This is the biggest single cube update I've ever done. Life's gotten busy enough where I've found myself lagging behind the ever-increasing MtG release frequency for months at a time - it's been easier to assemble a giant list of in-progress changes and then catalogue it here once the sticky notes on my Desktop get too long.

Just in the past year or so, tons of amazing cards have been printed that offer a lot to a cube like this. Even the MTGO Vintage cube has seen more than its fair share of modern cards sneak into the list, which is no small feat. There's plenty of power to go around, and I'm excited to finally draft more often and see the new cards in action.

Due to the magnitude of the additions and changes, I'm going to break things down by color in the following sections. While some inclusions seem obvious, some are due to more nuanced balance/gameplay decisions that I want to lay out below. I'm including a shout-out at the end for cards that I'm excited about but honestly unsure how well they'll perform to serve as a 'chopping block' to make way for future changes as the dust settles. This update is swapping out ~70 slots (almost 1/5 of the whole cube), so it's safe to say I haven't predicted everything.

From an archetype perspective, these changes have left some strategies diluted enough that I want to question their support at all. For example, I'm concerned about the future of the Eggs / Second Sunrise deck, especially as the eggs themselves (and Dance of the Manse) are getting cut. Similarly, much of the former sacrifice cards are getting nixed, and I'm not super happy with 's creature suite even after these changes, so it'll likely get tweaked more. I've taken out a lot of spot removal for new pieces - perhaps that's too much. I also want to support a more classic 'burn' deck, but it might compete for space in the more artifact-leaning aggro shell. I haven't yet gone 'all-in' on the Lands package despite including more support in this update (for example, I could add Elvish Reclaimer, Sowing Mycospawn, etc.), but that could change. I need to get more reps in first with the list - time will tell.

Finally, it feels good to be back. I'm making a purposeful effort to cube more in 2025 and excited for it. I hope those that are following like the changes! Please playtest and leave a comment if you have any recommendations for next time.

White has the most changes of any color, primarily due to the face that a tremendous number of new high-quality artifact-focused pieces have been printed in recent sets. I'm drifting away from the Historic theme now that I believe there's enough 'meat' to support a traditional aggro shell that overlaps into other archetypes. The only card I'm shaky on is Illustrious Wanderglyph, but if it underperforms I've got a Glimmer Lens from the MTGO Vintage cube waiting to take its spot.

Blue, on the other hand, has the fewest changes of any of the colors. is pretty stacked already, but all of the newcomers here have something to offer. It's possible that Three Steps Ahead is just too cute (I want to find room for Mana Leak) but I want to see if the other modes end up leading to interesting plays. Similarly, I haven't seen many people talk about Intrude on the Mind, but it reads like a flashy artifact version of Sphix of Uthuun for 5 mana...which seems great to me. (Maybe it sucks. We'll see.)

Reanimator is back and it's back hard. I've been adding and cutting cards from this archetype forever, in part because I don't much care for hyper-parasitic cards (Putrid Imp)...but I'm coming to terms with the fact that drafters often have many choices in a pack and finding one that perfectly suits their strategy is more exciting (and rewarding) than finding 7 that are generally just 'fine'. I'm excited that we get meaningful additions to all aspects of the archetype: discard outlets, reanimation spells, new big targets, and even artifact-type hate that's still a respectable creature by iteslf (I love Ashnod's Harvester). I'm giving Warren Soultrader a shot because I think there's tons of hidden potential just within the list as-is. To make room, I've taken out clunky combo cards, sacrifice theme pieces, and some spot removal.

I'm very excited for - I've seen many of these new additions pull serious weight in the MTGO Vintage cube and have been waiting for the chance to showcase them in artifact-focused environments. They span a multitude of strategies, but more importantly they're just good. I think the color can still lean into the theme of artifact destruction more, and I'm mighty suspicious of Rose, Cutthroat Raider in place of Zealous Conscripts (an old favorite of mine) or another classic aggro finisher. Still, I am confident these will be a net plus to the color by offering more artifact presence and power.

Green's update was simple - inject some love into the lands theme, and replace underperformers with new powerhouses that either happen to also be artifacts or hate on them in useful ways. I'm watching this part of the list for holes in case I want to go even harder on the lands package (Elvish Reclaimer, etc.). I also want to potentially amp up the artifact hate that green offers to serve as a balance check against some of the nonsense other colors can get up to.

Here's where the changes get really experimental. Many of the multicolored cards have fallen into 'sacred cow' territory or have been getting preferential treatment due to nostalgia. That's not necessarily bad (it's my cube!) but I don't want to ignore some of the crazy new power out there that's well-suited for this list. For example, Cranial Ram, Kibo, No More Lies, Forth Eorlingas!, and Psychic Frog are all incredible adds that I'm excited to try.

That being said, some of the multicolored pairs don't have as many home-run artifact-focused cards...so I'm trying some new ideas. For example, Roxanne will get replaced instantly with a Minsc and Boo if she underperforms, Anim Pakal will get replaced with Otharri or some other recent superstar, and Thalia and the Gitrog Monster will make way for something else if Lands players don't use them to great effect.

It's been a while! I've been nearly too busy to cube these past few months. This latest set of changes includes Dominaria United, Double Masters 2022, and the various other supplemental products to date. The Brothers' War is right on my heels, so I'm due for another update soon, but for now, there are a lot of changes I'm excited for.

Generally, this update brings together a few upgrades to replace slots that have been underperforming. Cards like Spellskite and Platinum Empyrion, etc. weren't good enough on their own, and while I need a critical mass of artifacts to support their archetypes, I want to be careful that I'm not just tossing in bad cards because of their subtypes.

Specifically, you may notice this update contains a lot of black, particularly from the Necron W40K commander deck. My previous blog updates have mentioned how black's artifact options are somewhat weak and I was forced to inject fairly 'standard' archetypes in the color instead. This product essentially solved that problem by enabling the use of a ton of great artifact creatures that perform similarly to their substitutes. I'll monitor if this is overkill, but overall, I'm happy at the opportunity to give them a shot.

Notes for future updates:

1. Brother's War is coming out soon, and no doubt it will have cards perfect for this cube. There's a good chance I'll have to make a larger update sooner rather than later to accommodate interesting new cards!
2. Now that has more artifact support, particularly for the sacrifice theme, I need to re-evaluate if reanimator has a place in the cube. I've been trimming cards from the archetype slowly but surely to make room since I generally don't like the parasitic nature of the deck while drafting.
3. I've been toying with adding a small package of cards to boost the lands sub-theme. Dark Depths, Thespian's Stage, Elvish Reclaimer, etc. Maybe it'll make it for next time.
4. There are a few cards that are just barely below the line that may make it in the list very soon. These are Moonsnare Prototype and Rise and Shine. I truly don't know what to cut to make room though. I'm hoping the BRO set will help guide me once it's time for new adds.
5. As the artifact density goes up, I want to beef up 's artifact destruction package. I'll need to be careful to balance room in the color with the treasure decks and RDW.

Rise and Shine
Moonsnare Prototype
Dark Depths

Baldur's Gate time! This is Part 1 of 2 regarding some transitional changes to the cube, with the second half coming alongside Double Masters. The goal of these changes is to further sharpen up some of the archetypes, paying particular attention to the following:

1. Reanimator. Black is in an awkward spot in this cube since the artifact synergies are generally weak. That leaves combo (leaning on heavy tutoring), sacrifice, control, and reanimator as the color's primary archetypes. At first, I thought I could make the color work by stripping some of 's parasitic reanimator cards, but it isn't working well. You just need a critical mass of discard outlets and wordy reanimation spells for the deck to be worth drafting, and I want some version of it in the cube. So, you'll see more cards like this working their way back into the list at the expense of more generic black cards that may be more powerful in a wider variety of decks. I personally hate stuff like Dance of the Dead and Shallow Grave for being excessively complex and/or caring about graveyard order. Also, the instant-speed spells of this type are only really effective in typical vintage cubes because you can respond to Eldrazi's shuffle triggers to bring them back for a turn, which I don't have in my list. Fortunately, we got Altar of Bhaal and Nautiloid Ship this set to help out while preserving the artifact theme, so I'm optimistic.

2. Green. I want to be careful in differentiating ramp from mono-brown artifact ramp by having the effects be on creatures. Similarly, I want to continue to allow Green to hate hard on artifacts while successfully doing its thing (getting bodies on the board & lands in play). You'll see some small tweaks with Double Masters to this effect.

New Capenna is here! We lucked out - I wasn't expecting Treasures to be as well-supported as they are. The cube's been performing well, though I haven't gotten as much practice since last update as I would've liked. Regardless, there are some clear adds from recent sets that should boost the artifact-based themes while providing opportunities for me to finally kick out some underperformers.

: Throwing control a bone with March of Otherworldly Light - importantly, it can hit artifacts.
: Kappa Cannoneer's been all the rage in Legacy lately, and I see the appeal. I'm trying it out here, though time will tell if it's good enough.
: Nothing, sadly. I've still got some work to do here. I want to make sure Reanimator has the tools it needs, but I dislike how confusing some of the better reanimation spells are to new players (Dance of the Dead, Necromancy, etc.), and, many of the best discard outlets are super parasitic. That being said, the artifact presence in black is weak, so maybe I should just bite the bullet and shove them back in.
: This color has really come into its own. I love how red's evolved into an aggro color that supports sacrifice, treasure midrange, and can blow up opposing artifacts when needed. WOTC delivered this set with Face-Breaker and Riveteers Requisitoner - excellent payoff and enabler creatures respectively.
: Titan of Industry is a perfect ramp target that also snipes an artifact while still being flexible.
: I was wrong about Blightsteel Colossus last update - it deserves to stay. The Hearse is exactly what I've wanted for a while - a scaling, Scooze-style artifact card.

For next update, I'm going to be watching a few things in particular:

1. Black/Reanimator - is it getting the support it needs?
2. RDW (non-artifact) - is the treasure stuff and cute sacrifice-esque cards hogging too many slots for classic to work properly? I know this cube's 1/2-cmc creature suite deviates greatly from the tried & true vintage-cube aggro template, so I want to take care not to smother those archetypes. If RDW can succeed at a 8-man pod, that means things are healthy, IMO.

This one stings a little, considering Blightsteel is one of the biggest, baddest artifact creatures to exist. However, I hate 'I win' cards in cube (hence why Channel isn't in here), and Blightsteel is too difficult to interact with.

Triplicate Titan plays much nicer - it will still win quickly if left unchecked, can actually be reanimated, plays well with Sneak Attack / Welder-style decks, and so on. Blightsteel only really fits in a Tinker shell, which I'm concerned might be too strong anyway. If players need to cheat out a threat that's very hard to kill, Inkwell Leviathan is meant to fill that role.

While Blightsteel is going on the sidelines for now, if it turns out that the cheat-y archetypes are struggling, I'll happily toss him back in. Time will tell!

We've had a few weeks to sink our teeth into the cube. Now that many of the archetypes have been seen and tested in drafted decks, it's time to make a few adjustments based on the cube's philosophy, balance, and new exciting cards from Kamigawa Neon Dynasty.

There are changes to each color, some larger than others. Largely, the substitutions are meant to solidify the cube's themes and ensure that unique artifact synergies are preferred over generically powerful cards. It's fun to use vintage cube-power level cards, but I don't want this list to look identical to the MTGO vintage cube template. So, while some 'staples' are getting cut, it's for good reason - and I'll explain why each replacement is a better choice for THIS cube.

White has been refined to lean a little more into historic aggro. Kamigawa has been a big help here, and I think we're finally ready for Tempered Steel to shine. Losing Intrepid Adversary hurts, but it's by far the most generic of the 2-cmc threats and I think the cube is equipped to help push small through to victory.

Blue's been performing well, as expected. However, there is room for artifact-based cards to shine that fit more with what blue is usually trying to do. For example, Master of Etherium is rarely played since no one playing blue is trying to use him as a win condition or going wide with artifacts. They're playing control, drawing cards, and doing 'blue' things.

Black has been something of the runt so far. Many of the artifact strategies within black are weak, and so we've had to rely on more classic archetypes (sacrifice, reanimator). Luckily, recent sets have been able to bump the artifact count by replacing standard pieces of these archetypes with artifact versions. I'm hoping these inclusions (among others in red/gold) will increase sacrifice and reanimator decks' potency.

Red has, by far, the largest number of changes. I saw several opportunities here establish aggro with an artifact flavor thanks to new Kamigawa cards. Some of red's classic 'RDW' staples needed to go to make room, but I believe the aggressive red decks will still be able to succeed while supporting other themes at the same time. In tandem, there are substitutions here meant to augment existing decks; we have treasure generators for big-mana decks, discard outlets for reanimator and welder-style decks, and a touch more artifact destruction. Finally, I'm including Hellkite Tyrant as a very potent top-end card in this environment and Banefire as a combo outlet for the BIG-mana combo decks using Paradox Engine and Krark-Clan Ironworks.

Green is the natural enemy of artifact decks. It's time we REALLY lean into that. I noticed that green drafts, due to the lack of artifact synergies, tend to look like generic green vintage cube decks. I'm giving them more tools to be specifically artifact-hosers to help keep the other drafters honest and punishing them for going too deep.

Nothing too large here - I've been pretty happy with these sections. I was initially concerned with the above-average concentration of mana rocks, but they tend to get evenly distributed among drafts. Since it's the cornerstone of this cube's experience, I'll be keeping an eye on the colorless section, but so far nothing has stood out as a big problem.

The gold section sees some quick replacements of cards that were too cute with ones that do more of what their respective color combinations want. Boros, for example, never liked to sacrifice their own army to durdle with Osgir's tokens - they wanted to kill people. I'm very hopeful for Oni-cult Anvil; we'll see how it performs as an artifact sacrifice engine.

That's it for NEO! I'm already liking how this cube is shaping up - it's beginning to have an identity rather than just being a collection of powerful cards. Here's to hoping the new cards succeed!

If you have gotten this far, wow, I applaud you. Please simulate a draft of your own and leave me some feedback! I appreciate anyone that's willing to test it out and get a feel for this project.

First few drafts with the list have been feeling good - we're just starting to understand and get familiar with all the themes. Many archetypes still need to be properly tested, but overall, things look promising from a balance and gameplay perspective.

This first update is a tiny change - substituting a parasitic reanimator card for another that supports more themes in . Voldaren Bloodcaster fills the discard outlet role, but also provides artifact fodder for the welder-style decks.

I'll be keeping an eye on a few main concerns moving forward:

1. Does aggro need help? (Specifically, historic aggro and )
2. Is too strong? Cube tends to lean this way, and the artifact focus of this list means I'll need to be extra careful.
3. Is the artifact ramp diluting color-pie space? If every color can ramp HARD, should I be pivoting green's themes elsewhere, or not? Time will tell.