A modern age Kjeldoran Outpost. At first glance, I considered Castle Ardenvale better, but the more that I think about it,Kjeldoran Outpost is probably the better card since you can activate it while still being able to cast other spells. I think you’d be hard-pressed to activate Castle Ardenvale more than twice in a game, the ability is pretty low impact for an ability that essentially costs 5 mana.
Not entering the battlefield tapped all the time on top of actually producing colored mana makes this a very low opportunity cost to add to a deck, it’s just a matter of finding a cube slot for it (this applies to all castles, not going to write it out 4 other times).
Two for one-ing Questing Beasts all day in Standard aside, I’m not sold on this card. Reprisal / Smite the Monstrous type effects are pretty narrow, especially when white has the most universal removal available. I’ve never been a big fan of tappers in cube anyways. Again, white has access to so much removal to the point where the only competitive tappers in cube are ones that can target lands.
I’d like this a lot more if the tap ability only cost 1 mana, but even then it’d fall short for me. Hanged Executioner from M19 pretty much does everything I want this card to do, plus more.
Savannah Lions are always nice, and this has a decent upside. Nice to see more knight payoffs to compliment History of Benalia. I’ll be up to 10-ish knights once I update my cube with ELD, so this will have a good amount of targets alongside boosting the power of History of Benalia.
Non-aggressive 2-drops in white are rare and this is one of the better ones. Trades the 1 life gain of Lone Missionary for an extra toughness and two other modes. Cheap sources of Scry 2 is always valuable, especially since white has the least access to card selection. I really like how this is both a blink enabler and a blink payoff.
When I first saw this card, I thought it was a fake because of the extremely weird art that really creeps me out. Seriously, lips without a face kind of terrifies me. That being said, this is arguably the best Torpor Orb / Hushwing Gryff available for cube, but those types of effects aren’t that great for cube in general. Hate bears is definitely a thing, but I find that relies a lot on disruptive creatures with ETBs like Reclamation Sage / Ravenous Chupacabra / etc. I’d imagine this would only shine in aggro decks vs creature-based midrange decks, which makes this too narrow for me.
But seriously, why does this faerie have a ring of lips around it?
Woke up Tuesday morning and the first thing I see on the cube socials were a couple people claiming this is an instant staple, and I don’t agree with that at all. 5-cmc wraths have never been great, with Fumigate being the best of the bunch. The reason I’m not high on this at all is because my control decks aren’t hurting for sweepers / removal. If I’m in some white / x control deck and I draft two 4-cmc Wrath effects, there’s a very high chance that one of them will sit in the sideboard, especially if I have other sweepers or tutors. This will suffer the same fate. While having a creature mode is cool, 7-cmc and lack of evasion are huge turnoffs. My expensive sweepers of choice in white are Catastrophe followed by Akroma’s Vengeance. I just don’t see this as an attractive option in today’s era of high-powered 5-6cmc planeswalkers that serve as both removal / sweepers and win conditions.
A very feast or famine card. Personally I think this card is a bit of a trap and I don’t like my 6-drops being double-edged swords. It only works well in token decks, and there are better, more versatile options at 5-cmc anyways. This will probably be the most polarizing card in the set because when it’s good, it’s REALLY good, but when it’s bad, it actually hurts you. I can’t see this being played over any 5-cmc option, scalable token generators like Secure the Wastes / Finale of Glory, or other 6-drops like Sun Titan / Captain of the Watch / Catastrophe.
BLUE
While I don’t think this is the best castle, these types of effects are best in blue since it’s the most reactive and doesn’t mind playing draw-go. Scry 2 is always nice, but competition in blue is steep, not to mention it has the most utility lands out of any color.
Reclaim for instants and sorceries that you can fetch for late game. It’s worth nothing that you can loop Time Walk with this + Meloku. Even then, the set up is a bit slow and powered cubes would have difficulty finding a cut in blue for this. I’d imagine you’ve already won most games where you resolved Time Walk and was able to keep Meloku on the board for two turns.
Early scry that you can cash in for 2 cards later. Being able to scry early, draw later is interesting. This basically Glimmer of Genius and Hieroglyphic Illumination baked into an artifact. Being somewhat modal, it compares most to Hieroglyphic Illumination, which I wasn’t a fan of when I tested. This is cubeable for people looking for another cheap Scry effect, but I don’t like this over other 1-2 cmc cantrips that replace themselves immediately. Getting blown up by a Reclamation Sage, locked down by a Phyrexian Revoker, or stolen by Dack can make these “cash in later for full reward” type of cards pretty risky.
The cheapest Kiki-Twin piece. While being ¼ for 1U is nice, this isn’t a supplement to Pestermite / Deceiver Exarch, not a replacement because flash is way more valuable than being 1 mana cheaper. That being said, Kiki-Twin needs more Kiki-Twin parts, not more untappers. Being an artifact hurts more than it helps in Kiki-Twin build, where being vulnerable to artifact removal will be more detrimental to the combo.
Decent tempo card, but there’s already a sea of those that are fringe in cube at best unless you’re really pushing the archetype. Being a worse Convolut instead of a Mana Leak really hurts this card. I like Complicate much more since it Mana Leaks anything, can cycle late game, and the Force Spike + cantrip can be a huge blowout.
Conditionals like this aren't worth the hoops jumping through, especially when those conditions rely on my opponent's game state. Fueling your opponent's graveyard can be dangerous in a lot of scenarios. Blue can do way better things with less conditions.
An Into the Roil / Vendilion Clique hybrid. Like how Never // Return was to Ruinous Path, Brazen Borrower lets you divide the extra value over time, where you only have one window to pay kicker for Into the Roil. While this is no replacement for Clique, this will be a nice budget option once it rotates out of Standard. This is a good replacement for cards like Into the Roil / Nimble Obstructionist / Callous Dismissal / Riftwing Cloudskate if you’re still playing those. Not being able to block on the ground sucks, but that’s far from a dealbreaker, especially with how flexible this card is.
Narrow, but if you REALLY like Mindslaver locks, this will be a nice compliment to Goblin Welder / Goblin Engineer / Academy Ruins.
Decent value spell with a 3/3 ain’t bad, but blue has better value options. Seems cute with Karakas. While UUU isn’t a dealbreaker, we are reaching a critical mass of blue intense spells like Vedalken Shackles / Cryptic Command / Archmage’s Charm / Cavalier of Gales, and Gadwick is the worst of the bunch, IMO.
BLACK
Unlike most other castles, this ability is fairly cheap, but the drawback can be pretty nasty. Honestly not too sure how I feel about this one since it’s the only one with a real downside.
This is the best Typhoid Rats with an added cantrip and two relevant creature types, but it’s still pretty bad. No deck really wants this. While the two relevant creature types are nice for aggro decks, it’s not worth a meager 1/1 with Deathtouch.
An Ambush Viper / Blade of the Sixth Pride hybrid that went to college. Blacklance Paragon has aggressive stats and makes for a nifty combat trick, especially against aggro with the lifelink. While being an Ambush Viper / Blade of the Sixth Pride with all upsides is nice, I don’t think this gets there. We’ve seen this in Dire Fleet Poisoner, which is arguably better in every matchup besides aggro because she always has deathtouch and doesn’t trade with 1/1s. Combat tricks that act as removal is always risky because it can essentially be countered by another removal spell.
Not bad, especially for peasant. This is essentially flying Gravedigger with the cost broken up. 2/2 with flying for 1B is really nice on its own, even if it can’t block. Normally you can’t get these kind of stats + flying without some sort of drawback or be a 2/1. The Raise Dead effect is okay, a nice bonus later in the game.
A more cube-friendly Scheming Symmetry. Being only one mana to activate is pretty strong. It’s pretty easy to sit on this and only tutor when you can win instantly with Kiki-Twin or be in a position where giving this to your opponent won’t matter too much with Emrakul / Griselbrand or something. Kind of cool with Goblin Welder shenanigans, but that’s too much set up for my tastes. This can be a powerful card, but the risks involved makes me not interested in it.
Not bad if you’re into black devotion. Even though she can only sacrifice black creatures, sac outlets are always nice.
Arguably the best Hero’s Downfall variant. Being an instant is huge, and I really like how this gives Survival of the Fittest and other creature-based tutors access to cheap planeswalker removal. Lifelink is always a premium in black since there’s so much self-damage, and this creature has two relevant creature types. Besides not being able to fly, this is everything that Vampire Nighthawk wants to do.
Also, this goes infinite with Grenzo, Dungeon Warden / Altar of Dementia. Just pair it with Blood Artist or something for some premium jank combos.
Decent stat monster that takes a while to die in combat. Might be cool with a +1/+1 counter theme, but not sure if 1BB would be prohibitive in those decks since black doesn't care too much about counters?
3/3 flyer with haste and no (forced) drawback is a good place to start. Rankle has one of the spicier combat damage to a player trigger where not only is it modal, but you can select multiple modes, escalate style… for free! While the modes are all symmetrical, the discard and sacrifice modes are very easy to build around in black. Rankle seems pretty versatile in a good amount of archetypes.
Cool flavor, and is a warlock. That being said, this seems well below things like Pack Rat and Cryptbreaker. Rat tribal would be cool, but I’d much rather get more zombies and warriors in black.
... Zombie Rats!
Trap card is a trap. 8/8 haste and trample is meaningless if you’re giving your opponent ammo for days to keep it locked down. Being able to draw cards and gain life is nice, but there’s other draw engines that don’t give your opponent resources. It’s not hard to kill the troll and keep the tokens, plus giving your opponent fodder for things like Skullclamp / Opposition is very dangerous. Avoid like the plague.
RED
Arguably the best castle since it’s cheap and mono red is the most played mono deck (in my meta, at least). This being a pseudo-Mountain makes this a lot more preferable than Goblin Oriflamme, not to mention you can use this on defense if needed. This is probably the best utility land that red has seen.
First strike raging goblin with tribal upsides and equipment synergy ain’t bad for R. There are a good amount of knights it can buff once ELD hits, and I’d imagine that count is only going to go up over time. The equip cost reduction is huge, means you can curve this into Jitte / Sword and just Voltron it up immediately. Like most aggressive one-drops, I don’t like this more than your average standard Savannah Lions, but Fervent Champion does have some pretty nice upsides, and has potential to be aggressive red one-drop #9-12 for me. This is a card to watch over time because it’s only going to get better with more knights / equipment.
A more flexibile Manic Vandal. Being able to blow up a Mox / Talisman or something before you hit 3 mana for Vandal is pretty huge. A slalm dunk for powered cubes and an overall supplement / replacement to Manic Vandal, IMO. A lot of unpowered cubes don’t play Manic Vandal (myself included recently), but I will be playing this.
Probably the best of the adventure combat tricks. Not being able to boost toughness means you can’t use this to save a creature in combat or against damage based removal. I can see some people cubing this, but I don’t think it stands well against its ever increasing competition.
Believe it or not, red never had a straight up 2/2 Grizzly Bears with no drawback for 1R until Falkenrath Reaver in Eldritch Moon. A 2/2 haste for 1R is pretty good on its own, and having reach with the exile ability is better than nothing. I really like that this maintains its value late game since Robber of the Rich and your other rogues don’t need survive or make contact to be able to cast your opponent’s spell.
Another great and versatile Adventure Card. The 2R option is very pushed for a modal card, being a 4/3 stat monster with a punisher ability and no drawback. I’ve always wanted an upgraded Fire Imp with bigger stats that can hit anything, but this is probably just better overall.
While there is absolutely nothing not to like about Bonecrusher Giant, I’m going to play Devil’s Advocate because I do think it compares poorly overall to other 1R burn spells. While Bonecrusher Giant shines in aggro / aggressive midrange decks, control / combo / slower midrange decks would probably rather have Abrade / Magma Jet / an Incinerate variant and depending on the matchup, Arc Trail. Also, his is unusable in an Oath of Druids deck.
As I said before, I think this is a great card, but I personally wouldn’t cube it at the expense of other utility 1R spells like Magma Jet or Abrade.
A sturdier, but more narrow Guttersnipe. Guttersnipe is a staple if you support Storm, so this isn’t a replacement for him in that role. This is secretly an Izzet card since blue is really the only color that can reliably trigger this, but even then you’re grasping at straws. Works really well with monarch, but the best monarch enablers are not in blue and are not easily splashed.
While being able to disrupt your opponent’s mana is cool by stealing their mana rocks, the fact that you’re not able to use it is a huge bummer. Even then, pretty much every 2RR dragon just pales in comparison to Rekindling Phoenix.
A mono red payoff with a very high ceiling. While Torbran pretty flashy, I think it pales in comparison to Hellrider and all its variants. Torbran doesn’t exactly speed up mono red since it already can kill by turn 4. He also lacks the explosiveness of Hellrider and friends because he doesn’t have haste, which is a huge downside post-sweeper. Not only does this compete with Hellrider, but with other mono red payoffs like Fireblast and Blistering Firecat, which have more utility. I don’t see this fitting into most cubes since Hellrider and friends are more explosive, also have the ability to kill on turn 4, all while not forcing you to be in mono red.
GREEN
A green Temple of the False Gods that isn’t completely useless early game? I really wish this tapped for any color of mana, being able to only spend GGGGGG really narrows down what you can use the mana for. I would’ve loved to be able to cast Selvala’s Stampede off this. This is the one castle that will get better over time.
One shot Birds of Paradise before it needs to reload ain’t bad and is kind of reminiscent of Deathrite Shaman. Flying 0/2 means it can wall those pesky 1/1 flyers that tend to plague green, not to mention is a decent life gain engine in the late game. I don’t like this over most mana dorks besides fringe ones like Elves of Deep Shadow / Boreal Druid, but it’s still a pretty cubeable card.
A cubeable card that has an ability reminiscent of the Leyline cycle. Being able to cast it for free is a nice tempo boost and also lets you keep fairly shakey hands. By itself, it’s generally a worse Impulse, which is already a bit filler-ish. Being able to dig 5 cards deep is nice, but I think being able to grab any 1 of 4 is better. Without the free clause, I don’t think this card would make the cut for most cubes. With the free clause, it gives Oath of Nissa a very good run for its money. I’ll be testing this, but I do think the sticker shock of a clause we’ve never seen before has made people overrate this card.
I totally misread this at first and thought Wildborn Preserver’s pump ability only on its own ETB. It’s a decent grow creature, and luckily most token generating planeswalkers don’t produce humans. I think this falls short compared to other 1G grow creatures like Tarmogoyf / Sylvan Advocate / Vinelasher Kudzu, not to mention other things competing for mana like Tireless Tracker / Biogenic Ooze. Reach and flash are a nice bonus, but a 2/2 isn’t exactly the greatest combat trick. I like this for larger cubes or cubes where Tarmogoyf is outside of their budget. Because green can curve out so well, I don’t think this card will be ideal in a good amount of scenarios.
Trap card is a trap. It’s too easy to 2 for 1 by just knocking out your mana dorks, and this doesn’t work well with things like level 0 Joraga Treespeaker / Birds of Paradise / Noble Hierarch or any of the commonly played 2-cmc dorks. Steel Leaf Champion seems a lot better if you’re trying to go for the aggressive mono green approach.
Like other people, I kept reading the card and kept asking “but what’s the drawback?” This is probably the best Baneslayer Angel we’ve ever seen. While I think this is bad Magic design, Baneslayer Angel type cards basically have to be this pushed to really compete with the Mulldrifters of the world. It has 3 very relevant keywords, and being able to evade creatures with power 2 or less means this bypasses most tokens that planeswalkers generate to defend themsleves. What I like most about this card is that it finally gives green a way to interact with True-Name Nemesis. It’s nice that WOTC has been giving us great 4-cmc creatures lately since that’s always been a weak spot for cube.
Also, did I mention that whenever this deals damage to an opponent, it also deals that much damage to target planeswalker that player controls?
Food clause aside, this is a worse Skinrender and overall the weakest Nekataal variant. That being said, a bad Nekratal is still cubeable, especially in green where removal is a premium. This would’ve been great if it was printed a year ago before we got Nightpack Ambusher / Voracious Hydra / Questing Beast, but it might be a bit late for this card. Even then, it directly competes with Ravenous Baloth, which has a bigger body and randomly jukes things like Mind Twist / Hymn to Tourach / Liliana of the Veil. That being said, this card is still fine, it just faces a lot more steep competition it otherwise wouldn’t have if it were printed a year or two ago.
Not great by itself, but it’s worth mentioning that it’s a persist combo enabler.
OTHER
Strictly better Terramorphic Expanse / Evolving Wilds. Prismatic Vista is obviously the best of the basic only fetches, and I’d also argue that Ash Barrens is above this. Regardless, this is universally cubeable. Most small cubes I know at least play Terramorphic Expanse and / or Evolving Wilds, and this is an obvious replacement / supplement to them. Also a great budget option to real fetchlands / Prismatic Vista. I don’t know anything about Standard, so hopefully these will be cheap right out of the gate?
A colorless Raging Goblin that you can simply pay 1 mana to make nearly unblockable ain’t bad, not to mention you can cash this in for life in a pinch. A tier 3.5 aggro one-drop at best. I do think that “can only be blocked by creatures with haste” is a good design that’s worth exploring more in the future.
For those who have been managing cubes for a while, you may remember a time when Duskmantle Seer was one of the only viable Dimir options besides Shadowmage Infiltrator / Psychatog / Agony Warp. While I still like Duskmantle Seer, its cost and color combination made it a tempo only card. Stormfist Crusader takes the Duskmantle Seer model, but is in the right colors and casting cost. This card being symmetrical is okay since you’re never at card disadvantage, and the draw happening on your turn only means you get to act first. There’s absolutely nothing not to like about this card other than its competition in the Rakdos slot: square stats, evasion, indirect damage, card draw, and relevant creature types all for BR. The competition keeps it out of my cube at 540, but it’ll do work in any cube that supports black aggro.
A persist combo enabler that isn’t too awful on its own, especially for an uncommon. If you support persist or +1/+1 counters matters, this could do some work. Passable if you don’t.
The best Endless One variant. Trample is exactly what scaleable threats like this needs, and protection from multicolored means it dodges a decent amount of removal and most importantly, can’t be stolen by Dack Fayden. That being said, I’m still not a fan of Endless One variants and do think this is a filler card at best. While being an artifact grants it more synergies, it also makes it vulnerable to a lot more removal. Also, more snakes in cube weakens Ophiomancer (thanks a lot Hexdrinker!) While I’m not a fan of Endless One, this is probably one of the better colorless filler cards out there. I’m not interested in it, but I do think this is going to be card 23-26 in most scenarios.
A colorless but more narrow Goblin Oriflamme for an additional mana seems bad to me.
I’m assuming able to immediately ramp up to 6 loyalty is unprecedented on a 3-cmc planeswalker. That being said, Oko has a very unique set of abilities. His +1 ability can shrink your opponent’s fatties, buff your own small creatures, shut off mana rocks, turn your mana rocks into creatures, or make your food tokens that you created into 3/3s every other turn. His ultimate is okay, allowing you to swap smaller creatures for 3/3s.
What makes Oko really stand out to me is his starting loyalty / loyalty gain for a 3-cmc planeswalker. Will definitely test, has potential to be a long-term Simic player.
Looting is always nice and the pump ability can be strong in tempo shells. While its abilities aren’t exactly the greatest, this is and Oko can both ramp up to 6 loyalty immediately, which is huge for a 3-cmc planeswalker. While The Royal Scions is decent, Izzet has stronger options. This loses to Dack / Izzet Charm as discard outlets, and the only space where this really shines compared to the other walkers is in tempo.
Obviously competes with Vraska, Relic Seeker for the 6-cmc Golgari planeswalker slot. Garruk seems better overall due to his token generating / removal abilities having more immediate impacts compared to Vraska. At first glance, Garruk looks like a solid tier 1.5 planeswalker, and is much closer to tier 1 Elspeth / Chandra status than to tier 2 Vraska type walkers. A solid inclusion for any Golgari section.
So now that Magic is e-sports and all with arena, I should start making tier lists for these hot takes. Criteria will be based on the following:
- Amount of cubes I think this will see play, particularly in powered / high powered settings
- How long they will last in cubes
- Cube sizes I expect the cards to penetrate (example: top tier is mainly reserved for cards I think that can penetrate 360 powered cubes)
- The order of the cards within tiers doesn’t matter, but which half of the tier they’re on does
HIGH
- Robber of the Rich
- Rankle, Master of Pranks
- Garruk, Cursed Huntsman
- Charming Prince
- Brazen Borrower
MIDDLE
- Venerable Knight
- Gilded Goose
- Order of Midnight
- Oko, Thief of Crowns
- Once Upon a Time
- Castle Embereth
- Wicked Wolf
- Wildborn Preserver
LOW
- Castle Locthwain
- Castle Ventress
- Castle Garenbrig
- Castle Ardenvale
- Fervent Champion
- Stonecoil Serpent
- Witching Well
- The Royal Scions
- Realm-Cloaked Giant
- Gadwick, the Wizened
- Stormfirst Crusader
- Gingerbrute
- The Great Henge
- Wishclaw Talisman
- Mystic Sanctuary
- Opportunistic Dragon
- Blacklance Paragon
- Ayara, First of Locthwain
- Grumgelly, the Generous
- Giant Killer
- Rimrock Knight
- Torbran, Thane of Red Fell
- Corridor Monitor
- Hypnotic Sprite
- Emry, Lurker of the Loch
- Irencrag Pyromancer
- Hushbringer
- Foulmire Knight
- Harmonious Archon
- Heraldric Banner
BOTTOM
- Clackbridge Troll
- Vantress Gargoyle
- Piper of the Swarm
- Lovestruck Beast
FINAL THOUGHTS
- After WAR / MH1, I expected M20 and Throne of Eldraine to slow things down, but turns out I’m playing way more ELD cards in my cube than I am from WAR.
- Adventures are a huge hit for cube since they give you the flexibility of split cards with the value of flashback cards. I really like how much they expand the Survival of the Fittest utility belt, giving it more options like a Hero’s Downfall, and cheaper options like artifact removal for R. I’ve been experimenting with hate bears type decks lately, and the adventures will really help push those decks.
Let me know if there’s a card that I missed and I’ll respond back with the hottest of takes!
The Questing Beast Baneslayer analogy is spot on. There is no 2 for 1 but just brute force. But Questing Beast is slightly better because of haste. What I like about the Beast is that all the combat decisions has been done for you. Vigilance answers will-I-attack-or-defend? The 2 power evasion ignores chumps, deathtouch ignores stone-walls. The double damage Planeswalker ability removes the will-I-attack-the-planeswalker-or-player question. Haste lets you worry less about sorcery removal, as it provides value already. There are so many scenarios in which it is easy to simply attack.
Nice writeup. I think adventure is one of the greatest all time mechanics for cube, and we got some good ones. For me murderous rider/ brazen borrower/bonecrusher giant will likely be in my cube for years. I just pulled the moxes from cube so the shieldbreaker will likely be in the side binder for now. I really would have preferred it to be strapped to anything besides a lame 2 poewer dude. Red's 2-3 drops have come a long way since I think Manic Vandal was a decent card.
Passage of course is great and your order for these basic fetches is right on(barrens has been great for me). I have long argued that people should just be playing all of these and sucking it up with cuts elsewhere. Maybe wilds or Grand Coliseum can be cut at 360 but even then these are make decks close to 100% of the time and make cube experiences better, add shuffle effects(in a good way), and support land recursions strategies as no cost.
Are you planning on doing a review/reassessment after a few weeks of cubing ELD to see how it works out for you?
Thanks for reading!
I'd imagine if I was doing this in a podcast format, I would do some sort of report card baked into another podcast like how Many Insane Plays (podcast about Vintage). As long as I've been doing these (for a good while now on Reddit), I haven't done any report card type review. It's something to consider. Baking it into an article would be pretty lengthy, so it'd probably be its own standalone thing. Perhaps a multi-set review every 6-12 months.
A modern age Kjeldoran Outpost. At first glance, I considered Castle Ardenvale better, but the more that I think about it,Kjeldoran Outpost is probably the better card since you can activate it while still being able to cast other spells. I think you’d be hard-pressed to activate Castle Ardenvale more than twice in a game, the ability is pretty low impact for an ability that essentially costs 5 mana.
Not entering the battlefield tapped all the time on top of actually producing colored mana makes this a very low opportunity cost to add to a deck, it’s just a matter of finding a cube slot for it (this applies to all castles, not going to write it out 4 other times).
Two for one-ing Questing Beasts all day in Standard aside, I’m not sold on this card. Reprisal / Smite the Monstrous type effects are pretty narrow, especially when white has the most universal removal available. I’ve never been a big fan of tappers in cube anyways. Again, white has access to so much removal to the point where the only competitive tappers in cube are ones that can target lands.
I’d like this a lot more if the tap ability only cost 1 mana, but even then it’d fall short for me. Hanged Executioner from M19 pretty much does everything I want this card to do, plus more.
Savannah Lions are always nice, and this has a decent upside. Nice to see more knight payoffs to compliment History of Benalia. I’ll be up to 10-ish knights once I update my cube with ELD, so this will have a good amount of targets alongside boosting the power of History of Benalia.
Non-aggressive 2-drops in white are rare and this is one of the better ones. Trades the 1 life gain of Lone Missionary for an extra toughness and two other modes. Cheap sources of Scry 2 is always valuable, especially since white has the least access to card selection. I really like how this is both a blink enabler and a blink payoff.
When I first saw this card, I thought it was a fake because of the extremely weird art that really creeps me out. Seriously, lips without a face kind of terrifies me. That being said, this is arguably the best Torpor Orb / Hushwing Gryff available for cube, but those types of effects aren’t that great for cube in general. Hate bears is definitely a thing, but I find that relies a lot on disruptive creatures with ETBs like Reclamation Sage / Ravenous Chupacabra / etc. I’d imagine this would only shine in aggro decks vs creature-based midrange decks, which makes this too narrow for me.
But seriously, why does this faerie have a ring of lips around it?
Woke up Tuesday morning and the first thing I see on the cube socials were a couple people claiming this is an instant staple, and I don’t agree with that at all. 5-cmc wraths have never been great, with Fumigate being the best of the bunch. The reason I’m not high on this at all is because my control decks aren’t hurting for sweepers / removal. If I’m in some white / x control deck and I draft two 4-cmc Wrath effects, there’s a very high chance that one of them will sit in the sideboard, especially if I have other sweepers or tutors. This will suffer the same fate. While having a creature mode is cool, 7-cmc and lack of evasion are huge turnoffs. My expensive sweepers of choice in white are Catastrophe followed by Akroma’s Vengeance. I just don’t see this as an attractive option in today’s era of high-powered 5-6cmc planeswalkers that serve as both removal / sweepers and win conditions.
A very feast or famine card. Personally I think this card is a bit of a trap and I don’t like my 6-drops being double-edged swords. It only works well in token decks, and there are better, more versatile options at 5-cmc anyways. This will probably be the most polarizing card in the set because when it’s good, it’s REALLY good, but when it’s bad, it actually hurts you. I can’t see this being played over any 5-cmc option, scalable token generators like Secure the Wastes / Finale of Glory, or other 6-drops like Sun Titan / Captain of the Watch / Catastrophe.
BLUE
While I don’t think this is the best castle, these types of effects are best in blue since it’s the most reactive and doesn’t mind playing draw-go. Scry 2 is always nice, but competition in blue is steep, not to mention it has the most utility lands out of any color.
Reclaim for instants and sorceries that you can fetch for late game. It’s worth nothing that you can loop Time Walk with this + Meloku. Even then, the set up is a bit slow and powered cubes would have difficulty finding a cut in blue for this. I’d imagine you’ve already won most games where you resolved Time Walk and was able to keep Meloku on the board for two turns.
Early scry that you can cash in for 2 cards later. Being able to scry early, draw later is interesting. This basically Glimmer of Genius and Hieroglyphic Illumination baked into an artifact. Being somewhat modal, it compares most to Hieroglyphic Illumination, which I wasn’t a fan of when I tested. This is cubeable for people looking for another cheap Scry effect, but I don’t like this over other 1-2 cmc cantrips that replace themselves immediately. Getting blown up by a Reclamation Sage, locked down by a Phyrexian Revoker, or stolen by Dack can make these “cash in later for full reward” type of cards pretty risky.
The cheapest Kiki-Twin piece. While being ¼ for 1U is nice, this isn’t a supplement to Pestermite / Deceiver Exarch, not a replacement because flash is way more valuable than being 1 mana cheaper. That being said, Kiki-Twin needs more Kiki-Twin parts, not more untappers. Being an artifact hurts more than it helps in Kiki-Twin build, where being vulnerable to artifact removal will be more detrimental to the combo.
Decent tempo card, but there’s already a sea of those that are fringe in cube at best unless you’re really pushing the archetype. Being a worse Convolut instead of a Mana Leak really hurts this card. I like Complicate much more since it Mana Leaks anything, can cycle late game, and the Force Spike + cantrip can be a huge blowout.
Conditionals like this aren't worth the hoops jumping through, especially when those conditions rely on my opponent's game state. Fueling your opponent's graveyard can be dangerous in a lot of scenarios. Blue can do way better things with less conditions.
An Into the Roil / Vendilion Clique hybrid. Like how Never // Return was to Ruinous Path, Brazen Borrower lets you divide the extra value over time, where you only have one window to pay kicker for Into the Roil. While this is no replacement for Clique, this will be a nice budget option once it rotates out of Standard. This is a good replacement for cards like Into the Roil / Nimble Obstructionist / Callous Dismissal / Riftwing Cloudskate if you’re still playing those. Not being able to block on the ground sucks, but that’s far from a dealbreaker, especially with how flexible this card is.
Narrow, but if you REALLY like Mindslaver locks, this will be a nice compliment to Goblin Welder / Goblin Engineer / Academy Ruins.
Decent value spell with a 3/3 ain’t bad, but blue has better value options. Seems cute with Karakas. While UUU isn’t a dealbreaker, we are reaching a critical mass of blue intense spells like Vedalken Shackles / Cryptic Command / Archmage’s Charm / Cavalier of Gales, and Gadwick is the worst of the bunch, IMO.
BLACK
Unlike most other castles, this ability is fairly cheap, but the drawback can be pretty nasty. Honestly not too sure how I feel about this one since it’s the only one with a real downside.
This is the best Typhoid Rats with an added cantrip and two relevant creature types, but it’s still pretty bad. No deck really wants this. While the two relevant creature types are nice for aggro decks, it’s not worth a meager 1/1 with Deathtouch.
An Ambush Viper / Blade of the Sixth Pride hybrid that went to college. Blacklance Paragon has aggressive stats and makes for a nifty combat trick, especially against aggro with the lifelink. While being an Ambush Viper / Blade of the Sixth Pride with all upsides is nice, I don’t think this gets there. We’ve seen this in Dire Fleet Poisoner, which is arguably better in every matchup besides aggro because she always has deathtouch and doesn’t trade with 1/1s. Combat tricks that act as removal is always risky because it can essentially be countered by another removal spell.
Not bad, especially for peasant. This is essentially flying Gravedigger with the cost broken up. 2/2 with flying for 1B is really nice on its own, even if it can’t block. Normally you can’t get these kind of stats + flying without some sort of drawback or be a 2/1. The Raise Dead effect is okay, a nice bonus later in the game.
A more cube-friendly Scheming Symmetry. Being only one mana to activate is pretty strong. It’s pretty easy to sit on this and only tutor when you can win instantly with Kiki-Twin or be in a position where giving this to your opponent won’t matter too much with Emrakul / Griselbrand or something. Kind of cool with Goblin Welder shenanigans, but that’s too much set up for my tastes. This can be a powerful card, but the risks involved makes me not interested in it.
Not bad if you’re into black devotion. Even though she can only sacrifice black creatures, sac outlets are always nice.
Arguably the best Hero’s Downfall variant. Being an instant is huge, and I really like how this gives Survival of the Fittest and other creature-based tutors access to cheap planeswalker removal. Lifelink is always a premium in black since there’s so much self-damage, and this creature has two relevant creature types. Besides not being able to fly, this is everything that Vampire Nighthawk wants to do.
Also, this goes infinite with Grenzo, Dungeon Warden / Altar of Dementia. Just pair it with Blood Artist or something for some premium jank combos.
Decent stat monster that takes a while to die in combat. Might be cool with a +1/+1 counter theme, but not sure if 1BB would be prohibitive in those decks since black doesn't care too much about counters?
3/3 flyer with haste and no (forced) drawback is a good place to start. Rankle has one of the spicier combat damage to a player trigger where not only is it modal, but you can select multiple modes, escalate style… for free! While the modes are all symmetrical, the discard and sacrifice modes are very easy to build around in black. Rankle seems pretty versatile in a good amount of archetypes.
Cool flavor, and is a warlock. That being said, this seems well below things like Pack Rat and Cryptbreaker. Rat tribal would be cool, but I’d much rather get more zombies and warriors in black.
... Zombie Rats!
Trap card is a trap. 8/8 haste and trample is meaningless if you’re giving your opponent ammo for days to keep it locked down. Being able to draw cards and gain life is nice, but there’s other draw engines that don’t give your opponent resources. It’s not hard to kill the troll and keep the tokens, plus giving your opponent fodder for things like Skullclamp / Opposition is very dangerous. Avoid like the plague.
RED
Arguably the best castle since it’s cheap and mono red is the most played mono deck (in my meta, at least). This being a pseudo-Mountain makes this a lot more preferable than Goblin Oriflamme, not to mention you can use this on defense if needed. This is probably the best utility land that red has seen.
First strike raging goblin with tribal upsides and equipment synergy ain’t bad for R. There are a good amount of knights it can buff once ELD hits, and I’d imagine that count is only going to go up over time. The equip cost reduction is huge, means you can curve this into Jitte / Sword and just Voltron it up immediately. Like most aggressive one-drops, I don’t like this more than your average standard Savannah Lions, but Fervent Champion does have some pretty nice upsides, and has potential to be aggressive red one-drop #9-12 for me. This is a card to watch over time because it’s only going to get better with more knights / equipment.
A more flexibile Manic Vandal. Being able to blow up a Mox / Talisman or something before you hit 3 mana for Vandal is pretty huge. A slalm dunk for powered cubes and an overall supplement / replacement to Manic Vandal, IMO. A lot of unpowered cubes don’t play Manic Vandal (myself included recently), but I will be playing this.
Probably the best of the adventure combat tricks. Not being able to boost toughness means you can’t use this to save a creature in combat or against damage based removal. I can see some people cubing this, but I don’t think it stands well against its ever increasing competition.
Believe it or not, red never had a straight up 2/2 Grizzly Bears with no drawback for 1R until Falkenrath Reaver in Eldritch Moon. A 2/2 haste for 1R is pretty good on its own, and having reach with the exile ability is better than nothing. I really like that this maintains its value late game since Robber of the Rich and your other rogues don’t need survive or make contact to be able to cast your opponent’s spell.
Another great and versatile Adventure Card. The 2R option is very pushed for a modal card, being a 4/3 stat monster with a punisher ability and no drawback. I’ve always wanted an upgraded Fire Imp with bigger stats that can hit anything, but this is probably just better overall.
While there is absolutely nothing not to like about Bonecrusher Giant, I’m going to play Devil’s Advocate because I do think it compares poorly overall to other 1R burn spells. While Bonecrusher Giant shines in aggro / aggressive midrange decks, control / combo / slower midrange decks would probably rather have Abrade / Magma Jet / an Incinerate variant and depending on the matchup, Arc Trail. Also, his is unusable in an Oath of Druids deck.
As I said before, I think this is a great card, but I personally wouldn’t cube it at the expense of other utility 1R spells like Magma Jet or Abrade.
A sturdier, but more narrow Guttersnipe. Guttersnipe is a staple if you support Storm, so this isn’t a replacement for him in that role. This is secretly an Izzet card since blue is really the only color that can reliably trigger this, but even then you’re grasping at straws. Works really well with monarch, but the best monarch enablers are not in blue and are not easily splashed.
While being able to disrupt your opponent’s mana is cool by stealing their mana rocks, the fact that you’re not able to use it is a huge bummer. Even then, pretty much every 2RR dragon just pales in comparison to Rekindling Phoenix.
A mono red payoff with a very high ceiling. While Torbran pretty flashy, I think it pales in comparison to Hellrider and all its variants. Torbran doesn’t exactly speed up mono red since it already can kill by turn 4. He also lacks the explosiveness of Hellrider and friends because he doesn’t have haste, which is a huge downside post-sweeper. Not only does this compete with Hellrider, but with other mono red payoffs like Fireblast and Blistering Firecat, which have more utility. I don’t see this fitting into most cubes since Hellrider and friends are more explosive, also have the ability to kill on turn 4, all while not forcing you to be in mono red.
GREEN
A green Temple of the False Gods that isn’t completely useless early game? I really wish this tapped for any color of mana, being able to only spend GGGGGG really narrows down what you can use the mana for. I would’ve loved to be able to cast Selvala’s Stampede off this. This is the one castle that will get better over time.
One shot Birds of Paradise before it needs to reload ain’t bad and is kind of reminiscent of Deathrite Shaman. Flying 0/2 means it can wall those pesky 1/1 flyers that tend to plague green, not to mention is a decent life gain engine in the late game. I don’t like this over most mana dorks besides fringe ones like Elves of Deep Shadow / Boreal Druid, but it’s still a pretty cubeable card.
A cubeable card that has an ability reminiscent of the Leyline cycle. Being able to cast it for free is a nice tempo boost and also lets you keep fairly shakey hands. By itself, it’s generally a worse Impulse, which is already a bit filler-ish. Being able to dig 5 cards deep is nice, but I think being able to grab any 1 of 4 is better. Without the free clause, I don’t think this card would make the cut for most cubes. With the free clause, it gives Oath of Nissa a very good run for its money. I’ll be testing this, but I do think the sticker shock of a clause we’ve never seen before has made people overrate this card.
I totally misread this at first and thought Wildborn Preserver’s pump ability only on its own ETB. It’s a decent grow creature, and luckily most token generating planeswalkers don’t produce humans. I think this falls short compared to other 1G grow creatures like Tarmogoyf / Sylvan Advocate / Vinelasher Kudzu, not to mention other things competing for mana like Tireless Tracker / Biogenic Ooze. Reach and flash are a nice bonus, but a 2/2 isn’t exactly the greatest combat trick. I like this for larger cubes or cubes where Tarmogoyf is outside of their budget. Because green can curve out so well, I don’t think this card will be ideal in a good amount of scenarios.
Trap card is a trap. It’s too easy to 2 for 1 by just knocking out your mana dorks, and this doesn’t work well with things like level 0 Joraga Treespeaker / Birds of Paradise / Noble Hierarch or any of the commonly played 2-cmc dorks. Steel Leaf Champion seems a lot better if you’re trying to go for the aggressive mono green approach.
Like other people, I kept reading the card and kept asking “but what’s the drawback?” This is probably the best Baneslayer Angel we’ve ever seen. While I think this is bad Magic design, Baneslayer Angel type cards basically have to be this pushed to really compete with the Mulldrifters of the world. It has 3 very relevant keywords, and being able to evade creatures with power 2 or less means this bypasses most tokens that planeswalkers generate to defend themsleves. What I like most about this card is that it finally gives green a way to interact with True-Name Nemesis. It’s nice that WOTC has been giving us great 4-cmc creatures lately since that’s always been a weak spot for cube.
Also, did I mention that whenever this deals damage to an opponent, it also deals that much damage to target planeswalker that player controls?
Food clause aside, this is a worse Skinrender and overall the weakest Nekataal variant. That being said, a bad Nekratal is still cubeable, especially in green where removal is a premium. This would’ve been great if it was printed a year ago before we got Nightpack Ambusher / Voracious Hydra / Questing Beast, but it might be a bit late for this card. Even then, it directly competes with Ravenous Baloth, which has a bigger body and randomly jukes things like Mind Twist / Hymn to Tourach / Liliana of the Veil. That being said, this card is still fine, it just faces a lot more steep competition it otherwise wouldn’t have if it were printed a year or two ago.
Not great by itself, but it’s worth mentioning that it’s a persist combo enabler.
OTHER
Strictly better Terramorphic Expanse / Evolving Wilds. Prismatic Vista is obviously the best of the basic only fetches, and I’d also argue that Ash Barrens is above this. Regardless, this is universally cubeable. Most small cubes I know at least play Terramorphic Expanse and / or Evolving Wilds, and this is an obvious replacement / supplement to them. Also a great budget option to real fetchlands / Prismatic Vista. I don’t know anything about Standard, so hopefully these will be cheap right out of the gate?
A colorless Raging Goblin that you can simply pay 1 mana to make nearly unblockable ain’t bad, not to mention you can cash this in for life in a pinch. A tier 3.5 aggro one-drop at best. I do think that “can only be blocked by creatures with haste” is a good design that’s worth exploring more in the future.
For those who have been managing cubes for a while, you may remember a time when Duskmantle Seer was one of the only viable Dimir options besides Shadowmage Infiltrator / Psychatog / Agony Warp. While I still like Duskmantle Seer, its cost and color combination made it a tempo only card. Stormfist Crusader takes the Duskmantle Seer model, but is in the right colors and casting cost. This card being symmetrical is okay since you’re never at card disadvantage, and the draw happening on your turn only means you get to act first. There’s absolutely nothing not to like about this card other than its competition in the Rakdos slot: square stats, evasion, indirect damage, card draw, and relevant creature types all for BR. The competition keeps it out of my cube at 540, but it’ll do work in any cube that supports black aggro.
A persist combo enabler that isn’t too awful on its own, especially for an uncommon. If you support persist or +1/+1 counters matters, this could do some work. Passable if you don’t.
The best Endless One variant. Trample is exactly what scaleable threats like this needs, and protection from multicolored means it dodges a decent amount of removal and most importantly, can’t be stolen by Dack Fayden. That being said, I’m still not a fan of Endless One variants and do think this is a filler card at best. While being an artifact grants it more synergies, it also makes it vulnerable to a lot more removal. Also, more snakes in cube weakens Ophiomancer (thanks a lot Hexdrinker!) While I’m not a fan of Endless One, this is probably one of the better colorless filler cards out there. I’m not interested in it, but I do think this is going to be card 23-26 in most scenarios.
A colorless but more narrow Goblin Oriflamme for an additional mana seems bad to me.
I’m assuming able to immediately ramp up to 6 loyalty is unprecedented on a 3-cmc planeswalker. That being said, Oko has a very unique set of abilities. His +1 ability can shrink your opponent’s fatties, buff your own small creatures, shut off mana rocks, turn your mana rocks into creatures, or make your food tokens that you created into 3/3s every other turn. His ultimate is okay, allowing you to swap smaller creatures for 3/3s.
What makes Oko really stand out to me is his starting loyalty / loyalty gain for a 3-cmc planeswalker. Will definitely test, has potential to be a long-term Simic player.
Looting is always nice and the pump ability can be strong in tempo shells. While its abilities aren’t exactly the greatest, this is and Oko can both ramp up to 6 loyalty immediately, which is huge for a 3-cmc planeswalker. While The Royal Scions is decent, Izzet has stronger options. This loses to Dack / Izzet Charm as discard outlets, and the only space where this really shines compared to the other walkers is in tempo.
Obviously competes with Vraska, Relic Seeker for the 6-cmc Golgari planeswalker slot. Garruk seems better overall due to his token generating / removal abilities having more immediate impacts compared to Vraska. At first glance, Garruk looks like a solid tier 1.5 planeswalker, and is much closer to tier 1 Elspeth / Chandra status than to tier 2 Vraska type walkers. A solid inclusion for any Golgari section.
So now that Magic is e-sports and all with arena, I should start making tier lists for these hot takes. Criteria will be based on the following:
- Amount of cubes I think this will see play, particularly in powered / high powered settings
- How long they will last in cubes
- Cube sizes I expect the cards to penetrate (example: top tier is mainly reserved for cards I think that can penetrate 360 powered cubes)
- The order of the cards within tiers doesn’t matter, but which half of the tier they’re on does
TOP
- Embreath Shieldbreaker
- Murderous Rider
- Fabled Passage
- Questing Beast
- Bonecrusher Giant
HIGH
- Robber of the Rich
- Rankle, Master of Pranks
- Garruk, Cursed Huntsman
- Charming Prince
- Brazen Borrower
MIDDLE
- Venerable Knight
- Gilded Goose
- Order of Midnight
- Oko, Thief of Crowns
- Once Upon a Time
- Castle Embereth
- Wicked Wolf
- Wildborn Preserver
LOW
- Castle Locthwain
- Castle Ventress
- Castle Garenbrig
- Castle Ardenvale
- Fervent Champion
- Stonecoil Serpent
- Witching Well
- The Royal Scions
- Realm-Cloaked Giant
- Gadwick, the Wizened
- Stormfirst Crusader
- Gingerbrute
- The Great Henge
- Wishclaw Talisman
- Mystic Sanctuary
- Opportunistic Dragon
- Blacklance Paragon
- Ayara, First of Locthwain
- Grumgelly, the Generous
- Giant Killer
- Rimrock Knight
- Torbran, Thane of Red Fell
- Corridor Monitor
- Hypnotic Sprite
- Emry, Lurker of the Loch
- Irencrag Pyromancer
- Hushbringer
- Foulmire Knight
- Harmonious Archon
- Heraldric Banner
BOTTOM
- Clackbridge Troll
- Vantress Gargoyle
- Piper of the Swarm
- Lovestruck Beast
FINAL THOUGHTS
- After WAR / MH1, I expected M20 and Throne of Eldraine to slow things down, but turns out I’m playing way more ELD cards in my cube than I am from WAR.
- Adventures are a huge hit for cube since they give you the flexibility of split cards with the value of flashback cards. I really like how much they expand the Survival of the Fittest utility belt, giving it more options like a Hero’s Downfall, and cheaper options like artifact removal for R. I’ve been experimenting with hate bears type decks lately, and the adventures will really help push those decks.
Let me know if there’s a card that I missed and I’ll respond back with the hottest of takes!
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
The Questing Beast Baneslayer analogy is spot on. There is no 2 for 1 but just brute force. But Questing Beast is slightly better because of haste. What I like about the Beast is that all the combat decisions has been done for you. Vigilance answers will-I-attack-or-defend? The 2 power evasion ignores chumps, deathtouch ignores stone-walls. The double damage Planeswalker ability removes the will-I-attack-the-planeswalker-or-player question. Haste lets you worry less about sorcery removal, as it provides value already. There are so many scenarios in which it is easy to simply attack.
Passage of course is great and your order for these basic fetches is right on(barrens has been great for me). I have long argued that people should just be playing all of these and sucking it up with cuts elsewhere. Maybe wilds or Grand Coliseum can be cut at 360 but even then these are make decks close to 100% of the time and make cube experiences better, add shuffle effects(in a good way), and support land recursions strategies as no cost.
Are you planning on doing a review/reassessment after a few weeks of cubing ELD to see how it works out for you?
I'm planning on adding the 5 cards in top-tier to my cube, but am definitely interested in some of the high-tier cards too.
Thanks for reading!
I'd imagine if I was doing this in a podcast format, I would do some sort of report card baked into another podcast like how Many Insane Plays (podcast about Vintage). As long as I've been doing these (for a good while now on Reddit), I haven't done any report card type review. It's something to consider. Baking it into an article would be pretty lengthy, so it'd probably be its own standalone thing. Perhaps a multi-set review every 6-12 months.
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra