The California Premiership Cube: 720 Cards of

[MilesOfficial]

I've been talking about this Cube for a while here, and rather than just bumping CBS with every self-indulgent consideration I have, let's spread out the love a little.

The California Premiership Cube on Cube Cobra

From the CC description, this Cube is focused on delivering:

• Interactive gameplay between strong, synergistic decks with beloved cards.
• Accessibility to players across a large swath of skill levels.
• Opportunities for self-expression in drafting and deck-building.
• Celebrating the rich breadth of Magic design.

I make compromises on each of these a little too often, but I'm working on it! My playgroup is gigantic, but I'm too busy to get it together in person too frequently. In a normal year, we draft about once a month, with between 7 and 15 players across wildly different skill levels.

This Cube is currently going through a massive shift. Basically, in the last few years, the average card quality has gone up so much that I finally relented and added in / brought back many of Magic's biggest and splashiest cards. I have always wanted my Cube to be at least a full tier below a Vintage Cube, and I don't think it ever lost that, but in an effort to give tools to very occasional Magic players to have a real chance of beating the better player with straightforward threats, I ended up going too far in this direction. So I'm now de-powering my Cube -- it won't be all at once, but I want to make continuous progress.

I like to test draft my Cube a few times a week online. I take mental notes, but really, I want to document it a little better, so that's what this thread is for, even if I'm mostly shouting into the void.

This morning's draft deck has me satisfied. This is the kind of power-level I'm shooting for. It's a reanimator deck -- historically, one of the best decks in my Cube (besides RW aggro in the last 2 years) -- but it doesn't feel unbeatable. It's got weaknesses, as all good decks should. The haymakers are not overwhelming. The enablers are plentiful. It's the kind of deck that makes me feel validated about some of my more rouge picks like Deathbonnet Sprout. This is the kind of deck that makes me happy to be Cubing with the likes of Tersa Lightshatter over the overpowered Broadside Bombardiers, which was just cut in the latest edition of the Cube. The Final Fantasy cards like Sabin, Master Monk and Snort feel like they're really fitting in what I'm trying to build, even if I was sad (if probably correct) to cut Nibelheim Aflame in this particular build.

Most of the cards currently tagged in the list are likely going to be cut in short order, but please let me know if there's any other power-level outliers I should be considering to build towards my goals above, and thanks for following along!

 

[MilesOfficial]

I keep forgetting I have this thread and feel it would make a pretty good diary.

I made a surprisingly big change to my Cube this morning -- 21 cards! A lot of it was de-Spider-Man-ing my Cube from a slightly overzealous update a few days ago hot on the heels of several competitive events in the format.

IN:


(reminder that my cube is 720 cards, so this is the same as a 10-card change for the typical Cube! also I change cards weekly.)

I think every one of these has been in my Cube previously, many of them quite recently. Most of these are me trying to reign in my most excitable habits somewhat, taking out long shots or marginal cards for more straightforward Magic. I am spending a lot of complexity on a card-by-card level on my pet strategies and novel new cards I've instantly fallen for like all the recent cards from the Final Fantasy Commander set, particularly the new scene box cards.

I like to reevaluate my on-deck binder regularly, as well as compare to other similar lists. I recently found a Cube by Aleeex99 that reminds me a lot of my Cube before my major de-powering event earlier this year referenced in the previous post. It's not really what I'm looking for in Cube these days, but it did a lot to remind me of some important cards I had taken out.

One of the changes that I'm less happy with is the removal of Sunset Strikemaster. It's not really a card that I've aggressively taken in my online practice drafts and it's been exclusively side-boarded in person, but it's a good card, I think. It does 3 things all just slightly below rate, and that combination should be more than enough, as is the case with its peer Charming Scoundrel. But the 3-power 2-drop thing just isn't what it used to be. So many cards I used to Cube in this slot just don't synergize well enough anymore, but I still adore them. Looking through the history of this slot, it's got so many of my favorites:



It's a slot I've really struggled to get my players excited about, and the raw power of a lot of the snowball-y Commander cards really undermines nice meat-and-potatoes aggro 2-drops...as do the plethora of tokens I have running around my Cube. Farewell Sunset Strikemaster, I hope to try you out again one day.

After a big change, I like to run a few online test drafts to kick the tires a bit. This most recent stretch really did a lot to excite me about where my Cube's been going lately:

---

Potentially the best UR discard deck I've ever drafted without a wheel? I just added Windfall back in with Orcish Bowmasters to see if I can't push this deck even more, but I worry I might have just caused more competition for a suite of cards that may otherwise benefit from being wheel payoffs. I like Orcish Bowmasters and don't mind it as one of the best cards in my Cube. It was never oppressive like Gut or Ragavan. Being in black does help, as the RW aggro decks were the biggest problem at the beginning of the year. Still, its continued inclusion is tenuous as we play things out.



It was really gratifying to have all these cards together in one deck -- it almost feels like constructed! I wish I could have played it in an actual draft.

---

I talked about Spider-UK in the Spooderman thread, and I feel pretty good about it. A great example is this WGb +1/+1 counters deck, where it joins the new and somewhat-tenuous Cleopatra, Exiled Pharaoh and the over-performing Summon: Good King Mog XII as the deck's top-end. It's probably one of the weaker Ardbert, Warrior of Darkness decks I've drafted, but the dude is near the top of my Cube's ELO list for good reason all the same -- even when he's just OK, he's worth splashing for -- all without ever feeling oppressive.

Ozolith, the Shattered Spire has been on the chopping block recently, but this kind of deck makes me feel a little better about it. Not sure if I'm keeping the original Ozolith around much longer, though. Spider-Ham, Peter Porker was very close to making this deck, and did boost up 1/3 of the creatures in the list plus the token from Ranger Class. Not 100% sold on it, with green 2s being so good, but it hits a lot of archetypes I'm happy to support. Lord Jyscal Guado does a lot to help Spider-UK in making sure this list doesn't run out of gas too easily.



Overall, pretty sweet deck that showcases some of the more interesting cross-synergies my Cube is building towards.

 

[MilesOfficial]

A few unrelated notes:

1. Pyrogoyf​

This was my favorite card of 2024, and for good reason: it's the best.

No, actually the best. It singlehandedly makes red the best color. It generates its own archetype (tribal goyfs). It makes you re-evaluate other goyfs, who are all fun. But yeah, it's actually the best. It's too good.

To which I say:
View attachment 10887

Isn't there always going to be a "best card" in your Cube, no matter how flat you try to make the power-level??

So I put it back in, even though I've generally been very very happy with my decision to remove cards at that power-level like the MH2 elementals (the bastards don't have reminder text anyways), all the dumb snowbally red 3-drops (Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Gut, True Soul Zealot, Broadside Bombardiers, and Laelia, the Blade Reforged), Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, etc.

I think I can probably let Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd and Orcish Bowmasters back in, but there are quite a few cards I took out for power-level that I think made the Cube better.

But I drew the line at Barrowgoyf, even though it certainly was unfair, just because at the end of the day, how much better is it really than Qarsi Revenant or Nighthawk Scavenger? (the answer is: very)

I love goyfs, ok?

So why not put Pyrogoyf back in? After all, he was my favorite. I took out Flametongue Kavu for him!! So I made a change on my CubeCobra and the wise @Nanonox immediately verified my foolishness.

Clones plus Pyrogoyf is like...yeah. That's what I want to be doing in Magic. And it's seriously not fair to anyone else.

Why can't Pyrogoyf just trigger on itself??????

2. Metalworker​

Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student is a top pick in my Cube, but that's OK. The design is sweet, even if I wish she didn't have a backside. Part of this is how the player with her usually goes too hard into artifacts and usually falters as a result. But man, this draft deck was sweet. And it made me feel like Metalworker, who just got added back in after a 6-7 year absence, is a Cool Magic Card. The risk/reward on that card is crazy, but if you can pull it off, I think you deserve it, and I think this deck proves it.

3. Balance​

Is Balance OK now?



This is one of my favorite Cube cards, but as I move back-and-forth over where I think the line is for my Cube's power level, I think maybe, after almost a decade, Balance is OK again? Maybe? I'd even give up Pyrogoyf for this.

I don't have much fast mana, and Planeswalkers are no longer a major part of my Cube's ecosystem. Is it time for the Return of the King?

4. Just Jund Jams​

One reason I decided to depower my Cube was that basically every draft I was doing online for a while put me in Jund, and the decks looked unbeatable. See the above red 3 drops, but this combination of colors allowed acceleration, greed, and all the Cube's best cards. I still like to see how the 'ol Jund deck is doing, and this is one of the best ones I've done recently.



Getting a t2 Surrak, Elusive Hunter is good in most Cube environments, but that's essentially the most basic case for this deck. Atraxa, Grand Unifier and Vaultborn Tyrant are the two best bombs in my Cube, and I don't think it's particularly close. Why do I still have these two cards when I've taken out Archon of Cruelty for power-level reasons? Because I like that these cards force the reanimator deck to compete with the Gx ramp decks. Grix can be the "treat" for those reanimator decks. Still, they're always getting the side-eye from me, because no matter how fast my Cube / Magic has gotten lately, they're still unbelievably powerful....as is reanimator.

Polukranos Reborn delights my Timmy sensibilities to this day. I'm so happy this card exists.

5. Let's swap out another 30 cards​

I'm looking at so many cards right now as I'm physically auditing my Cube in anticipation of an upcoming event in two weeks. Since my number of paper drafts has been so low this year due to starting my own company, I've been worse than ever at keeping the CubeCobra list and the physical brick 1:1. So why not make it even harder on myself? Some highlights I'm currently looking at include:



Would love to know thoughts/opinions/concerns/recommendations about these, cards to take out, or any other miscellaneous advice you may have!

 

[Nanonox]

Would love to know thoughts/opinions/concerns/recommendations about these, cards to take out, or any other miscellaneous advice you may have!

Safe choices

Glyph Elemental
Splitskin Doll
Oust
Simin Simulacrum
Karvanista, Loyal Lupari
The Reality Chip
Cosmic Rebirth
Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler
Raise the Past

Spicy choices

Neerdiv + Zellix: Love cards that mill or self-mill and these look like fun build arounds.

Rosie Cotton: Careful with infinite combos here, but it's a nice payoff for making various tokens.

Teshar: Great here with your legendary + artifact themes. Fragile but fun to build around

The Peregrine Dynamo: No clue, but effect + body seem to be in line with what your cube is doing.

Tiller Engine: Probably more Green than colorless, but opens up fun lines and disruption.

Phelia: Definitely a power outlier, but you have The One Ring, Urza, Skullclamp, ...Careful if you don't want snowbally games I guess?

Not getting there

Elvish Archivist: 2/3 for 2 you have to work for + capped ability + enchantment signaling which isn't really there doesn't do it for me.

Clockwork Druid: A bit anemic. Would rather see something like Patchwork Automaton, Vault Skirge, Hope of Ghirapur something a bit more unique and exciting.

Confession Dial: I'm getting the feeling that your legendary decks are more on the aggressive side and this is a rough one for 3 mana. Maybe What Must Be Done or something could be more versatile if you want a slower legendary card?

Not necessary

Platoon Dispenser: You are adding Teshar and Wanderglyph which are better artifact support in my mind and another 5 drop is rough. Digsite Engineer could be a cheaper alternative that makes tokens and cares about artifacts. Or Thousand Moons Smithy/Regal Bunnicorn for a big dude.

Obsedian Obelisk: If you are going for an artifact theme, I think that the colorless cantrips are more important than more mana rocks especially at 720. Chromatic Star, Wizard's Rockets, Urza's Bauble would be priorities for me. If you want to keep artifact mana, maybe Paradise Mantle, Springleaf Drum and Moonsnare Prototype could be cool plants for Neerdiv.

Case of the Uneaten Feast: Feel like there might be more straightforward ways to recur creatures especially in White.

The Falcon: Reanimator is already a lot of work, I feel like this you are adding an extra step by needing to crew the equipment.

Nick Valentine: There are so many artifact centric 3 drops, that I don't know if this will ever make it into the main deck over other choices.

tl;dr: I would add the cheap colorless cantrips to your cube to better support your artifact deck than anything else.

 

[MilesOfficial]

I appreciate the feedback -- I ended up leaving the country on a work trip and didn't get a chance to consider these changes, but I did swap out Pyrogoyf at your recommendation with my Avatar updates.

I posted by Avatar inclusions in the includes & testing thread, but here are my specific swaps:

White
Avatar's Wrath in for Builder's Talent
Aang's Iceberg in for Leyline Binding
Enter the Avatar State in for Rally the Monastery
Abandoned Air Temple in for Karmic Guide
Suki, Courageous Rescuer in for Monastery Mentor
The Duke, Rebel Sentry in for Warden of the Inner Sky
Momo, Friendly Flier in for Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit

Blue
The Mechanist, Aerial Artisan in for Dreams of Laguna
Wan Shi Tong, Librarian in for Show and Tell
Wan Shi Tong, All-Knowing in for Diviner of Mist
Agna Qel'a in for Defabricate

Black
Fire Nation Occupation in for Exhume
Mai, Scornful Striker in for Morlun, Devourer of Spiders
Obsessive Pursuit in for Cabal Therapist
Raven Eagle in for Night's Whisper
Phoenix Fleet Airship in for Rankle, Master of Pranks

Red
Redirect Lightning in for Flare of Duplication
Solstice Revelations in for Mishra's Research Desk
Iroh's Demonstration in for Shatterskull Smashing

Green
Badgermole Cub in for Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
Origin of Metalbending in for Heritage Reclamation
Great Divide Guide in for Dryad of the Ilysian Grove
Tale of Katara and Toph in for Time of Need
Leaves from the Vine in for Explore
Unlucky Cabbage Merchant in for Spider-Ham, Peter Porker
Avatar Kyoshi, Earthbender in for Generous Ent

Gold
Toph, Hardheaded Teacher in for Manamorphose
Long Feng, Grand Secretariat in for Cleopatra, Exiled Pharaoh
Aang, Swift Savior in for Assimilation Aegis
Abandon Attachments in for Invert Polarity

Really happy with this set, going to try a few practice drafts now.

edit: holy shit I love Fire Nation Occupation -- and I had no idea I had a flash deck already pretty much supported in my Cube

 

[MilesOfficial]

So I run more 2-drop mana generators than I'd like in Green. It's very important to me that green has a lot of ramp, because I try to limit artifact ramp, especially colored ramp, to maintain green's identity/role for fixing and big mana. I used to run very few 2MV dorks, because I wanted most of my green ramp to be one mana, but then they printed really good stuff, including a pair of Avatar cards like:



I've been a big fan of Intrepid Paleontologist since it was printed, since it was a 2/2 that serves triple duty as graveyard removal and late-game graveyard-matters for most of green's fatties. And while the two best ramp payoffs in Gruul are dinos, I now only run 9 dinosaurs, having taken out both dual Ghatlas in Ghalta, Stampede Tyrant and Ghalta, Primal Hunger, among others. So the play-from-graveyard ability is a lot less worthwhile these days.

So even though it makes me a little sad to cut it, I'd really rather use the slot for something that's contributing to multiple archetypes. I'd love something that supports at least two themes, particularly between tokens, graveyard-matters, +1/+1 counters, life gain, trinket artifacts, legends-matter, etc. As such, here are some 2-drops I'm looking at, more or less in order:



Intrepid Trufflesnout has been in and out of my Cube forever. I don't know why, but I love the card a lot, but I don't think it's quite good enough for what I've got going on.

Thornvault Forager is funny but I have fewer squirrels than dinosaurs. Werewolf Pack Leader is probably not synergistic enough, especially for costing GG. There's also Kami of Transience, which I love, but I don't have enough enchantments for it.

I recently took out Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary as well, not for power-level concerns but because he wasn't getting as much interest as I had hoped for. I'd be happy to put him back in, but preferably for one of the surviving mana dorks at 2.

I could also pick something at a different CMC, but I kind of like keeping green's 2s very healthy, even if it doesn't make sense if the ideal scenario for the color is to skip 2s altogether after a mana dork on 1.

 

[alvoi]

Just a quick comment: I wouldn't consider Lotus Cobra as a 2-drop dork, because of the following reasons. All other 2-drop dorks work very badly if played after a turn 1 Llanowar Elves. The Lotus Cobra, instead, feels more right when played before a land drop (if it is a fetchland, bonus points) and is particularly good played t2 after t1 Elves, so I would count it more as a 3-drop that gives you immediately one mana...

Personally I would probably keep the Cobra, the Fanatic of Rhonas and maybe the Badgermole to see how it is, and then substitute all of the others. Probably Rofellos is a nice addition, I think it is very powerful especially in a powered environment.

 

[Nanonox]

?

I recently added it back to my cube and have been happy with it.
Get a sac trigger for the new Avatar cards. Go off with Soul Cauldron. Get fuel for delve and stuff.

Plus the ramp can’t be touched/wrath proof for slower decks which gives it a unique advantage despite being another 2 mana dork

 

[MilesOfficial]

After any new set comes out, I like to test it in a few sample drafts. My first one today was a lot of fun.

The key cards are almost all 2-drops:



Lots of synergies I've been building towards really came together. We have plenty of food literal and otherwise for Gourmand's Talent to go off with, trinkets team up with +1/+1 counters thanks to Long Feng, Grand Secretariat, Campsite Cuisine is going to love all the incidental legendaries from TMNT, and Biotech Specialist has never had an easier time finishing off opponents.

Biotech Specialist and Quina, Qu Gourmet really prove their worth here. With multiple cards dumping trinket tokens every turn, Quina's frogs get out of hand fast, especially with Arwen, Weaver of Hope, Tale of Katara and Toph, and of course Ouroboroid (who is feeling increasingly like a power outlier). The same is true for Chatterfang, of course, but he's never needed to prove himself.

Really wish Michelangelo, the Heart came in a proper frame. It's hard to read the card! The only promo is the pixel one, which actually does help for readability, but seems too off-kilter from the rest of my Cube.

It's kind of frustrating that Michelangelo, Weirdness to 11 is so close in practice to Ozolith, the Shattered Spire. I was almost ready to take Ozolith out for him but I do acknowledge they work better together, and I also like Ozolith for other reasons (being an artifact, having cycling, giving green a non-creature permanent I like).

This set is going to be good for Cube, I think. Lots of 2-drops that snowball, which I'll need to keep an eye on, but I really feel like my Cube's finally coming together after my big power-level downgrade in spring of last year. It's still a very powerful list of 720 cards, but I feel like I can really support silly things at the same time now.

 

[Nanonox]

I think you are definitely going down the right track with all of these foods/artifact trinkets. The payoffs seem varied and that leads to drafters expressing themselves during the draft. I’d love to see this little guy in addition to everything



While there is a Golgari costed activated ability, this is also just a one mana scaling beater in Green or Black. Have you tried it before? I’m considering it for my own cube, but don’t have as many ways to enable it.

On Ouroboroid, yes it’s a power outlier. But my issue with it is that it makes the game all about it as it takes over a board quickly, making your cool engines meaningless.

 

[MilesOfficial]

I had tried it before and liked it, but I am generally much harder on multicolor cards so it only lasted two drafts. I had it prior to the trinkets package, I think it's excellent and a great suggestion. Maybe I use this as an excuse to rebuild a hybrid section of single-pip hybrid cards.

I'm with you on Ouroboroid, thanks for the final push. I keep looking at this deck and thinking how clever I'd be with it, and then if I just cast this one silly 4-drop, everything else I've done prior is pretty much irrelevant so long as I have enough bodies on board. I don't like running such generically powerful cards, I think it's more warping than I'd like -- and not in an interesting way! Gonna file him out.

 

[MilesOfficial]

Been doing more practice drafts on Cube Cobra than normal usual to help break up work. Been really enjoying the new cards from both TMNT that I'll be picking up tomorrow and the other ~20 card change I've made since.

Pretty powerful Urza-centered artifact deck



This is the maximum power-level I'd like in my Cube, I think. It has a bunch of synergies going on that let it become more than the sum of its parts. I've talked at length about how instrumental Stridehangar Automaton was for convincing me to de-power my Cube to allow more synergistic decks, and this is a great example of it in action. Lots of great new cards from TMNT that play in interesting ways. I really appreciate how Lita's food tokens work so well here with the Stridehangar Automaton, but also with big Urza. Metallic Mimic is interesting here too. It's certainly a marginal pick, but naming Construct is going to feel really sweet.

I'm still not running two of the seven card that make Karnstructs, maybe I should relent and put Urza's Command back in. Half the time I play 4mv Urza, it dies before I can do anything cool with him, so it's about the same in practice, yeah?

White-green +1/+1 counters and trinkets



This one is pretty similar to the one from the last post, but it makes me very happy to have both Ravenous Squirrel and Ragost, Deft Gastronaut in the Cube. Very grateful for all the recommendations and ideas you all have given me here!

Also, I'm glad I can still play what I think of as old-fashioned Legacy+ Cube decks in my Cube considering how my Cube is much more 2024/2025 focused than the typical list is around here.

 

[Zoss]

Also, I'm glad I can still play what I think of as old-fashioned Legacy+ Cube decks in my Cube considering how my Cube is much more 2024/2025 focused than the typical list is around here.

That's absolutely hideous. Great work!

 

[MilesOfficial]

Made a 41-card change today, but this is really more of ten mini updates in one than such a massive shift based on notes I've been working on for the last month, as opposed to changing a few cards in and out 2-3 times a week as I had been for the month prior.

I am already procrastinating too much with this, so I'll keep it super brief, but happy to answer questions if anyone's interested/confused/ready to make a wellness check on me.

tl;dr I was sick of having placeholder cards for cards from new sets that I hadn't picked up yet so I decided to slow roll my inclusions of new cards, which has ups and downs. I don't know how they fit into my configuration of Cube yet, so I'm being more conservative. I don't think this is the best approach (I'd rather try more and be generous with cuts) but I'm testing it out. I do think I'll include ~5-6 of the Strixhaven "prepared" cards, but that'll come in time.

Worth quick note from my end are some of the complexity/confusion swaps.


Hunter’s Bow in for Contest of Claws

Pretty straightforward swap. Worse card, less interesting, but less going on.


Welcome to Sweettooth in for Bumi’s Feast Lecture

I really wanted to make Bumi's Feast Lecture work, and I still might, but it's not immediately clear it's generally a "2/2 for 2 plus a food", and it's technically one of the wordiest cards in my Cube. Even though most of it is reminder text, it's an intimidating block of text on a single card, you have to admit. The way that Welcome to Sweettooth parses it out is much more straightforward.


Up the Beanstalk in for Esper Origins

I adore the gameplay of Esper Origins, but it's kind of a wild card. You cannot simply explain what's on the backside of the card, and unlike other DFCs I run, that's not acceptable for this one. I'm cutting down on DFCs across the board for a reason, and this one is one of the guiltiest parties.


Rabbit Battery in for Kellan, Planar Trailblazer

Not that Reconfigure is the most straightforward or common mechanic in the world, but it's never caused any issues with my players, so long as the reminder text is there. Kellan was my sole exception to my general aversion to the "levels up without any clear indicator of such" suite of cards a la Figure of Destiny, and that was because I was previously hurting for more cheap legends and 2/1s for 1 in red. I have no such pain now. I like the character and the art, but the abilities don't contribute to anything else my Cube is trying to do other than smashing face, and I'm always happy to tamper the RW aggro decks a little...not that this does the best job of it, but I think it's a net win!


Avatar Kyoshi, Earthbender in for Aurora Awakener

I don't think earthbending is super easy on first blush, but it's fine for a top-end card, and I do have a high enough density of the mechanic going on that I'm not so worried about it. It plays great, and in a mostly predictable way. I like the mechanic enough to make room for it. Aurora Awakener is not actually confusing, but it's more than once been misunderstood as working like the much more popular Etali, Primal Conqueror (especially in commander, which is my average player's primary format). Indeed, that's how I first tried to play it in retail, but I thought I was being dense.

 

[KeithCubes]

I'll keep it super brief, but happy to answer questions if anyone's interested/confused/ready to make a wellness check on me.

Care to speak at all to the Maester Seymour -> Arwen, Weaver of Hope change? I was thinking about making this same swap but in the opposite direction, but I've admittedly never played with Seymour.

Case against Arwen:
• Being a 2/1 (that you really don't want to trade with) she has the least immediate impact green can make at 3 mana. I like how Seymour can at least absorb a 2/1 attacker next turn if he needs to defend, or help push an attack through with his pre-combat +1/+1 counter if he's not removed.
• 1GG < 2G
• Just realized that Seymour is actually an elf too, but for whatever reason Arwen seems to imply more of an elf synergy that's not there.
• Can't give herself counters like Seymour, so is a more miserable top-deck. Also lacks that rare 'generic' counter synergy that it looks like you're taking away anyway with cards like Abigale, Eloquent First-Year.

Arwen definitely has the better art though, and is a lot simpler to understand. With her in now I'd consider running Meltstrider's Resolve (generically good card IMO) for a little combo potential or Battle Menu which I think you had at one point already. I do wish the new Chelonian Tackle was just 1G, as it would be another cheeky inclusion for her, but I don't think it's main-deckable enough.

---

Is value Up the Beanstalk performing well enough in your experience? I get the floor of a green cantrip isn't bad, but without non-creature spell / enchantment synergy it's floor is just that.

Seeing beans in a pack implies to me that all the evoke elementals are going to be there, but I see you're down to just Wistfulness. Outside of that you're not even running the full cycle of overlords.

There's still some synergy with the prototypers (edit: apparently not), the improvisers, and the odd ball like Sabin, Master Monk but I was curious how often you were seeing that play out. I know you're running more actual 5+ mana spells than most synergy style cubes, so maybe it still just works out good enough as WOTC sorta intended.

Beans is one of those cards like Caldaia Guardian that I've always been on the fence about running in a similarly 'fair' environment from a expectations / signalling aspect, but would like to be proven wrong!

 

[MilesOfficial]

Care to speak at all to the Maester Seymour -> Arwen, Weaver of Hope change? I was thinking about making this same swap but in the opposite direction, but I've admittedly never played with Seymour.

A massive mistake I corrected immediately after seeing your comment in May. I removed Seymour as well at some point to bring back Sentinel of the Nameless City, but I imagine I'll eventually bring it back as a more clear +1/+1 counters supporter in green over maybe something like Sandstorm Salvager, despite me liking the token text and the artifact quality of the golem.

Is value Up the Beanstalk performing well enough in your experience? I get the floor of a green cantrip isn't bad, but without non-creature spell / enchantment synergy it's floor is just that.

No. I don't have enough things with Delve or Evoke these days to really feel like you're "cheating" off of it. The upcoming Garruk, Curse Breaker is honestly more of what I'd like to encourage folks to do and what the "point" of this card was in my environment.

Beans is one of those cards like Caldaia Guardian that I've always been on the fence about running in a similarly 'fair' environment from a expectations / signalling aspect, but would like to be proven wrong!

I don't like Blitz as a mechanic is my biggest issue with her. It's too convoluted of a mechanic to explain verbally and have it be fully understood, and it's something of a "downside mechanic" without being wholly obvious about it. It plays well, but as a one-of in Cube, I don't think it makes sense, and the card does the opposite of spark joy in me otherwise so I'm not inclined to make an exception.

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I'm working on a few things right now: an analysis of cards from The Hobbit for Cube, a Middle Earth unified singleton Cube, a 8-month old article about Hasbro financials I should just go ahead and publish as-is, and, of course regular maintenance of my own list, my favorite thing to do while in meetings when it starts being in a language I do not speak.

To the first point, I've been playing a bit of The Hobbit limited for the RCQ season, and some cards have really stood out in a Cube context. I'll go into it more deeply, but my biggest surprise is the lack of interest around Fíli the Pathfinder, who I think of as a good comp to Dion, Bahamut's Dominant, a card that's in nearly 3k Cubes despite being a DFC from a UB set. I love Dion, but I don't love having so many of these DFCs with sagas on the backside, because it's just too much to grok during draft. He plays really well, but he implies a knight subtheme just as much as Fili implies a Dwarf one, and I have similar numbers of each. I'll likely be making the swap soon, but it's going to sting to remove such a cool and powerful card. More to come on this and more!

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Some of my recent online practice drafts have delighted me, helped me better understand my Cube, and I wanted to share them with y'all, if I may, calling out key cards as well as recent additions to the Cube:

Stridehangar Ring



This one was neat, and made me feel better about the reintroduction of both Kambal, Profiteering Mayor and Skorpekh Lord. I've talked before about how influential Stridehangar Automaton has been to my Cube's development in the last year or so, and this deck is a great place to showcase how. There are ten cards that directly make artifact tokens themselves, many of them in a repeated manner, and another two that do so in certain situations (Elspeth and, funny enough, Fractured Identity). The snowballing advantage that these repeatable token generators provide is something I am paying close attention to, but more often lately it leads to my favorite version of midrange hell, and so I think it's reasonably sustainable, even if I need better solutions for token distribution.

The relative power of The One Ring kind of invalidates a lot of the cool synergies of this deck, but I still am happy to have that be one of the "broken of all time" cards that makes you really feel like you're Cubin'. Elspeth also can feel like a power outlier in some decks, and here, it's going to be a groan test for sure, but I think white having one walker at this level is appropriate.

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Ardbert Cuisine



I love Ardbert, Warrior of Darkness. I love how he gives +1/+1 counters to every legend, not just your BW buddies. He's a 3-mana do-nothing-on-ETB that pays you off so quickly that he feels worth it, but still gives your opponent an opportunity to deal with him. In a deck with a bunch of 1 and 2 mv legends, Campfire Cuisine actually gets work done. This deck truly threatens to kill by turn 4, even with multiple splashes. A handsome aggro deck that has plenty of interaction and synergy, this feels more in-line with my Cube goals than the old days of WW with Savannah Lions and Paths. This is also a deck that justifies Ace's Baseball Bat, an impressive equipment that shouldn't be so under-looked.

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BR Reanimator



A pretty standard reaniamtor deck for my Cube. I am always in search of new ways to discard cards, and this deck was hard to get the A+B+C plan of reanimator together. Cards like Oliphaunt of course help quite a bit, but I'd still much rather Dance of the Dead a Themberchaud to clear the board on ETB, even if it's only for 2 damage. Considering how historically powerful this deck is, I'm comfortable with the current challenges it faces in my Cube, and how it gets cut by adjacent strategies in red like Discard and in black like value midrange.

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Replenish-ish



I am quite interested in making Replenish work as a bomb-y mass-reanimation spell, but I've now come to the conclusion that if it ends up being a Late to Dinner bringing back only a single target, I can't be too mad at it. I'm still fiddling with many of these cards, but the interactions with the Overlords works really well for me, even if I'm only running the white and black ones at the moment.

Decks like this make me really appreciate The Battle of Bywater. I used to love Retribution of the Meek, but the difference between 3 and 4 mana is truly critical here. With modern Magic, 3mv sweepers are just so sweet. Maybe I need to reconsider Split Up, Temporary Lockdown, and Harsh Justice.

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Ideal Mardu



When I Cube IRL, this is usually the kind of deck I end up drafting the most. I adore the many overlapping interactions, the multiple Unearth and Faithless Looting effects I run (including those cards themselves!), and new cards like Rat King, Verminister and Spider-Man, New Champion. This is what unpowered Cube should look like, a mix of cards that interact in compelling ways from across Magic's history to make for powerful and interactive gameplay.

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Bant Tifa



Every time I consider cutting Tifa Lockhart, I draft a deck like this that reminds me why she's around. FF doesn't mean much to me emotionally, but I do like the set a whole lot. It's hard in a Cube like mine without much in the way of tutors to make this truly consistent, but Tifa's one of the many one-card build-arounds running around my Cube that I'm happy can make a super cool deck every once in a while. Fetchlands a-plenty, Icetill Explorer to bring them back, tons of +1/+1 counters and a few equipment -- it's very reasonable that you can "go off" with Tifa protected by The Duke, Rebel Sentry and Spider-Sense, and worst-case, you load that all onto a Wan Shi Tong, Librarian instead. Looks like tons of fun to play.

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Ideal Jund



This is the most-drafted kind of deck I do online, at least according to my stats. Self-mill like crazy, a great mana base, some slightly-more-expensive reanimation, and 2-for-1s wherever you can get 'em. I want to show this deck to all my players as one of many ideal conclusions to a beer-fueled hangout that coincides with a Magic draft, as the pilot of this deck will have a good time every game.

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Food Fun



Tons of ways to make food and to benefit off it. It may sound linear, but this comes at an interesting cross-synergy of the +1/+c counters deck, the artifact trinket strategy, the legends-matter deck, and various tokens archetypes. It's great for folks who love to resource manage their board like it's a Civ game. This is also the deck that justifies the generally-weak Leaves from the Vine, which I think is a much more reasonable card for many Cubes than its retail environment would leave one to believe.

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Yeah, I'm pretty happy with the state of my Cube. It's got its own unique charm, and maybe too many cards from [CURRENT YEAR] and Universes Beyond, but I can live with that if it plays out like these decks.