From this, I got the impression that supporting reanimator was one of the goals of this update.
Hmmm, I did say that. To tell the truth, reanimator getting strengthened was - for me - mostly a side effect from adding the big mana strategy.
Plus, you are running all the usual reanimation spells (I suppose because Hicham doesn't want to cut them?)
That, and because they're just strong cards on their own.
Therefore, running Faithless Looting and Wild Mongrel seemed like the perfect fit. Especially since both are useful outside a reanimation deck, too. Looting should be good in a spell-heavy deck or a storm deck (like the one that you mentioned above). It isn't completely free (or even better) like Frantic Search, but one mana is still a low price and allows it to be played in the same turn as a few other spells. It also helps you dig for synergistic cards. I thought that Wild Mongrel would be a sure fit if you also run green aggro, but if you don't like it...
You are of course right. I just happen to not like those cards very much, so coupled with my non-interest in hard-core reanimator they aren't high on my priority list - and this update required quite a lot of cuts.
We'll see what happens, no cut needs be forever in any case, that's the great thing about cube
About The Abyss: its purpose kinda is to slow games down and take control, if you don't like that kind of cards odds are you won't like The Abyss much better than Moat. What it has in favor is more synergy, for example with aforementioned Pox/Stax archetype (it comboes with cards like Bloodghast, Reassembling Skeleton and Ophiomancer) but also with the artifact deck. At the same time this is a weakness, as some decks just aren't bothered much by it at all. If you like this aspect of the card, it could be an acceptable control card for you where Moat wouldn't be because of its unforgiving nature (no flyers or anti-enchantment? that's tough bro )
We'll see what happens, no cut needs be forever in any case, that's the great thing about cube
To my surpise, I noticed that I re-included quite a few cards recently that I had cut over the years. There is always a kind of struggle in my cube between running the most effective cards and running cards that are overall a bit weaker, but support specific archetypes or are generally just interesting to play with and against. A few years ago, I made a hard push in favor of the former, but lately, I am favoring the latter again.
About The Abyss: its purpose kinda is to slow games down and take control, if you don't like that kind of cards odds are you won't like The Abyss much better than Moat. What it has in favor is more synergy, for example with aforementioned Pox/Stax archetype (it comboes with cards like Bloodghast, Reassembling Skeleton and Ophiomancer) but also with the artifact deck. At the same time this is a weakness, as some decks just aren't bothered much by it at all. If you like this aspect of the card, it could be an acceptable control card for you where Moat wouldn't be because of its unforgiving nature (no flyers or anti-enchantment? that's tough bro )
Yeah, I was a little bit unclear on the whole "slowing the game down" thing. Many control cards slow the game down and I am ok with that. It is just part of the archetype. Slowing the game down is fine, grinding it to a halt with (almost) no progress whatsoever is not. If one player casts a single card that results in both players going into draw-go mode for many of turns, that is annoying. If that card means that one player almost assuredly just lost the game, but it still takes another ten turns to finish it, that is not ok. This is the reason why I don't run Moat.
I was afraid that The Abyss might create similar situations. However, there are more ways to interact with it and it is overall more interesting to build around. It works both in black-based ressource denial decks and UB artifact decks, where it joins Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas as one of the few black enablers. I guess it is on my buy list now, right behind Pox.
Slowing the game down is fine, grinding it to a halt with (almost) no progress whatsoever is not. If one player casts a single card that results in both players going into draw-go mode for many of turns, that is annoying. If that card means that one player almost assuredly just lost the game, but it still takes another ten turns to finish it, that is not ok. This is the reason why I don't run Moat.
I do think this problem is mainly psychological. Finishing ten turns behind a Moat should not take long if you insist on playing it out. But most of the time people should just admit that they have no chance winning this game and just shuffle and play the next one. If you give a control deck five or six turns to get its counters and removal back up, you need to have a specific plan to break that defence. A lot of decks don't have that plan and still some players insist on going to the finish and then complan about Moat or Abyss.
I am not saying that people should just give up, but if a control deck has a Moat and full counter back you have lost as much as when you are at 0 life most of the time.
As you said, The Abyss is played in decks that are less reactive then your typical white-blue control deck. This helps making it less 'boring'.
The cut of Journey to Nowhere is at least a bit surprising as well (although it is possible that you mentioned before that it is not as needed for you because of your preferred draft format, I'm not sure). If the amount of artifact/enchantment removal was OK before, I'd cut one of Disenchant/Revoke Existence, if the additional artifact/enchantment removal is desired I'd cut Condemn just because Journey does its job both on offense and on defense. But I'm most likely forgetting that you deliberately run Condemn over other options because it is better in controlish decks.
The cut of Journey to Nowhere is at least a bit surprising as well (although it is possible that you mentioned before that it is not as needed for you because of your preferred draft format, I'm not sure). If the amount of artifact/enchantment removal was OK before, I'd cut one of Disenchant/Revoke Existence, if the additional artifact/enchantment removal is desired I'd cut Condemn just because Journey does its job both on offense and on defense. But I'm most likely forgetting that you deliberately run Condemn over other options because it is better in controlish decks.
I actually didn't expect raised eyebrows on that particular cut. We don't consider Journey a very powerful card, its maindeck percentage is quite low. It only hits creatures and if your opponent has enchantment removal you're back to square one. Light has the same disadvantage, but at least it's much more flexible. I saw Journey -> Light as a logical upgrade.
Disenchant and Revoke are a different tier entirely, in my opinion, so I'm not contemplating cutting any of them. I can see how you could suggest Condemn though. The reason we're keeping it over Journey is that even if it's narrower, it's far better in the decks that want it. Condemn is actually a pretty powerful card, I think it's underrated around these parts.
Disenchant and Revoke are a different tier entirely, in my opinion, so I'm not contemplating cutting any of them.
Interesting. This may be a powered vs. unpowered difference, I mean we are always interested in disenchant effects because we know we may need them, but we prefer them with additional modes. So Banishing Light over a Disenchant seemed like a natural upgrade whereas Journey to Nowhere is a cheap answer to the most prevalent type of threat.
I can see how you could suggest Condemn though. The reason we're keeping it over Journey is that even if it's narrower, it's far better in the decks that want it. Condemn is actually a pretty powerful card, I think it's underrated around these parts.
Condemn is powerful and it is possible that it is underrated. Te reason I don't play it is that it is not very good in an aggro deck. As long as aggro decks are not dominant, I prefer removal that is playable in all theaters, even if it is less efficient.
We are always glad to main deck Disenchant and Revoke Existence. They have a higher main deck level than Journey or Condemn. Journey felt the least needed. Personally I'd rather play a Disenchant in my aggro deck than a Journey most of the time.
Condemn is narrower, but is included for that purpose. Our white based control decks needed efficient removal. By including Condemn they are sure to get it. Swords, Path and the O-Ring variants are taken by almost any deck that can play them.
A bit sad to see that the all-out storm plan did not work out. I think mana base was the main factor. For this deck to work it has to have a perfect mana base or you have to fill one colour with very narrow cards. This being said, we still are very happy with Empty the Warrens though. And more surprisingly with Gitaxian Probe, which has been main decked in all kind of decks. The cross-over spells mattters and Storm make both archetypes a viable cube building option.
Big mana flare deck (with combo potential) has been fun to draft, but can botch. While this is quite positive, we have doubts about it being strong enough to compete. You have to have a bit of luck while drafting (you need a great mana base, two mana flares, big spells, some acceleration and some tutoring/card draw) and the deck has the typical weakness of all ramp based decks (all ramp-all big spells draws). Right now we are pushing it to the max to see if it is a viable archetype or not. Maybe putting Channel back might help with the resurgence of X-spells in our cube.
All these weird combo decks aside, the strongest and most consistent deck these last few months has been White weenie by a big margin. If this continues we might have to strengthen our anti aggro suite a bit more.
A bit sad to see that the all-out storm plan did not work out. I think mana base was the main factor. For this deck to work it has to have a perfect mana base or you have to fill one colour with very narrow cards.
Yup, that and it's just very dangerous to draft as the risk of ending up with an unplayable pile is real.
This being said, we still are very happy with Empty the Warrens though. And more surprisingly with Gitaxian Probe, which has been main decked in all kind of decks. The cross-over spells mattters and Storm make both archetypes a viable cube building option.
Indeed. The tokens/spells matter update has been hugely fun and successful.
Big mana flare deck (with combo potential) has been fun to draft, but can botch. While this is quite positive, we have doubts about it being strong enough to compete. You have to have a bit of luck while drafting (you need a great mana base, two mana flares, big spells, some acceleration and some tutoring/card draw) and the deck has the typical weakness of all ramp based decks (all ramp-all big spells draws). Right now we are pushing it to the max to see if it is a viable archetype or not.
The deck is fun, but I think it requires way too much support to make it work, and it looks like the flares aren't really used by any other decks. At this point I don't think all those slots are worth it.
Maybe putting Channel back might help with the resurgence of X-spells in our cube.
Oh yes, we really need 2-card instant win combos, those really make for fun games.
...
Wait... no, no they don't.
All these weird combo decks aside, the strongest and most consistent deck these last few months has been White weenie by a big margin. If this continues we might have to strengthen our anti aggro suite a bit more.
I don't think it's going to be necessary to go that route. Blue is easily the strongest color, yet we don't run Boil. I actually don't think it's a real problem. White weenie is just a strong archetype, and that's ok.
Some feedback on the draft-altering cards I also posted in that topic's thread:
Lore Seeker: we weren't completely sold on this as it seemed like it didn't give enough incentive to actually pick it, even if the main attraction (an additional booster) doesn't depend on who takes it and as such is more a cube design decision. In the draft it was picked high though - 3rd pick I think - and gained the player who picked it an Umezawa's Jitte, so I guess that's a very good start for this card. Deal Broker: A reanimator player drafted it and offered a... Mox Pearl for trade! He got offered a Mox Jet and a Library of Alexandria for it and made a deal for the Library, then proceeded to maindeck the Broker. A great and memorable start for this card. Lurking Automaton: was drafted as a 9/9 for an artifact deck. This card is very interesting due to the fact that it actually gets better the later it is drafted, an unprecedented quality. Paliano, the High City: was included as support for 4-5 color decks. It was drafted by a 4-color combo deck as an 'ETB untapped' dual and hence made the final 40. Not a bad start.
We've been cubing with Cogwork Librarian for months now and it's been superb, it gets picked very high all the time and so far was used 4-5 times each time it was in the pool.
Wow, now I want to play with those wonky draft-altering cards as well! Can you elaborate some on how colors were chosen for Paliano, the High City? I'm interested in both the thinking process of the drafters to the left/right as well as how you solve the memory issue.
Well, since we Rochester draft, it's very simple really - open information. In this case, player left chose the color the Paliano player wasn't interested in, Paliano player chose his splash color and player right picked the remaining color he thought would be least beneficial for Mr Paliano.
This land is really only for 4-5 color decks in Rochester unless Paliano shows up very early in the draft, in which case plans can be changed to fit the chosen colors.
I can really recommend Cogwork Librarian, it's fun and creates very interesting decisions during the draft.
OK, thank you! I'm most interested in Cogwork Librarian if simply for the fact that people kept asking for that effect for ever. I'm not sure anyone actually thought that might become real one day!
With Deal Broker, I like both the dealing part and the colorless looter with that body.
I initially dismissed Lurking Automaton but after your post and thinking about it some more, I'm quite interested in that one as well.
Lurking Automaton, Coercive Portal and Paliano, the High City are still in for now. Automaton is fringe, it's the definition of big and dumb and we're not sure this is enough to keep it in. Probably not in the long run. Portal hasn't been in the pool yet as far as I recall. Paliano has been used a few times and sat in the sideboard the last draft, we need more data to draw any conclusions.
Cultivate is an insanely awesome card. I have been happy about first-picking Cultivate. That being said, Pilgrim is also very good. Is there possibly another cut?
I'm not sure I'm sold on Dig Through Time, I prefer draw spells that you can also use to dig earlier (like Impulse). It will get you what you need late game though, I can see that.
Hordeling Outburst requires some token interactions in order to be a good card, I assume.
The token archetype comes up in many shapes: with blue it has a strong cross-over with 'spells matter', and it can complement other strategies such as burn, stax or simply aggro or midrange. It's just integrated really well in the cube. I'm sure I didn't catch everything.
I'm also a bit sad about saying adieu to Chandra, she's been in the cube since the very beginning. But like you said, this is clearly the time for her to leave. So long Sandra.
My pleasure! As for draft altering cards, we also run Lore Seeker. I'm a big fan of that card. The others didn't make it past the testing phase for various reasons.
So basically we've swapped the two 5-color basic fetchers for the allied Mirage cycle that also ETB tapped but can fetch ABU and shock duals, and brought back two landfall creatures to profit from the additional fetches.
Following the success of pretty much every other Conspiracy we tried, we're also testing 2 more Conspiracies:
EDIT: just discovered I apparently didn't log the addition of Personal Tutor anywhere. Anyway, we've been running it for the last couple drafts and it's been great. Tutors just are, even if they can only get sorceries and put them on the top of your library at sorcery speed.
Hey man have you been paintimg any cards recently?
Hey Juju, thanks for stopping by. I'm afraid my painting has been on hiatus since June. It had started to become a bit of a chore to keep painting regularly so maybe taking a break is not the worst thing. I'm sure one day I'll start again with a fresh supply of motivation.
Cheers & good luck with your own painting, I still follow your work through the 'alters' thread in the cube forum. Keep up the good work!
Not that I currently maintain my list, but I've been thinking about the Terramorphic Expanses vs. the Mirage fetches as well. I'm not sure at all how that would play out. I like to be able to fetch Duals, on the other hand the ETBT makes even the on-color Mirage fetches not super-high picks which in turn could mean that Terramorphics could be better because at least they are always on-color. But there certainly is something to be said for additional shuffle effects, they can have powerful interactions.
That, and because they're just strong cards on their own.
You are of course right. I just happen to not like those cards very much, so coupled with my non-interest in hard-core reanimator they aren't high on my priority list - and this update required quite a lot of cuts.
We'll see what happens, no cut needs be forever in any case, that's the great thing about cube
About The Abyss: its purpose kinda is to slow games down and take control, if you don't like that kind of cards odds are you won't like The Abyss much better than Moat. What it has in favor is more synergy, for example with aforementioned Pox/Stax archetype (it comboes with cards like Bloodghast, Reassembling Skeleton and Ophiomancer) but also with the artifact deck. At the same time this is a weakness, as some decks just aren't bothered much by it at all. If you like this aspect of the card, it could be an acceptable control card for you where Moat wouldn't be because of its unforgiving nature (no flyers or anti-enchantment? that's tough bro )
Yeah, I was a little bit unclear on the whole "slowing the game down" thing. Many control cards slow the game down and I am ok with that. It is just part of the archetype. Slowing the game down is fine, grinding it to a halt with (almost) no progress whatsoever is not. If one player casts a single card that results in both players going into draw-go mode for many of turns, that is annoying. If that card means that one player almost assuredly just lost the game, but it still takes another ten turns to finish it, that is not ok. This is the reason why I don't run Moat.
I was afraid that The Abyss might create similar situations. However, there are more ways to interact with it and it is overall more interesting to build around. It works both in black-based ressource denial decks and UB artifact decks, where it joins Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas as one of the few black enablers. I guess it is on my buy list now, right behind Pox.
Uril, the Miststalker RGW -- Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre C -- Vhati il-Dal BG -- Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer RW -- Animar, Soul of Elements URG
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker R -- Maga, Traitor to Mortals B -- Ghave, Guru of Spores BGW -- Sliver Hivelord WUBRG
I do think this problem is mainly psychological. Finishing ten turns behind a Moat should not take long if you insist on playing it out. But most of the time people should just admit that they have no chance winning this game and just shuffle and play the next one. If you give a control deck five or six turns to get its counters and removal back up, you need to have a specific plan to break that defence. A lot of decks don't have that plan and still some players insist on going to the finish and then complan about Moat or Abyss.
I am not saying that people should just give up, but if a control deck has a Moat and full counter back you have lost as much as when you are at 0 life most of the time.
As you said, The Abyss is played in decks that are less reactive then your typical white-blue control deck. This helps making it less 'boring'.
I feel compelled to repeat everything I hear
Gnarled Scarhide (Tendrils of Agony)
Master of the Feast (Cemetery Reaper)
Dictate of Karametra (Fastbond)
Reckless Charge (Seething Song)
Viashino Slaughtermaster (Plated Geopede)
Prophetic Flamespeaker (Hammer of Purphoros)
Banishing Light (Journey to Nowhere)
Lotleth Troll (Pernicious Deed)
Dack Fayden (Xenagos, God of Revels)
Mana Confluence (Lotus Petal)
Only shocking change is Deed -> Troll, the former has a really low main deck percentage so we wanted to run a roleplayer in this slot instead.
"What am I looking at? Ashes, dead man."
Disenchant and Revoke are a different tier entirely, in my opinion, so I'm not contemplating cutting any of them. I can see how you could suggest Condemn though. The reason we're keeping it over Journey is that even if it's narrower, it's far better in the decks that want it. Condemn is actually a pretty powerful card, I think it's underrated around these parts.
Nice seeing you Konfusius, drop by anytime
Condemn is powerful and it is possible that it is underrated. Te reason I don't play it is that it is not very good in an aggro deck. As long as aggro decks are not dominant, I prefer removal that is playable in all theaters, even if it is less efficient.
Always glad to be here and read the most recent news about your amazing Cube!
"What am I looking at? Ashes, dead man."
Condemn is narrower, but is included for that purpose. Our white based control decks needed efficient removal. By including Condemn they are sure to get it. Swords, Path and the O-Ring variants are taken by almost any deck that can play them.
A bit sad to see that the all-out storm plan did not work out. I think mana base was the main factor. For this deck to work it has to have a perfect mana base or you have to fill one colour with very narrow cards. This being said, we still are very happy with Empty the Warrens though. And more surprisingly with Gitaxian Probe, which has been main decked in all kind of decks. The cross-over spells mattters and Storm make both archetypes a viable cube building option.
Big mana flare deck (with combo potential) has been fun to draft, but can botch. While this is quite positive, we have doubts about it being strong enough to compete. You have to have a bit of luck while drafting (you need a great mana base, two mana flares, big spells, some acceleration and some tutoring/card draw) and the deck has the typical weakness of all ramp based decks (all ramp-all big spells draws). Right now we are pushing it to the max to see if it is a viable archetype or not. Maybe putting Channel back might help with the resurgence of X-spells in our cube.
All these weird combo decks aside, the strongest and most consistent deck these last few months has been White weenie by a big margin. If this continues we might have to strengthen our anti aggro suite a bit more.
I feel compelled to repeat everything I hear
Indeed. The tokens/spells matter update has been hugely fun and successful.
The deck is fun, but I think it requires way too much support to make it work, and it looks like the flares aren't really used by any other decks. At this point I don't think all those slots are worth it.
Oh yes, we really need 2-card instant win combos, those really make for fun games.
...
Wait... no, no they don't.
I don't think it's going to be necessary to go that route. Blue is easily the strongest color, yet we don't run Boil. I actually don't think it's a real problem. White weenie is just a strong archetype, and that's ok.
Reclamation Sage: we couldn't agree on a cut so we just added it. Options were Wickerbough Elder, Uktabi Orangutan and Something Else.
Goblin Rabblemaster (Chandra's Phoenix) - testing this goblin, looks like Goblin Assault got the upgrade it needed to make the cut in cube. The Phoenix is the cut for now, if Prophetic Flamespeaker fails to impress it can always come back.
Council's Judgment (Lone Missionary) Easy include, the Kor was the cut because no-one could remember it being played for ever.
Ajani, Caller of the Pride (Karmic Guide) - dial-back from a previous upgrade, the Guide couldn't convince us and some of us missed small Ajani.
Lore Seeker
Deal Broker
Coercive Portal - just testing this to see if it can find main decks.
Lurking Automaton
Grenzo, Dungeon Warder - I think this is a very strong card, good enough even for our very demanding multi-color requirements.
Paliano, the High City
Some feedback on the draft-altering cards I also posted in that topic's thread:
Lore Seeker: we weren't completely sold on this as it seemed like it didn't give enough incentive to actually pick it, even if the main attraction (an additional booster) doesn't depend on who takes it and as such is more a cube design decision. In the draft it was picked high though - 3rd pick I think - and gained the player who picked it an Umezawa's Jitte, so I guess that's a very good start for this card.
Deal Broker: A reanimator player drafted it and offered a... Mox Pearl for trade! He got offered a Mox Jet and a Library of Alexandria for it and made a deal for the Library, then proceeded to maindeck the Broker. A great and memorable start for this card.
Lurking Automaton: was drafted as a 9/9 for an artifact deck. This card is very interesting due to the fact that it actually gets better the later it is drafted, an unprecedented quality.
Paliano, the High City: was included as support for 4-5 color decks. It was drafted by a 4-color combo deck as an 'ETB untapped' dual and hence made the final 40. Not a bad start.
We've been cubing with Cogwork Librarian for months now and it's been superb, it gets picked very high all the time and so far was used 4-5 times each time it was in the pool.
"What am I looking at? Ashes, dead man."
This land is really only for 4-5 color decks in Rochester unless Paliano shows up very early in the draft, in which case plans can be changed to fit the chosen colors.
I can really recommend Cogwork Librarian, it's fun and creates very interesting decisions during the draft.
With Deal Broker, I like both the dealing part and the colorless looter with that body.
I initially dismissed Lurking Automaton but after your post and thinking about it some more, I'm quite interested in that one as well.
"What am I looking at? Ashes, dead man."
Fledgling Djinn (Vampire Hexmage)
Impulse (Turnabout)
Copy Artifact (Time Warp)
Deep Analysis (Palinchron)
Sphinx of Jwar Isle (Stroke of Genius)
Jungle Lion (Heartbeat of Spring)
Avacyn's Pilgrim (Cultivate)
Channel (Dictate of Karametra)
(Rude Awakening)
Searing Spear (Mana Flare)
Chandra's Phoenix (Red Sun's Zenith)
Mentor of the Meek (Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite)
Elspeth, Sun's Champion (Decree of Justice)
(Canal Dredger)
(Mishra's Helix)
(Mirari's Wake)
Lurking Automaton, Coercive Portal and Paliano, the High City are still in for now. Automaton is fringe, it's the definition of big and dumb and we're not sure this is enough to keep it in. Probably not in the long run. Portal hasn't been in the pool yet as far as I recall. Paliano has been used a few times and sat in the sideboard the last draft, we need more data to draw any conclusions.
IN (OUT)
Bloodsoaked Champion (Blood Scrivener)
Mardu Skullhunter (Fledgling Djinn)
Xathrid Necromancer (Fleshbag Marauder)
Clever Impersonator (Snap)
Dig Through Time (Impulse)
War-Name Aspirant (Borderland Marauder)
Hordeling Outburst (Dragon Fodder)
Hellrider (Ogre Battledriver)
Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker (Chandra Nalaar)
Silver-Inlaid Dagger
(Deal Broker)
(Erratic Portal)
(Coercive Portal)
(Precursor Golem)
EDIT: we also don't run Lurking Automaton or Paliano, the High City anymore.
I'm not sure I'm sold on Dig Through Time, I prefer draw spells that you can also use to dig earlier (like Impulse). It will get you what you need late game though, I can see that.
Hordeling Outburst requires some token interactions in order to be a good card, I assume.
I'm a bit sad because the Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker (Chandra Nalaar) change makes so much sense. I like original Chandra a lot.
"What am I looking at? Ashes, dead man."
I'm sceptical on Dig Through Time too, my cube buddies wanted to give it a try (and I'm usually in favor of testing).
We have indeed a strong token archetype in our cube which has been VERY fun and VERY successful, I can only recommend it.
In red we run:
Young Pyromancer
Mogg War Marshal
Hordeling Outburst (until yesterday this was Dragon Fodder)
Goblin Rabblemaster
Beetleback Chieftain
Siege-Gang Commander
Tempt with Vengeance
Empty the Warrens
+ support:
Goblin Bombardment
Purphoros, God of the Forge
Hellrider
Hero of Oxid Ridge
In white there are a lot more token producers and more support in the form of anthems & battle cry (also Sublime Archangel), in blue there's Opposition, in green Deranged Hermit and Curse of Predation. Black has Curse of Shallow Graves and now Xathrid Necromancer, and stuff like Pox, Smallpox and Braids, Cabal Minion to take advantage of tokens.
The token archetype comes up in many shapes: with blue it has a strong cross-over with 'spells matter', and it can complement other strategies such as burn, stax or simply aggro or midrange. It's just integrated really well in the cube. I'm sure I didn't catch everything.
I'm also a bit sad about saying adieu to Chandra, she's been in the cube since the very beginning. But like you said, this is clearly the time for her to leave. So long Sandra.
Another question: with the most recent changes, is Cogwork Librarian now the last draft-manipulation card in your Cube?
"What am I looking at? Ashes, dead man."
This update centers around the Mirage fetchlands:
Bad River
Flood Plain
Grasslands
Mountain Valley
Rocky Tar Pit
We wanted to test them out. The following changes accompany the addition of the 5 extra fetches:
Plated Geopede (Generator Servant)
Steppe Lynx (Mentor of the Meek)
(Evolving Wilds)
(Terramorphic Expanse)
So basically we've swapped the two 5-color basic fetchers for the allied Mirage cycle that also ETB tapped but can fetch ABU and shock duals, and brought back two landfall creatures to profit from the additional fetches.
Following the success of pretty much every other Conspiracy we tried, we're also testing 2 more Conspiracies:
Immediate Action
Sentinel Dispatch
Current cube total = 465
EDIT: just discovered I apparently didn't log the addition of Personal Tutor anywhere. Anyway, we've been running it for the last couple drafts and it's been great. Tutors just are, even if they can only get sorceries and put them on the top of your library at sorcery speed.
Juju Alters - Altered MTG Cards
Cheers & good luck with your own painting, I still follow your work through the 'alters' thread in the cube forum. Keep up the good work!
"What am I looking at? Ashes, dead man."