Thirst for Discovery: Instant speed is a huge deal in blue, and I'm trying to shift toward more instants and flash permanents to support a Draw-Go style of U/X deck. Most Cube draft decks end up with 2-5 nonbasic lands and 12-16 basic lands, so the basic land restriction isn't a big disadvantage for most blue decks. The exception is the 5-color goodstuff soup drafter whose strategy is to pick every fixing land they see in pack one. I don't particularly want to support a 5-color archetype, so it's fine for a powerful single pip draw spell like Thirst for Discovery to have a basic land drawback because it helps the card reach the blue drafter(s). Another microscopic downgrade from Compulsive Research is that Thirst for Discovery can't target your opponent to mill their last 1-3 cards. I try to support mill as a blue control archetype, so it's a little sad that the niche functionality of targeting your opponent has been lost (presumably to decrease the number of clicks, and occasional soul-crushing misclicks, on Arena). That said, it's not a big deal because in my cube if the blue mill deck has their opponent down to their last few cards that's probably because they have one or moreTutelages active, so targeting yourself with draw spells still advances your mill gameplan.
Manaform Hellkite: Of themanyrecent 4-mana 4/4 flying dragons, I like Manaform Hellkite the most for Cube. It synergizes with token themes in Boros, spells matter themes in Izzet, and sacrifice themes in Rakdos.
Ascendant Packleader is the only definite include, and I'm interested to look at Dread Fugue, Thirst for Discovery and maybe Welcoming Vampire. Slim pickings
Thirst for Discovery in for Man-o'-War Scattered Thoughts in for Fact or Fiction. This is a placeholder for Memory Deluge. I think Epiphany decks in standard are pushing the price of Deluge up, so I'll slot in the common until it hopefully goes down in price.
Fell Stinger in for Hypnotic Specter Graf Reaver in for Mire Triton. I'm not excited about cutting a life gain card for 2 life loss cards in black, but my black section is setup to take advantage of Exploit pretty well, so I want to test this.
Watching: Welcoming Vampire. I like this, but finding a cut here is difficult.
Maybe I will test Graf Reaver over Wight. Initially, I do not like much Graf due to 1 damage every turn and that in large cubes since planeswalker density is less than medium/small cubes. However, how many players will test this maybe I'm underestimating it. In Addition, I like Welcoming Vampire a lot and I'm looking for a slot for this. I believe that other players are underestimating Welcoming Vampire at first view, including me.
I'm not too excited about any of these options - Planning no cuts/ additions
Dread Fugue is on the watch list, but unlikely to make it in.
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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
Agreed, this is a weak set. That said there are still 4 adds for us, but they are all lower tier additions (what I consider to be 540-720 range cards):
Testing Welcoming Vampire - removing the 1 tax from Mentor of the Meek adding evasion and additional toughness is likely worth the once per turn limitation. Thirst for Discovery - Have not been a fan of the thirst cycle in the past, but land is the best possible variant so this might just be good enough. Sorin the Mirthless - Probably competes with 5cc or 6cc Liliana. Manaform Hellkite - Haste would have made this is a staple. Opinions will vary wildly as to whether a Baneslayer is more palatable at 4CC. As someone with a lot of love for Purphoros, God of the Forge I'm really hoping to have a game where I resolve Purphoros with this in play, get a 4/4, shock the opponent, and then swing for 8 in the air.
Watching Graf Reaver - I like the card but black 2cc is actually fairly stacked now. Best cut options are Heir of Falkenrath, Kitesail Freebooter, or Tourach and I don't really want to cut any of those for this.... Dread Fugue - A poor man's IOK with a Coercion backup option might be good enough. I'll watch and see on this one. Cemetery Gatekeeper - If this can reliably be a 2 CC Zozu - it might be much better than it seems, but for now I'm just watching this. Cemetery Prowler - Strong stats, plays offense and defense, triggering on both ETB and attack is big here. {Edited}. Ulvenwald Oddity - Having thought on it. This might be slightly better than Polukranos. It's a bit unusual for a french vanilla stat monster to compete with a known cube staple but when it is the right combination of keywords, I think it does. This just feels like the first card I'm going to replace when something else is printed at this slot though so I don't know that it is worth it to pick up.
Cemetery Prowler - Strong stats, plays offense and defense, triggering on both ETB and attack is big here. If they don't remove this after the first attack you could have 2 cost reduction for a given card type. I can see games going, T1: Elf, T2:Prowler, T3: (Second Main) Six Drop. Needing two creatures in the graveyard to do this probably won't materialize early enough in most games though to make this happen.
Just wanted to respond and say this won't work. You can't double-dip on the same type discount here, so exiling a second creature won't do much. If you exile an artifact creature (or an artifact and a creature), then you'll get a discount of 2 on casting an artifact creature, but single-type cards can only be discounted by 1 by this.
Cemetery Prowler - Strong stats, plays offense and defense, triggering on both ETB and attack is big here. If they don't remove this after the first attack you could have 2 cost reduction for a given card type. I can see games going, T1: Elf, T2:Prowler, T3: (Second Main) Six Drop. Needing two creatures in the graveyard to do this probably won't materialize early enough in most games though to make this happen.
Just wanted to respond and say this won't work. You can't double-dip on the same type discount here, so exiling a second creature won't do much. If you exile an artifact creature (or an artifact and a creature), then you'll get a discount of 2 on casting an artifact creature, but single-type cards can only be discounted by 1 by this.
Welcoming Vamp and Vyrn Wingmare both both are evasive fliers with a bonus. The taxing ability is very strong but much stronger on a two drop like thalia than on a 3 drop like wingmare. Incidental card draw is great and I have both Adeleline and Brimaz so lots of ways to trigger the card draw without casting spells.
With Thirst for Discovery I fully intend to keep either it or Inspired Idea because I desperately want more burst card draw in blue. Cuts are hard and Skydiver is very good but it's proven to be more of a very good sideboard card than a maindeck staple for us.
Incarnation Technique has been a win more card. I thought we needed more reanimation density but I think it was overkill. Graf Reaver probably doesn't stick because I don't really support black aggro but I love that it can kill a planeswalker so it gets a shot.
Hellkite is getting a look as another stealth storm payoff that is pretty playable anywhere. It's not great in aggro but it's not completely embarrassing. Wildfire has been bad for a while and I'm finally giving up on it.
The Prowler goes in for my weakest 2 mana ramp creature because it's almost never gets played with the high density of mana rocks in 360 powered. Also watching Ulvenwald oddity in my ongoing efforts to move away from the super parasitic green hyper ramp strategies.
With manaform hellkite only checking mana spent rather than MV, I think I'm only testing thirst for discovery here? Which is kind of a relief after last set lol.
I don't like Fugue in unpowered, I don't like packleader cause I don't really support G aggro anymore, and Sorin is Borin'
After how impressive Questing Beast has been, though, maybe I'll test the oddity, and I always wanted mentor of the meek to be a thing so I might test welcoming vampire if I get my hands on one, but only triggering once a turn is a bummer.
First time I can say i'm not planning on testing anything. Very disappointing set for one of the best planes.
I was really hoping for a good sacrifice outlet for my Melira deck. Very disappointed.
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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
For my modern 540, I'm testing:
Welcoming Vampire - sleeper pick of the set, white needs more card advantage and this does that on an evasive body
Thirst for Discovery - very excited for this one
Dream-Chain Spirit - not hopeful here but it's disruptive
Graf Reaver - this seems very good both early and late
Sorin the Mirthless - unexciting but I doubt I'll cut it
Manaform Hellkite - is this better than Torbran? IDK
Ulvenwald Oddity - unga
Ascendant Packleader - bunga
Testing:
Fleeting Spirit
Graf Reaver
Cemetery Gravekeeper
Watching:
Dread Fugue
- Dread Fugue
- Graf Reaver
- Sorin the Mirthless
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
Voice of the Blessed: Soul Sisters is a fun draft deck and my cube has always supported it. Voice of the Blessed is a welcome addition that also works in +1/+1 counters decks. The WW casting cost is rough because the deck wants to be Orzhov, but there are enough mono-white lifegain matters payoff pieces that it can still function in mono-White or White splashing Black.
Welcoming Vampire: I really like this card. It’s Mentor of the Meek meets Bygone Bishop. Even with the one card per turn limit, I think in cube Welcoming Vampire is the best of those three because it has no mana gate.
Thirst for Discovery: Instant speed is a huge deal in blue, and I'm trying to shift toward more instants and flash permanents to support a Draw-Go style of U/X deck. Most Cube draft decks end up with 2-5 nonbasic lands and 12-16 basic lands, so the basic land restriction isn't a big disadvantage for most blue decks. The exception is the 5-color goodstuff soup drafter whose strategy is to pick every fixing land they see in pack one. I don't particularly want to support a 5-color archetype, so it's fine for a powerful single pip draw spell like Thirst for Discovery to have a basic land drawback because it helps the card reach the blue drafter(s). Another microscopic downgrade from Compulsive Research is that Thirst for Discovery can't target your opponent to mill their last 1-3 cards. I try to support mill as a blue control archetype, so it's a little sad that the niche functionality of targeting your opponent has been lost (presumably to decrease the number of clicks, and occasional soul-crushing misclicks, on Arena). That said, it's not a big deal because in my cube if the blue mill deck has their opponent down to their last few cards that's probably because they have one or more Tutelages active, so targeting yourself with draw spells still advances your mill gameplan.
Manaform Hellkite: Of the many recent 4-mana 4/4 flying dragons, I like Manaform Hellkite the most for Cube. It synergizes with token themes in Boros, spells matter themes in Izzet, and sacrifice themes in Rakdos.
Ascendant Packleader: I've always enjoyed the playstyle of cheap creatures that get +1/+1 counters for no mana. The mana value 4 hoop on Ascendant Packleader makes it fit better in midrange than aggro.
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
Thirst for Discovery in for Man-o'-War
Scattered Thoughts in for Fact or Fiction. This is a placeholder for Memory Deluge. I think Epiphany decks in standard are pushing the price of Deluge up, so I'll slot in the common until it hopefully goes down in price.
Fell Stinger in for Hypnotic Specter
Graf Reaver in for Mire Triton. I'm not excited about cutting a life gain card for 2 life loss cards in black, but my black section is setup to take advantage of Exploit pretty well, so I want to test this.
Watching: Welcoming Vampire. I like this, but finding a cut here is difficult.
[180 classic cube]
W
Fumigate --> By Invitation Only (I believe this could be the best 5cmc wrath since it play in token/Winnie decks)
U
Fact or Fiction --> Scattered Thoughts (I believe this could be more synergic than FoF)
Deep Analysis --> Thirst for Discovery
B
Callous Bloodmage --> Fell Stinger
Despise --> Dread Fugue
Sheoldred, Whispering One --> Toxrill, the Corrosive (This last seems a little better than Sheoldred)
Lolth, Spider Queen --> Sorin the Mirthless
R
Viashino Pyromancer --> "Cemetary Gatekeeper"
Emberwilde Captain --> Manaform Hellkite
G
Warden of the First Tree --> Ascendant Packleader
Master of the Wild Hunt --> Ulvenwald Oddity//Ulvenwald Behemoth
Maybe I will test Graf Reaver over Wight. Initially, I do not like much Graf due to 1 damage every turn and that in large cubes since planeswalker density is less than medium/small cubes. However, how many players will test this maybe I'm underestimating it. In Addition, I like Welcoming Vampire a lot and I'm looking for a slot for this. I believe that other players are underestimating Welcoming Vampire at first view, including me.
My 720 unpoewred cube: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/cjf
Dread Fugue is on the watch list, but unlikely to make it in.
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
75%+
Dread Fugue
10-25%
Avabruck Caretaker
10%-
Concealing Curtains//Revealing Eye
Jacob Hauken, Inspector
Henrika Domnathi
Watching:
Sorin the Mirthless
Cemetery Prowler
Ulvenwald Oddity
Cemetery Gatekeeper
Thirst for Discovery
Graf reaver
Bloodvial Purveyor
Last Updated 02/07/24
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Graf Reaver > Hero’s Downfall
Thirst for Discovery > Thirst for Knowledge
Volatile Arsonist > Goldspan Dragon
Ulvenwald Oddity > Esika’s Chariot
Watch list, probably finding a slot to test it for our release Cube event:
Dread Fugue > Languish
W
Cemetery Protector
Fleeting Spirit
Voice of the Blessed
U
Cemetery Illuminator
Scattered Thoughts
Thirst for Discovery
B
Dread Fugue
Graf Reaver
Toxrill, the Corrosive
R
Cemetery Gatekeeper
Kessig Wolfrider
Voltaic Visionary
G
Ascendant Packleader
Cemetery Prowler
Glorious Sunrise
Ulvenwald Oddity
White:
Welcoming Vampire (still figuring out cut, but it's probably Brutal Cathar)
Blue:
Cosima, God of the Voyage -> Jacob Hauken, Inspector
Chart a Course -> Thirst for Discovery
Black:
Graf Reaver (cut undecided)
Liliana, Heretical Healer -> Fell Stinger
Red:
Kargan Intimidator -> Cemetery Gatekeeper
Green:
Ramunap Excavator -> Cemetery Prowler
Multi:
Ghor-Clan Rampager -> Halana and Alena, Partners
Draft my cube! (630 cards)
White:
Distracting Geist > Niblis of the Urn
BLUE
Thirst for Discovery > Secrets of the Key
Jacob Hauken, Inspector > Geist of the Archives
Repository Skaab > Vexing Scuttler
Whispering Wizard > Havengul Runebinder
Lantern Bearer > Wingcrafter
BLACK
Voldaren Bloodcaster > Vampire Interloper
Undead Butler > Wailing Ghoul
RED
GREEN
+10 Colorless
Innistrad is low on artifacts, so these are all very welcome.
+ Cobbled Wings
+ Haunted Guardian
https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/dp8r
Undead Butler is my pick for secretly great card, but not mainline cube great.
Watching for my main cube:
Concealing Curtains // Revealing Eye
+ Most of the disturb cards
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.
Ascendant Packleader
Testing:
Henrika Domnathi
Sorin the Mirthless
Watching:
Dread Fugue
Bit of a letdown. I'll just treat this as a little bonus set and move on.
540 Version: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/zza
Dread Fugue dunno what to cut yet bet this could lead to Balck leaning to having more discard at 1.
Overall very small incremental improvements that’s not really exciting. In no hurry to get these cards.
Graf Reaver good beater early and PW late. Great utility card. Perhaps also cool to reanimate/bounce/blink.
In
(None)
Testing
Welcoming Vampire - removing the 1 tax from Mentor of the Meek adding evasion and additional toughness is likely worth the once per turn limitation.
Thirst for Discovery - Have not been a fan of the thirst cycle in the past, but land is the best possible variant so this might just be good enough.
Sorin the Mirthless - Probably competes with 5cc or 6cc Liliana.
Manaform Hellkite - Haste would have made this is a staple. Opinions will vary wildly as to whether a Baneslayer is more palatable at 4CC. As someone with a lot of love for Purphoros, God of the Forge I'm really hoping to have a game where I resolve Purphoros with this in play, get a 4/4, shock the opponent, and then swing for 8 in the air.
Watching
Graf Reaver - I like the card but black 2cc is actually fairly stacked now. Best cut options are Heir of Falkenrath, Kitesail Freebooter, or Tourach and I don't really want to cut any of those for this....
Dread Fugue - A poor man's IOK with a Coercion backup option might be good enough. I'll watch and see on this one.
Cemetery Gatekeeper - If this can reliably be a 2 CC Zozu - it might be much better than it seems, but for now I'm just watching this.
Cemetery Prowler - Strong stats, plays offense and defense, triggering on both ETB and attack is big here. {Edited}.
Ulvenwald Oddity - Having thought on it. This might be slightly better than Polukranos. It's a bit unusual for a french vanilla stat monster to compete with a known cube staple but when it is the right combination of keywords, I think it does. This just feels like the first card I'm going to replace when something else is printed at this slot though so I don't know that it is worth it to pick up.
Draft my cube! (630 cards)
Good catch. So a bit less interested now.
Welcoming Vampire in for Vyrn Wingmare
Thirst for Discovery in for Thieving Skydiver
Graf Reaver in for Incarnation Technique
Manaform Hellkite in for wildfire
Cemetery Prowler in for Wall of Roots
Welcoming Vamp and Vyrn Wingmare both both are evasive fliers with a bonus. The taxing ability is very strong but much stronger on a two drop like thalia than on a 3 drop like wingmare. Incidental card draw is great and I have both Adeleline and Brimaz so lots of ways to trigger the card draw without casting spells.
With Thirst for Discovery I fully intend to keep either it or Inspired Idea because I desperately want more burst card draw in blue. Cuts are hard and Skydiver is very good but it's proven to be more of a very good sideboard card than a maindeck staple for us.
Incarnation Technique has been a win more card. I thought we needed more reanimation density but I think it was overkill. Graf Reaver probably doesn't stick because I don't really support black aggro but I love that it can kill a planeswalker so it gets a shot.
Hellkite is getting a look as another stealth storm payoff that is pretty playable anywhere. It's not great in aggro but it's not completely embarrassing. Wildfire has been bad for a while and I'm finally giving up on it.
The Prowler goes in for my weakest 2 mana ramp creature because it's almost never gets played with the high density of mana rocks in 360 powered. Also watching Ulvenwald oddity in my ongoing efforts to move away from the super parasitic green hyper ramp strategies.
Cheers,
rant
My Cube
CubeCobra: https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/5f5d0310ed602310515d4c32
Cube Tutor: http://cubetutor.com/viewcube/1963
https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/the-cube-forum/articles-podcasts-and-guides/824436-set-p-review-my-top-20-innistrad-crimson-vow-vow
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!
I don't like Fugue in unpowered, I don't like packleader cause I don't really support G aggro anymore, and Sorin is Borin'
After how impressive Questing Beast has been, though, maybe I'll test the oddity, and I always wanted mentor of the meek to be a thing so I might test welcoming vampire if I get my hands on one, but only triggering once a turn is a bummer.
375 unpowered cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/601ac624832cdf1039947588
I was really hoping for a good sacrifice outlet for my Melira deck. Very disappointed.
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