Yes, it's a HUGE , time consuming draft, well beyond the standard pack size & amount of starting packs per player. Keep in mind this cube is specifically designed to be built into 100 card EDH decks. After test drafting multiple times I found the sweet spot where all decks could be great, instead of 2 or 3 people running the table while 2 or 3 others have little to no sync.Nobody goes to a cube draft with somewhere else they need to be later that evening, and the actual drafting is a big part of the fun. Drafting more cards led to a far more exciting series of games with everybody having the ability to draft top tier EDH decks.
The entire cube is 1010 fully proxied cards on standard letter paper (even the cheap stuff), with each card sleeved and covering a random common card. I didn't use glue or tape of any kind. I made proxies in the past like that and they always seemed to bow afterwards, even if left to dry in a vise, making them difficult if not impossible to shuffle. I chose to combine 19 different 50 packs of sleeves, and one 60 pack. I then sequentially shuffled the sleeves, and the proxies were completely randomized before they were placed in the rainbow sleeve assortment. It just looks a lot cooler, and I wanted to provoke discussion about the irrationality of not using one kind of sleeve for the whole collection. It's like playing blackjack with 20 decks of cards and they are all marked randomly. It makes you feel like someone must have an advantage, while being certain that person isn't you. I made a real effort to make certain there is no rhyme or reason to the madness, as who would want to take any fun out of cube drafting? It's fantastic fun.
I started my build by watching several tutorials online, and I was inspired in part by Brandon Sanderson's unique take on things. His use of custom Regalia he created, which play with some basic mechanics / color identity planted the seed for my own unique custom set of cards to add to the cube.
I took Brandon's idea and expanded it. I created custom magic cards called Alteration cards with 4 subtypes. I used my favorite movies, comics, books, tv shows and some nsfw material for the artwork and themes. For example, I created a card which has Deadpool wearing the infinity gauntlet giving the middle finger, and the text box says "You may add any one color to your commanders color identity. This does not change the casting cost, it only adds another color to your decks identity."
I also instituted some new rules specifically for this cube, which are listed below.
Mana symbol occurrence is evenly spread among the five colors, with the yin-yang sideboard making the adjustments from the MSO in the actual cube.
-DRAFT BREAKDOWN:
1010 card Cube shuffled into 20 card packs. Once all 50 packs are laid out face
down, players will take turns selecting packs starting with the person who was
born closest to the release date of MTG Alpha, Aug 5 1993.
-2-7 players: 7 packs each
-8 players: 6 packs each
-Passing direction will alternate between left to right with each new pack.
-Planeswalkers in the Cube can all be used as your commander.
-EDH FORMAT:
Decks must be a minimum of 100 total cards including general(s) and lands, but
there is no maximum. Basic lands are also rainbow sleeved in a separate box,
and can be added in any quantity to a players deck after the draft. Because all
cards are already rainbow sleeved including lands, no cards need to be removed
and re-sleeved during the draft whatsoever which saves at least 15 minutes
during a draft.
-POST DRAFT TRADING:
Each player may trade 1 card to each other player. That means you can trade a
total of 7 cards in an 8 player draft, and all trades can only be 1 for 1.
Alteration cards cannot be traded, and any cards you receive in trade MUST be
in your constructed deck.
Trading will commence immediately after the draft, and a 5 minute countdown
will be placed on the table. All trades must be completed before the time runs
out.
-FRIENDLY BEGINNINGS:
We all want to have a fun draft, and nobody wants to see someone mulligan
down to 4 or 5 cards for their opening hand. In this cube everyone will get to
keep drawing a full seven card opening hand from their constructed deck until
they have 3 lands, or two lands and a signet. It isn’t fun to miss land drops and
start top decking early because you had to mulligan down.
-ALTERATION CARDS:
Alteration cards have four sub-types; Security, Destiny, Enforcement, & Order. You may draft as many Alterations as you like, but you can only use a maximum of one of each type unless otherwise stated, and the rest must be discarded. There are 60 Alterations, 15 of each type, spread throughout the Cube. These are custom created cards which play with the basic mechanics of magic without altering any rules. They are kind of a mix of conspiracy cards and emblems, except they do not exist in the traditional sense, they simply happen without triggering any additional actions. If an alteration allows you to draw an extra card, it is not classified as card draw within the game, and as such does not trigger any abilities or enable anyone to respond to, or benefit from, the action in any way beyond the initial benefit provided by the card to the specified player(s).
SECURITY: These cards bolster your general’s abilities in some way, such as
enhancing their keyword abilities or changing their color combination. For
example, “You may choose a non-legendary creature you have drafted to be
your commander. It costs 2 extra to cast.”
DESTINY: These cards allow you two search the undrafted cube cards and
place a specified number of a specified type into your deck after the draft. For
example, “After the draft is complete, you may search the undrafted cube cards
for 2 artifact cards and put them into your constructed deck.”
ENFORCEMENT: These cards create blanket penalties for the game for certain
actions and/or mechanics. For example, “Any player who successfully casts a
creature with power or toughness greater than 10 must select and sacrifice
another permanent.”
ORDER: These are blanket mechanics which alter the game in some way for all
players. For example, “Whenever any player successfully kills another player,
they may choose target permanent that player controlled at time of their
death, and place a token of that permanent into play under their control.
That permanent gains Indestructible, and must be sacrificed when any other
player is killed.
-BROKEN ALTERATION RULE:
If a player uses an Alteration card(s) in a way which completely breaks the game
and creates a win condition, that player will sign and date the Alteration card,
and it will be removed permanently from the cube, taped to the box for display,
and replaced with another card.
-GENERAL DAMAGE RULE:
Due to the insane amount of broken generals in the Cube, the combat general
damage needed to kill a player is 41 unless otherwise stated on a players
selected Alteration card. Also, when a player gains life, they may instead choose
to reduce the amount of general damage equal to the life they would have
gained, divided among any number of sources. However, if you select a
Planeswalker as your general, the standard 21 general damage rule applies.
-THE EXTRA TURN RULE:
Every extra turn card in magic is in the Cube, and nobody wants to watch their
friends take ten minute turns, which brings us to “the extra turn penalty”.
Whenever a player takes an extra turn they must first get a round of drinks and
snacks for the table, and then an opponent selects a card at random from their
hand. That card is returned to the undrafted card pile. This does not count as a
discard. If any extra turn card successfully produces an extra turn, it is
immediately removed from the cube forever, the proxy is signed & dated by the
player who gained the extra turn, it is taped to the cube box for display, and
eventually replaced with another card.
-BROKEN CARD RULE:
If any player during the night plays a single card which completely breaks the
Cube, creates a win condition, and cannot be dealt with, that card will be signed
& dated on the proxy by the player who cast it and removed from the Cube
forever. The card will then be taped to the Cube box for display and replaced
with another card.
-INFINITE COMBO RULE:
There are A LOT of infinite combos in the Cube. We spend hours drafting and
constructing and sometimes an infinite combo ends the actual game far too
quickly. For that reason, this Cube has “the infinite combo clause”. Whenever an
infinite combo triggers and creates a win condition, the lesser card from that
infinite combo will be immediately signed & dated on the proxy by the player
who cast the combo, removed from the cube forever, taped to the Cube box for
display, and replaced by another card.
-THE PAY ATTENTION RULE:
If a player has an advantageous “you must” trigger that they miss in a full turn,
the first player to say “my trigger” during the untap step of the next turn gets to
use that triggered ability at that time as if it they controlled the card. For
example, if a card states a player must create a 1/1 token in their upkeep and
they fail to do so, the first person to say “my trigger” during the following untap
step has that 1/1 token come into play under their control.
-YIN-YANG INSERTS:
There are 120 Yin-Yang symbols in the cube. When you draft a card that has a
Yin-Yang symbol insert in the sleeve, you also automatically get a second card
which is stored separate from the Cube that is designed to make that particular
drafted card more effective. No infinite combos are provided this way, just two
cards which play well together. The Yin-Yang symbol will have the corresponding
card name below it, & the corresponding card in the sideboard will be in
alphabetical order.
-PERSONALIZED TOKENS:
Cards like Memnarch could make it difficult for people to know
which cards are from their constructed deck when they lose control of their
permanents, especially since this cube has everyone running the same rainbow
sleeves. As such I have printed tokens with the people's faces on them from our
playgroup. There are also a few generic tokens for random drafters. Specifically
because of Memnarch, and playing devil's advocate, I printed a dozen of each.
-ANGEL-WOLF INSERTS:
Because its nearly impossible to create a Cube with enough access to every
major creature type, its difficult to have tribal sync. Therefore, after you have
assembled your deck, you may choose and declare a creature type. If you have
drafted 10 or less creatures of the chosen type, you may then take up to 5
Angel-Wolf symbol inserts and place them inside the sleeves of 5 creatures in
your constructed deck. These creatures are the chosen type in addition to their
other types and will automatically enter the battlefield with a -1/-1 counter.
-BLIND GAMBLE CARDS:
Each player will start the game with 1 Blind Gamble card. Once per game,
each player will be allowed to forgo their draw step, and trade their Blind
Gamble card for 2 cards drawn at random from their choice of either the
undrafted or discarded pile. If a card drawn fits their decks color scheme, that
card is placed in their hand. If a card is not legal in their constructed deck based
on color scheme, the player returns it to it’s original pile and loses 1 life for each
card returned this way. This does not trigger any abilities.