Since the initial design process, very little has changed about the cube. Sure some archetypes have made their way in and out, but the pillars have by and large remained the same. This cube maintains a full complement of the current best decks in Vintage, but is also fleshed out with tech from other or older formats. The biggest of which has always been Elves.
Early in the design process I wanted to make sure there was a linear drafting option for players less involved in the Vintage metagame. Dredge is completely linear to draft as all its cards are specific to it exclusively, thusly a dredge player rarely has to fight for pieces. Elves seemed like a solid foil to Dredge for similar reasons.
The problem with that notion is it caters to people who don’t know nor care to learn about Vintage. There is absolutely plenty to be said for balancing the ease of drafting Dredge and bringing less experienced players into the fold, but an archetype as laser-focused and deep as Elves restricted design in other areas. Any and all interesting green cards printed in later sets have to be weighed against the whole Vintage power level, but then also against its draft-ability in regards to the Elves archetype.
Too often elves get passed around the table. Alternatively a player sits and watches the Elves player twiddle their own stuff since most of the playable hate in the format isn’t effective against Elves. It requires no drafting skill and even deck building is relatively easy as you just max out as many pieces as possible.
Instead I figured I could take a page out of Magic’s past with Green Stompy/Miracle Gro. Efficient dudes that can apply pressure at all points of the game. Moving away from Elves allows me some breathing room to tighten up the Humans/Hatebears deck as well as bring back one of my favorite cards, Life from the Loam.
For reference, this is what came out:
Heritage Druid
Llanowar Elves
Nettle Sentinel
Priest of Titania
Regal Force
Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
Summoner’s Pact
Wirewood Symbiote
Birchlore Rangers
Elvish Visionary
Glimpse of Nature
Ash Zealot
Banefire
Leyline of Sanctity
Ash Zealot isn’t really good enough. Banefire is a little narrow, though I think I’ll be re-adding it in the future. Leyline of Sanctity is just too hateful. Cards like Leyline of Sanctity and Rest in Peace are too powerful because they completely hose opposing strategies with few means of interacting for those decks.
And here is what I’m doing instead:
Thalia, Heretic Cathar
Lupine Prototype
Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Vryn Wingmare
Quirion Dryad
Life from the Loam
Curious Homunculus
Eldrazi Displacer
Exploration
Raven’s Crime
Terravore
Knight of the Reliquary
Reflector Mage
Thalia’s Lieutenant
Squandered Resources
Nimble Mongoose
Tireless Tracker
Mayor of Avabruck
Titania, Protector of Argoth
As you can see, I’ve solidified hatebears and humans a bit. Plenty of Loam synergy and some new toys for Storm and Eldrazi. I’m hoping Tireless Tracker works the way i want it to in the Loam deck. Azusa, Lost but Seeking might be a better fit. Titania is kind of a wild card and is likely too cute. Probably better as Primeval Titan. Lupine Prototype could have been a Vintage monster if Eldrazi hadn’t happened; Eldrazi will probably keep it out of here as well…
I have a few other cards that still need a place. Moat and Molten Vortex being the most important. Some more changes coming soon. As well as a small rules update which I’ll post shortly.
