<3
My first Cube is my Peasant Cube that I’ve built almost 20 years ago. So I’ve got my fair share of reps in with that Cube and I’ve got my fair share of feedback. One of my friends who played it a lot, nicknamed FW, always hated the bouncelands (like Simic Growthchamber) in that Cube. I always loved bouncelands, maybe because of a bit of nostalgia watching my friend Micha-el brewing around them, but also because I love the play patterns they offer. FW on the other hand, thought they were out of tune for that Cube based on their powerlevel.
This was in a time when, for Peasant, the better one drops were still cards like Jackal Pup. Magic was a lot clunkier back then, especially Peasant. FW did teach me 2 valuable lessons. First: feedback on a Cube isn’t personal. He just didn’t like the bouncelands in the Cube, he was not saying I was a bad Cube designer. Second: Bouncelands could be an actual problem in that environment. So I tried to balance them a bit, I added cards like Molten Rain and Tectonic Edge to try to balance them.
When building my Cube Mich-Masters, an ode to all the amazing decks my friend Micha-el used to make, I worried about balancing having 30 bouncelands in that Cube. I added cards like Wrecking Ball and Temporal Eddy in that Cube to give players tools to battle their opponents on the bounceland axis.
Time taught me something else. I was doing a Scryfall search this morning in preparation for this amazing event my friend Mark is organising. His LGS, Outpost Ghent, is turning 20 and he is giving a party and has invited a bunch of my Cubes for this party, including Mich-Masters. So I was iterating the Cube. I was browsing all blue cards with cycling, because there is a strong cycling theme in the Cube, and I stumbled on you Trip Up. And I realised I should cut both Temporal Eddy and Wrecking Ball, because land destruction sucks. In that Cube the 30 bouncelands are the prime source of fixing and my drafters should not be punished for trying to fix their mana. So I’m sorry FW, maybe this Cube isn’t for you, but I’m not going to try to balance these 30 bouncelands in this Cube. I’m going to embrace them fully. And you Trip Up, is going to help me do so because you are the perfect fit for this Cube I didn’t have 12 years ago.
With love,
Hanjo
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