The two blue cards are good options for archetype cubes and Tragic Lesson might even find its way into a powered cube; two cards at instant speed for 3 with a generic downside is surprisingly hard to find. In the right archetype cube the downside could definitely be a positive. Landfall immediately springs to mind.
Rhonas's Stalwart seems kind of interesting; cast on curve and exerted quickly you should be getting through for damage. It also supports the idea of pumping it I guess. It's an odd card that features the biggest cigarette I have ever seen. I can't see it ever being cubed.
cards that got mentioned im not interested in for now Oketra’s Avenger still too fragile Frontline Devastator definitely on the top end of borderline, but id still run Wildfire Emissary above it Granitic Titan i mentioned elsewhere that cycle in red usually doesnt work well with the temponature of that color. its nice if you support redbased control though. Rhonas’s Stalwart I actually think is is a very solid bear. very close to cubable. Tragic Lesson Id rather bounce a second land and get the spell for free Gush
I decided to put 2 blue hexproof guys in my cube. That should be enough for the archetype who wants them. One can be cycled away so you can have a 2nd backup. The 4/4 is the most underwhelming of them and a strictly worse giant, so it will move one tier down.
To me, Firebrand Archer needs first strike or something like that. A 2/1 for 1R is not good enough for us anymore, and the ability, even when works with artifacts and enchantments, ONLY works with the triggers. Thermo-alchemist GUARANTEES at least 1 damage every turn.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Holiday Armadillo... Cloak
My 490 Pauper Cube
Modern frame only- Common on paper only - no functional copies, no strictly-betters - no subtype-matters
I really like that every color now has cycling fatties. I know I overvalue versatility, but these last 2 sets really allow 360s to run fat without hurting the overall curve of each color. The SoA ones were meh, these are solid.
Probably borderline, but Angel of Mercy got downgraded to common with Aven of Enduring Hope. That's a heck of a roadblock, plus blink synergies on a decent body. Red decks may still just run you over in spite of those things
Centaur Courser no. 3 joins the fray with Harrier Naga. Although we're probably at saturation for this type of body, I do like that it helps define green as the most efficient color for mid-sized bodies.
Rampaging Hippo and Granitic Titan seem fine, but still not quite what I'm looking for at the top end. Striped Riverwinder is almost definitely too highly costed to see play, unless you're on a ramp or reanimator plan.
The exert package got a little bigger. Hidden Strings plays very well with exert, although it's not quite the right colors. Rally the Righteous and War Flare are in better colors, but remain one-shot. At the other end, Mobile Garrison can slot into almost any deck.
Finally I got my wish! A playable green six drop that avoids most damage based removal and most creatures 1v1.
Cards that I thought were interesting.
Spellweaver Eternal - This is one of the most aggressive blue 2 drops I've seen outside of the 2/1 flyers. I've been putting together a masters cube and realised there are bugger all good prowess creatures at common outside of Ingenious Skaab. This is a solid addition to the range of options.
Countervailing Winds - A conditional counter spell that can be cycled seems quite tempting for archetype cubes. This obviously looks most at home in a B/U control deck.
Striped Riverwinder - Seems solid in unpowered cubes. 7 mana might be a bit much for most. Although I'm always happy with Skittering Crustacean. Instead of cycling you can play it as a three drop. The crab also has +1/+1 synergies.
Aerial Guide - It has already been commented on, but it seems great to me. Exactly what the U/G decks want.
Thorned Moloch - I reckon this might be the best prowess card red has at common. I suspect the reason wizards are including prowess cards in every set release is that it encourages use of combat tricks. This really only seems like a potential inclusion if you are looking to support spells matter.
Oketra's Avenger - This seems great in any aggro deck. You become outclassed or worried about trading for a 1 powered token then you can attack every second turn anyway.
Granitic Titan - Cycling makes this guy acceptable, but nothing exciting. This is comparable in stats to red five drops and cycling on a five drops isn't so vital which puts this guy in an odd space if you ask me.
Firebrand Archer - More spells matter support in an average 2 drop body. Unpowered cubes only, I imagine.
Scrounger of Souls - This chap may see more action than his Faithbearer Paladin chum due to the slower nature of black decks, in general. It all depends on how your cube looks.
Rampaging Hippo - Double exclam. This is the card I've been waiting for in green with the added bonus of not being a disaster if it's in your opening hand. If you include a green six drop in your cube this has to be it unless you are just going for the utility of a Mold Shambler.
Aven of Enduring Hope - This seems totally cubeable. The only reason why I wouldn't expect to see it much is because white generally has very few five drop inclusions.
Feral Prowler - This is another good green body for slower sacrifice archetypes along with Young Wolf and Satyr Wayfinder. I don't see anyone spending a card to exile him either.
Beneath the Sands - You overpay by a mana, but the cycling allows you to avoid the horrors of drawing these cards once you've hit six or seven mana and being completely and utterly dead. I think this deserves attention for this fact. Having said that, I think you're better off going for creature ramp instead as bodies can do something and generally provide more interaction and fun.
Ambuscade - Arguments can be made that this is better than Rabid Bite due to the instant nature and the +1 power compared to the cheaper sorcery speed price of Rabid Bite. Seems an easy cubeable to me. I also learned me a new word for ambush.
Oasis Ritualist - It got spoiled earlier but this seems way better than Ondu Giant as it can fling you straight up to 7 mana on your next turn which could make for some explosive plays. Having a 2/4 body out always seems preferable to simply exploding vegetation everywhere. Combine it with any untap shenanigans and you can be playing with a lot of mana.
I'm pretty stoked with the final spoilers. There are loads of new options for various archetypes and even a couple of inclusions for powered cubes. I finally got my bloody green six drop as well.
If a lifegain option is something you're looking for, the 4th toughness on Staunch Defenders makes it a good option too. Angel of Mercy would have been great a while ago but it doesn't stack up anymore.
Tragic Lesson could help fuel a small landfall package alongside Deprive and friends. It seems very clearly low-tier to me though, and I would have loved to see a small bonus like cycling 2/sacrifice a land attached to it as a secondary (tertiary?) mode.
My experience is very similiar to the one of Al. So I only list other cards, I really liked:
Spellweaver Eternal: Afflict is damn good mechanic, at least in HOD limited. And this was the creature my opponents had to think the most about blocking or not blocking. Blocking and lose two life and possibly also lose the blocker or not blocking and risking more damage. I liked it, especially in late game, when your opponent's life total is low, Afflict creatures really are a problem. Scrounger of Souls was not as good, as I thought it would be, but it was still annoying and I played a really aggressive deck, so it might find its place. Solitary Camel overperformed imo, but unfortunatly it doesn't work without deserts, like Wall of forgotten pharaohs Rhonas Stalwart was as good as I thought it would be. Good, aggressive 2-drop. But I'm not sure, if good enough for cueb. Have to check this.
Those last two cuts seem awkward to me. What's wrong with Terrain Elemental and Sickleslicer that you would replace them with cards that might be side-grades at best?
As an aside, I do think Spellweaver Eternal is worth a second look. I really liked the idea of Umara Entangler and think it just needed a slight boost to bump it to cubeable. With afflict, it might get there
Those last two cuts seem awkward to me. What's wrong with Terrain Elemental and Sickleslicer that you would replace them with cards that might be side-grades at best?
As an aside, I do think Spellweaver Eternal is worth a second look. I really liked the idea of Umara Entangler and think it just needed a slight boost to bump it to cubeable. With afflict, it might get there
My thoughts about the elemental -> Stalwart swap was, Elemental dies to every 2/X. Rhonas Stalwart doesn't if i don't want to, because it can't be blocked by those. Also I think it is the more interesting card.
the Censer came in, because I have quite a lot of humans in my cube and I wanna try the incidental synergy with exert creatures. Sickleslicer was always just okay in my cube. Never saw any amazing plays with it.
Rhonas's Stalwart seems kind of interesting; cast on curve and exerted quickly you should be getting through for damage. It also supports the idea of pumping it I guess. It's an odd card that features the biggest cigarette I have ever seen. I can't see it ever being cubed.
My singleton Masters Cube
GWUBRDraft my Old Border Nostalgia Cube! and/or The Little Pauper Cube That Could!RBUWG
Modern:WDeath & TaxesW | RUGRUG DelverRUG
Zombie Camel is up there with Zombie Crocodile for my love of theme btw.
Loose Change Pauper Cube-cast
Pauper Cube Article #1
Pauper Cube Article #2
Personal Enjoyment Cube
My singleton Masters Cube
Things I liked
Improvement over other 3/1 for 2 creatures we currently have.
Strictly better trained condor
Worse than Miscalculation but still acceptable? Wait, at first I thougt It costed 1U. Nop, too expensive.
An afflict creature I like. It says "blocking this is not good business" all along.
Holy crap. Blue control hexproof cycyling. What the f...
Needs more interactions but not bad.
Faithbearer in black.
Cycling makes it good.
Strictly better Sentinel Spider. The powercreep is real.
This is what I meant with "better green 6-cmc"
Nice expansion, didn't add anything revolutionary but slightly improved on cubable and stapples we already had.
My 490 Pauper Cube
Modern frame only- Common on paper only - no functional copies, no strictly-betters - no subtype-matters
cards im intereseted in for now
Act of Heroism very high 2:1 potential
Djeru’s Renunciation also a neat combat trick that cycles if not needed
Aerial Guide fixes the 1 toughness drawback of condor, I like
Striped Riverwinder im on the fence with this one. costs more than Benthic Giant and usually you dont want to cycle away your wincon. but hexproof is just so strong. Probably still T1
Scrounger of Souls perfect card for black control
Crash Through blowout potential and its a cantrip
Firebrand Archer strong addition to spells matters, but toughness of 1 makes me sad.
Bitterbow Sharpshooters yep, a better sentinel spider
Frilled Sandwalla oh boy, stompy here we go
Oasis Ritualist pretty strong ramp card
Rampaging Hippo 6 drops are appreciated
cards that got mentioned im not interested in for now
Oketra’s Avenger still too fragile
Frontline Devastator definitely on the top end of borderline, but id still run Wildfire Emissary above it
Granitic Titan i mentioned elsewhere that cycle in red usually doesnt work well with the temponature of that color. its nice if you support redbased control though.
Rhonas’s Stalwart I actually think is is a very solid bear. very close to cubable.
Tragic Lesson Id rather bounce a second land and get the spell for free Gush
expected changes
T1:
Thriving Rhino<Frilled Sandwalla
Syndicate Enforcer<Scrounger of Souls
Bastion Inventor<Striped Riverwinder
T2:
Wirewood Guardian<Rampaging Hippo
Fertilid<Oasis Ritualist
Thrashing Mossdog<Bitterbow Sharpshooters
Watercourser<Aerial Guide
Apex Hawks<Dauntless Aven
Aven Initiate<Bastion Inventor
Bloodbriar<Thriving Rhino
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
My 490 Pauper Cube
Modern frame only- Common on paper only - no functional copies, no strictly-betters - no subtype-matters
And we need more Camels.
Loose Change Pauper Cube-cast
Pauper Cube Article #1
Pauper Cube Article #2
Personal Enjoyment Cube
Ambuscade seems like premier green removal. It can join Cartouche of Strength, Epic Confrontation, Pit Fight, Prey Upon and Savage Punch for consideration.
Centaur Courser no. 3 joins the fray with Harrier Naga. Although we're probably at saturation for this type of body, I do like that it helps define green as the most efficient color for mid-sized bodies.
Rampaging Hippo and Granitic Titan seem fine, but still not quite what I'm looking for at the top end. Striped Riverwinder is almost definitely too highly costed to see play, unless you're on a ramp or reanimator plan.
The exert package got a little bigger. Hidden Strings plays very well with exert, although it's not quite the right colors. Rally the Righteous and War Flare are in better colors, but remain one-shot. At the other end, Mobile Garrison can slot into almost any deck.
My Cube (DeckStats)
My Pauper Cube: 540 (CubeTutor link!)
Level 1 Judge
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
Loose Change Pauper Cube-cast
Pauper Cube Article #1
Pauper Cube Article #2
Personal Enjoyment Cube
Cards that I thought were interesting.
Spellweaver Eternal - This is one of the most aggressive blue 2 drops I've seen outside of the 2/1 flyers. I've been putting together a masters cube and realised there are bugger all good prowess creatures at common outside of Ingenious Skaab. This is a solid addition to the range of options.
Countervailing Winds - A conditional counter spell that can be cycled seems quite tempting for archetype cubes. This obviously looks most at home in a B/U control deck.
Striped Riverwinder - Seems solid in unpowered cubes. 7 mana might be a bit much for most. Although I'm always happy with Skittering Crustacean. Instead of cycling you can play it as a three drop. The crab also has +1/+1 synergies.
Aerial Guide - It has already been commented on, but it seems great to me. Exactly what the U/G decks want.
Thorned Moloch - I reckon this might be the best prowess card red has at common. I suspect the reason wizards are including prowess cards in every set release is that it encourages use of combat tricks. This really only seems like a potential inclusion if you are looking to support spells matter.
Oketra's Avenger - This seems great in any aggro deck. You become outclassed or worried about trading for a 1 powered token then you can attack every second turn anyway.
Granitic Titan - Cycling makes this guy acceptable, but nothing exciting. This is comparable in stats to red five drops and cycling on a five drops isn't so vital which puts this guy in an odd space if you ask me.
Firebrand Archer - More spells matter support in an average 2 drop body. Unpowered cubes only, I imagine.
Scrounger of Souls - This chap may see more action than his Faithbearer Paladin chum due to the slower nature of black decks, in general. It all depends on how your cube looks.
Rampaging Hippo - Double exclam. This is the card I've been waiting for in green with the added bonus of not being a disaster if it's in your opening hand. If you include a green six drop in your cube this has to be it unless you are just going for the utility of a Mold Shambler.
Aven of Enduring Hope - This seems totally cubeable. The only reason why I wouldn't expect to see it much is because white generally has very few five drop inclusions.
Feral Prowler - This is another good green body for slower sacrifice archetypes along with Young Wolf and Satyr Wayfinder. I don't see anyone spending a card to exile him either.
Bitterbow Sharpshooters - I way prefer the unnerving artwork of Sentinel Spider and every man and his dog can splash for this.
Beneath the Sands - You overpay by a mana, but the cycling allows you to avoid the horrors of drawing these cards once you've hit six or seven mana and being completely and utterly dead. I think this deserves attention for this fact. Having said that, I think you're better off going for creature ramp instead as bodies can do something and generally provide more interaction and fun.
Ambuscade - Arguments can be made that this is better than Rabid Bite due to the instant nature and the +1 power compared to the cheaper sorcery speed price of Rabid Bite. Seems an easy cubeable to me. I also learned me a new word for ambush.
Oasis Ritualist - It got spoiled earlier but this seems way better than Ondu Giant as it can fling you straight up to 7 mana on your next turn which could make for some explosive plays. Having a 2/4 body out always seems preferable to simply exploding vegetation everywhere. Combine it with any untap shenanigans and you can be playing with a lot of mana.
I'm pretty stoked with the final spoilers. There are loads of new options for various archetypes and even a couple of inclusions for powered cubes. I finally got my bloody green six drop as well.
My singleton Masters Cube
Loose Change Pauper Cube-cast
Pauper Cube Article #1
Pauper Cube Article #2
Personal Enjoyment Cube
but i think we have much better 5 drops already
Custodi Squire
Totem-Guide Hartebeest
Plover Knights
Supply-Line Cranes
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
Level 1 Judge
(to be clear, when I say I'm interested in, doesn't mean they gona do it at 360, just cards I find interesting)
Oketra's Avenger
Striped Riverwinder
Tragic Lesson
Frilled Sandwalla
Brambleweft Behemoth
Bitterbow Sharpshooters
Rampaging Hippo
My Cube (DeckStats)
My Pauper Cube: 540 (CubeTutor link!)
Level 1 Judge
Thanks for the insight! Look forward to playing with the new cards myself.
Level 1 Judge
Spellweaver Eternal: Afflict is damn good mechanic, at least in HOD limited. And this was the creature my opponents had to think the most about blocking or not blocking. Blocking and lose two life and possibly also lose the blocker or not blocking and risking more damage. I liked it, especially in late game, when your opponent's life total is low, Afflict creatures really are a problem.
Scrounger of Souls was not as good, as I thought it would be, but it was still annoying and I played a really aggressive deck, so it might find its place.
Solitary Camel overperformed imo, but unfortunatly it doesn't work without deserts, like Wall of forgotten pharaohs
Rhonas Stalwart was as good as I thought it would be. Good, aggressive 2-drop. But I'm not sure, if good enough for cueb. Have to check this.
Edit: Other cards I hadn't the chance but am interested in (especially experience from others):
Tragic Lesson, Khenra Eternal, Frontline Devastator
Or are you interested in a Fiora flavor cube? Conspire and win!
Level 2 Judge
My singleton Masters Cube
Audacious Infiltrator > Oketra's Avenger
Rabid Bite > Ambuscade
Misthoof Kirin > Dauntless Aven
Neurok Invisimancer > Aerial Guide
Carnivorous Death-Parrot > Spellweaver Eternal
Terrain Elemental > Rhonas's Stalwart
Sickleslicer > True-Faith Censer
Or are you interested in a Fiora flavor cube? Conspire and win!
Level 2 Judge
swap?
GWUBRDraft my Old Border Nostalgia Cube! and/or The Little Pauper Cube That Could!RBUWG
Modern:WDeath & TaxesW | RUGRUG DelverRUG
Those last two cuts seem awkward to me. What's wrong with Terrain Elemental and Sickleslicer that you would replace them with cards that might be side-grades at best?
As an aside, I do think Spellweaver Eternal is worth a second look. I really liked the idea of Umara Entangler and think it just needed a slight boost to bump it to cubeable. With afflict, it might get there
My Cube (DeckStats)
My Pauper Cube: 540 (CubeTutor link!)
Level 1 Judge
My thoughts about the elemental -> Stalwart swap was, Elemental dies to every 2/X. Rhonas Stalwart doesn't if i don't want to, because it can't be blocked by those. Also I think it is the more interesting card.
the Censer came in, because I have quite a lot of humans in my cube and I wanna try the incidental synergy with exert creatures. Sickleslicer was always just okay in my cube. Never saw any amazing plays with it.
Or are you interested in a Fiora flavor cube? Conspire and win!
Level 2 Judge