Silent Specter sort of helps to fill the five drop hole, a bit like Herald of Torment. I always liked how Specter played and having more camouflage will only help in that regard. He hits really hard and double discard is mean.
These are very likely going to be the 10 I go with.
White doesn't really have any other options, unless you go really deep on the token/anthem plan and you want to add Master of Pearls. There's always Whipcorder too, but that card just has a hard time making decks in this era.
When morph is a deep theme, Willbender gets really good because your opponent has to respect and fear that ability. With a lot of big ramp/reanimation targets running around, Vesuvan Shapeshifter is a cool option too (especially with the new legend rule) because you can copy and get first crack with their best monster. Voidmage Prodigy was a huge letdown, unless you're running a deep blue devotion theme. I was playing both Thassa and Master of Waves when I had Voidmage in there, and he was still pretty bad.
Black has a lot of good morphs. Bane of the Living is a great morph to use if both aggro decks and token decks are prominent in your cube (like they are in mine). But Grim Haruspex is decent wrath protection (but doesn't punish your opponent for killing your morphs, which makes him less valuable with a morph subtheme). And Silent Specter is a solid monster. He hits hard, fills a hole in black's curve, and can be a terrible thing to get hit by.
Red doesn't have a ton of options outside of the two you listed. Dwarven Blastminer can contribute to an LD theme if you support it, and Akroma, Angel of Fury could be a choice for a red reanimation target or just another scary red creature. But I don't think any of the options come close to bumping the two on the list.
Multicolor has a few good options. I like Sagu Mauler, but the competition is stiff in Simic. There's also Rattleclaw Mystic, which is a fine option, especially if you play a lot of Temur ramp decks.
I love Willbender's ability, but I am having a hard time getting over how completely worthless it is to hardcast. That said, I've never cubed with it before so if people that have think it's worth it, I could get on board.
I like Rattleclaw Mystic a lot, especially due to it's colorless morph cost. I just don't think it beats out any current 2 drops in green and I would feel weird slotting it as a colorless card.
RGathan Raiders - Reanimation enabler that could be counted as a colorless morph, since you don't have to run any red mana for it.
GRattleclaw Mystic - Can provide some nice ramp and fixing. Potentially usable without green mana. A bit weak though. GNantuko Vigilante - More Naturalize effects are good.
xZoetic Cavern - Truly colorless morph. Makes opponent feel stupid when his removal fizzles as the target turns into a land. Helps when flooded.
I may not run two in each colour either; Black has four morphs I like more than Blistering Firecat and Nantuko Vigilante. Rattleclaw in green is certainly an option, however.
EDIT: I think it's really cool that the 1C Megamorph cycle are all at least very decent. It's rare where a WHOLE cycle of stuff is arguably cubeable. Perhaps the last time was the Titans, but then it's hard to find someone who's a fan of all five.
I feel like the only cube manager that doesn't like morph. I've always felt it was a clunky mechanic. Some of these cards are really good, so I'm not sure about what to do. This block has just upheaval after upheaval in my cube.
I like morph ok as a mechanic. I'll admit that seeing these new solid morphs does have me considering adding in some of the other morphs that we've played with in the past, but I'm not that excited about adding those specific cards back in. These cards were all cut for some reason or another. Exalted Angel is the only one that has stood the test of time. I could see swapping Viridian Shaman out for Nantuko Vigilante because of the similar effect. Most of the rest, though, were largely unimpressive for my group.
The only reason I ended up cutting the rest was because the morph theme was underrepresented. With a larger sampling of morph creatures, they will all perform better.
I am already running two morph's, Rattleclaw Mystic and Grim Haruspex and I plan on adding in the new Rare cycle of morph's from DTK. Is this is successful I will look into guys like Willbender, Exalted Angel and Firecat as inclusions to beef up morph in my Cube. I really like Morph as a mechanic and looking to support it so hopefully this pans out. The more morph's the merrier!
Zoetic Carvern is an interesting option. Kind of a reverse morph in that you never really want to flip it (unless you have random mana open and they try and kill it.) If morph is successful enough I could see myself testing this out for the additional bluff factor.
Total side note but I like how people are discussing running this over itself.
Well, it has to be said that Kolaghan is clearly better than Kolaghan. Considering what BR decks usually want and how stiff the competition in this guild is, there is no way that I would run Kolaghan over Kolaghan! Kolaghan might make it in as the sixth guild card or so. Kolaghan on the other hand ranks several places below that.
It was so funny to me when they described this as a downgrade to the original Zurgo during the Pax East panel. I was thinking if this is a downgrade, they should really "downgrade" all legendary creatures. Haha.
My deck designing is quite concise at this point:
1. Come up with deck idea
2. Realize this idea is somehow fundamentally similar to another deck I have or that is commonly played in my group
3. Decide I don't want to disassemble one of my existing decks
4. Give up and do nothing
I don't see the point of this new shroud mechanic. It's strictly worse than Hexproof. Threshold is pretty bad too, Delirium is a much better mechanic and probably easier to activate.
Otherwise this card is a pretty neat guy. Dodges removal and grows into a Primal Huntbeast. 3/5
I'm adding Shapeshifter back to my cube ASAP seeing as you can copy any of the new Megamorph creatures for their triggers every turn (and if I understand it correctly, continue to accumulate counters). This might not have been a hugely relevant concern if all five rare ones weren't good cube cards (not to mention the new Nantuko Vigilante variant just spoiled).
Huh, I didn't think of abusing the "turned face up" triggers with Vesuvan Shapeshifter. With more of them in cube now, that could actually be relevant.
I am pretty sure that he wouldn't get a +1/+1 counter though, since that is linked to the Megamorph ability and you turned him face up with regular Morph, not Megamorph.
Good point! Hadn't thought about that ability's relevance with the turned face up triggers, especially the extra +1/+1 counter that hasn't been there before.
Would you get the counter for the Shapeshifter? You aren't megamorphing it ever.
The Release Notes are not out yet, so take this with a grain of salt, but I don't think you get the counter. If you turn the Vesuvan Shapeshifter face up copying a creature with Megamorph you will definitely get the trigger (e.g. you would get to "draw" a card with Ire Shaman), but you wouldn't get the counter since that is linked specifically to the megamorph cost. You wouldn't get the counter if you manifest a creature with megamorph then turn it face up, for instance. (For reference: http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/mechanics-dragons-tarkir-2015-03-02#anchor6)
Even without the counter that is awesome interaction! Getting an instant speed Regrowth or Smother every turn is SWEET. Shapeshifter is definitely going into my cube now that I understand how this works, likely in addition to Stratus Dancer and Willbender.
EDIT: And Shapeshifter plays really well with the new 1C megamorph cycle. Say you have Shapeshifter face down; for 2U and another colored mana you can hardcast a megamorph guy and flip Shapeshifter to get the effect. Fun
EDIT: And Shapeshifter plays really well with the new 1C megamorph cycle. Say you have Shapeshifter face down; for 2U and another colored mana you can hardcast a megamorph guy and flip Shapeshifter to get the effect. Fun
EDIT: And Shapeshifter plays really well with the new 1C megamorph cycle. Say you have Shapeshifter face down; for 2U and another colored mana you can hardcast a megamorph guy and flip Shapeshifter to get the effect. Fun
I forgot that the counter is a product of the megamorph and not of the being turned face-up. Too bad it won't get one.
I think it's important to note that Silumgar Assassin's trigger is not Smother. It kills on power, not CMC ...it's WAY (like, miles) better than a Smother trigger.
Morph is really cool and all, and i actually love blistering firecat, but it seems like a 2/2 for 3 is kind of garbage by today's standards. When creatures used to be worse was a 2/2 for 3 at least ok?
For example the first 2/2 for three i can think of that is cubeworthy is Mirradin crusader, which has pro-2colors and doublestrike.
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
These are very likely going to be the 10 I go with.
White doesn't really have any other options, unless you go really deep on the token/anthem plan and you want to add Master of Pearls. There's always Whipcorder too, but that card just has a hard time making decks in this era.
When morph is a deep theme, Willbender gets really good because your opponent has to respect and fear that ability. With a lot of big ramp/reanimation targets running around, Vesuvan Shapeshifter is a cool option too (especially with the new legend rule) because you can copy and get first crack with their best monster. Voidmage Prodigy was a huge letdown, unless you're running a deep blue devotion theme. I was playing both Thassa and Master of Waves when I had Voidmage in there, and he was still pretty bad.
Black has a lot of good morphs. Bane of the Living is a great morph to use if both aggro decks and token decks are prominent in your cube (like they are in mine). But Grim Haruspex is decent wrath protection (but doesn't punish your opponent for killing your morphs, which makes him less valuable with a morph subtheme). And Silent Specter is a solid monster. He hits hard, fills a hole in black's curve, and can be a terrible thing to get hit by.
Red doesn't have a ton of options outside of the two you listed. Dwarven Blastminer can contribute to an LD theme if you support it, and Akroma, Angel of Fury could be a choice for a red reanimation target or just another scary red creature. But I don't think any of the options come close to bumping the two on the list.
Green's best options are on the list too, but there are some rogue cards like Hystrodon, Hooded Hydra and Thelonite Hermit that aren't terrible.
Multicolor has a few good options. I like Sagu Mauler, but the competition is stiff in Simic. There's also Rattleclaw Mystic, which is a fine option, especially if you play a lot of Temur ramp decks.
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I'm going to be replacing Kiora, the Crashing Wave with Sagu Mauler, which I think is a pretty fair trade in order to support morph.
I like Rattleclaw Mystic a lot, especially due to it's colorless morph cost. I just don't think it beats out any current 2 drops in green and I would feel weird slotting it as a colorless card.
I am slightly tempted to run Hooded Hydra over Nantuko Vigilante, as both Nantuko Vigilante and Den Protector flip into 3/2 bodies. If only the Hydra had trample...
W Hidden Dragonslayer
W Exalted Angel *
U Stratus Dancer
B Silumgar Assassin
B Grim Haruspex *
R Ire Shaman
R Blistering Firecat *
G Den Protector
(G/U) Sagu Mauler *
Then there are a few that I could see myself including to boost the morph numbers even more.
U Vesuvan Shapeshifter - Can turn into a HUGE creature for a small morph cost.
R Gathan Raiders - Reanimation enabler that could be counted as a colorless morph, since you don't have to run any red mana for it.
G Rattleclaw Mystic - Can provide some nice ramp and fixing. Potentially usable without green mana. A bit weak though.
G Nantuko Vigilante - More Naturalize effects are good.
x Zoetic Cavern - Truly colorless morph. Makes opponent feel stupid when his removal fizzles as the target turns into a land. Helps when flooded.
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
EDIT: I think it's really cool that the 1C Megamorph cycle are all at least very decent. It's rare where a WHOLE cycle of stuff is arguably cubeable. Perhaps the last time was the Titans, but then it's hard to find someone who's a fan of all five.
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
My 630 Card Powered Cube
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My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
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The morph the merrier.
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Modern: Jund
White
- Exalted Angel
- Hidden Dragonslayer
Blue
- Stratus Dancer
- Willbender
- Vesuvan Shapeshifter
Black
- Silumgar's Assassin
- Bane of the Living
- Grim Haruspex
Red
- Ire Shaman
- Blistering Firecat
Green
- Den Protector
- Ainok Survivalist
Multicolor
- Sagu Mauler
- Rattleclaw Mystic
EDIT: Now that I think of it, Phyrexian Arena might be a reasonable cut.
(list not current)
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(list is always current)
I am pretty sure that he wouldn't get a +1/+1 counter though, since that is linked to the Megamorph ability and you turned him face up with regular Morph, not Megamorph.
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
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EDIT: And Shapeshifter plays really well with the new 1C megamorph cycle. Say you have Shapeshifter face down; for 2U and another colored mana you can hardcast a megamorph guy and flip Shapeshifter to get the effect. Fun
Yep, like Brine Elemental+Shapeshifter without running awful cards like Brine Elemental.
I used to write cube articles on StarCityGames, now for GatheringMagic and podcast about cube (w/Antknee42.)
But Brine Elemental is basically Time Warp on a body and works with Crystal Shard too!
Ainok Survivalist sure seems a whole lot better than nantuko.
I think it's important to note that Silumgar Assassin's trigger is not Smother. It kills on power, not CMC ...it's WAY (like, miles) better than a Smother trigger.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
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My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
For example the first 2/2 for three i can think of that is cubeworthy is Mirradin crusader, which has pro-2colors and doublestrike.
thats my cube