Modern Cube

My Modern cube! Well, ok, it's mostly Modern. But it ignores the Modern ban list, so stuff like Stoneforge Mystic and Bitterblossom are fair game. It also includes cards whose first printing is in the recent casual sets, like Planechase and Commander.

I've been on a kick lately to reduce the high end power level of my cube. It's no fun to be jockeying for position in a tight game, where both players are clawing at each other for mere inches, only to have one unbalanced, overpowered bomb lay all that to waste. Now, I like powerful cards. But those with the reminder text "Answer me within two turns, or the game is over" detract from everyone's overall cube experience. So Jitte, Elspeth, and Grave Titan are out. I'd rather open up the floor to archetypal decks that can combine to form a whole greater than the sum of its parts. Less durdly, midrangy, multicolor, good stuff decks; more shenanigans.

In that vein, I'm also taking aim at the cheap, efficient, universal removal. Actual Modern has made creatures with a cmc > 3 nearly extinct, because you run afoul of Path, Dismember, and (especially) Lightning Bolt, and all your hard work is undone for 1 mana. My cube has run into a similar conundrum. As a drafter, one of the best strategies is to hoard all of the removal - hello, Go for the Throat and Terminate - then assemble an assortment of nameless riff raff, and bludgeon your way to victory. It's not pretty. My theory is that with the biggest bombs coming off the market, some of the best removal can hit the bench, too, giving everything else room to breathe.

CURRENT BAN LIST

Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Gideon Jura
Hero of Bladehold
Martial Coup
Mirran Crusader
Path to Exile
Spectral Procession
Consecrated Sphinx
Frost Titan
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Phyrexian Metamorph
Sower of Temptation
Vedalken Shackles
Abyssal Persecutor
Dismember
Grave Titan
Go for the Throat
Inferno Titan
Lightning Bolt
Garruk Relentless
Master of the Wild Hunt
Primeval Titan
Lingering Souls
Batterskull
Coalition Relic
Skullclamp
Sword of Body and Mind
Sword of War and Peace
Umezawa's Jitte
Wurmcoil Engine