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I try to keep up with the power level of the game, but I also strive to keep it in check by having some anchor cards that will never leave the cube. The aim is to keep the cards powerful, Iconic, and fun.

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I have to mention the loss of one of the greats, Metal Worker. It's a card that just doesn't fit the current artifact theme, and Krark-Clan is popular, and requested. In order to made Metal Worker work, there's a specific MUD package you need of big oppressive artifacts. I would love to delve into that at some point, but right now, there is clearly a split between Krark-Clan and Metal Worker...not only is Krark-Clan a fan favorite, but so is Archbound Raveger.

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This is a bit of an odd one, but one I've stumble upon from trying so many different volumes of cubes, and trying different pack numbers.

I think 540 is close to the perfect amount of cards for a cube. The thing is, fringe archetypes are usually the most fun to draft. 360 leaves no room for sub-par playable cards, and with the power level of the game now, 540 is starting to feel like 360. Balancing this is a little rough. The idea is, so what if I add more cards to the cube, but still give players the same amount of cards to look at by ratio. I finally landed on 580 cards with 3 packs of 16. Power and lands are often picks that go fast, and it gives players slightly more time to settle in on an archetype, even with some dead picks for the fringe decks.

I did try 4 packs of 12, but those decks are often less synergy based, and more focused on good stuff which isn't satisfying.

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A preview of cards proven to be a little bland. They're clearly powerful, often not fun to play against, but more importantly also not fun to play with. My cube philosophy is: we love constructed, but if we're going to take all the time and coordination to play a curated cube, let's make sure that games are ridiculous and memorable.

The other quick thing to note about cards that are bombs like the cards above, is they don't reward players for trying cool decks. These are bombs that are often better than just glue. Pack Rat is a card often associated with salvaging bad decks, but you probably tried to do something that revolves around discard or the graveyard before Pack Rat became your best pick.

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I mostly play on paper, and often with new players. These are not hard rules, but I do consider a few things when deciding if a card should be extensively played in cube.

Cards that have too much text for what it does

Have unnecessary text

"Can be played as your commander"
"Each other card of the same name"
"Melds with ..."
"choose a background"

Use of the backs of cards

I really dislike that information is hidden. For the cards I do play that have back sides, I have the backsides in sleeves in the open for people to see when they're drafting.

Require too much physical upkeep

These rules are more of a guideline, but I don't want to overwhelm my cube with annoying cards. I think these cards are great for online, but not necessarily for tabletop play.

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Card's on CubeCobra, that have a "backside" are a double pick. You draft both cards, and you can play both cards. I didn't enforce this in the sense that both cards are playable in the same deck, though it's often likely. The cards chosen for these double picks are basic corner stones; decks that need a bit of an apex of "bad" cards cards to work. This came up because Rite of Flame is a great card on it's own, but I dislike that it would have useless text. Ritual Storm is also a a fan favorite, so why not push it!

The double picks so far:

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I wanted to put this here for a couple of reasons.

1. This is the Magic I always loved watching and playing. When designing my cube, these are events/moments I'd like to replicate. Magic should be fun and exciting as a game and it's important as a designer to think of how a card will make for memorable experiences rather than just cube every powerful card under the sun.
2. I also just wanted a place where I can find these matches to watch again if I ever have a bad day at work.

Vintage Cube

LSV and BK draft Urza/Winter Orb.
Easily the sloppiest playing from one of the best Magic players in history, and he still manages an undefeated record. Hilarious and incredible.
"Now we can really Bomat..."
"He can't Keep getting away with this!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vtXx3snN8w

LSV drafts mono black reanimator.
Shout out to ChillMTG for showing me this draft. LSV drafts Legacy constructed TinFins with moxen and lotus. Literally. It's an absurd deck, and yet we still get to hear LSV complain!
"Lotus Mindtwist is good...but it's not busted busted."
"We are missing some reanimation targets...(only 16 picks into the draft)"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VH7Bf3SiTN0

LSV drafts every busted card, in one deck.
"Let's check the average turn this deck kills on."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZO3LYPVcZUI

Matt Nass reluctantly drafts Reanimator.
Not only drafting instant speed reanimator, but also having all the pieces of a Storm combo, possibly building the most broken deck anyone has seen in Vintage Cube.
"I'm not sure If we're storm with transformational reanimator, or reanimator with transformational storm, but we definitely have both!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnf3HpoEUMo

Kenji Egashira - Red Rocks Me
A great and entertaining player--NumotTheNummy--who has countless streams of Vintage Cube. This one was one of my favorites where he drafts a mediocre mono red deck after claiming to only want to play braindead Magic. Spoiler -- every game is very tight.
"Lieutenant Krark, you ain't got no thumbs!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaND2wnN6Sw

Caleb Gannon - Green/Red Storm before it was cool
Gannon is another famous Vintage cuber who I've stole a lot of ideas from for sure. He's always drafting to have fun and really thinks outside the box. Here's a great deck where his beginning idea was using Empty the Warrens with Gaea's Cradle as a ritual. Somehow he ends up going undefeated against 2 Bribery/Channel decks and Twin.
"Man I can't cast Hydroid Krasis! I guess Emrakul is good enough, but..."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdq-tvyG8lE

Caleb Gannon - Mono Red artifact control
Registers Mono Mountains "Just 17 lands, ramp stuff out!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIT0bUKDQAA

Caleb Gannon - PrimeTime Storm
What a roller coaster of matches
"Look at this hand! A turn 2 Brain Freeze for 3!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8xaZ4jP5Gk

CalebDMTG -- Lover of all things Yawgmoth, Survival of the Fittest, and Metal. I've heard a lot of complaints, some even from me about how good Yawgmoth and Survival are in cube, but you just have to draft it! It's better than people lead you to believe!

Survival/Roots -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iI4JVwwexR4
Survival/Roots 2 -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNO5YvQnLiw
Survival/Hogaak -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tq89H5LguA
Gruul Survival -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sknd-FTdcH8&t=2585s
Bazaar/Survival -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TbnMHJ4a5w&t=288s
Orshov Yawgmoth -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKyLAZrUdc4
Yawgmoth Rock -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3r8cjZupfM
Reacurring Survival -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Hs-0f_lM3o&t=791s

CalebDMTG -- Honorary Mono Red Burn deck with Red Ojer God. This little interaction cracks me up every time. It's just absurd how busted Ojer is in burn.
"What are you at? Less than 12? Well, I have a Lava dart and an Epicure"
https://youtu.be/so6HUGQDnsk?t=2847

? - Black/White Smokestack Control
No idea who the player is, but the dude puts a masterful Smokestack deck together. It's worth watching this just to see an underrated strategy go 3-0.
"We're going to tick the Smokestack up to 4 and start from scratch."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1y409dTvDY

King Poopa - A stack of HOT Garbage with Oath in it.
A couple of doofbags pilot an absolute train wreck of a draft and - yet it went 3-0 on MTGO!
It really goes to show you how much luck is involved in many of these drafts and games. Don't be upset, "sometimes you just get Vintaged!"
"Oh yeah, standard all-star wombo-combo. 10 life and a shitter."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5akt-Aso1u4

Chill MTG - Rakdos Midrange
This dude drafted a flawless red/black deck and manages to almost lose every chance he gets. It's laughable and entertaining.
"We know they have Spellpierce. Why did we play it that way."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ysobo3qU7A

LSV - Bazaar Lands
I just liked how well Bazaar played in this deck, even without any good support cards to go with it. Like many of the Magic cards of old, they are a 0 or 10 with very little in between. But the times those cards run hot is a lot of fun and make for very fun decks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TFBN_RWMP0

Vintage

Joe Dyer - The current Vintage Guru
It's actually long overdue that I didn't just add the mtggolfish.com eternal format weekly columnist here. Joe has been writing about Vintage for quite some time and keeping major tabs on the format while showcasing his love for the extra spicy decks. If you want a crash course in Vintage, just read some of his articles. https://www.mtggoldfish.com/series/vintage-101

Joe Dyer - The Riddler
Again, Joe is a lover of spicy decks and wont settle for anything less, which I love. Here's a super cool vintage list of his on camera.
https://youtu.be/WxvmJicc8uE

Reid Duke - DPS (Dark Petition Storm)
Reid who is know as a Jund/Midrange aficionado in most other formats actually prefers one of the more unfair strategies when it comes to playing Vintage. Reid is a big fan of Vintage Storm and has played it pretty much every year during the Vintage Challenges. It's worth watching him play this infamous deck where you can learn a lot about the format.
Part 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0cZhntaD9Q
Part 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiOpDA7nL6c

Gabby Spartz (and LSV) - Doomsday
Gabby Spartz (a casual streamer) plays Vintage for the first time with a very complicated deck for it's time(Lab Man Doomsday)-- and faces off against Randy Buehler game 1--some luck! If you don't know who Randy Buehler is, he is basically the most inventive player in Magic history causing many cards to get banned before WotC finally hired him to balance the game. He's also known as the voice of Magic as he commentated the game for many many years including ongoing sanctioned Vintage events.
"I think conducting rocket surgery would made you less anxious."
https://youtu.be/hZIoodHScpk

Justin Gennari - Oath
I need to give a shout out to a very important player in the Vintage community, Justin Gennari - the most important Vintage player currently creating content and knows how splash some spice on the format. The link I provided is great in showcasing how the Vintage format is controlled chaos. There's a lot that happening every turn, but as Justin shows, keep calm and don't panic!
https://youtu.be/nbZ_01ev6IQ
Justin Gennari - Dress Down PO
WTF is this pile? No wincon? Not Even infinite turns? Incredible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3v2xAfsRiAlist=PLQQ8jPMFzt7lo5QewBKq2ewCng3ej6Nlk&index=2
Justin Gennari - Goblins
Vintage is in a weird place right now where there's a lot of decks 5-0ing that have no business doing so
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yp6UNo4ufN0

Brian Kelly (Justin Gennari) -- Boggles vs UW Lurrus control
This is really a Justin stream, but the real star there is his match against bpk at 52 minutes in. Brian Kelly is notorious for building sub-par power level decks and crushing with them. He's a master at his own craft that no one can replicate. This is such a good showcase of that.
"Briiiaaaaaaan!!!" (I dare you to drink every time Justin says this)
https://youtu.be/pxMw5S-yCyo?t=3163

Vintage Super League

Links to the Vintage Super League created by Randy Buehler who invites the best players in history along with popular content creators:
Season 1 - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQQ8jPMFzt7lo5QewBKq2ewCng3ej6Nlk
Season 2 - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQQ8jPMFzt7m48cwyhI_WOn0T3I2wsCBE
Season 3 - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQQ8jPMFzt7lyO6pY5Sm1gT38lL5WUnw0
Season 4 - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQQ8jPMFzt7n5U8DU8mXwmlJzx1PBmphp
Season 5 - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3rP64NRtmbhGb6I6vTslqQKoLpfnrKry
Season 6 - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3rP64NRtmbjEmQqIe5hiF9Z6v9d-xgnT
Season 7 - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3rP64NRtmbiCQZE1kXNu08MXiv-MM8SG
Season 8 & website - https://vintagesuperleague.com/
Season 9 - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3rP64NRtmbjLOGH-Wkn5q-zdSAhzyKu0

Standout Matches
Season 8, week 10 -- Dredgeapalooza!
Why have 1 good dredge deck when you can have 5 mediocre ones instead!
It's baffling how Team Channelfireball made it to the finals with repeatedly being clowns in the series.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRFPyspZ0eg&list=PL3rP64NRtmbiv9mp1FyFIAvl6WOR5148v&index=12

Old School 93/94

I didn't actually play Magic until '97 (Mirage/Tempest), but I absolutely love the Old School format. First off, you cannot beat the aesthetics of that era of Magic. It's also just a super nostalgic era, and even though I didn't play with a lot of the cards of that era until much later, everyone knew about them. The cards were legendary, immortal and iconic! I mean from the crazy price of Black Lotus (I remember they weren't even $300 bucks at the time), the rumors of Chaos Orb, The Inquest Magazine articles (https://www.magiclibrarities.net/magazines-inquest.html) littered with Juzam Djinn and Serendib Efreet artwork.

The other thing that really hits home for me in these non-rotating eternal formats, Old-School and Pre-Modern, and why I always think of Magic as this super exciting game is because it began before Internet was readily around. I don't think people honestly can comprehend that at all anymore. Even now, I'm sitting in front of two computers typing this out! I can barely remember what that was like myself, but playing Magic helps me peer back into that world when everything was without question more exciting, because nothing was truely ever solved--or at least that you knew anyway.

Flippin' Orbs Podcast - Sean O'Brien interview on the beginning of Magic
Sean O'Brien is not a famous Magic player, but he is immortalized in the history of the game for spearheading the mana denial strategy in Magic and was written about in the very first strategy article printed for Magic called the Schools of Magic.
What's great about this interview though is Sean O'Brien reveals how much of modern gaming we absolutely take for granted. During this time period, there were no spoilers, no deck lists, no strategy articles, rules were almost made up, no consistency of card value, hobby & game stores were scarce, and cards were absolutely hard to find--something I remember very well by the way.
"You literally have never seen this thing in your life! He might as well have been a wizard, pulling a spell out of his pouch."
"I'm not worried about Brian Weissman in California when I'm getting my dick Balanced off here in Atlanta."
The interview begins at 55 minutes in.
https://www.wak-wak.se/9394/podcast/2018-2-24/episode-11-mana-is-overrated

"Tournament of Professionals" - '95 Finals
This is a great production of an Old School finals match. Entertaining as hell and a great match to boot!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiSVZTVPujtj1GPIWnsT_BQ

Historical

Pro Tour Chicago 1999 - Brian Davis vs Bob Maher Jr.
The absolute best match ever recorded. Mr. Dark Confidant himself, a rowdy crowd, and Randy Buehler with some hot takes.
"The first person to lose a match 5-0." Brutal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMei_cxSC0c

Pro Tour Chicago 1997 - MTG Breakdown Rewind
Listening to Randy Buehler commentate is always a treat, and here he is commentating on himself. This was his first pro tour he ever played and just completely thrashed the competition with a card he would make notorious throughout Magic: Necropotence.
"Life is cards!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=km8AMFUetuc

Samuel Pardee vs. Patrick Dickmann - Modern Pod Vs Twin
Two of the best decks in the history of Modern that is somehow swingy and close.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00J996JYLGo

Chapin vs Nassif - Dragonstorm Mirror
The infamous Ignite Memories dodge with two great Hall of Famers playing the mirror match. The showmanship of this match is what makes it one of the best to ever watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8BNu_vrVXE
Also, Nassif again showing off calling his top deck.
"I'm rearranging my Ultimatum Mana."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju_LZGBN5qU

Worlds 2000 - Finkle vs Maher
Shadowmage Infiltrator vs Dark Confidant in the mirror with one of the most notorious decks in the game: Saga/Masques Tinker.
"Alright, so both those 19/19's collide into each other and go away." WTF!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqBPpZV7oxw

2012 Players Championship Finals: Shouta Yasooka vs. Yuuya Watanabe
This is not a flashy game by any means, but there are 2 main reasons I believe this match has won over many of us and is remembered as one of the best matches in Magic ever:

1. I don't think either player made a single mistake out of 5 matches. Both players played incredibly optimal games for almost 2 hours. That is a feat in itself.
2. The decks shown here remind a lot of us when competitive Magic was at an all time high. Both decks are filled to the brim with cards we shuffle up into our powered cubes, yet the game looks surprisingly fair and well matched. This was such a great time to play Magic and I think we all watch this remimnicing about those days.
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UQT_1dyec8

Conley Woods vs. Craig Wescoe - 2011 Worlds Top 8 Quarterfinals
People consider Kai Budde the tightest player in the game--possibly even the best, but Kai may need to hand over the title here to Conley after this game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXQmu_OXIzM

Pro Tour Paris '97 Long vs. Justice
Mike Long was very important to the development of Magic despite all the issues surrounding his character. This match is a great watch as Mike Long psychologically destroys his opponent. And if you're watching this thinking, "Poor Mark Justice is getting brain raped by that asshole Mike Long." Don't. You can be free of your guilt as Justice was a huge asshole to many players as well--Long was just giving him a taste of his own medicine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLa8GMQAMu4

Magic: The Gathering Road to the 1998 World Championships
This is just a fun rewind to the early Championships of the game and the 90's in general. You're gonna want your pair of Jenga pants for this one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8bl8eIlB24

The Ben Seck vs Laurent Calligaro - Modern Scapeshift vs Hardened Scales
The decks and players are good, but that's not why this match is here. It's game 3 and the fact that Ben Seck sacrificed a goat that morning to get that lucky.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40mUi6iQAD0

The Bob death compilation.
https://youtu.be/Viwx-QTFZuc

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This bit is for people that are completely new to Magic. I feel like in order to really enjoy the game, it's fun to let players in on the philosophies that make Magic such a spectacle of a game.

Colorless, Brown, the factionless tribe--whatever you want to call it--isn't really a faction many identify with when they think of all the identities within Magic. That's odd considering Magic's original and longest story about the war between Mishra and Urza is very much about people who identify as "Artificers" -- essentially the faction that tries to understand what these otherworldly secrets can unlock for the people along with our intentions to use them. Because the game of Magic at its core is a fight between different ideologies over efficiency and equality of resources; these "artifacts", "constructs", and "unfathomable beings" which unlock resources and technology seem to be at the center of what all major conflicts are about.

The Thran are no different than ancient societies of our past: Egypt, Celts, Myans, Germaic Tribes. We obsessively look to our past to give us purpose and inspiration. Any time we uncover something that is centuries old, we know we are tapping into a mind that thought nothing like our own. Not only do these discoveries allow us to think in creative ways we never thought imagined, but more dangerously, it also gives us purpose.

People fight and die over their technology, culture, and customs. Uncovering a text or artifact that bolsters any of these tends to create battle grounds for any indifference. And why not! Most of ancient customs has pushed society through hardships where we shouldn't have survived.

The Eldrazi are a very obvious rip from H.P. Lovecraft's Elder Gods--Beings that have always existed and are intertwined with the universe that often pull threads of fate causing madness, chaos, and destruction in our world. In fact, the Eldergods in Magic are close to the same story as Lovecrafts's--except WotC told a much more positive spin of the story: A cute story of the "Avengers" fighting off the multiverse's ultimate threat. This is far from any reality staring across the horizon of annihilation.

The end, whatever it may be, can ask even the worst of enemies to bury the hatchet and fight against something much worse than their feud. But, this is not only what happens...

Not everyone views life as something worth living, hence a welcoming end to everyone who did them wrong.

Some people try to appease the greater force and may show allegiance in some way in hopes to survive annihilation.

Others might want to understand and study such a force for their own gain. Often this involves some of the most important individuals of a conflict switching sides.

In the case of H.P Lovecraft, wherever you stand, there is no controlling annihilation when it comes. These beings don't communicate with us, they don't comprehend us, they likely don't even know we exist. Anything short of annihilation is not an option.

And as much as we want to blame annihilation on the things we can't control like the Eldrazi, don't neglect looking inwards: Nevinyrral's Disk, Engineered Explosives, Powder Keg, Oblivion Stone...we've invented plenty of ways to cause our own annihilation.