As this goes live, many of the attendees for this year’s GenCon will begin traveling to the gaming mecca. Aside from the glamor and highlights of everything officially planned, there is one special moment you’ll have to seek out and join: the premiere drafts of the Community Cube.

Trick will be handling all of the logistics for the first draft, and what happens after that is up to the community member who takes the Cube away. But we have a little unfinished business to attend to: the updates to the Community Cube for Magic 2012.

If you’re up for a little voting and vetting, check the spoiler sheet and read on! If that isn’t your cup of tea, skip to the addendum at the end for some general Cube update tips you’ll want to put to use yourself.

White

The winners from the voting were Gideon’s Lawkeeper (as obvious as a shoo-in as there could be) and Stonehorn Dignitary. While I’m a little sad to see Stave Off didn’t make the cut, that’s always an option to reconsider down the road.

The easy recommendation for Gideon’s Lawkeeper is to swap it in for the 2-mana tapper: Blinding Mage. Other options that may be appealing include Shade of Trokair, a pseudo 1-drop useful only for White-based decks, and Hyen Umbra, which is something I’ve found underperforming in my Cube. However, if you have a different idea, vote accordingly and share your thoughts in the comments!

[poll id="77"]

Blue

Blue had some strange occurrence in voting: While every card received significant measure (almost equal across the board), it was only Skywinder Drake that crossed the 51% threshold. Democracy may be the dominant form of government, but it sure is strange! 48% for the remaining three (Frost Breath, Chasm Drake, and Phantasmal Bear) should certainly put these at the forefront of any in-between or “fix” updates.

Since we (meaning I) accidently left Rishadan Airship in the switch to being fully MTGO-compatible, we can simply slot our new Drake in that old spot. However, this still leaves us short an option to replace Waterfront Bouncer. If there was ever an easier place to put a repeat poll, I have yet to see it.

As a reminder, Waterfront Bouncer is repeatable Unsummon requiring a discard, the classic “spellshaper” mechanic. Obviously defensive, it also allows stalemates to be broken by removing a powerful blocker preventing an attack. Frost Breath can play a very similar role, but Chasm Drake can serve the same stalemate-busting action with a lot more combat excitement.

[poll id="78"]

Black

Between Tormented Soul and Wring Flesh, it was our flavorful new Spirit that came out with a victory. I had opted to include the twist on Disfigure, but Tormented Soul is a find card. The real issue is what to replace with it.

While I’m a fan of him, Pit Keeper is the weakest of the Gravedigger-type creatures in the Cube and doesn’t support aggro as much as you may like. Nantuko Husk is another card that I found underwhelming in a general sense, but it can make combat a headache for opponents. Ideally, if you have a better suggestion, share it with everyone!

[poll id="79"]

Red

The voting for Red was resoundingly clear: In your eyes, both Blood Ogre and Gorehorn Minotaurs are wonderful and desired.

Blood Ogre has a pretty clear-cut option for replacement: Hulking Ogre. It costs the same, will often come into play as the same 3/3 size, but Blood Ogre can block and has First Strike. Pretty solid upgrade, yeah? If you think of something better, then by all means share it!

[poll id="80"]

Gorehorn Minotaurs is a little trickier to handle. While I personally found Dragon Fodder to be fairly anemic, Stingscourger and Vithian Stinger have both fallen by the wayside. The echo on Stingscourger is very awkward, as paying 6 mana for what feels like an average 2-drop is certainly unexciting. Vithian Stinger isn’t a terrible card, and Unearth certainly provides some additional value. I just haven’t found “pingers” that cost 3 mana to be particularly exciting.

[poll id="81"]

Green

The most interesting comments from the voting for updates came around Green, specifically Arachnus Web. While including it is that landslide decision the community made, it wasn’t without its detractors. Mike Noble had this to share:

No way should Green get Arachnus Web. Green’s removal is to splash another color (with its fixing) or just plain race it with other aggressive dudes. Let me repeat: Green doesn’t even want Arachnus Web; including it will necessitate removing a better creature to make a place for it.

It’s a powerful thought: Colors have weaknesses, and Green’s clear weakness is a lack of creature-removal. The idea of holding to a specific ideal for Cubes is appealing: Why make the Cube play differently than what historical Magic presents?

That idea has it backward.

Cubes allow us to manipulate and customize the environment as we see fit. And if you’re not a fan of sculpting the environment, there’s no denying that Arachnus Web is a very powerful card at common. Any way you slice it, choosing to single out Arachnus Web to skip adding for a reason not grounded in managing a solid Cube is wrong. Most of you, by far, agree with that.

Changing the Web in the Cube isn’t as difficult as you might imagine, and taking out a creature for it can be done easily. There are several creatures that I found to be not pulling their weight:

• Acridian isn’t Giant Spider, and Echo is really a mood-killer.
• Werebear doesn’t help accelerate on the critical first turn, and all too often doesn’t see threshold.
• Wild Dogs jumps ship just a little too, despite being a solid aggressor.

[poll id="82"]

Addendum: The Treasure Trove

Updating Cubes can be a difficult process. In fact, making the hard decisions about anything is never easy, but when it’s your own personal extension, the appeal to simply add more in every time is powerful.

Since I run a Cube that’s just over the required 360-card minimum—an eight-man draft—I’ve had to develop ways to combat the “just dump it in” urge. One way that you may find pleasant is an “on-deck” binder. If you believe certain cards could make the Cube, keep them handy and make a note of which cards you may want to replace.

When playing your Cube, consider when you have those “replaceable” cards in hand and mentally check if a different card (like one in your binder) would be better suited. If you find that another card would consistent serve better than the one in your Cube, you can build a compelling argument to try switching the cards.

The ideal motivation is that as you play your Cube and notice the spots that need to be ironed out, you’ll have a consolidated library of awesome cards already available to review. You’ll both expedite your update processes and find a place to store the awesome cards whose time hasn’t yet come.

Do you have any Cube update tricks you find helpful? I’d love to hear any processes that you use and how other Cubers out there whittle down and identify what needs to change! If you’ve got it, I’m all ears!