This is a really cool idea. I'm in the process of building my first cube ever (450) and mine isn't even a "Pimped" version and I have no desire to take it anywhere except where I have close friends/people I know well. I would love to be able to take it with me when I travel, and the idea of having a small travel cube is such a good idea. Thanks for sharing it, as I may use your idea in the future after I finish building my first cube
I'm pretty proud of my little Travel Cube and I'm glad to see that folks want one of their own! It plays great with two three or four people and holds up pretty well for multiple sessions.
I have some pretty expensive cards in mine, but the lower amount of cards is easier to keep up with in a "public game".
Hey Geb, I'm looking for some feedback. I built a cube very similar to yours, but more budget. I'm having an issue that I can't seem to ever draft reasonable decks in 2-colors either Winchestor or Winston. For the moment we are going to bump up to drafting 60 cards each instead of 45, but it feels like a design flaw.
It's been pretty consistent for me that I can get 18 cards on-color for a 2-color deck. Of those, usually 15-17 are stuff the deck wants to play and a couple are bad. (Like having Inferno Titan in your red aggro deck.) Even then, ALL of my decks have had to splash a third color to get to 23. This is really brutal to aggro and is making Green overvalued. How has that worked in your cube? Do you usually get enough playables for 2-color decks? What do you think could be causing my problem?
I just wanted you to know that I've kept tabs on this cube for several months now, and that I appreciate that you keep posting here with updates! I haven't actually been able to try it myself, but I hope to within a few days. So just remember that at least one person does keep visiting this thread ♥
Btw Geb, I was also curious how you generally draft your cube. I presume 90 cards for 2-man Winston/Winchestor. What do you do for 3 man? Or 4 man? My current thought is stick to Winston or Winchester for 3-man and play a multiplayer game after the draft. 4-man I was thinking normal drafting might start working and you could play multiplayer or swiss style mini-tournament. What have you been doing?
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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 just wanted you to know that I've kept tabs on this cube for several months now, and that I appreciate that you keep posting here with updates! I haven't actually been able to try it myself, but I hope to within a few days. So just remember that at least one person does keep visiting this thread ♥
Glad you are getting value out of the thread - I have had a lot of fun with this little cube! I think I enjoy tweaking its contents as much as I do playing it
Btw Geb, I was also curious how you generally draft your cube. I presume 90 cards for 2-man Winston/Winchestor. What do you do for 3 man? Or 4 man? My current thought is stick to Winston or Winchester for 3-man and play a multiplayer game after the draft. 4-man I was thinking normal drafting might start working and you could play multiplayer or swiss style mini-tournament. What have you been doing?
For two man we go between Winston and Winchester or Grid Drafting. For three and four man we do traditional 3 pack drafts and that seems to work out pretty good. I answered your other question over in your cube thread, and I am thrilled other folks are finding that a 180 card cube can be fun. When I started this most cubers just thought I was nuts ;). They are probably right, but persistence has given me a combination of.cards that works for our group. Whenever I make one of those hard "180 cube cuts" I just remember that I can still run the card in my 450.
Even if folks don't play their 180 I feel like it makes a great skeleton for a 360 and really taught me the fundamentals of cube building.
hey geb, first time visiting ur thread and would like to say that this is a terific idea!! a traveling cube easy to carry and adjust for ever big or small travel!!
i am really considering doing one same as well along with the regular 450 powered and foiled i got!!
thanks for sharing ur idea keep it up man!!
For a long time I didn't think anyone was reading this, but I figured it was a good way for me to document changes and work my way through getting my cube "right" (whatever that is).
I LOVE that recently small cube conversations seem to be taking off both here and on Reddit in /r/mtgcube - it's great that we have a small group of cube folks building 180s now! Thanks for reading and welcome to the insanity!
180 cubes are a lot of fun and let you really focus on what you want to do. My favorite thing so far with my 180 cube is that I get to run an extremely powerful aggro section with none of the "bad" creatures and every card is unique - no functional reprints or strictly worse cards. Specifically, the power level of mono-red aggro that you could generate in my cube in a 4-man draft that went perfectly would be second to few or none even though my cube is budget.
180 also creates really tough decisions about what you want your cube to do. There are very few slots up for grabs and you have to use them wisely.
Oh, and it's perfect to carry around in your backback/car/whatever and draft with 2-3 people at lunch time. I've got my entire cube + lands and tokens in one of those M11 boxes.
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An accurate description of myself:
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You're the dude who just lies a lot and makes people hate you and then magically becomes town later, right?
I've been wondering about a couple cards, though, that seem unappealing in general.
Juggernaut is a 5/3 for 4 CMC, which seems average to me except then when you have to attack with him every turn he seems completely unappealing, with the only saving grace being that he's colorless (and thus available as a creature in any deck). In a game I played, he was useless for my opponent because I popped out a Porcelain Legionnaire (which I adore) on turn two, which proceeded to eat the Juggernaut as soon as it attacked.
Liliana of the Veil feels like one of the least powerful planeswalkers I've personally seen (take that with a grain of salt). Both in theory and in practice, she doesn't seem anywhere near as useful or as fast as other 'walkers. I feel like either of her two other incarnations would be more suitable.
I would love if you could share any particular thoughts you had when including those two in your cube :]
I have been the hunt for another Liliana for this cube and I just got a Liliana Vess so I'll make that switch. Juggernaut has just been in there forever and could probably be replaced. I like him as a colorless creature but he is more a nostalgia pick than anything. When I figure out a better artifact creature he will probably go.
Hi Geb,
Thanks for the inspiration, I've finally gone ahead and put together my own little 180 cube.
I've used a combination of ideas from your 180 cube, my own 450 cube and other small cubes on these forums, it was a surprisingly fun and easy exercise!
One restriction that I did impose is to keep this cube very budget so that I wouldn't mind taking it to the local store or to bigger tournaments and play in wide open spaces without being super paranoid all the time. To that end, I've used all the least pimp version of each card and not a single card over $20 and nothing that can't be easily replaced. Now I have the whole thing sleeved up with 20 of each basic and some tokens and everything fits neatly into a fat pack box that i can take everywhere with me, pretty cool!
Haven't had a chance to draft this yet, but the list looks surprisingly powerful for being so low budget.
Let me know what you think!
Don't know how I missed your post - but I love the cube! I'm going to try and get some drafts in on Cube Tutor tomorrow 😄 I love some of the more budget choices, so you may be inspiring some changes in my cube!
X
Sword of Light and Shadow -----> Mimic Vat
I'm pretty proud of my little Travel Cube and I'm glad to see that folks want one of their own! It plays great with two three or four people and holds up pretty well for multiple sessions.
I have some pretty expensive cards in mine, but the lower amount of cards is easier to keep up with in a "public game".
Good luck with yours!
IN -----> OUT
R
Orcish Oriflamme (Alpha Cost 1R) -----> Devil's Play
G
Troll Ascetic -----> Overrun
W
Brimaz, King of Oreskos -----> Flickerwisp Because My GOD this card is good.
Spear of Heliod -----> Ghostly Prison
B
Ophiomancer -----> Liliana's Specter
W
Cloudgoat Ranger -----> Resurrection
Had to find a way to shoehorn him in. White has other ways of getting stuff out of the graveyard.
B
Chainer's Edict -----> Doom Blade
G
Garruk Wildspeaker -----> Garruk, Primal Hunter
It's been pretty consistent for me that I can get 18 cards on-color for a 2-color deck. Of those, usually 15-17 are stuff the deck wants to play and a couple are bad. (Like having Inferno Titan in your red aggro deck.) Even then, ALL of my decks have had to splash a third color to get to 23. This is really brutal to aggro and is making Green overvalued. How has that worked in your cube? Do you usually get enough playables for 2-color decks? What do you think could be causing my problem?
My cube: http://cubetutor.com/viewcube/9981
My cube: http://cubetutor.com/viewcube/9981
Glad you are getting value out of the thread - I have had a lot of fun with this little cube! I think I enjoy tweaking its contents as much as I do playing it
For two man we go between Winston and Winchester or Grid Drafting. For three and four man we do traditional 3 pack drafts and that seems to work out pretty good. I answered your other question over in your cube thread, and I am thrilled other folks are finding that a 180 card cube can be fun. When I started this most cubers just thought I was nuts ;). They are probably right, but persistence has given me a combination of.cards that works for our group. Whenever I make one of those hard "180 cube cuts" I just remember that I can still run the card in my 450.
Even if folks don't play their 180 I feel like it makes a great skeleton for a 360 and really taught me the fundamentals of cube building.
For a long time I didn't think anyone was reading this, but I figured it was a good way for me to document changes and work my way through getting my cube "right" (whatever that is).
I LOVE that recently small cube conversations seem to be taking off both here and on Reddit in /r/mtgcube - it's great that we have a small group of cube folks building 180s now! Thanks for reading and welcome to the insanity!
180 also creates really tough decisions about what you want your cube to do. There are very few slots up for grabs and you have to use them wisely.
Oh, and it's perfect to carry around in your backback/car/whatever and draft with 2-3 people at lunch time. I've got my entire cube + lands and tokens in one of those M11 boxes.
My cube: http://cubetutor.com/viewcube/9981
Juggernaut is a 5/3 for 4 CMC, which seems average to me except then when you have to attack with him every turn he seems completely unappealing, with the only saving grace being that he's colorless (and thus available as a creature in any deck). In a game I played, he was useless for my opponent because I popped out a Porcelain Legionnaire (which I adore) on turn two, which proceeded to eat the Juggernaut as soon as it attacked.
Liliana of the Veil feels like one of the least powerful planeswalkers I've personally seen (take that with a grain of salt). Both in theory and in practice, she doesn't seem anywhere near as useful or as fast as other 'walkers. I feel like either of her two other incarnations would be more suitable.
I would love if you could share any particular thoughts you had when including those two in your cube :]
B
Liliana Vess -----> Liliana of the Veil
T
Mana Confluence -----> City of Brass
X
Sword of Feast and Famine -----> Juggernaut
R
Goblin Rabblemaster -----> Rukh Egg
G
Reclamation Sage -----> Strangleroot Geist
M15!
Quick question, how many of each basic do you keep with this cube?
Thanks for the inspiration, I've finally gone ahead and put together my own little 180 cube.
I've used a combination of ideas from your 180 cube, my own 450 cube and other small cubes on these forums, it was a surprisingly fun and easy exercise!
One restriction that I did impose is to keep this cube very budget so that I wouldn't mind taking it to the local store or to bigger tournaments and play in wide open spaces without being super paranoid all the time. To that end, I've used all the least pimp version of each card and not a single card over $20 and nothing that can't be easily replaced. Now I have the whole thing sleeved up with 20 of each basic and some tokens and everything fits neatly into a fat pack box that i can take everywhere with me, pretty cool!
Haven't had a chance to draft this yet, but the list looks surprisingly powerful for being so low budget.
Let me know what you think!
http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/15268