As part of other changes to described below, I'd like to add Risen Reef to the cube, and as a consequence, would like to add a bit more elementals to the cube to allow an elementals deck to be able to come together. This includes two "like for like" swaps:

• Reclamation Sage -> Foundation Breaker
• Ravenous Chupacabra -> Shriekmaw

Additionally, Slickshot Show-Off has failed to see a super large play rate, and tends to be a little narrow. Instead, I would like to try a more generally powerful creature that also has elemental synergy. Finally, Borborygmos and Fblthp hasn't been included in the main deck of any list, so I'm going to try Kalamax, the Stormsire again.

isn't the only change I'm making to gold cards. For starters, the previously mentioned update is going to be to replace the current "lands" archetype with a "growth-spiral" type archetype - effects that draw cards and put lands into play. In what might be the most likely to backfire change, I'm going to add Nadu, Winged Wisdom in place of Tatyova, Benthic Druid.

The signpost would ideally be a union of go-wide, sacrifice, and disruptive aggro synergies, those of the individual subcomponents. Caesar, Legion's Emperor seems like a good fit for this and is therefore replacing Kroxa and Kuneros.

I've had my eye on Chulane, Teller of Tales as a potential signpost for a while, but the inclusion of Annie Joins Up recently, coupled with the new archetype (along with another trigger-doubler being added in this update). It's taking the place of Tamiyo, Field Researcher for now.

Speaking of Annie Joins Up, I'm adding another legend to in the form of Roxanne, Starfall Savant. It will take the place of Domri, Anarch of Bolas, since I'd like to keep the number of planeswalkers down where possible.

Finally, Kykar, Wind's Fury hasn't really been very popular - it is a little frustrating in that it provides a similar effect to Saheeli, Sublime Artificer and Third Path Iconoclast, but with a harder casting cost. Instead, I'd like to try Narset, Enlightened Exile to make turns potentially more explosive once you have already used the existing board.

Monarch has been an interesting experiment in the cube. However, at this point, I'd like to let higher power level cubes continue to explore it. Both extant monarch cards (especially Palace Jailer)) are already pretty powerful, and the mechanic is an extra level of complexity that I don't think is necessary. Instead, I making the replacements:

• Custodi Lich -> Rottenmouth Viper, as another target to pay off aristocrats early and provide a good threat without being completely unbeatable.

• Palace Jailer -> Delney, Streetwise Lookout. I have enjoyed the mini-game caused by Annie Joins Up, and I am hoping Delney will join Risen Reef in the ranks of single cards that can entirely mix up your draft, plus the ceiling on tripling triggers from e.g. Chulane with Delney and Annie seems ridiculous.

The monarch isn't the only above-rate thing I'm nerfing - there are a few other cards that have proven to have too high of ceilings.

• Solitude was originally included with the hopes of being able to serve as an out to creature-combo type decks. However, it's proven far more effective as a proactive threat than I imagined, and the ability to interact that powerfully for no mana is largely above rate in a cube that e.g. deliberately excludes Force of Will and Force of Negation. I'd like to try out March of Otherworldly Light instead, since it can borrow some of the pitch style mechanics of Solitude while also being more confined to a reactive role and while giving your opponent more of an out.

• The One Ring is probably one of the easiest P1P1s in the cube. Almost every deck would love to run it, and the ability to basically take a turn off and then draw what is easily 10 cards in many games is too strong for the format I am trying to curate. I'm going to try replacing it with another legendary card advantage engine from Lord of the Rings - Palantir of Orthanc, which both creates a mini-game that is engaging for both players, while also having a few more way of answering it.

• Finally, Fastbond might not on average be the best card in the cube, but the ceiling on it is higher than any other - turn 1 kills are only possible in the cube via Fastbond, and its feast-or-famine nature can lead to feels-bads for people on either side of the table when it hits the board. I've had a lot of fun with Bristly Bill, Spine Sower and would like to try it out.

Another card that was close to being cut is Sneak Attack, which seems pretty unfair at times. However, it's going to stay on the watchlist for now.

The Goblin Welder archetype is something that I've struggled to make enticing for a while. At this point, I'd like to try giving the archetype more support. If it still doesn't end up being an appealing strategy, I will probably end up cutting all such cards. To me, there are 2 possible ways of building welder - going for a singular explosive artifact, or a more grindy value based approach. Accordingly, I'm adding support to both kinds. In the "single payload" bucket, I am adding:

• Portal to Phyrexia, perhaps the most desirable Tinker / Goblin Welder target in other cubes, taking the place of Karn's Sylex.

• Re-adding Myr Battlesphere, which is an OK threat coupled with the upside of synergizing really well with other artifact payoffs thanks to the army it comes with.

For the grindier / fair version of the list, I am adding:

• Goblin Engineer, to hopefully allow either a silver bullet or your value engine to show up more consistently. It's taking the place of a 50% playrate card in the form of Bomat Courier, which is decent but not as premium of a red one drop these days.

• Chaos Defiler, which is a great thing to loop every turn while also having a decent amount of appeal in other contexts. While I love the flexiblity of Kolaghan's Command, it's going back to the bench for now.

Finally, there are a few more updates to the cube that don't fit as cleanly into a category as those above.

• Laboratory Maniac isn't really carrying its weight as an alternate win condition. It is in most cases worse than Thassa's Oracle, and the cube doesn't need to support multiple of what is already a niche effect. Instead, I'd like to try out Dress Down.

• Displacer Kitten seems like a fun way of bridging the blink and other decks (like spells or based artifact decks) together. I'm adding it in place of Gush, which has lost a lot of its luster with Fastbond no longer in the cube.

• Another change with Fastbond removed is that Courser of Kruphix's edge over Oracle of Mul Daya with a Fastbond in play is no longer relevant, and I'm going to pivot to the oracle instead for the exploration effect.

Finally, a few removal spells are no longer holding up as well:

• Cast Down is increasingly finding it harder to deal with the targets it needs to, so I'm going to replace it with Lethal Scheme, which is hopefully more interesting to both go-wide decks and reanimation / graveyard style decks.

• With the amount of exile-from-graveyard effects that exist, the upside of Scorching Dragonfire exiling the target from the graveyard doesn't really make up for the extra mana it costs at this point. Instead, will get Magmatic Sinkhole, letting it finally answer a Sheoldred, the Apocalypse with a single spell.

• Finally, Master's Rebuke has spent a lot of time in sideboards, and I'd like to replace it with at more exciting card. I'm looking forward to seeing what Springheart Nantuko can do with the myriad creatures in the cube.

A few removal spells have lost

Drafting Fetchlands seems to be a key component of making a lot of the more interesting (in my opinion) decks in the cube function. With the addition of the Surveil lands in a previous update, every land cycle in the cube synergizes well with them, and fetches not only allow for more people to be able to splash the cards they want, but also have good synergies with delirium, play-off-top-of-library effects, lands based comboes, and graveyard recursion. In addition to that, by cutting the ABUR duals for them, I am able to go completely proxy-free.

Reanimator decks have been the boogeyman in most recent iterations of the cube, and some of the play patterns have gotten a little stale as a result. With these changes, I am hoping to bring the strategy a little back in line while also allowing for reanimator players to get to enjoy a bit more variety.

First, Entomb allowed for reanimation players to go turn 1 entomb, turn 2 reanimation effect, which allowed them to basically completely dictate the game. It became an instant check and if the opponent didn't have one of the few answers in the cube, the game was over. While high ceilings are intended, Entomb has led to too many games without meaningful interaction. Instead, I will try running Ripples of Undeath as another way of stocking the graveyard, but that is both potentially more value over the course of the game, and allows for more interactive games.

For many reanimation decks, the reanimation effects have largely become pretty fungible. In order to provide more interesting gameplay choices, I would like for each reanimation effect to have a unique upside, rather than it just coming down to picking the one with the cheapest mana value:

• Reanimate's unique upside will continue to be that it only costs 1 mana. It benefits from being able to target your opponent's graveyard and not being susceptible to enchantment removal, but pays for this upside with the life-loss clause.

• Necromancy is unique thanks to its ability to be played with flash (and can also target creatures in any graveyard), representing a great surprise factor in an otherwise empty board.

• Recurring Nightmare's ability to dodge enchantment removal and form an engine virtually on its own is unmatched.

• Dread Return benefits from being able to be cast from graveyard for 0 mana, which both allows it to reanimate twice, and also serves as a viable kill condition in dredge-style decks.

• Living Death can serve as both a wrath and as a mass-reanimation spell.

• Elspeth Conquers Death is both the only spell that can target planeswalkers and the only option for non- decks.

• Priest of Fell Rites synergizes with Lurrus of the Dream-Den and can be a 2-for-1 normally, plus it allows for an end-step Gifts Ungiven to threaten a reanimation the next turn.

• Slimefoot and Squee is both an army-in-a-can and can serve as a recurring nightmare impersonator, but is more interactable and needs a bit more setup.

Meanwhile, Animate Dead doesn't really have as much of a niche carved out - it in many ways is just a cheaper Necromancy, but the flash upside is, in my opinion, way more interesting than the -1/-0 downside and costing 1 less mana. Accordingly, I'm going to replace it with Emperor of Bones, to provide a Goryo's Vengeance style reanimation effect, as a hasty reanimation is far less common. When coupled with ways of re-adding counters or otherwise being reset, I'm hoping it will provide way more opportunities to do something novel.

The intent of Dream Halls was to serve as an alternate reanimation mode for decks that use . However, it failed to really deliver on its promise, as without fast mana in the cube, it was hard to consistently race an aggro
opponent. I am replacing it with Kitsa, Otterball Elite, which still can fill your bin in a reanimator shell, while also serving as a threat in UR and maintains a really high ceiling if you manage to activate the last ability.

One aspect that arose from having a dominant reanimator deck floating around became the fact that there weren't always enough answers floating around. I've decided to add Ghost Vacuum to hopefully provide a bit of an out for players. However, it also has a lot of different uses and upsides, from a last chance reanimation spell (Archon of Cruelty is still pretty powerful as a 1/1) to a late-game win condition in control post-wrath. I am using it to replace Mazemind Tome as a cheap value-accruing artifact a deck can drop early.

It's not all nerfs to reanimator, however! I'm adding Psychic Frog, which both bolsters the theme and also can help set up your reanimation spell.

Legends

Naya hasn't really been appealing to drafters - , , and have all been creature-focused proactive decks, but the improved consistency from running a 2-color deck, coupled with a lack of a unique identity, have meant that the shard doesn't end up being built around. Starting with this update, I'd like to start providing a light "legendary matters" subtheme - ideally, cards with decent floors but that reward you for using legends, such as Anduril, Flame of the West.

Annie Joins Up will be the signpost for this theme - I'm not expecting someone to draft the legends deck super commonly, but it can serve to allow someone who has built around legendary creatures to have a great payoff for doing so. I think there are enough legends that it synergizes with already for the doubling up to be worthwhile, but I will pay specific attention to legends with beneficial triggered abilities moving forward. It takes the place of Aragorn, Hornburg Hero, which was a decent card in those colors, and did well with the go-wide aggro plan of especially, but it wasn't a unique enough effect to encourage doing anything other than drafting a creature aggro deck, at which point most players end up having enough picks to just go 2 colors.

is the one color in Naya that is struggling for legends that go well with Annie Joins Up. I really enjoyed getting a chance to play with Six in another cube draft (giving Black Lotus retrace is pretty good), and I think there are a variety of synergies in all colors it has. It's taking the place of Tireless Tracker as a source of card advantage fueled by lands. The interaction with Annie Joins Up is the cherry on top.

I was really close to adding Anim Pakal, Thousandth Moon in a previous iteration, but the synergy on the attack trigger has made it official. It's taking the place of Showdown of the Skalds, which is a great card, but that kind of defeated the card-disadvantage downside of trying to build as fast of an aggressive deck as possible.

A couple of cards were a little underwhelming and are getting replaced.

Despite actually posting ok results, Great Train Heist continues to be unappealing. I'm instead going to try out Detective's Phoenix, which seems like it can be a good source of reach in red aggressive decks as a floor, with the upside of giving large threats or a reanimator target flying and haste out of nowhere.

Like Aragorn, Hornburg Hero, there is nothing wrong with this card - it's good on rate. However, it didn't open up any particularly novel gameplay opportunities and therefore didn't serve as much of a draw to build around. I'm hoping that The Necrobloom changes that by providing a variety of win-cons for land based decks.

I was hoping to acquire a copy of Indebted Spirit earlier, but finally have one now - I am going to try replacing Tithe Taker with it, as it can still serve as a regular 2-for-1 in aristocrats, but with the added upside of effectively being 3 mana for 3 bodies in a situation that really wants it, with the synergy with Lurrus being another big plus.

At the moment, I am only adding 3 new MH3 cards, though others have certainly caught my eye and might make an appearance soon.

However, I've taken the opportunity to make a few other adjustments as well.

Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd has been a card I've wanted to cube with as soon as it was spoiled. I enjoy the flexibility it brings, the different play patterns, the combo it can have with Containment Priest, and the art too. I think I've felt that there was a bit of redundancy between Academy Rector and Moon-Blessed Cleric, but the cube doesn't really have enough big-mana enchantments to require the former, and the latter has better synergy with the blink package, so I am cutting Academy Rector for the cube's new cutest card.

Eladamri, Korvecdal wasn't really on my list of includes until I opened one at prerelease. I didn't see myself going out and acquiring a copy, but now that one has fallen into my lap, I'm kind of intrigued with it. I do like providing G with more tools to cheat creatures into play beyond Natural Order, and I am interested in watching this be in action with a Courser of Kruphix to absolutely churn through someone's deck. I am replacing Court of Garenbrig, which has also been a source of card advantage at the same cost, but which can kind of become oppressive in some matchups because of how hard it is to cleanly answer.

Finally, Wight of the Reliquary seems like a fun card to let people experiment with. I enjoyed the idea of The Mycotyrant as a way of paying you off for putting cards into the graveyard, but tracking it in paper can be a little frustrating, so I'm going to try the Wight instead.

In addition to the aforementioned Court of Garenbrig, Broadside Bombardiers has felt a little too powerful for this format. It will join the list of retired cards and be replaced with a card that many people seem to consider to be the smaller version of it - Gut, True Soul Zealot.

There are some cards that fairly rarely end up being played - they might have high ceilings, but end up being too specific to reliably build around, or their application may be too niche. I'm replacing them with alternatives that generally tend to be a bit more flexible.

Inkwell Leviathan has remained as another tinker target, but has never really felt that great to tinker for. Instead, I will be running another artifact that allows for more shenanigans in Cryptic Coat. I think the coat can allow for blink / reanimation style shenanigans, is a good thing to loop with welder, and allows Stoneforge Mystic's activated ability to be used for something beyond just cheating in an expensive equipment (yes, it's still a reduction, but being able to pass with 4 mana up and either make a creature or play an instant is cool).

Executioner's Capsule has survived this long because of the ability to recur it with Lurrus or Emry, but I think these decks often end up with better things to do. Stalactite Stalker can still have that mode in a pinch, but also serves as a new aggressive option for black decks.

Embercleave hits like a truck but can feel like a dead card enough that it usually stays in the sideboard. I'm hoping Great Train Heist's increased flexibility can allow for the same blowout potential while still having a decent floor.

Berserk is another combat trick that never seemed to be included in a list. I'd like to keep the "surprise!" mode around, but this time I'll use Smuggler's Surprise instead. Being able to both blank removal in a pinch or cheat in a pair of creatures or just be card draw is a ton of options.

Finally, Triplicate Titan hasn't really been an appealing tinker target, and I'm hoping for there to be a few options. With Inkwell being cut, I think Triplicate Titan can fill in the gap as a really big creature to tinker out - it is almost always the biggest problem on the board, but it is still answerable, and looping it with welders feels amazing if a 9/9 vigilance flampler doesn't manage to close the game out right away somehow.

Recursive Threats

I think creatures in the cube have had some number of cards that always are able to come back from the graveyard. I like how these can bridge a lot of things is trying to do, but I think they can kind of blend together, so I'd like to bring out some cards that stick out a bit more.

Since Dark Confidant is so much fun, I'd like to try out its Snake Horse version in Caustic Bronco. Tenacious Underdog has filled a role as a recurring source of card advantage that hurts you and/or your opponent, so it felt like the mount would be a good thing to try playing instead.

Finally, I've heard the comment that I should try Bloodghast in place of Skyclave Shade a few times, and I think the inclusion of Wight of the Reliquary described above is a great reason to experiment with the swap.

This change was alluded to in the previous update - I managed to get a copy in time for a draft later this week.

I've been playing with surveil lands in Canadian Highlander and in Modern, and they have managed to exceed my initial expectations. I will be swapping out the checklands for the surveil lands accordingly. Additionally, I opened a Prismatic Vista and decided to try it out in place of Fabled Passage.

I've really liked the idea of Forsaken Miner and want to try it out, replacing Bloodsoaked Champion as an analogous card. I've also added back Blood Artist to enable comboes between it, the miner, and phyrexian altar (or a similar sac outlet and mana) - Blood Artist will replace Braids, Arisen Nightmare, which has seen pretty low play-rates as of late, and is still an aristocrats style card.

I'd also like to try out Slickshot Show-Off, which seems really cool and explosive. Dreadhorde Arcanist also cares about lots of cheap spells, but has in practice been a little too specific to pay off regularly.

Lavaspur Boots has been an intriguing equipment and Urza's Saga target - I think I've heard it described as a half-bonesplitter, half-swiftfoot boots, so I'll try to swap out Bonesplitter to make room.

I think I'm also considering adding Three Steps Ahead, probably by replacing Faerie Mastermind, but will hold off for now.

The archetype has for a long time been reanimator. However, at this point, pretty much any shell can support a reanimator deck, so I figured it would be worth exploring a new archetype for signposts - saboteurs. This is intended less to be strongly adhered to when making picks, and more as a unifying theme for the color pair's gold cards.

Kaito, Dancing Shadow already lets you turn any creature with a good ETB ability into a saboteur, but I am adding Thief of Sanity and Fallen Shinobi to round out Dimir's gold cards, taking the place of Halo Forager and Obsessive Stitcher. In order to make the reanimator package more achievable regardless of color, I am upgrading Unmarked Grave into Entomb as well.

A big reason I've enjoyed having Robber in the Rich in the cube is that it's nice to have at least one instance of the "play your opponent's spells" effect. With the addition of the 2 aforementioned effects, I'd like to replace Robber with a new powerhouse that is vaguely reminiscent of it - Inti, Seneschal of the Sun. Inti isn't the only Lost Caverns card I've seen making waves in other cubes though - I'm also trying out Broadside Bombardiers, which is taking the place of the often-sideboarded Hazoret the Fervent. I'm especially excited about the Bombardiers because of the synergy with the armies-in-a-can that likes.

The go-wide strategy is seeing a replacement as well - Comet, Stellar Pup has felt like a bit of a power outlier, so I'd like to try the new Warleader's Call as a different element in the archetype.

The other power outlier I am cutting is Orcish Bowmasters - this card routinely seems to dunk on everything else. To help shore up reanimator a bit more (and to enable shenanigans), I am replacing it with Necromancy. Removing Bowmasters also helps dampen the power of the "Wheel Hate" deck enough that I'm adding Time Spiral, which is replacing Time Spiral for now. This, in turn, means I am hoping I will be able to have the density of wheel effects I would like without needing to run Sail into the West, which has pretty routinely felt kind of underwhelming. I'm running Slogurk, the Overslime in its place instead, which aligns more neatly with the lands theme.

Another aspect of Slogurk, the Overslime is that it can hopefully benefit dredge and self mill strategies. I am hoping that Insidious Roots will also help be able to make these effects more desirable as well, and am replacing Mosswood Dreadknight, which feels more like a high floor pick than a high ceiling build-around I'd like many of the gold cards to be.

In order to help out the set of build around enchantments in the cube, I'm adding another way of tutoring them up - this time in the form of Academy Rector. When I first added The Wandering Emperor, I wanted to compare it to Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, and having enjoyed playing with the emperor more, I will be cutting Gideon to make way.

Finally, I am making one more change to W - I think Virtue of Loyalty is worth trying out over Flowering of the White Tree, as the top end is worth building around a bit more if you do get a rector, and can see play in a few other shells besides just Mono- aggro. However, a flash, vigilance 2/2 is probably often a better turn 2 play in mono-W than an anthem, so I can see it fitting into multiple decks rather than being as committal as a anthem.

• I am trying out Get Lost in place of Fateful Absence - the latter might be more powerful, but I think a pair of map tokens can result in more interesting gameplay decisions than a clue, and I think enabling shenanigans with Parallax Wave pushes Get Lost into "will try it out" territory.
• I'd like to try a pair of swaps in - for starters, Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel looks really fun to play with. I'm going to try switching out Jace, Vryn's Prodigy for it - they are both 2 drops with looting, and I'd prefer to minimize the amount of DFCs if possible. However, I don't want the creatures to be exclusively X/1 flash flyers, so I am going to replace Nimble Obstructionist with a similar stifle creature in the form of Tishana's Tidebinder, whose ability to handle both planeswalkers and the one ring is pretty appealing.
• As soon as Bitter Triumph was previewed, I (and many others) immediately declared it would replace Infernal Grasp. The extra flexibility is worth an extra life, I enjoy the tension it results in with counterspells in the "pay life" case, and the upside in graveyard decks is awesome.
• Still seems to be struggling to find its identity, so I'd like to try pushing it into a more aggressive direction with The Mycotyrant. I think the fact it's able to pay off dredge is a really nice upside compared to Meren of Clan Nel Toth.
• Brokers Ascendancy hasn't really felt super appealing to drafters, and also isn't very on-theme for anything has been doing. I'd like to try out Tamiyo, Field Researcher instead, which also isn't super on theme but seems to both be able to play a controlling role kind of effectively and at least leads to more interesting decisions.
• Likewise, Rocco, Cabaretti Caterer is really demanding color wise but doesn't fit into many decks. creature-combo is the only arguable home, and even then, the high color count and expensive cost mean it's almost never work it. I'm trying out Aragorn, Hornburg Hero instead, since Aragorn synergizes well with 's ability to go wide, along with some of the counter subthemes that show up in from time to time and makes some of the stompy threats absolutely terrifying.
• A long overdue change is replacing Tormod's Crypt with the more versatile Relic of Progenitus - the fact that relic replaces itself is a huge step in terms of improving its floor.
• Finally, I'm a sucker for attack triggers, so I'm going to try out Threefold Thunderhulk in place of Myr Battlesphere. I can see this change being reverted, but the thunderhulk just seems like a lot of fun to experiment with.

This is just a pair of tweaks to the changes I made cards with new Wilds of Eldraine cards.

In that post, I said I wasn't a huge fan of the new "Court of" cycle in terms of it resulting in generally unfun play patterns. However, needs a bit of help these days, and I think I'd like to try Court of Garenbrig to see if it can shore up those issues. Luminarch Aspirant was way overperformed in decks, and I'm hoping these counters will also do silly things (not to mention the value it can get with "fair" Scurry Oak or "fair" Devoted Druid)
Lovestruck Beast has felt "begrudigingly playable" in a lot of decks, except in where it could lead to nongames, but that also had weird nonbo issues (e.g. with Domri, Anarch of Bolas).

I had a conversation earlier today about Agatha's Soul Cauldron and realized it functions way better in this cube than I was expecting. I think the initial part that made me re-consider adding it is the fact that it goes nuts with Grist, the Hunger Tide and Rosie Cotton of South Lane or Ivy Lane Denizen. With that said, I'm looking forward to seeing who can do the silliest things with it.

I think the early contenders are:

• Pack Rat
• Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
• Saffi Eriksdotter
• Priest of Fell Rites
• Dauthi Voidwalker

I think it's nice in that it has an OK floor as a hate card vs dredge / reanimator, and am cutting Soul-Guide Lantern for it since it feels kinda like a side-grade compared to it if the Cauldron only had the activated ability, but the Cauldron seems so much more fun to play with.

It's time to add cards from Wilds of Eldraine to the cube! I'm really only trying out 2 cards, but I've made a handful of other changes along the way.

I've held off for a while on adding Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer due to the nightmare scenario of it singlehandedly taking over a game on turn 1. I think that this cube wants people to play to the board enough, and that singleton formats are inconsistent enough for the nightmare scenario to not arise as often, that I'm willing to give it a shot. Zurgo Bellstriker is currently in the cube as a 1 mana 2 power creature with a dash ability, so I'm gonna pull it out and can swap it back if Ragavan ends up being oppressive.

Nissa, Who Shakes the World's ability to just keep spitting out 3/3s makes it tough to deal with. I'd like to try out another 3/3 machine in the form of Gruff Triplets. Costing 1 more mana is a downside, but this does end up smoothing out the curve a bit, and I think the ability to get out of control makes it a serious threat, especially if you are able to abuse it with blink, Recurring Nightmare shenanigans, or maybe even Berserk it to get 2 9/9 tramplers on the field.

Wrenn and Six is, like Ragavan, something I've toyed with for a while. I can see it being a bit of a power outlier, but at the same time I think it can result in interesting game play decisions and patterns. I think the lands deck can use a couple more on-ramps, and it fits in there. Additionally, it helps someone live the 5c goodstuff dream. Quartzwood Crasher is strong in play, but it definitely falls into Baneslayer territory but requires a lot more commitment than, say, Elder Gargaroth. I think if it was it might be more likely to hang around, but for now it's coming out.

remains in kind of a weird state - I think it can do silly things, but often struggles to get there. I'm hoping Mosswood Dreadknight can help bridge the gap. It grinds really well, especially if you are hoping to get extra draws to dredge with, and fits the bill in a Jund deck, providing pressure and the ability to win in a grindy situation, while also being an interesting Lurrus deck. In contrast, Rise of the Witch-king can have a high upside but is pretty speculative.

Slogurk, the Overslime functions as an interesting / conditional Life from the Loam, but I think Ramunap Excavator, Crucible of Worlds, and Life from the Loam, plus the newly added Wrenn and Six are enough ways of recurring lands. Sail into the West is a card that the lands deck will still like (fastbond + wheel is a combo) while also being less tied to one specific strategy. I am a little worried about the ability of the "Wheel deck" (i.e. Wheel + Leovold or Sheoldred) to result in unfun games, and the fact that Sail into the West lets you do "fun" wheels without immediately ruining your opponent's hand is a big upside. However, I think the cube has sufficient draw-7 density, so I'm going to cut Time Spiral to avoid it being too oversaturated. I think Jace, Vryn's Prodigy is an exciting replacement. I'm not thrilled about the complexity that comes with another Double Faced Card, but I think it goes well in spells decks, reanimator, and can effectively draw a card if you pitch lands with a crucible effect in play.

Finally, Liliana, Dreadhorde General has been a little too expensive to see much play these days. With curves shifting lower, allowing access to free spells seems like a good idea, and Snuff Out fits the bill.

Finally, I'd like to discuss some cards from WOE that have been popular but that I'm not including:

• Cheeky House-Mouse - I think has enough Savannah Lions with upside already, so it's a question of if this replaces one of them. However, I like the upsides of the other 3 more than the adventure half of this card. I think the nightmare scenario of casting Squeak By and having the targeted creature be killed in response, denying you the creature half, means it can be more of a liability than one whose upside happens after you've put it on the board, which are a lot harder to 2-for-1.
• Regal Bunnicorn - Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think cheap beaters have been super appealing to my drafters
• The court cycle (e.g. Court of Garenbrig). So far, these don't spark a ton of joy for me. I will definitely keep them in mind moving forward, but I feel like a lot of these take an already-winning board state and make it harder for your opponent to come back from, which I think removes a lot of the back-and-forth that is present in the sorts of games I want this cube to have.
• The "Restless" creature-land cycle (e.g. Restless Vinestalk). I'm still pretty rigid about my land cycles at the moment. I think if these see play, it's because I wholesale replace the worst land cycle (the checklands) with a set of lands that make sense in that color pair (e.g. might get Celestial Colonnade, while might get a Sunbaked Canyon), but that day is not today.
• The Goose Mother - I think this is a fun card to play with, but I don't think it fits what the deck is trying to do as well as the other simic cards.
• Embereth Veteran - has historically been underdrafted in this cube, and I don't think adding something that really only fits in RDW makes sense given that context.
• Charming Scoundrel - Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't really get where the excitement for this card is coming from. I compare this unfavorably to Charming Prince, as I rate a 2/2 higher than a 1/1 haste on the baseline. I think the main exciting thing from this is the ability to make a treasure, but I think so far I like Magda, Brazen Outlaw's ability to do that more, given its repeatable nature. I'm looking forward to seeing/playing with Charming Scoundrel though, maybe I am under-rating it.
• Syr Ginger, the Meal Ender - This card is exciting to me, but I've historically avoided putting in colorless creatures that any deck would want to play just for its body - I want artifacts to be synergy pieces to compensate for the fact that they aren't color restricted.
• Lord Skitter, Sewer King - I like armies in a can, but I'd like to keep them centered in where possible, and I think Bitter Blossom is enough of the effect for .
• Virtue of Persistence - 7 mana is a lot of mana. I can see maybe replacing a removal spell with it at some point, but I don't know a ton of decks that consistently want to play a 7 mana enchantment.

Werewolf Pack Leader has been kind of awkwardly positioned - barring something really strong like Hexdrinker, I think most decks have wanted to spend their early turns ramping so that they can deploy 5+ drops way ahead of the curve. I think the only deck that really liked running it was stompy decks, but we'll give them access to a really strong finisher instead in Berserk, which is a card I'm looking forward to seeing the play patterns of.

Speaking of ramping into 5+ drops, Joraga Treespeaker is really good at doing exactly that. I'm adding it to the mana dork package in the cube, with it taking the place of Growing Rites of Itlimoc, whose Gaea's cradle potential isn't unique following the inclusion of Circle of Dreams Druid, but which can be slow and that doesn't impact the board.

I've made a minor cosmetic change to Yorion, Sky Nomad, just switching to a version with the errata'd rules text to avoid confusion.

Forth Eorlingas! is probably too good for this environment in its ability to both spit out a massive board against other decks that play heavily to the board, but also cheaply gain the monarchy vs a more controlling deck. I'm trying out Winota, Joiner of Forces for now as a novel way to go wide while also presenting interesting deckbuilding possibilities (e.g. what if you Brainstorm an Agent of Treachery on top pre-combat?). It was a close call between Winota and Otharri, Suns' Glory, which I might fall back to if Winota is a flop.

Finally, I'm upgrading one of the Urza's Saga targets by swapping out one of the worst (in Urza's Bauble) for what might be one of the best - Retrofitter Foundry. Artifact decks have been performing really well as of late, so I'm a little worried about how much help this gives them, but let's see how it pans out!

I recently got a chance to play with The One Ring in someone else's cube, and it had a lot more counter play than I was expecting. I think the following cards all have interesting play patterns with the ring, and I'm looking forward to seeing how they play out:

• Flickerwisp
• Felidar Guardian
• Aether Channeler
• Phyrexian Metamorph
• Venser, Shaper Savant
• Tinker (in both directions)
• Braids, Arisen Nightmare
• Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
• Goblin Welder
• Daretti, Scrap Savant
• Brago, King Eternal
• Yorion, Sky Nomad
• Saheeli, Sublime Artificer
• Thopter Foundry

Meteor Golem has seen play in the cube as a Tinker target that can get you out of a pickle, as well as a 2-for-1 if you have really ramped, but I think The One Ring is more exciting in both cases (ok, maybe tinkering it out won't save you, but hardcasting it can and is much more feasible).

A few minor changes among the 2-color cards:

Skyknight Vanguard fits the go-wide token theme of , but hasn't really drawn anybody into the colors. In contrast, Forth Eorlingas! is a definite reason to be in the color pair while also sticking to the go-wide theme.

Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis is a very powerful card, but in practice has ended up demanding too much work to be built around. I'd like to try making the deck into a grindier version, and Meren of Clan Nel Toth seems like a good step in that direction.

Kaito, Dancing Shadow has seemed really fun to play with, so I'd like to try it out. I'm cutting Enter the God-Eternals for now, as Halo Forager hasn't had much time to be tried out yet (and seems good with Kaito anyway), and Obsessive Stitcher is more on-theme than Enter the God Eternals.

I've recently acquired a Time Spiral and would like to try it out - the addition of another draw-7 effect means Ruin Grinder doesn't need to see play. In order to make space for Time Spiral, I'm cutting Archaeomancer, and Getting rid of Ruin Grinder makes room for another card that can synergize with artifacts in Magda, Brazen Outlaw.

Dragonkin Berserker has felt solid, but doesn't really synergize with anything, and based aggressive strategies have been fairly effective. I'm going to try cutting it for Goblin Bombardment, as an easy include that can help aristocrats style strategies. This inclusion also moves Phyrexian Altar to the potentially-cuttable list, as free sacrifice outlets have tended to be pretty niche.

Finally, Leonin Arbiter hasn't really seen any / much play as of late - I'd like to try Elite Spellbinder instead, which is a more compelling body and can synergize better with stuff like blink / clone effects.

I am trying out 6 new cards from Lord of the Rings, described below:

• Flowering of the White Tree seems like a really good and powerful anthem. Since the main intent of Paladin Class was to serve as such an anthem, I will try out the new one. There aren't a ton of mono-W legendary creatures, but there's enough that I expect the extra value to be relevant.

• Rosie Cotton seems like a good include in token heavy decks, go-wide decks, and comboes with Scurry Oak (with an indirect lifegain ETB), allowing it to flex into most color pairs to some extent while still having a high upside in specifically. I'm making space for it by cutting Planar Disruption - seems to have enough interaction, and it wasn't played very much.

• Orcish Bowmasters seems like a house (especially with draw-7s) - and it's ability to apply pressure against a control deck makes me think it can replace Scrapheap Scrounger

• Delighted Halfling is a really exciting mana dork, especially in 3+ color decks, since a lot of the 3 color cards are legendary. I'm replacing Gilded Goose, since it's felt like the weakest mana dork, and I think the 1/2 body makes up for the fact it doesn't let you hit a turn 2 circle of dreams druid.

• Rise of the Witch-king is a unique effect (e.g. being able to reanimate expensive planeswalkers or something like Yawgmoth's Bargain / The Great Henge) that I'd like to put into to help flesh out its identity. Spider Spawning's flashback cost has often been too expensive to really make it worth trying to build around.

• Anduril, Flame of the West was really powerful at prerelease, so I'd like to give it a shot over Mystic Forge, which has been pretty narrow. (unfortunately, Cube Cobra doesn't seem to support it at the moment, but the change is made in paper.)

• Ghostly Flicker was meant to go in blink, but Ephemerate is so much better that it struggles to make the cut - I'm adding Spellseeker, which can often serve as Ephemerate number 2 as a floor.

• Murmuring Mystic is one of a large number of redundant effects, but it's kind of a pain at 4 mana, so I'm going to try Phyrexian Metamorph instead. I don't have a well defined plan for it, but it seems to be a great example of a card that leads to fun emergent outcomes.

• Temur Battle Rage hasn't seen much play recently - I am keeping Embercleave as a threatening pump spell, and adding another piece of burn that can kind of signpost welder while having a reasonable floor in the form of Galvanic Blast.

• I am replacing a support card in with another one, but for a different archetype - Professional Face-Breaker has a high ceiling, but I'd like to try Dreadhorde Arcanist instead. I think there's enough density of 1-drop spells, and it gets better with anthems / counters / equipment too.

• Glacial Chasm has really only been useful if you have a fastbond / crucible setup going, but there are already other cards that work in that case with arguably higher floors (and arguably better ceilings) in the form of Zuran Orb, Tatyova, Benthic Druid, and Courser of Kruphix. I'd like to try adding some more planeswalker interaction in the form of Phyrexian Revoker.

Help for

based decks have consistently struggled in recent drafts, so I'm going to try adding some more cards to shore up the archetype:

• Living Death seems like a great payoff for milling most of your deck - completely flipping the tables on your opponent. I'm cutting another more midrange type reanimation effect in Archpriest of Shadows to make room.

• I've struggled on finding the right power level of graveyard tutors to add for a while - I think Entomb leads to the possibility of too many turn 2 reanimation effects to be worth it in this unpowered cube, but Unmarked Grave might fit the bill - allowing you to fetch dredgers, flexible answers like timeless witness or sevinne's reclamation, or the land you need if your crucible is already out. I'm cutting Nullpriest of Oblivion to make room - it was intended to be a or card, but struggled to do so since 6 mana is usually not much of a discount.

• Finally, some decks have struggled to fight for the board while they are filling up their graveyard. I think replacing Blood Artist with The Meathook Massacre should allow for a similar effect in decks while also allowing slower decks to buy time against their more agressive opponents.

• Since it's inclusion, I've worried about Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes being a power-level outlier. Recent feedback, and the addition of Delighted Halfling as a way of circumventing one of the only ways to trade even with it in countermagic has led me to decide to take it out and replace it with Domri, Anarch of Bolas instead, which has felt like a good but fair planeswalker in the past that also fits well in the "ramp into haymakers" game plan often finds itself in.

• Shark Typhoon is exciting, but Chrome Host Seedshark lets you have your cake and eat it too! I've really enjoyed incubate as a mechanic - in this cube it will work well with artifact decks, but the flip at instant speed activation lets you hold up instant speed interaction as a deck, which is always a plus.

• I really like draw 7's (and stuff like Yawgmoth's Bargain), and Sheoldred, the Apocalypse seems like a way to support that archetype while still allowing your opponent more of a window to respond than hullbreacher on end-step -> wheel. I'm cutting Sheoldred, since I'm not a huge fan of having too many "generic good cards", especially if they come with the extra baggage of being a DFC with lots of rules text.

One class of cards I really enjoy is draw-7's. Previously, I tried to incentivize drafting around them with Hullbreacher style lines, but I've found those weren't super enjoyable. I'm hoping Dream Halls can step in as another way of making draw 7s exciting, both because of the high upside and the tension it introduces when giving your opponents new cards. It also seems like a card that can lead to a lot of nonsense (in a good way), as its recent inclusion in the MTGO vintage cube has demonstrated. In order to make room for it, I'm cutting Overcharged Amalgam - the stifle is interesting, but is already really saturated with flash flyers with an ETB, and the amalgam hasn't seen a ton of play recently.

I wanted one other card to be able to cast off dream halls, and Atraxa, Grand Unifier seemed like a great include - being 4 colors means that almost any card you draw can pitch to it, and it will likely draw you a couple more spells to cast for free as well. This also helps round out the set of reanimator / sneak attack targets, while still being attainable in a 5-color goodstuff pile too. In order to support this, I'm taking out Aetherflux Reservior, which was primarily there to facilitate Bolas's Citadel style combos. However, that combo never really enticed players, and I am therefore taking out the citadel as well, adding Fatal Push as a flexible answer in for now.

Finally, I feel as though has enough artifact + enchantment hate to replace Boseiju, Who Endures. It's a really fun and powerful card, and I understand the argument that by virtue of being able to run it "for free", replacing it with a non-land card is basically just going to result in 1 drafter having an additional sideboard card, but I'd like to try a more committal pick instead in Finale of Devastation. I've been kind of worried on how dependent a based ramp deck can be on picking up the 1-of craterhoof behemoth, and this seems like a fair backup plan, while also helping to shore up creature combo and toolbox strategies.

The multiverse legends have been a good source of 3 color cards that include effects that are canonical examples of the constituent colors, and I'm taking the opportunity to replace 2 more odd ones out, namely:

• Archangel of Wrath, while good, doesn't really feel like a gold card to me or draw people into mardu specifically. I'm hoping that Kroxa and Kunoros will be more of a draw - at 6 mana it might be further a long the curve than many mardu decks, but that means a good opportunity to explore more midrange-oriented builds of the color. The body is great, and the etb/attack trigger seems flexible enough for it to see play in a variety of situations.

• Eerie Ultimatum has been too pip-dense and expensive to be run, even in dedicated graveyard decks. I think Thalia and The Gitrog Monster synergizes well with the aristocrats plan and the overall -lands synergy. While it isn't exactly a "creature combo" card, there is some overlap in pieces (e.g. a persist combo with no sacrifice outlet can abuse the attack trigger), and the deck can really abuse the extra draw for additional dredges.