Your First MTG Cube Outline: A 360-Card Starter Template That Drafts Cleanly

Starting a cube can feel weirdly intimidating, because you’re staring at the entire history of Magic: The Gathering and thinking, “Cool… so what does a cube list even look like?” And the honest answer is: it can look like almost anything. Retail sets prove it every year. Some sets are multicolor-heavy, some are graveyard-forward, some are all about lands, artifacts, or a single named mechanic.

But if you want a clear, beginner-friendly starting point for your first “classic” cube, this outline is a super solid training-wheels template. It gives you structure without handcuffing you.

The 360-card outline (copy-paste the shape, not the exact rules)

This is a 360-card cube skeleton. That size is popular because it cleanly supports the “normal” draft experience for a full pod.

Starter breakdown

Section	Total cards	Breakdown
White	50	30 creatures / 20 noncreature spells
Blue	50	20 creatures / 30 noncreature spells
Black	50	25 creatures / 25 noncreature spells
Red	50	25 creatures / 25 noncreature spells
Green	50	30 creatures / 20 noncreature spells
Artifacts	40	Mostly colorless playables + a few build-arounds
Lands	40	Mostly fixing lands (the “make drafts work” section)
Gold (multicolor)	30	3 cards per guild (10 guilds)
Total	360	Draft-ready core size

Why these creature/spell splits actually make sense

The color splits are doing something subtle but helpful: they line up with how the colors tend to play in Limited.

• White and Green get a creature-heavy lean because they often “win on board.” You want those colors to consistently produce real curves and battlefield plans.
• Blue gets more noncreature spells because blue decks often hinge on selection, tempo, counters, and card advantage. If you force blue to be too creature-dense early, it can feel samey.
• Black and Red sit closer to the middle. They can be aggressive, interactive, sacrifice-y, burn-y, midrange-y. The balanced split keeps them flexible.

None of this is a law. It’s just a helpful default that tends to create functional decks even when drafters are still learning how to navigate cube.

The “gold card” trap (and why 30 is a nice starter number)

New cube designers love gold cards. They’re flashy, they signal themes, and they look awesome in a spoiler-style list.

In a first cube, too much gold can backfire:

• It pushes drafters into lanes too early
• It creates dead picks if your mana/fixing can’t support it
• It makes newer players feel like they “drafted wrong” when the deck doesn’t come together

Starting with 3 gold cards per guild gives you signposts without turning your draft into “Ravnica: The Panic Attack.”

Lands are not filler, they’re gameplay

That 40-land section is the part that quietly determines whether your cube feels smooth or miserable.

If people are constantly stumbling on mana, the fix is almost always:

• more fixing lands
• fewer narrow gold cards
• a slightly lower average mana value in each color

If you only upgrade one section over time, upgrade your fixing. It pays off in every single draft.

How to use this outline without getting overwhelmed

Think of the outline as a shape you’re filling, not a recipe you’re obeying.

A simple way to build toward it is:

• Fill each color with a mix of curve creatures, interaction, and a few build-arounds
• Add artifacts that multiple decks want (plus a couple “oh dang” cards)
• Add lands that make 2-color decks easy and 3-color decks possible
• Add gold cards last, once you know what your environment actually supports

First-draft sanity checks (quick and brutal)

Before you shuffle up and make packs, do these checks. They catch the common first-cube faceplants:

• Curve exists: each color has enough 1–2 mana plays that decks don’t start on turn 3 every game
• Interaction exists: each color has ways to affect the board, not just “do my thing”
• Fixing exists: two-color decks can realistically cast their spells without miracles
• Gold is draftable: gold cards are worth the pick and supported by the fixing you included
• Archetypes overlap: you’re not forcing “ten separate guild decks” with no shared pieces

Easy tweaks once you’ve drafted it once

Your first list is not your forever list. Cube gets good through iteration, and small changes teach you more than big rebuilds.

Here are a few clean, beginner-friendly knobs to turn:

• Drafts feel slow and clunky: add more 1–2 drops and trim some expensive cards
• Aggro can’t win: increase cheap threats and give aggro more reach (burn, evasive pressure, etc.)
• One deck keeps running people over: add interaction (and consider trimming the biggest outliers)
• Mana is messy: add fixing lands first, then consider trimming gold
• Themes “don’t show up”: increase redundancy (more enablers/payoffs), or shrink the number of themes

Scaling up to bigger cubes (without reinventing everything)

This outline is for 360, but it scales cleanly.

• 720 cards: you can basically double everything (100 per color, 80 artifacts, 80 lands, 60 gold) and you’ll still have a coherent structure.
• If you’re growing in smaller chunks, a clean “module” add-on is +45 cards at a time. A simple way to keep the same vibe is:
  • +6 cards to each color (30)
  • +6 artifacts
  • +6 lands
  • +3 gold
    Total: 45 cards

That keeps your proportions steady while letting you expand when you’re ready.

FAQs

Do I have to follow this outline exactly?

No. It’s a starting line, not a finish line. If your cube is built from your collection, you’ll naturally skew in some directions. That’s fine. Draft it, see what breaks, adjust.

Why is blue so spell-heavy?

Because many blue decks rely on card selection, tempo, and interaction to function. The spell-heavy lean helps blue feel like blue instead of “blue creatures plus random cards.”

Is 40 lands enough?

It can be, especially if those lands are mostly fixing. If your group complains about mana or gold cards feel risky to draft, you’ll usually want more fixing, not fewer.

I only draft with 4–6 players. Should I still build 360?

You can, but smaller groups see a smaller slice of the cube each night, so narrow synergy packages show up less often. If your group is usually small, consider starting smaller (or make sure your themes are dense and overlapping).

When should I change the numbers?

After you’ve drafted it a few times and you can name specific problems. “Red decks can’t close,” “games are too bomb-driven,” “three-color is impossible,” “gold is overdrafted but uncastable,” etc. Let play data, not vibes, drive changes.