Either way, last go-around I updated the cube with M10 additions. This time we’re adding five cards per color bringing the total cube size to 580 cards. Woo! I’m happy with a growth rate of 25 cards for this update, but don’t expect it to jump that high next time.

Here were my goals for this update:

- Add only the strongest Landfall cards. This included cards like Emeria Angel and Ob Nixilis, the Fallen. While there are plenty of powerful and surprisingly good Landfall cards (Plated Geopede is the first that comes to mind), I only wanted those that both excelled as creatures and as Landfall-triggering monsters.

- Don’t stop looking for ‘consensus’ cards. This is where the inclusions of Lignify and Vendetta came from. These are simply two examples of fantastic and powerful cards that are worth having in the cube. Every good monster needs an answer, and Lignify is a surprisingly powerful one, while Vendetta is like the backwards Swords to Plowshares, and I’m definitely okay with that.

- Continue the tradition of a ‘Sneak Peek’ from the new set. With the M10 update I threw in the five new Zendikar fetchlands, as I was 100% certain they were going in. This time I’m doing the same with Worldwake, including the five rare duals/manlands as they replace the M10 duals from the last update. While the M10 duals certainly have their upsides, they can’t both fix mana and go upside your opponent’s head, and that’s something I cherish (the latter more than the former).

So with that, let’s get started!

White

Adds:
Emeria Angel
Conquerer’s Pledge
Day of Judgment
Iona, Shield of Emeria
Steppe Lynx

For me the big question mark about these inclusions was whether or not to include World Queller. This is a creature with all sorts of upside and a very interesting and versatile answer to all sorts of stuff.

However, IDTE (It Dies To Everything), it’s incredibly slow, and a 4/4 for five mana that doesn’t fly or have evasion or do anything else neato besides the sac effect is tough to warrant. Also, U/W control, the deck I most saw this using, should have very little trouble with creatures (it’s either killing all of them or controlling them), Enchantments (it has Disenchant), Planeswalkers (bounce spells, counterspells, Take Possession et al), and anything else. So with that I’d rather include the Landfall’in Steppe Lynx.

Steppe Lynx is probably the most controversial simply because it is ‘just’ an 0/1 Landfall guy, and I didn’t include its counterpart Plated Geopede. It also is probably going to be replaced by Loam Lion, but that’s for next time. Regardless, Steppe Lynx is a welcome and proven addition to any Zoo or White Weenie arsenal. With the cube now featuring ten fetchlands when it previously only held five, suddenly getting him to trigger many times is not an issue, and should be a regular occurrence.

Iona, Shield of Emeria is simply a Reanimator target (or a U/W control finisher), Emeria Angel is just killer any way you slice it, Day of Judgment gives U/W Yet Another Wrath, and Conquerer’s Pledge is a card I feel will get some love by the B/W Aggro Discard or G/W Aggro builds, both capable of dropping Conquerer’s Pledge and ending the game soon after (Armageddon, anyone?)

Blue

Adds:
Serendib Efreet
Rite of Replication
Sphinx of Lost Truths
Sphinx of Jwar Isle
Into the Roil
Mark of Eviction

Drops:
Djinn of Wishes

Ah, poor Djinn of Wishes, it just wasn’t meant to be. Oh well, we still have Serendib Efreet (via From the Vault: Exiled no less) backing him up. Blue needed some cheap fatness anyway, and he fits the bill. I’m also looking hard at Serendib Djinn for the next update, as he’s pretty freakin huge for a measly four mana.

Moving on we have a pair of Zendikar Sphinxes, Sphinx of Lost Truths and Sphinx of Jwar Isle (Jwar-Jwar around these parts). Both of these Sphinxes are incredibly efficient at what they do: The first one draws you infi cards or powers up Reanimator (or both); the second just wins games while dodging all of your removal. Pretty simple stuff, but it gets there.

Rite of Replication is a favorite of mine, and getting to nine mana in the cube isn’t really that tough, particularly if you’re playing a U/W or U/B control deck. Kicking this thing should almost guarantee Game Over, but in the cube, things are never that simple.

Lastly we have Into the Roil and Mark of Eviction, two of my favs. Now Into the Roil could’ve been a thousand different variations on Essence Scatter (and almost was), but in the end I decided a unique utility/bounce spell (particularly one that goes great with Isochron Scepter) should get the nod. Mark of Eviction is a fav of mine from back in the Ravnica days, and after I saw some of its power show up again at Worlds in Rome last year, I decided it was time to move it back into the big leagues. Just the absolutle sickness with any enters-the-battlefield ability, but is versatile enough to take care of a pesky creature for a turn, sure to be countered on the way back in.

Black

Adds
Sorin Markov
Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
Vampire Nighthawk
Bloodghast
Vendetta

As for Zendikar, I think the three biggies speak for themselves: Sorin Markov is absurd, Ob Nixilis, the Fallen is completely busted after two triggers, and Vampire Nighthawk is so good it feels like cheating (but hey, it’s the cube! It should feel unfair at times!). Bloodghast is a card that I feel will have all sorts of uses, from B/W Aggro Discard to U/B Control. He may not work out, but I’m going to see what he can do. I’m sure there’s oodles of combos and interactions I’m not thinking about (Survival of the Fittest, Recurring Nightmare etc are coming to mind), and I think he’s worth it.

As mentioned in the introduction, Vendetta is kinda the Bizarro-Swords to Plowshares, and as such definitely deserves inclusion. There are infinite fatties and weenies that will die at the hands of this card, and I hope it shines as brightly as it does in other cubes.

Red

Adds:
Burst Lightning
Goblin Guide
Goblin Ruinblaster
Obsidian Fireheart
Hellkite Charger

Here is where Red got a little lopsided: Instead of sticking steadfast to the Spells/Creatures split, I went three creatures deep with Red cards. For me, there are too many good ones to cut for more burn spells. I love Hellkite Charger with a passion, as that guy is incredibly scary and usually ends the game in a turn or two. Obsidian Fireheart is just a complete badass, and setting any lands on fire usually kills your opponent soon after. Goblin Ruinblaster is another Avalanche Riders most of the time (except for 2RR of course), and that’s never a bad thing. Goblin Guide is a mainstay now in aggressive decks in both Standard and Extended, and that’s more than enough ammo to get it rocking G/R and Mono Red aggro decks in the cube.

Lastly, Burst Lightning is one of the best burn spells printed in years. Versatility to the max. I also love the Isochron Scepter interaction (but I’d rather have Magma Jet on it, thanks).

Green

Adds:
Lotus Cobra
Rampaging Baloths
Scute Mob
Wickerbough Elder
Lignify

So for Green we have two Landfall powerhouses: the explosive Lotus Cobra, and Rampaging Baloths. Now many people are familiar with both of these, so I won’t state the obvious. All I’ll say is that thanks to ten fetchlands I’m happy that these are in here and I expect some serious blowouts to come. The cube is already packing Harrow and Explosive Vegetation, so don’t be surprised if dumb things start happening soon

Scute Mob is a great card in that it requires an answer soon. Sure there’s Dragonmaster Outcast from Worldwake that is a bit better (and it’s looking like a pretty solid inclusion for next time), but there is little stopping a Scute Mob once a round or two of counters have been added. RAWR!

Wickerbough Elder is a novelty, in that it’s fat that can deal with answers. Sort of a twist on Indrik Stomphowler, but better because it can actually stop your opponent from playing powerful artifacts and enchantments until they deal with him, or it can mirror the Stomphowler exactly by simply paying for the Elder and then using his ability. Another versatile threat and answer, my favorite kind.

Lastly for Green we have the most controversial choice, Lignify. Now to this I say the same thing to those who doubt using Bull Ceradon instead of Brion Stoutarm — Play with it and tell me it doesn’t work. I’ve played with Lignify and I can tell you that card is a lifesaver. It hoses everything from Nezumi Graverobber to Akroma, Angel of Wrath, and that is good times right there. The “no abilities” clause is very important, particularly with triggered abilities such as Reveillark roaming the skies and shutting off Meloku the Clouded Mirror is pretty good too. All-in-all one of my new favorite green cards.

Artifacts

Adds:
Eldrazi Monument

Drops:
Guardian Idol

I wish I could say Guardian Idol was a staple card in a variety of decks and people were happy to windmill slam him, but he isn’t and he won’t be missed. Yet Another Mana Producer Guy, even if he can’t be Wrath’d away, just isn’t very exciting.

Eldrazi Monument, on the other hand, as we’ve see in the Standard Eldrazi Green deck, can be both explosive and game-ending. It gives an Overrun-like effect to colors that don’t normally have it or can’t normally cast it (R/G Aggro comes to mind). I love the power in this card, and I get all giggly thinking about it and Bitterblossom or Sacred Mesa.

Multicolor

Adds:
Nath of the Gilt Leaf
Doran, the Siege Tower

Drops:
Lord of Extinction
Teneb, the Harvester

So we switch out a couple of looks-awesome for a few actually-awesomes. Okay, Doran, the Siege Tower isn’t an auto pick or anything, but I believe it is far more playable now with ten fetchlands and a lot of fixing, and I haven’t seen anyone maindeck Teneb, the Harvester in many months, let alone cast him. So I think it’s time for a change.

Lord of Extinction looks so good. Unfortunately, he’s no Tarmogoyf and never will be. By the time he hits the board and is actually swinging, on Turn 6, your opponent has infinite chump blockers or infinite ways of stopping him (Maze of Ith etc) or both. Nath of the Gilt Leaf, on the other hand, begins affecting the board without swinging on the first upkeep you have him, and the discard is random, and it gives you a dude to boot! All of that and a respectable 4/4 body to boot. I’m sold.

Lands

Adds:
Celestial Colonnade
Creeping Tar Pit
Lavaclaw Reaches
Raging Ravine
Stirring Wildwood

Drops:
Rootbound Crag
Glacial Fortress
Sunpetal Grove
Drowned Catacomb
Dragonskull Summit

So this section is pretty easy to describe: One, I wanted a little taste of what was coming in Worldwake for the cube. Secondly, I like my dual lands to bash face if need be. I saw enough of these M10 duals enter the battlefield tapped to know they’re still very playable that way, and why not get a dude out of it to boot in the long game? All of the lands turn into creatures that fit the friendly color archetype, and all of them should look very enticing to cube drafters everywhere. I’m excited to see more of these in play.

Conclusion

So there you have it! With such a strong set, Zendikar added plenty of goodies to the cube, not the least of which include the five new fetchlands I threw in last update. However, we got a Planeswalker, some awesome Landfall creatures, and thanks to Worldwake a host of powerful and exciting dual lands to bash with.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my decisions in this update, and feel free to share your thoughts below in the comments or in the forums.

- Evan

Remember, the cube is your chance (and mine) to be developer and designer, so feel free to add or remove any card you like. The customization is part of the fun! That said, I wanted to accomplish a few goals with this update:

- Less Cards. Specifically, Hybrid Cards. This entire section has been eliminated. This leaves us with 28 fewer cards than my previous update (for a total of 527 from 555).

- More Support For Mono Color Decks. This includes giving black Sinkhole and green Acidic Slime. These cards allow those colors to deal with permanents (such as Maze of Ith or enchantments) when they had no way to previously stop those cards and/or it was very difficult to do so.

- Pay Attention To Cube Consensus. This means looking at other cubes in the cubedrafting.com forums, other cube forums around the net, and scouring magiccards.info in search of great cards to bring awesome limited experiences to players of my cube.

Wanna see what changed? Let’s go!

White

Drops

Archon of Justice
Feudkillers’ Verdict
Kataki, War’s Wage
Knight-Captain of Eos
Prison Term

Adds

Baneslayer Angel
Captain of the Watch
Elite Vanguard
Honor of the Pure
Parallax Wave

So what changed? Well, a few things. First, Baneslayer Angel is absolutely ridiculous, way, WAY over the curve for a Magic card, and is obviously a huge beast that will determine many a cube game in the future. That said, as many warned me, Kataki, War’s Wage wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. I replaced it with the White Weenie all-star Elite Vanguard (ie Savannah Lions 2.0).

Feudkiller’s Verdict was always a ‘neat’ spell for me, but rarely did what I wanted it to: Save me from certain death. Sure I got a 5/5, and gained some life, but that 5/5 had no ability to block evasive creatures, and normally just stalled the game for another turn or two when the aggro player would kill the token and me soon afterwards.

Knight-Captain of Eos was cute and ‘foggy’ and all, but Captain of the Watch is a terrific topdeck, works well with the newly-added Elite Vanguard and Martial Coup, and should be a welcome turn 6 follow-up to Cloudgoat Ranger.

Prison Term was removed because I felt I had perhaps one-too-many Arrest effects in the cube, and instead put in the cube-consensus card of Parallax Wave. This card is ridiculous and should be a welcome entry for control players (and even Aggro players in the mirror!). Archon of Justice was just not exciting, at least not when you stack Baneslayer Angel against it, and Honor of the Pure pushes White Weenie right where I want it: As a viable, draftable archetype.

Blue

Drops

Ponder
Dissipate
Honden of Seeing Winds
Psionic Blast

Adds

Djinn of Wishes
Exclude
Future Sight
Time Warp

So this go-round I chucked the cute-but-not-really-worth-it-without Honden of Cleansing Fire Honden of Seeing Winds. Just not good enough for five mana. Psionic Blast left due to it being really against what I want blue to do in the cube (which is control-only, no direct damage thanks). Dissipate is basically a suited-up Cancel and I replaced it with the cantrip-infused Exclude, which I feel could also be Essence Scatter but I chose not to go there. Finally, I dropped Ponder because with Brainstorm and Impulse, it was a little too much. Djinn of Wishes gives a blue deck both reach and a finisher for control decks. Future Sight, is, of course, completely bonkers and I have highly underrated it in the past. I’m ready to give it one more shot.

Black

Drops

Betrayal of Flesh
Decree of Pain
Grim Harvest
Night’s Whisper
Okiba-Gang Shinobi
Oona’s Prowler
Scepter of Fugue
Skinthinner

Adds

Cemetery Reaper
Grim Tutor
Necromancy
Sign in Blood
Silent Specter
Sinkhole
Slaughter
Throat Slitter

Whew, another slight overhaul for black. I do believe we’re finally reaching an equilibrium as to what this color should do (for me, at least) and how I want it to deal with other colors.

I was told Betrayal of Flesh was no Beacon of Unrest, and those dissenting voices were correct. However, Beacon of Unrest is no Necromancy, and that card should definitely be in ‘high powered’ cubes. That thing is nuts and I’m a little ashamed it took this long to get in there.

Skinthinner gets an aggro-upgrade in the form of Throat Slitter, Sinkhole replaced Scepter of the Fugue as a way for black to both disrupt their opponent’s mana and solve tough problems like Library of Alexandria and Maze of Ith.

Decree of Pain was just too much mana, while I love to throw in another Demonic Tutor in the form of Grim Tutor. Cemetery Reaper is a card I’m trying out to see just how good it is in attrition wars. Sign in Blood replaced Night’s Whisper (yes, it’s tougher to cast, but the versatility is worth it, and I like how it makes you commit more solidly to black); Grim Harvest always disappointed me and I gave black more creature removal power in the form of Slaughter. Silent Specter is pretty badass, as far as I can tell, is included in a ton of cubes around the net, and replaced the underwhelming Okiba-Gang Shinobi as a powerful discard tool and also helps up the Morph count in the cube, which is nice.

Red

Drops

Demonfire
Flameblast Dragon
Countryside Crusher
Changeling Berserker
Keldon Vandals
Pulse of the Forge

Adds

Banefire
Rakka Mar
Viashino Heretic
Blood Knight
Dead / Gone
Impending Disaster

This update saw red get a few upgrades, some versatility, and lose a few impressive but ultimately tough to utilize cards.

First up is the easy switch of Banefire for Demonfire. This was an overlooked upgrade from previous updates.

Countryside Crusher is a card I desperately want to be good, but rarely if every actually does what I want him to do. He seems to get chump blocked and after using something like Fireblast or holding a counterable Banefire while he’s Arrested or something is just miserable.

I switched the one-time use of Keldon Vandals with the multiple-use Viashino Heretic. I believe this is a positive change, as it’s been shown that creatures with repeatable abilities (Waterfront Bouncer, Mother of Runes, etc) are those that are most sought and powerful. Flameblast Dragon was really impressive, but in reality just doesn’t compare with a lot of other six drops, even good ole Rorix Bladewing. That dragon was replaced with the surprisingly effective and scary Rakka Mar. Go-go undying Spark Elementals!

Pulse of the Forge got worse with the removal of Mana Burn and I desperately needed to get Blood Knight in the cube. Protection from white is so important it’s tough to really put into words how badly its needed for red decks to win against U/W Control. Impending Disaster is my All-Star Treasure Find. I hope it works out as well as it looks. It appears fantastic for aggro decks and forces control decks to play much, much differently than they do now (which is dump every land they can into play and not worry about the consequences).

Changeling Berserker has been in the cube for awhile now, and while it certainly is cute and has it’s really cool moments, it often can sit in your hand after your opponent just Wrath of God‘d the board away. Instead I have the much more interesting Dead / Gone which gives red flexibility and versatility against a number of ridiculous plays and decks (particularly reanimator). With the new reanimator tools I’ve given black, it’s nice to throw red a bone in combating that strategy.

Green

Drops

Masked Admirers
Chord of Calling
Cliffrunner Behemoth
Eyes of the Wisent
Reclaim
Sprout Swarm

Adds

Acidic Slime
Explosive Vegetation
Great Sable Stag
Hidden Gibbons
Master of the Wild Hunt
Squall Line

I had to include some biggies from M10 this time. I didn’t get to include Ant Queen, but I think the rest of the all-stars make an appearance. Master of the Wild Hunt is just ridiculous if he gets going, Great Sable Stag is obviously a powerhouse against blue control or black aggro decks, and Squall Line deals with an evasive rush as well as killing cards like Akroma, Angel of Wrath at instant speed (as well as giving green a ‘Fireball‘ of its own).

Acidic Slime provides green a ‘catch-all’ answer to annoying permanents, whether they’re enchantments or lands. Hidden Gibbons replaced the horribly awkward Eyes of the Wisent and is a much better card pound-for-pound I think. Explosive Vegetation gives more fuel for ramp decks, including those that intend on casting Tooth and Nail before it’s over.

As for the cuts, I’ll be honest I’ve been underwhelmed with basically every card in that list. Cliffrunner Behemoth was really cute in G/R Aggro, but there are better four-drop options (Cap’n Tickles, aka Giant Solifuge comes to mind). Reclaim has always been in my sideboards, Sprout Swarm doesn’t do what I want it to (provide a green control deck card…no one plays control with green), Masked Admirers are too slow, and Chord of Calling is nice in a G/W Aggro deck, but I think I’ve made significant upgrades in the creature power and viability of green in the cube, even as a mono-color option.

Artifacts

Drops

Epochrasite
Grim Poppet

Adds

Etched Oracle
Silent Arbiter

Pretty straight-forward: I felt that Grim Poppet was cute but ultimately not included in many final builds, even in the decks that would seem to support it easily (i.e. slow control builds). Etched Oracle is a card that rewards the 5-color drafters out there, as well as providing a powerful aggressive creature that can be traded in for an Ancestral Recall, while Silent Arbiter does what I feel Grim Poppet was designed to do, which is control the creature war in a control deck.

Multicolor

Drops

Hybrid Section
Child of Alara
Crystallization
Naya Charm
Sedraxis Specter
Jund Charm
Sen Triplets

The biggest changes, obviously, were to the Multicolor category. The previously found Hybrid section is now completely removed, and I think the cube is much better without it. “Forcing” a 5-card-per-hybrid-pair selection made me include cards like Noggle Hedge-mage, and nobody likes that guy, not even me. But it was a card I was ‘forced’ to play with as the constraints of my design called for it.

So, um…screw that design. Let’s instead fuse them together, allowing Spiritmonger to return to the cube and I shed some fat by removing one 5-Color card (the awful-in-hindsight Child of Alara), and removing one card per shard. The decisions were tough, but I think ultimately worth it. I also got to include more two-color cards if I wanted (such as the inclusion of Putrid Leech in B/G), while getting the pick of the litter of the hybrid cards. G/W is the section that provided the most grueling of choices, but I loves me some Kitchen Finks and while I’d love to include Armadillo Cloak again, I’m still fond of the powerful Behemoth Sledge to take it home.

Spitemare showed up in R/W again, and I think for the better. I love that creature, as it makes your non-black/non-blue opponent make some nasty decisions in terms of how to deal with it. While white could use a Pacifism effect, green and red have a hell of a time killing this guy without taking significant damage.

Izzet Guildmage also returned to U/R, a very underrated creature that does wonders in a red burn deck or even a control deck by copying spells like Ancestral Recall in blue or Firebolt in red. (That said, he’s still kinda underpowered…)

Lands

Drops

Cascade Bluffs
Fetid Heath
Fire-Lit Thicket
Flooded Grove
Graven Cairns
Mystic Gate
Rugged Prarie
Rupture Spire
Sunken Ruins
Twilight Mire
Unstable Frontier
Wooded Bastion

Adds

Arid Mesa
Barbarian Ring
Dragonskull Summit
Drowned Catacomb
Glacial Fortress
Kor Haven
Marsh Flats
Misty Rainforest
Rootbound Crag
Scalding Tarn
Sunpetal Grove
Verdant Catacombs

Lands in the cube are always tricky. You want just the right balance, where players can get the fixing they need without making 5-color an overpowering force (i.e. there’s a reason there are no Vivid Lands in the cube such as Vivid Creek).

With this update I completely removed the Hybrid Duals as provided to us from Shadowmoor and Eventide. I loved them, but I also hated the fact that if you had a hand of two hybrid duals you are almost forced to mulligan (or hold your breath to see if your deck comes through). However, with the M10 duals, if you don’t have the land that makes it come into play untapped you’ll still get the mana you need next turn, which is better than never if you don’t draw a land that activates your hybrid duals.

The only Zendikar entries this time are the enemy fetchlands, auto-includes in any self-respecting ‘powered’ cube, and also help balance out the loss of ten lands by supplementing ten lands that make the exact same color combination.

That said, two mana fixing lands left us: Rupture Spire and Unstable Frontier. Both of these cards are mediocre at best and help fuel an archetype that needs little to no help (i.e. 5-Color Good Stuff). Instead, I gave U/W control players a gift with Kor Haven, and red decks one in the form of Barbarian Ring.

Summary

So that’s it for another cube update folks. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my reasoning behind my decisions, and hope you either update or create your own cube to find out how truly awesome it really is.

Join us in February when we do this all over again, and see what impact Landfall and the powerful cards from Zendikar have on the cube as we know it.

Now get out there and cube!

This is a HUGE update with no less than 43 Cards Dropped and 85 Cards Added to the cube!

With this update I further refined what I wanted colors to do, gave a few more tools to various archetypes, increased the number of cards per color to 60, increased the number of lands by 5 for a total of 70, added another card-per-shard, added 5-color cards for the first time ever as well switching out well over 20 cards! Things are definitely different and more powerful as a result. This brings the total number of cards in the cube to a whopping 555!

Let’s take a look at the changes:

White Cards

Drops: Light From Within, Soltari Visionary

Adds: Cataclysm, Kataki, War’s Wage, Martial Coup, Path to Exile, Rout, Soltari Crusader, Wall of Reverence

This gives even more creedence to the dichotomy of white: It’s both the best weenie color and the best raw control color. I gave appropriate tools for both. Cataclysm is a card I’ve wanted in my cube for some time, and I’ve finally got it in here, Kataki, War’s Wage punishes the hardcore control decks and their reliance on powerful artifacts (Sensei’s Divining Top, Scroll Rack, Signets, etc), Path to Exile is, well, the best removal since Swords to Plowshares, Rout is another fantastic Wrath of God variant I really wanted in the cube, and Wall of Reverence should be able to block anything and slowly gain the control player life over the course of the game.

Soltari Visionary simply hasn’t done enough to make it worthy of inclusion, so I switched to the more aggressive Soltari Crusader. Basically unblockable with a pump ability, this guy gets in there and gives the G/W or B/W weenie decks something to sink their mana into turn-after-turn. Light from Within hasn’t really lit any deck/archetype on fire, and was a nice experiment, but it was time for it to go.

Blue Cards

Drops: Covenant of Minds, Morphling, Chronozoa

Adds: Remand, Ponder, Ethersworn Adjudicator, Glen Elendra Archmage, Honden of Seeing Winds, Kira, Great Glass-Spinner, Pestermite, Riftwing Cloudskate

Good ole Blue. What I wanted to push in this update was to give Blue some decent creatures. I think I’ve done that.

First off I dropped Covenant of Minds for the Personal Howling Mine (aka Honden of Seeing Winds). It just works out better, and gives the control player the long-game benefit, which is what they want anyway. Morphling is gone because he sucks something awful with the Magic 2010 rules. Just a fact of life there. Thornling is still good enough…Superman is not.

As for the additions, Remand is just the best tempo-based counter in existence, and so it goes right (back) in. Ponder is Brainstorm 2.0, and nothing says This Card Is Awesome like being restricted in Vintage.

For the creatures, Kira, Great Glass-Spinner was suggested in the forums (thanks guys!) and it’s worked out really well. That creature is seriously annoying, not overpowered, and fits blue perfectly. You want to make your opponent ‘work’ to kill your guys, whether that’s fighting through Kira’s ability or counterspells themselves. Glen Elendra Archmage is a house any way you slice it, sure to rock control mirrors the world over. Pestermite is here for both tempo and the awesome Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker combo while Riftwing Cloudskate is an awesome creature that I left behind some time ago, but nowadays you’ve got its incredible tempo as well as comboing with Reveillark that keeps it both powerful and flexible.

Ethersworn Adjudicator is just a frickin house. If you’re playing Esper colors, he’s insane. If not, he’s still an easier-to-cast Air Elemental, and there ain’t nothing wrong with that in terms of a blue flying finisher that can both attack and block easily.

Black Cards

Drops: Rotlung Reanimator, Beacon of Unrest

Adds: Betrayal of Flesh, Cabal Interrogator, Corpse Dance, Dauthi Mercenary, Mesmeric Fiend, Okiba-Gang Shinobi, Scepter of Fugue

Ah Black. I’m always tinkering with your place in the cube. For this update, I wanted a few things: One, I wanted to make it more aggressive, and two, I wanted to give it more tools against control decks. If there is one thing that a control does NOT want you to play, it is a turn two Cabal Interrogator. Nezumi Shortfang is the other one-two punch that Black uses to punish control decks, and Cabal Interrogator fits right in there.

That said, Rotlung Reanimator was dropped because he wasn’t aggressive enough, nor did he provide enough tokens when he died. Bleh. Beacon of Unrest was replaced by Betrayal of Flesh. Betrayal does almost the same job (returning a creature to play), with the loss of a very narrow ability (returning an artifact to play) while losing the ability to target your opponent’s graveyard. This is a-okay with me, as I want this card to be used in Reanimator, and instant speed reanimation is fan-freakin-tastic. Secondly, while the inability to return an artifact is a loss, it’s also one of the most narrow abilities and one I only saw come into play maybe once or twice during my entire time spent playing with it, which is years and years now.

As for the rest of the additions, Mesmeric Fiend joins Tidehollow Sculler as a one-two discard punch for B/W decks, Scepter of the Fugue punishes control decks just like Okiba-Gang Shinobi does (with the bonus of being a great card in W/B Weenie Aggro-Discard), and Corpse Dance is another card I wanted for Reanimator players out there. Dauthi Mercenary is another card I like because it gives Black an aggressive angle. I want black decks to be able to swing in the red zone at some point, even while they wait to play Kokusho, the Evening Star.

Red Cards

Drops: Goblin Assault, Hell’s Thunder, Pyroclasm

Adds: Countryside Crusher, Hellspark Elemental, Incendiary Command, Ball Lightning, Magus of the Moon, Puncture Blast, Molten Rain, Volcanic Fallout

Welcome back Countryside Crusher! I missed ya, that’s all I can say. Countryside Crusher is a great creature to keep you running on gas, which is something Red Deck Wins or G/R Aggro has a hard time with. Sometimes you hit a land pocket, the control player gets an advantage, and you’re shuffling up for the next game before you know it.

In other anti-control news, Goblin Assault was good but not as good as expected. I simply removed it for a more diverse set of tools. The first is replacing Hell’s Thunder with Hellspark Elemental. At a mana less it hits earlier and harder, and Ball Lightning has come back to the cube in honor of M10. That guy remains awesome. Puncture Blast is a card that works fantastically with all of the fatties in the cube, and in other anti-control news, Incendiary Command, Magus of the Moon and Molten Rain really want to punish the 5-Color lovers out there. And that they do wonderfully well. It also gives a bit of mana denial flavor for red, something I always appreciate.

Pyroclasm got a strict upgrade with Volcanic Fallout, and thanks to the new rules, Pyroclasm wouldn’t be cube-worthy anymore anyway.

Green Cards

Drops: Heartwood Storyteller, Vinelasher Kudzu

Adds: Cliffrunner Behemoth, Centaur Glade, Chord of Calling, Kodama’s Reach, Noble Hierarch, Thornling, Wild Nacatl

On the green side of things, Cliffrunner Behemoth, my Conflux spoiler, is now rocking it cube-style. And it’s great in both G/W and G/R aggro, and if you’re inclined to go Naya (or get his rider, Figure of Destiny), then you’re in very good company.

Chord of Calling gives players the element of surprise, which is never a bad thing, and is welcomed with open arms back to the cube after being absent for awhile. Kodama’s Reach is simply one of the best mana fixers ever printed ever, and those looking to fix their mana should not only be in green but should have the ability to do so easily. Noble Hierarch is one of the best creatures ever printed, period, and will always have a place in the Cube. It’s Birds 2.0, and Birds aren’t going anywhere and neither is Hierarch. Wow is that girl incredible.

Centaur Glade is my attempt at giving green a long game approach. All-too-often Green (particularly heavy or mono-Green) will just run out of gas and a Wrath of God or two later they’re done for. This is the gift that keeps on giving, another Phyrexian Processor that is difficult to deal with.

Thornling is good enough, even after the rules update, due to the Indestructability factor. I’m more glad than ever that he has it, and trample is no slouch either. Wild Nacatl is another best-of, as it’s a green Kird Ape (“Kird Kitty” as they call it) and is never a creature a control player likes seeing on Turn 1.

As for my drops, Heartwood Storyteller sounds like it would punish control players but rarely does it (mainly because it constricts yourself from playing burn/pump spells any longer), and Vinelasher Kudzu, while awesome in the long game, is not quite as awesome as any of the additions made.

Artifact Cards

Drops: Aether Spellbomb, Pithing Needle, Lightning Greaves

Adds: Staff of Domination, Obelisk of Alara, Sundering Titan, Grafted Wargear, Vedalken Shackles, Puppet Strings, Guardian Idol, Erratic Portal

Okay, some big additions and some interesting changes here. Firstly, I removed Aether Spellbomb because, as most cube cuts, it just doesn’t do enough. Sure a guaranteed bounce is awesome, and the cantrip effect is nice. But a reusable bounce is far more powerful, whether it’s Crystal Shard (one of my favs), or the even-more-generic version, Erratic Portal. Now you have, essentially, ‘two’ Crystal Shards and one is even easier to play and use repeatedly.

Staff of Domination returned from a long hiatus. This is a powerful and versatile card that finds a home in almost any control deck, and provides nice incremental advantages over long games. Obelisk of Alara is for the five-color junkies, rocking out fantastic abilities and is very difficult to overcome. This is another way of making artifacts matter, and making sure each color has answers to these artifacts. Puppet Strings is a wonderful control player’s tool, as Trip Noose was considered but for a merely one extra mana you get the ability to both tap and untap, which can mean serious combos with cards like Jushi Apprentice or Jaya Ballard, Task Mage. All in all a great addition in my mind.

Guardian Idol is awesome in a variety of decks, and fits in just about anything, as both a mana producer and a win condition. Sometimes control decks are all wraths, counterspells, and Urza’s Factory, and this gives them another option which is nice. Lastly, Sundering Titan returns because I missed the fella, and because he’s great in Tooth and Nail and Reanimator. Grafted Wargear is my contribution to more aggressive archetypes, as Lightning Greaves just wasn’t getting it done. As for Pithing Needle, it just doesn’t stop enough to make it more powerful or useful than basically any addition this go-round.

Multicolor Cards

Drops: Armadillo Cloak, Debtors’ Knell, Fires of Yavimaya, Glare of Subdual, Grave-Shell Scarab, Hellhole Rats, Izzet Guildmage, Kiss of the Amesha, Phantom Nishoba, Punish Ignorance, Rumbling Slum, Saffi Eriksdotter, Sedris, the Traitor King, Spiritmonger, Temporal Spring, Undermine, Void, Intet, the Dreamer, Vorosh, the Hunter, Hide/Seek, Spite/Malice, Brion Stoutarm

Adds: Behemoth Sledge, Bituminous Blast, Bloodbraid Elf, Crystallization, Enlisted Wurm, Identity Crisis, Izzet Chronarch, Lavalanche, Lord of Extinction, Lorescale Coatl, Maelstrom Pulse, Mirari’s Wake, Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker, Qasali Pridemage, Sen Triplets, Slave of Bolas, Soul Manipulation, Spellbreaker Behemoth, Sphinx of the Steel Wind, Uril, the Miststalker, Wall of Denial, Shambling Remains, Maelstrom Archangel, Child of Alara, Maelstrom Nexus, Nemesis of Reason, Bull Cerodon

Helloooo major changes! Yup, the Multicolor section of the cube has gotten a complete overhaul with no less than 22 replacements! A few things first:

1. There are now only two non-shards cards. Let’s face it, Vorosh, the Hunter, Hide / Seek, and Intet, the Dreamer suck. I’m sorry, it’s true, let’s face facts and get them the hell out of there.

Does that mean I haven’t seen both of those dragons win games? Of course not. But Hide / Seek has done nothing but ‘remove your most expensive spell’, which is hardly game-breaking by anyone’s standards, and those dragons are almost always passouts that no one wants. So instead of putting up with them and making the card counts imbalanced due to me adding a card-per-shard, we get to introduce…

2. 5-Color Section Added

Yay! 5-Color cards are awesome and when designed correctly, they can be incredibly powerful, swingy, and create fun game states. Maelstrom Archangel is a house in both 5-Color and reanimator strategies, Child of Alara is the control player’s second copy of Nevinnyral’s Disk, and Maelstrom Nexus simply has to be one of the most powerful cards ever once you untap with it. I love how it gives Cascade to cards that have no right having it (can you imagine cascading off a buyback spell like Capsize? Holy crap!), and untapping with that is just good times.

Moving on, we’ll briefly go over each section. U/W got Wall of Denial, a card that basically stops every creature in the cube sans a few, and will be very welcome by the U/W control players out there. I think Kiss of the Amesha is great, but the Wall fills a more needed role in that archetype. Nemesis of Reason is one of the best limited creatures ever printed, and acts as both a wall and a legitimate win condition when the U/B control player’s game inevitably goes long. Soul Manipulation replaced the much harder to cast Undermine, and is a fantastic and versatile counterspell in its own right.

B/R lost some chaff by removing Void, which no one was really using, and Hellhole Rats was dropped because…well…it’s a four mana 2/2. We can do better. And better we have! We now have a super duper removal spell in Bituminous Blast, and an incredibly aggressive creature in Shambling Remains. I wanted B/R to have both discard, beef and speed, and I think these additions help that.

R/G lost Fires of Yavimaya but I think made up for it in Bloodbraid Elf, and I replaced Rumbling Slum with Spellbreaker Behemoth. Sure Rumbling Slum got in an extra damage, but Spellbreaker does what you need it to do in topdeck mode: Make sure it sticks. The fact that it can guarantee your Cliffrunner Behemoth or Ball Lightning to remain uncountered is nice as well.

G/W got the most extensive rewrite, as I replaced no less than four of the five cards. Phantom Nishoba was a house, and is great for reanimator strategies, but Enlisted Wurm gives you free spells and a huge dude, and that seems like a much better deal to me. Armadillo Cloak was upgraded into its equipment version, which is less scarier the turn it huts, but far more scary in the long run. Armadillo Cloak was always something you could take care up with a removal spell, and now it’s much more difficult to attain that. Mirari’s Wake replaced Glare of Subdual, as few games were decided by Glare while I think many will be finished by Wake instead. Lastly, Saffi Eriksdotter was switched out for the Best Watchwolf Ever in Qasali Pridemage. Now you got your aggro and your tool against annoying artifacts and enchantments!

In W/B I finally fixed the Debtors’ Knell problem (where a Hybrid card was in the Multicolor section, I do it in the U/R section in a moment). Identity Crisis takes your opponent’s hand, graveyard, and dignity in that order, and sounds perfect for the cube.

In W/R I wanted to give this very aggressive combination of colors an aggressive monster to match it. Brion Stoutarm, in my experience, was primarily used as a beater and not his activated ability. 4/4s for four mana are a dime a dozen these days, and giving R/W it’s own ‘dragon’ (even if it doesn’t fly) sounds good to me.

U/R I switched the awkward Izzet Guildmage (which should be in the Hybrid section if at all) with Izzet Chronarch. Now with Reveillark it’s a more powerful creature, and I love how it gives you plenty of options. A mainstay from wayback, it’s nice he’s returning.

U/G lost Temporal Spring but gained a much more powerful creature in Lorescale Coatl. Sure it’s “just” a single +1/+1 counter per draw, but in the long game that guy is a house. It also makes any draw spells insane, and Brainstorm that much better. Can’t beat that.

B/G gained the oh-so-awesome Maelstrom Pulse, which is gladly accepted into the cube, and Spiritmonger was upgraded to a Lord of Extinction, a guy much bigger and scarier than Spiritmonger even if it can’t dodge Protection From Black creatures like Spiritmonger could. I think it’s a fair trade to switch out a 6/6 regenerator with a 20/20 in most cases.

All of the Shards gained one card, as there were a ton of fantastic choices to choose from via Conflux and Alara Reborn (mainly the latter) and I didn’t want to cut awesome cards if I didn’t have to. With that said, Esper starts us off with Mindslaver-On-A-Stick in Sen Triplets, a card that must be dealt with and quickly, as well as the Artifact Akroma, Sphinx of the Steel Wind. This guy is all that and a bag of chips, and don’t you forget it. Awesome in both control and reanimator strategies.

Jund gained a Lavalanche while Grixis got the badass Planeswalker as well as the incredibly fun and versatile Slave of Bolas. I love how Hybrids give you the functionality of a tri-color card in ‘just’ a two color combination. Wonderful. Speaking of awesome hybrids, Crystallization was added to Bant because I felt that U/W and G/W needed more answers to creatures in the format. Sure I could’ve thrown Rhox War Monk in there, but he’s a bit difficult to cast and didn’t really fill the role I wanted him to. Lastly is Naya which gained Uril, the Miststalker, an awesome Troll Shroud creature that does an excellent job of not dying to anything outside mass removal or a ton of blocks. Either way, my Moldervine Cloak loves him. Griffin Guide, too.

Hybrid Cards

Drops: Cankerous Thirst, Fire at Will, Mirrorweave, Rise of the Hobgoblins, Sapling the Colfenor, Shrewd Hatchling, Spitemare

Adds: Balefire Liege, Call the Skybreaker, Canker Abomination, Hearthfire Hobgoblin, Thistledown Liege, Waves of Aggression, Wurm Harvest

This section is the one that got switched around based on feedback and testing. Firstly, Shrewd Hatchling is no Call the Skybreaker. Yes, I’ve lost games thanks to Shrewd Hatchling, but at the end of the day Call the Skybreaker is a much more powerful card, even for red decks. Balefire Liege is an upgrade from Rise of the Hobgoblins, as it works fantastically in a red deck, Fire at Will got switched by the more aggressive and far less reactive Hearthfire Hobgoblin, and Spitemare leaves us due to Waves of Aggression, as I really wanted to push R/W as a fast, powerful deck that can ‘just win’ out of nowhere. Suddenly you’re one-drop, two-drop, three-drop, burn you, Waves of Aggression and the game is over.

Canker Abomination replaced Sapling the Colfenor, who wasn’t pulling much if any weight, and Canker is usually a 5/5 or 6/6 in a cube such as mine, in which many archetypes run very few creatures. Lastly, Mirrorweave got an upgrade into Thistledown Liege, who helps the G/W archetype as well as the U/W aggro-control archetype by having both Flash and being able to block 2/x creatures easily. Take THAT Kird Ape!

Conclusion

So with that my long-awaited cube update is complete. I hope you guys have as much fun with it as I do, because I love this wacky thing.

See you soon for the Magic 2010 Update!

Right now I’m waiting for Domain Registration to transfer, but everything should be taken care of by the end of the week.

Look around, check out the cube, and be sure to sign up in the Forums to get the most out of the new site.

Thanks for stopping by!

Evan