Welcome to the Journey Into Nyx Cube Update! In addition to talking about all the exciting new cards from Journey Into Nyx, I finally decided to take a good long look at the lands in my cube. Since the beginning of my cube, I have always had cycles of mana-fixing lands. The shock lands, pain lands, filter lands, buddy lands, fetch lands, worldwake man lands, vivid lands, tri-lands, and five miscellaneous lands have served as my land section. However, this doesn't take into account that each color combination really wants different types of lands. For example, Gruul is a very aggressive color combo and they want a very different subset of lands than Dimir which is most likely very control based. To accommodate for these differences I have split the lands up into guilds as opposed to cycles. You will see more in the land section where I explain the individual card choices but I really think that this is a step in the right direction, especially as more lands come out that promise to be powerful and potentially niche. For the record I kept the full cycle of Filter Lands, Fetch Lands and Shock Lands since those are universally the best in any color combination. The rest are now guild specific. And without further adieu...
White
In Out
Banishing Light, another Oblivion Ring, is simply put way way way too good to not include. Being able to answer any potential problems is incredibly powerful in both aggressive and control strategies. The only question is what to remove.
Arrest is a fine card but it's uses are limited to creature removal. And while the retraction of abilities makes this very close to actual creature removal it's simply not as good as Banishing Light. The other cards in white that serve this function all provide either interesting gameplay decisions (Cage of Hands, Prison Term and Temporal Isolation), affect non-creatures as well (Faith's Fetters), or serve other functions entirely. I really like the percentage of removal that white has right now so I don't want to remove other cards at the present time.
In Out
I originally had Dictate of Heliod on the outside looking in. That was until I describe the shortcomings of Launch the Fleet. Yes, this costs 5 mana but having flash on this type of effect is RIDICULOUS. Anthems are always powerful in the aggro strategy, especially with token support, and a double anthem makes every creature an aggro deck plays potentially lethal at that point in the game. This is a great card for the top of the curve. Keep in mind that this is a permanent boon, not a one-time trick.
Mammoth Umbra just was never that exciting. It wasn't a bad card and when it did get played it served a purpose. Saving your creature because of the totem armor ability is nice but Dictate of Heliod goes way way over the top at the same mana cost.
Didn't Make the Cut
Godsend is just too mana intensive and white to count for much. Pretty much this card says your creature is unblockable at the low low cost of six mana (except they can be chump blocked by other creatures that don't matter. Sure this can also be defensive too but it's not particuarly good in that role, it's just too expensive. At double white it also only goes into a white deck which, as an equipment, leaves a lot to be desired. Awesome in Theros block limited, just not good enough for cube.
Launch the Fleet is an interesting card that is very close to something that I have been waiting a long time for. One of the strongest cards in the White Weenie strategy is Charge Across the Araba as it, at instant speed, provides an overrun effect. You typically don't need very many creatures to win with that card if you have been able to get in a couple of times before hand. The problem with Launch the Fleet is that it is only as good as mana you have AND board presence you have. The upside is more powerful long term but requires more set up. Being sorcery speed is also not nothing. This is close but just not good enough.
In Out
I have been looking for more card draw in blue for a while now and Dictate of Kruphix is just what the doctor ordered. I wasn't sure how much better Howling Mine with flash would be but it was way better than I expected. Howling Mine always had the drawback of letting your oppt drawing a card first...that is always the first thing said about it. This spell lets you draw your card first and that is a nice bonus. Howling Mine has a second drawback that you don't hear talked about as much. It takes your whole turn to cast meaning you are taking a turn off from committing to your gameplan. Dictate of Kruphix allows you to cast it any turn where the coast is clear without having to commit a whole turn to it. Keeping counter mana or other reactive spells open at all times makes this card pretty pushed.
Nephalia Smuggler was so cute. I had visions of it doing really fun, really silly things in a lot of decks and scenarios. For some reason though, it just never got played! Heresy I said. Then, I was playing a Snowball draft (so much fun btw). I had a UW blink deck out of just two packs of cards including this card....and it sat in my sideboard. Why? Because there are other cards that do more at a cheaper cost and actually provide a board impact. Basically, in order to utilize this to the fullest you have to use your entire turn to recycle whatever is already in play. This means no commitment to the board (which has its advantages) but it also means this is reeeeeeeally grindy. Blue can do better. Also...look at the art! Would you want to go into this guy's coach? I thought not.
In Out
Black is an interesting color in cube in that it pairs very well with any other color and can lend itself to a great number of strategies. Because of this, I do not want a high octane number of aggressive one drops. That is the reason for the simple swap as opposed to a more interesting change. Gnarled Scarhide is a sweet one. Being unable to block is mostly irrelevant but the bestow ability is very powerful and lends itself well to not over committing to the board as well as making smaller threats more imposing. Being able to enchant an opposing creature gives this card a lot of play and a very interesting inclusion.
Carnophage was the weakest of the black aggro one drops. The life payment is really not a big deal but Gnarled Scarhide offers a lot more complexity and depth of play.
In Out
Bloodline Keeper is a very interesting card that only gets more impressive the more I see it in play. It is a self contained army and win condition that quickly becomes overpowering without any other vampires at all. Being able to churn out tokens gives this so much more use than a 3/3 attacker.
Sengir Nosferatu was a nice inclusion for a while as it is almost impossible to kill, making it a very real threat. However, it really isn't anything more than a 4/4 flying creature as even when it is doing fun things switching itself out and back in...it's still only a 4/4 flier. Bloodline Keeper offers a better long term investment at a lower initial cost.
In Out
Grave Pact was always a sweet card only held back by its ridiculous mana requirements. Dictate of Erebos is more expensive but infinitely easier to cast. Oh and did I mention that it has FLASH? This card is insane and will lead to many blowouts. At worst, this card promises parity and at best it puts your opponent in a very difficult situation as all of your creatures become ticking time bombs that make combat near impossible. Not to mention the interesting interactions with sacrifice effects, recursion and tokens.
Oversold Cemetery was too cute for its own good. It wasn't really bad but I think Dictate of Erebos is a lot more interesting and consistently powerful. Four creatures turned out to be a lot and this card might as well have cost 7 for all the times it got into play and was able to function properly. Glad I tried it out though...this is how we find hidden gems. Maybe next time!
In Out
After waffling back and forth a bit on this one I think the correct decision is to just include Master of the Feast. I was a little concerned about how significant the drawback is...and make no mistake, it is a very relevant drawback especially with the card quality in cube. The card is just so overwhelmingly powerful. Sure, your opponents might have something like Cage of Hands and Icy Manipulator but if they don't you are winning the game very very quickly. This is a must deal with creature that will play well in both control and aggro strategies and that is the kind of card I want to include.
Cemetery Reaper always looked better than it played. It always seemed to promise an unstoppable army of zmobies but never quite got there. Part of the problem is that this creature is pretty bad on its own without creatures in the graveyard to fuel it. It's also really slow at making tokens. We can do better.
In Out
Eidolon of the Great Revel is very interesting. I had initially wrote this off as a card with only constructed applications. I now believe that not to be necessarily true. How much damage do you have to deal to make this card worthwhile? My belief is probably 4 damage. That is the equivalent of your opponent casting two spells that trigger or one and you being able to attack once. That is going to be very easy to accomplish. The only question I have is that this card also affects yourself. This is very risky against some decks and reminds me a lot of Sulfuric Vortex. The strategy there is to make sure you are outpacing their damage output. I am willing to believe this is possible here as well.
Young Pyromancer was pretty disappointing. There just isn't the critical mass of pure spells available to make this guy worthwhile. This is especially true considering that oftentimes you don't want to risk losing him in contact for promise of future gains. He just isn't as exciting as a lot of people thought. If I remember correctly, I believe I was lukewarm on him to begin with so this isn't that surprising to me.
Green
Didn't Make the Cut
Mogis's Warhound is one of my favorite cards from the new set. I love the entire cycle of bestow creatures because of the interesting gameplay decisions they bring. That said, this is pretty close to Elephant Guide and Griffin Guide in practice. Because the bestow cost is so cheap you will almost always bestow it, especially since the aggressive red deck should have no shortage of things to do on turn two. The only question is whether or not the restriction for having to attack each turn if able is too big of a drawback for inclusion and I really feel that it is. The token you get from the Elephant Guide is so helpful because it can both attack and act as a road block as a 3/3 is a lot bigger than a 2/2. This guy might be better than this in cube but I am not going to assume that until proven otherwise.
I refuse to value cards like Prophetic Flamespeaker in a vacuum where they have equipment attached to them. Any creature is great when wielding a sword or something. This guy needs support to be useful. For three mana I don't want something that has no effect and needs other cards to be good. Sure in the scenario where they have no blockers he is great...but so is every other variant of this and none of them are any good. I've been burned before with effects like this, not falling for it this time.
In Out
Green Sun's Zenith is a card that has grown on me after seeing it in action in the MODO cube. I was originally concerned that only being able to get green creatures was too significant of a drawback but I was ignoring just how flexible a card this is. You can use it to get a creature early in the game or late in the game and putting it into play is significantly different than in your hand or on top of your deck. You can also get gold cards as long as they contain a green mana symbol as well, something that I neglected to realize originally. The thing to remember is that you need to cast this spell when it's going to be most beneficial. If that means using it to get a two or three drop then so be it. You don't have to wait to get a finisher with it and oftentimes it is correct to use it sooner for value.
Worldly Tutor served the same function that Green Sun's Zenith does but it does it less efficiently. I am seeing this as a pretty nice upgrade.
Didn't Make the Cut
Setessan Tactics is interesting as it provides several things that green could always use in combat tricks and removal. While you need creatures in play for this spell to do anything that shouldn't be a barrier to entry for green as if you aren't playing creatures I'm not sure why you are playing the color. Green's creatures should be bigger than most other creatures at any point in the game, especially with the +1/+1 boost so this should be pretty close to a one sided board wipe under most circumstances. The downside is that you aren't attacking when you use this and it won't work with creatures that just came into play making it very awkward in all situations outside of a board stall. I think in cube this would mostly kill one or two creatures. I think the death knell for this is that you aren't attacking with your big creatures and the amount of green it would take to really take full advantage of it. We'll see how it acts in practice, I could come back to it.
Didn't Make the Cut
Iroas is pretty unexciting for his mana cost. For all of the gods (like all of those previously) I am going to assess them based on the fact that they will never be a creature. So basically I am going to pay four mana to make my creatures unblockable. This is an effect that already exists and while it holds value it's not even close to be being better than the existing options. As a side note this is insane in Theros block limited =D
Didn't Make the Cut
Pharika doesn't work very well in cube as there is not a self mill strategy that exists so you are going to be trying to get creatures into your graveyard fairly. Factor in the existing synergy in Golgari that rewards creatures for remaining in your graveyard and it doesn't fit really well. I'll pass.
Didn't Make the Cut
Keranos, God of Storms is never going to be a creature in Izzet. Literally, ever. So in essence, you are paying five mana for a free lightning bolt or cantrip every turn. I do not think that is good enough for cube. The effect is powerful but it doesn't do enough for how expensive it is when compared to the other options in Izzet (never thought I'd say that - thank you Return to Ravnica block).
Didn't Make the Cut
Orzhov meanwhile should be very likely to make Athreos, God of Passage a creature with relative frequency. The problem is that those decks don't always play a ton of creatures which makes this a blank in most control strategies. That's not that big of a deal as it is quite good in those decks that do play creatures. However, the competition in Orzhov is incredibly steep and will keep this guy on the outside looking in.
In Out
Ajani, Mentor of Heroes does a lot of things that Selesnya really needs in cube. The ability to make any of your small, early game creatures huge (or making your tokens more imposing) is wonderful because it avoids playing into any sort of mass removal effect. The card advantage provided by the second ability also is in much demand for this color combination as neither color really gets a ton of ways to draw cards. Sure, gaining 100 life is a thing....it'll likely never happen since you should kill your opponent before it ever becomes relevant.
Armada Wurm is the weakest of the Selesnya options as it is expensive and does little other than act as two creatures. Sure, there might be some blinking shenanigans that you can do but I find Ajani both more interesting and vital to the Selesnya strategy.
Didn't Make the Cut
Kruphix, God of Horizons has a bunch of flavor text that doesn't do anything in cube compared to the other gods or cards in Simic. Great in commander but almost useless elsewhere.
In Out
I do not think that Hall of Triumph is going to be all that great. I do however think that it will do a much better job than Phyrexian Processor of being useful. I only saw Processor main decked once and it immediately resulted in that player losing the game upon it coming into play. Magic has come a long way and Processor is just too slow and cumbersome to earn its keep. This one shouldn't be missed. Back to Hall of Triumph. I do think this will serve a purpose as being a very flexible Honor of the Pure that will fit into a number of different aggro archetypes. That said, this is very much a trial run and I can see it coming out in a future addition.
In Out
I am going to talk about all the temples at one time here since I am including the full cycle of ten. Being able to scry 1 is very, very powerful on the land. I really didn't think it made that much of a difference but it is the most satisfying feeling ever to be able to pitch excess lands to the bottom of the deck or do-nothing spells. Even seeing something you want to keep allows you to set up your gameplan a turn early knowing what is coming. Every color combination and type of deck can afford one of these in their deck even if they do come into play tapped which is why I am including all ten and not just the ones for control decks. Aggro really appreciates binning excess lands as much as control appreciates the card selection.
Clifftop Retreat is the weakest of the options in Boros since it cannot make mana of either color on turn 1. The aggressive decks would rather have the pain land and since most all Boros decks are aggressive this was easy.
In Out
The Azorious decks are pretty split between control and aggro which gives the buddy lands (M10 duals) the edge over the Pain Lands which are really only good in aggro decks.
In Out
Dimir decks are almost exclusively control decks which makes the pain land an easy cut.
In Out
Golgari decks tend to be pretty mid-range making the pain lands the weakest option.
In Out
Gruul is pretty aggro so I cut the buddy land for the same reason as the Boros guild.
In Out
Izzet is much like Azorius in that it is both controlling and aggro so the pain land leaves us.
In Out
See Izzet and Azorius explanation.
In Out
Rakdos decks tend to be pretty aggressive or control through removal. A Rakdos reanimation deck tends to be a third color splashing red for support. Lavaclaw Reaches is easily the weakest of the Worldwake man lands and I have seen and played Rakdos decks that don't even main deck it (for right or wrong). The firebreathing on this card is pretty weak and I would just rather have less lands that come into play tapped for the guild. I'd rather have the scry land over this.
In Out
See Golgari explanation.
In Out
Horizon Canopy is a very unique effect that does not have equivalents in the other color combinations. I will gladly replace a pain land with this as the upside is quite significant.
In Out
See Golgari explanation.
I have been waiting to do this land update for a while and the printing of the Temple cycle from Theros was the perfect opportunity. I look forward to the printing of future lands now since I can include one or two of a cycle as opposed to feeling obligated to change out so many cards when each guild is so different. This was a much better set than Born of the Gods for cube and I CANNOT WAIT for Conspiracy. If the rest of the cards are anything like the previews so far....salivation....but for now...
Enjoy!
