Nice review! I think Dragonclaw is a lot better than you say since you can use it as a proxy-threat when taking their own until you attrition their board away, but otherwise I agree with a lot of what you say.
From a non-content point of view: the array of the 3 cards Monastery Mentor/Soulflayer/Flamewake phoenix is kind of odd in the article. I get that they don't want empty space on either side of the card if they put them with their appropriate sections, but as they are it seems like they were put in an arbitrary spot and it's odd. Like, you're talking about delve cards, and then there is one delve card flanked by two non-delve cards. It's a bit jarring while reading and takes me out of the flow of the writing. Not really a big issue, but it made me stop long enough to think about why it was done that I had to say something.
Yeah, I think Yasova is solid and have no want to remove it, but I've found that sometimes it can look awkwardly at an opposing giant threat and not do much. Granted, that's fair for a 3 drop.
I mentioned that I was falling out of love with Soulfire Grand Master and I think it's fallen further in terms of the ability costing a lot.
RE: the array, I'll let the editor who did the layout know as it was (AFAIK) their call to add that array.
Great review, and as usual high quality content from you Usman! So I'll just discuss the bits I don't 100% agree on:
I am very keen on Yasova. I think it's got an amazing ceiling for its cost and is reasonably costed in every facet. As for SGM, I agree that the ability is costly but all the cards to abuse with it are very cheap. There are many cards that will win the game with it for only six mana, a bit like Capsize, but it's actually also a relevant creature before six mana and helps your burn too.
Bolster is a miss for Cube, but it's because of the cards themselves are overall, not the mechanic itself
What? Think someone accidentally the whole word, there. I agree with this though. There could easily be a cubeable Outlast or Bolster card. There's nothing inherently weak about the mechanics. Prowess has a very small effect and there are several cubeable Prowess cards. Swiftspear, Mentor and Shu Yun, are all decent to great.
FWIW, I prefer Frost Walker to those other cards you mentioned. Pestermite is low impact unless you run the Kiki-Twin package, and Coralhelm suffers from UU in a non aggro-centric colour, again unless you are running a significant U devotion package. I think Walker is a shoe-in if a group is looking to reinforce blue's credentials in aggro.
Hmm, the idea of putting the "tribrid" cards in the misc/colorless section... I don't know. That just doesn't feel right to me. They're not colorless. They're difficult to classify, sure. I'm still not 100% sure how I'm going to handle them. Heck, I might end up putting them in the Miscellaneous section.
I also updated my blog with some info about what I'm doing for the tri-color hybrids (link in signature.)
I used to write cube articles on StarCityGames, now for GatheringMagic and podcast about cube (w/Antknee42.)
From a non-content point of view: the array of the 3 cards Monastery Mentor/Soulflayer/Flamewake phoenix is kind of odd in the article. I get that they don't want empty space on either side of the card if they put them with their appropriate sections, but as they are it seems like they were put in an arbitrary spot and it's odd. Like, you're talking about delve cards, and then there is one delve card flanked by two non-delve cards. It's a bit jarring while reading and takes me out of the flow of the writing. Not really a big issue, but it made me stop long enough to think about why it was done that I had to say something.
Also, follow us on twitter! @TurnOneMagic
I mentioned that I was falling out of love with Soulfire Grand Master and I think it's fallen further in terms of the ability costing a lot.
RE: the array, I'll let the editor who did the layout know as it was (AFAIK) their call to add that array.
I used to write cube articles on StarCityGames, now for GatheringMagic and podcast about cube (w/Antknee42.)
I am very keen on Yasova. I think it's got an amazing ceiling for its cost and is reasonably costed in every facet. As for SGM, I agree that the ability is costly but all the cards to abuse with it are very cheap. There are many cards that will win the game with it for only six mana, a bit like Capsize, but it's actually also a relevant creature before six mana and helps your burn too.
What? Think someone accidentally the whole word, there. I agree with this though. There could easily be a cubeable Outlast or Bolster card. There's nothing inherently weak about the mechanics. Prowess has a very small effect and there are several cubeable Prowess cards. Swiftspear, Mentor and Shu Yun, are all decent to great.
FWIW, I prefer Frost Walker to those other cards you mentioned. Pestermite is low impact unless you run the Kiki-Twin package, and Coralhelm suffers from UU in a non aggro-centric colour, again unless you are running a significant U devotion package. I think Walker is a shoe-in if a group is looking to reinforce blue's credentials in aggro.
One other thing, Humble Defector is a 2/1.
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
My Eternal Cube on CubeTutor| |My Reject Rare Cube on CubeTutor| |My Peasant Cube on CubeTutor
I used to write for MTGS, including Cranial Insertion and cube articles. Good on you if you can find those after the upgrade.