New Tests

These are cards we wanted to play from various sets that we didn't get around to.

Skymarcher Aspirant -> Usher of the Fallen

Should be relatively similar change, our expectation is that the Boast ability will trigger more often than Ascend.

Elite Spellbinder -> Lion Sash

Mostly had to find a cut to test out Lion Sash, card has some pretty strict white requirements, but nice equipment and artifact synergy.

Sunlance -> Prismatic Ending

Justin's dream swap, Sunlance has always overperformed in our mind, being cheap interaction and hitting 59% [67/113] (or 76% [67/88] if you assume you are the majority white drafter) gives us a useful measure of what effective removal looks like. Prismatic Ending hits 3 colours fairly consistently, due to the way people splash using off colour shocks that they fetch out. Using this bar then we can look at the targets that Prismatic Ending has:

For comparison Lightning Bolt has 85% (99/116)

Winds of Abandon -> March of Otherworldly Light

Cheap-ish removal -> Cheap-ish versatile removal

Legion's Landing -> Esper Sentinel

Legion's Landing is a nice card when the games go long, but isn't considered a very high pick and rarely flips. Esper Sentinel will perform well in aggro and midrange decks and supplements the taxing package we already run in white.

Gideon, Ally of Zendikar -> The Wandering Emperor

The Wandering Emperor is a very interesting card, but has big boots to fill. Gideon, Ally of Zendikar was won from a Standard Showdown by Kim and has been in our cube since its inception, a feat shared by only 10 other cards. It used to be the best card in the cube, and our design philosophy has often gone back to a statement that Gideon should always be a justifiable p1p1 choice in any given pack. This test is mostly to see if The Wandering Emperor is fun, and try a flash planeswalker. Our initial prediction is that this will not be here to stay.

Parallax Wave -> Solitude

It is always disheartening to cut old cards, especially ones with janky wording that new players look confused about. There is something great about experiencing and understanding these cards. Unfortunately as the cube moves forwards these cards often end up showing their age. Solitude joins a handful of free spells in the cube and will lead to massive tempo advantage at the cost of card advantage early and big upset late. Pack 1 Pick 1 this card, because it's not going to wheel!

Castle Vantress -> Mystic Sanctuary

Both of these cards are rewarding players who are heavy blue. The hardest part about realising Mystic Sanctuary's power is remembering that you can fetch it to use it at any time. Combos nicely with Cryptic Command to soft lock your opponent out of the game.

Phantasmal Image -> Thing in the Ice

With the recent trend Hard Evidence and Spellskite showing up in winning decklists we have had to go back and reflect on how strong some cards we previously cut might look in our current environment such as Thing in the Ice. TiTi will not fit into the more tempo oriented Ux decks, and could end up as a sideboard card in control. Intuitively it isn't obvious where this card slots in best, but I'm sure our drafters will establish a home if it has one.

Volrath's Stronghold -> Takenuma, Abandoned Mire

Fundamentally these cards are very similar and play on the same axis. The question is do we value peaks or average more highly. "Feast or famine" style cards are something that historically we've tried to avoid. But Volrath's Stronghold has never felt oppressive. It wins some small number of games, and is an untapped colourless source a bunch of the time. In comparison Takenuma, Abandoned Mire has a much higher floor, being an untapped black source, and it "draws" rather than changes your draws. We expect that the higher floor will end up being worth it.

Spawn of Mayhem -> Blade of the Oni

Spawn of Mayhem has always been an big beater, but struggles to find a home in that it's great in aggro decks, but competes for a very competitive slot in the 3's section. Blade of the Oni has a good body (only 1B 3/1 menace ever printed) and a couple of relevant upsides. Being an equipment means it can avoid wraths, and be tutorable by Stoneforge Mystic. We expect Blade of the Oni will play well in aggressive and midrange decks.

Bloodthirsty Adversary -> Fury

This one is on me. Magic is hard! I evaluated Fury incorrectly at launch, when we did initial testing this one didn't even see play, unlike Esper Sentinel and Solitude which we have a good idea how they play already. Fury is borderline too good, and will be watched with careful eyes. In a fair format such as ours it will often trade 2 for 2 OR better for 0 mana. We were never that impressed with Bloodthirsty Adversary so it made sense as an easy cut.

Sulfuric Vortex -> Laelia, the Blade Reforged

Sulfuric Vortex has always been a polarising card, often reading "Win the game" against control players. However in the aggro and midrange MUs it is a pretty interesting card, providing massive amounts of burn but giving up a card and tempo. Sulfuric Vortex is perhaps not gone for good, especially with all the enchantment hate. However Laelia, the Blade Reforged is a card we wanted to test for fun. She has a good track record and we've heard many designers talk about how they enjoy her gameplay.
We expect she will earn a slot, but potentially not Sulfuric Vortex's.

Teferi, Time Raveler -> Azorius Charm

Teferi, Time Raveler is objectively a very strong card. We found that it represents a very strong hate piece against control, rather than supporting control. As well as promoting un-interactive magic. Azorius Charm is basically going to help support control decks with an interesting but not too powerful card. We expect this will get cut when more powerful UW cards get printed (Can you believe that's possible? UW has always been so stacked).

Sylvan Caryatid -> Hornet Sting

How good is 1 damage for 1 mana? People consistently laugh when presented with the idea of Hornet Sting being in the cube. But the reality is that it hits nearly 50% of all creatures. Whilst the long term prospects of this card aren't good, it'll be a fun card while it exists and hopefully show people how surprisingly powerful 1 mana removal is, even when it hits so few cards. For discussion as to Slyvan Caryatid see "Changes to Green"

Fiend Artisan -> Chevil, Bane of Monsters

Fiend Artisan always seems to play worse than it reads. The card looks great, a beater that is also an X mana Birthing Pod? Sadly the number of decks it has seen play in have dwindled so we are trying a new Golgari card in it's place. Chevil, Bane of Monsters rewards GB players for the already hefty removal suite they run.

Dack Fayden -> Saheeli, Sublime Artificer

Dack Fayden has always felt a little weird in this environment, which archetypes is he designed for? On the other hand, we've never found a great replacement so.... testing Saheeli, Sublime Artificer again until a better Izzet card is printed.

Bonesplitter -> Eater of Virtue

Bonesplitter with a minigame, we are not able to determine if this is better or not, we intend to have fun trying to find out.

Smokestack -> Cogwork Librarian

Smokestack and Braids, Cabal Minion are cards that we have loved over the years. Smokestack represents an archetype, that two cards have singlehandedly been able to support. How good is that archetype? We have consistently considered T2 or T2.5. These may return later, but we're going to take a break from a much loved "fun deck" from the cube. Cogwork Librarian will hopefully add s