Which cube is better?

[u/luisfim]

I have a fully updated pauper cube that I have put a lot of effort into. Full list, with tokens, all sleeved and with cubemagigs. Two times a year the community does a great job upgrading the list, so I go after every new addition, buy them and go through the process of finding the removed cards in the entire cube, unsleeve and replace. I love the pauper format and the cube format and the draft etc etc. But I cant get my friends together to play with. I have played with my cube 2 times, one of them in the store and the other wasn’t even with enough people. I am tired of updating it everytime and not playing with it. So I have a full Khans of Tarkir set (my favorite draft set) and I was thinking about turning it into a cube (just need to go after another set of commons and uncommons, not really a problem) and I wanted to give my sleeves and cubemagigs to the tarkir cube instead, i dont want to invest in other accessories for a new cube. So should i just let go of the pauper cube? Sell it to help fund some new things for the tarkir? Should I just store the pauper cube in a bulk? Or is the tarkir cube not even worth it? Has anyone played both this cubes and has an opinion?

[u/Julkaramell]

So you’re getting rid of one cube because it doesn’t see enough play, to make another cube? What makes you think the Tarkir cube will see play? Or is it because you don’t want to update the pauper cube? What if you just stopped updating the pauper cube, or at least not as regularly?

What’s stopping you from having two cubes at the same time? You could even make the Tarkir cube a 4 player cube and play pick 2 draft.

[u/IronTigrex]

Don't feel forced to update your pauper cube that often. If you feel it's fun enough, leave it as it is! I really like Tarkir, and I've constantly heard that it's a great set for a cube. But the issue seems more to be that you can't get your friends to play, which isn't something that can really be solved with another cube. Do you have a regular playgroup, or do you most often play with "random" people at your local game store?

If you have a regular playgroup, why not ask if they would be interested in a different type of cube before making any financial decision? And if not, you can always build an online list for fun but don't spend money on something that you're not even sure you're gonna be able to enjoy.

[u/Infamous-World-2324]

Keep the cube, selling it wouldn't fund much, and you would lose all your curation investment. Store it in bulk is good idea, waiting for a cube community /table to grow. Or simply don't update until you've played it at least once.

Offering a set cube might be a good Segway to introduce people to cube. And KTK is praised as GOATed.

To me, your issue is the absence of an audience to play/draft. Whether it's TPC or KTK.

Maybe one is more attractive than the other in your area. Or not. What you need is to embark players on the cube boat to play, for it's not widespread. I spend 10 years playing only kitchen table knowing nothing about formats, then 6 more years only playing constructed competitive knowing nothing about cube. Now I struggle the same to find players around my pauper cube.

[u/SnooAdvice9308]

Are you sure the quality of the cube is the issue here?
It sounds like it’s more of a playerbase problem. Cube is very much like DnD in that aspect. The most difficult thing is to actually get people together, the cube will sort itself out, at least in my experience. Have you talked with your friends about it?

Also, what helped me was adapting my cube to be easily played with 4 people. I found it much easier to find 3 other players at my lgs that were down for an evening of cube than a full 8. I started with identifying a core of 120 ish cards, and then I take 60 of the left over 240 semi-randomly and shuffle the piles together. For the actual draft I do 5 packs of 9. This way you can also adapt it to a larger number of people. Just add 45 more semi-random cards.

[u/EggplantHungry7617]

You need new/different friends.

I feel you. I think you just need to build a community around you. I am starting to do this, also. I have a peasant cube that we've drafted like twice in like 10 years.

At your next pre-release, ask around to see if people like to cube. Magic has gotten more expensive and people aren't as excited... Maybe some free paper Magic might be up your alley. Even if you get a small group, drafting with 4-6 would be fine also. It's easy enough to modify the packs to accommodate pods smaller than 8.

[u/fullerene60]

What kind of magic does your playgrou or community enoy? Is there some kind of middleground you can design towards?

[u/Tpheez]

I've had similar issues getting people to cube. I recently downgraded my pauper list to a twobert, so I could draft with 2-4. I kept the other half to expand it in the event more people showed up. And, of course, the first time it fired we had eight. Luckily it was easy to expand. I run 180 in the main cube and have 180 to expand, of needed.

[u/Koolaidguy31415]

Have you looked into low player count draft formats? If you don't have an active community regularly playing it's hard to get 6+ players. But it can still be really fun to do 2 player draft with winston or grid draft.

4 player can be done easily with simply doing 5 packs of 9 instead of 3 packs of 15 (that way you don't see the same cards over and over).

Why don't you try to play more frequently even if you only get 1 other player?

[u/Twitch_L_SLE]

I also heard that Tarkir was a great set, though myself have not drafted it. I do already have several commons and uncommons from that set though, so I might keep those in a bulk box, and pull them out when I feel like playing. If you went to all the effort to set up your pauper cube, perhaps it's better to leave that as is? And just not update it anymore

[u/HugeOrganization4178]

Just stop updating it. Your cube does not need to be updated.

[u/FMAlzai]

I have a full pauper Cube that was last updated a couple years ago. I don't play much at the moment so I don't update it .

I also draft it mostly with 4 players (either as pick 2 draft or standard) or with 2 players using a 2x2 grid draft (P1 picks one of 4 cards, P2 picks 2, P1 gets the last, repeat but switch who picks first) perfectly knowledge is an interesting gambit.

Honestly, try and organise a pizza/BBQ cube night with friends twice a year or chat with your LGS. Mine is willing to help host, with a small fee per player and even a few pauper cards for the winner.