New blue three drop that fuels the graveyard on ETB. Getting threshold isn't that hard for blue decks and this a pretty decent floor for a draw and discard creature.
I've been a longtime fan of Champion of Wits. This has a much more impressive body, (and seven mana is a lot), but I still really like the fact that Champion is happy to get traded away or discarded since it comes back so much stronger.
In a vacuum, this is almost certainly stronger, as a single threshold attack grants a major advantage, and base stats are better. Higher floor, higher ceiling. But with graveyard themed cards, it is worth a lot to me that they are both good for fueling the graveyard as well as being useful inside of it. Champion of Wits is one of the better things to loot away, whereas this is just a card in the graveyard. So it's a sidegrade for me, but a sidegrade to one of my favorite cards for cube, so that can't be a bad sign.
Blue 3 drop is simply stacked. There's Brazen Borrower, Chrome Host Seedshark, Hullbreacher, True-Name Nemesis, Vendilion Clique and honestly I like all of them more than this card.
There's also Aboleth Spawn which I like more and is somehow performing in my 360 even today. I think that's an underrated card that have a lot of value. I think if I put her in my cube there's probably a good chance she's staying there less than a year.
Blue 3 drop is simply stacked. There's Brazen Borrower, Chrome Host Seedshark, Hullbreacher, True-Name Nemesis, Vendilion Clique and honestly I like all of them more than this card.
There's also Aboleth Spawn which I like more and is somehow performing in my 360 even today. I think that's an underrated card that have a lot of value. I think if I put her in my cube there's probably a good chance she's staying there less than a year.
Blue 3 cmc is definitely stacked, but out of those the only one definitively better than this card is Hullbreacher.
I'd put this card at least in a similar tier to Brazen Borrower, True-Name Nemesis and Vendilion Clique.
I think this is definitely better than Chrome Host Seedshark and Aboleth Spawn.
I also like that this is another good legend (more Mox Amber fuel)
I think I will try this card out over True-Name Nemesis - it is definitely a more fun card and I think there's a good chance it is actually better.
3 mana sorcery speed card selection isn't great.
It has to attack while meeting an additional condition to trigger.
The token is legendary so you can't continue to grow you board if they chump block
If Kiora trades in combat, the octopus doesn't come in attacking, has no evasion or ward and is easily removed even if you are able to meet the threshold.
Might be wrong but I don't see this being a great cube card for most lists.
Yeah I'm not really seeing it here. It's champion of wits as a 3/2 that can't be flashed back later and trades it off for an attack trigger that takes some setting up, and I'm not even a fan of champion to begin with.
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I don't really like this either. Blue decks generally play few creatures, so you really cannot count on getting to attack, and the 7 card restriction is very real. Steamcore Scholar does the base effect much, much better, and that card doesn't make it for me.
I'd put this card at least in a similar tier to Brazen Borrower, True-Name Nemesis and Vendilion Clique.
Big disagree here. IMO for this to be true, then Steamcore Scholar / Champion of Wits would be in a similar tier too, which I don't think they are. Best case scenario for solo Kiora is that you swing on turn 4 to make an 8/8 with no evasion that can't swing until turn 5. And that's assuming you have threshold by turn 4. Kiora is good enough to be a general good stuff blue card, but I think it's fairly down the totem pole since it's slow and doesn't excel in one thing. I'm not convinced it's any better than Steamcore Scholar since it that has flying / vigilance and its ETB trigger can result in direct card advantage.
I’ve avoided commenting on this but I think this might be better than people here think.
The problem is the body off Steamcore Scholar is really not worth it and is mostly “ignorable” from decks trying to go bigger than it and isn’t really providing enough defensive/ control value.
However, let’s imagine this scenario:
This is played in a slower blue based reaniamtor deck. Plan A - discard and cheat fatty into play. Plan B - use this after fatty is answered to create an 8/8 and continue the pressure.
The problem is the body off Steamcore Scholar is really not worth it and is mostly “ignorable” from decks trying to go bigger than it and isn’t really providing enough defensive/ control value.
IMO having flying / vigilance is worth having 1 less power than Kiora, ESPECIALLY if a cube supports monarch / initiative. Kiora is arguably better in reanimator deck since it can act as a dual threat (opponent has to choose between saving removal for Kiora or whatever they discarded). But this is an extremely slow discard outlet for reanimator anyways, so I don't put too much weight into that scenario. Reanimator is so powerful / stacked these days that Kiora probably won't make the cut in most shells in a lot of cubes.
Bottom line for Kiora's big differentiator (making a Kraken) is slow even in her best case scenario.
I do like the weird niche krakas interaction with kiora over champion of wits, but i dont think id include this card unless i had a larger cube than where im at (480). I think this is definitely a medium powered cube card, however, if they are running dorky wizards like this. Its def not a bad card
New blue three drop that fuels the graveyard on ETB. Getting threshold isn't that hard for blue decks and this a pretty decent floor for a draw and discard creature.
In a vacuum, this is almost certainly stronger, as a single threshold attack grants a major advantage, and base stats are better. Higher floor, higher ceiling. But with graveyard themed cards, it is worth a lot to me that they are both good for fueling the graveyard as well as being useful inside of it. Champion of Wits is one of the better things to loot away, whereas this is just a card in the graveyard. So it's a sidegrade for me, but a sidegrade to one of my favorite cards for cube, so that can't be a bad sign.
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There's also Aboleth Spawn which I like more and is somehow performing in my 360 even today. I think that's an underrated card that have a lot of value. I think if I put her in my cube there's probably a good chance she's staying there less than a year.
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Blue 3 cmc is definitely stacked, but out of those the only one definitively better than this card is Hullbreacher.
I'd put this card at least in a similar tier to Brazen Borrower, True-Name Nemesis and Vendilion Clique.
I think this is definitely better than Chrome Host Seedshark and Aboleth Spawn.
I also like that this is another good legend (more Mox Amber fuel)
I think I will try this card out over True-Name Nemesis - it is definitely a more fun card and I think there's a good chance it is actually better.
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3 mana sorcery speed card selection isn't great.
It has to attack while meeting an additional condition to trigger.
The token is legendary so you can't continue to grow you board if they chump block
If Kiora trades in combat, the octopus doesn't come in attacking, has no evasion or ward and is easily removed even if you are able to meet the threshold.
Might be wrong but I don't see this being a great cube card for most lists.
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StaffAgreed, Hullbreacher > everything else in its weight class.
Big disagree here. IMO for this to be true, then Steamcore Scholar / Champion of Wits would be in a similar tier too, which I don't think they are. Best case scenario for solo Kiora is that you swing on turn 4 to make an 8/8 with no evasion that can't swing until turn 5. And that's assuming you have threshold by turn 4. Kiora is good enough to be a general good stuff blue card, but I think it's fairly down the totem pole since it's slow and doesn't excel in one thing. I'm not convinced it's any better than Steamcore Scholar since it that has flying / vigilance and its ETB trigger can result in direct card advantage.
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I don't think this card is even remotely close to any of those cards.
I agree with steve_man in that Kiora is closer to Champion of Wits and/or Steamcore Scholar than it is to any of the elite blue 3-drops.
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The problem is the body off Steamcore Scholar is really not worth it and is mostly “ignorable” from decks trying to go bigger than it and isn’t really providing enough defensive/ control value.
However, let’s imagine this scenario:
This is played in a slower blue based reaniamtor deck. Plan A - discard and cheat fatty into play. Plan B - use this after fatty is answered to create an 8/8 and continue the pressure.
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StaffIMO having flying / vigilance is worth having 1 less power than Kiora, ESPECIALLY if a cube supports monarch / initiative. Kiora is arguably better in reanimator deck since it can act as a dual threat (opponent has to choose between saving removal for Kiora or whatever they discarded). But this is an extremely slow discard outlet for reanimator anyways, so I don't put too much weight into that scenario. Reanimator is so powerful / stacked these days that Kiora probably won't make the cut in most shells in a lot of cubes.
Bottom line for Kiora's big differentiator (making a Kraken) is slow even in her best case scenario.
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