Bloomburrow, Duskmourn, Foundations, Innistrad Remastered, Aetherdrift

The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, Ravnica Remastered, Murders at Karlov Manor, Outlaws of Thunder Junction, & Modern Horizons 3.

Landscape Cycle - Let's you get colourless mana and wait until you need the colour fixing. Works really well with Brainstorm
Drossclaw
Drownyard Lurker
Fanged Flames - Gets around protection spells and has the ability to exile problematic creatures.
Gravedig - A nice call to Gravedigger. Very flexible turning gravedigger into a vanilla 2/2 or fetching the card back.
Inspired Inventor - Also gives you energy.
Nightshade Dryad
Nyxborn Unicorn
Serum Visionary
Sneaky Snacker
Snapping Voidcraw
Warped Tusker
Makeshift Binding
Nezumi Linkbreaker
Nurturing Bristleback
Patient Naturalist
River Herald Scout
Seismic Monstrosaur
Snarling Gorehound
Etali's Favor
Family Reunion
Quick Draw
Raven of Fallen Omens
Goblin Tomb Raider

The land cyclers Eagles of the North, Lórien Revealed, Troll of Khazad-dûm, Oliphaunt, & Generous Ent:
Land cycling for 1 is extremely good rate, and these can fetch any non-basic land with the 5 land types. The effects on the front-side of the cards are very strong as well make the entire cycle an auto-include.

Rally at the Hornburg replaces Forbidden Friendship:
Now comes with 2 hastey boys!

Sulfurous Blast replaces Fiery Cannonade:
Now that's a blast from the past. The increase in cost is justified as 3 damage can just about kill anything on the board, including your opponents.

Drown in Sorrow replaces Arms of Hadar:
Losing the asymmetry is negligible. These type of cards are usually for control orientated decks. Your opponents will cry as this drops a turn earlier.

Dread Return replaces Disturbed Burial:

Mire Triton:

Murmuring Mystic replaces Moonblade Shinobi:
Murmuring Mystic eclipses Moonblade Shinobi as a repetitive token generator. While it requires you to be in a spell heavy deck it also does not need you to connect. Often times you'll find that it is difficult to return Moonblade to hand and perform multiple ninjutsu tricks a turn.

Spitebellows & Blood Aspirant:

Phyrexian Gargantua replaces Girder Goons:
Same thing both give you card advantage

Lotleth Giant replaces Hezrou:
Does a better job at finishing the opponent off. Hezrou tries to assist aggro decks in getting hte last points of damage, but burn is just much better.

Demon's Disciple replaces Fleshbag Marauder:
(there's no common pw yet...)

Shipwreck Dowser replaces Mnemonic Wall:
Steer the deck to be more aggressive.

Ministrant of Obligation replaces Sandsteppe Outcast:
Lembas

Cast into the Fire - If artifact recursion becomes too pervasive, then we can substitute Abrade with this.

Generous Gift - This gives a little too generous of a gift for this format. Often times an upgrade.

Crawling Infestation - It's interesting to say the least, but the restriction to produce insects bugs me enough to not include this.

Vizier of Tumbling Sands - If only there were combos that we could capitalize the fiddling effect with.

Cryptic Serpent - Tolarian Terror at home.

All that Glitters - While a really powerful effect and making waves in pauper constructed, it's really not all that impressive in limited. Ethereal Armor would be reintroduced before this gets added.

Guttersnipe - This would be a fantastic pay-off for spells decks, I just don't see there being room at the moment for this.

Rapacious One - A fantastic effect, however our 6 drop slot for red is full of creatures that can deal with the board or provide better utility. I can see this pairing very well with Impact Tremors.

The march of the machines has descended upon us, and with it comes a compleat set of upgrades for the cube.

Volcanic Spite replaces Fire Prophecy:
This is a side-upgrade for the future. We can only pray that battles and planeswalkers will be printed at common.

Alabaster Host Intercessor replaces Sunblade Samurai:
The dawn sets on Sunblade Samurai as Alabaster Host Intercessor functions as plains tutor with a better effect.

Beamtown Beatstick replaces Sticky Fingers:
Being able to re-equip this effect, while being able to slip through your opponents early blocks is a fair trade off for losing the replacement effect.

Final Flourish replaces Vicious Offering:
This is could possibly be the final form of Vicious Offering.

Kor Halberd replaces Sentinel's Eyes:
It is much easier to re-equip this than it is to re-cast Sentinel's Eyes. It is a niche situation but you do lose multiple prowess triggers. I still believe the ability to move equipment around justifies the trade.

Saiba Cryptomancer replaces Step Through:
This one was a bit of a puzzling change. The protection stapled on a body opens up opportunities for self-bounce and recursive abuse. In exchange, we lose out on the value engine of finding Archaeomancer with Step Through.

Wary Thespian:
Fantastic add in for self-mill decks. It has an aggressive body and allows for great trade ups.

Bladed Battle-Fan:
I'm a fan of these new tricky equipment spells. This gives extra utility for the more aggressive black decks.

Thrummingbird:
Various counters have been streaming into the cube over the past few years, that Thrummingbird can find its nest here in the main list.

Blazing Crescendo replaces Fists of Flame:
This matchup is dependent on where these cards go. Blazing Crescendo works harmoniously in aggressive and mid-range strategies, as it doesn't require the build up that Fists of Flame does to punch over the top of blockers and close out the game. Fists of Flame works best in spell-fist strategies that can ball up a grip of extra mana and card draw. If we're looking at the draw effect on the card, then impulse effects are effectively card draw in decks that do care about the front part of the effect.

Bladegraft Aspirant & Barbed Batterfist:
Bladegraft Aspirant is equipped with an arsenal of abilities that would put this card at the same power level of as an uncommon. This card inserts itself in the same decks as the reconfigurable equipment creatures from Kamigawa:Neon Dynasty. Batterfist packs a punch for just two mana!

Contagious Vorrac replaces Spore Crawler:
It's so hard not to pig out on all the card draw. Contagious Vorrac will draw you a land (still a card) and has the added flexibility of proliferating. In a dedicated counters deck this effect can be worth more than a card.

Planar Disruption replaces Faith's Fetters:
This card does a better job at disrupting your opponent's plans as it comes down couple of turns quicker. We will see if trading off life gain for speed and cost efficiency is worth it. It is worth noting that Battles a new type of card could be hit by Faith's Fetters in future updates.

Vanish into Eternity:
Fits same role as Angelic purge. More expensive as creature removal, however not having to sac and hitting more permanent types may be relevant in the future (with battles on the horizon).

Experimental Augury replaces Curate:
Curate is tailored to an environment that cares about fueling your graveyard whereas Experimental Augury is more at home in this update. The one upside is that Experimental Augury looks at an extra card more for selection. With the number of playable spells in the cube, it is no hard task to fill up the graveyard.

Indoctrination Attendant:
Not quite the Icewind Stalwart, this creature does assist the flicker or buy-back decks replay cards for value.

Blightbelly Rat:
I hope you haven't had your fill of toxic decks. Blightbelly Rat serves as both an enabler for poisoning your opponent out and a proliferater for all the counter matter shenanigans.

The Gates replace the Snow Dual lands
(Basilisk Gate, Heap Gate, & .... Azorius Gate replaces Snowfield Sinkhole, & .... Glacial Floodplain):
This land cycle was initially in the honourable mention section during the Commander Legends: Baldur's Gate update. It turns out having a repeatable pump effect on your lands is a really good way to make use of your flooding. As the recent CawGate deck performances have shown, just having two more gates and a Basilik Gate can turn any of your dorky 1/1 recurring creatures into serious threats. While not in the same decks, the treasures generated by Heap Gate offer a wealth of synergies with the sacrifice decks. The snow duals are being put on ice until more incidental domain or land type synergies emerge.

The Sphere land cycle
(The Fair Basilica, The Surgical Bay, The Dross Pits, The Autonomous Furnace, & The Hunter Maze):
Being able to cycle these later in the game is amazing. There's just not enough to get the ball rolling on adding these into the cube.

The Depletion land cycle
(Remote Farm, Saprazzan Skerry, Peat Bog, Sandstone Needle, & Hickory Woodlot):
These would be a snap inclusion in this update if it weren't for the fact that these lands would deplete my funds. Optional inclusions for any cubers wanting to build this update.

Annihilating Glare:
If you look closely enough this is much like the other Bone Splinter variants in the cube, with the added benefit of being able to sacrifice artifacts too.

Prologue to Phyresis:
This is such a unique effect. Unfortunately there isn't much in the way of applying accidental poison to your opponent. With enough poison counters this could be the beginning of a new archetype.

Emergency Weld to replace Pit Keeper:
This is effectively a 2 mana Grave Digger, and if you're ever in a pinch, a way to stick a roadblock from a lethal attack. It not being a creature makes it an interesting twist. It combo's effectively well with Archaeomancer for looping shenanigans. Pit Keeper did well holding the fort but being able to return a creature OR an artifact without restriction is just too good to pass up.

Wasteful Harvest to replace Chatterstorm:
Without the right support, Chatterstorm can never reach its full potential, effectively being a waste of space. On the other hand, Wasteful Harvest can fetch more than creatures and lands, sowing the seeds for delirium or similar strategies to blossom in the future.

Fallaji Archaeologist to replace Augur of Bolas:
This card digs for the same amount of cards as Augur of Bolas, hits more than just instants and sorceries. Only time will tell if this is enough to support newer strategies.

Bitter Reunion and Scrapwork Mutt to replace Thrill of Possibility:
Drawing cards in red is no longer just a possibility but an actuality with the introduction of these cards. Izzet spell based decks have better draw engines in blue so there is no real loss here. The transformation of card types to permanents gives Boros bully more tools to play with and potentially open the door for cards like Unholy Heat to make an appearance.

Rust Goliath to replace Murasa Behemoth:
What's bigger a Goliath or a Behemoth? Well a 10/10 is certainly bigger than an 8/8 and while one does come down a few turns earlier, the purpose is to be the biggest thing on the board. Something neat for green is that prototype creatures also synergies with flicker effects, allowing the flicker strategy to expand into green as the secondary support colour.

Gaea's Gift:
This is a combat trick that keeps on giving. With two mana up your opponents will be in for a surprise.

Gixian Infiltrator and Goblin Blast-Runner to replace Stirge:
These two cards are perfect in the Rakdos sacrifice/aggro archetype. Gixian Infiltrator and Goblin Blast-Runner can sneak in extra damage with all the amount of incidental sacrifice effects in the cube and not having to be specifically creatures. Stirge will no longer eat up a 1 MV creature slot in black, which is already full of more powerful cards.

Creeping Bloodsucker and Ossuary Rats to replace Blight-Breath Catoblepas:
Looking at where you would want this effect, usually from behind Ossuary Rats is better and Blight-Breath Catoblepas is a stinker. Creeping Bloodsucker if left unchecked can close games and make it really difficult to kill you.

Nomad Decoy:
A good card that would slot in very well in turbo mill decks in white. Threshold is very easy to achieve without the need to introduce self-mill effects.

New reanimation spells in white and self-mill effects seem very interesting and could be a new area to explore in the future.

Boulderbranch Golem:
This hits less like a branch and much more like a boulder. It is a fantastic card for midrange decks as it allows you to catch back up on life which could make or break aggro matchups.

Very strong removal however the discount would have to wait quite a while on and isn't very effective when you're being overwhelmed by aggro decks. Prison sentence is a huge upgrade to Arrest, but if you were to judge it against the other removal spells white already has access to the verdict is quite clear on why it didn't make the cut.

Brother's War limited is a little bit of a bomby format but also rewards good synergies. The pace of the format wasn't as slow as first thought, but it definitely wasn't as fast that you couldn't power(stone) into your larger more powerful artifact creatures.

There were a lot of mana sinks and artifacts in the set that made powerstones really shine. If the cube ever goes into a direction of being an artifact heavy themed cube then a lot of the powerstone generators would be instant includes.

A lot of the cards on my wishlist weren't as powerful in BRO limited however considering the power-level of cards that these commons had to compete against, its not hard to imagine why.

Before the set drops and we get familiarised with the cards in a limited setting, below are a list of cards I speculate to be good.

Ashnod's Intervention
Emergency Weld
Goblin Blast-Runner
Wasteful Harvest
Fallaji Archaeologist
Bitter Reunion
Gixian Infiltrator
Gaea's Gift
Tocasia's Dig site
Rust Goliath

Boulderbranch Golem
Dwarven Forge-Chanter
Gixian Skullflayer
Scrapwork Mutt
Scrapwork Rager
Overwhelming Remorse
Mishra's Domination
Penregon Strongbull
Blanchwood Prowler
Prison Sentence

Argothian Opportunist
Goring Warplow
Military Discipline
Boulderbranch Golem
Coastal Bulwark
Airlift chaplain & Recommission
Weakstone Subjugation
Tomakul Scrapsmith - Self mill outside of GB

Meteorite to replace Raiders' Karve:
This downshift rocks! A mana rock that can make an impact on the board is welcome in any midrange ramp strategies. As this fills in the same ramp niche any reason to keep Raiders' Karve in has sunk with it.

Benalish Sleeper to replace Pillory of the Sleepless:
The irony is not lost on me that a sleeper would be replacing the sleepless. Both these cards fill in the same role of putting an opposing creature to bed, however one has the flexability of putting the opponent to rest.

Phyrexian Vivisector to replace Join the Maestros:
On closer inspection Join the Maestros required a much larger body than what was achievable in the cube as such it did not make the cut.

Shore Up to replace Rousing Read:
I wanted to ensure blue had some interesting combat tricks. The card draw was interesting but often you were after something more on the defensive side of the court.

Urborg Repossession to replace Desecrator Hag:
Regrowth has finally made its way into pauper! This possesses all the things that Golgari desperately needed allowing it to be more than just creature recursion. Desecrator Hag is a fantastic card but its now time to place it in the annuls of history.

Samite Herbalist:
A little unimpressive at first but there are many ways to trigger this. This may help revitalise the use of vehicles in aggressive decks.

Tolarian Terror:
A true terror indeed. This thing possesses the body to contest Gurmag Angler and all it needs is a few spells deposited into the graveyard. This card will haunt players for years to come.

Writhing Necromass:
Not quite the same as Gurmag Angler or Tolarian Terror. Often times you won't get a big enough discount and that's with a dedicated self-mill strategy.

Tolarian Geyser:
A very powerful card and fairly costed. If it were a mana cheaper this card would be a snap inclusion.

The "dual" lands & Meria's Outrider:
If domain ever pans out these will be the first cycle to be included in with a very nice pay off.

Cartel Aristocrat, Dark-Dweller Oracle, & Fireblade Artist:
Behold we are in the presence of the progenitor. The aristocrat style decks have just been elevated to a whole new class of degeneracy. I cannot wait to see how these cards will have affect on the rest of the format.

Purphoros's Emissary:
Another good representative of Hill Giants with upside! I like this card a lot as it allows you to grow a creature taller or add another body to the board. It has mild protection against removal when bestowed on another creature which is always a boon.

Lyev Skyknight & Militia Bugler:
They heard the call and they have answered. Militia Bugler is a very welcome downshift. It's a fantastic flicker target as it can dig for a lot of creatures with powerful effects. Lyev Skyknight is also another welcome addition for flicker and tempo decks. It plays a lot better then Court Hussar in flicker decks and brings in that unique Azorius tempo flavour.

Relief Captain & Tuskguard Captain:
The supports have arrived! At least for +1/+1 counter strategies they have. Tuskguard Captain doesn't come with a +1/+1 counters on arrival but Outlast is a very strong mechanic in long grindy matchups and Relief Captain is a nice upgrade over Basri's Acolyte.

Experiment One:
Evolve is a fantastic mechanic and with large bodies available in green, Experiment One will only continually grow. A very welcome addition to the cube and explores areas besides ramp.

Bloodwater Entity, Izzet Charm, & Jeskai Elder:

Advanced Stitchwing:
This was a difficult creature to kill back in Shadows of Innistrad block draft, and its come back to put its reputation back on the line for a second time. This could even be woven into the cube as one of the staples as it enables so many advanced strategies and is powerful on its own.

Dreg Mangler, Liliana's Elite, & Seekers' Squire:
Golgari has just unearthed a trove of new toys. A 3/3 with haste that can live on later in the game by passing its stats to something else, a seemingly weak creature which can grow very quickly, and a creature that can either draw a card, fuel the graveyard, or grow to be a sizeable blocker. All things making a solid GB rock.

Monastery Swiftspear & Tenth District Legionnaire:
And out of nowhere Swiftspear comes in for the finale. I was not expecting that this card would be downshifted but my god is it a good one. This will become a main stay in the cube, and moving the goal posts higher for all future limited 1-drops in red. Alongside it, Tenth District Legionnaire replaces Wojek Halberdiers as the premier Boros sign post. We now have a powerful reason to consider supporting heroic.

The Thriving Lands
Thriving Bluff, Thriving Grove, Thriving Heath, Thriving Isle, & Thriving Moor:
I can see a case for having these side by side with the the Baldur's gates for great colour fixing, but this cycle of land just can't compete with the extra utility on the other dual lands. These lands would thrive in a cube that would have more multi-coloured cards or where you want to replicate the scarcity of colour fixing and only having these.

Emerge Unscathed:
Unfortunately this card did not come out untouched. The built-in 2 for 1 is great but rarely does it make any meaningful impact on the rebound. Blessed Hippogriff will be taking its spot, as it has the protection on the adventure side. It being an evasive attacker that can also pick up another body is a boon to aggressive decks.

Knight of Old Benalia & Tah-Crop Elite:
The number of mini anthem effects has grown over the years that these cards no longer stand out as creme of the crop. While still being very powerful cards in their own right, they are being cut in favour of cards of a different flavour. Ones that bring utility and can attack from different angles besides turning your creatures sideways like Guardian Naga and Pegasus Guardian.

Martyr of Dusk:
It's time to put this card to rest. There are plenty of targets that make good sacrificial targets that there is not much to be lost here.

Dreamtail Heron, Soulknife Spy, & Wretched Gryff:
These cards are being cut in favour of the new blue adventure creatures. They all fulfill the same space as a large evasive finisher that also cantrips. As such they will be replaced by Young Blue Dragon, Sea Hag, and Goggles of Night.

Narcolepsy:
Stunning Strike is a stellar overperformer and is definitely not a card to sleep on. While it does cost 1MV more, the flexibility to slap this on one of their biggest hitters on the opponent's turn makes it a better fit for control-style decks that like to play land-go style.

Clutch of Currents:
Sword Coast Serpent has taken hold over Clutch of Currents position as the cheap bounce spell with a big body. Sword Coast Serpent has the greater edges as you can play the adventure side for cheap and not lose out for holding back the spell to get a body. You can hold onto the creature side and not worrying about losing the flow of the game.

Adventurous Impulse & Grapple with the Past:
It's hard to tackle good cards like these but I believe Druidic Ritual has done it. It's time for these card to take their place in the history books of good graveyard enablers and cantrips, especially in green which for so long had not been very good with maintaining card advantage.

Jungleborn Pioneer & Twin-Silk Spider:
Replaced with better token generators. Losing the hexproof on the token does suck but this is for a healthier and better gameplay as hexproof has shown time and again it can be quite unfun.

Warteye Witch, Nested Shambler, & Hoard Robber:
Warteye Witch and Nested Shambler are being sacrificed for more improved tools. Nefarious Imp is a strict upgrade as it can trigger off more than just your own creatures dying. There is a whole host of fodder targets, that Nested Shambler did not have a home to stay in. I can see it making its return back in the cube if more incidental pump spells were introduced. Despite its name Hoard Robber wasn't able to steal the show. There weren't enough moments where it could produce any treasures.

Chainer's Edict & Evincar's Justice:
They have been removed from being flexed on by Arms of Hadar. While it doesn't have the late game repeatability as Evincar's Justice, it does a phenomenal job of only killing your opponents things. In time Evincar's Justice will make a return.

Keldon Marauders & Inner-Flame Acolyte:
As they say two's a couple and three's a crowded, and it surely is crowded in the 2MV and 3MV slots in red. Both of these creatures are excellent enablers in the aggressive red strategy, however this cube is branching away from narrowing the colours into one strategy and opening up for more fun options.

The Gates - Black Dragon Gate, Citadel Gate, Cliffgate, Manor Gate, & Sea Gate:
These cards will be replacing the Thriving lands from Jumpstart as sidegrades.

Blessed Hippogriff, Guardian Naga, & Pegasus Guardian:
These white adventurers all have utility that would have had a spot in the main list of the cube. Added to that, they all have interesting text on their creature side. This gives white drafters really strong opening hands and great top deck opportunities.

Greatsword of Tyr & Goggles of Night:
These coloured artifacts are great! On their own they do not provide defensive stats, but are equipped to do powerful things in the right decks. The greatsword in aggressive decks tyrs through your opponents like an Untethered Express, while the goggles will have your opponents blinded by your card advantage.

Icewind Stalwart:
Restoration Angel at home. Flicker decks will find this to be a reliable addition. The addition of flash would have made this a hot addition.

Sea Hag, Sword Coast Serpent, & Young Blue Dragon:
Blue adventurers

Stunning Strike:
This card is a stunner! Being able to leave mana open means control decks can still have options on what to do on their opponents turn and/or be able to bluff. Once your opponents get blind sided by this the first time, it will be living rent free in their heads. What's cool is this also removes your opponent's creatures from combat so any combat tricks they used will just be wasted.

Hezrou:
This has a nice little trick on the front side, where an opponent is lining up blocks for even trades with your creatures only to have this leap into action. As an added bonus the body comes with flanking for all your creatures.

Nefarious Imp:
This triggers on any permanent leaving the battlefield, making it a bigger upgrade over Warteye Witch which only sees play in sacrifice based decks. This little trickster could be played in flicker decks and even turns your fetch lands into temples.

Stirge:
Another 1/1 flyer for 1 has entered the format, and this one also has some added value. This goes well in aggressive decks. It can chip in for a few bits of damage and be traded away for a new card or used to enable ninjutsu.

Aarakocra Sneak & Vicious Battlerager:
Vicious Battlerager certainly looks like a card that can rumble. With a built in Afflict 5 and an aggressively large booty, this card will almost always guarantee you will reclaim the initiative. Aarakocra Sneak on the other hand has built-in evasion to ensure you can reclaim the initiative.

Arms of Hadar:
Give a round of applause for pauper's first one-sided wrath! This card is certainly reaching out to be one of the best cards from this set.

Fang Dragon & Young Red Dragon:
Red gets two new hot pick ups. They are given another mini-sweeper and an explosive way to ramp. Fang Dragon itself is fragile but it certainly has teeth and can take chunks off your opponent's life. Young Red Dragon can also set up explosive turns for non-green midrange decks and gives red access to evasive threats unlike before.

Carefree Swinemaster & Cloakwood Swarmkeeper:
Carefree Swinemaster has very similar to the effects of Usher of the Fallen, except it has a bigger tail and as its name suggest can swing carefree. This card will be hogging all the lime-light with every attack it makes. Along with it is a 1-drop pay off for token strategies. It requires setup but it can be as powerful as a turn 1 Carrion Feeder in the right deck.

Undercellar Myconid:
This card is interesting bit of tech that can slot in tokens, sacrifice, and ramp strategies. Only time will tell if this addition ages well.

Druidic Ritual:
Unlike Pulse of Murasa and Grapple with the Past, this card lets you take both a creature and a land. Being 1MV more and being only cast at sorcery speed sucks, but the upside is justified.

You Meet in a Tavern:
This is a welcome downshift. While Winding Way and Lead the Stampede are better at digging for creatures, this card gives creature ramp strategies an alternate win-con.

The Guild Gates:
This is a gate themed expansion, and there's no better way to return to an old mechanic then to re-introduce the guild gates. However, even with the return of the gates, the pay-offs weren't strong enough.

Gatecreeper Vine:
With the amount of gates available to us this card will keep finding us the colours we need.

The lost adventurers:

The almost payoffs:
All these cards could be placed in a cube focused on specific archetypes, however even then these cards seem awfully weak payoffs.

The Initiators:
The initiative mechanic has been a lot of fun to play with and you can do some powerful things that it is worth investing in. However these initiators aren't exactly the most powerful and often times you'll have a hard time keeping the initiative.

Value:
These look like good additions for more stream-lined archetype cubes.

Fun splashy cards:
Not much to say about these cards other than they are shiny!

Dicey Cards:
These look like fun but usually the floor is lowered so the ceiling appears higher on these cards.

Almost included:
These were almost included but there are just better options over these cards.

Fireball:
Lets get the ball rolling with our first cut, Fireball. In most circumstances Rolling Thunder is better at removing multiple targets that it is worth paying an extra Red pip to direct damage to the face.

Hooting Mandrills & Sultai Scavenger:
This was a hard choice to make. Being the green counterpart to Gurmag Angler, getting a 4/4 for G was great. In an environment where it's no longer the biggest thing around and therefore can't be swinging with this card as often anymore, Hooting Mandrills just seems plain boring. Similarily, Sultai Scavenger was competing with bigger bodies that if we delve a little deeper, it just didn't do enough.

Putrid Goblin & Suture Priest:
With First Day of Class gone, and the introduction of cheaper and better sacrifice fodder, Putrid Goblin is looking like a stinker of a card. With the infinite loop of sacrificing Putrid Goblin gone, we can remove the band-aid fix that was Suture Priest.

Skewer the Critics & Dragon Fodder:
This was just Chain Lightning with extra hoops. While this card is amazing, red needed to make space to explore areas outside of dealing direct damage to face and having lots of small creatures. Hopefully this will silence the critics that red is a one-dimensional colour. Similarily Dragon Fodder was much like Forbidden Friendship and Goblin Instigator and needed to make way for newer cards.

Minimus Containment & Otherworldly Journey:
Much like its name, these two cards are being cut for the sake of reducing the cube size to its ideal size. With Bound in Gold, Journey to Nowhere, Minimus Containment seemed excessive. The same can be said with Ephemerate and Ghostly Flicker performing the same thing as Otherworldly Journey but better.

Murder & Doom Blade:
The end of Magic is here! Murder and Doomblade have finally been cut for more powerful cards. With more and more flexible removal spells like Feed the Swarm and strictly more powerful versions like Cast Down it only makes sense that these two would see the end of their days.

Raffine's Guidance:
Sentinel's Eyes provides vigilance and is cheaper to recast. I can see the argument that 2W is easier to cast than eating up cards in your own graveyard.

Raffine's Informant:
Spirited Companion nets you a card, while Raffine's Informant only trades a card. I can see this being an interesting addition for enabling madness or graveyard matters decks.

Security Bypass:
Much like Cartouche of Knowledge and cards with Fly effects, this provides evasion for aggressive blue strategies. It even helps grow the attacking creature, which would be one of the weakest qualities of ninjas.

Midnight Assassin:
Vampire Nighthawk at home.

Mayhem Patrol:
I'm unsure if this is worthy of a spot as it just seems like a mediocre Magma Jet. It doesn't quite live up to the name.

Celestial Regulator:
A decent creature, however requiring counters being present to ensure a frost effect just seems to plain.

Quick-Draw Dagger:
This is a fine combat trick. One of the better flash equipment cards that auto equips on to a creature as it can also be moved around for 1 mana.

Inspiring Overseer replaces Priest of Ancient Lore:
Out with the old in with the new. Priest of ancient lore now comes with flying and 1 life on entering the battlefield.

Demon's Due replaces Read the Bones:
The writing is on the wall, trading sorcery speed for 1 extra mana and instant speed seems like a fair trade-off.

Exhibition Magician replaces Ghirapur Gearcrafter:
We can agree that Ghirapur Gearcrafter is the better flicker target. While not quite the same body swap, the versatility of treasure or extra bodies may be worth losing the aggressive body of a flying token.

Goldhound to replace Grim Initiate:
Goldhound is just another of WotC's plans to make 1/1 for 1 playable. Getting the extra body from Grim Initiate wasn't too important in red and often the first strike ability didn't come into play. Goldhound is just harder to block and can fetch us extra mana for a turn.

Witty Roastmaster replaces Fervent Cathar:
Witty Roastmaster allows damage to get through, even in board stalls. This card will be taunting your opponents asking for it to be removed. Something that Fervent Cathar could not do.

Jewel Thief replaces Yavimaya Elder:
This is the crowning jewel of all 3 drops. Jewel thief is not only a 3/3 for three, it has not one, not two, but also three abilities tacked onto it. It has the most efficient body and fixes your mana for a turn. While it doesn't draw you as many cards or guarantee land drops as Yavimaya Elder, its aggressively pushed body plays better on both offense and defence and not something you just trade-off.

Girder Goons replaces Yuan-ti Fang-blade:
You're never going to hard cast Girder Goons. It will always be a 2/2 that draws you a card and nets you 4 damage. Yuan-ti Fang-blade while interesting never really got to a point where it drew you a card.

Body Dropper replaces Auger Spree:
What a jaw dropper this card is. Body dropper has the same effect that Mortician Beetle has but with a sacrifice engine built into it. It replaces Auger Spree as the colour pair has an overabundance of removal spells. Augur Spree could make a comeback if more reliable shield counter, regenerate or indestructible creatures make an appearance in the format.

Glamorous Outlaw, Masked Bandits, Rakish Revelers, Shattered Seraph, & Spara's Adjudicators replaces Nightscape Familiar, Sangrite Backlash, Wild Nacatl, Esper Stormblade, & Crystallization:
The entire shard cards have been replaced with the new New Capenna tri-colour cards. Not only do they provide colour fixing, they all provide a solid body/effect on the high end of the mana curve. The older ones were more mana efficient but they just didn't provide much justification to be in three colours, barring Nightscape Familiar. That card is cut for both financial reasons and to freshen the format.

Join the Maestros:
If you can't beat them join them. Join the Maestros is a fine outlet to sacrifice strategies, giving you a way to trigger the on death effects as well as upgrading the body.

Big Score:
Unexpected Windfall has surprisingly got easier to cast. This card scores a spot on the cube list as the recent years has shown that treasure tokens do indeed make this a good deal to cast.

Sticky Fingers:
Handpicking a few of the keywords from Ragavan doesn't quite get you a Ragavan but it sure does get pretty close. Usually auras suffer the fate of not providing enough utility to justify the risk of being 2 for 1'd. There is at least an insurance policy if this card lands that its worth letting the card stick around for a few test runs.

Botanical Plaza, Racers' Ring, Skybridge Towers, Tramway Station, & Waterfront District:
This new cycle of lands will give the other colour pairings equal footing against the campus lands from Strixhaven.

Twisted Embrace:
Twisted Embrace is a nice take on the removal based auras like Cartouche of Strength. It's a strictly more powerful version of those auras as it just straight up kills creatures, however black already has a strong identity when it comes to creature removal. Worth a test as it operates differently and allows you to outgrow your opponents creatures netting you more advantage in board stalls, but I can see this not being as objectively powerful as it first seems.

Tamiyo's Safekeeping:
Tamiyo's Safekeeping is similar to Vines of Vastwood but plays more like a defensive trick then something you would play in aggressive strategies.

Careful Cultivation:
There are plenty of ramp options in the two and three drop slot, but I'd like to note that it was worth noting this particular card as it can do more than just give you a two drop ramper in a pinch but also acts as a means to grow a hard to remove body.

Moonfolk Puzzlemaker:
Doesn't have to attack, has a better body than Library Larcenist. May not draw you a card but there are multiple ways to have this card turn sideways.

Moonsnare Specialist:
There are a lot of bounce effects on creatures with Aether Adept and Man-o'-War being in the cube, this doesn't really stand out. It is another means of picking up those creatures however and is definitely worth investigating whether it should be a mainstay.

Tamiyo's Compleation:
While it's not completely the same as the other frost effects, this card manages to also give blue an answer to troublesome permanents. That's right not just creatures but also artifacts, enchantments, and/or utility lands that we may see in the future.

Honed Khopesh & Short Sword:
In the recent few sets Wizard's have been printing equipment with effects that did more than just hone your creature's combat stats. These cards have drawn the short stick and are being replaced by all the new coloured artifacts.

Search Party Captain:
You don't need to look too far to see that Spirited Companion does a better job at cycling itself. The downsize in body size does mean it doesn't attack as well but with the addition of new vehicles and equipment means that will be less of an issue. Spirited Companion is just friendlier to creature-lite decks.

Attended Knight, Gallant Cavalry, Loyal Cathar & Marshaling Cry:
This will be a cathartic release. These cards have been serving as strong value outlets for flicker, tokens, and aristocrat style decks. But now it's time to thank them for their service, as they have been long overdue for a cut.

Scrounging Bandar, Tukatongue Thallid, Elephant Guide & Lead the Stampede:
These four were the cards I scrounged up as the excess fat that green needed trimming. I needed to wind down on the number of cards like Lead the Stampede.

Exhume, First Day of Class, Arc Lightning & Galvanic Relay:
As much as I really enjoyed playing with reanimator in pauper, exhume would often dig out cards for your opponent. It wasn't very often that you would be able to combo out an Ulamog's Crusher on turn 2. Class is out and following suit so is Galvanic Relay. Without the rituals and cheap continual cantrips, galvanic relay often wasn't an explosive card. Much like the other combo cards First day of class was really only impressive in setting up infinite saccing of Putrid Goblin. Arc lightning is the only one here that doesn't make as much sense. It's a matter of removing something in red to allow newer cards have time in the spotlight, and red had a lot of burn spare. I expect it to make a hasty return in a future update.

It of the Horrid Swarm:
Greater Tanuki poses a more formidable threat while costing less, although not always the case when you take into account the emerge discount. In graveyard based decks however, Greater Tanuki ends up better in every aspect of the game as it helps your deck get enough mana to support midrange strategies better, while as mentioned earlier being a hard to block threat. It doesn't trigger on death effects which this card as able to produce through saccing the fodder, but the cube is already teeming with a lot of sac engines that, losing another one shot sac outlet wouldn't hurt the strategy.

Ethereal Armor:
Has been a staple in this cube, mainly due to bias. This card is what helped shape it's spiritual successors such as Sentinel's Eyes. There won't be additional bonuses for being dedicated to enchantment based strategies, but that's not something that boggles me.

Pacifism, Arrest & Nahiri's Binding:
As there are plenty of arrest effects in the cube, this card was bound to be removed from the cube.

Audacious Thief:
As much as I enjoyed this card in the cube, often times you'd find it'd be a risky attack sending this in to net yourself only one card draw. There is still an abundance of card draw in black so this isn't going to be a terrible loss. The 3MV slot is just filled to the brim with powerful sac fodder and sac outlets, that the limelight gets stolen away from this card.

Nantuko Husk & Mardu Skullhunter:
Both of these cards are pet favourites, but had to be removed. Similar effects were either cheaper or didn't require any hoops to jump through.

Saddleback Lagac & Scion Summoner:
Too many token generators, cutting down on them. The other four drops are better, and there are many ways to place +1/+1 counters on other creatures. Still an amazing creature and was a really tough cut.

Eldrazi Skyspawner & Omenspeaker:
There's not enough room in the sky for Skyspawner. With an abundance of flying thopter and spirit token generators in the format, there really isn't anywhere for this creature to fly literally. Omenspeaker is also being cut as there are creatures that are ironically enough better at digging for better draws.

Dissolve, Blink of an Eye, Bind the Monster & Scour All Possibilities:
And in a blink and they're gone! These cards are part of a clean up that blue was in a dire need of. These were meant to occupy the same space as the more powerful iterations but with a different enough twist.

Aether Adept, Pestermite & Library Larcenist:
These three cards are additions in the cube from a time when redundancy meant tighter gameplay. Now that there are more effects being printed at common, we can start to see more archetypes blur and share effects, while also providing for more interesting and varied game play. It's time that these cards bounced out of the cube and into the deckbox of fame.

Innocent Blood, Slum Reaper & Predatory Nightstalker:
Much like the previous three blue cards being removed from the cube, these cards are being removed from no longer needing the consistency that they brought. They are all powerful cards individually but they all fall prey to the same symptom of bringing the same effect that Fleshbag Marauder and Bone Shard already brings to the table.

Goblin Instigator, Raise the Alarm & Dawnfeather Eagle:
Another set of cards being chopped instigated by the change in design philosophy. Suspending Knight of Old Benalia does telegraph your game ending play, but if you've played against token decks, this landing really shouldn't dawn on you as a surprise. As such Raise the Alarm and Dawnfeather Eagle have also been cut.

Ghitu Lavarunner & Flurry of Horns:
For a spell based pay off Ghitu Lavarunner doesn't run away with the game, even with an eruption of burn spells pointed at your opponent's creatures. On the other hand, Flurry of Horns was formerly the strongest finisher red based control decks could want, but with the recent whirl of more powerful creatures at 5 MV printed this card is being gutted.

Frilled Deathspitter & Searing Blaze:
With the removal of a lot of token generators in the cube, Frilled Deathspitter's days are numbered. Searing Blaze hadn't been removed out of bias towards aggro decks. As it is basically fulfilling the role of creature removal, the other burn spells offered unique effects like card filtering that hadn't been offered to red as strongly before.

Cavern Whisperer & Warren Pilferers:
These two must have heard through the grape vine that this cut was coming. Both of these cards just lost out against cards with more power and unique effects. (Except mutate. That's pretty unique)

Dead Weight:
This is by no means a dead card. This card would remain in the cube if it weren't for the fact that black had a tonne of new removal spells added to the format.

Skittering Surveyor:
Didn't look far to cut this one. Filigree Familiar offers more and was a better keep at the 3MV slot.

Mirrorshell Crab:
This is the first ever printing of Stifle in pauper. While it's not the same hard counter, the printing of this effect reflects on how powerful some of these abilities & triggers can be. I see this card fitting well in a control shell and would especially work well in TortEx decks.

Chainflail Centipede & Simian Sling:
These are an amazing new take on equipment cards akin to the living weapons like Flayer Husk and bestow creatures like Nyxborn Rollicker. Voltron style decks usually suffer from having to aggressively mulliganing to draw the right hands and lack the resilience to go against creature removal heavy decks. Being both creatures and equipment when you need them to be really helps fill in that archetypes weakness and lets the player adapt to the situation.

Okiba Reckoner Raid, Era of Enlightenment, The Modern Age, & The Shattered States Era:
Sagas are finally in pauper! While the individual effects on the sagas aren't impressive but are what you'd typically expect with the amount of mana invested, the culmination of all these effects tell a much different story. I expect these cards to perform well in grindier games, with the exception of the red and black sagas being decent finishers for aggressive decks.

Greater Tanuki & Sunblade Samurai:
These two creatures are channeling their inner land-cycling creatures like Noble Templar & Wirewood Guardian, but with more aggressive stats and extra effects tacked onto their alternative abilities.

Experimental Synthesizer:
This is another test in changing red's identity of being solely the aggressive colour. This is a cheap cantrip in red which also provides a nice little bonus of saccing itself to generate a body, and plays incredibly well with flicker effects.

Ecologist's Terrarium:
This is a great filler card that can slot into a lot of slower decks. Fixes mana and can grow creatures into larger threats, this card is just great in all aspects of the game. It doesn't always guarantee that it'll bring you back from a lethal board state but it does shine really well in a lot of other game environments.

Moon-Circuit Hacker:
Not as consistent as Looting il-Kor, however this card is by no means a rip-off. It has a cheap ninjutsu activation and the benefit of being able to play couple of turns earlier unlike Ninja of the Deep Hours.

Spirited Companion:
This card invokes it's inner Elvish Visionary.

Imperial Oath:
Oath! That's a lot for 6 mana. 6/6 worth of stats with what's basically a card and a half.

Dragonfly Suit:
Much like Sky Skiff, this card provides an excellent evasive body that can be crewed by tokens. It's most suited to aggressive creature decks.

Undercity Scrounger:
While generating treasure isn't new to aristocrat style decks, being able to (potentially) do this once a turn is. If you've sat across your opponent with a horde of treasure tokens waiting to be cashed in, then you'll understand how much pressure it puts on you.

Lantern Bearer & Voldaren Epicure:
WotC are finally printing some interesting 1/1's for 1. While not quite as fine as Thraben Inspector, I expect some pleasing results from Voldaren Epicure. Blue has been missing an effective early 1-drop. Lantern Bearer comes in early for some chip damage and then turns future creatures into evasive threats, elevating blue aggressive strategies.

Persistent Specimen & Rot-Tide Gargantua:
Persistent Specimen will be a highly sought after sacrifice fodder in the black based aristocrat style decks. It's one of the first creature cards that can keep returning to the battlefield making it stick out over the other powerful single shot fodder targets. Rot-Tide Gargantua belonging to the same style of deck is very similar to Predatory Nightstalker. The key difference here is the larger body which can easily turn the tides of combat. It also has potential upsides for decks that want access to another sacrifice enabler.

Reckless Impulse:
Temporary card draw in red! While usually not the greatest play on turn 2, this card helps with the disparity in card advantage spells accessible to colours other than blue and black.

Bloody Betrayal:
Stop! Act of Treason is already dead!

Spore Crawler:
Despite it's name this card has an enormous body. It can trade up and attacks well against large defensive blockers.

Blood Fountain:
This coming down with a blood token really gives life to this card. There is an overflow of creature recursion cards, but this really sets itself out with the ability to help with card filtering, and then to be cashed in later for the recursion.

Ceremonial Knife:
Much like Goldvein Pick this equipment provides utility to aggressive decks outside of an increase stat line, with card selection. I foresee this card being rarely cut from creature decks that do want equipment.

Vulpikeet:
As adorable as this card is, this is by far the weakest mutation card of the cycle. Despite turning tokens into evasive attackers, this card just did not quite deliver the punch that trumpet effects have in aggressive token decks.

Ill-Tempered Cyclops:
It's time out for Ill-Tempered Cyclops. While having the ability to sink your mana and turning this Hill Giant into a much menacing body, there are just far more interesting creatures in the 4MV slot that I didn't want to narrow red's identity to be just an aggressive colour.

Krenko's Command & Thatcher Revolt:
There's plenty of token generators.

Parish-Blade Trainee & Nurturing Presence:

Skywarp Skaab & Stitched Assistant:
Card draw for the blue based sacrifice decks.

Toxic Scorpion:
Pairs really well with Crypt Rats for a big board wipe.

Hookhand Mariner:
One of the few DFC where the front-side is not powered down to make the backside more appealing. A 4/4 for 4 is on rate with a nasty psuedo-evasion on the backside makes it a nice one-two.

Cruel Witness:
A cool effect to be seen in pauper. Surveil to see whats ahead and potentially helping graveyard matters decks.

Repository Skaab:
Another Archaeomancer effect with the exception that aristocrat style decks can abuse this.

Kessig Flamebreather:
A more defensive Firebrand Archer that is harder to shoot down with incidental damage.

Ecstatic Awakener:
asdasd

Eaten Alive replaces Spark Harvest.

Novice Occultist:
May not draw card on landing but does offer a better blocker than Dusk Legion Zealot. Can be cashed in later for a card.

Moonrager's Slash:
Bolt with set mechanic