Been a while, was planning a bigger update but priorities changed, no big deal because the most important colors are getting all I want: blue (the most underdrafted color) and black (the weakest color). Secondarily I really want to weed out some stinkers.

White

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Honestly, I don't know why I expected paladin to be relevant in this format, sure, it plays with the life costing manabase but no one's gonna play it anyway. Hopeful initiate is more of a curve addition but it fits well.
 
 

Blue

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Having flash is incredibly important for anything blue besides the purest death and taxes decks, besides, geists is basically a Sower of temptation downgrade.
 

Stormwing entity is a incredibly fun magic card but this is no home for it, there's no such a thing as a prowess/spellslinger deck here so the discount plays weird by forcing you to play spells you would rather cast at instant speed. I don't need to introduce fother fucking snapcaster mage to you if you're reading this.
 

Rogue isn't bad per se but the taxes deck doesn't curve well into it and the flash deck doesn't want to tap out to cast it. Harbinger seems like it was made specifically for this environment holy shit, I love Blood moon and the blue version to slot in the taxes deck is just perfect.
 
 

Black

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Black is getting a big overhaul, MH3 was a godsend for powerful, flexible aristocrats cards and that was what my cube was needing the most (besides green flash creatures wotc please). Changing a bit of the format since most changes aren't really 1:1.

OUT

All cool cards that are either slow, narrow or both.

IN

Very excited to see how these play out, even the seemingly narrow aristocrats cards can be a blessing for inevitability and/or explosiveness of other decks, also shout ot to bob (Dark confidant), certified baller.
 
 

Red

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Feldon was pretty much a pipe dream in this format, I knew it would be hard to make it work since I've included him but it was even worse, I didn't get the chance to see him being awful because no one ever put him in a deck, in hindsight it was incredibly obvious. Given this oportunity I lowered the curve since red 3s are so incredibly stacked and 1 drops are so vital.
 

Magmatic insight isn't really a bad card, just painfully unexciting. This is the perfect time to introduce Price of progress since the manabase just got a massive boost.
 
 

Green

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Green has a lot of narrow ass cards laying around, despite the colors having a lot of creature tutors, these cards still don't play well in the situations you could tutor them or their synergies.

OUT

I don't really like any of these cards, besides Beast Within, and the format doesn't really support it.

IN

The main goal is too smooth out green's curve as much as possible, the mana dorks are incredibly powerful and the other two are flexible proactive plays.

Mostly trying to get some last pick staples out, also taking the opportunity to bring some LCI good stuff and some renowed heavy hitters.

White

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While the blade is not bad in any deck, it's not good either. The mouse is an exciting one drop, the best kind of cube card.
 

Priest needs more "targets" to really shine, especially in a fair environment like this. The spirit looks incredibly flexible.
 

Another fine card that ended up sitting most games out, has a weird place in the curve mostly, also white seems to be lacking removal, partition reinforces the tempo aspect of it well.
 
 

Blue

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Il-kor is alright but 1 power is pretty rough, I was never excited to play it. While I'm annoyed by the extra useless paragraph on Malcolm, the combination of 2/1-flash-flying-looter is so juicy.
 

Strict power upgrade, simple as that.
 

Ngl, I kinda hate aether channeler, I hate that Man-o'-War died for it and it simply didn't bring a sliver of joy to my heart, as a card it's a pretty respectable filler but I simply hate his guts, rest in piss. Obstructionist is here so I can gush about how good fetchlands are before the draft and then counter them every single game.
 
 

Black

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Black has a curve problem, especially on having too many 4s and not enough 1s, I also wanna see Gonti make the pilgrimage to more respectable grounds). Stalker is simply delightful, I wanna kiss his slimy ass lips.
 

Power (and art) upgrade.
 

Remorse is nothing to laugh at and might come back, I just feel the need for more removal and pile on has some interesting synergies with aristocrats.
 
 

Red

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Zealot is a weird one, it was here just to smash face, the effect was mostly a distraction that prevented people from playing her thinking she was narrow, might come back, won't miss the double red cost tho. Feldon is cool too and has more interplay.
 

Another weird one, looks amazing in theory, meh in practice, might come back. Phoenix is one I've been antecipating for a while, I wanted one to represent the category since the cube was concieved but most are either bad or narrow, this one has a good effect and great art.
 

I kinda knew riders would flop but I wanted to try it so bad, I love including history in my cube, so Hazoret seems to fill his gap in every way, just with a little more oomph.
 
 

Green

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Advocate slipped under the radar for until now simply because it isn't offensively bad, but it was consistently underwhelming too. Huntsman seems amazing, a cool way to sneak a noncreature without lowering the creature count, a saga and a tutor, all in one.
 

Troll is just mid, like the other ones I already talked about. Sentinel is the green creature with flash I've been asking every set and never getting, it being hybrid gives me a chance to test including it in a monocolored slot, something I wanted to try for a long time just didn't line up well, I fear green needs the free card more than blue but we'll see, can always slide it to the left.
 

Surrak isn't bad but isn't good, you know the drill. Hydra a card I want since day one but it was either expensive or didn't line up with other purchases.
 

RIP pulse of murasa, exaclty one person liked it, but it's a real one, hope you like CoCo more Cecel!
 
 

Multicolor/Colorless

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I like Rev but it simply doesn't play well in this environment. Abuelo is a spicy direction for Death & Taxes if it can stick the landing.
 

Grumgully was pretty clunky, both in curve and effect, I want nothing to do with his slimy ass lips. Migloz seems very flexible and explosive, might be a little bothersome to track, we'll see.
 

I have nostalgia for Sculler, it's an elegant weapon from a more civilized age, but Orzhov, especially aristocrats, desperatly need some gas. Bartolomé is basically Carrion feeder big cousin with some sick art, fine by me.
 

The boots straight up suck, take your mana hungry ass back to commander, we on wasteland territory baybeeeeee.
 

This update mainly tries to fix two percieved problems, green being generally unappealing for drafters to commit and black having few generically good cards that were being spread thin among drafters. Also the cube had some odd low powered cards that survived being replaced for a long time somehow.

White

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Casket wasn't bad by any means but I'm currently trying to replace completely redundant effects, casket was basically a worse Journey to nowhere. Touch the spirit realm is a simmilar effect with added flexibility.
 

Removal only for attacing creatures? Not my jam.
 

I severely overestimated how much draw non-blue decks would need, the bishop ended up being pretty clunky for a format that fast. The reformer seems like an interesting tool for taxes and tempo to deal with faster decks.
 

Angel was never bad when played, but ended being cut a lot because no wwhite deck really wants a 5 drop. Abolisher is , a historically clunky mana cost, but seems worth it.
 

Stance is fine actually, but too situational on both sides and was cut every time it could be. Sash seems like a cool roleplayer in taxes and opens the door for future synergies.
 
 

Blue

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Academy loremaster was a speculative inclusion and it really didn't pay off, the flash deck really only needs flash creatures.
 

While sphere was fine just to cycle, it really doesn't come close to the other draws like Fact or fiction or even Mulldrifter, Dress down is an exciting card with an unique purpose.
 

Another akward draw, never bad, never great, always on sideboards. Gearhulk needs no introduction.
 

Vision was a cute cascade synergy but it was never that good and with Shardless agent gone it's just bad at every stage of the game, also 3rd bad draw in a row being cut. Castle plays really well in any blue deck.
 
 

Black

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While it's pretty risky to cut cutthroat with aristocrats seeming weak, the problem is never the payoff, it's the setup and especially how the deck has to fight pretty hard for generic effects, also including it alongside with almost identical effects feels like breaking singleton. Gix is a plant to pull people into the black versions of aggro and taxes, not bad with aristocrats' tokens too.
 

Rites had two major problems, it's much worse than Deadly dispute and the aristocrat deck values repeatable value engines much more than "one shot +1 at best" card advantage. Seize is a long time coming.
 

Although I like bones and some people love it, it suffers from simmilar problems as Rites. Arena has much more value packed into it.
 

The priest was never getting kicked, especially with it's history of rotting in sideboards. Kalitas seems like an amazing card for taxes and midrangy off-meta decks with the current dominance of aggro, aristocrats won't mind playing it too.
 

Not gonna lie, every time I played invasion I hated it, a lot. Long live Lord Skitter, Goblin rabblemaster got even dirtier!
 

Therapist was probably the clunkiest card to ever pass though this cube but I had to try it and damn I had to try it. Bloodghast is something aristocrats drafters really need: A generically good card that can pull you into the deck if it's open.
 
 

Red

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Red is in a pretty good place right now, aggro is incredibly strong, so some of the clunkiest midrange cards have to step up so the color plays more diverse decks, windfall is one of those clunky cards. Valakut exploration can be disappointing some turns but it has some built in synergy that makes it cool and I wanna see how it goes.
 

Pretty simmilar to the previous card, also simmilar to Ancestral vision in the failed cascade synergies. Seal of fire seems like a good play on slower decks, setting up a removal before it's needed.
 

Pretty 1:1 substitution, song is way more flexible and the haste is incredibly relevant.
 
 

Green

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Green has had a 2 drop problem for a while, I simply had to cut some, druid is not bad but not exciting either, pretty redundant. Titania is something I'm really excited to play with, the seeds of a lands-focused midrange deck have been planted.
 

2 drop problem, also this creature reads incredibly narrow, despite being reasonable as a 3/2 reach. GSZ is something I wanted since Dryad arbor came around and plays well with a lot of things.
 

Another speculative card that didn't pay off, happens, these fuckers look fun tho.
 

Not much to say, champion was a hole filler, excavator is a role player.
 

Geist being really breaks their legs. I'm curious with Jolrael playing in simic despite not having flash.
 

Shambler straight up sucks in this environment, drinker lives up to it's name.
 
 

Multicolor/Colorless

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Simulacrum has been in the cube since the start and has always been pretty underwhelming. The crown has potential.
 

Prism has little purpose besides being filler if someone had a really rough draft, tome is a little more oriented to help midrange decks to generate value without a lot of upfront mana investment, making it possible to use in other decks too.
 

Obzedat is probably my favorite card, sad to see it go but it really never was a good fit for the format. Kambal is such an obvious include I'm shocked I didn't think of him sooner.
 

Iconoclast is good, but completely redundant with Gruul Spellbreaker and too vanilla for a multicolored slot. Klothys could be oppressive but the slower decks really need it, also it's a very disrespectful card.
 

Simmilar problems to iconoclast, with the difference that it's somewhat worse. Claim (to) fame is a strange card but I can see it being pretty good, it's worth a test.
 

Agent was somewhat of a trap, very often drafters would pick it and play it because they liked the card, screwing themselves over really hard by flipping counterspells, hydroid krasis, 1 mana dorks, etc, the tempo oriented simic deck needs flash creatures and counterspells more than anything and the agent doesn't tango with them at all. Vinestalk is pretty flexible, the triggered ability being a riff on Oko, thief of crowns +1 is so disrespectful I can't just let it slide.