MTG Salvation

For me, it's:

Birds of Paradise > Joraga Treespeaker > Noble Hierarch > Llanowar Elves=Elvish Mystic=Fyndhorn Elves > Gilded Goose > Arbor Elf, except that I personally prioritize Gilded Goose before the third of the redundant Elf trio (it just felt weird to arbitrarily assign one of the three as the "worse" one.


Re: Ajani v Nahiri, they're cards that go in very different decks, but in a more traditional, smaller cube, Ajani is probably going to perform better since he'll be a top-end card for aggro while Nahiri will want to be more combo oriented, which may not find itself too heavily in white. I'd add Ajani first if I only had room for one.

It's definitely one of the oddball P3K cards that would benefit from a reprint, and I absolutely agree that it serves an extremely important role in Cube but it's unfortunate that it has a high scarcity-based price tag that could be easily fixed.

I was expecting it to show up in Double Masters, frankly.

Forgot to actually make the above adjustments here. I ended up making most of them, but didn't add Thraben Inspector. Additionally, I made a two more switches:

Force of Negation -> Spell Pierce
Nightpack Ambusher -> Birthing Pod

The switch to Spell Pierce was for a couple reasons - I didn't own a Force of Negation and didn't see myself picking one up too soon, and reading others' experiences with it as on-par with Spell Pierce made me decide to add it back in.

I mostly added Birthing Pod because I really like the new judge foil, and Nightpack Ambusher seemed like a fine card to cut since that was a sort of "up in the air" slot.

I like having a variety of styles in my cube, so I usually plan to pick up one or two of the various art styles they print. I'll probably pick up Council's Judgment of these. I don't expect these to be particularly cheap, so I don't think I'll aim for more than the one, but I'd consider Metamorph and Deluge.

Even beyond Tolarian Academy and Shelldock Isle (I no longer run the latter), I'm also personally more excited by Academy Ruins and Faerie Conclave. As noted by ryansaxe, competition is the main issue here.

For synergies, I don't run nearly enough wizards that are relevant, but I feel like it would need to be a lot more to be able to earn a spot.

Considering making the following changes, but I'm not sure if these are the best swaps:

Dragon Hunter -> Thraben Inspector
Gideon of the Trials -> Elspeth Conquers Death

Corpse Dance -> The Eldest Reborn

Wild Mongrel -> Mayor of Avabruck
Gemrazer -> Nightpack Ambusher

Foreboding Ruins -> Sulfurous Springs (this one should have just always been Sulfurous Springs)
Obosh, the Preypiercer -> Falkenrath Aristocrat

I've also recently started considering this card (and The Eldest Reborn) after seeing it mentioned a few times here (and some play on Arena). I'm not sure what to cut for it, but it seems at least worth testing.

Circling back, I made the noted swap above of Finale of Glory and brought Accorder Paladin back in. I still like Harmonious Archon in tokens, and Secure the Wastes has been a much better roleplayer than Finale due to being an instant.

I also decided to cut Deep Analysis to bring back Meloku. I think it's notably below most of the others for me and is also a change that doesn't affect either artifacts or reanimator strategies.

Still on the fence about Aether Grid/Shrine. I agree that making room for the extra creature is probably correct, but haven't had an opportunity to add test either of the other two noted (as they were both added during my cube expansion). It's probably just a question of which is better to keep - although I'm expecting the cut to be Ghirapur Aether Grid.

Unrelated, I'm also considering The Eldest Reborn and Elspeth Conquers Death to the cube now based on others' notes, possibly for Corpse Dance and Sevinne's Reclamation, largely because I don't own the latter two. I'm not convinced Reclamation isn't worth also having, though, since they go in different decks.

Thanks as always for the reviews! I'm adding more than I expected from this set, but thankfully don't expect it to be as high cost-wise as some of the other sets. Rating Seasoned Hallowblade so highly helped drive home that I should add it rather than be lazy about finding a cut.

Regarding Seasoned Hallowblade, I hadn't actually considered cutting something at a different CMC for some reason. I like cutting Finale of Glory here, I think.

For Barrin, I didn't realize the synergy with Meloku. Whirler Rogue was my other consideration, although I'm trying to do more to make artifacts enticing. This is also why Ghirapur Aether Grid is in the cube - I'm testing it to see if it helps with that archetype. If the latter ends up really underperforming, it's a reasonable spot to add Berserker back in. I'll have to think on the other options with Meloku.

Finished my changes for M21. Notably, this isn't the same as the changes I posted in the testing thread.

Accorder Paladin -> Seasoned Hallowblade
Gisela, the Broken Blade -> Basri's Lieutenant

Fae of Wishes -> Ghostly Pilferer
Meloku the Clouded Mirror -> Barrin, Tolarian Archmage

Liliana's Triumph -> Eliminate

Stormblood Berserker -> Heartfire Immolator

Fires of Yavimaya -> Radha, Heart of Keld

EDIT: I've also chosen to swap out Glare of Subdual for Ajani, the Greathearted.

But this creature can block and has trample!

That aside, I do run Carrion Feeder. If you don't have a dedicated persist combo and/or aristocrats deck, it definitely isn't worth it. Trying to figure out if it's worth it if I do.

Looking through the full spoiler, this common caught my eye. It isn't amazing by any stretch, but I'm considering it for a combination of aristocrats/persist combos as another enabler in red. Thoughts?

Quote from steve_man »

Pretty sure I got everything...

WHITE
- Seasoned Hallowblade (maybe)
- Basri's Lieutenant (maybe)

BLUE
- Barrin, Tolarian Archmage
- Ghostly Pilferer (maybe)
- Sublime Epiphany (maybe)

BLACK
- Eliminate

RED
- Heartfire Immolator

GREEN
- Llanowar Visionary (maybe)
- Garruk Unleashed

OTHER
***crickets***

Thank you for reminding me about Basri's Lieutenant, which I was excited to test and then promptly forgot about entirely.

Escape! I forgot about that (even though I specifically noted the Titans). Add Woe Strider to the list above.

Other potential notables depending on cube composition include any hideaway lands and jump-start (if anyone is playing something like Risk Factor).