Doubling CubeDoubling Cube | Art by Mark Tedin

Magic: The Gathering is in a strange place right now. It seems like every week a new controversy or argument pops up online over new products, tie-ins, or formats breaking under the weight of modern design and release schedules. Meanwhile a massive influx of players are enjoying and discovering the hobby for the first time.

It can be a little exhausting dealing with the constant flux between bouts of negativity and record breaking numbers of sales and sets per year and everything else in between. I've seen a good few people online who just feel disconnected from what used to be their favorite hobby in the entire world.

But I'm not here to add to the bonfire this week. There's enough negativity circling around. My question is: What does a player in this position do to heal their relationship with Magic: The Gathering? How do you reignite your passions for the game when the regular routes aren't doing it for you anymore?

If you're feeling down, if Magic just doesn't feel like it's for you anymore, then let me tell you about an alternate way of playing that might have all the answers to your problems Cube.

What Is Cube?

Cube is both a format of Magic: The Gathering and also an environment that can contain other formats and games within it. At its heart it's a curated, limited Draft environment. You play just like any regular Draft, but instead of grabbing booster packs from the shop you'll be receiving 15 card piles from a pre-selected pool that someone has made.

For the players it's usually just a regular draft but without as much useless chaff. Most cubes tend to be filled with super powerful and synergistic cards that function well together. There are usually high functioning decks that already exist inside the card pools, waiting for you to pull them out and assemble them.

But for the cube designer, there exists a deck builder's paradise. Cubes can take any count of cards, from any set ever printed. Whether it's one of the most powerful cards ever printed, a lovable but forgotten piece of tech from an older set, or even silver-bordered or playtest cards from Un-sets and Mystery Boosters.

Choice Is at the Heart of Cube

Not too dissimilar from building a Commander deck, when designing a cube the whole world of Magic is at your fingertips. But forget about ban lists, power creep, and local metas. As a cube designer, you aren't just in charge of building your own deck, but instead you build the entire meta.

Include cards you love and veto cards you hate. Set restrictions to your selection pool like only allowing commons and uncommons or cards that fit under a certain budget. See how good a deck your friends can build when they've only got bad cards to pick from and all the staples are unavailable. Or even just replicate your favorite draft format by making a set or block cube.

This can of course be a collaborative experience as well. A group of friends or local players can all contribute to one cube or, more likely, a few different individuals will build their own cubes that players can rotate between for each game night.

You Don’t Own Magic, but You Do Own Your Cube

No matter what happens to the game, your cube will always exist. You could of course say the same about all the cards you own. Any Commander decks or bulk piles sitting around your house will also stand the test of time if you treat them carefully enough. But Magic games need opponents. Tournaments need organizers and prizing.

For players of any official Magic: The Gathering format, there exists a relationship between themselves and Wizards of the Coast that's ultimately unbalanced. Any card you deeply love is always in a state of danger. It's just a banning, rotation, or power creep away from slipping through your hands.

Whenever players espouse the benefits of playing a format like Commander, it's always mentioned that you can play with cards from anywhere in Magic's history. It's one of the only formats that's both eternal and casual enough that a card never becomes truly unplayable. If it fits in your deck, you're good to go.

But even Commander is subject to bans. And even casual games are subject to power creep. Ask anyone you know that owns a Jeweled LotusJeweled Lotus!

The Players Are in Control

Cube is a format where you're the judge, jury, and executioner for every card in Magic's history. If you want a Black LotusBlack Lotus in your list, then go ahead! Miss Dockside ExtortionistDockside Extortionist? You're welcome to have it in your cube.

But maybe you absolutely despise a card that came out in a recent set. Maybe you've been forced to play against more Vivi OrnitierVivi Ornitier decks on Arena than you can stomach and you'd ban it in a heartbeat if you were in charge of the Standard card pool. Well with your cube, you are. And you can!

But exclusion isn't really the point. Cube is all about what you do include. All your pets cards and synergies from all your favorite memories of Magic. Building around a certain theme or Standard environment. You can even mess with the rules of Magic itself!

You could play a Party Box style cube in which every card in your deck can be played face down as a five color land and mana colors don't matter. Or you could take the complete opposite direction and build a super punishing desert cube in which you can only play lands that you draft.

Sharpie cards to make them broken or finally fix them. Build a cube where there are no creatures or only creatures. Do whatever your heart desires and then play these busted or janky decks on a completely even playing field where all players at the table are playing by the same rules with the same card pool available to them.

But What About Commander?

Now I know what you're thinking. This isn't Cube Cobra. This is EDHREC, and this is a Commander website! What if you just want to play Commander?

Well, Commander cubes are not only available, but incredibly popular. Imagine all the coolest staple cards in Commander's history and all the most popular commanders draftable whenever you like, with interesting and peculiar decks not only encouraged but existing by necessity due to the fact that you're in a limited format instead of a constructed one.

If you have a regular four-player pod that always play similar decks against each other, you're not very far away from combining all of your collective favorite cards from those decks into a draftable environment.

In Commander Cube you'll be building wacky Commander decks on the fly, either by grabbing a legendary creature to focus on right at the start or by hoping you see one that matches your theme in a later pack.

If that sounds a little too stressful, there's ways to ensure every player gets access to a legend that fits each archetype. Or you can even do a sub draft of Commanders before or after your regular draft to separate out the commanders and make it easier to grab one that you need.

A Healthier Way To Play Magic

The main benefit of Cube as a format for me and the friends I often play with is the way it gives us a healthier way to engage with our favorite game. Every year Magic gets more expensive. More sets release with more must-have cards and more crazy art treatments.

It's a game of excess at times that can leave you reeling after a long stint of being plugged into every Magic news source. Cube has a knack for pulling you out of that cycle that honestly can get a bit exhausting.

Your nostalgic memories of Standard rotations or Commander environments of years gone by stop being frustrating examples of a version of the game that doesn't exist anymore, and instead become inspiration points for you to build from.

"I miss when Magic used to look like... feel like... play like this..." turns into, "I'm going to make a cube that looks, feels, and plays like this!"

A Cheaper Way To Play Magic

Once your cube is built, your cost to engage in the game significantly decreases. Drafting is super fun, but it's very expensive to take part in regularly. To get an equivalent drafting experience to a Commander cube, you and your friends would need to grab three packs of something like Commander Masters, which would be an incredibly expensive game night, believe me.

If you're the type to deckbuild a lot, then you know it can start to rack up in price as well if you're always chasing cool new cards. For me, there's less of an obsession over new cardboard once my cube is in a really good place. I don't need to upset the balance of an already well built environment.

Not to mention that cube is a very proxy friendly experience, especially when you're only playing with close friends. There's no need to drop the deposit for a house on a Black LotusBlack Lotus. A nice looking print out is fine. Or hell, even a basic Mountain scrawled over with a sharpie.

Where To Start

If this tickles your fancy, then I promise this article is only scratching the surface of what Cube has to offer. Looking for somewhere to start? I'd recommend asking at your friendly local game store if anyone is drafting a cube any time soon.

If you're looking to assemble your own, there's plenty of resources provided by Lucky Paper Radio. They're predominantly a podcast with hot takes on cube design and introductions to certain cubing concepts, but they also provide articles that help explain the format and help you get started. Not to mention a phenomenal series of pre-built cubes they have listed online that you can try for yourself.

I heartily recommend the 100 Ornithopters cube!

You can also check out our friends at CubeCobra for excellent Cube content.

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