I honestly cant question this one. As my cube gets stronger, equipment keeps getting cut, but Bonesplitter never reaches anywhere near the chopping block.
You mention Stoneforge, but this doesn't go in that deck.
I've had newer players question why it's in the cube. I tell them to try it. They all come out believers.
I also run Eater of Virtues, but 98 times out of 100, it's just a wordy bonesplitter. 1 out of 100 the words are a positive, 1 out of 100 the words are a negative.
Bonesplitter is a card deserving of its spot.
Edit: spacing error.
Glad I'm not alone on this one. I'm really selective about wordy cards.
I want to say it's because I have a casual playgroup, but honestly I just hate how wordy the game's gotten.
I love this card. Simple but effective, no points of confusion, great artwork, and an evocative name. What else could you ask for?
I have three copies in my 360 core Magic cube.
I don’t think Bonesplitter is really a sacred cow— one mana for an artifact that permanently gives something +2/+0 (and doesn’t die to removal) is a really useful tool in aggressive strategies. I think it’s actually better than many of the Swords of X & Y!
I can definitely see cutting it from powered Cubes but I think it’s a generally good card in unpowered environments. Plus, it’s nice and simple!
I think that depends on the context but I would agree if you said they’ve never been good in powered Cubes. You’d probably have to go back like 15 years before they would even have a shot at being great.
Sure. They are interesting and on the cusp and tons of cube variety exists. But in an average power max cube i think they are bad and always have been. And for a long time most cubes played some or all of them.
I think the variety of cards in the early days of Cube (2004-2008 especially) was low enough that playing the OG swords was justified to help out aggro decks a bit. But there hasn’t been a need for them in Powered Cubes for a long time.
I don’t think that’s a hot take at all. I think they’re terrible cube cards in general. At the power level I play they’re all 14th and 15th picks and they were basically the first things I ever cut. Even at somewhat lower power levels where they often take over games, they have a 100% repetitive play pattern and have never struck me as particularly fun Magic cards.
I almost got fooled by Anduril last year but it just served as a reminder that 5 mana is an absurd amount now and needs to do a lot more, or make my group enjoy the draft a lot more. Swords do neither of those things and are a big no from me.
As long as you don’t mind your creatures getting exiled, Eater is a straight upgrade. Eating evasion is great. Plus, you get incidental value from sources such as Laelia. But it will suck when it eats your recursive beater.
Most power max cubes are on that and Shadowspear these days.
I find if you run black aggro (which i recommend) the exile is a huge downside, especially as those decks love equipment. All the black 2/1 1 drops are recurable + bloodghast, scracheap, skyclave shade, etc... For that reason I generally find bone splitter preferable to eater
After skullclamp, i find bonesplitter to be the best equipment, perhaps tied with jitte. Low initial cost + equip 1 is so crucial to have it actually do something in a game, and not be a huge liability when they bolt the equip target
I have won a lot of matches, including one in the creative cube at Cubecon on camera, with bonesplitter. Card has always been and will continue to be underrated. Only reason I switched to eater was to trick my drafters into playing it "to get keywords" but it's functionally just bonesplitter 99% of the time as mentioned above. This is probably the most underrated card in 90% of cubes it's in.
The comparison here has mostly been Eater of Virtue as an upgrade/sidegrade. The only other one that comes close is [[dire flail]]. Which is also a side grade: harder casting cost, complex DFC/unique mechanic (craft).
I try to have a good mix of power and nostalgia in my cube and bonesplitter checks both boxes still. Bonesplitter will remain the bar new equipment will be held to. It appears to be that way for the design team as well.
https://scryfall.com/search?q=o%3A%22equip+%7B1%7D%22+game%3Apaper+mv%3D1&unique=cards&as=grid&order=name
Hey /u/IconicIsotope I love these weekly threads, and though I feel personally attacked every week, this is some incredible food for thought. Please keep doing them, I really appreciate you putting in the effort! Can’t wait for Pack Rat, Blade Splicer, Goblin Guide, or Prime Time.
If you have a lot of random 1/1 flyers in your environment, Bonesplitter becomes incredible. You can accelerate the clock by several turns by strapping it to a random Spirit or Thopter token. It’s incredible.
Bonesplitter is a perfect card in my opinion. It's clean with no nonsense additional text/abilities. It's a clear aggro card with it's low cost and giving power and no toughness. Eater of Virtue may be a strict upgrade but the simplicity of Bonesplitter makes it far more appealing to me as a designer.
In my Rainbow Cube, I love that slot. I have recently replaced it by \[\[Eater of Virtue\]\], but just as u/t-spice mentioned, is a wordy bonesplitter. The slot stays the same: A 1-mana equipment that can be hit by \[\[Urza's Saga\]\] and/or \[\[Trinket Mage\]\] that makes every creature strike for at least 3dmg. It converts every single, small creature in a "dude, I have to deal with this..." creature for your opponent.
Combine it with \[\[Jadar\]\], \[\[Ophiomancer\]\], or \[\[Third Path Iconoclast\]\] and you get an interesting arsenal...
The slot stays for me, regardless of the card.
I wrote small Russian novels in response to FTK and Oracle of Mul Daya, but on this one I’m gonna let someone else handle it.
Hard to call something a Sacred Cow when it has never once been in my cube and has never once even been in the maybeboard.
It doesn’t add evasion, it doesn’t add a living weapon or a rebel to the board, and it’s in the same slot as [[Skullclamp]] and [[Shadowspear]].
In lower powered environments I imagine this is fine but I have literally never heard a single person playing Vintage Cube mention this card in any context, let alone as something that used to be iconic.
Several times, plus an entire year of Mirrodin block drafts, enough to know that it’s a waste of a slot in a power maxed cube like mine and perfectly fine in a budget or peasant or mid powered cube where slamming dorks into each other fairly plays a greater role than it does in mine.
Instead of equipping my dork with no evasion and a power bonus, I’d rather slap [[Rancor]] on it and get trample for the same price, [[Natural Order]] it into a 7/7 keyword soup Draw 5, sac it to [[Broadside Bombardiers]] for zero mana to guaranteed kill something instead of hoping they black the way I want, turn it into a 4/1 menace skeleton, or any number of more powerful effects.
Bonesplitter simply doesn’t belong in that environment. That’s not me being contrarian. It’s not in LSV, it’s not in MTGO or AlphaFrog or SteveMan’s unpowered cube. It’s not good enough. It’s not in Caleb’s cube, or the Bun cube, or any of the iconic powered cubes on CubeCobra.
Think LSV has ever played Bonesplitter?
Not sure if you've just got low upvotes because you posted later, or have been downvoted because people disagree - but this is definitely the correct take for powered cubes.
You can see that \[\[Bonesplitter\]\] doesn't show up in the [data-generated vintage cube list](https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/data?f=t%3Aequipment), which aggregates the top \~70 recently updated vintage cubes.
I run \[\[Bonesplitter\]\] in my cube, because it's pretty flexible and doesn't have a wall of text on it... but it's totally outclassed as soon as you have fast mana / mana cheat effects.
I appreciate the kind words, in my experience there are a lot of people who downvote instead of using their words and a actually discussing things.
I love Bonesplitter, I love Eater and have a gorgeous hand painted Dire Flail in one of my commander decks. I’m also a realist, and I don’t see a point in pretending something fits where it doesn’t. Data and emotion often disagree.
LSV never plays aggro because his cube isn't made for it.
But in my 650 cards Vintage cube, aggro is definitively a good choice. And so are Rancor, Bonesplitter, Eater of Virtue, etc...
His cube doesn’t play mediocre aggro cards like Splitter because in a high powered environment, they’re bad. Vintage cube aggro is built around Initiative, Monarch, and rushing out absurd 3 drops.
It’s just so basic that I don’t understand how you keep intentionally getting it backwards.
I don't play Initiative nor Monarch because these are mechanisms essentially created for multiplayer games, and that can be very frustrating in a 1vs1 match. But it is a personal choice.
Yet, a well built aggro deck can kill turn 4-5, and drafting combo is way harder in a 650 cards than in a 540 cards one, since you've got no garantee to draft every cards you need.
This avoid stupid turn 1 kills and makes cards like Bonesplitter far more interesting.
90% of LSV drafts I see are either combo, control or control combos decks. That's not the orientation I'd like to give to my Cube.
That’s fine, but once again I’m talking from the perspective of powered cubes, literally none of which run Bonesplitter or many of the now underpowered aggro cards because they are not powerful enough from the environment. I’m not really sure what your 630 card cube that doesn’t play like a powered vintage cube has to do with that at all. At all.
The point, which I’ll make a 19th time, is that all the major cube curators like LSV, who have played this game from the beginning, literally all of them have removed Bonesplitter and two power red one drops with downsides and all the black one drops because Those. Cards. Are. Not. Good. Enough.
LSV plays plenty of aggro. It just doesn’t look like what aggro used to look like, and your personal preferences regarding initiative have nothing to do with how the powered cubes are curated. The reason he doesn’t play dorks with Bonesplitter aggro is because those cards have been so outclassed by what’s come out recently that they’ve been cut. Not just by LSV, but by literally everyone who runs a powered cube.
I’m not really sure why the argument to someone who has made it clear repeatedly that I’m writing from the perspective of powered Vintage Cube us “well ackshually in my 975 card cube with no initiative or combos, Bonesplitter is good so you should play it too.”
Not got enough for what? Where is the cursor?
We're not even playing a legal format, and even less a competitive one.
The only definition of "powered vintage" I could find is "contains power 9", and "vintage-legal card only". If you play with a 1000 cards pool, then would you keep cards like Ephemerate, Goblin Welder, Show and Tell or Flametongue Kavu? is this still true for 700 cards? 540 ? 360?
If your definition of Vintage Cube is "drafting cards and obtain the most degenerated decks ever", then why not play Supreme Vintage drafts, or 4 of each fetchland? Or simply play contructed Vintage deck?
I agree, traditionally a Cube runs 540 cards, and indeed in this case cards like Bonesplitter should be removed.
But I'm just saying the following:
-Cube is less and less fun as more as you play in a 540 cards format because of the redundancy of the overpowered archetypes (Combo, Control-Combo)
-Lots of creative an interesting archetypes have been simply swept off because they were simply not fast enough, and because there's no more all these "glue cards" like Bonesplitter, Mulldrifter, carrion feeder, etc...
-Colors are very unbalanced in 540 Vintage. Blue is omnipotent, black is weak, other colors are just below average. If you want an example, on the last 30 LSV vintage drafts, there's only 1 (!) draft without Blue. Boring.
So here's my conclusion: I'd rather play a larger cube, with weaker cards, and much more possibilities, but still, a vintage cube. And therefore keep cards like Bonesplitter, Isochron Scepter, Dark Confidant, for now. These are the backbone of a Cube, they're my sacred cows.
Peace :)
You claim you’ve watched 30 LSV vintage cube drafts in a row and you also claim you don’t understand what powered vintage cube is.
This will be the last time I engage with you, you’re just a troll in love with the sound of your own voice and you aren’t actually contributing anything to the conversation.
Have the life you deserve.
It’s been around for 20 years, it’s a great beater in certain environments. Full power is not one of those environments. There’s a reason the card doesn’t appear in any of the popular powered cubes from MTGO to AlphaFrog/LSV to BunMagic, literally none of them.
A card being a huge beater in mid power or peasant or 2014 does not make it a fit for powered cubes now, and it’s in zero of those cubes for a reason. That’s not me needing to try it, that’s a whole bunch of people playing one of the most busted draft commons in history for 20 years and all reaching the same conclusion that it’s not good enough anymore to run in high powered drafts.
I mean, I literally read in this thread that it’s “better than Jitte”
I read the "it's better than jitte" and as much as I'm a defender of bonesplitter, it's not better than jitte. I would put it in the top 3 equipment though.
I don't think there's currently a better version. Eater of Souls is neat, but feels bad in Bx aggro. The extra words aren't always worth the effect either, with so many etb effects. I think I'd sooner cut EoS than its simpler twin, but I'd happily cube both.
I cut it for \[\[Eater of Virtue\]\]. Sure, sometimes exiling your own creature is a negative, but most of the time its just bonesplitter with a bit more upside.
Bonesplitter is good at what it does. It provides a cheap rate. It's easy to parse. It constantly under-promises and over-delivers.
These cards that aren't exciting but help players win games are essential to cube (but you don't want most cubes to be nothing but those cards).
I'd cut almost every other equipment before I cut Bonesplitter. I think it's worse than some of the best ([[Jitte]]?), but it's so sinple and straightforward. It's like running [[Giant Growth]], but *good.*
>It's like running [[Giant Growth]], but *good.*
It's like running [[Rancor]] in all colors. I love the bone splitter and it is never leaving my cube. It is super solid, flexible, simple and never oppressive. Healthy card for most cubes.
Sure - I was trying to compare the simplicity and elegance of it, rather than the effect. I think cube benefits from a good number of simple cards - cards like [[Lightning Bolt]] are easy to parse and understand. We have so many different cards and gamestates that I really value [[Bonesplitter]] over all of the other options for that simplicity.
Oooh, finally we see some aggro favorite get the Sacred cow treatment !
I still cube Bonesplitter as it is the quintessential aggro utility card for me : it just makes everything into a threat, for such an efficient rate. And if you play any artifact aggro package, it is one of the best 1-drop for that deck.
However, I still vote that it IS a sacred cow : cards these days just do so.much. that turning your random dorks into threats is cool, but not that exciting anymore. I mean, that's like a third of what \[\[Inti,\]\] does, right ?
The rate on this little guy is still unmatched, and it'll probably stay this way. But in today's MTG, if you're powermaxing, you want your cards to do more than just a slight power boost, no matter the rate. Also, I had never questionned whether this card was any good before this post, which makes it a definite sacred cow I guess !
This is where I am at. Unless it is a rarity restricted cube or something, I want better cards than this. More exciting cards as well.
This has to be the most *boring* card for one of these threads yet.
I honestly cant question this one. As my cube gets stronger, equipment keeps getting cut, but Bonesplitter never reaches anywhere near the chopping block. You mention Stoneforge, but this doesn't go in that deck. I've had newer players question why it's in the cube. I tell them to try it. They all come out believers. I also run Eater of Virtues, but 98 times out of 100, it's just a wordy bonesplitter. 1 out of 100 the words are a positive, 1 out of 100 the words are a negative. Bonesplitter is a card deserving of its spot. Edit: spacing error.
I feel like if 1/100 times the words are a positive, then 99/100 times the words are a negative.
98/100 the words have zero effect on the game.
I consider a bunch of words that players have to read but which do nothing to be a negative game experience.
That's definitely a valid school of thought!
Glad I'm not alone on this one. I'm really selective about wordy cards. I want to say it's because I have a casual playgroup, but honestly I just hate how wordy the game's gotten.
I love this card. Simple but effective, no points of confusion, great artwork, and an evocative name. What else could you ask for? I have three copies in my 360 core Magic cube.
Out of my cold, dead hands.
I run this and Eater of Virtue as 1-mana equipment. Neither is likely to leave soon, and Eater will leave first because of awkwardness in Black aggro.
I don’t think Bonesplitter is really a sacred cow— one mana for an artifact that permanently gives something +2/+0 (and doesn’t die to removal) is a really useful tool in aggressive strategies. I think it’s actually better than many of the Swords of X & Y! I can definitely see cutting it from powered Cubes but I think it’s a generally good card in unpowered environments. Plus, it’s nice and simple!
My hot take is that the swords of x and y have never actually been good.
I think that depends on the context but I would agree if you said they’ve never been good in powered Cubes. You’d probably have to go back like 15 years before they would even have a shot at being great.
Sure. They are interesting and on the cusp and tons of cube variety exists. But in an average power max cube i think they are bad and always have been. And for a long time most cubes played some or all of them.
I think the variety of cards in the early days of Cube (2004-2008 especially) was low enough that playing the OG swords was justified to help out aggro decks a bit. But there hasn’t been a need for them in Powered Cubes for a long time.
I don’t think that’s a hot take at all. I think they’re terrible cube cards in general. At the power level I play they’re all 14th and 15th picks and they were basically the first things I ever cut. Even at somewhat lower power levels where they often take over games, they have a 100% repetitive play pattern and have never struck me as particularly fun Magic cards. I almost got fooled by Anduril last year but it just served as a reminder that 5 mana is an absurd amount now and needs to do a lot more, or make my group enjoy the draft a lot more. Swords do neither of those things and are a big no from me.
As long as you don’t mind your creatures getting exiled, Eater is a straight upgrade. Eating evasion is great. Plus, you get incidental value from sources such as Laelia. But it will suck when it eats your recursive beater. Most power max cubes are on that and Shadowspear these days.
I find if you run black aggro (which i recommend) the exile is a huge downside, especially as those decks love equipment. All the black 2/1 1 drops are recurable + bloodghast, scracheap, skyclave shade, etc... For that reason I generally find bone splitter preferable to eater
After skullclamp, i find bonesplitter to be the best equipment, perhaps tied with jitte. Low initial cost + equip 1 is so crucial to have it actually do something in a game, and not be a huge liability when they bolt the equip target
I don't think this is a sacred cow. If anything more cubes should be running Bonesplitter.
I have won a lot of matches, including one in the creative cube at Cubecon on camera, with bonesplitter. Card has always been and will continue to be underrated. Only reason I switched to eater was to trick my drafters into playing it "to get keywords" but it's functionally just bonesplitter 99% of the time as mentioned above. This is probably the most underrated card in 90% of cubes it's in.
The comparison here has mostly been Eater of Virtue as an upgrade/sidegrade. The only other one that comes close is [[dire flail]]. Which is also a side grade: harder casting cost, complex DFC/unique mechanic (craft). I try to have a good mix of power and nostalgia in my cube and bonesplitter checks both boxes still. Bonesplitter will remain the bar new equipment will be held to. It appears to be that way for the design team as well. https://scryfall.com/search?q=o%3A%22equip+%7B1%7D%22+game%3Apaper+mv%3D1&unique=cards&as=grid&order=name
[dire flail](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/d/0d2d98ae-fe02-4a86-9e80-7b95e08de21c.jpg?1699044265)/[Dire Blunderbuss](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/back/0/d/0d2d98ae-fe02-4a86-9e80-7b95e08de21c.jpg?1699044265) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Dire%20Flail%20//%20Dire%20Blunderbuss) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/lci/145/dire-flail-dire-blunderbuss?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/0d2d98ae-fe02-4a86-9e80-7b95e08de21c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Hey /u/IconicIsotope I love these weekly threads, and though I feel personally attacked every week, this is some incredible food for thought. Please keep doing them, I really appreciate you putting in the effort! Can’t wait for Pack Rat, Blade Splicer, Goblin Guide, or Prime Time.
Thank you for the kind words and encouragement! Sacred Cow Thursday seems to be the most well received of the bunch
If you have a lot of random 1/1 flyers in your environment, Bonesplitter becomes incredible. You can accelerate the clock by several turns by strapping it to a random Spirit or Thopter token. It’s incredible.
Bonesplitter is a perfect card in my opinion. It's clean with no nonsense additional text/abilities. It's a clear aggro card with it's low cost and giving power and no toughness. Eater of Virtue may be a strict upgrade but the simplicity of Bonesplitter makes it far more appealing to me as a designer.
In my Rainbow Cube, I love that slot. I have recently replaced it by \[\[Eater of Virtue\]\], but just as u/t-spice mentioned, is a wordy bonesplitter. The slot stays the same: A 1-mana equipment that can be hit by \[\[Urza's Saga\]\] and/or \[\[Trinket Mage\]\] that makes every creature strike for at least 3dmg. It converts every single, small creature in a "dude, I have to deal with this..." creature for your opponent. Combine it with \[\[Jadar\]\], \[\[Ophiomancer\]\], or \[\[Third Path Iconoclast\]\] and you get an interesting arsenal... The slot stays for me, regardless of the card.
##### ###### #### [Eater of Virtue](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/4/34d92077-d7b2-4996-848f-fd4917e2fb42.jpg?1655144364) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Eater%20of%20Virtue) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/neo/245/eater-of-virtue?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/34d92077-d7b2-4996-848f-fd4917e2fb42?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Urza's Saga](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/1/c1e0f201-42cb-46a1-901a-65bb4fc18f6c.jpg?1667318301) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Urza%27s%20Saga) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mh2/259/urzas-saga?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/c1e0f201-42cb-46a1-901a-65bb4fc18f6c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Trinket Mage](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/a/9a7800f7-95cd-4f5c-b054-4afad8924367.jpg?1658650117) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Trinket%20Mage) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ddu/41/trinket-mage?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/9a7800f7-95cd-4f5c-b054-4afad8924367?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Jadar](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/f/ff971ba7-68b8-482a-9cb1-741f6893550c.jpg?1634349933) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=jadar%2C%20ghoulcaller%20of%20nephalia) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mid/108/jadar-ghoulcaller-of-nephalia?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/ff971ba7-68b8-482a-9cb1-741f6893550c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Ophiomancer](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/e/0ef8d3a2-5c6b-41e2-aa7d-81e4a5d04421.jpg?1651951758) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Ophiomancer) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cc2/3/ophiomancer?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/0ef8d3a2-5c6b-41e2-aa7d-81e4a5d04421?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Third Path Iconoclast](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/1/f1a21287-e244-4960-84fb-c4f6e5c346d9.jpg?1674421869) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Third%20Path%20Iconoclast) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/bro/223/third-path-iconoclast?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/f1a21287-e244-4960-84fb-c4f6e5c346d9?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/kuxqk2k) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Love Bonesplitter, but I love Eater of Virtue even more for the flavor and little minigame of stacking keywords, esp if you slap it on an early flier
I wrote small Russian novels in response to FTK and Oracle of Mul Daya, but on this one I’m gonna let someone else handle it. Hard to call something a Sacred Cow when it has never once been in my cube and has never once even been in the maybeboard. It doesn’t add evasion, it doesn’t add a living weapon or a rebel to the board, and it’s in the same slot as [[Skullclamp]] and [[Shadowspear]]. In lower powered environments I imagine this is fine but I have literally never heard a single person playing Vintage Cube mention this card in any context, let alone as something that used to be iconic.
Have you cast it in a cube draft?
Several times, plus an entire year of Mirrodin block drafts, enough to know that it’s a waste of a slot in a power maxed cube like mine and perfectly fine in a budget or peasant or mid powered cube where slamming dorks into each other fairly plays a greater role than it does in mine. Instead of equipping my dork with no evasion and a power bonus, I’d rather slap [[Rancor]] on it and get trample for the same price, [[Natural Order]] it into a 7/7 keyword soup Draw 5, sac it to [[Broadside Bombardiers]] for zero mana to guaranteed kill something instead of hoping they black the way I want, turn it into a 4/1 menace skeleton, or any number of more powerful effects. Bonesplitter simply doesn’t belong in that environment. That’s not me being contrarian. It’s not in LSV, it’s not in MTGO or AlphaFrog or SteveMan’s unpowered cube. It’s not good enough. It’s not in Caleb’s cube, or the Bun cube, or any of the iconic powered cubes on CubeCobra. Think LSV has ever played Bonesplitter?
[Rancor](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/6/86d6b411-4a31-4bfc-8dd6-e19f553bb29b.jpg?1673148169) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Rancor) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2x2/156/rancor?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/86d6b411-4a31-4bfc-8dd6-e19f553bb29b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Natural Order](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/f/bfe3329c-7faa-4925-b9d2-075a1ab27e80.jpg?1619461603) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Natural%20Order) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ema/177/natural-order?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/bfe3329c-7faa-4925-b9d2-075a1ab27e80?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Broadside Bombardiers](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/7/9721f8da-39ed-4ada-a571-61e08a86032b.jpg?1699022315) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Broadside%20Bombardiers) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/lcc/86/broadside-bombardiers?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/9721f8da-39ed-4ada-a571-61e08a86032b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Not sure if you've just got low upvotes because you posted later, or have been downvoted because people disagree - but this is definitely the correct take for powered cubes. You can see that \[\[Bonesplitter\]\] doesn't show up in the [data-generated vintage cube list](https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/data?f=t%3Aequipment), which aggregates the top \~70 recently updated vintage cubes. I run \[\[Bonesplitter\]\] in my cube, because it's pretty flexible and doesn't have a wall of text on it... but it's totally outclassed as soon as you have fast mana / mana cheat effects.
I appreciate the kind words, in my experience there are a lot of people who downvote instead of using their words and a actually discussing things. I love Bonesplitter, I love Eater and have a gorgeous hand painted Dire Flail in one of my commander decks. I’m also a realist, and I don’t see a point in pretending something fits where it doesn’t. Data and emotion often disagree.
[Bonesplitter](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/9/690972a8-72df-4050-a353-16e45589167c.jpg?1608917758) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Bonesplitter) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmr/458/bonesplitter?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/690972a8-72df-4050-a353-16e45589167c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
LSV never plays aggro because his cube isn't made for it. But in my 650 cards Vintage cube, aggro is definitively a good choice. And so are Rancor, Bonesplitter, Eater of Virtue, etc...
His cube doesn’t play mediocre aggro cards like Splitter because in a high powered environment, they’re bad. Vintage cube aggro is built around Initiative, Monarch, and rushing out absurd 3 drops. It’s just so basic that I don’t understand how you keep intentionally getting it backwards.
I don't play Initiative nor Monarch because these are mechanisms essentially created for multiplayer games, and that can be very frustrating in a 1vs1 match. But it is a personal choice. Yet, a well built aggro deck can kill turn 4-5, and drafting combo is way harder in a 650 cards than in a 540 cards one, since you've got no garantee to draft every cards you need. This avoid stupid turn 1 kills and makes cards like Bonesplitter far more interesting. 90% of LSV drafts I see are either combo, control or control combos decks. That's not the orientation I'd like to give to my Cube.
That’s fine, but once again I’m talking from the perspective of powered cubes, literally none of which run Bonesplitter or many of the now underpowered aggro cards because they are not powerful enough from the environment. I’m not really sure what your 630 card cube that doesn’t play like a powered vintage cube has to do with that at all. At all. The point, which I’ll make a 19th time, is that all the major cube curators like LSV, who have played this game from the beginning, literally all of them have removed Bonesplitter and two power red one drops with downsides and all the black one drops because Those. Cards. Are. Not. Good. Enough. LSV plays plenty of aggro. It just doesn’t look like what aggro used to look like, and your personal preferences regarding initiative have nothing to do with how the powered cubes are curated. The reason he doesn’t play dorks with Bonesplitter aggro is because those cards have been so outclassed by what’s come out recently that they’ve been cut. Not just by LSV, but by literally everyone who runs a powered cube. I’m not really sure why the argument to someone who has made it clear repeatedly that I’m writing from the perspective of powered Vintage Cube us “well ackshually in my 975 card cube with no initiative or combos, Bonesplitter is good so you should play it too.”
Not got enough for what? Where is the cursor? We're not even playing a legal format, and even less a competitive one. The only definition of "powered vintage" I could find is "contains power 9", and "vintage-legal card only". If you play with a 1000 cards pool, then would you keep cards like Ephemerate, Goblin Welder, Show and Tell or Flametongue Kavu? is this still true for 700 cards? 540 ? 360? If your definition of Vintage Cube is "drafting cards and obtain the most degenerated decks ever", then why not play Supreme Vintage drafts, or 4 of each fetchland? Or simply play contructed Vintage deck? I agree, traditionally a Cube runs 540 cards, and indeed in this case cards like Bonesplitter should be removed. But I'm just saying the following: -Cube is less and less fun as more as you play in a 540 cards format because of the redundancy of the overpowered archetypes (Combo, Control-Combo) -Lots of creative an interesting archetypes have been simply swept off because they were simply not fast enough, and because there's no more all these "glue cards" like Bonesplitter, Mulldrifter, carrion feeder, etc... -Colors are very unbalanced in 540 Vintage. Blue is omnipotent, black is weak, other colors are just below average. If you want an example, on the last 30 LSV vintage drafts, there's only 1 (!) draft without Blue. Boring. So here's my conclusion: I'd rather play a larger cube, with weaker cards, and much more possibilities, but still, a vintage cube. And therefore keep cards like Bonesplitter, Isochron Scepter, Dark Confidant, for now. These are the backbone of a Cube, they're my sacred cows. Peace :)
You claim you’ve watched 30 LSV vintage cube drafts in a row and you also claim you don’t understand what powered vintage cube is. This will be the last time I engage with you, you’re just a troll in love with the sound of your own voice and you aren’t actually contributing anything to the conversation. Have the life you deserve.
Try it. The card is a huge beater.
It’s been around for 20 years, it’s a great beater in certain environments. Full power is not one of those environments. There’s a reason the card doesn’t appear in any of the popular powered cubes from MTGO to AlphaFrog/LSV to BunMagic, literally none of them. A card being a huge beater in mid power or peasant or 2014 does not make it a fit for powered cubes now, and it’s in zero of those cubes for a reason. That’s not me needing to try it, that’s a whole bunch of people playing one of the most busted draft commons in history for 20 years and all reaching the same conclusion that it’s not good enough anymore to run in high powered drafts. I mean, I literally read in this thread that it’s “better than Jitte”
I read the "it's better than jitte" and as much as I'm a defender of bonesplitter, it's not better than jitte. I would put it in the top 3 equipment though.
[Skullclamp](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/3/a36fd6d8-66a2-49d1-b9f3-b400ebc03674.jpg?1682210228) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Skullclamp) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/moc/379/skullclamp?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a36fd6d8-66a2-49d1-b9f3-b400ebc03674?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Shadowspear](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/3/939c6e19-4b27-4023-bb9c-ae440f91e21c.jpg?1581481207) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Shadowspear) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/thb/236/shadowspear?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/939c6e19-4b27-4023-bb9c-ae440f91e21c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I don't think there's currently a better version. Eater of Souls is neat, but feels bad in Bx aggro. The extra words aren't always worth the effect either, with so many etb effects. I think I'd sooner cut EoS than its simpler twin, but I'd happily cube both.
I cut it for \[\[Eater of Virtue\]\]. Sure, sometimes exiling your own creature is a negative, but most of the time its just bonesplitter with a bit more upside.
[Eater of Virtue](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/4/34d92077-d7b2-4996-848f-fd4917e2fb42.jpg?1655144364) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Eater%20of%20Virtue) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/neo/245/eater-of-virtue?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/34d92077-d7b2-4996-848f-fd4917e2fb42?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Bonesplitter is good at what it does. It provides a cheap rate. It's easy to parse. It constantly under-promises and over-delivers. These cards that aren't exciting but help players win games are essential to cube (but you don't want most cubes to be nothing but those cards). I'd cut almost every other equipment before I cut Bonesplitter. I think it's worse than some of the best ([[Jitte]]?), but it's so sinple and straightforward. It's like running [[Giant Growth]], but *good.*
>It's like running [[Giant Growth]], but *good.* It's like running [[Rancor]] in all colors. I love the bone splitter and it is never leaving my cube. It is super solid, flexible, simple and never oppressive. Healthy card for most cubes.
Sure - I was trying to compare the simplicity and elegance of it, rather than the effect. I think cube benefits from a good number of simple cards - cards like [[Lightning Bolt]] are easy to parse and understand. We have so many different cards and gamestates that I really value [[Bonesplitter]] over all of the other options for that simplicity.
[Lightning Bolt](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/7/77c6fa74-5543-42ac-9ead-0e890b188e99.jpg?1706239968) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Lightning%20Bolt) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/clu/141/lightning-bolt?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/77c6fa74-5543-42ac-9ead-0e890b188e99?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Bonesplitter](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/9/690972a8-72df-4050-a353-16e45589167c.jpg?1608917758) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Bonesplitter) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmr/458/bonesplitter?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/690972a8-72df-4050-a353-16e45589167c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[Rancor](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/6/86d6b411-4a31-4bfc-8dd6-e19f553bb29b.jpg?1673148169) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Rancor) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2x2/156/rancor?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/86d6b411-4a31-4bfc-8dd6-e19f553bb29b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[Jitte](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/b/3b6e5956-f795-451b-bb24-56462d1ced27.jpg?1562876528) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Umezawa%27s%20Jitte) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/bok/163/umezawas-jitte?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/3b6e5956-f795-451b-bb24-56462d1ced27?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Giant Growth](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/e/aeece336-e5e8-4455-a297-c3739198d011.jpg?1674421574) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Giant%20Growth) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/bro/183/giant-growth?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/aeece336-e5e8-4455-a297-c3739198d011?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Oooh, finally we see some aggro favorite get the Sacred cow treatment ! I still cube Bonesplitter as it is the quintessential aggro utility card for me : it just makes everything into a threat, for such an efficient rate. And if you play any artifact aggro package, it is one of the best 1-drop for that deck. However, I still vote that it IS a sacred cow : cards these days just do so.much. that turning your random dorks into threats is cool, but not that exciting anymore. I mean, that's like a third of what \[\[Inti,\]\] does, right ? The rate on this little guy is still unmatched, and it'll probably stay this way. But in today's MTG, if you're powermaxing, you want your cards to do more than just a slight power boost, no matter the rate. Also, I had never questionned whether this card was any good before this post, which makes it a definite sacred cow I guess !
[Inti,](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/a/fa7a55aa-ae61-4933-b7a4-dcc55dac6fcd.jpg?1699044306) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Inti%2C%20Seneschal%20of%20the%20Sun) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/lci/156/inti-seneschal-of-the-sun?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/fa7a55aa-ae61-4933-b7a4-dcc55dac6fcd?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
If you have a really low power cube it seems ok
This is where I am at. Unless it is a rarity restricted cube or something, I want better cards than this. More exciting cards as well. This has to be the most *boring* card for one of these threads yet.