My point was that Mirror Image is a much better reference point for this card than Phyrexian Metamorph for this card since it is a much closer analog.
You're making a Straw Man argument from my comments about watching streams from standard and ZNR limited gameplay. At no point did I suggest that my evaluation of these cards for cube stops with determinations I make solely from watching standard and limited gameplay. I didn't feel the need to make the obvious disclaimer that cube is its own format and that results in one format don't directly translate to another, but I guess I'll have to do that. Besides which, limited and/or standard has always informed cube to some extent. Pack Rat and more recently Uro are fine examples of this. Pack Rat's domination of its respective limited format is what turned many cube designer's on to the card. Similarly, Uro was not thought of as a top 3 Simic card early on - it definitely is now after dominating a standard season and looking like its going to keep on defining standard post-rotation. And before you say it.....I also appreciate that cube designers have also tested these cards directly in cube and its performance there is ultimately why people are continuing to run these cards in cube. I still contend that standard and limited gameplay helps cube designers to obtain an early appreciation for how these cards perform that--in conjunction with other factors--informs decisions to test and by extension include certain cards. This is especially true in the midst of a pandemic that makes getting together for testing by way of drafting unworkable.
I'm not firmly in either camp, I think a handful of the MDFC's will earn their place, many will not. I'm going to watch some more streams to get a better appreciation of how these play. It will be particularly telling if we start seeing these go mid-pack during the ZNR draft streams. Cube cards don't generally go mid-pack in their respective draft formats.
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You're making a Straw Man argument from my comments about watching streams from standard and ZNR limited gameplay. At no point did I suggest that my evaluation of these cards for cube stops with determinations I make solely from watching standard and limited gameplay. I didn't feel the need to make the obvious disclaimer that cube is its own format and that results in one format don't directly translate to another, but I guess I'll have to do that. Besides which, limited and/or standard has always informed cube to some extent. Pack Rat and more recently Uro are fine examples of this. Pack Rat's domination of its respective limited format is what turned many cube designer's on to the card. Similarly, Uro was not thought of as a top 3 Simic card early on - it definitely is now after dominating a standard season and looking like its going to keep on defining standard post-rotation. And before you say it.....I also appreciate that cube designers have also tested these cards directly in cube and its performance there is ultimately why people are continuing to run these cards in cube. I still contend that standard and limited gameplay helps cube designers to obtain an early appreciation for how these cards perform that--in conjunction with other factors--informs decisions to test and by extension include certain cards. This is especially true in the midst of a pandemic that makes getting together for testing by way of drafting unworkable.
I'm not firmly in either camp, I think a handful of the MDFC's will earn their place, many will not. I'm going to watch some more streams to get a better appreciation of how these play. It will be particularly telling if we start seeing these go mid-pack during the ZNR draft streams. Cube cards don't generally go mid-pack in their respective draft formats.