I will admit, I’ve never attempted a cube draft, let alone create my own cube. I’ve been a firm believer that you never really understand something until you actual get your feet wet and this week I created a cube. A few months ago there was much hype about cube drafting and at fist glance I thought this was just a passing fad. I am not the type to jump onto a passing bandwagon but after some time (and creation of my new blog) I decided now was the time to pull the trigger as a surprise X-mas gift for my gaming group.

If you have a large collection of cards, a cube can be a great budget option for your gaming group. No player needs to purchase cards for the cube and cards to interchange in the cube are easily available from your collection. The cube can be played from multiple times, giving each gaming session a cheap and fun way to play Magic without spending a dime. If the gaming group feels additional cards would be needed to balance the cube cards can be taken into it on loan from individual players or purchased at reasonable prices.

At first glance, creating a cube looks like a daunting task, but by following some guidelines, cube creation is simple. My first tip to you is to have many cards at your disposal to begin with. After all the years I have been playing, my card collection has gotten quite extensive. After a few hours of sifting through boxes and boxes of cards as well as my secret stash of favorites and staples, I had some idea what this cube would be like.

I went by the guideline of having 60 cards of each color and 20 cards of both of artifacts and unique lands. By following this guideline, your cube will come out to 340 cards, the size of a small set. You also have to look at it from this perspective, you are in a sense creating your own set, from your collection. With this mindset you will understand the importance of balance within your cube. Remember, ever card you put into the cube has the potential to shift the balance from one color to another. You also have to consider creatures within the cube. Will you choose many large creatures? Flyers? Each card choice will also change the dynamic of the battlefield as well.

I took an evening to choose two colors worth of cards. After some quick and easy card choices I decided to create a cube designed with cards that highlighted my many years playing Magic: The Gathering. I started with black and blue cards, focusing an emphasis on removal spells. By doing so no creature would dominate the battlefield for long, allowing many of my smaller utility creatures the chance to shine and play the hero of any given match. Each color was then filled out with creatures of all shapes, sizes and purposes.

After following up with the remaining colors I then progressed to lands and artifacts. Lands were easy, I chose both the guildgates and Ravnican bounce lands for each color pairing as well as two basic fetch lands in the form of Terramorphic Expanse and Evolving Wilds. Artifacts were equally as easy, as well as fun to choose, including many equipment cards as well as some of my more favorite janky creatures.

After the first few days of picking cards, I then sat down and refined the choices I made. I found that my creature choices were more limited in some colors then others so I added creatures and condensed the spells. I wanted more creature interactions or attacking and blocking then a struggle for board control with just a creature or two.

One hard decision for me to make was whether or not to include multicolor spells and creatures. Since this was my first attempt at a cube draft I chose to keep things simple. A good thing about a cube is that cards can be included or taken out on a whim and once I feel my cube is balanced, I can then include more flavorful spells.

I do have initial concerns about the cards I chose for my cube. The only way to solve this and improve the cube is to play it with my gaming group. Until then I can only speculate. Perhaps we will learn together as I report what I find back to you.

Since this blog began several months ago I have considered the possibility of adding an additional post per week. I have a keen interest in helping players learn the game of Magic and have thought about posting additional information on the subject. However, I will leave the content of this additional post up to my followers. If there is some subject about the game of Magic that deserves some talking points and i have some experience with the subject I would love to add an additional post to my blog. Drop a comment below or contact me either by twitter https://twitter.com/TheAiokii I would love to hear from you.

Till next week,