Well, Flaxen Intruder starts us off all over the place as a 1 mana 1/2 with a removal ability and an alternate mode as a token-making sorcery. This set looks weird.
EDIT: Saw someone speculate that when a "Sorcery - Adventure" resolves, it comes into play as a creature rather than going to the graveyard. No idea if that is true or not, but that would be pretty crazy.
I think we need to know how the Adventure piece of these cards work before we can really evaluate them for cube. I've seen a few different speculations on how they'll work, so I'm curious to what the actual rules will be. Is it like flashback and you get the sorcery as an option from the graveyard after the creature dies? Is it like a split card so you get to choose which one you get? Is it a sorcery speed activated ability to puts a spell on the stack? Maybe it's that, but you can only cast it onece? The rare 5/5 makes me think these can be activated (cast?) somehow once they're in play. I don't want to try to say whether or not I think this will be any good in peasant until we get the mechanics article from WotC.
Adventures can be cast as kicker (So Goldilocks is eithter G for a 1/2 or 5GGG for a 1/2 and three 2/2s.
Adventures can be cast from the graveyard (so aftermath-ish)
Adventures can be cast from the battlefield repeatedly (highly unlikely given that the rare would have G: create a 1/1, unless there is an additional cost like discarding a card.)
Adventures can be cast when a certain game event happens. When the creature does combat damage to a player, when you sacrifice a food-token, etc.
The ability to cast adventures are triggered by other cards. So you could have a creature with T:"You may cast one adventure from a permanent you control". Or a sorcery that draws you a card and has a rider "you may cast an adventure from a permanent you control". So I guess kinda like how contraptions worked?
---
New cards, but not much exiting: Faerie Vandal1U
Flash, Flying
Whenever you draw your second card each turn, put a +1/+1 counter on Faerie Vandal.
1/2
Witch's Cottage
Land - Swamp
ETB tapped unless you control 3 other swamps.
When ~ETB untapped, you may put a creature from your graveyard on top of your library.
Maraleaf PixieUG
Flying T:Add G or U to your mana pool.
2/2.
I like that they are printing lands with basic land types, but without fetches (and these aren't likely to be going to make me want to run Mirage fetches) it's not very relevant.
The two fliers are probably borderline OK?
BTW: Food tokens apparently are artifacts with "T, sacrifice: Gain 3 life". And other cards can use the food for other purposes (There is a golden goose that is a Birds of paradise but you need to sack a food each time you tap it for mana).
My guess would be that you first have to cast the creature and then you can pay the adventure sorcery cost to send it on an adventure. From an immersive pov the card should probably phase out for a turn (= creature becomes an exiled sorcery with an adventure counter on it, similar to All Hallow's Eve?) and when it returns (remove adventure counter during your upkeep, sorcery becomes a creature again) you get the effect.
Maraleaf Pixie seems ok, but it's boring and not really needed in my cube.
Seems like the new spoiled cards explain the adventure sorcery a bit more. You cast the card as a sorcery and it gets exiled when it resolves. You can cast the creature part of the card from exile later. Or you cast the creature right from the start and don't get the sorcery? Or can you cast the sorcery any time you want, even if it's on the battlefield already? That would be awesome, but probably too good.
Order of Midnight is awesome, 2/2 flyer that can't block for 1B with possible upside that turns him into a far better Gravedigger.
Syr Konrad the Grim is interesting as well. Good in a sacrifice and in a graveyard deck. Definitely something I'll consider.
You cast the card as a sorcery and it gets exiled when it resolves.
... or even at instant speed (Foulmire Knight).
It looks like you can either cast the creature for its normal casting cost, or pay its adventure cost first and then be able to cast the creature for its regular cost. So Order of Midnight is either a 2/2 flyer for 1B, or a flying Gravedigger for 1B and 1B.
Yeah, we really need to know how Adventure works before we can evaluate these cards. Embereth Shieldbreaker offers artifact removal, but I don't even know how to play it.
EDIT: And then I read the article explaining exactly how it works. Cast it as a creature if you want, and it's just a normal creature. Or cast it as the sorcery, and it gets exiled as it resolves; you can then cast the exiled creature at some point, bringing it back from its adventure. Now we have some basis to evaluate them.
Heraldic Banner seems vaguely interesting. Not a given but another design I like. Not at all sold on Flaxen Intruder although some other Adventure cards seem promising.
Heraldic Banner seems vaguely interesting. Not a given but another design I like. Not at all sold on Flaxen Intruder although some other Adventure cards seem promising.
I both like and dislike Flaxen Intruder. If I evaluate it as a 1/2 for G that, if it deals combat damage to a player, can be sacrificed to Naturalize, it's okay. I mean, no evasion makes its ability a bit weak, but at least it isn't a 1/1. The fact that late game it can give me three 2/2 tokens is okay, if a little over-costed. The problem I have is that because of how Adventure works, you never really get full value out of this card; the Adventure side is the one that needs to be cheap. If you have a cheap Adventure with an expensive creature, great - you use the first mode and eventually work up to the second. Flaxen Intruder, though can be a cheap creature OR an expensive Adventure (at which point, sure, you could cast the 1 mana 1/2, but if you have at least seven mana at that point, do you really want a non-evasive 1/2)?
I'll certainly be more inclined to look favorably on the cards with a cheaper Adventure side.
Adventure is really interesting space. It adds a lot of utility to creature heavy decks that would need to either be expensive etbs or spells. I'm particularly interested in the U or R ones, as they act as creatures but don't hurt your spell count for Young Pyromancer and co.
Imperial Recruiter got brought up in the general thread and adventure increases its utility a lot if we get good targets. With Order of Midnight it only costs 5 to get a Raise Dead effect with Recruiter, whereas previously it would cost 7.
Syr Konrad, the Grim is the only card I'm interested in so far. It plays nicely with basically everything black does. Aristocrats, discard, reanimation, self mill, delve, and removal all can trigger the ability. It's so much sturdier than Blood Artist/Falkenrath Noble (which is not a noble) and actually is a good empty board play, which probably make up for the worse effect in aristocrats while still having a lot of application elsewhere.
i'm really curious as to whether any of the adamant cards are gunna get there for us. ccc is a big deal in limited, so it'd have to be pretty strong, which we might not even get at uncommon. but we shall see, i'm definitely interested in the mechanic since it is just so simple but deep.
foulmire knight and order of midnight look like solid adventures, since they're inherent 2 for 1s. evaluating them against other cube cards will be tricky though.
syr konrad is an interesting effect which does have some redundancy, and also is on a big body for a change. makes reassembling skeleton just ridiculous in the aristocrat style deck since it triggers twice.
maraleaf pixie is stupidly efficient but idk if i even want it to fill a guild slot.
I really like order of midnight, it is flexible and can help curve out. I like grindy cards that does not only grind. Syr konrad is sweet, I am probably switching him out for Falkenrath noble.
I'm a bit concerned about the complexity-level of adventure. I play with some very occasional/casual players every once in a while, and I am not sure if the reminder text alone is enough to make it clear what an adventure does. This means that I will probably not add only one or two adventure card(s) unless they are super good fits, so that explaining adventure at the start of the draft is worth it.
If not for that, I would be interested in the flying gravedigger, the Foulmire Knight and perhaps the adventure Torch Fiend.
Syr Konrad is up for consideration.
What about Beanstalk Giant? I feel it is a good package, but non-board affecting ramp on 3 is a bit iffy. Still, as opposed to Krosan Tusker, you actually ramp, and you get both the land and the chance to play the fattie later.
Equipment/double-strike types might look twice at Fireborn Knight, but I'd imagine that Heartfire Goblin and Iora's Champion might just be better if you are seeding that archetype in WR? I guess, the knight can "abuse" its double strike without other cards, so that is at least something..
Venerable Knight is another good white aggro one drop with small upside. Currently I only have 5 knights in my cube and one knight token producer, but I already have two more knights (not counting Venerable Knight itself) I want to add in this set. Will definitely replace one of my existing one drops, probably Dragon Hunter.
Keeper of Fables could be a decent card. Reasonable body and I only have 5 humans in green. A bit slow probably though and the 5 cmc spot in green is already filled with very good cards.
Wish Fireborn Knight was a bit more pushed. Either the pump effect would need to be cheaper or the base stats should have been better.
I'm a bit concerned about the complexity-level of adventure. I play with some very occasional/casual players every once in a while, and I am not sure if the reminder text alone is enough to make it clear what an adventure does. This means that I will probably not add only one or two adventure card(s) unless they are super good fits, so that explaining adventure at the start of the draft is worth it.
Yes, I also feel like this is one of the rare mechanics that isn't self-explaining, not even with reminder text. I don't really mind that much as we're super casual and if anyone has a question they just ask during the draft, but it's not the most elegant mechanic. Unfortunately Order of Midnight is already a pretty great and versatile card, so I will have to add it.
Rosethorn Acolyte makes for an interesting color-fixer. I mean, I prefer my mana dorks to be less than three mana, but the 1:1 color conversion Adventure is interesting, and the mana dork has a 2/3 body and taps for any color. You can even use the adventure mana to cast the creature if you have any spells-matter cards in play and just want an extra trigger.
Syr Konrad, the Grim is certainly an interesting card, and I could use another black 5-drop.
I feel like the wording is really muddled up: why couldn't it just say "when a creature card is put into a graveyard from anywhere..." instead of the clunky "dies or is put into a graveyard" bit? It reminds me of the idiotic "when you cycle or discard a card" wording. Why the redundancy?
In the late game, if you have more cards in your library, you can just dump mana into Konrad for a mill win, or if life totals are close to zero, you can do the same thing. Konrad doesn't have any evasive or protective abilities, but if he sticks around, he's going to eventually kill you even without attacking. And a 5/4 isn't irrelevant either.
This has all the makings of a card that is fair, versatile, synergistic, and generally awesome. He looks a lot more fun than Indulgent Tormentor if not outright more powerful.
Syr Konrad, the Grim is certainly an interesting card, and I could use another black 5-drop.
I feel like the wording is really muddled up: why couldn't it just say "when a creature card is put into a graveyard from anywhere..." instead of the clunky "dies or is put into a graveyard" bit? It reminds me of the idiotic "when you cycle or discard a card" wording. Why the redundancy?
If it was worded "whenever a creature card is put into a graveyard from anywhere," it wouldn't trigger when tokens die. By wording it the way it is, it triggers whenever any creature, token or nontoken, dies, as well as whenever a creature card goes to the graveyard from anywhere else (all places a token can't exist), plus whenever a creature card leaves your graveyard. It's wordy, but it really is the most clear wording for what it does.
As for the card, it is pretty fun and could be interesting in peasant cube. Not sure I'm looking for another 5-drop in my cube, but I'll certainly be building a Commander deck around him (it's like a mono-black Purphoros, only with more shenanigans).
Experiment One and Kessig Prowler are better and then you have all those mana dorks on top of it and possibly Dryad Militant for its versatility. If you really, really want green aggro to work or if you have a large cube Wildwood Tracker may be an option though. Wish there was a card like that in red.
I wonder if a card like faerie guidemother is actually... reasonable?
I know how bad suntail hawks are but I still hand on to the argument that they are only truly bad when not played on turn 1.
Similar to my love for topplegeist, this card has a bonus that is applicable later in the game. Of course nobody would play the 3 mana 1/1 flier that etbs and casts mighty leap, but this card has two other modes.
I certainly would never call her a windmill slam, but I think she's worth mentioning if it is indeed true that suntail hawk is a good one drop on turn 1.
EDIT: Saw someone speculate that when a "Sorcery - Adventure" resolves, it comes into play as a creature rather than going to the graveyard. No idea if that is true or not, but that would be pretty crazy.
2023 Average Peasant Cube|and Discussion
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MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
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Low-power cube enthusiast!
My 1570 card cube (no longer updated)
My 415 Peasant+ Artifact and Enchantment Cube
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Adventures can be cast basically as split cards.
Adventures can be cast as kicker (So Goldilocks is eithter G for a 1/2 or 5GGG for a 1/2 and three 2/2s.
Adventures can be cast from the graveyard (so aftermath-ish)
Adventures can be cast from the battlefield repeatedly (highly unlikely given that the rare would have G: create a 1/1, unless there is an additional cost like discarding a card.)
Adventures can be cast when a certain game event happens. When the creature does combat damage to a player, when you sacrifice a food-token, etc.
The ability to cast adventures are triggered by other cards. So you could have a creature with T:"You may cast one adventure from a permanent you control". Or a sorcery that draws you a card and has a rider "you may cast an adventure from a permanent you control". So I guess kinda like how contraptions worked?
---
New cards, but not much exiting:
Faerie Vandal1U
Flash, Flying
Whenever you draw your second card each turn, put a +1/+1 counter on Faerie Vandal.
1/2
Witch's Cottage
Land - Swamp
ETB tapped unless you control 3 other swamps.
When ~ETB untapped, you may put a creature from your graveyard on top of your library.
Maraleaf PixieUG
Flying
T:Add G or U to your mana pool.
2/2.
I like that they are printing lands with basic land types, but without fetches (and these aren't likely to be going to make me want to run Mirage fetches) it's not very relevant.
The two fliers are probably borderline OK?
BTW: Food tokens apparently are artifacts with "T, sacrifice: Gain 3 life". And other cards can use the food for other purposes (There is a golden goose that is a Birds of paradise but you need to sack a food each time you tap it for mana).
Cubetutor Peasant'ish-Funbox
Project: Khans of Tarkir Cube (cubetutor)
Maraleaf Pixie seems ok, but it's boring and not really needed in my cube.
My Old School Battlebox
My Premodern Battlebox
Order of Midnight is awesome, 2/2 flyer that can't block for 1B with possible upside that turns him into a far better Gravedigger.
Syr Konrad the Grim is interesting as well. Good in a sacrifice and in a graveyard deck. Definitely something I'll consider.
My Old School Battlebox
My Premodern Battlebox
... or even at instant speed (Foulmire Knight).
It looks like you can either cast the creature for its normal casting cost, or pay its adventure cost first and then be able to cast the creature for its regular cost. So Order of Midnight is either a 2/2 flyer for 1B, or a flying Gravedigger for 1B and 1B.
My Peasant Cube: @ mtgsalvation---- @ cubecobra
EDIT: And then I read the article explaining exactly how it works. Cast it as a creature if you want, and it's just a normal creature. Or cast it as the sorcery, and it gets exiled as it resolves; you can then cast the exiled creature at some point, bringing it back from its adventure. Now we have some basis to evaluate them.
2023 Average Peasant Cube|and Discussion
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I'll certainly be more inclined to look favorably on the cards with a cheaper Adventure side.
2023 Average Peasant Cube|and Discussion
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Imperial Recruiter got brought up in the general thread and adventure increases its utility a lot if we get good targets. With Order of Midnight it only costs 5 to get a Raise Dead effect with Recruiter, whereas previously it would cost 7.
Syr Konrad, the Grim is the only card I'm interested in so far. It plays nicely with basically everything black does. Aristocrats, discard, reanimation, self mill, delve, and removal all can trigger the ability. It's so much sturdier than Blood Artist/Falkenrath Noble (which is not a noble) and actually is a good empty board play, which probably make up for the worse effect in aristocrats while still having a lot of application elsewhere.
foulmire knight and order of midnight look like solid adventures, since they're inherent 2 for 1s. evaluating them against other cube cards will be tricky though.
syr konrad is an interesting effect which does have some redundancy, and also is on a big body for a change. makes reassembling skeleton just ridiculous in the aristocrat style deck since it triggers twice.
maraleaf pixie is stupidly efficient but idk if i even want it to fill a guild slot.
If not for that, I would be interested in the flying gravedigger, the Foulmire Knight and perhaps the adventure Torch Fiend.
Syr Konrad is up for consideration.
What about Beanstalk Giant? I feel it is a good package, but non-board affecting ramp on 3 is a bit iffy. Still, as opposed to Krosan Tusker, you actually ramp, and you get both the land and the chance to play the fattie later.
Equipment/double-strike types might look twice at Fireborn Knight, but I'd imagine that Heartfire Goblin and Iora's Champion might just be better if you are seeding that archetype in WR? I guess, the knight can "abuse" its double strike without other cards, so that is at least something..
Cubetutor Peasant'ish-Funbox
Project: Khans of Tarkir Cube (cubetutor)
Keeper of Fables could be a decent card. Reasonable body and I only have 5 humans in green. A bit slow probably though and the 5 cmc spot in green is already filled with very good cards.
Wish Fireborn Knight was a bit more pushed. Either the pump effect would need to be cheaper or the base stats should have been better.
Yes, I also feel like this is one of the rare mechanics that isn't self-explaining, not even with reminder text. I don't really mind that much as we're super casual and if anyone has a question they just ask during the draft, but it's not the most elegant mechanic. Unfortunately Order of Midnight is already a pretty great and versatile card, so I will have to add it.
My Old School Battlebox
My Premodern Battlebox
I don't have enough knights for the tribal cards.
I like Keeper of Fables and Shambling Suit. Venerable Knight is another 2-1 I will have to compare with the others.
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
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2023 Average Peasant Cube|and Discussion
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Rosethorn Acolyte seems nicely versatile. You kinda might as well cast it for one early.
Frogify isn't half bad. I used to play Fowl Play, and it was fine.
Arcanist's Owl seems like a good way to support both artifacts and enchantments. Unlike other hybrid cards, it will play more like a gold card.
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My 1570 card cube (no longer updated)
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Ever-Expanding "Just throw it in" cube.
Vampires, zombies, knights, warriors, legendaries...
I feel like the wording is really muddled up: why couldn't it just say "when a creature card is put into a graveyard from anywhere..." instead of the clunky "dies or is put into a graveyard" bit? It reminds me of the idiotic "when you cycle or discard a card" wording. Why the redundancy?
Nevertheless, we have Lazotep Behemoth stats, plus Hissing Iguanar's trigger, plus 1B for Ghoulcaller's Bell activation plus a unique way to deal damage off of self-mill and discard.
In the late game, if you have more cards in your library, you can just dump mana into Konrad for a mill win, or if life totals are close to zero, you can do the same thing. Konrad doesn't have any evasive or protective abilities, but if he sticks around, he's going to eventually kill you even without attacking. And a 5/4 isn't irrelevant either.
This has all the makings of a card that is fair, versatile, synergistic, and generally awesome. He looks a lot more fun than Indulgent Tormentor if not outright more powerful.
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.
As for the card, it is pretty fun and could be interesting in peasant cube. Not sure I'm looking for another 5-drop in my cube, but I'll certainly be building a Commander deck around him (it's like a mono-black Purphoros, only with more shenanigans).
2023 Average Peasant Cube|and Discussion
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(G for a 1/1 that gets +1/+1 in combat if you control another non-human).
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Project: Khans of Tarkir Cube (cubetutor)
My Old School Battlebox
My Premodern Battlebox
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Project: Khans of Tarkir Cube (cubetutor)
I know how bad suntail hawks are but I still hand on to the argument that they are only truly bad when not played on turn 1.
Similar to my love for topplegeist, this card has a bonus that is applicable later in the game. Of course nobody would play the 3 mana 1/1 flier that etbs and casts mighty leap, but this card has two other modes.
I certainly would never call her a windmill slam, but I think she's worth mentioning if it is indeed true that suntail hawk is a good one drop on turn 1.
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article