MTG Salvation

Friend Artisan (leaving this autocorrect typo in because it's funny) is a really solid add in any midrange deck. Cashing in mana elves and tokens for bigger fare, or just making efficient use of mana.

Painlands still hold up so well. ETB untapped, can produce either mana T1 (unlike filter lands), don't always damage you unless needed (unlike Canopy lands), can swap colour for you (unlike Pathways), and can tap for colorless too if you support Eldrazi (unlike most duels).

Not saying they are better than the other cycles, just that they do an awful lot right. Personally Canopy lands are my favourite.

I thought about adding a couple of Pod support cards. Pod was always just OK for us, but there continue to be a lot of underwhelming bodies with good effects strapped to them (think Reclamation Sage, Recruiter type effects, etc), so I could see these slotting into decks. How is Vannifar working out for folks?

I like MDFC lands best of that group, Noble and Shrine least. I haven't tested Valakut Awakening at all but it seems decent to me.

I like the land spell best of those three. Answering something important for 4 is fine by me when it can salvage a hand by being a land, which is a big deal. I'd prioritise the planeswalker removals (Murderous Rider, Hero's Downfall) over Terrors quite a bit these days. I think Heartless Act is the only 'Terror' I run now.

Spikefield Hazard should translate quite well to cube. There are a lot of important X/1s: Birds/Elves, early 2/1s, Dark Confidant, Rofellos, etc.

Has anyone got meaningful reps with this card yet? Definitely interested in giving it a run.

I really like MDFCs, and I think these discussions have been pretty civil and well-reasoned for the most part.

At the end of the day these are ultra versatile and would make their way into a ton of decks, but it's right to point out that this is also the case for utility things like Forgotten Cave, etc., that folks just don't have room for. Ultimately I personally think the upside on things like Bala Ged Recovery and Glasspool Mimic is high enough to make these an attractive addition and more impactful than things like Flagstones of Trokair or its ilk. The amount of upside is important, which is why I think something like Karakas (high impact, comes up a lot) is a cool inclusion, but Flagstones (lowish impact, doesn't come up often) is generally not considered as one. Then you have things like Minamo, School at Water's Edge which is somewhere in between (potentially high impact, but fairly niche). But I can see the rationale from those cubers who don't feel this way as well.

I will say the bolt lands are just great (the black, red, white and green ones being a bit better) and should be much easier inclusions, although we are looking forward to testing a bunch of the taplands too.

I value turn one (and turn zero) countermagic extremely highly, so I would be loathe to cut Force Spike. Arcane Denial is a solid splashable hard counterspell too, which is somewhat rare. I think I prefer both to Jwari Disruption even though I think this MDFC is a good card (not having tested it yet). I think would play it over Censor for sure if I ran the latter.

Nice write-up, a long one this time and with good reason. This set is great! I'm including a heck of a lot of cards in my 410. Possibly even five black cards (Agadeem, Skyclave Shade, Scavenger, Hagra Broodpit, Bloodchief's Thirst) which is just nuts.

Some great reprints in amongst that lot.

Quote from Mergatroid_Jones »

Red has worse utility lands than other colors. This has a lot of options: 2R cycle. 2R Tormenting Voice. 2R Cathartic Reunion. Pseudo Windfall. Or Tapland.

(Obviously this doesn't send cards to the graveyard like Tormenting Voice. Small downside)

True, and instant speed versions of those à la Thrill of Possibility.

Pale Rider of Trostrad and Asylum Visitor are also roleplayers in the growing list of decent black two drops. Although I cut PRoT it had some good outings. Asylum Visitor will be cut for Skyclave Shade too.

Valakut Awakening
2R
Instant
Put any number of cards from your hand on the bottom of your library, then draw that many cards plus one.

Valakut Stoneforge
Land
Valakut Stoneforge enters the battlefield tapped.
T: Add R.

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One of the rares of the lands-that-are-also-stuff cycle that I'd missed, and saw that it hasn't been discussed yet. ETBT is not the best, but the card selection is not bad at all and a worst case cycling 2R if you top deck it with an empty hand (still better than a land, I guess). I could see the most obvious use of this to filter lands out of hand for more gas mid-game.

Apparently the remaining members of the cycle will come with Kaldheim - so we won't be stuck with six for long (ahem - Canopy lands)

Interested in the R/B and U/G ones.