This is my 15th installment of the "top 20" set preview articles!
Just like the previous review, it will be in a spoiled top 20 countdown format, with each section having an image, a brief summary/description, and my verdict on what cubes I think it could potentially see some play in. I got a lot of positive feedback on the format from the last several articles, so I’m going to keep the “what I like” and “what I don’t like” sections.
Keep in mind (just like the others) that this is a set preview. Similar to draft predictions in professional sports, this list is an educated guess at best. Some cards I value highly in here may turn out to not last long in the cube. Other cards that are lower down on the list (or even missed entirely!) could (well, very likely may) turn out to be great cards. Even Tom Brady was drafted in the 6th round! Again, this is not intended to be gospel, set in stone or written as a review for posterity. This is simply written to be an enjoyable guess at cards I like for cubes, and hopefully it'll allow some cube managers to evaluate cards they may have otherwise overlooked and/or put some cards in perspective that may've been overhyped. Nothing more.
Battle For Zendikar is a long-awaited return to a beloved Magic plane. Kitchen table players and enthusiasts of big monsters everywhere waited with baited breath to see new Eldrazi titans and watch the world itself rebel against their uprising. As far as the cube goes, this set is very dividing for the community. Largely because there are less cubeworthy cards for the smallest of cubes, and not that many fringe playables for gigantic cubes either. The set’s powerband for cube inclusions is for medium-sized cubes (from 450-630); leaving some cube managers feeling underwhelmed. I, for one, really enjoy this set. I think it’s fun and flavorful, and provides my cube with some interesting and unique effects that I’m excited to see in action.
What I Like: 3 power and 4 toughness for 3 mana, two bodies, ramp, and the ability to get repeatable scry triggers are all certainly useful things. A lot of my black decks like to have creatures rotating in and out of the battlefield and using cards that produce multiple threats. In addition to often featuring some cards that like to be accelerated into play. But they’re often not hyper-aggressive either, and the combination of Sifter’s abilities really helps to support all those things the Golgari decks are trying to do.
What I Don't Like: There’s not much to dislike, though there will often be times where this card seems decidedly fair. You can pop the ramp effect and get the scry trigger, and after that you have a middling 2/3 body left behind that’s not doing much but gumming up the ground. It’ll always be a fine card, but it’ll be much harder to find times where it feels broken.
Verdict: I think there’s a very good chance that this could crack into the top 7 Golgari cards in the cube, but I don’t know if it’ll be able to get much deeper than that. I think it should very likely be tested for 720 card cubes.
What I Like: The ability for dual lands to be snagged by fetch lands is not to be undervalued. While on their own they may fall short of our current expectations for mana fixing, when combined with fetch lands, it really opens up opportunities to fix mana for multicolor decks and/or get your 2-color fixing via off-color fetches. There are other randomly nice interactions like pumping a Wild Nacatl or allowing Koth to benefit from these lands that makes them intriguing.
What I Don't Like: These two color combinations have to put top priority on mana fixing lands that can help them cast their 1-drops. Enough so, that I would hesitate to add these cards in until you’ve exhausted the options that can. If the land can’t produce colored mana on turn 1 or be used as a win condition to kill your opponent, it’ll get relegated to the back burner for fixing.
Verdict: I think there are 6 lands that meet the criteria listed above (Dual/Shock/Fetch/Man/Fast/Pain) before these lands should get the nod for these particular color combinations. So as the 7th best land in its respective combination, I would very likely play these lands in a 720 card cube.
What I Like: White sections in larger cubes are often looking for additional playable sweepers, and additional playable 5cc noncreature cards. So, 5cc wrath variants (while certainly not as good as Wrath/Day of Judgement) are important for the curve and the function of control. There are a couple of other good 5cc options that are currently played, and this card might compete with those in a very real way. Being able to create a threat and wrath the rest of the board away is not a new concept. But it’s usually attached to a Wrath effect that’s much more expensive. Having the option to Wrath as early as T5 or be able to play a 4/4 and Wrath everything else in the late game is a nice option to have.
What I Don't Like: The competition is too stiff in smaller lists. This is too slow to compete with 4cc Wrath variants, and lacks the ‘Geddon option that other more expensive variants have.
Verdict: This card competes with the other 5cc Wrath variants that are out there, and I think it’ll give a pretty good showing. So cubes that are including cards of that description will want to at least give this card a trial run and see how it does for them. I’m guessing that it can settle in the 630-720 range, which is where I would include cards of this ilk.
What I Like: 3 power and 2 total creatures for 2 mana is a good baseline, and being able to provide a ramp effect can be a timely bonus. It also interacts particularly well with Black’s Pox/Stax recursion themes, and can be good value if you need something that can attack and also provide some extra value. Playing this creature with Skullclamp will be fun.
What I Don't Like: With 1 more keyword of any kind, this would’ve been a fantastic creature. But I’m afraid the generic 2/1 is going to be too lackluster for it to be included in decks that don’t have a sacrifice theme.
Verdict: Black’s 2cc creature section isn’t exactly packed, and that low floor for inclusion will help this creature see some cube play. I think it may very well be testable for 630 card cubes, and might do some work for cubes 720 or bigger for a good while.
What I Like: This will often be a 3-power trampling attacker for 2 mana, which puts it ahead of some of the other 3-power 2-drops that red has to offer. It also has good interactions with fetch lands, as beating with a 4/3 trampler is no joke; especially for a 2-mana critter. I like it more than the Chainwalker and Marauder that a lot of cubes play for filling the role of necessary aggro beaters, and I think this one is not only better, but also more interesting.
What I Don't Like: Similarly to all the other 3/2 variants that red has to offer, the lack of combat-relevant abilities makes this card trade with all the bears and pikers in the cube. And while the trample can keep the damage flowing (which is what gives it the edge against the other guys) it doesn’t have the staying power of the Berserker, the Aspirant or the Geopede because of the lack of evasion and/or first strike to keep it alive.
Verdict: This would very likely be the next 2cc aggro beater I’d add into my cube list, so I think it’ll be a serviceable threat for 630+ sized cubes.
What I Like: The blue color combinations benefit more from these new lands than the other color combinations do for several reasons. First, blue decks are generally better equipped to handle the tempo setback of a land that comes into play tapped. Second, blue decks have a higher propensity to be involved in 3+ color decks, so the ability for these lands to be fetchable by off-color fetches will be more relevant. And third, The blue land-type matters for a couple of critically timed cards in Daze and Shackles.
What I Don't Like: The only knock on these cards is the competition. I think the Dual/Shock/Fetch/Man lands are all better, and these color combinations also have access to the Mirage fetches, which are great enabling lands for blue decks. And as far as fighting for the 5th land slot goes, I give the edge to a lesser fetch land over a lesser dual land any day of the week, making these the 6th best lands in their respective color combinations.
Verdict: I think these are the 6th best dual lands in their respective combinations, and I’d play them in cubes that are 630+ in size.
What I Like: 2-power 1-drops with no drawbacks are fundamentally playable. This would be a serviceable filler aggro creature for any aggro deck with white mana available.
What I Don't Like: White is the first color to have reached its critical mass of 2-power 1-drops in the cube. Most small-medium sized cubes don’t need another one in their toolbox at this time.
Verdict: For small cubes, this won’t make the cut on competition alone. In medium-sized cubes, this can replace Savannah Lions if you have a human subtheme that cares about his creature type. For large cubes, you can add this to your critical mass of aggro beaters, and I think 630+ cubes would be happy to have an extra one still.
What I Like: This card was originally rumored to have 4 starting loyalty, but it turned out to have 5, which is a critical difference given the design of this card. With the extra loyalty, this can resolve and murder a creature, {+} itself on the next turn to draw a card, and then immediately have a 2nd murder option available the turn after that. That gives it a healthy ACS of killing 2 creatures and drawing a card for 5 mana, which will be welcoming for a lot of decks.
What I Don't Like: 5 mana is a lot for a value engine card, and while this will be a good tool for stabilizing against midrange decks in the mid/late game ...control decks playing 5cc value ‘walkers don’t have a hard time in that matchup to begin with.
Verdict: This card might be good enough for some 540-sized cubes, depending on the tempo of the environment. In testing, it proved to be a tad too slow for my powered format, but it would very likely make the cut at 630 for me.
A solid 4cc beater with both offensive and defensive capabilities.
What I Like: This card has a healthy range of playable to amazing depending on how diversified your manabase is. Even in a random 2-color deck, a 4/4 vigilance trample for 4 mana isn’t an awful place to start, and it just gets better from there. I think a realistic ACS for this creature will be a 5/5 for 4 mana with vigilance and trample, which is an above-average base. While green does have other options for 5/5’s for 4 with an upside, none of them can play offense and defense as well as this can; trample will help to push through big damage, and the vigilance will leave a hefty blocker back that will be hard to push damage through on the ground. Oh, and there will be decks that will have this be a 4-mana 6/6 vigilant trampler for 4 mana, which is of course a really high ceiling. Best of all, this card is splashable; only requiring a single green mana for any of its iterations. Making it an easy splash creature as an aggro topper or as a midgame beater for midrange decks or Wildfire decks that want to protect themselves and beat down simultaneously. I’m always in the market for creatures that will play well in the rare green control decks, and this certainly fits the bill, thanks to the size and the vigilance.
What I Don't Like: No matter how efficient it is, or how big it is, it’s ultimately a 4cc creature that dies to their removal and can leave you with nothing. Not a hurdle that 4cc creatures have to leap, but there will certainly be times you will have wished for a value creature when those plays arise.
Verdict: I’m going to be testing out this card in my 540, and I expect it to be solid. It may ultimately get relegated to cubes that are 630 or bigger in size, but I think this stat monster warrants some extended playtime to find out for sure.
What I Like: I originally disliked this card because I think it compares unfavorably to Steppe Lynx. But upon closer evaluation and some playtesting, this card is fine. I asked myself what this card is going to do in the average game, and the answer is simple. It’ll resolve on T1, and then attack as a 2/2 for about 3 consecutive turns. As boring as that is, it’s perfectly serviceable as a green aggro creature if you support that theater. And occasionally, it’ll attack as a 3/3 after a fetchland activation, or get involved in a Loam chain that will keep it as a 2-3 power attacker for the length of the game. And unlike Lynx, I can kill X/1 attackers on defense, and at least be able to swing for 1 if I miss a land drop. Not a huge advantage, but not irrelevant either.
What I Don't Like: I can’t shake the Lynx comparison, despite it being unfair. Unlike Lynx, this’ll trade with bears and pikers in combat, and can never swing as a 4/5 with fetches.
Verdict: Since I support green aggro, more 2-power beaters are most welcome. I don’t think it’s quite good/consistent enough to make the cut at 450, even with green aggro support, but I’m happy enough to play it in my 540 since I need to reach towards that critical mass in green still.
A flexible counterspell with multiple casting options.
What I Like: Similar to other cards that provide multiple casting options, the value from this spell comes from the flexibility. Like Kicker, Evoke and other similar abilities, as long as both abilities are serviceable effects at times, the ability to be both over the course of a game brings value. While burn is different from countermagic, the same theory that gives value to Burst Lightning gives value to Scatter. Nobody wants a Shock or an expensive Lightning Blast, but the ability to be either depending on what the game state calls for is great. Likewise, Cancel isn’t a card we want to play, but we know there’s value in just being able to definitively say “no” when you need to. And while a 3/3 isn’t the biggest body, it’s still a serviceable creature, and the lesser Draining Whelk mode will be a nice compliment to the cheaper mode when it’s available. This is very likely going to be the 2nd best 3cc counterspell option after Forbid.
What I Don't Like: When this is just a Cancel, it won’t feel great. Likewise, a 6-mana 3/3 won’t feel good either. Continually reminding yourself that the flexibility is important will feel like a chore for cubers that are looking for the splashiest available effects at every turn.
Verdict: I will be giving this spell some extensive playtesting time at 540. And I could go either way on it. It may prove to be good enough for even some 450 lists. Or it may prove to be relegated to 630 lists or bigger. But it’s flexible and valuable, and that’s not something we get from current countermagic.
What I Like: If history has shown me anything with green value creatures, Regrowth effects strapped to bodies are usually undervalued at first and prove to be much more valuable that we anticipated. Green needs playable 6-drops, and strapping a 5/4 creature to a Restock for an additional 1 mana is no joke. And I appreciate the “may” text on the second trigger for those cases where we don’t want to exile the creature. Getting your best spent spell back and adding 5 power to the board will be exactly what midrangey green decks want to be doing, and filling the void in the 6cc creature slot will be most welcome.
What I Don't Like: The 4 toughness on a 6cc investment may prove to be a liability, and depending on the pressure you’re under, it may feel like too little too late when you’re scrambling to stabilize. Vigilance or trample would’ve really pushed this guy over the top, but a 5th toughness would’ve been killer.
Verdict: This card is a solid and safe inclusion for 540 card lists. And it’s likely to justify some extensive playtesting at 450 just to fill the creature gap in the one color that needs a second 6cc creature the most.
A sorcery Hero’s Downfall with a big ETB creature option.
What I Like: Planeswalker bullets are continually becoming more and more important as the cube evolves. Losing the instant speed in comparison to Downfall is a significant drawback, but the addition of being able to get a late game 4/4 body with a powerful and non-discriminatory removal effect will be most welcome for all midrange and control decks playing black in the cube. This is simply a really solid removal spell that has a critical big mana option that will be relevant and game-breaking in a lot of scenarios.
What I Don't Like: Sorcery speed hurts, and it’ll be hard for aggressive decks to reach the mana available for the big mode a lot of the time. But even in those cases, it’ll be nice to have a late game option strapped to a playable cheap spell for when plan A goes to hell in a handbasket.
Verdict: Sneaking a powerful 7cc creature into any deck disguised as an all-purpose removal spell will be very good in a lot of situations. I’m going to easily jam this card into my 540 card cube, but I think that smaller cubes can benefit from the effect too if you’re willing to make a painful cut to get it into the list.
What I Like: Control decks like to add in mana rocks to shore up their tempo against decks that outpace them for speed. But they don’t like to be stuck with a surplus of resources and not enough true spells to keep up with the plan that makes control viable to begin with. Mind Stone has shown us over the years that being able to cash your ramp in for cards is a critical effect for decks that want to speed themselves up without losing the card quantity necessary to accomplish this. Enter Hedron Archive. It’s in a good spot in the curve to bridge you into your 6-7cc game-ending effects, but not at the cost of full cards to do so. Once your resource count is stable and you’ve ramped into the big-mana card you needed to play, cashing this in for a divination will be amazing. This is very likely to be the single best mana rock for control decks that costs more than 3 mana.
What I Don't Like: Unlike control decks, dedicated ramp decks trying to cast cards that cost 8+ mana with regularity will have a harder time finding opportunities to crack this, meaning that this will be a Sissay’s Ring more often than you’d like. While I think this card is going to be head-and-shoulders better than Thran Dynamo and Gilded Lotus in dedicated control decks, super ramp decks really rely on making as much mana as possible as fast as they can, and the difference between 7 mana and 8 mana is a huge deal.
Verdict: I would play this card in a 450 card cube, because I think the value that it gives to control is incredible. But cubes that are more focussed on ramping into gigantic threats will wish this was just a Dynamo 9 times out of 10.
What I Like: The opportunity cost for getting manlands into your final 40 is really low. Lands that fix relevant colors of mana will be making your deck, and increasing your threat density by replacing a land is great. This land in particular is good because the 3rd toughness is relevant against a good number of bodies in the cube, and the lifelink helps to offset some of the life loss drawbacks inherent to black decks. A 4-point life swing on an open board is good for a 3-mana activation cost, and this land is cheap to activate on offense and has a relevant combination of body size and abilities on defense.
What I Don't Like: The 3rd toughness can be a relevant downside against the decks that you want life gain against the most, as this land can be killed by Bolt and Incinerate effects. The 2/3 body can be an issue when the opponent has bigger bodies down on the table since this land doesn’t have evasion, but fortunately it’s in a color combination with a removal suite that’s most effective against bigger bodies.
Verdict: I think this is easily the 4th best land for Orzhov sections, behind the staple Dual/Shock/Fetch arrangement. But neither the quality or the competition will allow it to be “snuck into” a smaller list as a spell. 450 staple, and very likely playable as the 4th land for 405 card cubes that run a 4th mana fixer per guild.
What I Like: Hexproof is no joke on a manland because of the way that the cards function. They’re already resilient to sweepers and sorcery-speed removal, but the hexproof extends that protection to instant-speed mitigation as well. Once you’ve stabilized the board, this creature will be able to attack and block without fear of being blown up by opposing removal effects, and that kind of resilience is important since losing a manland to removal can be particularly crippling. Additionally, the ETBT drawback isn’t as disruptive to blue decks or decks with ample additional ramp effects, so it’ll slot nicely into Simic decks of all kinds. And the 3/3 body is relevant against a big portion of the bodies floating around in the cube.
What I Don't Like: If you can’t clear a path for it to attack, the lack of evasion can prove problematic for a land with an activation cost of 4. Combat is the only reliable way for your opponent to mitigate this manland, but unfortunately it’s a real consideration you’ll have to overcome. A 4/4 available on defense will serve as a difficult roadblock to circumvent for this particular color combination.
Verdict: Easily the 4th best land for Simic in the cube, so it’s a slam dunk in 450+ sized cubes. And it will easily go into any cube that has 4 available slots for fixing in the guild. A lot of cube managers are unhappy with the gold options for Simic (I’m not one of them) so there will be opportunities for some cube managers to sneak this card into a 360 list as a “spell”; similarly to how they might do that for Colonnade or Tar Pit already.
A powerful enabler for aggressive black decks and/or token decks.
What I Like: A 2/3 flying first strike with a Slith ability is a solid baseline for a beater creature. It can quickly grow out of bolt range, and get big enough to tangle with most cube fliers in a short span of time. But what puts this card over the top is the interaction with the first strike and the pumping of the rest of your team. It essentially gives a Curse of Predation effect to the rest of your crew each time she attacks, while providing Slith-esque growth for herself. When you have multiple other attackers (especially when combined with token army-producing effects) the damage will mount up quickly, and things can spiral out of control for the opponent really fast. It may be the piece that a lot of cube managers have been looking for to help incentivize their drafters into playing the Carnophage decks.
What I Don't Like: It’s ultimately a 2/3 body for a turn when it comes down, and doesn’t have any impact on the rest of your attacking team for a full turn. This gives the opponent a window to either deal with her or deal with your other board presence to help mitigate her damage impact. As high as the ceiling on this card can be, with no other board presence she’s going to be a moderately priced flying beater, and she can still be wiped out entirely by a large suite of cheap removal effects in the cube.
Verdict: This creature may be worth testing out at 360. I think it will be relatively easy for her to earn a spot in 450 card cubes, but with the recent surplus of good 3cc black creatures, the competition is high at 360 and it might not last in that environment indefinitely.
What I Like: Resolving with 4 loyalty and being able to immediately move to 5 makes her much more resilient than her former self. Untapping a creature and a land does multiple things for your Simic decks. First and foremost, you can untap a mana creature and a land to allow her to functionally resolve for 2 mana, and then ramp for +2 mana on subsequent turns. That’s a very good resource advantage that it provides. It can also be used to untap potential blockers to protect herself while she builds up to her (game ending) ultimate ability. And the {-} ability on this Kiora is stellar. Providing you with a steady stream of resources and threats is all you need to be able to win games, and she’ll consistently find them for you. Generating card advantage all the while. Lastly, her ability helps to feed the graveyard for delve costs and other graveyard shenanigans. She’ll be a good engine for Loam decks and Sultai reanimator builds.
What I Don't Like: If you can’t use the creature untapping effect to your benefit when she resolves, she can be forced into playing a value-activation-only role, which while okay, might often result in a single {-2} play and then getting killed by opposing attackers. And a lot of her value is hinged upon her ramping effect being valuable. Without being able to use her untapping effect for tempo, she doesn’t do much to impact the board the turn she resolves or the turn after.
Verdict: Depending on the compositions of your Simic section, she may be forced out of small cubes because of the competition. Edric is a complete monster, Trygon can be important depending on your Naturalize count in green, and with a full suite of Bounce/Copy effects Snake can still be the nut card for some builds. If that’s the case for your cube, this Kiora might only be playable in 450+ sized cubes. But if not, finding a cut for her in 360 might be relatively easy for you. In any case, I think she’s solidly the 4th best non-land card in Simic.
The most versatile of Eldrazi titans for the cube.
What I Like: This creature is really powerful, and can be good in a number of different archetypes. First and foremost, this Eldrazi titan can be reanimated! So reanimation decks in the cube have a target that puts your opponent on a 2-turn clock (in a 40-card environment) and is also indestructible. Not to mention that it’s also a 10/10. Additionally, fatty-cheating decks using cards like Show and Tell and Eureka have another big target for them that is hard to remove and ends the game quickly. Most importantly, this is a much more castable titan for super-ramp decks that are actually trying to cast the creature. And the cast trigger is really powerful. I mean, a double colorless Utter End is no joke. And 10 mana is far more attainable than some of the existing options, especially in comparison to the 15cc monstrosity. As a Channel target, it’ll likely remove the opponents only lands and then kill them in short order, and when hard-cast late, it will remove the opponent’s two best cards and give you a must-answer threat.
What I Don't Like: Based on the way the mill works, your opponent can take a hit from this card before answering it and still be in fine shape. This gives them two full turns to draw an out before they die to it. And the interactions with Sneak Attack and Through the Breach are weaker, because a single attack doesn’t do much but kill a chump blocker in the grand scheme of things. Since it (primarily) wins in a different way than the rest of your deck, a partial Ulamog victory is no victory at all ...unless the 10 damage gets through of course (Rancor?).
Verdict: This card is going to be very dependent on which archetypes you support in the cube. If you play all 3 of the decks that want it (reanimator, fatty-cheating and super ramp) it’ll be an auto-include from a powerlevel standpoint. Even in the smallest of cubes. But a lot of 360 card cubes don’t support all three of those decks. And if this card is only playable in 1-2 decks in your cube, it may be too hard to justify a 10-mana creature. I think it’s safely includable in 450 card cubes (where all of its archetypes are likely present) but could fall short in some small lists if you don’t play all of the decks that want it. If you include any Eldrazi titans in your list, this should be one of them.
A powerful beater, token engine and anthem effect.
What I Like: No matter what kind of effect you’re looking for, this planeswalker does it for you. If you need to go wide, it creates an army of 2/2 tokens. If you need to break through a strong blocker, it becomes a 5/5 indestructible attacker. If you need to bolster an existing team, it can (immediately if need be) create an Anthem emblem that can’t be destroyed by the opponent. In most cases it’ll create a 2/2 and then start bashing for 5, but it can do a whole slew of different things as the game goes on depending on what you need.
What I Don't Like: We’ve seen {0} activations that produce 2/2s before, and while good, it doesn’t necessarily create a must-answer threat because it’s not accumulating loyalty that makes it harder to kill at the same time. He also doesn’t build up to an ultimate the opponent has to be cognizant of, so they have time to deal with his abilities and gameplan for them. Lastly, none of the effects provide reach, so if the opponent’s deck is designed to go wide, they might be able to outlast Gideon and mitigate each of his effects as they present themselves.
Verdict: This is a really powerful card that should go into even small cubes based on powerlevel. However, we all know that the 4cc spell slot for white is utterly jammed up with staple cube cards, making it really hard to find room for new ones. I would at least test this card in every 360 cube (numbers be damned) because it’s just too powerful not to. But it may get relegated to 450+ cube lists (or excluded entirely) based on some cube design choices; namely spell curve considerations or caps on planeswalker count.
Thanks again for reading and please feel free to comment and generate good BFZ cube discussion!
Great set review as always!
I mostly agree with your ranking although I think the dual lands are valued too highly here.
Land types often won't matter in a big cube because you won't see the fetches as often, so I'd probably rather include a pain/filter/check/bounce land depending on the color.
Maybe so, which is why I ranked them behind the pain lands for the more aggressive color combinations. But I do think the ability to fetch them up is significant, and I'd want to give them extensive playtesting to find out. Plus every color has at least 1 card that cares about basic land types even if you can't fetch 'em.
Thank you for your set review! Now I have something to do on a boring weekend a week before the prerelease.
I'm interested to know if splitting up the tango lands in more than one ranking was just filling up slots for your top 20. I understand the reasoning behind this but I am interested to know those one or two cards that would be in the 21st or 22nd in your ranking. For me there were maybe 10-12 cards I would test and/or include but I grouped the tango lands as one. I was interested to see which cards I was missing that your top 20 would include. I completely understand why you did this for the manlands though, but would you have split up the manlands if all 5 were included? Still a great review nonetheless and I will read it thoroughly. Thanks again.
Great article! Thanks for sharing this with the community. Really appreciated! 5*
About the cards, I didn't know you were judging Kiora 2.0 that high. Seems like you prefer it to 1.0 version. Really? I trully can understand her powerlevel while you're able to protect her, but side by side, on their own, isn't Kiora 1.0 better by a signifiant margin? Ultimate is quicker and you can easily win the game with it. She protects herself smoothly and offers card draw as well.
I run Kiora's Follower instead of the really good Mystic Snake for a specific reason but my 3rd spot is 1.0's chair right now, and I'm not convinced for now that she could be swap with the new one.
For me, the 1.0 is more of a control and midrange finisher, while the 2.0 looks more like a card advantage generator for any UG decks while also playing a ramping role in some cases and bringing some dredging skills. Dunno if I really like her that much at Crashing Wave's spot. As a powerful roleplayer, some of my players could feel bad when she'd be absent.
I'm interested to know if splitting up the tango lands in more than one ranking was just filling up slots for your top 20.
First, don't call them that. At least not in here, lol.
Second, no. Did you read the entries? I value them differently, which is why they were split into 2 groups of 2, and why the WG one was excluded entirely.
Quote from DrewReaLee »
would you have split up the manlands if all 5 were included?
Maybe. These ones were split because they can potentially land in different sized lists. If the others were the same, they would've been grouped accordingly ...just as I did with the new dual lands.
Quote from Zetsu_Sensei »
side by side, on their own, isn't Kiora 1.0 better by a signifiant margin?
I don't think so at all. Much lower loyalty, less CA, less ramp, worse ultimate... I mean, it's fine, but I think this new one is significantly better.
I'm interested to know if splitting up the tango lands in more than one ranking was just filling up slots for your top 20.
First, don't call them that. At least not in here, lol.
Second, no. Did you read the entries? I value them differently, which is why they were split into 2 groups of 2, and why the WG one was excluded entirely.
Quote from DrewReaLee »
would you have split up the manlands if all 5 were included?
Maybe. These ones were split because they can potentially land in different sized lists. If the others were the same, they would've been grouped accordingly ...just as I did with the new dual lands.
Yes, I read those sections before replying and understand why you excluded the G/W land entirely from your review. It's just that this set feels like there's a lot of really close calls in terms of cube playability. If all 5 manlands were included and were split in your review, I was worried that's 4 less slots for potential cards elsewhere meaning I would glance over cards without seeing a reasoning why it might be cubable especially in a set such as this one. I tend to value dual lands as cycles meaning if I were to include these new tan... dual lands from BFZ, I would include all of them as a cycle. It just sucks they were allied colors instead of enemy colored duals. I would have taken out my scrylands for them in a heartbeat. Maybe Oath will have them hopefully?
Also I got the message about the new... dual lands from BFZ.
I see what you're saying. No, I didn't split them up because I was trying to stretch out the article. I split them up because I was trying to be as genuine with the evaluations as I could and that's just the way the cookie crumbled. Sorry if it cut into the total number of discussed cards, but I didn't want to make the article less accurate just to try and squeeze in more content.
And you can call the lands whatever you want, but I prefer to call them ...anything other than what you called them above. So around me at least...
Glad to see the good old set review up early this time!
I agree with you that Gideon, Ally of Zendikar should be tested at all sizes. There's just too much pedigree not to; you get a variant of Garruk Relentless's signature ability, Gideon Jura's signature ability, and Ajani Goldmane's signature ability all in one card. Even if you're only doing one planeswalker per color, I think you'd be doing yourself a disservice not to at least test him, even if it requires you to take out Elspeth. It could very well prove to be that good.
At what cube size would you consider Painful Truths and Brutal Expulsion viable options? I appear to be the only one interested in them at 540.
Painful Truths I had estimated ~810 cards, because I like at least 2 un-cubed similar options better. I think 630 gets Read the Bones and 720 gets Night's Whisper and I think that about seals the deal.
Brutal Expulsion was close to making the cut, but I think that there are 7-8 cards in Izzet that I like more, which pushed it out of the conversation for top 20. Basically I decided that Catacomb Sifter was a better Golgari card than Expulsion was an Izzet card, so it made the cut for the list and other didn't. When I read Expulsion as permanent rather than creature I thought it had a decent chance, but as it's printed, I think I can safely pass.
I see what you're saying. No, I didn't split them up because I was trying to stretch out the article. I split them up because I was trying to be as genuine with the evaluations as I could and that's just the way the cookie crumbled. Sorry if it cut into the total number of discussed cards, but I didn't want to make the article less accurate just to try and squeeze in more content.
And you can call the lands whatever you want, but I prefer to call them ...anything other than what you called them above. So around me at least...
Thank you for the explanation. It was just an after thought of mine and I didn't phrase it the way it ended up coming out; I hope you weren't insulted by it. I apologize either way. I mean it's only 1 extra slot (or 2 if you count the manlands) so it's not that big of a deal and I'd much rather have higher quality of content of cards listed too. Thanks again for your continued contribution.
And trust me, I'm not a fan of the name I called the BFZ duals previously; it just seemed it was the name a good number of people on Reddit started calling them.
Do you think that Makindi Sliderunner would still be better than Borderland Marauder and Gore-house Chainwalker in a cube without fetchlands? Or do you value it so highly because of the potential with fetchlands?
Nice review! I agree with all the synopses. I think the overwhelming theme from this set has been strong upgrades to already very well resourced sections in the cube: a new 4 drop White 'walker; a three drop black aggro creature; good black removal; a big colourless fatty; a great mana artifact, extra dual lands... the one great need that has been fulfilled is of course the manlands (finally). I think the fact that a lot of the good stuff is just upgrades rather than ticking previously empty boxes has turned some cubers off but in reality it has left even small cubes with some nice ammunition. Ob Nix is a disappointment personally when White gets yet another staple 'walker (and probably the 7th or 8th cubeable one). Black can't catch a break since LotV.
My sleeper pick for an interesting card in my 405 cube is Woodland Wanderer, since after Thrun, the Last Troll, you don't have many great straight up beaters at green's four slot. You have utility in Wickerbough Elder, and token production/weird removal in Master of the Wild Hunt, and a generic big guy/removal in Polukranos. Vigilance and trample is a great combination.
Lastly Simic is in such a great place right now with the addition of the new Kiora and Falls, with so many strong cards to choose from (Snake, Mauler, Trygon, Kiora 1, Edric and probably a bunch of others), that it's a far cry from the days we'd be running the likes of Spitting Image. I don't know how I will compose my Simic section yet.
Do you think that Makindi Sliderunner would still be better than Borderland Marauder and Gore-house Chainwalker in a cube without fetchlands? Or do you value it so highly because of the potential with fetchlands?
With no fetchlands at all, it'd be pretty close. Maybe in a cube without ways to ever get more than 1 trigger I'd go with the guys that always have 3 power instead. But even then, I think the trample (and always being able to block as a 2-power creature) is a pretty big upside in comparison to the other guys.
Nice review! I agree with all the synopses. I think the overwhelming theme from this set has been strong upgrades to already very well resourced sections in the cube: a new 4 drop White 'walker; a three drop black aggro creature; good black removal; a big colourless fatty; a great mana artifact, extra dual lands...
This exactly.
Nice set review as always, very useful resource for anyone who doesn't follow frequent discussions on the threads and an enjoyable read for the regulars as well. Thanks for taking the time.
I think people be sleeping on quarantine field tho, surprised it didn't make your top 20. Not that I think it's a stellar card.. But think in big mana decks it's going to blow games wide open enough to justify it's weak base power level as well as a possible slot in mid+ powered cubes... Def could be wrong, will find out in testing
Quarantine Field just missed my top 20, and I also think it's an interesting card. I just can't overlook the floor on that card being so hard to justify. But it's an intense card when you have 6 or 8 mana available. Even 3 mana spot removal needs to have good stuff going for it these days ...4 mana 1-for-1 removal is just dead. I understand it scales, but it'll be forced to be played at 4 mana a lot, and it's just a bad card at that cost.
I agree with the opinion written completely. Sounds true enough.
I disagree on the order of the # based on that opinion though, but that's a pretty small issues that based on opinions. Like do I think x card is more important than y, that kind of thing.
Out of curiosity, what are your simic card ranking? Mine current is 1. Edric 2. Mystic Snake 3. Trygon (but Trygon may go up to #2 whenever disenchant in green is too low, they're very close in power level).
And also, if you were running 360, would you *sneak* the new manland into the guild section?
Out of curiosity, what are your simic card ranking? Mine current is 1. Edric 2. Mystic Snake 3. Trygon (but Trygon may go up to #2 whenever disenchant in green is too low, they're very close in power level).
And also, if you were running 360, would you *sneak* the new manland into the guild section?
That's my same ranking for the top 3 Simic cards, and I don't think I'd run the manland in that slot. I'd move to 405-450 and run 4 lands per guild so I can get the full suite of manlands in there without having to change the top 3 guild slots.
Solid review as always, wtwlf, and thanks for writing this up so quickly after the set dropped. I agree with pretty much every inclusion, but I'm surprised that Endless One didn't even crack the top 20. I know you proxy and test a lot of new cards as soon as they're spoiled, do you think you'll test Endless One?
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465 card Unpowered cube thread. Draft it here and I'll be happy to return the favor.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
Ya, it just doesn't do much. It's a good card for Sealed deck when you may be short on playables, but I'd never cut an on-color or on-strategy cube card for a colorless vanilla body. It can be a 23rd card when you're scrambling, but it's never a card I'd take with the intent on including in a draft-winning deck.
I agree with your assessment that there arent any slam dunk 360 includes, but there is still a lot for 450+ cubes.
Personally I plan to include all man lands and thinking about Drana.
I have a question though:
For blue mana fixers: after shocks, fetches and man lands. What would be the better option if there are no duals? Mirage fetches or the BFZ duals?
This is my 15th installment of the "top 20" set preview articles!
Just like the previous review, it will be in a spoiled top 20 countdown format, with each section having an image, a brief summary/description, and my verdict on what cubes I think it could potentially see some play in. I got a lot of positive feedback on the format from the last several articles, so I’m going to keep the “what I like” and “what I don’t like” sections.
Keep in mind (just like the others) that this is a set preview. Similar to draft predictions in professional sports, this list is an educated guess at best. Some cards I value highly in here may turn out to not last long in the cube. Other cards that are lower down on the list (or even missed entirely!) could (well, very likely may) turn out to be great cards. Even Tom Brady was drafted in the 6th round! Again, this is not intended to be gospel, set in stone or written as a review for posterity. This is simply written to be an enjoyable guess at cards I like for cubes, and hopefully it'll allow some cube managers to evaluate cards they may have otherwise overlooked and/or put some cards in perspective that may've been overhyped. Nothing more.
Battle For Zendikar is a long-awaited return to a beloved Magic plane. Kitchen table players and enthusiasts of big monsters everywhere waited with baited breath to see new Eldrazi titans and watch the world itself rebel against their uprising. As far as the cube goes, this set is very dividing for the community. Largely because there are less cubeworthy cards for the smallest of cubes, and not that many fringe playables for gigantic cubes either. The set’s powerband for cube inclusions is for medium-sized cubes (from 450-630); leaving some cube managers feeling underwhelmed. I, for one, really enjoy this set. I think it’s fun and flavorful, and provides my cube with some interesting and unique effects that I’m excited to see in action.
Without further ado, I can start the countdown!
Catacomb Sifter
A unique Golgari creature.
What I Like: 3 power and 4 toughness for 3 mana, two bodies, ramp, and the ability to get repeatable scry triggers are all certainly useful things. A lot of my black decks like to have creatures rotating in and out of the battlefield and using cards that produce multiple threats. In addition to often featuring some cards that like to be accelerated into play. But they’re often not hyper-aggressive either, and the combination of Sifter’s abilities really helps to support all those things the Golgari decks are trying to do.
What I Don't Like: There’s not much to dislike, though there will often be times where this card seems decidedly fair. You can pop the ramp effect and get the scry trigger, and after that you have a middling 2/3 body left behind that’s not doing much but gumming up the ground. It’ll always be a fine card, but it’ll be much harder to find times where it feels broken.
Verdict: I think there’s a very good chance that this could crack into the top 7 Golgari cards in the cube, but I don’t know if it’ll be able to get much deeper than that. I think it should very likely be tested for 720 card cubes.
Cinder Glade & Smoldering Marsh
2 new dual land variants.
What I Like: The ability for dual lands to be snagged by fetch lands is not to be undervalued. While on their own they may fall short of our current expectations for mana fixing, when combined with fetch lands, it really opens up opportunities to fix mana for multicolor decks and/or get your 2-color fixing via off-color fetches. There are other randomly nice interactions like pumping a Wild Nacatl or allowing Koth to benefit from these lands that makes them intriguing.
What I Don't Like: These two color combinations have to put top priority on mana fixing lands that can help them cast their 1-drops. Enough so, that I would hesitate to add these cards in until you’ve exhausted the options that can. If the land can’t produce colored mana on turn 1 or be used as a win condition to kill your opponent, it’ll get relegated to the back burner for fixing.
Verdict: I think there are 6 lands that meet the criteria listed above (Dual/Shock/Fetch/Man/Fast/Pain) before these lands should get the nod for these particular color combinations. So as the 7th best land in its respective combination, I would very likely play these lands in a 720 card cube.
Planar Outburst
A new 5cc Wrath variant.
What I Like: White sections in larger cubes are often looking for additional playable sweepers, and additional playable 5cc noncreature cards. So, 5cc wrath variants (while certainly not as good as Wrath/Day of Judgement) are important for the curve and the function of control. There are a couple of other good 5cc options that are currently played, and this card might compete with those in a very real way. Being able to create a threat and wrath the rest of the board away is not a new concept. But it’s usually attached to a Wrath effect that’s much more expensive. Having the option to Wrath as early as T5 or be able to play a 4/4 and Wrath everything else in the late game is a nice option to have.
What I Don't Like: The competition is too stiff in smaller lists. This is too slow to compete with 4cc Wrath variants, and lacks the ‘Geddon option that other more expensive variants have.
Verdict: This card competes with the other 5cc Wrath variants that are out there, and I think it’ll give a pretty good showing. So cubes that are including cards of that description will want to at least give this card a trial run and see how it does for them. I’m guessing that it can settle in the 630-720 range, which is where I would include cards of this ilk.
Carrier Thrall
A 2cc value beater.
What I Like: 3 power and 2 total creatures for 2 mana is a good baseline, and being able to provide a ramp effect can be a timely bonus. It also interacts particularly well with Black’s Pox/Stax recursion themes, and can be good value if you need something that can attack and also provide some extra value. Playing this creature with Skullclamp will be fun.
What I Don't Like: With 1 more keyword of any kind, this would’ve been a fantastic creature. But I’m afraid the generic 2/1 is going to be too lackluster for it to be included in decks that don’t have a sacrifice theme.
Verdict: Black’s 2cc creature section isn’t exactly packed, and that low floor for inclusion will help this creature see some cube play. I think it may very well be testable for 630 card cubes, and might do some work for cubes 720 or bigger for a good while.
Makindi Sliderunner
A 2cc red aggro beater.
What I Like: This will often be a 3-power trampling attacker for 2 mana, which puts it ahead of some of the other 3-power 2-drops that red has to offer. It also has good interactions with fetch lands, as beating with a 4/3 trampler is no joke; especially for a 2-mana critter. I like it more than the Chainwalker and Marauder that a lot of cubes play for filling the role of necessary aggro beaters, and I think this one is not only better, but also more interesting.
What I Don't Like: Similarly to all the other 3/2 variants that red has to offer, the lack of combat-relevant abilities makes this card trade with all the bears and pikers in the cube. And while the trample can keep the damage flowing (which is what gives it the edge against the other guys) it doesn’t have the staying power of the Berserker, the Aspirant or the Geopede because of the lack of evasion and/or first strike to keep it alive.
Verdict: This would very likely be the next 2cc aggro beater I’d add into my cube list, so I think it’ll be a serviceable threat for 630+ sized cubes.
Prairie Stream & Sunken Hollow
2 more solid mana-fixing dual lands.
What I Like: The blue color combinations benefit more from these new lands than the other color combinations do for several reasons. First, blue decks are generally better equipped to handle the tempo setback of a land that comes into play tapped. Second, blue decks have a higher propensity to be involved in 3+ color decks, so the ability for these lands to be fetchable by off-color fetches will be more relevant. And third, The blue land-type matters for a couple of critically timed cards in Daze and Shackles.
What I Don't Like: The only knock on these cards is the competition. I think the Dual/Shock/Fetch/Man lands are all better, and these color combinations also have access to the Mirage fetches, which are great enabling lands for blue decks. And as far as fighting for the 5th land slot goes, I give the edge to a lesser fetch land over a lesser dual land any day of the week, making these the 6th best lands in their respective color combinations.
Verdict: I think these are the 6th best dual lands in their respective combinations, and I’d play them in cubes that are 630+ in size.
Expedition Envoy
Another Lion/Vanguard aggro 1-drop for white.
What I Like: 2-power 1-drops with no drawbacks are fundamentally playable. This would be a serviceable filler aggro creature for any aggro deck with white mana available.
What I Don't Like: White is the first color to have reached its critical mass of 2-power 1-drops in the cube. Most small-medium sized cubes don’t need another one in their toolbox at this time.
Verdict: For small cubes, this won’t make the cut on competition alone. In medium-sized cubes, this can replace Savannah Lions if you have a human subtheme that cares about his creature type. For large cubes, you can add this to your critical mass of aggro beaters, and I think 630+ cubes would be happy to have an extra one still.
Ob Nixilis Reignited
A 5cc removal/card advantage engine ‘walker.
What I Like: This card was originally rumored to have 4 starting loyalty, but it turned out to have 5, which is a critical difference given the design of this card. With the extra loyalty, this can resolve and murder a creature, {+} itself on the next turn to draw a card, and then immediately have a 2nd murder option available the turn after that. That gives it a healthy ACS of killing 2 creatures and drawing a card for 5 mana, which will be welcoming for a lot of decks.
What I Don't Like: 5 mana is a lot for a value engine card, and while this will be a good tool for stabilizing against midrange decks in the mid/late game ...control decks playing 5cc value ‘walkers don’t have a hard time in that matchup to begin with.
Verdict: This card might be good enough for some 540-sized cubes, depending on the tempo of the environment. In testing, it proved to be a tad too slow for my powered format, but it would very likely make the cut at 630 for me.
Woodland Wanderer
A solid 4cc beater with both offensive and defensive capabilities.
What I Like: This card has a healthy range of playable to amazing depending on how diversified your manabase is. Even in a random 2-color deck, a 4/4 vigilance trample for 4 mana isn’t an awful place to start, and it just gets better from there. I think a realistic ACS for this creature will be a 5/5 for 4 mana with vigilance and trample, which is an above-average base. While green does have other options for 5/5’s for 4 with an upside, none of them can play offense and defense as well as this can; trample will help to push through big damage, and the vigilance will leave a hefty blocker back that will be hard to push damage through on the ground. Oh, and there will be decks that will have this be a 4-mana 6/6 vigilant trampler for 4 mana, which is of course a really high ceiling. Best of all, this card is splashable; only requiring a single green mana for any of its iterations. Making it an easy splash creature as an aggro topper or as a midgame beater for midrange decks or Wildfire decks that want to protect themselves and beat down simultaneously. I’m always in the market for creatures that will play well in the rare green control decks, and this certainly fits the bill, thanks to the size and the vigilance.
What I Don't Like: No matter how efficient it is, or how big it is, it’s ultimately a 4cc creature that dies to their removal and can leave you with nothing. Not a hurdle that 4cc creatures have to leap, but there will certainly be times you will have wished for a value creature when those plays arise.
Verdict: I’m going to be testing out this card in my 540, and I expect it to be solid. It may ultimately get relegated to cubes that are 630 or bigger in size, but I think this stat monster warrants some extended playtime to find out for sure.
Scythe Leopard
A filler green aggro beater.
What I Like: I originally disliked this card because I think it compares unfavorably to Steppe Lynx. But upon closer evaluation and some playtesting, this card is fine. I asked myself what this card is going to do in the average game, and the answer is simple. It’ll resolve on T1, and then attack as a 2/2 for about 3 consecutive turns. As boring as that is, it’s perfectly serviceable as a green aggro creature if you support that theater. And occasionally, it’ll attack as a 3/3 after a fetchland activation, or get involved in a Loam chain that will keep it as a 2-3 power attacker for the length of the game. And unlike Lynx, I can kill X/1 attackers on defense, and at least be able to swing for 1 if I miss a land drop. Not a huge advantage, but not irrelevant either.
What I Don't Like: I can’t shake the Lynx comparison, despite it being unfair. Unlike Lynx, this’ll trade with bears and pikers in combat, and can never swing as a 4/5 with fetches.
Verdict: Since I support green aggro, more 2-power beaters are most welcome. I don’t think it’s quite good/consistent enough to make the cut at 450, even with green aggro support, but I’m happy enough to play it in my 540 since I need to reach towards that critical mass in green still.
Scatter to the Winds
A flexible counterspell with multiple casting options.
What I Like: Similar to other cards that provide multiple casting options, the value from this spell comes from the flexibility. Like Kicker, Evoke and other similar abilities, as long as both abilities are serviceable effects at times, the ability to be both over the course of a game brings value. While burn is different from countermagic, the same theory that gives value to Burst Lightning gives value to Scatter. Nobody wants a Shock or an expensive Lightning Blast, but the ability to be either depending on what the game state calls for is great. Likewise, Cancel isn’t a card we want to play, but we know there’s value in just being able to definitively say “no” when you need to. And while a 3/3 isn’t the biggest body, it’s still a serviceable creature, and the lesser Draining Whelk mode will be a nice compliment to the cheaper mode when it’s available. This is very likely going to be the 2nd best 3cc counterspell option after Forbid.
What I Don't Like: When this is just a Cancel, it won’t feel great. Likewise, a 6-mana 3/3 won’t feel good either. Continually reminding yourself that the flexibility is important will feel like a chore for cubers that are looking for the splashiest available effects at every turn.
Verdict: I will be giving this spell some extensive playtesting time at 540. And I could go either way on it. It may prove to be good enough for even some 450 lists. Or it may prove to be relegated to 630 lists or bigger. But it’s flexible and valuable, and that’s not something we get from current countermagic.
Greenwarden of Murasa
A 6cc green Restock on legs.
What I Like: If history has shown me anything with green value creatures, Regrowth effects strapped to bodies are usually undervalued at first and prove to be much more valuable that we anticipated. Green needs playable 6-drops, and strapping a 5/4 creature to a Restock for an additional 1 mana is no joke. And I appreciate the “may” text on the second trigger for those cases where we don’t want to exile the creature. Getting your best spent spell back and adding 5 power to the board will be exactly what midrangey green decks want to be doing, and filling the void in the 6cc creature slot will be most welcome.
What I Don't Like: The 4 toughness on a 6cc investment may prove to be a liability, and depending on the pressure you’re under, it may feel like too little too late when you’re scrambling to stabilize. Vigilance or trample would’ve really pushed this guy over the top, but a 5th toughness would’ve been killer.
Verdict: This card is a solid and safe inclusion for 540 card lists. And it’s likely to justify some extensive playtesting at 450 just to fill the creature gap in the one color that needs a second 6cc creature the most.
Ruinous Path
A sorcery Hero’s Downfall with a big ETB creature option.
What I Like: Planeswalker bullets are continually becoming more and more important as the cube evolves. Losing the instant speed in comparison to Downfall is a significant drawback, but the addition of being able to get a late game 4/4 body with a powerful and non-discriminatory removal effect will be most welcome for all midrange and control decks playing black in the cube. This is simply a really solid removal spell that has a critical big mana option that will be relevant and game-breaking in a lot of scenarios.
What I Don't Like: Sorcery speed hurts, and it’ll be hard for aggressive decks to reach the mana available for the big mode a lot of the time. But even in those cases, it’ll be nice to have a late game option strapped to a playable cheap spell for when plan A goes to hell in a handbasket.
Verdict: Sneaking a powerful 7cc creature into any deck disguised as an all-purpose removal spell will be very good in a lot of situations. I’m going to easily jam this card into my 540 card cube, but I think that smaller cubes can benefit from the effect too if you’re willing to make a painful cut to get it into the list.
Hedron Archive
A double Mind Stone.
What I Like: Control decks like to add in mana rocks to shore up their tempo against decks that outpace them for speed. But they don’t like to be stuck with a surplus of resources and not enough true spells to keep up with the plan that makes control viable to begin with. Mind Stone has shown us over the years that being able to cash your ramp in for cards is a critical effect for decks that want to speed themselves up without losing the card quantity necessary to accomplish this. Enter Hedron Archive. It’s in a good spot in the curve to bridge you into your 6-7cc game-ending effects, but not at the cost of full cards to do so. Once your resource count is stable and you’ve ramped into the big-mana card you needed to play, cashing this in for a divination will be amazing. This is very likely to be the single best mana rock for control decks that costs more than 3 mana.
What I Don't Like: Unlike control decks, dedicated ramp decks trying to cast cards that cost 8+ mana with regularity will have a harder time finding opportunities to crack this, meaning that this will be a Sissay’s Ring more often than you’d like. While I think this card is going to be head-and-shoulders better than Thran Dynamo and Gilded Lotus in dedicated control decks, super ramp decks really rely on making as much mana as possible as fast as they can, and the difference between 7 mana and 8 mana is a huge deal.
Verdict: I would play this card in a 450 card cube, because I think the value that it gives to control is incredible. But cubes that are more focussed on ramping into gigantic threats will wish this was just a Dynamo 9 times out of 10.
Shambling Vent
Enemy manlands!
What I Like: The opportunity cost for getting manlands into your final 40 is really low. Lands that fix relevant colors of mana will be making your deck, and increasing your threat density by replacing a land is great. This land in particular is good because the 3rd toughness is relevant against a good number of bodies in the cube, and the lifelink helps to offset some of the life loss drawbacks inherent to black decks. A 4-point life swing on an open board is good for a 3-mana activation cost, and this land is cheap to activate on offense and has a relevant combination of body size and abilities on defense.
What I Don't Like: The 3rd toughness can be a relevant downside against the decks that you want life gain against the most, as this land can be killed by Bolt and Incinerate effects. The 2/3 body can be an issue when the opponent has bigger bodies down on the table since this land doesn’t have evasion, but fortunately it’s in a color combination with a removal suite that’s most effective against bigger bodies.
Verdict: I think this is easily the 4th best land for Orzhov sections, behind the staple Dual/Shock/Fetch arrangement. But neither the quality or the competition will allow it to be “snuck into” a smaller list as a spell. 450 staple, and very likely playable as the 4th land for 405 card cubes that run a 4th mana fixer per guild.
Lumbering Falls
The Simic manland.
What I Like: Hexproof is no joke on a manland because of the way that the cards function. They’re already resilient to sweepers and sorcery-speed removal, but the hexproof extends that protection to instant-speed mitigation as well. Once you’ve stabilized the board, this creature will be able to attack and block without fear of being blown up by opposing removal effects, and that kind of resilience is important since losing a manland to removal can be particularly crippling. Additionally, the ETBT drawback isn’t as disruptive to blue decks or decks with ample additional ramp effects, so it’ll slot nicely into Simic decks of all kinds. And the 3/3 body is relevant against a big portion of the bodies floating around in the cube.
What I Don't Like: If you can’t clear a path for it to attack, the lack of evasion can prove problematic for a land with an activation cost of 4. Combat is the only reliable way for your opponent to mitigate this manland, but unfortunately it’s a real consideration you’ll have to overcome. A 4/4 available on defense will serve as a difficult roadblock to circumvent for this particular color combination.
Verdict: Easily the 4th best land for Simic in the cube, so it’s a slam dunk in 450+ sized cubes. And it will easily go into any cube that has 4 available slots for fixing in the guild. A lot of cube managers are unhappy with the gold options for Simic (I’m not one of them) so there will be opportunities for some cube managers to sneak this card into a 360 list as a “spell”; similarly to how they might do that for Colonnade or Tar Pit already.
Drana, Liberator of Malakir
A powerful enabler for aggressive black decks and/or token decks.
What I Like: A 2/3 flying first strike with a Slith ability is a solid baseline for a beater creature. It can quickly grow out of bolt range, and get big enough to tangle with most cube fliers in a short span of time. But what puts this card over the top is the interaction with the first strike and the pumping of the rest of your team. It essentially gives a Curse of Predation effect to the rest of your crew each time she attacks, while providing Slith-esque growth for herself. When you have multiple other attackers (especially when combined with token army-producing effects) the damage will mount up quickly, and things can spiral out of control for the opponent really fast. It may be the piece that a lot of cube managers have been looking for to help incentivize their drafters into playing the Carnophage decks.
What I Don't Like: It’s ultimately a 2/3 body for a turn when it comes down, and doesn’t have any impact on the rest of your attacking team for a full turn. This gives the opponent a window to either deal with her or deal with your other board presence to help mitigate her damage impact. As high as the ceiling on this card can be, with no other board presence she’s going to be a moderately priced flying beater, and she can still be wiped out entirely by a large suite of cheap removal effects in the cube.
Verdict: This creature may be worth testing out at 360. I think it will be relatively easy for her to earn a spot in 450 card cubes, but with the recent surplus of good 3cc black creatures, the competition is high at 360 and it might not last in that environment indefinitely.
Kiora, Master of the Depths
A good Simic ramp & value-engine ‘walker.
What I Like: Resolving with 4 loyalty and being able to immediately move to 5 makes her much more resilient than her former self. Untapping a creature and a land does multiple things for your Simic decks. First and foremost, you can untap a mana creature and a land to allow her to functionally resolve for 2 mana, and then ramp for +2 mana on subsequent turns. That’s a very good resource advantage that it provides. It can also be used to untap potential blockers to protect herself while she builds up to her (game ending) ultimate ability. And the {-} ability on this Kiora is stellar. Providing you with a steady stream of resources and threats is all you need to be able to win games, and she’ll consistently find them for you. Generating card advantage all the while. Lastly, her ability helps to feed the graveyard for delve costs and other graveyard shenanigans. She’ll be a good engine for Loam decks and Sultai reanimator builds.
What I Don't Like: If you can’t use the creature untapping effect to your benefit when she resolves, she can be forced into playing a value-activation-only role, which while okay, might often result in a single {-2} play and then getting killed by opposing attackers. And a lot of her value is hinged upon her ramping effect being valuable. Without being able to use her untapping effect for tempo, she doesn’t do much to impact the board the turn she resolves or the turn after.
Verdict: Depending on the compositions of your Simic section, she may be forced out of small cubes because of the competition. Edric is a complete monster, Trygon can be important depending on your Naturalize count in green, and with a full suite of Bounce/Copy effects Snake can still be the nut card for some builds. If that’s the case for your cube, this Kiora might only be playable in 450+ sized cubes. But if not, finding a cut for her in 360 might be relatively easy for you. In any case, I think she’s solidly the 4th best non-land card in Simic.
Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
The most versatile of Eldrazi titans for the cube.
What I Like: This creature is really powerful, and can be good in a number of different archetypes. First and foremost, this Eldrazi titan can be reanimated! So reanimation decks in the cube have a target that puts your opponent on a 2-turn clock (in a 40-card environment) and is also indestructible. Not to mention that it’s also a 10/10. Additionally, fatty-cheating decks using cards like Show and Tell and Eureka have another big target for them that is hard to remove and ends the game quickly. Most importantly, this is a much more castable titan for super-ramp decks that are actually trying to cast the creature. And the cast trigger is really powerful. I mean, a double colorless Utter End is no joke. And 10 mana is far more attainable than some of the existing options, especially in comparison to the 15cc monstrosity. As a Channel target, it’ll likely remove the opponents only lands and then kill them in short order, and when hard-cast late, it will remove the opponent’s two best cards and give you a must-answer threat.
What I Don't Like: Based on the way the mill works, your opponent can take a hit from this card before answering it and still be in fine shape. This gives them two full turns to draw an out before they die to it. And the interactions with Sneak Attack and Through the Breach are weaker, because a single attack doesn’t do much but kill a chump blocker in the grand scheme of things. Since it (primarily) wins in a different way than the rest of your deck, a partial Ulamog victory is no victory at all ...unless the 10 damage gets through of course (Rancor?).
Verdict: This card is going to be very dependent on which archetypes you support in the cube. If you play all 3 of the decks that want it (reanimator, fatty-cheating and super ramp) it’ll be an auto-include from a powerlevel standpoint. Even in the smallest of cubes. But a lot of 360 card cubes don’t support all three of those decks. And if this card is only playable in 1-2 decks in your cube, it may be too hard to justify a 10-mana creature. I think it’s safely includable in 450 card cubes (where all of its archetypes are likely present) but could fall short in some small lists if you don’t play all of the decks that want it. If you include any Eldrazi titans in your list, this should be one of them.
Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
A powerful beater, token engine and anthem effect.
What I Like: No matter what kind of effect you’re looking for, this planeswalker does it for you. If you need to go wide, it creates an army of 2/2 tokens. If you need to break through a strong blocker, it becomes a 5/5 indestructible attacker. If you need to bolster an existing team, it can (immediately if need be) create an Anthem emblem that can’t be destroyed by the opponent. In most cases it’ll create a 2/2 and then start bashing for 5, but it can do a whole slew of different things as the game goes on depending on what you need.
What I Don't Like: We’ve seen {0} activations that produce 2/2s before, and while good, it doesn’t necessarily create a must-answer threat because it’s not accumulating loyalty that makes it harder to kill at the same time. He also doesn’t build up to an ultimate the opponent has to be cognizant of, so they have time to deal with his abilities and gameplan for them. Lastly, none of the effects provide reach, so if the opponent’s deck is designed to go wide, they might be able to outlast Gideon and mitigate each of his effects as they present themselves.
Verdict: This is a really powerful card that should go into even small cubes based on powerlevel. However, we all know that the 4cc spell slot for white is utterly jammed up with staple cube cards, making it really hard to find room for new ones. I would at least test this card in every 360 cube (numbers be damned) because it’s just too powerful not to. But it may get relegated to 450+ cube lists (or excluded entirely) based on some cube design choices; namely spell curve considerations or caps on planeswalker count.
Thanks again for reading and please feel free to comment and generate good BFZ cube discussion!
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I mostly agree with your ranking although I think the dual lands are valued too highly here.
Land types often won't matter in a big cube because you won't see the fetches as often, so I'd probably rather include a pain/filter/check/bounce land depending on the color.
Thanks for the reply.
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I'm interested to know if splitting up the tango lands in more than one ranking was just filling up slots for your top 20. I understand the reasoning behind this but I am interested to know those one or two cards that would be in the 21st or 22nd in your ranking. For me there were maybe 10-12 cards I would test and/or include but I grouped the tango lands as one. I was interested to see which cards I was missing that your top 20 would include. I completely understand why you did this for the manlands though, but would you have split up the manlands if all 5 were included? Still a great review nonetheless and I will read it thoroughly. Thanks again.
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About the cards, I didn't know you were judging Kiora 2.0 that high. Seems like you prefer it to 1.0 version. Really? I trully can understand her powerlevel while you're able to protect her, but side by side, on their own, isn't Kiora 1.0 better by a signifiant margin? Ultimate is quicker and you can easily win the game with it. She protects herself smoothly and offers card draw as well.
I run Kiora's Follower instead of the really good Mystic Snake for a specific reason but my 3rd spot is 1.0's chair right now, and I'm not convinced for now that she could be swap with the new one.
For me, the 1.0 is more of a control and midrange finisher, while the 2.0 looks more like a card advantage generator for any UG decks while also playing a ramping role in some cases and bringing some dredging skills. Dunno if I really like her that much at Crashing Wave's spot. As a powerful roleplayer, some of my players could feel bad when she'd be absent.
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First, don't call them that. At least not in here, lol.
Second, no. Did you read the entries? I value them differently, which is why they were split into 2 groups of 2, and why the WG one was excluded entirely.
Maybe. These ones were split because they can potentially land in different sized lists. If the others were the same, they would've been grouped accordingly ...just as I did with the new dual lands.
I don't think so at all. Much lower loyalty, less CA, less ramp, worse ultimate... I mean, it's fine, but I think this new one is significantly better.
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Yes, I read those sections before replying and understand why you excluded the G/W land entirely from your review. It's just that this set feels like there's a lot of really close calls in terms of cube playability. If all 5 manlands were included and were split in your review, I was worried that's 4 less slots for potential cards elsewhere meaning I would glance over cards without seeing a reasoning why it might be cubable especially in a set such as this one. I tend to value dual lands as cycles meaning if I were to include these new tan... dual lands from BFZ, I would include all of them as a cycle. It just sucks they were allied colors instead of enemy colored duals. I would have taken out my scrylands for them in a heartbeat. Maybe Oath will have them hopefully?
Also I got the message about the new... dual lands from BFZ.
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And you can call the lands whatever you want, but I prefer to call them ...anything other than what you called them above. So around me at least...
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I agree with you that Gideon, Ally of Zendikar should be tested at all sizes. There's just too much pedigree not to; you get a variant of Garruk Relentless's signature ability, Gideon Jura's signature ability, and Ajani Goldmane's signature ability all in one card. Even if you're only doing one planeswalker per color, I think you'd be doing yourself a disservice not to at least test him, even if it requires you to take out Elspeth. It could very well prove to be that good.
At what cube size would you consider Painful Truths and Brutal Expulsion viable options? I appear to be the only one interested in them at 540.
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Brutal Expulsion was close to making the cut, but I think that there are 7-8 cards in Izzet that I like more, which pushed it out of the conversation for top 20. Basically I decided that Catacomb Sifter was a better Golgari card than Expulsion was an Izzet card, so it made the cut for the list and other didn't. When I read Expulsion as permanent rather than creature I thought it had a decent chance, but as it's printed, I think I can safely pass.
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Thank you for the explanation. It was just an after thought of mine and I didn't phrase it the way it ended up coming out; I hope you weren't insulted by it. I apologize either way. I mean it's only 1 extra slot (or 2 if you count the manlands) so it's not that big of a deal and I'd much rather have higher quality of content of cards listed too. Thanks again for your continued contribution.
And trust me, I'm not a fan of the name I called the BFZ duals previously; it just seemed it was the name a good number of people on Reddit started calling them.
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My sleeper pick for an interesting card in my 405 cube is Woodland Wanderer, since after Thrun, the Last Troll, you don't have many great straight up beaters at green's four slot. You have utility in Wickerbough Elder, and token production/weird removal in Master of the Wild Hunt, and a generic big guy/removal in Polukranos. Vigilance and trample is a great combination.
Lastly Simic is in such a great place right now with the addition of the new Kiora and Falls, with so many strong cards to choose from (Snake, Mauler, Trygon, Kiora 1, Edric and probably a bunch of others), that it's a far cry from the days we'd be running the likes of Spitting Image. I don't know how I will compose my Simic section yet.
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
With no fetchlands at all, it'd be pretty close. Maybe in a cube without ways to ever get more than 1 trigger I'd go with the guys that always have 3 power instead. But even then, I think the trample (and always being able to block as a 2-power creature) is a pretty big upside in comparison to the other guys.
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I also really like Hedron Archive. I'm trying to be conservative with its evaluation, but I totally agree that it could be a 360 caliber card in time.
Thanks for commenting!
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This exactly.
Nice set review as always, very useful resource for anyone who doesn't follow frequent discussions on the threads and an enjoyable read for the regulars as well. Thanks for taking the time.
I think people be sleeping on quarantine field tho, surprised it didn't make your top 20. Not that I think it's a stellar card.. But think in big mana decks it's going to blow games wide open enough to justify it's weak base power level as well as a possible slot in mid+ powered cubes... Def could be wrong, will find out in testing
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I disagree on the order of the # based on that opinion though, but that's a pretty small issues that based on opinions. Like do I think x card is more important than y, that kind of thing.
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But no acknowledgement of the full art basics and Shock/Fetch full arts? D:
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And also, if you were running 360, would you *sneak* the new manland into the guild section?
Not sure if I'm right, but I think the review articles ignore reprint.
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Ya, Luffy's right, I don't discuss reprints and basics in the set countdown, since they don't change the way the cube plays.
I love the new basics. I'm not a fan of the expedition frames.
That's my same ranking for the top 3 Simic cards, and I don't think I'd run the manland in that slot. I'd move to 405-450 and run 4 lands per guild so I can get the full suite of manlands in there without having to change the top 3 guild slots.
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Personally I plan to include all man lands and thinking about Drana.
I have a question though:
For blue mana fixers: after shocks, fetches and man lands. What would be the better option if there are no duals? Mirage fetches or the BFZ duals?