It's interesting that you support snow but don't run Skred. I would've guessed that would be a powerful card for a snow deck.
Cheers,
rant
Great feedback, thanks!
I have Tolarian Academy in the Lands section.
Re: Feldon, you’re right, that’s a card I should give another shot when I try artifacts.
Re: Saheeli, Sublime Artificer, that could be an interesting test. It underperformed for me in unpowered, but the boost of artifacts undoubtedly makes her better. I’m going to add her.
Re: Saheeli, the Gifted, this is a weird thing about my Cube, but we have 100% non-foils, so I pretend that card doesn’t exist.
Re: Firestorm, it’s always felt too narrow for us, but it’s definitely on the radar now and might be exactly what I need for more discard outlets.
Re: Skred, as a 1-mana removal spell for creatures that essentially deals as much damage as you have basics, it’s never been that good for us since the ceiling is low and the floor of being bad because of drawing your duals is unacceptable. Dead of Winter is a better card that we actually cut because of this same problem.
Had a question regarding your powered 720 cube on cubetutor. Noticed some snow-relevant cards (Icehide Golem, Arcum's Astrolabe, the man land) - how are you able to cast those? It's possible I missed something but am curious. Thanks!
I need to change the thread title, but it doesn’t appear I can do that on mobile. Might need mod help?
Anyway, I plan to work on a longer Cube update post soon. We have a “Cube weekend” next weekend with the old squad that started this Cube 10 years ago in college, and this will be the first time we draft power together. Excited to get back into the swing of Cubing in a post-lockdown world.
I’d like to post general thoughts here now that we’ve gone powered and are gearing up to Cube more often this summer.
What’s New
First and foremost, power. And for us that also means cards like Mana Vault, Mana Crypt, and Sol Ring. The secondary effect on the list includes strategies that benefit significantly from power - namely, artifact deck support. This includes cards like old school Tezz, Time Vault combo, Metalwoker and Workshop, etc. We also trimmed each colored section to increase colorless by 20 cards. Note that even though Storm becomes an option with power, we still did not introduce it, as we have concerns with the archetype in general at 720, and it goes against our general philosophy of combos heavily overlapping with one another or taking minimal slots with mini packages (like Twin).
Mono support. We’ve never actively supported mono-colored decks, but I think there are some Magic trends that not only make this possible now but give nice incentives for going mono in a draft. First, each color is getting efficient threats and answers that it used to need to splash from other colors. Second, the overall high power level of the Cube decreases the delta between the bomb and the average Cube card. This increases the benefit of getting a hyper-consistent manabase when the opportunity cost of the other color is lower. Third, there are some cool mono-colored support cards. While most are not “this makes me go mono early in the draft,” I do think several of these cards tilt the scale toward drafting the mono deck if the color is wide open at the table. For example, I hope that Archmage’s Charm causes you to lean into mono in your blue heavy tempo deck rather than constantly be looking for your splash color. Finally, I learned a lot from watching people stream online Cubes. Mono white has arguably been the best performing deck in the online cube in certain iterations over the past year, and the performance of these mono-colored aggro decks challenged our group’s notion that Boros is essentially always the way to go with red or white aggro. Because of this, we leaned into the concept in the Cube list, and I hope there’s a balance - we still want players to go for Boros on occasion, but mono has plenty of tools to be a consistent thing now.
Blue tempo / aggro, Black and Green aggro. We’ve tested the gambit over the years, from “maxed out” aggro support including every lower tier 1-drop in every color, to cutting most aggressive 1-drops across Sultai after I received the 50th complaint about Jungle Lion being last picked. After years of testing I’m now confident we can support these strategies without going TOO deep on the lower tier 1-drops and still accomplish our goal of supporting aggressive decks in every color. Our goal in the current list is to offer the tools to be successful in aggro without cards like Vampire Lacerator and Jungle Lion. For blue, we’re pushing a new blue aggressive strategy that includes some less common cards like Delver of Secrets and Stormwing Entity. This is made possible by some of the more recently printed aggressive creatures plus making sure we offer enough “glue” cards like Opt and Vapor Snag. We’ll see how it goes.
-----
I’ll share some random takes on cards that have worked or haven’t worked for us that may be different from “stock” opinions/views.
Interesting / fringe-y cards that have worked well for us:
Humility. This card has been interesting, and while I’m not saying it’s a windmill slam bomb that every Cube should be running, I do think that it works in the proper shell, and when it works it’s a cool deck. We’ll see if power has any effect on it, but for now it has a significant enough impact as one card that it’s worth its slot in my list. This card is perhaps better in my list than some because most combos are fatty-cheating and there’s no Storm, so Humility is pretty good against almost every non-control strategy. We also have some oddities like Martial Coup that help the Humility deck.
Quarantine Field. Always insane for our group… It’s consistently a one-sided permanent sweeper in big mana decks and highly respected.
Gilded Drake. Again, this is perhaps because of the prevalence of fatty cheating in our drafts, but people really like this card, and I get yelled at whenever I try to cut it.
Goldspan Dragon. For some reason the dragon decks have become extremely powerful. Rx midrange tends to want as many dragons as possible. While we don’t have much experience playing this in our Cube yet, Goldspan has surprised me when we’ve been testing it online. The success of Goldspan has made us test Stormbreath Dragon as well - we’re now loaded up on dragons.
Birthing Pod. For whatever reason Pod has been a house for us. I think the typical Pod deck is an all-around better deck when you don’t see the Pod than it used to be, and that’s what has made the difference. My perception is that people didn’t draft this deck in the past because when you didn’t see Pod the deck was garbage.
Expressive Iteration. In my opinion, busted and worth the multi slot. It supports exactly what we’re trying to do with Izzet and is also just a powerful card.
Crawling Barrens. Not saying this card is amazing, but it has been way better than expected. The growth rate causes it to become a game-ending threat by itself, and it’s a nice subgame to put your opponent in when there aren’t a ton of great answers to manlands in Cube compared to other threat types.
-----
Cards that I keep trying to make work but never work like I hope:
Land Tax. I don’t think this was played for maybe three years before I finally realized it should be cut from our list.
Elspeth, Knight-Errant. Oh boy, is this one controversial… But this card hasn’t done much for us in a while. Even though it fits really well with several strategies we push like Humility and Opposition, it’s very slow and in a glutted 4-mana slot in white. We’re adding it back for now because of negative feedback when we cut it, but the card isn’t safe forever.
Feldon of the Third Path. I love this card in theory, but we could never get it to work over the years, and people consistently build the deck that it should perform well in.
Fauna Shaman. Hasn’t been activated in a long time and is another card that feels like archetype glue but in reality is too slow and clunky. The decks that you would think want Fauna Shaman play perfectly fine without it. I’m adding it back for the time being since BG “reanimator stuff” midrange is getting a big push, but it’s on the chopping block.
------
MH2 update:
+Prismatic Ending
+Timeless Dragon
+Solitude
+Elspeth, Knight-errant
+Accorder Paladin
+Court of Grace
-Maul of the Skyclaves
-Gideon of the Trials
-Elspeth, Sun’s Nemesis
-Glory-bound Initiate
-Archangel Avacyn
-Elspeth Conquers Death
+Ragavan
+Flametongue Yearling
+Robber of the Rich
+Fury
+Kaleidoscorch
-Akoum Hellhound
-Eidolon of the Great Revel
-Magda
-Siege-gang Commander
-Light Up the Stage
+Ignoble Hierarch
+Satyr Wayfinder
+Fauna Shaman
+Tireless Provisioner
+Dryad of Ilysian Grove
+Timeless Witness
+Foundation Breaker
+Life from the Loam
-Boreal Druid
-Pelt Collector
-Experiment One
-Lovestruck Beast
-Esika’s Chariot
-Thrun, the Last Troll
-Great Oak Guardian
-Oath of Nissa
+Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
+Master of Death
+Dakkon, Shadow Slayer
+Grist, the Hunger Tide
+Deathrite Shaman
+Damn
+Supreme Verdict
+Rakdos’s Return
+General Ferrous Rockeric
+Ancient Grudge
+Mirari's Wake
+Omnath, Locus of Creation
+Niv-Mizzet, Reborn
-Maelstrom Pulse
-Assassin’s Trophy
-Nightveil Specter
-Hostage Taker
-Dream Trawler
-Angrath's Rampage
-Radha, Heart of Keld
-Phylath, World Sculptor
-Falkenrath Aristocrat
-Voice of Resurgence
-Kaya, Orzhov Usurpor
-Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
-Warden of the First Tree
Had a blast Cubing yesterday with a group of friends. We did a combination of team drafts with 12 players (3x3x3x3 across 2 6-person draft pods) and the traditional 8-person drafts. We played my Cube and one draft of another person’s Cube that was similar to the MTGO and LSV Cube lists.
Random observations from the weekend that I felt were interesting:
-Dust Bowl was a last pick and then proceeded to win a draft for the player who drafted it in a deck that did not have any Crucible effects or major synergies.
-Hive of the Eye Tyrant graveyard ability was relevant.
-Omnath, Locus of Creation was cast smoothly on curve and had a major impact on the game in a 4-color deck.
-Someone P1P1’ed Oko over Jace TMS, and I heard players chatting that it’s not a particularly difficult decision.
-Time Vault / Key decks appeared in every draft, and the combo was activated many times. Time Vault has become respected as a high pick.
-Fallen Shinobi was the centerpiece of a draft winning deck and blew out opponents multiple times with massive hits.
-Witherbloom Command was consistently a blowout in the other person’s powered Cube, and I promptly added one to mine when the day was over.
-Winota was a centerpiece of a very good Boros aggro deck, and it won every time it was played in one draft.
-A Reanimator deck 3-0’ed one of the drafts, and the archetype seemed much better with the new Modern Horizons 2 cards.
-No one respected Brainstorm because of disparaging comments from Cube podcasts and pros who play Cube, so I proceeded to pick it late as “Shuffle-cestral” with it almost every time I cast it. I think the bias against Brainstorm in Cube has swung way too far to the negative.
-One control deck played both of the white foretell cards, and it was consistently relevant that the opponent did not know which one was foretold. A game was won from the opponent guessing wrong.
-Everyone loves Elspeth Conquers Death for some reason. It was a last second addition to my list, and I guess it’s no longer on the chopping block.
-Someone Restoration Angel’ed an evoked Fury.
-Kaldra Compleat was a powerful bomb in a ramp deck. I underestimated it.
-The group continues to enjoy my Cube’s high density of fixing non-basics and consistently utilizes them to play interesting splashes. I noticed a considerable difference in deck diversity in the other person’s powered Cube (smaller and “more stock” list close to MTGO Vintage).
Changes:
+Kor Skyfisher
+Seal of Cleansing
-Accorder Paladin
-Reveillark
+Emry, Lurker of the Loch
-Forbid
+Seal of Fire
+Unholy Heat
-Smash to Smithereens
-Anger of the Gods
+Sanctum Weaver
+Eidolon of Blossoms
+Oath of Nissa
-Collector Ouphe
-Fauna Shaman
-Carnage Tyrant
+Mishra's Bauble
-Hand of Vecna
+Voice of Resurgence
-Qasali Pridemage
Black
+Blood Artist
+Zulaport Cutthroat
+Agadeem’s Awakening
+The Meathook Massacre
+Nether Void
+Hero's Downfall
-Slaughter Pact
-Glint-sleeve Siphoner
-Nullpriest of Oblivion
-Vile Entomber
-Ebondeath Dracolith
-Noxious Gearhulk
Red
+Falkenrath Pit Fighter
+Bloodthirsty Adversary
+Legion Warboss
+Reckless Stormseeker
+Chandra, Acolyte
+Goblin Bombardment
+Pia and Kiran
-Falkenrath Gorger
-Keldon Marauders
-Runaway Steamkin
-Magma Jet
-Krenko, Tin Street Hooligan
-Hanweir Garrison
-Stormbreath Dragon
Green
+Outland Liberator
+Augur of Autumn
+Circle of Dreams Druid
+Endurance
+Esika’s Chariot
-Sanctum Weaver
-Eidolon of Blossoms
-Dryad of Ilysean Grove
-Nissa, Vastwood Seer
-Oath of Nissa
Multi
+Master of Death
+Judith, the Scourge Diva
+Unburial Rites
+Ashen Rider
+Pernicious Deed
+Showdown of the Skalds
-Hostage Taker
-Rakdos Cackler
-Life/Death
-Niv-mizzet
-Vanishing Verse
-General Ferrous Roderick
Colorless
+Retrofitter Foundry
-Sword of Feast and Famine
-Sword of Sinew and Steel
-Component Pouch
-Gilded Lotus
-Metallic Mimic
-Emrakul, the Promised End
Land
+Cave of the Frost Dragon
+Hive of the Eye Tyrant
+Dust Bowl
+Ramunap Ruins
+Phyrexian Tower
+Drowned Catacomb
+Dragonskull Summit
-Dimir Acqueduct
-Rakdos Carnarium
Incoming Cube weekend getaway with friends! Lots of drafts are about to happen. I look forward to testing the small number of Vow cards added plus all the tweaks made recently. Generally I’d like to keep my eye on how the following are performing:
-Aristocrats
-Non-blue control
-Rock-style decks
-Various fatty cheating strategies based on some of my recent changes
-If Boros aggro is still a thing or if hyper efficiency of mono white and mono red has taken over too much. As people play and watch more Magic Online I think draft dynamics change, and one of the biggest effects of MTGO cube is people increasing their desire to jam mono colored decks. It can be difficult to balance making sure there is ample support for depth of mono colored strategies while not overly incentivizing people to always go mono.
Many drafts were had, many beers consumed. Old friends reunited and a couple new friends made. A great weekend for Cube!
In general the Cube feels quite balanced in its current form with very few “dead cards.” Pretty much all my concerns in the previous post were answered with decks performing well in each category under review. Some of the more exciting decks included a very powerful mono black Aristocrats deck that made great use of Blood Artist and Gray Merchant, as well as one of the best Boros aggro decks I’ve ever seen drafted at 720 (Mox Ruby, Mox Pearl, Mana Crypt, Strip Mine, Wasteland, Plateau, Foundry, 2 fetches, a nice curve plus a lot of the best 3 and 4-drops that can be cast off Crypt).
I have made proposed changes based on a general acceptance of the need to prioritize draft balance over “on paper” balance. The group discussed that while we believe lower tier pairs like GW and GR are more viable than many streamers and podcasts lead you to believe, it's undebatable that more players compete for and play the blue combinations. The final cards in most packs that go unplayed are Naya shard midrange cards, like Huntermaster of the Fells et al. This does not necessarily mean these cards are bad, but rather there’s a single person drafting a deck that wants those cards, and there is no incentive for that player to prioritize them when they will easily scoop up whatever replacement level alternatives they see late.
Because of that, I am going to introduce an experimental change that aims to balance the draft experience but will probably make anyone with “Cube list OCD” cringe. We’re going up to 90 blue cards with 84 in other colored sections while also unbalancing multi in favor of blue and black multi cards that will be more impactful than the cards being cut. The goal is to maximize the draft experience when considering weighted drafted popularity of the color combinations. The goal of this change is to fix the current problem of “you will never table an Opt in this Cube.” The specific changes should give blue aggro, control, and combo a tad more breathing room next to each other which also helps with signaling.
+Portent
+Sleight of Hand
+Negate
+Memory Lapse
+Forbid
+Memory Deluge
+Hullbreaker Horror
-Vedalken Shackles
-Court of Cunning
+Sheoldred
-Graf Reaver
-The Abyss
+Eidolon of the Great Revel
+Hanweir Garrison
+Smash to Smithereens
-Chandra, Acolyte
-Koth of the Hammer
-Earthquake
-Goblin Bombardment
+Search for Tomorrow
+Rift Sower
+Elder Gargaroth
-Timeless Witness
-Nightpack Ambusher
-Life from the Loam
-Turntimber Symbiosis
+Hostage Taker
+Falkenrath Aristocrat
+Vanishing Verse
+Maelstrom Pulse
+Bounding Krasis
-Bloodbraid Elf
-Huntmaster of the Fells
-Murderous Redcap
-Voice of Resurgence
-Warden of the First Tree
-Dakkon, Shadow Slayer
I'm really curious to see how this works out for your group. I definitely agree with the idea that blue tends to be more highly drafted than it can support but I worry that without that part holding it back it will just run over everything. Looking forward to seeing if my thesis is false.
I'm really curious to see how this works out for your group. I definitely agree with the idea that blue tends to be more highly drafted than it can support but I worry that without that part holding it back it will just run over everything. Looking forward to seeing if my thesis is false.
That is a reasonable concern. Based on my experiences recently the non-blue decks do just fine, but the problem is more of the draft dynamics and how there seems to be a glut of Naya shard cards at the end of every draft. In theory smoothing this out keeps number of people drafting the archetypes at a similar level but smoothes picks out and allows the blue tempo and blue control players to signal a bit better. We'll see what happens though - first time I've unbalanced the color sections in the 10 years I've maintained this Cube.
Proposed changes for Neon Dynasty and Streets of New Capenna. We’re not Cubing until right after the Streets release, so I’m doing these updates together and will continue to add Streets cards as they roll in.
+Cyclonic Rift
+Transmute Artifact
-Impulse
-Sleight of Hand
+Blade of the Oni
+Vampire Hexmage
-Sheoldred, Whispering One
+Rabbit Battery
+Runaway Steam-kin
+Fable of the Mirror-Breaker
+Magus of the Moon
+Twinshot Sniper
+Goldspan Dragon
-Robber of the Rich
-Hanweir Garrison
-Release the Gremlins
-Flametongue Kavu
-Volatile Arsonist
+Elvish Reclaimer
+Boreal Druid
+Collector Ouphe
+Dryad of the Ilysian Grove
+Crop Rotation
+Exploration
+Life from the Loam
-Wild Growth
-Search for Tomorrow
-Wall of Blossoms
-Tireless Provisioner
-Jadelight Ranger
-Ulvenwald Oddity
+Thopter Foundry
-Vanishing Verse
-Edric, Spymaster of Trest
-Maelstrom Pulse
-Lightning Helix
-Master of Death
-Judith, Scourge Diva
-Mirari’s Wake
-Pernicious Deed
-Bounding Krasis
-Trygon Predator
+Eater of Virtue
+Sword of the Meek
+Thought-Knot Seer
+Reality Smasher
+Emrakul, the Promised End
-Duplicant
+Boseiju, Who Endures
+Field of the Dead
+Faceless Haven
+City of Traitors
+Dark Depths
+Thespian’s Stage
+5 Triomes
+Adarkar Wastes
+Underground River
-Azorius Chancery
-Irrigated Farmland
-Drowned Catacomb
-Fetid Pools
-Dragonskull Summit
-Fire-lit Thicket
-Wooded Bastion
-Isolated Chapel
-Sulfur Falls
-Woodland Cemetery
-Clifftop Retreat
-Simic Growth Chamber
Big change to Cube basic lands… I will be offering regular, snow, and Wastes from the land box when you build your deck. There are 6 cards that utilize snow mana. There is a single snow punisher in Reidane. Field of the Dead benefits from mixing snow and regular basics. Wastes help the Eldrazi requiring colorless mana to cast.
If you're trying to support artifact decks, I'd suggest Tolarian Academy and Feldon of the Third Path. Also, both Saheeli, Sublime Artificer and Saheeli, the Gifted are good in those decks, with Artificer being better. Firestorm also is good for Welder and reanimator decks and it's not terrible in aggro in a pinch.
It's interesting that you support snow but don't run Skred. I would've guessed that would be a powerful card for a snow deck.
Cheers,
rant
My Cube
CubeCobra: https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/5f5d0310ed602310515d4c32
Cube Tutor: http://cubetutor.com/viewcube/1963
Great feedback, thanks!
I have Tolarian Academy in the Lands section.
Re: Feldon, you’re right, that’s a card I should give another shot when I try artifacts.
Re: Saheeli, Sublime Artificer, that could be an interesting test. It underperformed for me in unpowered, but the boost of artifacts undoubtedly makes her better. I’m going to add her.
Re: Saheeli, the Gifted, this is a weird thing about my Cube, but we have 100% non-foils, so I pretend that card doesn’t exist.
Re: Firestorm, it’s always felt too narrow for us, but it’s definitely on the radar now and might be exactly what I need for more discard outlets.
Re: Skred, as a 1-mana removal spell for creatures that essentially deals as much damage as you have basics, it’s never been that good for us since the ceiling is low and the floor of being bad because of drawing your duals is unacceptable. Dead of Winter is a better card that we actually cut because of this same problem.
See new powered Cube link here: http://cubecobra.com/cube/list/sg5
I need to change the thread title, but it doesn’t appear I can do that on mobile. Might need mod help?
Anyway, I plan to work on a longer Cube update post soon. We have a “Cube weekend” next weekend with the old squad that started this Cube 10 years ago in college, and this will be the first time we draft power together. Excited to get back into the swing of Cubing in a post-lockdown world.
What’s New
First and foremost, power. And for us that also means cards like Mana Vault, Mana Crypt, and Sol Ring. The secondary effect on the list includes strategies that benefit significantly from power - namely, artifact deck support. This includes cards like old school Tezz, Time Vault combo, Metalwoker and Workshop, etc. We also trimmed each colored section to increase colorless by 20 cards. Note that even though Storm becomes an option with power, we still did not introduce it, as we have concerns with the archetype in general at 720, and it goes against our general philosophy of combos heavily overlapping with one another or taking minimal slots with mini packages (like Twin).
Mono support. We’ve never actively supported mono-colored decks, but I think there are some Magic trends that not only make this possible now but give nice incentives for going mono in a draft. First, each color is getting efficient threats and answers that it used to need to splash from other colors. Second, the overall high power level of the Cube decreases the delta between the bomb and the average Cube card. This increases the benefit of getting a hyper-consistent manabase when the opportunity cost of the other color is lower. Third, there are some cool mono-colored support cards. While most are not “this makes me go mono early in the draft,” I do think several of these cards tilt the scale toward drafting the mono deck if the color is wide open at the table. For example, I hope that Archmage’s Charm causes you to lean into mono in your blue heavy tempo deck rather than constantly be looking for your splash color. Finally, I learned a lot from watching people stream online Cubes. Mono white has arguably been the best performing deck in the online cube in certain iterations over the past year, and the performance of these mono-colored aggro decks challenged our group’s notion that Boros is essentially always the way to go with red or white aggro. Because of this, we leaned into the concept in the Cube list, and I hope there’s a balance - we still want players to go for Boros on occasion, but mono has plenty of tools to be a consistent thing now.
Blue tempo / aggro, Black and Green aggro. We’ve tested the gambit over the years, from “maxed out” aggro support including every lower tier 1-drop in every color, to cutting most aggressive 1-drops across Sultai after I received the 50th complaint about Jungle Lion being last picked. After years of testing I’m now confident we can support these strategies without going TOO deep on the lower tier 1-drops and still accomplish our goal of supporting aggressive decks in every color. Our goal in the current list is to offer the tools to be successful in aggro without cards like Vampire Lacerator and Jungle Lion. For blue, we’re pushing a new blue aggressive strategy that includes some less common cards like Delver of Secrets and Stormwing Entity. This is made possible by some of the more recently printed aggressive creatures plus making sure we offer enough “glue” cards like Opt and Vapor Snag. We’ll see how it goes.
-----
I’ll share some random takes on cards that have worked or haven’t worked for us that may be different from “stock” opinions/views.
Interesting / fringe-y cards that have worked well for us:
Humility. This card has been interesting, and while I’m not saying it’s a windmill slam bomb that every Cube should be running, I do think that it works in the proper shell, and when it works it’s a cool deck. We’ll see if power has any effect on it, but for now it has a significant enough impact as one card that it’s worth its slot in my list. This card is perhaps better in my list than some because most combos are fatty-cheating and there’s no Storm, so Humility is pretty good against almost every non-control strategy. We also have some oddities like Martial Coup that help the Humility deck.
Quarantine Field. Always insane for our group… It’s consistently a one-sided permanent sweeper in big mana decks and highly respected.
Gilded Drake. Again, this is perhaps because of the prevalence of fatty cheating in our drafts, but people really like this card, and I get yelled at whenever I try to cut it.
Goldspan Dragon. For some reason the dragon decks have become extremely powerful. Rx midrange tends to want as many dragons as possible. While we don’t have much experience playing this in our Cube yet, Goldspan has surprised me when we’ve been testing it online. The success of Goldspan has made us test Stormbreath Dragon as well - we’re now loaded up on dragons.
Birthing Pod. For whatever reason Pod has been a house for us. I think the typical Pod deck is an all-around better deck when you don’t see the Pod than it used to be, and that’s what has made the difference. My perception is that people didn’t draft this deck in the past because when you didn’t see Pod the deck was garbage.
Expressive Iteration. In my opinion, busted and worth the multi slot. It supports exactly what we’re trying to do with Izzet and is also just a powerful card.
Crawling Barrens. Not saying this card is amazing, but it has been way better than expected. The growth rate causes it to become a game-ending threat by itself, and it’s a nice subgame to put your opponent in when there aren’t a ton of great answers to manlands in Cube compared to other threat types.
-----
Cards that I keep trying to make work but never work like I hope:
Land Tax. I don’t think this was played for maybe three years before I finally realized it should be cut from our list.
Elspeth, Knight-Errant. Oh boy, is this one controversial… But this card hasn’t done much for us in a while. Even though it fits really well with several strategies we push like Humility and Opposition, it’s very slow and in a glutted 4-mana slot in white. We’re adding it back for now because of negative feedback when we cut it, but the card isn’t safe forever.
Feldon of the Third Path. I love this card in theory, but we could never get it to work over the years, and people consistently build the deck that it should perform well in.
Fauna Shaman. Hasn’t been activated in a long time and is another card that feels like archetype glue but in reality is too slow and clunky. The decks that you would think want Fauna Shaman play perfectly fine without it. I’m adding it back for the time being since BG “reanimator stuff” midrange is getting a big push, but it’s on the chopping block.
------
MH2 update:
+Prismatic Ending
+Timeless Dragon
+Solitude
+Elspeth, Knight-errant
+Accorder Paladin
+Court of Grace
-Maul of the Skyclaves
-Gideon of the Trials
-Elspeth, Sun’s Nemesis
-Glory-bound Initiate
-Archangel Avacyn
-Elspeth Conquers Death
+Lose Focus
+Commit/Memory
+Sublime Epiphany
+Court of Cunning
-Emry, Lurker
-Mu Yanling, Skydancer
-Vapor Snag
-Flash
+Dauthi Voidwalker
+Boneshredder
+Grief
+Tourach
+Vile Gravedigger
+Archon of Cruelty
+Unmarked Grave
+Persist
+Sudden Edict
-Mindblade Render
-Midnight Reaper
-Spawn of Mayhem
-Gonti
-Doom Whisperer
-Sheoldred
-Nether Void
-Wretched Confluence
-The Eldest Reborn
+Ragavan
+Flametongue Yearling
+Robber of the Rich
+Fury
+Kaleidoscorch
-Akoum Hellhound
-Eidolon of the Great Revel
-Magda
-Siege-gang Commander
-Light Up the Stage
+Ignoble Hierarch
+Satyr Wayfinder
+Fauna Shaman
+Tireless Provisioner
+Dryad of Ilysian Grove
+Timeless Witness
+Foundation Breaker
+Life from the Loam
-Boreal Druid
-Pelt Collector
-Experiment One
-Lovestruck Beast
-Esika’s Chariot
-Thrun, the Last Troll
-Great Oak Guardian
-Oath of Nissa
+Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
+Master of Death
+Dakkon, Shadow Slayer
+Grist, the Hunger Tide
+Deathrite Shaman
+Damn
+Supreme Verdict
+Rakdos’s Return
+General Ferrous Rockeric
+Ancient Grudge
+Mirari's Wake
+Omnath, Locus of Creation
+Niv-Mizzet, Reborn
-Maelstrom Pulse
-Assassin’s Trophy
-Nightveil Specter
-Hostage Taker
-Dream Trawler
-Angrath's Rampage
-Radha, Heart of Keld
-Phylath, World Sculptor
-Falkenrath Aristocrat
-Voice of Resurgence
-Kaya, Orzhov Usurpor
-Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
-Warden of the First Tree
+Relic of Progenitus
+Mimic Vat
+Chromatic Lantern
+Kaldra Compleat
-Palladium Myr
-Retrofitter Foundry
-Lightning Greaves
-Mindslaver
+Urza’s Saga
+Dust Bowl
+Fire-lit Thicket
+Wooded Bastion
+Clifftop Retreat
+Rakdos Carnarium
-City of Traitors
-Faceless Haven
-Cragcrown Pathway
-Branchloft Pathway
-Needleverge Pathway
-Dragonskull Summit
———————-
Anticipatory AFR update:
+Portable Hole
-Fragmentize
+Ebondeath, Dracolith
-Nekrataal
+Hand of Vecna
+Component Pouch
-Mimic Vat
-Hedron Archive
+Den of the Bugbear
+Hive of the Eye Tyrant
+Lair of the Hydra
-Crawling Barrens
-Volrath’s Stronghold
-Academy Ruins
———————-
Latest changes:
+Murktide Regent
-Master of Waves
+Force of Vigor
-Kazandu Mammoth
+Kroxa
-Nicol Bolas
+Mindslaver
-Chromatic Lantern
+Bazaar of Baghdad
+Academy Ruins
-Hive of the Eye Tyrant
-Dust Bowl
Need to physically change:
+Kroxa
-Nicol Bolas
Thanks for reading this smattering of thoughts!
Random observations from the weekend that I felt were interesting:
-Dust Bowl was a last pick and then proceeded to win a draft for the player who drafted it in a deck that did not have any Crucible effects or major synergies.
-Hive of the Eye Tyrant graveyard ability was relevant.
-Omnath, Locus of Creation was cast smoothly on curve and had a major impact on the game in a 4-color deck.
-Someone P1P1’ed Oko over Jace TMS, and I heard players chatting that it’s not a particularly difficult decision.
-Time Vault / Key decks appeared in every draft, and the combo was activated many times. Time Vault has become respected as a high pick.
-Fallen Shinobi was the centerpiece of a draft winning deck and blew out opponents multiple times with massive hits.
-Witherbloom Command was consistently a blowout in the other person’s powered Cube, and I promptly added one to mine when the day was over.
-Winota was a centerpiece of a very good Boros aggro deck, and it won every time it was played in one draft.
-A Reanimator deck 3-0’ed one of the drafts, and the archetype seemed much better with the new Modern Horizons 2 cards.
-No one respected Brainstorm because of disparaging comments from Cube podcasts and pros who play Cube, so I proceeded to pick it late as “Shuffle-cestral” with it almost every time I cast it. I think the bias against Brainstorm in Cube has swung way too far to the negative.
-One control deck played both of the white foretell cards, and it was consistently relevant that the opponent did not know which one was foretold. A game was won from the opponent guessing wrong.
-Everyone loves Elspeth Conquers Death for some reason. It was a last second addition to my list, and I guess it’s no longer on the chopping block.
-Someone Restoration Angel’ed an evoked Fury.
-Kaldra Compleat was a powerful bomb in a ramp deck. I underestimated it.
-The group continues to enjoy my Cube’s high density of fixing non-basics and consistently utilizes them to play interesting splashes. I noticed a considerable difference in deck diversity in the other person’s powered Cube (smaller and “more stock” list close to MTGO Vintage).
Changes:
+Kor Skyfisher
+Seal of Cleansing
-Accorder Paladin
-Reveillark
+Emry, Lurker of the Loch
-Forbid
+Seal of Fire
+Unholy Heat
-Smash to Smithereens
-Anger of the Gods
+Sanctum Weaver
+Eidolon of Blossoms
+Oath of Nissa
-Collector Ouphe
-Fauna Shaman
-Carnage Tyrant
+Mishra's Bauble
-Hand of Vecna
+Voice of Resurgence
-Qasali Pridemage
White
+Esper Sentinel
+Cathar Commando
+Intrepid Adversary
+Oust
+Fateful Absence
+Brutal Cathar
+Adeline, Resplendent Cathar
+Gideon of the Trials
+Elspeth, Sun’s Nemesis
+Iona, Shield of Emeria
-Mardu Woe-reaper
-Kor Skyfisher
-Archon of Sun’s Grace
-Court of Grace
-Land Tax
-Seal of Cleansing
-Oblivion Ring
-Banishing Light
-History of Benalia
-Martial Coup
Blue
+Consider
+Suspicious Stowaway
+Memory Deluge
-Talrand, Sky Summoner
-Cyclonic Rift
-Sublime Epiphany
Black
+Blood Artist
+Zulaport Cutthroat
+Agadeem’s Awakening
+The Meathook Massacre
+Nether Void
+Hero's Downfall
-Slaughter Pact
-Glint-sleeve Siphoner
-Nullpriest of Oblivion
-Vile Entomber
-Ebondeath Dracolith
-Noxious Gearhulk
Red
+Falkenrath Pit Fighter
+Bloodthirsty Adversary
+Legion Warboss
+Reckless Stormseeker
+Chandra, Acolyte
+Goblin Bombardment
+Pia and Kiran
-Falkenrath Gorger
-Keldon Marauders
-Runaway Steamkin
-Magma Jet
-Krenko, Tin Street Hooligan
-Hanweir Garrison
-Stormbreath Dragon
Green
+Outland Liberator
+Augur of Autumn
+Circle of Dreams Druid
+Endurance
+Esika’s Chariot
-Sanctum Weaver
-Eidolon of Blossoms
-Dryad of Ilysean Grove
-Nissa, Vastwood Seer
-Oath of Nissa
Multi
+Master of Death
+Judith, the Scourge Diva
+Unburial Rites
+Ashen Rider
+Pernicious Deed
+Showdown of the Skalds
-Hostage Taker
-Rakdos Cackler
-Life/Death
-Niv-mizzet
-Vanishing Verse
-General Ferrous Roderick
Colorless
+Retrofitter Foundry
-Sword of Feast and Famine
-Sword of Sinew and Steel
-Component Pouch
-Gilded Lotus
-Metallic Mimic
-Emrakul, the Promised End
Land
+Cave of the Frost Dragon
+Hive of the Eye Tyrant
+Dust Bowl
+Ramunap Ruins
+Phyrexian Tower
+Drowned Catacomb
+Dragonskull Summit
-Dimir Acqueduct
-Rakdos Carnarium
+Graf Reaver
+Dread Fugue
-Hero’s Downfall
-Languish
+Thirst for Discovery
-Thirst for Knowledge
+Volatile Arsonist
-Goldspan Dragon
+Ulvenwald Oddity
-Esika’s Chariot
(All updates current on Cube Cobra)
-Aristocrats
-Non-blue control
-Rock-style decks
-Various fatty cheating strategies based on some of my recent changes
-If Boros aggro is still a thing or if hyper efficiency of mono white and mono red has taken over too much. As people play and watch more Magic Online I think draft dynamics change, and one of the biggest effects of MTGO cube is people increasing their desire to jam mono colored decks. It can be difficult to balance making sure there is ample support for depth of mono colored strategies while not overly incentivizing people to always go mono.
In general the Cube feels quite balanced in its current form with very few “dead cards.” Pretty much all my concerns in the previous post were answered with decks performing well in each category under review. Some of the more exciting decks included a very powerful mono black Aristocrats deck that made great use of Blood Artist and Gray Merchant, as well as one of the best Boros aggro decks I’ve ever seen drafted at 720 (Mox Ruby, Mox Pearl, Mana Crypt, Strip Mine, Wasteland, Plateau, Foundry, 2 fetches, a nice curve plus a lot of the best 3 and 4-drops that can be cast off Crypt).
I have made proposed changes based on a general acceptance of the need to prioritize draft balance over “on paper” balance. The group discussed that while we believe lower tier pairs like GW and GR are more viable than many streamers and podcasts lead you to believe, it's undebatable that more players compete for and play the blue combinations. The final cards in most packs that go unplayed are Naya shard midrange cards, like Huntermaster of the Fells et al. This does not necessarily mean these cards are bad, but rather there’s a single person drafting a deck that wants those cards, and there is no incentive for that player to prioritize them when they will easily scoop up whatever replacement level alternatives they see late.
Because of that, I am going to introduce an experimental change that aims to balance the draft experience but will probably make anyone with “Cube list OCD” cringe. We’re going up to 90 blue cards with 84 in other colored sections while also unbalancing multi in favor of blue and black multi cards that will be more impactful than the cards being cut. The goal is to maximize the draft experience when considering weighted drafted popularity of the color combinations. The goal of this change is to fix the current problem of “you will never table an Opt in this Cube.” The specific changes should give blue aggro, control, and combo a tad more breathing room next to each other which also helps with signaling.
+Faith’s Fetters
-Brutal Cathar
-Elspeth, Sun’s Nemesis
+Portent
+Sleight of Hand
+Negate
+Memory Lapse
+Forbid
+Memory Deluge
+Hullbreaker Horror
-Vedalken Shackles
-Court of Cunning
+Sheoldred
-Graf Reaver
-The Abyss
+Eidolon of the Great Revel
+Hanweir Garrison
+Smash to Smithereens
-Chandra, Acolyte
-Koth of the Hammer
-Earthquake
-Goblin Bombardment
+Search for Tomorrow
+Rift Sower
+Elder Gargaroth
-Timeless Witness
-Nightpack Ambusher
-Life from the Loam
-Turntimber Symbiosis
+Hostage Taker
+Falkenrath Aristocrat
+Vanishing Verse
+Maelstrom Pulse
+Bounding Krasis
-Bloodbraid Elf
-Huntmaster of the Fells
-Murderous Redcap
-Voice of Resurgence
-Warden of the First Tree
-Dakkon, Shadow Slayer
+Gilded Lotus
-Ramunap Ruins
*Changes have been made on Cube Cobra*
That is a reasonable concern. Based on my experiences recently the non-blue decks do just fine, but the problem is more of the draft dynamics and how there seems to be a glut of Naya shard cards at the end of every draft. In theory smoothing this out keeps number of people drafting the archetypes at a similar level but smoothes picks out and allows the blue tempo and blue control players to signal a bit better. We'll see what happens though - first time I've unbalanced the color sections in the 10 years I've maintained this Cube.
Proposed changes for Neon Dynasty and Streets of New Capenna. We’re not Cubing until right after the Streets release, so I’m doing these updates together and will continue to add Streets cards as they roll in.
+Lion Sash
+Swift Reconfiguration
+March of Otherworldly Light
+Eldrazi Displacer
+Wandering Emperor
-Thalia, Heretic Cathar
-Sun Titan
-Faith’s Fetters
-Serra Benevolent
+Cyclonic Rift
+Transmute Artifact
-Impulse
-Sleight of Hand
+Blade of the Oni
+Vampire Hexmage
-Sheoldred, Whispering One
+Rabbit Battery
+Runaway Steam-kin
+Fable of the Mirror-Breaker
+Magus of the Moon
+Twinshot Sniper
+Goldspan Dragon
-Robber of the Rich
-Hanweir Garrison
-Release the Gremlins
-Flametongue Kavu
-Volatile Arsonist
+Elvish Reclaimer
+Boreal Druid
+Collector Ouphe
+Dryad of the Ilysian Grove
+Crop Rotation
+Exploration
+Life from the Loam
-Wild Growth
-Search for Tomorrow
-Wall of Blossoms
-Tireless Provisioner
-Jadelight Ranger
-Ulvenwald Oddity
+Thopter Foundry
-Vanishing Verse
-Edric, Spymaster of Trest
-Maelstrom Pulse
-Lightning Helix
-Master of Death
-Judith, Scourge Diva
-Mirari’s Wake
-Pernicious Deed
-Bounding Krasis
-Trygon Predator
+Eater of Virtue
+Sword of the Meek
+Thought-Knot Seer
+Reality Smasher
+Emrakul, the Promised End
-Duplicant
+Boseiju, Who Endures
+Field of the Dead
+Faceless Haven
+City of Traitors
+Dark Depths
+Thespian’s Stage
+5 Triomes
+Adarkar Wastes
+Underground River
-Azorius Chancery
-Irrigated Farmland
-Drowned Catacomb
-Fetid Pools
-Dragonskull Summit
-Fire-lit Thicket
-Wooded Bastion
-Isolated Chapel
-Sulfur Falls
-Woodland Cemetery
-Clifftop Retreat
-Simic Growth Chamber
Big change to Cube basic lands… I will be offering regular, snow, and Wastes from the land box when you build your deck. There are 6 cards that utilize snow mana. There is a single snow punisher in Reidane. Field of the Dead benefits from mixing snow and regular basics. Wastes help the Eldrazi requiring colorless mana to cast.
https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/sg5