Functionally same, but change for less text.

As a forewarning, this update happened quickly to get the cube ready for a draft two days after the update happened. So while a lot of these are updates I've been thinking of, the cuts for them may not be permanent.

Syndic of Tithes > Parish-Blade Trainee
PBT continues the trend of counters-matters creatures that pass along anything on them. I'm not super sold on it's power and efficiency, but I did want to try it. Syndic of Tithes has been an old staple, but I've seen other cubes cut it for more interesting effects.

Striped Riverwinder > Mirrorshell Crab
I think I want to move away from Hexproof/Shroud in the cube in favor of more interactability. At the end of this update only one card will have the word Hexproof on it, and that may soon change. The crab actually seems like a good modal card, as opposed to just drawing a card. It was incredibly popular in the draft and I heard it come up as the topic of discussion multiple times.

Errant Ephemeron > Lantern Bearer
Ephemeron had been lagging behind for a while. You really need to do something a little more than be a big beater at that cost/time waited in this day and age. The cut, however, may seem a bit odd. In my mind they actually make a great swap. You can play Lantern Bearer early like you would suspend EE, but it also does some work in that early game. It is a fantastic way to get your ninjutsu attacks in, which is a big part of this update. Then, in the late game it can jump one of your bigger beaters for the kill. Performing a similar role to EE.

Man-o'-War > Moonsnare Specialist
This is funny because I actually picked up a MoW signed by MarshallLR recently when a friend asked to get a few signed. It really hurt to take an old staple out. However I think my logic here is sound. First it definitely adds to the play of the games by making you jump through a hoop or pay a higher cost to get your two-for-one. It's not even strictly worse. Replaying ETB effects or hitting that bounce mid-combat makes for some sweet plays. A few we even saw during the draft. Between cooler lines of play and that sweet new ninja frame, it's a swap I'm pretty happy with. Sorry, old friend.

Bubble Snare > Tamiyo's Compleation
With this change you lose Snare's early game modality and gain Flash, the ability to hit Vehicles, and actually silence things. This adds a lot to blue's removal suite and I'm interested to see how it plays.

Looter il-Kor > Moon-Circuit Hacker
Another old friend getting sent to the dugout. With the other shadow creatures gone, LiK was nigh unblockable. With a lot of this update opting for more interactable options, I decided to try out MCH. Cool ninjutsu effect and a low cost usually means you can re-play your creature in the same turn. It may not a card that stays forever as there are a lot of saboteurs to play around with, but why not try the new toy?

Rain of Revelation > Scattered Thoughts
This is one of those swaps that I'm probably going to go back and forth on forever. Like actually forever. There are a lot of good four cost draw twos but I don't want a billion in the cube. Trying to find the right balance is going to be tough. Let me know your thoughts on what your favorite combination of draw two for fours are! I'll put it up as a vote in the discord.

Skittering Crustaceon > Armguard Familiar
I only had the crab in the cube because it seemed like everyone else did. I never played it. I never saw it make a deck. I think it just bored everyone. That coupled with removing Hexproof from the cube made this an easy cut. Armguard Familiar plays a similar role of small body early, big thing late. It got some attention in the draft as well, so I'm hopeful.

Hymn to Tourach > Pointed Discussion
I knew I wanted to try Discussion next to Read the Bones because I cannot make a decision on which is just better. That coupled with Hymn just really making people have a bad time in cube meant it needed to go. I've seen more people get up and not finish their matches after getting Hymned than any other card. If that's a side effect of this card, I don't want it in.

Unwilling Ingredient > Persistent Specimen
Menace plays a big role with the frog. It allows it to play a sort of aggressive role while also being sac fodder for the right deck. The Specimen, however, is a loopable value engine. So while it's not modal in what decks it can go into, it really pays off the deck that wants it. I want to find a way to fit both in, in an ideal world.

Village Rites > Deadly Dispute
Both very similar effects and I had considered them both when Rites came in. Now I'm going to give Dispute a try. The one time ramp and more options for sacrificing interests me a lot here.

Undertaker > Blood Fountain
The only reason Undertaker has stayed as long as she has is because Ixoran sang her praises time and time again. However, I've never seen her do work in a game that someone wasn't already stone dead. Blood Fountain does a similar, less repeatable, form of card advantage while being less of a lightning rod. I'm interested to see how it does.

Jackal Familiar > Ghitu Lavarunner
One of the two red one drop swaps in this update. I want to play around with creatures that can actually attack on turn two to better set up ninjutsu. So Jackal Familiar is getting the boot.

Searing Blaze > Kami's Flare
This was the easiest swap in this update, although it may not seem like it on the surface. Kami's Flare can do three damage in all scenarios, and not just on your turn. The extra damage is less prevalent as Searing Blaze's Landfall trigger, but with each update to the cube modified is more and more prevalent.

Flurry of Horns > Ironhoof Boar
Flurry was always a hard card to sell people on. The upsides were there, damage spread against multiple creatures with haste and was a noncreature spell for the spellslinger decks. However it didn't get slotted in as much as I'd like. With Ironhoof Boar being a card that excited me, I figured it was a nice swap, or at least temporary swap. There is a lot of strong modality to the boar.

Jackal Pup > Simian Sling
The other puppy gets the axe for this cute shoulder monkey. I think the modality and longgame potential adds something to the monkey that the pup just doesn't have.

Scourge Devil > Ambitious Assault
Scourge Devil was a synergy add that no one bit into. Assault plays into a similar synergy and pays off the modified theme a bit more. It saw play in the first draft and I am looking forward to see what else it does!

Wojek Bodyguard > Experimental Synthesizer
I'm honestly not convinced that Synthesizer has a place in Pauper cube. Pauper constructed and other eternal formats? Absolutely. But I do think this isn't as strong as it is in other formats. However Bodyguard was getting stuck alone too often. This was a slot that was likely changing anyway.

Plundering Barbarian > Akki Ember-Keeper
I did not like cutting Barbarian, and if Synthesizer ends up underwhelming, Barbarian is coming back. Ember-Keeper is a sweet payoff for the modified archetype that was already present in Gruul and elsewhere in the cube. I'm happy it saw play in it's first draft.

Fireblast > Reckless Impulse
I was never super happy with the play patterns of Fireblast. It was no doubt a powerful card. But I'm not sure free effects are where I want to be in the cube right now. This isn't exactly the slot I was expecting Impulse to go, but I knew that Impulse needed to go in.

Krosan Tusker > Greater Tanuki
Sorry old friend. This had to come down to a vote. Tanuki costs less, has trample, is interactable by more removal, so overall more interesting when you cast it. The abilities and the bodies are close, which I feel is why this was the swap. However I could see putting Tusker back in and making Tanuki the Hippo slot. But we will talk about the Hippo slot next.

Rampaging Hippo > Moldgraf Millipede
I love Rhizome Lurcher and the Millipede is a single color version that feeds itself. While I'm not sure both will stay in the cube, I wanted one, and this opens up a Golgari slot if I want it. As with a lot of these swaps I'm not sure Hippo was the cut, and Hippo could have come out for Tanuki. If you have a better cut, let me know. Millipede definitely goes into the pet card category.

Terrain Elemental > Coiling Stalker
While Elemental is bigger initially, if Stalker Ninjutsus in it matches the size. This also can spread the counters making Modified and Proliferate stronger. It may be a gimmick, but I like it.

Jade Guardian > Jukai Preserver
I have a creeping suspicion this is not the add I want here, and that it's probably returning Peema Outrider. But with time as a constraint I added a cool new modal card to see how it does. Jade Guardian was going either way to remove Hexproof from the cube.

Eldrazi Devastator > Thundersteel Colossus
Not many loved Devastator over Crusher. I want to try this new Vehicle that comes in smashing.

Eager Construct > Papercraft Decoy
Eager Construct made it into a large amount of decks even with a symmetrical bonus to your opponent. I wonder if the one-sided bonus is good enough.

Adventuring Gear > Iron Apprentice
Gear was gonna leave in the cycling lands update. Until then I want to see if I can get any bites on modular one-drops.

Prophetic Prism > Ecologist's Terrarium
Not sure this is the cut, but Terrarium serves a similar purpose and supports Modified.

Skyclave Sentinel > Brute Suit
Skyclave was getting cut for the cycling land update, Suit is coming in as a temporary test until then.

This happened in paper weeks ago, I guess it was left out of a big update on accident?

Rakdos Shred-Freak > Blightning
This was something that happened earlier and was accidentally left out of the cube update. Not technically the swap that happened, but it was the two cards that were not in/in that should have been the swapped.

Unholy Heat > Burst Lightning
Reverting a change made weeks ago, I think more people are going to be happy with face damage and having onus over the damage. Delirium seems a bit too hard to conceptualize.

Morgue Theft > Crawl from the Cellar
Somehow, somehow Morgue Theft made it into the MID update and I didn't even notice a card from MID was strictly better. There were a few cards missing from my "all commons from MID" order which led me to not have all the cards to consider from, I guess. Gonna pick up a Crawl at SCGCon.

Okay. Buckle up. There’s a lot to unpack here.

Peema Outrider > Voracious Typhon
I really wanted to try out Typhon especially with green moving more into self mill. The theoretical cut for me was Rampaging Hippo but that received pushback from absolutely everyone I asked. Peema Outrider did nothing wrong, and if Typhon comes out, Outrider will be waiting. Both have counters matter relevancy. Peema Outrider was a theoretical workhorse in both the proliferate strategies and offered a token to sacrifice in GB shells. So it may come back regardless.

Tajuru Pathwarden > Silverback Shaman
This one is a result of me thinking more and more about the power of removal and resiliency of threats. Vigilance is a powerful keyword, especially on a bigger body. But being resilient in the face of impending removal is key, for now.

Trusted Forcemage > Harvesttide Sentry
Oh so long ago I remember being the staunch supporter of Trusted Forcemage. It wasn't originally in Ixoran's cube, but after many talks with him about it, he finally added it. Years have gone by and it may be showing it's age. It may just be that I wanted cuts and a lot of other cards have themes they work with swaying me from cutting them. But Sentry would have been an easy swap if I still ran Initiate's Companion as I think this card is much better, just not strictly. However I finagled a few changes so the swap wasn't so easy.

Abundant Harvest > Eccentric Farmer
This is the card from MID that I knew I wanted in the cube but almost didn't get added as Deepwood Denizen was actually in change slot. After a bit more deliberation I decided that more decks would be happy with Farmer. While both cards nudge you into a theme (counters and self-mill) I feel the Denizen feels more awkward out of theme than Farmer does. Gonna keep my eye on Denizen, though.

Epic Confrontation > Smell Fear
If your jimmies haven't been rustled thus far, I think this is the part where they start to shake. Smell Fear has a way lower floor and a way higher ceiling and encourages you to think about counters matter as you draft. This is something that I would like to nudge more and you will see that again in this update.

Crimson Mage > Dragon Fodder
I was not particularly enthused with Crimson Mage and not entirely sure what to replace it with. Red has a lot of cards I want in and am really not sure how I'm gonna get them in. Dragon Fodder is a start as it fits into spells matter, go wide, and sacrifice. But in general I have a lot to think about when it comes to red.

Gouged Zealot > Scourge Devil
Gouged Zealot has my heart but I think delirium may be a little to hard to consistently make work in red. At least for now. If I ever try to push harder on madness/discard effects adding cards like Thrill of Possibility I will be taking a second look at this big boy with one eye.

Dead Reveler > Nantuko Husk
This was a hard one. I knew I wanted Husk but it's hard to put in the sacrifice theme without just taking out solid cards. Dead Reveler played a nice role in aggro decks and also fed into the counters theme, so it may come back one day.

Mortis Dogs > Unwilling Ingredient
This is one of those that you saw and probably went "Wait, what?" Yeah I just cut a four drop for a one drop. And aside from both vaguely wanting to be sacrificed, they really aren't in the same wheelhouse. The problem is I did not want to cut any of the one drops for Ingredient. That meant cutting something that was NOT a one drop, and thus the waters muddy. Mortis Dogs has always overperformed when I've seen it played, but it's getting people to put it into their decks that I've had the problem with. It often looks bad on paper and is similarly bad while behind. It may come back one day.

Burglar Rat > Elderfang Disciple
Ifnot Elf and Canbe Elf make Elf
It may never matter but there may eventually be an update where I put a tribal or elf-matters card in the cube, and when that day comes it will make my life a whole lot easier when things that can be elves, are already elves. Whew, what a run-on.

Disturbed Burial > Morgue Theft
This one is gonna grind some of those value seekers. "But muh infinite value!" they will say. And I will agree, but this one is actually a concession for the self-mill archetype. This is also one of those buyback cards that paralyzes you into making play errors for the value, when often it's correct to just disentomb. Morgue Theft has less feelbads!

Lose Focus > Condescend
Card selection and nostalgia has beaten out value on mana this time. There will likely be a round three sometime in the future.

Aether Adept > Queen of Ice
So this came with some feedback of the creatures being a little too oppressive with their ETBs. So I'm going to undo this add and instead play around with another cool blue card that plays in the same space but requires more investment.

Cartouche of Knowledge > Winged Words
I will forever be playing around with blue cards that say draw a card. I just really don't know where I want them. Winged Words can be a blowout on both sides. Eating a removal in response means that you lose your creature and don't draw a card. While landing the Cartouche means hitting them for a lot and drawing a card. Overall I'm gonna try the boring approach of one of LSV's favorite cards, divination (but with upside).

Combat Professor > Stalwart Valkyrie
While very obviously power creep, the Professor's lessons seemed a bit boring. So we are going to try another new flier that works well in a lot of shells.

Kor Sanctifiers > Rambunctious Mutt
This one I've been coinflipping on for weeks. The Sanctifiers flaunts the modality of playing on curve or using the kicker, which is deece. But the 2/3 body for three isn't very exciting and neither is sandbagging in the hopes of getting their key artifact or enchantment. On the other side this super good pup has a beefier body for the rate (although admittedly less than green's options) and works with white's blink effects! I'm not too worried about the overall cost going up because the overall cost of these white cards is going dowwwwwn...

Break Ties > Phantom Nomad
As much as I want to love Break Ties I think that if I ever need that effect Light of Hope will probably fit better. That being said, it was the slot I found for Phantom Nomad. I've wanted to try the card, it seems good with the counters matter synergies, and the slot was pretty replaceable.

Dauntless Cathar > Search Party Captain
This is a scenario of two 2-for-1s getting swapped. Cathar, Fairgrounds Patrol, and Lunarch Veteran are three cards with very similar effects that I would like to revisit later, especially as it pertains to the self-mill in Green.

Anointer of Valor > Star Pupil
I can just hear Ixoran screeching over this one. I was never a fan of Anointer. I think the card is slow, is not resilient, and is only good if you are able to hold parity into a long game in which it will slowly grind the game out. Star Pupil and it's green sibling (Servant of the Scale) are really interesting to me as counters matters cards as any counters you proliferate on them will pass along. Or the counters they pass will proliferate well. The sacrifice well. I just wanted to try one, if I like it, the other will go in. If it's bad, we tried!

Scion of Ugin > Porcelain Legionnaire
Scion is one of those theoretical "take the colorless card to stay open" cards that's much better in regular draft. As soon as you hop into draft those cards better be performers because if not all you are doing is wasting an early pick. Legionnaire on the other hand IS one of those colorless cards. I know Ixoran had a whole ladder from 1-8 of colorless creatures, I don't see the allure, I'd rather focus more on creatures you actually want to play.

Five Color and Utility Lands > Cycling Lands
I feel like the five color lands were more oft than not just bad. And while we are taking a hit by losing some of the utility lands, Desert persists. Cycling lands are just way easier to get people excited about. They help delirium if/when that matters. They are good with bounce lands. They are good with Murasa Behemoth. Just overall an easy swap for me.

Forever thinking about Bouncelands vs Kaldheim duals. Thoughts?

Literally typed the name wrong a while back. My bad. Still a solid card.

Considering:
Might of the Old Ways vs Sylvan Might
And
Duel for Dominance vs Epic Confrontation

Also continuing to review the power of removal for potential trimming/depowering but need more testing first.

Trusted Forcemage is under review.

Black is getting some more work soon. I want to play all the two drops that want to be sacced but spaaaaace.

Testing blue instants over more powerful sorceries for timing purposes.

Raise will probably return, it just seemed like the most equal swap for the commando.

Swapping because the typed duals are likely soon to follow. Those combined with Utopia Sprawl make Arbor Elf better.

The majority of this was paper cuts made just catching up digital. Some are me forgetting to order cards and just putting in irl placeholders.

Gouged Zealot v Firefiend is very much exploratory.

I’m gonna regret cutting Burst Lightning, I know it.

Anyway Red is done and I’m calling it for tonight. Green+ tomorrow.

Before you diss the Scrapling, just play with or against it.

I feel like Ornithopter goes in?

Warden, I love ya, but I got a thing for Librarians.

Unlike Ixoran, I don't need a perfect curve of colorless creatures.

I knew I WANTED Ornament to go in, but I still am not sure on what to cut. So Magnet may see sleeve play once again.

The Selesnya swaps are controversial because I'm trying out Growth while cutting cards that make tokens (Call and Slime Molding). I still think there are a variety of tokens to populate but we will see if it's good enough.

Non-Elf -> Elf where possible for potential future updates.

The twos were a hard call. Will probably come back to them later.

Jade Guardian is just Huntbeast with proliferate upside.

Silverback Shaman out temporarily as Owlbear plays better into blink. That may come back.

Vines is a better card in a vacuum, but this was a synergy cut. May revert later. I considered something similar with Undying Evil vs Supernatural Stamina in black. But green is harder into the counter theme than black is.

Honestly there's a lot to unpack in Green and I just need to play with cards and take in input to get a feel for what stays and goes.

Beetleback Chief will not return until a paper reprint at common.

Chainer's Edict will not return until a paper reprint at common.