MTG Salvation

I did a rough count in my cube for cards that interact well with instant sorcery:

Thing in the Ice
Kilnd Fiend
isochron scepter
Finale of Promise

etc ...

Rough estimate is 25 cards in the cube.

+ it also goes to the graveyard and works better with graveyard synergies - Delve, Season's Past, etc.

Rough estimate on this is around another 25 cards.

Omen works well with Flickerwisp, Yorion and Emarkul the Promise end + 1-2 Devotion Enablers.

Rough estimate on this is around 3-4 cards max.

For this reason, I would give the advantage to Deliberate - even though it offers a late game advantage.

Quote from BlackWaltz3 »

I'm a bit late on this but why Deliberate over Omen of the Sea? Isn't Omen of the Sea more often than not just Deliberate with additional upside? I mean if your cube goes deep on spells matter I could see Deliberate getting the nod, but otherwise I'd go Omen.

Without an enchantment matters theme, I have a ton more cards that interact with instants than I do with enchantments. Enough so that the additional sacrifice ability on Omen probably doesn't equate to enough value to be worth more.

It's a moot point for me though, since I don't think I'd cube either of those cards.

1 - Verdurous Gearhulk vs Elder Gargaroth vs Battle Mammoth (KHM leak) ? What order ?

2 - Behold the Multiverse (KHM) vs Drawn from Dreams vs Compulsive Research ? What order ?

3 - Niko Aris (KHM) vs Reflector Mage ?

4 - Beanstalk Giant vs Traverse the Ulvenwald ?

nevermind too easy.

Eradicator Valkyrie or Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet

1 - Eradicator Valkyrie vs Spawn of Mayhem vs Nightmare Shepherd ? What order ?

2 - History of Benalia vs Resplendent Angel vs Sigrid, God-Favored ? What order ?

3 - Emberwilde Captain vs Hazoret the Fervent vs Toralf, God of Fury // Toralf's Hammer ? What order ?

Spawn > Valkyrie > Nightmare Shepherd, but none of these are so far ahead that you couldn't pick and choose to taste

History > Sigrid > Angel, unless you have a massive lifegain theme

Emberwilde Captain > Hazoret > Toralf? Unless you run a huge burn package, then Toralf probably gains some value.

EDIT: regarding another comment last page, Wilt is super good; Disenchant/Naturalize is a perfectly cubeable baseline, then adding cycling is a fantastic addition for this effect.

Quote from Goodking »

Spawn > Valkyrie > Nightmare Shepherd, but none of these are so far ahead that you couldn't pick and choose to taste

History > Sigrid > Angel, unless you have a massive lifegain theme

Emberwilde Captain > Hazoret > Toralf? Unless you run a huge burn package, then Toralf probably gains some value.

EDIT: regarding another comment last page, Wilt is super good; Disenchant/Naturalize is a perfectly cubeable baseline, then adding cycling is a fantastic addition for this effect.

About Wilt, realized how good it is when i compared it with the versatility of miscalculation!
Similar cards, whoever has played with miscalculation can understand!

Pick one: Fallen Shinobi, Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver or Ashiok, Nightmare Muse.

Quote from Red13th »

Pick one: Fallen Shinobi, Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver or Ashiok, Nightmare Muse.

Power level ranking:
Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver > Fallen Shinobi > Ashiok, Nightmare Muse.

Fun-wise Fallen Shinobi wins.

1 - Aether Chaser vs Dragonkin Berserker ?

2 - Nightmare Shepherd vs Eradicator Valkyrie ?

3 - Thirst for Knowledge vs Behold the Multiverse ?

Quote from steve_man »

Aether Chaser > Dragonkin Berserker, although I think there's plenty of aggressive red 2-cmc creatures that are better than both of them.

Nightmare Shepherd > Eradicator Valkyrie. Shepherd doesn't die to bolt, and that's a big deal.

Behold the Multiverse > Thirst for Knowledge (allows you to keep riskier hands, Thirst is a slow discard outlet anyways).

Interesting, I think I’m going to go with the opposite on all three! But to be fair it’s all in theory since I haven’t tested the new cards.

Dragonkin upside of making a 5/5 flyer for 5 mana is significant. If Aether Chaser does prove to be better because the dragon never gets created then I’m still not going to run Aether Chaser, so at minimum I think Dargonkin is a great test case.

The lifelink on Valkyrie is a huge deal. Gisela overperformed for us and was often a “kill this now or you’re going to lose quickly” 4-drop. Something interesting is that depending on what bolts and walkers you play the number of targeted kill or bounce effects on walkers is similar to the number of 3-damage removal spells in the Cube. Also Nightmare Shepherd was not good enough for us, so this is another case of might as well test Valkyrie because the alternative given isn’t the best Cube card anyway.

We love Thirst for its archetype flexibility. While Behold does allow for navigating a riskier hand in terms of mana screw, Thirst is actually better in most mana flood hands, and I’d say it’s all-around more powerful in other situations.

Berserker ≥ Chaser. Honestly, they're both really close to one another, and I'm far closer to saying neither than having to pick one.

Valkyrie > Shepherd. Lifelink is big and the activated ability has synergy with a lot of what black's looking to do.

Thirst > Behold. Thirst feeds the 'yard, and can generate the same CA for less mana ...all of which can be paid at instant speed.

Quote from armando.zuffi »

1 - Aether Chaser vs Dragonkin Berserker ?

2 - Nightmare Shepherd vs Eradicator Valkyrie ?

3 - Thirst for Knowledge vs Behold the Multiverse ?

Aether Chaser has synergies with some of Red's best cards such as Purphorous, Embercleave, Hell Rider.

Evolving Wilds, Terramorphic Expanse, City of Ass, Ash Barrens, and an Shimmerdrift Vale
or
Thriving Heath, Thriving Isle, Thriving Moor, Thriving Bluff and Thriving Grove

Quote from jamis »

Evolving Wilds, Terramorphic Expanse, City of Ass, Ash Barrens, and an Shimmerdrift Vale
or
Thriving Heath, Thriving Isle, Thriving Moor, Thriving Bluff and Thriving Grove

The first bunch. So much more synergies with fetching lands! You could choose Thriving Grove over Shimmerdrift Vale in the first group though, since it seems like a strict upgrade. Your question however makes me think you are uncomfortable with a non-complete Landcycle. If you can't bring yourself to play Thriving Grove without the other 4, then simply take the first group as is.

first group for sure. 5 colour fetches are always good and seems like you are ocd about colour balancing just like me so shimmerdrift does a good job of alleviating the problem of needing to include 5 thriving lands as you are currently debating.

Quote from jamis »

Evolving Wilds, Terramorphic Expanse, City of Ass, Ash Barrens, and an Shimmerdrift Vale
or
Thriving Heath, Thriving Isle, Thriving Moor, Thriving Bluff and Thriving Grove

The first group, but without Shimmerdrift Vale.

Did anyone try out Beanstalker Giant overCultivate / Kodama's Reach?
I'm thinking of trying it out in my next update.

I've cut both Cultivate and Kodama's Reach in favor of Beanstalk Giant. While I haven't had that many events with it, I liked it more - you only get one land, but it coming in untapped can matter, and having the creature as a follow up is worth it in my opinion.

Quote from Tactuz »

Did anyone try out Beanstalker Giant overCultivate / Kodama's Reach?
I'm thinking of trying it out in my next update.

Cultivate = Reach > Giant.

Giant is fine but it's still not as good as cultivate or reach because a 7 mana vanilla creature with no abilities is so far below the typical cube card that you'd much rather have an extra land to make sure you drop your 5 mana bombs like Fractured Identity or Teferi or Fallen Shinobi on curve.

Plus, Cultivate and Reach fix for two different colors of mana, which is crucial in green decks that are 3+ colors (pretty common).
That's a big advantage.