Upcoming Vintage Cube Updates

By: CottonRhetoric, Cotton Rhetoric
Aug 08 2023 12:11pm

618 views

Cube updates are coming! What might be in store? I'm guessing not quite as large an update as last season's 80+ swaps, but let's consider the options.

Ryan Spain mentioned on Limited Resources when considering swaps he sorts cards into tiers—absolutely indispensable cards like Black Lotus, archetype definers like Sneak Attack, fan favorites that aren’t technically powerful like Eureka, experiments like Dream Halls, and so on. I’ll be here doing the same for all 540 cards currently in the format, with the ultimate goal of helping you predict what changes lie ahead.

These are my tiers, not Spain's, and I'm sorting by likelihood of being removed, from least (0.0) to most (10.0). These are not power rankings!

Standard disclaimer about these ratings being subjective, and me being knowledgeable but not authoritative or prescient. (I once thought Disenchant would never be removed.)

white

blue

black

red

green

multi

colorless

Cube's Core Identity (0.5)

These define the format, and they’re what draw people to the format. Removing them is unimaginable.

Swords to Plowshares Balance

Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary

five moxen

Library of Alexandria

Strip Mine (see below post-script regarding duals)

Powerful, Iconic (1.0)

These are not technically required but are certainly expected. No replacements exist, and removing them would be both surprising and upsetting to nearly all players.

Snapcaster Mage

Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

Archetype Standouts (2.0)

Whatever each card’s archetype is, that archetype wouldn’t be as successful without it. These cards are possible to remove, but doing so would require an intentional effort to weaken (or remove) an entire strategy. So, not expected, but not out of the question.

Mother of Runes

Stoneforge Mystic

Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

Blade Splicer

Flickerwisp

Restoration Angel

Elspeth, Knight-Errant

Ephemerate

Council's Judgment

Rona, Herald of Invasion

Narset, Parter of Veils

Graveyard Tresspasser

Eidolon of the Great Revel

Bonecrusher Giant

Goblin Rabblemaster

Laelia, the Blade Reforged

Hellrider

Chandra, Torch of Defiance

Fury

Glorybringer

Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker

Chain Lightning

Fireblast

Fable of the Mirror Breaker

Natural Order

Nissa, Who Shakes the World

Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast

Kolaghan's Command

Damn

Grist, the Hunger Tide

Showdown of the Skalds

Leovold, Emissary of Trest

Lodestone Golem

Sundering Titan

Blightsteel Colossus

Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

Archetype Support (5.0)

Here is the first big skip in likelihood rating.

These cards are all good and fill out their respective decks. None are on the chopping block for removal, and we’d be surprised if MANY left, but we can count on a few going.

Adeline, Resplendent Cathar

Elite Spellbinder

Loran of the Third Path

Porcelain Legionnaire

Skyclave Apparition

Guardian of Ghirapur

Gideon, Ally of Zendikar

The Wandering Emperor

Elspeth, Sun's Champion

Wrath of God

Spectral Procession

Baral, Chief of Compliance

Emry, Lurker of the Loch

Phyrexian Metamorph

Urza, Lord High Artificer

Venser, Shaper Savant

Jadar, Ghoulcaller of Nephalia

Sheoldred, the Apocalypse

Birgi, God of Storytelling

Whisperwood Elemental

Tooth and Nail

Heartbeat of Spring

Spell Queller

Teferi, Hero of Dominaria

Wear // Tear

Nahiri, the Harbinger

Hydroid Krasis

Sphinx of the Steel Wind

Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger

Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre

Sensei's Divining Top

Helm of Awakening

Coalition Relic

Sword of Feast and Famine

Sword of Fire and Ice

Unique Role, Medium Power (5.5)

These do things other cards don’t, whether it’s enabling a combo or hosing a specific strategy. None are indispensable, but they pull more than their own weight toward making cube a more diverse and fun experience.

Containment Priest

Lion Sash

Monastery Mentor

Recruiter of the Guard

Glen Elendra Archmage

Daretti, Scrap Servant

Toksi, Bearer of Secrets

Regrowth

Primal Command

Survival of the Fittest

Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas

Kitchen Finks

Lurrus of the Dream-Den

Vraska, Golgari Queen

Edric, Spymaster

Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath

ten signets

Powerful or Swingy but Possibly Unfun (6.5)
**controversy alert**

Some of these are consistently stronger than cards in every above category. Some are powerful but inconsistent. Some are arguably not even as powerful as their reputation, but all raise concerns that cube may be less fun with them in it. These are hard to remove because being so powerful creates a lot of fans, but could removing them please more people than it upsets?

White Plume Adventurer

Palace Jailer
Parallax Wave

Bribery

Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer

Hexdrinker

Craterhoof Behemoth

Channel

Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes

Oko, Thief of Crowns

Karakas

Fan Favorites, Lower Power (7.0)

This is a tricky category because no curator wants to remove things people love, but as Ryan Spain put it, cube data doesn’t show love, only winrate, so they often get removed unwittingly. (When they do get removed, people complain until they get readded—italicized ones already have been!)

Arena Rector

Hero of Bladehold

Elspeth Conquers Death

Riftwing Cloudskate

Time Warp

Yawgmoth, Thran Physician

Omnath, Locus of Creation

Golos, Tireless Pilgrim

Interchangeable (8.0)

These cards are fine, useful, even good, and there is no pressure to remove them. But they can get removed if Daybreak decides they want fewer of a repeated effect, or if a new set comes out with a similar version.

Boon-Bringer Valkyrie

Iona, Shield of Emeria

Inquisition of Kozilek

Night's Whisper

Monastery Swiftspear

Abbot of Keral Keep

Embereth Shieldbreaker

Kari Zev, Skyship Raider

Purphoros's Invention

Huntmaster of the Fells

Atraxa, Grand Unifier

Less Powerful, Less Loved Cards (8.5)

If I wrote this year ago, this category would be a lot longer. But frankly Ryan Spain did a phenomenal job of identifying and removing such cards in his May 2023 update, arguably more so than any prior cube curator.

March of the Otherworldly Light

Temporary Lockdown

Chain of Vapor

Blood Artist

Braids, Arisen Nightmare

Liliana, the Last Hope

Finale of Devastation

Court of Bounty

Eladamri's Call

Knight of the Reliquary

Mirari's Wake

Deathrite Shaman

Fiend Artisan

Timeless Lotus

Zuran Orb

Oblivion Stone

Experiments (9.0)

I love experiments. Sometimes they pay off and get to stick around. Sometimes they flop and get removed. But we tried something different, and that helps keeps things fresh! Cube has enough flex slots to allow this sort of thing.

Loyal Retainers

Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle

Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite

Chandra, Acolyte of Flame

Wrenn and Realmbreaker

Xenagos, God of Revels

Third Path Iconoclast

Saheeli, Sublime Artificer

Kenrith, the Returned King

Phyrexian Tower

As for the dual lands:

There are currently ten triomes. Then each color pair has five duals: an Alpha dual (ie Savannah), a shockland (ie Temple Garden), a fetchland (ie Windswept Heath), a fastland (ie Razorverge Thicket), and a flex slot (either a creatureland, like Celestial Colonnade, a painland, like Karplusan Forest, or a sacland (like Horizon Canopy).

I like this system. The numbers are good, and most of the selections are good. It’s impossible to imagine removing the Alpha duals, shocklands, or fetchlands. I think the only tinkering I’d recommend is:

Use UB’s flex slot on its manland, Creeping Tar Pit, for to power level
Use GR’s flex slot on its sacland, for synergy with (Wrenn and Six)
Keep WR’s flex slot as the sacland, for archetype synergy, but use every other pair’s flex slot on painlands, for power level
Should future sets offer improved duals, of course the fastlands and flex slots would be the first to go, but I can’t imagine this happening very soon.

As for what cards to add,

The community already has listed a lot of these, so I'll be brief. What about Nether Void; is it really any worse than Armageddon? And we could add Polymorph, Tarmogoyf, Guided Passage, Copy Artifact, Null Profusion, Royal Assassin, Ashes to Ashes, Fire Covenant, and Hesitation!

And I think I'll end all my cube articles by saying replace Mesmeric Fiend with Kitesail Freebooter. TYIA, best format, kiss kiss—love, Cotton