[CUBE PHILOSOPHY]
To provide players a limited environment with an opportunity to play some of the game's most iconic cards throughout the history of MTG. Cube is also a unique format that opens the doorways to fun cards and interactions that may have never had a time to shine at the forefront of a format, and it is through this unique style of play that fun and power can blend into a memorable experience for every player.
[CUBE SIZE] 540 Cards. 360 Card Core w/ 2x Modules containing 90 cards each. [BREAKDOWN] 70 Per color. 50 Per Guild. 140 Colorless. [THEME] Standard theme. [POWERED] Contains power nine.
Welcome to my thread, where I am documenting and discussing my absolute favorite format of Magic: the Gathering. The Juice[BOX]³ was created in 2010 and has continued to evolve with each set release. Originally beginning as a 360 Powered Cube, in 2014 a 90 card module was added on to help facilitate lager draft groups when necessary. In 2015 a second 90 card module was added to bring the total maximum cube size to 540 cards. With the addition of modules, I have begun to break up archetypes across modules to allow certain interactions and archetypes to ebb and flow as the draft group size changes. There is going to be a lot of information to unpack in this thread, from the contents of my Cube, the design concepts surrounding my Cube peripherals, and the resources I use to track my Cube to help me manage it for my players in the best way that I know how.
I do not subscribe to the philosophy that a Cube should contain the best of the best in each color, but instead try to play mad scientist with various components while trying to keep the Cube both interesting and fun. I don't shy away from suggested pet cards, and I still "el oh el!" when Ethersworn Adjudicator makes swing plays at a draft table. If my players are enjoying it, then I am generally enjoying it.
Over the years, my modules have started to become a bit less optimized than I would like. There are a number of cards that should ideally be moved out of one module and into another, and 2020 is the year in which I really hope to streamline my modules in order to make sure that the best cards in the 540 are in the module that allows for the best draft experience.
2020 Objectives
The new year brings with it, a number of goals that I am keeping in mind as we dive into new set releases. With my philosophy that every Cube draft should be a memorable experience, I hope to start checking off my goals for this year as we move forward through the year, while keeping the Cube both interesting, and fun.
Write Archetype Primer
Streamline Module Placements
Establish Framework for Multiplayer Campaign Module
I run multiple modules to create variance within our drafts so that we can accommodate different group sizes and play styles. The main modules are the 450 and 540 modules, both offer 90 new cards each to help expand core archetypes and round out less prominent archetypes that do not have a strong presence within the base 360 cards. Powerful interactions are introduced the larger the draft pod, allowing for combos like Time Vault and Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker to exist. The design philosophy behind the modules is to help create deck diversity that wouldn't necessarily occur with the core cube.
I also offer 3 multi-player modules for groups looking for a multiplayer experience.
The Commander module is a 180 card module that allows up to 6 drafters to draft alongside the core 360 card cube. The Commander module is drafted prior to drafting the core cube and ensures each drafter gets at least 2 packs from the Commander module. Each deck must contain 60 cards, no more, no less.
The Archenemy Module is a cube consisting of 2 copies of every Archenemy scheme card which is heads-up drafted by using the Winston draft method between the Archenemy and the other players in the draft pod (as a team). The Archenemy then constructs a 20-card Scheme deck.
Both Innocent Blood and Mortify have had their time in the sun, it is time to let Orzhov breathe a bit more with the addition of Lurrus. Innocent Blood has always been a great piece of removal, however as Doom Blade variants continue to be introduced into the game, it has become much less of an interesting card within Cube. Because of the memorability of the card, it may return at some point.
DESIGN NOTES: Added Narset, Parter of Veils to help flesh out a loot archetype with the recent addition of Rielle, the Everwise. The initial inclusion is within the 450 card module to help curb lockout potential within smaller drafts with wheel effects. Narset has been given a [TESTING] tag as this interaction is intended to be powerful and will be monitored closely for any needed adjustments in the future.
Tamiyo, the Moon Sage is a classic card within the Cube, but has been filling a rather uninteresting role as a Planeswalker. Tamiyo has been removed to allow for more interesting and powerful interactions and may return in the future if more interesting interactions arise.
Simic has no shortage of interesting cads available to it for Cube. Nissa, Steward of Elements was originally included to help round out midrange strategies within the guild colors, but has failed to offer much power. Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath has been swapped to allow the guild a bit more playability for midrange strategies within the Cube.
Ikoria has been an interesting set release! With the changes to Companion, my Cube will be retaining the original rules text for the mechanic. I enjoy allowing the Cube to offer some of the historic moments in MTG history through cards and mechanics. Companion in particular, is a mechanic that will long be remembered as an infamous design choice - and I would like Cube to offer a place where drafters can experience the original mechanic.
Both Innocent Blood and Mortify have had their time in the sun, it is time to let Orzhov breathe a bit more with the addition of Lurrus. Innocent Blood has always been a great piece of removal, however as Doom Blade variants continue to be introduced into the game, it has become much less of an interesting card within Cube. Because of the memorability of the card, it may return at some point.
DESIGN NOTES: Added Narset, Parter of Veils to help flesh out a loot archetype with the recent addition of Rielle, the Everwise. The initial inclusion is within the 450 card module to help curb lockout potential within smaller drafts with wheel effects. Narset has been given a [TESTING] tag as this interaction is intended to be powerful and will be monitored closely for any needed adjustments in the future.
Tamiyo, the Moon Sage is a classic card within the Cube, but has been filling a rather uninteresting role as a Planeswalker. Tamiyo has been removed to allow for more interesting and powerful interactions and may return in the future if more interesting interactions arise.
Simic has no shortage of interesting cads available to it for Cube. Nissa, Steward of Elements was originally included to help round out midrange strategies within the guild colors, but has failed to offer much power. Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath has been swapped to allow the guild a bit more playability for midrange strategies within the Cube.
Core Set 2021 looks to bring with it, some exciting card choices to help diversify common slots in Cube and flesh out existing archetypes a bit more.
Some classic characters are always fun to introduce into the Cube for me, as I have been playing since '97 and it is a blast to talk about
Magic: The Gathering history and lore with new and old players alike. I am looking forward to the set helping round out the idea of a loot deck using wheels and loot mechanics to churn through a deck, and see if big red got a little more love or not with the new dragon and Radha.
DESIGN NOTES:Teferi, Master of Time is an exciting addition next to the Ikoria updates bringing in Narset, Parter of Veils and Rielle, the Everwise. Together, I hope that these cards help flesh out a loot archetype that can work as a potential lockout style control deck for players to work out. Clever Impersonator has long been a nice utility card for players to have and has primarily fallen into a popular Sultai planeswalkers deck, however the card has been fairly uninteresting beyond its inclusion in these kinds of decks.
Barrin, Tolarian Archmage is a nice upgrade to Exclusion Mage and has prompted the shift of Man-o'-War from the 360 card module to the 450 card module to help make room for Barrin, Tolarian Archmage. Traditionally, I like offering Man-o-War in the 360 draft experience because of the throwback nature of the card and I think Barrin offers a bit of throwback to old lore himself while offering more value and versatility.
Ghostly Pilferer is a nice upgrade for blue aggro decks as it offers much more utility than Dimensional Infiltrator and can splash itself into a Oona's Prowler-like role. Unfortunately, cuts in blue can be hard to make due to the heavy competition within the color and 540 seems like a fair start.
Terror of the Peaks is a very interesting addition for Cube. A lot of the spots it contests are strong 5 mana hitters with very relevant abilities and stats. Glorybringer has been removed to make room for Terror of the Peaks in hopes to hep diversify this slot a bit more and hopefully bring big red options like Chandra, Flamecaller and Combustible Gearhulk into the forefront a bit more with a more interesting option.
Radha, Heart of Keld looks to be a long overdue iteration of the character and will hopefully bring a bit of density to these kinds of effects within my cube. Her ability to play a supporting role in various different strategies has high appeal, and having a little overlap with Xenagos, the Reveler made the cut seem pretty straight forward. I am sure Xenagos, the Reverler will make a return at some point, but it is nice to have another option.
The Commander module is a 180 card module that allows up to 6 drafters to draft alongside the core 360 card cube. The Commander module is drafted prior to drafting the core cube and ensures each drafter gets at least 2 packs from the Commander module. Each deck must contain 60 cards, no more, no less.
DESIGN NOTES: I have wanted to build a Commander Cube for a long time now, as Commander is my favorite format following the limited environment of Cube drafting. This module is my attempt to curate a Commander Cube that caters to my love for more traditional powered Cube without filling the Cube with mostly Commander centric cards. This module is most certainly a work in progress, and I hope it can be fine-tuned as time goes on. The module itself aims to add additional support for archetypes not really represented much in the core 360 of my Cube, while bringing forth Commanders that will work with archetypes that do exist within the main 360 card Cube.
The module is not color balanced, this is to help it focus on archetype balance and support rather than filling colors in with filler cards that may not accurately represent the intended power of play for the module. This may be reevaluated at some point, but unlikely.
Deck size and drafting method are also works in progress. The deck size of 60 cards, which includes your commander, may be adjusted depending on the average number of playables drafted. Currently, the draft process leads to drafting the Commander module before drafting the 360 core of the Cube. I am unsure if this will be a long term thing, it may be that it needs to be drafted after - or perhaps even during the initial draft with a counter rotation to it. Ideally, these numbers allow people to draft more than 1 commander option so the second half of the draft can remain flexible once players need to build their decks.
Some archetypes can cross-pollinate as well as bleed into other colors. Tokens for example, is not tied strictly to Ghave, Guru of Spores or even Abzan. Tokens can work with Xyris, the Writhing Storm and The Locust Godwith supporters like Seasoned pyromancer, Tezzeret, Artifice Master, and others. Stax, can function like traditional Smokestack decks with cards like Braids, Cabal Minion and Strip Mine interactions, or it can shift to more of a blue-oriented build using Static Orb effects for a different approach. The aim is to allow drafters to play the same archetypes in different ways and help bolster the card pool available for some archetypes.
It has been quite some time since the last shared update, but Zendikar Rising has arrived with some great updates for blue and black. The set release has brought some interesting and powerful creatures as well as a couple neat non-creature options with the set. Overall, Zendikar Rising is not the most impactful set update in recent times, but brings with it some fresh options - which I always enjoy.
DESIGN NOTES: Black has seen the majority of the card swaps with this update, bringing some fresh faces to familiar cards to help keep the gameplay a bit interesting and turn a couple of dials for a few different archetypes. Nullpriest of Oblivion sits nicely as a creature that aggro decks can swing life advantages with against other aggressive decks, but also a toned down reanimator option for bigger archetypes like midrange and control. Traditionally, Reanimator has held the bulk of archetype stability at the forefront of Cube and I have been slowly working on dialing it back over the last year and a half or so.
Black aggro has also seen some additional support and modifications with Nighthawk Scavenger and Skyclave Shade. While Bloodghast has always been a premier recursive creature in black, I have been wanting to rotate the card out for a while and Skyclave Shade is a great fresh face with some manipulated functionality that should prove to hedge a little more. Additionally, Nighthawk Scavenger brings additional lifelink support for black, which has been a subtle goal for the color's share of aggro and has some scalability built in.
|CMR| Commander Legends UPDATE 0.4.0
Commander Legends has certainly been one of the most exciting sets to be released for some time, and I love that it brings a lot of great cards to cubes of all sizes and power levels. For me however, there was not much that really popped out for my core cube. I look forward to sorting through many of the other options for the Commander module as well as potentially a second cube with a lower powerlevel.
DESIGN NOTES:Kefnet the Mindful is a pretty fair card, and Hullbreacher should bring a bit more power to blue in the 450 module by allowing for small mana swings overall and potentially hard swings every now and then for exciting Cube gameplay. The perfomance of Hullbreacher will be monitored closely for correct module placement overall.
Emberwilde Captain is a great way for aggressive decks to leverage themselves in a grind, but also for midrange strategies to gain additional value against slower control decks over the course of the game by the way of the Monarch mechanic.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
LEGACY|UWStonebladeCOMMANDER|UBGThe Mimeoplsm Ooze & Aghhs!MODERN|UWAzorius Control THE JUICE[BOX]³
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[CUBE PHILOSOPHY]
To provide players a limited environment with an opportunity to play some of the game's most iconic cards throughout the history of MTG. Cube is also a unique format that opens the doorways to fun cards and interactions that may have never had a time to shine at the forefront of a format, and it is through this unique style of play that fun and power can blend into a memorable experience for every player.
[CUBE SIZE] 540 Cards. 360 Card Core w/ 2x Modules containing 90 cards each.
[BREAKDOWN] 70 Per color. 50 Per Guild. 140 Colorless.
[THEME] Standard theme.
[POWERED] Contains power nine.
[CUBE COBRA] See it here! and Draft it here!
Powered Core
View the List
The [450]³ Module
Expansion
View the List
The [540]³ Module
Expansion
View the List
2020 Objectives
The new year brings with it, a number of goals that I am keeping in mind as we dive into new set releases. With my philosophy that every Cube draft should be a memorable experience, I hope to start checking off my goals for this year as we move forward through the year, while keeping the Cube both interesting, and fun.
Establish Commander ModuleTHE JUICE[BOX]³
A R T I F A C T S
R E A N I M A T O R
W H E E L S
E U R E K A
S T A X
A G G R O
M I D R A N G E
C O N T R O L
I also offer 3 multi-player modules for groups looking for a multiplayer experience.
The Commander module is a 180 card module that allows up to 6 drafters to draft alongside the core 360 card cube. The Commander module is drafted prior to drafting the core cube and ensures each drafter gets at least 2 packs from the Commander module. Each deck must contain 60 cards, no more, no less.
Visual Commander Cube Spoiler
L A N D S
B L I N K
T O K E N S
More details coming Soon!
THE JUICE[BOX]³
BLACK
+Heartless Act added to 360 card module
-Innocent Blood removed from 360 card module
MULTICOLORED
+Lurrus of the Dream-Den added to 360 card module
-Mortify removed from 360 card module
+Rielle, the Everwise added to 360 card module
-Ral, Izzet Viceroy removed from 360 card module
+Lutri, the Spellchaser added to 450 card module
-Saheeli, Sublime Artificer removed from 450 card module
BLUE
+Narset, Parter of Veils added to 450 card module
-Tamiyo, the Moon Sage removed from 450 card module
MULTICOLORED
+Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath added to 450 card module
-Nissa, Steward of Elements removed from 450 card module
THE JUICE[BOX]³
|IKO| Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths
UPDATE 0.1.0
Ikoria has been an interesting set release! With the changes to Companion, my Cube will be retaining the original rules text for the mechanic. I enjoy allowing the Cube to offer some of the historic moments in MTG history through cards and mechanics. Companion in particular, is a mechanic that will long be remembered as an infamous design choice - and I would like Cube to offer a place where drafters can experience the original mechanic.
Update |0.1.1|
THE JUICE[BOX]³
UPDATE 0.2.0
Core Set 2021 looks to bring with it, some exciting card choices to help diversify common slots in Cube and flesh out existing archetypes a bit more.
Some classic characters are always fun to introduce into the Cube for me, as I have been playing since '97 and it is a blast to talk about
Magic: The Gathering history and lore with new and old players alike. I am looking forward to the set helping round out the idea of a loot deck using wheels and loot mechanics to churn through a deck, and see if big red got a little more love or not with the new dragon and Radha.
THE JUICE[BOX]³
THE JUICE[BOX]³
UPDATE 0.3.0
It has been quite some time since the last shared update, but Zendikar Rising has arrived with some great updates for blue and black. The set release has brought some interesting and powerful creatures as well as a couple neat non-creature options with the set. Overall, Zendikar Rising is not the most impactful set update in recent times, but brings with it some fresh options - which I always enjoy.
UPDATE 0.4.0
Commander Legends has certainly been one of the most exciting sets to be released for some time, and I love that it brings a lot of great cards to cubes of all sizes and power levels. For me however, there was not much that really popped out for my core cube. I look forward to sorting through many of the other options for the Commander module as well as potentially a second cube with a lower powerlevel.
THE JUICE[BOX]³