Why comparing this to Bonesplitter, Lightening Greaves, or Shadowspear?
This is basically a colorless, and worse, Rabbit Battery.
The rabbit has been pretty decent against controlish decks in our experience. The fact that it is a creature and still able to hit for one when the opponent has a removal has been key to pressuring control, forcing them to eventually spend a removal on the rabbit. These boots, being unable to do that, while colorless, seem much worse.
Your suggestions are mostly very strong cards indeed.
Although there is a precision that I did not give: I know that some will find it "old school" or maybe just dumb, but I also know that some players, myself included, only want to play "real" Magic cards in their cubes (so no LotR or Dr Who).
Three out of six of your suggestions are Universes Beyond cards.
The fourth one is an Unfinity card, whose effect is strong but not strategically interesting since it's totally random.
Otharri is the kind of threat that must be answered immediately or it'll close the game very fast, and I try to avoid such snowbally cards that tend to win the game on their own (which I understand is also a different take on cube building, since I don't try to maximize power everywhere, but try to rather put the emphasis on skill and fun - and here again, I probably am not the only one, I am sure a lot of cube designers cut certain cards out of their cube due to the imbalance they brought!).
So there is Rip Apart left, a card that I tried, but cut for not being good enough due to its sorcery status. Abrade and Disenchant, even if more restrictive, are much better since they are instant, and, maybe more importantly, monocolored.
So I guess the guild offers some really strong cards (the better ones being in your top7 list), but is it that deep? Most of your top7 cards are very recent cards.
If we don't count the UB cards, what would be the top7? Also considering not all cubes are powered (a 5 or 6-drop in Boros probably loses a lot of its playability in an unpowered cube)?
I am very surprised that this card doesn't get more talk.
The Boros guild is among the weakest when it comes to finding good cards.
I have 6 cards per Guild, and I have been looking for a 6th good Boros card for years, trying everything from Boros Charm to Soltari Guerillas.
The 5 mainstays being atm, in no particular order regarding power:
Figure of Destiny
Lightning Helix
Boros Reckoner
Ajani Vengeant
Showdown of the Skalds.
Other playable options are the white walkers Nahiri, the Harbinger and the Unfinity Dog, but since I limit the number of planewalkers in my cube and already play Ajani in Boros, I am not interested in those.
Beside that, the other playable options are Heroic Reinforcements and maybe Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice, but once again I am not interested in those cards since they are not very interesting to play (all they do is attack).
Heartflame Duelist is not not going to be among the top Boros cards for sure, but it is playable, and I like the tension between casting it as a 2-drop or waiting to cast the first half for full value.
Very weak set for all of us that avoid parasitic mechanics (like the different roles and their associated tokens), but one good card is saving the set for me: I will finally have a 6th playable card in my Boros section!
I'll also get these cards, but do not plan an including them over traditionnal removal, as I run a limited number of Planeswalkers and don't really want the additional flexibility: Planar Disruption Sheoldred's Edict
Finally a playable Masticore! I like this card a lot.
Free Vindicate every upkeep, hell yeah, is that even a drawback? Ok there are some restrictions to the Vindicate, it's tied to CMC and doesn't hit lands, but still. Affecting the board repetitively for 0 mana is really good.
Note that the Vindicate effect is attached to the discard effect, so you can't get two-for-one'd like with Razormane Masticore.
I think this card is going to be good in unpowered cubes. I'll certainly try it in mine!
I included it a few years ago, but it has never done anything.
I guess it has become an outdated cube card: as cubes get more synergistic, there are not room anymore for goodstuff cards like this, even moreso considering the high variance attached, as it can do nothing even in the right deck (which no ones seems to be able to identify in my playgroup).
I plan to cut it alongside Platinum Angel to include Dark Depths and Thespian Stage, but I figured I'd ask first in case we missed something.
To answer your questions, here are a few more details:
-I used to play Rout at 5cmc, but it turned out that with the years passing by, 5 mana for a sweeper that destroys only creatures was a bit too much. Fumigate and Realm-Cloaked Giant caught my eye and may be better than Rout, but not by much. So I am looking towards a 5+cmc sweeper that does more than destroy creatures (going from Wrath of God+DoJ+Rout+Command to Wrath of God+DoJ+NewCard).
-I try to avoid functionnal reprints, and since I already play DoJ on top of Wrath of God, I'd really like my 3rd white board sweeper to be different. If I really were to play a third 4cmc board sweeper, I'd probably play Settle the Wreckage, since it's a little bit different.
-I agree that Farewell is a much more interesting card than Cleansing Nova, but 6 mana is also much more expensive than 5! That's basically why I am hesitating.
Edit: had to replace all the W o G instances with the full name of Wrath of God, as it turned out that W o G all attached is a pretty heinous insult, which I did not know (English is not my mother tongue)!
I have an unpowered fair cube (list here) and I am struggling to find a decent 5cmc+ board sweeper (I already play WoD and DoJ and don't want to play all the functionnal reprints available at 4cmc, looking for a sweeper to replace the outdated Austere Command I recently cut).
This is basically a colorless, and worse, Rabbit Battery.
The rabbit has been pretty decent against controlish decks in our experience. The fact that it is a creature and still able to hit for one when the opponent has a removal has been key to pressuring control, forcing them to eventually spend a removal on the rabbit. These boots, being unable to do that, while colorless, seem much worse.
Your suggestions are mostly very strong cards indeed.
Although there is a precision that I did not give: I know that some will find it "old school" or maybe just dumb, but I also know that some players, myself included, only want to play "real" Magic cards in their cubes (so no LotR or Dr Who).
Three out of six of your suggestions are Universes Beyond cards.
The fourth one is an Unfinity card, whose effect is strong but not strategically interesting since it's totally random.
Otharri is the kind of threat that must be answered immediately or it'll close the game very fast, and I try to avoid such snowbally cards that tend to win the game on their own (which I understand is also a different take on cube building, since I don't try to maximize power everywhere, but try to rather put the emphasis on skill and fun - and here again, I probably am not the only one, I am sure a lot of cube designers cut certain cards out of their cube due to the imbalance they brought!).
So there is Rip Apart left, a card that I tried, but cut for not being good enough due to its sorcery status. Abrade and Disenchant, even if more restrictive, are much better since they are instant, and, maybe more importantly, monocolored.
So I guess the guild offers some really strong cards (the better ones being in your top7 list), but is it that deep? Most of your top7 cards are very recent cards.
If we don't count the UB cards, what would be the top7? Also considering not all cubes are powered (a 5 or 6-drop in Boros probably loses a lot of its playability in an unpowered cube)?
The Boros guild is among the weakest when it comes to finding good cards.
I have 6 cards per Guild, and I have been looking for a 6th good Boros card for years, trying everything from Boros Charm to Soltari Guerillas.
The 5 mainstays being atm, in no particular order regarding power:
Figure of Destiny
Lightning Helix
Boros Reckoner
Ajani Vengeant
Showdown of the Skalds.
Other playable options are the white walkers Nahiri, the Harbinger and the Unfinity Dog, but since I limit the number of planewalkers in my cube and already play Ajani in Boros, I am not interested in those.
Beside that, the other playable options are Heroic Reinforcements and maybe Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice, but once again I am not interested in those cards since they are not very interesting to play (all they do is attack).
Heartflame Duelist is not not going to be among the top Boros cards for sure, but it is playable, and I like the tension between casting it as a 2-drop or waiting to cast the first half for full value.
So my includes are:
Heartflame Duelist
Mosswood Deathknight
So far I'll add just one card:
Argentum Masticore
I'll also get these cards, but do not plan an including them over traditionnal removal, as I run a limited number of Planeswalkers and don't really want the additional flexibility:
Planar Disruption
Sheoldred's Edict
Free Vindicate every upkeep, hell yeah, is that even a drawback? Ok there are some restrictions to the Vindicate, it's tied to CMC and doesn't hit lands, but still. Affecting the board repetitively for 0 mana is really good.
Note that the Vindicate effect is attached to the discard effect, so you can't get two-for-one'd like with Razormane Masticore.
I think this card is going to be good in unpowered cubes. I'll certainly try it in mine!
I included it a few years ago, but it has never done anything.
I guess it has become an outdated cube card: as cubes get more synergistic, there are not room anymore for goodstuff cards like this, even moreso considering the high variance attached, as it can do nothing even in the right deck (which no ones seems to be able to identify in my playgroup).
I plan to cut it alongside Platinum Angel to include Dark Depths and Thespian Stage, but I figured I'd ask first in case we missed something.
To answer your questions, here are a few more details:
-I used to play Rout at 5cmc, but it turned out that with the years passing by, 5 mana for a sweeper that destroys only creatures was a bit too much. Fumigate and Realm-Cloaked Giant caught my eye and may be better than Rout, but not by much. So I am looking towards a 5+cmc sweeper that does more than destroy creatures (going from Wrath of God+DoJ+Rout+Command to Wrath of God+DoJ+NewCard).
-I try to avoid functionnal reprints, and since I already play DoJ on top of Wrath of God, I'd really like my 3rd white board sweeper to be different. If I really were to play a third 4cmc board sweeper, I'd probably play Settle the Wreckage, since it's a little bit different.
-I agree that Farewell is a much more interesting card than Cleansing Nova, but 6 mana is also much more expensive than 5! That's basically why I am hesitating.
Edit: had to replace all the W o G instances with the full name of Wrath of God, as it turned out that W o G all attached is a pretty heinous insult, which I did not know (English is not my mother tongue)!
So the match is : Cleansing Nova vs Farewell.
Thank You for your answers!