What Makes a Good Cube | How to Balance an MTG Cube: Curve, Speed
Table of Contents
TLDR
- Balance is three dials: your curve, your interaction, and your mana (fixing + ramp + fast mana).
- Speed is not a vibe. It’s the turn where proactive decks “do their thing,” and whether the rest of the cube can actually play Magic before that.
- Your curve is about cast timing, not printed mana value. Count “plays on turns 1–3,” not just “one-drops.”
- Good cubes don’t get boring when you plan for replayability: overlap archetypes, rotate small modules, and change draft formats.
What makes a good cube MTG?
A good cube is one where:
- Draft picks matter (you’re choosing between plans, not just taking “the best card” every time).
- Decks come together reliably (your archetypes have enough “there” there).
- Games have texture (threats, answers, pivots, comebacks, and real decisions).
- The table experience is smooth (readability, consistency, and shuffling do not fight you).
Most “bad cube” feelings are just one of these breaking:
- Decks look different, but play the same (midrange soup).
- Aggro feels impossible, or unstoppable.
- Control either can’t stabilize, or stabilizes too easily and wins by default.
- Combo is either a unicorn, or a slot machine.
- Drafts start feeling solved.
The good news: you can fix almost all of that by learning how to balance a cube MTG with a small set of levers.
What determines the speed of a cube MTG?
Cube speed comes from how early decks can execute a plan and whether the rest of the environment can interact on time.
Two useful ways to think about it:
1) Fundamental turn (how fast proactive decks “goldfish”)
Ask: If nobody interacts, what turn do the proactive decks “turn the corner” or essentially win?
If your aggressive decks and combos are built to effectively end games around turn 4, then the cube needs a lot of meaningful plays before turn 4, including interaction that actually lines up.
2) Critical turn (when games swing from “setup” to “decisive”)
Even when games do not literally end, cubes still have a “point of no return” turn where falling behind becomes hard to recover from. You set that turn by your card choices, especially the density and efficiency of early plays and high-impact midgame cards.
Rule of thumb: your cube feels best when your proactive decks’ “do the thing” turns are within about one turn of each other, and the interaction is priced to matter before that.
How to balance a cube MTG: the three-dial framework
If you only remember one thing about how to balance a cube MTG, make it this:
Dial 1: Curve (how many meaningful plays exist on turns 1–4)
This is the biggest speed lever. More real one- and two-mana plays means faster, tighter games. More top end means slower, swingier games (or stalled games, if early plays are too thin).
Common trap: you can have lots of “one-drops” that don’t function as turn-one plays (combat tricks, conditional stuff, narrow tutors). Your curve should be based on when cards get cast in real games, not the number printed in the corner.
Dial 2: Interaction (how early, how broad, how punishing)
Interaction defines whether games are:
- Racing
- Trading
- Snowballing
- Stabilizing
- Stalling
Two fast heuristics:
- If proactive decks are “online” by turn 4, you usually want lots of 1–2 mana interaction, or players just die with answers stranded in hand.
- If you want slower games, you can lean more on 3 mana interaction and fewer hyper-efficient answers, but you still need enough early interaction to prevent free snowballs.
Dial 3: Mana (fixing, ramp, and fast mana)
Mana is the quiet dial that changes everything:
- More fixing increases splashing and pushes decks toward “best cards” piles unless archetypes pull hard.
- More ramp and fast mana shifts the “real” curve down (people cast 4s on turn 2–3), which speeds up the environment even if your list looks midrange on paper.
- Weaker fixing makes lanes clearer, but can make drafts feel punishing if the fixing floor is too low.
Put differently: curve sets the pace, interaction sets the rules of engagement, and mana determines how consistently decks can break the rules.
How to make a curve in cube MTG (that actually plays right)
Here’s a practical way to build your cube curve without getting lost in spreadsheets.
Step 1: Sort by “when it gets cast,” not mana value
Make three buckets for every nonland card:
- Early plays (turns 1–2): one-drops that matter, cheap removal, cheap counters, cheap blockers, cheap acceleration.
- Midgame hinges (turns 3–4): the cards that swing boards, stabilize, or pressure hard.
- Top end (turn 5+): haymakers, sweepers, big finishers, expensive engines.
Then sanity-check your cube: Do you have enough early plays to support the speed you want?
Step 2: Watch the 4-drop glut
Cubes naturally accumulate “the best 4s ever printed.” That’s where a lot of environments get same-y, because games become “hit 4 mana, trade haymakers.”
If your drafts feel like they always hinge on turn 4–5, you probably have:
- Too many 4-mana game-changers
- Not enough meaningful plays on turns 1–3
- Interaction that starts too late
Step 3: Build curves by archetype roles
Instead of “Blue gets 50 cards,” think:
- Aggro package: enough 1–2 mana threats and damage to end games before late haymakers take over.
- Control package: enough early interaction to not die, plus finishers that actually end games.
- Midrange package: good 2–4 drops that can pivot between beatdown and defense.
- Combo package (if included): enough redundancy that it can happen, but not so much that drafts become scripted.
Step 4: Use “glue cards” to prevent lane traps
The best cubes have overlap. Cards that are playable in multiple decks keep drafts dynamic and stop your archetypes from feeling like separate mini-games.
That overlap is also a boredom-killer. If the same cards can play different roles, the same “archetype” will still draft differently week to week.
Quick fixes: when your cube is too fast, too slow, or too same-y
| If your cube feels like… | Likely cause | Try this | Tradeoff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Too fast / people die before doing anything | Too many real 1–2 mana threats, too much fast mana, not enough cheap defense | Add more early blockers and 1–2 mana interaction, trim fast mana, trim “free” tempo swings | Games get less explosive |
| Too slow / nothing matters until turn 4–5 | Not enough meaningful early plays, too many 4+ drops, interaction starts at 3+ | Add more real 1–2 mana plays, trim the top end, reduce 4-drop density | Less “big spell” Magic |
| Aggro never wins | Low density of aggressive 1–2 drops, sweepers too cheap/too plentiful, life gain too easy | Add aggressive redundancy, trim sweepers or raise their cost, make life gain more conditional | Control gets weaker |
| Aggro always wins | Too many premium 1-drops, control tools too slow, fixing too weak for stabilization | Add cheap removal, cheap blockers, better fixing, or more sweepers (carefully) | Aggro becomes less distinct |
| Everything is 3-color goodstuff | Fixing is too strong relative to archetype pull, payoffs too shallow | Reduce fixing density or quality, add stronger archetype payoffs, add “you must commit” cards | Draft feels more rail-y |
| Combo is either impossible or inevitable | Too few pieces (impossible) or too much redundancy + tutors (inevitable) | Decide which you want, then tune redundancy and tutor density accordingly | Combo becomes swingy if overtuned |
| Drafts feel solved / repetitive | Too many narrow packages, not enough overlap, same power spikes every time | Add glue cards, rotate small modules, vary draft formats | More maintenance |
Does cube get boring MTG? How to keep drafts fresh
Cube can absolutely get boring, but it’s usually not because “we drafted it too much.” It’s because the environment keeps producing the same drafts and the same games.
Here are five fixes that work without rebuilding the entire list:
- Rotate small modules (20–60 cards) instead of the whole cube
Swap in a “Spells Matter” bundle for a month, then swap back. Keep the rest stable. - Increase overlap, reduce rails
If your archetypes only work when you’re “all in,” drafts become scripted. Flexible cards keep it interesting. - Change the draft format
Winston, Grid, Rochester variants, burn-a-card drafts, “two picks per pack” house rules. Same cube, new puzzle. - Track “cards that never make maindecks”
Those are often the real boredom source: they are picks that feel dead. Replace them with cards that create decisions. - Pick a speed target and commit
Half-fast, half-slow environments often feel repetitive because the same “correct” strategy emerges. If you want fast, support it. If you want midrange, make the early game meaningful anyway.
FAQs
How many one-drops should my cube have?
Enough that aggressive decks can reliably draft a real curve without getting lucky. If your aggro decks routinely start on turn 2, your environment is going to slow down fast, even if you think you “support aggro.”
What’s the biggest factor in cube speed?
The density of real turn 1–2 plays, plus whether interaction is priced to matter before proactive decks turn the corner.
How do I know if my cube has too many 4-drops?
If games frequently feel like “nothing mattered until someone resolved a 4,” or if drafts devolve into “take every 4 because they’re all absurd,” you probably have a 4-drop glut.
How much fixing is too much?
When the best strategy becomes “draft lands early, take the best cards later, end up 3–4 colors,” your fixing is probably too strong relative to your archetype incentives.
Does cube get boring in MTG if we draft it every week?
Not automatically. Cube gets boring when drafts become predictable. Overlap, rotation modules, and format swaps keep the puzzle fresh without needing constant set-by-set churn.