I've got 2 cubes that I enjoy very much (410 unpowered and 360 modern pauper). I'm looking to build a 3rd one for smaller playgroups (like 4 people max) and I decided on a theme: Peasant multicolor only! But, to keep the challenge at it's most, I am considering offering no lands outside of the draft!
Basically, the concept is that 1/2 the cube would be mana production and the other 1/2, spells. So that's 180 spells and 180 lands/manastones. Since there are so many horrible non-basic multi-colored lands, I would offer just about every one of them, along with a few of each basic lands. Anywhere from Gates, Homelands, Zandikar, Lairs, etc. Mana artifacts included in the mana production side of things, such as signets, talismans, Keyrunes, Obelisks, Cameo, and a variety of all-colored producers and filters (~40-45 artifacts out of the 180 mana producers).
Pack count would have to double, or cards per pack go to 30. 4 people would use all 360 cards of the cube. Perhaps letting people select 2 cards per pull? Still all up in the air...
I'm still putting it together, but curious if anybody has ever done anything like this? At least, with the lands/mana production, that is. Just looking for any insight if it's worth the attempt, or if there is any advice into doing this best.
I think its a cool idea. The first time one of my cube members cubed he took EVERY SINGLE dual land because he didnt think he would get lands after we had drafted.
What about this: No basic lands in cube, but limitations on basic lands per player after draft?
My goal here is to force the need of these non-basics. To make them critical in your picks in order to make your deck function. Being multicolor the way it is, even with full basic land support, 2 colors would be near impossible to get away with! 3 color would be pretty minimum.
I love your cube idea and hope you make it and post a list. I'm not sure I would go peasant for it myself, I think what I would do is limit rares to budget rares (<$3 or something) because that includes a huge selection of excellent multicolor cards that would add to the possible interactions in the drafted decks. Especially with the lands idea ... you don't need duals and fetches but the $1-3 rare lands would go a long way toward improving the not-getting-frustrated-by-mana-screw factor.
Somebody posted that this cube would hamper powerful two color decks ... I would say, "duh." I'm all about finding ways to make flavorful, highly interactive and possibility-enabling, under-utilized because they're not "powerful" enough cards playable. Not having access to mono-green mana fixing seems painful here but again you're trying to change the context to force people to use creative deck building skills to come up with decks they never would have played with in any other cube. It would likely take a lot of balancing and testing to make it consistently fun and to keep the gameplay from being too slow but don't let that stop you.
I also just thought of giving each player a few "utopia" lands (T: any color mana) after the draft just to make the decks more consistent while still having to draft 90% of their lands.
Before you go building it, I would definitely run the idea past your playgroup. It might sound fun to you, but spending half their picks on mana is not something everyone is going to consider fun or worthwhile.
Before you go building it, I would definitely run the idea past your playgroup. It might sound fun to you, but spending half their picks on mana is not something everyone is going to consider fun or worthwhile.
This. It's an interesting idea, and some of the best ideas came from thinking outside the box, but cubes are pointless if no one wants to play with it.
Thanks for the input, fellas. I'm just trying to do something different, that's all.
I will probably build it, show up, we try it... and if it fails, then if fails.
Another way I was thinking with the basic lands is to distribute 10 random basic lands pre-draft. This would help somebody determine what colors are "easiest" to draft for their build.
All up in the air, though. I definitely want to justify having a ton of non-basic lands in my cube, but as you all said, maybe it sounds awesome to me and nobody will want to play it.
The reason for Peasant: I have a Pauper and a full-scale cube, so I figured I'd start in the middle... though I like the idea of price restrictions instead of rarity restrictions, simply because some of those uncommons are STUPID expensive! (Kitchen Finks comes to mind...)
Anywho, just wanted to thank you guys once again for taking the time to help me make this cube... "playable". Lol. I will do some experimentation with the group and see what they think and report results. Cube card choices are almost completed and I'll be posting up a list as soon as I get it done and get the time to document it.
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Basically, the concept is that 1/2 the cube would be mana production and the other 1/2, spells. So that's 180 spells and 180 lands/manastones. Since there are so many horrible non-basic multi-colored lands, I would offer just about every one of them, along with a few of each basic lands. Anywhere from Gates, Homelands, Zandikar, Lairs, etc. Mana artifacts included in the mana production side of things, such as signets, talismans, Keyrunes, Obelisks, Cameo, and a variety of all-colored producers and filters (~40-45 artifacts out of the 180 mana producers).
Pack count would have to double, or cards per pack go to 30. 4 people would use all 360 cards of the cube. Perhaps letting people select 2 cards per pull? Still all up in the air...
I'm still putting it together, but curious if anybody has ever done anything like this? At least, with the lands/mana production, that is. Just looking for any insight if it's worth the attempt, or if there is any advice into doing this best.
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=484979
My goal here is to force the need of these non-basics. To make them critical in your picks in order to make your deck function. Being multicolor the way it is, even with full basic land support, 2 colors would be near impossible to get away with! 3 color would be pretty minimum.
Somebody posted that this cube would hamper powerful two color decks ... I would say, "duh." I'm all about finding ways to make flavorful, highly interactive and possibility-enabling, under-utilized because they're not "powerful" enough cards playable. Not having access to mono-green mana fixing seems painful here but again you're trying to change the context to force people to use creative deck building skills to come up with decks they never would have played with in any other cube. It would likely take a lot of balancing and testing to make it consistently fun and to keep the gameplay from being too slow but don't let that stop you.
This. It's an interesting idea, and some of the best ideas came from thinking outside the box, but cubes are pointless if no one wants to play with it.
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I will probably build it, show up, we try it... and if it fails, then if fails.
Another way I was thinking with the basic lands is to distribute 10 random basic lands pre-draft. This would help somebody determine what colors are "easiest" to draft for their build.
All up in the air, though. I definitely want to justify having a ton of non-basic lands in my cube, but as you all said, maybe it sounds awesome to me and nobody will want to play it.
The reason for Peasant: I have a Pauper and a full-scale cube, so I figured I'd start in the middle... though I like the idea of price restrictions instead of rarity restrictions, simply because some of those uncommons are STUPID expensive! (Kitchen Finks comes to mind...)
Anywho, just wanted to thank you guys once again for taking the time to help me make this cube... "playable". Lol. I will do some experimentation with the group and see what they think and report results. Cube card choices are almost completed and I'll be posting up a list as soon as I get it done and get the time to document it.