Entertaining the idea of including "flavor packs" a group of cards that add a temporary theme to the cube. The first of which is slivers.

I'll be honest here, I like the idea of Initiative over Monarch as a mechanic. In theory it seems like it should continue to push the game forward in a way that drawing a card at the end of turn just can't guarantee.

There are just two things I don't like about the mechanic.

  1. Without the game aid in front of me, I just can't seem to remember exactly what Initiative offers. This becomes an issue during draft where I can't properly evaluate the choice until I re-read through all the rooms in the Undercity.
  2. Outside of the white creatures I just don't find the rest of the initiative cards all that interesting or powerful. I find that I only include them in my picks to grab the Initiative, which can be accomplished by just taking it from someone else with a better creature.

To that end I am making the switch to Monarch. In this post I am only adding the court cycle from CMR which I think are powerful cards that not only introduce the Monarch, but instill a sense of urgency around taking/protecting the Monarch for all players due to the powerful upgrade it provides the controller of the court.

Blue
8bitJesus posted to 8bit's Multiplayer Cube -

Consecrated Sphinx and Hullbreaker Horror were too big a shift towards straight up good stuff in Blue. They also weren't all that exciting due to their ubiquity in the Commander format.

I've always had a soft spot for Sphinx Ambassador and the mind games it can create. Djinn of Infinite Deceits looks like it can create some interesting scenarios and also provides a solid blocker for a Blue based control deck.

Murmuring Mystic, Whirler Rogue, and Feywild Caretaker all created a different 1/1 flying token and felt a little cluttered, so I swapped back to Venser as an all around solid card that gets better with some flicker shenanigans supported in U/W.

Lastly, Lier was an interesting card and I liked being able to replay instants/sorceries, but shutting off counter spells just didn't feel like something Blue wanted to do since I don't run any real combos that the color would want to protect through counter magic. I also wanted to make combat tricks matter a bit more in Blue and adding prowess is one of the ways Blue can get in on the action.

More moves based on feedback.

Blue is still finding its place within the cube. I want it to have its own identity while also creating unique decks when paired with another color as opposed to simply support for those other colors.

Red also got a little tightening of the belt to narrow the band between bombs and utility cards within the color. I also feel like the new additions have a bit of a broader appeal.

Green has been another tough color to figure out when paired with another color. Too often it became ramp into the other color's top end which often paled to Greens own top end. I pushed some of that top end into the middle to see if more midrange decks emerge from Green pairings.

Lastly a number of these changes were to push the overall power down a bit to allow some of the more fun cards to shine. A number of drafts have shown that going two color with a splash of a third often means a majority of your deck can be Rare/Mythic which pushes the fun cards out to the sideboard. The three drop slot was among the worst with so many solid options across all colors, and will require further monitoring to see if this can be spread out a bit more.

First impressions of the cube were positive, though there were a couple of criticisms.

First White & Black both seemed to overshadow the other colors in power, and often drafting one or both those colors was the correct choice.

Blue was often relegated as solely a support color and had little appeal by itself.

The overall power level and number of Rare/Mythic bombs seemed to push out some of the more niche "fun" cards. (I think there is still some work needed beyond this update to get the balance right.)