I was able to get some testing in with the cards I feel are cubeable from the previous week's spoilers. Since we're halfway through this spoiler season and I have at least some data to report, why not create this thread now?
Abrade - This is an excellent utility card. It more than lived up to expectations. It's not broken or overpowered by any stretch of the imagination, but it is really good. I would expect this to be in the cube for a while.
Adorned Pouncer - I played this guy in multiple decks and never activated the Eternalize ability. The double strike was relevant a few times, but in those instances Youthful Knight would have done the same work. The possibility of a late game Eternalize and/or picking up an equipment certainly makes him better than a random 2/1 first striker, but neither of those things happened in my games last night. My first impression is that he'll be a decent 2-drop flex card until we get another solid white 2-drop that looks worth testing. He'll do a fine job of holding that spot.
Angel of Condemnation - I only got to draft this once, but I had it in an Orzhov Braids Tokens shell. It was fantastic there. EOT blink out my Braids, take my turn, bring Braids back, pass. Good times. The vigilance was relevant as well (as vigilance tends to be). Obviously the combo with Braids is really good and a small sample size, but I look forward to seeing what other fun interactions this card has. Four mana for the 3/3 with all this utility felt perfectly priced for this. I was happy to pay that price for everything it came with and I didn't feel cheated if my opponent killed it almost immediately.
Bontu's Last Reckoning - I didn't play this personally, but I did have it played against me. I was on a BG aggro deck and my opponent was UB control. I was on the play and by turn three I had curved out perfectly. My opponent's turn three was cast this, pass. My turn four ended up being lackluster and he played a land, cast Top and passed again. Granted, I didn't have a strong follow up on turn four and if I had cast a Thrun or something there, maybe it would have been problematic, but it would have been just as big of a problem for a Toxic Deluge that was cast on turn three in that same spot. The guy who drafted this card actually drafted it in all three drafts that we did and first picked it once. He was really impressed and told me he never felt like the can't untap clause set him back as much as it seemed like it should because it was such a cheap tempo swing.
Mirage Mirror - This card did some things. It's interesting to say the least. I wish the card created a token copy instead of becoming a copy itself so it could take advantage of ETB effects. I also wish it retained the ability to copy something else. Either of these would probably make it too good, though. With that said it was able to copy opposing creatures and either nullify attacks or simply trade. I copied and traded with a Primeval Titan in one game and that was ok, but not great. I think that's my initial reaction on this card: ok, but not great. I'm thinking maybe it doesn't do enough, but I'd like to keep it around for a few more drafts to get a better feeling about it.
Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh - The big daddy. He was drafted and cast in all three drafts we did. I didn't get him personally, but he had good reviews from the guys that did. "I didn't lose a game that I cast him." - direct quote. After the night was done we sat around and I asked the guys what they thought of the new cards. We all agreed that we'd currently rather have the new Bolas because he still has that new smell. It seemed, though, that the new one is top notch when you're ahead, decent when you're at parity, and only ok when you're behind. The +2 mill doesn't do much to help you in that position unless you get lucky and hit something crazy. It was a fun little mini-game, though. The +1 was great at parity to help you pull ahead, but I did see him played against a hellbent opponent, so that's a thing. The -4 Fireball mode is good at doming the opponent and at removal. Typical use was either minus four, kill you or minus four kill that and then start using the plus abilities depending on which one made more sense. The card was really good, but after one night and a small sample size, I still prefer the original to this. It is nice to have new interesting cards in the cube, though, so he'll have a home for a long while to come.
Nimble Obstructionist - This card was better than I thought it'd be. A Flash 3/1 flyer for three was great as an EOT surprise or a mid combat removal spell in a color that you don't expect it from. The 2U Stifle cantrip mode was great as well. Against my own decks it Stifled a fetch, a Nekrataal, and a six mana Elspeth plus ability to keep me from getting the three soldiers. We all really liked this card a lot.
Ramunap Excavator - This one was less impressive than I thought it'd be, but also my deck wasn't really built to take advantage of it. I had it in that BG deck I mentioned earlier. I had Wasteland, a fetch, and a Treetop Village which felt like enough to make it solid, but those interactions never came up. This guy still has me contemplating bringing back Life From the Loam (which never really impressed us), Titania, and other 'lands matter' type cards to try to push an archetype like this in GX strategies. For now, after one night of drafting, he's a Crucible on legs and that's good enough.
Supreme Will - Like Abrade, this just felt really solid. Being priced at 2U didn't feel expensive given the versatility. It's Mana Leak or Impulse. We already know how good each of those cards are in a cube, so I won't say much about that. The big thing with this card is being priced at one more for those effects and it really didn't feel as bad as I thought it would.
The Lcust God - This guy in play was great if he survived long enough to be great. The six mana cost was a little detrimental and felt kind of bad for a base 4/4 in cube, even with all the sweet in play effects tacked on. I want to test him more, but my first impression is that he's a bit too overpriced to stand out in a cube environment.
The Scarab God - We actually forgot to seed this guy in for the second two drafts, but he was decent when he did see play. A five mana 5/5 felt a lot better than the six mana 4/4 on The Locust God. The activation was priced appropriately and felt a little Pack Rat-y, in that you can just untap with this guy and start jamming 4/4's (sometimes with upside). Obviously it's not truly comparable or as powerful as a two mana one color card like Pack Rat, but you get the reference. I liked this one more than the UR one for sure. This might be my fourth or fifth Dimir card.
And that's the end of what I tested from this week's spoilers. I hope you stuck around through the end and I hope you found it informative. I'm looking forward to reading your results. I think it's helpful to see how cards play out for other groups. It helps me to evaluate how they might play in my own cube.
So far, I'm going to add Ramunap Excavator, Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh, and Abrade. I'll test out Angel of Condemnation and see how that works. After the craziness of Amonkhet, I'll be okay if this is all we get.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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
Proxied up the HOU cards and tested them. Here are my results:
Nicol Bolas, the God-Pharoah: Fine 7-drop planeswalker,but has the same weakness as Karn in that it can't deal with an opposing swarm of creatures. It was cast several times, and the most common modes used were the Mind Rot +1 and the deal 7 -4. Decent enough results, will continue to test
Abrade: sat in the sideboards twice, when asked why the players replied that they would rather have a burn spell that hits face. Kind of unexpected, because Abrade struck me as a card that is 100% maindeckable given its modal nature. Will continue testing
Ramunap Excavator: This guy was in a deck with Strip Mine, functioning the same as Crucible, tested as expected
Adorned Pouncer: Never eternalized, but the player who had it said it was decent enough, but wish he had more equipment to make use of the double strike. Will continue testing
The Scarab God: Great threat, the times it was removed only meant delaying the inevitable. Managed to Eternalize a Grave Titan and other large threats that the U/B player killed. Will continue testing, but positive results so far
Abrade: sat in the sideboards twice, when asked why the players replied that they would rather have a burn spell that hits face. Kind of unexpected, because Abrade struck me as a card that is 100% maindeckable given its modal nature. Will continue testing
It is odd that initial testing results in s/b time for new cards. I can't imagine that ever happening here. I could tell the guys I'm testing the new Squire variant and they'd be sure to at least throw it in as their 23rd just to get some reps in with it. It's not often that testing proxies ride the sideboard here. Hopefully your group gets past their dislike of Abrade. We all thought it was great. Don't think of it as a burn spell. Think of it as an artifact hate spell with an upside of being able to kill a creature in certain situations.
Poor set for cube overall, but I'm still looking forward to testing a few cards. Lots of cards I'm not testing that should fall in the 630+ range.
Ranked by chance of lasting over a year
90%+
Ramunap Excavator
The Scarab God
50%+
Nimble Obstructionist - Highest upside chance of any card in the set for my 2x fetchland cube.
Kefnet's Last word
25%+
The Scorpion God - Sleeper pick
10%-
Nicol Bolas, God pharaoh -I don't support tri section, not sure I want something so narrow, lots of expensive payoff cards in cube as is)
Reason//Believe -Mostly just to test my analysis, since I have reason//believe this card is very close to cubeable, and the world disagrees
Potential Cubeable cards I'm not testing (in order of interest):
Supreme Will - Im at Counterspell saturation at the moment, most cubes should SLAM this. Probably being silly not playing it.
Bloodwater Entity -Card is pretty meh outside of it's interaction with recall/timewalk... Maybe that's enough to give it a test.
Driven//Despair - Potential Sleeper of the set, but doing too much with golgari at the moment to test a narrow card
Angel of condemnation -seems so fun, but don't think it can survive my environment
Adorned Pouncer - Ultimately decided that I don't have enough ways to pump it reliably. If that changes, will test.
Bontu's Last reckoning -Black wrath saturation at the moment, worth testing
Doomfall - Underrated card. Large cubes should slam.
Abrade - Versatiltiy is nice, too weak for red agro, but a nice sideboard card and a solid playable in slower red builds.
Hollow one - Could see this card maybe doing something down the road in cube, zero mana 4/4 is a pretty busted ceiling
Is it just us or this set looks pretty weak so far? We haven't seen any wow card since day 1 of spoiling season. Some decent pieces to look at, but that's pretty much it... We hope we haven't see the best of it.
Yeah, weak set for sure. Not just for cube either but in general. It just seems to be a bunch of edh chaffe. Maybe we'll get some surprises down the home stretch. I'm most excited for the locust god and nimble obstructionist.
I've been kind of underwhelmed by this set as well but AKH was a cube home run so my expectations were probably a little too high. I'm stoked to cube with new Bolas, Magus of the Crucible, and The Scarab God and I'll also be testing Adorned Pouncer, Earthshaker Kehnra, Nimble Obstructionist, Abrade, and Supreme Will. Hoping for another gem or two but my hopes are not high.
This spoiler season does feel like it kind of came out of the gates quick and then slowed to a halt. Not a single inclusion (IMO) since last Thursday's spoilers. I'm ok to not add many cards from a set, but I guess it just feels kind of off given recent releases. I actually sent a message to my cube group's Facebook chat this morning complaining about how slow this spoiler season seems to be moving.
With that said, if we get a couple solid inclusions and six to eight fringe inclusions from a small set, that's really not that bad. If the rest of the set is gonna give us zilch, though, I wish they'd just tell me now and not drag it out the rest of the week!
This is the first set in a while that I'm contemplating not even doing a prerelease for. I need so little from this set for my 450 unpowered that I can't even expect to get 1 card I need while enjoying some limited play. Granted there are more spoilers to come; perhaps for once we will get a couple exciting final day surprises. This set took a lot of existing effects, bumped up their costs and added cycling or modality to justify the increase but most of these cards don't get there. Worse yet, based on the unfortunately early spoilers Ixalan is looking like quite the dud as well. Hooray for my wallet, but still disappointing. Ixalan's explore mechanic looks tailor-made for cube but I didn't see one application of it at rare/mythic that interested me.
Definitely In The Scarab God - This is exactly what I needed. Great p/t to cost ratio, makes super zombie clones, relevant zombie synergies (direct loss of life, card filtering), recurs, and has sweet art to boot. Can't justify pet cards in Dimir anymore. Definite cut is Oona, Queen of the Fae.
Abrade - Personally I think powered cubes want smash to smithereens over this, but for unpowered this is probably just a bit better. I like my burn to be able to hit the face, but I think this has enough power in its flexibility to be acceptable without that option. Potential cuts are Smash to Smithereens and Goblin Glory Chaser (because there is nothing else in my burn suite I want to lose for this).
Ramunap Excavator - Crucible of Worlds is the one card I have not been able to obtain for my cube so I can't ascertain this card's value just yet. I think I actually prefer this effect stapled to a creature though as it becomes a bit more interactive and in the case of the strip mine combo allows you to beat with this while locking them out! Potential cuts are Wickerbough Elder and Eldritch Evolution.
Testing Likely Out Adorned Pouncer - 3WW for a 4/4 double striker is actually a really solid rate, but the initial Fencing Ace mode is likely too lackluster for this guy to make the cut. Potential cut is Kor Skyfisher
Rhonas's Last Stand - 5/4 for GG is insane value. I get that in practice it can play more like a 5/4 for GG with echo or worse a late game 5/4 that locks all your tapped lands. In unpowered cubes this can resolve turn 1 with a Mox Diamond, and powered cubes have a couple more ways to play this turn 1. Mana elves are another way to alleviate the land exerting clause. Its value diminishes immensely if you can't play it early as the drawback begins to outweigh the potential benefit. It is a very swingy card to be sure.
Sifter Wurm - This Pelakka Wurm variant is definitely on my radar. I feel like the number of times I'll want this versus the OG wurm are going to be really close. Does a fixed 7 life and a card upon death outweigh a card selection ETB ability in green that will also provide a random amount of life (probably 3-4 on average).
Watching: Angel of Condemnation - My guess is that it is too mana intensive and that 3 toughness is the death-knell for inclusion. Supreme Will - Love both effects Impulse and Mana Leak at 1U but not sure the flexibility makes them worth 2U. The Locust God - Currently have Dack's Duplicate in my #4 Izzet slot and this is certainly more interesting. Still, don't like 6 drops that die so easily, particularly Guild cards. Kefnet's Last Word - Really difficult to evaluate how much the landlock tempo loss hurts compared to the average tempo swing you'll get from this spell. Will be watching.
There are several cards from this set I'd call "fun" inclusions and powerful enough to test, which is really exciting! There are a few cards I'm really set on including, but the most are fringe includes that might get replaced. Onto the list (540 Powered)
W Emeria Angel -> Angel of Condemnation
Just more thought and game play involved with this new angel vs Emerial Angel. Really wish it had a fourth toughness, but I think it's worth the swap.
U Curator of Mysteries -> Nimble Obstructionist
I thought about cutting something else and running both, but I just don't like the Sphinx. This is an upgrade and it will be fun. Disallow -> Supreme Will
I wanted to like Disallow. The beautiful art, the possibilities! It was a dud. Supreme will is so much more unique and I love modal spells, so this is an easy swap.
B Tombstalker -> Ammit Eternal
I never really cared for Tombstalker. I never knew what deck he went in and nobody seemed to draft him. This guy, on the other hand, is a 5/5 demon too! BUT HE'S ALSO A ROCKIN ZOMBIE CROCODILE - whaaaaat?! I added plague belcher in last set and he's been a great splash-able zombie beater with a fun mini game, and we like those kind of cards. This happens to be very similar, and I'm happy with a more interactive card over a 5/5 flyer.
R Roast -> Abrade
Roast isn't a very glamorous card, but I wanted to curb the amount of dome damage in my red burn, so I found room for it. This stays in line with the creature only damage and has great versatility, making it much more main deck-able. Great swap.
G Rishkar, Peema Renegade -> Ramunap Excavator
I was up and down on Rishkar, but he was always worst at slot. Then there's this guy, and he's going in. I'd like to get a Loam and get a larger selection of support for this archetype, but I'm not sure about other cards.
UB Far // Away -> The Scarab God
This guy seems really good. It's awesome with the zombie synergies I've been tossing around, and makes more! Cube creature zombies are the best zombies. I really like the fact that he recurs, that part puts it over the top for me.
So nothing super powerful, just a lot of fun tweaks that I really think could make for a lot of interesting choices. I rather liked this set for cube, and in fact this entire block. No artifacts from this block, but that's alright. Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts!
For my cube, the only sure bets right now are Bolas and Excavator. I'm probably going to find room for Abrade. The Scarab God is tempting, but I'd have to cut Tezzeret 2.0. Not sure I want to do that. Supreme Will and Nimble Obstructionist are maybes.
For my cube, the only sure bets right now are Bolas and Excavator. I'm probably going to find room for Abrade. The Scarab God is tempting, but I'd have to cut Tezzeret 2.0. Not sure I want to do that. Supreme Will and Nimble Obstructionist are maybes.
Cheers,
rant
This is why I like having a small, miscellaneous multicolor section. It's mostly some tribrids, and Nicol Bolas will go in there, but I also wanted to try out Deathrite Shaman without cutting any BG cards. It's not noticeable in the draft. I'd think it'd be especially true for Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas, which pretty much isn't a Dimir card so much as it's an artifact.dec card. It's really narrow, whereas the Scarab God is quite a bit broader. Yeah, the colors wouldn't quite be balanced, but a card here or there doesn't make enough of a difference to me. I found this to be true when I was considering playing one of each 3-color card, and it turns out a few of the shards just don't have much worth playing. I'd rather have an extra UB card than a BRG card that no one ever drafts.
I'm with you on Bolas and Excavator being sure things, but I think Abrade is close. Once I power the cube, I'm definitely finding room for Smash to Smithereens, and Abrade might come in over one of the Incinerate variants.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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
HOU isn't exactly the most exciting cube set, especially having to follow up after Amonkhet.
However, I always say quality over quantity, and definitely scored 2 things from my long term wishlist: new Bolas, Magus of the Crucible, and more modal spells. Hopefully we get some last minute goodies!
Here's what I currently plan to include / test
WHITE
Angel of Condemnation
BLUE
Supreme Will
BLACK
*crickets*
RED
Earthshaker Kherna
Abrade
GREEN
Magus of the Crucible
OTHER The Scarab God
Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh
4/5 of the mono-colored deserts (all of them except the blue one).
Abrade, Magus, and God-Pharaoh are the only ones I see with long-term potential. The Scarab God looks promising and maybe he'll edge out Hostage Taker in XLN if it ends up just being a 2/1.
There are no slam dunk includes for me but here are mine: Magus of the Crucible - Interacts with less lands than crucible due to colored nature. I can imagine this being replaced by better 3 drops in the future or if Strip Mine combo comes up too frequently and becomes unfun.
Angel of Condemnation - Comes in not for stats or value but for potential combo and basically "orings" a creature. Dies so easily though. Will test. Verdict : will wait and see
The Scarab God - Interesting finisher with inevitability but not irreplaceable. Also nice as an Invocation. Verdict : will wait for the price to drop and replace one of the creatures.
Abrade and Supreme Will - As utility cards, I imagine this coming in and out of cube depending on ho much counters/artifact removal you want. Will test Supreme Will over Impulse
We are only for certain including Ramunap Excavator and Scarab God so far.
I like Scorpion God but don't have room. I also like the double strike eternalise Cat in a fairly shallow slot. Getting 8 power back for 5 mana is a good deal. Keeping an eye on today's reveal now.
Oh yeah, and Abrade can probably find a way in. Nice card.
A lot of fringe playable cards but new cards are always fun so I'll test and we'll see what lasts. Looking forward to playing The Scarab God and Nimble Obstructionist.
WUBRG
Nicol Bolas
The scarab god RRR
Abrade
Hour of Devastation
Burnjng - Fist Minotaur WWW
Adorned Pouncer
Angel of condemnation GGG
Ramunap Excavator UUU
Nimble Obstructionist
Supreme will
Kefnet's Last Word BBB
Ammit Eternal
Near-finalized list of changes for HOU update + other changes that I want to test. Decided to forsake the deserts and re-include Kor Haven / Mirrodin's Core for more colorless support. Going to test Palace Jailer since it goes well with Angel of Condemnation and has a bunch of other synergies. Craterhoof Behemoth / Tooth and Nail going in to give super ramp more payoffs.
Abrade - This is an excellent utility card. It more than lived up to expectations. It's not broken or overpowered by any stretch of the imagination, but it is really good. I would expect this to be in the cube for a while.
Adorned Pouncer - I played this guy in multiple decks and never activated the Eternalize ability. The double strike was relevant a few times, but in those instances Youthful Knight would have done the same work. The possibility of a late game Eternalize and/or picking up an equipment certainly makes him better than a random 2/1 first striker, but neither of those things happened in my games last night. My first impression is that he'll be a decent 2-drop flex card until we get another solid white 2-drop that looks worth testing. He'll do a fine job of holding that spot.
Angel of Condemnation - I only got to draft this once, but I had it in an Orzhov Braids Tokens shell. It was fantastic there. EOT blink out my Braids, take my turn, bring Braids back, pass. Good times. The vigilance was relevant as well (as vigilance tends to be). Obviously the combo with Braids is really good and a small sample size, but I look forward to seeing what other fun interactions this card has. Four mana for the 3/3 with all this utility felt perfectly priced for this. I was happy to pay that price for everything it came with and I didn't feel cheated if my opponent killed it almost immediately.
Bontu's Last Reckoning - I didn't play this personally, but I did have it played against me. I was on a BG aggro deck and my opponent was UB control. I was on the play and by turn three I had curved out perfectly. My opponent's turn three was cast this, pass. My turn four ended up being lackluster and he played a land, cast Top and passed again. Granted, I didn't have a strong follow up on turn four and if I had cast a Thrun or something there, maybe it would have been problematic, but it would have been just as big of a problem for a Toxic Deluge that was cast on turn three in that same spot. The guy who drafted this card actually drafted it in all three drafts that we did and first picked it once. He was really impressed and told me he never felt like the can't untap clause set him back as much as it seemed like it should because it was such a cheap tempo swing.
Mirage Mirror - This card did some things. It's interesting to say the least. I wish the card created a token copy instead of becoming a copy itself so it could take advantage of ETB effects. I also wish it retained the ability to copy something else. Either of these would probably make it too good, though. With that said it was able to copy opposing creatures and either nullify attacks or simply trade. I copied and traded with a Primeval Titan in one game and that was ok, but not great. I think that's my initial reaction on this card: ok, but not great. I'm thinking maybe it doesn't do enough, but I'd like to keep it around for a few more drafts to get a better feeling about it.
Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh - The big daddy. He was drafted and cast in all three drafts we did. I didn't get him personally, but he had good reviews from the guys that did. "I didn't lose a game that I cast him." - direct quote. After the night was done we sat around and I asked the guys what they thought of the new cards. We all agreed that we'd currently rather have the new Bolas because he still has that new smell. It seemed, though, that the new one is top notch when you're ahead, decent when you're at parity, and only ok when you're behind. The +2 mill doesn't do much to help you in that position unless you get lucky and hit something crazy. It was a fun little mini-game, though. The +1 was great at parity to help you pull ahead, but I did see him played against a hellbent opponent, so that's a thing. The -4 Fireball mode is good at doming the opponent and at removal. Typical use was either minus four, kill you or minus four kill that and then start using the plus abilities depending on which one made more sense. The card was really good, but after one night and a small sample size, I still prefer the original to this. It is nice to have new interesting cards in the cube, though, so he'll have a home for a long while to come.
Nimble Obstructionist - This card was better than I thought it'd be. A Flash 3/1 flyer for three was great as an EOT surprise or a mid combat removal spell in a color that you don't expect it from. The 2U Stifle cantrip mode was great as well. Against my own decks it Stifled a fetch, a Nekrataal, and a six mana Elspeth plus ability to keep me from getting the three soldiers. We all really liked this card a lot.
Ramunap Excavator - This one was less impressive than I thought it'd be, but also my deck wasn't really built to take advantage of it. I had it in that BG deck I mentioned earlier. I had Wasteland, a fetch, and a Treetop Village which felt like enough to make it solid, but those interactions never came up. This guy still has me contemplating bringing back Life From the Loam (which never really impressed us), Titania, and other 'lands matter' type cards to try to push an archetype like this in GX strategies. For now, after one night of drafting, he's a Crucible on legs and that's good enough.
Supreme Will - Like Abrade, this just felt really solid. Being priced at 2U didn't feel expensive given the versatility. It's Mana Leak or Impulse. We already know how good each of those cards are in a cube, so I won't say much about that. The big thing with this card is being priced at one more for those effects and it really didn't feel as bad as I thought it would.
The Lcust God - This guy in play was great if he survived long enough to be great. The six mana cost was a little detrimental and felt kind of bad for a base 4/4 in cube, even with all the sweet in play effects tacked on. I want to test him more, but my first impression is that he's a bit too overpriced to stand out in a cube environment.
The Scarab God - We actually forgot to seed this guy in for the second two drafts, but he was decent when he did see play. A five mana 5/5 felt a lot better than the six mana 4/4 on The Locust God. The activation was priced appropriately and felt a little Pack Rat-y, in that you can just untap with this guy and start jamming 4/4's (sometimes with upside). Obviously it's not truly comparable or as powerful as a two mana one color card like Pack Rat, but you get the reference. I liked this one more than the UR one for sure. This might be my fourth or fifth Dimir card.
And that's the end of what I tested from this week's spoilers. I hope you stuck around through the end and I hope you found it informative. I'm looking forward to reading your results. I think it's helpful to see how cards play out for other groups. It helps me to evaluate how they might play in my own cube.
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
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EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
Nicol Bolas, the God-Pharoah: Fine 7-drop planeswalker,but has the same weakness as Karn in that it can't deal with an opposing swarm of creatures. It was cast several times, and the most common modes used were the Mind Rot +1 and the deal 7 -4. Decent enough results, will continue to test
Abrade: sat in the sideboards twice, when asked why the players replied that they would rather have a burn spell that hits face. Kind of unexpected, because Abrade struck me as a card that is 100% maindeckable given its modal nature. Will continue testing
Ramunap Excavator: This guy was in a deck with Strip Mine, functioning the same as Crucible, tested as expected
Adorned Pouncer: Never eternalized, but the player who had it said it was decent enough, but wish he had more equipment to make use of the double strike. Will continue testing
The Scarab God: Great threat, the times it was removed only meant delaying the inevitable. Managed to Eternalize a Grave Titan and other large threats that the U/B player killed. Will continue testing, but positive results so far
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It is odd that initial testing results in s/b time for new cards. I can't imagine that ever happening here. I could tell the guys I'm testing the new Squire variant and they'd be sure to at least throw it in as their 23rd just to get some reps in with it. It's not often that testing proxies ride the sideboard here. Hopefully your group gets past their dislike of Abrade. We all thought it was great. Don't think of it as a burn spell. Think of it as an artifact hate spell with an upside of being able to kill a creature in certain situations.
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
Follow me. I tweet.
Ranked by chance of lasting over a year
90%+
Ramunap Excavator
The Scarab God
50%+
Nimble Obstructionist - Highest upside chance of any card in the set for my 2x fetchland cube.
Kefnet's Last word
25%+
The Scorpion God - Sleeper pick
10%-
Nicol Bolas, God pharaoh -I don't support tri section, not sure I want something so narrow, lots of expensive payoff cards in cube as is)
Reason//Believe -Mostly just to test my analysis, since I have reason//believe this card is very close to cubeable, and the world disagrees
Potential Cubeable cards I'm not testing (in order of interest):
Supreme Will - Im at Counterspell saturation at the moment, most cubes should SLAM this. Probably being silly not playing it.
Bloodwater Entity -Card is pretty meh outside of it's interaction with recall/timewalk... Maybe that's enough to give it a test.
Driven//Despair - Potential Sleeper of the set, but doing too much with golgari at the moment to test a narrow card
Angel of condemnation -seems so fun, but don't think it can survive my environment
Adorned Pouncer - Ultimately decided that I don't have enough ways to pump it reliably. If that changes, will test.
Bontu's Last reckoning -Black wrath saturation at the moment, worth testing
Doomfall - Underrated card. Large cubes should slam.
Abrade - Versatiltiy is nice, too weak for red agro, but a nice sideboard card and a solid playable in slower red builds.
Hollow one - Could see this card maybe doing something down the road in cube, zero mana 4/4 is a pretty busted ceiling
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That being said, I'm currently at 11 cards that I plan to include / test, but I'm only truly excited about Magus and Bolas.
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With that said, if we get a couple solid inclusions and six to eight fringe inclusions from a small set, that's really not that bad. If the rest of the set is gonna give us zilch, though, I wish they'd just tell me now and not drag it out the rest of the week!
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Definitely In
The Scarab God - This is exactly what I needed. Great p/t to cost ratio, makes super zombie clones, relevant zombie synergies (direct loss of life, card filtering), recurs, and has sweet art to boot. Can't justify pet cards in Dimir anymore. Definite cut is Oona, Queen of the Fae.
Testing Likely In
Nimble Obstructionist - 3 power with flash in the air or stifle + cantrip for 2U is the kind of flexible, evasive, tempo card my cube wants. Potential cuts are Kira, Great Glass-Spinner or Baral, Chief of Compliance.
Abrade - Personally I think powered cubes want smash to smithereens over this, but for unpowered this is probably just a bit better. I like my burn to be able to hit the face, but I think this has enough power in its flexibility to be acceptable without that option. Potential cuts are Smash to Smithereens and Goblin Glory Chaser (because there is nothing else in my burn suite I want to lose for this).
Ramunap Excavator - Crucible of Worlds is the one card I have not been able to obtain for my cube so I can't ascertain this card's value just yet. I think I actually prefer this effect stapled to a creature though as it becomes a bit more interactive and in the case of the strip mine combo allows you to beat with this while locking them out! Potential cuts are Wickerbough Elder and Eldritch Evolution.
Testing Likely Out
Adorned Pouncer - 3WW for a 4/4 double striker is actually a really solid rate, but the initial Fencing Ace mode is likely too lackluster for this guy to make the cut. Potential cut is Kor Skyfisher
Rhonas's Last Stand - 5/4 for GG is insane value. I get that in practice it can play more like a 5/4 for GG with echo or worse a late game 5/4 that locks all your tapped lands. In unpowered cubes this can resolve turn 1 with a Mox Diamond, and powered cubes have a couple more ways to play this turn 1. Mana elves are another way to alleviate the land exerting clause. Its value diminishes immensely if you can't play it early as the drawback begins to outweigh the potential benefit. It is a very swingy card to be sure.
Sifter Wurm - This Pelakka Wurm variant is definitely on my radar. I feel like the number of times I'll want this versus the OG wurm are going to be really close. Does a fixed 7 life and a card upon death outweigh a card selection ETB ability in green that will also provide a random amount of life (probably 3-4 on average).
Watching:
Angel of Condemnation - My guess is that it is too mana intensive and that 3 toughness is the death-knell for inclusion.
Supreme Will - Love both effects Impulse and Mana Leak at 1U but not sure the flexibility makes them worth 2U.
The Locust God - Currently have Dack's Duplicate in my #4 Izzet slot and this is certainly more interesting. Still, don't like 6 drops that die so easily, particularly Guild cards.
Kefnet's Last Word - Really difficult to evaluate how much the landlock tempo loss hurts compared to the average tempo swing you'll get from this spell. Will be watching.
W
Emeria Angel -> Angel of Condemnation
Just more thought and game play involved with this new angel vs Emerial Angel. Really wish it had a fourth toughness, but I think it's worth the swap.
U
Curator of Mysteries -> Nimble Obstructionist
I thought about cutting something else and running both, but I just don't like the Sphinx. This is an upgrade and it will be fun.
Disallow -> Supreme Will
I wanted to like Disallow. The beautiful art, the possibilities! It was a dud. Supreme will is so much more unique and I love modal spells, so this is an easy swap.
B
Tombstalker -> Ammit Eternal
I never really cared for Tombstalker. I never knew what deck he went in and nobody seemed to draft him. This guy, on the other hand, is a 5/5 demon too! BUT HE'S ALSO A ROCKIN ZOMBIE CROCODILE - whaaaaat?! I added plague belcher in last set and he's been a great splash-able zombie beater with a fun mini game, and we like those kind of cards. This happens to be very similar, and I'm happy with a more interactive card over a 5/5 flyer.
R
Roast -> Abrade
Roast isn't a very glamorous card, but I wanted to curb the amount of dome damage in my red burn, so I found room for it. This stays in line with the creature only damage and has great versatility, making it much more main deck-able. Great swap.
G
Rishkar, Peema Renegade -> Ramunap Excavator
I was up and down on Rishkar, but he was always worst at slot. Then there's this guy, and he's going in. I'd like to get a Loam and get a larger selection of support for this archetype, but I'm not sure about other cards.
UB
Far // Away -> The Scarab God
This guy seems really good. It's awesome with the zombie synergies I've been tossing around, and makes more! Cube creature zombies are the best zombies. I really like the fact that he recurs, that part puts it over the top for me.
UBR
Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker -> Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh
This was a tough choice, but the cast-ability and fun factor made me go for the swap in the end.
So nothing super powerful, just a lot of fun tweaks that I really think could make for a lot of interesting choices. I rather liked this set for cube, and in fact this entire block. No artifacts from this block, but that's alright. Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts!
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This is why I like having a small, miscellaneous multicolor section. It's mostly some tribrids, and Nicol Bolas will go in there, but I also wanted to try out Deathrite Shaman without cutting any BG cards. It's not noticeable in the draft. I'd think it'd be especially true for Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas, which pretty much isn't a Dimir card so much as it's an artifact.dec card. It's really narrow, whereas the Scarab God is quite a bit broader. Yeah, the colors wouldn't quite be balanced, but a card here or there doesn't make enough of a difference to me. I found this to be true when I was considering playing one of each 3-color card, and it turns out a few of the shards just don't have much worth playing. I'd rather have an extra UB card than a BRG card that no one ever drafts.
I'm with you on Bolas and Excavator being sure things, but I think Abrade is close. Once I power the cube, I'm definitely finding room for Smash to Smithereens, and Abrade might come in over one of the Incinerate variants.
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However, I always say quality over quantity, and definitely scored 2 things from my long term wishlist: new Bolas, Magus of the Crucible, and more modal spells. Hopefully we get some last minute goodies!
Here's what I currently plan to include / test
WHITE
Angel of Condemnation
BLUE
Supreme Will
BLACK
*crickets*
RED
Earthshaker Kherna
Abrade
GREEN
Magus of the Crucible
OTHER
The Scarab God
Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh
4/5 of the mono-colored deserts (all of them except the blue one).
Abrade, Magus, and God-Pharaoh are the only ones I see with long-term potential. The Scarab God looks promising and maybe he'll edge out Hostage Taker in XLN if it ends up just being a 2/1.
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Magus of the Crucible - Interacts with less lands than crucible due to colored nature. I can imagine this being replaced by better 3 drops in the future or if Strip Mine combo comes up too frequently and becomes unfun.
Angel of Condemnation - Comes in not for stats or value but for potential combo and basically "orings" a creature. Dies so easily though. Will test. Verdict : will wait and see
The Scarab God - Interesting finisher with inevitability but not irreplaceable. Also nice as an Invocation. Verdict : will wait for the price to drop and replace one of the creatures.
Abrade and Supreme Will - As utility cards, I imagine this coming in and out of cube depending on ho much counters/artifact removal you want. Will test Supreme Will over Impulse
I like Scorpion God but don't have room. I also like the double strike eternalise Cat in a fairly shallow slot. Getting 8 power back for 5 mana is a good deal. Keeping an eye on today's reveal now.
Oh yeah, and Abrade can probably find a way in. Nice card.
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
Ramunap
The Scarab God
Nicol Bolas
Tryouts are:
Abrade
Sifter Wurm
Nimble Obstruvtionist
I'm fine with a light set for cube, as I don't get to play with my cube often anyway.
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WUBRG
Nicol Bolas
The scarab god
RRR
Abrade
Hour of Devastation
Burnjng - Fist Minotaur
WWW
Adorned Pouncer
Angel of condemnation
GGG
Ramunap Excavator
UUU
Nimble Obstructionist
Supreme will
Kefnet's Last Word
BBB
Ammit Eternal
Cards I'll prioritize acquiring:
Cards I'll add if I open, but won't immediately order:
Maybes:
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WHITE
Adorned Pouncer
Angel of Condemnation
BLUE
Supreme Will
Nimble Obstructionist
BLACK
Ammit Eternal
Bontu's Last Reckoning
RED
Earthshaker Kherna
Abrade
Hour of Devastation
GREEN
Ramunap Excavator
MULTI
The Scarab God
Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh
As a bonus, here's my test cards from Amonkhet that people have talked me into testing (Mostly Usman's doing, partly playgroup, partly twitter peeps):
WHITE
Cast Out
BLACK
Plague Belcher
RED
Bloodlust Inciter
Ahn-Crop Crasher
Glorybringer
COLORLESS
Throne of the God-Pharaoh
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Angel of condemnation for selfless squire
U
Supreme Will for impulse
Nimble obstructionist for stormbound geist
Champion of wits for talrand, sky summoner
B
Ammit eternal for xathrid necromancer
R
abrade for incinerate
G
ramunap excavator for gilt-leaf ambush
BG
driven // despair for reaper of the wilds
As a late inclusion, ammit eternal is making me go all in on the zombie tribal support and plague belcher will be joining the cube in pace of hypnotic specter
Nimble Obstructionist (Baral)
Supreme Will (Disallow)
Burning-Fist Minotaur (Ember Hauler)
Abrade (Manic Vandal)
Ramunap Excavator (Tireless Tracker)
The Scarab God (Recoil or Grimgrin)
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