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What Is Wrong With the Magic Online Cube

Last semester, I took a class called Major Authors. This class, which essentially could be re-named to “Greek Literature”, is taught by an elderly gentleman who takes pleasure in discussing philosophy, the ways of the world, and generally making his students feel very uncomfortable. One class, we were discussing the concept of vengeance and drive (loosely interchanged with passages from The Odyssey), when this professor uttered a thought that immediately became part of my everyday existence, particularly when it relates to the game we all love.

“Winning isn’t everything. Understanding is better.”

Now, I’m not going to lie to you. I am a Spike. I love winning. After all, Magic is a competitive game. I had always thought that what I liked about Magic was winning. The achievement of 3-0ing a draft, or getting top 8 in some tournament or another. When I decided to become a judge, I realized that there was much more to the game than what I was taking from it. I was teaching people, and I was learning from my peers. I was having the time of my life. I understood what it meant to be a Magic player in a whole new way, without even playing the game at all! I had always thought that there was nothing that I enjoyed more than sitting down with a section of the cube or an EDH deck, looking at my notes, figuring out what works and what doesn’t work, and fixing whatever I don’t like so that I can soundly open a can of whoop-ass on my opponents the next game. Now, I realize why.

Understanding is better than winning. I got better by watching future pros like Jason Ford, watching what they did, having talks with them about decks, strategies, or just the game in general. To this day, these are the conversations I most enjoy. When I cube draft, the best part of the entire day isn’t locking down the board or swinging for lethal. It’s seeing how everyone built their decks, putting myself in their shoes and understanding their viewpoint when they look at any given card. It helps to learn what is working in the cube and what isn’t. It lets you know whether or not people are enjoying the experience or simply drafting all those red cards because they think it’s the best strategy.

Simply put, I believe that cube is the best format that Magic has to offer because it means something different to each person who puts together a list of sits down around the kitchen table to draft. Just about anything that you want to do can be done, and people, in my experience, have the most fun when they see their brainchild come to life. Cube is the only format that I have seen in which players are genuinely glad that they are losing, and for good reason.

What Is Wrong With the Magic Online Cube

When people draft my cube for the first time (or even for the hundredth), I ask them what they liked about the experience and what they didn’t. After all, cube is first and foremost a format where everyone should be having fun. Unless you’re in the Players Championship, nobody has ever expected tangible rewards for drafting a sick cube deck (and if you are in that event, what the hell are you taking my advice for?). This is ultimately the fundamental issue I have with the Magic Online Cube. It isn’t that I don’t like the idea of having an easily accessible cube, but, in general, the strategies and card inclusion are fixed in their nature. There was a string of twelve drafts in a row with that cube in which I drafted [card]Birthing Pod[/card] decks. In all of those drafts, there were none in which I did not make the finals. I identified the best deck for me and I ran with it. For a while, it was fun, but then it just got stagnant and boring (and [card]Birthing Pod[/card] is my absolute favorite card ever printed!). The Magic Online Cube is supposed to be a fun format for everyone. Well, do you have fun when your opponent casts [card]Channel[/card] on turn two and then has an Ulamog? I built that deck on multiple occasions and, although I was winning, there was nothing satisfying in it.

What has been heartening, over the course of the Magic Online Cube life, is that the team behind it has worked very hard to balance the environment. While they do add too many new cards with each update (bthey do have to sell the brand somehow), on the whole they have been good about realizing their mistakes, giving support to weaker strategies and ultimately working towards a competitive, balanced, fun environment. There is one card in the Cube that has persisted, however, that completely throws off that balance.

That card is [card]Channel[/card]. Simply put, Wizards has made it very clear that the non-“Holiday” version of the Cube should exist without power. This includes, but is not limited to, the five original Moxen, [card]Black Lotus[/card], [card]Ancestral Recall[/card], [card]Time Walk[/card], and [card]Mind Twist[/card]. In other words, Wizards realizes that fast mana in an environment that is not equipped to deal with it leads to an experience that is not fun for anyone. So why on earth has [card]Channel[/card] been allowed to run unchecked for this long? By having a non-symmetrical spell available that can run out cards like the Eldrazi as early as turn two, Wizards is fundamentally breaking their own rules for what they want this cube to be able to do. There is literally no card short of [card]Diabolic Edict[/card] that can deal with the likes of an Emrakul and… wait, what’s that? [card]Diabolic Edict[/card] isn’t in the Magic Online Cube?

ERaff

Seriously, Wizards, from the first time I saw the Magic Online list to the present, you have made tremendous leaps and bounds forward to balance your Cube list and make the best format that Magic has to offer available for everyone. There is literally one card that tips that balance. Remove it. Please. If you think that [card]Mind Twist[/card] or [card]Diabolic Edict[/card] are more egregious cards than [card]Channel[/card], the fun police would like a word with you.

The other major problem that I have with the MODO Cube is that, simply put, there is incentive for conforming to known strategies because winning is the primary objective. While everyone loves to win, I am of the firm belief that cubing is the most fun when people feel free to experiment. With the Magic Online Cube, I never feel as if my options are truly open. I can draft Red Deck Wins, Pod, Rock, Ramp, Control or Tempo. There are certain cards that fall into those categories with exceptionally few crossover cards. Do you think anyone but that dedicated Storm player is going to take Tendrils of Agony? I’m not saying that nobody should ever support Storm, but the fun of Cube is finding non-linear interactions between cards. Recently, with my cube, I drafted an absolutely insane off-the-wall GWu deck that utilized a heavy artifact subtheme to power out [card]Entreat the Angels[/card], [card]Decree of Justice[/card] and even combo off with [card]Staff of Domination[/card]. Early on in the draft, I realized that I hadn’t tried anything remotely like it before, decided to go all-in, and was promptly rewarded with one of the most fun nights of my life, and a perfect record to boot! With a cube that has been tested not only for power but also for fun, these kinds of decks are possible. The Magic Online Cube fails to flex the deckbuilding muscles of those of us who love experimentation, and that is its worst flaw.

I realize that Magic Online is, at its core, a business, and while the Cube is a great idea on MODO for many reasons, ultimately, it promotes winning far too much for my taste. Players aren’t encouraged to take their favorite card in any given pack when they have sunk a few dollars to have the right to play. No, what the idea of pay-to-play says is that if you pass that [card]Sulfuric Vortex[/card] or [card]Upheaval[/card], you’re going to lose and have to pay more money. Cubing, of course, is never going to be completely free to play on Magic Online, but what I would love to see is one or two weekends every few months that offer free Cube drafts. In return for this, players submit feedback, telling the Cube team exactly what they liked and what they didn’t after each draft. It provides room to experiment without fear of failure, and, more importantly, it could lead to valuable feedback to “fix” what I believe to be a sub-par cubing experience.

What you can take away from the Magic Online Cube is this. With a preset number of cards, it is easy to stagnate and to think everyone is having a good time drafting the same old strategies. Avoid this trap. You will never know what is wrong with your cube if you don’t ask. Maybe Reanimator isn’t as well supported as you would like it to be. Is your playgroup really satisfied with power being an integral part of the play experience? The players who love cubing don’t really do it to hammer-throw a [card]Blightsteel Colossus[/card] at players every game. Cubers know that finding the little interactions make all the difference between a winning deck and a losing one, and they are willing to take the risk to find out. Understanding what is cool and fun about your particular stack is fine and good, but (channel inner Heath Ledger) what if you upset the established order? Introduce a little anarchy? On the suggestion of my playgroup, I removed the power from my cube last week as a trial run, and we had a fantastic time! Now, I give the group that option before every draft.

Understanding why someone is having fun is far more important than casting a lethal [card]Fireblast[/card] on turn four. Casting an Eldrazi on turn two isn’t my idea of what cube is. Cubing appeals to every psychographic in the Magic community. Love to deckbuild? Do it on the fly! Want to draft your favorite archetype? Go right ahead. Fun, interactive games? We’ve got that, too. It is easy to jam the best cards in Magic into a collection, but why are they the best cards? Are they inherently powerful, or do they operate best when you can bring out their maximum potential through synergies you had never thought about until the card is calling out to you from a pack?

Deviate from the norm. Experiment freely. You will be amazed with what you can accomplish.

Have fun and don’t cast [card]Channel[/card],
Elliot Raff
@egooglegon on Twitter

I’ll be present in the near future at the StarCityGames Open Weekend in Richmond, VA, Connecticon, Gen Con and Grand Prix Oakland! Come find me and say hi!

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