MTG Cube Ratios: Color Balance, Lands, Artifacts, Removal, and Aggro Density
Table of Contents
Cube balance is basically five EQ sliders and one big volume knob. When your MTG cube ratios are tuned, drafts feel “fair” even when decks are doing busted things. When they’re off, you get the classic cube complaints: no fixing, no aggro, too many gold traps, or every game turns into “who drew the one unanswered bomb.”
This post gives you starting ratios that work (360/450/540), plus the quick math to scale archetypes, lands, removal, and aggression without guesswork.
TLDR
- Start even on colors. For most cubes, keep W/U/B/R/G equal and adjust only when you have a clear reason.
- Use a simple skeleton: ~70% mono-color, 7–9% multicolor, 10–12% lands, 10–12% colorless.
- Fixing lands are not optional. For a “normal” 2-color cube, aim for 30–35 fixing lands in 360, 40–50 in 450, 50–60 in 540, plus a handful of utility lands.
- Artifacts are a dial. 360 cubes usually want 30–45 artifacts/colorless unless you’re intentionally artifact-heavy (then go higher).
- Removal density should be felt. If games often hinge on “did anyone have an answer,” you need more interaction, especially at 1–3 mana.
- Aggro requires one-drops. If you want aggro to be real, you need 8–12 one-drops per supported aggro color at 360 (scale up for bigger cubes).
- Archetype math depends on what gets drafted. In a 540, only 360 cards show up in an 8-player draft, so synergy packages must be bigger to show up consistently.
MTG Cube Ratios: The core skeleton
Before we talk about exact counts, lock this in:
An 8-player draft uses 360 cards.
That means:
- 360-cube: every card can show up in one draft.
- 450-cube: ~80% of the cube shows up.
- 540-cube: ~67% of the cube shows up.
So the larger your cube, the more you must overbuild density for lands, removal, and synergy packages (or accept that drafts get swingier).
A starting skeleton that rarely betrays you
Use this as your “default modern cube” baseline (mid-power, mostly 2-color decks):
| Cube Size | Each Color (W/U/B/R/G) | Multicolor | Colorless (Artifacts/etc) | Lands (Fixing+Utility) | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 360 | 50 (250) | 30 | 40 | 40 | 360 |
| 450 | 62 (310) | 40 | 50 | 50 | 450 |
| 540 | 75 (375) | 45 | 60 | 60 | 540 |
Why this works:
- Colors stay deep enough for drafts to have real choices.
- Gold cards exist, but do not dominate pack signals.
- Fixing and colorless “glue” show up enough to smooth decks.
The “percentage version” (easy to scale)
If you like thinking in dials instead of exact numbers:
- Mono-color: 68–72%
- Multicolor: 7–9%
- Lands: 10–12%
- Colorless: 10–12%
Once you set this skeleton, you tune the internal mix (removal, threats, aggro curve, archetypes).
How many of each color in a cube MTG?
Most cubes should start with equal colors. It makes drafts cleaner, keeps seats flexible, and avoids accidental “best color” situations that come from sheer quantity.
Rules of thumb
- Default: keep colors equal.
- Small intentional skew is fine if it serves a purpose:
- More red/white if you want aggressive decks more often.
- More green if ramp is a main pillar and you want it drafted every time.
- More blue/black if control and combo are meant to be a big part of the identity.
How much skew is safe?
- 360: stay within ±2 cards per color unless you truly know why.
- 450: stay within ±3.
- 540: stay within ±4.
If you skew more than that, you are not “nudging the meta,” you are rewriting seat incentives.
How to add lands into cube MTG
Lands are the most under-loved reason cubes play well.
Also, lands scale differently in a 540 because fewer of them show up per draft, so you often need more total lands than your gut says.
Fixing target ranges (nonbasic lands inside the cube)
For mostly 2-color decks:
- 360: 30–35 fixing lands + 5–10 utility lands
- 450: 40–50 fixing + 5–10 utility
- 540: 50–60 fixing + 5–15 utility
If you want 3+ color decks to be common, push the fixing number up and add more “any color” style fixing (lands and/or rocks).
The quick “how much fixing will players actually see” math
In an 8-person draft, each player opens 45 cards.
Average fixing opened per player is:
Fixing opened per player = (Fixing in cube) × 45 ÷ (Cube size)
Examples:
- 360 cube, 36 fixing lands: 36 × 45 ÷ 360 = 4.5 fixing lands opened per player
- 540 cube, 60 fixing lands: 60 × 45 ÷ 540 = 5.0 fixing lands opened per player
That “opened” number is not the same as “ends up in your deck,” but it’s the best sanity check for whether fixing will be present enough to fight over.
Lands vs rocks
If you run a lot of mana rocks, you can run slightly fewer fixing lands, but lands are still the cleanest, least warping way to support 2-color decks.
How many artifacts in cube MTG?
Artifacts are another big dial because they do three different jobs:
- Universal playables (equipment, cheap interaction)
- Fixing (rocks)
- Archetype engines (artifact-matters packages)
Artifact density ranges (colorless, nonland)
Low (color-identity focused): 6–8%
Medium (typical): 8–12%
High (artifact-forward or powered feel): 12–16%
Converted to counts:
- 360:
- Low: 22–30
- Medium: 30–45
- High: 45–58
- 540:
- Low: 32–43
- Medium: 43–65
- High: 65–86
A practical warning
If your colorless section is too strong, drafts start feeling samey because every deck becomes “two colors plus the same artifacts.” Colorless cards should usually be:
- Flexible, but not strictly better than colored options
- Supportive, not the whole plan (unless your cube is intentionally built that way)
How much removal MTG cube needs?
Most cubes need more cheap interaction than first drafts include.
If players keep saying “I died with cards in hand,” or “there was nothing I could do,” you likely have either:
- not enough removal, or
- removal is too expensive, too narrow, or too clunky.
A clean baseline
Aim for roughly 12–15% interaction in the cube’s nonland cards.
In practice, that often lands around:
- 360: 45–60 total interaction pieces
- 540: 65–90 total interaction pieces
This includes:
- Removal (damage, destroy, exile, edicts)
- Counters
- Discard
- Bounce
- Sweepers
- Fight/bite effects
Per-color starting targets (360)
These are “feels right” targets, not laws:
- White: 8–12 (spot removal + sweepers + tempo tricks that matter)
- Blue: 8–12 (counters + bounce, plus a few clean answers if your power band supports it)
- Black: 10–14 (spot removal + discard, often the interaction king)
- Red: 8–12 (burn that interacts early, plus a few bigger answers)
- Green: 6–10 (fight/bite, artifact/enchantment removal, plus some creature interaction if supported)
The key is not total removal. It’s removal at 1–3 mana.
If interaction starts at 4 mana, aggro becomes oppressive and bombs become unanswerable.
How much aggression MTG cube needs?
Aggro is not “a couple red cards.” Aggro is a package: one-drops, two-drops, reach, and the removal that clears blockers.
If you want aggro to be a real seat, you need to build it like you mean it.
Aggro density targets (360)
For each color you want to support as an aggro base (usually W and R, sometimes B):
- One-drops: 8–12
- Two-drops: 10–14
- Reach/disruption: 6–10
(burn, discard, combat tricks that actually finish games)
If you want two aggro drafters in the same draft to both end up happy, push those numbers up or add strong colorless support (equipment, cheap artifacts that fit the plan).
Aggro “pass/fail” checklist
If aggro keeps failing, check these first:
- Bold one-drops: Are there enough that are actually playable?
- Bold curve: Do the aggressive decks have real 1–2–3 sequences?
- Bold reach: Can they close games through stabilizing boards?
- Bold removal: Is there cheap interaction to clear blockers?
- Bold fixing: Are aggro splashes possible without punishing mana?
- Bold speed: Are your midrange/control decks durdling too hard without consequences?
Aggro is not just about speed. It is the piece that stops your environment from turning into “everyone drafts four and five drops and hopes.”
How many cards per archetype in MTG cube?
This is the part most cube ratio advice skips, and it matters a lot.
First, define your pieces:
- Enablers: the stuff that makes the deck function (sac fodder, cantrips, cheap artifacts, tokens)
- Payoffs: the stuff that makes drafting the deck worth it (engines, finishers, “when you do the thing” cards)
The “seen-in-draft” scaling rule
If your cube is larger than 360, not all your cards show up. So archetype packages must scale.
Needed in cube = Needed in a draft × (Cube size ÷ 360)
Example:
If you want drafters to see 12 enablers for an archetype in a typical draft:
- In a 360, you can run ~12 enablers.
- In a 540, you should run ~12 × (540 ÷ 360) = 18 enablers.
That one formula will save you from most “my synergy decks never come together” problems in larger cubes.
Baseline archetype package sizes (in the drafted pool)
For a typical 8-player draft:
Hard synergy archetypes (they whiff without density)
- Payoffs: 6–10
- Enablers: 12–18
Soft synergy archetypes (good cards that lean a direction)
- Payoffs: 3–6
- Enablers: 8–12
Then scale them up using the rule above if your cube is 450/540/720.
Overlap is the secret weapon
The best cubes make enablers do double duty:
- Tokens support sac, go-wide, and spells-matter (depending on what your payoffs look like)
- Cheap artifacts support artifact decks, ramp smoothing, and tempo
If a package only works in one narrow lane, it becomes a draft trap more often than it becomes a deck.
How many themes in a cube MTG?
The clean way to think about “themes” is: how many distinct deck directions can the draft support at once?
For an 8-player draft, you want at least 8 viable directions, and ideally a couple extra so seats do not collide perfectly every time.
Theme count guidelines
- 360: aim for 8–10 themes that show up reliably
- 450: 10–12 themes
- 540: 10–12 reliable themes, plus some “occasional” subthemes
- 720: 12–14 themes (because you need more variety to justify the size)
You can still name all ten guild archetypes, but in practice most cubes have:
- Primary themes (the ones you expect every draft)
- Secondary themes (the ones that appear when the right cards show up)
If everything is “primary,” nothing is, and signals get muddy.
FAQs
Should my cube have perfectly equal colors?
Usually yes. Start equal, then skew only when you have a specific goal and you can explain the tradeoff.
Is 10 multicolor cards per guild too many?
In a 360, often yes. Heavy gold sections create draft traps and make packs feel narrow. Most 360s feel better with 2–4 per guild unless you’re intentionally gold-heavy.
How do I know if I have enough fixing?
If players regularly end up with shaky mana in 2-color decks, add fixing. If 3-color piles are common but still consistent, you are probably in a good place.
Why does aggro “not work” in my cube?
Almost always one of these: not enough one-drops, not enough reach, or interaction is too clunky to matter before turn four.
My synergy archetypes don’t come together. What do I change first?
Increase enablers and make them overlap with other decks. Then scale package sizes using (Cube size ÷ 360) so your 540 does not dilute itself.