Draft cube - different alternative to realunch VtES

I hope everybody knows what the draft cube is?

Preconstructed decks got number of problems shown in the dedicated to them thread.

So, after some reflection about new mtg fashion of adding booster to the starters I was hit by the idea to go full way and introduce VtES as a draft game.

So we can have a box of all needed reprints as well as staples and it can work as both stand-alone game, sorce for hard to find rares as well as basis for newbie decks.

For the numbers I think we should go with 440 cards (120 vampires) so 5 players can build 8 crypt / 40 library decks and not bother with recursion. I think it's enougth slots to put all needed cards in there.

You should ask the Swedes what they put into their VTES cube.

AFAIK, it has worked REALLY well!

The Seattle playgroup has been experimenting with draft cubes for a few years now so I thought I'd attach our latest iteration here as txt files. I think that a boxed draft game is a great idea and I think you can do it with between 330-360 cards.

Some quick notes:
-We don't play with draft text - draft text is better when drafting out of booster packs as it gives you more ways to play the cards. Since you can tweak the cube anyway you like, I don't think that having the draft text is as important. Plus, I don't really like what the draft text does to some cards. For example, Guard Dogs draft text is a disciplineless wake so you have everyone clamoring to grab this animalism card leaving any players actually trying to draft animalism without a really great card.
-This is what I refer to as the nerfed version of the cube as it contains fewer high-power cards and less synergy. For example, my old cube had 3 copies of GtU and this one only has 1. The old cube had 3 torn sign post and 3 immortal grapple while this one just has a selection of different potence strikes. This variations makes permanents much better and leaves the game feeling more like a draft game rather than a constructed game.
-I wanted a vote card package that encouraged people to play votes that aren't normally worthwhile and Voter Captivation is the answer so far. Players are much more likely to play finding the path and year of fortune if they can drop a VC on it.
-You'll notice a size difference between sabbat and cam cubes. The Sabbat have two extra clans and disciplines and if you want to stick with 330 cards, you have to water down each disciple or make other painful cuts just to include everything. The better solution seems to be to just add 30 more library cards and 10 more vampires. The original design was to be able to draft two tables and have cam vs sabbat and have it be balanced. You just can't do that if the sabbat cube is watered down.

Thank you Brian, Kevin, John, Steve, Fletcher, Jeremy, Ethan and Kevin H for helping me create these cubes.

-Grayson

Hey Gman,
Thanks for those two text files.
I would be interested in some details and advice to try this Cube Games.

Could you please let me know how much time you set for the drafting & deckbuilding step?
How long are the game? Do you set the standard 2 hours time limit? Do many games end with the time limit?

Thanks in advance,
Best Regards,
Rémi.

When we've run draft tournaments drafting and deckbuilding usually takes less than a full round (roughly 75-90 minutes) and then the games are played with normal 2 hour time limits.

Ok Thanks!

Best Regards,
Rémi.