This is a multiplayer, battlecruiser-style cube that aims the feel and variety of constructed Commander circa 2014-2019. Games should be exciting, splashy, and interactive, and every deck should have a chance to do its thing.

My goal is to promote decks at the 6-7 power level, where 1 is a precon and 10 is cEDH. The cube maintains a tight power band to solve the age-old problem of constructed Commander: players have wildly different definitions of a "7" and someone ends up getting curb-stomped.

The draft supports broad Commander archetypes across 3-5 colors: sacrifice, tokens, equipment, reanimator, +1/+1 counters, spellslinger, big mana, and more. Most games revolve around combat, not combo, so every deck should have a plan for the red zone. Some notable Commander staples have been excluded to ensure that aggressive, midrange, and control strategies all have a fighting chance.

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Commanders are shuffled into the main cube and drafted alongside the rest of the cards. Decks are drafted from a pool of around 60 cards per person, and depending on how many people show up, we’ve found success with:

• Standard Draft: 4 packs of 15, 5 packs of 12, or 3 packs of 20 (pick two)
• Rochester Draft: 4 packs of 15, 5 packs of 12, or 3 packs of 20 (pick two)
• Burn Draft: 6 packs of 15 (pick 2, burn 1)
• Grid Draft: 20-25 grids of 9 (2-player only)
• Winston Draft: 20-25 picks per person (2-player only)
• Solomon Draft: 15 packs of 9 per person (2-player only)
• Housman Draft: 12 rounds of 5 picks per person (2-player only)
• Sealed Deck: 120 cards

We found that shuffling commanders into the packs provides a more natural draft experience than separating them into a dedicated commander pool and drafting them beforehand. It affords a better opportunity to read signals, navigate lanes, and pivot colors.

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Deck construction follows normal Commander rules, with a few house rules:

• Partners: If it sounds like a partner, it is a partner. Background, Choose a Background, and Friends Forever are all errata'd to have "Partner".
• Splashing: Monocolored commanders are allowed to splash one color. All cards that reference color identity are errata'd to include this splash color.
• Deck Size: Minimum deck size is 60 cards plus commander(s).
• Free Card: Each player receives a free Command Tower after the draft.

All other Commander rules apply: 40 starting life, 21 commander damage, etc.

A typical deck breaks down into around 26-27 lands and 33-34 nonlands, with a goal of at least 5-6 ramp sources, at least 5-6 draw sources, and enough removal and interaction to suit your strategy.

The partner and splash rules are our solution to color identity's "drafting on rails" problem. Without them, players tend choose a commander early and avoid pivoting out of fear that they might not find a suitable commander to unlock other colors. We tested other ideas - like granting all monocolored commanders partner, restricting color identity to basic lands but allowing splashing through nonbasics, and ignoring color identity completely - but they all proved too format-warping or too big of a violation of the spirit of Commander for our tastes.

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When balancing the cube and swapping out cards, I focus on maintaining the density of key effects like card flow, ramp, and removal. Following this recipe has allowed me to preserve the overall game experience while growing or shrinking the cube over time. To view the current ratios, filter the card list by tags.

Commanders:
There should be enough commanders that drafters can easily pivot, but not so many that choosing a commander is no longer a priority.

• tag:Commander: All available commanders.
• tag:Partner: All available partners. I errata'd all partner-adjacent cards to "partner" in order to increase their density in the draft. (A few years ago, Wizards stopped printing actual partners in favor of "background," "friends forever," and other identical mechanics, because in constructed Commander every new partner threatens to break the rest of them. Cube is a closed ecosystem and doesn't have this problem. My errata restores them to their intended function.)

Ramp and Draw:
There should be enough ramp and draw that each player can find at least 5-6 of each. I also include as much "card flow" as possible, as it leads to smoother and more enjoyable games. (These are effects that churn through your deck but don't provide actual card advantage.)

• tag:Ramp: Grows your manabase. Does not include land-to-hand tutors or effects that only fix colors.
• tag:Card-Flow: Scries/surveils/explores, filters/rummages, cantrips, replaces itself, tutors land to hand, etc. Does not increase net cards in hand.
• tag:Card-Flow-Engine: Repeatable scry/filter/etc. effect that does not increase net cards in hand.
• tag:Draw: One-shot draw effect that draw at least 2 cards under normal circumstances.
• tag:Draw-Engine: Repeatable draw effect that has the potential to draw at least 2 cards under normal circumstances.
• tag:Tutor: Searches your library for a nonland card.

Removal:
There should be enough removal to keep players from running away with the game, but not so much that threats can't stick.

• tag:Creature-Removal: Removes almost any creature immediately, though not necessarily permanently.
• tag:Conditional-Removal: Removes a subset of creatures but not all; or removes creatures very temporarily; or lets your opponent choose which creature they remove; or removes a creature after a delay; etc.
• tag:Board-Wipe: Removes (almost) all creatures.
• tag:Conditional-Board-Wipe: A board wipe with similar conditions to tag:Conditional-Removal.
• tag:Artifact-Removal: Removes one or more artifacts.
• tag:Enchantment-Removal: Removes one or more enchantments.
• tag:Planeswalker-Removal: Removes one or more planeswalkers.
• tag:Counterspell: Counters a spell.
• tag:Graveyard-Hate: Prevents recursion. Includes traditional graveyard hate and creature removal that exiles rather than destroys.
• I favor instant-speed interaction over slower options. In multiplayer games, board states can change dramatically in a single turn cycle, and players should have the tools to react in realtime.

Recursion/Looping:
The long games and high life totals of commander make recursion more powerful than in 20-life Magic. I track this category in order to curb it to a reasonable level.

• tag:Graveyard-Recursion: Replaces itself by returning itself or another card from a graveyard ("pseudo-card flow").
• tag:Recursion-Card-Advantage: Returns at least 2 cards from graveyards under normal circumstances ("pseudo-draw").
• tag:Flicker: Allows you to reuse a permanent by flickering it or returning it to hand to recast.
• tag:Clone: Copies another creature. Like blink, it allows you to reuse the best creature on the board.
• tag:Board-Protection: Protects one or more permanents from removal. This isn't looping per-se, but like recursion, it invalidates removal so I also keep an eye on it.
• I favor one-shot or conditional recursion spells over unconditional, repeated effects. Recurring something once is fun; recurring the same thing every turn can be frustrating for the rest of the table.
• I completely avoid creatures that can counter spells or return instants from your graveyard to your hand, as they are too easy to loop indefinitely and create unfun counterspell locks.

Aggro Support:
Aggro requires a critical amount of support to function, so I track the Commander-style aggressive effects here. (Midrange and control tend to sort themselves out.)

• tag:Damage-Multiplier: Increases damage output by buffing creatures, doubling damage, adding extra combat steps, making creatures unblockable, etc. Does not include token-spamming effects unless they also buff your creatures.
• tag:Go-Wide: Puts 2+ creatures onto the battlefield, usually small creatures or tokens. Does not include effects that inconsistently grow your board (ex: Living Death) or work poorly in a go-wide strategy (ex: Caldaia Guardian).

Other Design Considerations:

• Ratio of creatures to noncreatures to lands. Compared to a normal Vintage cube, there are fewer lands because this cube's long games, high curves, and plentiful ramp are all fairly forgiving on the manabase.
• Curve and average mana value by color identity. The average mana value should stay below 4 or gameplay gets slow and clunky. Plus, when there are fewer low-drops in an environment to punish greedy decks, bigger spells tend to dominate, creating a positive feedback loop that invalidates low drops in general.
• Individual card strength. Every card should be within one standard deviation of every other card.
• General quantities of micro-archetype support, such as +1/+1 counters, self-mill, spells-matter payoffs, token generators, etc. Each micro-archetype has different needs, so there is no one-size-fits-all approach.
• No infinite combos. As a matter of personal taste, my group and I find them anticlimactic to well-fought games. Although there are technically a few infinite combos floating around, they require 3+ cards and rarely come together in a cube this size.
• No free spells. Tapping out should mean something.