How to Teach a Cube Draft in Ten Minutes

The fastest way to lose a table on Cube night is to explain everything before anyone touches a card. Draft rules, deckbuilding, the turn, sideboards, pairings: by the time the host finishes, the pizza is cold and the new player has decided this is homework.

The fix is the same as for any game. Teach the loop, start the loop, and add each rule when it comes up. Here is a host script in the order you would say it. Print the Cube draft teach sheet and set copies around the table.

Before anyone sits down

Do the slow work early, so the teach starts with the draft ready.

• Shuffle the Cube and deal three packs of 15, face down, for each seat.
• Put basic lands, at least a stack of each type, where everyone can reach them.
• Set out dice or counters for tokens and life totals.
• Decide your house rules in advance: pairings, how many rounds, pick pace. Our guide to Cube house rules lists the ones most groups end up needing.

Seat new players next to someone patient, not next to each other. Our host’s guide to running a Cube draft has a full checklist and a timed schedule for the night.

Minute 1: the promise

Say: “Tonight this whole box is ours. We draft it, build decks, and play. Nobody needs their own cards, and nobody keeps anything. Every card goes back at the end.”

That last sentence relaxes people. Nothing they do tonight costs them anything.

Minutes 2 and 3: the draft

Hold up a pack. Say:

1. “Open your pack. Take one card you like and put it face down in front of you.”
2. “Pass the rest to your left.”
3. “Pick up the pack that comes to you and do it again, until the pack is gone.”
4. “Three packs. Left, then right, then left.”

Then the one rule that keeps it fun: “Keep your picks secret and do not talk about what is in the packs. Talk about anything else.”

Stop. Ask: “Questions on the draft?”

Minutes 4 and 5: what to take

New drafters freeze on pick one. Give them three rules they can hold:

• “Early on, take the strongest card.”
• “Cheap spells that kill creatures are great picks.”
• “Try to end up in two colors.”

That is enough. Signals, curves, and archetypes can wait until the second draft. The one-page Cube draft guide is a good handout for anyone who wants more.

Minute 6: start the draft

Say “Pack one, go left,” and start. Call the first few picks out loud, “pick two, pick three,” until the table finds its rhythm. Call the direction again at the start of each pack. Someone always forgets.

During the draft, help with reading, not choosing. “That one costs three and kills a creature” is help. “Take that one” is drafting for them.

Deckbuilding: the next teach

After pack 3, give the table about 20 to 25 minutes to build. Before the clock starts, say three things:

• “At least 40 cards. Lands are free from the pile.”
• “Most decks play 17 lands and 23 spells.”
• “Everything you do not play is your sideboard, and you can swap between games.”

Walk the room. A new player with a pile of 45 cards in four colors needs one question, not a lecture: “Which two colors have your best cards?”

Minutes 7 to 9: the game, for anyone new

Most Cube drafters know how to play Magic. If someone does not, teach them now, with their own deck, while the others build. Use the teach sheet:

1. “Untap, then draw a card.”
2. “Play one land a turn. Tap lands for mana to cast spells.”
3. “Attack with creatures. Your opponent chooses who blocks.”
4. “New creatures wait a turn before attacking.”
5. “Everyone starts at 20 life. Get your opponent to 0.”

Save everything else for when it happens: the stack, instants on the other player’s turn, triggered abilities. A player sitting with an experienced opponent learns those in one game. Our article on teaching Magic with a Cube covers which rules to teach first and which can wait.

Minute 10: pair up and play

Say how the rounds work, once: “Best of three games. The loser of each game chooses who goes first in the next. We play two rounds, maybe three.”

Then pair people and let them play.

What to leave out

• Tournament procedure. No decklists, no judges, no match slips unless the group wants them.
• Pick orders and tier lists. New drafters cannot use them yet.
• Every rule of Magic. The teach sheet covers the turn. The rest arrives when a card asks for it.

Close the night well

The last teach is the one that brings people back. Before anyone leaves, say: “Put your cards back the way the owner sorts them, lands back on the pile, tokens in the box.” Then ask everyone the best card they drafted. Five minutes of stories is how a Cube becomes a group’s shared memory.