It's been a while since I sat down and really looked at the balance of this cube and offered an explanation, so that's what this blog post does.

I've been doing comprehensive testing and trying to make it fun for anyone to play with, regardless of your preferences. That also means that I've been trying to redistribute the color effects and play styles more evenly. In previous posts I've mentioned some of the revisions that were done, but the biggest ones are still on the way once appropriate legends are available. For the time being, there are still 4.5 color pairings that don't have a set identity in this cube, and a lot of maintenance/updates that need to happen to support the archetypes that I do have in here. The full list so far is below, as well as the main tribes for the five mono colors.

- WW (more support incoming), Soldiers as a tribe.
- Control, Wizards as a tribe.
- Discard, Zombies as a tribe.
- RDW, Goblins as a tribe.
- Landfall (more support incoming), Elves as a tribe.

- Stax
- Lifegain
- Equipment
- Tokens (more support incoming)
- Mill
- Spellslinger
- Ramp
- Treasures
- Graveyard
- Turbo (more support incoming)

Bant - Enchantress - Tuvasa the Sunlit is being added to link them.
Abzan - Humans - Anafenza, the Foremost inadvertently links this tribe.
Naya - Zoo - Marath, Will of the Wild naturally lends to this theme.
Grixis - Aristocrats - Anhelo, the Painter returning to link them, support incoming.
Mardu - Artifacts - Jan Jansen, Chaos Crafter naturally lends to this theme.
Sultai - Legendary - Nashi, Moon's Legacy is being added to support this theme.
Esper - Superfriends - Dakkon, Shadow Slayer lends to this by colors only, but there isn't enough support or planeswalkers that work well together. This will be revised when 2.0 is finished. Probably swapped for Wheels/Raffine.
Jund - (TBD) - Slimefoot and Squee don't synergize with any major themes in this cube right now, are there for colors. They will probably get swapped back out for Gyrus, Waker of Corpses, as he's more aggro and fitting for how the colors work in this cube.
Temur - (TBD) - Animar, Soul of Elements is the only option by default without rebuilding these colors.
Jeskai - (TBD) - Shu Yun, The Silent Tempest is also the only option that fits this cube in this color scheme.

The biggest challenge for building and updating this cube is working within the constraints of the format - it is essentially a fan-made format at this point, and any support from WotC is accidental. A lot of cube staples are purposely omitted from this because they don't really offer anything to the CMC>3 format or are banned in Tiny Leaders/Tiny Leaders Reborn. A lot of great commanders in the format don't really do anything outside of specifically built decks (the biggest problem with Dakkon, for example). There are still gaps in coverage, like the lack of a Boros walker at this CMC. While it's numerically impossible for these gaps to stay forever, it's unlikely that they're going to get filled anytime soon.

Other problems come from balancing what's fun to play with what's actually playable. Including 5C commadners like Najeela, the Blade Blossom or Sisay, Weatherlight Captain seems like a great idea, but it would come at a heavy price for fixing elsewhere in the cube. Including Backgrounds would cut into other commander slots. Partners are essentially banned, as there can only be one commander in the command zone. While these challenges are sometimes frustrating (Teferi, Time Raveler would be bonkers here), it's really fun to use the constraints like a puzzle to solve.

The next wave of updates should be finished by September. Version 2.0 should be done by October, with very minor updates thereafter until something really cool comes along to shake up the format.

Thanks.

Cut poison altogether except for Inkmoth Nexus and Fynn.

Brought Grist back in, along with some bugs.

Decided battles aren't right for this cube yet. Maybe down the line.

Added some combo staples.

Will probably add some more stax options soon.

More LOTR will make their way into this cube at some point, I just don't really want to proxy Delighted Halfling, Orcish Bowmaster, Flowering of the White Tree, Moria Marauder, Spiteful Banditry, etc right now. I also don't want this to get taken over by LOTR.

I will probably proxy or just buy Gloin. He looks like so much fun as a commander option.

Next few changes to this cube will include more focus on specific archetypes and trimming some of the often-dead cards. That's going to probably also mean changing some commanders out, since there are definitely a few that aren't very inspiring. This will just be cards that lack synergy in any meaningful way with what the cube is supposed to do.

After some careful consideration, big changes are coming to this cube. After re-evaluating what each color combo does well and what I want them to do in here, I've come to the following identities and themes that should/will be present in the 2 color pairs:

- Flyers
- Mill
- Treasure/Artifacts
- Speed
- Auras
- Tokens
- Spells
- Reanimator
- Combat
- Ramp

This has lead to some changes that will be coming, mostly in the commanders and some of the staple cards now serving dual functions. More things that can support treasures, combat tricks, and proliferate will be slotted in to help each of these themes work on their own. When possible, tribes and overall color values are being left intact.

: Soldiers, swarming with dudes, defensive plays.
: Wizards, controlling and manipulating, disruptive plays.
: Zombies, winning through attrition, greedy plays.
: Goblins, burning faces, aggressive plays.
: Elves, ramping into fatties, big plays.

3 color commanders are also getting reworked, but these pairings are overall less specific right now. While some themes are obvious (Bant=Auras, Abzan = counters, etc), some of them are only for color availability or the general value of the commander itself (Grixis = "Dakkon is a TL staple"). There are generally fewer options that lend themselves to a project like this though, so I'm not going to stress it. I think there's like one person following this cube besides me anyway, these notes are mostly for myself so I don't forget.

I had to put this project on the shelf for a few months, but there are some exciting cards coming out in MOM that seem like auto-inclusions. Wrenn & Realmbreaker will almost certainly replace Vivien as the green PW in this cube, and Slimefood and Squee/Goro-Goro and Satoru are excellent considerations over Anhelo and Gyrus for this cube.

The next set of updates and tests will probably come shortly before MOM's formal release. Depending on support levels, some existing tribes and archetypes might be adjusted or removed to better reflect a fun and balanced cube.

With the release of ONE, only a handful of cards have made the maybe list and will require the next version of this cube going forward. Technically I'm on v1.3 right now anyway, so the update will reflect that too. Some changes happening soon:

-Toxic/Poison will receive very minor support, not enough to warrant itself as a new archetype. Poison in cubes usually requires a lot of support, and I just don't really want to rewrite this whole list to make it consistently viable. Most of this will be in the form of Proliferate on strictly-better upgrades for staple spells. I suspect it will be 5-10 cards in total that somehow now impact this playstyle.

-Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler will replace Grist as the Golgari planeswalker, removing the need for current Insect support. That will restore some flexibility to black and green tribes that were previously impacted.

-Several "For Mirrodin!" equipment cards will be swapped in, hopefully making the equipment theme more viable.

-Ichormoon Gauntlent will be tested for inclusion. Esper Superfriends is currently possible in this cube (but not intentional or very good), but it is unknown if this will make that deck decent or potentially good here.

-I recently acquired some additional mana dorks that seem good for this cube, though they're not from ONE. Same with some older but oddly missing flyers like Ledger Shredder.

-Found my copy of Goblin Welder. He's going to make an ashtray.

Those changes will happen in the next week or so.