Realised I needed something else that made myr token by my rule to keep Myr Battlesphere in. Also, found my Saheeli, Sublime Artificer.

Another funny token I missed.

Hmm, didn't quite think of the fact that Devastating Summons makes some pretty unique tokens...

Alright! This a fairly experimental shift. Based on some conversations with friends recently (and taking inspiration from their cube projects), I've decided to try to radically lower the complexity level in the cube.

One way in which this is happening is cutting down the number of tokens. In particular, any card that makes a unique token (or cards that I do not currently own the correct token for) are being removed. Some of these cards I hope to have return one day (thinking of you, Hard Evidence). Either if I find other cards making that token, find the token if I didn't have it, or I just decide the complexity cost is worth it.

Secondly, I'm attempting to cut cards that have text I find to be confusing or essentially irrelevant. Some examples include Rona, Herald of Invasion and Blast from the Past. Cards in this category I have generally found to play well, but often in explaining it to a new player I find myself saying "you should probably just ignore that text" more often than I'd like. Sadly, Yuriko, The Tiger's Shadow's "commander ninjutsu" text falls into this category, and cutting her really meant cutting the whole ninjutsu package.

In terms of adds, it's a fun mix! Some are old cards returning to the cube for a second shot at the limelight, others are being tested out for the first time. All of them just out of my spares, and I will think about putting an order in soon once we see how these changes play out.

Bought a few new ones! Had a bunch of stuff to catch up on from some recent sets. Didn't have everything I wanted today, but managed to get some.

A few general notes:

• Trying out some more 3 colour cards. I am wary about multicoloured cards generally, but Korvold is one of the most popular cards in the cube, so let's see if we can push that a bit!
• Trying to trim from both the top and the bottom. A few generically powerful cards (Liliana, Death's Majesty and Mystic Confluence) taking a break for the moment. Similarly, plenty of cards that haven't been performing lately.
• Plenty of side-shifts, just to mix things up. Changing out a few fatties for others. No specific belief that The Balrog of Moria will play out more fun than Dragonlord Atarka, but it should be interesting!
• I can't quite bring myself to shell out the necessary cash for triomes and surveil lands at the moment, so some of the less popular domain cards will take a break.

Picked up a few commons and uncommons out of a friend's MH3 box that I wanted to try out. Interested to see if this affects any fringe archetypes, for instance black artifacts and zombies.

As for cuts, mostly cards that have been insufficiently exciting. Interesting that two expensive creatures have been trimmed in this iteration. Will have to keep an eye on the reanimation / cheat style decks to make sure they are well served (though I don't believe Scouge of Nel Toth or Avenger of Zendikar were seeing play in those archetypes anyway). Finally, a few of the mediocre enchantments. I believe the constellation creatures tend to be interesting enough without needing support of this nature, but again, will keep an eye on things.

Bought some cards when Tokio took us to a card store to do some testing of whether or not he actually is that lucky when it comes to opening packs. (Note - the experiment that day suggested his powers are not always active.)

Anyway, picked up some OTJ and BIG cards to be tried out. Trimmed a couple of cards, sadly among them some fairly recent includes, that have been apparently unexciting for people.

Finishing off the cycle of LTR landcyclers. Also the Battle Mouse has been a little difficult to track and unexciting.

Bought and traded for a few fun ones over Christmas. Gonna give these a go, though particularly in the case of things like Urza I could see it ended up too strong for the environment. We'll see!

I realised that Kayla's Command hadn't really had a chance to prove itself yet, and it certainly seems like it'll have some interesting synergies. Back in you go!

Trying out some new LCI cards! Not sure which will stay for the long haul, but I'm excited to find out. The Restless lands all seem like a fun take on the creaturelands, so that should be interesting! As usual, I'm taking a broad approach and adding more cards than I am certain about, just to see if any can surprise me.

I also had some cuts I was interested in making.

The big ones are Damn, Toxic Deluge and Skysovereign, Consul Flagship. Toxic Deluge was a recent add to bolster black and test the feel of a slightly higher interaction density. The issue I've found is that in this cube almost every archetype rewards you by adding creatures to the board. Sweepers are particularly punishing, and the control decks that have cropped up recently do not feel in the spirit of the cube. Hence Damn also gets the boot for the moment (though I'm generally happy with the 5cmc wrath effects). As for the big boat, it is certainly extremely powerful, but moreover can lead to unpleasant play patterns in this environment.

Most of the other cuts are cards that are working fine, but perhaps are just slightly less popular picks for the current group, I could see any of them making a comeback.