As always, your preview is appreciated and enjoyable. I always look forward to it.
I'm excited to try out Saheeli, Ilharg, Blast Zone, and Arkbow. I'm having trouble finding a cut for the bow; I guess it's finally time to let go of Wild Mongrel.
I was a bit surprised to not see Dreadhorde Arcanist in the top 20. He seems pretty strong with the ridiculous spells in cube.
I'd like to run the new Gideon but he seems kinda unexciting for how much money he costs right now. How do you think it compares to Gideon of the Trials?
Thanks for commenting! Ya, Arcanist can be a powerful card in the right situations, but in testing, it really needed multiple ways to boost its power in order to have him consistently find targets. The game where I attached a Bonesplitter to him, he was busted and flashed back multiple spells. In all the games where I failed to boost his power above one, the number of flashed back spells was <1. The shell I tested it in had 5 1cc spells in it, FWIW.
Trials is likely the better Gideon because it can isolate threats in slower shells in addition to being a 4-power beater. Blackblade is more narrow, but stronger in the decks that want it.
And as optimistic as I want to be about Arkbow, I don't think it's better than the Mongrel bois.
Did you feel inclined to test Commence the Endgame at all? I know Usman is all over it, and some others in the cube community. I'm inclined to try it over Gearhulk for a bit, based on their thoughts.
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I can't say I'm pleased to see you and must warn you I may have to do something about it.
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The fact that Oketra hasn't been mentioned is just a testament to how ridiculous Whites 5 drops are. I have a feeling that Oketra may end up breaking into the list of premium white 5 drops over time, even though it is a "fair" card that lacks cube synergy. It's just ridiculously powerful.
Reminds me of how you didn't mention Hydroid Krasis in your last review on Allegiance. You definitely evaluate incredibly powerful "fair" cards that don't slide into predefined cube archetypes lower then I do. I feel like these types of cards are usually worth a mention in the top 20 list.
Also, Vivien's Arkbow seems to be a bit overestimated in my opinion. This is probably the 5th best green 2cc discard outlet, behind survival of the fittest, fauna shaman, wild mongrel, and noose constricter. I could be way off on that, it has unique utility, it just seems way too inconsistent and expensive when trying to get actual value from the activated ability.
Just my two cents. Great review as always. I look forward to every one of your (P)reviews as the set comes out.
@MikePemulis: I did test Commence. And I tested it again after reading Usman's review. It's a good card, but I wouldn't replace any of my blue draw effects or 6+cc cards for it. It could've cracked my Top 20 list (and almost did) as a card I feel can fall into the 630-720 range, replacing more fringe 6-drops like the Dream Prowler, Frost Titan and cards of that ilk. But it was not resilient enough as a finisher to replace Aetherling, had nowhere near the ceiling of Consecrated Sphinx, and functioned as basically a smaller (on average) Torrential Gearhulk that could only ever target an Inspiration. When I tested it, the body was usually around a 4/4 in size. If it flashed in and could eat a creature in combat, it was great, and was about as good as Gearhulk when that happened. In other situations, it was worse than the other options I play. The closest comparison to function is Gearhulk, but I think Gearhulk is the better card on average. And it's 100% not better than Mulldrifter. At all.
@ProllyDraftingSultai: Oketra is good, and was card #20 on my list until the day before I wrote the article. I just think that white 5's are too deep for it, and while it's stronger in a generic white midrange shell than some of the other options, it just doesn't go into a single one of white's archetypes or specific shells. That's too big of a strike against it, IMHO. And ya, I missed the boat on Krasis, largely because I forgot how mediocre is as a guild. I agree with you about Arkbow, and I wouldn't cut any of those cards for it either.
I'm excited to try out Saheeli, Ilharg, Blast Zone, and Arkbow. I'm having trouble finding a cut for the bow; I guess it's finally time to let go of Wild Mongrel.
I was a bit surprised to not see Dreadhorde Arcanist in the top 20. He seems pretty strong with the ridiculous spells in cube.
I'd like to run the new Gideon but he seems kinda unexciting for how much money he costs right now. How do you think it compares to Gideon of the Trials?
Cheers,
rant
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Trials is likely the better Gideon because it can isolate threats in slower shells in addition to being a 4-power beater. Blackblade is more narrow, but stronger in the decks that want it.
And as optimistic as I want to be about Arkbow, I don't think it's better than the Mongrel bois.
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Reminds me of how you didn't mention Hydroid Krasis in your last review on Allegiance. You definitely evaluate incredibly powerful "fair" cards that don't slide into predefined cube archetypes lower then I do. I feel like these types of cards are usually worth a mention in the top 20 list.
Also, Vivien's Arkbow seems to be a bit overestimated in my opinion. This is probably the 5th best green 2cc discard outlet, behind survival of the fittest, fauna shaman, wild mongrel, and noose constricter. I could be way off on that, it has unique utility, it just seems way too inconsistent and expensive when trying to get actual value from the activated ability.
Just my two cents. Great review as always. I look forward to every one of your (P)reviews as the set comes out.
@ProllyDraftingSultai: Oketra is good, and was card #20 on my list until the day before I wrote the article. I just think that white 5's are too deep for it, and while it's stronger in a generic white midrange shell than some of the other options, it just doesn't go into a single one of white's archetypes or specific shells. That's too big of a strike against it, IMHO. And ya, I missed the boat on Krasis, largely because I forgot how mediocre is as a guild. I agree with you about Arkbow, and I wouldn't cut any of those cards for it either.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!