MTG Salvation

Fellow Cube Enthusiasts,

I wanted to take the time to announce that I am going to be taking an extended hiatus from (if not completely retiring from) Magic content creation. I still love cube and I’ll continue to update my list, discuss my inclusions and debate card evaluations …but I no longer have the capacity to create top 20 articles for each set release.

But I wanted to dive into the why a little bit. There is a portion of the long-entrenched Magic community that feels a bit disenfranchised by the direction Wizards has taken the product releases in recent years. I am among that group that feels cast out. Not enough that I’m going to cash out and abandon Magic altogether, but certainly enough that I no longer feel any passion or excitement about new set releases. I’m experiencing product fatigue in a big way; not just from the sheer volume of product, but also from the disjointed complexity of the card mechanics. In the height of my content creation years ca. 2015-2017, Magic was releasing about 900 mechanically unique cards a year. This more than doubled in 2022-2023 when they started producing around 2000 new cards a year. And not just that, the complexity of the cards increased as they became overly and unnecessarily verbose, and the word count on the cards increased by 20% from 25 words per card to 30 in the same timeframe. Even if my content is only focussed on 4 set releases a year, the rest of the whirlwind release schedule is still incredibly consuming on my ability to stay current. I’m still processing the evolution that Modern Horizons III had on my cube, not to mention the cards from Bloomburrow; and now another set is about to drop. There’s no time to digest and adjust to the previous set releases before spoilers start dropping for the next set, and it’s simply too much content for me to be able to dedicate the time to stay current AND the time to write articles.

For a while now, I was wondering if it was just me, but it takes 2-3x the capacity to stay current with Magic and produce content as it did not so long ago, and I simply don’t have the capacity to do both. I have the same amount of time I’ve always had to dedicate to Magic and cube, it just takes twice as much capacity to stay current as it used to.

For those that don’t know, I don’t do this full time. Not even remotely so. I have family time that I prioritize, professional and career obligations, personal development… Magic is a hobby. I enjoyed creating articles and discussing them with my readers over the years. I spent more than 10 years doing MTG content, and did content creation for 50 standard-legal set releases in a row without missing one. But the tax on my capacity has reached a point where I have to decide between staying current with my cube or creating content, and Cube is the last part of Magic that I genuinely enjoy, so I’m not going to sacrifice the former.

Ultimately I don’t want to halfheartedly release content about product that I don’t have any passion or excitement for. And unfortunately, I’ve reached that point. To be clear, I don’t necessarily fault Wizards for making the choices they’ve made. It makes them money. If the game grows and people are buying product, good for them, and good for everyone that enjoys all the product releases. Hell, they’re the ones buying the product; I’m not even the target audience for Wizards anymore. Magic simply hasn’t evolved parallel with my vision for the game. I’m still deeply passionate about the cube, I’m just no longer passionate about Magic. I will pay attention to every mechanically unique card that gets released, evaluate it as it relates to potential impact on my cube environment, update, analyze and evolve my cube accordingly, and discuss those things with other folks that are passionate about cubing. I just simply can’t produce content about sets I have no genuine interest in while all my capacity is being spent on simply trying to keep my head above water with the deluge of product that’s being churned out.

I hope everyone can understand where the decision is coming from, and I hope I’m not letting anyone down too awful much. Read steve_man’s Hot Takes articles when they drop. He and I have similar evaluations on content, and his tier lists align with my top 20 cards in like 85-95% of cases. I’ll still be discussing cards on MTGSalvation, keeping my cube current on CubeCobra, and discussing new cards that interest me on Twitter/X. I appreciate all the support for my articles over the years, and look forward to continued interaction with folks in the cube community that want to discuss any and all things cube.

Cheers, and happy cubing.

-wtwlf123

Thank you for all your work throughout the years, I'm confident it's been very appreciated by all cube enthusiasts.
I fully understand your argument that the amount of material produced as of late can feel very overwhelming - especially for those of us who very rarely get to play cube with their friends.

But I do have some questions, for you and also for anyone else who'd like to share.

1. I know you run a high-powered cube. But do you feel like you always have to include the best possible cards for your cube and if so, is that a factor that may cause some stress? Could a possible solution be to ignore certain sets, for example, the Secret Lair or the Commander sets?

2. I also want to know what's your opinion on the evolution of cube in terms of gameplay. Because cards have become so much stronger in later years, especially if you include cards that were designed for multi-player (e.g. initiative, monarch, minsc & boo), this has resulted in, at least in my experience, the erosion of archetypes that once, in my opinion, defined authentic cube gameplay. For example, when I design a cube with these powerful cards, there's little incentive to play a dedicated wildfire, opposition, smokestack/braids, survival/rec, etc deck, as often times, just slamming stand-alone powerful cards early puts you so far ahead already. Any thoughts?

Thanks for the kind words.

1. I don't want to intentionally lag behind on card evaluation. The "stress" comes from feeling an obligation to create content for sets I don't have any genuine enthusiasm for anymore. Keeping my cube up to date and cube drafting with mechanically powerful and exciting cards isn't the stressful part.

2. Archetype shells have to be better supported and synergy has to be taken more advantage of in today's era in order to compete with the generic goodstuff decks loaded with bomb cards. But they can definitely still do that. All the decks and themes I've always loved to draft in cube are still plenty powerful enough to compete against strong cards in my experience.

Sad to hear it, but thank you for the many years of articles, I read them every set and it has helped shape my cube experience a lot.

I'm right there with you on product fatigue and imagine it's only made worse when you feel obligated to engage with it to write about.

Just created an account only to tell you how disproportionately upset I am by this announcement.

Godspeed my liege.

Quote from TheGroglord »

Sad to hear it, but thank you for the many years of articles, I read them every set and it has helped shape my cube experience a lot.

I'm right there with you on product fatigue and imagine it's only made worse when you feel obligated to engage with it to write about.

You're most welcome. And you hit it right on the head.

Quote from mishmoul »

Just created an account only to tell you how disproportionately upset I am by this announcement.

Godspeed my liege.

Oh no! Sorry to hear it is upsetting to you.

wtwlf,

I already talked to you about this on Twitter, but I wanted to take another opportunity to thank you on this site where so much of our early interactions took place. So thank you immensely for your enormous contribution to the cube community and to my personal development as a cube player and cube manager. I'll miss your articles, but I know you have to do what's best for you. I agree totally with your feelings about recent Magic sets and content. Glad I will still be seeing you around the interwebs!

Cheers,
rant

Thanks rant, my OG cube brother.

Sad to see your top 20's go, but I fully understand where you are coming from. I have the same 'old man yells at clouds' feeling about the fast paced release schedule. Not only you get all the full sets, but then you get all the commander stuff, the Universes Beyond sets and what not. We do not have time to play enough after we change things up before the new sets hits us.

Add to that the power creep of these last years and the design philopsophy to print so many cards that are 'Frog Assassin Bird Warriors' with 3 different abilities, and I get overwhelmed at times. Playing cube with people who are not hardcore into Cube has become harder as the learning curve is huge. So many cards, abilities to read and to explain. Nevermind them knowing how all the archetypes work.

Sad to read this, but I completely understand and respect your decision. Thanks for all the great contributions you've made for the cube format through the years man. Lots of love.

wtwlf,

I've long enjoyed your writeups each release. They've always been fun and informative, and always gave me a glimpse into the world of the great cube crafters. I'd even make a game of my own card evaluation, and see how many of my own top choices would make your lists! I deeply appreciate the time and effort you've spent doing what you do here.

I'd like to think maybe conditions will change, but until then, thank you!

@Hicham: Ya it's tough. Hasn't gone exactly how I'd draw it up. I can either stay current or write articles, but I can't do both anymore given the deluge of product they drop. Oh well.

@Fredo: Appreciate the love! I'm still here to chat any and all things cube, just had to let the articles go.

@Blue_Oneironaut: Thanks for the kind words. I appreciate it.

Dang, this place won't be the same without your articles. Thanks so much for all your hard work over the years. I know you'll still be around and I'll be glad to still hear your opinions on cards on Twitter or CubeCobra (and I guess here to a lesser extent), so it's not goodbye. But it is A goodbye

Thanks again and godspeed!

Quote from hoodwink »

Dang, this place won't be the same without your articles. Thanks so much for all your hard work over the years. I know you'll still be around and I'll be glad to still hear your opinions on cards on Twitter or CubeCobra (and I guess here to a lesser extent), so it's not goodbye. But it is A goodbye

Thanks again and godspeed!

You're very welcome! Thanks for saying so.

I would like to underscore how difficult this task is:

I have a very bad history of getting card mechanics incorrect and Steve frequently had to correct me. I cannot imagine the pressure of having to have to be a source of reference for all these new/ strange mechanics.

I am sad to hear this, as the top 20 has been the highlight of set releases for me, even more the product releases themselves. I think you have accelerated the cube community in terms of specific card evaluations and also the overall process on how the cards are evaluated.

But then again, I fully empathize on the reason to have the hiatus. It’s simply just too hard to catch up. It’s also hard to acquire and trade the cards, as well, given the deluge of products I see in forums and groups. It’s becoming more of a chore than a hobby.


One of the essences of cube is US owning the game, and yeah, we can enjoy it as much as we can on our own terms.

@Alan Yuan: Ya, it can be hard to stay on top of new Magic mechanics too, but more importantly is evaluating how they interact with all the other cards in the cube. That takes time and effort to unpack, and it's more demanding now than ever.

@JinxedIdol: Thanks for the kind words and understanding. Cheers.

I just want to say thank you so much.

You will never know how much some of us lurkers relied on your Top 20 lists, and overall posting.

I keep retyping and deleting so many personal anecdotes to try to express it properly but I can't.

I empathize with the product fatigue, and can't believe you managed for so long with so much product coming out.

Thanks for the love and support, and thanks even more for the understanding. I'm still around to discuss cube anytime.

I know I'm late to the party, but I wanted to echo everyone's appreciation for your past decade and a half of content creation. I've been reading your Cube guides ever since I took the plunge and created my first Cube way back in the far off days of 2010 or so.

Speaking as someone whose passion for the game has ebbed and flowed many times over the years, just staying current on releases has become a herculean task even for the most passionate, and outright impossible when your heart's no longer in it. I cannot imagine how hard it must be to be a content creator in the current environment.

Glad to hear you haven't lost your love of Cubing. Thanks again for everything.

Thanks for the kind words Arcanus.

Hey wtwlf123, logging in to comment here. Thank you for your years of articles. I've found my own card-selection choices aligned with yours and reading your articles helped simplify updating my cube in this complicated-dad-mode era. Wishing you the best!

Hey mook1e, thanks for logging in just for the well-wishes! I appreciate it. Cheers, and happy cubing.