Hi,
I've recently bought a bulk of cards (common and uncommon) and I want to build some cubes out of them to use for draft.
I care about lore and theme so my first thought was to build cubes with cards of the same block but I don't have enough singleton to reach 360.
Since I don't have enough cards what do you suggest?
a) Don't limit cards to be singleton but allow multiple copies for each card of the same block (to balance colors I might need 3x for some cards).
b) Build cubes with cards from 2 subsequent blocks (e.g. Ixalan (+rivals) + Amonkhet (+ hour of dev)), filling with closest core set if needed.
c) Build cubes based on the planes in witch they take place
(e.g. "Mirrodin Cube": Mirrodin Block (2004) + Scars of Mirrodin Block (2010). "Ravnica Cube": Ravnica (2005) + Return To Ravnica (2012) + Guilds of Ravnica (2012))
Thematically I would prefer option (c) but I'm not a real MTG expert so I worry that mixing cards so far distant in time would lead to an imbalance and older cards (e.g. Creatures) being to weak to be picked in draft.
I believe the most common thing to do for block cubes is to mimic the draft sets by including several commons, less uncommons and one rare/mythic. You could try 1x for uncommons and 3x for commons for example, if you want to stay with peasant.
You also don't necessarily need 360 cards, depending on how many people you play with. Basically, 360 cards means if eight people draft, every card ends up in a deck. If you're two or four players, you could try to go with less.
Plane-based cubes: The imbalance isn't really an issue, if a creature is too weak or too strong, you can just switch it out and try another. You'd probably end up with creatures trending newer and spells trending older, but that really depends on the sets for the plane you choose. You would have to be a bit careful with different mechanics though, some cards only work well if the cube has other cards with the same mechanic. You might also have to do a bit more research than usual if you want to include cards from that plane in core sets and so on.
All the options you mentioned can bee done. If you don't want to buy extra cards, the best option really depends on the cards you have. If you are ok with buying more cards (specific cards for the cube you're building) you should go with whatever you think would be the most fun.
I voted A, because I like it. However, I’d pick whatever you enjoy building the most.
With A, try to select which ones you run multiples of. Don’t just go by wizards’ rarity, but sculpt your own environment. Like a Remastered set. I can really recommend doing this, it’s great fun.
Thank you for your suggestion.
I just finished my first cube with the cards I own.
It's composed only from cards from Kamigawa block + cards from core sets 8 and 9 (since they are mostly "vanilla" I think they don't ruin theme so much).
If I want I can quickly recognize and remove core set cards since they are all white bordered.
In the end I needed 2 copies only of about 25 cards mostly blue because it was heavily underrepresented.
I will try it with my friends and let you know how it plays,
Thank you again
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I've recently bought a bulk of cards (common and uncommon) and I want to build some cubes out of them to use for draft.
I care about lore and theme so my first thought was to build cubes with cards of the same block but I don't have enough singleton to reach 360.
Since I don't have enough cards what do you suggest?
a) Don't limit cards to be singleton but allow multiple copies for each card of the same block (to balance colors I might need 3x for some cards).
b) Build cubes with cards from 2 subsequent blocks (e.g. Ixalan (+rivals) + Amonkhet (+ hour of dev)), filling with closest core set if needed.
c) Build cubes based on the planes in witch they take place
(e.g. "Mirrodin Cube": Mirrodin Block (2004) + Scars of Mirrodin Block (2010). "Ravnica Cube": Ravnica (2005) + Return To Ravnica (2012) + Guilds of Ravnica (2012))
Thematically I would prefer option (c) but I'm not a real MTG expert so I worry that mixing cards so far distant in time would lead to an imbalance and older cards (e.g. Creatures) being to weak to be picked in draft.
What do you think?
Thank you
You also don't necessarily need 360 cards, depending on how many people you play with. Basically, 360 cards means if eight people draft, every card ends up in a deck. If you're two or four players, you could try to go with less.
Plane-based cubes: The imbalance isn't really an issue, if a creature is too weak or too strong, you can just switch it out and try another. You'd probably end up with creatures trending newer and spells trending older, but that really depends on the sets for the plane you choose. You would have to be a bit careful with different mechanics though, some cards only work well if the cube has other cards with the same mechanic. You might also have to do a bit more research than usual if you want to include cards from that plane in core sets and so on.
With A, try to select which ones you run multiples of. Don’t just go by wizards’ rarity, but sculpt your own environment. Like a Remastered set. I can really recommend doing this, it’s great fun.
My Cubes:
Peasant Travel Cube on CubeCobra (180 cards, modern frames) (mtgsalvation thread can be found here)
I had a blog for a while @ peasant-cube.blogspot.com where I may or may not post again, lol
I just finished my first cube with the cards I own.
It's composed only from cards from Kamigawa block + cards from core sets 8 and 9 (since they are mostly "vanilla" I think they don't ruin theme so much).
If I want I can quickly recognize and remove core set cards since they are all white bordered.
In the end I needed 2 copies only of about 25 cards mostly blue because it was heavily underrepresented.
I will try it with my friends and let you know how it plays,
Thank you again