My one year ban on cards has finished AND my cube finally arrived from New Zealand. It has been a while... finally get to do an update.
Cube Draft Rules
Version 1.3 C7 release 2
Here are the following rules that apply:
1 Land packs
Each player starts with 50 basic lands plus a handful of randomly allocated non-basics (currently 6 per person). This is a set limit. You can’t add basics to your pool later (unless you win them).
2 Deck and sideboard size (the “40/20 rule”)
After your cards are drafted, make your 40 card deck up, and select 20 cards (only) to put in your sideboard. Thus, each player can take a maximum of sixty cards including land. Note that the ante rules (see below) mean you might lose some cards, so be careful not to strand yourself out of lands.
3 Pairings
Each person plays each other person in best-of-three. Generally there is not enough time for this, so continue until parties have to leave. The winner of the draft is determined by the coin value scoring (see below) so there is not as harsh a penalty for players leaving or arriving early.
4 Two-card ante
After shuffling, but before drawing your initial seven cards, remove the top two from the library (one face-up, one face-down) and put these in your ante. At the end of each game (not round), the winner gets all cards in all antes (although note the scoring below). If the game is a tie (e.g. Earthquake kills both players), then the original antes remain, and the players ante another two cards (i.e. the stakes are doubled).
5 Scorekeeping
When you win a game, add the coin value of the cards you win to your score. If you lose a game, subtract the coin value of the cards you lost from your score. The winner is the person with the highest total at the end of the night.
6 Arriving late
If a player arrives during the drafting of packs or afterwards, use the following rules for incorporating them into the game:
If there are 7 players or fewer, and one additional player arrives during the draft:
- That new player receives a land pack (50 basics, 6 non-basics)
If there are more than 8 players but fewer than 11 players, and one additional player arrives during the draft:
- Each current player gives one basic land of each type to that player, and one of the 6 non-basics in their land pack (of the giving player’s choice: serves them right for being late!)
The following changes then occur to the draft:
- The players currently drafting finish the current pack, then the new player sits at a randomly selected seat, and the drat continues.
- For each pack that the new play “missed out” on, she or he receives 15 random cards from the discards after each other player has selected their 60 (see rule 2). The discards do not include basic lands.
7 Arriving early
You’re a champion. Have a beer.
8 More than 8 players
If the game starts with 9 players, each of the first 8 give one basic land of each type and one non-basic (of the giving player’s choice) to the 9th player.
If the game starts with 10 players, each of the first 8 give one basic land of each type to each of the two other players. The non-basics are collected and assigned randomly to each player.
If the game starts with 11 or more, the non-basics are collected and assigned randomly to each player. The basic lands are collected from each player. After the main draft has concluded, players Rochester draft basic lands from the pool of lands. When drafting, each player chooses five lands at a time, with the order going as:
A B C C B A A B C C B A A (etc)
9 Calling time on each round
When there is only one game remaining, a majority of non-players can call “time”. If this happens, the current game has 3 minutes to complete. If it does not, the active player is “turn 0”.
10 Leaving early
Each player’s score is recorded, and will factor into standings at the end of the evening. If a player genuinely needs to leave mid-game, the current ante is returned. This is at the discretion of the majority of players not in the current game.
Strategy and Tips
- Basic lands matter! Make sure you have sufficient additional lands in your 20-card sideboard to cater for the loss of some through ante.
- Cutting cards is very difficult as the power level in vintage cubes is very high.
- Tutors, mass removal, and fast mana are some of the most desirable early picks.
- For those who have read/played other cube lists, note the following
o There are fewer counterspells (< 20 in a 650 card cube).
o There are more small creatures (particularly with the casting costs WW, 1G, UU, and 1R).
o There is a slight skew in the quantity of mono-coloured cards (from most to fewest: Green, Black, Red, White, Blue).
o Blue has relatively more cards with UU and UUU in their casting cost.
o There is very little mass removal.
o There is very little mass land destruction (no Armageddon, Ravages of War, Wildfire, Upheaval).
o There is a lot of redundancy in archetypes, although the ‘backup’ spells in those archetypes might be less powerful. For example
Oath of Druids, Polymorph, Tinker are supplemented with Mass Polymorph, Pattern of Rebirth, Tooth and Nail.
Goblin Recruiter, Goblin Ringleader, Goblin Warchief are supplemented with Bloodmark Mentor, Mad Auntie, Frogtosser Banneret.
Knight Exemplar, Knight of Meadowgrain, Mirran Crusader are supplemented with Benalish Knight, Kinsbaile Cavalier, Avian Changeling.
Lightning Bolt, Goblin Guide, Fireblast are supplemented with Volcanic Hammer, Kargan Dragonlord, Glacial Ray.
- With the ante rules, single-card strategies are risky. However, the weaker archetypal spells tend to be near-last picks.
- Mid-range finishers (e.g. 5-6 mana ‘limited bombs’, planeswalkers) should be picked as if you were playing in an environment closer in power to constructed than limited.
List of Morphs
Akroma, Angel of Fury
Blistering Firecat
Dwarven Blastminer
Fathom Seer
Fortune Thief
Grinning Demon
Krosan Cloudscraper
Vesuvan Shapeshifter
Whip-Spine Drake
Whipcorder
Thelonite Hermit
Zoetic Cavern
Exalted Angel
0-cost effects
Archive Trap
Chord of Calling
Edge of Autumn
Fireblast
