Last week, I presented a hot take: The Case Against Planeswalkers. Despite playing Planeswalkers in both my cubes, I made the case for why you may not want to include them in your list. The post generated a lot of great discussion - in the comments, on reddit, and on social media. Some comments I agreed with, some I disagreed with, and many points I had not even considered.

Which brings me to the topic of this week:

It’s Okay to Be Wrong

My first game of kitchen table magic was in 2010. Those days, I was certain Enormous Baloth was unbeatable. A year later, opened my first Innistrad booster - I thought my Past in Flames pull would be great in standard. At my first limited event, I swore Elbrus, the Binding Blade would carry me to victory (it promptly died to a Tragic Slip).

I assembled my first cube during the summer of 2013 from the remnants of my EDH deck and trade binder, where Sol Ring was played alongside Squirrel Nest. A year later, I built a Conspirancy cube under the pretense that we’d draft it weekly (who could predict Cinder Wall last pick would get stale?).

In my ten years of magic, seven years of cube, and four years of content creation, I’ve been wrong. A lot. And I’m sure you have been too - whether you’ve been playing magic for ten days or ten years.

But that’s okay. Being wrong is half the fun.

As cube designers and players, we have agency over our own format - we test new spoilers, remove entire archetypes, ban cards to power, and of course, endlessly debate our decisions and assertions. Maybe you are driven by a desire to create a balanced format. Maybe you want to showcase the most powerful cards, the best artwork, or a favorite set. Maybe it’s just a reason to kick back, drink beers, and talk Magic with friends. No matter your reason for playing or designing a cube, we are unified by our passion for and enjoyment of the game.

Perhaps your design goals shifted - your group became more competitive, or you no longer enjoy Jace, the Mind Sculptor, or someone really wants you to test out artifact aggro. Perhaps you landed that new job and now have a bigger budget. Or a friend moved away and you need to downsize.

Being wrong is not a sign of weakness; it is an indication of growth.

To prove it, I scoured the depths of my reddit history to find some of my hottest takes and most controversial opinions on cube over the years. Enjoy!

At this time, I was still playing Conspiracies in my cube. They were a holdover from the merger between my main cube and my Conspiracy cube, and some members of my playgroup definitely enjoyed the unique card type. Later that year, I would ban cards which fundamentally break the rules of Magic (ie Worldknit and Backup Plan) since they were polarizing and warping to draft and gameplay. Worldknit reflects a time of unkempt power in my cube. Fun while it lasted, but unsustainable.

It’s true, I really did love playing with this card. Aggro cards don’t typically create friction in a draft with cheat or ramp decks - Chimera did. However, even at the time, there were many better options at 3 mana for red. Much like I banned Worldknit, I also removed drafts-matter cards because of their logistical challenges.

I made this comment at a time when I had actively played Hangarback Walker for several months. Meanwhile, Walking Ballista was on the outside looking in as a $20 standard card. In addition, Hangarback Walker was excellent value in the Goblin Welder deck, a favorite among our group. However, my on-the-paper comparison of Hangarback Walker and Walking Ballista turned out to be wrong, as Ballista has proven itself to be the much more powerful option. Hangarback Walker is still excellent value, but I drastically underestimated the high-interactivity of Ballista’s ping and overstated the four mana investment as prohibitive.

Just a year ago, an unassuming M20 common elicited this hot take. Leafkin Druid sees play in...exactly 1033 cubes on Cube Cobra. In comparison, it is far from competitive with Wall of Roots (4170) and Sakura-Tribe Elder (7007). In addition, Paradise Druid (3531), a card printed only a few months earlier, outshines it both on paper and in play. Paradise Druid's 2/1 body and hexproof is much more relevant than the conditionality of having three other creatures. Just goes to show, sometimes you swing and miss.

Liliana, Heretical Healer is a favorite of mine - a solid creature which flips into a powerful and interesting Planeswalker, and created a body to protect it. To give some context, my cube at the time slanted heavily toward midrange, and I assumed the value packed into Liliana, Heretical Healer was unmatched at the slot. Meanwhile Liliana, the Last Hope competed with the slot of Liliana of the Veil, boasted a $45 price tag, and seemed weaker on paper than other options. I was uninspired by the “return to hand” text (versus “to battlefield”) and undervalued the neutering +1. While I stand by my assessment of Liliana, Heretical Healer as an excellent cube card, my comparison of the two fell short.

Control Magic and Treachery were early cuts for my cube. At the time, I was concerned that they would often target creatures well below their respective casting costs. I wasn’t active in the online community for the first several years of my cube so I was never exposed to how powerful they were, nor did I have a reason to re-introduce them to my environment. These days, I consider Control Magic to be a top 10 blue card, with Treachery not far behind.

Your design goals or opinions can change over time. The beauty of cube is that you have the agency to choose which cards your grop does or doesn't play. For instance, I used to be a singleton purist - only making an exception for Llanowar Elves and Elvish Mystic. I held the opinion that functional reprints diluted the card pool less diverse. However, I now feel that the benefits provided by functional reprints outweighed the impact of a slightly diluted diversity. My design priorities shifted, evoking a fundamental shift in the makeup of my cube.

Well, I wanted Pestilent Spirit to be a slam dunk. I was excited by the Menace/Deathtouch combo, the 3 power it offered to both aggro and midrange, and the occasionally-relevant spell-modifying text. Unfortunately, Pestilent Spirit was far from a lock. After testing a few times on xmage, it never actually made it into my paper cube. Still a solid option in mid-to-low-power cubes, my initial impressions of Pestilent Spirit were much too high. Still, it’s okay to get excited about new cards - whether your expectations are met, or they fall short.

Perhaps my most controversial take has been about aggro. For many years, aggro was criminally under-supported in my cube, which led to my skewed opinion on how aggro decks fundamentally operated.

While I still have a hatred for one-drop 2/1s (they aren’t good beyond turn 2 and are unwanted in draft outside of aggro), I now have a greater appreciation for their importance. Aggro is a critical mass archetype - meaning your cube needs to support that mass in order for decks to be successful. My cube fell short in supporting aggro.

At the time, this assertion was relatively true. White’s one-drops relied more heavily on Savannah Lions, Elite Vanguard, et. al., while Black’s one drops were limited to things like Diregraf Ghoul or Tormented Hero. In the following years, several sets have expanded the scope of what generic 2/1s can do - cards like Dauntless Bodyguard, Skymarcher Aspirant, Dread Wanderer, and Knight of the Ebon Legion add dimension and power to the slot. Undoubtable, aggro is in a much better spot than it was four years ago.

Regardless, my perception of aggro was altered by the support it received in my list.

Other Lowlights

• That time I learned that True-Name Nemesis doesn’t die to Pyroclasm
• Calling Recurring Nightmare “much better” than Tinker
• When I found out Decimator of Provinces is a cast trigger
• Saying Ancient Stone Idol was not good enough at any power level
• Calling Seige Gang Commander a staple
• And finally, ranking the Titans (a clue about next week’s article!)

Conclusions

However you design cube - from P1P1 debates on twitter to discussing archetypes with your playgroup - it’s okay to be wrong. Our decisions, lists, and preferences inform our opinions on cube cards. Over time, new cards are printed, our design goals change, and other external factors - like budget or playgroup size - alter how we build and design our cubes.

Acknowledging where you have gone wrong isn’t an admission of weakness. It is a living history of your cube’s growth and change. What have you been wrong about, and what have you learned from it?

@thesidestepkids | thesidestepkids#7403 | /u/thesidestepkids

360 Unpowered Cube | 450 Pioneer+ Cube