The Magic Online Vintage Cube Update
Posted on May 24, 2024
By Chris Wolf & Ryan Spain
Hello, Vintage Cube fanatics!
The Magic Online Vintage Cube—currently running on MTGO with the list announced earlier this month—will conclude a two-week run (plus bonus time) this Monday, May 27th. You won’t miss it for long, though, as it’s coming right back a couple days later with some small updates for another two-week run starting Wednesday, May 29th!
Per this article, the previous update was a “return to center” for the Magic Online Vintage Cube—an effort that produced a large changelist. This update is the opposite, representing a new kind of update we will likely be deploying more often in the future: a small “polish pass” on a major update that comes shortly if not immediately after the initial run. This allows us to refine the archetypes in the major update while supporting a longer overall run by injecting some freshness and variety in into the experience halfway through. The size of these updates will depend on how much polishing we feel the experience needs, and in this case, we are happy with the results. We still have a few underperformers and failed experiments to address, but mostly archetypes are playing out how we hoped and don’t feel the need to change much. Storm remains the fun gamble it has always been, but our efforts to improve its odds with additional support cards took up slots without helping, so many of the changes represent pulling back on that support. The card-card-by-card design comments below speak for themselves, so check out the changes and the reasons below, and let us know how they work out for you in the queues starting next week!
CHANGE LIST
| Color | In | Design Comment | Color | Out | Design Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue | Simulacrum Synthesizer | Without the affinity support cards around it, Simulacrum Synthesizer might not see the success in Vintage Cube that it has seen in Constructed, but with some freed-up space, we want to give it a shot. | Blue | Portent | The increased number of cantrips definitely didn't hurt, but they haven't provided the impact we had hoped. So we're dropping the least user-friendly one to make room for the Synthesizer. |
| Blue | Smirking Spelljacker | This narrowly missed the cut last time, so we're giving it a tryout with some extra space this time. Five is an investment in Vintage Cube, but "free" is a fine payoff! | Blue | Phantom Interference | 2-mana counterspells are always solid in Cube, but this one definitely feels replaceable, so we're adding some other, sightly bigger control cards instead. |
| Blue | Stoic Sphinx | A powerful control finisher that threatens to one-shot most Planeswalkers and end games quickly while creating interesting decisions points for both players. | Blue | Snap | With both Bubbling Muck and Lotus Field not doing so well and leaving the Cube again, we decided that Snap could go as well, making space for some fun new cards with Vintage Cube potential. |
| Black | Dark Petition | Dark Petition is coming in to replace Bubbling Muck for a more versatile card that still supports the Storm archetype. | Black | Bubbling Muck | This was an experiment to give the Storm archetype another mana-doubling option, but it didn't quite work out, so we'll give Black another tutor instead. |
| Red | Simian Spirit Guide | Fast mana is an integral feature of Vintage Cube, so we're adding the Spirit Guides over some replacement-level cards. | Red | Pyrite Spellbomb | Pyrite Spellbomb can be an all-star with Lurrus, but was underwhelming otherwise, so it can take a seat. |
| Green | Elvish Spirit Guide | Fast mana is an integral feature of Vintage Cube, so we're adding the Spirit Guides over some replacement-level cards. | Green | Courser of Kruphix | The Courser supports Fastbond and Exploration, but not well enough to make this a Vintage Cube requirement. We are going with a different kind of fast mana in this slot. |
| Green | Force of Vigor | With heavier artifact support, we're bringing back the Force to double up on artifact (and enchantment) destruction. | Green | Nature's Claim | Swapping for a 2-for1 Naturalize effect. |
| Green | Garruk Relentless | Garruk Relentless hasn't been in for a while, and he looks particularly well-positioned given that creatures with two power are some of the stars of Vintage Cube. His ability to take one out and live to transform should help him pull his weight in this environment. | Green | Invigorate | Invigorate is a fine performer for green when it sees a main deck, but that hasn't been often. We'll see if there is more love for Garruk Relentless. |
| Azorius | No More Lies | Assimilation Aegis has proved narrow and underwhelming, so we're bringing back No More Lies, which will go in any Azorius deck. | Azorius | Assimilation Aegis | An interesting try, but Azorius can use the any-deck flexibility of No More Lies. |
| Boros | Winota, Joiner of Forces | Winota has made strong appearances in Constructed, and there are enough interesting Humans around to be worth giving her a shot in Vintage Cube. | Boros | Showdown of the Skalds | Showdown is a solid performer for Boros, but isn't so essential that we can't give some other options a shot! |
| Golgari | Glissa Sunslayer | The Gitrog, Ravenous Ride has been a fun addition to the Vintage Cube, and we thought this Golgari slot was better spent on another beater over generic removal. | Golgari | Abrupt Decay | Cutting generic removal to lean into the Golgari beats that The Gitrog, Ravenous Ride is throwing down. |
| Gruul | Halana and Alena, Partners | Orcish Lumberjack Gruul Beats has been a strong archetype in Vintage Cube for a while now, and with more +1/+1 counter synergies around, we felt that it would be a good time to give the Partners another spin. | Gruul | Escape to the Wilds | Escape to the Wilds is still a good way to refuel, but it has fewer land synergies with which to shine, so we'll bench it for now. |
| Simic | Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath | The new Oko has largely underperformed, so we're bringing Uro back. | Simic | Oko, the Ringleader | Oko has largely underperformed, so we're bringing Uro back. |
| Multicolor | Fabled Passage | A slightly worse Prismatic Vista is never going to be your go-to fixing, but when it's your comes-around fixing when you desperately need some, you'll find the Passage more than passable. | Multicolor | Lotus Field | While the Balance screen shots were delightful, Lotus Field was in to support a cluster of storm cards, mana-doublers and untappers that didn't quite work out, so we're letting go of it again. |
FULL LIST