Inspired by Lucky Paper Episode 182 and a dare within my cube playgroup to make Hibernation's End work in cube. This is will my experimental playground space for the Spikeless Cube where, during testing periods, I can use this as a more free-form experimental playground to try to look at the shape of bigger balance changes.

Iteration One

Iteration one of the Pointless Cube will experimenting with a few things in preparation for the next cube update to Spikeless Cube.

1. Figure out what shape I'd need to push down the power in such a way that Hibernation's End is an acceptable green 5-drop and, in doing so, experiment with Emergent Cube design.
2. Get rid of the most popular cards from the cube. Cube Cobra provides a tool to see what % of cubes certain cards show up in. A lot of the most popular cube cards are also the most obvious P1P1s and I want to get rid of them in order to fulfil my goal of "showcasing the power of less commonly cubed cards".

Results: Pared down all of the cards cubed in more than 8% of the global cube population. Lower the average impact of especially low mv spells in order to make some higher mv cards more playable.

Iteration Two

The next thing I sort of want to look into is how to squeeze extra synergy out of cards. Some types of effects feel necessary to the "limited" magic ecosystem but with all of the versions of "effect with set mechanic" that exists in magic, I should try to identify ways to choose boutique versions that suit the goals of my environment where possible.
Additionally, I want to look at cards that just have too many words. In general, I think I've done a good job of lowering complexity but some cards like Gollum, Scheming Guide have been rejected by the playgroup for just being ungrokkably wordy. If I can shrink the Rules Appendix that I bring to Cube Night that feels like a win.

Results: Wound up removing all of the DFCs since they disproportionately made up the wordiest cards in the environment. Also removed mentions of Battles, Regeneration, and Fear and worked to narrow some power band outliers again.

Iteration Three

This is a bit of a puzzler but the next thing I want to try to experiment with is seeing where I can replace explicit archetype support cards with implicit archetype support cards. I don't know how practical this is but, for instance, I've enjoyed exploring the concept of UG "Titania Control" as a way to naturally reward drafting the UG Flash cards. Saboteurs obviously become stronger if you can clear blockers in the WU Tap Tempo deck rather than just cards that reward you for tapping things. In this way I can aim to avoid "unitaskers".

Results: I was successfully able to cut the last typal and most of the lingering narrow effects from the environment. Additionally, I removed all of the cards from the environment that have every appeared in an iteration of the MTGO Vintage Cube in order to further push the goal of exploring the power of under-represented cube cards and added a much higher density of fixing in order to improve the draft experience overall.

Iteration Four

As I prepare to go into a period of hiatus, the environment seems relatively stable. Other than one or two notable problem cards, I don't expect to be making any sweeping archetypal changes anytime in the near future. I'll be giving the environment some time to breathe so that I can accumulate actual data about the state of the meta and ascertain actual over- and under-performers rather than going on the usual gut-sense, vibes-first approach to meta sculpting that most cube curators must take. In particular I'm interested in seeing what sub-strategies and non-archetype decks emerge over time and how I can support them. Jeskai Grace and its relatives have been a known value in the format for awhile and I've taken steps to both make sure that that deck is well-supported but that its targets aren't so strong that they take over games.

Iteration Five

While I'm on hiatus I'll be occasionally poking and prodding at Pointless. In particular, I'm reconsidering some of my self imposed limitations--no MTGO vintage cards, no regenerate, no color hate, no typal effects--and whether I think they benefit the environment. Additionally, the main thing I want to do post-hiatus is reshape the environment so that's it's less focused on specific two-color archetypes and more broadly allowed to have environmental themes that are centered in certain color pairs as suggested by the signposts but with more options for splashing building into other colors.

WU Tap Tempo Options

Adding Green to Tap Tempo gives some freezers like Matsu-Tribe Sniper and Joven's Ferrets as well as new ophidians like Keen Sense.
Adding Black to Tap Tempo gives some tappers like Rathi Trapper and Paralyze but also an occasional hate-tap effect like Seizures.
Adding Red to Tap Tempo gives access to Onslaught which is genuinely a cool creature tapper but aside from that and like Curse of Hospitality as a "red Ophidian" there's very little going on in red that supports this strategy. Thundermaw Hellkite is a creature tapper but is also a known quantity in cubes of my power-level as the kind of standalone threat that can invalidate games by itself so I'm not interested in that.

UB Ninjas Options

Adding Green to Ninjas gives Kappa Tech-Wrecker and Spring-Leaf Avenger as well as 'evasion' options like Bow of Nylea and Elvish Archers.
Adding White to Ninjas gives Blade-Blizzard Kitsune as well as Flying Men like Swooping Lookout and interesting evasion options through cards like Spirit en-Dal and Archetype of Courage.
Adding Red to Ninjas doesn't seem like a viable option. There are no red ninjas and the evasive creatures in red are generally worse than in every other color.

BR Discard Options

Adding Blue to BR gives access to discard-matters payoffs like All-Seeing Arbiter and Drake Haven as well as madness cards like Obsessive Search and Circular Logic and enablers like Wharf Infiltrator and Advanced Stitchwing.
Adding Green to BR gives access to discard outlets like Noose Constrictor and madness cards like Arrogant Wurm/Basking Rootwalla as well as cool synergies for retrace like Nantuko Cultivator and Tilling Treefolk.
Adding White to BR gives access to discard outlets like Seasoned Hallowblade, discard payoffs like Bartered Cow, and a variety of live-from-the-graveyard cards like Sentinel's Eyes and Skyblade's Boon but is generally the weakest of the options.

RG Dorks Options

Adding Blue to RG gives access to more spawns and eldrazi cards from MH3 like Emrakul's Messenger and Kozilek's Unsealing as well as cool devoid enablers like Apprentice Wizard and Deranged Assistant.
Adding Black to RG gives access to more egg dorks like Blood Pet and Overeager Apprentice as well as Pawn of Ulamog but also cool enablers like Death Pit Offering and Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker.
Adding White to RG doesn't seem like a viable option. There aren't really any dorks to speak of in white other than, I suppose, Sunseed Nurturer and some weird filter creatures like Helionaut and Farrelite Priest. The support is alright but White already passively supports some of the dork shenanigans anyways with Valor in Akros and Abiding Grace.

GW Cookies Options

Adding Black to GW is the easiest option but Abzan is also a hotly contested wedge. Black has food payoffs like Scavenger's Talent, revolt and sacrifice payoffs like Vengeful Rebel and Seer of Stolen Sight as well as weird things like Bleak Coven Vampires and Refurbished Familiar.
Adding Red to GW doesn't give any explicit food payoffs but does give access to way to leverage food entering and getting sacrificed with things like Krenko, Baron of Tin Street and Hedron Detonator as well as Aether Revolt for more burn.
Adding Blue to GW likewise doesn't give access to any exciting food options but does grant access to interesting effects that can leverage food for value like Archway of Innovation and Vedalken Humiliator and Skilled Animator-type effects.

WB Tokens Options

Adding Green to WB is the cleanest option. I already like cards like Propagator Drone and Hazardroot Herbalist and Cloakwood Swarmkeeper and Selesnya Eulogist are well in-line with the kind of magic I want to encourage.
Adding Red to WB gives interesting options since red makes lots of goblin tokens that can be leveraged through things like Siege-Gang Commander as well as very aggressive token enablers like Roar of Resistance and Determined Iteration.
Adding Blue to WB is interesting but not especially practical since most of the coolest blue token synergy cards aren't exactly in-budget: Curiosity Crafter, Worldwalker Helm, Poppet Stitcher. Both Junk Winder and Perplexing Test are cool cards that I've had fun with in the past though.

UR Multispell Options

Adding Green to UR gives access to cool multi-spell enablers like Starting Town NPC and Mistbreath Elder as well as storm-like payoffs like Krosan Adaptation and Thrasta, Tempest's Roar.
Adding Black to UR gives access to Infernal Pet and Bloodsky Berserker as well as Tendrils of Agony as payoffs and some things like Magus of the Will and adventure creatures for enablers.
Adding White to UR gives access to Clarion Spirit and Murmuration as payoffs as well as a healthy variety of recastable spells like Skyblade's Boon and Sentinel's Eyes.

BG Delirium Options

Adding White to BG gives access to interesting cheap payoffs like Mystic Penitent and Topplegeist as well as flashback cards like Battle Screech.
Adding Red to BG gives access to powerful payoffs like Unholy Heat and Fear of Missing Out as well as plenty of enablers and leaves-graveyard triggers like Fuming Effigy
Adding Blue to BG gives access to interesting delirium and threshold cards like Shoreline Looter and Foul Watcher as well as plenty of live-from-graveyard cards like Otherworldly Gaze and even Start the TARDIS if I don't mind the format-irrelevant trinket text.

WR Historic Options

Adding Blue to WR Historic gives access to cool and powerful artifact lords like Unctus, Grand Metatect as well as plenty of artifact creatures and historic enablers like Silver Raven, Artificer's Assistant, and Ballad of the Black Flag.
Adding Black to WR Historic adds an "artifactocrats" spin to the archetype supplementing the list with blaggro artifacts like Etherium Pteramander or Retrofitted Transmogrant or Triarch Praetorian alongside cards like Thran Vigil or Cabal Paladin to keep the beats coming.
Adding Green to WR Historic isn't super practical. Beyond the couple of artifact-matters payoffs I already have like Teething Wurmlet and Sarinth Steelseeker, most of the artifice cards so far in green aren't very aggressive. I suppose if I end up not caring about trinket text again I could add something like a Jamie McCrimmon since green naturally has a lot of good sagas but I'm generally not very interested in this idea.

UG Flash Options

Adding White to UG gives some of the plot-synergy cards from OTJ like Prairie Dog and some cool flash enablers and cards like Heliod, the Radiant Dawn and Mantle of Leadership.
Adding Black to UG gives access to the remaining off-turn casting matters synergies like Faerie Tauntings and Dreamspoiler Witches as well cool flash cards like Liliana's Standard Bearer.
Adding Red to UG gives access to a few interesting lines like combining Wilderness Reclamation with Bogardan Hellkite is kind of cool and Electrodominance can grant spells psuedo-flash but red generally doesn't work well with the core strategies of UG.