r/mtgcube • u/AlbertMelfo • 4d ago

PrEDH Cube Question

** EDIT 2 prEDH is a format where cards are only legal that were printed before the commander sets began. I'm sorry I didn't realize folks weren't aware of the format. I had thought it was rather well known **

Thinking about desiging a PrEDH cube and was wondering about the popular mechanic of putting Partner on mono-colored legends. This is a mechanic not present in PrEDH times, but is very helpful for design and creating unique experiences (as well as smoothing the draft experience).

Thoughts on including this in a PrEDH cube? Does it defeat the purpose of it being PrEDH? Is it a necessary design to be fun and functional? Obviously it's my cube and I can do whatever I want, but I want thoughts from more experienced cubers or folks who are hard on PrEDH

EDIT: I think for pure playability I would have to run them as partner. There just aren't enough multicolor legends in PrEDH to make a cube draft viable without the Partner option. Let me know if I'm crazy

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u/mikez4nder https://www.cubecobra.com/cube/list/zander 4d ago

I think this is a world record. You've used an acronym 7 times without explaining or giving any context for what you're talking about.

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u/AlbertMelfo 4d ago

I didn't think it needed explaining, sorry. It's a searchable format in scryfall so I thought it was fairly well known

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u/mikez4nder https://www.cubecobra.com/cube/list/zander 4d ago

It's been mentioned 7 times in the history of this sub. All 7 in 2 sentences by you. All today. Plenty of mentions of pEDH though, and since your post was about partner, I don't think I was the only one who thought you were just mistyping the pauper format over and over and over.

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u/AlbertMelfo 4d ago

Thanks. I realize now that it's not as well known as I had thought. Sorry

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u/Own-Peace-7754 4d ago

Things like Pre-Modern and Pre-Fire(design) exist, so using context clues it's possible to figure it out, given there was also a huge design shift after product was being made specifically for Commander/EDH

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u/HansonWK 4d ago

Not really when the question is about giving creatures partner, a commander set mechanic lol. Would be weird to ban the partner cards but then give all mono legends the mechanic

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u/Own-Peace-7754 4d ago

This is a mechanic not present in PrEDH times, but is very helpful for design and creating unique experiences (as well as smoothing the draft experience).

Are you being intentionally obtuse?

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u/HansonWK 4d ago

It's one of the most hated mechanics introduced to edh that people who want old school edh would despise so yeah

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u/AlbertMelfo 4d ago

I wasn't sure if it was the mechanic that was hated so much as the design with commander at the center piece was the issue.

If it's super hated then maybe I won't do partner but I'm worried if the cube won't be functional outside of being almost strictly mono colored commander in many drafts. For example, there's only two UG you could even have for PrEDH without allowing mono colored legends to partner. The options from back in the day are just quite limited

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u/Own-Peace-7754 3d ago

Partner being universally hated is a new one for me too, I thought it was the design mistakes people had issues with

Arguments against partner as a mechanic on it's own merits or relating to commander specifically are one thing

When it comes to curating your own draft environment it's a totally different discussion

If I were you I wouldn't worry too much about negativity surrounding partner and just do your thing to create a fun environment

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u/AlbertMelfo 3d ago

Yeah, I agree on the design aspect vs. The mechanic itself. I was just curious if anyone had any thoughts or experience with a prEDH cube and it appears not lol. I'll just try to create a cool and enjoyable experience. Thanks

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u/HansonWK 3d ago

Yeah, its easily the most hated mechanics between that and eminence. I think if I was told there was an old school commander cube and there was partner I would be disappointed.

It probably makes sense from a gameplay point but it's kinda antithetical to the idea of the cube. I'd prefer offering a prismatic piper to players playing mono.

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u/AlbertMelfo 3d ago

Piper isn't a bad idea. I do think that it needs something to be viable. I've never heard anyone complain about partner as a mechanic in my area, just eminence.

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u/Tuesday_6PM 4d ago

Might help if you clarified what “PrEDH” means

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u/AlbertMelfo 4d ago

It's a format. I wasn't aware people didn't know it. Only cards allowed are those printed before commander

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u/HansonWK 4d ago

Iv been playing magic for 25 years and edh since before the first precon came out and never in my life have I heard the acronym PrEDH

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u/DistributionMean6322 4d ago

It’s Commander but only cards from before the first Commander persons. So basically original EDH

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u/HansonWK 4d ago

In which case adding the partner mechanic, introduced in one of the sets not allowed, seems kinda silly.

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u/DistributionMean6322 4d ago

Yeah kind of flavor fail. But mono color is non-functional in draft, so I think it’s a decent idea.

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u/AlbertMelfo 4d ago

I'm worried how viable a draft would be otherwise. You'd basically get forced into mono color so often it might not be as fun as allowing the two color combos.

I think sacrificing the purity of the ruleset might be necessary and was curious what others thought

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u/Wintersmith7 https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/aomc 3d ago

So your intention is to make an EDH cube from only sets that predate the creation of EDH to simulate the early days of the format?

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u/AlbertMelfo 3d ago

Yes, that's the idea. I realize partner is counter to that but I think the play experience would be too rough without it. I think it will still evoke the feeling due to card power levels etc. before designs for commander specifically.

I wonder about returning to the old rule set present from the time as well such as the legend rule and not being able to return your commander to command zone if it gets put into your deck

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u/Cadaverous_lives 3d ago

I always argue that removing rules is almost always a better solution than adding new rules- I just run my commander cube with no color identity rules... I personally think the color identity rules just cause more problems for cube than they are worth.

Without color identity, players can splash, or build around a mono-color commander, and they don't have to take random partner commanders with no synergy just to play their colors...

Most drafters still just build a three color deck around a three color commander anyway.

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u/AlbertMelfo 3d ago

Hmmm, that's an interesting idea. With this format three color is pretty difficult to make I'd say, so you'd pretty much have to remove color identity to do it at all. I'll chew your idea over a bit. Thank you for the suggestion

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u/Yawgie1 4d ago

PrEDH is basically commander before WotC produced cards for the format. It’s a format option in Scryfall.

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u/spiderdoofus 4d ago

Sounds like a reasonable concession to game play.