Okay, it goes something like this:
A software developer, a greenkeeper, a club pedagogue, a computer scientist and two government officials walk into a kitchen and sit down around the table…
Okay wait. Stop. That may be a bit too much straight into it.
A bit of background is in order
As I have mentioned several times, I have assembled a Vintage Draft Cube. The always updated list can be found and tested right here. But the thing about Vintage Cubes is that they are to constantly evolve and change. They should always contain the newest and most powerful printings. Which means they should be played a lot. Otherwise there is a risk that cards will simply enter the cube, only to get cut again without ever being tested. That is a huge difference to for example a Premodern cube or a Lord of the Rings-themed cube or whatever else you are working on out there.
Now, a real-life Vintage Cube is a rare sight, I believe. It is, at least to my knowledge and experience, quite the work to build and keep such a thing. It is also insanely expensive, and if you don’t have a playgroup that meets regularly to test it, it does not make much sense to build one.
When I started building mine, I cannot say that I had a playgroup that I could envision would meet up very often to play the thing. It does not make much sense to draft it, if you are not able to assemble at least six players – even though I have tried it all the way down to just me and Robin, using this system: it is recommendable if you cannot find more willing players, but it is in no way the same experience as drafting the thing for real.
So, I did not have a playgroup, nor even really a group of people I believed would be able to regularly (once a month for example) meet up to draft some powerful cards. I primarily had the Ballrubbers in mind, when starting the project, but we only meet for Magic shenanigans once or twice a year, and then the focus is on Canlander Showdown.
Finding playmates
When I had managed to assemble the first iteration of the Vintage Cube I soon realized that I had to do something, to find someone to play it with. I am almost daily watching videos of vintage cube drafts on youtube, I look at other peoples’ cubes, spend a lot of time refining and changing my own – and spend quite some money on new cards for the box.
I also had to use it properly! It could not just be a theoretical exercise and very real money- and time sink!
So what did I do? Of course I created a Messenger thread. I invited the three people I know wll, and that live in the same part of the country as I do, and that I know have an interest in this kind of Magic. They were on. But they were only three. Then I invited an old friend I had played Legacy with some 15 years ago. Then he invited one of his friends, whom I have met once before. Then I invited a couple of more people that I only know very rudimentarily. Then they invited a couple of more – promising that everyone invited to the thread would be no douchebag. Basically the one rule for participating here.
And then we were suddenly able to bring together six people twice within a week! Six adults – most of us with jobs and children, houses, cars, wifes and other obligations. Twice within a week! And it was not even the same six each time!
And that gets us back to the joke.
I wrote “A software developer, a greenkeeper, a club pedagogue, a computer scientist and two government officials walk into a kitchen and sit down around the table…”
But it could quite as easily have been “A club pedagogue, a social sciences scientist, a government official, a doctor, a computer scientist and a school pupil walks into a kitchen.”
The interesting part is not really what their job titles are, but the rest of the joke. It goes like this: “… to have great heaps of fun in a neutral setting.” Yep.
Okay, maybe not the most catchy punch line, but the amount of epic madness one gets out of these drafts is just through the roof!
We may not know each other very well by the start of the evening – and we may not get around to ask how the marriage, kids, car, house and job is doing, but that is not the point. That is actually to some degree very much not the point, even though my wife sometimes asks how I am able to sit opposite someone an entire evening, without ever asking them how they are. It is not necessary. It is not why we are there. To some degree, I would even argue that we are there exactly to not talk about such things.
Of course it is not banned in any way. Some of the players are some of my closest friends and have been for 20+ years, and I take a deep interest in their lives and how they are doing. But when we are playing Magic – especially when Vintage Cubing – we are definitely there to do epic shit.
And so we did yesterday, Tuesday, July 30…
All that Magic has to offer
Taking it a bit too far, I know. But Vintage Cube really is a great format that shows – or at least has the potential to show – everything Magic is. And yesterdays’ draft was a really great example of this.
We were six players, and I had decided that we would draft five packs of 11 cards. More cards (55 instead of the normal 45) means better decks. More packs means more first picks. What is not to like?
We ended up with these six very different, but very cool each in their own way, decks:
Andreas managed to build an insanely cool URW spell-slinger deck with the Underworld Breach – Brain Freeze – Black Lotus combo:
Such a cool deck, with so many options and such a tightly packed plan.
Andreas won all three rounds and emerged champion of the night – not least because of the very final game that ended like this:
He also killed me after I had played a Coveted Jewel and copied it three times. A Brain Freeze does not have to have many copies after such a turn…
Mads ended up drafting an on-the-looks-of-it rather basic midrange BR deck. But don’t be fooled. This is not a weak deck. It may be a lot more direct in its ways than Andreas’ deck, but it packs a lot of punch and some very strong hate cards:
Mads only lost to Andreas.
Daniel drafted a MonoGreen five-color big mana deck. Often not a very strong strategy in Vintage cube, but he ended up with so many bangers, that he was able to go 2-1. Time Walk in a deck full of mana ramp and draw7’s is just very strong.
My deck was somewhat slow, and I was bested in two relatively short games. Sometimes cube draft is just complete chaos:
I ended up going 1-2 with a pile of artifacts. I had actually decided before the draft, that I would like to play White-Red or Green-White aggro, but the cards simply were not there for it, and when I was then sent a Tolarian Academy, I felt it was time to pivot. Unfortunately I never opened a Mox and I would have also loved a Tinker or some of the other really strong pay-offs. But I ended up with an okay-ish deck. It has lots of combos and insane interactions going for it. And Urza’s Saga!
Robin was also 1-2 with a White-Black midrange-reanimator-armageddon deck. I didn’t play against him, so I am not sure exactly what the deck tried to do, but there were several great Initiative creatures and some oops-I-reanimate-fatties things going on. Seemed like a cool deck, but the margins did not seem to be on his side.
That is also very true for Julius who ended up 0-3 with this unbelievably lovely pile:
Green midrange may not exactly be known to be the strongest archetype in this form of Magic, but with some of all the new insane green cards, it has actually become a lot better. And Julius had several of them. And a bunch of power. He actually also picked up both Flash and Torsten, but did not play them due to not knowing Flash I think. I would definitely have made the deck stronger if they were included. Next time, I guess!
Anyway, it was a really cool deck with a lot of great interactions. I almost died to him simply playing a Springheart Nantuko and then a bunch of fetch-lands. I did die to him when he played Nadu and Lightning Greaves – oh my, that is fun!
And so is Vintage Cube in general. Heaps of fun that is. I can only – again – recommend building one. Proxy the most expensive cards – it does not matter. What matters is going through hoops to copy a Coveted Jewel to draw nine cards, and then be Brain Freezed for lethal! So many epic things going down!