• In a few sentences, what is the premise of The Minecraft Cube?

"The Minecraft Cube is a singleton, 360-card cube meant to emulate the world of Minecraft into a Magic set. The goal is that the cards and mechanics should give players the possibility to build a deck that represents an aspect of gameplay they enjoy (building, fighting, exploring, surviving, ...), and have that aspect given life through those mechanics as they play their deck."

• What inspired you to begin creating The Minecraft Cube?

"The main inspiration dates all the way back to 2019, with SethBling's Mario: The Gathering cube. I watched all his videos on the design process, and back then, got inspired to do the same for Minecraft. Of course, without any experience with Magic design (and not that much Magic experience in general), the cube ended up a disjointed mess, and took more than a year to finish. When I picked the project back up in 2023, I intended to give this idea justice by properly planning everything I could about this project. I already knew the difficulties that awaited me, and with a lot of more Magic design experience under my belt, I think I was able to make something much more coherent and playable."

• Where would you say The Minecraft Cube is in the development process?

"The Minecraft Cube is currently in the Development stage. Some of the mechanics might get big reworks, and it still needs a lot more drafting and playtesting to make sure the format is viable. That means they will probably also be some sweeping changes done to a lot of cards in order to meet these requirements. There are also a few slots that I feel would be better filled by other cards, but I don't have any good replacement ideas just yet."

• What challenges have you faced in trying to translate the sandbox world of Minecraft into Magic's card system?

"The main challenge was the lack of creatures. A normal 360-card cube needs about 170-190 creature slots to meet the requirements of a regular design skeleton, which just wasn't possible for this project: Minecraft doesn't have that much variety in living things when you look at it. This is why the cube focuses a lot on tokens, as they help to fill those creatures slots whenever possible. Other than that, I believe a lot of the mechanics were able to be translated quite well. Some of them still need some work, and might get big changes, but the spirit of them is already here."

• Are there any strategies or patterns from other cubes you've played/designed that you're hoping to incorporate into this project?

"In taking inspiration from Mario: The Gathering, I also made The Minecraft Cube into a format centered around shards, which means a lot of multicolor support in lands and artifacts. As for strategies, since all the archetypes are fairly simple and common, they probably are shared with other sets and cubes out there, but I didn't integrate them specifically for this reason. This is mostly because while I enjoy designing Magic cards, I don't actually play that much, and this is my first real experience making a custom cube."

• What is your favorite card in The Minecraft Cube?

"It is a tough choice to make, as there's a couple of cards in the cube that are very cool or very thematic. The Ender Dragon, Unite the Villagers... But I think I will go with Evoker's Transmutation. It's a simple enough effect that has the possibility for some really creative plays, which has already been shown in a few drafts: for example, making a mono red deck with The Wither, and using Trasmutation to cheat it out early. I also think it's a creative adaptation of that neat interaction between an Evoker and a colored sheep."

• Would you like to give any special thanks to anyone for their help?

"Yes, a lot of people helped with this project, both for playtesting and reviewing the cards in the channel. DootBot, Ensorceler, MDEV0, Magmadragon3, Dromokan Feline, TheFirstGokun, FourEyesIsAFish, thetimsims, Queen of Quacks all helped with the design and testing. I can't name everyone who participated (and sorry if I forgot you), so I just want to give a big thank you to everyone who helped me out over the course of making this cube!"