Mainboard Changelist
+1, -1

Oops. Didn't realize this wasn't changed yet.

Gemstone Mine is a different Aether Hub. Hub didn't really feel like a proper splash enabler as much as I would like, so shifted it to the mine so you can get multiple instances of colored mana out of it. As the trade off, you can only use it thrice, so sequencing and when you play the land can be important. I'm quite a fan.

... it's been this way in paper for a minute, but I never updated it here with reasoning, so here you go.

This is probably the biggest shift in design philosophy I've had so far in the cube. I wanted to create more contested picks in the draft, as well as open up drafting decisions once you got further into your picks, so I'm adding in hybrid cards.

By introducing these hybrid cards, I'm increasing the number of possible cards to draft for any one color by 2. Further, each of these hybrid cards could theoretically fit into seven different decks; only three guilds would not have the necessary colors to use a given hybrid card.

My hope is that these give each drafter more flexibility while drafting and increase overall deck variety. However, I'm concerned that this change will have the opposite effect... with 1/5 of the cube easily slotting in to so many ostensibly different decks, it's very possible that games will start to feel homogenous.

However, I'm ready and excited to make this big shift. I won't know if this was a good idea until I give it a go!


Here are the cards I'm adding and my rough thoughts:

  • Zealous Guardian is cheaper than I had wanted a card with flash previously. I'm a little concerned it will lead to non-games, but I like the idea of u decks having the ability to hold up a surprise blocker (or surprise threat) with all of their instant speed interaction, and I liked the idea of w having another instant speed action to take. If it leads to too many non-games or gotcha moments, I'll look to take it out.

  • Inkfathom Infiltrator has a super strong advantage as a potent win condition, however the fact that it can't block means the player will have to have some other sort of protection the turn they play it. I think this sort of high-risk high-reward card is super interesting, and at the very minimum it's another solid wincon for a u or b control-ish shell.

  • Scar is a bit boring but better than the alternatives. I didn't think that Rakdos Cackler would be played as anything more than a generic 1/1 usually (though as a turn 1 2/2 it's probably fine), and rakdos shred-freak I felt was too good as a hasted threat. Riot Spikes is an interesting alternative, however. For itself, I liked that Scar was an instant that had the ability to "store" damage from one turn to the next. If you're not using the mana anyway, you could use it to bring an x/3 down to Fiery Impulse or Sorin's Thirst range a turn before investing in those cards, allowing you to be mana efficient. I'll be having a copy of Riot Spikes on hand, though, if scar just turns out to be bad. I removed Nightmare's Thirst in favor of scar, as Thirst was very close to Grisly Sigil and I wanted a few more strategic choices available to players.

  • Burning-Tree Emissary lets red and green go wide with their threats. I think (hope) the double color pips here is enough to limit it... especially because my other r-g options seem to have worse play patterns.

  • Dryad Militant w has the best weenies and g has the highest power creatures. This seemed like a good merger of the two that would happily go into either list. The rest is mostly trinket text, though you will annoy at least one person playing Fiery Impulse.

  • Nip Gwyllion w and b are the primarly lifegain colors, and this was a good enough 1/1 that happily lives in either place. Lifelink in general is good enough that I predict this will be played quite a bit.

  • Blistercoil Weird is an old pet card of mine that actually might have a decent home here. I think its pseudo vigilance and combat trick potential could make this a solid build around for any u or r based lists. I expect this to see play, and I expect decks dedicated to it might do well and control the game.

  • Slitherhead is a neat little payoff for discard effects or sacrifice effects. The permanent power boost it provides is not irrelevant. I'm just curious to see if it sees play outside of g or b decks, maybe making an appearance in u decks running Mind Bomb or w decks running Stern Constable.

  • Duergar Assailant had a close contender in Boros Recruit. I liked the idea of the first striker always winning most creature combats, but I decided I didn't want r to have access to that alone, and w had Devoted Retainer already. So, we're swapping out Frostling for the Assailant, giving white easier access to recursive 1/1s. I do love the frostling, but it was an easy choice in what to cut once I decided to include the assailant. They're just so close in purpose.

  • Slippery Bogle has a potent keyword, but relatively few ways to properly take advantage of it. The only aura is at 3 mana in green, and if you're using Snakeskin Veil as a win-con, then one of the 0 power flyers or others are probably better targets. I think Hexproof is enough to make this guy desireable, however, and I do expect him to steal a game or two where the opponent's early answer was targeted removal vs a blocker. I'll keep my eye on him, but I think he'll be fine.

For any cuts I did not mention above, I cut them either because they were underplayed (Sheltering word; Arrogant Poet) or had a strategic niche similar to one of the added cards (Hopeful Eidolon; Loyal Sentry).


With this update, I'm putting Beacon of Destruction on the watchlist. I've loved this card forever, and I liked having the lategame inevitable wincon that it represented. However, I'm concerned that with all of the new 1/1's floating around, Beacon is simply becoming too slow to be viable. If I want to keep that sort of effect, I might consider Scorching Missile or similar as a replacement.

On the other hand, I'm excited about what this update will do for blue. All of the blue hybrid cards are threatening in one way or another, and blue was truly lacking that extra oomph to make it a viable primary color. I think we're finally getting to a point where it's going to be good, if not too good. It's about time :)

As always, please let me know what you think! People's feedback has been instrumental in making this list better.

I'm debating adding a multicolored section to help shake up the draft a little.

Hybrid mana costs mean these cards could slip into any deck that has one or the other colors without needing a real splash. Further, this means that if these cards are interesting enough, they'll be contested in many more decks than a monocolored alternative.

The only issue now will be finding cuts :P

We're continuing to poke around with blue. Spy Network has been a mainstay since the beginning, but unfortunately has moved firmly into pet-card-that-might-not-actually-be-great territory. I loved that I could effectively tutor as well as have perfect knowledge... but the tempo and card hit was too much. It helped sometimes, but better card quality in the color will help just as much if not more. So, it's out.

I've played with Mind Bomb in a friend's version of this list, and the card is too much fun to not include. Also gives an interesting build-around for the blue player to play towards. The discard is neat with the recursion options in white and black, as well as the card just being good with the lifegain present in those colors.

Condescend was fine, if unexciting. I kinda liked the idea of blue having a bunch of topdeck manipulation and that being its "thing," but I'm leaning more towards versatility in card choice and instant speed interaction as the cube evolves. So, we're swapping it to Phantom Interference to give that a try. It's an early counterspell that's good later as a "haste" flier. I think it's worth a shot.

Cabal Therapy was an answer to the boogeymen of the early version of the cube, the Slagstorm lifegain lists and beacon of destruction control lists. Those have been toned back with the other changes to red, leading to Therapy becoming more and more irrelevant. So we'll swap it for Unearth. Originally I had wanted white to have the exclusive recursion, but with Mind Bomb and other things appearing I think it's worth trying out a bit more in black. Might enable more Archfiend Vessel decks as well.

I appreciate all the folks who have given me feedback. It helps me inform the decisions I make!

Maybeboard Changelist
+1, -0
Maybeboard Changelist
+2, -0

I'm very happy with how Aether Hub, Undying Malice, Archfiend's Vessel, Sorin's Thirst, and Frostling have landed.

Red has still been stronk, however, so I decided to remove the best-in-slot dualshot in favor of something that is slightly slower but still very effective in Cast Into the Fire. This should still give the 2 for 1 while also not being as punishing on the tempo end of things.

Wall of Vines was a fine defender, but Rottentail is more interesting in more parts of the game. It's in here as a mildly dangerous creature on turn 1 and a devastating buff late game. So far I've liked how it's played, but it's too early to give it a full seal of approval just yet.

I took a leaf out of another player's book and have started giving the second player a tapped treasure token to begin the game. I have really enjoyed the decision points it creates for that player, and it feels like with its addition there are many fewer non-games. Again it needs further testing, but initial results are positive.

Just a small update for now! So far so good ^_^

Maybeboard Changelist
+1, -0