Commander Cube: Starting the Build

I've been building Commander decks for a few years now, one deck at a time. A cool new legend is printed? I totally have to build a deck around it!

Then the deckbuilding process starts. What does the Commander do? What cards work with that Commander? What's the theme? What's the strategy? Finally, it all comes together. And I play a couple of games with the deck. And, I want to try something different.

Repeat.

I've written before about how, on a fundamental level, many Commander decks are similar. The individual cards and flavor might be different, but the way each deck plays out will be largely the same. Certain strategies work because they work.

Drawing, tutoring, utility, creatures, ramp... all of these concepts can be roughly applied to any Commander deck. The degree to which each can be applied might change, but they are mostly going to be there. Because they work. They make the deck tick.



The other issue is that there is a push toward a style of play that exemplifies the format. Hard-lock prison strategies, land destruction, hand destruction (discard), and fast combo, all exist, but I'd be willing to bet that most playgroups will only tolerate those strategies for a while before getting bored with it. There are other formats for that stuff, better suited to handle those situations. Commander, in the end, centers on explosive value, creature beatdown, and yes, politics.



I've also written about how some cards are really good at what they do and become format staples. There's good reasons for why it works out that way that are fundamental to the game itself. You can make a decision to look for off-the-wall pet cards to accomplish the same things, but as soon as you stumble upon a gem, other players are going to pick up that tech and it will become the new staple. But no matter how you slice it, your deck will not be full of tech from top to bottom. You will end up leaning on staples to some degree.

Put this all together and you get decks that are similar in composition and strategy, cards that are similar from deck to deck, and a handful of pet cards that give your deck personal flair or synergy.

In other words, you have a cube.

A cube is a curated collection of cards, typically used for drafting, often with a theme. I'm building a cube, but specifically for my own personal one-man drafting. I'll be using it to build a variety of Commander decks in all colors and combinations, so that I always have something new, or at least varied, to play.



This allows me to evaluate cards on an individual basis for inclusion in the cube as a whole, instead of for an individual deck. Cards that fit more than one strategy will be more important and interesting for the cube. This naturally cuts out super-specialized cards that, in my experience, aren't all that much fun. Decks that do one thing only, but do it well, are boring to play with and boring to play against.

The other thing this does is tone down the power level of the decks I am playing, but without toning down the power level of the individual cards. If I can't cherry pick the cards I need to maximize a particular line of play while constructing the deck, it will be less consistent. That variability will require me to play with a more open strategy. But since all of the cards were cherry picked for the cube in the first place, each card I play will be something I'm looking forward to slamming down on the table.

Visit CubeTutor.com to check out (or even try out) my Deckbuilding Commander Cube.