I have been thinking about finding a good way to use my cube to teach new players Magic. Some problems I have found trying different approaches include:
New players have limited knowledge of the rules, keywords, cards, etc. This limits their card evaluation, play strategies, deckbuilding, and other aspects that really hinders their ability to draft or play from sealed pools. Thus, I'm usually offering advice, reminding about rules and card interactions, etc. instead of playing.
New players tend towards one kind of deck. This is great for formats like constructed. Not so great for limited, where forcing mono red aggro in every draft is going to end up being a bad 3+ hours for that player who ended up with a pile of red cards.
2HG drafts and games let experienced players team up with newbies and teach drafting and deck building and playing. However 2HG is a different format from draft, and frequently, the experienced player will end up just telling the new guy how to do everything, either because they want to win or they get impatient.
So recently, I've been exploring the idea of a 5-8 week league where everyone starts with a two color deck, 10 cards of each color, 10 of each land. Then everyone will slowly gain more cards through "boosters" to build their pools. Pools, decks, and trading would be tracked week to week, and each player would check out their pool at the beginning of an event and check it in at the end.
I'm hoping to expose new players to the excitement of building their own decks in a format built mostly on simpler interactions and gaining value in a game. Once theyve had a few weeks of "constructed play" I would mix it up with some other formats, like limited and multiplayer. I'm planning on using my cube and cards from my sideboard to incorporate "set releases" every week or two, to gradually introduce complexity.
I was wondering if any of you wonderful people had thoughts or suggestions for how to best execute this idea. I would also love ideas for the starter decks. For the decks, I'm just looking to make fairly low powered 40 card guild decks with no multicolored cards, non basic lands, or colorless cards, that would provide a good and balanced base for a player to build on.
I'm looking at having about 720 cards for the league, and the starter decks will need 40 of each color to make the 10 combinations. The league will be 8 player pods, with potentially multiple leagues running asynchronously.
Any input would be awesome and greatly appreciated!
Where he chooses things that are easy to understand and evaluate so this is a good place to start.
I don't think you want to restrict players to only guild decks or whatever, I think will want to dip their hands into the full pile of cards to pick out the ones they like. But slowing increasing the complexity and perhaps the power of the cards available through a sealed league system could be super interesting.
I dont think a cube is a good idea for a teaching tool. Ignoring the fact that they arent ready to evaluate cards, learning magic is easiest with repetition.
So I would make decks to teach, then to get closer to what you want I'd break down the decks into 4 ofs and let people pick a few to fit into a deck skeleton.
You can be more lenient depending on the aptitude of everyone, but just remember: learning magic is very, very hard.
It's kind of hard to teach through cube since complexity gets in the way of core mechanics. If they have some tcg/ccg knowledge it may be possible (Hearthstone made teaching mtg much easier for me), but for anyone else it would be quite difficult. Considering you are coaching instead of playing, it seems like a massive jump to go into cube.
If you want to transition to cube asap, I would recommend starting with basic decks (multiples, vanilla or french vanilla creatures, simple spells, etc.) and gradually start introducing mechanics. Starting with low complexity ones that don't complicate the board state (etbs, battle cry, evolve, unleash, etc.) and slowly working your way up. Make sure stuff like curve/fixing/card advantage/deck identity is explained. You would hopefully be able to transition to cube after most of the mechanics are explained.
Thanks for the suggestions! I'll be having the first get-together this Sunday, with players of varying expertise. I'm drawing up some decks with low complexity, and pulling from my collection to get more underpowered and basic cards. The main reasons I want to use cube for this are:
It's "free" for my poor college friends
I bought all these cards and want people to get familiar with and want to play with my cube
And though there are some new players, they've played tcgs before for the most part. The few who haven't are quick learners. We're all nerdy engineering majors in my neck of the woods.
I currently have 6 players (myself included) in my first league.
20 10-card piles were made (semi randomised) from cards in the cube as well as cubeable to slightly under-par cards from my sideboard.
The 'pre-release' event went great! each player got to pick their favorite colors or new colors they haven't tried before.
The cards used had low complexity and power, but enough synergies to point to a deck design to build into later.
After the event, a 3 match round-robin/swiss, each player got 2 15 card packs. These each had one land, artifact, and multicolored card, and one each of WUBRG. The rest of the slots were wild cards, which were mostly monocolored. I sifted out cards that were too complex or powerful from the pool to begin with, so the playing field didn't get too wild at the get go.
The next event is going to be a 2-3 round swiss with a cut to top 4 or 3 (dependent on attendance.)
Overall, everyone involved was excited and had a lot of fun. They're eager to keep playing and building their decks.
Anyway, this is definitely something to try if you have kept those cards that have been knocked out of your cube over the years, and it leads to some decks that might not be feasible to draft in just one session of cubing. If you're interested in talking more about it, I guess you can PM me. I don't want to risk spamming this post with just my own updates.
New players have limited knowledge of the rules, keywords, cards, etc. This limits their card evaluation, play strategies, deckbuilding, and other aspects that really hinders their ability to draft or play from sealed pools. Thus, I'm usually offering advice, reminding about rules and card interactions, etc. instead of playing.
New players tend towards one kind of deck. This is great for formats like constructed. Not so great for limited, where forcing mono red aggro in every draft is going to end up being a bad 3+ hours for that player who ended up with a pile of red cards.
2HG drafts and games let experienced players team up with newbies and teach drafting and deck building and playing. However 2HG is a different format from draft, and frequently, the experienced player will end up just telling the new guy how to do everything, either because they want to win or they get impatient.
So recently, I've been exploring the idea of a 5-8 week league where everyone starts with a two color deck, 10 cards of each color, 10 of each land. Then everyone will slowly gain more cards through "boosters" to build their pools. Pools, decks, and trading would be tracked week to week, and each player would check out their pool at the beginning of an event and check it in at the end.
I'm hoping to expose new players to the excitement of building their own decks in a format built mostly on simpler interactions and gaining value in a game. Once theyve had a few weeks of "constructed play" I would mix it up with some other formats, like limited and multiplayer. I'm planning on using my cube and cards from my sideboard to incorporate "set releases" every week or two, to gradually introduce complexity.
I was wondering if any of you wonderful people had thoughts or suggestions for how to best execute this idea. I would also love ideas for the starter decks. For the decks, I'm just looking to make fairly low powered 40 card guild decks with no multicolored cards, non basic lands, or colorless cards, that would provide a good and balanced base for a player to build on.
I'm looking at having about 720 cards for the league, and the starter decks will need 40 of each color to make the 10 combinations. The league will be 8 player pods, with potentially multiple leagues running asynchronously.
Any input would be awesome and greatly appreciated!
The noob cube here
https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/the-cube-forum/cube-lists/627674-360-unpowered-peasant-the-n00b-cube
Where he chooses things that are easy to understand and evaluate so this is a good place to start.
I don't think you want to restrict players to only guild decks or whatever, I think will want to dip their hands into the full pile of cards to pick out the ones they like. But slowing increasing the complexity and perhaps the power of the cards available through a sealed league system could be super interesting.
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
So I would make decks to teach, then to get closer to what you want I'd break down the decks into 4 ofs and let people pick a few to fit into a deck skeleton.
You can be more lenient depending on the aptitude of everyone, but just remember: learning magic is very, very hard.
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
If you want to transition to cube asap, I would recommend starting with basic decks (multiples, vanilla or french vanilla creatures, simple spells, etc.) and gradually start introducing mechanics. Starting with low complexity ones that don't complicate the board state (etbs, battle cry, evolve, unleash, etc.) and slowly working your way up. Make sure stuff like curve/fixing/card advantage/deck identity is explained. You would hopefully be able to transition to cube after most of the mechanics are explained.
It's "free" for my poor college friends
I bought all these cards and want people to get familiar with and want to play with my cube
And though there are some new players, they've played tcgs before for the most part. The few who haven't are quick learners. We're all nerdy engineering majors in my neck of the woods.
I currently have 6 players (myself included) in my first league.
20 10-card piles were made (semi randomised) from cards in the cube as well as cubeable to slightly under-par cards from my sideboard.
The 'pre-release' event went great! each player got to pick their favorite colors or new colors they haven't tried before.
The cards used had low complexity and power, but enough synergies to point to a deck design to build into later.
After the event, a 3 match round-robin/swiss, each player got 2 15 card packs. These each had one land, artifact, and multicolored card, and one each of WUBRG. The rest of the slots were wild cards, which were mostly monocolored. I sifted out cards that were too complex or powerful from the pool to begin with, so the playing field didn't get too wild at the get go.
The next event is going to be a 2-3 round swiss with a cut to top 4 or 3 (dependent on attendance.)
Overall, everyone involved was excited and had a lot of fun. They're eager to keep playing and building their decks.
Anyway, this is definitely something to try if you have kept those cards that have been knocked out of your cube over the years, and it leads to some decks that might not be feasible to draft in just one session of cubing. If you're interested in talking more about it, I guess you can PM me. I don't want to risk spamming this post with just my own updates.