This is my 20th installment of the "top 20" set preview articles! Just like the previous reviews, it will be in a spoiled top X countdown format, with each section having an image, a brief summary/description, and my verdict on what cubes I think it could potentially see some play in. I got a lot of positive feedback on the format from the last few articles, so I’m going to keep the “what I like” and “what I don’t like” sections.
Keep in mind (just like the others) that this is a set preview. Similar to draft predictions in professional sports, this list is an educated guess at best. Some cards I value highly in here may turn out to not last long in the cube. Other cards that are lower down on the list (or even missed entirely!) could (well, very likely may) turn out to be great cards. Even Tom Brady was drafted in the 6th round! Again, this is not intended to be gospel, set in stone or written as a review for posterity. This is simply written to be an enjoyable guess at cards I like for cubes, and hopefully it'll allow some cube managers to evaluate cards they may have otherwise overlooked and/or put some cards in perspective that may've been overhyped. Nothing more.
Aether Revolt was a powerful step forward into the Kaladesh universe, and there are a lot of cards that have unique and interesting effects. What this translates to for the cube is less staples, but more cards that are going to be hand-selected by cube managers for different reasons. Whether it’s the feel of the card, the specific role it plays, or even just the fun factor, there are a lot of good cards to choose from in Aether Revolt to add into your cube lists. I’ll go over my 20 favorites with you here.
What I Like: This is an interesting meld between an effect similar to Thassa, God of the Sea and Mentor of the Meek. It retains Thassa’s repeatable scry ability, and gains a repeatable draw effect akin to Mentor’s. It can’t draw on tokens and requires green mana, but it can draw on creatures of every size. Green doesn’t have a ton of options available to it for card selection or actual card draw, so this can fit a niche hole for green, particularly in slower more grindy cubes/matchups. I’ve played enough with both Thassa and Mentor to know that a hybrid between the two that retains the most critical of their effects is a card probably worth considering.
What I Don't Like: Three mana is a sizable investment for a utility card that provides no immediate effect and can take a while to grind out its value. Additionally, needing to invest green mana into the ability limits where this card can effectively get played. You need to either be playing a green deck with a lot of non-green creatures, or you need to be playing a mono-green (or really heavy green) deck, since drawing after casting a green creature requires a lot of green mana. You need double green to draw of your splashable green creatures, and triple green to draw off of all non-splashable green critters. This can lead to issues where the draw can be inconsistent–even in decks with a lot of green mana available.
Verdict: I don’t think this will be a card that will work well in faster, more traditional 1v1 cubes. But in larger, slower cubes, or in cubes designed for multiplayer play where the games generally run more turns than average, you can really grind out a lot of extra value from the repeatable scry triggers and card draw. Might be worth a look if your cube matches one of those two descriptions.
What I Like: As you all know, I don’t usually discuss combo components in my countdown articles, because they’re not typically archetypes I support in my personal cube. But, over the years a lot of cubes have expanded their archetype suites to include the Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker/Splinter Twin combo pieces. This card goes infinite and wins with Kiki-Jiki, and makes infinite tapped cat beasts with Twin (to be sacrificed to Goblin Bombardment or kill with Purphoros, God of the Forge, etc). It also happens to win the game on the spot with Saheeli Rai, adding extra combo enablers into the fray. If you’re supporting the infinite combo packages, this is certainly an extra enabler for those shells.
What I Don't Like: Unlike Pestermite, Restoration Angel & Zealous Conscripts (and to a lesser extent Deceiver Exarch), Felidar Guardian isn’t a playable card on its own. Unless the deck is capable of abusing it for combo purposes, it probably won’t make your final 40 unless something went horribly wrong during the draft process.
Verdict: If you’re all in on combo support and you’re looking for all the Kiki-Jiki shenanigans you can squeeze in there, this is another option in an ever-increasing list of cards he goes infinite with. The interaction with Saheeli is important too, since it adds a little depth to cards it functions with. But outside of combo archetypes, this card is pretty bad. So it’s really a yes or no question as to whether or not you want to support it as a combo piece, or leave it out of the cube.
What I Like: I like card advantage creatures, and there are a lot of good 3cc artifacts in the cube to chose from. The ability to tutor up all 5 Swords, Grafted Wargear and Tangle Wire, makes it decent in tempo shells, and you can use it to get Basalt Monolith, Coalition Relic, Worn Powerstone for ramp, and it can get Mimic Vat and Crucible of Worlds as utility targets. There’s a decent number of targets for it in the cube, and they’re all pretty good cards.
What I Don't Like: Unlike Trinket Mage, the Trophy targets aren’t all playable in the same decks. So while I’ll want to scoop up multiple targets in the same pool for it to go get, that’s not as easy to accomplish for Trophy Mage, since I don’t necessarily want Grafted Wargears in my Basalt Monolith decks, and so forth. So there are times where even though you wind up with 2+ targets in your pool, they don’t work together, and you’re stuck with a 1-target tutor effect. Secondly, the fact that this costs 3 mana and then gets a 3 mana target means that it’ll never curve perfectly; Stoneforge costs 2 and can get 3’s, Trinket Mage costs 3 but can get 0’s and X’s that can come down immediately or directly on curve. Not a deal breaker, but it’s kinda a bummer that this interferes with the curve a bit. Would’ve been far stronger as a 2-drop, even if the body was smaller.
Verdict: If you’re heavily supporting the artifact.dec or have an above-average number of CMC=3 artifacts floating around that all work together (like if you were supporting the Keyrune cycle, for example) this could prove out great. But in a traditional cube list, I can’t see this making the cut in cube lists smaller than say 720 or so in size, simply based on the competition at the blue 3cc creature slot.
What I Like: In the matchups where Mirran Crusader’s protections are either irrelevant or lackluster, the ability that Recruit has to self-grow will be a much more valuable effect. After a couple of fetchland interactions or other creatures dying off, you could easily have a 3cc creature that’s attacking for 8. Don’t underestimate 3-drops that can apply that kind of pressure on their own.
What I Don't Like: The competition at the 3cc white creature slot is unreal, and finding room there is really hard. And while it’s better than Mirran Crusader in matches where the protections aren’t relevant, it’s nowhere near as good as Crusader is when the protections are on; there are some decks that simply can’t beat a resolved Crusader, for better or worse.
Verdict: Mirran Crusader is probably better overall, but a lot of cube managers don’t enjoy the swingy and inconsistent value that protection brings. For folks that are looking for a powerful replacement for Crusader without the consistency issues of protection, Recruit will be a good replacement for you. Whatever cube size you consider Mirran Crusader to be a good inclusion still, this card is right there alongside it. For me, that’s probably somewhere in the 720 range.
What I Like: It’s a land that enters the battlefield untapped, can produce all 6 types of mana, and doesn’t die off on its own. Cubes that heavily support an artifact theme (especially with lots of early artifact mana and a full cycle of Signets) that can also make use of the colorless mana it produces should give this land extra consideration. A Grand Coliseum that doesn’t enter tapped is a strong ceiling on a land, especially for decks that have most of their color requirements in the middle of the curve.
What I Don't Like: Even in decks where this is supposed to work correctly, it can still be a Wastes in situations where you don’t draw an early artifact (or if your artifacts get destroyed). That can leave you in a spot where you desperately need to resolve a colored 4cc spell and can’t because this doesn’t provide colored mana.
Verdict: This land shows some promise for cubes that are all-in on the artifact deck and can also make regular use of the C mana. Also important that your playgroup is comfortable with some of the inconsistencies that can arise with it. For me, if my cube was a little bigger I might be able to find room for some extended testing, perhaps in the 630-720 range.
What I Like: Splashable 2/1 creatures with evasion for 2 mana are great for tempo decks. Particularly when they have other relevant upsides. Plunderer’s ability to add extra loyalty counters to your ‘walkers, additional +1/+1 counters on your creatures or Fading counters to your Tangle Wires is a neat free upside to add to a body that’s acceptable on its own.
What I Don't Like: Finding room is hard in blue. Especially for cards that are limited to only being ideal in one theater, like Plunderer is for tempo. And even if you are dedicating slots to blue Mistral Chargers, there are a couple of options in front of this one that have flash–which I think is a slightly more relevant upside than the counter manipulation this one has.
Verdict: If you’re big on supporting blue tempo shells with dedicated bodies, and you’re already playing the ones with flash, this card becomes a reasonable choice. Especially if you’re running a counter theme of any kind. For me, it would be a 720+ card, but I think some cubes in the 630 range might have the correct foundation for this card to be successful.
What I Like: This adds 4 power to the board and two extra mana worth of ramp, all for a 3-mana investment. If you have non-mana creatures that you want to grow and/or add the flexibility of turning them into ramp creatures, the ceiling on Rishkar is pretty high. Especially with creatures that can double up on ramp value (like Lotus Cobra) or ramp and get value from the +1/+1 counter simultaneously (like Sylvan Advocate).
What I Don't Like: A lot of green’s early creatures won’t be able to take advantage of both the counters AND the ramp. For example, mana dorks can already ramp, and don’t need to get bigger, and aggro beaters will be happy to have the +1/+1 counter, but will spend their life in the red zone where the mana ramp won’t be useful. I also wish the counters could both go on the same creature, so Rishkar could be a 4/4 or I could both counters on another body that really needs them.
Verdict: When played with the right arrangement of creatures, this card can be a big time beating. If my cube was bigger, I’d find room to get this in for extended testing. I think it’s a reasonable enough 3-drop to see play in 630-720 sized cubes without the cuts being too painful.
What I Like: The ability to throw a Threaten effect into your curve without costing you a full turn’s worth of board development is a good deal. When you can play this on T3 for example, removing a blocker, casting a 2-drop and hitting the opponent with a combination of your early board and their own guy ...this can represent 4-5 damage for what equates to a single extra mana over what you were gonna spend anyways. That’s a hell of a Lightning Axe!
What I Don't Like: I prefer to use my Threaten effects on my opponent’s biggest and most ...threatening monsters. They usually come down towards the end of the curve, which means the effects typically get sandbagged until the later stages of the game. That makes the free spell value on this Expertise go down by quite a bit. And in the earlier stages of the game where this spell is going to be most effective, it’s limited to situations where creature theft is both relevant and available, and the 1RR mana cost on the Expertise is at its most difficult to cast.
Verdict: This may prove to be one of the more powerful Threaten effects available in the cube, but I still don’t know if it’s going to be enough for small to medium-sized lists. If my cube was bigger, I might be able to find room for it, but in cubes that are smaller than 630+ cards, think it’s going to be hard.
What I Like: The {+1} ability produces Lotus Petals, which can both ramp and fix mana on subsequent turns, even if the opponent kills off Tezz. It can also lead to a situation where you have 7 mana on T5 (hello Myr Battlesphere!) and Tezz is primed to go ultimate on the following turn. The decks that can play him will have a relatively high artifact count, so on T4+, you can expect his {-2} effect to grant +2/-2 or so on average ...maybe even more if Tezz deploys later in the curve. Ramp, fixing, (albeit conditional) removal and an ultimate that will eventually flood the board with big threats isn’t a bad place to be on a 4-mana ‘walker; especially since he resolves with five (!) loyalty.
What I Don't Like: His {-2} ability will really vary a lot in consistency and effectiveness. Which means that despite having a high starting loyalty, it can be hard for Tezz to protect himself in some situations. Perhaps a bigger strike against him is the existence of Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas–which has the same casting cost and is likely just better in the same decks that could afford to play either of them. It’s limited to going into a deck with a high artifact count, and it’s only good and not great there.
Verdict: I think the competition at the top of the Dimir shelf is too strong for this to compete outright. But it might be the #5-#7 best UB card, and if your cube is 630-720 cards AND you support the artifact.dec, I’d slot this new Tezz in for testing.
What I Like: I’ve always liked the flexibility on Voidslime (especially in multiplayer) but disliked the restrictive mana cost. There are a lot of cases where activated and triggered abilities are worth a card, especially with the number of planeswalkers running around these days. Stifle is a powerful effect, and can work in the cube, but it’s just too narrow as a lone effect on a card.
What I Don't Like: I started testing this card the second it got spoiled, and I saw it in action a lot in playtesting. It spends a huge amount of its time as a Cancel. There are a lot of opportunities to use Stifle effects, and lots of those opportunities are technically worth a full card if you were to Stifle them. But less of those instances are worth three mana and a card to stop, especially when it costs you a counterspell in order to prevent the trigger. I found that the decks that want Stifle effects the most (tempo decks) are the ones less willing to use 3cc reactive spells that aren’t splashable. And the decks that are willing to play Cancel variants (control shells) aren’t as free to spend 3 mana and toss countermagic away on a Stone Rain effect when countering fetches, for example.
Verdict: I like Disallow, and I enjoy having the flexibility of a counterspell and a Stifle effect rolled up into the same card. It’s my favorite 3cc counterspell that’s not named Forbid. After testing, it’s going to just miss inclusion in my 540 cube, but I’d play it if I had any more room.
What I Like: It removes every 1-2cc creature in the cube. And it can kill every creature with cmc <5 for one mana when the Revolt is active. That’s pretty big game for a 1cc spell, and it gets really powerful when you can set up Revolt yourself with fetchlands and sacrifice outlets, etc. This will probably become the premium black removal spell in constructed formats because of its powerful interaction with fetches. In the cube, this is obviously less consistent.
What I Don't Like: While playtesting this card, it played strikingly like Disfigure. The -2/-2 effect killed the vast majority of the 1-2cc creatures, and even without “Revolt”, Disfigure still kills a surprising number of 3-4cc creatures anyways. And against all the creatures that neither spell can kill, Disfigure can still be a useful combat trick. So ultimately, while Push is likely the better removal spell due to the lack of toughness-related issues, the gap between the two spells actually isn’t that big in this format. Nowhere near the gap that’s present in constructed between these two spells.
Verdict: If my cube was any bigger, I think I’d have to find room for this, simply because it’s such an effective and affordable removal spell. It’s not nearly as good as it will be in constructed (especially Modern and Legacy) but it’s certainly a worthwhile inclusion for cubes that are 630+ cards. Smaller if you run a deep sacrifice theme or duplicate fetches, because those two things would really increase the value.
What I Like: When this thing is on, like, really on ...it’s an utterly savage spell. For example, you can bounce the full 3 creatures and resolve, say, an Armageddon for free with it ...the game simply ends. The tempo this creates by undoing 3 on-curve plays from the opponent and giving you a 4-drop in the process is just an irrecoverable amount of tempo advantage. It can also be sneaky in control by bouncing your own creatures and resolving a free Wrath of God, or bouncing artifacts that don’t untap themselves for free mana. The ceiling on the card is huge.
What I Don't Like: The floor on this card is unacceptably low. There are a lot of situations where the opponent’s board doesn’t have more than one creature out and/or you don’t have any decently-costed cards in your hand to use the free tempo on (or all reactive cards, for example). In those cases, this is largely unplayable–acting like an Undo at best.
Verdict: If you like to include cube cards based on their ceiling potential, this is the card for you. A premium tempo curve-topper, that breaks creature mirrors in half. For me right now, the competition at the 5cc spell slot in blue is too stacked, but if I changed configurations to be more tempo heavy, or increased my cube size to 630+, this card would likely go straight in.
What I Like: Most of the other generic 3-power creatures for 1R that red has to offer suffer the same fatal flaw. They are 3/2 bodies, and trade away in combat with the flood of Lions, Pikers & Bears in the cube. Chaser has First Strike, and thus can mitigate the problem of trading away in combat with no value. It gains its 3rd power by creating a second body, which is obviously advantageous in multiple ways: anthems/battle cry, sacrifice outlets, Skullclamp, Purphoros, etc. In addition, the token it creates is an artifact, so you can sacrifice it to Pia and Kiran Nalaar. Also, the energy can be used in corner cases with a couple of other cubeworthy energy-centric effects.
What I Don't Like: The card is solid, but not particularly exciting. It’s certainly not the best 2cc creature ever printed, and if the opponent has a 2/3 creature out (or bigger) it won’t be able to attack (and thus can’t produce its token) without throwing the main body away.
Verdict: Just decent enough to break into the middle of the pack, I think Aether Chaser is just playable enough to squeeze into some 540 lists. Otherwise, it’s a perfectly reasonable filler beatdown creature for 630+ cubes without too many problems.
What I Like: If you can move from this into another 2-3cc spell, you’re essentially getting a Hordeling Outburst for 1-2 mana. And unlike most of the other Expertise spells, this one doesn’t have any real conflicts with timing or the types of cards it works best with. Most white decks will be fine playing this right into another lower-curve card without skipping a beat, and it’ll produce a small army for you for very little extra mana investment. There might even be some decks that can take advantage of the fact that the tokens are artifacts; it’ll be nice to have your Tolarian Academy tap for an additional UUU randomly.
What I Don't Like: The competition at the 4cc slot in white is really high. But luckily most of that competition is in the spell side–Sram’s Expertise will functionally count as a creature during deck construction, and the competition there is much lighter.
Verdict: I feel like this card is being underrated. There are so few conflicts with the kinds of decks that would play this Expertise and the timing window/card types it can play cards for free in ...it really feels like this card will really just be able to throw out three bodies for 1-2 extra mana a huge percentage of the time. Looking forward to seeing extended testing from this in my 540, and I think it’s an easy include in the 630+ cubes.
What I Like: This seems like the version of Pain Seer that I’ve been waiting for. The built-in evasion really helps increase the consistency of the card draw, in addition to making the body better enough in general to be worth including. I wouldn’t expect this to draw more than 1 card per game, but that’s not a bad deal. An evasive 2/1 for 2 that draws a card and loses a life is a great ACS.
What I Don't Like: Like Pain Seer, you have to wait for the draw. So it won’t trigger until the start of T4 at the earliest. And if the opponent has multiple blockers available, you might not draw at all.
Verdict: Solid, but not amazing. This is probably just good enough to sneak into the bottom of the pack at 540, replacing a mediocre evasion creature or a mediocre draw creature. Easy include at 630+, but probably not quite good enough for 450.
A defensive 2-drop that provides a useful discount.
What I Like: Blue decks, whether generic control or spell centric builds, are always in the market for good early defense against Lions, Pikers & Bears. A 1/3 body for 1U is a great early line of defense, and can hold aggro beaters at bay until dealt with. The nice part about Baral is that in the interim, he’s discounting all your spells. In a typical game, even if he just reduces the cost of 2 cards, he’s cost essentially a net 0 mana, provided a 1/3 defensive body, and maybe even a loot trigger to boot. Can’t argue with the cost/benefit in the matchups where early defense is desirable. Additionally, in countermagic-heavy lists that also utilize the graveyard (like controlling reanimation shells) the looting mechanism is pretty reliable and extra valuable.
What I Don't Like: Not every matchup can take advantage of his effects. In the control mirror, for example, the early body isn’t needed, the spell discount isn’t crucial, and the looting won’t recover the fact that Baral himself cost you a card.
Verdict: Good in control vs aggro all day. The body, the cost, the spell discount and the looting are all really important effects in that matchup. And that’s the matchup that blue needs the most help in, so Baral is a welcome addition. I’ll be happy playing Baral at 540 for a while I’d guess, and he might be able to sneak into some smaller lists too, especially if there’s a “spells matters” archetype being supported.
What I Like: Infest variants are strong, especially when they don’t cost you a ton of tempo to gain access to. -3/-3 kills the vast majority of the affordable creatures in the cube, and when you cast a free 3cc spell with this card, it’s going to feel plain dirty.
What I Don't Like: There are a lot of cards that you might want to play for free that don’t pair well with this Expertise. For example, since it’s a sweeper, you won’t be running all your small creatures. Since it’s a control card, it can easily be paired with reactive spells (like counterspells) that can’t be cast by it. It kills all the creatures, so removal doesn’t pair well with it. And, it doesn’t come down until T4, so your disruptive spells (discard effects, etc) have likely already been cast. Needless to say, there have been several times in testing where this is just a 4cc Anger of the Gods, since I didn’t have anything useful to play with my free card. That, and the fact that black’s premiere sweepers are all really fantastic cards makes this a much harder inclusion for smaller lists.
Verdict: Missing X/4 creatures and consistency issues with the free spell clause made this slightly worse than Languish for me in testing. I wouldn’t personally be able to find room for this if my cube was smaller than 540 cards. Luckily I have room for it though, because it’s a fun effect and has a really high ceiling.
What I Like: Context aside, this card is going to function like a Manic Vandal in the majority of the cases it resolves. It can’t be played on a board without a target, but it can be played for 4R, destroy 2 artifacts and give you a pair of 2/2 gremlins. Playing with Fiery Confluence for an extended period of time now has really shown me how often blowing up more than one artifact is relevant, so I’m looking forward to getting some Rack and Ruin action going on, being accompanied by some sweet and flavorful gremlin tokens.
What I Don't Like: It also loses some critical interactions in comparison to Vandal since it’s no longer a 2/2 creature–Recruiter(s), ‘Lark, Feldon, Vat, Nightmare, etc. But luckily it mostly makes up for it with its spell interactions: Prowess triggers, Pyromancer/Mentor tokens, Snappy flashbacks, etc.
Verdict: A card that is going to function as another Manic Vandal is more than welcome for me. Probably a 450 include for powered lists and a 540+ inclusion for unpowered ones. It has similar interactions and a much higher ceiling than the original Vandal, despite having a slightly lower floor. Either way, it’s a reasonably playable card.
What I Like: The name of the game with Walking Ballista is flexibility. It can drop into and be effective in multiple different places in the curve. Early on in the game, it can be used as a 2 removal spell to kill off critical 1-toughness creatures like Mana Dorks, Thalia, Clique, Welder, Confidant, Rofellos, Cobra, Mother of Runes, etc. While less than ideal, spending 2 colorless mana to kill off one of those creatures is important. As the game progresses, Ballista can be bigger when it resolves, threatening to remove important 2-toughness creatures, or killing off a 1-toughness target and surviving to grow on subsequent turns. It’s the latter plays that make Ballista a formidable cube card. You can spend the 4 for his ability reactively, and do so only with mana that’s otherwise going unspent, making control a great shell for Ballista to shine. The thing to understand about Ballista is that once it has resolved and you have the 4 mana up to use reactively, the opponent can never effectively resolve another 1-toughness creature because you can just kill it. Once it has 2 counters on it and you have 4 mana open, they can never effectively resolve another 2-toughness threat. And so on. The effect scales, and can really start to snowball on the opponent. It has a similar effect on the board that the original Masticore does, with the added flexibility of being an early-game removal spell, and no discard drawback. But that’s just the beginning. Once you’ve stabilized the board and have this guy (reactively) growing, it’ll do decent attacking work for you too. Unlike Hangarback Walker, Ballista doesn’t have to tap to grow, so it can be doing some heavy lifting in the red zone while keeping its growth potential saved up in your mana in case you need to react with other spells. Perhaps better yet is how much damage this can represent in a single round. After a handful of turns when this has grown into a 5/5 or 6/6, the opponent has to chump-block it with their medium-sized dudes ...because it represents 10-12 damage in a single unblocked round of combat. More if you have mana available to grow it too. It can also be used to shoot planeswalkers directly when the need arises, so when it’s a 3/3, it can attack a 4-loyalty walker down to 1 in combat, and then remove a counter to shoot it to death. It’s surprisingly effective at killing ‘walkers because of how the damage stacks like that. It’s an incredible target in super-ramp, because when it can resolve as a huge creature, and grow multiple times a turn, it can threaten any creature the opponent can drop, in addition to being of a size where the opponent has no choice but to resolve creatures in an attempt to block it. Once this thing is in play and you have reactive mana to spend on its ability, it’s amazing how awkward of a position the opponent can get into. It’s also a prime target for Trinket Mage and the Recruiter(s), but it also has powerful interactions with Academy Ruins and Stronghold; being able to be used early to remove a creature and as a win condition late after stabilizing. After seeing it in action even a few times, it continually impressed me with how many different things it can do in so many different situations.
What I Don't Like: It probably doesn’t have a decent enough cost/power ratio to be played in aggro, since aggro doesn’t often have the mana to sink into effectively growing it either. It’s limited to being a card that goes in midrange and control decks most of the time.
Verdict: It looks like such a middling card because it’s never super cost-effective and it loses the abusive interactions that Triskelion has in the cube (the interactions that allow it to hold onto its last bit of cube-worthiness) ...but man, I’ve really been impressed with Walking Ballista so far in testing. I think this a card I would make room for in 450, and it might even sneak into some smaller lists if you play archetypes that revolve around critical 1-toughness creatures.
A legendary pirate that produces a legendary monkey. Legendary.
What I Like: At her core, Kari Zev is simply a 3-power attacker for 1R that divides damage across multiple threats and is immune to a lot of the combat issues that tangle up other 2-drops. The combination of first strike, menace and having 3 toughness means that the opponent needs to throw two creatures in front of her that have 3 total power (neither of which can have 1-toughness) just to get her off the board, and they still take damage from the monkey! Her menace allows her to carry equipment really well, and the fact that she splits into two threats means she benefits from anthems and battle cry triggers twice as well as other aggro beaters do. Plus, the monkey can be sacrificed to something at instant speed (like Greater Gargadon or Flesh Carver) for extra value, and since the token keeps coming back, it re-triggers Purphoros every turn (in addition to getting a double bonus from his pump effect). There’s no red aggro deck where I wouldn’t slam this creature into my final 40.
What I Don't Like: I wish the monkey stuck around until the end of turn so I can attach a Skullclamp to him... but that’s just because I’m greedy like that.
Verdict: This is very likely the best aggressive 2-drop with a 1R cost, and probably in the top 3-4 red 2-drops overall. That means that this is a staple creature for pretty much every cube of every size, except for perhaps some themed cubes. This creature is nuts.
Thanks for reading! Please feel free to comment below. Cheers, and happy cubing.
I knew that Ballista's high ranking might provoke this reaction. Hopefully you test it now when you might not have before, and hopefully you like it.
Agreed about Sram's Expertise, but I see it as a 1-2 mana Hordeling Outburst in white; the free spell you play with it doesn't necessarily have to be an extra body ...Oblivion Rings sound good to me. Also, there are almost no cards in white token-centric shells that Expertise will conflict/interfere with, so I see the free tempo play being relevant in more situations than any other Expertise.
Release could've not been tied to artifact targets, but I don't think it's that relevant. There are so few instances I can remember where a monkey/vandal was cast without a target that I don't see it being a problem.
Thanks a ton for doing this. I've got some squibbles, mostly in that I think you're underestimating Rishkar and overestimating Sram's Expertise, but we'll all find out how things play out in the coming months. I always take these articles under advisement when I'm considering additions and cuts to my cube. So thanks again.
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I can't say I'm pleased to see you and must warn you I may have to do something about it.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: URDelver
Modern: UGRDelver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
Ya, I knew the placement of Rishkar was going to upset some folks, but I just don't think she quite makes it into small/medium sized lists.
And as I said above about the white Expertise, I do think it's being underrated; largely because I don't think people understand how consistent its free spell clause will be in comparison to the other Expertise spells (which I think are being slightly overrated). It has little to no conflicts that interfere with your free spell clause, and that adds a huge amount of value.
I'm a tad disappointed in the set since there's only one slam dunk for my 360 cube, but as you said, there's some fringe playable stuff and some nice archetype support cards. Thanks for the review.
Great article as always! Your detailed reviews are making me take a second look at both Walking Ballista as well as Sram's Expertise, which I'd originally written off. Keep up the great work, wtwlf123!
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465 card Unpowered cube thread. Draft it here and I'll be happy to return the favor.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
Great article! It's funny that even though it's a great set, there is only one slam dunk in the smallest cubes.
Kari is great in aggro and tokens, which is two of red's archetypes. Plus it will be really nice to have a pirate (with a legendry monkey, no less!) in Cube!!! I wouldn't mind if we get 1 card per set if they are as good as her.
There are very few great artifact creatures, and while I was never a fan of Triskelion, the fact that I can play the Ballista for 1 and shoot a dork makes it much more palatable. I'm looking forward to testing it!
Thanks for the review! They give a good overview over new sets and I appreciate all the work you put into writing them. Surely takes a while to write posts/articles as long as these.
Usually, our top 10s look very similar. In this set I can't really say because I find it really hard to rank the cards this time around. However, all but two cards that I am considering (Metallic Mimic and Aethersphere Harvester) are in your top 20, so I count this as a general agreement.
For your top 10, I would definitely rank Baral's Expertise higher. Maybe that is because my cube - while generally a traditional unpowered cube - is a bit more creature-centric than most. And huge tempo swings like BE are nuts in creature-centric matches. In the end, you have BE in your top 10, so I am not complaining.
I really dislike the lack of the magic words "up to" on Release the Gremlins. This makes it really matchup-dependent. Against some opponents, you will easily find two or three targets each game, making this really good. Against others, you will barely have one target, making this a worse Manic Vandal. Fiery Confluence is great because it is always good, thanks to its diverse set of effects. Being completely tied to the number of artifacts your opponent runs out sucks. It's kinda like Pyroclasm: Insane against some decks, dead against others. I really dislike cards like that.
I don't get the hype for Walking Ballista. Yes, flexibility is great, but I'd say if we weigh the pros and cons when comparing it to Triskelion, it is not much worse than that card. And I cut Trike ages ago for underperforming. It is probably worth mentioning in the top 20, but second place? Bah!
There are very few great artifact creatures, and while I was never a fan of Triskelion, the fact that I can play the Ballista for 1 and shoot a dork makes it much more palatable. I'm looking forward to testing it!
That still costs 2 unless I am missing something?
Edit: I guess you meant as a 1/1. That makes a lot more sense.
I think Release the Gremlins has a big gap in power between powered and unpowered Cubes. In a powered Cube, it will almost always find one or more targets, whereas in an unpowered Cube, it is easily imaginable that you cannot even cast it for lack of a target. Maybe the verdict 540+ for unpowered Cubes is a bit too generous, but I can see it being very good in powered Cubes.
As for Walking Ballista, I think as long as you compare it to Triskelion, you can't do it justice. Removing +1/+1 counters in order to deal damage to target creature or player and the type line really are the only things these two creatures have in common.
I'm a tad disappointed in the set since there's only one slam dunk for my 360 cube, but as you said, there's some fringe playable stuff and some nice archetype support cards. Thanks for the review.
Ya, this set's powerband was definitely in the 540-630 range. Only a few inclusions for smaller cubes.
I'm surprised Yahenni didn't crack the list since a lot of people love Goblin Bombardment / Blood Artist shenanigans.
It's okay for sacrifice decks, but I still prefer the outlets that actually grow when you sac stuff. I think the counters needed to be tied to the sacrifice somehow. I prefer Nantuko Husk and Phyrexian Ghoul to it still.
Great article as always! Your detailed reviews are making me take a second look at both Walking Ballista as well as Sram's Expertise, which I'd originally written off. Keep up the great work, wtwlf123!
Great article! It's funny that even though it's a great set, there is only one slam dunk in the smallest cubes.
Kari is great in aggro and tokens, which is two of red's archtypes. Plus it will be really nice to have a pirate (with a legendry money, no less!) in Cube!!! I wouldn't mund if we get 1 caed per set if they are as good as her.
For managers of small cubes, getting an extra playable is all you can really hope for.
There are very few great artifact creatures, and while I was never a fan of Triskelion, the fact that I can play the Ballista for 1 and shoot a dork makes it much more palatable. I'm looking forward to testing it!
It's very different from Trike. I hope your results are as positive as mine have been so far.
Thanks for the review! They give a good overview over new sets and I appreciate all the work you put into writing them. Surely takes a while to write posts/articles as long as these.
Usually, our top 10s look very similar. In this set I can't really say because I find it really hard to rank the cards this time around. However, all but two cards that I am considering (Metallic Mimic and Aethersphere Harvester) are in your top 20, so I count this as a general agreement.
For your top 10, I would definitely rank Baral's Expertise higher. Maybe that is because my cube - while generally a traditional unpowered cube - is a bit more creature-centric than most. And huge tempo swings like BE are nuts in creature-centric matches. In the end, you have BE in your top 10, so I am not complaining.
I really dislike the lack of the magic words "up to" on Release the Gremlins. This makes it really matchup-dependent. Against some opponents, you will easily find two or three targets each game, making this really good. Against others, you will barely have one target, making this a worse Manic Vandal. Fiery Confluence is great because it is always good, thanks to its diverse set of effects. Being completely tied to the number of artifacts your opponent runs out sucks. It's kinda like Pyroclasm: Insane against some decks, dead against others. I really dislike cards like that.
I don't get the hype for Walking Ballista. Yes, flexibility is great, but I'd say if we weigh the pros and cons when comparing it to Triskelion, it is not much worse than that card. And I cut Trike ages ago for underperforming. It is probably worth mentioning in the top 20, but second place? Bah!
A lot of the cards had similar powerlevel, especially in the middle of the pack. It makes an exact ranking order very subjective.
No doubt that Baral's Expertise has an absurd ceiling. In midrange/tempo creature mirrors, it's a backbreaking card to be sure.
They could've made Gremlins better by having it be a big token maker that also destroys artifacts on the side, but I see why they limited it. But it's going to be a split card between it's 2R and 4R modes a lot, I think, and so the upsides outweigh the drawbacks, IMO.
Walking Ballista is really good. It's to removal creatures what Everflowing Chalice has been to mana rocks. And outside of the specific decks that are engineered to abuse Trike, Ballista is much better. It's one of the few cards in the set that I can realistically see breaking into smaller cubes. So it ranks #2 on the list not because it's the intrinsically more powerful card, but because it's the card I see making it into tighter lists than the ones behind it.
Shackles is another great target for the artifact hunter, to be sure. But it doesn't solve the problem of how all its targets go into polarizing and different decks.
I think Release the Gremlins has a big gap in power between powered and unpowered Cubes. In a powered Cube, it will almost always find one or more targets, whereas in an unpowered Cube, it is easily imaginable that you cannot even cast it for lack of a target. Maybe the verdict 540+ for unpowered Cubes is a bit too generous, but I can see it being very good in powered Cubes.
As for Walking Ballista, I think as long as you compare it to Triskelion, you can't do it justice. Removing +1/+1 counters in order to deal damage to target creature or player and the type line really are the only things these two creatures have in common.
Ya, perhaps it's more of a 450/630 split on powered/unpowered for Release the Gremlins. It's value is obviously tied to your need to remove artifacts.
I wasn't so hot on Walking Ballista initially but I think I'm going to give it a shot anyway, the fact that you can attack and grow it at the same time is pretty huge. Also if you have lots of mana you can activate it multiple times.
Looking forward to creating monkey tokens, so awesome!
Nice write-up as always! We've had no time to proxy or test anything so this is particularly useful.
Minor nitpick: Tezz's [-2] ability is +X/-X, not -X/-X. Could be relevant in many situations.
Hard to say what will be tested in my cube at the moment. Keri Zev appears to be a staple. I think Release the Gremlins is a good include for us too. Other than those, the cards I'm at least keeping an eye on are the non-green Expertises (time will be needed for the community to figure out how good these are), Baral, Rishkar, Fatal Push and Ballista. I think the initial add will be Keri, Baral and Gremlins, followed by a close eye on the Expertises. Regarding Baral's Expertise, sure the floor can be low, but when you're in a really bad situation, facing down a board, it gets better. WCS is the opponent having one really big nasty critter out, but bouncing it is probably going to be annoying especially if it got there via a Reanimate or similar. However the similarity to Mystic Confluence in some aspects makes it tricky to include off the bat but I think in the end it will see an extended test for us, if only because we like trying stuff out and this set won't have a ton of includes at 405 cards.
Sram's Expertise isn't as weird a fit in white as people seem to think. White is already a solid support colour for the deck, with lots of relevant interactions and various relevant tutors (Stoneforge, Relic Seeker, Enlightened Tutor). We're seeing a lot of decks in U/R/B/w. The double white is potentially very awkward, but luckily it's good in tokens builds too. I'm not slamming it in just yet though.
I may give Ballista a look at just since it is garnering so much discussion. These XX artifact walkers and big targets make me want to consider Mishra's Workshop...
Baral and the pirate were equal in my mind until I looked at my blue section, its just so hard to fit a card into blue unless it's absolutely broken...
Love the list, super glad aha I didn't show up for just being a planeswalker. Is it weird I would think about the duel deck tezzeret as near the top twenty?
@Fredo: Thanks! Ya, Ballista and the legendary monkey-maker look super awesome.
@Goodking: Tezz's ability will be changed, thanks for pointing that out. By the time The +X will be a worthwhile enough boost to be worth 2 loyalty, the X will probably be high enough to kill off your own attacker though, lol. And ya, the white expertise fits perfectly into white's average gameplan; probably moreso than any of the other Expertise spells, actually. Thanks for commenting!
I was initially just going to slam dunk Kari Zev in my 360 and do some testing with Baral, but count me among those who you've convinced to at least test Walking Ballista.
This is my 20th installment of the "top 20" set preview articles! Just like the previous reviews, it will be in a spoiled top X countdown format, with each section having an image, a brief summary/description, and my verdict on what cubes I think it could potentially see some play in. I got a lot of positive feedback on the format from the last few articles, so I’m going to keep the “what I like” and “what I don’t like” sections.
Keep in mind (just like the others) that this is a set preview. Similar to draft predictions in professional sports, this list is an educated guess at best. Some cards I value highly in here may turn out to not last long in the cube. Other cards that are lower down on the list (or even missed entirely!) could (well, very likely may) turn out to be great cards. Even Tom Brady was drafted in the 6th round! Again, this is not intended to be gospel, set in stone or written as a review for posterity. This is simply written to be an enjoyable guess at cards I like for cubes, and hopefully it'll allow some cube managers to evaluate cards they may have otherwise overlooked and/or put some cards in perspective that may've been overhyped. Nothing more.
Aether Revolt was a powerful step forward into the Kaladesh universe, and there are a lot of cards that have unique and interesting effects. What this translates to for the cube is less staples, but more cards that are going to be hand-selected by cube managers for different reasons. Whether it’s the feel of the card, the specific role it plays, or even just the fun factor, there are a lot of good cards to choose from in Aether Revolt to add into your cube lists. I’ll go over my 20 favorites with you here.
Without further ado, I can start the countdown!
Lifecrafter's Bestiary
Card selection and card advantage.
What I Like: This is an interesting meld between an effect similar to Thassa, God of the Sea and Mentor of the Meek. It retains Thassa’s repeatable scry ability, and gains a repeatable draw effect akin to Mentor’s. It can’t draw on tokens and requires green mana, but it can draw on creatures of every size. Green doesn’t have a ton of options available to it for card selection or actual card draw, so this can fit a niche hole for green, particularly in slower more grindy cubes/matchups. I’ve played enough with both Thassa and Mentor to know that a hybrid between the two that retains the most critical of their effects is a card probably worth considering.
What I Don't Like: Three mana is a sizable investment for a utility card that provides no immediate effect and can take a while to grind out its value. Additionally, needing to invest green mana into the ability limits where this card can effectively get played. You need to either be playing a green deck with a lot of non-green creatures, or you need to be playing a mono-green (or really heavy green) deck, since drawing after casting a green creature requires a lot of green mana. You need double green to draw of your splashable green creatures, and triple green to draw off of all non-splashable green critters. This can lead to issues where the draw can be inconsistent–even in decks with a lot of green mana available.
Verdict: I don’t think this will be a card that will work well in faster, more traditional 1v1 cubes. But in larger, slower cubes, or in cubes designed for multiplayer play where the games generally run more turns than average, you can really grind out a lot of extra value from the repeatable scry triggers and card draw. Might be worth a look if your cube matches one of those two descriptions.
Felidar Guardian
An infinite combo piece.
What I Like: As you all know, I don’t usually discuss combo components in my countdown articles, because they’re not typically archetypes I support in my personal cube. But, over the years a lot of cubes have expanded their archetype suites to include the Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker/Splinter Twin combo pieces. This card goes infinite and wins with Kiki-Jiki, and makes infinite tapped cat beasts with Twin (to be sacrificed to Goblin Bombardment or kill with Purphoros, God of the Forge, etc). It also happens to win the game on the spot with Saheeli Rai, adding extra combo enablers into the fray. If you’re supporting the infinite combo packages, this is certainly an extra enabler for those shells.
What I Don't Like: Unlike Pestermite, Restoration Angel & Zealous Conscripts (and to a lesser extent Deceiver Exarch), Felidar Guardian isn’t a playable card on its own. Unless the deck is capable of abusing it for combo purposes, it probably won’t make your final 40 unless something went horribly wrong during the draft process.
Verdict: If you’re all in on combo support and you’re looking for all the Kiki-Jiki shenanigans you can squeeze in there, this is another option in an ever-increasing list of cards he goes infinite with. The interaction with Saheeli is important too, since it adds a little depth to cards it functions with. But outside of combo archetypes, this card is pretty bad. So it’s really a yes or no question as to whether or not you want to support it as a combo piece, or leave it out of the cube.
Trophy Mage
A new Trinket Mage variant.
What I Like: I like card advantage creatures, and there are a lot of good 3cc artifacts in the cube to chose from. The ability to tutor up all 5 Swords, Grafted Wargear and Tangle Wire, makes it decent in tempo shells, and you can use it to get Basalt Monolith, Coalition Relic, Worn Powerstone for ramp, and it can get Mimic Vat and Crucible of Worlds as utility targets. There’s a decent number of targets for it in the cube, and they’re all pretty good cards.
What I Don't Like: Unlike Trinket Mage, the Trophy targets aren’t all playable in the same decks. So while I’ll want to scoop up multiple targets in the same pool for it to go get, that’s not as easy to accomplish for Trophy Mage, since I don’t necessarily want Grafted Wargears in my Basalt Monolith decks, and so forth. So there are times where even though you wind up with 2+ targets in your pool, they don’t work together, and you’re stuck with a 1-target tutor effect. Secondly, the fact that this costs 3 mana and then gets a 3 mana target means that it’ll never curve perfectly; Stoneforge costs 2 and can get 3’s, Trinket Mage costs 3 but can get 0’s and X’s that can come down immediately or directly on curve. Not a deal breaker, but it’s kinda a bummer that this interferes with the curve a bit. Would’ve been far stronger as a 2-drop, even if the body was smaller.
Verdict: If you’re heavily supporting the artifact.dec or have an above-average number of CMC=3 artifacts floating around that all work together (like if you were supporting the Keyrune cycle, for example) this could prove out great. But in a traditional cube list, I can’t see this making the cut in cube lists smaller than say 720 or so in size, simply based on the competition at the blue 3cc creature slot.
Solemn Recruit
A new Mirran Crusader variant.
What I Like: In the matchups where Mirran Crusader’s protections are either irrelevant or lackluster, the ability that Recruit has to self-grow will be a much more valuable effect. After a couple of fetchland interactions or other creatures dying off, you could easily have a 3cc creature that’s attacking for 8. Don’t underestimate 3-drops that can apply that kind of pressure on their own.
What I Don't Like: The competition at the 3cc white creature slot is unreal, and finding room there is really hard. And while it’s better than Mirran Crusader in matches where the protections aren’t relevant, it’s nowhere near as good as Crusader is when the protections are on; there are some decks that simply can’t beat a resolved Crusader, for better or worse.
Verdict: Mirran Crusader is probably better overall, but a lot of cube managers don’t enjoy the swingy and inconsistent value that protection brings. For folks that are looking for a powerful replacement for Crusader without the consistency issues of protection, Recruit will be a good replacement for you. Whatever cube size you consider Mirran Crusader to be a good inclusion still, this card is right there alongside it. For me, that’s probably somewhere in the 720 range.
Spire of Industry
A safer Glimmervoid.
What I Like: It’s a land that enters the battlefield untapped, can produce all 6 types of mana, and doesn’t die off on its own. Cubes that heavily support an artifact theme (especially with lots of early artifact mana and a full cycle of Signets) that can also make use of the colorless mana it produces should give this land extra consideration. A Grand Coliseum that doesn’t enter tapped is a strong ceiling on a land, especially for decks that have most of their color requirements in the middle of the curve.
What I Don't Like: Even in decks where this is supposed to work correctly, it can still be a Wastes in situations where you don’t draw an early artifact (or if your artifacts get destroyed). That can leave you in a spot where you desperately need to resolve a colored 4cc spell and can’t because this doesn’t provide colored mana.
Verdict: This land shows some promise for cubes that are all-in on the artifact deck and can also make regular use of the C mana. Also important that your playgroup is comfortable with some of the inconsistencies that can arise with it. For me, if my cube was a little bigger I might be able to find room for some extended testing, perhaps in the 630-720 range.
Skyship Plunderer
A new blue Stormfront Pegasus beater.
What I Like: Splashable 2/1 creatures with evasion for 2 mana are great for tempo decks. Particularly when they have other relevant upsides. Plunderer’s ability to add extra loyalty counters to your ‘walkers, additional +1/+1 counters on your creatures or Fading counters to your Tangle Wires is a neat free upside to add to a body that’s acceptable on its own.
What I Don't Like: Finding room is hard in blue. Especially for cards that are limited to only being ideal in one theater, like Plunderer is for tempo. And even if you are dedicating slots to blue Mistral Chargers, there are a couple of options in front of this one that have flash–which I think is a slightly more relevant upside than the counter manipulation this one has.
Verdict: If you’re big on supporting blue tempo shells with dedicated bodies, and you’re already playing the ones with flash, this card becomes a reasonable choice. Especially if you’re running a counter theme of any kind. For me, it would be a 720+ card, but I think some cubes in the 630 range might have the correct foundation for this card to be successful.
Rishkar, Peema Renegade
A ramp/beatdown hybrid monster.
What I Like: This adds 4 power to the board and two extra mana worth of ramp, all for a 3-mana investment. If you have non-mana creatures that you want to grow and/or add the flexibility of turning them into ramp creatures, the ceiling on Rishkar is pretty high. Especially with creatures that can double up on ramp value (like Lotus Cobra) or ramp and get value from the +1/+1 counter simultaneously (like Sylvan Advocate).
What I Don't Like: A lot of green’s early creatures won’t be able to take advantage of both the counters AND the ramp. For example, mana dorks can already ramp, and don’t need to get bigger, and aggro beaters will be happy to have the +1/+1 counter, but will spend their life in the red zone where the mana ramp won’t be useful. I also wish the counters could both go on the same creature, so Rishkar could be a 4/4 or I could both counters on another body that really needs them.
Verdict: When played with the right arrangement of creatures, this card can be a big time beating. If my cube was bigger, I’d find room to get this in for extended testing. I think it’s a reasonable enough 3-drop to see play in 630-720 sized cubes without the cuts being too painful.
Kari Zev’s Expertise
A competitive Threaten variant.
What I Like: The ability to throw a Threaten effect into your curve without costing you a full turn’s worth of board development is a good deal. When you can play this on T3 for example, removing a blocker, casting a 2-drop and hitting the opponent with a combination of your early board and their own guy ...this can represent 4-5 damage for what equates to a single extra mana over what you were gonna spend anyways. That’s a hell of a Lightning Axe!
What I Don't Like: I prefer to use my Threaten effects on my opponent’s biggest and most ...threatening monsters. They usually come down towards the end of the curve, which means the effects typically get sandbagged until the later stages of the game. That makes the free spell value on this Expertise go down by quite a bit. And in the earlier stages of the game where this spell is going to be most effective, it’s limited to situations where creature theft is both relevant and available, and the 1RR mana cost on the Expertise is at its most difficult to cast.
Verdict: This may prove to be one of the more powerful Threaten effects available in the cube, but I still don’t know if it’s going to be enough for small to medium-sized lists. If my cube was bigger, I might be able to find room for it, but in cubes that are smaller than 630+ cards, think it’s going to be hard.
Tezzeret the Schemer
An artifact.dec/ramp split ‘walker.
What I Like: The {+1} ability produces Lotus Petals, which can both ramp and fix mana on subsequent turns, even if the opponent kills off Tezz. It can also lead to a situation where you have 7 mana on T5 (hello Myr Battlesphere!) and Tezz is primed to go ultimate on the following turn. The decks that can play him will have a relatively high artifact count, so on T4+, you can expect his {-2} effect to grant +2/-2 or so on average ...maybe even more if Tezz deploys later in the curve. Ramp, fixing, (albeit conditional) removal and an ultimate that will eventually flood the board with big threats isn’t a bad place to be on a 4-mana ‘walker; especially since he resolves with five (!) loyalty.
What I Don't Like: His {-2} ability will really vary a lot in consistency and effectiveness. Which means that despite having a high starting loyalty, it can be hard for Tezz to protect himself in some situations. Perhaps a bigger strike against him is the existence of Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas–which has the same casting cost and is likely just better in the same decks that could afford to play either of them. It’s limited to going into a deck with a high artifact count, and it’s only good and not great there.
Verdict: I think the competition at the top of the Dimir shelf is too strong for this to compete outright. But it might be the #5-#7 best UB card, and if your cube is 630-720 cards AND you support the artifact.dec, I’d slot this new Tezz in for testing.
Disallow
A mon-blue Voidslime!
What I Like: I’ve always liked the flexibility on Voidslime (especially in multiplayer) but disliked the restrictive mana cost. There are a lot of cases where activated and triggered abilities are worth a card, especially with the number of planeswalkers running around these days. Stifle is a powerful effect, and can work in the cube, but it’s just too narrow as a lone effect on a card.
What I Don't Like: I started testing this card the second it got spoiled, and I saw it in action a lot in playtesting. It spends a huge amount of its time as a Cancel. There are a lot of opportunities to use Stifle effects, and lots of those opportunities are technically worth a full card if you were to Stifle them. But less of those instances are worth three mana and a card to stop, especially when it costs you a counterspell in order to prevent the trigger. I found that the decks that want Stifle effects the most (tempo decks) are the ones less willing to use 3cc reactive spells that aren’t splashable. And the decks that are willing to play Cancel variants (control shells) aren’t as free to spend 3 mana and toss countermagic away on a Stone Rain effect when countering fetches, for example.
Verdict: I like Disallow, and I enjoy having the flexibility of a counterspell and a Stifle effect rolled up into the same card. It’s my favorite 3cc counterspell that’s not named Forbid. After testing, it’s going to just miss inclusion in my 540 cube, but I’d play it if I had any more room.
Fatal Push
Black’s Swords/Path variant.
What I Like: It removes every 1-2cc creature in the cube. And it can kill every creature with cmc <5 for one mana when the Revolt is active. That’s pretty big game for a 1cc spell, and it gets really powerful when you can set up Revolt yourself with fetchlands and sacrifice outlets, etc. This will probably become the premium black removal spell in constructed formats because of its powerful interaction with fetches. In the cube, this is obviously less consistent.
What I Don't Like: While playtesting this card, it played strikingly like Disfigure. The -2/-2 effect killed the vast majority of the 1-2cc creatures, and even without “Revolt”, Disfigure still kills a surprising number of 3-4cc creatures anyways. And against all the creatures that neither spell can kill, Disfigure can still be a useful combat trick. So ultimately, while Push is likely the better removal spell due to the lack of toughness-related issues, the gap between the two spells actually isn’t that big in this format. Nowhere near the gap that’s present in constructed between these two spells.
Verdict: If my cube was any bigger, I think I’d have to find room for this, simply because it’s such an effective and affordable removal spell. It’s not nearly as good as it will be in constructed (especially Modern and Legacy) but it’s certainly a worthwhile inclusion for cubes that are 630+ cards. Smaller if you run a deep sacrifice theme or duplicate fetches, because those two things would really increase the value.
Baral’s Expertise
A monster tempo topper.
What I Like: When this thing is on, like, really on ...it’s an utterly savage spell. For example, you can bounce the full 3 creatures and resolve, say, an Armageddon for free with it ...the game simply ends. The tempo this creates by undoing 3 on-curve plays from the opponent and giving you a 4-drop in the process is just an irrecoverable amount of tempo advantage. It can also be sneaky in control by bouncing your own creatures and resolving a free Wrath of God, or bouncing artifacts that don’t untap themselves for free mana. The ceiling on the card is huge.
What I Don't Like: The floor on this card is unacceptably low. There are a lot of situations where the opponent’s board doesn’t have more than one creature out and/or you don’t have any decently-costed cards in your hand to use the free tempo on (or all reactive cards, for example). In those cases, this is largely unplayable–acting like an Undo at best.
Verdict: If you like to include cube cards based on their ceiling potential, this is the card for you. A premium tempo curve-topper, that breaks creature mirrors in half. For me right now, the competition at the 5cc spell slot in blue is too stacked, but if I changed configurations to be more tempo heavy, or increased my cube size to 630+, this card would likely go straight in.
Aether Chaser
A decent 2cc beatdown creature.
What I Like: Most of the other generic 3-power creatures for 1R that red has to offer suffer the same fatal flaw. They are 3/2 bodies, and trade away in combat with the flood of Lions, Pikers & Bears in the cube. Chaser has First Strike, and thus can mitigate the problem of trading away in combat with no value. It gains its 3rd power by creating a second body, which is obviously advantageous in multiple ways: anthems/battle cry, sacrifice outlets, Skullclamp, Purphoros, etc. In addition, the token it creates is an artifact, so you can sacrifice it to Pia and Kiran Nalaar. Also, the energy can be used in corner cases with a couple of other cubeworthy energy-centric effects.
What I Don't Like: The card is solid, but not particularly exciting. It’s certainly not the best 2cc creature ever printed, and if the opponent has a 2/3 creature out (or bigger) it won’t be able to attack (and thus can’t produce its token) without throwing the main body away.
Verdict: Just decent enough to break into the middle of the pack, I think Aether Chaser is just playable enough to squeeze into some 540 lists. Otherwise, it’s a perfectly reasonable filler beatdown creature for 630+ cubes without too many problems.
Sram's Expertise
A tempo-boosting token maker.
What I Like: If you can move from this into another 2-3cc spell, you’re essentially getting a Hordeling Outburst for 1-2 mana. And unlike most of the other Expertise spells, this one doesn’t have any real conflicts with timing or the types of cards it works best with. Most white decks will be fine playing this right into another lower-curve card without skipping a beat, and it’ll produce a small army for you for very little extra mana investment. There might even be some decks that can take advantage of the fact that the tokens are artifacts; it’ll be nice to have your Tolarian Academy tap for an additional UUU randomly.
What I Don't Like: The competition at the 4cc slot in white is really high. But luckily most of that competition is in the spell side–Sram’s Expertise will functionally count as a creature during deck construction, and the competition there is much lighter.
Verdict: I feel like this card is being underrated. There are so few conflicts with the kinds of decks that would play this Expertise and the timing window/card types it can play cards for free in ...it really feels like this card will really just be able to throw out three bodies for 1-2 extra mana a huge percentage of the time. Looking forward to seeing extended testing from this in my 540, and I think it’s an easy include in the 630+ cubes.
Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
An evasive 2-drop with card advantage potential.
What I Like: This seems like the version of Pain Seer that I’ve been waiting for. The built-in evasion really helps increase the consistency of the card draw, in addition to making the body better enough in general to be worth including. I wouldn’t expect this to draw more than 1 card per game, but that’s not a bad deal. An evasive 2/1 for 2 that draws a card and loses a life is a great ACS.
What I Don't Like: Like Pain Seer, you have to wait for the draw. So it won’t trigger until the start of T4 at the earliest. And if the opponent has multiple blockers available, you might not draw at all.
Verdict: Solid, but not amazing. This is probably just good enough to sneak into the bottom of the pack at 540, replacing a mediocre evasion creature or a mediocre draw creature. Easy include at 630+, but probably not quite good enough for 450.
Baral, Chief of Compliance
A defensive 2-drop that provides a useful discount.
What I Like: Blue decks, whether generic control or spell centric builds, are always in the market for good early defense against Lions, Pikers & Bears. A 1/3 body for 1U is a great early line of defense, and can hold aggro beaters at bay until dealt with. The nice part about Baral is that in the interim, he’s discounting all your spells. In a typical game, even if he just reduces the cost of 2 cards, he’s cost essentially a net 0 mana, provided a 1/3 defensive body, and maybe even a loot trigger to boot. Can’t argue with the cost/benefit in the matchups where early defense is desirable. Additionally, in countermagic-heavy lists that also utilize the graveyard (like controlling reanimation shells) the looting mechanism is pretty reliable and extra valuable.
What I Don't Like: Not every matchup can take advantage of his effects. In the control mirror, for example, the early body isn’t needed, the spell discount isn’t crucial, and the looting won’t recover the fact that Baral himself cost you a card.
Verdict: Good in control vs aggro all day. The body, the cost, the spell discount and the looting are all really important effects in that matchup. And that’s the matchup that blue needs the most help in, so Baral is a welcome addition. I’ll be happy playing Baral at 540 for a while I’d guess, and he might be able to sneak into some smaller lists too, especially if there’s a “spells matters” archetype being supported.
Yahenni's Expertise
A solid sweeper with great tempo potential.
What I Like: Infest variants are strong, especially when they don’t cost you a ton of tempo to gain access to. -3/-3 kills the vast majority of the affordable creatures in the cube, and when you cast a free 3cc spell with this card, it’s going to feel plain dirty.
What I Don't Like: There are a lot of cards that you might want to play for free that don’t pair well with this Expertise. For example, since it’s a sweeper, you won’t be running all your small creatures. Since it’s a control card, it can easily be paired with reactive spells (like counterspells) that can’t be cast by it. It kills all the creatures, so removal doesn’t pair well with it. And, it doesn’t come down until T4, so your disruptive spells (discard effects, etc) have likely already been cast. Needless to say, there have been several times in testing where this is just a 4cc Anger of the Gods, since I didn’t have anything useful to play with my free card. That, and the fact that black’s premiere sweepers are all really fantastic cards makes this a much harder inclusion for smaller lists.
Verdict: Missing X/4 creatures and consistency issues with the free spell clause made this slightly worse than Languish for me in testing. I wouldn’t personally be able to find room for this if my cube was smaller than 540 cards. Luckily I have room for it though, because it’s a fun effect and has a really high ceiling.
Release the Gremlins
A Manic Vandal variant.
What I Like: Context aside, this card is going to function like a Manic Vandal in the majority of the cases it resolves. It can’t be played on a board without a target, but it can be played for 4R, destroy 2 artifacts and give you a pair of 2/2 gremlins. Playing with Fiery Confluence for an extended period of time now has really shown me how often blowing up more than one artifact is relevant, so I’m looking forward to getting some Rack and Ruin action going on, being accompanied by some sweet and flavorful gremlin tokens.
What I Don't Like: It also loses some critical interactions in comparison to Vandal since it’s no longer a 2/2 creature–Recruiter(s), ‘Lark, Feldon, Vat, Nightmare, etc. But luckily it mostly makes up for it with its spell interactions: Prowess triggers, Pyromancer/Mentor tokens, Snappy flashbacks, etc.
Verdict: A card that is going to function as another Manic Vandal is more than welcome for me. Probably a 450 include for powered lists and a 540+ inclusion for unpowered ones. It has similar interactions and a much higher ceiling than the original Vandal, despite having a slightly lower floor. Either way, it’s a reasonably playable card.
Walking Ballista
A scaleable Triskelion variant.
What I Like: The name of the game with Walking Ballista is flexibility. It can drop into and be effective in multiple different places in the curve. Early on in the game, it can be used as a 2 removal spell to kill off critical 1-toughness creatures like Mana Dorks, Thalia, Clique, Welder, Confidant, Rofellos, Cobra, Mother of Runes, etc. While less than ideal, spending 2 colorless mana to kill off one of those creatures is important. As the game progresses, Ballista can be bigger when it resolves, threatening to remove important 2-toughness creatures, or killing off a 1-toughness target and surviving to grow on subsequent turns. It’s the latter plays that make Ballista a formidable cube card. You can spend the 4 for his ability reactively, and do so only with mana that’s otherwise going unspent, making control a great shell for Ballista to shine. The thing to understand about Ballista is that once it has resolved and you have the 4 mana up to use reactively, the opponent can never effectively resolve another 1-toughness creature because you can just kill it. Once it has 2 counters on it and you have 4 mana open, they can never effectively resolve another 2-toughness threat. And so on. The effect scales, and can really start to snowball on the opponent. It has a similar effect on the board that the original Masticore does, with the added flexibility of being an early-game removal spell, and no discard drawback. But that’s just the beginning. Once you’ve stabilized the board and have this guy (reactively) growing, it’ll do decent attacking work for you too. Unlike Hangarback Walker, Ballista doesn’t have to tap to grow, so it can be doing some heavy lifting in the red zone while keeping its growth potential saved up in your mana in case you need to react with other spells. Perhaps better yet is how much damage this can represent in a single round. After a handful of turns when this has grown into a 5/5 or 6/6, the opponent has to chump-block it with their medium-sized dudes ...because it represents 10-12 damage in a single unblocked round of combat. More if you have mana available to grow it too. It can also be used to shoot planeswalkers directly when the need arises, so when it’s a 3/3, it can attack a 4-loyalty walker down to 1 in combat, and then remove a counter to shoot it to death. It’s surprisingly effective at killing ‘walkers because of how the damage stacks like that. It’s an incredible target in super-ramp, because when it can resolve as a huge creature, and grow multiple times a turn, it can threaten any creature the opponent can drop, in addition to being of a size where the opponent has no choice but to resolve creatures in an attempt to block it. Once this thing is in play and you have reactive mana to spend on its ability, it’s amazing how awkward of a position the opponent can get into. It’s also a prime target for Trinket Mage and the Recruiter(s), but it also has powerful interactions with Academy Ruins and Stronghold; being able to be used early to remove a creature and as a win condition late after stabilizing. After seeing it in action even a few times, it continually impressed me with how many different things it can do in so many different situations.
What I Don't Like: It probably doesn’t have a decent enough cost/power ratio to be played in aggro, since aggro doesn’t often have the mana to sink into effectively growing it either. It’s limited to being a card that goes in midrange and control decks most of the time.
Verdict: It looks like such a middling card because it’s never super cost-effective and it loses the abusive interactions that Triskelion has in the cube (the interactions that allow it to hold onto its last bit of cube-worthiness) ...but man, I’ve really been impressed with Walking Ballista so far in testing. I think this a card I would make room for in 450, and it might even sneak into some smaller lists if you play archetypes that revolve around critical 1-toughness creatures.
Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
A legendary pirate that produces a legendary monkey. Legendary.
What I Like: At her core, Kari Zev is simply a 3-power attacker for 1R that divides damage across multiple threats and is immune to a lot of the combat issues that tangle up other 2-drops. The combination of first strike, menace and having 3 toughness means that the opponent needs to throw two creatures in front of her that have 3 total power (neither of which can have 1-toughness) just to get her off the board, and they still take damage from the monkey! Her menace allows her to carry equipment really well, and the fact that she splits into two threats means she benefits from anthems and battle cry triggers twice as well as other aggro beaters do. Plus, the monkey can be sacrificed to something at instant speed (like Greater Gargadon or Flesh Carver) for extra value, and since the token keeps coming back, it re-triggers Purphoros every turn (in addition to getting a double bonus from his pump effect). There’s no red aggro deck where I wouldn’t slam this creature into my final 40.
What I Don't Like: I wish the monkey stuck around until the end of turn so I can attach a Skullclamp to him... but that’s just because I’m greedy like that.
Verdict: This is very likely the best aggressive 2-drop with a 1R cost, and probably in the top 3-4 red 2-drops overall. That means that this is a staple creature for pretty much every cube of every size, except for perhaps some themed cubes. This creature is nuts.
Thanks for reading! Please feel free to comment below. Cheers, and happy cubing.
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I knew that Ballista's high ranking might provoke this reaction. Hopefully you test it now when you might not have before, and hopefully you like it.
Agreed about Sram's Expertise, but I see it as a 1-2 mana Hordeling Outburst in white; the free spell you play with it doesn't necessarily have to be an extra body ...Oblivion Rings sound good to me. Also, there are almost no cards in white token-centric shells that Expertise will conflict/interfere with, so I see the free tempo play being relevant in more situations than any other Expertise.
Release could've not been tied to artifact targets, but I don't think it's that relevant. There are so few instances I can remember where a monkey/vandal was cast without a target that I don't see it being a problem.
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Thanks for commenting!
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Ya, I knew the placement of Rishkar was going to upset some folks, but I just don't think she quite makes it into small/medium sized lists.
And as I said above about the white Expertise, I do think it's being underrated; largely because I don't think people understand how consistent its free spell clause will be in comparison to the other Expertise spells (which I think are being slightly overrated). It has little to no conflicts that interfere with your free spell clause, and that adds a huge amount of value.
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I'm surprised Yahenni didn't crack the list since a lot of people love Goblin Bombardment / Blood Artist shenanigans.
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Kari is great in aggro and tokens, which is two of red's archetypes. Plus it will be really nice to have a pirate (with a legendry monkey, no less!) in Cube!!! I wouldn't mind if we get 1 card per set if they are as good as her.
EDIT: Removed the smartphone induced typos
Exceptionally good breakdown of what makes walking ballista good, and well written article as always!
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Usually, our top 10s look very similar. In this set I can't really say because I find it really hard to rank the cards this time around. However, all but two cards that I am considering (Metallic Mimic and Aethersphere Harvester) are in your top 20, so I count this as a general agreement.
For your top 10, I would definitely rank Baral's Expertise higher. Maybe that is because my cube - while generally a traditional unpowered cube - is a bit more creature-centric than most. And huge tempo swings like BE are nuts in creature-centric matches. In the end, you have BE in your top 10, so I am not complaining.
The only two cards where I really disagree with the placement are Release the Gremlins and Walking Ballista.
I really dislike the lack of the magic words "up to" on Release the Gremlins. This makes it really matchup-dependent. Against some opponents, you will easily find two or three targets each game, making this really good. Against others, you will barely have one target, making this a worse Manic Vandal. Fiery Confluence is great because it is always good, thanks to its diverse set of effects. Being completely tied to the number of artifacts your opponent runs out sucks. It's kinda like Pyroclasm: Insane against some decks, dead against others. I really dislike cards like that.
I don't get the hype for Walking Ballista. Yes, flexibility is great, but I'd say if we weigh the pros and cons when comparing it to Triskelion, it is not much worse than that card. And I cut Trike ages ago for underperforming. It is probably worth mentioning in the top 20, but second place? Bah!
Edit: Very minor nitpick: You didn't list the best and most obvious target for Trophy Mage, Vedalken Shackles!
Uril, the Miststalker RGW -- Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre C -- Vhati il-Dal BG -- Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer RW -- Animar, Soul of Elements URG
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker R -- Maga, Traitor to Mortals B -- Ghave, Guru of Spores BGW -- Sliver Hivelord WUBRG
That still costs 2 unless I am missing something?
Edit: I guess you meant as a 1/1. That makes a lot more sense.
I feel compelled to repeat everything I hear
As for Walking Ballista, I think as long as you compare it to Triskelion, you can't do it justice. Removing +1/+1 counters in order to deal damage to target creature or player and the type line really are the only things these two creatures have in common.
"What am I looking at? Ashes, dead man."
Ya, this set's powerband was definitely in the 540-630 range. Only a few inclusions for smaller cubes.
I can't win everybody over.
It's okay for sacrifice decks, but I still prefer the outlets that actually grow when you sac stuff. I think the counters needed to be tied to the sacrifice somehow. I prefer Nantuko Husk and Phyrexian Ghoul to it still.
I wasted no time this go around.
Thanks. Hope they work out for you!
For managers of small cubes, getting an extra playable is all you can really hope for.
Hope those 3-drops play well for you! Thanks for the props.
It's very different from Trike. I hope your results are as positive as mine have been so far.
A lot of the cards had similar powerlevel, especially in the middle of the pack. It makes an exact ranking order very subjective.
No doubt that Baral's Expertise has an absurd ceiling. In midrange/tempo creature mirrors, it's a backbreaking card to be sure.
They could've made Gremlins better by having it be a big token maker that also destroys artifacts on the side, but I see why they limited it. But it's going to be a split card between it's 2R and 4R modes a lot, I think, and so the upsides outweigh the drawbacks, IMO.
Walking Ballista is really good. It's to removal creatures what Everflowing Chalice has been to mana rocks. And outside of the specific decks that are engineered to abuse Trike, Ballista is much better. It's one of the few cards in the set that I can realistically see breaking into smaller cubes. So it ranks #2 on the list not because it's the intrinsically more powerful card, but because it's the card I see making it into tighter lists than the ones behind it.
Shackles is another great target for the artifact hunter, to be sure. But it doesn't solve the problem of how all its targets go into polarizing and different decks.
Thanks for the detailed reply!
Ya, perhaps it's more of a 450/630 split on powered/unpowered for Release the Gremlins. It's value is obviously tied to your need to remove artifacts.
Yes, Walking Ballista is to Triskelion what Everflowing Chalice is to something like Dreamstone Hedron. You can 100% enjoy the former without having any positive experiences with the latter.
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You've made me cool my opinion of Baral's Expertise a bit, but I'm still going to try to find room. Maybe I'll give the Ballista a try.
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I like Baral's Expertise; the ceiling is absurdly high. It will certainly have its underwhelming moments though, so just be aware.
I'd find room for Ballista if you can.
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I wasn't so hot on Walking Ballista initially but I think I'm going to give it a shot anyway, the fact that you can attack and grow it at the same time is pretty huge. Also if you have lots of mana you can activate it multiple times.
Looking forward to creating monkey tokens, so awesome!
Minor nitpick: Tezz's [-2] ability is +X/-X, not -X/-X. Could be relevant in many situations.
Hard to say what will be tested in my cube at the moment. Keri Zev appears to be a staple. I think Release the Gremlins is a good include for us too. Other than those, the cards I'm at least keeping an eye on are the non-green Expertises (time will be needed for the community to figure out how good these are), Baral, Rishkar, Fatal Push and Ballista. I think the initial add will be Keri, Baral and Gremlins, followed by a close eye on the Expertises. Regarding Baral's Expertise, sure the floor can be low, but when you're in a really bad situation, facing down a board, it gets better. WCS is the opponent having one really big nasty critter out, but bouncing it is probably going to be annoying especially if it got there via a Reanimate or similar. However the similarity to Mystic Confluence in some aspects makes it tricky to include off the bat but I think in the end it will see an extended test for us, if only because we like trying stuff out and this set won't have a ton of includes at 405 cards.
Sram's Expertise isn't as weird a fit in white as people seem to think. White is already a solid support colour for the deck, with lots of relevant interactions and various relevant tutors (Stoneforge, Relic Seeker, Enlightened Tutor). We're seeing a lot of decks in U/R/B/w. The double white is potentially very awkward, but luckily it's good in tokens builds too. I'm not slamming it in just yet though.
I may give Ballista a look at just since it is garnering so much discussion. These XX artifact walkers and big targets make me want to consider Mishra's Workshop...
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
Love the list, super glad aha I didn't show up for just being a planeswalker. Is it weird I would think about the duel deck tezzeret as near the top twenty?
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=484979
@Goodking: Tezz's ability will be changed, thanks for pointing that out. By the time The +X will be a worthwhile enough boost to be worth 2 loyalty, the X will probably be high enough to kill off your own attacker though, lol. And ya, the white expertise fits perfectly into white's average gameplan; probably moreso than any of the other Expertise spells, actually. Thanks for commenting!
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I was initially just going to slam dunk Kari Zev in my 360 and do some testing with Baral, but count me among those who you've convinced to at least test Walking Ballista.
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