Oji, the exquisite blade has been performing pretty well since I added it recently. Flickerwisp's statline is good and probably will remain good for a while. For Kor hookmaster, besides Wall of omens may I interest you in a Rescuer Chwinga or a Githzerai Monk?
Oh, Unless you're omitting Universes Beyond cards, Sicarian Infiltrator is one of the best cards printed for us in the last couple years.
Ever since someone planted the idea here that reclamation sage might not be very good because the rate is just awful without a target, I started to believe that we are at a point where even *with* a target the rate isn't that good. When we could just double spell with nature's claim, natural state, or pick your poison instead of spending an entire turn's worth of mana on a 2/1.
I'm at a place right now where tempo is generally worth more than card advantage, and if I was yearning for card advantage an elite vanguard just isn't worth the extra mana. Maybe if it hits your opponent's mana rock on turn 3 exactly and puts pressure on, but that was really it.
I purposely have disenchant effects as purposely mainboardable but the things you want to disenchant (instead of just spending it because "Hey there's a target for my narrow spell!") are more midgame plays (Untethered Express, Diabolic Servitude) so Rec sage isn't curving out.
So for me it's:
Cankerbloom
Kappa tech-wrecker
Stormkeld Vanguard
Acidic Slime
Cathar Commando
Citizen's Crowbar
Reclamation Sage = Foundation Breaker Haywire Mite (Eventual disenchant for G is probably underrated, and there are what... 9 targetable artifact creatures in your list max?)
Wickerbough Elder
Haven't made anything final. But I think I'm getting more out of this set than the consensus is.
Likely:
Gleaming Geardrake:
The baseline is interesting (a downgraded, attacking baleful strix) but if it's ever a 3/3 you're way ahead.
Escape Tunnel:
I actually don't run terramorphic expanse (ash barrens pushes it out) but I am thirsty for more 5c fixing.
Harried Dronesmith:
I run daring piracy to uneven results, but the idea of a free guy every turn is something I want a lot. The enchantment might get replaced partly because the tokens exile eot. But I might double up on them to make the deck consistent.
Snarling Gorehound:
1 drop that lets you play more magic is my kind of card, but I already have Faerie Dreamthief. I'm sure I'll find something to replace, maybe one of the sac outlets that cost mana.
Leering Onlooker:
Considering how much spirit tokens still dominate in my cube, I needed another one of these statlines to hold the fort next to picklock prankster.
Insidious Roots:
I'm not super enthused about any of my golgari cards (the guild was a primary reason why I didn't want to go up to 3 gold cards). At least this has some potential to surprise.
Neighborhood Guardian:
First of all, is this name a pun? Anyway, Fallaji Vanguard has been amazing for me and this would trigger off of most of the same stuff for half the cost. Between this, the vanguard, and Rosie, white's instant speed token generation has gotten insane support.
Maybe:
Case of the gateway express:
This card's best case scenario is unreal. Dunno about the average, though. I also like the gameplay pattern of coercing you to make a bad attack to get a payoff.
Four of The Clue Equipment:
Really Wizards, you couldn't figure out how to balance the green one so it cost 2 to equip? Equip 3 is just impossible. Where's the symmetry present in cycles like this? Where's the justice? Sigh, wizards. SIGH.
...Anyway, equipment naturally suffer from "I drew the wrong half of the deck" syndrome so giving these cycling after they're played on turn 1 is more valuable than we are giving them credit.
Rubblebelt Maverick:
Didn't see this guy on my first look through. Surveil 2 is fairly close to drawing a card in the right deck and the rate for its graveyard ability makes it embarrassing that I once considered running Placid Rottontail
Maybe not:
Krovod Haunch:
You know what isn't cycling? 4 mana for two telegraphed 1/1s. Still, flexibility is compelling and life + blockers might be good in an aggro-ish mirror.
Frantic Scapegoat:
The more I think about it, the less I like it. The baseline isn't worth a card at all, and giving your 2 or 3 drop menace (and a downside) is probably not making up that difference. Oh, If you're still running them, probably loves being next to the 'Derms.
Torch the Witness:
Not that red needs more burn, but this has a baseline of "2R, sorcery, Deal 4 damage to any target and probably investigate". At 4 mana it kills anything that isn't a ramp target. 5 mana is murder. For 2 mana, it can save your bad hand from an aggro start. Or kill an elf while still getting you a Clue. This thing is probably good, but the competition is crazy even in a cube like mine where removal looks like Dead // gone and Lava coil.
Lip service:
Some of the hybrid creatures are alright if you feel like figuring out how to add them (Afterlife insurance > Scuttling Sentinel >> the rest), and the bite spell is perfectly playable but uninspiring. Then... idk... maybe... reckless detective? clandestine meddler? Oh and I do like pick your poison as a charm that will actually feel worth the mana when you cast it, but I'm pretty sure every other card is bad.
For me it's not about having dead gold cards. It's about having gold cards that make up for the fact that they are not useful for the large majority of players and are artificially making the packs they're in smaller. If the value a gold card adds to a deck/cube is approximately the same as a monocolored card, then it should probably just be a monocolored slot.
That's why I didn't go up to a third spell for years and why I was an early adopter of not playing cards like terminate.
But it hardly feels like they make gold commons and uncommons stronger than their monocolored counterparts these days unless they're downshifts. Strong ones are often some set-parasitic nonsense like Disturb-matters or Heroic tribal.
Rosie is quite possibly my favorite magic card to play with since Pyromancer ascension was legal in standard.
You do have to watch out for infinite combos (RIP Scurry oak and Herd baloth) but just think of all the different ways your board can look when you play even a C-tier card like midnight haunting mid-combat.
//
Part of the problem I have with barrow blade is that I don't really know what the motivation is for someone to draft it. I went through my entire green section and aside from stopping a giant trample creature from trampling through, it doesn't really do anything to any of them. It doesn't contribute to any plan, it just sorta snipes random cards that you can't plan for.
What percentage of everyone's cubes are multicolored? (preferably not counting hybrids but anything you would generally play with both colors). Oh, this is including dual lands.
I just added a third spell per color so I'm up to 9%.
I purposely added a couple of dated options to see if anyone is accidentally running something due to inertia. The average cube discussion pointed one of those out to me about my list.
Leering Onlooker: Plays nicely in token decks and self mill decks.
Case of the Burning Masks: Sorcery speed removal spell gives this card a reasonable floor but I don't imagine it will be difficult to solve for the free extra card.
Harried Dronesmith: This plays pretty similarly to Beetleback Chief but it can get really out of hand with stuff like Goblin Bombardment. Testing it alongside Chief but I'll probably cut the worse one down the line.
Hard-Hitting Question: Bite spells aren't the best but this is the most efficient one we've seen, I imagine it will be pretty easy to double spell with this one.
Pretty sure all of these will be good except for the case. I don't think I'd play "1RR sorcery, deal 3 and draw a card" and this is likely worse in two ways.
And Malone, if it makes you feel better I also like the scapegoat.
I am strongly under the impression that the modal hybrids are bad. The cost added for their flexibility waters down whatever value you end up ultimately paying for by far too much. For something like a playable charm (are there any anymore?), it's more regularly the case that at least one of the 3 options is reasonable at any given time. For the MDFCs, being a land is just so fundamentally useful that it's hard for the card not to be at least ok. But for these, it's like you're getting one of the three parts of a charm for the front end and then a bad card for 6 mana as your compensation.
A quick comparison would be something like Migratory route vs Fuss // Bother. One half of migratory route is saving your game from ruin, and the other half is a mana efficient, game-winning play. Fuss is an underpowered, narrow pledge of unity. If +1/+1 isn't needed to win combat (from the attackers side in particular) or if you haven't created some flying tokens, Bother is a full price spectral procession. I'd be so happy to find out that this is what my opponent is spending their turn on.
Flotsam // Jetsam is so embarrassing we all know not to talk about it.
Hustle // Bustle at least solves a little bit of the overrun problem by having an alternate mode. But the alternate mode is not worth a card and the overrun itself is real bad.
Cease // Desist's first half will be colored cycling 85-95% of the time and the back half is often going to be unplayable for multiple reasons. Wilt, cleanup crew and the nauseating return to nature all should do whatever the point of playing this is better, and aside from wilt I don't think any of these cards were run by any of the many cubes used in the average cube project.
Push // Pull has a shot if and only if Pull is regularly a game ending card. Assassinate for 2 mana is a bad magic card but isn't the worst thing in the world attached to a 6 drop (much like how cycling works). Compare to spring-loaded sawblades, whose timing window extends through two untap phases, can save you some life, and can draw you a second card. And I am one of the only people to be testing that card out. So this guy really needs Pull to deliver, and I don't see that happening in an average case. It would almost have to be something with annihilator or one of maybe 3 other best-case-scenario cards.
//
Thankfully, if it did turn out that something like Push/pull or Fuss/bother is just good enough to squeeze in a list, it would invariably be because of both halves together. So they should be categorized as monocolor cards (even if they can cutely also fit in one gold deck too)
Hi, I would have responded ages ago but was having login trouble
As the resident Blue Aggro guy, I can say that you are really short on the kinds of cards you want to make it work.
I would go as far as to say that you weren't supporting officially blue aggro until you've put in cloudfin raptor 2 days ago.
Green doesn't efficiently add card advantage to the deck. Not since Wildsize was power crept out a dozen years ago. Green instead benefits from blue's soft removal with its high-damage, hard to answer creatures. Put another way, you want Snap to be Time walk.
Trygon predator is not a tempo card, and it doesn't benefit from being around tempo cards. On the other hand, Sharktocrab and Trygon prime do. Either one will happily follow a Winter eladrin or Tandem lookout (who is sadly being phased out as of late).
Rarely run cards I feel I should spotlight: Saddled Rimestag is the only consistent 4 power 2 drop in the format. Rushing river + anything on turn 5/6 is basically backbreaking if you put bodies on the ground already. Silent Departure looks meh, but the second cast when you're topdecking should take out the 1 guy you can't attack into. Vastwood fortification makes a lot of hands better and is only irrelevant when you're in a deep hole.
Here's my cube: https://www.cubecobra.com/cube/list/leeluepeasant
I love blue-based aggro more than every other general deck. If there's a card worth running in it, I probably have it. Oh, but I do have weird self-imposed restrictions on things like card balance so some S+ tier cards like serendib efreet or Grafted wargear are missing.
Lastly, if you're ok with free spells, Mutagenic growth is incredible and Daze is very mean.
I am pretty sure I'd rather play a card like weapon surge or... hmm... heightened reflexes over felonious rage. Saving your creature is better than a vanilla 2/2 token basically every time, and the extra power matters way less than even turning a trade into a win. And that's without factoring in their upsides.
Seeing multiple people vouch for Lulu, Loyal Hollyphant is good enough for me to test. Not like I like my white cards on the bench anyway.
Sunhome stalwart sure seems like a staple to me. It's a great, fun card to play with. It gives random cards like... faerie guidemother truly interesting play patterns.
I regularly admit that foulmire knight is probably better than I give it credit for. It would probably be one of the next 2 black cards I put in, but I say that almost every update and never pull the trigger.
I have moved entirely away from control cards that are nearly dead against non-aggro decks. So I love cards like careless celebrant, and lone missionary which can allow you to be the aggro in some matchups while doing their main job in others. Fog bank is the kind of card I have been avoiding, but it's probably not bad. It does almost always force your opponent to care about it at some point. Probably worth a spot on the fringes.
I am entirely redpilled(bluepilled? blackpilled?) on Dreams of Steel and Oil. Card is better than duress and will likely be in a core group of itself, inquisition, and Deep-cavern bat until power creep comes for them. Until then, it has a good chance of being sacred to me. Could not recommend it more.
I don't want any aura based removal at all anymore. Not just because of sac effects (although... yes because of sac effects), but even something like my new pet card rescuer chwinga or it being s free sphinx for Hour of need. A pacifism with a draw on cast trigger would probably make me think about it, but maybe not even?
Centaur glade was a decent card during the Obama administration, maybe even scary, but I would have a string of questions for the cube owner about their environment if it was still scary in 2024. Someone in a discord recently mentioned this cube as if they were a known entity, and after seeing their cube I can say she and I are building environments with very little in common.
The card can work, but you'd probably need to have a cube as far away from mine as possible: She has are defenders matter cards in here, no blue 1 drops, multiple eldrazi, 80 gold cards, etc.
Oh, Unless you're omitting Universes Beyond cards, Sicarian Infiltrator is one of the best cards printed for us in the last couple years.
I'm at a place right now where tempo is generally worth more than card advantage, and if I was yearning for card advantage an elite vanguard just isn't worth the extra mana. Maybe if it hits your opponent's mana rock on turn 3 exactly and puts pressure on, but that was really it.
I purposely have disenchant effects as purposely mainboardable but the things you want to disenchant (instead of just spending it because "Hey there's a target for my narrow spell!") are more midgame plays (Untethered Express, Diabolic Servitude) so Rec sage isn't curving out.
So for me it's:
Cankerbloom
Kappa tech-wrecker
Stormkeld Vanguard
Acidic Slime
Cathar Commando
Citizen's Crowbar
Reclamation Sage = Foundation Breaker
Haywire Mite (Eventual disenchant for G is probably underrated, and there are what... 9 targetable artifact creatures in your list max?)
Wickerbough Elder
Thrashing brontodon (Boo 1CC)
Leonin Relic Warder (Boo-er CC)
Kor Sanctifiers
Westfold Rider
Likely:
Gleaming Geardrake:
The baseline is interesting (a downgraded, attacking baleful strix) but if it's ever a 3/3 you're way ahead.
Escape Tunnel:
I actually don't run terramorphic expanse (ash barrens pushes it out) but I am thirsty for more 5c fixing.
Harried Dronesmith:
I run daring piracy to uneven results, but the idea of a free guy every turn is something I want a lot. The enchantment might get replaced partly because the tokens exile eot. But I might double up on them to make the deck consistent.
Snarling Gorehound:
1 drop that lets you play more magic is my kind of card, but I already have Faerie Dreamthief. I'm sure I'll find something to replace, maybe one of the sac outlets that cost mana.
Leering Onlooker:
Considering how much spirit tokens still dominate in my cube, I needed another one of these statlines to hold the fort next to picklock prankster.
Insidious Roots:
I'm not super enthused about any of my golgari cards (the guild was a primary reason why I didn't want to go up to 3 gold cards). At least this has some potential to surprise.
Neighborhood Guardian:
First of all, is this name a pun? Anyway, Fallaji Vanguard has been amazing for me and this would trigger off of most of the same stuff for half the cost. Between this, the vanguard, and Rosie, white's instant speed token generation has gotten insane support.
Maybe:
Case of the gateway express:
This card's best case scenario is unreal. Dunno about the average, though. I also like the gameplay pattern of coercing you to make a bad attack to get a payoff.
Four of The Clue Equipment:
Really Wizards, you couldn't figure out how to balance the green one so it cost 2 to equip? Equip 3 is just impossible. Where's the symmetry present in cycles like this? Where's the justice? Sigh, wizards. SIGH.
...Anyway, equipment naturally suffer from "I drew the wrong half of the deck" syndrome so giving these cycling after they're played on turn 1 is more valuable than we are giving them credit.
Rubblebelt Maverick:
Didn't see this guy on my first look through. Surveil 2 is fairly close to drawing a card in the right deck and the rate for its graveyard ability makes it embarrassing that I once considered running Placid Rottontail
Maybe not:
Krovod Haunch:
You know what isn't cycling? 4 mana for two telegraphed 1/1s. Still, flexibility is compelling and life + blockers might be good in an aggro-ish mirror.
Frantic Scapegoat:
The more I think about it, the less I like it. The baseline isn't worth a card at all, and giving your 2 or 3 drop menace (and a downside) is probably not making up that difference. Oh, If you're still running them, probably loves being next to the 'Derms.
Torch the Witness:
Not that red needs more burn, but this has a baseline of "2R, sorcery, Deal 4 damage to any target and probably investigate". At 4 mana it kills anything that isn't a ramp target. 5 mana is murder. For 2 mana, it can save your bad hand from an aggro start. Or kill an elf while still getting you a Clue. This thing is probably good, but the competition is crazy even in a cube like mine where removal looks like Dead // gone and Lava coil.
Lip service:
Some of the hybrid creatures are alright if you feel like figuring out how to add them (Afterlife insurance > Scuttling Sentinel >> the rest), and the bite spell is perfectly playable but uninspiring. Then... idk... maybe... reckless detective? clandestine meddler? Oh and I do like pick your poison as a charm that will actually feel worth the mana when you cast it, but I'm pretty sure every other card is bad.
That's why I didn't go up to a third spell for years and why I was an early adopter of not playing cards like terminate.
But it hardly feels like they make gold commons and uncommons stronger than their monocolored counterparts these days unless they're downshifts. Strong ones are often some set-parasitic nonsense like Disturb-matters or Heroic tribal.
You do have to watch out for infinite combos (RIP Scurry oak and Herd baloth) but just think of all the different ways your board can look when you play even a C-tier card like midnight haunting mid-combat.
//
Part of the problem I have with barrow blade is that I don't really know what the motivation is for someone to draft it. I went through my entire green section and aside from stopping a giant trample creature from trampling through, it doesn't really do anything to any of them. It doesn't contribute to any plan, it just sorta snipes random cards that you can't plan for.
I just added a third spell per color so I'm up to 9%.
The deck had collector's vault, crystal shard, and random other things like rescuer chwinga and ephemerate to trigger it. Bonus points for making whirler rogue's tokens really big just as thanks for letting her through.
Clay golem > Sphinx of the guildpact > Meteor Golem >>> Walking skyscraper > Artisan of Kozilek
//
Naturalize creatures, then
I purposely added a couple of dated options to see if anyone is accidentally running something due to inertia. The average cube discussion pointed one of those out to me about my list.
Pretty sure all of these will be good except for the case. I don't think I'd play "1RR sorcery, deal 3 and draw a card" and this is likely worse in two ways.
And Malone, if it makes you feel better I also like the scapegoat.
A quick comparison would be something like Migratory route vs Fuss // Bother. One half of migratory route is saving your game from ruin, and the other half is a mana efficient, game-winning play. Fuss is an underpowered, narrow pledge of unity. If +1/+1 isn't needed to win combat (from the attackers side in particular) or if you haven't created some flying tokens, Bother is a full price spectral procession. I'd be so happy to find out that this is what my opponent is spending their turn on.
Flotsam // Jetsam is so embarrassing we all know not to talk about it.
Hustle // Bustle at least solves a little bit of the overrun problem by having an alternate mode. But the alternate mode is not worth a card and the overrun itself is real bad.
Cease // Desist's first half will be colored cycling 85-95% of the time and the back half is often going to be unplayable for multiple reasons. Wilt, cleanup crew and the nauseating return to nature all should do whatever the point of playing this is better, and aside from wilt I don't think any of these cards were run by any of the many cubes used in the average cube project.
Push // Pull has a shot if and only if Pull is regularly a game ending card. Assassinate for 2 mana is a bad magic card but isn't the worst thing in the world attached to a 6 drop (much like how cycling works). Compare to spring-loaded sawblades, whose timing window extends through two untap phases, can save you some life, and can draw you a second card. And I am one of the only people to be testing that card out. So this guy really needs Pull to deliver, and I don't see that happening in an average case. It would almost have to be something with annihilator or one of maybe 3 other best-case-scenario cards.
//
Thankfully, if it did turn out that something like Push/pull or Fuss/bother is just good enough to squeeze in a list, it would invariably be because of both halves together. So they should be categorized as monocolor cards (even if they can cutely also fit in one gold deck too)
As the resident Blue Aggro guy, I can say that you are really short on the kinds of cards you want to make it work.
I would go as far as to say that you weren't supporting officially blue aggro until you've put in cloudfin raptor 2 days ago.
Green doesn't efficiently add card advantage to the deck. Not since Wildsize was power crept out a dozen years ago. Green instead benefits from blue's soft removal with its high-damage, hard to answer creatures. Put another way, you want Snap to be Time walk.
Trygon predator is not a tempo card, and it doesn't benefit from being around tempo cards. On the other hand, Sharktocrab and Trygon prime do. Either one will happily follow a Winter eladrin or Tandem lookout (who is sadly being phased out as of late).
Rarely run cards I feel I should spotlight:
Saddled Rimestag is the only consistent 4 power 2 drop in the format.
Rushing river + anything on turn 5/6 is basically backbreaking if you put bodies on the ground already.
Silent Departure looks meh, but the second cast when you're topdecking should take out the 1 guy you can't attack into.
Vastwood fortification makes a lot of hands better and is only irrelevant when you're in a deep hole.
Here's my cube: https://www.cubecobra.com/cube/list/leeluepeasant
I love blue-based aggro more than every other general deck. If there's a card worth running in it, I probably have it. Oh, but I do have weird self-imposed restrictions on things like card balance so some S+ tier cards like serendib efreet or Grafted wargear are missing.
Lastly, if you're ok with free spells, Mutagenic growth is incredible and Daze is very mean.
Sunhome stalwart sure seems like a staple to me. It's a great, fun card to play with. It gives random cards like... faerie guidemother truly interesting play patterns.
I regularly admit that foulmire knight is probably better than I give it credit for. It would probably be one of the next 2 black cards I put in, but I say that almost every update and never pull the trigger.
I have moved entirely away from control cards that are nearly dead against non-aggro decks. So I love cards like careless celebrant, and lone missionary which can allow you to be the aggro in some matchups while doing their main job in others. Fog bank is the kind of card I have been avoiding, but it's probably not bad. It does almost always force your opponent to care about it at some point. Probably worth a spot on the fringes.
I am entirely redpilled(bluepilled? blackpilled?) on Dreams of Steel and Oil. Card is better than duress and will likely be in a core group of itself, inquisition, and Deep-cavern bat until power creep comes for them. Until then, it has a good chance of being sacred to me. Could not recommend it more.
I don't want any aura based removal at all anymore. Not just because of sac effects (although... yes because of sac effects), but even something like my new pet card rescuer chwinga or it being s free sphinx for Hour of need. A pacifism with a draw on cast trigger would probably make me think about it, but maybe not even?
The card can work, but you'd probably need to have a cube as far away from mine as possible: She has are defenders matter cards in here, no blue 1 drops, multiple eldrazi, 80 gold cards, etc.