“Ponder your orb long enough, and your orb ponders back into you.”
—Goofy-ass Mirrodin Headdress Man
The Ballpit made landfall in Spokane, WA on 2025-04-07 at T18:04:00. Several bystanders reported confusion at the scene of the manifestation. So far, there have been zero reported casualties, and less than $1USD worth of reported property damage (baklava on playmat).
The Manifestation Began
in the form of an oblong box with menacing heft, klunked meaningfully onto the tabletop in front of a sundry assortment of old friends, more recent friends, and that one cool new trans gal who showed up out of the woodwork. It was a Monday night much like any other: muggy, weirdly bright out, you’re running five minutes late. It was a Cube night much like any other: funny, foody, friendly. It was a Lebanese cafe much like any other: warm, smelling of cardamom, and located on the ground floor of an apartment building in a mid-sized American flyover city.
It was a cube unlike any other. One in which
- You have to draft all your lands,
- There is no deckbuilding phase (what you draft is what you play), and
- Every single card in the cube can be cast face-down as a copy of Chromatic Sphere.
That’s right. It’s
The cube was pre-shuffled. 480 cards of silver-sleeved glory. Eventually this cube will be back-sleeved in clear plastic with 480 actual copies of Chromatic Sphere, but that pipe dream is still a few months off. I’d designed this cube to be played with 8 players, each drafting 4 packs of 15 cards in a traditional L-R-L-R fashion, resulting in eight 60-cards decks. However, I made two miscalculations:
- A cube, when freshly double-sleeved, is simply a collection of puffy little air pockets that have been lubed up with near-frictionless matte coatings, and
- A Lebanese cafe’s vinyl flooring is not my ideal location to play 60-Card Pickup with the likes of this beauty.
I consulted with the cube designer (by staring wordlessly out the window for fifteen seconds). It was a very disorienting process. The apartment building on whose bottom floor the Lebanese cafe was located sits on the same city block as the hospital complex in which I had gotten bottom surgery some five weeks prior, and the irony of my Ball Pit was not lost on me.
I decided we would only draft three packs each. 45 cards. That way the decks would be a more manageable size, and the draft would go faster, and I could take the first bye (drafter #8 called out sick) to give rules advice and eat dinner on the side (with my questionably-transphobic mother who was visiting town). Besides, we had some newcomers, and two folks who were very new to Magic as a whole, and so the reduction in information overload by removing a pack would be all the more appreciated. So the playmats were rolled out—the packs dealt evenly—the rules explained—the spinach hand-pies and baklava milkshakes ordered.
The Ball Pit was open for visitors. It was time for
The draft was great. Everyone was having a blast opening packs and going “Uhhhh. Huh, Wha…? Oh! Heh. Heheheheh…” Some drafters took a long time with packs, given the berth of new information and new angles of analyses.
“I didn’t know they made cards that look like this,” one new drafter says, flashing it toward me.
“Does this do what I think it does?”
“Wait, there’s more than one splicer in Magic?”
“Ohhhhhhh, the spheres will guide me, you said! That’s why there are so many f---ing Drownyard Temples up in this b---h.”
I gave the advice to aim for 6 lands per pack. This results in 18 lands in a 45 card deck, which is pretty reasonable when every card doubles as a Chromatic Sphere. There was a lot of banter and trash talk and excitement and many, many drafters broke protocol to show other drafters cards in their current pack, and that was great, and lovely, and perfectly the vibe I was aiming for.
It was a grand old time. Everyone ended up with a (roughly) 45-card pool (there were some slight practical foibles). Then we moved on to
lol you don’t get to build your decks in this cube. Shuffle up that draft pool, nerd. It’s time to play our first games with
(Author’s Note: it would take me hours to get the versions of these cards correct, and my time is best served NOT individually linking a few hundred cards’ specific printings. Assume that, in my cube, I run the objectively correct versions of each card (in anyone’s books, really), and that if I DON’T, that you are more than welcome to mail me a free copy, since many of them are in actuality just the printing I could find cheaply or freely in my immediate area)
Questions going in:
- Are drafters/players excited about their cards/decks?
- Do the Spheres feel clunky? Is this a “loose balls on the floor” mess or a “silky-smooth ball-bearings” experience?
- Does the cube still feel like Magic, despite the rules change?
- What’s working? What isn’t? What’s too strong? Too weak?
- Who had fun, and how? Who didn’t have fun, and why?
. . .
Deck #1: Let’s Just Draft A Good Deck, M’Kay?Winrate: 1-1 (We were having too much fun to actually force three matches. Plus V had to run. And I was busy house-ruling 2p concession speed using the stack.)
Drafter #1 went into this draft like it was retail limited, and I love that for him. A bit of creature value, a smattering of removal, some minor exploration of the format’s unique rules (notice the mild graveyard recursive theme). Mostly notably, however, he correctly identified the spiritual core of this cube in leaning heavily into Energy Chambers and some of the fun ways to utilize them. Necrogen Censer might not be the strongest thing in the world, but good god if it isn’t fun to get going. Chimeric Mass is an amazing threat at all points in the game, and Filigree Vector is one of those intentional power outliers that dies quickly but makes games more fun in the meanwhile.
Takeaways: Myr Superion is sick as hell and I want it to be more playable. I’ll likely be adding in a few more mana dorks. I also might add even more Energy Chambers because I’m a sicko and multiple decks want multiple copies.
. . .
Deck #2: Splicer? I Hardly Kn-extremely loud incorrect buzzer sound
Winrate: 2-0
Welcome to The Splice is Right! The show where everything’s made up and the points oh wait, wrong reference. Point is, this deck kicked ass, and it’s mostly my fault, because I kept saying “Oh you’re gonna love this” and then pass another one to the fun new gal whose mind was proverbially (and verbally) blown upon seeing Master Splicer in pack 1 and learning that Blade Splicer isn’t the only Splicer in magic. I was drafting a control deck, anyways, so I didn’t care. I have my deck (the other 2-0) still put together and need to crash these into each other to see which one comes out ahead.
I want this deck to be strong. It’s the Splicer deck. They’re Splicers. If you don’t get it, I don’t have time to explain why they’re so cool. Normally, these get poached by other drafters because let’s face it—not only are they generically pretty good on their own, but also come onnnnn, it’s the Splicer deck. Only losers don’t think that’s cool.
Voyager Staff is a real beaut in this deck. Elegant lady. Strionic Resonator is more straight-up cracked, assuming you ball hard and get it early enough to have an impact. Salvage Titan and Arcbound Bruiser are both sneakily Golems (waow) so yeah—they know how to party. The rest of the deck is whatever. This drafter was surprised to see so many pain lands (there are one of each in the cube) and really prioritized them early. I also love seeing things like Surge Node in a deck like this because haha! It’s garbage. But also, it’s just a Chromatic Sphere, so who cares.
Takeaways: Half of the fun of this cube comes from the pure joy on people’s faces from holding, drafting, and playing hot cards like Jayemdae Tome and Phyrexian Gremlins. I might take out the Trophy Mage cycle though, despite people thinking they’re neat, and in fact I almost didn’t include them in the first place. I want to reduce tanking and shuffling times as much as possible, and they aren’t even very good in most scenarios. As for the power level of the Splicers: they’re manageable. If you think they’re really good, just draft them yourself.
. . .
Deck #3: (Wo)Man Lands
Winrate: 0-2
I felt so bad for this drafter because her deck was sick. Manlands + Pumps is a great idea that is possible to make good in this cube, but she drew poorly in her first match, and then played my control deck in the second match (which, honestly? She handily won game 2, and our last game was a nail-biter, since her manlands got around all my sorcery-speed interaction and some of them being non-artifacts made them decidedly harder to kill). We had fun, though, mostly because:
Academy Ruins is broken, and Spellskite is annoying as balls (affectionate). I adore these cards, and so did this drafter, who always dug for both to get a soft-lock on my removal spells by putting the ‘skite back on top of her library every turn until she could instead grab one of the finishers she’d binned. Ratchet Bomb getting counters off of Crawling Barrens using Power Conduit in order to blow up my otherwise resilient wincons, then getting the bomb back again with Academy Ruins, was absolute gas. Also Mutavault got buffed by Myr Galvaniazer one game, which was everything you imagine it to be.
Takeaways: Deck tech was sick. I can’t wait for future manland-heavy decks to be too powerful and for me to cut some of the offenders. Am I trying to get drafters to ask me to add in more of the land destruction that I so love? Talk to my lawyer, Alex. He won’t, like, give you legal advice or anything, but he’ll send you some gripping zines and you’ll be too distracted to remember what you were writing in about in the first place. Also, Paradox Haze is here for the Energy Chamber girlies. It will have its time in the sun some day.
. . .
Deck #4: Jane’s Control Deck
Winrate: 2-0
I always feel really anxious and uncomfortable when I introduce a fresh new environment and then go undefeated, but hey, everyone had fun. Conversely, I adore when the gears put in front of drafters are so shiny and enticing that they have too much fun turning them to pick up removal spells, and that’s exactly how I ended up with a control deck in the balls cube (innuendo needed)((citation needed)).
Ovalchase Daredevil is one of my favorite bits of tech in the cube. Plop her down as a Sphere, crack her into your graveyard, play any other Sphere, and boom—she’s back in your hand to keep the party going. Furnace Celebration was my favorite way to put her driving skills to work, though Painsmith and Leering Emblem had some sick plays as well (especially the game I all but one-shot someone while at two life myself by cracking Foundry of the Consuls to block their large attacker with one ‘thopter, then pump up a huge flier on my turn for the win).
Slobad, Goblin Tinkerer and Spine of Ish Sah are also a fun way to slowly blow up all of someone’s lands in the late game. My boy’s got a hammer, and oh lord if he ain’t gonna bønk.
Takeaways: Sad that Vedalken Infuser was a dead last-pick card. Glad that Quicksmith Rebel is a big power-outlier in the best way, and can just as easily go into a controlling deck as an aggressive deck.
. . .
Deck #5: The Dumptruck Draft
Winrate: 1-1
Some people just want to draft big butts. This person just wanted to draft big butts. Her deck would have been much more strong if it had more lands, but as it stood, there were certainly consistency issues. With only two ways to cheat out larger threats, and one of those methods having summoning sickness, that line of play rarely came together.
That being said, this drafter truly understood the point of The Ballpit. She was dropping Spheres like nobody's business. I have a photo of her covering her face while I point accusingly (excitedly) at the seven face-down Spheres she has on-board. The government doesn't want you to know this, but the Myr Enforcers at the park are free once you've sunk 7 mana and as many cards into them! And she had five copies of the dude! And just look at Metalwork Colossus!!! That ass don't quit.
Takeaways: 10/10 vibes-forward deck. I really want Door to Nothingness to pop off some day. Big cheaty creatures are on my radar, but haven't been nearly consistent enough to be a problem so far. Also: check out that Pestermite. No it's not a combo or anything. It's just sick as fuck and you should feel bad ass for playing it. Put Pestermite in random decks that don't have any combos with it and you'll be a much cooler and more attractive person.
. . .
Deck #6: OK But This Is Actually Kinda Sick
Winrate: 1-1
This drafter was very new to Magic. Like, I taught her how to draft the week before, when I met her at a bar and sent her home with my starter decks. As in, she asked me twice during the draft how to get water and skulls, pointing to 
and 
pips.
Now, I want you to go look at her decklist again. This deck is cooler than you. Peace Strider and Pierce Strider in one deck? Hot. Renegade Rallier??? She didn't know why it's good in this cube. Didn't matter. She stuck Darksteel Axe on her Vault Skirge and could have wrecked face for the rest of the game, but decided to have it always stay as a blocker that didn't block. This drafter would have (almost as) happily gone 0-2 if I hadn't repeatedly leaned over to talk about how she could use Steel Overseer every turn. She was a trooper, despite being quite overwhelmed by how much text she had to digest for the first time.
At the end of the night, she said she was excited to draft it again. That's all I need to hear.
Takeaways: Silverskin Armor on Fathom Mage with Steel Overseer out. No, it didn't happen. Yes, a girl can dream. Also, Andy, I need you to alter a Mirrodin-printing Ornithopter for me.
. . .
Deck #7: The One That Got Away
Winrate: 0-2
This deck needed more lands. There were enough in the pool, it just never came together. The drafter had fun digging for more, though, so that's something.
This deck needed more ways to play with the likes of Skill Borrower and Myr Welder. Again, they just never made it into the deck. They did manage to make Ethersworn Adjudicator scary again for the first time in years, though, so that's something.
This deck was all about potential, and never quite about payoff. And sometimes that's just going to happen.
Takeaways: I may eventually add just a few more lands to this list, since it's easier to ditch extras than to dig for drops, but I'm very hesitant. None of the other drafters had real mana issues, and I'd MUCH rather this cube be packed with those extra few juicy cards that get people excited.
. . .
Deck #8: BONUS BONUS mystery eighth deck??? With seven drafters???
Winrate: 2spooky-4me (?-?)
Here's a ghost story for you, phrased dramatically in the form of a question: What do you do when you're collating seven decklists before doing your post-draft writeup and you realize that you have eight decks on your hands? Because that's what happened to me.
Answer: your brain breaks. Thankfully, mine was already broken, so I just let the loose chunks slosh around for a few minutes until it set upon the causa prima, which I shall divulge a few lines of text later.
This deck is almost gas. Traxos, Scourge of Kroog is a definite power outlier, and no, I will not listen to any complaints, and he's staying right where he is. Dropping a big Affinity fattie to use Morbid Curiosity to draw eleven cards? Mwah. Assembling the cogs to get Lux Cannon firing every turn? Hnnnnnngh. Chasing the dragon of stapling those Fleetfeather Sandals to a now-hasty Scrapyard Recombiner to fetch out a Traxos, Scourge of Kroog to play with the sandals attached and swing for 7 in the air??? That will cost you 11 mana, ma'am, but I love you for trying. Use Chief Engineer or something, I don't know. I'm not here to count. Did I mention the double Deserted Temples for shenanigans with weird other lands for those obscure edge-cases when that matters?
Deck's hilarious. Problem is, no one drafted it.
I thought I was being careful when I put the dividers into the deck box to preserve the individual decks, but I made one little oopsie. Yeah, this was just 40-ish random cards from the cube. It's not even quite the right number for a deck drafted that night.
Takeaways: Sometimes your cube shits out a quantum-drafted ghost deck that leaves you questioning the linearity of time for a solid(?) ten (?)minutes. Honestly, I'm not even mad. Deck looks fun as hell, and I adore that something like this can just pop into being from this cube.
. . .
Wrapping Up
This cube has been everything I wanted it to be, and more. This is my manic pixie dream girl of an environment. Would I recommend it to your draft group of specifically 8 ex-GP-grinders? Actually, yeah, I probably would, unless they're also all dicks, in which case no, I don't like drafting with rude people anyways, and you can put that in your pipe and smoke it.
- Q: Are drafters/players excited about their cards/decks?
A: Yes/yes. Impeccable vibes. - Q: Do the Spheres feel clunky? Is this a “loose balls on the floor” mess or a “silky-smooth ball-bearings” experience?
A: There’s certainly a learning curve, and early on some folks found it clunkier than others, but not unduly so. As games went on, the rules became pretty darn natural and easy-feeling. - Q: Does the cube still feel like Magic, despite the rules change?
A: Yes. It feels like Magic if Magic still had balls. - Q: What’s working? What isn’t? What’s too strong? Too weak?
A: Land balance seems decent. I want to tweak which lands are available. There are numerous power outliers, but no unexpected ones so far. Removal suite is very tweakable, but honestly in a decent spot right now. I like that many threats dodge some types of removal, given that every deck can run any removal spell if they prioritize it. I want charge counters to be stronger. I may add more proliferate, which I was initially hesitant to lean into on power level and complexity rationales. - Q: Who had fun, and how? Who didn’t have fun, and why?
A: People didn’t have fun when they hit the classic issue of Magic: drawing the wrong half of their deck, either in missing land drops or in never drawing their best cards. However, the spheres really did guide people! Digging is kinda fun. For a first draft, everyone had fun. Some drafters left tired and a bit information-overloaded, and yet even those players expressed a desire to draft it again.
Our enfranchised players had fun. Our brand-new players had fun. I can't guarantee that the nostalgic artifacts will hit home for every drafter, nor that the spicy new "cast every card as Chromatic Sphere" rule will be a slam dunk for all playgroups, nor that the weirdness of some card inclusions will come across as endearing in all circumstances. But you know what? I honestly don't think any of those things are a requirement. I would have to draft this cube a large number of times before I got close to tired of it, and I cannot wait to get more people to experience the blast that is The Ballpit. Come to CubeCon in October. It’ll be there.
To quote the landing page of The Ballpit: This cube is not "polished." I have zero interest in polishing it toward any specific point, though I will be making changes to facilitate fun play patterns and to cut truly egregious power outliers. This cube is ALL about vibes. People will go "whoa," and have fun brewing during the draft. People will have decks unlike any deck they've ever had before. People will get blown up by stuff that they didn't draw answers for. People will end up with not enough lands, or too many lands, and the spheres will account for most of that, but can't truly solve everything. People will get slightly salty at the decidedly non-flat power band. But guess what? It's a ball pit. It's fun as hell. And if a grown-ass adult is getting cranky in the ball pit, they can be politely asked to spend their quality time elsewhere and let the kids have fun.
I haven't scraped all 30,000 magic cards for the "best" fits for slots. That means nothing to me. This cube is built entirely from cards I own, cards my friends own, and cards I could trade for locally. I'd love to hear your ideas for how to make it fit its supposed design goals better (and for you to guess what those design goals were!) but I will very likely say "That's a cool card!" and then only include it in the list if you mail me a copy.
Be kind to one another. And please: make me a cube even worse than this one. I know that by this point you've already thought of five cubes that you could make just by having every card be MDFC-castable as a different magic card. The possibilities are endless. Make me proud.
-Jane
👇 Some of my favorite cards from the un-drafted section of the cube