Both the homemade cube and art cube now are in circulation and getting testing. The homemade cube is on the third printing of new and revised cards and feels very close to completion. New card design has slowed right down as has balancing. I am presently writing a review for each card, as I used to for a new set, and I am half way through. It is being very helpful in the balance process, like a set of fresh eyes. It is slow going and so by the time it is done and I come to implement the changes suggested by it we will be at a point where I am happy to call the homemade cube a finished product. I won't stop tinkering but it will be slow and more for the sake of change and fun than fix or significantly improve. I'll put up a final spoiler of the cards that made the cut in their final versions, and probably get a couple of sets printed off to gift to a couple of people. I have about 1000 cards designed and printed and the final draft cube size is going to hopefully 612.
The art cube is rather more up in the air. It is a bit more of a novelty and there are plenty of other new things kicking around to play with as well (to include the latest Terra Mystica boardgame: Age of Innovation, which our group is playing a lot of in the place we might often cube). Having only played a handful of games with the Art cube it is hard to say much about it, let alone plan where we are going with it. It is a slower format much more like older limited formats. The man hours put into it, primarily by the artists, is certainly palpable. It is very enjoyable as a thing to have and behold. As a magic set however it is probably not better than the other cubes we have access to, nor even the very impressive limited sets wizards are consistently printing these days, and so will likely sit in the reserves more and act as "something a bit different" to crack out every now and again. I suspect we will tinker with and add to over time with testing but I think (and hope) it will be a slow process. If testing is slow, knowing where and how to tinker with it is a long long way down the line.
I have yet to add any cards to the various other real cubes from MHIII or Bloomburrow. I might have the odd Outlaws of Thunder Junction card but certainly not many if I do, and the fact that I don't even know one way or the other for sure should really be all there is to say about interest in other magic at present. We are still playing a good amount of vintage cube. It is fast and furious and we mostly know where we are with it. Even the power madness of MHIII isn't going to upset things too much. I'll get round to sourcing some new cards eventually but with so much new content out there in various forms we are just in no rush. Equally, I'll probably revert to the unpowered cube if I do get any significant number of new cards as more of them will be viable in that meta, and it will certainly feel the new cards a lot more keenly. I am not regretting my lack of support for MHIII in regards my opinion of the set. The cards are cool, the design is impressive, but what it means for constructed and magic in general impresses me a lot less as I am sure you can imagine. Happily all my own projects have reduced the amount I care about all that to about as low as possible without quitting the game entirely.
Vintage cube is impressing people and providing more longevity than expected further putting back any urge to update actual card collections. So while the blog looks as if there is little activity quite the opposite is in fact the case. Multiple kinds of magic are going on but it is generally playing catchup with the community, or doing stuff that is going to be of minimal interest and relevance to most, leaving little to write about.
