What is a cube?

A cube is a collection of Magic cards, usually between 360 and 540, hand-picked one by one to play drafts with friends, without buying boosters. Every cube has its own personality: some have the most powerful cards ever printed, others only commons, others are themed (dragons, The Lord of the Rings, a specific set…).

It's like having your own endless "Magic booster", designed exactly the way you like it.

How a cube draft works

1. Make the packs. The cube's cards are shuffled and split into packs, usually of 15 cards. Each player gets 3 packs.
2. Pick a card and pass. Each player opens their first pack, keeps one card and passes the rest to the player next to them. This goes on until the pack is empty. Then the second pack is opened (passed the other way), and after that the third.
3. Build a 40-card deck. With the cards you picked, you build a deck of about 23 cards + 17 basic lands. You don't need to draft basic lands: they're free.
4. Play. Usually in 1 vs 1 rounds, to see who built the best deck.

Why do people love it?

• Every game is different: you never get the same cards twice.
• Everyone starts equal: nobody wins because they have more expensive cards at home.
• You learn a ton: you pick cards, build decks and play, all in one afternoon.
• It's cheap: you build the cube once and play it forever.

Tips for your first draft

• Pick 2 colors and start focusing on them during the first pack.
• Watch what gets passed to you: if good red cards keep coming, the players next to you probably aren't taking red.
• Don't forget cheap creatures and ways to remove your opponent's creatures: they win more games than flashy, expensive cards.
• Check your mana curve: make sure you have plays for turns 2, 3 and 4, not just 6-drops.

Cube on SpellTavern

• My cubes: build your cube from scratch or import it from CubeCobra with its link. You'll see stats by color and warnings if it's unbalanced.
• Sample pack: in your cube, open example 15-card packs to see how they come out.
• Online draft: in Play → Cube draft you draft your cube with friends or with bots, up to 8 players, build your deck and play the rounds. You need an account to draft (it's free).
• Share: send your cube's link to anyone you like.

Frequently asked questions

How many cards does a cube need?

For 8 players with 3 packs of 15 cards, you need 360 cards. Many cubes have 450 or 540 so every draft is different.

Can a cube have duplicate cards?

Usually not: each card appears once. That's part of the fun.

Do I need the physical cards?

Not on SpellTavern: the cube and the draft are online. If you want to play it at home, you'll need the cards (or proxies to play among friends).