MTG Salvation

I guess we can start things off with Fell Stinger - a 3 mana 3/2 with Deathtouch and Exploit trigger that is Sign in Blood. I like it enough to consider it. Trading tokens or other creatures for card draw is good, and the fact that it's target player can give you a finishing blow on occasion.

Also, the Training mechanic is reverse Mentor. Not sure what to think about the mechanic as a whole - I guess it lets early drops grow during the mid-late game, but it obviously depends if the card is any good on its own.

I like the scorpion. Will probably find a place. Being able to self-sacrifice it and then Unearth it is nice.

Fell Stinger seems like a good include. A 3/2 deathtouch body is always relevant, it can sac itself when needed and can even target opponents for when they are on 1 or 2 life.

If you're playing Fiery Cannonade in your cube Vampires' Vengeance might be decent upgrade or sidegrade depending on your cube.

How do we feel about Dread Fugue? Even without cleave for one mana the card has more targets than Duress in my cube. Sure, Duress' targets are stronger cards but in the first few turns this doesn't matter so much and later on Fugue can be played for its cleave cost.

I am on the fence a little bit about it. Missing 3 is kind of a dealbreaker, since you wouldn't want to be casting this for 3 mana turn 3 in plenty of scenarios. I do like it, though. But Duress just often hits removal, for me at least.

Dormant Grove is another interesting card I think. It can add value to the board immediately, granted, not a lot, and it is a horrible topdeck, but it does seem like a fun card to me. Giving the team vigilance isn't half bad, either. Thraben Watcher has been great for me so far, turning various utility dorks+mana dorks into vigilance things is nifty.

I am not seeing a lot just yet but the better midnight hunt cards came towards the end of spoiler season because they were the stronger stand-alone cards rather the tribal cards.

I am hoping for some good exploit cards since I like the mechanic.

I still prefer Duress over Dread Fugue. Black in my cube has plenty of other ways to interact with CMC 2 or less creatures and very few ways to interact with CMC 3 or greater non-creatures.

Fell Stinger seems good.

I like Vilespawn Spider quite a bit, but I wish it was Golgari and not Simic. Mill/Graveyard is a strong part of Golgari's identity in my cube and I am not sure how much I want to overlap.

Brine Comber is a fine signpost for Azorius Heroic (Auras) with Battlewise Hoplite and Staggering Insight.

Sigardian Paladin is a signpost card but not an enabler. In the case of Selesnya +1/+1 counters, though, I don't think I have room for a signpost that doesn't enable.

Quote from FunkyDragon »

Sigardian Paladin is a signpost card but not an enabler. In the case of Selesnya +1/+1 counters, though, I don't think I have room for a signpost that doesn't enable.

My Selesnya is packed with cards that place +1/+1 counters and Sigardian Paladin looks like a slam dunk pay off + signpost. I could easily see it replace the rather slow Arcus Acolyte I am currently testing.

Cloaked Cadet is a consideration, too. A 5 mana 2/4 is bad, drawing cards on the other hand is very good. Might be too bad on its own, though.

Edit: Never mind, Cloaked Cadet only triggers on humans. Didn't see that. Green has not many humans. Bad card is bad.

Laid to Rest triggers on 25% of my creatures but I don't think that's good enough unfortunately.

A bunch of uncommons got spoiled.

Whispering Wizard vs Murmuring Mystic The Whisperer can actually attack but it's so easily killed, There is an annoying tension in the spells deck between aggression and defence.

Angelic Quartermaster much better body than Relief Captain and Elite Scaleguard but similar ability.

Twin Bladegiest, double strike is a really powerful ability to be able to use as disturb at a reasonable cost.

Whispering Wizard can only trigger once per turn, which is a bit of a bummer.

I like the design of Radiant Grace. Vigilance lets you remain aggro, but still threaten to throw the enchanted creature under the bus to flip the curse.

Retrieve is a potential 2 for 1 regrowth for 3 mana. Probably ends up missing too often.

I probably like Magma Pummeler more than I should. It can do some interesting things spreading out damage and synergizes with green ramp and green or white's +1/+1 counters.

Reckless Impulse is Light Up the Stage #2 if your cube needs it.

Quote from Narvuntien »

A bunch of uncommons got spoiled.

Whispering Wizard vs Murmuring Mystic The Whisperer can actually attack but it's so easily killed, There is an annoying tension in the spells deck between aggression and defence.

Angelic Quartermaster much better body than Relief Captain and Elite Scaleguard but similar ability.

Twin Bladegiest, double strike is a really powerful ability to be able to use as disturb at a reasonable cost.

4 mana starts being quite a lot for aggro spells. x/2 doesn't really feel like it can be thought of as attacking when the effect is one you'll want to have on the battlefield for a while. And as said once per turn feels bad as well, even if instants ease that a bit.

The Quartermaster feels worse than both of the other options in the counter archetype. Relief Captain has a higher upside on a wider board and costs a whole mana less. Flying on the Angel also matters a bit less when it can't give a counter to itself. Elite Scaleguard has a strong second effect allowing you to possibly attack on a wider front, and the easier casting cost helps it make more decks like ones that end up heavier in green. All that said, a flying body is good for auras, albeit at five mana. Cross pollination synergy in cube? Do some people jam both archetypes in Selesnya or neigbouring guilds?

Quote from vertigo451 »

I like the design of Radiant Grace. Vigilance lets you remain aggro, but still threaten to throw the enchanted creature under the bus to flip the curse.

Retrieve is a potential 2 for 1 regrowth for 3 mana. Probably ends up missing too often.

Radiant Grace, yes! More death 'n taxes in peasant, hmm?

I also feel Retrieve can't make it. Not being able to get back removal kills these.

Hero's Downfall downshifted to uncommon. Probably not so relevant for our format, but a good card is a good card. Another Murder with upside.

Ah, I missed the once per turn limit now I have no idea why it only has 2 toughness then it's not even good.

Feels like blasphemy but there is also the option of replacing Serra Angel with Angelic quartermaster Serra Angel is good stuff but doesn't have a lot of synergy with anything. But then I think I shoehorn too much of white into a single archetype. Hmm. I'll have a think about it.

Hero's downfall at uncommon how the mighty have fallen... haha when it was first printed people were annoyed it wasn't uncommon to begin with.

Thirst for Discovery is the best version of this effect if you're into these kind of cards.

Yes, I like the new Thirst, very flexible. Right now I'm not playing any Thirst in my cube, but this seems solid.

Also, I'm probably replacing Fact or Fiction with Scattered Thoughts.

The new Thirst seems better than Compulsive Research in most cases.

Scattered Thoughts also seems like a good draw spell but I don't have space for 2 blue 4 mana draw spells and Fact or Fiction still seems better.

Quote from Narvuntien »

Feels like blasphemy but there is also the option of replacing Serra Angel with Angelic quartermaster Serra Angel is good stuff but doesn't have a lot of synergy with anything. But then I think I shoehorn too much of white into a single archetype. Hmm. I'll have a think about it.

I think the main appeal of Serra Angel at this point is that its generically good in literally any white deck. I think every colour needs some strong cards to help fill out a deck that aren't directly tied to a certain archetype.

Apparently I'm already running Compulsive Research, so cutting it for Thirst for Discovery is the easiest choice of my life.

On Scattered Thoughts I have the same opinion as above; it seems ok, except that Fact or Fiction already exists and I don't have room for both.

Fell Stinger looks ok. For a while I had a lack of three drops in black, but that has changed. Will see whether I find room for it.

Dread Fugue is a decent spell, though I doubt the 3 mana version will be cast very often as you either have better things to do with your mana or your opponent doesn't have any (worthwhile) cards in hand anymore. Not sure I need what I mostly consider a worse version of Inquisition of Kozilek.

Dormant Grove seems awfully slow for a 4 mana card and the backside isn't even that great.

Sigardian Paladin is similar. Even in a +1/+1 counter deck this is very expensive and too conditional to be good. If at least the 3 mana ability would hit all your creatures with a +1/+1 counter. For a 4 mana multicolor card that doesn't work on its own it's too low impact.

Angelic Quartermaster is probably more universally playable than Relief Captain, but in aggressive go wide decks the Captain is clearly better. And that's why I run the card.

At first I missed the 'permanent' on Retrieve, in which case it would have been great. But noncreature permanents don't go to the yard that reliably, so no.

Light up the Stage is great and I'm sure Reckless Impulse will also work well for red decks (and not just aggressive ones). Will add.

Thirst for Discovery will replace Compulsive Research, it's almost strictly better.

Scattered Thoughts is a good draw spell. But the average case for Fact or Fiction is see 5, draw 2 and that's better.

Agree on the Serra Angel. It's just so generically good in all except the most low to the ground aggro decks.

Also cutting Compulsive Research for Thirst for Discovery.

The UR Spells Matters slots are pretty contested, but Wandering Mind seems interesting. 1UR for a 2/1 flier isn't great, especially not with all of the 1/1 spirit/bird tokens and other fliers in most peasant cubes, but ETB dig six for a non-creature spell is a powerful effect. Probably not for me at 360, but figured it was worth bringing up.

Yeah, Wandering Mind caught my eye, too. It is a really competitive guild with no lack for signpost cards, but digging 6 deep is pretty good. It'll feel really bad if you whiff, but other times, it'll draw you into something powerful.

Quote from Poster formerly known as Phitt77 »

Scattered Thoughts is a good draw spell. But the average case for Fact or Fiction is see 5, draw 2 and that's better.

FoF is an excellent card, but now we have an option which lets you choose to you what to get, not your opponent, and the cards are not revealed, so that info is only for you. You dig one less card with this new version, but I think is better than FoF.

Bramble Wurm seems really good. Some mixture of Pelakka Wurm and Sifter Wurm. Scry 3 and gain some life is decent, but maybe you reveal a fatty or a LLanowar Elf... so the life gain could be bad. Even with that, is Scry 3. I think I could replace the Sifter with this new Wurm. Also Reach is always a good addition and it has another option for when it dies.