Preconstructed decks and cubes are the two ways a group plays Magic without anyone building a deck at home. A precon is a finished deck in a box: open it, shuffle, play. A cube is a box of singles you draft into decks at the table. One takes two minutes to start and the other takes an hour before the first game, and the hour is the part cube players love and precon players dread.
This article compares the two across the things that decide a game night: setup time, cost, player count, how a mixed-skill table feels, and what happens after the tenth session. It then covers the three formats that sit between them, because for most groups the right answer is one of those.
What are the options, exactly?
“Precon” covers a lot of ground, and the products differ enough that the comparison changes:
- Commander precons. The Commander decks Wizards ships with most releases, usually two to four per set. 100 cards, multiplayer, 40 life, built for what Wizards itself calls Magic’s most popular multiplayer format and one of the most common ways new players enter the game today.
- Starter and Challenger decks. Sixty-card two-player decks. The Starter Kit two-deck boxes are built to teach; the Challenger decks (when printed) are competitive constructed decks for Standard or Pioneer.
- Game Night and Battle Decks. Game Night boxes ship five 60-card decks built to play against each other; third-party “battle decks” from retailers like Card Kingdom are 60-card decks at a fixed low price (about $12 each when last listed) meant to be played against one another.
- Jumpstart boosters. Twenty-card half-decks, pair two.
“Cube” here means a drafted singleton cube of any size, though a 360 is the comparison point. The battle box guide covers the format that sits closest to precons.
How do they compare?
| Precons | Cube | |
|---|---|---|
| Time to first game | 2 to 5 minutes | 45 to 75 minutes (draft + build) |
| Cost to start | $12 to $50 per deck | Anywhere from about $100 to $150 (pauper) to a few hundred (peasant or budget) for a 360, plus sleeves, at the time of writing |
| Players | 2 (60-card) or 4 (Commander) | 2 to 8 per cube, 8 ideal |
| Decks per night | Fixed set, swap between games | New decks every draft |
| Skill spread | Evens out mismatches | Rewards the better drafter twice |
| Replay | Fades after 5 to 10 plays per pair | Hundreds of drafts |
| Teaching | Excellent | Hard until the player can draft |
| Storage | One box per deck | One box total |
The table hides the real difference, which is where the fun lives. In precon play the fun is entirely in the game. In cube the fun is split: half the night is the draft and the build, and for many players that half is the better one. If your group’s favorite moment is pick three of pack two, no precon will satisfy them. If their favorite moment is the alpha strike, the draft is an hour of waiting.
When do precons win?
When the table is mixed. Two players of very different skill are closer with two evenly built 60-card decks than with any cube, because the cube gives the stronger player an edge in the draft and another in the build. Precons remove both edges.
When time is short or uncertain. A precon night can start when two people arrive and absorb a third at the next game. A cube draft needs the whole pod present before pick one.
When someone is learning. Preconstructed decks are how nearly everyone learns Magic now, and the Starter Kit decks are built so that a first-time player can read the deck’s plan off the cards. For teaching, precons are a good step one and a cube a good step three.
When the group plays Commander. Commander precons are a format of their own with a huge community and reliable matchups within a release. A four-pod of the same release’s precons is one of the most balanced games in Magic.
When does a cube win?
When the same people play every week. A fixed set of precons wears out. After ten games between the same two decks, both players know every card and the matchup is solved. A cube produces a new matchup every draft and a new deck every time; ours has been drafted for years and still surprises.
When six to eight people show up. Nothing else in Magic seats eight people in one shared event for a whole evening. Precons at eight means four separate games.
When the drafting is the point. For a lot of players it is. The 45 picks are the game they came for and the matches are the scoreboard.
When you want one purchase instead of many. A cube costs more up front and nothing after. With Commander precons now carrying a $49.99 list price, a group that buys every Commander deck from each release spends more in a year than a budget 360 costs once.
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What sits between them?
Three formats take the setup speed of precons and keep some of the cube’s variety. They are what we actually recommend to most groups asking this question.
Jumpstart cube. Twenty themed 20-card packs; each player picks two and shuffles. Two minutes to a deck, a new deck every game, 190 combinations in a 20-pack box. It is the closest thing to “precons that never repeat,” and our Jumpstart cube guide covers how to build one from a collection or a retired cube.
Battle box. One shared pile of spells and ten lands per player. No deck at all, and no mana problems ever. It is the fastest two-player Magic there is and a good fit for the mixed-skill table, because the shared library means both players draw from the same quality. The construction is in our battle box article.
A precon cube. Buy or build eight to twelve 60-card decks at the same power level, keep them in one box, and let players pick blind or draft the decks themselves by name. Card Kingdom’s battle decks are built for exactly this and the Game Night boxes work out of the box. The upkeep is tuning: when one deck wins too often, swap a card or two. A precon cube is a fine permanent fixture for a lounge or a classroom because nobody has to know how to draft and nothing walks away in pieces.
For two players specifically, a Winston or Grid draft of a small cube is a fourth option: 20 minutes of drafting that feels like a real draft, from a 90- to 180-card pool.
Which should you build first?
A quick decision tree:
- Will the same six to eight people play most weeks? Yes: build a cube. No: continue.
- Is anyone at the table brand new? Yes: start with two precons or a battle box; add a Jumpstart cube within a month.
- Is the group two to four people with uneven schedules? A Jumpstart cube or battle box. Both start the moment two people sit down.
- Does the group already play Commander? Buy the current precons for now and build a Commander cube when the precons get stale.
Most groups that start with precons end up with a cube within a year, and most cube groups keep a battle box or a Jumpstart box for the short nights. The real answer to “precon vs cube” for a group that lasts is “both, in that order.”
FAQ
Is a cube better than precons?
For a regular group of six to eight, a cube offers far more variety and a shared event. For two mixed-skill players or a short night, evenly built precons are the better fit. Most lasting groups end up with both.
How much does a cube cost compared to precons?
A budget 360-card cube costs roughly the price of two to eight Commander decks up front, and nothing after. Precon costs recur with each release a group buys.
What is a precon cube?
A box of eight to twelve preconstructed 60-card decks at a matched power level, from which players pick or draft a whole deck instead of drafting cards. It gives precon setup speed with some of a cube’s variety.
What is the fastest way to play Magic with no deckbuilding?
A battle box: one shared library of spells and ten lands per player, ready to play in under a minute. Jumpstart is a close second at about two minutes.
Pick the box your night deserves
Whatever lands on the table, the goal is the same: two or more people, an evening, and a game that gets them talking. The game is the reason. The people are the point.
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