Most people may assume that Tarkir Dragonstorm would make a huge splash in my Dragons Cube. I was excited for the set and looked forward to new cards spoiled each day. Overall there are some flavor wins that I'm happy to include, but there were many things about the design choices made for the set that do not fit well with my current goals:

• Mobilize and Endure are heavy token generators. I've taken pains to limit the number of unique tokens this Cube generates. Numerous unique tokens represent complexity creep that I do not want to add.
• Omens are visually indistinctive from Adventures I am not a fan of using such a similar visual frame treatment as Adventures. I think Omens as a mechanic are fine, but they should have been implemented with a different visual design. As an aside, I do not run adventures in this Cube either, to limit overt complexity.

• Wedge mythic dragons I am not actively supporting three-color payoffs in DoWN. The Dragonstorm mythic dragons are cool, but just not for this Cube. Additionally, I dislike some of the abilities on the mythic dragons for this Cube, specifically protection, token generation, and lifelink. Protection is really egregious and not fun to play against.
• Zombie Druid tokens Why, oh why did these zombie tokens also have to be druids? I don't want to have to add additional token types!

• Harmonize is a very cool mechanic Harmonize drives decisions on having a strong creature for attack, having back as a defender, or supporting flashback of a sorcery spell at reduced cost. I especially like how this mechanic is only on sorcery cards, making the player spend mana resources on their turn and preventing "on-board trick" feelbads from across the table. As an aid, i've selected only card versions that contain full reminder text on what Harmonize does.
• Flavor and illustration Dragonstorm combines common utility mechanics with illustrations straight from a glacial plane! Take, for example, Heritage Reclamation which is replacing Return to Nature. I always love adding cards that build on this world!

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Increasing Warrior typal, tap, and utility mechanics.

Flavorful removal, with Static Snare being recommended by Uberbear.

Let's just play in the ice and snow, shall we?

Flavorful illustrations on necessary mechanics. Plus, adventurer, good going on finding this trusty machete!

These colorless cards are flavorful, useful, and playable by any deck.

Improving incentives that are smack on theme.

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Warren Soultrader enabled recurring colored-mana generation to enable an infinite combo with Gravecrawler and any Blood artist effect.
(This is the last piece that enables an infinite combo, I swear. Please stop @-ing me. But I guess if you do find another one, let me know in the comments below)

As well as:

• Purseteel Paladin for balancing equipment (powering down).
• Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle to not trick drafters into thinking there is an infinite combo available.
• The Reality Chip because it never really fit anyway. I hope I can find some more cool blue artifacts that fit on theme.
• Lightning Berserker to remove Dash as a mechanic and reduce Cube complexity (I wanted to balance out adding Harmonize above).
• Molten Duplication and Bloodforged Battle-Axe for token generation.
• Funeral Rites because black is doing enough card drawing in other ways.
• Return to Nature, You Happen On a Glade, and Explore to be replaced with more flavorful cards.
• Copper Myr, Leaden Myr, Perilous Myr, and Silver Myr to free up space for other additions. I also plan to remove Parcel Myr in the future when a similar effect is printed.
• Fires of Yavimaya, Enthusiastic Mechanaut, and Reclusive Artificer to make room for more impactful cards.

Changes in prep for the UBERCUBE-ATHON in April.

Raise the Past is awesome and is less complex than Sevinne's Reclamation which has flashback

So long adventure zone! Adding in additional boast, because incentivizing attacks is cool.

Skred is sweet but way too powerful for a single mana. Red has plenty of other removal.

Hunter's Bow feels sweet as a piece of equipment to find while scrounging to survive!

So long adventure zone! The upside on Hunting Grounds is sweet as long as the player jumps through some hoops to enable Threshold. I also like having the reminder text of Threshold on the card.

I've never seen Paradise Mantle played. Decimate seems cool and the illustration is straight fire. Is that a dragon laying waste to the city?

One time Bones questioned having Zulaport Cutthroat in the Cube, especially from a flavor standpoint. The sacrifice archetype is still supported without it. Adding in additional boast, because incentivizing attacks is cool.

Following feedback from players at CubeCon and reviewing the deck data, two balance changes are needed.

• Lurrus of the Dream-Den had a good run but needs to go. While companioning is cool, it doesn't really fit with the Cube vorthos and can lead to dominating games.
• Boros equipment is still quite good, with Dragonwing Glider being super efficient and appearing in many winning lists.

As far as other changes, Altar of Dementia is a bit of an unsupported trap, and not very effective as a wincon. Annihilating Fire is being replaced by Fiery Annihilation for the flavor win and the slight edge against equipment. What is funny, is that their names are nearly a word palindrome.

Broad Strokes

• Reduction of lands from 150 to 147: Lands have been a touch to easy to draft. Removing 3 lands reduces lands available per player to 18.375. Still enough for everyone to be successful, but increasing the tension a touch in the draft. Four lands are actually being removed. 3x Shimmerdrift Vale to reduce tracking complexity (since you have to name a color on playing the land and can have multiple copies of the land) and 1x Tendo Ice Bridge which removes the need to use a counter. In their place is a foil-winter Three Tree City, purely because IT IS AWESOME and maybe someone will name zombies, warriors, berserkers, or barbarians.

• Adding additional zombie typal support with Cemetery Reaper and Narfi, Betrayer King while also removing Decayed Zombies as a creature token

• Adding additional enchantment support with Pattern of Rebirth and Quest for the Necropolis

• Removing a two-card infinite combo by removing Phyrexian Altar

Specific Edits

I love coming back and editing this Cube. I feel like it is going to be in a really good spot going into CubeCon 2024!

I don't expect to add any Bloomburrow or Duskmourn cards to this Cube for flavor reasons. So I may have a small tweak again before the Con but no further set releases will cause significant edits.

Such a flavor win here plus it de-buffs the equipment archetype just a touch.

While I loved the art and flavor of Calamity's Wake, the card was simply not played. Woe-Reaper fits with the Warrior sub-type and offers graveyard interaction. I'm expecting Woe-Reaper to make more decks.

I've disliked Second Sunrise's returning all permanents instead of only your own. I've also never seen a player ever cast Sunrise before. Recruiter fits nicely as a role-player in 's current archetypes.

I loved the idea of Hurkyl, but she rarely made the top 23. Steel Sabotage offers additional answers to artifacts.

I love replacing the Merchant with a Zombie. Plus I prefer the more aggressive stat line of 3/3 compared to the Merchant's 1/4. I also dig the art and the old border frame treatment is a plus. Just a win all around.

Nightblade increases synergy with treasures in , especially in a sacrifice strategy.

I like giving drafter's archetype support in multiple colors. Condor allows to start teasing into the artifact/modular archetype readily available in and .

Victimize is a power upgrade ... not something I always strive for. But putting this effect at versus feels correct. Also, fuck Seb McKinnon and get out of my Cube.

Gadrak has been too good for 3 Mana. Furnace Hellkite also seems strong, but I'm hoping this Dragon takes a little more work to get on the battlefield.

Dualcaster was added as a piece for infinite combos. I'm moving this Cube away slightly from that direction (it is awkward if you and your opponent are essentially playing different games if one is attacking and blocking and the other is trying to go off with an infinite combo ... this was one reason KCI Combo was removed after CubeCon 2023). Duplication provides a similar effect, except targeting creatures and artifacts instead of instants and sorceries...making Duplication less of a combo piece.

When able, I aim to reduce the complexity of this Cube. Removing Two-Handed Axe removes the last Adventure card from the list. Cleaver replaces and adds additional treasure token synergies and is slightly more expensive to equip.

I had not seen Anthem played much, if at all, and Crack Open continues to provide answers to troublesome artifacts. And it cross-synergies green into treasures.

Taking out Nettylecyst removes Germ as a token. I love reducing the different types of tokens this Cube produces. Simpler is better, IMO. Nettlecyst was actually quite strong, as well. Again, tweaking down the power level of the equipment archetype.

I'm really excited about this swap. Removing a replaceable and boring creature with SCION OF DRACO just seems cool. I'd love to see players drafting multiple colors to be able to get Draco on the board.

Taking Dragons for a spin today at the LGS. I have more updates I want to make but making the changes now for the cards I have on-hand.

The changes are to remove "Clues" as tokens. I really like reducing the number of tokens made in this Cube. I think it just really cleans up the play experience.

For I've never been impressed with Hardened Berserker. Sieze the Day seems like such a cool card and the art is hardcore. Reckless Barbarian leans into the sacrifice theme touch.

I love having this Cube on MTGO as it allows for quick testing and feedback. Based on playtesting and input from players I've made these small changes in paper.

Card by card changes starting with:
Malevolent Witchkite - This card is the most promising of the adds. The Dragon Warlock has played very well online and drawn LOTS of cards. She plays perfectly with tokens and artifact strategies and is just really much more intriguing than Boneyard Scourge.

Goblin Welder can have some negative play-patterns (such as your opponent removing a strong artifact on your board for a weak artifact from your own graveyard. This interaction isn't necessarily considered when drafted by newer players (including myself!). Instead, Goblin Engineer provides some tutoring ability and limits targets to your own graveyard.

Glittering Frost is simply too expensive in mana value to be a great pick. Instead Fertile Ground offers basically the same ability for a mana less.

Gloomshrieker plays nicely with enchantment synergies while also providing a valuable ability to regrowth a card from your graveyard. An ability that makes a lot more sense than the awkward Golgari mana-dork, Skull Prophet.

Cloud Key is a holdover from KCI-type strategies. And now just doesn't really have a home. Ichor Wellspring plays amazingly with Malevolent Witchkite and offers a target for the new addition of...

Sage of Lat-Nam. I hope to see some decent card draw value off of this artificer.

When I was porting this cube to MTGO, I did not put Lotus Petal in the list because of the higher cost for that card in MTGO Tix. Removing Lotus Petal from the MTGO version of #DoWN got me thinking about my original intent for having mana artifacts in the cube - to interact with cards like scrap trawler, junk diver, and myr retriever as a part of KCI combo.

Without KCI combo in the cube, why should I include cards like urza's bauble and mishra's bauble? If Lotus Petal and other mana artifacts were no longer needed to support the combo, how should I replace them in the environment?

I immediately did an advanced Scryfall search: for zero mana artifacts to get an idea of the design space. I knew I still wanted to have cheap artifacts in the environment for some of the artifact matter's cards like:

But most of the mana artifacts just don't fit with the environment. Cards like Accorder's Shield and Shield Sphere are unexciting and don't align with my play goals. Moreover, cards like mana crypt and mox diamond are too powerful.

But I did spy two cards that intrigued me and I think will also intrigue drafters:

I do not believe these two cards to be too powerful. The suspend is a real drawback and there is no way to cheat them into play as I do not have cascade in this cube, though fellow Cuber Krayzeee did identify that Golbin Welder can bring them directly back into play. I think the tantalization of these mana rocks in a desert environment may entice some players to give them a try. In some practice drafts, I found myself wanting to pick them to try them out. I mean, a mox that taps for any color of mana and a sol ring? Heck yeah! Sign me up!

I am keeping lotus petal in this paper version of the cube. I think that card fits in the desert theme and is an appropriate power level. But the two Baubles are removed to make room for these Suspend mana rocks.

Additionally, Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain replaces fire // ice. My intent is to reduce draft complexity by removing Fire//Ice as the only split card in the cube. Plus adding Jhoira helps support an artifact archetype that I still want to exist ... just not one centered around KCI combo.

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Below are the broad brush strokes of changes made with this update. Scroll all the way down to see pictures of specific adds/removes.

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Based on the data, Equipment really overperformed. The archetype was responsible for 3 (of 6!) trophies over the weekend. Here is Finite MTG's 3-0 deck from the weekend. It is representative of the other Boros Equipment trophy winners.

After a good discussion with Finite, he identified that this archetype really had good redundancy by being able to draw extra cards with cards like Akiri, Fearless Voyager and Glimmer lens, resilience to removal due to the equipment being interchangeable on creatures as well as even making their own creatures such as Hexgold Hoverwings and Nettlecyst. Moreover, the archetype also had access to great removal in red and a power outlier I had missed in white:

Even though the flavor of this card is perfect for the vorthos of the cube and its "Enchantment" card type supported enchantment matters archetypes, being a mana removal spell without restriction was too strong. It's really a feel-bad for the opponent if they cast their huge Dragon like Ancient Silver Dragon and you remove their bomb with a card that costs a single mana.

Receiving this feedback, I wanted to slightly tone down the equipment archetype in relation to the power and consistency of other archetypes in the environment. To accomplish this I've removed a few key cards such as

as well as provided more answers in other colors to help them survive the onslaught. Examples include:

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Additional feedback clarified that supporting KCI Combo was really out of place in the environment.

Additionally, KCI combo required a rather large set of narrow cards such as Myr Retriever, Junk Diver, and Scrap Trawler...the very definition of parasitism. By removing KCI combo from the environment I am able to open a lot of card slots for use in other archetypes.

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Lastly, looking at draft pool data, it was clear that a lot of cards that I felt had good homes in this environment were actually riding sideboards most of the time. Cards like Raid Bombardment, Vulshok Battlemaster, Winterthorn Blessing, and Narfi, Betrayer King. I also used this edit opportunity to remove all the double-faced cards (DFCs) from the environment, making the draft and gameplay simpler.

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White Changes Blue Changes Black Changes Red Changes Green Changes Gold Changes Colorless Changes

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I was perhaps a bit overconfident to "lock in" my cube list for CubeCon2023 as early as I did. Luckily, the deadline for final cube lists has not yet passed I'm going to sneak in 3 more changes that I think will narrow down the power band for the cube.

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The constructs created by Digsite Engineer can snowball very quickly as there are a lot of artifacts running around this cube. Moreover, the added token type is a logistical hurdle - requiring multiple copies of the token as well as dice to track power and toughness. Even though a player has to draft around this card and put some work into it to get the benefit, I think the benefit is too strong.

Ulvenwald Oddit is the only transform card in the cube and the rate on this card is a definite power outlier. Removing this card both removes cube complexity and helps narrow the power band. I want the dragons to feel like the cube's most powerful creatures and not a nightmare moose.

Undead Gladiator has potential play-pattern issues due to its ability to recur itself. Even though the subtype lines are a good fit for this environment, I'm removing this card.

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I want to keep creature counts above 20 in each color. So I definitely wanted to replace Digsite Engineer with another white creature. I've looked over Squall Drifter numerous times before. But now with my recent inclusions from #WOE adding tap archetype synergies into and with Solitary Sanctuary and Sharae of Numbing Depths, Drifter seems like a good include. I also like the evasiveness of Drifter which helps the elemental wear equipment well.

Fleshbag Marauder does exactly what I want in the black color space. It has relevant creature subtypes, leans into sacrifice payoffs, and now with the new Kev Walker Secret Lair art, fits the flavor of the cube much better than previous versions.

Lastly, the retro-artifact version of Wayfarer's Bauble is added to replace Oddity. Cheap artifacts will always have a home in this environment, especially one that can both ramp and fix your mana in this snow-desert environment.

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Danitha, Benalia's Hope was removed last update and now I'm also removing Danitha Capashen, Paragon. While this 3MV Danitha is not overpowered for the environment, I dislike the play patterns from the combined keywords of Lifelink and Vigilance. Losing the ability to lower the cost of equipment is marginal due to the support of other cards within the archetype such as Puresteel Paladin, Akiri, Fearless Voyager, and Bruenor Battlehammer. Replacing Danitha is Solitary Sanctuary, new from WOE. Sanctuary helps bolster players into a U/W tap archetype headlined by another new inclusion (Sharae of Numbing Depths) from WOE. Additionally, it provides another Enchantment card type to synergize with All That Glitters and Michiko's Reign of Truth.

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Frost Breath is a card that requires players to remember the "cards do not untap during their controller's next untap step" clause. I believe the "stun" counter mechanic is much more clean and provides players an easier way to remember which cards should or shouldn't untap as normal during each upkeep. To that end, Breath is replaced by the new WOE card Succumb to the Cold. A mechanical duplicate that uses stun counters.

Freeze in Place replaces Impede Momentum. I'm making this change because the flavor and art on Freeze in Place is more aligned with this cube's vision than Impede.

Icewrought Sentry replaces Frost Lynx. Icewrought is a house that I think will really shine with mass-tap effects such as Icy Blast. Each tapped creature of the opponent is going to trigger Sentry's +2/+1 ability making this card a high threat. I also like that the sentry can tap creatures down using its own ability without relying on another card. I think this card will be a high pick for blue players looking to play in the tap archetype space.

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I want removal to be balanced around the 3 mana value mark in this cube. I also wanted to have black have the most optimum removal within the cube. Unfortunately, I think Murder is too efficient for the environment. So I'm replacing it with Smother. Smother is conditional, but very good, hitting 75% of the creatures within the cube. At 2 mana, it is more efficient than other removal ... which is appropriate for black. Plus the beard art on this card is awesome.

I'm also removing Rime Transfusion. I was never in love with Rime Transfusion when I added it a while back. I think it is not an interesting card. I'm replacing it with Tortured Existence. As an Enchantment, Existence still fits within the B/G archetype. It also synergizes nicely with Tormod, the Desecrator and other graveyard interactive cards like Gravecrawler, Master of Death, and even Ebondeath, Dracolich.

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Champion of the Flame has been a little misleading as there are only two auras in the cube that you would play on it (All That Glitters and Ancestral Mask). Plus I didn't like the 2MV cost for a 1/1. Instead, I'm putting in Goblin Gaveleer which is essentially the same card except it solely triggers on equipment and costs a single red mana.

To make room for additional adds in the cube I'm removing Lightning Mauler. Mauler is the only card with the Soulbond mechanic in the cube. I'm always looking for ways to remove unnecessary complexity and there are redundant cards in red that grant haste to other creatures.

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For gold cards, I'm most excited Sharae of Numbing Depths from WOE. Sharae is an excellent payoff for the tap archetype, encouraging players to splash into white for the powerful card draw effect. I love how Sharae also uses stun counters, removing any memory issues for players during subsequent untap phases. I like how Sharae triggers herself upon entering the battlefield, providing immediate card replacement, but also that the "card draw" trigger only triggers once per turn. Which in this instance I'll treat as a feature and not a bug. Combined with the new addition in white of Solitary Sanctuary I am really looking forward to players diving into this U/W archetype. Sharae is replacing Dance of the Manse which did not produce a strong pull into U/W during the draft. I think Manse was maybe too hard to make work.

Winterflame is added to the U/R section. While very similar to Fire//Ice, I really like the art on Winterflame. I'm not convinced that Winterflame and Fire//Ice should both be in the cube. But we'll let it roll for now.

Dreadhorde Butcher replaces Tymaret, the Murder King. Butcher is a similar sacrifice payoff but also fits in with more aggressive red-based decks. My only complaint about both cards is that it is hard to find snow-themed art on Rakdos cards.

Mahadi, Emporium Master is added to bolster the treasure archetype. I can see a world where players can generate a lot of treasures by looping a Gravecrawler numerous times. Rackdos has a lot of ways to use those treasures be it sacrificing them to get Mayhem Devil triggers, removing Suspend counters off of Greater Gargadon, or just casting a large Banefire!

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I'm swapping out Paradise Mantle with Lotus Bloom. There are no real ways to cheat Lotus Bloom into play. I mostly had it in the cube as a zero-mana artifact. Paradise Mantle fills the same role at zero mana, can be used to fix mana/ramp, and is just a sweet card that I've always wanted to cube with.

To make room for other additions, I'm removing Genesis Chamber. Chamber has always been an outlier. It has been in the cube to make artifacts and creatures that synergize well with cards like Ashnod's Altar and Phyrexian Altar. I did not like that Chamber makes its own unique tokens and it was awkward that both players gained benefit from its effect.

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Land ratio and colors are one of the biggest updates in this changelog. After playing some drafts I've identified that there is too much color fixing with lands in the cube. The double cycle of pathway lands and 5x Shimmerdrift Vale have made playing multiple colors too easy, allowing players to "fall into a color" rather than make specific draft decisions to enable a color. Additionally, the Pathways do not count as snow land or snow permanent which can be annoying in a cube designed with snow in mind. To rectify this, I'm swapping one entire cycle of Pathways with 5x WUBRG snow basics. I'm also removing 2x Shimmerdrift Vales and replacing 3x Crumbling Vestige and a Faceless Haven. Overall, this is a total reduction of 3 lands in the cube which brings the overall land count to 150 or 18.75 lands per drafter.

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Minor changes to Blue and Green with the inclusion of Icy Blast and Doomskar Warrior. Blast offers yet another tap effect, upping the density of the "tap" archetype. I am looking forward to some "tap payoffs" spoiled in Wilds of Eldraine that will help raise the power level of this mechanic. Warrior comes with the Backup mechanic, a mechanic that I really like because of the added choices given to the player and positive/fun play patterns of the mechanic. Removed are a couple of white cards. Danitha, Benalia's Hope is a large power outlier for the environment. She can really choke down a board with her vigilance, first strike, and lifelink keywords ... really negative play patterns. She's just much too powerful. Also out is Brought Back. This card just doesn't do enough, especially compared to Faith's Reward and Second Sunrise.

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Red brings some changes I am very excited about. First, adding in Dualcast Mage opens up some additional combo space for players to explore. I really want crafty drafters and players to find some of the neat combos nestled in this environment .. and Dualcast Mage enables a bunch. I'm also very excited to add Brass's Bounty. This big mana sorcery comes with a big impact once resolved. Bounty plays really nicely with other red cards such as Ingenious Artillerist and Swashbuckler Extraordinair, or simply helps ramp players into some big dragons or fix for strong gold spells. Removed is Paragon of Fierce Defiance which did not have enough impact at 4 mana. Swapped out is Tundra Fumarole an awkward 3 mana sorcery for Roast. Roast is super flavorful, dealing a lot of damage for little mana ... but not against dragons. Also swapped is Seize the Spoils for Unexpected Windfall. Lowering the mana value a touch while changing to sorcery speed.

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For Black, I'm simplifying by removing the only Delve mechanic card Murderous Cut. Cut is replaced by Death Wind which is incredibly flavorful with the art showcasing a dying dragon. While Delve is out, I am adding in an Adventure Mechanic card, Foulmire Knight. The Knight replaces Mire Triton, both have deathtouch, but the knight provides card draw instead of mill. Also removed is Scourge of Nel Toth which was an outlier in the cube as the only non-cycle dragon. Scourge has been replaced with an X spell Damnable Pact. I hope I get to see a player win by casting a large Pact targeting their opponent! Lastly, Diregraf Ghoul is added as a cheap Zombie to synergize with cards like Gravecrawler and Cryptbreaker. Removed is Liliana's Standard Bearer which provided a card draw effect similar to Midnight Reaper and now the added Damnable Pact.

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Gold cards need to pull their weight to earn a slot in a cube list, outshining their mono-colored counterparts to entice players to draft and play more than a single color. One of the Gold cards on this list, however, is too powerful. Showdown of the Skalds is removed for being just a bit too strong on card advantage and effectiveness. Swapped in its place is Forging the Tyrite Sword. Tyrite may be a bit underpowered, compared to Showdown, but I like that it makes treasure tokens. Also added is Ride the Avalance which is so on flavor I've been wanting to put this card in for some time. Cosmic Rebirth and Ghoulcaller's Harvest help to balance out the density of Green colored gold cards in the list and tie in nicely with their respective colors. Removed is Bone Saw. Bone Saw is just not impactful enough to warrant a card slot.

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One more update for Wilds of Eldraine and then it will be off to CubeCon!

This update contains archetype support changes and power level adjustments within the colors. Details about the specific changes are outlined below.

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White continues to build on equipment and artifact synergies while simplifying gameplay by removing the last card with the cumulative upkeep rule (Cover of Winter).

Portable Hole provides white with early interaction, enables artifact synergies, and provides for potential future interaction/counter-play by the opponent. Stone Haven Outfitter and Plate Armor fit nicely within white's package of equipment and artifact payoffs, plus, I think the flavor of Plate Armor in particular fits well within the fantasy world of DoWN. Digsite Engineer also provides a way for white to accrue value by playing artifacts.

Some may question the removal of Usher of the Fallen due to the card's strong aggro advantages. However, because Digsite Engineer is an additional token maker, I wanted to remove another card that makes unique tokens. Moreover, I think the flavor of Usher is slightly off for the cube. Whitemane Lion is removed for similar flavor reasons. Lastly, Cover of Winter is spot on for flavor, however, cumulative upkeep is a slog to track and follow. Cover is particularly egregious because age counters can be added to the card manually, increasing the cumulative upkeep cost outside of the upkeep step. I have witnessed this card mechanically being tracked and played incorrectly because of this complexity.

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Black adds both Scorn-Blade Berserker and the valuable Deadly Dispute. I've made my opinion known about how great I think the Backup mechanic plays. Adding a Berserker creature type, with the Backup mechanic, that provides support benefits for the sacrifice archetype is an inclusion hat trick!

Deadly Dispute is a well-known and effective card. Giving black redundant means to sacrifice creatures while gaining additional value and leaning into the treasure sub-archetype makes Dispute a solid inclusion.

To make room for these cards, I've cut Conjurer's Bauble and Coldsteel Heart. Bauble is a small artifact cantrip whose rules text is hard to build around. Heart is an on-flavor mana rock, but with the full cycle of signets already in this cube, is a cut that can be reasonably made.

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The largest changes in this update are in Red. On a recent episode of the Uber Cube Podcast, one of the hosts (Mae) observed there is a substantial treasure sub-theme within the cube. I had not noticed this truth and with her encouragement, have decided to lean more into treasures to offer red mages additional lines of play. Treasures also feel particularly flavorful due to the desert-style draft constraints imposed on traditional mana sources.

Makeshift Munitions replaces Goblin Bombardment which both removes Bombardment as a power outlier and enables artifacts to be sacrificed in addition to creatures.

Swashbuckler Extraordinaire, Ingenious Artillerist, and Inspired Tinkering all are added to further expand the utility of treasures within the environment.

Shivan Fire is a bit too efficient and Flametongue Kavu is an overly powerful 2-for-1. Moreover, the effects provided by Barbarian Guides and Tuskeri Firewalker are slow and fragile and, while I love the art on Barbarian Guides, have decided to cut these cards. Lastly, Valakut Exploration was intended to be a combo piece with Second Sunrise and similar effects. However, this combo is quite difficult to assemble and pull off (as you also need Zuran Orb's land sacrifice ability).

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Rounding out with the Green changes, Savage Punch offers an additional green source of conditional creature removal. I'm not sure about the art on this card, I mean it is epic but also pretty silly. I want the feeling within DoWN to be more dangerous than cartoonish. I'll leave it for now until a replacement is printed or found.

Primal Command was another suggestion by Mae. I'm a bit unsure about this card but it does offer green something powerful to do with mana ramp. Enabling green mages to tutor a strong creature from their library while also providing a way to interact with the graveyard and non-creature permanents.

Out is Rancor. Yes, Rancor is the epitome of a strong green enchantment. However, the recursive nature of Rancor falls outside of my desired play patterns and there are still numerous strong enchantment-based cards for green.

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This cube will be drafted and played in the next few weeks. Following additional feedback at that event, my plan is to continue to tweak and adjust cards here and there to dial in the fun and desired play patterns of the environment. However, this update represents 95% of what DoWN will look like at CubeCon.

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Because CubeCon is an officially sanctioned event by WoTC, one of the requirements is cubes cannot contain proxies or custom cards.

To that end, all previously proxied fetchlands have been replaced. I would have preferred to have all old-border style foils, much like this Prismatic Vista, but only the enemy color fetchlands from Modern Horizons 2 have been printed in the old border foil (aside from the OG printings from Onslaught which are a touch outside the budget). Modern Horizons 2 also has nice full art fetchlands, but again, only in the enemy colors.

Because I want all my fetchlands to have a consistent look, I went with the foil printings from Zendikar and Khans of Tarkir.

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Lastly, I've removed the errata'd versions of Rise of the Dreadmarn and Ghoulish Procession and replaced with the original cards.

Feedback received from the players is they had a fun time (success!). I 3-0'd the pod to win the whole thing (kinda feels bad as the cube curator as I want to see other folks be super successful!).

This update contains a lot of changes designed to provide answers to artifact, enchantment, and graveyard outliers. It increases the difficulty in drafting lands by a smidge and adds (by request), "some more dragons because the cube name says dragons." (Hey, I asked for feedback and got some!).

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Hexgold Hoverwings replaces Barbed Spike. I really love the For Mirrodin! mechanic, which Barbed Spike does an excellent impression. This change removes a token type - Thopter. While I am not restricting the amount or type of tokens in the cube, when able, I want to have streamlined (from a game piece perspective) games when possible. Removing extra tokens accomplishes this.

Break Ties replaces Glacial Plating. This change is flavor loss, but I am not a huge fan of cumulative upkeep as a mechanic (Cover of Winter is on notice). In its place, Break Ties offers a useful way to deal with problematic artifacts, enchantments, or cards in graveyards while also having the Reinforce mechanic. Taken together, I think this card is strong enough to not get relegated to sideboards. If no pertinent targets are available, the card still has value as an instant speed +1/+1 counter buff.

Calamity's Wake replaces Adarkar Valkyrie. Now this is a huge flavor win! I'm specifically adding it as a way to break up graveyard combos enabled by a card like Gravecrawler, which proved to be quite strong last draft.

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Tribute Mage replaces Chillerpillar. This is a flavor win and helps strengthen artifact synergies in blue. Chillerpillar is just a bit too silly of a name and this removes the only Monstrosity mechanic card from the set ... simplifying the environment where I can.

Frozen Solid replaces Winter's Rest and Ice Over. This is just a slight downgrade but I love the art and old border and I wanted to differentiate the tap enchantments with a different variant as Winter's Rest, Ice Cage, and Ice Over were all two mana.

Frozen Aether replaces Choking Tether. Aether seems pretty powerful, I'm really thinking the tap archetype is pretty strong and since Aether is an enchantment, I'm hoping it facilitates drafters going into the Simic tap/enchantress/beater archetype. Tether also seemed just a bit off flavor from an art perspective.

Balduvian Frostwalker replaces Icefall Regent. This is the add I am most unsure of. I don't think Frostwalker is very strong. I may replace the Human Wizard with Faceless Haven in the future for a similar type effect. We'll see. And yes, I know I'm removing a dragon when I said I was adding more dragons. Go read the gold section changes!

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Rime Transfusion replaces Rotting Rats. I don't think Transfusion is great, but it's more on flavor than the rats. I didn't realize each player discarded a card when I added Rats to the cube. I'm trying to find ways to enable a synergistic Golgari archetype. I haven't quite found the silver bullet yet, but at least Rime Transfusion is an enchantment so a green enchantress player may want it.

Diregraf Colossus replaces Egon, God of Death. Egon is simply not good in this cube. There is no self-mill archetype, and black currently does want to be exiling cards from its own graveyard. Diregraff on the other hand synergizes very well with the already well-established zombies archetype. It may prove to be too strong, so I'm keeping an eye on it.

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I wanted to provide red a way to permanently deal with a creature by exiling it (as a check on graveyard synergies), so am adding Annihilating Fire. I also think Flame Slash is just a bit too strong on rate for the environment so am replacing it with Stoke the Flames. Rounding out new instants - I'm stoked to include the original The Dark printing of Fissure. I think the flavor is spot and is an appropriate cost for unconditional removal in this environment.

I'm a bit unsure about removing Anger. But the art is weird and think the flavor of Fearless Skald fits better as well as Skald fits right in as a Berserker. I also think Backup is a fun mechanic.

Lastly Experimental Synthesizer is out. It fits well with the artifact archetype, however, the flavor is off and it makes a one-off Samurai token. Replacing it with Plundering Barbarian to give red a way to deal with artifacts as well as being on theme for being a barbarian.

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Earlier in this cube Yaimaya Enchantress was too strong. However, now I've added many more ways to interact with enchantments, so I'm tentatively adding her back in. I really want to incentivize the enchantress archetype. Unfortunately, Fight Rigging is out. The card does what I want it to do, but it is just such a flavor miss on card name and art that it stands out like a sore thumb in this environment.

Return to the Earth and Return to Nature are both coming in to replace Mystic Melting. Earth destroys creatures with flying ... something important when facing down fearsome dragons. And the art is just perfect. Nature exiles a target card from a graveyard to help give interaction against graveyard decks. Either might be relegated to sideboards, but I think it is good to have answers available for players to draft and include in their decks to help keep the environment interactive.

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There be more dragons! Dragonlord Silumgar, Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury, Dromoka, the Eternal, Atarka, World Render, Ojutai, Soul of Winter join the other Elder and Legendary dragons in the cube. These are the first multi-color dragons and they are powerful. I really hope these additions bring the power of dragons in this cube to the forefront. Of note, I specifically picked Dragonlord Silumgar because Silumgar, the Drifting Death has Hexproof, a keyword I do not like to support.

Also added in gold is Diregraf Captain. Gold cards should be unique in their effect to pull and reward drafters into specific color combinations. I am removing both Rite of Harmony and Saffi Eriksdotter which were both very weak and unplayed. Also out is Shadow in the Warp and Alesha, Who Smiles at Death which are fine cards but a bit off on flavor. Finally, Judith, the Scourge Diva is removed to tone down the sacrifice theme a touch.

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Here is where the difficulty of the draft is going up just a smidge. I'm removing 7 colored sources: one of each basic, Fabled Passage, and Gemstone Mine but only replacing with 1 colored source Tendo Ice Bridge (super on theme) and 3 colorless sources; Mouth of Ronom, Scrying Sheets, and Frostwalk Battalion. This is still going to leave the cube with 153 lands (19.125 per drafter average) which is sufficient but enough to turn the pressure up on draft a hair. I also really like that the colorless lands all have utility, which makes them more interesting, plus they look fantastic in foil!

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Okay, that's it! Huge update. But I'm really excited about it. Safe travels, adventurers!

Overall, this update increases archetype support and helps focus my overall theme goals for the cube.

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In: Out:

These changes are designed to re-focus enchantments on what overall green is trying to do - attack with powerful creatures. I'm particularly excited about Mirarri's Guile as I didn't want to add sylvan library because I think that card is too strong for this environment. However, Mirarri's Guile provides the same card selection but without the draw. All for a single green mana. Sylvan Anthem also clues in drafters that green is about creatures beating down and synergizes well with the enchantment theme. Seal of Primordium gives green a way to interact with the artifact archetype, while synergizing with enchantments.
For the removals, Birds of Paradise simply doesn't fit with the flavor of the cube (I mean a tropical paradise?), The World Spell is too expensive considering Green's biggest threats are also 7-mana. Exploration is good, but this cube doesn't have an easy way to draw a lot of extra lands, therefore negating the value of the card. And while Bounty of the Hunt hits on flavor, the card didn't quite fit in as it was the only "free spell" in the cube.

In: Out:

Black is more focused to care about cards leaving the battlefield and creatures in the graveyard, rather than re-animation. I also felt it important to give black another mono-colored sacrifice outlet in Gnawing Zombie. I particularly love the flavor-win of Songs of the Damned and hope to see a drafter use the mana to great effect. Ghoulish Procession provides yet more redundancy for sacrifice and plays well with white's second-sunrise archetype. Plus it is an enchantment, to boot, so can be played in a green-based Golgari enchantment deck.
Do note that I've errated Procession to make normal zombie tokens, and not tokens with decayed. This substantially increases the power of the card which I think is okay. It also removes some complexity and tracking of a seperate type of zombie token.
As far as removals, removing Raven's Crime and Darkblast reduce complexity by removing Retrace and Dredge as one-off mechanics in the Cube. Additionally, while Boneyard Scourge seems perfect for this environment, there really are not a lot of dragons running around to be able to activate its ability with any reliability.

In: Out:

Gold cards need to be powerful or provide some effect that cannot be found in mono-colored counterparts to be worth drafting, especially in a desert cube.
Corpse Knight pairs super well with Second Sunrise and black's ability to recur a lot of zombies. Sythis, Harvest's Hand helps flesh out Enchantress (probably the weakest gold card add for this update). Judith, the Scourge Diva provides another great signpost that Rakdos wants to be sacrificing creatures and also enables a very viable Rakdos aggro archetype. Tuya Bearclaw is super on flavor and right up Gruul's alley to beatdown. Finally Binding the Old Gods is a powerful removal spell that also pairs well with green enchantments.

In: Out:

Boros equipment is the biggest winner for this update. I really wanted to push the archetype because I feel it underperformed in the last draft. Cards like Shambling Suit and All That Glitters may prove to be too powerful. But I want to provide incentives to "suit up" creatures in this archetype. I also really think the "For Mirrodin" ability on equipment like Dragonwing Glider and Hexgold Halberd is a net positive (although it is a bit off-flavor). Bringing your own creature to the battlefield is a step above "auto attaching" which is why Scavenged Blade is getting replaced. Bronzeplate Boar is simply too expensive to reconfigure (for the effect).

In: Out:

Rally the Ancestors doesn't quite function like I'd like. While it does pair well with sacrifice effects, you cannot attack with the creatures brought back. They have summoning sickness from entering the battlefield and are sacrificed the following turn on Upkeep. Faith's Reward provides the same bonus, plus hits all permanents, and doesn't require you to sacrifice them at the next upkeep. Alter of Dementia is added as another win condition for the white Second Sunrise archetype, as well as black or black/red sacrifice archetypes.

In: Out:

Helm of Awakening is a bit confusing as not all players immediately understand that both their own, and their opponent's spells are reduced in cost. Cloud Key offers mostly the same effect, except one-sided, and players will more easily identify how to take advantage of the Key for their own individual decks.

In: Out:

Retribution of the Meek is a super flavor win. Yes, that is a dragon being destroyed in the art. This card will play excellently with the Mentor of the Meek style deck running around in White. Plus it is from Visions, so I just love it. Raid Bombardment also helps serve as a wincon for the smaller creature, go-wide, style of deck that is available in white and red. Plus it is an enchantment so fits in any strategy with green. Search the Premises and Niblis of Frost were off in flavor for the cube, so I am happy to remove them.

I always welcome to know what the greater cubemmunity thinks of these updates or if there are specific suggestions for flavor-win & archetype-supporting cards I may be missing.
Anyways...