Tarkir is back! And with it, 11 new cards I'm excited to test. As usual, some of these are perfect fits in the cube, while others might come out as soon as the next update if they don't perform well.

My two highest picks from these adds are Desperate Measures and Glacial Dragonhunt. As I've cut down on the quantity of removal, I've been trying to prioritize spells with alternate modes or that do something in addition to removal. Desperate Measures is perfect at that, providing a narrow removal spell that can also serve as a pseudo-protection spell in the right moment by recouping some of your losses, or simply as a way to cash in a random token for something better. Glacial Dragonhunt is a rare case of a two-for-one removal spell in this cube with the Harmonize option, but doing so requires giving up two nonlands which is a relatively steep cost given the lack of graveyard synergies here. I like that it also has other options like just drawing or maybe you discard it for value from another card and just cast it with Harmonize.

The second tier of cards include Descendant of Storms, Unending Whisper, Sinkhole Surveyor, and Hollowmurk Siege which all fit nicely into the cube's archetypes and synergies. Not much to say here, I expect all of these to last awhile. Unending Whisper in particular is interesting to me; one-mana cantrips are so much better than 2-mana ones, and I do expect the Harmonize mode to come up in games that go long. I'll definitely try to track how often this is drawing two cards, we'll have to see!

The third tier is made up of cards that can fill roles in the cube but may not make the power level cut: Fresh Start, Tersa Lightshatter, Seize the Opportunity, Herd Heirloom. Fresh Start is a nifty "removal" spell, but definitely a few steps below the average removal power level. Tersa looks fun to play, but boy that attack trigger leaves a lot to be desired. Herd Heirloom would be absolutely perfect if it asked for power 3+ instead of 4. 4 is doable but a bit of a stretch, we'll see if the payoff is worth it. Seize the Opportunity is a draw-2, an effect I've been trying to max out, but as a glorified Quick Study I'm unsure if it gets there.

Lastly, but not because it's underpowered, is Rally the Monastery. I have very few noncreature ways to generate tokens, and all the existing ones only make 1. I was hesitant to add this, since tokens are often worth more than a card in this cube and I want to ensure the focus remains on creature spells, but the other modes on it just make it make so much sense here. I think this could end up being a staple.

There are definitely some noteworthy cuts here, I'm especially sad about Glint-Sleeve Siphoner and Anje's Ravager which are both fairly iconic. Glint-Sleeve comes out due to its replaceability among all the other black bobs; and only drawing a card once every two turns is a big knock compared to the competition, same with the use of energy. Anje's Ravager is a power level cut, I rarely see it come down and not win the game, and the only times it doesn't are when it dies before it attacks. I've been trying to limit some of the more snowball-y threats and this one was next on the list.

Nowhere to Run and Bloodchief's Thirst both seem like staple removal spells, but as you'll see with my fancy Removal tags, black is still flooded with them. Bloodchief's Thirst comes out for being boring and too widely useful, while Nowhere to Run upsets me by invalidating protection spells. I don't think anyone will miss them!

Force of Will is perhaps the most surprising of the cuts, I honestly didn't envision a day where I'd cut it as its a staple of what I envision "Tempo" to be in my mind. But with that said, I've heard a few comments about it saying it doesn't really fit what this cube has become, and I'd have to agree. This is no longer a ride-your-delver to victory type of Tempo Cube, especially given my Psychic Frog ban. A free counterspell kind of just feels like a free counterspell here since there's no unfair shenanigans to protect or defend against.

That's it for Tarkir! What are y'all excited to try from the set?

Okay I just found out you can do this and I'm in love, will be much easier to monitor removal levels this way

I know I'm kinda late on this update, but your disappointment won't stop there because I also won't be giving my usual breakdown of each and every card on this list!

I haven't been cubing much lately but the second half of these changes all come from ideas that have been floating around my head since CubeCon24 so I promise they aren't random!

We didn't get a lot from DFT but I am particularly excited about Stridehangar Automaton and Marauding Mako to help support unique artifacts that aren't super well supported in the cube.

I'm sad to give up the horizon lands, but the verges have impressed me and it's nice to have one for each color pair. Once we get the rest of the horizons I'll strongly consider adding them back.

Most of the rest of these additions are to help support a Rakdos discard archetype, which is an angle I'd like to lean into because currently Rakdos Removal seems to be the most consistently strong archetype and I want to change that!

So most of these new cards either discard cards or want you to discard card, let's see how they perform!

There are some pretty sad cuts here, but I think they're all pretty necessary.

Coming off the top-end of the elo scale are:

• Preacher of the Schism
• Lightning Bolt
• Psychic Frog
• Nadir Kraken
  Cards that are just too powerful and efficient for this cube

Next up are cards that are cool and great in the cube, but are too generic when I'm trying to take this cube in a more archetypal/synergistic direction:

• Journey to Nowhere
• Kumano Faces Kakkazan
• Fervent Champion
• Faerie Mastermind
• Ayara's Oathsworn
• Drana, Liberator of Malakir
• Ardoz, Cobbler of War
• Dreadhorde Butcher
  All great cards, but don't fit into any archetypes I'm trying to support in their colors

Lastly, some underperformers

• Glyph Elemental
• Malefic Scythe
• Levitating Statue
• Delver of Secrets :(
• Iridescent Vinelasher
• Monastery Swiftspear :(
• Pip-Boy 3000
  Sad to see Delver and Swifty go, but they don't really fit into this cube anymore. They're great in aggro and tempo decks to punish slower opponents, but fare much worse when your opponent is also curving out with 1-, 2-, 3-drops

That's about all I have time for, sorry again for the low-effort post! If you have any questions about these swaps I'd be happy to discuss!

See y'all next set!

Oops just realized I forgot to add these back after cubecon

Foundations is a bit tamer of a set than previous ones this year but not only was that expected, it's welcome! I'm happy with the general simplicity of the cards I'm adding today and how well some of them fit into the archetypes I want to support.

White

Each of white's cards this set are pretty similar to cards already in the cube, but I definitely appreciate redundancy here when it's for cards I think contribute well to the goals of the cube

Brigone, Soldier of Meletis is a fun combination of Favored Hoplite and Dusk Legion Duelist that plays well enough in a heroic deck as well as a +1/+1 counter deck but really thrives in a combination of both. Seeker of the Way comes out to maintain parity on white 2's and never really made much of an impact in the cube, as cool as it is to have white prowess creatures.

Joust Through is a second copy of Elspeth's Smite, an effect I'm extremely happy to have here. Combat tricks are one of my favorite classes of card that don't really get their time to shine outside of retail limited so having a powerful removal spell that only works in combat is something I much prefer to the typical Lightning Bolt or Fatal Push. Dispatch has been a cool sort of buildaround removal spell, but too often leads to feeling bad even in a deck built around it.

Even Celestial Armor is essentially a duplicate of Silver Shroud Costume though it adds a few bonuses for the extra mana and color. I've found Costume to actually feel a bit oppressive, especially because it can be played in decks that normally wouldn't get an effect like this. I'm eager to see whether Armor plays more fairly while still being a strong pick. Path to Exile may be a shocking cut as its such an iconic spell, but I'm trying to hammer home that balance and good gameplay matter above all else. As large as path's downside is, it matters not in comparison to having an instant speed hard answer to any threat.

Blue

Much to my chagrin, blue continues to get some absolutely bangin 2-drop creatures. White too, but somehow I notice it most in blue. I suppose blue as a color is most likely to have cheap creatures that fit the themes of the Tempo Cube, but golly it's getting hard to find space for all these creatures.

I was on the fence about Drake Hatcher at first, but a few people convinced me that having prowess creatures and creatures that care about how much damage they deal can be even more interesting than ones that just need to deal any amount of damage. I think this is a great target for auras, equipment, as well as combat trick spells that you can essentially cash in for a 2/2 flyer which is a great body for this cube. One newish theme I'll be trying to support in this cube is draw-2 or "second draw matters", and Sleight of Hand just happens to be the only cantrip that doesn't work with it. I'd have loved to cut a blue 2-drop creature instead, but I couldn't find any I wanted to part with.

Speaking of draw-2... Mischievous Mystic is a card I was immediately excited about. A 2-mana 2/1 flying body is already nice to have, the fact that the ability makes more flyers is what really sells me. Not to mention how simple and easy to read the card is. I think with other blue creatures that can draw cards like Shoreline Looter for example, triggering this every turn can be pretty easy to manage. Stormwing Entity is next in the list of cards that are probably too big for not enough investment, and doesn't provide much interesting value to the cube.

Lunar Insight I'll admit is a bit of a stretch to add to the cube, but I'm always happy to cut a test card for another test card and Bottomless Pool // Locker Room just doesn't really fit too well. What got me excited about Lunar Insight was the fact that it works real well with tokens, and shouldn't be too difficult to get at least 3 cards drawn off it which I'd say is pretty powerful. It reminds me a bit of Painful Truths which I've enjoyed having in the cube: getting more than +1 card advantage off a noncreature is something I try to avoid in most cases, but an expensive spell that requires you to build around it just a little is something I'm fine with.

Wow, black gets nothing this set! I mean I could add like Stab, but that would kinda ruin the point of cutting Disfigure... But don't worry! Black will has quite a hefty update coming up not long after this update!

Red

Red's gotta be the winner this time just in terms of interesting and exciting cards. I do wish we'd get some more interesting noncreatures, perhaps some better combat tricks, but I can't be mad about sweet creatures, especially when the cuts are fairly easy.

Kellan, Planar Trailblazer is the next in a longish line of 'levelup' 1-drops that don't typically make it into this cube because they tend to feel too slow or boring, but he is also a Kellan which have historically made it into this cube when possible. This levelup creature is different because he already starts with a decent body at 2/1 and immediately levels up into a creature that can draw cards, something I'm quite happy about. And then his final evolution not only makes him quite a powerful threat but also lets you trigger his previous evolution twice! I like Reinforced Ronin quite a bit, but there's so many red 1's now and if there's any to cut it's that one.

Ivora, Insatiable Heir is the perfect kind of card for this cube. So perfect that I'm cutting another so-called perfect card for it: Robber of the Rich. Cutting Robber is sort of a sneakpeek to the next update for this cube which is to cut non-synergistic snowballing threats from red and black primarily. I want creatures in this cube to need some effort put in for the payoff because right now, successful rakdos and jund decks just jam as many 2-for-1 value creatures as possible and run away with card advantage. After so many drafts of this cube, I only now realize that I added way too many "Bob" effects to the cube at the beginning while I was searching for black's identity in this environment. So next update will primarily involve rakdos colors and hope to give them more identity while powering them down. It just so happens that Ivora is the perfect tool for that goal: not an especially powerful card, but does a lot of things between making tokens, enabling discard, draw 2, and even caring about your other discard effects. All that on top of being a "Titan" makes her an awesome addition.

Another perfect card, Searslicer Goblin, also has the "Titan" effect where he can trigger the turn he comes down as well as any turn after that. I love how simple this card is for such a strong effect. Speaking of simplicity, Najeela, the Blade-Blossom is anything but. I'm happy to see this one go.

Green

Green's getting a couple goodies this set, one of which may be my favorite new addition, though I'll be which one it is will come as a surprise!

Scythecat Cub serves a very similar purpose to Bristly Bill, Spine Sower. Both have almost the same effect, and both really want you to draft as many fetch lands as possible. I think these cards are quite strong and having two could prove to be problematic. But so far what's kept Bill in check has been the fact that at some point you stop getting to trigger the ability every turn. As opposed to Luminarch Aspirant who gives a guaranteed counter every turn. Jugan Defends the Temple finally gets the axe here as an extremely powerful X-for-1 that just does way too much for too little investment.

Go Forth! This may be my favorite addition this set. I love its simplicity, its power, and its gameplay patterns, as well as its effectiveness in a cube like this. It combines two other cards I love here which are Mutagenic Growth and Bushwhack. Mutagenic Growth has been pretty powerful in this cube, just the threat of having it up at all times to protect or get in a little extra damage makes it a worthwhile include in most decks. Now we get a version that costs 1 mana but has a helpful alternate mode! The second Ozolith, the Shattered Spire gets cut here as a too-efficient noncreature engine. Trust me, the counters deck doesn't need the help.

Gold and Colorless

Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate comes in over Florian, Voldaren Scion as a more interesting payoff than just drawing cards. She also works nice with rakdos's discard plan.

Scrawling Crawler is a bit disappointing, but Glissa Sunslayer needs to go and I like having more colorless creatures. Perhaps crawler will prove stronger than similar cards that were in the cube at a point.

Thanks for reading! This one went pretty long but I'm glad I didn't have to break it up into two separate updates. As mentioned before, I'll be working on a larger update coming soon, but as usual let me know if there's anything you think I missed from Foundations!

Lists lock in 2 hours! My main priority here is to make sure no cards that could be oppressive and haven’t been tested enough make it through. I’d much rather see cards that don’t get played than cards that feel bad for the other player.

Innkeeper’s talent is just way too much value on a noncreature so I’m walking back that change and Nadu is, well… Nadu.

On the other hand, lignify and heirloom blade have felt pretty lackluster so I might as well swap them for something more interesting.

I have heard things about night scythe being too powerful for aggro decks but Ive also been looking for more powerful colorless cards for awhile so let’s see what happens!

Nothing too special to see here, sadly I can't afford real duals, nor would I ruin the aesthetic of my cube if I could afford them, so just like last year they're coming out for more shocks!

Normally I would replace all the horizon lands in the cube with regular pain lands since I don't get to have my fancy custom horizon lands to fill out the full cycle. However, since I like the horizon lands so much I figure I might as well keep them in. But rather than replace the missing ones with boring pain lands, why not try out the new verge cycle that perfectly fills in the gap? I've really loved having these in standard and pioneer as untapped 'duals' that don't cost life, let's see how they perform in the Tempo cube!

Wow I definitely did not expect to be adding the exact same amount of cards as I did in Bloomburrow, but let's take a look at these 17 exciting new Duskmourn cards!

White

After getting stone-cold nothing in BLB, DSK gives us 5 cards, 3 of which I think are absolutely perfect!

Shardmage's Rescue can be simplified down to a white Snakeskin Veil, a card I'm pretty happy to have in green. 1-mana is where you want your protection spells to be, and the +1/+1 counter or aura are nice for several different decks to have.

Sheltered by Ghosts is so many words to have on a card. Besides being a removal spell, the Ward excites me greatly. I love this as a proactive protection spell, a pretty rare effect to see on any card. On top of that a power boost and lifelink never hurt!

Reluctant Role Model has a lot of text and involves some funky counters, but the end goal is a powerful creature on its own right that synergizes with lots of other stuff. You'll notice later on that I cut The Ozolith in this same update, part of my reasoning is that I don't think I need to have two of this effect, and I'd prefer to have it on a creature to promote interaction.

Enduring Innocence and Surgical Suite // Hospital Room are risky in that they break rules of the cube. Hospital room costs > 3 and Enduring Innocence is a creature you actively want to die because it turns into a powerful enchantment that is much more difficult to remove. However! I think in these cases the benefits outweigh the drawbacks, and I hope these cards excite players!

Coming out are a bunch of underperformers, and I think the added cards will see much more play. I couldn't think of a 5th cut for white which is why Horizon of Progress- a card that has felt bad pretty much every time I've had it -is in here.

Blue

Blue isn't super exciting in this update, Unable to Scream and Bottomless Pool // Locker Room are both interesting cards that fill roles in the cube, Locker Room can draw cards and Unable to Scream is actually a decent removal spell in a cube with little bounce or flicker.

Silent Hallcreeper is one of many 2-mana 1/1 unblockable blue creatures that provide some value when they attack: Suspicious Stowaway, Shoreline Looter, Looter il-Kor, etc. However, I find this one much more interesting than the others; I think there's a very meaningful decision between which modes to choose in which order, and then how to play towards copying the right creature. I expect this card to play very well in the cube.

I've heard quite a few complaints about Minor Misstep, it feels much worse to leave up mana for it rather than something like Isolate's ability to deal with something small on board. I know Stormchaser's Talent just came in, but I was worried about it then and I figure it just isn't worth the risk when I have something fine to slot in its place.

Black

Black gets some pretty interesting removal downgrades in this update. Fatal Push and Dead Weight are both extremely powerful cards but I've found Push, though iconic, to be a bit too ubiquitous of a removal spell and dead weight just has a more interesting version in Gift of Fangs.

In general I like Edict effects because they allow players to kill large things in a way that sometimes takes work to deal with things you don't want to be sacrificed. Sporogenic Infection helps that somewhat by allowing you to pick one of their small creatures that won't get sacrificed, and is also an aura to boost cards like Aphemia, the Cacophony.

Red

Chainsaw is a card I'm extremely excited about. First, it's a powerful equipment that decks with Akiri, Fearless Voyager and similar will be happy to run. Second, it's sorcery speed removal with upside which couldn't be more perfect for what I want in this cube. I expect players to be quite happy seeing this card in the cube.

Untimely Malfunction is funky but I think it works here as a Harm's Way type card that can redirect a removal spell that also isn't embarrassing to mainboard given the two other modes.

Green

These additions aren't terribly exciting, but they fit the cube and can do cool things. Managorger Hydra is a favorite I'll admit, but in every game I see it played it completely takes over until it's killed. I don't like the speed at which that happens, and I don't see it as a staple in the cube either. You'll see a similar explanation for why I cut Anim Pakal in the next section!

Gold

Like I said in the green section, Anim Pakal, Thousandth Moon leads to games that revolve completely around here, making her a kill-on-sight card. Which is a shame because she's such a cool card, but so is the card we're swapping in for her! I've already had the pleasure to see The Jolly Balloon Man in draft and boy, what a neat effect. And this just happens to be the perfect cube for it! I can't wait to see what people will do with him.

Colorless and Lands

Another really sweet card! In a cube all about creature abilities, this is such an efficient and flexible way to make use of them. In that regard, it reminds me a bit of Agatha's Soul Cauldron as a card you can see early on and build around in tons of different color combinations.

And that's all! Let me know what cards from this set you're most excited about, any I missed, and if there are any cards you're sad to see go! Watch out for a second update in a day or two to go over some last minute changes before CubeCon feature cube lists need to be locked in! I have a few swaps in mind already but I'm hoping to axe any potentially oppressive threats as well as any underperformers that I can find good swaps for.

Wow 17 fun new cards to try from this set! This update is pretty reminiscent of the OTJ one with a few fun cards to try out as well as some much-needed staples and a sprinkling of archetype support. Let's dive in!

Nothing too exciting here, swapping out a removal spell for one that has an additional mode to make it slightly more interesting.

Blue

Blue (and Green) was a clean winner this set providing some powerful new creature options to replace several of the more lackluster blue threats. I like keeping blue as a color focused more on trickiness and card advantage than straight up aggression, and the new blue cards fill that role perfectly.

Kitsa, Otterball Elite, Shoreline Looter, and Azure Beastbinder are all solid 2-drops that have exciting abilities, promote attacking, and look fairly powerful. I'll also point out how exciting it is to finally get rid of the last Day//Night card in the cube! I'm eager to see how often Shoreline Looter's Threshold condition is met, as well as Kitsa's copy ability. Beastbinder on the other hand just looks so powerful no matter how you look at it. But in a good way!

Mockingbird is a great fit in this cube. With a focus on interesting creatures, there should always be a good target to copy making the bird an on-curve, evasive threat that can also be played on turn 1 to be returned to hand later using a ninjutsu ability.

Stormchaser's Talent feels a little wrong in this cube given the final ability's capacity to take over a game on its own without requiring creatures, but the first two modes fit so well I'm willing to look past it for now. If I start seeing control decks playing this as the sole win condition I may have to cut it, but for now I'm excited!

I'm sad to lose Brineborn Cutthroat and Master of Etherium, but they just never performed as well as I hoped them too. Maybe someday there will be more of a flash archetype and Brineborn can return, but for now I don't think either will be missed. Sleep-Cursed Faerie and Triton Wavebreaker didn't get much time in the limelight, but they weren't terribly important cards in the cube either so I don't mind rotating them out already.

Iridescent Vinelasher isn't the most interesting card in the world, but it does fit 2 spots on curve, is fairly aggressive, works nicely with fetches, and importantly is a black 1-drop, a slot that has struggled to find good options in the past.

Additionally, due to popular demand, I'm bringing back Stalactite Stalker who never did anything wrong :)

The cuts here are two fairly underwhelming 1-drops that will be replaced by more powerful, more interesting 1-drops. Seems like a good swap to me!

Red

Only three new cards here, but I believe these will make a thrilling splash in game, I'm excited to see how they perform!

Hired Claw is a solid aggressive 1-drop that can scale quite nicely. It reminds me a bit of Usher of the Fallen in how it leads to unique gameplay where sometimes you're happy to just do nothing but attack and activate each turn until your opponent forces you to do something different. Will that be enough to justify playing this? I hope so!

Heartfire Hero and Emberheart Challenger both feature the new Valiant ability word. In addition to all the targeted protection and fight spells that we're used to with heroic cards, abilities can also trigger Valiant, and there are plenty of those to go around in the form of Equipment, creature activated abilities, and triggered abilities!

Kessig Wolfrider is a card whose play patterns I like in this cube, but it was also bound to be first on the chopping block compared to everything else in red. Moria Marauder and Runaway Steam-Kin are both good fits for the cube, but haven't performed well during their time.

Green

The other winner of this set, Green gets a pretty significant boost in power here, we'll see if anything needs to be scaled back.

Pawpatch Recruit is another card that doesn't fully excite me, but plays an important role in the cube as onboard protection, mana sink, and aggressive threat. I'm curious to see how the ability will affect gameplay.

Tender Wildguide is kind of awkward as a 2-cost mana dork, but I like the pattern of holding it up as a blocker that grows itself until it's ready to attack, doubly so if you wait until turn 4!

Overprotect is the exact kind of card I'm looking for, 10/10 no notes.

Hunter's Talent and Innkeeper's Talent are both strong effects that you should almost always want in your decks, and also provide good ways to spend excess mana in the lategame. I'm slightly worried they will end up being too oppressive like Ranger Class was, but given the base case requires you to have creatures out as opposed to Ranger giving you a creature, I think they'll feel much less overwhelming.

Most of these swaps were pretty simple 1 for 1 upgrade/sidegrades but I hope Hardened Scales won't be missed by too many people, it happened to be the narrowest of these effects, and Innkeeper's Talent just has such a better floor that I'm sure players will be satisfied with. Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter is another long-standing inclusion that I'll miss, but I also understand.

Gold

Fireglass Mentor kind of serves as an additional, 2-cost Florian, Voldaren Scion which is something I'm very interested in. I think this could be a staple, but I'm curious to see what kind of deck out there will be able to take most advantage of it.

Zoraline, Cosmos Caller is a lot of card, but all the things it does align well with the cube. My only complaint is the etb trigger that requires spending 2 mana, I'm worried that playing this for 5 mana will be the best case scenario and that value will prove to be oppressive. As just an attack trigger, however, I love this card and the additional identity it gives to the Orzhov.

Cutting Assault Intercessor may come as a surprise as that card has been fairly powerful, I just don't like the kind of identity and gameplay it provides. Removing opponents' creatures is already enough of a reward that adding 2 damage to the face feels like throwing salt in the wound. I won't miss this card.

Nothing this time!

And that's all! Let me know what cards from this set you're most excited about, any I missed, and if there are any cards you're sad to see go! I'll see y'all again in just a couple months when Duskmourn releases!

Thanks for bearing with me! If you missed part one it's right here!

Green

Green got some gnarly upgrades here, I've really been liking green as a color more and more in the cube so I hope it starts putting up better results after these updates!

The only other card I considered for green was Birthing Ritual which I think is an awesome card but I'm skeptical of its power level. I also don't think in most cases you'll be wanting to swap our your creatures unless they're tokens and at that point you can only get 1-drops. I think Birthing Ritual will find its home in other cubes and I'm excited to see how it performs there!

Multicolored

Okay I'm gonna do something a little weird here and throw off my perfect color balance.. This round of hybrid cards are simply too important for the cube and deserve their own section. I'm also going to be adding some lands additional lands further down which will skew the numbers even more. So I'm using this as a chance to cut some random cards I don't like without them necessarily being 1:1 swaps. I may walk this back later but I at least want to try it out first!

I really wanted to add Planar Genesis to the simic section, but Simic is super stacked as it is and a glorified impulse isn't exactly what we're looking for her. I still think the card's great but maybe not quite enough. Another neat card is Cranial Ram as a creature/equipment hybrid that the artifact deck would want, but the artifact deck rarely wants to be in black and I also don't have anything I want to cut from Rakdos at this time.

Colorless

...crickets...

Nothing here really sparked my fancy, a bunch of eldrazi stuff that needs colorless mana and hate pieces for constructed formats. Nothing I was interested in unless I missed something!

Wow between the main set and commander decks, there were some really sweet lands this time! I only landed on two of them, but I'm definitely warming up to the idea of having a cycle of monocolor utility lands if I could only decide which to include!

So many other great lands. Sunken Palace, Lazotep Quarry, and Spymaster's Vault I think are all very reasonable cards but I'm still not quite ready for the monocolored lands. I think the next update after this will be a balance update and maybe that will be the best time to test some!

And that's it! Gosh I can't wait to draft again, these cards are all so exciting and fill a bunch of gaps I had in the cube. I don't know if I'll ever be completely satisfied with the list, but MH3 feels like a big step in the right direction! Thanks for reading and happy cubing!

Okay folks this is a big one so I'm going to try to cover half here and keep it to just two parts.

White

White and Green turned out to be the colors that gained the most cards from MH3, which I'm happy about! I think black and red are in pretty good spots now and blue I struggle finding cuts for despite it often underperforming

Last changes for white are two removal swaps. I really appreciate the power of MDFCs taking up a land slot in this cube; they help just a bit with the flooding problem and also just give decks more action. Lay Down Arms is powerful but sometimes a little awkward both with the opponent gaining life and you needing enough plains. Expel is much cleaner in practice.

There were two other white cards I considered. One was Jolted Awake which is very close to Unearth but I still think performs just worse than the other white options in Call a Surprise Witness and Pre-war Formalwear. The other was Dog Umbra which in theory is the perfect blend of protection and removal in this cube but in practice I think will be very awkward. Pacifism doesn't stop most of the problematic creature abilities and Umbra Armor doesn't protect against exile, -x/-x, or bounce effects. I really wish the card were just a bit stronger because I like the idea!

Blue

Blue only has two changes this round, but part of that is just that I don't have many cards I'm ready and willing to cut from it. If you have experience with any of the blue cards in here and think some don't deserve a spot, please let me know!

Some other blue cards I think are interesting are Dreamtide Whale which I decided was just a bit too swingy at that statline, and Hydroelectric Specimen, another MDFC with a very useful ability but, as a creature, goes against some of the cube's rules. Specimen is one I might add later but not in the first update.

Black

I think I've done an okay job reigning in some of black's power. I've seen fewer removal pile decks show up in my drafts of the cube, and I've started seeing nonblack decks trophy. I'm pretty happy with where black is at but I'm always happy to see new slam dunk includes in any color!

It may surprise some of you that I didn't choose to include Barrowgoyf. It does everything this cube could ask for! Too much, if you ask me. I think this card would be extremely oppressive and with black as likely still the strongest color, I'm not looking to add something as huge as this any time soon. There's also Chtonian Nightmare which reads perfectly for a cube where most cards have mana value 3 or less, but again this isn't the kind of gameplay I'm looking to have in the cube.

Red

Only one new card for red!

Galvanic Discharge seems like another no-brainer but, again, it's another card that's just too good at what it does and red doesn't need the upgrade. I'm happy having Lightning Bolt as the most powerful red removal spell given its iconic status. Galvanic Discharge is too similar but has the added baggage of energy text. Another interesting red card is Party Thrasher. I ended up leaving it out in favor of Magmatic Channeler which seems pretty similar to me, but a bit better given that it becomes a large threat pretty quickly in the right deck. Do you agree with that assessment?

That's the end of part one! Did I miss any slam dunks? Are any of these bad fits for the cube? Too strong? Too weak? What are your favorite MH3 cards in these colors?

Thanks for reading and look out for part 2!

Shuffling some things around to get ready for MH3 updates!

I'm gonna have to bite my tongue and accept that color balance is going to go out of wack but that prioritizing gameplay and fun cards is the way!

Some spicy takes in here!

Somehow it took me this long to remember Rosie Cotton and Scurry Oak are an infinite combo, and those are something I want to avoid in this cube. Bodyguard is a primarily ETB/one-time-use card, but I think I'm warming to the idea that a few of these sprinkled in are healthy for the cube. On top of that, Spell Queller is very similar and a beloved staple of the cube. I particularly like how Bodyguard can be used to save one of your creatures in a pinch.

Spyglass Siren is another ETB creature, but synergizes with a bunch of different archetypes and is just a solid role-player in the cube. K-9 is a weird one that I was testing, I don't hate it and it could come back in the future, but definitely isn't crucial to the cube.

I've been looking to cut Quirion Dryad ever since Questing Druid got added and Loamspeaker seems like a good fit as some handy flood insurance. 3/3 is a large statline in this cube and if these are connecting or even trading in combat you're happy. In fact, you can kind of compare this guy to Jadar in terms of how they play.

Duelist of the Mind is one I didn't add initially and probably should have, the card is just good and right at home in the cube. Wharf Infiltrator is the kind of lackluster, unexciting card I'm looking to swap out in an update like this.

Proft's Eidetic Memory is another one I'm tentatively excited about. I've seen it put to great use in Pioneer and in theory is the perfect sort of buildaround for this cube. My worry is mostly that players won't find enough ways to trigger it, but the fact that it cantrips makes up for some of that at least. An Offer You Can't Refuse is a weird card that's difficult to evaluate in this cube and that leads to it going late in draft and not making the cut in the deck. In my opinion it's great because oftentimes the treasures won't even be used, but it can be difficult to convince people of that and yes there will be times where the treasures let opponents double-spell or hold up extra interaction. I could see this coming back one day, but right now I'm more excited about Proft's

Finally, Horn of the Mark is a card I really wanted to be good, rewarding for attacking with a trigger that digs for more potential attackers feels like it should be great! Problem is that you need a ton of creatures to ensure you don't whiff, and having to attack with two creatures to trigger it when sometimes those attacks can't be made profitably is bad news. Pip-Boy just makes sense here, it's a very flexible card that can do a lot of things. The fact that it triggers on attack rather than damage is a nice upgrade. I can see use cases for all the modes and I think the card will be very fun to play with.

For any of you that will be at the Cali Cube Champs, I look forward to meeting you and I hope you get a chance to draft this cube!

Cheers

For the last few drafts we'e been playing with full sets of horizon and pain lands. With this change I'm finally adding those into my cubecobra list so it can be up to date in time for the Cali Cube Champs

However, I've decided to swap out Pain Lands in favor of Pathways that I used to run. Doubling up on sets of pain lands has made some manabases uncomfortable, and having played the pathways much more now in pioneer I'm ready to add them back in. I think they're add an interesting dynamic to manabases that are trying to be more aggressive and won't get picked up by the 5c deck as often. I originally cut them because of the double-sided hassle, but that's really much less of an issue than I initially thought.

I know the Horizon Lands won't be available for CubeCon and I'll swap back to the pain lands, but I really like what they add to the cube. I've seen some 2c decks play half off-color horizons just for that extra bit of flood insurance. I really hope they decide to complete this cycle soon!

Y’know what, while I’m at it, I’ve had this card specifically requested as a mana sink, counters card, and safer target for auras equipments, and more counters. It doesn’t look like much at first glance but it certainly has roles to fill. If no one plays it I don’t mind cutting it but I haven’t really enjoyed seeing Wildborn Preserver’s play patterns so this seems like a fine test to me

These should all make sense, helm of the gods is a bit narrow and with fewer enchantments it’s time to take it out. I love the idea of having an equipment that gives haste to non-red colors and the ward is a significant benefit

Spitting Dilophosaurus was way too oppressive when it stuck around and black’s 3-drop section is pretty crowded so I figured I’d pull from there. Nethergoyf is an interesting new card I want to try, mostly since it’s a 1-drop that grows. I know its escape ability breaks one of the restrictions in the cube but I feel like the cost is steep enough and shrinks it down enough to be fine. I can’t imagine being ability to recur it more than once in a game.

Murderous Cut was brought up recently in a draft as a removal spell that just felt too efficient and powerful. In my ongoing quest to make games more interactive by cutting interaction (?), it’s out. Some of y’all may remember me cutting reanimate awhile ago. I didn’t like that it signaled a reanimator archetype to drafters but at this point I’m pretty sure people should know to not expect any Archons or Ionas… This is still a very powerful card since it can grab creatures from your opponent’s yard, but it’s more of an unearth sidegrade than part of a t2 combo win

I’ll be drafting this cube in person in two days with hopefully a full pod so I’ll probably be back here afterwards with more updates. And beyond that, we have MH3 to look forward to in just a couple weeks!

Piiiicking up where we left off in part 1:

Green

Bristly Bill, Spine Sower. What a card. Can't ask for much more here: green Luminarch Aspirant that gives two uses to your excess lands and is a lategame powerhouse. Love it. I know I only just added Sharp-Eyed Rookie but I really do not like that card in this cube and I can't exactly explain way. I've played with it a bit in the cube and that hasn't increased my perspective on it at all. Happy to see it go for a much cooler card.

Ornery Tumblewagg: what's this, another green luminarch aspirant?? (I know it's 3 mana so closer to Siege Veteran but still) Again, I'm curious to see how often these will get saddled and how important that is to the card. Setessan Champion comes out with the move away from enchantment support, though there are a couple other green 3s I'd be happy to cut as well, so hoping for some new goodies to add soon!

Trash the Town may not be amazing, but it is cool. I love that if you squint real hard this looks like a green Chart a Course, one of my favorite draw spells in the cube. The added protection mode only puts me higher on the card, even if that'll end up costing >3 mana. Finding a cut for this was hard since I didn't want to take out any of green's precious removal so I ended up on Vastwood Fortification which is a card I like as it's a land with another mode if you have too many lands, but I admit it's not a very exciting card no matter what mode you're using it for. I don't expect anyone to miss this one.

I'm sure other cubes got a lot more out of green than I did, but I'm pleased with what I did get, and here are some others that could eventually make it in:

• Aloe Alchemist - not this one. Although it is a powerful 2-mana creature, it's too much of a mulldrifter (I know it doesn't draw cards, it's just a one-shot effect rather than repeatable value)
• Freestrider Lookout has great stats and a repeatable trigger, but having lands just isn't important enough in this cube
• Sandstorm Salvager is again too much of a one-shot effect, even though the activated ability is powerful

Gold

Assimilation Aegis is so cool and what I wanted Blade of Shared Souls to be. A removal spell in a color pair that doesn't get a whole lot of removal that has some synergies with equipments and artifacts and can also be used to steal the effects of your opponent's strongest creature. I hope it'll lead to some really fun moments in game. Out comes Prodigy's Prototype once again, I'm happy that we're finally starting to get better WU cards, and that means the vehicle gets bumped out again, it's a fine card but not anything to be sought after.

Malcolm, the Eyes is fantastic, another great izzet tempo card that can keep you up on gas and rewards you for drafting all those cheap cantrips. Very happy about this one. Izzet is a very competitive group and doesn't have a lot of room for swaps so even though I think Izzet Charm is a solid card in this cube, it just happens to be my 8th favorite and just misses the mark after Malcolm comes in.

Slick Sequence, oh man another izzet card?? It's a removal spell that might also draw a card if you're smart about it, what more could I want? Getting a little creative with this one, Fire // Ice is moving over to the red section since that's really where it belongs and that card is too cool to cut, instead I'm getting rid of abrade as a boring removal spell and an answer to artifacts (that's a bad thing for me in this cube).

Huh I thought there'd be more of these, let's see what else I was looking at:

• Eris, Roar of the Storm is technically castable for <=3 mana but it's hard to do and the card's just too big for this cube if you can actually do it
• Jolene, Plundering Pugilist isn't actually that bad now that I'm looking at her more, but still feels too slow and narrow for a 3 mana card
• Laughing Jasper Flint is probably another surprise as he looks like a slam dunk for the cube, and I'm here to confirm that he is. In fact, I think he's too good and I don't want to give another powerful creature like this to rakdos as long as that's the dominant color pair
• Lazav, Familiar Stranger just doesn't do it for me, too slow and I don't like rewarding people even more for committing crimes in this cube
• Lilah, Undefeated Slickshot would be awesome here if there were more than 17 gold instants/sorceries
• Miriam, Herd Whisperer - Similarly, Miriam would be awesome with more mounts and vehicles
• Satoru, the Infiltrator is another cool buildaround that lacks support
• Seraphic Steed steed is interesting to me but I feel that the saddle cost is too high to get much value out of it. But on the other hand, the payoff is enormous so maybe it's worth including to try to live that dream? Maybe I'll try it in the next update
• Stella Lee, Wild Card is interesting but one: she's izzet and two: I can't see many occasions where her activated ability will happen
• Taii Wakeen, Perfect Shot is another awesome cheap buildaround but again rewards playing a ton of removal spells
• Vraska, the Silencer - see above
• Vraska Joins Up - I like this card a lot and I expect this to be in the cube at some point, but I want to wait until there's a more dedicated legends archetype before adding an undersupported card
• I also wanted to shoutout the many cool 3-color cards that don't currently have a place in the cube but may someday find their way in if I can get 1 of each color combo that I really like: Ghired, Mirror of the Wilds, Kellan Joins Up, Loot, the Key to Everything

Colorless

Lost Jitte - another absolute banger of a cube card. Umezawa's Jitte proved itself to be too strong in the cube, but perhaps its little brother will fit right in. I really appreciate how there's no repeatable removal mode on this one, but the second mode still functions as blocker 'removal' to help your creatures attack in. There aren't too many shenanigans you can do with the untap land mode, but the ability to double-spell or always leave up mana is an important one. And of course, growing your creatures is what this cube is all about. I think this will be a staple. Mask of Memory has been on the chopping block and just waiting for a solid artifact to be bumped out. Easy swap.

Liberator, Urza's Battlethopter is a weird card and another non-OTJ add, but I've had my eye on it for a little while now and recently heard some favorable discussion around it from some other cube designers. Artifact creatures are rare to come by for this cube and this one even grows! I do think giving your artifacts flash will come up, but even just the ability to leave up a flash creature on your opponent's turn and getting to grow it into a 2/4 flier on your turn seems reasonably powerful. I'll gladly test it out over the Runechanter's Pike that people love to draft but hate to play with.

There were a few other colorless cards that looked solid in this cube but for one reason or another didn't make it into this update:

• Dream-Thief's Bandana - stealing cards is fun but this is kinda just worse than Mask of Memory when it comes to efficiency
• Lavaspur Boots is extremely close and should probably be in this update but I'm still a little unsure about it. Haste and Ward are great but I wish the stat boost were a tad bigger
• Leyline Dowser - I just think it's neat. The legendary synergy is so cute on this but it needed to be able to hit any noncreature or just be a little more likely to draw a card to be worth it.

Well I'm already running the fast lands, and I love them, so not much to discuss here.

Again, thanks for reading the second part to this big update! I'm thrilled to get to try out so many cool new cards, and I can't wait to see how these changes affect future drafts of the cube. I'd like to follow this up with a more balance-focused update if I can get in a few playtests between now and MH3, but I'm definitely happy with the direction the cube is moving in: more generically good cards that have marginal but relevant upsides to work towards, and more interesting creatures to buildaround!

Happy cubing!

Wow what an exciting set for cube! There are lots of cards to talk about today so I'm going to try to keep the fluff light and get straight to the point-

White

From Thunder Junction we have two adds here:

Getaway Glamer is a neat modal spell that can function as a mediocre protection spell and/or a mediocre removal spell. These days, I'm very interested in mediocre but flexible removal as a balancing tool against the dominant mardu removal decks. I believe games will be more exciting and decks more diverse with weaker but multifunctional removal. That's why I'm replacing Glass Casket for this card as it was too simple as a hard, unconditional removal spell. Another thing I like about glamer is the hidden third mode of clearing away two blockers in a turn by flickering one and removing the other.

I want to pause here to give a quick note about spree cards. Spree is a new mechanic in OTJ that essentially makes modal spells that also have kicker to allow you to use multiple modes. I recognize that these will sometimes be cast for more than 3 mana to get to combine modes and that goes against the Tempo Cube's restriction in a way. However, I am okay with this for two reasons. One, the base cost for each mode on the ones I have added are all <=3. Two, players have been asking for more ways to use excess land in the lategame, so I figured these are a great method to fulfill that wish.

Collector's Cage can either look too strong or too weak based on how you look at it. As a card that requires you to have multiple creatures on board to get full value it's a bit of a risk to include in your deck. But in a stalled board, the ability to grow your creatures over the top at instant speed while also threatening to free-cast a removal spell, protection spell, or surprise blocker can be quite devastating. My hope is that I continue to balance the cube away from the removal-heaviest decks being the oppressors, this card will have more of a chance to shine. I'm continuing to trim on auras that aren't picked late and getting rid of the unique token on Cartouche of Solidarity is a welcome bonus.

The third change to white I'm making here is a simple swap of an underplayed, narrow buildaround to a more powerful, less narrow buildaround. Turns out there's a bunch of good humans for Thalia's Lieutenant to pump and not a whole lot of equipment/vehicles/auras you want to be playing for Sram, Senior Edificer.

Not in my immediate adds, but other white cards I considered included

• Oltec Matterweaver which felt a bit slow and also less interesting than Torens without more powerful artifact tokens in the cube like karnstructs to copy
• Thunder Lasso which reminds me of Greatsword of Tyr but without the scaling potential
• Requisition Raid which is a nice modal spell but the base case doesn't quite get there
• Dust Animus, much too slow for full benefit and too oppressive when it does get there
• Prairie Dog, I like them a lot and they fit the cube well but white 2s are a very tight slot and I couldn't find a good cut for them

Blue

This may come as a shock but nothing to add from blue this time!

Here are all the cards I considered:

• Archmage's Newt, there was a lot of hype around this guy but there's just so many hoops to jump through here and you don't even get to live the dream of free-casting an 8+ mana spell in this cube
• Duelist of the Mind is probably the closest I got to adding a blue card, but I just can't shake the thought that this is just a worse ledger shredder. Sure it's cool with brainstorm and vigilance is nice, but the fact that it can't gain toughness or grow permanently is enough to turn me away
• Fblthp, Lost on the Range - okay the more I look at this the more I like it. At the time of writing this I wasn't going to add him but I just changed my mind. I'm also gonna leave this here so sorry for the confusion. Fblthp can 'draw' a lot of cards and, even though he's a 1/1, the ward makes up for some of that. I think my one complaint is that plot cards can't be cast at instant speed so counterspells and protection spells you'll typically want to keep in hand. Either way, the reality chip hasn't been great and was supposed to serve a simliar purpose so that one's out
• Fleeting Reflection is cool but too weak
• Geralf, the Fleshwright looks kind of crazy if you can get him going, but there aren't a whole lot of ways to 'storm off' in this cube and if you're triggering him just by double-spelling I'd rather have cheaper, similar threats like ledger shredder. I also think he goes from too weak to overwhelming. I could be very wrong about this guy but I think I'll pass on the initial test
• Jailbreak Scheme I like as blue removal that can do other things, but the fact that the first mode costs 4 mana total and with how inefficient the removal mode is, I think I'll leave this one out

Black

Tinybones, the Pickpocket! Great card, it's been in the cube since it was spoiled and I have no intention of changing that

Caustic Bronco - A pretty solid upgrade to Pain Seer which was a consistently late pick. Overall it's a very similar card but with the upside of getting the draw immediately and also getting to forego the lifeloss if you can saddle it. Cool card, I'm interested to see how often it gets saddled.

Not much here for black, but then again I'm not really looking to power up black at the moment and nothing else really caught my eye. But here are some that came close!

• Insatiable Avarice - I'm not a fan of tutors in this cube, and I felt like the 5 mana mode on this was just a bit too relevant
• Kaervek, the Punisher - I'm sure me not adding this will surprise at least some of you, but to be honest I just don't like the play patterns of this one. I seems like the ideal case to me is chaining removal spells together, and that's the kind of gameplay I'm actively trying to discourage. If it could get back any color card or just creatures, I think I'd be more interested
• Lively Dirge is very cool but I think the 5 mana mode just ends up being too powerful, and if you're not doing that you're doing a 4-mana mode which I'm not particularly happy about either
• Pitiless Carnage I actually kind of like as a way to turn excess lands and tokens into cards, but it just doesn't quite sit right with me. Maybe if the base cost was the same as the plot cost..
• Shoot the Sheriff - not interested in yet another doom blade variant
• Vadmir, New Blood is perhaps another surprising one, but it's a bit too slow to grow while also having a less interesting final form than Ayara's Oathsworn

Red

Slickshot Show-Off is a card I expect to see in many different cubes, and it certainly deserves a spot in this one. Flying, hasty beater that gets stronger if you build around it and helps boost the izzet tempo deck that people love to build. I'm excited to see this one in action. Bedlam Reveler comes out as even though it's one of my favorite cards, red is too powerful right now and it's too much of a mulldrifter to fit in with the rest of the cube.

Demonic Ruckus doesn't look strong enough at first glance but it's the evasion it grants is very relevant in a cube like this and it helps alleviate the fundamental 2-for-1 weakness of auras by replacing itself. I imagine this will be a t1 plot play every time it's in your opener, and getting to slap it on your next creature immediately will make for some solid aggressive starts. Magmatic Sinkhole just happens to be the next removal spell on the chopping block as it's kind of boring, so not much to see there.

Other cool red cards include:

• Embrace the Unknown, a repeatable draw spell that gives an outlet for excess lands. I've been told that it looks too slow, but I expect this one may eventually find its way in
• Generous Plunderer has sparked some serious debate as all its stats and effects add up to a fairly powerful card, but I really don't like that it punishes players for playing artifacts. That kind of hate effect fits better in constructed than in my cube
• Hell to Pay I came close to adding, but I really want to limit the amount of X spells I run that provide extra benefit based on how much mana you can spend
• Legion Extruder I'll throw in here because people have brought it up, but it's a noncreature wincon so it doesn't fit the criteria
• Magda, the Hoardmaster doesn't do quite enough, and has the same problem as Kaervek that rewards players for casting a bunch of removal, a gameplan that's already way too dominant
• Scorching Shot, like magmatic sinkhole, is just a boring, powerful removal spell and not what I'm looking to add at this point

Green

will have to wait for the next update since I'm rapidly approaching the character limit here. Oh well, I guess we got through half of the cube sections in this post anyway!

Thanks for reading, let me know what you think about the Thunder Junction inclusions or anything you think I'm missing out on! And stay tuned for Green, Gold, Colorless, and Land updates in the next post!

Some people might see Rosie Cotton as me breaking my rule about having no ETB creatures, so I want to clarify here as I’ve done in person. The goal isn’t to exclude all cards with etb effects, it’s to ensure all the creatures don’t feel like they’re just one-time value cards (think Thraben inspector) where they come in, do a thing, then you forget about them.

The distinction I like to make is between which effect is more powerful: the etb or the rest of the card. In the case of Abbot of Keral Keep or Stoneforge Mystic, the etb is the reason to play them in this cube. For Rosie Cotton, a food doesn’t do you a whole lot of good, but I can see her doing very cool things in a deck that can make a lot of tokens.

Just here to give you a little insight into how I evaluate cards for this cube, thanks for reading!