This page logs changes that I make to the cube by date.
11/22/2007
- Kataki, War’s Wage -> Mystic Crusader
- Withered Wretch -> Doomed Necromancer
- Talisman of Progress -> Triskelion
- Talisman of Dominance -> Bonesplitter
- Talisman of Indulgence -> Icy Manipulator
- Talisman of Impulse -> Oblivion Stone
- Talisman of Unity -> Lightning Greaves
- Guardian Idol -> Mirari
I wanted a little more casting cost variety in the white and black creatures, and I was becoming unhappy with how much artifact mana acceleration I had. It was putting too much pressure on aggressive small creature decks. This should make things a little easier for them.
11/29/2007
- Doomed Necromancer -> Plagued Rusalka
- Soldevi Excavations -> Shelldock Isle
I wanted another one drop in black, and Necromancer was the card that excited me least. Adam Prosak tells me that Shelldock Isle is awesome, so I’m going to try it.
12/12/2007
- Genju of the Fields -> Nikko-Onna
- Militia’s Pride -> Soltari Visionary
- Reprisal -> Pianna, Nomad Captain
- Crib Swap -> Skyhunter Skirmisher
- Ressurrection -> Dawn Elemental
- Gerrard’s Wisdom -> Windborn Muse
- Radiant’s Judgment -> Voice of All
- Worship -> Magus of the Disk
- Beacon of Destruction -> Burning of Xinye
- Compulsion -> Collective Restraint
- Standstill -> Propaganda
- Grim Harvest -> Zombify
Most of these changes were made to help support themes that I wanted to push a little bit harder. I cut some white spells for white creatures, so if you count Battle Screech and Decree of Justice as creatures you get that there are 60 white creatures and 40 white spells. I did this to support the white weenie theme. Pianna gives another Glorious Anthem effect, and more guys to get pumped by them also helps.
The two changes in blue add the pay-to-attack subtheme to blue as well as white, Zombify over Grim Harvest helps reanimation, and Burning of Xinye is another Wildfire for the blow-things-up deck. I’m also happy to add some thematic backup to Ghostly Prison with Windborn Muse.
12/19/2007
- Quirion Dryad -> Cloudthresher
- Ghostly Prison -> Ressurrection
- Propaganda -> Compulsion
- Triskelion -> Phyrexian Ironfoot
- Genju of the Cedars -> Hurricane
- Golgari Grave-Troll -> Saproling Burst
- Dimir Cutpurse -> Spite//Malice
- Spellshock -> Rolling Earthquake
- Inner-Flame Acolyte -> Imperial Recruiter
- Stinkweed Imp -> Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed
- Ophidian -> Lu Xun, Scholar General
- Tradewind Rider -> Sun Ce, Young Conquerer
- Uyo, Silent Prophet -> Sun Quan, Lord of Wu
Cloudthresher is awesome. The two Propagandas just sucked, so nevermind on those. Ironfoot is clearly awesome, and now we just treat all the basic lands as being snow. Hurricane is something Green didn’t have before, and hopefully it is more fun than Genju. Saproling Burst is long overdue. Spite//Malice is an experiment, since Cutpurse is so lukewarm. The rest of it is Portal Three Kingdoms. I love what happened with Burning of Xinye, which I acquired at Worlds. More blowing up the world is fun, so I decided I wanted another Earthquake too. What fun would Rolling Earthquake be, however, without any Horsemen? There are now four of them. I don’t really like any of the other ones that are available, but these four seem nice and I especially love how Xiahou Dun the One-Eyed supports my monoblack theme.
1/31/2008
- Dawn Elemental -> Resurrection
- Sift -> Mind Spring
- Coffin Queen -> Doomed Necromancer
- Imperial Recruiter -> Inner-Flame Acolyte
- Jaya Ballard, Task Mage -> Countryside Crusher
- Erhnam Djinn -> Chameleon Colossus
- Icy Manipulator -> Powder Keg
- Mirari -> Triskelion
- Llanowar Reborn -> Murmuring Bosk
- Yavimaya Hollow -> Pendelhaven
- Vesuva -> Mutavault
Dawn Elemental just sucked. Mind Spring is way more exciting than Sift. Imperial Recruiter was just not worth the time. Doomed Necromancer is the same card as Coffin Queen except not terrible. Countryside Crusher is ridiculous. Djinn sucked and Colossus is awesome. Same for Reborn/Bosk and Vesuva/Mutavault respectively. Icy Manipulator is awful. Powder Keg isn’t much more exciting but it’s a little better. Mirari is very marginal, Triskelion is solid. Pendelhaven proved to be more useful than Hollow, so it got switched.
I have deliberately chosen to exclude Mind Shatter because I don’t think it’s fun.
2/1/2008
- Ambassador Laquatus -> Old Man of the Sea
Old Man of the Sea is just fun; Laquatus is boring.
4/9/2008
- Kor Haven -> Vesuva
- Soldevi Excavations -> Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
- Tolaria West -> Miren, the Moaning Well
- Shizo, Death’s Storehouse -> Temple of the False God
- Keldon Metropolis -> Blinkmoth Nexus
- Undiscovered Paradise -> Shelldock Isle
- Old Man of the Sea -> Vendillion Clique
I cut a bunch of terrible colored nonbasic lands for iffy colorless nonbasic lands; Shadowmoor will let me replace these with more Graven Cairns-like lands. That whole cycle is already in. Old Man was just loose; Vendillion Clique is sick and needed a spot. I have not added Bitterblossom, but only because I don’t have one. It is definitely in, but I have not decided where.
4/14/2008
- Exhume -> Bitterblossom
I acquired a Bitterblossom finally. Exhume was too risky for even dedicated reanimator decks, so out it goes.
6/15/2008
I cut 180 cards. I have no idea what I cut, since I sat down with the cube and wantonly axed things until I had 540. User reviews indicate that the general card quality is much higher now but there are still enough cards that it feels varied. I will be restarting the changes log from here. I will not update with Eventide cards until the set after that is released, I will not update with that set until the set after that is released, and so on.