The BEST Way to Play Commander! 

You guys should draft and play it for a video

Most important tip. Volunteer to keep the cube at your house then move to a new state and change your name.

I've always been the one in my play ground that likes to build decks and try new things. I've been interested in figuring out how to build a cube so this is a perfect video I've been looking for!

Cube is the best way to play Commander, I'm glad you dedicated a video to the subject - I hope there are more to come. A couple of comments: - With my own cube we did away with the color identity rule, which gives way to way more interesting builds. - I think your way of assigning a precise theme to every guild (with little overlap) makes for a very on-rails experience. Make your drafters feel smart for building around a certain commander / theme, instead of forcing your drafters to pick one of the 10 available themes. - Have you tried playing with 30 life instead of 40? This allows aggressive (boros?) decks to be more viable. - I think adding 2 commanders in every pack will become a tedious process. Why not just mix with normal cards? - I think you run too many multicolor cards. Make a mental note of how often these end up being last and second last picks, because they just can't be used. I'd love to see another video on the subject in a couple of months, outlying what you've changed after getting in more play sessions. Keep it up!

I like how Grave titan is a "Black Staple" lmao

Now we desperately need some gameplay videos! :-D

I love the idea of all mono colored legends gaining partner. Sounds like a super fun cube to draft!!

If I could like this more than once, I would. I've been slowly making a cube for a year now but haven't finished it.

This helps a ton. I'm in the process of making one now since my friends love Commander Legends

I’ve been reading up on building a cube and I appreciate this video. Will you please do more videos on your cube? Maybe more in depth breakdown of how many cards per archetype?

This seems sweet, I may try something like this myself, although it would probably take me at least one year to finish. You're great guys, keep the good content coming! :)

this format sounds fun. i play it twice with a few friends. it was great!

I’m glad you mentioned one of each cards that makes it easier to build when I tried to build one I was oh I’ll put the sold ring I had lying around wait that’s not a good idea it would be almost overpowered if no one else had one so I’ve scraped the cube til now

“What does dimir do? Nothing ?” That’s what it seems but dimir is in the underground planning all sorts of schemes

"Wine us, dine us, and 99 us." You're welcome.

the cube im working on does partner stuff too. the cubes name is multiclass. the idea being you are building around two or more creature types representing the 13 dnd classes. all commanders are treated as having partner and all 13 dnd class cards are available at the end of the draft as commander options or 99 options too.

Having Hot Soup in your cube, is why you guys are legendary.

Cool ! I've done a Cube myself using my collection. I'ts pretty budget though and I came up with a rule that you can add 1 or more colors to your commander, and it's working pretty well. I'm loving it ! :D

Long post warning but I’m digging your content a ton. So I’m building a commander league. It will include both a sealed pool (a set amount of commanders in that pool for each player) and a draft expierence. There will be a scoring system and cards will be added through draft as people play over the course of determined amount of games. It’s about 2000 cards as each person will have a 200 card pool that will change after every game session. I’ve also added in extra cards I call schemes that are given to every player after a game (players can only have 5 before choosing and discarding) these cards cost points players in first place will only have 1 point and 2nd 2 3rd 3 everyone else 4. These scheme cards are similar to conspiracy cards that allow you to gain advantage or bend deck building rules. For example you might use one to grant partner to any 2 or less coloured commander so you can play along a partner you have in your pool. Or you could promote any creature regardless of being a legend or rarity to commander. Or maybe you begin the game as a the monarch and we’re lucky enough to draft another scheme that lets you start with two 1/2 chump blockers for early card advantage at no cost. This system should let struggling players gain an advantage and give players who have been more successful in the drafting process a challenge. I’m exited to put it all together as I’ve been working on it for some time. I will also have it set up in a way that if you want to just play a 3 game tournament with only some scheme cards or non that is doable as well but it’s meant to be a league event over a month or more. I’ve found your budget bomb videos super helpful as well as this one for some inspiration. I have decks that are basically cedh as do my friends but we all enjoy lower powered games too and that’s how I’m building my cube no premium rocks or tutors. Combos are viable and there to find but all the cards for them are also fun to run in other strategies. Keep up the good stuff guys I ordered a bunch of cards I learned about through you and I like to think I have a good knowledge of edh playables but some of the stuff you guys highlight blows my mind how I haven’t seen it.

Dang commander cube is dope looking. You guys really seem like you put a lot of thought into making your as balanced as possible. If only my play group liked draft at all I would consider starting one my self.

Nice list! I've been working on my commander cube for a while now and it looks like we have similar archetypes. I've been having issues though with my archetypes being too narrow and drafts being too on-rails. Keep up the good work guys. Never knew you were from Buffalo - just moved out of town from WNY, so hold down the fort!

Thnx alot guys now i finaly understand commander cube

This is very similar to my Commander Cube. I actually built it right before Commander Legends came out and I gave all mono color and two color legends "Partner". I called it the Partner Cube, and it's based on three color strategies. Four color is possible, but three color is usually drafted over that. The biggest difference for my cube is Commanders were drafted first. One eight card pack passed for plenty of options. Then 20 cards packs two at a time after that. That was a change after Commander Legends came out. It used to only be one pick per pack but I liked how two played out. I've always had the idea to try and make a Commander Cube, and seeing the episode of Game Knights with Brandon Sanderson's Commander Cube gave me the inspiration to actually go for it. My friends and I have had so much fun with it. So much so that Commander Legends, although still fun, was kind of a letdown for us. We still enjoyed it, just enjoyed the cube a lot more. I have all the cards and archetypes written in my notepad on my phone, because where I created it. I didn't even know Cubecobra was a thing. I definitely feel like I should put it up there now.

Nice to see how enthusiastic they are about it!!

Been wanting to make a cube of my own for a while now, guess I'll get on it.

Man I love you guys. (Without making you to uncomfortable of course). I’ve been waiting so long for a good cube to look at!

Pretty sure 100 stacked cards is rectangular but ok

Thank you for the video. I'm building a commander cube too, so this helps a lot!

nn: u/b is tribal zombies me: "no way did they actually do it", pause video, open cube, look at the cards... and there it is... grave mf titan. gratz the cube looks so well done i can tell u optimized for fun. my 5c take out corrupted grafstone its such a feels bad when ur graveyard empty EDIT i drafted the cube and build a sick ug ezuri

my cube that I'm working on bypasses the must-pick in two ways. one limiting them and outright cutting them from the pool but two I have a mana pool and must pick pool. No one drafts rocks, lands, or cards that are absolutely necessary for fixing. there are just 4 copies available to all after the draft. I also only added 3 drop mana rocks that interact with one or more of the cube themes and sol talisman. all of my ramp is in fact weird and interacts with at least one archetype in the cube. mostly being untap and tap synergy are untap tap is one of the big archetypes

After bringing up your cube in your video today, I went back and watched this. How do you build the packs for the drafts? Also, would love to see a video of some gameplay with drafted decks from your cube.

"... so that the games just don't end" in this cube we can play forever and ever and ever and ever...

fun going back and watching this, I'm gonna be trying this finally. You guys had some good chemistry, it's cool seeing Mia get more comfortable since her first episode though. shoutout to both of you for building something great, hope Joe is doing alright

It's here. Finally! I am very excited...Keep up the awesome work!

Sweet iron buffalo shirt I love that place. And we just have to "whoo" you as much as possible without making you feel uncomfortable

Love Joe's little blue hat in this video 👌

I was literally looking into building one like a week ago. You guys rule

CubeCobra should allow you to put your Castle Lands, Vivid Lands, and many of the others into the right Color Identities.

Creating amazing magic culture with the video approaching power level and how to handle it.

Didn't know you guys were in the Buffalo area too! Glad to see more great people live around here.

Now I'm going to have to visit Iron Buffalo. Moved to Buffalo recently and haven't gotten out to the stores much due to COVID but I'll take you wearing their shirt as a recommendation. :)

You’ve mentioned your cube a few times recently so I was glad to find this video with all the details. Any possibility of a video talking about the changes you’ve made in the last few months? What worked? What didn’t? Thanks for all the great content!

I love cube, even more so than Commander. I love this video. I totally want to build my own Commander cube.

Haven't started watching yet, but super fun thumbnail.

I was a rakdos player till I played an upgraded prismari deck built around making treasures and casting and copying spells and it turned me into a izzet player

I’ve had an EDH cube that dates back to “Pre-Commander” title. The most successful version ended up like this. 1,500 cards not including commanders I chose the top 3 tribes for each color 60 card draft deck with 20 card packs 3 rounds But… I added “Any planeswalker can be your commander” and we drafted a 4th “pack” first I had a box of “potential commanders I might play” that box became the first pack before drafting our decks. Choose 200 commanders and shuffle them up each player picks 3 from the same pile. This gave us 3 options before we cracked our first pack. It removed the pack one pick one fear of taking cards you won’t use or rushing to take a commander.

Congratulations guys! I know that would’ve been a whole lot of work to put together. Great job! 👍😁

I have a commander cube too! It’s so satisfying seeing it play out how you planned.

Mind, not all infinite combos are equally dangerous. For example, infinite life gain can be answered by commander damage, poison counters, win condition cards (if you permit them), milling, and another player replying with their own infinite combos. Plus, Commander and other multiplayer games in general, have a ton of removal to disrupt combos. Infinite combos are not always drafted, nor always drawn or tutored for. One could argue that (infinite) combos are more of a hazard in 40 and 60 card formats.

Can you do a video talking about the top 5 draw spells of each color? (Rip white)

Would love to see a gameplay video for the cube!

Cool to hear your filosophies on the cube. I like what you did with your cube. It is really different than how I build it. I chose to not be doing archtypes but only the best cards that are good in every deck.

This is absolutely amazing you guys put so much thought into this and it shows

Do you find that the packs feel “stale” after a few rotations? If you’re doing 20-card packs with 4 people, then 2 people see a pack twice, and 2 people see them thrice. Wondering if 4 pack of 16 would be an improvement, that way everyone sees each pack twice, and now you’re drafting with 256 cards instead of 240, so a little added variety.

Totally inspired me to build a commader cube. About to check yours out and take some tips. Sounds awesome and have no doubt you two built it amazingly

My roommate made an Apex Legends cube with Custom commanders similar rules as your cube. We used the kaladesh set as the meat and bones of the cube and Singleton. It has been a blast so far

I also built a commander cube, and gave all mono colored commanders partner! The big difference is that mine is built for sealed, so synergy takes a backseat to power.

I had my own commander cube and I had some special rules to allow them to play multiple colours I allowed any planes walkers allowed as commander and any 2 or 1 colour commander has partner Although I had to ban a partner pair Aurelia they warleader and medomai the ageless was banned as a partner pair for too many extra turns It’s really fun

"I will woo you guys as much as possible, without making you uncomfortable" I built a cube largely based on conspiracy 2, but removing duds and adding synergy. Sadly i haven't had the chance to play it that much

We have the cube, you will be humiliated!... I say in borg voices.

OH SICK! I've wanted to build an EDH cube for years.

One way to semi-solve the "Staples" problem: Make a pack of 15 cards DEDICATED to Staples! That way, each player gets the exact same number of Staples, and seeing Sol Ring, Smothering Tithe, and Rhystic Study in the same pack means you have to think and choose, rather than grabbing the staple of the pack.

Not about to wine and dine you guys but I'm up in Amherst and always looking for new playgroups. Iron Buffalo is like right down the road. Same w/ Dragon Snacks lol you guys should do a meet up!

Honestly fellas, l’ve never been sure exactly how to build a cube for commander, but really wanted to. This is solid gold. Thanks for all your crazy amount of content, it’s so helpful and hilarious.

I'm putting together a commander cube, but I'm also including cards with Ante. The idea is to have a tournament style match with post draft trading and card stealing

Great video. I built a Commander Cube myself and we used some of the same ideas.

As someone that has seen some pretty malevolent toxicity in the community, I'm glad you guys are reminding everyone to be good to eachother.

Does this work with 4 players drafting. If so, how would that work? Also as someone who is fairly new to cube, how do you create the packs? What’s the color distribution in every pack?

Great jobs guys! I love that you are spreading the word of “commander cube”. On a side note have you tried “rakdos treasures”? Dockside being a huge influence and payoffs such as “mayhem devil”, “bolas’s citadel”, “marionette master”, and others. It could work for you as treasures are desired by all players. Best of luck, Cheers!

For the Rakdos archetype issue you mention around 12:00, have you considered using a Chaos/Control archetype instead? (Goad, Gonti, Share The Spoils, Humble Defector, Hunted Dragon, political cards, etc.) I'm working on a Commander Legends Cube and I'm using this as a sub-theme in non-green colors. The hope is that a commander like Kardur would be less oppressive than Judith.

Still waiting for the game. I'd like to see you guys playing this draft. Thanks for the ideas 💡

Brash taunter was hilariously a problem for us cuz I neglected to put much exile or -x/-x effects into it

I'm looking forward to seeing the games you post drafting this

When I use the TCG affiliate player link to support the channel (buying cards I would have bought anyway) there's always a nagging thought that I didn't do it right and that you guys won't get the kickback. AM I CRAZY?!

This sounds super cool thanks for sharing!!!

Ayy, my birthday video :D

You guys clearly worked hard on this - I'm impressed! Are you going to continue to update your decklist on cubecobra?

As a heads up, and this is literally because I made the same mistake with my cube last month, Kalamax + Expansion/Explosion and any sorcery is your infinite stegosaurus. Ended up swapping my Temur slot for Riku since Kalamax either offers the infinite potential or renders other playstyles in Temur worse.

Will you guy's ever test Conspiracies and Hero cards in the cube?

i noticed that your cube list on moxfield still has ignite memories in the list. is that because this list isnt the most up-to-date list, or because you guys havent found a good replacement yet? Overall i really love this cube! Ive wanted to build a cube for a while, but i cant seem to find the time, so now i might just take your list here and play and make my own revisions with my group. If you guys plan on making updates, it would be cool to compare how our cubes have changed for balancing as time goes on!

I've been trying to put together a cube for a while. Just can't decide between u/b: mill or zombies and u/r: spellslinger or artifacts Great list! I like the idea of all mono commanders have partner.

"When do you draft Selesnya and Gruul?? Never!!" Looking at myself, who likes to draft Selesnya and Gruul... :D

pauper commander cube next with sets post 2019 😁😁😁 call it the covid-catastrophe-cube-for-now-actual-paupers-and-post-pandemic-beginners. Also, when can we get some overhead footage of you guys drafting and playing? 👀

Shieeet thinking about vacationing to Niagra this fall anyways, getting to commander cube with the nerds would be a sweet motivation ;)

I took lands out of my commander cube cuz it’s never interesting to take lands as a pick. Instead I have a rule that each deck can have one of each guildgate/gain 1 life land/tapped land with no subtype in your color identity whether you’re 2/3 colors.

listening to this video while cutting up 540 proxies to create a paper version of LSV's vintage draft to play when meet ups can happen again (also shout out to hp instant ink who charge per page and replace cartridges when they're empty so no feels bad :D) I'm feeling like I'm gonna end up buying some more inner sleeves and baggies for this yet...

The bois are back with another video !!!! Let’s goooo

Hey guys, thanks a lot for this awesome cube :) I am just getting all the cards to build it an play it over cristmas with a few friends, but there was one thing I was not quite sure about. In the description on Cubecobra it said you are supposed to put 2 seeded commanders in every pack which makes total sense to me. Does anyone know if the other legendary Cards are supposed to be shuffeld in the cube and put in packs after you have done the seeding process? Best regards and thanks again for your awesome content :)

So its more of a brawl cube? Except with non plainswalker commanders

Have you considered putting the strixhaven deans in as commander and give each side partner with instead of being 2 sides of the same card?

Hey guys! I was taking a look at this video to figure out ways to better balance my own Commander Cube and I noticed that the two color partners no longer show up in the list. Did you guys just find that this just made the format feel like you have to draft 4-color good stuff if it was available? Just wanted to get your thoughts. Keep crushing it!

I usually play with only four friends, what is the best way to modify the cube to four players?

Would you guys want to be on a show like game knights if given the option?

Was just putting together a cube yesterday. What timing.

What are some archetipes you wanted to put in the cube put didnt make the cut?

@Nitpickingnerds has the cube been updated and optimized since this video? I'm really wanting to make a cube that I can trust

Waiting for the cube shuffle scuffle

while I agree the decision to not include 2 or 3 card combos in a cube is the correct one, i dont think a combo invalidates everything till that moment. Also, love the idea of a cube, it kind of re captures the feeling of "old"? EDH, with a more battlecruiser style love your content, keep it up

Your cube looks sweet. I like decision not to include busted mana rocks. I've played a lot of vintage cube, and it gets kind of boring having to pass up on a really cool build around because there's a mana crypt in the pack or something like.

Can confirm, Scarab God was scary 🤣