If you've spent any time in the Magic: The Gathering Cube community, you've almost certainly used Cube Cobra. It's the de facto home for Cube lists, draft simulations, and data-driven tools, but behind this platform is a thoughtful designer and curator, Gwen.

Cube Cobra - A Community-Built Platform for Cubers

Gwen describes Cube Cobra not as a solo effort, but as a community-built project. While he's written the most lines of code, Gwen is quick to emphasize that many experienced developers contributed to the success and the most impactful features came from community ideas. This collaborative approach is baked into the site's identity. Cube Cobra isn't just a database of lists, it's a living toolset that evolves with the Cube community's needs.

Other digital tools often treat a Cube and its cards as a static list, but Gwen and the team wanted more. Cube Cobra's "sort" view lets you group cards into columns, groups, and chunks, not just reorder them. You can sort by fields like color, type, mana value, ELO, status, or price, and you can also override attributes when needed.

Take Porcelain Legionnaire for instance. Is it a 2-drop or a 3-drop? Is it a White creature or more of a colorless artifact? Cube Cobra lets you decide. These tools and many more let Cube curators organize their thoughts and data cleanly. However, that's only one side of Gwen's identity. The real question is what kind of Cubes does the creator of Cube Cobra Create? (Say that ten times fast.)

Tiny Leaders, and the Loam Cube

Beyond Cube Cobra, Gwen actively maintains several Cubes with unique identities, but today we're going to focus on two.

1. Tiny Leaders: Commander, But With Tighter Gameplay

Inspired by the brief but intense boom of the Tiny Leaders format, Gwen built a Tiny Leaders Cube where every card costs three mana or less and players get a "leader" that functions similarly to a commander. The format emphasizes cheap, efficient interactions and synergies, not big splashy haymakers.

A key design innovation found in this Cube is Gwen's solution to the classic Commander-Cube problem of drafting cards you can't actually play because of color identity. In this Cube, you can play every card you draft, but you only get basic lands that match your leader's color identity. This makes fixing lands incredibly valuable, and creates an interesting tension between tighter mono-color leaders and greedy multicolored ones with broader access to basics. The result is a Cube that is fast, puzzle-like, and highly replayable.

2. The Loam Cube: Life from the Loam as a Design Pillar

Gwen's most "controversial" project is the Loam Cube, built around a single foundational rule, every player starts each game with Life from the Loam in their graveyard.

• The environment is a "Desert Cube," bountiful rather than harsh, with excellent fixing (dual lands, fetches, Triomes).
• Gwen omits White entirely, because in graveyard-centric environments White too often becomes the "graveyard hate" color.
• There are no cards that can exile Life from the Loam, so players are never punished for engaging with the core mechanic.
• Aggressive strategies are still viable, with cards like Nimble Mongoose becoming powerhouses once you're consistently dredging and filling the graveyard.

Red Flags and Good Taste in Cube Design

As someone who has seen a lot of cube, Gwen has strong opinions about which cards spark joy and which cards send him running.

Red Flag: Sol Ring

It is a well-known phenomena that many Cube players are disenfranchised Commander players in disguise. So it makes sense that when they switch formats, they bring along Commander's most popular card. I believe Gwen said it best, "If your Cube doesn't include the Power 9, it shouldn't include Sol Ring.

Green Flag: Gamble

On the other hand, Gwen lights up when he sees Gamble. A matter of personal taste rather than correct design choices, Gwen describes Gamble as "fun, powerful and full of variance. In the right Cube, that variance is exciting and becomes a feature, not a bug."

Practical Advice for New and Seasoned Cube Curators

Less Pre-Cube Talk, More Drafting

Gwen thinks we need shorter pre-Cube speeches. Overviews that go deep on color distribution, archetype breakdowns, and every mechanical twist slow down the draft and "Seed" players into viewing the cube only the way the curator does. Ideally, there is a short rules note if needed, "You start with Life from the Loam in your graveyard," etc. Then you sit down, open packs, and let the cards speak for themselves.

Don't Obsess Over Color Balance

For new Cube curators especially, Gwen's advice is to worry less about color balance because "It all comes out in the wash." He goes on to say that in retail Limited, you draft colors. In Cube, you're usually drafting decks. Perfect symmetry matters much less and your focus as a Cube designer should be to ensure that each archetype is balanced and equally supported regardless of color.

Hedron Network and the Future of Cube Events

Of the many things Gwen is known for, Hedron Network, remains Magic's best kept secret. This digital platform is the sole reason that Cube Events can exist at scale.

• It provides the logistic support and matching making required to host simultaneous drafts.
• Develops a chain of custody system that allows Cube Designers to feel comfortable handing over their cards to strangers.
• It even allows players to rank the various Cubes on offer so they can have the draft experiences they actually want.

Hedron Network and the doors it opens for the community could fill an entire article, so instead let me showcase one of these events that it makes possible. On March 13th-15th in St. Paul Minnesota will experience the inaugural Shoebox event. "Shoebox is a convention that focuses on what you love most about Magic: creative expression, social play, and friendly competition." If you want to take part in the growing community being built around Cube, Gwen would encourage you to check this event out!