There’s One Thing that Will Always Keep Me Playing Magic: Cube
Feels good to be back! I took a couple of weeks off from Magic: the Gathering for a variety of reasons. Most of which were having this nagging shoulder injury destroying my chances of getting good sleep, while also doing distance learning with my kids due to an uptick in local covid cases. Things are a bit more stable now, so back to it!
I took a nice long break from playing Magic these past few weeks (maybe even months). I’ve been playing other games, spending time with my kids, and watching TV when I have time. There is always one thing that brings me back in and reinvigorates my love for Magic, though—Cube.
Many years ago, I was only a casual-competitive player. I’d show up to local PTQs and play. If I didn’t do well, I’d draft with friends or go do something else. During this period we made what to our knowledge was the first iteration of a cube. We called it “The Box”. The Box had all kinds of cards in it and included one of anything we deemed first-pickable in the card’s corresponding Limited format, all kinds of busted rares, and constructed staples. We even put in cards from Unsets like Blacker Lotus. It was amped up Limited Magic. The Box would constantly grow. It wasn’t a set size like Cubes are now. It would expand as more and more sets came out.
Every now and then, we’d have to get together and do “the shuffle,” which was slowly shuffling the thousands of cards into many stacks. We would then fill cut-up envelopes with 15 cards from the piles until the giant box was full of fresh packs.
Many of my friends would only play Magic at pre-releases, and we’d add the contents of our prizes and pre-release products to The Box. As years went on, we removed dated cards like Aven Windreader as they no longer made the cut. Many of us, myself included, stopped playing competitively at PTQs, but we’d often meet up for the Patriots game and play Box drafts. We even had our own invitational, the Box Invitational, where the winner would design their own card and add it to the cube. One card was a 2/2 for UB1 that Demonic Tutored when it entered the battlefield and had Unearth for UB. It was super busted, but that’s fun!
The Box kept my interest in Magic for several years when otherwise I had none. It allowed me to play Magic the way I remembered it, while slowly keeping my interest to see what new cards were added. The Box is something I miss dearly and hope to maybe recreate some day. I still order cards anticipating making my own cube or box, and the only reason I haven’t built it is I don’t have the time or people to play with currently.
Cube is customizable and hits all the notes of Magic—nostalgia, archetype diversity, customization, and replayability. I’d love to have more higher stakes cubes matches, especially now that we play in a mostly online world. While I prefer Vintage or even Supreme Cube, I’d love to see different cubes toyed with. It’s popular because it hits notes for Constructed enthusiasts, allowing them to draft higher power level cards and create their favorite archetypes or styles of decks that play in their preferred Constructed format.
I’d like to see Cube become a format at Set Championships, Qualifiers, or at least Arena Opens. I was considering playing the Arena open this past weekend. Normally I would, but I’m out of the loop on Alchemy right now because of life obligations, and it’s hard to justify battling with a deck copied from Twitter. I’d rather save my gems and enjoy my weekend. You can dive right in with Cube and have a solid chance if you’ve played cubes before and have a general understanding and knowledge of cards. So that’s what I did. I did other stuff with my weekend after getting a cortisone shot to help my shoulder, which is slowly improving, and I played some Supreme Cube. Supreme Cube is awesome, and I hope they bring it back more often. It’s fast paced, and almost every player is or should be playing blue, but that’s an excellent way to self-correct in Vintage Cube as blue is the strongest color.
If you have the luxury of having a local play group and are safely gathering to play Magic, I suggest designing your own cube or “box” and try out different things. It’s an excellent gateway into Limited Magic and will have tons of replayability. You can make it as balanced or unbalanced as you want. Many see the future of Magic in Commander, but I think if I step away competitively, the future for me will be Limited formats when they peak my interest, and I’ll always play some form of Cube if it’s available.
You can try pauper cube, combo cubes, or straight up copy whatever the last version of the MTGO or Arena Cube is out there and make personal customizations. MTGO tends to force new cards that are awkward and out of place. Cut those cards and add more suitable cards. Ultimately, you can do whatever you want, and it will probably be fun.
As for me, I’m awaiting some more preview cards from Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. Until then, I’ll just play some Cube or something.
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