Cube

Pauper Cube: Drafting Tips, Tricks, and Archetypes

Pauper? What does poverty have to do with Magic? If you’re new to Magic, you might not know what Pauper is. Those who know of Pauper are asking, “Why are you writing about Pauper? Isn’t that format dead?” Well, Wizards of the Coast (WOTC) no long supports MTGO Daily Events for Pauper (editor’s note: This…

Read More

Casually Infinite – Preserving Khans for Future Play

One thing I really like to do is draft good sets. While most cubes provide a unique experience in which you get to play with a wide variety of powerful cards from various sets, there is something about a well-designed and playtested Limited environment that far outshines the enjoyment of having to decide between [card]Jace,…

Read More

Burn-ninating Your Opponents in Cube

Welcome back, brewers. I know I write a lot of articles to make you a better Magic player. These articles are often focused on playing better, understanding your outs, and grinding out matches to understand what cards are important. I love to play this way. I love to learn and get better with a deck….

Read More

Privileged Perspective 2: A Fistful of Bullet Points

No time to chit-chat, we’ve got a lot to get to. What are you doing?! Go to the next paragraph, hurry! FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS I’ve lived through a lot of changes to Organized Play. I saw the fall of the Junior Super Series, the old States, Regionals, Player Rewards (I’ll mention these again later!), and…

Read More

Three Ways to Draft With Two People

Welcome back, brewers. Today we are going to take a step back from Constructed, at least until the new set comes out, and take a look at Limited. Playing Limited Magic is as fun as it is rewarding. Building your deck is very challenging and playing against a wide variety of different cards offers up…

Read More

Cube Drafting Storm — by Rowan Sheehan

Welcome to my Cube article! On a weekly basis, some people and I get together to shuffle up and play our paper version of the MTGO Holiday Cube, one of the most fun draft formats that there is. It follows normal draft style, but plays with high-powered cards, including [card]Black Lotus[/card]! There’s only about four…

Read More

Getting LUCKy: Mulligans

If I had to guess why most games are won and lost in Magic,  the first stop on the blame train would be mulligans. A good number of players have a hard time knowing what is keepable and what would be better as a random six.  An even larger number of players don’t know when…

Read More

Puzzle Box – Twos Four-Man Format, Red Section

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the Puzzle Box! This week we are going to be looking at the red section substitutions as we continue building our cube to optimize it for the four-man format called Twos. If you have been following along, there is a good chance that you will have a pretty good…

Read More

Forced Fruition Episode 12: Tribal Cube Angels

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videoseries?list=PLs4gxqbLAAD5bqyn6vroWK-yjZRSEO3J7&w=640&h=360] Divine Favor This week I’m pleased to welcome my good friend Jan (pronounced “Yawn,” he’s a dude) to the show to help take me through an MTGO Cube draft! As the title indicates, we wound up with most of the angel cards in the cube and played them to great success. This week…

Read More

Forced Fruition Episode 11: Stunted Jund

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videoseries?list=PLs4gxqbLAAD5XqEP7eLdk_UliPFAkct5e&w=640&h=360] Cube’s Back! Everyone’s favorite online format, the MTGO cube, is back online! Making a blanket statement like that might not be entirely accurate, but you cannot deny that the variety of games and decks generated by the cube is unparalleled in the MTGO universe. This time around, I drafted a Jund deck featuring…

Read More

Puzzle Box – Twos Four-Man Format, Black Section

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to The Puzzle Box! This week, we are going to be continuing our in-depth look at the Twos four-man format. We’ll be replacing some  of the black cards in the current Puzzle Box list with cards that are better suited to the aggressive nature of this variant. If you have never…

Read More

Forced Fruition Episode 8: Grixis Cube Adventure

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videoseries?list=PLs4gxqbLAAD4K0f7xZAy6wqfKdBxdhI_O&w=640&h=360] Magic is Difficult And I have a lot to learn. If you’ve been following the series, you’re aware of this fact. I won’t try to hide it—there it is, out in the open. My friend Cory is a much better Magic player than I, so I enlisted his help to run through another…

Read More

Forced Fruition Episode 7: Devotion to Cube

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videoseries?list=PLs4gxqbLAAD6dLhiofdGdf4zkIBkn0lQv&w=640&h=360] Intro Cube drafting as a format is wonderful because you get to make all kinds of crazy things happen. You get to play with powerful cards that span the entirety of Magic and use them to crush your opponents mercilessly. This week on Forced Fruition, join me as I power through an un-powered cube…

Read More

The Puzzle Box: Twos Four-Man Format, White Section

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the Puzzle Box! A couple of weeks ago, I introduced you to what is a staple format in my hometown of Winnipeg, called Twos. I also mentioned how card evaluation changes when you are considering this format. I linked to a really good list that has been built to…

Read More

C(ube) + C(ommander) Magic Factory – Journey into Cube

Now that the full spoiler for Journey into Nyx is out, it’s time to theory-craft what the impact on Cube will be.  I will be holding off on a full review like the ones I did for the Commander 2013 series until I have a chance to play with these cards and see how they…

Read More

The Puzzle Box: #Value Sealed, a Two-Person Cube Format

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the Puzzle Box! It’s the end of the month, and that means that we are going to review the Puzzle Box list and make sure it is within a couple dollars of our $200 mark. There are a few changes to be made but we’ll discuss those later. First,…

Read More

The Puzzle Box: Specializing the Archetypes – Artifacts

Welcome back to the Puzzle Box! This week, we’re starting into the next chapter of the life of this cube list. Archetype revisions are a really fun part of being a cube manager. Today I’ll be diving into the artifact archetype and swapping some cards to make it come alive. This deck can be a…

Read More

The Puzzle Box – Larger Inside than Out: Infinity Drafting

“Are you a restrictions-breeds-creativity kind of guy?” This is the question that our dear community manager, Jason Alt, asked me when I was wondering about what he wanted for the site. The answer was yes, but actually I had no idea how strongly that answer applies. I know that there are people who live outside…

Read More

The Puzzle Box: User’s Manual

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the Puzzle Box! I have been showered with compliments these last few weeks since my final reflections on our little project were published. Maybe showered is a bit strong of a word, but it is certainly how I feel. People have been asking about the process of building the…

Read More

C+C Magic Factory #3 – Eternal Bargain Review

For the third installment of C+C, we’ll be reviewing the Eternal Bargain preconstructed deck, looking at the impact of new cards and notable reprints for Cube and Commander.  The first two installments can be found here and here. Here’s a review of the grading system we’ll be using.  I’m switching it up to match the…

Read More

The Puzzle Box: Reflections and Updates

Hello, everyone! Welcome back to the Puzzle Box. Today, we’ll be reflecting on the past couple months. When this whole thing got started, I actually had no idea what I was doing and how good this cube would look  in the end. I was afraid that this thing could be a catastrophic failure and my writing…

Read More

C(ube) + C(ommander) Magic Factory #2 – Mind Seize Review

Welcome to the second installment of C+C Magic Factory, where we’ll be reviewing the Mind Seize Commander 2013 deck with regards to its impact on the Cube and Commander formats.  So let’s get to it! Here’s a review of the grading system we’ll be using.  The first grade for each card is a Commander grade,…

Read More

C(ube)+C(ommander) Magic Factory #1 – Power Hungry Review

Welcome to the first installment of C(ube)+C(ommander) Magic Factory, a series specific to these two popular casual formats.  The focus of C+C will be on card selection, strategy, and budgeting.  For the casual player, you will find lists, strategy, and a theme of optimizing on a budget.  For the non-casual player or financier, this series…

Read More

Andrew Colman – The Puzzle Box: Real Traditional Brown Section

Welcome to the Puzzle Box, everyone! It has been an awesome Christmas season! Lots of family and food and beer. I’m lucky that my brother was the one to introduce me to Magic. I bring my cube and  we always fire couple of quick drafts after everyone has tired of each other. There was lots…

Read More

Andrew Colman – The Puzzle Box: The Elegance of Gruul

Welcome back to The Puzzle Box! This week we’re going to be digging into the red and green sections of our cube. Referring to the Gruul clan as elegant is certainly counter-intuitive, if not counter-cultural. But when you break it apart into red and green, and then break those two colors down into what they…

Read More