Making a Cube
Limited forum
Posted on July 17, 2015, 6:35 p.m. by ChrisH
Hi everyone,
I am interested in making a 360-card cube but don't know where to start. I have about a $200 budget for the cube, and its to draft with friends. Would a peasant or pauper cube be best? I've tried to make my own cube online but never have done one well. Anyone have some tips?
buildingadeck says... #3
A pauper cube would be really good, but you can also do a themed cube at a weaker power level. For instance, I built a cube based on both the Ravnica blocks that has an overall budget of around $330, which isn't incredibly priced. But pauper cubes can be incredibly fun.
July 17, 2015 6:49 p.m.
I'd recommend a peasant cube. Pauper is certainly nice, but also very restrictive. And from a budget point of view it doesn't make that much of a difference. You can easily replace some of the more expensive cards (like Enlightened Tutor, Shardless Agent and the like) with less expensive cards and upgrade later. It is no problem at all to stay below $200 for a full-blown 360 peasant cube.
Personally I took this cube as a starting point, which lead to this cube I'm currently running (I wanted reanimator as a possible archetype, a more stable mana base both for aggro and control decks, some nice late game spells and more board wipe effects). I also often look at the default 720 cube list to see which cards are often used in cubes in case I need a replacement.
In case you still want a pauper and not a peasant cube, Adam Styborski's Pauper Cube is very popular and certainly a good starting point.
July 17, 2015 7:08 p.m.
Servo_Token says... #5
When I built my cube, the only rule I had was no rares+. It's pretty much just grab 75 of the separate best cards in each color (+artifacts) that you can find, trim where needed for balance, then add your lands and you're golden. If you want themes in your build, just make sure you grab those and make them prominent, but don't overcompensate for them by making your other colors too much in any area either.
Tolarian community college's video series on cube building is pretty solid, would advise checking out.
July 17, 2015 7:09 p.m.
Thanks for all the help. Do you think a peasant cube with only cards from the Core Sets Magic 2010 through Origins would be fun as a starter?
For archetypes I think it will be Simic ETB, Selesnya Enchantments, Gruul Fatties, Azorius Flyers, Izzet Artifacts, Boros and Rakdos Aggro, Golgari Graveyard, Dimir Mill, and Orzhov Control. I will post the list when I am done and maybe ask for some feedback.
Anyways you guys/girls have been really hekpful. Thanks for the pointer on TCCs videos as well.
July 17, 2015 7:31 p.m.
avrgeboy123 says... #7
Wic_Uber : keep in mind, that if you are going for a 360 card cube, the number of archetypes it can support are limited (ie you may not be able to have an archetype for all 10 guilds). Just a thought to keep in mind.
July 17, 2015 10:21 p.m.
CharonSquared says... #8
Personally, I wouldn't recommend only using cards from core sets. In general, core sets tend to be a bit bland because they were geared towards newer players. Adding cards from the other sets will make your drafts and gameplay more skill-intensive and varied.
July 18, 2015 1:48 a.m.
IAmKingTony says... #9
I have a 450 card cube rich with archetypes. Was actually working fine with 360 but I wanted more variety in the drafts so I added 90 more cards.
One thing I suggest if you're going to look at themes is to keep track of each theme's curve.
Cross theme cards are great too. Look at a card like Fleshbag Marauder for instance. This guy can be a part of a few archetypes. Zombies, Sacrificing, Control, ETB, etc. Not saying you would have these but there are plenty of cards that can do stuff like this. Like how you want U/R Artifacts and U/W Skies as archetypes so you'd include the new card Whirler Rogue as he helps both of these archetypes.
July 18, 2015 2:09 a.m.
Thanks everyone. I have both Marauder and Rogue in the cube, and thanks for the curve tips. The reason it's core set is because I play with mostly kitchen table players, and after they have gotten good at the cube I will probably up the count to 540 and make it about an even split between core set and non-core set.
July 18, 2015 8:59 a.m.
In my opinion, pauper or peasant cubes are not worth it. Rare cards (sometimes mythic rare's) can be way less expensive then many commons and uncommons. I just looked through my collection, piled some cards together, and went on from there. Over time you can update your cube, and it will evolve into a one of a kind experience
August 3, 2015 8:17 p.m.
Our kitchen table playgroup has both a full powered cube and a peasant cube, you can't really compare them. The peasant cube isn't 'worse', it just plays different.
The powered cube is more about big, game-changing spells such as Armageddon, Balance, Time Walk and so on. It's a lot of fun to play with all those broken, iconic and very expensive cards. But it can also be very unfair. A single card can turn the course of the game upside down. You have a good board position and thought you'd win, then someone casts Time Spiral into Time Walk and you're done (using this example because it happened last week). Doh.
A peasant cube doesn't have all those iconic cards, but it is much more balanced. There is no single card that makes you win games and it's not just a 'best of Magic', instead the cube supports archetypes and players draft accordingly. It's more about skill and the best of what you'd expect from a limited experience. That's why from my perspective the gameplay can be even more fun than a full-powered $10k cube.
A budget rare cube is the worst of both worlds imo since it's so hard to balance. You can't just fill up the expensive slots with junk rares or uncommons and then upgrade as you go. In a full-powered cube you take the most powerful cards of all time, in a peasant cube you take the most powerful common and uncommon cards depending on the archetypes you want to support. And there are a lot of people who play those cube types so you can learn from their experience (for example by not adding cards like Skullclamp or Sol Ring to your Peasant cube). But in a budget rare cube you have a wild mix of cards and will most likely end up with an unbalanced mess where people who were lucky during the draft win all the time.
August 4, 2015 4:38 a.m.
GreenGhost says... #13
I have this cube. It could vary well be over 300 or so, but if you cut some of the more expensive cards it could serve as a starting point.
EmblemMan says... #2
my friend has a pauper cube and i really like it its obviously really cheap except for a few cards and its pretty customizable i just wanted to say that pauper cubes can be very fun
July 17, 2015 6:37 p.m.