Lots of land changes, a few misc. Esper changes that I'd missed in the first pass, and a few misc. suggestions from Redditors. More to come later this week.

I'm in the process of bringing the cube up-to-date for 2024. This is the first batch of changes, going through in WUBRG order, so I've focused on the Esper shard so far. Next week, we'll see Green, Red, Colourless, Lands and multi-colour.

There are a lot of updates. Some are simply bringing in "the new hotness", others are including some old cube favourites because their prices have fallen and others are (sadly) removing a few old favourites because the prices have gone up. Notable changes are explained below:

Ephemerate -> Maul of the Skyclaves
Ephemerate is one of my favourite white cube cards, and I'm really sad to see it go. Sadly, it's a lot of other people's favourite card for constructed formats and the price is rising as a result. There is no good one-for-one switch, so Maul has come in as a relatively powerful flash threat that can stay behind on the board, and provides white creature decks with something to do in response to toughness-based removal.

Journey to Nowhere -> Fateful Absence

Fateful Absence is probably better and much cheaper. Pauper continues to push Journey's price far beyond what the effect is worth.

Remorseful Cleric -> Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

Thalia has had enough printings (and has fallen out of favour in Modern) to bring the price down to budget levels. She's still one of the best white two drops of all time, and I'm happy to welcome her to the ultimate budget cube.

Galepowder Mage -> Restoration Angel

A classic coming in, now Resto is looking a little cheaper. Much stronger than the Mage, but it does remove an engine.

Combat Calligrapher -> Palace Jailer

Calligrapher is rapidly increasing in price and is trending upwards with low chance of being reprinted in the near future. She's going to quickly end up as a non-budget card, and so the Jailer comes in - objectively stronger, if less unique and less splashable. Originally an uncommon and easy to come by. He brings Monarch into white, and while I think this is a bit of a mixed bag, in this Planeswalker-light environment, Monarch provides another repeatable value engine that encourages combat, so I think this is a net positive change.

Glyph Keeper -> Mystic Confluence

With the recent reprinting, Mystic Confluence has fallen in price significantly. To go along with the Palace Jailer power upgrade in white, blue has a similar one here. Glyph Keeper has always been an unexciting card.

Glimmer of Genius -> Midnight Clock

Glimmer is a little slow at four mana and Midnight Clock has consistently impressed me. Almost all decks that wanted to play Glimmer would be happier with a Midnight clock. It's also a cool and interesting effect.

Preordain -> Serum Visions

Preordain's price is increasing after its Modern unban, so we've made a pure budget cut here.

Supreme Will -> Frantic Search

Supreme Will is very much a mediocre card that helps tie archetypes together, but excites very few people. Frantic Search is a fantastic card that not every deck wants. It's had a few reprints and has come down in price notably in the last year.

Diregraf Ghoul -> Dread Wanderer

Most people will agree that the Wanderer is the stronger card, and it's now dropped in price enough to make it into a budget cube.

Carrion Feeder -> Evolved Sleeper

I'm sad to see the feeder go, but it now costs multiple dollars. Definitely a common in need of a reprint. Evolved Sleeper is a fine card to put in most black decks, but it does weaken the already shallow sacrifice archetype.

Piper of the Swarm -> Tenacious Underdog

Small cost cutting, adds some interesting options for using mana later in the game. Much less vulnerable to removal, and pushes black aggro a little.

Nullpriest of Oblivion -> Gifted Aetherborn

Much more powerful when played on 2 mana, and a little cheaper. Since a lot of the other changes speed up the format a little, the Aetherborn is going to be the stronger card that some decks may even be happy to sideboard.

Gray Merchant of Asphodel -> Custodi Lich

Bringing in Palace Jailer means we're happy to have a little more Monarch in other cubes too. Gary is slowly rising in price and the Lich is noticeably cheaper (and also a stronger card). It looks midrangey at first look, but it supports aggro pretty well as a nice top-end and gives black a nice five drop value card.

Tetzimoc, Primal Death -> Noxious Gearhulk

Gearhulk is the stronger card and Tetzimoc is slowly getting more expensive. Helps push the value theme, and provides a better reanimation target.

Apprentice Necromancer -> Life // Death

Running reanimator on a budget is hard, but Life//Death is a solid reanimation spell. Necromancer is also quickly going up in price, so swapping it out is a no-brainer.

Adding more value - general upgrades as cards have got cheaper. Notably black has got better one drops ( Tormented Hero -> Cult Conscript, Gnarled Scarhide -> Bloodsoaked Champion), red's had a general improvement in power level and a push towards a better aggro deck. White's Elite Spellbinder and Giant Killer have gotten a lot cheaper, as has Vindicate and Will Kenrith, so they've come in. Finally, some of the (cheap) new hotness; both from Universes Beyond and other sets - e.g. Squee, Dubious Monarch, Rona's Vortex, Night Scythe etc. are all in as general improvements to cards.

Crystalline Giant has come out mostly for logistical reasons.

This is adding the final five fetchlands, adding a minor discard subtheme (and so swapping the Tango Lands like Canopy Vista for the cycling duals like Scattered Groves). Conspiracy Theorist, Containment Construct and Currency Converter now form an additional three cards to generate value on the back of discarding (along with Master of Death who is already in the cube).

I've also pushed towards Artifacts a little harder - with cards like Stonecoil Serpent and Silver Raven as additions over Endless One and Pteramander.

I found blue spells-matter wasn't working so well on its own. Thing in the Ice and Pteramander have come out.

We've also focused a little harder on U/B Tempo and so more Ninja-synergies have been added - from Moon-Circuit Hacker and Grazilaxx, Illithid Scholar over the slower Waker of Waves and Cloudkin Seer.

I've tried to clean up a few of the needlessly wordy cards in the cube Animate Dead has moved to an older (cleaner) printing, and Incinerate (whose non-regeneration clause only really affected Experiment One) has been swapped for Lightning Strike's "Any Target" version.

There's also a push towards some slightly newer, more interesting cards. Delayed Blast Fireball over Staggershock, Noble's Purse, Monster Manual and Altar of Bhaal are all the new hotness, along with Henrika Domnathi.

All-in-all, it's an interesting series of changes.

I've also included Damn and Lurrus of the Dream Den as "hybrid" Orzhov cards. Damn is probably 75% white, 25% black, but it would still get played in decks that are primarily black as a slower removal spell.

Will Kenrith and Hall of the Storm Giants should help U/x control decks finish more reliably.

Minor updates.

Preparing for cube expansions.