Hello again, and welcome to what has more or less become my signature thread. The goal here is to scrape the sides of the barrel and point out any cards that have cube applications but that may not deserve their own thread. The biggest reasons a card goes here is either that it is an archetype card or that it is solid, but not A-list playable.
Please post any cards here that you think deserve mention if I missed them.
Corridor Monitor
This isn't blowing anybody's socks off, but in an artifact cube, it's really not bad. 1/4 for 1U are very reasonable defensive stats, and the ability to untap the mana dork or mana rock that tapped for the Monitor is quite respectable. It's pauper legal, and synergizes with a lot of cards, even if the synergy only amounts to a small bonus. Artifact cubes have much use for colored artifacts.
Frogify
Don't laugh, it gets the job done. As far as blue removal goes, this is better than people would probably have you believe. I played Fowl Play for a long time, and it was never great, but it did the trick. This is solid tier 2 removal in a color that is light on actual removal. It's also an enchantment-- I've wanted "enchantments matter" to be more buildable cube archetype for a while, and enchantment based removal is the core of the yet underserved archetype. My Mostly Peasant cube wants the card for exactly that reason.
Mirrormade Copy Artifact + Copy Enchantment = Playable in both archetypes. This strikes me as a legitimate card in a format full of either card type. Enchantments really might become more buildable after Theros II. The issue is that you need to be able go guarantee there will be a target at least 85% of the time, and not every format can do that. Free tip: speculate on this card. Copy Enchantment is $10.99 on Cardkingdom. This card is gonna be there too, although it may take a few years.
Mystical Dispute
This isn't one of the very bestest counterspells ever, but it's not rightly awful without the upside, and it's rightly fabulous with it. If most cube decks are 2-3 color, the odds that you will be facing blue cards in a given match are pretty good. Probably the best place to use this card would be something like a modern frame or frontier cube, where you don't have access to all the best counterspells of yesteryear.
Stolen by the Fae
This is a B-Lister for sure, but it's by no means a bad card. It's a scalable token generator spell that produces flyers and has a pretty damn good upside. The problem is that you target something with CMC X, not CMC X or less, and you need a target to cast it. That weakness kills it for most players, and might just kill it for me too. Nevertheless, I warrant the card is better than it looks.
Epic Downfall
This is sorcery speed and miss a lot of targets, but it does exile, which isn't true of other 1B options. Getting rid of gods can matter (although the Ilharg, the Raze-Boar cycle laughs at it). I'm not personally interested in this, even at my cube's great size, but I thought it was worth a mention.
Piper of The Swarm
Okay, so it's slow. Sue me, I like durdly cards. If you are like me and you favor a slower format to one overrun with every possible Savannah Lions variant, this is not a bad card. It gives you plenty of sacrifice fodder, grants a tribal bonus to a mediocre, but omnipresent tribe, and gives you something to do if the game goes on forever. The stats aren't special, but they also aren't bad. 1/3s are great against those same Savannah Lions variants.
Syr Konrad, the Grim
If you're like me, the wording makes you cringe, but the ability makes you giggle in anticipation. There's been a decent amount of discussion of this guy on the Peasant forum, and that is his natural home. Nevertheless, he could find his way into any cube with both a gravyard and an aristocrats theme. These are the kinds of cards that make a B-List cube worth building.
Claim the Firstborn
You can't argue with the mana efficiency. This is another one that has gotten some attention from the peasanters. It's not one of my favorites, but it's definitely worth a look for B-Listers and Peasanters everywhere, particularly with aristocrats being such a prominent archetype nowadays.
Fervent Champion
I can see equipment matters being a major theme of red and white in an artifact cube. This guy attacks early, and then picks up an axe to get proper dangerous. It helps that aggressive red 1-drops are not as powerful as one might imagine after over 25 years of red being "the aggressive color".
Merchant of the Vale
The instant is great for sculpting your hand early (especially if you have a discard/graveyard theme). Unfortunately, the guy is mediocre everywhere. Nevertheless, this is still a solid play in the early game, and you might even activate the merchant's ability once or twice. It's certainly no Faithless Looting, but it does make your hand easier to keep. I might play this in my Mostly Peasant, since I do have a discard and graveyard theme.
Opportunistic Dragon
Most people probably looked right past this card, but it's a pretty good Manic Vandal variant. Dragon stats are a great base, and stealing + disempowering an artifact is better than destroying it. This hits artifacts with indestructible, and gives you free sacrifice fodder (though you probably can't take advantage of that outside of an artifact cube or if you get an artifact creature). That's all ignoring the human-stealing upside. There are LOADS of humans to steal in virtually every cube. It's not something to plan around, and I'd certainly never advocate for Human Frailty, but stapled on top of artifact hate and a dragon-body, it's far from irrelevant. This card is absolutely playable in an artifact cube, and I think it might even be a sleeper for normal cubes.
Keeper of Fables
I don't suppose people with rare cubes will be interested in this while Ohran Frostfang exists. Nevertheless, I thought it was worth mentioning.
Once and Future
It's not all that hard to cast this for 1GGG, and 3G is a decent backup plan. But once again, I don't think most people will be moved by this outside of Peasant.
Rosethorn Acolyte
The mana fixing doesn't cost you a card, so it can hardly be terrible. However, the card you get out of it is one that nobody would play otherwise. In such a way, this is very similar to Merchant of the Vale. It's more universally playable than Merchant, but it's less apt to fit into a single archetype very well. There are many better ramp cards after all. Nonetheless, the card is fine, and I might play it in one of my cubes.
Wildwood Tracker
Everyone is so in love with 2 power 1-drops, I was surprised nobody made a thread for this. That said, it's clearly neither great nor terrible. The odds that it attacks for 2 on turn two are quite good, but the odds that it doesn't are pretty good as well. This is playable for a green aggro package, but it's also a fine card to pass up on if you have access to rares. I'm personally fine passing up on this everywhere, but it's a worthy consideration.
Lochmere Serpent
Yeah, I know it's a guild card. Yeah, I know cards like The Scarab God exist. Still, flashing this in at the end of their turn and then getting in for 7 unblockable seems pretty good. At least it would've been pretty good a few years ago (to say nothing of the reanimation). I guess everybody is spoiled now.
Maraleaf Pixie
Booooring! Okay, yes, it's boring. It still fulfills two useful functions in a guild that is considered very shallow. It's vaguely worthwhile, at least in peasant.
Outlaws' Merriment
I gotta wait for my upkeep to get value? What is this, 2008? This is a B-List card if ever I saw one. You don't get to choose which outlaw you get, but they're all pretty decent, and it's gonna be a fun card to play. This is the kind of card for which my Mostly Peasant cube is only mostly peasant, as that is the ideal home for it. The card is completely fair and pretty slow, but if you can get over those hurdles, I bet it'll be surprisingly powerful.
Arcanist's Owl
I like this a lot. Part of it is my unnatural love of hybrid mana, and part of it is the fact that it supports both artifacts and enchantments more effectively than anything else in Eldraine. Shinechaser can't compete. If you are playing a lot of enchantment based removal in white and a few artifacts, the card is usually going to hit something good, and at worst it's still a Phantom Monster that is itself an artifact for related synergy. I want this in both of my cubes.
Covetous Urge
I'm really on the fence about this one. It's not too far from being good, but that might be just a little too far from being good. When hand disruption is no longer relevant, you can eat a great card out of their graveyard to recast it yourself, which is a pretty sweet upside. I really don't know about this, but I expect it'll be playable in Peasant or in a B-List environment, but ultimately cuttable simply because it's a guild card.
Gingerbrute
This is solid filler, but that's really all it is. That said it's still pretty hard to top for Raging Goblin variants.
Chittering Witch
This is for multiplayer cubes. I think it's a lot more worthwhile than Silverwing Squadron, Gluttonous Troll, or Embereth Skyblazer. One opponent makes the Witch okay...ish. Two or more makes it a really fine card that'll be worth more than its mana while still being completely fair.
Alela, Artful Provacateur
Nothing special here, just support for skies, artifacts, and enchantments on a body that trades for anything and gives you life. Nothing special at all.
Chulane, Teller of Tales
Blink does it for free, whereas Chulane makes you pay to recast cards for their ETB effects. Nevertheless, he gives you a whole lot of upside on top of that. You have to have a really big cube before you have multiple tricolor slots, so most people have no room to even consider this, but it's a cool card that will be fun to play with while rewarding skillful play.
Traps:
Into the Story
This might be playable with in peasant with a mill subtheme, but I still find it pretty questionable. Requiring something of your opponent is always risky business, and even in your mill deck, you'll often be better off with a basic Concentrate.
Witching Well
Mayyybe this is okay in a pauper cube that cares about artifacts, but even there, I foresee Foresee being better. This looks like a card that could have been good, but it falls short at every level.
Clackbridge Troll
If this is a trap, I might walk willingly into it. And yes, it is a trap. You wouldn't pay 5 to draw a card and gain 3 life every turn, so you shouldn't do this. Sure, the goats are weak, but they still get to keep them after they inevitably remove the troll. But even though I know all that, I still want to play it. It's just cool.
Specter's Shriek
This one is so close to being decent it hurts. But there's just no way around it being a two-for-1 in your opponent's favor most of the time. I think this card is generally slightly better than Unmask, but Unmask just isn't a cube card.
Steelbane Hydra
Eugh. In the same set as they have the audacity to overpush a card like Stonecoil Serpent, they make this card so far behind rate as to make it utterly unplayable anywhere. This card is awful, but it could've been really great. Cube is the perfect format for a card like this, but this build isn't even good enough for Pauper. What a waste.
Feel free to point out anything else you think is worth mentioning. It's weird that there aren't any white cards here. Only Glass Casket even looks worth pointing out, and Silkwrap was never so much of a cube card. Nevertheless, white got an instant staple in Charming Prince, so I suppose it's doing just fine.
Corridor Monitor might be decent for artifact cubes, but blue is by far the most competifive color. There are better walls at 2cc colorless, and I think I will put those first before this.
I actually like Gingerbrute for artifact cubes. Haste works well with equipment (though not as much as evasion). Him being food is bonus, but will matter less. Ultimately he might not still make the cut, unless I want to incrrase my colorless 1 drops.
EDIT: he has evasion! Well I just might replace a 1 drop for this, or a 3/4 drop.
Arcanist’s Owl is decent, but the mana cost is just too restrictive for a general cube. In artifact cube, 3 color or 4 color (or colorless counting as a color) makes this a hard pick.
I might try Fervent champion to further aggro/equipment in red (i hope we get more), but I may remove this package if I see it not working. So far, it is not working.
I’m all about Witching Well! Didn’t make a thread for it because its a card that exists pretty deep down the cantrip rabbit hole, but I plan to play this at 540. Dig for lands early, refill later. Modern UW control decks play Heiroglyphic Illumination and this card compares very favorably.
I don't think there's been a card that works with Twin/kiki that costs less than 3 before, so Corridor Monitor maybe has merit because of that in addition to being a decent early wall. I feel like flash on Deceiver Exarch is worth the 1 extra, but I'd draft Corridor Monitor if I saw it in a pack and already had Twin or Tinker.
Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I'll probably upgrade Witching Well out of the "Traps" section. It's true that scrying on turn 1 is pretty valuable. I do think it compares favorably with Hieroglyphic Illumination. I never liked that card, but maybe I've underestimated it.
I knew Corridor Monitor had some combo potential. I don't know why I didn't think of Kiki/Twin. That alone makes it worthy of the list. But yes, Wall of Tanglecord is a more effective blocker, and I think an underrated card.
EDIT: There was a glaring omission to the list.
Faeburrow Elder
This card is awesome for my big cube. Hopefully it won't be too expensive. Three color decks are very common here, and four-five color decks are not unheard of. Even as a 2/2 that taps for GW, this isn't bad, and when it's more than that, it's nuts. Scuttlemut is an old favorite of mine. If you have a larger than normal guild section, this looks like a really sweet card. I'm excited to try it.
Please post any cards here that you think deserve mention if I missed them.
Corridor Monitor
This isn't blowing anybody's socks off, but in an artifact cube, it's really not bad. 1/4 for 1U are very reasonable defensive stats, and the ability to untap the mana dork or mana rock that tapped for the Monitor is quite respectable. It's pauper legal, and synergizes with a lot of cards, even if the synergy only amounts to a small bonus. Artifact cubes have much use for colored artifacts.
Frogify
Don't laugh, it gets the job done. As far as blue removal goes, this is better than people would probably have you believe. I played Fowl Play for a long time, and it was never great, but it did the trick. This is solid tier 2 removal in a color that is light on actual removal. It's also an enchantment-- I've wanted "enchantments matter" to be more buildable cube archetype for a while, and enchantment based removal is the core of the yet underserved archetype. My Mostly Peasant cube wants the card for exactly that reason.
Mirrormade
Copy Artifact + Copy Enchantment = Playable in both archetypes. This strikes me as a legitimate card in a format full of either card type. Enchantments really might become more buildable after Theros II. The issue is that you need to be able go guarantee there will be a target at least 85% of the time, and not every format can do that. Free tip: speculate on this card. Copy Enchantment is $10.99 on Cardkingdom. This card is gonna be there too, although it may take a few years.
Mystical Dispute
This isn't one of the very bestest counterspells ever, but it's not rightly awful without the upside, and it's rightly fabulous with it. If most cube decks are 2-3 color, the odds that you will be facing blue cards in a given match are pretty good. Probably the best place to use this card would be something like a modern frame or frontier cube, where you don't have access to all the best counterspells of yesteryear.
Stolen by the Fae
This is a B-Lister for sure, but it's by no means a bad card. It's a scalable token generator spell that produces flyers and has a pretty damn good upside. The problem is that you target something with CMC X, not CMC X or less, and you need a target to cast it. That weakness kills it for most players, and might just kill it for me too. Nevertheless, I warrant the card is better than it looks.
Epic Downfall
This is sorcery speed and miss a lot of targets, but it does exile, which isn't true of other 1B options. Getting rid of gods can matter (although the Ilharg, the Raze-Boar cycle laughs at it). I'm not personally interested in this, even at my cube's great size, but I thought it was worth a mention.
Piper of The Swarm
Okay, so it's slow. Sue me, I like durdly cards. If you are like me and you favor a slower format to one overrun with every possible Savannah Lions variant, this is not a bad card. It gives you plenty of sacrifice fodder, grants a tribal bonus to a mediocre, but omnipresent tribe, and gives you something to do if the game goes on forever. The stats aren't special, but they also aren't bad. 1/3s are great against those same Savannah Lions variants.
Syr Konrad, the Grim
If you're like me, the wording makes you cringe, but the ability makes you giggle in anticipation. There's been a decent amount of discussion of this guy on the Peasant forum, and that is his natural home. Nevertheless, he could find his way into any cube with both a gravyard and an aristocrats theme. These are the kinds of cards that make a B-List cube worth building.
Claim the Firstborn
You can't argue with the mana efficiency. This is another one that has gotten some attention from the peasanters. It's not one of my favorites, but it's definitely worth a look for B-Listers and Peasanters everywhere, particularly with aristocrats being such a prominent archetype nowadays.
Fervent Champion
I can see equipment matters being a major theme of red and white in an artifact cube. This guy attacks early, and then picks up an axe to get proper dangerous. It helps that aggressive red 1-drops are not as powerful as one might imagine after over 25 years of red being "the aggressive color".
Merchant of the Vale
The instant is great for sculpting your hand early (especially if you have a discard/graveyard theme). Unfortunately, the guy is mediocre everywhere. Nevertheless, this is still a solid play in the early game, and you might even activate the merchant's ability once or twice. It's certainly no Faithless Looting, but it does make your hand easier to keep. I might play this in my Mostly Peasant, since I do have a discard and graveyard theme.
Opportunistic Dragon
Most people probably looked right past this card, but it's a pretty good Manic Vandal variant. Dragon stats are a great base, and stealing + disempowering an artifact is better than destroying it. This hits artifacts with indestructible, and gives you free sacrifice fodder (though you probably can't take advantage of that outside of an artifact cube or if you get an artifact creature). That's all ignoring the human-stealing upside. There are LOADS of humans to steal in virtually every cube. It's not something to plan around, and I'd certainly never advocate for Human Frailty, but stapled on top of artifact hate and a dragon-body, it's far from irrelevant. This card is absolutely playable in an artifact cube, and I think it might even be a sleeper for normal cubes.
Keeper of Fables
I don't suppose people with rare cubes will be interested in this while Ohran Frostfang exists. Nevertheless, I thought it was worth mentioning.
Once and Future
It's not all that hard to cast this for 1GGG, and 3G is a decent backup plan. But once again, I don't think most people will be moved by this outside of Peasant.
Rosethorn Acolyte
The mana fixing doesn't cost you a card, so it can hardly be terrible. However, the card you get out of it is one that nobody would play otherwise. In such a way, this is very similar to Merchant of the Vale. It's more universally playable than Merchant, but it's less apt to fit into a single archetype very well. There are many better ramp cards after all. Nonetheless, the card is fine, and I might play it in one of my cubes.
Wildwood Tracker
Everyone is so in love with 2 power 1-drops, I was surprised nobody made a thread for this. That said, it's clearly neither great nor terrible. The odds that it attacks for 2 on turn two are quite good, but the odds that it doesn't are pretty good as well. This is playable for a green aggro package, but it's also a fine card to pass up on if you have access to rares. I'm personally fine passing up on this everywhere, but it's a worthy consideration.
Lochmere Serpent
Yeah, I know it's a guild card. Yeah, I know cards like The Scarab God exist. Still, flashing this in at the end of their turn and then getting in for 7 unblockable seems pretty good. At least it would've been pretty good a few years ago (to say nothing of the reanimation). I guess everybody is spoiled now.
Maraleaf Pixie
Booooring! Okay, yes, it's boring. It still fulfills two useful functions in a guild that is considered very shallow. It's vaguely worthwhile, at least in peasant.
Outlaws' Merriment
I gotta wait for my upkeep to get value? What is this, 2008? This is a B-List card if ever I saw one. You don't get to choose which outlaw you get, but they're all pretty decent, and it's gonna be a fun card to play. This is the kind of card for which my Mostly Peasant cube is only mostly peasant, as that is the ideal home for it. The card is completely fair and pretty slow, but if you can get over those hurdles, I bet it'll be surprisingly powerful.
Arcanist's Owl
I like this a lot. Part of it is my unnatural love of hybrid mana, and part of it is the fact that it supports both artifacts and enchantments more effectively than anything else in Eldraine. Shinechaser can't compete. If you are playing a lot of enchantment based removal in white and a few artifacts, the card is usually going to hit something good, and at worst it's still a Phantom Monster that is itself an artifact for related synergy. I want this in both of my cubes.
Covetous Urge
I'm really on the fence about this one. It's not too far from being good, but that might be just a little too far from being good. When hand disruption is no longer relevant, you can eat a great card out of their graveyard to recast it yourself, which is a pretty sweet upside. I really don't know about this, but I expect it'll be playable in Peasant or in a B-List environment, but ultimately cuttable simply because it's a guild card.
Gingerbrute
This is solid filler, but that's really all it is. That said it's still pretty hard to top for Raging Goblin variants.
Chittering Witch
This is for multiplayer cubes. I think it's a lot more worthwhile than Silverwing Squadron, Gluttonous Troll, or Embereth Skyblazer. One opponent makes the Witch okay...ish. Two or more makes it a really fine card that'll be worth more than its mana while still being completely fair.
Alela, Artful Provacateur
Nothing special here, just support for skies, artifacts, and enchantments on a body that trades for anything and gives you life. Nothing special at all.
Chulane, Teller of Tales
Blink does it for free, whereas Chulane makes you pay to recast cards for their ETB effects. Nevertheless, he gives you a whole lot of upside on top of that. You have to have a really big cube before you have multiple tricolor slots, so most people have no room to even consider this, but it's a cool card that will be fun to play with while rewarding skillful play.
Into the Story
This might be playable with in peasant with a mill subtheme, but I still find it pretty questionable. Requiring something of your opponent is always risky business, and even in your mill deck, you'll often be better off with a basic Concentrate.
Witching Well
Mayyybe this is okay in a pauper cube that cares about artifacts, but even there, I foresee Foresee being better. This looks like a card that could have been good, but it falls short at every level.
Clackbridge Troll
If this is a trap, I might walk willingly into it. And yes, it is a trap. You wouldn't pay 5 to draw a card and gain 3 life every turn, so you shouldn't do this. Sure, the goats are weak, but they still get to keep them after they inevitably remove the troll. But even though I know all that, I still want to play it. It's just cool.
Specter's Shriek
This one is so close to being decent it hurts. But there's just no way around it being a two-for-1 in your opponent's favor most of the time. I think this card is generally slightly better than Unmask, but Unmask just isn't a cube card.
Steelbane Hydra
Eugh. In the same set as they have the audacity to overpush a card like Stonecoil Serpent, they make this card so far behind rate as to make it utterly unplayable anywhere. This card is awful, but it could've been really great. Cube is the perfect format for a card like this, but this build isn't even good enough for Pauper. What a waste.
Feel free to point out anything else you think is worth mentioning. It's weird that there aren't any white cards here. Only Glass Casket even looks worth pointing out, and Silkwrap was never so much of a cube card. Nevertheless, white got an instant staple in Charming Prince, so I suppose it's doing just fine.
Low-power cube enthusiast!
My 1570 card cube (no longer updated)
My 415 Peasant+ Artifact and Enchantment Cube
Ever-Expanding "Just throw it in" cube.
I actually like Gingerbrute for artifact cubes. Haste works well with equipment (though not as much as evasion). Him being food is bonus, but will matter less. Ultimately he might not still make the cut, unless I want to incrrase my colorless 1 drops.
EDIT: he has evasion! Well I just might replace a 1 drop for this, or a 3/4 drop.
Arcanist’s Owl is decent, but the mana cost is just too restrictive for a general cube. In artifact cube, 3 color or 4 color (or colorless counting as a color) makes this a hard pick.
I might try Fervent champion to further aggro/equipment in red (i hope we get more), but I may remove this package if I see it not working. So far, it is not working.
[180 classic cube]
I knew Corridor Monitor had some combo potential. I don't know why I didn't think of Kiki/Twin. That alone makes it worthy of the list. But yes, Wall of Tanglecord is a more effective blocker, and I think an underrated card.
EDIT: There was a glaring omission to the list.
Faeburrow Elder
This card is awesome for my big cube. Hopefully it won't be too expensive. Three color decks are very common here, and four-five color decks are not unheard of. Even as a 2/2 that taps for GW, this isn't bad, and when it's more than that, it's nuts. Scuttlemut is an old favorite of mine. If you have a larger than normal guild section, this looks like a really sweet card. I'm excited to try it.
Low-power cube enthusiast!
My 1570 card cube (no longer updated)
My 415 Peasant+ Artifact and Enchantment Cube
Ever-Expanding "Just throw it in" cube.