Multiplayer Theros Review (249/249) - Part 1

Part 2

Reading Guide:
This review is ordered as the cards appear on the MTGS visual spoiler (aka alphabetically). This is to make things easier for you to follow along at home. If you're looking for a specific card (one that was recently spoiled for example) good old ctrl + f is just as handy as it's ever been. You don't have to scour the entire review to find it :P.

Rating Scale:
5: Would strongly consider playing this card in any deck that could reasonably support it. Powerful enough to build around if needed since it figures to dominate a table. These are format definers that can warp metas entirely if your playgroup is still getting their feet wet in the Magic world. Think Exsanguinate, Land Tax, Consecrated Spinx, Doubling Season, Insurrection.

4: Powerful card that I will usually play but that doesn't offer anything truly unique. It's certainly good but it's interchangeable with enough cards that you'll never be scrambling to play it in everything. It's probably good enough to build around and at the very least you'll be keeping it in mind as you're fleshing the rest of the list out. That being said it's much more likely that you'll play these cards as key supporting pillars to give your deck some inherent strength. Think Syphon Mind, Earthquake, Wrath of God, Rite of Replication, Defense of the Heart.

3: This is a generically good card that won't make a deck much better or worse. It's not going to blow you away but it's not going to disappoint you very often either. A deck full of these won't crush a table but it will usually be good enough (tm) to keep you competitive. Think Vampire Nighthawk, Clone, Chandra's Spitfire, Calming Verse, Austere Command.

2: This card has some niche application but I wouldn't put much effort in acquiring it since it's unlikely to be a key player in many of your current/future decks. It's not great but it's somewhat multiplayer orientated so you should probably keep it on your radar.

1: This card wouldn't be played in an ideal world.

+/-: Used to distinguish between a "better" N and a "worse" N. That is, a 3+ dictates a high-quality 3 whereas a 3- would be on the lower end of the spectrum.

Cubeworthy: simple "yes" or "no" of whether or not I'd Cube with the card myself. That is, would I both put this card in one of Cubes and actively draft it a reasonably high % of the time with plans to maindeck it.

White
Celestial Archon
4/4 fliers for 5 are never going to be horrendous and adding First Strike is never going to hurt. The fact that this things gets Bestow "for free" makes it a fairly sweet card in that sense. Even if your target bites the dust you still have a reasonable creature to work with. Keep in mind that if you do manage to cast this on something decently large and connect with someone then they're probably going to die at some point in the near future. Even if someone kills your critter, hey, you still have a big flier. That's not a bad deal for 7 mana. I just don't see how this card could possibly be bad in that sense. Angelic Destiny is a real card and this is basically the same thing except it pumps out another body for the second go-around and it's not vulnerable to spot removal. I'm not saying that you should run out and buy them or anything but I mean if you acquire some naturally it seems perfectly playable to me

Rating: 2+
Not cubeworthy

Elspeth, Sun's Champion
I'm not a big fan of Planeswalkers in general in MP but this one is a bit of an exception. I like the fact that she can Wrath immediately and even survives to tell the tale. Her +1 puts a lot of bodies into play which is never a bad thing when you're putting a big target on your head. Her ultimate is cool but that's true for every 'Walker and getting there isn't usually realistic. That being said her -3 is good enough that any time you can use her other 2 modes are just gravy in my mind. Well, that might be downplaying her +1 too much actually. Her +1 is just very, very good. Any + ability that spits out that many blockers is a big game. Getting her on a stable board isn't easy but Wraths are plentiful, especially in White. Of all the 'Walkers printed she's probably one of the best multiplayer-orientated ones. I could actually see myself playing her and that's pretty rare for a guy like me who typically hates 'Walkers. She's super defensive and super powerful and only costs 6 mana. So yeah, I mean, how could I possibly hate on a card like that?

Rating: 4
Cubeworthy

Fabled Hero
3 mana 2 power doublestrikers with upsides are playable. Mirran Crusader is amazing and I mean if you ever put a single counter on this guy then he gets pretty absurd. Obviously I'd rather have the protections the vast majority of the time but I mean dropping a Gift of Immortality or something on this guy is never going to be the worst. I'm not thrilled about this card and I wouldn't chuck in the old cube or anything but I mean you can't just ignore these kinds of cards nor can you ever completely write them off. It literally only takes a single activation for this card to become insane after all. The decks that want this kind of creature will probably really want this card.

Rating: 2
Not cubeworthy

Gift of Immortality
It's hard to hate on recursion this powerful. Zur the Enchanter just got that much more obnoxious XD. The card isn't amazing since it has to be played preemptively and it still gets hosed by instant speed spot removal but I mean the upside is certainly there if this thing ever gets left unchecked. Being able to trigger and retrigger all your sweet enters the battle (ETB) effects is a big game after all, especially when we're talking about things like Sun Titan. Not a windmill slam in every deck, that much is clear, but I mean this is strong card that can make a deck full of good creatures better.

Rating: 3-
Cubeworthy

Heliod, Sun God
This card is flat-out amazing. Vigilance is one of the best keywords in the game since it enables you to be both offensive and defensive. That's a huge advantage in a multiplayer setting when you want to stay alive but you still have to end the game at some point. Moreover, this guy is big enough to threaten just about everything on turn 4. Beyond that he's just plain spitting guys out every time that you find yourself with open mana. 4 mana for a 2/1 isn't amazing but I mean it's certainly not bad. This is especially true if you consider the fact that it triggers Ajani's Chosen and powers Sphere of Safety up. The fact that they're enchantments is certainly relevant! Heck, Mesa Enchantress herself starts to look playable! Land Tax, Blind Obedience, Luminarch Ascension, Ghostly Prison, Replenish, Sigil of the Empty Throne... how is that not a deck? The weakest aspect of the card is obviously the Devotion requirement and realistically White isn't the best color at maintaining it. Their draw/recursion sucks and there's only so many Boros Reckoner-esque cards out there. Still, getting 2 double White cards isn't that hard and there are plenty of powerful ones at your disposal. Precinct Captain, Crusade, Gideon's Avenger, Hundred-Handed One, Hunted Lammasu, any Elspeth, etc. all do the trick in pairs.

Rating: 4+
Cubeworthy

Hundred-Handed One
This card is just absurd. Like, a vigilant 3/5 for 4 is already insane value. That's not an easy card to beat past and I mean you can and will get in for 3 fairly often. That's only part 1 though. When you hit 6 mana this guy becomes a BEAST. 6/8 vigilance, reach? That's insane for a White creature. Paying 6 mana isn't nothing but I mean you can always do it at EOT so it's not like you're forced to commit anything at Sorcery speed. Being able to block "the everything" is fine too and it will make this a very hard card to race. Alpha strikes don't look very appealing against that body and effect lol. This is just an insane creature and should strongly be considered in any deck that needs a 4 drop creature. It's probably worth noting that he's half of what you need to activate a Heliod and even though they don't have much synergy the cards are good enough that you don't really need any.

Rating: 3+
Cubeworthy

Scholar of Athreos
A 1/4 for 3 isn't normally great but it's exactly what the doctor ordered when you have this type of activated ability. Blocking is the only thing that you need to be worried about doing. This card is mana intensive as sin but I mean it will eventually grind an entire table out if left unchecked. This card seems worse than basically any reasonable Extort spell but I mean it's a 3 drop that you be happy to see on turn 12 when you have 9 in play so that's something. Ultimately this card is probably too weak on turn 3 and too marginal on turn 12 to actually turn the table in your favor so it's realistically not going to be that great in practice I don't think. Urborg Syphon-Mage has never impressed me for example and this card doesn't seem significantly more powerful. Still, this is a fun little common who could obviously see some amount of play in metas with shallow card pools.

Rating: 1+
Not cubeworthy

Solider of the Pantheon
Bluntly put I don't think that this card is better than Soul Warden/Soul's Attendant and I'm not convinced that those decks would want a creature as conditional as this. I just don't see how it could possibly gain you more life on average than one of the creature variants figures to accumulate. He obviously has a better body but I use the better loosely. The difference between a 1/1 and a 2/1 is fairly insignificant in my experience because games are not going to be decided in the opening turns. Both of these cards are equally worthless on turn 4 and beyond in terms of their combat potential. In order for this card to be playable the "protection from multicolor" clause would have to be insanely relevant every game. I'm just not seeing that happen personally. I'm probably biased since I Cube a lot and so I don't see many multicolor creatures/removal but I mean come on... really? This is among the worst protections in the game and it isn't close in my mind. Ultimately I just don't see this card being better than any of the Soul Sister variants and I don't think that it's worthwhile to cut something powerful for this type of card in your lifegain-orientated decks.

Rating: 2
Not cubeworthy

Spear of Heliod
I will blindly play a No Mercy in all of my Black decks and I can't think of any good reason why I wouldn't play one of these in my White ones. Glorious Anthem is a playable card to begin with and this is just a super defensive version of it. I like that. +1/+1 doesn't sound like a lot but remember that White has a ton of token generators. There's a huge difference between 1/1s and 2/2s when you're talking about cards such as Cloudgoat Ranger and Increasing Devotion for example. The persistent effect isn't top tier, I'll give you that, but I mean this is a pumper that I could see myself playing on a regular basis. As long as your deck has creatures and wants to survive then both modes are a fairly big game. For what it's worth I really like this card in the Ajani's Chosen decks with Heliod himself, Luminarch Ascension, Sigil of the Empty Throne, etc. It pairs amazingly well with Intangible Virtue since it enables you to be both offensive and defensive. I love that style of deck myself. Yeah, nothing but love for this card from me. I see 2 strong effects on a 3 mana Heliod enabler that works well in any Enchantment-based deck.

Rating: 3+
Cubeworthy

Blue

Artisan of Forms
She's a Clone and since Clones are usually insane in Multiplayer I felt compelled to say something about her. I think that she's utter garbage and I'd never touch her with a 10-foot pole. She can't abuse ETB effects and she needs support to do anything and I consider both of those downsides to be crippling.

Rating: 1
Not cubeworthy

Bident of Thassa
Coastal Piracy with a fairly relevant upside is never going to be an outright bad card. Blue isn't a color that attacks very often in multiplayer in my experience so I don't have a high opinion of this card in that sense. It helps your Devotion to Blue out though and I mean it will force people to suicide their key creatures into meat-shields and so I could envision games where this thing does work. It's among the worst of the "weapons" in the set but it's a reasonable card. I think that this card is at its best in the Coralhelm Commander + Master of the Pearl Trident + Lord of Atlantis + Merfolk Sovereign deck with Thassa, God of the Sea herself. It's your draw engine and any 2 cards in the deck enable Thassa to become a critter. Thassa helps trigger the draw and forces a ton of damage through in the process. The activated ability is always going to be fine since you force small things to run into big things which is never a bad place to be. Could be legit.

Rating: 2 in most decks, 3+ when it's in an aggressive shell with evasive beaters.
Not Cubeworthy

Curse of the Swine
Mass Exile in Blue. What's not to love? This card is just a better version of Ixidron and reminds me a lot of Hex. It's the perfect answer to all of those recursion shenanigans that plague most metas and it's always going to be reasonable removal against various Colossi and whatnot. I mean this thing can always act as a Beast Within if that's what you need. I fully expect it to see a ton of play.

Rating: 4
Cubeworthy

Master of Waves
A lord who makes minions is never going to be unplayable. A worst he's a pair of 2/1s for 4 mana but realistically he'll be better than that on average. It only takes a single UU card (say Hunted Phantasm) to turn him in to a real threat after all. Sure, you lose your tokens if he bites the dust, but Blue isn't really an "army-in-a-can" color anyways. Not an amazing card by any means but I mean I could see a world where he does something. One thing I will say is that Cryptoplasm is the nuts with this guy assuming they survive. Not only do you get at least 3 2/1s but you can then have the Plasm become a copy of the Master to turn them into 3/2s! That is sick value if you ask me. I expect Cryptoplasm to do a lot of disgusting things with Blue Devotion come THS.

Rating: 2
Not Cubeworthy

Meletis Charlatan
I don't know how to rate these "copy" cards because no one ever plays them and even on the rare occasions when they do they always under-perform. My personal experiences lead me to believe that this card is crap like all the others but I could easily be proven wrong by others since I doubt I'll ever see this card in action myself. I'm sure this kind of effect appeals to some % of the player base after all. Not too sure what else to say about it really since this kind of card is fairly self-explanatory. If it's allowed to live and if people play with powerful instants and if you can hold mana up for it then it'll probably do something cool. Never seen it happen myself but like it must be possible. I dunno, this effect just needs to have a "surprise" factor to be relevant in my mind. It's too easy to play around it otherwise.

Rating: 2
Not cubeworthy

Prognostic Sphinx
The funny thing about this card is that you'd have every reason to love it if it had a remotely relevant combat trigger. My Blue decks tend to have a whack of Rhystic Studys and Consecrated Sphinxes in them anyways and so I see a 3/5 flying hexproofer for 5. Sadly that's not actually competitive but I mean this card would have been real if its last line of text was even remotely significant. Since this is a topic that often confuses people, deck manipulation and mass draw is NOT a combo. You don't need to smooth your draws when you're ripping more spells than you could possibly cast. There's nothing to "smooth" when you're at that stage of the game lol. If this card did something other than Scry 3 on attack I would be all over it because I'm usually swimming in cards anyways and so having a big, evasive, resilient beater is exactly what I'm looking for to close games out. Sadly the 3 power and irrelevant fixing just isn't up to snuff. There was definitely potential for this card to be a "something" though. I know that some people are going to read this and think "Cz you newb, this card is good when you to dig for your key spells." No it's not. 5 drops that need to connect for combat damage are not good solutions when you're behind. Scrying on turn 6 to maybe dig for an answer on turn 7... just no lol.

Rating: 1
Not Cubeworthy

Shipbreaker Kraken
A 6/6 for 6 isn't the worst but it's far from good in a world of Frost Titans, Consecrated Sphinxes and Wurmcoil Engines. He can and will kill someone for 8 mana which is cool and I mean sometimes you're a newer player with a limited cardpool so you need to "settle" for things that are easy to obtain. It's not going to make any waves but I've seen worse cards played to win games.

Rating: 1
Not Cubeworthy

Thassa, God of the Sea
This card is better than it looks (although a 5/5 indestructible for 3 probably looks pretty good). The fact of the matter is that this card ends games fast. The Scry is pretty bad (she's no Rhystic Study) but it's not nothing either. Really just doming people with your best beaters when needed is a very powerful effect in a multiplayer setting. Sometimes a player HAS to die and she enables that nicely. The real tricky part is finding good ways to enable her. I like things such as Keeper of the Mind, Legacy's Allure, Ludevic's Test Subject (bam, 13 you!), Azure Mage, Callous Oppressor, Shape Stealer, Cryptoplasm, Steal Enchantment, Vedalken Mastermind and Hunted Phantasm all come to mind. Any number of Merfolk also work and they actually benefit immensely from being able to turn unblockable. I mean, Coralhelm Commander, Lord of Atlantis, Master of the Pearl Trident, Merfolk Sovereign, etc. all activate her in pairs and 4/4s are good things to turn unblockable.

Rating: 2 or 3 in "typical" Blue decks but closer to 3+ or 4 in ones that want to get their beatdown on.
Cubeworthy

Black

Abhorrent Overlord
... why does this card have a drawback exactly? An ~11 power flier for 7 doesn't seem that special to me : /. I mean if you have a big board when you cast this then it's going to end games but that's true of many cards in Magic. If your meta has basically no removal at all then I could see him doing some amount of work since he could dump like... I dunno... 12 guys on the field assuming 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 curve of double black cards? That's pretty damn ambitious lol, very "magical Christmas land," but maybe it'll happen for some people? Possibly? Probably not :P.

Rating: 2+
Not Cubeworthy

Agent of the Fates
Deathtouch is amazing keyword to have on cheap creatures because it means that they'll be relevant at many stages of the game. The Heroic ability means that Undying Evil is going to be the biggest blowout that the world has ever seen and I mean even a Profane Command is going to cause some groans. A 3/2 for 3 isn't exactly impressive and it's somewhat unfortunately that he'll often be trading with most 1-2 drops. That's a fairly minor consideration to make however and I'm not going to hold that against the card. I like that he's a human because Xathrid Necromancer is sweet and I do like that he has some sort of global effect. The biggest problem that I have with this card is that it's no Vampire Nighthawk with respect to being a standalone threat. I want to believe that the Tormented Hero + Agent of the Fates + Xathrid Necromancer deck could be a thing but like I'm drawing a total blank on what to support them with other than a few token goodies. There just aren't many targeted spells that come to mind. Nighthowler is another obvious inclusion but I mean you're not going to find 12 or so playable "target" spells I don't think. It's not like you want to max out cards like Undying Evil and Profane Command after all (then again maybe you do). This card, much like Tormented Hero, just strikes me as being fine but not amazing. He's way better than Tormented Hero obviously, the raw stats are fine, but I'd be shocked if people out there couldn't acquire/afford Vampire Nighthawks and the Nighthawk is just the superior card in general. The sad reality is that I'd basically always rather Bestow a Nighthowler on a Nighthawk anyways because I'd rather have a giant, lifelinking flier than a Fleshbag Marauder effect. This is a cool card and I'm glad that it exists but I mean it just doesn't strike me as being that powerful. Even though a 3 mana deathtoucher is fine in a vacuum the fact that Nighthawk exists means that this card will never be actively good unless you're consistently targeting it with something to get value out of his Heroic effect. That means having something like 12+ spells that can target him in your deck. If you can, hey, by all means, get him in there. Just stick to Nighthawk otherwise.

Rating: 3-
Not cubeworthy

Blood-Toll Harpy
Take any detours necessary to avoid paying this toll.

Rating: 1
Not cubeworthy

Erebos, God of the Dead
I've come around on this guy since he was first spoiled. I was skeptical at first since the persistent effect won't always be relevant and I mean Greed isn't played for a reason (and he's a bad greed at that). That being said neither ability is ever going to be horrendous since any draw spell is good when you're ripping into Exsanguinates and Gray Merchant of Asphodels or whatever. 2 mana and 2 life is a lot but even bad draw is relevant when your deck is packed with powerful spells. Moreover, the body is always nice and Black is one of the best color at triggering Devotion (hello Hunted Horror, Vampire Nighthawk, Geralf's Messenger, Phyrexian Obliterator, Gray Merchant of Asphodel). I think that this card goes from good to great if his lifegain hosing effect becomes relevant which it probably figures to do in a typical multiplayer match. Finally, Black has tons of awesome revival at its disposal and plenty of cards with heavy-Black mana costs so he's really just an amazing beater/blocker who draws you cards and hoses lifegain. He may not be the best draw engine ever but he shuts certain strategies down and protects you while you while he's at it. That's not something that a Phyrexian Arena or whatever can offer a Black mage.

Rating: 4+
Cubeworthy

Gray Merchant of Asphodel
This card excites way more than it probably should. I just can't wait to pair it with Phyrexian Reclamation, Oversold Cemetery, Lord of the Undead (look at that BB mana cost), etc. A Syphon Soul with legs isn't horrendous for 5 and toss in the fact that cards such as Phyrexian Arena, Geralf's Messenger, Phyrexian Obliterator, etc. exist and you have one scary creature. I love that he's a zombie and I do think that he'll find an immediate home in the Zombie drain deck with Vengeful Dead. Maggot Carrier, Shepherd of Rot, Wight of Precinct Six, Geralf's Messenger, Death Baron, Lord of the Undead, Undead Warchief, Vengeful Dead, Zombie Apocalypse and more all make it absurd.

Rating: 4
Cubeworthy

Hero's Downfall
Even as someone who despises spot removal I can't not like this card. I'm not suggesting that Planeswalkers are particularly powerful multiplayer cards in general but being able to snipe any creature/'Walker at instant speed for 3 mana is something. I dunno, the duelist in me likes that this card exists moreso than anything else I guess. Anyways, this is the kind of card that will see more multiplayer play than it probably should but I mean I do understand why this type of effect would appeal to people. I won't be scrambling to play it myself, not in multiplayer anyways, but like I can't possibly hate on this card.

Rating: 2+
Cubeworthy

Hythonia the Cruel
;_;
I mean I really don't know what to say beyond how disappointed I am with this card. I was so hoping that the "good" Black monstrosity card was going to be a something. Instead we got a Reiver Demon and a bad one at that. For starters the initial body is awful for the mana cost. Like, this is not a pushed body. Grave Titan is a pushed body. This is a 4/6 for 6 who trades with... other 6-7 drops lol. Like, Deathtouch on a 3-4 mana creature is something. Trading up with one of those is nice. Trading up with a 6 drop not so relevant XD. With that in mind you're only playing this card if you plan on consistently monstrifying it. When that happens you nuke the board and have a 7/9 deathtoucher. Deathtouch not the most relevant effect on a giant, 14 mana creature :3. 7/9 isn't exactly huge either. I dunno, this card is playable only because it's still a Wrath on a body. You can Cabal Coffers your way to 14 mana and nuke the field + get a 7/9 out of this card and then sac it with your whatever and revive her with your whatever to do it again every turn as needed. I'm not sure why you aren't using Dread Cacodemon for that but hey, it's your life, not mine. That is something... I guess. I really actively dislike this card and wish that it was even slightly pushed though. I do not recommend running out to buy it or anything. Get 1 for your Cube or EDH or something when it drops to 50 cents or get it "for free" in a trade as a throw-in. I'm not even convinced that she's good in EDH given how terrible her 6 mana "form" is but I mean I'm sure that she'll see some amount of play. Just... yeah... was really hoping for more. It's just as unexciting as Shipbreaker Kraken is in my eyes. At that least that card reads "someone loses the game" whereas this card just kind of prolongs the game. Yeah... gah... really sad panda about this one :(.

Rating: 1
Not cubeworthy

Nighthowler
The Mortivore line doesn't have much at 3 CMC but I mean it's probably not even castable on turn 3 half of the time so that isn't saying much. I like that this card can be cast on your lifelinkers such as Vampire Nighthawk and Wurmcoil Engine later on if needed. You don't always need more bodies; sometimes you just need a whack of life. The biggest weakness of this card is that it's not as cheap/flexible as Wight of Precinct Six and if you want something to pump creatures well Bonehoard is a card. One advantage of playing it is that you can cast it on something (anything), Wrath, and then swing with your huge beater on a relatively empty board. That's probably going to kill a player or two off. At the end of the day it's always going to be a Motivore and that's just always going to be a reasonable card. I don't think that it's quite as good as most of the other ones but that's not saying much now is it? You could do worse than to play some number of these in your Black decks. It's always going to be a reasonable threat and some % of the time it will just crush the table. For a 3-4 mana creature that's pretty reasonable lol.

Rating: 3+
Cubeworthy

Rescue from the Underworld
I don't hate any good instant speed trick that can wreck removal. Undying Evil only costs 1 mana whereas this one costs 5 but I mean you do get 2 dudes back which obviously isn't nothing. There are any number of powerful ETB effects that you could look to abuse with this thing so it's not hard to concoct scenarios where it could be the nut draw. Not a fantastic card by any means but I could easily see myself running 1 as a complete blowout card to cast in the later stages of the game.

Rating: 2+
Cubeworthy (I would legitimately pick and maindeck this card in most of my Black decks)

Tormented Hero
Diregraf Ghoul isn't a playable card in a multiplayer setting (in my opinion obviously) and this card isn't significantly stronger. While it does indeed say "each opponent" I can't even conceive of a deck that would have enough relevant spells to support this kind of card. I like that he's a human for Xathrid Necromancer and I like that it exists in case it ever becomes relevant in the future. As of right now I don't think that it's even remotely playable. I probably wouldn't even play him in the Agent of Fates deck because I'm just never going to waste an Undying Evil or whatever on a 2/1 that occasionally drains for 1. It's just such a miserable standalone threat at every stage of the game after all. Any number of Extorters, even ones as simple as Thrull Parasite, are vastly superior if that's what you're looking for in a 1 drop. Unless you desperately need another cheap human for your Xathrid Necromancer deck I just can't think of a good reason to run this guy.

Rating: 1
Not cubeworthy

Whip of Erebos
Lifelink was the effect that everyone wanted on the Black whip. It enables it to combo insanely well with Erebos himself and all of those stupid Hunted Horrors and Geralf's Messengers that Black has. It ain't bad on Phyrexian Obliterator or Abyssal Persecutor either. Black has a bevy of ginormous early game beaters who can put that lifegain to great use. I can see myself playing this card for that effect alone. With respect to the revival, well, Wizards obviously went out of their way to make it as mediocre as possible. Yes, I get that you get to swing in, get your damage across and get some life back. That's not insane by any means, not for 4 mana at Sorcery speed. Black has plenty of "real" revival and so I don't foresee leaning on that part of the card too heavily in my games. Still, I mean, I'm not exactly upset to have another way to recur my Fleshbag Marauders and Sepulchral Primordials and whatnot. It may be a one time deal but that's often good enough (tm) to get the board stabilized long enough to rip into some action. I'm just more than happy to pay 4 mana to give my dudes lifelink, trigger my Black Devotion cards (Erebos, Merchant) and I mean the recursion will matter some % of the time. Nothing but love for this card.

Rating: 4
Cubeworthy

Red

Anger of the Gods
This isn't a significant upgrade to any of your existing options (Slagstorm, Flamebreak, Firespout) and so it's not a priority card to acquire in my mind. The fact that it can't damage players relegates it to Control decks alone (more-or-less) but I mean it's tough to argue with Firespout's versatility and ease of casting in those shells. Exiling is obviously a relevant clause but this card doesn't exile most of the important recursive threats in my mind. It'll handle some % of them but by no means will it guarantee your safety. Obviously this card was designed to hose things like Voice of Resurgence but at 40 bucks a pop those aren't making big waves in casual games lol. It's clearly a fine card but there's nothing exceptionally powerful about it so I wouldn't make acquiring them a priority. As long as you have some sort of 3 CMC burn sweeper you should be fine so don't worry too much about this card if you've already got something that you like to use. it's fine, it's playable, it's not exactly new or exciting. You'll play them if you get them but if you don't, meh, you'll find a way to solider on.

Rating: 3-
Cubeworthy

Ember Swallower
4 mana 4/5s are hard to come by in Red. I play Obsidian Fireheart all the time just to get a reasonable blocker early on. I also think that Red decks typically struggle to win the ultra-late game so anything that can slow the mana development down of the Black/Blue/Green decks is fairly strong in my mind. I like that he survives Wildfire and plays well with that type of strategy. His "first half" may not live through a Destructive Force but his better half certainly will. I like that this card is a solid beater/blocker at multiple stages of the game and I like that it can slow the game down to give the Red and White decks a chance. It's worth noting that he has a RR cost which helps with respect to enabling Purphoros. He's also a creature which never hurts in that respect either.

Rating: 3
Cubeworthy

Fanatic of Mogis
I'm not quite sure how this card fits in to Red. On the one hand it's kind of like a Sizzle that can trade with something. On the other hand it's fairly expensive and a bit risky/inconsistent. Moreover, the 4 CMC slot in Red decks is started to look fairly crowded. That's kind of where all of its game enders lie and you're not going to cut Purphoros or Mana Barbs for something like this. This card is obviously good if you can curve Kargan Dragonlord/Ash Zealot into Boros Reckoner/War Elemental into this but I mean that's a wee bit ambitious. At the end of the day I just seem a "fine" but unexciting burn spell with a somewhat reasonable body tacked on. Doesn't seem amazing by any means but I'm sure it would play moderately well in the "dome you all for 20" decks.

Rating: 3-
My gut says that it's probably not cubeworthy

Hammer of Purphoros
One-sided Fervor that enables your Red Devotion cards to do stuff is fine. The ability is God-awful sadly. Only play this card if you would have played Fervor in your deck anyways. I do like that it lets you curve Kargan Dragonlord into this into Purphoros himself and then swing at someone for 8 with gas still in hand. Red doesn't have a ton of good double Red cards at 3 (War Elemental, Boros Reckoner, Chandra's Phoenix is fine I guess) but it has Ash Zealot and Kargan Dragonlord at 2 so that curve is kind of sweet. You then have Stormbreath Dragon at 5 who is another RR card and helps with the global damage theme.

Rating: 2
Not cubeworthy

Purphoros, God of the Forge
Mini-Sizzle on a stick is never a bad thing to have at your disposal. This is especially true when it's triggering from every creature ETB. Young Pyromancer, Krenko, Mob Boss and Siege-Gang Commander are going to do some work! Even Mogg War Marshal starts to look pretty good. Goblin Tribal anyone :3? While Red isn't usually flooding field it does have a fair amount of First Strikers so any power pump is usually welcomed. And like, it does have a fair amount of token producers so I mean it can certainly swarm out on occasion. He also has 6 power as opposed to 5 like most of the others do and when coupled with his mini-Sizzle does mean that he'll kill players quicker than most of the other Gods. It's interesting that this guy really rewards you for playing Chandra's Phoenix and other similar creatures which historically haven't been amazing in multiplayer. It'll be nice to see whether or not his addition changes that in any way. I mean, maybe Firewing Phoenix will start seeing some legitimate use! Never know! Obviously you can just curve Ash Zealot or Kargan Dragonlord into War Elemental and/or Boros Reckoner and I mean good old Taurean Mauler is never going to be bad either. This card is just a great way to close games out, especially in those Earthquake decks filled with Chandra's Spitfires and Stormbreath Dragons. He's among the best of the Gods in my opinion simply because he brings a solid body and a great finisher to a color that sorely needs both. This is likely the best Red multiplayer card that we've seen in years and I can't imagine seeing something on this level again in the foreseeable future.

Rating: 5+
Cubeworthy

Stormbreath Dragon
4/4 fliers with haste for 5 aren't bad in-of-themselves. Toss in a random protection (no more StP/Oring troubles!) and a random global Sudden Impact and you suddenly have a very real card. Red doesn't have much in the way of 7 drops to begin with and I like how this is something can potentially end games before they drag on to the point where the big mana decks can't lose. It's a very good card in the Earthquake decks which severely needed a good body that does global damage. He's really good with Purphoros for what it's worth since he's a creature who deals global damage and he has a RR cost which helps with hitting the 5 required Devotion.

Rating: 4
Cubeworthy

Green

Arbor Colossus
This is a card that's easy to overlook but he's worth a second read. A 5 mana 6/6 reach is already solid and I mean you can nuke an angel and smash for 9 on turn 6 if you want. Not having Trample makes that plan a bit loose but I mean it's not hard to envision scenarios where he stabilizes the board for you. Obviously he's not that much better or worse than say Cloudthresher or Sylvan Primordial that you'll want to run out and acquire him but this card isn't a joke either.

Rating: 3
Cubeworthy

Boon Satyr
3 mana 4/2 Flashers aren't high picks in my book. I can't call that a bad card or anything but I'd never play it myself and nor would most of you I imagine. Let's look beyond that though and consider the best case scenario for this card. You cast him in combat to eat a smallish creature (1 card) and later on someone uses removal on your huge beater to stay alive (2 cards). Now you have a 4/2 (3 cards). If you can reliably get the full 3-for-1, hey, you got your 5 mana's worth. Otherwise, eh, you were probably better off playing something else. What bothers me is that if your creature gets blasted by removal in response to his Bestow then you just have a 4/2 left to work with. Again, that's basically not a p/t that I consider to be especially relevant myself. I just don't like how any random 2/2 can threaten to trade with or beat past it. No one can look at this obviously pushed creature and call it bad, I'm not suggesting otherwise, it just doesn't thrill me. I mean, we do have to consider the fact that it's a split card in the sense that you can just run out a 4/2 on turn 3 at instant speed if needed but like there's basically no deck that I play that's looking for a body of that size (i.e. no toughness) on that turn. I'm all for getting my aggro on but I want to use creatures with big butts who can still protect me even when I find myself on the back-foot. Cool card but not one that I value highly myself.

Rating: 2+
Not cubeworthy

Bow of Nylea
My initial reaction to this card was "meh" but I think that it's probably better than I give credit for. Realistically speaking Deathtouch is an amazing multiplayer keyword and there are any number of pingers/fighters/regenerators/etc. that can abuse it. Yavimaya Hollow and Kessig Wolf Run alone are going to cause people headaches when this thing rears its ugly head. Beyond that it's a great enabler for Nylea herself and I mean all 4 abilities are arguably relevant. Some more than others but I mean it gives you options and good players can and will extract a bunch of value from that type of flexibility. I think that the best applications of this card lie outside of Green but at the same time I don't see how you could play this card and have it be a complete dud. Like, pair it with Ulvenwald Tracker, Strangleroot Geist, Predator Ooze, Trol lAscetic, Thrun, the Last Troll, etc. and something good will happen... right?

Rating: 3
Cubeworthy

Mistcutter Hydra
Ivy Elemental has always performed admirably in our games and I can't imagine how a pure-upside version could fail to impress. This is the kind of card that is never insane but that's always "fine" because it's a reasonable draw at stage of the game insofar as you have 3 or more lands in play. Every single one of its abilities is somewhat relevant in a multiplayer setting and I mean some of them, such as Haste, are just plain good. This will never be the best card in your deck but a deck full of these will always be competitive in my mind

Rating: 3+
Cubeworthy

Nemesis of Mortals
I like synergy as much as anyone else but the payoff just isn't there if you're in green. There's enough Multani, Maro-Sorcerers out there that something big and dumb for 4 + 6 (or whatever) mana doesn't really impress me.

Rating: 1
Not cubeworthy

Nylea, God of the Hunt
I think that of all Gods Nylea brings the most relevant persistent effect. Every Green deck realistically wants to have access to a Brawn effect but it's always so hard to make room for it. Now you get to run it on a card that it just plain legitimately awesome at all times. Paying 4 mana to pump something isn't fantastic, especially since most Green decks run Kessig Wolf Run anyways (at least in my experience), but it's not nothing either. She probably has the worst activated ability, not suggesting otherwise, but I mean it does make life pretty miserable for people. Like, at that point every dumb little dork in your deck is a legitimate threat that must be answered. Otherwise you'll just Fireball players out of the game. Beyond that she's a 6/6 for 4 and I mean triggering her just plain isn't that hard in Green. Strangleroot Geist, Predator Ooze, Vorapede, Cloudthresher, Primalcrux, Khalni Hydra and much more all make it a cinch really. Green may not have the best revival ever but I mean Genesis and Eternal Witness are things and the Witness is a solid enabler herself. You can also factor in cards such as Wild Growth/Utopia Sprawl and Survival of the Fittest that will make trigger her a complete joke.

Rating: 4
Cubeworthy

Polukranos, World Eater
I see a 4 mana 5/5 with an upside and that's going to be good enough a huge % of the time in my mind. He may not knock your socks off with sheer power but how often will you ever cast this guy on turn 4 and have him be a non-factor? The answer is likely "not very." Green isn't lacking in the powerful 4 drop department, Forgotten Ancient says hi, but this is a good card who can somewhat handle other good cards if the game drags on long enough.

Rating: 3
Cubeworthy

Part 2
9
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