Creating your first Magic: The Gathering (MTG) Cube can be a rewarding and enjoyable experience for both casual and competitive players. A Cube is a curated set of MTG cards designed for draft play, where players build their decks on the spot from the Cube’s card pool.

*header image by Natalie Weizenbaum from Mex3.medium.com website.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you create your first MTG Cube:

Step 1: Define Your Cube’s Parameters

Before you start selecting cards, decide on the following parameters for your Cube:

1. Cube Size: Determine how many cards your Cube will contain. A typical Cube contains 360 to 540 cards, with 360 being the minimum for an eight-player draft.
2. Power Level: Decide whether you want a high-powered, competitive Cube or a more casual, fun Cube. This will influence the card choices you make.
3. Archetypes: Think about the archetypes you want to support in your Cube. These are specific strategies or themes that players can build their decks around.
4. Set Inclusion: You can choose to include cards from any set or stick to specific sets, themes, or blocks.

Step 2: Gather Cards

Once you’ve defined your Cube’s parameters, start gathering the cards you’ll include. You can acquire cards from your collection, trade with friends, or purchase singles online. If you have budget constraints, consider using proxies (reprints of cards with your Cube’s name and card information) for expensive or hard-to-find cards.

Step 3: Card Selection

When selecting cards for your Cube, aim for diversity in terms of colors, card types, and power level. Here are some tips:

1. Balance: Ensure an even distribution of colors and card types (creatures, spells, artifacts, etc.) to promote diverse deck-building.
2. Power Level: Adjust the power level to match your desired Cube experience. Include powerful cards if you want a high-powered Cube, but be mindful not to make it too oppressive.
3. Archetypes: Include cards that support the archetypes you’ve defined. For example, if you have a “Goblins” archetype, include cards that interact with Goblins or create them.
4. Mana Curve: Include cards with various mana costs to support different strategies and ensure that players can build decks of different speeds.
5. Removal and Interaction: Make sure there’s an appropriate amount of removal, counterspells, and interaction to keep games engaging.

Step 4: Build and Test

With your card pool ready, build the Cube by creating packs with a specific number of cards (e.g., 15-card packs for an eight-player draft). Shuffle your Cube well to ensure randomness in the draft.

Test the Cube with friends or in solo drafts to ensure it’s balanced and fun to play. Make adjustments as needed, adding or removing cards to improve gameplay.

Step 5: Hosting Drafts

Now that your Cube is ready, invite friends over for Cube drafts. Here’s how to host one:

1. Draft Setup: Set up a drafting area with booster packs (cards from your Cube shuffled together) and basic lands for deck construction.
2. Drafting: Follow the standard draft format, such as a Winston Draft, a Cube draft format, or the more traditional Booster Draft.
3. Deck Construction: After drafting, players build decks from the cards they drafted, adding basic lands as needed.
4. Play: Enjoy your games! Cube drafts often lead to exciting, varied, and skill-intensive matches.

Step 6: Maintain and Update

As you play and gather feedback, you may find that certain cards are overpowered, underused, or problematic. Periodically update your Cube to address these issues and keep the experience fresh.

Creating your first MTG Cube is a creative and rewarding endeavor. It allows you to curate your own Magic experience and share it with friends. Don’t be afraid to iterate and refine your Cube over time to make it even more enjoyable for everyone involved.

In the Magic: the Gathering commander format, players build 100-card decks with every card (apart from basic lands) only appearing once. The format is primarily played with four players, each with their own deck.

In creating a Magic: the Gathering Commander deck, it needs great planning and thought in coming up with an efficient decklist and strategy. Here are some guidelines to keep in mind while building an effective Commander deck:

1. Choose a Commander: Select a Legendary creature as your Commander. This choice will dictate the colors and theme of your deck. Consider your preferred playstyle and the abilities of the Commander when making your selection.
2. Determine the Theme or Strategy: Decide on the theme or strategy you want your deck to revolve around. It could be tribal, control, aggro, combo, or any other concept that appeals to you. Having a clear focus will guide your card choices and deck construction.
3. Establish a Mana Base: Determine the appropriate number of lands and mana-fixing cards for your deck. A good starting point is around 36 to 40 lands, but adjust based on your mana curve and the mana requirements of your cards. Include mana rocks and other ramp cards to ensure consistent mana production.
4. Select Synergistic Cards: Choose cards that synergize with your chosen Commander and overall theme. Look for cards that support your strategy, provide card advantage, or disrupt opponents’ strategies. Consider including cards that interact with your Commander’s abilities or promote the overall game plan of your deck.
5. Manage Your Mana Curve: Aim for a balanced mana curve with a mix of low-cost, mid-range, and high-cost spells. Having a smooth curve ensures that you have playable cards at every stage of the game. Be mindful of having enough early-game interaction and sufficient late-game threats.
6. Include Removal and Interaction: Ensure your deck has a good amount of removal spells and interaction to deal with threats and disrupt opponents’ strategies. Include targeted removal, board wipes, counterspells, and other forms of interaction that suit your deck’s colors and theme.
7. Consider Card Draw and Card Advantage: Include cards that provide card draw and card advantage to maintain a steady flow of resources. Look for spells that allow you to draw additional cards, tutor for specific cards, or generate value over time.
8. Fine-tune and Test: Once you’ve assembled your deck, playtest it against different opponents and adjust as necessary. Pay attention to the performance of individual cards and the overall synergy and effectiveness of your deck. Make adjustments based on your playtesting experiences.

Remember that building a Commander deck is a creative process, and personal preferences play a significant role. Experimentation and adaptation are key as you refine your deck over time. Have fun exploring different strategies, discovering new synergies, and customizing your deck to suit your playstyle.

In building a Magic: the Gathering deck, I usually aim to use a core card or card components and build a strategy around it. The problem then goes with the card’s consistency and the synergy with the deck build.

For example, a control deck archetype uses card draws to resupply its hand of counterspells, mass removal, and planeswalker support. If you are only considering winning via a planeswalker ultimate ability, then you need to also check the instances when that win route is hard to achieve. In that way, you can have options like attacking to reduce life totals to zero as an alternate.

When determining the best cards to use in your Magic: the Gathering main deck, consider the following factors:

1. Synergy: Look for cards that work well together and complement each other. For example, cards that share a creature type, a color, or a theme can work well together and create a cohesive strategy.
2. Power level: Choose cards that are powerful and effective for their mana cost. Look for cards that can provide a strong advantage, such as creatures with high power and toughness, spells that can remove the opponent’s creatures or draw you cards, and so on.
3. Mana curve: Make sure you have a balanced mana curve, meaning that you have enough cards that can be played at each stage of the game. This will help ensure that you have something to play on each turn and are not stuck with a hand full of unplayable cards.
4. Meta considerations: Consider the current metagame and the decks you are likely to face. Choose cards that are effective against popular decks and strategies, and avoid cards that are weak against them.
5. Your play style: Choose cards that fit your play style and preferences. For example, if you prefer an aggressive play style, choose creatures with haste and low mana cost. If you prefer a more controlling style, choose cards that can remove or neutralize your opponent’s threats.
6. Testing: Playtest your deck to determine which cards are effective and which ones are not. Make changes to your deck as needed based on your playtesting results.

Overall, the best cards to use in your main deck are those that fit well together, are powerful and effective, have a balanced mana curve, are effective against the current metagame, and fit your play style and preferences.

I have recently found a subreddit page that tackles MtG budget deck archetypes for Standard and Modern, and even for the Commander format. I have recalled that I was publishing a budget segment for Standard, but had to discontinue those as the single-card prices continue to rise.

That said, this page will definitely be a big help to those who are new to the game and would want to build a deck that is within their ‘wallet capacity’.

As I know, MTG Goldfish has been the go-to website as they have a segment for the budget builds, including the individual card prices and versions of the builds. This subreddit page, though, can provide other websites for reference. Check out the video below of one example deck build.

Another budget deck suggestion can be found here on this thread. They suggest that Blue Red Prowess burn is the go-to build, and it has the potential, given that a similar deck archetype has made it to the top 8 of Pro Tour Kaladesh.

The complete thread, entitled Super_Budget_MTG can be found here. Just check each of the individual posts for the details and decklists provided by the users.