Fundamental Foundations
(360 Card Cube)
Fundamental Foundations
Art by Matt CavottaArt by Matt Cavotta
360 Card Cube21 followers
Designed by myqueeeen
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Introduction

Our biggest challenge in Cube is growing the community so we can live in a world where every pod is full and firing. There are two groups of players who I’ve been trying to convince to show up more regularly to our cube nights: Newer players who are learning to play Magic through the Cube Format and experienced players who feel friction playing cube because of the amount of unknown cards and complexities. The release of the Foundations set inspired me to commit to building a cube for the express purpose of hosting introduction cube nights. Here is how I approached the cube’s design followed by the 3 intentions of the design:

Genesis of a Cube

Set goals: I haven’t made a new cube in years and the biggest lesson I’ve learned since is the important of setting intentions and goals and asking yourself how your changes serve them. I set 3 major intentions before I started to add cards: The cube should have a lower power level but have strong power outliers, recognizable cards with namesake effects and a complexity level that highlights how fun and challenging Magic really is (details below in next sections). You may find your goals change, even during the initial build of the cube, but it really helps to have guiding principles to fallback on.

Card Selection: Building a cube is like sculpting, starting with a big block of raw material (all the Magic cards in existence), using a mallet and chisel to remove the excess material and finally polishing it until it's reached its desired shape. Thus I began by dumping cards that fit my goals into my new Cubecobra list fairly indiscriminately. I added cards I liked from the Foundations / Core Sets, classic effects, power outliers and buildarounds I enjoy. Once I hit about 600 cards, I switched modes and started making sweeping cuts based on power level, complexity / wordiness, and mana curve until I got to around 400 cards. At this point, I’m not worrying too much about the number of removal spells, what lands cycles are best or having an exact count of gold cards in each section. Fine tuning can come after you’ve done a number of playtest drafts.

I highly recommend using the Cubemap (https://luckypaper.co/resources/cube-map/) once you have a rough shape of your cube to find inspiration from like-minded curators. I used Cubecobra’s card analytics for synergistic cards and of course Scryfall and EDHRec. Lastly, I use the Maybeboard a ton as I move cards in and out of my initial list.

Playtesting: When the list is in the shape of a cube, I began using the Playtest/Draft feature. My initial strategy is to force particular color pairs/archetypes to see if they feel under/over supported. I’ll ask myself if there is enough fixing / removal / 2 drops during the draft. At the end, I go through the final step of creating a deck because this can often reveal cards that feel superfluous or reveal gaps in the build and take notes on what I learned from that playtest. Once I have gone through a number of drafts and deck constructions and the cube feels a little more refined, I’ll move to gameplay to begin to polish.

I’m lucky that my wife plays Magic and is willing to be my #1 playtester. I’ll take decks I’ve drafted through Cubecobra and we’ll play them against each other. This is of course a bit of a luxury, so if you can’t be married to your playtester, find someone else who will be willing to help you or Goldfish / play against yourself. Even as an experienced curator or player, there are things you really can’t know until you put the cards on the mat.

Release: My last piece of advice is no cube is ever perfect and one of the biggest reasons I love making cubes is it really is an eternal work in progress. Don’t worry if you don’t hit 360 or 450, if there is an imbalance in colors, or your archetypes aren’t balanced, they might never be. After you play your first draft, ask for feedback. Treat feedback from players as if it’s a description of symptoms from a patient, it’s more important to listen to how they feel than what they think the problem is. So keep an open mind and stay positive!

Intention #1: Low Power Level With Outliers


There are notable power outliers in the cube, high and low. While many cubes aim for a flatter power level, outliers give a newer drafter a sense of direction when they open a pack and give experienced non-cubers a familiar limited environment. Within each step of the curve, especially as the curve climbs higher, it is important to have a range of power so the Archangel of Thune feels like a bomb compared to Serra Angel but Serra Angel is still playable.

Intention #2: Recognizable Cards & Namesake Effects


For experienced non-cubers, recognizable cards reduce a ton of friction to our format since they can open a pack and immediately be grounded by cards they recognize. For newer players, it’s the perfect opportunity to teach them what a Man-o'-War, Gravedigger, Flickerwisp and Eternal Witness do and how they can be used to loop or generate extra value. In addition, most of these cards serve intention #3.

Intention #3: Reduced Complexity Leading to Interesting Decisions


Not only are Man-o'-War, Gravedigger, Flickerwisp and Eternal Witness recognizable, namesake effects but they represent another core intention of the cube: Clean designs that are easily read and understood but lead to interesting decisions. Ultimately, the cards should do what they say and be easily understood. The biggest thing I learned from the Foundations limited set is a reduction in complexity doesn’t always lead to less interesting draft and gameplay decisions. It often means that your brain power can be used on more interesting decisions rather than minutiae.

Archetypes

Rather than have explicit archetypes, most color pairs represent a macro archetype that is supported by their gold cards and how colors work together innately.

Azorius w-u - Control. Blue and white decks will use counter-magic, lifegain, and removal to take over the game and finish the opponent with flyers

Dimir u-b - Control. Blue and black decks will use self-mill and looting combined with threshold and recursion to removal the opponents threats and put on the pressure at the end to finish them

Rakdos b-r - Aggro. Red and black decks generate value by attacking and sacrificing their own (or sometimes the opponent’s) creatures.

Gruul r-g - Stompy. Red and Green decks will accelerate out or grow threats that look to close out the game in a hurry.

Selesnya g-w - Go Tall. Green and white decks have the best creature protection spells and protect key creatures with auras, counters or strong abilities.

Orzhov w-b - Go Long. White and black decks aim to drag a game out to take advantage of lifegain and reanimator synergies.

Boros w-r - Go Wide. White and red decks aim to create large board states to swarm the opponent before they can block all their threats.

Izzet u-r - Spells Matter. Blue and red decks load up on spells and cards that trigger on draw or spell casts.

Simic u-g - Mana Ramp. Blue and Green decks look to play multiple colors and ramp out huge threats or card advantage that can easily outscale the opponent.

Golgari b-g - Graveyard. Black and green decks aim to fill their graveyard and dominate the opponent in the long game with value or reanimation.

The biggest conclusions I’ve drawn from the past 2 drafts are: (1) Cycling is healthy and quite popular in the draft so I can cut back some support. (2) Aggro decks can use a little help since the last 2 drafts have been dominated by slower control decks.

In white, I haven’t supported a go-wide strategy well enough to see it surface so I’m throwing in a couple powerful token generators and boosting the number of low drops. I’m also swapping out some cycling cards, prioritizing true cycling for 1 and giving an old sweeper a try.

Midnight Haunting => Spectral Procession
Holy cow => clarion spirit
wonder => raise the alarm
Breath of life => monk of the open hand
fumigate => akroma's vengeance
soaring sandwing => imposing vantasaur
planar disruption => fleeting flight

In blue, we’ve had 2 drafts pass with players who wanted to play izzet prowess (who doesn’t) and somewhat fell flat. I’m going to give a small boost in blue by adding a couple cantrips so we can trigger and fill the yard. This can be accommodated by removing some cycling cards (although Windcaller Aven actually saw play).

windcaller aven => fleeting distraction
lay claim => into the roil
opt => thought scour

In black, Golgari graveyard felt very strong and could stand to lose some support. Also I haven’t seen a Rakdos drafter so I’m going to push a little bit on the aggro front. World-Weary and Revenge of the Rats have been in black decks’ sideboards so they can hit the curb for a much more exciting Decree of Pain.

nested shambler => infestation sage
Cult conscript => bloodsoaked champion
shrieking billowmass => bloodsky berserker
Revenge of the rats => dead weight
world weary => decree of pain

In red, the biggest issue I saw was Boros and Izzet decks falling short. I’ve boosted the white and blue side of that equation and mostly stayed the same here with small upgrades, especially with a couple more powerful 2 drops. Experimental Frenzy is a key addition to help aggressive decks that I hope is not overly complex because it's a very fun card. Alternatively, newer players found Sulfuric Vortex to not be so fun.

footlight fiend => rigging runner
kessig flamebreather => Young pyromancer
axgard calvary => Slumbering cerebus
sulfuric vortex => Experimental frenzy
Lava dart => obliterating bolt
magma jet => flames of the firebrand
goblin surprise => hordeling outburst
seismic monstrosaur => slice and dice

In green, I’ve decided to lean into landfall as a simple mechanic that people love and makes players feel clever. Our Wilderness Reclamation expert decided it’s not good in this cube so it’s cut. Wild Growth is super powerful since it ramps without being exposed to much interaction.

ambush wolf => mossborn hydra
Wild growth => lotus cobra
apothecary stomper => rampaging baloth
savage punch => felling blow
Wilderness reclamation => audacity

Tatyova hasn’t seen play so I want to try to give Simic another angle. Elenda is a flashy card that points to lifegain and sacrifice. Sprite Dragon gives Izzet prowess a really great creature and Izzet control is already pretty well supported as a cycling or spells deck so it can stand to lose Enigma Drake. Lastly, I haven’t seen a player go Rakdos so I’m going to try out Alesha, Who laughs at fate. I’m a little hesitant about this card because I don’t like that you can have her sit back out of combat, but it can be good to have a power outlier.

ghor-clan rampager => itzquinth, firstborn of gishath
tatyova, benthic druid => dreamdew entrancer
Indulging patrician => elenda, the dusk rose
back for more => casualties of war
staggering insight => depose // deploy
enigma drake => Sprite dragon
slick sequence => fire // ice
perforating artist => alesha, who laughs at fate

Bag of Holding might come back but also it’s a cute card in a currently over supported archetype so it can take a rest while I try cross-archetype glue card Circuit Mender. Hollow One is of course classic and sweet but narrow so I’d like to try Runaway Boulder.

Hollow one => runaway boulder
bag of holding => circuit mender

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