Source
r/mtgcube•
LabManiac

Infinite cube card numbers

Hey, everyone, I'm tinkering with the idea of building a infinite cube for a full block.
Now, I'm not sure on how many copies of each card I need to be able to draft the cube with decent variance.
The block is composed of set sizes of Big, Small, Small. I'm thinking that I'll get 3c 2u 1r for each set. What I'm not sure about: This would mean that about 50% of total small set commons show up during a full block draft. I'm not sure if this is acceptable for a infinite cube, so I'm hoping some people more versed in cube building could help me with that.

Posted May 11, 2016, 5:42 PM UTC

110
MDT12•

What is an infinite cube?

6
LabManiacOP•

Oh, sorry, phrased poorly on my part.
A cube so large that it emulates playing with the actual set. Including correct rarity distributions and such. I saw someone call it that and just went with it. The question could read: "How many of commons/uncommons and rares of a given set do I need to have high enough variance for simulating actual booster packs?"

1
Xirious585 Power Proxied•

It's not called that at all - they're called set cubes and here's the best starting guide out there to help with building them.

Also: https://www.reddit.com/r/mtgcube/search?q=Set+Cube&restrict_sr=on&sort=relevance&t=all

2
LabManiacOP•

thanks for clearing that up. I just read it somewhere and went with it.

1
Mulificushttp://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/55650•

Check out the print run analysis done by u/Nisoh_, he has a series of videos that are extremely informative about how commons are packed into sets and the various groupings that occur to effectively randomize a pack.

Imo you probably need about 1 of each Rare/Mythic and 2-3 of each uncommon. 6 of each common sorted by print run and group, and then a number of foils that you want to add in.

Also something to note, actual booster packs have 14 cards (10 commons, 3 uncommons and 1 rare) while the average cube pack has 15 cards. Maybe you pull a Modern Masters and put a foil in the Land spot instead? That's up to you I suppose!

1
LabManiacOP•

The set I wanted to build was Time Spiral Block, and apparently that had 15-card booster packs. I can't remember. At least MTGsalvation tells me that.

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Mulificushttp://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/55650•

10c+3u+1r+1Timeshifted I think? Sounds like a sweet project though! I'm not sure how easy it will be to find print run information on Time Spiral, but its an older set so there may be stuff out there!

1
LabManiacOP•

Yeah, according to MTGsalvation it will be
TSP: 10C 3U 1R 1T
PLC: 8C 2U 1R 3TC 1TU/TR
FUT: 11C 3U 1R
Aka the most complex distribution you could imagine, just as expected from time spiral block. It's definitely kind of a crazy project. I don't think I can find much print run information, so I'll probably start with random distribution and see how that pans out.

1
Mulificushttp://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/55650•

Found something! So this goes a bit into detail about how they work I suppose, pairing what they call red suits with a black suit. This probably means that depending on the pack you will get stronger cards in a couple colours compared to a second pack with oppositely strong colours.

Doing the other two sets may be difficult... I'll see what I can pull up.

1