Hello again and sorry for vanishing after my enthusiast first posts. The main reason why I didn't came back earlier is that Wizards told me that it won't be possible to make any change, the second one is that I have been a zombie for the last 10 days as spending 8 hours on social media to try to win the contest after my work day stole me countless hours of sleep.
I'll try to answer all suggestions I received here, and update the cube the way I would have done it if Wizards was making the changes. Keep in mind that it's still theory crafting and I don't want to make a revolution on the list (if I changed 50 cards, it would have been too far from the list people voted for).
About mana ratio :
I'll add Grand Coliseum, I already play Evolving Wilds, Terramorphic Expense and Mana confluence. I don't feel that City of brass is worth it (there is no way to play 3 color aggro deck, this card is weak in this cube) and Undiscovered Paradise would probably fall into the "I didn't read this weird looking card" category, despite being a correct control tool. There is no other good option until Ash Barrens hits modo.
I might be wrong on this but I don't want to have 10 more biland in the list for 2 reasons : I don't want players to be able to consistently pick good cards from 3 colors to have a 3cc good stuff that actually wins, and 3 color decks should be rare as it's not well supported.
About the wide power band :
it increases variance and lower the balance between packs and ultimately between decks. However, most of the "too good" cards are also popular, iconic cube cards, that players love and want to play with. Some of those cards also create archetypes (Opposition, Wildfire, Ghostly Prison, Recurring Nightmare...) If the cube was made to be only played by experienced cube players or designer, then it wouldn't be a problem to simply cut the top cards and reduce power level (bye bye for 80% of the planeswalkers!). But we are a minority here, there's plenty of players that would rather play with shiny powerful cards than in a very balanced environment.
There is no card that can destroy most games where it's played while not asking for a strong deckbuilding commitment (Umezawa Jitte and Sol Ring are not here, the stronger card not asking for a specific home is probably Chandra, Torch of Defiance).
About Black being too good :
people overestimate Bitterblossom and Griselbrand. Grim Lavamancer and Overrun are probably much better cards in this list. Recurring may be the best first pick first pack but it shouldn't be above Liliana. I feel that black is weaker than red and green, I am not worried about this color.
About suggested cards :
_I tried to avoid misleading cards (Honden of infinite rage fits the cube but may let people think that the whole cycle is in, it's frustrating. Ajani Goldmane and Elspeth Tyrel works perfectly with tokens... that white doesn't support, so they can't take the white planeswalker slot. Diabolic servitude would be the only black reanimation spell,= -outside of Recurring Nightmare that works differently-. UW tempo guys falls in this category too).
_Many of the suggested cards where at some point in the list but were too low on power level to be kept. All the suggested small blue guys and Rakdos card fall in this category (except for Serendib efreet, which I shouldn't have cut, and Sire of insanity which is out because of I needed Rakdos slot for mana artifact).
_White reanimation target : I choosed to play the legendary over the listed ones to make Loyal Retainer good. I put all the 5 mana or less white reanimation effect and the theme is still smaller than I would like it to be so I need Loyal Retainer to work (it influenced the choice of black creatures too).
_Firemane Angel : it's a 2 color fringe card that need a discard outlet to be usefull so I cut it, but it fits life and angel themes perfectly... I'll add it as I add more discard outlet (thanks, Cathartic reunion).
_Vengeful Dreams : I just didn't thought about this card and I need discard outlet in W, I'll add it.
_Goblin Matron : There's is no real goblin theme : all the "goblin matters" card works fine alone.
_Mana Breach : It doesn't work well with blue ability to play multiple small spell each turn.
_Mana Vortex : this could work, I never played the card so I won't add it as I don't know if it's good enough, but I would like to try it.
_ Black tutors : I had an argument to keep them in, I can remember it and it was probably ba anyway, I'll cut them.
_Izzet staticaster : It's not that bad. And Izzet theme is pingers.
_Japhan listed cards (sacred cows) : except bolt and maybe sphere, they are in theme : sorcerer, token producer, UB CiP...
_Japhan listed cards (color twisted cards) : most of them are too weak, Pyroclasm is too oppressive for U and G. Crypt Ghast is a good idea, it should replace the black high tide.
_UU and BB cards : that's true, even if black cards with this problem can be played from the grave. I'll cut Tidebinder mage and Despoiler of Souls to reduce it, but I won't cut more as the other cards are strong part of their archetypes.
I'll make the in/out tomorrow and send it to Wizards in case they end up making changes, but I'll most likely not happen.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and ideas!
