The first time they draft the cube, they sign a basic land from their deck. This land stays in the cube's basic land pool. Thus, they are forever apart of your cube's history.
I think you only include this card if you are already on snow lands. I would never swap out 200 basics for a handful of cards.
Not to mention, when a player drafts my cube for the first time, they get to sign one of the basics from their deck and return it to the cube. I would hate to give up all those signatures.
We just straight up draft regular packs. However, the easiest thing to do is shrink the pack size and draft more packs. That way players get more pick ones. Still, I don't think you actually have to do anything. Definitely don't try and build your cube for 4 person draft. A balanced cube will yield a balanced environment.
Sol Ring is amazing, don't get me wrong, but if there are enough other rocks, then I think sol ring is okay. We are talking about 1 card in the entire cube, which you may not even see in a given draft, which goes into a players deck, and is 1 card of 40 that they may not even see. Sol ring on turn 1 is great, sol ring on turn 5 is good.
As long as there is other ramp options to be had, I think the ring is okay.
As for cards that only belong in "powered cubes," I think that is up to each cube designer. I don't like mind twist, because it makes for non-games (The only answer is to have counter magic), whereas a turn 2 channel (this is generally the fastest you can channel in my cube) into a giant creature can be met with swords to plowshares, go for the throat, path to exile, even disenchant and counterspell, so the thing is still busted if it happens, but it is also possible to answer. I feel the same way about Tinker I do with channel.
I have never played Library of Alexandria in my cube before, but the more busted lands you play, the more you have to have strip mine, wasteland, ghost quarter, etc. to help balance it out.
I will say I don't run storm payoff cards like grapeshot and tendrils of agony, but this is more because storm is less viable in an unpowered cube.
You just need to keep things balanced, and provide answers to your players who don't end up with busted cards.
Others will offer more specific advice, but mine is: don't play a deck that's almost all one-offs. A card that's good enough to play is good enough to play four of, at least 80% of the time I'd say. A deck like this offers no consistency to you, its user.
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Thank you too everyone who participated.
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This week's video: Shopping for Post Rotation Cube Cards, enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnG6yNUhpzY
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Not to mention, when a player drafts my cube for the first time, they get to sign one of the basics from their deck and return it to the cube. I would hate to give up all those signatures.
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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGB9YuZsIVBfm3_6TI0z9vQ?view_as=subscriber
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As long as there is other ramp options to be had, I think the ring is okay.
As for cards that only belong in "powered cubes," I think that is up to each cube designer. I don't like mind twist, because it makes for non-games (The only answer is to have counter magic), whereas a turn 2 channel (this is generally the fastest you can channel in my cube) into a giant creature can be met with swords to plowshares, go for the throat, path to exile, even disenchant and counterspell, so the thing is still busted if it happens, but it is also possible to answer. I feel the same way about Tinker I do with channel.
I have never played Library of Alexandria in my cube before, but the more busted lands you play, the more you have to have strip mine, wasteland, ghost quarter, etc. to help balance it out.
I will say I don't run storm payoff cards like grapeshot and tendrils of agony, but this is more because storm is less viable in an unpowered cube.
You just need to keep things balanced, and provide answers to your players who don't end up with busted cards.