Hey everyone! This is by far the most exciting Core Set in a very long time. Not since the radical changes of new cards existing in M10 and the Titan cycle in M11 has a core set elicited so much intrigue. There are so many cards to talk about in every color so lets not waste any more time on preambles. Away we go!
White
In Out
Steadfast reminds me of an upgraded Goldmane. Goldmane's middle ability is completely bonkers in any sort of deck playing creatures and it can win entire games by acting as a white "overrun". The middle ability on Steadfast is admittedly worse than Goldmane's as relying on having another planeswalker is pretty dicey. However, the real upgrade comes with the +1 ability. Gaining 2 life with Goldmane is literally the biggest waste of time on the planet. The only reason to use that ability is to not let Goldmane die so you can get more middle activations. The +1 of Steadfast is very powerful as long as you control a creature. Planeswalker ultimates don't matter for the most part but Steadfast's is much better than Goldmane. Add in that Steadfast is actually splashable and we have ourselves a winner!
In Out
So the last time that I reviewed Elspeth, Sun's Champion I had stated that the middle and last ability were mostly irrelevant. It turns out that that was not true. Destroying every creature with power 4 or greater is quite good and her ultimate has the chance to get used quite a bit with a starting loyalty so high, especially when her middle abilities used in tandem brick wall....just about everything. When that gets used the game will probably end one way or another pretty quickly.
Gideon Jura is very powerful and this change is not being made due to his lack of effectiveness. Limiting planeswalkers to three per color means you don't get to see or use all of the new planeswalkers once they make a couple of broken ones. This is a change made purely for variety and he was the most expensive planeswalker currently in the cube.
In Out
I have been looking for another effect in white that would act as an overrun effect. I already have one in Charge Across the Araba but another one would be much appreciated for the white weenie decks. Soul of Theros is able to do this not only as a giant creature in play but also if it were to be destroyed before activating its effect. This not only acts as a great curve topper for aggressive decks but also really gives mid-range strategies another game ending spell to get past board stalls.
Captain of the Watch was always a lot of power squeezed into one card. It hasn't really underperformed in its role but between Cloudgoat Ranger and Geist-Honored Monk there is a lot of redundancy in the white high drops and I think Captain is the weakest one. Cloudgoat being able to gain flying is very relevant while the Monk makes flying tokens and is usually quite large itself. Nothing the Captain makes has evasion and while vigilance is nice, there are times when it plays more defensive than anything else. Not an easy cut, but I think this is correct.
In Out
Spirit Bonds is another really interesting card. Not triggering on tokens hurts but I don't think it makes that much of a difference. What does make a difference is that in order to utilize this to its fullest you are about a half a turn behind on playing spells on curve. Then, you have to keep two mana up in order to utilize the second ability. I think it's a little too mana intensive to use efficiently. The other thing about this card is that it seems like it would work best in a mid-range strategy where your creatures have more value than curve out decks. A Selesnya creature deck would love this type of effect as saving even one of those creatures is worth a lot as they are all potential win conditions. I think this is enough for a trail-run.
Cloudshift is cute. Really, I got nothing. Spirit Bonds is infinitely more interesting and I am not stretching that far for another blink effect again.
In Out
Dryad Militant is coming over from the gold section to the white section. This is two-fold. It gives the Selesnya section more play for other gold cards since there are so any amazing options. Secondly, I am cutting the green all-inaggro cards for more varied options throughout green. It never gets played and I feel squeezed for some other options. I explain more in the green section below.
Hyena Umbra just isn't that powerful and I don't want to get rid of another 2/1 one drop...especially since this is one of the better ones.
Didn't Make the Cut
Aside from being completely unbeatable in a recent pack war, Avacyn has a major flaw that will keep it on the sidelines in my cube. The issue here is that while she completely and utterly owns both red decks and any and all combat interactions....she herself just dies to everything. Normally I really think that is a cop-out analysis of a card but hear me out here. Question - Why do you play Avacyn? Answer - Because she is a big cool angel that protects your whole team and you from ever dying! No...that would be why you play Avacyn, Angel of Hope. You know, the one that for 8 mana actually accomplishes that task. For triple white and a very heavy mana investment to use any of her abilities, being able to be answered to easily just feels wrong and awful. It's like plaing Platinum Angel. Same feeling. I think this is a very cool card but just doesn't do enough to justify inclusion. Note that her body is great but it's hard to cast and the abilities aren't that unique.
Hushwing Gryff on the other hand does too much. I literally have no idea if this is correct but my thought process goes like this. You are almost guaranteed to hose your opponent the turn you cast this guy. His body and abilities are very efficient and act as a pseudo-counterspell when they try to cast their Skinrender or whatever. That swing needs to be worth it all by itself in order for this to be good enough because your deck probably isn't going to be doing anything either. Sure, you can build your deck in a way to avoid any ETB effects but that is a lot of power left on the sidelines just in case you draw this. Most of those cards are only good because of those abilities so it puts your deck in a really awkward position. I am on the fence on this one but until I hear some reviews of it in action I am leaning towards no.
Didn't Make the Cut
If Dauntless River Marshal was a 3/2 for 1W and had the same ability for 3W this would be a snap include. As it is, this is a gold Azorius card and there is no way this is better than the existing options in the guild. This whole cycle of cards is very good in limited but very restrictive in what their worth because of such reliance on the secondary color, so I will not talk about the other cards. Note that Sunblade Elf is very close to being good enough but not now that I am getting rid of the green aggro guys.
Paragon of New Dawns is also part of a cycle that is not good enough for my cube so I am going to talk about all of them just once. The anthem ability is very nice but the body is so bad for the cost. This could cost 1WWW and it wouldn't effect the card because you aren't splashing these anyway. The abilities that each of these Paragons give are all substandard when you factor in the cost and what the colors already do. They are either too expensive to activate or don't do enough when they are activated. I love the design space though.
Didn't Make the Cut
Convoke is an interesting mechanic in that it works best in decks with creatures, but actually using the Convoke means that you have to take a turn off from attacking. If that is the case, then you have two choices. First, the card had better be worth it and secondly you must be able to cast the spell for its original cost and not lose too much value. If a card is only good when using Convoke then it probably isn't good enough unless its effect is insane. Keeping that in mind...Triplicate Spirits is not going to cut it. The reason that Spectral Procession is so good is that you almost always cast it on turn three or four. You are not casting Triplicate Spirits on those turns unless you curve out perfectly and then don't attack with any of your creatures. The effect itself is powerful but it's especially powerful because of how unforgiving it is. Giving your opponent an extra turn to stabilize the board really isn't in the spirit of the card. =D
Return to the Ranks is very interesting. You don't really need any creatures in order to convoke this for maximum effect. It also puts you right back into a game after an opponent has wrathed if you are able to hit a decent number of targets. The real question becomes, how many creatures is this like to hit in a game? You are clearly only playing this in an aggressive white deck since they have to cost 2 or less to be recurred. You need to spend 5 mana in order to get back three 2/2's or worse. Creatures like that are worth a lot less that late in the game. I think without combo interactions you aren't going to be able to get your money's worth often enough. Weenie decks are always looking for cards that help them when they run out of gas but I don't think this is it.
In Out
Ok, ok hear me out here. Jace, the Mind Sculptor is probably the most individually powerful card that exists in my cube..and it's probably not particularly close. It's certainly more powerful than it's Architect of Thought brethren. So then, why would I cut it? Let me put it this way. If I didn't already own an actual copy of Jace, the Mind Sculptor...would it be in my cube, or would it have been given the Umezawa's Jitte treatment and been exiled for being too warping. If I am honest with myself, it would be the later. My cube is not powered. It is designed to be an interactively fun experience. THAT IS THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF WHAT THIS JACE ACCOMPLISHES. Seriously, look through my list at the number of cards that are not included for being non-interactive/fun. You literally cast this and then it dominates the rest of the game single-handedly about 95% of the time. I wouldn't make this change if there were no other palatable options in blue planeswalkers but Architect of Thought is no slouch! It gives blue a great answer for swarm decks while also giving wonderful card advantage with the mini-FOF. This is an upgrade in both fun and interaction even if there is a downgrade in power. If nothing else...now I can afford more cube cards in my never-ending fight for completion. You are welcome, Holmes.
In Out
In continuing the mash-up of my mono-color planeswalkers because of all the great options (sorry black and red....) I am also making this Jace switch. The Living Guildpact furthers graveyard strategies with his +1 while also providing card selection and going up to about a million loyalty immediately. His -3 is very powerful and aside from those situations where you are being overrun by a multitude of dudes it really provides a ton of value. His ultimate is also very super unworldly fun.
Jace Beleren draws cards. After that he draws cards. Then he uses his ultimate to....wait nevermind....he draws cards. Drawing cards is really sweet but I like the options and gameplay variance that Living Guildpact provides. Note that this does not mean Jace Beleren is bad or has been disappointing. He is still awesome but I think Guildpact is more interesting and fun.
In Out
AEtherspouts is RIDICULOUS. There are so many options for your opponent in this card but instead of being a detraction those options are going to help you so much. Either your opponent allows their board to be effectively exiled (since no graveyard shenanigans here) or they skip all of their draws for the rest of the game as they replace their board one card at a time. Now...the truth lies somewhere in between of course as they will most likely choose their best creature or two to put on top and the rest (if there are any) will go on the bottom. The thing is....that is still insane. At instant speed this is very difficult to play around and automatically gets rid of any tokens that might have been attacking forever as well. I love this card.
Ertai, Wizard Adept is so slow. In the games where you drop him and untap before your opponent has any board presence you are miles ahead. But in every other scenario his ability is too expensive and even then you end up keeping the mana up without being able to advance your game state. He's not bad but I think he has outlived his usefulness.
In Out
Chasm Skulker is very fun to play with. This type of creature is not new to magic and typically has been pretty underwhelming. Just look at how hyped Lorescale Coatl was and what it turned out to be. That said, it has all the same advantages while being mono-blue. That allows for much more flexibility while also adding in a very interesting death trigger. That trigger might not always matter with the amount of exile and alternative removal conditions in cube but when it does matter (which should be plenty) it really makes a difference. The real question is how big is this on average before it dies. It never becomes irrelevant unless you top deck it late, and even then one card draw spell and you are in business quickly. I think this is interesting and potentially powerful enough to take a chance testing out.
To be honest, I thought I had cut Conundrum Sphinx a long time ago for being just a big flying dumb guy. That's not terrible mind you, but it is not particularly exciting. Sure it has that other ability that is super fun when it works but more often than not both players just name lands and you don't feel any smarter or any more Sphinx-y than your opponent.
In Out
Soul of Ravnica is a larger flier for the same cost when compared to Sphinx of Jwar Isle. While shroud is powerful it's really not interesting or interactive. The card drawing ability on Soul is potentially very powerful and gives you a reason to be in blue for some of those green ramp decks. It's expensive but I think there is a lot of potential here. My only regret is that I won't be able to look at the top card of my library in response to losing. I can do it at any time!!
Didn't Make the Cut
Master of Predicaments is another large flying creature which is good and while the ability allows for a lot of unique and interesting gameplay decisions....yeah....it's also really weird and not particularly more powerful than the existing options. The mental game is not that appealing to me as the defending player will usually just feel worse for guessing wrong than if you had flipped a coin instead. The potential for a game changing card is there but it's just too unreliable. This might actually make it in during a later change if things fall differently for some other cards but I can't add an additional expensive creature for blue as it currently stands.
Polymorphist's Jest is a total, unfair blowout in limited where creature battles and combat math reign supreme. This is a little less true in cube than in other formats. Creature combat still happens but a lot of the blue creatures aren't going to win trades against even 1/1's...add in that they have to be attacking or blocking and this isn't the same card at all. It's amazing how much better vanilla 2/3's can make a card sometimes. Go go Core Set limited.
In Out
Ophiomancer is pretty annoying to play against as those deathtouch snakes just do not go away. Sure, there is only one of them at a time but constantly having one every turn is very irritating. You almost have to kill the Ophiomancer if you want to win on the ground. Also, this is very good with any sacrifice effects, which there are quite a few of.
Phyrexian Rager draws a card for the same body so it works better with blinking but works less well with the sacrifice theme. I just think Ophiomancer is more interesting and powerful.
In Out
I miss having multiple of the Night's Whisper effect as so many black decks want it...and this one is splashable. At least adding another one will hopefully let you see one of these per draft instead of every other draft as it currently stands.
I had a little more reanimation than I wanted in the cube as it seems every draft I have several choices to pick from and this never makes my deck. The reason for that is the exiling ability really disparages this card getting used. Mini-Recurring Nightmare is probably the weakest reanimation spell in the list. It was either this or Makeshift Mannequin but I like the instant speed trick on that. If you have another card in mind, feel free to let me know as always!
Didn't Make the Cut
I am all for one drops that do interesting things but holy crap is this slow. In order to kill a Llanowar Elf when you are on the play you need to play this, use your second turn putting a counter on it and then your third turn to remove the counter and kill it. That is three turns, 5 mana and one card to kill a LLANOWAR ELF. By the way, they used their elf to cast a big dude that is going to attack you now...that was best case scenario. In order for this to be cubeable you either needed to not tap it to use the second ability or not pay life or some other small change. Maybe that makes it too good...I'm not sure....but this is way too slow to be usable.
Having played a lot with Grave Titan in cube I can safely say that there has never been a single scenario where the Deathtouch has been relevant. The size of the creature is only kind of relevant...it has always been all about the free 2/2 zombies. So many zombies. For the exact same card here you get to cast Font of Return. The only way this is cool is if you mill or Dredge your Soul into the graveyard. I don't support either of those strategies so this is just really clunky and durdley. The existing finishers are so much better at actually finishing a game. This just seems to prolong it. Not a fan.
In Out
Ulcerate is pretty absurd...so much so that it is moving in towards Dismember land...not that good but you get the point.
Nameless Inversion loses a bunch of value when the Changeling doesn't matter at all and honestly the +3 boost has only ever mattered like once. It was an awesome one time but it just never matters beyond the removal.
Didn't Make the Cut
Necromancer's Stockpile is an absolute house in a dedicated deck. Outside of that deck however its value plummets. Creatures are going to be the glut of your strategy in cube so losing value to draw a card is not going to be worth it unless you have a very good way to abuse the creature you discarded. While these do exist, it's not something I think is worth adding. The 2/2 might come into play since there are a lot of zombies but not enough to make this a sure thing.
Red
In Out
Soul of Shandalar is really quite ridiculous. No, it is not as good as Inferno Titan, but what is? This is a lot better than Molensteel Dragon. The only thing that card has going for it is the fact that red decks don't care about their life total and can be flippant with the ability activations here. However, that puts you in a very vulnerable position and while it saw a lot of play it was very boom or bust. You either won the game very quickly or lost it after over committing into your dragon. The Soul is more consistent and impacts much more than your opponent's life total. When you cast this you can pretty much stop playing other spells and focus on the activations. Instant speed and first strike also mean that you almost cannot lose this in combat and it will likely take some other blocker out of the way first, paving the way for your other threats.
Didn't Make the Cut
Goblin Rabblemaster is a step in the right direction for red. It is in dire need of better three drops and more interesting two drops. However, its reliance on Goblins is going to keep this out of the cube. Sure, it makes a Goblin every turn but that is just going to run headlong into something else. Without the dedicated Goblin strategy this is very underwhelming. At best this trades with something larger and more expensive than it but it will almost never actually deal combat damage since its toughness is not pumped.
Didn't Make the Cut
Generator Servant is a really interesting two drop but that Goblin Piker is outclassed in a fast hurry. Sure, you can upgrade to something bigger and badder (or two things if you want them both to have haste!) but so many things already have haste as it is in red that you are probably just in it for the mana ramp. In that case this is kind of like a Desperate Ritual on legs which red really ins't in the market for. This should be much better in big red decks playing green or another color to power out a finisher after his body is irrelevant. I think this is very close but I don't see a sensible cut for it, especially since this is not super exciting in an actual red deck.
Stoke the Flames has the same problem that Triplicate Spirits had. You need to tap your creatures to really make it worthwhile and that's a little counter productive in such an aggressive color. Fireblast this is not.
Didn't Make the Cut
I really like the design space of branching red out and letting it do something other than just direct damage...especially since they have toned down land destruction so much. Red has just been so one dimensional recently. That said, this is a nice start, but way too slow to see any play. You need to have at least six mana to actually be able to use one of the cards you reveal. I assume one will be a land so you do get that but it's way too swingy to use in cube.
I recently cut Gore-House Chainwalker from the cube for being boring and this guy is, admittedly, just as boring but a little better overall since he can actually always block. The thing is, it's actually one like 1% better....and that's just not enough to push something else out.
In Out
AND THEN I REALIZED GORE-HOUSE CHAINWALKER WAS STILL IN THE CUBE MAKING THIS A 1% UPGRADE! VICTORY!
In Out
And then.....I realized that Altac Bloodseeker is infinitely more interesting than either of the other two cards. This guy is seriously intimidating to block or attack into when a red opponent has open mana. There is so much burn...of course they can remove your creature. This is a legit threat late in a game as opposed to most of the aggressive options. There are a lot of scenarios where this reads as a 2/1 unblockable as your opponent just isn't going to risk getting 2 for 1'd in a blowout. Sorry Borderland Marauder...you set the record for shortest time in the cube....
Visual Representation of Borderland Marauder's Cube Experience <-- Watch This.
In Out
Losing out on a point of toughness is not terribly relevant when you gain the flexibility of being able to cast the card without destroying your own artifact if its the only one in play. Also, you get to destroy enchantments now! Value! Slam. Dunk.
In Out
Fighting the good fight with the planeswalker updates and I think it's time Garruk Wildspeaker took a break. Both of these cards do very similar things. They both make dudes and ramp you while moving towards an ultimate that probably end the game. The difference is Garruk's only works if your board state is good while Nissa's takes a turn to get going. Making a land a 4/4 creature permanently is great for a ramp deck as you don't care if it dies and untapping all of your forests lets you attack and then use them for mana WHILE ramping you...very powerful.
In Out
Can't remember why I didn't have Terastodon in the cube to be perfectly honest but it is a pretty big upgrade over Gaea's Revenge. Those elephants are everywhere and there are so many of them! Destroying things that you don't care about of your own or your opponent's that you do. The Revenge is a big dumb thing that basically has shroud. Not interesting or interactive. Long live elephants!
In Out
Change in philosophy in green. I am getting rid of some of the hyper aggro creatures. They are never played and when green is used outside of ramp it is much more big Zoo type decks as opposed to caring out one drops. I have been wanting more late game ramp targets anyway and this is a good way to get myself there. Soul of Zendikar is definitely one of the weaker Souls and I can easily see some big stupid thing pushing this out in the near future but for now there is a lot of value in just being able to make 3/3 dudes every turn while pressuring your opponent with his body.
In Out
Boon Satyr has overperformed when I have seen him in play elsewhere so I want to give him a shot in cube. The bestow ability is very powerful and by himself he packs a lot of punch for only three mana.
Jungle Lion will not be not intercepting no-more as I continue the purge of mono-aggressive one drops.
In Out
Another card that has overperformed my expectations. This is a ton of value for being only four mana and while you are only going to be picking off one or two small creatures, there is a lot more to say for that than I initially thought. So many utility guys are laying around that stay out of combat (or you can't interact with due to evasion) that this is actually quite powerful.
See other comments for the exodus of Pouncing Jaguar.
Staying In the Cube
So even though I am changing the all-in aggressive approach I am keeping in both of these seemingly aggressive one drops. The reason for that is that both of these are still very good in decks packing larger and more expensive creatures. Experiment One will continue to evolve and gain value as you march up the curve and Twinblade Slasher is an absolute house in most creature match-ups where his wither is actually very annoying. The other dudes I took out have literally no value unless you are a swarm aggro deck. Look for similar changes as the next couple of sets get released. Should be interesting.
Didn't Make the Cut
Both of these cards have similar problems. Genesis Hydra is always going to be giving you something a couple of mana behind what you actually want. Sure, it's for free and this is a little better than cascade if you pay enough but you really have to pay enough. The giant vanilla body for the hydra is really not exciting so you are all in on what you get with the ability. I think this is too slow...even though I really love the Genesis type effects.
Yisan is also very slow. You need to input a LOT of mana and time to a creature that is not dealing damage in order to get awesome effects. I would much rather have Birthing Pod than this and Birthing Pod isn't exactly winning any awards for card of the year, here. Just wanted to touch upon the cool designer cards.
In Out
Scuttling Doom Engine is so awesome. The first ability means they aren't chump blocking this. That is huge since it does not have trample. They have to block with something of value....and they really need to because they can't just take that much damage when you are threatening another 6 if this thing dies. Great with sacrifice effects and recursion as doing that multiple times is just not fair. Awesome card.
All of the Masticores have underperformed to varying degrees but Molten-Tail has been the worst. The discarding seems like it would be good with the exile effect but it's just so expensive and you don't want to be discarding creatures in cube...you want to be reanimating them or casting them. Half the time I just want it to trade with something so I don't have to lose out on value....forget about regenerating it.
Didn't Make the Cut
Soul of New Phyrexia is really cool but way too mana intensive for cube. This is great if you are ahead but if you are already ahead but terrible if you are behind. Seems like a win-more card as you are never going to be able to keep that much mana open every turn. I played with it at the prerelease and there are times where you just really have to hope your opponent respects the ability because you ABSOLUTELY CANNOT WIN if you actually use it since you need to actually cast spells. Unfortunately those scenarios are blatantly obvious for your opponent to read.
Perilous Vault is more expensive than the existing colorless board wipe options and I absolutely do not need another colorless board wipe. I would rather have All Is Dust than this as a colorless sweeper.
GolgariPerilous Vault is more expensive than the existing colorless board wipe options and I absolutely do not need another colorless board wipe. I would rather have All Is Dust than this as a colorless sweeper.
In Out
Since Vraska, the Unseen is a pile of poop I don't have a planeswalker in Golgari. Unfortunately for big Garruk...the rest of Golgari is loaded with great cards so it has to be really good to be over the hump. And I think he is. 7 mana is a lot of mana but holy crap do you get a lot of value out of this thing. It immediately protects itself by dropping a beast or killing something OR killing a planeswalker. That last one seems pretty free as it might or might not come up but when it does it is insane. The ultimate is within the realm of possibility but I think this guy is quite nuts and Golgari can ramp up to it pretty regularly.
Life//Death isn't bad but the Life part was always a little underpowered unless you are just killing them, making this really heavy on the black side. Garruk is a lot more exciting.
In Out
So in cutting the green aggressive creatures, Dryad Militant is pretty much mono-white. You might play it in green but you probably are only excited about this in white. Knight of the Reliquary is incredibly powerful even without fetch lands because it can take any land out of your deck (man lands included) and throw them in play, making her bigger and thinning your deck very quickly as well. Very powerful. Can't believe it took me so long to figure this one out.
That was a whole lot of cards to talk about! Might have been my biggest update yet. Add in that I tweaked the aggressive section in green (which I think is the right call) and we have a whole new expanse of possibilities moving forward. As always, let me know what you think about the changes...I always take feedback into account! See you for whatever the heck Khans of Tarkir is about!
Enjoy!
