Chateau Cube

Drew Pierce, a.k.a. Beyond the Machina, is an awesome artist and graphic designer who produces Magic-related work. He is also a cube aficionado and designer of a budget-friendly pauper cube. We discuss Drew’s affection for the madness mechanic and how he sculpts an environment around it, cycles and the New Phyrexian shrines, pack one pick one, different ways with heroic, how to value gold cards in draft, uses of auras, the origins of sagas and designing one’s own, pauper bombs, breaking board stalls, Drew’s art aesthetic, his design wit, logo design, benefits of various media, embracing error, politics in mtg art, music and film as inspiration.

Much, much love to lovis, who handled video post-production for the YouTube version of the podcast on Cultic Cube. I highly recommend watching this time, as lovis includes not only Magic cards but also loads of Drew’s artwork. Special thanks to super patrons Dylan Quern and Andrew Quist for their support!

►Contest Entry: twitter.com/CulticCube/status/1289204735262613504

Guest Resources:

Inked: bit.ly/3148His

Alter Sleeves: altersleeves.com/alterist/beyond-the-machina

Patreon: patreon.com/beyondthemachina

Twitter: twitter.com/BeyondThMachina

Instagram: instagram.com/beyondthemachina

$60 Cube: cubecobra.com/cube/list/5e653a031a6de50753890558

Trans Rights Organizations Featured:

The Trevor Project: thetrevorproject.org

National Center of Transgender Equality: transequality.org

Support the Show:

►Patreon: patreon.com/culticcube

►TCG Affiliate: bit.ly/2QdJxdg

►Inked Gaming Affiliate: bit.ly/3iTRwby

►Amazon Affiliate: amzn.to/31igBF9

I have partnered with a few online retailers. If you make a purchase via any of the affiliate links above, I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to yourself. I appreciate your support!

Show Contact:

YouTube: youtube.com/culticcube

Twitter: @CulticCube

Email: [email protected]

Eleusis Cube: cubecobra.com/cube/list/culticcube

The Cultic Cube: cubecobra.com/cube/list/cultic

Disclaimer: Cultic Cube is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.

Thomas Krone has what is, to my knowledge, the longest-running competitive cube event in history: Cubevitational, founded in the Netherlands in 2010. He and I sit down to explore a host of issues: Testing cards, vagaries of pronouncing Garruk, D6 game (Gruul!), Spell punishing mechanics, Green sections, why Thomas began cubing, benefits of different cube sizes, desirability of redundancy for archetype components, differences between designing for competitive and casual cube environments, history of Cubevitational, tips for tournament organization, keeping one’s goals in mind when looking for cube additions, cool new cards, ruminations on modern MTG design, zombie vs. humans cube, uneven sections sizes, tips for aspiring cube designers, effect of MTG Arena for cube, cubing Conspiracies, Magic friendships, breaking cycles of dual lands, cube stories.

Special thanks to super patrons Dylan Quern and Andrew Quist!

Guest Resources:

Thomas’s Twitter: twitter.com/CubeVitational

Cubevitational List: cubecobra.com/cube/list/cubevitational

Black Lives Matter:

Resources and Support: blacklivesmatters.carrd.co

Support the Show:

►Patreon: patreon.com/culticcube

►TCG Affiliate Link: bit.ly/2QdJxdg

I have partnered with TCGPlayer, so if you purchase any cards via the link above, I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to yourself. I appreciate your support!

Show Contact:

YouTube: youtube.com/culticcube

Twitter: @CulticCube

Email: [email protected]

Eleusis Cube: cubecobra.com/cube/list/culticcube

The Cultic Cube: cubecobra.com/cube/list/cultic

Disclaimer: Cultic Cube is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.

Gwen Dekker teaches us all about advanced features of Cube Cobra and the behind-the-scenes effort that makes the cube management platform tick. We share stories about the sometimes surprising uses that we have found for Cobra tools. Here we do a p1p1 of the Dekkaru cube, talk about how the two of us met, discuss the ELO system of card ranking for draft AI, Ryan Saxe’s recommender model, hypergeometric analysis, multiplayer drafting (in the future!), Zach Halpern’s dr4ft.info, and as-fan analysis. I give a shout-out to content creators who deserve to be heard and to be better represented in our community. Please find links to them below -- go give them some love!

Special thanks to super patrons Dylan Quern and Andrew Quist!

Guest Resources:

Gwen’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/GwenDekker

Cube Cobra Website: https://cubecobra.com/

Cube Cobra Twitter: https://twitter.com/CubeCobra1

Cube Cobra Discord: https://discord.gg/Hn39bCU

Cube Cobra Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cubecobra

Content Creators Mentioned:

Color of Magic Podcast, ep. 35: https://www.colorofmtg.com/podcast-1/episode/4f7f9838/episode-35-shut-up-and-shuffle

Spike Feeder Podcast: https://soundcloud.com/sfpmtg

Usman Jamil articles: coolstuffinc.com/a/?tagged[]=usman%20jamil

Resources Cited:

Ryan Saxe: https://twitter.com/rcsaxe

Zach Halpern’s Dr4ft: https://dr4ft.info/

Mark Rosewater defines “as-fan”: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/few-more-words-rd-2016-11-07

Support the Show:

►Patreon: patreon.com/culticcube

►TCG Affiliate Link: bit.ly/2QdJxdg

I have partnered with TCGPlayer, so if you purchase any cards via the link above, I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to yourself. I appreciate your support!

Show Contact:

YouTube: youtube.com/culticcube

Twitter: @CulticCube

Email: [email protected]

Eleusis Cube: cubecobra.com/cube/list/culticcube

The Cultic Cube: cubecobra.com/cube/list/cultic

Disclaimer: Cultic Cube is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.

Stephen Konefal has designed many cube environments with the overarching goals of creating aesthetically unified spaces, whether by crafting environments based on place in the multiverse, moment in Magic history, or artistic impulse and style. We discuss lessons that Core Sets teach cube designers, ways of limiting new product overload, knitting together environments mechanically, the artwork of Magic that moves us, the value of cycling, starting one’s first cube, cube’s place between limited and constructed, and Steve’s impressions of Magic personalities.

Much love to super patrons Dylan Quern and Andrew Quist!

Guest Resources:

Steve’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/cubedraft

Steve’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cubedraft/

Steve’s Cubes: https://cubecobra.com/user/view/5dad1eb47f812d0fc88d3b4b

Support the Show:

►Patreon: patreon.com/culticcube

►TCG Affiliate Link: bit.ly/2QdJxdg

I have partnered with TCGPlayer, so if you purchase any cards via the link above, I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to yourself. I appreciate your support!

Show Contact:

YouTube: youtube.com/culticcube

Twitter: @CulticCube

Email: [email protected]

Eleusis Cube: cubecobra.com/cube/list/culticcube

The Cultic Cube: cubecobra.com/cube/list/cultic

Disclaimer: Cultic Cube is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.

Ben Fleisher, alias fleish_dawg, is brimming with ideas about how to modify existing Magic cards in order to better fit his design vision. You may have heard me mention Ben’s innovations in Cultic Cube videos. Ben and I discuss errataing cards, the value of diverse cube fora, the importance of empathy in design conversation, Ben's boardgame theory of cube, the best Star Trek series, advice for new designers, and our favorite Magic memory.

Much love to super patrons Dylan Quern and Andrew Quist. 

Guest Resources:

Ben’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/fleish_dawg

Ben’s Discord: fleish dawg#0329

Ben’s Cube: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/fleish_dawg

MTG Cube Brainstorming Discord: https://www.reddit.com/r/mtgcube/

MTG Cube Subreddit: https://discord.gg/5dMeBQx

Support the Show:

►Patreon: patreon.com/culticcube

►TCG Affiliate Link: bit.ly/2QdJxdg

I have partnered with TCGPlayer, so if you purchase any cards via the link above, I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to yourself. I appreciate your support!

Show Contact:

YouTube: youtube.com/culticcube

Twitter: @CulticCube

Email: [email protected]

Eleusis Cube: cubecobra.com/cube/list/culticcube

The Cultic Cube: cubecobra.com/cube/list/cultic

Disclaimer: Cultic Cube is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC. 

Here’s a bonus episode that brings exciting news! WOTC is featuring one of my cubes and my guest’s cube on MTGO from May 13-27, 2020! Wizards is using two of the ten cubes that will be played in the main events at CubeCon, an event for which I am an organizer. The spotlighted cubes are legacy environments by me and by our guest, Gwen Dekker. Gwen is the creator and lead developer of Cube Cobra, which is an awesome cube management web platform. Gwen and I sit down together to talk about our differing design visions and we have sculpted cubes that provide totally different play experiences within the same general power band. Come join us for convivial and high-level MTG Cube talk!

MTGO Cubes:

The Dekkaru Cube (May 13-20, 2020): cubecobra.com/cube/list/dekkaru

The Cultic Cube (May 20-27, 2020): cubecobra.com/cube/list/cultic

Guest Resources:

Gwen’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/GwenDekker

Cube Cobra Website: https://cubecobra.com/

Cube Cobra Twitter: https://twitter.com/CubeCobra1

Cube Cobra Discord: https://discord.gg/Hn39bCU

Cube Cobra Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cubecobra

Support the Show:

►Patreon: patreon.com/culticcube

►TCG Affiliate Link: bit.ly/2QdJxdg

I have partnered with TCGPlayer, so if you purchase any cards via the link above, I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to yourself. I appreciate your support!

Show Contact:

YouTube: youtube.com/culticcube

Twitter: @CulticCube

Email: [email protected]

Eleusis Cube: cubecobra.com/cube/list/culticcube

The Cultic Cube: cubecobra.com/cube/list/cultic

We welcome SirFunchalot, co-host of the MTG CubeCats podcast, to Château Cube. Dan and John talk about how Magic compares to other TCGs, the place of game theory in Magic, data collection in cube draft, the role of sideboard cards in cube design, Dan's radically different approaches to designing vintage and legacy environments, and a novel approach to supporting midrange. Come join us for convivial and high-level MTG Cube talk!

Guest Resources:

MTG CubeCats podcast: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCeivdSTVBVgn0JyvbRbQOVQ

MTG Cube Brainstorming Discord: discord.gg/qSNeYpC

Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/MTGCubeCats

Support the Show:

►Patreon: patreon.com/culticcube

►TCG Affiliate Link: bit.ly/2QdJxdg

I have partnered with TCGPlayer, so if you purchase any cards via the link above, I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to yourself. I appreciate your support!

Show Contact:

YouTube: youtube.com/culticcube

Twitter: @CulticCube

Email: [email protected]

Eleusis Cube: cubecobra.com/cube/list/culticcube

We welcome Usman Jamil, godfather of cube, to Château Cube. Usman and John talk about testing new sets for cube, new card overload, the origins of cube, design level-ups, the "problem" of the 5 color cube deck,  multicolor sections, interpreting testing data, cooking creatively, Picasso, Freud, and Heirloom Blade (of course!). Come join us for convivial and high-level mtg cube talk!

Guest Resources:

CoolStuffInc articles: coolstuffinc.com/a/?tagged[]=usman%20jamil

Third Power podcast: thethirdpowerpodcast.wordpress.com

MTG Cube Brainstorming Discord: discord.gg/qSNeYpC

Twitter: @UsmanTheRad

Support the Show:

►Patreon: patreon.com/culticcube

►TCG Affiliate Link: bit.ly/2QdJxdg

I have partnered with TCGPlayer, so if you purchase any cards via the link above, I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to yourself. I appreciate your support!

Show Contact:

YouTube: youtube.com/culticcube

Twitter: @CulticCube

Email: [email protected]

Eleusis Cube: cubecobra.com/cube/list/culticcube

Château Cube is a series of conversations between me, John Terrill of Cultic Cube (youtube.com/culticcube), and cube designers and players. Topics are free-ranging, but the heart and soul of the conversation is cube. Episodes are released every other Friday. Come join us for convivial and high-level mtg cube talk!

Support the Show:

►Patreon: patreon.com/culticcube

►TCG Affiliate Link: bit.ly/2QdJxdg

I have partnered with TCGPlayer, so if you purchase any cards via the link above, I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to yourself. I appreciate your support!

Show Contact:

YouTube: youtube.com/culticcube

Twitter: @CulticCube

Email: [email protected]

Eleusis Cube: cubecobra.com/cube/list/culticcube