Making some changes.

• A few new TDM cards.
• Experimenting with a "balanced" gold section with a CCDD card in each color pair.
• Adding a bit more support for Big Colorless
• Experimenting with a few more gate/desert/cave matter cards.
• Adjusting some of the CC and CCC cards.

Note: second found footage should be a Threats Around Every Corner

I am excited for a few new includes from Bloomburrow and I am taking the opportunity to make some additional revisions and tweaks.

I have decided to double the number of Wastes by adding 4 plus and additional Snow-Covered Wastes for a total of 10 wastes (8 regular - 2 snow covered). The primary purpose is to prevent basic land matter cards from becoming dead in the late game. I particular I have wanted to keep ghost quarter type effects as answers to powerful utility lands while trying to avoid them becoming strip mines too easily. I am adding two more spatial contortions to bring the total count up to 10 I continue to enjoy how these play and want to make a few more available to players.

BLB has added a couple of powerful double-pipped effects that interact with the format in interesting ways. The stats and ability on Scrapshooter are both strong without being overbearing. Cruelclaw's Heist is difficult to cast, but I am interested by the benefit of the added color fixing and the ability to cast otherwise difficult spells of the opponents.

In the world of high-pipped threats, I am also introducing some other older threats. Fixing has gotten stronger and to a place that I am happy with and I want to temper that with the addition of more color-committal cards like these.

Fountainport is making a big showing with two cards that seem great for this environment. Fountainport or Maze of Fish as it will likely bee played seems strong while still having a reasonable cost. At the same time it's bell is a great mix of a can trip and a basic fetcher which I hope will smooth over draws for decks.

Black has been performing well and some I making concessions to that with a few cuts. I am sad to cut Troll of Khazad-dûm But the evasion was just too difficult to deal with on such an easily castable and larger body. Bone Picker, Snare Thopter, and Rattleclaw Mystic all offered too much stats or mana advantage respectively for there low or colorless mana investment.

Horizon of Progress was included with the idea of doubling up on basics but I forgot the wording causes it to be a Mana Confluence when paired with any filter land which is not an effect I want in the environment.

I am cutting Urza's Mine and Urza's Tower though unique I found the tron game of chicken to take up too much mental space for players in an already complex draft. These lands now are turned on by being paired solely with Planar Nexus and having three of them was too many. I like the synergy so I am experimenting with one but if that causes too much confusion I will cut it as well.

Drannith Ruins and Kozilek's Command are coming out for their power both are too impactful without any investment of color.

Modern Horizons 3 has some great additions for this cube. I am also, as always, tinkering with the balance of various effects in the cube. I am adding a little more access to fixing though after this update I will be looking at cutting back as the fixing is the best I want it to be at the moment. Continuing to smooth over some rough edges in the draft and trying to get the archetypal themes of the cube even more in line are the other focuses here. The additions come in a few buckets:

I want to add slightly more interaction in the colorless section. To achieve this I have added two more Spatial Contortions up to a total of 8. In addition, I am trying out Brittle Effigy which I am sure will play great and Kozilek's Command which is very cool but likely too strong? The proactive nature of generating a lot of tokens for a ramp deck is my large concern.

There has been some difficulty dealing with larger creatures. I haven't found a great solution for this in red but there are a couple cards with cycling attached that handle this well in Wasteland Scorpion and Radiant's Judgement. Moss Viper is my addition to green. This is a simple card and I like that it communicates it's role clearly. If I am not happy with it I may explore some other options.

I am experimenting with a cycle of the MDFC spells from MH3. I like the cost of the 3 life for an untapped land on the backside. It is neat that it adds fixing for decks that need a source as well as pays off decks that are more mono-color in their slant. The black, blue and white effects feel perfect I have no complaints. I absolutely cannot play the other red variant so I am trying the Pinnacle Monk. If I am unhappy with it I will try the original Shatterskull Smashing. Bridgeworks Battle is the one I am most concerned about being too strong. I really wish it was instead but, as is, I will test and follow up by testing the other uncommon from MH3 and finally Turntimber Symbiosis if neither of the first two work out.

MH3 has added a few neat additions to this update. Overall, I am toying around with some more high-pipped threats. I am still trying to find the sweet spot between a strong payoff and overpowered threats.

White Orchid Phantom is very neat in the environment though it is definitely strong against players who haven't drafted well which is a downside. It lines up in a way that warrants testing at a minimum.

Mogg Mobb is slightly weaker than it's predecessor Goblin Chainwhirler but it is more versatile and plays better against spatial contortions. These adjustments are enough for me to test it out.

Vorpal Sword is a neat card that will be strong payoff while being a right amount of color intensive. It also gives a very neat dream to live which I enjoy and I am excited to see how it plays.

I have been eyeing Shorcrasher Elemental for a while. After some much needed cuts to blue I have space to try it out. I think the card has a lot of neat play and has an interesting set of options especially in how it's morph ability alleviates the color cost.

Green is a color that wants access to a cost card. Cloudthresher is a little on the weak side but it will stabilize well and the flash + evoke gives it some interesting play. Excited to see how it plays. I may need to cut a different fatty in green if the overall density is too high.

I love how prototype plays out in this cube and I am adding a couple more cards to try to push this. The new Frogmyr Enforcer is a neat design. Boulderbranch golem is a strong generic peace that should slot right in. Arcane proxy has been terrible in other cubes so I am hoping that means it may play ok here as a FTK type effect. Excited to see all of these in action.

Most cuts have been either clear overperformers or underperformers. There are a few density adjustments I am making as well.

These are some of the most egregious overperformers. Drake Haven was too low in color requirements and too much of a value engine. Infernal Reckoning was far too swingy when cast on large colorless creatures and Tanadon would go in every deck. Gathan Raiders pretty much just subverted color requirements while also being a strong "Gotcha" morph which I wasn't happy with although I really like the card.

I am making an effort to cut underperformers or "air" cards. The nature of Giver Cube games really punishes players for drawing un-impactful spells. So I am trying to limit those effects to ones that guaranteed fix or find lands.

Adds

This set adds a few new colorless creatures. Sterling Hound seems like a solid 3. Currently Silver Deputy is replacing Dune Mover. I like this effect but I think that 3 is plenty and I don't care for the random toxic on it. They are printing many of this style of creature so I am sure we will get more if I end up wanting more. Gold Pan is also a great fit for the format Short Sword with a burst of color is great.

We get some new additions to the desert subtheme in the land section. Unfortunately, the deserts are mostly colored in this format but the couple that we do get are pretty interesting. Conduit pylons in particular is a great addition. I am trying to improve the number of filter lands to roughly 1.5-2 per player.

A nice replacement for Herd Migration which I didn't really enjoy the incentives it had despite liking the top end/land cycling combo. The search for a desert rider is fun for this format. Lackey makes a treasure and that is really all it does. Unlikely to stick for long.

I am experimenting with some more converge cards that are payoffs rather than answers. Curious to see if these make for interesting play patterns.

As mentioned I am trying to add a few more filter lands in. The text on these is pretty much flavor text/ minor upside for players to worry about.

Adding in a beefy morph for green and another morph payoff.

Cuts

I am cutting these three lands as they were all quite broken as slightly inefficient creatures/removal. In this format they were too defining in games for a colorless land slot.

After some play ward quickly proved a little oppressive. The inverse rule has been instated. Now all face-down creatures are 2/2s with no abilities.

Outside of this, these edits are trying to cut back on build arounds that are not centered around one of the cubes main pillars of synergy: color/lands, cycling, artifacts.

Excited for new morphs. I will be taking a page out other people's book and making all face down creatures have Ward . Excited to see how this plays.