i think decks that will run this usually wont want to oay the 3 life, and 7 mana darw 1 or 2 cards seems bad. This just has edh only written all over it to me
I like this guy. The threat of beibg able to pump to 4 damage and take down 4 toughness stuff / wall of omens and the like is a big deal, and makes chump blocking woth random 1/1 tokens and the like difficult as well.
If you need the support goblin engineer offers then that would be most important, where as the others are mostly redundancy for aggro decks with different plus sides.
As for Karn vs Ugin, I think you should probably have room for both at 450 unpowered.
My list is pretty similar. I think M21 is actually a pretty amazing set, just not for high powered cubes. The reprints are fantastic, and there are a lot of cool niche cards for lower powered cubes to play around with. I think OP's write up is pretty good at picking out the serious contenders.
WWW Seasoned Hallowblade. - going to keep an eye on. will include if I can get 2 more discard outlets in white or some type of payoffs in this color (lingering soul type effects) and will test with bringing back unburial rights. as of right now, i dont think it quite makes the cut in my cube.
UUU Barrin, Tolarian Archmage not sure if I am going to cut man-o'-war or run it alongside. If a run it alongside, I will probably look to bring in some support for a tempo based deck, but i need to think on this a bit more.
Ghostly pilferer: Looking to replace enclave cryptologist unless that is the cut for Barrin.
RRR Heartfire Immolator > looking to cut dismissive pyromancer. I have pretty high hopes for this card. Will keep an eye out to make sure I am not cutting too many discard effects though for decks that need that effect. I am interested to see how this card plays out.
As far as other cards on OP's list.
Between the Hermit's at Green 5's. acidic slime, and thragtusk, i don't think i need the Elder Gargaroth, but I don't mind keeping an eye on it to see how it performs. It is a baneslayer, but Green 5's come down well before white 5's so maybe it will play better than I think.
I like Radha, heart of Keld for Klothys from a design perspective playing with lands, supporting wrenn / six, but i don't think it's better than bloodbraid elf, or dragonlord atarka, but decks that have a 4th spot and want to support the lands deck i can see running this.
Angelic Ascension is a cute card, but giving your opponent a 4/4 flying creature vs a 3/3 creature is a big difference, especially when white already has premium removal. Hitting planeswalkers could be a big deal though so i am willing to keep an eye on this incase it overperforms in larger cubes than mine
i'm unburying this thread with the recent printing of Seasoned Hallowblade we have a decent discard outlet now in white that might allow this to crack into some lists. If anyone has any input that would be great.
I don't see this still making it at 350 sized cubes, since as Juju mentioned above Vindicate Sorin, Lord of Innistrad Lingering Souls
are still probably the top 3 +/- Lurrus of the Dream if you are doing that kind of a thing.
as is, i think i would need 2 more discard outlets in white to allow it to have a real role in reanimator decks, but it won't suprise me if WOTC ends up pushing a few things this way based on what we have seen lately.
I think i like this more than the cryptolgist, even though they have some overlapping roles, This is better in reanimator / graveyard centric decks since it's not susceptable to being killed before you get to discard, and I am very rarely getting cryptologist up to the point where he is drawing cards and I think to myself..... that's what i won the game. At that point, i am usually so far ahead, it's just going through the motions to clsoe the game out. I don't run spellskite or azcanta at my cube, and i would bring the enchantment in before spellskite I think.
Great card is great, but blue 3 creatures are stacked. Especially considering noncreatures take up far more of blue than any other color.
My current ranking:
1. True-Name nemesis
2. Vendillion Clique
3. Brazen Borrower
4. Nadir Kraken
5. Barrin
6. Man-o_war
7. Sea Gate Oracle
But in my 360, I don't have much blink, and I am already running rift/borrower/cryptic/ confluence
Maybe Cryptic Command? BBB is really hard to cast in my opnion, and in small cubes i find mystic confluence is usually good enough in that general cube slot? Could also cut a colorless card > run Phyrexian metamorph instead of stunt double as a few options.
Do you think that hitting walkers can help this compete with Borrower? Unfortunately i've already cut the jellyfish but I miss the body she leaves behind for blocking/recursion so i'll be happy to try this one
Some cubes might also want both, since often times decks that utilize these creatures often want the extra density of this type of effect
Cool Card, Not big and splashy, but I think this guy can play a solid role in a lot of different decks. I think i might try cutting Enclave cryptologist for this guy. I might need to reevaluate blue to see if blue tempo can be more of a thing. I think the density for that deck is there for my cube now. Blue just get's pulled in every direction it seems like in my cube
This might be the first card from this set that will find a lace in my cube.
I think between targeting planeswalkers, the ability going from a must to a may, and Karakas interactions are worth the blue pip in the casting cost. It might see play in fewer decks, but one thing I have generally noticed in my cube, is that it can actually be hard to draft a heavy blue cube because 1/2 the players at the table are either in blue or splashing it
I wouldn't mind being able to keep this and Man-o'-War in my cube along with Brazen Borrower to push a blue tempo theme a bit, but I don't think I can really cut anything else for this right now.
interesting cycle, I think the Green one feels a lot worse than the rest, and these feal really pushed in terms of mana cost, but i like the overall design of them.
This can also turn Greater Gargadon into a Giant 1 mana Rift bolt that can probably end most games on the spot. - plus saccing all your lands and other creatures to get gargadon into play dealing 9 seems like a fun deck to me
As for Karn vs Ugin, I think you should probably have room for both at 450 unpowered.
Ancient Tomb
Blast Zone
City of Brass
Library of Alexandria
Mana Confluence
Maze of Ith
Mishra's Factory
Prismatic Vista
Strip Mine
Wasteland
Cut 1 or none for fabled passage.
I am hedging towards blast zone or the factory
I think they are both great cards, but only have room for 1
WWW
Seasoned Hallowblade. - going to keep an eye on. will include if I can get 2 more discard outlets in white or some type of payoffs in this color (lingering soul type effects) and will test with bringing back unburial rights. as of right now, i dont think it quite makes the cut in my cube.
UUU
Barrin, Tolarian Archmage not sure if I am going to cut man-o'-war or run it alongside. If a run it alongside, I will probably look to bring in some support for a tempo based deck, but i need to think on this a bit more.
Ghostly pilferer: Looking to replace enclave cryptologist unless that is the cut for Barrin.
RRR
Heartfire Immolator > looking to cut dismissive pyromancer. I have pretty high hopes for this card. Will keep an eye out to make sure I am not cutting too many discard effects though for decks that need that effect. I am interested to see how this card plays out.
As far as other cards on OP's list.
Between the Hermit's at Green 5's. acidic slime, and thragtusk, i don't think i need the Elder Gargaroth, but I don't mind keeping an eye on it to see how it performs. It is a baneslayer, but Green 5's come down well before white 5's so maybe it will play better than I think.
I like Radha, heart of Keld for Klothys from a design perspective playing with lands, supporting wrenn / six, but i don't think it's better than bloodbraid elf, or dragonlord atarka, but decks that have a 4th spot and want to support the lands deck i can see running this.
Angelic Ascension is a cute card, but giving your opponent a 4/4 flying creature vs a 3/3 creature is a big difference, especially when white already has premium removal. Hitting planeswalkers could be a big deal though so i am willing to keep an eye on this incase it overperforms in larger cubes than mine
didn't look at your entire list... but first thing my eyes saw you could cut... Frost titan...no need to run as many 6 drops as 3 drops...
I don't see this still making it at 350 sized cubes, since as Juju mentioned above
Vindicate
Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
Lingering Souls
are still probably the top 3 +/- Lurrus of the Dream if you are doing that kind of a thing.
as is, i think i would need 2 more discard outlets in white to allow it to have a real role in reanimator decks, but it won't suprise me if WOTC ends up pushing a few things this way based on what we have seen lately.
Maybe Cryptic Command? BBB is really hard to cast in my opnion, and in small cubes i find mystic confluence is usually good enough in that general cube slot? Could also cut a colorless card > run Phyrexian metamorph instead of stunt double as a few options.
Some cubes might also want both, since often times decks that utilize these creatures often want the extra density of this type of effect
I think between targeting planeswalkers, the ability going from a must to a may, and Karakas interactions are worth the blue pip in the casting cost. It might see play in fewer decks, but one thing I have generally noticed in my cube, is that it can actually be hard to draft a heavy blue cube because 1/2 the players at the table are either in blue or splashing it
I wouldn't mind being able to keep this and Man-o'-War in my cube along with Brazen Borrower to push a blue tempo theme a bit, but I don't think I can really cut anything else for this right now.