Complexity in Cube Design

On this week’s episode, Andy and Anthony discuss the new, extensive description and draft guide Anthony wrote about his “Regular” Cube and then consider Mark Rosewater’s definitions for the three types of complexity in Magic and how they might be applied to cube design. They talk about what Cube designers might learn from constructed formats, Anthony’s goal of making his cube resemble retail limited, exactly how many copies of Seven Dwarves you can run in a deck, whether all retail limited is actually just flavors of midrange, all about combat tricks, ASFAN (Anthony’s favorite R&D lingo), the possibilities of complex seeding in packs drafted digitally, why Tic Tac Toe absolutely sucks ass, why Andy loves fetchlands, how sometimes it’s super fun to resolve a very complicated stack or board and how sometimes it’s super not fun, whether etb-tapped lands are cool or not, a gender-neutral term for “manlands”, a new hypothetical, NSFW secret lair that Andy and Anthony would totally buy, how each color identity would design a bar, and how to make people come back for more even when they lose badly while playing your cube.

The listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 is from Varylen’s unpowered Cube. Thanks, Varylen!

Discussed in this episode:

• The Grand Experiment

You can find the hosts’ primary Cubes on Cube Cobra:

• Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
• Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube on air send a link to your cube, your name, and pronouns to [email protected].

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.