MTG Salvation

So it has begun.

Headwater Sentries 3U Vanilla 2/5
Prosperous Pirates 4U 3/4 get 2 artifacts that sac for 1
Deadeye Tormentor 2B 2/2 if you attacked, opp discards one
Queen's Bay Soldier 1B vanilla 2/2
Sun-Crowned Hunters 4RR 5/4 if this is dealt dmg, deal 3 to opp
Unfriendly Fire 4R instant deal 4 to anything
Tishana's Wayfinder 2G 2/2 draw a land or put the card back or in the gy to get +1+1

the pirates have potential for artifact synergies, the wayfinder has an interesting mechanic that seems very solid for limited

Tishana's Wayfinder interests me. What a versatile card. It supports +1/+1 matters. It scries and fills the graveyard. It draws land. It seems like it will fit into a lot of different draft decks although it might not necessarily always do what you want.

This is the kind of versatile card I like to include in cubes. It could find a home in so many decks.

Sun-Crowned Hunters could potentially be more than it seems. Unless it gets pacified or exiled it comes with a free Lava Spike for the extra mana cost. In some cases it might even lava spike your opponent multiple times.
You could upgrade any pinger that can target creatures into a lava spiker instead.

the wayfinder is pretty likely to end in one of my cubes. cc3 3/3 scry1 oder 2/2 draw a card is pretty strong either way.
the hunters seems like "danger of cool things". sure its likely to deal 3, but thats close to Cinder Hellion and then works as pseudo-trample if not dealt with. its definitely a very interesting card, but not better than borderline.

+1/+1 counters in simic (or bant, it's not clear) is a good thing.

Explore seems like a great ability for graveyard and counters.

Lifelink on orzhov is always welcome, spetially because it synergises with all permabuffs.

Enrage is an interesting mechanic.

Raid is an ability that will depend entirely on the power of the cards printed.

All things considered, I think this could be a great expansion for us.



P.D.: F@ck double-sided, but at least it seems like it will be on cards that probably I wouldn't include anyway.

Enrage makes for a pretty sweet defensive ability as well. Anyone attacking will just keep triggering it.

We only got vanilla 3/3s for 3 so far. Not with an upside and i guess we still consider them playable. Sure it kinda bad to find a land in the lategame, but that would be your horrible next turns topdeck otherwise and you can still chump. But ok. Probably a card you want to see performing firsr.

The being a bad draw late is applicable to the vast majority of 2 and 3 drops. On curve it comes out as a great beater with +1+1 and graveyard filling synergy with the scry or it smooths your mana (without the guaranteed fixing) like a borderland ranger. I would be perfectly happy with both modes in an aggressive beat-down deck as well as a ramp deck. If you have other filtering or scry cards you can set this guy up for whatever mode you need.

There are situations where you will definitely be wanting one mode over the other, however; that is the price you pay for having such an all round card that can do two things. It will never be as good as a Borderland Ranger for the fixing, but it is better than a Centaur Courser in the other mode by a big margin due to the graveyard scry and +1+1 synergies.

It's another card that helps nudge the graveyard and +1 +1 synergies into greater relevance for archetype cubes.

actually what +1+1 synergies you guys are talking about. last time i checked we got exactly 2 cards that slightly buff creatures as long as theyre in play.

It's clear that we need +1/+1 LORDS. If 2 or 3 come with this set, it could become a thing. But putting more +1/+1 counters in the pool without an added benefit won't matter.

i dont see any plain +1+1 lords in common ever. maybe something that doubles +1+1 counters as they enter


new cards:

Huatli's Snubhorn 1W 2/2 vigilance
Castaway's Despair 3U Enchant a creature and tap it infinitely

Headwater Sentries 3U 2/5 vanilla.

Quote from NoobinCube »

Headwater Sentries 3U 2/5 vanilla.

that was known

New
pirate's Cutlass 3 equip 2 or etb on pirate +2+1

Seems interesting, I wonder how many pirates will be cruising about after the set is fully released.

Skittering Heartstopper B 1/2 B:Deathtouch - interesting 1-drop. more resilent to ping
Grazing Whiptail 2GG 3/4 reach
Commune with Dinosaurs G Sorcery Look top5 take a dino or land and put the rest bot lib
Ravenous Daggertooth 2G 3/2 get 2 life when damaged

Those all seem pretty underwhelming. Are they even borderline?

Grazing Whiptail is a functional reprint of Cloudcrown Oak and a worse version of Aerie Bowmasters, so not too exciting.

I agree there hasn't been anything too exciting yet. I feel like the wayfinder has the most potential so far.

Rile Sorcery R deal 1dmg and trample to your own creature, draw1.
Legion Conquistador 2W 2/2 ETB search for copys

Rile is functionally worse than the card in Hour that gives all creatures you control trample and draw a card for R and sorcery.

Quote from Volcanon »

Rile is functionally worse than the card in Hour that gives all creatures you control trample and draw a card for R and sorcery.

Yeah it's pretty bad. I don't see many decks I'm excited to throw this in.

Cast Rile on your Bellowing Aegisaur and your Rile then reads:

"Deal 1 damage to target creature you control then put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control, draw a card and target creature has trample".

I still think it's a bit hokey and when viewed from a cube perspective, these narrow set-specific cards always leave me feeling a bit underwhelmed. I understand the need for narrow cards to really make certain archetypes shine while also guaranteeing such cards are not always drafted early. However, I like the vast bulk of my cube cards to have relevance in a range of decks.

Some other combos:

Sun-Crowned Hunters - Rile becomes a Lava Spike that replaces itself and gives your creature trample and a damage.

Ranging Raptors - Rile becomes a ramp version of a cycled Krosan Tusker.

Ripjaw Raptor - Rile becomes a draw two spell.

Snapping Sailback - Rile gives you a +1/+1 counter on your creature which cancels out the damage, draws you a card, and gives it trample

Rile will be a strong card in enrage decks and a playable in a lot of GR decks. This is especially the case considering the removal spoiled so far. The game designers want you sorting out your differences in combat. Dealing with big beasties will require more than a common kill spell so I don't think you will get blown out too often when playing rile on a decent sized Dinosaur.

Well yeah it's designed for that set, but as you said we're not looking at it from that lens here.

Commons are starting to come in a little faster now. Got two dinosaur matter commons and 4 more that aren't specifically tribal focused.

Tilonalli's Knight
Kinjali's Caller

Desperate Castaways
Could have been interesting if it couldn't block instead, if you didn't control an artifact but otherwise not typically going to be that good.

Dire Fleet Hoarder
Reminds me of Carrier Thrall. Doesn't seem too impressive though.

Brazen Buccaneers
Interesting card for red. Sort of like a Civic Wayfinder for 4 with haste or a easier to cast Talruum Minotaur with sry 1 on enter. Seems like a okayish 4 drop I guess.

Skulduggery
A solid effect for 1 mana.

all meh

So many set specific cards. This set is going to be great for a lot of cube archetypes, but nothing very interesting for pauper cube so far.

3 more revealed

Spike-Tailed Ceratops4G
Can block an additional creature each combat
4/4

Ancient Brontodon 6GG
9/9

Looming Altisaur 3W
1/7

Nothing too exciting. Just a couple vanilla creature and a third with a kind of interesting ability. Interestingly though, he 9/9 is the biggest creature we have, not including X creatures. Pretty big but with it being a plain vanilla, probably means it won't make the cut over any of the other good options we've got for top end.

EDIT: Fixed Altisaur's mana cost