I was trying to introduce MTG to my friends who had never played in their lives before. I went through several variant formats to teach them the basics without having them to fork out money to buy any cards. It was then I chanced upon Battle Box (Danger Room). I was intrigued by the simpler choices of cards found inside as there were no tutors, land destroys, etc. Furthermore, it utilizes the Hearthstone mana system which would minimize the chances of mana flood and screws. It certainly made the gameplay smoother for my friends.
However, we felt that there was a lack of theme in the Battle Box format as players drew a bunch of random color cards from the communal library after playing a few rounds. I then tried to incorporate drafting with the Battle Box cards with my friends to have a feel of consistent color decks. We ran into another problem as too much time was spent on figuring out what is the right ratio of spells and lands. Although I taught them the basics of 60:40 ratio, the entire drafting and deckbuilding process still took very long to complete.
To streamline the game play more, I introduced the Magic 2.0 mana system so that we do not have to spent time figuring out the correct ratio and can thus get into the actual game faster. We ended up building decks of 40 cards and cards with corresponding color can be set down at the land zone (figurative) to be tapped for mana. Artifacts can be tapped for colorless mana and multicolored cards have to be declared on its color before setting down. We played several rounds with this format and found it to be quite enjoyable due to the consistency in mono/dual colored decks or sometimes even a splash in the third color.
What do you guys think about this format? What can be incorporated to make the game play more interesting? I'm currently looking at ways to introduce various archetypes into the "cube". What sort of archetypes is good for beginners to identify and draft?
Great work bro. Been lurking your thread. Quick question: Any idea to transform your cube into EDH/Commanders cube? As in what commanders would you recommend to synergize with your cube. Thanks bro!
Thank you for sharing your decklists. However, I can't help but notice the increase in use of Planeswalkers compared to MoxZZZ's decklists. My concern is that whether your decks can sit well with MoxZZZ's ones. Furthermore, my group doesn't really like the idea of relying on Planeswalkers to end games as we lean towards to the more pre-Planeswalkers era of Magic. Nonetheless, I still greatly appreciate the sharing of your decklists. Cheers!
@MoxZZZ Awesome work! I was wondering if you will be coming up with more decklists as my friends and myself totally enjoyed the balanced preconstructed decks. We are all currently caught up with work and thus do not have enough time to sit down for draft matches or deck brewing sessions. Looking forward to more balanced decklists so that my group can have more replay value out of your Battle Box.
@thecasualoblivion Can you post your decklists if it's fine by you. Would like more permutations (but balanced to MoxZZZ's decklists) in the Battle Box. Thanks!
Would like to quote an archive question that is similar to my question: here
[Question]
I've tried reading the rules, but I still do not understand blocking with two or more creatures that well.
From what I've read it goes like this,
player A declares attackers
player B declares blockers
player A (if more than two blockers) decides how much damage to deal to each blocker with the total being the power
My first question, well I've already kind of asked this question before, but can player A choose to deal 0 damage to one creature and all the damage to the other?
My second question is, if player A has a 4/4 and player B has two 2/2's, but player B bounces back his 2/2's because he is using two hibernation slivers, does player A's 4/4 die? And player B would lose 4 life?
thanks
[/Question]
[Answer]
1. Yes.
2. A definite maybe...
To elaborate, here's a quick summary of the relevant parts of the combat:
- Once blockers have been declared, players may play spells and abilities before combat damage is assigned.
- Once combat damage has been assigned, players may play spells and abilities before combat damage is dealt.
- Once a creature is blocked, it doesn't deal damage to the defending player/planeswalker unless it has trample. Assume for the sake of this question that player A's 4/4 does not have trample.
- Once a creature assigns damage, the damage will be dealt regardless of what happens to said creature.
So, there are two possible times for player B to play his slivers' abilities:
1. After blockers are declared, but before damage is assigned.
2. After damage is assigned, but before damage is dealt.
If, in your situation, (1) is the case, then the 4/4 lives. That's because no damage has been assigned to it, so no damage will be dealt to it. It will deal no damage to the player B, because it is a blocked creature that doesn't have trample.
If, on the other hand, (2) is the case, then the 4/4 dies. That's because 4 damage was assigned to it, and that 4 damage will be dealt regardless of what happens to the source of the damage (i.e. regardless of the fact that the Slivers are no longer in play).
And to answer your third question, of course player B would lose 4 life. That's the cost of returning the slivers to his hand. Teach Grin
[/Answer]
I have a box of tokens that has all the tokens I need in it (and more), but I don't have a spreadsheet with a list of them on there. You might just have to review the cards and make a list.
Oh well, I guess it's quite insane to list them down anyway.
Can anyone post the required transformation creatures card name in this cube?
I'm still quite new to the MTG and I don't know a lot of the stated cards in the cube.
However, we felt that there was a lack of theme in the Battle Box format as players drew a bunch of random color cards from the communal library after playing a few rounds. I then tried to incorporate drafting with the Battle Box cards with my friends to have a feel of consistent color decks. We ran into another problem as too much time was spent on figuring out what is the right ratio of spells and lands. Although I taught them the basics of 60:40 ratio, the entire drafting and deckbuilding process still took very long to complete.
To streamline the game play more, I introduced the Magic 2.0 mana system so that we do not have to spent time figuring out the correct ratio and can thus get into the actual game faster. We ended up building decks of 40 cards and cards with corresponding color can be set down at the land zone (figurative) to be tapped for mana. Artifacts can be tapped for colorless mana and multicolored cards have to be declared on its color before setting down. We played several rounds with this format and found it to be quite enjoyable due to the consistency in mono/dual colored decks or sometimes even a splash in the third color.
What do you guys think about this format? What can be incorporated to make the game play more interesting? I'm currently looking at ways to introduce various archetypes into the "cube". What sort of archetypes is good for beginners to identify and draft?
Links:
Battle Box
Danger Room
Magic 2.0
@thecasualoblivion Can you post your decklists if it's fine by you. Would like more permutations (but balanced to MoxZZZ's decklists) in the Battle Box. Thanks!
[Question]
I've tried reading the rules, but I still do not understand blocking with two or more creatures that well.
From what I've read it goes like this,
player A declares attackers
player B declares blockers
player A (if more than two blockers) decides how much damage to deal to each blocker with the total being the power
My first question, well I've already kind of asked this question before, but can player A choose to deal 0 damage to one creature and all the damage to the other?
My second question is, if player A has a 4/4 and player B has two 2/2's, but player B bounces back his 2/2's because he is using two hibernation slivers, does player A's 4/4 die? And player B would lose 4 life?
thanks
[/Question]
[Answer]
1. Yes.
2. A definite maybe...
To elaborate, here's a quick summary of the relevant parts of the combat:
- Once blockers have been declared, players may play spells and abilities before combat damage is assigned.
- Once combat damage has been assigned, players may play spells and abilities before combat damage is dealt.
- Once a creature is blocked, it doesn't deal damage to the defending player/planeswalker unless it has trample. Assume for the sake of this question that player A's 4/4 does not have trample.
- Once a creature assigns damage, the damage will be dealt regardless of what happens to said creature.
So, there are two possible times for player B to play his slivers' abilities:
1. After blockers are declared, but before damage is assigned.
2. After damage is assigned, but before damage is dealt.
If, in your situation, (1) is the case, then the 4/4 lives. That's because no damage has been assigned to it, so no damage will be dealt to it. It will deal no damage to the player B, because it is a blocked creature that doesn't have trample.
If, on the other hand, (2) is the case, then the 4/4 dies. That's because 4 damage was assigned to it, and that 4 damage will be dealt regardless of what happens to the source of the damage (i.e. regardless of the fact that the Slivers are no longer in play).
And to answer your third question, of course player B would lose 4 life. That's the cost of returning the slivers to his hand. Teach Grin
[/Answer]
Does (2) actually cause the attacker to die?
Thanks guys!
Thanks anyway though.
Oh well, I guess it's quite insane to list them down anyway.
A million thanks!
What I meant was a list of creatures that is capable of transforming such as Garruk Relentless. Can I have a list of such creatures?
I'll check out the corresponding transformed creatures myself.
Thanks for the prompt reply!
I'm still quite new to the MTG and I don't know a lot of the stated cards in the cube.
Thanks alot in advance!