Playing Fair in Cube

A young wizard sits at the feet of the master. He asks, “Master, why was I cast out from Cube night yesterday? Did I inadvertently cheat?”

The master responds, “No, child, your plays were legal.” Shaking her head, she pulls three cards from her robes:

The acolyte says, “These are the cards that won me each of my games! Before my Pithing Needle resolved, I implied that I would name my opponent’s planeswalker, but as it entered, I named their fetchland instead. Later, my opponent announced they would tap my creature ‘in response to attacks’, so I taught them that they’d already agreed to enter combat, and didn’t get priority before attacks — a nice learning moment for them. And my last opponent didn’t notice that my Errant Ephemeron got Haste from the Suspend ability, so I got them out of nowhere!”

The master’s eyes sparked. “This is why you were ejected! You do not know the difference between legal and fair. Go, watch The Princess Bride on repeat until you know what it means to duel honorably.”

A story within our story: the swordsmaster Inigo Montoya is ordered by the kidnapper Vizzini to murder the pursuing hero Westley. Westley is helpless, clinging to a cliff below Inigo’s feet, but Inigo knows that there is no victory without honor:

Inigo hauls Westley up safely, true to his word, then asks Westley to catch his breath and chat. Then they duel, and it’s glorious, a pinnacle of silver-screen swashbuckling. Inigo eventually loses, knocked cold by Westley’s pommel, but he doesn’t regret his honorable actions. Inigo didn’t want to win for its own sake; he wanted to prove his mettle and show respect for his opponent.

Honorable duels are what make Magic a satisfying test of skill. Unfortunately, the tournament rules of Magic don’t share Inigo’s sense of honor. The tournament rules’ main purpose is to be clear and enforceable for judges, so we’re left with many game actions that are both strictly legal and ethically dubious. I don’t blame Magic for that solution for its Pro Tours, but that’s a far cry from addressing the needs of the Cube format.

There are three goals honorable dueling has above Magic’s usual standards: welcoming the opponent, refusing any non-strategic advantages, and respecting their time. None of these are required by Magic’s competitive rules, but they are essential for creating a thriving local Cube scene.¹

Inigo and Westley started their duel with pleasant chit-chat; we can do the same by signaling respect and warmth before the Magic even begins:

• Offer your deck to be cut by the opponent, even if you don’t care to cut theirs.
• If it’s your first time meeting your opponent, ask their name, then repeat it a few times in conversation so it sticks. (“Would you like to cut my deck, Westley? … Good luck, Westley!… See you next week, Westley!“)

Once his duel started, Inigo refused to win except by skill. Likewise, we should hold ourselves to the highest standards of clean, communicative Magic:

• Keep the game state legible, with visible cards and clear tokens.
• If relevant, volunteer public information to your opponent — your Flashback burn that will change who gets a +1/+1 counter, the lone Morph in the whole cube, your secret Reach, or the cards they saw last turn with Duress. (You’ll know they need more information if they’re making obvious misplays.)
• Treat your combos the same way. If it’s obvious they’ve never seen Oath of Druids in action, tell them what your rough game plan is.
• Make every effort to avoid slow play. Not only is it good sport, but your opponent deserves a full night of sleep!

All these ideas boil down to this: if you’re really the better duelist, then you can win without any help from face-up misplays. That said, lapses of communication are inevitable in a game as complex as Magic. If your opponent drops their sword, the only honorable move is to allow them to pick it back up:²

• If your opponent misses a trigger, give them a second to notice, then remind them. Yes, even their beneficial triggers.
• If your opponent is clearly overwhelmed, offer to help, like tracking their Storm mana, or googling a weird ruling while they plan.
• Allow takebacks for misplays that stem from unequal understanding of Magic’s rules arcana.
• For that matter, allow any takebacks that don’t change known information, like face-up misplays or missed trinket text on the latest Commander hotness.

At this point my ears ring with distant outcries of “competitive integrity!”, to which I offer two rebuttals. First, I’m not advocating for a lawless free-for-all. Cheating is still bad. When a player makes a mistake that gives them a concrete advantage, or when the public information has significantly changed, then more nuance is required and a takeback is likely not appropriate. Secondly, a gracious culture at Cube night is self-reinforcing. Your opponents will most likely match your actions with honorable dueling of their own.

The acolyte returns to the feet of the master, penitent. “I now see,” he says, “that I did not duel honorably. I thought I needed those edges to win! I still think of myself as an outsider, since there are many at Cube night much older and more skilled than me.

“But the truth is, for every visitor to our Cube night, I am the end boss. And that means I can help my Cube community grow. I will do better — and I mean it!”

The master smiled and didn’t miss a beat: “Anybody want a peanut?”