Blue's little baby is all growed up!

I'm told this "Jace the Mind Sculptor" card is pretty good, so baby Jace is becoming papa Jace, officially.

Cruel Control

Due to popular demand, poor Thraxy is getting the axe in favor of ye olde Cruel Ultimatum. Right before a draft we decided to make this change, mostly at the insistence of Le, and of course Le proceeds to open it pick one pack one and draft a Cruel control deck that walked all over my B/W creature control deck. In summary:

Cruel Ultimatum IN
Thraximundar OUT

Scars and M11 Update

It's been a long time coming, but the cube has gone through a few iterations since our last post and the list has finally been updated. Lots of additions from M11 and Scars, as well as some from ROE and a few miscellaneous. For the full updated list, see the "Current List" tab on the right. Let us know if you agree or disagree with these changes, or if you feel there are any cards we don't run that you think deserve a spot.

The changes made were:

White
In	Out
Student of Warfare	Blade of the Sixth Pride
Sunblast Angel	Hand of Honor
Sun Titan	Hokori, Dust Drinker
Transcendent Master	Leonin Skyhunter
Honor of the Pure	Loam Lion
Land Tax	Sunscape Battlemage
Revoke Existence	Dismantling Blow

These changes increase the curve in white a bit, and a couple of creatures leave to make room for spells, but Honor of the Pure goes in to strengthen the white weenie deck, and Land Tax finally gets the spot it deserves.

Blue
In	Out
Aether Adept	Bonded Fetch
Conundrum Sphinx	Echo Tracer
Coralhelm Commander	Shimmering Glasskite
Frost Titan	Stormscape Battlemage
Domestication	Tideforce Elemental
	Wall of Frost

As a note, where there are more cards under "Out" it means some cards went in and out again between this update and the last. Blue's changes involve taking a bunch of unloved creatures and putting in some much better ones.

Black
In	Out
Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief	Crypt Champion
Geth, Lord of the Vault	Dauthi Horror
Grave Titan	Dauthi Slayer
Liliana's Specter	Grinning Demon
Skinrender	Guul Draz Assassin
Consuming Vapors	Visara the Dreadful
Grasp of Darkness	Eyeblight's Ending
	Macabre Waltz

Visara sadly seemed the worst of the high end in Black, so she finally bows out of the cube to make room for new finishers in the form of Geth and Grave Titan. The other Black creatures coming out were not pulling their weight, and we were happy to bring in limited allstars like Drana, Skinrender, and Liliana's Specter (which I have an unnatural love of).

Red
In	Out
Ember Hauler	Caldera Hellion
Hoarding Dragon	Desolation Giant
Inferno Titan	Dragonmaster Outcast
Kargan Dragonlord	Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs
Kuldotha Phoenix	Sedge Sliver
Manic Vandal	Tahngarth, Talruum Hero
Oxidda Scrapmelter	Thunderscape Battlemage
Arc Trail	Chandra Nalaar
Fireblast	Fork
Koth of the Hammer	Ghostfire
Sneak Attack	Shattering Pulse
Sulfuric Vortex	Word of Seizing

Tons of changes for Red. Ember Hauler was a gift, Koth replaces Chandra, trying Hoarding Dragon and Kuldotha Phoenix, Sneak Attack comes in as a cool combo card, and Fireblast and Sulfuric Vortex were highly requested inclusions to strengthen the monored deck. Sulfuric Vortex has been great and we've been very happy with where Red is at lately, with the monored deck being one of the strongest decks around.

Green
In	Out
Bellowing Tanglewurm	Basking Rootwalla
Fauna Shaman	Dosan the Falling Leaf
Garruk's Packleader	Molder Slug
Joraga Treespeaker	Mold Shambler
Mitotic Slime	Werebear
Pelakka Wurm	Wolfbriar Elemental
Vengevine	Exploration
Gelatinous Genesis	Greater Good
Genesis Wave	Momentous Fall
Overwhelming Stampede	Nature's Claim
Survival of the Fittest	Roar of the Wurm

Survival finally makes it in (about time). Trying Bellowing Tanglewurm as it will often make your whole team unblockable. We've felt that while Green had a lot of ramp it was lacking things to ramp into, so Pelakka Wurm, Gelatinous Genesis, and Genesis Wave come in to give green some things to accelerate into. Joraga Treespeaker is great as a green Sol Ring, given that Sol Ring is (I think) the best card in the cube. The Rootwalla was intended to combo with Fauna Shaman and Survival, but it hasn't made the final cut even in decks that contain those two cards. Wolfbriar seemed like it would be good, but just doesn't do enough. Green is still underpowered, and is always a work in progress.

Gold
In	Out
Sarkhan the Mad	Hellhole Rats
Venser the Sojourner	Sky Hussar

We've decided multicolor can handle more planeswalkers, so in goes these two!

Artifact
In	Out
Molten-Tail Masticore	Grim Poppet
Precursor Golem	Sigil of Distinction
Steel Hellkite	Vulshok Morningstar
Wurmcoil Engine	Armillary Sphere
Darksteel Axe	Chromatic Star
Livewire Lash	Darksteel Pendant
Sword of Body and Mind	Ensnaring Bridge
Sword of Vengeance	Phyrexian Furnace
Brittle Effigy	Phyrexian Processor
Chimeric Mass	Relic of Progenitus
Crystal Ball	Scrabbling Claws
Mimic Vat	Serrated Arrows
Trigon of Rage	Tormod's Crypt

Lots of strong additions, and a few cards that seemed worth a try. Mimic Vat and Trigon of Rage might not end up being good enough, but we thought they deserve a try. We took out all of the graveyard hate artifacts as they were rarely relevant and never exciting. Graveyard based decks haven't been too out of hand and we thought it would be better to put in exciting cards that make decks better rather than narrow answer cards that go 15th pick.

Big Changes

First off, I know its been awhile since I have posted. The reason being is that I was waiting for Max to come home for spring break. He has come and gone, and we were able to get some cube in while he was here. The two of us took the comments that people had been making and sat down and made a ton of changes. This latest group of changes greatly increases that power of each color as well as the cube over all. For each of these new cards, both Max and I agreed on putting them in.

In

White

Armageddon

Crovax, Ascendant Hero

Harm's Way

Mistmeadow Skulk

Stoneforge Mystic

Hokori, Dust Drinker

Breath of Life

Blue

Trinket Mage

Future Sight

Ancestral Visions

Court Hussar

Gilded Drake

Upheaval

Bonded Fetch

Exclude

Kederekt Leviathan

Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Black

Entomb

Living Death

Necromancy

Buried Alive

Twisted Abomination

Korlash, Heir to Blackblade

Cemetery Reaper

Crypt Champion

Mutilate

Grinning Demon

Red

Urza's Rage

Word of Seizing

Dragonmaster Outcast

Gathan Raiders

Sulfur Elemental

Arc-Slogger

Ghost Fire

Green

Stunted Growth

Exploration

Molder Slug

Defense of the Heart

Elvish Visionary

Dosan, The Falling Leaf

Thornweald Archer

Mire Boa

Strength of the Tajuru

Seedborn Muse

Other

Firemane Angel

Flamekin Zealot

Mirari's Wake

Fires of Yavimaya

Woolly Thoctar

Golgari Guildmage

Wand of the Elements

Volrath's Stronghold

Ensnaring Bridge

Everflowing Chalice

Tangle Wire

Out

White

Otherworldly Journey

Pulse of the Fields

Soltari Visionary

Guardian Seraph

Adarkar Valkyrie

Return to Dust

Commander Eesha

Blue

Welkin Tern

Stormscape Apprentice

Impulse

Drift of Phantasms

Govern the Guildless

Horizon Drake

Boomerang

Sejiri Merfolk

Treasure Hunt

Black

Wrench Mind

Nightscape Familiar

Mesmeric Fiend

Nightscape Battlemage

Strangling Soot

Necravolver

Rise from the Grave

Phyrexian Plaguelord

Ashling, the Extinguisher

Diabolic Servitude

Red

Ghost-lit Raider

Yuki-Onna

Lightning Axe

Slavering Nulls

Stalking Yeti

Skirk Marauder

Rakavolver

Green

Caller of the Claw

Bestial Menace

Centaur Chieftain

Evolution Charm

Spike Weaver

Sylvan Scrying

Anavolver

Centaur Glade

Yavimaya Dryad

Ravenous Baloth

Other

Bull Cerodon

Razia, Boros Archangel

Mycoid Shepherd

Apocalypse Hydra

Uril, the Miststalker

Rendclaw Trow

Mindwrack Liege

Cabal Coffers

Pithing Needle

Platinum Angel

Triskelavus

Thoughts

Alright, so after playing with the new cards, it is becoming clear that some things are just not being played. In an effort to take out some cards that have been going 15th as well as making some improvements, here are some changes to consider.

False Orders out (it was short lived, just wanted to give it a try) - Ball Lightning in

Skulking Ghost out - Bloodghast in

Sengir Nosferatu out - Braids in

Aura of Silence out - Land Tax in

Swerve out - Double Negative in

Just something to try

Wasp Lancer out- Sygg in

Proxies

I have been asked for a proxy for time walk, and I also found a boatload more art for Library that I think are all better than the previous ones. Again, let me know which ones you guys are into, and they might become reality!

Proxies

The reaction to the mox proxies Justin made was good, so I thought I would take a crack at making proxies for the other expensive cards we don't have: Ancestral Recall, Engineered Explosives, Forcefield, Library of Alexandria, Mana Drain, and Tarmogoyf. I tried a bunch of different art for each, and used either normal or extended art layouts, and what follows are the ones I liked the best. Let me know what your thoughts are!

Proxies

In a completely unrelated note to the new additions, I have another topic of interest.

Justin has been working on proxies for the moxes and lotus using Volkan Baga's alternate art (see below) and has brought to my attention that it is possible to put these onto actual magic carstock according to the process outlined in this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAV1WI98lKE

I went into lab yesterday and removed the ink from some junk foil commons I got doing a foil shards draft, and they look like this:
I can also remove the foiling entirely, which looks like this:
Firstly, I just thought these looked cool and wanted to show them. Second, I am going to make more, and I was wondering if people preferred foil or nonfoil? What are thoughts?

And finally, here's the alternate Mox art I promised above, made by Justin:
Volkan Baga is going to finish Sapphire soon.

Response

Justin makes some good points, in addition, so he does not think im insane:

Elite Vanguard, Savana Lion, and Sixth Pride in

Marshal's Anthem, Abolish, and Debt of Loyalty out

Plaxmanta, Welken Tarn, Horizon Drake, and Sejiri in

Time Spiral, Morphling, Rainbow Efreet, and Sift out

Hull Breach in

Savage Twister out

Swerve in

Cerebral Vortex out

Response

After looking over the list that Max posted, looking at Gatherer, and talking with the guys at GoB we came up with these 5 creatures that we liked:

Rainbow Efreet

Wall of Frost

Infiltrator Il-Kor

Morphling

Fathom Seer

I do like adding more creatures to Blue, and while some of these have come in and gone out in the past, now that we are looking for more creatures I think some of them should get another shot.

A few other changes that Max wanted:

Sylvan Scrying instead of Crop Rotation

He wanted Zealous Persecution instead of Identity Crisis, I think this is a good idea, but I like the idea of trying Orzhov Pontiff instead, it has legs.

I orded a ton of the new cards, so the Cube should be mostly finished... for the second time.

Changes - Blue

Though I agree with most of the additions, I find a major fault in the new blue. Blue is now only 44% creatures, which is far too low. I think Blue needs to get back up to 50% creatures, meaning that 5 spells need to turn into creatures. I also noted that blue has exactly three creatures that one would realistically play for less than 3 mana (Willbender never gets played face up).
Spells to come out, IMO:
Remand
Tolarian Winds (it's card disadvantage, blue has better ways to discard unused land)
Perilous Research
two of: Deep Analysis, Careful Consideration, Sift, Foresee (too much redundancy)

Creatures to consider, with my preferences in BOLD:
Aquamaeba (not stellar, but only costs 2 and is a discard outlet for recursion decks)
Sejiri Merfolk
Aven Fisher
Aven Fogbringer
Phantom Monster
Belltower Sphinx
Briarberry Cohort
Cheatyface (I snuck it onto this list without you noticing, now it's in the cube)
Cloud Spirit
Crookclaw Transmuter
Djinn of Wishes
Errant Ephemeron
Fathom Seer
Infiltrator il-Kor
Linessa, Zephyr Mage
Magus of the Future
Parasitic Strix
Phantom Monster
Phantom Warrior
Plaxmanta
Possessed Aven
Riptide Survivor
Soratami Rainshaper
Tradewind Rider
Voyager Drake
Wall of Frost
Welkin Tern

Thoughts

Alright, so after taking the cards that Max liked down to GoB, I now have a list of the new cards. I am going to expand the Current List to reflect this. Adding these new cards is going to drastically change how the cube plays, so more changes are likely to happen.

Let me know what you think of these new additions. For the main part, the idea was to give many of the colors a faster curve. We also made sure to add more removal because we are going to be diluting the removal that is already in. I think these changes are solid, and I will keep posting what I think of the new cards.

Also, things are getting real!

Thoughts

Alright, so Max gave me a bunch of cards to consider and I found some that I like as well. I will bring all these with me on Friday. Hopefully we should be able to have all new card ideas together soon I can start getting all the cards!

Response

This post is going to address the discussion from the comments from the previous Thoughts section.

Alright, so after talking to Max we agreed on this distribution for the expanded cube:

25 for each color - 125

20 for lands - 20

3 per multi color combination - 30

15 for artifacts - 15

Total = 190

If we can't find a good breakdown using these numbers than we will try using the ones that Max suggested. I will bring the current list and these numbers with me on Friday so we can try to fill this up.

To make filling all these slots possible, Max and I agreed that we are going to changed one of the basic rules: OFF COLOR ACTIVATIONS CAN GO IN. Take this into consideration when coming up with cards to add. I will bring this up on Friday when we are going over cards.

I will post the new cards when we have them.

Changes - Blue

So everyone I have been drafting with seams to think Thieving Magpie is terrible, so lets try something else:

Voidmage Prodigy in - Thieving Magpie out

Neither of these are that exciting, but the Prodigy had so far had a much higher approval rate.

Thoughts

It sounds like everyone thinks adding more cards is a good idea, and I fully agree. Freddy is a genius, making the total 720 should be perfect. Not having to shuffle after an 8 man would be a huge help. I should have the numbers for the new slots and the new cards to add hopefully by Friday. In the mean time, people should start thinking about cards that you would like in!

Response

I guess in regards to Thea's comment, and to avoid her vengeance again, we will try something different.

First I want it to be known that I don't necessarily agree with all the changes I have posted. Some of these have come from the people I have been drafting with.

The other option, that both Max and I like, is the following:

To make the cards that people have problems with, and to add the cards that they want, and to make our cube support being drafted by more people, we are considering adding more cards to the following slots: each color, mulit color, artifacts, and lands. I think this might be the best way to keep everyone happy. ( I dont like Thea thinking that I have gone insane) Also keep in mind that this will only happen if cube worthy cards can be found for each section. (Should not be that hard with what we have seen from Worldwake.)

Any major change will only take place post Worldwake prerelease.

Green

Look at Rosewater's preview today:
Wolfbriar Elemental in for Ravenous Baloth

Thoughs

Alright, so we did another draft tonight and he are the results of our discussion:

People want karoos in - trilands out

People want Power out - similar effects in

People want Thieving Magpie out - I want Worldwake tapper in, trying Voidmage Prodigy for the time being.

People want Darksteel Pendant out - additional accelerator in

I think taking out the shard trilands would be good for the karoos. It will make everyone happy and it continues our attempts at making the cube less prone to three colors unless its a real commitment.

Power is an interesting issue. When it is just a 4 man and you don't reuse the cards from each draft it does not make that big an impact, Power does not come up that often. Tonight we ran an 8 man and a large majority of the Power did show up and it had a huge unfun impact. I think the solution to this is to offer substitutions for Power based on the number of people and personal preference. (Time Walk - Time Warp, Ancestral - Sift, just because its easier to play than concentrate)

Thieving Magpie is on the shot list, and I think replacing it with Voidmage Prodigy for now. Lets see how that dude does.

Darksteel Pendant I still personally like, but drafting the cube is very different with 8 people. I think this will most likely become an accelerator of some sort, alone with the substitutions for the Power artifacts.

I was amazed at how different drafting the cube would be with 8 vs 4. I think these changes will make drafting with more people better. Let me know what everything thinks about these and Ill post when something final is decided.

Response

This post is responding to Jasper's post on the Thoughts post right below this one.

The Swaps

For the most part all those cards were in at one point and were taken out. Blightning is just not super strong as a one of, and the Specter can be a pain in the ass and something that needs to be answered quickly (it owned me in the draft we did on Friday). As for adding the counters, you are right, I dont think more counters are needed. Undermine vs Soul Manipulation, while Soul Manipulation can only hit a creature, the two for one I think is better than the 3 life drain. Withered Wretch was once in and was not that amazing. Oona's Prowler is really good in an aggressive deck and can hit really hard. Armadillo Cloak Suffered from being an enchantment, not to mention that Behemoth Sledge is better in almost every case.

Other Cards

Out of this list of cards, the ones that standout to me are:

Samurai of the Pale Curtain

Knight of the White Orchid

Seedborn Muse

Aura of Silence

Cards to cut

1. Brigid is amazing. While most creatures have more than two toughness, Brigid still makes combat a nightmare. You cant really attack into or block when Brigid is on the other side.

2. I would be open to taking out Return to Dust, but keep in mind that we do need artifact and enchantment removal. Return to Dust does remove things from the game which is relevant as well as being able to hit multiple things. Maybe bring Aura of Silence in over this?

3. Impulse and Telling Time, I am not that thrilled by either of these cards. The draw that would go in over these would need to be low costed, maybe Desperate Research (which I want to try anyway) or Frantic Search. Let me know what you think of these two. I could see adding a more powerful sorcery draw spell (Tidings maybe?), but I don't want to put in that much slow draw effects. Maybe a cheaper one and an expensive one?

4. Rite of Replication can win games out of nowhere and is a really interesting effect. It is a great late game card that if kicked (which happens all the time) is nuts.

5. Attrition is really underrated, another one that can just win games unless answered. Give this one a try, then let me know what you think.

6. Caller of the Claw, I could see this dude going out. He is also not that thrilling but does have a unique effect in green that provides a good out to wrath effects.

7. Darksteel Pendant is solid, it gives colors other than blue the ability to dig. I could see it going out, but I would be sad to see it go.

Pit Fighters

The only one of these dudes that I could maybe see going in is Jereth. He seams more or less unkillable which is a good thing. I just don't think the other do enough; granted if they live they are all great, but for the most part they just die to most removal, which is not a good quality in something triple costed. On that note, we don't want to add that many triple costed cards and white already has Akroma, so I don't know about even Jereth.

Man Lands

I like these, I am a huge fan of man lands to begin with. I do think that these would need to go into their respective colors and not the land section. Give me some ideas for swaps of these and ill let you know what I think. Maybe Tree Top Village goes in for Caller of the Claw? Nothing for the other two off the top of my head.

Artifact Accelerators

The two of these that I like the most are Coalition Relic and Worn Powerstone. If enough people want Black Lotus out then we could put one of these in over that for sure. I have yet to try Mana Vault (I would want to see it played first) which might just not be that good because of the upkeep untap, so I could see that going out for of these also. If someone has a good swap idea for these let me know.

Thoughts

This post is going to list all the cards from Worldwake that I think should go in. I will post the changes for each of them as well. If a change is not all that straight forward, I will just post the card and think about what should go out and post it later. Not all of these will make the cut, but they are all at least worth considering. If some of these cards end up not making it, they will be removed. As always, any input should be given and will be considered, if you think you know a good swap please post!

R

Comet Storm in - Forked Lightning out

Searing Blaze - This should really get in.

Kazuul, Tyrant of The Cliffs - Seams like a huge problem if not taken care of.

Slavering Nulls

G

Bestial Menace - A high ender would come out, not sure if its better then any of them

Wolfbriar Elemental - Power creep!

U

Tideforce Elemental - After thinking about it, Thieving Magpie is what will most likely come out for this.

Jace, The Mind Sculptor in - Jace Beleren out

Sejiri Merfolk

Wind Zendikon

W

Marshal's Anthem - This should get in somehow, it just seams busted.

Loam Lion

B

Corrupted Zendikon

Changes - Blue

So at one point this came out, and things have gone full circle and a worse card has some how taken its place:

Thirst for Knowledge in - Dream Cache out

This is more or less a no brainer.

Changes - Artifacts

So Grim Monolith has been a great addition to the Cube, and it got me thinking about getting this card in:

Mana Vault in - Bonesplitter out

So not only does Mana Vault seam like a better Grim Monolith, but Bonesplitter is both by far the weakest equipment and is almost never played. I am looking forward to giving Mana Vault a try!

Changes - Multi Color

So we were talking and decided that Black does not need more things that kills itself. This change is also moving away from something that this combination does not really want to do.

Wydwen, The Biting Gale in - Moroii out

While Wydwen did get worse with the new rules changes, she is still more versatile than Moroii. For the most part Moroii was also not played all that often. U/B is also not a super aggressive color pair and Moroii is sorta awkward in that sense as well. Black has a ton of cards that do damage to itself, and Moroii was by far was the weakest of them. These two cards are very similar but Wydwen just does more and is more resilient.

Thoughts

So here are some cards that Max and I are on the edge about. Some of them we want to give a try and don't know what to take out. For others, we know what they would replace but aren't sure if they are better. And lastly, some just seam good but we have no idea if they should even be in.

Thirst for Knowledge

Perilous Research

Voidmage Prodigy

Viashino Cutthroat

Viashino Sandstalker

Rain of Salt

Glare of Subdual

I could see any of these cards being in (well maybe not Rain of Salt, but if others think its good I would be down to try it), but we don't really know what should go out to make room. Post people! Let us know your opinion about these cards and your thoughts if you think you have a good swap.

One more thing, we do feel that we have enough counters in the current cube, so if the Voidmage were to come in one of the first things to consider going out would be another counter, but other suggestions are welcome as well.

Something that is more of a discussion is this:

Arc Lightning vs Forked Lightning

Is 3 for 3 divided better than 4 for 4 divided?

Let us know what you think because we are not really sure!

For each of these, Max and I will make changes that we think are correct. If we get any feedback we will also take that into consideration when making our decisions.

Changes - Green

So Max and I were looking over the Green slot and noticed that we only have two things that cost 6, a good solution that we came up with is this:

Rampaging Baloths in - Spectral Force out

The Spectral Force has never been played that much, and often ended up being a sideboard card. The Baloths on the other hand is really cost efficient with a highly relevant ability. I also have a little issue with the Force having that black restriction as well. In addition, I have been wanting to get the Baloths in and this seams like a good replacement.

Changes - Black

This change comes from a reminder by Findlay that better removal spells have been printed:

Eyeblight's Ending in - Dark Banishing out

This is a good replacement and one that should have been made sooner. While Dark Banishing does not allow for regeneration, I think the only creature that actually has regenerate is Troll Ascetic which can't be targeted anyway. That said, we for sure have more black creatures then both creatures with regenerate and creatures that count as elves.