Building a Commander Cube is the most fun I’ve had playing MTG
Building a Commander Cube is the most fun I’ve had playing MTG and I’m here to convince you to build one too!
A very good friend of mine was moving countries. He had a large collection of rare and mythic cards he couldn’t transport with him. So, he kindly offered these to our group. I was quick to offer to re-home this collection, but I wanted to do something special with the collection. I wanted our entire group to benefit from his generosity and for all of us to enjoy this collection together. So, I said I’d take the collection, on the provision he help me build a commander cube.
We spent around three days building synergies, cutting cards, adding cards, laughing at interesting interactions, and finally play testing on a camping trip in the Australian outback. This was his send off before moving back overseas and it was a nice way for us to build a memento before he left.
As we were building the cube we discussed the main themes we’d like to build around, this one being Gods, as my friend purchased a large number of God cards for a commander deck that never was. The next step was putting in our playgroups’ pet cards based on the groups’ suggestions. Cards like Selfless Squire, Inksheild, Deflecting Palm, Wedding Ring, and the various tricks with adding Myriad to creatures always get a laugh in our group. Our goal was to make it fun, encourage interaction, and to have enough synergy that would call for a successful draft experience.
I love deck building, and building this cube collectively was essentially like trying to build five commander decks with all of our favourite cards. It took an activity that is usually done solo, and made it a shared experience which encouraged us to share our interests and to anticipate how our friends would respond when they saw our final curation.
This was the most rewarding part. To finally draft the finished product and hear our group say things like “I can’t decide, these are all incredible cards!” And to hear them laugh, and try to hide their enthusiasm for a particular card or combo and say “you guys are going to love, or hate this”. It’s rewarding to see people enjoy the cube we built. The cube immortalised our friend through the curation of his collection. In a way, he is still here jamming games with us.
The real positive thing I’m seeing now is that the cube has inspired others to build and curate their own cube. I’m really enjoying seeing what other people come up with, as I understand the effort and resultant joy of seeing people draft something we have carefully curated and continue to refine. So, I wrote this in hope this story, and my cube, inspires you to build a cube of your own so I can hear your cube story.