Goodbye Colonnade
TheOinkinator posted to Bolt Cube -
Mainboard Changelist
+1, -1

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.

OTJ Updates
TheOinkinator posted to Bolt Cube -

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.

Additions


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.

Swaps


➡️

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.

➡️

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.

➡️

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.

➡️

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.

Cuts


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.

Additions


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: 2ub for 3 cards vs 1ub mana for 1 and it seems much less efficient and shouldn’t be oppressive.

Swaps


➡️

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.

➡️

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.

➡️

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.

Cuts


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.

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.

Additions


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 b 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.

Swaps


➡️

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.

➡️

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.

➡️

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.

Cuts


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.