Pre-Cubenight Update ☄

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After a looong hiatus, the Classic Cube is getting drafted again next week!

To celebrate, I'm making these adjustments that some experienced players suggested last time:

The most efficient steal-effects like Control Magic and Legacy's Allure are just too strong for this environment. Persuasion should be ok at 5 mana. The 4 MV ones with drawbacks ( Abduction, Binding Grasp ) are staying in for now.

I don't really want to support Mono White Aggro anymore. Super boring to draft, play and play against. So Crusade and Divine Sacrament are gone. Instead we have some extra control pieces in Cessation and Spirit Link. And Miraculous Recovery on an Eternal Dragon opens up a cool line.

Strafe slots into red decks that focus on the mid- to late game.

Ambush Commander is one swingy army-in-a-can, but it might bolster GWx Go-Wide strategies. And mono-green of course ( Priest of Titania! ).

Penumbra Wurm is neat with various Reanimation shenanigans. Looking at you, Recurring Nightmare.

That's it, have a great festive season 🎄 ! Happy cubing!
Roland

Micro Spice 🌶

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OUT: Goblin Taskmaster

This card encapsulates the reason why oldborder is such an interesting design space: The cards have downsides and that can create nuance. In this case the self bouncing clause ties up your mana of course, but that's actually fine for an aggro topend card. It also quietly makes it immune to sorceries, enchantments and creature ETBs. There can definitely be board states where they're holding answers, but this kills them anyways.

I was close to adding Skizzik here instead, but the Cutthroat might just be the more enjoyable game piece.

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OUT: Lava Dart

Re-adding Sparksmith because I realised he's probably just a better Fireslinger in most cases. Getting him to ping for 2 is not hard at all and can be ruinous against various creature decks. I think my goblin synergies are in a great spot with the 4x Mogg Conscripts and 4x Mogg Flunkies — it provides enough density for competitive aggro builds in every Rx color combination. One of my favorite innovations in years of designing this cube.

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Fiddling around 🎻

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OUT: Order of the White Shield

I was surprised to see that Soldiers are the most plentiful in my list, after Humans (24 creatures, most are white 1's and 2's). If you can reliably use this guy's ability then he's great. The cut is Order of the White Shield, the pip-heaviest 2-drop of them all.

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OUT: Tariff

Don't love either of these but the Lieutenant does offer some cool synergy with Oversold Cemetery and such.

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OUT: Funeral Charm

Karmic Guide that eats life instead of mana is probably still rather good. Combo with Survival of the Fittest. All the life loss in black really adds up so caution is advised.

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OUT: Arrogant Wurm

Bit of a handbrake turn on the Arrogant Wurm addition from last time. I realised that I just prefer cards that are more broadly playable. Quirion Dryad is one such card I think.

New Year's Tweaks 🍾🥂

First round of changes for 2024!

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OUT: Lieutenant Kirtar

I enjoy the safety Radiant's Dragoons provides so I'm doubling up, in a way. You feel immortal if you can set up an ETB loop with Recurring Nightmare or Erratic Portal.

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OUT: Curiosity

I'm sure this 2nd Thieving Magpie is welcome in a number of control and midrange builds. Curiosity became a lot worse when I cut the Flying Men a while back.

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OUT: Repulse

Love how this swap happened: opened up Lucky Paper's cube map and browsed through similar lists where I found the card in question. Then realised it's actually a really solid removal spell for blue. I counted, and there are only ~20 effects that remove it efficiently. Terror misses more creatures than that, so I'll try it. Synergy with Replenish and Auramancer too.

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OUT: Mage's Guile

Easy to forget that this is instant speed divination with added tempo, when all goes well. Should definitely be in the list again.

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OUT: Necropotence

Controversial one. Necro has simply never been all that compelling in the drafts I've done online. I think its legendary status comes from constructed where it has 4 copies of Dark Ritual to prop it up. Stupor will do way more work in a broader range of decks. I'll miss the aesthetics of the iconic black enchantment, but gameplay is more important.

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OUT: Rorix Bladewing

Another spicy one. Shivan Dragon has often been recommended to me, which is obviously outclassed by Rorix Bladewing. However Rorix is still vanilla top end, which most decks that draft these creatures don't really want. Even in reanimator you prefer alternatives that dominate the board a bit more. Magmasaur is a red control card and I like that. I think it's subtly powerful to wipe the board on upkeep and then immediately rebuild in your main phase. Mainly for RG ramp, but also great in control decks with fliers.

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OUT: Price of Progress

Boring addition, but I feel like cutting Price of Progress for being a bit narrow and cheesy.

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OUT: Invigorate

I'm still a sceptic, but perhaps the Madness will actually come up. If it doesn't, then it won't last long. My hope is that it features in some sort of sultai midrange brew with Survival of the Fittest.

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OUT: Recoil

Generating extra value is one of the most fun pursuits in the Classic Cube, and Fleetfoot Panther can facilitate that. So it's back in.

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OUT: Lotus Petal

For what feels like the hundredth time, Snake basket slithers back in. Some other old frame cubers swear by it, so who am I to defy their wisdom!

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Hope your 2024 is off to an amazing start 🌟 ! See you soon 😄!

Holiday Changes 🎄

Just some swaps that I've had stewing for a while. Let's check them out:

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OUT: Afterlife

I'm always on the lookout for cards that will benefit white aggro, because it remains the Classic Cube's underdog. This one resembles Force of Will sometimes, enables alpha strikes, or just provides a tempo advantage (at the cost of a card) when you need it. Beautiful Rebecca Guay art also counts in its favour.

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OUT: Cloud Spirit

Quite a powerful new combo tool for the fatty cheat decks. That particular strategy is now very heavily supported, only ones I'm not running are Entomb and Sneak Attack. What keeps it in the realm of fair is the powerlevel of the targets. Dumping an Akroma, Angel of Wrath is probably lights out, but most others are not. And your opponent gets a free drop too so it can certainly backfire vs Parallax Wave, Man-o-war etc.

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OUT: Carrion Feeder

I've always seen card advantage as a more powerful force than tempo in this Cube, and therefore never found Dark Ritual all that good. It is great in black heavy aggro however, and I'm looking to power up that archetype, so here it is.

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OUT: Wretched Anurid

Not entirely sure about the cut here (huge variance on the Anurid), might switch something else. But I do like how aggressive this aura is, offering 3 power with haste effectively. Can do some serious work combined with evasive creatures. Making the creature black also affords a bit of defense against terror-style removal (but also is bad with / against proc black).

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OUT: Stalking Bloodsucker

Mana denial is not supported in black, but Sinkhole just such a good rate that any aggro deck will jam it. I picked up an ancient Beta copy, nice to have the odd relic like this in the physical cube.

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OUT: Sonic Burst

The card disadvantage from Sonic Burst is a real bummer actually. Thunderbolt does a lot of the same and is more consistent overall. Blasting a Lightning Angel or whatever is pretty great ceiling too.

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OUT: Heart Warden

Here's a highly experimental change. Very much a niche addition for big mana ramp decks. But for those strategies this effect seems great, especially with Earthquake / Wildfire etc. Heart Warden is wonderfully nostalic but the weakest of my mana dorks I'd say.

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OUT: Rakavolver

Again, a bit speculative. This land could be quite the tool against aggro, or generally do nothing. I'd like to find out.

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OUT: Fleetfoot Panther

I've been meaning to test out Lotus Petal. In theory, the super proactive decks might want it to enable explosive curveouts. Very similar to Dark Ritual honestly.

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Alright that's it for now. Thanks for reading! Compliments of the season to you all, see you next year 🎄🎅🙂!

Turning Some Dials 🎡🤏

Today I'm shifting around a few cards to help certain decks a bit, mainly aggro. It's the perennial underdog in old border. Let's look into it:

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OUT: Nova Cleric
OUT: Suntail Hawk
OUT: Soltari Visionary

Yet another singleton break on key one-drops to empower pro-active decks (although this one is also very strong to side in against aggro). After Savannah Lions I like this option the most. As a one-shot pinger, the Javelineers can actually pick off quite a few targets in the cube. And that generates card advantage, which is very rare in white. Kinda like an old school Thraben Inspector. Does well in conjunction with burn and first strikers.

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OUT: Herald of Serra

Herald of Serra is quite the tempo liability. Instead, I'm trying this aura out. The white section is well positioned to avoid some of the 2-for-1 blowouts by having access to protection effects. The keywords of flying and vigilance are also beneficial to most creatures in the color. Intended as a top-end option for white aggro.

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OUT: Repentance

Obviously a busted card but I think it's pretty safe in this environment for two reasons: 1. a lack of powerful/plentiful mana rocks, 2. no planeswalkers. Curious how it plays out in old border.

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OUT: Magma Giant

Hammer is really nostalgic and aesthetically pleasing to me so I'm bringing it back. The idea is that it mainly offers inevitability to ramp decks and hard control. Will probably do better than magma giant there.

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OUT: Tahngarth, Talruum Hero

I've realized the hasty 3-drops are crucial to switch on Mogg Flunkies and Mogg Conscripts. So I'm adding another. This one can also bully Silver Knight back a bit and pairs well with instant burn. Tahngarth was just a big ol' removal magnet.

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OUT: Werebear

Again I'm deviating from my set restrictions here but it's for a pretty desirable card. Better dorks is a good thing. I'm cutting Werebear (as opposed to Wirewood Elf) because the threshold is tough in green and otherwise he's just a 1/1 dork for 2 that isn't even an elf for Priest of Titania.

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OUT: Acidic Sliver

This 'gating' creature might be awkward, but it can create card advantage thanks to flashing in as a blocker. It can also reset etb's (such as the new Icatian Javelineers). Acidic Sliver is no longer needed as I beefed up aggressive early drops over the past months.

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OUT: Snake Basket

In a rare sighting, I'm adding a card with a retro frame treatment. I wanted Mishra's Factory in from the start but can't stomach the old 4th ed printing. This new foil will do nicely.

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Thanks for reading! Till next time 🙂!

Some new Top-End 🐳

Another round of changes! This one mainly focusing on a few higher mana cost cards that I've overlooked. Let's go:

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OUT: Drifting Djinn

A slightly worse Palinchron is still quite desirable to ramp, reanimator and possibly even control. If you reanimate it, you can even net more mana, resulting in some cool plays potentially.

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OUT: Vernal Bloom

I put this (least favorite) ramp spell back in because I wanted to cut Vernal Bloom. It felt pretty awkward in a test draft I did on here. The kicker mode can be quite nice with things like Wood Elves and Wall of Blossoms.

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OUT: Braids, Cabal Minion

Adding another black discard outlet here which has some inevitability too. Braids, Cabal Minion lacks the supporting cast of Sinkhole, Smokestack and so on, which means she's probably not that great in my list. Would rather have Nekrataal most of the time.

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OUT: Chartooth Cougar

Strangely enough, this enchantment might be really hard to beat for a number of decks, since naturalize effects are few and far between. I don't want to run Moat but at 7 mana it might be safe? Fun to Replenish it in as well.

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OUT: Smother

This one fascinates me! Basically it's black's most fearsome clock and I've ignored it up until now. Stalking Bloodsucker (terrible name btw) threatens to be really big, and unlike Serra Avatar etc, it has evasion. Can def see it be an 8/8 flier two combats in a row and end the game. High hopes!

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OUT: Jade Leech

Another strange one! I really value creatures that generate card advantage in old border, so I'm ok with paying an extra mana for this ursine Phyrexian Rager. Jade Leech is still a card I like but green has a range of beefy 4 drops already.

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OUT: Aether Mutation

One for the Jeskai control players (as if they need it). The main appeal here is the fully kicked mode of course. 6 mana 5/5 flying, lifelink is a pretty unmatched rate. And it has versatility from being castable at 3, 4, 5 as well. The best of the Volver cycle by quite a margin I'd say.

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OUT: Read the Runes

Took me ages to realise, but Read the Runes is just trash. Trickster Mage is another one to enable Recurring Nightmare, Victimize and Soul Exchange. Neat how you can untap your own land, making the discard free.

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OUT: Pegasus Stampede

Saccing lands for the buyback never feels good and 1/1 flier for 2 is of course sub-par. Back to the safe but boring Youthful Knight. I'm always on the lookout for some better white cards, open to suggestions!

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Ok, enough for now! Till next time 🙂!

Reanimator Stuff ⚰

Here are some adjustments to help the consistency of reanimator mainly, and to remove some cards that weren't exactly windmill slams. Let's take a look!

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OUT: Voidmage Prodigy

The older twin of Vodalian Merchant, and it has the same role: setting up reanimates. Especially with Victimize, Recurring Nightmare and the new Soul Exchange.

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OUT: Sewer Rats

Black actually has a shortage of discard outlets compared to blue, so maybe this will help balance things. Quite close to Waterfront Bouncer in some ways. Rather strong when it manages to pick off x/1's.

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OUT: Dark Banishing

More reanimates are always welcome. This one needs a creature to sacrifice, but so does Recurring Nightmare and that sees lots of play. Also works fine with Akroma, Angel of Wrath and Spirit of the Night which isn't the case for the aura-based versions.

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OUT: Riptide Mangler

This one will just be more efficient in the end I think, and doubles as a discard outlet. Mangler has a high ceiling but is a bit cumbersome otherwise.

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OUT: Fiery Temper

Reanimation target AND ramp topend. I really like how this can stabilize the board, even against fliers. Hidden gem from Portal Second Age 😄.

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OUT: Savage Twister

A fellow Oldborder Cuber made the case for this addition. I cut it a while back, but it does help the GWx go-wide deck a lot. Someone might live the dream with Mirari's Wake after all!

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OUT: Pouncing Jaguar

Revisiting this card as well. The thing is, it represents one of the few ways to generate card advantage in green when you can ambush an attacker. The flashback might come up too, another extra card in the late game!

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That's it, let me know what you think! Till next time 🙂!

Cleaner Aggro 🗡

I'm switching out some of the 1-drops here to make them more broadly applicable to most forms of proactive decks. Also pivoting the mana base a little bit again. Multiple Fetches with triomes makes splashes a bit too easy. Hopefully this setup is better.

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OUT: Goblin Patrol x3

I should've probably made this change a while back but the need for goblin support was giving me pause. The issue with Goblin Patrol is that its echo cost messes with your curveout in the early game, and thats where this class of cards needs to shine. I might end up replacing three Mogg Conscripts instead though. Let's see!

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OUT: Rogue Elephant
OUT: Mtenda Lion
OUT: Skyshroud Elite

A set of Jungle Lions should be a nice little boost for green aggro. The cards I'm cutting for them are just less consistent 1-drops. This will hopefully benefit UG tempo and RG Ponza in particular.

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That's it, just a quick one. Till next time 🙂!

Curve Outs & Consistency ⚡

I'm always on a mission to promote pro-active strategies in my premodern environment. That means I like to do what I can to make strong curve outs possible and competitive. With that in mind, let's look at some of these changes:

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OUT: Hunting Moa

Not entirely sure about this addition, may well end up breaking singleton on Jungle Lion instead. In any event it will be an improvement vs Hunting Moa which just soaks up too much tempo. Also, while some echo creatures are quite strong, too many can ruin your curve I find and threaten blowouts that will timewalk you.

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OUT: Goblin Piledriver
OUT: Skirk Drill Sergeant
OUT: Sparksmith

Here's a notable change! Previously I made the decision to break singleton on a number key 1-drop to make gameplay more streamlined. Now I'm trying the same on a 2-drop that is pretty central to red aggro. Importantly, Mogg Flunkies is far more cross-compatible with various builds of red aggro compared to the goblins-only cards its replacing. I think this will be a great upgrade.

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OUT: Simian Grunts

Very similar swap. Some cheap stats for aggro decks. We'll have to see just how bad it is to only get in every other turn, but I think it might be a fair tradeoff for how robust a 2 mana 3/3 is.

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OUT: Soul Collector

Once again I'm stepping outside my Mirage to Scourge timeframe, but this tutor is so iconic and will be helpful in so many decks. Soul Collector has always felt a bit filler to me.

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OUT: Gigapede

Another thing I'm trying is to add the most efficient pump spells to boost green aggro. This one mainly helps creatures win combat early, then later pushes through damage. Gigapede is nice but I ahve too many 5's in this color, especially when counting Grizzly Fate, Beast Attack and Saproling Burst.

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OUT: Nullmage Advocate

Isn't this a spicy one? 2 mana Lava Axe is no joke, and I think with deft timing one can unlock that ceiling quite frequently.

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OUT: Fabled Passage

I wanted to cut these 5-color lands so I'm adding a few multicolored cards to try out. These are very much flex slots.

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Thanks for reading, and let's see what tweaks we can make next time 🙂!

Some New Ideas 💡

Just switching around some cards since I always enjoy trying things out:

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OUT: Spite // Malice

Fires back again because I heard Andy's positive story about it in a recent episode of Lucky Paper Radio. My main RG archetype is Land Destruction, where it's not needed, but it might be useful elsewhere.

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OUT: Powder Keg

Since I play with present-day rules, this is just [Trained Armadon] with upside. I'd expect to see it as a 23rd card quite often.

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OUT: Unearth

Going a bit further back with this one from Ice Age, but it is great redundancy for reanimate. Also, Unearth is a great card, but lacklustre in old border where the 3's aren't all that threatening.

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OUT: Rotting Giant

I'm excited to try out this fragile little value engine. I mostly want to use it in midrange to recur [Nekrataal].

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OUT: Jolting Merfolk

Might end up with [Merfolk Traders] too, since they support reanimator rather well. Especially [Recurring Nightmare] and [Victimize].

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OUT: Worldly Counsel

Another [Concentrate] for the most part. Was close between this and [Tidings]. But I prefer the lower mana cost.

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OUT: Raven Familiar

Serendib is a really strong statline, which I'd love to have to bolster blue creature suite. That means I needed to pick up a foreign white border copy, it'll be the only non-english card in the cube. But I'm kinda ok with the German copy since thats a language I speak myself.

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OUT: Shoreline Ranger

Similarly, a sizable 3 mana threat in blue. The drawback is real, but less punishing in low curving decks. It's seen play in legacy, so worth a try!

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OUT: Exclude

A book was written about this card so that's gotta mean something. Once again, I like how it refuels in proactive strategies.

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OUT: Thrashing Wumpus

Back again, just plays better with reanimates (like [Coffin Queen]), while also being decent topend in the removal heavy midrange control decks.

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OUT: Ghastly Demise

Unsure about this swap but going for consistency here.

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OUT: Weatherseed Treefolk

Swapping one nostalgic beater for another. Argothian Wurm is decent support for mana denial strategies, especially when ramped out.

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OUT: Primal Growth

I'm tentatively trying [Sylvan Library] even though I fear it might be too strong. Card advantage is king in Classic Cube, and this provides it in spades. Let's see.

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OUT: Umbilicus

Another addition I might end up regretting when it creates brutal blowouts against aggro. But perhaps it's fine.

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That's it, thanks for reading! Next time I might remove 10 fetches and replace them with shocks to reign in the 3-color 4-color stuff somewhat. Till then!

A Few Older Things 📜

This update has been stewing for little while. Lets have a look:

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OUT: Dark Hatchling

Mostly another reanimation target to cheat out. But I could also see it in a very removal heavy control deck, especially with tons of Nekrataals and Bone Shredders. The Avatar cycle is really nostalgic for me too, since I played tournaments during Prophecy.

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OUT: Cloud Sprite

Technically FoW is outside of my Mirage - Scourge set restriction. However the card is so iconic and fun that I'm making an exception to the rule. And it has a noticeable effect by just being in the environment.

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OUT: Lightning Blast

Similar situation for this card. The faded Legends frame and washed out art aren't really to my liking, but it's a helpful inclusion for most red decks.

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OUT: Flying Men

This final Old Old-school addition is a serviceable counter spell with some hidden play patterns. Countering your own low-value thing can turn this into a Probe of sorts.

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OUT: Radiant's Judgment

Sweepers in old frame singleton are few and far between. This one has issues but gives more redundancy. More of a test slot.

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OUT: Spirit Link

This swap is just a bit of shifting around the bottom of the barrel in terms of white removal. I like that it's probably most effective in low to the ground aggro vs control or midrange.

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OUT: Erhnam Djinn

The P3K twin of Nature's Lore is definitely an effect I like due to my plentiful Shocklands. Not the cheapest card to buy but I'm sure it will see play in Ramp or interesting 4C / 5C brews.

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OUT: Orcish Artillery

Looking at my curve out in red, I noticed the 3's are a bit lacking. This one pressures quite nicely thanks to the combination of haste + flanking.

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OUT: Dark Banishing

Another super marginal swap that basically boils down to a preference for synergy with Auramancer and Monk Idealist vs. instant speed surprise removal.

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OUT: Fires of Yavimaya

Hot take: Fires of Yavimaya is overrated. And the evidence for that is the absence of Fervor in most old frame lists. Phantom Nishoba is a fearsome target for Reanimate and Natural Order, and possibly a ramp payoff too.

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OUT: Thornscape Battlemage

Same story with this green beefer. I was always skeptical of it, until I saw the similarity to Verdant Force

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OUT: Lava Hounds

I still think Lava Hounds is rather good but I'd like to pad out my red 5's a bit.

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That's it, thanks for reading! Next time I might remove 10 fetches and replace them with shocks to reign in the 3-color 4-color stuff somewhat. Till then!

Tiny Tweaks 🤏

Some minor changes:

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I think this might be a potent tool for aggro but I guess it remains to be seen.

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Back again, just a more impactful card than Shadow Rift. Those cantrips with tiny upside aren't all that great in the absence of spells matter stuff.

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False Prophet has a problem that it's not always the roadblock you want. Bounce or exile get around it. Or you can even remove your own attacker that it blocks, to prevent it from blowing up the board.

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Another Stone Rain and I'm just such a huge fan of the RKF art in this printing.

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This is a speculative tool for blue tempo. Has an Opposition flavour to it, let's see if it plays out that way.

WHO LET THE 1'S OUT 🦁 ?!

I've mulled it over for months, and now I'm finally breaking singleton to advance the design goals of the Classic Cube. Specifically, I'm talking about these guys, the premier 1MV creatures in old border which I'm increasing to 4 copies.

Since I started this project over 3 years ago, I've always seen the lack of competitive 1 and 2 drops as the biggest gap in the oldframe card pool. The shortage of options means that aggro really pales in comparison to midrange and control. It also makes it hard to provide ample fixing without resulting in greedpiles, since there's no natural predator to keep them in check. Arming aggro with the early threats it needs will make the entire meta more healthy I hope.

I'll also discuss some other new additions. Let's take a look:

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The namesake for the 2/1 for 1 statline, this card is sorely needed by all flavours of white weenie. Previously I had last-resorts like Serra Zealot but those always feel terrible to put in a deck. I hope this will do the trick to strengthen white based aggro, traditionally one of the cube's weakest archetypes.

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Blue's options are very limited, but I rather like the ceiling on this one so I'm going to 4 copies. The average case should be a 2/2 with some reliability issues. Veiled Sentry plays well with bounce and shines in tempo decks generally. Sometimes it will stave off a 6-drop. I could even see it getting recurred with Auramancers and Replenish in control.

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Black's original Isamaru, Hound of Konda is an important weapon for Bx Aggro. I look forward to trading these off and redeploying them with Oversold Cemetery etc.

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The goblin payoffs like Goblin Grenade and Clickslither are powerful tools for RDW, and stronger 1 drops in the tribe should greatly empower those synergies. The echo is a drawback, but should be manageable in low-curving strategies.

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The other set of Gobbos. I'm not sure how these will perform exactly. I think they're better than the other options though. Compared to the Goblin Raideresque Bears with downside (which one is always loath to maindeck), I expect them to do more work in the long run just by virtue of being 100% more mana efficient.

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A higher density of mana dorks will make gameplay more exciting in green, pretty sure of that. Besides accelerating all sorts of curveouts in proactive Gx lists, they're also critical to Gruul Land Destruction, which relies on these early accelerants.

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Other Swaps:

Adding the five SNC triomes allows me to reduce the amount of fixing lands a bit, since these virtually never go unplayed. I'm also adding two more Prismatic Vistas while I'm at it, since they help graveyard stuff like threshold etc. Still need to photoshop some old border proxies.

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A little-known Avalanche Riders variant that does exactly what RG Ponza wants: attack their manabase while developing your board. Perfect.

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Of all the cantrips I'm not running such as Peek or Whispers of the Muse, this one has the most upside I think. Uncastable without a target, but it can enable an attack and feel like a Lava Spike, or can let you ambush a Dauthi Slayer. Great tool for tempo decks.

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Another hidden gem that joins Nekrataal, Serpent Assassin and Predatory Nightstalker in the club of black mulldrifters. This group of 2-for-1s is key to various midrange / control decks with swamps. Fantastic alongside Erratic Portal or Recurring Nightmare.

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This beefy ramp payoff should've been in the list from the beginning. The problem was, I never understood the super threatening play pattern: Untap, make two tokens, then use the ability twice to pump them to 3/3. Insane with big mana from Mirari's Wake or Vernal Bloom.

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Very powerful of course, but hopefully not oppressive card advantage compared to Sylvan Library which I'm still excluding. I like the idea of white having access to something in the tier of Recurring Nightmare, Opposition or Sulfuric Vortex.

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This is a weird one. It was quite popular in its day for dodging sorcery speed removal mainly. Patently, it's benefitted a lot from mana burn going away. Curious if people will play a colorless 3/3 pseudo-hexproof for 3.

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Again a card that is plenty powerful, but difficult for me to understand the play patterns of. However, I'm sure Nev Disk will see more use than Snake Basket.

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Playtesting required here too. I expect this guy to be decent for removal heavy control. Combos nicely with Chimeric Idol!

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Not the best rate, but White's 4's are all a bit dubious, so not a high bar to clear. Let's see what decks play it.

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... And another Nekrataal! I honestly think black control plays as many of these as it can get. To be sided out if the opponent has swamps of course.

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Sucks to cut a sweet judge foil of the iconic Hammer of Bogardan but most decks prefer a Fiery Temper.

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This little card fascinates me. It's dependent on the number of 1-toughness creatures in the environment. There are roughly 100 out of 240. So that gives it a lot of targets, many of which constitute a tempo advantage when killed. It can also be added to other burn or pings. And when in doubt, cycle it. Probably goes in every red deck.

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For ramp decks. I wonder if it will make an impact.

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The prerelease Lightning Dragon is beautiful, but unfortunately such a liability against instant speed interaction. Paying the echo only to have it removed will lose many a game. Herald of Serra has the same issue. Lava Hounds on the other hand is a solid aggro curvetopper.

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Oldframe Fractured Identity, if you squint really hard. Very high ceiling on this one. Devastating alongside Opposition, or any of the go-wide stuff.

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This statmonster brute forced itself into the list with pure nostalgia. An amazing beater, but outclassed by most 5's in Black and Green in my opinion. Such an iconic card though.

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Many thanks for reading and till next time! Happy Cubing! 😄

I feel like there's very little I want to change with my list these days but here are a few swaps I've decided on:

1. Keeper of the Mind is the most fascinating member of its cycle to me. I'm always keen to supplements blue's suite of creatures and this one might fill a value engine role similar to Merfolk Looter. There are some tricks to enabling activations: 1) activate it during your opp's draw phase. 2) activate it in response to one of your spells that draws cards, eg cantrips 3) cast bounce spells on your opp's stuff. I wonder if this new 2-drop for blue will perform.

2. Spirit of the Night has been on my radar for ages but I think I'll add it to give reanimator a little push (both UB and GB versions).

3. Vampire Hounds comes in as another discard outlet. Has some reasonable synergy with Oversold Cemetery etc. A bit like a more narrow Psychatog. Let's see if it gets any play at all.Stronghold Assassin kinda suffers in an environment where most creatures aren't disposable.

4. Goblin Sledder gives you options during combat and will just provide more advantage than Goblin Grappler I expect. Scraping the bottom of the barrel here, but every bit helps for red aggro.

Turning some dials again:

Erhnam Djinn is just a solid body with a minimal downside. Often enough, you'll target a flier or shadow guy that you can't block anyway. Also a card I have fond memories of from my Timmy days, esp the Greg Staples art. What a chad.

Silver Knight and Paladain En-Vec are two cards I have been hesitant to add since the very beginning, even though they appear in most other old-border lists. My issue is that they singlehandedly brick Red Aggro, which struggles enough as-is. In the meantime, I've realised white aggro is probably the weakest strategy in Classic so I'm adding these to help it out. IT's on the watchlist though. Btw, I'm cutting disenchants because I think they're always a losing proposition, even when they're good. For me to include them, they need to come in a package with a better floor, like Nullmage Advocate.

Kird Ape is another wonderful little option that's unlocked by my shock + fetch suite of fixing lands. Perfect for RG Ponza, to pressure while you make it Stone Rain.

Goblin Burrows is a sneaky payoff card for Goblins that I initially missed. Having a access to a Bonesplitter of sorts can certainly help push through damage, while sandbagging gas. I like that the threat of activation alone complicates combat decisions for your opponent. All at very little deckbuilding cost, although you do have to be goblin heavy.

Till next time!

Back to Infantry Veteran, because white aggro probably prefers that one over Weathered Wayfarer. The deck needs all the help it can get. His main draw is that he can boost your evasive shadow guys.

Same thing with reverting to Soltari Emissary. Need more white aggro.

Skizzik was always an awkward one. Mainly a nostalgia inclusion. Viashino Sandstalker is great against control where the self bounce is an upside to dodge sorcery speed removal.

Just some changes I've been pondering. Notes:

Rith's Charm is a standout to me among the 3+ color options in the '97 frame. That's mainly due to its 3x Saproling Token mode at instant steed, which hasn't even been printed at that rate in modern sets. Closest we've had is Hordeling Outburst and Spore Swarm. Its home will likely be the Go-Wide archetype in GW, which can easily splash for R. The LD mode will ocasionally be good too, and so will blanking an Earthquake.

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This one is now quite decent with my 20 fetches. If you activate him in response to cracking one, you can even search for lands on the play. Very good with Strip Mine too.

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Some Crater Hellion redundancy. The kind of thing I like to reanimate or ramp towards. Also, an example of a card I wasn't even aware of (Starter 99?!). Let's see if it will perform.

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I feel like white aggro is among the weakest strategies in the cube since it completely folds to any sweeper effect. Perhaps this will help it a little bit. I like that it can remove auras like pacifisms and control magics too, in addition to making your biggest threat unblockable.

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Reanimates are the bottleneck for that particular strategy so here's another. Getting back a Shoreline Ranger for 4 is underwhelming, but if you get an Akroma, Angel of Wrath you'll be quite happy all the same.

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I have no idea if this will see play. The fact that I have a bunch of Shocklands for fixing helps it a bit. I can imagine scenario's where you're curving out with a 4 drop, and are then able to counter their removal. So probably best in low-curve decks.

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I missed out on this nice little manland initially, but saw it in some other old border lists and realised it's totally fine powerlevel wise. Now that my fixing suite is so large, the colorless lands will see more inclusion. Great in control!