I'm back again after a bit of a break to add some new cards from DFT, foundations, and further back. Let's dig in.

WHITE

None yet. Considering buying an Exemplar of Light

BLUE

Replacing Spectral Sailor with Hypnotic Grifter. The flash is irrelevant, the flying is nice for ninjas but that's about it. I'm excited about a cheaper activation, the chance to grow a creature, and adding the ability to discard to make it better in the new UR archetype of both discard AND draw.

BLACK

Forsaken Miner was very disappointing as a sacrifice and graveyard piece. Replacing with Infestation Sage for two sac fodder for just one mana.

I opened Quag Feast and wanted to try it out as a synergystic removal spell with gy strategies. Sadly the cut is Mythos of Nethroi for now, but I anticipate getting it back in eventually.

RED

Marauding Mako is a super neat growing 1-drop for UR, and a 1-drop for Obosh, the Preypiercer. We'll see if it makes it into any more decks, but it does have a few other 2-card synergies to play into. Powder Ganger was either a bust or a game-winner, and nowhere in between, which I hated - so it's out.

Searslicer Goblin is in as a token generator for both sac and go-wide, replacing Mogg War Marshal.

Weaponize the Monsters was breaking one of my core design principles, which is no straight to the face damage. I'm trying out Glimpse the Impossible in this slot as a sac/gowide/exile filler piece.

GREEN

I opened Agonasaur Rex so I'm shoving it in as a cycling combat trick with counters and a payoff for getting big mana fast. Out is Feral Encounter for now, as it's unremarkable.

LANDS

Sunscorched Divide and its cycle in the enemy colour slots was confusing my playgroup a bit. I still wish we had the enemy colour Prairie Stream cycle. Since I opened two of the Verge lands, Sunbillow Verge and Willowrush Verge, I'm putting those in for now.

Not a lot from DSK that I'm particularly excited about, especially for this cube.

The only add is Valgavoth's Onslaught, a great big mana, counters, and go-wide add that also can help fill the gy with creatures for gb. Cutting Jadelight Spelunker as it fills a similar slot, but is much worse at it.

Abuelo, Ancestral Echo has been very disappointing, I have been missing its precursor, Oji, the Exquisite Blade, so it's going back in.

Just a couple stragglers from my last update, cards that weren't in stock then.

Slimefoot and Squee in over Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper as a more modern card wih more interesting play patterns and less linear.

Bronzebeak Foragers in over Werefox Bodyguard as a bigger banisher priest with more upside, and a lifegain trigger that's more likely to matter. The flash on werefox was mostly useless here.

Finally got my Innkeeper's Talent, to replacing Branching Evolution. This has more effect on its own, but makes it harder to get to the giant payoff.

Two things happening in this update. First, new cards from BLB. Second, a bunch of re-thinks and cleaning up a bunch of cards that either weren't working or I didn't like. The swaps aren't one to one, so I'll go over some big themes instead.

LANDS

I decided to cut all the 3c khans lands (Seaside Citadel), they didn't feel great. ETB tapped on all duals hurts, and they're not put to best use in 2c+splash environments.

Instead, I'm putting in allied tangos, which etb untapped with enough basics (Prairie Stream). That should help ensure that multicolour decks dont run around crazy. Because the enemy tangos dont exist, I'm putting in the odyssey filter lands (Desolate Mire). These aren't quite as restrictive, but do have enough drawbacks while coming in untapped.

COMPANIONS

I'm making an attempt to push some of the less playable companions into relevance in the companion slot, especially Keruga, the Macrosage. Paying attention to MV of things, and putting in great split cards like Bonecrusher Giant and Alrund, God of the Cosmos.

Blue-Red's Identity

UR is having some issues, because the draw-2 archetype really isn't supported well. I'm trying out spreading out UR across multiple related synergies, notably draw, ddraw 2, and discard. This lets Draw2+discard trigger them all. Inti, Seneschal of the Sun is a great example of a payoff in this vein.

Maindeck Sideboard hate

I'm putting in a bunch of modal cards that support regular themes while helping against artifacts, enchantments, and other things. Requisition Raid, Hivespine Wolverine are main examples.

Multicolour adventures

About half of the multicolour adventures didn't really work out. Cards like Questing Druid, while seeming like they fit, just weren't up to par. Others, like Cruel Somnophage fit in well and are staying. This leaves the multicolour section unbalanced, but I'm starting not to care. I also cut the adventure land Edgewall Inn as a result.

BLB cards

A few BLB cards are getting a shot, notably Essence Channeler for lifegain and counters, Dour Port-Mage for blink and UR, and a bunch of green cards to reinforce RG go-wide.

Underpowered and Underloved, + other

A bunch of cards that I didn't like got cut. It's a combination of cards that were added to be tested and stayed too long, and some cards that felt like they should fit, but don't get picked. There are also just a few regular try it out swaps in here, as this is the "other" category.

It's that time again, to put in opened and bought cards from the new set into my cube. Something something powercreep, something something expensive hobby.

WHITE

Guide of Souls is a great face-value Soul Sister with counter synergy. I'm unhappy that it comes through energy, but I'll have to deal with it. Out is Lunarch Veteran.

Fortune, Loyal Steed didn't really pan out. I'm happy to replace it with Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd although I'm a touch worried about it removing blockers.

Cloud of Faeries has no combos here, I've been looking for a new 2-drop for awhile. Emrakul's Messenger is FINALLY a new draw-2 payoff, with the payoff itself being more mana, which fits perfectly.

Kozilek's Unsealing is a really exciting payoff for big-mana stuff. Cutting Wizard Class for now, as slots for supporting enchantments are really tight here.

Skittering Precursor is a sac payoff I'm interested to try out. It might not be good enough, but if it's used across multiple archetypes it's the perfect fit. Out is Gut, True Soul Zealot for being a bit too surprise-aggro.

It's finally time to let go of Gala Greeters. Old reliable is pretty good for a bunch of things, but I want to try out Basking Broodscale, and this seemed like the most logical cut for now.

Signature Slam seems like a SLAMdunk removal spell for this cube. Replacing the alway-questioned Setessan Tactics

I opened Wight of the Reliquary, so trying it out over Old Stickfingers

A few swaps I've been looking at for awhile, the timing is mostly coincidental.

BLUE

Inspired Sphinx is in as a big reanimation target for, that triggers a draw for UR, using an ETB for UW, and a mana sink for UG. Cutting Overcharged Amalgam for it, as there's very little fodder in U for turning it on.

Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim has been a bomb above power-level that's been bugging me for awhile. Replacing it with Teferi, Master of Time as a lower-power walker that can loot into the gy, as well as trigger UR draw stuff.

RED

Blood Aspirant is out as a single-archetype payoff that was basically going unused. In is Voldaren Epicure as sac fodder, a draw2 trigger, and a 1-drop of Obosh, the Preypiercer

MULTICOLOUR

Swapping out Decadent Dragon and putting in Callous Sell-Sword as a higher-synergy card.

Ravenous Squirrel Never really successfully grew, and its activated ability being restricted to GB made it never used. Replacing it with Golgari Guildmage to hopefully cover more synergies

I never looked over PIP for cards for this cube, and went back to look. PIP being, obviously, fallout.

Veronica, Dissident Scribe is a neat cross-synergy piece for draw-2 and exile, while being a menace creature which helps RG attack. Out for now is the mono-archetype payoff for UR, Irencrag Pyromancer

Watchful Radstag seems like a neat upgrade to Scurry Oak with less chance of infinites, because the creature is gated to evolving, not any counter. Should help both WG and GR, plausibly playable in BG, maybe even UG if you have lots of big things?

Big changes here, especially to creatures in white and black. Very excited for what this set will bring to my cube. In general, I'm trying to pluck generically good cards and replace them with cross-synergy cards. Less Sun Titans, more Dust Animuss.

WHITE

Mikaeus, the Lunarch was a powerful overperformer without much cross-synergy support. Replacing it with the adorable Prairie Dog.

Ajani's Pridemate is nominally a two-archetype card, but while it uses counters, it's functionally never used in GW. Replacing it with the blink/lifegain Charming Prince.

Lion Sash has been too hard of a counter to gy synergies in this cube, so downgrading it to Sungold Sentinel.

I wanted to find room for Dust Animus, as it hits on all 4 white archetypes well. I had a hard time finding a cut though, so I'm cutting Boon-Bringer Valkyrie on the idea that the big version of animus is kinda a baneslayer?

Cutting the generic filler in Kutzil's Flanker to try out to blink-dedicated Fortune, Loyal Steed. I could see reverting this one.

Sun Titan is out. While powerful, it's not really a synergy piece outside of blink so it doesn't hit the design goals of the cube. Replacing it with the pretty neat Bounding Felidar

I wanted to try Getaway Glamer here, and it seemed like it fit the same slot as Touch the Spirit Realm, which is out for now.

BLUE

World Champion I mean - Duelist of the Mind is a great add here, for both UR and UB directly, but a general filter piece otherwise. Out is Oracle of Tragedy, tragically.

Multiple Choice is another fairly generic card being cut, out for the new counterspell Three Steps Ahead, which is surprisingly versatile synergy wise.

BLACK

Oathsworn Vampire has been underwhelming thus far, trying out Forsaken Miner in that slot.

Preacher of the Schism has been overperforming in a non-synergy way, so I wanted to cut it. Trying out Servant of the Stinger as a generic 2-drop for now.

Tivash, Gloom Summoner was too feast-or-famine, and not really usable outside of BW. replacing it with Charred Graverobber (despite its lack of reminder text for outlaws...).

Cutting Hoarding Broodlord as the top end reanimation target, replacing it with Hollow Marauder which has more uses outside of UB.

GREEN

I never realized how restrictive the G multikicker on Wolfbriar Elemental was, and how nuts it was when you hit it. Don't like the card anymore. Trying out Savvy Trader as a regrowth with some mana cheating.

Aurelia's Vindicator never got drafted, but after playing against it enough in MKM limited, I never want to play against it again. Boon-Bringer Valkyrie is back in.

MKM update

Wanted to try a few cards from MKM for a bit, including the Aurelia's Vindicator I opened at pre-release. Took the opportunity to make a couple other swaps as well.

Aurelia's Vindicator is an extraordinarily powerful card, mass-bounce, etc, so it's unlikely it will stay. That said, having opened it, and it semi-fitting, I am putting it in Boon-Bringer Valkyrie's slot for now.

Trying out Case of the Uneaten Feast as an alternate life-gain payoff enchantment (we seem to get a lot of those these days) instead of Sigarda's splendor. The synergy with Lurrus of the Dream-Den in particular is juicy.

Champion of Wits is an omission that I can't really explain so far, it's a slam dunk in this environment. Trying it over Sicarian Infiltrator for now.

Galvanize seems like a great addition for UR, but also a generically good removal spell for other decks that can sometimes enable it. GR already has another removal spell that synergizes with it in Shatter the Source, so Outnumber is the cut, being the less reliable card elsewhere.

Aggro sucks here, so Blazing Crescendo is a dud. Case of the Burning Masks fills a similar slot synergy wize, so im trying it out.

Utopia Sprawl is a hard card to make work due to the lack of forest-typed duals here. Flaxen intruder as a soft art/ench hate with a great mana sink late for UG and a small go-wide enaler seems like it's worth a try.

I think this may be unadviseable, but I want to try Case of the Trampled Garden without cutting Branching Evolution. I'm going to cut Primal Adversary, but I expect to cut the Case sooner rather than later.

EDIT: For some reason the changelist is wrong for cards out. The swaps are:
Savior of Ollenbock->Kutzil's Flanker
Idol of Endurance->Semester's End
Sarkhan the Mad->Immersturm Predator

A few swaps

Savior of Ollenbock was too feast or famine for my taste, and white didnt need three banisher priest variants at 3mv. Replacing it with Kutzil's Flanker as a generically good 3-drop that synergizes with every white archetype.

Idol of Endurance ended up too narrow and not powerful enough, not to mention redundant to RW's synergies which already give it extra resources. Replacing it with Semester's End to give UW more oomph, have a pseudo protection spell, and a pseudo team pump for GW.

Sarkhan the Mad is less exciting without Chandra, Acolyte of Flame in the cube. What's more, it just wasn't powerful enough to get excited about sacrifice. Trying out Immersturm Predator for now as a free sac outlet. I'm a bit worried it's too obnoxious and difficult to interact with, though.

A few quick changes

Goddric, Cloaked Reveler was never a permanent addition, and he's been pretty unexciting. Replacing him with Gut, True Soul Zealot gives the sac deck some more oomph, alongside upgrading 1/1 tokens in RG.

Stensia Uprising going face was never ideal, so I'm trying out Squee, Dubious Monarch in that slot to encourage more attacking in RG, and giving another escape creature for RW.

Fires of Victory has been the worst red removal for awhile, and I wanted to fit in a combat trick. Starting with Blazing Crescendo to help out RW, might switch to something else later.

I love Rancor, but it doesn't quite synergize with anything so I wanted to find room for another removal spell instead. Setessan Tactics seems like a powerful one to try.

Fungal Rebirth is getting an upgrade to Mythos of Brokkos to encourage more splashing and grindy games.

Quinty Update

My boi Quintorius Kand finally came in stock, so in he goes as the RW signpost (over Quintorius, Loremaster).

Since I'm updating, both Gruff Triplets and Sentinel of the Nameless City were performing above my desired powerband without the required synergy, so they're being replaced with cards previously in their slots, Old One Eye and Scurry Oak.

LCI update + More

8 the 16 cards coming in are from LCI, for some new stuff to try in the blue, green, black, and multicolored slots.

I also did a pass to try to increase blue interaction Kitesail Larcenist Horned Loch-Whale Overcharged Amalgam, and added some green mana sinks Jadelight Spelunker Feral Encounter. Green still needs some more interaction as well, it's on the to-do list.

D00-DL, Caricaturist proved too strong, so Staff of Domination is back in.

Sanguine Spy just to try it out.

Finally, some 3-colour cards switched in Titans' Nest and Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper to see if they are exciting additions to splash.

I wanted to try Edgewall Inn as a fixing piece that goes with the multicolor adventure cards. Hard to find a cut, so I cut Staff of Domination for now.

Some minor changes:

The Locust God in over Improbable Alliance to give UR more oomph and provide a splashable piece for other decks.

Savior of Ollenbock as a sweet counters/exile (and even sometimes blink) card with varied play patterns. Meadowboon out for lack of play/power level.

Angel of Grace in as a fun effect and control tool that technically has synergies in etb, lifegain, and technically exile. Alharu, Solemn Ritualist for now, if I can find room for it later I might give it a longer test run.

Gumdrop Poisoner in as a new card to test for lifegain, quasi-kavu, and two rectangles. Silversmote Ghoul out as an old faithful that just hasn't kept up with power creep.

Small update:

Windswift Slice in over Ambuscade to use a removal slot to support RG go-wide synergies

Werefox Bodyguard supports 2-3 out of 4 white archetypes while being a removal spell, so I'm excited to try it. Militia Bugler has been seeing no play, so it seemed a good cut.

HUGE UPDATE!

A bunch of things happening here. I'll go through them one at a time.

CUBE SIZE: It had been bothering me for awhile the cube was at 192 instead of 180. No particular reason, but now that I'm more experienced in cube building and confident in edits, I felt it was time to take the dive back down.

FIXING: I finally took the dive and put in the full cycle of tapped tri-lands, significantly bumping up the percentage of fixing lands from 8% to 14%. At the same time, I took out all instances of 5-colour fixing and basic land based fixing. This means players are more incentivized to play 2-colour+splash over 5 colour piles. This also allows me to expand the multicolour section, split cards over two colours, hybrid cards, off colour activations, etc.

SYNERGY OVER GOODSTUFF: In general, I tried to take out cards that either were generically good, or didn't sufficiently support synergies in one or more archetypes. I also cut some of the more recent additions, especially battles, as mostly failed experiments.

NEWSTUFF: Adding a few cards that were not my first choices because I opened them at pre-release or because they're from the new set and I wanted to try them.

note: Because of the large modifications of slots and cube size (+10 lands, +10 multicolor slots) I didn't use the card in->card out swap method I usually do. Just a big dump of cards in and cards out.