I try not get blinded by new and flashy cards. I'm adding things to the maybe board that I surely will look at one day instead of just the new cards, right?

Anyway, giant's skewer never seemed to do the job that I wanted. It felt slow and clunky, and the payoff of getting food tokens just seemed appealing enough to run it. Yeah, it buffs power too, but Rakdos already means I'm putting high-powered creatures in the cube. Speaking of, that's what it got replaced by. And by something that will generate the food more reliably. I'm sad to remove another actual artifact and the cube's only equipment, but maybe I can find a better equipment later. Plus, it's not like this would be in the graveyard for Silas to recur anyway.

Also, song of Totentanz is another card that I want to add. My LGS didn't have a copy, but I plan to replace battle squadron. I hate losing a flyer in red, but it still has a dragon and phoenix. Plus, this is an X spell to reward ramp and spellslingers while creating tokens that are aggressive. That's like everything that red wants to do in this cube.

Maybeboard Changelist
+1, -0

Adding a card that investigates and controls and one that I found (or rediscovered?) after playing Jumpstart 2022.

I'm not sure what happened, but I updated Zegana to be the correct version.

MoM Tags
arnoldt10 posted to Two-Player Cube -

Didn't realize this was creating a blog post. Anyway, I'm giving them the tags their predecessors had. Except I'm marking roaring earth as counters instead of ramp and letting blighted burgeoning take its place. I feel like that is more accurate to how a drafter would view them, anyway. Oh, and I added the "original" tag (meaning its slot was part of the original 120) to both the seedshark and the ledger shredder which I forgot to add previously.

I looked through all of the MoM and Co cards and found a few that I wanted to add to my list. I ended up adding no battles since most of the battles that felt right for the cube were in more control colors. I was worried they would have a hard time flipping them, and I didn't think they added anything worthwhile on their front side alone.

I did find a few worth changing. Red doesn't have a first strike combat trick, so I replaced crescendo with it. It's also changing impulse draw for scry and less power but the keyword and less mana. I added furious bellow if I thought the missing power was hurting red, but I don't think it will. I picked creatures with more power than toughness, so I think they already punch up. This just lets them punch first and thus survive. I also replaced rod of absorption and ooze flux which never really seemed exciting. The flying shark certainly is more exciting, and although it isn't an artifact, it makes artifact tokens and puts +1/+1 on the board. Blighted burgeoning also incubates so this slot is still green's only token maker. It is more ramp although it doesn't trigger landfall. Lastly, deadly derision is here because of my boy Daretti. And because it is an instant speed version of its predecessor. It's strictly better mechanically and flavorfully.

ONE Update
arnoldt10 posted to Two-Player Cube -
Mainboard Changelist
+1, -1

I like a lot of pyrewild shaman in how it signals that red needs to be aggressive. It can also recur itself, which is nice. However, I also noticed that red does not have as many instant and sorcery cards that it should have. I think in most sets, it is number 4 in terms of creatures. My cube does not really reflect that. And while that's fine, it does hurt that Izzet is supposed to be spell slinging here. So this is the same P/T combat trick, it just isn't a creature. And instead of getting itself back, it replaces itself. Also, it still signals to attack since it focuses on power, but this gets to be a little more flexible.

ONE Analysis
arnoldt10 posted to Two-Player Cube -

I looked through cards released for Phyrexia: All Will Be One. Some cards, like cutthroat centurion and vat of rebirth don't seem any better than Nantuko husk and blood fountain. A few cards did make the maybe board, such as annihilating glare being very similar to angelic purge (although it would replace grim bounty and I don't think that's necessary) and staff of the story teller helping tokens (although I like mesa sanctuary's role in the cube more). Tyvar's stand was also added as it is a nice protection spell that can serve as a pump spell, although green's focus on enchantments here means there is less traditional combat tricks.

The big change to the maybe board is blue. Blue's side of the artifact deck is tokens with a focus on clues. This allows cute cards like daring investigator plus rise and shine to have a home here. However, this means the bounce card ends up being turn into a pumpkin for the artifact token (plus the card draw for the spellslinging deck), and it feels awkward. I like Malcator's watchers for being evasive, cheap, vigilant, and an artifact, but it feels awkward to slot in. Does it replace the investigator at the 2 spot and then feel close in identity to thought monitor, or does it replace thought monitor and just add to 2 drops? And chrome prowler as a flash artifact creature is nice, but I had issue finding spot for it. All of this reinforces an idea I've had for a while: blue artifact needs to be reexamined. And if I am to do that, I don't want to do it for a set update. Don't want to be too biased toward the new cards.

Mainboard Changelist
+1, -1

As I think I said in the last post, I'm making this change. While I like letting everyone explore, I think mini prime time is just a better option. It's one less enchantment in the cube, but this spot but green actually had 1 more enchantment than white anyway.

Looking at the new cards that came out at the end of last year, I found a few that I wanted to add. First, fiery impulse hitting only creatures always feels weird because it is not a true shock. It is also not the only one with this effect in the cube, but it was chosen for spell mastery. I decided to replace it with twinferno because it is versatile. It's one less direct removal spell for red, but it can double other removal spells, so I'm ok with this. I also replaced a charging dino with a charger. Kicked, they are the same MV, but I figured this way aggro can play it sooner while rewarding ramp for being able to kick it easily. It being a haste creature on turn 3 was important since I was removing bolt hound which previously filled that role. Its battle cry-like effect is instead replaced with a way to keep opponents from gaining life (looking at you nyx-fleece ram).

Lastly, I decided to replace path of discovery with primeval herald. It's one less enchantment, but I don't think that hurts the enchantment deck much. Plus this more directly helps ramp than a do-nothing enchantment. I like explore as a mechanic, but I can't deny that baby prime time looks to be a better bang for your mana-buck.

I have looked through the cards that have come out since the last time I got to really update this cube. I have also updated the cube to my version of the cards and made changes to the tags for easy review next time. I have added a lot to the maybe board as well, although I will be looking to make 4 changes soon.

In the mean time, I wanted to note some cards that I am still mulling over. Angel of the dire hour has gotten me before, but it feels like a lot of mana to keep up and is easily telegraphed and then played around. Still not sold on a replacement. Anointed procession is strong but can also do nothing and is only for token deck. Maybe it needs to be replaced with something else. I did not have any blue cards in my list of recent cards, but rod of absorption and polymorphist's jest have never done anything. Blue artifacts as a whole seems weird, and the investigate stuff is cute, but I'm not sure that warrants the sleuth. For black, nighthowler I'm worried is not unique enough. Glaze fiend, the dragster, and the skewer are all feel weak compared to the new robot ninja. Maybe UB as a whole needs to be looked at again? I'm making changes to red soon. I think those changes will be for the better, and I'll explain them then. I'm also switching out a green card, so the only one left that I am iffy on is nemesis of mortals. It is meant to be at the intersection of graveyard and counters, but it doesn't quite feel like it. Lastly, Gwafa, Silas, and Ayli all are on notice. I did not find any replacements for them; I realized Ayli is at least being a clear signpost as compared to other WB legends recently.

One final note, the first big wave of Universes Beyond stuff came out. I found that most of them didn't aesthetically grab me, although I did consider them. So, this cube has no Beyond stuff in it for now, and I haven't decided if I wanted to make that a rule or not.