so i'm bored as ****, waiting for spoiler season to FINALLY start. looks like we have a couple of cards to look at.
godzilla, primordial champion (titanote rex) 7GG
creature - beast dinosaur (u)
trample
cycling 1G
when you cycle ~, put a trample counter on target creature you control.
?/? (p/t obscured)
king caesar, ancient guardian (huntmaster tiger) 3W
creature - cat (u)
mutate 2W
whenever this creature mutates, other creatures you control get +x/+x until end of turn, where x is the number of this creature's mutations.
3/4
not sure what mutate does yet but the cat might be strong? and i guess godzilla depends on its p/t a little but i think it's probably bad.
Well, all things considered, King Caesar looks playable. Being able to even +2/+2 is pretty bonkers.
Godzilla looks hella overcosted. I really doubt it will hold a flame to sandwurm.
As a mutating creature spell resolves, instead of entering the battlefield, it merges with its target into one creature. Its controller chooses to put the resolving mutating creature spell on top of its target or underneath it. You'll end up with a pile of cards (or tokens—we'll get to that in a second) that all represents a single creature.
As I understand this, the whole pile of mutants dies at the same time, so why would I mutate? I can choose to have a 3/2 with vigilance and a 5/4 with reach, or a 5/4 with vigilance and reach. Wouldn't it be correct to choose two separate creatures in 99+% of normal circumstances? I guess within Ikoria, the "whenever this creature mutates" stuff may be enough of an incentive, but there is no way that there will be enough powerful cards for that to be viable in most cubes unless you completely overhaul your cube to accomodate it.
Thinking a bit: I guess small creatures with relevant abilities could make it worth it to mutate over having two bodies. Like a Flying Men that can act as a Flight on your 5/5 later.
//
Cool to see cycling return. The red two-drop (1Rfor 2/2 with cycling:1) and "whenever you cycle another card, this does 1 damage to opp.") actually seems decent, but not quite there for cube I suppose.
Mutate gives psudeo-haste, which makes some of the mutates pretty massive auras.
For example, with Cloudpiercer: if you have a Flying Man (the actual card can't mutate though) you can t4 mutate and swing for 5 in the air, which doesn't seem too bad for a common. Cloudfin Raptor and Experiment One also have pretty direct synergy.
There are enough other minor scenarios that I like the idea a lot better than emerge or auras, but I would need to see more designs.
Yeah, that guy is good. I will be looking closely at all the cycling fatties to decide which ones are great reanimation targets.
Companion is obviously not going to be a thing.
I don't personally like mutate, I like to have my peasant cube be super simple with its mechanics, cube can be complicated enough I don't like annoying bookkeeping mechanics.
The ability tokens are actually pretty good and super grokable.
Yay cycling!
Grimdancer seems like an auto include even at 360. Titanoth Rex is good if you support reanimate, right? Void Beckoner looks like the black 5+ drop I needed.
Not interested in the other cards so far. Mutate indeed seems like a dud for cube.
mutate could be alright, i feel like the mechanic is fine, but i'm just gunna take it on a card-by-card basis.
sprite dragon looks super strong. 2 mana flying haste prowess, except the prowess is just +1/+1 counters. seems insane.
grimdancer looks pretty nuts too. feels just below nighthawk in power level, which is a pretty great spot to be in still.
void beckoner is a big boi, and the cycling combat trick looks like pretty good value honestly. feels like a card that plays well in black, guess it really depends how you value reanimation. all of these huge creatures with deathtouch is still dumb imo.
And I like Titanoth Rex as a reanimator target. It cycles itself to the graveyard, you draw a card and put a trample counter. The value when you bring it back to the field is null, it doesn't do nothing, I mean, but this card kills in two turns (and has trample) if survives. I would like to test it, at least.
Grimdancer is amazing! Not that black needed to be even stronger in my cube, but I have to find a slot for it. There are also a few other considerations
Random thankfully-not-really-on-theme-with-everything-else stuff like the Izzet dragon might be cool, but holy crap this set is the worst thing I've ever seen Magic do by a wide margin
2UU
When a creature you control deals combat damage to a player draw a card.
2 cycling
It's a double blue Coastal Piracy. Personally I think this card is worth a trial run if you support tempo in your cube, I think it's a good bit better than piracy. A card like this has a decent number of occasions where it can be a card you don't want to play, and this circumvents that issue. Also, cycling 2 is just great for making sure you hit your land drops.
EDIT: Coastal Piracy was already double blue, wow this is just strictly better! How does this compare to Curse of Verbosity? I used to play that card but cut it years ago for some reason.
Call of the Death-Dweller is super interesting. It can only get back cmc 3 or less, but the fact that it gets two and grants them abilities is amazing.
I like Call of the Death-Dweller as a design but in terms of mana efficiency (compare to Unearth), it breaks even outside providing those abilities. Now, Reanimation is also about the toolbox utility rather than just mana efficiency but the restriction also puts some serious limits on that since CMC3 on and less tends to include limited amounts of utility worth recycling.
Flourishing Fox is pretty aggressively costed. Not good enough right now I think, but might be playable if more cycling support comes with later sets.
Reconnaissance Mission seems fine, but cycling doesn't help enough to make me overlook that it's a 4 mana enchantment that doesn't affect the board and requires you to be at least at parity.
Call of the Death-Dweller seems too hard to set up to be consistently worthwhile, even if it is reasonably powerful.
Clash of Titans might finally be a playable version of this kind of effect. Diversifying red removal is a nice bonus too.
Auspicious Starrix is a 5 mana 6/6 with a pretty powerful alternate condition. Seems like a staple to me.
Grimdancer seems solid, but also like something I'll never find a reason to play and will cut a year or 2 down the road.
/////
I'm incredibly baffled by how they managed to make 3 of the most complex mechanics in the game (they're probably all top 5 after banding and maybe suspend) and then decided to put them in the same set. I'm scared of how mutate works with O-rings, even though I think I got past all of the other unintuitive stuff. As far as I can tell most people have no idea how the details of companion works. And I'm still annoyed at how much mental energy I have to expend to keep Wurmcoil Engine tokens straight, which I'm sure will be similar to the keyword tokens, if not much worse if you don't have physical representations handy.
godzilla, primordial champion (titanote rex) 7GG
creature - beast dinosaur (u)
trample
cycling 1G
when you cycle ~, put a trample counter on target creature you control.
?/? (p/t obscured)
king caesar, ancient guardian (huntmaster tiger) 3W
creature - cat (u)
mutate 2W
whenever this creature mutates, other creatures you control get +x/+x until end of turn, where x is the number of this creature's mutations.
3/4
not sure what mutate does yet but the cat might be strong? and i guess godzilla depends on its p/t a little but i think it's probably bad.
probably a 7/7
mutate sounds like monstrosity to me. probably one that can be activated more than once.
powpercube Johnny https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/djredpeasant
They are definitely fakes. Wizo doesn't have the rights to Godzilla, and one of the cards has a jet fighter in the artwork.
i guess we'll find out more in a couple of days anyway.
powpercube Johnny https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
Godzilla looks hella overcosted. I really doubt it will hold a flame to sandwurm.
Space Godzilla, Death CoronaVoid Beckoner 6BBDeathtouch
Cycling2B
When you cycle CARDNAME put a deathtouch counter on target creature you control
Seems pretty cool as a combat trick + puts itself in the yard for reanimation strategies.
As I understand this, the whole pile of mutants dies at the same time, so why would I mutate? I can choose to have a 3/2 with vigilance and a 5/4 with reach, or a 5/4 with vigilance and reach. Wouldn't it be correct to choose two separate creatures in 99+% of normal circumstances? I guess within Ikoria, the "whenever this creature mutates" stuff may be enough of an incentive, but there is no way that there will be enough powerful cards for that to be viable in most cubes unless you completely overhaul your cube to accomodate it.
Thinking a bit: I guess small creatures with relevant abilities could make it worth it to mutate over having two bodies. Like a Flying Men that can act as a Flight on your 5/5 later.
//
Cool to see cycling return. The red two-drop (1Rfor 2/2 with cycling:1) and "whenever you cycle another card, this does 1 damage to opp.") actually seems decent, but not quite there for cube I suppose.
Cubetutor Peasant'ish-Funbox
Project: Khans of Tarkir Cube (cubetutor)
Agreed, cycling is one of the best mechanics in the game, glad to see it return.
Black got it's own Krosan Tusker!
https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/djredpeasant
Cubetutor Peasant'ish-Funbox
Project: Khans of Tarkir Cube (cubetutor)
For example, with Cloudpiercer: if you have a Flying Man (the actual card can't mutate though) you can t4 mutate and swing for 5 in the air, which doesn't seem too bad for a common. Cloudfin Raptor and Experiment One also have pretty direct synergy.
There are enough other minor scenarios that I like the idea a lot better than emerge or auras, but I would need to see more designs.
Also I hate the non-Human clause.
1BB
3/3
Gets your choice of 2 of lifelink, deathtouch, and menace
This is instantly going into my cube! Such a strong uncommon
https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/djredpeasant
Companion is obviously not going to be a thing.
I don't personally like mutate, I like to have my peasant cube be super simple with its mechanics, cube can be complicated enough I don't like annoying bookkeeping mechanics.
The ability tokens are actually pretty good and super grokable.
Yay cycling!
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
Peasant cube: Cards I own
Titanoth Rex is good if you support reanimate, right?
Void Beckoner looks like the black 5+ drop I needed.
Not interested in the other cards so far. Mutate indeed seems like a dud for cube.
My C/Ube on Cube Cobra
sprite dragon looks super strong. 2 mana flying haste prowess, except the prowess is just +1/+1 counters. seems insane.
grimdancer looks pretty nuts too. feels just below nighthawk in power level, which is a pretty great spot to be in still.
void beckoner is a big boi, and the cycling combat trick looks like pretty good value honestly. feels like a card that plays well in black, guess it really depends how you value reanimation. all of these huge creatures with deathtouch is still dumb imo.
My C/Ube on Cube Cobra
Sprite Dragon is a better Stormchaser Mage, fine.
And I like Titanoth Rex as a reanimator target. It cycles itself to the graveyard, you draw a card and put a trample counter. The value when you bring it back to the field is null, it doesn't do nothing, I mean, but this card kills in two turns (and has trample) if survives. I would like to test it, at least.
My Omniscience Draft Cube[/b]
My Commander Cube
My Pai Gow Cube
My Two-Headed Giant Cube
2023 Average Peasant Cube|and Discussion
Because I have more decks than fit in a signature
Useful Resources:
MTGSalvation tags
EDHREC
ManabaseCrafter
Primal Empathy thoughts? too do nothing?
Proud Wildbonder looks sweet, particularly fun with Bramblewood paragon
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
Peasant cube: Cards I own
When a creature you control deals combat damage to a player draw a card.
2 cycling
It's a double blue Coastal Piracy. Personally I think this card is worth a trial run if you support tempo in your cube, I think it's a good bit better than piracy. A card like this has a decent number of occasions where it can be a card you don't want to play, and this circumvents that issue. Also, cycling 2 is just great for making sure you hit your land drops.
EDIT: Coastal Piracy was already double blue, wow this is just strictly better! How does this compare to Curse of Verbosity? I used to play that card but cut it years ago for some reason.
https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/djredpeasant
2023 Average Peasant Cube|and Discussion
Because I have more decks than fit in a signature
Useful Resources:
MTGSalvation tags
EDHREC
ManabaseCrafter
Reconnaissance Mission seems fine, but cycling doesn't help enough to make me overlook that it's a 4 mana enchantment that doesn't affect the board and requires you to be at least at parity.
Call of the Death-Dweller seems too hard to set up to be consistently worthwhile, even if it is reasonably powerful.
Clash of Titans might finally be a playable version of this kind of effect. Diversifying red removal is a nice bonus too.
Auspicious Starrix is a 5 mana 6/6 with a pretty powerful alternate condition. Seems like a staple to me.
Grimdancer seems solid, but also like something I'll never find a reason to play and will cut a year or 2 down the road.
/////
I'm incredibly baffled by how they managed to make 3 of the most complex mechanics in the game (they're probably all top 5 after banding and maybe suspend) and then decided to put them in the same set. I'm scared of how mutate works with O-rings, even though I think I got past all of the other unintuitive stuff. As far as I can tell most people have no idea how the details of companion works. And I'm still annoyed at how much mental energy I have to expend to keep Wurmcoil Engine tokens straight, which I'm sure will be similar to the keyword tokens, if not much worse if you don't have physical representations handy.