Yeah, Grim Wanderer is interesting! Creatures die all the time. It makes suicide attacks more suspicious, and it makes cheap removal more valuable.
Yeah, EOT shock your dude, flash this in. Not all that hard to make happen even early in the game. The question is how bad is the downside? Often times aggro decks are more about curving out than individual card quality, and this very much skews away from curving out. Warrants testing I think.
I am mildly curious about the Venture into the Dungeon cards. There is a minor upside to doing so even once, which grows upon repeat ventures. Is Overgrowth plus Scry 1 good enough for anything (Find the Path)? Based on the cards spoiled so far, I do not see anything that ventures repeatedly at a good cost, but who knows for the whole set?
I already run overgrowth, and I find it's quite solid. Ramping twice on 3 mana isn't really matched by any other effect, and it is a cute package with Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner, Arbor Elf, Vizier of Tumbling Sands for some really explosive plays.
Foul Watcher - There's been zero discussion on this card, but I'm intrigued enough to try it. I like surveil for card filtering, it fits with flying decks and ETB decks, and it can also set up graveyard recursion.
I am not an native English speaker so I might not understand the word niche as I thought I did but Tireless Provisioner is not as niche as Evolution Sage, right? Both require you to play lands, but Sage requires you to have counters on things as well while Provisioner gets value out of the land drops regardless of board state. Of the two, Sage is more niche almost by default. It could be stronger in the right deck, sure, but that's not what niche means or have I just been using this word wrong?
You've got the word correct. IMO wanting to conditionally ramp on a 3 drop and/or wanting to gain life at the cost of mana are both fairly weak effects. No one is going to turn down a free food token, but it takes specific scenarios for those to be actively good (as opposed to just "okay") and therefore takes a specific deck for me to want it. In my mind that makes it niche, though I understand why other people might not see it that way.
Big fan of the Vile Gravedigger. It's the kind of card that enables high-synergy decks without being embarrassing in lower synergy builds. In some decks he is a flexible tutor for a reanimation target or an unburial rites, while in others he just finds a decent GY value spell like Reach of Branches.
I'm bigger on Herd Baloth than others. I've been trying to support +1/+1 synergy for years, and it's easier to get counters on this guy than you might think. For instance Llanowar Reborn makes this guy a 5 mana 4/4 + 5/5 with upside. That's nothing to sneeze at.
Taking a look at your list, I did forget a few of the (1) to equip cards (namely Heirloom Blade and Bonesplitter)
I tend to think of Grafted Wargear and potentially Lightning Greaves with regards to equipment.
Still I don't know if a (1) mana rebate is really enough for this guy to shine.
Frost Trickster - obvious Killian, Ink Duelist - Still not sure what Orzhov is supposed to be doing, but this guy is just a solid all-around rate. Maelstrom Muse - Fun card with a decent floor for a body. Not hard to imagine this guy generating some serious tempo
Emergent Sequence makes a land into a creature, but that land is extra, so the spell's like a mana dork in itself. Early game you most likely will make your land drop so it's kind of a 2/2 Quirion Elves, which is better, but late game just a worse version of that, losing the ability to also tap for green (EDIT: And can't block on the first turn). I don't think any laboriously increased land triggers benefit the card in a meaningful way, but might +1/+1 counter synergies like a fixing dork that brings a counter with itself?
I'm personally not a big fan of telling my opponent what color I need by tutoring for it, and putting it on a shock-able body. You're just asking to get screwed.
If I want to play a slower midrange build then there are generally better ways to spend my mana.
Serious question, what are the better options in red? I'm specifically trying to support control style or "big mana" red decks in my cube, but at Peasant the options are really limited. It would be nice to have some payoffs other than big one-shot damage spells (Slice and Dice, Shower of Coals, Fight with Fire).
Those are some good options, but generally speaking why do the big CMC cards have to be red? That's just not a niche red occupies well. Can your big red decks be big Red/X?
I'd have to say I disagree on Clarion Spirit. Thinking back on my last several cube matches, double-spell turns happened pretty regularly e
Obviously Charging Monstrosaur is the undisputed champion for red 5+ drops, but beyond that the rankings get much more muddled. I personally like the Titan quite a bit more than Skizzik in anything slower than full-tilt aggro. I think Foretell will be very relevant to setting this up for an alpha strike, plus it helps provide archetype support for go-wide strategies.
Eh, I'm not so high on the titan. Lack of trample hurts a lot when alpha striking and I can't imagine my red aggressive deck wanting to take a down turn to set him up. If I want to play a slower midrange build then there are generally better ways to spend my mana. What deck wants this opposed to goblin bushwhacker or trumpet blast?
Yeah, EOT shock your dude, flash this in. Not all that hard to make happen even early in the game. The question is how bad is the downside? Often times aggro decks are more about curving out than individual card quality, and this very much skews away from curving out. Warrants testing I think.
I already run overgrowth, and I find it's quite solid. Ramping twice on 3 mana isn't really matched by any other effect, and it is a cute package with Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner, Arbor Elf, Vizier of Tumbling Sands for some really explosive plays.
Unfortunately the gold dragon has a gold rarity
Might I suggest Nightveil Sprite?
Burning-Tree Emissary
Bloodbraid Elf
Anarcheomancer
Rift Bolt
Search for Tomorrow
Trumpeting Herd
Staggershock
Abundant Harvest
Mine Collapse
Manamorphose
Treasure Keeper (sorta)
Rimrock Knight
Rosethorn Acolyte
Embereth Shieldbreaker
Goblin Freerunner
Reckless Bushwhacker
Foretell cards, maybe?
I'm just not convinced Captain Ripley Vance and Volcanic Torrent are enough to carry the big payoff role on their own.
You've got the word correct. IMO wanting to conditionally ramp on a 3 drop and/or wanting to gain life at the cost of mana are both fairly weak effects. No one is going to turn down a free food token, but it takes specific scenarios for those to be actively good (as opposed to just "okay") and therefore takes a specific deck for me to want it. In my mind that makes it niche, though I understand why other people might not see it that way.
Not a fan of Tireless Provisioner. About as niche as Evolution Sage but without the upside, IMO.
I'm bigger on Herd Baloth than others. I've been trying to support +1/+1 synergy for years, and it's easier to get counters on this guy than you might think. For instance Llanowar Reborn makes this guy a 5 mana 4/4 + 5/5 with upside. That's nothing to sneeze at.
I tend to think of Grafted Wargear and potentially Lightning Greaves with regards to equipment.
Still I don't know if a (1) mana rebate is really enough for this guy to shine.
Frost Trickster - obvious
Killian, Ink Duelist - Still not sure what Orzhov is supposed to be doing, but this guy is just a solid all-around rate.
Maelstrom Muse - Fun card with a decent floor for a body. Not hard to imagine this guy generating some serious tempo
I'm personally not a big fan of telling my opponent what color I need by tutoring for it, and putting it on a shock-able body. You're just asking to get screwed.
First card I'm excited to try in cube. I like that this opens up a slightly bigger side of red
Maybe Flame Wave or Meteor Blast?
Those are some good options, but generally speaking why do the big CMC cards have to be red? That's just not a niche red occupies well. Can your big red decks be big Red/X?
Eh, I'm not so high on the titan. Lack of trample hurts a lot when alpha striking and I can't imagine my red aggressive deck wanting to take a down turn to set him up. If I want to play a slower midrange build then there are generally better ways to spend my mana. What deck wants this opposed to goblin bushwhacker or trumpet blast?