Not-What-You-Think "Colorless" Cube, with Colors
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Posted on Feb. 1, 2016, 4:08 a.m. by RoarMaster
Ok, I know, thats a horrible title for a post, but I had a very difficult time thinking of a way to describe what Im talking about in just a header.
I was talking about Cube ideas on another thread with TheDevicer, Karns_Pyromancer, naynay666, and brokendwarf when I came up with an idea for a cube. Possibly the best cube idea ever, as its not even strictly a cube, more like an alternate cube subformat almost?
Ok, so the idea is this: Its exactly the same as every other cube except... You can spend mana as though it was any color. Pretty simple, right? Basically this allows you to draft any card you wish without worrying about having the correct color of mana required to cast when the time comes.
So I will be the first to admit that I am not the greatest drafter, and have only built one cube before.(it is good though, others say so too :P) So Im probably not the best judge on if this is really that great of an idea, but just hear me out, I think that this could have a lot of potential.
I will list some of the possible pros and cons of this ummm, cube-format-thing. But first, how about some ramblings on the cube format in general?
The Cube, like the rest of magic, is already "breaking the rules" of the game in many ways. You design whats in the card pool, you design the number of cards in the packs,and you design the size of pool those cards are in. Many people take this further customization further, into niche categories such as the 1 Drop Cubes, Creatureless Cubes, Colorless Cubes(Not the kind Im talking about), Enchantment Cubes, ect ect. Some take it even further, "breaking" the game rules further by adding additional rules or automatic card inclusions. So really it should not be that far of a stretch to simply do away with the color pie.
PROS, CONS, and NEUTRAL EFFECTS:(Not in any sort of order)
1) No more getting color fucked. I hesitate to put this at the start, but I feel it is one of the most obvious effects that this change will have. This will, in general, lead to fewer 'unenjoyable' games where a player simply cannot play half their hand due to lack of colors. This really isnt a big deal, as long as you build a strong mana base, this should rarely occur anyway. Most people play their cubes with people they know, especially the more esoteric ones, and generally everyone is looking to have a good game when they play. Its ummm, more of a 'social format' as Epoch would say I guess.
2) Unlimited Drafting Choices. This hugely lessens your chances of getting screwed over during the drafting process. You wont get stuck fighting over colors with other players, simply fighting over strategies. By the time you are halfway through a regular draft you are fairly set as to what your colors are going to be normally, and if nothing good shows in the last half that is in your colors, you are at a pretty big disadvantage. You need to have some decent stuff come up in your colors, or you are forced to play cards you dont want to. With this new cube-format-thing(Im going to have to figure out what to call it), you will almost always have good cards, as the selection of cards available for you to choose from is so much larger. This doesnt mean that there wont be draft-battles going on as people try and draft cards for similar strategies, leaving that and the fun counter drafting aspects of the game intact, while lessening your odds of just ending up with a bad deck at the end.
3) More Space! Without needing to add a bunch of lands as color smoothing to the cube, you could either fill those spots with cool tech lands, or just donate all of those slots straight to more sweet non-land cards! This is I guess also applicable to artifact rocks, which become far less needed aswell. You dont need to rely on them being colorless in order to initially cast them, and the colored mana many of them are used for is unneeded. Since everyone can draft green cards, Cultivates all around!
4) Upsetting the natural Order. While we are on the topic of Cultivate... Some cards will, IMHO, see changes in how and how often they are drafted. Card abilities that tend to be very one color specific may see a lot of quick pulls, Ramp and counterspells jump to mind first. I cant say if this is really a good or bad thing, just a change, neither positive or negative.
5) Everyone needs an answer. Sometimes you just end up staring down the barrel of a Wheel of Sun and Moon with your Mono-B Dredge deck, and have to scoop. You have no answers in your color. Now everyone has access to the answers they need. Yes, normally the Color Pie balances itself out by restricting access to certain abilities to certain colors, but here there is no pie, the pie is in your head man. The Pie is a lie. There is no Pie.
6) Larger Cube Building Options. This is one of my favs, but Im a bit of a Johnny so... The ability to tailor a cube has always been hampered by the fact that you need to have about X number of each color card in the cube(there are mono and duo, ect ones, just rarer), and all these colors have to be on about the same power level. This can be not just difficult to power balance, but also limits the card selection. Maybe you wanted 150 green creatures in the cube but were only allowed 60 because the other colors only had 60. Maybe you wanted to make a +1/+1 counter cube, but green was too good or you couldnt find enough blue or red guys that interacted with counters to make those colors any good. Now thats not a problem. Run whatever number of whatever color on theme cards as you want.
7) Aggro gets a boost?. Due to always having your colors, Aggro decks will no doubt see a bit of an inherent buff I think, as they are able to run all the good early guys without worry of lacking colors. Think Goblin Guide into strangleroot giest into Geralf's Messenger sorta thing. Although control players also get a lot of nice toys too, I think this color reliability may help aggro a little more. Its tough to say if this would make a huge difference though, and the this speed difference is entirely dependant on the Cube itself, some this would effect more than others.
8) Just Draft the Goodstuff? TheDevicer suggested that one problem that may occur will be that people will just draft the good cards, and the drafting process would I guess become too easy, or 'Solved' as he put it. As I said before, Im not the greatest drafter, and I can easily say that I have not come close to solving any drafting environment Ive been in. But this cube-format-thing isnt theoretically just for me, so I ask the rest of you cubers if you feel this would be an issue as well? Depending on the design of your cube this may or may not have much of an effect. A cube-format-thing Fukkit, working title, I will call it the "ColorMore" Cube, feel free to offer suggestions made out of a Power Cube would feel this effect much more then niche cubes would, as they tend to focus more on card interactions than standalone strength.
9) Quicker Games. A ton of time saved in deckbuilding and cleanup, no more counting your mana symbols and digging out the right number of each land, now all you need is the right number of lands. You would of course use Wastes if you were cool. And cleaning up at the end is always a bitch getting everyone to sort out their land piles and seperating them to be put away for next time, now its easier(your friends probably still wont help you though).
10) Who Would Play it? In my search for new and interesting cube ideas, Ive come across some pretty wacky shit people seem to think it would be a good idea to make. Now I dont know if these people ever actually made them, or if they did if anybody actually agreed to play them, but Im wondering that if one of your magic player circle asked if you were down for a draft of "ColorMore Cube", would you? Or is the idea just too far out there that you think most people would decline?
Anyway, these are my thoughts on the matter. Ive never heard of a cube like this before, and its kind of a hard thing to describe to google accurately, so as far as I can tell, its never been done. Im very much hoping to get some feedback from people, doesnt matter if you have or play cubes or just like to draft :)
wizards came close to this with the card Worldknit in conspiracy drafts. you could try giving everyone a worldknit in a normal cube draft before going all out building this cube, just to see how you like it.
in my experience with worldknit, people don't normally draft aggro decks, they try to cram as much cool stuff as possible into a midrange or controlling deck. though if EVERYONE had a worldknit, i could see an aggro deck with 15 1-drop creatures of different colors or something, so it possibly make for an interesting environment. it deviates from normal magic so much though, that i don't know if i'd enjoy drafting it multiple times.
February 1, 2016 9:44 a.m.
Karns_Pyromancer says... #4
Personally, I think I'd go the opposite direction and not allow people to use a bunch of basic lands after drafting. (You use only what you draft, like Snow-Covered or Wastes). This would mean you run a lot more lands in your Cube, but it could be fun.
February 1, 2016 10:39 a.m.
brokendwarf says... #5
I like the give everyone a Worldknit idea. Another option would be to make a Type 4 "cube" if you still want to go with the no-mana-screwed idea.
February 1, 2016 1:09 p.m.
RoarMaster says... #7
InfiniteParadoX Normally you always just draft the most powerful cards in your colors, unless there is some card that comes up that you counter-draft to deny your opponents, right? The same is true here. As I said, Im not the be-all-end-all drafter, but I always draft the 'best' card I can play, unless Im looking for a specific type of card(removal, creatures for curve, ect), and at that point I still draft the 'best' removal card in my colors, ect. Do you not? The "Best" card is also subjective and variable, which is the "Best" card in a pack with Brainstorm, Path to Exile, Lightning Bolt, and Thoughtseize? It depends on the deck you are playing, a combo deck may want the brainstorm, an aggro deck the lightning bolt, and the control deck the Path to Exile. All those decks could use all those cards happily, but some are of higher value to certain deck types, so people would still be drafting cards that are specifically good for their deck still. But Im no expert, this is just supposition.
shuflw, brokendwarf, Those formats do share some similarities with the ColorMore Cube, however, they also do away with much more of the game rules and the aspect of drafting. Battlebox isnt a draft for starters :P And I do believe that the aspect of land is important in magic, a correct curve regulates the flow of the game, makes for a progressive but not necessarily steady pace. With type4, the no mana thing does away with this entirely. The battle box I feel does it a better, but its not a draft, so it kind of defeats the purpose here a bit.
And when it comes to Worldknit is that you lack any sort of deck building options post drafting. You just throw all your cards in a pile with some land and say Go.this doesnt always lead to a good deck, and it takes all the fun and skill out of deckbuilding. Curve? What curve? Proper creature ratio? Never heard of it. Ect ect. The main point of this ColorMore cube is to provide larger cube design and deck building options rather than limiting them. I mean, you coukd skip out on the whole "All cards must be in your library" clause, but then its identical to ColorMore.
Karns_Pyromancer I dont think having to draft a bunch of basic lands is very entertaining in a draft, and would lead to all sorts of balance issues. Who wants to pass the same pack of basic lands around the table 7 times after the other half of non-lands are taken? There would also be far less room in the cube for other cards, thus limiting the variability of play.
InfiniteParadoX says... #2
It's never been done because it takes all the skill out of the drafting since you just pick the most powerful spells every time. That's pretty much the reason.
February 1, 2016 8:06 a.m.