, and 1 mostly classic. I am looking for something that will have a different feel than those, have a lot of interesting interactions, and have a big impact on the power level of certain cards. Basically, I'm looking for some theme or guiding idea that would make for a different card pool than just "the best" cards.
So far, here are the ideas I've seen here that seemed interesting to me:
Artifact based
Tribal
Card-like-basic-land (some card that one can add any number of to their deck after drafting)
I heard some votes for Artifact from my playgroup, but my worry is that the lack of colored spells would make for less interesting drafts. It would make some cards that don't shine in regular cube sweet though.
Does anyone have experience with the above themes or have other ideas? I want to hear about fun themes, no idea too wacky!
I have a Myr Servitor cube (you may play them like basic lands). It's almost removed from Magic the way it plays sometimes. Of course I don't include cards that win just by playing that card + Myrs (ie: Survival of the Fittest). It's fun but I haven't played it in a while nor updated it.
I heard some votes for Artifact from my playgroup, but my worry is that the lack of colored spells would make for less interesting drafts. It would make some cards that don't shine in regular cube sweet though.
I was under the impression that artifact cubes usually do run colored stuff, just that those cards need to explicitly have some artifact-related effect or ability.
A couple ideas (not vouching for quality here)...
An EDH cube: maybe supports up to 4 players, looser rules on color identity restrictions, maybe 60-card decks, and a collection of generals that people can select after they've built a deck.
A shard or wedge cube: I started a thread a while ago on wanting to build a Grixis cube. This idea has since fizzled, but some good ideas were tossed around such as a torment cube (black dominates the color wheel), an Esper cube (which appeals to me cause I love that shard's aesthetic).
I'm really interested in seeing how this thread develops!
I am building an artifact cube.... put in lots of artifacts, hybrid, phybrid mana to blur the colors. I put in as much as +1/+1, charge counters and proliferate to have a Mirrodin feel. Anything that produces artifact tokens are in, too. I plan to give it an artifact-engine combo feel with lots of potential interactions.
Another idea is a multicolor cube, and you can make it elegant by putting as much cycles from Invasion, Ravnica, Shadowmoor and Alara Block. Volvers, Guildmages, etc. Put in lots of color matters cards (Celestial Purge, etc) to make colors matter.
I just finished building a tribal cube over Thanksgiving, and one of my requirements was that none of the cards could be in my normal cube. The tribal cube has been a blast to play so far. I tried to build this cube so that any one card won't lead to a complete blow-out if you don't deal with it for one turn, and this has offered an interesting contrast to how my other cube plays.
Replicating a past draft format is an idea I've been toying with, some posted a ROE one they did recently.
Also one of the guys I cube with had an idea that seemed pretty sweet, the Core Set Cube. Not just cards that are in core sets but cards that could be printed there, I have to admit I haven't done much research into the idea but it seems cool in theory. Biggest problem is I'm not sure how different it would be than regular cube. (alternatively an idea I just came up with while typing this would be the every card must have a mechanic on it spells and creatures, so even less thought here). Sorry if the ideas are useless, just wanted to share any ideas I had.
You can check my tribal cube in my sig. I've had it since Lorwyn, but it have changed a lot since then. I still need to make the great Innistrad block update though. That will change the cube a lot.
So far, here are the ideas I've seen here that seemed interesting to me:
Artifact based
Tribal
Card-like-basic-land (some card that one can add any number of to their deck after drafting)
I heard some votes for Artifact from my playgroup, but my worry is that the lack of colored spells would make for less interesting drafts. It would make some cards that don't shine in regular cube sweet though.
Does anyone have experience with the above themes or have other ideas? I want to hear about fun themes, no idea too wacky!
Tribal seems pretty viable right now.
I was under the impression that artifact cubes usually do run colored stuff, just that those cards need to explicitly have some artifact-related effect or ability.
A couple ideas (not vouching for quality here)...
An EDH cube: maybe supports up to 4 players, looser rules on color identity restrictions, maybe 60-card decks, and a collection of generals that people can select after they've built a deck.
A shard or wedge cube: I started a thread a while ago on wanting to build a Grixis cube. This idea has since fizzled, but some good ideas were tossed around such as a torment cube (black dominates the color wheel), an Esper cube (which appeals to me cause I love that shard's aesthetic).
I'm really interested in seeing how this thread develops!
-Dolono
"Personally I love high-riak, low-reqars gambles. Life's best with a decent amount of riak. And f*** reqars."
I had a list put together for a while, but I don't know if it's still around.
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!
Another idea is a multicolor cube, and you can make it elegant by putting as much cycles from Invasion, Ravnica, Shadowmoor and Alara Block. Volvers, Guildmages, etc. Put in lots of color matters cards (Celestial Purge, etc) to make colors matter.
Also one of the guys I cube with had an idea that seemed pretty sweet, the Core Set Cube. Not just cards that are in core sets but cards that could be printed there, I have to admit I haven't done much research into the idea but it seems cool in theory. Biggest problem is I'm not sure how different it would be than regular cube. (alternatively an idea I just came up with while typing this would be the every card must have a mechanic on it spells and creatures, so even less thought here). Sorry if the ideas are useless, just wanted to share any ideas I had.
My Tribal cube
My 93/94 old school cube
My Artifact cube
My Hearthstone Quiz App for iOS