Murktide Regent
5UU - Creature - Dragon
Delve
Flying
Murktide Regent enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it for each instant and sorcery card exiled with it.
Whenever an instant or sorcery card leaves your graveyard, put a +1/+1 counter on Murktide Regent.
3/3
"Blue Tombstalker that costs 1 less" is the first obvious comparison. How good is a card like this? From my experience with Delve one mana cheaper is actually a lot. Additionally this can easily be a 6/6+ in the spells deck. This is exactly the type of card we like for the blue-based aggressive spells decks. It's worth noting that you do need to watch delve/GY density.
Eh, I think this is just Tombstalker way too much of the time, which isn't great. In order to be better than tombstalker you need to have 3 spells to exile, which means it's only a great early play in the spells matter deck, and that deck has better cards that only fit in it IMO.
My issue with this card is that if you're playing an instant and sorcery deck with a graveyard focus, then many of those instants and sorceries are going to have flashback, jump start or other graveyard value. Thus you don't actually want to exile them.
Eh, I think this is just Tombstalker way too much of the time, which isn't great. In order to be better than tombstalker you need to have 3 spells to exile, which means it's only a great early play in the spells matter deck, and that deck has better cards that only fit in it IMO.
I know I am the odd-one-out here, but I've been keeping Tombstalker around for some time, and generally love the card. At the moment I haven't played him at 360 for a the last few years, but he is definitely in if I expand to 540. While not a very exciting card, it has won me so incredibly many matches in poxy, more grindy decks. As a play I am a major fan of grindy/prison style decks, where Tombstalker fits very well. I know he is not an objectively good card, he is a personal preference, but I also think he is slightly underrated/overlooked.
I think I will try out Murktide, but I don't think blue fits the poxy, low-resource style play as well, so I don't think it will play that well in the end. Testing will show.
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Do people have the same thoughts on Murktide Regent - generally negative? Delve cards have been performing well for us recently, and over the weekend people suggested that this card should be in the Cube.
While I haven't played with this card in cube, I have played against it in Modern a decent amount, and I feel like this card is probably a fine cube card but not as good as it is in constructed certainly.
It has almost the same mana cost as Dig Through Time, but I think I'd rather have Dig in cube.
In modern, this card is good (but not dominant) because curves are so low to the ground that this dodges most of the spot removal - modern spot removal is mostly Lightning Bolt, Unholy Heat, Fatal Push and Prismatic Ending nowadays. In cube, I don't think this dodges nearly as high a percentage of the spot removal as in modern contructed, plus it's a bit harder to build a deck with ton of cheap cantrips.]
I do think this is significantly better than Tombstalker though, for sure. I think the thread is a bit too low on Murktide, but I think it's probably a 540+ or 450+ card, don't think I would play it at 360.
While I haven't played with this card in cube, I have played against it in Modern a decent amount, and I feel like this card is probably a fine cube card but not as good as it is in constructed certainly.
It has almost the same mana cost as Dig Through Time, but I think I'd rather have Dig in cube.
In modern, this card is good (but not dominant) because curves are so low to the ground that this dodges most of the spot removal - modern spot removal is mostly Lightning Bolt, Unholy Heat and Fatal Push nowadays. In cube, I don't think this dodges nearly as high a percentage of the spot removal as in modern contructed, plus it's a bit harder to build a deck with ton of cheap cantrips.]
I do think this is significantly better than Tombstalker though, for sure. I think the thread is a bit too low on Murktide, but I think it's probably a 540+ or 450+ card, don't think I would play it at 360.
Great feedback, thanks! I have a powered 720, and I agree that I would probably not try it at smaller sizes. There’s also more delve real estate to play around with at 720 when you can assume you’ll see half the total number of delve cards in a draft. To me it’s a legitimate consideration to keep a close eye on delve density.
Every time I see a card like this, I just think how can i make Bedlam Reveler work.
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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
Murktide Regent
5UU - Creature - Dragon
Delve
Flying
Murktide Regent enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it for each instant and sorcery card exiled with it.
Whenever an instant or sorcery card leaves your graveyard, put a +1/+1 counter on Murktide Regent.
3/3
"Blue Tombstalker that costs 1 less" is the first obvious comparison. How good is a card like this? From my experience with Delve one mana cheaper is actually a lot. Additionally this can easily be a 6/6+ in the spells deck. This is exactly the type of card we like for the blue-based aggressive spells decks. It's worth noting that you do need to watch delve/GY density.
375 unpowered cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/601ac624832cdf1039947588
I also think Ethereal Forager is probably better, but we love that card!
I know I am the odd-one-out here, but I've been keeping Tombstalker around for some time, and generally love the card. At the moment I haven't played him at 360 for a the last few years, but he is definitely in if I expand to 540. While not a very exciting card, it has won me so incredibly many matches in poxy, more grindy decks. As a play I am a major fan of grindy/prison style decks, where Tombstalker fits very well. I know he is not an objectively good card, he is a personal preference, but I also think he is slightly underrated/overlooked.
I think I will try out Murktide, but I don't think blue fits the poxy, low-resource style play as well, so I don't think it will play that well in the end. Testing will show.
It has almost the same mana cost as Dig Through Time, but I think I'd rather have Dig in cube.
In modern, this card is good (but not dominant) because curves are so low to the ground that this dodges most of the spot removal - modern spot removal is mostly Lightning Bolt, Unholy Heat, Fatal Push and Prismatic Ending nowadays. In cube, I don't think this dodges nearly as high a percentage of the spot removal as in modern contructed, plus it's a bit harder to build a deck with ton of cheap cantrips.]
I do think this is significantly better than Tombstalker though, for sure. I think the thread is a bit too low on Murktide, but I think it's probably a 540+ or 450+ card, don't think I would play it at 360.
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
Great feedback, thanks! I have a powered 720, and I agree that I would probably not try it at smaller sizes. There’s also more delve real estate to play around with at 720 when you can assume you’ll see half the total number of delve cards in a draft. To me it’s a legitimate consideration to keep a close eye on delve density.
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