Howdy Pardners! Time again for another Standard legal set for Peasant Cube and this set is a real change for the better compared to Murders at Karlov Manor. The mechanics in the set are pretty interesting and although I think Plot is not generally worth taking a turn off, it still has some interesting cards with the mechanic.
My cube has 512 cards, maximized for power with 6 spells and 3 lands per guild. I will add an extra preface that there are cards here that do not match my style of Cube, but are definitely respectable adds.
Here is My Too Early Top 20 for the Outlaws of Thunder Junction.
20) Frontier Seeker - A more aggressive, but less reliable source of early card advantage.
19) Explosive Derailment - Probably an overpriced Abrade, but also has expensive 2-for-1 potential.
18) Make Your Own Luck - Urban Evolution with the real upside of a free spell over a free land.
17) Ruthless Lawbringer - Nicely statted for the effect and a decent way to trade up resources. Hard to determine the value compared to spell based options.
16) Servant of the Stinger - Trades up on defense and can really trade up on offense. Both are conditional, the offense much more so.
15) Metamorphic Blast - More conditional value, but this gets up to a 3-for-1. Nice that the different play options have a potential value at 2 mana.
14) Aloe Alchemist - A strong aggressive green creature with a little upside as a late-game topdeck.
13) Rise of the Varmints - A good rate for the effect, but I worry this is a de facto Golgari card and mostly a worse version of Spider Spawning.
The Dirty Dozen:
Saddle Up
12) Reckless Lackey - An interesting red one-drop has a little value throughout the game. Haste attacks early, first strike helps in combat and eventually cycles itself for a card and treasure.
11) Abraded Bluffs cycle - Going to try out ETBT lands in some guilds that offer immediate value instead of incremental value late game. Starting with the Mardu color pairs.
10) Spinewoods Armadillo - Helps to fix, decent ramp/reanimator target. Good all-rounder that may not have a killer use case.
9) Cunning Coyote - I think the real trick here is that Coyote is a pretty wily turn 4 or 5 play with another creature, disregarding the kooky upside that Plot gives you. Also just attacks with haste on turn 2 and maybe pumps a one-drop.
Silver Staples
8) Phantom Interference - A really cool Miscalculation variant that trades 2 mana cycling for a 3U 2/2 flier. Also does both at 5 mana.
7) Holy Cow - A lot of small upsides here make this Cow a well done comparison to the rare value of Inspiring Overseer.
6) Lavaspur Boots - A Bonesplitter that trades a point of power for a point of Ward and haste. Could contribute more damage in some games.
5) Shoot the Sheriff - Another upgrade to effects like Cast Down. Incremental improvement, but still an excellent card.
Gold Rush
4) Honest Rutstein - A really good value Golgari creature that fits a good spot on the curve, especially next to Baloth Null.
3) Slickshot Lockpicker - Not being able to flashback counterspells is rough, but a pretty easy way to get extra value off cheap spells and Plots to get value off expensive spells.
2) Forsaken Miner - Not blocking is a real downside but will still get into some shenanigans for the sacrifice decks and black aggro.
1) Requisition Raid - I already love Basri’s Solidarity as a cheap anthem effect, so playing an extra version with upside is going to be great.
Back to back Standard sets as we investigate the Murders at Karlov Manor. This is also our first set with the advent of Play Boosters and a noted design change for commons/uncommons. I do believe the number of highly modal/flexible commons in this set is a sign of the times ahead. We also got a few bonus Peasant cards in the supplemental Clue/do set, which will be included below. Beyond the very specific mechanical theming of the set, I also felt a lot of the best cards are very similar to existing Cube cards, making it hard to be too excited.
As always, I cube 512 cards, maximized for power with 6 spells and 3 lands per guild. Here is my Too Early Top 20 for Murders at Karlov Manor.
20) Nightdrinker Moroii- Nightdrinker can attack as a 4/2 flier on turn 4 for five total mana or get cast for four mana and three life to attack turn 5.
19) Tribune of Rot- A hybrid 3/3 that makes at least one 1/1 per attack ~60% of the time in a 15 creature deck. A decent engine, but needs a specific home.
18) Ecstatic Electromancer- Izzet hybrid that matches up okay with other three-mana 2-power Prowess creatures in those colors. The extra color and the rummaging may get it over the hump.
17) Ordruun Mentor- A good attacking Boros hybrid, but a lot of those already exist in both colors.
16) Push // Pull - A card that may be over-priced on both sides, but fits really well into the black-based graveyard decks.
15) Demand Answers- Considering the trend of spells making incidental permanents, the usefulness is bound to increase over time.
14) Repulsive Mutation- I am not worried about getting blown out by renewal since the opponent has already cast a different spell, but things have to line up correctly to get big value.
13) Sudden Setback- Versions of this spell have been useful in draft and the versatility to hit spells too means it will always have something to do. Is that worth paying for twice a Remand?
12) Case of the Gateway Express- A lot of things have to line up here as well, but there is a welcome spot in the token deck for removal/anthem.
Deck Dopplegangers
11) Scene of the Crime- Probable slight upgrade over Cryptic Caves, with cheaper card draw and the ability to generate colored mana. ETB tapped is rough.
10) The Dining Room cycle- A decisively tier 2 or 3 fixing option for guild sections.
9) Aftermath Analyst- Trades off the ability to immediately generate value for a larger body and a hopeful ramp ability.
8) Gearbane Orangutan- Continuing the fine tradition of Apes that hate artifacts. Reach is a decent upside for this creature.
7) Pick Your Poison- My favorite of the non-creature versions of this effect but there are a lot of creature versions, although those creatures miss fliers.
6) Leering Onlooker- Black has plenty of two-drops that make another body after they die for free, but most of those are worse initial bodies and worse post-death bodies. Also get some graveyard value here.
Unusual Suspects
5) Reckless Detective- A pretty interesting red two-drop that attacks for 2 damage while rummaging.
4) Frantic Scapegoat- Compares to Phoenix Chick pretty well as a 1/1 haste menace that can suspect another creature later for extra upside.
3) Scuttling Sentinel- A very strong option in a shallow guild that represents 4 power for three-mana along with the upside of saving another creature.
Repeat Offenders-
2) Novice Inspector- A welcome 2nd copy of an all-time Peasant Cube stable.
1) Escape Tunnel- Another Peasant Cube stable and good fixing is harder to find than good white one-drops.
Once again, thanks to Calibretto for this huge undertaking to capture the Peasant Cube in 2023. I will be using this information all the way until 2024 to make card evaluations for Cube.
I also appreciate n00b1n8R for making a 360 Cube from this data.
I do three things when this data comes in:
Sort the list by most cubed to determine which cards are the most played NOT in my cube.
Sort the list by least cubed to determine which cards are in my cube but few others.
Make a series of changes based on the data.
I will focus on #2, as most people are doing right now. A lot of the cards I cube with few others are based on snow/silver border/power, but a few are not, which I will discuss.
Scattered Thoughts (8 cubes)- I think the outcomes from resolving this are close enough to resolving Fact or Fiction that Fact or Fiction should not be in literally 10 times more cubes.
Ribbons of Night (6 cubes)- The quintessential Dimir control spell. Does everything you could ask for against creature decks.
Knight of the Holy Nimbus (2 cubes)- Nearly impossible to deal with before turn 4 and a relevant attacker throughout the game.
O-Naginata (1 cube)- Equipment that leans more Green (and Naya) than anywhere else. Cubes getting more 3-power two-drops and lots of reasonable +1/+1 granting. Should become even more playable as overall power increases.
The Lost Caverns of Ixalan lay before us, a new "Core" set, as adventurers descend to untold treasure. I find myself really excited for a lot of the cards here and think this will be a pretty impactful set for CUbe. There is a lot of focus on themes I already emphasize, which is not always true for these sets. My cube is 512 cards, pushed for power, with 6 spells and 3 lands per guild. Join me as we explore the Too Early Top 20 for The Lost Caverns of Ixalan.
20) Waterlogged Hulk, Visage of Dread, Twists and Turns- All three of these cards offer tiny effects up front, hardly worth their minimal cost. But, each does have a potentially large upside available much later in the game. I wonder if any of those upsides are worth spending the card early for that small effect.
19) Deconstruction Hammer- A different take on white's creature-based artifact/enchantment removal. I think having a creature that can attack/block before destroying an artifact/equipment is better than just the equipment.
18) Hermitic Nautilus- Vigilance is a great ability for a defensive high-toughness creature while the pump ability threatens damage or trading up.
17) Guardian of the Great Door- A mostly worse Battle Screech with some extra casting flexibility. It's not impossible to cast this turn 3 with commonly played white cards.
16) Fungal Fortitude- A very aggressive take on this effect. Two mana is a lot more than one, but this has the potential to add 4 or 6 damage to the opponent.
15) Soulcoil Viper- A Peasant legal Doomed Necromancer-type. Despite the bigger body, the finality counter turning off future reanimations for the returned creature and the sorcery speed turning on more answers for the returned creature are rough downsides. Another contender to be the 6/7th best black reanimation effect.
14) Scytheclaw Raptor- Despite Red being second in instant/flash spells, Raptor has great synergy with another part of red's arsenal- haste. Following this 4/3 up with a Charging Monstrosaur feels like a great way to apply massive pressure that is difficult to respond to.
13) Colossadactyl- A massive creature that blocks and attacks well. Being a 4-drop without an ETB is a real downside compared to similar creatures.
12) Belligerent Yearling- A 3/2 for 1R with upside! Not a lot of upside, but upside none-the-less. Interesting to see how it compares to 3/1s or 2/2s with more upside.
Cards to Be Excited About
11) Marauding Brinefang- Among its peers in blue, probably the best creature with the worst straight-to-graveyard ability. But, if any color can handle 2 mana land cycling, it is blue.
10) Scampering Surveyor- An unhappy robot that will bring smiles to ramp/control decks. 4 mana to 6 mana is a bigger deal than ever with all of these 6-mana Wraths around.
9) Deep-Cavern Bat- Super solid contributor to any black deck. Disruptive and evasive for aggro while disruptive and life-gaining for control.
8) Spyglass Siren- Similar to Deep-Cavern Bat, Siren can contribute in a lot of ways. Cheap evasion for aggressive decks, card selection for every deck or card advantage for control.
7) Geological Appraiser- Red has a lot of recent 4-drops that offer value in a specific direction, like a Beetleback Chief. Appraiser looks like a great all-arounder with a potentially big impact.
6) Akawalli, the Seething Tower, 5) Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar, and 4) Bartolomé del Presido- An excellent trio of signpost uncommons. Akawalli can play a Tarmogoyf like role, Kutzil offers rare card draw in Selesnya, and Bartolomé's free sacrifice and permanent growth are both highly useful.
Three for the Money
3) Cenote Scout- I saw a comparison calling this the green Thraben Inspector and that hit right. Has something to offer every green deck and would be a rare cut.
2) Bitter Triumph- Three life hits a bit hard, but adding a discard option makes this card very flexible as a reanimation enabler or a way to dump extra lands and avoid life loss.
1) Confounding Riddle- Extremely useful in both modes and an upgrade to an already worthy card in Supreme Will.
Not a fan of Bitter Chill? That was the only instant include of mine I didn't see on your list.
I got pretty down on Aura based removal recently, due to all the flickering, bounce, sacrifice, and fight spells that work with the creature still being on the battlefiled. (The exception being the banned in Pauper Fall from Favor.)
I never really thought about Bitter Chill as a result, but this is possibly the best upside on a two-mana Aura, comparable to Realmbreaker's Grasp also hitting artifacts.
Wow! I did not expect the deluge of downshifts provided by this Commander Masters set. I figured they would be 10 or so cards to talk about, but there are definitely enough interesting cards here to allow for another Commander booster release Too Early Top 25 list.
The most interesting thing this set does is give lots of colors relevant spells at 6+ mana. I am planning a lot of swaps for this set, and many of them are swapping out grindy 2-4 mana spells for more aggressive/tempo spells to help fight these 6 mana haymakers.
Onto the list of 5 tiers of 5 cards each. My cube is 512 cards, 6 spells and 3 lands per guild, maximized for power.
25) Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs- Is it a big threat that also holds off little creatures or a roadblock that mucks up the board until a player does something else? Probably a little too much of the latter.
24) Aryel, Knight of Windgrace- An excellent creature in its native draft format, but without Dominaria's Knight focus, Aryel probably underwhelms.
23) Priest of the Blood Rite- A big stats monster without any specific synergies for black. But it is a LOT of stats.
22) Subira, Tulzidi Caravanner- I do not think the full package of spending your turn to sneak in 5 damage and draw 3 cards happens too often. It is a decent body on its own and can drive in a lot of damage.
21) AEther Gale- This bounces their whole board a vast majority of the time. Does that make this a blue sweeper or an overpriced Fog?
20) Taigam, Sidisi's Hand- Untapping with this creature provides card selection and a powerful kill ability. I play Ribbons of Night for the same mana and a guaranteed 3-for-1. This is more powerful, but less likely.
19) Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter- Every once in a while, this is a great way to win the game. Other times, it is too much investment for too little a result.
18) Rakka Mar- Feels pretty decent as a 5-drop making a 3/1 attacker that turn. We have more and more 5+ mana red creatures with bigger immediate impacts.
17) Gorex, the Tombshell- Feels harder to cast on 4 mana than Gurmag Angler, but you should also get one extra card out of the deal. And imagine casting this on 2-mana!
16) Isareth the Awakener- Strong ability that lets you continue developing your board without going down on cards. Decently sized and statted whenever the ability is not active.
15) Skyline Despot- You totally get what you pay for here: a 5/5 flier that draws a card on EOT and may give you continuous dragons. It can go badly against an opponent with the right cards against it.
14) Tromokratis- A super hard creature to stop in combat with built-in resilience. Not going to accomplish a lot if you are way behind on board.
13) Forebear's Blade- The initial investment is large, but getting this equipped once with another creature in play should dominate the board for a long while.
12) Rorix Bladewing- A great top-end threat that has to be answered in one turn cycle. Almost certainly the best red 6+ mana creature.
11) Thryx, the Sudden Storm- Seems simple enough to ambush an attacker with a 4/5 flash flier, which also attacks really well.
Generically Great Cards
10) Surrak, the Hunt Caller- Should frequently attack with 5 power and haste on turn 4 and extends that benefit to later creatures.
9) Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma- A 5/4 trampling attacker while also providing extra oomph to other big attackers.
8) Judith, the Scourge Diva- An excellent way to support the sacrifice deck without requiring sacrifices directly. Makes your board more threatening the turn she hits the battlefield.
7) Pianna, Nomad Captain- Like Goreclaw and Judith, provides a big boost to other creatures. Pianna should effortlessly fit into any white deck.
6) Gonti, Lord of Luxury- Excellent defensive body that Impulses your opponent's deck for a powerful spell. Should also fit into any black deck.
Important Archetype Support-
5) Yahenni, Undying Partisan- Difficult to kill, free sacrifice outlet and grows over the course of the game.
4) Kirtar's Wrath and 3) Extinguish All Hope- Two new board wipes that allow controlling decks to get back into the game. The white wrath is better, but black is currently a better control color for my cube.
2) Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit- Great early card that will pump future creatures, plays into +1/+1 synergies and enables some Persist combos.
1) Rishkar, Peema Renegade- Puts a ton of stats on the board for 2G and also plays great with green's +1/+1 synergies and ramp strategies.
Selesnya has been one of my hardest color combinations to figure out for Cube. Honestly, I just feel weird about green strategies outside of ramp. I think the next best things Green do are graveyard synergy and +1/+1 counters.
Selesnya is my +1/+1 counter theme since White and Selesnya itself have some pretty good payoffs for Green's pretty good ability to add +1/+1 counters. My issue has always been that I feel like green has no great payoffs for having +1/+1 counters other than the creatures becoming bigger.
I suppose the real payoffs are Scurry Oak and Herd Baloth, plus you can do all the crazy combo stuff with Rosie Cotton of South Lane. That would definitely give green a solid direction for +1/+1 counters and have some overlap with the Rhythm of the Wild and Invigorating Hot Springs part of Gruul.
You talked me into Rosie Cotton of South Lane. It sounds really interesting because it helps you go wide AND go tall at the same time. You also get to play into any +1/+1 counter synergies you may have in the deck.
I am always a tad skeptical of cards whose power comes from being paired with other already good cards. That said, the power of these combinations sounds extremely high, so I am happy to try that out. Even got my foil scene Rosie to play.
Time for the Too Early Top 20 for Dominaria United. At first, I was disappointed that this set veered more towards Invasion II than Dominaria II, but the set is super deep and very interesting for Peasant Cube. Usually, I start by posting a bunch of broad thoughts I have, but we will encounter those soon enough in the Top 20. The one thing I will note is that I was really moved by the Lucky Paper article about fixing lands in Cube and recently added back 15 fixing lands, including a 3rd set of guild duals. A lot of the lessons from that article will be discussed in the card reviews. As always, my Cube is 512 cards, with 6 spells per guild, maximized for power. Onto the list.
Cool Cards I Am Not Interested In
20) Aron, Benalia's Ruin and Uurg, Spawn of Turg- Both of these cards are pretty sweet for their themes- go-wide Orzhov sacrifice and Golgari graveyard filling. I also appreciate how much these mana costs focus a deck into a 2-color pair instead of a 3 or 4-color pile. Unfortunately, their mana costs are *very* prohibitive for even 2 color decks. From my understanding of Frank Karsten's analysis of how many mana sources you need of a given color to cast spells "reliably" (which is ~89+M% of the time where M= the spell's mana value), you would need 12 white sources and 8 black sources to reliably have WWB on turn 3. At that point, you need at least 3 dual lands in your 17 total lands and also to be leaning towards the double mana color. That is very taxing on the mana base and, honestly, not worth the trouble for me.
19) Phyrexian Missionary, Battlewing Mystic, and Tear Asunder- There are so many different variations of multi-colored spells (between off-color flashback, hybrids, split cards, and basic land counters) that I categorize all of them as guild spells. And these off-color kickers will join that list. For these cards in particular, I would not want to play any of them without at least splashing their off-color and none of them really fit what I want to be doing within the guild.
18) Nishoba Brawler- I am definitely intrigued by such a large attacker available at 2 mana, but the domain mechanic pushes towards exactly the type of 5-color "good stuff" decks that I am fighting hard to avoid, especially as I add more fixing lands into the Cube.
17) Prayer of Binding- I recently removed most of my aura based white removal since it is so ineffective against flickering, self-bounce, and sacrifice effects. While I would rather play this than the aura Faith's Fetters, I think the lifegain upside also leads towards grindier gameplay than I want to promote.
Interested in How Cool They Are
16) Rona, Sheoldred's Faithful- First things first, the 1UBB casting cost is a little better, as Karsten's math wants 11 black sources and 7 blue sources to reliably cast this on turn 4. Now you only need 1 dual land amongst your 17 lands, but your mana base still needs to be focused more on black. I think this initially coming down on turn 4 and not entering tapped from your graveyard gives this the boost over Advanced Stitchwing and the lifeloss boost to instants and sorceries helps too.
15) Resolute Reinforcements- I eventually fell on the side of this card having better synergy for white than Raise the Alarm, but I have not been going too deep on white's token making since I do not believe there are enough good anthem effects to push tokens as a white theme. It would be great if that changes over time.
14) Twinferno- I do prefer Temur Battle Rage's effect for the Gruul deck, as trample breaks through so much extra damage. With that said, I do think this is a great compliment spell that will also play well to double up removal in other decks.
13) Cut Down- This card is such a sweet design and really makes for some interesting patterns. My count also had this killing about 80% of creatures at their base power and toughness, without taking into account those creature's modifications. That said, I think people are overblowing exactly how much instant-speed interaction stops this card. Most of my instant speed spells stop removal already (Fight as One, Supernatural Stamina, Blossoming Defense, and my 512 card cube only has 6 pump spells that have extra interaction with Cut Down. There are quite a few other interesting 1-mana black removal spells that may have extra synergy beyond the generic value of Cut Down.
12) Yavimaya Steelcrusher- I am so happy red has a ton of interesting anti-artifact spells to choose from now. Right now, I prefer other options more, especially Goblin Cratermaker. If Enlist proves to be a really strong ability, Steelcrusher will "steel" a spot in my Cube.
11) Tolarian Terror- When Sailors' Bane was spoiled, I thought it was a 50/50 toss-up between that and Cryptic Serpent. Well, I think this is definitely better than Cryptic Serpent which makes it better than Sailors' Bane too.
10) Tail Swipe- I have never been interested in either the 1-mana sorcery or 2-mana instant speed fight spells in green, and Tail Swipe even comes with the additional upside of +1/+1 when played at sorcery speed. I love 1-mana interaction, so I will try to find room in my Cube.
Your Interest May Vary, Part 1: Guild Spells-
9) Yavimaya Iconoclast- I would already be a little interested in the non-kicker version of this, but I am also interested in the kicked version getting in with haste and +1/+1. Having base trample and the easier to cast 3/2 is very nice and this compares interestingly to both Voltaic Brawler (which I play) and Flinthoof Boar (which I do not play).
8) Garna, Bloodfist of Keld- Another difficult to cast spell, but the death rewards are excellent. Drawing an extra card when your attackers die keeps up pressure really well. But if your creature deaths are more of the sacrifice variety, you can find some better rewards off Mayhem Devil or Juri, Master of the Revue.
7) Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim- Deathtouch and 2-power provides a good floor for a card like this when you cannot go wide. Depending on your cube and the game circumstances, could be a sideways upgrade to other go-wide creatures like Cruel Celebrant or Corpse Knight.
6) Vohar, Vodalian Desecrator- Some really cool graveyard value in a different direction than most other Dimir spells. Could have an immediate impact by recasting a spell from your graveyard with an extra 2UB, could slowly grind value for a reanimator deck or could double up a key spell down the road. Has a little less immediate impact than Tainted Indulgence and lacks the explosiveness of a Psychatog, but is still really sweet.
5) Balmor, Battlemage Captain- There are too many different 2- and 3-mana options Izzet creatures with spellslinging bonuses to list, but this probably has the best bonus of all the 2-mana creatures. Balmor is a little awkward if you have no other creatures to pump, but that is a low bar to clear.
Your Interest May Vary, Part 2: Mono-Colored Spells-
4) Phoenix Chick- The evasion and haste on a 1-drop is pretty sweet for red. I am a little skeptical of how often you can recur Phoenix Chick, but there are quite a few good ways to make tokens in red. Whether or not that upside exceeds your favorite red 1-mana creature remains to be proven.
3) Electrostatic Infantry- Getting the +1/+1 counter spellslinging upside on a red 2-drop is awesome and trample is a great ability for a creature with multiple +1/+1 counters on it. There are other 2s that deal damage directly or have more explosive bonuses, but the permanent +1/+1 counters are going to be awesome.
Dominating Dominaria
2) Lagomos, Hand of Hatred- A really cool card that has an immediate impact the turn it hits the battlefield and a lot of upside with the various Rakdos sacrifice effects. Without those effects, this should probably be just okay but imagine this card followed up by new Garna or Mayhem Devil or Dark-Dweller Oracle or Bastion of Remembrance. The upside possibilities are limitless.
1) Cult Conscript- Still shocked that this card came in at uncommon. An excellent contributor early, continuously recurs itself and also plays great with sacrifice effects. This and Lagomos will make me look a lot harder at good sacrifice effects in both Rakdos colors.
Had a thread idea earlier today and wanted to gauge whether there's interest for something like this.
This forum does an excellent job of evaluating cards during spoiler season. But, we don't really have much discussion revisiting those sets and talking about which cards are working, which cards aren't working, and why. The closest thing we have to that is the annual Average Cube posts (which are great btw). What if we did something every 3-6 months that revisited a group of recent sets?
A general testing thread is a great idea. It would be an excellent place for people to post whenever they get the chance to test. I know I cube infrequently and I always have the interesting cards seeded in packs. I also have gotten to play the retail limited environments and would be happy to add any insight I have gleaned.
1
My cube has 512 cards, maximized for power with 6 spells and 3 lands per guild. I will add an extra preface that there are cards here that do not match my style of Cube, but are definitely respectable adds.
Here is My Too Early Top 20 for the Outlaws of Thunder Junction.
20) Frontier Seeker - A more aggressive, but less reliable source of early card advantage.
19) Explosive Derailment - Probably an overpriced Abrade, but also has expensive 2-for-1 potential.
18) Make Your Own Luck - Urban Evolution with the real upside of a free spell over a free land.
17) Ruthless Lawbringer - Nicely statted for the effect and a decent way to trade up resources. Hard to determine the value compared to spell based options.
16) Servant of the Stinger - Trades up on defense and can really trade up on offense. Both are conditional, the offense much more so.
15) Metamorphic Blast - More conditional value, but this gets up to a 3-for-1. Nice that the different play options have a potential value at 2 mana.
14) Aloe Alchemist - A strong aggressive green creature with a little upside as a late-game topdeck.
13) Rise of the Varmints - A good rate for the effect, but I worry this is a de facto Golgari card and mostly a worse version of Spider Spawning.
The Dirty Dozen:
Saddle Up
12) Reckless Lackey - An interesting red one-drop has a little value throughout the game. Haste attacks early, first strike helps in combat and eventually cycles itself for a card and treasure.
11) Abraded Bluffs cycle - Going to try out ETBT lands in some guilds that offer immediate value instead of incremental value late game. Starting with the Mardu color pairs.
10) Spinewoods Armadillo - Helps to fix, decent ramp/reanimator target. Good all-rounder that may not have a killer use case.
9) Cunning Coyote - I think the real trick here is that Coyote is a pretty wily turn 4 or 5 play with another creature, disregarding the kooky upside that Plot gives you. Also just attacks with haste on turn 2 and maybe pumps a one-drop.
Silver Staples
8) Phantom Interference - A really cool Miscalculation variant that trades 2 mana cycling for a 3U 2/2 flier. Also does both at 5 mana.
7) Holy Cow - A lot of small upsides here make this Cow a well done comparison to the rare value of Inspiring Overseer.
6) Lavaspur Boots - A Bonesplitter that trades a point of power for a point of Ward and haste. Could contribute more damage in some games.
5) Shoot the Sheriff - Another upgrade to effects like Cast Down. Incremental improvement, but still an excellent card.
Gold Rush
4) Honest Rutstein - A really good value Golgari creature that fits a good spot on the curve, especially next to Baloth Null.
3) Slickshot Lockpicker - Not being able to flashback counterspells is rough, but a pretty easy way to get extra value off cheap spells and Plots to get value off expensive spells.
2) Forsaken Miner - Not blocking is a real downside but will still get into some shenanigans for the sacrifice decks and black aggro.
1) Requisition Raid - I already love Basri’s Solidarity as a cheap anthem effect, so playing an extra version with upside is going to be great.
1
As always, I cube 512 cards, maximized for power with 6 spells and 3 lands per guild. Here is my Too Early Top 20 for Murders at Karlov Manor.
20) Nightdrinker Moroii- Nightdrinker can attack as a 4/2 flier on turn 4 for five total mana or get cast for four mana and three life to attack turn 5.
19) Tribune of Rot- A hybrid 3/3 that makes at least one 1/1 per attack ~60% of the time in a 15 creature deck. A decent engine, but needs a specific home.
18) Ecstatic Electromancer- Izzet hybrid that matches up okay with other three-mana 2-power Prowess creatures in those colors. The extra color and the rummaging may get it over the hump.
17) Ordruun Mentor- A good attacking Boros hybrid, but a lot of those already exist in both colors.
16) Push // Pull - A card that may be over-priced on both sides, but fits really well into the black-based graveyard decks.
15) Demand Answers- Considering the trend of spells making incidental permanents, the usefulness is bound to increase over time.
14) Repulsive Mutation- I am not worried about getting blown out by renewal since the opponent has already cast a different spell, but things have to line up correctly to get big value.
13) Sudden Setback- Versions of this spell have been useful in draft and the versatility to hit spells too means it will always have something to do. Is that worth paying for twice a Remand?
12) Case of the Gateway Express- A lot of things have to line up here as well, but there is a welcome spot in the token deck for removal/anthem.
Deck Dopplegangers
11) Scene of the Crime- Probable slight upgrade over Cryptic Caves, with cheaper card draw and the ability to generate colored mana. ETB tapped is rough.
10) The Dining Room cycle- A decisively tier 2 or 3 fixing option for guild sections.
9) Aftermath Analyst- Trades off the ability to immediately generate value for a larger body and a hopeful ramp ability.
8) Gearbane Orangutan- Continuing the fine tradition of Apes that hate artifacts. Reach is a decent upside for this creature.
7) Pick Your Poison- My favorite of the non-creature versions of this effect but there are a lot of creature versions, although those creatures miss fliers.
6) Leering Onlooker- Black has plenty of two-drops that make another body after they die for free, but most of those are worse initial bodies and worse post-death bodies. Also get some graveyard value here.
Unusual Suspects
5) Reckless Detective- A pretty interesting red two-drop that attacks for 2 damage while rummaging.
4) Frantic Scapegoat- Compares to Phoenix Chick pretty well as a 1/1 haste menace that can suspect another creature later for extra upside.
3) Scuttling Sentinel- A very strong option in a shallow guild that represents 4 power for three-mana along with the upside of saving another creature.
Repeat Offenders-
2) Novice Inspector- A welcome 2nd copy of an all-time Peasant Cube stable.
1) Escape Tunnel- Another Peasant Cube stable and good fixing is harder to find than good white one-drops.
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I also appreciate n00b1n8R for making a 360 Cube from this data.
I do three things when this data comes in:
Sort the list by most cubed to determine which cards are the most played NOT in my cube.
Sort the list by least cubed to determine which cards are in my cube but few others.
Make a series of changes based on the data.
I will focus on #2, as most people are doing right now. A lot of the cards I cube with few others are based on snow/silver border/power, but a few are not, which I will discuss.
Scattered Thoughts (8 cubes)- I think the outcomes from resolving this are close enough to resolving Fact or Fiction that Fact or Fiction should not be in literally 10 times more cubes.
Ribbons of Night (6 cubes)- The quintessential Dimir control spell. Does everything you could ask for against creature decks.
Knight of the Holy Nimbus (2 cubes)- Nearly impossible to deal with before turn 4 and a relevant attacker throughout the game.
O-Naginata (1 cube)- Equipment that leans more Green (and Naya) than anywhere else. Cubes getting more 3-power two-drops and lots of reasonable +1/+1 granting. Should become even more playable as overall power increases.
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20) Waterlogged Hulk, Visage of Dread, Twists and Turns- All three of these cards offer tiny effects up front, hardly worth their minimal cost. But, each does have a potentially large upside available much later in the game. I wonder if any of those upsides are worth spending the card early for that small effect.
19) Deconstruction Hammer- A different take on white's creature-based artifact/enchantment removal. I think having a creature that can attack/block before destroying an artifact/equipment is better than just the equipment.
18) Hermitic Nautilus- Vigilance is a great ability for a defensive high-toughness creature while the pump ability threatens damage or trading up.
17) Guardian of the Great Door- A mostly worse Battle Screech with some extra casting flexibility. It's not impossible to cast this turn 3 with commonly played white cards.
16) Fungal Fortitude- A very aggressive take on this effect. Two mana is a lot more than one, but this has the potential to add 4 or 6 damage to the opponent.
15) Soulcoil Viper- A Peasant legal Doomed Necromancer-type. Despite the bigger body, the finality counter turning off future reanimations for the returned creature and the sorcery speed turning on more answers for the returned creature are rough downsides. Another contender to be the 6/7th best black reanimation effect.
14) Scytheclaw Raptor- Despite Red being second in instant/flash spells, Raptor has great synergy with another part of red's arsenal- haste. Following this 4/3 up with a Charging Monstrosaur feels like a great way to apply massive pressure that is difficult to respond to.
13) Colossadactyl- A massive creature that blocks and attacks well. Being a 4-drop without an ETB is a real downside compared to similar creatures.
12) Belligerent Yearling- A 3/2 for 1R with upside! Not a lot of upside, but upside none-the-less. Interesting to see how it compares to 3/1s or 2/2s with more upside.
Cards to Be Excited About
11) Marauding Brinefang- Among its peers in blue, probably the best creature with the worst straight-to-graveyard ability. But, if any color can handle 2 mana land cycling, it is blue.
10) Scampering Surveyor- An unhappy robot that will bring smiles to ramp/control decks. 4 mana to 6 mana is a bigger deal than ever with all of these 6-mana Wraths around.
9) Deep-Cavern Bat- Super solid contributor to any black deck. Disruptive and evasive for aggro while disruptive and life-gaining for control.
8) Spyglass Siren- Similar to Deep-Cavern Bat, Siren can contribute in a lot of ways. Cheap evasion for aggressive decks, card selection for every deck or card advantage for control.
7) Geological Appraiser- Red has a lot of recent 4-drops that offer value in a specific direction, like a Beetleback Chief. Appraiser looks like a great all-arounder with a potentially big impact.
6) Akawalli, the Seething Tower, 5) Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar, and 4) Bartolomé del Presido- An excellent trio of signpost uncommons. Akawalli can play a Tarmogoyf like role, Kutzil offers rare card draw in Selesnya, and Bartolomé's free sacrifice and permanent growth are both highly useful.
Three for the Money
3) Cenote Scout- I saw a comparison calling this the green Thraben Inspector and that hit right. Has something to offer every green deck and would be a rare cut.
2) Bitter Triumph- Three life hits a bit hard, but adding a discard option makes this card very flexible as a reanimation enabler or a way to dump extra lands and avoid life loss.
1) Confounding Riddle- Extremely useful in both modes and an upgrade to an already worthy card in Supreme Will.
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I got pretty down on Aura based removal recently, due to all the flickering, bounce, sacrifice, and fight spells that work with the creature still being on the battlefiled. (The exception being the banned in Pauper Fall from Favor.)
I never really thought about Bitter Chill as a result, but this is possibly the best upside on a two-mana Aura, comparable to Realmbreaker's Grasp also hitting artifacts.
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The most interesting thing this set does is give lots of colors relevant spells at 6+ mana. I am planning a lot of swaps for this set, and many of them are swapping out grindy 2-4 mana spells for more aggressive/tempo spells to help fight these 6 mana haymakers.
Onto the list of 5 tiers of 5 cards each. My cube is 512 cards, 6 spells and 3 lands per guild, maximized for power.
25) Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs- Is it a big threat that also holds off little creatures or a roadblock that mucks up the board until a player does something else? Probably a little too much of the latter.
24) Aryel, Knight of Windgrace- An excellent creature in its native draft format, but without Dominaria's Knight focus, Aryel probably underwhelms.
23) Priest of the Blood Rite- A big stats monster without any specific synergies for black. But it is a LOT of stats.
22) Subira, Tulzidi Caravanner- I do not think the full package of spending your turn to sneak in 5 damage and draw 3 cards happens too often. It is a decent body on its own and can drive in a lot of damage.
21) AEther Gale- This bounces their whole board a vast majority of the time. Does that make this a blue sweeper or an overpriced Fog?
20) Taigam, Sidisi's Hand- Untapping with this creature provides card selection and a powerful kill ability. I play Ribbons of Night for the same mana and a guaranteed 3-for-1. This is more powerful, but less likely.
19) Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter- Every once in a while, this is a great way to win the game. Other times, it is too much investment for too little a result.
18) Rakka Mar- Feels pretty decent as a 5-drop making a 3/1 attacker that turn. We have more and more 5+ mana red creatures with bigger immediate impacts.
17) Gorex, the Tombshell- Feels harder to cast on 4 mana than Gurmag Angler, but you should also get one extra card out of the deal. And imagine casting this on 2-mana!
16) Isareth the Awakener- Strong ability that lets you continue developing your board without going down on cards. Decently sized and statted whenever the ability is not active.
15) Skyline Despot- You totally get what you pay for here: a 5/5 flier that draws a card on EOT and may give you continuous dragons. It can go badly against an opponent with the right cards against it.
14) Tromokratis- A super hard creature to stop in combat with built-in resilience. Not going to accomplish a lot if you are way behind on board.
13) Forebear's Blade- The initial investment is large, but getting this equipped once with another creature in play should dominate the board for a long while.
12) Rorix Bladewing- A great top-end threat that has to be answered in one turn cycle. Almost certainly the best red 6+ mana creature.
11) Thryx, the Sudden Storm- Seems simple enough to ambush an attacker with a 4/5 flash flier, which also attacks really well.
Generically Great Cards
10) Surrak, the Hunt Caller- Should frequently attack with 5 power and haste on turn 4 and extends that benefit to later creatures.
9) Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma- A 5/4 trampling attacker while also providing extra oomph to other big attackers.
8) Judith, the Scourge Diva- An excellent way to support the sacrifice deck without requiring sacrifices directly. Makes your board more threatening the turn she hits the battlefield.
7) Pianna, Nomad Captain- Like Goreclaw and Judith, provides a big boost to other creatures. Pianna should effortlessly fit into any white deck.
6) Gonti, Lord of Luxury- Excellent defensive body that Impulses your opponent's deck for a powerful spell. Should also fit into any black deck.
Important Archetype Support-
5) Yahenni, Undying Partisan- Difficult to kill, free sacrifice outlet and grows over the course of the game.
4) Kirtar's Wrath and 3) Extinguish All Hope- Two new board wipes that allow controlling decks to get back into the game. The white wrath is better, but black is currently a better control color for my cube.
2) Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit- Great early card that will pump future creatures, plays into +1/+1 synergies and enables some Persist combos.
1) Rishkar, Peema Renegade- Puts a ton of stats on the board for 2G and also plays great with green's +1/+1 synergies and ramp strategies.
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Selesnya is my +1/+1 counter theme since White and Selesnya itself have some pretty good payoffs for Green's pretty good ability to add +1/+1 counters. My issue has always been that I feel like green has no great payoffs for having +1/+1 counters other than the creatures becoming bigger.
I suppose the real payoffs are Scurry Oak and Herd Baloth, plus you can do all the crazy combo stuff with Rosie Cotton of South Lane. That would definitely give green a solid direction for +1/+1 counters and have some overlap with the Rhythm of the Wild and Invigorating Hot Springs part of Gruul.
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I am always a tad skeptical of cards whose power comes from being paired with other already good cards. That said, the power of these combinations sounds extremely high, so I am happy to try that out. Even got my foil scene Rosie to play.
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Cool Cards I Am Not Interested In
20) Aron, Benalia's Ruin and Uurg, Spawn of Turg- Both of these cards are pretty sweet for their themes- go-wide Orzhov sacrifice and Golgari graveyard filling. I also appreciate how much these mana costs focus a deck into a 2-color pair instead of a 3 or 4-color pile. Unfortunately, their mana costs are *very* prohibitive for even 2 color decks. From my understanding of Frank Karsten's analysis of how many mana sources you need of a given color to cast spells "reliably" (which is ~89+M% of the time where M= the spell's mana value), you would need 12 white sources and 8 black sources to reliably have WWB on turn 3. At that point, you need at least 3 dual lands in your 17 total lands and also to be leaning towards the double mana color. That is very taxing on the mana base and, honestly, not worth the trouble for me.
19) Phyrexian Missionary, Battlewing Mystic, and Tear Asunder- There are so many different variations of multi-colored spells (between off-color flashback, hybrids, split cards, and basic land counters) that I categorize all of them as guild spells. And these off-color kickers will join that list. For these cards in particular, I would not want to play any of them without at least splashing their off-color and none of them really fit what I want to be doing within the guild.
18) Nishoba Brawler- I am definitely intrigued by such a large attacker available at 2 mana, but the domain mechanic pushes towards exactly the type of 5-color "good stuff" decks that I am fighting hard to avoid, especially as I add more fixing lands into the Cube.
17) Prayer of Binding- I recently removed most of my aura based white removal since it is so ineffective against flickering, self-bounce, and sacrifice effects. While I would rather play this than the aura Faith's Fetters, I think the lifegain upside also leads towards grindier gameplay than I want to promote.
Interested in How Cool They Are
16) Rona, Sheoldred's Faithful- First things first, the 1UBB casting cost is a little better, as Karsten's math wants 11 black sources and 7 blue sources to reliably cast this on turn 4. Now you only need 1 dual land amongst your 17 lands, but your mana base still needs to be focused more on black. I think this initially coming down on turn 4 and not entering tapped from your graveyard gives this the boost over Advanced Stitchwing and the lifeloss boost to instants and sorceries helps too.
15) Resolute Reinforcements- I eventually fell on the side of this card having better synergy for white than Raise the Alarm, but I have not been going too deep on white's token making since I do not believe there are enough good anthem effects to push tokens as a white theme. It would be great if that changes over time.
14) Twinferno- I do prefer Temur Battle Rage's effect for the Gruul deck, as trample breaks through so much extra damage. With that said, I do think this is a great compliment spell that will also play well to double up removal in other decks.
13) Cut Down- This card is such a sweet design and really makes for some interesting patterns. My count also had this killing about 80% of creatures at their base power and toughness, without taking into account those creature's modifications. That said, I think people are overblowing exactly how much instant-speed interaction stops this card. Most of my instant speed spells stop removal already (Fight as One, Supernatural Stamina, Blossoming Defense, and my 512 card cube only has 6 pump spells that have extra interaction with Cut Down. There are quite a few other interesting 1-mana black removal spells that may have extra synergy beyond the generic value of Cut Down.
12) Yavimaya Steelcrusher- I am so happy red has a ton of interesting anti-artifact spells to choose from now. Right now, I prefer other options more, especially Goblin Cratermaker. If Enlist proves to be a really strong ability, Steelcrusher will "steel" a spot in my Cube.
11) Tolarian Terror- When Sailors' Bane was spoiled, I thought it was a 50/50 toss-up between that and Cryptic Serpent. Well, I think this is definitely better than Cryptic Serpent which makes it better than Sailors' Bane too.
10) Tail Swipe- I have never been interested in either the 1-mana sorcery or 2-mana instant speed fight spells in green, and Tail Swipe even comes with the additional upside of +1/+1 when played at sorcery speed. I love 1-mana interaction, so I will try to find room in my Cube.
Your Interest May Vary, Part 1: Guild Spells-
9) Yavimaya Iconoclast- I would already be a little interested in the non-kicker version of this, but I am also interested in the kicked version getting in with haste and +1/+1. Having base trample and the easier to cast 3/2 is very nice and this compares interestingly to both Voltaic Brawler (which I play) and Flinthoof Boar (which I do not play).
8) Garna, Bloodfist of Keld- Another difficult to cast spell, but the death rewards are excellent. Drawing an extra card when your attackers die keeps up pressure really well. But if your creature deaths are more of the sacrifice variety, you can find some better rewards off Mayhem Devil or Juri, Master of the Revue.
7) Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim- Deathtouch and 2-power provides a good floor for a card like this when you cannot go wide. Depending on your cube and the game circumstances, could be a sideways upgrade to other go-wide creatures like Cruel Celebrant or Corpse Knight.
6) Vohar, Vodalian Desecrator- Some really cool graveyard value in a different direction than most other Dimir spells. Could have an immediate impact by recasting a spell from your graveyard with an extra 2UB, could slowly grind value for a reanimator deck or could double up a key spell down the road. Has a little less immediate impact than Tainted Indulgence and lacks the explosiveness of a Psychatog, but is still really sweet.
5) Balmor, Battlemage Captain- There are too many different 2- and 3-mana options Izzet creatures with spellslinging bonuses to list, but this probably has the best bonus of all the 2-mana creatures. Balmor is a little awkward if you have no other creatures to pump, but that is a low bar to clear.
Your Interest May Vary, Part 2: Mono-Colored Spells-
4) Phoenix Chick- The evasion and haste on a 1-drop is pretty sweet for red. I am a little skeptical of how often you can recur Phoenix Chick, but there are quite a few good ways to make tokens in red. Whether or not that upside exceeds your favorite red 1-mana creature remains to be proven.
3) Electrostatic Infantry- Getting the +1/+1 counter spellslinging upside on a red 2-drop is awesome and trample is a great ability for a creature with multiple +1/+1 counters on it. There are other 2s that deal damage directly or have more explosive bonuses, but the permanent +1/+1 counters are going to be awesome.
Dominating Dominaria
2) Lagomos, Hand of Hatred- A really cool card that has an immediate impact the turn it hits the battlefield and a lot of upside with the various Rakdos sacrifice effects. Without those effects, this should probably be just okay but imagine this card followed up by new Garna or Mayhem Devil or Dark-Dweller Oracle or Bastion of Remembrance. The upside possibilities are limitless.
1) Cult Conscript- Still shocked that this card came in at uncommon. An excellent contributor early, continuously recurs itself and also plays great with sacrifice effects. This and Lagomos will make me look a lot harder at good sacrifice effects in both Rakdos colors.
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A general testing thread is a great idea. It would be an excellent place for people to post whenever they get the chance to test. I know I cube infrequently and I always have the interesting cards seeded in packs. I also have gotten to play the retail limited environments and would be happy to add any insight I have gleaned.