We played cube for the first time last Friday, and it was alot of fun. I was asked over the weekend, “what’s the point of playing a jank cube?” so I thought I’d answer that question with our first experience behind us.
When I first started playing magic I remember a friend who plays bridge saying to me “so you can buy all the aces?”, and in a way I suppose you can. Obviously, we who play magic know it’s not quite that simple, and some of the “aces” in magic are immensely powerful and fun cards to play.
On top of that, If everyone has bought the cards to build a great deck it comes down to skill in piloting that deck, with a bit of luck thrown in too of course.
So, why, with all these AMAZING cards in MTG, Would we build and play with random commons and uncommons?
1) We love the game! Remember when you first started playing magic and you saw potential in every card? I do! We were given a carrier bag of commons and uncommons from a magic group in Brighton at one of Daydream Nation’s epic prereleases. We were ecstatic! We rummaged through, building decks we were so excited about. My Thatcher’s Revolt deck from that time is still one of my favourite decks ever. Commons and uncommons are interesting, fun, overlooked cards. The gameplay is every bit as fun though!
2) The skill level in drafting a jank cube is arguably very high. It was much more skill intensive than I expected it to be. I had no idea how much my picks, and hence my decks are influenced by the rares or mythics. There is no ‘Limited Resources’ episode to tell us what to pick. I expect our drafting skill levels to dramatically improve from this experience. Watch out for our daily ‘what’s the pick?’ coming soon.
3) New and casual players can join in the fun and access the game we all know and love. The enthusiasm and excitement of newer players is infectious and we’re missing out if we only play “exclusive” formats, and magic is missing out on the new lifeblood that keeps the game alive if these players are left behind.
4) So, come along and give it a try!
