My guess based on WotC wanting to color balance everything is Dovin Baan for Azorius, Domri Rade for Gruul, and Kaya (or Liliana?) for Orzhov. Kaya's on the cover for the Ravnica book, but she doesn't look like she's Team Bolas unless she starts out with Bolas and has a change of heart.
Domri Rade has already been referenced in flavor text in GRN on Street Riot, so we know he's at least around.
This ends up balancing the guilds such that each of the 5 colors of magic is represented twice on Team Bolas and Team Not-Bolas.
I'm fine cutting Cyclonic Rift over Daze. They're both towards the bottom of the totem pole at the moment.
I'm also pretty sad about Fire Imp, but I don't know what else I'd cut for Hanweir Garrison. I like Dark-Dwellers enough that it's probably safe at least for a little bit, but it does push the curve up.
Unrelated to GRN, I've been peeking around at others' lists, and am considering shifting around a bunch of cards, and was wondering of others' thoughts on these changes:
I'll admit that I was pleasantly surprised by how many cubeable cards there were in this set for me, given that multicolor-heavy sets tend to be more miss than hit due to competition. I'm planning to add the Top 8 cards you have listed here. I'm hoping that Connive//Concoct will earn its spot, as it's been a while since I've had a noncreature permanent in Dimir (I don't run Signets, but would if I made the jump to 540).
Blue: I did want to test Dream Eater, but since I'm fiddling with rebalancing shard/wedge cards instead of cheating on off-color activations, I don't have a testing slot identified. I've been trying to find a blue 6-drop that I can use to replace Consecrated Sphinx, which I find is one of the least fun cards in the cube, but this definitely isn't it.
Yeah, the first place my mind went when I saw the spoiler was to a janky Earthquake based commander build. It's a weird ability.
do it... Anything that will get more people blasphemous acting with boros reckoner, I encourage! Though I guess it's a nonbo when they are both on the battlefield
It's a weird ability, but original Ravnica Boros specifically has had the ability to prevent damage to its own creatures with Light of Sanction, so it's at least on-theme.
I'll be testing it over Captive, probably. I think I like Prowler more.
This is deviating a bit, but I agree that I need to overhaul my classification on some cards that should be 3-color, but I've been putting it off because I haven't been sure how to divvy them up. I should probably just suck it up and do it.
This seems like a way less flexible Walking Ballista to me, and I think it's below the line for my cube. I don't think that its cost is flexible either - it enters based on the number of colors spent to cast it, so the X is a trick here.
It can only ping one thing per turn cycle, has sunburst so it's not the best mana sink for redundant colors (as noted above), can't add counters otherwise, and due to that, has a hard cap of being a 5/5. The only way I'm interested in jamming this is if I can recur it, and 5-color decks don't come together in my cube that often. Even if they did, I'm not sure what the 5-color deck would look like that would utilize this.
Unrelated, I have two flavor complaints:
1. How do you collect someone's pelt when they enter the battlefield?
2. How does stacking coats on top of each other gain you trample?
The untap creature aspect is likely overcosted because this is a format with convoke in it. They likely costed it so high so that it would be used for protection and not as a mana ramp spell.
Domri Rade has already been referenced in flavor text in GRN on Street Riot, so we know he's at least around.
This ends up balancing the guilds such that each of the 5 colors of magic is represented twice on Team Bolas and Team Not-Bolas.
Bolas:
White: Azorius, Orzhov
Blue: Azorius, Izzet
Black: Orzhov, Golgari
Red: Gruul, Izzet
Green: Gruul, Golgari
Not-Bolas:
White: Selesnya, Boros
Blue: Dimir, Simic
Black: Dimir, Rakdos
Red: Rakdos, Boros
Green: Selesnya, Simic
I'm also pretty sad about Fire Imp, but I don't know what else I'd cut for Hanweir Garrison. I like Dark-Dwellers enough that it's probably safe at least for a little bit, but it does push the curve up.
Thanks as always for the feedback!
White:
Forsake the Worldly -> Dragon Hunter
Knight of the Kitchen Sink (even collector number) -> Accorder Paladin
Hallowed Spiritkeeper -> Palace Jailer
Angel of Serenity -> Baneslayer Angel
Blue:
Wharf Infiltrator -> Morphling
Champion of Wits -> Chart a Course
Cyclonic Rift -> Control Magic
Black:
Vampire Lacerator -> Tormented Hero
Dauthi Horror -> Asylum Visitor
Ruin Raider -> Oona's Prowler
Josu Vess, Lich Knight -> Ritual of Soot
Red:
Village Messenger -> Bomat Courier
Grenzo, Havoc Raiser -> Abbot of Keral Keep
Plated Geopede -> Earthshaker Khenra
Fire Imp -> Hanweir Garrison
Green:
Sylvan Advocate -> Jungle Lion
Surrak, the Hunt Caller -> Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma
Eldritch Evolution -> Verdurous Gearhulk
Naturalize -> Life from the Loam
Primal Command -> Selvala's Stampede
Birthing Pod -> Treetop Village
Multicolor:
Skipping this for now to not pick up new stuff before upcoming Ravnica sets.
Colorless:
Lotus Petal -> Ash Barrens
Aether Vial -> Evolving Wilds
Loxodon Warhammer -> Grand Coliseum
Westvale Abbey -> Terramorphic Expanse
White:
None!
Blue:
None!
Black:
Night Incarnate -> Doom Whisperer
Red:
Harsh Mentor -> Goblin Cratermaker
Manic Vandal -> Legion Warboss
Green:
Song of the Dryads -> Pelt Collector
Multicolor:
Hostage Taker -> Connive//Concoct
Qasali Pridemage -> Knight of Autumn
Abrupt Decay -> Assassin's Trophy
Boros Charm -> Tajic, Legion's Edge
Colorless:
None!
Thanks as always for your set review!
White: Nothing.
Blue: I did want to test Dream Eater, but since I'm fiddling with rebalancing shard/wedge cards instead of cheating on off-color activations, I don't have a testing slot identified. I've been trying to find a blue 6-drop that I can use to replace Consecrated Sphinx, which I find is one of the least fun cards in the cube, but this definitely isn't it.
Black: Night Incarnate -> Doom Whisperer. I'm really excited for this card.
Red: Harsh Mentor -> Goblin Cratermaker, Fire Imp/Manic Vandal -> Legion Warboss. Not sure what the cut is for Warboss yet, as I don't want too high a density of artifact destruction.
Green: With green losing a bunch of cards to my color rebalance, I think I get to just add Pelt Collector in exchange for a blue card.
Multicolor:
Hostage Taker -> Connive//Concoct. I really want to test this split card.
Qasali Pridemage -> Knight of Autumn. One of the easiest includes in the set (I'm higher on Doom Whisperer, personally).
Abrupt Decay -> Assassin's Trophy. Removal swap. I don't like Golgari being "the answers guild", so I don't let more than 2 of the 4 slots be removal.
Boros Charm -> Tajic, Legion's Edge. This was going to be Aurelia, but I want to test Tajic now that I've seen him.
Tried it a few different ways, but this configuration seems to be up and ready to go!
This is deviating a bit, but I agree that I need to overhaul my classification on some cards that should be 3-color, but I've been putting it off because I haven't been sure how to divvy them up. I should probably just suck it up and do it.
It can only ping one thing per turn cycle, has sunburst so it's not the best mana sink for redundant colors (as noted above), can't add counters otherwise, and due to that, has a hard cap of being a 5/5. The only way I'm interested in jamming this is if I can recur it, and 5-color decks don't come together in my cube that often. Even if they did, I'm not sure what the 5-color deck would look like that would utilize this.
-Kessig Prowler
-Warden of the First Tree (lazily classified as monogreen)
-Wild Nacatl (also classified as monogreen)
-Wolfbitten Captive
Unrelated, I have two flavor complaints:
1. How do you collect someone's pelt when they enter the battlefield?
2. How does stacking coats on top of each other gain you trample?