Madison, Wisconsin
Thursday August 26th, 2026 – Sunday August 30th, 2026
Role: Coverage Lead



Thursday - Combo Cube


New Year, New Systems
Every year Cubecon improves on its processes just a little bit. This year was the first year I've had a designated coverage person working with me. This was a bit odd because coverage overall requires 0.75 of a judge, but that judge does also need breaks. To remedy the fact that there wasn't enough for two people to do while one of them wasn't on break, one of us went on the floor and just helped with general Cubecon stuff. This was kind of nice because it was the first year I actually got to go out on the floor instead of being trapped behind the coverage area the entire time. I got to experience the new check out system, where players brought their cards over to a specified area where all the cube boxes for the cubes would live, and checked out there. Previously the cube boxes would just stay at the tables and people would call a judge to check out their pools. I didn't interact much with the previous system, but after talking to judges who had, they said the new system felt a lot better. Each judge is responsible for a few cubes, so it's hard for them to keep an eye on all the boxes at once when they're out on the floor. With this system all the boxes are in a centralized location and can be easily watched by one or two judges doing checkout.

Covering New Ground
Coverage was a little different this year since the regular coverage guy couldn't make it. This meant there was only one camera match, and that the life tracking system was a lot simpler. It also meant that coverage didn't need nearly as much information from me. This, combined with the existence of a floor judge made my job this year a breeze compared to previous years. I still did everything I normally did for the coverage area, in terms of making it feel prestigious, even if the stream was more lightweight this year. Something I did better than last year was initiate the discussion about whether top 8 would be a called draft early on, so people had time to think about it, as well as setting up the big cards that would be the prizes for top 8 in the coverage area ahead of time. Notably when I did this I realized that the prizes for 4-8 weren't the same, so I thought about how to remedy the situation and went to the organizer with a few options. The one we settled on was that swiss standings would be used to determine the draft order for the cards. This did mean that if the person who was highest in the swiss rankings didn't finish their game earlier than the others, everyone would need to wait around for a while, which isn't great, but it's the best solution considering the prize structure.

Blinged Out Ride
AP activates Vraska, the Silencer on NAP's Smuggler's Copter. Can NAP crew their Smuggler's Copter? If they do what happens? It becomes a creature and has the all the printed characteristics of Smuggler's Copter. Vehicles aren't inherently creatures, it's the the crew ability that does that, so when it's activated again, it just functions as normal, and animates the treasure/copter. (CR 702.122) Similar to if Celestial Collonade was reanimated by Vraska, you'd still be able to make it a creature by activating its ability.

#OnlyCubeThings
One of my favorite parts about Cubecon, and Cubecon coverage, is getting to very closely watch one Cube play out, I didn't get to do that as much this year, since I spent more time on the floor than previous years, but one match I did get to see was a very cool Splinter Twin vs Underworld Breach match in limited. It was very neat to see how smoothly both decks ran, even though they're both limited decks. I think it's a bit of a testament to the expert cube design at play when the limited decks feel like constructed ones.

Friday


The Floor is Lava
This was probably my favorite cube of the weekend. The premise is simple but leaves a lot of room for creativity. All players start with The Sibsig Ceremony in the command zone as an emblem. This is such a cool card, because I don't think this thing ever saw any play outside of uhm.. block... constructed? Anyways it really shines in this cube. ETB effects, high cost creatures, ETGs, they all take on a new role in light of this enchantment. The cube designer also got ahead of the judge curve by including a helpful reminder card that went over common interactions.

Six Drop Cube
This seems like a cool concept for a cube, but in actuality it was kind of a drag to watch. The first five or so turns were pretty boring and while there were things like adventures or split cards to spice things up, it still felt like a slog. Notably, part of me wants to rename this cube to the "Mana Value Six Cube" since that more accurately describes what is actually going on here.

Saturday


Innistrad Golden Age Standard Cube
Wow, this cube spoke to me in ways I can't really describe. My personal golden age for standard was Innistrad/RTR and this really captured that. Thragtusk, Sphinx's Revelation and Restoration Angel, yes please! It was refreshing to look at a board state and instantly know what was going on without having to read any cards. More and more these days I find myself having to read everything that's in play to even have a semblance of an idea of what's going on. Take into account that I'm a fairly veteran player that can often shortcut a lot of things (oh this is just a flying phyrexian rager, or this is just a bad fact or fiction). I often wonder how overwhelming things must be for newer players.

AquaOne Powered Cube
This cube was wild, the power level was simply, off the charts. The most interesting thing about it is that it features The Protector, a hero card from the Theros horde decks as an object that starts in the command zone. Players could use it kind of like a Vanguard where its ability was always available to them. This is super interesting because it's just not something I would ever think of when making "the most powerful cube ever". Conspiracies are likely the furthest I'd range into Magic weirdness to achieve that (this had plenty of those, as well!).

Trigger-Palooza
AP controls Delney, Streetwise Lookout and attacks with Guide of Souls, what happens? Two copies of the Guide's attack trigger will hit the stack. If AP pays {E}{E}{E} then one copy of Guide's reflexive trigger will go onto the stack. This is because Delney's ability will not cause Guide's reflexive trigger to trigger an additional time, only the attack trigger. (CR 603.2d, CR 603.12)

Repeated Larceny
AP casts Act of Treason on NAP's Grizzly Bears, and attacks with it, and their Tinybones, the Pickpocket. NAP blocks and kills the Grizzly Bears, can AP cast it from NAP's graveyard with their Tinybones? Yes, first combat damage is dealt and then state-based actions are checked, and Grizzly Bears dies, then Tinybones's trigger is put onto the stack and AP can select the Grizzly Bears for the target. (CR 603.3, CR 704.3)

Counters that Count
AP controls Opalescence, NAP casts Dromoka's Command with the modes AP sacrifices an enchantment, and NAP puts counters on their Leyline of Sanctity, what happens if AP sacrifices Opalescence? Two counters will be placed on Leyline of Sanctity, even though it won't be a creature. Spells resolve in the order they're written, and since Opalescence is a static ability, it stops applying immediately when its sacrificed. Leyline will stop being a creature before Dromoka's Command attempts to put counters on it, however target legality isn't re-checked during resolution, so even though the target has become illegal, it will still have counters placed on it. (CR 608.2b, CR 608.2c, CR 604.2)

GUT
I have a confession to make, I've never read the Grand Unifying Theory article. Maybe that's why I didn't understand why this cube wasn't filled with Gut Shots and Gut, Fanatical Priestess. I imagine it's a very good article. Maybe I'll read it sometime now that it's linked here. Anyways this is a cool cube, lots of resource management stuff, and for some reason, only one guy drafted madness.

Sunday


Heathercube
This was another cube that just felt like "regular Magic". The players seemed happy about this being their cube, but I don't really understand why. Players can play regular Magic whenever they want, at any hour of the day they can hop on Arena and draft the latest set. I suppose some limited environments are more interesting than others. Either way, I certainly wouldn't go to Cubecon to play regular Magic+, but then again I only go to Cubecon to judge, so I guess I'm not the target demographic.

Relic of Spells Past
AP controls Rusted Relic and two other artifacts. NAP casts Prismari Command, choosing to deal two damage to Rusted Relic and destroy one of the other artifacts. What happens if AP later casts a third artifact? Rusted Relic will become a creature once again, but will have two damage marked on it from earlier. (CR 120.6) Notably if the spell was Kolaghan's Command instead, first the artifact would be destroyed, turning off metalcraft, then two damage couldn't be dealt to the Relic, because damage can't be dealt to things that aren't creatres, battles, planewalkers or players. (CR 120.1a)

Seraph of Confusion
AP controls Seraph and it trades with NAP's Serra Angel in combat. What happens? AP will put Serra Angel onto the battlefield under their control at the beginning of the next end step and will never sacrifice it due to Seraph's ability. That's because Seraph's triggered ability sets up a state trigger that will never occur since AP can't lose control of a permanent that no longer exists. (CR 603.8) This is why most modern triggers of this sort are phrased as durations instead (like Tishana's Tidebinder) (CR 611.2b). Consider another case where AP controls a Seraph and NAP controls Vesuvan Doppleganger copy of Seraph, they trade in combat, what happens? At the beginning of the next end step AP puts their trigger onto the stack and NAP puts their trigger onto the stack. NAP's resolves first and they put Seraph onto the battlefield, and AP's resolves second, and they can choose to copy the Seraph with Vesuvan Doppleganger!

Erebos' Hand and Gix's Cruelty
AP uses The Cruelty of Gix's third chapter ability to reanimate Anikthea, Hand of Erebos, can Anikthea choose The Cruelty of Gix with her triggered ability? Yes Anikthea will enter the battlefield as part of the resolution of The Cruelty of Gix's third chapter ability, then state-based actions are checked, at which point The Cruelty of Gix will be put into AP's graveyard. Then afterwards Anikthea's triggered ability will go onto the stack and can target the Cruelty of Gix in AP's graveyard. (CR 714.4)

...In Conclusion
This was certainly the most fun I've had at Cubecon to date. I think it was a combination of having a close hotel, not being completely shackled to the coverage area, and not working unreasonably long shifts (note, this was my own choice before). I also really enjoyed the amount of freedom I had to fill in where needed at this show, since when neither coverage judge was on break, one of us was basically a free agent. Cubecon will continue to be one of the few shows I will brace going into the US for and I hope to return next year!