MTG Salvation

Keep in mind (just like the others) that this is a set preview. Similar to draft predictions in professional sports, this list is an educated guess at best. Some cards I value highly in here may turn out to not last long in the cube. Other cards that are lower down on the list (or even missed entirely!) could (well, very likely may) turn out to be great cards. Even Tom Brady was drafted in the 6th round! Again, this is not intended to be gospel, set in stone or written as a review for posterity. This is simply written to be an enjoyable guess at cards I like for cubes, and hopefully it'll allow some cube managers to evaluate cards they may have otherwise overlooked and/or put some cards in perspective that may've been overhyped. Nothing more.

Eidolon of Obstruction

A disruptive 2cc beater.

What I Like: First strike prevents this 2-power 2-drop from being embarrassing when the disruption doesn’t matter, and the additional tax this places on the opponent’s ‘walker activations can certainly be disruptive. I think the situations where this will make the most impact will be on the turns the ‘walkers are cast. It essentially makes all the planeswalkers cost 1 more to play or prevents them from being used right away. Like other taxing effects, it will sometimes be hard to tell how much impact this creature actually has on the game, since the opponent may have been holding a clutch 5cc ‘walker that they couldn’t cast and activate because of your disruption bear.

What I Don't Like: This might not have much impact in a good number of games. If the opponent’s deck is light on ‘walkers, the tax might not come up at all. And sometimes when it does, it won’t do enough to keep the opponent off their game. And when the tax isn’t relevant, I just don’t think a Youthful Knight that can be Disenchanted is going to be enough.

Verdict: If you’re running a deep taxation/disruption theme in your cube, or an Enchantress theme where the card type might be an upside, Eidolon might be a very solid inclusion. If the tax required 2 colorless mana instead of 1, it would be a slam dunk. But as it is, I can’t find a 2cc white creature that I’m willing to cut for it in my 720 card cube at the moment. But I’ll be keeping my eye on it since the floor is somewhat reasonable and ‘walker hate is always at a premium.

Eat to Extinction

A solid, flexible removal spell.

What I Like: I can’t summarize this card any better than Derek Gallen already did on Twitter when he explained that this is an easier-to-cast Vraska’s Contempt that exchanges the 2 points of lifegain for Surveil 1. Which is very likely an upgrade in a huge number of scenarios. Instant speed, easy to cast/splash, and is a versatile answer to ‘walkers and creatures both. As well as some incidental card selection, which is always nice.

What I Don't Like: It’s been a while since my playgroup has had success with 4cc 1-for-1 removal in this format, and as much as I like this card in comparison to Contempt …we don’t run that card anymore. While likely an all-around better card than Contempt, I don’t think it’s so much better that I can’t live without it.

Verdict: If you’re running Vraska’s Contempt and having success with it, I would consider swapping it out for EtE for the better casting cost and the Surveil effect. Outside of really large cubes though, I don’t see this going in alongside another expensive removal spell. My particular configuration doesn’t have a slot for this particular effect at the moment, but I think lots of cubes in the 630-720 range might be able to slot this in to give it a go. It and its unnecessarily unnerving artwork.

Thassa's Intervention

A flexible draw/counter-spell hybrid.

What I Like: I had to read this card a few times to realize that you got to draw two of the X cards in the first mode, and I couldn’t understand the hype the card was generating. It’s certainly nice to have a card advantage/card selection draw spell strapped to a scaleable Mana Leak effect. With a lot of mana available, the draw effect is quite good, and the counterspell mode will likely always be able to snag something in a pinch.

What I Don't Like: I tested this card pretty extensively after it was spoiled and it always felt overcosted to me. The draw can’t capitalize on the selection until you’re spending at least 5 mana on the card, and even then, it felt like a worse Jace’s Ingenuity until the X value got really high. And the counterspell was never anything other than a very expensive and mediocre counter, which was serviceable but never felt good casting.

Verdict: This is a card that strikes me as a fine 22nd playable in most slower blue decks, but never something that I’m actually excited to have in my deck. I think some larger cubes might settle on including this, but my guess is that all the small- to medium-sized cubes that are excited to test this now won’t be playing it in 6 months. The flexibility is nice, but it’s arguably just too inefficient at whatever it’s trying to do.

Nightmare Shepherd

A 4cc value machine.

What I Like: If you’re playing a deck that: A) can maximize the value of the Shepherd’s triggers by loading the deck up with value/ETB creatures; and B) is built in such a way where the exile clause on the Shepherd’s trigger doesn’t interfere with the rest of your gameplan, this creature’s going to be nuts. You can double-up on all your ETB triggers and get a free 1/1 body at the same time. Mergatroid_Jones pointed out the value that Shepherd has with Evoke creatures too …Mulldrifter will draw 4 cards and leave you with a 1/1 flying body for 3 mana. Plus, a 4/4 flying for 4 mana is a very decent rate.

What I Don't Like: Finding a home will be rough for my playgroup. Black midrange/value decks engineered to maximize ETB trigger abuse need access to the ‘yard for all its effects. Black’s aggro and Aristocrats decks are built around recursive creatures. Shepherd’s exile clause (even though it’s a may) interferes with the success with the deck’s other cards when it’s actually utilized. Plus, being able to be Disenchanted is kinda a bummer.

Verdict: Black’s 4cc creature section is relatively stacked now, and Shepherd needs to go rogue into a goodstuff midrange/value deck to have its impact maximized. Our group won’t be able to take full advantage of its abilities due to the kinds of decks we build, but there will certainly be playgroups that should spend some time experimenting with Shepherd. It’s going to be powertul in the right decks. I could see this settling into some 630-720 lists for the long haul depending on how their black archetypes are fleshed out.

Storm's Wrath

A red 4cc sweeper.

What I Like: 4 mana for 4 damage to everything is a good rate for a mass removal spell. We’ve seen precedent with Languish, and that spell’s great. Additionally, being in red, the 4 damage threshold and the color line up for some Wildfire synergy. I like this more than Hour of Devastation for that reason alone. If you’re playing a deck that features neither small creatures nor planeswalkers, Storm’s Wrath is going to be a fantastic effect.

What I Don't Like: I tried playing Hour when it was spoiled, and I found the planeswalker damage to be more of a drawback than an upside most of the time. Part of what allows the deckbuilder to make their sweepers asymmetrical in this era is planeswalkers. And when your sweepers kill your ‘walkers, it’s harder to make the effects one-sided. In comparison to an effect like Languish, this is harder to abuse and it’s arguably in a worse color. We play red control decks, but they don’t make up a high enough percentage of the meta for red to have multiple slots dedicated to sweeping the board.

Verdict: This is one of the better fixed-value sweepers in red, and if you play ‘walker-less red control shells, this card should be a slam dunk for you. I expect some larger cubes to give this some extended testing, and in the right playgroup, this could certainly have a home in the 630-720 range. But for us, it’s a slight miss. Too hard to break symmetry and too much competition in the red 4cc spell slot.

Nadir Kraken

A growing blue token engine.

What I Like: Simultaneously going big and going wide allows you to attack the game state in two ways. This can reliably grow and make tokens every turn, and has additional synergy with draw spells (especially draw engines that trigger for free, like looters, Jace and Sylvan Library). Kraken can dominate games entirely on its own, so even though it costs mana to activate, you have a big threat and an army of small threats on board even if this is your only resolved spell. It will obviously contribute to any shell that can take advantage of the token army it creates.

What I Don't Like: Since both the scaling and the token production are predicated on triggers over time to get powerful, Kraken is a relatively weak topdeck. But more detrimental was how often the 1-mana tax penalized my ability to cast my spells on curve. In decks with good/important 4- and 5-cc spells, I was constantly finding Kraken’s cost to get in the way. Plus, if I spend mana to draw additional cards, I might not have the mana to trigger its ability multiple times to capitalize on the extra draw. Unlike a card like Chasm Skulker, for example, you have to pay to grow and make tokens when you draw instead of it occurring for free …and the whole package can be swept away with a single Wrath without having anything left behind to show for it.

Verdict: This is a powerful creature in the right deck, but beware of the additional tax this can put on your curve. It’s worth testing out in larger cubes to see how your playgroup likes it, but I ultimately decided to pass after resolving it a few times and having it not perform in practice the way I expected it to on paper. I’d recommend testing it out for larger cubes, probably in the 630-720 range.

Ashiok, Nightmare Muse

A powerful Dimir planeswalker.

What I Like: This is a powerful Magic card. Ashiok can tick up to 6 loyalty when it resolves and create a valuable 2/3 creature to protect itself and start milling. With a couple two or three of these tokens floating around, the mill clock is pretty fast, and Ashiok’s token creatures will spiral out of control quickly. Plus, they have fantastic synergy with the ultimate ability, which is pretty devastating. For folks unfamiliar with Recoil, it’s a powerful effect. Combining the tempo advantage of the bounce with full card value of the discard. And against a hellbent opponent, this will straight exile any nonland permanent you want, making Ashiok a fantastic way to win a topdeck war.

What I Don't Like: The competition in Dimir is pretty fierce, and the card this compares most directly with is The Scarab God. As much as I like this new Ashiok, TSG is an all-time great. When I have the choice to err on the side of a more unique effect versus a generic goodstuff planeswalker, I tend to go with the unique effect, and I like Scarab God slightly more because of that. But that’s the kind of powerlevel we’re talking here, this Ashiok is fantastic.

Verdict: It’s going to come down to competition and preference for your Dimir slots. For us, the existing options are more unique and interesting than this Ashiok is, but from a raw powerlevel standpoint, you could absolutely justify this card over most anything. This easily has the legs to be one of the top 5-7 Dimir cards, and could easily get into 630-720 lists. We’ll be closely watching the Dimir section for an opening, and if anythingn starts to slip or becomes redundant in future sets, we’ll be more than happy to bring this Ashiok in.

Kiora Bests the Sea God

A powerful 7cc Saga.

What I Like: Well, an 8/8 hexproof is always a good place to start. Then it taps down all your opponent’s nonland permanents (critically, all their blockers) for two turns, and if they find a way to survive all that, you get to take their best card when all is said and done. That’s good value for 7 mana, and really tempting to include on those merits alone. If you play an enchantment theme or use Academy Rector in your cube for bomb enchantment shenanigans, add this to your toolbox. It’s also a gross effect to flicker, bounce or reset if you have ways to pull that off.

What I Don't Like: Blue has access to great finishers already, and just isn’t in the market for a giant enchantment finisher …unless you have specific ways to take advantage of that card type. If it tapped down their lands for 2 turns as well, this would be strong enough in the cube without enchantment synergy or ways to abuse it. But as it is, it’s just barely going to miss out for me.

Verdict: With an Enchantment theme in the cube OR Academy Rector always in search of bomb targets, I’d be snap-including this Saga. In fact, this card is so good with Rector that I’m considering bringing in a Rector package just to be able to play this card. At the moment it’s a miss, but I could see larger cubes trying to find ways to exploit Kiora’s Great Sea God Fun House.

Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath

Another new Simic bomb.

What I Like: A 3cc Growth Spiral that drops a giant escaping monster into the graveyard? The floor is relatively acceptable for a card with this kind of ceiling. 4 mana and 5 cards is a relatively hefty escape cost, but Simic is engineered to handle the mana pretty well, and is a color combination that’s relatively unlikely to be negatively impacted by the escape’s exile cost. Before it escapes it’s just an Explore. But after escaping, you get to explore every turn which is obviously really strong. Not to mention that it’s a 6/6 creature that can come back again and again with the appropriate cards in the ‘yard.

What I Don't Like: There’s nothing not to like about Uro, and other than the potential competition in the Simic section, there’s nothing to keep it out of the cube.

Verdict: Once again I find myself stuck trying to find room for a great goodstuff Simic card. My Simic section is currently dominated by cards that are included for specific archetype support; leaving me with only two slots for generically good Simic cards. Currently, those two slots are taken up by Oko and Hydroid Krasis, which I do feel are both better than Uro. But other than those two cards (and maybe Nissa) there isn’t much to get in Uro’s way. If you have open slots in Simic that aren’t dedicated for specific archetype support, Uro is one of the best generic goodstuff options available.

Renata, Called to the Hunt

A 4cc mono-colored Persist combo enabler.

What I Like: If you’re supporting the Persist combo in the cube, Renata is an appealing support card for that deck. Similar to Unicorn and Grumgully, this exchanges 1 total mana for more average base power and the advantage of only being one color. Playing with the other blanket +1/+1 counter givers that we have now has shown me that they can be reasonably decent inclusions in random creature decks too; especially token decks, so they can at least provide some value outside of their combo potential. In heavier green decks, I expect Renata’s devotion to get reasonably high, and she’ll add a lot of power to the board between her +1/+1 counters and like 4-6 base power.

What I Don't Like: Just like the other creatures in this same vein, they’re not good enough without their combo purpose being realized.

Verdict: If you support the Persist combo in the cube, this is a great creature. If you don’t, it won’t make it. Simple as that.

Shadowspear

An interesting cheap piece of equipment.

What I Like: Trample + lifelink + power is a relatively unique and powerful combination of abilities because the trample & power allow you to to apply pressure more effectively and the lifelink affords you the ability to win races. Historically, this combination of abilities has either come attached to a risk of card disadvantage like Armadillo Cloak/Unflinching Courage, or it has been really expensive like Loxodon Warhammer & Behemoth Sledge. Shadowspear gives you additional power, trample and lifelink for half the cost of the other equipment options and without the risk of the auras. It will be nice to have another cheap piece of equipment for Stoneforge to grab, and it’s another nice utility target for Trinket Mage. While the anti-hexproof/indestructible isn’t always relevant, it’s far from flavor text because when it matters, it really matters. Being able to shatter that Blightsteel or path that Tyrant is the difference between winning and losing those games. I counted like 15 relevant instances of those two abilities off the top of my head, and I’m happy to know there’s at least one tool in the cube to combat them. Incidentally, this also has some backdoor combo potential in my cube since another card in this set is going to allow me to explore some Archangel of Thune lines. With that card, the lifelink provided by Shadowspear allows me to win the game on the spot with a Walking Ballista or Triskelion. Niche, but potentially relevant.

What I Don't Like: If this had an equip cost of 1 mana or provided a 2-power bonus, it would be a staple. As it is, I think the card is good and useful, but it will be harder to find room in smaller cubes for it because the efficiency is merely appropriate instead of pushed.

Verdict: I’m looking forward to testing out this card in my 720-card cube. I’m not sure if I would have room for it if my cube was smaller, but it’s a powerful and unique combination of abilities that it adds, and it’ll be nice to have access to another affordable piece of equipment.

Dream Trawler

A fantastic Azorius finisher.

What I Like: If you’re not tired of this in THB limited yet, you will be soon. This creature attacks as a 5/5 flying lifelinker on its own, has synergy with your other draw spells, generates its own card advantage, and can protect itself against targeted removal at will. It’s a reliable win condition that fits perfectly into both traditional control decks and midrange shells as a curve-topper.

What I Don't Like: While Trawler can protect itself, the opponent can still use targeted removal at the start of your turn to turn off Trawler’s draw, stop it from attacking and prevent the lifelink from occurring because of the tap clause being a part of the hexproof ability. Azorius is pretty stacked, and already has some bomb 5cc win conditions in it, making it hard to find room for a card like Dream Trawler in it. Plus, both white and blue have powerful 6cc options for control decks already available to them in their respective mono-colored sections, making the need for DT dwindle despite it’s obviously high powerlevel.

Verdict: Azorius has a lot of powerful inclusions for small- to medium-sized cubes already, and until those slots are filled by those other cards, there’s no room for cards like Trawler. But if you’re playing an Azorius finisher like Ojutai, you might want to consider testing Trawler in its place. After Fractured Identity, both Teferis, Verdict, and a tempo creature or two, larger cubes in the 630-720 range might have a slot they can test this card out in …which is what I plan to do. It’s not really a card I need, but it’s really good and looks like a card I want to at least give a chance to show off its greatness.

Thassa, Deep-Dwelling

A big, resilient blink archetype enabler.

What I Like: If I’ve learned anything from Soulherder in its time in my cube, it’s that a blinking engine that flickers creatures for free every turn is good. There are so many potent ETB targets to abuse in the cube, and the EOT blink allows me to reset creatures on defense as well. Costing 1 more mana will be relevant, as will Thassa’s difficulty activating, but Thassa is only one color, can turn into a giant 6/5 creature, can tap down the opponent’s game-ending threats when needed …and is indestructible (which is huge). Thassa has a splashable cost too which is good for the 3-color value decks. The tapping ability feels slightly overcosted, but it’s better than losing the game to a Blightsteel Colossus hit or getting Annihilatored into oblivion. Thassa’s blink ability is unique in one major new way too …it allows you to blink stolen creatures! As psly4mne pointed out, if I steal my opponent’s creatures, most flicker effects give them back to their owner’s to control. Thassa returns them to my control, allowing me to blink ETB creatures that were originally my opponent’s to generate extra value for me. It also allows me to turn Vedalken Shackles into a repeatable creature theft engine, since the creature’s control will no longer be bound to the fate of the Shackles; Thassa’s blink will just make it mine.

What I Don't Like: It will be hard to make Thassa a 6-power creature reliably, and the tap clause is too overcosted to be abusable, so most of her value has to come from the blink. Plus, blue is stacked, so unless you’re trying to make Blink a flagship mechanic of your cube, you won’t need Thassa for redundancy until the cube gets pretty large.

Verdict: Thassa is a good signpost card for drafters to identify that blink is an archetype they’re intended to explore. Alongside Soulherder, Vat/Feldon, Shard/Portal and a handful of others, players can have some depth to their blink archetypes. I plan on trying this out at 720, and there’s a good chance it would perform well enough for some 630-card cubes too, depending on their level of blink support.

Dryad of the Ilysian Grove

An Exploration and perfect fixing on a good body.

What I Like: A 2/4 body for 3 is a good baseline to be coupled with a pair of useful utility abilities. The Exploration will have applications with flooded draws, big draw spells, and Crucible/Loam & Courser/Oracle/Frenzy/Citadel effects. The Prismatic Omen effect is a cool bonus. It obviously provides perfect fixing, so 4- and 5-color decks will be happy to have access to this Dryad. Additionally, there’s neat interactions with Rofellos, both green Nissas, Koth, High Tide and …Vedalken Shackles! It also allows your colorless lands to fix, and also allows your Maze of Ith to tap for mana. It’ll be really good with your own Sundering Titan (and really bad against your opponent’s Sundering Titan). If you play any 5-color cards, even just ones with incidental activation costs like Najeela or Golos, this will single-handedly turn them on. Hell, you might even be able to hardcast a Progenitus with this thing out.

What I Don't Like: This card doesn’t actually give you access to more mana sources than you had before, so it doesn’t really ramp without assistance. And unlike Courser/Oracle, you can’t play lands from your library, so this doesn’t represent card advantage either. Plus, it can be disenchanted.

Verdict: This has just enough upside to pique my interest at 720, but this isn’t the second coming of Courser/Oracle or anything like that. It has a good defensive body and a pair of moderately useful abilities in a splashable 3-mana package. Maybe at 630 I’d test it out if my cube was filled with all the synergy cards I discussed above.

Elspeth, Sun's Nemesis

An aggressively-slanted 4cc ‘walker.

What I Like: First and foremost, I owe all of my interest and success with this card to Usman, who championed for this card on Twitter a while back and swayed me to test it. Card’s good. It has the highest immediate impact of any aggressive white 4-drop as it can add 4 “hastey” power to the board for 4 mana. It can also generate bodies on an empty board that she can later pump, or add to a board if going wide is the right call. The pump prevents your critters from trading unfavorably, since they no longer get chump-traded with other 1/1 creatures, and 3+ power allows all your tokens and cheap creatures to trade up against most everything that resolves early on. The 5 life is occasionally obnoxious, but hasn’t been the focal point of her abilities so far in testing. What makes this card good? Escape. Escape is an amazing ability, especially in white where the graveyard isn’t utilized for much, so the fuel to bring her back is usually available on T6+. I’ve heard a lot of complaints about how the 6 mana is too much for an aggressive card …but we said the same thing about Earthshaker Khenra’s eternalize cost until it went on to dominate top level organized play for half a year. Eventually, you’ll hit the mana to bring her back, and she has a big impact on the board when she does. She’s frustrating to race against because she can come back; often more than once in a prolonged game. Yes, she can’t raise her own loyalty, and yes, her cheapest ability requires a board presence …but unlike other ‘walkers, once the opponent finally grinds this one down, you can simply replay it from the ‘yard. It’s obnoxious to race against. Say what you will about her inability to pump her loyalty, but being able to just come right back after being Vindicated off the board is an upside that no other ‘walker has. Oh, and her tokens are human tokens if your cube has a small trial humans theme.

What I Don't Like: I wish the lifegain was another effect, and this card would’ve been gross with a 5cc escape cost or a 3-card escape clause. But she’s still very good as things stand.

Verdict: White’s 4cc spell slot is one of the most powerful and congested in the entire cube, and this set doesn’t relieve any of those symptoms. But if you can find a way around that bottleneck, give Elspeth a shot. She’s surprisingly powerful. I’m going to be playing her at 720, and I think most folks should at least test her at 630, or even smaller with a proper humans-matters subtheme.

Phoenix of Ash

A good aggressive red 3-drop.

What I Like: I think this is the best Phoenix we’ve seen for the cube. The pump increases the clock and makes it a respectable stand-alone win condition. The escape is both an affordable and reliable method of recursion, and it escapes with a +1/+1 counter, making it more robust when it comes back. Like all phoenixes, the combination of flying + haste + recursion makes them reliable, evasive win conditions, and this one is no different. The evasion combined with the pump and the inevitability means this card will win you the game, and it can do it all on its own if it has to. The pump is a big deal, and really separates this card from similar iterations we’ve seen in the past.

What I Don't Like: The competition at the 3cc creature section in red is stiff now, and it’ll be hard to find room. I would’ve been overjoyed to see this with a 2R cost, or with a 1R pump cost. Those are minor nitpicks for a card that I think will turn out to be a standout win condition in red aggro though.

Verdict: If you can find a cut in the sea of competitive red 3cc creatures, give this Phoenix a shot. My only real complaint about the card is that the competition is so steep that it might be relegated to larger cubes simply by default. I’ll be happily playing this card at 720, and I think it should be tested at 630, and maybe even 540 if you can find a cut you like. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me to see folks with small- to medium-sized cubes deciding to test this in place of one of the Rabblemaster variants simply for some variety. This Phoenix is good.

Heliod, Sun-Crowned

A playable white …combo card?

What I Like: I can use Heliod for a few different combos in my cube. The primary combo will be to pair this with Walking Ballista or Triskelion. Give them lifelink and win the game on the spot with infinite damage. This also works the same way that Archangel of Thune can with Spike Feeder; remove a counter to gain life, add a counter, and repeat for infinite life. That combo was a little too shallow before, but might be worth exploring once we have Heliod available to add depth to it. In addition to those combos, Ryan Saxe pointed out that Heliod can be used with Kitchen Finks and a sacrifice outlet to bolster the Persist combo. I didn’t notice that, and it definitely adds some more depth to the card for me. The indestructibility is key, since it takes some of the fragility and risk away from the combo. It’s also tutorable by Enlightened Tutor and it can be regrown by Sun Titan and Sevinnne’s Reclamation for consistency within its color. In addition to all its combo interactions, it somehow got lost in the weeds that this can randomly be a 5/5 indestructible creature for 3 mana that grows your creatures and grants lifelink.

What I Don't Like: If you’re not interested in the combo elements this provides, it just doesn’t do enough on its own to warrant inclusion. Some of the combo depth it adds, like the Thune/Feeder shenanigans and persist combo stuff won’t typically be available in the smallest and tightest of lists, simply because of the critical real estate they take up.

Verdict: I think a lot of medium-sized cubes are looking to explore some of the combos Heliod can allow you to exploit. With a handful of support cards added in for consistency, you can get some interesting white win conditions in the cube with a relatively low opportunity cost. I think 630-720 card cubes can safely explore most (if not all) of Heliod’s combo potential, and it might sneak into some 540-card cubes (or smaller) for testing as well.

Underworld Breach

Whoops.

What I Like: This is a broken Magic card. It might not be as abuseable in the cube as it will be in some eternal formats, but it’s still a good card. No matter how many combo decks people exploit Heliod in for the newer formats, I think Breach will be remembered as the “mistake” card from this set as folks continue to find ways to break it in the eternal formats. Even with that absurd HogaaOX (Ox of Agonas) throwing his name into the hat for dumbest constructed card from Theros Beyond Death… but I digress. Breach is somewhere between a red Regrowth and a red Yawgmoth’s Will. That makes it a good card, plain and simple. When you only have enough cards for one escape, it’ll play more like a Regrowth variant. But once you hit threshold and beyond, the card really opens up. While it’s likely worse than Yawgmoth’s Will, it’s not strictly worse by any means. Lets compare the two cards in late-game situations. Breach is 1 mana cheaper, so if you’re choked on mana, you’re more likely to extract the most value from Breach. But most importantly, you can replay the same card from your graveyard over and over as long as you can continue to fuel the escape’s exile cost. This is a big deviation in function from Will, and the easiest example to showcase this is with Brain Freeze. One spell (cantrip, ritual, whatever) into Breach into Brain Freeze from hand will allow you to win the game (given appropriate mana) with 5 cards in the ‘yard to start. Since you can Freeze for storm 3, flashback Freeze on storm 4 and cast it a 3rd time for storm 5, you can mill 9 + 12 + 15 and win the game …starting your storm turn off with a single spell before Breach into Freeze chain. Unlike Regrowth and even Will, with a single broken card in your ‘yard, Breach can be played for insane value. Casting multiple Walks or Recalls from the yard will be a common occurrence. Honestly, with a stacked ‘yard and typical late-game mana, this might be red’s best topdeck in the cube. It can function as a lot of reach with any random burn spell too. 6 random cards in yard? Breach, Bolt from hand, escape Bolt, Escape bolt? 9 damage …from one burn spell. As an enchantment, it allows white to get into your combo game, where it can be grabbed by Enlightened Tutor, and reanimated by Sun Titan and Sevinnne’s Reclamation. Unlike Past in Flames, this can allow you to escape any nonland permanent, so it can be used to make your combo decks more consistent.

What I Don't Like: The only reason why this isn’t a staple for every cube is because it needs to be supported with the right cards. Without any combo decks, storm archetypes or power to break it, it will feel too fair for moderately paced unpowered cubes.

Verdict: With power, storm and combo archetypes, I think Breach is an auto-include. Without them, I think the card is significantly fairer, to the point where it will likely miss the cut. I would expect this to get into even the smallest and tightest cubes if the goal is to be doing broken things. But for unpowered environments with no storm or combo support, it could be a miss entirely. It will have a wide variation in cube play due to that disparity.

Shatter the Sky

Another mono-white 4-mana Wrath.

What I Like: Look, a 4-mana Wrath is a 4-mana Wrath. Even if it comes with a clause that will be a drawback more often than it’ll be an advantage. In the most likely scenarios, either nobody will draw of just your opponent will. But there will times where you get to draw and they don’t. And you can maximize those instances by coupling Shatter with your Gideons! Cubes supporting the Gideon-tribal will have up to 4 Gideons that can turn themselves into 4/4 or 5/5 indestructible creatures …which obviously pair perfectly with Shatter the Sky. You draw, they don’t, you wipe out all their blockers and get to bash face with your Gideon army? Sign me up. And even in the instances where you both draw, your draw is likely going to be more valuable than theirs, since your control deck has the bigger-impact and heavier-hitting spells. Potential drawback aside, it’s always better to pay 4 mana to guarantee that everything dies than 5+ mana. All day, every day, and twice on cube day.

What I Don't Like: Your opponent is more likely going to draw a card off this than you, and in those instances, it won’t feel like Day of Judgment was too good to get printed without a pseudo-drawback.

Verdict: I’ve heard some folks say that they don’t need any more unconditional 4cc Wraths in their cube? That doesn’t compute. Every true 4-mana Wrath has been good in Magic, and this one is no exception. My control decks are always happy to have access to an additional true Wrath if one is available. Even if my Azorius control deck has access to Wrath and Verdict, I’m still happy to play that DoJ too, I expect this to add to that level of redundancy quite well. I see no reason to cube without this card.

Woe Strider

A great black 3-drop.

What I Like: Woe Strider is the perfect creature for me. It’s a 3-power 3-drop up front and a 5-power 5-drop when cast out of the graveyard later. It has a splashable cost, (two) good power/cost rates, it comes with extra free bodies, it has a built-in free sacrifice outlet and it scries. And it contributes to multiple archetypes since it’s great in Stax/Aristocrats shells, and it’s a Persist combo enabler. It’s a good creature based on powerlevel, synergy and combo potential. It generates card advantage and provides card selection. It’s good on both offense and defense, and it shoehorns extra scry into the cube. Even without the persist combo support being relevant, sacrifice outlets are useful. It protects graveyard-valuable threats from being exiled, stops lifelink, protects your creatures from Control Magic effects …it’s just generally a useful thing to have floating around. Plus, when the sacrifice outlet is critical to your strategy, it’s really nice to have one as reliable as Woe Strider’s available; being able to cast your sacrifice outlet from the graveyard on demand is something that will be very powerful for combo decks that use those kinds of effects.

What I Don't Like: I wish it could sacrifice itself, though I understand why that can’t allow a creature with escape to do that. I wish the token was a 1/1 creature instead of a 0/1, but again, I think that would’ve pushed the rate too much. It would’ve been great if it had a base 3 toughness too, but again, that’s too much survivability on a card with the escape mechanic strapped to it.

Verdict: Even if your cube doesn’t support the Persist combo, I think Woe Strider is the 3rd or 4th best black 3cc creature behind only Ophiomancer, Murderous Rider and maybe Flesh Carver. That means that every cube with 4 or more black 3-drops in it should probably be playing Woe Strider. Which by my rough calculations, is …every cube. If you support Aristocrats and Persist combo in your cube in addition to black creature decks of any kind, Woe Strider might very well compete for the slot of the best black 3cc creature in the cube.