Unexpectedly absent is miles and miles and miles better than this (and miles and miles and miles better than winds).
unexpectantly absent has been on the chopping block in my list for a while. after 61 drafts its been in the main less that 50% of the time. it has the 5th worst main deck percentage of all white cards in my cube and its not even a narrow spell. Its win percentage when in the mainboard after 181 games is the 6th worst of all white cards in my list.
It's not even in the top 320 cards in my 360 list. winds of abandon is in the top 120 by comparison. With an easier casting cost and a permanent solution, I expect fateful absence will have a much much higher main board percentage, which in a 360 list is something I want if i'm going to be running a card in my precious few slots.
I do not really know what to tell you. If it doesn’t work for your playgroup then it doesn’t work for your playgroup and I guess it makes sense for you to cut, but this sounds much more like a playgroup problem than a UA problem. If treated as a removal spell it’s like a top 5 removal spell in the entire available cardpool, it should be getting maindecked and winning way more than that.
That could be an explanation except that this list is played regularly on xmage with what i would estimate is around 50+ drafters over the course of the past 4 years. Looking Steve's 3-0 archives which consists of data from multiple lists, you can also see a significant drop in the popularity of unexpectedly absent almost perfectly aligned with the release of winds which has now overtaken it as a white removal of choice.
It's a solid card and it sounds like it has been very strong for you, but the data from hundreds of drafts across multiple cubes with a wide variety of drafters shows that it has been losing ground steadily since late 2019.
I think swapping in fateful absence for this is completely reasonable as a test and will prove to be the better removal for cube in the long run.
Unexpectedly absent is miles and miles and miles better than this (and miles and miles and miles better than winds).
unexpectantly absent has been on the chopping block in my list for a while. after 61 drafts its been in the main less that 50% of the time. it has the 5th worst main deck percentage of all white cards in my cube and its not even a narrow spell. Its win percentage when in the mainboard after 181 games is the 6th worst of all white cards in my list.
It's not even in the top 320 cards in my 360 list. winds of abandon is in the top 120 by comparison. With an easier casting cost and a permanent solution, I expect fateful absence will have a much much higher main board percentage, which in a 360 list is something I want if i'm going to be running a card in my precious few slots.
Brimaz has still been a top dog (or cat) for my list, but damn this card is hot. I just have to decide as mentioned above how many of these I want. do i cut brimaz for this or run this along side. tough decision!
Cutting looter for this. I wanted to avoid the day and night gimmick in my cube if possible but between this and the new green grave titan they are just too good not to run.
Really happy about this. It has been getting harder to keep justifying blood artist in the black 2 creature slot with all the new additions in recent sets.
I like this quite a bit. Going to cut either searing spear or incinerate for it because i like to cut down functional reprints where possible and I have enough burn to the face as is.
Really happy to have a white doom blade of sorts. Going to be cutting Unexpectedly Absent for this. I also think Winds of Abandon is still better than this, but its pretty damn good.
This is definitely one of the more interesting cards spoiled, but we've just had so many good black 2s. I think I would test this if I was stil running nullpriest of Oblivion so might be worth a whirl if you are in that boat.
advocate, branchwalker
tracker, provisioner
pyre, scorch.
That could be an explanation except that this list is played regularly on xmage with what i would estimate is around 50+ drafters over the course of the past 4 years. Looking Steve's 3-0 archives which consists of data from multiple lists, you can also see a significant drop in the popularity of unexpectedly absent almost perfectly aligned with the release of winds which has now overtaken it as a white removal of choice.
It's a solid card and it sounds like it has been very strong for you, but the data from hundreds of drafts across multiple cubes with a wide variety of drafters shows that it has been losing ground steadily since late 2019.
I think swapping in fateful absence for this is completely reasonable as a test and will prove to be the better removal for cube in the long run.
unexpectantly absent has been on the chopping block in my list for a while. after 61 drafts its been in the main less that 50% of the time. it has the 5th worst main deck percentage of all white cards in my cube and its not even a narrow spell. Its win percentage when in the mainboard after 181 games is the 6th worst of all white cards in my list.
It's not even in the top 320 cards in my 360 list. winds of abandon is in the top 120 by comparison. With an easier casting cost and a permanent solution, I expect fateful absence will have a much much higher main board percentage, which in a 360 list is something I want if i'm going to be running a card in my precious few slots.