MTG Commander Cube: How Commander Draft Changes Cube Design
Table of Contents
Commander cube looks like “normal cube, but with commanders.” Then you run your first draft and realize the whole night now revolves around one question: can everyone actually draft a commander, build a legal deck, and still have a game that ends before midnight?
That’s the design puzzle, and it’s also why Commander cube is so fun to build. Once you nail the structural stuff (commanders, mana, and multiplayer pacing), you get the best kind of draft experience: big plays, identity-driven decks, and stories your group will still be joking about next week.
TLDR
A Commander cube is a cube built so you can draft commanders, follow color identity, and then play multiplayer Commander with the decks you drafted. The smoothest “it just works” ruleset is Commander Draft style: 3 packs of 20, pick 2 each pick, then build at least 60 cards (basics are free).
Commander Draft changes cube design in three major ways. First, you need enough legendary creatures that can actually lead decks, or drafts collapse into panic-picks. Second, you need more mana fixing and ramp than a normal cube because color identity is real and games go longer. Third, multiplayer changes what “good cards” look like, because one-for-one interaction and slow win conditions behave differently when there are three opponents.
If you want a clean first build, aim for 480 cards (an 8-player pod drafts exactly 480 with this structure), load the cube with flexible commanders and fixing, and keep your themes broad enough that people can pivot without detonating their deck.
What is a Commander cube in MTG?
What is Commander cube MTG? It’s a cube designed around the Commander experience, but drafted like Limited. Instead of drafting a 40-card 1v1 deck, you’re drafting a Commander-legal deck with a commander (or two commanders if your rules allow Partner-style pairing).
The key point is that a Commander cube is not just “a cube with legends.” It’s a cube where commanders are part of the draft infrastructure. They define deck legality through color identity, they shape signals at the table, and they change what players prioritize from pick one onward.
The Commander Draft rules that shape your cube
Most Commander cubes feel best when they use the Commander Draft structure Wizards built for Commander Legends-style play. It solves a real problem: in a normal draft you can “figure it out later,” but in Commander draft you need enough cards and enough direction to build a cohesive deck under color identity.
Here’s a simple rules box you can copy into your cube document.
Recommended Commander Cube Draft Rules
- Draft with three 20-card packs per player.
- Each pick, players take two cards, then pass the pack.
- After drafting, each player builds a deck of at least 60 cards, including their commander(s). Basic lands are unlimited.
- Decks must follow color identity rules based on the chosen commander(s).
- Unlike traditional Commander deckbuilding, duplicates are allowed if your cube includes multiples.
- After deckbuilding, play a normal multiplayer Commander game (typically pods of four).
That’s the foundation. From here, your design job is to make sure those rules produce good drafts instead of “I drafted 15 sweet blue cards and no commander that works.”
The biggest design changes (and how to handle them)
1) Commanders become your archetype signposts
In a normal cube, archetypes are mostly “the lane your picks nudge you into.” In a Commander cube, the commander is a flashing neon sign that says “this is what your deck is about.” That’s awesome for identity and cohesion, but it also means your environment needs enough commanders that drafters aren’t fighting over a tiny handful of viable options.
You want commanders that do two things at once. They should give a deck a clear direction, and they should still be playable when you don’t draft the perfect 12-card package. If your commanders are too narrow, your drafts turn into “commander or bust.” If they’re too generically powerful, your drafts turn into “five-color goodstuff and vibes.”
A good middle ground is to use commanders that reward broad themes (tokens, sacrifice, artifacts, spells) and let the 99 (well, the 60) provide the flavor.
2) Color identity makes mana your real boss fight
Color identity is the rule that makes Commander cube feel like Commander, and it’s also the rule that creates the most trainwreck decks when mana support is light. If your cube doesn’t provide enough fixing, drafters will do everything “right” and still end up with cards they can’t legally play or can’t reliably cast.
That means Commander cubes need a bigger chunk of their card slots devoted to boring stuff: lands, rocks, and flexible fixing. The upside is that when you get this right, drafts become smoother, decks become more functional, and games involve actual decisions instead of “missed my third color again, go next.”
3) Multiplayer changes what interaction needs to look like
In 1v1 cube, a clean one-for-one removal spell often feels great. In multiplayer, you trade one card for one threat and then watch two other players keep developing. That doesn’t mean removal is bad. It means you need a better mix.
Commander cube is happier when each color has access to interaction that scales. Flexible answers, sweepers, and cards that can hit multiple opponents or multiple permanent types go up in value. You also want a few ways to stop “the one permanent that will take over the game,” because in draft you cannot assume every deck has clean answers to everything.
4) “Pick two” changes your ratios and makes synergy more realistic
Picking two cards per pick is not just a gimmick. It’s what makes Commander draft deckbuilding feel possible. Players get more playables and more paired pieces, which means you can include actual synergy packages without the whole table whiffing.
As a designer, this gives you permission to include slightly more “glue” cards and slightly more payoff cards than you’d risk in a normal cube, because people can grab the enabler and the payoff together instead of passing one and hoping it wheels.
5) Board stalls are more common, so you need stall-breakers on purpose
Multiplayer boards clog up. That’s normal Commander life. In a draft environment, it can get worse, because decks are less tuned and combat math gets messy.
So you want cards that help games end. Evasion matters. Overrun-style finishes matter. Engines that convert board presence into inevitability matter. The goal is not “every game ends fast.” The goal is “games end without requiring a 40-minute stalemate and a prayer.”
6) You need a failsafe plan for “I don’t have a commander”
Even well-built Commander drafts can produce the occasional player who ends up short on commanders in their colors. The cleanest solution is to include a built-in failsafe commander option similar to The Prismatic Piper concept. When your cube has a failsafe, your draft nights stop getting derailed by the rare but brutal “I literally cannot build a legal deck” moment.
How to build a Commander cube MTG (a practical framework)
If you’re asking “how to build a commander cube MTG” and want something you can finish without disappearing into a six-month spreadsheet arc, build it in layers.
Start by choosing your draft structure and cube size. If you want the classic Commander Draft feel with eight players, 480 cards is a perfect “everything gets drafted” environment. You can go larger for variety later, but 480 is fantastic for early tuning because every change actually shows up at the table.
Next, decide what your commander environment should feel like. The easiest first build is mostly mono- and two-color commanders, with only a small number of three-color options. That reduces fixing pressure and makes signals cleaner. If you love three-color “real EDH” vibes, you can absolutely do that, but you should treat fixing as a first-class feature, not an afterthought.
Then build your “mana layer” before you get fancy. Add your fixing lands, your rocks, and your color-smoothing cards. When Commander cube fails, it usually fails here, not because you didn’t include enough cool seven-drops.
After that, build broad themes that overlap. Tokens and sacrifice overlap. Artifacts and blink overlap. Spellslinger and graveyard overlap. Overlap is what keeps drafts from snapping in half when two players want the same lane.
Finally, tune interaction and finishers so games have tension and closure. You want answers, you want threats, and you want ways to break parity when everyone is doing Commander things.
Minimum viable commander cube template
If you want a “minimum viable” starting point, you’re basically trying to hit five requirements: enough commanders, enough fixing, enough ramp, enough interaction, and enough win conditions.
For a 480-card build, you can start with a simple mental model. Roughly a quarter of your cube is “structure” (commanders plus mana support), and the rest is the fun stuff that makes decks feel different from each other.
When you’re unsure what to cut, cut the card that only works in one narrow spot. Commander cube rewards flexibility, because color identity and multiplayer already add friction. You don’t need to add extra friction on top.
Legends density: how many commanders do you need?
This is the biggest “Commander cube math” lever you have.
In Commander Draft, players draft 60 cards total. If commanders are rare, players will first-pick any commander they see, not because it’s perfect, but because they’re terrified of not having one later. That makes drafts less interesting and decks less coherent.
A practical rule of thumb for a 480-card Commander cube is to aim for something like 100+ commander-capable legends as a starting point, then adjust based on your goals. If you want three-color commanders to be common, you’ll need more commanders and more fixing. If you want two-color decks to be the norm, you can run slightly fewer multicolor legends and keep the environment tighter.
The other half of legends density is distribution. It’s not enough to have 120 legends if 40 of them are in one color pair and seven are in another. Your commanders are your signposts. Spread the signposts so every lane feels supported.
Mana, ramp, and interaction targets that keep games moving
For mana, you want enough fixing that players can draft a two-color deck comfortably, and you want enough support that three-color is possible without being a trap. The easiest way to get there is to include a meaningful amount of fixing lands and a healthy number of mana rocks that produce multiple colors or help splash.
Ramp is the other half of mana. Commander cube decks are 60 cards and still want to cast big spells, but they don’t have the hyper-tuned ramp density of constructed Commander decks. If your cube under-supports ramp, decks play like clunky Limited piles. If you over-support ramp, decks start skipping the early game and the table feels like it’s racing to do the biggest thing first.
Interaction is your safety net. Multiplayer doesn’t want nothing but sweepers, and it doesn’t want nothing but one-for-ones either. The happy place is a mix that lets players answer bombs, reset impossible boards sometimes, and still progress their own plan.
One really useful deckbuilding benchmark for Commander Draft is a rough “about 25 lands, about 35 nonlands” split in a 60-card build, with commanders included in the 60. If your cube drafts regularly produce decks that can’t hit that balance because playables are thin or mana is unsupported, that’s a loud signal that your environment needs more structure.
Do MTG power cubes have Commander decks?
Most classic “power cubes” (Vintage cube style) are not built to produce Commander decks by default. They’re usually designed for 40-card 1v1 drafts, where the power outliers and fast mana are part of the point. Commander cube is a different machine. It needs commanders as draft infrastructure, and it needs the mana base to function under color identity.
That said, you can absolutely mash them together, and there are three common approaches.
The cleanest approach is to keep your powered cube as-is and add a Commander module. That module can be a curated commander pool that players draft alongside the main packs, or a small “commander draft” step at the start of the night that guarantees everyone has viable options. This lets you preserve the powered identity while avoiding the “I drafted a pile of broken cards and no legal way to play them” problem.
A second approach is a full conversion, where you rebuild the powered cube around Commander Draft assumptions. That usually means raising legend density, expanding fixing, and being thoughtful about how much fast mana and tutoring you include, because multiplayer amplifies “someone did the thing on turn three” in ways that can make pods feel lopsided.
The third approach is a “Commander-lite” house rule night: draft the powered cube with pick-two and 60-card decks, then choose commanders from a shared pool at the end. This is the most casual option, and it’s great if your goal is simply “we want commander vibes with powered cards,” not “we want a tightly tuned Commander Draft environment.”
FAQs
What is a commander cube MTG, in one sentence?
A commander cube is a cube built so you can draft a commander (or commanders), build a color-identity-legal deck, and play multiplayer Commander with what you drafted.
How to build a MTG commander cube if I’m starting from zero?
Use Commander Draft rules (3 packs of 20, pick two), start with a 480-card list, prioritize commander density and mana support first, then add overlapping themes and multiplayer-friendly interaction.
How many cards should a Commander Draft cube be?
480 is the cleanest starting point for eight players using 3×20 packs, because the whole cube gets drafted and tuning is easier. You can scale up later for more variety.
Do MTG power cubes have Commander decks?
Not usually by default. Most power cubes are built for 40-card 1v1. To make them produce Commander decks reliably, you typically add a commander module or rebuild the environment around Commander Draft needs.