MTG Salvation

I'm new in Cube, so when I make packs from my 450 here is how I mix them:
In 1 pack:
2 of each color = 10
2 colorless = 2
3 multicolor / fixing = 3

multicolor/fixing would include city of brass, duals and gold cards. while colorless would include artifacts, karn, and strip mine.

Is this acceptable and random enough distribution?

Hm... I just shuffle them all up and take 15 off the top.

I put the cube on the center of the table. Everyone mixes it up and sorts it into enough 15 card piles. Then we each grab three piles. That's it. If I'm testing certain cards, I'll randomize the cube before we start and seed the cards into a pile just big enough to support the number of drafters we have.

Cheers,
rant

Shuffle the entire cube and distribute random 15 card piles. I don't like to predetermine any contents of any of the packs.

Here is how we do it:

For 15 card boosters assuming 8 people (24 packs total). It may seem a bit complicated but really it is not that bad

2 of each color

Then you need 5 cards per pack. 5*24 = 120 cards. so I take 10 more of each color (50) and then take 70 cards from my colorless/multicolored section and shuffle up the 120 cards then put 5 of the randomized cards into each pack.

For 11 card packs assuming 4 people (16 packs total)


1 of each color

16*6= 96. 6 of each color = 30. then 66 from the multicolored/colorless section. shuffle, and 6 cards to each pack

Then I shuffle each pack and put it in a team bag with a random common card facing in covering the visible card in the pack. That way I can have the packs done up the night before and everyone gets to actually open their packs. The team bags last anywhere from 5-10 uses each.

If I had a 360 cube I'd probably just shuffle the whole thing together, but since mine is closer to 720 i find it hard to shuffle the whole thing consistently. We really like it because there is some randomness to the packs but you basically can never get color screwed on pack 3. Yes it definately takes more work but I believe it is worth it

I like the semi-fixed packs. For each player, I grab 2 of each color, 1 random color card, and a mix of 4 multi-color and artifacts. Then, I shuffle all of that together before dividing it out into packs of 15. That way, within each set of packs, the colors are balanced, but within each pack itself, it may not be so easy to read. I've found this to be a good solution that doesn't take too much time and is something I'm satisfied with.

For reference: In storage, I keep my cube separated into 6 piles: 1 for each color, and a pile of artifacts/multicolor/land. At the end of each draft, I have everyone break everything down into this sorting method.

We just shuffle my cube as much as possible and make random packs, no seeding. I like that sometimes a color will be under represented or fixing is scarce. I do try and shuffle the hell out of my cube though even when we're playing I'll use the time my opponents ponder plays to shuffle the stuff we aren't using. I hate to open a pack and see half a deck I played last time out.

building packs was only slightly better for drafting but the effort to do so and seperate all the cards after each draft were a pain.

now we just grab a stack shuffle and pull of packs, much faster and simpler.

Oops, nm.

Quote from wtwlf123

So if you get passed a pack with only 1 card of a color in it, you automatically know what the player to that side is playing? Seems bad.

I think he's saying he balances the full pool but not each pack.

Sometimes I just shuffle the whole thing up (about 540 cards) and make packs.

If I want to do a more controlled draft, I set aside 45 cards from each section - White, Blue, Black, Red, Green, Multi, Colorless, Lands - then shuffle all that up.

Quote from bwian

I think he's saying he balances the full pool but not each pack.

Correct. I misread his post.

I balance my pool before making packs too. It's called the cube.

We just shuffle up the entire cube, sometimes do a full out pile shuffle if it has been awhile and make random packs.

Quote from JinxedIdol

I'm new in Cube, so when I make packs from my 450 here is how I mix them:
In 1 pack:
2 of each color = 10
2 colorless = 2
3 multicolor / fixing = 3

multicolor/fixing would include city of brass, duals and gold cards. while colorless would include artifacts, karn, and strip mine.

Is this acceptable and random enough distribution?

The best method is random. Sure, crazy things can happen but thats part of the fun.

What I normally do is have 3 other people help me. We each get a stack of about the same number of cards. Cut each in have and side shuffle them together, Repeat in any way you feel comfortable. Then take half of your stack and trade with another person. Repeat till you feel satisfied.

Since we pretty much exclusively play with four drafters, I shuffle each colour separately and separate 2/3 of the cards out for use (in a 270 card cube). Then the piles are all shuffled together, then made into five packs of nine for each player.

+1 for taking cards from a randomized cube.

I've always just piled the cards in more or less random stacks in the center of the table and let everyone involved deal themselves out whatever number of packs they'll need.

I kind of like the idea of balancing the cards in the pool before breaking it into packs as there's a general agreement that green hasn't been well represented in out drafts a lot of times. (We'll either get half as many green cards as any other color in the pool or there will be very few in pack 1 so somebody would have to switch colors to actually make use of it.) In the future, I might make packs ahead of time to seed in specific cards I want to test out. I just haven't ever planned far enough in advance to do this before now.

Recently switched over to partial-random. Essentially, each pack for Cube Legacy is guaranteed to have 2 cards for each color, a colorless card, and a multicolored card, plus 3 randoms. There is a little bit of added unpredictability seeded as I've included lots of lands and 'loosely color-bound artifacts' in my colored sections in fairly even numbers by color.

All told, 0-5 cards of each color, 1-11 colorless cards, 1-4 multicolor cards. Most likely range is 2-3 of each color, 1-2 colorless cards, 1-2 multicolor cards.

My group likes to have a degree of readability to the packs for shifting colors based on what is open.