This is my 33rd 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.
Ikoria is a set that introduces a few new keywords to the cube in addition to revisiting a popular classic. It’s a set that has cards for every kind of cube designer. There’s a lot of big splashy monsters and spells as well as some powerful utility cards. I expect cubes of all sizes and design philosophies to find a handful of new favorites from this set.
I wanted to take a moment before the individual card discussion to talk about the Companion keyword. Here’s how it works:
“There are ten companions in Ikoria, each one a legendary creature whose companion ability lists a deck-building rule. If your starting deck follows that rule, then the legendary creature can serve as your chosen companion.
You can have up to one chosen companion for each game. That chosen companion doesn't start in your main deck. Rather, it's a card in your sideboard. (If you're playing casually without sideboards, it's just in your collection outside the game. All the same rules apply to it.) This means it doesn't count as a card toward meeting the minimum deck size in the format you're playing, but in Constructed formats, it is one of your fifteen sideboard cards. Just before the game begins, reveal your chosen companion to all players. Once during the game, you may cast your chosen companion from your sideboard. Doing so follows all the normal rules for casting a creature spell, so do so only during your main phase.
Casting your chosen companion brings it onto the game for good. The spell will go on the stack. If it resolves, it will enter the battlefield under your control (yay!). If it's countered, it will go to your graveyard (boo!). Once it's in the game, it can be exiled, go back to your hand, be shuffled into your library, etc. It won't return to your sideboard until the game ends.
Your companion's deckbuilding rule applies only to your starting deck, which is the deck you begin play with each game. It won't consider any cards in your sideboard, so those cards don't have to follow the deck-building rule. Additionally, you can just ignore the deck-building rule and include creature cards with companion in your main deck. This is especially relevant to formats like Booster Draft, where following the deck-building rule may not be possible. But if you can pull it off, glory awaits.”
The mechanic itself is powerful. The ability to cast a card from outside the game has far-reaching applications in how they contribute to the deck. At the very least, it gives you access to a free card, a free threat, and a free drop in your curve somewhere. This means they will impact every game where they’re revealed; even if they’re never cast. The opponent might make decisions based on the reveal. Your deckbuilding is changed in multiple ways (not only do you have to build to meet the design restrictions, but it also lowers the importance of filling in other cards in their spot in the curve; having guaranteed access to a 3cc companion means you don’t need to focus as much on the 3cc creature slot when drafting/deckbuilding, for example). Plus, they don’t have to be played as companions. They can simply be played as creatures for their hybrid nature, stats and special abilities. Early on in the draft, they’re more likely to be taken and used as companions. Later in the draft, when their companion restriction is less likely to be met, they can still be drafted and played at face-value. With that being said, I think they’re all good, and they might very well all be considered viable depending on how each playgroup considers them to be. Casting creatures from your sideboard is a broken thing to be able to do, plain and simple. If the condition can be satisfied, what you give up will likely be less impactful than what you get access too. The mechanic itself is truly savage.
What I Like: If you support a humans-matters theme, there’s a good chance that the General will be able to serve as a lord that impacts most (if not every) other creature in your deck. Strapped to a 3/3, that’s a great baseline. Kind of like an easier-to-cast Benalish Marshal with other upsides. It also provides maindeck graveyard hate (which is hard to come by) and it also provides you with a tool to cash-in a couple of outclassed cheap bodies to remove a big monster off the board; this can be a big advantage for decks loaded with small creatures.
What I Don't Like: Without a humans theme, this just doesn’t get there. It really needs to boost up most/all of the other creatures in your deck to be worthwhile. And in smaller cubes, the Orzhov section is pretty tight.
Verdict: Larger cubes with an open Orzhov slot that also support humans decks will likely get some good mileage out of the General. I’ll be keeping my eye on my freshly-changed Orzhov section for a potential future spot for this guy. In other cases, it’s a safe pass.
What I Like: This card can serve as both a Curiosity with flash or a Stealer of Secrets with flash, depending on which effect is more valuable in your given game state. It can play almost a Ninja of the Deep Hours role flashing in on an unblocked attacker to draw a card. Because the O’Squidian has flash, you can mutate onto whichever creature is unblocked to guarantee your draw. Unlike other cards in this vein though, the Octopus can also just be flashed in at the end of an opponent’s turn and be ready to attack for value on your turn. I like this card for cubes more than any of the other Curiosity effects or Thief creatures because it can be either card, depending on what you need. It may also randomly pump up a 1-power creature (like a Spirit token, for example) to add both damage and draw to the race.
What I Don't Like: Blue is a really tight color, and both the 3cc creature section and the 2cc spell section are among the tightest in the cube. This would’ve been a complete bomb if it was a 2/3 because of the combat implications it could have as a flashed-in mutate creature boosting toughness to eat Lions, Pikers and Bears.
Verdict: I couldn’t find a cut I like for the card, but I put some reps in with it in practice and the card’s good. It’s on my radar at 720 for sure, and if you’re heavy on both tempo and flash strategies, this critter is worth some close examination for your cube.
What I Like: Cycling is a great card to add on to artifact and enchantment removal, because if you’re ever lacking for meaningful targets, you can always cycle it away. Maindeckable artifact removal is always at a premium (especially in unpowered cubes) and the ability to blast small to medium-sized fliers is a nice added mode to have on such a card.
What I Don't Like: Despite not having cycling, I think Abrade is a lot better. In my cube, for example, Abrade can kill ~220 creatures with toughness <4. Shredded Sails has ~40 targets with flying and toughness <5. Cycling is great on this kind of effect, but it doesn’t make up for missing 180 targets, IMO. At least not in a powered cube where you’re rarely lacking in artifact targets too.
Verdict: This is a good card. Shatter, draw a card, blast a cheap flying creature is a nice set of modal abilities. I think Sails can compete as a top-tier artifact removal spell for medium- to large-sized unpowered cubes and a middle-tier shatter effect for larger powered lists. It missed the cut for me at 720 with the first wave of updates from this set, but I’ll be keeping my eye on it for a potential future inclusion; I think the card is good.
What I Like: In a deck with enough sources of non-land mana, the ceiling on Kinnan is pretty high. With moxes, rocks and early elves, it can pay for itself quickly and provide a lot of ramp for a low cost. With one other mana producer out, it serves as a 2-mana ramp creature, which is a decent average-case expectation. With multiple mana producers in play, it can provide a ton of additional mana for cheap, which is obviously what the goal will try to be. When this thing essentially provides 2+ extra mana, it’s extremely valuable and does something that few other cards can do. It also serves as its own mana sink too, giving you something to do with all your extra mana if it gets going. Lastly, it provides infinite mana with Basalt Monolith; once it taps for 4 mana, it makes all the colorless mana you can use.
What I Don't Like: Most of Kinnan’s value will be wrapped up in the ramp ability, and it doesn’t do much on its own. Without other non-land sources of mana, it’s just a multicolored bear with an expensive activated ability. Whether through poor draws, disruption and/or removal, you might often face situations where Kinnan does little to nothing for you.
Verdict: Simic went from a barren wasteland to a guild flush with amazing and important cards really quickly. Not only is it hard to find room for Kinnan in that section now, Kinnan also has to overcome its own shortcomings to earn a spot. This may be an example of a card that gets better in smaller, tighter lists. The consistency of pairing this card with moxes, rocks and elves is such a critical part of its evaluation that it may be best suited in environments with the highest concentration of those cards. If the card appeals to you, you can find room for it, and it is surrounded by enough help, I think it can get there. But it’s a miss for me during my first wave of Ikoria inclusions.
What I Like: Companion is busted. Plain and simple. This is not an easy companion restriction to meet in the average cube deck because the cube is loaded with powerful double-color cards. This card would need to be taken early and drafted around in order to make work. With that said, if you can draft a 3- or 4-color midrange goodstuff deck where every card has splashable mana costs, this card is fantastic. It’s a free 5/5 for 5 with a very easy casting cost, and the mana ability would allow you to cast pretty much every card in any deck that can run it.
What I Don't Like: If you get access to Jegantha early in the draft, I think it can work. But once you’re into mid/late pack 2, this ship has probably sailed. And there probably aren’t a ton of decks that are in the market for a ramping 5/5 for 5 in your maindeck, barring some issues befalling you in the draft.
Verdict: Expect to see this in constructed. I think this is harder to use in the cube, but it has a powerful payoff if the restriction can be mitigated. There are plenty of amazing cards with splashable costs, and when you prioritize them and good mana, you can easily play 3- or 4-colors and have access to a good free 5-drop from your board. I’m watching this one closely, because I think it has some potential. But I don’t have enough testing reps in with it yet to have it in or out of my cube list with any confidence.
What I Like: Similarly to Shredded Sails, cycling is a great ability to have on Disenchant effects. This is everything I wanted Forsake the Worldly to be when it was printed. In unpowered lists, this is likely better than some of the creature variants that look to Shatter stuff when they enter the battlefield, since you’re never stranding cards in your hand without a meaningful target.
What I Don't Like: In powered cubes where your Manglehorn creatures almost always have something to hit, the value gained from them likely outweighs the flexibility you get from a card like Wilt.
Verdict: This is my favorite Naturalize effect for cubes. I like it more than the incidental graveyard hate or tucking-effects found on other popular variants. Cycling is always good. If you support Naturalize effects that aren’t strapped to creatures in your cube lists, I’d start with Wilt from now on. A slight miss for me given my current configuration, but a card I plan on having available to bring in at some point, it’s just a great card to have access to.
What I Like: The ceiling is insane on this card. If you can reliably attack with non-humans and reliably hit human creatures, this card has just about as big of an impact as you can have with a Boros 4cc creature threat. If you can snag Winota early in the draft and create the perfect creature blend for your build, she’ll likely outperform the vast majority of other 4cc permanents you could’ve drafted in its spot.
What I Don't Like: It can be tricky in this format to get it to work just right. You need an ideal mixture of human hits for the trigger, and (preferably cheap) non-human attackers to enable it. If you snag it later in the draft, this mixture might not be ideal, and your hit percentages start to struggle. If your deck winds up with all cheap humans and all expensive non-humans, it might not trigger on time and the impact will be less meaningful than something like Hero of Bladehold might provide instead. I think the one thing that bugs me the most is that Winota is a human itself, meaning that it can’t trigger on its own attacks. Without at least one non-human on the board that can profitably attack, this is a very mediocre 4-drop.
Verdict: There will be situations where this card feels beyond broken. There will be other situations where this is a multicolor 4/4 for 4 with no value and no immediate impact. For cube managers that prefer to base their inclusions on ceiling, this will be a slam-dunk. For those that value consistency, this will likely be a miss. I couldn’t find a cut in Boros that I like with my current configuration, so Winota will start my post-IKO cube list on the outside …hopefully waiting for an opportunity to jump in at some point.
What I Like: This is another card with a really high ceiling. If the opponent presents an early target and you have a cheap mana dork to mutate, Gemrazer’s an absolute beast. You go from having an Elf out to Naturalizing an early permanent and having a 4/4 trampling creature with reach on the battlefield. And if you find yourself in a situation where you don’t have a creature to mutate onto, you don’t have a Naturalize target and you’re missing a 4-drop from your curve you can always drop this as a 4/4 reach, trample for 4 mana.
What I Don't Like: There are windows where this card can be pretty mediocre. If you only have other medium-sized monsters to mutate onto, the effect can be pretty marginal. If you don’t have any other creatures in play, it’s barely playable. And unlike the other value Naturalize creatures in green, the mutate restriction makes you vulnerable to targeted removal later on. When your mutated critter eats a Dismember, you lose your whole mutated abomination, forfeiting the card advantage you get from your Reclamation Sage variants.
Verdict: Sometimes this card will feel busted. Other times, you’ll be longing for literally any other Naturalize effect. A bit swingy for my taste, since my green section is still focussed more on value than mid-game pressure. But depending on how green is constructed in your cube and what role it plays for you, Gemrazer can be a nice inclusion. It’s a current miss for me at 720, but just barely. It’s one of the cards I have my eye on closely.
What I Like: This card is primarily played for its discard->draw text, as it enables some really powerful plays in the cube. Every looting and rummaging effect is converted into card advantage. Cards that allow for multiple loots/rummages become insane card draw effects. Mass discard effects, like Forbid, Wheel of Fortune, Memory Jar, Lion's Eye Diamond and Firestorm unlock some serious synergies. Bomat Courier, Chandra Flamecaller …Balance; there’s a lot of ways to make this card do some nutty things. It provides a Squee, Goblin Nabob-esque effect, where it mitigates discard-based drawbacks. But unlike Squee, you can discard cards you want/need in your graveyard without giving up value, and the cards you draw are actually meaningful cards …not simply re-drawing a Squee. As was pointed out by @cubeoddity on Twitter, this is a non-flying Enigma Drake at its base, which is a reasonable floor to have in spell-heavy shells. Also, it provides some pseudo-protection from your opponent’s discard effects!
What I Don't Like: Unlike Squee, you have to cast this and it needs to survive in order to get the benefit from it, so it’s less consistent and more deck-specific as an engine for mitigating discard. And Rielle relies so heavily on her draw ability to be good, if you fail to pair her with a discard engine or big-time 1-shot effect, she’s insanely mediocre.
Verdict: I think Izzet is a stronger guild than most folks do, and even with a larger cube I’m struggling to find a cut I like for Rielle at the moment. But I think it’s my favorite cube card currently on the outside looking in with my current configuration. My guild sections are undergoing some significant changes with my upcoming update, so I’ll wait a while and see how everything settles down before making a final determination on whether or not Rielle makes the cut in my cube or not.
What I Like: I’ve used self-discarding monsters as reanimate targets before, and they can be used somewhat successfully as threats that way. None of them have ever been 11/11 trample creatures before. That’s a BIG creature to drop into your ‘yard on T2 and reanimate right away. It’s not as resilient or valuable as true reanimator targets are, but not needing a discard outlet will improve consistency and allow you to steal some games. It always replaces itself (thanks cycling!), it’s uncounterable, happens at instant speed, and you may even be able to use it as a combat trick on occasion; providing a trample counter to a chump-blocked creature. Despite being weak to targeted removal, an 11/11 trample is a lightning-fast clock that demands an immediate answer. For a reanimation target that doesn’t need a discard outlet to enable your line, it sure does force the “Do you have it? If not you die” phase of the game both early and reliably.
What I Don't Like: It’s a drag to spend T2 cycling this, and T3 reanimating this with a valuable reanimation spell just to have it get blasted by a Hero’s Downfall or something. Since it has no immediate impact and nothing to protect it from removal, it’s a pretty fragile reanimation target. Plus, I don’t know how much play this would see in other decks. It’s passively playable in fatty-cheating decks and super-ramp shells, but it’s never going to be great when the cycling/self-binning nature of the card isn’t putting in work for you.
Verdict: I can’t really replace a big monster for this card since it’s not a great ramp or fatty-cheating creature. I can’t really replace a utility spell for this card either, since most of those decks have no use for the big dumb monster or the trample counter. So I couldn’t find a card I really liked for it at the moment, but I’m going to continue to test it and watch for a potential spot.
What I Like: My cube has 233 non-land cards that can be used alongside this companion, in addition to every instant/sorcery in the cube. Initially I thought it would be too narrow, but there’s a ton of cards that can be maindecked still. In superfriends builds and 3-color midrange decks, I think it will be really easy to have access to this companion. It’s a hybrid-cost 3/3 for 3, which is a good baseline when you’re already getting a full card worth of value by simply having access to it, plus it has some blocking disruption which is nice. More importantly, it reduces the activation costs of all your activated abilities. There are a huge number of activated abilities in the cube that become great when they’re reduced by 1 mana, and become spectacular when they get reduced by 2 mana. I’ve been finding more and more of these abilities as I’ve been continuing to playtest Zirda. And most notably, Zirda goes infinite with both Grim Monolith and Basalt Monolith, providing infinite colorless mana with both. And when one of your combo cards is cast from your sideboard, it becomes insanely consistent.
What I Don't Like: Just like the other companions, this makes for a relatively poor pickup later in the draft because it becomes too difficult to build around. And outside of enabling combos, it probably won’t see much maindeck play.
Verdict: After seeing this in action, I needed to give it a spot in the cube. There’s a ton of interactions, powerful combos it enables, and it can be a true companion with minimal effort when drafted early. I’ll be using this as one of my Boros cards at 720, but I could see some smaller cubes being interested in it too, especially if superfriends decks are popular in your playgroup, where it’s companion inclusion is almost free.
What I Like: This is a very nice creature for decks that feature lots of cheap utility creatures and/or recursive bodies/tokens to mitigate the sacrifice cost. Getting expensive creatures will be costly, but as a toolbox enabler, it’ll be nice to search up and grab the right creatures at the right time. Perhaps even more importantly, this creature will have a great power/toughness-to-cost ratio. With just a few other creatures in the ‘yard, you can get access to a Tarmogoyf-esque body with a powerful activated ability. And the activated ability feeds the value you get from the body. You can use the ability to build a board, get access to some ETB triggers and fill the ‘yard, and once he’s a 5/5, you can start bashing face with it instead. It’s a good monster all around, but the cheap cost and the big body is the selling point for me. It can also snag combo creatures for you if you support those kinds of archetypes in the cube; allowing you to drop a redundant creature to go in and grab a critical combo element. Plus, the hybrid cost will expand the number of decks that can play it.
What I Don't Like: X+1 is an expensive cost for snagging bodies, as paying 4 mana, tapping this creature and sacrificing another creature is no small cost for snagging a Reclamation Sage. Especially since this has to be done as a Sorcery. There will be times where it simply feels like the combination of costs is too high for the effect you get from it, and it will be slow and expensive if you’re using it exclusively as an engine card.
Verdict: I originally started testing it for the activated ability. What turned out to be more impressive was the oversized cheap hybrid body. This was a 2-mana 6/6 once during a testing game as a late-game topdeck. I’ll be playing this as one of the cards in my Golgari guild section at 720, but I think I’d cube this card in smaller cubes too, if you can find the room. Golgari has a lot of great removal available to it, but this is one of the better non-removal options available to the guild.
What I Like: The Titan Ape provides green with a very welcome removal effect, since the Ape’s ETB trigger should be able to effectively remove most creatures on the board at that time in the game. If you get to untap, Kogla can represent even more value, since every attack trigger can destroy one of your opponent’s artifacts or enchantments. Lastly, Kogla can protect itself with the human-bounce clause; an effect that makes it temporarily indestructible. What I aim to do with Kogla is pairing it with humans that have enters the battlefield triggers, bouncing cards like Palace Jailer, Eternal Witness, Blade Splicer and Charming Prince for extra value (thanks to steve_man, Rosy Dumplings, Goodking & @robertcraigiii for pointing these interactions out, something I initially overlooked).
What I Don't Like: The lack of trample makes this creature easier to keep at bay than other big green finishers in the past. The ETB fight trigger helps mitigate this a bit, but other giant green finishers don’t get stonewalled by tokens like Kogla does.
Verdict: I think this is going to prove to be one of green’s premier 6cc creatures. Primeval Titan is better if you support super ramp and land strategies. Carnage Tyrant is better at being a consistent and reliable control killer and trampling win condition. Great Oak Guardian is better for flash decks, go-wide strategies and Kiki/Twin combo decks. Other than those three cards, I think Kogla is the best 6cc creature out there. Depending on how you run your cube, this might range anywhere from the 4th best green 6-drop of all time to the best green 6-drop of all time. I’d pretty much auto-include this into lists that are at least 630 cards in size or more, and perhaps even smaller depending on what kinds of big green strategies you want to enable.
What I Like: I want to thank @rcsaxe and @Zolthux for championing for this card. It looked okay to me at first glance, but the value in this card really comes almost exclusively from the cycling trigger. It will range somewhere between approximately a Cloudkin Seer and a Commence the Endgame in terms of your expected rate of return, but it has so many applications in different parts of the curve it’s crazy. It can be emergency cycled for 2 mana when desperately digging for a 3rd land. It can be cycled at 3 mana to kill off a Lion or Piker in combat and draw a card (a clean uncounterable 2-for-1 that impacts the board). It can be cycled at 4 mana for an instant-speed, uncounterable 2/2 flying creature that draws a card. It can be cycled at 5 mana to make a 3/3 flying creature during the opponent’s combat step; eating a Bear, drawing a card and leaving you with a useful body (still uncounterable and instant-speed of course). And at 6 or 7 mana, you can get a 4/4 or 5/5 flying creature that draws a card, is uncounterable, and has flash. That level of scalability provides so many options to its caster, it’s crazy. And the hardcast mode isn’t complete flavor text either. If you can follow this up with a chain of spells, it can make a pretty scary army. Specifically with something like Time Spiral, or free spells like Force of Will and Fireblast it looks like it can have some applications there. But I think the bread-and-butter of this card is the 4U mode. Eat an opponent’s attacker in combat, get a 3/3 flying creature and draw a card. Clean 3-for-1 that impacts the board. As an uncounterable instant to boot. It may be important to note that the 2cc cycling mode still creates a 0/0 shark, so if you have an anthem effect out or one of the +1/+1 counter-granting creatures in play, you might be able to keep the shark.
What I Don't Like: I wish the hardcast mode was better. If it cost 5 mana instead of 6 I think it would unlock a huge range of potential plays that would be really exciting. Also, since it’s not actually cast, there’s no spells matters benefit to the cycling mode. And unlike other value/draw creatures (like Mulldrifter and Seer) I can’t bounce/flicker/blink/copy or otherwise abuse this card as a repeatable source of value …and those kinds of cards gain a ton of value from their abusability.
Verdict: Whether you call this Sharknado or Decree of Jawstice (my personal favorite) you can’t really go wrong. I think this card should be a relatively easy include a 630, and is something that folks with 450- and 540-card cubes should be keeping their eyes on too. It’s a good card with a lot of value in multiple places in the curve.
What I Like: I’ve enjoyed the current set of allied cycling dual lands in the cube. The ability to cycle a land when you’re flooded is great; exchanging potentially excess land for valuable gas is really nice. Being fetchable because of the basic land types they have is also clutch (as well as contributing to basic land types matters cards like Rofellos and Vedalken Shackles and the like). These new lands are even better! Fixing for 3 colors of mana, being fetchable by 9/10 fetch lands and still having cycling …so good. Cycling for 3 is more expensive than cycling for 2, but getting access to the 3rd color more than makes up for it; especially considering that these lands don’t usually get cycled unless you’re flooded in the late game, and the extra mana won’t matter as much then. Entering tapped can be an issue, but as some of Magic’s greats have said, it’s better to cast your spell a turn late than not be able to cast it at all.
What I Don't Like: Entering the battlefield tapped is a real drawback, and I wish we had a full cycle available. It’s a bummer for some three-color combinations to have better fixing available to them than others. Not enough of a reason to exclude them, IMO, but definitely a drag.
Verdict: These are going to be an OCD nightmare for a lot of cube managers, since we only have the wedge cycle available, and they’re 3-color identifying cards. But if you can find room for these and are okay with the incomplete cycle, I think they should go in. Fetchable tri-lands that also have cycling aren’t something to be overlooked. I’m going to happily be playing them, and I think I’d be able to find room in most cubes that are in the 540-to 630-range. Maybe even smaller considering how powerful their interaction with the fetches is. As an aside, if you’re not playing the Mirage fetches in your larger-sized cubes, now’s a great time to try them out again. I think they’re great, and these will only make them stronger. Slower, but strong, consistent fixing.
What I Like: This is a good piece of removal. This has a similar number of targets that it can kill outright to cards like Go for the Throat, Doom Blade, Ultimate Price, etc. except it still has utility against the targets it misses. Most of the time, your Doom Blade is a dead card against black creatures. But with Heartless Act still has value against creatures it can’t kill outright (and might actually still kill them in some instances!). And unlike a card like Doom Blade (which might be a dead card against a huge number of creatures in the same deck) you aren’t likely to run into an entire deck full of cards it can’t kill.
What I Don't Like: Terror variants have lost some of their luster over the years, and I don’t play very many even in my larger cube. This is one of the better ones, but it’s still a removal spell with a limited range of targets it can hit.
Verdict: This is really similar in powerlevel to a card like Go for the Throat. I plan on testing it as my primary Terror variant in my cube, and I would suggest that folks test this out and see how it plays in comparison to whatever 2cc removal spell you’re playing in your black section. I think this is a card that can easily settle as a 540+ playable, even if it’s not the absolute best card at its job. It if turns out to be better than GftT and friends, it might become a commonly found card in even the smallest of cubes.
What I Like: This is a good Magic card. As an aggro curve-topper, it can make your entire army removal/wrath proof. As a midrange value creature, it can make your ETB critters re-trigger when they die and come back. And the Broodmoth is also a combo enabler in the cube too, functioning in the persist combo archetype to create an infinite loop with any non-flying persist creature and a sacrifice outlet. This will be fun with Shriekmaw! It reminds me of everything that I wanted Nightmare Shepherd to be for the cube, except this bypasses all the problems. It only works with non-flying creatures, but it doesn’t exile the creature, it’s not reduced to a 1/1, it enables persist combos, and it can’t be disenchanted.
What I Don't Like: People are going to forget the non-flying clause and be expecting triggers to happen that never do. Can’t wait to see how many problems that’s going to cause at the table.
Verdict: Good on its own, good with synergy, and good when supporting combo strategies too. That makes it a clear winner in my book. I look forward to playing this in a wide variety of cube shells to great success. I would look to include this in 540+ card cubes for sure, and perhaps even at 450 if you can find some room to test it out.
What I Like: Vivien has a powerful suite of abilities that will equate to a lot of card advantage being generated over a typical game. The static ability is awesome, and casting creatures for free off the top of your library is a strong thing to be able to do. Especially if you can combine it with some library manipulation, Jace, Sylvan, Top, Rack, etc. will allow you to turn the static ability alone into a massive card advantage engine. Vivien’s {+1} ability produces customizable 3/3 French vanilla bodies, which can be selected to fit the need of the game in question. On the beatdown? Give ‘em trample. In a race? Give ‘em vigilance. On your back foot? Give ‘em reach. The ability is worth a full card each turn on its own, but it can be combined with her static ability too …casting creatures off the top of your library and churning out free 3/3 creatures each turn is a recipe for big board impact. But her {-2} ability is where I think the money is. It can be combined with a creature cast from hand OR from the top of your library from her static ability, which is important to note. And it allows you to fetch up specific utility targets when the need arises (adding a Reclamation Sage to your Questing Beast feels nice). Additionally, it works with creature-based combos too. In your Temur Twin shell, I can use her {-2}, cast Kiki-Jiki from hand, grab my Pestermite from my library and win the game on the spot. Or I can cast my Murderous Redcap and fetch up my Melira. Hell, even used as intended, I can just staple a Hermit to my Tyrant and call it a day. But Vivien has multiple ways to generate board-impacting card advantage; in addition to her static ability that can also snag free creatures and can be used simultaneously. The easiest comparison is the 2GGG Garruk, but Vivien’s creatures are better, she has a better casting cost, she’s a combo/utility enabler, and her card advantage doesn’t require you to take a turn off of impacting the board. She’ll be fun to pair with other “top of library” cards like Courser and Oracle; alternating between free lands and casting creatures, all off the top of the deck. Maybe smattering in some shuffle effects for consistency.
What I Don't Like: I wish lifelink was an option for her creatures, but that’s being pretty picky.
Verdict: I think she’s a powerful card advantage engine with a myriad of ways she can impact the board. I expect her to be great in green decks of all kinds, whether it’s a lower to the ground deck looking for a curve-topper, a midrange/ramp deck looking to play high-impact 5-drops, or creature-based combo decks looking to add tutoring effects for consistency. I think this card is good enough for 450-card cubes, and may even be worth it at 360 if the combo elements are of any value to your list.
What I Like: This card is good as both a companion and a playable. The companion cost can be mitigated relatively easily, since it ignores your non-permanent cards. I can play this in my low-to-the-ground Orzhov aggro deck without having to give up my Armageddons. And I can load up on 1cc and 2cc creatures since my 3cc threat is already taken care of. Either way, this is just a good card anyways. A hybrid 3-power 3-drop with lifelink that replays permanents from my graveyard every turn? There’s a good number of decks that will play this in their final 40 and just ignore the companion text. And as a companion, you can play spells of any size, and scaleable spells that function as creatures will pair really well (Lingering Souls, Spectral Procession, Secure the Wastes, Finale of Glory, etc). And guaranteeing a powerful 3-drop makes aggro curves so consistent. With extra 1- and 2-drops in the deck and your 3-drop already taken care of, curves will be pretty much perfect every game. Not to mention the interaction this has with Black Lotus. Finally, a card that makes Lotus good! I think a good number of Magical Christmasland kinds of ideal hands will involve a Lotus in hand and a Lurrus companion now. There’s some bonkers stuff that can be set up there.
What I Don't Like: A 3rd point of toughness would’ve been nice I guess; help with the survivability when I’m using it as a recursion engine. Oh well.
Verdict: As long as you’re comfortable with the companion mechanic, this card should probably be in your cube. It’s a great companion, a fine card for maindeck play and can be role-player for some sacrifice/recursion kinds of decks too. I would play this at 360 and feel pretty happy with this as one of the first Orzhov cards I’d add to any list.
What I Like: This card is the stone nutz. I know it’s been talked to death already, and the set’s not even out yet. But the hype is real. This is one of the most powerful cards in the cube. Casting a spell for free from outside the game when there’s absolutely no design restriction that gets placed on your deck is absurdly good. Probably too good. If you’re evaluating Lutri as a Dualcaster Mage variant, you’re already doing it wrong. The card text and abilities aren’t the relevant part of what makes it good; a free Grizzly Bears you can cast from your sideboard would be a broken card, so we need to stop with the evaluations of this as some lowly Dualcaster Mage that needs to be drawn into your hand before being able to play it like other Magic cards. This card gets played from outside of the game. You always have access to it. It can’t be Thoughtseized away. And the implications that has are far-reaching. You don’t need to emphasize 3-drops as much when deckbuilding because you’ll always have access to Lutri. But lets just pretend for a second that it wasn’t a broken invisible 8th card in your hand that played more like a conspiracy than a creature. A hybrid-mana costed 3-power 3-drop with flash that copied a spell and drew you a card when it was cast (instead of companion) would be an insane card that would be a slam dunk in Izzet cube sections. It would be a baseline 2-for-1 with even more card advantage potential if it was used to copy something. Well, Lutri’s 10 times the card that imaginary card is, because “draw a card” is only a fraction of how good companion is when there’s no deck restrictions …there’s no real way to equate that into other Magic terminology. In mono-red, this card is fantastic. You can deckbuild without needing many (if any) other 3-drops. Guaranteeing that you have a 3-power 3-drop with flash is busted on its own. Now let’s assume you use Lutri as intended. If you use Lutri to copy cube spells, it’s going to be pretty savage. Copying a Lightning Bolt or Preordain is pretty darn good. Copying an Ancestral Recall or Time Walk is savagely busted. If your deck has any chance at all of making the mana needed to cast Lutri, you should. Once it’s in your pool, it’s pure upside with no cost and no drawback.
What I Don't Like: Since the card is pure upside with little to no opportunity cost, there’s not much negative to say about it. Except that decks that are completely unable to cast it will be at a disadvantage when they’re forced to pass it. My issue with the card is that it’s too “free” for our format. Playing against it will feel like sitting down for some 1v1 commander, except you don’t get to use your commander and the opponent does. It creates some feel bads, and doesn’t feel like real Magic. Feels more like one player is playing conspiracy or commander and their opponent isn’t.
Verdict: If you can stomach both the insane powerlevel and the out-of-place feeling that comes along with Lutri, it’s one of the best cube cards that’s been printed in a long, long time. Probably the best vintage-legal card that’s been printed since cube has been a format. Time will tell for sure, but this will probably fall somewhere between the level of power/fast mana and the other best cards in the cube (Balance, Jace, Twist, Drain, etc). I would play it in a powered 360 cube for sure, but it would likely be more fitting in an environment with conspiracies, Contract from Below, Un- cards and the like. I just hope the card’s not too good, which it very well might be.
Thanks for reading everybody! Please comment below to discuss!
Great list, thank you as always. With the Triome lands, would you imagine using only some of them vs all five? So far we have see all sorts of cuts being suggested trying to jam them all in. Personally, I am wondering if the blue or green ones will see more play overall than, say Savai Triome will.
Playtesting will be required to be sure, but my guess is that they'll all be good, even in the color combinations less suited for the ETBT clause. The blue ones will be best, for sure ...but that's the case for most everything, lol.
Thanks for the fast write up! Agree overall with the top picks. On the fence about Fiend Artisan and Mothra, though. Wish King Kong had trample. Companion is so busted!
Thanks for the write-up. Most of my favorites are in there. What an exceptional set, again.
Two potential role players you didn't mention:
Bastion of Remembrance: looks like a solid inclusion for cubes supporting aristocrats. Provides a resilient aristocrats effect and still offers a body. Yorion, Sky Nomad: companion ability is flavor text, but should be solid to back-breaking in a blink deck.
Thank for the review as always. For me though it was a very disappointing set. Don't like the companion mechanic, mutate or just the flavor of the cards in general. The first set in a long time where I probably wont be adding any cards (450 cube).
Thanks for the write-up. Most of my favorites are in there. What an exceptional set, again.
Two potential role players you didn't mention:
Bastion of Remembrance: looks like a solid inclusion for cubes supporting aristocrats. Provides a resilient aristocrats effect and still offers a body. Yorion, Sky Nomad: companion ability is flavor text, but should be solid to back-breaking in a blink deck.
I had Bastion close to making my list, but ultimately I removed it. I think 3 mana is just too much, and having the effect strapped to a body can actually be used as an upside in a lot of decks looking for those effects. If it was a Blood Artist effect instead of a Cutthroat effect I would've been far more interested.
I support blink in my cube pretty heavily, but I wouldn't consider Yorion to be "back-breaking" in that deck. Playable maybe, but not good enough to remove a card from the cube for it. As a companion I think it's decent though. I think 3- or 4-color goodstuff decks could probably be built at 60 cards, lol.
Thank for the review as always. For me though it was a very disappointing set. Don't like the companion mechanic, mutate or just the flavor of the cards in general. The first set in a long time where I probably wont be adding any cards (450 cube).
I guess it's not for everybody. There might be a card or two worth looking at still.
Great write up. Always enjoy reeding these from you :). It's interesting to see how your card evaluations have changed over the years, and even more recently as you have moved your cube to more combo oriented.
The only change I would probably make to your list is placing Fiend artisan / Shark Typhoon ahead of the Tri-lands but it's pretty nitpicky.
We decided to preemptively ban companions, as our Cube already has 11 cards banned for power reasons, no Un-cards, and no Conspiracy. If we were Cubing every week I might throw them in to test, but Cube time is precious these days, and the whole group seems confident that the Companion mechanic would become quickly banned if we included them.
The card I'm most interested to hear testing feedback on is Shark Typhoon. While we love flexible cards to the extent that Thassa's Intervention was a huge hit, I'm not seeing how the Shark Typhoon cycling mode is good enough to make the final 23 of a deck. The hardcast mode looks embarrassing in 2020. Like you wrote in your summary, a better normal/non-cycling mode would have made this card a lot better. I get that the argument is that the combination of all these things give it great flexility that makes it worthy of Cube consideration, but when someone drafts 25-29 playable cards, I don't see how the flexibility of this card edges it into the deck.
Winota appears to be the card I'm higher on than most. We don't go out of our way to support the Boros Earthquake Moat Control deck that I know is popular here, and that may be a reason why Aurelia is an easy curt for us. Also I think the average Boros deck ends up looking like perfect Winota math, with very little effort added. If anything she may affect the decision of which similar 2-drop makes the final cut, but at this point I don't see her putting much of a burden on draft picks based on creature type. See the Winota thread for a Winota Boros deck I drafted last night - I think I took her late in pack 2.
As always, thanks! I'm one of the crazy people who re-reads these things many times, even way after the set releases.
I get that the argument is that the combination of all these things give it great flexility that makes it worthy of Cube consideration, but when someone drafts 25-29 playable cards, I don't see how the flexibility of this card edges it into the deck.
I think the point of the flexibility, is even if you draft a well curved out deck, there will be times you will get an opening hands that don't curve out verry smoothly, often having no impactful plays on turns 3-5. If this card is in your opening hand, you will be able to drastically increase the number of times your hand curves out nicely. Being at instant speed also allows you to keep your mana open, and at least make your opponent question if you have a counterspell.
With Typhoon, obviously the verdict's still out. But being an uncounterable splashable instant that's useful pretty much everywhere in the curve and in almost every deck style adds a lot of value to an already flexible spell. We'll see if it makes the cut over other generically good blue spells as we get more reps in with it.
For my 465 card cube to have four definite and three other possible inclusions demonstrates this is a powerful set. I too am a little worried about the companion mechanic not feeling enough like regular magic. We'll see how my group takes to them, but as it stands Lutri and Lurrus are too good to try. Finding a cut in Orzhov is savage and I can't believe that Sorin is that cut.
What are the thoughts on new Vivien vs. Nissa, Worldwaker vs Nissa, Who Shakes the World vs Plow Under? Plow Under has gotten steadily less popular with my drafters and I think one or more of the walkers would be more popular.
I always look forward to your previews/reviews of cube related cards the most as I have modeled my powered cube after your own (pre expansion to 720). Thanks for always taking the time to write his up! I love everything you said about Ikoria and felt you were spot on with my feelings.
I love Sharknado just think in a tight powered 540 list like mine it’s a slight miss but if I was at a larger size I would definitely look to add it.
Fiend Artisan to me looks like too much investment resource wise. If the ability was at instant speed it would be a slam dunk, but having to choose between sacrificing and adding a creature for your whole turn or doing it opponents end of turn is the difference I feel.
My adds/cuts:
Vivien, Monster’s Advocate>Nissa, Worldwaker
Lurrus of the Dream-Den>Benalish Marshal
Heartless Act>Fatal Push
Lutri, the Spellchaser>Search for Azcanta
Do you feel Mothra is worth the slot in a non-sacrifice heavy list with no persist combo shenanigans? I like the wrath protection and the ability to give aggressive beaters flying is big game, I just don’t know if it’s good enough for a tight 540 list. I could cut it over the marshal and make a cut in orzhov like Anguished Unmaking or Gerrad’s Verdict instead for Lurrus.
Thanks again for all the great analysis and content!
@rantipole: I think I'd lean towards cutting one of the Nissas since there's some redundancy there and the new Vivien is a fresh and different set of abilities.
@Amschock: I think Mothra is probably still worth a test even without the combo; it's just a good card.
Thank you for the writeup. It reminded me that Zirda, the Dawnwaker existed and convinced me to add it over Winota, as well as to revisit adding the triomes in. I'm not happy with the cuts I've made for them (one card from each monocolored section - Unexpectedly Absent, Remand, Summon the Pack, Through the Breach, Plow Under are the tentative cuts), but it was the only way I was going to be able to add them in.
Awesome write-up, there are some cards I hadn't considered a lot like Zirda, and overall there are probably some 20-30 cards that will definitely find play in some cubes. FWIW in my 410 card cube I'm looking at Vivien, Kogla, Lutri, Lurrus and Fiend Artisan... that's a good haul for a small-ish cube, and there are at least a few more cards that I have very much on the radar*. Not to mention the Triomes, which are really tempting but awkward to include.
I'm glad to see the love for Jegantha, I have been looking at it closely too in cube and other formats, but won't get to test it in person for a while. Looking forward to hear your results.
*Shark Typhoon is the main one, a scaleable Messenger Falcons with an alternate mode is very nice. But boy do I hate finding cuts in blue.
@rantipole: I think I'd lean towards cutting one of the Nissas since there's some redundancy there and the new Vivien is a fresh and different set of abilities.
I currently don't run either Nissa and was thinking of bringing in Vivien or a Nissa. It's really hard to decide. Plus, I want to add Craterhoof and maybe Kogla. Ugh!
I think Zirda is a near miss at 465. Tempting, though. I don't think that card was on the radar of most cubists.
@Cythare: You're welcome! Zirda has been surprisingly consistent in testing. It's not that hard to get it to be live as a companion, especially in 'walker-heavy midrange decks. And there's some powerful stuff that can be done with the activated ability cost reduction. Some of those proposed cuts sound a little iffy to me, but every playgroup is different, etc.
@Goodking: Thanks! It wouldn't surprise me if these companions show up all over the place in various constructed applications. And the more we learn about deck construction that works with them, the more we'll be able to adapt them to cube play. I seriously think that all 10 might have legitimate cube applications at some point in the future; this article only talks about the 4 that I could figure out right off the bat.
Thanks for doing these, man. I always enjoy these articles and this one in particular had me adding a few cards to my update that I hadn't even considered.
Out of curiosity, how are you getting your testing in during these times of social distancing?
Thorn Mammoth has been quite strong in my cube. I'm convinced that Kogla, the Titan Ape will be even better. Nevertheless, I am quite happy to play both of them - green finally gets some ways to interact with your opponents creatures, just like all the other colors but with green flavor.
My sleeper hit for this set is Sea-Dasher Octopus. He will not cut in my cube for now, but playtesting has been very strong. It's so flexibel and both sides of the spell are quite useful due to flash. Your opponent tapped out? Flash it in eot to draw a card. You need a flashy blocker? You have a cheap creature with evasion? It's no Curiosity or Ophidian Eye in the sense that it doesn't do broken things like with shooting damage with Guttersnipe and drawing. But it will generate value in more cases than Curiosity or a Scroll Thief. I am just not convinced that it can beat one of the many blue etb-value critters for cmc3.
Anyway, thank you for your evaluation, it's always a delight to read
Great article! Surprised you were able to test this fast!
At 450, Top 2 are pretty much slam dunks, but I am pretty much worrried how Lutri can be too consistent, and feel bad that it cheats basic deck construction rules in the cube context. Lurrus is a fair companion and a good maindeck.
I’m kind of fond of Vivien because of the CA she brings to the table. That static ability is always on and it feels you are doing 2 abilities every turn. Can’t wait to play it with Oracle of Mul Daya and watch opponents get overwhwlmed by sheer board presence. So green! That said, I have no clear replacement yet so I will be holding this back. I love the alt art, though!
Im considering Mothra, Heartless Act and the Triomes as well.
I was wondering why you ranked Fiend artisan so low. Is it because Golgari is stacked? How about if we treat it as a mono Black/green card?
I’m eyeing Zirda for my artifact cube because it works well with Equipment as well as mana combos.
This is my 33rd 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.
Ikoria is a set that introduces a few new keywords to the cube in addition to revisiting a popular classic. It’s a set that has cards for every kind of cube designer. There’s a lot of big splashy monsters and spells as well as some powerful utility cards. I expect cubes of all sizes and design philosophies to find a handful of new favorites from this set.
I wanted to take a moment before the individual card discussion to talk about the Companion keyword. Here’s how it works:
“There are ten companions in Ikoria, each one a legendary creature whose companion ability lists a deck-building rule. If your starting deck follows that rule, then the legendary creature can serve as your chosen companion.
You can have up to one chosen companion for each game. That chosen companion doesn't start in your main deck. Rather, it's a card in your sideboard. (If you're playing casually without sideboards, it's just in your collection outside the game. All the same rules apply to it.) This means it doesn't count as a card toward meeting the minimum deck size in the format you're playing, but in Constructed formats, it is one of your fifteen sideboard cards. Just before the game begins, reveal your chosen companion to all players. Once during the game, you may cast your chosen companion from your sideboard. Doing so follows all the normal rules for casting a creature spell, so do so only during your main phase.
Casting your chosen companion brings it onto the game for good. The spell will go on the stack. If it resolves, it will enter the battlefield under your control (yay!). If it's countered, it will go to your graveyard (boo!). Once it's in the game, it can be exiled, go back to your hand, be shuffled into your library, etc. It won't return to your sideboard until the game ends.
Your companion's deckbuilding rule applies only to your starting deck, which is the deck you begin play with each game. It won't consider any cards in your sideboard, so those cards don't have to follow the deck-building rule. Additionally, you can just ignore the deck-building rule and include creature cards with companion in your main deck. This is especially relevant to formats like Booster Draft, where following the deck-building rule may not be possible. But if you can pull it off, glory awaits.”
The mechanic itself is powerful. The ability to cast a card from outside the game has far-reaching applications in how they contribute to the deck. At the very least, it gives you access to a free card, a free threat, and a free drop in your curve somewhere. This means they will impact every game where they’re revealed; even if they’re never cast. The opponent might make decisions based on the reveal. Your deckbuilding is changed in multiple ways (not only do you have to build to meet the design restrictions, but it also lowers the importance of filling in other cards in their spot in the curve; having guaranteed access to a 3cc companion means you don’t need to focus as much on the 3cc creature slot when drafting/deckbuilding, for example). Plus, they don’t have to be played as companions. They can simply be played as creatures for their hybrid nature, stats and special abilities. Early on in the draft, they’re more likely to be taken and used as companions. Later in the draft, when their companion restriction is less likely to be met, they can still be drafted and played at face-value. With that being said, I think they’re all good, and they might very well all be considered viable depending on how each playgroup considers them to be. Casting creatures from your sideboard is a broken thing to be able to do, plain and simple. If the condition can be satisfied, what you give up will likely be less impactful than what you get access too. The mechanic itself is truly savage.
Without further ado, I can start the countdown!
General Kudro of Drannith
A 3cc human lord.
What I Like: If you support a humans-matters theme, there’s a good chance that the General will be able to serve as a lord that impacts most (if not every) other creature in your deck. Strapped to a 3/3, that’s a great baseline. Kind of like an easier-to-cast Benalish Marshal with other upsides. It also provides maindeck graveyard hate (which is hard to come by) and it also provides you with a tool to cash-in a couple of outclassed cheap bodies to remove a big monster off the board; this can be a big advantage for decks loaded with small creatures.
What I Don't Like: Without a humans theme, this just doesn’t get there. It really needs to boost up most/all of the other creatures in your deck to be worthwhile. And in smaller cubes, the Orzhov section is pretty tight.
Verdict: Larger cubes with an open Orzhov slot that also support humans decks will likely get some good mileage out of the General. I’ll be keeping my eye on my freshly-changed Orzhov section for a potential future spot for this guy. In other cases, it’s a safe pass.
Sea-Dasher Octopus
A Curiosity/Stealer of Secrets hybrid.
What I Like: This card can serve as both a Curiosity with flash or a Stealer of Secrets with flash, depending on which effect is more valuable in your given game state. It can play almost a Ninja of the Deep Hours role flashing in on an unblocked attacker to draw a card. Because the O’Squidian has flash, you can mutate onto whichever creature is unblocked to guarantee your draw. Unlike other cards in this vein though, the Octopus can also just be flashed in at the end of an opponent’s turn and be ready to attack for value on your turn. I like this card for cubes more than any of the other Curiosity effects or Thief creatures because it can be either card, depending on what you need. It may also randomly pump up a 1-power creature (like a Spirit token, for example) to add both damage and draw to the race.
What I Don't Like: Blue is a really tight color, and both the 3cc creature section and the 2cc spell section are among the tightest in the cube. This would’ve been a complete bomb if it was a 2/3 because of the combat implications it could have as a flashed-in mutate creature boosting toughness to eat Lions, Pikers and Bears.
Verdict: I couldn’t find a cut I like for the card, but I put some reps in with it in practice and the card’s good. It’s on my radar at 720 for sure, and if you’re heavy on both tempo and flash strategies, this critter is worth some close examination for your cube.
Shredded Sails
A cycling Abrade variant.
What I Like: Cycling is a great card to add on to artifact and enchantment removal, because if you’re ever lacking for meaningful targets, you can always cycle it away. Maindeckable artifact removal is always at a premium (especially in unpowered cubes) and the ability to blast small to medium-sized fliers is a nice added mode to have on such a card.
What I Don't Like: Despite not having cycling, I think Abrade is a lot better. In my cube, for example, Abrade can kill ~220 creatures with toughness <4. Shredded Sails has ~40 targets with flying and toughness <5. Cycling is great on this kind of effect, but it doesn’t make up for missing 180 targets, IMO. At least not in a powered cube where you’re rarely lacking in artifact targets too.
Verdict: This is a good card. Shatter, draw a card, blast a cheap flying creature is a nice set of modal abilities. I think Sails can compete as a top-tier artifact removal spell for medium- to large-sized unpowered cubes and a middle-tier shatter effect for larger powered lists. It missed the cut for me at 720 with the first wave of updates from this set, but I’ll be keeping my eye on it for a potential future inclusion; I think the card is good.
Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy
A synergy-driven Simic critter.
What I Like: In a deck with enough sources of non-land mana, the ceiling on Kinnan is pretty high. With moxes, rocks and early elves, it can pay for itself quickly and provide a lot of ramp for a low cost. With one other mana producer out, it serves as a 2-mana ramp creature, which is a decent average-case expectation. With multiple mana producers in play, it can provide a ton of additional mana for cheap, which is obviously what the goal will try to be. When this thing essentially provides 2+ extra mana, it’s extremely valuable and does something that few other cards can do. It also serves as its own mana sink too, giving you something to do with all your extra mana if it gets going. Lastly, it provides infinite mana with Basalt Monolith; once it taps for 4 mana, it makes all the colorless mana you can use.
What I Don't Like: Most of Kinnan’s value will be wrapped up in the ramp ability, and it doesn’t do much on its own. Without other non-land sources of mana, it’s just a multicolored bear with an expensive activated ability. Whether through poor draws, disruption and/or removal, you might often face situations where Kinnan does little to nothing for you.
Verdict: Simic went from a barren wasteland to a guild flush with amazing and important cards really quickly. Not only is it hard to find room for Kinnan in that section now, Kinnan also has to overcome its own shortcomings to earn a spot. This may be an example of a card that gets better in smaller, tighter lists. The consistency of pairing this card with moxes, rocks and elves is such a critical part of its evaluation that it may be best suited in environments with the highest concentration of those cards. If the card appeals to you, you can find room for it, and it is surrounded by enough help, I think it can get there. But it’s a miss for me during my first wave of Ikoria inclusions.
Jegantha, the Wellspring
Splashability matters.dec?
What I Like: Companion is busted. Plain and simple. This is not an easy companion restriction to meet in the average cube deck because the cube is loaded with powerful double-color cards. This card would need to be taken early and drafted around in order to make work. With that said, if you can draft a 3- or 4-color midrange goodstuff deck where every card has splashable mana costs, this card is fantastic. It’s a free 5/5 for 5 with a very easy casting cost, and the mana ability would allow you to cast pretty much every card in any deck that can run it.
What I Don't Like: If you get access to Jegantha early in the draft, I think it can work. But once you’re into mid/late pack 2, this ship has probably sailed. And there probably aren’t a ton of decks that are in the market for a ramping 5/5 for 5 in your maindeck, barring some issues befalling you in the draft.
Verdict: Expect to see this in constructed. I think this is harder to use in the cube, but it has a powerful payoff if the restriction can be mitigated. There are plenty of amazing cards with splashable costs, and when you prioritize them and good mana, you can easily play 3- or 4-colors and have access to a good free 5-drop from your board. I’m watching this one closely, because I think it has some potential. But I don’t have enough testing reps in with it yet to have it in or out of my cube list with any confidence.
Wilt
A Narutalize with cycling.
What I Like: Similarly to Shredded Sails, cycling is a great ability to have on Disenchant effects. This is everything I wanted Forsake the Worldly to be when it was printed. In unpowered lists, this is likely better than some of the creature variants that look to Shatter stuff when they enter the battlefield, since you’re never stranding cards in your hand without a meaningful target.
What I Don't Like: In powered cubes where your Manglehorn creatures almost always have something to hit, the value gained from them likely outweighs the flexibility you get from a card like Wilt.
Verdict: This is my favorite Naturalize effect for cubes. I like it more than the incidental graveyard hate or tucking-effects found on other popular variants. Cycling is always good. If you support Naturalize effects that aren’t strapped to creatures in your cube lists, I’d start with Wilt from now on. A slight miss for me given my current configuration, but a card I plan on having available to bring in at some point, it’s just a great card to have access to.
Winota, Joiner of Forces
A potentially high-impact Boros 4-drop.
What I Like: The ceiling is insane on this card. If you can reliably attack with non-humans and reliably hit human creatures, this card has just about as big of an impact as you can have with a Boros 4cc creature threat. If you can snag Winota early in the draft and create the perfect creature blend for your build, she’ll likely outperform the vast majority of other 4cc permanents you could’ve drafted in its spot.
What I Don't Like: It can be tricky in this format to get it to work just right. You need an ideal mixture of human hits for the trigger, and (preferably cheap) non-human attackers to enable it. If you snag it later in the draft, this mixture might not be ideal, and your hit percentages start to struggle. If your deck winds up with all cheap humans and all expensive non-humans, it might not trigger on time and the impact will be less meaningful than something like Hero of Bladehold might provide instead. I think the one thing that bugs me the most is that Winota is a human itself, meaning that it can’t trigger on its own attacks. Without at least one non-human on the board that can profitably attack, this is a very mediocre 4-drop.
Verdict: There will be situations where this card feels beyond broken. There will be other situations where this is a multicolor 4/4 for 4 with no value and no immediate impact. For cube managers that prefer to base their inclusions on ceiling, this will be a slam-dunk. For those that value consistency, this will likely be a miss. I couldn’t find a cut in Boros that I like with my current configuration, so Winota will start my post-IKO cube list on the outside …hopefully waiting for an opportunity to jump in at some point.
Gemrazer
A savage mutate creature.
What I Like: This is another card with a really high ceiling. If the opponent presents an early target and you have a cheap mana dork to mutate, Gemrazer’s an absolute beast. You go from having an Elf out to Naturalizing an early permanent and having a 4/4 trampling creature with reach on the battlefield. And if you find yourself in a situation where you don’t have a creature to mutate onto, you don’t have a Naturalize target and you’re missing a 4-drop from your curve you can always drop this as a 4/4 reach, trample for 4 mana.
What I Don't Like: There are windows where this card can be pretty mediocre. If you only have other medium-sized monsters to mutate onto, the effect can be pretty marginal. If you don’t have any other creatures in play, it’s barely playable. And unlike the other value Naturalize creatures in green, the mutate restriction makes you vulnerable to targeted removal later on. When your mutated critter eats a Dismember, you lose your whole mutated abomination, forfeiting the card advantage you get from your Reclamation Sage variants.
Verdict: Sometimes this card will feel busted. Other times, you’ll be longing for literally any other Naturalize effect. A bit swingy for my taste, since my green section is still focussed more on value than mid-game pressure. But depending on how green is constructed in your cube and what role it plays for you, Gemrazer can be a nice inclusion. It’s a current miss for me at 720, but just barely. It’s one of the cards I have my eye on closely.
Rielle, the Everwise
A spells matters/synergy engine hybrid.
What I Like: This card is primarily played for its discard->draw text, as it enables some really powerful plays in the cube. Every looting and rummaging effect is converted into card advantage. Cards that allow for multiple loots/rummages become insane card draw effects. Mass discard effects, like Forbid, Wheel of Fortune, Memory Jar, Lion's Eye Diamond and Firestorm unlock some serious synergies. Bomat Courier, Chandra Flamecaller …Balance; there’s a lot of ways to make this card do some nutty things. It provides a Squee, Goblin Nabob-esque effect, where it mitigates discard-based drawbacks. But unlike Squee, you can discard cards you want/need in your graveyard without giving up value, and the cards you draw are actually meaningful cards …not simply re-drawing a Squee. As was pointed out by @cubeoddity on Twitter, this is a non-flying Enigma Drake at its base, which is a reasonable floor to have in spell-heavy shells. Also, it provides some pseudo-protection from your opponent’s discard effects!
What I Don't Like: Unlike Squee, you have to cast this and it needs to survive in order to get the benefit from it, so it’s less consistent and more deck-specific as an engine for mitigating discard. And Rielle relies so heavily on her draw ability to be good, if you fail to pair her with a discard engine or big-time 1-shot effect, she’s insanely mediocre.
Verdict: I think Izzet is a stronger guild than most folks do, and even with a larger cube I’m struggling to find a cut I like for Rielle at the moment. But I think it’s my favorite cube card currently on the outside looking in with my current configuration. My guild sections are undergoing some significant changes with my upcoming update, so I’ll wait a while and see how everything settles down before making a final determination on whether or not Rielle makes the cut in my cube or not.
Titanoth Rex
A giant self-binning monster.
What I Like: I’ve used self-discarding monsters as reanimate targets before, and they can be used somewhat successfully as threats that way. None of them have ever been 11/11 trample creatures before. That’s a BIG creature to drop into your ‘yard on T2 and reanimate right away. It’s not as resilient or valuable as true reanimator targets are, but not needing a discard outlet will improve consistency and allow you to steal some games. It always replaces itself (thanks cycling!), it’s uncounterable, happens at instant speed, and you may even be able to use it as a combat trick on occasion; providing a trample counter to a chump-blocked creature. Despite being weak to targeted removal, an 11/11 trample is a lightning-fast clock that demands an immediate answer. For a reanimation target that doesn’t need a discard outlet to enable your line, it sure does force the “Do you have it? If not you die” phase of the game both early and reliably.
What I Don't Like: It’s a drag to spend T2 cycling this, and T3 reanimating this with a valuable reanimation spell just to have it get blasted by a Hero’s Downfall or something. Since it has no immediate impact and nothing to protect it from removal, it’s a pretty fragile reanimation target. Plus, I don’t know how much play this would see in other decks. It’s passively playable in fatty-cheating decks and super-ramp shells, but it’s never going to be great when the cycling/self-binning nature of the card isn’t putting in work for you.
Verdict: I can’t really replace a big monster for this card since it’s not a great ramp or fatty-cheating creature. I can’t really replace a utility spell for this card either, since most of those decks have no use for the big dumb monster or the trample counter. So I couldn’t find a card I really liked for it at the moment, but I’m going to continue to test it and watch for a potential spot.
Zirda, the Dawnwaker
A combo companion.
What I Like: My cube has 233 non-land cards that can be used alongside this companion, in addition to every instant/sorcery in the cube. Initially I thought it would be too narrow, but there’s a ton of cards that can be maindecked still. In superfriends builds and 3-color midrange decks, I think it will be really easy to have access to this companion. It’s a hybrid-cost 3/3 for 3, which is a good baseline when you’re already getting a full card worth of value by simply having access to it, plus it has some blocking disruption which is nice. More importantly, it reduces the activation costs of all your activated abilities. There are a huge number of activated abilities in the cube that become great when they’re reduced by 1 mana, and become spectacular when they get reduced by 2 mana. I’ve been finding more and more of these abilities as I’ve been continuing to playtest Zirda. And most notably, Zirda goes infinite with both Grim Monolith and Basalt Monolith, providing infinite colorless mana with both. And when one of your combo cards is cast from your sideboard, it becomes insanely consistent.
What I Don't Like: Just like the other companions, this makes for a relatively poor pickup later in the draft because it becomes too difficult to build around. And outside of enabling combos, it probably won’t see much maindeck play.
Verdict: After seeing this in action, I needed to give it a spot in the cube. There’s a ton of interactions, powerful combos it enables, and it can be a true companion with minimal effort when drafted early. I’ll be using this as one of my Boros cards at 720, but I could see some smaller cubes being interested in it too, especially if superfriends decks are popular in your playgroup, where it’s companion inclusion is almost free.
Fiend Artisan
A toolbox engine & oversized monster.
What I Like: This is a very nice creature for decks that feature lots of cheap utility creatures and/or recursive bodies/tokens to mitigate the sacrifice cost. Getting expensive creatures will be costly, but as a toolbox enabler, it’ll be nice to search up and grab the right creatures at the right time. Perhaps even more importantly, this creature will have a great power/toughness-to-cost ratio. With just a few other creatures in the ‘yard, you can get access to a Tarmogoyf-esque body with a powerful activated ability. And the activated ability feeds the value you get from the body. You can use the ability to build a board, get access to some ETB triggers and fill the ‘yard, and once he’s a 5/5, you can start bashing face with it instead. It’s a good monster all around, but the cheap cost and the big body is the selling point for me. It can also snag combo creatures for you if you support those kinds of archetypes in the cube; allowing you to drop a redundant creature to go in and grab a critical combo element. Plus, the hybrid cost will expand the number of decks that can play it.
What I Don't Like: X+1 is an expensive cost for snagging bodies, as paying 4 mana, tapping this creature and sacrificing another creature is no small cost for snagging a Reclamation Sage. Especially since this has to be done as a Sorcery. There will be times where it simply feels like the combination of costs is too high for the effect you get from it, and it will be slow and expensive if you’re using it exclusively as an engine card.
Verdict: I originally started testing it for the activated ability. What turned out to be more impressive was the oversized cheap hybrid body. This was a 2-mana 6/6 once during a testing game as a late-game topdeck. I’ll be playing this as one of the cards in my Golgari guild section at 720, but I think I’d cube this card in smaller cubes too, if you can find the room. Golgari has a lot of great removal available to it, but this is one of the better non-removal options available to the guild.
Kogla, the Titan Ape
A wild King Kong appears!
What I Like: The Titan Ape provides green with a very welcome removal effect, since the Ape’s ETB trigger should be able to effectively remove most creatures on the board at that time in the game. If you get to untap, Kogla can represent even more value, since every attack trigger can destroy one of your opponent’s artifacts or enchantments. Lastly, Kogla can protect itself with the human-bounce clause; an effect that makes it temporarily indestructible. What I aim to do with Kogla is pairing it with humans that have enters the battlefield triggers, bouncing cards like Palace Jailer, Eternal Witness, Blade Splicer and Charming Prince for extra value (thanks to steve_man, Rosy Dumplings, Goodking & @robertcraigiii for pointing these interactions out, something I initially overlooked).
What I Don't Like: The lack of trample makes this creature easier to keep at bay than other big green finishers in the past. The ETB fight trigger helps mitigate this a bit, but other giant green finishers don’t get stonewalled by tokens like Kogla does.
Verdict: I think this is going to prove to be one of green’s premier 6cc creatures. Primeval Titan is better if you support super ramp and land strategies. Carnage Tyrant is better at being a consistent and reliable control killer and trampling win condition. Great Oak Guardian is better for flash decks, go-wide strategies and Kiki/Twin combo decks. Other than those three cards, I think Kogla is the best 6cc creature out there. Depending on how you run your cube, this might range anywhere from the 4th best green 6-drop of all time to the best green 6-drop of all time. I’d pretty much auto-include this into lists that are at least 630 cards in size or more, and perhaps even smaller depending on what kinds of big green strategies you want to enable.
Shark Typhoon
Magic has jumped the shark.
What I Like: I want to thank @rcsaxe and @Zolthux for championing for this card. It looked okay to me at first glance, but the value in this card really comes almost exclusively from the cycling trigger. It will range somewhere between approximately a Cloudkin Seer and a Commence the Endgame in terms of your expected rate of return, but it has so many applications in different parts of the curve it’s crazy. It can be emergency cycled for 2 mana when desperately digging for a 3rd land. It can be cycled at 3 mana to kill off a Lion or Piker in combat and draw a card (a clean uncounterable 2-for-1 that impacts the board). It can be cycled at 4 mana for an instant-speed, uncounterable 2/2 flying creature that draws a card. It can be cycled at 5 mana to make a 3/3 flying creature during the opponent’s combat step; eating a Bear, drawing a card and leaving you with a useful body (still uncounterable and instant-speed of course). And at 6 or 7 mana, you can get a 4/4 or 5/5 flying creature that draws a card, is uncounterable, and has flash. That level of scalability provides so many options to its caster, it’s crazy. And the hardcast mode isn’t complete flavor text either. If you can follow this up with a chain of spells, it can make a pretty scary army. Specifically with something like Time Spiral, or free spells like Force of Will and Fireblast it looks like it can have some applications there. But I think the bread-and-butter of this card is the 4U mode. Eat an opponent’s attacker in combat, get a 3/3 flying creature and draw a card. Clean 3-for-1 that impacts the board. As an uncounterable instant to boot. It may be important to note that the 2cc cycling mode still creates a 0/0 shark, so if you have an anthem effect out or one of the +1/+1 counter-granting creatures in play, you might be able to keep the shark.
What I Don't Like: I wish the hardcast mode was better. If it cost 5 mana instead of 6 I think it would unlock a huge range of potential plays that would be really exciting. Also, since it’s not actually cast, there’s no spells matters benefit to the cycling mode. And unlike other value/draw creatures (like Mulldrifter and Seer) I can’t bounce/flicker/blink/copy or otherwise abuse this card as a repeatable source of value …and those kinds of cards gain a ton of value from their abusability.
Verdict: Whether you call this Sharknado or Decree of Jawstice (my personal favorite) you can’t really go wrong. I think this card should be a relatively easy include a 630, and is something that folks with 450- and 540-card cubes should be keeping their eyes on too. It’s a good card with a lot of value in multiple places in the curve.
Triome Cycle
Three-color cycling lands.
What I Like: I’ve enjoyed the current set of allied cycling dual lands in the cube. The ability to cycle a land when you’re flooded is great; exchanging potentially excess land for valuable gas is really nice. Being fetchable because of the basic land types they have is also clutch (as well as contributing to basic land types matters cards like Rofellos and Vedalken Shackles and the like). These new lands are even better! Fixing for 3 colors of mana, being fetchable by 9/10 fetch lands and still having cycling …so good. Cycling for 3 is more expensive than cycling for 2, but getting access to the 3rd color more than makes up for it; especially considering that these lands don’t usually get cycled unless you’re flooded in the late game, and the extra mana won’t matter as much then. Entering tapped can be an issue, but as some of Magic’s greats have said, it’s better to cast your spell a turn late than not be able to cast it at all.
What I Don't Like: Entering the battlefield tapped is a real drawback, and I wish we had a full cycle available. It’s a bummer for some three-color combinations to have better fixing available to them than others. Not enough of a reason to exclude them, IMO, but definitely a drag.
Verdict: These are going to be an OCD nightmare for a lot of cube managers, since we only have the wedge cycle available, and they’re 3-color identifying cards. But if you can find room for these and are okay with the incomplete cycle, I think they should go in. Fetchable tri-lands that also have cycling aren’t something to be overlooked. I’m going to happily be playing them, and I think I’d be able to find room in most cubes that are in the 540-to 630-range. Maybe even smaller considering how powerful their interaction with the fetches is. As an aside, if you’re not playing the Mirage fetches in your larger-sized cubes, now’s a great time to try them out again. I think they’re great, and these will only make them stronger. Slower, but strong, consistent fixing.
Heartless Act
A new Doom Blade variant.
What I Like: This is a good piece of removal. This has a similar number of targets that it can kill outright to cards like Go for the Throat, Doom Blade, Ultimate Price, etc. except it still has utility against the targets it misses. Most of the time, your Doom Blade is a dead card against black creatures. But with Heartless Act still has value against creatures it can’t kill outright (and might actually still kill them in some instances!). And unlike a card like Doom Blade (which might be a dead card against a huge number of creatures in the same deck) you aren’t likely to run into an entire deck full of cards it can’t kill.
What I Don't Like: Terror variants have lost some of their luster over the years, and I don’t play very many even in my larger cube. This is one of the better ones, but it’s still a removal spell with a limited range of targets it can hit.
Verdict: This is really similar in powerlevel to a card like Go for the Throat. I plan on testing it as my primary Terror variant in my cube, and I would suggest that folks test this out and see how it plays in comparison to whatever 2cc removal spell you’re playing in your black section. I think this is a card that can easily settle as a 540+ playable, even if it’s not the absolute best card at its job. It if turns out to be better than GftT and friends, it might become a commonly found card in even the smallest of cubes.
Luminous Broodmoth
Mothra!
What I Like: This is a good Magic card. As an aggro curve-topper, it can make your entire army removal/wrath proof. As a midrange value creature, it can make your ETB critters re-trigger when they die and come back. And the Broodmoth is also a combo enabler in the cube too, functioning in the persist combo archetype to create an infinite loop with any non-flying persist creature and a sacrifice outlet. This will be fun with Shriekmaw! It reminds me of everything that I wanted Nightmare Shepherd to be for the cube, except this bypasses all the problems. It only works with non-flying creatures, but it doesn’t exile the creature, it’s not reduced to a 1/1, it enables persist combos, and it can’t be disenchanted.
What I Don't Like: People are going to forget the non-flying clause and be expecting triggers to happen that never do. Can’t wait to see how many problems that’s going to cause at the table.
Verdict: Good on its own, good with synergy, and good when supporting combo strategies too. That makes it a clear winner in my book. I look forward to playing this in a wide variety of cube shells to great success. I would look to include this in 540+ card cubes for sure, and perhaps even at 450 if you can find some room to test it out.
Vivien, Monsters’ Advocate
A strong 5cc green planeswalker.
What I Like: Vivien has a powerful suite of abilities that will equate to a lot of card advantage being generated over a typical game. The static ability is awesome, and casting creatures for free off the top of your library is a strong thing to be able to do. Especially if you can combine it with some library manipulation, Jace, Sylvan, Top, Rack, etc. will allow you to turn the static ability alone into a massive card advantage engine. Vivien’s {+1} ability produces customizable 3/3 French vanilla bodies, which can be selected to fit the need of the game in question. On the beatdown? Give ‘em trample. In a race? Give ‘em vigilance. On your back foot? Give ‘em reach. The ability is worth a full card each turn on its own, but it can be combined with her static ability too …casting creatures off the top of your library and churning out free 3/3 creatures each turn is a recipe for big board impact. But her {-2} ability is where I think the money is. It can be combined with a creature cast from hand OR from the top of your library from her static ability, which is important to note. And it allows you to fetch up specific utility targets when the need arises (adding a Reclamation Sage to your Questing Beast feels nice). Additionally, it works with creature-based combos too. In your Temur Twin shell, I can use her {-2}, cast Kiki-Jiki from hand, grab my Pestermite from my library and win the game on the spot. Or I can cast my Murderous Redcap and fetch up my Melira. Hell, even used as intended, I can just staple a Hermit to my Tyrant and call it a day. But Vivien has multiple ways to generate board-impacting card advantage; in addition to her static ability that can also snag free creatures and can be used simultaneously. The easiest comparison is the 2GGG Garruk, but Vivien’s creatures are better, she has a better casting cost, she’s a combo/utility enabler, and her card advantage doesn’t require you to take a turn off of impacting the board. She’ll be fun to pair with other “top of library” cards like Courser and Oracle; alternating between free lands and casting creatures, all off the top of the deck. Maybe smattering in some shuffle effects for consistency.
What I Don't Like: I wish lifelink was an option for her creatures, but that’s being pretty picky.
Verdict: I think she’s a powerful card advantage engine with a myriad of ways she can impact the board. I expect her to be great in green decks of all kinds, whether it’s a lower to the ground deck looking for a curve-topper, a midrange/ramp deck looking to play high-impact 5-drops, or creature-based combo decks looking to add tutoring effects for consistency. I think this card is good enough for 450-card cubes, and may even be worth it at 360 if the combo elements are of any value to your list.
Lurrus of the Dream-Den
A fantastic companion.
What I Like: This card is good as both a companion and a playable. The companion cost can be mitigated relatively easily, since it ignores your non-permanent cards. I can play this in my low-to-the-ground Orzhov aggro deck without having to give up my Armageddons. And I can load up on 1cc and 2cc creatures since my 3cc threat is already taken care of. Either way, this is just a good card anyways. A hybrid 3-power 3-drop with lifelink that replays permanents from my graveyard every turn? There’s a good number of decks that will play this in their final 40 and just ignore the companion text. And as a companion, you can play spells of any size, and scaleable spells that function as creatures will pair really well (Lingering Souls, Spectral Procession, Secure the Wastes, Finale of Glory, etc). And guaranteeing a powerful 3-drop makes aggro curves so consistent. With extra 1- and 2-drops in the deck and your 3-drop already taken care of, curves will be pretty much perfect every game. Not to mention the interaction this has with Black Lotus. Finally, a card that makes Lotus good! I think a good number of Magical Christmasland kinds of ideal hands will involve a Lotus in hand and a Lurrus companion now. There’s some bonkers stuff that can be set up there.
What I Don't Like: A 3rd point of toughness would’ve been nice I guess; help with the survivability when I’m using it as a recursion engine. Oh well.
Verdict: As long as you’re comfortable with the companion mechanic, this card should probably be in your cube. It’s a great companion, a fine card for maindeck play and can be role-player for some sacrifice/recursion kinds of decks too. I would play this at 360 and feel pretty happy with this as one of the first Orzhov cards I’d add to any list.
Lutri, the Spellchaser
A legendary otter!
What I Like: This card is the stone nutz. I know it’s been talked to death already, and the set’s not even out yet. But the hype is real. This is one of the most powerful cards in the cube. Casting a spell for free from outside the game when there’s absolutely no design restriction that gets placed on your deck is absurdly good. Probably too good. If you’re evaluating Lutri as a Dualcaster Mage variant, you’re already doing it wrong. The card text and abilities aren’t the relevant part of what makes it good; a free Grizzly Bears you can cast from your sideboard would be a broken card, so we need to stop with the evaluations of this as some lowly Dualcaster Mage that needs to be drawn into your hand before being able to play it like other Magic cards. This card gets played from outside of the game. You always have access to it. It can’t be Thoughtseized away. And the implications that has are far-reaching. You don’t need to emphasize 3-drops as much when deckbuilding because you’ll always have access to Lutri. But lets just pretend for a second that it wasn’t a broken invisible 8th card in your hand that played more like a conspiracy than a creature. A hybrid-mana costed 3-power 3-drop with flash that copied a spell and drew you a card when it was cast (instead of companion) would be an insane card that would be a slam dunk in Izzet cube sections. It would be a baseline 2-for-1 with even more card advantage potential if it was used to copy something. Well, Lutri’s 10 times the card that imaginary card is, because “draw a card” is only a fraction of how good companion is when there’s no deck restrictions …there’s no real way to equate that into other Magic terminology. In mono-red, this card is fantastic. You can deckbuild without needing many (if any) other 3-drops. Guaranteeing that you have a 3-power 3-drop with flash is busted on its own. Now let’s assume you use Lutri as intended. If you use Lutri to copy cube spells, it’s going to be pretty savage. Copying a Lightning Bolt or Preordain is pretty darn good. Copying an Ancestral Recall or Time Walk is savagely busted. If your deck has any chance at all of making the mana needed to cast Lutri, you should. Once it’s in your pool, it’s pure upside with no cost and no drawback.
What I Don't Like: Since the card is pure upside with little to no opportunity cost, there’s not much negative to say about it. Except that decks that are completely unable to cast it will be at a disadvantage when they’re forced to pass it. My issue with the card is that it’s too “free” for our format. Playing against it will feel like sitting down for some 1v1 commander, except you don’t get to use your commander and the opponent does. It creates some feel bads, and doesn’t feel like real Magic. Feels more like one player is playing conspiracy or commander and their opponent isn’t.
Verdict: If you can stomach both the insane powerlevel and the out-of-place feeling that comes along with Lutri, it’s one of the best cube cards that’s been printed in a long, long time. Probably the best vintage-legal card that’s been printed since cube has been a format. Time will tell for sure, but this will probably fall somewhere between the level of power/fast mana and the other best cards in the cube (Balance, Jace, Twist, Drain, etc). I would play it in a powered 360 cube for sure, but it would likely be more fitting in an environment with conspiracies, Contract from Below, Un- cards and the like. I just hope the card’s not too good, which it very well might be.
Thanks for reading everybody! Please comment below to discuss!
Cheers, and happy cubbing.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
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My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 49th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from MKM!
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 49th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from MKM!
Two potential role players you didn't mention:
Bastion of Remembrance: looks like a solid inclusion for cubes supporting aristocrats. Provides a resilient aristocrats effect and still offers a body.
Yorion, Sky Nomad: companion ability is flavor text, but should be solid to back-breaking in a blink deck.
I had Bastion close to making my list, but ultimately I removed it. I think 3 mana is just too much, and having the effect strapped to a body can actually be used as an upside in a lot of decks looking for those effects. If it was a Blood Artist effect instead of a Cutthroat effect I would've been far more interested.
I support blink in my cube pretty heavily, but I wouldn't consider Yorion to be "back-breaking" in that deck. Playable maybe, but not good enough to remove a card from the cube for it. As a companion I think it's decent though. I think 3- or 4-color goodstuff decks could probably be built at 60 cards, lol.
I guess it's not for everybody. There might be a card or two worth looking at still.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
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The only change I would probably make to your list is placing Fiend artisan / Shark Typhoon ahead of the Tri-lands but it's pretty nitpicky.
Ya, I considered that, and it might even be more accurate that way considering the polarizing opinions on the tri-lands. Cheers.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 49th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from MKM!
We are adding the following cards in unpowered 720:
Vivien, Monsters' Advocate (#3)
Luminous Broodmoth (#4)
Heartless Act (#5)
All Trilands (#6)
Fiend Artisan (#9)
Winota, Joiner of Forces (#14)
Wilt (#15)
We decided to preemptively ban companions, as our Cube already has 11 cards banned for power reasons, no Un-cards, and no Conspiracy. If we were Cubing every week I might throw them in to test, but Cube time is precious these days, and the whole group seems confident that the Companion mechanic would become quickly banned if we included them.
The card I'm most interested to hear testing feedback on is Shark Typhoon. While we love flexible cards to the extent that Thassa's Intervention was a huge hit, I'm not seeing how the Shark Typhoon cycling mode is good enough to make the final 23 of a deck. The hardcast mode looks embarrassing in 2020. Like you wrote in your summary, a better normal/non-cycling mode would have made this card a lot better. I get that the argument is that the combination of all these things give it great flexility that makes it worthy of Cube consideration, but when someone drafts 25-29 playable cards, I don't see how the flexibility of this card edges it into the deck.
Winota appears to be the card I'm higher on than most. We don't go out of our way to support the Boros Earthquake Moat Control deck that I know is popular here, and that may be a reason why Aurelia is an easy curt for us. Also I think the average Boros deck ends up looking like perfect Winota math, with very little effort added. If anything she may affect the decision of which similar 2-drop makes the final cut, but at this point I don't see her putting much of a burden on draft picks based on creature type. See the Winota thread for a Winota Boros deck I drafted last night - I think I took her late in pack 2.
As always, thanks! I'm one of the crazy people who re-reads these things many times, even way after the set releases.
I think the point of the flexibility, is even if you draft a well curved out deck, there will be times you will get an opening hands that don't curve out verry smoothly, often having no impactful plays on turns 3-5. If this card is in your opening hand, you will be able to drastically increase the number of times your hand curves out nicely. Being at instant speed also allows you to keep your mana open, and at least make your opponent question if you have a counterspell.
With Typhoon, obviously the verdict's still out. But being an uncounterable splashable instant that's useful pretty much everywhere in the curve and in almost every deck style adds a lot of value to an already flexible spell. We'll see if it makes the cut over other generically good blue spells as we get more reps in with it.
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For my 465 card cube to have four definite and three other possible inclusions demonstrates this is a powerful set. I too am a little worried about the companion mechanic not feeling enough like regular magic. We'll see how my group takes to them, but as it stands Lutri and Lurrus are too good to try. Finding a cut in Orzhov is savage and I can't believe that Sorin is that cut.
What are the thoughts on new Vivien vs. Nissa, Worldwaker vs Nissa, Who Shakes the World vs Plow Under? Plow Under has gotten steadily less popular with my drafters and I think one or more of the walkers would be more popular.
Cheers,
rant
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I love Sharknado just think in a tight powered 540 list like mine it’s a slight miss but if I was at a larger size I would definitely look to add it.
Fiend Artisan to me looks like too much investment resource wise. If the ability was at instant speed it would be a slam dunk, but having to choose between sacrificing and adding a creature for your whole turn or doing it opponents end of turn is the difference I feel.
My adds/cuts:
Vivien, Monster’s Advocate>Nissa, Worldwaker
Lurrus of the Dream-Den>Benalish Marshal
Heartless Act>Fatal Push
Lutri, the Spellchaser>Search for Azcanta
Do you feel Mothra is worth the slot in a non-sacrifice heavy list with no persist combo shenanigans? I like the wrath protection and the ability to give aggressive beaters flying is big game, I just don’t know if it’s good enough for a tight 540 list. I could cut it over the marshal and make a cut in orzhov like Anguished Unmaking or Gerrad’s Verdict instead for Lurrus.
Thanks again for all the great analysis and content!
@rantipole: I think I'd lean towards cutting one of the Nissas since there's some redundancy there and the new Vivien is a fresh and different set of abilities.
@Amschock: I think Mothra is probably still worth a test even without the combo; it's just a good card.
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I'm glad to see the love for Jegantha, I have been looking at it closely too in cube and other formats, but won't get to test it in person for a while. Looking forward to hear your results.
*Shark Typhoon is the main one, a scaleable Messenger Falcons with an alternate mode is very nice. But boy do I hate finding cuts in blue.
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
I currently don't run either Nissa and was thinking of bringing in Vivien or a Nissa. It's really hard to decide. Plus, I want to add Craterhoof and maybe Kogla. Ugh!
I think Zirda is a near miss at 465. Tempting, though. I don't think that card was on the radar of most cubists.
Cheers,
rant
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@Goodking: Thanks! It wouldn't surprise me if these companions show up all over the place in various constructed applications. And the more we learn about deck construction that works with them, the more we'll be able to adapt them to cube play. I seriously think that all 10 might have legitimate cube applications at some point in the future; this article only talks about the 4 that I could figure out right off the bat.
@rantipole: I'd focus on Craterhoof Behemoth and Nissa, Who Shakes the World first. Then I'd look towards the new Vivien and King Kong. Just my $0.02. And ya, Zirda's cool.
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Out of curiosity, how are you getting your testing in during these times of social distancing?
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Less testing than I'd like, that's for sure. Cameras for remote play & preconstructed/seeded cube decks.
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My sleeper hit for this set is Sea-Dasher Octopus. He will not cut in my cube for now, but playtesting has been very strong. It's so flexibel and both sides of the spell are quite useful due to flash. Your opponent tapped out? Flash it in eot to draw a card. You need a flashy blocker? You have a cheap creature with evasion? It's no Curiosity or Ophidian Eye in the sense that it doesn't do broken things like with shooting damage with Guttersnipe and drawing. But it will generate value in more cases than Curiosity or a Scroll Thief. I am just not convinced that it can beat one of the many blue etb-value critters for cmc3.
Anyway, thank you for your evaluation, it's always a delight to read
At 450, Top 2 are pretty much slam dunks, but I am pretty much worrried how Lutri can be too consistent, and feel bad that it cheats basic deck construction rules in the cube context. Lurrus is a fair companion and a good maindeck.
I’m kind of fond of Vivien because of the CA she brings to the table. That static ability is always on and it feels you are doing 2 abilities every turn. Can’t wait to play it with Oracle of Mul Daya and watch opponents get overwhwlmed by sheer board presence. So green! That said, I have no clear replacement yet so I will be holding this back. I love the alt art, though!
Im considering Mothra, Heartless Act and the Triomes as well.
I was wondering why you ranked Fiend artisan so low. Is it because Golgari is stacked? How about if we treat it as a mono Black/green card?
I’m eyeing Zirda for my artifact cube because it works well with Equipment as well as mana combos.
I think this might be the first time I am testing a card that hasn't made your top 20 list.
Voracious Greatshark isn't the most competitive card but I think it will shine more than some of the other lower options on the list.