Some of you are going to FLIP OUT when you see my first pick in the cube draft video below.
Seriously.
I am anticipating: “I saw pack 1, pick 1, turned the video off, threw my PC out of the window, and burned down my apartment complex,” level of reactions.
But when it comes to my cube drafting strategy, I regret nothing!
Before we get to that, though, let me tell you about something that happened recently I do regret.
A Tale Of Magic Theft
The scene was Grand Prix Manchester.
Yet again I didn’t make it past the fifth round of Day 1 (my GP record is appalling; to be fair this particular sealed pool was super average), but I had a great time with all my friends, yadda, yadda.
Several people asked me, “Are you going to write a tournament report of this weekend then?” at the time, but I’m not one to force 2500 odd words when there’s no real story to tell. I had a great time, but nothing mind-blowingly amazing or unusual happened. That’s it. (Quick shout out to all the great GoodGamery guys I got to hang out with though, :pmoshred: !)
However, one thing is worth telling you about:
Sunday I had the “didn’t do good yesterday and have to go home this afternoon” blues, and I decided to enter a side event draft to try and raise my spirits.
I drafted a very mediocre G/W deck featuring zero Travel Preparations after I pack one pick oned Loyal Cathar, hoping it would be seen as a signal by the rest of the table.
(Should’ve taken the £1 rare instead.)
I was shuffling up for my first round when my opponent, Sam Parker, asked me: “Do you know whose binder that is?”
I looked to my left, and a few feet away at an otherwise deserted table two mainland European players were standing up, thumbing through a stacked trade binder and muttering quietly to each other in not-English.
“No, do you?”
“No… Hey guys, is that one of yours? Do you know whose it is?”
“Uhh…no, I dunno whose binder it is… but we’re just looking through it in case he comes back and want to trade,” the nearest one of the pair snapped back at Sam.
“Well, if it’s not yours, you should probably give it to a judge.”
Tension rose.
“We’ll just look at it til he comes back; it’s fine.” He waved a hand at us as if to say, “Stop interfering.”
I looked at Sam. It was clear to both of us what was going on.
They were going to take the binder.
We had to do something that felt awkward, the harder option: speak up.
“Listen guys. If that’s not yours and you don’t know whose it is, you need to hand it in to a judge right now,” I told them.
“We’re just looking for a minute. He’ll come back; it’s fine!”
“There’s no need for you to look at that binder if you don’t know who it belongs to.”
“It’s fine, play your game.”
Sam and I continued to tell them to hand it in to their protestations, and next to us Audrey and David stopped their game and offered stern looks and agreement.
After a full minute of this to and fro, they both exhaled with great labor and trudged over to the nearby judge station; the four of us were still seated, not daring to take our eyes off of them until they handed in the binder.
The closer of the pair then looked back at me.
His face was that of utter and absolute disgust.
That’s right.
He was disgusted.
At me.
For stopping him from stealing someone else’s Magic cards.
Herein lies my regret—I shook my head, looked down at the table, and started shuffling up.
I shouldn’t have done that.
I should have packed up my things when that conversation with them started and gone over with them to the judge station.
Called over the TO for a quiet word while the judge kept them occupied.
Explained the situation.
Got him to get their DCI numbers and report the incident officially.
Watch him throw them out of the venue, if that’s what he deemed appropriate.
See their names on the DCI banned list.
Their intentions were crystal clear from the way they spoke and looked at me after we forced them to hand that binder in.
But I could have done more to help stop them from doing this again.
I regret not doing more.
Cube Draft #1
Everyone loves the Magic Online Cube.
Everyone will tell you something different about how to draft it if you want to win:
“Green based ramp.”
“Blue and black or white control.”
“Bant midrange with some counterspells.”
“You’re not drafting lands highly enough.”
Me?
I like forcing aggressive, mono-colored decks from the very first pick.
I prioritize drafting one- and two-drops and ways to get them through opposing blockers in decks with a great curve and under seventeen lands.
I use the last third of each pack to pick up excellent sideboard cards for myself and stop others from having them against me or late picks for their own strategies.
I capitalize on the slower draws of my opponents and make the best use of winning the die roll.
Sometimes I even win by doing this*!
(*Over the last cube weekend, I went something like 16-7 in matches, mainly 4-3-2-2 queues.)
The reality is, though, you can make almost anything work in Magic Online Cube (except storm), so you should draft based on your own preferences.
Mono-Red and Mono-White are mine. In a pack containing just a single playable W or R card, I’ll cut the color hard from the get go. There’s very little I’ll take over a Figure of Destiny, Goblin Guide, or Mother of Runes.
For example:
Here, a weakish pack with a single, half-decent red card sends me straight into cutting the color completely, rewarding me with an extremely strong set of pack 2 picks. This ends in a 3-0 deck with five one-drop creatures and four two-drop burn spells to push them through.
Now how about a video of such a draft?
Here’s that controversial first pick I mentioned earlier.
Forgive me Island-slingers the world over…
Draft
Round 1, Game 1
Round 1, Game 2
Round 1, Game 3
Round 2, Game 1
Round 2, Game 2
Round 2, Game 3
Round 3, Game 1
Round 3, Game 2
Until next time, draft the deck you’ll enjoy playing—and if you see someone up to no good at a Magic tournament, make sure you’ve done enough to prevent them from doing so again in future.
You’ll regret both of these things if you don’t.
danskate [AT] gmail