Cubing Around with Flesh and Blood
Because I’m a man of my word, we’re going to spend this week talking about cube in Flesh and Blood. Last week, I gave a horrific explanation of what a cube is. I want to rectify that tragedy because cube is truly a favorite pasttime of mine, and I want to spread the gospel.
So let’s start with the basics.
What is a cube?
At its core, a cube is a repeatable draft experience that you get to build. Just like James White built Welcome to Rathe’s draft format, you can build your own cube’s draft format. If you do it right, your cube could be a better format than Welcome to Rathe!
Just to further clarify: you’re basically choosing/creating every card that goes in the set and will be drafted. You’ll then make three 15 card “booster packs” for each player, draft like you normally would, play your games, and then put the cube cards back in the box to be used another day!
Designing your own cube can sound a bit overwhelming. After all, you or I likely aren’t going to create an experience as amazing as Welcome to Rathe, so why bother? Even though you’re (probably) not an accomplished game designer and (likely) not going to go on to create an international sensation, you can still create a draft format that you and your friends will find fun. Your cube will get to support whatever game play you want to incentivize, with whatever heroes/cards you want to be playing with.
Types of cubes
Because you get to build your cube however you want, there are no “rules” with respect to how to go about it. At a bare minimum, you need to make sure that everyone has access to enough cards to create a 30-card limited deck.
From there, everything else is just gravy. Just know that if there’s a draft format you want to create, you can do it. Want to create a wacky format where there are no class restrictions? Great! Want to make it so that every class has to use Talishar, The Lost Prince as a weapon? Sounds strange, but I’m not your dad. Want to use every third card, based on collector number, from each set? I don’t know why, but I’ll try it.
First, I’ll lay out a couple of common cube types below to help get you started. Literally just starting is the hardest part. From there, you’ll see the juice.
One quick “word to the wise”: don’t get discouraged from building these cubes if you don’t own all the cards. You can either proxy them (remember: your cube, your rules) or you can simply upgrade your cube as you upgrade your collection. I’ve said this a lot, but I’ll keep saying it: don’t get bogged down in what you can’t do.
Powered Cubes, AKA “Good Stuff”
The first type of cube that comes to mind are Powered Cubes. These cards feature the most powerful cards in the game and focus on creating the strongest decks possible. You’ll jam cards like Eye of Ophidia, Fyendal Spring Tunic, and Crown of Seeds into your cube.
Decks can tend to lean less towards synergy and more towards just collections of good cards. For what it’s worth, this is what my cube is. I’m not much of a synergy guy myself and just want to play with the coolest cards there are.
Theme Cubes, AKA “Pick a Lane”
Theme cubes are great for when you want to build around a core idea or really push players to focus on a particular aspect of the game. For example, maybe you really like the ying/yang of the way lightning cards interact with ice cards. You can build an elemental cube that supports the elemental heroes, has elemental cards, and really leans on those mechanics.
Perhaps you really like the warrior class. You could build a warrior cube where you can play as any of the five warrior heroes. Your cube would be chock full of warrior cards, different weapons, and ways to build or bust each warrior.
These are just two ideas that came off the top of my head while I was outlining this post. Any other theme you want to build on is fair game, so long as there’s enough cards to support it. Though, even if there aren’t enough cards to support it, you could always increase the amount of copies that you have available to draft!
Set Cubes, AKA “I Really Liked WTR”
Set cubes, like their name implies, are time-capsules of a real Flesh and Blood set. My favorite draft format of all time, for example, is Welcome to Rathe. I could design a cube with only Welcome to Rathe heroes and cards, attempting to create a “draft format in a can.” This way, when I want to draft Welcome to Rathe, I can dust off my cube and not have to worry about buying a box.
The benefit of a set cube is that, in addition to preserving a format you enjoyed, they’re relatively inexpensive to make. Most commons and rares in Flesh and Blood are pennies/dollars, so you’ll only need a few of the bigger pieces to round out a replication of your favorite draft format. How many Sink Below are optimal in an 8-person Welcome to Rathe draft? I’m not sure, but if you build this set cube, you get to decide! Is it fun to give a player access to busted Majestics like Enlightened Strike? Maybe! It may be better to have less bombs in a set cube, or it could be more fun to have enough in there that everyone gets a crack at “the juice”.
Twobert, AKA “The You’ve Got a Friend in Me”
Twobert is a two-person cube experience. It’s designed for you and a buddy to be able to quickly build decks and battle it out. I truthfully don’t have a lot of experience with twoberts in Flesh and Blood, but you could two person draft your twobert and be off to the races.
You could make a twobert along with any cube theme we’ve discussed so far. The primary reason behind a twobert is just to make an environment where you don’t need six to eight people to play, you just need a friend.
Building your first cube
Okay, so we’ve talked about what a cube is and we’ve talked about what types of cubes there are, but how do you actually build one? Like, what are some action steps a person can take to go from not owning a cube to owning one? Here’s some steps to get you started:
Decide how big the cube will be
8 players drafting 3, 15 card packs equals 360 cards. This is the number I recommend to begin with. With 360 cards, you’ll guarantee that every card will be seen and drafted each time. This enables you to allow for combos and people planning their draft.
For example, let’s imagine your cube supports Dorinthea and everyone that plays Dorinthea has access to Dawnblade as a token. To spice it up, you include Merciless Battleaxe or Hatchet of Body/Mind to be drafted. You can then add cards like Cleave, Felling Swing, or Spill Blood to really enhance a Dorinthea axe build.
With a bigger cube, not every card will be in each draft. So that could mean someone could draft Spill Blood and doesn’t ever see an axe to draft. Now this is okay if you want it to be, but I’m pointing it out as something to keep in mind. It’s much harder to synergize with a bigger card pool.
Decide what theme you want to build around
After we’ve decided how many cards we need, we can decide what cards to use. My cube is below if you’re looking for a starter. It has been tested pretty thoroughly and is in a good place by my friends’ accounts.
This part is probably the most overwhelming, but just get started. Open a spreadsheet, open Fabrary, and just start making a charter of the cards you want in your cube. If you’re making the warrior cube, for example, list every warrior card, their equipment, and generics that generally show up in warrior decks. That’ll get you most of the way there, and then you can cut and add as you see fit.
If you want a spreadsheet template, see my cube link below. I stole this format from Tommy at Fresh and Buds.
Get the supplies
This part is the biggest hassle out of everything, in my opinion. You’ve got to get your whole cube list together, in one spot, and in a way that people can draft it. Your cube is likely to be a long-term thing, so put all the cards in the same sleeves to make redraftability easier and to decrease card damage. It will help with shuffling your cube, making packs, and decreasing the time between drafting and actually playing. I use these.
You also need to get the tokens together. My cube, for example, supports three heroes. I need at least enough copies of each hero for people to play with, copies of each token my cube generates, and whatever other weapons or items I’m providing as a token rarity. Remember: a cube is a self contained draft environment. Everything you need to draft the cube should be all in one place.
Finally, proxy whatever cards you’re missing, and figure out how you’re going to store everything. I use a fancy box with magnets that help it stay shut, but a generic cardboard box will work just fine. You’ll probably also want to grab a handful of Cracked Baubles in case drafts go off the rails.
Test your cube!
Now that you’ve got this thing on paper, it’s time to take it for a spin. Your first draft may be rough. Mine was. I included specializations of heroes that the cube didn’t support, and I didn’t intend to be breaking the rules in that way!
Ask your players what cards worked well, what felt underwhelming, and what ideas they have. This process should be fun, a little aggravating, and very rewarding. Shaping my cube was a blast, and after the initial kinks, it’s an experience I’m proud of that my friends continually ask about.
My cube
Here’s a link to my cube. My cube is “powered” and supports Dorinthea, Bravo, and Viserai. You get your hero and their signature weapon at token rarity.
You’ll notice that, in addition to a list of what cards are included, I also included some of the special rules associated with my cube:
Every player has access to Helio’s Mitre at token rarity (they get the head equipment for free if they want to use it).
After each pack, a face-up draft of the equipment takes place (non-weapon equipment isn’t in the traditional draft). All the equipment is laid out on the table in front of everyone. In a randomly determined order, players take turns selecting equipment. Players select two pieces of equipment after each pack, for a total of 6 equipment per player.
The draft pool contains a Cintari Saber and a Hatchet of Body. If you draft one, you get the other for free as a token.
My cube also has one card of each color strip, when available. I’m constantly adding and removing different cards from the various classes. For now, I’ve stuck with the theory that if a card has access to a rainbow, I want to include the rainbow.
Conclusion
Build a cube. Or at least get a couple of friends together and talk about what type of cube you would all like to draft. It’s worth your time, and in my opinion, the pinnacle of Flesh and Blood limited.
If you’ve read this far, I’d greatly appreciate it if you’d consider subscribing, for free, to this newsletter. The weekly newsletter will hopefully grow as I get feedback and experience, and I truly look forward to sharing it with everyone.
Next week: probably pickles.