I originally built my cube about 5 years ago, based on other cube lists. Another player in our group also made a cube (720 cards) and plays almost exclusively single player tournaments with it. My cube has been use primarily for multiplayer, so it has evolved to reflect this.
Beyond the card choices, I feel that a lot of you will benefit the most from our variety of games and rules that we use for mutiplayer.
Mutiplayer formats
Sheriff
5 player format- there are 5 roles: Sheriff (revealed and starts game with 30 life), Depute (hidden, protects sheriff), 2 Outlaws (hidden, goal is to defeat sheriff), and Renegade (hidden, goal is to be last standing).
The main issue with sheriff is that the Renegade's best strategy is to pretend to be an outlaw and it becomes 3 vs 2, with the sheriff dying early and the outlaws and renegade not knowing who is who; which is ok, if you want this result.
Star
5, 6, or 7 players. Most commonly played with 5, the star represents the 5 colors of magic, with each player assigned a random color (for seating purposes only). Sit in the pattern of each color (as indicated on the back of a magic card). A player wins by eliminating the 2 opposite colors (across the table from him), and has two 1/2 allies (sitting next to him). It is the most balanced mutiplayer format, but gets boring after awhile. For 6 player, to win, a player must eliminate the 3 players across from him. In 7 player, a player must eliminate the 2 players farthest from him
Emperor
6 player format, two teams of 3 players each. Each team determines an emperor and 2 guards. The emperor sits in the middle of his 2 guards. A player may only attack the player next to him and each player has a range of 2 for targetting spells. Universal spells affect all players (such as Wrath of God). A player may "march" any of his creatures to a friendly player next to him; the creature must be able to attack to march (ie. not have summoning sickness), and arrives to the friendly player untapped, but suffers summoning sickness on the first turn of that player's control. This is because it is very unbalanced for the emperor to build up an army, march it to the left, then have that player attack with all the creature son his turn. The game ends when one emperor dies.
2v2
Instead of 2 headed giant (where players share turns), we alternate players on each team so each player as a separate turn. After we draft, each player can swap up to 3 cards from his pool with his teammate for constructing decks.
2v2+1
This is kind of like 2v2 and sheriff. There are 2 revealed players (like a red team and a blue team), where each one has a face down teammate. The 5th player (renegade), also facedown, has the win condition of remaining alive with 1, and only 1 face up player (the face up player automatically loses if he is left with the renegade). This creates a scenario where the renegade wants to kill both face down players and 1 face up player, while keeping 1 face up player alive (usually pretends to be that player's helper). The 2 face up players will try to kill all the face down players first to stop this from happening, while the 2 face down teammates try to kill the other face down players as well. When a face down player is defeated, he reveals his role to everyone.
The Cube
Stats
475 cards
60 each color, 60 guild (6 each), 67 artifact/colorless, 48 land
drafted twice a week
4-6 players per pool, 4 packs of 11 cards each
most common archetypes:
Gruul and Boros aggro
Dimir and Azorius control
notable cards:
black-
corpse dance- this card is amazing to hold all game because of the buyback. you can use it to get creatures back from the grave for offense or defense, especially to chump block or if you have a sac outlet so you can keep bringing the same one back.
red-
word of seizing- this card does so much- it can snag a planeswalker to use the (-) ability (sometimes killing itself, or going ultimate), or grab a creature in combat to block with (or just to stop an attacking creature), or if your ally's planeswalker is being attacked, you can steal the planeswalker to get it out of combat.
blue-
reins of power- you can use it as a fog during combat, to save yourself or your ally. best in a control deck where you have no creatures, you can just steal all of someone's for a turn to attack, sac, etc.
artifact-
candelabra of tawnos- untap your ally's lands to allow them to cast something big and scary early on. if your opponent doesn't destroy this artifact right away, the game can get out of control.
Beyond the card choices, I feel that a lot of you will benefit the most from our variety of games and rules that we use for mutiplayer.
Mutiplayer formats
Sheriff
5 player format- there are 5 roles: Sheriff (revealed and starts game with 30 life), Depute (hidden, protects sheriff), 2 Outlaws (hidden, goal is to defeat sheriff), and Renegade (hidden, goal is to be last standing).
The main issue with sheriff is that the Renegade's best strategy is to pretend to be an outlaw and it becomes 3 vs 2, with the sheriff dying early and the outlaws and renegade not knowing who is who; which is ok, if you want this result.
5, 6, or 7 players. Most commonly played with 5, the star represents the 5 colors of magic, with each player assigned a random color (for seating purposes only). Sit in the pattern of each color (as indicated on the back of a magic card). A player wins by eliminating the 2 opposite colors (across the table from him), and has two 1/2 allies (sitting next to him). It is the most balanced mutiplayer format, but gets boring after awhile. For 6 player, to win, a player must eliminate the 3 players across from him. In 7 player, a player must eliminate the 2 players farthest from him
Emperor
6 player format, two teams of 3 players each. Each team determines an emperor and 2 guards. The emperor sits in the middle of his 2 guards. A player may only attack the player next to him and each player has a range of 2 for targetting spells. Universal spells affect all players (such as Wrath of God). A player may "march" any of his creatures to a friendly player next to him; the creature must be able to attack to march (ie. not have summoning sickness), and arrives to the friendly player untapped, but suffers summoning sickness on the first turn of that player's control. This is because it is very unbalanced for the emperor to build up an army, march it to the left, then have that player attack with all the creature son his turn. The game ends when one emperor dies.
2v2
Instead of 2 headed giant (where players share turns), we alternate players on each team so each player as a separate turn. After we draft, each player can swap up to 3 cards from his pool with his teammate for constructing decks.
2v2+1
This is kind of like 2v2 and sheriff. There are 2 revealed players (like a red team and a blue team), where each one has a face down teammate. The 5th player (renegade), also facedown, has the win condition of remaining alive with 1, and only 1 face up player (the face up player automatically loses if he is left with the renegade). This creates a scenario where the renegade wants to kill both face down players and 1 face up player, while keeping 1 face up player alive (usually pretends to be that player's helper). The 2 face up players will try to kill all the face down players first to stop this from happening, while the 2 face down teammates try to kill the other face down players as well. When a face down player is defeated, he reveals his role to everyone.
The Cube
Stats
475 cards
60 each color, 60 guild (6 each), 67 artifact/colorless, 48 land
drafted twice a week
4-6 players per pool, 4 packs of 11 cards each
most common archetypes:
Gruul and Boros aggro
Dimir and Azorius control
notable cards:
black-
corpse dance- this card is amazing to hold all game because of the buyback. you can use it to get creatures back from the grave for offense or defense, especially to chump block or if you have a sac outlet so you can keep bringing the same one back.
red-
word of seizing- this card does so much- it can snag a planeswalker to use the (-) ability (sometimes killing itself, or going ultimate), or grab a creature in combat to block with (or just to stop an attacking creature), or if your ally's planeswalker is being attacked, you can steal the planeswalker to get it out of combat.
blue-
reins of power- you can use it as a fog during combat, to save yourself or your ally. best in a control deck where you have no creatures, you can just steal all of someone's for a turn to attack, sac, etc.
artifact-
candelabra of tawnos- untap your ally's lands to allow them to cast something big and scary early on. if your opponent doesn't destroy this artifact right away, the game can get out of control.
Black
Blue
Green
Red
White
Guilds
Artifacts/Colorless
Land
My multiplayer powered cube
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=9936757#post9936757
my EDH deckbox:
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=6849857#post6849857
elesh norn statue:
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=413011
tamiyo figure/bust:
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=444503
my etsy dark souls statues page:
www.etsy.com/shop/originalstatues