DFT provides a few new cards. Nothing too crazy or warping but a couple interesting options. Overall the thrust of this edit was too trim down on the percentage of creatures as well as cut a few power outliers.

Interested in exploring some more 5 MV 2 Power creatures. Likely only 1-2 of the three will stick.

Trying Near-Death Experience as a build around. It is likely week but one of the fun pie-in-the-sky type cards.

Updating some interaction texture and removing black creatures that have been too strong or swingy.

Celestial Colonnade has been in need of a cut for some time. Though it is within the theoretical power band of the cube it often acts like a companion where once the dust settles a player with this in there deck will score a lot of free wins by virtue of it being an additional threat that can be included with little to no downside.

At the time of writing this update Bolt Cube was voted in as the second most popular thematic cube for California Cube Champs. Thank you to all who voted! I am iterating both for the new set and for the new group of players getting to play this for the first time. OTJ is not a huge role player but has added some new tools. Outside of this I am further updating creature bases and nerfing some dominant strategies.

The proliferate cards have already been exciting to play with and I am adding some more cards that introduce counters into the ecosystem. Simic Manipulator is a sweet threat/payoff. It is pretty slow at 3 mana so it will remain to be seen if it can perform. Glistener Seer I expect to be rock solid. The scry is a great boon to smoothing early draws and it has all the utility of any 1 mana 0 power creature in this cube.

One of OTJ's additions are these land sacrificing cards. Highway Robbery is the most appealing and is quite straight forward. It will slot right in. Redrock Sentinel is a less of a known quantity but has a lot of application. Dress Down combos, crewing/power matters as well as the land sacrificing give it a lot of play. The addition of these cards as well as some general shifts in the meta are enough for me to bring back Gods' Eye Gate to the Reikai. I am glad that I get to make use of my foil copy and annoyed that I have to type the stupid card's name more cause it is such a mouthful.

Consulate Turret is a perfect proliferate payoff. It has an impactful trigger but is really slow to charge up. A sweet spot for a card in the cube and it is nice that it can provide inevitability in a long game.

As showcased by a couple of cards exalted is a very neat mechanic for this cube. I also think the value proposition of ardent plea is very interesting as many cards in this cube are very timing dependent so players who are able to construct a deck that takes advantage of the cascade trigger fully should really benefit.

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Greater Gargadon has such a sweet spot in my heart. It has spawned many of the coolest plays in the cube. However, it has become the backbone of some really unfun aristocrat play patterns. With the addition of the OTJ land saccing effects it is time to retire the hasty giant. In it's place I am experimenting with quite literally the only other viable free sac outlet for under two mana. I think that Altar of Dementia is a neat mix of enabler and build around. As it stands I find it hard to imagine people assembling creatures with enough power to make this broken. If that changes I'll have to look at one of the 3 mana altars.

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As the cube has moved away from 2-card combos Tibalt's Trickery has become worse and worse to the point of unplayability. I am sad to cut it because I love the idea of playing it fairly but it is not meant to be. In its place I think that Return the Favor kind of does everything. It is expensive but the modality and potential of the effects is very exciting and I want to see what people cook up with it.

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Honeymoon Hearse hasn't been completely oppressive but it exists in a long line of cards that too easily win the game on turn 4 against an uninteractive hand from the opponent. For that reason it is going. I think that with the proliferate update the format has become far more friendly for Churning Reservoir. In particular I am excited to play it with Power Conduit.

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Spincrusher is a little lack luster. I can see it coming back if I need to pad out the creature count at a future date but, in the meantime, I am incredibly excited about Tomb Trawler. It is finally a version of the effect that lines up with the requirements of the format. There are so many implications of the card and it makes me very interested to find another variant of this effect that is playable in the cube.

I think both of these cards are very cool in how they are recontextualized by this cube. Seeing people open Necrogen Scudder and laugh with realization has been very fun. That being said, these cards both tend to underperform with the rare exception where they far overperform and end the game on turn 4. In recent games I have deployed either of these to the board on turn three passed to my opponent, they look at their hand, then scoop it up. Really unfun and unexciting and so I am cutting these and I will avoid putting in any more 3 power fliers with the potential to come down that early.

Athreos was such a sweet find for the cube. However, unlike Pia's Revolution which tends to make for cool combo or control style games. Athreos recurring creatures makes for aristocrat slogs that are no fun to play while also being quite powerful.

Finally, I continue the trend of cutting early creatures with built in power. Dusk Legion Zealot has a conceptually interesting risk vs reward that plays out with the game just ending faster than either player would like. On the other hand the addition of more cheap creatures and proliferate has made Cloudfin Raptor super oppressive.

As always, our group has been playing a bunch since the release of MKM. There have been a swath of meta cards that have risen to the top. They are consistent players in games and noticeably outperform the rest of the cube. I am making some large shifts to add in some new cards and packages and in the process cutting about 10-12 of these repeat offenders. Of the added packages, the most significant is the proliferate/counters matter package which I am very excited to continue tinkering with as time goes on.

The proliferate package cards come in two buckets: A) Enablers and B) Payoffs. Many payoffs already exist in the cube in addition to ones I am adding. The biggest change is the addition of the proliferate enablers. By nature of proliferate’s color distribution, colorless gets slower repeatable effects in Contagion Clasp and Throne of Geth while the colored effects are mostly attached to interaction. In early testing this has seemed to play well. Over time I will dial in the exact quantities and mana values I am looking for, especially with black removal. But, two effects per color seems a good starting point.

I am excited to experiment with these new cards. They are all reasonable effects in their own right but are all accelerated by the presence of proliferating effects. Spawning Pit is likely to be the problematic card of the group but it has a hefty cost as well as a minor mana restriction to generating a statted creature. Excited to see how it plays.

The addition of proliferate has created space for some more “counters matter cards.” I would really like the cube to get to a point that can support Nest of Scarabs as I think it is really cool for the environment. The addition of proliferate is the first time I have felt that it may have a shot so I am giving it a go. Meanwhile, I have no doubts about Power Conduit. This one is incredibly exciting as I think it will take the place of Agatha’s Soul Cauldron and will play similarly but require more building around and while being less oppressive.

As is always the case with these updates, I have dug up a few more 0 power creatures to try. I like Dimir Doppelganger as a cross between a reanimator effect and a Soul Enervation enabler. Gluttonous Slug is a little worrying with the menace but its high toughness makes it a little harder to get started so am happy to give it a shot. Frontline Sage is a nice blend of aggression and utility. It is small, so I think it will be quite answerable. I also have my eye on Simic Manipulator as a potential creature to experiment with in the near future.

White is receiving a set of build-around enchantments. Case of the Gateway Express seems hard to turn on but rewarding enough to make it worth the attempt. fc3ee404-0501-41bc-b56a-ebf16f693511 is a more palatable build around for discard effects than some others I have tried and I like giving white another mechanical angle of attack. Echoes of the Kin Tree is actually a last minute swap for Outpost Siege which had immediately proved itself too strong. Unlikely that it lasts but I wanted to give it another shake.

A couple new land additions. Now that I have cut back on a few other lands I am able to bring back Kher Keep. It is a great value land for aggro and aristocrat decks and fits nicely into the format. After getting burned by Nephalia Drownyard], I was hesitant to try Duskmantle, House of Shadow. However, I have been looking at the conversion rate: for 3 cards vs mana for 1 and it seems much less efficient and shouldn’t be oppressive.

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Speaking of mill, Codex Shredder has been quietly milling control players to victory in this cube for years. While I really like having an iteration of this effect, Codex Shredder was so efficient that it would typically put a player ahead on deck size before the opponent could ever answer it. I am experimenting with Grindclock which I like for a few reasons: A) it starts out much slower but B) it can be built around to become more of a threat. It is worth noting that it takes until turn six for Grindclock to achieve mill parody of cards with Codex Shredder but you need to take turn two off instead of turn one. All of this makes me very happy with this swap.

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Though Brimstone Trebuchet or, as we love to call it the “Treh-Bucket”, is fun it is a little too superior of a siege weapon and did the job of both offense and defense too efficiently for my taste. I really want a viable tap for damage effect so I am experimenting with Hypervolt Grasp it may turn out that any version of the effect is too much, only time will tell.

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Ith, High Arcanist is a very boring card. It is technically in line with the format power level but it required very little investment and usually amounted to - suspend on two and hold counter magic up to win - which did not make for an interesting play pattern. I like that Hallowed Respite is a cross of synergy and interaction depending on the target. Excited to explore how it plays.

I cut all of the 2-mana creatures with power (except Dusk Legion Zealot , still experimenting) as they applied a little too much pressure for not enough cost. The environment could handle them but I prefer turn two to be a set up turn for most decks allowing them to yield threats on turn three. These all broke that pattern, in particular, Soultether Golem, which would threaten to end the game far earlier than anything else in the cube.

These 3 cards were all fun variations on a similar effect. Each of them was problematic for a slightly different reason but all are strong enough to warrant omission from the cube. Promise of Bunrei just gave a little too much for how easy it was to trigger. If it made perhaps two tokens it would be fine but with 4 it was widely considered one of, if not, the strongest card in the cube. Nurgle's Rot only enchanted enemy creatures which meant it was somewhat inconsistent, but also more of a creature punisher than a synergy piece which I dislike. On the other hand, Skin Invasion was both usable as a creature punisher as well as a synergy piece while yielding an instantly lethal threat. All too much for one mana.

These cards don’t fall into a particular category except that they were all above rate, too condensed, or too self sufficient. I am particularly sad to see Slayers' Stronghold go but it has been a major offender for too long. R.I.P.

Excited for MKM updates. Mostly minor but the addition of surveil lands is a huge deal! I will try to write more later.

Ipnu Rivulet has been troublesome for a while and Feast of Sanity proved too strong out the gate.

After some recent drafts I have run into a few minor issues to address. Firstly, the last few sets of edits have done a good job of clearing out the problematic cards but as left a little too much air in the drafts. I want the cards to have a little more bite to them without being combo level. Secondly, we have reached a spot where I ready to cut out all of the narrow but game ending combos as I find them to be pretty counter to how the rest of the cube plays at this point. Because of this Lupine Prototype & Colossus Hammer as well as their associated cards are cut.

After some digging I found some white creatures at higher mana values that I think will have some play to them (as well as bringing back Conclave Equenaut.) Guardians of Akrasa is a little expensive for its inability to attack but being a consistent +1 to other attackers will likely be strong.

This is another simple affinity payoff. I like the downside on this creature. I think it will play in such a way that maximizes the value of temporary interactions and stalling blocks. It makes attacking a consideration.

Big Game Hunter is a build around for a 1/1 which I think is cool. It also has a conditional clause that hits some of the more threatening creatures but rarer creatures which creates an interesting pattern of when to play/hold it. Feast of Sanity has the potential of a discard build around although the combination of life and damage may be a little much.

With the addition of the discard build arounds (as well as some already existing discard incentives) I wanted to up the number of cards that utilize discarding as a cost. Thrill of Possibility & Lightning Axe have both been in before and are known quantities. I am hoping that Big Score will be a nice intersection of discard, artifact, and ramp synergies.

In my search to add some more creatures I am testing a few more colorless creatures as well as re-introducing Shadowed Caravel after some other shifts in the cube have made some space for it.

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A slight modification to the reanimator package. I am interested to see if Makeshift Mannequin will make for more interesting potential play-patterns or if it will just be blow-outs.

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Skull Rend was fun but had the problem of being devastating but not actually ending the game some percentage of the time. It ended up feeling pretty high variance for the roll it was supposed to play. Igneous Pouncer is very straight-forward. You know what it wants and your opponent knows how to stop it. It also has the cycling abilities to give it some more play. Overall, I am much happier with this card.

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Ghost Lantern was another effect that felt more boom/bust than I would like. I will be trying Undying Malice to mimic the effect while hopefully performing more consistently.

As time has gone on I have found games ended by the 1-2 combos to be less and less interesting. As cute and funny as it is to be comboing with these effects games where they stick mimic my least favorite play patterns from vintage cubes where two turns in you shuffle up and go again. Because of this I am going to actively work to remove cards that allow for "oops I win" on turns 2 and 3.

I think the cube has felt slightly fixing heavy recently. In particular, lands tend to ride the back of packs in a two-player draft I am removing the partial cycle of check lands as they don't have many typed lands to proc them.

My first pass at this set didn't find much, the power level is just so high. However, upon a second perusing of the spoiler I thought more about map tokens and craft in the context of this environment and realized how well they line up. This means that I am actually getting a far above average number of cards from this set which is rare and exciting. On to the changes...

Market Gnome is a slam-dunk include. The only concern is the lifegain trigger being too oppressive. The statline and artifact typing obviously line up great for the environment.

This is the perfect Bolt Cube threat on paper. 4 mana, a small build around requirement, and at least 3 turns for a 1 power creature? Beautiful.

I am absolutely in love with this card. It has an additional cost that can be built around, it's versatile removal, and it is efficient while protecting itself.

Lodestone Needle is sick. Another card that interacts with both artifact and creature threats. It has a pretty steep cost but a very efficient ability on the back which I think is a perfect balance. I love cards like this that encourage mid-range creature decks to be viable.

The front half of this card is fine to medium removal. The real upside is leaving behind sacrifice fodder that can double as a win condition in the long game. As an artifact with a 5 mana activation to flip it feels adequately costed.

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I like Gadwick's Duel, however, the extra text on it has mostly been unused. The coolest play I saw with the Duel was when it was being played with flash in a Leyline of Anticipation deck. Obviously, Eaten by Piranhas being the same effect with flash all the time and without the additional trinket text is a perfect answer to my previous issues.

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I love Deadly Dispute but the effect is not at a premium in this cube and I can't afford to run two of the same effect. I think the map token from Fanatical Offering will offer more play overall in this format.

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Alpine Moon was included as an answer to the ever-present land threats in the cube. Somehow, the thought of running Tectonic Edge never crossed my mind before now. But with the new Volatile Fault and Tectonic edge I am comfortable cutting Moon as it was much more narrow and only an include by necessity in my opinion.

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A theme of recent edits has been me cutting back on cards that are either too self-sufficient or create instant wins without telegraphing them first. Ramunap Ruins too often ended up in one or both of these buckets. Decks could often sandbag it and play knowing their opponent was virtually at one life. This was difficult to play around and also given the nature of Ruins hard to answer with land interaction. I am experimenting with Cave of Temptation as an alternate variant of the effect that is more telegraphed as it needs a creature.

As mentioned, self sufficient cards are getting the axe and both of these enchantments in White were too strong compared to how difficult they were to answer. I am sad to see them go but they have ended enough games prematurely.

In a similar camp, Adventuring Gear made for some fun, tense games but also would one-tap unsuspecting players in early turns of the game a little too often.

Our communities local Deflecting Palm enthusiast will be sad to see this update as it is getting cut.

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With more and more testing it has become apparent that deflecting palm is a little too swingy especially in matchups where blue isn't involved. I have wanted to try Searing Meditation many times. I still suspect it is not good enough most of the time but I have a Boros slot to fill so I figure I may as well give it a run.

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Curious Obsession proved to be too efficient to allow for interesting games and it made a lot of answer it or lose board states. Virtue of Knowledge's adventure half is a little interesting. I figure if stifle is good the opposite of copying effects may also be good. I don't have high hopes but I am excited to try it out.

This is a tentative test. Another piece of on-board interaction. This update has added a lot of colorless lands and if I feel like the density is too high this will be the most likely one to go.

I hadn't considered Port before. It is another card with a constructed pedigree and in this case I think the mana required to get it going will make it pretty fair and/or a neat ramp payoff. It also has the benefit of interacting with some number of the broken lands.

Glimmerpost is a neat life gain land. I think that one instance of life gain on a land drop is not overpowered when the land is colorless. There are some cute synergies with newly added cards like Nightmare's Thirst and Trade Routes

Raffine’s Tower adds the last of the on-color Triomes that touch white for Flagstones of Trokair

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Cleansing Wildfire in addition to being a piece of interaction can also be combined with the bridges to ramp. To enable this I am including all bridges that touch red by changing Mistvault to Drossforge.

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This swap is representative of the swap of all Reveal Lands into Check Lands. The reveal lands are truly unpleasant to play with and with a narrow set of options, Check Lands are the next best as I don’t currently want to break singleton.

Mill has continued to be a powerful win condition for control. The natural result of small deck sizes have made cards like Shriekhorn a little too close to an I-Win-Button for any deck with a decent amount of interaction.

Mirrex was a little too efficient and versatile. As a friend pointed out it pretty much power crept Castle Ardenvale out of the format while being able to single handedly win many games on its own. It is a little too much for the environment and is being cut for other more interactive lands.

God’s Eye was intended to be a backup Dunes of the Dead and though it does functionally do this, jumping through the hoops for a 1/1 is just too much with the current environment. This is also being updated to a new colorless land.

I love how Pithing Needle plays in this cube so Pithing Needle but with Peek should be a great addition.

Welcome to the affinity archetype! Tooth of Chiss-Goria is a perfect Bolt Cube card. Pretty much everything about it is great. Sojourner’s Companion I am less sure about. I am interested to test it but if it is too easy to cast/too hard to answer it will get the axe and I will poke around for another card.

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Expedition Map is a great effect for this cube but quite slow. Park Map is essentially the same card while being a little more efficient.

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Advantageous Proclamation is an interesting conspiracy. It is often a trap due to the already small deck size and the viability of mill. At the same time it makes the most broken combo and aggro decks better. Once again, a card that is polarizing in a way I don’t like. I am going to experiment with Secrets of Paradise which is really similar to Curse of Opulence in that it pushes ramp and enables 0 power creatures to be used for utility.

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I like having a second 0 mana artifact for Greater Gargadon combo but Welding Jar is pretty limited in its use at this point. I am testing to see if Tormod’s Crypt plays any better in the role.

Bankbust was a bad mix of durdle-y and randomly a one-shot kill when crewed. It was often the best card in a pack but also swingy and unfun to play with.

I love the idea of Buried Ogre but it would cause games to end prematurely due to it’s down side and the secret mode of it just being a 4 mana 6/4 was too much. I am cutting this for other cards in black.

The 3 mana 1/1 is a pretty balanced stat line and I love the idea of Mortus Strider as a recursive midrange/control beater. It has some cute uses within sac decks as well as triggering leave the graveyard effects. Excited to play with this! It and Thoughtcutter Agent in the same color pair may be a touch too good for Dimir midrange but that will have to shake out in gameplay.

Rakdos has absolutely awful choices for Bolt Cube in the 2-3 mana slot. They are pretty much all boring, bad, or broken in half. Because of this I am experimenting with the idea of a Rakdos “big mana” deck. These are my initial two payoffs. I think both of them are powerful but beatable. I need to figure out what the difficult but achievable mana point is as I haven’t supported a deck going for that yet. My guess is that it will be 6 mana but I am starting at 5 to stress-test, especially since I think both of these cards are cool.

As is the case in other color pairs I am looking to include some uniquely efficient/versatile removal spells in each color pair. Agony Warp is great at answering some hard to answer board states. Meanwhile recoil, though a little slow, represents an answer to enchantments and lands in the colors that will have the hardest time with them. Rampage is the spell I am the least excited about but I think all-in-all this will perform better than terminate. Vanishing Verse exiles any permanent type at instant speed which I quite like. A little worried about it missing on colorless spells. If that becomes an issue there are plenty of other potential Orzhov spells to test.

It was too easy to play this land alongside a bunch of interaction and find a window to activate it 1-2 times for the win. Unfun and un-interactive, the card has been cut.

This is a land I have always liked but never found a home for. Three turns and a combined 9 mana seems like a pretty good safety valve.

I want to give red another way to kill big creatures. I love that this self adjusts the cost to allow it to be more efficient against go-wide decks with cheaper creatures. Testing will determine if the base rate is discounted often enough for this to be viable.

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I am looking to increase the costs of wraths in the format. I like the flexibility on Brotherhood’s End especially with the addition of some affinity cards that are coming. I have no complaints with Pyroclasm, just worried about a board wipe bloat.

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Wily Goblin was too strong as a 2 mana 1/1 in a single color with upside. I loved the treasure ramping so I kept it for longer than I should have. I stumbled across Curse of Opulence and am really interested in the utility it grants to the “send a message” attacks. My current goal is to push both ramp in red and more uses for 0 power creatures. Curse is great for both.

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Ingot Chewer has been pretty nuts for a while. Now that I am pushing a big mana deck it has become out of hand. I was looking for a new artifact interaction spell and remembered Cast Into the Fire which is great in this environment. I love the instant speed interaction and also like that the removal punishes some of the most broken creatures (tokens, battlecry, etc.) while leaving the more standard ones like Mysterious Egg alone.

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The idea of an Act of Treason in the cube is really appealing but Claim the Firstborn is just too efficient. I want to see if bumping the cost to two mana will level this out. Also, Wrangle has the upside of having appropriately goofy Bolt Cube style art.

Granting power and haste recursively was too much on a card for one . Since the addition of black and a few new 1 power threats this needed to be dialed back. I may shop around for a +1 power effect in red but I am currently going to sunset this in favor of pushing reds big mana/controlling strategies.

I love Slag Fiend, but the fact that it counts the opponent’s graveyard means that it is randomly a viable threat with no effort from the player who is casting it. I really dislike this and combined with the fact that this is already a bit of a power outlier means it is time for the Fiend to go.

Welcome to part 2. Our additions start with Black creatures, sponsored by Khans block. I had reservations about both of these on my first pass but the cutting of a lot of other black creatures has left some space. High Priest has an expensive and slow activation that I think will be totally fine. I am more concerned about the Disowned Ancestor’s ability to grant itself power. That being said: sorcery speed and tapping itself is a pretty huge cost enough to where I think it is ok to test. My biggest gripe is that the card doesn’t require anything else to get going and if I cut it that is likely the reason.

Another Black card that is probably a little over tuned. We are in the early stages of testing for the color so I have to run the gambit of cards that look like they are in the right space. I think the card is fine until the 1st creature it equips dies. +2/+2 for to equip is just a lot. I will being watching this one closely

Very excited about this one! I have loved how High Market plays and the effect with a different payoff is really sick. I am also trying to push Rakdos big mana and this should slot into that nicely.

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Midnight Charm is acceptable in power level but it leans aggressive in some ways I don’t like and is really wordy. Nightmare’s Thirst has the same (kill an X/1 and gain a life) mode while adding a little build around element and more defensive viability.

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Slaughter Pact’s non-black text is one of my least favorite mechanics in magic. I was happy when I remembered Sickening Shoal exists as I much prefer the pitch spell dynamic to the pacts. Another easy swap for me.

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Revenge of Ravens is too oppressive. Gaining life on attacks is fine but it limits an opponent's total number of attacks to 3 or less which doesn’t make for engaging gameplay.I still want black to have an answer to wide boards. I have always loved Shrivel so I am going to test this out first and see how it plays.

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I like Lithoform Blight but overall I like the idea of doubling down on the land destruction aspect rather than splitting the difference. Contaminated ground more effectively answers a land at the cost of drawing a card. Once I have played with both I will see which I ultimately prefer.

This card was far too strong in practice. The play pattern was often play it and then upkeep hold priority and counter a bunch of one’s own spells to triple trigger for lethal. Not particularly interesting for repeat games though it was fun to watch once or twice.

Statically giving the zombies menace and being able to activate at instant speed made this a little too oppressive in the late game. It wasn’t completely offensive so I can see re-including in the future. I want to see a viable, single-target answer to enchantments printed in black first I think so more colors can answer this after it resolves.

Cube Con was an amazing time! Among other things, I got the chance to see Bolt Cube in the hands of a truly terrifying audience: the relatively uninitiated. Up to this point, The Bolt Cube has primarily been drafted by a group of 4-5 people who all are intimately familiar with the cube. The cube was designed primarily as a two player format with a Pick - Burn - Pass method. This feels great for two players, however, it has the unintentional side effect of self correcting for power level as the experienced players will burn the broken cards.

The addition of Black, to allow the cube to be played with a full pod of 8, already had a huge impact on the environment's balance. On top of that 8 player draft, without burns, meant that broken or imbalance cards rose to the top immediately and in droves. Many of the power outliers I was already aware of but there many “fun” discoveries among the new black cards as well.

All of this new data means it is time for some edits. After feedback from players and an extensive format review with experienced Bolt Cube Players there are more than 40 edits to be made! This is far too many for a single post as I think many, though not all, of the edits are worth discussion. I plan to highlight nearly every addition and the notable upper half of cuts.

Thanks for reading!

Very excited about the first entry here! Curious Obsession has a constructed pedigree and given the nature of the cube I am starting it on a power watchlist. Hopefully, the card will be balanced by two factors:

• Requiring attacks every turn is going to force the Obsession player into lines that their opponent can capitalize on while also preventing starts like T1 Ornithopter > Obsession > Go > Untap with protection.

• The vast amounts of efficient interaction will make it a challenging card to stick and get advantage out of and should create some really engaging moments.

Overall expecting this to perform, curious if it will be too oppressive in blue creature decks.

I am always trying to give players cheap and/or free interaction. The high presence of tokens and aura/augmenting effects means that snapback will play very close to pitch spell murder. I expect this to slot right in and perform great.

There are an abundance of powerful lands in the format and I want every color to have access to answers for them. Spreading Seas is my pick for Blue as it does the job while synergising with other blue cards Sage of Mysteries and Improbable Alliance to name a few.

I am incredibly excited for Trade Routes. There are a few unique land ETB’s that this can repeatedly trigger in addition to having many other cool interactions. Rebuying spell lands, defending against land interaction from opponents, and triggering draw effects are a few of the potential uses for the card.

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I am sad to see Banishing Slash go. It is such a cool answer/buildaround in the cube. The double White and requirements lead to the card being too clunky for most games and it spends a lot of time riding sideboards. Due Respect is a pet card of mine. I am not sure whether it will be sufficiently powerful but I am curious to see if players can utilize it effectively.

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I wanted to adjust the texture of countermagic in the cube slightly. The goal for Blue counter magic is to be efficient but narrow, forcing Blue players to make decisions about which counter spells they are utilizing and how they sideboard. Memory Lapse has been a little too general use while also being unexciting. On the other hand, Daze is just incredibly polarizing. It is a bit of a trap in many decks as a sufficient island count is hard to assemble but once assembled the card can be very oppressive. Spell Snare is a perfect example of efficient and narrow, easy inclusion. Censor has long been the less polarizing Daze and I am going to see how it plays here.

A big shift with this change is cutting as many self sufficient win conditions as possible. Though both cards were very cool, it was too easy to jam these cards in any deck and win. In particular Vantress Gargoyle is guilty of being a top 10 card in the cube that was made somehow even better by the presence of Dress Down. Modern Age also wins games without any effort. Ultimately the goal of the cube is for players to strategize about how to win and these cards didn’t require any strategy besides slamming them on turn two.