This is my 31st installment of the "top 20" set (P)review 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.
Throne of Eldrane is another awesome set for cubes! It explores some new design space, and it is really fun and flavorful. I enjoyed the way Wizards delved into the fairy tale universe, and it allowed for some cool new designs that cube players will be able to enjoy for a long time.
What I Like: Archon does a lot of powerful things. It creates 10 power for 6 mana, which is a good rate on its own. It bolsters your army of smaller guys too, so every small creature you have on the battlefield will become a significant sized body. It also can be used to shrink down your opponent’s bigger threats so that they all trade down with even the most humble of your critters. With a wide board, if you’re ahead on creatures, you can win games on the spot in some cases, and the surprise effect can be backbreaking for the opponent. Given the right board texture, this is a game-dominating creature. Additionally, white’s 6cc creature section is quite shallow, and if you’ve been searching for a friend to share the space with Sun Titan, Archon might just be that creature.
What I Don't Like: As powerful as this card is for go-wide token shells, I think Archon has limited applications in the cube. It would be a good card for aggro decks, except aggro decks don’t want to play 6cc cards. Most white midrange decks feature scary mid-game threats that will be nerfed by the Archon instead of bolstered by it. And control decks don’t feature a small creature count high enough to warrant the risk of getting run over by an army of your opponent’s new 3/3 creatures. Even white’s archetype and combo decks can’t make good use of the Archon. So it’s limited to basically limited to just token-centric builds that anticipate always being reliably ahead on creature count. As much of a bomb that Archon is in that one shell, I don’t know if it’ll be enough to overcome its narrowness.
Verdict: If you’re looking for another white token-centric curve-topper, Archon is a beast in that shell, and it’s worth some real consideration. Additionally, larger cubes looking for another white 6cc creature can find one in Archon by default, since white’s non-Titan 6-drops aren’t particularly good. Archon’s narrow applications are keeping it out of my list for the moment, but I’m keeping a close eye on it because of how powerful it can be in a relatively popular white shell.
What I Like: Creating a pair of 2/2 creatures is no joke, and Garruk has a powerful, game-ending ultimate that can be unlocked by having even a single Wolf token die. Not to mention the {-3} ability straight-up generating card advantage and impacting the board. Both of Garruk’s abilities are relevant on a wide range of board. When played at board parity, the minus ability can give you both board advantage and card advantage. When behind, creating a pair of bodies will often be enough to balance the board or even put you into an advantageous position. Any Golgari deck with reasonable creature density can use Garruk’s ultimate to win the game, so most creature-based midrange decks would be happy to play him.
What I Don't Like: The Golgari section is loaded with cards that are either very mana efficient or perform critical tasks for specific shells. It can be hard to find room for a generic goodstuff planeswalker in sections that are full of a combination of staples and deck support cards. Back before black and green’s 5cc & 6cc threats were so powerful, Garruk would’ve been a welcome addition to fill a weak slot in the cube, but that slot is dominated by other powerful options in most current cube environments.
Verdict: If you have room in your Golgari section for more random goodstuff cards, this Garruk is pretty beastly and is probably worth a slot. But due to either the powerlevel or the importance of the competition, it’s a close miss for me at the moment.
What I Like: The entire Castle cycle shares similar upsides in that the opportunity costs on them are pretty low. Most 2-color cube decks should feature enough instances of the respective basic land types to allow the lands to enter untapped with consistency, and they all tap for their respective colors of mana. Black decks that can empty their hands reliably and may still wind up in situations where the game grinds to a halt or gets dragged out will be happy to have an effect like this. Cards like Arguel’s Blood Fast and Phyrexian Arena can provide effects like this where they can punish decks looking to durdle or slow the game down. But they can likewise be inefficient in matchups that are faster or where you’re under significant pressure. This Castle can be utilized to good effect in those same matchups and situations without taking up a deckslot …allowing you to feel like you almost have a sideboard-quality card against the matchups where it matters without the cost of actually dedicating a card to it.
What I Don't Like: The hard part is finding the right cut, and determining the need. It will have similar deck restrictions that Volrath’s Stronghold does, and shine in similar spots. Castle needs to have a solid swamp count to enter untapped, and needs enough other black sources to satisfy the 1BB activation cost. It’s also restrictive in the issue of your hand count; Castle won’t be able to win grindy control mirrors because the average hand count in control will make the activation cost too punishing; a drawback not shared with Stronghold. While Stronghold doesn’t generate the card advantage Castle does, guaranteeing that your draw is a worthwhile threat is a way to dominate games in the same positions where Castle will shine. In addition, Stronghold can be a powerful addition to several archetype decks, being really powerful with Sneak Attack and friends.
Verdict: Castle Locthwain is a good Magic card. Low opportunity cost and long-game card advantage potential. Ultimately I couldn’t find a card in black I wanted to cut for it though, and the card that I think fills the same role and competes the closest with I feel is ultimately better. At the moment, it’s going to miss the cut but I’ll be watching its performance closely.
What I Like: Oko is cheap, splashable, and has great starting loyalty when combined with his pair of {+} abilities. The food he generates has synergy with both of his other abilities, and he can immediately set himself up for his creature-stealing ultimate ability on the following turn. The food itself can provide value in cases where the lifegain matters or where you need random artifacts/sacrifice fodder on the table, and the ability to turn your cheap cards into 3/3 creatures (or your opponent’s powerful ones into vanilla 3/3s) is a useful in a lot of different board states. The targeting limitation on the creature theft will occasionally be relevant, but it’s a cheap cost for the ability to take threats away from the opponent.
What I Don't Like: Simic is in an interesting spot in cube. It’s one of the shallowest guilds in terms of generic goodstuff cards, but it can get really deep if you support the archetypes many of the Simic guild cards are used for. Oko is going to be a monster in constructed, and a bomb in retail limited. But a lot of what will make it insane in those formats won’t transfer to the cube. Don’t get me wrong, Oko is great. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see it be a dominant card in Standard and merely a solid card in the cube. While the abilities are all valuable, they can be a bit durdly and low-impact if you’re facing significant pressure or have a medium board. And the matchup where it’ll shine the most is against aggro; and Simic midrange decks already shine in those spots.
Verdict: Oko goes from being playable in even the smallest of cubes to missing the cut at 720 entirely depending on how important your other Simic cards are. If all I was doing with Simic was playing random good cards, Oko would be an inclusion for me at 360 or 450. But considering a huge percentage of my Simic cards are included as tools for specific shells, they’re too important to cut for a card that’s just a random good value ‘walker. I expect there to be a huge range of cube sizes that ultimately find room for this card. If I was playing less archetype support cards in my Simic section, I would immediately find a slot for Oko, because the card is very solid.
What I Like: Grumgully’s main function will be supporting the persist combo. For those readers unfamiliar with the combo, you combine any creature with persist with a card that adds a +1/+1 counter to the creature when it enters play (or prevents the -1/-1 counter from being added) and a sacrifice outlet. It allows you to loop the creature in and out of play infinite times. You can kill with the sacrifice trigger (like Goblin Bombardment or Blasting Station gives infinite damage, for example) or with the persist creature’s ability if it’s a Kitchen Finks or Murderous Redcap. Grumgully is another enabler for this combo. Playing with Good-Fortune Unicorn for awhile (another persist combo enabler) has shown me that the +1/+1 counter value can be good in token-centric builds and go-wide strategies as well. Even 1-2 additional creatures post-Grumgully can give you a 3-drop that can easily provide 4 or 5 power (or more) in just the first few turns it’s on the table. Not good enough to justify inclusion on its own, but a nice backdoor use I’ve found for these kinds of support cards since I’ve been playing the combo.
What I Don't Like: While there are non-persist combo decks that will play Grumgully, it won’t be good enough on its own to justify a slot in the cube if you’re not playing that deck. It earns its slot because of the combo element, and keeps itself away from the chopping block because it can find other random uses in Gruul aggro and midrange shells. The non-human clause doesn’t interfere with the persist combo at all (fortunately), but it makes it slightly more narrow than the Unicorn in non-combo decks.
Verdict: Ultimately, if you’re playing a larger cube that supports the persist combo, Grumgully’s worth a look. Otherwise, it’s an obvious pass.
A fun green midrange card that also supports the persist combo.
What I Like: The Great Henge is another card that gains a lot of its value from being a support card for combo decks. Like Grumgully, the Henge supports the persist combo by gifting +1/+1 counters to your creatures that enter the battlefield. In addition, the card is playable in other midrange green decks that can utilize it as a hybrid card between ramp support and a value engine. Gaining 2 life a turn, ramping for an extra double-green, drawing a card each time you cast a creature and giving all your creatures additional +1/+1 counters is no joke. With a 4- or 5-power creature in play, this will cost 4 or 5 mana, making it one of the most competitive 4/5cc mana rocks in the cube. It’s also an artifact, so it has random interactions with Tinker and the Welder effects in the cube.
What I Don't Like: Needing to have a medium-power creature on the board before it’s castable is not a small hurdle. Drawing this post-sweeper or after efficient spot removal cleans up your board will be frustrating. I don’t exactly consider the effect exclusively win-more, because having one 3-5 power creature on the board is not exactly gg in the cube, and the Henge itself can prevent overextension by having the creatures you cast replace themselves. But there will be times where the Henge isn’t really needed because you’re ahead on board by the time it’s castable. I think the card is fun and flavorful, and certainly powerful in the right windows, but it feels like another card that’s extracting just enough value from the combo support aspect of the cube that it gets pushed into playability because of it.
Verdict: If the card looks like fun to you and your playgroup, it’s worth a close look. Once it’s on the battlefield, the effect is really strong. My guess is that it’s ultimately a miss for groups that don’t support the persist combo though. And definitely worth inclusion if you play both the persist combo and big monster green decks (and random artifact shells that can have fun with it from time to time).
What I Like: Larger cubes and cubes with a small Knight subtheme will be happy to play Venerable Knight. It’s another Savannah Lions clone with an upside (albeit one that will often be flavor text) and large cubes might still be looking to increase their density of playable 2-power 1-drops. As both a Human and a Knight, it can fit as both an aggro body and as niche tribal role player.
What I Don't Like: The upside so marginal that unless you either need the increased saturation or play a Knight subtheme, it probably doesn’t make the cut.
Verdict: Play it if it fits. Large cubes might want it, and cubes with some fun Knight synergies might want to try it over a different 1-drop. Otherwise, it’s just another Elite Vanguard.
A flavorful aggro 2-drop with a good floor and a high ceiling.
What I Like: A 2/2 with haste for 2-mana isn’t something we’ve seen before without a drawback or a double-colored mana cost. Better yet one with an additional keyword AND the ability to generate card advantage situationally. The floor on this card as a 2-power beater with haste is decent enough to make the cut in large cubes, and Robin Hood has a lot more to offer. Having a lower card count won’t be a big hurdle for aggro decks, so the ability will trigger often as long as you can keep the ground clear of blockers. The card’s design is so fun and flavorful; stealing from the rich is such a great design and I love the way the executed the mechanics on this card.
What I Don't Like: This will often be a glorified Nest Robber. The reach will be flavor text in most games, and if the ground is kept clean enough, the 2nd toughness won’t matter all the time either. I like that you only need to attack in order to exile and cast cards, instead of needing to connect, but without other Rogues available, you’ll face some consistency issues. Between the rogue restriction, the hand-size restriction and the cast restriction (you can’t get lands with it) there will be a lot of times where this is just a 2-power dude with haste. But since that floor is acceptable, and the ceiling is significantly higher, I think this will be a good cube inclusion overall.
Verdict: I think the 2-drops in most small- to medium-sized cubes are more competitive. But red’s 2cc creatures aren’t stellar for most larger cubes. I think this is worth testing in the 540 range, and certainly worth including into the 630-720 sizes.
What I Like: 1cc creatures that can fix for any color of mana are incredibly valuable. And while the mana ramp isn’t repeatable, it can be recharged, and the goose provides some additional value as well. Being able to block 1-power attackers isn’t irrelevant, especially since the goose has flying and can block tokens like Thopters and Spirits. Being able to repeatedly churn out food isn’t irrelevant either. Against some aggressive decks, the goose’s food can run away with the game. If every time you have free mana available throughout your curve you just generate extra food instead of wasting unspent mana, it’s not hard to amass like 3-5 food over the course of a game. And when the opponent is trying to close out the game, having an extra 9-15 life to push through is no joke. Additionally decks that may have use for random artifacts will like having an engine on the table that can create them at will. Lastly, the old adage of “bolt the bird” certainly applies in this case; decks playing Bolt can’t afford to let you ramp and/or amass food, so the goose is a must kill card. But unlike other mana dorks, if the goose gets bolted, it leaves a food token behind, which as I said, is not an irrelevant upside against lightning bolt decks.
What I Don't Like: Obviously not being a repeatable mana effect is going to make this worse than a lot of other mana dorks, especially if the mana-fixing isn’t relevant for your curve. Food is relatively expensive to make and activate, so outside of the matchups where it’s super relevant, the food engine won’t be particularly backbreaking.
Verdict: I think medium- to large-sized cubes will be more than happy to experiment with an additional mana dork-type creature that can fix mana of any color. I would play this at the 630-720 range for sure, and It may very well be worth testing at smaller sizes as well.
What I Like: Like all the lands from this cycle, the low opportunity cost allows this to be inserted into decks that might not otherwise be able to find room for a similar effect. Go wide aggro decks and token decks are happy to have access to anthem-type effects, but most of the red ones aren’t worth dedicating a spell slot to. Not only can Castle Embereth be used to increase your damage output and prevent over-extension, but simply the threat of activation can make combat a disaster for the opponent. It threatens to allow all your tokens and small bodies to trade up in combat, making attacking and blocking decisions harder on the opponent. And unlike battle cry triggers and oriflamme effects, the Castle can be used to bolster your blockers; an upside that has proven to be more and more relevant for tokens. Additionally, red has historically had the hardest time finding powerful lands to maindeck in the cube; red will be happy to have access to a card that can apply extra pressure that doesn’t cost a card.
What I Don't Like: Tapping 4 mana for a battle cry trigger is not a low cost, and if red is a tertiary color in your token deck, the Castle is awfully red-heavy to be reliable.
Verdict: I think this is the best red-aligned utility land for cubes, and red has organically evolved into a color with a lot of token support. It’s just the right mix of useful, fitting and it has a low enough opportunity cost that it’s worthwhile to try out. I would happily play this in the 630+ range for sure, and might be worth some extended testing in cubes that are smaller too.
What I Like: This is a splashable 3cc planeswalker that can immediately tick up to 6 loyalty in two different useful ways. The first ability is a loot trigger; something that’s always welcome in the cube, as it provides valuable card selection and can be used to feed the graveyard. The middle ability is more narrow, but when you provide +2/+0, first strike and trample to an attacker, even the most mundane creatures become significant threats. The ultimate is both achievable and devastating, drawing 4 cards is insane value on a card that only costs 3 mana, and the added damage is not insignificant. Reanimator, the artifact.dec and even the spells deck can take advantage of the looting engine, and tempo decks really benefit from the additional pressure the middle ability provides.
What I Don't Like: TRS will have a hard time defending itself, since the middle ability making your creatures such dominant attackers makes keeping creatures back on defense a bad idea; the opponent will be pigeonholed into attacking down the ‘walker. And for Izzet sections that are sculpted around cards that support specific strategies, TRS becomes a weaker option since outside of creature-heavy tempo shells, it’s largely just a bad Dack Fayden.
Verdict: If you have an Izzet slot open for a card that’s not engineered to support a specific deck, The Royal Scions should probably fill it. 3 mana, splashable cost, 6 loyalty, repeatable looting …you kinda have to hunt for an excuse not to play it. Card’s gonna be good. I know I could fund room for this in a smaller cube if I was supporting fewer combos and archetypes that eat up real estate in the Izzet section. This could easily be a top 4 or 5 card in that guild, if you have the room available. I’ll be playing this in my cube, and I think most cubes that are 630 or bigger will likely have room; perhaps smaller sizes too depending on what decks you task your Izzet spells to help support.
What I Like: A 4/4 for 4 mana used to be accompanied with a drawback in order to have it not be overpowered. This Beast has 6 upsides. SIX. It has haste, so it can at least chip in there for some damage in case the opponent has sorcery-speed removal. It has vigilance so that it provides value on both offense and defense. It has deathtouch so that it will trade up in combat at the very least. It has a strong evasive ability because small creatures can’t block it. It stops damage from being prevented, so protection can’t be used defensively to chump block your creatures with impunity. AND, if it connects, it gets to damage both the opponent and one of their ‘walkers …essentially attacking for 8 when they have a planeswalker in play. It makes for a good curve-topper for aggro since you can apply pressure to both the opponent and a ‘walker simultaneously, and it’s pretty beastly in a midrange mirror where the stat monster will dominate combat.
What I Don't Like: Despite all the abilities and the great power/cost ratio, it’s still just a stat monster. It doesn’t support any specific decks, and it’s not guaranteed to be anything more than just a critter. It doesn’t help green midrange decks in their worst matchups, since the Questing Beast isn’t anything special against threat-light control decks. It’s just a good monster, and that’s it.
Verdict: Green’s 4cc creatures aren’t spectacular, and the Beast has a lot of relevant game text. I wouldn’t be surprised to see it in a lot of cube lists. Personally, I think it’s relegated to medium-sized cubes at best, and should land somewhere in the 540-630 range in terms of cubeb sizes that can comfortably find room for it. Perhaps smaller if green midrange creature decks is all green does in your cube.
What I Like: Digging 5 cards deep is a lot. Casting spells for free is good. Instants are good. In any deck that: A) has enough targets for the spell to be reliable, and B) isn’t built around a critical spell OUAT would force you to bottom …this spell is almost an auto-include in that deck. Let’s take a quick look at some of the math. In a deck with 17 lands and 15 creatures (not unreasonable for typical green decks) you only have 7 other “misses” for OUAT. When played for free, 35% of the time the spell is played you’ll hit on all 5 reveals. Which is absolutely disgusting. About 79% of the time, you’ll be able to select from at least 4 cards, making this a functional free Impulse. OUAT should be at least an Anticipate ~97% of the time, which is a level of reliability I’m pretty comfortable with. When you pay 2 mana for the effect, I’m relatively certain the card would be average quality. A target-restrictive Impulse is something green decks would play, but not be stoked with. But once you factor in casting the card for free, it gets really powerful. It should be cast for free pretty often. Considering being on the draw, missing 1-drops, having T1 ETBT lands and mulligans, I would expect OUAT to be free approximately half the time it’s cast. When it’s a 0-mana Anticipate, the card will be great. When it’s a free Impulse, the card is busted. But when you get a 0-mana instant-speed cantrip that digs 5 cards deep, it’s downright insane.
What I Don't Like: I’ve learned over the years that target-restricted effects like this are narrower than they appear at first glance. For generic creature decks, they’re all fantastic. But green has evolved into contributing to a lot of different strategies. And in decks where you can’t afford to bottom critical spells the deck’s built around, it makes effects like this more and more narrow.
Verdict: I’ve been burned in the past by effects like this, but I want to give Once Upon a Time the benefit of the doubt because casting free spells is just too good to pass up. I suggest trying this card out if it’s appealing to you and your playgroup, but I ultimately expect the deck restrictions to relegate this to medium- to large-sized cubes as time goes on. I hope to be proven wrong, because I love the flavor of the card and I’d be stoked to have another staple green spell.
What I Like: It’s a 3-power creature with flying and haste that has three separate ways to generate an advantage. At face value, each option is a symmetrical effect. But black has ways to make each of the effects asymmetrical in your favor. And you can choose any number of the triggers you want! Mutual discard is rarely mutual for black, as there are a ton of ways for black to use cards from your own graveyard, especially combined with some of the more expensive reanimation effects like Living Death and the 5cc Liliana. The creature sacrificing effect can be used to your advantage when you have cheap recursive creatures or tokens out. When you’re sacrificing a Bloodghast or an Ophiomancer token and your opponent is sacrificing a creature they invested mana and cards into, the effect is hardly symmetrical. It can be abused in similar ways to Braids and Smokestack. And lastly, even the pay to draw effect isn’t always as symmetrical as it seems. When the opponent is at a low life total, they can’t afford to pay the life like you can. When they’re having a hard time casting spells and you can crank out 2+ spells a turn, mutual draw ceases to be mutually beneficial. And I can’t wait to bash in with Prankle when I have a Notion Thief in play.
What I Don't Like: It’s a 4cc engine card that dies to Lightning Bolt. Luckily the haste will be able to outmaneuver some of the fragility, but it’s still an issue to keep an eye on.
Verdict: If your cube has ways to make the mutual sacrifice or the mutual discard asymmetrical, see if you can find room for Rankle somewhere in your black section. I think there are just so many ways to take advantage of the triggers that it’ll be hard for it to whiff. This is an easy include at 540, and I’d likely test it at 450 too.
What I Like: I was this close to adding Lone Missionary back into my cube not that long ago because I wanted a 2cc creature with 2-power and an useful ETB trigger. In matchup where the lifegain matters, being able to trade with an opponent’s beater and gain 3 life is still substantial. In other matchups, scry 2 is a great trigger to add onto your bear in the early game. And the ability to flicker another creature you own can give you back a stolen creature or get a more powerful ETB trigger off of his resolution. It basically has every ETB trigger that’s attached to a creature you own in addition to the two that it has itself. It’s both a target and an enabler for the blink/bounce shenanigans decks.
What I Don't Like: White’s 2cc creatures are relatively competitive in smaller cubes, and it might be hard to find room for the Prince outside of medium-sized builds.
Verdict: I really like the Prince and I’d be testing it at 450 for sure, and definitely playing it at 540 or anything bigger. It’s a surprising amount of value and flexibility for such a small investment.
What I Like: The best way I can look at this card is like an Into the Roil variant. But instead of having to pay 2 mana to draw a card, you pay 0 mana to draw a 3-power flying flash creature. You always get the card parity even when you cast it in 2-mana mode, and that’s just great. The ability to split up this series of effects between multiple turns (both being playable at instant speed) is just insanely good.
What I Don't Like: You can’t target your own permanents with it, which will occasionally be relevant, and the creature can’t block, making it slightly worse for control. And the competition in blue is so insane that finding cuts in smaller cubes is very hard.
Verdict: This is really a spectacular creature, and the only reason it’s not a windmill slam into every cube and the best card from the set is the competition in blue. It’s really more of a tempo card than anything, and small cubes already have Clique and Nemesis in this role. If you can find room, do so. I think this is a card that deserves extended testing at 450 and should go into 540+ sized cubes immediately. Hell, even smaller cubes might be able to justify it if they’re playing some of the comparable effects still. I’d snap cut one of the Into the Roil variants for this card, for example. Unpowered lists with a focus on tempo may have room for this card all the way down to 360.
What I Like: It is so hard to find room for 1cc answers to powerful artifacts, and usually you can’t because they’re either too limited on targets or they’re too fair. Shieldbreaker can be played on T1 in powered lists to shatter Moxen, Sol Rings and Mana Vaults/Crypts before they dominate the game, and it doesn’t even cost you a full card to do so. The creature is unimpressive, but a free 2-power creature for 2 mana is exactly the kind of upside I was looking for in order to be able to play 1cc answers to busted artifacts. This is one of the better shatter variants available if your cube is powered and contains a bunch of broken, cheap, must-answer artifacts.
What I Don't Like: In unpowered cubes, the need for the cheap cost to be split off from the body goes way down and this will often play like a harder-to-cast Manic Vandal. Still good, but not nearly as impressive.
Verdict: I think this card is fantastic. In a powered cube, I would play this all the way down to 360; usually it costs you a whole card to shatter something for one mana. In an unpowered cube, this is nowhere near as exciting, and I would play the card at 450 or so instead.
What I Like: Well, if you like Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse, you’re gonna love this card. The ability to allow your T4+ land to enter untapped is no small upside either; T4 plays are critical for midrange and control decks, so the land entering untapped is substantial.
What I Don't Like: It makes me kind of sad that Wilds/Expanse have been relegated to the “strictly worse than a better card” status, but there’s nothing not to like about Fabled Passage.
Verdict: This card will be run instead of or in addition to Wilds/Expanse if they were being run before. And some cubes that weren’t running the other ones will like Passage well enough to run it. Some 360-card cubes played Wilds/Expanse and other folks didn’t run them until 450+ sized cubes. Either way, this will fall into the 350-450 range too, and should likely be played in most cubes. Shuffling, thinning and mana fixing are always welcome, and this adds to the list of lands that are good with the Crucible/Loam effects out there.
A Hero’s Downfall variant with a body strapped to it.
What I Like: 2 life is a relatively low cost to pay to strap a 2/3 lifelinking “flashback” body to a Hero’s Downfall. Like Downfall, the removal mode is instant speed, and a 2/3 body with lifelink is a valuable thing for a lot of black decks to have access to. It’s reminiscent of Never // Return, but the front half is an instant and the back half is both cheaper and more powerful.
What I Don't Like: If I get stuck in one of those weird spots where I don’t have a target for the removal spell but desperately need to apply pressure with the creature side of the card, it will feel terrible casting this as a French vanilla 2/3 and wasting the Downfall effect entirely. But really, there’s not much to dislike about the card.
Verdict: This card belongs at 360, IMO. It’s a solid spell and a useful creature rolled up into one nice value package. One of the better targeted removal spells in black.
A burn spell that draws you a great free creature.
What I Like: Compare the spell half of Bonecrusher Giant to red’s other 2cc burn spells. Would you trade 1 point of damage to draw a free giant? Would you trade scry 2 to draw a free giant? I would, in a heartbeat. It’s a free card! And the creature’s good too. A 4/3 with an upside for 2R is a good deal, and that comes strapped to a useful burn spell. Being able to have Bonecrusher Giant provide your curve with a solid T2 play and a good T3 beater is no joke. And the damage prevention has applications too, since it can circumvent protections in combat when you’re on the beatdown. Your opponent uses their Mother of Runes to safely block with another creature, and you can play Stomp to kill the mom and allow the no damage prevention clause to stop the pro:red from saving the other blocker. Both modes are splashable, both modes are relevant, and they can be played back-to-back on curve. Sign me up.
What I Don't Like: There’s nothing else I can really add to this card without the request being insanely greedy. Maybe if the Giant was also a Warrior? IDK.
Verdict: This card is great. Honestly, it might be the 2nd best 2cc noncreature spell in red, behind only Abrade. I think that “drawing” the free Giant is a far more significant upside than any of the other advantages on any of the other burn spells. I would slam this into even the smallest of cubes without hesitation.
I know limited results don't necessarily translate to cube but I gleaned a lot from this prerelease. I ran Mardu Knights with a Tournament Grounds and one mountain just for Inspiring Veteran. I had Murderous Rider and Charming Prince (pre-release foil) in my pool and they both did some great work. I chose the scry mode each time with the Prince as early draw fixing in white is hard to come by. I was really happy with the value I got for just 2 mana even choosing the same mode let alone the added utility the other modes bring to the cube format with its increased # of cards with ETB effects and increasingly focused aggro decks. Overall, went 3-1 and got a showcase Bonecrusher Giant, a Pre-release foil Castle Embereth and a Once Upon a Time to boot so 5 cards down!
A few other thoughts I had from my own games and games I saw around me.
1) The Royal Scions were kind of disappointing. Maybe it was just their deck, but I never even felt the need to attack the scions. I mean a PW only counts as +X life where X is the PW's loyalty when people can't disregard the PW. If the Scions fold to a limited aggro deck so easily, forget cube.
Also, there is SO much space in terms of power level between a loot and a Faithless Looting +1 as with Dack Fayden. I saw the Scions win one game through the combination of flying and the first strike/power boost so this may still be a good contender for tempo....my first look at this card in action makes me lean towards this card being the 3rd best Izzet walker behind Dack Fayden, and even Saheeli, Sublime Artificer.
2) Rankle, Master of Pranks was disgusting. I saw this card win many games around me. Similar story with Questing Beast....sick.
Onto your list!
1) I'm curious where you would stack Archon against White's other non-Sun Titan 6 drops. Particularly, Linvala, the Preserver, Yosei, the Morning Star, and whatever else you feel belongs in the conversation. I'd like to include a 2nd white 6-drop as part of my expansion, but I'm not sure where I should go or if I should just wait even....
2) New Garruk or Vraska, Relic Seeker? As part of my expansion I want Golgari to have a walker, but I think people are split pretty evenly on which is better.
3) I think Oko should be much higher, but you yourself acknowledge it could be a 360 card for some people even if it wasn't worth cutting a roleplayer in Simic for you. I'm more than ready to dump Trygon Predator, but the work Frilled Mystic has done in standard has given me lots of pause over cutting Mystic Snake as I once considered.
4) I'm waiting on The Great Henge. It's tough though because if it starts making waves in cube, it likely will in standard too and will cost a mint.
5)Would it have been too busted for the Goose not to have to tap for its final ability? Then its food creation ability could also allow it to ramp/fix for two if you were willing to invest two turns of mana into it.... It wasn't particularly impressive even in limited where food has a lot more application.
6) Castle Embereth finally allows me to run a utility land in each color without having to run something embarrassing for red.
7) I too hope Once Upon a Time is the real deal. Let's hope that's no fairy tale.
8) The rest of your top 7 (except the Shieldbreaker) are no-brainers. It varies by list, whether you are powered, and how strong your artifact support is, but I don't really need additional artifact hate beyond Abrade, and Goblin Cratermaker (Also Fiery Confluence).
Great write-up and a wonderful set overall. Lots of great things for everyone here.
Always enjoy the write ups and this one is no exception!
Wish I could have cubed more past couple weeks, but have been jamming standard past few days and Murderous rider/Bonecrusher giant have both been even better than I expected (and I expected a lot).
Card advantage is more important in standard than in cube, and mana-efficiency slightly less so, but still think the cards should be incredible.
Oko has been borderline ban-worthy broken though.. Know you mentioned in your article that it could be all-star in standard but not as much in cube, and I'm not sure that's true. Think you may be underestimating the Pongify mode as a way to deal with big creatures and how important that is. Because it's not destroy, it even gets around indestructible/death value creatures like the eldrazi, blightsteel, wurmcoil etc.
Green blue should be able to deal with the 3/3's better than most color combinations.
I do think it will be better in standard, due to the food interactions, but man, I can't imagine not testing it given how absurd it's been. It has a legit shot at being #1 simic card in a vacuum. You do make a good point about good stuff vs synergy roleplayers.
@allred123: Fabled Passage is a pretty good land, but I understand not everyone likes those kinds of effects. I'd still play it at 360 though.
@BlackWaltz3: 1) I think Archon is the likely 2nd best white 6-drop. 2) I like Garruk more than Vraska. 3) Oko is very good, and should be in pretty much every cube that doesn't need the slots for other specific archetype support cards. 4) I would also wait on the Henge unless you can use it for persist support in addition to green ramp. 5) Yes, the Goose needs to tap for all of its abilities in order to not be absurd. 6) I think the red Castle will play really well. 7) The math supports OUaT in theory ...I hope it holds up in practice. 8) I can't imagine a powered cube not wanting playable 1cc artifact removal that only costs you 1/2 a card. I think you're undervaluing Shieldbbreaker for powered lists.
@LucidVision: Oko is busted, and you should probbably be cubing it unless all of your other Simic cards are being utilized for specific archetypes.
Good write up, thanks. I'm testing a lot of these including Wildborn Preserver, but I haven't tested Oko because I thought it looked weak. Apparently I was wrong, but can someone explain to me what makes him so good? What decks does he go into? Just looks clunky and difficult to generate any value from to me, but obviously I'm wrong. Is it just a good-stuff type card that doesn't support any specific archetype but is really good in all of them?
Thanks for commenting! Ya, Preserver looks cool too; there were several more cards definitely worth considering that I wanted to discuss, bbecause this set is DEEP.
You're correct about Oko; it doesn't shine in any specific deck, it just has high loyalty and cheap abilities that grind out incremental advantages and is just generally annoying. It's one of the best generically powerful cards, but it doesn't support a specific strategy in cube, which was my biggest strike against it. All of my Simic choices are specific to certain decks, so it's hard to cut one for a generic goodstuff card, even when it's as powerful and obnoxious as Oko.
"8) I can't imagine a powered cube not wanting playable 1cc artifact removal that only costs you 1/2 a card. I think you're undervaluing Shieldbbreaker for powered lists."
I think you misunderstood what I was saying. I agree that for powered lists it gets there. My list is unpowered and not to big on the artifacts matter theme so this is a miss for me.
Edit: This write-up also really accentuates what a strong set this is. I'm looking at #20 and thinking I might test it and my list is only going to be 500 cards deep. How many sets can I say that for?
Oh I've been playing Nissa, steward of elements for that exact reason, as she just kinda fits into most GU decks pretty well. How does Oko stack up to her if you don't mind elaborating a little more on how impactful he is?
I like Nissa a bit more because she's a more impactful topdeck and I think there are more matchups where the repeatable scry is more meaningful than the food and the Pongify triggers. Particularly in the grindy matchups against control where she can sneak in meaningful permanents underneath countermagic. She's also a baller win condition in ramp decks where she can ultimate immediately upon resolution and serve as a 10-damage fireball that can win games outright. I play more simic ramp decks than simic goodstuff decks, and I think both she and big Krasis do better for that archetype. Oko is better against aggro and midrange decks, but decks are usually good in those spots anyways. I think Nissa is better against control, and that's the matchup that's worse for Simic, so I give her the matchup edge too.
Thanks for taking the time to write this up once more! I largely agree with your takes. The card I'm most excited for from this set is Rankle. It just does a lot potentially and is exactly the kind of card that is great in cube since it can fit in several archetypes. Hoping he sticks!
Minor typo in the verdict section for Fabled Passage where you typed 350 instead of 360.
This is my 31st installment of the "top 20" set (P)review 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.
Throne of Eldrane is another awesome set for cubes! It explores some new design space, and it is really fun and flavorful. I enjoyed the way Wizards delved into the fairy tale universe, and it allowed for some cool new designs that cube players will be able to enjoy for a long time.
Without further ado, I can start the countdown!
Harmonious Archon
A spicy 6cc bomb.
What I Like: Archon does a lot of powerful things. It creates 10 power for 6 mana, which is a good rate on its own. It bolsters your army of smaller guys too, so every small creature you have on the battlefield will become a significant sized body. It also can be used to shrink down your opponent’s bigger threats so that they all trade down with even the most humble of your critters. With a wide board, if you’re ahead on creatures, you can win games on the spot in some cases, and the surprise effect can be backbreaking for the opponent. Given the right board texture, this is a game-dominating creature. Additionally, white’s 6cc creature section is quite shallow, and if you’ve been searching for a friend to share the space with Sun Titan, Archon might just be that creature.
What I Don't Like: As powerful as this card is for go-wide token shells, I think Archon has limited applications in the cube. It would be a good card for aggro decks, except aggro decks don’t want to play 6cc cards. Most white midrange decks feature scary mid-game threats that will be nerfed by the Archon instead of bolstered by it. And control decks don’t feature a small creature count high enough to warrant the risk of getting run over by an army of your opponent’s new 3/3 creatures. Even white’s archetype and combo decks can’t make good use of the Archon. So it’s limited to basically limited to just token-centric builds that anticipate always being reliably ahead on creature count. As much of a bomb that Archon is in that one shell, I don’t know if it’ll be enough to overcome its narrowness.
Verdict: If you’re looking for another white token-centric curve-topper, Archon is a beast in that shell, and it’s worth some real consideration. Additionally, larger cubes looking for another white 6cc creature can find one in Archon by default, since white’s non-Titan 6-drops aren’t particularly good. Archon’s narrow applications are keeping it out of my list for the moment, but I’m keeping a close eye on it because of how powerful it can be in a relatively popular white shell.
Garruk, Cursed Huntsman
A powerful Golgari 6cc threat.
What I Like: Creating a pair of 2/2 creatures is no joke, and Garruk has a powerful, game-ending ultimate that can be unlocked by having even a single Wolf token die. Not to mention the {-3} ability straight-up generating card advantage and impacting the board. Both of Garruk’s abilities are relevant on a wide range of board. When played at board parity, the minus ability can give you both board advantage and card advantage. When behind, creating a pair of bodies will often be enough to balance the board or even put you into an advantageous position. Any Golgari deck with reasonable creature density can use Garruk’s ultimate to win the game, so most creature-based midrange decks would be happy to play him.
What I Don't Like: The Golgari section is loaded with cards that are either very mana efficient or perform critical tasks for specific shells. It can be hard to find room for a generic goodstuff planeswalker in sections that are full of a combination of staples and deck support cards. Back before black and green’s 5cc & 6cc threats were so powerful, Garruk would’ve been a welcome addition to fill a weak slot in the cube, but that slot is dominated by other powerful options in most current cube environments.
Verdict: If you have room in your Golgari section for more random goodstuff cards, this Garruk is pretty beastly and is probably worth a slot. But due to either the powerlevel or the importance of the competition, it’s a close miss for me at the moment.
Castle Locthwain
A solid black utility land.
What I Like: The entire Castle cycle shares similar upsides in that the opportunity costs on them are pretty low. Most 2-color cube decks should feature enough instances of the respective basic land types to allow the lands to enter untapped with consistency, and they all tap for their respective colors of mana. Black decks that can empty their hands reliably and may still wind up in situations where the game grinds to a halt or gets dragged out will be happy to have an effect like this. Cards like Arguel’s Blood Fast and Phyrexian Arena can provide effects like this where they can punish decks looking to durdle or slow the game down. But they can likewise be inefficient in matchups that are faster or where you’re under significant pressure. This Castle can be utilized to good effect in those same matchups and situations without taking up a deckslot …allowing you to feel like you almost have a sideboard-quality card against the matchups where it matters without the cost of actually dedicating a card to it.
What I Don't Like: The hard part is finding the right cut, and determining the need. It will have similar deck restrictions that Volrath’s Stronghold does, and shine in similar spots. Castle needs to have a solid swamp count to enter untapped, and needs enough other black sources to satisfy the 1BB activation cost. It’s also restrictive in the issue of your hand count; Castle won’t be able to win grindy control mirrors because the average hand count in control will make the activation cost too punishing; a drawback not shared with Stronghold. While Stronghold doesn’t generate the card advantage Castle does, guaranteeing that your draw is a worthwhile threat is a way to dominate games in the same positions where Castle will shine. In addition, Stronghold can be a powerful addition to several archetype decks, being really powerful with Sneak Attack and friends.
Verdict: Castle Locthwain is a good Magic card. Low opportunity cost and long-game card advantage potential. Ultimately I couldn’t find a card in black I wanted to cut for it though, and the card that I think fills the same role and competes the closest with I feel is ultimately better. At the moment, it’s going to miss the cut but I’ll be watching its performance closely.
Oko, Thief of Crowns
A good Simic utility ‘walker.
What I Like: Oko is cheap, splashable, and has great starting loyalty when combined with his pair of {+} abilities. The food he generates has synergy with both of his other abilities, and he can immediately set himself up for his creature-stealing ultimate ability on the following turn. The food itself can provide value in cases where the lifegain matters or where you need random artifacts/sacrifice fodder on the table, and the ability to turn your cheap cards into 3/3 creatures (or your opponent’s powerful ones into vanilla 3/3s) is a useful in a lot of different board states. The targeting limitation on the creature theft will occasionally be relevant, but it’s a cheap cost for the ability to take threats away from the opponent.
What I Don't Like: Simic is in an interesting spot in cube. It’s one of the shallowest guilds in terms of generic goodstuff cards, but it can get really deep if you support the archetypes many of the Simic guild cards are used for. Oko is going to be a monster in constructed, and a bomb in retail limited. But a lot of what will make it insane in those formats won’t transfer to the cube. Don’t get me wrong, Oko is great. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see it be a dominant card in Standard and merely a solid card in the cube. While the abilities are all valuable, they can be a bit durdly and low-impact if you’re facing significant pressure or have a medium board. And the matchup where it’ll shine the most is against aggro; and Simic midrange decks already shine in those spots.
Verdict: Oko goes from being playable in even the smallest of cubes to missing the cut at 720 entirely depending on how important your other Simic cards are. If all I was doing with Simic was playing random good cards, Oko would be an inclusion for me at 360 or 450. But considering a huge percentage of my Simic cards are included as tools for specific shells, they’re too important to cut for a card that’s just a random good value ‘walker. I expect there to be a huge range of cube sizes that ultimately find room for this card. If I was playing less archetype support cards in my Simic section, I would immediately find a slot for Oko, because the card is very solid.
Grumgully, the Generous
A solid persist combo piece.
What I Like: Grumgully’s main function will be supporting the persist combo. For those readers unfamiliar with the combo, you combine any creature with persist with a card that adds a +1/+1 counter to the creature when it enters play (or prevents the -1/-1 counter from being added) and a sacrifice outlet. It allows you to loop the creature in and out of play infinite times. You can kill with the sacrifice trigger (like Goblin Bombardment or Blasting Station gives infinite damage, for example) or with the persist creature’s ability if it’s a Kitchen Finks or Murderous Redcap. Grumgully is another enabler for this combo. Playing with Good-Fortune Unicorn for awhile (another persist combo enabler) has shown me that the +1/+1 counter value can be good in token-centric builds and go-wide strategies as well. Even 1-2 additional creatures post-Grumgully can give you a 3-drop that can easily provide 4 or 5 power (or more) in just the first few turns it’s on the table. Not good enough to justify inclusion on its own, but a nice backdoor use I’ve found for these kinds of support cards since I’ve been playing the combo.
What I Don't Like: While there are non-persist combo decks that will play Grumgully, it won’t be good enough on its own to justify a slot in the cube if you’re not playing that deck. It earns its slot because of the combo element, and keeps itself away from the chopping block because it can find other random uses in Gruul aggro and midrange shells. The non-human clause doesn’t interfere with the persist combo at all (fortunately), but it makes it slightly more narrow than the Unicorn in non-combo decks.
Verdict: Ultimately, if you’re playing a larger cube that supports the persist combo, Grumgully’s worth a look. Otherwise, it’s an obvious pass.
The Great Henge
A fun green midrange card that also supports the persist combo.
What I Like: The Great Henge is another card that gains a lot of its value from being a support card for combo decks. Like Grumgully, the Henge supports the persist combo by gifting +1/+1 counters to your creatures that enter the battlefield. In addition, the card is playable in other midrange green decks that can utilize it as a hybrid card between ramp support and a value engine. Gaining 2 life a turn, ramping for an extra double-green, drawing a card each time you cast a creature and giving all your creatures additional +1/+1 counters is no joke. With a 4- or 5-power creature in play, this will cost 4 or 5 mana, making it one of the most competitive 4/5cc mana rocks in the cube. It’s also an artifact, so it has random interactions with Tinker and the Welder effects in the cube.
What I Don't Like: Needing to have a medium-power creature on the board before it’s castable is not a small hurdle. Drawing this post-sweeper or after efficient spot removal cleans up your board will be frustrating. I don’t exactly consider the effect exclusively win-more, because having one 3-5 power creature on the board is not exactly gg in the cube, and the Henge itself can prevent overextension by having the creatures you cast replace themselves. But there will be times where the Henge isn’t really needed because you’re ahead on board by the time it’s castable. I think the card is fun and flavorful, and certainly powerful in the right windows, but it feels like another card that’s extracting just enough value from the combo support aspect of the cube that it gets pushed into playability because of it.
Verdict: If the card looks like fun to you and your playgroup, it’s worth a close look. Once it’s on the battlefield, the effect is really strong. My guess is that it’s ultimately a miss for groups that don’t support the persist combo though. And definitely worth inclusion if you play both the persist combo and big monster green decks (and random artifact shells that can have fun with it from time to time).
Venerable Knight
A 2-power 1-drop with a marginal upside.
What I Like: Larger cubes and cubes with a small Knight subtheme will be happy to play Venerable Knight. It’s another Savannah Lions clone with an upside (albeit one that will often be flavor text) and large cubes might still be looking to increase their density of playable 2-power 1-drops. As both a Human and a Knight, it can fit as both an aggro body and as niche tribal role player.
What I Don't Like: The upside so marginal that unless you either need the increased saturation or play a Knight subtheme, it probably doesn’t make the cut.
Verdict: Play it if it fits. Large cubes might want it, and cubes with some fun Knight synergies might want to try it over a different 1-drop. Otherwise, it’s just another Elite Vanguard.
Robber of the Rich
A flavorful aggro 2-drop with a good floor and a high ceiling.
What I Like: A 2/2 with haste for 2-mana isn’t something we’ve seen before without a drawback or a double-colored mana cost. Better yet one with an additional keyword AND the ability to generate card advantage situationally. The floor on this card as a 2-power beater with haste is decent enough to make the cut in large cubes, and Robin Hood has a lot more to offer. Having a lower card count won’t be a big hurdle for aggro decks, so the ability will trigger often as long as you can keep the ground clear of blockers. The card’s design is so fun and flavorful; stealing from the rich is such a great design and I love the way the executed the mechanics on this card.
What I Don't Like: This will often be a glorified Nest Robber. The reach will be flavor text in most games, and if the ground is kept clean enough, the 2nd toughness won’t matter all the time either. I like that you only need to attack in order to exile and cast cards, instead of needing to connect, but without other Rogues available, you’ll face some consistency issues. Between the rogue restriction, the hand-size restriction and the cast restriction (you can’t get lands with it) there will be a lot of times where this is just a 2-power dude with haste. But since that floor is acceptable, and the ceiling is significantly higher, I think this will be a good cube inclusion overall.
Verdict: I think the 2-drops in most small- to medium-sized cubes are more competitive. But red’s 2cc creatures aren’t stellar for most larger cubes. I think this is worth testing in the 540 range, and certainly worth including into the 630-720 sizes.
Gilded Goose
A hybrid mana dork/life engine.
What I Like: 1cc creatures that can fix for any color of mana are incredibly valuable. And while the mana ramp isn’t repeatable, it can be recharged, and the goose provides some additional value as well. Being able to block 1-power attackers isn’t irrelevant, especially since the goose has flying and can block tokens like Thopters and Spirits. Being able to repeatedly churn out food isn’t irrelevant either. Against some aggressive decks, the goose’s food can run away with the game. If every time you have free mana available throughout your curve you just generate extra food instead of wasting unspent mana, it’s not hard to amass like 3-5 food over the course of a game. And when the opponent is trying to close out the game, having an extra 9-15 life to push through is no joke. Additionally decks that may have use for random artifacts will like having an engine on the table that can create them at will. Lastly, the old adage of “bolt the bird” certainly applies in this case; decks playing Bolt can’t afford to let you ramp and/or amass food, so the goose is a must kill card. But unlike other mana dorks, if the goose gets bolted, it leaves a food token behind, which as I said, is not an irrelevant upside against lightning bolt decks.
What I Don't Like: Obviously not being a repeatable mana effect is going to make this worse than a lot of other mana dorks, especially if the mana-fixing isn’t relevant for your curve. Food is relatively expensive to make and activate, so outside of the matchups where it’s super relevant, the food engine won’t be particularly backbreaking.
Verdict: I think medium- to large-sized cubes will be more than happy to experiment with an additional mana dork-type creature that can fix mana of any color. I would play this at the 630-720 range for sure, and It may very well be worth testing at smaller sizes as well.
Castle Embereth
A red utility land.
What I Like: Like all the lands from this cycle, the low opportunity cost allows this to be inserted into decks that might not otherwise be able to find room for a similar effect. Go wide aggro decks and token decks are happy to have access to anthem-type effects, but most of the red ones aren’t worth dedicating a spell slot to. Not only can Castle Embereth be used to increase your damage output and prevent over-extension, but simply the threat of activation can make combat a disaster for the opponent. It threatens to allow all your tokens and small bodies to trade up in combat, making attacking and blocking decisions harder on the opponent. And unlike battle cry triggers and oriflamme effects, the Castle can be used to bolster your blockers; an upside that has proven to be more and more relevant for tokens. Additionally, red has historically had the hardest time finding powerful lands to maindeck in the cube; red will be happy to have access to a card that can apply extra pressure that doesn’t cost a card.
What I Don't Like: Tapping 4 mana for a battle cry trigger is not a low cost, and if red is a tertiary color in your token deck, the Castle is awfully red-heavy to be reliable.
Verdict: I think this is the best red-aligned utility land for cubes, and red has organically evolved into a color with a lot of token support. It’s just the right mix of useful, fitting and it has a low enough opportunity cost that it’s worthwhile to try out. I would happily play this in the 630+ range for sure, and might be worth some extended testing in cubes that are smaller too.
The Royal Scions
A solid Izzet ‘walker.
What I Like: This is a splashable 3cc planeswalker that can immediately tick up to 6 loyalty in two different useful ways. The first ability is a loot trigger; something that’s always welcome in the cube, as it provides valuable card selection and can be used to feed the graveyard. The middle ability is more narrow, but when you provide +2/+0, first strike and trample to an attacker, even the most mundane creatures become significant threats. The ultimate is both achievable and devastating, drawing 4 cards is insane value on a card that only costs 3 mana, and the added damage is not insignificant. Reanimator, the artifact.dec and even the spells deck can take advantage of the looting engine, and tempo decks really benefit from the additional pressure the middle ability provides.
What I Don't Like: TRS will have a hard time defending itself, since the middle ability making your creatures such dominant attackers makes keeping creatures back on defense a bad idea; the opponent will be pigeonholed into attacking down the ‘walker. And for Izzet sections that are sculpted around cards that support specific strategies, TRS becomes a weaker option since outside of creature-heavy tempo shells, it’s largely just a bad Dack Fayden.
Verdict: If you have an Izzet slot open for a card that’s not engineered to support a specific deck, The Royal Scions should probably fill it. 3 mana, splashable cost, 6 loyalty, repeatable looting …you kinda have to hunt for an excuse not to play it. Card’s gonna be good. I know I could fund room for this in a smaller cube if I was supporting fewer combos and archetypes that eat up real estate in the Izzet section. This could easily be a top 4 or 5 card in that guild, if you have the room available. I’ll be playing this in my cube, and I think most cubes that are 630 or bigger will likely have room; perhaps smaller sizes too depending on what decks you task your Izzet spells to help support.
Questing Beast
A 4cc green creature with …text.
What I Like: A 4/4 for 4 mana used to be accompanied with a drawback in order to have it not be overpowered. This Beast has 6 upsides. SIX. It has haste, so it can at least chip in there for some damage in case the opponent has sorcery-speed removal. It has vigilance so that it provides value on both offense and defense. It has deathtouch so that it will trade up in combat at the very least. It has a strong evasive ability because small creatures can’t block it. It stops damage from being prevented, so protection can’t be used defensively to chump block your creatures with impunity. AND, if it connects, it gets to damage both the opponent and one of their ‘walkers …essentially attacking for 8 when they have a planeswalker in play. It makes for a good curve-topper for aggro since you can apply pressure to both the opponent and a ‘walker simultaneously, and it’s pretty beastly in a midrange mirror where the stat monster will dominate combat.
What I Don't Like: Despite all the abilities and the great power/cost ratio, it’s still just a stat monster. It doesn’t support any specific decks, and it’s not guaranteed to be anything more than just a critter. It doesn’t help green midrange decks in their worst matchups, since the Questing Beast isn’t anything special against threat-light control decks. It’s just a good monster, and that’s it.
Verdict: Green’s 4cc creatures aren’t spectacular, and the Beast has a lot of relevant game text. I wouldn’t be surprised to see it in a lot of cube lists. Personally, I think it’s relegated to medium-sized cubes at best, and should land somewhere in the 540-630 range in terms of cubeb sizes that can comfortably find room for it. Perhaps smaller if green midrange creature decks is all green does in your cube.
Once Upon a Time
A very good green card selection spell.
What I Like: Digging 5 cards deep is a lot. Casting spells for free is good. Instants are good. In any deck that: A) has enough targets for the spell to be reliable, and B) isn’t built around a critical spell OUAT would force you to bottom …this spell is almost an auto-include in that deck. Let’s take a quick look at some of the math. In a deck with 17 lands and 15 creatures (not unreasonable for typical green decks) you only have 7 other “misses” for OUAT. When played for free, 35% of the time the spell is played you’ll hit on all 5 reveals. Which is absolutely disgusting. About 79% of the time, you’ll be able to select from at least 4 cards, making this a functional free Impulse. OUAT should be at least an Anticipate ~97% of the time, which is a level of reliability I’m pretty comfortable with. When you pay 2 mana for the effect, I’m relatively certain the card would be average quality. A target-restrictive Impulse is something green decks would play, but not be stoked with. But once you factor in casting the card for free, it gets really powerful. It should be cast for free pretty often. Considering being on the draw, missing 1-drops, having T1 ETBT lands and mulligans, I would expect OUAT to be free approximately half the time it’s cast. When it’s a 0-mana Anticipate, the card will be great. When it’s a free Impulse, the card is busted. But when you get a 0-mana instant-speed cantrip that digs 5 cards deep, it’s downright insane.
What I Don't Like: I’ve learned over the years that target-restricted effects like this are narrower than they appear at first glance. For generic creature decks, they’re all fantastic. But green has evolved into contributing to a lot of different strategies. And in decks where you can’t afford to bottom critical spells the deck’s built around, it makes effects like this more and more narrow.
Verdict: I’ve been burned in the past by effects like this, but I want to give Once Upon a Time the benefit of the doubt because casting free spells is just too good to pass up. I suggest trying this card out if it’s appealing to you and your playgroup, but I ultimately expect the deck restrictions to relegate this to medium- to large-sized cubes as time goes on. I hope to be proven wrong, because I love the flavor of the card and I’d be stoked to have another staple green spell.
Rankle, Master of Pranks
A good black engine creature.
What I Like: It’s a 3-power creature with flying and haste that has three separate ways to generate an advantage. At face value, each option is a symmetrical effect. But black has ways to make each of the effects asymmetrical in your favor. And you can choose any number of the triggers you want! Mutual discard is rarely mutual for black, as there are a ton of ways for black to use cards from your own graveyard, especially combined with some of the more expensive reanimation effects like Living Death and the 5cc Liliana. The creature sacrificing effect can be used to your advantage when you have cheap recursive creatures or tokens out. When you’re sacrificing a Bloodghast or an Ophiomancer token and your opponent is sacrificing a creature they invested mana and cards into, the effect is hardly symmetrical. It can be abused in similar ways to Braids and Smokestack. And lastly, even the pay to draw effect isn’t always as symmetrical as it seems. When the opponent is at a low life total, they can’t afford to pay the life like you can. When they’re having a hard time casting spells and you can crank out 2+ spells a turn, mutual draw ceases to be mutually beneficial. And I can’t wait to bash in with Prankle when I have a Notion Thief in play.
What I Don't Like: It’s a 4cc engine card that dies to Lightning Bolt. Luckily the haste will be able to outmaneuver some of the fragility, but it’s still an issue to keep an eye on.
Verdict: If your cube has ways to make the mutual sacrifice or the mutual discard asymmetrical, see if you can find room for Rankle somewhere in your black section. I think there are just so many ways to take advantage of the triggers that it’ll be hard for it to whiff. This is an easy include at 540, and I’d likely test it at 450 too.
Charming Prince
A great new ETB abuse enabler!
What I Like: I was this close to adding Lone Missionary back into my cube not that long ago because I wanted a 2cc creature with 2-power and an useful ETB trigger. In matchup where the lifegain matters, being able to trade with an opponent’s beater and gain 3 life is still substantial. In other matchups, scry 2 is a great trigger to add onto your bear in the early game. And the ability to flicker another creature you own can give you back a stolen creature or get a more powerful ETB trigger off of his resolution. It basically has every ETB trigger that’s attached to a creature you own in addition to the two that it has itself. It’s both a target and an enabler for the blink/bounce shenanigans decks.
What I Don't Like: White’s 2cc creatures are relatively competitive in smaller cubes, and it might be hard to find room for the Prince outside of medium-sized builds.
Verdict: I really like the Prince and I’d be testing it at 450 for sure, and definitely playing it at 540 or anything bigger. It’s a surprising amount of value and flexibility for such a small investment.
Brazen Borrower
A fantastic blue tempo creature.
What I Like: The best way I can look at this card is like an Into the Roil variant. But instead of having to pay 2 mana to draw a card, you pay 0 mana to draw a 3-power flying flash creature. You always get the card parity even when you cast it in 2-mana mode, and that’s just great. The ability to split up this series of effects between multiple turns (both being playable at instant speed) is just insanely good.
What I Don't Like: You can’t target your own permanents with it, which will occasionally be relevant, and the creature can’t block, making it slightly worse for control. And the competition in blue is so insane that finding cuts in smaller cubes is very hard.
Verdict: This is really a spectacular creature, and the only reason it’s not a windmill slam into every cube and the best card from the set is the competition in blue. It’s really more of a tempo card than anything, and small cubes already have Clique and Nemesis in this role. If you can find room, do so. I think this is a card that deserves extended testing at 450 and should go into 540+ sized cubes immediately. Hell, even smaller cubes might be able to justify it if they’re playing some of the comparable effects still. I’d snap cut one of the Into the Roil variants for this card, for example. Unpowered lists with a focus on tempo may have room for this card all the way down to 360.
Embereth Shieldbreaker
A great Manic Vandal variant.
What I Like: It is so hard to find room for 1cc answers to powerful artifacts, and usually you can’t because they’re either too limited on targets or they’re too fair. Shieldbreaker can be played on T1 in powered lists to shatter Moxen, Sol Rings and Mana Vaults/Crypts before they dominate the game, and it doesn’t even cost you a full card to do so. The creature is unimpressive, but a free 2-power creature for 2 mana is exactly the kind of upside I was looking for in order to be able to play 1cc answers to busted artifacts. This is one of the better shatter variants available if your cube is powered and contains a bunch of broken, cheap, must-answer artifacts.
What I Don't Like: In unpowered cubes, the need for the cheap cost to be split off from the body goes way down and this will often play like a harder-to-cast Manic Vandal. Still good, but not nearly as impressive.
Verdict: I think this card is fantastic. In a powered cube, I would play this all the way down to 360; usually it costs you a whole card to shatter something for one mana. In an unpowered cube, this is nowhere near as exciting, and I would play the card at 450 or so instead.
Fabled Passage
A better Evolving Wilds!
What I Like: Well, if you like Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse, you’re gonna love this card. The ability to allow your T4+ land to enter untapped is no small upside either; T4 plays are critical for midrange and control decks, so the land entering untapped is substantial.
What I Don't Like: It makes me kind of sad that Wilds/Expanse have been relegated to the “strictly worse than a better card” status, but there’s nothing not to like about Fabled Passage.
Verdict: This card will be run instead of or in addition to Wilds/Expanse if they were being run before. And some cubes that weren’t running the other ones will like Passage well enough to run it. Some 360-card cubes played Wilds/Expanse and other folks didn’t run them until 450+ sized cubes. Either way, this will fall into the 350-450 range too, and should likely be played in most cubes. Shuffling, thinning and mana fixing are always welcome, and this adds to the list of lands that are good with the Crucible/Loam effects out there.
Murderous Rider
A Hero’s Downfall variant with a body strapped to it.
What I Like: 2 life is a relatively low cost to pay to strap a 2/3 lifelinking “flashback” body to a Hero’s Downfall. Like Downfall, the removal mode is instant speed, and a 2/3 body with lifelink is a valuable thing for a lot of black decks to have access to. It’s reminiscent of Never // Return, but the front half is an instant and the back half is both cheaper and more powerful.
What I Don't Like: If I get stuck in one of those weird spots where I don’t have a target for the removal spell but desperately need to apply pressure with the creature side of the card, it will feel terrible casting this as a French vanilla 2/3 and wasting the Downfall effect entirely. But really, there’s not much to dislike about the card.
Verdict: This card belongs at 360, IMO. It’s a solid spell and a useful creature rolled up into one nice value package. One of the better targeted removal spells in black.
Bonecrusher Giant
A burn spell that draws you a great free creature.
What I Like: Compare the spell half of Bonecrusher Giant to red’s other 2cc burn spells. Would you trade 1 point of damage to draw a free giant? Would you trade scry 2 to draw a free giant? I would, in a heartbeat. It’s a free card! And the creature’s good too. A 4/3 with an upside for 2R is a good deal, and that comes strapped to a useful burn spell. Being able to have Bonecrusher Giant provide your curve with a solid T2 play and a good T3 beater is no joke. And the damage prevention has applications too, since it can circumvent protections in combat when you’re on the beatdown. Your opponent uses their Mother of Runes to safely block with another creature, and you can play Stomp to kill the mom and allow the no damage prevention clause to stop the pro:red from saving the other blocker. Both modes are splashable, both modes are relevant, and they can be played back-to-back on curve. Sign me up.
What I Don't Like: There’s nothing else I can really add to this card without the request being insanely greedy. Maybe if the Giant was also a Warrior? IDK.
Verdict: This card is great. Honestly, it might be the 2nd best 2cc noncreature spell in red, behind only Abrade. I think that “drawing” the free Giant is a far more significant upside than any of the other advantages on any of the other burn spells. I would slam this into even the smallest of cubes without hesitation.
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A few other thoughts I had from my own games and games I saw around me.
1) The Royal Scions were kind of disappointing. Maybe it was just their deck, but I never even felt the need to attack the scions. I mean a PW only counts as +X life where X is the PW's loyalty when people can't disregard the PW. If the Scions fold to a limited aggro deck so easily, forget cube.
Also, there is SO much space in terms of power level between a loot and a Faithless Looting +1 as with Dack Fayden. I saw the Scions win one game through the combination of flying and the first strike/power boost so this may still be a good contender for tempo....my first look at this card in action makes me lean towards this card being the 3rd best Izzet walker behind Dack Fayden, and even Saheeli, Sublime Artificer.
2) Rankle, Master of Pranks was disgusting. I saw this card win many games around me. Similar story with Questing Beast....sick.
Onto your list!
1) I'm curious where you would stack Archon against White's other non-Sun Titan 6 drops. Particularly, Linvala, the Preserver, Yosei, the Morning Star, and whatever else you feel belongs in the conversation. I'd like to include a 2nd white 6-drop as part of my expansion, but I'm not sure where I should go or if I should just wait even....
2) New Garruk or Vraska, Relic Seeker? As part of my expansion I want Golgari to have a walker, but I think people are split pretty evenly on which is better.
3) I think Oko should be much higher, but you yourself acknowledge it could be a 360 card for some people even if it wasn't worth cutting a roleplayer in Simic for you. I'm more than ready to dump Trygon Predator, but the work Frilled Mystic has done in standard has given me lots of pause over cutting Mystic Snake as I once considered.
4) I'm waiting on The Great Henge. It's tough though because if it starts making waves in cube, it likely will in standard too and will cost a mint.
5)Would it have been too busted for the Goose not to have to tap for its final ability? Then its food creation ability could also allow it to ramp/fix for two if you were willing to invest two turns of mana into it.... It wasn't particularly impressive even in limited where food has a lot more application.
6) Castle Embereth finally allows me to run a utility land in each color without having to run something embarrassing for red.
7) I too hope Once Upon a Time is the real deal. Let's hope that's no fairy tale.
8) The rest of your top 7 (except the Shieldbreaker) are no-brainers. It varies by list, whether you are powered, and how strong your artifact support is, but I don't really need additional artifact hate beyond Abrade, and Goblin Cratermaker (Also Fiery Confluence).
Great write-up and a wonderful set overall. Lots of great things for everyone here.
Wish I could have cubed more past couple weeks, but have been jamming standard past few days and Murderous rider/Bonecrusher giant have both been even better than I expected (and I expected a lot).
Card advantage is more important in standard than in cube, and mana-efficiency slightly less so, but still think the cards should be incredible.
Oko has been borderline ban-worthy broken though.. Know you mentioned in your article that it could be all-star in standard but not as much in cube, and I'm not sure that's true. Think you may be underestimating the Pongify mode as a way to deal with big creatures and how important that is. Because it's not destroy, it even gets around indestructible/death value creatures like the eldrazi, blightsteel, wurmcoil etc.
Green blue should be able to deal with the 3/3's better than most color combinations.
I do think it will be better in standard, due to the food interactions, but man, I can't imagine not testing it given how absurd it's been. It has a legit shot at being #1 simic card in a vacuum. You do make a good point about good stuff vs synergy roleplayers.
Last Updated 02/07/24
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@BlackWaltz3: 1) I think Archon is the likely 2nd best white 6-drop. 2) I like Garruk more than Vraska. 3) Oko is very good, and should be in pretty much every cube that doesn't need the slots for other specific archetype support cards. 4) I would also wait on the Henge unless you can use it for persist support in addition to green ramp. 5) Yes, the Goose needs to tap for all of its abilities in order to not be absurd. 6) I think the red Castle will play really well. 7) The math supports OUaT in theory ...I hope it holds up in practice. 8) I can't imagine a powered cube not wanting playable 1cc artifact removal that only costs you 1/2 a card. I think you're undervaluing Shieldbbreaker for powered lists.
@LucidVision: Oko is busted, and you should probbably be cubing it unless all of your other Simic cards are being utilized for specific archetypes.
..........
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You're correct about Oko; it doesn't shine in any specific deck, it just has high loyalty and cheap abilities that grind out incremental advantages and is just generally annoying. It's one of the best generically powerful cards, but it doesn't support a specific strategy in cube, which was my biggest strike against it. All of my Simic choices are specific to certain decks, so it's hard to cut one for a generic goodstuff card, even when it's as powerful and obnoxious as Oko.
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I think you misunderstood what I was saying. I agree that for powered lists it gets there. My list is unpowered and not to big on the artifacts matter theme so this is a miss for me.
Edit: This write-up also really accentuates what a strong set this is. I'm looking at #20 and thinking I might test it and my list is only going to be 500 cards deep. How many sets can I say that for?
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Great review as always!
Great review as always!
Thanks. Glad you guys liked it!
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Minor typo in the verdict section for Fabled Passage where you typed 350 instead of 360.
Cheers
Cheers, and happy cubing.
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Thank for your review. Good stuff.
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