How to Write a Cube Primer People Actually Read

A cube primer is the short document that tells a drafter what your cube is, what it rewards, and how your table plays it. A card list says what is in the box. The primer says why. Most primers fail for one reason: they are written for the owner, not the drafter, and they run three thousand words when the drafter has four minutes in the car before the night starts.

This article is the first of ten on writing one. It covers what goes in, in what order, and how long each part should be. The later pieces go deep on the archetype section, house rules, the changelog, the visual spoiler, the first-timer guide, the FAQ, themed cubes, and where to publish. The tenth is the primer for our own cube, written to this plan.

Who is the primer for?

Three readers, with very different needs, and the order of the primer should follow the order of their patience.

1. The first-timer at your table. They have never seen the cube and may have never drafted. They need one paragraph on what it is, one on how the night works, and a list of the archetypes with one line each. They will not read past that, and they should not have to.
2. The regular who wants to get better. They have drafted it ten times. They want the archetype detail, the signpost cards, the curve targets, and the list of what changed since last month.
3. The stranger on CubeCobra. They found your list while searching for ideas. They want your design philosophy and your reasons. They are also the only reader who will read the whole thing.

Write for the first reader at the top, the second in the middle, and the third at the bottom. If the philosophy comes first, the first-timer closes the tab.

What sections does a cube primer need?

Here is the order we recommend, with a length target for each. The targets are a house guideline, not a standard; they are tuned to the reader above, and they total roughly 1,200 to 1,500 words for a 540-card unthemed cube before the FAQ.

The one-line description is the hardest sentence in the document and the most important. “A 540-card unpowered cube that plays like a strong Legacy format, with aggro kept honest and combo kept out” tells a drafter more than most primers manage in a page. Write it last, after everything else is clear.

What belongs in “what this cube is”?

Size, power level, and the one design choice that makes it yours. Nothing else.

Size and power level are the two facts every Magic player uses to orient. “360 cards, unpowered, roughly Legacy power” places the cube instantly for anyone who has drafted one before. If you have never named a power level, cube power levels explained covers the tiers and where the lines fall.

The design choice is what separates your cube from the ten thousand other lists in your category. It might be “every color has a real aggro deck,” or “no cards printed after 2015,” or “gold cards are only the ten signposts.” One choice, stated plainly. If you have three, you have not finished deciding, and the primer will show it.

How do you describe a night without writing a rulebook?

In five lines or fewer, answer: how many players, what draft format, how many packs and picks, how many rounds, and what happens with the cards after. For an eight-player pod drafting three 15-card packs and playing three rounds of best-of-three, that is a list a first-timer can read in twenty seconds.

If your group drafts something other than a standard booster draft, say so here and link to the format rules rather than explaining them inline. Grid, Winston, and Rochester each deserve their own page, not a paragraph in the primer.

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How much archetype detail is enough?

One paragraph per lane: the plan in a sentence, two or three cards that signal it, and one line on what beats it. Ten two-color lanes plus a few that cross colors is twelve paragraphs, and that is the longest section in the primer. It earns the space because it is the section regulars reread.

What does not belong here: a pick order, a full card list per archetype, or your personal win rate with each deck. The pick order goes stale within a month, and the win rate makes the primer about you. The second article in this series is entirely about this section, and the general shape of the ten lanes is in cube archetypes explained.

Which house rules go in the primer?

Only the ones that change a decision at the table. A rule a drafter needs to know before pick one, such as a duplicate voucher or a pick timer, goes in the primer. A rule the host enforces, such as who shuffles the packs, does not.

Write each rule as one sentence of what, and one of why. The why is what stops the rule being argued every third week. “Basic lands are unlimited and provided; we want you to draft spells, not lands” takes a second to read and closes the question.

Where does the philosophy go, and how long is it?

At the bottom, before the FAQ, and no longer than three paragraphs. This is the section owners love to write, because it is the one about them. Keep it, because the stranger on CubeCobra wants it and because writing it forces you to know what the cube is for. But put it after the sections drafters use.

A good philosophy section answers three questions. What kind of games do you want? What did you give up to get them? What will you never add, and why? If the answer to the third is “nothing,” the section is not finished. Every cube that has an identity has a list of cards it refuses.

What should you cut from a primer?

A list of common padding, each of which we have written and removed:

• The history of cube as a format. Link to a general explainer instead. Your reader either knows or can find out in one click.
• Card-by-card justifications. Those belong in the changelog, dated, where a drafter can find the one they care about.
• The full list. The list lives on CubeCobra. The primer links to it. Pasting 540 names into a document makes it unsearchable and unreadable.
• Your opinions on other cubes. Even complimentary ones. The primer is about your cube.
• Rules of Magic. If a card in your cube has a rules interaction people miss, one line in the FAQ. Anything more and you are writing a judge document.

The read-aloud test works for primers as well as it does for anything else. If a paragraph exists to prove you thought hard, cut it. The thinking shows in the choices.

How do you keep the primer current?

Date it at the top, and change the date every time you change the cube. A primer that says “last updated” eighteen months ago tells the reader not to trust any of it, even if most of it is still right.

The practical method: when you post a changelog entry, check whether it touches the archetype section or the house rules. Most changes do not. When one does, edit the paragraph the same day. The alternative, a quarterly rewrite, never happens.

FAQ

How long should a cube primer be?

About 1,200 to 1,500 words before the FAQ for a standard cube, as a house guideline. Themed and restricted cubes run longer because the restriction needs explaining.

Should the primer include a pick order?

No. Pick orders go stale fast and teach drafters to memorize instead of read signals. Name the signposts for each archetype and let the table work out the rest.

Where should a cube primer live?

On the cube’s CubeCobra overview, with a pinned copy or link in the group’s Discord. The ninth article in this series compares the options, including print.

Does a 360-card cube need a primer?

Yes, and a shorter one. The archetype section shrinks because fewer lanes are supported, but the house rules and the one-line description matter just as much.

Write it for the person in the car

The best primer we ever read was under a thousand words, and the owner had cut it from four thousand. Every section earned its place by answering a question a drafter had asked out loud. That is the standard. The game is the reason. The people are the point.

If you are writing a primer for your own cube, subscribe to The Ludarium newsletter: this series continues, and subscribers get each part first. If you are in Indianapolis, Cube Commonwealth, our cube group, is relaunching as part of The Ludarium; subscribers hear first when the first night is set.