zoy against genocide

Low-Background Steel Cube Design in the Zombie Era

I really resonated with this take from Iatee, one of the regular contributors of Cube Cobra: cubecobra.com/content/arti...

All(30) Azorius (3) Mirrorweave Judge's Familiar Unsettled Mariner Dimir (3) Cemetery Puca Far // Away Zyym, Mesmeric Lord Rakdos (3) Fulminator Mage Spiteful Visions Azra Oddsmaker Gruul (3) Vexing Shusher Burning-Tree Emissary Halana and Alena, Partners Selesnya (3) Dryad Militant Sundering Growth Good-Fortune Unicorn Orzhov (3) Lingering Souls Profit // Loss Hidden Stockpile Izzet (3) Goblin Electromancer Saheeli, Sublime Artificer How to Keep an Izzet Mage Busy Golgari (3) Deathrite Shaman The Gitrog Monster Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis Boros (3) Master Warcraft Wear // Tear Warleader's Call Simic (3) Prophet of Kruphix Repudiate // Replicate Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner

Tentative Revision. Some new faces, some stuff staying, some stuff coming back. Cutting down to a single cycle of gold cards. Emphasis on effects that change the texture of the game, do novel stuff, or otherwise emphasize Casual Atmosphere(TM)

I like the use of original rarity, I think that's good

Extremely no rush to respond. Sent you an invite through discord

Hey, would you be up for some DMs about making a page like this? I'm specifically interested in looking at word counts, but discounting them by card popularity (and probably using individual user input to determine that input). Mostly looking for advice on what I would need to learn

I've grown a lot as a designer since I last looked at this cube. Initially I think I had a focus on including POWERFUL cards so that the cube still "felt like cube" - what Cube is has evolved so far, that I don't think that still makes sense as a design goal, which starts to make these feel suspect.

My impression is that Hedron Network's algy is very good at placing people in their preferred cubes. Like for Untap the majority of drafters just got the exact top of their list

I want a @hedron.network companion app for ranking cubes using pairwise comparison of P1P1s. You'd need to do dozens of picks, but if you're only focused on getting the top end of the list right, I think it'd be okay?

While trying to figure out what cubes I want to draft this year at CubeCon I wound up hacking together a basic cube comparison page over the weekend to help identify some candidates. #MTGCube

cube.griselbrand.com

Your own game doesn't have to be unlimited if you commit to some reasonable constraints. Have you ever tried to make a game that you can play with standard components most people have around the house, with rules that fit on a pamphlet, and that you can begin solo playtesting immediately?

Hell yeah. I was super inspired by Richard Garfield talking about just making up games all the time. You don't need to make something that's fun for everyone forever, you can make something fun to play twice for the people in the same room as you

I avoided Tiktok, but just uninstalled Instagram because I found the algorithm starting to suck me in when I didn't intend to spend time there

Once again reminding the world that colour pairs should be listed

WB, BG, GU, UR, RW

Don't care if anyone says otherwise

I've got high hopes for the upcoming return to Lorwyn, and a very specific wish, motivated by the needs of my Cube and the themes.of Lorwyn: a 10-card cycle of hybrid Changelings at common, all with staple effects for their color pair.

Like, a Doomed Traveler-type for {W/B}, ...

Thank you to @r3id.bsky.social and @poisoneddonut.bsky.social for pre-reading!

...And I wrote about the feedback I got on my own #mtgcube

zoydraft.tumblr.com/post/7964746...

Log in on your phone, Ollie

Or is it the faint of heart newcomers who are sacred?

Gotta cut that life gain 😁

Round timers are great! Setting the expectations works so much better that everyone sitting on their hands "politely"

Plus imo, it's more fun to play more opponents, even though it means some matches end 1-1

You subscribe to Michigan?

Coming to y'all hand in hand asking for new work while I find a new job!

Here's some things i've made in the past few months. Please consider sharing with folks. I would love to do any brand related design or illustration work.

for inquiries:
tyler.d.reed@gmail.com

Omg 🤯

Thanks!

Lol literally me

Untap TO September 14, 2025 | Steadfast Brewing Co. Toronto Photo by Matt, used without permission. Toronto had its first mid-sized cube event! Gray told me about his idea for Untap TO back in March, and it.....

Toronto had its first mid-sized #mtgcube event! @to.untap.ca was incredible and I wrote about it here:

zoydraft.tumblr.com/post/7957097...

Going through this exercise helped me spot candidates to cut (mainly looking at the big game card advantage pile), but also effects that I want to double down on, and inspired me to look for some new cards to fill those less frequently used spots on the plot. (5/5)

There's a bunch of card selection that's small game card disadvantage that nonetheless rules (Faithless Looting), and cards that you need to crack because they're big game card disadvantage (Exhume) or small game & card neutral (Braids). This is really cool stuff I want more of
(4/x)

The nature of the top right might define a lot of the colour's feel. E.g. tokens vs card draw vs recursion. Do you need all these cards? Probably not.

The other piles are really cool. Small game card advantage is easy to understand, but should you be running more? (3/x)

It's not that important to get the categories exactly right. There's probably...

A bunch in the middle (neutral/neutral) creatures + cantrips

A bunch in the bottom centre (neutral/small game): one-for-one removal

A bunch in the top right (card advantage / big game)...

(2/x)