Fairly simple question here. Why is the number 540 chosen for cubing?
For larger size cubes, I can see it not mattering as much, 600-700-720-800 however many cards you want. And I get that I can literally do whatever I want with my cube because casual and fun. But I'm trying to figure out why people like 540?
I find 450 too hard for me to cut down to (my cube thread will be updated soon with my new cube). And I find 540 bloats the draft so much and there's so many cards left over (regularly draft with 6-8 people, rarely more than 8).
I'm extremely happy with where my cube is at 520 right now, but I'm just curious why these numbers are chosen the way they are.
Numbers like 360, 450 etc. divide cleanly for all the usual draft methods. That's really it. There's no reason not have an in-between number, though, so keep with 520 unless you expand to more drafters!
EDIT; Your cube is looking nice! You have a random duplicated Geist of Saint Traft FYI.
I ran a 500 card cube for a long time. When I thought about it, I realized I never draft with more than 8 people and normally draft with 6. I felt the power of the cube was a bit diluted at 500. I cut down to 450, which to me is the perfect balance of power, archetype support, and variability between drafts for the size of my group. We have reached a point now though that the difference in power between 450 and 540 is small, with the biggest difference being how many archetypes you can support.
I think for now, 450-540 is sort of the sweet spot for power and variety. I'm at 360 right now and I felt like I couldn't quite include everything I wanted to include. So I'm starting the slow march up to 450.
And yeah, 90 card sealed pools. Plus each drafter you add means 45 more cards in the draft, too. I usually draft with 4-6, so 450 would get me two drafts' worth of cards with 5 players each.
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I can't say I'm pleased to see you and must warn you I may have to do something about it.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: URDelver
Modern: UGRDelver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
One reason not to go with a size that isn't divisible by 90 is any time you're not drafting the full cube there will be combos that might not be able to come together. For example, your Pestermite and Zealous Conscripts might be in the draft while your Splinter Twin and Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker are still in the cube box.
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465 card Unpowered cube thread. Draft it here and I'll be happy to return the favor.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
I'm very happy with 540 because we do burn drafts now a lot of the time.
Being able to draft a full cube with 4 players (and burn 2) or 6 players (burn 1) makes 540 a very good size. I could try downsizing my cube instead, but really, who wants to make 100+ cuts from his list?
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"Everybody dies, Tracey. Someone's carrying a bullet for you right now, doesn't even know it. The trick is to die of old age before it finds you."
It starts as a baseline at 360 usually, because that's how many you need for a traditional 8-player draft. Then it usually goes up in increments of 90 (which is 2 more players or 1 more sealed pool) based on need (player size, desired redundancy, etc). The 90-card increases are just round player numbers so that certain sized events will still use your max pool. That's why your most common cube sizes are 360, 450, 540, 630 or 720 (which is 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16 drafters; or 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8 sealed pools, respectively).
The numbers aren't critical, but they're not exactly arbitrary either. For example, I have a 540 card cube because it's the smallest size that can support a 4-player Glimpse Draft. Any smaller and my draft demand at 4 people would be terrible, and any bigger and the list wouldn't be as tight as it could be for the size/demand I need. So once you decide what the maximum number of cards might be for any given event you'll run, and you factor in the minimum amount of variance you'd want between drafts, that's the number you should build to (and stick with) because it'll give you the tightest events you can run.
I've devised a method of drafting with my cube that allows me to add cards as I feel like adding them, basically ignoring the 90-card breakpoints. Two caveats though, there's usually a fractional pack at the end and the pool size fluctuates within 5 cards or so of 45, which hasn't turned out to be a problem (and I actually prefer that to leaving key cards out of the draft or having to add filler cards to hit one of those breakpoints).
Basically, what we do is divide the cube up evenly between all the players. If the amount of cards that each gets is too high of a pool, we add a burn count. It works really well.
The full formula/code:
Pack size = 15
Pack count = Cube size / Pack size
Cards per player = Cube size / Number of players
Burn count = 0
Pool = Cards per player / (1 + burn count)
If Pool is too large, increment Burn count and recalculate Pool
I use 480, we do sealed quite a bit with my cube and 480 is exactly enough for 8 people to sealed 4 packs each and it keeps the 4-6 people drafts fairly diverse.
For larger size cubes, I can see it not mattering as much, 600-700-720-800 however many cards you want. And I get that I can literally do whatever I want with my cube because casual and fun. But I'm trying to figure out why people like 540?
I find 450 too hard for me to cut down to (my cube thread will be updated soon with my new cube). And I find 540 bloats the draft so much and there's so many cards left over (regularly draft with 6-8 people, rarely more than 8).
I'm extremely happy with where my cube is at 520 right now, but I'm just curious why these numbers are chosen the way they are.
My cube as it stands right now: http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/1359
EDIT; Your cube is looking nice! You have a random duplicated Geist of Saint Traft FYI.
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
And sweet catch! That's supposed to be a Venser!
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
Cheers,
rant
My Cube
CubeCobra: https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/5f5d0310ed602310515d4c32
Cube Tutor: http://cubetutor.com/viewcube/1963
And yeah, 90 card sealed pools. Plus each drafter you add means 45 more cards in the draft, too. I usually draft with 4-6, so 450 would get me two drafts' worth of cards with 5 players each.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
Being able to draft a full cube with 4 players (and burn 2) or 6 players (burn 1) makes 540 a very good size. I could try downsizing my cube instead, but really, who wants to make 100+ cuts from his list?
"Everybody dies, Tracey. Someone's carrying a bullet for you right now, doesn't even know it. The trick is to die of old age before it finds you."
My
540> 360 Powered CubeThe numbers aren't critical, but they're not exactly arbitrary either. For example, I have a 540 card cube because it's the smallest size that can support a 4-player Glimpse Draft. Any smaller and my draft demand at 4 people would be terrible, and any bigger and the list wouldn't be as tight as it could be for the size/demand I need. So once you decide what the maximum number of cards might be for any given event you'll run, and you factor in the minimum amount of variance you'd want between drafts, that's the number you should build to (and stick with) because it'll give you the tightest events you can run.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
"Personally I love high-riak, low-reqars gambles. Life's best with a decent amount of riak. And f*** reqars."
Basically, what we do is divide the cube up evenly between all the players. If the amount of cards that each gets is too high of a pool, we add a burn count. It works really well.
The full formula/code:
Pack size = 15
Pack count = Cube size / Pack size
Cards per player = Cube size / Number of players
Burn count = 0
Pool = Cards per player / (1 + burn count)
If Pool is too large, increment Burn count and recalculate Pool