MTG Salvation

1) Do you mean that the Phyrexian Crusader is double-blocked by the 2/2 and 2/3? If this is the scenario, and you put the 2/2 blocker first...

- First strike damage happens, and the Crusader kills the 2/2
- The 2/3 kills the Crusader during the normal damage step

2) No, because the creature is sacrificed as part of the cost of the Birthing Pod's ability.

Quote from BennyDJazz

True. I should clarify; I don't run foils. So, Sol Ring is an obvious windfall as well. There are a number of others that will be in non-foil, modern-faces for the first time, but I think Sol Ting and Mother of Runes are the only ones that will make the cut.

Prophetic Bolt, too. Unfortunately I don't think there are any others at all. I was really hoping for Upheaval or at least, I dunno... Future Sight at least!

Quote from quitequieter

also it kills you.

Hehe, last night that never even crossed my mind, and for some reason this (and wtwlf's follow-up post) cracked me up.

I expanded the Cube by 5 cards but I made enough difficult cuts that I don't feel as guilty about it!

Here's my rough draft of the changes:

I traded a ton today, and I think I can make quite an improvement to the Cube. I'm not sure whether it's better to expand the Cube slightly (maybe by 10-15 cards) or try to keep it as-is.

I'm looking on advice for what to cut for these cards (if anything):

Leonin Relic-Warder - I don't think he's addable quite yet.
Mirran Crusader
Phyrexian Rebirth - If anything, Story Circle is probably the cut, but I'm slightly attached.

Blue Sun's Zenith - Doesn't seem quite good enough. I already cut Mind Spring and I'm not sure how this compares.
Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur - Costs too much, I think.
Shelldock Isle

Black Sun's Zenith
Consuming Vapors
Despise - I lack Inquisition of Kozilek and Thoughtseize so this may help hold the fort until I get one.
Go for the Throat
Life/Death - The modern card face lacks reanimator cards and I almost feel this is re-addable as a Black card. It may be better than Glissa, though, in retrospect, so maybe she should get cut?

Cerebral Eruption - I don't think this is good enough.
Goblin Assault - This was cut a while ago, but I think I should re-add it.
Hell's Thunder
Invader Parasite
Moltensteel Dragon
Red Sun's Zenith - I like Comet Storm better than this.
Sudden Shock
Urabrask the Hidden

Beast Within
Brutalizer Exarch
Mutagenic Growth
Obstinate Baloth
Oracle of Mul Daya

Bonehoard
Darksteel Axe - I really don't think this is good enough, but a friend suggested it.
Molten-Tail Masticore
Phyrexian Processor
Phyrexian Revoker

Thank you in advance for any help!

The URG decklist has been revealed. It has new-frame Ray of Command and Prophetic Bolt, so I'm pretty excited! Hopefully I can at least get singles of those for cheap.

A small update, my first in months!

I've been able to draft my Cube in person a handful of times relatively lately, something I hadn't really had a chance to do since its very early days (I had done a lot of Winstons on MWS/Cockatrice with friends, though).

I didn't get a lot of stuff from the NPH release; I opened the worst Sealed Pool I have ever had. Hopefully I'll be able to draft soon or something.

I know I'm going to sound like a broken record here, but I'm sorry again for letting this fall a bit and disappointing people. I don't want this topic to die, and I feel really guilty about the idea of it happening; I've had a lot of personal/family worries, school worries, etc. lately (right after I thought they were over!) and I didn't have the time to devote to it in the midst of all that. While I'm going to be gone for Memorial Day Weekend, I feel that after that, finally, I will be able to help push this through to the end. I haven't been posting, but I've been pondering about it a lot.

Thanks for the continued interest and desire to finish this. This is indeed my "baby" to some extent and I would really like to remain the Project Manager for it, but it was almost immediately after the project's inception that I thought of it more in terms of "our" project than mine, which is why I've felt really guilty about my extended absences. It would definitely not be where it was with just me working on it. I feel like I have the underlying vision in mind pretty well (and hopefully getting better at articulating it! :p), but I think many of you guys are better designers than me, hehe.

The best way to reach me, by far, is on Messengers - I get really chatty on those, and the times I talked with people in the past online (some who have posted here, some who haven't) about the project are the times I feel like I've gotten the best criticism and that we've gotten the most accomplished. I am available on YIM, AIM, Google Talk, and MSN. Please PM me and I'll give you any of those that you want- I'm usually always available on them. On top of that, it will really push me to get things done.

I'll be around tomorrow for a while, but I won't be around much after that until Sunday. But at that point, I will have a few ideas brewed up about how to really get this rolling again.

I'm sorry I haven't been around - I've had yet another unexpectedly busy month. Thanks, everyone, for keeping this going while I was gone! Tomorrow, though, I've got the whole day free.

So I'm going to do my best to devote tomorrow (and hopefully bits of the weekend) to working on this project and trying to get the OP organized and caught up.

I have a lot to say about a lot of individual things that people have suggested/explained, but I don't want to quote every single card and every single opinion in one big textwall of a post, hehe. I'll get to them all as soon as possible.

I've been talking to reaper a bit about this project on Google Talk, and our conversations have really helped me out. I am available on AIM, YIM, MSN, and Google Talk. If anyone would like to add me on any of these to discuss this project (or anything at all for that matter!), please send me a PM on MTGS. I like chatting about Magic, and it would help me out a lot in moving things forward and knowing what to focus on at a given time.

I have an outline for White that differs a bit from Pringlesman's. It's slightly out of date in terms of the most recent suggestions for White creatures, but I wanted to know what you guys thought about it. We can tweak it tomorrow.


I'd like to spend a bit of time discussing different ways we could approach block mechanics. This is a bit of a textwall, but hopefully it will explain my philosophy better.

My vision behind including few block mechanics has nothing to do with making the Cube "simple to play" or easy for new players, and I never stated (nor intended to imply) that this was a goal. When I refer to liking the "simplicity" of having few block mechanics, I mean it purely in the context of elegance and aesthetics; not in the context of "dumbing things down." I think people are misunderstanding the concept because I used the word "Core." Core sets have a reputation as being "dumb", and for many years they were. But those aren't the aspects of Core Sets that I like (or intend to emulate). Think of this as a supercharged, more complex M10 that is designed specifically to be a Cube. Ideally the cards should be powerful and flexible but have M10ish "resonance."

Also, one thing I wanted to point out is that just because a card doesn't have block mechanics doesn't automatically make it simplistic. In fact, we have so many ETB creatures that I foresee boardstates being far from simple.

But anyway... Block mechanics are by no means off-limits. In fact, I think we should include Block mechanics! I just feel that if we do include them, we should structure them in some way. What I'm trying to avoid here is one-off mechanics. When I'm sorting through cards to decide whether they belong in my real Cube, I don't have any problem with how many/few of a block mechanic I have. But this isn't just a Cube; in another sense it's a set.

For example, if Scars of Mirrodin had contained one random card with Landfall, it wouldn't have made sense within the set. (To a lesser extent, if the Boros had a random card with Dredge, it would have felt weird). While our Cube doesn't have a unified idea like Mirrodin's artifact theme or Zendikar's land theme, I believe it should still feel like it has some sort of elegance. It's not a matter of power or complexity; it's a matter of aesthetics and "feeling real." I think our Cube should have mechanics, but they should be somehow loosely structured as though this was a set (albeit a really special one).

I think these are the two best strategies to approach block mechanics:
- Pick 4-5 really good mechanics (things like Kicker, Evoke, Scry, etc.) and use those mechanics wherever they feel "right."
OR
- Pick about 10 mechanics, assigning each one to a specific color pair (like Ravnica did). For example, Kicker could appear on ~2 Red cards and ~2 Green cards, while Scry would be exclusive to, say, Blue and White. This way the mechanics will feel Cubelike and setlike. It would also define certain mechanics as a certain color within the Cube. (Alternately we could use Shards/Wedges.)

If we go this route, we should simply pick the best block mechanics we can and make sure we use them multiple times in a logical pattern. A mechanic should be able to support about 4-5 cards to be "eligible", and we shouldn't use too many (the Cube is small, remember). Don't worry about whether a mechanic is "evergreen" in real Magic. That's not what I meant by "Core," and that on its own shouldn't be grounds for exclusion.

Anyway, I'm not sure if one those is technically the -best- way to handle it (let me know what you think!), but whatever we decide to do it should be different than just "include whatever cards with whatever mechanics."

I'm really sorry I haven't posted as much lately - For the past month or so I've had a whole bunch of things, some good (concerts!) and some stressful... accumulate and sort of snowball.

I've been planning (and in a lot of cases, already have Notepad'd) replies to everything that's been discussed and within the next few days I'll have a lot more free time once again to help with this project. My responses might be a bit out of order pagewise but I'll try to spread them out so it won't be a complete textwall.

Thank you so much, everyone, for the continued interest in this Cube- We can do this!

Quote from TakeABow

After I find new friends that hopefully play magic.

I live in Raleigh, and I'd love to play Magic with you sometime!

The OP was edited with the changes I suggested recently, bringing the total to 151 cards at the moment.

I've been taking notes on cards for a while and I wanted to share my thoughts. I was going to wait until I commented on everything, but I need to work on making my posts in smaller chunks, hehe! It keeps things moving better. The designs from the last few pages have been mostly fantastic- you guys are really good at this!

I'll try to gather some more designs that I've been thinking about for this project.

This post doesn't have a comment on every single card posted since my last post, but I wanted to go ahead and get a handful of comments out there. I'll get to some of the stuff I haven't commented on much (like Page 14 and on, as well as some Page 12-13 stuff) tonight.


I will try to work on curves for some of the more populated color sections so we can fit everything in smoothly.

One question is this: Would it make more sense to you if Red's guideline was 24/24 and Black's was 21/27, or do you like it better the way it is? Again, the guideline is just that- a guideline, but it seems like Red is running out of creature space fast and the 24 seems more natural to me.

Sorry I've been a bit slow today- I've had a busy week. I'm going to see Yes tonight, hehe, but once I get back I'll have a lot more time free and we'll put lots of this stuff in the Cube!

Quote from xfollowthereaperx »

Spitemare Mono - 1r
Creature - Elemental
Whenever ~ is dealt damage, it deals that much damage to target creature or player
2/1

Alternatively a 2/2 for RR.

I've always loved Spitemare, and he'd probably see more play in Cubes if RW wasn't so deep already.

I like either version of this, but it could also be a possible hybrid card (which RW still needs).

Quote from Altaurus321 »

Goblin Wardancer 1r
Creature - Goblin Warrior
Haste
When ~ enters the battlefield, if only r was spent to cast ~, put a +1/+1 counter on it.
2/1

or alternatively:

Goblin Wardancer 2r
Creature - Goblin Knight
First strike
When ~ enters the battlefield, if only r was spent to cast ~, put a +1/+1 counter on it and it gains haste.
2/1

I think I like version 1 better, but these are both neat. We should include one of them.

Quote from netn9 »

3) U/B:

Improved Mentality 3(U/B)(U/B)(U/B)
Enchantment
If you would draw a card, you may instead search your library for a card, put that card into your hand, then shuffle your library.
If you would discard a card, draw a card.

I like the idea of this.

4) Red "Ball Lightning":

Hypercharger Minosith 2RR
Creature - Elemental Minotaur
Trample, haste
Hypercharger Minosith can’t be blocked except by two or more creatures.
7/1

This is my favorite of your posted cards so far and Red aggro needs a "curve-topper" like this. I disagree with the people saying it should get +1 power; if anything it's slightly too strong. Compare to Keldon Champion, for example. But I think it's probably includeable with some minor tweaking (or possibly as-is).

5) Blue Utility:

Tag Mimic 2UU
Creature - Shapeshifter
: Switch Tag Mimic's power and toughness until end of turn.
: Each creature other than Tag Mimic becomes a copy of it until end of turn.
1/3

This overlaps a bit with the Ocean Elemental (which I like better than this), so there's probably not room for it, but I enjoy the design.

Quote from Pringlesman »

We also need to examine our mana curve to see where we have too much or too little.
We need to get an art director to start collecting images and rendering cards. (I'm sure the proxy thread will help out with this).

I'm so excited for this project. I can't wait to print this thing out and get people to cube with it.

Quote from xfollowthereaperx »

We can start looking at the curve now but the art can wait. The names of the cards are tentive until we get art for them because we are not artists, we are card creators.

Of course it is not too early to tag cards with art, if you wish to, go ahead.

One thing I voiced from the beginning with art is to use art of Magic cards that don't see play in Cube ever (things like Starlit Angel). I don't know how popular this idea is but I personally love it. But either way, I think we should just wait until later to worry about art at all.

Quote from Doesnotapply »

Thought about this cube today, and I figure that a Kird Ape cycle could be cool in a core environment.

1
If you control a [allied color land], ¬ gets +1/+2
1/1

Quote from Pringlesman »

I would prefer almost if it was enemy colored lands, they cost 1C, and had a small ability.

I love Kird Ape and friends as much as the next guy, but if we put them in I'd probably count them as gold cards, and I don't know if we really have a lot of space for that. Also, it makes sense for some colors more than others so a cycle seems like it's stretching it a bit.

Quote from xfollowthereaperx »

Black Removal 1cmc - B
Instant
Target creature gets +2/-2 or -2/+2 until end of turn.

This is cool, but increasing toughness doesn't really feel very Black to me. +2/-2 being the only option feels more realistic.

Red 1cmc - R
Instant
~ deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
You may sacrifice two mountains as you cast this spell, if you do ~ deals 4 damage to target creature or player instead.

I like this idea, but it seems really really powerful. It's like a much more flexible Fireblast with the caveat that you have to have one Mountain untapped, which is not that big a deal.

Super First Striker - WW (Similar to the card suggested by the creator of Dominion a long time ago. Answer to Death Knight)
Creature - Human Knight
First Strike
Creatures blocking or being blocked by ~ lose first strike until end of turn.
W: ~ gets +1/+0 until end of turn. Activate this ability only once each turn.
2/2

This is pretty cool.

Would like to see:

* Red creatures with "Whenever a player casts a spell, ~ deals 2 damage to that player." This is neat.
* Red pingers How many do you think is a good number? 2?
* Red creatures with "Whenever a player casts a white spell, deal 1 damage to target creature or player." Sort of like a reverse Kor Firewalker? Interesting but I'm not sure.
* Blue fatty with "XUU: Tap X permanents" or similar. Could be white. I think most multi-tapping things with X in their cost are Blue. This is a cool idea though.
* Upheaval in white: "Exile all permanents" or "Exile all nonland permanents", should be really powerful. Possibly a card that says "Destroy all Permanents" though not sure what color would have/want that. "Destroy all Permanents" would probably still be White. One idea I like is giving Green a really expensive "Destroy all noncreature permanents" but that's a bit strange.
* A re-visioned Abeyance that cancels mana abilities like it used to. Great!
* A fixed Gifts Given (not Gifts Ungiven), exiles it instead of placing in hand. Maybe somewhere in between that and Intuition.

Intuition + Given - 2U
Instant
Search target opponent's library for three cards with different names and reveal them. That player chooses one. Exile that card and put the rest into that player's graveyard. Then that player shuffle his or her library. You may cast that card for as long as it remains exiled.

I really like this, we should probably put it in.

Quote from Korla

Dunno if this has been suggested, I haven't read all the posts, but how about:

AEther Germination 3UU
Sorcery
Put two tokens which are copies of target creature into play.

The effect seems simple enough for a coreset thingy, it could ofcourse be VERY powerful situationally, maybe it should be 6?

I like this design- it feels like it should probably cost 6. We have a LOT of ETB creatures in this Cube.

Don't worry about suggesting things that have already been suggested whether you know if they've been discussed or not. Oftentimes things can fall through the cracks.

[EDIT]: Don't mind the name, it's just your average [Something in color] + [Something which cares about what the card does]

I got a chuckle out of this.

Quote from Sexyindiancurry

Firethrower - 1R
Creature - Wizard
T: Firethrower deals 1 damage to target creature or play, and one damage to target creature you control or you.
1/1

The wording feels a little clunky

I like the idea and I'm not quite sure how it would be worded either. But Fireslinger might work out better if we wanted to go this route.

Quote from netn9 »

I like the idea of enemy "Kird Ape" cycle in this cube, but it could be a lot more interesting than just pump:

Spirit Guild :2mana::symw:
Creature - Spirit
Creatures you control have swampwalk as long as you control a swamp.
The ancestral travelers that passed away in those marshes became a fancy guilders for the living.
2/2

Hotstream Threader :3mana::symu:
Creature - Merfolk
:symtap:: Draw a card, than discard a card.
Hotstream Threader has haste as long as you control a mountain.
3/2

Zombie Woodlogger :1mana::symb:
Creature - Zombie
{I need help with this one}

Runelash Warrior :4mana::symr::symr:
Creature - Giant
Whenever Runelash Warrior attacks, it deals 1 damage to each creature defending player controls
Runelash Warrior has lifelink as long as you control a mountain.
5/5

Mana Spike Frog :1mana::symg:
Creature - Frog
Sacrifice Mana Spike Frog: Counter target spell unless its controller pays :1mana:. Activate this ability only if you control an island.
2/2

I love these designs, but I'm not sure they're all powerful enough for a Cube. Also my comment on the previous "Kird Apes" still applies: I'd probably file them as gold and we don't have a lot of space for Gold.

Quote from xfollowthereaperx »

I think a UR ping + Looter would be AWESOME.

OMG PING LOOTER - 1(U/R)(U/R)
Artifact
T: Deal 1 damage to target creature or player.
T: Draw a card then discard a card.
1(U/R),T: Deal 1 damage to target creature or player and draw a card then discard a card.

I really like this design and it feels Izzet-y. I think it would be powerful enough without the third activated ability.

EDIT: Suggested update

Here are my suggestions for an update. A few of the cards have different variants and we need to decide which is best.

White

Drop
Lifegain Lion

Blue

Add
AEther Germination
4UU
Sorcery
Put two tokens onto the battlefield that are copies of target creature.

(originally submitted as 3UU, could possibly go back down to that).

Intuition Given
2U
Instant
Search target opponent's library for three cards with different names and reveal them. That player chooses one. Exile that card and put the rest into that player's graveyard. Then that player shuffles his or her library. You may cast that card for as long as it remains exiled.

Seal of Cancel
1UU
Enchantment
Sacrifice Seal of Cancel: Counter target spell.

Black

Add
Level the Knowledge
1B
Sorcery
Each player chooses a number of cards in hand equal to player who has the fewest, then discards the rest.

Knight of Ill-Gotten Gain
BB
Creature - Human Knight
First Strike, lifelink
2/2

Forget or Remember (post 123), but we need to decide which variant of it

Target or Sweep
3BB
Sorcery
Choose one- Destroy all creatures; or target player sacrifices a creature and you gain life equal to its toughness.

(I still think this should be 2BBB but we'll leave it like this for now)

Change
Meddle Vack: Change its wording to the less awkward "destroy target creature

with power 2 or less."

Red

Add
Bloodthirsty Ogre (post 118-122), but we need to decide which variant of it

Goblin Kitnet
1R
Enchantment
Goblins you control have haste.
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a 1/1 red goblin creature token into play.
At the beginning of the end step, if you have 4 or more goblins on the battlefield, sacrifice Goblin Kitnet.

(We might should change it to "3 or more goblins," but I'll leave it like this for now)

Goblin Wardancer
1R
Creature - Goblin Warrior
Haste
When Goblin Wardancer enters the battlefield, put a +1/+1 counter on it if only red mana was spent to cast it.
2/1

Change
Ghostlit Volley: Keep everything about this the same except add "CARDNAME is colorless." This makes it more interesting for Red drafters.

Drop
Wisdom Seeker

Green

Add
Mire Ooze
G
Creature - Ooze
Discard a card: Regenerate Mire Ooze and it gets +1/+1 until end of turn. Activate this ability only once each turn.
1/1

Change
Thundering Thoctar -> change to a 6/6 trample/shroud for 4GG

Drop
Silvos+

Artifact

Add
(New Icy)
5
Artifact
Tap an untapped artifact you control: Tap target creature.

Artifact

Add
Spiteful Edict
WB
Instant
Choose artifact, creature, or land. All players sacrifice a permanent of the chosen type.

Multicolor

Add
Wrecking Specter (post 127-128), but we need to decide which variant of it

Dreamscape
1GU (maybe 2GU)
Instant
Reveal the top 5 cards of your library. For each creature card revealed this way, put a 1/1 green and blue Illusion creature token with flying onto the battlefield. Then, put one of the revealed cards in your hand and the rest on the bottom in any order.
"The line between dreams and reality is as thick as one chooses to make it."

Drop
Big RW Creature

Land

Add
Stepping Stones
Land
Stepping Stones enters the battlefield tapped.
t: Add 1 to your mana pool.
1, t, sacrifice Stepping Stones: Draw a card.

I didn't get to comment on everything quite yet, but I'll get to the stuff that is "missing" from this post tomorrow morning, and then I'll propose some additions/cuts of the cards that have been discussed.

Here're my suggestions for miscellaneous card subtractions and changes:

(Lifegain Lion): I agree that we should drop this. Its lifegain drawback is weird since it's only 1 life and doesn't make a lot of flavorful sense (even if it wasn't a lion).
Twin Cadet: Change it to a sorcery for 1WW called "Deploy Cadets" or something that puts two 2/2 tokens into play? In my opinion they'd feel more like "twins" that way since as it is now, one of them is clearly "better" than the other. This weakens its power level if done though.
Dimmed Droning: I absolutely love this design, but we need to keep an eye on it. If there aren't enough creatures in the Cube with activated abilities its drawback will seem out of place.
Meddle Vack: Change its wording to the less awkward "destroy target creature with power 2 or less."
Ghostlit Volley: Keep everything about this the same except add "CARDNAME is colorless." This makes it more interesting for Red drafters.
Wisdom Seeker: I think we should indeed probably drop it, even though I love the idea. If we have enough Red "shocks," it could come back in. I think the name should be changed if that happens as it sounds super-Blue though.
Thundering Thoctar: This should be the 4GG Trample/Shroud 6/6, and Silvos should be dropped.

Quote from Pringlesman »

Force of Bill 1U
Instant
If there is atleast one card in your graveyard, you may pay 1 life and exile your graveyard rather than pay ~ mana cost.
Counter target spell unless it's controler pays 2.

Obviously not as good as FoW because you can't counter turn 1 on the draw. But still I think we need 1-2 tricky free counterspells.

Seal of Cancel UU
Enchantment
Sacrifice ~: Counter target spell

I like the idea of there being a counterspell on the table. If both players always know about it, it creates interesting gamestates where the other player has to play around it. SHould this cost 1UU? Having a counterspell that you can play in advance is a pretty powerful ability.

I like Force of Bill, but I'm not sure if we should include it specifically. I do agree we should definitely include 1-2 tricky free counterspells.

At 1UU, I think we should definitely put Seal of Cancel in. It's the interesting kind of "really powerful" that makes it a neat skill-tester for both players. At UU, maybe. I'm not sure if that's too good or not but it probably is.

Quote from aguids

You can have it keyword-less:

Goblin Kitnet 1R
Enchantment
Goblins you control have haste.
At the beginning of your upkeep step put a 1/1 red goblin token into play.
If at the end of turn you have 4 or more goblins on the battlefield, sacrifice ~.

It is more powerful because if any of them die, they'll keep on coming, but let's call it a feature.

I love this. I agree with others that 3 feels a little better, but I'm not sure.

Quote from netn9 »

So here are my offers:

1) Lets make Johnny happy!

Time Travel U
Sorcery (Mythic)
Exile all permanents you control. You get two extra turns afters this one. At the beginning of the next opponent's upkeep, return all cards exiled by Time Travel onto the battlefield tapped.

As others have said, this is absolutely broken in half. However, I really really like the concept and the name "Time Travel"!

2) U/G:

Horizon Changer 3(G/U)(G/U)
Creature - Shapeshifter
Lands you control have ", Sacrifice this land: Search your library for a basic land card and put it onto the battlefield tapped. Then shuffle your library."
3/5

I actually like this a lot.

Quote from xfollowthereaperx »

Very awesome, it is so much easier to read and understand the power of the cube. Can I suggest to add the fraction of complete cards in each section? # of complete creatures of a specific color/# of creatures in that color we wish to have.

I'll also make this change the next time I update the OP. I'll use the creature/noncreature values I suggested, but obviously the numbers can be changed around if they don't quite work out.

This project is getting really exciting! I just have time to make a quick post at the moment, but tonight I'll try to make a big update (and likely cut a few cards).

Quote from Altaurus321

Would it be possible to have the OP organize the colors like a regular cube (ie. not by name, but by color/creature - noncreature/cc so we can see what needs to be filled and design accordingly? Sorry if this has already been brought up and struck down.

I had been meaning to do this for a while, and earlier today I did.

I organized each color by creature/noncreature and ordered the cards from least expensive to most expensive instead of alphabetically.