This is my 17th installment of the "top 20" set preview articles! Just like the previous reviews, it will be in a spoiled top X 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 few 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.
Shadows Over Innistrad is an awesome cube set. Not only does it have a ton of playable cards for traditionally structured cubes, but it has a bunch of fun and flavorful cards that can break into the cube from other angles. The list of “honorable mentions” would be too long to reasonably discuss, and all 20 cards in my list could realistically see play in small/medium-sized cubes. Which means that there absolutely cards missing from this list that are going to be great cube inclusions! So don’t fret if your favorite flavorful card from SOI didn’t make my list ...there’s just not enough room to discuss every cool card that might see cube play from this set.
What I Like: The {+1} ability is great. Scry + draw is a huge engine for both card advantage and card selection, and in games that go long, being able to do this each turn will allow you to run away with the game. The {-2} ability does a decent job of protecting Jace from larger mana threats, and he has an ultimate that will pretty much lock up a win. Also, immediately ticking to 6 loyalty is a lot, so with even a small blocking team, he’ll be really hard to grind down.
What I Don't Like: We just saw a 5cc paneswalker that performs the exact same role as this Jace in Ob Nixilis Reignited. Which means that this Jace is solid, but unexciting and it doesn’t do anything new for me. And the competition at the 5cc spell slot in blue is deep, and is probably the biggest strike against Jace.
Verdict: I think this is a solid Jace. Good loyalty and a powerful {+1} ability means that if you elect to run this Jace, it’ll perform just fine for you. For me, I would probably include this card somewhere in the 630-720 range. It might be the next 5cc blue card I’d add into the cube, and if not, there aren’t many more ahead of it.
What I Like: 6 power, 3 bodies and gaining 3 life is a good deal for 5 mana. That, and if you have a chance to pair it with a discard outlet and you can pull off a big madness cast for X, it packs tremendous value. The best selling point is probably the lack of great 5cc “creature” options for the cube, and getting 6 power looks pretty good in comparison to the competition.
What I Don't Like: The tokens enter the battlefield tapped, so you can’t use this card to defend you from multiple attacking bodies from the opponent’s board, like other army-in-a-can cards do. It doesn’t give you an immediate defensive presence. And being a sorcery, it can’t be abused by all of black’s creature recursion like other cards that serve a similar function can.
Verdict: This is one of the better options for cards that can fill the 5cc “creature” slot in the cube, and I could definitely see cubes in the 630-720 range finding room to at least test this. And with a strong enough discard/madness theme, this could break into cubes even smaller.
What I Like: Every land drop grows this creature and gives you a Clue. Over the long haul, this creature will become a formidable combat monster and will draw you multiple extra cards.
What I Don't Like: Clues did not test in practice as well as I expected them to. Needing to find the window and the resources to pay the 2 mana is not as easy as it might seem. When you’re properly curving, there just isn’t an opportunity to crack the clues and grow the body. It turned out to be a creature that you want to play as early as possible to stockpile Clues, but there weren’t good opportunities to actually use them until much later on.
Verdict: This is an interesting creature that can be played pretty much anywhere. It just missed the cut after testing, so I’d rank this card in the ~630 range or so. Maybe smaller if you have multiple investigate cards in the cube to pair with it.
What I Like: Arlinn does a lot of things. She pumps a creature with haste & vigilance to protect herself. She creates 2/2 Wolves. She pumps the team and provides trample. She Bolts things. And she also has an ultimate that pretty much wins the game.
What I Don't Like: The two primary issues with Arlinn are consistency and competition. I don’t like how her abilities are ordered. If I cast her, and make a 2/2 token, she transforms. On the back side, her {+1} ability isn’t the one that provides haste, so I can’t make a freshly cast monster beat down, and I can’t give Vigilance to my wolf token so it can protect her on the following turn. The more I tested with her, the more often I found that the wrong part of the ‘walker seemed to always be face up. Secondly, unlike the other 4cc ‘walkers in Gruul, Arlinn doesn’t serve a specific purpose. Sarkhan is always global haste and an anthem effect. He’s always has a Threaten available. Xenagos is always ramp, and can always create bodies. Arlinn is always doing something that’s good for you, but she’s not always going to be able to give you the effect of hers that you need.
Verdict: Despite her inconsistencies, her abilities are useful and valuable. I think she competes well for the #5 - #7 slot in Gruul, so she could see regular play in cubes as small as 540.
What I Like: A 3/3 Skulk for 2 mana is a good deal for aggro. And discarding cards can be advantageous to decks playing from the graveyard at all, be it with recursive creatures, Crucible/Loam effects or reanimation spells. The discard trigger isn’t a payment either, so if you play this and are hellbent, you don’t have to sacrifice it.
What I Don't Like: Since the discard has to be paid if you cast this on turn 2, you run a big risk of getting 2-for-1’d by removal. Moreso that creatures that have the discard triggers as options you can pay later (or not at all).
Verdict: SOI was more than kind to the 2cc black creature slot. And if it weren’t for some other help that we’re getting here, this could have a pretty reasonable chance of breaking into smaller cubes. But after the SOI update, I don’t think cubes smaller than 540-630 or so will be able to make regular use of Pale Rider.
A win condition, card advantage engine and removal spell in one.
What I Like: The {+1} is really good. Card advantage and reach rolled up into one ability is really nice. The {-X} ability will help to protect you (and Sorin) and also recover some lost life. And 6 starting loyalty is a lot. He reminds me a lot of Chandra Nalaar. It has a plus ability that damages players, a -X that shoots creatures for X and a fat butt. This is two colors and an extra mana, but adds on lifegain and card advantage, which is more than a fair tradeoff.
What I Don't Like: The top tier Orzhov cards are really good. And 6 mana is a lot to invest in something that needs several turns to grind out incremental advantages.
Verdict: This ‘walker is strong, and definitely competes well against the cards in the #5-#7 slot for Orzhov, so this card should land somewhere in the 540-720 range. Larger cubes should definitely test this out.
Solid baseline stats and a powerful aggro ability.
What I Like: A 3/3 flying for 3 is a good place to start. Add on an ability that serves as a discard outlet and a powerful aggressive trigger and you get a creature that has a lot of potential to do well in the cube. The additional damage the trigger provides will very often be worth the card you pitch to enable it.
What I Don't Like: Black has recently had an influx of good 3cc creatures for aggressive decks, so the role Olivia will fill isn’t as vacant as it used to be. That, combined with the power of the top tier Rakdos cards will prevent her from cracking into the smallest of cubes.
Verdict: A great Rakdos aggro creature, and probably the #5 or #6 card in Rakdos. I’d play this in a 540-630 sized cube.
What I Like: Having a {+2} ability is good, because it can help pull her loyalty out of a range where it’s being threatened. And the rummaging effect is something that’s new to white, and might be the kind of thing you’d splash red to have access to. Her {-2} ability is interesting, since it can give you an Erase or exile a tapped creature or artifact. And her ultimate ability is pretty fun, and can do some sick things with Titans and the like.
What I Don't Like: Boros isn’t a color combination that can take the most advantage out of a discard/draw effect. The tapped target restriction on her {-2} ability caused regular problems during her playtesting period. And her ultimate is also off-color, as Boros decks usually aren’t the ones playing the super-fatties.
Verdict: An above-average card that just falls short of pushing out the top-tier cards in her respective section. I think this is the #5 Boros card, and it should make it into all cubes running 5 or more guild cards per slot.
A flavorful land that can make tokens and transform into a giant demon.
What I Like: This card is fun, and oozing with flavor. It doesn’t have the powerlevel to be freely tossed into just any deck, but there are decks that can use the land. The opportunity cost is low to begin with, but is almost nonexistant in decks that are looking for sources of C. It has played well in decks that want to produce sacrifice fodder, like decks with Braids, Smokestack and Skulclamp. And it’s also done well in token/anthem based decks where the 1/1 token it produces is going to be bigger/better than it would be at face value. The token ability works like a combination of Vitu-Gazi, the City-Tree and Urza’s Factory depending on the deck using it. And the transform ability has a few uses. It can allow decks that typically go wide to go big. It can turn a stalled-out board state into a winning position (especially against something like Moat or the like). It can protect a large team of tokens from a wrath/sweeper effect. And, it can convert a losing combat situation or a mass chump-block into something of value.
What I Don't Like: 5 mana and a life is simply too much for a 1/1. And sacrificing 5 creatures is simply too steep for the transformation ability. It really needs to go into cubes that need the colorless mana, and play a lot of Smokestack decks and a lot of token/anthem shells, otherwise it just won’t do enough.
Verdict: Including this card will be more centered around flavor than power. You have to decide if its narrow applications will be worth using it. I’ve seen it transform twice in testing so far, and it’s really awesome. But it’s also spent some time as a Wastes. I’m playing it for fun in my 540 card cube, but I don’t think it could crack into smaller cubes than that, unless you have deep support for the 3 decks that might scoop this up with regularity.
A 2cc white removal spell that’s a bullet against tokens.
What I Like: I originally overestimated the value of Clue tokens. They’re not as good as I thought they were going to be, which means that cards that produce Clues for me went down in value, and cards that give away Clues as a drawback increased in value. After seeing Declaration in action, the drawback isn’t that significant. I mean, if the card they draw is comparable to the card you exiled, it was essentially a mana-neutral tempo play in its WCS. Otherwise, you’re getting a powerful effect for cheap. But the real advantage is blasting tokens. For 2 mana, you can undo an entire army’s worth of board your opponent has built up.
What I Don't Like: 2cc removal that can come with a drawback isn’t stellar. It’s going to be a fair removal spell most of the time, being about on par with something like Journey to Nowhere. It gives them a free Clue token, but it can’t be bounced or destroyed to give your opponent their creature back. So basically, if you think that the quality of the creature you’re removing is better than the average card they’ll draw off the top, it’s a great deal.
Verdict: It’s a solid playable 2cc removal spell, and I think people should find room to test this in 540 card cubes.
What I Like: The opportunity cost to playing Thing in the Ice is relatively low, because an 0/4 blocker isn’t something that blue decks hate to have around. And most blue decks play an above-average number of instants and sorceries to begin with. What I found after playtesting this card, is that the threat of transformation has value in itself. Once there’s 2-3 counters on it, the opponent really has to start fearing the transformation, and playing accordingly. And the two sides work really well together. The opponent has to go wide to get around the wall, and then gets punished for doing so once it transforms.
What I Don't Like: Casting 4 spells that work with Thing in the Ice isn’t automatic by any stretch. You can’t count Wraths and sweepers towards your target number, and you really need to maximize cantrips and draw spells. I was hoping that you could just freely toss this into any blue-based shell and have it shine, but it didn’t work that way. You really need to draft and deckbuild with it in mind, and trade some non-spell versions of effects out for more spells when you want it to work right. The minimum number of spells to give you a reasonable chance of flipping it is 10, and that’s if several of them are cantrips and draw spells that can replace themselves. Otherwise, the number needs to be higher. That’s not as easy as it sounds.
Verdict: Such an awesome card in terms of favor, and it has an ability that will struggle with consistency outside of counterburn decks. But it’s definitely a good card, and I would recommend giving it some extended testing at around 540 or so in size.
What I Like: Plain and simple? This is a small upgrade to Reckless Waif. The 1/1 haste is better than a 1/1 all the time, and a 2/2 menace is better than a vanilla 3/2 most of the time. Overall, I consider it an upgrade enough to simply replace the existing 1-drop, which is already at or near the bottom of red’s aggro 1-drop creatures.
What I Don't Like: Waif isn’t great. But at least this’ll be a Raging Goblin in the instances where Waif used to be a Mons’ Goblin Raiders.
Verdict: This is the last red 2-power 1-drop that my 540 cube needs to reach its critical mass of them, thanks to another gift we’re getting in SOI (spoiler alert!). But this should still see play in any cube 540 or bigger, or any cube that’s had success with Waif enough to play that card at smaller sizes.
An evasive 2cc beater with a built-in recursion engine.
What I Like: A 2-power 2-drop with evasion is a solid deal for 2 mana in black. But it comes with a powerful protection engine that allows you to pay a black mana to bounce it back to your hand any time it would otherwise die. This protects it from removal, and combat death, and also gives some built-in synergy with sacrifice effects. It also has some tribal interactions with other Zombies, which can randomly be big game if they crop up, especially with something like a Skinrender.
What I Don't Like: It costs a lot of black mana to make it abusive. Double-black to cast, and an additional black to bounce it back means that you need triple-black in a given cycle if you’re trying to “chain” it. That, and the Zombie text is going to be largely flavor text in most situations.
Verdict: It’s an evasive 2-drop that’s hard to remove. It’s good on its own and has some powerful interactions. I expect it to do well at 540, and it might even be good enough for some 450 cubes too; especially with a mono-black aggro theme or a tribal Zombie theme.
What I Like: First thing’s first, we need to dispel some misunderstandings about how this ability works. A) It doesn’t impact the quality of your draws. Random is random. It has just as much of a chance to improve your draws as it does to make them worse. The reveal might as well be off the bottom of your deck or out of your trade binder for all the impact it has on the quality of your draws. B) It’s not a punisher card. Punisher cards imply that the opponent controls the type of effect you get. With Vexing Devil, when you need a creature you get burn and when you need burn, you get a creature. With Sin Prodder, you always get a 3cc 3-power beater with evasion for your aggro curve. It’s more akin to Fact or Fiction in the impact that the opponent’s decision-making has on the value of the card than it is to something like Browbeat. Bottom line, it’s a Boggart Brute with extra text that’ll add approximately 1.1-1.4 damage per turn with the ability. There aren’t a lot (if any) 3cc 3-power creatures in red with evasion and a splashable cost, and it’ll be a nice part of a red aggressive deck’s curve. Menace is an underrated form of evasion that’s quite powerful in this format. The discarded cards can also have a positive impact for you, with cards like Crucible/Loam, Flashback, Unearth, Delve, reanimation effects, recursive creatures, etc.
What I Don't Like: There are times where it can create feel-bad moments ...when it happens to bin cards you need and line up sub-optimal draws. People will forget that this random effect has just as much of a chance of improving your draws as crippling them, and the negative impact will be better remembered. And sometimes this will just be a Boggart Brute that binned a couple lands before trading away with a pair of Soldier tokens. Such is life.
Verdict: This creature certainly will have polarizing results, due to the random nature of the effect. But red doesn’t have splashable evasive 3-power 3-drops, and this one has a strong (albeit random) upside to it. I would test this card at 450, and expect it to last for a while in 540 cubes or bigger.
A 2cc card advantage engine that transforms into a 3/3 that provides discounts.
What I Like: I love werewolf mechanics that provide you with a mana outlet on the front side of the card, so you don’t have to “skip” a turn to try and transform the card yourself. The ability can be freely activated at any time, it will hit a good percentage of the time in traditional green shells, and it’s good in both aggro and midrange strategies. I like how the two halves of the card interact with one another; the front side gives you a mana sink that can be used to find more threats, and the back side makes it easier to cast those threats. It’s even engineered in such a way that you can use the front side multiple times, flip it, use the discount to cast multiple creatures, flip it back, and have the draw engine ready to repeat the process. And sometimes it’ll randomly just be a 3/3 for 2 mana that makes the rest of your curve cheaper. Win win. A powerful set of abilities for a relatively small investment.
What I Don't Like: It needs to go into a deck with a lot of creatures in it. 8 other creatures (9 total) will give you roughly a 50% chance of hitting. 13 other creatures (14 total) gives you about a 75% chance of drawing. Decks with tons of creatures have a harder time finding a place in the curve to activate these mana-intensive abilities, and a mana sink like this generally performs better in reactive decks.
Verdict: This 2cc creature has great synergy with itself, and is powerful on both sides. I’m going to be really happy to have it around in my 540 cube, and it should probably crack into some smaller lists for testing too.
What I Like: Plain and simple, this is efficient universal removal. In comparison to Vindicate, this card exiles the target ...AND it does it at instant speed, which is a huge upside. Universal instant-speed 3cc removal is awesome. One of the first we’ve seen.
What I Don't Like: In comparison to vindicate, this cannot hit lands, which is a pretty big drawback. Additionally, it causes you to lose 3 life, which is quite a bit; certainly more than just flavor text.
Verdict: Overall, this is worse than Vindicate. But that’s okay. There are times where both the exiling clauses and the instant speed will be absolutely crucial. I think this is clearly the #4 card in Orzhov, and I’d play it in all cubes 450 in size or bigger.
What I Like: Did you read the card? This creature does a little bit of everything. Take a Serra Angel and add flash. Then add a blanket indestructibility trigger for the team. Then add a transformation ability that turns her into a 6/5 that blasts your opponent and every creature for 3 damage. This card is good on offense, good on defense, wins races, functions as removal, protects against sweepers and mass combat trades ...man, it’s super powerful.
What I Don't Like: There are decks where her transformation ability won’t be asymmetrical. You’ll want to consider potential ramifications of her flipping in a deck with like 16 small critters, especially if you’re facing a creature-light opponent.
Verdict: This creature is pretty bonkers. And it’s also very different from white’s other 5cc creature options, as they all shine in different builds. This is easily the 3rd or 4th best white 5cc creature, and I’d play it at 450 for sure, and it warrants testing even in 360 cubes.
What I Like: This is a good aggressive 2-drop that can turn into a 3-power flying attacker by discarding a card. Which is great for recursive creature shells, Loam/Crucible shells and reanimation shells in addition to just being a solid aggro creature. The biggest advantage this has over the Pale Rider spoiled earlier is that you can wait on the discard trigger until it’s ideal for you. Which means you don’t get immediately 2-for-1’d by sorcery-speed removal, and if you’re playing it as a discard outlet, you can play it to the board before you have your ideal discard target, and you don’t telegraph your graveyard interactions before your opponent takes their turn. This will be good in graveyard decks and good in aggro decks.
What I Don't Like: Like all discard outlets strapped to bodies, it runs the risk of being blown out by instant-speed removal.
Verdict: This creature is powerful in a less obvious way. Having natural discard outlets that are built into playable cards is great. I would personally play this creature even in 360 lists, and I think it’s a mistake to pass on it for anything 450 or bigger.
What I Like: Red has never gotten a creature like this before. It’s a strictly-better Savannah Lions in a color that’s still happy getting Jackal Pup variants. And the cube has a decent number of small vampires floating around, so there’s always a chance that the madness effect could prove useful.
What I Don't Like: For all the awesome news this brings to red, at the end of the day, it’s just a Savannah Lions. It’s a great card, but there are certainly more exciting things floating around.
Verdict: This is probably the 3rd best red 2-power 1-drop, and the only one with no drawbacks. It should see play in every cube of every size.
What I Like: So. Blood Scrivener is a thing. Not a great thing, but it is still a fringe-playable card because it’s a 2/1 for 2 mana with the potential to generate card advantage. So what is Asylum Visitor all about? Doubling the chance for card-advantage generation, getting a 3rd point of power, and giving it madness. For the same cost. This creature is just so far ahead of the curve in terms of raw potential power that it only falls short of a couple other cards in its respective section, and those were both probably printed by mistake.
What I Don't Like: This card is built around potential value. But getting hellbent yourself isn’t automatic, and it’s not for your opponent either. And at the end of the day, this card does trade away in combat with a Soldier token.
Verdict: This is a straight nutty 2-drop. I can’t imagine being unable to find room for this in a cube of any size.
As always, thanks for reading and please feel free to leave comments below!
Great review once again!
Generally I agree with your rankings. I am surprised to find Declaration in Stone at #11. That was a card I originally dismissed for my own cube, but I may have to reevaluate.
I also think that Westvale Abbey will prove to be too expensive. I don't think it is much better than Springjack Pasture as that last ability will be hard to activate.
Tireless Tracker is a card I'm excited about. It is playable in many archetypes. It isn't ideal in aggro, but still better than most of the other green 3 drops for that while being great in slower strategies. There may not be room for it at 540, but at 720 there certainly is.
I'm so glad you keep writing these. Great reading. I knew the Visitor was going to be your number one card.
I don't see any real disagreements either. I thought Tracker might be higher but I didn't test it to see. Now my only question is if I want to go back up to 4 cards per guild to fit in the Unmaking.
Thanks for the kind words guys! Glad you enjoyed it.
Quote from rant »
I thought Tracker might be higher but I didn't test it to see.
Had issues finding good opportunities in the curve to crack the clues... so I had to drop it early to accumulate the Clue tokens, but couldn't find good spots to crack them until much later.
Quote from Tactuz »
Tireless Tracker is a card I'm excited about. It is playable in many archetypes. It isn't ideal in aggro, but still better than most of the other green 3 drops for that while being great in slower strategies. There may not be room for it at 540, but at 720 there certainly is.
Agreed totally, which is how it was written up in the article.
I also think that Westvale Abbey will prove to be too expensive. I don't think it is much better than Springjack Pasture as that last ability will be hard to activate.
The Abbey's costs are both expensive. But it's miles better than Springjack Pasture. The difference between a 1/1 and an 0/1 is pretty big, and I've already seen the Abbey transform multiple times.
Thanks for the writeup! I really don't see why people are saying Sin Prodder is a punisher mechanic, the card is definitely solid. Thing in the Ice however is the card where other people say its amazing and I feel like it's another Stormchaser Mage (every says it'll be a staple, I was pretty meh about it) Especially in cube, where some of your best pay off for Instants/Sorcery matters would be Young Pyro, TitI just seems like too much work for not enough payoff. If you do a Red Aggro "one drops matters" you can definitely get a critical mass of red one drops to be happy with your plays, drafting this where you want enough "Instant/Sorcery matters" pay offs, as well as a.) Cantrips that every blue player will be fighting over, b.) Counterspells which can be a little slow, and c.) Removal spells which at times can be awkward when the opponent doesn't have a good target for it, I'm just not sold on TitI.
Also when can we expect your Cube to be updated? Thanks for all the hard work
FWIW, I didn't like Stormchaser Mage at all, but Thing in the Ice has been good so far. When it's good, it's really amazing (the payoff is tremendous, BTW) and when it's off, it's at least a good blocker and creates a lot of tension. The respect it garners and the way the opponent has to react to its potential has value in and of itself.
I also don't recall everybody saying that Stormchaser Mage was going to be a cube staple. And most folks are rightly skeptical of Thing in the Ice. Nobody's saying it's a staple.
It is AMAZING that you do this, thanks a ton. So far I disagree with the positioning of a few of the 10-20 cards, but that is likely just because of how Cubes are organized differently (specifically I see Abbey and Sorin as worse than how you've ranked them). You have convinced me to try Thing In the Ice in my 720; I had originally planned on skipping over it.
Hey look, an Easter present! We folks too busy to playtest thank you.
I was fully on board the Pale Rider of Trostad bandwagon, but I think you may have convinced me to instead roll with Relentless Dead, despite the ugly BB mana cost. Doesn't look like there were any big surprises from your playtesting, I guess.
Nice work as usual. I think Duskwatch Recruiter is the card I most underestimated in my firs exposure to the set. I feel like the 2 sides play together and give you a win/win more than any other werewolf(except maybe huntmaster) and at 2 mana it is a cheap investment.
This set doesn't make a huge impact for small cubes but fills some holes, support archetypes, and adds some very flavorful/fun effects to the mix. To me that is quite satisfying and I feel you had a pretty easy time filling this list. Certainly easier than with sets like BfZ.
I was certainly hoping for a few more madness cards in the set(maybe it will be back in moon) but it plays so well with the reanimator /filter cards I already use that I think I will give it more of a go.
Love the list as always. Was really pleased with aggressive cards in this set. I think this is the most amount of solid includes I've had in a long time.
Thanks for your work!
Great article as usual.
Madness and Delirium are not really cube mechanics, so I was not really expecting much this set.
Personally I will add the top 3, maybe Sin Prodder and add a few discard outlets (Firestorm).
I can't find something to remove for Avacyn and Anguished Unmaking so I think they will remain out (for now)
I agree with your top 4 completely. Great article!
I do think Duskwatch Recruiter and Sin Prodder got greater chance of making a 360 than Unmaking though. For Anguished Unmaking, the top 3 Orchov are all rather clear that it'll not break into smaller cube. For the other two card, I think it's a bit less certain.
In my 500 card cube I will try the following from your list.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, 12, 13 and Drownyard Temple. The last one mainly for fun - I don't think it's currently good enough.
I don't agree with 6 at all. I don't think that the card is good enough even for bigger cubes.
I think Skulk had so much potential....none of which is seen in this set.
Agreed. It was kinda a bummer.
Quote from sunshinesoldier »
I think if people are okay with the slow mana-sink that is Duskwatch Recruiter (I'm not) than Tracker should be a no-brainer.
Recruiter shined in all the ways Tracker failed to impress. It fit better into the curve. The way the abilities work with a normal curve are greatly improved. It draws you into gas on a threat-light hand a full turn faster and with far greater reliability. And instead of being an absolutely terrible topdeck (like Tracker is) ...Recruiter is an amazing topdeck. It also more reliable as an engine spell because you aren't relying on making land drops.
Quote from sunshinesoldier »
I also think our new Olivia being the #5 Rakdos card qualifies it at the 450 level for many cubes. Not sure about the multicolor slots to cube size ratio but I generally think of it as follows....
360 3-4 slots
450 4-5 slots
540 5-6 slots
and so forth.
It might qualify for some 450 cubes, but I think that's too much gold. For me, I generally think of it as follows...
360 2-3 slots
450 3-4 slots
540 4-5 slots
and so forth.
Because you have other multicolor cards to accommodate for, and I wouldn't want to peak above 10% gold for any cube size. I run 4 per guild in my 540. Which might be on the low side, but 6 per guild would feel insanely high.
Quote from sunshinesoldier »
I wouldn't be surprised to see Sin Prodder end up as 360 material.
Maybe. It certainly has potential.
Quote from bondafong »
I don't agree with 6 at all. I don't think that the card is good enough even dor bigger cubes.
I quite enjoy reading these set reviews, even if our cube is MP and not SP.
Sometimes all it takes is someone else to explain the interactions of a card to make me realize I misunderstood how the card worked. Your points are very easy to follow.
There might be some multiplayer goodies that I overlooked from the set... Maybe a MP expert could chime in with some cards that look to play well there?
This is my 17th installment of the "top 20" set preview articles! Just like the previous reviews, it will be in a spoiled top X 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 few 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.
Shadows Over Innistrad is an awesome cube set. Not only does it have a ton of playable cards for traditionally structured cubes, but it has a bunch of fun and flavorful cards that can break into the cube from other angles. The list of “honorable mentions” would be too long to reasonably discuss, and all 20 cards in my list could realistically see play in small/medium-sized cubes. Which means that there absolutely cards missing from this list that are going to be great cube inclusions! So don’t fret if your favorite flavorful card from SOI didn’t make my list ...there’s just not enough room to discuss every cool card that might see cube play from this set.
Without further ado, I can start the countdown!
Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
A blue Ob Nixilis Reignited.
What I Like: The {+1} ability is great. Scry + draw is a huge engine for both card advantage and card selection, and in games that go long, being able to do this each turn will allow you to run away with the game. The {-2} ability does a decent job of protecting Jace from larger mana threats, and he has an ultimate that will pretty much lock up a win. Also, immediately ticking to 6 loyalty is a lot, so with even a small blocking team, he’ll be really hard to grind down.
What I Don't Like: We just saw a 5cc paneswalker that performs the exact same role as this Jace in Ob Nixilis Reignited. Which means that this Jace is solid, but unexciting and it doesn’t do anything new for me. And the competition at the 5cc spell slot in blue is deep, and is probably the biggest strike against Jace.
Verdict: I think this is a solid Jace. Good loyalty and a powerful {+1} ability means that if you elect to run this Jace, it’ll perform just fine for you. For me, I would probably include this card somewhere in the 630-720 range. It might be the next 5cc blue card I’d add into the cube, and if not, there aren’t many more ahead of it.
From Under the Floorboards
A black 5cc army-in-a-can.
What I Like: 6 power, 3 bodies and gaining 3 life is a good deal for 5 mana. That, and if you have a chance to pair it with a discard outlet and you can pull off a big madness cast for X, it packs tremendous value. The best selling point is probably the lack of great 5cc “creature” options for the cube, and getting 6 power looks pretty good in comparison to the competition.
What I Don't Like: The tokens enter the battlefield tapped, so you can’t use this card to defend you from multiple attacking bodies from the opponent’s board, like other army-in-a-can cards do. It doesn’t give you an immediate defensive presence. And being a sorcery, it can’t be abused by all of black’s creature recursion like other cards that serve a similar function can.
Verdict: This is one of the better options for cards that can fill the 5cc “creature” slot in the cube, and I could definitely see cubes in the 630-720 range finding room to at least test this. And with a strong enough discard/madness theme, this could break into cubes even smaller.
Tireless Tracker
A 3cc value creature/card advantage engine.
What I Like: Every land drop grows this creature and gives you a Clue. Over the long haul, this creature will become a formidable combat monster and will draw you multiple extra cards.
What I Don't Like: Clues did not test in practice as well as I expected them to. Needing to find the window and the resources to pay the 2 mana is not as easy as it might seem. When you’re properly curving, there just isn’t an opportunity to crack the clues and grow the body. It turned out to be a creature that you want to play as early as possible to stockpile Clues, but there weren’t good opportunities to actually use them until much later on.
Verdict: This is an interesting creature that can be played pretty much anywhere. It just missed the cut after testing, so I’d rank this card in the ~630 range or so. Maybe smaller if you have multiple investigate cards in the cube to pair with it.
Arlinn Kord // Arlinn, Embraced by the Moon
A solid 4cc utility planeswalker.
What I Like: Arlinn does a lot of things. She pumps a creature with haste & vigilance to protect herself. She creates 2/2 Wolves. She pumps the team and provides trample. She Bolts things. And she also has an ultimate that pretty much wins the game.
What I Don't Like: The two primary issues with Arlinn are consistency and competition. I don’t like how her abilities are ordered. If I cast her, and make a 2/2 token, she transforms. On the back side, her {+1} ability isn’t the one that provides haste, so I can’t make a freshly cast monster beat down, and I can’t give Vigilance to my wolf token so it can protect her on the following turn. The more I tested with her, the more often I found that the wrong part of the ‘walker seemed to always be face up. Secondly, unlike the other 4cc ‘walkers in Gruul, Arlinn doesn’t serve a specific purpose. Sarkhan is always global haste and an anthem effect. He’s always has a Threaten available. Xenagos is always ramp, and can always create bodies. Arlinn is always doing something that’s good for you, but she’s not always going to be able to give you the effect of hers that you need.
Verdict: Despite her inconsistencies, her abilities are useful and valuable. I think she competes well for the #5 - #7 slot in Gruul, so she could see regular play in cubes as small as 540.
Pale Rider of Trostad
A decent aggro beater/discard outlet.
What I Like: A 3/3 Skulk for 2 mana is a good deal for aggro. And discarding cards can be advantageous to decks playing from the graveyard at all, be it with recursive creatures, Crucible/Loam effects or reanimation spells. The discard trigger isn’t a payment either, so if you play this and are hellbent, you don’t have to sacrifice it.
What I Don't Like: Since the discard has to be paid if you cast this on turn 2, you run a big risk of getting 2-for-1’d by removal. Moreso that creatures that have the discard triggers as options you can pay later (or not at all).
Verdict: SOI was more than kind to the 2cc black creature slot. And if it weren’t for some other help that we’re getting here, this could have a pretty reasonable chance of breaking into smaller cubes. But after the SOI update, I don’t think cubes smaller than 540-630 or so will be able to make regular use of Pale Rider.
Sorin, Grim Nemesis
A win condition, card advantage engine and removal spell in one.
What I Like: The {+1} is really good. Card advantage and reach rolled up into one ability is really nice. The {-X} ability will help to protect you (and Sorin) and also recover some lost life. And 6 starting loyalty is a lot. He reminds me a lot of Chandra Nalaar. It has a plus ability that damages players, a -X that shoots creatures for X and a fat butt. This is two colors and an extra mana, but adds on lifegain and card advantage, which is more than a fair tradeoff.
What I Don't Like: The top tier Orzhov cards are really good. And 6 mana is a lot to invest in something that needs several turns to grind out incremental advantages.
Verdict: This ‘walker is strong, and definitely competes well against the cards in the #5-#7 slot for Orzhov, so this card should land somewhere in the 540-720 range. Larger cubes should definitely test this out.
Olivia, Mobilized for War
Solid baseline stats and a powerful aggro ability.
What I Like: A 3/3 flying for 3 is a good place to start. Add on an ability that serves as a discard outlet and a powerful aggressive trigger and you get a creature that has a lot of potential to do well in the cube. The additional damage the trigger provides will very often be worth the card you pitch to enable it.
What I Don't Like: Black has recently had an influx of good 3cc creatures for aggressive decks, so the role Olivia will fill isn’t as vacant as it used to be. That, combined with the power of the top tier Rakdos cards will prevent her from cracking into the smallest of cubes.
Verdict: A great Rakdos aggro creature, and probably the #5 or #6 card in Rakdos. I’d play this in a 540-630 sized cube.
Nahiri, the Harbinger
A 4cc Boros value ‘walker.
What I Like: Having a {+2} ability is good, because it can help pull her loyalty out of a range where it’s being threatened. And the rummaging effect is something that’s new to white, and might be the kind of thing you’d splash red to have access to. Her {-2} ability is interesting, since it can give you an Erase or exile a tapped creature or artifact. And her ultimate ability is pretty fun, and can do some sick things with Titans and the like.
What I Don't Like: Boros isn’t a color combination that can take the most advantage out of a discard/draw effect. The tapped target restriction on her {-2} ability caused regular problems during her playtesting period. And her ultimate is also off-color, as Boros decks usually aren’t the ones playing the super-fatties.
Verdict: An above-average card that just falls short of pushing out the top-tier cards in her respective section. I think this is the #5 Boros card, and it should make it into all cubes running 5 or more guild cards per slot.
Westvale Abbey // Ormendahl, Profane Prince
A flavorful land that can make tokens and transform into a giant demon.
What I Like: This card is fun, and oozing with flavor. It doesn’t have the powerlevel to be freely tossed into just any deck, but there are decks that can use the land. The opportunity cost is low to begin with, but is almost nonexistant in decks that are looking for sources of C. It has played well in decks that want to produce sacrifice fodder, like decks with Braids, Smokestack and Skulclamp. And it’s also done well in token/anthem based decks where the 1/1 token it produces is going to be bigger/better than it would be at face value. The token ability works like a combination of Vitu-Gazi, the City-Tree and Urza’s Factory depending on the deck using it. And the transform ability has a few uses. It can allow decks that typically go wide to go big. It can turn a stalled-out board state into a winning position (especially against something like Moat or the like). It can protect a large team of tokens from a wrath/sweeper effect. And, it can convert a losing combat situation or a mass chump-block into something of value.
What I Don't Like: 5 mana and a life is simply too much for a 1/1. And sacrificing 5 creatures is simply too steep for the transformation ability. It really needs to go into cubes that need the colorless mana, and play a lot of Smokestack decks and a lot of token/anthem shells, otherwise it just won’t do enough.
Verdict: Including this card will be more centered around flavor than power. You have to decide if its narrow applications will be worth using it. I’ve seen it transform twice in testing so far, and it’s really awesome. But it’s also spent some time as a Wastes. I’m playing it for fun in my 540 card cube, but I don’t think it could crack into smaller cubes than that, unless you have deep support for the 3 decks that might scoop this up with regularity.
Declaration in Stone
A 2cc white removal spell that’s a bullet against tokens.
What I Like: I originally overestimated the value of Clue tokens. They’re not as good as I thought they were going to be, which means that cards that produce Clues for me went down in value, and cards that give away Clues as a drawback increased in value. After seeing Declaration in action, the drawback isn’t that significant. I mean, if the card they draw is comparable to the card you exiled, it was essentially a mana-neutral tempo play in its WCS. Otherwise, you’re getting a powerful effect for cheap. But the real advantage is blasting tokens. For 2 mana, you can undo an entire army’s worth of board your opponent has built up.
What I Don't Like: 2cc removal that can come with a drawback isn’t stellar. It’s going to be a fair removal spell most of the time, being about on par with something like Journey to Nowhere. It gives them a free Clue token, but it can’t be bounced or destroyed to give your opponent their creature back. So basically, if you think that the quality of the creature you’re removing is better than the average card they’ll draw off the top, it’s a great deal.
Verdict: It’s a solid playable 2cc removal spell, and I think people should find room to test this in 540 card cubes.
Thing in the Ice // Awoken Horror
A 2cc wall that can transform into a giant beast.
What I Like: The opportunity cost to playing Thing in the Ice is relatively low, because an 0/4 blocker isn’t something that blue decks hate to have around. And most blue decks play an above-average number of instants and sorceries to begin with. What I found after playtesting this card, is that the threat of transformation has value in itself. Once there’s 2-3 counters on it, the opponent really has to start fearing the transformation, and playing accordingly. And the two sides work really well together. The opponent has to go wide to get around the wall, and then gets punished for doing so once it transforms.
What I Don't Like: Casting 4 spells that work with Thing in the Ice isn’t automatic by any stretch. You can’t count Wraths and sweepers towards your target number, and you really need to maximize cantrips and draw spells. I was hoping that you could just freely toss this into any blue-based shell and have it shine, but it didn’t work that way. You really need to draft and deckbuild with it in mind, and trade some non-spell versions of effects out for more spells when you want it to work right. The minimum number of spells to give you a reasonable chance of flipping it is 10, and that’s if several of them are cantrips and draw spells that can replace themselves. Otherwise, the number needs to be higher. That’s not as easy as it sounds.
Verdict: Such an awesome card in terms of favor, and it has an ability that will struggle with consistency outside of counterburn decks. But it’s definitely a good card, and I would recommend giving it some extended testing at around 540 or so in size.
Village Messenger // Moonrise Intruder
A replacement for Reckless Waif.
What I Like: Plain and simple? This is a small upgrade to Reckless Waif. The 1/1 haste is better than a 1/1 all the time, and a 2/2 menace is better than a vanilla 3/2 most of the time. Overall, I consider it an upgrade enough to simply replace the existing 1-drop, which is already at or near the bottom of red’s aggro 1-drop creatures.
What I Don't Like: Waif isn’t great. But at least this’ll be a Raging Goblin in the instances where Waif used to be a Mons’ Goblin Raiders.
Verdict: This is the last red 2-power 1-drop that my 540 cube needs to reach its critical mass of them, thanks to another gift we’re getting in SOI (spoiler alert!). But this should still see play in any cube 540 or bigger, or any cube that’s had success with Waif enough to play that card at smaller sizes.
Relentless Dead
An evasive 2cc beater with a built-in recursion engine.
What I Like: A 2-power 2-drop with evasion is a solid deal for 2 mana in black. But it comes with a powerful protection engine that allows you to pay a black mana to bounce it back to your hand any time it would otherwise die. This protects it from removal, and combat death, and also gives some built-in synergy with sacrifice effects. It also has some tribal interactions with other Zombies, which can randomly be big game if they crop up, especially with something like a Skinrender.
What I Don't Like: It costs a lot of black mana to make it abusive. Double-black to cast, and an additional black to bounce it back means that you need triple-black in a given cycle if you’re trying to “chain” it. That, and the Zombie text is going to be largely flavor text in most situations.
Verdict: It’s an evasive 2-drop that’s hard to remove. It’s good on its own and has some powerful interactions. I expect it to do well at 540, and it might even be good enough for some 450 cubes too; especially with a mono-black aggro theme or a tribal Zombie theme.
Sin Prodder
A solid 3cc aggro beater.
What I Like: First thing’s first, we need to dispel some misunderstandings about how this ability works. A) It doesn’t impact the quality of your draws. Random is random. It has just as much of a chance to improve your draws as it does to make them worse. The reveal might as well be off the bottom of your deck or out of your trade binder for all the impact it has on the quality of your draws. B) It’s not a punisher card. Punisher cards imply that the opponent controls the type of effect you get. With Vexing Devil, when you need a creature you get burn and when you need burn, you get a creature. With Sin Prodder, you always get a 3cc 3-power beater with evasion for your aggro curve. It’s more akin to Fact or Fiction in the impact that the opponent’s decision-making has on the value of the card than it is to something like Browbeat. Bottom line, it’s a Boggart Brute with extra text that’ll add approximately 1.1-1.4 damage per turn with the ability. There aren’t a lot (if any) 3cc 3-power creatures in red with evasion and a splashable cost, and it’ll be a nice part of a red aggressive deck’s curve. Menace is an underrated form of evasion that’s quite powerful in this format. The discarded cards can also have a positive impact for you, with cards like Crucible/Loam, Flashback, Unearth, Delve, reanimation effects, recursive creatures, etc.
What I Don't Like: There are times where it can create feel-bad moments ...when it happens to bin cards you need and line up sub-optimal draws. People will forget that this random effect has just as much of a chance of improving your draws as crippling them, and the negative impact will be better remembered. And sometimes this will just be a Boggart Brute that binned a couple lands before trading away with a pair of Soldier tokens. Such is life.
Verdict: This creature certainly will have polarizing results, due to the random nature of the effect. But red doesn’t have splashable evasive 3-power 3-drops, and this one has a strong (albeit random) upside to it. I would test this card at 450, and expect it to last for a while in 540 cubes or bigger.
Duskwatch Recruiter // Krallenhorde Howler
A 2cc card advantage engine that transforms into a 3/3 that provides discounts.
What I Like: I love werewolf mechanics that provide you with a mana outlet on the front side of the card, so you don’t have to “skip” a turn to try and transform the card yourself. The ability can be freely activated at any time, it will hit a good percentage of the time in traditional green shells, and it’s good in both aggro and midrange strategies. I like how the two halves of the card interact with one another; the front side gives you a mana sink that can be used to find more threats, and the back side makes it easier to cast those threats. It’s even engineered in such a way that you can use the front side multiple times, flip it, use the discount to cast multiple creatures, flip it back, and have the draw engine ready to repeat the process. And sometimes it’ll randomly just be a 3/3 for 2 mana that makes the rest of your curve cheaper. Win win. A powerful set of abilities for a relatively small investment.
What I Don't Like: It needs to go into a deck with a lot of creatures in it. 8 other creatures (9 total) will give you roughly a 50% chance of hitting. 13 other creatures (14 total) gives you about a 75% chance of drawing. Decks with tons of creatures have a harder time finding a place in the curve to activate these mana-intensive abilities, and a mana sink like this generally performs better in reactive decks.
Verdict: This 2cc creature has great synergy with itself, and is powerful on both sides. I’m going to be really happy to have it around in my 540 cube, and it should probably crack into some smaller lists for testing too.
Anguished Unmaking
A new Vindicate variant.
What I Like: Plain and simple, this is efficient universal removal. In comparison to Vindicate, this card exiles the target ...AND it does it at instant speed, which is a huge upside. Universal instant-speed 3cc removal is awesome. One of the first we’ve seen.
What I Don't Like: In comparison to vindicate, this cannot hit lands, which is a pretty big drawback. Additionally, it causes you to lose 3 life, which is quite a bit; certainly more than just flavor text.
Verdict: Overall, this is worse than Vindicate. But that’s okay. There are times where both the exiling clauses and the instant speed will be absolutely crucial. I think this is clearly the #4 card in Orzhov, and I’d play it in all cubes 450 in size or bigger.
Archangel Avacyn // Avacyn, the Purifier
A mythic Serra Angel variant.
What I Like: Did you read the card? This creature does a little bit of everything. Take a Serra Angel and add flash. Then add a blanket indestructibility trigger for the team. Then add a transformation ability that turns her into a 6/5 that blasts your opponent and every creature for 3 damage. This card is good on offense, good on defense, wins races, functions as removal, protects against sweepers and mass combat trades ...man, it’s super powerful.
What I Don't Like: There are decks where her transformation ability won’t be asymmetrical. You’ll want to consider potential ramifications of her flipping in a deck with like 16 small critters, especially if you’re facing a creature-light opponent.
Verdict: This creature is pretty bonkers. And it’s also very different from white’s other 5cc creature options, as they all shine in different builds. This is easily the 3rd or 4th best white 5cc creature, and I’d play it at 450 for sure, and it warrants testing even in 360 cubes.
Heir of Falkenrath // Heir to the Night
A 2cc black aggro beater/discard outlet.
What I Like: This is a good aggressive 2-drop that can turn into a 3-power flying attacker by discarding a card. Which is great for recursive creature shells, Loam/Crucible shells and reanimation shells in addition to just being a solid aggro creature. The biggest advantage this has over the Pale Rider spoiled earlier is that you can wait on the discard trigger until it’s ideal for you. Which means you don’t get immediately 2-for-1’d by sorcery-speed removal, and if you’re playing it as a discard outlet, you can play it to the board before you have your ideal discard target, and you don’t telegraph your graveyard interactions before your opponent takes their turn. This will be good in graveyard decks and good in aggro decks.
What I Don't Like: Like all discard outlets strapped to bodies, it runs the risk of being blown out by instant-speed removal.
Verdict: This creature is powerful in a less obvious way. Having natural discard outlets that are built into playable cards is great. I would personally play this creature even in 360 lists, and I think it’s a mistake to pass on it for anything 450 or bigger.
Falkenrath Gorger
A red 2-power 1-drop with no drawbacks!
What I Like: Red has never gotten a creature like this before. It’s a strictly-better Savannah Lions in a color that’s still happy getting Jackal Pup variants. And the cube has a decent number of small vampires floating around, so there’s always a chance that the madness effect could prove useful.
What I Don't Like: For all the awesome news this brings to red, at the end of the day, it’s just a Savannah Lions. It’s a great card, but there are certainly more exciting things floating around.
Verdict: This is probably the 3rd best red 2-power 1-drop, and the only one with no drawbacks. It should see play in every cube of every size.
Asylum Visitor
A black 3-power 2-drop with insane upsides?
What I Like: So. Blood Scrivener is a thing. Not a great thing, but it is still a fringe-playable card because it’s a 2/1 for 2 mana with the potential to generate card advantage. So what is Asylum Visitor all about? Doubling the chance for card-advantage generation, getting a 3rd point of power, and giving it madness. For the same cost. This creature is just so far ahead of the curve in terms of raw potential power that it only falls short of a couple other cards in its respective section, and those were both probably printed by mistake.
What I Don't Like: This card is built around potential value. But getting hellbent yourself isn’t automatic, and it’s not for your opponent either. And at the end of the day, this card does trade away in combat with a Soldier token.
Verdict: This is a straight nutty 2-drop. I can’t imagine being unable to find room for this in a cube of any size.
As always, thanks for reading and please feel free to leave comments below!
-Cheers, and happy cubing.
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Generally I agree with your rankings. I am surprised to find Declaration in Stone at #11. That was a card I originally dismissed for my own cube, but I may have to reevaluate.
I also think that Westvale Abbey will prove to be too expensive. I don't think it is much better than Springjack Pasture as that last ability will be hard to activate.
Tireless Tracker is a card I'm excited about. It is playable in many archetypes. It isn't ideal in aggro, but still better than most of the other green 3 drops for that while being great in slower strategies. There may not be room for it at 540, but at 720 there certainly is.
Thanks for your list and work behind it!
I don't see any real disagreements either. I thought Tracker might be higher but I didn't test it to see. Now my only question is if I want to go back up to 4 cards per guild to fit in the Unmaking.
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Had issues finding good opportunities in the curve to crack the clues... so I had to drop it early to accumulate the Clue tokens, but couldn't find good spots to crack them until much later.
Agreed totally, which is how it was written up in the article.
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The Abbey's costs are both expensive. But it's miles better than Springjack Pasture. The difference between a 1/1 and an 0/1 is pretty big, and I've already seen the Abbey transform multiple times.
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FWIW, I didn't like Stormchaser Mage at all, but Thing in the Ice has been good so far. When it's good, it's really amazing (the payoff is tremendous, BTW) and when it's off, it's at least a good blocker and creates a lot of tension. The respect it garners and the way the opponent has to react to its potential has value in and of itself.
I also don't recall everybody saying that Stormchaser Mage was going to be a cube staple. And most folks are rightly skeptical of Thing in the Ice. Nobody's saying it's a staple.
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Sorin is super strong though, I'd certainly play the hell out of it in a 720 card cube.
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I was fully on board the Pale Rider of Trostad bandwagon, but I think you may have convinced me to instead roll with Relentless Dead, despite the ugly BB mana cost. Doesn't look like there were any big surprises from your playtesting, I guess.
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This set doesn't make a huge impact for small cubes but fills some holes, support archetypes, and adds some very flavorful/fun effects to the mix. To me that is quite satisfying and I feel you had a pretty easy time filling this list. Certainly easier than with sets like BfZ.
I was certainly hoping for a few more madness cards in the set(maybe it will be back in moon) but it plays so well with the reanimator /filter cards I already use that I think I will give it more of a go.
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Madness and Delirium are not really cube mechanics, so I was not really expecting much this set.
Personally I will add the top 3, maybe Sin Prodder and add a few discard outlets (Firestorm).
I can't find something to remove for Avacyn and Anguished Unmaking so I think they will remain out (for now)
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I do think Duskwatch Recruiter and Sin Prodder got greater chance of making a 360 than Unmaking though. For Anguished Unmaking, the top 3 Orchov are all rather clear that it'll not break into smaller cube. For the other two card, I think it's a bit less certain.
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1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, 12, 13 and Drownyard Temple. The last one mainly for fun - I don't think it's currently good enough.
I don't agree with 6 at all. I don't think that the card is good enough even for bigger cubes.
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Agreed. It was kinda a bummer.
Recruiter shined in all the ways Tracker failed to impress. It fit better into the curve. The way the abilities work with a normal curve are greatly improved. It draws you into gas on a threat-light hand a full turn faster and with far greater reliability. And instead of being an absolutely terrible topdeck (like Tracker is) ...Recruiter is an amazing topdeck. It also more reliable as an engine spell because you aren't relying on making land drops.
It might qualify for some 450 cubes, but I think that's too much gold. For me, I generally think of it as follows...
360 2-3 slots
450 3-4 slots
540 4-5 slots
and so forth.
Because you have other multicolor cards to accommodate for, and I wouldn't want to peak above 10% gold for any cube size. I run 4 per guild in my 540. Which might be on the low side, but 6 per guild would feel insanely high.
Maybe. It certainly has potential.
You should really test it. Duskwatch Recruiter has been great in testing.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
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http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=484979
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 49th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from MKM!
Sometimes all it takes is someone else to explain the interactions of a card to make me realize I misunderstood how the card worked. Your points are very easy to follow.
Looking forward to your next review
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 49th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from MKM!