Weak set. It's going to be hard to create a top 20 article for this set.
Seems like the weakest standard set since Born of the Gods.
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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
I actually like that there are only a few certain inclusions from this set.
Power creep has been going on a little too fast for my liking for the past few years - especially for on the creature side.
The set itself looks fun to draft and good for standard, so I'm not complaining :).
Easily the worst cube set since I began cubing with innistrad. At least journey, born of the gods, and dragon's maze all had a couple of slam dunks.
I'm going to try nimble obstructionist. I don't think it is 360 good but it is my style. Abrade is worth trying but red burn spells that don't go to the face usually get cut from most aggressive red decks in my cube and are often splashed against red aggressive decks.
I'm generally fine with a light set but it feels bad because the mechanics could have made sweet cube cards. Aftermath, embalm, and all the modal spells seemed like a good idea. Gods and last word spells were supposed to be overpowered with drawbacks but didn't get there.
Yeah... this set is such a let-down, particularly after an amazing set like Amonkhet. Right now the only cards I'm actually trying out are Abrade, Supreme Will, and Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign.
Ramunap Excavator and Abrade are the only good cards from the set. I'll be testing a few others at 540, but that's it. Set's a dud.
Not a fan of Bolas or Burning-Fist Minotaur?
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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
Ramunap Excavator and Abrade are the only good cards from the set. I'll be testing a few others at 540, but that's it. Set's a dud.
Not a fan of Bolas or Burning-Fist Minotaur?
Bolas is good if you're already running the original one. It's the new fun giant planeswalker! Better than the original, but still only good enough if you need to fill an open Grixis slot.
And I don't think the Minotaur is good enough outside of really big cubes, no.
Bolas is getting a facelift, Ramunap Excavator over Rishkar (temporarily) and Abrade over Incinerate (less temporarily). Nothing else catches my interest.
And I don't think the Minotaur is good enough outside of really big cubes, no.
Without having played with the minotaur at all, this is just theory crafting, but I think I like it more than what I get from Aether Chaser. The blowout risk of "respond to the discard with removal" threat is there, but the reward of "turn this unneeded card in my hand into two more first strike damage" looks pretty good. I'm going to make this swap and see how it goes.
I'd play it in a second if it allowed me to pitch cards for free, because it would be faster and more reliable for decks that want discard outlets (even if it was only +1/+0). As it stands, it shuts off most of my follow-up plays based on the discard cost, and outside of simply being a good blocker, I don't think it helps support as many decks as Chaser does ...since there are a lot of builds that like having a 2-drop that can make 2 bodies without any additional mana investment.
That's fair. I think it looks interesting, at least, and I feel like the slot in the red twos that Chaser holds is a bit of a flex slot. It's worth a shot for a few drafts. Chaser could always come back or maybe we'll get some other sweet red two in the upcoming sets.
And I don't think the Minotaur is good enough outside of really big cubes, no.
Without having played with the minotaur at all, this is just theory crafting, but I think I like it more than what I get from Aether Chaser. The blowout risk of "respond to the discard with removal" threat is there, but the reward of "turn this unneeded card in my hand into two more first strike damage" looks pretty good. I'm going to make this swap and see how it goes.
Chaser provides additional value without me having to sink more mana / cards into it, plus going wide is better with a lot of effects like equipment / anthems / Skullclamp / Opposition, etc.
I like Minotaur enough to test him over Abbot (which I never liked), but he's still at the bottom of the totem pole in his creature slot.
Also not a huge fan, but I'm adding the Minotaur because I'm a little light on discard outlets. While it isn't close to ideal for reanimator, it threatens a lot of damage and makes blocking awkward. Plus, I'm cutting a bad RR card that was rarely played (Ember Hauler) and I don't expect this card to stay for long.
Also not a huge fan, but I'm adding the Minotaur because I'm a little light on discard outlets. While it isn't close to ideal for reanimator, it threatens a lot of damage and makes blocking awkward. Plus, I'm cutting a bad RR card that was rarely played (Ember Hauler) and I don't expect this card to stay for long.
Needs more Firestorm and Wild Mongrel / Noose Constrictor Minotaur being a discard outlet is definitely his tertiary because of the mana cost associated with it.
Supreme Will
Supreme Will seems like one the best clean card in the set. The pros is that both Mana Leak and Impulse are nowhere near leaving the cube and having both in the same card can’t be wrong. The bad? The one additional mana may end up begin too much for it to compete properly in the long run. Still looks fair at first glance. Nothing impressive, but still a good modal card that would fit well into most blue decks, mainly control and combo ones.
Champion of Wits
This blue dude didn’t get and still not have the unanimity among the Salvation community. For our part, we do think it’s pretty great and that it deserves more love from you guys. Careful Study is a card that we always consider to add when we proceed to a none-set update and this brings it with on a 2/1 body for 3-mana. We do understand the point the it may look too fair because it’s like you’re actually paying 1U for the body and an extra 1 for the extra double loot. But the fact is that Champion of Wits a creature with an ETB effect, as simple as this. And that means it can be abuse! UW Blink Tempo and Reveillark say yeah my friends! Reanimation decks also got a new toy to defend themselves against aggro while fueling their yard. Blue creature deck have also find a decent not to flood out in the midgame to late game. Still, Eternalize cost is damn high. The bright side is that this activated ability is more like the cherry on top of the card. For those reasons, we think that this card need appropriate testing going forward in order to evaluate its real potential. Chances are high that it ended up being great!
Nimble Obstructionist
Man, we wish this would have been a Stiffle Clique, oh god! As it is, a 3-mana Stiffle that draws you a card or a 3/1 instant speed flying creature, it’s not strong enough for our taste. The modal part of the card may save it and makes it cubable at some point. But, overall, it doesn’t seems like the effect is enough desirable to include, even at short term, in the cube. Nice try WotC, you’ve almost did it! Please do not give up!
BBLACKB
Bontu’s Last Reckoning
The evaluation of this card is tricky. You need to determine if skipping a turn, or almost a turn if cast later in the game, worth the reward it brings. The answer is not easy to deliver but we’d say it doesn’t. First, the indestructible clause is cute, but doesn’t mean enough in cube. Then, we think the downside of losing a whole turn is just too harsh for most control decks. Maybe a deck full of walkers could afford that kind of break on turn 6 to 8… But man, if you’re having that much walkers haging around, would you just prefer to run any other sweeper, that so far ahead in terms of power level, instead of this Bontu’s inferior one? Hell yeah… After considering all the parameters of it, we conclude that it’s not really the type of wrath the cube is looking for. Even if Yahenni’s Expertise leaves the cube, which would eventually happen sooner than later, we don’t think we’ll reconsider adding at its spot when the time comes. We in fact do prefer some of the 5-mana option to it… and by a significant margin.
RREDR
Abrade
This or Smash to Smithereens? That’s the question. The answer to it is not clear. It all depends on your cube’s content, size and supported archetypes. While being both great and instant speed, for our cube, StS is better by miles. Why? Because it helps keeping burn decks alive at 650 of size. It also has the upside of having a chance to two-for-one for opponent, by destroying an artifact and killing a planeswalker. In a more general concern, in can also simply won you the game, which Abrade can’t do. The next question is, do we want both of them? We’d say no… for now at least. The card will stay on our watch list though. Still an interesting creature-only burn/artifact removal spell.
Burning Fist Minotaur
That new red 2-drop wants to be there so bad! But unfortunately, we don’t think he is at all. The possibility of being two-for-one with its activated ability is the main reason why. Even if you’re just throwing an extra land with it, the tempo loss seems just too huge to overcome. If the cost was like 1, maybe it could worth a try. At least, the creature is first strike and represents a good cheap threat when it doesn’t face the instant speed removal problem.
GGREENG
Ramunap Excavator
Crucible of Worlds on feet, right? This is a real solid shoot at being the best card in the hole set! A 2/3 creature for 3-mana isn’t a heck of a deal… Although, this ability is quite rare and unique! Providing an additional way to combo out of a Strip Mine or a Wasteland is super annoying for your opponent and being a creature able to also fit well in a stax shell makes it over the top. It kind of helps that the green 3-drop section is not deep at all, but it’s still a very strong creature to have in the cube. The only card from HOU we’d call a true staple!
DIMIR
The Scarab God
How doesn’t like scarab zombie? Oh wait, this is not a zombie… That’s so sad! I guess we’ll have to live with that fact. Knowing he’s not from the dead, is the new dimir god strong enough for powered cube? We’ve sadly the feeling that he’s not. Hopefully, he’s not that fa. Recurring himself is a great start, but man, those vanilla stats are just so meh! What the heck! At least, he has an interesting upkeep triggered… Oh, no! Just remember, he’s not a zombie! Jokes apart, its activated ability seems decent. We just think that, most of the time, paying [mana]2UB[m/mana] won’t worth the result. Sure, you can bring back a 4/4 Griselbrand, but at what cost? Exiling it from your yard? Ish… Not sure. We may be wrong about it. Maybe he can strive the UB reanimator archetype by its own. Closest card from testing platform. Still out for now. We love you Shadowmage.
UBRGRIXISUBR
Nicol Bolas, God Pharaoh
Another expensive Nicol Bolas planeswalker. A cheap one would have been so nice! Guess it would have lost part of his divine aura if it only costed 5 or 6 mana we suppose… Anyway, how does this new Nicol Bolas stands vis-à-vis its Conflux cousin? We’d say pretty close. It may be better. It may be a little worst. Still, chances are there to be better and for that reason, we’ll have to try it out. Good news is that it cost less mana. That’s a good start! Then, are the abilities better? That’s the none-clear part. We’ll have to test and see.
XCOLORLESSX
Mirage Mirror
Man, isn’t just us or that card combo out with Time Vault? Yes it does! Vizier of Tumbling Sands and then Mirage Mirror? Insane! Thanks Egyptians folks! The sad part of this is that the power level of Mirage Mirror seems quite low. We’ll still test it though, because we’re always seeking for new decent to fine playables to pair out with the vault. Copying stuff at instant speed seems also fun! Let’s just hope it can turn out to be good outside of infinite-turn decks!
Good write up, Zetsu! On the topic of Mirage Mirror, we ultimately decided it wasn't good enough. I do like the card and it is interesting, but just copying something wasn't really worth the investment. It really needed to create a temporary token or something to get ETB value.
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Seems like the weakest standard set since Born of the Gods.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
Oketra’s Avenger
Overwhelming Splendor
Saving Grace
Banewhip Punisher
Dreamstealer
Torment of Hailfire
Torment of Scarabs
Abrade
Firebrand Archer
Majestic Myriarch
Oasis Ritualist
Ramunap Excavator
Bloodwater Entity
Obelisk Spider
Mirage Mirror
But my cube is a bit funky and weird with restrictive rules about what I put in it...
Power creep has been going on a little too fast for my liking for the past few years - especially for on the creature side.
The set itself looks fun to draft and good for standard, so I'm not complaining :).
The cards I'm considering are:
W
Adorned Pouncer
Angel of Condemnation
U
Supreme Will
Nimble Obstructionist
B
-
R
Abrade
Firebrand Archer
Burning-Fist Minotaur
C
God-Pharaoh's Gift
WUBRG
The Scarab God
I'm going to try nimble obstructionist. I don't think it is 360 good but it is my style. Abrade is worth trying but red burn spells that don't go to the face usually get cut from most aggressive red decks in my cube and are often splashed against red aggressive decks.
I'm generally fine with a light set but it feels bad because the mechanics could have made sweet cube cards. Aftermath, embalm, and all the modal spells seemed like a good idea. Gods and last word spells were supposed to be overpowered with drawbacks but didn't get there.
I am keeping my mind open to a couple of others (Oketra's Avenger, Nimble Obstructionist, Champion of Wits, Ammit Eternal, Firebrand Archer, Burning-Fist Minotaur, Earthshaker Khenra, Ramunap Excavator, Sifter Wurm, The Locust God, and Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh), but I'll take a wait and see approach with them.
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Not a fan of Bolas or Burning-Fist Minotaur?
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
Bolas is good if you're already running the original one. It's the new fun giant planeswalker! Better than the original, but still only good enough if you need to fill an open Grixis slot.
And I don't think the Minotaur is good enough outside of really big cubes, no.
I hear you! It'll give the ol' wallet a rest too.
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Without having played with the minotaur at all, this is just theory crafting, but I think I like it more than what I get from Aether Chaser. The blowout risk of "respond to the discard with removal" threat is there, but the reward of "turn this unneeded card in my hand into two more first strike damage" looks pretty good. I'm going to make this swap and see how it goes.
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Chaser provides additional value without me having to sink more mana / cards into it, plus going wide is better with a lot of effects like equipment / anthems / Skullclamp / Opposition, etc.
I like Minotaur enough to test him over Abbot (which I never liked), but he's still at the bottom of the totem pole in his creature slot.
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And you're spot-on about Chaser too. It's kinda a placeholder. Can't fault you for testing another dude in his place.
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Needs more Firestorm and Wild Mongrel / Noose Constrictor Minotaur being a discard outlet is definitely his tertiary because of the mana cost associated with it.
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Supreme Will
Supreme Will seems like one the best clean card in the set. The pros is that both Mana Leak and Impulse are nowhere near leaving the cube and having both in the same card can’t be wrong. The bad? The one additional mana may end up begin too much for it to compete properly in the long run. Still looks fair at first glance. Nothing impressive, but still a good modal card that would fit well into most blue decks, mainly control and combo ones.
Champion of Wits
This blue dude didn’t get and still not have the unanimity among the Salvation community. For our part, we do think it’s pretty great and that it deserves more love from you guys. Careful Study is a card that we always consider to add when we proceed to a none-set update and this brings it with on a 2/1 body for 3-mana. We do understand the point the it may look too fair because it’s like you’re actually paying 1U for the body and an extra 1 for the extra double loot. But the fact is that Champion of Wits a creature with an ETB effect, as simple as this. And that means it can be abuse! UW Blink Tempo and Reveillark say yeah my friends! Reanimation decks also got a new toy to defend themselves against aggro while fueling their yard. Blue creature deck have also find a decent not to flood out in the midgame to late game. Still, Eternalize cost is damn high. The bright side is that this activated ability is more like the cherry on top of the card. For those reasons, we think that this card need appropriate testing going forward in order to evaluate its real potential. Chances are high that it ended up being great!
Nimble Obstructionist
Man, we wish this would have been a Stiffle Clique, oh god! As it is, a 3-mana Stiffle that draws you a card or a 3/1 instant speed flying creature, it’s not strong enough for our taste. The modal part of the card may save it and makes it cubable at some point. But, overall, it doesn’t seems like the effect is enough desirable to include, even at short term, in the cube. Nice try WotC, you’ve almost did it! Please do not give up!
Bontu’s Last Reckoning
The evaluation of this card is tricky. You need to determine if skipping a turn, or almost a turn if cast later in the game, worth the reward it brings. The answer is not easy to deliver but we’d say it doesn’t. First, the indestructible clause is cute, but doesn’t mean enough in cube. Then, we think the downside of losing a whole turn is just too harsh for most control decks. Maybe a deck full of walkers could afford that kind of break on turn 6 to 8… But man, if you’re having that much walkers haging around, would you just prefer to run any other sweeper, that so far ahead in terms of power level, instead of this Bontu’s inferior one? Hell yeah… After considering all the parameters of it, we conclude that it’s not really the type of wrath the cube is looking for. Even if Yahenni’s Expertise leaves the cube, which would eventually happen sooner than later, we don’t think we’ll reconsider adding at its spot when the time comes. We in fact do prefer some of the 5-mana option to it… and by a significant margin.
Abrade
This or Smash to Smithereens? That’s the question. The answer to it is not clear. It all depends on your cube’s content, size and supported archetypes. While being both great and instant speed, for our cube, StS is better by miles. Why? Because it helps keeping burn decks alive at 650 of size. It also has the upside of having a chance to two-for-one for opponent, by destroying an artifact and killing a planeswalker. In a more general concern, in can also simply won you the game, which Abrade can’t do. The next question is, do we want both of them? We’d say no… for now at least. The card will stay on our watch list though. Still an interesting creature-only burn/artifact removal spell.
Burning Fist Minotaur
That new red 2-drop wants to be there so bad! But unfortunately, we don’t think he is at all. The possibility of being two-for-one with its activated ability is the main reason why. Even if you’re just throwing an extra land with it, the tempo loss seems just too huge to overcome. If the cost was like 1, maybe it could worth a try. At least, the creature is first strike and represents a good cheap threat when it doesn’t face the instant speed removal problem.
Ramunap Excavator
Crucible of Worlds on feet, right? This is a real solid shoot at being the best card in the hole set! A 2/3 creature for 3-mana isn’t a heck of a deal… Although, this ability is quite rare and unique! Providing an additional way to combo out of a Strip Mine or a Wasteland is super annoying for your opponent and being a creature able to also fit well in a stax shell makes it over the top. It kind of helps that the green 3-drop section is not deep at all, but it’s still a very strong creature to have in the cube. The only card from HOU we’d call a true staple!
The Scarab God
How doesn’t like scarab zombie? Oh wait, this is not a zombie… That’s so sad! I guess we’ll have to live with that fact. Knowing he’s not from the dead, is the new dimir god strong enough for powered cube? We’ve sadly the feeling that he’s not. Hopefully, he’s not that fa. Recurring himself is a great start, but man, those vanilla stats are just so meh! What the heck! At least, he has an interesting upkeep triggered… Oh, no! Just remember, he’s not a zombie! Jokes apart, its activated ability seems decent. We just think that, most of the time, paying [mana]2UB[m/mana] won’t worth the result. Sure, you can bring back a 4/4 Griselbrand, but at what cost? Exiling it from your yard? Ish… Not sure. We may be wrong about it. Maybe he can strive the UB reanimator archetype by its own. Closest card from testing platform. Still out for now. We love you Shadowmage.
Nicol Bolas, God Pharaoh
Another expensive Nicol Bolas planeswalker. A cheap one would have been so nice! Guess it would have lost part of his divine aura if it only costed 5 or 6 mana we suppose… Anyway, how does this new Nicol Bolas stands vis-à-vis its Conflux cousin? We’d say pretty close. It may be better. It may be a little worst. Still, chances are there to be better and for that reason, we’ll have to try it out. Good news is that it cost less mana. That’s a good start! Then, are the abilities better? That’s the none-clear part. We’ll have to test and see.
Mirage Mirror
Man, isn’t just us or that card combo out with Time Vault? Yes it does! Vizier of Tumbling Sands and then Mirage Mirror? Insane! Thanks Egyptians folks! The sad part of this is that the power level of Mirage Mirror seems quite low. We’ll still test it though, because we’re always seeking for new decent to fine playables to pair out with the vault. Copying stuff at instant speed seems also fun! Let’s just hope it can turn out to be good outside of infinite-turn decks!
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Angel of Condemnation -> Flickerwisp
Supreme Will -> Thirst for Knowledge
Abrade -> Collective Defiance
Ramunap Excavator -> Rishkar, Peema Renegade
I've decided I'm only adding 3 cards, Ramunap Excavator, Abrade, and Bolas. I'm only prioritizing the Excavator. Weak set is weak.
Cheers,
rant
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