MTG Salvation

The Awakening Cube

(a community project to help new players get into the format)

So I've spent the last few weeks working on a list from time to time. I started with theory but realized it was too slow, and I had little to show for it. What it did give me was a set of criteria to work with. I then went through every card at each cmc and color to find those that met my criteria and philosophy.










Design Theory

• The Cube will be 360 cards (all other sizes where too hard to fill)
• It must be fun for all levels (aka no crap cards)
• Whenever possible it should minimize the impact to new players, in other words, not inundating them with too many new effects and keywords.
• Cards should work as written (aka, needs to have versions with proper oracle text)
• The combined cube cost (-basics) must be less than $360.

Mechanics:

• Needed to be present in more than one block
• Needs to be fairly easy to understand
• Must have some number of cubable cards

The mechanics that I have included so far (outside of those listed as "evergreen") are:

1. Cycling
2. Kicker
3. Flashback
4. Scry
5. Guild mana (I'm listing this as a mechaic)

Echo is one I have been debating but I fear that a high amount of "May" effects would frustrate many players when playing with new cards for the first time.


First things first, here is a list to begin discussion and development.

V1 (10Mar12) Less than $360












Lets discuss.

Cheer,
H.G.

Personally I don't think the best way to introduce new players to MTG is via limited formats. However, if you're sold on the idea, surely you can just go through some sets and grab cards with the right "feel".
Honor of the Pure, Bladetusk Boar, that kind of thing. Just cards that express their color's nature.
I'd also recommend adding some powerful cards, like Day of Judgment, so players can learn that not all cards are equal; some are much better.

I've been thinking about this too. I know several people that used to play Magic, but haven't played for years, so I've been thinking about "core-ifying" my cube a bit to try to help them get back into it without being overwhelmed. It's not exactly the same thing as teaching new people, but it's close.

Some rules I was thinking about:
Stick with 360 cards.
No cards with keywords without reminder text, except abilities that were in Alpha.
No cards that have multiple forms (morph, flip, split, level-up, or double sided).
No phyrexian mana.
Try to stick to simple and/or resonant designs.

I'm trying to figure out where mutlicolor should fit in. Should there be no multicolor at all (like in a normal core set), a smaller than normal multicolor section or a multicolor section about standard for the cube size (as long as the designs are simple and/or resonant). Should hybrid be included (it's not that hard to understand, but could be relatively easily done without)? What about cards that play as multicolor (kird ape, desolation angel)?

Another thing I'm on the fence about is whether or not to omit or limit the number of griefer cards particularly land destruction (like armageddon, strip mine, winter orb, ankh of mishra, etc.) or not. They aren't terribly complex, make aggro more viable and some players like them.

I'm interested to see what other folks think.

To more fully answer the original question about mechanics:

Mechanics I would definitely include:
flying
first strike

Mechanics I would probably include
Protection
Battle Cry
Defender
Landfall
Kicker
Scry
Regenerate
Deathtouch
Lifelink
Bloodthirst
Trample
Haste
Hexproof

Mechanics I might include, but I'm not sure about
Shadow
Flash
Evoke
Shroud
Buyback
Flashback
Echo
Fear
Intimidate
Unearth
Cascade
Imprint? (Duplicant seems OK, Isochron Scepter probably not)

Mechanics I'd probably not include, but might change my mind about
Vanishing
Fading
Ninjutsu
Persist
Rebound
Wither
Cycling
Manlands

Mechanics I would not include
Level Up
Changeling
Suspend
Hideaway
Poison
Flip
Split
Level-Up
Morph
Transform

Thoughts?

I would use the below mechanics, and really focus on color identity. That was a big thing when I was first learning the game. I would keep the really complex ETB and LTB abilities out as well as cards like Hero of Bladehold that have when attacks triggers. They can trip a new player up in an already complex situation. I wouldn't use a lot of token producers, but I wouldn't cut them out completely either. I would also limit things that happen during various steps in a turn. You don't want a lot of upkeep, or end step triggers; a new player will get confused about what happens when and why. This is all from my experience teaching people who have never even looked at the game as anything other than "That weird thing my friend does." A novice player, who has a strong grasp of the phases of the game, how to do combat math without getting confused, activated abilities, and instant vs. sorcery speed, will be able to handle more complex cards like the ones listed above, but they still shouldn't be ubiquitous at that point.


flying
first strike
Protection
Battle Cry
Defender
Landfall
Kicker
Scry
Regenerate
Deathtouch
Lifelink
Bloodthirst
Trample
Haste
Evoke
Shroud

I think having a "cheat sheet" with a beginner's guide would be great. It could include an explanation of all the keywords as well as actual Cube examples of how the abilities are used. Also listing the order of phases (untap, upkeep, etc) would be a great asset. Maybe even include all the card types & a brief explanation (with examples) of what they do.

How I taught an old friend who used to play Magic was to do a lot of 2-man drafts. This enabled me to explain each card & ability as they came up. Not always possible but now he's able to draft a powered Cube (mostly) without help.

I feel like the best way to introduce people to magic would be through color identity

Green
Ramp, Big Creatures (4-7 drops), fixing, Shroud, Trample, Regenerate

Red
Aggro, Burn, Haste, Maybe some Dragons

White
Aggro, Fliers, Day of Judgement and some control, First Strike

Blue
Fliers, Counter-spells, Looter effects, Shroud

Black
Creature removal, Suicide Black cards, Discard effects, Deathtouch

I would also break the 'one of' rule, since the sheer number of unique cards can be daunting. Have lots of 'common' cards that have say, 4 copies of in the cube. Then 'uncommons' could appear twice. And rares/mythics can appear once.

Quote from magicmerl

I would also break the 'one of' rule, since the sheer number of unique cards can be daunting. Have lots of 'common' cards that have say, 4 copies of in the cube. Then 'uncommons' could appear twice. And rares/mythics can appear once.

While a good idea, you're really not a cube anymore once you do that...it's more like random collection to draft out of.

I would take that idea and just include cards of the same name that do the same thing.

I like the idea of having a newbie cube though, great idea. Maybe even just limit your cube to all the core sets through the years. Wizards has done a decent job of making core set accessible over the years.

This is a great project. I have a lot of friends that could benefit from this. Anotehr good thing is that the cards are gonna mostly C/U and cheap to find.

We brought a few new players into the fold by tossing them to the sharks and having them cube with us (regular cube) before they played any other magic at all. After the fact they told us that they were glad that they learned magic in such a tough arena, because it helped them develop very quickly.

We did provide them a list of what all the keywords did and the list of steps in a turn, etc. so they had easy reference for that sort of thing. We spent about 2 hours explaining the basics to them using leftover cube decks from previous drafts and then dove in.

A lot of nuance interactions were totally lost on them at first, which could be frustrating to new players, which is why I see the value of a 'New Player's Cube' project like this.

Interestingly I was thinking of doing something like this not just to introduce new players to Magic, but also to assist some of the people around my area to be better overall limited players. Having a cube is a great way of doing this because you get to see more unique cards and it is much more important to have some proper card evaluation. Its also a nice idea because learning limited with a cube is much more cheap that buying boosters of current sets to do over again.

Here are some cards from my cube's white section which I would have deemed appropriate for a beginner cube. This is not all inclusive however.

• Elite Vanguard
  
• Savannah Lions
  
• Goldmeadow Harrier
  
• Gideon's Lawkeeper
  
• Isamaru, Hound of Konda
  
• Mother of Runes
  
• Accorder Paladin
  
• Knight of Meadowgrain
  
• Kor Skyfisher
  
• Mistral Charger
  
• Stormfront Pegasus
  
• Stoneforge Mystic
  
• Wall of Omens
  
• White Knight
  
• Silver Knight
  
• Blade Splicer
  
• Fiend Hunter
  
• Kor Sanctifiers
  
• Mirran Crusader
  
• Paladin en-Vec
  
• Emeria Angel
  
• Ranger of Eos
  
• Archon of Justice
  
• Baneslayer Angel
  
• Reveillark
  
• Sun Titan
  
• Sunblast Angel
  
• Yosei, the Morning Star
  
• Scepter of Dominance
  
• Land Tax
  
• Honor of the Pure
  
• Journey to Nowhere
  
• Pacifism
  
• Seal of Cleansing
  
• Glorious Anthem
  
• Oblivion Ring
  
• Faith's Fetters
  
• Condemn
  
• Enlightened Tutor
  
• Path to Exile
  
• Swords to Plowshares
  
• Disenchant
  
• Revoke Existence
  
• Armageddon
  
• Day of Judgment
  
• Ravages of War
  
• Wrath of God
  
• Hallowed Burial
  
• Austere Command
  
• Catastrophe
  
• Kor Haven

Let me know how you think this list jives with what you would look for in a beginner cube. Are functional reprints a good idea? Any cards which are too complicated on this list? Any cards missing that would be a nice fit? Any mechanics which are part of the color identity which would make for a good inclusion?

Interesting idea. I think the goal of the cube should be to bring the players up to snuff for a regular cube. Why not introduce them to tiered cube design, being: Beginner, advanced, then expert. Followed by an actual cube. This would allow a player to experience increasing levels of difficulty after grasping the lessons of each level, ie. archetypes, resource usage, recognizing interactions etc. also, to everyone posting about including protection as an easy ability, it's actually te most complicated.

While, my cube as it is with power, and very limited reminder text (proxies will have zero reminder text), new players have came into the game regardless.

If you were going to build a "starter" cube:

• I would include lots of combat tricks in place of straight removal (for the most part, like maybe 30/70)
• Include the custom Player Tip Cards
• Make the cube a bit more creature dependant/midrangey at first.
• Keep the basics, Recall, Bolt, Rit, Salve, Growth, and the seal cycle.
• Include as many cards with reminder text as you can.
• Avoid Foreign cards, ante, ungluged cards, holiday cards.

It may even be worth the time, to proxy an entire cube and include reminder text.

Just some information, I'm going to be both designing and building a cube with this concept in the near future. I think it would be extremely nice thing to do for the newer players near where I live.


I would like to continue getting some ideas about mechanics to include as well as a limit on how many total should be included. With this I think colored distribution should be discussed as well.


Cheers,
H.G.

I'd take the 'core set' mechanics list and add maybe one per color, plus one cross-functional mechanic (like cycling, kicker, or flashback).

Quote from TakeABow

I'd take the 'core set' mechanics list and add maybe one per color, plus one cross-functional mechanic (like cycling, kicker, or flashback).

The questions that drive how I think this cube could be built:

How do you introduce a new player to the variety found in magic cards without overwhelming them?

How do you teach them the value of a GOOD card in the right deck? In other words, why is lava spike playable in one deck but not in another? Why is something like unsummon valuable when it doesn't actually deal with a creature permanently?

Why are instants better and when are sorceries valuble alterantives to their instant speed equivalents? For instance, Seismic Shudder vs. Pyroclasm



Why is bigger not always better? (cost to power ratio)

What are the strengths of each color? (over time this has changed greatly)


How do you help new and very casual players develop good deck building philosophies and an understanding of the mana -> spell relationship?



When I first started cubing, I noticed that the players I played with over a period of weeks improved greatly in how they played and how they built their decks because of the experience they gained playing cube. I want to create a cube list that maximizes that development but is fun for everyone, new or otherwise.

This is a great challenge for this community, and I am 100% sure that we can come up with a really informed and devoloped list.

I taught two players how to play Magic using my regular cube. What helped the most, probably, is that since my cube is mostly proxied, I would always select the version of the card which had reminder text to explain the keywords. The only cards I excluded were cards which relied very heavily on priority timing, e.g. Tangle Wire.

I think that a more powerful cube is actually better for newer players. They'll lose the first few times, of course, but after a while they'll start to get lucky or draft bombs and start winning games. This encourages them to keep playing. I tried to switch over to my pauper cube a few times, but my newer players didn't enjoy it as much because 1) they didn't get to play with awesome effects as much and 2) they rarely won. In a pauper cube, you just don't have things like Swords that'll help you win games out of nowhere.

Also, don't play a control deck against a newer player. Much cursing will ensue.

Edit: to answer most of your questions, Happy, I think the best thing to do is to simply play against them. It's just like how we're suppose to teach other players the value of any card. Draft a deck with it and win. When your players start seeing you Intuition at the end of their turn, they'll start to catch on that instants are a good thing. When you burn their dudes as they're trying to equip, you'll bet that they'll start picking up instant speed sorcery. Punish their greedy decks with faster decks. Explain to them why you kept a bomb in your sideboard in favor of a seemingly weaker card. I don't want to discredit the idea of a "new players cube", but I think that many people learn best by diving in and seeing with their own eyes.

I just want to point out that a pauper cube is actually super good way to teach new players how to play as vitually all the cards have really simple text on them. There ain't nothing flashy here, just bread and butter effects that are easy to use, but it's super fun.

Pauper is reletively forgiving to new players when they draft. It also teaches about really basic fundimentals of the game as it teaches players about basic thing such as 1-for-1 removal and the 4 major styles of decks; aggro, tempo, midrange, control. Not just that but at high leveled thinking, it is actually really skill intensive as there is such a vast array of strategies to choose from, all with similar power levels.

Or you could instead splash of with higher rarities. Just remember that the higher the rarity, doesn't mean the more funner. Just try to keepit a lot in lower rarities.

Edit: Oh yeah, doen't play pauper control against them as it is one of the most soul crushing things possible. Like Stasis sort of soul crushing for newer players as the death is often very slow and inevitable. So keep that in mind when you are building.

the constaint that makes this similar to a pauper cube is the cost: I think it should be sub $300 retail.

That should be easy enough for most people to construct.

Quote from Olgor »

Personally I don't think the best way to introduce new players to MTG is via limited formats.

I agree. Preconstructed is the way to go. If you want to cube, then preconstructed cube decks would be good; or at the very least 4-6 draftable archetypes with a list of the cards the player should look out for.

I would also break the 'one of' rule, since the sheer number of unique cards can be daunting.

Card diversity is one of the biggest hurdles for new players. This is why you shouldn't have a separate low-power cube for new players.

It would be better to play more of the same cards. For example rather than have all different dual lands, its easier to use all the ABU duals. Rather than 4 different burn spells, use all lightening bolts.

Quote from killem2 »

I would include lots of combat tricks in place of straight removal (for the most part, like maybe 30/70)

I disagree. Beginners understand Doomblade and Swords to Plowshares. They don't necessarily know how to use a giant growth in a combat situation.

1) they didn't get to play with awesome effects as much

Splashier effects are easier for beginners to grasp than smallish effects (Wrath of God makes sense.)

2) they rarely won.

There is nothing worse than a beginner having to lose time after time. Lower power favors better players who are able to get incremental advantage.

So I've spent the last few weeks working on a list from time to time. I started with theory but realized it was too slow, and I had little to show for it. What it did give me was a set of criteria to work with. I then went through every card at each cmc and color to find those that met my criteria and philosophy.


Design Theory

• The Cube will be 360 cards (all other sizes where too hard to fill)
• It must be fun for all levels (aka no crap cards)
• Whenever possible it should minimize the impact to new players, in other words, not inundating them with too many new effects and keywords.
• Cards should work as written (aka, needs to have versions with proper oracle text)
• The combined cube cost (-basics) must be less than $360.

Mechanics:

• Needed to be present in more than one block (aka 4 sets or more)
• Needs to be fairly easy to understand
• Must have some number of cubable cards

The mechanics that I have included so far (outside of those listed as "evergreen") are:

1. Cycling
2. Kicker
3. Flashback
4. Scry
5. Guild mana (I'm listing this as a mechaic)

Echo is one I have been debating but I fear that a high amount of "May" effects would frustrate many players when playing with new cards for the first time.

At this point I have Multicolor, Blue, Green, Artifact, and White finished. I am currently finishing up red and black and will have a preliminary list up soon for discussion.

I finally got a list together for discussion, check the OP

Cheers,
H.G.

how come you did not include swords to plowshares and path to exile ?

Quote from sammymma

how come you did not include swords to plowshares and path to exile ?

$cost$ Swords is over $9 Path is over $5. However, both fit if you are not going to use $360 as your budget.

I'll add these to then $ list in the OP.