In my previous post, I explained that I feel somewhat burned out by the number of new cards pushed to the market by Wizards of the Coast. My idea to tackle this problem as a cube curator was to simply add every card I was interested in, ignoring any color imbalances or power level considerations. Here’s what I learned:

• With a 540-card cube, color imbalance doesn’t matter as much. It’s more important that the cards are interesting. If the bottom five white cards aren’t appealing to your drafters, it’s better to add five black cards that are.
• After adding around 50 cards to the pool, I found it difficult to cut the size back down to 540. I believe I went overboard and simply added too many new cards.
• Including my playgroup in the discussion was fun and valuable. I received important feedback on the cards and archetypes. For instance, I had initially decided against including Portal to Phyrexia, but many players were eager to test it, so I decided to add it to the cube.
• It feels easier to wait for community feedback on new cards. I don’t need to assess every new card for my cube; I can follow cube discussions and see which new cards are being highlighted.

Overall, it’s easier to see how cards perform in other cubes. For example, the MTGO Vintage Cube often includes many new cards I’m interested in trying. In the future, I’ll keep a less frequent update schedule (say, every six months) and add fewer cards for the testing period, using community experiences to inform my choices. I’m unsure how long new additions usually remain, but I assume many new cards get cut, which is another reason to take it easy with additions.

First, let’s discuss the goal of these changes on a broader level.

Previously, a common and powerful sequence of plays was playing a turn 2 signet followed by a turn 3 4-mana play, such as Chandra, Torch of Defiance. However, with cards like Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, Ocelot Pride, and Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, a signet into a 4-drop can leave you too far behind on board. Therefore, I favor cutting higher mana value cards and adding lower mana value cards. This should make matches shorter on average and increase the impact of the early turns of the games, which I believe is beneficial. Also, to clarify, the size of the cube is back to exactly 540 cards.

Next, let’s discuss the broad impacts of these changes without considering individual cuts or additions:

• This cube has plenty of dual lands to ensure players can cast their spells. This has had an indirect impact on cards that utilize basic lands, such as Kodama's Reach and Sakura-Tribe Elder, making them weaker.
• Recursive creatures with mana value 2, like Skyclave Shade, are not as strong anymore for the same reason as the signet into a 4-drop.
• Black discard outlets (like Cabal Initiate) for reanimator are not flexible enough compared to better options (like Psychic Frog or Bitter Triumph), leading them to wheel frequently in drafts.
• Nadu, Winged Wisdom is included for testing, along with support for it. I’m aware that some players find it tedious to play against, but I believe Nadu can provide a purpose for a draft deck. I’ll keep an eye on it.
• There’s some support for domain strategies, inspired by LSV’s YouTube videos.
• Additional support for artifact-based strategies has been included, featuring cards like Portal to Phyrexia and Legion Extruder.

I have a feeling that while the cube feels mostly balanced between the 5 colors, blue might be slightly behind others. Consequently, I feel like control is slightly weaker than aggro and midrange strategies. In a future update, I intend to add Spell Pierce, Stern Scolding and Force of Will to give blue a chance to fight better in the early game.

I’ll cover the individual card changes in another post, as there seems to be a character limit for blog entries.