MTG Salvation

Now that the spoilers are complete, what are your planned additions?

450 unpowered
Skymarcher Aspirant replacing Dragon Hunter
Ravenous Chupacabra replacing Nekrataal
Dire Fleet Daredevil replacing War Name Aspirant

I have high hopes for the Daredevil but the other two are marginal improvements only.

360 Artifact Cube
Pitiless Plunderer
Pirate’s Pillage
Both to support Black Red Sac/Recur Engines

405 unpowered
Skymarcher Aspirant replaces Dragon Hunter
Ravenous Chupacabra replaces . . . Skinrender? Or maybe a 2 drop, since I'm a little full there. Smallpox is a pet card, but maybe it's time?
Dire Fleet Daredevil replaces Stormblood Berseker

That's it. Once people figure out Daredevil isn't the second coming of Snapcaster and the price goes down, this set is going to cost me like $5 if I don't get foils. More money for sweet basics.

1. Ravenous Chupacabra replacing Yahenni's Expertise

2. Shymarcher Aspirant replacing Savannah Lions

3. Jadelight Ranger replacing Yavimaya Elder

4. Direfleet Daredevil replacing Abbot of Keral Keep

5. Warsail Marauder replacing Academy Ruins*

*Even in Artifacts.dec/Tinker shells, this never seemed that great when maindecked. It felt situational/niche even in decks that use it. Opinions on testing over Academy Ruins instead of Enclave Cryptologist?

I decided to not test the Simic enchantment, Trygon and Snake are more boring but more consistent and powerful.

For the Treasure Trove (720):
Skymarcher Aspirant replaces Bygone Bishop
Warsail Marauder replaces Frantic Search
Ravenous Chupacabra replaces Slaughter Pact
Dire Fleet Daredevil replaces Kari Zev's Expertise
Jadelight Ranger replaces Merfolk Branchwalker

Nothing else looks appealing. I could take or leave the Marauder and Ranger. Happy that this looks like a cheap set to cube.

So far I like Direfleet Daredevil, Ravenous Chupacabra and Warsail Marauder. Maybes are Hadana's Climb and Jadelight Ranger (not for Yavimaya Elder though, that sounds like a mistake to me).

The only cards I'm considering in my 540 powered are:

Skymarcher Aspirant
Warsail Marauder
Ravenous Chupacabra (alongside Nekrataal and Skinrender)
Dire Fleet Daredevil

Looks like a lite set.

This is a very weak set for cube. Even weaker than Hour of Devastation. Only four inclusions:

Skymarcher Aspirant (cut Savannah Lions)
Warkite Marauder (cut Eldrazi Skyspawner, probably)
Ravenous Chupacabra (cut Sidisi, Undead Vizier)
Dire Fleet Daredevil (cut Abbot of Keral Keep)

Maybe I find room for Grasping Scoundrel, too. That one isn't sure though.

Quote from MikePemulis »

Once people figure out Daredevil isn't the second coming of Snapcaster and the price goes down, this set is going to cost me like $5 if I don't get foils. More money for sweet basics.

Daredevil is $8/$20 at SCG? I’m weathering this as well.

Quote from Star Slayer »

This is a very weak set for cube. Even weaker than Hour of Devastation. Only four inclusions:

Skymarcher Aspirant (cut Savannah Lions)
Warkite Marauder (cut Eldrazi Skyspawner, probably)
Ravenous Chupacabra (cut Sidisi, Undead Vizier)
Dire Fleet Daredevil (cut Abbot of Keral Keep)

Maybe I find room for Grasping Scoundrel, too. That one isn't sure though.

I'm including the exact same 4. I guess the daredevil is the most interesting inclusion while the chupacabra is the strongest but jeez, this set really doesn't change much.

It is funny that half the inclusions are uncommons and that there is not a single mythic among the inclusions. This will be a cheap cube update. Even though Dire Fleet Daredevil is rather pricy rare, at least at the moment.

This is literally the hardest set review I've had to write yet, I think. This set is rough for cubes.

Dire Fleet Daredevil, Ravenous Chupacabra. /end

After I finished scraping the barrel, I had 12. I have 8 more that I had to dig into the ground under the barrel to find.

Why not make an exception and do a top 10 or 15 instead?

Consistency. I always write a top 20. Sometimes there's more to discuss and sometimes there's less, but it's a top 20 article.

Only Daredevil, the 2/1 vampire and Chupacabra here, too, and the latter is not an absolute certainty...

I like Warsail Marauder and the Brontodon well enough, but they aren't really needed for us.

Quote from Goodking »

Only Daredevil, the 2/1 vampire and Chupacabra here, too, and the latter is not an absolute certainty...

I like Warsail Marauder and the Brontodon well enough, but they aren't really needed for us.

This sums up my feeling, not even sure I need the 2/1 vampire depending on what size I hit with next update. I will probably try the brontodon. Warsail is actually awesome and I think would make it in any other color

Here's mine:

Skymarcher Aspirant --> Savannah Lions
Ravenous Chupacabra --> Ammit Eternal
Direfleet Daredevil --> Bloodlust Inciter
Jadelight Ranger --> Rhonas the Indomitable

Very disappointing set for cube. Unfortunately the heavily included ascend mechanic as well as the tribal cards just didn't cater to our format much.

I'm including Skymarcher Aspirant, Chupacabra, and probably the Daredevil. Might find space for Warsail Marauder too but not 100% sold. Rough set for cube for sure but my budget won't mind a break so I'm happy.

When it's cheap (this may be a few years, as I'm always slow to add this sort of card):
Dire Fleet Daredevil

Likely uncommons:
Pitiless Plunderer
Ravenous Chupacabra (I'm sure this will end up in, but it's not exciting)

I'll probably add these if I open them:
Zacama, Primal Calamity
Nezahal, Primal Tide
Rekindling Phoenix
Warkite Marauder
Bishop of Binding
Etali, Primal Storm
Jadelight Ranger
Elenda, the Dusk Rose

Note that I probably won't be opening a lot of RIX, so I probably won't be adding most of these cards. So far, the only card I've added from Ixalan is Treasure Map, as it is the only one from my list I've opened in the three or four packs I've bought.

Includes
Skymarcher Aspirant --> Elite Vanguard

Notes: The end of 2/1''s for W without at least potential additional upside.

Warkite Marauder -> Baral, Chief of Compliance

Notes: They would print this right after I started to trim down tempo for lack of great options. This is an incredibly good tempo card preventing blocks against the marauder or neutralizing a would-be blocker against another creature with each swing. I may bring back Serendib Efreet as well.

Ravenous Chupacabra --> Skinrender

Notes: Most cube designers are cutting either Nekrataal or Skinrender for this guy. I think unless your zombie theme runs really deep Skinrender is the correct cut by a lot. Shrinking < Killing.

Dire Fleet Daredevil -> Ash Zealot
Notes: I'm calling Daredevil "Crapcaster Mage" as it is much worse than its blue counterpart. That said, even a poor man's version of Snapcaster is still probably good enough.

Testing

Jadelight Ranger --> Yavimaya Elder

Notes: Elder might not end us as the final cut. It could be Rishkar.

Nothing off the beaten path here for the RIX update.

Skymarcher Aspirant
Ravenous Chupacabra
Dire Fleet Daredevil

Not even sure I'll find a cut for Daredevil or if I do, that it'll stick around long term.

I remember being very anxious to test HOU and XLN. Right now my thoughts are "when are we getting them Dominaria spoilers?"

I've been thinking this since Ixa-lame came out.

Ixalan I thought was OK from a cube point of view. More so looking back - there are some interesting cards still on my radar that could easily have been testworthy even though I didn't include loads. Rixalan (as we are calling it) much less so sadly.