Magic: The Gathering – How To Build A Cube (2024)

Magic: The Gathering

Magic: The Gathering – How To Build A Cube (1)

By Timothy Zaccagnino

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Magic: The Gathering – How To Build A Cube (2)

Quick Links

  • What Size Should A Cube Be?

  • How Are Cubes Classified?

  • How Many Cards Of Each Color Should A Cube Have?

  • What's Needed For A Cube Besides The Cards?

  • How Do You Update A Cube?

Cube is one of the best and most customizable ways to play Magic: The Gathering. It's a curated list of cards put together by a cube designer, with the intention of providing a tailored, repeatably draft environment. While it mimics a typical Limited format, cubes span so many different themes and designs that anyone can find (or create) cubes that fit their own personal playstyle.

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Cube is a highly adjustable experience, with a devoted community and events like CubeCon dedicated to bringing cube designers and players together. Even Magic Online recognizes its Vintage Cube as one of the main appeals of the platform. If you're stepping into cube design for the first time, you'll need to know some basic parameters, from cube size to general classifications.

What Size Should A Cube Be?

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The size of your cube depends on the number of drafters you intend to play with and what your specific goals are. The most common card count is 360, which supports eight players, each receiving three 15-card packs, similar to a normal Draft environment. With this setup, every card in the cube will be openedin an eight-player draft.

If you want more variance between drafts, or if you plan on supporting up to ten players, you'll need to increase your size, with 450 and 540 being the next most common cube sizes. These card counts mean some cards won't be opened in a typical eight-player draft, making the cardpool slightly different each time. Of course, cube size is entirely at the discretion of the cube designer.

How Are Cubes Classified?

Magic: The Gathering – How To Build A Cube (5)

There's some generally accepted terminology when classifying what type of cube you're building, based on the cardpool you're working with. The nomenclature usually mimics the corresponding Constructed format; for example, a 'Modern Cube' only uses cards within the Modern-legal cardpool. Some of the most common classifications are as follows:

Cube Classification

Description

Vintage Cube

No card limitations.

'Powered' Cube

A variation of Vintage Cube using the 'Power Nine'.

Modern Cube

Uses the Modern Constructed cardpool.

Peasant/Artisan Cube

Uses only cards that have been printed at common or uncommon at least once.

Pauper Cube

Uses only cards that have been printed at common at least once.

Set Cube

Uses cards from a specific set or group of sets, usually from the same Magic plane (i.e.: 'Innistrad Cube').

How Many Cards Of Each Color Should A Cube Have?

Magic: The Gathering – How To Build A Cube (6)

Cubes do not have to have equal sections, but fledgling cube designers should strive to play the same number of cards in each monocolored and multicolored section and adjust after some playtesting. You'll also need a healthy number of mana-fixing lands and ideally a robust colorless section as well.

In a 360-card cube, try starting with 50 cards in each monocolored section, for a total of 250 cards. Adding four dual-lands and four multicolored cards per two-color pair contributes another 80 cards, for a total of 330. The last 30 slots should be dedicated to colorless cards, including artifacts and utility lands that can go in multiple different decks.

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What's Needed For A Cube Besides The Cards?

Magic: The Gathering – How To Build A Cube (8)

Assuming you're building a paper cube and not something meant for digital play, you're going to need the physical copy of the cards you intend to play. Since Cube isn't a sanctioned tournament format, you're free to proxy any expensive cards to stay within a reasonable budget.

You'll also want to sleeve your cards, and you'll need enough pre-sleeved basic lands for your players; a cube with 360 cards and 30 of each basic land requires 510 of the same sleeves. It can also be helpful to acquire the tokens your players need for the cards they'll be playing with.

How Do You Update A Cube?

Magic: The Gathering – How To Build A Cube (9)

As the cube designer, you have the final say in your cube's update process, though you'll want to account for player feedback. If there are cards that everyone's miserable playing against, consider removing them. And of course, don't be afraid to test out new cards you're unsure of; the glory of Cube is being able to make adjustments if something ends up being too weak or too powerful.

You also want to be conscious of 'power outliers,' cards that are either too strong or too weak relative to the average power of cards in your cube. Aiming for a flat power level across your cards is ideal for balance and newcomers to the environment you've sculpted.

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Magic: The Gathering – How To Build A Cube (2024)

FAQs

What is the MTG cube format? ›

MTG cube is a special format. Under this format, players can collect between 360 and 720 cards to play. The standard set of 360 cards can consist of 24 boosters of 15 cards. This is enough for 8 people to play a card game.

How many cards do you need for a MTG cube? ›

It is a player-made set of at least 360 cards created for the purposes of drafting, though as many as 720 can be used. Booster packs are simulated from the contents of the cube and are used to draft cards for play.

How many lands do I need for a cube? ›

How many basic lands does a Cube need? 30 to 40 of each type is plenty for an 8-player draft. In a typical cube that supports 5 colors split among 8 drafters, it's unlikely more than 2-3 drafters end up in the same color.

What ratio is a set cube MTG? ›

Typical set cubes include 4 of each common in the set, 2 of each uncommon, and 1 of each rare and mythic rare, approximating the rarity of cards in a typical booster.

What is the formula of cube? ›

Based on this, we can also write the volume of cube formula since cube has equal length, breadth and height. Therefore, the volume of cube formula is a × a × a = a3. It is to be noted that the number obtained using cube formula is the perfect cube number.

How many cards in a 2 player cube? ›

Why 200 cards instead of 180? 200 cards allow for better support for two-player sealed and 4-player draft to ensure that the entire cube is never seen. This increase also enables pancake drafting of the cube, but not glimpse draft (requires 270 cards).

What is the average cube in Magic: the Gathering? ›

A 360-card cube will have the minimum cards necessary for a regular 8-person Draft, and ideally the best cards. Following the same thought process, 180-card cubes are good for two-player sealed, while 270-card cubes are essential for a 6-player Draft, and so on.

How many cards of each color in a cube? ›

For first-time Cube designers, it's wise to balance your colors, though you can alter this down the line. So, if you have 60 black cards, you should have 60 red cards, 60 white cards, and so on. You'll want cycles of 10 dual lands for each color pair too, ideally 2-3 full cycles, if not more.

How do you calculate how many lands you need MTG? ›

A good formula for the number of lands in your 60-card deck, counting MDFCs partially in this fashion, is: 19.59 + 1.90 * average mana value of your spells – 0.28 * number of cheap card draw or mana ramp spells + 0.27 if you have a companion.

Is 36 lands enough in Commander? ›

In recent years, I have seen various deck building templates that recommend around 36 lands in Commander. Indeed, the typical land count on EDHREC, according to a recent article by Magic Data Science, is 36. This would translate to 14.5 lands in 40-card decks or 21.8 lands in 60-card decks.

How many lands are in a pauper cube? ›

How Many Copies Of Each Basic Land Do I Need? Since Magic releases a variety of common dual lands (that are included in the cube) I run 40 to 50 copies of each basic land.

What is MTG cube format? ›

Cube Draft is a casual Magic: The Gathering format where players create a cube, a large pool of cards selected to play a limited game.

What is a vintage cube MTG? ›

A Vintage Cube is typically one that aims to maximize the power level of its decks by specifically choosing the and game-breaking cards ever created like Black Lotus and Ancestral Recall as well as more modern favorites such as Oko, Thief of Crowns and Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes.

What is the perfect MTG deck ratio? ›

Conventional wisdom is to have 40% of a deck being mana (16/40 in Limited, 24/60 in Constructed, 40/100 in Highlander), but curve, mana sinks, and game plan may shift it up to 50% or down to 30%.

How do Commander cubes work? ›

As the name suggests, a Commander Cube sees players drafting cards from curated packs put together by the Cube owner to construct Commander decks to play with. The rules of Commander Cubes will vary (something we will talk more about in a moment), but most of the fundamental Commander rules will still apply.

What is a cube file? ›

cube) is a plain-text file with specific structure. The header contains information about molecular system and data grid, and data values are arranged in three-dimensional grid format. Gaussian Cube files are often used to visualize molecular properties using molecular visualization software.

What is the shape of magic cube? ›

But we know that Rubik's cube is made from 6 square faces.

What is the biggest MTG format? ›

With a philosophy of fun, Commander is about the experience of playing with friends. Check out everything you need to learn to play! Commander is the most popular format in Magic: The Gathering. This format challenges players to show off their deck-building, piloting, and even their political skills.

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