<<[[!/de1c0399-9db8-4901-b72e-0010eb9b92b0]] [[!/034e0929-b2c7-4b5f-94f2-8eaf4fb1a2a1]] [[!/e384c20b-d0c1-4781-9d11-e89e5a6bf3fc]] [[!/d5806e68-1054-458e-866d-1f2470f682b2]]>> --- >>> ## Welcome to the LOTR Star Cube! <<< >>> ### This cube is: <<< >>> ### 1) A LTR set cube <<< >>> ### 2) Designed to be played multiplayer by exactly 5 players <<< >>> ### 3) Using the rules for Star Magic. <<< --- <<[[!/0ce44270-a684-4489-9077-521456e6dfaa]] [[!/8538a97f-302d-468a-8a6c-50c800d614e5]] [[!/b5bc71a1-2344-4bc6-aa60-658cec19d0d6]] [[!/7f1b99e0-ffb7-4f98-8ee5-4357bb79dd2e]]>> --- # Star Magic Star Magic is a casual format designed to be played by 5 players (the most awkward number for traditional Cube drafts). It is based on the [[color wheel|b1d0beb4-c3dd-4bb1-b49b-a48b2d4ad38d]] shown on the [[back|]] of every magic card. Each player chooses a color ({W}, {U}, {B}, {R} or {G}) and takes a seat according to the color wheel (the {G} player would sit next to the {W} and {R} players, while sitting across from the {U} and {B} players). Players then play a multiplayer game of Magic, attempting to elimate the two players across from them. The first player who succeeds in elimating their enemy colors is the winner! The advantages of Star Draft over a general free-for-all are twofold: 1) The games tend to be faster, as only two players need to be eliminated for the game to end. 2) The dyamics of having two 'allies', who happen to be mortal enemies themselves, is an interesting opportunity for all sorts of politics and shenanigans. Detailed rules: - Each players starts at 20 life - Mulligans follow the commander mulligan rules - The players next to you (allied colors) are not considered opponents, and you may not attack them directly - The starting player draws a card in their first turn --- # Star Draft Star Draft is a draft format designed to be used for games of Star Magic. It works like a normal cube draft, with a few modifications. The main difference is with regards to the basic land box. Before the draft, each player chooses a color and takes the seat corresponding to that color. Druing deckbuilding, you are only allowed to take basic lands from the basic land box corresponding to your color. For example, the {B} player may only take basic Swamps out of the land box after the draft. In this manner, Star Draft functions similar to Desert Draft. Other lands may of course be taken during the draft, and a selection of basic and non-basic lands ar included in the draft for this exact purpose. For example, if you are playing {B}, and want to play [[Sauron, the Dark Lord|034e0929-b2c7-4b5f-94f2-8eaf4fb1a2a1]] (a {U}{B}{R} card), you may want to draft some Mountains and Islands (or equivalent non-basics) to facilitate that, since you cannot freely add those after the draft. Swamps, however, are useless to you, since you can take as many as you want once the draft is over. For this specific cube, there are two more minor modifications made to conventional Cube draft, namely: - Players draft 5 packs of 10 cards each (drafting 50 cards total) - Packs are seeded, with 2 rares, 2 uncommons, 4 commons, 1 non-basic land and 1 basic land each These modifications have been made in an attempt to make each pack easier to evaluate, as many players may be unfamiliar with the specific cards and archetypes of LTR limited. --- # Archetypes --- <<[[!/de1c0399-9db8-4901-b72e-0010eb9b92b0]] [[!/2203b2cd-48e5-471a-85fe-dc81012e5d61]] [[!/e384c20b-d0c1-4781-9d11-e89e5a6bf3fc]] [[!/f6bc3720-2892-4dda-8f30-079a1ac8e1e2]]>> ### {W} : Gondor and the Hobbits The unequivocal good guys at the table. Your goal is to eliminate the {B} Sauron player and the {R} Rohan/Dwarves player. (In this timeline Rohan and Gondor never resolved their issues and are now mortal enemies). Your allies are the {G} Elves/Ents player and the {U} Wizard Council player. White has access to a lot of legendaries, as well as some of the best legendary-matters cards in [[Gandalf the White|e384c20b-d0c1-4781-9d11-e89e5a6bf3fc]] and [[Flowering of the White tree|2203b2cd-48e5-471a-85fe-dc81012e5d61]]. The ring is also especially potent for you, as you have some of the best Ringbearers in the game as well as ways to protect them. So gather your Fellowship and dunk the Ring straight into Mount Doom! --- <<[[!/a62a5e55-fa1b-4c70-9293-740dd513d52e]] [[!/1bfccbab-29fa-4e92-8919-6cd4815fb655]] [[!/e2b975e6-e709-481f-bfbc-41a832508283]] [[!/a6e5c3b3-9a70-4a1c-bfb3-db27e51c4b8d]]>> ### {U} : The Wizard Council --- # Why a Star Magic Cube? Now that you know what Star Magic is, let's discuss the design in a bit more detail. I've been toying with the idea of a LTR set cube for a while, but there were two aspects which I always struggled with. First of all, the idea of just jamming 3 or 4 copies of each common in a set doesn't match my preferences for singelton environments. However, LTR only contains 100 commons, so to keep the identity of the set you kind of have to include multiples to make it work. Also, the LTR cards are very different [[aesthetically|a92a2c5a-e450-494a-b23b-7ac0a6c50535]] from [[other|7a06a6a8-34ad-464f-8311-eea6eada332e]] Magic cards, making it difficult to simply include other cards to fill out the file. Secondly, and more importantly, if you run an 8 player LTR draft you are going to have situations where the {W}{G} [[Hobbit|de1c0399-9db8-4901-b72e-0010eb9b92b0]] player is facing off against the {U}{G} [[Elves|a6e5c3b3-9a70-4a1c-bfb3-db27e51c4b8d]] player. Take a moment to think about that. Why are they fighting? Aren't they supposed to be on the same side? Now, this might not matter much to you. And, to be fair, if the set had contained more commons, it may not have mattered to me. But this leads to an interesting design challenge. Can you avoid these flavor fails in some way? My answer to this question is Star Magic, but you may come up with a different answer yourself. (And if you do, please DM me, I am very interested in other ways to have the flavor come through more strongly!) Star Magic solves both of the issues mentioned above to some extent. As the format is designed for 5 players, fewer cards are required, meaning that 100 commons is plenty. Also, due to the rules of Star Magic, the {B} player, who represents Sauron here, only has to fight the {W} and {G} players, who represent Gondor/Hobbits and Elves/Ents, respectively. This makes more sense narratively. Finally, it's nice to have a Cube that works with 5 players, since that's always an awkward number for traditional Cubes. However, this does mean that this has suddenly become a multiplayer cube, which brings its own challenges with it. Specifically, there are some serious concerns about the viability of aggro cards, and the need to incentivize players to attack. The hope here is that since you only need to do 40 points of damage, rather than the 160 of a 5-player Commander pod, some of these issues will resolve themselves. If not, cards from the LTR Commander set (LTC) can be added to try to mitigate some of these effects. --- # Acknowlegdements