I wanted to share a cube draft format I've been working on. I've tweaked this version from a playtest session which found that the Order decks were being favored. It still needs more play to test the balance between the sides. The cube format is great in other games, and I wanted to adapt it for Invasion. If there are other Cubes out there I'd love to see them. Post 1 lists the concept and how to stuff, Post 2 will include the order card list, and post 3 will have the Destruction card list. Any questions are welcome.
What is a Cube?
The cube is a set list of cards from which players will draft decks from. I know Magic the Gathering has a cube format, but I was familiar with the Star Wars CCG cube format that is found on the Star Wars CCG player’s committee website. That format has light vs dark side, and it translates well to Invasion with the Order vs Destruction element. I haven’t seen a Warhammer Invasion cube yet, but if they are out there it would be great to see in order to make a comparison.
Why Build a Cube?
I very much like playing constructed games of Invasion, but wanted to have a little more control of the meta, as well as getting some play out of some of the lesser used (or not used at all) cards. I have always liked drafting, and sealed deck tournaments have always been my favorite. I was more comfortable with the cube format than with the drafting rules presented in the Warhammer Invasion rules.
What went into my Cube (and what didn’t)?
The main consideration while adding cards to the cube is: will it be playable in a variety of situations, and is there a counter that can be added so that opposing decks have a chance at finding an answer for it. I wanted to slow the game down a little so there are no warpstone excavations; I didn’t want scouts to be included because I think they might be a little too much in this format (but I’m not sure of this); all the cards except heroes will have 2 or less loyalty icons (because in drafting it is likely you will need to utilize cards outside of your faction); I wanted to limit the very strong cards so that more mediocre cards become more playable; I wanted to include utility cards-cards that are useful in many situations- I didn’t want any “dead” cards-cards that have such a narrow use that they are usually unplayable, and I didn’t want cards that had to combo with other very specific cards in order to work (although combos can be put together with what’s included).
How to Draft
To draft with 6, 8, or 10 people (the cube can support up to 10), the group is split in half- ½ are destruction and the other ½ is Order. With 4 people (which is what I’ve done so far), all 4 draft an order deck and a destruction deck. First each person receives a “pack” of fixed cards-the fixed cards insure everyone has access to the same resource/card draw pool—these are 13 cards which may be used in your deck or not. You will draft an additional 45 cards, and need to have at least 50 cards in your deck, so 8 cards can be left out. To draft give each person a pile of 9 random cards taken from whichever side you are drafting from (order or destruction). Each person will choose 1 card from his pile after looking at all of them and pass the rest of the cards clockwise. You repeat this until all cards have been chosen. This is repeated 5 times. Each person will make 45 draft picks. Then build a deck with the 45 drafted cards plus the 13 fixed cards. For 4 people you will do this for each side, but with 6,8,10 half will draft order and half will draft for destruction. The way we have played with 4(but there are many ways the games could be arranged) is to play each opponent once with both decks. For example I play my order vs his destruction then switch sides; I play destruction vs his order. Between games you can choose any board you want for your start.
*Notes*
I have destruction sleeved one color and order sleeved another. The entire cube besides the fixed cards (which are kept separate anyway) fits into a 660 count card box.