Since I'm sticking to the script of being nega-MTGO Vintage, the March update has goozled me once again by having picked up Greasewrench Goblin and Ivora, Insatiable Heir as ways to support discard shenanigans and instant-speed trickery.

Also Up the Beanstalk has at long last finally snuck its way into MTGO Vintage so a lot of the 5+ support that I've been stockpiling can probably go since that's kind of DOA without beans. It's a shame too because Beans was a lot of fun while it lasted. It's definitely a mechanic that works surprisingly well at a variety of power levels.

One of the ideas that I was rolling around in my mind is getting every card in Pointless to use the 8th Edition of M25 frame. I don't think I could realistically design the environment to be only M15 frame without sacrificing some cards that I really love but I'd be interested in how far I could realistically go as far as keeping the cards and concepts that I like in the environment while getting rid of showcases/old-border cards as much as possible. I think with how complex the environment is it might be the overall benefit of the cube to make this sacrifice in favor of improving the gameplay quality and the average drafter's enjoyment.

I love the triskadekalands. These have a lot of staying power in the environment as just a cycle of common lands that enter untapped in the latter ~half of the game and fix. Very cool

Exorcise is a sorcery speed Make Your Move that shaves a mana off but which also exiles. I like that a lot.

Splitskin Doll is a nice variation on the Wall of Omens formula that's usually a draw but which can sometimes loot. Good for the Arabella deck that will emerge post-hiatus.

Blue just has nothing going on this set that I particularly like which is fine.

By contrast, black has a ton of cool cards that are hard to pick from. Fear of Lost Teeth is a new Festering Goblin that gives the Abiding Grace deck a slow win condition. Let's Play a Game is a super cool new Delirium payoff. Live or Die is just a new instant speed reanimation spell casually that also can sometimes double as an overcosted Murder in a pinch and works with Up the Beanstalk. Lastly, Withering Torment is the first instant speed black enchantment removal which adds nice texture to black's removal.

Clockwork Percussionist is a nice addition to the roster of red artifact 1-drops. Untimely Malfunction fills in the void left by Sundering Eruption since I'm considering taking all the DFCs back out. Violent Urge is a very nice aspirational combat trick for delirium because double strike does cool things.

Insidious Fungus is a sizeable upgrade over Caustic Caterpillar. Altanak, the Thrice-Called is pretty much exaclty what I like out of a big green top-end card. Wickerfolk Thresher overtakes Dodgy Jalopy as an artifact creature for delirium nonsense.

Drag to the Roots is exactly the kind of card I like out of a uncommon gold signpost because it's a fine card as a baseline but scales up to be on-par with some of the classically best The Rock cards like Abrupt Decay and Assassin's Trophy. Meanwhile, Arabella, Abandoned Doll is a fantastic curve card for WR artifact aggro that also helps broaden the space of what exactly that color pair can do.

Discard is kind of locked to Grixis. Not because no other color couldn't add support to discard--Jund madness is very much a deck and adds cool effects like Nantuko Cultivator + Tilling Treefolk-- but no other pair can become Grixis. There are no red ninjas for UB to gain and black really isn't a great multi-spell color despite Infernal Pet and Tendrils of Agony. I can rotate 5 of the 3-colors around though to try to fix some problems with out of budget cards. Pawn of Ulamog is out of budget and w/o a reprint will remain that way. Kozilek's Unsealing is a budget card and way more cleanly supports the play patterns of the RG deck.

This means that Delirium easily slots in to Jund. I can bring Unholy Heat and Dragon's Rage Channeler back if I wanted to and even run stuff like Fear of Missing Out.

Tokens then goes to Abzan which is far easier to play with. Peregrin Took and Hazardroot Herbalist and Propagator Drone already naturally play in the space of WBG tokens so I like that a whole lot better. Maybe add a Cloakwood Swarmkeeper?

This means Mardu naturally goes back to WR which I also like better because I like artifactocrats cards like Marionette Master and can more easily fit blaggro cards into the kind of WR aggro stuff that I'm doing.

Lastly, that means the UR multispell gains white for Murmuration and Clarion Spirit and whatnot. I like this a lot.

I'm just going to try and see what other options I like because it's possible things like Paralysis + Seizures are just too cute and weak even in Spikeless. The Orochi of Kamigawa give some interesting options since a bunch of them have freeze text and I could add Keen Sense and the like for more ophidians.

If Esper tap tempo becomes Sultai tap tempo then Sultai ninjas must become Esper ninjas. Which isn't great but also isn't entirely unreasonable. Even if Blade-Blizzard Kitsune is the only ninja I gain this way, the card is still good and the flying men that one can gain access to through white are also quite good compared to the "evasion" of green.

Regarding MB2, there are far more playtest cards that I'm interested in than there were in MB1. I have no idea what the roll out of MB2 will be or if any prints from this set will/won't end up in budget but that's a problem for future John and by the time I come back in 2025 they might have given in to consumer pressure and made a retail version or the cards could have been at enough magic cons to saturate the market.

In particular there are some mighty spells for Temur multispell like Indicate, Starting Town NPC, and cheerio reprints like Memnite and Urza's Bauble. I like Search Elemental as an evasive creature for Ninjas.

Vuzzle Spaceship is a cool top-end for artifacts deck/reanimate target. Teferi, Druid of Argoth is an entertaining color shift for Bant flash.

Tinder Wall with the future sight frame is a fun treatment and Boltfire/Penumbra Umbra are cool cards for discard/delirium lists.

I don't necessarily know of Mardu Outrider or Goblin Gang Leader are good enough but they are cards that I'm nostalgic for since they were arena beginner cards from when I was learning magic.

Broadly in this iteration of the scratchpad I want to go back and think critically about my self-imposed limitations on the environment and consider whether or not I think that they actually improve the environment. If I'm making the environment simpler in so many other places why shouldn't I be able to reconsider things like the odd typal effect or bringing back text referring to regeneration where it's relevant. None of the changes in Pointless will necessarily stick; it's just food for thought.

In particular, I'm interested in the idea of first strike as "evasion" as put forth by LPR in their discussion of the play patterns of first strike vs. deathtouch. Sanguine Guard for instance, has the potential to be an interesting enabler for UB. The upshot is that if I have actual cards with Regenerate, I can bring back removal spells that mention regenerate without worrying about if that's confusing. Consume the Meek, for instance, is one of my all-time favorite board wipes and I was so sad to cut it before. If I have Sanguine Guard and Wolfir Avenger then I can include Jaya Ballard, Task Mage. I always want to bring Nightpack Ambusher back so why don't I? I have enough wolves and it's enough of a self-contained engine that if I would be willing to make an exception for Krenko, Baron of Tin Street, why wouldn't I also add the Ambusher.

The other thing is undoing some of the MTGO vintage cube changes. I've liked getting rid of the planeswalkers and some of the more ubiquitous cards are worth excluding but some of the cards that have historically made it into the MTGO vintage cube are so far afield from what cards are commonly considered "cube staples" that it's downright random. I'm keen to add a properly Wheel of Fortune-like like Magus of the Wheel or Wheel of Fate and since all of those have been in the MTGO Vintage Cube at one time or another it's hard to make space for them. In particular, I want to bring Ranger of Eos back since that card was a gift. The rest I care about less. I'd want to gather more testing data but I suspect that neither BR Discard nor UR fair storm has suffered so much that they really need their old toys back.

The biggest idea that I've had in terms of refurbishing Spikeless is moving away from the strict 2-color archetype structure and lean more into centering themes in certain colors but allowing third and even fourth colors to have more cards that support the themes. I've gone through all of the two-color archetypes and come up with some ideas about what third colors I might like to add as supporting colors to open up broader deck-building options.

WU Tap Tempo -> Esper Tap Tempo

Green and Black both have a history of weird tappers that probably wouldn't get printed these days and both black and green have access to a fair number of ophidian effects that they contribute but ultimately black edged green out slightly in my mind because it has removal that hates on tapped creatures like Death Stroke, Assassinate, and, critically, Murderous Compulsion. I still want to focus on cards that touch on many synergies and archetypes wherever possible.

UB Ninjas -> Sultai Ninjas

Spring-Leaf Avenger and Kappa Tech-Wrecker are both just genuinely good ninjas and green has a respectable variety of ways to make creatures difficult to block. I especially like Hazardroot Herbalist in this respect as a way to support tokens and help make them kind of unblockable. Recent discussions around the evergreen keywords have made me curious to try more first strike as a way to make creatures difficult to block and Elvish Archers is as classic as they come first strike-wise. Old habits die hard though and I still want to have deathtouchers like Poison Dart Frog because, come on, he's just a little guy. Mistbreath Elder intrigues me as a way to reset ninjas like and also self-bounce for multi-spell matters.

BR Discard -> Grixis Discard

Even though I know a lot of players love green as the tertiary discard color, Zombie Infestation + Obsessive Search holds such a special place in my heart. It's exactly the kind of magic I love. Blue has good enablers and payoffs for discard matters and seems like the natural choice for a third supporting color. Another part of this tweak is reconsidering some of where I spend my complexity budget. I miss Abolisher of Bloodlines and would love to find room to bring that card back. It just brings me so much joy.

RG Dorks -> Jund Dorks

Black already had a little bit of dorks with like Bog Witch but adding black more explicitly to the RG deck means I get to include cool tech like Abiding Grace for Blood Pet and Overeager Apprentice funky cards like Vesper Ghoul. Death Pit Offering and Shrei, Shizo's Caretaker are both interesting build-arounds that fit into existing decks and strategies but also open up interesting territory in conjunction with Jund Dorks. Sadly, Pawn of Ulamog is not budget.

GW Food -> Naya Food

This was the hardest one and it's just because the only other color that directly deals in food is black but I really wanted to give Abzan to the Delirium/Threshold deck and there are no mana dorks to speak of in white so that left red. WG Food and WR Historic already has a fair deal of overlap because food incidentally helps trigger metalcraft/pay for affinity/etc. But giving red more ways to sacrifice arifacts and benefit from having sacrificed artifacts can give some cool texture. I'm particularly keen on bringing Trash for Treasure back since I'm considering bringing back some of the payloads that work with Spirit-Sister's Call and Vuzzle Spaceship is such a cool top-end for red. Also Aether Revolt is very cool with things like Ghirapur Aether Grid and Makeshift Munitions.

WB Tokens -> Mardu Tokens

I was already passively supporting a sort of artifactocrats shell that spanned Mardu with things like Marionette Apprentice, I just want to add more token generators into red to work in that space. Maybe support Goblins? Having a small undercurrent of goblins was fun with cards like Blast from the Past and Squee, Dubious Monarch. Perhaps if I throw Goblin Gang Leader and Krenko, Baron of Tin Street into the mix I can have a small goblin subtheme in red.

UR Multispell -> Temur Multispell

I already casually supported Temur fair storm so why not lean into it further. Flexible ways to grant mana abilities like Rishkar, Peema Renegade and Careful Cultivation work wonders with Centaur Omenreader and the idea of Cloud Key with Starting Town NPC in the multispell deck makes me positively giddy especially when you can throw a Mistbreath Elder in the mix for self-bounce. MB2 in general gives fair storm some cool new tools with funny cards like Indicate and a reprint of Urza's Bauble.

BG Delirium -> Abzan Delirium

White has some surprisingly good support cards for this archetype. One-drops like Mystic Penitent and Topplegeist slot neatly into several strategies while live-from the graveyard cards like Skyblade's Boon and Nearhearth Chaplain fill out the package.

RW Historic -> Jeskai Historic

Flying Men like Silver Raven and Artificer's Assistant immediately come to mind but also Whirler Rogue is quite a known quantity and will be very powerful with artifact creature lords like Cyberman Patrol. I'm interested in the idea of adding something like Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain but she's not budget coming or going no matter how many times she's been reprinted. Broadly I like the idea of adding more arifacts in order to make things like Breeches, the Blastmaker more viable. Emry, Lurker of the Loch was one of my favorite question marks in MOM draft and I like the idea of including her as sort of an open-ended question to consider as you draft. Suddenly with Jeskai Historic and Grixis Madness Ballad of the Black Flag looking for Tamiyo Meets the Story Circle and The Modern Age feels like quite a cool bit of tech.

UG Flash -> Bant Flash

And that leaves just Bant. Bant is difficult and, as always, black is hotly contested all the way down. OTJ had some interesting spells that triggered off of not casting a spell during your turn like Prairie Dog and white has a fine selection of instants and cards with flash to support the Titania Control-style piles. Ultimately, like so many of these, black is the superior option but some color pairs need to get stuck with white and there's only ever been one white ninja in Blade-Blizzard Kitsune so I'm not sure what to do. Certainly white works in on-board tricks and mana-sinks so maybe that's enough. I just conceptually like moving flash into black because ninjas naturally has good crossover with ninjas on account of ninjutsu being an activated ability rather than a cast. I could bring Heliod, the Radiant Dawn back. That card makes me very happy.

I'm going on hiatus from curating Spikeless Cube. I'm going to be going back to university to get my master's and so I won't have time to draft and collect data and spend time thinking about Spikeless in the way I have been these past four years. However, Pointless is a space that I still want to have a scratchpad for when I suddenly get struck with an idea. The ability to non-commitally drift in and out of Pointless has always been something I particularly enjoy about it and I have some large, top-level ideas I'm keen to tinker with in the wake of various discussions about complexity, conversations about keywords and their impact on environments, and a broad, community-wind interest in lowering barriers to entry and making more fun, accessible environments for variety drafters than still has that strategic depth that breeds replayability. I'm tearing down the Pointless again and will slowly be building it up again over the course of the next year or so when inspiration strikes.

Oofa Doofa. So the one that I missed is tragically the one that also hits my ol' BR discard for value deck the hardest. It's fine I have plenty of backups that I can side back into to fill in these gaps but this will definitely nerf this archetype by an unintentionally large amount. I'm interested to see how this shake-up winds up affecting the environment overall since it's very different that other updates I've done before. I'm killing a lot of my darlings and deleting a lot more of my art than usual.

The Rest of the cards that I'd really want to fill the space with are a bunch of the sort of "not-quite-good-enough" cards that live rent free in my brain where I've thought about the positive impact they could have on the environment but dismissed them because they didn't quite meet the brief or I couldn't identify a cut for them or whatever.