The Blue Desert Cube is an experimental 2-player draft format.

The cube itself will be divided into 11 packs of 15 cards each. 8 of the 11 packs will be drafted by each of the two players, meaning that there will always be 3 packs leftover. These packs do not interact with any other drafting mechanics, and can be set aside.

153 of the cards are stock magic cards, visible in the list-page, however 12 of the cards are custom creations which interact with a Doubloon-bidding Black Market phase. The card faces for those are listed just before the end of this summary. They can be printed onto sticker paper and put onto normal MTG card faces - they will not be played in the main deck, so its not super critical that they be totally indistinguishable from normal magic cards.

----------Deckbuilding:
All decks must be at least 20 cards. The recommended land-count for this deck size is 8 lands and 12 playables, however 7 lands remains possible in low-to-the-ground decks*. As this is a "Desert Draft" players are only allowed lands that were drafted - no additional basics will be provided. Any cards which start in the Command Zone do not count towards this deck total.

*(For the mathematically inclined, and those who have a lot of drafting experience in general, going to 7 lands is somewhere between a 16 and a 15 in a traditional draft deck. Plan accordingly).

----------Additional Rules:
Players draw a starting hand of 7 cards, but begin each game by mulligan-ing down to 5 via London Rules. Subsequent mulligans are down to 4,3,2,etc.

It is suggested, but not strictly mandatory, that all Disguise creatures count as being Morph creatures (the Ward 2 can be quite powerful, and narrows the range of what a given face-down creature can be). If you choose to play this way, make sure you agree with your opponent before the game starts.

Being called on to draw a card with an empty Library does not cause players to lose the game (however being in this position is a good sign that you either need to win soon, or take an L).

----------Drafting Blue Desert:
Before the start of the draft, give each player 4 Doubloons. These will be used later to bid on left-over cards and improve your deck. Each player also picks 4 packs which they will open per the rules below.

Packs are opened one at a time, per player, meaning during any given draft phase there are two packs in circulation. Whenever a pack is first opened, discard one card at random from the pack.

Then, each player takes one card from their pack, discards one card from that pack face-down, and passes the pack to their opponent. This is repeated until the pack is depleted (Pick, discard, pass - Pick, discard, pass). The discarded cards are combined into the Market Pool.

Each player drafts a total of 7 cards per pack, and should have drafted 28 cards each by the end of the draft phase.

Any Income / Custom cards must be drafted face-up. A players current count of Doubloons is non-hidden information.

----------The Black Market:
After all packs are drafted, the Black Market phase begins.

First, players may bid Doubloons (gained from special Income draft cards) for the privilege of being first to bid in all turns of the Market Phase. Bidding is performed in the traditional fashion using Doubloons: bidding goes back and forth, with the highest bidder being the winner and paying the amount they bid. Players may not bid more Doubloons than they currently have. If neither player bids for the privilege of first-bid, it is assigned via a coin-flip at the beginning of The Black Market phase, and alternates each turn.

For each turn of the Black Market phase, reveal 7 cards at random from the Market Pool, composed of cards discarded during the draft-phase. These cards make up the Black Market for the remainder of the turn. If any Income cards are revealed this way, remove them from the Black Market and reveal two additional cards. Then, whichever player is allowed first-bid may bid on any of the revealed cards, or pass, after which their opponent does the same. The minimum bid for all cards is equal to the number of colored mana pips of any kind, anywhere on the cardface, with a minimum of 1. Once both players have no remaining Doubloons, or both opt to pass bidding priority, the turn is over, and each player may add one card they won the bid for into their draft pile. The remaining cards are removed from the draft, and cannot re-appear in the Black Market. Note: players must pay for all cards they won, but may only take 1 of them.

Repeat this process for 5 turns.

----------Income Cards:
--Pure Income Cards--
Jinxed Gemstone x2 https://mtg.design/i/pctj33
Swindle x2 https://mtg.design/i/xrfv10
Peculiar Curator x1 https://mtg.design/i/wgoi39
Recovery Specialist x1 https://mtg.design/i/orwr34

--Extra In-Game Abilities--
Pirate's Eye Diamond x1 https://mtg.design/i/mway94

--Income + Fixing--
Coveted Crown x1 https://mtg.design/i/xayc88
Starjade Amulet x1 https://mtg.design/i/yexn60
Jewlwrought Jasper x1 https://mtg.design/i/lhpz71
Suspicious Curio x1 https://mtg.design/i/amez69

--Other Custom / Non-Income--

Friends In Low Places x1 https://mtg.design/i/woez29

----------Shuffling:
Separate blue cards into one pile, non-blue cards into another, and lands into a 3rd. Stack the piles with blue cards on the bottom, non-blue cards in the middle, and lands on top, then deal out as many packs as have been opened using a pile-shuffling method. This ensures more or less even distribution of lands.