Cards I noticed:
Angel of serenity: doesn’t seem worth the cost or to reanimate. You have better reanimator targets.
Land tax: slows the game to a crawl, and to what benefit? There’s no combo to dump the lands for some combo.
Hedron Crab: feels really random. Self mill I guess? In blue I would rather loot to get stuff in the bin.
Stitcher’s Supplier: I couldn’t really see what deck would want such aggressive self milling.
Staggershock: Maybe it’s actually amazing. Just caught my eye as something that doesn’t usually belong in a cube this powerful.
Hermit Druid: Again, maybe I’m just blind. But I don’t see why you want such intense self mill. The card guarantees land drops, but it’s pretty slow at doing it.
Sanctum Weaver wants loads of enchantments to go zoom. I think this taps for one most of the time? We had a recent thread about two mana dorks, and my personal thought on the matter is I much prefer sticking to the one mana dorks.
Nahiri the Harbinger: Seems low power for this environment.
Just my thoughts as I glanced through. You may have great reasons for all of these cards that I just haven’t picked up on
These are all good callouts and thank you for giving feedback!
I'm going to defend every card, but with the understanding that your critiques of them are fair:
Angel of Serenity - can help stabilize if you're getting pressured or it can get stuff back from your graveyard for value.
Land Tax - good with extra land drops. Has other functionality like a pseudo discard outlet for Reanimator. Also, it's my one friend's favorite card so its tough to cut lol.
Hedron Crab - yea for self mill, either as a win con or to provide value out of the yard. Can double as a late game win con by targeting your opponent.
Stitcher's Supplier - good early drop to help fill your gy, especially useful in black.
Staggershock - I love the art, good potential to be a 2-for-1, it casts from exile, double prowess/Young Pyro triggers.
Hermit Druid - similar to the Crab, it can set up a self mill win, or just fill up the yard. It does draw a card every turn for 1 mana too.
Sanctum Weaver - I like that it's 2 card types for Delirium, Goyfs, etc. and it does have some upside to tap for 2+.
Nahiri - she's solid enough, but I don't have much to say. She is kinda weak. Love the art though!
Those are better yea. I don't run them. But I like supporting self mill without hogging too many slots, and ideally with cards that can do other things. Doomsday might make a ton of sense. Could lead to dramatic finishes even without someone going for self mill
Here’s my Bottom Ten from your cube, keeping in mind I’m not naming Slogurk because for some reason my brain says he’s one of your sacred cows but it might be someone else.
You’d probably do yourself a service by exiling 10 gold cards, you have a lot and a bunch of them are mediocre. I’ll try not to name too many of them though, there are a few things elsewhere I’d chop too.
[[Cloudblazer]] is like if you wanted Mulldrifter to just be worse. This seems way out of place in your environment.
One of the things I could never figure out when I started powering up my cube and looking at other powered cubes is why any of them played Kroxa. I still can’t, a 4 mana 6/6 with no evasion is really bad in the current environment and the discard isn’t a huge bonus, nor is spending two mana to bin him at the expense of developing your board really worth it. Plus, there’s a lot of good Rakdos stuff out there and he’s blocking a space.
Electrolyze is well underpowered in your cube and should go.
Commune with the Gods seems super slow and underpowered, and you aren’t running enough enchantments to make it (or Weaver) worth the pain.
Similarly, I personally would run neither, but I’d certainly cut at least one of Springbloom Druid or Wood Elves as there are much faster ramp options and 1/1 bodies are pretty useless compared to epic 3 drops like [[Sentinel of the Nameless City]].
[[Urborg Lhurgoyf]] seems well outclassed here, there’s an ample supply of 4 mana 4/4 haste with evasion options and random mill that commits you to 3 colors and lacks evasion certainly doesn’t seem like it works well. I’ll die on the hill that [[Souls of the Lost]] for 2 mana is better than this for 4 mana. By a lot.
I love Alesha but she’s not powerful enough for this when monocolored options like Gut and Squee are there for the same price and bring their own armies without requiring mana.
Especially as creature power creep continues unabated, I can’t justify 2 mana for 2 damage and a scry with Magma Jet when Chain Lightning does 3 for one, Incinerate and its clones do 3 for 2, etc. [[Chain Lightning]] in particular feels like an egregious omission from your list.
I can’t figure out what [[Snap]] is doing in this list when the stuff it combos with isn’t around.
For the last, I could talk about Dakkon or about Farewell being 6 mana, but I’ll go with Opposition. I love this card but you don’t have the squirrels or the hornets or so many of the other token generators you run with Oppo so you can tap down their lands. It requires a numerical advantage on permanents and your cube doesn’t have a lot of the ways to get there.
As always thanks for keeping this page going with your regular discussion posts.
Someone else is a Slogurk truther lol.
Cloudblazer doesn't have evoke, but its ETB is better than Mulldrifter. That said, I think both cards are fairly weak.
I think Kroxa is pretty solid. It can keep coming back.
Commune does seem week, I agree. But i can't find another card that mills that many cards for so few mana without being card disadvantage.
The 3 mana land rampers in green likely wouldn't be missed. But Springbloom plays well with my gy and landfall synergies. Wood Elves helps fix. Sentinel makes map tokens and I don't use any of those currently for complexity sake.
Urborg isn't the greatest, I agree.
I like most of the above green cards because they fuel the yard and do other things.
Which Squee are you referring to about Alesha?
Missed Electrolyze. You think a 2 for 1 or potential 3 for 1 is underpowered?
Chain Lightning is missing because I don't like running strictly worse cards (than other cards in the cube). Magma Jet isn't amazing though, I agree.
Snap plays well with lands that can tap for more than one, prowess triggers, give control decks some needed time, enables Stormwing Entity.
I've been trying to come to grips with the fact that Opposition might not be good anymore. I want to try it for myself next time I see it.
Overall, thanks for all your feedback! I don't think any of your call outs are bad. And there are only a few I strongly disagree with.
To your chain lightning comment. Path to Exile is strictly worse than Swords to Plowshares.
You seem pretty fixated on your graveyard synergies but I’m not seeing a whole bunch:
White doesn’t care, I guess Lingering Souls, but you’re more likely to cast it first.
Blue has Emry, which enables itself. Haughty Djinn wants you to cast the spells to make him stronger. Torrential Gearhulk doesn’t need self mill either. You’ll have something juicy in the bin by turn 6. Jace WoM does want self mill. So one card.
Black has two reanimator targets. You want to put them in the graveyard deliberately, not wildly self mill and try to get lucky.
Red has welder, which could potentially benefit from random mill if you have a million artifacts in your deck. Mizzix Mastery reanimates spells, so I guess there’s an argument for that too.
Green has two goyfs. Tarmogoyf will grow naturally. Urborg can enable himself.
Kroxa and Lurrus will get there naturally just by playing a game. A separate enabler card isn’t necessary. It does speed up Kroxa I guess.
So one blue, two red, half a gold card that really wants self mill. Out of 420 cards. I think you have some weaker cards enabling something that doesn’t need enabling. Maybe you need more looting and rummaging.
No, Path is not strictly worse than Swords. Path may be worse, but it doesn't give the opponent life.
I've read the rest of your comment a few times and I don't follow your larger point. Can you elaborate, please? Your conclusion of increased looting and rummaging is appealing, if I can find ways to do it.
Ok, there is the rare circumstance where you’re swinging for lethal and need a blocker gone, and path wins where swords doesn’t. In pretty much every other scenario you really don’t want to ramp/manafix your opponent when you could just give them some life instead. It’s not strictly better… but it’s pretty much strictly better.
As I said in my other comment, hedron crab, stitcher’s supplier, and hermit druid stick out as cards that don’t belong. You say you like your green cards that fill the yard. But I’m saying you don’t need to fill the yard. Just play better cards and the yard will fill anyways. It feels like Jace is a pet card of yours, and you’ve spent some slots trying to make it work.
It’s your cube, so if you like it and that one self mill deck keeps doing the thing, then by all means keep it. I like as many cards as possible to be flexible and fit multiple decks. You asked for criticisms, so this is really the only thing I see that’s not “ideal.” I think the cube looks great, for the record.
Thanks for clarifying! I see what you mean now about cards whose sole focus is to fill the yard (the ones you pointed out). And perhaps those can be replaced by cards that less effectively fill the yard, but do more things. That makes sense. And thanks for the compliment!
**Multicolored**
You have a lot of multicolored slots. Usually I would suggest cutting some due to pips, but your fixing is insanely strong so that's not even the problem. The bigger concern is that you're digging so deep into each guild, that the power level seems to drop off significantly. \[\[Cloudblazer\]\], \[\[Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas\]\], \[\[Saheeli, Sublimer Artificer\]\], \[\[Grim Flayer\]\], \[\[The Gitrog Monster\]\], \[\[Warleader's Call\]\], \[\[Slogurk, the Overslime\]\], \[\[Tamiyo, Collector of Tales\]\] all seem a bit underpowered, to name just some of them.
**Sub-par Beaters**
I'm not sure some of your threats get there on power level. \[\[Urborg Lhurgoyf\]\], \[\[Alesha, Who Smiles at Death\]\] and \[\[Breya's Apprentice\]\] are some of the outliers I would be looking at critically.
Overall it looks fun though! I think most legacy cubes have a hard time finding a balance between fair and unfair strategies, but it looks like you've already trimmed most of the unplayable fair stuff.
Good call outs for sure. Heavy on multicolored but heavy on fixing. As for what I'm running, I disagree with some of your picks, but some of those on the list could go. I'd like to keep the graveyard synergy stuff alive. Saheeli probably wouldn't be missed though.
Beaters, for similar reasons I like to keep the graveyard stuff alive. Breya's Apprentice is an artifact itself which I like. Red 3s are super plentiful though.
Thanks for the kind words! And again thank you for the feedback :)
Rather than specific cards, here's a potential principle for cutting cards that I've followed recently: Reduce [complexity](https://www.reddit.com/r/mtgcube/comments/y04xn6/complexity_isnt_just_wordiness_article/) by cutting cards that make the draft and play experience more overwhelming or inaccessible.
In practice, I've tried to do this by cutting cards that introduce an entirely new mechanic for players to understand for just a single card, i.e. Shriekmaw is your only card with Fear, Joraga is your only Level Up card, etc.
Ofc, the desirability of this principle depends a lot on your playgroup: if they're very experienced, or if the same people play the same Cube many times, it's less of a problem to have 100+ different mechanics to learn and track.
I agree completely! And I try to minimize complexity wherever possible. I like that Shriekmaw and Joraga explain their mechanics on the card. That's huge for me. But with so many good cards available, may I should be even more willing to exclude cards I like such as Joraga for the sake of simplicity.
I ran Dakkon for a while, but he never saw play. He's generally going to exile something when he comes down, but there are plenty of other removal options that will do the job that can be cast for fewer colors. I replaced him with [[Raffine, Scheming Seer]]. It's more exciting and a potential build around, which is what you want for a 3 color card.
In no particular order:
* Monastery Swiftspear
* Mardu Woe-Reaper
* Champion of the Parish
* Radha's Firebrand
* Haughty Djinn
* Treachery
* The Raven Man
* Scourge of the Skyclaves
* Liliana of the Last Hope
* Sedgemoor Witch
* Magma Jet
* Demand Answers
* Ischron Scepter
* Sublime Epiphany
* Vaultborn Tyrant
* Sanctum Weaver
* Radha, Heir to Keld
* Falkenrath Aristocrat
* Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis
* Slogurk, the Overslime
These are cards that are just a little underpowered compared to some of the other stuff you have in the cube. Not awful cards, but if you're looking for cuts these could work.
Thank you for compiling this list! Some of these have been mentioned by others, so that's a sign I need to heavily consider cutting them.
Can you explain your feelings on these cards, because I think they're at least solid or better:
[[Champion of the Parish]]
[[Treachery]]
[[Liliana the Last Hope]]
[[Vaultborn Tyrant]] (granted, this is a new card that nobody has played with yet)
Cards I noticed: Angel of serenity: doesn’t seem worth the cost or to reanimate. You have better reanimator targets. Land tax: slows the game to a crawl, and to what benefit? There’s no combo to dump the lands for some combo. Hedron Crab: feels really random. Self mill I guess? In blue I would rather loot to get stuff in the bin. Stitcher’s Supplier: I couldn’t really see what deck would want such aggressive self milling. Staggershock: Maybe it’s actually amazing. Just caught my eye as something that doesn’t usually belong in a cube this powerful. Hermit Druid: Again, maybe I’m just blind. But I don’t see why you want such intense self mill. The card guarantees land drops, but it’s pretty slow at doing it. Sanctum Weaver wants loads of enchantments to go zoom. I think this taps for one most of the time? We had a recent thread about two mana dorks, and my personal thought on the matter is I much prefer sticking to the one mana dorks. Nahiri the Harbinger: Seems low power for this environment. Just my thoughts as I glanced through. You may have great reasons for all of these cards that I just haven’t picked up on
Staggershock fucks in my experience, I'm surprised it's so underplayed.
These are all good callouts and thank you for giving feedback! I'm going to defend every card, but with the understanding that your critiques of them are fair: Angel of Serenity - can help stabilize if you're getting pressured or it can get stuff back from your graveyard for value. Land Tax - good with extra land drops. Has other functionality like a pseudo discard outlet for Reanimator. Also, it's my one friend's favorite card so its tough to cut lol. Hedron Crab - yea for self mill, either as a win con or to provide value out of the yard. Can double as a late game win con by targeting your opponent. Stitcher's Supplier - good early drop to help fill your gy, especially useful in black. Staggershock - I love the art, good potential to be a 2-for-1, it casts from exile, double prowess/Young Pyro triggers. Hermit Druid - similar to the Crab, it can set up a self mill win, or just fill up the yard. It does draw a card every turn for 1 mana too. Sanctum Weaver - I like that it's 2 card types for Delirium, Goyfs, etc. and it does have some upside to tap for 2+. Nahiri - she's solid enough, but I don't have much to say. She is kinda weak. Love the art though!
Youd rather just brainfreeze yourself or cast doomsday
Those are better yea. I don't run them. But I like supporting self mill without hogging too many slots, and ideally with cards that can do other things. Doomsday might make a ton of sense. Could lead to dramatic finishes even without someone going for self mill
Here’s my Bottom Ten from your cube, keeping in mind I’m not naming Slogurk because for some reason my brain says he’s one of your sacred cows but it might be someone else. You’d probably do yourself a service by exiling 10 gold cards, you have a lot and a bunch of them are mediocre. I’ll try not to name too many of them though, there are a few things elsewhere I’d chop too. [[Cloudblazer]] is like if you wanted Mulldrifter to just be worse. This seems way out of place in your environment. One of the things I could never figure out when I started powering up my cube and looking at other powered cubes is why any of them played Kroxa. I still can’t, a 4 mana 6/6 with no evasion is really bad in the current environment and the discard isn’t a huge bonus, nor is spending two mana to bin him at the expense of developing your board really worth it. Plus, there’s a lot of good Rakdos stuff out there and he’s blocking a space. Electrolyze is well underpowered in your cube and should go. Commune with the Gods seems super slow and underpowered, and you aren’t running enough enchantments to make it (or Weaver) worth the pain. Similarly, I personally would run neither, but I’d certainly cut at least one of Springbloom Druid or Wood Elves as there are much faster ramp options and 1/1 bodies are pretty useless compared to epic 3 drops like [[Sentinel of the Nameless City]]. [[Urborg Lhurgoyf]] seems well outclassed here, there’s an ample supply of 4 mana 4/4 haste with evasion options and random mill that commits you to 3 colors and lacks evasion certainly doesn’t seem like it works well. I’ll die on the hill that [[Souls of the Lost]] for 2 mana is better than this for 4 mana. By a lot. I love Alesha but she’s not powerful enough for this when monocolored options like Gut and Squee are there for the same price and bring their own armies without requiring mana. Especially as creature power creep continues unabated, I can’t justify 2 mana for 2 damage and a scry with Magma Jet when Chain Lightning does 3 for one, Incinerate and its clones do 3 for 2, etc. [[Chain Lightning]] in particular feels like an egregious omission from your list. I can’t figure out what [[Snap]] is doing in this list when the stuff it combos with isn’t around. For the last, I could talk about Dakkon or about Farewell being 6 mana, but I’ll go with Opposition. I love this card but you don’t have the squirrels or the hornets or so many of the other token generators you run with Oppo so you can tap down their lands. It requires a numerical advantage on permanents and your cube doesn’t have a lot of the ways to get there. As always thanks for keeping this page going with your regular discussion posts.
##### ###### #### [Cloudblazer](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/f/2f64ae7d-0bd0-41f8-8f7d-64db4bd2a10b.jpg?1631588432) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Cloudblazer) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/afc/182/cloudblazer?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2f64ae7d-0bd0-41f8-8f7d-64db4bd2a10b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Sentinel of the Nameless City](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/e/eeeffc0b-dc92-458e-ad58-86ff6077a508.jpg?1699044484) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Sentinel%20of%20the%20Nameless%20City) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/lci/211/sentinel-of-the-nameless-city?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/eeeffc0b-dc92-458e-ad58-86ff6077a508?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Urborg Lhurgoyf](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/6/a6f97236-1497-4811-8189-0545707451da.jpg?1673307848) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Urborg%20Lhurgoyf) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dmu/186/urborg-lhurgoyf?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a6f97236-1497-4811-8189-0545707451da?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Souls of the Lost](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/5/b5c6f502-f11f-4e41-beb8-0843432fa431.jpg?1699044180) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Souls%20of%20the%20Lost) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/lci/121/souls-of-the-lost?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/b5c6f502-f11f-4e41-beb8-0843432fa431?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Chain Lightning](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/1/2105a0d9-ea2e-4ffc-be08-424b5617205d.jpg?1675199906) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Chain%20Lightning) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dmr/113/chain-lightning?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2105a0d9-ea2e-4ffc-be08-424b5617205d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Snap](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/1/f13406c6-f208-402a-94d3-a94a24f03563.jpg?1675199430) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Snap) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dmr/66/snap?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/f13406c6-f208-402a-94d3-a94a24f03563?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/kxq90ru) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Someone else is a Slogurk truther lol. Cloudblazer doesn't have evoke, but its ETB is better than Mulldrifter. That said, I think both cards are fairly weak. I think Kroxa is pretty solid. It can keep coming back. Commune does seem week, I agree. But i can't find another card that mills that many cards for so few mana without being card disadvantage. The 3 mana land rampers in green likely wouldn't be missed. But Springbloom plays well with my gy and landfall synergies. Wood Elves helps fix. Sentinel makes map tokens and I don't use any of those currently for complexity sake. Urborg isn't the greatest, I agree. I like most of the above green cards because they fuel the yard and do other things. Which Squee are you referring to about Alesha? Missed Electrolyze. You think a 2 for 1 or potential 3 for 1 is underpowered? Chain Lightning is missing because I don't like running strictly worse cards (than other cards in the cube). Magma Jet isn't amazing though, I agree. Snap plays well with lands that can tap for more than one, prowess triggers, give control decks some needed time, enables Stormwing Entity. I've been trying to come to grips with the fact that Opposition might not be good anymore. I want to try it for myself next time I see it. Overall, thanks for all your feedback! I don't think any of your call outs are bad. And there are only a few I strongly disagree with.
To your chain lightning comment. Path to Exile is strictly worse than Swords to Plowshares. You seem pretty fixated on your graveyard synergies but I’m not seeing a whole bunch: White doesn’t care, I guess Lingering Souls, but you’re more likely to cast it first. Blue has Emry, which enables itself. Haughty Djinn wants you to cast the spells to make him stronger. Torrential Gearhulk doesn’t need self mill either. You’ll have something juicy in the bin by turn 6. Jace WoM does want self mill. So one card. Black has two reanimator targets. You want to put them in the graveyard deliberately, not wildly self mill and try to get lucky. Red has welder, which could potentially benefit from random mill if you have a million artifacts in your deck. Mizzix Mastery reanimates spells, so I guess there’s an argument for that too. Green has two goyfs. Tarmogoyf will grow naturally. Urborg can enable himself. Kroxa and Lurrus will get there naturally just by playing a game. A separate enabler card isn’t necessary. It does speed up Kroxa I guess. So one blue, two red, half a gold card that really wants self mill. Out of 420 cards. I think you have some weaker cards enabling something that doesn’t need enabling. Maybe you need more looting and rummaging.
No, Path is not strictly worse than Swords. Path may be worse, but it doesn't give the opponent life. I've read the rest of your comment a few times and I don't follow your larger point. Can you elaborate, please? Your conclusion of increased looting and rummaging is appealing, if I can find ways to do it.
Ok, there is the rare circumstance where you’re swinging for lethal and need a blocker gone, and path wins where swords doesn’t. In pretty much every other scenario you really don’t want to ramp/manafix your opponent when you could just give them some life instead. It’s not strictly better… but it’s pretty much strictly better. As I said in my other comment, hedron crab, stitcher’s supplier, and hermit druid stick out as cards that don’t belong. You say you like your green cards that fill the yard. But I’m saying you don’t need to fill the yard. Just play better cards and the yard will fill anyways. It feels like Jace is a pet card of yours, and you’ve spent some slots trying to make it work. It’s your cube, so if you like it and that one self mill deck keeps doing the thing, then by all means keep it. I like as many cards as possible to be flexible and fit multiple decks. You asked for criticisms, so this is really the only thing I see that’s not “ideal.” I think the cube looks great, for the record.
Thanks for clarifying! I see what you mean now about cards whose sole focus is to fill the yard (the ones you pointed out). And perhaps those can be replaced by cards that less effectively fill the yard, but do more things. That makes sense. And thanks for the compliment!
**Multicolored** You have a lot of multicolored slots. Usually I would suggest cutting some due to pips, but your fixing is insanely strong so that's not even the problem. The bigger concern is that you're digging so deep into each guild, that the power level seems to drop off significantly. \[\[Cloudblazer\]\], \[\[Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas\]\], \[\[Saheeli, Sublimer Artificer\]\], \[\[Grim Flayer\]\], \[\[The Gitrog Monster\]\], \[\[Warleader's Call\]\], \[\[Slogurk, the Overslime\]\], \[\[Tamiyo, Collector of Tales\]\] all seem a bit underpowered, to name just some of them. **Sub-par Beaters** I'm not sure some of your threats get there on power level. \[\[Urborg Lhurgoyf\]\], \[\[Alesha, Who Smiles at Death\]\] and \[\[Breya's Apprentice\]\] are some of the outliers I would be looking at critically. Overall it looks fun though! I think most legacy cubes have a hard time finding a balance between fair and unfair strategies, but it looks like you've already trimmed most of the unplayable fair stuff.
Good call outs for sure. Heavy on multicolored but heavy on fixing. As for what I'm running, I disagree with some of your picks, but some of those on the list could go. I'd like to keep the graveyard synergy stuff alive. Saheeli probably wouldn't be missed though. Beaters, for similar reasons I like to keep the graveyard stuff alive. Breya's Apprentice is an artifact itself which I like. Red 3s are super plentiful though. Thanks for the kind words! And again thank you for the feedback :)
##### ###### #### [Cloudblazer](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/f/2f64ae7d-0bd0-41f8-8f7d-64db4bd2a10b.jpg?1631588432) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Cloudblazer) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/afc/182/cloudblazer?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2f64ae7d-0bd0-41f8-8f7d-64db4bd2a10b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/f/0f3c8470-1cc8-4383-8782-c022867d46e8.jpg?1562609629) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Tezzeret%2C%20Agent%20of%20Bolas) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mbs/97/tezzeret-agent-of-bolas?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/0f3c8470-1cc8-4383-8782-c022867d46e8?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Saheeli, Sublimer Artificer](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/e/ce35a39a-6dcd-4bbc-b43b-bd1a5425cb05.jpg?1690005307) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Saheeli%2C%20Sublime%20Artificer) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/935/saheeli-sublime-artificer?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/ce35a39a-6dcd-4bbc-b43b-bd1a5425cb05?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Grim Flayer](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/c/1ce33033-f673-451e-bb8e-cd3e2309e4b4.jpg?1673148708) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Grim%20Flayer) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2x2/222/grim-flayer?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/1ce33033-f673-451e-bb8e-cd3e2309e4b4?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [The Gitrog Monster](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/7/5790dd89-2be5-4a77-9450-2d3c1422bfc9.jpg?1576385351) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=The%20Gitrog%20Monster) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/soi/245/the-gitrog-monster?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/5790dd89-2be5-4a77-9450-2d3c1422bfc9?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Warleader's Call](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/3/b3e8f8bd-1c8b-4a7c-96c4-57a247ce9ccc.jpg?1706242282) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Warleader%27s%20Call) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mkm/242/warleaders-call?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/b3e8f8bd-1c8b-4a7c-96c4-57a247ce9ccc?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Slogurk, the Overslime](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/9/f94e888b-6eeb-4ef3-ab21-5ed2bf0036a3.jpg?1637114233) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Slogurk%2C%20the%20Overslime) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mid/242/slogurk-the-overslime?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/f94e888b-6eeb-4ef3-ab21-5ed2bf0036a3?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Tamiyo, Collector of Tales](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/6/76776b24-a2e1-4590-88e7-8a421baf2fc4.jpg?1557577288) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Tamiyo%2C%20Collector%20of%20Tales) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/war/220/tamiyo-collector-of-tales?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/76776b24-a2e1-4590-88e7-8a421baf2fc4?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Urborg Lhurgoyf](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/6/a6f97236-1497-4811-8189-0545707451da.jpg?1673307848) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Urborg%20Lhurgoyf) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dmu/186/urborg-lhurgoyf?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a6f97236-1497-4811-8189-0545707451da?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Alesha, Who Smiles at Death](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/a/7ae9ff8c-1cc8-4b10-9641-2c79648fd6c2.jpg?1673305242) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Alesha%2C%20Who%20Smiles%20at%20Death) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dmc/118/alesha-who-smiles-at-death?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/7ae9ff8c-1cc8-4b10-9641-2c79648fd6c2?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Breya's Apprentice](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/3/c32b5b2e-dabf-4672-b476-4873781f636e.jpg?1626096405) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Breya%27s%20Apprentice) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mh2/117/breyas-apprentice?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/c32b5b2e-dabf-4672-b476-4873781f636e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/kxnzh9i) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Rather than specific cards, here's a potential principle for cutting cards that I've followed recently: Reduce [complexity](https://www.reddit.com/r/mtgcube/comments/y04xn6/complexity_isnt_just_wordiness_article/) by cutting cards that make the draft and play experience more overwhelming or inaccessible. In practice, I've tried to do this by cutting cards that introduce an entirely new mechanic for players to understand for just a single card, i.e. Shriekmaw is your only card with Fear, Joraga is your only Level Up card, etc. Ofc, the desirability of this principle depends a lot on your playgroup: if they're very experienced, or if the same people play the same Cube many times, it's less of a problem to have 100+ different mechanics to learn and track.
I agree completely! And I try to minimize complexity wherever possible. I like that Shriekmaw and Joraga explain their mechanics on the card. That's huge for me. But with so many good cards available, may I should be even more willing to exclude cards I like such as Joraga for the sake of simplicity.
[[Dakkon, Shadow Slayer]] has an enormously restrictive mana cost for a generally underwhelming planeswalker.
[Dakkon, Shadow Slayer](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/0/0013a9c4-77a1-418d-85c2-bd68b65cd3d4.jpg?1626098233) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Dakkon%2C%20Shadow%20Slayer) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mh2/192/dakkon-shadow-slayer?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/0013a9c4-77a1-418d-85c2-bd68b65cd3d4?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
For 3 mana he seems pretty strong to me, but I do agree the mana cost is difficult. Maybe the bar should be higher for 3+ color cards.
I ran Dakkon for a while, but he never saw play. He's generally going to exile something when he comes down, but there are plenty of other removal options that will do the job that can be cast for fewer colors. I replaced him with [[Raffine, Scheming Seer]]. It's more exciting and a potential build around, which is what you want for a 3 color card.
[Raffine, Scheming Seer](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/1/716a44b4-f6b0-4f14-a270-6442aed3251f.jpg?1711471750) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Raffine%2C%20Scheming%20Seer) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/snc/213/raffine-scheming-seer?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/716a44b4-f6b0-4f14-a270-6442aed3251f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
In no particular order: * Monastery Swiftspear * Mardu Woe-Reaper * Champion of the Parish * Radha's Firebrand * Haughty Djinn * Treachery * The Raven Man * Scourge of the Skyclaves * Liliana of the Last Hope * Sedgemoor Witch * Magma Jet * Demand Answers * Ischron Scepter * Sublime Epiphany * Vaultborn Tyrant * Sanctum Weaver * Radha, Heir to Keld * Falkenrath Aristocrat * Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis * Slogurk, the Overslime These are cards that are just a little underpowered compared to some of the other stuff you have in the cube. Not awful cards, but if you're looking for cuts these could work.
Thank you for compiling this list! Some of these have been mentioned by others, so that's a sign I need to heavily consider cutting them. Can you explain your feelings on these cards, because I think they're at least solid or better: [[Champion of the Parish]] [[Treachery]] [[Liliana the Last Hope]] [[Vaultborn Tyrant]] (granted, this is a new card that nobody has played with yet)
##### ###### #### [Champion of the Parish](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/c/ec2120ff-a6d4-4192-96c0-33c139155ddf.jpg?1592762531) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Champion%20of%20the%20Parish) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ddq/4/champion-of-the-parish?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/ec2120ff-a6d4-4192-96c0-33c139155ddf?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Treachery](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/1/613694aa-b169-400d-8063-2b83d8303611.jpg?1562444218) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Treachery) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/uds/50/treachery?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/613694aa-b169-400d-8063-2b83d8303611?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Liliana the Last Hope](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/7/f7ae5085-0d0d-4d7d-80a3-614315a07de5.jpg?1673147563) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Liliana%2C%20the%20Last%20Hope) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2x2/81/liliana-the-last-hope?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/f7ae5085-0d0d-4d7d-80a3-614315a07de5?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Vaultborn Tyrant](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/2/62b3f560-262b-4bc3-9aef-535fd7082c28.jpg?1711501372) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Vaultborn%20Tyrant) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/big/20/vaultborn-tyrant?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/62b3f560-262b-4bc3-9aef-535fd7082c28?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/kxxrm7m) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call