Plaxmanta is cute in that Shroud to your whole team can really hose some cards like Skinrender or Oblivion Ring (but not Banishing Light). I do agree that 2/4 for 3 is better than a 2/2 for 2 in this case, and the new Void Grafter also gets to interact nicely with blink or Unearth stuff.
Stormchaser Mage is cute with a lot of words, but will probably play out a lot like Gaea's Skyfolk. Casting non-creature spells on your first main phase is actually a fairly steep requirement, especially for a deck that wants a hasty 2-drop. Kiln Fiend at least rewards your efforts by a huge 3-power boost for each spell (and I don't put too much stock in how often you'll be casting enchanments or artifacts in UR decks).
Cliffhaven Vampire is for archetype-driven/low-power shenanigans, but a cool card for that setting at least.
Weapons Trainer... seems awkward. I rarely put more than one equipment in a single deck, since drawing too much equipment and too few creatures makes for a really bad curve, so I think that if she just came in to my Boros section with the rest of the cube as-is the boost would not be too reliable. But, still a 3/2 for 2 at least, and I'm not remotely attached to the damn Skyknight Legionnaire that has yet to get replaced.
Baloth Null is fairly and pretty easily swapped for Pharika's Mender. 5->6 mana is an important jump, but it's more than powerful enough to be worth it.
Baloth Null - for sure replacing Pharika's mender, I like the bigger body, I like the potential to get 2 creatures back in the late game, definitely advantage over getting 1 enchantment or 1 creature IMO
So far cards that I may/probably will test, but not as excited as above cards:
Embodiment of insight - the card looks like it could do work, I like it because in huge Gx ramp decks there are a lot of times in the late game drawing lands or cards that search for lands, with Embodiment of insight those lands/cards could still be gas instead of just waiting for your big creatures/payoffs... hard part is finding something to cut... maybe Penumbra spider or Wickerbough elder or even Briarhorn... not sure... any opinions?
Stormchaser mage - I think this card has a higher upside than kiln fiend because of flying and its prowess... I like Izzet spells matter theme and there are already a lot of spells between R and U in my cube, but still hard cut to find in my Izzet section... maybe Jilt? Which for me has been a little unexciting in last drafts.
Looking forward to more surge cards and the other Embodiment cards (if there are more). Depending on what surge cards they give us, I might be looking into adding a bit of storm into my R / UR archetype
Reflector Mage is my most likely include so far but it does make me think harder about Lyev Skyknight. Just stopping something from swinging/blocking for a turn cycle is nothing compared to bounce+can't recast, but... the body though...
Scion Summoner was so close. Couldn't he just have been a 3/3? I really, really don't want to add one power to a Nest Invader for one mana. Hell, even Trusted Forcemage puts four power on the board and that's a card I'm only playing because "lol green threes."
I think I like Embodiment of Fury. I am worried about land count in aggressive decks and whether midrangey decks really want to get their lands potentially killed off. I'll have to stare at my red fours for a minute.
Not really sold on Reckless Bushwhacker. He's better than Goblin Bushwhacker in the worst case, but the best case is still the same. I'm not really excited about dropping a 2/1 for [3] and I already wasn't playing the original Bushwhacker so I'm not really sure why I'd bother with a slight upgrade that eats into a competitive slot.
Yeah. Even in lifegain-matters themed decks, you'd still need two instances of lifegain per turn for this to ping your opponent harder than Emissary, and Emissary enables your own stuff besides. To be an archetype, lifegain needs more cards that trigger when you gain life, but it seems like they need to be better than this, even.
I'm not impressed with the green Embodiment at first glance. 4/4 for 5 is bad, it does nothing extra on defense (yes, ignoring Harrow), and I'm not sold at all that the landfall triggers (for mana sources number six and up) will make it a worthwhile inclusion.
Then again, I've got 540 cards to work with and Rhox Maulers has been pretty anemic since Origins came out (but I do still love Beast Attack).
Gift of Tusks is a giant growth for awaken creature lands and a combat trick against giant Eldrazi in OGW limited. It's definitely a playable sideboard card there, but not going to fit in most cubes.
I'm curious as to what other cheap spells they'll have at C/U to help enable surge. Bone Saw is a cute reprint, but obviously doesn't interest me.
Relief Captain looks like a great overlap card between going wide and counters-matter decks. One-drop dork into Ainok Bond-Kin into Abzan Falconer into this is certainly a fun Magical Christmas Land scenario to dream about.
Wow, Relief Captain is a lot of stats (11!) for 4 mana, assuming you can put all three counters out. It's effectively "ETB, put a +1/+1 counter on each other creature you control."
Plus, Relief Captain is also an ETB effect in white which is sorely lacking in quality effects to abuse with blink. It is probably not the best thing ever for a blink deck but I will still test it over Meadowboon due to ETB being that much better than LTB.
I will also be testing Relief Captain. I think it will work well in token decks/blink decks. I don't support counters-matter yet, but it's something I have been thinking about... how has it been working for people that play it?
Will replace Master splicer for the Captain. I think soon all my 4 drops in white will be 2WW
This set is turning out to have a lot of nice gifts for our cubes. Still ~90 other cards to be revealed and most of them are going to be C/U cards.
Jwar Isle Avenger is OK, but I'd rather have Illusory Angel as a 4/4 than the hard-cast option on this guy. Not sure if it's BETTER, but it's more rewarding and interesting to have the 4/4.
Goblin Freerunner doesn't seem quite good enough, but it's really hard to evaluate Surge without previously playing with it (aside from the Angel). Feels like it'll be awkward to use in a lot of hands.
Is Captain still insane on-curve if you don't go one-drop, two-drop, three-drop with no trades?
Is it so good when you're ahead that it doesn't matter that it does nothing when you're behind?
Maybe the BCS is too good to ignore and honestly it is probably amazing even in a fairly equal game. Its probably fine with at least two other dudes in play but with one (or none) it seems pretty bad.
You can also just decline to trade early if you see the Captain in hand and think the +1/+1 counters are more important than bashing your 2/2 into their 2/1.
I was initially lukewarm on relief captain but I think I'll reevaluate. It could still come down on turn 5 after spectral procession and I have plenty of token options in other colors. Even talrands invocation.
Worth a shot, especially in my cube with minimal removal.
Thoughts on Warping Wail? The mana cost is still quite restrictive, admittedly, but if this was available in almost any colour, I would quite likely test out the pseudo-charm. Even now, I am considering it.
Edit: Looking at Dimir Charm after someone drew the comparison. Admittedly, that charm is among the worst for the Return to Ravnica block. Still, Dimir is stacked and probably even more restrictive than colourless mana.
While we still have yet to see most of the C/U cards, from what's been spoiled so far I think if you want to run true colorless cards the payoff isn't the cards themselves. A Last Gasp look-a-like and a Charm are decent, but certainly not strong enough to pull me away from running one of the other colors. What would pull me into colorless cards is the ability to run X/colorless as a "2-color" deck where you get to run as many colorless utility lands and mana rocks like Mishra's Factory, Quicksand, the Blighted cycle, Mind stone, etc as you want without hurting your access to your main color. That's the payoff. Getting Warped Wail to wheel around to you 13th pick is a nice side bonus, but nothing special.
I think if you want a "true colorless" section in your cube, you need to increase the colorless utility land count by as much as you can. My opinion could obviously change based on the rest of the set, of course.
That's probably true, in which case the odds of colorless being worthwhile are pretty low. It makes sense considering we have over 20 years of cards for the other colors and basically just a single set for colorless. Maybe in Return to the Battle for Zendikar we'll have the critical mass needed, heh.
Stormchaser Mage is cute with a lot of words, but will probably play out a lot like Gaea's Skyfolk. Casting non-creature spells on your first main phase is actually a fairly steep requirement, especially for a deck that wants a hasty 2-drop. Kiln Fiend at least rewards your efforts by a huge 3-power boost for each spell (and I don't put too much stock in how often you'll be casting enchanments or artifacts in UR decks).
Cliffhaven Vampire is for archetype-driven/low-power shenanigans, but a cool card for that setting at least.
Weapons Trainer... seems awkward. I rarely put more than one equipment in a single deck, since drawing too much equipment and too few creatures makes for a really bad curve, so I think that if she just came in to my Boros section with the rest of the cube as-is the boost would not be too reliable. But, still a 3/2 for 2 at least, and I'm not remotely attached to the damn Skyknight Legionnaire that has yet to get replaced.
Baloth Null is fairly and pretty easily swapped for Pharika's Mender. 5->6 mana is an important jump, but it's more than powerful enough to be worth it.
Reflector mage - definitely auto include - will cut Sky hussar which has been too slow and unexciting for me
Embodiment of fury - pretty stoked about this one - will cut Bloodfray giant... I like my >4 CMC to do something right away, which I feel Embodiment of fury has the potential to do
Baloth Null - for sure replacing Pharika's mender, I like the bigger body, I like the potential to get 2 creatures back in the late game, definitely advantage over getting 1 enchantment or 1 creature IMO
So far cards that I may/probably will test, but not as excited as above cards:
Embodiment of insight - the card looks like it could do work, I like it because in huge Gx ramp decks there are a lot of times in the late game drawing lands or cards that search for lands, with Embodiment of insight those lands/cards could still be gas instead of just waiting for your big creatures/payoffs... hard part is finding something to cut... maybe Penumbra spider or Wickerbough elder or even Briarhorn... not sure... any opinions?
Stormchaser mage - I think this card has a higher upside than kiln fiend because of flying and its prowess... I like Izzet spells matter theme and there are already a lot of spells between R and U in my cube, but still hard cut to find in my Izzet section... maybe Jilt? Which for me has been a little unexciting in last drafts.
Looking forward to more surge cards and the other Embodiment cards (if there are more). Depending on what surge cards they give us, I might be looking into adding a bit of storm into my R / UR archetype
My 180 Peasant Cube on Cubetutor
Scion Summoner was so close. Couldn't he just have been a 3/3? I really, really don't want to add one power to a Nest Invader for one mana. Hell, even Trusted Forcemage puts four power on the board and that's a card I'm only playing because "lol green threes."
I think I like Embodiment of Fury. I am worried about land count in aggressive decks and whether midrangey decks really want to get their lands potentially killed off. I'll have to stare at my red fours for a minute.
Not really sold on Reckless Bushwhacker. He's better than Goblin Bushwhacker in the worst case, but the best case is still the same. I'm not really excited about dropping a 2/1 for [3] and I already wasn't playing the original Bushwhacker so I'm not really sure why I'd bother with a slight upgrade that eats into a competitive slot.
Yeah. Even in lifegain-matters themed decks, you'd still need two instances of lifegain per turn for this to ping your opponent harder than Emissary, and Emissary enables your own stuff besides. To be an archetype, lifegain needs more cards that trigger when you gain life, but it seems like they need to be better than this, even.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Draft my Peasant Cube.
Okay, Embodiment of insight is probably not better than Briarhorn, but still possibly better than Penumbra spider or Wickerbough elder
I will probably test in place of one of them
My 180 Peasant Cube on Cubetutor
Then again, I've got 540 cards to work with and Rhox Maulers has been pretty anemic since Origins came out (but I do still love Beast Attack).
Edit: The flavourtext is neat though. It's almost...unforgettable. (sorry)
Cubetutor Peasant'ish-Funbox
Project: Khans of Tarkir Cube (cubetutor)
Of the multicolor cards, I really only want to run Reflector Mage and Baloth Null.
Cubetutor link - 380 Peasant Cube
Relief Captain looks like a great overlap card between going wide and counters-matter decks. One-drop dork into Ainok Bond-Kin into Abzan Falconer into this is certainly a fun Magical Christmas Land scenario to dream about.
Cubetutor link - 380 Peasant Cube
Will replace Master splicer for the Captain. I think soon all my 4 drops in white will be 2WW
This set is turning out to have a lot of nice gifts for our cubes. Still ~90 other cards to be revealed and most of them are going to be C/U cards.
My 180 Peasant Cube on Cubetutor
Jwar Isle Avenger is OK, but I'd rather have Illusory Angel as a 4/4 than the hard-cast option on this guy. Not sure if it's BETTER, but it's more rewarding and interesting to have the 4/4.
Goblin Freerunner doesn't seem quite good enough, but it's really hard to evaluate Surge without previously playing with it (aside from the Angel). Feels like it'll be awkward to use in a lot of hands.
Is Captain still insane on-curve if you don't go one-drop, two-drop, three-drop with no trades?
Is it so good when you're ahead that it doesn't matter that it does nothing when you're behind?
Maybe the BCS is too good to ignore and honestly it is probably amazing even in a fairly equal game. Its probably fine with at least two other dudes in play but with one (or none) it seems pretty bad.
Draft my Peasant Cube.
It's also quite good with my two-in-one creatures (Mardu Hordechief, Sandsteppe Outcast).
You can also just decline to trade early if you see the Captain in hand and think the +1/+1 counters are more important than bashing your 2/2 into their 2/1.
Worth a shot, especially in my cube with minimal removal.
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
CubeTutor: www.cubetutor.com/cubeblog/72
Thread: http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=512410
Edit: Looking at Dimir Charm after someone drew the comparison. Admittedly, that charm is among the worst for the Return to Ravnica block. Still, Dimir is stacked and probably even more restrictive than colourless mana.
I think if you want a "true colorless" section in your cube, you need to increase the colorless utility land count by as much as you can. My opinion could obviously change based on the rest of the set, of course.
I'd much much much rather have 15 Plains, one Mishra's Factory, no Spatial Contortion than a "WC" deck that gets crappy colorless-specific spells and casts them with Quicksand but can no longer cast on-curve Consul's Lieutenant or Spectral Procession (or even Pianna, Nomad Captain).