Adding some more support for sultai graveyard, simic ramp/flash. Powering down gruul monsters and red aggro slightly. Adding some flexible utility artifacts.

Would like some more reasons to play GW counters, UG ramp/flash, UW tempo and GB graveyard - I don't think there's currently strong pulls to draft these archetypes.

General theme - reducing complexity, more support for aristocrats, counters, tokens, graveyard, card draw archetypes

White - diversifying aggro cards, adding more anthem/battle cry effects, flicker subtheme.
Blue - more removal, less "pay X" counterspells which punish high cmc
Black - more creatures, leaning into aristocrats/graveyard harder
Red - more aggressive creatures, support for aristocrats, go wide
Green - more interesting top end, removing awkward cards, aristocrat, counters support
Gold - Dimir more support for graveyard/looting, rakdos more aristocrats, orzhov attrition, gruul stompy

Evened up colour count a bit.

Trimming on some of the madness theme, cutting some recent adds which were too polarising, adding some more staple type creatures and gold cards.

• swapped in some new manlands - might be too many in the cube?
• changed blue threats around, made card advantage more incremental
• swapped out some of the white bombs
• trimmed on the inconsistent reanimation package
• master of waves

Adding more support and less payoffs for madness/reanimator to make it a bit more consistent
Buffing aggro slightly as it got crowded out by low curving midrange/control
Nerfed blue top end spells (mystic confluence) as they were too easy to stabilise with
Added some more painlands to incentivise aggro, removed some tainted lands as they put strange pressures on manabases to be primarily black (e.g. Bg over bG decks)
Added some more aristocrats support to give rakdos and orzhov more of an identity
Looking to add some more combat tricks to make combat more tense/interesting.

• Trimmed slightly on green ramp for more interaction
• Added some convoke removal - can be efficient with the right board but requires not attacking and can be disrupted
• Trimmed some red top end
• Powered down blue counterspells to be less punishing for playing on curve

Want to add more painlands

• Fixing arts and foil/non foil for recent swaps.

• Cutting the less interesting draft matters cards to make room for some extra additions

Other notes:
I'm considering adding some expensive hard counters in place of cards like censor, syncopate to make it easier to sneak under blue decks. Might need an extra looter (merfolk looter, frantic search) to make discard/madness theme work.

• Cut some power outliers (smuggler's copter, skyclave shade, etc.)
• Added a small ninja subtheme in dimir
• Trimmed on reanimation effects slightly
• Swapped some bread and butter removal effects for versions with more synergies and deckbuilding considerations (e.g. rift bolt -> fiery temper, epic downfall -> murderous cut)

Big update this time! I've noticed that the environment had drifted a bit away from my design goals so i've made a load of changes (57 cards total) to bring the gameplay closer to what I envisioned.

First off, a lot of bombs that have snuck in were cut. I don't find them very fun to play with or against, and they undermine the goal of the cube being focussed on working for card or board advantage through clever deckbuilding or play. Overpowered top end cards like glorybringer, embercleave, basri's lieutenant, inferno titan etc have been cut for weaker alternatives: collossal dreadmaw is already a huge threat, these types of cards don't need overwhelming value stapled to them as well.

Secondly, powerful curve fillers without any buildaround have been cut as well: cards like the first iroan games, inspiring overseer and bonecrusher giant are good in every deck and provide little in the way of interesting deckbuilding - if you play them you pull ahead because they are better than everything else, and they can't be answered because of their inherent card advantage. A card like irencrag pyromancer is my ideal for a powerful mid-top end: the card does nothing without other cards, but lets you approach the draft differently by prioritising looters and card draw to maximise its ability.

Third, there has been a big purge of "mulldrifter" and "chupacabra" style cards: if you want card advantage, you should have to work for it, not get it for free by playing otherwise good creatures. Likewise, if you want removal, that should be a deckbuilding consideration, and not simply stapled to already playable creatures. I'm aiming to curtail the meta that has developed of slamming mulldrifters and outgrinding opponents because your cards do everything better.

Fourth, removal has become more expensive across the board: lots of 1 mana removal has been swapped for 2 mana versions, and there is more removal higher on the curve. This is intended to make tempo more relevant, the decision to cast removal more meaningful, and benefit cards lower on the curve. Additionally, the low curve on removal has served to make gameplay grindy and favours top end, as cheap threats can be immediately answered, and so powerful cards and cards that generate value in the face of removal reign supreme.

To compensate for the lower quality removal, I have made threats generally more susceptible to it (more "baneslayers" than "mulldrifters") and lowered toughness of some top end (to make it answerable in combat/easier to remove) and removed some of the board clogging cards like lingering souls which invalidate removal and small creatures.

Fifth, there has been a bit of a shift towards graveyard strategies, with orzhov having more reanimation, and dimir picking up a looting theme. This should help archetypes cross pollinate, with golgari already having a strong creatures in graveyard focus. Generally there is not a whole load of card advantage from filling your yard, but value can be generated through things like delve, reanimation, threshold, etc.

As this is a huge change to the cube at once, some refining will need to be done. Most of the added cards will be on a watchlist to see if they are fun/interesting/balanced. Some cards will need to be swapped for more appropriate versions to my environment, and some further cuts might need to be made to cards that have slipped through the cracks. Archetypes and the overall metagame/game style will likely change significantly, so new cards may become overpowered or undersupported, and some archetypes may need refining if their support has inadvertently been cut.

Wanting to emphasise rakdos sac and golgari graveyard more. Cutting some red aggro cards for more flexible replacements as I suspect aggro is strong.

Dreadhorde arcanist, toolcraft exemplar and spell snare on probation, will see how they go in games.

Incremental improvement to manabase, embercleave may be too strong but is there as a strong signpost and build-around for red aggro.

Swapping some guildgates for painlands - better mana, more aggressive games, decision point on when to use them

Increasing the tempo focus by adding more efficient threats and answers. Slowly purging savannah lions for more interesting and scalable aggro threats. Added some fun top-end and added some build around value engines like lurrus, scions and drake haven. Drake haven may need some more looting effects to have enough consistent support.

The intention with companions is that they can be played pre-errata, as the conditions are meaningful and fun in a draft environment.

Updating some arts, adding more of a discard/madness theme, swapping around some uninspiring cards.

Expanding white tax effects - adds an interesting layer to white aggro.
Making removal slightly leaner, adding another looter to push blue draw 2 and graveyard synergies. Lovestruck beast cut for being a power outlier, encouraging defensive play, and not requiring any buildaround. Simic upgrade to something more inspiring that works well with flash. Upgrade to gruul land.

-> Changing white's creature suite to be more disruptive and interactive.
-> Lowering the curve on removal, cutting some board wipes as there are too many to be used.
-> Changing green committal top-end for more generic threats that can be used in reanimator and control.
-> Expanding graveyard synergies and black removal spells.
-> Reducing blue pips on counterspells to make them splashable.
-> Trimming recursive blockers - want aristocrats to be aggressive, not just sitting behind a wall of chump blockers.
-> Expanded blue and red card draw slightly
-> Swapped out some card artworks.

Upgrading some lands in gruul/rakdos colours to bring them up to speed with the other colours.
Added some hybrid persist cards over weaker guild options, though these enable some combos so are on probation. Added some more interesting guild cards, not necessarily signposting archetypes as I am trying to move away from rigid archetypes somewhat. Trimmed weak aggro cards that were baiting newer players, added some more scalable aggro threats that can be used in other decks.
Trimmed the simic spells matter section as it was very difficult to put together, added some more flexible pieces in their place. Upgraded some removal.