Art by Igor GrechanyiThe Un-playable cube is a draft experience intended for eight players, consisting of almost entirely silver-border cards, holiday promos, playtest cards, and other wacky pieces of cardboard.
The core-set of the cube is 495 cards, with an additional set of 90 cards that act as an expansion pack to the cube. Games are intended to be played in multiplayer pods of 4 players each.
Drafting with the ExpansionFor the list of Expansion cards, see: https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/contraptionexpansion
- The expansion to the cube consists of two piles of cards. One is a deck of 90 cards in orange sleeves (tagged Orange Set in the list). The other is a pile of 35 cards sleeved in the same sleeves as the main set, each one having text that refers to Riggers or Contraptions. They will take the 35 normally sleeved cards, and make six piles in the middle of the table, one for each color and then colorless. This is known as the Assembly Pile.
- The orange deck has 45 contraptions, 10 conspiracies, and 35 Assemblies. This is what the Assemblies look like.
- The host distributes the orange cards between all packs in the draft, which will be slightly uneven, but not too important.
- When the draft begins, a player can choose to draft any contraptions or conspiracies in their packs as normal. When they choose to draft an Assembly, they announce it to the table, then choose one of the six piles created earlier. They can draft any single card from those piles which shares a color with the assembly they announced. Once they choose a card, the Assembly is discarded from the draft. If a player drafts an Assembly, but there are no remaining cards that share a color with it, they can instead draft a card from any other color in the pile.
- The Main Set, 480 cards.
- The Expansion Deck, 90 cards. (45 Contraptions, 10 Conspiracies, 35 Assemblies)
- The Assembly Pile, 35 cards (Consisting of cards which reference Contraptions)
- Basic Lands, 50 of each color.
- The host of the draft is the designated Un-Coordinator. Any situations that might arise due to potential card interactions go through them, and they have the final say under any circumstances. They are expected to go over Mark Rosewater's card-specific rulings for any established interactions.
- You cannot compel a player to concede the game with Frankie Peanuts.
- R&D's Secret Lair does allow you to ignore the errata in the flavor text of Ashnod's Coupon. However, the targeted player does not lose the game by abandoning the game as part of resolution of the effect, and the drink must be in the local vicinity.
- If a card refers to a card you or an opponent owns outside the game, this includes your draft pool, and any card they are in ownership of. These cards are returned after the end of the game. Notable cards with this text are Spike, Decorated Knight, and Wizened Arbiter.
- In addition, if a card such as Booster Tutor, or Unleash the Pack, asks you to open a pack, the pack consists of any undrafted cards or draft pools which have been relinquished to the host due to not being sideboard material. If none exist, the host can force players to relinquish their draft chaff. If a player wants to spend real money to purchase a Magic the Gathering booster pack (a draft pack, not Collector/Set), they may do so.
- Yes, you can name _____ any name, it doesn't have to be a card that exists. Yes, if you get enough copies of _____ with different names, you can win with Twilight Sparkle.
- Cheatyface must be in your hand to cheat it into play.
- Players (or anyone outside the game) cannot compel another player to act in a way that would purposefully cause them to fail a personal restriction card. Ex. If a player has Plate Spinning, you cannot physically interact with them to force them to fail, or attempt to goad them into failing. In such an event, there is an immediate rewind to before the infraction.
- If a card requires physical interaction, both players must make accommodations to make it fair. Ex. in the case of Goblin Sleigh Ride, this means putting playmats together to ensure a clear path.
- Gum is not considered food for the purposes of cards which require you to eat.
- Urza, Academy Headmaster uses the newest version of the AskUrza generator. If inclined, the host can deem to use an older variant.
- Cards should not be physically marked without the express permission of the cube owner. This applies to the cards Autograph Book and Letter Bomb.
This is gonna be a long one... Mystery Booster 2 is coming out with a slew of new playtest cards, many of which are playable in this cube and I'm considering. Cutting is going to be extra rough given how tight space already is, so I might have to end up bumping the numbers up. However, that's a future consideration, so I want to first go over the cards spoiled (so far) and evaluate them on a 1-5 scale of Cube playability here, 5 being a strong consideration and 1 being unplayable.
Indicate: 1, its a classic meme but doesn't do anything meaningful.
Kozilek, Compleated: 2, good but too costly.
Who's that Praetor?: 5, VERY powerful on a Sorcery with great outcomes.
Abbot of the Sacred Meeple: 1, pretty funny though.
A Girl and Her Dogs: 4, this has potential with the naming tools.
Avacyn's Collar, the Symbol of her Church: 2, decent but not a standout.
Brigid, Who's Seen Some Stuff: 2, not enough synergy here, but neat.
Defender of the Queue: 4, welcome to Keyforge?
Friarball: 3, effect is awesome but requires a big mana investment.
Jeskai Baller: 3, four power across two turns and 3 creatures is nice.
New Master of Arms: 2, its cute but not strong.
Plain Walker: 2, not impressed.
Tax Taker: 4, this is potentially insane, I would need to number crunch
Alberix, the Trade Planet: 2, I love the idea but its too slow.
Blurry Visionary: 1, too much potential to damage cards.
Duelists' Convocation International: 5 very cool, maybe can replace ABCs?
Heart of Duelist: 4, you can actually break this in many ways.
Night of the Flying Merfolk: 3, good but a bit boring.
No-Regrets Egret: 5, incredibly good at setting up a strong hand.
Search Elemental: 4, I think this may have a home, need to number crunch.
Subgoyf: 3, I think you can scale this easily.
There/They're/Their: 1, not that good.
Cleaver Blow: 4, this is very good removal and super modular.
Creepy Crawler: 2, I like the batching, but its not quite good enough.
Lich's Duel Mastery: 3, this might actually be playable, I need to think.
Magus of the Chains: 5, yes Chains of Mephistopheles is playable.
Oddric, Lunar Marquis: 2, funny but not good here.
Pinchy McStingbutt: 1, all three options are bad and you have to cast it.
TL;DR: 5, wow this is actually really pushed. This hits like 99% of creatures these days.
Toofer, Keeper of the Full Grip: 5, this is so easy to pull off.
Yawgmoth's Day Planner: 3, its a build around, but not here.
You Compleat Me: 2, I don't think there's enough life gain to support this.
Boltfire: 1, wayyy too situational.
Dwarven Confluencer: 2, such a cool effect, but land destruction isn't great here.
Flanking Licid: 1, the joke is that this was designed in the 90's so its just bad.
Immerstrum Battlefield: 4, really cool idea.
Pyromancy 101: 2, you still have to pay R to activate so subpar.
Snap Judgment: (1/5), I really think this is incredibly funny but I don't know if it will have enough effect.
Toddler's Rage: 2, I like it but its a bit weak.
Vuzzle Spaceship: 3, the concept is solid, but it may be overcosted.
Zone of Flame: 5, if I can find a slot this a great death match card.
The Colossal Dreadmaw: 4, memes aside this is a good deal.
Dairy Cow: 1, doesn't do anything but sick reference bro.
Flavor Disaster: 1, the joke is that the card is bad.
Glade of the Pump Spells: 3, this is hard to evaluate, but I think its good?
Keeper of the Crown // Coronation of the Wilds: 3, it has potential.
Meandered Towershell: 1, I love Towershell but its bad.
Naturalize 2: 5, incredible especially here in silver border.
Plant a Sapling/Fully Grown Treefolk: 4, very strong and easy to track.
Phyrexian Seedling: 5, I think this has potential with all the weird counters around here.
Questing Cosplayer: 5, what the hell?
Spuzzem Strategist: 1, the Spuzzem has chosen to be unplayable.
Starting Town NPC: 5, really neat idea, I dig it.
Wherewhat: 5, this is way better than Blurry Visionary's idea.
Anax and Cymede & Kynaios and Tiro: 2, its fine but too group hug.
Chatzuk, Mighty Guitarist: 1, we don't do banding here.
Chea, Friend to Maybe Too Many: 3, this needs a number crunch.
Don't Worry About It: 2, I think this is actually a bit undertuned.
Fludge, Gunk Guardian: 3, I love Gunk as a concept, but I need to come up with a reasonable way of tracking it.
Glimpse the Unthinkable: 1, its funny but I can't think of a good reason to play it.
Jund 'Em Out: 5, fantastic.
Narod, the Beige Flower: 4, I think this is a fun effect.
Pokey, the Scallywagg: 1, no real reason to do this.
Stone Drake: 2, the 2nd mode is better, but I don't think it fits here.
Terry Pin, Turboturtle: 3, needs a number crunch but I love it.
Wowzer, the Aspirational: 1, not currently possible here, but I dig it.
Luxior, Ignited: 2, I think the idea is good but is kinda in the space of Jitte which is too powerful.
Microscope: 1, this doesn't really do anything of value.
Mox Poison: 5, I think this might be broken?
Runed Terror: 5, this deserves a slot.
Fetching Garden: 1, not enough fetch options to make work.
Madlands: 3, this is neat but maybe not good enough.
Omenpath to Naya: 5, this is very powerful early on.
Processing Plant: 3, unlike Omenpath this is a hard sell.
Temur Elevator: 4, weaker than Omenpath but still strong.
Value Town: 4, a bit expensive but still nice.
By my count, there's 43 playtest cards still unaccounted for, so I'll have to revisit this at a later date.