Winston draft is the oldest and best-known way to draft a cube with two people: a shared stack of cards, three small face-down piles, and a series of take-it-or-pass decisions that turn into a forty-card deck. Grid draft and Winchester draft solve the same problem differently, with open information and fewer blind picks. All three turn a cube built for eight into a great evening for two.
Most weeks a cube group draws a full pod. Some weeks it is you and one friend and the box. This article explains the three formats step by step, with the card counts that work, and says which one fits which kind of night. It assumes you already know how a cube works.
How does Winston draft work?
Winston draft was developed by Richard Garfield and is the format most cube owners learn first for two players.
Setup. Shuffle the cube and pull a stack of 90 cards, which is the equivalent of six fifteen-card packs. Set the rest of the cube aside. Deal three cards from the stack face down in a row next to it. Those are the three piles. Flip a coin for who picks first.
A turn. The active player looks at pile one, keeping it hidden from the opponent. Two options:
- Take it. Add every card in that pile to your picks. Then deal one new card from the stack face down to replace the pile.
- Pass it. Deal one card from the stack face down onto that pile, making it bigger, and look at pile two.
The same choice repeats at pile two and pile three. If the active player passes all three piles, they take the top card of the stack blind, without looking first. Then the turn passes.
End. The draft ends when the stack is empty and all three piles have been taken. Each player ends with around 45 cards and builds a 40-card deck with basic lands.
Why it is good. Every pass makes the pile more tempting for your opponent. Pass a mediocre card and the pile grows; pass again and it is two mediocre cards plus a mystery. The format produces constant small bluffs. Taking pile one with a single excellent card is often right. Taking a four-card pile of junk because the alternative is a blind pick is often wrong and sometimes necessary.
Common tweaks. Some groups use a 120-card stack for more deck options. Some allow peeking at a pile you passed earlier in the same turn; the standard rule is that once you pass a pile, you move on.
How does Grid draft work?
Grid draft is fully open information. There are no hidden piles and no blind picks, which makes it the easiest two-player format to teach and to argue about.
Setup. Shuffle the cube and set aside 18 stacks of 9 cards, 162 cards total. Flip for who picks first in grid one.
A grid. Lay 9 cards face up in a three-by-three grid. The first player takes an entire row or an entire column, three cards. The second player then takes any remaining complete row or column. Because the first pick removed a line, the second player’s line will have either three cards or two, depending on whether it crosses the first player’s pick.
The remaining cards, three or four of them, go to a discard pile and are out of the draft. Lay out the next grid. The player who picked second now picks first, and this alternates every grid.
End. After 18 grids, each player has 45 to 54 cards and builds a 40-card deck.
Why it is good. Every decision is a small puzzle with full information. Do you take the row with the bomb and two blanks, or the column with three solid playables? Can you take a line that also denies the opponent the card they want? Because the leftover cards are discarded, the draft also teaches hate-drafting in miniature.
Common tweaks. Some players use a 4x4 grid for larger picks. Some return the leftover cards to a pool for a final pick round. CubeCobra supports Grid draft directly in its playtest tools, which makes it the easiest format to try online.
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How does Winchester draft work?
Winchester draft, introduced on Wizards’ site in 2011, is the middle ground: open information like Grid, growing piles like Winston.
Setup. Shuffle the cube and pull a 90-card stack. Deal four cards face up in a row. Those are the four piles. Flip for first pick.
A turn. The active player takes one of the four piles, all of it. Then deal one new card face up onto each of the four pile positions, so the taken pile is replaced with one card and the other three piles each grow by one.
End. Continue until the stack is empty and the piles are gone. Each player has around 45 cards.
Why it is good. Because the piles are face up, you can see exactly what you are giving your opponent by leaving a pile. Because every untaken pile grows, there is real pressure to take a pile before it becomes too good to leave. It is faster than Winston, with no hidden-information bluffing, and the decisions are about tempo: take the single great card now, or let a three-card pile ripen and risk losing it.
Common tweaks. Some groups deal the new cards face down and reveal all four piles at the start of each turn; the standard version is face up throughout.
Which two-player cube format should you use?
| Winston | Grid | Winchester | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cards used | 90 | 162 | 90 |
| Information | Hidden piles | Fully open | Fully open |
| Blind picks | Yes | No | No |
| Draft length | 25 to 35 min | 20 to 30 min | 15 to 25 min |
| Teaches | Bluffing, risk | Hate drafting, evaluation | Tempo, pile management |
| Best for | Two veterans who enjoy mind games | Teaching, or settling arguments | A quick draft before games |
A few recommendations from running all three:
- New to cube, or one player is new to Magic: Grid. Everything is visible, nobody gets a surprise pile, and the puzzle of rows and columns is fun on its own. It pairs well with the approach in how to teach Magic.
- Two experienced players with an hour: Winston. The hidden information makes the draft itself the game, and good players find it deeper than it looks.
- Thirty minutes and you want to play more than draft: Grid or Winchester. Both are quick, and the face-up cards mean no agonizing over invisible ones.
All three produce decks that are a little weaker and a little less coherent than an eight-player draft produces, because you see fewer cards and your opponent is cutting you from every color at once. Expect two-color decks with a splash to be normal, and expect to play 17 lands in a format where you may not have your best curve.
How many games after the draft?
Two players with two decks is a match, not a round. The usual approach is best of three with sideboarding, then swap decks and play again. Playing your opponent’s deck against your own is the fastest way to learn what you drafted wrong and is half the fun of a two-player night.
If the cube is big enough, draft twice. A 540-card cube has enough cards for two Winston drafts from fresh stacks, and the second draft always goes faster because both players have seen the format’s rhythm.
FAQ
How many cards do you need for a Winston draft?
90 cards from the cube, the equivalent of six fifteen-card packs. Some groups use 120 for more deck choices.
Is Grid draft better than Winston draft?
Neither is better. Grid is fully open information and easier to teach. Winston has hidden piles and rewards reading your opponent. Winchester sits between them.
Can you do a two-player draft without a cube?
Yes. Winston and Winchester both work with six booster packs opened and shuffled together. Grid needs 162 cards, which is about eleven packs, so it is mostly a cube format.
Does CubeCobra support two-player draft formats?
CubeCobra’s playtest page offers Grid draft directly. For Winston and Winchester, Draftmancer, which CubeCobra links to for multiplayer drafts, supports additional formats. Check the current options before you plan a night around it.
Two people and a box is enough
A cube does not need a full table to earn its keep. Some of the best evenings we have had were two players, one of these formats, and three matches with the decks swapped halfway. The game is the reason. The people are the point.
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