Embercleave4RR
Legendary Artifact - Equipment (M)
Flash
~ costs 1 less for each attacking creature you control.
When ~ ETB attach it to target creature you control.
Equipped creature gets +1/+1, has double-strike, and trample.
Equip 3
This might be the closest thing we get to a cubeable combat trick and I want to test it....
It's a super expensive combat trick that's always going to cast at least RR. If you're casting this for 2-3 mana in a red deck, you've probably already won.
Even at 4 mana this turns an unblocked 2/1 into 6 damage while they blocked what appeared to be the relevant threat. While, I do think this can be a win more card, I think it can also just be a win out of nowhere card and this will make for some awesome stories.
It's a super expensive combat trick that's always going to cast at least RR. If you're casting this for 2-3 mana in a red deck, you've probably already won.
I disagree with this. In a vacuum, or in previous years I might agree, but looking at reds three drop section in particular in the past few years, we’ve got loads of token generators. Hanweir garrison alone makes this a 3 drop. Tokens have increased over the last few years and this might be a legitimate contender for cube. There are plenty of games I swing with a hanweir garrison and don’t autowin.
It's a super expensive combat trick that's always going to cast at least RR. If you're casting this for 2-3 mana in a red deck, you've probably already won.
I disagree with this. In a vacuum, or in previous years I might agree, but looking at reds three drop section in particular in the past few years, we’ve got loads of token generators. Hanweir garrison alone makes this a 3 drop. Tokens have increased over the last few years and this might be a legitimate contender for cube. There are plenty of games I swing with a hanweir garrison and don’t autowin.
But then the big problem is that it's not so impressive on such a board. Cool, your Garrison is now a 3/4 with double strike and trample. Assuming it connects, you turned RR into 4 extra damage and a leftover thing to equip on future turns... that's not all that great?
The optimal case here feels like paying something like 2RR and tacking this on to Thrun or another card which protects itself. I think this card is one of those that gets substantially better the lower your environment's power is. It'll be a menace in ELD limited but it's not something I'm looking to try out in my cube.
I think this one merits testing as opposed to just theorycrafting it out of your cube. I wouldn't be surprised if we see a whole bunch of "well, that was unexpected" posts come out of this card. Flash + free equip + double strike/pump/evasion is a stupidly powerful combination already and then they threw in a cost reduction ability too? Hell, you could even Tinker into this for some serious LOLS.
the closest thing we get to a cubeable combat trick
Preach. Combat tricks are a staple of traditional limited sets, and the fact that we don't have a single cubeable one bothers me. Unfortunately, I don't think this card even comes close to cutting it. If only the mana cost was much lower. Something like 4R and Equip 2 would have made me want to test it, but alas this is just too expensive.
This is leagues better than Godsend, but I agree that is a constraint on its general utility, but I also think it will help give Red a tool that will entice players into the color--which ,at least for me, is sorely needed as Red tends to be the least popular color in my experience.
This is also leagues worse than something like Heirloom Blade. While being a combat trick is cute, there are other equipment / vehicles I'd much rather run over Embercleave.
I don't believe this is leagues worse the Heirloom Blade, in fact I'd say that is about the tier level of this equipment. If anything this is slightly better. Still, this is all theorycrafting for now, let's revisit this once we've tested it in cube for sometime. We don't have anything quite like this in cube so it's tricky to evaluate.
The problem with this card is that it crushes the universe when it works, and it lingers uncastable when it doesnt work. The ceiling is bonkers, but the floor is a card you can't cast until it's too late to be effective.
I think you're generally better off with something reliable like Charging Monstrosaur (not that the two are exactly comparable).
the closest thing we get to a cubeable combat trick
Preach. Combat tricks are a staple of traditional limited sets, and the fact that we don't have a single cubeable one bothers me. Unfortunately, I don't think this card even comes close to cutting it. If only the mana cost was much lower. Something like 4R and Equip 2 would have made me want to test it, but alas this is just too expensive.
Maybe some day.
Mutagenic Growth is really good. It's a free spell for the Young Pyromancer/Monastery Mentor/Kykar decks too.
the closest thing we get to a cubeable combat trick
Preach. Combat tricks are a staple of traditional limited sets, and the fact that we don't have a single cubeable one bothers me. Unfortunately, I don't think this card even comes close to cutting it. If only the mana cost was much lower. Something like 4R and Equip 2 would have made me want to test it, but alas this is just too expensive.
Muta
Maybe some day.
Mutagenic Growth is really good. It's a free spell for the Young Pyromancer/Monastery Mentor/Kykar decks too.
Mutagenic Growth is just great. Free spells are nutzo in the spells decks and hyper aggro love it too. I also play berserk and temur battle rage. Both make Kiln fiend one of the biggest 2 mana threats in my cube. Maybe not for everyone but I am shocked no one else likes them. They are gorgeous with equipment.
As for this card. It's kind of a garbage fire win more card. The kind of decks that want it don't want big clunky spells. Token decks need more walking anthems, Red god type stuff, and better things to do before turn 3. My problem is not how much you end up paying for this just hat it isn't happening until turn 4, at which point I just want a hellrider or Armageddon.
the closest thing we get to a cubeable combat trick
Preach. Combat tricks are a staple of traditional limited sets, and the fact that we don't have a single cubeable one bothers me. Unfortunately, I don't think this card even comes close to cutting it. If only the mana cost was much lower. Something like 4R and Equip 2 would have made me want to test it, but alas this is just too expensive.
Muta
Maybe some day.
Mutagenic Growth is really good. It's a free spell for the Young Pyromancer/Monastery Mentor/Kykar decks too.
Mutagenic Growth is just great. Free spells are nutzo in the spells decks and hyper aggro love it too. I also play berserk and temur battle rage. Both make Kiln fiend one of the biggest 2 mana threats in my cube. Maybe not for everyone but I am shocked no one else likes them. They are gorgeous with equipment.
As for this card. It's kind of a garbage fire win more card. The kind of decks that want it don't want big clunky spells. Token decks need more walking anthems, Red god type stuff, and better things to do before turn 3. My problem is not how much you end up paying for this just hat it isn't happening until turn 4, at which point I just want a hellrider or Armageddon.
It's a super expensive combat trick that's always going to cast at least RR. If you're casting this for 2-3 mana in a red deck, you've probably already won.
I think this card is definitely worth including. It gives the red decks extra reaching then the board stalls out. The most difficult part is figuring out what to cut
Having seen the success this has had in various Mardu, Rakdos, Boros, and even Gruul standard and historic builds, I am going to go ahead and test this one against the consensus here that this is a "win more" card. I would argue this is the best of the legendary artifacts cycle even outperforming The Great Henge and is probably the best cubeable "combat trick" we are going to get for a long time.
Having seen the success this has had in various Mardu, Rakdos, Boros, and even Gruul standard and historic builds, I am going to go ahead and test this one against the consensus here that this is a "win more" card. I would argue this is the best of the legendary artifacts cycle even outperforming The Great Henge and is probably the best cubeable "combat trick" we are going to get for a long time.
hope it does well. To be fair, in those formats, the card is paired with high powered creatures for maximum effect.
Most creatures in my red section struggle to get above 3 power.
The card has over formed my expectations though. Possible the card is cube able.
Well, you're in luck. Recently bought a greatly discounted ELD bundle and it included this! Woot! Now I need to find time to get a cube group together!
I plan on doing some testing with this card. While it's true that it has some win-more aspects to it, it does a couple of unique things for the cube. It's a playable combat trick, which is quite welcome. It's also an aggro-centric piece of equipment, and most equipment cards are better suited for midrange deck nowadays. It'll be nice to have another Wargear kind of card floating around. It also brings in some extra double strike, which is an underrepresented keyword. But most importantly, it adds in a card that makes blocking assignments relevant. There are several cards (like flash creatures, for example) that can make attacking into open mana a little perilous, and players are becoming more cognizant of that. But there are few cube cards that change how you block when the attacking player has open mana, and Embercleave is exactly that card. I don't expect it to be broken, but I do think it can contribute to R/x aggressive strategies well, and I like the idea of having another aggro equipment piece floating around, as well as another offensive-oriented combat trick. At 2 mana, the card's obviously sick. At 5 mana, the card is underwhelming and overcosted. But in the 3-4 mana range, which I expect its ACS to be, the card will be adding 4-5 power to the board on average, which makes it comparable to (or better than?) Wargear in terms of the power/cost it delivers.
While this is a cool card I have a hard time seeing how this is better than other options in your aggro deck. It requires the game to be going “as planned.” If they wrath or kill off a couple of your dudes this does nothing to get you back in the game, yet that is exactly what I need my non-1-3cc creatures to do for me.
Legendary Artifact - Equipment (M)
Flash
~ costs 1 less for each attacking creature you control.
When ~ ETB attach it to target creature you control.
Equipped creature gets +1/+1, has double-strike, and trample.
Equip 3
This might be the closest thing we get to a cubeable combat trick and I want to test it....
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
Encourage any testing though, it is a sweet card that's gonna cause some cool moments.
Last Updated 02/07/24
Streaming Standard/Cube on Twitch https://www.twitch.tv/heisenb3rg96
Strategy Twitter https://www.twitter.com/heisenb3rg
I disagree with this. In a vacuum, or in previous years I might agree, but looking at reds three drop section in particular in the past few years, we’ve got loads of token generators. Hanweir garrison alone makes this a 3 drop. Tokens have increased over the last few years and this might be a legitimate contender for cube. There are plenty of games I swing with a hanweir garrison and don’t autowin.
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=484979
But then the big problem is that it's not so impressive on such a board. Cool, your Garrison is now a 3/4 with double strike and trample. Assuming it connects, you turned RR into 4 extra damage and a leftover thing to equip on future turns... that's not all that great?
The optimal case here feels like paying something like 2RR and tacking this on to Thrun or another card which protects itself. I think this card is one of those that gets substantially better the lower your environment's power is. It'll be a menace in ELD limited but it's not something I'm looking to try out in my cube.
Preach. Combat tricks are a staple of traditional limited sets, and the fact that we don't have a single cubeable one bothers me. Unfortunately, I don't think this card even comes close to cutting it. If only the mana cost was much lower. Something like 4R and Equip 2 would have made me want to test it, but alas this is just too expensive.
Maybe some day.
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
I think you're generally better off with something reliable like Charging Monstrosaur (not that the two are exactly comparable).
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.
Mutagenic Growth is really good. It's a free spell for the Young Pyromancer/Monastery Mentor/Kykar decks too.
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
Mutagenic Growth is just great. Free spells are nutzo in the spells decks and hyper aggro love it too. I also play berserk and temur battle rage. Both make Kiln fiend one of the biggest 2 mana threats in my cube. Maybe not for everyone but I am shocked no one else likes them. They are gorgeous with equipment.
As for this card. It's kind of a garbage fire win more card. The kind of decks that want it don't want big clunky spells. Token decks need more walking anthems, Red god type stuff, and better things to do before turn 3. My problem is not how much you end up paying for this just hat it isn't happening until turn 4, at which point I just want a hellrider or Armageddon.
Love Berserk and Battle Rage
Ding.
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!
hope it does well. To be fair, in those formats, the card is paired with high powered creatures for maximum effect.
Most creatures in my red section struggle to get above 3 power.
The card has over formed my expectations though. Possible the card is cube able.
Last Updated 02/07/24
Streaming Standard/Cube on Twitch https://www.twitch.tv/heisenb3rg96
Strategy Twitter https://www.twitter.com/heisenb3rg
Cube Tutor: Here
Utility Lands: Here
I'll report back with how it plays out.
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!
WorkshopsLegacy:
Death and Taxes
EDH:
Arcum DagssonMake Paradox Engine Great Again!Urza, Lord High Artificer