I'm new to the Cube forum - so hopefully most of my questions can be answered by pointing me at the right thread. I'm trying to build a cube that as closely as possible emulates the feel of drafting my favorite set - Rise of the Eldrazi. The set had 100 commons, 60 uncommons, 53 rares and 15 mythics and had the "normal" distribution of cards per pack - 10 commons, 3 uncommons, 7/8 rare, 1/8 mythic.
Because of rarities I'm not restricting myself to singletons. To get the feel right I'll have to have more commons that rares. How many of each card am I going to need?
Mine is almost identical in composition (subbed in indrik umbra and eye of ugin as honorary rise cards), and it is a blast to play!
~ With any luck, there might still might be ebay auctions for 4x common and uncommon sets, and you'd be 95% of the way towards building one of these. Unfortunately though, with the current price of inquisition of kozilek, this might be harder to find or more expensive.
This is so funny. I just made an Eldrazi cube based loosely on that post as well. We had our first draft last week, and I say without exaggeration it was the best limited experience I've had in a long time, both drafting and playing.
I did it a bit different, however, because I opted for a 360 card cube. This meant you could count on every copy of every card being there every time. I like the additional level of strategy this creates. So I opted for 1x rares (30 cards total), 2x uncommons (90 cards total) and 3x commons (240 cards total). This creates 1/3/8 pack distributions in theory, but I'm too lazy to make proper packs anyway: everyone just got 15 random cards, and we loved it.
To get the cube down to 360, I had to cut some cards that weren't OP or unplayable, like brood birthing and, most contentiously, jadda lifestrider (by my math, it was that or the broodwarden). I did this to maintain the spell/creature ratios and aura/creature ratios with the colors and the set.
One quick note: when you're ordering up all these cards, don't forget to stock up on eldrazi spawn! They have beautiful art, and you'll need plenty when half the players inevitably draft green ramp/tokens.
I think Draft Sets are really cool and a great way to relive past formats without buying expensive boxes over and over. I'm not convinced that it's cubing, but it is definitely something I would consider making in the future. Ravnica Block draft and Time Spiral block draft sets are the two I would want to create.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
An accurate description of myself:
Quote from Megiddo »
You're the dude who just lies a lot and makes people hate you and then magically becomes town later, right?
I've had great success with my Modern Masters set cube! 3 of each common, 2 of each uncommon, 1 of each rare, and mythics sporadically added (like one of each of the dragons, but no Bob or Goyf because they don't add much to any of the established archetypes). It needs a bit of tweaking (like adding a third Dakmor Salvage to make dredge more playable) and can be personalized pretty well (we kept the Sword of X and Y's out because they just shut out games too often).
After many games with the cube, I've added some of my own cards that I feel fit nicely into the environment:
This keeps things fresh just like the regular cube, and due to the fact that there's a lot less money-cards in it, I feel better about taking it out in public and drafting with random people.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
The GameCube, a 500 cube with a medium power level and a focus on fun and fringe playables rather than immediately shutting your opponent down with the best cards ever printed.
Modem Masters, a 500 cube that tries to capture the essence of a Modern Masters set draft. 3 of each common, 2 of each uncommon, 1 of each rare, few mythics. Includes minor changes for balance reasons to give certain archetypes the tools they need to succeed.
I've had great success with my Modern Masters set cube! 3 of each common, 2 of each uncommon, 1 of each rare, and mythics sporadically added...
Sounds cool!
Do you craft packs (stuff like putting only 1 rare per 'pack'), or do you just shuffle up and cube as normal?
I'm curious if there is a math-y way to figure out the proportion of commons to uncommons to rares when you are just shuffling up the cube and dividing it into packs versus seeding packs with the right number of common/uncommon/rare/mythic...
We just draft it like a normal cube. So you can open a pack with 6 rares and 2 Grapeshot. It doesn't affect the drafts a ton, I've never seen a reason to change (and no one in my group wants to do more setup than just shuffling...)
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
The GameCube, a 500 cube with a medium power level and a focus on fun and fringe playables rather than immediately shutting your opponent down with the best cards ever printed.
Modem Masters, a 500 cube that tries to capture the essence of a Modern Masters set draft. 3 of each common, 2 of each uncommon, 1 of each rare, few mythics. Includes minor changes for balance reasons to give certain archetypes the tools they need to succeed.
I've made some posts on the subject before. Just check out my block cubes below for an idea for how I do them.
Using a max of 3 of each "key" archetype card allows you to build a really interesting draft environment. One of each rare for variety.
I'm developing a 360 card Mercadian Masques cube right now, and that's a really interesting challenge in its own right.
Edit: I should also note that building a block cube in this fashion is not so much to "simply" recreate the sets draft environment, but to "super charge" it and allow players to draft and play with very powerful versions of the popular archetypes that were present in the format.
I'm new to the Cube forum - so hopefully most of my questions can be answered by pointing me at the right thread. I'm trying to build a cube that as closely as possible emulates the feel of drafting my favorite set - Rise of the Eldrazi. The set had 100 commons, 60 uncommons, 53 rares and 15 mythics and had the "normal" distribution of cards per pack - 10 commons, 3 uncommons, 7/8 rare, 1/8 mythic.
Because of rarities I'm not restricting myself to singletons. To get the feel right I'll have to have more commons that rares. How many of each card am I going to need?
Anyone done a project like this? Advice?
If you're looking for (almost) exact ratios:
12x Commons
6x Uncommons
2x Rares
1x Mythics
If you're unconcerned about the Rare/Mythic split:
I have done three of these all of them a little different. My first one was Original Ravnica, which I have drafted both in pack order and all together (drafting in Rav, Gld, Des order is best). When I started I did one of each card and the set got immensely more fun once I did one of each rare and two of each uncommon. (Ironically the power also seemed to increase because the ravnica rares are mostly pretty bad.)
I then moved on to a shards of alara block, and changed the split around a few times until I decided that (1 rare/2 uncommon/ 2 common) was what I wanted to play. It was like playing ALara block, but slightly more powerful. When I did this one as a singleton format it was less fun because the rares are actual bombs. When there were three of each common it didn't feel as good as two because there was a noticeable power decrease and I didn't think it was needed.
Most recently I have done an innistrad dark Ascension box, and it is pretty good, though it has a lot more cards cut from it, and has some extras added to increase archetype drafting. I made it trying to further push the tribal elements of Innistrad, and adding a few cards to make burning vengeance and spider spawning decks more common. I like this one most, but it is also the newest.
I doubt the P3K was even designed with limited in mind. If I were to try that out as a draft sim, I'd throw all of the cards in the set into cubetutor in a 4c/2u/1r or 3c/2u/1r configuration, draft it a bunch of times, roughly ascertain the archetypes that might conceivably emerge out of the P3K environment, then start adding some extra, non-P3K cards to help shore up or balance those archetypes.
For instance, if mono green, or green/x lands up being mostly an aggro archetype, you might consider adding stuff like jungle lion, or other traditionally greenaggrocards (and ones that thematically could exist in a fictional Chinese setting), as ways to help facilitate players drafting and deck building in that strategy. Repeat this for all of the mono and guild-colored combinations, and you might land up with a pretty cool cube!
Do you actually own enough P3K to do this, or are you just planning to proxy the hell out of the set? If you're proxying heavily, then it should be quite easy to graft appropriate Three Kingdoms art onto magic cards from other sets.
I dunno if this thread has some life in it anymore, but I've been thinking of creating an Urza's Cube for quite some time now and could use some advice on that. For the last two years, I've been running a commander-oriented cube that contains quite some cards from the Urza block, which is the block that was standard-legal when my playgroup started. It would be awesome if I could recreate the experience of playing that block again.
What are your thoughts on creating this?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A hobby is by defenition something you're not any good at - otherwise it'd have been your work. Magic is my biggest hobby so I mustn't be very good at it.
I would recommend playing around with a bunch of different cube styles on cubetutor: singleton, variable rarity ratios, urza's block + augmented card pool, etc. See which one either stimulates the nostalgia feeling best, or leads to new and interesting ways of utilizing the old expansions.
It would not surprise me that multiple, different urzas cubes are already present on the site, for you to either try out off the bat, or take on and modify to your liking.
That's a very good suggestion. Tnx, I'll give that a shot.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A hobby is by defenition something you're not any good at - otherwise it'd have been your work. Magic is my biggest hobby so I mustn't be very good at it.
I'll consider that, but will probably stick to only Urza's at first. Maybe add MMQ to it later to increase the power level.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A hobby is by defenition something you're not any good at - otherwise it'd have been your work. Magic is my biggest hobby so I mustn't be very good at it.
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Because of rarities I'm not restricting myself to singletons. To get the feel right I'll have to have more commons that rares. How many of each card am I going to need?
Anyone done a project like this? Advice?
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/the-cube-forum/190791-rise-of-the-eldrazi-draft-sim-cube
"Personally I love high-riak, low-reqars gambles. Life's best with a decent amount of riak. And f*** reqars."
~ With any luck, there might still might be ebay auctions for 4x common and uncommon sets, and you'd be 95% of the way towards building one of these. Unfortunately though, with the current price of inquisition of kozilek, this might be harder to find or more expensive.
"Personally I love high-riak, low-reqars gambles. Life's best with a decent amount of riak. And f*** reqars."
I did it a bit different, however, because I opted for a 360 card cube. This meant you could count on every copy of every card being there every time. I like the additional level of strategy this creates. So I opted for 1x rares (30 cards total), 2x uncommons (90 cards total) and 3x commons (240 cards total). This creates 1/3/8 pack distributions in theory, but I'm too lazy to make proper packs anyway: everyone just got 15 random cards, and we loved it.
To get the cube down to 360, I had to cut some cards that weren't OP or unplayable, like brood birthing and, most contentiously, jadda lifestrider (by my math, it was that or the broodwarden). I did this to maintain the spell/creature ratios and aura/creature ratios with the colors and the set.
One quick note: when you're ordering up all these cards, don't forget to stock up on eldrazi spawn! They have beautiful art, and you'll need plenty when half the players inevitably draft green ramp/tokens.
My cube: http://cubetutor.com/viewcube/9981
After many games with the cube, I've added some of my own cards that I feel fit nicely into the environment:
1x Leering Emblem
2x Coldsteel Heart
1x Mutavault
3x Knight of Sursi
1x Nihilith
2x Shivan Sand-Mage
2x Darkblast
3x Amoeboid Changeling
1x Reflecting Pool
1x Wheel of Fate
This keeps things fresh just like the regular cube, and due to the fact that there's a lot less money-cards in it, I feel better about taking it out in public and drafting with random people.
Modem Masters, a 500 cube that tries to capture the essence of a Modern Masters set draft. 3 of each common, 2 of each uncommon, 1 of each rare, few mythics. Includes minor changes for balance reasons to give certain archetypes the tools they need to succeed.
Sounds cool!
Do you craft packs (stuff like putting only 1 rare per 'pack'), or do you just shuffle up and cube as normal?
I'm curious if there is a math-y way to figure out the proportion of commons to uncommons to rares when you are just shuffling up the cube and dividing it into packs versus seeding packs with the right number of common/uncommon/rare/mythic...
Modem Masters, a 500 cube that tries to capture the essence of a Modern Masters set draft. 3 of each common, 2 of each uncommon, 1 of each rare, few mythics. Includes minor changes for balance reasons to give certain archetypes the tools they need to succeed.
Using a max of 3 of each "key" archetype card allows you to build a really interesting draft environment. One of each rare for variety.
I'm developing a 360 card Mercadian Masques cube right now, and that's a really interesting challenge in its own right.
Edit: I should also note that building a block cube in this fashion is not so much to "simply" recreate the sets draft environment, but to "super charge" it and allow players to draft and play with very powerful versions of the popular archetypes that were present in the format.
450 Invasion Cube
540 All Ravnica Cube
450 Odyssey Cube
450 Kamigawa Cube
360 Mercadian Masques Cube
540 6ED+ Core Set Cube new!
Would love to see your decks/feedback!
If you're looking for (almost) exact ratios:
12x Commons
6x Uncommons
2x Rares
1x Mythics
If you're unconcerned about the Rare/Mythic split:
6x Commons
3x Uncommons
1x Rares/Mythics
Check out my expected lands table at:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Airj6A6lYAz_dG05T2JETnVTak1xQ0tqOHNSdEJLWVE&hl=en_US#gid=0
I have done three of these all of them a little different. My first one was Original Ravnica, which I have drafted both in pack order and all together (drafting in Rav, Gld, Des order is best). When I started I did one of each card and the set got immensely more fun once I did one of each rare and two of each uncommon. (Ironically the power also seemed to increase because the ravnica rares are mostly pretty bad.)
I then moved on to a shards of alara block, and changed the split around a few times until I decided that (1 rare/2 uncommon/ 2 common) was what I wanted to play. It was like playing ALara block, but slightly more powerful. When I did this one as a singleton format it was less fun because the rares are actual bombs. When there were three of each common it didn't feel as good as two because there was a noticeable power decrease and I didn't think it was needed.
Most recently I have done an innistrad dark Ascension box, and it is pretty good, though it has a lot more cards cut from it, and has some extras added to increase archetype drafting. I made it trying to further push the tribal elements of Innistrad, and adding a few cards to make burning vengeance and spider spawning decks more common. I like this one most, but it is also the newest.
For instance, if mono green, or green/x lands up being mostly an aggro archetype, you might consider adding stuff like jungle lion, or other traditionally green aggro cards (and ones that thematically could exist in a fictional Chinese setting), as ways to help facilitate players drafting and deck building in that strategy. Repeat this for all of the mono and guild-colored combinations, and you might land up with a pretty cool cube!
Do you actually own enough P3K to do this, or are you just planning to proxy the hell out of the set? If you're proxying heavily, then it should be quite easy to graft appropriate Three Kingdoms art onto magic cards from other sets.
"Personally I love high-riak, low-reqars gambles. Life's best with a decent amount of riak. And f*** reqars."
What are your thoughts on creating this?
It would not surprise me that multiple, different urzas cubes are already present on the site, for you to either try out off the bat, or take on and modify to your liking.
-D
"Personally I love high-riak, low-reqars gambles. Life's best with a decent amount of riak. And f*** reqars."