Building the Cube: Battlefields

Welcome back to the final article discussing the specific card choices when building a cube - today we are looking at the Battlefields

Drafting Battlefields

As mentioned in the first article, battlefields are not included in the packs with other Main Deck cards, as in booster draft. Instead they are drafted in the middle, between packs 2 and 3 like so:

Draft Phase:

• Each Player opens their first pack - draft 1 card and passes it to their left. Continue this process until all 11 cards have been drafted
• Repeat for the second pack - this time passing to the right
• BATTLEFIELD DRAFT - deal out 5 random battlefields face-down to each player. Like a mini-pack, each player picks 1 battlefield and passes to the left, until all players have drafted 5 battlefields.
• Open the third pack - passing again to the left
• Fourth and final pack - passing to the right

The reason I chose to do it this way is because in booster draft, it feels bad to pick a battlefield. It's hard to weigh the value of a main deck card against a random battlefield, and often players end up with less than 3. I really don’t like the idea of “blank battlefields” in Limited, so I wanted a system where players always got 5 battlefields, and could pick the best 3 for their deck. I don’t allow for blank battlefields in our cube drafts, but that’s just a design preference.

In the earliest versions of the cube, we tried drafting all the battlefields face-up, as in, putting out 8 at a time and rolling for priority on the choice. This is a deeper, more skillful way to do it, but honestly it took way too long. Players wanted to read every battlefield, hemmed and hawed over each choice. It dragged out the drafting process, and given that we usually play Best-of-1 games the battlefields are not in the player’s control anyhow. Maybe when there is a Cube Draft World Championship this would be a better approach.

Battlefields - 40

Hold Battlefields

The hardest thing to do in Riftbound is hold a battlefield, so I wanted a few big payoffs if you manage to do so. Grove of the God-Willow and Power Nexus are no-brainers that can win a game on their own, but other rarely seen in Constructed like Startipped Peak, The Academy or Hallowed Tomb can surprise you with excellent value over the course of a grindy game. Navori Fighting Pit and Altar to Unity are less impressive, but I wanted enough “hold” triggers that a drafter could find 2-3 and make their random battlefield reliably support their gameplan.

While not rewarding you for holding, Fortified Position, and Ravenbloom Conservatory make it easier to invest heavily into defending your turf.

Conquer Battlefields

The common type of trigger, I wanted several battlefields that improve the quality of games. Zaun Warrens, Treasure Hoard, Candlelit Sanctum, Seat of Power, and Targon’s Peak improve the card/rune economy of the game and let players have high intensity back-and-forth exchanges without running out of resources. Games that are decided by topdecking feel bad, so these battlefields are meant to prevent that as much as possible.

Emperor’s Dais creates very unique games with Scuttle Crab or Bewitching Spirit in your deck, while Sunken Temple and Trapping Grounds reward you for playing big units. Hall of Legends feels great when you have an exhaustable Legend and your opponent doesn’t, a feel-good reward for clever drafting.

Utility Battlefields

I tried to include any Battlefields that reduce costs and get the game into the exciting mid-turns easier. Sandswept Tomb, Threshold of the Gray, and Obelisk of Power means more cards are being played, which leads to more satisfying games.

Battlefields that support niche strategies are also important - Ornn’s Forge and Forge of the Fluft help out the gear-centric decks and often get passed a few times until they end up in the right hands. Bandle Tree and Risen Altar also reward very specific deck archetypes.

For control decks, Aspirant’s Climb, Vilemaw’s Lair, and Forgotten Monument help slow down the game, while Windswept Heath and Amateur Recital speed it up through double-conquer turns.

The Arena’s Greatest is right on the line for me - games are already pretty fast. Still, it is neutral for both players and in Bo1 you can’t control who goes first. I considered cutting it but the 41st and 42nd “best” battlefields don’t excite players much either. If you don’t want to run it, The Papertree or Rockfall Path are probably what I would replace it with.

Notable Exclusions

While I did include nearly all battlefields banned in Constructed, I opted to leave out Reaver’s Row. The gameplay experience here is pretty awful, with both players avoiding any combat they might possibly lose.

I excluded battlefields that increase the cost of playing the game - Sigil of the Storm, Vaults of Helia, and Mystic Vortex have their role in Constructed, but here I felt they mostly punished players at random and made already tight rune economies near unplayable.

Beyond that, 40 seems to be the perfect number for now - each player gets 5 battlefields to pick from, and you can usually find 3 that feel advantageous for you. The quality level drops off pretty significantly after these 40, but as more sets are released I would keep improving the choices and maybe even expand to 6 battlefields per player by the time Legacy is released.

That concludes the overview of the 40 Battlefields cards in my cube list - and wraps up the article series altogether! Thank you for joining me in this novella-length series, but I hope you can feel the passion we have at Magma Chamber for cube drafting. It is the most fun, deepest, most replayable way to enjoy Riftbound. If you have an active local community, building a Cube for them to play is an act of service that puts smiles on faces, and pays dividends for the future.

Riftbound has a long future ahead of it, but a beloved cube will always outlast the game itself - you will be able to cube draft Riftbound in the year 2100, long after sets cease to be printed, if that ever happens!