Having a "proper" Cube on Arena at the end of last year was nice, but if there was one downside, it was that Boros was a bit too good. Have the changes in the new release improved matters? Let's look at the best cards in new and improved Arena Cube.

5. Ajani, Nacatl Pariah

Uh-oh. We're not off to a great start here. It's early days, yes. The sample size is small, but if you scroll down just a little bit, you'll see that this list looks worryingly familiar. Turns out, the cards that the cards that dominated the previous Cube have not been brought low by the removal of some of their buddies. Rest in peace, Boros; long live the new king, Boros. Okay, so Ajani is down from top spot but he rounds out the top five with his fellow cat in a list that continues to be dominated by white cards.

4. Ocelot Pride

Since we already know Boros is still great, I'm going to take a moment to talk about the fact that, strictly speaking, it's not the best. According to 17lands data, Orzhov is ever-so-slightly ahead, 0.8% to be precise. The sample size is much, much smaller (over 4000 Boros games vs less than 1000 Orzhov) but it's something for people to cling onto if they want to find a way to beat the bogeyman of the format. Orcish Bowmasters sits just outside of the scope of this article, and its inclusion explains a lot of Orzhov's improvement, being able to pick off Ocelot and profitably block an Ajani in the same turn. Of course, this has also led to Boros + splash being the best two-colour + splash deck by a lot. It's more than 3% better than the next best deck, which, by the way, is Rakdos - oh, and Mardu is the best three-colour deck by a similar margin. Save us, Bowmasters!

3. Sage of the Skies / Black Lotus

This is absolutely wild to me. In a vacuum, these cards are absolutely nowhere near each other in power level - although it is amusing that they work well together. I never thought I'd see the day where a French Vanilla 2/3 would even be in Cube to begin with, let alone tied with Black Lotus for third best card in the entire thing, but it just goes to show how much context matters. In the context of a Cube where White aggressive decks continue to dominate, Sage is the mirror-breaker. Move over, Kiki-Jiki. If you're racing another aggressive deck, a pair of lifelink fliers is obviously going to put you in pole position. Even one, in a pinch, can make the difference.

Black Lotus is Black Lotus. What more do I need to say?

2. Comet, Stellar Pup

I've been lucky enough to have this card in a few decks already and it's absolutely absurd. Maybe my opinion is colored by the time I rolled three sixes on one turn, but the data suggests this is one of the best cards in the Cube. Yeah, that's a lot of words, but they're all good for the person who has Comet in play. It's good in Boros decks but it's also great against those decks, which is an excellent place to be. It just does a bit of everything, and occasionally it does it all in the same turn.

1. Time Walk

I don't fully understand how this card is now the best in the Cube. It was close last time out, being tied for third place, and obviously it's one of the most powerful cards ever printed, but what changed to push it to the top? Maybe Simic decks are Regrowth-ing it back, because Blue-Green seems to be the most performant Blue deck right now. It's nice to see some old stalwarts holding out against the wave of White aggressive cards, anyway.

Conclusion

Clearly, the rumors of Boros' demise were greatly exaggerated. I will reiterate that the Cube has only been out for a few days, but even if people start to draft with this data in mind, it seems unlikely that Red-White will fall too far.

Personally, I'm sticking to best-of-three this time around. You can pick up some solid sideboard cards without having to run the risk of main-decking Lightning Bolt against a reanimator or combo opponent. 17Lands doesn't currently have any data for traditional draft, but anecdotally, it feels like I'm not just getting run over by cheap creatures every game.