The kindred lands got to stay around as long as they did for 2 reasons. First, they are charming, which helps immerse drafters in the concept for what this cube is about, and clue you in to the things you need to be thinking about to be successful drafting this cube. Second, there were very few better options.

The goal of lands in this cube is to give very good 2-3 color fixing without encouraging any kind of 4 color soup nonsense. The cube is so tempo-focused though with low curves, that entering untapped and making the colors you need early is really stressed on lands in this cube. True duals therefore were too powerful, shocklands just right, and ETB tapped lands too weak.

This brings us to the kindred lands. They enter tapped a LOT which immediately means you are falling behind, and, in a way, discourage drafters from doing what I am pushing for more of in this cube - cross-kin deckbuilding. Trying to push back against prescriptive drafting hinged on your p1p1 gets way harder if you can't even stay open by taking a land.

Ultimately, despite their charm, the kindred lands play like shit, and I am grateful to rid my cube of the AI art custom cards I had made before it became a scandal to use AI art on stuff as a nice cherry on top. Optimistic that these verges are going to be perfect for this cube and a natural swap, despite the heartbreaking optics.

Skullclamp showed signs of being warping on initial run so adjust to make control better now that card advantage is easier to solve and give aether vial decks more to do with their mana rebate