MTG Salvation

I'm trying to drum up some interest in Cube. I'd like to avoid the expense of putting one together but don't necessarily want to just run a pauper cube as I really think some of the draw of the format is powerful effects. The Duel Deck Anthology is coming out as well as the mono-colored Commander sets. Has anyone given any thought to mashing these together and Cubing? The sets themselves have been edited a bit already into tight packages with some high impact cards, if not high powered. Might have the feel of a limited core set type environment which is what I'm after rather than a powered Cube.

The first thing that comes to mind for me is that the fixing would be really bad. There are some top-tier cards in those sets, but also a lot of chaff, but you would definitely be without duals, shocks, fetches, and a lot of other good lands.

I have the Shocks and Checks. Getting a set of Fetches isn't a big deal if the Zen fetches are reprinted in the 3rd set or can just shake the ridiculous price memory they have in the wake of the Onslaught reprint.

I'd totally do it.
I think the best way to start Cubing is to honestly just mash a bunch of cards together and draft the heck out of it. You'll soon figure out what's working and what isn't.
I started with 200 good cards and a common/uncommon playset from Lorwyn. Let's just say it's not as tribal as it used to be...

Oh okay, I was thinking you were going to be ONLY using those cards. In that case, it could definitely work. Just pull stuff out that isn't working for you and replace as you go.

I agree, just make a list and try it out! The first iteration of our cube was basically just a dragon cube that boiled down to creature fights instead of anything more interesting. It was completely overcosted, our fixing was terrible, and aggro was basically a lost cause. The refinements came over time after playing it a whole bunch and I feel like it's in a pretty good place now.

It's funny, because every time I make substitutions based on how the drafts went, I think "what was I thinking with some of these cards", and then after a bunch more plays I think the same thing again, sometimes about cards that were recently added! You definitely get a feel for it as you go and that's part of the fun of building.

Making random lists of cards I own is how I make up the first version of my cube. It's a pretty fun format even then.

The process of doing it, to me, is the "funnest".

Go for it.