Post by nkeates on Jun 20, 2014 7:20:19 GMT -5
Hi all
I was talking to Todd the other day and he was talking about how Magic had a cube environment and how good it would be for there to be a HL cube. As I have never played magic!!! I needed some clarification on what a cube is. The general concept is quite simple: a cube is a pool of cards that can be randomised and organised into packs, and used to draft.
I have always liked sealed deck and liked drafting even more so my interest was piqued. Many people would like to get into HL but due to shortage of cards particularly from some of the middle sets endgame, 4th Season and 4H in particular it might be a good way to get people into the game. But how would a cube be organised and what rules would be used? So I went away and thought about how a cube could be organised and what the rules would be and here is the result of my labours....as always all comments appreciated.
OK lets start with the "mathsie bit". I decided that I would build a cube for 8 players...obviously this could be changed but 8 seems good as a starting point.
1. Decks would need to be between 50 and 60 cards ...so each player would need to have a 60 card deck and could discard up to 10 cards to make a deck of at least 50 cards (obviously a player might decide not to discard any and play with 60). This would mean that with 8 players the cube would be 480 cards in total.
2. Now for any HL deck to be legal it needs 9 basic attacks and 6 basic blocks so these cards would need to be given to each player before the game starts and would not be drafted. I also decided that as this is HL every player should start with one head shot card. Therefore each player would have 16 starting cards and would need to draft 44. 44 is a nice number so players would draft 4 packs of 11 cards each.
3. Next up what about personas and WoC cards? I didn't want these to be drafted as it would take up card space ..so how could they be incorporated? How about an auction?! Bear with me.... Each player would have a starting "currency" of 7 master cards in other words they could include 7 master cards in their deck. They would bid on persona cards and WoC cards using this limit ...so if a player bought a persona for 2 master cards they would only be able to include 5 master cards in their deck. Purchasing a WoC would be optional but a persona card would be mandatory.
4. What about toolbox cards? Again thought about whether they should be given to players at the start of the game....in the end I decided that toolbox cards were a matter of choice...some people play with lots ..others take the risk and don't play with any so I would include more copies of toolbox in the cube but leave them to be drafted.
5,. The composition of the cube will depend on what cards you have ...so I didn't want to be too prescriptive. For my cube I decided on the following :-
36 toolbox cards (12 Misfortune, 12 police, 12 Investigation) If you have the dual cards for these I think it will make the cube better.
16 alertness - 8 unblockable, 8 undodgeable
20 edges ..other alertness, focus etc.
90 specials
80 defences
110 attacks
OK onto the rules
1. Determine an auctioneer randomly
2. The auctioneer selects a persona and bids anything from 0 to 7 master cards for him/her. Each player may increase the bid or pass. Once passed you cannot return to the current auction. Once everyone has passed the winner takes the persona and reduces the number of master cards he is allowed to put into his deck. (If the auctioneer bids 0 master cards and everyone else passes the player gets the persona for 0 master cards). The next player becomes the auctioneer and the process continues until all players have a persona.
3. Bidding for WoCs cards then begins. Again randomly determine an auctioneer. The auctioneer can put up a WoC for auction. If he decides not to then he is out of the auction for all WoC and the next player becomes the auctioneer. If the auctioneer decides to put a WoC up for auction then the auctioneer can bid from 1 - 7 master cards. HE MUST BID AT LEAST 1 as WoC are not mandatory like personas. The auction continues until every one has passed and the winner takes the WoC forfeiting the number of master cards bid. The auction continues until each player has passed as auctioneer so everyone has their desired number of weapons.
4. Drafting may now begin. Each player draws 11 cards, chooses one and passes the remainder to the player on the left. As with any sealed deck you can draw any card ie signature cards belonging to other immortals, WoC specific attacks and defences belonging to a different WoC etc. There are no gem restrictions. The only constraints to deck building are that you cannot exceed your master card limit determined by the auction and if you decide to purchase a WoC you have to abide by any deck building restrictions ie if you buy the English Longsword you can not include any counters in your deck.
Once you have drafted 11 cards you draw another 11 cards take one and pass the cards to your right.. This continues until you have another 11 cards. You repeat the process passing cards to the left and right until you have drawn 44 cards
5. Once you have 60 cards you can slim down to at least 50 cards if you want to.
6. Gameplay will be the same as normal sealed deck ie you start with ability of 10 so you draw 10 cards and can strat one every turn.
Wow well that is it. My take on a HL cube. Comments as always welcome.
Best as always
N
I was talking to Todd the other day and he was talking about how Magic had a cube environment and how good it would be for there to be a HL cube. As I have never played magic!!! I needed some clarification on what a cube is. The general concept is quite simple: a cube is a pool of cards that can be randomised and organised into packs, and used to draft.
I have always liked sealed deck and liked drafting even more so my interest was piqued. Many people would like to get into HL but due to shortage of cards particularly from some of the middle sets endgame, 4th Season and 4H in particular it might be a good way to get people into the game. But how would a cube be organised and what rules would be used? So I went away and thought about how a cube could be organised and what the rules would be and here is the result of my labours....as always all comments appreciated.
OK lets start with the "mathsie bit". I decided that I would build a cube for 8 players...obviously this could be changed but 8 seems good as a starting point.
1. Decks would need to be between 50 and 60 cards ...so each player would need to have a 60 card deck and could discard up to 10 cards to make a deck of at least 50 cards (obviously a player might decide not to discard any and play with 60). This would mean that with 8 players the cube would be 480 cards in total.
2. Now for any HL deck to be legal it needs 9 basic attacks and 6 basic blocks so these cards would need to be given to each player before the game starts and would not be drafted. I also decided that as this is HL every player should start with one head shot card. Therefore each player would have 16 starting cards and would need to draft 44. 44 is a nice number so players would draft 4 packs of 11 cards each.
3. Next up what about personas and WoC cards? I didn't want these to be drafted as it would take up card space ..so how could they be incorporated? How about an auction?! Bear with me.... Each player would have a starting "currency" of 7 master cards in other words they could include 7 master cards in their deck. They would bid on persona cards and WoC cards using this limit ...so if a player bought a persona for 2 master cards they would only be able to include 5 master cards in their deck. Purchasing a WoC would be optional but a persona card would be mandatory.
4. What about toolbox cards? Again thought about whether they should be given to players at the start of the game....in the end I decided that toolbox cards were a matter of choice...some people play with lots ..others take the risk and don't play with any so I would include more copies of toolbox in the cube but leave them to be drafted.
5,. The composition of the cube will depend on what cards you have ...so I didn't want to be too prescriptive. For my cube I decided on the following :-
36 toolbox cards (12 Misfortune, 12 police, 12 Investigation) If you have the dual cards for these I think it will make the cube better.
16 alertness - 8 unblockable, 8 undodgeable
20 edges ..other alertness, focus etc.
90 specials
80 defences
110 attacks
OK onto the rules
1. Determine an auctioneer randomly
2. The auctioneer selects a persona and bids anything from 0 to 7 master cards for him/her. Each player may increase the bid or pass. Once passed you cannot return to the current auction. Once everyone has passed the winner takes the persona and reduces the number of master cards he is allowed to put into his deck. (If the auctioneer bids 0 master cards and everyone else passes the player gets the persona for 0 master cards). The next player becomes the auctioneer and the process continues until all players have a persona.
3. Bidding for WoCs cards then begins. Again randomly determine an auctioneer. The auctioneer can put up a WoC for auction. If he decides not to then he is out of the auction for all WoC and the next player becomes the auctioneer. If the auctioneer decides to put a WoC up for auction then the auctioneer can bid from 1 - 7 master cards. HE MUST BID AT LEAST 1 as WoC are not mandatory like personas. The auction continues until every one has passed and the winner takes the WoC forfeiting the number of master cards bid. The auction continues until each player has passed as auctioneer so everyone has their desired number of weapons.
4. Drafting may now begin. Each player draws 11 cards, chooses one and passes the remainder to the player on the left. As with any sealed deck you can draw any card ie signature cards belonging to other immortals, WoC specific attacks and defences belonging to a different WoC etc. There are no gem restrictions. The only constraints to deck building are that you cannot exceed your master card limit determined by the auction and if you decide to purchase a WoC you have to abide by any deck building restrictions ie if you buy the English Longsword you can not include any counters in your deck.
Once you have drafted 11 cards you draw another 11 cards take one and pass the cards to your right.. This continues until you have another 11 cards. You repeat the process passing cards to the left and right until you have drawn 44 cards
5. Once you have 60 cards you can slim down to at least 50 cards if you want to.
6. Gameplay will be the same as normal sealed deck ie you start with ability of 10 so you draw 10 cards and can strat one every turn.
Wow well that is it. My take on a HL cube. Comments as always welcome.
Best as always
N
