Life is a strange and wonderful thing if you allow it to be. I enjoy the wonder and reward of exploration, and journeying to find something you never through you could is one of the greatest pleasures I know. I recently took the reins of GatheringMagic from Trick. This has been one of the more rewarding, challenging, frustrating, and inspiring bits of exploration in my life.

“Busy” is insufficient as a description of my time, but adding modifiers just seems inglorious. Let’s settle for this: I’ll provide a concise breakdown of the changes to my Cube, and you’ll provide your responses and feedback below. There will be a bonus note at the end about the Community Cube if you want to follow up on that.

Let’s get started.

General Notes

For the uninitiated, I used to maintain a Cube blog that covered topics, changes, and work behind the scenes of my Pauper Cube. While I keep the data sheet up-to-date, I am no longer able to maintain the content flow many of you had grown to appreciate. This article is my compromise: deliver more content for GatheringMagic and satisfy my personal stake in keeping Pauper Cube lists awesome.

I hope this will suffice.

Dark Ascension, like many recent sets, brings a number of powerful and efficient commons in every color. Some are more obvious than others, and I’m sure you’ll want to know why a few didn’t make the final cut. That’s what the comment thread is for.

Each color and basic archetype was reviewed and reconsidered for this update, which led to some cards not from Dark Ascension slipping in, too. I’ll discuss why those cards came up in each color’s section. However, I can generalize why this happens by saying that the ultimate goal of any Cube changes should be to improve the environment you’re fostering.

A total twenty-one cards were involved in these changes; eighteen from Dark Ascension made the cut, and three were from other sets. Green experienced the greatest number of changes (five), and blue the fewest (two). There were no changes to the multicolored section of the Cube; however, there will be a note for that section.

This was the final result:

White

Loyal Cathar replaces Squall Drifter

The 2-mana tappers have been on the way out for some time. The tempo decks want to cast other spells on the second turn, and 1-drop tappers have finally appeared in multiples (Goldmeadow Harrier and Gideon's Lawkeeper). Loyal Cathar is an aggressive creature that encourages a tap-out-style W/U tempo deck, supports a mono-white plan, and provides value to slower, grindy decks like W/B. I had been considering something like Steadfast Guard, and Loyal Cathar feels more powerful.

Silverclaw Griffin replaces Kemba's Skyguard

White is the only color without an abundance of potential end-game finishers. Plover Knights is a fearsome card to fight, and it consistently helps seal games away. Dark Ascension’s twist in the form of Silverclaw Griffin slightly less powerful—having shaved a point of toughness away—but the important pointy parts stapled onto evasion is still hard to beat.

Kemba's Skyguard is a fine card, particularly for W/U tempo decks, but there are already plenty of 2- and 3-mana creatures available. Exchanging one with a requirement for another, beefier, flying creature seemed right for giving white more depth.

Gather the Townsfolk replaces Benalish Cavalry

While Gather the Townsfolk is marginally useful in Constructed Human decks, it’s absolutely amazing in Dark Ascension/Innistrad Limited. In the context of the Pauper Cube, tokens have been similarly powerful. While my efforts to support a token theme directly in red were not successful, G/W and R/W can make the most extra bodies. Cards like Travel Preparations, Ulvenwald Bear, and Ruthless Invasion make a swarm strategy much more effective.

Benalish Cavalry isn’t a bad card, but flanking is not an effective form of evasion. White has plenty of flying, shadow, and even horsemanship to get in aggressively. Cutting the Cavalry seemed more than reasonable.

Benalish Knight replaces Village Bell-Ringer

I had high hopes that, in the flatter power level of a Pauper Cube, Village Bell-Ringer would be a savage trick for more controlling decks. W/B, with multiple Pestilence effects, seemed poised to make the most of an instant Horned Turtle with a Vitalize stapled onto it.

However, it was very lackluster in execution. What seemed much more desirable was another flash creature that could function as a combat trick in of itself. Benalish Knight fits the bill, carrying surprise first strike into combat near you.

Notable Mentions

Burden of Guilt is interesting. It’s not an all-purpose all-star like Bonds of Faith, but eliminating a powerful or annoying creature is always worth a look. If you like Totem-Guide Hartebeest and have considered improving the potential of Auras with Auramancer and Tragic Poet, you may want to think about adding Burden.

Elgaud Inquisitor is also interesting. My Cube is very aggressive, and many games come down to slivers of life making a difference. For example, Pristine Talisman is an absolute beast just for the consistent, incremental life gain. The fact that the Inquisitor provides a 1/1 flyer upon death makes the 4 mana upfront cost feel better. I find Thraben Sentry a much more appealing 4-drop.

Blue

Stormbound Geist replaces Plated Seastrider

When I added Plated Seastrider, blue was in dire straits: It lacked an early game or reasonable defense. Now, blue has a suite of efficient spells to fight the early game and sufficient creatures to present pressure in the air. Stormbound Geist gives blue value in a flying package, and it makes the W/U and U/B decks all the more terrifying.

Bone to Ash replaces Memory Lapse

I wanted to like Memory Lapse. In fact, I have a foil promo signed by Mark Tedin. It’s a wonderful card that I enjoyed using to zap Craw Wurm and other fatties back in the day. In the modern Cube, the effectiveness of Lapse is much lower. While it can seal a game away by locking your opponent out of his play and next draw step, cards that provide an advantage in more situations are generally more valuable. Adding a to the cost of Exclude makes the card feel worse, but it’s still demoralizing to lose your dude while your opponent maintains card parity.

Notable Mentions

Artful Dodge is a curious card. While reading it for what it is—a creature is unblockable now, then again a turn later—it is just okay. It’s certainly a fine trick. But it’s actually much more powerful than that. If you read it as, “: Two target creatures are unblockable this turn,” you suddenly have a blue card that makes the classic Falter effects anemic.

Chant of the Skifsang is another piece of blue removal. Unlike its twin-in-cost Claustrophobia, Chant allows the creature it enchants to block. It’s still very powerful in conjunction with recursion (Auramancer, etc.), and it answers big fatties in an effective way. I didn’t have room for it in my Cube, and a classic like Dehydration may still be better.

Black

Highborn Ghoul replaces Surrakar Marauder

Relying on a land drop to have a 2/1 black intimidate creature isn’t unreasonable, but simply having the intimidate turned on constantly seems better.

Tragic Slip replaces Wring Flesh

I’ve enjoyed surprising people with Wring Flesh. Shrinking power more than toughness isn’t something on most players’ radars in black. It feels good to mess with combat. Tragic Slip, in an aggressive Cube, is usually straight removal. It’s more powerful in the long run, and it still kills any X/1s that pop up—just like Wring Flesh. I’m happy giving another cheap removal spell to black, and it’s most powerful in a suicide B/R deck or a midrange B/G deck.

Undying Evil replaces Dirge of Dread

The Dirge of Dread has been awful. Black has never been good at amassing a force that wasn’t mostly unblockable already, and granting unblockablity for a turn while drawing a card is just too cute. Undying Evil is a backbreaking combat trick that adds to the subtle recursion theme for black decks. Some creatures are just brutal to rebuy instantly: Mnemonic Wall, Aethersnipe, Maul Splicer, Yavimaya Elder, and many, many more great creatures becomes super-dumb. This is an awesome thing.

Crippling Fatigue replaces Tortured Existence

Tortured Existence’s existence in my Cube was a mistake. It was a pet card that I let ride for far too long. Games are fast, creatures are efficient, and the ability to leverage Existence for value was marginal. Crippling Fatigue does a lot of heavy lifting as a removal spell and is a classic addition to the B/R suicide decks and the B/G midrange-style decks. It also helps shore up a removal for black-heavy decks as only the flashback mode is splashable.

Notable Mentions

Black Cat is a funny card. Zombie is a much more relevant creature type in its native Limited environment than my Cube, but an early chump-or-trade-but-you-get-hit-with-half-a-Hymn to Tourach seems powerful. I’d hate to draw it late in the game, but the potential for derailing your opponent’s plans in a very tight game is something to watch.

Reap the Seagraf and Sightless Ghoul are more Zombies that can do some justice in Limited. Both seem slow for what you want, but getting two creatures from one card can be useful for a slightly slower Cube situation. If your U/B deck is more controlling or your B/R deck needs creature-based reach, these two could really shine!

Red

Hinterland Hermit replaces Goblin Patrol

A wild Werewolf appears! Finally! Red is the color of breakneck aggression, and this Werewolf is the first at common—for 2 mana—that grants 2 power. You don’t need to transform it to make the most of an aggressive start, and a late-game transformation can really change your opponent’s blocking options. Goblin Patrol felt bad—even with 2 power for 1 mana—since you had to pay the echo.

Torch Fiend replaces Manic Vandal

I really like Manic Vandal, and this was one of the toughest changes to make. Torch Fiend edged Vandal out both because of the aggressive cost—2 mana for 2 power instead of a Gray Ogre impersonation—and the choice to activate as desired. Stranding a Vandal in your hand due to your own Equipment—Vulshok Morningstar being the offender I recall most vividly—is just bad. The cost and aggression available here is unquestionably more awesome

Nearheath Stalker replaces Torch Slinger

Torch Slinger really was a Gray Ogre unless you paid 5 mana to staple a creature-only Shock onto it. Nearheath Stalker trades with bigger things, comes back even bigger, and provides what I feel to be a more powerful benefit to a red deck for the same effective cost. There’s plenty of burn in red, but there are very few value-generating creatures.

Gerrard's Irregulars replaces Kuldotha Ringleader

I’ve heard very good things about Gerrard's Irregulars from other Pauper Cube enthusiasts, and I’ve been looking to add more haste to red. The combination of trample, haste, and high power can put an opponent into a pressured position very quickly—and also impersonate an entwined Barbed Lightning or landfall-empowered Searing Blaze. Kuldotha Ringleader, however, felt slow and clunky, and there were often not enough creatures to back him up as a threat.

Notable Mentions

Erdwal Ripper has haste, self-pumps when it hits a player, and is deliciously red. If red continues to need some speed, this guy will be at the top of the list.

Faithless Looting is on the opposite end of the spectrum from Erdwal Ripper, caring about slower decks that can sculpt their hands. U/R is faster than that, and B/R usually cuts down on lands due to the very low curve it can have. Looting is an awesome card, and I have my foil copy ready to go, but I just didn’t feel the speed and decks it would see were a good fit.

Forge Devil was a very narrow defeat in being included. It isn’t an issue of taking 1 damage when you play it—B/R is pretty reckless when it comes to its own life total—but an issue of a lack of X/1s in other colors. It’s time may come, but that time just wasn’t now.

Green

Hunger of the Howlpack replaces Skyshroud Troll

Skyshroud Troll is a fine card. In fact, I think it’s an excellent green card. So, why should it be replaced? Green’s 4-mana slot is flooded with awesome. My Cube has a severe imbalance of green creatures versus noncreatures—green’s creatures have always been the start of its Limited decks. Hunger of the Howlpack is a card that lets green play a very different game. Dawntreader Elk and friends suddenly make an extra very powerful. It punishes first strike and before-combat-damage removal. It does a lot or work in giving green reach through the bodies it has in abundance. Skyshroud Troll never felt as good as this surprising little pump spell.

Ulvenwald Bear replaces Centaur Courser

Centaur Courser is a fine card, but for 3 mana, I want to continue to push the aggressive green theme. Sinking a land fetching, making a trade, and clearing a blocker for the benefit of green all feel great. The fact that we can put the two counters on any creature is awesome. I’ve had the pleasure of getting to completely crush my opponent by turning a useless late-game Llanowar Elves into a relevant (and beefy) 3/3. Nice trade, bro.

Young Wolf replaces Wild Dogs

As much as I am a fan of 2 power for 1 mana, Wild Dogs hasn’t found a place in decks. Life totals are aggressively reduced, and encouraging bad trades to avoid losing a fair creature didn’t feel right. However, Young Wolf fills this hole nicely. It provides value in an aggressive deck, trades with just as many things, and helps midrange decks fend off an initial assault. Oh, and it doesn’t switch sides on you either.

Crushing Vines replaces Mold Shambler

As part of my continued effort to streamline green’s curve while increasing its noncreature spell count, Crushing Vines feels like a card tailor made for my Cube. While either mode isn’t the most efficient way to get the effect—Naturalize and Plummet each cost just 2 mana—the fact that you get to choose pushes the playability of this card way up. Green doesn’t have many Spiders, so the Plummet-type spells feels just fine for removal. Mold Shambler was a very expensive way to wipe away a noncreature permanent, so reducing the options to just artifacts while making the effect reasonable to cast feels great.

Dawntreader Elk replaces Sylvan Ranger

I adore Sylvan Ranger and its cousins Borderland Ranger and Civic Wayfinder. The virtual vanilla that fetches up a land are just awesome for creating consistent decks—how many games would you like to both hit every land drop and draw better at a statistically significant rate? Dawntreader Elk feels like a general lateral change against Sylvan Ranger. A 2/2 is much better as the game carries on, and turning on morbid for various other green spells helps gel the theme together. Perhaps it’s time to look closer at Diligent Farmhand . . .

Notable Mentions

Kessig Recluse is, finally, a deathtouch dude I can enjoy. Being a Spider with a fair-sized rear is okay, but taking deathtouch on gives it the edge in midrange decks. Killing a bigger, badder dude always feels great, and the bigger backside on this guy means he’ll be around to make it happen.

Multicolored

I didn’t make any multicolored changes this time, but there were three cards that are worth looking at.

Saving Grasp is exactly the type of bounce spell a value-based deck packed with enters-the-battlefield creatures would want. Saving your guys from removal, recycling Aether Adept or Temple Acolyte, and generally getting to abuse the normal flow of the game seems like an opportunity some Cubes should look into.

Fires of Undeath is a decidedly unexciting card. 3 mana for a Shock, even with a 6 mana off-color flashback option, just feels bad. Being an instant helps make up for the slower rollout, and it certainly helps give B/R decks some value they could use later in the game. It didn’t make the cut for my Cube, but for larger or slower Pauper Cubes, this option may be much better.

Wild Hunger is awesome. Granting trample, with 3 power, twice really changes how R/G decks feel in Dark Ascension/Innistrad Limited. For the Pauper Cube, I wasn’t able to fit this in—R/G still needed efficient bodies to make the multicolored options appealing, but I can visualize the opportunity to cast and flash it back all in one go against an opponent who tapped out. That visualization is very appealing.

Colorless

Executioner's Hood replaces Prismatic Lens

For a Cube that used to encourage multicolored cards, losing Prismatic Lens seems like heresy. However, with the reduced role of multicolored cards, the Lens has more played the role of a colorless mana rock than of a clutch fixing tool. Executioner's Hood doesn’t seem that exciting either, but consider the utility of intimidate. Have you ever seen it on the blue creature? What about an artifact creature? Making things nigh unblockable is a powerful way to keep stalemates from happening. It doesn’t carry the protective weight of Whispersilk Cloak, so I’m keeping a close eye on the Hood.

Haunted Fengraf replaces Quicksand

Quicksand has been a poor pick for quite some time. It would never take out what you wanted, and it was reasonably easy to play around when you faced it. Haunted Fengraf, however, promises something awesome for decks that could only dream about it before: recursion. U/R and R/G would love to recycle their guys, and carefully timing it to maximize the value of rebuying something is something smart players will enjoy.

Notable Mentions

Evolving Wilds is already in my Cube, but if you don’t have a foil version from Rise of the Eldrazi, this is another chance to have a very cool version. (I prefer Steven Belledin’s over the new one here, but to each his own.)

The Community Cube

If you’ve been waiting to read about the Community Cube, I’m with you. Here’s the story:

• I did a Draft with Inkwell Looter, Jules Robins, Rich Castle, and a few others at Worlds 2012.
• Mr. Looter won the draft, but we deferred the Cube to Jules since he was travelling back to college and heading to a PTQ the following weekend.
• Jules ran a Draft at said PTQ (in Santa Clara, CA), passing it on at the end.
• The trail ran cold. No check in. No e-mail. No anything.

I don’t suspect anything nefarious happened, though I would be sincerely frustrated and disappointed if that was the case—and I know many of you would be, too. What happens now is simple:

• Let’s find the Cube. If you remember that PTQ, know anyone in the album’s pictures, or have seen a simple, white card box with “Community Cube” written on it, please let us know.
• Let’s get the Cube moving again. Check in with it on Facebook and Twitter, take it to other events, snap a few pictures, share a little story, and name whoever takes it onward to the next event.

That’s it! I think everyone would be very happy to just make Community Cube visible again. Let’s make it happen!

Now for voting for Dark Ascension changes. I’m going to make this super-simple:

The poll will just be a list of all of the Dark Ascension cards discussed above. You can vote for any or all of the cards that should be included in the update. Those with appreciable voting will be included for a later change update.

So, vote for the Dark Ascension cards that should make the cut!

[poll id=143]

And finally, if you think you’re a Pauper Cube specialist or otherwise qualified to make the suggestions for cards to switch for those that win the vote and you want to help that change happen, send an e-mail to Stybs at GatheringMagic dot com with the subject “DKA Community Cube Update”. You could be handsomely rewarded for the chance to make the Community Cube even better!