#mtgdad

For reference:

Here is an update of I've been working on as well as my mtg dad goals for 2023:

The "Beginner Experience" cubes have to be a priority moving forward. I will be building a Jumpstart Cube for introducing people to the game, and a "noob cube" for introducing people to drafting. I won't be collecting these in foil, and will try to get the newest, most accurate wording for all the cards. I'm also going to try to pick "cute" art and "less creepy" themes when I can.

Begin "Alpha40" collection with Unlimited cards. I want to make this a priority. If you haven't heard of Alpha40, you should check it out. It looks way, way sweeter than Old School '93-'94.

Continue to update my personal copy of the MTGO Vintage Cube as well as a binder of the Vintage Cube alumni. A new twist on this project is to not just collect the "best" version of every card, but to have multiple versions so that people I play with can "reskin" their decks with the versions they want. This is just an idea for now.

Continue working on Modern deck boxes. Modern is currently the best constructed format, and I don't see that changing any time soon. I am currently working on Izzet Murktide, 5-Color Creativity, Hammertime, Rakdos Scam, and Yawgmoth combo. I will try to add another deck to the list every month.

Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty is my favorite set. I made Mythic in limited on Arena with this set. I will complete my Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty foil showcase set cube in 2023. I have almost 500 cards currently. I might spring for the textured foil Wanderer, but I'm not in for the neon ink Hidetsugu.

When thinking about set cubes, I overlooked Khans of Tarkir. Khans is LSV's pick for best draft set ever, and I remember being enamored with the card Defiant Strike. I will be starting a Khans of Tarkir set cube.

I totally forgot that I had already built an Innistrad (2011) set cube! It was buried in boxes of things I never unpacked after my wife and I bought our house. I am pretty sure that it is incomplete, so I need to verify the contents my non-foil Innistrad cube.

Consider foiling out my Premodern Masters set cube. I haven't decided whether or not I want to undertake this project. It will be expensive.

Other set cubes:

I was reminded of how much fun Ikoria was, so I'm thinking that might be next on my list. Mutate was such a sweet mechanic, and cycling is an all time great limited mechanic. The question is, do I make Zenith Flare rare or not?

Dominaria (2018) is on hold, maybe cancelled. There's some debate as to how good this set actually was. It was great for it's time, but we were coming off a lot of bad limited sets and we've had a lot of good ones since then. My original thought was this was a beginner-friendly set, but I think my plans for Jumpstart cube and the "noob cube" do this job better. Also, The recent Dominaria: United and Brothers' War sets are both really, really good.

Innistrad: Double Feature custom set cube is probably canceled, due to the unearthing of my Innistrad (2011) set cube.

One of either Time Spiral Remastered, Dominaria Remastered, or an Invasion Block custom set cube should probably get made.

Ravnica plane cube is still interesting to me.

Update my Type 4 cube. I have not worked on this at all in 2022, so this is something that I should start in 2023.

And finally, I will get my cards sorted and stored in their permanent home. This is such a big deal because I've never had a *permanent* home for my cards. It makes me feel emotional, to be honest. I have purchased a large Kallax with drawer inserts. As I work on the projects listed above, I'm slowly getting the rest of my collection sorted and catalogued on Cardsphere so I can trade for my projects.

 I hope that someday my son will develop an interest in games, especially the greatest game ever made, Magic: the Gathering. My son is 4 months old as of a few days ago. He is still years away from learning his ABCs, let alone reading, let alone learning a complicated game like Magic. And obviously, I am not going to force anything on him, he is free to make his own choices. But if he is interested in Magic, I want to be ready.

Mark Rosewater, lead designer of Magic: The Gathering, has said repeatedly, in some form or another, that Magic isn't just one game, it's many games all under a system of rules. I want to cultivate a collection of Magic experiences that span the history of the game. As I have been curating this list, I’m seeing very clearly that I need a solid beginner experience.

Here is what I'm working on:

An exact paper copy of the Magic Online Vintage Cube. Vintage cube is in some ways the pinnacle of the expert-level experience. I have been working on this for a couple of years now, so my cube is complete, I just need to update it whenever Magic Online brings the cube back. I am also slowly accumulating the “best” versions of all of the cards: foils, borderless or better yet old border, alternate art, neat looking Secret Lairs, etc. I am also collecting all of the cards that have ever been in the Magic Online Vintage Cube for posterity.

Type 4 cube. This has been on the back-burner for a while, but for those of you who don’t know, type 4 is maybe the best way to play Magic. Multiplayer, infinite mana, one spell per turn. There are various house rules; I use the rule that using alternate costs like Force of Will or if a card says “play this without paying it’s mana cost” like Cascade, these don’t count as your one spell per turn. We also draft face-up Rochester Draft style, so everyone knows exactly what everyone else is playing. We also photograph sweet plays and epic countermagic chains. It’s just dumb fun.

Pre-Modern Masters set cube. I discovered Pre-Modern a few years back, and shortly after discovered that the Swedes had a Pre-Modern Masters cube, which I completed early in 2021. I am contemplating foiling it out, but that will be a slow project over time. This is also a more expert-level experience.

But my experience with Pre-Modern Masters is that set cubes are really nice for a couple of reasons: regular sets are the ways that new players interact with Magic, and set cubes easily allow formats like Sealed or 40 card limited constructed, where you don’t actually need to have a draft pod. So having several set cubes from Magic’s history is extremely appealing to me.

Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty set cube. This is my favorite draft set of all time, and I have drafted almost every set since Invasion, and a few sets even before that. My goal is fully foil, fully showcase frame.

Custom Innistrad: Double Feature set cube. I’m curating Midnight Hunt and Crimson Vow into a single set, unlike what Double Feature actually was. This will be non-foil, regular frame. We’ll pull this set out for Halloween!

Dominaria set cube. This was in my top 5 sets of all time and I’ve wanted to build this one for several years, but I’m not sure I want this set anymore. I really don’t think it holds up to many of the more recent sets, and I don’t think it’s more historically significant than some of the older sets. Also, Dominaria United is excellent which also takes some of the thunder away.

Some other sets I’m considering: Time Spiral Remastered, Ravnica plane cube, Invasion block with some updates (might wait to see what Dominaria Remastered looks like), Rise of Eldrazi (one time best limited set ever), Throne of Eldraine.

I was trying to think up a good “beginner experience” and came across Jump Start. You still get a little bit of the deckbuilding experience by choosing compatible themes, it gives you lots and lots of possible decks to play with, but it’s still quick and easy to just jump in and play. Cultivating themes is a great way to study the history of the game and concepts like the color pie. I am very early in the brainstorming stage but my current thought is to have 20 themes, 2 of each mono-color and one of each color pair, and maybe build up from there. Shards and wedges? More single color options? There’s a lot of themes to play around with. 

Battle box. I started an old-border battle box before I ever heard of Pre-Modern, but I think the Pre-Modern Masters set cube is too similar, so it’s currently on hold. This idea is good though, it’s beginner-friendly, it’s quick to jump in.

Deck "boxes.” The idea is to build a stock version of an archetype, then have a small stack of cards to customize it if you want. I’ve been working on Modern decks because in my opinion, Modern is the best constructed format, but I am open to other formats as well. I probably have about 10 modern decks available to me, but what I need to do is build the metagame decks, not just the fun tier 4 janky stuff that I like to play.

I discovered Alpha 40 the other day, and I’m not made of money. But you know what? Unlimited cards are pretty cheap. (Unlimited 40 is also a thing, but I like the Alpha 40 rules a lot better.) This is a personal vanity project.

I am starting to realize I might need a project tracking tool, lol. My CardSphere account will be busy.