MTG Salvation

Elite Spellbinder -
Creature - Human Cleric
Flying
When Elite Spellbinder enters the battlefield, look at target opponent's hand. You may exile a nonland card from it. For as long as that card remains exiled, its owner may play it. A spell cast this way costs more to cast.
3/1

Hand attack in white that can disrupt the curve pre-armageddon seems really strong for aggro decks, not to mention its a good flicker target and comes strapped to a good clock and a strong flying body. Its super splashable, can be tutored with Recruiter of the Guard, and is even a Human for the cubes that care about that kind of thing. ETB doesn't work great as a late game topdeck, but the body should ideally help make up for that

Can't wait to test this guy, looks really strong imo.

Big staple energy, at least at 540+

A white discard? This is interesting, but white 3 CMC is so stacked ..

While that slot is stacked, the effect is unique enough that it warrants testing. This card can potentially invalidate your opponent’s next turn. If not it can still make some spells difficult to cast, like a 4 mana counterspell or a 10 mana Ugin. And it can make some spells not worth it, like a 4 mana 2 drop.

I wish this was a 1W 2/1 flyer instead

I’m sure at some point they will work this effect out and power it up and land on a Mesmeric Fiend/Brain Maggot design at 1W or WW, but until then, this is what we have.


and I think it’s sweet and cool. I hope it’s good in paper.


I can’t believe you just get to see their hand while deploying a 3 power flyer and slowing their best card down by 2 or more turns, or operate as discard that your opponent opts into.


This is White we’re talking about, so that means two things:
-This is new and exciting.
-The slot will be super hard to find.

It really feels similar to a Nimble Obstructionist-style card, I bet some people will play it for a long time, and others will cut it next time the slot beckons.

I saw hurrah for white getting more taxing tools. The thing I like most is that when this creature is removed the tax stays. It would be even better if they couldn't play the exiled card withouy creatures still being in play but that is probably too good. Seesms real fun with blink, Competes in hte same slot as flickerwisp and displacer and every other 3 drop.

Very much worth a spin

A card worth testing for sure. Flying is also super relevant in cube. Going over blockers is just a good in cube as elsewhere. It's too bad it doesn't have flash. It feels like it should.

This is a very cool effect, and a strong one. I don't love the 1 toughness as there's a lot of 1/1 spirits and thopters floating (HA) around now, but this is yet another WW tool for delaying opposing wraths that's on good, aggressive, on-curve body. This makes deluge cost 5! Will test for sure.

A splashable 3-cost, 3/1 flier that generates two mana worth of tempo when it ETBs is a solid card to me. Of course, it won't get there when your opponent's hand is empty or all land. But on the flip side, sometimes you'll play this against a fatty cheating deck, and exiling one of their top-end targets (say, an Ulamog) from their hand effectively removes it from the game. The card shines in tempo and blink strategies, but I would never feel bad about including it in just about any other type of deck. I like the card enough to find a cut for it even without a blink theme, and I think it's a surefire include with one.

I like this and will be testing in my White flex spot. I dont think this will be a standout but will be solid value. The tax of 2 is no joke and will often put some bigger spells out of reach for the duration of the game.

Also works well with blink shenanigans as side note.

Great card. Basically exactly what you want to be curving into in any disruptive agressive deck.
2 mana is a serious tax if you are pushing the tempo hard.. Compared to a mesmeric fiend variant, he not only slows the opponent down, but he ALSO presents a clock that's not far away from curve to do so.
He won't single handedly ruin the plan of a glass cannon combo deck , but that's a fine consoloation.

He's better the more agressive the deck he's in.

Staple.

What I'm really hoping for with this card is a synergistic pairing with Armageddon, as NotScott already highlighted. As an evasive 3 power creature, it might set you up really well for an Armageddon by delaying your opponents curve in the crucial moment. Whether this is good enough remains to be seen, but I'm interested for this reason.

Has the same CMC and stats as Flickerwisp, but is easier to cast/slashable and gives a more guaranteed return to its CIP ability.
Flickerwisp has higher upside to its CIP, but given the easier casting cost and better worst case scenario CIP for this card, I could see this guy potentially edging out Flickerwisp. It's probably the card that it's competing with for me at least.

Quote from IMorphling89 »

Has the same CMC and stats as Flickerwisp, but is easier to cast/slashable and gives a more guaranteed return to its CIP ability.
Flickerwisp has higher upside to its CIP, but given the easier casting cost and better worst case scenario CIP for this card, I could see this guy potentially edging out Flickerwisp. It's probably the card that it's competing with for me at least.

But wisping this guy is so fun 👀

Quote from Sliver Lord »

Quote from IMorphling89 »

Has the same CMC and stats as Flickerwisp, but is easier to cast/slashable and gives a more guaranteed return to its CIP ability.
Flickerwisp has higher upside to its CIP, but given the easier casting cost and better worst case scenario CIP for this card, I could see this guy potentially edging out Flickerwisp. It's probably the card that it's competing with for me at least.

But wisping this guy is so fun

That's True. I guess I could maybe cut a different CMC card - I think my other bubble cards in white are probably Elspeth, Knight-Errant, Day of Judgment, Land Tax or Emeria's Call. Could you see cutting one of those for this?

Quote from IMorphling89 »

That's True. I guess I could maybe cut a different CMC card - I think my other bubble cards in white are probably Elspeth, Knight-Errant, Day of Judgment, Land Tax or Emeria's Call. Could you see cutting one of those for this?

Land tax. Land tax has not been a great cube card in years IMO. Even in games where it does it all, it doesn't do much. Unless you have some package that cares about discarding lands, I'd cut it.

I like all of those cards more than this creature, and Land Tax is still an awesome card for us.

I could see myself cutting Emeria's Call for this, but I agree, Land Tax is still great.

Tax is a funny card. Really awkward on the play, really good on the draw. I personally like it, but not over this.

Wrath completely depends on how many other effects of its kind you have/want.

Elspeth is super awesome.

I was high on the mystic MDFCs dying spoiler season but they’ve played a lot worse than expected. Call is an easy cut from those 4 imo.

Quote from Sliver Lord »

I was high on the mystic MDFCs dying spoiler season but they’ve played a lot worse than expected. Call is an easy cut from those 4 imo.

Definitely agree with this, both parts. The mythics haven't been cast a single time in our games. (And then they also printed another version I'd rather play with anyway.)