That's a fair point. I only use Necromancy for enchant reanimator effects, not some of the other typical ones. But now that I think about it, I also rely on some Planeswalkers reanimation via Liliana Heretical Healer and Liliana Death's Majesty. Maybe I'll try Strategic planning instead of Pieces
Pieces of the Puzzle seems like a very narrow Forbiddn Alchemy / Strategic Planning variant. Digging deep and fueling the graveyard is nice, but only getting instants / sorceries is pretty narrow, plus a lot of reanimation effects are enchantments.
To be fair, Peices of the Puzzle has seen legacy play. I’m not sure it’s Cubeable at small sizes, but it’s good to think of it as a mega-Compulsive Research, or even a double Impulse than as a simple card draw spell. Card is definitely good in constructed, not that I can give input on its limited playability as it never made my maindeck in SOI/EMN drafts.
Victimize - The highest upside Reanimate effect beside Living Death. The real advantage is in drafting and deckbuilding, when this supports less all-or-nothing deckbuilding than Necromancy/Dance of the Dead etc. - you don't need a huge game-ending fatty to gain an insurmountable advantage; landing two 4-6-drops turn 3 will have about the same effect. Also just plain value in aggressive or midrange decks.
Sunder - A huge tempo deck blowout, and about the most prohibitive thing you can do on an opponent's end step once you have an evasive creature in play.
Catacomb Sifter - Beside maybe Meren, the best support card I've found for fair GB Junk decks. Just does everything I want in those decks, whether it's ramping to game-locking 5-drops, synergizing with Stax or Pox plans, or just gumming up the board against aggro.
Orcish Lumberjack - The most fair thing this card can do is a Turn 2 Kalonian Hydra. It's completely all-in, but in colors that want to hard-cast Ruric Thar, Titans and Tooth and Nails, Lumberjack just breaks the game.
Fire Covenant - In an aggressive deck that sets a fast clock, it's just a one-sided Plague Wind for 3, and in midrange/control decks that drag the game out, it's still often a 2- or 3-for-1. And it makes anything running mana elves just go home and cry.
Deflecting Palm is a pet card of mine that is always surprising me. It's a very fun card, stealing a game out of nowhere is priceless. Not the most powerful card but the mere presence of it in the cube makes the opponent think twice before make a huge attack when seeing a red and white source untapped.
Victimize - The highest upside Reanimate effect beside Living Death. The real advantage is in drafting and deckbuilding, when this supports less all-or-nothing deckbuilding than Necromancy/Dance of the Dead etc. - you don't need a huge game-ending fatty to gain an insurmountable advantage; landing two 4-6-drops turn 3 will have about the same effect. Also just plain value in aggressive or midrange decks.
Sunder - A huge tempo deck blowout, and about the most prohibitive thing you can do on an opponent's end step once you have an evasive creature in play.
Catacomb Sifter - Beside maybe Meren, the best support card I've found for fair GB Junk decks. Just does everything I want in those decks, whether it's ramping to game-locking 5-drops, synergizing with Stax or Pox plans, or just gumming up the board against aggro.
Orcish Lumberjack - The most fair thing this card can do is a Turn 2 Kalonian Hydra. It's completely all-in, but in colors that want to hard-cast Ruric Thar, Titans and Tooth and Nails, Lumberjack just breaks the game.
Fire Covenant - In an aggressive deck that sets a fast clock, it's just a one-sided Plague Wind for 3, and in midrange/control decks that drag the game out, it's still often a 2- or 3-for-1. And it makes anything running mana elves just go home and cry.
+1 on the lumberjack. It's a fantastic enabler for GR combo decks and a serviceable playable in generic ramp. Basically, if your deck is looking to hardcast a spell in the 4-6 CMC region and that spell has a decent chance of winning the game, the lumberjack is nuts. Eureka/sneakattack/TTB + eldrazi. It's better in some decks GR ramp decks than others. Ideally you want to ramp into immediate game ending effects, not big card advantage plays.
Also works slightly as a mana fixer, for spells like mizzium mortars and kiki jiki in decks that only run like 8 red sources.
Can see the merit to all the cards you've posted, though haven't tested any. Fire covenant seems gross against green or white.
I'm a longtime fan of Venser, the Sojourner. He really is kind of a terrible PW, but I like how the card can change the way the game is played. Flickering an O-Ring that I previously had on a creature, casting a Wrath, and then dropping the O-Ring on a PW or something is one of my favorite lines of play. Or just protecting my Sun Titan from that same Wrath. I've secured the win turn 5 by having Venser flicker himself before casting Upheaval. Or turning your clogged board state into an immediate win with an unblockable alpha strike. There are lots of other little things you can do with him, but I think you get the point is that he can create some explosive moments.
The biggest downside is he's just not reliable and restricts your deck. I was frustrated by fairly often having no real target for his +2, so I started experimenting with the Oath of (the Gatewatch) cycle and other enchantments that turn out to be exceptional targets. Although I didn't stick with the W, B or R ones, I still like Oath of Nissa and I find Oath of Jace an effective-enough alternative to Thirst for Knowledge in the average case that I never thought twice about the swap (I actually had a hard time remembering what it replaced tbh).
I'm still kinda eager for more blinking and more permanents to include to make Venser less of a "I'm basically winmore unless your game was dead-even and I can suddenly change things" card and something more generally reliable. This is probably not too appealing for most other people to really work at, because Teferi is a fun and very effective planeswalker who doesn't really demand anything from you in terms of deckbuilding or cube slots. But, as someone who really appreciates blink, I think he still has a net positive on the cube and I don't intend to cut him soon. Card in my On-Deck pool include Phyrexian Scriptures, The Mirari Conjecture, Liliana's Contract, none of which I think are great cards, but maybe can lead to some really unusual and interesting moments.
Rith's Charm - The ability to destroy a non-basic land out of a naya deck to set the slower deck back is amazing. Putting 3 saplings at instant speed is great (great answer to walkers). Preventing damage can help against re animator style strategies/ combat tricks in a pinch.
Molten Rain - I'm a big fan of land destruction out of these aggressive strategies. 3 Color Decks in cube often lack mana consistency, great at setting them back
Explore - I'm a huge fan of this card. The ability to draw a card in green ramp style decks can really help to dig into the finishers, as card quality varies in powered cubes
The Antiquities war - In more powered/ artifact heavier cubes, this card can be absolutely amazing. Turns the fast mox mana into huge threats.
Blightning - Even though you cannot redirect the damage, I think this card could be amazing at pushing damage + discard out of more aggressive strategies.
EDIT: Tjornan just reminded me that you can now, see oracle text. I just love this out of aggressive/ midrange strategies
Search for Azcanta - This card ranks incredibly high in my non-power card picks. I'm adding this because I absolutely love this card's ability to ramp in slower cube format, filter card selection and present a late game. I have never been disappointed by search.
Grizzly Fate - This card is amazing, putting out 4 bodies potentially for 5 mana with flashback.
Blightning - Even though you cannot redirect the damage, I think this card could be amazing at pushing damage + discard out of more aggressive strategies.
For what it's worth, you can still "redirect" Blightning's damage to walkers. See it's oracle text
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My Cubes - The Busted Cube. A fully functional, almost 100% custom cube. The project started out by asking "What if other colors got cards on the power level of Mana Drain,Ancestral Recall, and Time Walk?" Draft and enjoy!
Blightning - Even though you cannot redirect the damage, I think this card could be amazing at pushing damage + discard out of more aggressive strategies.
For what it's worth, you can still "redirect" Blightning's damage to walkers. See it's oracle text
WOW thanks for sharing this. I use to think Blightning was underplayed in Legacy and Modern for its potential to shoot planeswalkers. I thought it was just an absolutely steller, underplayed card.
I run some of these cards, but understand why they may have low play rates. The companion mechanic can be troublesome, and with the errata some people just don't want to deal with it. Many people don't run un-cards in their cubes unless it is an un-cube. True-Name may be banned just based on power or people not liking Protection effects.
Archon of Cruely, Hullbreacher, Force of Negation, and Skyclave Apparition are all solid, but there are other options for these slots. All good cards though.
I really don't think Dragon's Rage Channeler is that good in cube. The delirium is hard to trigger.
Context is very important on why some of these cards don't have high play %.
- A lot of people simply just don't like cubing True-Name Nemesis / companions / etc / silver bordered cards / etc.
- Force of Negation is not a cheap Magic card.
- Adoption rate can be slow on new cards. Not everybody updates their Cubecobra after every set release, especially during the pandemic when many people haven't even had a chance to test any new cards in over a year.
Of the bunch listed above, I agree with Skyclave Appariation the most. I was pretty medium at first, but now I do believe it's one of the top 3-cmc white creatures.
Here are my comments:
1. Silver border is generally a no-go for a lot of people.
2. Lutri and Lurrus are both very good - I would like to have them in my cube, but I'm just not sure who the cut.
3. Dragon's Rage looks good - but I've been putting her on my watch list.
4. Hullbreacher/ True-Name is cut more for fun/ play pattern reasons, rather than power level - feels very feast or famine.
5. Skyclave and Archon I agree with 100% - no reason why they should be this low.
6. Force of Negation is strong, but blue is a stacked color and its not odd for some good spells to miss the final list. I will say this - I don't have Vedalken Shackles in my cube and this may be a mistake, but I've found blue cards to be over drafted (especially in my playgroup) that getting that many islands is difficult at best. For similar reasons, I could see Force of Negation missing the list because a lot of decks lack the blue spell density. I've kept it in my cube because i have a stronger archetype focus.
7. Omnath was a wait and see - my cube is a bit too full right now for addition but 4 colors feels a bit too much ... (I did like Siege Rhino while it lasted)
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I'm actively maintaining a comprehensive article to help explain to new cube players how some complex vintage level cards work in a cube environment. Vintage Cube Cards Explained
The sweet play with jeweled amulet is obviously getting to drop a 3 drop on turn 2.
It doesnt fix your mana but getting to play a CC 3 drop is nice. tinkers as fast as a mox.
Kind of like a lotus petal that can recharge. There are lots of times where the curve isnt perfect and there is one mana hanging out.
You get insurance that you can't get 2 for 1'd like you do with chrome mox and mox diamond, for the price of needing to reinvest in it.
probably other things i am missing but its pretty nifty.
I'm going to give Jeweled Amulet a try - I was skeptical, but after how well Gilded Goose performed, I'm considering this + Deathrite Shaman. 1 CMC ramp is always good. The drawback for me is the artwork + long explanation text which might be a bit hard for first time drafters ...
Pieces of the Puzzle - any cube supporting reanimator as an archetype should use this card. Solid ±1 card advantage and easily splashable
This is one of my favorite cards in UR gifts storm. The problem is you need around 18 instants/ sorceries to hit the required density for a 76% success rate. This is card I would love to play ...
Collected Company can get away with 15 creatures for the required 75% success rate.
I'm actively maintaining a comprehensive article to help explain to new cube players how some complex vintage level cards work in a cube environment. Vintage Cube Cards Explained
The sweet play with jeweled amulet is obviously getting to drop a 3 drop on turn 2.
It doesnt fix your mana but getting to play a CC 3 drop is nice. tinkers as fast as a mox.
Kind of like a lotus petal that can recharge. There are lots of times where the curve isnt perfect and there is one mana hanging out.
You get insurance that you can't get 2 for 1'd like you do with chrome mox and mox diamond, for the price of needing to reinvest in it.
probably other things i am missing but its pretty nifty.
I'm going to give Jeweled Amulet a try - I was skeptical, but after how well Gilded Goose performed, I'm considering this + Deathrite Shaman. 1 CMC ramp is always good. The drawback for me is the artwork + long explanation text which might be a bit hard for first time drafters ...
Pieces of the Puzzle - any cube supporting reanimator as an archetype should use this card. Solid ±1 card advantage and easily splashable
This is one of my favorite cards in UR gifts storm. The problem is you need around 18 instants/ sorceries to hit the required density for a 76% success rate. This is card I would love to play ...
Collected Company can get away with 15 creatures for the required 75% success rate.
I had to double check to make sure, but the Pieces of the Puzzle quote actually wasn’t from me!
The sweet play with jeweled amulet is obviously getting to drop a 3 drop on turn 2.
It doesnt fix your mana but getting to play a CC 3 drop is nice. tinkers as fast as a mox.
Kind of like a lotus petal that can recharge. There are lots of times where the curve isnt perfect and there is one mana hanging out.
You get insurance that you can't get 2 for 1'd like you do with chrome mox and mox diamond, for the price of needing to reinvest in it.
probably other things i am missing but its pretty nifty.
I'm going to give Jeweled Amulet a try - I was skeptical, but after how well Gilded Goose performed, I'm considering this + Deathrite Shaman. 1 CMC ramp is always good. The drawback for me is the artwork + long explanation text which might be a bit hard for first time drafters ...
Pieces of the Puzzle - any cube supporting reanimator as an archetype should use this card. Solid ±1 card advantage and easily splashable
This is one of my favorite cards in UR gifts storm. The problem is you need around 18 instants/ sorceries to hit the required density for a 76% success rate. This is card I would love to play ...
Collected Company can get away with 15 creatures for the required 75% success rate.
I had to double check to make sure, but the Pieces of the Puzzle quote actually wasn’t from me!
Sorry my dude, I messed up when I was modifying the quote. I fixed it.
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I'm actively maintaining a comprehensive article to help explain to new cube players how some complex vintage level cards work in a cube environment. Vintage Cube Cards Explained
This is probably not a good reason to not play Jeweled Amulet, but the card's a bit too difficult to understand (during drafts) + the card art looks really bad IMO.
Its objectively strong enough to make it into my cube, but I replaced it with a 2 CMC mana rock for these two reasons.
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Forgot about this thread, but I guess we have some new cards I haven't seen others play since the last time I posted here. This is gonna be a long one...
First and foremost, Angel of the Ruins is amazing. The card sees so much play in so many decks, it's honestly incredible. Reanimator, Control, Oath of Druids, Artifact Ramp, fair Recurring Nightmare decks, the card is everywhere. It even fixes mana off of dual lands! Can't recommend this card enough, it's everything I wanted Emeria's Call to be and so much more.
Most cubes I see on here also don't play Plague Engineer which is baffling to me, because we've been playing it for well over 2 years now and that card is absolutely stellar, imo the second best black 3 drop after Rotting Regisaur. Whether it's in aggro, control, midrange, or even the slower reanimator decks, the card gets maindecked in everything. The same way an early Deranged Hermit can single-handedly win you a bunch of aggro matchups, Plague Engineer oftentimes does the same for 3 mana, except it is also one of the best cards available in aggro decks for wiping away your opponents' wide blocking token boards. It's great defensively and has a ton of applications aggressively too, and before anyone mentions that it's only goo din fair matchups, that hasn't been the case either. The card blocks everything well, and can trade with most fatties while cleaning up Myr Battlesphere and Hornet Queen tokens. I promise that card plays soooo much better than it looks, singleton format be damned. Should also mention that it just annihilates green decks of the Elf subtype and white off of Humans, and completely erases all the red 3cmc token producers from combat. The worst case scenario is a 2/2 with deathtoutch for 3 that "pings" something, a debuff that oftentimes lets one of your 2/2s or 3/3s trade up.
I remember bringing up Bomat Courier in the Cube-Card-of-the-Day thread a few years back encouraging others to test it, and I think a bunch of people did but then proceeded to cut it. I'm sure there's good reason for that, but in my playgroup's experience Bomat has been arguably red's second or third best 1 drop prior to Ragavan's printing. It constantly accounts for 2-4 dmage and 3-5 cards for 1-2 measly mana, and is even castable on turn one off of off-color moxen/mana crypt/sol ring which is not a menial upside. I have less to say for this card since its extensive standard dominance and occasional legacy showings already display the play patterns for the card, but just know that the little guy definitely finds it's way into all sorts of aggro and midrange decks, even off of splashes.
Beast Within and Song of the Dryads have been great too. I think people used to play them but cut them for space over the years, but tbh they've only gotten better as PWs and fatties have gotten more and more pushed over the years. Beast Within especially is certainly the better of the two, and makes its way into almost all our green decks, even in aggro and ramp. I'd put it in Council's Judgement territory without batting an eye, with Song a step below all the Oblivion Ring variants but still more than playable, especially in green.
For multicolor, we play all the obvious stuff, but Klothys, God of Destiny has been absurd. It goes in everything, gets splashed constantly, takes over games when it hits the board, and fills every niche you could want in draft and deckbuilding. Gruul is a solid color combination, and I'd vouch for Klothys as the easy #2 behind only Atarka.
Nahiri, the Harbinger isn't actually that great, but she's certainly playable and gets about as much millage as Figure of Destiny in our cube by nature of uniqueness alone. If you don't play her, no harm no foul, but I'd definitely give her a shot because people love to splash for her in all kinds of decks. Control, renaimator, Sneak Attack, Oath, etc can all get fatties off the top-end to win the game, and shes the kind of card that just gets the gears turning for people. If you have a Boros flex slot available that you're just using to test new cards, I'd highly recommend her.
I've mentioned Glare of Subdual before, and I'm not going to go into a whole spiel again, but it's been bar none the best Selesnya card in our cube for like 5 years straight now and it hasn't been particularly close either. It's just as dominant as Opposition vs everything except exactly control, and turns out like 80% of opposition is still ridiculous. Card just shuts down like 80% of other cube decks.
Ugin, the Ineffable has been a colorless Elspeth, Sun's Champion, and isn't going anywhere any time soon. Goes in Control, all the ramp decks, Channel decks, and even some midrange decks. The static ability is super relevant in ramp decks, especially if you play Eldrazi titans, and the card advantage it creates gets out of control insanely fast. It's been leagues better than Karn Liberated for us by comparison, and is without a doubt a premier 6 drop in our cube.
Sawtusk Demolisher has been some pretty stellar agressive/midrange top end for us so far. Has received substantially less extensive testing (just 2 or 3 months now since mutate wasn't on XMage) than every other non-Angel card I've listed so far, but a splashable pseudo-Demon of Catastrophes with haste and a Terrastodon proc has been really good for us so far. Again, by far the least testing of anything I've mentioned so far as most of the cards I'm bringing up have been in our cube for several years, but looks like it's gonna stick around for a while.
Component Pouch has only been in for 5 (I think?) drafts so far over Worn Powerstone, and has already blown away expectations. The card sees play in control and midrange decks all the time a-la pseudo-Coalition Relic, and the fixing has been invaluable. If you aren't comfortable with that swap, I'd at least recommend trying the Pouch in a different slot, as I am confidant that it has got to be better than something. Card deserves a fair shot, goofy die-rolling and counters aside.
And finally I know I've been mentioned her a million times before, but Arcane Artisan is amazing, and it amazes me that there are still cubes that support reanimator/show and tell/sneak attack/Oath of Druids (aka most cubes on here) that don't play it. It's a one-card combo enabler that gets around removal off the EOT activation, and can even loot for value in the late game.
And I think that's everything, whew now I need to go get dinner
Forgot about this thread, but I guess we have some new cards I haven't seen others play since the last time I posted here. This is gonna be a long one...
First and foremost, Angel of the Ruins is amazing. The card sees so much play in so many decks, it's honestly incredible. Reanimator, Control, Oath of Druids, Artifact Ramp, fair Recurring Nightmare decks, the card is everywhere. It even fixes mana off of dual lands! Can't recommend this card enough, it's everything I wanted Emeria's Call to be and so much more.
Most cubes I see on here also don't play Plague Engineer which is baffling to me, because we've been playing it for well over 2 years now and that card is absolutely stellar, imo the second best black 3 drop after Rotting Regisaur. Whether it's in aggro, control, midrange, or even the slower reanimator decks, the card gets maindecked in everything. The same way an early Deranged Hermit can single-handedly win you a bunch of aggro matchups, Plague Engineer oftentimes does the same for 3 mana, except it is also one of the best cards available in aggro decks for wiping away your opponents' wide blocking token boards. It's great defensively and has a ton of applications aggressively too, and before anyone mentions that it's only goo din fair matchups, that hasn't been the case either. The card blocks everything well, and can trade with most fatties while cleaning up Myr Battlesphere and Hornet Queen tokens. I promise that card plays soooo much better than it looks, singleton format be damned. Should also mention that it just annihilates green decks of the Elf subtype and white off of Humans, and completely erases all the red 3cmc token producers from combat. The worst case scenario is a 2/2 with deathtoutch for 3 that "pings" something, a debuff that oftentimes lets one of your 2/2s or 3/3s trade up.
I remember bringing up Bomat Courier in the Cube-Card-of-the-Day thread a few years back encouraging others to test it, and I think a bunch of people did but then proceeded to cut it. I'm sure there's good reason for that, but in my playgroup's experience Bomat has been arguably red's second or third best 1 drop prior to Ragavan's printing. It constantly accounts for 2-4 dmage and 3-5 cards for 1-2 measly mana, and is even castable on turn one off of off-color moxen/mana crypt/sol ring which is not a menial upside. I have less to say for this card since its extensive standard dominance and occasional legacy showings already display the play patterns for the card, but just know that the little guy definitely finds it's way into all sorts of aggro and midrange decks, even off of splashes.
Beast Within and Song of the Dryads have been great too. I think people used to play them but cut them for space over the years, but tbh they've only gotten better as PWs and fatties have gotten more and more pushed over the years. Beast Within especially is certainly the better of the two, and makes its way into almost all our green decks, even in aggro and ramp. I'd put it in Council's Judgement territory without batting an eye, with Song a step below all the Oblivion Ring variants but still more than playable, especially in green.
For multicolor, we play all the obvious stuff, but Klothys, God of Destiny has been absurd. It goes in everything, gets splashed constantly, takes over games when it hits the board, and fills every niche you could want in draft and deckbuilding. Gruul is a solid color combination, and I'd vouch for Klothys as the easy #2 behind only Atarka.
Nahiri, the Harbinger isn't actually that great, but she's certainly playable and gets about as much millage as Figure of Destiny in our cube by nature of uniqueness alone. If you don't play her, no harm no foul, but I'd definitely give her a shot because people love to splash for her in all kinds of decks. Control, renaimator, Sneak Attack, Oath, etc can all get fatties off the top-end to win the game, and shes the kind of card that just gets the gears turning for people. If you have a Boros flex slot available that you're just using to test new cards, I'd highly recommend her.
I've mentioned Glare of Subdual before, and I'm not going to go into a whole spiel again, but it's been bar none the best Selesnya card in our cube for like 5 years straight now and it hasn't been particularly close either. It's just as dominant as Opposition vs everything except exactly control, and turns out like 80% of opposition is still ridiculous. Card just shuts down like 80% of other cube decks.
Ugin, the Ineffable has been a colorless Elspeth, Sun's Champion, and isn't going anywhere any time soon. Goes in Control, all the ramp decks, Channel decks, and even some midrange decks. The static ability is super relevant in ramp decks, especially if you play Eldrazi titans, and the card advantage it creates gets out of control insanely fast. It's been leagues better than Karn Liberated for us by comparison, and is without a doubt a premier 6 drop in our cube.
Sawtusk Demolisher has been some pretty stellar agressive/midrange top end for us so far. Has received substantially less extensive testing (just 2 or 3 months now since mutate wasn't on XMage) than every other non-Angel card I've listed so far, but a splashable pseudo-Demon of Catastrophes with haste and a Terrastodon proc has been really good for us so far. Again, by far the least testing of anything I've mentioned so far as most of the cards I'm bringing up have been in our cube for several years, but looks like it's gonna stick around for a while.
Component Pouch has only been in for 5 (I think?) drafts so far over Worn Powerstone, and has already blown away expectations. The card sees play in control and midrange decks all the time a-la pseudo-Coalition Relic, and the fixing has been invaluable. If you aren't comfortable with that swap, I'd at least recommend trying the Pouch in a different slot, as I am confidant that it has got to be better than something. Card deserves a fair shot, goofy die-rolling and counters aside.
And finally I know I've been mentioned her a million times before, but Arcane Artisan is amazing, and it amazes me that there are still cubes that support reanimator/show and tell/sneak attack/Oath of Druids (aka most cubes on here) that don't play it. It's a one-card combo enabler that gets around removal off the EOT activation, and can even loot for value in the late game.
And I think that's everything, whew now I need to go get dinner
They look like great cards - but right now I have around 100-200 cards on the bench right now as nearly playables.
Sawtusk Demolisher - this looks pretty good, but I'm opting not to play him because I found the mutate mechanic to be very convoluted and hard to understand. It sees no play in any other format and I don't want my drafters to have to spend time trying to figure it out.
Component Pouch - I could see this making it into my list, I might give it a try in the next iteration.
Angel of the Ruins - I play Linvala, the Preserver in this slot. My problem is it hits artifacts/ enchantments. I'm concerned about the opponent's creatures/ life at this CMC.
Ugin, the Ineffable - I think the rate is 3/4 CMC planeswalker - conditional removal with downtick / 5 CMC planeswalker, unconditional removal with downtick. 6 CMC feels a bit too much. Maybe you can justify him in a colorless ramp deck, but idk.
Beast Within and Song of the Dryads - I could see Beast Within make it into my cube, but I don't see mono green that much - it usually is splashed with another color anyways.
I'm actively maintaining a comprehensive article to help explain to new cube players how some complex vintage level cards work in a cube environment. Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Forgot about this thread, but I guess we have some new cards I haven't seen others play since the last time I posted here. This is gonna be a long one...
First and foremost, Angel of the Ruins is amazing. The card sees so much play in so many decks, it's honestly incredible. Reanimator, Control, Oath of Druids, Artifact Ramp, fair Recurring Nightmare decks, the card is everywhere. It even fixes mana off of dual lands! Can't recommend this card enough, it's everything I wanted Emeria's Call to be and so much more.
Most cubes I see on here also don't play Plague Engineer which is baffling to me, because we've been playing it for well over 2 years now and that card is absolutely stellar, imo the second best black 3 drop after Rotting Regisaur. Whether it's in aggro, control, midrange, or even the slower reanimator decks, the card gets maindecked in everything. The same way an early Deranged Hermit can single-handedly win you a bunch of aggro matchups, Plague Engineer oftentimes does the same for 3 mana, except it is also one of the best cards available in aggro decks for wiping away your opponents' wide blocking token boards. It's great defensively and has a ton of applications aggressively too, and before anyone mentions that it's only goo din fair matchups, that hasn't been the case either. The card blocks everything well, and can trade with most fatties while cleaning up Myr Battlesphere and Hornet Queen tokens. I promise that card plays soooo much better than it looks, singleton format be damned. Should also mention that it just annihilates green decks of the Elf subtype and white off of Humans, and completely erases all the red 3cmc token producers from combat. The worst case scenario is a 2/2 with deathtoutch for 3 that "pings" something, a debuff that oftentimes lets one of your 2/2s or 3/3s trade up.
I remember bringing up Bomat Courier in the Cube-Card-of-the-Day thread a few years back encouraging others to test it, and I think a bunch of people did but then proceeded to cut it. I'm sure there's good reason for that, but in my playgroup's experience Bomat has been arguably red's second or third best 1 drop prior to Ragavan's printing. It constantly accounts for 2-4 dmage and 3-5 cards for 1-2 measly mana, and is even castable on turn one off of off-color moxen/mana crypt/sol ring which is not a menial upside. I have less to say for this card since its extensive standard dominance and occasional legacy showings already display the play patterns for the card, but just know that the little guy definitely finds it's way into all sorts of aggro and midrange decks, even off of splashes.
Beast Within and Song of the Dryads have been great too. I think people used to play them but cut them for space over the years, but tbh they've only gotten better as PWs and fatties have gotten more and more pushed over the years. Beast Within especially is certainly the better of the two, and makes its way into almost all our green decks, even in aggro and ramp. I'd put it in Council's Judgement territory without batting an eye, with Song a step below all the Oblivion Ring variants but still more than playable, especially in green.
For multicolor, we play all the obvious stuff, but Klothys, God of Destiny has been absurd. It goes in everything, gets splashed constantly, takes over games when it hits the board, and fills every niche you could want in draft and deckbuilding. Gruul is a solid color combination, and I'd vouch for Klothys as the easy #2 behind only Atarka.
Nahiri, the Harbinger isn't actually that great, but she's certainly playable and gets about as much millage as Figure of Destiny in our cube by nature of uniqueness alone. If you don't play her, no harm no foul, but I'd definitely give her a shot because people love to splash for her in all kinds of decks. Control, renaimator, Sneak Attack, Oath, etc can all get fatties off the top-end to win the game, and shes the kind of card that just gets the gears turning for people. If you have a Boros flex slot available that you're just using to test new cards, I'd highly recommend her.
I've mentioned Glare of Subdual before, and I'm not going to go into a whole spiel again, but it's been bar none the best Selesnya card in our cube for like 5 years straight now and it hasn't been particularly close either. It's just as dominant as Opposition vs everything except exactly control, and turns out like 80% of opposition is still ridiculous. Card just shuts down like 80% of other cube decks.
Ugin, the Ineffable has been a colorless Elspeth, Sun's Champion, and isn't going anywhere any time soon. Goes in Control, all the ramp decks, Channel decks, and even some midrange decks. The static ability is super relevant in ramp decks, especially if you play Eldrazi titans, and the card advantage it creates gets out of control insanely fast. It's been leagues better than Karn Liberated for us by comparison, and is without a doubt a premier 6 drop in our cube.
Sawtusk Demolisher has been some pretty stellar agressive/midrange top end for us so far. Has received substantially less extensive testing (just 2 or 3 months now since mutate wasn't on XMage) than every other non-Angel card I've listed so far, but a splashable pseudo-Demon of Catastrophes with haste and a Terrastodon proc has been really good for us so far. Again, by far the least testing of anything I've mentioned so far as most of the cards I'm bringing up have been in our cube for several years, but looks like it's gonna stick around for a while.
Component Pouch has only been in for 5 (I think?) drafts so far over Worn Powerstone, and has already blown away expectations. The card sees play in control and midrange decks all the time a-la pseudo-Coalition Relic, and the fixing has been invaluable. If you aren't comfortable with that swap, I'd at least recommend trying the Pouch in a different slot, as I am confidant that it has got to be better than something. Card deserves a fair shot, goofy die-rolling and counters aside.
And finally I know I've been mentioned her a million times before, but Arcane Artisan is amazing, and it amazes me that there are still cubes that support reanimator/show and tell/sneak attack/Oath of Druids (aka most cubes on here) that don't play it. It's a one-card combo enabler that gets around removal off the EOT activation, and can even loot for value in the late game.
And I think that's everything, whew now I need to go get dinner
Great post, thanks for writing this. Reminded me of a few cards I'd meant to get around to testing but never did (component pounch and sawtusk demolisher) and pointed out a card I never knew existed that interests me (angel of the ruins).
At first glance, Angel of the ruins seems like a well rounded roleplayer for vintage cube. Tinker/Workshop, Reanimation, fixing + threat for fair slower W decks... Exceptional in nothing, but solid in many slower archetypes.
I agree both bomat courier and plague engineer are under-rated around these parts. Ended up cutting plague engineer because it felt too opressive against decks that weren't at the top of the food chain, but it can always come back in. Nutty anti W/G card that has a surprisingly decent floor against other decks.
I rank bomat courier slightly higher than most red savannah lion cards.
Hard disagree about beast within and song of the dryads, but everything else is reasonable and/or interesting, thanks =D
Linvala, the Preserver - The 5 life + 8 power split between 2 creatures is incredibly powerful. This is really good in control decks, reanimator decks etc.
Recoil - this was a card i really liked while playing with decks from the 2002 period. It often felt like an instant speed Vindicate at times.
Spiteful Prankster - very good rate for a blood artist style creature. The only downside is the creature is 3 CMC in a very competitive slot.
Soul Shatter - This isn't that far off from a Hero's Downfall.
Roast - Red is more about rabblemaster variants + tempo, rather than burn. This isn't the best card in the world, but I like it a lot in red decks that lack 5 damage to help push damage/ remove creatures.
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Thanks for this NotScottMescudi! Angel of Ruins seems insanely good. Definitely going to try and make space for it. Plague Engineer seems good but I'm not sure I want it with all my other ETB destroy creature creatures around. Bomat courier is excellent and I can hold heartedly second it as an option. A staple in my list.
Arcane Artisan is interesting but seems very slow to me. 3 mana and then needs to untap for another three mana investment to do anything. I'm willing to try it because I love those archetypes but I am not sold.
I'm going to go to bat for Court of Grace. I can understand skipping it if you don't like Monarch as a mechanic but otherwise the card is incredible. Especially if you support stax in white. Often the 4 drop I most want to see in a slower white deck.
Saheeli Rai - obviously strong with Felidar Guardian, but +1 to scry + 1 damage isn't the worst in tempo decks. Create a copy of target artifact could be used to generate mana with stuff like Crypt, Vault, copy creatures could be used to give a creature haste (reanimator, fatty cheat), good at creating sacrifice fodder, good as a blink enabler.
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Draft My Cube!
To be fair, Peices of the Puzzle has seen legacy play. I’m not sure it’s Cubeable at small sizes, but it’s good to think of it as a mega-Compulsive Research, or even a double Impulse than as a simple card draw spell. Card is definitely good in constructed, not that I can give input on its limited playability as it never made my maindeck in SOI/EMN drafts.
Sunder - A huge tempo deck blowout, and about the most prohibitive thing you can do on an opponent's end step once you have an evasive creature in play.
Catacomb Sifter - Beside maybe Meren, the best support card I've found for fair GB Junk decks. Just does everything I want in those decks, whether it's ramping to game-locking 5-drops, synergizing with Stax or Pox plans, or just gumming up the board against aggro.
Orcish Lumberjack - The most fair thing this card can do is a Turn 2 Kalonian Hydra. It's completely all-in, but in colors that want to hard-cast Ruric Thar, Titans and Tooth and Nails, Lumberjack just breaks the game.
Fire Covenant - In an aggressive deck that sets a fast clock, it's just a one-sided Plague Wind for 3, and in midrange/control decks that drag the game out, it's still often a 2- or 3-for-1. And it makes anything running mana elves just go home and cry.
+1 on the lumberjack. It's a fantastic enabler for GR combo decks and a serviceable playable in generic ramp. Basically, if your deck is looking to hardcast a spell in the 4-6 CMC region and that spell has a decent chance of winning the game, the lumberjack is nuts. Eureka/sneakattack/TTB + eldrazi. It's better in some decks GR ramp decks than others. Ideally you want to ramp into immediate game ending effects, not big card advantage plays.
Also works slightly as a mana fixer, for spells like mizzium mortars and kiki jiki in decks that only run like 8 red sources.
Can see the merit to all the cards you've posted, though haven't tested any. Fire covenant seems gross against green or white.
Last Updated 02/07/24
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The biggest downside is he's just not reliable and restricts your deck. I was frustrated by fairly often having no real target for his +2, so I started experimenting with the Oath of (the Gatewatch) cycle and other enchantments that turn out to be exceptional targets. Although I didn't stick with the W, B or R ones, I still like Oath of Nissa and I find Oath of Jace an effective-enough alternative to Thirst for Knowledge in the average case that I never thought twice about the swap (I actually had a hard time remembering what it replaced tbh).
I'm still kinda eager for more blinking and more permanents to include to make Venser less of a "I'm basically winmore unless your game was dead-even and I can suddenly change things" card and something more generally reliable. This is probably not too appealing for most other people to really work at, because Teferi is a fun and very effective planeswalker who doesn't really demand anything from you in terms of deckbuilding or cube slots. But, as someone who really appreciates blink, I think he still has a net positive on the cube and I don't intend to cut him soon. Card in my On-Deck pool include Phyrexian Scriptures, The Mirari Conjecture, Liliana's Contract, none of which I think are great cards, but maybe can lead to some really unusual and interesting moments.
Molten Rain - I'm a big fan of land destruction out of these aggressive strategies. 3 Color Decks in cube often lack mana consistency, great at setting them back
Explore - I'm a huge fan of this card. The ability to draw a card in green ramp style decks can really help to dig into the finishers, as card quality varies in powered cubes
The Antiquities war - In more powered/ artifact heavier cubes, this card can be absolutely amazing. Turns the fast mox mana into huge threats.
Blightning - Even though you cannot redirect the damage, I think this card could be amazing at pushing damage + discard out of more aggressive strategies.
EDIT: Tjornan just reminded me that you can now, see oracle text. I just love this out of aggressive/ midrange strategies
Search for Azcanta - This card ranks incredibly high in my non-power card picks. I'm adding this because I absolutely love this card's ability to ramp in slower cube format, filter card selection and present a late game. I have never been disappointed by search.
Grizzly Fate - This card is amazing, putting out 4 bodies potentially for 5 mana with flashback.
For what it's worth, you can still "redirect" Blightning's damage to walkers. See it's oracle text
Regular 450 unpowered cube (with some custom cards) - 450 Unpowered
WOW thanks for sharing this. I use to think Blightning was underplayed in Legacy and Modern for its potential to shoot planeswalkers. I thought it was just an absolutely steller, underplayed card.
Very Low cube cobra %:
Lutri, the Spellchaser
City of Ass
Jack-in-the-Mox
Omnath, Locus of Creation
Dragon's Rage Channeler
Archon of Cruelty
Hullbreacher
True-Name Nemesis
Cubecobra % in low teens (should be 20%+):
Lurrus of the Dream-Den
Force of Negation
Skyclave Apparition
360 card powered Chicago cube:
https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/e7r
2020 Numerical Power Rankings:
https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/the-cube-forum/cube-card-and-archetype/817969-2020-numerical-cube-power-rankings
2018 CubeTutor Power Rankings:
https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/the-cube-forum/cube-card-and-archetype/803301-cubetutor-power-rankings-2018-by-color-and-cmc
Archon of Cruely, Hullbreacher, Force of Negation, and Skyclave Apparition are all solid, but there are other options for these slots. All good cards though.
I really don't think Dragon's Rage Channeler is that good in cube. The delirium is hard to trigger.
I'm curious about your experience with Omnath.
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Context is very important on why some of these cards don't have high play %.
- A lot of people simply just don't like cubing True-Name Nemesis / companions / etc / silver bordered cards / etc.
- Force of Negation is not a cheap Magic card.
- Adoption rate can be slow on new cards. Not everybody updates their Cubecobra after every set release, especially during the pandemic when many people haven't even had a chance to test any new cards in over a year.
Of the bunch listed above, I agree with Skyclave Appariation the most. I was pretty medium at first, but now I do believe it's one of the top 3-cmc white creatures.
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
Here are my comments:
1. Silver border is generally a no-go for a lot of people.
2. Lutri and Lurrus are both very good - I would like to have them in my cube, but I'm just not sure who the cut.
3. Dragon's Rage looks good - but I've been putting her on my watch list.
4. Hullbreacher/ True-Name is cut more for fun/ play pattern reasons, rather than power level - feels very feast or famine.
5. Skyclave and Archon I agree with 100% - no reason why they should be this low.
6. Force of Negation is strong, but blue is a stacked color and its not odd for some good spells to miss the final list. I will say this - I don't have Vedalken Shackles in my cube and this may be a mistake, but I've found blue cards to be over drafted (especially in my playgroup) that getting that many islands is difficult at best. For similar reasons, I could see Force of Negation missing the list because a lot of decks lack the blue spell density. I've kept it in my cube because i have a stronger archetype focus.
7. Omnath was a wait and see - my cube is a bit too full right now for addition but 4 colors feels a bit too much ... (I did like Siege Rhino while it lasted)
Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Here are some other articles I've written about fine tuning your cube:
1. Minimum Archetype Support
2. Improving Green Archetypes
3. Improving White Archetypes
4. Matchup Analysis
5. Cube Combos (Work in Progress)
Draft my Cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/d8i
I'm going to give Jeweled Amulet a try - I was skeptical, but after how well Gilded Goose performed, I'm considering this + Deathrite Shaman. 1 CMC ramp is always good. The drawback for me is the artwork + long explanation text which might be a bit hard for first time drafters ...
This is one of my favorite cards in UR gifts storm. The problem is you need around 18 instants/ sorceries to hit the required density for a 76% success rate. This is card I would love to play ...
Collected Company can get away with 15 creatures for the required 75% success rate.
Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Here are some other articles I've written about fine tuning your cube:
1. Minimum Archetype Support
2. Improving Green Archetypes
3. Improving White Archetypes
4. Matchup Analysis
5. Cube Combos (Work in Progress)
Draft my Cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/d8i
I had to double check to make sure, but the Pieces of the Puzzle quote actually wasn’t from me!
Sorry my dude, I messed up when I was modifying the quote. I fixed it.
Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Here are some other articles I've written about fine tuning your cube:
1. Minimum Archetype Support
2. Improving Green Archetypes
3. Improving White Archetypes
4. Matchup Analysis
5. Cube Combos (Work in Progress)
Draft my Cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/d8i
Its objectively strong enough to make it into my cube, but I replaced it with a 2 CMC mana rock for these two reasons.
Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Here are some other articles I've written about fine tuning your cube:
1. Minimum Archetype Support
2. Improving Green Archetypes
3. Improving White Archetypes
4. Matchup Analysis
5. Cube Combos (Work in Progress)
Draft my Cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/d8i
Low-power cube enthusiast!
My 1570 card cube (no longer updated)
My 415 Peasant+ Artifact and Enchantment Cube
Ever-Expanding "Just throw it in" cube.
First and foremost, Angel of the Ruins is amazing. The card sees so much play in so many decks, it's honestly incredible. Reanimator, Control, Oath of Druids, Artifact Ramp, fair Recurring Nightmare decks, the card is everywhere. It even fixes mana off of dual lands! Can't recommend this card enough, it's everything I wanted Emeria's Call to be and so much more.
Most cubes I see on here also don't play Plague Engineer which is baffling to me, because we've been playing it for well over 2 years now and that card is absolutely stellar, imo the second best black 3 drop after Rotting Regisaur. Whether it's in aggro, control, midrange, or even the slower reanimator decks, the card gets maindecked in everything. The same way an early Deranged Hermit can single-handedly win you a bunch of aggro matchups, Plague Engineer oftentimes does the same for 3 mana, except it is also one of the best cards available in aggro decks for wiping away your opponents' wide blocking token boards. It's great defensively and has a ton of applications aggressively too, and before anyone mentions that it's only goo din fair matchups, that hasn't been the case either. The card blocks everything well, and can trade with most fatties while cleaning up Myr Battlesphere and Hornet Queen tokens. I promise that card plays soooo much better than it looks, singleton format be damned. Should also mention that it just annihilates green decks of the Elf subtype and white off of Humans, and completely erases all the red 3cmc token producers from combat. The worst case scenario is a 2/2 with deathtoutch for 3 that "pings" something, a debuff that oftentimes lets one of your 2/2s or 3/3s trade up.
I remember bringing up Bomat Courier in the Cube-Card-of-the-Day thread a few years back encouraging others to test it, and I think a bunch of people did but then proceeded to cut it. I'm sure there's good reason for that, but in my playgroup's experience Bomat has been arguably red's second or third best 1 drop prior to Ragavan's printing. It constantly accounts for 2-4 dmage and 3-5 cards for 1-2 measly mana, and is even castable on turn one off of off-color moxen/mana crypt/sol ring which is not a menial upside. I have less to say for this card since its extensive standard dominance and occasional legacy showings already display the play patterns for the card, but just know that the little guy definitely finds it's way into all sorts of aggro and midrange decks, even off of splashes.
Beast Within and Song of the Dryads have been great too. I think people used to play them but cut them for space over the years, but tbh they've only gotten better as PWs and fatties have gotten more and more pushed over the years. Beast Within especially is certainly the better of the two, and makes its way into almost all our green decks, even in aggro and ramp. I'd put it in Council's Judgement territory without batting an eye, with Song a step below all the Oblivion Ring variants but still more than playable, especially in green.
For multicolor, we play all the obvious stuff, but Klothys, God of Destiny has been absurd. It goes in everything, gets splashed constantly, takes over games when it hits the board, and fills every niche you could want in draft and deckbuilding. Gruul is a solid color combination, and I'd vouch for Klothys as the easy #2 behind only Atarka.
Nahiri, the Harbinger isn't actually that great, but she's certainly playable and gets about as much millage as Figure of Destiny in our cube by nature of uniqueness alone. If you don't play her, no harm no foul, but I'd definitely give her a shot because people love to splash for her in all kinds of decks. Control, renaimator, Sneak Attack, Oath, etc can all get fatties off the top-end to win the game, and shes the kind of card that just gets the gears turning for people. If you have a Boros flex slot available that you're just using to test new cards, I'd highly recommend her.
I've mentioned Glare of Subdual before, and I'm not going to go into a whole spiel again, but it's been bar none the best Selesnya card in our cube for like 5 years straight now and it hasn't been particularly close either. It's just as dominant as Opposition vs everything except exactly control, and turns out like 80% of opposition is still ridiculous. Card just shuts down like 80% of other cube decks.
Ugin, the Ineffable has been a colorless Elspeth, Sun's Champion, and isn't going anywhere any time soon. Goes in Control, all the ramp decks, Channel decks, and even some midrange decks. The static ability is super relevant in ramp decks, especially if you play Eldrazi titans, and the card advantage it creates gets out of control insanely fast. It's been leagues better than Karn Liberated for us by comparison, and is without a doubt a premier 6 drop in our cube.
Sawtusk Demolisher has been some pretty stellar agressive/midrange top end for us so far. Has received substantially less extensive testing (just 2 or 3 months now since mutate wasn't on XMage) than every other non-Angel card I've listed so far, but a splashable pseudo-Demon of Catastrophes with haste and a Terrastodon proc has been really good for us so far. Again, by far the least testing of anything I've mentioned so far as most of the cards I'm bringing up have been in our cube for several years, but looks like it's gonna stick around for a while.
Component Pouch has only been in for 5 (I think?) drafts so far over Worn Powerstone, and has already blown away expectations. The card sees play in control and midrange decks all the time a-la pseudo-Coalition Relic, and the fixing has been invaluable. If you aren't comfortable with that swap, I'd at least recommend trying the Pouch in a different slot, as I am confidant that it has got to be better than something. Card deserves a fair shot, goofy die-rolling and counters aside.
And finally I know I've been mentioned her a million times before, but Arcane Artisan is amazing, and it amazes me that there are still cubes that support reanimator/show and tell/sneak attack/Oath of Druids (aka most cubes on here) that don't play it. It's a one-card combo enabler that gets around removal off the EOT activation, and can even loot for value in the late game.
And I think that's everything, whew now I need to go get dinner
They look like great cards - but right now I have around 100-200 cards on the bench right now as nearly playables.
Sawtusk Demolisher - this looks pretty good, but I'm opting not to play him because I found the mutate mechanic to be very convoluted and hard to understand. It sees no play in any other format and I don't want my drafters to have to spend time trying to figure it out.
Component Pouch - I could see this making it into my list, I might give it a try in the next iteration.
Angel of the Ruins - I play Linvala, the Preserver in this slot. My problem is it hits artifacts/ enchantments. I'm concerned about the opponent's creatures/ life at this CMC.
Bomat Courier / Esper Sentinel / Thraben Inspector - they all look pretty good, but the 1 power for a 1 drop aggressive creature feels like a non-starter for me.
Ugin, the Ineffable - I think the rate is 3/4 CMC planeswalker - conditional removal with downtick / 5 CMC planeswalker, unconditional removal with downtick. 6 CMC feels a bit too much. Maybe you can justify him in a colorless ramp deck, but idk.
Beast Within and Song of the Dryads - I could see Beast Within make it into my cube, but I don't see mono green that much - it usually is splashed with another color anyways.
Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Here are some other articles I've written about fine tuning your cube:
1. Minimum Archetype Support
2. Improving Green Archetypes
3. Improving White Archetypes
4. Matchup Analysis
5. Cube Combos (Work in Progress)
Draft my Cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/d8i
Great post, thanks for writing this. Reminded me of a few cards I'd meant to get around to testing but never did (component pounch and sawtusk demolisher) and pointed out a card I never knew existed that interests me (angel of the ruins).
At first glance, Angel of the ruins seems like a well rounded roleplayer for vintage cube. Tinker/Workshop, Reanimation, fixing + threat for fair slower W decks... Exceptional in nothing, but solid in many slower archetypes.
I agree both bomat courier and plague engineer are under-rated around these parts. Ended up cutting plague engineer because it felt too opressive against decks that weren't at the top of the food chain, but it can always come back in. Nutty anti W/G card that has a surprisingly decent floor against other decks.
I rank bomat courier slightly higher than most red savannah lion cards.
Hard disagree about beast within and song of the dryads, but everything else is reasonable and/or interesting, thanks =D
Last Updated 02/07/24
Streaming Standard/Cube on Twitch https://www.twitch.tv/heisenb3rg96
Strategy Twitter https://www.twitter.com/heisenb3rg
Linvala, the Preserver - The 5 life + 8 power split between 2 creatures is incredibly powerful. This is really good in control decks, reanimator decks etc.
Recoil - this was a card i really liked while playing with decks from the 2002 period. It often felt like an instant speed Vindicate at times.
Spiteful Prankster - very good rate for a blood artist style creature. The only downside is the creature is 3 CMC in a very competitive slot.
Growing Rites of Itlimoc - I would recommend this for any deck that supports creature combos.
Soul Shatter - This isn't that far off from a Hero's Downfall.
Roast - Red is more about rabblemaster variants + tempo, rather than burn. This isn't the best card in the world, but I like it a lot in red decks that lack 5 damage to help push damage/ remove creatures.
Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Here are some other articles I've written about fine tuning your cube:
1. Minimum Archetype Support
2. Improving Green Archetypes
3. Improving White Archetypes
4. Matchup Analysis
5. Cube Combos (Work in Progress)
Draft my Cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/d8i
Arcane Artisan is interesting but seems very slow to me. 3 mana and then needs to untap for another three mana investment to do anything. I'm willing to try it because I love those archetypes but I am not sold.
I'm going to go to bat for Court of Grace. I can understand skipping it if you don't like Monarch as a mechanic but otherwise the card is incredible. Especially if you support stax in white. Often the 4 drop I most want to see in a slower white deck.
Saheeli Rai - obviously strong with Felidar Guardian, but +1 to scry + 1 damage isn't the worst in tempo decks. Create a copy of target artifact could be used to generate mana with stuff like Crypt, Vault, copy creatures could be used to give a creature haste (reanimator, fatty cheat), good at creating sacrifice fodder, good as a blink enabler.
Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Here are some other articles I've written about fine tuning your cube:
1. Minimum Archetype Support
2. Improving Green Archetypes
3. Improving White Archetypes
4. Matchup Analysis
5. Cube Combos (Work in Progress)
Draft my Cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/d8i