Art by Mark TedinI am a huge fan of the original Desert Cube by Loxodon_Meyerarch.
If you are unfamiliar with Desert Cube - this cube is intended to be drafted with 18 card packs, 3 packs per player. There are no basic lands available after the draft - you must take all of your lands through the normal draft process. This cube specifically is designed to be drafted with four players, then matches played round robin.
I usually draft with a small group of two to four. I've been interested in making a micro cube (less than 360 cards) for a while. Specifically, I've long envisioned a cube that could fit in a single, somewhat compact deckbox. I happen to already have an Ultimate Guard Twin Flip n' Tray, which is advertised to hold 240 single sleeved cards - exactly half of the original Desert Cube. So, my interest reignited by the 'The Frog and The Dragon' Micro Cube episode here - https://cubecobra.com/content/episode/5f96e59fa3411e2a47d21512 , I've decided to try to cram a similar draft experience for 4 players into a 240 card cube.
An obvious benefit of this is that the entire cube (no basic land pool required!) fit in a single Twin Flip n' Tray along with enough dice for four players. The basic land pool comprises a huge amount of the physical space a cube occupies, and by making the micro cube a desert cube we can eliminate that space used entirely.
The original Desert Cube features no less than 10 of each basic land. There are 11 swamps and many, many more mountains. The original Desert Cube features primarily red cards. I am not yet sure whether I will favor one color more than the others or if I will try to keep the colors somewhat balanced. I do know that I will be not be prioritizing theme (like the original), but rather prioritizing the lower powerlevel and interesting draft that comes with the format.
If I end up leaving the colors all fairly balanced I will likely include more of each basic land. If one color is included more heavily I will add more of that colors basic land.
I do see a bit of a benefit in supporting one color more than the rest in a cube of this size. But I will have to wait and see if that makes sense, and if so which color should be prioritized.