As part of other changes to described below, I'd like to add Risen Reef to the cube, and as a consequence, would like to add a bit more elementals to the cube to allow an elementals deck to be able to come together. This includes two "like for like" swaps:

• Reclamation Sage -> Foundation Breaker
• Ravenous Chupacabra -> Shriekmaw

Additionally, Slickshot Show-Off has failed to see a super large play rate, and tends to be a little narrow. Instead, I would like to try a more generally powerful creature that also has elemental synergy. Finally, Borborygmos and Fblthp hasn't been included in the main deck of any list, so I'm going to try Kalamax, the Stormsire again.

isn't the only change I'm making to gold cards. For starters, the previously mentioned update is going to be to replace the current "lands" archetype with a "growth-spiral" type archetype - effects that draw cards and put lands into play. In what might be the most likely to backfire change, I'm going to add Nadu, Winged Wisdom in place of Tatyova, Benthic Druid.

The signpost would ideally be a union of go-wide, sacrifice, and disruptive aggro synergies, those of the individual subcomponents. Caesar, Legion's Emperor seems like a good fit for this and is therefore replacing Kroxa and Kuneros.

I've had my eye on Chulane, Teller of Tales as a potential signpost for a while, but the inclusion of Annie Joins Up recently, coupled with the new archetype (along with another trigger-doubler being added in this update). It's taking the place of Tamiyo, Field Researcher for now.

Speaking of Annie Joins Up, I'm adding another legend to in the form of Roxanne, Starfall Savant. It will take the place of Domri, Anarch of Bolas, since I'd like to keep the number of planeswalkers down where possible.

Finally, Kykar, Wind's Fury hasn't really been very popular - it is a little frustrating in that it provides a similar effect to Saheeli, Sublime Artificer and Third Path Iconoclast, but with a harder casting cost. Instead, I'd like to try Narset, Enlightened Exile to make turns potentially more explosive once you have already used the existing board.

Monarch has been an interesting experiment in the cube. However, at this point, I'd like to let higher power level cubes continue to explore it. Both extant monarch cards (especially Palace Jailer)) are already pretty powerful, and the mechanic is an extra level of complexity that I don't think is necessary. Instead, I making the replacements:

• Custodi Lich -> Rottenmouth Viper, as another target to pay off aristocrats early and provide a good threat without being completely unbeatable.

• Palace Jailer -> Delney, Streetwise Lookout. I have enjoyed the mini-game caused by Annie Joins Up, and I am hoping Delney will join Risen Reef in the ranks of single cards that can entirely mix up your draft, plus the ceiling on tripling triggers from e.g. Chulane with Delney and Annie seems ridiculous.

The monarch isn't the only above-rate thing I'm nerfing - there are a few other cards that have proven to have too high of ceilings.

• Solitude was originally included with the hopes of being able to serve as an out to creature-combo type decks. However, it's proven far more effective as a proactive threat than I imagined, and the ability to interact that powerfully for no mana is largely above rate in a cube that e.g. deliberately excludes Force of Will and Force of Negation. I'd like to try out March of Otherworldly Light instead, since it can borrow some of the pitch style mechanics of Solitude while also being more confined to a reactive role and while giving your opponent more of an out.

• The One Ring is probably one of the easiest P1P1s in the cube. Almost every deck would love to run it, and the ability to basically take a turn off and then draw what is easily 10 cards in many games is too strong for the format I am trying to curate. I'm going to try replacing it with another legendary card advantage engine from Lord of the Rings - Palantir of Orthanc, which both creates a mini-game that is engaging for both players, while also having a few more way of answering it.

• Finally, Fastbond might not on average be the best card in the cube, but the ceiling on it is higher than any other - turn 1 kills are only possible in the cube via Fastbond, and its feast-or-famine nature can lead to feels-bads for people on either side of the table when it hits the board. I've had a lot of fun with Bristly Bill, Spine Sower and would like to try it out.

Another card that was close to being cut is Sneak Attack, which seems pretty unfair at times. However, it's going to stay on the watchlist for now.

The Goblin Welder archetype is something that I've struggled to make enticing for a while. At this point, I'd like to try giving the archetype more support. If it still doesn't end up being an appealing strategy, I will probably end up cutting all such cards. To me, there are 2 possible ways of building welder - going for a singular explosive artifact, or a more grindy value based approach. Accordingly, I'm adding support to both kinds. In the "single payload" bucket, I am adding:

• Portal to Phyrexia, perhaps the most desirable Tinker / Goblin Welder target in other cubes, taking the place of Karn's Sylex.

• Re-adding Myr Battlesphere, which is an OK threat coupled with the upside of synergizing really well with other artifact payoffs thanks to the army it comes with.

For the grindier / fair version of the list, I am adding:

• Goblin Engineer, to hopefully allow either a silver bullet or your value engine to show up more consistently. It's taking the place of a 50% playrate card in the form of Bomat Courier, which is decent but not as premium of a red one drop these days.

• Chaos Defiler, which is a great thing to loop every turn while also having a decent amount of appeal in other contexts. While I love the flexiblity of Kolaghan's Command, it's going back to the bench for now.

Finally, there are a few more updates to the cube that don't fit as cleanly into a category as those above.

• Laboratory Maniac isn't really carrying its weight as an alternate win condition. It is in most cases worse than Thassa's Oracle, and the cube doesn't need to support multiple of what is already a niche effect. Instead, I'd like to try out Dress Down.

• Displacer Kitten seems like a fun way of bridging the blink and other decks (like spells or based artifact decks) together. I'm adding it in place of Gush, which has lost a lot of its luster with Fastbond no longer in the cube.

• Another change with Fastbond removed is that Courser of Kruphix's edge over Oracle of Mul Daya with a Fastbond in play is no longer relevant, and I'm going to pivot to the oracle instead for the exploration effect.

Finally, a few removal spells are no longer holding up as well:

• Cast Down is increasingly finding it harder to deal with the targets it needs to, so I'm going to replace it with Lethal Scheme, which is hopefully more interesting to both go-wide decks and reanimation / graveyard style decks.

• With the amount of exile-from-graveyard effects that exist, the upside of Scorching Dragonfire exiling the target from the graveyard doesn't really make up for the extra mana it costs at this point. Instead, will get Magmatic Sinkhole, letting it finally answer a Sheoldred, the Apocalypse with a single spell.

• Finally, Master's Rebuke has spent a lot of time in sideboards, and I'd like to replace it with at more exciting card. I'm looking forward to seeing what Springheart Nantuko can do with the myriad creatures in the cube.

A few removal spells have lost

Drafting Fetchlands seems to be a key component of making a lot of the more interesting (in my opinion) decks in the cube function. With the addition of the Surveil lands in a previous update, every land cycle in the cube synergizes well with them, and fetches not only allow for more people to be able to splash the cards they want, but also have good synergies with delirium, play-off-top-of-library effects, lands based comboes, and graveyard recursion. In addition to that, by cutting the ABUR duals for them, I am able to go completely proxy-free.

Reanimator decks have been the boogeyman in most recent iterations of the cube, and some of the play patterns have gotten a little stale as a result. With these changes, I am hoping to bring the strategy a little back in line while also allowing for reanimator players to get to enjoy a bit more variety.

First, Entomb allowed for reanimation players to go turn 1 entomb, turn 2 reanimation effect, which allowed them to basically completely dictate the game. It became an instant check and if the opponent didn't have one of the few answers in the cube, the game was over. While high ceilings are intended, Entomb has led to too many games without meaningful interaction. Instead, I will try running Ripples of Undeath as another way of stocking the graveyard, but that is both potentially more value over the course of the game, and allows for more interactive games.

For many reanimation decks, the reanimation effects have largely become pretty fungible. In order to provide more interesting gameplay choices, I would like for each reanimation effect to have a unique upside, rather than it just coming down to picking the one with the cheapest mana value:

• Reanimate's unique upside will continue to be that it only costs 1 mana. It benefits from being able to target your opponent's graveyard and not being susceptible to enchantment removal, but pays for this upside with the life-loss clause.

• Necromancy is unique thanks to its ability to be played with flash (and can also target creatures in any graveyard), representing a great surprise factor in an otherwise empty board.

• Recurring Nightmare's ability to dodge enchantment removal and form an engine virtually on its own is unmatched.

• Dread Return benefits from being able to be cast from graveyard for 0 mana, which both allows it to reanimate twice, and also serves as a viable kill condition in dredge-style decks.

• Living Death can serve as both a wrath and as a mass-reanimation spell.

• Elspeth Conquers Death is both the only spell that can target planeswalkers and the only option for non- decks.

• Priest of Fell Rites synergizes with Lurrus of the Dream-Den and can be a 2-for-1 normally, plus it allows for an end-step Gifts Ungiven to threaten a reanimation the next turn.

• Slimefoot and Squee is both an army-in-a-can and can serve as a recurring nightmare impersonator, but is more interactable and needs a bit more setup.

Meanwhile, Animate Dead doesn't really have as much of a niche carved out - it in many ways is just a cheaper Necromancy, but the flash upside is, in my opinion, way more interesting than the -1/-0 downside and costing 1 less mana. Accordingly, I'm going to replace it with Emperor of Bones, to provide a Goryo's Vengeance style reanimation effect, as a hasty reanimation is far less common. When coupled with ways of re-adding counters or otherwise being reset, I'm hoping it will provide way more opportunities to do something novel.

The intent of Dream Halls was to serve as an alternate reanimation mode for decks that use . However, it failed to really deliver on its promise, as without fast mana in the cube, it was hard to consistently race an aggro
opponent. I am replacing it with Kitsa, Otterball Elite, which still can fill your bin in a reanimator shell, while also serving as a threat in UR and maintains a really high ceiling if you manage to activate the last ability.

One aspect that arose from having a dominant reanimator deck floating around became the fact that there weren't always enough answers floating around. I've decided to add Ghost Vacuum to hopefully provide a bit of an out for players. However, it also has a lot of different uses and upsides, from a last chance reanimation spell (Archon of Cruelty is still pretty powerful as a 1/1) to a late-game win condition in control post-wrath. I am using it to replace Mazemind Tome as a cheap value-accruing artifact a deck can drop early.

It's not all nerfs to reanimator, however! I'm adding Psychic Frog, which both bolsters the theme and also can help set up your reanimation spell.

Legends

Naya hasn't really been appealing to drafters - , , and have all been creature-focused proactive decks, but the improved consistency from running a 2-color deck, coupled with a lack of a unique identity, have meant that the shard doesn't end up being built around. Starting with this update, I'd like to start providing a light "legendary matters" subtheme - ideally, cards with decent floors but that reward you for using legends, such as Anduril, Flame of the West.

Annie Joins Up will be the signpost for this theme - I'm not expecting someone to draft the legends deck super commonly, but it can serve to allow someone who has built around legendary creatures to have a great payoff for doing so. I think there are enough legends that it synergizes with already for the doubling up to be worthwhile, but I will pay specific attention to legends with beneficial triggered abilities moving forward. It takes the place of Aragorn, Hornburg Hero, which was a decent card in those colors, and did well with the go-wide aggro plan of especially, but it wasn't a unique enough effect to encourage doing anything other than drafting a creature aggro deck, at which point most players end up having enough picks to just go 2 colors.

is the one color in Naya that is struggling for legends that go well with Annie Joins Up. I really enjoyed getting a chance to play with Six in another cube draft (giving Black Lotus retrace is pretty good), and I think there are a variety of synergies in all colors it has. It's taking the place of Tireless Tracker as a source of card advantage fueled by lands. The interaction with Annie Joins Up is the cherry on top.

I was really close to adding Anim Pakal, Thousandth Moon in a previous iteration, but the synergy on the attack trigger has made it official. It's taking the place of Showdown of the Skalds, which is a great card, but that kind of defeated the card-disadvantage downside of trying to build as fast of an aggressive deck as possible.

A couple of cards were a little underwhelming and are getting replaced.

Despite actually posting ok results, Great Train Heist continues to be unappealing. I'm instead going to try out Detective's Phoenix, which seems like it can be a good source of reach in red aggressive decks as a floor, with the upside of giving large threats or a reanimator target flying and haste out of nowhere.

Like Aragorn, Hornburg Hero, there is nothing wrong with this card - it's good on rate. However, it didn't open up any particularly novel gameplay opportunities and therefore didn't serve as much of a draw to build around. I'm hoping that The Necrobloom changes that by providing a variety of win-cons for land based decks.

I was hoping to acquire a copy of Indebted Spirit earlier, but finally have one now - I am going to try replacing Tithe Taker with it, as it can still serve as a regular 2-for-1 in aristocrats, but with the added upside of effectively being 3 mana for 3 bodies in a situation that really wants it, with the synergy with Lurrus being another big plus.

At the moment, I am only adding 3 new MH3 cards, though others have certainly caught my eye and might make an appearance soon.

However, I've taken the opportunity to make a few other adjustments as well.

Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd has been a card I've wanted to cube with as soon as it was spoiled. I enjoy the flexibility it brings, the different play patterns, the combo it can have with Containment Priest, and the art too. I think I've felt that there was a bit of redundancy between Academy Rector and Moon-Blessed Cleric, but the cube doesn't really have enough big-mana enchantments to require the former, and the latter has better synergy with the blink package, so I am cutting Academy Rector for the cube's new cutest card.

Eladamri, Korvecdal wasn't really on my list of includes until I opened one at prerelease. I didn't see myself going out and acquiring a copy, but now that one has fallen into my lap, I'm kind of intrigued with it. I do like providing G with more tools to cheat creatures into play beyond Natural Order, and I am interested in watching this be in action with a Courser of Kruphix to absolutely churn through someone's deck. I am replacing Court of Garenbrig, which has also been a source of card advantage at the same cost, but which can kind of become oppressive in some matchups because of how hard it is to cleanly answer.

Finally, Wight of the Reliquary seems like a fun card to let people experiment with. I enjoyed the idea of The Mycotyrant as a way of paying you off for putting cards into the graveyard, but tracking it in paper can be a little frustrating, so I'm going to try the Wight instead.

In addition to the aforementioned Court of Garenbrig, Broadside Bombardiers has felt a little too powerful for this format. It will join the list of retired cards and be replaced with a card that many people seem to consider to be the smaller version of it - Gut, True Soul Zealot.

There are some cards that fairly rarely end up being played - they might have high ceilings, but end up being too specific to reliably build around, or their application may be too niche. I'm replacing them with alternatives that generally tend to be a bit more flexible.

Inkwell Leviathan has remained as another tinker target, but has never really felt that great to tinker for. Instead, I will be running another artifact that allows for more shenanigans in Cryptic Coat. I think the coat can allow for blink / reanimation style shenanigans, is a good thing to loop with welder, and allows Stoneforge Mystic's activated ability to be used for something beyond just cheating in an expensive equipment (yes, it's still a reduction, but being able to pass with 4 mana up and either make a creature or play an instant is cool).

Executioner's Capsule has survived this long because of the ability to recur it with Lurrus or Emry, but I think these decks often end up with better things to do. Stalactite Stalker can still have that mode in a pinch, but also serves as a new aggressive option for black decks.

Embercleave hits like a truck but can feel like a dead card enough that it usually stays in the sideboard. I'm hoping Great Train Heist's increased flexibility can allow for the same blowout potential while still having a decent floor.

Berserk is another combat trick that never seemed to be included in a list. I'd like to keep the "surprise!" mode around, but this time I'll use Smuggler's Surprise instead. Being able to both blank removal in a pinch or cheat in a pair of creatures or just be card draw is a ton of options.

Finally, Triplicate Titan hasn't really been an appealing tinker target, and I'm hoping for there to be a few options. With Inkwell being cut, I think Triplicate Titan can fill in the gap as a really big creature to tinker out - it is almost always the biggest problem on the board, but it is still answerable, and looping it with welders feels amazing if a 9/9 vigilance flampler doesn't manage to close the game out right away somehow.

Recursive Threats

I think creatures in the cube have had some number of cards that always are able to come back from the graveyard. I like how these can bridge a lot of things is trying to do, but I think they can kind of blend together, so I'd like to bring out some cards that stick out a bit more.

Since Dark Confidant is so much fun, I'd like to try out its Snake Horse version in Caustic Bronco. Tenacious Underdog has filled a role as a recurring source of card advantage that hurts you and/or your opponent, so it felt like the mount would be a good thing to try playing instead.

Finally, I've heard the comment that I should try Bloodghast in place of Skyclave Shade a few times, and I think the inclusion of Wight of the Reliquary described above is a great reason to experiment with the swap.

This change was alluded to in the previous update - I managed to get a copy in time for a draft later this week.

I've been playing with surveil lands in Canadian Highlander and in Modern, and they have managed to exceed my initial expectations. I will be swapping out the checklands for the surveil lands accordingly. Additionally, I opened a Prismatic Vista and decided to try it out in place of Fabled Passage.

I've really liked the idea of Forsaken Miner and want to try it out, replacing Bloodsoaked Champion as an analogous card. I've also added back Blood Artist to enable comboes between it, the miner, and phyrexian altar (or a similar sac outlet and mana) - Blood Artist will replace Braids, Arisen Nightmare, which has seen pretty low play-rates as of late, and is still an aristocrats style card.

I'd also like to try out Slickshot Show-Off, which seems really cool and explosive. Dreadhorde Arcanist also cares about lots of cheap spells, but has in practice been a little too specific to pay off regularly.

Lavaspur Boots has been an intriguing equipment and Urza's Saga target - I think I've heard it described as a half-bonesplitter, half-swiftfoot boots, so I'll try to swap out Bonesplitter to make room.

I think I'm also considering adding Three Steps Ahead, probably by replacing Faerie Mastermind, but will hold off for now.

The archetype has for a long time been reanimator. However, at this point, pretty much any shell can support a reanimator deck, so I figured it would be worth exploring a new archetype for signposts - saboteurs. This is intended less to be strongly adhered to when making picks, and more as a unifying theme for the color pair's gold cards.

Kaito, Dancing Shadow already lets you turn any creature with a good ETB ability into a saboteur, but I am adding Thief of Sanity and Fallen Shinobi to round out Dimir's gold cards, taking the place of Halo Forager and Obsessive Stitcher. In order to make the reanimator package more achievable regardless of color, I am upgrading Unmarked Grave into Entomb as well.

A big reason I've enjoyed having Robber in the Rich in the cube is that it's nice to have at least one instance of the "play your opponent's spells" effect. With the addition of the 2 aforementioned effects, I'd like to replace Robber with a new powerhouse that is vaguely reminiscent of it - Inti, Seneschal of the Sun. Inti isn't the only Lost Caverns card I've seen making waves in other cubes though - I'm also trying out Broadside Bombardiers, which is taking the place of the often-sideboarded Hazoret the Fervent. I'm especially excited about the Bombardiers because of the synergy with the armies-in-a-can that likes.

The go-wide strategy is seeing a replacement as well - Comet, Stellar Pup has felt like a bit of a power outlier, so I'd like to try the new Warleader's Call as a different element in the archetype.

The other power outlier I am cutting is Orcish Bowmasters - this card routinely seems to dunk on everything else. To help shore up reanimator a bit more (and to enable shenanigans), I am replacing it with Necromancy. Removing Bowmasters also helps dampen the power of the "Wheel Hate" deck enough that I'm adding Time Spiral, which is replacing Time Spiral for now. This, in turn, means I am hoping I will be able to have the density of wheel effects I would like without needing to run Sail into the West, which has pretty routinely felt kind of underwhelming. I'm running Slogurk, the Overslime in its place instead, which aligns more neatly with the lands theme.

Another aspect of Slogurk, the Overslime is that it can hopefully benefit dredge and self mill strategies. I am hoping that Insidious Roots will also help be able to make these effects more desirable as well, and am replacing Mosswood Dreadknight, which feels more like a high floor pick than a high ceiling build-around I'd like many of the gold cards to be.

In order to help out the set of build around enchantments in the cube, I'm adding another way of tutoring them up - this time in the form of Academy Rector. When I first added The Wandering Emperor, I wanted to compare it to Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, and having enjoyed playing with the emperor more, I will be cutting Gideon to make way.

Finally, I am making one more change to W - I think Virtue of Loyalty is worth trying out over Flowering of the White Tree, as the top end is worth building around a bit more if you do get a rector, and can see play in a few other shells besides just Mono- aggro. However, a flash, vigilance 2/2 is probably often a better turn 2 play in mono-W than an anthem, so I can see it fitting into multiple decks rather than being as committal as a anthem.