After years of playing with this cube, I’ve decided I want to reduce its size from 450 to 360. The main reason I’m doing this is to make future updates easier, as the bar for inclusion is much higher with a smaller cube, but in this process I’m taking several additional steps to help make the new 360 card environment more balanced and enjoyable than it was before. The broad goals of these (and future) changes are as follows:

1. Cut power outliers that make gameplay unenjoyable, while adding cards from supplemental products that I’ve skipped before. I want to focus more on what cards do than where they were printed, even if the definition of what is printed at common or uncommon is pretty different than it was in 2017.

2. Reduce card complexity by scaling back on cards with uncommon mechanics and cards that have extraneous text. I already started this process by excluding mechanics like Day/Night and double-faced cards, but I’d like to take this a little bit further to make this cube more approachable for people that don’t draft as often.

3. Reduce token bloat. This is tricky because sometimes really great cards happen to be the only thing that make a particular token, but I want the bar for such a card to be higher than it’s been before since finding tokens out of a box of 100 can really slow down a game.

4. Make it harder to ramp/play 3 colors. While I think green decks should be able to do these things, I don’t want other colors to do it as easily.

5. Remove support for the Reanimator as an archetype. Decks that cheat out 7+ drops have traditionally been pretty high variance, and ways to enable reanimator take up a lot of card slots. Rather than cram support cards for these decks into a smaller cube, I’m going to remove most of the payoffs (big creatures outside green) and enablers (self mill/discard), so black can play as a more well rounded color than happens to have some reanimation.

6. On a related note to points 4 and 5, lower the overall mana curve of the cube. This cube has tried for a long time to be a peasant cube that supports everything but I think I would rather lean into efficient, faster paced games.

7. Scale back support for color-pair specific archetypes. While I’m happy to still run a build around card like Soulherder or Mayhem Devil in this cube, I’d rather each color pair have pockets of synergy to build around than a single prescribed game plan. To achieve this I am trimming some of the less impressive gold cards and mono color cards that only play well in a specific color pair.

(As always, the full change list is available in the google doc linked in my cube overview)

(Inputted manually)

Nested Shambler -> Snarling Gorehound
Legion Vanguard -> Leering Onlooker
Play with Fire -> Case of the Burning Masks
Fearless Skald -> Harried Dronesmith
Nature's Way -> Hard-Hitting Question
Evolving Wilds -> Escape Tunnel
Think Twice -> Forbidden Alchemy
Fall From Favor -> Wooded Ridgeline
Hard Evidence -> Tangled Islet
Grimdancer -> Sunlit Marsh
Death-Priest of Myrkul -> Sacred Peaks
Spiteful Prankster -> Radiant Grove
Noose Constrictor -> Molten Tributary
Yedora, Grave Gardener -> Idyllic Beachfront
Monoskelion -> Haunted Mire
Tezzeret's Gambit -> Geothermal Bog
Terramorphic Expanse -> Contaminated Aquifer

(On 10/18/23 I realized that my last few updates to this cube were not added as blog posts. For easy access I'm adding them all manually today. As always, the full change log including reasons for changes can be viewed here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bA75xGenTIPdy5jCnnpDuylEkCGlMrswd5TMxBqs8vw/edit?usp=sharing)

Mardu Woe Reaper -> Cheeky House-Mouse

Banishing Light -> Stroke of Midnight

Ecstatic Awakener -> Faerie Dreamthief

Frenzied Goblin -> Embereth Veteran

Dryad Greenseeker -> Tough Cookie

High-Speed Hoverbike -> Candy Trail

(On 10/18/23 I realized that my last few updates to this cube were not added as blog posts. For easy access I'm adding them all manually today. As always, the full change log including reasons for changes can be viewed here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bA75xGenTIPdy5jCnnpDuylEkCGlMrswd5TMxBqs8vw/edit?usp=sharing)

Consul’s Lieutenant -> Anafenza, Kin Tree Spirit

White Dragon -> Kirtar’s Wrath

Compulsive Research -> Lórien Revealed

Domestication -> Thyrx, the Sudden Storm

Nantuko Husk -> Yahenni, Undying Partisan

Phyrexian Rager -> Dunland Crebain

Entomber Exarch -> Gonti, Lord of Luxury

Chittering Rats -> Priest of the Blood Rite

Witty Roastmaster -> Subira, Tulzidi Caravaneer

Viashino Pyromancer -> Frontier Warmonger

Civic Wayfinder -> Rishkar, Peema Renegade

Blastoderm -> Surrak, the Hunt Caller

Owlbear -> Yedora, Grave Gardener

Stormclaw Rager -> Judith, the Scourge Diva

(On 10/18/23 I realized that my last few updates to this cube were not added as blog posts. For easy access I'm adding them all manually today. As always, the full change log including reasons for changes can be viewed here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bA75xGenTIPdy5jCnnpDuylEkCGlMrswd5TMxBqs8vw/edit?usp=sharing)

Gustwalker -> Clarion Spirit

Blade Blizzard Kitsune -> Rosie Cotton of South Lane

Faerie Guidemother -> Rally the Peasants

Hammers of Moradin -> Midnight Haunting

Portable Hole -> Reprieve

Moon-Circuit Hacker -> Enclave Cryptologist

Mist Raven -> Meneldor, Swift Savior

Hard Evidence -> Thought Scour

Essence Scatter -> Stern Scolding

Bone Picker -> Mirkwood Bats

Underworld Hermit -> Dusk Mangler

Okiba Reckoner Raid -> Troll of Khazad-dûm

Echoing Decay -> Bone Shredder

Feed the Swarm -> Dread Return

Reinforced Ronin -> Phoenix Chick

Thrill of Possibility -> Rally at the Hornburg

Yavimaya Iconoclast -> Prosperous Innkeeper

Trollbred Guardian -> Generous Ent

Spider Spawning -> Greater Tanuki

Harrow -> Cultivate

Lotleth Troll -> Rise of the Witch King

Skymarcher Aspirant -> Invasion of Amonkhet

Combat Professor -> Oji, the Exquisite Blade

Tandem Lookout -> Stormclaw Rager

Echoing Truth -> Rhythm of the Wild

Pilfer -> Qasali Pridemage

Foulmire Knight -> Cruel Celebrant

Jackal Pup -> Binding the Old Gods

Claim the Firstborn -> Untethered Express

Chainweb Arachnir -> Third Path Iconoclast

Renata, Called to the Hunt -> Rip Apart