The Spring 2025 Pauper Cube Quick Hits

Foundations Quick Hits

First off, a small apology for the delay in the quick hits, in general we've been slow on this one as Duskmourn was hot off the back of our Modern Horizons 3 and Bloomburrow update, featuring arguably the most impactful set in years for a variety of formats, we have Duskmourn, which has… Personality?

## White

[[!Trapped in the Screen]]

Omni: another in the vast waves of “this is better than the previous version, but unexciting”

Neveron: The main question here is probably whether it replaces a two-mana pacifism variant or one of the three-mana options that can deal with [[Desert]].

Solset:  My distaste for the flavor aside, this is a good card and will improve white’s overall removal package.  As others have implied, this lacks just a bit of versatility compared to some options, but is likely better 90% of the time. So for the cut,  the big question is do we prioritize strength or versatility in what it will replace.

Usman:  I personally like it more than an O-Ring, but less than a Pacifism.  Mostly universal removal which makes the maindeck in most white decks. Poor Mike Teavee.  :(

Phizzled: As O-ring variants go, it’s fairly clean in explaining exactly what it can remove. Ward sometimes runs the risk of more “feel bad” moments (compared to “this ability costs more to cast/activate”), but I haven’t seen so much distaste for it that I would not consider this for inclusion.

[[!Possessed Goat]]

Omni: I like this one in the same vein as [[Ecstatic Awakener]], I do wish it had any sort of keyword somewhere to not just be [[Eager Cadet]], but we can’t be too choosy.

Neveron: Being instant speed is good; not drawing a card like Awakener does is a bit rough.

Solset: <i> </i>I am one of Ecstatic Awakener’s biggest fans.  Overall, I do think this compares favorably.  Black cares about sacrifice; white cares about counters.   Awakener lets you “cycle” your worst creature on board; Goat lets you ditch a card you haven’t wasted any tempo casting yet. Finally, even if Awakener is likely the better card in a vacuum, Goat is in a color that can really use more one drops that improve mid to late game.

Usman:  My issue with this is that it doesn’t really give you anything that special when you discard a card, just combat stats.  Being a combat trick (even if it’s on-board) is nice for combat, since it makes blocking it tough but I’m not feeling this one, even as a lover of beatdown 1-drops.

Phizzled: I guess I like that after your third or fourth land, you can draw a [[Hunger of the Howlpack]] to advance your boardstate, but this feels lacking compared to some of the explosive growth creatures other colors get.  Technically, that’s fair for White, and it is entirely possible that activating the goat just ends the game anyway, so not getting to draw a card is maybe not disqualifying.

[[!Fear of Surveillance]]

Solset:  For anyone that has played [[Looter il-Kor]], they know how consistent card selection can take over a game. I was a fan of  [[Attentive Sunscribe]], and this just blows that up.   For a generic cube, this is likely good enough, and it is currently the best common in its own draft format.   More, an early vigilance creature is also a great option to suit up with counters and equipment in Green White. While it is a bit worse early, I imagine this little enchantment is better than  [[Topan Freeblade]] most of the time.

Usman:  This reminds me a lot of the saboteurs without evasion, where it wants to consistently attack to do something but gets stymied in its goals by blockers.  The whole “this gets outclassed quick” is somewhat cliched but I can’t help but think that when I see this.  Admittedly, I’ve had a grand total of one draft of DSK and it’s one of the better performers in one of the better-performing colors, per 17lands but… eeeeeh.

Phizzled: I think this likely performs better where every color gets some more delirium payoffs, which are generally lacking in The Pauper Cube.  A bear with vigilance is fine to throw into combat, but more and more creatures in other decks feel as likely to kill it as to stonewall this.  Weirdly, I might like it more with an ETB surveil.

## Blue

[[!Unable to scream]]

Omni: This one’s a sidegrade to [[Witness Protection]] and I’m still undecided which I prefer. This one walls your 1/1 forever vs trading with a token down the line.

Neveron: I think this probably replaces one of the one-mana tap-downs, perhaps, like [[Bubble Snare]]. Getting rid of static and triggered abilities is increasingly relevant.

Solset:  For more tempo oriented cubes, this is likely worse than options that remove the creature from the combat phase, but I think for us, this is just better to survive until blue’s late game plans.

Usman:  Not bad out of 10; I think I like it better than Witness Protection but they’re close enough.

Phizzled: I agree with Neveron.  If we make the swap, this is more of a kind with the tap-removals aimed at removing a Gruul monster or some repeatable effect.

## Black

[[!Innocuous Rat]]

Omni: Oh hey, it’s [[Sultai Emissary]] but better! I’m sure others can explain why they love this one but for me it’s just a slight upgrade on a card most haven’t been complaining about.

Neveron: For those who wonder, we’ve probably reached the limit on how many dies-into-a-body creatures we should have in the cube. This probably replaces Emissary rather than existing alongside it.

Solset: Aristocrats has plenty of support in the 2 drops, so we should expect this to replace an option.   [[Putrid Goblin]] is better if you are looking for pressure, but it is worse in a deck that wants to actively sacrifice or fill up the graveyard compared to Emissary.  For the diversity of effects, I’d expect Emissary to leave.

Usman:  Slight upgrade is upgrade but still fine.

Phizzled: Manifest dread has seemed better and better the more I’ve played with it, but again, graveyard synergies in Duskmourn have maybe inflated the importance and value of binning one of the top two cards.  The 1/1 is clearly less impressive, but there is just enough reanimation that I’m leaning towards inclusion, currently.

## Red

[[!Clockwork Percussionist]]

Omni: I might be the dissenting voice here but I am not as high on this [[Raging Goblin]] with upside as a lot of folks. I won’t throw the wildest fit if this is what people want I just don’t think this is it.

Neveron: As the resident Raging Goblin Fan, I definitely feel a bit mixed on this one. “Drawing” a card when it dies is a good effect, but there’s a lot of similar cards competing for those slots.

Solset: This is really close to me when I compare it to our one drops that die into a guy or compared to [[Fanatical Firebrand]].  Might be worth asking for a vote to directly compare them.

Usman:  Absolutely love this thing.  Can’t wait to get some equipment on it but I’m good with this replacing something mediocre at 1-2 mana.  It’s going to be awkward when this hits a combat trick but I think that’s likely its worst case, not usual case.

Phizzled: This is just such a cute Ragavan reference and I have no complaints about the flavor. I’m more interested in this for a Rakdos pauper constructed aristocrats build than I am in the cube right now, though.

[[!Turn inside out]]

Omni: This seems like a pretty solid combat trick that doesn’t care nearly as much about winning combat vs ensuring it trades up and nets you a 2/2. Good stuff.

Neveron: This card has been making waves in Standard in the turn two kill decks, but for us this is probably just a good combat trick. [[Otherworldly Outburst]], [[Felonious Rage]]... We’ve come a long way, huh?

Solset:  This is nuts in standard when copied for free, but it is still a really solid and versatile card.  For most red decks, I imagine it will be a [[Lava Spike]] 95% of the time. However, the alternative mode of killing an annoying blocker and getting to upgrade the creature at the same time for 1 mana, makes it much better than our favorite Arcane bolt.

Usman:  This may be best in class in terms of a combat trick that does something when the creature trades up (Felonious Rage, etc) and on-rate, it’s fine as a 3-damage spell.  I’m unsure how often it’ll come up where you’d rather just have a [[Shock]], which is its main point against it.  Worth a whirl, though.

Phizzled: We’ve had several variants, as noted by my fellow committee members, and I think you’re just taking the one or two that feel most flavorful to you.  This adds reach in two ways to some of Red’s smaller beaters, but, again, it doesn’t do anything that feels especially new.

[[!Vicious Clown]]

Solset: Well, our community hates this card, but have you thought about how this hits on the play when you follow it up with a  [[Beetleback Chief]] or [[Hordeling Outburst]]?  Forget those fantastic follow ups, most of the time I think this is going to play as well as  [[Skophos Reaver]]. Yet, when we have dedicated an archetype to go wide, it will often be much better. Give it a thought, and revote if you think this should be given a shot.

Omniczech: Besides passing value of jokes at your opponent’s expense (cause really, who’s a bigger clown than them?), I do think this is a card that presents a pretty must answer threat. It’s not the craziest idea to think this triggers once or twice pretty easily and does give those outsized early game creatures a little more utility in the mid to late game.

Usman: Initial thought is if this is better than [[Witty Roastmaster]] and I think the answer’s yes, for rate.

Phizzled: My first thought was, of course, the various token generator spells, but then my second thought was Rakdos aristocrats.  There remain enough creatures that die into other tokens and trigger this so long as you have an instant speed sacrifice ability. If this triggers consistently, it’s Skophos Reaver, but we already already have several go-wide payoffs, and I couldn’t tell you how we’ll know we have too many of them.

## Green

[[!Flesh Burrower]]

Solset:  This is currently polling poorly, but I feel it is a great addition to green.  A bear is always welcome, and an early deathtouch creature will help you stabilize.  Late game, this is sure to trade up on defense, and later giving a trample creature deathtouch is a fantastic combo once you are turning big green guys sideways.  I may be alone, but I think this is just what green wants in a bear, more than a teenage mutant samurai frog.

Usman:  This may be a subtle way of getting green to play more of an aggressive role with small creatures that can’t be blocked effectively, might also be something good with tokens, since it doesn’t “pair up” with a specific creature ala Soulbond, it just chooses a buddy when it attacks.  Yeah, this could do something.

Phizzled: I thought of the “backup” ability before Soulbond, but either way, this is a cheap creature I’d rather draw late, which is awkward to draft as a focal element of the Cube, but improves every 4/4 trampler immensely.  The best play pattern being awkward is the biggest mark against this: if your trampler could potentially close the game out anyway, isn’t this worse to draw late than [[Predator Strike]] or [[Massive Might]] (already in the Cube)?

[[!Monstrous Emergence]]

Omni: This has to just be the best version of this effect we’ve gotten right? By a country mile? The fact you can blast something away just by having your late game threat in hand is nice utility.

Neveron: When this first appeared in Ikoria’s uncommon [[Charge of the Forever-Beast]], people worried about what this meant for the future of Green. Turns out that they never returned to this mechanic until now, though, and having green be able to actually do stuff on an empty board is a fun addition to common.

Solset:  This is about as close to  [[Fell]] as I think we will get in green for a long time.  It seems small, but by making your choice a cost rather than a target and allowing the pick from your hand  this is so much better than our fight and bite spells since it is completely immune to the typical responses.

Usman:  I’ve generally been eh on 2-mana fight/bite spells (especially at sorcery speed) in green since they lag behind removal in other colors, but being able to get around spot removal helps it not just get punked by a Doom Blade.  We likely have room for this.

Phizzled: At sorcery speed, technically there is a downside, but not needing to have already cast your Dreadmaw to remove anything on the board is almost too good to pass up.

[[!Slavering Branchsnapper]]

Omni: I don’t know where I fall on this vs other cyclers, do we need 2, all those various conundrums and will likely fall back on the rest of the committee, but it is cool to see a better dreadmaw show up in a standard release.

Neveron: This overgrown lizard can’t even be found with [[Commune with Dinosaurs]], smh. Seriously, though, it’s probably fine? I’ve long been a fan of cards like [[Greater Sandwurm]], where you cycle them early and cast them late, and the question is mostly just whether or not it beats the competition for high-MV green slots. It’s a tough race, and we aren’t even running [[Timberland Ancient]].

Solset:  While slightly different, this fits a similar spot to [[Greater Tanuki]]. The more I pauper cube, the less I want to want ramp on turn 3.  Unless I am in a multicolor pile, I think I like Branchsnapper just better, and with a slew of new saclands, our multicolor options are doing just fine.

Usman:  I agree that this &gt; Tanuki, but this could easily replace something else at 5 and I wouldn’t bat an eye either.  I used to love playing the cyclers in my own pauper cube as cards that could do a thing early and be cast late game as a giant beater.  Maybe this is better than [[Krosan Tusker]]? Not that I think that’s what we’d cut for it…

[[!Wary Watchdog]]

Omni: We liked this when it was a cat, I still like it as a dog, the question is do we need 2 in the cube?

Neveron: As a cat person, I’ll probably stick with [[Wary Thespian]]. This is slightly less wordy due to the new wording of “enters”, I guess?

Solset: Well, the druid type on Thespian could matter in the future  and people already own it, so I think we stick with what we have.  No need for two of these.

Usman: Not a cat :( :chrono: .  If our green was more aggressive, I’d like it more as a way to bolster early aggressive curves with another on-rate body that does something on the way in and out, but I don’t think we necessarily need two.

Phizzled: Double dipping on the same body (except creature type) doesn’t seem critical. I’m comfortable passing.

## Colorless

[[!Abandoned Campground]]

Abandoned Campground and its cycle are rarely going to matter more than a gate, but it is profoundly impactful that we have our first common dual cycle that could enter untapped.  While the 13 life clause isn’t going to speed up aggressive decks nor will it excite control decks, it opens the door to many other conditional untapped duals at common.  Not for us now, but the future is bright.

Usman:  The “Death’s Door” mechanic is one of my favorite things about the Darkest Dungeon series, but I’m middling on these lands since it’s rough to put yourself that low and getting the opponent that low may not happen until the late game for non-aggro.  It’s something we could consider down the line for the aggro color pairs but I’d rather just have a Thriving type land.

Phizzled: This is exciting because of what it presages for the future, not for what it offers right now.

[[!Glimmerlight]]

Omni: This isn’t [[Ancestral Blade]], but it’s not that far away. Yes this doesn’t auto equip to the token but it’s still a pretty large percentage of a card that we’ve been happy with so far.

Neveron: A good comparison might be [[Flayer Husk]], which we’re currently running. Conventional wisdom for Equipment would be that MV2/Equip 1 is better than MV1/Equip 2, so… maybe?

Solset: Flayer husk gives every aggro deck another reasonable 1 drop, but no deck is happy to drop a [[Naths Buffoon]] out without the elf hate.  I imagine this is a fine late drop in those decks to keep things moving and to have a mana sink, but it’s never a needed card in any mode. I think it is a pass even if it has a high win rate in its grindy format.

Usman:  It’s probably my undying love of living weapon and friends but I love this thing.  It mostly emulates [[Sickleslicer]], as a virtual 3-mana 2/2 that can be thrown around to other things; I like the 1 mana equip mode to give +1/+1 over the 4-mana mode to give something +2/+2, since the latter mode can be a time walk in the mid-game.  Equip 1 is just so good and the +1/+1 is a decent size buff, especially given how compacted stats are in this format.

Phizzled: This is a lovely glue card and I couldn’t tell you easily which other colorless card this is the best replacement for.

Duskmourn Quick Hits

## White

### Adds

[[Dog Umbra]] is another one in the list of “wow, [[Pacifism]] is outdated” cards for white. We do want to monitor what the experience of players is. Whether this is mostly just a [[Pacifism]] with flash or winds up saving your creatures more often will factor into how we view this card in the future.

[[Aerie Auxiliary]] besides being a real tongue twister is just a generally great rate for the amount of body it comes with.

[[Mandibular Kite]] is another card in the series of cards that confirm living weapon is a silly keyword. This one instead of past ones also adds some very useful evasion on. While that 4 mana equip cost might seem high, we’re pretty sure that this is gonna contribute at least a few games in the win column.

[[Thraben Charm]] is exactly what you want to see in a charm. The first mode will more than likely be a Murder a good amount of the time, tacking on the ability to deal with a niche card type as well as some incidental graveyard hate is all great.

###Cuts

[[Realmbreaker's Grasp]] and [[Cooped Up]] are both getting cut for the two pieces of removal we’re bringing in as they were deemed the least unique/useful.

From feedback we’ve gotten, [[Recommission]] has not been performing as well as some hoped. It’s getting pulled as a result of this.

[[Seraph of Dawn]] is an older inclusion that isn’t quite as good as it used to be, but on top of that pretty much makes any 3 power or less creature a fraught proposition.

## Blue

### Adds

[[Serum Visionary]] continues to demonstrate that we keep getting better and better [[Phyrexian Rager]] variants printed.

[[Deranged Assistant]] is the first move into introducing ramp back into Simic’s tool kit. In addition this plays into various cards that want to either have other cards in the graveyard or themselve be put into the yard.

### Cuts

[[Faerie Duelist]] has been mostly deeply forgettable, not serving its role as well as we had hoped, and also is running counter to our hopes for more proactive gameplay.

[[Mnemonic Wall]] is getting the cut here as well since we’ve been hearing rumblings in the discord that folks feel the flicker deck is maybe getting a bit too good to be enjoyable. We’ll continue to monitor the state of the deck and your feedback, so make sure you let us know how you continue to feel about the deck.

## Black

### Adds

[[Wither and Bloom]] is another in the long line of [[Last Gasp]] with upsides, We’re excited to see how a version that helps buff creatures later plays out.

[[Retrofitted Transmogrant]] is a Mons's Goblin Raiders that then when it dies draws you a [[Hill Giant]] which when it dies, draws a [[Hill Giant]], which, you get the point.

[[Accursed Marauder]] is getting a test to see if going down to 2 mana is what the [[Fleshbag Marauder]] effect needs to really sing in our limited environment

[[Scurrilous Sentry]] should surprise no one as at worst this thing is a flow of looking at more cards and best case it keeps growing to keep the pressure up. We’re hoping Wizards continues to view the “Titan Style” triggers as something to help buff common power levels.

### Cuts

[[Persistent Specimen]] is mostly just worse than transmogrant and the committee didn’t feel we needed 2 of that effect.

[[Ruthless Ripper]] trades with a lot of the cube for 1 mana, mostly just punishing attacking into it.

[[Drown in Sorrow]] despite getting in fairly recently is getting the axe here as we feel it’s doing far more to hinder aggressive leaning decks from doing what they want to than we’d like, being only 2 mana.

[[Mold Folk]] has just not performed as well as expected and is getting cut as it’s always a slightly below rate creature that requires spare material to be used to keep it even close to on curve.

## Red
 
### Adds

[[Molten Gatekeeper]] Is another of an effect we liked to help keep pushing through damage. We decided that this effect was good enough the first time that we’d like a second one for now.

[[Galvanic Discharge]] is being added in not to indicate a future pivot into heavy use of the energy mechanic, but because it’s simply a very efficient removal spell. While it doesn’t go face, it’s still a good rate for this sort of spell when we played last gasp for ages.

### Cuts

[[Fiery Cannonade]] similar to Drown in Sorrow above, is also a bit more efficiently costed than we’d like for even a soft board wipe.

[[Voldaren Epicure]] has been fine but it’s being pulled as we’re already looking to other options for a 1 drop that allows some level of card velocity.

## Green

With this update we’re hoping to address some of the issues that folks have raised with green not feeling like a good color to draft with more cards that we hope to give some additional resiliency to the color.

### Adds

[[Evolution Witness]] was one of the more popular cards we’ve seen in a while, the initial thread in the discord was hugely in favor of it and the NPS score for it bore that out. While most times this will trigger once, please be sure to let us know when you manage to get at least 2 or 3 things back.

[[Nyxborn Hydra]] is both a good card and fits the theme for Selesnya.

[[Colossal Dreadmask]] means that every single creature on your board from the point it hits suddenly becomes a potentially game ending evasive threat, sans artifact removal, this should end games pretty fast.

[[Eldrazi Repurposer]] is coming in as a pretty reasonable 3 drop with a pile of bodies coming along on both entry and departure.

[[Basking Broodscale]] is similar to [[Evolution Witness]] a neat little counters matter card that is just fine on rate and it you manage to start getting more counters on it can provide a bit of additional ramp or bodies to have hang around.

[[Malevolent Rumble]] is a bit slower and more restricted Impulse but it should hopefully get the job done.

[[Horrific Assault]] finally lets us have the Bite/Punch/whatever you want to call it effect at 1 mana, it’s going in as a good piece of green removal.

[[Longstalk Brawl]] is an interesting take on the classic 1 mana fight spell in that it has a decent probability of winning the fight and leaving your opponent with a 1/1.  With the sizes of creatures in our format being relatively compact, giving +1/+1 lets this emulate a bite more than a fight.

[[Utopia Sprawl]] along with it’s best friend Arbor Elf make for a really solid and aggressive amount of ramp possible in the early game. We’re testing this one out for the time being.

### Cuts

[[Gnoll Hunter]] was an experimental inclusion that seems to have failed the experiment.

[[Primal Huntbeast]] at this point feels just very clunky, we have left its sibling in the cube (Jade Guardian) for the counters synergies, just to see how things shake out.

[[Jungleborn Pioneer]] is a relic of when 3s in green were far worse.

[[Deepwood Denizen]] is a counters card that hopefully the counters deck shouldn’t need. While it’s a neat little draw engine, we feel like the counters deck is doing best when it’s just attacking.

[[Clear Shot]] is rough at 3 mana and while we got a nice new version of it with silly art, it just isn’t that good.

[[Titanic Brawl]] is not great, it relates to one of green’s themes, but it was always just an ok addition, not an actual payoff.

[[Voracious Typhon]] is going out as an uninteresting variant on the threat that has multiple angles of use.

[[Prizefight]] is another example of a fight card we just felt wasn’t feeling as good as it once did.

[[Fyndhorn Elves]] is leaving so our one drops aren’t too crowded with functionally identical cards.

[[Edge of Autumn]] is a fun little riff on Rampant Growth but we’re adding in other ramp and we figured this was the one that would be missed the least.

## Gold

The big structural update for this update is going to be that we’re swapping from 4 “gold” slots to what we’re describing as 3 “True Gold” and 1 “Not-gold”. You might have questions as to what exactly means, so here’s the breakdown.

“True Gold” cards are cards that the committee has deemed would be either unplayable or at least much worse without access to all colors in their color identity. We include anything that requires 2 colors to cast in this definition, as well as cards that are one color but have an additional cost such as flashback or kicker where we feel that the base mode is not good enough on its own.

“Not-Gold” cards are best exemplified by hybrid cards, though this is not a requisite. They are cards where you would be content playing them in either of their colors, but are even more useful if you’re in both colors. This could include Split cards or some new, unforeseen mechanic that satisfies this idea.

WU – Add [[Judge's Familiar]], cut [[Lawmage's Binding]]

[[Judge's Familiar]] never felt perfect for the things Azorius was trying to do, but fit perfectly as either a white or blue card, so it made perfect sense for it to be here. We also managed to get in another instant speed effect like binding in the form of dog umbra, so it felt like the least interesting one left.

UB – [[Dimir Guildmage]] takes up a hybrid Slot now

BR – Add [[Cindering Cutthroat]], Cut [[Terminate]]

[[Cindering Cutthroat]] helps put a solid threat into both black and red, a welcome addition to both colors. [[Terminate]] on the other hand, while A-plus removal is currently taking up a far more limited slot than some of its equivalents

RG – [[Burning-Tree Emissary]] takes up a Hybrid slot Now, Add [[Writhing Chrysalis]], cut [[Colossal Might]]

[[Burning-Tree Emissary]] has been swapped into the newly created slot. We’re adding in [[Writhing Chrysalis]] as it was an absolutely absurd common in its own limited format and while we have fewer eldrazi tokens running around, it should still prove to be a solid threat.

GW – Add [[Safehold Elite]], add [[Faithful Watchdog]], cut [[Qasali Pridemage]], [[Travel preparations]]

[[Safehold Elite]] swings back in, while not the craziest include, it does interact somewhat with the selesnya theme in being able to be reset.

We’ve also decided to bring in [[Faithful Watchdog]] as it’s not only a great rate but is a nice card for the counters deck as it’s just generally a solid body that gets to do the color pair’s main thing.

Coming out are [[Qasali Pridemage]] as well as [[Travel Preparations]]. While the first might be somewhat obvious for not fitting directly into the theme, [[travel preparations]] is one we feel will take some explaining, especially with Armadillo Cloak remaining in. The committee decided that generally Armadillo Cloak is more likely going to lead to winning games, even if it’s not strictly following the theme.

BW – Add [[Gift of Orzhova]], cut [[Unmake]]

We did talk about the idea of if [[Unmake]] was the cut here, but ultimately decided since it’s functionally more of a True Gold card at the end of the day, we cut it and added in [[Gift of Orzhova]] as a replacement taking up the Not-gold slot.

UR – Add [[Tempest Angler]], cut [[Fire//Ice]]

Potentially a controversial swap, we felt that in order to handle this change in a way that felt balanced, we felt that [[Fire//Ice]] was closer to a Not-Gold that True Gold, and wanted to make space for [[Tempest Angler]]

BG – [[Desecrator Hag]] takes up a Hybrid slot Now

RW – [[Dog Walker]] takes up a Hybrid slot Now

GU – Add [[Quandrix Pledgemage]], cut [[Temporal Spring]]

[[Quandrix Pledgemage]] sees a return here, and we’ve heard your opinions, [[Temporal Spring]] is out of here.

## Colorless

You may have noticed that there’s some oddness going on with the colorless and land modifications, we decided that we’re going slightly up on our land count and that meant that something had to go.
Cuts

[[Thundering Tanadon]] is a weird outlier in that we had 6 technically colorless cards and at some point along the way we wound up with 2 greenish ones, and Tanadon lost against [[Mutagenic Growth]].

[[Star Compass]] is a fine mana rock but not one that we were thrilled to have just hanging around this long.

[[Sylvok Lifestaff]] is not helping any deck trying to be more proactive in its gameplan, and as part of our continued effort to make aggressive decks better, the equipment that keeps casting healing salve over and over isn’t helping

[[Skyscanner]] is one that some members really wanted in as a “glue” to fix up drafts but frankly average card quality as well as abundance of fixing means that having something like it has become less and less necessary.

## Lands

### Adds

[[Hidden Grotto]]

We liked this enough when it had a Desert typeline, why not have 2?

The Landscapes

We’re adding the 10 landscapes, they’re all very strong options, coming in untapped, getting a basic when the fixing is more important than the mana, and sometimes you might even have the chance to cycle one, but we’re not gonna hold our breaths on that one.

### Cuts

The CLB gates

The gates are good, don’t get us wrong, but we don’t need more fixing with the landscapes coming in. That and the fact these need to be manually tracked goes a bit against the general idea of keeping things as simple as possible when we can. We're keeping Basilisk gate as we feel it's still serviceable on its own.

[[Ash Barrens]] and [[Shire Terrace]] also are both exiting as more [[Evolving Wilds]] adjacent lands.

MH3/BLB Update

## White

[[!Banishing Light]]

**Omniczech**: We’ve had access to [[Oblivion ring]] at common for ages, now we get the version with “fixed” text. I can’t wait to hear out opinions on this one.

**Solset**: I think I am ok moving the curve up a bit fit for flexibility.  With us having three 2 mana options that hit artifacts and creatures, this could slot into the [[Realmbreaker’s Grasp]] slot, and I’d be happy.

**Neveron**: Something probably worth noting when it comes to Oblivion Ring’s “broken” text is that we don’t really have the enchantment flicker required to abuse the separate ETB and LTB triggers. Banishing Light, then, is mostly just a second copy of it - and is that something we want over our abundance of two-mana removal?

**Usman**:  I’ve generally been meh on 3-mana removal, but it’s a classic and tends to do decently well, although I don’t think that’ll be the case for too long (maybe another year?)  Hard to say.  It’s aight.

**Phizzled**: I’m apparently don’t have as many strong feelings on the functional-equivalent issue these days, but, at least potentially, this is stronger than at least one currently included aura because it potentially turns off static abilities.  I think this may be obviated by some pacifism variants, when we get down to sorting through the MH3+ update.

[[!Nettle Guard]]

**Solset**: Our white two drops are becoming super tight, but this one seems a strong inclusion.  [[Cathar Commando]] has been a big hit with drafters, and this trades flash for a defensive ability.  While our cube doesn’t an abundance of free ways to target it, between equipment, tappers, or combat triggers like [[Combat Professor]] I imagine the ability will be relevant.

**Neveron**: [[Cathar Commando]] is still better, but this is probably my favorite iteration on white’s conditionally–a-3/3-for-two thing. (Compare, say, [[Armory Mice]].)

**Omniczech**: I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this as a side-grade to the cathar. I look at this and can see that this is sometimes gonna be mostly a 3/3 for 2, but also plenty of times is gonna be A [[Blade of the Sixth Pride]], which I’m less stoked on.

**Usman**:  Definitely worse than [[Cathar Commando]] (flash is just so good) but I think even with so few ways to target it, a dollar store version’s not too bad.  We could always adjust our expectations if we get more good cheap equipment but… I don’t see that happening, unfortunately. :(

**Phizzled**: When this was spoiled I absolutely read this as having flash for multiple days.  THe buff may be difficult to trigger, but losing surprise is the real downside.  It’s not the easiest two-card combo to assemble, but there are more things that can target it than you’d expect.  If we have another aggro creature to replace, this is a fine upgrade.

[[!Warren Elder]]

**Solset**: The white side of [[Selesnya Guildmage]] is a super strong card if you are supporting go wide.   The mere threat of activation will both help force through early damage and create lopsided blocks. Later, it is a win condition.

**Usman**:  It can be virtually a time walk to use 4 mana to pump the team, and usually I’ve been meh on team pump but usually its presence is enough to make people think twice about their blocks.  Base mode of being a 2/2 for 1W is not the worst too.  Not bad.

**Phizzled**: I still have fond memories of [[Leonin Sun Standard]].  This team pump is much more expensive, but it pumps itself.  I have generally been open to a number of bears, and this is a decent one.  Potentially playing flagbearer to premium removal in the late game is not necessarily a mark against it.

## Blue

[[!Lightshell Duo]]

**Solset**:  This Duo is likely pretty great at holding down the ground or winning combat when you decide to attack, but is this something our Blue decks have been asking for?  I think I’d still rather have [[jhessian thief]] in this slot which comes down a turn early for defense and feeds the prowess deck’s hand as it strangles control

**Neveron**: It’s a neat card, but it’s at a high enough mana value that I’d prefer something with either evasion (e.g. [[Lotus Path Djinn]]) or more value (e.g. most of our current selection of blue four-drops).

**Omniczech**: I think this one looks similar to Pondering mage and that winds up confusing some ideas, the etb is just fine, the body, fine with prowess, I’m not sold on this one.

**Usman**:  Relatively eh on this one, although it’s at least a good chunk of value for 4.  I just think blue decks can do better for a main phase 4-mana blue card in our world.

**Phizzled**: I wish this had evasian, so, so badly.  It’s big and able to get bigger, but I can’t imagine ever wanting to draft this with an early pick on it.  I don’t know what scenario in draft would make me excited to take this, and I think we have better glue cards that are colorless.

## Black

[[!Diresight]]

**Solset**:  I don’t have a strong attachment to black’s “draw two” types.  I might even like [[Sign in Blood]] over our existing 3 mana options.  Still, if we want a more exciting option, [[Rowans Grim Search]] being an instant is a close call to the guaranteed surveil.  Forced to pick though, I think the new one has a bit more archetype support, and that wins in my book.

**Neveron**: We’ve only really got [[Rowan’s Grim Search]] left as far as our black three-mana divinations go, and I’m not convinced that this one’s better given how many tokens Aristocrats generates.

**Omniczech**: If we still had [[Read the Bones]] in then I’d have a different opinion, but Grim Search just seems better/more interesting than this.

**Usman**:  Another card that I’m pretty *shrug* about since we have a lot of other cards that do similar things and I’m unsure if black midrange decks really need another card like this nowadays.  I think the black card advantage tools in generic midrange/control might be weak enough for this to be worth it, but I’m still just really iffy.

**Phizzled**: I agree with the most of the committee.  We have an instant “draw two” that potentially digs as deep.  I like the guaranteed surveil, but I wouldn’t make the change, unless this is an addition.

## Green

[[!Longstalk Brawl]]

**Neveron**: There are currently six one-mana fight spells available to us by my reckoning (some via discounts), and this one’s probably the most interesting one. Green generally doesn’t care too much about opponents getting tapped 1/1 tokens, and the counter being permanent is very relevant to us. But, of course, it’s a fight and we generally prefer a bite like [[Horrific Assault]].

**Solset**: I am not sure this is good enough, but I do think if we want to see GW function under the banner of “counters” we need to find some room for cards like this that are perhaps side grades but enable some free counter interactions.

**Usman**:  It may just be our best fight spell, since being able to go one-up and win combat is great, especially since our format tends to have pretty compacted combat stats, and giving a fish isn’t a big deal.  I’m honestly unsure if it’s better than a bite that just deals power, since it can just go over the top and survive anyway.

**Phizzled**: Potentially permanently buffing your ramped out threat and killing something at the same time is decent.  I’d prefer instant speed or bite, but you’re only going to use the alternate mode when your creature is going to survive anyway. This is flexible enough to be powerful, and doggone it, people like it.

[[!Stickytongue Sentinel]]

**Neveron**: There’s probably a lot of shenanigans to be had with a green [[Kor Skyfisher]], even if it largely needs to rely on other colors for the big payoffs. It being a “may” is nice, as well… but in exchange for all that, the base body is a boring 3/3 reach for 3.

**Solset**: The failsafe for this is just fine, so the question becomes if we want a bit of incident ETB support outside UW.  Green has some fantastic bodies with an enter trigger, and in our montly drafts, Bant has been a common inclusion for the flicker deck.

**Usman**:  Green does have some value things, and may just be a way to help green grindy decks with expensive ETB creatures.  Might also be in the right color to do something like GWu for blue things that like to be flickered.  I think I like it, the more that I say.

**Phizzled**: This seems honestly pretty decent.  Some of our ramp creatures are not especially well protected, and I can’t imagine turning down [[Eternal Witness]] in pauper.  The body being an acceptable rate makes me just like it more.

## Gold (Hybrid)

[[!Cindering Cutthroat]]

**Omniczech**: Oh man, I really like this thing, it’s a bit above rate for the vanilla test most of the time and being able to sink mana into some pseudo evasion is nice here.

**Solset**:  I care about symmetry and cycles more than most.  As a gold card, this doesn’t support our Rakdos theme, so I’m not happy putting it there.  If we open some new spot, like a hybrid one, this card would be fantastic there.  A day may come when we embrace the chaos and not care about spots, but it is not this day.

**Neveron**: This is a shoe-in for a hypothetical hybrid slot, but for a gold slot we have to raise the evergreen question of “what do we cut?”. Assuming that we keep the creatures that fit the sacrifice theme, it’s between [[Terminate]] and [[Blightning]], both cards I’d be sad to see go. In any case, though, the Cindering Cutthroat is a fantastic little card and will probably kill a lot of people.

**Usman**:  Certainly in the right color.  In my own cube, I’ve been putting hybrid and multicolor separate (since hybrid isn’t a drawback, like multicolor) as this may just be more of a red card than a black one.  Not really better than anything in BR, though, but I think it’s aggressive enough that I’d want to play it in aggressive decks.

**Phizzled**: The body is fine and the potential for menace is not too shabby, either.  I like the splashability, even, except, as noted above: where does it belong if we put it in the list?

[[!Tempest Angler]]

**Solset**: This one is so on theme, I could easily see us putting this in Gold if we don’t create a dedicated hybrid slot.

**Neveron**: Back when we ran [[Quandrix Pledgemage]], I seem to remember people wishing that there’d be a Izzet version. Well, three years later…

**Usman**:  Pretty much the same as above, where I like it and think it’s likely “good enough” but not better than anything in Izzet’s multicolor cards.

**Phizzled**:  I enjoy grow creatures, and otters are pretty cute.  I’m interested in this card, but struggle, as above, with where to put them if we added this to the list.

## Lands

[[!Hidden Grotto]]

**Solset**:  If we want a couple of these in our cube, I think replacing [[Crystal Grotto]] is likely the right call since surveil is almost strictly better than scry for our environment.   As we continue to adjust our lands though, I’m not sure this survives long even if it gets a shot next to [[Conduit Pylons]].

**Neveron**: Our utility land slots are few enough that I’d prefer avoiding duplicates if possible. That said, this is basically just a straight upgrade over Crystal Grotto.

**Omniczech**: Boring upgrades are still upgrades.

**Usman**:  Indeed, it’s an upgrade.  Might be better for decks overall than [[Skyscanner]]?

**Phizzled**: Simple, clear, effective.

Bloomburrow Quick Hits

## White Adds
[[Novice Inspector]] is a functional reprint of one of the best 1 drops in white to ever be printed in pauper, [[Thraben Inspector]]. The original inspector already sees play in vintage cubes alongside cards like [[Time Walk]] which demonstrates its power.  Both these cards provide an early body to pressure the board without truly going down a card.  Playing well in both aggro go-wide decks and late game flicker decks, this is an easy inclusion as long as we are looking for the strongest options.

[[Petrify]] is yet another improvement over the classic [[Pacifism]] effect.  While there is a design tension between lower cost and versatility, [[Petrify]] seems to hit the sweet spot by both turning off abilities and hitting more than just creatures for only 2 mana. While this still doesn’t interact with [[Desert]] and [[Pestilence]], answering a [[Bonesplitter]] really improves our options.

[[Miners Guidewing]] has a ton of text for a common. This bird improves the value of one drop options we have by giving you the strong option up front forcing earlier interaction from your opponent.  Outside of aristocrat strategies, it is almost always better to get the better option first.   Even after it dies, an explore trigger is often going to be stronger midgame than a random 1/1 by either moving you forward one draw in your deck or allowing a previously outclassed creature to get back into action.

[[Recommission]] has polled well, and it has a flicker, aggro, and +1/+1 counter feel.   The vast majority of the time, this is going to produce an effect worth well over 2 mana, and that it is worth the rare but awkward situation where this is stuck in hand with nothing in your graveyard.  This may not be a staple, but with so many white options under 3 mana, this is a worthy experiment.

[[Holy Cow]] brings a lot of upside, being especially strong in control decks that leave mana open.  All these upsides are close to being worth a card in total. There was a bit too much redundancy in white creatures that draw a card, but adding a unique effect over another draw should improve the dynamic decision making in the draft.

[[Oltec Cloud Guard]] may be slightly weaker in an all-out flicker deck, but getting 3 evasive power up front is generally going to be an extremely strong play for any white deck.  This card should excel as a top end aggressive threat but could work in nearly all white archetypes including flicker or as a control finisher.

[[Boros Elite]] can be the biggest 1 drop on the field if you support it well, which our cube does.  As long as our white has a go-wide theme, [[Boros Elite]] finally gives us another 1 drop that will put serious pressure on the board.  While it is extremely deck dependent, it fills a spot that is generally in short supply.
## White Cuts
[[Minimus Containment]] and [[Hunted Witness]] were cut for similar cards that either provide more value or which are a bit more efficient enabling more use in more archetypes.   They are mostly texture changes as the worst card for their type, while we keep getting new toys.

[[Gather the Townsfolk]] was a challenging cut, but was generally considered the worst 2 drop in white.  While it had a fantastic upper limit, as long as we are pushing an aggressive go-wide deck for it, this is rarely going to be more than a bad [[Raise the Alarm]].  In contrast, our new 2 drop, [[Recommission]], should duplicate whatever effect a deck has already been trying to draft.  So it should support multiple bodies in a deck trying to go-wide, but will also open up more options for other decks as well.

A number of our cuts impact the flicker archetype with [[Roving Harper]], [[Knight of the New Coalition]], [[Icewind Stalwart]] and [[Basris Acolyte]] being clear inclusions. Flicker is doing quite well already, and many times a good flicker might even leave these cards in the sideboard. Many of the new cards we have included have better up-front options which should improve their playability outside flicker, while still being fine support options in it. Lastly, our white curve was getting a bit heavy for a color that is supposed to be an aggressive option, so you will notice a clear culling of 4 drops with cheaper inclusions.
## Blue Adds
Prior to Outlaws of Thunder Junction, we had no plans for including new blue cards, but we're going to add [[Geyser Drake]] as while we cut Naiad some time ago, we want to give a version with a more useful evasive body a whirl. [[Phantom Interference]] is probably one of the best [[Quench]]es we’ve seen since [[Miscalculation]] and [[Make Disappear]] and that alone is reason enough to at least give it some time to prove itself in the cube, especially with its upside being one of the better ways to get shelf life out of it in the late game.
## Blue Cuts
These cuts probably aren’t super shocking for folks paying attention to the polling site, these are two cards that are generally fine to ok and rarely wildly exciting. We feel it’s time to bid both [[Skittering Crustacean]] and [[Watcher in the Mist]] goodbye at least for now.
## Black Adds
We already sang the praises of [[Tithing Blade]] in the quick hits, I don’t know how many community members who read that will be dreadfully shocked to see it included here. Enjoy your removal turned world’s slowest wincon control decks. [[Nezumi Linkbreaker]] is a model of creature we’ve been happy with in the past. At this point we’ve run quite a few options in the 2 drop slot, but we’re figuring if the 1/1 dies in combat, it at least dies into something able to pump up other creatures more likely to attack well and works nicely with pumping evasive threats.
## Black Cuts
Our cuts for black this go around are like-for-like cuts. [[Chainers Edict]] was getting a bit long in the tooth and swapping it for another edict with late game utility felt fine. [[Doomed Dissenter]] was just the black card that dies into another body we were most ok with losing.
## Red Adds
[[Red Herring]] represents a sort of aggro card that hasn’t quite stuck around in the cube so far, but we hope that the clue ability will elevate it above the likes of [[Valley Dasher]] by being able to cash it in when it’d crash into a bigger blocker and into the mainboards of aggressive red decks. Currently the artifact typing is fairly irrelevant, but perhaps that might change in the future as we get more playable artifact creatures.

[[Volatile Wanderglyph]] is another aggressive rummager joining the rest in the cube. While we expect that it’ll be tapping to attack more often than to crew vehicles, the low mana cost and second toughness will probably let it compete with its cousins.

[[Reckless Lackey]] is a card that immediately drew everyone’s eyes with its obscenely good body for its cost. The usual flaw of a [[Raging Goblin]] is that it becomes useless as soon as a 1/2 hits the board, but the combination of first strike, having an extra toughness, and being able to cash it in for a card <i>and</i> treasure makes it a shoo-in for the cube.
## Red Cuts
[[Rubblebelt Maaka]] was added in our previous update, but it’s become clear that it’s not making the impact we were hoping for.

[[Insolent Neonate]] has been in the cube for a while, but we think that it might finally have been crowded out by all the good one-drop aggro creatures that have been released in the years since.

[[Famished Foragers]] is a fun card, but it’s still a red four-drop. We hope that by moving the mana curve lower by a bit, we’ll be able to speed up red ever so slightly.
## Green Adds
[[Farseek]] is an older card, and has been added to diversify our green ramp slightly. Note that this will still get you all your forest duals, since at common they’re also other land types.

[[Wild Growth]] is a response to a comment we’ve heard loud and clear: we need more one-mana ramp that isn’t killed by a Bolt! Currently we don’t have many ways to abuse how this creates a land that taps for two mana (or three, on a bounceland!) short of getting a funny [[Pestermite]] rebate, but we hope that this unassuming Enchant Land from Alpha will ramp you into many a turn-two three-drop.

[[Voracious Varmint]] is the latest iteration of green creature-based artifact/enchantment removal, and this time the body is actually mildly usable in combat. One recurring issue with previous versions of this cart archetype was that you generally had to choose between getting a vanilla creature on board now or waiting until you could maybe blow something up, and the Varmint handily solves that issue by sitting around as on-board removal.

[[Blastoderm]] is a true blast from the past for many of our members. It’s been threatening faces with fifteen damage for over two decades now, and in our cube it’s difficult to avoid that damage without losing three creatures to it. Also, a fun fact for the Johnnies and Jennies among you: Proliferate doesn’t target.
## Green Cuts
[[Three Visits]] was not only a functional reprint of [[Nature’s Lore]] at a time when we’ve decided to diversify our ramp slightly, but it’s started to rise back up in price and at time of writing goes for over $4 for a non-foil printing. While we generally don’t take prices in mind when adding or cutting cards unless the card is obscenely expensive (such as [[Three Visits]]’ $44 common printing), in this case the cheaper $1 [[Natures Lore]] gets to stay. Also exiting is [[Rampant Growth]], another 2 mana ramp spell, the thinking here is that we’re adding in farseek that does a decent amount of what these 2 cards manage to do, and supplementing that with wild growth to bring the curve down a bit and make this effect a bit less jammed up in the 2 drop slot.

[[Masked Vandal]] is not a bad card, but the combination of a 1/3 body, the lack of artifact/enchantment recursion, and an enter-the-battlefield effect that wants both a creature in your graveyard and a target on the board all means that the shapeshifter ended up on the cutting block when a better two-mana option appeared.

[[Scion Summoner]] is a card that has been on the chopping block for a long time and has mostly just stuck around because it blocks [[Guardian of the Guildpact]]. We’ve decided to no longer worry too much about that though, and thus we’re following its abysmal polling results and saying goodbye to this Eldrazi.
## Colorless
Sure to be one that some of the community finds a contentious removal, we are removing [[Cogwork Librarian]], which I don’t think anyone was clamoring to have cut. That said, it is functionally a card that likely has been chosen more times than almost any other card ever in the cube, but has likely also seen the least number of times actually on the stack. For that reason, we’re slotting in [[Juggernaut]] as a generically good beatstick that the community has indicated they’re interested in including.
## Gold
[[Dog Walker]] is, in many ways, exactly what Boros is looking for. Three bodies in one cheap shell plays very nicely with its current strategy of going wide before unleashing a [[Rally the Peasants]], and the frank reality of things is that the card quality for Boros commons generally hasn’t been all that great for us.

[[Wojek Halberdiers]] is a card that’s been polling poorly for a long time. While it does play into the go-wide archetype with its Battalion trigger, it’s nonetheless the obvious cut when a new exciting Boros card finally arrives.

[[Blightning]] is a card that people have been wanting back for a while, and we figured that we’d let you have it. Why cast [[Lava Spike]] and [[Mind Rot]] when you could cast both at once on one card?

[[Spike Jester]] is a card that’s been unpopular with the community for as long as we’ve been asking for input, and our defense of it has always been that it’s good for aggro when you just want to do three damage to their face. We realize that it doesn’t quite gel with the Aristocrats archetype we’re going for in Rakdos, however, and thus you’re getting those three damage to face with a card that has more of that nebulous Fun Factor.
## Lands
[[Escape Tunnel]] over [[Evolving wilds]] is one update that is perhaps simple but a general quality of life improvement, it is just a strictly better card and we’re excited to hear your fun stories of managing to pump something for lethal after targeting it with the tunnel’s other ability.

[[Conduit Pylon]] over [[Cave of Temptation]] is another interesting one. I’m sure that some out there expected that the cut here would likely be the similar [[Crystal Grotto]], but we hope that having two of these generic draw fixing lands will be better on the whole than a single grotto effect that sometimes becomes a counter.

One of the bigger changes for our cube is the inclusion of a broken third land cycle.   Pauper has been getting variations on taplands regularly, and with the most recent printing of dual colored deserts, we believe that Pauper finally has a density of effects to explore giving each archetype something unique.  Prior to this update, we had 10 Bouncelands, 10 Scry/Draw lands, and 10 typed duals which kept things mostly consistent.   In evaluating our existing cycles, there was considerable discussion among the Pauper Cube community and within the committee, but ultimately there seemed a clear consensus that both bouncelands and scry/draw lands were a clear step above other options for providing something near card advantage.  The conclusion was clear then; typed duals were not going to stay as a full cycle.

While typed duals can occasionally allow you to feel extra clever alongside cards like [[Generous Ent]] or [[Farseek]], the majority of the time they play like any old guildgate.  In contrast, the gainlands and pinglands impact every game they are in, letting a deck extend or shorten the game by 5%.  While these may have less interesting possibilities, we believe they improve the drafting experience by increasing the valuation of dual lands over other cards.  Plus, while these two new cyclers interact poorly with searchers, they do interact with our bouncelands, ghostly flicker effects, and cards that care about life change such as [[Skewer the Critics]]

The overall philosophy was to keep typed duals in the green archetypes when possible as the base with searchers and multicolor decks, gainlands in controlling archetypes which are looking to extend the game, and pinglands in aggressive guilds, especially red, that are trying to speed up the endgame.  As we continue to finetune archetypes and magic introduces new duals, it is our goal to continue to adjust this broken cycle to maximize fun per guild.

The Spring 2024 Pauper Cube Update

First things first, the committee would like to apologize for the relative lack of updates to the cube this year. We’re aware and may adjust the schedule moving forward to better accommodate our personal time needs. That said, this update introduces a change to the way that we handle the wording of these updates. In the past we have presented our updates with formatting that ties cards in pairs, one in and the other out. From this update looking forward, we will be presenting our cuts and adds in a lump group with details about why cards have been added or cut but no longer pairing them to indicate that one was chosen over another. This ties to our change internally with how we will handle updates where we are focused on cards we want to include and then find cards that we feel are no longer pulling their weight/the community opinion on them has soured since their inclusion. This is mostly a non-change but we are hoping that it will be a slight improvement to avoid only like-for-like card swaps.

Also, we’ve taken time to focus on catching up on cards printed since the last update, we do know there are older cards that folks have upvoted on the polling site and will be considering them for a future update.

## White

White might be a bit of boring update this time around, as most of these cards are just slight upgrades, so we’ll use this space to just quickly pay respects to [[Pacifism]], you will be missed, you were good removal but power creep comes for almost all of us. Also Intercessor is a neat first take of what a [[Fiend Hunter]] at common looks like.

## Blue Adds

Blue’s adds for this update pull the curve a bit lower than it’s been to date, [[Quick Study]] is maybe one of the more interesting ones, finally putting one of our “draw spells that let you keep up a counterspell as well” at a lower Mana Value slot should help, no matter how little blue needs it.

[[Murmuring Mystic]] was making it in from the moment it hit the server. We’ve been fans of the UR spells matter deck, and it’s nice to get some support in the form of a payoff on the blue side of things.

[[Zephyr Winder]] was an early high scorer in the MOM preview season, we’re giving it a whirl for those of you missing [[Carnivorous Death-Parrot]]

We had some back and forth on [[Shipwreck Dowser]] and whether we need 3 of these effects in the cube, we’re going to try it out with the caveat of “if folks complain we’ll retool later”

[[Mocking Sprite]] is a riff on a card we’re already playing that seems interesting and does add evasion to the electromancer genre of creatures

[[Lorien Revealed]] has made waves in a lot of formats, we’re hopeful it’s a neat, flexible option, similar to [[Hieroglyphic illumination]] was for a time in the cube.

## Blue Cuts

[[Halimar wavewatch]] has not been polling amazingly and dodged a few updates where it was a potential cut as the committee felt that it was a useful tool for keeping slower blue decks alive in the early game. Mystic getting in made us feel like it wouldn’t be missed too much.

[[Shaper Parasite]] was one that was on the chopping block due to a combo of folks replying negatively in polling to it as well as several opinions that it was a Knowledge check for folks who knew the cube better rather than an actual skill testing card.

[[Deprive]] was one of those cards that’s been in the cube for a while now and just didn’t generally have a great opinion surrounding it. This is more of a “I won’t miss it” type of cut.

[[Errant Ephemeron]] is leaving for general low performance in polling and a desire to keep the curve a bit lower.

[[Scattered Thoughts]] was cut mostly to avoid increasing the “blue cards that are card positive” count too much.

We’re finally giving [[Omen of the Sea]] the axe, it wasn’t the greatest option for card draw and doesn’t synergize with a lot of what blue’s trying to do.

## Black Adds

[[Dread Return]] was a shoe-in from time of spoiling till now. Black has been wanting access to [[Zombify]] for a while and getting it with extra text added onto it is just incredible.

[[Drown in Sorrow]] was another easy to include option, 3 mana board control is incredibly real.

[[Mire Triton]] is just a solid utility creature, not much more to say.

[[Troll of Khazad-dûm]] has been finding homes in eternal formats and we’ve loved the options for this style of large creature with land cycling tacked on, but end of day this is the one we felt was the best option to have in the cube.

[[Legion Vanguard]] as a downshift was the culmination of many versions of sac outlets we’ve been getting at common in mainline sets that just weren’t there. A bear that can turn creatures into card filtering/draw/counters is a nice little package for the aristocrats decks.

While we don’t have the density for Bargain to just always be active, [[Rowans Grim Search]] has some very neat upside to it, being able to rip through up to 6 cards. If players find that this is more often than not just a [[Succumb to temptation]] we can reconsider down the road to remove additive distraction.

The classic big sibling of cube classic [[Phyrexian Rager]], [[Phyrexian Gargantua]] is joining the cube. While Black might be getting a bit chunky on the curve, we are aware and will be keeping an eye out.

[[Voracious Vermin]] Is a neat version in the vein of things like [[Mortician beetle]] with the upside of coming with its own fuel source for it’s triggered ability.

[[Dunland Crebain]] comes from a long lineage of “creatures that come with an additional body” and while it’s more on the ground than the Blue equivalents, we’re eager to add this one in.

[[Candy Grapple]] May not have polled as highly as some other options, but this is another in the line of “strictly better [[Last Gasp]]s”. Even without bargain the card’s playable, with bargain you have access to removing slightly bigger creatures.

## Black Cuts

[[Gluttonous Slug]] has utility against aggro decks but is unexciting as a proactive win condition, the committee will always lean more on the side of proactive cards when the option presents itself.

[[Eyeblight Massacre]] loses out as a less powerful and more complicated sweeper. There are definitely some stories floating around out there where someone managed to get this to keep their 2 dorks alive to rebuild faster, but that wasn’t enough to keep it around.

[[Typhoid Rats]] hits the magic combo of being both unexciting and just having a better version already in the cube.

[[Twisted Abomination]] was not tenable to keep in with another similarly shaped big ol’ goober. Rest in peace to a classic limited banger.

[[Vulturous Aven]] Has been in for a while as a funky riff on [[sign in blood]], but it’s just time to rotate this one for some fresher options.

[[Read The Bones]] has a like-for-like card selection and card draw upgrade available for us to test at the same mana cost.

We’re also dumping [[Moan of the Unhallowed]] as one of the less exciting options in the color.

[[Sinuous vermin]] has been on the radar for possible cuts for a few sets now, the time has finally come.

It seems like every new set offers a new token generator, and it is finally time to replace [[Deathbloom Thallid]] with something more modern.

[[Mires Grasp]] is, like so many removal spells, slowly being powercrept out.

## Red Adds

[[Guttersnipe]] already has some sibling effects in the cube and tacking shocks onto your bolts and preordains and so on is pretty cool.

[[Rally at the Hornburg]] Might be the best version of a 2 mana red spell that makes 2 1/1s we’ve seen. While we’re not supporting human typal stuff, the first time someone late game gets haste on some other creature for lethal, I’m sure we’ll all hear about it.

[[Gnawing Crescendo]] is a very cool riff on the [[Trumpet blast]] classic template that has some cool applications in an aristocrats build.

[[Wrenns Resolve]] is just another copy of [[Reckless impulse]], an already great card, easy include.

[[Sulfurous Blast]] is coming in as another option for board control in read that either gives you it at instant speed or getting to go bigger to clear more sizeable threats.

Aristocrats gets a gift in [[Harried Spearguard]], probably one of the neater [[Raging goblin]]s we’ve seen in recent history.

[[Oliphaunt]] is coming in as one of the top of curve options for red due to the fact it just won’t be dead in most situations,

[[Ratcatcher Trainee // Pest Problem]] is an interesting on that we want to try out. The base body is one that we’ve had variants of in the cube before and they’ve been cut but the hope is that the modality is enough to make this version worth it.

[[Improvised Club]] is a boring update to a card you’ll see in the cuts, it’s just better.

[[Chimney Rabble]] Is another in the vein of [[Beetleback Chief]] a cube perennial favorite so of course it was getting in.

## Red Cuts

[[Thermo-Alchemist]] Is going out to make room for other spells matter payloads, being survived by the other ping effects that don’t require waiting a turn.

While we’re not doing 1 for 1 cuts as much these days, you know why [[Krenkos Command]] got cut, right?

[[Dynacharge]] Is another that’s just beginning to show some age here and we feel comfortable letting this one go now.

[[Bitter Reunion]] was added pretty recently but just hasn’t been as big a hit as we had expected, combined with having better draw 2s added since then.

We’re cutting [[Makeshift Munitions]] for it being more of a cute card that fits an archetype rather than a really great option. One day we’ll get something closer to [[Goblin Bombardment]] and we’ll be happier with that.

[[Keldon Marauders]] is also getting trimmed for the time being as our 2s are still really good and we needed to find room somewhere.

[[Flurry of Horns]], a favorite of at least one Committee member has finally been on the chopping block long enough. Rest in peace sweet bull human hybrids.

[[Viashino Pyromancer]] was cut since we needed a 2 drop cut for curve consideration and this was the one that we were happiest with at the end of a long discussion

[[Heartfire]] got outclassed and folks seemed to like it well enough for its strictly better version to make sense.

[[Ghirapur Gearcrafter]] Is showing a bit of age these days.

## Green Adds

[[Generous Ent]] was one of several options for a green forestcycling creatures. End of the day it made the cut over other options mostly because of that gold standard 1 generic mana to get a land.

[[Wary Thespian]] is the type of card it’s hard to be wildly excited about because it’s just generically a reasonable card. The body on its own is unimpressive, but tacking card selection on the way in and the way out is a really nice addition to this shape of creature.

## Green Cuts

[[Ambush Viper]] was just somewhat unremarkable and didn’t have a huge fanbase supporting it.

[[Nessian Asp]] was starting to show its age at this point, the idea of it where it’s a mid-game threat that has a late game threat of activation, but I think the

## Colorless

This section’s the one where we can’t really avoid the one to one comparison. [[Skyclave Sentinel]] has never been super well loved, [[Candy trail]] we’re hoping will work to fill the “glue” role of making decks more generally playable without being a top pick.

## Lands

This section is a nice little update. We had 2 lands that polled well that fell into the “utility lands” bin. We have heard the comments that color fixing is currently super plentiful and we came to the idea of axing one set of thriving lands in favor of some more utility slots.

We know that [[Terramorphic Expanse]] is likely one that you might be shocked to not see returning but we’ve opted to diversify a bit the types of lands that go in any deck a touch, plus, [[shire terrace]] is already in the same genre of land.

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