Archive: Mordor's Cube (5/13/21)
First set: RNA
Last set: IKO
Drafts like John Locke (tabula rasa), games like Thomas Hobbes (nasty, brutish, and short).
Cube Goals
This cube is primarily played between myself and my partner. As such, I design entirely to our preferences (no combos, minimizing board locks, retaining some pet cards like Archangel Avacyn). However, we like to "schizochester" draft, and in non-COVID times I will sometimes cube with a group, meaning a 360+ cube size with English-language cards is a must.
No budget restrictions, as I'm willing to proxy cards. No thematic, format, or border restrictions either.
Since I play with so few people, it's important that those players want to come back for more. Therefore, I seek to maximize player agency above any other metric. That leads to a few odd decisions:
- I've long had a cube which supports aggro/control/midrange, and I recognized that there's inherent agency loss in the polarity between these rock-paper-scissors matchups. As such, I only support midrange in this cube.
- Recognizing that the 16th dual land is better than the 25th playable, I've chosen to go deep on mana fixing. I make room for this by eliminating parasitic aggro & control cards.
- Good gold cards tend to have more modes, better rates, and more cool, so I run more of these than usual. Since all this cube's decks are shades of midrange, I don't mind their tendency to be 3+ colors.
- The cards which maximize agency tend to be more powerful, so I do not cap the power band of this cube.
- I find combos, griefer cards like Mind Twist or Chalice of the Void, and power outliers like the Moxen to harshly limit the opponent's agency, so I avoid cards like this.
My ideal gameplay looks like a tight, neck-and-neck game where all players get to grow their skill. Every match should feel winnable for both players. Due to this rich environment of meaningful choices, I emphasize a high-tempo and high-speed environment where every decision counts but games don't take so long that they fatigue my players.