Having encountered a “Heads I Win, Tails You Lose” deck, I loved the tense moments of wondering what the result would be for my opponents coin flip. It felt like a brief pause of tension was placed on the game that made for an exciting outcome win or lose. Considering the tension of possibility, Dungeons and Dragons brings about that same feeling of tension consistently, whether you’re trying to land an important attack, make a life-saving death saving throw, or maintain concentration on a spell after taking massive damage.

To bring this tense moment of pause (albeit with dice instead of coins) I knew I needed to add some coin flipping cards to the Izzet archetype. To make this work, I have updated the house rules of the cube to reflect that coin flipping is performed with a d20 and success is determined by successfully predicting an odd or even result. This also provides the benefit of bolstering Farideh, Devil’s Chosen and making Vexing Puzzlebox much more viable. Overall, I think this brings the Izzet archetype much closer to parity with some of the other strategies, but there’s still much work to be done.

For this reason, I have decided to swap Firkraag, Cunning Instigator in the Commander Binder with Yusri, Fortune’s Flame. Firkraag makes for interesting games and forces action, but I think Yusri will provide much more explosive action. Additionally, dragon decks could exploit Firkraag to obstruct blocks and crack in for damage more easily in the late game. It also pressures opposing life totals even more than the initiative mechanic. Dragons are about to get more plentiful support in the upcoming Tarkir Dragonstorm set. I expect to make several changes as the set releases and Cubecobra’s gallery updates. (I’m especially excited for the Rakdos archetype to get access to Avenger of the Fallen for token fodder).

This cube needs land interaction to shine as some of the lands are quite powerful. That being said, land disruption can feel very underwhelming when it’s not useful. I’ve cut Cleansing Wildfire with Sundering Eruption for greater utility for incentivizing action. With the initiative mechanic, I think this will prove to be an exceptionally useful substitution.

The Rakdos sacrifice strategy currently lacks small bodies to sacrifice that have additional synergies while in the graveyard. Forsworn Paladin does not deliver enough utility to be worth the mana investment. Faerie Dreamthief can be used to start combats early for aggressive decks, steal the initiative in the mid-game, and be used once to replace itself in the late game.

More blog posts to come, but after battling against a "Heads I Win, Tails You Lose deck" I fell in love with the coin flipping as a way to add chance/chaos to the Izzet archetype. More modifications to come but happy to hear any and all suggestions for how you'd incorporate dice rolling with flipping coins. My current idea is to add another house rule that states: "Flipping a coin is done with a d20 and a player wins by successfully guessing whether the number is odd or even."

In browsing cards I didn't even consider the potential fun that Obeka, Splitter of Seconds can create when interacting with The Initiative mechanic. Explosive, late game plays like this seem like a much better payoff than what can be provided by Sedris, the Traitor King. Sedris is much slower to get rolling and requires Grixis to lean too heavily into big creatures while lacking effective support for that archetype.

I must regrettably admit that I usually leave Astarion at my camp. I neglected to add Astarion, the Decadent to the original list. As a very popular character, I feel this is a card that must be included even if the mana cost is a bit steep. I think this will likely cause me to modify white and black a bit more to add some more incremental life gain abilities to make it more synergistic. Felisa, Fang of Silverquill has been cut for flavor reasons (that and Kambal, Consul of Allocation synergizes with Astarion.

Halsin, Emerald Archdruid was also not in the original list. Given the current list, I'm actually happy to swap out another Background commander, Erinis, Gloom Stalker whom will likely not trigger very often and will be of little impact. I think Halsin will allow more exciting games where green players can do some wild and creative things with token generation.

This modification is to once again bolster green. I think this puts green in a great place, with some powerful rewards, finishers, and protection pieces for those investing into it during the draft. My ultimate hope is that it makes the color more impactful while not serving as exclusively a support color.

Dread Linnorm has some potential utility, but I think it rests too high on the mana curve to be feasible most of the time in a main deck. Instead, I have substituted Cultivator of Blades as a utility finisher to allow green to have an Overrun effect while also providing an additional artificer for the party mechanic.

Scaled Nurturer isn't quite impactful enough to be worth the 2 mana. While flavorful and providing some life gain for longevity, I think players will find that Cathedral Acolyte will prove more useful to bolster their boards as the game progresses while simultaneously protecting their creatures. Hoping very much for a universes within version of this card as it is a bit of a flavor fail for a traditional DnD setting.

Yisan, The Wanderer Bard regrettably had to go. The utility it grants to party decks being both a rogue and a bard is not worth the downside of punishing players that do not know their newly created deck and failing to find creatures in their specific mana costs after investing the mana. Additionally, I think this would cause unnecessary headaches and decision paralysis with proliferate effects.

Going into the Binder Roster in Yisan's place is Jugan, the Rising Star. I think almost all big mana decks will welcome it as a means to boost their boards while adding extra dragons to the Binder Roster.

In attempting to give green more power without putting in absolute powerhouses like The Great Henge that would blatantly outclass other permanents on board, making some incremental changes to the cube to give it a slight boost: A +1/+1 counter!

Nazahn, Revered Bladesmith has some really interesting potential, but I think this will put players to approach deckbuilding in the wrong direction. I'd rather support +1/+1 counters strategies and token strategies with Torens, Fist of the Angels. Considering for the party mechanic, we lost a potential Artificer, but gained a potential Cleric.

Loathsome Troll is not impactful enough and the dice-rolling mechanic is off color for the primary dice-rolling archetype. This makes way for an impactful enchantment of Innkeeper's Talent.

Still thinking there should be some additional cuts but want to identify more cuts and additions that intertwine with the DnD setting. I will continue to make some modifications and look forward to hearing any suggestions!

Lost Caverns of Ixalan added very interesting lands with a powerful mechanic: Discover. This mechanic synergizes exceptionally well with casting spells outside of a hand, as well as provides an opportunity for a mana sink to advance board states.

While not dungeons, I think caves are just as evocative of DnD dungeon settings. Currently, the Dungeons and Dragons "man-land" cycle is included in the cube, but I worry these lands are too slow and lack a significant enough punch to be worth investing the mana. I'm considering swapping these lands out for the Lost Caverns of Ixalan caves, but worry that more land types could make the cube more confusing.

Will assess and review as the cube develops/grows.

Another round of substitutions with the recent release of Bloomburrow. Some were much easier than others- the easiest cuts being Warehouse Thief and Drider. Both creatures are far too slow to develop their value and too intensive of mana investment to ever be justifiable, I do not ever foresee these cards being playable. Coruscation Mage and Darkstar Augur seem exciting, can develop serious advantage, and have other fun interplays with the existing commanders.

Master Transmuter also needs to go. It sends the wrong signal that this cube will have powerhouse artifacts, while there are a couple, there's nothing of a substantive enough value to be worth the cost a majority of the time. Dour Port-Mage will provide much needed power to blink decks and enable the strategy more effectively.

The finalsubstitution I expect to be especially impactful is cutting Jhiora, Weatherlight Captain in the commander binder. Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain is a classic card, but I think that Bria, Riptide Rogue is much better aligned and supported in this cube. Rather than durdle and draw cards aimlessly, this commander promotes a powerful means for Izzet to cut in for Iniatiative activations and potentially win through combat damage.