v1.2a - Changing Any-Color Lands
Rupture Spire feels pretty bad to play with, and Unstable Frontier's wording is a bit weird (unless you care about Domain, which we don't). These two lands do the same thing and effectively the same thing as Unstable Frontier, but do so in a very clear way.
Unstable Frontier >
Unknown ShoresRupture Spire >
Shimmering Grottov1.2a - Minor Changes
A few small changes, see below for details.
Seismic Elemental to Crimson Mage: This was a forgotten change from the major 1.2 update.
Seed Guardian to Elephant Guide: After adding Penumbra Spider, I realized green has two 4 CMC x/4 reach creatures that create tokens upon death. I think Seed Guardian is the one to go, although both it and the spider are solid picks. Elephant Guide is the new addition, filling adding to the 3 CMC slot.
Rolling Thunder to Lavalanche: Rolling Thunder is hard to take because red is so aggressive. Although it has an even larger CMC (with two additional colors to boot), I think Lavalanche is worth the cost. Wait until 5 or 6 mana, then blow up your opponent's board and swing for the kill.
Dimir Infiltrator to Tidehollow Strix: One thing I've been mindful of lately is helping aggro. Red is the aggro color in this cube, with BR the ideal guild for aggro. Green has a lot of good choices to help BR out in an aggressive strategy, but blue is pretty lacking. Dimir Infiltrator hasn't really done much historically, and I think a 2/x flier for 2 will help out aggressive decks that have blue while also fitting a more controlling deck since it has both evasion and deathtouch.
Seismic Elemental >
Crimson MageSeed Guardian >
Elephant GuideRolling Thunder >
LavalancheDimir Infiltrator >
Tidehollow Strixv1.2 - Switching Lands, Blades, Fuses and More!
This the second, post-build update for the cube. First up:
Lands: All the guildgates have been replaced with a tri-land (one each from Khans and Alara). I had originally planned to leave one set of guildgates after adding the Alara tri-lands, but the Khan's tri-lands are strictly better than the guildgates. They're also very cheap, so I've added them.
In addition, the -blade cycle (one for each of the Alara shards) has been replaced. The reason for this change was two-fold. First, I was unhappy with many of the -blades, although some were worth the slot. The second reason was that I felt that after draft the ratio of plays to mana/fixing was off. Therefore, I've removed the -blade cycle and replaced them with four mana fixing cards (Aether Hub, Crumbling Vestige, Terramorphic Expanse, and Prophetic Prism) and one equipment (Bladed Pinions).
The next change was to remove the fuse cards, which saw little play. Part of the reason they weren't drafted is because they're often pretty low power, but they are also hard to gauge and confusing for some players. Because of this, they've been removed. Azorius got a defensive enchantment, Dimir and Rakdos each got colored equipment, Gruul received a removal spell, and Selesnya has a new token-generating creature.
Another set of a cards that sees little play are the keyrunes. Azorius and Dimir keyrunes see play, especially as finishers in control decks, but the other three saw little play as either the creatures were too low powered or they were too slow for what the decks often wanted to do. These keyrunes have been replaced by utility lands with activation costs in each of the guild colors.
There are a few other changes that were made, as seen below. Replacing unused cards, balancing strategies. The only other notable changes are the addition of a sweeper, False Prophet, and significantly lowering the curve of red as I continue to try to improve aggro.
Selesnya Guildgate >
Seaside CitadelSelesnya Guildgate >
Sandsteppe CitadelAzorius Guildgate >
Arcane SanctumAzorius Guildgate >
Mystic MonasteryDimir Guildgate >
Crumbling NecropolisDimir Guildgate >
Opulent PalaceRakdos Guildgate >
Savage LandsRakdos Guildgate >
Nomad OutpostGruul Guildgate >
Jungle ShrineGruul Guildgate >
Frontier BivouacBant Sureblade >
Aether HubEsper Stormblade >
Crumbling VestigeGrixis Grimblade >
Terramorphic ExpanseJund Hackblade >
Prophetic PrismNaya Battlemage >
Bladed PinionsProtect // Serve >
Angelic ShieldFar // Away >
Mask of RiddlesToil // Trouble >
Demonspine WhipArmed // Dangerous >
Branching BoltAlive // Well >
Selesnya EvangelRakdos Keyrune >
Stensia BloodhallGruul Keyrune >
Skarrg, the Rage PitsSelesnya Keyrune >
Vitu-Ghazi, the City-TreeRadiant Purge >
Celestial PurgeTimely Hordemate >
False ProphetSmite >
Asha's FavorPhantom General >
Marshal's AnthemCloudform >
Cloudfin RaptorHands of Binding >
Dungeon GeistsFlashfreeze >
Neutralizing BlastWhisk Away >
Into the RoilDespise >
Harsh ScrutinyRiot Piker >
Bloodcrazed NeonateBloodfray Giant >
Flamewake PhoenixNessian Asp >
Penumbra SpiderHedron Archive >
Pilgrim's EyeIsperia the Inscrutable >
CloudblazerHelm of the Ghastlord >
Dimir GuildmageRix Maadi Guildmage >
Spike JesterTrostani's Summoner >
Sigil BlessingSkyward Eye Prophets >
Flurry of WingsRith's Charm >
Naya Charmv1.1d - New "Evolving" Lands
Both of these are worse than Evolving Wilds in most circumstances, but I think I do want to remove the duplicates.
Another land change is to switch one of each of the guild gates for the Alara tri-lands. Unfortunately, those would be the most expensive card in the cube, so I'm holding off for now.
Evolving Wilds >
Rupture SpireEvolving Wilds >
Unstable Frontier
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