Why hello there! It's been a while. I assure you, I'm still alive and still drafting this cube. But I haven't put my thoughts or made a recap in a while. I'm hoping to change that this year because it was honestly pretty fun writing those recaps.

Anyways, this is a pretty big one - 45 changes to my cube (not counting treatment updates because those are always fun.) The reason I decided to combine the Bloomburrow and Duskmourn updates is because of WotC's asinine release schedule this year. It just wouldn't make sense to do my Bloomburrow changes then have a new set come out before I even have a chance to test the cards out so let's just avoid that and hope WotC doesn't do this again, although I doubt it.

There are some pretty big cuts in here. Cards that have survived the test of time either because they were just that good or it just didn't feel right to remove them when a marginally more powerful card came out. Sure I go for optimal card choices, but there's still some of my own personal touch here and there. One of those cuts was the titular Man-o'-War. There have probably been several better versions of this little jellyfish that could released over the years but this thing just had a special place in my heart so it never came out - until now. When I played in the Duskmourn pre-release, I fell in love with the 'manifest dread' mechanic and decided that it was finally time to remove my little blob with tentacles with Unnerving Grasp. The rate on this card is just too good to ignore, a non-creature spell to help fuel spell based decks, manifesting dread for card selection and stocking up the graveyard, and last but not least, bouncing any non-land permanent instead of just a creature. And dare I say, it also works better with blink to turn the innocuous 2/2 in to something like a Galewind Moose. Surprise! And on that note, we segue in to "What did the Moose Replace?" Well, let me tell you, the moose replaced Pelakka Wurm. This card has been a point of contention with myself and sometimes other players. It's probably because it's hard to ignore a 7/7 trample that turns off aggro or burn all by itself and then also replaces itself if it's dealt with. I think I always felt that green needed some sort of haymaker to set itself apart from the other colors but that was honestly back when I had signets in my cube. When drafted properly, a non-green deck could sometimes ramp just as hard as green did and the Wurm was one of the ways that green could keep up with the rest of the table. However, those signets are no longer here and I've also been trimming some of the artifact ramp in this cube anyways. I think it's fine to replace the Wurm now and let something else shine in its place. And I think the Moose is a good place to start because what in the keyword soup is this stupid thing?

There are some other cuts that I should probably talk about like why is a 3 drop in white getting replaced by a 5 drop or the removal of a couple of double color pip creatures that incidentally have lifelink + some other keyword, but I'm currently prepping my cube for SCG Con DC tomorrow and it's already 10:15 PM.

There are a few interesting things in this recent change and maybe I'll find a group of 7 other people who'll want to explore these changes with me this weekend. Although, most likely, they'll probably be busy queuing up for Mystery Booster 2 events. Oh well.

Anyways, happy cubin'!